Finally! It only took almost a week to be able to post this chapter.
First of all, I would like to thank janus-juan, SootyThunder, knarf2010, Linkandzel, Shire Folk, adrogoz, Avaren, SisterOfScarletDevil, XKhaosXKyuubiX, and Eri21 for reviewing! Secondly, if you haven't already, please go and vote in the poll on my profile page: Yay or Nay to a Halo: Combat Evolved based world?
Disclaimer: I'm sure I've said this before, but I still don't own Kingdom Hearts, Square Enix or Disney. I do still own my own characters and plot.
Enjoy!
EDIT: I accidentally uploaded my pre-proofread version on Sunday and the damn site wouldn't let me fix the issue until now. So here's the final version. Enjoy!
Chapter Fourteen: Nomanisan Island
Monday, June 21st 4794 P.C.
The icy wind and snow whipped around Riku as he plummeted down the side of the cliff face stinging his exposed skin. Specks of his own blood flew behind him. He pressed his left hand firmly against the gash in his side, mentally regretting never taking the time to learn how to use Cure.
Several hundred feet above him stood the Dark Keyblade Wielder that looked like Sora's female clone. Riku winced as he took a deep breath in an attempt to slow his heart rate. Each breath caused him immense pain and the icy air wasn't helping much.
Is this how I die? Riku asked himself. Without being able to see my friends again? Alone?
A thousand feet below him was a field of frozen Keyblades, jutting up from their resting places, rushing up to greet him and take his life. Riku squeezed his eyes shut and desperately thought of a way out of his hopeless situation.
Tuesday, June 1st 4794 P.C.
Destiny Islands Airspace
Riku yawned widely as he stepped out into the central hallway aboard his Gummi ship, Dawn's First Light. He whistled tunelessly as he made his way up to the bridge where a single pilot's chair awaited him. He stared out of the domed glass of the cockpit at the ocean blue orb in space that was his home-world. He let out a sigh as he sat down in the pilot's chair and began powering up the ship.
"Greetings, Master Riku," a female voice said cheerily behind him.
Riku nearly leapt out of his seat in shock. He spun his chair around and stood up as the Way to Dawn appeared in his hand. A holographic image of a woman in her early twenties stood in the center of the cockpit. Her entire body was glowing with a bright orange light while a random series of numbers and symbols covered her skin and clothing.
"Who are you?" Riku demanded. "How do you know me?" The hologram smiled.
"I am the Artificial Intelligence Construct Unit Zero Four Zero One Four Two One Five," the hologram replied. "I am based off of the mind of ENTRY MISSING." The AI's brow furrowed in confusion. "That's odd. I am unable to access that information. It appears that someone doesn't want me to know the entirety of my origin." The Way to Dawn vanished from Riku's hand.
"You're an AI?" He asked. The AI nodded.
"Didn't I already say that?" She said, raising one of her eyebrows as if to say 'Duh'.
"And you were designed for this ship?" Riku asked.
"Are we playing Twenty Questions now?"
"I've never met an AI before, I'm curious," Riku said with a shrug.
"I can tell."
"You're kind of sarcastic for a computer."
"A computer?" The AI responded in a hurt tone. "I have feelings you know." A feeling of guilt settled in Riku's stomach.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't know AI had feelings."
"I'm based off of a human mind, remember?" The AI said, tapping the side of her temple. "I have the same emotional capacity as that person was and I'd greatly appreciate it if you'd treat me the same way you'd treat another human." Riku nodded in agreement.
"I'll be sure to," he said as he sat back down into his seat. "Hey, how come you didn't introduce yourself to me when I flew the ship to the Destiny Islands?"
"I was too busy triple checking all systems to make sure that the ship could fly at maximum efficiency," The AI said as if the answer should've been obvious. "What can I say? I had better things to do."
"Thanks," Riku said sarcastically, glancing down at the controls as the ship finished powering up. "How about you tell me a little bit about yourself?"
"I was created in Twilight Town and possess the entirety of their recorded knowledge," the AI replied. "I am capable of piloting this ship as well as engaging any airborne enemies in combat. I can understand and translate the thirty three languages recorded in the Twilight Town database and I can hack into any system in a millisecond. There is no security on any system that can keep me out."
"That's impressive," Riku said as he selected a world from a short list a nearby screen. "You were designed for all of that?" The AI nodded.
"I'm assuming so," she said with a shrug. "Before now, I was kept in a secure holding facility for valuable military property. This is the first time I've been out of storage since I was made." She let out a sigh and gazed around the bridge happily. "There's just so much more room in this ship's system than there ever was in that stuffy old storage unit I was kept in."
"You never told me how you knew who I was," Riku said, carefully watching the AI. She turned to look at him.
"I know everything about you, Master," she said. She held out her hand and an orb of blue light emerged from her palm. The orb exploded into thousands of pictures and documents, all of which were about Riku. Riku stared around in amazement. A holographic copy of his birth certificate floated by his head as he stood up to look around.
"How did you get all of this?" He asked, feeling slightly awed at the sheer amount of information about himself hanging in the air.
"Beats me," she replied. "As far as I know, I was already programmed with all of this information. My guess is that whoever's mind I was created from knew all of this about you or added this information to me. I'm not sure why."
"Maybe they knew somehow that one day you'd be the AI on my ship," Riku suggested. The AI nodded.
"An excellent analysis," she said. "Although the mechanics of knowing what is to come don't quite add up to me. But it seems to be the most logical conclusion." Riku hardly paid her any attention as he walked around what appeared to be the majority of his life, floating gently in the air around him. "The only information I seem to be lacking about you is your abilities in combat."
"How much time to the nearest world?" Riku asked. The AI blinked once.
"Approximately five hours, thirty two minutes and eighteen seconds at our maximum velocity," she immediately. "We have enough fuel stored onboard to last us a full three weeks of non-stop flight and all other systems are good to go. No issues detected as of yet." A quizzical look crossed her face. "Why do you ask?" Riku shrugged.
"Just making sure I'd have time to go practice in the training simulator I noticed downstairs," he replied. The AI nodded.
