And welcome back to Shattered Memories! Don't really have anything to say here so, let's continue!
Chapter 5 : Meddling? Never heard of it.
Back with Atlas
Flynn, Rapunzel and Atlas were walking in a cavern as Flynn lead the way with a lantern. Atlas was still questioning where he was exactly as the two talked.
"So Flynn, where are you from?" Rapunzel asked.
"I don't do backstories, blondie. Besides, I'm more interested in yours. Though, I guess I can't mention the hair."
"Nope."
"Or the mother."
"Yeah."
"Honestly, I'm too scared to ask about the frog."
"Chameleon."
"But, I do have a question. If you wanted to see the lanterns so badly, why didn't you go before?"
Rapunzel stayed silent, not really sure how to answer the question. She then turns to Atlas to change the subject, "What about you?"
Atlas snapped back into reality, "What?"
"Who are you? Your clothes are definitely different from the others." She asked.
"Makes sense, I'm from a different world." Atlas answered honestly.
Rapunzel had a big smile on her face with her eyes widening in excitement. Though, Atlas swore he saw her eyes glow for a moment.
"Another world!? What's it like? What kind of people do you meet?" Rapunzel started, asking Atlas a bunch of questions.
Before Atlas could answer any of them, they then heard footsteps coming from behind them, along with galloping sounds. Next thing they knew, the guards turned the corner and was coming in fast.
"Come on!" Flynn said, grabbing Rapunzel's hand and running ahead with Atlas following close behind him.
They then reached the end of the cave, exiting out into what looks like a canyon with a large wooden dam behind them as they stopped at the edge of the cliff.
"So, any ideas?" Atlas asked them before a boarded up cave entrance at the bottom broke open. The ones who exited the cavern look like they are twins who wore the same clothes. The only difference between them is that one of them wore a eye patch over his left eye.
"Who is that?" Rapunzel asked.
"They don't like me." Flynn answered as the guards exited the cave behind them.
"Who is that?"
"They don't like me." Then the horse came in front of the group.
"Who is that?"
"Let's just assume that everyone here doesn't like me." Flynn answered.
"You're really popular with the people." Atlas commented.
"More like a reputation I got." Flynn corrected.
"Same thing." Atlas said as he then sees Rapunzel swings across the large gap straight ahead to another cliff with her long hair. She landed safely as the guards got ready to attack.
"I've waited a long time for this." The Captain said to himself as he pulled out his sword.
"Flynn!" Rapunzel called out as she then threw her frying pan at him. He caught it as the guards closed in on him.
Flynn was quick enough to deflect a sword coming at him before hitting the guard holding the sword in the stomach and followed up with swinging it up to hit his chin, knocking him out. Another guard then swung at Flynn from his left, only for Flynn to block the attack. The guard then tried to deliver a downward slash, only for Flynn to quickly counterattack that knocked the sword out of the guard's hand and finished with a overhead swing upon the guard's head, taking him down.
"Flynn, pass it!" Atlas called out as two guards were approaching him. Flynn tossed the frying pan to Atlas as the two guards came at him.
Atlas was quick to dodge a horizontal slash from the guard on his right as he went left, only for the other guard to attack with a stab. Atlas blocked it and sidestepped around the guard to then swing the pan across the guard's face, knocking him back. The guard was rubbing his cheek as the other guard ran at Atlas. Atlas was quick to swing down at the guard's knee before following up with a hit to the back of the head, knocking him out. The other guard recovered and swung at him, only for his attack to be deflected and got hit in the face again by the frying pan, knocking him out as well.
"Rider!" The Captain yelled as he charged at Flynn.
"Flynn!" Atlas called out as he threw the frying pan.
Flynn managed to catch the pan to block the Captain's sword, the two now being in a deadlock.
"The road ends here for you, Rider!" The Captain said as he tried to push Flynn back off the cliff. Flynn pushed him back a bit before the Captain was suddenly grabbed from behind by Atlas. The Captain struggled to get out of Atlas' chokehold as Flynn was quick to take the opportunity to then hit him in the stomach. He then passed the pan over to Atlas, which he released the Captain and swung the pan over his head, knocking him out.
