Author's Notes: (MUST READ FOR COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING FOR THIS FIC)
First, I would like to say the other world mentioned in the previous
chapter wasn't talking about Earth. This is a different world similar to
the one of FFVIII where it is modern but only small some-what secluded
towns exist. There aren't very many fiends in this world, well, not very
many harmful ones at least. Dragons do exist and team up with humans aka
Dragon Knight/Valkyrie (almost like Dragon Riders of Pern for those who
have read the book series) but are hunted down by slayers as well. If you
have any more questions about this world that confuse you about this world
please put it in your response or just that section and I'll answer it
in the next chapter I'll post, k? And yes, I know there were kajillions of
mistakes in the first chapter, but only because I forgot to check it
completely, gomen nasai minna-san! T_T
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=~
Chapter 2: Intrusions
The heartless had been bringing back the games indeed but since none of them brought memory cards as well they were pretty much useless. Since they had just gotten started only about 100 games had been stolen and unmissed. After the heartless were told to bring a memory card with each game until told to stop they made their way to the room of five 14 years-old girls who were fast asleep. In the center of the room the black pool of heartless formed on the ground and 5 shadow heartless searched the room and only found the case to the one girl's game. They went to the closed door and pressed themselves to the ground and slid under it, but the one with the case accidentally scarped it against the door causing one of the sleeping girls to wake up.
"Toshiko, go see what's in the hall." said one girl on the top of a bunk bed who didn't even get up to speak. The girl who was playing the game earlier looked up and opened one eye. She sighed and reached for her bamboo sword (shinai) and slumped to the door.
"It's probably just a mouse," she said after a long yawn then opened the door and went to the entertainment room where she was earlier. She turned on a nearby lamp and saw the heartless raiding her PS2 and putting the memory card in the case after some difficulty.
The girl's eyes widened in shock and disbelief at the sight she saw before her. She just shook her head and mentally told herself this was a dream, after all, it was dark and she had been asleep for a small amount of time her eyes were very vulnerable to her somewhat conscious mind's tricks. She tied her loose hair back with a black elastic band from her right wrist and took a fighting stance with a smirk.
"Put down my game now and I just might go easy on ya," she said calmly, but when the heartless saw her weapon they took it upon themselves to claim she was an enemy and started attacking her. She managed to block a few and even hit some against the wall with a muffled splat. But as more started to appear they pinned the struggling girl to the ground. The one with the game started to head back to Hallow Bastion, and when Toshiko saw this she swept all of her tiny attackers with her arm and lunged for the one disappearing followed by the others and all of them went through the portal. Toshiko struggled with the heartless and soon destroyed them all even though she had been falling the whole time.
As she fell to what she thought would be her death her necklace started glowing and changed her. Her hair turned a deep shade of purple and was still tied back except for her face length bangs. A blue headband appeared in her hair and her shirt was changed into a blue zip-up tank top with a black V shaped neck line. The zipper part was bordered in black and her shorts changed into black skintight pants with a brown belt. Her feet had been covered with black, silver, and blue boots and her hands had been covered by brown leather gloves. The only thing that prevented her from screaming was her falling onto a sleeping Boogie Man and bouncing off onto the ground where her sword landed near by and the game landed to Riku's feet. She was gasping for air as she tried to stay calm and continue telling herself mentally that this was all just a dream. "But why did the fall hurt and the burlap feeling from whatever I landed on feel so real?" her mind asked.
He picked up the game and looked inside. A smile appeared on his face as he showed it to Maleficent.
"This one came with a card. This should be more useful than the others," he said while putting it into his huge pocket and then turned to the girl who was looking around in a mixture of shock and fear as the other villains made a semi-circle around her to prevent her from running away. "We just need to figure out what we should do with her," he finished before turning back to Maleficent. The girl had been watching him closely ever since he came close to her and watched as he made a smirk only she could see directed to her before Riku had completely turned and walked away from her.
Maleficent looked at him as his string of commands was starting to get too long for her liking but showed no sign of it and stepped up to the girl.
"What is your name?" she asked while cocking an eyebrow expecting a quick answer.
"I-I-I'm, m-m-m-my n-name i-is-,"
"Speak child!"
"Ryo!" she shouted then paused in a moment's confusion on why she used that name in the first place.
"Well then, mind explaining what brings you here and why I shouldn't dispose of you on the spot?" she asked while leaning over her some.
Before she could answer she could hear laughter behind her, and when she turned around she saw Captain Hook dangling her sword from his hand.
"Oh ho! What do we have here? Another one of those pretend heroes I see. And fighting with a toothpick none the less," he said.
Without even thinking she scowled at him and shouted, "Unhand my sword this instant you codfish!"
