It's FINALLY done. :D I had so much writer's block with this one. D: It was crazy. And it's 11 pages long to boot! But now I can relax. :) Birth of a Maelstrom will be on hold until this story is over.
A Ninja and A Keybearer
Chapter 12: Plans, Schemes and Lessons
Sora and the group had followed Cid's crude map to the Third District. Once there, however, the map was unsure as to where they should deliver the book. Sora turned the map upside down, sideways, and backwards, but still, the crayon-on-napkin drawing didn't make sense.
"Stupid, idiot, gummi-geek," Naruto grumbled under his breath.
"So what do we do now?" Donald asked.
Sora scratched his head in thought. What could they do? "Maybe if we split up and look for some sorta hint…" And so the group split up in search of any kind of clue to their destination. Naruto jumped onto the top of the roofs to get a higher look while Donald and Sora looked in opposite directions. Goofy however stared at a neon sign. On it was a map similar to the one that Cid had drawn for them, but it actually showed the paths between the three districts, as well as an emblem of fire, leading out of the third district.
"Hey guys?" Goofy asked. "I think I found a hint."
It didn't take long to find the door with a flame emblem, the same as on the sign, along one of the walls. I took a lot of discussing- as well as Naruto beating his fists against the door- before the group realized that magic was the key. Sora took aim with his keyblade and yelled, "FIRE!" At first nothing happened, but then the door began to creak and slowly open into a dark chamber.
In the middle of the chamber was an island with a worn down, old house on it. The rest of the room was filled with water excluding the stepping stones leading to the island's shore.
The inside of the house was in not much better condition than the outside, but it reminded Sora of something. Just as soon as the thought entered his head, a voice that he'd know anywhere came from the dark corner.
"There's something about this musty old place." Sora whipped around to see Kairi walking up behind him. His eyes widened enormously. Kairi? Here? How! Too shocked for words, Sora could only stare as Kairi walked past him, continuing her thought. "It reminds me of the Secret Place back home, where we used to scribble on the walls." She turned around and smiled at her dearest friend then. "Remember?"
"Kairi?" Sora asked in awe. Slowly, his hand went up to his heart.
"Sora? What are you doing?" Goofy's question broke the illusion surrounding Sora. The Keyblade Master looked at him and then looked back, but, much to his dismay, Kairi was gone.
Naruto, who had been playing with a dust bunny in the corner, looked up at the group. "Now what?" he asked, his eyes squinted in confusion. "There's no one here. What're we gonna do with the book?"
At that moment a loud crash sounded outside. "Get ready!" Sora shouted. "It might be the heartless."
The group suddenly lost there their fighting spirit as an old man walked in coughing from the dust outside. He was dressed rather unusually. A large, light blue tunic covered his obliviously scrawny body. On top of his head he wore a high pointed cap made of the same material as the tunic. The hat covered his snow white hair, but while his hair was short, his beard reached down to his ankles. In one hand he held a carpet bag and the other he held his round spectacles, trying to get all the dust off of them. Everything about him looked the part of a wizard.
"Who is this guy?" Donald whispered.
"Seems no one's bothered with keeping my house clean while I was away," he seemed to mutter to himself. "Can't make a clean landing with all of this dust blocking my sight." At that moment, the old man noticed the group. "Well, well. You've arrived sooner than I expected. Either that or the whole problem with Arthur being king took more time than I thought."
"Wha… you knew we were coming?" Sora asked in amazement.
The man nodded. "Of course." Presently, he set down his suitcase and tried to get all of the kinks out of his back.
Naruto looked at him in amazement. "Are you… a Heartless?"
Donald hit him on the head with his mage staff. "Does he look like one, idiot?"