"Understood, sir," she said. "Plotting course. Take off in three." Riku buckled himself in, not wanting to be thrown across the bridge when the ship started moving. "Two. One. Blast off!" The engines roared to life as the Dawn's First Light burst away from orbiting Destiny Islands and rocketed off into space.
Only once their speed had plateaued did Riku feel safe enough with unbuckling himself and getting up from his seat. He started to downstairs when he felt the AI's eyes following him. He turned around to face her.
"I'm going to head down to the simulator now," he said. "Care to join me? I know you said that you had no information on my fighting skills." The AI grinned eagerly.
"Sounds perfect," she said. "I'll meet you down there." The AI vanished, leaving only a faint orange light in its wake for a brief moment. Riku nodded and descended the staircase. He glanced around with mild interest at the ruby-red walls as he strode down the hall to the door labeled Training Simulator. He stepped inside and slowly closed the door behind him.
The AI was already waiting for him, projecting herself into the middle of the large, plain white room that made up the entirety of the simulator. She stood with her hands on her hips, rhythmically tapping her foot, a look of mock irritation on her face.
"Good lord, you humans are slow," she said sarcastically. Riku rolled his eyes.
"Hey, um," Riku began, pausing as he realized that he had no idea what to call the AI. Construct Unit Zero Four Zero One Four Two One Five seemed a little bit too long to say in conversation. The AI seemed to realize his confusion.
"Just call me Dawn," she said, smirking at him.
"Dawn then," Riku said with a nod. "Are you just going to record and observe what I do?" Dawn shook her head.
"Actually, I'm going to get some hands on experience," she replied. The walls of the simulator began to glow brightly with multicolored lights, temporarily blinding Riku. When he could see again, he found himself standing in the center of what appeared to be a Gummi ship factory. All around him, Gummi blocks were moved along conveyor belts to work stations where computer controlled robotics assembled the pieces into single-man fighters. About twenty feet in front of him stood Dawn, who appeared solid rather than semi-transparent. Her skin and clothing still glowed with an orange light. In her hands she held a jet-black rifle.
"Why do you have a gun?" Riku asked nervously as he summoned the Way to Dawn. Dawn grinned as she raised the rifle, staring down its fixed sights at Riku.
"I said I was going to get hands on experience, didn't I?" She said with a grin as she squeezed the trigger. The muzzle of her rifle flashed brightly as a barrage of bullets tore through the air and into Riku. The clattering of spent casings and echoing cracks of gunfire filled the factory. Riku cried out in pain for a brief moment before he realized he wasn't hurt. Riku looked down at himself, his entire body was riddled with bullet holes and his blood poured out onto the ground. He slowly started to fall backwards.
He blinked once and suddenly was standing several dozen yards away from where he had been a fraction of a second before. He looked over to where Dawn stood and watched as his body collapsed to the ground. Riku looked down at himself. He looked fine, yet there was another Riku lying in a pool of his own blood on the ground.
"What just happened?" Riku cried out. Dawn quickly switched out the empty magazine in her rifle for a full one that appeared in midair.
"I killed you," she said simply. Riku looked back down at himself. He was definitely solid.
"But I'm not a ghost or anything, am I?" He asked her, a confused look crossing his face. Dawn laughed loudly and shouldered her rifle.
"This is a training simulator," she said. "It's artificial reality. None of it is real. You can't actually be killed. If you die in the simulator, you respawn a few seconds later in a different spot. Kind of like you would in a videogame. For example…" She raised the rifle and fired off two short bursts. Seven bullets tore into Riku's chest.
Riku watched from another part of the factory as his previous body fell. He looked back over to the spot where Dawn had first 'killed' him. His first body had vanished leaving only a bloodstain to mark where it had fallen. As he stared the bloodstain slowly began to fade.
Dawn reloaded her rifle and began looking around to see where Riku had respawned. Riku quickly took cover under a metal lined work bench that was covered in several small Gummi blocks.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Dawn called from nearby. Riku listened as her footsteps drew nearer. He could feel his heart rate slowly starting to rise. Even though getting shot and killed in the simulator didn't hurt, he was already tired of dying.
I need to get the element of surprise on her. But how? Riku said to himself. He stared at the Way to Dawn as he clenched it in his left hand. If I try to charge her, she'll hear me coming and just shoot me down again. How do you fight a gun with a sword? He glanced around at the parts of the factory he could see and immediately noticed something he had missed when he had first looked around.
Most of the factory was in disrepair. The ceiling was collapsed in several places, most of the conveyor belts were broken and Gummi blocks were strewn all over. The walls and floor were pockmarked with bullet holes and burns from grenades. A few bodies of soldiers lay where they had been gunned down. Riku glanced to his right and saw the body of a female soldier with her back to the same bench Riku was hiding behind.
Her eyes had the whitish appearance of death. Her blonde hair and face were streaked with blood. Her vest had been shredded by numerous bullets. Riku covered his mouth with a hand as he fought the urge to retch. He glanced down at her hands and spotted her assault rifle. It looked identical to the one Dawn was wielding, a dull gray in color with a rectangular stock and unneccesary bulky front. Several full clips of ammuntion lay next to the rifel. An idea on how to get the jump on Dawn entered his mind.
He held his breath as he listened to Dawn's footsteps pass by him. He snatched up the fallen soldiers rifle, ejected the clip and slammed a new one into place. He slowly emerged from his cover, carefully looking around for Dawn. She had her back to him and was heading towards what appeared to be several stacks of wooden crates that were labeled DANGER! HIGHLY EXPLOSIVE! Riku raised his weapon and whistled a few notes. Dawn spun on her heel to face him, her eyes widening in surprise to see Riku aiming a rifle of his own at her. She raised her rifle into a firing postion. Riku's index finger squeezed tightly on the trigger.
The Riku's shots missed Dawn by inches. The AI laughed and carefully aimed her rifle at Riku's head. Riku grinned.
His shots collided with the wooden crates and set off a massive explosion. Dawn turned to look behind her and was bombarded with wooden shrapnel. Riku threw himself behind the wrecked and smoking hull of a Gummi ship. Dawn cried out in shock as the explosion and flaming debris hurled her body across the factory.
