A Serendipitous Key of Hope
Disclaimer: My imaginary lawyers tell me I do not own products owned by Disney, Masahi Kishimoto, anything from Shonen Jump, or Square Enix.
Keiichi: Hello fellows. Time to respond to some reviews.
Julia: (reads review) This one is from Twisted Pxl: He's asking if either Hinata or Sakura replace Kairi's role in this story, the whereabouts of Terra, Aqua and Ventus and if Xehanort will be introduced. Also, what really happened to the Kyubi.
Keiichi: I felt the Terra, Aqua and Ven thing was pretty obvious. Didn't Itachi mention them?
Kenshin: No he didn't. But, we CAN say that Kairi's role is split between two girls.
Lightning: What about Kurama?
Keiichi: That'll be explained in this chapter. Sort of. Alright, let's begin! No omakes this time though, sorry.
The XIX Keyhole: This! Is! Coliseum!
Naruto walks along the platform that is his Dive to the Heart. "Back at it again in this weird place… What now?"
The orange fox below rises up in a phantasmal form. "Whoa!"
"Nice to see you again, kit." The fox lowers his head towards the blond. "It seems you're finally accepting my power in your heart."
"But, didn't you get extracted?" Naruto clearly remembers him being forcefully pulled from his body by that guy in the black coat.
"I was. What's speaking to you now is the light portion of my chakra that has been converted to mana." He then holds up his hand, revealing a slip of paper.
The blond swordsman recognizes it, his eyes widening. "Wait, you mean from that time?"
"Yeah." Kurama then holds a hand to him, showing the man extracting him. "While he was extracting me, your father removed the seal allowing me to pass on my chakra to you. That's why I'm here right now, because you now fester my power. But, most of me is still in his hands. By converting my chakra into mana, I also kick started your chakra into doing so; that's why you couldn't move for a while that time."
"Then, why does Akatsuki still think I have you? Isn't he working for them?" Kurama narrows his eyes. "You think there's something else going on?"
"Got that right. He's probably using Akatsuki right now to fulfill his own goals, but what are they?" His body begins to fade away. "Uh oh, time's up. My power will only come out through Drives, until you can master them. See ya."
"Wait, Kurama! What about the other Biju? I can't let you guys go!"
"You've already got your hands full. Too much pressure on your heart and you'll fall to darkness kit." The fox then fades into the platform. Naruto then fades away, coming up back to reality.
He opens his eyes and looks around, back in his bed. He sees space from his window, still amazed at the wonders surrounding the worlds. "I hope I can show Hinata and Elsa this." That's when he realizes something; he wants to show something like this to BOTH of them. "Huh. Is it weird that I said them both?"
"Not as weird as you talking to yourself," says Donald, causing the Keybearer to fall out of bed.
"Dang it Donald, knock!" he shouts, picking his shirtless self up. He rubs his head before grabbing his clothes, waiting for Donald to look away. "What is it this time?"
"We're hitting a new world! Also, we're out of noodles."
"EH!?"
After freaking out for five minutes, Naruto, Donald and Goofy land on their newest stop. This new place is rather robust. Among the village houses that are as old-fashioned as the ones from Kingdom of the Sun, and they have a rather Greek feel to them. "So, where is this place?"
"Who knows?" Donald responds. He looks around. "I don't see any Heartless, so maybe we're good."
"Finally, a break." Naruto looks in the distance as he speaks, and notices something of interest; two golden statues of men crossing blades over top gates. "Hey, what's that?"
The trio move further towards the gates. After pushing them open they see a courtyard leading to another set of doors sandwiched between columns. Naruto steps inside a small room of stones, with trophies placed in the glassless windows. There's also a stone block. He also sees a shrimpy guy with a hairy underside at work at something in a corner, up top on a block.
"Uh-"
"Good, you're back," he says to them, never leaving his eyes off whatever he's facing. "I need you to move that stone over there."
"Huh?" Naruto looks over at it, sweat dropping. "Yeah, I'm not doing that. It's way too heavy!"
"What? Too heavy?! Since when have you been such a little-" He turns around as he shouts, and notices something wrong. "Oh, wrong guy. Who are you?"
"We're travelers looking for bad guys to stop."
"What, you some heroes?" The guy looks them over. "Nah, not buying it."
"Huh?!" Donald shouts this.
"Name's Phil, professional hero trainer! Trust me; I know hero quality when I see it, and you guys ain't it!"