He straightened up a bit annoyed at this insult but tried to regain his confident posture. "And why should I, a proud captain of a shipload of blood-thirsty cut-throats, give a small child back her toy?" he replied while looking down at the pissed girl. She took a deep breathe and noticed everyone around her was enjoying this quarrel and waited to see what she would do. Ryo stood up straight and tall and looked at him closely.
"Because where I come from I am known as a powerful sorceress and can summon anyone's greatest fear before them even if I have never met the person before I will still know it and call it here on the spot," she crossed her arms over her chest and showed no fear. Even if technically she didn't have any magical powers she could still try to out smart him. And after seeing his performance in both Peter Pan movies she knew that this would go well.
Hook showed a little concern and glanced at everyone but looked back at the girl. "I highly doubt you could know my greatest fear, so go ahead. I dare you to," he said.
"Fine," she said as she held up the charm from her necklace and started swinging it side-to-side like a pendulum while looking him in the eyes and slowly walked towards him.
"Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock," she started chanting taking a step at each word. As she did this the jewel on her necklace started glowing pulling the captain into a light trance as images of crocodiles danced in his mind. The girl was a bit surprised at the glowing jewel but continued until the captain snapped out of it and tossed her sword on the ground near her feet.
"This is just poppycock!" he exclaimed trying to regain his composer. "Now that we have what we've been searching for I'll be on my way," with that said with a hint of fear in his tone he turned around letting a small shiver go done his spine and left. The other villains either smirked or chuckled as they to left leaving Ryo who was picking up her sword with Maleficent and Riku to decide what they would do with her. The young girl gulped as she noticed this and slowly turned around and looked up at the older woman feeling very nervous all of a sudden. Riku had a very amused look on his face from watching Hook trying to remain his proud self but ended up looking like a fool in the end anyway.
"Well now, that was an amusing show. I wouldn't have expected someone like you to stand up against him like that, but this shows us that you can be of some use to us," started Maleficent. "But first you will tell me where you got that necklace," and before the girl could even think, Maleficent walked up to her and took the sword and dragons charm in her hand and began to examine it.
Ryo gasped at first but caught her shortened breathe and spoke up. "It was a gift, from a young dragon. I've had it since I was a child," she explained.
Maleficent released her grip on the necklace and looked at the girl closely and examined her for a moment then curved her thin lips into a dark/slightly warm smile, well, as warm as ice can get if you want to put it theoretically.
"I see. Now that you are here you will show us your video game and pinpoint where Sora is and help us prevent him from sealing the keyholes and you will also show us how we can capture the rest of the princesses," she finished.
Ryo's eyes widened at her instructions not believing anything that was happening. "What?!" she shouted. "I mean, can't you do that already with that thing over there?" she asked pointing to a mirror like object parallel with the ground about 15 feet away.
Maleficent looked over to the object and glared at the girl in curiosity. "How you could have known about that is something I will ask later. Besides, your game can show us the future, or at least 'it's' version of the future." She smiled and turned to the side to reveal the boy who was hidden behind her earlier. "Riku will direct you to the observation hall as I arrange a room for you."
"A room?" she asked.
"What? You rather prefer a cell? If you want that instead then by all means I will arrange for one," she started laughing as she saw the look on her face then continued. "We can't just let you go off now that you have seen Hallow Bastion. Besides, seeing as that you have some experience in swordsmanship you can assist Riku with his duties and fight the boy who is trying to stop us."
"No," said Riku. "Leave him to me, she can just stay here for all I care, I can handle everything," he said.
"Of course you can my boy, but it doesn't help to have some insurance now does it?"
He just crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked away. "Fine, but don't you think it would be best if she went through some training before she starts fighting, besides, we've never seen her in a fight and she could suck for all we know," he said.
"Hey! I was a top candidate to be a Dragon Valkyrie thank you very much, and don't I get a say in this since this is my fate we're talking about here?" she soon withdrew a little bit back into her silent shell as she saw the surprised and disturbed looks on their faces from her outburst but looked at Riku as he started laughing contently and walked up to her getting very close to her to make her feel intimidated. This just made her heart pound and blush in shock as she couldn't believe that Riku, a character from a videogame, was only inches from her face.
"I don't know what a Dragon Valkyrie is and I don't really care at the moment. Just don't give me any trouble when you're with me and do as you're told when you are training under me," with that said he turned around and walked back to Maleficent.
