Here I am, with the fifth chapter of this story!
As you know, the rematch between Sora and Black*Star takes place in this chapter. It was a bit difficult to write a duel between those two, since both of them are incredibly strong, but I had to limit them since it's a duel and none of them can die
As always, I'll answer to the reviews of the last chapter at the end
Chapter V
Keyblade Master vs. Bushin
1300hrs, June 15th, 2024
Shibusen's courtyard, Death City
After Sora and Kairi arrived in Death City and talked with some acquaintances of the spiky Keybearer, one of the students of Shibusen, who was friends with Sora and was called Black*Star, challenged the brown-haired boy to a duel.
The last time Sora was in Death City, he and Black*Star made a deal before the Keybearer left the city. The deal was to have a rematch when Sora returned to Shibusen after defeating Xehanort, and since Sora wasn't someone who breaks his word, he accepted the duel.
Now Sora and Black*Star, along with his partner Tsubaki, were in front of the academy, the place where they fought the last time, and almost every student were there to watch the fight, even some of the teachers were there too. Kairi was also interested in the duel; it has been a while since the last time she saw Sora fighting against someone who wasn't Riku or her, and according to what Sora told her, Black*Star was the strongest Meister in Shibusen.
"Let's see who is stronger now," Black*Star said smirking. Then Tsubaki transformed into a normal katana, which Black*Star grabbed before getting into his fighting stance.
Tsubaki was a Demon Weapon, a human being who has the ability to transform into a weapon. Demon Weapons are paired up with Meisters, humans who are able to wield them in their Weapon forms. According to this, you can tell that Black*Star and Tsubaki were a team.
"Okay," Sora replied also with a smirk. "Let's dance!"
The brown-haired boy raised his hand and a bright aura was formed in his right hand before the Kingdom Key appeared. Sora grabbed the Keyblade and got into his fighting stance too, although it was different from his usual one. Now Sora was using a fighting stance that was slightly similar to Ventus', but he grabbed his Keyblade normally, and not with a reverse grip like the blond.
The two swordsmen stood there, looking at each other and waiting for the other to make a move while the people watched them carefully to not miss anything.
"Two years I've trained towards this," thought Black*Star while looking at the Keybearer, "and now it's the moment. I can tell he's stronger than the last time, but I'm not going to lose easily."
"This isn't the same Black*Star I fought against once," Sora thought, looking at the Meister. "He looks incredibly stronger than two years ago. Let's see how much he has improved."
Sora charged at Black*Star so fast, that he was near him in less than a second. Black*Star could react fast enough to raise his katana and block Sora's attack by clashing blades with him, producing sparkles appeared when both swords collided, then the Meister jumped over the Keybearer to attack him from behind, but Sora reacted faster and swung his blade at Black*Star while he was in the air, sending him a few meters away.
Black*Star stuck his katana in the ground to recover, and then he saw that Sora was going to attack him from the air, so he leaped into the air. Sora missed his attack and hit the ground with his Keyblade. The Meister took advantage of this and ran towards Sora and swung the katana at him, but the brown-haired boy moved aside and dodged every swing.
This time was Sora the one who attacked Black*Star, he did a horizontal slash to hit him. However, the blue-haired boy ducked and dodged the Keyblade, which surprised Sora, and then electricity appeared in the Black*Star's right hand, which was free and he used it to drive his own soul wavelength directly into Sora's body through a physical strike on him.
Sora was sent several meters away by Black*Star's attack, which surprised the people who were watching the fight. They didn't expect Sora to be knocked away with ease, but Black*Star was stronger than before, so maybe it wasn't that weird.
"Amazing," Soul said, "Black*Star could use Soul Menace on Sora."
"This is going to be more entertaining than I thought," Harvar said.
Black*Star's soul wavelength was really powerful; he wasn't the strongest Meister for nothing. However, Sora recovered in the air and threw his Keyblade at Black*Star, who didn't expect Sora to recover that easily, however he could parry the Keyblade in time. The Keybearer landed and retrieved his sword as soon as he touched the ground.
"It didn't work…" Maka said. "Sora is as if nothing hit him."
"It's obvious," Prof. Stein said, and some of the students looked at him. "Soul Menace only causes damage if the soul wavelength of the user is incompatible with the soul of the one who's receiving it, and I remind you that Sora's soul is compatible with almost every soul."
"Did Sora use a Demon Weapon the last time he was here?" asked a curious Kairi.
"Well, he grabbed Tsubaki's Shuriken Mode for a few seconds," Maka replied, remembering the first time Sora and Black*Star fought.
"He used Patty and me once," Liz said.
"Really?" said Kid surprised. "I didn't know that."
"It was when we were on that mission in the mansion," Patty told her Meister, "when we separated because of the bridge."
