The First Journey.
Chapter Nine: Sora vs Leon.
Previously in the last chapter.
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?!" Sora screamed loudly as a couple veins throbbed angrily on her forehead, her already tight grip on the Keyblade tighten even more. She was pissed as hell. How dare this asshole tell her to hand the Keyblade over because it's not safe for a young lady?! Sora was going to teach him some respect if he doesn't take back what he said! "YOU TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW!"
Leon may not show it on the outside, but he was inwardly unnerved by Sora's extreme anger. There is a saying about never provoking angry women as their wrath can make them very scary…and this woman looked very scary. He would need to become serious to defeat her once their fight starts.
"No, I will not take back what I said," Leon stated calmly, making Sora's ire increased and grit her teeth. "And I'm going to take that Keyblade from you, even if I have to fight you with brute force." To prove his point, he lifted a huge weapon that was in his right-hand, which is a cross between a sword and revolver with a lion head keychain at the end of the hilt, and held it over his shoulder. "I won't go easy on you just because you're a woman."
"If you're really trying to pick a fight with me, buddy," Sora said quietly at first before raising her voice as she glared fiercely at Leon. "Then I'll give you a fight! You already pissed me the hell off with what you said about me handing the Keyblade over because it's not safe for a young lady! I'll never hand it over to you! Prepare yourself, you sexist bastard! Because I'm coming at you hard and fast!"
With that piece said and a loud battle cry, Sora rushed at Leon, who stood root in his spot but gained a small smirk on his face as their blades clashed against each other.
The fight between the Keyblade wielder and the gunslinger has officially begun.
(In the Present; With Sora and Leon)
Sora hadn't been kidding when she thought she would have to become serious and rely on her current skill-set if she has any chance to defeat Leon. He proven himself to be a strong skilled opponent that shouldn't be underestimated at all, especially since he relies on brute strength and power whenever he swings his sword. Sora can still feel the soreness coursing through her arms when she first blocked the powerful attack. She made a mental note to never do that again until she further trains herself.
Every time Sora sends a slash, strike, swing, thrust and feint at Leon with the Keyblade, he would either dodge or block, sometimes parried, the attacks with his huge revolver sword effortlessly before retaliating with his attacks, which she rolls, back-flipped or lean her body out of the way to avoid them. After doing so, she immediately launches herself back at the patiently-waiting Leon and engages him in a furious-fast sword fight, their blades clashing loudly against each other.
As Sora and Leon continued to clashed their blades against each other in the First District's plaza with both giving their all – they had moved their battle to an open area because there wasn't much room to fight – the former was reminded of all the spars she and Riku used to have on Destiny Islands when they were little kids and how she couldn't land a single hit on him.
Riku would always dodge or block all Sora's attacks effortlessly, given he had a better experience as a fighter than her, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't land a single hit on him. Her desperation to land a single hit always gave him the opportunity to claim victory during the spars, much to her jealousy and frustration. Sora vowed she will defeat Riku one day.
However, there was one problem with that vow. Sora wasn't strong enough to defeat Riku. Sure, she may be good with a sword, but the one thing she lacked the most back then as a little kid was strength. Without strength, she couldn't beat Riku in a sword fight.
Which is why Sora had taken martial art classes in both middle and high school to make herself become much stronger than she was back then. She even has been working out lately during the summer to increase her current power and skill-set. But there was a question Sora found herself mentally asking as she continued fighting Leon while quickly dodging his powerful swing attacks.
Will the martial art lessons, along with the working out regimen, be good enough to fight against Leon?
Sora hoped so, otherwise she's not only going to lose to Leon but lose her only weapon to find Riku and Kairi.
The martial art lessons, along with the working out regimen Sora had done during the summer, did turn out to be good enough and she even managed to score a couple hard hits on Leon with the Keyblade. He looked greatly surprised at getting hit since he is so used to winning fights and he hasn't fought anyone seriously before. Yet, this woman managed to not only hit him a couple time but made him fight seriously, even though he is holding back on his true power.
Leon's thoughts about Sora being the key to save his world, including other ones, from the Heartless and the person who controls them were proving to become true as the fight between him and her rages on, which he needed to end real soon.
The reason why Leon wanted to end the fight real soon, despite liking it as he found a worthy opponent to probably spar against in the future, is because of the Heartless. As long as Sora continues to wield the Keyblade in her hand, they will always keep coming at her non-stop, no matter how many she strikes down. It's important to hide her away until she gets the explanation of what her destiny is as a Keyblade wielder.
