And we're back! Welcome to Twilight Key, Chapter 40!
I figured out a team name! It will be applied later.
Blah blah blah, slightly late chapter, blah blah blah. I know! Finals are coming up and I'm panicking (My college operates on the quarter system). And it's not even an entire day late.
I really hate it when this site goes down. And this time, it was even down for hours…
Warning: Only the first 4k words or so of this chapter have been proofread.
The Eternal FrostbiteLeo: Thanks for pointing that out! I went back and fixed it.
Blackwing- Balmung the Eclipse: Kairi learning to use her keyblade early? Perhaps...
Kairitrion Cerulean: I'm glad you realized it was her after a second read. :P
redlox2: I'm planning on him using a corridor like that at some point, yeah…I think. And the only reason he seems to prefer fire magic is because it is what I prefer in the games. That transfers over to my writing.
ImagineBreaker7: Just wait and see. It will make sense.
prototype gear: I wish I could just call it something like Naruto 'n Crew.
HeartlessNobody13: I intend to make it an occasional gag, yeah. And that was absolutely intentional with the timing in the SAO world! I want to leave it open as an option for a return visit.
unknown: Well…Why would I spoil that? :P
Anyways, on with the story!
I don't own Naruto, Kingdom Hearts or anything else. I'm just a broke college student...
Normal Talking: "Insert witty remark here."
Normal Thinking: 'Insert witty remark here.'
Biju/Deity Talking: "Insert witty remark here."
Biju/Deity Thinking: 'Insert witty remark here.'
Scene Change: Insert Place Here
Jutsu/Magic/Technique: Insert Jutsu Here
"AAHHH!"
The moment the girl touched Naruto, an agonizing burning sensation erupted in his chest, soon making him white out.
Sora came to an abrupt halt when a hot feeling exploded in his chest, successfully distracting him from his search for Alice. "Gah!" Clutching at his chest, he fell to his knees. The grunt of pain and the sudden stop gained the attention of his companions.
"Sora!"
"Are you alright?!"
Due to the pain, Sora was unable to verbally answer in any way. 'This…This feeling! What is it?!' A light slowly formed over his heart.
?
When he returned to awareness, Naruto was startled to see that he was standing somewhere else. 'The hell?' Quickly assessing the situation, he saw that he didn't have any idea where he was. No longer was he on the summit of a snowy mountain with the others, instead Naruto was standing in some kind of expansive library.
'Where am I?' Naruto's eyes soon landed on an elderly lady seated in a chair under a long staircase. "Excuse me?" No response. "Ma'am?" The woman still didn't react, causing Naruto's eyebrow to twitch. He was about to try again, only this time louder, but he was cut off.
"Grandma!" A young girl with a large smile ran up to the elderly woman. Taking in the girl's appearance, Naruto was surprised at what he saw.
'Isn't that…the girl we just found?' She was younger, but he was sure it was her. Now that she was awake, Naruto saw that she had blue eyes. The girl was wearing a white apron-like shirt with blue flowers and a blue line across the chest. In addition to this, she also had on a pink skirt with a white line on it, along with white shoes that had pink and purple lines on them. 'But…Why is she younger?'
The girl's grandmother looked up from the book she was reading and smiled. "Yes, my dear? What is it?"
Reaching her grandmother, the girl came to a stop. "Can you tell me a story? Pretty please?"
'Can neither of them see or hear me?' That was both slightly disturbing and annoying.
The grandmother's smile grew at the request. Closing the book that she had in her lap, she placed it on the table next to her. "Of course I can, but it will need to be a short one." The girl cheered at these words. "Do you have something specific you would like to hear?"
Not even needing to think about it, the girl nodded. "Yeah! Please tell me the one about the true light!" Naruto's interest was piqued at this.
Laughing softly, the girl's grandmother responded. "Again?" She asked. "Aren't you tired of hearing that one?"
"No way! It's my favorite one!"
"Hmm, very well…" The grandmother leaned back in her seat. "Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light." She began. "Everyone loved the light…But people began fighting over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves."
Naruto's eyes widened. 'This is…' Was she telling the story about how the worlds were first separated? 'But…They're talking as if Kingdom Hearts is just light…'
"And so darkness was born in their hearts. That darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's hearts…" The grandmother said. "It covered everything, and the world disappeared."
'I was right…It really is that story…'
"But small fragments of light survived in the hearts of small children. With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost world…The world we live in now."
The girl was enraptured by the tale. "And the light? The one that people were fighting over?"
A small smile formed on Naruto's lips at the girl's mesmerization at the story. 'Didn't they say that she has heard this before?'
It seemed that the woman had similar thoughts because she gave a small laugh. "The true light sleeps, deep within the darkness. That's why the worlds are still scattered, divided from each other. But someday, a door to the innermost darkness will open."
'The Door to Darkness…'
"When that happens, the true light will return." The grandmother said. "So, listen, child. Even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light to guide you. Believe in the light, and the darkness will never defeat you." Naruto frowned a bit. "Your heart will shine with its power and push the darkness away."
'She makes it out like the darkness is something evil that must be feared.' Naruto thought to himself. 'That isn't true though…The darkness can be harmful, yes, but it shouldn't be rejected.'
Unaware of Naruto's thoughts of her words, the woman continued. "Do you understand, Kairi?"
Naruto's eyebrows shot up at the name and his focus snapped to the girl. "Kairi?!" Wasn't that one of the friends that Sora was looking for?
Absently, he noticed that a strange warm feeling appeared in his chest at the name.
Suddenly, the world was bathed in light.
?
When his vision returned, Naruto was confused to see he was no longer standing in a library. This time, he found himself in the courtyard of some castle. "Now where am I?" He muttered.
"Kyah!" The terrified scream prompted Naruto to whirl around. He became alarmed when the same girl from a moment ago, Kairi, clutching flowers as she ran away from a group of creatures. At first, Naruto thought that they were heartless, but he soon realized he was looking at some unversed, although this was the first time in years that he has seen any.
Shoving his thoughts away for later Naruto acted. Moving quickly, he summoned his keyblade and jumped in between Kairi and the unversed. "Oh no you don't!" He slashed at the first unversed, but his eyes widened when it phased through it. "What?!" As if he wasn't even there, the unversed passed through Naruto and continued to chase Kairi. "This is…" He was still unable to interact with anything! Slightly panicked, Naruto spun around and tried to think of a way to help, but was unsure of anything he could do.
"No! Run!" Surprised by the new voice, Naruto glanced to the side, only to have his jaw drop slightly in shock.
"Th…That's…" Naruto's confusion at the situation skyrocketed at the sight of who was standing there. "…Aqua?" He whispered.
Aqua stood at the top of a nearby staircase with a keyblade in her hand. Seeing that someone who could help had arrive, Kairi changed her direction to Aqua, coming to a stop beside her and cowering from the unversed. Whimpering in fear, Kairi reaches out and places a hand on Aqua's keyblade. Aqua glanced down at Kairi for a moment, seemingly noticing something about the young girl, but focus shortly returns to the unversed.
Naruto grit his teeth at his own helplessness in the situation. 'She can't defeat them and defend Kairi at the same time.' He could do nothing but watch as one of the unversed crouched low before leaping high into the air to attack.