The shinobi immediately jumped up and took a breath to begin yelling at the duck, but the old man interrupted him with a start of surprise. "Oh, my! No. My name is Merlin. As you can see, I am a sorcerer. I spend much of my time traveling. In fact, I just got back from helping a young pupil of mine. King Arthur of the Round Table, you know." As he looked around, his eyes crinkled with pleasure. "It's good to be home. Even though it looks dark and danky," he once again muttered to himself. "Anyways, your king has requested my help."
Donald and Goofy looked at each other in excitement before turning back to the wizard. "King Mickey?"
Merlin smiled and nodded. "Yes indeed, Donald, Goofy, and… uh…" The old wizard stopped in mid-nod. "I don't believe his Majesty gave me both of your names. Actually, he only mentioned that there was just one other person I needed to teach."
"I'm Sora, and this is Naruto. I'm helping him with his own mission," the Keyblade Master pointed with his introduction.
Merlin's eyes twinkled as he looked at Sora's hand, which still held his keyblade from earlier. "Ah. So you have found the key."
Sora looked at his weapon with a hard stare. "So the king wants you to teach me magic?" he asked.
The old sorcerer nodded. "Indeed. You will find that you will need these skills in able to accomplish your goals. Not everything depends on brute strength. Sometimes the answer to a question can rely in thinking logically, after all, that's what makes the world go round. Oh bother. Let me clean up this mess real quick." Merlin raised his arms and started to wave them around speaking deeply, "Higitis figitus bigitus boom! Presto de atolium!" In an instant, the house was completely clean and well furnished. Merlin sighed as he lounged in a large arm chair. He lit his pipe and looked up to the ceiling. "Now what am I forgetting? Oh, yes! Of course. Alacazam! I have no idea what that stone in your pocket is, but she just might."
A small coach appeared in the corner near the door. "Go on boys, go on," Merlin motioned when they didn't move. With a hearty sigh the old wizard sank down even more into his chair.
Naruto instantly squatted down and squinted at the coach. "What is it?"
In a shower of light and sparkles, an old woman wearing a light blue cloak appeared. "Hello, dears," she said with a smile. "I'm the Fairy Godmother. Your king, as well as Merlin, has asked me to assist you." The smile slowly faded and her eyes grew bright with tears. "I will do anything if you would save my dear godchild. She's been kidnapped by the darkness, you see."
Sora nodded. She was hurting, too. And there would be more hopeless victims of the darkness if he didn't do something about it. "We'll save her. I promise." A sudden tug in his pocket made Sora look down at the small gem that Leon had given him. He stared in it with wonder as it shown bright in his hand, almost as if it were alive. The keyblade master looked up at the Fairy Godmother. Recognition was written all over her face. Sora held out the gem. "You know what this is, don't you?"
She took the green stone gingerly. "Oh, the poor thing! He has turned into a summon gem."
Naruto looked at Donald who simply shrugged. Goofy finally asked the question on their minds. "Uh, what's a summon gem?"
The Fairy Godmother smiled at him and stroked the stone in a comforting way. "This little creature lived in a world that was consumed by darkness. When a world vanishes, so do its inhabitants." Sora and Naruto deflated, thinking of their friends from their respected homes. Did that mean that they were all gone as well? The Fairy Godmother continued. "But this one had such a strong heart." She said with pride. "He became a gem instead of vanishing with his world."
"That sucks!" Naruto said, frowning. "Who wants to live like a stone for the rest of their life?"
Donald nodded in agreement with the blonde. He asked, "Can he regain himself?"
"Yes. But unfortunately, until his world is returned, only his spirit can be restored. Now watch!" she said with a gleam in her eye. "Bibbity, bobbity, boo!"
The silhouette of a lion appeared in the room for a moment. Sora opened his mouth to ask who it was when the word "Simba," came from his lips instead.
The Fairy Godmother chuckled. "Whenever you call, he will help you. If you find more these gems, bring them to me. You must save these poor souls."
Sora looked at his friends and grinned, putting his hands behind his back. "Don't worry. We will."