"Now that that is settled." she looked to Riku, "Riku, take her to the observation hall and set up for our viewing, I will arrange a room for our guest, but first," she took the sword from the girl's grip and ignored her attempts at verbal reactions. She held out the sword and it was soon engulfed in a dark green light. After a few seconds the light disappeared and the sword's form was changed entirely. It was a slender dragon wing similar to Riku's shadowblade only the edge was black and the sail was purple. The hilt was made of three black dragon horns that looked just like the ones one Maleficent's headdress. In the center of the hilt there was a green gem that resembled a dragon eye. After the transformation was complete she handed it back to Ryo who took it and stared at it in awe.
"Here you are child, a gift from me," said Maleficent. Ryo looked up at her a bit confused and wondered what in Hell possessed Maleficent to do this for her and what the catch might be. "This will be more useful in this state unlike its previous form. Do everything Riku tells you until I return," after that she turned and headed upstairs to clear out a heartless filled room for her.
"Well, now that you've got your weapon we can go," said Riku. He walked over to her and held out his hand and for the first time since she arrived smiled gently. "I'm Riku, sorry for the cold act before but I have a reputation to keep. I hope our partnership will go on to a good start." She was taken back a bit from this sudden changed and stared at him for a few seconds suspiciously; but she just smiled and blushed slightly as she shook his hand.
"I'm Ryo; it's very interesting to meet you."
"Interesting?"
"I'll explain later."
He smirked and shook his head. "Whatever," he looked around to make sure they weren't being watched and lowered his voice enough so that only Ryo could here. "Just to let you know, you should be careful around Maleficent. She's not exactly who I would call a trusting person. She may say there isn't a catch to her 'generosity' but I'm sure she has something up her sleeve that she's hiding from us."
Ryo crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at him skeptically. "Really, you didn't think I knew that? I may be new here but that doesn't mean I know nothing of this world or its people," she exclaimed with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "I've gotten far in the game so I know many things you wouldn't expect me to know," she said with a shrug and easy going tone.
"Really? All right then, try me," he said.
"I know why you are helping the villains. It's because of her. You care for her deeply and want her to have her heart back and you'd do anything to get it back to her, even if it means taking a chance with the darkness." She looked away feeling a bit uncomfortable with what she had said but allowed the silence in the air to remain until he would break it.
He took a deep breath and turned from her not wanting to admit how right she was. He barely turned his head to look at her and say "Come on, I don't want to waste anymore time," he turned around and lead her to the hall. She stood still at first feeling sympathetic for him but as she followed him she smiled and thought, "Well, maybe this dream won't be so bad after all."
When Maleficent returned she saw Ryo standing before a huge oval screen that was edged with a green magic aura with a controller in her hand. Riku was by her side watching everything closely making sure not to miss anything.
"So what advantages do we have so far?" asked Maleficent with a thin smile.
"We know what worlds Sora will go to and what order too. When he arrives at each one whichever one of the other villains dwells there will take care of him while Ryo and I settle other things that need to be taken care of," Riku said. Maleficent walked over to Ryo and could tell she wasn't happy with what she was doing. But since Ryo knew she had no other choice there was nothing she could do.
"That will be enough for now. We all need our rest if we want to carry out our plans," said Maleficent. "But where will Sora be next?"
"He will be swallowed by the giant whale Monstro, Pinocchio, the puppet Riku mentioned earlier will be there as well. When Sora and his," she paused looking a Riku for a second but continued, "friends arrive there we can abduct Pinocchio and use him to see if he has the key to finding Kairi's heart." she sighed knowing Sora would only stop them but looked up at Maleficent with a hopeful look in her eyes. "Can I stop now?" asked Ryo. Maleficent swiped her arm over the oval and it disappeared. Ryo watched as Maleficent put an arm around her shoulder and jumped at first then looked up at her after having dropped the controller.
"Come, I will show you to your room," she turned and looked at Riku who nodded to her and he left as Maleficent started walking with the nervous girl to her room. "When I saw your necklace, I realized what potential you had," she continued.
"Potential?" she asked.
"I didn't mention it before but lately I've been considering acquiring an apprentice. Of course it will be awhile before I leave this world, or rather 'reality' and so far I have no one to continue in my footsteps. It would be a shame for such power to be gone due to some technicalities." When Maleficent looked down at the girl again she was a bit confused by what she was trying to mean by "technicalities". But the young girl's expression changed when she soon realized what she meant; after all, Maleficent technically didn't have any children so there was no one to succeed after her. (hmm, let's see how many more times I can say technically..*sees angry audience w/ weapons of slow and painful death* Or maybe not) "At first," she continued, "I thought Riku would have been a good choice but he just doesn't have what it takes to make a good sorcerer. He apparently dislikes me as well even after I had said he was like a son to me, but that feeling is starting to disappear, for now. But a sorceress would probably be a better choice," she looked down at her for her response.
"Me? But I thought I was going to train with Riku to be a better swordswoman? Even though he hasn't seen what I've got." she mumbled.
