Knowledge of a Foe
The party now departed, going to their separate destinations. Sneer, Lu Xun, and Goten bid their farewell and departed back to Oceansburg, the capital city of the Universal Alliance. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy went off to have their gummy ship repaired and resupplied.
"It would only take about fifteen minutes." Mickey implied before he left. Thus, Riku and Sora were left to wait. The two stood by the gates, awaiting their comrades to retrieve them. Sora leaned against the wall.
"Once again, we go on another quest to find our dearest friend." he uttered.
"Damn that Arakis!" said Riku. "It's because of him and his scummy organization that Kairi was taken from us. He'll pay dearly for what he's done."
"Perhaps it is because of your own failure that your friend was taken from you." a voice suddenly rang out.
"Who's there?" asked Sora. Then, from out of the shadows, appeared a very familiar individual.
"Lord Thundro." said Riku. "What are you doing here?"
"You decided to listen to my advice didn't you."-
"What is it that you want?"-
"I have come to help you out, my friends."-
"You!" Riku scoffed again. "You're an Imperial! How do we know you're worth trusting!"
"Despite all that I've done for you and your friends, you still dare to show such disrespect!" chuckled Thundro. "Well, if I encountered a man dressed in an Imperial uniform, I'd probably react the same way. You say if you can trust me, or not. But I say, you have no other choice in the matter because I'm the only one who can help you. Who do you think gave you all that knowledge about the Cavendish Shinobis?"
"You." said Sora. "You were the anonymous source which gave Sneer all that information."
"What's your motivation anyway?" asked Riku. "You're a top lord of the Dark Empire. Yet you betray them by giving us information. But as the same time, you don't want to fight for our cause either. What are you after?"
"I do this so that I can find my own identity." said Thundro. "Perhaps you don't realize it, but there is more to my motive than meets the eye. Can you imagine living for ten thousand years and realize that you are not who you think you are? For that extensive period of time, I was taught the ways of the empire. I was raised to serve, fight and die for her glory. I would give my life to her without question. However, what I didn't realize was that I was not one of a kind. I had in fact been someone else in a different life. The Dark Empire concealed my lost past, hoping that I would never look for the truth." Thundro walked just a few feet outside the gate and looked at the stars in the clear night sky. "I am a clone. A clone of a warrior who's been long since dead and is still alive to this day. I am the opposite of the young warrior who fought alongside you against General Kai."
"What?" the two youths said.
"You mean you're Goten's clone?" asked Sora. "So is Goten even older than you?"
"The Goten that you met was not the same Goten. The one which I was cloned from came from a different time. I shall tell you the story." Thundro began to reveal what had occurred ten millennia ago. "What happened was that Goku, Goten's father, had been seduced by a great evil and went on a rampage of death and destruction. He had found his way back through time, to when the Empire was still young. And when Goku entered the space-time continuum, so did Goten and a few other members of the Z team. In the fight against this evil Goku, all the Z fighters who tried to stop him, including Goten, were killed. But because of our talent, Lord Arakis, who also happens to be the ancestor of Goku and Goten, took it within his power to take genetic samples from the bodies of the some of the slain Z fighters and clone them into an elite fighting task force. Therefore, I have come to be because of that. I was brainwashed to think that everyone who opposed the empire was evil. But because we took on the task of killing so many just to expand our influence as well as our borders, I started to think that we were taking this too far. That we were murdering billions for no other reason than to eliminate the possible threats to the empire. When I stumbled upon top secret documents regarding my past and found out that I was merely a clone of someone else, I began to question if this was what I was really supposed to be. At the same time, I wanted all this to end so that I could see the Dark Empire at the pinnacle of its peak. But I began to notice that many of the top lords of the Empire began to discard with the old traditional codes of honor. The very codes that made the empire unique. Lord Cavendish was amongst them. It angered me enough to see that my comrades were tossing out the old way which I had deemed sacred and a way of life, but when Lord Cavendish decided to expand further into other dimensional realms, when I was hoping that it was enough, I made my decision that I could no longer return to the Dark Empire. She was no longer the empire of my birth. And because I have turned my sword against the empire, I can no longer return to her ranks. For I know the penalty for traitors. The events of this night have made that clear."
"We had no idea." said Sora.
"I've carried off the subject for too long. The reason why I meet you like this is because I have something for both of you." Thundro reached into his pocket and took out what looked like a machine capsule with a number two on it. "This is a capsule which contains your new wardrobe. If you intend to enter Imperial territory, it's best that you disguise yourselves so that you may appear and disappear at will. Shadows are mush harder to detect when in darkness." He handed it to Riku. "Your wardrobes have your names so you won't get either mixed up."
"We appreciate this." said Riku.
"How can we repay you?" asked Sora.
"Simply by preventing the Empire from further expanding into other realms." Thundro replied. "And these are also for you. I thought that I'd hand them over to you myself. It is a tradition, by the old Imperial code of honor, to do so." Thundro reached from behind him and handed each youth a sword. The swords' hilts were gold plated and placed in black sheaths. "I don't think you can go into battle without a weapon. These are Imperial fencing katanas. The strongest in the universe."
