Kingdom Hearts

The Wandering Keyblade Master

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Squaresoft, Disney, Final Fantasy, etc. I apologizes all who are even remotely insulted by this fanfic too. All original ideas belong to me, those who wish to use my characters must ask permission first, and probably will get it.

Chapter 3: Training and Fun

After Zero got the report and the book, everyone went to Cid's house in the third district. After everyone had glanced through both reports, they started talking.

Leon: "This index is remarkable. The monster's name, its strength, how much certain spells and attacks affect it, what you can get after you beat it, and what percentage of the chances of getting which said item are. This must have taken years to make. Just how many people wrote this book?"

Zero: "…I don't know when it was written, but I did update it not long ago with my handy wrist watch computer. It can record tests and battles and can even calculate percentages easily. I understand if it's hard to believe that some kid could have updated this report this efficiently in 2 years, much less at all, I wouldn't blame you if you don't believe me, but then I don't exactly care anyways either."

Leon: "… How reliable is this book? Each Defender you beat, you got a rare item that, according to this, had a 2 percent chance, or less, to get one of these items."

Zero: "It's very reliable. As I traveled from world to world, I gained new abilities, and item abilities, that help in battle. One in particular, called Lucky Strike, helps boost the chances of getting a rare item from an enemy by about 12 percent. I've got 7 Lucky Strikes right now, so it's only natural that my chances of getting rare items look good."

Yuffie: "Man you're lucky. Where do you get those? We could use some of those around here."

Zero: "Found most of them in treasure chests on other worlds. I'd go back to search for more, but each of those worlds were taken by the heartless not long after I arrived there. By the way, where's the keyhole to this town? The sooner it's found, the sooner a defense can be mounted up around it."

Aerith: "You don't need to worry about that here. This world is sealed already."

Zero: "What? But I thought only someone with a Keyblade could seal worlds."

Leon: "That's true. Some kid named Sora has a Keyblade. He sealed this world already, and is currently sealing other worlds as we speak."

Zero: "I don't know if I should be relieved or worried about some kid sealing up the worlds,"

Yuffie: "Things did look grim at first. Sora barely beat Squall, and then needed help to beat the Guard Armor. But with each world he goes to, he gets stronger. But I have to agree with you about being worried now. These new heartless nearly… the point is, is that he'll need to do some serious training to beat these guys."

Zero: "Who is this Squall person? He must have been pretty weak to lose to some kid like that." He noticed that Yuffie and Aerith were giggling like mad, and that Leon wasn't looking to happy at the moment.

Yuffie: "Squall is Leon's real name. He only uses his new name because he thinks he should have been able to stop the heartless from taking over our world. He's ashamed of himself for being beaten so easily, so he wanted to start over. That's when Leon was born. Leon claims that he went easy on Sora, and that's why he lost." Leon gives a small grunt.

Zero: "Oh, …I see." He says. 'That explains a lot. Then again, I'm not much different myself either.' He thinks. Aerith suddenly looks at him with a sparkle in her eyes.

Aerith: "You said you traveled to different worlds right?"

Zero: "Yeah, why?"

Aerith: You didn't happen to meet someone named Cloud, did you? He has blond spiked up hair, a red cape, and a big sword. Did you see him?"

Zero: "Let me think for a sec. ……… I think so. Some guy signed up named Cloud over at the Coliseum not to long ago. He beat some kid, a duck, and a walking dog thing in the preliminary rounds, or he would have if Cerberus hadn't entered the ring and stepped on him." He would have continued but at that point, Aerith walked over to him, grabbed by the collar, and started shaking him around.

Aerith: "What do you mean, he got stepped on. Who is Cerberus? How could he step on my Cloud? Is he alright? Why didn't you help him?" She continued to ramble on until Yuffie pulled her off Zero.

Yuffie: "Sorry about that. Aerith and Cloud are lovers, and we all got separated during the heartless invasion, and Aerith has been worried sick about him."

Zero: Takes a few breaths. "…So I've noticed." He turns to Aerith. "Cerberus is a giant 3 headed dog that guards the door to the underworld. He was probably ordered to do so by Hades, the Lord of the underworld. I didn't help him because that world's hero, Hercules, saved him. After wearing Cerberus down, that kid came back and finished him off. After he left, the kid met up with Cloud at the exit. He looked alright to me. They talked for a few minutes. Heard Cloud had tried to do something with the powers of darkness, and it backfired. He got lost in the darkness. He lost sight of his light, and was searching for it ever sense. The kid said he was searching for his own light too. Cloud told him not to lose sight of it, and he gave him an item ability, then walked off. That's all I know." Aerith stood there for a second, then turned to Cid.