"Excuse me?"
"Oh, n-nothing. And besides, what does my necklace have to do with my potential?"
"You said you received it from a dragon am I right?"
"Yes."
"What color was it?"
"Black." she paused for a moment thinking about Maleficent's alter ego but waited for her to speak again.
"I see, black dragons have a special connection with magic. They are like guardians of a raw source of black magic. For one to have a connection with a black dragon is an amazing feat alone. That necklace the dragon gave you is a symbol of such magic and their loyal protection over you. If you were to receive this then you have the means of mastering black magic no matter how strong. It is fortunate for you that I, the Mistress of all Evil, am giving you an opportunity to master the most powerful of such black magic."
The girl stopped immediately and looked at the ground trying to grasp for air after her shock. "Whoa, this dream is getting really too out of hand."
"Dream?" she chuckled with a smile and stopped in front of the girl. "Apparently you must've hit your head when you had fallen. This is not a dream, this is very much real. Though I can understand with so many things happening at once it's no wonder you are confused."
"What? But, this is so.so.well, it's just not possible for this to happen to me, so it must be a dream."
"Fine, if you don't believe me why not find out for yourself," she smirked and said with a light chuckle "You could always see if you can feel pain if the landing didn't hurt, why not try pricking yourself and see if that hurts?"
Ryo gave a nervous chuckle and responded with "No offense, but hearing that from you tells me that that would not be the best solution. If I were to do that then I might never wake up from my sleep heh heh." She gave a weak smile and noticed Maleficent knew exactly what she meant but was a little bit surprised.
"You know about my curse even from your world?"
"Yes, in fact I know the history of many of these worlds. In my world these were all movies made by or inspired by a man named Walt Disney. In my world we refer almost everything to his movies so my knowledge of your world and part of it's past can come to quite a shock. But what about my training with Riku?"
"Well, you will train under Riku and I. For one to master magic and handle a sword is practically a person who can be invincible, if taught by the right people," she continued walking with Ryo and went up into a tower where she stopped at a door and pulling out a black key from an unseen pocket in the folds of her robes, unlocked it and opened it nudging Ryo inside the dimly lighted room. The girl turned around and could only see Maleficent's pale complexion and the dark glow from the crystal orb on her staff which crepted her out a little. "I'll give you until the morning for you to make your decision," her face changed to a smirk before she left and said with a dreadful tone of voice, "Pleasant dreams." she said as she closed the door. Ryo heard a click and instantly realized she had been locked in but was too tired at the moment to really care.
Before she went to bed she walked over to the mirror and examined herself carefully. She looked from her reflection to herself and then back to the mirror. With her sword in hand she took off the glove on her other hand with her teeth and tossed it on the bed. The blade was held against a finger and made a slit causing Ryo to make a slightly hurt face and starred at the blood dripping down her finger before sucking it up. She looked at her finger again and could feel the throbbing pain in it. Soon a loud scream could be heard through out the halls of Hallow Bastion. It made Maleficent stop in her tracks and she couldn't help but smile realizing the girl finally came to realize her theory was wrong and resumed walking to her room. Riku who knew which room the scream came from went to Ryo's door and pressed his ear against it and listened after his attempts to go in failed.
"This can't be happening!" said the voice. "But this isn't dream! Why did I change? This isn't who I am; this is a character I made up. Why am I even here? Why am I even helping bad guys? Who am I talking to? It's not like anyone is listening to me. But why did I change?" Ryo paced in her room and dug her hands into her pockets. She stopped when her hand felt something even through her gloved hand and pulled out a piece of folded paper and opened it to see what was in it. There was a picture of her, the old her, in it. She was standing slightly slouched with her hands on her hips smirking at the viewer.
"This is the drawing I made in class! At least the pose is the same, but that's the real me in there instead of -...I think I understand now.but then again.." She sighed and smirked shaking her head from side to side. "And to think I even got a stupid cartoon crush on." she shook her head again and sighed. "Well, at least I understand now, I think. I better get some sleep, last time I checked it was probably 3 in the morning," she yawned and took off her head band, gloves, boots, belt, bra, and took out the elastic band holding her hair back and put it on the nightstand next to her bed and climbed under the covers of the clothe and fur bed and thought "Maybe when I wake up I'll be back in the orphanage with those other girls and this will all go away..maybe." she fell asleep after looking out the window and feeling relieved from seeing the same night sky she did in her home world.
Riku had started heading back to his room and right before he fell asleep he thought out loud, "What the heck is a cartoon crush?"
