Reversal: Showdown
(standard disclaimers apply, in other words, I don't own Riku, Sora or any of the other KH characters.)
Discouraged, Riku sat down on the sand beach, unable to appreciate the tranquillity of the ocean before him.
A golden shimmer spread itself across the horizon as the sun gently excused itself from the sky's canvas. A wind from across the waters washed across the beach and blew over Riku, making his untied hair a tangled mess of silver. The day's departure heralded the entrance of the moon, appearing as just a slip of silver amidst the backdrop of crystal stars.
Oblivious of the beauty of nature, Riku's mind was shrouded with thoughts and emotions of the past week.
He was missing his shadow.
If the realisation occurred to him a week ago, Riku would have sighed in relief. However, after his conversation with Kairi, Riku was anxious to confront Sora instead of avoiding the latter like before.
After sorting out his thoughts and feelings, Riku decided to act on impulse and paid a visit to Sora's home. The boy had cautiously scaled the tree leading to the second story window of his best friend's house. But when his sharp eyes took in the disaster that was Sora's room, Riku could not find who he was looking for. Which was surprising since it was almost two in the morning and that Sora had never been one to be awake at such an ungodly hour. Understandably disappointed and partially confused, Riku slipped down the tree and went back home, resolving to find Sora the next morning.
Yet, despite his determination, Sora proved to be more elusive than expected, as he remained missing throughout the rest of the week. Riku was positive that he had searched every nook and cranny that could possibly serve as a hideout for Sora. He was even reduced to asking everyone he saw whether they had seen Sora, something that was challenging for Riku who was famous for his quiet aloofness.
Riku felt a sense of helplessness, as he never expected something like this to occur. Although he himself was guilty for treating Sora similarly, Riku could never stay hidden for long as the other boy would be able to find him no matter where he tried to hide. It was as if Sora had the ability to know where he was. Riku felt frustrated, and quite ashamed, at not being able to do the same.
Yet, if Riku was not so caught up in his blind search for his missing friend, he might have noticed that Sora's disappearance was not the only thing amiss on the island…
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"Ne, Sora… Do you really think this would work?"
Selphie eyed the boy who was crouching beside her. She would gladly do anything to help out a friend. However, she was not so sure that the plan Sora had came up with would be a success as it seemed totally cliche and ridiculous. When Sora had first proposed the plan to her, she thought that it was really sweet and romantic. But now that she has more time to think about it, Selphie realised that it might not really work out because of the simple fact that Riku was involved.
Just as Selphie was about to open her mouth to convince Sora to give up, as they were about to embark on a suicide mission, part one of the plan kicked into action.
Sora signalled for Selphie to quiet down before turning to watch three masked men creep from different directions towards the lone figure on the beach. Scary music from those horror movies flooded Selphie's imagination and served as background music to the scene being played before her. It didn't help that it was well into the night, making things around them hard to see with only the slim moon as the only light source.
She felt cold sweat run down her back when one masked stranger grabbed Riku from behind. Beside her, Sora bit down on his bottom lip to keep himself from shouting a warning to Riku. After all, things were going according to what was planned…
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… Riku's guard was down when someone suddenly grabbed him from behind and immobilised his movements by pinning his arms firmly behind his back.
Green eyes flashed in annoyance but their owner did struggle against the unexpected restrain. Instead, Riku calmly questioned, "What do you want?"
Another two masked men circled their prey before one of them, presumably the leader of the trio, stepped forward. Riku's eyes narrowed. The man was tall and there were not many islanders with such height. The dark made it hard to notice any details of the stranger's face that was not covered by a Zorro-like half mask. However, the snide curve of his lips did not escape Riku's shrewd observations.
"What do you think, pretty boy?"
Riku clenched his jaw, not amused by the thug's description of his appearance. As riled as Riku was, his voice reflected a cool calmness, retorting, "Are you jealous of my beauty?"
The ocean breeze drowned a deep laughter as the masked leader displayed his amusement vocally. Tapping two fingers against his mask, the man replied, "This face fairs well enough with the ladies. I don't need a pretty face like yours to make them jealous."
The third thug, who had been standing behind his leader like a faithful guard dog, stepped forth and whispered something to his superior.
"Ah… it seems that I have been sidetracked. We haven't been properly introduced have we? I apologize," The man bowed mockingly before continuing, "These two fine men and I are but humble kidnappers. We wish to make some livelihood by capturing a ransom like you. We hope to have your cooperation in our endeavour."
Rolling his eyes at the stranger's passionate speech of his vocation, Riku scoffed, "I am rich, not stupid. Trying to sweet talk me into cooperating with you? What makes you think that you would be able to actually kidnap me?"
"It's three against one. The odds are not exactly in your favour." The man flicked his wrist and Riku felt the hold around his lower arms tighten.
Enough was enough, Riku dig his elbows his captor's gut and pulled an arm free. The man that held Riku down didn't expect such a manoeuvre. The next thing he knew was that his face was buried in the sandy ground. Another masked man immediately rushed to restrain Riku but was easily knocked out with a left hook and body flip. He too tasted the salty grains of sand.
It was down to Riku and the trio's leader. Unlike his lackeys, the remaining masked man radiated an aura of battle, the sign of a highly skilled fighter. And Riku knew that the man before him would not be an easy opponent.
