Chapter Twenty-Five: Of Gods and Demons
"Hey, Roy! I've got my Fragment of Light already!" Sora said after he beamed up, showing me the shining blue crystal.
"Well, that's one down. Where next?" I asked.
"Well… we've locked all the worlds we've been to… except the Radiant Garden. So none of those are an option," Riku said.
"We'll just have to find another world," I said. "Didn't we find a few while we were looking for Merlin, Riku?"
"Yeah, a few. Let's go look for the Keyhole in one of those worlds," Riku suggested.
"Sounds good," Sora agreed. I took up the captain's seat again, and began zooming around space. We found one soon… it looked like a Japanese countryside.
"Whoa! Where… are we?" Sora asked, looking around. The starry sky was out with a crescent moon shining down on us. I looked on the horizon, faintly seeing an iron forge. I could tell from the glow (I knew the glow of molten metal) and the soot coming from the encampment.
"Metal… I smell it," I said. "It's molten. What could they be doing there?"
"Who knows? We'll have to go there to find out," Sora said.
"I suppose you're right. Well, then, let's go," I said. We began our walk across the land. It was quiet and peaceful, despite the banging in the small town ahead. I felt the wind blowing through my hair, calming me. Even as we approached the noisy town, I was totally at peace.
I managed to shove the massive gate opened, sneaked through it with Sora and Riku, then closed it silently. Nobody seemed to be around. We sneaked around the town, using our minor stealth skills to avoid attention, until we saw a large crowd. We could hear them shouting loudly, though I had no idea what they were yelling about.
The crowd of people were shouting and cheering, though I didn't know what for. Looking around, Riku, Sora and I jumped onto a roof to get a better view of the event. There were two women fighting; one younger, about my age, and an older woman. The younger girl was dressed wildly, but the older woman wore a kimono.
"Whoa… what's going on?" Sora asked.
"How should I know? Maybe they're fighting for fun," I answered. It became apparent that they weren't fighting for sport, as the younger girl was soon outmatched.
"We've got to help her!" Sora shouted, barely audible over the crowd's yelling. The wild girl looked desperate. She was knocked out moments later. A boy wearing blue gi then stepped forward.
"Don't hurt her! Leave her alone!" he shouted at the townspeople, who now had guns pointed at the unconscious girl. He picked her up and began walking toward the gate we had entered. Somebody shot him in the arm, on accident or on purpose, but he didn't seem to notice it. The boy shoved the massive door opened and disappeared.
"Whoa… that guy's strong. At least as strong as you, Roy," Riku said. Unfortunately for us, with the fight over, an eerie silence had fallen. The people all looked over at us, still seated on the roof.
"Ninjas! Ninjas have come to assassinate Lady Eboshi!" a guardsman shouted. A few rifles were shot at us.
"Dammit! Get out of here, guys!" I shouted at Sora and Riku.
"But Roy…" Sora began.
"You know I can handle myself. So don't worry about me. Just go find that other guy!" I shouted again, and jumped down into the clear dueling circle. I unsheathed my sword and looked at all of the people. They were all women…
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sora and Riku stealthily moving across the roofs to the town gate. They'll be fine, I thought to myself.
"So, one ninja is going to save his comrades? Kill him!" the guardsman shouted. I simply stood still while he charged at me with his lance. I narrowly dodged it on purpose.
"Don't mistake me for a ninja," I said, pummeling him in the head with the pommel of my sword. "I am… hitokiri."
"Hitokiri? There are no hitokiri around now," a woman said, stepping forward.
"Well I'm a new one. A self-proclaimed one, but a hitokiri nonetheless," I said. "I… am Hitokiri Kensai."
"Hitokiri…" she said. "We could use your help."
"Sorry, but I don't help people who attack defenseless women," I said, brandishing my sword. "Especially those who will kill defenseless women."
"Woman? That girl is no woman," the lady told me. By now, I had surmised that she was Lady Eboshi. "Princess Mononoke is a wolf."
"Wolves…" I muttered. "I'm still not helping you," I said, turning around and beginning to walk toward the town gate. As I had anticipated, Eboshi shouted for me to stop. I did so, but only out of curiosity.
"Please… help me. I need someone to protect this town!" Eboshi shouted. "If you don't help, the town itself will be destroyed. You can't just sit back and watch that!"
"Maybe not," I said. "But even so, if you can't protect yourselves, I'm not too sure you deserve to stay here," I said, turning my head so I could see Eboshi out of the corner of my eye. "It's ridiculous to think someone with more guns than I can count wouldn't be able to hold off a few samurai."
"How did you know?" Eboshi asked, puzzled.
"I can tell from where we are and when we are," I replied, walking off toward the town gate. I walked through the still-open gate into the starry, grassy plain.
