Chapter 137
Hero's LegacyThe sunset painted the sky with a purple hue. After the tournament, the party had spent an hour addressing their fans before the crowd had returned to their homes and businesses, and after that they helped Hercules and Phil clean up the coliseum. When everything was taken care of, they sat at a stable in town to relax and trade stories. Bartz introduced them to his chocobo companion. Boko was a large bird the size of a horse and built like an ostrich who had yellow feathers and a thick, curved orange beak. Sora fed Gysahl Greens to Boko while Bartz and Aqua helped the bird preen his feathers. At Hercules' request, Sora, Donald and Goofy began recounting the events that had transpired between the last Hades Cup and their previous visit to the coliseum.
"What about you?" Sora asked after catching Hercules and Phil up on the end of the war against Organization XIII. "Has anything exciting happened since we last helped you fight Hades?"
"Mm, same old," Hercules replied. "We fixed up the coliseum, as you can see. I fought some monsters that had been causing trouble in the countryside. Phil started working me extra hard after I got my strength back."
"While he was all down in the dumps, he'd been slacking off," Phil interjected. "Had to get him back into shape."
Mickey laughed. "I know what you mean. When these three—" He pointed to Sora, Donald and Goofy "—woke up from getting their memories put back together, they got exhausted within a minute while fighting a pack of Nobodies. Dusk Nobodies."
"But you got back on your feet," Phil said. "And heck, by the time I saw you after that, aside from your magic packing less of a punch, I wouldn't have known the difference."
"Thanks," Sora replied. He turned to Bartz. "You said you took the long way to get here. How was the trip?"
"Well, Boko and I went all over the place. We explored the country, traded at towns along the way, fought off monsters and bandits. We saved a princess from a couple of bounty hunters. I sailed with a pirate crew and their hot pirate captain. Found out he was actually a girl. Still hot. Got back on dry land and rode with Boko again. Somewhere along the way, I ran into this strange man—I think he was a man, anyway—all decked out in the strangest set of robes I had ever seen. He called himself a 'Famed Mimic', though I'd never heard of him. He challenged me to mimic him, and, well…" He laughed. "It wasn't exactly a Herculean duel. He just stood there, doing nothing. I waited for him to do something for me to mimic. After a few minutes, he called me a 'Master Mimic'. It took me a couple hours to figure out that by doing nothing when he was doing nothing, I was mimicking him."
"Kweh!" Boko chirped in amusement.
"Not all trials are strangling a sword-proof lion," Phil said. "Some of them are just riddles."
"Is my name really becoming an adjective?" Hercules asked. Goofy and Megara laughed.
"As a reward for winning his 'contest', he gave me this crystal." Bartz placed his hand over his chest, causing a gemstone to melt out and into his palm. He grasped onto the crystal and pulled it out. His skin and clothes remained unbroken, as if the crystal had only phased through them. He held it up for his friends to see. The gem was a gray top-shaped crystal that was roughly the size of a baseball, with reflective surfaces all around. He moved it around to show it to each of his friends, and they could see themselves looking back at them in the planar surfaces, albeit completely grayed out.
"This is where my Mimicry power comes from," Bartz explained. "The guy didn't really explain it. As I was taking a look at it, it suddenly flew into my chest. I didn't understand what it was until I was attacked by a bandit with a bow. I got this strange feeling as I saw the guy draw the bow and fire. The next thing I knew, I had a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other, and I instinctively nocked and fired it as if I'd been using it my whole life. The guy must've been so shocked to see the bow just appear out of nowhere that he didn't try to dodge the arrow. After that, I started playing around with it whenever I got into a fight, and I soon figured out how it worked and how to use it at will." He pushed the crystal shard back into his chest. "So, yeah. That's my story. Boko and I went where the wind took us, and then we finally made it here."
"Cool," Sora said.
"Looks like everyone here has had some legendary adventures," Phil remarked.
"Speaking of which…" Hercules turned to address Aqua. "I haven't seen you or Terra in over six years. How have things been on your end? Were you able to find him?"