Now Naruto's offended. "You need to check your eyes ya ugly goat man! We've been dealing with monsters way before we meet you!"
"Oh you think so? Then prove it!" He holds up a flier, somehow, which reads, 'Hades Cup Upcoming.' "The games are the best way to prove the mettle of a hero! Everyone who's anyone will be hitting the Olympus Coliseum for the Games."
Naruto thinks it over, and realizes how awesome that sounds. Goofy then asks, "Where are those?"
"Yeah, you gotta have a pass to enter! Try and prove yourself, and MAYBE I'll get you entry!" Phil then waves them off.
"What's the big deal? Why not?"
"Two words! I DON'T TRUST YOU GUYS!" As they look at him dumbfounded, Goofy is busy trying to count if that was two words.
Angry, Naruto storms out muttering non-swears. Goofy and Donald follow him, the former asking, "Gawrsh Naruto, you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I shouldn't have to prove myself to him!" Naruto stretches his arms out as he walks, but soon he and the others are stopped by a dark blue hand.
"Hey, how's it going?" The owner of the hand is a tall gray teethed man with blue fire for hair. "The guy stiffed ya didn't he?"
"Who are you?" Instead of answering, he holds out a piece of paper over to him. It has the Olympus symbol on it. "A pass!"
As Naruto takes the entry pass and reads it, the flaming headed guy takes off. "It's all yours kid! Good luck; I'm really pulling for you."
Goofy looks it over. "I'm not sure if this is a good idea Naruto," he tells him.
Naruto heads back inside the gate, saying, "It's fine. We'll enter the games and prove that we're hero material, and keep an eye on blue hair over there. I have a feeling he's after something by making me play in the games and I'm curious if it has something to do with the Heartless we haven't seen yet."
"I don't know," says Donald with doubt. "Why would he want you to?"
Phil turns around seeing the group enter. "Oh, you guys again. I told you, you're not-"
"Here you go." He holds up the pass.
"What?! How'd you get this?!" Phil looks it over, and sees it's legit. "Fine, you get in."
Both Donald and Naruto jump up with glee. Goofy then asks, "Gawrsh guys, do we really need to do this?"
"I have a feeling this might get us close to our goal," says Naruto as he approaches Phil. "Now, ready?"
"Yeah yeah, you can join. I guess some rookies won't make a difference." Phil then holds the pass over to them. "Now, get in. The preliminaries will begin shortly; all those other weirdos make you a breath of fresh air actually."
"Weirdos?"
"Now get ready! The first round begins soon!"
Elsewhere…
Elsa groans in pain. Through clenched teeth she cries out, opening her eyes to the world around her. She's now by the sea in an unrecognizable town, her head hanging from a bay. "What happened? Where am I?"
She picks herself up slowly, still feeling pain in her heart. The ice queen then walks from the bay into town seeing more unfamiliar faces.
In her mind she retraces what happened: "That's right! Anna was kidnapped by that guy, and I chased him into the darkness. And then I fell asleep, waking up here. If this isn't Arendelle, it must be another world. Like what Naruto said!"
As she is voicing her thoughts, some people around her watch the newcomer. One of them is a person her size covered in a blue hood, but through her bone structure shown through the hood you can see she's a woman.
The woman follows after her, noticing the trail of ice behind her.
Back to Action…
Naruto, Donald and Goofy look ahead across the battlefield, where they see to their shock Shadow and Soldier Heartless. "They're Heartless?!"
The trio split up avoiding being jumped. Naruto summons his Keyblade and uses Aerora to gather them together. Donald then adds Thundara to finish them off. "That was a cinch. I think we're getting better."
"I hope so; after Arendelle I've been needing some training," Naruto says in response to Donald.
"Be careful fellows. There might be more coming down on us," Goofy states with worry.
The trio get ready to face their next opponents, a group of elemental Heartless based on music. During their fight the flaming headed guy from before watches in the shadows of a cave. Beside him is the orange haired warrior who met with Sasuke a while ago, his eyes closed while facing nothing. "Alright, that guy there? He's your target. Now I want this guy done by the books; just take him out."
The dark swordsman opens his pale eyes and stares at the blue jerk. Calmly he speaks. "The great God of the Underworld Hades is afraid of that guy?" He's largely dismissive of the idea of fighting someone no older than him. "Sorry, but the deal was for me to-"
"I know! YA THINK I DON'T KNOW?! I MADE THE DEAL!" His hair and skin turn fiery red in response to his anger. His brief anger. "I know you're only supposed to fight Hercules in this fight in exchange for info on this Orihime chick, but you gotta get past that guy first."
