Anne: Time to respond to the reviewers!
Mr. Grae: First reviewer! woot! I meant to make them about equal, but I guess theoretically Sekou was out of practice while Sora has been able to fight almost daily.
ShadowSora65: Thanx a lot! Don't worry; I'm dead set on finishing this.
Auroramoon/ AuroraMoon101: Wow, the name proves it! Good job! The killed Chappie! (sob) I didn't really like him tho... I would write 24 fics if I could but I can't. Yup, I knew you'd be happy about Shiro. Did you have fun in Canadia? Congrats on getting a pen name!
Aramer/ Shirozora: BHK is a kick-ass dude! Yeah! (hi-fives Shirozora) p.s.I like your new pen name!
Anne: Anyways, on with the chapter!
I do not own KH or anything you've heard of in here except Sekou (his name) and the Unknown
Chapter 5: The Keyhole
"How about not?" asked a deep and rich voice, riddled with malice and cruelty.
Both Sora and Sekou turned around to see a tall, cloaked figure, standing upon the back of a vicious looking flying monster creature. The black trench coat- an Unknown's uniform- flapped in the suddenly chilly wind. Sora stiffened once he recognized him as a member of the Organization, the ones who tried to steal his memories.
.:Flashback:.
Sora found himself in a swirling white mist. He felt as if he had been asleep for a thousand years. Still groggy, he didn't mind the mist. It was almost comforting. Though sandy beaches and turquoise waters would have been much more suitable. But why?
'I'm from a tropical island' he thought, or was it said? His mind was foggy and everything seemed so unreal, so unnatural.
The walls of wherever he was began to move and slowly open, causing the white mist to dissipate gradually through the cracks. Sora realized that he wasn't standing but floating in the misty air. But as the walls open up even more, he felt the weight of gravity increasing slightly every second. Suddenly the walls dropped down all together and Sora's numb body fell out of the container that was holding him. He found himself staring at a pair of sandaled feet on an ivory floor from a rather messy heap.
"Good to see you're awake now," said the voice of the owner of the sandaled feet. The voice registered something in Sora's more-awake mind. 'Where have I heard it before?'
He tried to sit himself up and realized with a jolt he couldn't move his body. Panic began to fill his mind. The most he could do was adjust his head slightly to see a blonde girl about his age kneeling beside him.
"Don't worry," the blonde girl said kindly, "It's just a bit of an after-effect of being in that container for so long. It'll be better in a few hours."
A name came to Sora's mind. "Namine?"
Namine smiled. "Good, your memory's returning!"
Sora blinked. "My memory?"
The blonde girl giggled and helped sit Sora up. "It'll all come back to you after you've had a good night's sleep. Save all your questions for tomorrow when I can explain things better for you, Donald, and Goofy."
Remembering the names and their owners almost by instinct, Sora nodded in response. He did feel very tired…
The next morning, Sora remembered everything that happened since as long as he could remember. Destiny Islands, Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, the Keyblade, Kingdom Hearts, his adventures to other worlds before the catastrophe in Castle Oblivion, and of course his time in Castle Oblivion. The Keyblade Master found himself lying on a comfortable mattress in the white room he woke up in a few hours ago. He was glad to find he could move properly now, too.
"Gosh, Sora, you're always the last one to wake up!" It was the familiar, heavily lisped voice of none other than Donald Duck. He was standing, tapping his foot irritably on the white floor, his staff in hand. Next to him, though much taller was Goofy, still long and lanky, and holding his trusty shield. Slightly behind the two was Namine. It looked as though they were talking while he was sleeping.
"It's not my fault a certain duck never decides to wake me up," replied Sora, as he stood up. A minute later, the teen found himself being smothered in a gargantuan group hug with Donald and Goofy. "Ack! Guys you're choking me!" yelled Sora playfully for he too was happy to see them again. Namine sighed and giggled at the trio.
Once the reunion was done, Namine explained to Sora, Donald, and Goofy about how much time has passed since they were placed into the containers. Apparently it had been three months since she had agreed to help restore their memories. She gave them what news she could gather from the outside world about the Heartless. Even with Kingdom Hearts closed, there were still vast armies of heartless attacking the worlds and strange white monsters have been appearing, too. From what she had gathered, they were called Nobodys. And no word had been heard of Riku and King Mickey. Also, near the end of their talk, Namine handed Sora a wrapped package.
"Here are some new clothes for you," she explained. "You've grown in the past three months, those old ones of yours aren't going to last much longer." Sora accepted the gift and began to examine his new, darker clothes.