^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^# ^#^#^#^#^#^# Yeah, I know, this chapter is much longer than the first one, well to me at least. Not much to say right now except for the usual plead for reviews and my threats to stalk and plague those who have read but didn't review..or was it I was going to send something else to stalk them and infect their computers?...I know! I'll do both! MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!......uhh h, yeah..*yawns* Ok, small excuse for brain needs sleepy time now goodnight minna-san! *falls over on a randomly placed air mattress and falls asleep* mmmmmm, comfffffyyyyyyyyyyy....
Chapter 2: Intrusions
The heartless had been bringing back the games indeed but since none of them brought memory cards as well they were pretty much useless. Since they had just gotten started only about 100 games had been stolen and unmissed. After the heartless were told to bring a memory card with each game until told to stop they made their way to the room of five 14 years-old girls who were fast asleep. In the center of the room the black pool of heartless formed on the ground and 5 shadow heartless searched the room and only found the case to the one girl's game. They went to the closed door and pressed themselves to the ground and slid under it, but the one with the case accidentally scarped it against the door causing one of the sleeping girls to wake up.
"Toshiko, go see what's in the hall." said one girl on the top of a bunk bed who didn't even get up to speak. The girl who was playing the game earlier looked up and opened one eye. She sighed and reached for her bamboo sword (shinai) and slumped to the door.
"It's probably just a mouse," she said after a long yawn then opened the door and went to the entertainment room where she was earlier. She turned on a nearby lamp and saw the heartless raiding her PS2 and putting the memory card in the case after some difficulty.
The girl's eyes widened in shock and disbelief at the sight she saw before her. She just shook her head and mentally told herself this was a dream, after all, it was dark and she had been asleep for a small amount of time her eyes were very vulnerable to her somewhat conscious mind's tricks. She tied her loose hair back with a black elastic band from her right wrist and took a fighting stance with a smirk.
"Put down my game now and I just might go easy on ya," she said calmly, but when the heartless saw her weapon they took it upon themselves to claim she was an enemy and started attacking her. She managed to block a few and even hit some against the wall with a muffled splat. But as more started to appear they pinned the struggling girl to the ground. The one with the game started to head back to Hallow Bastion, and when Toshiko saw this she swept all of her tiny attackers with her arm and lunged for the one disappearing followed by the others and all of them went through the portal. Toshiko struggled with the heartless and soon destroyed them all even though she had been falling the whole time.
As she fell to what she thought would be her death her necklace started glowing and changed her. Her hair turned a deep shade of purple and was still tied back except for her face length bangs. A blue headband appeared in her hair and her shirt was changed into a blue zip-up tank top with a black V shaped neck line. The zipper part was bordered in black and her shorts changed into black skintight pants with a brown belt. Her feet had been covered with black, silver, and blue boots and her hands had been covered by brown leather gloves. The only thing that prevented her from screaming was her falling onto a sleeping Boogie Man and bouncing off onto the ground where her sword landed near by and the game landed to Riku's feet. She was gasping for air as she tried to stay calm and continue telling herself mentally that this was all just a dream. "But why did the fall hurt and the burlap feeling from whatever I landed on feel so real?" her mind asked.
He picked up the game and looked inside. A smile appeared on his face as he showed it to Maleficent.
"This one came with a card. This should be more useful than the others," he said while putting it into his huge pocket and then turned to the girl who was looking around in a mixture of shock and fear as the other villains made a semi-circle around her to prevent her from running away. "We just need to figure out what we should do with her," he finished before turning back to Maleficent. The girl had been watching him closely ever since he came close to her and watched as he made a smirk only she could see directed to her before Riku had completely turned and walked away from her.
Maleficent looked at him as his string of commands was starting to get too long for her liking but showed no sign of it and stepped up to the girl.
"What is your name?" she asked while cocking an eyebrow expecting a quick answer.
"I-I-I'm, m-m-m-my n-name i-is-,"
"Speak child!"
"Ryo!" she shouted then paused in a moment's confusion on why she used that name in the first place.
"Well then, mind explaining what brings you here and why I shouldn't dispose of you on the spot?" she asked while leaning over her some.
Before she could answer she could hear laughter behind her, and when she turned around she saw Captain Hook dangling her sword from his hand.
"Oh ho! What do we have here? Another one of those pretend heroes I see. And fighting with a toothpick none the less," he said.
Without even thinking she scowled at him and shouted, "Unhand my sword this instant you codfish!"
He straightened up a bit annoyed at this insult but tried to regain his confident posture. "And why should I, a proud captain of a shipload of blood-thirsty cut-throats, give a small child back her toy?" he replied while looking down at the pissed girl. She took a deep breathe and noticed everyone around her was enjoying this quarrel and waited to see what she would do. Ryo stood up straight and tall and looked at him closely.
