Chapter III: A Secret Present
Riku's teeth were grinding together at the sound of his name. Braig's name. But still, he kept his cool. He could feel Kairi's frantic shivering from behind him, he wanted to comfort her. But now was not the time or the place.
"What do you want?" Riku asked, trying to make himself look bigger.
"Please." Braig scoffed. "You already know. Don't you?"
Riku's eyes were narrowed in hatred.
"Allow me to spell it out for you, pretty boy. We want the thirteenth vessel. Once you give him to us, we'll be on our way.
"He's not here!" Kairi shouted, cutting her friend off from saying anything else.
"Oh?" Braig asked, amused.
"He's gone. You'll never find him." The girl said bravely. Finally proud of the decision Yen Sid had made. She kind of smiled as well.
"Fine. Whatever. I can play games as well, princess." He said, giving a graceful bow. His yellow eyes then trailed up back to the silver haired boy. Riku stood his ground though, unmoving. His eyes stayed dead-locked onto the man before them. But then the man flickered before him.
He turned to look at Kairi, who's arm was in Braig's grasp.
"Stopga." He said calmly. Everything flickered for Riku.
Kairi was looking at Braig, her eyes were wide with shock. "What are you-?"
"Shh. I have a little secret for you. Can you keep it?" Asked the man, leaning closer to Kairi. She just glared.
Braig smiled a bit. "Well, I was just going to teach you a little magic trick..But I can see you're-"
"What kind of magic trick?" She interrupted.
He smiled. She was right where he wanted her. "Oh you know. Making portals-without using the darkness, of course. Miss warrior of light."
"Go on." Her eyes narrowed. As though she were looking into his soul.
"Hold out your hand." He said.
As she went to hold out her hand, she stopped. "What's the catch?"
Braig smiled. She was more clever then expected. "You're a clever one, aren't you. I can see your parents taught you correctly. Sadly, there is nothing in it for me. I'm just being generous."
Kairi then put out her hand.
"Close your eyes."
This made the girl nervous. What was he up to? She hesitated, but did as she was told. She closed her eyes tightly as they wanted to stay peeled open. Then she felt a warmth in her hand. It must have been Braig's hand. Then she heard footsteps, and the warmth was gone.
Kairi then heard a weird noise. Kind of like a gust of wind. Though, there was no wind.
"Open your eyes, princess." Said Braig.
The auburn's eyes shot open. She saw Braig at the other end of the train by a portal. He pointed to her palm. Her eyes trailed down the the paper in her hands. Her eyes opened a little wider. She looked back up to Braig for answers, but he was gone.
"A secret, huh?" She asked herself as she slid the paper into her black bag. Just then, time began to flow once more.
"Kairi!" He shouted, still looking in the direction Kairi had been when Braig was there. He then looked around, thinking she had been taken.
"I'm okay, Riku." She said calmly.
Riku sighed and looked around some more. "Where did he go?"
"I don't know. But he's gone." Said Kairi, trying to look just as confused as he was.
"Did he take anything?"
"What could he have taken?"
"Good point..."
The train gave another jolt, sending Kairi crashing into Riku with a yelp. They both fell onto the floor with a loud bang. Kairi's eyes widened in horror that Riku would kill her. Then she began turning red. Riku looked at her. And he looked-and looked...
Then he burst out laughing at her face. It was uncontrollable. She squirmed to get off of him, her face turning brighter by the minute.
"I hate you, train! You hear me? Hate you!" She screamed over Riku's hysterical laughs.
Kairi watched as Riku rolled around in laughs, tears streaming from his eyes.
"It wasn't that funny!" She said miserably.
"I know...I know" Said Riku, getting back on his feet. "I'm sorry." He said with a grin.
"Oh shush!" Kairi demanded, shoving her best friend and turning away from him.
Riku turned to look out the window. "We're back at the tower, miss tomato."
"Good. And don't call me 'miss tomato!'"
The got off the train and walked to the front doors, where Donald and Goofy were waiting for them to return. They looked kind of down.
"It's about time!" Donald scolded, stamping his feet.
"Calm down, Donald. They weren't that long." Said Goofy with a frown.
"We ran into some trouble on the way back. We'll explain later. But for now, we need to see master Yen Sid." Said Riku, waiting for them to move.
As if on cue, the two stepped aside and opened the doors.
Kairi ran ahead of Riku and began charging up the steps like a mad-man. Riku followed suit, leaving the dog and the duck in confusion.
"What'd'ya think happened, Donald?" Asked Goofy, looking down at his pal.
"I dunno, but it sounds bad." Said the duck, walking up the stairs.
The door crashed open, making Mickey leap off of the floor. "Oh!" He gasped as he turned to face the source of noise. "You're back!"
"Yes, and the organization is hot on our trail." Said Riku, getting to business.
"It seems as though there is a fluke in my plan." Said Yen Sid wisely, stroking his beard. "Sit and tell me what has happened."
Two chairs appeared in front of the wizard's desk, allowing Kairi and Riku to sit down. Mickey watched intently at the two. They didn't seem hurt.