Aerith: "Cid, can I borrow a gummi ship? I need to know if it really is Cloud or not." She starred at him intensely.

Cid: "What are ya crazy woman? I can't let ya go all…" He trailed off when he noticed the stare. "Fine, you can go. But only if someone goes with ya, someone that can take care of ya and my ship." With this said, Aerith looked at everyone in the room with pleading eyes.

Leon: "…I'll take her."

All: "What?"

Leon: "I've got some things I need to think about anyways, this seems like the best chance. …All this assuming a certain someone doesn't leave town while I'm gone."

Zero: "I'll stick around for a while. This seems like my kind of place anyways."

Aerith: "Alright then! It's settled! Lets go!" She ran out the door.

Zero: Whispers to Yuffie. "Does she always act like she's sugar high when it comes to Cloud, or is this new?"

Yuffie: Whispers back. "This is a new high for her, I just hope for all our sakes it is the Cloud she's searching for."

Zero: "Do I want to know what will happen if we're wrong?"

Yuffie: "No. We should pray just in case, though. She may seem nice, but when angry, she could scare several soldier heartless away. And that did happen, by the way."

Zero: "… Lovely." 'I can do that easily enough, but when a woman can do that, it's just asking for trouble to mess her.'

Leon: "I best get going, don't want her to get too mad. Mind giving me the keys Cid?"

Cid: "Here ya go. Do us a favor, call first if it's not him, Kay? Gives us a chance to hide and barricade the doors, right?"

Leon: "Noted." Leon took the keys and walked out the door.

Cid: "I gotta get back to the shop. Never know when some new customers might drop in, right?"

Yuffie: "Yeah, your right. Go ahead and play with your toys old man. Zero and I'll be fine on our own."

Cid: "Whatever you say KID." At this, Yuffie gave a small pout. Grinning, Cid walked out the door."

Yuffie: "…I hate it when people call me kid."

Zero: "So I've noticed. Calling him an old man doesn't faze him much, does it?"

Yuffie: "No, not really. I can't think of anything else to call him that would get him to…to…"

Zero: "Flip his lid?"

Yuffie: "Something like that."

Zero: "… Just call him an old fart. That should get something out of him. Its always worked for me."

Yuffie: "… Old fart!" At this, she starts laughing. "Why didn't I think of that. Hey, maybe you could help me come up with some more stuff like that, huh, huh?"

Zero: "Why not, I just need to grab my stuff from Merlin's place. I'd stay there, but the place is to old and dusty."

Yuffie: "You can check into the hotel in the second district. That's where we're staying."

Zero: "I think I will." So after turning off the lights and gathering their things, Yuffie and Zero left for Merlin's place. As they were rounding a corner, they came upon some shadows and soldiers, ready to attack. Yuffie got ready to fight, but Zero put a hand on her shoulder. He then glared at the heartless. Just like last time, they vanished in a puff of black smoke.

Yuffie: "How did you do that? Leon glares at them all the time, but it doesn't do jack squat."

Zero: " It's a gift." He stated. They both continued to Merlin's house, Zero picked up his things, and they left for the hotel. When they got there, Zero checked into the blue room at the end of the hotel. It was similar to the red room, a king sized bed, a mirror and a dresser. It also had a door to the balcony as well.

Yuffie: "Not a bad place you got here."

Zero: "It'll do."

Yuffie: "So… any ideas of what to do to Squall?"

Zero: " Just call Cid an old fart while he's drinking something. He'll probably spit it out all over himself. If that doesn't work, just put a whoopee cushion under his pillow. That'll give him a good wake up call in the middle of the night."

Yuffie: "I'll try that out. Thanks Zero, you seem to be used to this kind of thing."

Zero: "Yeah, I've had some practice."

Yuffie: "Speaking of which, I think I'll try out these new shuriken you gave me."

Zero: "Hold on. Remember what I said earlier?"

Yuffie: "No."

Zero: "(Sigh) You should rest up for at least a day first before you begin training again."

Yuffie: "No way! I'm not about to lie around in bed all day long when there's a town to protect. Besides, I feel fine. Heh, Leon and Aerith say that I'm always energetic even when I'm tired, so I'll be ok."

Zero: "…Fine…but I'm coming with you. You still haven't fully recovered from yesterday completely, regardless of what say. Besides, with me there, you'll stand a better chance of getting rare items."