"Because where I come from I am known as a powerful sorceress and can summon anyone's greatest fear before them even if I have never met the person before I will still know it and call it here on the spot," she crossed her arms over her chest and showed no fear. Even if technically she didn't have any magical powers she could still try to out smart him. And after seeing his performance in both Peter Pan movies she knew that this would go well.
Hook showed a little concern and glanced at everyone but looked back at the girl. "I highly doubt you could know my greatest fear, so go ahead. I dare you to," he said.
"Fine," she said as she held up the charm from her necklace and started swinging it side-to-side like a pendulum while looking him in the eyes and slowly walked towards him.
"Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock," she started chanting taking a step at each word. As she did this the jewel on her necklace started glowing pulling the captain into a light trance as images of crocodiles danced in his mind. The girl was a bit surprised at the glowing jewel but continued until the captain snapped out of it and tossed her sword on the ground near her feet.
"This is just poppycock!" he exclaimed trying to regain his composer. "Now that we have what we've been searching for I'll be on my way," with that said with a hint of fear in his tone he turned around letting a small shiver go done his spine and left. The other villains either smirked or chuckled as they to left leaving Ryo who was picking up her sword with Maleficent and Riku to decide what they would do with her. The young girl gulped as she noticed this and slowly turned around and looked up at the older woman feeling very nervous all of a sudden. Riku had a very amused look on his face from watching Hook trying to remain his proud self but ended up looking like a fool in the end anyway.
"Well now, that was an amusing show. I wouldn't have expected someone like you to stand up against him like that, but this shows us that you can be of some use to us," started Maleficent. "But first you will tell me where you got that necklace," and before the girl could even think, Maleficent walked up to her and took the sword and dragons charm in her hand and began to examine it.
Ryo gasped at first but caught her shortened breathe and spoke up. "It was a gift, from a young dragon. I've had it since I was a child," she explained.
Maleficent released her grip on the necklace and looked at the girl closely and examined her for a moment then curved her thin lips into a dark/slightly warm smile, well, as warm as ice can get if you want to put it theoretically.
"I see. Now that you are here you will show us your video game and pinpoint where Sora is and help us prevent him from sealing the keyholes and you will also show us how we can capture the rest of the princesses," she finished.
Ryo's eyes widened at her instructions not believing anything that was happening. "What?!" she shouted. "I mean, can't you do that already with that thing over there?" she asked pointing to a mirror like object parallel with the ground about 15 feet away.
Maleficent looked over to the object and glared at the girl in curiosity. "How you could have known about that is something I will ask later. Besides, your game can show us the future, or at least 'it's' version of the future." She smiled and turned to the side to reveal the boy who was hidden behind her earlier. "Riku will direct you to the observation hall as I arrange a room for you."
"A room?" she asked.
"What? You rather prefer a cell? If you want that instead then by all means I will arrange for one," she started laughing as she saw the look on her face then continued. "We can't just let you go off now that you have seen Hallow Bastion. Besides, seeing as that you have some experience in swordsmanship you can assist Riku with his duties and fight the boy who is trying to stop us."
"No," said Riku. "Leave him to me, she can just stay here for all I care, I can handle everything," he said.
"Of course you can my boy, but it doesn't help to have some insurance now does it?"
He just crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked away. "Fine, but don't you think it would be best if she went through some training before she starts fighting, besides, we've never seen her in a fight and she could suck for all we know," he said.
"Hey! I was a top candidate to be a Dragon Valkyrie thank you very much, and don't I get a say in this since this is my fate we're talking about here?" she soon withdrew a little bit back into her silent shell as she saw the surprised and disturbed looks on their faces from her outburst but looked at Riku as he started laughing contently and walked up to her getting very close to her to make her feel intimidated. This just made her heart pound and blush in shock as she couldn't believe that Riku, a character from a videogame, was only inches from her face.
"I don't know what a Dragon Valkyrie is and I don't really care at the moment. Just don't give me any trouble when you're with me and do as you're told when you are training under me," with that said he turned around and walked back to Maleficent.
"Now that that is settled." she looked to Riku, "Riku, take her to the observation hall and set up for our viewing, I will arrange a room for our guest, but first," she took the sword from the girl's grip and ignored her attempts at verbal reactions. She held out the sword and it was soon engulfed in a dark green light. After a few seconds the light disappeared and the sword's form was changed entirely. It was a slender dragon wing similar to Riku's shadowblade only the edge was black and the sail was purple. The hilt was made of three black dragon horns that looked just like the ones one Maleficent's headdress. In the center of the hilt there was a green gem that resembled a dragon eye. After the transformation was complete she handed it back to Ryo who took it and stared at it in awe.
