Onto Chapter Twelve.
Special thanks go out to those who reviewed the chapters from the last update: Xtrepe Nobody, janus-juan, SootyThunder, Ragnarok Warrior, knarf2010, Linkadnzel, SisterOfScarletDevil and adrogoz.
This is the second longest chapter that I've written so far for LD. Wow. It's also the first time in months that I've only posted one chapter instead of three. I'm falling behind.
On an unrelated note, I found my copy of the original Halo: Combat Evolved. I forgot the sheer awesomeness that it was since I haven't played it in forever. And I heard Microsoft and 343 Industries might remake Halo: Combat Evolved into HD using Halo Reach's game engine while still keeping loyal to story line and scenery. Just with a graphics update and adding online multiplayer, which would most likely mean new maps!
This actually sparked a debate between me and my Beta on whether or not I could include Halo into Looming Darkness and have it make sense. It's going to be a long debate. What do you guys think? Yay or Nay to a Halo based world? I might actually make this a poll. I'm undecided.
Disclaimer: If you haven't figured it out by now, I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, Dreamworks, or Black Cat.
Enjoy
EDIT: Dates have officially been added to clear up potential confusion and keep the timeline in order without any discrepancies.
Chapter Twelve: A Proper Tribute
Thursday, June 17th 4794 P.C.
Tulio and Miguel both gasped. Kairi reached for Sora's hand and squeezed it tightly to calm herself. Naminé and Sora both stared up at the two men in interest, despite their potential doom looming over their heads. The man with the red line across his face raised his arms high above his head.
"Citizens," he cried out as he began to descend the steps "did I not predict that the gods and their three greatest warriors would come to us?" The citizens all turned to look at Miguel and Tulio. A few of them began to mutter amongst themselves. Sora noticed a few pointing at the Oblivion he still had in his hand.
"Does he think that those two are gods?" Naminé asked. Kairi nodded.
"I think so," she said slowly. "And that means he also thinks the three of us are the 'gods' greatest warriors." Both Sora and Naminé looked genuinely confused.
"Why would he think that those two are gods?" Sora asked, tilting his head to the side as he tried to imagine the two of them being gods.
"Do you remember that stone carving we landed in front of after we fell down the cliff?" Kairi said. The other two nodded. "Well, I think that carving is why they think Tulio and Miguel are gods. That was a carving of two gods riding on a horse while being guarded by three Keyblade Wielders." Both Naminé and Sora made a small 'oh' sound as Kairi explained it for them. Kairi rolled her eyes and watched as the man who had been addressing the citizens of El Dorado bowed low to the two 'gods'.
"My lords," he said as his back bent him low, "I am Tzekel-Kan, your devoted high priest and speaker for the gods." Tulio and Miguel gave him awkward looking smiles and waved down at him.
"Hey," Tulio said. The round man walked up next to Tzekel-Kan and bowed to Tulio and Miguel.
"I am Chief Tannabok," he said proudly. Tzekel-Kan gave the Chief a look of disgust as the two men stood next to each other. "What names may we call you?" Miguel sat up straighter on Altivo's back.
"I am Miguel," he said, deepening his voice in an attempt to make himself sound more god-like.
"And I am Tulio," the other 'god' said, following his partner's lead and deepening his voice. The pair of them climbed off Altivo's back to stand proudly on the ground. Tulio accomplished that much at least. Miguel caught his foot on Altivo's reigns and he ended up standing in an awkward stance with one foot supported in the air.
"And they call us Miguel and Tulio!" Miguel said, clearly unaffected by his failed attempt at a dramatic flair.
"And what are the names of your warriors?" Chief Tannabok asked as he turned to look at the three teens. Sora cleared his throat and stepped forward.
"I am Master Sora," he said loudly so that his voice carried across the city. He gestured towards Kairi and Naminé, both of whom were doing their best to fight back a fit of giggles at the sight of Sora acting high and mighty. "These are my Apprentices, Kairi and Naminé." The Chief bowed.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Master Sora," he said. Tzekel-Kan merely smirked at the three and turned back to face Miguel and Tulio.
"Why did you introduce us as Master and Apprentices?" Naminé asked, still smirking as Sora moved back to stand by them again.
"Do tell us, Master," Kairi said sarcastically. Both she and Naminé doubled over as they tried to fight back their giggles, but to no avail. Sora rolled his eyes.
"We want them to think we're the 'gods' greatest warriors, don't we?" he explained in a whisper. Kairi and Naminé could barely hear him over the sound of their stifled giggling.
"Your arrival has been greatly anticipated," Tzekel-Kan was saying. The Chief held up a hand in front of Tzekel-Kan.
"My lords," Tannabok said, "How long will you be staying in El Dorado?" Tzekel-Kan glared at the Chief and allowed his eyes to wander for a brief moment. They immediately fell upon the woman who had run into them at the stone carving at the base of the waterfall.
"Ah-ha!" Tzekel-Kan cried out before either Miguel or Tulio could open their mouths to speak. "I see you've captured this temple-robbing thief." He rushed forward and grabbed the woman by her forearm, dragging her out from behind Altivo where she had been hiding and over to where Tulio and Miguel stood. He snatched the wrapped object she was carrying from her hands. "How would you have us punish her?" The woman's eyes widened in fear.
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" The woman said quickly. She looked up at Tulio. "My lord, I am not a thief. See, the gods sent me a vision to bring them tribute from the temple to guide them here!" Miguel and Tulio exchanged a brief glance. "My only wish is to serve the gods." She looked up at the 'gods' and gave them a please-help-me-out-here look. Tzekel-Kan looked up at Tulio, awaiting an answer.
"Release her," Tulio said. "Don't ya think?" The citizens all gasped at Tulio's compassion. Tzekel-Kan stared at him for a moment before releasing the woman and forcing the wrapped object into her hands.
"Then you will begin by returning this to its rightful place," he said, ushering the woman away from the crowd. Sora watched her go and noticed a Shadow Heartless doing the same. His grip tightened on the Oblivion as the Heartless turned to look right at him before sinking into the ground and vanishing.
"We've got Heartless," he whispered, just audibly enough so that Kairi and Naminé could hear. The two of them immediately began to look around for any Heartless.
"My lords," Chief Tannabok said suddenly. "Why now do you choose to visit us?" Tzekel-Kan rolled his eyes.
"Enough!" He shoved the Chief aside. "You do not question the gods!" The two men glared daggers at each other.
"That's right!" Miguel said as powerfully as he could. "Do not question us, or we shall have to unleash our awesome and terrible power! And you don't want that!" A low rumble echoed through the city.
"Talk about nice timing," Kairi whispered to Naminé. The blonde nodded in agreement, hardly paying attention to her as she watched a pair of Powerwilds stare at them from several trees nearby.
"Well, yes! We do!" Tzekel-Kan exclaimed eagerly. Miguel's confidence in the act broke and his face fell.
"You do?" He repeated hesitantly. Tulio narrowed his eyes angrily.
"Of course we do!" Tzekel-Kan continued enthusiastically. "Visit your wrath upon this nonbeliever!" He gestured at the Chief. "Show us the truth of your divinity!" Miguel and Tulio both began to smile nervously.
"Divinity!" Tulio repeated through clenched teeth. "One moment." He grabbed Miguel and spun him around so that they could whisper to each other without being overheard. Kairi turned to Sora.