Yuffie: "Oh, okay. Have it your way." Yuffie and Zero left the hotel and jumped into the town square. They met 4 Wizards and 4 Green Requiems.

Zero: "Stoptron!" All of the heartless froze in place. "Gravitron!" An orb of black energy came down upon 2 Wizards and 2 Requiems. They burst into the usual hp and munny balls, with 2 big cases and 2 little ones. Each case had 1 blue and 1 red. Yuffie jumped into the air and fired 6 shuriken at the remaining heartless. 2 hit per Wizard, while the remaining 2 hit 1 Requiem each. After a moment, they also burst into red cases, hp and munny ball.

Yuffie: "Look at all this stuff! 3 bright shards, 3 shiny crystals, a protera chain, and a Wizard's Relic, not to mention how powerful these shuriken are! Is this what your Lucky Strike ability does?"

Zero: "Yeah. By the way, those shuriken are only as powerful as the one who uses them is, and with what's inside as well. The true you."

Yuffie: "Amazing. Looks like Squall was wrong about how weak I was."

Zero: "I think he knew how strong you really were all along. He only just says those things to keep you from becoming to overconfident."

Yuffie: "…Maybe. Lets go see if we can get anything else around here."

Zero: "You read my mind." Zero and Yuffie traveled around the second district for a good 2 hours, beating Darkballs ( Giant black and purple-ish floating heads with antennae) , Defenders, Wizards, Wyverns ( Small red dragon like heartless), and Green Requiems. They got several items, leveled up a few levels, and had an overall good work out. They were currently resting near the fountain when Sora, Donald, and Goofy walked in.

Sora: "Hey Yuffie, Leon, you guys out here?" He yelled.

Yuffie: "Down by the fountain." Sora and his gang walked down to meet them.

Sora: "Hey Yuffie, what's up? You look like you had a real workout. Hey, who are you?"

Zero: "Just call me Zero."

Sora: "Oh, well nice to meet you. I'm Sora, this is Donald, and he's Goofy."

Donald & Goofy: "Hello."

Sora: "So Yuffie… is he your boyfriend?"

Zero & Yuffie: "No!" Both blushing.

Sora: "Ok, just checking. You two look like you would make a cute couple."

Zero: Still blushing "…Whatever. So you're the new Keyblade Wielder I've heard about?"

Sora: Excitedly "You mean you've heard of me?"

Zero: "Yeah, your that guy that got beat in the finals of the preliminary match tournament over at the Coliseum, and only passed by beating a worn down Cerberus, right?"

Sora: 'Ouch' "Something like… wait a sec, Cerberus wasn't worn down. We took him down at full strength."

Zero: "Then what was Hercules doing while you were lollygagging around, huh? It took him about a minute to get Cloud out from under its paw, so what happened in the meantime?"

Sora: "Umm…"

Zero: "I thought so. Don't worry about it. In time you might be able to beat him at full strength. You should start training here against the new heartless in town. Beating them should help you level up quite a bit."

Sora: "New heartless?"

Zero: (sigh) "Just walk over there and be prepared to face some Defenders."

Sora: "Defenders? Whatever, we'll beat them easy, right guys?"

Donald & Goofy: "Right!" They walk over to where Zero pointed and came face to face with 3 Defenders. After 2 minutes of fighting, Donald and Goofy were knocked out while Sora landed in the fountain. He stood up with a groan only to slip and fall back in.

Zero: "I'll finish this." He rushed the Defenders and took them out in 30 seconds flat. Sora just sat there, in the fountain, with his mouth open. "I'd get some rest if I were you, then go to the Coliseum to enter the Phil cup that's starting up. Once you manage to beat it in the time restricted mode, come see me. I have some weapons your friends could use." It was at this moment that Leon, Aerith, and Cloud walked in and saw Sora in the fountain, Donald and Goofy unconscious and off to the side, Yuffie laughing her head off pointing at Sora, and Zero standing in the center of the town square.

Leon: "…What happened here?"

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A few hours later at the café…

Aerith: "Sounds like you guys had a good time while we were gone." That brought a few smirks to the table.

Zero: "Yeah, maybe, but probably not as much fun as you'll be having tonight, right." He said after taking a bite of his sandwich. Aerith blushed a deep red, Cloud had small tints of red on his cheeks, Leon chuckled a little, Cid and Yuffie laughed (a rare sight), Donald and Goofy were busy eating and didn't hear him, while Sora had a confused look on his face.

