Chibii: Sorry If I confused you with my updating spree, it's been a bit wild lately. Oh, and the deviant art picture of Shiloh is coming up soon. My main usernames are on my profile. And Y'know, I just realized that I said I'd be doing Sane Authoress notes, but nothing really sane has been said really…But anyway, thank you everyone for their reviews! They seemed to like all of Sora's thinking moments in the last two chappies…
Sora: (cheesy smile) SORA INTUITION!
Shiloh: (groans)
Sora Stalkers (SS): EEEEEK! (writes the phrase down)
Chibi: My ears… My precious, precious ears…(faints)
Riku: (is still eating the strawberry flavored lollipop and reading a magazine)
Sora: SORA INTUITION!
Shiloh: Sora, please, I have a headache.
Sora: INTENSIVE THINKING!
Shiloh: I'm warning you…
Sora: SORA IN-
Shiloh: SHUT UP! (tackles Sora)
Disclaimer: I don't owns anything but Shiloh, the Heartscepter, and all that good stuff. (smile)
--
Chapter 8-Reunion
Sora, dodge rolling skillfully, narrowly dodged a blazing juggling stick igniting his clothes. The cunning heartless, given the name the Trickmaster, bent down low, and swiftly swept its' gangling arm across the floor; blazing juggling sticks in hand.
Shiloh jumped right above the flaming stick, and threw a blast of light energy its way. With a continues flick of his staff, Donald tried to strike the lighted juggling sticks with a freezing Blizzard spell.
The Trickmaster reacted by wildly swinging its sticks to and fro, so they wouldn't be extinguished. Goofy wisely made his way on to the Bizarre room's table, and jumped from there to unleash a flurry of shield bashes upon the Trickmaster.
Eventually, it bent its unusually long legs, and lay defenseless, for a moment's reprieve. Sora took this opportunity to jump, and deliver blows to its five heads, and torso. Donald and Goofy attacked as well, at an equal pace, but Shiloh stayed put, trying to figure out how to defeat this enemy. Recently, unbeknownst to herself, she'd been getting partially stronger in her attacks, and she somehow learned the ability to tell how strong any heart was.
She knew this heart, corrupted by darkness, was already strong, but it had a weak point… She looked up out of her thoughts though, when she heard Sora yelp in pain, probably from being hit.
Nevertheless, the Trickmaster awoke from its rest, and once more began swiping at the heroes with its weapons. It knocked Donald and Goofy down immediately, with only a couple of blows, and started to go towards Sora and Shiloh.
She did the unthinkable. S
he jumped up, timing it perfectly, and landed on the Trickmaster's arm. She jumped again from there, elevated by the Trickmaster's arm, and pointed the Heartscepter straight at it chest. A bright beam immediately shot out, going straight through the Trickmaster's torso.
It staggered from the direct hit, and almost dropped the flaming pins, but it wasn't over yet. Angered, the Trickmaster gave a nasty flick of its arm, sending Shiloh to fall backwards, from that great height. As she helplessly screamed, and fell, with the Trickmaster's pins heading straight for her, Sora ran as fast as he could, over to the scene, but there wasn't much he could do.
Donald stood up, and aimed his staff between Shiloh and the pins. The Blizzard spell came right in between them. The shield of cold magic protected Shiloh from getting hit, but the impact of the collision of the two magic spells created a small blast. It made her fly backwards again, and she closed her eyes to prepare for impact. She landed hard, on her back, hitting her head on the marble floor.
Her Heartscepter flew out of her hand, and skated across the floor, as she lay gripping her aching side with her bangs strewn over her face. The Heartscepter skid right in front of Sora--he stared at his friend, and stopped breathing for a split second.
The Trickmaster still wasn't finished; it needed to completely destroy its enemy. It bent over the defenseless Shiloh, who was attempting to stand up, and prepared to hit her again with the fiery juggling sticks.
Sora, without thinking twice, ran as fast as he could over to the scene. He could hear Donald and Goofy scream his name, but he didn't turn around, he had to save her. He jumped right in front of Shiloh, Keyblade set.
The fiery pins headed straight for him now. He was so close to them, he could feel the fire almost singe his cheeks. Regardless, he concentrated his magic power, and cast a wide Blizzard spell.
The spell met with the pins, extinguishing them immediately. The Trickmaster looked at its blown out pins, in defeat, and received the final blow from the Keyblade master. It straightened out; its long arms now limp, as its corrupted heart arose from its torso. Sora turned around, worriedly, and knelt down next to Shiloh. He held out his hand, and helped her up, asking, "Are you all right?"
