Chapter 9: Troup Grimm
Glace appeared in the apparel of the group, black long tench coat, with the ice master's own flare; a dark blue scarf, elbow length leather gloves that had white fur around the edge. Short light blue hair, almost white with black stripes, with thick black bangs coming over the right side of Glace's face, and under the cold eyes were markings, black markings going to the jaw; three spikes, two smaller ones one the outside with the long middle one trailing down to the jawline. The boots, which were high, black and blue commando boots, with three snaps in front, made a soft thudding as the frosty flirt walked on a dark red carpet leading toward the room where meeting were held, Glace walked past the three dormant princes, in magic capsules.
Glace opened the tall doors to see only a few of the Troup Grimm were actually there. Acier, the master at controlling steel and the top assassin of the group. Vent, the smallest of the group, mistress of the wind and wielder of a long bo staff. And lastly, Feu, fire expert and master of the spear. Glace sighed, Where's the rest of the idiots? "Ok, where's everyone else?"\
Feu decided to answer, "Eau is recovering from the harpoon wound he sustained in the Sea of the Serpent world. Terre was sent by the Trinity to retrieve two powerful weapons and find the keyhole. And for Tonnerre, she headed back to Sunset Suburbia, the Keyblade Mistress is returning to that world."
"Good. I'm guessing the Trinity wants lil' ol' me to assign the rest of you the next tasks. Fine," Glace sighed. "Acier, you'll continue with the princes, Vent, you head out the City of Lights world, there's a book there that could help us. Feu you head to the Träume, set up the Nightmare Cannon RSQ-54; you'll receive further orders there from the Dream Destroyers. You two find the keyholes as well," Glace began to walk away.
"Like, what about you, Glace?" Vent called out, her voice like a preppy teenager.
"I have other things to attend to," the frosty flirt walked out the door.
"Glace sure hates the Trinity," Feu stated.
"Like, why?" Vent questioned.
Feu just shook his head, his raven colored hair moved with the motion. "Let's just do what we were assigned to. Catch you guys later," Feu tightened his fire red head band, a small tuff of hair pressed against his forehead between his orange eyes, and left. Acier left soon after, pulling his hood up a shadow was casted over his face; and Vent finally left the empty room.
Glace walked into the freezer of a room, which was fine to the frozen fighter. The door shut with a loud, echoing thud. Glace took off the black coat and threw it to the soft chair to his left. No shirt was under and the pants that were now seen were a very dark blue, almost black. Toward the back of the room was a door, the ice master walked into the said room; it was the training area. Next to the door, hanging on the wall, was Glace's sword. A simple double edged straight sword, the handle and guard were different shades of blue, growing darker as the color traveled down the hilt. At the end of the hilt was a little trinket chained to the hilt. Glace looked at it, It was my mother's, from what I can scarcely remember. Glace shook the thought out, No! I gotta concentrate. That little bitch of a do-gooder already put one of the Troup Grimm out of commission for awhile, what's stopping her from taking us all out?
Glace walked to the middle of the room, and used the mystical ice powers to create moving ice dummies, dummies that resembled the keybearer. Glace did battle with the competent ice dummies; the ice dummies were able to land a few blows on Glace. The temperature that Glace felt the attacks were nothing, but if a normal human being felt it, it would be beyond the sensation of freezer burn. Glace moved with such speed and struck with such power that the walls slightly shook and small chunks of ice were knocked off of the dummies, unless they were stricken. Glace got rid of the seven dummies that were created in a half an hour, a personal best in the sword wielder's opinion. The sweat was wiped from the brow, the sword back in its place, Glace went for a shower.
After the shower, Glace was greeted by Furoydo, master of sound. Through the icy fog, Furoydo's grey short limp hair and square wire-rimmed glasses could be made out. "What do you want?" Glace acknowledged the Trinity member, but didn't look him in the eye, to busy pulling on a faded purple shirt.
"You should show more respect to your superiors, Glace. Zakiasu has a job for you. There's a rival coalition he wants destroyed," Furoydo shivered, still amazed at Glace's ability to stand such freezing temperatures.
