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.
Omake
Sora, Kairi and Riku wander the islands, the hearts of the boys uplifting with nostalgia upon taking in the setting of their life a whole year past. The red haired girl takes their hands and lead them to the beach, where several others can be seen making their way from the porch. Among the many words spoken from their mouths, 'Sora' and 'Riku' are among many.
"Uncle Daigo," says Riku as his uncle and father figure comes in to hug him.
"My god, where have you been?!" he cries out with true worry for his only nephew. "I had lost you for so long, and I was so afraid it was like Kiriko..."
Riku pulls away from him, smiling while saying with reassurance, "It's okay. I'm back."
"SORA!" Sora's mother bawls out crying with snot accompanied as she embraces her son, the only part of her flesh to have been missing for so long. "I'M SOGHLOD YOU'RH BUK!"
"Mom! Mom! Calm down!" he replies, hoping to calm her sadness.
She manages to gain some semblance of peace and control back, and begins kissing his forehead and cheeks as he attempts to remove his embarrassment. "You were gone! And then I forgot about you! For a whole year, I forgot my only son!"
Sora realizes she's referring to whatever happened while he was asleep that whole time-an incident Riku clued him in about-and understands her hardship in losing all she has left. There's nothing he can say to cheer her up, except: "I'm sorry. I'm home."
Kairi smiles seeing her friends brought back together with their family. She turns over to Tidus, Wakka and Selphie, who all nod seeing this as a beautiful moment. The latter girl approaches Kairi saying, "It's amazing. It was Sora all along who I forgot, and I didn't even realize it. Not even a clue."
Her eyes turn to Kairi. "It's a good thing Kairi remembered all this time. You must really love him."
Her face becomes as red as her hair. Sora's mom then says, "Let's go home."
Sora nods, and together they all board a boat back to the mainland as a family reunited.
End Omake…
Kenshin: … That wasn't funny.
Kei: Not everything's a joke, dumbass.
Kenshin: Who the hell do you think you're talking too?!
Clair: The next one will be different too. Actually, canon material for this story.
The XXII Keyhole: City of Nightfall Revisit
Kakuzu appears from a portal of darkness, looking worse for the wearer. He holds his damaged left arm while walking through the pitch white landscape. "That was a bust."
"Hey look who's back!" From two more portals appear two others in black coats. "We haven't seen you since you went after that kid a while back. What, did you give up?"
"Question; why did Deidara and Hidan explode into darkness?" His green eyes glare at him.
"Simple; because they fell to the darkness in their hearts," says the other in a cold, almost raspy voice. "The Heartless found no use for them so they ate them."
"What?!"
"Akatsuki's not looking good. All that's left is you, sunshine with the spiral eyes and little miss replica." Kakuzu looks into his eyes, seeing a single gold iris staring back. "Good ol Pain has even declared that you have no more use. We'll get the last two Biju."
"Wh-Where does that leave me then?" questions the pissed ninja.
"We can see if you're able to join us." The other guy raises his hand, and a light blue blaze rises on five parts of Kakuzu's body. He drops to his knees in pain. "Oh? Looks like someone got greedy and collected this many hearts."
"You're more of a Heartless than the real ones!"
"Screw you all!" Kakuzu roars angrily before exploding into dark fumes. His five hearts merge together in the dark, growing into a single being.
"Whoa! You think this might give that Keyblade kid a run for his money?"
"We don't need someone who can't handle this much. Besides, it'll only get worse for him the farther down he goes."
…
Floating through the canopy of space, which by itself is-if not stupid-a rather strange expression, the Gummi Ship containing Naruto, Donald and Goofy jettisons through the darkness. As they do, Naruto looks back at the last world they came from, now fully fledged as a man.
He takes a moment to think about what King Triton told him earlier, confused about the meddling thing despite knowing about the Keyblade. With that, he asks, "Why is it that the worlds never knew about eachother?"
Donald and Goofy turn towards him. The duck then says, "I don't really know. I mean, we knew of Traverse Town, but these other worlds are new to us."
"Something about a secret and not muddling."
"Get it right, Goofy!" Donald shouts at him.
"If so, why does Triton know about the Keyblade? And why didn't you? Was there a Keybearer there who did something horrible?" These questions wrap around Naruto's brain. He groans thinking about it, a stone falling out of his pocket as he does. This is the same item he received a while back in Olympus Coliseum. "Oh. Don't wanna lose that."
"I think there really was," Donald tells him. "You were with Yen Sid for a while right? He told you about the worlds out there right? But not why they were closed off?"
"No. He doesn't tell me a lot of things. During my three years with him all he taught me were basic swordsmanship, advanced magic, the ways of the Heart, and other stuff; he didn't even teach me Keyblade Transformations or give me Keyblade Armor."