"Hya!" All those present were caught off guard by the sudden appearance of someone who killed the attacking unversed in the air. The newcomer landed in a battle stance in front of Aqua.
'A giant mouse?!' Standing there was a large mouse wearing a short sleeve jacket, pants, and shoes. The mouse's entire outfit was made up of various shades of black, white, and grey. The truly shocking thing though was the fact that the mouse was wielding a keyblade. 'Another keyblade wielder?!' A moment later, Naruto recognized the keyblade as the same one that Nox wielded.
The mouse took a glance back towards Aqua and Kairi. "Hurry! Ya gotta get that girl to someplace that's safe."
Still catching up to the fact that some unknown person with a keyblade showed up, Aqua responded. "Who are you? Why do you have a keyblade?"
"I'll tell you later! Right now, we gotta stop these things!"
Nodding, Aqua stooped low for a moment and picked up Kairi, carrying the young girl with one arm.
Unexpectedly, Naruto was blinded by another flash of light.
?
Naruto's mind was assaulted by multiple flashes of different scenes. But before he could get more than a quick glance at each one, it would change to the next. All he could really make out was that Kairi was in each one of them, and she spent most of them with these two boys, although he didn't get a good look at the boys.
Eventually, Naruto came to a stop in someplace completely different. Unlike the times when he found himself in a library or a courtyard, Naruto was now standing on the shore of a beach on some island. Naruto's confusion towards the situation was growing by the minute.
'What the hell is happening?!' How was he transferring from one unfamiliar place to the next? Why was he unable to interact with anyone? And the biggest question… 'How did I just see Aqua? She is supposed to be trapped in the realm of darkness…' It didn't make any sense!
"Ugh, there he is!" Turning towards the voice, Naruto's eyes widened when he saw Kairi standing there with an expression that was a mixture of exasperation and amusement. Only this time, she was much older to the point that she looked the same as she did back on the summit of the mountain. "I swear, he is so lazy…" Her blue eyes were facing towards Naruto, but it was as if she was looking through him.
"Hello?" Naruto tried halfheartedly. Huffing, Kairi strode forward, successfully unsettling Naruto when she walked right through him. Sighing, Naruto turned to see where she was going. It appeared that Kairi was walking towards someone who was lying on the beach, fast asleep. 'Is that…Sora?' Taking a closer look, Naruto confirmed that it was indeed Sora sleeping there. 'But…How is he here? Didn't he say that he was separated from Kairi and that Riku person?' Naruto trailed after Kairi as she walked up to Sora.
As they got close, Sora woke up and got into a sitting position, only to yawn widely and lay back down. Naruto watched as Kairi grinned mischievously and quickened her pace so that she could lean over and be in front of Sora's face the moment he laid down fully.
And just like she had planned, Sora was startled to find someone else so close. "Whoa!" Kairi moved out of the way as Sora jumped back up, giggling as she did. "Gimme a break, Kairi."
Kairi took a moment to playfully stick her tongue out at him. "Sora, you lazy bum. I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here."
Sora quickly shook his head in denial. "No! This huge black thing swallowed me up! I couldn't breathe! I couldn't-Ow!" He was cut off when Kairi hit him on the head.
"Are you still dreaming?" Naruto's eyes lit up in realization at this.
"Dreaming…" He whispered. "I'm dreaming again…" That must be it. How else could he be in places that he has never seen before, with people who shouldn't be able to be there, and be unable to even touch anything? "So this is…the past?" His other dreams that had been similar were all visions of the past…
His eyes wandered back to Kairi. "Or maybe…Are these her memories?" He tuned back into the conversation.
"…I want to see it too." Sora declared. "Along with any other worlds out there. I wanna see 'em all!"
Kairi smiled at him. "So what are we waiting for?"
"Hey!" All eyes moved to the owner of the voice. "Aren't you guys forgetting about me?"
Standing there was a teenage boy with silver hair, pale skin, bright blue-green eyes, and a slightly muscular build. His outfit was made up of a yellow and black tank top with white trimmed, black straps crisscrossing his chest, a pair of dark blue pants with brighter blue baggy pant legs, and a pair of white and blue shoes. Completing the look were black gloves, black wristbands, and a black belt. Under his arm was a log.
"So, I guess I'm the only one working on the raft." Walking over to Kairi, the boy tossed the log to Sora, who fell over with a yelp. "And you're just as lazy as he is!"
Instead of getting mad at the accusation, Kairi giggled again. "So you noticed. Okay, we'll finish it together." She jumped in place excitedly as the new boy sat down next to Sora. "I'll race you!" Sora tilted his head while the other boy only quirked an eyebrow.
"Huh?"
"Are you kidding?"
Kairi grinned widely. "Ready? Go!"
At first, no one did anything as Sora and the boy traded a glance, but as if they were given a delayed signal at the same time, both boys shot to their feet and sprinted across the beach. Kairi broke out into a fit of laughter as she moved to follow them.
Light blinded Naruto again.
?
The scene changed again, but this time, Naruto was fairly sure that he didn't move far. It only took a moment to see that it was later in the day from the previous memory, as the sun was setting. Kairi, Sora, and the other boy were all relaxing on a small island connected to the bigger one. Kairi and Sora were seated on the low branch of a large tree on the island, while the silver haired boy leaned against it with his arms folded.
"It's just…" The boy began. "I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And suppose there are other worlds... Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So we could've just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?"
Shrugging, Sora turned his body and laid down on the branch. "I don't know."
The silver haired boy rolled his eyes. "Exactly. That's why we need to go there and find out. Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff." Pushing himself off the branch, the boy took a couple of steps towards the ocean. "So let's go." He said quietly.
Kairi glanced over to him. "You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" Naruto's mind momentarily went back to an extremely similar conversation he had on top of the Hokage monument…With someone he had thought to be his friend.
Naruto's eyes fixed on the silver haired boy. 'I wonder if this is Riku…'
The world disappeared again.
?
'Now where am I?' Looking around, Naruto saw that he was still on the same island. He was standing near the edge of a dock overlooking another sunset. Sitting on the edge of the dock were Sora and Kairi. "…You know…" Kairi began. "I was a little afraid at first, but now I'm ready. No matter where I go or what I see, I know I can always come back here." She turned to face Sora. "Right?"
Another flash of light.
?
"Already?" That memory was over much sooner than the others, save for the snippets he saw. It was at that point that Naruto saw that something was different about this memory…Something wrong.
Taking an uneasy glance around, Naruto saw he was standing on the same dock, except it was now the middle of the night. Kairi was hastily tightening the knot on a rope anchoring boat to the dock. "Gotta hurry." Kairi muttered in a worried tone.
'What is she doing here on her own?' He wasn't sure what it was, but something about the surroundings made Naruto uneasy. Finally finished with securing her boat, Kairi turned and ran off.
The world disappeared once more.
?
When his vision came back to him, Naruto saw that he was standing in some sort of dark cave. On the walls of the cave are various drawings that looked to be made by children. While he normally may have taken more interest in this, Naruto's attention was focused on Kairi, who was standing in front of a strange wooden door embedded in the wall of the cave.