She stood up, amazed that Sora had come to her defense so quickly, and replied, "Yeah, I'm fine,"
The pain on her side had subsided, just a little, but her back still throbbed a bit from landing so hard on it.
"I don't think I have to tell you how close that was," he stated, seeming very freaked out.
Shiloh looked down at her feet and sighed, then looked up at Sora. "Well, It's a good thing you're here with me then, right?"
His freaked-out expression quickly turned to one of surprise, then embarrassment to hide his blushing face. "Um, yeah, I guess so,"
Shiloh summoned her Heartscepter back, and brushed the dirt off of her attire.
As Donald and Goofy ran up to Sora and Shiloh, they heard a yawn from behind them. Sora turned towards it to see the shiny doorknob they'd seen when they first came to Wonderland.
"What a racket," it complained. "How's a doorknob to get any sleep?"
It yawned the loudest yawn they'd ever heard, and its mouth opened so wide, they saw a tiny keyhole shining in its mouth. It began to shine very brightly, as the group stared at this new phenomenon in wonder.
The Keyblade, which rested in Sora's clenched hands, lifted itself up, and pointed itself toward the shining keyhole. Sora let out a startled cry at this, as the Keyblade's gleaming beam met with the keyhole. A small click was heard, as the doorknob proceeded to close its mouth. Sora stepped back, and took a look at the Keyblade.
"It locked something, but what?" he asked.
"The world's keyhole!" said Shiloh.
They turned to her. "How do you know?" asked Donald.
She shrugged, saying "Lucky guess, It's called the Keyblade right?"
"Well, we should go to back to the Gummi ship, to look for another world," suggested Donald.
"We still didn't find Riku or Kairi," said Sora, a little discouraged.
Shiloh lowered her eyes. She was beginning to doubt the fact that they were anywhere, but there were many other worlds right? Then she remembered that Sora was beginning to doubt himself as well, and that couldn't happen.
"Sora, we'll find them," she said, placing her hand on his shoulder. He smiled in response, and nodded. With that, they started to walk back to the rabbit hole entrance. Shiloh walked right beside Sora, and couldn't help but notice the keyblade master grip his arm tightly. Concerned, she walked in front of him, and asked "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he answered, turning away from her.
"Sora, lemme see," she insisted, tugging on his shoulder.
"No, I'm fine,"
"Then why are you holding your arm?"
"It's nothing,"
"Please?"
"No thanks,"
Shiloh tugged even harder on Sora's shoulder, forcing him to face her, while Donald and Goofy stopped walking to see what all the commotion was about. She stuck out her bottom lip, while softening her eyes, and puffing out her cheeks.
"Aww, c'mon Shiloh, not the puppy eyes," stated Sora, trying to look away. She kept the same face, and started to make her bottom lip quiver.
"Fine…I just got a little burned, that's all," he admitted, taking his hand away from the area. He revealed the burn mark, and it looked a bit red and inflamed. Shiloh gasped, switching her expression from her puppy eyes, to a look of concern.
"Oh geeze Sora, why didn't you tell me sooner? We've got to get this cleaned up right away!" she exclaimed, leading him forward.
--POL--POL--POL--
Pouring cold water over it, Shiloh handled Sora's injured arm with care. As soon as they'd entered the Gummi ship, to venture to their new world, Shiloh rushed to get the proper necessities to treat the casualty. Donald skillfully piloted the ship over the enemy heartless ships, as to not cause any severe turbulence during this flight.
"How does running cold water help?" asked Sora, puzzled at Shiloh's ways.
"Cooling the burn reduces swelling by conducting the heat away from the skin," she answered. She smiled brightly at Sora. "My foster mom taught it to me,"
He nodded, as she poured the last of the water over it. It felt kind of satisfying, having Shiloh near him, all to himself… He figured this would be a good time to ask Shiloh all those questions he wanted to ask her, so he began.
"Um, Shiloh?"
"Yes?" she said, now beginning to loosely wrap the burn with a sterile gauze.
"When we were on the island, before we left, why did you choose to go with Riku instead of me?"
Shiloh's body seemed to freeze immediately, startled by this sudden question. She really didn't know exactly why she went with Riku; it'd been purely on instinct. Sora wouldn't mind if she said that would he? But still, it was pretty awkward to feel his eyes boring into the front of her face, while she tried to think.
"Shiloh," asked Sora, wondering why she was taking so long. She immediately snapped out of it, and continued to wrap the gauze around his arm.