"Transformations?"
"Armor?"
"Yeah. Everywhere else I've been winging it." Naruto sighs while looking up ahead. "I didn't realize it til fighting that fat sea witch, but maybe there's much more to using the Keyblade than even that. I need to finish this training, one day, and maybe understand what these chains are about."
"What are they about?" Donald asks. "When we sealed the Keyhole, that keychain and this Gummi piece came with it. As if as a reward."
"We should show this to Yugi! He may know some things about this Gummi Block," says Goofy. "What do you think?"
Naruto cups his chin thinking. "Hmm, might be a good idea. Let's go!"
They turn around to head for the coordinates of Traverse Town. But, after an hour of travel they soon come upon trouble. Other ships can be seen in space, some larger and of differing sizes. Upon seeing them, Goofy asks, "What's that?"
One of them fires at their ship, causing the ship to shake from the impact. Donald falls out of his seat. "Hit the shields!"
Naruto presses the button for shields, giving it protection against the lasers. He then looks out, noticing they have the same Emblem as the Heartless. "Heartless ships? They have ships of their own?! Great!"
"Don't feel bad! Let's get out of here!"
"R-Right!" Naruto takes the controls and jets forward faster than usual. But they still take on heavy fire. "Do we have weapons?!"
"They only aim forward! Except for the missiles!" Donald replies. He then gets back up and begins looking for the weapons system. "Fire!"
Laser missiles shoot out from the back, hitting one ship and causing it to careen and crash into another. This gives them time to move faster.
Eventually, after escaping the Heartless ships, they reach the world of Traverse Town. The Gummi Ship has taken some considerable damage in the process. Naruto, Donald and Goofy exit into the world, with their eyes looking back up at their broken mode of transport. The blond then asks, "Where can we find Yugi?"
"Let's just look around for him."
"Randomly?"
"You got a better idea Donald?" With that, Naruto leads them towards the nearest shop. "But first, let's eat!"
"Wait! This is important!" Donald's stomach begins growling. "… Wait up!" Goofy follows after, and they begin eating an assortment of delicious food. Their gorging incite moans of satisfaction.
After taking the time to finally eat, Naruto, Donald and Goofy walk out with full bellies. "Ah man. That hit the spot."
"Yup. Time to sleep."
"Yeah..." Donald and Goofy fall asleep on their feet afterwards.
"OI!"
After all the jokes come to an end, the group make their way through the city looking for Yugi. With Naruto's guidance they head to the Second District for the hotel they were at before. On the way, the blond Keybearer sees a sight he never thought he ever would. "Kakashi-sensei?!"
Indeed. Kakashi is among other familiar faces in the Second District. His cycloptic eye widens in shock upon seeing him. "Naruto!"
"NARUTO!" Everyone else shouts, making their way towards him.
"Sakura, Shikamaru, Temari, Chouji!" He can recognize those four among the many who're with his sensei. "This is so unexpected." He then comes back to reality, remembering exactly what's wrong. "And it is, like, how did you get to Traverse Town?"
Everyone looks to the side. With them being here, and the implications of what he's been working so hard to stop, he feels he already knows. He can't even ask, due to said fear.
"Our world is gone." Sakura's statement confirms his fears. "Our world got covered in darkness, and those Heartless attacked. It's all gone now."
Naruto looks down in depression. Sakura hugs him hoping to comfort his sadness. Everything he's been protecting is gone, and that hurts so much. "I'm sorry, Naruto."
Donald and Goofy, having heard that, understand how much of a tough time this is for Naruto. But before they could go comfort him, he takes in a deep breath and comes out of the hug. "It's okay. It's not your fault this happened…" He then struggles to ask, "What about Hinata?"
"She was taken, by a man in a black coat," Shikamaru informs, causing him to turn in shock.
"Eh? But, why are they after her?" He's starting to get a little confused; the only reason anyone would want Hinata is if she was important to their plan. She's not a Jinchuuriki, so is she a Princess of Heart? If so, wouldn't she be hounded by Maleficent?
"Yeah, they took her shortly after Elsa arrived," Sakura adds.
"Elsa?!" Elsa was here too?! How that happened, he cannot even think about. This is all confusing his brain.
"How did Elsa get here?" Donald questions.
"Gee, you think it might have been that same guy?" Goofy adds his two cents, which surprises the others when they finally notice the two anthropomorphic animals.
"Why is that duck talking?" Sakura asks looking at them.
"That's Donald, and he's Goofy. They're my friends."
Looking over the two, they decide to go with it. After all, their world has talking animals too. Chouji however begins to groan. 'I'll never look at duck the same way again.'
"What do you plan to do now?" asks Temari.
