And we're back! Welcome to Twilight Key, Chapter 42!
Okay, here's what's happening…I'm going to release this unfinished thing now, and then release the second half soon. If not sometime today, then as soon as I can. Because I am super late and it was meant to be one chapter, I don't mind releasing another one before a week has gone by…The down side is that this world is now three chapters.
I'm annoyed with myself on so many levels for being so late with this chapter…
Progress came super slowly on this one. Besides being late, I couldn't get a good pace going.
Just learned today that the Fairy Tail anime ended…WTF. Again with this crap?! I mean sure, the manga is still going strong, but I like to watch the anime once in a while!
prototype gear: Thanks! I was pretty sure I did Erza right, but it's always good to get a second opinion.
Remzal Von Enili: Read the chapter!
redlox2: I don't mind saying that Hollow Bastion is a planned world, but it isn't the one I was talking about. I feel as if Hollow Bastion was a must from the start. And the magic recharges over time.
rinsegaku: The navigation gummi thing…Nah, I won't have Cloud give them one.
animecollecter: I have a self-policy of not releasing a chapter that is less than something around 3k-4k words. But frequently, I set a loose minimum of 7k words…if I can. When things aren't going to hell, I can maintain that easily enough.
shadowmwape: I'm sorry to say I don't know what you mean.
Kairitrion Cerulean: If you thought that last update took a while…
guest-bat: The keyblades are a whole pain in the ass I don't like dealing with…I have no significant visual imagination whatsoever, so I can't design something myself. I'll mostly stick to what came from the games. And thanks for the ideas!
Unknown: Read the chapter!
IceHound: That is something I've put some thought into. I won't say anything to confirm and deny it though. And Aqua…I can see that playing out two ways, I either save her or I don't…Both have some benefits…
ravengtr: Not a problem, I understand. I sometimes feel as if I have some trouble hitting that perfect mix of fighting to talking. I've both heard people tell me that I have too much talking (Like yourself) and heard people tell me I have too much fighting…There really is no winning, so I do what I feel is right.
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
In the Stands
"I'll just ask Naruto about it when…he gets…back…" Despite starting off sounding normal, the shift in Kairi's tone alarmed Erza. The elder redhead's alarm was proven to be correct when Kairi's eyes grew distant. The next moment, Kairi's body seemed to lose all of its strength, and she slumped to the side.
Swiftly reaching out, Erza caught Kairi's other shoulder in order to support her. "Kairi!" Not getting any response, Erza mentally cursed and gently laid her down on the seats. "Kairi! Can you hear me?!"
By this time, Happy had vacated Kairi's lap and was hovering in the air with a clearly anxious expression. "Kairi? Erza, what's wrong with her?!"
Erza gritted her teeth. "I'm not sure…" Leaning over the girl, Erza noted that while Kairi's eyes were open, they were glazed over. "Did she fall unconscious?" If it wasn't for the fact that she had been talking and her eyes were open, Erza would have believed that Kairi was simply sleeping.
"Hey, Erza!"
"What's going on?!"
Glancing up, Erza noted that the commotion had attracted the attention of the others, and they had all rushed over. Because they were closer, Gray and Natsu were the first to reach them.
Natsu skidded to a stop next to the stands with his eyes darting between them. When they landed on Kairi, they froze. "Is she alright?" Tearing up, Happy flung himself into Natsu's arms.
Frustration growing, Erza shook her head. "I don't know. One second she was fine, and the next she was like this…" Erza was both worried and angry with the situation. She was worried for her new friend's health, but she was also angry with herself for her inability to help.
"Kairi!" It was then that Naruto appeared next to the group, not looking anywhere but the unconscious girl. "What happened?" He demanded, but the replies he got consisted of nothing but unsure answers.
"She just became like that out of nowhere!" Happy told him. "Kairi was talking to us, but then she passed out!"
Cloud gazed at the girl from his spot next to Naruto. "I take it that this is not normal?" His presence garnered some curious glances, but nobody thought much of it.
"Not as far as I know." Naruto confirmed. "Kairi?" Nothing. "Come on, Kairi. Can you hear me?" Still no response. "Damn it…!"
"It's almost as if she fell asleep." Gray muttered. It was at that point that a panting Phil finally joined them.
Pausing, Naruto sucked in a breath in remembrance. "Like when we first met her…" He said quietly. Crouching next to Kairi, he spoke up. "Let me try something." He reached out a hand, but he was stopped when another hand latched around his wrist. Turning his head in question, Naruto was surprised to see Gray giving him a serious look.
"Naruto, are you sure about this? There's no way that you forgot what happened the first time." He told him.
The memory of extreme pain tearing through his body made Naruto shudder slightly. Quickly shaking it off, Naruto pulled his hand free with a glare. "It doesn't matter. We can't leave her this way." Gray scowled, but didn't argue. If Naruto was willing to do it, then he should be allowed to. Gray was only concerned about his friend, but it was true that Kairi was also his friend. Taking a deep breath, Naruto moved his hand back to Kairi. "Here goes nothing…" He placed the hand on her shoulder.
