Act 1
Chapter 3- Duality
Gideon's vision was blurry as he began to wake up.
"Looks like he's coming to." said a male voice.
"Psh. About time." Said a young female.
Gideon awoke to see that he was surrounded by a group of at least 7 people, making him want to bury his face in his hands due to his timidity. Suddenly he felt himself being lifted out of the pod by someone. "Its okay little guy. You're among friends." a reassuring and kind voice said.
Gideon opened his eyes to see a black haired man smiling brightly at him. "My name is Lucian, and I will be your teacher in the arts of the keyblade."
"WHOA!" an eager voice exclaimed from behind Gideon. "Does this mean ALL of us get keyblades?!" Gideon turned around to a rather excited looking young boy around his age with dark brown hair and eyes that had now grown wider out of curiosity.
"Yes Aaron," a tall, emerald green haired man said in a booming voice "you will each get your own keyblade." "COOL!" Aaron practically screamed with joy. Aaron was obsessed with keyblades. He had read multiple books on the mysterious weapons and battle strategies involving them. "I thought you be excited about that." the green haired elder stated "That's why I decided to take you on as my apprentice."
"Wait a minute." Aaron cried. "You're Braeden! Oh my gosh. I can't believe I'm going to be trained by THE Braeden!!!!" Gideon and the young girl with bubble gum pink hair stared at each other with looks of clueless-ness and puzzlement on their faces.
"OH COME ON! You're telling me you've never heard of Braeden?!" Aaron screeched. Gideon and the girl both shook their heads in the standard negatory fashion. "Oh jeez. Well, I'll tell you about him." Aaron continued as he went into what almost seemed like a prepared speech. "Braeden is one of the top officials when it comes to keyblades. He trains with keyblades constantly, and tests all of the new chaser-made keyblades. Since his father was a chaser, he was a natural with a keyblade. He knows more techniques and strategies than just about ANY OTHER KEYLBADE MASTER! ISN'T THAT COOL?!"
"Psh." the pink hair girl scoffed "That's nice and all, but I bet you he's nowhere as good as Master Harva! They would assign nothing less than perfection to teach me, Alena! AND DON'T YOU FORGET THAT NAME!" Alena screeched as she bonked the two nearby boys on the head. Alena tended to be overly dramatic and hyper, due to the fact that she constantly yearned for attention.
"And where" a figure behind the group sighed "is MY apprentice?"
"Ah! Donovan!" Lucian replied "Good to see you've joined the party!"
"Can the chit chat Lucian, where is he?" Donovan retorted.
"I'm right here." said a small, yet incredibly cold voice. The group turned to see Xehanort standing in the entrance to the other pod room. "I guess everyone just forgot about me."
"That is no way to speak to your elders!" Donovan stated as he verbally reprimanded the boy. Xehanort stared up at his new master. An identifiable feature of Donovan's seniority in the keyblade maters' order was his hair, which was black, but with grey overtones, making his hair a slightly lighter color. Donovan was a mysterious person, but tended to focus on the strength one could achieve from using the keyblade in his philosophies. He believed that one must be worthy to wield such an elegant and dangerous weapon. This was one of the reasons why he had not chosen an apprentice until now.
"Do you think you are powerful?" Donovan asked flatly. "What?" Xehanort replied. "Do you think that you are powerful?!" Donovan questioned again with more force this time. "Uh, I suppose." Xehanort responded in a slightly confused manner.
"No!" Donovan shouted. "One does not think he is powerful! One KNOWS he is powerful! You will either learn this lesson or you will not succeed as a keyblade master! Understood?!" A now slightly frightened Xehanort merely nodded his response.
"What are those things?" Alena impatiently asked. Harva replied in a cool and sophisticated manner. "Why this is a Glider dear." she said, pointing to the silver vessel that resembled a bat. "We use it to travel to the various places in the world right from this hangar. We are going on a brief field trip to show you what awaits you in the future."
There were 3 Gliders available, though more were in existence. Each was able to hold at least 3 people. The metal that these ships were made from came from alloy deposits found new the area were the light was contained. This alloy had proved strong and highly durable, making it useful for building aircraft. While the wings were similar to a bat, the cockpit of the ship, which was merely a semi-spherical glass dome, was filled with the pilot's chair and the obvious two passenger chairs.