"Impressive," Dawn said as she respawned on a series of broken catwalks that barely hung from the ceiling due to the damage. "I shouldn't have gone over there, otherwise I might have actually gotten you. Did you shoot the boxes on purpose?" Riku blushed in embarrassment.
"I was actually aiming for your head," he said. Dawn laughed.
"Your aim must be terrible then," she said. Her rifle appeared in her hands again and she took aim at Riku. The silver-haired teen jumped as high as he could as Dawn's shots sped towards him from across the factory. He landed on top of the Gummi ship and was forced to jump off immediately as another bullet narrowly missed grazing his head. He took a moment to catch his breath while behind the safety of wrecked ship. He could hear Dawn's footsteps clanging on the catwalks as she attempted to get a better shot.
"So, do you always hide when your opponent has the tactical advantage?" Dawn taunted as she fired a couple of shots in Riku's direction. She knew they wouldn't hit him, but she hoped they'd be enough to force Riku to give up his cover.
"Of course not!" Riku shouted back. "I just lure them into a false sense of security." He stepped out of the cover and fired several shots at the weakened beams supporting the section of the catwalks that Dawn was standing on. The damage combined with the excess weight of someone moving around caused several of the catwalks to come crashing to the ground. Dawn let out a scream that was quickly silenced as she hit the ground with a sickening crunch.
"That was cheap!" Dawn shouted as she respawned. Riku stuck his tongue out at her.
"And now we're even!" He retorted. Dawn shot him twice in the chest.
"And now I'm winning!" Dawn said, sticking out her tongue as Riku respawned over by her. Riku let out a small chuckle and charged the AI with his rifle blazing.
LD
After a couple of hours of senselessly killing each other, Dawn shut down the simulator claiming she had all of the information she needed on Riku's skills with firearms and needed time to process it all. Riku wasn't about to complain, even though it was all virtual reality, his body felt the fatigue as if he had actually had been running around shooting guns for two hours. He grabbed a bottle of Coke from the fridge in the kitchen on his way back up to the bridge and collapsed into the pilot's chair. Dawn hadn't given him a chance to close in on her and use his Keyblade, she always forced him to keep his distance with her exceptional marksmanship.
On the plus side, he had managed to learn how to dodge incoming bullets for the most part after being brutally slaughtered by Dawn eighteen times in three minutes. Riku made a mental note to practice on his shooting in the simulator when Dawn was occupied doing something else. He had no doubts that he could take her in a sword fight, but he still could barely hold his own against her in a firefight. He planned to change that.
"That obviously wasn't the first time you've handled a firearm," Dawn commented, appearing on blank screen next to the flight controls.
"It might as well have been for all the help it did me," Riku commented as he took a swig from the bottle in his hand. "My dad used to serve in the Destiny Islands Navy and he'd take me hunting on some of the smaller islands back home whenever he got the chance around when I was about ten. He taught me all about different types of guns and which ones to use depending on what we were hunting. I didn't have very good aim back then either. I was always hitting trees and rocks." He chuckled. "I noticed that the guns you and I fought with were different than the ones we have back on the Islands."
"Of course," Dawn said. "The simulator can produce weapon models from the world it was programmed in. So we were using the standard issue firearms that are typically used in the military units of Twilight Town." Riku grunted in acknowledgement and quickly downed the remainder of his Coke and got back to his feet with a groan.
"Since we've only got an hour or so until we reach that world, I'm going to go take a shower," Riku announced as arched his back. He took an odd satisfaction as he felt several of his vertebrae pop in sequence from the middle of his back up to his shoulder blades. Dawn nodded.
"Very well then," she said. "I'll make sure nothing happens to the Dawn's First Light while you're busy." Riku nodded his thanks and made his way to his bedroom and adjoining bathroom. It took Riku all of twenty minutes to shower and re-dress himself. After checking his appearance in the mirror to make sure his hair was just the way he liked it, he made his way back up to the bridge to catch a quick nap.
"I really should've seen this coming," Riku groaned as he emerged onto the bridge. The Dawn's First Light was quickly approaching a large bluish-green world. "So much for my nap." Dawn let out a chuckle.
"You might want to go prepare yourself to be warped, Master Riku," she said. Riku sighed.
"I thought you said we were at least an hour away when I went to go take a shower," Riku said. Dawn raised an eyebrow at him.
"You said it, not me," she retorted. "Obviously there's a slight system malfunction. I shall do my best to rectify the problem before your return." Riku gave her a nod and turned back down the stairs as he attempted to stifle a yawn. He could hear Dawn humming to herself as he entered the room filled with Warp Chambers. A small projection of the AI appeared on one of the monitors set into the wall of the room.
"Ready to go?" She asked Riku. The silver-haired teen nodded as he grabbed the remote to warp him back to the ship from the small table next to the door. "Excellent. We are entering orbit of the world now." The Dawn's First Light shook violently for a brief moment as it was captured by the gravitational pull of the world.
Riku climbed into one of the pods and sealed it shut. He nodded at the screen where Dawn was. The AI waved goodbye to him and activated the Warp System. A bright white light filled the chamber Riku was in. A flash of light burst from the underside of the Dawn's First Light and rocketed down towards the world's surface.
LD
"One of the Keyblade Masters is headed towards your world, Buddy."
Pete paused outside of the door to the Place Where Nothing Gathers as Maleficent's voice reached his ears. He tiptoed to the closed door and pressed his ear up against it.
"My name isn't Buddy!" A male voice shouted. Pete winced at the sound. His voice was heavily distorted by static. A flash of green light illuminated the cracks around the door. The male voice cried out in shock.
"Watch your tone with me," Maleficent said in a low, menacing tone. A chorus of chuckles from several other people echoed throughout the Place Where Nothing Gathers. "Do not forget that if it wasn't for me, you would still be a second-rate villain. Riku needs to be eliminated. If he isn't, he will prove to be a major hindrance in our plans."
"Isn't he that pipsqueak who was on our side back when we first tried to take over Kingdom Hearts?" One of the other voices piped in.
"Yes, he was," Maleficent replied. "He is extremely loyal to his friends and if he discovers what we have planned for the Princess and her Keyblade wielding boyfriend, he will go out of his way to interfere with our efforts. We cannot have that. Riku is separated from his friends, for now. He is all alone and that makes him a wild card. It's harder to keep track of his whereabouts and what he knows. However, his separation works in our favor. You know what you must do."