"Why me? Why not you or Dionte?" Glace's tone getting colder than the room.
"Sure, light bulb could send us but he wants you to do it. Says all you do is stay stuffed up in this meat locker."
"It's his fault I'm 'stuffed up in this meat locker'," the two stood for a few more silent seconds. Glace mentally noting that Furoydo was getting more irked by staying in the cold. "Fine, I'll do it." Furoydo handed Glace the coordinates and left the frigid fighter. Glace got dressed in the Troup Grimm apparel and headed to the take-off strips. I hate being his bloody lap dog.
The small crew, with the two new summons, made their way back to Sunset Suburbia. The headed to the shop in the first district where Riza met Kou. The trio walked in to find the store owner. "Hey guys, so what happenin'?" Kou called behind his counter.
"Nothin' much. Have you seen the twins?" Riza asked.
The store manager shook his head, "Not lately. Try Solar Fields. You can get to it by the alleyway; there's a door in the Third District you can use. Besides that? You guys need anythin'?" Kou asked, a hopeful look on his face.
"Whaddya got?" Charlie asked.
Kou pulled out his list of inventory with items a bit too of their price range. "Hehe, maybe another time," Riza chuckled. Kou looked slightly crestfallen, those irksome kids have chased away some valuable customers. The trio left the shop before they gave in and ended up broke.
They traveled to the Third District with some trouble with Heartless. A new type fought them, warrior types with axes; which looked oddly familiar in Riza's opinion. They were easily dealt with and the small party made it to the alleyway. Along the far right of the alley, which looked more liked a back street, was an unpaved pathway. The path traveled south and stopped at some iron bars. "Josh, can you take those bars out?" Charlie asked.
"Why can't you? You're the warrior. You do it!" The cousins bickered and Riza waited a few more minutes before breaking the bars down herself with the Ember Buster spell she had yet to try out. The small explosion and the smell of melting iron brought the two feuding family members to a halt.
"Well, are you two coming or not?" Riza retracted her smoking Keyblade, which channeled the spell. She walked through the now accessible door. Josh and Charlie followed, slightly pushing each other.
The fields were a sight to behold. A field of gold as far as the eye could see, slowing swaying in the light breeze. The crew walked for a little while, the sound of thudding footsteps alerted the twins of their visitors. The two were training with short swords for self-defense against the dark creatures, sparring in a circle wide enough for comfort. The five shook hands and started to discuss the recent adventures of the team. The twins stated the importance of the keyholes being sealed and what could happen to the world if the Heartless was able to take hold of the heart; it lead to the destruction of the world.
"Now you see why the keyholes must be sealed," Dae mentioned.
"Yeah," Charlie sighed. Still in shock. If we fail, even once, the loss of life would be staggering to say the least. Charlie ran her hand over her face.
"That means we just gotta work harder to stop the Heartless and their masters," Riza pounded her fist against her palm.
"About the Heartless masters, we've learned the name of them. They call themselves the Troup Grimm, but their superiors remain unknown to us." A slight pause as Nite looked down. "Damn them," Nyte scowled. Dae put his hand on his brother's shoulder for comfort.
"We'll get 'em. We have to. I think one might be dead already. It was the water master of the group, pretty good martial artist too. Knocked Charlie out with a single blow and had me on the ropes until I kicked his crotch." The three boys winced and blocked their sensitive area with their hands. "But after that he got a harpoon to the back, and fell in the water. After that, well, we told you," Riza explained. "Oh, and this came out of the keyhole." Riza pulled out the odd gummi piece from her back pocket.
Nyte's eyes lit up, "Ohmigosh! Ohmigosh! A nav-gummi! Yay!" The energetic twin grabbed the piece and gasped, "No way! How totally sweet! This is the partner to the piece I have. I'll go install it now, you totally rock, Riza!" Nyte yelled, running of the the port to install the nav-gummi.
Dae shook his head, "Nyte can be such a pain."
"Hey, we all have our guilty pleasures," Charlie said.
