Chapter 81: That's a Chocobo?
After an hour and a half of waiting for Riku and Hikari to return to them, Sora was beginning to dread the fight ahead, even with his plan in his mind while Goofy was looking down the pathways for sign of the two and Donald was sleeping against Sora's left side. Thousands of play-through scenarios crossed Sora's mind as he tried imagining what might happen at the fight, half were thoughts that he rather not think about again while others thoughts would make him feel heartless once more. As much as he wanted to think of the happy ending scenario, he couldn't just set his heart on that scenario to work. If he did then the pain in his heart would only get worse.
Sora sighed as he stood up, waking Donald up, and walked towards Goofy as he turned back towards them. "No sign of them." Goofy shrugged, not sure what else to say to the young keyblader.
"I wonder what he and Hikari are doing." Sora said out loud.
Donald yawned as he rubbed his eyes, "Maybe they're having a moment." He said tiredly.
"You think?" Sora smirked.
"Well, it's possible." Goofy smiled, "If they are then I'm happy that Riku had found someone special to him."
"He only went to apologise to her, Goofy." Sora pointed out. "Besides, when Riku is like this he normally just takes it slow."
"Maybe we should set them up." Donald suggested, ignoring Sora's words.
Goofy scratch his head in though, "But I thought that we were already trying to set- "
"SSSHHHHH!!!!" Donald jumped up in panic and closed Goofy's mouth before turning nervously back to Sora, "Hehehehehe."
"I would question something like this but I have to meet with Kairi." Sora quickly shook as he walked past the two. Sora looked back to see Donald and Goofy looking at him with a worried expression, "C'mon guys, the only chose I have is to fight Kai-" Since Sora was looking at Donald and Goofy, he ended up walking into someone, knocking him and that person over.
Donald and Goofy quickly ran over, helping Sora up. "Gawsh, are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Sora smiled at his friend's before looking back at the person that he had walked into, "Hey. Sorry about the----Brian?"
In front of the trio laid the red haired Devon brother, groaning on the floor with his hands to his head. "God damn it Sora!" He cursed. Sora walked over to Brian and gave him a hand, which he took gratefully, "Still, you're actually taking Kairi's fight? That's surprising coming from you."
"Yeah." Sora sighed before looking away slightly.
"Kwek!" A little chocobo chick with red tips appeared from Brian front jacket pocket.
"Awwwww." Donald and Goofy cooed at the sight of the chick, making Sora turn around with curiosity.
"Is that a chocobo?" Sora asked him.
"Yep!" Brian smiled as he stroked the chick's head. "I've called it Steve. And to think-" Brian looked at both Sora and Goofy, "You guys thought that it was chocolate."
"Sorry..." Sora and Goofy said in unison.
"Soo...." Brian approached Sora and placed his arm around his shoulders, "What's your big master plan for fighting Kairi? Magic? Abilities? Full out offence?" Brian loaded him with questions.
"Defence." Sora replied.
"Defence?" Brian repeated, receiving a nod from his friend. "You're screwed." Brian said before walking away from Sora.
"How am I screwed?" Sora questioned, "This is a great idea."
"It may be a good idea to protect her but Kairi won't like it that you're defending." Brian told him.
"Why wouldn't she?" Donald said, "She gets the chance of beating Sora and only Riku has managed that."
"Yeah." Sora agreed quietly.
"Think guys! She wouldn't like it because she would want you to give it your all against her." Brian began to explain, "If you fight her, only being in defence, you're only going to provoke her even more and she'll think that you are not taking her seriously." Brian quickly took a breath, "Man, love can make someone so blind."
"I am taking her seriously!" Sora shot at him. "This is the only choice that I have."
"Or you can actually prove that you do trust her and have the dual." Brian argued back, "The last thing I want is to have Hikari be the only girl on the gummi ship."
"This isn't about you!" He growled at him, "Because of whatever is happening to me, the friendship bond between me and Kairi is at the edge of breaking."
"Which is what I'm trying to explain!" Brian approached him and grabbed him by the shoulders, "Can't you see, going defensive will not only make her anger but will also make it harder for you to control the darkness from turning you into a Heartless. The darkness and the Order will see this as a weakness and with you going into a defensive state, you will be increasing the chances of Anti-form."
"What do you expect me to do?!?" Sora pushed Brian's arms off of him, "Treat Kairi like any other enemy."
"Just treat it like a friendly duel that you would have with Riku or Donald and Goofy or even with me or Hikari." He suggested, seeing that Sora had calmed down.