Right away, pain erupted in Naruto's chest, making him clench his teeth. Distantly, he noted that it was not nearly as bad as it was the first time. Despite somewhat expecting to white out and view memories again, it never happened. Instead, Naruto remained aware as lights appeared over his and Kairi's chests. Not expecting this, Cloud's eyes widened, but he didn't react beyond that, as opposed to Phil, who yelped. They all watched the lights grow increasingly bright, until it got to a level that the lights became difficult to stare at.
Eventually, the lights began to fade away, leaving a fatigued Naruto. Once the lights were completely gone, he let go of Kairi's shoulder and sat down on the ground. "Well, that didn't suck as much as it did the last time…"
Understanding what he was referring to after hearing the story, Erza gave him a worried look. "Are you alright? I've been told that that process isn't exactly easy…"
Naruto smiled at her. "Yeah, I'm fine. But enough about me, what about Kairi?" All eyes moved back to Kairi. Seeing that she was still in the same condition, Naruto's hands balled into fists. "Damn…Did that not do anything?"
"Ugh…" Each one of them perked up at the quiet moan. "…What hit me…?" Holding a hand to the side of her head, Kairi pushed herself into a sitting position. "I was…" Blinking, it was then that Kairi noticed the people gathered around her. "W-What?"
"Kairi!"
"You're okay!"
Sobbing, Happy shot out of Natsu's arms and into Kairi's. The girl was not expecting the cat to do such a thing, but she still caught him. "D-Don't do that! You can't fall asleep whenever you want to! You really scared Naruto! He wouldn't stop crying!"
"Hey! You're the one who was crying-ttebayo!" Despite saying this, a relieved smile was still on Naruto's face. "But moving past Happy's lies, how are you feeling, Kairi?" He asked.
Briefly thinking over it, Kairi shrugged. "I feel…fine, I guess? A little lightheaded, but nothing serious…"
"Nothing serious?" Phil echoed. "Kid, people don't just pass out when it's 'nothing serious'! So let me tell you, that was serious!"
"I passed out…" Kairi repeated softly, as if she was only comprehending it now. "I did?"
"Yes!"
"…But why?" Kairi asked. "I felt fine. Heck, I feel fine! Why would I pass out?"
Natsu frowned and crossed his arms. "Dunno…" A grin split his face. "But does it matter? You're all better now! Don't worry about it!" He broke out into laughter, but it was cut off by Erza's fist embedding in his gut.
"Of course it matters, fool!" She shouted. "If we don't know what caused it in the first place, it may very well happen again!" Retracting her fist, she ignored Natsu as the dragon slayer crumpled to the ground. Kairi stiffened when Erza's attention shifted to her, but relaxed a bit when the glare disappeared in favor of a kinder expression. "Kairi, are you sure you don't feel any different?"
"Um…" Kairi hesitantly nodded. "Yeah, I am. I honestly didn't realize that I lost consciousness until you told me…It was kind of like I fell half asleep." She explained.
"It was more than that." Naruto cut in. "You didn't simply fall asleep or lose consciousness…If that was the case, then I wouldn't have needed to wake you up the way I did."
It took Kairi a moment, but she soon gasped. "You mean that you woke me up by touching me? And those lights came back?" Naruto nodded. Immediately, Kairi became upset. "But why? Doesn't that hurt you?!"
Naruto raised his hands in a placating manner and smile reassuringly. "Don't sweat it, I'm fine. I'm not going to lie, it did hurt, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the first time it happened. Plus, I knew what was happening this time. I chose to help you." He grinned. "So forget about it. I'd rather we focus on finding out what caused it to happen in the first place."
Although clearly unhappy with this, Kairi agreed. "Okay…So does anyone have a clue what happened to me?"
Phil waved her off. "Sorry, I ain't a doc, so I don't know. I don't think there is anything I can do to help here, so I'll leave this to you." The goat(?) then trotted away.
At first, no one said anything, but the silence was broken by one of the least expected people. "You used light…" Naruto's eyes locked with Cloud's. "She wouldn't wake up, but you used light to do wake her. Maybe that has something to do with it."
Frowning, Naruto slowly nodded. "Maybe…On second thought, that would make a lot of sense. Not to mention the way that we found Kairi in the first place was really unusual…" His frowned deepened. "But what do you know about light?"
Cloud moved his gaze to the side, seemingly looking at something that wasn't there. "…I know enough about light…And darkness…" Without saying another word, he walked away.
"You both prefer the light, but have inescapable ties to the dark."
'Going by what Sephiroth said, I guess it would make sense that Cloud knows something…' Naruto thought to himself.
Gray quirked an eyebrow at the retreating blond. "I haven't asked, but who's that guy?"