He then gestures to Phil in the sidelines as the audience goes wild. "It's like the old goat said; it's all in the game, so let loose and have fun! I mean, a casualty or two along the way isn't that much of a big deal. Kay?"
The teenager sighs before moving forward, leaving the cave to prepare. Hades watches him. "Geez, pretty stiff for a Soul Reaper. Still, suckers like him are hard to come by." Low growling can be heard in the shadows behind him.
Later in the day, Naruto and the gang come upon their next fight; this time, a Large Body is guarded by Soldiers. "Alright Goofy, time for the Thunder Shield."
Donald uses Thundara on Goofy's shield, causing him to toss it up in the air. Naruto comes in and strikes the shield, causing it to spin at lightning speed and jet like a bullet towards the Soldiers. It cuts into and bounces off of them like pinball before it returns to the trio. Naruto uses his Keyblade to redirect it back towards the Large Body, causing the Heartless to fall backwards in pain. The electricity releases from the shield as it falls back into Goofy's hands. "Guess Thundaga would have finished it off."
The Large Body gets up and stomps angrily. "Looks like it's trying something new." It slaps its belly and charges forward. Naruto raises his blade to block, and gets knocked down. "Its back is the weakspot; go!"
"Fire!" Goofy bashes the monster in its back, knocking it away from Naruto, while Donald unleashes Fira. The combination attack exterminates the Heartless, causing its heart to fly away.
The crowd cheers at their victory and teamwork. The gang waves to the crowd and sees another person coming forward. This guy turns out to be the man Hades spoke to earlier. He draws his black, crescent sword from the back and glares at his enemy. Naruto raises his Keyblade in a fighting stance.
"Hey, key guy," says the black swordsman, "how's about a one on one now that you're not outnumbered by Heartless?"
Naruto goes on edge. It shouldn't be surprising he knows about the Heartless, but he doesn't know if he's working with whoever sent them. He doesn't even know how strong he is. 'Then again, that would be cowardly.'
He says to his buddies, "You guys wait this one out," to their surprise.
"What?!"
"Are you sure Naruto?"
"It's only fair." Having a fair amount of trust in him, Goofy pulls a yelling Donald off the stage.
"The name's Naruto Uzumaki."
"Ichigo Kurosaki."
Hades grins in the shadows as he watches, now having a better chance of getting what he wants. The two face down one another, deafening out the cheering.
Naruto makes the first move, using the Strike Raid move and running in. Ichigo deflects the weapon and rushes in to stab him. The Keybearer recalls his Keyblade and counters blade with blade. Naruto widens his eyes. 'Whoa. This guy's stronger than me!'
He kicks his right leg back and parries him to the side, before striking his shoulder. Ichigo makes a spin cutting into his right chest. Blood and fabric fly up in the air. They then jump a foot back and proceed to running in circles, as if holding a rope and keeping it straight. The two lunge in past the other, their swords striking as they do.
Energy gathers around the black sword. "Getsuga Tenshou!" With a single stroke he unleashes a slashing shockwave of blue energy.
"Reflect!" The blade strikes a barrier, and shatters the glass sphere to pieces. Naruto forces himself to guard with his Keyblade, and still gets blown away. 'This guy is REALLY strong!'
Hades clenches his fists tightly. 'That's it. That's what I need.'
"Please; is this the best you can do?" Ichigo taunts Naruto before drawing his other blade. "I haven't even begun to fight."
"Neither have I." A flare of energy rises from Naruto's body, standing with ease as if he wasn't just knocked over by that last attack. He disappears in a flash, thrusting his Keyblade in to strike Ichigo in his side.
"When was he this fast?"
"Sonic Blade." He attacks him like this six more times, three of which Ichigo is able to block. Naruto then hits him hard in the last attack, sending him up in the air. "Fira!" He then unleashes a blast of fire to add. The black swordsman however disappears in a flash as well. 'He disappeared?'
A flash of inspiration causes Naruto to roll away, avoiding a slash from the black sword. 'How did he dodge me?'
With a yell Naruto swings, and Ichigo jumps away avoiding a hit. Still midair he slashes, cutting a Getsuga Tenshou in the air. Seeing the attack coming his way, Naruto scuffs before raising his sword high. After having seen the power it had before, he understands there's only one real way to stop it; with power. "Can't believe I have to use this; Faith!"