"I don't know." Sora sighed in despair, "I just don't want to hurt her anymore."
Brian looked at his friend suffer but he couldn't help but feel the pain that he and Kairi was suffering from, he has to fix this some way. "Look Sora, I-" Brian stopped what he was saying and started to look around. "Someone's missing. Where's Riku?"
"He's with Hikari, Ah-yuck!" Goofy chuckled.
"Having a moment." Donald snickered.
"Really?" Brian said in a non-believing tone."Yeah right. Like that would happen in a million years."
"Riku has gone to apologise to Hikari, not to search for a moment." Sora corrected.
"What for?" Brian asked Sora while Donald began to talk to Goofy about Riku and Hikari.
"Well, you know Hikari's brother?"
"Yeah. Storm, Sakuzy, whatever he's going by. What about him?"
"He used us back at African Depths. The only reason he helped us was to get himself into the Order." Sora reported sadly to him.
Brian looked at Sora, questionably. "Who told you that?!?" He demanded.
"Riku."
"Who told Riku that?"
"Nikolai."
"Nikolai?" Brian repeated before shaking his head, "Nikolai is an Endless that is part of the Order. Why would you listen to what the neutral has to say?" He asked in a serious tone.
"He has been helping us." Sora shrugged, "We wouldn't have to White Rabbit's Pocket Watch if it wasn't for him."
"And he helped us off that there Endless ship." Goofy added with a confirmed nod from Donald. Brian grunted a response to their opinion on the Sorrow Endless, not really sure what to say at that the moment.
DONG
The four of them looked up at the Town hall's clock, seeing that the time for the fight was almost at hand. Brian looked back at Sora, seeing the expression on his face. "Sora..."
"I'm gonna stick with my plan." He said before heading off to meet Kairi, the others calling his name from behind.
BOWBOWBOW
The darkness didn't seem as thick as it was before within the Station of Awaking, it seemed like there was some form of light that kept the mural from falling. The colours of the stained glass picture looked as if it reflected into the dark abyss itself, covering the Key of Destiny as well. The Nobody groaned from the pain of the sudden attack caused by the soul. His eyes slowly opened to the light reflecting mural, making the Nobody looked down at the mural. At first he was amazed by the amount of colours that shone within the darkness before wondering how a mural like this could shine within the forgotten parts of Sora's heart.
Before Roxas could look over the mural properly, he shot his head towards another Nobody in a black coat. "Xion!" He quickly ran over to her and knelled down by her side as she got to her knees. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'll live." Xion coughed before looking at the lights that the mural created, "Wow...It's beautiful."
Roxas smiled at this before looking around the mural, "Do you think Axel made it?" he asked her.
"He wasn't taken by Heartless like we were." Xion replied sadly to him, "The soul has the power the place memories in their rightful place." She watched as Roxas stopped searching for his pyromaniac friend and just stared out in the darkness. She pushed herself off of the stained glass floor and walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Roxas."
"It's ok." He said in a low tone, looking back at her from tilting the side of his face. "I just wish we could have said goodbye."
"We'll see him again." Xion smiled, making him turn towards her fully, "Trust me."é
"I do." He smiled back at her, making her giggle slightly, "What?"
"It's nice to see you smile again." Xion said before turning away from him.
"It's nice to remember you again." He replied to her before digging through his pockets, bringing out the eight Heart Shards. "What do we do with these?" He asked.
Xion turned back around and took the Shards from him, placing the pieces all of together. As soon as the last piece of the heart was in place, the light from the mural began to reflect into the crystal like heart, absorbing all of the light from the mural to the heart. The Two Nobodies watched the Crystal Heart grow brighter and brighter before breaking apart once more, creating a light blue portal. "The connection has been rebuilt." She told him, "We enter through there and we'll be able to appear in Riku's heart but not for too long."
"What happens if we're in Riku's heart for too long?" he asked.
"Not sure but we won't know if we stay here." Xion begins to walk towards the portal.
"Wait." Roxas quickly ran to her side and halted her, "What about Sora? If we go through, we'll be leaving him to fend off the soul on his own. Without the connection between Kairi, his light might fade away."
"We'll be telling Riku what's going on in his heart; he'll make sure that nothing happens to Sora." She answered while looking at the portal. "I have fate that he'll be able to help Sora."
"I don't know." Roxas wasn't so sure of himself, "There's something in that last memory that makes me feel that I should stay." He spoke his thoughts to her.
"We can't help Sora if we stay here." Xion told him in a serious tone, "We need to gather your strength if you want to face the soul and you need help, we can't save him by staying here." And with that, she turned her back towards him and went through the portal.