Aqua hesitated, then let out a sigh. Hercules, Phil, Megara, Bartz, and Boko immediately knew that her tale was not a triumphant one. She told them about everything that had happened to her, from Master Xehanort's schemes to Master Eraqus' death to the disastrous battle at the Keyblade Graveyard. She recounted how she allowed herself to fall into the Realm of Darkness in an attempt to save Terra, her trek through the dark world and her encounter with Mickey, and finally her rescue. Her audience could only gape in shock and sympathy.
"Oy vey. Just like Jason," Phil lamented.
"I'm sorry you had to go through all that," Hercules said.
"No one deserves that," Megara added.
"How are you holding up?" Hercules asked.
Aqua shrugged. "I'm figuring it out," she replied. "I'm still worried about Terra and Ven, though. But my friends, they give me hope."
"You've got a good team by your side," Phil said. "Heroes don't just fight monsters. They help the helpless and bring hope to the lost."
"That reminds me. We ran into Zack a couple weeks ago," Aqua said.
"Zack?! How is that numbskull?" Phil asked.
"He's grown a lot, and he's become a real hero in a place that could really use someone who shines as bright as him."
"Good for him," Hercules said.
"Maybe when I become a hero like you guys, I might meet him on my travels," Bartz mused, petting Boko.
"You're gonna have to train before you get that far," Phil reminded him. "You need to get to their level with your own power."
"Then how about we go right now? I'm still up for a little sparring." Bartz performed a kip-up to jump to his feet.
"All right, then," Aqua decided, standing up as well. "I'd like to see what you can do without relying on skills you copied from others."
"Okay, but I won't promise that I won't scan the skills you use for later."
"Fair enough. I'd never prohibit you from working with what you have."
"Okay, then. You got any new tricks to dazzle us with, Aqua?" Phil asked.
Aqua smirked. "I have picked up a few things that I would like to see how he responds to," she replied, summoning her Keyblade.
Grinning, Bartz drew his sword. The group exited the stable, Bartz and Aqua taking positions in the middle of the street while their friends leaned against the wall as they observed. Boko poked his head through his stall's window so that he could watch as well.
"Okay, then. Ready? Begin!" Phil called out.
Bartz charged at Aqua, who stood still and allowed him to make the first move. He delivered four swift strikes, which Aqua blocked and then countered. Bartz jumped back to avoid her counterattack, then rolled to the side to dodge her Thunder Surge. Aqua cast Thunder, and Bartz was hit with a bolt that struck his sword. She hit him with another Thunder Surge.
She felt electric power charge up through her body as lightning arced between her fingers and danced around her arms and legs. Her eyes and hair glowed an electric blue color, and her skin became translucent. As she finished powering up her Thunderbolt Power Style, Aqua let out a primal yell. She lashed out at Bartz, bolts of lightning shooting from her Keyblade with each swing. Bartz danced around the attack, dropping his sword so that it would not conduct the magic lightning and hurt him. Aqua was surprised by this development. She had not considered that her Power Style would harm him simply by connecting with his weapon; Thunderbolt was not even her plan for testing him, instead being a step along the way to getting where she wanted to go. Nevertheless, she decided that it would be interesting to see how he responded to the challenge she posed.
Bartz took a deep breath. No more swordplay. Time to change tactics, he thought. Well, she did want to see what I was capable of. He began to step from side to side in a triangular pattern, his feet moving to an imaginary rhythm. Aqua raised an eyebrow in wonder at what he was doing. Bartz continued to sidestep, causing Aqua to realize that he was waiting for her to make a move. As she wanted to see what he would do, and because she did not want the Power Style's energy to run out early, she complied. Bartz dodged the strike with a cartwheel, then did a few more sidesteps and then spun around and delivered a kick to her stomach. Aqua stumbled backward before recovering herself and lashed out at him with a horizontal slash, but he ducked to the side, hiding below the attack, then rose back up and delivered a chop to her head. He then did a backwards handspring to put some distance between them.
Aqua cast Thunder, but Bartz managed to sidestep to a safe space between bolts, surviving the attack unscathed. Undeterred, Aqua cast Thunder again, hitting him this time. She followed up with a Thunder Surge, rushing him and tackling him. When the attack ended, Bartz fell down to his hands and feet and crab-walked backward by a few steps, then swung his leg up to kick Aqua in the head. He stood back up and tried to follow up with a straight kick for her torso, but Aqua raised a barrier which blocked the strike. She then caused the barrier to explode outward, sending Bartz flying back.
