AN: Well guys, here's your Thanksgiving present. I know you don't give presents on Thanksgiving, but hey I like to be different.
Rikku: What's Thanksgiving?
DT: Oh yeah, you guys don't celebrate it. It's a day when you give thanks for the things you have and then you pig out on turkey and other food.
Ryu: Pigging out is a way to show thanks?
DT: I'm bad at explaining. I think I'll show you instead. Go round everyone up.
Ryu and Rikku: Okay.
DT: Before I show them what Thanksgiving is, I'd like to thank my faithful readers (since we are no longer allowed to leave responses for reviewers.): Blu Rose, Blood Pixie, Rikku, and Faye Leingod. You guys are the best! It really makes my day when I check my email and see reviews.
Now for the disclaimer. I don't own Final Fantasy X-2 or Kingdom Hearts. I'm just doing this for my own amusement and I am making no money off of this. Now go on and read.
Ch 9 Ansem
Ryu and Rikku charged at Ansem. Instead of attacking them, he commanded the Heartless behind him to protect him. Their weapons bounced off it.
"Go behind him!" Ryu told Rikku.
She nodded and quickly got behind. She slashed at him. Ansem took flight to avoid being hit. He smirked down at them from the air. The Heartless hands glowed and threw rings at them. Ryu got in front of Rikku and prepared to counter them.
"Wind Blade!"
His attack deflected the rings and they crashed into the root walls. He came down and the Heartless slashed at Ryu. He got hit. Rikku noticed that after Ryu got hit, the Heartless was no longer defending Ansem.
"Ryu he's defenseless!" She exclaimed.
Ryu noticed this and went to attack. However, he felt a horrible pain in his body.
"Ahhh!" he dropped to his knees.
"Ryu!" Rikku ran to his side. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know." he said breathing heavily.
"My Guardian has invaded his body. If he tries to attack me, he will get hurt. Now princess come with me if you want your friend to be spared."
"I won't let you get her Ansem!" he looked Rikku. "Don't listen to him! Just get away from here! Find the others!"
"Silence!" he screamed.
Another wave of pain flashed through his body. Rikku stood up and faced Ansem. She looked defiantly at him.
"I'm not going to let you take me without a fight!"
"No….Rikku." Ryu said in pain. She was very surprised that he had actually called her by her name. It made her happy that he did even thought they were in danger at the moment.
Rikku steeled herself for what she was going to do and charged at Ansem. Ryu felt the Guardian leave his body. It flew back to Ansem. He smirked as his Guardian was going to attack Rikku. Ryu grabbed his sword and ran to intercept the Guardian. He knew he wasn't going to make it. Instead he threw his sword at the Heartless. It made it stop, but Ansem surprised them both by attacking Rikku head on. He punched her in the stomach. She doubled over and dropped her daggers.
"No you don't! Firaga!" he screamed.
However the Guardian got in front of Ansem and took the hit. Ansem slung Rikku over his shoulder. He then made a run for the Farplane. Ryu ran after them. The Guardian shot the rings again. Ryu had no choice but to take cover since he didn't have his sword. He cursed himself for his failure to protect Rikku. After Ansem entered the Farplane, he retrieved his sword and with out a second though ran in as well.
-----------------
After Ryu ran into the Farplane, Yuna and the others arrived. They saw signs that a battle had occurred, but didn't see a trace of the combatants.
"Yuna." Paine called.
Yuna walked over to Paine. She handed Yuna Rikku's daggers.
"Did he get her?"
"He's close." Kai said. "I can smell him."
"Where?" Yuri asked though confused as to how he could smell him.
Kai pointed to the Farplane. Yuna knew it was unstable, but if that's where her cousin was then she would go in after her.
"Then lets go!" she exclaimed.
The others nodded and they ran in. Meanwhile, Ryu had already reached the Farplane. It didn't look unstable to him, but that was not his major concern. He saw Ansem standing at the far end of the floating piece of land. Rikku was floating behind him. The Guardian had a hold of her.
"Let me go!" Rikku yelled as she struggled in the Heartless grip.
Ryu glared at Ansem. "Let her go." He said evenly.
"I'm afraid I can't do that. I need her for my plan to succeed."
"From what I hear, your plan isn't much of a success anyway."
Ansem growled. "That will change! I will plunge all worlds into darkness!"
Ansem's body glowed with his dark powers. He jumped into the air and gathered his power into one of his hands. Ryu shot a Blizzaga spell, but a cage like thing appeared around Ansem. Deciding not to wait around for him to attack, he made a break for Rikku. Yuna and the others made it to the Farplane just as Ansem flew back towards the ground. Kai's eyes widened as he realized what Ansem was doing.