"He used me too," Maka's father said, which surprised the girl.
"What? When was that?" asked a slightly shocked Maka.
"During one of his night patrols," the redhead man replied.
"What were you doing in the streets at night?" asked the girl, looking at his father with suspicious eyes, which made him nervous.
"N-nothing, Maka," Spirit stuttered, but her daughter still suspected.
Black*Star also remembered the nature of Sora's soul, and he realized that hitting Sora with his soul wavelength wasn't going to work, so he rushed at high-speed with his katana raised to cut Sora. The Keybearer moved aside and swung his blade to counter-attack, but Black*Star turned around really fast and blocked his opponent's attack.
The two struggled to break the guard of the other, but none of them gave in, so they moved their swords at the same time and started to attack each other with fast slashes.
Sora performed a combo of four consecutive hits which Black*Star managed to block, then he did the same, but his combo was longer and Sora couldn't block all of them and was hit by the last two slashes, however, he didn't budge. The Keyblade glowed with a bright light and Sora did a slash which would have cut Black*Star torso, but the Meister side-stepped behind Sora and prepared to counter-attack, however Sora turned around really fast and kicked the blue-haired boy away.
Black*Star placed his hand on the ground to recover, and then he touched the part of his face where Sora kicked him since it hurt more than expected. Then he looked at Sora, who started to run towards him.
The Kingdom Key was glowing again, but this time Black*Star had another idea. Instead of avoiding the attack, he blocked it using Tsubaki's katana form, and then he sent his soul wavelength through his sword, redirecting Sora's attack. This created a shockwave that made the two fighters lose their balance, but Black*Star recovered really fast and hit the Keyblade, sending it far away from his wielder.
"I disarmed him in our first fight too," Black*Star thought. "I suppose he's going to summon his sword back now."
Sora looked behind him, and saw that his Keyblade was stuck on the ground. He was about to summon it back, but instead of doing that, he looked at the Meister again and smiled at him, which disconcerted Black*Star and his partner.
"Show me a good time, Black*Star!" said Sora while making a gesture with his arms, telling Black*Star to attack him. This shocked the blue-haired boy and the people who were watching them.
"Is he really going to fight disarmed?" thought everyone, wondering how strong Sora was now if he was confident enough to fight Black*Star without a weapon. Kairi, however, smiled at her friend's attitude, it was obvious Sora was having fun with the duel.
Black*Star didn't doubt for a second and charged at Sora with all his might and started to swing his katana at the disarmed Keybearer, however he couldn't land any of his attacks on him. Sora was dodging every slash of the Meister with ease, and he continued doing it until he saw an opening, and then he grabbed Black*Star's head and slammed it against the ground. The blue-haired boy didn't waste any time and grabbed the katana with a reverse grip, swung it at Sora. The Keybearer stepped back to dodge the sword while Black*Star stood up to start fighting again.
The Meister jumped and performed a dive-kick strike that was directed towards Sora. The Keyblade wielder caught the Meister in the air and flipped him over, just like he did with Tidus in Destiny Islands, but Black*Star recovered quickly and charged at Sora again.
Black*Star attacked Sora with several quick slashes, but he couldn't touch Sora, so he get closer to him and raised his sword to damage the Keyblade wielder with a vertical swing, however, Sora used his two hands to stop the blade, but Black*Star could break his grab, cutting Sora's torso in the process.
Blood appeared in the ground after that, which surprised Black*Star since he thought he overdid it and hurt Sora more than he wanted.
"Now we're talking!" said Sora before putting his hand on the Meister's chest and sent him away by casting with his hand an Aero spell combined with a Thunder one.
The electricity of the physical strike staggered the Meister's body for a moment, so he couldn't recover and Sora took that opportunity to retrieve his Keyblade and prepare his next attack. He held the Keyblade behind him and Black*Star was still a bit stunned to notice, but fortunately for him, Tsubaki recognized the technique Sora was going to use and reacted in time.
"Smoke Bomb Mode!" she exclaimed.
"Zantetsuken," said Sora at the same time.
A large amount of smoke covered the area where Black*Star was at the same time Sora performed a powerful slash while moving faster than the eye could see. The Keyblade wielder appeared at the other side of the smokescreen, and his attack created an airstream that dispelled the smoke slowly.
Black*Star appeared between the smoke that was still in the area and dashed at top speed to attack Sora, however he didn't expect what the Keyblade wielder was about to do. Sora just performed a Zantetsuken attack, but as soon as he finished it, he turned around incredibly fast and performed another one when Black*Star was running towards him. He did it so fast that the Meister couldn't react in time, causing him to receive the powerful slash.