"Well, um, I guess I just thought that I should go with Riku…I mean, actually, I was just with him at the time, and I didn't really know what was going on," she said.
She knew that wasn't 100 percent true, though, she knew the island would be besieged by the Heartless, but what she didn't know, was who to exactly go with, or turn to.
"But, you were trying to get away from me, when I found you," said Sora, with hurt in his voice.
Shiloh swallowed hard, she couldn't remember the real reason why she was running away from Sora. Was she? She was so confused, why where all these things bothering her now? Maybe I hit my head, that's why I can't remember.. she thought, trying to think of a reasonable explanation. She quickly finished wrapping his arm, stood up, and began to back away from Sora, so she could fully see his expression.
"Do…do you feel insecure around me? Like, I can't protect you?" he asked, looking her straight in the eye.
"N-no, I just," she started. "I-I didn't know what was going on! I didn't know anything! It's not that I don't trust you, or feel insecure around you,"
"Then why did you go with Riku? And why do you worry about me so much?," said Sora, standing up. He wanted a definite answer from her-- he needed to know the reasons why.
"N-no, I just…I told you I don't know why I went with Riku, and I worry about you because..," Shiloh started. "You're my best friend, and…we already lost Riku and Kairi, I don't want to lose you too,"
Sora's expression softened, as he saw the uncertainty and sadness in Shiloh's features. He walked up to her, but she kept her head bowed, as tears ran down her cheeks. She felt horrible, she didn't have the right to make Sora feel that way, not after all they'd been through; she didn't even know he felt that way. S
ora dug inside his pocket, and pulled out a tiny trinket. It was identical to the one Shiloh had, a bauble with many golden stars hanging down from it. Shiloh looked up, to see him holding their treasured item.
"Remember our promise?" Sora said softly.
Shiloh unclipped the trinket from her bikini top, and held it up as well, still not lifting up her head. Sora placed his hand under her chin, and carefully lifted it up, making her green and yellow eyes meet his ocean blue ones.
"We've got to keep it, no matter what," he said.
She nodded, clenching it in her hand, tightly. Once again, the ship lurched backward, sending Shiloh and Sora off balance. He quickly grabbed her waist, to stop her from falling, while she gripped onto his shoulders for support.
As soon as the ship stopped, and Donald began to mouth his apologies, Sora and Shiloh stood still in the awkward position they were in. Why did this always seem to happen to them? Shiloh blushed the deepest red Sora had ever seen, as he set her on her feet. She smiled brightly, to try to hide her blushing, and said "Thank you, Sora,"
He smiled, reddened from blushing as well, It seemed that only the very beginning of the journey was making them closer, and replied " Oh, and Shiloh. You're my best friend too,"
--POL--POL--POL--
After exiting the gummi ship, Sora, Shiloh, Donald, and Goofy walked into the new world, only to find golden sand beneath their feet. They walked even further, to set their eyes on an immense effigy of two guards standing above two stone pillars.
Their arms were outstretched in holding bronze swords across each other's chests. In the middle, were concrete steps, which lead to a door with lightening shaped inscriptions on it, surrounded by staggering stone pillars.
"Wow, look at this world," said Shiloh, as they walked toward the entrance.
"It's pretty cool," said Sora.
As they entered the large doors, a miniature person with horns, a satyr rather, had their back to them. He seemed to be examining a large sign in front of him.
"Um," Sora started, raising his hand.
" Good timing. Gimme a hand will ya?" It interrupted. "Move that pedestal over there for me, I've gotta spruce this place up for the games,"
They looked at the large pedestal, and Sora walked over to it. Shiloh opened her mouth to speak, but then decided he would probably find out on his own that the pedestal was too heavy for him. He made an attempt to move the massive block of concrete, but failed.
"It's way too heavy!" complained Sora.
It jumped in surprise, still not turning around. "What?, too heavy! Since when have you been such a little-," he turned around to see Sora, and company staring at them.
"Oh, wrong guy," he said, referring to Sora. "What are you doing here?, this here's the world famous coliseum, heroes only,"
"What about heroines?" asked Shiloh. "Women should qualify as well,"
"Heroes," repeated the satyr, receiving a hard glare from Shiloh.
"And I got my hands full preparing for the games," he continued, while walking boldly up to Donald, forcing him to back up. "So run along pip-squeaks,"
Sora glared at him as well, angry at his words.