"And that pain is going to get us to other worlds," Josh added.
"Speaking of which, do any of you have a thing for flashlights?" Riza questioned.
Dae slightly paled, "Wh-what did you s-s-say?" He couldn't believe that he forgot about that.
"Flashlights. I opened a closet in one of the rooms and this avalanche of flashlights fell on me. It hurt, especially the metal ones," Riza rubbed her head, recalling the painful, and embarrassing, memory. Charlie wouldn't stop laughing, so Riza threw a plastic flashlight at the hysterical warrior. The whole experience left both parties with minor bruising. Charlie chuckled, remembering the incident.
Dae coughed, "Sorry."
"Huh?" Riza turned to the blushing twin after sending a heated glare at the elemental swordswoman.
"That's my fault. While Nyte has a thing for leather interiors, I have a hobby of collecting flashlights. I guess it got out of hand. Sorry." Dae looked down.
The three looked at the boy. "It's ok. No one was seriously hurt," Josh said with a smile.
"Speak for yourself," the girls mumbled.
"Anyway, you should get to work finding the keyhole for this world. Nyte won't be finish with the installation for some time," Dae said. "Oh, this might help you out on your travels." Dae handed over a large bag.
"What is it?" Riza looked at Charlie, who was holding the bag.
Charlie opened it up to see at least a thousand munny. "It's munny!"
"I heard that Kou's prices are a bit much, with the kids and all, but get yourselves some things." Dae smiled.
"Thanks. We'll catch you later, Dae," Riza smiled and left with her friends.
They headed back ot Kou's shop a purchased some things, like rings to protect them from elemental attacks, chains to give them more of a defense and more strength, and armlets for a magic boost.
"These will definitely help us out. Thanks Kou," Riza said putting on putting on the Fire Ring and Golem Chain.
"Still could have given us a discount or something," Josh muttered, slipping on the Rune Armlets and clipping on the Guard Earring.
"Just be glad we got somethings," Charlie replied, sporting the Blizzard Ring and her own Golem Chain.
"No prob. I mean, what else could I do?" Kou answered, shrugging his slightly muscular shoulders.
Given us a discount, you dolt, Josh's mind said in annoyance.
"Do you three mind doing my a favor?" Kou asked, rubbing the back of his head.
"Sure, what do you need?" Riza said, Charlie and Josh both wondering if this girl knows the word 'no'.
"I need you to take this to old magician in the Third District," the store owner shoved a box in to the reluctant hands of Charlie. "Inside is what is needed to get to him. Don't open it; actually, you can't. That's why the guy gave it to me, to see if I can open it. Take it back to him and tell I couldn't open it. The door is wooden with a snowflake on it. I think magic is needed to open it, like a password."
"Sure, c'mon guys. See ya Kou," Riza left the store with her companions in tow.
The three made it to the Second District before they were attacked by the Heartless. A mixture of the new warrior types, shadows, and the samurai from the Inu World. The warriors drew their weapons and could feel the improvement from their new accessories. Riza's and Charlie's new strength let them deal more damage to their dark foes. Josh's magic muscle increased as well, his weaker spells doubling in power.
The waves of Heartless died down as the three advanced toward the door to the Third District. In the shadows of the Second District was Tonnerre. Behind her where her Little Shocker Heartless, little black and yellow Heartless that, if together in a cluster, could short circuit the whole town. "Be ready my pretties, we'll get them soon enough. They'll pay for the grave injury they gave Eau." Tonnerre sneered in the veil of the shadow's darkness.
"This must be it," Josh said, running his hand over the ice blue snowflake. The tinge of coldness could be felt and inch from the door. He stepped back an unleashed his Icy Daggers, now larger with his Rune Armlets, at the door. The snowflake glowed and rosed with a hiss. On the other side was a cavern. In the middle was a small island with a disheveled shack. In the water were large stepping to get to the small island. As the team made their way across the first stone moved, then dropped an inch. From under the water, a giant turtle head rose up. It groaned loudly then dropped again. The team jumped off before it could completely submerge with them on it's back for the ride.