"This doesn't look good," she whispered to him. "We need some sort of mega-cosmic event right now." The rumbling that had started earlier was beginning to grow louder. Tulio was whispering angrily at Miguel as the pair tried to come up with a plan.
"Then we're about to have two problems to worry about," Sora said. "The Heartless are all headed for us now. We're surrounded." Kairi's head whipped around. Sure enough, jet-black shadows were moving down the temple steps towards where the three Keyblade Wielders stood. The Powerwilds in the nearby trees had dropped down and were now making a beeline for the three.
"We're boned," Naminé said. "I know we can handle the Heartless, but what do we do about those two?" She tilted her head towards Tulio and Miguel who were both arguing in hushed tones now.
"They're just going to have to come up with something on their own," Sora said. "We'll just have to deal with the Heartless. The rumbling turned into a roar as the volcano in the distance began to erupt. Smoke, debris, hot ash and magma all burst forth into the sky. The citizens all turned to look away from the 'gods' since they had first arrived. They let out a gasp. The mouths of the three teens all dropped in unison.
"That'll work," they all said at once. They looked over at Miguel and Tulio. Miguel had grabbed hold of Tulio's arm and was proceeding to smack him repeatedly on the forehead. Tzekel-Kan looked from the erupting volcano back to the arguing pair with a satisfied smile on his face.
"What on earth are they doing?" Naminé asked as Tulio pushed Miguel away.
"Stop!" Tulio cried out. The rumbling slowly died down as the eruption came to a sudden end. The smoke, ash, and magma all mysteriously retreated back into the volcano. Even the Heartless had stopped their advance. Everyone gasped in amazement. Every citizen dropped to their knees and bowed before the 'gods'. Miguel and Tulio both held their arms out proudly. The citizens all began chanting something in a language none of the three teens could understand.
Tulio and Miguel held themselves proudly as they moved back towards where the Chief and Tzekel-Kan stood. One warrior stood up as they approached.
"Don't make me start it up again," Miguel said as they passed, "Because I will." The warrior fell to his knees again and bowed. Sora smirked and then noticed the Heartless moving quickly again, this time headed for Miguel and Tulio.
Sora nudged Kairi with his elbow and pointed at the Heartless. She nodded and turned to point them out to Naminé only to see that the blonde was already making her way to intercept the Heartless. Sora and Kairi quickly followed her lead. Some of the villagers let out screams of terror as they finally noticed the Heartless and they began to panic.
"Move!" Sora shouted as Shadows began to encircle Tulio and Miguel. He shoved several citizens out of the way and slashed at the nearest Shadow. The Heartless sank into the ground, easily avoiding Sora's slash. The Shadow on the left of Sora's intended target wasn't as lucky. The Oblivion easily tore through the Heartless, reducing it to a small cloud of dark mist.
Kairi rolled past Sora and slashed her way through a pair of Powerwilds that had leapt at Tulio's back. She quickly rose to her feet as a pair of glowing pink hearts emerged from the black mist she had left in her wake. Fire covered Destiny's Embrace as Kairi swung it at another Powerwild. The Heartless dodged the strike but caught its tail on fire by attempting to use it to knock Kairi's Keyblade away from her. The Heartless began to run wildly among its fellows and ended up setting several of them on fire as well. Sora and Naminé both laughed at the Heartless.
"Nice one, Sis," Naminé said as Sora cast a Blizzaga spell on a pair of Powerwilds, thoroughly freezing them. She brought the Rejection of Fate down, shattering the pair into thousands of tiny shards. She spun around and quickly dispatched a small group of Shadows. She let out a small cry of pain as a Powerwild landed a lucky blow on her thigh. The Rejection of Fate swung down and sliced the Powerwild in two. Naminé examined the wound, which wasn't too deep and had already stopped the little bit of bleeding it had done. She looked up in time to see Kairi dispose of the last Heartless with absurd ease. There was a brief moment of silence before the entire city was cheering for them as well.
"Very impressive," Tzekel-Kan said. "Come. Let me show you to your temple." He turned to the Chief who stood in Tzekel-Kan's path. "Step aside." Tzekel-Kan's voice was filled with malice and loathing. Chief Tannabok stood still for a moment before stepping to the side.
"All right!" Miguel said eagerly. "Temple." He and Miguel began to follow Tzekel-Kan as he led them up the stairs of the ziggurat. The three teens followed suit with Chief Tannabok bringing up the rear. It took them half an hour to climb from the base of the ziggurat to the top. Tzekel-Kan and the Chief didn't look worn out at all. The other five were all panting and using their arms to hoist themselves up to the next step. The Chief and Tzekel-Kan pulled back the curtains that covered the door to the temple and bowed for the 'gods'. Miguel and Tulio stepped into the temple and looked around at the magnificent stone carvings, the twin thrones that sat at one end with gold set into the stonework, and the gold-lined pool in the middle of the room. Sora let out a low whistle as he, Kairi and Naminé followed Tulio and Miguel in.
Definitely fit for the gods. Roxas said.
I'll say.
"To commemorate your arrival," Tzekel-Kan said from the doorway, "I propose a reverent ceremony at dawn."
"Ah, then perhaps I can prepare a glorious feast for you tonight," Chief Tannabok suggested. Tzekel-Kan glared at him before looking back at Miguel and Tulio.
"Which would you prefer?" He asked, staring at the pair expectantly. The two 'gods' exchanged a glance.
"Both," They replied. "Both is good." Tzekel-Kan and the chief bowed low.
"My lords," they said in unison as they backed out of the temple, letting the curtains fall back into place.
LD
"And so dawns the Age of the Jaguar," Tzekel-Kan said to the Chief as the two stared out at the sunset. He let out a low chuckle. "Happy New Year." Chief Tannabok rolled his eyes.
LD
Miguel and Tulio both broke out into laughter as the curtains closed.
"They actually think we're gods!" Miguel said. Sora joined in on the laughter. "And you three! Thanks for helping us sell the charade!" Tulio and Miguel both clapped Sora on his back.
"No problem guys," Sora said with a huge grin. "I still can't believe they bought it!" Tulio laughed.
"It's an entire city of suckers!" He said. "We just have to keep this up long enough to load up on the gold and then get the hell out of here!" Naminé grinned. Despite the fact that she felt a small twinge of guilt in her gut for tricking the citizens of El Dorado, she still felt excited by the idea. She looked around the temple while the others were laughing. She noticed that the woman Tulio had made Tzekel-Kan spare earlier was watching them from behind one of the pillars. Naminé smile vanished.
Oh shit.
"Tulio, we'll be living like kings!" Miguel exclaimed.
"Uh, guys?" Naminé said pointing at the woman. The two men paid her no heed Sora however, looked at where she was pointing and immediately stopped laughing. Kairi was sitting smugly on one of the thrones watching the woman as she stepped out from behind the pillar.
This ought to be interesting. She thought.
"Miguel and Tulio!" Tulio exclaimed, still oblivious to the woman's presence.
"Tulio and Miguel!" Miguel said, holding out his arm and striking a dramatic pose.
"Mighty and powerful gods!" They both said together, doing their best to appear brawny. Kairi and Naminé both rolled their eyes.
"Oh brother," the two girls said.
"Hello," the woman said from behind them. Tulio and Miguel both let out cries of shock and leapt up onto the empty throne. The woman and the three teens broke out laughing at how ridiculous the two men were acting.
"Depart, mortal," Tulio said in as deep a voice as he could manage. "Before we strike you with a lightning bolt!" The woman ignored them and hummed softly to herself while examining a head carved from gold.
