AN: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I was busy revising Ch 14 because I didn't like it, then my computer broke and I had to get a new one, but there was something wrong with the new one and had to get it fixed. (sigh) It was so annoying how I couldn't get anything done.
Ryu: It's nice to see your back though.
DT: Thank you. I missed you guys too.
Rikku: It was lonely with out you here. Don't take so long next time.
DT: I'll try, after all, I don't want to keep my readers in suspense forever.
Rikku: Well then stop blabbing and start the story already!
DT: Okay, okay. I do not own Final Fantasy X-2 or Kingdom Hearts. Now let's get this chapter started!
Ch 15 The Keyhole
Yuri whistled as he walked out of the airship. They stopped for a moment to observe their surroundings. Zanarkand was... kind of creepy in his opinion. I mean there was no one around, not even any animals. Yuna looked around nervously as did Rikku and Paine.
"What a cheerful looking place." Kai said sarcastically.
"So... this is Zanarkand?" Yuri questioned. Yuna nodded in return. "It's not haunted is it?"
"Uh, well, there was a time you could see... images of people from the past, but not anymore... I think." Rikku said as she searched around the area.
"What's wrong?" Paine asked. "Scared?"
Yuri puffed out his chest. "N-no, just wondering..."
"Is everything alright?" Maya asked Yuna.
Yuna continued to looked around uncertainly. "Well I could be worrying about nothing, but there was a lot of monkeys running around the area."
"Yeah, they were all over the place the last time we visited." Rikku added.
"Maybe they're hiding from danger." Karen suggested.
'Or could the Heartless have gotten to them.' Aerith wondered, but didn't voice her thoughts.
"I don't know." Yuna said in doubt. From what she noticed, these monkey's weren't afraid of anything. Not the people and not even the fiends that roamed the ruins! So why did they suddenly disappear? Tidus went up to his wife and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry so much. They're probably hiding in the ruins. Let's keep moving, I'm sure we'll run into them." Tidus said reassuringly.
Yuna nodded and motioned for everyone to follow her. As he walked, Yuri looked in wonder at the floating green lights. He reached out to grab one but missed. He tried again, but it continued to elude him. He frowned and jumped at one. Unfortunately, he ended up hitting his head on a column. The girls giggled while Kai sighed in frustration. He walked over to his friend and help him up.
"I swear Yuri, your the clumsiest person I know."
Yuri chuckled. "Sorry, but I just wanted to hold one. What is it anyway?"
"Well," Yuna began, "They are called Pyreflies. They are the spirits of the dead." she began to walk again with the others following. "When I was a summoner, I had to perform a ritual called 'Sending'. This helped guide the spirits to the Farplane, otherwise, they might turn into fiends."
Just as she finished saying that, a fiend jumped out of nowhere and attacked them. Yuri screamed in surprise and nearly ran away, however, Kai was kind enough to grab him by the collar and keep him from leaving. Yuna, Tidus, Paine and Rikku disposed of it rather quickly. Yuri and the others watched as Pyreflies exited the fiends body.
"So, uh, you're saying that that fiend...use to be a person?" Yuri asked.
Yuna nodded.
"Do all the dead turn into fiends?" Maya asked, now curious.
"Well not everyone." Tidus said. "It depends on the persons personality and circumstances of death. Sometimes the spirit gets jealous of the living which can turn to hatred and that makes it turn into a fiend. Other people accept death and go to the Farplane without a sending."
Rikku jumped in and added in some more information. "But in the case of Auron, he was able to keep his original form and didn't turn into a fiend. That creep Seymour was also able to pull that off. Then of course there was Shuyin who could posses a person, he was definitely a strange one. Anyway, we call these people unsent. "
"These are a few exceptions to the rule." Paine said. "Well, we better keep moving. We're not getting anywhere by talking."
"Right!" They all said.