The Key to Destiny stood there in thought, he wanted to save Sora and prevent anything from happening to Naminé but he had this feeling that something might go wrong while travelling across hearts. He shook his head quickly and ran through the portal before it closed.
As soon as the portal was closed, another black portal appeared to reveal the soul. The figure looked down at the mural with thought, "What actually is the connection between you?" he asked out loud.
It was a mural of Sora, Ventus and Vantias.
BOWBOWBOW
Sora and Kairi faced each other as both of them stood of opposite sides of the battle grid, that Max managed to draw with chalk. While Sora began to become nervous from the outcome of this match once more, Kairi looked confident and accepted the duel ahead, with Naminé ready to see where Roxas was within Sora's heart. Donald, Goofy, Vaan, Penelo and Max stood at the sidelines, waiting for the duel to begin as well as looking out for the Devon brothers, Hikari or Riku.
Brian and his chocobo, Steve, were in the middle of the court, explaining the rules of the duel. "This is a point round duel. To gain a point, you must strike the opponent at the side and shout 'dead' to gain a point. If the opponent falls to the floor and stays there for more than five seconds then you gain a point. The match will stop after the first side has gained five points and this match has no limits, no summons, no elements, just pure skills from your keyblades and your magic. You are not allowed to use 'Cure' during combat as it will gain a point to the other opponent. After a point is gained, both opponents will receive an Elixir or Phoenix Down before starting the duel once more. Do you guys understand?" Brian looked at the two of them for an answer.
"Yeah." Both of them nodded.
"Right." Brian continued with the rules, "There will be no physical contact. This includes kicking, punching, pushing, clawing, kissing-"He paused what he was saying and looked at the two, only to receive glares from everyone. "What? It could happen- OW!" Brian rubbed his head from where Steve had pecked him for being immature.
"I wonder who's going to win." Max said to Donald and Goofy.
"Hmm, well I think-" Goofy started.
"There's nothing to think about." Donald interrupted him, "We'll all know that Sora will win."
"How come?" Max asked.
"Because, Sora's the Keyblade Master." Donald smiled.
"Well, Kairi's pretty good too." Max added.
"Yeah, she had a quick duel with Vaan while she was waiting for Sora to arrive." Penelo told the two.
"Why did I fight her?" Vaan questioned.
"Because, you said that you wanted to prove that you can be a pirate by beating a person that has been one." Max answered, "Seriously though, you've wanted to be a pirate ever since I've met you. Why do you like pirates so much?"
"Why do you like skateboarding?" Vaan answered with a question.
"Because skateboarding is awesome!" Max defended his hobby.
Penelo sighed at this while the two continued to argue, "Boys..."
While Brian was trying to deal with his chocobo pecking at his head, Sora went over to Kairi, earning a questionable stare, "Sora, we're about to duel." She said coldly.
"I just want to talk." He said to her.
"You better make it quick." She said to him, "I don't know how long Brian will be like that."
"STEVE! C'MON! I WAS JOKING! HAVE MERCY!" Brian yelled, earning Max to help him out.
"I just- I just came over to tell you that no matter what the outcome of this duel is, you're not worthless, you're not useless, you're not just a damsel in distress. You're Kairi, you're my friend and I want us to go back that way. I want us to be close again." Sora looked at Kairi as if it this was his last hope of restoring their friendship. "Please..."
"Sora....I..." She began to feel speechless under his glaze.
"Steve! I'm sorry. Okay?" Brian made up with his chocobo, placed Steve back in his pocket and turned around. "Sora! Wrong side!" Brian shouted at him.
"Okay!" Sora quickly replied before placing his hand in front of Kairi, "Whatever choice you made, I'll support you even if it hurts." He smiled sadly at her before returning to his spot.
WHY DOES HE HAVE TO SAY THAT LIKE THAT?!? Kairi couldn't help but feel both happiness and sorrow at the same time to know that he'll be there for her but at the same time, hurt him for her actions.
Is there any need for the duel? Naminé asked her, Both of you want to be friends again.
No. We need to find where Roxas is and he still needs to admit that he's jealous.
How are you going to make him admit it?
I don't know, Nam.
"Alright. Get your weapons ready." Brian instructed, allowing Kairi to summon Oathkeeper while Sora summoned Kingdom Key.
Sora smiled at the sight of Kairi's keyblade, "You're using Oathkeeper?" He grinned.