Erza sighed. "His name is Cloud. He's someone who has been fighting in the tournaments for a while now." She shook her head. "But focus on the current problem. How does knowing that using light to wake her up help us?"
"I don't know, but at least it gives me something to work with." Naruto said.
Kairi tilted her head in confusion. "It does?"
"Yep. If light is what woke you up, then I'm willing to bet that this has something to do with your heart." Naruto smirked. "And that is something I can check."
"You can?" Kairi's surprise was obvious through her tone. "How?"
"By doing this." Naruto raised a fist towards her. "All you have to do is press your fist against mine, and I will be able to feel out your heart, along with any abnormalities, but this only works if you don't fight it." Well, he was pretty sure that was how Killer B got into his station of awakening the way that he did the first time. It didn't happen again, so that was the probable conclusion…Or it could have had something to do with Killer B being a jinchuriki. Naruto didn't think he would need to go as far as enter her Station of Awakening, but it would still be easier if she was calm.
Slightly nervous, Kairi nodded. She raised a fist and pressed it against his. "Like this?"
"Exactly. Now, just relax and let me do the rest." Naruto said before closing his eyes. The others remained quiet in order to not disturb him. After a minute with nothing, Natsu began to fidget. Losing his patience, he opened his mouth, but a swift glare from Erza made him pale and snap his mouth shut again. After another minute ticked by, a frown made its way onto Naruto's face. "…What…?" He whispered.
"What's wrong?" Erza asked. "Is there a problem?"
Unsure what to say, Naruto shrugged. "I…I actually don't know. Let me try something else. Kairi, I need you to do as I say, alright?"
Growing more anxious, Kairi agreed. "Okay…"
"Please close your eyes." Kairi did as instructed. "Take a deep breath and try to concentrate on nothing but me." She attempted to filter out the rest of the world. "I'm going to send a small pulse of light into you through the point that we are touching. I want you to focus on that light and the feeling it gives you. I am going to use that as a chance to better read your heart. Are you ready?"
Kairi took another deep breath. "Ready." Hearing this, Naruto channeled some light down his arm and into his fist. Controlling it precisely, he pushed it to Kairi.
Suddenly feeling a sensation of warmth enter her, Kairi gasped, but she didn't pull her fist away. Although she didn't know what she was expecting, she didn't think the light would be so…comforting. It was to the point that it almost felt like she was being reunited with something that she only distantly remembered.
While Kairi was experiencing this, Naruto was waiting for her heart to echo in response to his light. Injecting another person with an aura -whether it be one of light, darkness, or some mixture- always resulted in the recipient's heart reacting in some way.
But no reaction ever came.
A feeling of worry crawled up Naruto's spine as he continued to wait. 'Why isn't anything happening? Her heart should have responded by now. And why can't I feel it?' There was nothing about the situation that made sense to him. Deciding to take it a step further, Naruto tried to enter her Station of Awakening.
Only to find that he was unable to do so, just as he couldn't enter his own.
Determining his next course of action, Naruto sent a second pulse of light to Kairi, and never stopped tracking it. He felt it leave his body and enter hers, it then traveled up her arm and into her chest. Naruto sensed it move to the spot that her heart was.
Or at least, where her heart was supposed to be.
Naruto's confusion and alarm skyrocketed when he felt the light he sent into her simply pool in the spot that her heart should have been. It wasn't that it was coating her heart or even transforming into her light, it was simply there. Now that he found the spot, Naruto realized that his light was getting amplified by something, but he didn't know what.
Taking a closer look, Naruto noted that there was more light there than only two pulses he sent. In fact, the two pulses joined together with what felt like a constant current of light that was flowing through Kairi. Naruto had initially missed it because he was searching for a new aura, but this one felt identical to his own.
'I know I only sent those two pulses to her, and this is still being fed.' Frowning, Naruto examined his own aura, and he was shocked to find that there was a small stream of light leaving his heart. It was nothing significant, but it was still happening. 'But why? Why is Kairi's body taking my light? It's as if it's fueling it…' Coming to a conclusion that he really hoped was wrong, Naruto slowly pulled back his fist.
Feeling the loss of contact, Kairi opened her eyes again. "Well? Did you find out what it was?"
"I…I think so." Naruto's quiet words worried them all. "Give me one more second." Closing his eyes, Naruto verified that a small portion of his light was still getting siphoned off, despite him not even touching her anymore. Swallowing, Naruto opened his eyes again. "Kairi…Do you really not remember anything from the point that you ran away from the heartless? I'm talking about the night that your world was consumed by darkness."
Paling, Kairi shook her head. "No, nothing…It's all hazy."
"Figures…" Naruto sighed. "And are you positive that this is the first time that this has happened since you met us? It doesn't have to be that you fainted, but were there any instances where you suddenly felt lightheaded?"