Once again they continued their journey into the ruins of Zanarkand. They encountered a few fiends but nothing major, although, Yuri and the others were wondering why they hadn't come across any Heartless. Since Ansem had been hanging around Spira for awhile, they expected the whole world to have Heartless. Their thoughts where interrupted when they came to a stop. Their path was being blocked. A giant stone door was keeping them from advancing. Yuna sighed. She had forgotten that Isaaru had sealed off the entrance because of the monkeys.
"This is just great." Rikku said as she shook her head. "What are we going to do? Blast our way through?"
Paine walked up to the massive door and knocked on it. "I know we defeated Vegnagun and you three fought Sin, but I don't know if we'll be able to make a dent in this thing."
Tidus drew his sword. "Don't worry girls, let the men take care of this." he smirked to Kai and Yuri.
The two boys looked at each other and shrugged before drawing their Keyblades. They let out a battle cry and slammed their swords on the door. The girls looked for a place to sit. This looked like it was going to take awhile. After fifteen minutes of whacking at the door, they boys sat on the ground exhausted. Paine was right, they hardly put a dent in it! While the boys had been trying to break down the door, Aerith had been carefully scanning the entire area. She had spotted a faintly glowing object on one of the walls. This could very well be the switch to open the door.
"If you boys are done, I think I'll try something too." Aerith said.
She stood up and walked over to the glowing object. She figured there was no harm in touching it and placed her hand on it. The whole room suddenly began to shake. The boys stood up and backed away from the door. Aerith turned towards them and watched with pleasure as the door moved. Once the door was open, she moved past the boys and continued to walk into the ruins. The girls followed her.
"Next time, let a women take care of little things like these." Karen told the boys with a smile.
With their masculine pride hurt, the boys followed the girls while grumbling about how they could have thought of that too. Of course, their complaints went unheard by the girls. Yuna looked around the hallway with a frown. She had hoped Tidus was right, but her hopes were now diminished. The hallway leading to the Cloister of Trails was empty. There was no sign of the monkeys that had overrun the ruins.
"Rikku, Paine, something is definitely wrong." she said.
"No use denying it now." Paine said.
"I hope they're alright." Rikku said worried.
A noise echoed through the hallway. They quickly drew their weapons and scanned the area trying to pin point the source of the noise. Something scurried along the ground, but they were unable to identify what it was because of it's fast movements. Suddenly, a blur jumped into the air and landed on Yuri's head. Yuri reached up to it and attempted to remove the object. It screeched as Yuri grabbed it's furry little legs.
"Get if off of me!" he said as he struggled to pry it off.
"Yuri stop moving around. Your going to..." Kai didn't finish since Yuri tripped over a large rock. "Never mind."
Rikku went over to the fallen Yuri and lifted off a little monkey from his face. Yuri sat up and glared at it. There was little scratch marks on the side of his face.
"Well, at least there's one monkey around." Rikku said as she cradled it in her arms like a baby.
The monkey suddenly became erratic and began to screeched. It climbed onto Rikku's head and screeched in the direction of the Cloister of Trials.
"That's probably not a good thing." Tidus said.
They all drew their weapons again. There was a rumble and fiends burst out from the Cloister. Two Gucumatz and three Anole watched them from the stairs. Tidus was about to charge, but stopped when some Shadows popped out of the ground right in front of them.
"Heartless!" Yuri exclaimed.
"So they finally show up." Kai sneered.
"Wait, what are they doing?" Maya asked when the Heartless turned from them and instead attacked the fiends.
They watched with stunned expressions when one of the Shadow heartless merged with the one of the Anole. The others followed the Shadows lead and merged with the remaining fiends.
"I-Is that possible?" Rikku asked.
"I guess it is now." Kai answered. He turned to them. "Look regardless of what just happened, we need to get past them if we want to find the keyhole."
Yuri nodded. "Right, no matter how strong those things are now, we'll beat them no matter what!"
"Right!" they said with renewed confidence and charged at the Heartless-fiends.