Sora took the sword out of his sheath. The blade was bright, glimmering like a mirror, reflecting the bright lights of the stars. Riku unsheathed his and found an inscription upon the base of the blade, embedded with gold. The words were:
"Maldarf Selorian Volck Stun Veri Maya"
Honor and strength lead to one's victory and truth.
"Consider this an honor from me." said Thundro. "No one has ever been given such a rare gift. These swords take years to make, to ensure their strength and durability. So only the best of the best can receive them. To be given such a weapon is truly an honor."
"We will use these swords to their full advantage and I swear that we will take good care of them." said Riku.
"It's so light." said Sora. He gently flicked at the blade with his thumb. The blade was sharper than a razor. "And sharp."
"I'm glad that you like them so." said Thundro. "But enough with the admiration of these fine weapons. I have more pressing information regarding the seven members of the Cavendish Shinobis." The two key bearers looked up at him suddenly and gently sheathed their swords back into their scabbards.
"Tell us." said Riku. "What must we know about the Cavendish Shinobis?"
"As you know there are seven altogether. Each mastering a particular element of the seven elemental arts. First, there is Isis, master of ice. He has the capability to freeze anything rock solid. He can tolerate all cold temperatures and can accumulate ice climates to seven hundred degrees below zero. He can cause blizzards, snow storms, and is known for freezing and entire region into submission."
"Is he the weakest of the seven?" asked Sora.
"He is the weakest alright. The next in line is Horus, master of water. He can control the will of water. He is also very agile in water. So the one thing you must avoid is fighting him in an watery environment. He can create flash floods, maelstroms, tidal waves, and torrents. Horus is also known for flooding out an entire countryside, drowning all its inhabitants."-
"He doesn't seem very dangerous."-
"That's where you're wrong. He can manipulate water to travel at four hundred miles and hour. A speed that could pierce through steel if concentrated into one spot. The next member is Anubis, master of fire. He can accumulate temperatures up to six million degrees, incinerating everything he touches. At times, he can be completely unapproachable because he can withstand so much heat." Thundro leaned next to the wall, continuing his lecture. "Then comes Osiris, master of wind. Like Horus and Isis, his capabilities are based on extensive devastation. He can created hurricanes, typhoons, and tornados at an immeasurable scale. His manipulation of wind is so thorough and precise that he can even create sonic booms."
"A guy who can manipulate the very air we breathe? Scary." said Sora.
"Who's next on the list?" asked Riku.
"Then comes Caesar." Thundro continued. "He is the master of soil, like plate tectonics and seismic activity, he can cause quakes that can shake entire planets apart. He has the ability to use solid granite as projectiles. And because Caesar is also made of rock, he can merge himself into any type of rock he wants. So he can perform ambushes against his opponent at will. Then there comes Kahn. Second in command of the Cavendish Shinobis and master of the dark element. Darkness can corrupt and deteriorate any life. Therefore, Kahn knows how to manipulate darkness, using it for offensive and defensive maneuvers. He can create a think fog of darkness, concealing himself completely. Or he can use the darkness to sap energy away from his opponent. He has grasped the power of darkness so well that he has also been dubbed "The Heartless King."
"What about the last guy?" asked Riku.
"The final man who is the leader of the Cavendish Shinobis is one whom you've already encountered and fought in the second district."-
"General Kai!" said the two young warriors.
"And he is the most dangerous out of them all. He is the master of light. And we're not talking pure light, but destructive light. Electricity to say the least and bright flashes that can completely deprive a foe of their eyesight. And because he is master of light, he can travel at the speed of light, making him hard to catch. But it is not because he has mastered the power of destructive light that he is dangerous, but because he has mastered all seven elements and has learned how to combine each to make different devastating attacks. The techniques that he displayed in your previous battle are tiny compared to what you'll have to face later on."
"After what we saw, that guy must be invincible, or something." said Sora.
"He must have a weakness somewhere though." Riku added.
"He has one weakness." Thundro continued. "As ruthless as he is, Kai is also a chivalrous man and likes to test his full capabilities against a foe in a one on one fight. Declare to fight him one on one and he will accept every time. That is his single weakness, not being able to let down a one on one fight. The only thing you have to do is defeat him."
"You can't expect us to fight one on one with this guy." Sora protested. "He's too powerful even for us."
"We won't know until we try, Sora." said Riku.
"The secret behind defeating him is to learn and master as many new techniques as possible." Thundro advised. "You will learn new techniques by experiencing them for yourselves. The most important ones you must learn are those of the seven elements. When you defeat each of the Cavendish Shinobis, you would have gained more experience and learned another technique. The more you concentrate on your new techniques, the stronger you will become. So that is one of your top priorities. Gain as much battle experience as possible. Only then can you fight against Kai." It was then that the gummy ship appeared before the gates.
"Hey Riku, Sora!" cried Mickey from the cockpit. "We got to go!"
"We have to go." said Sora. "Thank you for your..." But as he soon as he turned to thank Thundro, the lord had disappeared without a trace.
"Let's move it." said Riku. "Thundro will come back."
The two boarded the gummy ship and blasted off to their destination, not knowing that the former dark lord was watching them from a rooftop spire.
"I wish you the best of luck." Thundro uttered to himself. "Let your paths guide you in the right direction, just as mine has."