"Um…" Kairi's face scrunched up in though. "No…Oh!" Her face lit up in realization. "I did feel lightheaded once before, back on the mountain summit where I met you guys. It happened during your fight with the dragon…It was actually because of that that I drew attention to myself."
Thinking back to the fight, Naruto recalled the moment prior to the dragon attacking her. Glancing over to the lobby, he absently nodded. "It looks to be about the same distance…" He muttered.
Getting tired of being left in the dark, Erza cleared her throat. "You said you discovered the issue? What was it?"
Naruto scratched the back of his head. "I'm not sure how to say it, honestly…And it's mostly a theory…" Choosing to get it over with, Naruto continued. "Kairi…I think that you didn't escape your world completely unharmed." Kairi stilled. "Like I said, I was feeling out your heart by sending small pulses of light into you." A nod. "The way that this was supposed to work was your heart was going to send out some sort of response. Whether it be a follow-up pulse of an influx of your aura, I should have felt it."
Gray immediately caught onto the hints. "You're saying 'was supposed to work' and 'should have'…I'm guessing that's not how it turned out?"
"Exactly." Naruto confirmed. "At first, I thought I had missed it, so I decided to test it another way, but that also proved ineffective…Although I don't know if that was your fault or mine." His concern over his inability to contact Hikari and Yami was now well beyond small, and not being able to enter the Station of Awakening only made it worse. "When that didn't work, I moved to the final method, one that I knew would lead me to your heart." He grimaced. "But it didn't…I couldn't find your heart at all."
Dead silence.
"What?! Kairi doesn't have a heart?!"
"That means she's a heartless! Or Lucy!"
Growling, Erza whirled around to face Natsu and Happy. "Be quiet! That is obviously not the case!" The two of them instantly stopped running around and shouting.
"What? I-I don't have a heart?" Kairi's entire body was shaking as she said this.
"Hey, relax. Don't you think I would be more worried if this meant disaster?" Naruto's reassurance calmed her down somewhat. "While it's true that you somehow lost your heart, you're also here talking to us, so it isn't the worst case scenario."
Blinking, Kairi stared down at herself in confusion. "Y-You're right…How am I here?"
Natsu cupped his chin in thought and leaned closer to Kairi. Uncomfortable with the proximity, Kairi leaned back. Humming in consideration, Natsu examined her from multiple angles. Quickly growing irritated with the fire dragon slayer, Naruto reached out a hand and pulled him back. "What are you doing?"
"I was just checking for any black skin, claws, or emblems." Natsu explained easily before grinning widely at her. "I didn't see any, so you're not a heartless!"
Releasing Natsu, Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yes, we already established that, but thanks." Despite saying this, a small smile was on his lips. "Besides that, a heartless is the manifestation of the darkness in people's hearts, not beings that literally don't have a heart. They were only named that way because they act 'heartless'."
Happy flew in circles around Kairi. "Well, if things made from only hearts are called heartless, then what about the ones who are the opposite? If you only have a body, but no heart, what are you called?" He came to a halt as his eyes lit up. "I got it! If just a heart makes a heartless, then just a body makes a nobody! Nobodies are the ones with a body, but no heart!"
Scowling, Naruto swiped a hand at Happy. "That's not how it works. You can't name something like that on the spot. We don't even know if there is such a thing as beings with a body, but no heart."
Could this stupid cat get any more ridiculous?
Hearing a giggle, Naruto froze in place. He slowly turned his head to the source and smiled when he saw that Kairi was the one laughing, fright and uncertainty completely gone.
Relenting, Naruto sighed. 'Good, she isn't freaking out.' Taking a short moment to glare at Happy, he spoke up. "But back to the point, I couldn't detect your heart."
Kairi nodded. "Okay…But then how am I…Well, me?"
"As far as I can tell, you have some kind of special connection to light." Naruto answered. "When we first found you, all of the heartless in that world were focusing completely on getting to your location, but you were protected by some barrier made of light." Kairi's eyebrow's furrowed. "Then there was this second barrier made of light that protected you. It was only after we got you out of that second one that we were able to reach you. It was then that my heart suddenly reacted to your presence, coating us in light." He paused with a frown. "…Which actually doesn't make much sense because I don't know what it was reacting to…Or where the light over your chest came from…"
"Um…But that doesn't tell me why I'm awake…"
"Right…When I searched for your heart a minute ago, I found out that while you don't have your heart, your connection to light is what is keeping you awake. Because you don't have your own heart to generate the light, your body is siphoning off a small portion of my light, which it somehow…amplifies. I think it's acting like a pseudo-heart for you. As long as you stay near me, you will stay awake." Naruto explained. Off to the side, Natsu and Happy were clearly lost, but Gray and Erza had thoughtful expressions on their faces.
"Wait, can that really work?" Gray asked. "Is it possible for you to give a person some of your light, in order to act as a replacement for a heart?"