"Kairi!" Glancing back, Naruto watched as Sora ran into the cave.
Hearing her name being called, Kairi slowly turned around to face Sora. "Sora…" Both Naruto and Sora were alarmed to see that her eyes look distant and she appears to be exhausted. Sluggishly, Kairi raises a hand to reach out to Sora.
But she never got the chance to when the door behind her exploded out, darkness rushing out of it.
It was then that the ground fell out from underneath Naruto, causing him to fall.
Mountain Summit
"AAHHH!"
"Naruto!" Everyone was shocked when Naruto suddenly fell to his knees with a scream of pain, still holding the girl in his arms.
Acting quickly, the others rushed towards him, unsure what the problem was. "Naruto! Can you hear me?!" Gray shouted. "Naruto!" He cursed under his breath when he didn't get a response.
"What's happening to him?!" Happy asked frantically.
Kirito grit his teeth and looked over Naruto and the girl, trying to spot something out of the ordinary. Soon, his attention was attracted by lights coming from Naruto and the girl's chests, positioned directly over their hearts. At first they were weak, but they grew stronger by the second. "What's that light?" He asked sharply.
Spotting what he was talking about, the off-worlders shook their heads. "No clue! Never seen it before!" They all watched as the lights grew brighter and brighter with no sign of stopping.
Coming to a decision, Kirito spoke up. "We need to get her away from him! Help me move her!" Nodding in agreement, Natsu and Gray reached towards the girl, only to come in contact with some sort of barrier.
"What?!" Trying again, they saw that they were unable to touch her. "What is this?!"
"It's stopping us from touching Naruto too!"
"What…?" Kirito frantically tried to think of a way around the barrier as he attempted to filter out Naruto's screaming.
Eventually, the lights became so bright that all those present were having difficulty looking towards Naruto and the girl. Just when they thought they would need to look away, Naruto's screaming and the light cut out, leaving a panting Naruto kneeling there with the girl still asleep in his arms.
The pain in Sora's chest died down as the light faded away, leaving a winded teenager kneeling on the ground.
"Sora!" Slowly, Sora turned his head to look towards the speaker and was greeted with the sight of an extremely worried Goofy right in front of him. "Are you okay?"
Looking down at his chest, Sora hesitantly nodded. "Yeah…Yeah, I'm fine."
Donald cast a worried glance at him. "Really?"
"…Really." Sora pushed himself to his feet and attempted to smile. "I don't know what that was, but it's over now. Let's just focus on finding Alice."
Seeing the light go away, Gray, Happy, and Natsu all surged forward. "Naruto! You alright?!" Natsu asked worriedly.
Gasping for breath, Naruto shakily nodded while looking down at the girl. "I…I think so." He said quietly.
Kirito crouched next to him. "What happened?"
"I…" Naruto hesitated before shaking his head. "I'm not really sure."
Gray frowned. "You think you're going to be alright?" He asked. "Will that happen again?"
Naruto nodded. "I'll be fine." Ignoring the looks of the others, he moved his gaze down. "But I'm more worried about Kairi." Gray, Natsu, and Happy's eyes widened at that while Kirito frowned and traded a look with Asuna.
"Kairi?" Asuna asked. "Is that her name?"
"Yeah, it is." Naruto confirmed. "I'll explain how I know later." Although still interested in knowing what was going on, Kirito nodded.
"Alright, then we should-"
"Ugh…" They all froze at the quiet groan. All eyes turned to the owner of the voice…
The girl in Naruto's arms who was starting to wake up.
Blearily, blue eyes cracked open. "What…What happened…?" The last thing she remembered was…Sora?
Slowly, her vision began to focus on a face…A boy with blond and red hair? Blinking repeatedly, her perspective of the world came into focus, showing that it was indeed a boy with blond and red hair looking down at her. Seeing that she was awake, he smiled.
"Hey there. Glad to see you're okay."
"Wha-!" Kairi let out a startled gasp and jolted out of his arms. "Oof!" Only to land in a heap on the cold, snowy ground. Rapidly looking around, Kairi saw that she was somewhere she didn't recognize, surrounded by people she didn't know. "W-What?"
Understanding what was happening, Naruto raised his hands in a calming gesture. "Hey, hey…It's alright. Just calm down a bit." Kairi's eyes snapped back to him. Getting a good look at the boy, her eyes widened. Seeing that she was focusing on him, Naruto smiled. "Like I said, we're glad to see you're okay."
Kairi hesitantly nodded. "Where…Where am I?" She asked, gaining conflicted and concerned looks from everyone, but only Naruto seemed to understand what was going on. Even as she asked this, her eyes never left Naruto.
"We can explain that to you in a bit." Naruto said. "First we should ge-"
"Gwooo!"
Play Kingdom Hearts 1.5 ReMIX OST: Destiny's Force - Extended
Naruto was cut off when a piercing roar sounded out from somewhere out of sight. Instantly on guard, Naruto warily looked around while preparing himself for a fight. "What was that?"
A broad and excited grin broke out across Natsu's face, even as Gray paled dramatically. "That was…" The ice mage whispered. The last time he heard something like that was back on Tenrou Island.
"A dragon!" Natsu shouted in glee. "And not just some fake one that Naruto made! That was a real dragon! I'm sure of it!"
"A dragon…?" Kirito said quietly, only to curse a moment later. "That's why this place looked so familiar!" How could he be so stupid?! This mountain was exactly like the one he and Liz went to! "We need to leave!" He said. Beside him, Asuna was scanning their surroundings while gripping her rapier.
Not knowing the reason but hearing the urgency in his tone, Naruto nodded. Unfortunately, Natsu had other ideas.
"What?! No way!" He rounded on the black swordsman. "I wanna talk to that dragon and see if it knows where Igneel is!"
"Talk?! Why would you want to-" Kirito cut himself off while shaking his head. "Listen, I don't know what dragons you've seen before, but this one isn't friendly!" He said. "So the best thing for us to do is to use a crystal to get out of-"
"Gwooo!" It was at that point that something massive flew into view from over the edge of the summit. All the fighters got into battle stances as a large dragon soared above them. Reaching its destination, the dragon spread its wings and began to periodically flap them in order to hover there while looking down at them menacingly.
Swallowing nervously, Happy cowered behind Natsu while peaking at the dragon. "It…It looks so much like Acnologia!"
Kirito frowned at the dragon. "I don't understand…It shouldn't look like that." The entire body of the dragon was colored purplish-black, and its normally red eyes were now yellow. In the center of its forehead was a heartless emblem. "Of course…It merged with the heartless too…" The dragon roared at them again.
Pulling himself from his thoughts, Naruto looked over to Kairi, who was still on the ground and staring at the dragon with wide eyes. "Kairi!" Her head snapped back over to him in surprise. "Hide someplace safe!" Naruto's eyes moved back to the dragon as he summoned his keyblade. "Leave this to us!"
Still somewhat confused and shocked, Kairi shakily nodded before hurrying to her feet and running over to a large crystal, soon hiding behind it.
Not scared in the least, Natsu took a step forward. "Hey, you! Tell me where Igneel is! Grandeeny too! And Metalicana!"