"We've delivered Sora safely." Kairi said, not wanting to say where they had delivered him in fear that the organization was listening.
"But, along the way home we had some trouble."
"What happened?" Asked Mickey.
"One of the organization members appeared on the train. He asked for Sora, only to find he was no longer with us. Then he grabbed hold of Kairi, next thing I know, he's gone."
Yen Sid nodded. Then he turned to look at Kairi. "What happened when he grabbed you?"
"I-I don't know. It flickered for me as well..." She fibbed. Kairi did not want to say anything about the portal in fear that the paper would be taken from her. It was her only chance to see Sora again. She knew it was wrong...but still...
Yen Sid stared at her for a while, as though he knew she was lying. "I wonder what he grabbed you for..Do you know who it was?"
"It was Braig, sir." Said Riku.
"I see. Xehanort and the others are probably not strong enough to go after Sora at the moment. So they need somebody strong and full of life, somebody that has fought with him before. Somebody that knows his weaknesses. Of course they would choose Braig, formerly known as Xigbar. We must keep a very close eye on him. Under no circumstances shall you be allowed to see Sora anymore, should the train be stopped on its way to and fro. I am dearly sorry, but it is too risky now. I shall send Mickey once and a while to check up on him. Mickey will be disguised and will not speak. He is very trained in these type of circumstances, you should know, Riku."
Riku nodded, remembering when the king had gone into hiding just last year.
"You need not fear. I shall keep you on your toes with training, and possibly some chores." Said Yen Sid, examining how dusty his tower was. Kairi shuddered at the realization that they would be this wizard's two maids. She started to regret going with Riku when he asked for her to go with him to the tower.
"Your training will start tomorrow. I have assigned you rooms in my tower so you will not always have to stay at the Destiny Islands. Whatever you choose is fine."
"I'll go take a look at my room." Said Kairi quickly, finally seeing a chance to slip away from the others. She sped out of the room and onto the stair cases.
"I guess I should go, too." Riku said, walking out of the room calmly.
When Kairi found her room, she quickly shut the door and locked it. It was a nice room, she had to admit. Although...it was kind of...pink.
She sighed. "Just because I'm a girl..."
But that was the least of her concerns at the moment. She was more curious about the paper she had received earlier. With a quick glance around the room, she reached into her pocket, and pulled out a piece of paper that was folded. Kairi unfolded the paper as quickly as she could. It turned out the paper was a page long. At the top it had the word "portal" And below was a picture of a portal.
Maybe Braig wasn't all that bad...
Hikaru began to stir. He rolled over and fluttered his eyes open. He saw there was shade over him. A tree? His eyes began to focus on the shady object. It was...Hayner?
"Whoa!" The brunette exclaimed, jumping out of bed. "Do you always watch me sleep?"
"Just today. Wanted to make sure you woke up after you hit your head. You could still have a concussion." Hayner shrugged, taking a bite of his cereal.
Hikaru stared at Hayner. "Oh, I see..." He said, scratching his head. "Where'd you get the cereal?"
"...The kitchen?" Said the blond with a mouthful of cereal.
Hikaru smiled. It was such a dumb question. "Oh...I knew that." He said with a slight laugh.
"You have to brush your teeth, first." Said the blond as Hikaru tried to make his way down the steps. Then he turned around. "Where's the bathroom?"
Hayner simply pointed at the door next to him. Hikaru walked in like nothing happened and got ready for the day.
When he walked back out, Hayner was already gone. Hikaru walked down the steps to see Hayner kicked back on the couch and his mom reading a book.
"Good morning." Hikaru said with a smile.
"Oh?" The grown woman looked back from her book to look at Hikaru. She'd almost forgotten the incident from last night.
The brunette waved and made his way to the kitchen, where he grabbed a box of coco-puffs, a bowl and some milk.
It took some time, but Hayner's mom finally turned her attention back to her book. Trying to make it seem like this was an everyday thing. A strange kid living in your house thinking you're his mom...
Since Hayner's show wasn't all that entertaining, (it was on commercial break..) he decided to watch as his new 'brother' scarfed down his breakfast within minutes.
"Did you even taste it?"
Hikaru looked up from his bowl and turned kind of red. "Umm..." He scratched his head. "I was kind of hungry...hehe..."
"No kidding...Let's go find Pence and Olette." Said the blond, standing up and stretching.
"Be home by dark." His mom peeped in.
Hikaru set his bowl in the dishwasher and ran out the door with Hayner. As they ran down the street, Hikaru began to get dizzy and had to slow down. Hayner looked back.
"Are you okay?" He asked, stopping in his tracks.
"I-" He held his head in his hand. He could see something...but he couldn't make it out. There was a duck in blue running on this same street...Kind of a ridiculous vision to be having...
"It's nothing." Hikaru said with a laugh. A duck running down the street. It was kind of cute.
"Are you sure?" Hayner asked with wide eyes. Perhaps his friend was loosing it.
"Yeah, let's go."
The two ran down the street once more and into the hideout, where they saw Pence and Olette gobbling down ice cream.