"Normally I would say it couldn't happen, but that's why I said that Kairi has a special connection to light." Naruto said quietly. "A heart is made up of both light and darkness, and yet Kairi is able to operate purely on light, despite not truly having a heart…That isn't normal." Although he was speaking out loud, Naruto was mostly speaking to himself. In his mind, he was piecing all of the known facts together.
'Special connection to the light. Able to operate on just light. Her body amplifies the power of light, both in my Dark Link and in her body. Heartless were focusing on her. My heart resonated with her presence.' Realization soon dawned on him. "You're one of them…" He whispered, gaining the attention of the others. "You're one of the seven Princesses of Heart."
Kairi tilted her head in confusion. "The who?"
Tiredly rubbing his eyes, Naruto answered. "I'm really not sure how to explain this…" Naruto said. "I'll try to keep this short…You already know about the 'true light' and how people fought over it." Kairi nodded. "And as you now know, that story was true."
"Yeah…" Any doubts of such had left her by then.
"Well, the true light has another name…Kingdom Hearts." Kairi rolled the name around in her head. "Like the story says, Kingdom Hearts disappeared into the darkness."
"And a door to the innermost darkness will open one day, showing the way to Kingdom Hearts." Kairi finished. "So I have something to do with the story?"
Naruto frowned. "The door that leads to the innermost darkness, and therefore to Kingdom Hearts, is known as the Door to Darkness. In the beginning, there was only one thing that could summon Kingdom Hearts, and that was the χ-blade, a keyblade that was a perfect fusion of light and darkness. The ancient war was started over people fighting over both the χ-blade and Kingdom Hearts, and when Kingdom Hearts disappeared, the χ-blade shattered into twenty pieces. Seven of those pieces were light, which in turn went on to create seven hearts of pure light. Those seven hearts were the original seven Princesses of Heart. Because of their connection to Kingdom Hearts, they have the ability to open the Door to Darkness." Kairi was wide eyed at this new information.
"So you're saying that I'm one of these princesses? How do you know? How is that possible?!"
"I can't say that I'm completely certain, but I'm pretty sure." Naruto said quietly. "The fact that you only need light to function and the way we found you are big indicators. But the biggest clue is how my heart resonates with your presence."
Kairi swallowed nervously. "What do you mean?"
"Kairi…I was chosen by Kingdom Hearts to be the one to ensure balance between light and dark. Because of my connection to Kingdom Hearts, I have the potential to wield the χ-blade." Naruto shrugged. "I can't summon it at will yet, but I've managed to do it for a second when I was in trouble."
After taking a minute to digest all of this information, Kairi hesitantly nodded. "I-I think I understand." Her eyes met Naruto's. "So what does this mean?"
Naruto opened his mouth, but frowned when he realized that he didn't have an immediate answer. After some brief thought, he sighed quietly. "I hate to quote the moron, but…" His lips quirked into a small smile. "Don't worry about it." None of them were expecting such a response."
Unsure he had heard correctly, Gray cleared his throat. "Uh, Naruto? Shouldn't we be worried about this?"
"I don't mean that we should forget about this completely, but we are missing the most important piece of information." Naruto's smirk morphed into a full grin. "Kairi is fine, so we can start looking for a solution. She is obviously healthy enough that she didn't even realize anything was wrong, so as long as she stays close, she will be okay. I'll start putting more effort into figuring out what is going on. So until then, I don't think it would be a good idea to panic." Kairi stared at him for several long moments, but she eventually broke out into giggles. "What? What's so funny?"
Kairi shook her head apologetically. "I'm sorry…It's just that your so much like him." Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "You're so much like Sora! Natsu too!"
The other eyebrow joined the first. "I am?"
"Yep. Sure, you both are still really different, but you're also really similar. I can easily see Sora saying something like that!" Getting control of herself, Kairi continued. "So I just need to stick around so it doesn't happen again?" She smiled. "Easy enough." Her smile vanished as she jabbed a finger into a surprised Naruto's chest. "But you had better promise me that you will do your best to find a way to fix this."
"Uh, yeah…Of course."
"Good!" Kairi chirped. "Then we don't have a problem…Well, we do, but it isn't an immediate one."
"That's what I've been saying." Natsu said as if it was obvious. "You guys should really listen to me more."
Erza smiled at him. "I apologize, Natsu. It seems that it was wrong of me to doubt you." Natsu gave her a wary look, cautious of her doing something excessive again."
"Nah…It's fine…" Wanting to quickly get away from this topic before Erza took her apology too far, Natsu went to the first thing that came to his mind. "So who was that guy?! You said his name was Cloud?" His face lit up in excitement. "And that he fights in the tournaments? Is he strong?"
Both caught off guard and exasperated at the sudden change in topic, Erza smiled. "Yes, that is his name. And as I said, he does fight in tournaments. As for his strength…" Her smile grew. "I would say that he is very strong."