The atmosphere was tense as Riku's gaze was locked with those across him. Neither took action. They were waiting for the right moment…
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Sora waited for his cue to appear as the knight in shining armor, but it never came. However, there were more important things on his mind. Like how Riku had just tossed two men, both who were easily twice his weight, over his shoulders as if they were empty sacks and knocked the wind out of them.
He was too absorbed with watching the unexpected chain of events unfold to notice that his jaw was unhinged, leaving his mouth open to form a neat oval shape. He looked absolutely ridiculous with the shocked, bordering on mortified, expression plastered on his face. The girl beside him faired no better as she was also surprised with what had just occurred before her and her eyes were as wide as teacup saucers.
It was Selphie who first snapped out of her stunned stupor. She instinctively turned and latched onto Sora's left arm, shaking him as viciously as she could while frantically asking, "Whatarewegoingdo!They'regoingtofight!Ohdear!"
"Ah… uhm… …I..I don…don't… know…" Sora stuttered a reply as he finally caught Selphie's anxious gaze. They both continued to stare at each other, as if the answer to their dilemma would magically appear out of thin air for them.
Suddenly, there was a loud splash, which prompted Sora to stumble out of his hiding place, with Selphie in tow.
What happened next caused one of them to scream, and the other to faint…
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Before anyone could make clear on what the blazes was going on, a frighteningly high-pitched wail rang out to haunt to silent night. It was not a lost banshee or a fire alarm that caused the deafening noise. The scream belonged to no one other than the island sweetheart, Selphie.
She started regretting her decision to help Sora the moment she found herself hiding together with Sora in the abandoned seaside shack to spy on Riku. If not for her helping Sora, she would not have lost her 'innocence'… her blissful ignorance… her… her… 'purity'!
Hence, nobody could really blame Selphie for lashing out her 'pain' in the form of a pitiful howl that probably ended up waking everyone on the island. She would have continued to 'sing' of her loss if not for an annoyed yell that went along the lines of, "Shut up, Selphie! OR I will make sure it will be the last time you ever make a squeak!"
A man who looked to be around a good five years older than Selphie issued the threat. Selphie barely dared to make a peep as she carefully avoided looking at the reason for her distress, which was not coincidentally the person who handed her the death note.
Irvine shook his head and beads of salt water flew off the tips of his wet hair. His mask had been ripped off his face and now laid on the wet sand… along with the rest of his clothes.
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While Selphie and Sora were obsessed with panicking, they missed the scene whereby Riku cleverly dodged Irvine's rugby assault. After which, Irvine swiftly twisted around to aim a right hook at the younger boy but was blocked off by an defensive forearm that easily blocked off the attack. The next attack came from Riku who delivered Irvine a neat kick in the stomach and another that the latter was barely able to avoid by side stepping to the left in pain. The younger boy reached out and easily grabbed the mask off Irvine's face and smirked as he commented, "My my, you are not that ugly after all!"
Riku grinned as his gaze mocked his failed kidnapper who was hunched over from the pain. Irvine cursed rather eloquently as he clutched his stomach, wondering how a kid who was half his size could be capable of delivering such a powerful blow. The man then realized that Selphie's description of her silver haired friend was terribly misleading as Riku was obviously not was weak as she and Sora portrayed him to be. Hence, Irvine shrugged off his heavy outer coat and unbuttoned his inner shirt. He ditched his playful stance and adopted a more serious approach, careful not to underestimate his opponent anymore.
As a trained fighter, Riku could easily sense the change in Irvine's attitude towards the situation and he smiled, glad that the man was finally taking him seriously. He felt the adrenaline rush warm his blood as he prepared for the next attack that came in the form of a rapid series of punches and kicks. But Riku was more than capable of blocking off the assaults and he calmly stopped Irvine in mid attack by grabbing the latter's silver belt buckle and hurled his opponent into the water.
It all happened in a matter of a few minutes and when Irvine landed in the ocean with a satisfying splash, it lured Selphie and Sora out of their hiding place.
Irvine staggered to an upright position and felt like a drowned rodent, like a half-naked mole rat to be more specific. The reason for his situation lay in Riku's hands as the boy had conveniently 'forgot' to let go of the belt he had hold of and Irvine literally fled out of his pants. The only clothes left on Irvine was a pair of cotton boxers and his linen shirt that ended up being plastered onto him like a second skin due to his foray into the ocean waters.
Hence, when Selphie stumbled out into the open, the first thing that met her eyes was Irvine's less than decent appearance, which promptly shattered her 'innocence' eyes. A more world-wise woman might have appreciated the sight of Irvine's buff body, but Selphie still a little too young to be ready for such 'exciting' imagery yet and she feared that she would never recover from her shock. Thus, she felt compelled to let out that heart-wrenching wail.
As for Sora, he only remembered feeling the blood rush fast into head, making him dizzy and it only took a sec of Selphie's screaming to cause him to blackout. Between the nanoseconds of consciousness and oblivion, he felt a familiar warmth surround him. It was Riku. He had instinctively rushed forth to cushion Sora's fall.
Dcal's Note: I promise that I will finish this very very soon. And I know that Irvine is supposed to be the same age as Selphie but I am making the assumption that if he was in KH, he would be like Leon etc...more would be explained in the next chapter as his relationship with Selphie will 'come to light'. And don't worry, I haven't forgotten that Riku and Sora are the main characters of the story! This is actually the second last chapter and the next update will be the ending! Thanks for the reviews people! I love reviews! -hint hint-