"Take cover!" he told his friends as Ansem hit the ground with his attack.
"Pillars of Darkness!"
Ryu noticed that dark spots were forming on the ground. Suddenly pillars of dark energy shot up from them. He barley managed to dodge the pillars. Kai and the others scattered and watched their steps. Once the pillars died down, Ryu looked back to see Kai and Yuri attacking Ansem.
"Get Rikku!" Yuri told him.
Ryu nodded and looked up at the Guardian. He couldn't attack it since there was a chance he could hit Rikku. He needed to do something though.
Yuri kicked Ansem from behind and send him flying near the edge of the floating land. Ansem slowly stood up and looked at his attackers. Kai, Yuri, Maya, and Karen had him surrounded.
'I will not allow these children to finish me here!'
The four teenagers were about to attack when Ansem stopped them.
"If you attack I'll order my Guardian to drop the girl into the depths of the Farplane."
Yuna and Paine had joined Ryu and heard Ansem's threat. They looked at each other with worry. If only the Guardian wasn't using Rikku as a shield! Kai smirked at Ansem.
"You wouldn't. You need her for you plan." He said confidentially.
"That's right!" Yuri said. "Let's just finish him!"
Ansem smirked. "Don't underestimate me."
With a wave of his hand, the Guardian dropped Rikku. Kai, Yuri, Maya, and Karen's faces paled as they witnessed Rikku fall. Rikku screamed in fear. Ansem smirked at his opponents. He called his guardian came back to him. Then he flew towards Rikku.
"He tricked us!" Kai said.
Maya and Karen were about to say something, but then they saw Ryu slam his sword into the ground. He took off his coat and threw it over his sword.
"Aim for Ansem." Ryu told Yuna. He pulled his sunglasses over his eyes and with out warning jumped over the edge after Rikku.
"Ryu!" Maya and Karen screamed in panic as they ran over to Yuna and Paine. That's when Yuna noticed that Ansem was flying towards Rikku. She turned to her new found friends.
"Hit Ansem with whatever magic you know!"
Paine quickly changed into her Black Mage dressphere. They nodded and attacked. Yuna shot Ansem with everything she had. Kai, Yuri, and Paine each used Firaga while Karen and Maya used Blizzaga. Ansem was hit and was forced to back off. Their attention then turned to Ryu. Their eyes widened as they saw two wings appear. One was white and the other black. Rikku looked in awe as Ryu drew closer to her. She reached out to him and he grabbed her hand. He pulled Rikku to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he carried her bridal style. He held her close as he flew back up towards their friends. Ryu landed, but didn't put Rikku down because Ansem was still there. He didn't look very happy.
"You'll pay for this! Guardian Attack!"
The Guardian dove into the ground. They quickly scattered as the Guardian shot up from the ground at a quick pace. Ryu decided it was best to take to the air. Yuna shot Ansem while he was defenseless. Kai and Yuri did their best to dodge the attacks of the Guardian. Maya and Karen got closer to Ansem to attack, but the Guardian returned and streaks of lighting were shot at them. Ansem smirked at them and tried the attack again. This time though, Kai transformed. His shirt changed to blue with red. He gained a black trench coat with the Heartless crest on the back. His pants were blue at the top, but as it went down it turned black. Before the Guardian could go into the ground, Kai shot an energy ball at it. Yuri took the opportunity to attack directly. He swung his Keyblade at Ansem, who got a nasty cut across his arm. Karen and Maya appeared from behind him and doubled kicked him. The guardian returned to him and he flew up in the air again. Then he began to laugh. They were thoroughly confused by his actions.
"You think you have me beat do you? Well it's not over!"
The land beneath them rumbled and a giant Darkside appeared. Ansem smirked at Ryu.
"I sensed a great darkness in your heart. I wonder what you did in the past to cause you such pain and regret." He said before he disappeared into the Farplane.
Rikku looked at Ryu. She was confused by Ansem's words, however she didn't have time to dwell since they had a giant Heartless to fight.
"Lets help them!" she told Ryu.
He nodded and landed back with the others. Once he set Rikku down, his wings disappeared. Yuma walked up to her cousin and hugged.
"I'm glad your safe."
"You might want these back" Paine said and handed Rikku her daggers.
Rikku smiled and took them. Maya and Karen ran up to Ryu and gave him his sword and jacket. He placed the sunglasses back on his head and put his coat back on. He looked up at the giant Heartless.
"So, how do we beat this thing?"
Yuri sighed. "Well, we could wait until it slams it's hands into the ground and then we just run up it's arm and attack it's head."