A few days later, Sora, Donald, and Goofy waved good-bye and thank you to Namine as they stepped through the portal that would transport them to Traverse Town.
.:End of Flashback:.
Sora continued to glare at the Unknown. "Are you with them?" he asked in a barely contained voice. The Unknown didn't respond, but Sora could tell he was smirking under his dark hood.
"And if I am?"
Sora smirked. Summoning the Kingdom Key, he said, "It's my job to rid the Universe of the likes of you!" He then leaped off the edge and out to the dragon riding Unknown. He glided a bit to make sure he'd reach his destination. Not that he actually got that far. The dragon- since that was the only thing he could call it- flapped its mighty wings, creating a strong gust of wind that blew Sora and Sekou, who was preparing to leap after Sora, into the wall. Sekou barely had a chance to grab Sora and roll out of the way of the dragon monster's powerful jaws as it attacked with its vicious ten-inch fangs. All the time, the Unknown was standing idly on the dragon's back, not seeming to move as the beast moved about.
The dragon continued to attack and Sora and Sekou continued to dodge until Sora had the sense to swing his keyblade at the monster's nose. The dragon backed off, its snout bleeding, which gave Sekou a change to pull out the Oblivion and the Oathkeeper. He failed to notice the surprised- and slightly suspicious- look on Sora's face.
"Ah, Sekou!" exclaimed the Unknown. "It's been what? Two years since I last saw you. Larxene was awfully unhappy when you left. Why don't you try and cheer the brat up and come back?"
Sekou stiffened up, "I left the Organization because they've become corrupt. You and Larxene are no different, Axon."
Axon, the Unknown, chuckled again. "Good to see you still have your memory intact, don't you say Key Bearer?" he said looking directly at Sora, who had visibly paled. The dragon arched its long neck in preparation for another strike. Only this time, orange sparks were seeping out from the small gap in its jaws. Anyone who had ever heard of the stories about fire-breathing dragons would've known what this meant. Fortunately, the two teens had heard of the stories and (in Sora's case) had experienced it first hand.
The pillar of red fire was no less intense than the dragon Maleficent's. Both Sora and Sekou had evaded the worst of the attack, but it did not make the extreme heat any cooler. Sekou could feel it blazing past his back, the heat causing him to sweat like a snowman in hell. The back of his shirt fried a little even.
The blaze stopped and Sekou jumped to his feet only to be pulled back by Sora as the thick and very powerful tail whipped past where the blonde was half a second ago. "Thanks," he murmured. Sora nodded in response.
"Have any ideas on how to get at him?"
Sekou thought second. "I think one of us can distract Axon and the dragon while the other gets in close enough to attack."
Once again, Sora nodded. "Okay. I'll distract the lizard. You go in." With that the brunette dashed to the dragon and attempted to slash again at its already bleeding snout. The dragon wasn't stupid enough this time to get hurt so it retaliated by nearly biting his arm off. The keyblade, though, got caught in the monster's jaws. A red glow began to form within the dragon's mouth. As an act of desperation, Sora casted the first spell that came to mind.
"Stopaga!" he shouted. Immediately, the dragon froze up in time. It didn't help much with the fact that the keyblade was still jammed in its jaws, but for those few seconds, Sora was able to make a quick, impromptu plan on how to get out of this mess. The stop spell finally wore off and the reddish glow continued to grow (hey that rhymes!). This time Sora was ready and fired a Blizzaga spell in the mouth. The fire was extinguished, but the dragon's mouth open and a roar of aggravation that nearly deafened the young Keyblade Master. Once again Sora attempted to cut at the dragon's head. This time he stuck one of the dragon's eyes; the dragon thrashed its body every which way. Axon, the Unknown, was actually forced to jump off in order to avoid injury.
Sekou managed to avoid any harm during this whole time. He was very near to Axon when Sora caused the dragon to berserk. When Axon jumped off the dragon, Sekou was forced to backtrack to where Axon had vanished. So all in all, the blonde had evaded injury but had yet to corner Axon.
"Come and fight me, Axon!" Sekou called out. No response but, he saw the figure of the Unknown standing on a nearby building. His hood had fallen off revealing spiky green hair streaked with silver and fierce golden eyes outlined in thick black paint that seemed to glow in the moonlight. Axon the Dragon master's face had been uncovered.
Sekou found himself smirking. "You haven't changed a bit," he observed.
"Neither have you," replied Axon, a slight smirk playing on his lips.
The two were in a staring contest it seemed. Sekou's grip on his keyblades tightened. Axon seemed to produce a halberd from nowhere. Several seconds had passed and neither of them had moved an inch.