"Beware the wrath of the gods!" Miguel said. "Be gone!" He made a hissing sound and did air-quotes directed towards the woman.
"Save it for the high priest, honey," she said, smirking up at the false gods. "You're gonna need it." Miguel repeated the hissing-air-quotes movement again.
"Miguel, it's not working," Tulio said. Miguel made the air quotes and hiss again. "Miguel! We've been caught." Miguel repeated it again, only this time it was weaker as Miguel finally gave up.
"Oh, no. Don't worry about me boys," She said sarcastically. "'My only wish is to serve the gods.' Remember?" She hoisted the golden head onto the neck of a small golden statue.
"How?" Tulio asked.
"Well," the woman said, double-checking to make sure the head was on straight. "If you guys want the gold, then you don't want to get caught, right? You're going to need my help."
"What makes you think we need your help?" Miguel scoffed at her.
A lot of things. Sora, Kairi and Naminé all thought in unison. The woman raised an eyebrow and sarcastically mimicked Miguel's air-quote-hiss.
"'Ck-ck'. Are you serious?" She asked. Sora let out a snort of laughter.
"Okay," Miguel said, finally seeing her point. "So, uh, who are you?"
"Yeah," Tulio added. "What's your angle?" The woman let out a snort of indignation.
"No angle," she said matter-of-factly. "I want in." Everyone was taken aback by this revelation.
"In?" Kairi asked.
"On the scam," the woman replied. Tulio let out a nervous chuckle.
"There's no scam!" He said, trying to act innocent. "Why would you think there's a-" He paused as he remembered she was onto them. "Why?"
"So I can get out!" The woman answered.
"I thought she just said she wanted in?" Sora asked in confusion as Tulio and Miguel climbed off the throne.
"She wants in so she can get out," Kairi explained.
"Ah, got it," Sora said. He looked over at the woman. "Why?"
"Think you're the only ones who dream of better things?" She asked. "Of adventure? You've got your reasons, and I've got mine. Let's not make it personal, okay? It's just business." She walked over to the two men and placed her hands on their shoulders. "So when you guys are ready to go back to wherever you came from, I'm going with you." Tulio let out a laugh and removed the woman's hand from his shoulder.
"No!" He said as he began to walk away. "Don't think so." The woman paused for a second while she stared at Tulio.
"Alright, fine," she said, pushing him aside as she headed for the door. "After all, I'm sure you know the proper rituals for blessing a tribute, the holiest days on the calendar, oh, and of course, you know all about Xibalba. Okay? Good luck. See you at the execution." There was a brief moment of silence before Tulio rushed forward to stop the woman from leaving.
"Wait! Hold it!" He cried out. The woman chuckled and held out her hand.
"Deal?" She asked expectantly
"Deal," Miguel said. He was about to shake her hand when Tulio knocked it aside.
"Not yet," he said. "Let's just see how this works out.
"Uh-huh," the woman said. She produced a pair of dice seemingly from nowhere. "Well, then I suppose that means you'll want these back?" Tulio stared at the dice before patting down his vest. He snatched the dice back.
"How'd you get those?" he asked.
"Where was she keeping them?" Sora and Miguel asked.
"Call me Chel," the woman said, "your new partner."
"That's partner in training!" Tulio said as Chel opened up a stone chest and pulled out some brightly colored garments which she threw at Tulio and Miguel.
Now, put these on," she said hurriedly. "Your public's waiting." Tulio and Miguel both sighed and began to remove their clothes. Kairi and Naminé both blushed and quickly ran outside. Sora rolled his eyes and followed them.
He followed Kairi and Naminé down the steps of the ziggurat, which was infinitely easier than climbing them in Sora's opinion, to the base of the ziggurat. It seemed as if the entire city had gathered for the celebration. There were tables piled high with a wide variety of exotic foods and drink.
"Master Sora!" Chief Tannabok cried out warmly as the three teens reached the crowd. "So good of you to join us!" Sora grinned.
"Why wouldn't I?" he said as the Chief clapped him on the back. "Free food!" The Chief laughed.
"Feel free to help yourselves!" He said as the ushered the three through the crowd towards one of the tables. The Chief grabbed a trio of cups and filled them with a bright purple drink. "But first, I insist you have a drink! El Dorado's finest!" The three teens graciously took the cups and thanked the Chief. They all looked down at their cups for a moment before Naminé raised hers in front of her.
"To new friends," she said. Sora and Kairi both nodded and raised their cups as well.
"To new adventures," Kairi said.
"To finding El Dorado," Sora said with a grin. The three of them knocked their glasses together before taking a large swig of the purple drink. Sora's eyes widened at the taste, which was like the sweet mixture of ripe fruits and sugar with a barely noticeable tartness left behind in the aftertaste. Even though the drinks were stilled, it felt warm going down and sent a tingle through his body.
"This stuff is good!" Naminé exclaimed as she downed the rest of her cup and poured herself another. Kairi and Sora both nodded in agreement and got themselves another round.
"Cheers!" the three of them exclaimed as Tulio and Miguel joined the crowd. Somewhere nearby a band played a tribal beat that got everyone on their feet and dancing. The whole night quickly became a blur of neon colors and stumbling around as the city celebrated the coming of their 'gods'.
LD
Friday, June 18th 4794 P.C.
Sora woke up the next morning with his head feeling like it had been split in two. The rising sun in the distance burned his eyes and he raised a hand to shield his eyes. He was laying on one of the steps of the largest ziggurat. All around him the citizens of El Dorado were getting up and heading of together up a long flight of stairs surrounded by trees. He let out a groan and tried to remember what had happened the previous night.
The last thing he remembered for sure was Chief Tannabok giving the three teens the purple drink. Sora placed his head in his hands as the throbbing slowly dulled. He vaguely remembered Tulio and Miguel singing about how tough it was to be gods, using lightning and fire magic to make the two 'gods' appear to have powers and dancing around a lot with a Kairi who couldn't stop giggling.
Boy, that was some night. Roxas said. I can even feel the aftereffects.
Next to him on the steps, Kairi sat up, also shielding her eyes. She looked around, getting her bearings straight before giving Sora a weak smile.
"Morning," she said. Sora smiled back. "My head is killing me."
"Good morning," Sora said back as he gave a hug. "Don't worry, mine is too."
"What'd we do?" she asked. "I remember dancing around with you and giggling a lot."
"I think we just experimented with alcohol," Naminé said as she climbed the steps towards them. Sora and Kairi's eyes widened. "And you two are hung over."
"Then why do you look just fine?" Sora asked Naminé who shrugged.
"I only had two drinks before I decided to gorge myself on that delicious mango tart thing they had out," She said proudly. "You two, on the other hand, had about six drinks each before I realized what had happened. Then I had to drag you away from drink table and keep an eye on you two."
"Thanks," Sora said. "But why did you have to keep an eye on us?" Naminé grinned at them teasingly.
"Because the two of kept trying to undress each other and do the horizontal tango in the middle of the crowd," she said. Sora's and Kairi's mouths both dropped as they began stuttering.
"We didn't though, did we?" Kairi asked nervously. Naminé shrugged.
"Well, after I held your hair back while you puked your guts out, you two managed to disappear for a couple of hours," she said. Kairi and Sora shared a terrified glance. "When I finally found you two, your faces were redder than Kairi's hair and you both had grins on your faces that spread from ear to ear." Sora and Kairi stared at each other in shocked silence.