"Cool! Can I fly one?" Aaron joyfully begged, but his request was denied by a quick laugh from his mentor. "Not today, Aaron."
"Hey! Donovan!" Lucian shouted. "Don't you wanna share one with us?"
"No." Donovan flatly replied. "Xehanort and I will travel in this one. You head on out, and we'll be right behind you." "Alright Donny. Whatever you say." Donovan cringed. He HATED being called that.
"WOW! Look at the view!" Gideon couldn't help but cheer as they traveled through the sky.
Indeed, it was a sight to behold. Below them, they were passing a castle with pinkish, light purple, and golden towers and heading towards a desert, filled with oaisises.
"Where are we heading?" Alena asked her master. "To the beach?"
"No my dear, we are actually heading to that building there." Harva replied, pointing to a fortress like structure. There were four towers and walls, which made up the outside frame. All the pilots managed to land their craft in the designated docking bay. The group assembled together once they had exited their ships.
"Now everyone." Lucian began "We are about to enter a hallowed place where the chasers work. This is a place where only the people who know what they're doing can lead the way. So Braeden, they're all yours!"
"Gee, thanks Lucian." Braeden joked. He had to admit, it was funny. "Anyway, who here can tell me what a chaser is?" he asked the group of four children. And of course, Aaron was the only one who raised his hand while screaming "Ooh me! Pick me!"
"Alllright...lets go with Aaorn. What are chasers?"
"Chasers," Aaron began in his prepped speech tone again "are those who are designated at an early age, to construct 'fake keyblades' or keyblades without a keychain. They serve as back up weapons in times of need when a keyblade master is separated from his keyblade and can not reach it using his or her heart's power."
"Very good." Braeden said "Now, I wanted you to see these guys at work, because they too are a crucial part to our survival."
As the group descended from the top landing platforms, the young ones were met with awe at the sight they beheld. On the top floors of the armory, there rows and rows of chasers standing over their individuals slabs, which helped them make keyblades. Each of the rows were held by almost invisible platforms made of crystal. Each row was a about 3 yards on top of another, giving the chasers room to work, but while also keeping the platforms together in an organized manner
Braeden led the group to a platform separate from the others, on which there stood a keyboard. Braeden typed in some digits, and the group was transported to a slab where a young chaser named Ienzo was working. Even after the group arrived, Ienzo remained silent and appeared as if he didn't even acknowledge their existence.
"Now this here, is one our most recent prodigies. Ienzo, though he is around 5, is able to wield the tool of a chaser with ease, hard though it may seem."
The tool of a chaser appeared to be no more than metallic gloves. However, these were no ordinary gloves. They had multiple functions. They had the ability to levitate new alloy onto the slab and heat it until it was malleable. Then, the chaser could move the gloves with certain motions and mold the heated metal into a keyblade, all without even touching the alloy. The glove also had other functions, like an extendable and detaching blade, if needed for battle purposes, as well as a few hidden pockets to draw more metal alloy out of for keyblades, and an ability to focus the gloves heating ability into a flame.
Ienzo gracefully levitated the metal from the pocket on his glove onto the slab. He then proceeded to heat it, and with a few more fluid motions, produced a decent chainless-keyblade.
"Now, we will be moving on to the lower levels." Braeden said in a manner that could only be fit for a tour guide. Braeden punched in another code, and the group was transported to a lower level. Unfortunately, the group did not take to this room with much enthusiasm. It was simply a large black room, with no special additions or features.
"Doesn't seem like much, does it?" Braeden said with a smirk on his face. "Or at least it doesn't seem like much for now." Braeden entered another series of keys, and then it appeared as if the room came to life. The vast walls opened with endless rows, each with multiple keyblade slots. The floors too came alive as vast pillars rose from the ground and opened to reveal their keyblade caches as well. Thousands upon thousands of keyblades filled the room now, the number bordering upon millions.
"Now kids, here's a treat for you. You can each pick your own chaser keyblade to train with." Braeden happily noted.
"Train?" Gideon questioned
"Why yes." Braeden replied "Didn't you know that training starts tomorrow?"
Author's note: In case some are wondering why I wrote that Chasers constructed keyblades, the definition of a "chaser" from a dictionary is "One who forges and/or engraves metal, usually for blades." So, based upon this, I thought that Chasers constructed some form of keyblades (which of course now I believe are the keychain-less keyblades).