Sakura looked at her team mate in disbelief. Had he really just asked for her help? No. He never would; even if he did, he wouldn't ask her. "Why should I believe you? You've never needed mine or Naruto's help before."
Sasuke smirked. He had expected an answer like that from her. Unlike that dumb blonde, she actually had a brain, when she wasn't drooling over his life that is. "Because I don't plan on being someone else's puppet."
This, however, proved to have the opposite effect of convincing her. When her face changed a darker shade of pink than her hair, he knew that Sakura was mad. "Yeah? Well neither do I! So you and your bozo friend here can just leave and I'll find my own way home without yours or Naruto's help."
"Sasuke," Riku said suddenly, "She's not going to come willingly. If you really want her to come with us then you either knock her out or I will. Either way, though, we need to get Kairi back." Sasuke glared at the older boy in contempt.
With a wave of his hand, Sasuke dismissed Riku. "Fine. You can go after her, but I still need to talk to Sakura."
The silver haired boy gritted his teeth in annoyance. Sometime soon he was going have to show that snot nosed brat a thing or two, but for now he needed to get his friend back.
The two Konoha shinobi watched Riku run out before they looked at each other again. "What do you want, Sasuke?" the kunoichi asked with a slight tint of annoyance in her voice.
"Orochimaru's back," the Uchiha said. He watched as his teammate shivered in fear at the thought of the memory. "He's teamed up with the organization Riku and I are in. He hasn't done anything yet, but I decided I'm not going to let him. But I can't do it alone."
Had this been a week ago, Sakura would have squealed with delight at the thought of her dream guy asking for her help. But now the pink haired kunoichi stared at him. "Sasuke… I'm not that same girl. I have other obligations now. You know I'm not strong enough, too. Ansem needs me more than you do. Go get that Riku guy to help you."In the back of her mind, Sakura could hear her inner self raging at her answer, but she ignored it and looked at her teammate hard. "Or better yet, why not go find Naruto and get him to help you. Or is he too strong for you?"
Sasuke growled at the thought of the dobe being better than him. 'He is not. I'm an Uchiha! He's just a nobody. What can he do?' He thought to himself, but in the depths of his mind he could hear that annoying voice reminding him, 'He has improved though. Quickly too. If he keeps up the pace he'll be even with you, if not better.' "I don't need that idiot," he growl out. "Sakura." The kunoichi stared at him. "If you won't help me, then you can just stay here for all I care."
Sakura waited until he had stalked out of the room before running the opposite direction to reach the town before that Riku guy could. She had smelled fresh air escaping from an open draft as Sasuke had spoken to her and right now it seemed that her senses would have to save her friends.
After their talk with the Fairy Godmother, Sora and the group had returned to Merlin to give him the book. Merlin squinted at it for a moment before recognition hit him. "Oh that book… So, Cid asked you to bring this. Thank you."
The old wizard looked at Sora while he placed the book on a stand. "You wish to know what kind of book it is." It was not a question. He shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly, I don't even know, myself. In fact it's not mine. Somehow it found its way into my bag one day." Naruto was about to ask how a book could do such a thing when Merlin, once again, cut him off. "Now I don't know how it did, but when I opened it, it was there." The blonde shinobi was beginning to wonder if the old wizard could tell the future. That'd be a question to ask later.
"Of course I can read the future! Or the near future at least. Now don't ask silly questions. Anyways, the book was such a curious one that I asked Cid to repair it for me." Merlin's eyes crinkled in delight as he lowered his voice. "This book holds a great secret. Now, it will only hold one person at a time, but I'll let you look at it whenever you want to."
Sora looked at his friends. "Does anyone mind if I go in?" Donald smiled and took the book off the shelf while Goofy grinned and motioned him to go. Naruto simply muttered something about books being "too hard to read". Donald flipped open the book and held it out towards Sora who took a jump and magically shrunk to the size of the illustrations.