"I don't remember any of that," Sora said weakly. Kairi shook her head.
"Me neither," she said. "Well, I remember puking my guts out now that Naminé mentioned it. But I can't believe I wouldn't at least remember our first time together." Her face fell slightly as did Sora's.
"I'm sorry, Kairi," Sora said after a moment of silence. Kairi nodded slowly.
"Me too," she said. Her voice shook slightly.
"Good morning Master Sora, Princess Kairi," Chief Tannabok said as he approached. He looked over at Naminé. "Did they buy it?"
"Buy what?" Kairi asked looking up in confusion. Naminé smiled nervously down at her and Sora.
"That, uh, you and Sora didn't actually have sex last night," Naminé said with a nervous chuckle as she slowly began to back away from the couple. Sora and Kairi's looks of confusion quickly became looks of relief before becoming angry.
"So you told us we did?" Kairi demanded, leaping to her feet and raising her voice. Both she and Sora winced at the sudden increase in volume. "That's not funny Naminé." Naminé continued to smile nervously as she slowly backed away.
"So wait, me and Kairi didn't have sex last night?" Sora asked for clarification. Naminé nodded and Sora let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god." Kairi gave him a confused and hurt look. Sora immediately realized what he had just said must've sounded to her.
"I didn't mean it like that," he said hurriedly. "What I meant was, I'm glad our first time wasn't while we were drunk and that we'll be able to have the perfect first time when we're ready." Kairi's hurt look dissolved instantly as a warm smile graced her face. She knelt next to Sora and planted a gentle kiss on his lips.
"You had me worried for a second there," she said. She looked up at the Chief. "Why'd you call me Princess?"
"Because Master Sora told everyone he could about how he sacrificed himself to free a beautiful princess who used her power to bring him back from the Darkness that consumed him," Chief Tannabok explained. He winked down at the couple. "It doesn't take a god to figure out who the princess he saved was." Kairi blushed. The Chief clapped his hands together. "Alright then, follow me so we can attend Tzekel-Kan's 'reverent ceremony'." Sora smirked at the sourness in the Chief's tone. It was obvious that he and Tzekel-Kan had more than a few disagreements.
Kairi helped Sora to his feet and they followed the Chief and Naminé up a long winding staircase to a small red-brick temple. The Chief led them around the temple's side to a large, circular-shaped canyon hidden from view by the trees. On the opposite side of the canyon, several hundred stone bleachers were hewn into the cliff face and what appeared to be most of the city was sitting down, eagerly watching. A stone outcropping, carved to look like a jaguar baring its teeth, jutted out over the canyon. Sora peeked over the cliff edge. A couple hundred feet below, a massive whirlpool roared. Sora swallowed hard and stepped back from the cliff edge.
Tzekel-Kan emerged from the temple, wearing what looked like a skull with golden teeth and five large, curved, golden spikes on his head. Behind him, four burly warriors carried out a litter between them. They carried it out halfway across the jaguar-shaped outcropping. Tzekel-Kan stuck his head into the litter's opening.
"Good morning, my lords!" he said loudly. They could hear Tulio and Miguel cry out in shock. Chief Tannabok went to go stand by the litter as Tzekel-Kan removed his head and walked past him. "And now it's my turn!" He said in satisfaction as he passed the Chief, who narrowed his eyes and glared at Tzekel-Kan. The high priest strode to the edge of the outcropping and inhaled deeply as the crowd on the opposite side fell silent.
"The gods have awakened!" He declared, his voice echoing throughout the canyon. The crowd cheered. Tulio and Miguel stumbled out of the litter, straightening their clothes and hair to make themselves look presentable. Chel passed Sora, Kairi and Naminé as she scattered pink flower petals in front of them and the 'gods'.
"Hey, Chel," Naminé whispered as the woman passed by them. "What's going on?"
"It's not gonna be good," Chel replied, continuing to scatter the flower petals. Behind her, the four warriors lifted up the litter and carried it back into the temple. Naminé swallowed hard.
"Great," she grumbled sarcastically.
"This city has been granted a great blessing," Tzekel-Kan was saying, still addressing the crowd. "And what have we done to show our gratitude? A meager celebration." He looked scornfully over at Chief Tannabok, who glared back. "The gods deserve a proper tribute!"
Three more warriors came forward and hoisted a plank of wood with a large bag into the air at the edge of the outcropping. Tzekel-Kan turned to smile warmly at Miguel and Tulio, both of whom had greedy expressions. Sora, Kairi and Naminé all leaned in closer, each eager to see more gold than they had ever dreamed of seeing. The guards slowly set the bag down in front of Tzekel-Kan.
"The beginning of a new era," the high priest continued. He held out a hand over the bag which glowed a sickly green color and began to dissolve into thin air. "The dawning of a new age demands… sacrifice!" The green glow and the bag vanished, leaving behind a bald man, who knelt at the outcropping's edge, gazing out across the canyon with glazed over, zoned out eyes. The crowd let out a collective gasp.
"No," Chief Tannabok said in shock. One of the warriors handed Tzekel-Kan a wooden paddle lined with sharp, obsidian-colored stones on the edges. He held his hand over the other man's head and raised him to a standing position with some unseen force.
"I don't like this," Kairi said slowly.
"Sora, we've got to do something," Naminé whispered. Sora nodded and summoned the Oblivion to his hand. No one else seemed to notice. Tzekel-Kan pushed the man forward so that he stood dangerously close to the edge and raised the paddle above his head preparing to strike.
"Sora?" Naminé whispered.
"On it," Sora said as he aimed his Keyblade at Tzekel-Kan. "Just be ready to run." A small fireball began to form on the Oblivion's tip.
"Stop!" Tulio cried out. Tzekel-Kan froze mid-strike and Sora's Fire spell lost its fuel and fizzed out. Tzekel-Kan turned to look behind him as the Tulio and Miguel approached him. "This is not a proper tribute!" Miguel strode forward and pulled the would-be-sacrifice away from the edge. The crowd gasped. The Oblivion vanished from Sora's hand before anyone could notice he had it out.
"You do not want the tribute?" Tzekel-Kan asked in confusion.
"No. No, no," Miguel said quickly. "W-we want tribute. Uh, it's just that, uh." He looked up at Tulio for help. "Tulio tell him." Tulio gave Miguel an are you serious look before facing Tzekel-Kan.
"The stars are not in position for this tribute!" Tulio declared. Tzekel-Kan glanced up at the heavens as Miguel dragged the man who was to be sacrificed towards the temple.
"Like he says," Miguel grunted. "Stars. Can't do it. Not today." Tulio slowly raised an eyebrow, awaiting Tzekel-Kan's response. The high priest bowed his head shamefully.
"Ah, well, perhaps it is possible I misread the heavens," he said quietly. Miguel walked up and placed a hand on Tzekel-Kan's shoulder.
"Don't worry about it," he said. "To err is human. To forgive-" Tulio smacked Miguel on the back of the head to get him to shut up.
"See?" Sora whispered to Naminé. "It worked itself out." Naminé nodded in agreement.
"I'm just glad we didn't have to attack Tzekel-Kan," Kairi said. "That would've blown it for all of us."
"No kidding," Naminé said as Chief Tannabok stepped forward.