Aqua felt enough energy build up inside her to activate a new Power Style. She let the energy blend with the Thunderbolt energy and charge up the cells in her body. Bartz raised an eyebrow as she seemed to blur out so he was seeing two of her laying over each other. Aqua could feel space folding in around her, dimensions and planes of existence passing through her body. It was a strange sensation, as if she was existing in several places at once, but she had learned to make proper use of the power that now filled her core.
"Let's see how you respond to this," Aqua said, her voice reverberating as if her voice was coming from all around the street. Bartz ran for his sword and picked it up, ready for whatever she threw at him. Aqua charged at him, and Bartz raised his sword to block the attack that she was preparing. However, she suddenly vanished just as he attempted to parry, then reappeared to his left just as suddenly, and struck him. Bartz tried to strike back, but she teleported again, hovering upside-down in midair behind him, and dealt a four-hit combo. She then reappeared on his right, feet back on the ground, and struck again. Each time she teleported, an afterimage was left in her wake, although these faded after a few seconds. She waited for Bartz to get back up before launching into the next string of attacks. Bartz started to catch onto the pattern, and while he failed to defend against the first combo, he did predict her next location and parry the set of strikes that would have come from behind him, only to be hit by the next combo.
Aqua began a new pattern of attack, warping around Bartz several times, confusing him with her afterimages, before attacking. As Bartz picked himself back up after one combo, he realized that he would not be able to overcome Aqua's attacks by guessing where she would strike next. As she began teleporting around him again, Bartz closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Feel what is real… Feel what is real… he thought. Reaching out with his senses, he felt shifts in the air around him. He felt warm and cold patches move around. As Aqua teleported around, he sensed where she really was with each warp, and he could even feel her path, even as she moved on a different plane.
He dropped his sword and balled his fists. As the milliseconds wound down, he waited for the ghost dance to pause. As Aqua landed behind him and prepared to strike, he spun around and delivered a sharp punch to her abdomen.
Their friends' jaws dropped as Aqua was thrown back hard, the force of the punch sending her flying down the street. Aqua soon crashed into a wall and slumped to the ground, groaning. The energy of her Ghost Drive Power Style faded away. "Wark!" Boko cheered for his master. Donald and Kairi ran to heal Aqua and help her up while Sora, Riku, Mickey, Goofy, Hercules, Phil, and Megara went to commend Bartz.
"I like your style, kid," Phil said. "How come I haven't seen you use it at all before?"
"I learned swordplay, and I learned that art, but I never actually trained in using both styles in tandem," Bartz explained.
"That was a good hit," Aqua commended, rejoining the group along with Donald and Kairi. "I haven't gone up against anyone or anything that was able to keep track of me in my Ghost Drive. What was that?"
"It's just a trick I learned from my dad," Bartz replied. "He said, 'When illusions deceive your eyes, rely on your other senses to feel what is real.'"
"Really? What was his name?" Hercules asked.
"Dorgann."
Phil's eyes seemed to pop out of his head. "Wait-wait-wait! Hold up! Your old man was Dorgann Klauser?!" he asked in amazement. Hercules seemed to be similarly taken aback.
Bartz nodded. "Yeah. Did you know him?"
"Know him? He was a legend! He and—" Phil caught himself and cleared his throat. "You know what? It's better if I show you. Herc! Call your horse."
Hercules nodded. He put his finger and thumb in his mouth and blew a loud whistle, causing everyone else to cover their ears. A moment passed before they heard a distant whinney and the flap of wings before a winged horse appeared in the sky and swiftly flew down to them. It was a majestic stallion with pure white fur, a blue mohawk-style mane on its crest, a similarly-colored tail, and a pair of large white bird wings. Hercules stroked Pegasus' neck, and the winged horse let out an appreciative neigh in reply.