"There you guys are!" Said Pence, looking up from his ice cream.
"You sure took forever. Pence and I were discussing what to do for the rest of the week since school is coming up. Sit down."
Hayner and Hikaru did as they were told and took a seat.
"What's up?" Asked the blond.
"Alright. So you guys know how we were going to the beach last year, but we couldn't because I'd lost the munny?"
"Yeah. Way to go." Said Hayner.
"Well. We should try it again." Said Olette with a tint of aggression in her voice.
"All right. But I hold onto the munny." The blond said, getting his hopes up again.
"I found some jobs in town that we can do!" Pence said, holding up a flier.
"Hmm...I could deliver the paper..." Said Hikaru.
"I could help the jeweler." Said Olette.
"I can take on a few bees I guess.." Mumbled Hayner.
"The ice cream lady may need help making some popsicles." Said Pence.
"All right. So it's settled. Everybody return here at seven pm to put our munny together." Olette said.
Everybody walked out of the fort and spread out over town, ready to do their jobs. Of course, Hayner had forgotten his duty to keep an eye on Hikaru because of all the buzzing around him. But hey, what's the worst that could happen?
"Oh, you're here for the newspaper add?" Asked a kind lady who looked in her twenties.
"Yup, that's me." Hikaru said with a smile. He was then handed a bag full of newspapers and sent out the door.
"Thank you, dear!" Called the lady as Hikaru picked up a skateboard and rolled away.
Hikaru tossed the papers back and forth from house to house. It was a very easy job, seeing as not many people read the newspaper due to the lack of excitement in this town.
The brunette closed his eyes as the wind blew against his face. Then the sickening sensation began in his stomach all over again.
A tall figure...An orange hat...the tall stature was wearing a bright green sweater and tan pants. He also had dog ears.
What's with these ridiculous visions!?
"Oh, So-!" Called the figure. Hikaru couldn't quite figure out what he was saying. It was so faded.
The brunette opened his eyes again-BANG!
Hikaru had lost control over his skateboard and fell over, hitting his head on the concrete of the road. His vision blurred and the sounds of this town echoed.
Hikaru stared up at the sky who knows how long. But nobody came to help. So he just got back on his feet and searched for his skateboard.
The ringing in his ears became louder as he walked down the road.
"Ugh.." Hikaru groaned as he put his hands over his ears, hoping to make it go away. The ringing dimmed as he moved his hands away. Much better.
Hikaru then found his skateboard pressed to a wall. It must have rolled down the hill when Hikaru tripped. And luckily, it was place just next to a house he needed to deliver the last paper to. He reached in his bag and set down the paper by the doorstep. The brunette then picked up his skateboard. It seemed okay.
Hikaru looked back to the sky. It was nowhere near seven. He zoned out a bit as he stared at the sky. It was kind of hard to stay in focus at the moment. He had to go back and collect his munny.
He looked back down at his skateboard and rode his way back up the hill. The lady was already outside when he made it back.
"Oh thank you for delivering the papers!" She said with a smile. She took the bag from Hikaru and handed him some munny.
The brunette didn't look at how much he had, he just put it in his red pouch. "No problem. I'm glad I could help." Said Hikaru, returning the smile.
He then got on his skateboard and rode back down the hill. Only this time, he stopped to see a contest to see who could hit the balloon the most times without it hitting the ground. The winner would earn 100 munny!
Hikaru stopped immediately. 100 munny!? All right!
"I'd like to join." Said Hikaru, looking at the man holding the contest.
"All right. Show me what you got." He said with a smirk. This kid probably couldn't even hit it five times.
Hikaru stepped a fair distance from the man. He then tossed the ball at the brunette. Hikaru leaped in the air and sent the ball even higher. It came back down to meet him. The brunette hit it back in the air, locking his eyes on it.
It continued for a while, and a crowd began to gather.
"60!" They shouted in unison. They had started counting out loud around 40. Hikaru grinned as he sent the ball back in the air.
"61, 62, 63..."
More time passed and Hikaru was starting to get tired. But who knows how many the last person got...
"90! 91, 92, 93..."
Hikaru decided he should give up around 120, it was getting dark...
"100!" They screamed. Not a lot of excitement happened, making this a happy event.
When they said 120, Hikaru launched the ball back to the grown man. He caught it with a skeptical look on his face. Maybe he was wrong...
"Just take the munny and go." He said, not looking at Hikaru.
Why was he angry? All Hikaru did was win. Oh well, at least he had munny to bring back to his friends.
The sky was starting to turn an orange color when he made it back to his friends. Olette was counting munny with everybody gathered around her.
"So far we only have 316 munny... We need 500 munny, though. So we can get the rest tomorrow."
Hikaru walked in and set the munny down in front of Olette.
"There you are, Hikaru. We were considering sending a search squad for you." Said Pence, handing the brunette a salty-sweet ice cream.
Hikaru laughed and took the ice cream. "I'm glad you still think of me."
Olette began counting the munny Hikaru just brought in. "So that brings us to 450 munny." She said with a smile. "Good work, everyone!"