Meanwhile, across town, Kiba patted Akamaru while he sulked. Shikamaru had fallen asleep on the hotel bed, as was to be expected, but Naruto on the other hand just sat in the chair looking up at the ceiling.
"Soooo," Kiba said, trying to start a conversation. "Anyone up for Go Fish?" Naruto's eyes suddenly widened and he looked at the Inuzuka and gave his famous grin.
"How about a prank instead?" Kiba gave him a skeptical look as if to say, 'Whatever loser.' But Naruto just smiled slyly. "On Leon?"
Akamaru barked and Kiba grinned. "Me and Akamaru think that sounds good. What about you Shikamaru?"
The shadow user opened his eyes and glared, not happy at being woken up. "This better not turn out too troublesome."
"See yah, Cid," Leon said as he walked out of the Item Shop. He sighed when he looked to the middle of the square and found Naruto and Shikamaru standing in the middle of the square. "What do you want?" he asked glumly, mainly towards Naruto.
Naruto grinned largely, looking very fox like, and pointed towards the scarred man. "Welcome to your worst nightmare."
Leon, not the least bit fazed, looked at the boys with a bored look. "I'm sure that Aerith is looking for you. Why don't you back up to the hotel room and wait for dinner."
Naruto nodded to Shikamaru who sank to one knee and muttered, "Kagemane no Jutsu." His shadow stretched forward until it had reached Leon's, who had no idea about the abilities of the technique, successfully connecting and taking control of his movements.
Leon frowned as he tried to his arms to no avail. "What is this?" he asked in a low, dangerous voice.
"This is a Konoha secret technique! You are completely under our control," Naruto exclaimed evilly. His voice lowered to a mischievous seriousness. "That means we can make you do whatever we want."
At that precise moment, whether by coincidence or not, a little old lady walking her small white dog walked out from around the corner. Leon felt his body being moved towards her as Shikamaru controlled him. He dreaded what would come next.
"Hello, Leon, dear," the old lady said. Leon's hand started to move towards her plastic purse, and for the one of the few times of his life, he was nervous. Everyone knew that old ladies could kick booty.
"No! Wait! Stop it!" Leon yelled as his hand grabbed the purse and began tugging at it. The little old lady changed from nice to mean in an instance.
"How day you steal from me!" she shrieked. "Even my grandchildren are better taught than that! Get him Poochie!" She yanked the purse away and began to beat Leon savagely, with a little help from her small dog biting the Traverse Town leader.
Yuffie, alerted by the cries, jumped down from one of the roofs. "Leon?" she asked, "what's going o-" her eyes bulged as Leon reached out for her to help him while his head was attacked by the purse (which he was sure contained bricks in it) and his bum had a strong pair of teeth sunk in. Yuffie fell on the ground laughing hysterically, unable to even speak.
On the first purse strike, Shikamaru let go of the jutsu and ran off quickly and quietly with Naruto towards the hotel room. Even when they had finally closed door, both shinobi could swear they heard someone screaming and yelling in agony. Naruto chuckled. Revenge was sweet.
It was half an hour before there was a knock on the door. Naruto leapt up to open it and inside walked the little old lady. "How are you, Naruto, dear?" she asked sweetly. The image was shattered when her voice became deep and masculine, "You owe me for this."
In a puff of smoke, the little old lady with her small dog disappeared and Kiba and Akamaru stood in their place. "As funny as it was," Kiba remarked, "why couldn't you be the one to dress in drag?"
Naruto grinned and laughed. "Because I was smart enough to claim another job first!" Kiba just growled and sat down on the couch that Shikamaru was already sprawled across, asleep.
Sora waved goodbye to Merlin and walked into the third district. The old magician had showed him a few spells after he had come back from the 100 Acre Woods, promising to teach him more later when they both had more time. Merlin had asked them to find more pages of the book if they could. "After all," he had said, "a book is its own world."
Donald frowned when the door closed. "Looks like we have more things to find," he grumbled. But no one had time to comment.