"Here you are child, a gift from me," said Maleficent. Ryo looked up at her a bit confused and wondered what in Hell possessed Maleficent to do this for her and what the catch might be. "This will be more useful in this state unlike its previous form. Do everything Riku tells you until I return," after that she turned and headed upstairs to clear out a heartless filled room for her.
"Well, now that you've got your weapon we can go," said Riku. He walked over to her and held out his hand and for the first time since she arrived smiled gently. "I'm Riku, sorry for the cold act before but I have a reputation to keep. I hope our partnership will go on to a good start." She was taken back a bit from this sudden changed and stared at him for a few seconds suspiciously; but she just smiled and blushed slightly as she shook his hand.
"I'm Ryo; it's very interesting to meet you."
"Interesting?"
"I'll explain later."
He smirked and shook his head. "Whatever," he looked around to make sure they weren't being watched and lowered his voice enough so that only Ryo could here. "Just to let you know, you should be careful around Maleficent. She's not exactly who I would call a trusting person. She may say there isn't a catch to her 'generosity' but I'm sure she has something up her sleeve that she's hiding from us."
Ryo crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at him skeptically. "Really, you didn't think I knew that? I may be new here but that doesn't mean I know nothing of this world or its people," she exclaimed with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "I've gotten far in the game so I know many things you wouldn't expect me to know," she said with a shrug and easy going tone.
"Really? All right then, try me," he said.
"I know why you are helping the villains. It's because of her. You care for her deeply and want her to have her heart back and you'd do anything to get it back to her, even if it means taking a chance with the darkness." She looked away feeling a bit uncomfortable with what she had said but allowed the silence in the air to remain until he would break it.
He took a deep breath and turned from her not wanting to admit how right she was. He barely turned his head to look at her and say "Come on, I don't want to waste anymore time," he turned around and lead her to the hall. She stood still at first feeling sympathetic for him but as she followed him she smiled and thought, "Well, maybe this dream won't be so bad after all."
When Maleficent returned she saw Ryo standing before a huge oval screen that was edged with a green magic aura with a controller in her hand. Riku was by her side watching everything closely making sure not to miss anything.
"So what advantages do we have so far?" asked Maleficent with a thin smile.
"We know what worlds Sora will go to and what order too. When he arrives at each one whichever one of the other villains dwells there will take care of him while Ryo and I settle other things that need to be taken care of," Riku said. Maleficent walked over to Ryo and could tell she wasn't happy with what she was doing. But since Ryo knew she had no other choice there was nothing she could do.
"That will be enough for now. We all need our rest if we want to carry out our plans," said Maleficent. "But where will Sora be next?"
"He will be swallowed by the giant whale Monstro, Pinocchio, the puppet Riku mentioned earlier will be there as well. When Sora and his," she paused looking a Riku for a second but continued, "friends arrive there we can abduct Pinocchio and use him to see if he has the key to finding Kairi's heart." she sighed knowing Sora would only stop them but looked up at Maleficent with a hopeful look in her eyes. "Can I stop now?" asked Ryo. Maleficent swiped her arm over the oval and it disappeared. Ryo watched as Maleficent put an arm around her shoulder and jumped at first then looked up at her after having dropped the controller.
"Come, I will show you to your room," she turned and looked at Riku who nodded to her and he left as Maleficent started walking with the nervous girl to her room. "When I saw your necklace, I realized what potential you had," she continued.
"Potential?" she asked.
"I didn't mention it before but lately I've been considering acquiring an apprentice. Of course it will be awhile before I leave this world, or rather 'reality' and so far I have no one to continue in my footsteps. It would be a shame for such power to be gone due to some technicalities." When Maleficent looked down at the girl again she was a bit confused by what she was trying to mean by "technicalities". But the young girl's expression changed when she soon realized what she meant; after all, Maleficent technically didn't have any children so there was no one to succeed after her. (hmm, let's see how many more times I can say technically..*sees angry audience w/ weapons of slow and painful death* Or maybe not) "At first," she continued, "I thought Riku would have been a good choice but he just doesn't have what it takes to make a good sorcerer. He apparently dislikes me as well even after I had said he was like a son to me, but that feeling is starting to disappear, for now. But a sorceress would probably be a better choice," she looked down at her for her response.
"Me? But I thought I was going to train with Riku to be a better swordswoman? Even though he hasn't seen what I've got." she mumbled.
"Excuse me?"
"Oh, n-nothing. And besides, what does my necklace have to do with my potential?"
"You said you received it from a dragon am I right?"
"Yes."
"What color was it?"
"Black." she paused for a moment thinking about Maleficent's alter ego but waited for her to speak again.