"Understood, Maleficent," the voice disguised by heavy static said. Pete stepped away from the door and summoned a portal of Darkness. What better way to get back on Maleficent's good side than to take care of Riku himself. Pete sniggered as he stepped into the portal.
And I have just the Heartless to do the job.
LD
Riku glanced at his surroundings as the last of the light from the warping vanished from around him. He was standing on the ledge of a rocky outcropping that overlooked the lush, green jungle of a tropical island. A tall, dormant volcano rose in island's center. A full moon hung just above the treetops on the far side of the islands. All was quiet except for the gentle lapping of the ocean waves against the shoreline somewhere off in the distance. Riku inhaled the scents of the jungle with a deep breath and let out a sigh.
"Well, this is peaceful," he said contentedly as he sat down on the outcropping to gaze up at the stars. Several ink-black shadows emerged from the jungle, darting across the ground on their two-dimensional plane towards the relaxing Keyblade Master. They emerged feet from him, eyes glowing an eerie yellow in the dark of night. Riku leapt to his feet as the Way to the Dawn appeared in his hand. Seven Shadows were quickly sliced apart, each one fading in a cloud of black mist.
"Looks like I might've spoken too soon," Riku muttered as more Heartless began to emerge from the jungle's edge. He quickly found himself surrounded by several dozen Shadows, at least ten Neoshadows, several Creeper Plants, and too many Rapid Thrusters to count. Riku thrust his palm out towards the Creeper Plants and sent a volley of Light and Dark orbs. More than half of the Creeper Plants exploded into dark mist as Riku's attack shredded them apart. Crystalline pink hearts floated up into the sky for a brief moment before vanishing. Riku slashed the Way to Dawn around him in a wide arc, cutting down the ring of Shadows nearest to him.
He leapt up and over their vanishing bodies and turned his attention to the massive group of orange and black Rapid Thrusters that darted back and forth overhead. He slashed a couple out of the air as he landed next to a pair of Neoshadows. He ducked as the two Heartless lashed out at him with their claws. The Neoshadows stumbled as they attempted to avoid striking one another. Riku took his chance and swiftly cut them both down.
He let out a cry of pain as the remaining Creeper Plants pelted him in the back with their seed-like projectiles. He spun around with a growl and sent a ball of black and white flame flying into the nearest Creeper Plant. The Heartless exploded into flame and black mist. Several of the Rapid Thrusters dived at Riku's exposed back from above, their miniature propellers whirling at a high velocity to increase their speed. Riku spun on his heel and summoned up a dark barrier. The small group of Heartless collided with the barrier and exploded into black mist.
Riku grinned with grim satisfaction as the remaining Shadows and Neoshadows attacked. The Way to Dawn became a blur in Riku's hand as he stabbed and slashed his way through the Heartless until only a single Shadow remained along with a pair of Creeper Plants and around twenty Rapid Thrusters. The Shadow sank back into the ground and vanished into the night. The Rapid Thrusters and Creeper Plants all summoned up portals of Darkness and vanished. Riku held his fighting stance for a brief moment before straightening up. The Way to Dawn vanished in a flash of light.
"Well that was anti-climactic," Riku observed. "I guess only this world only has the weaker varieties of Heartless." He glanced out at the jungle below, a sudden urge to jump filling his mind. He mentally judged the distance down to the treetops and stepped back to gain a running start. Then he did something he had never imagined himself doing in a million years, he willingly leapt off of the cliff.
He wasn't sure what had compelled him to do so, but as he fell headfirst, he had a sense of unparalleled freedom. Riku let out a whooping laugh as he plummeted towards the forest. He closed his eyes, enjoying the weightless feeling of the fall and the rush of air.
How am I supposed to land? Riku wondered as he opened his eyes. The treetops seemed to be rushing up to greet him in all of their wooden, body mangling glory. Riku's excitement vanished in an instant. Crap. I did not think this one through.
He immediately began scanning the treetops, desperately searching for something to break his fall. Nothing. Riku let out a groan.
"This is going to end well," he muttered. He summoned up a barrier of Light and Darkness around himself, briefly lighting up the jungle canopy like a small star before crashing into the trees. Riku was thrown around inside his barrier as tree limbs snapped around him and battered him back and forth. The barrier was broken while he was still more than fifty feet from the ground. He crashed through at least seven thick branches and slammed into the trunk of a fallen tree before rolling off onto the ground where he lay on his scratched up and bleeding back, groaning. He forced himself to limp under the cover the fallen tree.
"Definitely not one of my brightest ideas," Riku groaned. Darkness quickly overtook him as he passed out.
LD
Wednesday, June 2nd 4794 P.C.
Riku let out a low groan as enough sunlight finally pierced through the thick jungle canopy to shine directly into his eyes. He rolled over onto his back so that he was no longer laying on his side and immediately cried out in pain. He sat bolt upright and attempted to crane his neck far enough so that he could get a better look at his injuries. After several seconds of fruitless effort, he gave up and sighed. He pulled a small blue vial emblazoned with a crescent moon and a pair of stars from his pocket. He popped the vials cap off with a flick of his thumb and downed the contents.
He shuddered from the medicinal aftertaste the hi-potion left in his mouth. He could feel the scratches on his back slowly knitting themselves back together. He winced at the feeling.
Like having thousands of spiders crawling over you. He gagged at the thought. He twisted his upper body side to side, testing to make sure there was no pain or tightness in his muscles. Satisfied that the hi-potion had done its job, Riku slowly stood up and stretched with a wide yawn. He glanced around at his surroundings. He had fallen into a small clearing lined with a large cluster of fallen trees.
Riku stared at the trees. The majority of them seemed to have been torn up by their roots. The remainder seemed to have been burned at their base until they collapsed. Riku glanced around at the other trees with narrowed eyes. Something about this jungle seemed odd. There were no animals prowling through the underbrush and the only bird he had seen so far had kept its eerie looking red eye on him wherever he went in the clearing.
