SET BEFORE THE SECOND HALF OF CHAPTER 1
For now we must step away from the World of Metal, now we must return to a familiar world, one on the edge of light and darkness known as Twilight Town. Deep in the woods was an abandoned mansion, the place was rundown, with torn furniture all across the floor and claw marks on the wall. Yet the place still had power, for unbeknownst to anyone, deep in the mansion's basement lived two individuals. The first was a dark skinned man, wrapped in red bandages, that covered most of his face only revealing his mouth and one orange eye. This was Darkness in Zero, also known as Diz.
The second was a much taller man, dressed in an all black cloak, he was also dark skinned, with orange eyes , he also possessed long silver hair. This was Ansem the Seeker of Darkness or rather someone claiming to be him, as the real Ansem was long dead, killed by Sora, Donald and Goofy, in the End of The World. The two stood together in silence for a while before Ansem spoke up.
"Diz, I've been to see Sora." Ansem said addressing the bandaged man
"Oh? He said with curiosity and how is the boy doing?"
"As of right now he's fine, getting stronger with each battle " Ansem replied "Seems he didn't need Roxas after all."
"Maybe not." Diz replied "But I'm still disappointed you let Roxas and that witch go free, what if they return to the organization."
"They won't, Roxas gave me his word ...after punching me in the gut" Ansem chuckled as Diz frowned, not really seeing the humor in it. Before Ansem got serious "Diz, I want my old body back, I want to help Sora but I can't not like this" he explained motioning to his body "I need to conquer my darkness, I need to be Riku again." he said passionately making Diz smile
"Then my dear boy, you are in need of more training, training that I or his majesty can not provide." Diz said
"If not you or his majesty, then who can teach me?" Riku asked, concerned as Diz handed Riku three things, The first was a note, addressed to a name he didnt recognize. The second item was something rather simple, an elixir , and the third item was very unique " What is this?" he asked holding up an oval shaped green gem, with a yellow star shining in its center
"That Riku is a Star Gem, they are magic stones used to locate specific worlds. This one is linked to a place called The Photon Lab, where you shall meet your new teacher, also make sure you give him the note." Diz explained
"Right, thank you Diz." Riku said, giving the bandaged man a smile. " So uh how does this thing work?"
"Just channel your magic into it and it will take you there." Diz said, getting a nod. The gem began to glow, brighter and brighter before the light enveloped around Riku like a ball before he and the gem went shooting off to parts unknown.
A FEW HOURS LATER IN THE PHOTON LABS
To say life was about to get weird for one Tetsuya Tsurugi would be an understatement, First he gets an Email from a man he thought long dead, Ansem the Wise telling him a protege of his was being sent to him for some much needed training. Said Training would be gaining control and conquering their darkness. Tetsuya understood that , having dealt with his personal demons long ago. The second sign of weirdness was when said protege arrived in a sphere of light right in the middle of the Photon Labs giving everyone quite the surprise, when a man who looked exactly like Xehanort in a black cloak, with a note in his hand suddenly asked for his name.
"Is there a Testuya Tsurugi around?" The man asked his voice deep and smooth
"Who wants to know?" Testuya asked, crossing his arms.
"I have come to receive training from you, and to give you a message from Ansem the Wise." The man explained, tossing him the note. The contents of said note were quite shocking to say the least. It revealed that the man in front of him was in fact not Xehanort at all but instead a young boy named Riku, who once possessed by Xehanort's Heartless , and while he had forced him out, it seemed Riku was forced to take on his form after taking on a powerful nobody. It also revealed that Riku, was a warrior chosen by the keyblade, which shocked the Mazinger pilot greatly.
Tetsuya stared at Riku for a moments, before smirking "So the old man is still alive is he" he asked Riku
"Yes though he goes by different name these days" Riku nodded
"Well then Riku, if Ansem sent you to me then you must have fucked royally." Tetsuya said bluntly
"Yes I've done many things i'm not particular proud of."Riku said hanging his head in shame, remembering the destruction of Destiny Islands, The time he tried to kill Sora out of jealousy, Him mocking the death of Xion, and taking part in placing Roxas in that simulated Twilight town. "And now I look like this, the man who used my insecurities, and almost destroyed the world. I need to get stronger Tetsuya, I need to conquer my darkness."