"ARGH!"
Sekou whipped his head around to find the dragon monster soaring high in the air…with Sora clinging on to its tail with one hand. The other was stretched downward in his direction. 'Where's his keyblade!' That question was answered as something whizzed past the blonde and up to Sora. The something was his keyblade. Behind Sekou Axon stood slightly hunched over, cradling his bloody arm. The strike raid had struck home.
"Watch your back!" he shouted to the blonde.
He spun around just in time to block a brutal swing from Axon's halberd with the Oathkeeper. With the Oblivion, he attempted to slice the unknown in half. He countered by sidestepping the attack. Sekou then tried another attack by freeing the Oathkeeper and creating a scissor-like cut with both keyblades. To dodge this, Axon merely leaped into the air. Bad move, for then fireball from Sora's firaga spell hit him in the side.
The enraged Unknown called something in a foreign language up at the dragon whose tail Sora was currently clinging to. At the signal from its master, the dragon whipped its tail with such power and force, Sora's hands lost their grip. Sekou watched in utter horror as his look-a-like seemed to fall in slow motion into the shadowy depth that was once the streets of Twilight Town. The brunette's sapphire eyes were wide in a sort of crazed fear. It seemed like forever until he vanished into the darkness.
"With the Keyblade Master gone, what will you do now?" asked Axon mockingly. Sekou's turned white with their steely grip on his keyblades and his teeth clenched together in fury.
"I'm gonna kill you, Axon!" he declared. "First my family. Then my friends. And now Sora. I'm not going to allow you to kill anymore innocent lives!"
The furious blonde dashed at the still-smirking Unknown, a golden light surrounding his form. Axon tried to defend himself from the onslaught of prevailing blows. Sekou, it seemed was invincible for the moment; his attacks were stronger than they had ever been, and Axon's halberd inflicted no injury on him. But as soon as the light faded, the blonde was back to normal. The Dragon Master saw this and dealt a bloody slash across the teen's chest.
Sekou stumbled back. Axon then punched him in the stomach hard. The wind knocked out of him, Sekou fell down, breathing hard. He looked up and saw Axon towering over him, a triumphant smile on his features. 'This is it…' he thought to himself, preparing for the deathblow.
Only it never came. A sudden sound, like pewter bells in a cavern (sorry for the lame analogy), and a roar from the dragon, distracted the malicious Unknown, Axon. Sekou looked up and saw a strange site.
The dragon was still there, but it seemed to be fighting another flying creature. Strange it was. A giant bird with feathers of an icy blue shade soared above. The breast feathers were white and a long tail of blue trailed behind like a banner. He couldn't see its face very well from his position, but he caught a glimpse of fierce ruby-colored eyes.
"Articuno! Ice Beam!" called the familiar voice of…
"Sora!"
Sekou could now see the youth riding upon the bird's back. Alive an din one piece.
Articuno, the summoning spirit of the Icy Crystal's Ice Beam hit the Axon's dragon in the chest area. The beast was forced back. Once again, scarlet flames were seeping from its mouth. Articuno blocked the fire attack with another Ice Beam. The two were in a deadlock of elements for several minutes before Articuno broke it and shot forward; the sharp talons were merciless against the dragon's protective scales. But the dragon had its comeback, for it too had ferocious claws. There was a flurry of azure feathers and blood before the two once again separated.
While this was happening, on the ground, Sekou and Axon had resumed their battle. Sekou had somehow managed to roll away from the halberd-wielding Unknown, gaining a chance to return to his feet and heal himself. Not a second later, Axon came at him. The two heatedly exchanged blows; attack, parry, repeat.
It seemed Axon was gaining the upper hand when suddenly Sekou would overpower him and the process would be repeated again. Above them, Sora, Articuno, and the dragon continued their intense aerial combat.
"It seems I have been underestimating you, deserter," said Axon, breathing heavily.
"Or you've been getting lazier," retorted Sekou, blocking another assault from the halberd.
"Could be," said Axon in mock thoughtfulness.
Just then, there was a crash and the ground beneath their feet seemed to vibrate. It quickly passed, and Sora and Articuno could be seen perched triumphantly on the carcass of Axon's dead dragon. Axon let out a yell of frustration; his dragon was dead and the battle was turning in his favor. Sora leaped off Articuno's back and thanked the oversized bird. It responded by making that strange sound Sekou had heard earlier.
"Now," said Sora brandishing his keyblade and eyeing Axon, "why don't we finish this fight up, eh, Sekou?"