Gray glared at him. "Idiot! This isn't a dragon from our world! It wouldn't know them!" Natsu blinked as the realization hit him before a scowl formed on his face.
"So there's no point to asking?!"
"No!"
"Gwooo!" Suddenly, the dragon's maw parted and darkness began to gather there.
Understanding what it was doing, Naruto spoke to the others. "It's charging a darkness blast! Scatter!" No sooner had they done so than a large torrent of darkness was expelled from the dragon. Carefully keeping his balance even as the ground shook from the impact, Naruto pointed his keyblade at the dragon. "Thundara!" A bolt of lightning struck the dragon, but it didn't seem to do any damage.
Scowling, Gray ran forward and placed a fist in his palm. "Ice Make: Lance!" Multiple lances made of ice shot from his hands and streaked towards the dragon. Seeing this, the dragon maneuvered its body out of the way, but Gray gained a smirk. "Sorry, but you can't evade that easily!" He slashed his hands down, causing the lances to change their trajectories and hit the dragon. "Alright!" He grinned in victory at the successful attack, but it slipped off his face when, while looking slightly damaged, the dragon still did not look that hurt. "What?!"
Forming a theory, Naruto narrowed his eyes and scanned the summit. Spotting what he was searching for, he ran towards a large crystal and, after gathering the needed chakra, sprinted up the side of the crystal. Once he was near the top of the crystal, Naruto took a moment to crouch before launching himself at the flying dragon.
"Hey!"
"What's he doing?!"
Ignoring the shocked shouts of the others, Naruto began to summon darkness. "Dark Haze!" Naruto cloaked himself in darkness and lashed at the dragon's neck.
"Gwooo!" The dragon released a pained roar at the attack and quickly flapped its wings to gain some distance from Naruto.
Smirking triumphantly, Naruto landed back on the ground in a crouch. "Natsu! Gray! It has high resistance to non-physical attacks! Hit it hard with solid ones when you can!"
"Got it! Happy!" Natsu called out.
"Aye!" Happy flew over to Natsu and latched onto his back, picking the fire dragon slayer off of the ground and into the air. Once above the dragon, the flying duo put on a burst of speed and rocketed back down.
Natsu grinned and ignited a fist. "Take this! Fire Dragon's Secret Technique: Cat Meteor!"
'He just made that up!' A Happy-propelled Natsu's fist smashed into the back of the dragon. A small explosion was created from the force of the impact and the amount of flames Natsu pumped into it, pushing the dragon down to the ground.
Realizing the chance, Kirito put on spurt of speed. "Asuna!"
"Right behind you!" Together, the two of them rushed at the dragon with Kirito. Noticing their approach, the dragon slashed at the pair.
"I got it!" Kirito raised his black blade and used it to intercept the giant claw. Impossibly, this was enough to stop the dragon's attack cold.
'How the hell is that possible?!' Naruto wondered in disbelief.
Not skipping a beat, Asuna dashed by Kirito. "Switch!" The black swordsman jumped back at the command as Asuna's rapier began to glow. "Hyah!" Numerous slashes, stabs, and jabs were thrown at the dragon's head, eliciting a roar of fury from the beast.
Soon, Naruto noticed that its eyes began to light up. "Fall back!" Heeding the warning, Asuna disengaged and tried to gain some distance, but it was too late as darkness shot out of its eyes. Asuna was still in the direct line of fire. "Asuna!" Not even thinking about it, Naruto leapt in front of her. "Reflera!" Naruto grit his teeth under the pressure of the attack, but didn't release the barrier that was shielding him and Asuna.
"Hey! Cut that out!" The dragon's attack was cut off by the abrupt giant hammer made of ice crashing into the side of its head. Following up on Gray's attack, Natsu conjured flames on his legs and leapt at the dragon.
"Fire Dragon's Claw!" The flaming kicks landed repeated hits on the dragon, further enraging it. The dragon's anger only worsened when Kirito joined back in with several fast strikes.
"Gwooo!" Having enough of being attacked from multiple sides, the dragon swiped a claw at Natsu, successfully hurling the pink haired mage away. Now that it had room, the dragon took to the air again.
"You're not getting away!" Natsu declared before taking a deep breath and raising his hands to his mouth. "Fire Dragon's Roar!" A massive torrent of flames blasted towards the dragon, but missed entirely when it moved to the side. A complimentary attack by Gray earned the same result. Once the frozen assault was over, the dragon dove down towards the group.
Jumping to the side to dodge a swooping claw, Naruto momentarily brought his keyblade back, creating fire along the length of it as he did, and throwing it at the dragon's body. "Fire Raid!" The initial strike impacted the side of the dragon's body, but as the keyblade came back for the return hit, the dragon flapped its wings and rose high into the air. This time, instead of coming back for another attack, it stayed there to watch them.
Using the chance, the humans regrouped. "We just need to keep it up a little longer." Kirito told them. "If this thing is anything like the original dragon, then it doesn't have much health. Five people attacking together like this should mean that it is already on its last legs." And just as he said, several cracks were present on the dragon's body. "We should attack together to finish it off."
Natsu smirked and punched his fists together. "Sounds good! Just give me an opening and I'll take care of it."
Asuna shook her head, but didn't take her eyes off of the dragon. "It isn't as easy as you make it sound. This thing is a Field Boss, so it will be a lot harder to take down now that it's so close to death. It will probably also be a lot smarter now…"
Gray glanced back at her before looking back to the dragon. "Smarter in what way?"
The grip on Kirito's blade tightened. "Smarter in the way that it will actually come up with a strategy to beat us…Maybe even attack one of us when we are vulnerable…"
It was at that moment that it happened.
"Oh no!" An unexpected crash of something hitting the ground attracted the attention of everyone on the summit. With a sense of horror crawling up his spine, Naruto looked behind the dragon, to the crystals off to the side of the clearing. Standing there with wide eyes was Kairi, who was slightly behind a large crystal with a giant chunk missing from it. It didn't take a genius to realize that the crystal pieces on the ground at her feet had just broke off from the thing she was hiding behind.
They all saw the dragon's eyes flash as it registered the presence of another person on the summit.
"NO!"
"Whoa…" Kairi whispered in awe while she watched the five people and a cat fight against a large dragon. She was still extremely confused about what was going on, but she couldn't help but be amazed at the feats that they were doing. And one of them even looked like he was a little younger than her!
Kairi watched as Naruto jumped out of the way of the dragon's attack while sending out his own, ending up in a position that made it so the dragon was in between her and the others. Out of nowhere, a sense of extreme vertigo hit her. "Wha…" Kairi's vision blurred together and she distantly felt her legs begin to give out. 'What's…What's happening…?' Kairi reached a hand out and placed it on the crystal she was hiding behind for support. Soon, her vision and strength sluggishly began to return. "…What was that…?" She wondered.
However, the worry she was feeling was swiftly replaced by fear when the sound of something starting to break reached her ears. Quickly finding the source, Kairi's fear grew when she saw that the sound was coming from the crystal she was hiding behind as it cracked. Before she could move her hand away to prevent further damage, a large portion of it broke off and fell towards the ground. "Oh no!"
