Author's Note: I do not own ANYTHING pertaining to Kingdom Hearts. I only own Blastbone Clarkson, Charlotte Amaturie (to appear in later chapters), and their nobodies (and these Seekers, even though they are modeled after the Chasers).
Chapter VI: Blaster's Dive
While Sora was cheering Blaster on as he gracefully dodged each blow delivered to him by the Seeker. Blaster stopped to rest when the Seeker pointed at the heartless behind Sora, looking shocked at the number of them.
"Guys!" Blaster shouted, running at the barrier, and bouncing off. "What the…?"
"It's one of those barriers," The Seeker taunted. "So fight now, and, if you win, you will go free."
"Fine," Blaster said, brandishing his Keyblade. "Then I suppose you start saying your prayers, Seeker!"
"No one has defeated me," The Seeker taunted.
"Then you haven't met me, Seeker!" Blaster retorted.
"Will you stop calling me 'Seeker'?!" The Seeker demanded, getting very angry. "I do have a name, you know."
"Oh really?" Blaster asked. "And what is it?"
"It's Inferno," the Seeker said.
"How do you spell it?" Blaster taunted. "I wanna make sure it's spelled right on your gravestone."
"You insolent little…" Inferno shouted, but he was abruptly cut off, almost literally, when Blaster flew by him, performing his Flash move (which is similar to Sephiroth's flash attack, but his is 13, Blaster's is 21). Inferno managed to block all but one of them. The one hit took a chunk out of the Seeker's helmet, revealing red, spiky hair. "Well, I guess it's time to reveal myself."
The red helmet shattered into particles of darkness before dissolving into flames. The face of a man in his late 30's was revealed. The skin was very heavily tanned, as if the Seeker was in the sun since birth. His red hair looked similar to Sora's style mixed with Axel's style. He had an average nose, but a thin, curling mouth. And the eyes…the eyes were the color of rubies, and a deeper red fire burned in them.
"Woah," Blaster said calmly. "How do you get your eyes to look like that?"
"I got it after I mastered fire," Inferno said, dismissing his Keyblade before summoning the Bond of Flame. "But I lost count of how many deaths."
"Where did you get that?" Blaster demanded. "That's Sora's blade!"
"This?" Inferno asked, looking at the Bond of Flame. "Well, it was originally mine, before that stupid Nobody stole the Keychain."
"Axel was not a stupid Nobody!" Blaster shouted. "He was a good man who did what was right in the end. What would have been in his heart."
"He was a being that wasn't supposed to exist, and he got what was coming to him," Inferno accused. "And you are protecting him? Ha! With thoughts like that, I'm surprised you're not a Nobody yourself."
"THAT DOES IT!" Blaster shouted angrilly, aiming his Keyblade at Inferno. The purple teeth of the blade suddenly turned red-orange, and Blaster only had to say the one word to launch a fireball at the Seeker. "FIRE!" The fireball erupted from the tip of the blade, making the top tooth closest to him to quickly flicker from red-orange to purple, then back to red-orange.
"You're forgetting something," Inferno said, catching the fireball the size of a basketball in his free hand. "I have mastered the element of fire!" With little effort, he threw the fireball back at Blaster, who silently cursed at himself for a second.
"And you should know something yourself," Blaster said, lowering his blade and holding out his hand, causing the fireball to stretch into a ribbon, and wrapped it around himself before he snuffed it. "I can master any element."
"Well then, now we're cooking," Inferno said, wrapping his blade in dark fire.
"Better hope you can stand the heat," Blaster responded, turning the teeth of his blade into tounges of fire, "because you are not leaving this kitchen."
The two fighters stared into each other's eyes before they launched at each other. In slow motion the two collided with such force that a shockwave of flame erupted from the center of the arena. Once the shockwave hit the barrier, it was absorbed. When the smoke cleared, Blaster and Inferno had their blades locked, both of them struggling to get the upper hand. Out of the corner of his eye, Blaster witnessed Riku and Sora performing the XIII Blades move of their Session.
"You know," Inferno said, pushing away from Blaster, "As soon as we're done playing, I'm going to take your head as a trophy!"
Blaster looked at Inferno, then his Keyblade, then turned to face the audience.
"All this for a Keyblade?" Blaster asked, turning back to face Inferno. "Man, you are just insane."
"Ah, but you will not survive long enough to worry," Inferno said, lunging again.
Blaster brought his blade up, blocking the strike and using it against Inferno, who over swung. Soon, the Bond of Flame skidded across the ground, and Blaster put his blade to the neck of the armored man. Before Blaster could say anything, Inferno had the Bond of Flame back in his hand, and he stabbed Blaster in the chest. Blaster realized he's been suckered too late, because a fireball erupted from the tip of Inferno's blade, and burst out the other side, leaving a hole piercing through his heart, and leaving a hole the same diameter as a softball.