He releases a powerful light from his Keyblade that sends several pillars to block the moon fang. Both attacks hold against the other. "We're even?!"
"Not quite." The black swordsman draws his other blade and crosses a second Getsuga with the first. "Getsuga Juujishou!"
The added force causes an explosion of light. Blinded, Ichigo shields his eyes until it clears. Once he's safe to, he sees with shock that Naruto has disappeared. "What?"
"Mahou Rasengan!" Naruto comes in out of nowhere and bashes Ichigo in the chest with his spell, sending the orange haired guy skidding across the ground. The Keybearer breathes heavily.
Ichigo pushes himself up with his weapon, having felt that last move. "Not bad."
They clash once more and stare into the other's eyes, where Naruto asks, "What brings you into this tournament?"
"I'm looking for someone who was taken from me," he replies. This grasps the blond's full focus. "Hades may be involved, so I'm working for him for now."
"Hades? You mean that guy with the blue fire for hair?"
"Exactly." Ichigo kicks him back, before jumping in down at him. "So stay down and it'll help both of us out."
Naruto couldn't look him in the eye with agreement. "I can't. I need to win."
"What for?"
"For…" He then pauses, realizing he's got a point. He has no real reason for being here, because he doesn't know for certain if there's any connection to Maleficent or the Princesses. If anything, he just joined for the training. So for now, he'll play along.
Ichigo jabs him in the face with his sword, 'knocking' him out. He then stands overtop of him wielding his crescent sword above his face.
"He forfeits! He forfeits!" Phil rushes in to throw the towel, but Hades trips him.
"Naruto!" Donald and Goofy try to get in, only to be blocked by the barrier.
He then stabs down, cutting the side of his body. Naruto holds in a cringe, knowing he intentionally missed his vitals just to expose blood. 'That should satisfy that jerk.'
Out of nowhere, a large black paw slams Ichigo into the barrier wall, which shatters. The audience screams and run in fright, seeing the attacker is the black dog of hell Cerberus. The triple headed hellhound roams its heads along the field.
Ichigo pulls himself up, pissed. "Hades, what the hell?! This is your pet!"
"It's actually part of this other deal I had; now that you got rid of the Keyblade brat I really don't need you anymore." Hades chuckles before taking his exit. "It's like he said; accidents happen."
Cerberus roars before lunging down to bite into Ichigo. Before he could, the three headed terror is blocked. A single pair of hands pushes him back, belonging to a man strapped in a bronze breastplate and tunic. Ichigo raises his head and sees him. "Are you Hercules?"
"Get out of here, now!" He pushes the beast back with Herculean strength, and then punching each head. Cerberus prepares to retaliate, but a sudden hurricane sends it spiraling into the air. The beast releases several fireballs across the arena, destroying the stands and the stage.
Naruto rises up with a groan flipping his Keyblade. "You too!"
"I'm fine! I just pretend to be knocked out." Naruto raises his sword high, casting Cure on himself and the close Ichigo. "Who's this thing?"
"Cerberus, Hades' attack hound," Hercules tells him. Ichigo looks over his person, feeling his body has recovered to tip top shape. "Let's take it out."
Ichigo raises his blades in a cross. "We'll hit it in one go. I'll get the left head."
"Then I got the middle," says Hercules.
Cerberus pounces on them, forcing the heroes to jump up away from the attack. Naruto hits him with a Quick Blitz, Ichigo drop kicks his target and Hercules Superman punches the middle. All three heads bobble dazed and in pain, before the whole beast drops. Cerberus thrashes about unable to get up, leaving Hercules to kick him while he's down. The dog unable to move, the heroes give a sigh of relief.
"There we go," says Naruto poking the beast.
The audience falls to deafening silence. The quiet is quickly replaced, with thundering cheers and applause. Hercules waves to the crowd, giving out another sigh. "Hey, good job out there," Herc says to the two.
"Thanks."
Ichigo scuffs. "Should have known he'd stiff me on the deal." He makes for the exit.
After the clean up, Naruto, Donald and Goofy all stand together in the trophy room where Phil and Herc speak. "Thus I hereby dub thee 'Junior Heroes' and confer them full rights and privileges to participate in the Olympic Games. Further-"
"Hey, what do you mean Junior Heroes?!" Donald complains.
"You rookies still don't know what it takes to be a true hero," is all Phil has to say.