Time seemed to stop as everyone appeared to only just remember that she was there. Slowly, Kairi's wide eyes locked with each of the eyes of the humans, eventually landing on Naruto's and staying there for a moment longer.
It was easy for Kairi to spot the fear and worry in his eyes, and in the back of her mind, she realized that those emotions were for her. Breaking off from Naruto's eyes, Kairi turned her head towards the dragon.
Just in time to hear its mighty roar and see it spin around in the air, coming to a stop while it was facing her.
"GWOOOO!" A massive amount of darkness began to rapidly gather and condense in the dragon's mouth. Paralyzed by fear, Kairi didn't think to do anything but watch.
"NO! Kairi, move!" She wasn't sure who said that, but the shout proved to be enough incentive for her legs to move. Unfortunately, Kairi only succeeded in stumbling back and onto the ground. "Kairi!"
All of the fighters moved at the same time to get to Kairi, but the dragon was done charging this attack much faster than the ones that came before it. With a roar, a colossal blast of darkness was shot at the defenseless girl.
Kairi's perspective of the world turned into a slow crawl as the darkness came closer and closer to her. 'I…I'm not going to make it…'
They say that when a person is put into a situation where they believe they are about to die, that person watches their entire life in the span of a second. Kairi can safely attest to this as the truth.
In that single second mentioned, Kairi saw flashes of her life. Because she didn't remember a large portion of it, she only had hazy flashes of her time prior to arriving on that island, and then most of the flashes were made up of herself and the same two boys. From the time that they were little to the young teenagers that they were today, Kairi watched herself interact with the two boys.
She watched the silver haired one tease the dark haired boy. She watched the brown haired boy glare at the silver haired boy until he lost his temper and leapt at him, causing them both to fall down in a childish brawl on the beach. She watched a young girl break out into peals of laughter at the two boys. She watched the boys compete in silly challenges over and over again, often ending in the silver haired boy winning. She watched the three friends grow older together and dream about exploring the different worlds out there. She watched them promise each other that they would be with each other no matter where they went. At the end of the stream of memories, the smiling faces of the two boys formed in her mind.
But those faces soon faded away, leaving the face of a smiling boy with cerulean and violet eyes in their place.
'What…Why am I thinking of…him…?' Before she could think about it any further, Kairi's awareness of the world returned, allowing her to once again see the darkness streaking towards her.
Suddenly, a construct made of darkness sprouted out from the ground in front of her, and out of it, the same boy that Kairi was just thinking of emerged. The boy had a scowl on his face as he gripped his keyblade in a defensive manner in front of Kairi. Unbidden, a name came to Kairi's lips in the form of a gasp.
"Naruto…!"
Surprised to hear Kairi say -or even know- his name, Naruto glanced back to her for a second. Mentally shaking himself to bring himself back to the present situation, Naruto turned back to the oncoming attack.
Acting as quickly as he could, Naruto began to gather light, causing his body to be cloaked in a bright aura. "Dark Link!" A powerful beam of light shot out of his keyblade and collided with the dragon's attack. The moment that the two blasts connected, a violent shockwave erupted from the point that light met darkness. Due to the fluctuating energy, no one else was able to get close.
Naruto felt the strain of the dragon's attack press down on him, forcing him to push back with more light. Unfortunately, Naruto knew that he was losing the battle. 'Damn it! I didn't put enough light in it!' The dragon's attack was as too fast…Naruto didn't have much time to charge his attack, so he shot an unfinished product at the dragon.
Despite his best efforts to close the gap, Naruto felt himself begin to gradually get pushed back. Growling, Naruto redoubled his efforts, but he knew it wasn't enough. Eventually, Naruto's knees began to buckle. 'No…NO!' He wasn't going to win! 'It's no good! I can't last any longe-'
A soft hand was placed on his shoulder, pulling him from his thoughts. With wide eyes, Naruto looked back and was met with the determined face of Kairi, although it was possible to see some hesitation there.
"Don't give up." She told him with a voice that was filled with a confidence that Naruto wasn't sure he still had in him. "You're almost there! C'mon!" Slowly, a light formed at the point that their bodies touched. And as that light shone brighter, Naruto felt an increasing amount of light get pumped into him, and therefore his attack. "I know you can do this!"
Nodding, Naruto turned his attention to the situation at hand. He wasn't sure what it was, but something about having Kairi there cheering him on and standing by him filled him with strength beyond the light she was somehow giving him. Tightening the grip on his keyblade, Naruto started to channel an even greater amount of light into his attack.
This time, instead of Naruto's attack getting pushed back, the dragon was forced back as it was overpowered. Inch by inch, the point at which the light and darkness met was forced back towards the dragon. Soon, it reached the spot directly in front of the dragon's maw.
"One last push! Together!" Naruto's eyes began to glow with an aura of light, Kairi's soon doing the same. "Now!" Acting on Kairi's words, Naruto put the last of his strength into the attack.
And in doing so, successfully overpowered the dragon completely. "Gwooo!" The beam of light connected with the dragon's head. And while its body had higher resistance to non-physical attacks, it was doubtful that the inside of its mouth did. This was proven when the dragon's body was overtaken by an explosion of light.
Acting on instinct, Naruto whirled around and threw himself on top of Kairi, just in time to shield her from the blast. The two of them stayed like that with their eyes close, waiting for the wind and shaking to stop.
End Music
After a minute, they did die down, telling them that it was safe. Tentatively, Kairi cracked open an eye, only to have it and the other spring open in shock when she saw a pair of cerulean and violet eyes only a few inches in front of her. Unsure what to do, Naruto and Kairi stayed like that for a minute.
"Ahem." Pulled out of their frozen state by sound of someone clearing their throat. Mechanically, Naruto and Kairi looked to the side and saw a smirking Kirito standing there. A few feet behind him were the others. If her the giggles she was failing to stifle were any indication, Asuna especially seemed to enjoy the newest situation. "I'm glad you two are alright…But should you really be doing that there?"
Both Naruto and Kairi's faces turned bright red at his words. Immediately, Naruto jumped up as if he was burned and he reached a hand out to help Kairi. "Shut it, Kirito!" After glaring at the smirking swordsman, Naruto focused on Kairi. "Sorry about that. Are you okay?"
Still blushing, Kairi accepted the hand and got to her feet. "I'm fine." She shook her head to clear it of the blush and smiled tentatively at him. "Thanks for protecting me, Naruto." Said crimson blond blinked at this.
"So I didn't imagine it…" He said slowly, gaining the attention of the others.
Kairi tilted her head slightly in curiosity. "Didn't imagine what?" She asked.
"You said my name." It was then that the others caught up to that fact. As if realizing this for the first time herself, Kairi's mouth formed a small 'o' in realization. "I don't think that anyone here has said it since you woke up…So how do you know it?"
She frowned slightly in thought. "That's…" It was then that she remembered something. "Hey, wait…You said my name too! How did you know it?"
Kirito crossed his arms and nodded. "I would like to know how as well, to be honest. I was under the impression that you didn't know her, Naruto?"
"I…" Naruto rubbed the back of his head. How was he supposed to explain something like this?