"Alright if that's what you, then prepare yourself Riku cause I will put you through Hell" he said with a devious smirk on his face, one that sent a chill down Riku's spine
"When do we start? "
"In 20 minutes. " he said motioning for Riku to follow him
"I feel bad for the guy." said one Jun Honoo lover and partner of Tetsuya "Testuya is about to run that kid into the dirt."
"Ooh yeah, sucks to be him" Said a rather large man known as Boss chuckling
A few moments later Riku found himself in a large hangar bay, where several massive mecha where standing tall, shining in the light of the hangar,
"Ok Riku take a seat." Tetsuya said motioning him to sit "Tell me kid, how'd all this happen to you." he asked motioning to Riku's well everything making him sigh
"Well let me start from the beginning , I come from a world known as Destiny Islands. I've pretty much lived there my entire life with Sora and Kairi, the two people I cherish more than anything." he started "As i got older, the more i felt trapped one that small little island
"You wanted to see what lies beyond, didn't you?"
"I did yeah,we all did, the three of us planned on building a raft and setting out to sea." Riku chuckled "looking back on it now, probably not the best plan."
"Ya think?!" Tetsuya chuckled as Riku continued
"But the day before we were set to take off, I was approached by a man in brown cloak, who I would later discover was Ansem the Seeker of Darkness, he informed me about the heart of our world, and how I could open the door for me and my friends to leave. " he paused looking ashamed " I opened the door that lead to the Heart of Destiny Islands, and the Heartless came" he said disgusted with himself.
Tetsuya said nothing, he just stared with an unreadable expression on his face. Riku could only imagine what he was thinking.
"Keep going Kid what happened next? "
"When my world was lost, I ended up in a world known as Hollow Bastion with Kairi's Body, as her heart was missing. I was taken in by the Dark Fae known as Maleficent." He stated "She made me an offer, served under her and assisted her in her goals. In return I would gain power and the ability to find Kairi's Heart by traveling to other worlds. So I agreed, taking her offer and gaining the blade known as Soul Eater " He explained, calling forth the weapon In a cloud of dark wisps. It was a falchion-esque sword, with a red, purple and blue blade shaped like a demonic wing. Its handle bears a demonic blue eye, and the handle itself consists of dark braids.
"So I went out, kidnapping the princesses of heart for her, all so I could save Kairi." He explained " Eventually I met back up with Sora, and found out he made new friends , and I felt that he had forgotten all about Kairi and me after all the time we had been apart; and like an idiot I listened to Maleficent's manipulations. It got to the point where I became obsessed with proving myself superior to him. "
Testuya understood that feeling all too well, wanting to prove himself superior to his Step Brother Koji, to gain the love of their father. A love he felt he had to earn as in his mind. He felt Kenzo favored Koji over him. But he was wrong and now Kenzo was gone.
"But it got to the point, the darkness took hold of me, giving me a dark form, its power was intoxicating, and with it I tried to kill Sora in anger. One of my lowest points,and after he defeated me, he left to stop maleficent, while I was alone with Ansem, who offered me power in exchange for my body, and I accepted it."
"That's when he used you, when he almost unleashed the full brunt of the darkness upon the world's" Tetstuya stated
"Yes, thankfully Sora stopped him and set me free, but his Darkness remained , I could feel it. Turns out he was still alive….sort of. His darkness imprinted on my heart, a part of him remained. But with Ansem The Wise , King Mickey ,and Naminè's help I was able to destroy him for good. But the darkness still remained regardless." Riku said sadly
"So what did you do?" Tetsuya asked
"Well first, Namine and I joined up with Ansem to, both to repair Sora's shattered memories which in and of itself is a long story, and to take down Organization XIII,The group that held Namine hostage for her power, which was being lead by Ansem's former Apprentice Xehanort " Riku explained "Then we got to work spying on the organization, while Namine repaired Sora's Memories. Eventually I encountered Xion, a replica made of Sora's memories of Kairi."
"How does that even work?" Tetsuya asked, confused.
"I don't exactly know, I guess those memories were used as a basis for her appearance. She looked a lot like Kairi but with Black Hair instead of Red " Riku surmised. But anyway after defeating her in battle , I explained our situation to her, and she agreed to help us. Give up her existence for Sora's. But–" Riku paused frustrated " Xemnas, Xehanort's Nobody interfered, he reprogrammed her and forced her to fight Sora's Nobody Roxas , the 13th member of the Organization where she died and was absorbed into Roxas as a consequence. "
"I take it the two were close." Tetsuya guessed.