"Thanks for the battle, Blastbone Clarkson of Earth," Inferno said, withdrawing his Keyblade and dismissing it. "You fought bravely, but you have never been worthy to wield a Keyblade." The Sword of Justice appeared in Inferno's hand, and it gleamed in the light of an explosion from Kairi as she destroyed a Crimson Jazz in her Valor form.
"And you think this is the end," Blaster smiled.
ITFITFITFITFITF
After their Session, Sora realized that the heartless weren't falling as fast as he wanted them to. A quick transformation into Master Form changed things a little, but the two blades weren't enough to keep the heartless, which now included Minute Bombs and Bolt Towers, at bay. Kairi turned around and stood next to Sora, still in her Valor Form, slicing at heartless as she went.
"There's just too many of them," Kairi shouted.
"We've killed well over a thousand by now," Riku replied. "I think I see an end to this soon."
"We're gonna need a whole lot of firepower then," Sora said, watching as Riku went into his Master Form.
Nox and Xarch had their rhythm down to a synchronized system. While Xarch took care of any Heartless that came near the two of them, Nox would destroy them from afar, usually with a casual flick of his wrist. Donald and Goofy were exactly the same, with Goofy destroying heartless with his shield, and Donald blasting them away with fire, ice, or lightning. Donald just turned his back for a second, but it was the only sight he would see for the next few minutes.
"BLASTER!" Donald shouted, watching as a softball-sized fireball erupted from Blaster's back and blew up on impact with the shield. Blaster dropped to his knees, his blade lying uselessly on the ground next to him (back to normal).
"Guys!" Nox shouted. "We need to get in there and help Blaster!"
Kairi, still in her Valor Form, used all of her strength and blew up a Crimson Jazz that had just appeared, then turned around to see Blaster, on his knees, and a few seconds away from being decapitated. Before anyone had the chance to keep fighting, the Town's defense system went berserk and created a large "bomb," destroying all the heartless. Immediately, everyone rushed to the barrier. Riku, Sora, and Kairi got there first, reverting back to normal.
"BLASTER!" Sora shouted, banging on the barrier with his Keyblade.
"I'll be ok, Sora!" Blaster said back, turning to face everyone, although roughly. "You have to trust me on this one."
Just as Inferno was starting to swing, time slowed down until Blaster thought he was dead. A bright flash of light nearly confirmed it. However, when the flash was gone, Blaster saw that he was standing on a glass pedestal, and he didn't have the hole in his chest. Blaster did the first thing that came to him, and walked over to the edge of the pedestal. Looking out into the darkness, Blaster realized that the only light was coming from inside the glass pedestal, and it extended far into the darkness.
"Okay," Blaster said to himself, his voice echoing. "This is weird. I'm standing on a glass pedestal in the middle of a very dark place." Blaster looked down at the pedestal, then noticed it was more like a mural. A mural of himself to be exact. In the center of the mural stood an image of Blaster, Thirteen Order Crystal drawn. To the left, in circles, were his friends from his reality: Cody Antaturk, Wendy Ulrich, and Charlotte Amaturie, who had a red heart surrounding her image. To the right were Sora, Donald, Goofy, Riku, and Kairi. Behind the picture of Charlotte (Char) and Blaster were black-cloaked people, probably to confirm Nox and Xarch were the nobodies of the two they were behind. The outer rim was decorated with various Earth weaponry, from swords and arrows to small handguns.
You have done well so far, Blastbone.
The voice seemed to originate from everywhere, yet, it felt like whoever was speaking was standing right behind Blaster. And it seemed familiar.
"Who's there?!" Blaster demanded.
However, you have power that rests within your heart, and it is time to awaken that power, and give it form.
Before Blaster could demand anything else, three smaller pedestals appeared on the outer rim, one in front of Blaster, and the two others behind them, each one equidistant from each other. A sword appeared, hovering over the smaller pedestal in front of Blaster, followed by a staff and a shield on each of the remaining two. The blade of the sword was about 3-4 foot (1m) in length, the grip looked like it was roughly a hand and a half, and the guard had an emblem of King Mickey set under the jewel between the blade and the hilt.
Blaster turned around to see the other weapons. The staff was long, and by the looks of it, boring, because it was only adorned with King Mickey's emblem on the top. The shield was the same, only it was dark red, and had the King's seal on the face surrounded by a circle, red on blue.
Choose wisely, for you cannot take back your decision. What power do you wish to have?