"Achoo!" All eyes turned to the source of the sneeze. Standing there was Kairi…who was still dressed in a top without sleeves and a skirt.
"Oh, right…" Kirito muttered and took one last glance around the summit. "We've got what we came here for, so let's go…I'm sure Kairi is pretty cold here." Kairi nodded at his words. Briefly rummaging through his pocket, Kirito pulled out some sort of blue crystal. "We can talk more at our place." Raising the crystal, he spoke up. "Teleport: Coral!" The sound of many bells ringing was heard while the crystal in his hand shattered. A moment later, they were all engulfed in blue lights.
Aincrad 22nd Floor: Kirito and Asuna's Log House (Later)
Six humans and a cat were seated in the living room of a cabin located in a grassy field on the twenty-second floor. Sitting down comfortably with a sigh after taking off his equipment, Kirito smiled. "This is much better…"
Asuna nodded cheerfully. "There really is no place like home." She said with a happy sigh.
Seated in her spot on the couch, Kairi still had wide eyes as she took everything in. "So we really teleported?" She asked in awe. "Just like that?" Asuna smiled at her.
"Just like that. You were there too, you know."
Blushing slightly, Kairi nodded. "Well, yeah, but…It's just so hard to imagine! Teleportation? Dragons? Special attacks? How is any of this possible?"
It was Naruto's turn to smile at her this time. "Well, I'd imagine that you didn't see things like this back on Destiny Islands, right?"
"Of course not! The weirdest thing that ever happened there was when Sora…" Kairi trailed off when the realization of what Naruto just said hit her. "Wait, how did you know I'm from there?" The smile on Naruto's face slowly slid off while everyone turned to look at him.
"The same way I learned your name…" Naruto admitted. "Kairi…What is the last thing you remember before waking up on that mountain?" He asked her.
Kairi's face scrunched up in thought. "Um…I remember…Saying goodbye to Sora and Riku for the day, like usual…We had just spent another entire day devoted to making the raft and it was getting dark out, so we agreed to meet back on the island the next day…But, it never happened…?" She asked, more to herself than to the others.
"And do you remember what happened that night?" At first, Kairi only gave Naruto a confused look, but a gasp soon escaped her lips as the memory came back to her.
"There was a storm!" She declared. "I was worried about the raft, so I went back to the island to make sure it was safe. But…I never got to it. I was attacked by these weird monsters. They were all black and had yellow eyes, and they all seemed to come out of the ground!" Various glances were traded throughout the room. "I ran away, but they kept on coming, so I ran into the cave on the island." Naruto recalled the memory of the cave he saw. "I…I can't remember what happened after that though…" Hearing the distress in her voice, Naruto walked over to Kairi and set down next to her. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he spoke softly.
"That's fine…I think I know what happened next." She looked at him in surprise.
"You do?"
"Yep." His smile turned slightly sad. "I can say that you have done what you set out to do. You managed to get to another world." Kairi's eyes widened. "But while that could mean that you have accomplished your goal…It happened in the worst possible way."
A tendril of fear grasped Kairi. "What do you mean?"
Sighing, Naruto retracted his hand and crossed his arms. "Kairi…Do you remember the story about the 'true light'?"
"The 'true light'…?" Kairi whispered. 'Where have I heard that before…?' It was like a…scattered dream? No…It was more like a far-off memory. The image of a smiling elderly woman floated into her mind. "I…I remember." She said quietly. "I think I heard it…when I was younger." But where? Where did she hear it? And why couldn't she remember?
Seeing her begin to panic, Naruto interjected. "Just focus on the story for now, alright?" He requested gently. "Do you remember what the story said about the worlds? About darkness?" Kirito was listening closely to what Naruto was saying, trying to memorize every detail.
"Y…Yeah?" Kairi said uncertainly. "I remember…The darkness continued to spread, eventually swallowing the wo-" She cut herself with an intake of breath. "You mean…?" Naruto nodded silently. "But…But what about the people there?! Riku?! Sora?!"
Naruto took her hand into his own. "Kairi, relax. I can safely tell you that Sora is safe." He gestured to the other off-worlders. "We met him recently. He is actually looking for you and Riku." Kairi nodded weakly and allowed herself to relax at this.
"Thank god…" She muttered.
Grinning, Natsu spoke up. "We didn't get the chance to talk with him much, but he seemed to be really worried about you and that Riku person. He even made a deal with us where he would keep an eye out for some people we were looking for and we would help find you and Riku."
"Sora has always been a worrywart." She said fondly, but paused a moment later. "Wait…You said you met Sora…But what about Riku?" She looked back to Naruto, but wasn't given the answer she wanted.
"We…We don't know." Naruto admitted quietly. "We only met Sora." Knowing how she would take this, he continued. "But hey, that doesn't mean he was swallowed by the darkness. There's still the chance that he is out there. It is possible for him to wind up on some other world." Swallowing, Kairi nodded.
"Yeah…Like how that Urahara guy wound up on your world…" Naruto smiled at Kairi's assessment.
"Exactly, that bastard wound up on a world he never knew existed, so it could have happened."
Dead silence.
Slowly, Naruto gained an expression of shock. As if just realizing what she said, Kairi hesitantly raised a hand to her mouth. "Wait…How did you know that?"
"I…I don't know…?" Kairi said quietly. "I think I remember it? It's kind of like a…dream I once had? But that doesn't make sense…" Realization soon came to Naruto.
"You saw my memories too…" He whispered. Although it was soft, his voice carried to everyone in the room. Noticing the looks that he was getting, Naruto frowned. "Kairi, back when we found you…Something happened when your body came into contact with mine…In reality, it all happened in the span of a second, but it felt much longer to me. I saw…visions of things that I couldn't possibly have known about. Some of them happened in a library or a courtyard, but most of them happened on Destiny Islands…And in each and every one of them, you were there…" Kairi's eyes widened. "I think…that I saw your memories. That's how I knew about Destiny Islands and that your name was Kairi…" Naruto's mind went to something that happened during the battle with the dragon. "And you knew my name was Naruto without ever hearing it…So I think that you saw some of my memories too…"
"That's…" Was something like that even possible? Closing her eyes, Kairi thought back to the moment when she first saw Naruto. 'Come to think of it, I did feel like I knew him when I saw him…' A scene flashed in her mind; one of a young boy with blond and crimson hair shouting at a man wearing a bucket hat. A second flash showed the same boy, but he was older. This time, he was bickering with a girl that looked slightly older than him who had chestnut hair as a black haired boy styled to look like a pineapple sighed.
Opening her eyes back up, Kairi looked to Naruto. "I…I did…I remember some things that I shouldn't…And you're in all of them…"
"Thought so…" Naruto's mind was racing as he took in the new information. 'How did that happen? Why did that happen? And why did my heart react like that when I touched her for the first time?' Even now, he sensed…light? There was a lot of light fluctuating in his heart because of this girl's mere presence.
"Okay, but what does it mean?" Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts at Kirito's question. "Why did that happen?" The longer this quest went on, the more Kirito felt as if something wasn't right. How could a quest have so much backstory? And why were these NPCs so realistic? There were several times that Kirito himself forgot that they weren't players.