" They were very close, lovers you could say, so when I went to confront Roxas and prevent him from getting himself killed, I needed to confirm he was Sora's Nobody. I egged him on in the worst way possible."
" Let me guess, you rubbed his lover's death in his face didn't you?"
"I did, needless to say he was pissed and likely wanted to run me through with Oathkeeper, we fought for a good hour with Roxas coming out the victor, breaking my arm in the process. But I couldn't lose, not while Sora was in such a dire state. So I accepted the darkness and became like this and swiftly defeated Roxas. " Riku stated
"I see, you did this out of desperation to save your best friend, but i'm guessing there's more to it, you're now wanting your old form back?"
"There is, when I retrieved Roxas, We needed the memories he had inside him and the half of Sora' power he contained within himself. So Diz had Naminè erase Roxas's Memories, An act which she didn't want to do, but was forced to nonetheless, and then was made to give Him a fake life of 17 years so he wouldn't suspect a thing in the simulation " Riku explained as noticed Tetsuya clench his fists in anger "He was in there for 6 months before Sora could awaken, and when it was time something odd happened, Sora awoke on his own, memories restored " Riku said surprising Tetsuya.
"He just woke up?"
"Yeah, Namine told me there was a chance he could wake on his own, but having Roxas around would make things progress faster, seeing how he had Sora's memories. She was quite frustrated with me, after she had to wipe Roxas's mind."
"I imagine so."
"Hehe yeah, but anyway once Sora woke up along with Donald and Goofy. Ansem ordered me to dispose of Roxas and Namine, I refused and instead let them leave for parts unknown. I haven't seen them since, "Riku said, finishing his tale.
Tetsuya took a moment to process all the information given to him and looked at Riku. "Alright kid, I'm going to give to ya straight, you're a fucking Idiot" he said bluntly making Riku wince "Due to your immaturity, impatience and ego, you almost brought the worlds to ruin, Due to your Jealously. You let Xehanort possess you, and then you mock a girl's death, on top helping Ansem place Roxas in a simulation after wiping his mind and giving him a fake life, so he can be sacrificed for Sora. '' he said in stern tone making Riku feel even worse than he did now " Hold your head up kid i'm not done yet " he said before taking on a more softer tone " But at the same time, your also trying to make up for these mistakes. Which I respect, but you gotta stop feeling sorry for yourself Riku. You're a man and warrior. Accept what you did and then move past it. You can't change the past; you can only shape the future and the man you become. "He said placing a hand on Riku's shoulder
"Thank you, Tetsuya, "Riku said smiling
"Don't thank me yet kid, first we have to get your old body back, then I'm gonna put you through the wringer. Tetsuya grinned menacingly
"So how are we going to do that?" Riku asked curious but excited
"It's rather simple, you need to make the darkness yours "Tetsuya explained "Riku, this darkness that surrounds you and has you trapped in that form, isn't Xehanort's Darkness it's yours, the only person keeping stuck like that is yourself."
"I. How?" he asked
"Because you're afraid of it, afraid of becoming like Xehanort. But don't be, darkness is nothing to be afraid of Riku" Tetsuya explained "It's just power, and It's up to you what you do with it. It's like my grandfather Juzo used to say. You can be a God or a Devil, the choice is ultimately up to you. His words resonating with Riku touching his heart
Riku took a deep breath, before looking deep inside himself and confronted the darkness within "This is my Power, not Ansem's, not Xehanort's, mine, never again will I run from my own power. "Riku, declared as the form of Ansem Seeker of Darkness, faded away, revealing Riku's true appearance. That of an 18-year-old young man with long silver hair, seafoam green eyes, but he was still wearing his cloak.
"Ah so that's what you really look then" Tetsuya said proud of his student
"Yes, this is the Real Me "Riku stated as Called forth Soul Eater…but instead of Soul Eater what he got instead was "A Keyblade" he said in awe
It greatly resembles the Soul Eater, but the once curved wing is now straight, and the Keyblade's guard is composed of one angelic wing and one demonic wing, it Also had, a dark angelic wing has been added to the top of the original blade of the Soul Eater to act as the teeth of the key. Its token is the Heartless Emblem, but without the spiked bars crossing it.
"Looks like it finally decided you're a worthy Kid." Tetsuya smirked, "So what are you gonna call it." He asked
"The Way to Dawn to symbolize my use of the Light and The Dark" he explained making Tetsuya nod with approval
"Good work kid, now first things first. We're gonna get ya something to eat, new clothes and then tomorrow we start your combat training, and your pilot training." he said, leading Riku towards the mess hall, as tomorrow Riku's training began.