The Meister knelt from the pain, he still remembered that the last time he receive that attack, it made him lose against Sora, but this wasn't going to be like their first fight, so he stood up and looked at Sora, who was turning around too. The two of them were wounded, but they could still fight without any problem.
"Not bad," Sora said smiling. "The last time you couldn't recover after getting hit by that technique."
"I'm not the same as before," Black*Star smirked. "This isn't over yet."
"Good," Sora replied. "Let's get more serious."
"Right," the Meister said. "Tsubaki, Uncanny Sword Mode!"
The girl took the form of a katana with a black blade and a bandage-wrapped hilt, you could see dark sparkles forming around the sword after the girl transformed and dark stripes appearing around Black*Star's face and arms.
"That's what I am talking about," Sora said, looking at Black*Star with determination.
Black*Star charged at Sora and reached him in the split of a second, and the two swung their swords at the other, causing the weapons to collide. Dark sparks emerged from both dark swords while their users looked at each other while trying to find an opening. Then Black*Star pushed Sora's Keyblade with enough strength to break the boy's guard, and after that he swung the black katana to hack Sora, but the Keybearer did a backflip and dodge the slash.
As fast as lightning, Sora approached Black*Star and started to hit him several times with the blade of his sword after the Meister missed his attack. Black*Star was receiving a lot of strikes, but he managed to put his sword between him and the Kingdom Key and managed to parry one of the attacks, stopping Sora's combo.
Now it was Black*Star the one who started to deliver powerful blows at the Keyblade wielder, he started to move really fast around Sora, attacking him from multiple directions. The brown-haired boy used his sword to block the Meister's attacks, but he couldn't stop all of them.
Sora got some wounds, caused by the blue-haired boy, but that didn't stop him from counter-attacking. He focused and when Black*Star was about to hit him again, he swung his Keyblade and hit the assassin's stomach, causing him a great damage. Before Sora could attack again, Tsubaki used her Smoke Bomb Mode again and now the Keybearer was surrounded by smoke.
The Keyblade wielder used an Aero spell to clear the battlefield, and then he spotted Black*Star charging at him, but instead of having a black katana, now he had a large black kunai-style dagger with white ornate patterns and a long strap of cloth tied to it.
"Shadow*Star: Third Form - Severed Shadow," said Black*Star.
The Meister started moving with great speed and attacking Sora while doing it, and the Keyblade wielder could parry the assassin's attack and slash him, however, the body of Black*Star disappeared as soon as the Keyblade touched it, and then Sora received a cut on his face, caused by another Black*Star.
"Wow, he's possibly as fast as Ven," Sora thought after being cut again by Black*Star's black kunai.
The blue-haired boy was moving so quickly that he created countless afterimages of himself as he moved. Unlike regular afterimages, these images still contain mass, allowing Black Star to pull off many blows to Sora from all angles. The Keyblade wielder was receiving all those blows, not able to block any of them due to Black*Star speed, but Sora wasn't going to give up, not now.
"Amazing," Kilik said impressed. "I would have never imagined that Black*Star would be able to have Sora against the ropes like that."
"Just wait, I'm sure Sora will be able to turn the tables in his favor," Kim said while watching how Black*Star was still hitting Sora from all directions with his afterimages.
"You want Sora to win this duel, right?" Jacqueline asked, looking at her Meister with a playful smile.
"Well, someone has to take the wind out of Black*Star's sails," Kim said, a bit embarrassed by her partner's comment.
Sora tried to find the original Black*Star, but there were too many afterimages, and he couldn't do it so easily. Instead of trying to hit the original, he decided to strike all of them at the same time, so he put his Keyblade behind him, as if he was going to do another Zantetsuken, but instead of performing that technique, he just did a quick slash without moving from where he was. Then, a lot of cutting waves surrounded Sora, as if he had many blades moving really fast around him. Those waves were enough to make all the afterimages disappear.
"Good, now I can focus on the original," thought Sora before looking for his opponent, and then he heard the Meister saying something.
"Shadow*Star: Zeroth Form – Masamune."
Sora looked behind him to see that Black*Star was running towards him with an insane speed. Now the katana wasn't black anymore, but the scarf around the Meister's neck was transformed into two long scarves of shadow matter.
The Keyblade wielder raised his sword to block the assassin's assault, but he didn't expect that the scarves started to move on his own. They moved towards Sora, cutting him in the process since he was blocking Black*Star's katana. Then the Meister moved his sword, breaking Sora's defense and allowing him to start slashing the Keyblade wielder repeatedly after one of the scarves disarmed him again.
After that combination of attacks, Black*Star performed a powerful slash at the same time the scarves struck Sora, sending the Keybearer several meters away. Sora landed on the ground, and he didn't move after that, which surprised the people who were watching the fight.