So, with such speed Sora couldn't react or sensed, Leon knocked the Keyblade away from her with one hand to leave her completely vulnerable for any attack and produced a large fireball in his huge revolver sword before launching it directly at her chest, dealing a tremendous amount of damage, due to it being point-blank.
"ARGH!" Sora let out a loud painful scream as she felt herself being blasted backwards and colliding hard into the cobblestone ground on her back, inferno-fire heat coursing through her entire body. She felt extremely weak after receiving the fireball attack. 'W-what the fuck just happened?! All my strength…it's gone! I can't move!'
"I will admit you got skills, spirit and strength, young lady," Leon stated, walking over to the down heavy-panting Sora, who weakly looked up to see him coming. She could do absolutely nothing as he got close to her and kneeled down to her level on one knee, his huge revolver sword held over his shoulder. "But there's one thing you lack, which is experience. If you had it, then the fight between us would've continued longer and you might've won. Unfortunately…you lost."
Right after hearing those very last words, Sora completely froze, her eyes widen to the size of dinner plates. The whole world around her blank out from existence like time being stopped as her mind replayed the words Leon just said to her.
"Unfortunately…you lost."
"Unfortunately…you lost."
"Unfortunately…you lost."
'I…I lost? Me?' Sora thought numbly as she find it hard to believe she had lost. She thought the martial art lessons, along with the working out regimen, would be good enough against Leon, but she was proven to be wrong; it wasn't good enough. Once the implications suck in, Sora began to very much panic inwardly. 'NOOOOO! I CAN'T LOSE! I CANNOT LOSE! I MUST WIN THIS FIGHT TO FIND RIKU AND KAIRI! I WILL…WIN THIS FIGHT!'
Without realizing it, a bright light aura suddenly surrounded Sora's body, causing Leon's eyes to widen in shock. What is with this bright light aura and what caused it to appear? "What in the world?"
"Take…THIS!" Sora shouted, still surrounded in the bright light aura and giving Leon a sucker fierce punch to the stomach, causing him to gasp and cough out a bit saliva as he was sent skidding backwards, pain coursing through his body.
"Grgh!" Leon grunted as he quickly recovered himself and dug his feet into the cobblestone ground to stop skidding. Once he stopped, he looked upwards to see where Sora is, only to become face to face with a white gloved fist that sent him skidding backwards once again. "GAH!"
"Alright!" Sora exclaimed with a large smirk, feeling great satisfaction when she punched Leon in the stomach. It felt so good. The bright light aura that surrounded her body a moment ago vanished, but left her with a temporarily enhanced power-up. Sora summoned the Keyblade back to her hand, spun it around before pointing it at Leon, who was holding his face with one hand as he got back up. "Time for round two, buddy!"
Without giving Leon time to register what she said or react, Sora dashed at him with such speed she never known to possessed and began striking enhanced-powerful fast blows on him with the Keyblade, all of which dealing a great amount of damage, causing the brown-hair warrior to release loud pain grunts. He tried to raise his huge sword to defend himself, but Sora knocked it away from him like he did with the Keyblade, leaving him completely vulnerable for any attacks.
Sora then dismissed the Keyblade from her hand and began performing powerful martial art techniques, which also dealt a great amount of damage, enough to make Leon release pain cries as his body couldn't handle the kicks, punches and elbow strikes.
Moments later, a beaten bruised Leon was on one knee, panting heavily to push the pain he's currently feeling away as best he could. "No way…you beat me…" Never before someone had someone beaten him and the defeat wounded his pride as a warrior. Leon would need to train harder in the future. "You're not bad…young lady."
Sora was also panting heavily like Leon, but had extreme sweat dripping down her face. The enhanced power-up she received from the bright light aura was gone and she's now struggling to stand upwards, due to being so exhausted upon using many powerful attacks with the Keyblade, along with martial art techniques, during the fight between her and Leon. It also didn't help the previous exhaustion from running around the Second District and fighting the black shadows returned, making Sora more exhausted than before, despite taking a refresher at Cid's shop.
Despite herself, a small smile appeared on Sora's face. "You're…not bad yourself. I…enjoyed our fight…"
A look of surprise appeared on Leon's face. Did this woman say she enjoyed the fight when she got extremely pissed minutes ago? "Really? You enjoyed the fight after what I said about you handing the Keyblade over because it's not safe for a young lady?"