Determined, Naruto states, "I'll keep fighting. We're not gonna give up until we defeat Maleficent and her group, and set free Hinata and Elsa and anyone else they captured! We just need to find their hideout." He holds up the Gummi Block they gained. "This might help."
"Is that a Gummi Block?"
"You know about this Kakashi-sensei?"
"We can use those to travel the worlds. Get that to Kaiba and he'll help you out." As their next objective becomes clear, an earthquake rocks the area they're in. "Great, another attack. It might be that armor thing from earlier."
"You fought against the Heartless too? Good, then that makes this easier!" Naruto turns over looking for where that earthquake came from. The clocktower within the same district rings. "There's a clock tower?"
"It might be coming from there." Naruto, Donald, Goofy, Kakashi and Sakura go in that direction. Naruto tries to climb up like Sakura and Kakashi, only to hit his face forgetting he can't climb like them.
"Wind!" He summons balls of wind to let him, Donald and Goofy jump on to climb the tower. Up top they see the elemental melody Heartless, which begin their attack. Almost immediately, Naruto and Goofy strike back using their weapons, while Donald batters the Red and Blue with Blizzard and Fire spells respectively. There was no real chance for the Shinobi to take action; they were taking out the Heartless faster than they usually could.
Donald hits one into the ground, allowing Goofy to bash it down. "Takes care of that."
"Yeah, we've really powered up!" Goofy adds.
"I think all that swimming made us stronger. These guys are nothing compared to the ones from Atlantica," says Naruto with a grin. He turns his eyes over to his friends.
'Was he this strong back before he left?' Sakura wonders, amazed at how strong and mobile he is now.
Kakashi goes over to a compartment behind a wall. There a large pull rope hangs. "Hmm." He pulls it, causing the bell to ring once more. "This is indeed the noise. But why were they here?"
"Yeah, all that did is make this noise," says Naruto looking around.
Donald aimlessly searches for any clue, until something moving catches his eye. "Hey!" He points down near the entrance to the First District, where by the fountain underneath the mural moves like a block shuffle. "What was that?"
"Kakashi-sensei, pull that again." The silver haired jonin does so again, causing the bell to ring. Like Donald predicted, the mural moves again. "Nice looking out Donald."
"But why would the Heartless come here?" asks Donald with curiosity.
"Maybe they're after that. A block has four sides right?" Goofy states.
Taking the hint, Kakashi pulls one more time. The mural moves to a new one, revealing a large Keyhole. This shocks the three world travelers. "The Keyhole!"
"Keyhole? You mean that thing you were talking about earlier?" Sakura asks.
"I don't know why that's there but I'm closing that up!" Naruto and his buddies float down using Aerora and head for the Keyhole. Effectively leaving behind his Shinobi buddies.
"Sensei, do you think Naruto has grown since he left our world?" asks Sakura, feeling worried and happy at the same time.
"I feel he has actually. Getting that Keyblade has changed him so much in a good way."
They reach the floor with intent on sealing the hole, but before he could a circle of darkness opens up underneath them. Up from it appears five metal pieces, THE pieces that belong to the Guard Armor. Naruto draws the Keyblade and prepares himself against it, though when it flips upside down this surprises him. The arms are its feet, its feet clamp down to become choppers, and its helmet helm opens down to reveal its true face.
The Opposite Armor floats in the air, all six parts moving independent of eachother. It throws all four limbs out to bash them in, but they quickly raise their weapons to block. Naruto jumps up and throws a Strike Raid. This hits the main body but instead of cutting through it knocks it back only slightly. "Dang it. Let's try the Knock Smash!"
Donald raises his scepter to cast Thunder. Goofy tosses up his shield to have it spark with the magic lightning. Naruto then comes in and swings, causing the shield to spin before ricocheting off its limbs to 'saw' into its body. The blow is so powerful it sends it flying backwards into a building. Smoke billows with its crash as the trio cheer for their triumph.
But then the smoke clears up, revealing the Heartless has gotten back up. Its leg arms shoot out to grab Donald and Goofy, hoisting them high in the air. "Donald! Goofy!" Naruto cries out, before being blind sided by the claw legs kicking him away. The Heartless head splits off with the legs and begins to vertically spin, forcing Naruto to jump away to dodge. "Sonic Blade!"
He rushes in to strike, only to miss when it floats higher. He looks up seeing the Heartless aims its torso like a cannon at him. "Uh oh." It charges up energy and fires a blast at him.
"Lightning Hound!" A vicious attack hound made of lightning charges in and takes the attack. Naruto uses this time to use Strike Raid, setting free Donald and Goofy.
He looks back at Kakashi who gave his help. "Thanks sensei!"