Naruto frowned. "I'm…actually not sure." He said honestly. 'I really wish I had a chance to talk to Hikari and Yami last night…' He would just need to try again the next time he got a chance.
Some of the previous determination that Kairi had returned to her. "It doesn't matter what it means." Not a single person in the room was expecting her to say such a thing.
"It doesn't?" Naruto asked. "I would think that you would want to know what it means." He knew that he definitely did.
Kairi shrugged. "Well, it does matter, but it isn't important right now. You said that Sora was looking for me and Riku. I should be doing the same!" Kairi declared before quickly turning to face Naruto. "You said that you and Sora would be keeping an eye out for each other's friends, right?" Surprised at the abrupt question, Naruto nodded. "Then let me go with you!"
"W-What?"
"They aren't in this world, and you guys are the only ones here that can help me find them!" Kairi leaned closer to Naruto, making him try to lean back. "So please, can I come?"
"Um…" Quickly thinking over the situation, Naruto thought it over. While he would have normally said no, Kairi was not someone from this world, so there wasn't a reason that she had to stay here. In addition to this, it was obvious that the heartless were after her for some reason. "Sure…? You can come."
A small smile appeared on Kairi's lips at his answer. "Thank you…I can't just sit here and do nothing when my friends can be in trouble."
Understanding what she was getting at, Asuna smiled. "That's good. I know that if I ever got separated from the people I care about, my priority would be finding them." She took Kirito's hand as she said this, and the two of them shared a soft smile.
"They liiiiiike each other~" Happy said with a singsong tone, eliciting a blush from Kirito and Asuna, although neither of them denied it or retracted their hands.
Sighing, Gray reached out a hand slapped the blue cat upside the head. Once that was done, he bowed his head to the two. "I'm sorry about him. Getting raised by the flaming moron mentally damaged him beyond anything rehab can fix."
Naruto groaned mentally -and verbally- when Natsu immediately surged to his feet. "Hey! Don't hit Happy, bastard! And what do you mean by that?!"
"Nothing much. Just that having you as the only major influence in a life can really mess a person up."
"What was that?! Like having your naked ass around all the time will do anyone any good!"
"I'm sorry, what?! At least I never bribed a child into calling people names just because I was too scared to do it myself!"
"It was one time! Erza would never hit Asuka, so it worked out fine! Plus, what about the time that you told her that it was okay to steal other people's underwear if you lost the ones you were wearing?!"
"How is that fine?! And that is a legitimate reason!" The two began butting heads again in the middle of the living room as the others watched.
Embarrassed at the stupidity of his companions, Naruto placed his face into his hands. "I'm so sorry about them…" Came his muffled voice. Were they seriously arguing about this? And by the sound of it, Naruto should keep them both away from children!
Suddenly, a soft giggle reached his ears, making him look up. Kairi was standing there with her hands covering her mouth in a failing attempt at hiding her laughter at the scene. Naruto glanced between the two arguing mages, who now had Kirito trying to break them up, and the giggling girl. Slowly, a smile stretched across his lips.
'Well, I guess I can put up with it if she starts smiling and laughing again…'
"You liiiiiike her~" When asked later, Happy would say that he didn't know how he wound up knocked out on the floor.
Aincrad 22nd Floor: Coral (The Next Day)
"So you guys are leaving?" Asuna asked with a slightly sad tone. Although she hasn't known them that long, she really liked them. The group was standing near the «Teleport Gate» stationed in «Coral», a small rural village. Only a dozen feet away from them was a large lake that took up a large portion of the twenty-second floor. The off-worlders were going to use the gate to get back to the seventy-fifth floor before making their way back to their ship.
Naruto nodded with a small smile on his face. "Yeah, we are. It's about time for us to get going at this point." He felt like he was forgetting something, but most of his mind was fixed on the fact that he still couldn't reach Hikari and Yami. It was honestly starting to worry him.
Kirito frowned minutely from his place next to Asuna. "Really? There's nothing else for you to do here?"
This question got a shrug out of Natsu. "Nah. What would we stick around for?"
'That can't be right.' Kirito thought to himself. 'There is still so much left that is unanswered and we never got a…quest completed…notification…' Kirito's eyes widened as his jaw dropped slightly. 'Quest completed?' Come to think of it… 'Did we ever even get a quest initiated notification?!' Kirito hastily swiped two fingers down in the air in front of him, attracting the attention of the others.
"Kirito-kun?" Asuna asked curiously, but she didn't get a response. Instead, Kirito rushed through the menus, trying to find something specific. "Kirito-kun, what's wrong?"
"The initiation notification." Asuna blinked at his seemingly out of place words. "Asuna, did we ever get a quest initiated notification?" Understanding coming to her, Asuna joined Kirito in looking through the menus.
"N…No. I don't think we did." The two of them stared at their menus for a moment before slowly looking back to the off-worlders. "So…What have we been doing?"
Kirito laughed weakly. "This entire time, we were never doing a quest…None of this was an event that popped up unexpectedly…" 'But…Then what the hell is all this?!' None of the off-worlders were able to understand what the problem was.
"Uh, are you okay?" Kirito's eyes moved over to Gray, staring at him in incomprehension. "Hello?"
"I think they broke!" Happy said cheerfully. "Everything about this world is broken!"
Natsu tilted his head. "What do you mean, buddy?"
"I mean that in this world is broken." The cat said simply. "It's pretty obvious."
Against his better judgement, Naruto decided to humor Happy. "How is the world broken?" Happy stared at him. "…What?"
"Are you stupid? There are moments that I think you are at least smarter than Natsu…But most of the time I think you really are dumb." Naruto grit his teeth. "This world is broken because we it doesn't have a heart!"
Naruto rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Happy…Of course this world has a heart. Every world has a hea-" He froze. "…Crap…" That's what he forgot! "We never found this world's keyhole!" Gray gaped at his words.
"How did we forget that?!"
"We were so focused on the Kairi thing that we didn't think about it!" Kairi looked back and forth between the two of them in confusion.
"Uh, what are you talking about?" She asked in confusion. "A keyhole?" Already confused by the realization that this wasn't a quest, Kirito and Asuna were having even more trouble catching up to the situation.
Happy shrugged carelessly from his spot in the air. "Each world has a keyhole that the heartless want to eat or something. If you lock the keyhole with Naruto's super key, then the world can't be swallowed by darkness." Kairi's eyes widened. "It's the job of the people with the super keys to protect the worlds, so Naruto should have been looking for the keyhole." His cheeks puffed up in laughter. "But he forgot! He really sucks at this!" Off to the side, Natsu snickered at his partner's claims.
"Shut up! We were doing something else that was important-ttebayo!"
"That doesn't change the fact that you forgot something like the keyhole of the world~" Happy said cheerfully. "I don't know how you are going to impress Kai-Hey!" He was interrupted by Naruto swiping a hand at him. "What's your problem?!"
"My problem is that you don't shut up!"
"Why should I? I didn't say anything but the truth. You really do suck at your job!" Happy's words earned a growl from Naruto, who was getting fed up with the feline's words. Natsu laughing at him didn't help any. "Maybe you should have tried harder to get Urahara to join us. At least he would have been smart about it! You're a total idiot! Heck, I'm sure that even I would have done better!"