Natsu was visibly vibrating with excitement. Out of nowhere, he turned his face towards the sky and release a powerful blast of fire. "Yes! I'm all fired up!"
Gray had a smirk of his own on his face. "Now I know this is going to be good."
Shrugging, Naruto spoke up. "Oh, by the way, I decided to join you in the tournament." All eyes moved to him.
"You did?" Gray asked. "How come? I thought you didn't want to fight."
"Well…It turns out that Cloud wants to fight against someone who I've lost to in the past." Naruto explained. "The both of us want to fight each other." He grinned. "So? You mind if I join in?"
"Ha! I knew you wouldn't want to pass this up!" Natsu cheered. "This is gonna be awesome!"
"But wait." Gray cut in. "Didn't you say that you need to stay close to Kairi? Or else she would pass out again?"
Naruto shook his head. "This distance is fine. She only passed out once I nearly reached the lobby, but the arena is much closer to this spot in the stands than that."
"Oh, I understand."
"So Kairi is fine! Enough about that! We need to go talk to Phil!" Natsu clamped a hand around Naruto's wrist. "Come on!" He spun around and was prepared to drag Naruto over to the goat(?), but was interrupted by a voice.
"Talk to me about what?" None of them had noticed Phil approaching them again while they had been talking. In his hands were some papers.
Grinning, Natsu shoved Naruto forward. "Naruto says he wants to fight!"
Phil blinked. "You do?" He asked. "I thought that you said you ain't interested."
Taking a short moment to glare at Natsu for the shove, Naruto replied. "Something came up, so I decided to fight as well." Naruto frowned. "Is too late to participate."
"Nah, you're fine. I just gotta-" Phil froze in the middle of his sentence and slowly turned his head around in the direction of the arena. Following his gaze, the others were greeted with the sight of smoldering and charred pieces of wood strewn about the vicinity. Phil's hand came up to his face. "…You know what? Never mind. You're in, kid." Natsu had the decency to at least look a little sheepish. Phil thrust the papers and a pen into Naruto's hands. "Fill those out and bring them to me in the lobby." Without saying another word, he left.
Smiling slightly, Naruto sat down on a seat. "That works out for me because I didn't feel like smashing barrels anyways." Kairi leaned over to peek at the papers.
"So all you need to do is fill these out to get in the tournament? What kind of information is it asking for?"
Naruto quickly skimmed over it. "Nothing much. It's a contract saying that we are aware that we are entering a tournament, and getting injured is a possibility." He blinked when he reached the bottom of the page. "A team name?"
"We need a team name?" Gray asked in confusion. "Why?" This question was directed towards Erza.
"You will be fighting as a team, so you need something to go by. It is easier if people don't have to call you each by name every time they wish to refer to you as a group." She said simply. "Do you have anything in mind?"
Natsu's grin returned. "Fire Dragon Warriors!" Naruto groaned quietly when Gray immediately scowled.
"No way in hell. Why would we use such a stupid name?" He crossed his arms. "We should go by something cool…Something like the Frozen Knights."
"Huh? How is that cool? It sounds totally lame!" Natsu shouted.
"It's better than that crap you suggested!"
"Like hell it is!"
"I say that you should be the Cat brigade!"
'Happy, you aren't even participating…' Naruto was pulled from his thoughts by a hand suddenly taking the pen and form out of his hands. Turning to the owner, Naruto saw that Kairi was now writing something down. "You think of something?" His question attracted the attention of the others.
Smiling happily, Kairi nodded. "Yep. I thought of a name for you guys, and it's perfect." She handed the paper back to him. "Check it out!" Natsu, Gray, and Erza all crowded around Naruto to see what she wrote down.
Erza had an approving look on her face. "That will do nicely. It makes a lot of sense, given your abilities."
Gray smirked. "Not half bad, Kairi. In fact, it's pretty good."
"Nice! It's awesome!" Natsu pumped a fist. "That's our name from now on!"
"Aye!"
Naruto grinned at Kairi. "Thanks for the name. We'll go with this one." Kairi blushed a bit from all of the praise. "Then let's go give this to Phil."
In the Arena (Later)
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! I welcome you to the grand reopening of the Olympus Coliseum!" The crowd burst into loud cheering at Phil's words. "As you all know, my name is Phil, and I am your announcer for the games!" He waited a moment for the cheering to die down. "We have an exciting lineup for you today, so you know that this is gonna end in one hell of a fight!"
Phil gestured towards the side. "I know you people just want to see me get out of the way so the games can start, so without further ado, allow me to introduce to you our first team!" The crowd cheered again as Naruto, Natsu, and Gray entered the arena. "First up is our newcomer team! This team of three consist of the flaming powerhouse, Natsu! The guy that's colder than ice, Gray! And the kid that puts up with their antics, Naruto!"
'Why is my intro like that?'
"Together, they make up our newest team, Twilight's Frigid Blaze!"