"No way," said a shocked Soul. "Black*Star won."
"That's Tsubaki's more powerful Weapon form," Kid said with a calm voice. "I wouldn't be surprised if I were you."
"Sora…" Maka muttered, and then she noticed that Kairi, who was next to her, was smiling. "Kairi, why are you..."
"Just wait and see," the redhead said smiling at the others, which looked at her puzzled before turning their gazes to the courtyard again. Maka focused to use the ability she got thanks to Sora two years ago. The girl was capable of using Heart Perception so she could see the heart wavelength of people, although it was more noticeable in Keyblade wielders. Her eyes went wide the moment she saw Sora's heart.
Black*Star was panting, using all those Weapon forms of Tsubaki while the Uncanny Sword Mode was activated was draining, but at least it made him win against the Keyblade wielder.
"Black*Star, are you all right?" asked Tsubaki, who was still transformed.
"Yeah, don't worry," replied the Meister, although he was exhausted.
"I'm impressed we were able to win against Sora," Tsubaki said, although she was feeling that something wasn't right.
"I didn't become a Bushin for nothing," Black*Star said before looking at the people who were at the entrance. "See guys, this is how strong I am now!"
"Wait a moment," said someone, and Black*Star turned around and saw that it was Sora the one who said it. The Meister was shocked to see that the Keyblade wielder was standing up as if it was nothing.
"Sora, you…" Black*Star had to admit that he was impressed, Sora was full of wounds, but he was there, looking at him as if nothing happened.
"This isn't over yet," Sora said smirking and staring at Black*Star with a determined look on his face after he grabbed his Keyblade again. The Meister noticed the change in Sora's attitude, and he prepared for whatever he was planning to do.
Suddenly Sora appeared in front of Black*Star, which shocked the Meister, but he could react in time and block his opponent's sword. Then the scarves moved towards Sora, but before they could touch him, he vanished and appeared behind the blue-haired boy. The Keybearer started to deliver powerful and incredibly fast slashes which Black*Star managed to block, and every time Sora finished a combo, he teleported to attack the assassin from another direction.
"He's fast," thought Black*Star while blocking all the blows he could.
Meanwhile Maka looked at Sora with a shocked expression. She was looking at Sora's heart wavelength, and she couldn't believe how it changed. Black*Star's soul was huge, but the power of Sora's heart was outstanding, it couldn't be compared.
"Maka, what is it?" asked Soul, who noticed the look on the girl's face.
"You saw his heart, right?" Stein said, remembering the girl's ability.
"Yeah…" the girl answered. "It's not like the last time I saw it, I…I can't believe how big the wavelength is."
"You can use Heart Perception, Maka?" Kairi asked impressed and the girl looked at the redhead Keybearer and nodded. "I suppose Sora has to do something with it."
"Yes," said Maka after laughing slightly. "How did you know?"
"Well, Heart Perception is an ability that only some Keyblade wielders can use," Kairi explained. "And Sora is the only one you know apart from me, right?"
"Oh, right," Maka said.
"That reminds me something," Kim said before looking at Maka with mischief. "You and Sora spend a lot of time together while you were in the academy. It was kind of suspicious."
"E-eh? What are you saying, Kim!?" asked Maka as she blushed, and the she looked at Kairi, who was holding her laugh. "Kairi, don't believe her, it's a lie!"
"Come on, you don't have to give me any explanation," Kairi said smiling, and then she started teasing the girl as well. "I know Sora has a way with girls, so it's normal that you like him."
"It's not like that, seriously!" Maka said feeling more embarrassed.
"Relax, I was kidding," Kairi laughed, and Maka lowered her head, trying to make the blush disappear from her face.
"I don't think Sora would be interested in someone like Maka," Soul said, which annoyed the girl and she pull out a book from nowhere and hit the white-haired boy so hard, that he ended up lying on the floor with smoke coming out from his head, and Kairi looked bewildered at Soul.
Sora continued to attack from all direction with great speed, then the scarves started to move in a circular motion, trying to hit Sora, but the Keybearer did a backflip and dodge the shadow scarves. Not wasting a second, Sora held his Keyblade behind him and then he performed the Zantetsuken technique again, which Black*Star could block.
As soon as he finished the attack, Sora performed another one just like before, however, this time Black*Star was prepared to block that, so the Keyblade wielder couldn't touch him. What the Meister didn't expect is that, as soon as Sora finished the second Zantetsuken, he executed another one.
"A third one!?" thought a surprised Black*Star, and he couldn't block this one, but he was lucky that the scarves acted as an extra limb and catapulted him away from Sora, but the Keyblade wielder prepared another attack as soon as Black*Star left the ground.