"Oh yeah?! Then why don't you find the keyhole?!"
Happy's grin grew. "Okay, I'll do it! I'm sure I can figure out where the keyhole is!"
Natsu gawked at Happy in awe. "Really, buddy? How're you going to do that?"
"By using my superior knowledge." Happy declared. Still floating in the air, he cupped his chin in thought. "Hmm…Just give me a moment…This world has one-hundred floors, so it must be on one of them…" Naruto snorted. Happy glanced around, as if expecting the keyhole to appear. "Using that logic, I will find it…" His eyes landed on the large lake. Staring at the lake, stars appeared in Happy's eyes. "I found it!" Naruto's eyebrows shot up.
"…What…?" The crimson blond asked in disbelief. "What do you mean you found it?" Happy pointed dramatically at the lake.
"The heart of the world is something sacred! Something holy! Something like that can only be surrounded by something equally as sacred and holy! And only one thing fits that description…" Drool escaped his mouth. "Fish!" He darted off towards the lake, Natsu immediately following.
Naruto and Gray sighed together while Kairi looked both amused and confused. "The keyhole is in the lake because there are fish there?" Gray muttered. "That's what he came up with?"
"I can't believe I actually got riled up over that stupid cat's words…" Naruto was honestly embarrassed for his actions. They all watched as Happy flew out onto the pier. "He can't actually think that the keyhole will be that easy to find, right? It could be anywhere in this world."
Suddenly, a bright light lit up in the air above the edge of the pier, making Naruto and Gray's jaws drop.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
Happy and Natsu came to an abrupt halt as the keyhole formed. "Holy crap, I was right?!" Happy yelled before quickly clearing his throat. "I mean, of course I was right!" He whirled around and pointed at Naruto. "You see that, Naruto? I am way smarter than you!"
Scowling, Naruto stomped over to the pier and summoned his keyblade. Doing his best to block out the sound of Happy's gloating, he pointed his keyblade at the keyhole. Like the previous time, a bright light shot out of the keyblade and into the keyhole.
Click.
The keyhole flashed and began to fade away. Spinning around, Naruto glared at Happy. "That was a lucky coincidence, nothing more."
"Sure it was~"
"It's fine isn't it?" Naruto looked over to the side as Kairi walked up to them. "Who cares how the keyhole was found as long as it was?" She grinned at him. "The important thing is that it is locked now, so this world is safe." Reluctantly, Naruto felt a small smile pull at his lips.
Sighing, he shook his head. "Yeah, I guess so…" His eyes moved over to Kirito and Asuna, who silently walked over to the group with Gray. "Now there really isn't anything else for us to do here, so we should get going. Thanks again for all the help."
Kirito stared at Naruto in silence. After a moment, a small laugh escaped him, surprising the others. This laugh was joined by a second one, which was then added upon with a full chuckle.
"K-Kirito-kun?" Asuna asked uncertainly.
"I got it." Kirito said quietly. "I think I understand what's going on now…You're an unfinished quest." Asuna's eyes widened. "That's the only explanation. I'm willing to bet that this entire thing has been a quest designed by the creators that was never finished. I don't know how it got activated, but that would explain why there is so much left unexplained and how there was never a quest initiated notification." He sighed and slumped his body. "That sucks…I really wanted my rare items."
Although unsure of what he meant, Naruto shrugged and decided to use this as a chance to get out of letting him realize that other worlds really existed. "Sorry if there was something we couldn't do for you."
"No…It's fine." Kirito smiled sheepishly. 'I should have realized right away something was wrong here…But it makes sense that they didn't have time to finish this one if they put this much detail into its history and characters…' Extending a hand, Kirito continued. "Regardless if we got anything out of it or not, I was happy to help."
"We both were." Asuna said with a smile.
Naruto grinned and accepted the hand. "And we were happy for the help."
"Yeah! If we didn't get there when we did, then we might not have reached Kairi in time! And that means that Naruto would have never got the chance to meet the girl he liiii-" He was cut off when Gray sighed and covered his mouth with a hand.
"Once again…Please ignore him."
Gummi Ship
"It's not fair!"
"Yes, it is! Why do you even need your own chair?!"
"Because the rest of you do!"
"You can fit in Natsu's lap!"
"But it's my chair!"
Kairi smiled at Happy apologetically. "I'm sorry, Happy. I really appreciate you giving up your chair though." The redhead was currently seated in what used to be Happy's chair. Now that she was in it, Happy had been forcefully evicted over to Natsu's lap, where the cat was curled up.
"Why can't you just sit on the floor?!"
Naruto, finally having enough with the complaining, spoke up. "Happy, you're not getting the chair back! Get over it-ttebayo!" Seeing that Happy was about to speak again, he cut the cat off. "Will you shut up if I let you choose the next world?" Happy paused and considered the option.
After a minute of thought, Happy nodded. "That would be acceptable."
Sighing in relief, Naruto pulled up the map. "Fine, where do you want to go?" He was already anticipating the answer of whichever world looked interesting.
"How should I know? I don't know anything about these worlds." Naruto closed his eyes at Happy's words, even as Gray smirked in amusement and Kairi giggled.
"…Can you just pick one randomly then…?"
"Hmm…" Happy stared at the worlds and evaluated each one. "…Natsu, which one is the best?"
"The one that looks like it has strong people in it!"
"I choose the one that looks like it has strong people!"
Naruto really wished that he knew a spell that reduced headaches.
There we go! All done with Chapter 40!
STOP! Just stop right there! Don't say a single! Fucking! Word! Shut the hell up. There is a reason I did this. One that makes sense! So shut up!
"But Kog, wasn't Kairi's heart in Sora?!"
"You can't do that! She shouldn't be able to wake up!"
"If she wakes up now, then how will Roxas get created?!"
Shut up! I know! Just have a little faith. This has been the plan for a while now. So just shut up and wait for the story to get to the point where it is explained!
So…Want to take a guess at who my favorite pick for a pairing is? :P
What I never understood was why Sora never seemed concerned for his parents or anyone else. The only people he was worried about in the first game were Riku and Kairi…But whatever, that way of thinking makes it easier for me.
End was a bit rushed, but I need to get this out now and I have something else I have to do today.
World that looks like it has strong people…?
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Post a review!
Until next time,
Kog6943
Shameless self-advertising!
Did you know? Every legend was inspired by something. And while not all legends may be true…There are those legends that ARE based on the achievements of real people. Real men and women. People who have transcended all others, becoming something…more. They become a legend...The scary part? Some legends never die.
It's happening! Legend of the Silver Shinobi is here! Like Embers of a Shinobi, it's a crossover between Naruto and RWBY.
Update schedule for my three stories is still a bit iffy…As it is right now, I'm going to try and keep Twilight Key updated every Thursday/Friday night, update Embers every Sunday, and then give Silver an update Tuesday/Wednesday. Worst comes to worst, then I rotate them out, meaning I release a new chapter for whichever is next every 3-5 days. So each one would then get updates every 9-15 days…Unappealing, I know, but that would make it easier for me…