And… the next chapter. I'm tired. I don't know what to write here.I wrote two chapters today and I'm pooped. *falls asleep* *wakes up*
Anyways, this is a weird time in the story. Bear with it, please, I'm skipping the time when Sora went to Olympus coliseum and the Jungle. (We'll go there, just later. And we'll get to Wonderland too.) So. Yeah. Read, enjoy. I hope you do.
Sephy: I'm not in this chapter. *cries*
Yes, well… erm… *gives Sephy a lollipop*
Sephy: Sugar! ^_^
As always, Kingdom Hearts is not mine. I only baby-sit their characters.
Chapter 5
Sasha found herself standing, battleaxe in hand, on a piece of parched land. Looking around, she saw she stood in the middle of a deserted village. A grayish mist hung about the place, and it was difficult to see farther than fifteen feet. The buildings she saw were small huts, made of a stone-like material. The ground was cracked and dusty, and the sky was orange-tinted, with a dim sun hanging low over the horizon.
Sasha turned around, remembering the boy. Lowering the axe, she started forward slowly, hoping that maybe he was somewhere nearby. A sudden noise brought her to attention, and she raised the axe, turning to face the nearest hut. A pile of discarded and dirty cloth moved, and a dingy brown animal crawled out. Sasha relaxed slightly, and stepped closer. The animal was cat-like, with long thin legs and a curving tail. It looked at her suspiciously, and then darted off, wheezing.
"That was weird." Sasha said out loud, still looking after the creature.
"What?"
Sasha turned quickly, and was relieved to see the boy. She wasn't alone.
"This… cat thing. I dunno," Sasha shook her head. "It was nothing."
"Hm." The boy looked off in the direction she had been looking, then turned back to her. "Oh, right. You still don't know my name. I'm Riku."
"Nice to meet ya." Sasha grinned, although the name rang familiar. Just what was it that made her know that name? It hit her. Sora! That was the name of the friend he was looking for!
"Come on, we better get moving. It'll take some time to find that renegade…" Riku sighed, then turned and started walking.
Sasha followed, all the time wondering just what she should do. Should she tell him? If she did, how'd he react? Should she just stay quiet and talk to Sora the next time she saw him? What if she had to fight Sora the next time they met?! Well, Riku was working with Maleficent. And wasn't she some big darkness boss? But then again, what if he was like her, working for someone who they didn't want to, only because there was no way out. It would make sense, especially with a powerful sorceress like Maleficent. She decided to wait on the talk, and hold it off until she learned a little more about Riku's stay at Hollow Bastion.
All the time she was thinking, Riku was watching her. All he could think of was how it was that she was here. Remembering the way she acted when he first saw her, he could hardly believe she was a fighter. Here she was, though, holding the axe on her shoulder with a practiced ease. Hopefully, she acted better with a weapon than without one. He sighed, looked back in front of him. Chasing down renegade heartless wasn't one his more favorable jobs, but Maleficent had said… she promised. He had to, now; he had no choice.
"Hey, what's that?" Sasha stopped, pointing to the right at a large object that stood far above the mist. Riku turned to look, squinting to look through the mist.
"A mountain? Who knows…" Riku looked back at her.
"Should we check it out?" Sasha asked, still looking at the shape.
"Why not." Riku shrugged, then turned to lead the way.
They walked for some time, leaving the huts far behind, but nothing else seemed to change. The sun still hung muggy on the horizon, and the mist still faded what they saw. The shape they headed for didn't seem to grow smaller nor bigger. Finally they stopped, slightly out of breath and tired.
"Could you fly up and see how far we are from there?" Riku asked Sasha.
"Sure, I'll try." She handed him the axe, fastened the backpack, and jumped.
The mist was the hardest to get through. It stuck to her feathers and tried to drag her down, and she had to flap hard to get through it. About twenty-five feet above the ground, the mist began to thin. A soft wind blew, dispersing the uppermost layer of mist and making it easier for her to stay aloft.
She took a second to catch her breath, and turned to focus on the shape. Above the mist visibility was much better, and the shape towered above her. She gauged the distance, then took a look around to see if there was anything else interesting around. The only shape visible above the mist was that huge mountain-like object. With a flip of her wings, Sasha descended, finding the way down much easier.
"We're not that far off. Just about two miles or so, I think." She answered the unspoken question, taking back her axe.
