Sora's alarm buzzed early the next morning. He switched it off with one lucid movement of his hand. He was already awake. He hadn't slept at all. He hung his legs off the edge of the bed, staring down at the floor. He leaned his head back and looked at the model ship strung to his ceiling.
One month.
They had enjoyed one month of peace and it was already over. It was all beginning again. He wondered if all of this would ever end. Would they always have to fight? Would it keep going long as they have the Keyblades?
He looked out his window. Time to go to the island.
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Sora rowed up to the island. He was the last one to arrive, as usual. Sirian was talking to Kairi and Riku on the beach. When Sora walked up, the trio turned to him and greeted him.
"So is everyone ready to start training?" Sirian said, getting right to business.
"I am if you are." Sora was inspired to not only prove his strength, but to improve on it as well.
"Alright, Sora," Sirian said, "let's see your ultimate fighting technique. I need to see you in top form in order to help you improve. I've got an understanding of Kairi and Riku, I just need to see your true power so that we can begin to hone all of our skills." Sora noticed for the first time that Riku was slightly sweaty. They had been working hard already this morning.
"Riku, can you help me?" Sora asked.
"Of course. I'll lend you my power." In a brilliant flash of light, Sora's outfit changed to a black and silver suit, and both his Kingdom Key and Riku's Way to the Dawn Keyblade floated about his free-floating body.
"Interesting," Sirian began, "You operate off of an ally's power?" Sora nodded. "And I assume the ally is usually transmitted away to avoid harm?" Another nod.
"Sora and I have gotten better at channeling his power; it used to take two comrades to transform. Now, it doesn't even take all of my strength." Riku explained.
"Very nice indeed. Shall we spar, Sora?" Sora smiled and floated toward Sirian rapidly. Sora's Keyblades made a downward, X-shaped slash at Sirian, who dodged and jumped toward Sora, cane in hand. The Keyblades came flying up to parry Sirian's swing. The recoil lifted Sirian off his feet. Sora used the opportunity to press him with one Keyblade, to keep him in the air, where he could get no force behind his blows. Sirian parried and spun in the air, land solidly in the sand. Sora's Keyblades flew furiously at him, unrelenting in their speed and accuracy. But Sirian blocked every shot. Sirian saw an opening in one of Sora's wide swings, and struck a heavy blow at the defending weapon, knocking the two mythical weapons back. During the short intermission from Sora's attacks, Sirian gathered a mass of dark energy around his right hand. Sora was shocked but retained his composure and swung one Keyblade down at his rival and pulled the other close for defense. Sirian dodged the attack, and dove at Sora, his left-handed cane strike sending the other blade reeling. Before Sora could react, Sirian grabbed his ankle with his darkly glowing right hand. When Sirian let go and rolled away, the dark energy spread across Sora's body swiftly. Sora's outfit and demeanor changed as the darkness consumed him, but the Keyblades continued to fly at Sirian. Sora lost sight of Sirian for only a moment, but that was all it took. Sirian was above Sora, with brilliant light energy in his right hand, quickly forming a cage around Sora from above. Sora tried to escape, not understanding this meld between light and dark powers, but the prison slapped shut around him. He pounded the prismatic walls, but he couldn't break free. Sirian walked up slowly.
"Our sparring session is over now. You can revert to your normal state; I have all the information that I need to begin designing our training regiment."