"My lords," he said in a deep, carrying voice, "may the people of El Dorado offer you our tribute." He gestured with one hand towards the temple's door. A tray, carried by several women and stacked with gold. Wide grins spread across Tulio's and Miguel's faces at the sight. The mouths of the three teens all hung open. None of them had ever seen so much gold. Additional trays carried by the native women, each one stacked as high as possible with gold emerged from the temple.
"My lords," Chief Tannabok said. "Does this please you?" Miguel and Tulio grinned over at the three teens, all of whom found themselves nodding eagerly. Tulio let out a sigh of joy.
"Yes," Miguel said with a broad smile. "Very nice. Certainly acceptable." Tulio quickly regained his 'godly' composure.
"Yes, lovely," he said, struggling to contain his excitement. "It'll do."
"The gods have chosen!" Chief Tannabok cried out to his citizens. He turned to look at the 'gods'. "To Xibalba?" Tulio and Miguel glanced at each other and began nodding. Chel shook her head, mouthing for them to say no.
"To Xibalba!" Tulio and Miguel proclaimed proudly. The crowd cheered loudly for the 'god's' decision. Chel smacked herself in the forehead.
"Oh, great," she said irritably. The women carrying the trays slowly approached the outcropping's edge and threw the gold high into the air, letting fall down into the whirlpool below. Sora, Kairi, and Naminé all gaped in shock. Sora found himself suddenly thankful that Donald wasn't here. The anthropomorphic duck would be having a conniption fit right about now and would probably leap in after the gold.
"Hey, Chel," Miguel said, obviously confused and stunned at the sight of so much gold being wasted. "Um, w-what are they doing?" Chel walked over to them and folded her arms angrily across her chest.
"They're sending it to Xibalba," she hissed. "The Spirit World."
"The Spirit World," Tulio repeated sadly as more gold continued to fall down into the whirlpool. Chel patted them both on the arm.
"I'll take care of it," she said and she left them. Kairi and Naminé both watched as Chel made her way over to whisper something to Chief Tannabok. Sora, just like Miguel and Tulio, stared sadly as the gold was thrown into the abyss again and again.
"STOP!" Chief Tannabok cried out suddenly. Everyone froze. A single, disc of gold went rolling for the edge and had almost successfully joined the rest of the gold's journey to Xibalba when Tulio's foot came out of nowhere and stopped it in place. "They wish to bask! Take the tribute to the gods' temple!" The women turned around and began marching the gold off, back towards the city. Sora, Kairi and Naminé walked over to join Tulio, Miguel and Chel.
"Nice going," Sora praised. Chel grinned at him and the six of them followed the procession of gold. Tzekel-Kan watched them leave in confusion. He didn't understand why the gods had preferred Tannabok's tribute over his own. Surely the gods preferred sacrifice to gold. Tannabok grinned smugly at Tzekel-Kan and chuckled to himself. The high priest's expression switched from confusion to hate.
"Smile while you can," he said softly enough so that no one could hear him other than himself.
LD
A couple hundred miles away, Cortes and his soldiers stepped off their long boats and onto land. Cortes brought his foot down on the skull of a skeleton that lay on the beach and brushed his hair back and out of his face. He looked around the beach and noticed a longboat resting on the edge of the high-tide.
"Well, well, well," he said slowly. "What have we here?" There were five sets of foot prints and a set of horseshoe prints in the sand where the tide couldn't reach, leading away from the longboat and disappearing into the trees. He let out a small, evil sounding chuckle and gestured for his men to follow as they headed into the jungle.
LD
"Is there any point to staying here any longer?" Naminé asked, as she bit into an golden colored apple that had been polished to look like real gold. "We've barely encountered any Heartless since we got here and I'm pretty sure that there are other worlds out there that might actually need our help instead of just having us lounge around." She kicked her feet up onto the armrest of the throne she was sitting on.
Sora glanced up from a dagger made entirely out of gold. He was sitting on a small mound of golden objects, which wasn't the most comfortable of places to sit, but it had made for some interesting pictures according to Kairi. Kairi snapped off another picture. Now that the gold was piled in the 'gods' temple and the three teens were the only ones around (since Tulio and Miguel had left to go talk to Chief Tannabok about possibly getting a boat so they could take the gold back to Spain), Kairi had eagerly pulled out the camera King Mickey had given Sora and was happily taking as many pictures as she could. Kairi snapped of another picture, one of Naminé raising her eyebrow at Kairi as the blonde bit into her apple again.
"Well," Sora said as he slowly got off the mound of gold. "I think we should at least wait until Tulio and Miguel are on their way back to Spain before we go so that they don't get caught. It would be kind of odd for the 'gods' three greatest warriors to disappear for no reason." Naminé groaned.
"I know that," she said. "But we've been on this world for a couple of weeks now and we've fought a grand total of maybe thirty Heartless. It's kind of boring."
"I agree," Kairi said as she took a picture of El Dorado from the doorway. "It has been kind of boring. Peaceful, but boring."
"We could always go look for the Keyhole," Sora suggested. Kairi and Naminé both perked up. "That'll keep us busy. Plus we can see more of the city and we might even find some Heartless to fight."
"I like that idea," Kairi said. "And I can take more pictures!"
"Obsessed much?" Naminé teased. Kairi nodded.
"It mostly comes from the fact that when Jiminy showed us the pictures in his journal back when Sora was telling our parents all about his adventures, there were disappointingly few pictures of the places they had been," Kairi explained as she stared down at the camera. "So I resolved to take as many pictures as possible while we're on this adventure, especially of this world so we can prove we found El Dorado and get the bragging rights." Sora and Naminé both laughed.
Tulio and Miguel finally returned a few minutes later with Chel, who began digging through the gold, looking for something to keep. Tulio plucked a set of golden, square-shaped earrings from the pile of gold and began tossing them up and down in the palm of his hand.
"No," Tulio said to Miguel. "Three days is not fine. This is a real-" He paused as Chel tossed aside another set of earrings. He offered her the ones in his hand. "These. These are the ones."
"Oh, thank you," Chel said appreciatively.
"Problem," Tulio finished, addressing Miguel again. "Miguel, how're we gonna keep this up for three days?"
"You worry too much," Miguel said with a yawn.
"Why three days?" Sora asked.
"That's how long it's going to take Chief Tannabok's men to build us a boat to carry all of this," Miguel explained.
"No, I worry exactly the right amount," Tulio said. "You can never worry too much. We just have to lie low."
"But Tulio," Miguel said as he stared down at the city. "This place is amazing! I mean, I wonder what's-"
"No!" Tulio barked. "Don't even move!"
"Tulio-"
"You're moving!"
"A little, but-"
"Hey! Hey! Hey!"
"Come on. I gotta-"
"Stay!"
"I just-"
"Just stand there!" Tulio demanded exasperatedly.
"For three days?" Miguel asked incredulously.
"Yes! Exactly!" Tulio said. "For three days. Don't even breathe. Alright?" Miguel sighed.
"All right," he conceded. "We lie low."
"Promise?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," Miguel said quickly, placing a hand over his heart. "All right, all right." Tulio let out a sigh of relief.
"Great, good, okay," he said, finally appearing more relaxed than Sora and the others had ever seen him. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to gloat over my gold." He strode over to one of the dozen or so piles of gold, picked up a goblet and began kissing it. Naminé looked at him like he was insane. Sora shrugged and gestured for the two girls to follow him and the three of them attempted to tiptoe out of the room without being noticed.
"Where are you three going?" Miguel asked. Sora cursed under his breath and tried to come up with something to tell the man.