"Alright. Well, lets get going. No sense wasting time." Riku glanced at her, and she nodded.
The going began to get rough. The cracks in the ground widened, and the parched earth gave up more dust than before, irritating their eyes and sending a bad taste into the back of their mouths.
"Sheesh. Why did we have to go? Wasn't there someone else who could've went?" Sasha muttered bitterly, trying to brush the dust out of her eyes. She only succeeded in waving more dust into her mouth, and suffered a coughing attack that lasted for quite a bit.
"You okay?" Riku stopped and looked at her.
"Just dandy." Sasha replied sullenly.
It took them longer than they thought to reach the gargantuan shape. The cracks, in some places, were huge, and there were a few that looked as if they were dried-up riverbeds. The most disturbing thing, though, was the silence. Along the course of their journey, Sasha and Riku found themselves creeping closer to each other. Both of them glanced uneasily into the mist.
"This isn't right. It's too quiet." Sasha said lowly, raising her axe into battle position.
"Yeah…" Riku answered, holding his sword at ready. "With the mist, anything can happen."
Sasha nodded grimly, peering into the dusty air. Suddenly, with no reason, the air they walked into cleared. The mist hung back behind them, a wall of dim gray. In front of them, murky red streaked with black, rose the mountain they had been heading for. Both stopped, stared in awe at the amazing rise of stone.
"I didn't know it would be this big." Sasha said, raising her eyes and straining to see the top.
"Well, we got here." Riku said, gazing up. "That's something."
"Hm…" Sasha hefted the axe onto her shoulder and stepped closer to the stone. She leaned a little, looking closely at how the colors changed and rippled. "Its all glossy and shiny. This is cool."
There was a movement to her left, and she turned slightly to see what it was. A dingy brown streak ran around her, up her leg and side, and leaped towards her axe-arm. Fangs bit into her wrist, claws tore into her arm, and with a cry she waved her arm, dropping her axe. As soon as the axe had dropped, the creature detached itself and dropped to the ground, hissing.
"Why you mangy little furball!" Sasha picked her axe up, fully intent on cutting the cat-like thing to ribbons. The creature leaped up with amazing power, aiming at her neck. She swung the axe, but the creature was already inside the blade range. Instead of being cut, it got hit by the blunt shaft and was thrown at the stone. There was a flash of red light, and the creature took of running, a brown streak disappearing into the mist.
"What just happened?" Riku, having watched the creature run away, turned back to the stone. Where the creature had hit, a multitude of shining cracks had appeared. Even as he watched, more formed from the existing ones, all of them shining a reddish light.
"I didn't do it!" Sasha exclaimed, backing off hurriedly.
Even as they watched, a giant crack formed along the center, and pieces of stone began falling off. The two backed off, hoping not to get hit by the falling debris. Suddenly, there was a loud, echoing roar, and the mountain exploded in a giant flash of red light. They covered their eyes from the blast, but what they saw when they looked again froze both of them.
In front of them stood what seemed to be a mix of a shark and a few dinosaurs. It had a dusty reddish hide, with black streaks running across it. It stood on two tyrannosaur-like legs, with two shorter arms. Its tail was like a shark's, and it even had a dorsal fin like a shark. From its back two wings extended, thick and similar to those of the flying heartless. Not only that, it stood a good eighty feet off the ground.
"That… that…" Sasha fell into silence. Riku didn't respond, too shocked to say a word. The creature looked around at the landscape, then focused on them.
MY HOME! The telepathic voice roared through their minds. What have you done to my home?!
"W-we…we didn't… d-didn't do it…" Sasha squeaked.
LIARS!
The beast roared out loud again, its wings flapping. The force blew the mist back, and both Riku and Sasha had to grab hold of some rubble to avoid being blown away. Suddenly, the beast folded his wings tight to his sides, and dove into the ground. The earth parted as if it was water, and soon he was entirely in the ground.
"He's… he's not doing what I think he's doing, is he?" Sasha whimpered.
"There's your answer." Riku readied his sword again and pointed to a point a few hundred feet away. Sasha turned as the ground rumbled, and saw the red fin rising above the dusty ground.
"Oh great, he's circling us…" Sasha readied her axe. "He'll probably try to attack us from the middle, so he could separate us."
"So we watch, wait, and when he comes up, attack…" Riku said, watching the fin closely.