Atlas then passed the pan over to Flynn. "Man, I need to get me one of these." Flynn commented.
A sword then appeared in front of Flynn, where he gladly accepted the challenge. What was weird is that the sword was held by the horse, who neighed in determination.
"OK..." Atlas said, confused before the horse attacked Flynn.
Flynn blocked and deflected the thrusts and slashes that the horse delivered, but the horse was relentless in its offensive game.
"You know, this is the strangest thing I've ever done!" Flynn said as he exchanged blows with the horse.
After that comment however, the horse was able to knock the pan out of his hand, the pan falling off the edge of the cliff. The two waited until the pan hit the bottom.
"How about two out of three?" Flynn asked, only for the horse to point the sword at his throat.
The horse was then caught off guard as Atlas hopped onto the back of it, the horse now trying to get him off as Atlas held on to buy Flynn some time. Flynn then felt some hair wrap around his right hand.
"Flynn!" Rapunzel called out as she was ready for Flynn to swing.
"Come on, rodeo boy!" Flynn called out to Atlas.
Atlas responded with a nod and jumped off the horse, quickly rolling as he landed on the ground. Atlas then quickly grabbed Flynn's left hand with his right hand as he was about to swing. The two then swung under the cliff Rapunzel was on as the twins were in their path. Rapunzel then pulled up her hair enough for Flynn and Atlas to barely dodge their swords.
"Ha! You should see your faces because you look..." Flynn's sentence was cut short as his gut was slammed against a large wooden board, Atlas quickly grabbing the rocks under the board. "Ridiculous." Flynn finished as Atlas began climbing down.
Rapunzel then heard a loud thud noise as the horse was now kicking down a tall rectangular board that was one of many holding the dam up. The board then fell and landed, making a small bridge between the two cliffs.
"Come on, blondie!" Flynn called out, holding some of the hair in his hands as he stood over the water slide that lead to the bottom of the canyon. "Jump!"
Rapunzel quickly held on her hair and jumped just as the horse made it across and tried to grab her hair with his teeth. However, by the skin of the horse's teeth, the hair just barely escaped from his open mouth as Rapunzel swung down to the bottom. She briefly slid across a large puddle of water as she landed before taking the rest of her hair and ran. Flynn then slid down the water slide like he was skateboarding and jumped ahead as the wooden slide started to break away at the end. Flynn managed to jump down to the ground safely and helped her with the rest of her hair as they ran for the mine entrance, where Atlas was waiting.
The water in the dam then came down like a raging river as the wooden dam crumbles down, taking out the guards with the horse and the twins. However, the water made a large rock pillar start to fall as the two continue to run. The two managed to enter the entrance as Atlas grabbed the pan that slid with the water before the cave was blocked by the rock pillar. Unfortunately, the water began to flood the small cavern as the three climbed as high as they could. The water was fast as it already reached their feet. Rapunzel then started to hit the walls with her pan as Flynn dived under for a way out. Atlas tried to move the rocks that was on the wall for a way out as Flynn came back up and down.
"Come on! No crack, nothing!?" Atlas complained as he punched the wall.
Flynn then came back up to help out with the wall. He tried to pull out a small rock, only to cut his left palm on it. The water was at their waist when Flynn dived back down.
"Come on! There has to be a way!" Atlas complained as he then dived down as well.
Rapunzel stopped hitting the rock wall as Flynn came back up. "I can't see anything! It's too dark!"
Rapunzel then decided to dive down, only to be stopped by Flynn. "Hey! There's no point! It's pitch black down there!"
The two then leaned back against the wall as Atlas came back up, standing next to Rapunzel. He spoke as he wiped his face with his hand, "Well, we're stuck."
"I don't think we learned your name." Rapunzel remembered.
"Atlas." Atlas simply said.