"Well, we can live up to the title of 'Greatest Warriors'," Naminé said. "Which means that we don't have to lie low so we're going to go take a look around." Sora and Kairi both nodded in agreement.
"Oh," Miguel said as his shoulders sagged slightly in disappointment. The three teens exchanged brief guilt-filled glances at leaving Miguel behind before they slipped out the door and started descending the staircase outside.
"How about we all meet back here in two hours?" Kairi suggested as they reached the bottom of the staircase. "And we'll check in with each other then."
"Sounds good to me," Sora said with a shrug. Naminé smiled. "
"See you two in a couple of hours!" She said cheerily with a wave of her hand. She turned on her heel and headed off towards what appeared to be the residential district. Sora pulled Kairi into a hug and gave her a brief kiss.
"See you soon, babe," he whispered before he began making his way towards one of the other ziggurats that were set off to the side of the center one. Kairi smiled after him for a brief moment. She glanced around her, trying to decide where to go, and settled on heading over to what appeared to be the market place.
She hummed tunelessly to herself as she strode through the many streets and avenues that were usually hidden from view by the trees and the buildings along the river's edge. A flock of brightly colored tropical birds flew overhead. Kairi quickly pulled out the camera and managed to get a couple of decent pictures of the birds before they flew too far away. She glanced down at the tiny LCD screen on the back of the camera, admiring her photography skills for a moment before she remembered that she was in a city full of people who didn't know she was from another world with far more advanced technology than they had. Kairi quickly slipped the camera into the black pouch that hung on the side of her pink mini-dress and quickly glanced around to see if anyone had noticed.
There wasn't a soul in sight. Kairi raised her eyebrows, feeling somewhat uneasy. Judging by the stalls filled with a wide variety of goods, she had definitely made her way to the marketplace, but instead of being packed with people like she had expected, Kairi found herself completely alone. The only movement came from the gently swaying tree branches being moved by the light, warm breeze that rolled through the city. Kairi swallowed hard and nervously stepped deeper into the heart of the marketplace.
All of a sudden, the wind became chilled. Kairi shivered as goosebumps raised themselves on her exposed flesh. Kairi found herself wishing she had thought to bring a jacket from before they had left the Kingdom, or at least had her black cloak Xanthos had given her like the one Naminé still had on. Kairi let out a small gasp as said cloak appeared on her in a small flash of dark blue light. Her face turned beet red as she felt her dress and shoes suddenly vanish from beneath the cloak as jet-black pants and matching heeled boots. She immediately felt relieved as the cloak blocked the suddenly chilly wind from the majority of her skin.
Talk about a stroke of good luck. Kairi thought to herself as the goosebumps faded. Thank you Master Xanthos.
Kairi caught a glimpse of her reflection in what appeared to be a golden shield and she turned to get a better look at her new outfit. Kairi couldn't help but grin.
I look awesome. She thought smugly. She raised a black-gloved hand to straighten a few loose strands of hair back into place. Something shifted in the reflection of the stalls behind her. Kairi spun around, Destiny's Embrace appearing in her hand with a flash. Nothing. She was the only one there. Kairi hesitantly looked back at her reflection a second time. This time she definitely saw something move, something both there yet not there at the same time, something that looked like the air had been distorted. She spun back around, her Keyblade raised in a defensive stance. There was still nothing new to be seen in the empty marketplace.
"I know you're there!" Kairi called out, her voice shaking slightly. The breeze was getting cooler and she could feel her ears going numb. She wasn't sure how she knew, but somewhere nearby, there was something that radiated Darkness. Its foul presence filled the entire marketplace and made Kairi feel slightly nauseous. She saw something move out of the corner of her eye and she spun, aiming her Keyblade in the general direction of where she had seen it.
"Fire!" She shouted. A fireball streaked from the Keyblade's tip and dissipated harmlessly against the stone ground. Kairi swallowed hard as she realized that she had never really had to fight anything by herself before. She gave a start as a loud chirping-growl came from directly behind her. She let out a gasp of surprise and spun around. A pair of glowing yellow eyes hung midair less than a foot from her face. A faint shimmer surrounded the air around the eyes, distorting the scenery behind as Kairi stared, wide-eyed, at her mostly invisible foe. The creature let out a roar.
Something struck Kairi hard in the chest and sent her flying through one of the stalls. Kairi cried out in pain as gold and wood collapsed on her. She felt the heat of her own blood as it started to stream down her face from the gash on her forehead.
"Ouch," she groaned. She tenderly placed a gloved-hand against the wound on her forehead, wincing as pain spiked through her body again. The creature roared again. Kairi glared up at the glowing yellow eyes. She felt irritation boiling inside her as she forced herself from the rubble of the stand. She aimed Destiny's Embrace and fired off a volley of Blizzard spells at the creature. It let out another chirping-growl as it leapt aside. Kairi rushed at the creature and slammed her Keyblade between its eyes.
The creature let out a howl of rage. Kairi grinned and used the momentum of her strike to propel herself a few more feet into the air, allowing her another opportunity to strike. She struck again and continued striking, using the momentum and force of each attack to keep herself in the air as she unleashed a steady stream of blows to the creature's head. The creature cried out in pain and stumbled back, causing Kairi's combo-attack to come to an end. A grin spread across Kairi's face as she dropped to the ground, landing gracefully with her feet spread and posed to strike.
"Thunder!" Kairi cried out, raising her Keyblade above her head. Several bolts of lightning burst from the heavens and struck the creature. The creature could no longer keep itself invisible and quickly became completely visible. Facing was what appeared to be a large, bipedal lizard. It had a light green body that was covered all over in intricate, tribal-looking black markings. It had five curved spikes on its back and a single, four-foot long white horn protruding from its nose. Its four fingered hands were dipped with sharp looking black claws. The Heartless Emblem was emblazoned on its tan chest. The Stealth Sneak Heartless angled its head down at Kairi.
Kairi let out a battle cry as she charged at the Stealth Sneak. The Heartless' hands glowed a bright green color as the auburn-haired teen rapidly drew nearer. Kairi stabbed at the Heartless Emblem emblazoned on the Stealth Sneaks chest. The Destiny's Embrace fell short of its mark however as the Stealth Sneak slammed its glowing hands together and a burst of energy flew towards Kairi, knocking her off her feet and sending her sprawling across the ground. The Stealth Sneak leapt up into the air and landed so it was standing over Kairi. It let out a roar directly into her face, causing her ears to ring. It hands began to glow again.
Kairi somersaulted backwards, quickly putting distance between her and the Stealth Sneak. The Heartless brought its hands together again and another burst of energy flew towards Kairi, who leapt to the side, easily avoiding the attack.
"Burn!" Kairi shouted as she fired off a multitude of fireballs at the Stealth Sneak. The Heartless roared as the fireballs exploded against its flesh. The Heartless reared back and its eyes began to glow with a bright, bluish-white energy. Twin beams of light streaked from its eyes and flew for Kairi.
"Reflect!" Kairi spun her Keyblade around herself in a circle and a dome of hexagonal shaped light surrounded her. The two beams collided with the barrier Kairi had cast and dissipated into nothing. The barrier shattered around Kairi as she rushed towards the Stealth Sneak.
"Take this!" She cried out as she swung Destiny's Embrace behind her. "Zantetsuken!" Kairi shifted her stance, preparing to deliver the finishing blow. The Stealth Sneak let out a roar and lashed out at Kairi with its massive, clawed hands. Kairi rolled to the side as the stones cracked and broke beneath the Stealth Sneak's strike. The Heartless' eyes were glowing again.