Smirking, Sekou agreed. "Yeah, don't you agree, Axon?"
The Unknown, who had by now regained some of his cocky attitude, smirked. "You think you can win now just because the Keyblade Master is here? Well think again, brat, both of you together could never defeat me!"
Suddenly, another voice, a woman's (spoken with a thick accent), interrupted. "Ze Bozz vantz you back at ze 'ead quaterz. Stop mezzin' vith zeese chil'n, Axon!"
Axon sighed. "You always ruin my fun, Zeena." The woman, Zeena stepped out from the shadows. Like Axon, she wore the black Organization coat with the hood pulled up to hide her face. Axon turned to the two Key Bearers, "You've been fun to fight, brats. I promise we'll finish this up in the future!" And he, along with Zeena, vanished in a portal opened by the Unknowns.
Sora sighed unhappily. "I never get to have any fun!"
This caused Sekou to raise an eyebrow in surprise. "You mean flying around on that bird wasn't fun?" he asked with slight sarcasm.
The brunette Key Bearer grinned in his goofy way and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah that was awesome! But I really wanted to kick that Unknown's ass! He won't be so lucky next time!" he yelled punching his fist in his other hand.
"You're really full of yourself, you know," Sekou said jokingly. Sora stuck his tongue out at the blonde. "You're just jealous you don't have a cool summon like Articuno!" the brunette replied.
Eventually, Sora looked over the edge of the Clock Tower and down at the streets of Twilight Town. "We need to seal this world's Keyhole if we want the flow of heartless to stop," he said examining the heartless-flooded boulevards.
"How do you do that?" asked Sekou. "Yeah we found it before Axon came, but I don't exactly see any holes for a key."
"Watch and learn, naïve one," said Sora in an exaggerated superior voice.
He summoned his keyblade, the Kingdom Key, and pointed it at the center of the giant clock. Light gathered at the tip of his keyblade as it did on the clock face. A narrow beam of light then connected the two glowing lights. The clicking sound of a locking door was then heard. "And that," said Sora, "is how you seal a Keyhole."
.:Later:.
"So Sora," asked Kocha, "are you going go find your friends tomorrow morning?"
"Yeah," replied the brunette lying down on a makeshift mattress of extra blankets. The fight with Axon and his dragon had taken a lot out of both Sora, summoning Articuno and all. Sekou was also zapped of energy; he was currently fast asleep on his cot of a bed. After all he was fighting head on with the dragon master. Both were completely healed, thanks to Sora and his magic. "And then I'll get to work on clearing out the heartless."
Kocha nodded and laid down on his own bed of blankets. Haru and Sakura were asleep, too. In a few minutes, Kocha also joined them in slumber. Sora stayed awake for hours. He was exhausted, but restless at the same time. To relax himself, he imagined he was lying on the sandy beaches of his home and the turquoise waters were lapping gently at his bare feet. Above him, he pictured a quarter moon, shining overhead along with millions of stars like diamonds on rich, navy blue velvet.
Riku and Kairi were on either side of him. Just like when they were fourteen, before the heartless tore them apart.
"I wish we could stay like this forever," whispered Kairi. The other two had to agree. Everything seemed so perfect, so peaceful…
"Nothing as good as this ever stays, though," said Riku.
"That's why we have to enjoy every moment of our lives. Down to the last second," Kairi replied. "So that when it goes away, we'll still have the good memories of it."
"Yeah…" sighed Sora. "When they go away…"
Anne: and now for some notes from me….
I bet a lot of people are going right now "how could she put Pokemon in this!" well the truth is 1) Articuno would make the perfect summon, 2) pokemon was one of the first anime shows I fell in love with (along with DBZ, Sailor Moon, and Digimon) so it always had a special place in my heart, 3) Articuno has always been one of my favorite Pokemon and I could easily picture Sora riding on its back. So if you have a problem with it, don't wet your pants cuz that's the only thing related to Pokemon in this whole fic.
Secondly, I apologize for almost all of my chapters ending w/ cliffhangers. It the easiest way, but I tried to steer clear of that this time.
Thirdly, this is the first actual battle scene I have ever written so if it's bad, pleez give me some tips in your reviews.
Fourth: when I wrote about Sora waking up in the white room, I was trying to tell what happened after Castle oblivion and before KH2. I haven't played CoM so if I get my facts wrong, I'm sorry.
And finally…Fifth: I am now currently stuck in a writer's block for chap. 6. I f you have any ideas or suggestions, pleez tell me in your reviews. I plan to have Sora & co. leave for a new world in chap. 7.
Thank you. DxC