He cried out in surprise as he tripped on a shallow, x-shaped indent in the soft earthy floor of the jungle. Riku swallowed a lump of nervousness, quickly regaining his usual calm composure. He climbed back to his feet and stole one last quick glance around the jungle clearing before jogging off into where the trees grew closely together. The red-eyed bird watched him carefully as he vanished into the foliage.
LD
Riku spent the next several hours jogging throughout the jungle, swimming across shallow rivers, and carefully sliding his way across narrow ledges. He was surprised by the lack of Heartless on this world. Except for when he had first arrived, all he had managed to encounter was the occasional cluster of Shadows and Creeper Plants, all of which were easily dispatched by a few quick strikes from the Way to Dawn.
He finally took a break around noon. He leaned his back against a tree trunk as he took a bite from the power bar he had snatched from the kitchen on the Dawn's First Light. He let out a sigh of content. He always felt more comfortable in nature than he did in civilization. He took another bite of the power bar. As he stared around at the calm serenity of the jungle. A serenity that was broken by the sight of a tall concrete pillar in the distance, barely visible through the thick trees.
Riku stood up and finished off the remains of his power bar. He weaved his way slowly through the trees, noticing additional pillars as he did so. Supported by the pillars was a pair of highly polished rails, placed so closely together it was almost impossible to tell that there was more than one. Riku stared up at the railing, wondering to himself why there was a rail in the middle of a jungle.
There was a soft humming sound coming from deep within the jungle. The Way to Dawn appeared in Riku's hand in a flash as the silver-haired teen prepared himself for a Heartless attack. Instead of Heartless, a pearl white, orb shaped rail car large enough to support three people comfortable rumbled along the rail overhead and disappeared into the jungle. Riku quickly double checked his surroundings to make sure there were no Heartless sneaking up on him before he ran as fast as he could in pursuit of the rail car.
He had a gut-feeling that wherever that car was headed, he needed to follow. He spent the next half hour chasing after the car, which was easier than he expected. The car traveled around sharp corners slowly and due to the geographical layout of the jungle, frequently had to take those corners.
By the time the rail car finally emerged from the jungle, Riku was out of breath and worn out. He placed a hand against the trunk of the nearest tree to support himself as he tried to slow his heart rate and catch his breath. The forest ended with a sudden cliff drop down to the sparkling blue water of a lagoon. The cascading roar of a nearby waterfall filled Riku's ears. He watched as the rail car was carried out over the lagoon and along a shallow curve to head straight for the waterfall.
Over the roar of the waterfall, he could hear the loud, metallic grinding of heavy machinery kicking into gear. The waterfall was split in two by a hidden mechanism, revealing a large chamber hidden beneath the water with several rail systems spiraling up and down the entirety of the waterfall. A couple of other rail cars moved up and down the spirals inside. Riku jogged along the cliff's edge, watching as the rail car he had been following entered the concealed chamber as the waterfall began to close up.
I wonder what's going on in there. Riku wondered as he reached the bottom of another cliff. He groaned as he saw that the waterfall rose up at least another couple hundred feet from where he was. He glanced around, trying to find an easier way to get up to the top of the waterfall without having to climb the cliff face. He spotted a barely concealed tunnel, hidden by the branches of a tree that had collapsed. He noticed a pair of x-shaped indents near the trees roots, identical to the one he had tripped on earlier that day.
He shrugged it off as coincidence and made his way into the tunnel. The walls, floor and ceiling of the tunnel had all been sculpted to be perfectly smooth. There wasn't a single crack or rough spot anywhere. Riku quickly navigated his way through the tunnel's zigzagging pattern as it rose through the stone and earth at a mildly steep angle.
He emerged into another part of the jungle and let out a groan. He couldn't see or hear the waterfall anywhere nearby. If he had to guess, he'd say the tunnel had taken him at least a mile away from the water. And to top it all off, a welcoming committee of Neoshadows and Rapid Thrusters were positioned around the tunnel's exit. Without wasting a second, Riku summoned the Way to Dawn and made short work of the Heartless. As the last Neoshadow faded away into Darkness, Riku smirked.
"All in a day's work," he said cheerily as the Way to Dawn vanished from his hand. His smirk vanished as he took in his surroundings. Less than twenty feet from him stood a large robot. It's body was comprised of a large, dull-gray sphere with a narrow red visual input sensor jutting out from the top. Four long and flexible legs jutted out from the robot's center, ending in a set of blade like claws that took the shape of an 'x'. Riku suddenly understood where the strange indents in the jungle soil he had been seeing were coming from.
The robot's visual sensor remained fixed on Riku for a brief moment before turning to look behind it. The robot's limbs and sensor retracted into its spherical body as it began to roll through the trees, knocking them out of its way with almost no resistance. Riku recovered from his brief moment of shock from facing down a robot that was easily ten times his size and immediately took after the mechanical ball.
He chased after the robot for a good half mile before it finally came to a stop in front of another cliff face. Riku let out a hushed groan and mentally kicked himself for following the robot in the first place. What was he hoping for? That it would actually lead him to contact with someone who wasn't a Heartless?
The robot's arms and visual sensor emerged from its spherical body, lifting it off of the ground. The sensor focused itself on the cliff face. Riku watched carefully from behind the leaves of a fallen tree, curiosity overtaking his self-loathing at his apparent lack of common sense that had set in the moment he set foot on this world.
There was a faint creaking sound, not unlike stone slowly causing wood to bend and break followed by a loud groaning as a large, rectangular doorway opened in the cliff face, revealing a long conference room decorated with cherry wood paneling. One of the robot's arms quickly reached inside the room and grabbed something before turning around and throwing whatever it had grabbed into a large boulder.
Riku's eyes widened in surprise as he realized the robot had just thrown a man. He was dressed in what appeared to be a set of full body, ruby-red tights. He wore a pair of black boots and matching gloves. A logo in the center of his chest displayed a lower cased 'I'. A small black mask covered his eyes. In Riku's opinion, the man was dressed like a stereotypical superhero, only without the classic cape. The man groaned as his the back of his head made contact with the boulder.
"It's bigger!" A male voice said through a megaphone somewhere out of sight. Riku glanced around for the source. The robot lashed out and grabbed the man in red by his ankle and threw him against the ground. Riku saw the man bounce several times upon impact and winced in sympathy.