In front of Black*Star appeared Sora, who was about to slice him using his Keyblade, but Black*Star reacted fast enough and hit the Keyblade wielder before, but Sora's body vanished when he touched it, which disconcerted the blue-haired boy. Then, two Soras appeared in the air near Black*Star and the scarves took care of them before more images of Sora appeared. All the afterimages rushed Black*star repeatedly from all directions, and the Meister wasn't able to stop all of them. Then, another Sora appeared and charged at the assassin, he did a plunging attack and sent Black*star to the ground.
While falling Black*Star used the shadow matter of his scarves to create a significant number of hardened swords, composed from the same black shadow-like substance, and now his scarf was white again, but he had lost of swords around him. Then, Sora executed a similar technique and his body was enveloped in a bright blue aura and swords of light appeared behind him, hovering in a wing-like formation.
The two swordsmen rushed and started to attack each other with all their swords, both of them exchanging attacks and receiving slashes from the other. They were moving so fast that the other couldn't follow their movements. Neither Sora nor Black*Star bothered in trying to avoid the attack of the other, they just swung their blades at each other while the swords they created moved in a slicing motion towards the opponent of the person who created them.
The swords started vanishing one by one, since they were clashing between each other. Only one sword remained and it was Black*Star's. The Meister continued attacking the Keybearer, and when Sora was about to counter-attack, he launched the black sword at him and pierced his shoulder.
The Keyblade wielder winced in pain, but he didn't budge and grabbed the sword to pull it out of his body and charged at Black*Star. It has been a while since the last time Sora used dual swords, but that didn't mean he wasn't still good at it.
Black*Star executed a piercing attack with his katana, which was black again, and Sora used both swords to parry the attack, leaving the Meister defenseless. Sora used the Keyblade to hit Black*Star with a horizontal swing, followed by an uppercut with the black sword, then Sora jumped up and slashed Black*Star with both swords while spinning. Black*Star then did a barrel-roll like maneuver while slashing at Sora, like a corkscrew and then slashed at Sora's left hand and made the black sword vanish.
Sora, taking advantage of Black*Star closeness, grabbed the Meister's armed hand with his left hand, and used the other one to hit the blue-haired boy with his elbow after making the Keyblade disappear. The Keyblade wielder managed to disarm Black*Star and now Tsubaki was in Sora's left hand as a normal katana. Sora summoned back the Kingdom Key and prepared to execute another combination attack.
The brown-haired boy, at a very high speed, made an uppercut with the right sword; then another with the left sword, a downward slash with the right sword, then a downward diagonal slash towards the right with the left sword. He spun and repeated the previous attack, and thrust the right-handed sword out. The final attack was a slash with both swords in an X formation that knocked Black*Star away.
Sora left his fighting stance and looked at Black*Star, who was lying on the ground and didn't move. Then the Keyblade wielder heard the Meister's chuckle, which puzzled him.
"You haven't been wasting time these years either," Black*Star said as he stood up slowly. "At least I didn't lose as fast as the first time."
"What? Are you giving up already?" Sora asked amused, but surprised.
"I'm not an idiot," replied Black*Star, who was now sat on the ground. "Attacking you with my soul wavelength won't work, and if I don't have Tsubaki with me, I won't be able to do anything against you. You won this assault, but I assure you it won't be the last time we fight."
"I hope so," Sora smiled. "It has been a long time since I fought someone as strong as you, Black*Star. You've matured a lot, you know?"
"What can I say? A Bushin can't act like a kid," Black*Star affirmed and then he looked at his injuries. "I forgot that the Keyblade can also cut despite looking like a blunt weapon. For a moment I thought you were using a katana like me."
"You're not the only one who has cuts on your body," Sora said, and then he realized that he still had Black*Star's partner in his left hand. "Hey, Tsubaki, you can turn back to your human form if you want."
"R-right, sorry," the girl said before returning to her human form, and then she looked at the Keybearer. "You have become very strong, Sora-kun, I'm really impressed."
"Black*Star also has become stronger, and you were amazing too of course, all those Weapon forms you have now are amazing. I'm glad I got the opportunity to use you," Sora said smiling and Tsubaki laughed sheepishly, and then she noticed the cut Sora had on his chest, which was bleeding a bit.
"Oh my, you're bleeding," she said concerned. "I tried to make my blade not very sharp, so you wouldn't get a serious wound during the duel, but even so…"
"It's okay, I can heal it," Sora said while touching his chest and using a Cure spell. "It's not deep, so don't worry."
After using the spell, all the wounds on Sora's body disappeared, and his clothes repaired too, which made Tsubaki feel better, the girl was afraid she hurt her friend, but luckily Sora was perfectly fine.
"Let's go to the entrance," Black*Star said while approaching Sora. "I'm sure the others would like to talk with you."