I wandered for just a little while before finding Sora and Riku. They were hiding in the grass, though I couldn't see what from. I ducked down and did an army crawl up to where they were hiding.
"What's going on? Why are you guys hiding?" I whispered.
"Look," Sora said, pointing forward. There were two large wolves with the girl we had seen earlier. The girl was arguing with the wolves, which seemed to be intelligible and capable of speech. I couldn't make out what they were saying… though I was sure they weren't agreeing.
"What…" I began as the wolves ran off. Two large gorillas then came walking forward, also arguing with the girl. The gorillas left a few moments later.
"So, what now?" I asked as the girl (who I surmised was Princess Mononoke) walked off into the nearby forest with the boy and his elk. The boy himself was unconscious, and was riding atop his elk. The elk was being led by Mononoke.
"Let's follow her," Sora said.
"Sounds good. I don't have any ideas…" I muttered, getting up. We walked into the forest. It was a bit… unsettling. I kept feeling like there was something around me, even though nothing appeared to be there. I turned around swiftly after a few minutes of walking into the forest.
A small, white humanoid creature with big eyes was staring at me. It scurried off into the brush a second later.
"Roy? What is it?" Riku asked, turning around for a moment.
"It's… nothing," I sighed, turning back around and continuing to follow the girl's footsteps as best as I could. We continued to follow her until we reached a pond in the wee hours of the morning. I was exhausted, but wasn't worried about it. Finding out what was going on was more important than my sleepiness. Because finding out what was going on would lead us to the heart of the world, and then we'd get a Fragment of Light, bringing us one step closer…
"Roy! Let's hide behind that tree!" Sora whispered loudly. I did so, stumbling slightly from my exhaustion. Fortunately, my outfit camouflaged me in with the dark forest, and even though Mononoke had turned around, didn't catch a glimpse of any of us.
Princess Mononoke was now standing in the center of the pond, holding the unconscious boy in her arms as she walked up to a small island in the center of the pond. The boy's elk was following her as well, though it no longer had reins on it.
"Let's get up in this tree. Mononoke will see us when she's leaving if we don't," I said.
"Fine…" Riku muttered, and we clambered up into the tree while Mononoke continued to the island. She set the boy down and began to leave, but the elk stayed near the island. As Mononoke walked across the path we had come in on, she stopped.
"Come down, you three. I know you're there," she said, looking at the tree we had hidden in.
"Damn! I can't believe it…" I complained. I jumped out of the tree and landed smoothly on the path, staring straight into Mononoke's eyes. Sora and Riku jumped down a few seconds later.
"Leave now, or else," Mononoke said to us.
"Or what?" I asked, despite knowing the answer.
"I'll kill you," she said coldly. I could sense anger… hatred in her voice.
"You? Kill me? Not likely!" I laughed. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into." At that, Mononoke charged at me, shouting at the top of her lungs. I saw she was carrying a dagger.
I sidestepped, then sidestepped again after another attack. I jumped over Mononoke and landed behind her, putting my back to her.
"You reek of blood. What's your problem?" I asked, taunting her at the same time. Mononoke intended to spin around and impale me in the side, but I simply took a step forward.
"You…" she began, viciously attacking me again. I performed the opening iaido move and knocked the wind out of her with the pommel of my hilt.
"That'll suffice," I said. I slowly and stylishly sheathed my sword. "Pretty sad… forest girl here can't even lay a finger on me!"
"Roy, stop attacking people. There's no need for this!" Sora shouted at me.
"Yeah, yeah… whatever. She started it. So, are you okay?" I asked Princess Mononoke.
"Why… you…" she began.
"Look, I didn't mean to hurt you. Just lighten up a bit, okay?" I asked. "You… don't look like someone I'd want to have as my enemy."
"So, that's all it is? You're just like all the others!" Mononoke shouted at me, charging me again. She had intended to fully impale me in the stomach, but I turned around with proper timing to dodge it. I then used my sword, still in its sheath, to knock her against a nearby tree.
"Look… there's no reason for this," I told her. "I've done nothing to you. If anything, I helped you."
"How's that?" she asked, getting some breath back.
"Last night, back at that town, they were going to send soldiers after you and that boy," I told her. "I stalled them with words."
"That doesn't excuse what you've done!" Mononoke shouted at me.
"Well… let's see, first, let's get on a first-name basis. I'm Roy. What's your name?" I asked.
"… San," she replied simply.
"Well, San, I didn't do anything to you and you didn't do anything to me. So let's just get this behind us and move along," I suggested. She growled at me, but started walking down the path.
"So, what's your deal? We didn't do anything, and you attacked us on sight!" Sora said.
"Filthy humans…" San started, mumbling to herself under her breath. I couldn't hear what else she said, because I blacked out soon after that. I was exhausted…
"Ugh…" I muttered as I opened my eyes groggily. The sky was twilit, but not quite dusk. Sora and Riku were sitting on a log just outside of the forest, and I had awoken in a grassy field. I walked over to them quickly.