"Well,..." She then sniffled a bit, "I'm sorry we got into this."
"No need to cry, no one can guess this outcome." Atlas said as he leaned against the wall.
The three was silent, until Flynn broke the silence. "Eugene."
The other two looked at him, "Huh?"
"My real name is Eugene Fitzherbert. Just figured someone would know at least."
"Well... my hair glows when I sing." Rapunzel admitted.
"Wait... your hair glows?" Atlas repeated.
"Yeah. My hair glows when I sing!" Rapunzel said in realization.
The water has almost reached the top when she started, "Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine..." was what she was able to say before they took a deep breath and dived down under. Next thing they knew, the hair glowed like gold under the water. Atlas was surprised, then noticed the hair being sucked in at a small hole near the bottom. Atlas was the first to start moving the rocks with Flynn helping out as the glowing hair faded.
With Riku
Riku was walking down a river that he saw ahead had a hill of rocks, likely leading to a mine as the entrance in it was blocked by a pile of rocks with small amounts of water coming out.
"Wow, this is getting a bit..." He then stopped as suddenly, a dark demonic looking hand popped out of the pile of rocks that blocked the entrance, which then fell as a large rush of water poured out into the river.
"Interesting." Riku finished as he walked over.
He then saw three people pop out of the water and laid down on the riverbank. He didn't recognize two of them, but he did recognize the third one somewhat.
"Atlas!" Riku called out to him as he rushed over to him.
Atlas only coughed up some water in response as Riku went to his side and helped him up.
"Well, nice to see someone who knows me." Atlas then looks up at Riku, "And you are?"
"Name's Riku. I came to look for you, since your friends were worried." Riku answered.
Atlas' eyes widened, "Pep? Kyla? Are they all right?"
"Don't worry, they're fine." Riku reassured.
"Great." Atlas sighed in relief.
"The hair... it actually glows." Flynn said to himself in astonishment. "I didn't see that coming... Why does it glow!?" He suddenly said in a panic.
"Eugene!" Rapunzel called out, getting his attention. "It doesn't just glow."
Flynn and the chameleon looked at each other, with the chameleon smirking at him. "Why is he smiling at me?" Flynn asked.
"What's going on?" Riku asked Atlas.
"It's tough to explain." Atlas answered.
With Zander
Zander reappeared in a mist of darkness in a deeper part of the forest that has a hollow tree with a hatch that had a yellow duck on it. He then noticed a woman with a dagger in hand as she was creeping from behind a large rock nearby. He was about to go talk to her when the duck door opened and out came the twins.
"I'll kill him! I'll kill that Rider!" One of the twins exclaimed as he then helped his brother up.
"We'll cut him off at the castle and take the crown there. Come on."
They were about to walk when the woman called out from on top of the rock she was hiding behind. "Boys!"
The brothers looked at her as she raised a satchel, "I believe this is what your looking for."
The brothers drew their swords as their answer, "Oh please, there's no need for that." The woman then tossed the satchel to them, one of them reaching inside it to then pull out a rather beautiful crown that most likely belongs to a princess.
"Well, if that is all you desire then be on your way. Though, I would have given you something worth 1000 crowns." The woman offered.
"Wait... what is your offer?" The brother questioned.
"It comes with revenge on Flynn Rider." The woman said as she held up a poster of the man she was talking about.
The brothers grinned at each other as Zander watched from behind a nearby tree. "So, the Stabbington brothers and Mother Gothel decided to team up. Perhaps I should offer some assistance." Zander then ignited a dark flame and threw it at Mother Gothel, it hitting her and got absorbed into her. Zander then disappeared as Mother Gothel looked behind her, only to see nothing.
Back with Atlas
"And that's what happened." Atlas said to Riku as the four were sitting around a fire.
"Interesting." Riku simply commented.
"It's nice to meet you too, Riku. Are you also from another world like Atlas?" Rapunzel asked as she was wrapping some of her hair around Flynn's wounded palm.
"Well, it's kinda obvious by my attire." Riku pointed out.