In the Stands
Erza smiled upon hearing Phil announce the team name and the responding enthusiasm from the crowd. "I knew it was a good name, and it appears that the crowd agrees." Kairi flushed and she attempted to distract herself by petting Happy, who was in her lap again. The blue cat eagerly melted into her touch.
"It was nothing much. I just thought about their different fighting styles and put them all together in a name that worked."
"Well regardless, good job." Erza looked back to the arena. "I look forward to seeing how the three of them work together. Although they often bicker, I know that Natsu and Gray do work fairly well together."
A small frown made its way onto Kairi's face. "You're not fighting, Erza?" She had been wondering about it for a while, but she had yet to ask.
Shaking her head, Erza spoke up. "Not this time, no. Until yesterday, I have been working nonstop on the reconstruction of the arena and the damaged portions of the stands, so I want to pass up on this tournament. I'll join the next one…But I am slightly disappointed to miss out on the chance to fight the three of them." Kairi nodded in understanding. Unnoticed to them, Happy shuddered.
'I don't think that they wanted to fight you…'
Back in the Arena
Natsu grinned and put his arms behind his head. "Man~ Kairi really did think of a great name!"
Gray nodded in agreement. "It is a good one…Way better than the crap you were trying to get us to use." Naruto sighed as Natsu instantly whirled around on Gray.
"Bastard! My suggestion was way better than yours! Yours sounded like some cheap ice cream parlor!"
"What?! At least mine didn't make it sound like the three of us were some stupid kid's superhero team from a crappy TV show!"
"Uh-oh, it looks like our newest team has some issues! Is this a sign of a fallout before they even began?" Despite the sparks flying between Natsu and Gray, the crowd was laughing at their interaction.
"Enough!" Naruto shouted, fed up with their arguing. "Take it out on the opponents-ttebayo!"
"And there goes the straight man of the comedy trio! And what a cute catchphrase!" The laughter in the audience reached new heights.
'I am so going to kick that goat's ass for that…' Naruto shook of his anger as Phil continued.
"Now that we have the first group entered, it's time to introduce their opponents! As you know, we often do not get enough people who come out to participate, so we fill in the empty spots with whatever we can find!" That set some alarms off in Naruto. "Now here they are! Team Ghost Bandits!"
Naruto's eyes widened when a total of six pools of darkness formed on the ground in front of them. Understanding what was happening, Naruto scowled. Behind him, Gray did the same while Natsu simply grew excited again. Two Search Ghosts, three Air Soldiers, and a Bandit sprouted from the darkness. The Bandit drew its sword while the others rose into the air.
"The opponents in this tournament are heartless?" Gray asked. "Is that safe?" Naruto glanced around the audience and noticed that no one seemed to be concerned in any way.
"You heard what Phil said. This is apparently a normal thing here." Naruto responded. "Not only that, but it should be safe enough. Erza-san is here, along with Hercules and Cloud. They have it under control."
"So we don't have to worry about hurting anyone too badly!" Natsu said. "Let's get this started! The sooner we get through the weak ones, the sooner we can fight the strong people!"
Shrugging, Naruto allowed a small smirk to show on his face. "I guess this will be a nice enough warm up." Raising a hand, he summoned his keyblade. Gray took this as the cue to slip into his own battle stance, Natsu doing the same.
"It looks like all of our combatants are ready!" Phil announced. "If that's the case, then I don't see a reason to keep you waiting any longer! I now announce the that the first match of today's games…is a go! Fight!"
Not needing to be told twice, Natsu created some flames and jumped at the closest heartless, which happened to be one of the Search Ghosts. "Fire Dragon's Claw!" The heartless didn't have a chance as the powerful kick immediately killed it.
Following the dragon slayer's opening, Naruto and Gray dashed forward. Gray placed a fist in his hand and made a large hammer. Using this weapon, he swiped at the Air Soldiers.
As this was happening, the Bandit launched itself forward and slashed at Naruto. Reacting to the threat, Naruto brought his keyblade up and parried the blow. The crimson blond didn't let up as the heartless stumbled back, instead choosing to swiftly follow up with a stab. The keyblade stabbed into the heartless, dispersing it into darkness. Spinning around, Naruto ducked under the swipe from behind sent by the remaining Search Ghost.
Remaining calm, Naruto thrust his keyblade at the heartless, only for it to meet nothing but air when the heartless faded from view in order to avoid the blow. Frowning, Naruto scanned the arena for his target, and he soon found it floating above him. Acting quickly, Naruto thrust his hand at it. "Thunder!" The bolt of lightning met its target and killed the heartless.
Despite this, Naruto didn't let his guard down. Glancing around, he searched for any remaining heartless, but all he saw was Natsu burning the last one from existence. In response to this, the cheers from the crowd skyrocketed again.
"Well would you look at that! In a show of some fantastic coordination, Twilight's Frigid Blaze defeated their opponents in record time! Each of them instantly knew who their teammates were going to target, and used that to not mess each other up by squabbling!"