"It's badder!" The voice continued as the robot grabbed the man once again and slammed him into another boulder. The man looked dazed and confused as the robot grabbed him by his upper body and lifted him into the air, constricting the man's arm movement and making escape impossible. Supporting itself on one of its 'arms', the robot raised its other two free arms as its blade-like claws began to spin at a high velocity.
"Ladies and gentlemen," the voice continued as the spinning blades slowly approached the trapped man's neck, "it's too much for Mr. Incredible!" Riku summoned the Way to Dawn and prepared to step out from behind his cover. The blades slowed to a complete stop as they neared the man's neck. "Wa-ho, whoa! It's finally ready!" The source of the mysterious voice announced as he descended from the sky to land on top of the robot. He was dressed in a set of black tights with a large white 'S' emblazoned across his chest, white boots with rockets built in and matching white gloves. A blue and black cape billowed behind him in the slight breeze. Just like the trapped man in red, this man wore a black mask to cover his eyes.
Riku stared at the new arrival, not because he seemed to be the man in charge, or the fact that he was wearing rocket boots (which he and Sora had both fantasized about owning since they were about six years old and pretending to be superheroes), but because the man's hair was a vibrant orange and stood up vertically from his head, adding about an extra two and a half feet to the man's height. The orange haired man grinned down at the man in red.
"You know, I went through quite a few supers to get it ready to fight you," the orange haired man said as he pressed a button set into one of his gloves. The robots 'arms' lowered themselves. "But man, it wasn't good enough!" The orange haired man seemed impressed. Riku carefully watched from his cover, trying to find an opening to come to the man in red's rescue.
"After you trashed the last one, I had to make some major modifications," the orange-haired man continued on. The man in red was staring at him in confusion. "Sure it was difficult, but you are worth it." The orange-haired man seemed to be admiring the man in red Riku let out a growl of frustration. He was sick of waiting around. The orange-haired man let out a chuckle.
Just give me an opening. Riku said to himself as he tightened his grip on the Way to Dawn.
"I mean, after all, I am your biggest fan," the orange-haired man said in a low tone. A shiver ran down Riku's spine as he heard the underlying menace in the man's voice. The man in red's eyes widened in recognition.
"Buddy?" The man in red asked, his brow furrowed in recognition.
"My name is not Buddy!" The orange-haired man shouted. He pressed a button on his glove and the robot threw the man in red to the ground. "And it's not IncrediBoy either!" The man formerly known as Buddy said as he leapt off of the robot, gently descending to the ground with help from his rocket boots. "That ship has sailed! All I wanted was help you. I only wanted to help!" The man in red slowly pushed himself to his feet, using a nearby boulder to support himself. "And what did you say to me? 'Fly home, Buddy. I work alone.' It tore me apart. But I learned an important lesson. You can't count on anyone. Especially your heroes." He spat.
"I was wrong to treat you that way," the man in red said. "I'm sorry." The orange-haired man rolled his eyes.
"See?" He said. "Now you respect me, because I'm a threat. And that's the way it works." He shrugged it off like it was no big deal. "Turns out there's a lot of people, whole countries who want respect. And they will pay through the nose to get it." The man in red began inching his way to the side, giving the impression that he was trying to circle around the orange-haired man, who circled so he wouldn't be caught off guard. "How do you think I got rich? I invented weapons. I even have powerful allies on other worlds now because they need my weapons." That caught Riku's attention. This guy had allies on other worlds? Who? The memory of an evil witches cackling laugh filled his brain for a moment. He had a pretty good idea.
A slight shifting in the nearby bushes caught Riku's attention. He saw Pete emerge from the foliage. The large-bodied, self-proclaimed general in Maleficent's army was smirking at the man in red.
"Now I have a weapon that only I can defeat," the orange-haired man continued. "And when I unleash it, I'll get-" Riku never found out what the orange-haired man was going to get. The man in red grabbed a heavy looking piece of tree bark and hurled it at the orange haired man's head. The man ducked out of the way and pointed his right index finger at the man in red. A bright blue beam of energy burst from his finger tip and struck the man in red, surrounding his body with a barely visible field of blue energy and effectively freezing the man in place.
"You sly dog!" The orange-haired man said with a chuckle. "You got me monologuing. I can't believe it." The man spun around in a circle, effortlessly spinning the other man with him before deactivating the beam and throwing him into a boulder. The man in red collapsed to the ground with a groan. "It's cool, huh? Zero-point energy. I save the best inventions for myself. Am I good enough now?" He caught the man in red with another burst of zero-point energy, tossing him high into the air before hurling him back onto the ground. He zapped him again.
"Who's super now?" He slammed the man in red face first into the ground. "I'm Syndrome!" He shouted as he zapped him again before unconsciously swinging his arm up in a dramatic gesture. "Your nemesis and-" He paused as the man in red went flying off into the distance over the treetops.
"Oh, brilliant!" He grumbled. Pete chuckled and Syndrome finally noticed him. "What do you want? Did Maleficent send you to spy on me?" Pete's chuckle gave way to an echoing laugh.
"Spy on you?" He asked incredulously. "Ha! I'm only here so I can get myself back into Maleficent's good books." Syndrome raised an eyebrow at him. "You see, I know Maleficent wants you to kill that Riku fellow," Riku's eyebrows raised in surprise as he began to emerge from cover, "But I'm gonna do it first and take all the credit!" Pete let out another laugh. Riku was grateful the oversized lackey had his back turned to him. He positioned himself directly behind Pete and cleared his throat a bit louder than necessary.
Pete let out a cry like he had been set on fire and leapt a good ten feet into the air. He crashed back down on his rear, staring up at Riku in shock. Riku smirked down at him and mockingly waved at the two villains. Syndrome eyed him up and down.
"And you are?" He asked, tapping his boot impatiently.
"I'm the Keyblade Master Maleficent apparently told you to kill," Riku said, casually swinging the Way to Dawn from side to side. Syndrome's eyes widened in surprise for a brief moment before he grinned evilly at Riku.