The next stepping stone shifted, another turtle head appearing out of the water. It groaned as well, but went after the team. Riza jumped over it's head as Josh slid under it's jaw. Charlie, however, wasn't so swift.; the turtle grabbed her by the back of her pants near the belt and hoisted her up. Charlie yelped as she was lifted thirty feet up.
"Izanagi! Put her down now!" A bundle of robes yelled from the shore of the small island.
The turtle grunted and opened it's sharp beak. The swordswoman dropped the thirty feet into the moat. She appeared seconds later crawling onto the bank of the island. Riza helped her out while Josh introduced himself to the robes.
"Sorry about dropping in like this," Josh chuckled.
"Stuff it, Josh!" Charlie roared, trying to launch herself at her cousin, Riza held her back.
"I'm-"
"Itoh Josh. She's Kuzumakii Charlie and the one holding her is Ukaizr Riza, the Mistress of the Keyblade. I've been expecting you three."
"You have?" Josh replied.
"Indeed, please come in," the bundle of robes lead the three into the hut. A homely little abode, the candles scattered around gave of an orange light that tinted everything just so. Shelves packed with books, scrolls and tomes of every shape, size and color. Off to the far side of the door in the oval shaped hut was a slightly raised platform with a small round table with a scroll lied off the side away from the chair accompanied by a now cold pot of tea. "Lo, please, help Charlie with her clothes."
"Aye!" A furry bipedal creature shot up from his seat to help Charlie. He stood in front of her and mumbled something in a foreign tongue. Instantly, Charlie was as dry as a bone. "There you go, Miss Kuzumakii."
"Charlie is fine, and thank you; but what are you?" Charlie studied the furry critter.
"I'm a tanuki, a raccoon-dog," Lo answered.
"Oh! How rude! I haven't told you my name. I am called, Pandora," The robes took of it's hat to reveal a short hair girl around the age of thirteen or fourteen. She wore large, owl-eyed glasses and had teal colored eyes. The robes were teals, purples and silvers. "Now why are you three here?" Pandora said with a smile while making a fresh pot of tea.
"Actually we're delivering something. From Kou," Charlie handed the mage. The shorter girl smiled.
"I see, so the ex-samurai couldn't figure it out. Too bad," She put the box on the small wooden table. "I though at least he could figure it out."
"Can I see it, Pandora?" Josh asked, looking at the box.
"Sure, why not. It's not even mine. My mother gave it to me and her mother gave it to her, and so on. That's how I got my name too, They were all named Pandora."
Josh studied the box as little alarms went off in his head. The designs were familiar, like he saw them before. But where? I know I've seen these markings before. The whole box is familiar. And her name is sending off all these warning bells in my head. But why? Her name also sounds famiiar, like some old, over told myth. Josh's features contracted into deep thought, trying to recall the significance of this small box and name.
"Josh, buddy, you ok?" Riza asked.
"Oh, now I recognized you three! You are the ones King and Queen Hearte spoke of," Pandora uttered.
"You've spoken to the king and queen?!" the statement shocked Charlie.
"Yeah, but only of you two, not the Keyblade Mistress. They mentioned yoi wold have a third member though. They spoken only nice things of you two, except your fiery tempers."
"Fiery tempers? I don't have a fiery temper," Charlie denied.
"Just a thick head and no common sense. Your blade is sharper than you," Josh said, still looking at the odd box.
"Shut yer trap, magic boy!"
Riza leaned over to whisper in Pandora's ear, "Yup, definitely fiery temper," Pandora giggled.
"Anyway, I've also been asked, if I pass you on my travels, to teach you the basics of the dark arts," Pandora stated.
"Cool. I wanna learn how to do summoning," Riza said, "And learn more spells."
"Ok, we'll get started on the summoning first. Come, to the top floor." Pandora made a hand sign, a slab from the ceiling fell gently and stopped before hitting the ground. "C'mon you three, upwards!" the four were elevated to the upper level. The upper level of the shack was decorated in bright colors, including yellows, light greens, and oranges. The the corners were cusions with various astrological symbols, like stars, moons, and some of the zodiac symbols.