"More like we just attacked whoever was closest." Naruto muttered to himself. After dismissing his keyblade, he walked over to Gray and Natsu. "You two alright?"
Gray smirked. "Of course. That was nothing." His smirk faltered. "But I seriously hope that they get tougher than that. That match was almost too easy."
"It'll get tougher, I'm sure." Naruto replied. "And you, Natsu?"
"I'm good. Did you see how I kicked ass back there?!"
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yes, it was a sight to see." He gestured toward the stands. "Come on, we can sit with the others while we wait for our next match." The lobby wasn't exactly an option if he couldn't get that far from Kairi. Nodding, the two Fairy Tail members followed him.
The crowd continued to cheer for them as the three exited the arena, although they did get some curious looks when they walked over to the stands, instead of the resting room attached to the lobby.
Kairi smiled and waved them over as they approached. "Hey guys! Great job out there!"
"Aye!"
From her seat, Erza smiled as well. "That was an impressive display." Natsu puffed out his chest in pride. After taking a seat, Naruto turned to Erza.
"I never bothered to ask about it, but do you know how many rounds there are in this tournament?"
Erza smiled at the question. "This tournament is a standard sized one for this coliseum, meaning there are nine rounds. Each round becomes progressively more difficult that the last. In addition to this, to make things even more exciting, you never know who your next opponent is until it is time for the match."
"Good! 'Cause I don't want them all to be that weak! And the surprise makes it better!" Natsu declared.
Naruto sighed. "Keep your enthusiasm down a bit…"
"And now it's time to welcome a crowd favorite…Cloud!" Naruto's attention snapped to the arena as Cloud stepped in. Not wanting to miss anything, he leaned forward.
The rest of the group noticed Naruto's actions and followed his line of sight to the target. Erza nodded when she saw what had made Naruto act like that. "Pay attention. This is a good chance to see what you will be up against in this tournament." Cloud had his apathetic expression in place, even as a large amount of heartless appeared in the arena, only choosing to slowly take his sword off of his back.
"If everyone is ready…Fight!"
At once, all of the heartless rushed at Cloud. Seeing this, Kairi let out a startled gasp. "He's going to get hurt!" Naruto narrowed his eyes at her words.
"…I doubt it." He said quietly. "He's in complete control." This statement proved to be correct the next moment when the spectators were blinded by a bright flash of light. Naruto raised his arm to shield his eyes, and he was one of the first to look back to the arena when the light died down. What he saw made him grin. "Told you."
Cloud was standing in the arena, all of the heartless already killed off. The blond was crouched in a battle stance, but he soon stood up from it and replaced his sword.
"That was…" Kairi whispered. "He's so fast!"
Gray whistled in appreciation. "I've only ever seen Naruto, Jet, and Erza move that fast." Next to him, Natsu was vibrating in excitement.
'No doubt about it…That was Sonic Blade.' Naruto concluded. He wasn't surprised to learn that there were other people who could use similar -if not the same- techniques as him, but it was still not what he was expecting to see here.
Erza's smile returned at this. "What's truly impressive is that he does this on his own. I need my armor to reach such speeds, but he does not." Her eyes shifted to Naruto. "But you're able to move that fast as well? That is amazing, giving your age."
Naruto grinned at her. "Thanks. I've been training since I was six, so I'm pretty proud of how far I've come."
"That is a good attitude to have, but don't let it go to your head." Erza advised.
"Trust me, it won't." Naruto was aware of how he wasn't the strongest person around, so he wasn't stupid enough to get arrogant over his strength.
Instead of immediately replying, Erza chose to observe Naruto for a few moments. Eventually, she nodded. "Good. I can tell that you aren't simply saying that. The ability to acknowledge one's own limits is something that I know a lot people struggle to gain. For example…" Her face darkened and her head whirled around to Natsu, who had been shouting in excitement for the past few minutes. "Natsu!" The pink haired teen froze and broke out into a nervous sweat. "Stop shouting like that! You're disturbing the other spectators!"
"Aye!"
Gray smirked at Natsu. "Ha! Serves you right for being so annoying, idi-"
"Gray!" Said ice mage stilled. "You're just as much to blame for not stopping him!"
"Aye!"
Kairi stifled a giggle into her hand as Naruto facepalmed.
There we go! All done with Chapter 42!
I know Phil is a Satyr, I just get more amusement by saying "goat(?)".
Yes, that nobody mention was absolutely the setup of a joke that comes later.
I'm not entirely sure where a crowd would come from to watch the tournament, but I'm doing it anyways. I think I recall mentions of spectators, despite never seeing any. Besides, the stands are there for a reason. Don't think about it too much.
Twilight's Frigid Blaze is something that I came up with after a couple of days of thought. What do you think?
And now I'm off to do the next chapter of Embers…Great.
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Post a review!
Until next time,
Kog6943