"It's like this, heroes are coming from all over, to fight ferocious monsters right here in the coliseum.,"
"You've got heroes standing right in front of you," said Donald, crossing his arms
"Yup, Sora'a a real hero, chosen by the keyblade. And Shiloh's was chosen by the heartscepter," said Goofy, putting his hand on both of their shoulders.
"And we're heroes too!," exclaimed Donald, referring to Goofy and himself.
"Heroes? You runts?," it questioned, breaking into laughter.
"What's so funny? We fought a bunch of monsters," said Sora.
The satyr continued laughing for a while, then said "If you can't even move this stone block,"
It started to push on the block, trying to move it. "Then you can't call yourself-," it continued, not pushing it an inch.
Sora crossed his arms, in satisfaction; he too couldn't move the block.
"A hero!" it continued, followed by several grunts. It tried pushing it for a few more minutes, until it fell on the ground, panting.
"Okay, so it takes more than brawn. Well, lets see what you can do," it said, getting up.
He walked over to the blocked entrance to the coliseum, and removed the chain sign in the doorway. Motioning for them to follow him, they followed him through the door. On the other side, were many barrels, stacked on top of one another.
"See those barrels? Break all of them, and be fast, I'm timing you,"
Sora nodded, and looked at his friends. They nodded as well, and watched Sora take his position in the center of the large coliseum. Once the satyr yelled to proceed, Sora rushed into several groups of barrels, jabbing the keyblade into each one.
Shiloh counted the seconds, alongside the satyr, and watching her best friend make astounding progress. After bashing the last barrel out of the arena, Sora triumphantly tossed his Keyblade in the air, and asked "How'd I do?,"
"Pretty good, 20 barrels in 25 seconds," said the satyr. "How about you try the advanced trial next?"
"You're on!" replied Sora.
In less than 10 minutes, the barrels were set up again, as Sora took his position in the arena once more. The satyr started the time once more, and Sora was running around the area, bashing at the barrels. This time, the barrels were a bit more spread out, making Sora run farther to destroy them.
After the practice, Sora had successfully completed this course as well, gaining the thunder spell ability.
"Nice job Sora!" congratulated Shiloh, happy for him.
"Thanks," he replied, humbled.
The satyr looked quite satisfied, as he headed back to the lobby with the group in tow. Maybe he was finally accepting that Sora could perhaps be hero.
"Hmm, you're not bad kid," said the satyr, nodding. Sora chuckled in response, and answered "Looks like I'm headed for the games,"
"Afraid not,"
"Why not?" asked Sora and Shiloh at once.
"Two words, you guys ain't heroes!," it replied, holding up a finger.
"C'mon!" demanded Sora, but the satyr turned it's back to them, ignoring them. Shiloh sighed; he obviously wasn't going to let them in.
"C'mon guys, who needs him anyway," said Shiloh, reassuringly.
They took one look at the stubborn satyr, then turned around, and walked towards the courtyard. Descending the steps, Sora sighed in disappointment as well. Shiloh noticed him sighing, and felt quite bad for him. "It's okay Sora, you'll always be my hero," she said, before thinking. Sora blushed once more, and replied "Thanks, Shiloh,"
Donald and Goofy giggled at the two teens' emotional drabble, and continued to walk with them.
"Hmm, rather a stubborn old goat, wouldn't you say?," said a voice behind them. They turned to see a man, his skin a deep blue, and crackling blue fire where his hair was supposed to be, standing behind them.
"Who are you?" asked Donald, suspicious of him.
"Hold on there fuzz-boy, Oh wait, lemme guess, you want to enter the games right?" he said, beginning to walk towards them.
"Well then, get a load of this," he said, putting his hand on Sora's shoulder. He held his other hand in front of Sora's face, and it immediately began to illuminate a bright blue color. The bright blue subsided, to reveal a tan strip of paper.
"A pass?" asked Sora, looking up at the shady character.
"It's all yours," he said, beginning to walk away, but then his eyes fell on Shiloh.
"But, with a small price," he said, pointing at her. A large, blue light shot out of his index finger, and towards Shiloh. She gasped and covered her eyes, as the light surrounded her, and formed a confining cage.
"What the hell…" she whispered, looking around herself at the confining barrier.
"Hey! What's going on?" yelled Sora, running up to the cage.
"You see, by you accepting the pass, I have the right to take your little girlfriend." He snapped his fingers, and the light began to glow brighter. "But don't worry, I'll keep her safe,"
"No, let me out of here!" protested Shiloh, summoning her Heartscepter. Sora furiously started striking the prison with the Keyblade, to try to free her, but the light was growing so bright…
He'd struck a small opening in the cage already, and stuckhis hand through it, and she grabbed it, showing no signs of wanting to go with this mysterious blue-haired man.