"Sure," said Sora, and then the three walked towards the entrance of the academy. When Sora was where his others friends were, everyone received him with a smile.
"What's up, man? It's been a while," Soul said as he shook hands with Sora.
"Hey, Soul," Sora said before turning his gaze and smile at Maka, who just smiled back and waved her hand at the Keybearer. She was planning on giving Sora a hug, but after the conversation she had with Kairi and Kim, she thought it would be too awkward.
"I see you're still in top form," Jacqueline said.
"What'd you expect?" Sora said, smiling at the black-haired girl, and then he crouched to greet Fire and Thunder. Like when he met them, the two kids didn't talk, but they remembered the Keyblade wielder perfectly. Then Sora stood up and the son of the headmaster of Shibusen extended his hand to shake hands with him.
"I'm glad to see you, Sora," Kid said.
"Likewise…uh…do I have to call you Shinigami-sama too now?" Sora asked jokingly.
"Kid is fine," the boy said with smile, and then the Thompson sisters hugged the Keyblade wielder at the same time, which embarrassed him a little, but smiled anyway.
"We missed you a lot when you left," Liz said smiling.
"Welcome back, Sor-chan," Patty said happily.
"What the-!? Sor-chan!?" said the Keyblade wielder surprised and the others laughed.
"I like it, maybe I start calling you like that too," Kairi said playfully.
"Quiet you," Sora said to the redhead, and after the sisters let go of him, he noticed something curious about the clothes of the students of Shibusen. "Hey, is white and blue popular now in Death City?"
"Oh, are you referring to our clothes?" Ox asked and Sora nodded.
"It's the clothing's aesthetic of the unit we formed," Harvar informed.
"Spartoi," Stein said before Sora could ask. "A group of established Meisters and Weapons of Shibusen formed after the attack on Baba Yaga's Castle."
"It was first called the Shibusen Juvenile Elite Unit," Sid said, "and Shinigami-sama shortened it into Shibu-Brats Squad."
"Luckily," began Nygus, "it was quickly changed by Stein as he thought Shibu-Brats Squad would not work wonders for morale."
"Shibu-Brats Squad…" Sora said, and then he snickered, which made the group feel ridiculous. "Well, teachers, how are you doing?"
"I can't complain, that the kind of man I was," Sid said, and Sora laughed slightly at the line of the zombie teacher.
"We're fine, how about you?" asked Nygus. She was referring to what Sora got during his stay in Death City, something that everyone there knew about except Kairi. Everyone except the redhead Keybearer realized what Nygus meant when she asked that to Sora.
"I'm fine, no problem," Sora affirmed, and the group looked relieved, especially Maka and Soul. Kairi had the feeling that there was something Sora didn't tell her, but she brushed that away for the moment.
"If you want I can dissect you," Stein said. "Just to make sure you're all right."
"You haven't changed a bit, huh?" Sora said to his old teacher, who smiled at him before looking at Kairi.
"Kairi, you're also a Keyblade wielder, right?" asked the doctor while adjusting his glasses. "If you let me I could…"
"Don't start, Stein," Spirit said, looking with a stern face at his old Meister, and Kairi laughed nervously.
"That's right, you're a Keyblade wielder too," Black*Star said, looking at Kairi. "Maybe we can have a duel too, what do you say?"
"Oh, do you want to fight me? I warn you, I'm tougher than I look," Kairi said with a defiant smile.
"That's what I wanted to-" Black*Star stopped talking when he felt pain, caused by the wounds he received from Sora. The Keyblade wielder, then, grabbed a Hi-Potion that was in his pocket and tossed it at Black*Star, who caught it and started drinking it.
"Black*Star, forget about fighting today," Soul said. "You're not in condition to fight, and less if it's against another Keyblade wielder."
"Yeah, is it not enough for you to have received three beatings from the same guy?" asked Kilik.
"Hey, the training class doesn't count!" Black*Star protested. "That Heartless interrupted us."
"Still, the result would have been the same," Kid affirmed.
"Did you pick fights with everyone here or what?" Kairi asked with her arms crossed and looking at his brown-haired friend.
"What do you expect? I was young and crazy," Sora said jokingly and the others couldn't help but laugh at what he said.
"You're still like that to be honest," the redhead said which annoyed Sora a bit, but he smiled anyway. The others looked amused at the two Keyblade wielders; they could tell that the two were good friends, although some of them expected them to be more than friends by now.
Then Sora noticed something tugging his pants, but when he looked down he didn't see anything, however, he could feel that someone was next to him. Sora crouched down and half-closed his eyes as he raised his hand and then, with his index finger, he touched something that was there, in front of him.