"Sora! There's heartless!" Naruto yelled suddenly, bringing everyone to attention.
The keyblade master scowled at them. Why couldn't they just leave him alone for just once? But as the group prepared to lung, the heartless disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. Sora gaped in surprise at the figure standing in front of them, holding a keyblade and expertly swinging it.
"There you are!" Riku said, smiling. "What's going on?"
Sora grinned widely and rushed up to him. "Riku!" he exclaimed while pulling his friend's cheeks out in an attempt to make him keep smiling.
Riku scowled. "Hey. Hey! Cut it out!" Sora grinned widely and looked his friend up and down.
"I'm not dreaming this time. Right?" the keyblade bearer asked.
Riku smiled again and ran his fingers through his silver hair. "I hope not," he said with a chuckle. "It took forever to find you."
"Just how did you find me?"
Riku frowned for moment, thinking back.
-Flashback-
Riku banged his fist against the wall. He had lost those kids… and Kairi. It was to be expected because he had no idea about the layout of this town, but it still didn't stop him from being depressed. "I'll never find her," he muttered.
"Perhaps not yet," a cool feminine voice said behind him. Riku whipped around to see Maleficent appearing in a flurry of black and green flames. "I have, however, found your other little friend."
"Sora!" Riku exclaimed. "Where is he?"
Maleficent frowned as if sad. "He is in Traverse Town, but unfortunately, he has replaced you with some new friends." The witch stooped down to pat him on the back comfortingly.
Riku shook his head. "Sora would never do that," he said with certainty in his voice. "He may not be a lot of things, like smart for instance, but he's always loyal."
Maleficent frowned and stood up to her full height. "Very well. I shall take you to see him, and you can decide for yourself."
"What about Sasuke?" the islander asked. "Is he coming?"
She shook her head. "He has… other obligations," she told him. With no more questions, Maleficent opened up a portal that would lead them to Traverse Town.
-End Flashback-
"Um… I heard something from a few people," the silver haired teen finally said. Sora simply smiled and said his name again happily.
While the two old friends laughed back and forth, Donald, Goofy, and Naruto had stood back and assessed the new comer.
Donald, wary of all strangers, stared at him through suspicious eyes. Something wasn't quite right about him, almost as if he had touched the darkness.
"Hey, wait a minute! Where's Kairi?" Sora asked suddenly.
Riku flinched and asked innocently, "Isn't she with you?" If Maleficent was right about Sora's new friends, then he wanted to make sure he actually cared about looking for her.
Sora hung his down and muttered, "I saw her in the Secret Place before I left, but she disappeared."
"Well don't worry," said Riku, walking away so Sora couldn't read his face. "I'm sure she made it off the island too." The older boy looked towards the starlit sky and took a deep satisfied breath. "We're finally free," he said more to himself than anyone else. "And hey, she might even be looking for us now."
As he talked, a shadow heartless morphed out of the ground. It looked at Riku with hunger in its yellow eyes. Riku, still facing away from Sora, continued talking. "We'll all be together soon." At least he hoped so. "Don't worry. Just leave everything to me." Sora stared at the heartless, preparing to lunge at his friend and called forth his keyblade. "I know this-"he was cut short by the sound of Sora's keyblade cutting through the heartless.
Riku turned around and stared at Sora who propped his keyblade across his shoulders. "Leave it to who?" he asked cockily.
"Showoff," Donald muttered. The others couldn't help but agree.
Riku closed his gaping mouth and walked over to his friend. "Sora, wh-what did you-"
"I've been looking for you and Kairi, too," he grinned, glad that he actually had something to goad over the older boy's head for once.
"Ahem," coughed Donald.
"With their help," Sora amended.
Riku stared hard at them. 'These must them,' he thought. 'His new friends.' While he had never seen anything like Donald and Goofy before, it was Naruto that caught his interest. He had recently learned from Sasuke that these… shinobi… all wore headbands that signified where they came from. The blonde boy had a headband identical to the one that Sasuke wore. He tucked the information to the back of his head. Sasuke would probably want to know this. "Who are they?" he asked Sora.