"We'll train here, I'll start with you Riza. Take out your weapon." Riza withdrew her Key of the Ukiazr, and awaited Pandora's next instruction. "Ok, it's really easy, just think of the summon you want to bring forth, and it'll come naturally."
Riza nodded. She thought of the small fox demon, Shippou. Her crest glowed on the Keyblade, a greenish-blue flame ignited at the end of the key. Riza created a circle, then put the blade into the fire ring, and twisting it, like unlocking a door. A fire fox of the same color shot for the ring and barked, then poofed, leaving Shippou, smiling a childish grin.
"Let's see how he does in battle, come out," Pandora summoned forth pieces of furniture.
"Ok, Shippou let's go!" Riza said, "Fox Fire!!" The a green-blue flame enveloped her Keyblade, fireballs shooting form the blade's tip striking the tables and closets.
"Fox Magic, Fox Fire!" Shippou threw greenish blue fireballs, striking down the zipping tea pots. The more furniture they took out, Shippou's power increased. Fully charged, Shippou set his sights on a large closet, "Fox Magic, Giant Top!" The small fox demon pulled out a small red and green top, he let loose the rip cord and the small top grew ten times its original size, spinning on the closet, the wind whipping around drawing in the furniture till the furniture disappeared in a poof of magic, followed by Shippou, who disappeared in a fireball. The flames died out around the Keyblade.
"Good, good. Now that you know how to summon, let's teach you some spells," Pandora placed her gloved hand on Riza's forehead, "I give Riza the power over ice and thunder," Pandora chanted. Riza could feel the chilling power of the ice in her veins and feel the raw electricity dancing in her muscles.
"Cool, I feel...feel...powerful," Riza uttered.
"Yeah, try housing centuries years worth of magic power in you," they all looked at the mage. "I'm not centuries old, please, just a few hundred years!" Pandora chuckled. "Yeah, I know I don't look that old. I'm a sorceress, I can appear any way I want. Now Josh, you have a summon as well? C'mon, bring'em out!"
Josh stepped forth, Riza taking a seat on a moon printed pillow. "Ok, Just like Riza, think of the summon, and the process will come naturally."
Josh nodded, and thought of the small fish. He withdrew his staff and the red jewel began to resonate. Bubbles appeared around the sage. He lifted the staff over his head and began to twirl it like a helicopter blade. A cyclone of water erupted from the spinning staff and from it came a mighty shark, with the same coloration of a Great White Shark, with slightly larger fangs than a normal shark. On his head was a dragon's head. Josh leaped on his back and began to chomp and cast magic spells at the moving furniture. After a few minutes, Mr. Bubbles was fully charged and let loose his Shark Cyclone, a powerful water spell he launched from his large jaws, destroying the remaining furniture. The shark disappeared in a cloud of bubbles.
"Not bad you two. Not bad at all. What about you, Miss Charlie?"
"I'm just fine, and I don't have any summons. I don't have the magic prowess to posses summons. Those do, though. The only magic I know is the power of my sword."
"Ok then," The tea pot's whistle blew its high pitched song. "Oh, the water is done. How about some tea?" the four went downstairs to enjoy a cup of tea.
Downstairs, "So tell me about yourselves," Pandora sipped the hot brew.
"What's there to tell?" Riza questioned.
"Like your past, unless it's too difficult to mention."
"Well.." Riza was cut off when she felt her Keyblade tug at her. She put her cup of tea down and drew the weapon. It roughly pulled the keybearer toward the city. "We gotta go. Heartless. Thanks for the tea, and maybe some other time we could talk, Pandora. It was nice meeting you," Riza bowed her head and ran out the hole, Josh and Charlie bidding farewell.
"Ok," Pandora said to an empty room.
"Damn those Heartless! Don't they ever stop?" Charlie growled.
"I guess not. But, if they don't stop, neither do we!" Josh said.
"Yeah, they don't stand a chance against us!" Riza smirked. The trio left the small cavern and charged headlong into the awaiting battle.
TBC