Naruto feels a little confused. The village of Waves considers him a hero for what he's done, so why doesn't he? Looking at Herc, he asks, "How did you discover being a hero?"
He smiles. "You'll just have to find out for yourself, because I'm not a true hero either."
"Wow." Naruto looks down, feeling discouraged. "Alright, we'll just prove ourselves in the games."
"There won't be any games for a while. Cerberus did a number on that place."
"Kay. We'll be back," says Naruto as he and the others walk away. They all look over their hero licenses.
Outside on their way to the Gummi Ship, they spot Ichigo about to leave. The blond calls out, "Hey!"
The strawberry haired teen turns around, leaving them enough time to catch up. "So, you're looking for someone right?"
"Yeah, Inoue Orihime," he replies. "She was taken by these guys in black coats, and I have a feeling they're in league with Hades and his pals."
"Pals?"
"Yeah, someone named Maleficent." The trio look among eachother. "Someone you know?"
"She's a sorceress who sent the Heartless across the worlds, and is after these girls called the Princesses of Heart. Me, Donald and Goofy are trying to stop them."
"Good." He gets up and walks past them, placing something in Naruto's hands. "Hold onto that stone; it's kind of a good luck charm."
Naruto looks down at the stone in his hands, looking at it before he focuses on Ichigo. "Think we'll meet again?"
"Of course," he replies, disappearing in a flash.
With that, the trio make their exit. As they do, Hades sits in the sidelines with a scowl. "I knew he was onto me. I was this close to getting rid of those kids, and then Herc the Jerk shows up out of NOWHERE!" He turns flaming red. "I have less than 2 years to get rid of him, AND NOW HE HAS A FRIEND!"
After burning away several statues in his way, he begins to calm down. "But, that's okay. I'll just get rid of them both in the Hades Cup. That strawberry kid, the key boy, and then Jerkules!" Hades turns around, feeling dark energy enclosing in on him. "Who invited you to this party? Stay out of this; this is MY show!"
"Very well. Fight to your heart's content." The dark energy disappears.
Hades grits his spiked teeth in anger. "Screw Maleficent. I don't need whatever Kingdom Hearts is. I'm a god!"
Elsewhere…
Elsa continues to walk through this world unfamiliar to her mind. She reaches a darkened street, where she sees an abandoned garden. "How sad. What happened to this world?"
Heartless rise up behind her. These Shadows eye the ice queen, who turns around quickly to face them. One jumps up at her, causing the queen to fall on her behind. Her eyes well up with fear. She thrusts her hand out to flash freeze two, but the other four come in at her from the side.
"SHANNARO!" Accompanied by a woman's scream, a fist punches one Heartless away and the force sends the rest away. The woman looks down at Elsa. "Are you okay?"
"Uh, yeah… Look out!" One Soldier comes in at her from behind. Luckily Elsa sends a stream of snow to freeze it. "We're in the open here!"
"Come on!" She grabs Elsa's hand and takes her away, hiding in a corner. The Heartless walk by, missing them. After a pregnant pause, they sigh in relief.
"Thanks for that out there."
"You… You know Naruto?" This surprises Elsa. "I'm Sakura, a friend of his."
"Elsa of Arendelle." Sakura then leads her forward. "Where are we going?"
"To my friends." Soon they reach an abandoned building. Sakura holds up a seal, causing the debris to shift briefly. She then leads Elsa inside and follows her in, the entrance closing up.
Inside she finds a group of others, as battered and weary as Sakura. One of them is Kakashi, who walks over to her. "Sakura, you're late. What happened, and who is this?"
"Oh, my name is Elsa," says the queen as she introduces herself.
"She was being attacked by the Heartless, so I helped her. She said she knows Naruto." At that last sentence, Kakashi approaches Elsa.
"You know Naruto?"
"Yes. He helped save my world, but then I ended up following this guy here who kidnapped my sister. He was a man in a black coat."
"That makes sense." Kakashi leads her in towards a closed room. "When our world got consumed by darkness there was another man in a black coat who tried to take her. But, when we woke up here we found her laid here."
Elsa looks down at the unconscious girl, who turns out to be Hinata.
Kei: This chapter is over, and just in time. Here, our heroes took on the Coliseum and with Ichigo's help they take out Cerberus. Naruto also gets a stone, and Elsa meets some of his friends. And why is Hinata there? Find out next time.
Kenshin: What's in the next chapter?
Takeshi: It's one of two things; either back to Traverse Town, or diving into Atlantica.