The now Heartless-Gucumatz roared and stretched it's two tentacle like hands at Yuri and Kai. The two Keyblade wielders deflected the oncoming attack, however to their surprise, the tentacles simply change direction in midair and hit them from behind. They were sent skidding across the floor. Maya and Karen went towards the other Heartless-Gucumatz and fired a Firaga at it. The Heartless-fiend sunk to the ground to avoid the attack and moved towards the two girls. Karen nodded to Maya who then jumped into the air. The Heartless-fiend resurfaced and attacked the now lone Karen, however, it was then suddenly frozen to it's spot by a Blizaga spell. Maya landed gracefully and high fived her sister.
"Even if they are merged, they are still so easy to trick." Maya said with a smile.
"Yup, now lets destroy it!" Karen said enthusiastically.
Aerith walked up to her daughters. "Let me take care of this. Help out Yuri and Kai, they seem to be having trouble with it's twin."
The girls nodded and made their way to the boys. Aerith turned to the Heartless-fiend and smiled sweetly at it. "It's time to die."
If fiends or Heartless could sweat drop, then this one would have a giant one on it's head. How can someone say something so horrible and sound sweet at the same time? The Heartless-fiend would have pondered it more, but Aerith slammed it with a Holy spell and ended it's existence. Well at least the Heartless existence was erased, but as for the fiend, hopefully it's soul would find it's way to the Farplane. Meanwhile, YRP and Tidus had their hands full with the three Heartless-Anole. The trouble was that the Anole gained the ability to cling to things, so one of them used this ability to hang from the ceiling and attack them with it's spiky back from there. Another would sink into the ground and jump out and get a quick hit in, while the other would attack head on and also stretch it's spikes to attack them all at the same time. The one on the ceiling attacked again, but it's attack did not hit any of them. Aerith had cast a protect spell right before the attack reached them. Tidus took this opportunity to charge at the Anole that was attacking from a distance.
"Take this!" Tidus ran towards the fiends and got a quick hit in. The quickly turned and went in for another strike.
While Tidus took care of that one, Yuna went Trigger happy on the Heartless-Anole on the ceiling. It lost it's grasp and fell towards the ground. Paine then jumped in the air and sliced the Heartless-fiend in two. Rikku look towards the last Heartless-Anole. It sunk to ground and went towards her. She jumped to avoid a hit, but not before the monkey rummaged through her pouch and threw something out. That something turned out to be a grenade. The explosion caused the Heartless-fiend to jump out in surprise. When she landed, Rikku quickly turned towards it and sliced it with her daggers. Once it was gone, she petted the monkeys head.
"You and I make a great team! I think I'll keep you."
Maya, Karen, Yuri, and Kai walked up to them.
"Well that's one threat eliminated." Kai said. "However, we better hurry it up."
Maya nodded in agreement. "Yeah, even though these new hybrids aren't any more powerful than your regular Shadows, I have a hunch that if the fiends were to merge with a more powerful Heartless then we'd be in trouble."
"We definitely don't want to take that chance." Karen finished.
"Then we better get moving." Aerith said.
The Spirans nodded and together they made a run for the Cloister of Trials.
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Ryu fell to the ground in exhaustion. No sooner had they landed in the forest between Guadosalam and the Moonflow, Auron and Cloud decided to get his training started. Ryu never imagined that his father and Auron were so powerful. Fighting one of them was hard enough, but fighting them as a team was impossible! He looked tiredly at the now darkening sky and wondered how everyone else was doing. Hopefully they hadn't run into too much trouble. He did not like the idea of Rikku getting hurt. That had been bothering him for the better part of the day, but he kept reminding himself that Rikku could take care of herself, plus she had all her friends there to protect her.
"Do you plan to lay there all night?" came a low voice. Ryu shifted his eyes over to his father. "If you are not strong enough to get back to the airship, then how do you expect to beat Sephiroth?"
The questioned irked him, but didn't reply. Instead he pushed himself off the ground to a sitting positioned. After all, actions spoke louder than words. His body hurt, but he pushed past the pain and stood up. His father smiled and Auron smirked behind his high collar. Ryu picked up his swords and sheath them. He walked towards the airship to get some rest before the next day. Auron looked away from Ryu's retreating form and looked at the sunset.