"I see, black dragons have a special connection with magic. They are like guardians of a raw source of black magic. For one to have a connection with a black dragon is an amazing feat alone. That necklace the dragon gave you is a symbol of such magic and their loyal protection over you. If you were to receive this then you have the means of mastering black magic no matter how strong. It is fortunate for you that I, the Mistress of all Evil, am giving you an opportunity to master the most powerful of such black magic."
The girl stopped immediately and looked at the ground trying to grasp for air after her shock. "Whoa, this dream is getting really too out of hand."
"Dream?" she chuckled with a smile and stopped in front of the girl. "Apparently you must've hit your head when you had fallen. This is not a dream, this is very much real. Though I can understand with so many things happening at once it's no wonder you are confused."
"What? But, this is so.so.well, it's just not possible for this to happen to me, so it must be a dream."
"Fine, if you don't believe me why not find out for yourself," she smirked and said with a light chuckle "You could always see if you can feel pain if the landing didn't hurt, why not try pricking yourself and see if that hurts?"
Ryo gave a nervous chuckle and responded with "No offense, but hearing that from you tells me that that would not be the best solution. If I were to do that then I might never wake up from my sleep heh heh." She gave a weak smile and noticed Maleficent knew exactly what she meant but was a little bit surprised.
"You know about my curse even from your world?"
"Yes, in fact I know the history of many of these worlds. In my world these were all movies made by or inspired by a man named Walt Disney. In my world we refer almost everything to his movies so my knowledge of your world and part of it's past can come to quite a shock. But what about my training with Riku?"
"Well, you will train under Riku and I. For one to master magic and handle a sword is practically a person who can be invincible, if taught by the right people," she continued walking with Ryo and went up into a tower where she stopped at a door and pulling out a black key from an unseen pocket in the folds of her robes, unlocked it and opened it nudging Ryo inside the dimly lighted room. The girl turned around and could only see Maleficent's pale complexion and the dark glow from the crystal orb on her staff which crepted her out a little. "I'll give you until the morning for you to make your decision," her face changed to a smirk before she left and said with a dreadful tone of voice, "Pleasant dreams." she said as she closed the door. Ryo heard a click and instantly realized she had been locked in but was too tired at the moment to really care.
Before she went to bed she walked over to the mirror and examined herself carefully. She looked from her reflection to herself and then back to the mirror. With her sword in hand she took off the glove on her other hand with her teeth and tossed it on the bed. The blade was held against a finger and made a slit causing Ryo to make a slightly hurt face and starred at the blood dripping down her finger before sucking it up. She looked at her finger again and could feel the throbbing pain in it. Soon a loud scream could be heard through out the halls of Hallow Bastion. It made Maleficent stop in her tracks and she couldn't help but smile realizing the girl finally came to realize her theory was wrong and resumed walking to her room. Riku who knew which room the scream came from went to Ryo's door and pressed his ear against it and listened after his attempts to go in failed.
"This can't be happening!" said the voice. "But this isn't dream! Why did I change? This isn't who I am; this is a character I made up. Why am I even here? Why am I even helping bad guys? Who am I talking to? It's not like anyone is listening to me. But why did I change?" Ryo paced in her room and dug her hands into her pockets. She stopped when her hand felt something even through her gloved hand and pulled out a piece of folded paper and opened it to see what was in it. There was a picture of her, the old her, in it. She was standing slightly slouched with her hands on her hips smirking at the viewer.
"This is the drawing I made in class! At least the pose is the same, but that's the real me in there instead of -...I think I understand now.but then again.." She sighed and smirked shaking her head from side to side. "And to think I even got a stupid cartoon crush on." she shook her head again and sighed. "Well, at least I understand now, I think. I better get some sleep, last time I checked it was probably 3 in the morning," she yawned and took off her head band, gloves, boots, belt, bra, and took out the elastic band holding her hair back and put it on the nightstand next to her bed and climbed under the covers of the clothe and fur bed and thought "Maybe when I wake up I'll be back in the orphanage with those other girls and this will all go away..maybe." she fell asleep after looking out the window and feeling relieved from seeing the same night sky she did in her home world.
Riku had started heading back to his room and right before he fell asleep he thought out loud, "What the heck is a cartoon crush?"
^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^# ^#^#^#^#^#^# Yeah, I know, this chapter is much longer than the first one, well to me at least. Not much to say right now except for the usual plead for reviews and my threats to stalk and plague those who have read but didn't review..or was it I was going to send something else to stalk them and infect their computers?...I know! I'll do both! MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!......uhh h, yeah..*yawns* Ok, small excuse for brain needs sleepy time now goodnight minna-san! *falls over on a randomly placed air mattress and falls asleep* mmmmmm, comfffffyyyyyyyyyyy....