"I'm sure that you have some wild stories." Flynn commented.
"OK. Now just... just don't freak out." Rapunzel said to him as Flynn had a confused look.
Rapunzel then started to sing and the hair started to glow:
Flower, gleam and glow
Let your power shine
Make the clock reverse
Bring back what once was mine
Heal what has been hurt
Change the Fates' design
Save what has been lost
Bring back what once was mine
What once was mine
When the hair stopped glowing, Flynn took off the hair wrapped around his hand and saw that the cut on his palm was gone. He started to breathe in and out until he was about to scream.
"Please don't freak out!" Rapunzel quickly exclaimed, stopping him from screaming.
"... I'm not freaking out, are you freaking out? No, I'm just really curious about your magical hair and how it works. How long has it been doing that exactly?" Flynn said in one sentence really fast.
"Forever, I guess. My mother said that when I was a baby, people tried to cut it to take it for themselves. But when it's cut, it turns brown and loses its power. A gift like that must be protected." Rapunzel explained.
"So that's why you never left the tower." Flynn guessed.
"Yeah."
"And your still going back?"
"No! Yes." She then sighed in frustration and placed her hands on her face, "It's complicated." The chameleon leaned against her ankle as she moved her hands away from her face.
"So, Eugene Fitzherbert, huh?" Rapunzel said, changing the subject.
"Ah yeah. Well, I'll spare you three the sob story of poor orphan Eugene Fitzherbert. It's a... bit of a downer." Flynn said.
Rapunzel sat in eagerness to listen as he continued talking about a book he used to read. Meanwhile, Atlas heard a noise from behind him and looked to see a figure quickly disappear in the shadows. Atlas then got up and walked towards the noise as Flynn talked. Riku took notice and followed him as Atlas walked in between the trees. When Atlas reached a certain point, he was met with a familiar hooded figure.
"So, you show up." Atlas said as he clenched his left hand into a fist.
"I had to check on your progress and I see that you haven't even used it yet." Zander said.
"I see no point to using this arm." Atlas retorted.
"Well, this might help motivate you." Zander said, raising his hand in front of himself.
Zander then summoned a keyblade in his hand. It has a black handle with the guard surrounding it having an upward crescent sun on one side and a downward crescent moon on the other side. It has a single edged blade that is jet black in color with the "teeth" of the key being half of an eclipsed sun with a blue flame surrounding the edge of the eclipsed sun. The keychain is a small gold chakram connected to the keyblade by a black chain. The keyblade is called Fiery Eclipse. He then tossed it to Atlas, who caught it with his right hand.
"A late bloomer you are. Hopefully, you know how to use a blade, right?" Zander wondered.
Atlas then held the keyblade downward at an angle with his left arm raised up in front of his chest. "I'll take that as a yes." Zander said as he then saw Riku catching up.
"Hmm... I was about to fight you by yourself, but now I like to see how you will do as a team player." Zander said as he summoned his ethereal sword.
Riku then appeared next to Atlas and summoned his keyblade as the three got ready for battle.
"Come on then." Zander said as he charged at the two.
(Play The Encounter from Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD Remix)
He delivered a horizontal slash that the two jumped over him to avoid. Atlas then swung down to retaliate, only for Zander to disappear and reappear above them on a branch. He then fired three firaga balls down at them, Atlas dodging two of them before swung at the third ball to send it back. Zander jumped off of the branch as the ball of fire exploded on impact, destroying the branch and the leaves surrounding it. As Zander was in the air, Riku then suddenly appeared and performed Dark Aura, firing a barrage of dark firaga balls at him. Zander then suddenly summoned 6 blue orbs and the orbs extended into long ethereal spears, destroying the firaga balls before he recovered and landed on his feet.