"We're going to my old home on Rhodes," Phil said as Hercules climbed onto Pegasus' back and helped Phil and Bartz up. He looked down at the others apologetically. "Sorry, but there isn't a lot of room up here. I'm afraid you guys are gonna have to sit this one out."
"Hold on tight," Hercules told Bartz.
Bartz looked at one of Pegasus' flapping wings nervously. "Hey, um, now's probably a good time to tell you that I don't do very well with hei—AAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIII!" He screamed as Pegasus took off, carrying his passengers into the air.
Bartz held onto Hercules for dear life, afraid that he might fall. As they flew further and further off of the ground, even passing through clouds, his mind flashed back to his childhood, when he climbed onto a roof in a game of hide-and-seek with his friend, only to slip and nearly fall off. He remembered holding onto the ledge, crying for help until his voice went hoarse. He was soon rescued, but the incident still haunted him.
Pegasus flew over the sea, numerous islands passing under them. Soon, a particular island came into view, and Pegasus began his descent. As he drew closer to the ground, he slowed down until he set foot in a field in front of the head of a collapsed statue.
Phil slid off of the horse's back. Hercules moved to do the same, but realized that Bartz still had his arms wrapped around his waist. "Hey, you can open your eyes now. We're here," he told him.
Bartz slowly opened his eyes and saw that they had come to a stop on the ground. He breathed a sigh of relief, released his grip on Hercules, and quickly climbed off of Pegasus' back. He looked up at the enormous statue head, which was the size of a house all on its own. A wooden door was built into the base of the neck, leading him to surmise that it actually had been refitted into a house.
"This way!" Phil called, beckoning Bartz and Hercules to follow him into the statue head. "Horse stays outside." Pegasus let out a grunt in dismay. Hercules gave him a comforting pat on the side before following Phil.
"You live here, Phil?" Bartz asked.
"I did," Phil replied. "It was my retirement plan. Most of my protégés met a horrible end, so I hung it all up and stuck myself out here in disgrace. Then Herc came along and pulled me into helping him become a true hero. I trained him in the field over the hill before setting up shop in the Coliseum." He opened the door and beckoned his guests to follow him in. "Right this way."
Bartz and Hercules ducked to get through the door. "Wow!" Bartz said as he looked around the home inside the statue head. There were all sorts of relics from Phil's past in training heroes. There were statues, weapons, pieces of armor, and even the yard of a ship's mast. Curiously, in the center of the room, there appeared to be a pedestal meant for a large statue, but there was only a pile of crumbled pebbles.
"Take a look at this, kid." At Phil's direction, Bartz turned his attention to a mural that Phil was standing in front of. The mural depicted four men, three of whom carried swords, standing on a bridge, surrounded by the corpses of a small troop of monsters. Three of them were humans, while the man on the far right appeared to have the head of a wolf. The man on the far left wore clothes and armor that were very similar to what Bartz himself wore, and he held a sword that looked exactly like Bartz's. Bartz found himself staring at the man in the image, recognizing his face.
"These guys were legendary heroes from the last generation, before either of you were born," Phil told him. He gestured to the man on the center-left of the group. "Galuf Halm Baldesion, king of the city-state of Bal." He identified the man to the right of Galuf, distinguished by a horned headdress, as: "The swordsman, Xezat Matias Surgate, king of Surgate." He gestured to the wolfman. "Kelger Vlondett, chief of the Cynocephalus tribe in Quelb." Lastly, he pointed to the man on the far left. "And Dorgann Klauser. I trained Dorgann myself when he was about your age, and I followed his exploits as he trekked mountains and fought bandits."
"You… trained my dad?" Bartz asked, awed.
Phil nodded. "Now that I think about it, he was a lot like you. Brave, cared about others, and free as the wind," he replied. He then continued his story. "Dorgann and the others met in the Calydonian Boar Hunt and went on monster-hunting quests together afterward. After saving several towns from monster attacks, they became known as the Four Warriors of Dawn. They really made it as some of the greats when they fought alongside the gods against the combined forces of Echidna and her monstrous offspring."
"Really? I mean, he told me about some of his travels and battles, but he never mentioned anything like that," Bartz mused.