"Well..." Kairi tried to think of something that might cover the reason why she has Oathkeeper equipped. "It's my best keyblade." She quickly made up before looking at Kingdom Key. Isn't Kingdom Key's ability to increase defence? Why would he use that?
"Okay! 3.....2......1" Brian counted down as he moved out of the way for both of them to be ready. "FIGHT!"
BOWBOWBOW
Riku and Hikari was laying on a grassy field that Hikari had shown Riku, saying it's the best place to relax and to get away from the town. The two had been talking about their friendships that they have and the troubles that they have faced with their friends. This included Riku telling her how guilty he felt when he betrayed his friends, even though the only thing he wanted to do was to save them. He didn't understand why he was spilling his heart out to her; he didn't understand how he was able to trust the girl that cut his hair while he was asleep so much. I must be losing my mind.
Hikari did seem unique out of all of the girls that he has met, the main one being the ability to go against him, not afraid of the fight ahead. He also admired how she seemed to face everything, dealing with Brian, the lost of her brother, she still seem to follow what her heart says. I must be losing my mind.
He didn't know what this sort of feeling this was, it was similar to the feelings he had for Kairi once upon a time but it seems that these were stronger. He didn't know what to do if anything might happen to Hikari, she might be the only one that understand him to the full. Even though he had told Sora that he was jealous of him for following his heart, he had made up his mind that there are some things that even Sora and Kairi doesn't know, he rather want to keep his friendship. I'm losing my mind.
He quickly looked over to Hikari, seeing that the calm breeze that blew through the grass had set her to sleep. Riku chuckled at this, she must be tired. He placed a bit of her hair behind her ear, removing it away from her face. She doesn't deserve half the stuff that she's been through...she doesn't deserve to lose her family. He sighed at this before letting the calm winds drift him to sleep.
"Riku! Riku! Riku!"
He opened his eyes once more, finding himself in the Station of Awaking, on the mural of him and King Mickey going through Castle Oblivion, "Hello?"
"RIKU!"
He quickly shot around, Way to Dawn in hand, only to find that no one was there, just their voice echoing in the darkness. "Who are you?"
"Sora......"
"Sora?" Riku repeated, "How can you be Sora?"
"Help....him....now!"
"Help him?" Riku had no clue what was going on.
"Need....more...time."
"Is this.....Xion?" He asked, "Where are you?"
"We're within the connection of hearts. We need you to remember the deep dive."
"We?" Riku questioned, "Why do I have to remember that? I turned to the darkness that day." He sighed with regret.
"To help Sora. You need to help him."
"What's wrong with him?" He asked the voices.
"He---"
"Hey! HEY!" Riku shouted for a response, "What's going on?"
"RIKU!!!!!!!!!"
"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" The silver head shot up from the shout, finding himself back on the grassy field. He shook his head before looking over to Hikari, the mastermind of shouting in his face while he was asleep and the one with the questionable face. "Hikari! Where's Sora and Kairi?" he asked.
"That's the reason I woke you." She said, "I was thinking about what we were talking about before you mentioned my brother and remembered about the fight."
"A fight?" Riku's eyes widened. "Why would they duel each other? They're love-sick teens."
"If you want to stop them, there's no time to explain." Hikari quickly rushed up and began to run back to town.
"Hikari! Wait up!" Riku quickly got up and ran after her; he wasn't sure what might happen in this so-called fight. He just hoped that his best friend's condition didn't get worse while they were separated.
A/N: HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE I'm evil ^^. Maybe I should take the break now. Yeah, I wanna write up some one-shots first before during the duel. Besides, I need to plan out the battle and what's going to happen. Best to do that with my partner in crime. Okay, I did end up getting Soul Silver, reason why I didn't update during Easter that much. I have one month of coursework left and then I am gonna work until this story is finished. Now for messages:
Kisdota-The Freak Gamer: Thanks for the advice and I'm thinking of placing Snowin the story. He'll be so easy to place.
Grey vs Ale: Mediation is good, wish i had a place to try it out though ^^
Future keyblader: I bet you're screaming at the screen right now. Hehehehehe yeah, make it look like the duel is written eeheheheheheh enjoy this chapter anyway.
Dreamer726: Updated ^^
Celticskyedancer: The Barrett that I meant was the one from FF7 expect that he'll have a cast instead and that he will be a teenager like the others in Little Devon. Yeah! Let's change the characters.
Artism: I think you'll have more luck at guessing what might happen ^^.
Ok, I'm gonna work on Lucky Number Eight and a SoraXKairi one-shot.
See ya next time
Kingdommad