Atlas then appeared from his right and swung, only for Zander to quickly deflect it as Riku came in from the front. Riku then performed a maelstrom slash followed by five diagonal slashes downward, where Zander quickly sidestepped to avoid before he retaliated with a stinger, which Riku was quick to deflect. Atlas then appeared from behind Zander and swung horizontally at his left side, only for Zander to surprisingly jump high enough to avoid the slash, grab Atlas by his head with his feet and spun around in the air with him to then let go of his head, making Atlas spin again in the air before landing on the ground.
Zander then pulled his ethereal sword apart to then have two smaller ethereal blades, one in each hand before landing on the ground himself and dashed at Atlas. However, Riku was fast to react and practically teleported in front of Zander to summon his Dark Shield. Zander delivered an X-slash on the shield, but to no avail of breaking it as he was bounced off of it. Riku then healed Atlas with a potion before getting into his battle stance again, Atlas getting up to his feet and joining him by his side.
"Atlas, we might be able to hit him if we catch him off guard." Riku suggested to Atlas.
"Like what? This guy fights like a champ in a struggle tournament." Atlas retorted.
"True, but a team attack might work." Riku said.
"And how exactly are we gonna pull that off?" Atlas doubted.
"All you have to do is follow my lead." Riku instructed.
The two then charged at Zander and started attacking him from almost all angles. What Zander noticed was that the two was attacking like in sync, when suddenly the two instantly dashed back to then perform Dark Cannon, with Atlas' attack being white in color, making it more of "Light Cannon" in his sense. However, Zander was quick to react as he spun his two blades like propellers to block the shots. Atlas and Riku then teleported and began to attack in sync again, this time they deliver a slash as they instantly passed by him that formed an X each time. Zander managed to block it about 3 times in a row before they teleported again to reappear at a distance. The two then raised in the air a bit as they charged up energy for their next attack.
"That's more like it." Zander said to himself as he prepared himself for impact.
The two then practically flew at him as they delivered a thrust attack with their blades, Zander deflecting the attacks before they disappeared and reappeared again with the same attack repeatedly, making Zander dodge and deflect most of them, except for when the two appeared right behind him, managing to knock him back a bit. The two then quickly reappeared above him to take advantage of the opening, only for Zander to then slam his fist on the ground, creating a shockwave that hit Riku and Atlas. The two were then floating in the air like they were in...
"Zero Gravity?" Riku questioned.
"Zero Graviga." Zander corrected as his blades disappeared.
He then placed his right hand on Riku's bubble and his left hand on Atlas' bubble and aimed them at the sky before performing an one inch strike on the bubbles, launching them high in the sky. When the bubbles dissipated, the two were above water and fell into the water.
(End music)
Riku and Atlas then rises to the surface for air as they noticed their surroundings. Atlas noticed a castle in the distance as Riku looked up on the cliff where Zander was standing. Zander smirked under his hood as he then vanished in a mist of darkness.
"OK, let's-" Riku started when he noticed Atlas swimming towards the castle in the distance.
"Atlas, wait up!" Riku called out as he swam to catch up to Atlas.
And there we are! So, Riku managed to find Atlas, the two got separated from Flynn and Rapunzel, and Atlas received his keyblade before facing Zander with Riku. However, Zander proved to be more skillful than the two thought as they were defeated in their battle against him. Will they be able to get stronger to defeat him? Will they get reunited with Flynn and Rapunzel? We'll see in the next chapter! However, before we do that, I will explain what Atlas and Riku did in the battle.
Team Limit name: Eclipsed Dawn
The two attacked the enemy in sync before the limit officially starts:
1: Dark and Light: The two then fired a barrage of energy balls, Riku using Dark Cannon and Atlas using Light Cannon. Basically, it's like when Sora and Riku perform their Dark Cannon, except Atlas' cannon is white in color.
2: X Slash: The two then performs a cross slash combo, crossing paths with their blades each time.
3. Rave Surge: The two then powers up and performs Dark Aura, delivering powerful thrusts through the enemy. Basically, it's Dark Aura from Kingdom Hearts 1 with two people.
That's only 3 of the 5 segments that is in the limit. The rest will be revealed later in the story. Anyways, I'll see you guys later!