Suddenly a little girl appeared from nowhere, it looks like she turned invisible to see if Sora could find her, and she was surprised when the Keyblade wielder touched her nose while she was invisible. She was the one who was wearing a witch garb.
"Wow, you're good," the girl said impressed.
"Thanks," Sora said smiling. "Who are you?"
"I'm Angela, the Chameleon Witch," she replied returning the smile.
"As you can see, now we're not enemies with the Witches anymore," Sid said. "Many things changed after you left, Sora."
"Yeah, that reminds me that I wanted to talk with you, Kim," Sora said, looking at the pinkette. "I wanted to ask you for a favor."
"Oh, really?" asked Kim, with a kind of happy tone in her voice.
"Look how happy she looks now," said Harvar.
"Shut it," Kim said, annoyed by Ox's partner's comment.
"Wait a moment," said Ox kind of perplexed. "You knew about Kim being a witch?"
"Yes, he knew it," Kim replied for the Keyblade wielder, and this surprised the people who still didn't know that Sora was aware of Kim's affiliation.
"You could have told us," Kilik said, looking at Sora. "After you left, a lot of things happened about that issue. It was a total mess."
"Sorry, she asked me to keep the secret, and I wasn't going to let her down," Sora said smiling at Kim, who smiled thankfully at him in return.
"We can't blame you then," Ox said. "Thank you for doing that favor to Kim, Sora."
"No need to thank me, Ox," Sora said, and then Kim approached the Keyblade wielder.
"So, what do you want from me?" Kim asked curiously.
-TLG-
"You want to go to the Witches' Realm!?" said Kim really surprised. Now the Spartoi, Sora and Kairi were in the Death Room with Spirit and Shinigami-sama, since the spiky Keyblade wielder wanted to talk in a more 'private' place.
"Why do you want to go there, Sora?" asked Jacqueline.
"You guys remember Maleficent, right?" Sora asked the people who formed the group Spartoi.
"Oh, the witch who transformed into a dragon?" asked Soul.
"The same," Sora replied. "There are still Emblem Heartless out there, and some friends of us think that she is the one who is creating them now. Surely she's still trying to conquer the worlds, and there are still a lot of worlds who we haven't visited yet, so their Keyholes aren't closed."
"So, you want to go to the Witches' Realm to see if they can give you some information about her whereabouts?" Maka asked.
"Now that you said it, that would be really useful," Sora affirmed, "but the reason I wanted to go there is because of your pact with the Witches. Now you're not enemies with them, so surely they won't be very happy if attack Maleficent."
"I see," said Shinigami-sama realization. "You're still enrolled in Shibusen, so if you attack Maleficent, it would break the pact. You could cancel the enrollment, but surely the Witches know about your affiliation with us."
"Exactly," Sora said. "Maybe I can come to an agreement with the Witches, that's why I wanted to see them."
"Emblem Heartless…" said Maka, remembering what Sora explained about them. "Hey, Sora, if you don't mind me asking, what happened with Xehanort? Could you…"
"Don't worry about him, he's gone," answered Kairi with a smile. "Sora took care of him two years ago."
The people in the room were glad when the redhead said that, it was good to know that Sora was able to defeat his enemy. They didn't doubt of his strength, but not seeing him in two years was worrying.
"Hey, well done, man!" Soul said as he gave a pat on Sora's back. "We were kind of worried when you didn't return to visit us in all this time."
"Yeah, we thought something bad happened to you," Liz said.
"You're not the only ones who have told me that," Sora said, and then he crossed his arms. "Seriously, you guys kill me too easily."
"Well, you can't blame us for worrying," Spirit said. "After what happened here with Xigbar, Xehanort, the Bla-"
Maka's father was about to say something, but Sora did a gesture with his hand, telling him to stop talking, and Kid understood it. The people of Shibusen realized that Sora didn't tell Kairi about what happened to him during the last days he stayed in Death City.
"Come on, Sora," Kairi began, "I know what happened to you during your stay here."
"You do?" asked Sora nervously while the rest of the group gulped.
"Of course, you were the one who told me after all," Kairi replied. "You fought against Xehanort's younger self and he beat you up badly, but you could win the fight in the end with their help."
"Oh, right…it's just that I don't like to talk about it," said Sora, feeling relieved when he realized that Kairi didn't know the full story.
"Well, let's change the topic," Shinigami-sama said while clapping his hands. "Kim, can you help Sora?"
"I don't know…" Kim said as she crossed her arms. "Witches don't like to see people who aren't witches in the Witches' Realm. The only person who they like and isn't a witch is Jackie, but I guess we can try."
"Thanks, Kim," Sora said gratefully. "You don't want payment, do you?"
"If you continue making jokes about that, I'll charge you for this," Kim said, putting her hands on her hips.