"Is that so?" He said as his rocket boots lifted him into the air again. He pressed a few buttons on his glove and the robot came back to life behind him. "Omnidroid, Kill the Keyblade Master!" The Omnidroid's sensor spun around and focused in on Riku. Syndrome flew away over the treetops with an evil laugh escaping his lips.
"Now wait just a minute!" Pete said as he got back to his feet. "I'm going to be the one who kills him, you hear? I-" The Omnidroid grabbed Pete around his midsection and threw him off somewhere into the jungle. Riku winced as he heard a tree snap in the distance, followed by a flock of birds squawking and flying up from the trees. He stared up at the Omnidroid and raised the Way to Dawn so it was poised to strike.
For a long moment, neither of the two moved an inch. Riku took deep, controlled breaths as he sized up the Omnidroid. The Omnidroid moved first, closing one if its 'hands' so that the four points basically formed a spear and stabbed at Riku. The silver-haired teen rolled out of the way and charged the Omnidroid. Another one of the droid's arms came swooping down in an attempt to crush Riku.
Reacting on instinct, Riku slashed at the arm and to his surprise, sliced straight through the metal. The Omnidroid lifted its arm and stared at the sparking wiring that was now exposed. Riku grinned.
"Not so tough now, are you?" He taunted. The Omnidroid responded by grabbing its severed arm and throwing it at Riku, who let out a cry of surprise and barely managed to throw himself out of the way. The arm sliced through the trunk of a tree, causing the tree to fall at just the right angle to crush the Omnidroid. Riku smirked victoriously as he saw the tree beginning to fall. Unfortunately, so did the Omnidroid. It retracted its limbs and sensor into its body and rolled a few feet to the side to avoid the tree as it crashed to the ground. Riku's face fell in disappointment.
"So much for the easy way," he grumbled as the Omnidroid began rolling towards him. Riku did the only thing logical for anyone in his situation, he ran. The Omnidroid wasn't slowed by trees or boulders in its pursuit, which proved to be a major disadvantage to Riku. He had almost been flattened to the thickness of a pancake on more times in a minute than he had ever hoped to be.
He only stopped running after about five minutes when he suddenly found himself inches away from falling down a cliff. He stepped back from the ledge and turned to face the oncoming ball of metal. The Omnidroid picked up speed as it realized that Riku was now standing still, the easiest type of target. Riku raised the Way to Dawn, praying that the Omnidroid was going to fall for his trick.
His prayer was answered as the Omnidroid barreled towards him, still remaining in its ball form Riku grinned as he sidestepped the charge and stabbed at its side as it rolled past in an attempt to gouge a decent sized hole in it. What he hadn't expected was for the Way to Dawn to get caught on something inside of the Omnidroid, causing him to be dragged over the cliff's edge along with the Omnidroid.
As the pair fell down the cliff, Riku struggled to free his Keyblade from the Omnidroid's side. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get it to budge. The Omnidroid's 'arms' burst out of its body and attempted to skewer Riku. The silver-haired teen did his best to dodge the multitude of strikes by swinging himself from side to side. The Omnidroid's claws easily pierced its armored plating and seemed to be doing a number on the wiring inside. Riku grinned as he saw thousands of sparks dancing inside of the holes the Omnidroid had left in itself.
He finally managed to wrench the Way to Dawn free from the Omnidroid's body. Riku glanced over the Omnidroid's side. The ground below them was coming up uncomfortably fast. He swallowed hard and dodged another strike from one of the 'arms', which crushed the visual sensor as it finally emerged from the body. They were less than fifty feet from crashing into the ground. He cast a barrier of light around himself and prayed that it would hold better than the one he had created the night before.
The Omnidroid slammed into the ground with tremendous force, shaking loose several large boulders from the cliff, which came tumbling down onto it. Riku, protected by his quickly weakening barrier, rolled right off of the Omnidroid and back onto his feet, laughing victoriously.
"Take that you useless piece of junk!" He exclaimed. To Riku's dismay, the Omnidroid stood up from the fall, shaking slightly from the severity of the damage it had taken. Riku growled in frustration and charged the Omnidroid. He was determined to not allow it to have another opening. He sliced off another of the Omnidroid's arms and hacked off a set of its claws. The sole functioning arm grabbed Riku by his leg and threw him high into the air. Riku spun in midair and drew back his blade as his entire body became cloaked in a midnight-blue light.
"It's over!" He cried out as he slashed down. A wave of dark blue light flew from the Way to Dawn's edge and sliced through the Omnidroid, splitting it cleanly in half. The two halves collapsed to the ground and exploded violently. Riku grinned victoriously as he landed gently on the ground, the midnight-blue light surrounding him fading away.
"Now that that's over," Riku said to himself, wiping the small amount of sweat he had built up from his brow. He turned to leave only to find his way blocked by Pete, who stood with his arms crossed and a smug smile on his face. Riku sighed. "You again?" Pete nodded.
"That's right, pipsqueak," he chuckled. "Seeing as how Syndrome's little robot thing couldn't kill you, I guess that means I get my chance to." Riku rolled his eyes.
"Whatever, bring it in on," he said in a monotone, bored voice. From what Sora had told him, Pete was a pushover. "This'll probably be over in ten seconds anyway." Pete grinned.
"You wish it'd be over that quickly," he said. He whistled loudly. "Oh, Heartless!" He called out. The ground beneath Riku's feet shook violently as a large, swirling vortex of black and purple light appeared. A pair of massive, clawed hands emerged and gripped the ground tightly as Pete's Heartless emerged.
The Heartless had four massive arms, each one thicker than the tree trunks in the jungle. In two of its hands it held a pair of dual bladed battle axes that were decorated with the Heartless Emblem. Its legs were large and blocky with thousands of tiny, blood-red spikes covering them. Its head was mostly covered by a blood-red helmet, with only an opening large enough for its single orb-like yellow eye to see out of. A large Heartless Emblem was emblazoned across its armored chest.
"Let me guess," Riku shouted sarcastically out to Pete, who was laughing loudly, "this thing is called a Cyclops Heartless." Pete stopped laughing.
"How'd you know?" He asked Riku. "This here is the first Cyclops Heartless." Riku glanced up at the Heartless' one giant eye.