"A few months after that, Dorgann sent me a letter saying that he was retiring from the life of a hero so he could be with his family. I heard that the other Warriors of Dawn went their separate ways as well."
"Yeah. When I was growing up, he seemed to miss his adventuring days. I wanted to go on adventures with him, not just for fun but for his sake as well. But every time I asked him, he said to wait until I was older. Then Mom died of a fever, and Dad passed away a few years later. I never got the chance to travel with him. And I never knew that he was such a… a legend. I never knew about his friends, the other Warriors of Dawn."
"Maybe someday you'll get to meet them," Hercules suggested.
Bartz smiled. "Yeah. I'd like that." He turned to face Phil. "I want to be the kind of man who will make my father and his friends proud. And I'll also follow my heart, listen to the call of the wind."
Hercules and Phil smiled proudly. "Something tells me you're well on your way to that," Hercules said.
Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Aqua, and Megara remained in front of the stable as they waited for Hercules, Bartz and Phil to return on Pegasus. As they waited, Aqua began lecturing Sora, Riku and Kairi about performing Shotlocks.
"The ammunition for a Shotlock is, in essence, a spell. The way Master Eraqus trained us, we determined what spells and techniques we would use prior to engaging in a situation so that we wouldn't falter when sorting through everything we had at our disposal," Aqua explained.
Sora nodded. "I used to do the same thing. I made it so that I would have four spells to use without sorting through them," he replied. "Although I still had the presence of mind to use the other spells; it just took longer to get in the groove for them. I also had a special ability in the back of my mind, like Ars Arcanum or Sonic Blade. It's easier to use a more diverse range of spells and skills now."
"Exactly. Well, Shotlocks work the same way. Terra, Ven and I would assign a certain spell to the Shotlock. It's like putting on an accessory; whatever effects it has stick with you while you have it equipped. Except, you know, it's all in your mind and heart," Aqua continued. "There are a few different 'classes' of Shotlock. There are some where you launch waves of projectiles that home in on targets. Others release an initial salvo and then generate an aura around you which will then release additional blasts. And others will actually propel you toward enemies at incredible speed, wreathed in whatever spell energy you put into the Shotlock."
"I think I understand why you only assign one at a time," Kairi remarked. Riku let out a low whistle, concurring with the commentary on the complicated explanation.
Aqua laughed. "Okay, Sora, can you tell me what spell type you have attached to your Shotlock?"
Sora crossed his arms as he thought hard. "Well, it charges up and shoots red energy shots, but I don't think it's fire-elemental."
"Flare. It's a non-elemental Black Magic spell that packs an explosive blast. And it's the kind of spell that can be enhanced by orders of a thousand."
Sora, Riku and Kairi's eyes widened in amazement. "Okay, that's next on the curriculum," Sora said.
"Is that like the fireworks magic that Donald uses and those Heartless we fought in The Land of Dragons?" Kairi asked.
Donald nodded. "Yep. I don't really use the higher-tier Flare spells because they tend to cause a lot of collateral damage," he explained. Mickey nodded in agreement.
"Okay, now that I know what I have in that slot, I might be able to switch it with something else," Sora said.
"Alright. I'll help you through it." With Aqua walking him through the process, Sora attempted to focus a Shotlock with a different spell. As they did not have suitable targets on hand, Aqua offered herself as a target, assuring him that she would use Barrier so that she did not actually get hurt. Sora attempted to swap the Flare magic out for Thunder, but his first few attempts resulted in him using Ragnarok instead. After some more coaching and concentration, Sora successfully unleashed a salvo of electric blasts. After congratulating him, Riku and Kairi stepped up to learn to use Shotlocks. A group of Heartless materialized, possibly drawn by the increased magical activity of Keyblade wielders, so Sora, Riku and Kairi were able to get some practice on targeting multiple enemies.
After a few hours of training, they heard wings flap and looked up to see Pegasus in the sky. They ceased their spell practice and made room for the winged horse to land. When Pegasus had come to a stop, Hercules, Bartz and Phil slid off, Bartz notably letting out a sigh of relief.
"So? How was your trip?" Sora asked.
Bartz smiled. "I learned a lot about my dad, and myself," he replied. He then began to recount what Phil had told him.