"Keep focus; it's not over yet." He looks over at the Heartless who's regrouping, with Sakura stepping down in front of them.
"Do you have a plan?" asks Naruto of his former sensei.
"Actually, I'll let you lead this one." This surprises him; Kakashi is letting him lead this fight? "This will be a good time to practice your leadership. Show me how far you've grown."
The Heartless fires again, forcing everyone to dodge. Sakura comes down and kicks it, sending the armored demon into the ground. Looking it over, Naruto comes up with a plan. "Alright, we're gonna take out the limbs of that thing. I'll keep the main body busy while you destroy the rest. Afterwards, we'll take out its main form using water on the Keyblade."
"Water?"
"I'll need a powerful Water Jutsu. Then I can deal the finishing blow."
Kakashi looks in his eyes seeing the fire within. He then smiles under his mask. "You've come a long way Naruto. Let's go!"
"Right!" Everyone goes into battle, following his advice and aiming their attention for the limbs. Naruto meanwhile battles the main body, swinging his Keychain with the one he gained from Atlantica; his Keyblade's teeth become a water spout with the chain tokens being the shape of a white shell connected to the handle, which is also assorted shells with a golden chain between. The center of the guard is a shell with a small pearl in the middle.
"Shannaro!" Sakura strikes hard as she can, sending the gauntlet flying into the skies. She also left tones of explosive tags, causing an enormous explosion that destroys it.
"Raikiri!" Using the Sharingan, Kakashi manages to catch the other gauntlet and cut clean through it.
"Come on!" Goofy makes a charge and bashes the claw legs into a wall. He then hits harder, shattering it into nothing.
"Fire!" Donald unleashes his strongest Firaga three times, causing it to burn away.
With everyone finishes, Naruto takes a step back while holding up his Keyblade, causing the temperature to drop. "Sensei!"
"Naruto, ready!" Kakashi turns his eyes over as he initiates a jutsu once copied. From the fountain by the mural, water rises up in the form of a shark. "Water Style: Water Shark Bullet Jutsu!"
The water shark shoots up to attack, with Naruto summoning ice around his Keyblade. "Blizzaga!" He aims at the Heartless and fires it off, unleashing a stream of frost that fuses with the shark. The two attacks come together and take a huge bite into the armor, which collides into fragile concrete. "Wow. Chakra and Magic go hand in hand."
"I think that takes care of it," says Sakura with a smile.
Before either of them could register, the Heartless aims its lower torso and aims at Naruto. He realizes in time to jump in the way of the attack, using the sword to block all but the explosion; this sends them all flying backwards.
Kakashi recovers first, seeing that the Heartless is about to fire again. His eyes change into the Mangekyou, as he shouts, "Kamui," and the blast disappears into another dimension. His eye bleeds, forcing him down to one knee feeling his energy drain.
Naruto picks himself up. "Sensei!"
"Finish the job! That Keyblade's the main weapon to destroy it, so do your duties as a Keybearer!" Taking in his words, Naruto stares up at the floating Heartless.
Naruto aims his Keyblade upwards, raising his magic power. As he does, the aura for the Valor form rises up. Though this one is of a different color, giving him a blue aura as deep as the sky. He's enshrouded in light revealing his new appearance; Naruto's clothes change color, just like before with the red form. His clothes are now a black and blue color style similar to before, but the insignia is that of a blue flame. Five wisps of blue energy float about around.
Sakura and the others look on in shock, amazed that Naruto could change his appearance like that.
It fires, but he dashes at high speed quick enough to leave an afterimage. Naruto twirls his Keyblade before taking aim like a gun. "Somehow, I'm seeing myself using this power differently." Hundreds of bullets made of magic fire out, bombarding the armor monster without mercy. "Freeze!" He casts Blizzara, unleashing seven ice spears that strike the Heartless at once. 'My casting speed has increased.'
"Freeze Raid!" He then enshrouds the key into its port, having it cut through and frost over the Heartless. It holds still in mid air, before its head drops over the torso. The blue heart rises up causing the Heartless to explode into light. He sighs seeing the end has come. "And finally, it's over."
He falls backwards, his body not at all touching the floor. The others group together near him, ready to congratulate the hero for his triumph. "Good work Naruto."
"Not bad kid." A brand new voice comes into the scene. Everyone looks over to the entrance of the District, seeing a man decked in a sheer white jacket with flowing coattails. "Still, if this is all the Keyblade can do, we're definitely in trouble."
Kei: That ends this chapter. We now move onto the halfway point. I think. What's left?
Yusei: The Nightmare Before Christmas, Aladdin, Neverland, Hollow Bastion, and then other stuff before we return to Hollow Bastion and finally the end. Regardless, we'll be done before One Piece.
Clair: But after Bleach apparently.