"Lucky guess," he replied sarcastically. Riku's sarcasm was lost on Pete who simply shrugged it off. The Heartless let out a guttural roar and charged. Riku leapt up into the air and struck the Heartless on the back of its neck. The Heartless roared again as it stumbled forward and crashed into the cliff face. Riku chuckled softly.
The Cyclops let out another roar as it stood up and turned to face Riku. It began swinging its axes around itself wildly. Riku leapt back, placing as much distance between himself and the Heartless as he could.
"Let's finish this!" Riku shouted. The Way to Dawn became cloaked in a swirling mixture of Light and Darkness. Riku took two steps towards the Cyclops and vanished into thin air. The Cyclops began looking around for Riku in confusion.
"Where'd he go?" Pete shouted. In response, Riku appeared for a brief moment in midair behind the Cyclops, the Light and Darkness on his Keyblade now extended beyond its point, adding an extra three feet to the blade. He struck the Heartless square in the back with a single, powerful blow before vanishing again. The Heartless roared and spun around, expecting Riku to be behind it.
"Is that all you've got?" Riku reappeared in-between the Heartless' feet, pausing long enough to strike the Cyclops' ankles before vanishing yet again. The Heartless collapsed to its knees. Riku reappeared on the cliff face high above it.
"See ya," he said as he pointed the Way to Dawn down at the Cyclops' head. A massive orb of swirling Light and Darkness took form on the tip. The Cyclops looked up and paused for a moment to stare before it swung both of its axes into the cliff wall. Riku let out a startled cry and fell off of the edge of the cliff, the orb of Light and Darkness flying off harmlessly into the sky.
The Heartless reached up with one of its free hands and grabbed Riku out of the air before slamming him as hard as it could into the ground. Riku could've sworn he heard something in his body crack upon impact. He let out a low grown of pain. The Heartless released him and raised its axes high above its head. Pete was laughing maniacally in the background, shouting something about him being better than any Keyblade Wielder. Riku rolled onto his back and carefully aimed the Way to Dawn.
"Break of Dawn!" Riku shouted. A large beam of Light, with a small amount of Darkness visible in the center, burst from the Way to Dawn and impaled the Cyclops straight through its eye. The Heartless let out one final roar and exploded into a red and black mist. A large, pink crystalline heart rose into the sky before vanishing.
Pete's eyes widened comically as he stared on in disbelief. Riku slowly stood up and turned to face him. Riku took one step towards him and Pete panicked. A corridor of Darkness appeared behind him.
"Oh, don't mind me," he said nervously. "I believe I forgot to turn the stove off when I left earlier. I'd better go take care of that. We'll just put my killing you off until another day, shall we?" He gave Riku a nervous grin and vanished into the corridor. Riku rolled his eyes as Pete left. He waited until the corridor vanished before practically throwing himself on the ground to catch his breath.
"I hate this island," he muttered to himself. "It's like I never get a moment to catch my breath anymore. At least I finally have some peace and quiet to rest for a few minutes." There was a sharp cracking sound from the ground nearby his feet. Riku's gaze shifted in the general direction of the noise. A second loud cracking sound came up from the ground. "What the-" Riku began, leaning closer so he could hear better.
The ground erupted into a cloud of dust and stone. The man in red burst from the newly formed hole in the ground and landed on his feet above Riku. Riku sneezed as he inhaled some of the dust. The man in red looked down at him for a brief moment before lifting him up by his shirt and slamming him against the cliff wall. Riku let out a grunt of pain.
"Are you one of Syndrome's men?" The man in red asked as he raised his fist. Riku shook his head slowly.
"Nope, Syndrome's working with my enemies. There's no way I'd be on his side," Riku replied. The man in red studied his face for a few moments before releasing him.
"Sorry about that," the man said. "Just had to be safe. I tricked Syndrome into thinking I was dead." Riku raised an eyebrow.
"How?" He asked.
"I hid under the bones of another Super he got killed," the man replied simply. A shiver travelled up Riku's thoughts at the idea of hiding under someone else's bones to trick someone into thinking you were dead.
"What's a Super?" Riku asked as the man in red sat down next to him.
"Somebody with superpowers," the man replied. He held out his hand to Riku. "I'm Mr. Incredible." Riku shook his hand and almost had his bones crushed by the Mr. Incredible's grip.
"Let me guess," Riku said, tenderly massaging his hand. "Super strength?" Mr. Incredible nodded.
"You got it, Kid," he said with a deep sigh.
"Call me Riku," Riku said. Mr. Incredible nodded.
"Alright then."
"So now that Syndrome thinks you're dead, what're you going to do?"
"I'm going to break into his base and find out what he's planning." Riku stared at the Super in disbelief, but from the expression on the man's face, he could tell that it was important.
"Would you like some help?" Riku suggested. Mr. Incredible smiled in thanks down at him.
"Only if you're up for it," he said. Riku raised an eyebrow as if to say 'Seriously?' Mr. Incredible nodded in understanding and began drawing on the soil beneath their feet with a twig. "Okay then, here's the plan."
Riku grinned. Things were finally getting interesting.
LD
Pete stepped out of the corridor of Darkness he had created into the Castle That Never Was, mumbling to himself. He paused as he entered one of the many long white hallways in the castle. A girl dressed in a black, hooded cape was leaning against one of the many doors lining the hall. She looked exactly like the Keyblade brat Sora, except her caramel colored hair was tied back into a ponytail instead of spiked and defying gravity.
"Who're you?" Pete demanded. The girl shot him a glare.
"I'm here to see Maleficent," she said casually. Pete's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"So what do you want me to do about it?" He asked. The girl smirked. The next thing Pete knew, he was flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling.
"You should probably take me to her," the girl said. A flame made of pure Darkness appeared in her palm as she walked towards Pete. "I have an offer she can't possibly refuse. And I'm sure you don't want me to beat you senseless for not taking me there." Pete swallowed a lump in his throat.
"F-follow me," he said as he pushed himself up from the ground. The girl grinned. "What did you say your name was?"
"Keila."
LD
I hope you all enjoyed that. As usual, please review as I love to read your opinions. Also, go vote in the poll. I know for a fact that there's more than eleven people out there reading this.
Have a good week everyone!
Shadow Horizons