"Ok, sorry," Sora said after laughing.
"Jackie, do you want to come?" Kim asked her partner. "Maybe if you come things will be easier."
"Sure, I'll go with you," the black-haired girl said, and then she looked at the Keyblade wielders. "Which of the two will come? I mean, it would be better if only one of you enter the Witches' Realm since some of them aren't very friendly with strangers."
"Sora is the student of Shibusen, so it's obvious that he's the one who have to go there," Kairi said "Besides, I'd like to walk around Shibusen since I always wanted to know how it was, and now it's a good opportunity to do it."
"You're right, but don't get into trouble while I'm not here, okay?" Sora said jokingly.
"Look who's talking," Kairi said, returning the joke.
"Don't worry, Sora," Liz said while putting her arm around Kairi. "We'll take care of her."
"Okay, enough chatting," Kim said. "Now I'll open the portal to the Witches' Realm, so everyone turn around…especially the boys…"
"You're still mad about that?" Kid asked when he remembered a little incident he had with Kim and Jacqueline a time ago.
"What are you talking about?" asked Ox quizzically. "What happened?"
"You don't want to know…" said Liz.
After everyone turned around, Kim started to do what she had to do in order to open the portal to the Witches' Realm. Sora was curious to know how the portal to their realm was opened, but if Kim didn't want them to watch, then he couldn't turn around to see what she was doing since it must be something she couldn't reveal. Then the group heard something behind them.
"Okay, I'm done," Kim said, and everyone turned around.
"Hey Kim," Sora began, "are you okay? Your face is a bit red."
"Yes, I'm fine," the girl said while covering her face with her hands.
"Good luck, Sora," Kairi said smiling.
"Sure, see you later," Sora said, returning the smile, and then Kim, Jacqueline and he entered the portal to the Witches' Realm.
-TLG-
So that's that for this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it and leave a review if you want!
If you're curious on how Kim opened the portal to the Witches' Realm, you can read chapter 98 of Soul Eater (The Battle on The Moon - Part Eight)
To Twisted-turtles: Glad you liked the fourth chapter. You're right, Winry will be fascinated when Sora shows her the Keyblade Armors.
To Sunny Lighter: Well, Levi and Levy are different names with different pronunciations, that's why Sora didn't comment about that.
To AnimeMasterDub: I don't know about Transformers, so I don't think I'll add it to the story.
To JGM16: I'm glad to hear that, hope you liked this one too!
To Undertaker5: Thanks, I hope you liked the rematch! Regarding your questions: 1. Yes, the crossover with Digimon I'm planning to write takes place just after the events of KH: Chain of Memories and that would be three years before this story. This way the characters of the second season of Digimon, along with the ones of the first one, will appear in this story. 2. There have been references about the Black Blood in this chapter, and I've planned something for it, but it will be for later chapters. 3. There will be moments between Sora and some female characters including Kairi, and there will be flirting as long as it suits the character's personality of course. I also want Kairi to be friends with the girls Sora have met, so I'll try to make her jealous not very often.
To Great fan-M: (1) Yes, Roxas lost his dual wield ability as well, but that doesn't mean they are less strong than before. (2) Yeah, I wasn't very happy when I read the last chapter of Soul Eater and saw that Shinigami-sama died, so I wanted to revive him for this story, he's a good character and I wanted him to appear in the story.
To MarshallLeeVampireKing-13: Here you go! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!
To Daxen123: You're right, Black*Star got incredibly strong in the manga, but in this story Sora is really strong too. Besides, they weren't having a duel to the death, so I had to limit them.
To TigerOfGuy7139: Yeah, I had the feeling it was you XD I'm glad you liked the appearance of the characters of AoT, I thought they would be perfect to be the security corps of Radiant Garden. Yes, Sora will visit the world of FMA: Brotherhood when Yuffie tells him where it is, and yes, there will be some moments between Sora and some female characters including Kairi, but I want her to be friends with the girls Sora have met, so I'll try to not make her jealous very often. I haven't watched Trigun, so I don't think I'll add it to the story, but it will be a long fanfic, so who knows? As for the antagonist of this story, for the moment Maleficent is one of the Keyblade wielder's problems, but there will be more enemies apart from her.
To KH-Hardcorefan4483: I agree, the Heartless aren't a challenge for Sora and the others Keyblade wielders any longer, so I'll have to power up the dark creatures some way. I don't know if you know Soul Eater, but I hope you liked the duel.
To kingdom hearts guy: Thanks, I hope you liked this chapter as well!
To DustierKestrel: Yup, and it won't be the last thing of MGR:R that will appear in the story. As you said in your review, I recommended to the readers to hear the OST of the battle between Raiden and Sam.