I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters.

Duty

Ventus stepped into the ring. Sure enough, the man with the sword stood opposite him, sword resting on his shoulder. Now that he was in the ring with him, he could see the chain hanging from the grip. Perhaps it was some strange kind of keyblade.

"What type of weapon is that?" Ventus asked.

"This?" the man asked holding his sword out. "It's a gunblade. Not nearly as useful as that keyblade of yours but it suits me just fine. I'm Leon. Your name is Ventus right?"

"It is," Ventus nodded summoning his keyblade. "Care to tell me how you know that?"

"Hercules asked me to stop you fighting in the finals," Leon stated. "The only way that's going to happen, is if I beat you here. So I'm afraid I can't allow you to defeat me."

"I'm afraid, you don't have a choice," Ventus stated. "I have something to prove to my friends. So I'm not able to lose to you."

"What, that you're not a child?" Leon asked. "There's more to being an adult than just being strong. Adults also have to make smart decisions, and not act according solely to their emotions."

Ventus looked to the ground and Leon sighed.

"Sorry, but I have to stop you now," Leon apologized charging.

Ventus stepped forward, blocking Leon's gunblade then spun, slashing at Leon only for Leon to leap back, avoiding the blade before stabbing at Ventus. Ventus swept the blade aside, slashing at Leon again only for Leon to catch his arm.

"Listen, kid," Leon sighed. "I don't know why you think fighting in this tournament will prove you're an adult but you're making a mistake."

Ventus glared at him and leapt into the air, kicking downward at him, making him release his arm. Then, Ventus twisted around, slashing at Leon.

"You're right," Ventus snarled, landing on his feet and free hand. "You don't know. You don't understand what it's like, watching your friends put themselves in danger while you're kept from helping just because you're younger than them. You don't know what it's like to always be afraid that they'll die. I'm not losing to you. I'm going to beat you and that freak in the finals so that everyone will stop treating me like a kid!"

"You know, for trying to prove you're an adult, you have a pretty childish way of thinking," Leon growled. "You think you're the only one with a difficult past? That's pretty childish. No one that is worth calling an adult is stupid enough to charge into a fight they can't win just because someone called them a kid!"

"Shut up!" Ventus snapped, slashing at Leon only for Leon to bat the keyblade away.

Leon slashed in the other direction but Ventus flipped over it, pointing the keyblade at Leon and launching several fireballs at him. Leon slashed the fireballs out of the air just before a blast of wind hit him, launching him into the barrier. He was hurled off the barrier and stood, shakily. After a moment, he sprinted forward, slashing at Ventus. Ventus ducked under it and slashed at Leon. He expected Leon to dodge it. Instead, Leon allowed the blade to tear through his abdomen, using Ventus's moment of surprise to slash him across the back. Ventus staggered forward then spun, raising his keyblade as Leon used his gunblade to hold himself up.

"Good strike," Leon grunted, holding his wound. "I was hoping for something a bit less deep. Oh well. Too late for regrets now. I'm going to end this. Sorry about whatever you were planning to accomplish."

And with that, he raised the gunblade above himself, pulling the trigger. Rather than firing, a blade silhouette made of pure energy formed around the blade, extending it to double its original length. Ventus gaped at the blade for a moment before sighing and recomposing himself, crouching and holding his own sword at the ready.

"It's over," Leon stated, spinning and slashing at Ventus.

Despite Ventus being well out of range, Ventus found his body instinctively moving to block the slash. Good thing too, because the blade suddenly crashed into his keyblade, hurling him away. Ventus crashed down hard, sliding across the ground for a moment before stopping and standing.

"This blade extends as much as I wish for it to," Leon warned. "There is nowhere safe from it."

"Not quite," Ventus growled. "There's still one place."

He sprinted at Leon and Leon raised his gunblade, slashing downward. Ventus rolled to the side as the gunblade crashed down beside him. Then, the blade twisted toward Ventus and leon spun. Ventus leapt into the air, the blade streaking under him. Ventus landed in a sprint, closing in on Leon quickly. At the las second, the blade flashed around again and Ventus spun, blocking the blade only to be sent flying. Ventus flipped, landing on his feet again and charging again. Leon slashed again and Ventus rolled under the blade, standing and lunging at Leon. Leon swung the other way and Ventus ducked under the blade then passed Leon, slashing him as he did. Leon staggered backward, holding a hand over his wound as the blade faded and he fell to one knee, driving his gunblade into the ground.

"Damn," Leon growled. "You're strong. But like I said earlier. I can't allow you to beat me."

He stood, lifting his gunblade. Just as he stepped forward, Ventus swung his keyblade, blasting Leon with an Aero spell, hurling him into the barrier again, the impact and lightning this time rendering Leon unconscious.

"As I said, I can't afford to stop here," Ventus growled.

Medics rushed in, taking Leon out of the arena as the barrier began to glow green. A moment later, Ventus felt his wounds heal and heard a deep, menacing rumble accompanied by the crackle of flames. He turned toward the sound, seeing a gaping hole in the barrier where what looked like a burning cage was illuminating the darkness beyond. Ventus heard people in the stands scream, and a few cheers and shouts for the monsters to "crush him" but barely registered that. He watched as the creature before him stepped out into the arena and roared. It was an Unversed, as he had suspected. It was easily double Ventus's hight, maybe more and mostly black. There were red markings around its wrists and feet, the "feet" in this case being spikes on the ends of legs that bent like a dog's hind legs. The Unversed had a pair of glowing red eyes shaped like a pair of jagged horns reaching straight upward, and had a pair of even more jagged black horns reaching off the sides of its head. In its hands was a massive pole with a flaming cage on one end like a hammer head.

"Oh," Ventus breathed. "It's definitely intimidating."

He crouched, raising his keyblade and readying himself. Upon seeing the keyblade, the creature roared in rage, darting to Ventus in the blink of an eye, hammer now over its head. Ventus dove aside as the hammer crashed down, creating an explosion, then stood just as the Unversed appeared over him again, already swinging. Again he avoided the hammer but this time the explosion hit him, hurling him through the air. Just as he landed, the creature appeared before him, hammer swinging at him from the left. Ventus managed to leap over the hammer then lunged, slashing at the creature. It stepped back, avoiding the slash and spinning. Ventus turned to see where the hammer was and his vision went white, pain exploding across his entire body. He felt himself falling, or maybe flying. Then, he hit something and felt a pain that still paled in comparison to the feeling of being hit by the hammer. Then, he hit the ground, landing on his back. He heard a triumphant roar and then heard the sound of the unversed approaching.

I'm such a fool, Ventus thought. What possessed me to think I could defeat this thing? I never stood a chance. It's too fast. "Aqua...Terra...Master...I'm so sorry. Please...forgive me."

Then, the creature roared charged.

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