"Sounds good to me." Ryu said.
So when the giant hand came down they moved out of the way. Weaker heartless appeared as a result. Maya, Karen, Yuna, Paine, and Rikku took care of them while the boys ran up the arm and to the head. Ryu's sword glowed and he jumped into the air.
"Aerial Slash!" he swung the blade several times and blades of energy flew at the Darksides head.
"Energy Pulse!" a ball of energy is shot from Kai's hand and at the Darkside.
Both of them jumped back down and let Yuri take a swing at him.
"Ars Arcanum!" Yuri went into a frenzy and slashed up the Darkside. He landed and the Heartless fell back and disappeared.
They let out a sigh of relief. Kai transformed back to his normal self and sat down on the ground. Yuri followed his lead and sat down too. Ryu was looking over the edge. He was making sure nothing else was going to pop out at them. After he was done surveying the area, he walked up to Rikku.
"Sorry."
"Huh? For what?"
"I messed up. Ansem almost got you because I was unable to protect you properly."
Rikku shook her head. "That's not true. You did your best and in the end you did save me. So….."
"So don't beat yourself up over it." Paine finished.
"That's right. What's important is that Rikku is safe." Yuna added. "Besides, jumping after her made up for it. Though you scared us half to death when you did!"
Maya and Karen immediately stomped up to Ryu.
"Since when do you have wings?" Maya asked him.
"Well, I didn't discover I had any until I was nine."
"Have you been able to summon them at will?" Karen inquired further.
"No, I had to learn to do that. Why do you ask?"
Maya and Karen looked at him with a smile. "Because we have them too."
"You do?" Rikku asked in awe.
The girls nodded. Kai got up. "I suggest we leave. Ansem has probably gone to hide out somewhere else."
"I think we're going to need more help if we want to find Ansem." Yuna said.
"Do you have any suggestions?" Kai asked.
"We could talk to Nooj and Baralai. They could help us in our search."
"Who?" Maya, Karen and Yuri questioned.
"They are the top two leaders on Spira." Paine told them.
"Oh…." They said.
They walked out of the Farplane with a new mission. Yuna radioed Brother to pick them up. While they waited, Rikku bugged Ryu. She wanted one of the feathers from his wings. Ryu kept telling her no, but she wouldn't give up.
"I said no Princess."
"How come you never use my real name? The only time you did was when I was going to fight Ansem on my own."
"That was different." He answered quickly.
"Oh, you're such a big meanie. Your almost as bad as Gippal….."
Ryu glanced down at her. She was no longer smiling. He frowned at that. For some reason, he didn't like the fact she was sad. He sighed at what he was about to say.
"I'll let you have one when my job is done. Okay?"
She immediately brightened up. "Okay but you have to promise."
"Fine, fine, I promise."
"Alright!" she bounced off to talk to Yuna.
Ryu rubbed his forehead. He couldn't believe he gave into her request. Paine chuckled at them.
"Going soft are we?" Paine questioned him.
"I don't even know what to call it."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know, but the minute she got upset I had the urge to make her happy."
Paine smiled. "Maybe your starting to like her." she walked away before he could question her further.
'Like her? No, I can't.'
The Celsius arrived at that moment. Rikku smiled and waved for him to hurry up. He did so, but he slowly walked towards her.
'Even if I did end up liking her, it would never work out.'
Rikku go impatient with him and went to get him. She grabbed his hand and dragged him to the airship.
"Come one! We have work to do!"
Ryu smirked and stopped walking. Rikku pulled as hard as she could, but he would not budge. She turned and glared at him.
"Oh, you really are a big meanie!"
Ryu laughed lightly. Rikku gasped in surprise. She didn't even know he was capable of laughter. He stopped laughing and leaned closer to her.
"I just like messing with you." He said and he began walking again.
This time he was the one pulling her along. Rikku looked down at their joined hands. She smiled and allowed him to lead her back to the airship.
AN: Alright, I'll end it there. Okay now I need to explain some things. I bet you guys were like "Why the heck does Ryu have wings!" Right? Well as we know in Kingdom Hearts, Cloud has a wing that I think he tore off Sephiroth or something along those lines. Well I though, what if that trait passed on to his kids? So that's why Ryu, Karen, and Maya have wings. As for Kai, hey if Riku can control the darkness then so can he.
Rikku: So now that that's out of the way, we can eat this bird you call a turkey?
DT: That's right and remember to give thanks for what you have.
Ryu: Sounds easy enough.
DT: It is easy. Well, guys you know the drill. Please review and no flames.
Everyone: Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!