"No…I promised…" said Sora, his hands slipping from hers.
"I know Sora, I-I'm sorry," said Shiloh, looking away as their hands broke apart. Shiloh flew back, and hit the floor hard. Or at least it felt like the floor. She sat up to see she was surrounded by darkness, swirling with purple and black.
No Sora, no Donald, no Goofy, just darkness. For just a few minutes, she just sat, defeated, in silence, until fierce hands jerked her up by her shoulders. She looked up to see the same blue-fire haired person she'd seen before, the one who'd taken her away from Sora.
"Let go of me," she instructed, through clenched teeth.
"Sorry hun, but I've got orders," he curtly replied, tugging on her shoulders, and beginning to drag the struggling teen deeper into the dark abyss.
"I said Let go!" yelled Shiloh, this time, swinging her Heartscepter at him, and releasing a slash of light.
Barely dodging the attack, he jerked her even harder towards his destination. "Trust me, I'm doing you a favor,"
Shiloh glared fiercely at him, wondering how he could possibly be doing her a favor by taking her away from Sora. Another bright blue light shone brightly in front of them, causing Shiloh to cringe at the blinding source.
She landed face first on hard concrete, and slowly lifted her head up. She saw a dark and dreary place, lined with twisted pipes, and a long hallway.
"W-where?," she started, and looked around for her kidnapper. But he was nowhere to be found.
--POL--POL--POL--
A boy of about 15 walked down a long hallway, otherwise known as the Castle Chapel. His silver hair bobbed lightly, as he walked beside an ugly witch. She held her dark staff high, as her black cape draped down to the ground, and moved with her as she walked.
" Remember when I told you I could get just about anything for you?" she asked the boy.
His aquamarine eyes darted in her direction, as he answered "Yeah,"
"Well, I was telling the truth, you will get anything you want, as long as you remember the deal,"
His head lowered, and then he raised it, his suspicions arising.
"Well what is it? This thing that you can get for me?" he asked, boldly.
She gave a small chuckle, and curled her fingers around her staff a bit more tightly, as she walked up to the door that stood in front of them.
"Not really a thing, more of, a person," she replied, opening the door.
He stood his ground for but a second, then walked straight into the Grand Hall. He continued walking, not making one falter in his stride, then he stopped, and laid eyes one someone in the distance…
She was a girl, with dark magenta colored hair, hazel colored eyes, and shiny blue locket rested near the base of her neck. She looked towards him, and her eyes seemed to grow brighter, as she recognized the person approaching her.
"Riku!" she yelled, and began to run towards him with a surprised expression on her face. In response, he rushed forward as well, embracing her.
"Shiloh…" he whispered softly, wrapping his arms around her waist. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, realizing how much she had missed him.
"I'm so sorry…so sorry, I didn't-," he started.
"I don't care!" she yelled, tightening her hands around his shoulders. Riku lifted his head for a second, to fully see her. She lifted up her head as well and smiled-- glad to see those beautiful aquamarine eyes once more. He returned the kind gesture, and pulled her closer to him, not wanting to ever let go again.
The witch, standing a respectable distance away from them, chuckled lowly, at the sight of the two teenager's reunion. Her plan was working.
--
To be continued…
--
Chibi: This chapter was majorly fun to write! That's why it's my fav! I bet everyone's wondering what promise Sora, Riku, and Shiloh made, but that will be revealed in a mini fic, very soon. Hey, I just realized that this was partly the Olympus Coliseum world, and usually Deep Jungle comes first, but the guidebook says to go here first. Silly me!
Shiloh: (in a bad mood)…Foolish little authoress…
Chibi: WHAT!? How dare you talk to me that way.
Hades: Hi! I'm conceded for no apparent reason! And my hair's on fire!
Riku: Ooooh! Let's roast marshmallows!
Sora: Let's sing, the CAMPFIRE SONG! XD
(everyone randomly starts to sing the Campfire song from Spongebob)
Jeff: -throws a marshmallow in Hades' hair-
marshmallow: -disintegrates-(ow!)
Sora: NOOOO! HE KILLED THE MARSHMALLOW!
Riku: GET HIM! –attacks Hades-
chibihachi: ……..I'd only be mauling him if it was a chocolate covered marshmallow
Fried marshmallow: Well excuse me for not being chocolate covered!
chibihachi: O.0…..Did that marshmallow just…Never mind, next chapter coming soon!