"Yup." Sasha kept her eyes on the fin, and it suddenly descended into the ground.
A few seconds later the ground beneath their feet buckled. They ran in opposite directions as the ground tumbled.
"He isn't a heartless is he?" Sasha called.
"I don't think so, and why do you keep calling it a 'he'?" Riku answered back.
"He just sounds like a he." Sasha shrugged, sliding to a stop. The beast's head broke through the ground, followed by his body. His arms strained against the earth to pull him out, and his tail broke free from the ground a little behind him.
"Attack him, now!" Riku called, and they both leaped forward, swinging their blades. The sword and axe connected-- and glanced off.
"That didn't even scratch him!" Sasha exclaimed.
The beast chuckled, loud and deep, and then descended into the earth again. The two fighters regrouped together and stood, back-to-back, watching the fin weave circles around them.
"Now what…" Riku tilted his head to her, "You have any ideas?"
Sasha thought hard, and then it came to her.
"Yes! I do!" She Reached into her pants pocket and pulled out the glassy materia. "I just hope that works."
"What do we do?" Riku turned back to see the fin disappear. "It's getting ready!"
"It's a he! And all we have to do is wait for him to show himself again." Sasha held the material, glancing around anxiously.
The ground in front of them broke apart, and the beast roared out. A clawed hand crashed down next to them, and the beast roared again, its breath whipping the dust up from the ground.
"Get that beast!" Sasha exclaimed, holding the materia out. The beast pulled back, watching with surprise. There was a tense moment, but it passed quickly.
Ha! That bauble is worthless! The beast went at them again.
"What?! NO! AHHH!" Sasha freaked out, seeing the giant mouth full of sharp teeth coming at her, and threw the materia at the beast. It bounced off one of its teeth and dropped to the ground. Sasha, in the meanwhile, took off and dove behind a large rock. "Run for cover!"
"Hey!" Riku was shocked to suddenly find himself facing down the beast, all alone. He stood there for a second, sword at ready, then turned and ran for another large rock.
You puny things. You cannot hide from me.
The beast took a step forward, then stopped. Something had begun to hum, lowly but steadily growing louder.
"What is that?" Sasha peered from behind her rock.
The materia on the ground had begun to glow. A soft shadowy light shone from it, spreading out towards the beast. The light touched, and suddenly coalesced to form a giant rope. It began to bind itself around the massive beast.
What?! What is this magic? I-I cannot lose! The beast struggled against the rope, but was soon dragged down to the ground. NOO!!
With a bright flash and a resounding boom, the beast disappeared. The light faded, disappeared. Sasha jumped out from behind the rock.
"It worked! Awesome!" She ran forward to where the materia was laying and picked up the now-red stone.
"That… was strange." Riku walked up, looked at the stone quizzically. "Now, what just happened?"
"The beast is in here now," Sasha said, indicating the stone. "Now it's a summon! Although I don't think I should use it just yet. I'll talk to Sephiroth about it later…"
"Well, that's over. Now what." Riku said, looking around. Sasha shrugged, put the material away in her pocket.
"Off to find that renegade, I guess." She said, looking towards the rubble where the mountain had once stood. Something was moving there, moving to stand on the rubble. "What's that?"
"What?" Riku turned to look.
On the mound of rubble stood the dingy brown cat creature, tail whipping, eyes glowing amber. With a loud yowl it leapt forward and disappeared into the rubble.
"Where'd it go?" Sasha said, walking over.
The two searched the rubble, and found something they weren't expecting. Hidden between two rocks was a four-foot hole in the ground.
"Should we?" Sasha looked at Riku.
"Might as well. Might be somewhere we need to go." Riku answered.
Together, they descended into darkness.
I… am going to go die now. O.O Next chapter will be up whenever. I hope you guys like it. I just wanted to show that there were other worlds where the heartless went, and such. And renegade Heartless, that's gonna be fun. And yes, there will be a lot of interaction between Sasha and Riku, but its not going to get all relationship-y. Not so much Sasha-Sora interaction, but we know his story, so… blah. Also, more Insane Sephy goodness after the next chapter.
Sephy: YAY! *throws up lollipops. Most fall and get stuck in his hair* Uh-oh…
So, any questions, Zoshitheconfused@yahoo.com. And I hope you have a good day.