Blaster began to pace in a circle, near the outer edge of the mural, just inside where the pedestals stood. As he walked around the mural clockwise, he thought to himself as he passed each weapon: Sword, the power of the warrior; Shield, the power of the defender; Staff, the power of the mystic. Blaster thought long and hard, contemplating which weapon he wanted to pick up, and hoping there wasn't a time limit to this process (luckily, there isn't really a time limit). After passing each weapon about a dozen times, Blaster finally chose the sword, and, therefore, the power of the warrior.
And what would you exchange for this power.
Blaster didn't even have to say a thing, or even think, because he instantly walked to the Staff and gave up the power of the mystic.
You have chosen the power of the warrior and gave up the power of the mystic. Many who have come here have done the same as you, but none have taken more time to decide than you.
"Well," Blaster said, "I didn't know that."
You have learned to fight well.
The pedestals sunk into the mural, which cracked at the seams before falling in completely. Blaster fell with the glass until he spotted his mural again. There were two differences this time. The most obvious difference was that the background color was a deep blue, compared to a bright green on the first. The other difference was that this mural was larger, as if to accommodate a battle.
But, you must train yourself and your abilities more, because you will have to use them all if you are to defeat Xehanort.
Before Blaster could even ask who Xehanort was, Maleficent appeared in a flurry of dancing green flames. In an instant, the Thirteen Order Crystal appeared in his hand.
While you fight, you must remember that fire from the darkness has the same properties as fire from the light. Use that to your advantage. But, remember the destructive nature of fire, and remember that there is a fire inside that will not go out…the source of your confidence and motive.
"Great," Blaster muttered, watching as Maleficent conjured multiple green fireballs, "A voice from who knows where is giving me advice on how to use my powers."
Blaster saw one fireball shoot towards him, so he sidestepped left. The fireball zipped by and disappeared into the darkness. The second fireball shot at him, so Blaster stepped right, watching as it followed the first into the dark. The third aimed right at him, and Blaster, lazily, jumped over the fireball, which followed the other two. The fourth met the same fate as Blaster dropped to the ground, avoiding the green flames.
"If all you're going to do is throw fireballs at me," Blaster taunted, "I'm just going to leave."
Maleficent didn't speak a word, but conjured a very large fireball easily the size of a small car. The fire shot towards Blaster as if it had come out of a cannon, leaving Blaster to stare the fireball down. He quickly thought of his training, and how, when he faced Genie Jafar back over a year ago, he could manipulate the fire around him. As soon as he had thought of something to do, it was almost too late to even move. Holding his hands out, after dismissing his Keyblade, Blaster caught the fireball in midair, then spun like a top until the fireball was being hurled back towards its master. Maleficent didn't even have time to realize what had happened.
"Piece of cake," Blaster said, blowing out the green flames that were still on his hand. The fireball exploded before Blaster could even think about dodging, so the shockwave knocked him off the mural. As he fell off the side, he growled angrily as he heard Maleficent laugh. Blaster quick summoned fire beneath his feet, and, using that fire as some sort of surfboard, he flew back up and sliced his Keyblade through Maleficent in the same fluid movement that he used to summon it. As Maleficent disappeared, he landed right back down on the mural surface.
That was a small quiz. Your true test will be in the future.
Blaster didn't have enough time to respond as the glass beneath him shattered. Blaster stood, comically, for about 5 seconds before he fell into the darkness, blacking out as he fell.
(Scenes from the next chapter.)
ON THE NEXT "INTO THE FIRE": What happens when a man who can't be touched by a normal man ("I told you that you would die," Inferno said to Blaster's corpse.) encounters a man who cannot die? (Everyone looked as Blaster stood back up, his wound healing itself. "Never underestimate your enemy.") No one is safe. ("He is way too powerful for us," Blaster exclaimed. "I battled him using most of my power, but I doubt he fought at half the strength he has. He could have easily wiped the floor with all of us without even breaking a sweat.") Tune in next week for an all new chapter of "Into the Fire." Friday's at 9/8c.
VIRTUAL JOURNAL
INFERNO: A Seeker who controls the element of fire. He challenged Blaster to a one-on-one match, and won by blowing a hole straight through Blaster's chest. Can anyone stop him?
MALEFICENT: Self-proclaimed Mistress of all Evil. She is a witch who controls the Heartless, and has a very open obsession to obtain Kingdom Hearts. Sora has defeated her before, but she returned during the middle of his second journey. Although she appeared as a hologram here, I'm sure we'll meet up with her again soon. She first cursed her way onto the screen in Sleeping Beauty (1959).
Blastbone Keyblade Technique: Flame Key-The teeth of the Thirteen Order Crystal turn red with fire. Every time the blade strikes something, a burst of fire erupts from the blade, dealing additional damage.
So, what did you think? Please review, and Don't flame please. It takes me a while to get the fire extinguisher.