"Reflect!" Kairi shouted as she spun her Keyblade around herself again. Nothing happened. Kairi's heart rate began to rise as her uneasiness began to rise. Why wasn't the spell working? Beams of energy arced from the Stealth Sneak's eyes and flew towards Kairi.
"Reflect!" She shouted desperately, but the spell still didn't work. The beams struck Kairi and knocked her off her feet. Kairi let out a cry of pain and hit the ground hard. The Stealth Sneak let out a chirping-growl as it began to advance on the injured girl. Kairi let out a groan and rolled herself up onto her knees.
"Burn!" She shouted as she pointed Destiny's Embrace at the Heartless. No fire burst from the tip of the Keyblade like she had been expecting. Kairi began to panic.
Why won't my magic work? Kairi thought staring in shock at her Keyblade. She looked up as the Stealth Sneak lowered its head and prepared to charge.
"Shit," she muttered under her breath as she forced herself to stand back up. Naminé! She called out mentally as the Stealth Sneak rushed at her with a roar.
LD
Naminé strode casually through the residential district of El Dorado. She couldn't help but admire the beauty of the city. Despite being the city of gold, there was very little gold that was used in the architecture of the buildings. Mostly, they were built from red, blue and yellow bricks. Tropical birds flew in flocks between the trees.
She found it all to be rather peaceful, but at the same time unnerving. The only people she had seen out on the streets so far during the entire day were the occasional warriors, each of whom seemed to be on patrol and wouldn't speak to her.
Naminé sat down on a stone-hewn bench to rest. Her feet were throbbing painfully. She grimaced painfully as she pulled of one of her black, heeled boots.
"How on earth could Larxene stand wearing these all the time?" she muttered under her breath. "My feet are killing me. And more importantly, why does this city have to have so many staircases?"
Naminé! Naminé gave a start, tossing her boot high into the air in surprise as Kairi's voice echoed through her mind.
Jesus, Kairi, give me a heart attack why don't you? The boot fell back down to earth, smacking Naminé in the back of the head on its way down. What's up?
I'm being attacked by a giant lizard Heartless and I've used up too much magic energy, that's what's up!
Okay, okay. Don't bite my head off, woman. Where are you?
I'm at the marketplace. Naminé glanced around her. There was a bright flash of a bluish-green light not too far from where she was sitting.
Okay, I think I see where you are. I've got an Ether I can give you. I'll be there in a couple of minutes.
Please hurry. This thing keeps shooting lasers or something at me and every time they hit it feels like I'm being hit by a truck.
Will do. Naminé quickly slid her boot back on and, ignoring the pain in her feet, took off at a run for the marketplace.
LD
Sora descended from the final ziggurat. His breath came out in ragged pants and sweat covered his body.
Damn dude, you can fight a thousand Heartless in one go without wearing down and yet you climb a few stairs and suddenly you look like you completed a triathlon in under five minutes. Roxas laughed at him.
Shut up. Sora said as he plopped down on his rear to rest on the bottom step. You try climbing all these stairs.
In case you haven't noticed, I still don't have a body. Roxas retorted. I'm just chilling up here in your head, which I've renovated into my own personal bachelor pad.
You renovated the inside of my mind?
It's a lot harder than it sounds. Trust me. Especially with all this extra space that I don't know what to do with. Roxas had another laugh at Sora's expense.
Go to hell. Sora chuckled.
I'm already there, dude. I still have to live in your head and yet Naminé gets a body of her own. I'm in my own personal hell.
Sorry, man. Sora said with a grimace. He turned his head side to side, cracking his neck in a satisfied manner and glanced around. Just a ways ahead of him, he managed to catch a glimpse of Miguel wandering off into the heart of the city.
Where's Miguel going?
How'd he escape Tulio is my question.
I say we follow him and find out.
Lead the way, my good sir. Sora broke out into a light jog, allowing him to quickly catch up the slowly walking Miguel. He noticed something moving in the shadows nearby as he rushed to catch up to the blonde haired man. He stopped for a moment and glanced back at where he had seen the movement.
Did you see that?
See what?
Something moved in the shadows over there.
I think you're seeing things. It was probably just a trick of the light.
I guess so. Sora didn't feel quite as convinced as he made it sound to Roxas. Have you noticed that there are none of the citizens out at all? I haven't seen anyone other than Miguel since we left the temple.
I kind of did. Roxas said slowly. But I didn't really think too much about it until just now.
"Excuse me," Miguel was calling out to the bear warrior that had led them into El Dorado. Sora sped up his pace to catch up to Miguel. "Excuse me?" The bear warrior turned, glaring at them until he realized who was addressing him. "Hey, where is everybody?"
"They've been cleared from the streets, my lord," the warrior replied, a look of confusion crossing his face, "so the city can be cleansed. As you ordered."
"Cleansed?" Miguel and Sora both asked at the same time. They exchanged a brief, confused glance. The warrior nodded.
"Yes," he said proudly. "So the Age of the Jaguar can begin. As you ordered, my lord."
Age of the Jaguar? Sora pondered.
Doesn't sound very pleasant, does it? Roxas commented.
Not really.
"Get back in!" a man shouted from somewhere behind them. Sora and Miguel turned to look. Two warriors were jabbing at an unarmed civilian with the dull end of their spears.
"Where are you going?" One of them demanded as he knocked they knocked the man to the ground. "Move!"
"Hey, hey stop that!" Miguel called out. He and Sora ran towards the two soldiers. "Stop that!" Miguel shoved the two warriors aside as Sora summoned the Oblivion. Sora noticed that several other citizens were poking their heads out of their homes to see what was going on.
"What are you doing?" Sora demanded, using the Oblivion to deter the two warriors from advancing on Miguel. "What'd he do to you?" The bear warrior ran to catch up to them.
"But, my lord," he said, his tone solemn and very serious, "anyone who disobeys your orders must be punished. As you ordered." Confusion filled his tone as he spoke the last sentence. Clearly he didn't understand why Miguel was contradicting his own 'orders'.
"It seems I've been giving a lot of orders, haven't I?" Miguel said as his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Tzekel-Kan has made your commands clear, my lord," the bear warrior replied proudly.
Ah, that explains a lot.
I guess the high priest has a hidden agenda.
"Really?" Miguel said, comprehension dawning on his face. He glanced at Sora before jabbing a finger at the bear warrior. "Here's an order: Take the day off!"The warriors seemed surprised by this but quickly recovered. They quickly bowed to Miguel and took off, nodding briefly at Sora as they passed.
Sora nodded back and dispelled the Oblivion. Miguel turned back to the civilian the warriors had been picking on.
"Are you all right?" He asked the man, who seemed frightened that one of the 'gods' was speaking directly to him. "Here." He extended his hand to the man to help him up. The man bowed his head and removed his golden earrings before offering them up to Miguel, who shook his head.
"Oh no," Miguel said pleasantly. "It's all right. Please. I-" The man paid him no heed and set the earrings down at Miguel's feet before scrambling to his own and taking off at a run. Miguel and Sora watched him go, both feeling slightly stunned. The man glanced back at them and stumbled into a small table that had a random assortment of string, wood and rawhide on it, causing it to collapse to the ground. The man quickly recovered and disappeared around a corner. Sora watched him go.