Sora nodded tiredly, feeling exhaustion catching up to her. She didn't have much time left until she becomes unconscious. "Yeah…it was the most fun…I've ever had…in a long time. I…miss sparing…against someone. It makes…me feel…alive." Sora then collapsed to her side on the ground and felt the remains of her consciousness slipped away, but she stayed awake long enough to say these final words. "I hope…we can…fight…again..."
A moment later, Sora became unconscious but still retained the small smile on her face.
Leon stared at Sora's unconscious form, still surprised at what she said a moment ago before a small smile appeared on his face. To be honest, he enjoyed the fight as well. It had been a long time since he last enjoyed a fight and to find a worthy opponent who could not only injured him but get back up after taking a direct fireball attack earned his respect.
'Yeah, this young lady is definitely the key to save our world, including other ones, from the Heartless and her,' Leon thought, continued to stare at Sora's unconscious form as he stood up, having managed to regain his breathing and pushing the pain he felt away. 'She just needs training and experience before she's ready.'
"Wow, Leon, never thought I would see you get your butt absolutely whooped by a woman."
Hearing a young female voice filled with amusement broke Leon's thoughts and made him mentally groan as he knows one person who would find him losing to someone amusing. Turning around, he sees a young petite-built girl around sixteen standing behind him, hands on her hips and a smile on her face. She had short, black hair with a metal headband around her forehead, the tassels hanging in the back, fair skin and purple eyes filled with amusement.
The young girl's outfit consisted of a green tube top with two blue belts holding it up, a yellow scarf around her neck, short tan shorts, a loose blue belt around her waist, white high-thigh socks and orange shoes. She also wore long, fingerless orange gloves and mesh upper-forearm sleeves with a black band at the end.
This young girl was Yuffie Kisaragi, the self-proclaimed great ninja in the world, a hyperactive person and a friend of Leon and Cid.
"I went easy on her, despite holding back on my true power," Leon said, turning back to stare at Sora's unconscious form as Yuffie walked up beside him to stare as well. "I never thought she would be able to beat me, much less make me fight seriously."
"It sounds like you respect her for that," Yuffie stated, giving Leon a curious look. It wasn't like him to respect someone who had not only beat him in a fight but make him fight seriously.
Leon didn't hesitate to reply to the statement. "I do, Yuffie, she definitely earned my respect."
For the next few moments, Leon and Yuffie stared at Sora's unconscious form lying on the cobblestone ground in silence. They can admit she's strong, skilled and have spirit, but she needs training and experience. If she doesn't gain them throughout her journey, then she'll never be ready to face against the person who controls the Heartless.
"Alright, Yuffie, we better get her out of here before the Heartless shows up," Leon said, breaking the silence. "We'll take her to the one of the rooms in the hotel, hide her away and heal her injuries. Once she wakes up, we'll give her the explanation of what her destiny is as a Keyblade wielder."
"Do you think she'll agree to it, Leon?" Yuffie asked quietly as Leon walked over and gently lifted Sora up from the ground in a bridal-style. "Her destiny as a Keyblade wielder? It's a such a heavy burden and responsibility to bear on one's shoulders. I don't think she can handle it, considering Cid told us she is new to being in another world." There was an uncertain look on Yuffie's face.
Leon paused, haven't considered that question, along with the heavy burden and responsibility of what a Keyblade wielder is all about. It is true Sora's new to being in another world than her own world, which is lost to the darkness, and once she learns what her destiny is as a Keyblade wielder, she may become unsure, maybe even unnerved, at the sheer pressure she will receive soon after she wakes up.
It may be selfish, but Leon needs Sora to understand the heavy burden and responsibility of what a Keyblade wielder is all about. Many worlds are being threatened by the Heartless and the chosen hero of the Keyblade must emerge from hiding to protect said worlds, otherwise they'll be lost to the darkness forever.
The Keyblade, along with the chosen wielder, are the world's only hope left to fight against both the darkness and the Heartless.
After a few silent moments of thinking in his mind, Leon gave his answer to Yuffie, who looked more uncertain than before.
"I really hope so, Yuffie, otherwise all the worlds are doomed."
And done! That's the ending of the chapter! I think I did a good job of writing the fight between Sora and Leon, though I'm not sure because writing fights is something I'm not good at. I'm hoping to improve that in the future.
Next chapter will be about Sora awakening from her fight with Leon and receiving the explanation what a Keyblade wielder is all about. Will she accept her destiny or not? Find out in the next chapter.
Write a review if you like this story and enjoy the chapter.
Next Chapter: Answers.