"Do you think he'll be ready?"
Cloud joined Auron in viewing the sunset. "He has too. That's why we must push him to his limits these next couple of days."
Auron nodded. "The key to his victory will lie in his speed and his sword techniques."
"Hmm, I suppose that's true, but I've also been thinking of improving one of his old techniques." Cloud said as he sat on the ground.
"Would it help?"
"Yes. I asked him to describe what it did and I believe this could be his trump card, but he seems unwilling to use it."
"Then I'm assuming it's one of his assassination techniques." Auron concluded.
Cloud nodded. "I suppose we'll have to wait and see what happens."
Ryu was making his way through the halls of the Fahrenheit. Since it was his first time on it, he was a little lost. Though he didn't mind since he hoped this would help him avoid Cid. After they left Bevelle, he avoided Cid like the plague. The 'talk' he kept eluding to was beginning to scare him and that was saying a lot since there was not much he WAS scared of. He let out a sigh of relief once he reached his room. At least now he didn't have to worry about Cid...
"About time you got back." a gruff voice said.
Ryu stopped reaching for the door knob and looked to his left. Cid was standing there with his arms crossed. A frown decorated his face. Ryu forced a smile for the Al Bhed leader.
"Hey..."
"Don't 'hey' me. Come on kid, I said we were gonna have a 'nice' talk."
Ryu suppressed a groan and followed the bald man. He was lead to the bridge where Cid kicked out anyone that was there. Once they were alone Cid turned to look at Ryu. He circled Ryu like a shark, examining him with a critical eye.
"So tell me, what are your intentions with my daughter?"
'My intentions?' Ryu though confused. Well he was Rikku's boyfriend now so he guessed that meant they would do... whatever a boyfriend and girlfriend did. Though he wasn't so sure what since this was his first realtionship, but he believed they went on dates. Which involved eating dinner together and such, however he had a funny feeling that wasn't what Cid was worried about. Although he had been raised with limited knowledge of the female species, he got a rude awakening when he began to work at Dirk's bar. The girls made not so subtle advances towards him. Dirk had noticed Ryu's confusion and took it upon himself to explain to him the relationship between a man and a women. Needless to say it was one of the most embarrassing 'talks' he ever had.
"Cid, if you're worried that all I'm going to use Rikku for is sex then think again. If that's all I cared about then I would have done it with every girl that threw herself at me."
"But you haven't?" Cid asked skeptically.
"No. I don't think it's right to use a women just for her body." Ryu sighed at Cid's overprotectiveness. "Look if you're really worried about it then I'll make you a promise."
"I'm listening."
"Fine, I promise I won't have sex with Rikku."
"Unless you marry her." Cid added.
Ryu raised an eyebrow at that. Marriage? Wasn't that a little too soon? After all, he hadn't even had a date with Rikku yet. He didn't know why, but he had the feeling that he was being set up. Cid noticed Ryu's hesitation and decided to push him a little more.
"What's wrong? Can't commit? If ya can't then I'm having seconds thoughts about a guy like you dating my daughter."
Ryu frowned. "I'm not afraid if that's what your insinuating. Fine then. I promise I won't have sex with Rikku unless I marry her. Happy?"
Cid nodded. "Well then you're free to go kid."
Ryu left feeling a little better. Though, the idea of a marriage to Rikku was now plaguing his mind. Now he was sure he had been set up. Cloud and Auron walked into the bridge minutes after Ryu had left.
"Where is everyone?" Cloud asked after looking around.
"I kicked them out so I could have a little chat with you're son."
"Don't tell me you tried to scare him off." Cloud said with a shake of his head.
"Nope."
"That's a surprise." Auron commented.
"Hey now, I'm not all bad."
"So what did you tell him?" Cloud asked curiously.
"Nothing special. Just making sure my daughter will end up married. Don't want her still being single by the age of 25."
Cloud and Auron could only speculate what went on. I mean there was no way he could have gotten Ryu to even consider marriage. Right?