Sora: "Umm… What do you mean by that?" Aerith's blush got even more red, Cloud was now fully blushing, Leon, Yuffie, Zero, and Cid just laughed, Donald and Goofy still ate their meals not paying attention to anything else.

Yuffie: Pinching Sora's cheeks "Well aren't you such the innocent Keyblade Wielder."

Sora: Knocks her hands away. "Hey, cut it out!"

Cid: "…Yeah, cut it out kid." It was at this time that Leon decided to take a sip of his soda.

Yuffie: Glances over to Zero, who just smirks. "Ah, what do you know, you old fart." At this Leon, unfortunately for Cloud, spat his soda out and all over Cloud's face and himself, laughing, Aerith and Cid looked shocked, Sora and Zero joined Leon laughing. Cid's face then turned from shock to anger.

Cid: "What did you call me?"

Yuffie: "An old fart, why? … Ahhhh!" After Yuffie repeated herself, Cid started chasing her all around first district, until Yuffie jumped onto the roof of the accessory shop. "(pant, pant) looks like I found a new nickname for ya Cid."

Cid: "Ya gotta come down from there sometime, and when you do, your gonna get-."He was cut off by Leon's hand. He whispered something in his ear and Cid blushed at first, but then grinned evilly. He went inside the accessory shop.

Yuffie: "Hey, what's he doing?" She was currently sitting on the shop's chimney. She found out when a huge puff of smoke blew up around her. When she jumped off the roof, she was black and covered in ash. Cid immerged a minute later. "That was (cough) dirty, (cough) even (cough) for you (cough)."

Leon: Smirking. "Looks like someone needs a bath. Hey Cloud, wanna give me a hand over here?" Cloud just stared at him for a moment until he caught on to what Leon was getting at, and grinned evilly.

Cloud: "Sure, it'll be a pleasure. I think a dip in Merlin's water should clean her up just fine." He started to walk over.

Yuffie: Starts backing away, shaking a little. "You wouldn't."

Leon: Smiles. "That's a stupid question if I ever heard one, right Cloud?"

Cloud: Laughs. "Yeah, I'll say." As Leon and Cloud approached Yuffie, everyone in first district froze in place, except for Zero and Yuffie. Zero quickly ran over to Yuffie.

Zero: "My time spell will only last for 3 minutes, so we got to move fast. Lets go to the hotel. Grab your things and come to my room. You can spend the night in my room where it's safe. You can get cleaned up there, okay?" He whispered. Yuffie nodded. They both took off in a run to the hotel. By the time the spell wore off, Zero was just locking the door to his room. He then rushed over and locked the balcony door, locked the windows, and closed the blinds. After that, both Yuffie and Zero collapsed on the ground.

Yuffie: "Thanks for bailing me out back there. You do realize that they can still get in here from the outside, though, right?"

Zero: Goes through his things, and pulls out a purple orb. "Not with this they won't. I picked this up from a couple of White Mushroom heartless. It was originally 10 Stop Arts, but Merlin merged them to form this time orb. All I have to do is tape this thing to the wall, and it, along with anything remotely touching it, will stay in the same condition as it is now." He pulls out some duck tape and tapes it to the wall.

Yuffie: " That's a relief. I'm gonna go take a shower now. AND DON'T YOU DARE PEAK, GOT THAT!"

Zero: Puts a finger in his ear and rubs it around. "Loud and clear. You might want to grab a clean pair of cloths before you go in though. Just a thought." Yuffie did just that. After she closed the bathroom door, Zero took off his shirt. An ugly bullet like scar was on his right shoulder. It went straight through to his back. He put his shirt on his bag and gets into bed. After setting a silent alarm for the morning, he pushed a button and small ear phones popped out of the watch. After putting them on, he selected one of his favorite songs (his watch could play music), put it on repeat, and went to sleep on one side of the bed. 10 minutes later, Yuffie came out of the bathroom in a long night shirt. She looked over, and was surprised to see Zero already asleep. She quietly got into bed next to him. She looks at him while he slept.

Yuffie: 'He looks so peaceful when he's sleeping, so happy. I wonder what could have made him who he is now. Must have been something big. He looks kinda cute with that smile on his face. Whoa, where did that come from. We just met this morning face to face. It's still true. Shut up! … I'm arguing with myself. That's probably not a good sign. I better just go to sleep now before I think anything else I shouldn't be. God, he looks so hot and sexy without his shirt. Just look at those muscles! ………….'

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How was that? I want all the opinions I can get. Good or bad. 4th chapter coming soon.