"Ahem," Donald said, holding a hand to his chest. "My name is-" he was cut off by Sora.
"We visited so many places worlds, looking for you!" the keybearer said in an excited flourish.
"And our friends, too," Naruto muttered. For some reason, he didn't like how Sora completely ignored them when this Riku guy was around. He'd be glad when he left and looking at Donald and Goofy, he could tell they felt the same.
Riku gave Sora a hard look. "Really? Well what do yah know. I never would have guessed."
Goofy walked over and grinned. "Oh, and guess what?" he said, putting his hands on Sora's sholders. "Sora's the Keyblade Master."
Donald walked off and muttered, "Who would have thought it."
Sora looked down for a second at an annoyed Donald. "What's that mean?" he yelled. Naruto snickered quietly to the side.
"And who would have thought that Blondie over here was a real ninja," the magician added.
"Hey!" said blonde yelled.
Riku broke up the fight that was sure to come by saying, "So this is called a keyblade?" The group looked up to see Riku holding Sora's weapon up and inspecting it.
Sora looked at his hand. "Huh?" He hadn't remembered summoning it. "Hey! Give it back!" The keybearer lunged for his friend.
Riku back up a pace and ignored Sora as he lost his balance and fell on his back. The silver haired teen was more interested in the Key. Naruto could feel a slight bit of jealousy in the air. "Catch," Riku said in a monotone voice before throwing the keyblade.
"Whoa!" The newly standing up Sora caught the weapon in both hands, almost dropping it. Once he had regained his balance with both feet and keyblade, the brunette looked at his best friend. "Okay. So you're coming with us, right?"
Naruto, Donald, and Goofy looked at each other in fright. If Riku came, they might as well just abandon their own separate missions. Sora was loyal, but he was easily distracted and Riku seemed to be an expert at distracting him.
Sora continued, not notice his friend's stares. "We got this awesome rocket. Wait 'til you see it!"
Donald finally decided to take a stand. "No. He can't come!" the duck shouted with an angry face. Riku had seen them exchanging looks and he knew the reasoning behind it. He frowned at the entire group.
"What?" said Sora while stopping a foot down.
"Forget it!" Donald threw back.
"Oh, come on! He's my friend!"
Donald's face was turning red. "I don't care."
Goofy looked up from the fight and back at Riku. "He's gone!" he exclaimed.
Sora examined the entire area. "Riku?" The square was completely empty. Donald stood waiting for the keybearer with arms crossed and his foot tapping. Sora didn't face him, but his disappointment was evident in his voice. "Nice going." The brunette scratched his head. "Oh, well. At least he's okay." Sora's hands went behind his head in his relaxing way and looked up at the sky. "And who knows. Maybe we'll run into Kairi soon, too."
"And Sasuke and Sakura!" Naruto shouted in excitement.
"And the king, too!" Goofy joined in.
"You see? It's just as I told you," said a chilling voice. Riku glared up at Maleficent. He didn't want to believe her, but the truth was right below him in the square. "While you toiled away trying to find your dear friends, he quite simply… replaced you with some new companions."
Riku glared down at the boy he had once called his best friend. Maleficent was right. Sora didn't care for either him or Kairi. Otherwise he wouldn't have all these new people he called friends. Well, if that was the way it was, then so be it. Riku would get some new friends of his own to replace Sora and he'd find Kairi on his own.
Maleficent felt his fury and added one more stinging remark. Just a little more anger and he would be under her control. "It's quite evident that he values them are more than he values you." Riku gritted his teeth and punched the wall next to him. The witch smiled. "Now come along. You're better off without that wretched boy." And Riku figured she must be right and followed her into the dark portal.
I'll put everything up later. I'm in a rush right now.
Oh, and Happy Father's Day!