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Yuri fell too his knees in exhaustion. They had finally reached their destination after practically sprinting through the Cloister of Trials. Yuri stood up and walked over to a hole in the ground. Kai promptly pulled him back though. He had known Yuri for a majority of his life and knowing Yuri, he would fall into the hole. The last thing he wanted to deal was locating him in what looked like a bottomless pit.
"Alright Yuri, get to work and seal the Keyhole. I want to get out of here before something else shows up."
"Why don't you?"
"Because it's your turn to seal this one. I sealed the last one."
"Right, right." Yuri said. He pulled out his Keyblade and waited for it to respond. To all their delight, the Keyblade began to glow. Some where in the dark sky, a light reacted and a keyhole appeared. Yuri pointed the Keyblade at it and a light shot out from the tip and into the keyhole. There was a click and the light died down. Everyone let out a sigh of relief.
"ARG!" a scream echoed around them. "What have you done!"
"Crap." Kai said. "It's Ansem."
Suddenly it began to rumble.
"That can't be good." Rikku said as she held on to her monkey protectively.
Ansem then popped out of the hole. He looked angrier than a Killer Bee. "You may have locked the Keyhole, but that will not stop me from plunging this world into darkness!"
Heartless began to pour out of the hole.
"There's no way we can fight them all!" Yuri screamed.
"Let's get out of here!" Aerith yelled at the teens.
They took off running through the Cloister once again. Any fiend that got in their way was blasted away by Aerith's Holy spell. Rikku radioed Brother to pick them up and to have the hanger open for them. Brother wanted to know what was going on, but Rikku told him to shut his trap and to do what he was told. Of course that made Brother angry, but Rikku just ignored him. They burst through the ruins and made it outside. The Heartless were still hot on their tail. Aerith attempted to slow them down by caving in the entrance. At least that way, the Heartless that could not sink into the ground would get stuck for a moment. She continued to run and made it to the hanger with her daughters. The hanger closed and the airship took off. They went to the bridge and observed Zanarkand from the air. What they saw shocked them. Heartless were crawling all over the ancient ruins.
"Oh my..." Yuna said in disbelief.
"Damn it!" Kai slammed his fist into his hand. "He's getting desperate."
"Does this mean he's going to destroy Spira?" Tidus asked Kai.
Kai nodded his head. "He'll overrun the entire world with Heartless and turn everyone into Heartless along the way."
"No..." Rikku whispered.
"We won't let that happen." Maya spoke up. "If he thinks he's going to get away with it he's got another thing coming."
"Oh, no." Karen said.
"Look." Paine nodded towards the window.
They turned their attention back to the ground. The Heartless began to make their way from Zanarkand towards Mt. Gagazet.
Yuna gasped. "We have to warn Kimahri and the other Ronso!"
Brother nodded. "Right, then off of to Mt. Gagazet!"
Aerith made her way to Shinra and asked if she he could contact Cid. She needed to update Cloud on the new developments.
"Contact Baralai, Nooj and Gippal after you're done." Kai told her. "Tell them we're going to war."
Everyone took a moment to absorb the words Kai just uttered. There really was no avoiding it. If they were going to combat an army of Heartless that big, then they would need an army of their own. Yuna could not believe this was happening again. It seemed like just yesterday that Rikku, Paine and she fought to save their homes, but now it was once again in danger. It felt like all that work was for nothing. Tidus pulled Yuna into a comforting hug. The Spirans looked sadly at Zanarkand as the airship flew farther away. The once holy land now covered in darkness.
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AN: Well that's the end of that chapter. What will happen to the Ronso? Will Ryu become strong enough to fight Sephiroth before he shows up again? Will the Spiran army be enough to defeat the Heartless?
Ryu: Why are you asking them all these questions? Only you know the answer!
DT: Oh, um, er,...
Rikku: She just wants to be a meanie that's why.
DT: (In a sad voice) I am not a meanie...
Ryu: Whatever, anyway. Please review if you can but no flames.
DT: Until next time and hopefully it won't take so long.