I wonder if the rest of the citizens are just as afraid of Miguel and Tulio. Sora pondered.
LD
The Stealth Sneak let out another chirping-growl as it forced Kairi to retreat yet again. It's clawed hands lashed out at her, but missed as she leapt up and over them. Kairi struck at the Heartless' horn and grinned in satisfaction as Destiny's Embrace cleaved the tip clean off. The Stealth Sneak roared in pain and frustration. It's curled up tail uncoiled itself and swept Kairi off her feet and into the side of a building.
Kairi let out a small gasp of pain as she felt the stone crack and break upon impact. She collapsed to a heap on the ground. The Stealth Sneak's eyes began to glow as it prepared to fire another pair of energy beams at Kairi.
"Not again," she groaned as she pushed herself back to her feet. The beams burst from the golden eyes of the Stealth Sneak and made wide arcs through the air as they headed for Kairi. Her breath was starting to come raggedly and she could already feel herself getting exhausted.
Where was Naminé with that Ether?
As if on cue, the blonde appeared from seemingly nowhere directly behind the Stealth Sneak. Naminé let out a battle cry as she leapt onto the Stealth Sneak's back, hacking at it repeatedly with the Rejection of Fate. The Heartless let out a roar and attempted to strike Naminé off with its arms but without results. Its arms simply couldn't bend that way. Naminé grinned at began striking the Stealth Sneak's damaged horn.
"Take this, you son of a bitch!" Naminé cried out with a small laugh as she raised the Rejection of Fate so that the tip was pointing up into the sky. "Thunder!" She leapt off the Heartless' back and landed next to Kairi as a pair of lightning bolts descended from the heavens and struck the Heartless square between the eyes. The Stealth Sneak cried out in pain and stumbled backwards.
"Here," Naminé said to Kairi as she handed the auburn-haired teen a small blue cube.
"Sorry it took me so long." Kairi snatched the Ether from Naminé's hand and popped it into her mouth.
"No big deal," Kairi said as she bit down on the Ether. She was surprised by chewy it was. She had been expecting it to be chalky, like the vitamins her adopted parents had her take when she was in middle school. Instead, it was like eating a blueberry flavored gummy bear. She felt her energy quickly return to her body as she swallowed down the last of the Ether.
"Let's finish off this son of a bitch so we can get back to finding that Keyhole," Naminé said as she and Kairi faced the Stealth Sneak. Light enveloped both teens as the Heartless righted itself.
"Let's go!" the two girls shouted in unison as they rushed forward. They both swung back their Keyblades as they drew nearer to the Stealth Sneak and struck the ground at its feet. An explosion of light knocked the Heartless twenty feet into the air. The two girls leapt up after it and began unleashing a relentless assault of quick strikes to the Stealth Sneak's now exposed back.
The two teens raised their Keyblades above their heads as light began to shine brightly from the 'teeth' of both weapons. They swung their weapons down and struck the Stealth Sneak in the center of the Heartless Emblem on its chest.
"Take this!" Naminé cried out as light exploded from both Keyblades. The Stealth Sneak was knocked to the ground where it crumpled into a heap, struggling to recompose itself. The two girls remained floating in the air above the Heartless.
"It's not over yet!" Kairi shouted as she and Naminé pointed their Keyblades straight down at the vulnerable Heartless. A volley of Light orbs burst from the tips of their blades and crashed into the Stealth Sneak and the area surrounding it. Every orb exploded brightly as it made contact with anything solid. The Heartless let out another roar.
Kairi and Naminé slowly floated back to the ground, landing several feet in front of the severely wounded Heartless. Naminé tossed Rejection of Fate to her left hand as she and Kairi leapt next to each other so they were standing shoulder to shoulder. They raised their Keyblades so that the tips were less than an inch from the other. A single orb of light began to shine in-between the two Keyblades.
"See ya!" The two girls shouted gleefully as a thick beam of light shot from the orb and pierced straight through the Stealth Sneak's entire body. The Heartless let out one final roar and faded back into Darkness, leaving only a crystalline, glowing pink heart floating in the air for a moment before vanishing into nothing.
Both girls were left panting for a moment. Each had a grin plastered to her face before they turned to each other, dispelling their Keyblades in unison. They both broke out laughing and high-fived each other.
"That was awesome!" Naminé said. "I don't even know how we pulled it off." Kairi wiped some of the sweat she had built up off of her brow with the back of her gloved hand.
"I know!" She said her grin growing slightly larger. "I can't believe how in sync we were! It's like we automatically knew what to do." Naminé nodded.
"It's gotta be that twin telepathy thing we have going on," Naminé suggested. She tapped one finger on the side of her temple.
"You've got a point," Kairi said as she brushed herself off.
"Yup," Naminé said happily. "Besides, we already kind of look alike, and we've got the whole dressing alike thing down." She gestured at their identical black cloaks. Kairi suddenly realized how warm she actually was now that the Stealth Sneak was gone. It was almost too warm to be wearing the cloak. As if on cue, her cloak, gloves and boots vanished, replaced by her usual attire. Kairi breathed a sigh of relief. Naminé laughed again.
"You're a dork," she said. Kairi grinned.
"That's why you love me," she said, draping one arm around Naminé's shoulders as the pair of them began to walk away from the marketplace.
"I only love you because I'm obligated as your sister," Naminé teased. Kairi stuck her tongue out at her and the pair broke into hysterics once more.
"Wanna go see if Sora's had any luck finding the Keyhole?" Kairi suggested as she wiped a tear of mirth from her eye.
"Sure," Naminé said. She glanced up at Kairi's forehead. "We can also get him to take care of that gash on your scalp." Kairi nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I'd rather let him handle something this bad. I've only ever really had to heal minor cuts," she said, finally calming down from her laughter. "Let's go." The pair of them turned down an alley and headed off in the general direction of the ziggurats where Sora had said he was going to look.
Unseen by Kairi and Naminé, a tiny purple insect hovered above them, carefully watching their every move.
LD
"She can't do very much in the way of magic, can she?" Keila observed. She was sitting on one of the thrones used by the former Organization XIII in the Castle That Never was. In the center of the room was a large, unevenly faceted, pink crystal. Each facet of the crystal displayed the same image of Kairi and Naminé walking around in an ancient styled city. She was slightly disturbed by the powers she had seen the Apostles of the Star use but she wasn't dumb enough to say so. Besides, there were obviously some benefits.
"She is still learning, child," Maleficent said from her throne, which was covered in dark gray thorns and was raised higher than the other thrones in the room. "She used up her magical energy too quickly. But this blonde girl concerns me." The Queen of Darkness gently caressed the gem at the top of her staff. "I didn't know they had another Keyblade wielder on their side. This makes things slightly more difficult than I had originally anticipated."
"Those two make quite a formidable pair," Charden added, staring at the crystal. "They had no problem taking down that Powered Stealth Sneak you sent, Maleficent." Maleficent glared at him.
"The Stealth Sneak family of Heartless are only truly effective when they have numbers," Maleficent said quietly. "Perhaps I didn't present the Princess with enough of a challenge." She began to cackle manically as the gem on her staff glowed an evil looking green color.
LD
Alright, just one or two more chapters in El Dorado before I focus on what Riku's been up to.
As always, reviews are greatly appreciated. Feedback is very important to me! And once again, Yay or Nay to a Halo: Combat Evolved based world? I'm pretty sure I know how to make it work now.
Hopefully Thirteen will be up soon!
Shadow Horizons