"So… what happened?" I asked them.
"Well, you passed out from exhaustion. We dragged you out here, even though San left us a while ago, and took turns taking naps. Then you woke up," Riku answered.
"So… did you guys see what's happened in the meantime?" I asked.
"Some giant boars went and attacked the town," Sora said, pointing at the town we had visited yesterday, which was on the horizon, "… but they got beat. Bad. After that, one really old-looking one got up and walked off. Guess he got lucky."
"Well, did you see which way he went?" I asked.
"Like everything besides people, he went into the forest," Riku repled.
"We have to go after him!" I shouted, charging toward the forest.
"Roy! Wait! A giant wolf said she'd…" Riku began, but I continued sprinting through the forest, now that I was no longer exhausted beyond belief. I blazed through the deep forest, noting the small, white humanoid creatures that appeared with each and every one of my steps.
I slowed down as I reached the area I knew was that small pond. I saw many boar-like creatures, but I knew these weren't boar. They had no legs, no eyes. I surmised someone had skinned them and was now wearing the skins as camouflage to avoid detection… but from what?
I made sure to tread lightly around those people. I hopped up into a tree soon and began flitting around the trees, acrobatically jumping around until I was around the pond. Whatever I saw… was horrifying.
Some… thing… was treading slowly through the lake. It looked like it might have once been a boar… but now, it was nothing but a demon. It was the only word I could find to describe it. It seemed boar-like in shape, but was little more than a mass of writhing black tentacles.
"This is…" I began, noting a large, white wolf that was digging through the demon. A blue robed boy… the one we had seen a day earlier, was also there, along with Eboshi. There was also some sort of stag creature… save for the fact it had the face of a baboon.
I stealthily moved over to Eboshi. I was soon just behind her as I heard a shot ring out. I saw the other boy with San in the water, shaking the black tendrils off her. I also saw the giant boar and wolf at rest on the island, but also…
The stag creature from before was missing its head… and also turning into some sort of demon, as well. It was distinctly humanoid, but far larger, with a dark purple hue. The demon appeared to be made of jelly. A few men quickly grabbed the head and stuffed it into a barrel, running off.
"Damn you…!" I shouted, blasting up into my Aether Form and dashing after them. I caught up to them in seconds.
"You idiots! Drop that barrel NOW!" I shouted, hearing a slight distortion in my voice.
"Aah! Another demon!" they shouted and continued running. I blazed after them, but something caught my eye. I turned around to see everything dying as black ooze crept over the entire forest. I also saw San and that boy running in the same direction as I was. It didn't look like they were going to make it…
I dashed back, grabbing both San and the boy by their wrists.
"You… you're familiar," San said.
"Just hold on tight! I shouted, making a great leap. Then I continued my mad dash, despite practically dragging San and the boy with me. We soon reached the group of men with the barrel.
"Here!" I yelled, stopping quickly. They grabbed the two men and opened the barrel while I held back the idiots. Sand and the other boy were soon holding up the head, despite being stained black with the ooze that was dripping off of it. As soon as that black ooze reached them, everything went bright…
When I opened my eyes, I was standing in a grassy field at daybreak. Looking around, I saw San and the other boy talking. I also saw Sora and Riku running toward me.
"Roy! Something… happened," Sora said, gasping for air.
"What?" I asked.
"The town was destroyed," he answered.
"…" I didn't reply as I walked over to San and the boy, despite some minor protests from Sora and Riku.
"So the forest is safe now," San said. "Thanks for your help, but I won't be joining you."
"I'll still come to see you," the boy answered.
"So, what's goin' on?" I asked, rudely interjecting.
"…oh, it's you. Thanks for your help," San managed to say, though it seemed a bit forced.
"No problem. So everything's good now, right?" I asked.
"Yes. The forest will have to recover, but everything will be fine," she answered.
"Well, that's good," I said, feeling my Keyblade begin to react. A crystal dagger the boy was carrying began to float up, and my Keyblade appeared. I was soon at the heart of the world, and locked the world. But before I did so, I made sure to grab a Fragment of Light and keep it in my Red Crystal.
"What was that?" the boy asked.
"… nothing. I need to go now," I said.
"Wait!" he shouted. I stopped short.
"The name's Roy, if you're wondering," I answered without having to be asked.
"I'm Ashitaka," the boy answered.
"Nice to finally have a name, Ashitaka," I replied. I then walked off and, once out of their eyesight, beamed up to the Gummi Ship.
Hitokiri Kensai - roughly translates to "Manslayer Swordmaster." This is both homage to Ruroni Kenshin, a.k.a. Hitokiri Battosai, and a testament to Roy's awesome masterey of swords.