6 MONTHS LATER
For the next couple months Tetsuya had kept to his word and put Riku through hell.
Tetsuya certainly had a harsh training regime, for example one exercise was blind folding Riku and having him dodge all his wooden sword strikes, if he failed he would get hit, which happened repeatedly until finally Riku would dodge every blow with ease. On top of that, Tetsuya had Riku take simulation runs on how to pilot a Mazinger unit. As Tetsuya had planned to give Riku one as a reward for his training. After that Riku and Tetsuya would begin training in swordplay. While Riku was self taught he lacked the fundamentals and discipline needed to be a truly great swordsman. So Tetsuya more or less beat that discipline into him. As he was no slouch in combat,having been trained since childhood by Kenzo Kabuto to be a mighty warrior. He was in his own words a combat professional, able to keep pace with the Keyblade warrior with relative ease. Dodging many of Riku's Dark Firaga spells, even cutting a few of them in half, before clashing blades with his student.
"Good Riku, good you've gotten better over these past months." Tetsuya said impressed
Riku smirked "Thank you Tetsuya, it's all thanks to your training." He explained "I've even managed to tap into some of Xehanort's abilities, Watch "he said before channeling the darkness inside of him "Come forth Guardian "he called out as suddenly Riku's shadow rose from the ground creating the Dark Guardian. But instead of a bound demon with its mouth seal shut. Riku's Guardian had taken the form of a Dark Knight, wielding a massive blade.
"Impressive." Tetsuya complemented "I do believe your now ready, for a field test" he said tossing Riku a control manual, it was instructions for a Mazinger unit, with its name being
"Great MazinKaiser," Riku read aloud "you're giving me Kaiser?"
"That's right kid, today we take all your simulator training and out it to the test" Tetsuya said, "We have some old captured Kikaiju you can practice on, I'll be on the field watching from a safe distance in Mazin Emperor G" He explained pointing to Great Mazin Emperor, who's eyes seemed to be staring into Riku's soul as if it was judging him. "So, take some time to study that manual and then meet us in the field." he said, preparing to take off in Emperor.
It took Riku a few hours, reading the manual from front to back "Its time." he said approaching the Great Kaiser. Upon opening the hatch, the machine's control suddenly came to life. As if it was waiting for him this whole time. "Alright partner let's get going" he said as he and Great walked out of the hangar and into the Open Country, ready to begin their first test, where they found Tetsuya and Emperor standing on a hill, In front of them appeared to be a Metal man, Its body was pink in color, kit wore what appeared to be a white metal toga and it its hand was a Massive Club.
"This Riku is a Titan G9, he used to belong to my brother's old nemesis ." Tetsuya explained "He is a Kikaiju, or Mechanical Beast, a machine he created to take over the world. Now since he's dead we use them for training new recruits." he explained before activating the Kikaiju "I'll be over here, to make sure nothing goes wrong, now good luck."
Titan G9, despite its hulking form was rather quick on its feet, dashing at Great Mazinkaiser using the momentum it had gained to increase the strike power of its club, bring it down, slamming in Great's chest knocking the mecha over onto its ass.
"Get up Riku, it's still coming." Tetsuya said over the commlink as Great rolled out the way of another club swing. In response Great flipped itself back up as Riku unleashed on its attacks.
"Take this Great Tornado" he called out, unleashing an intense wind from Great's mouth Grill. The intense pressure pushing Titan G9 back a couple feet and shredding some of its armor plating. Revealing bits of its wiring, Riku, seeing an opportunity removed Great's Heatsink "Great Boomerang "he called out, tossing the heatsink with such force that it cut off the Kikaiju's arm through the exposed wiring. Its left arm falling to the ground with a loud thud. Pissing the thing right the hell off. "Come on big guy, show us what you got" Riku taunted as he raised a finger to the sky as Photon Power generated off Great's body shooting up toward the atmosphere, which in turn generated a storm.
Titan G9 not realizing the danger it was in, charged at Great Mazinkaiser before Riku Unleashed its Finishing move. "Take this GOD THUNDER! '' Riku shouted as Great's fist covered in purple lightning, pointed its finger at the Kikaiju, unleashing a torrent of Photon enhanced lightning. Striking it in the chest, hitting its core and destroying it. Causing it to explode in a massive fireball.
"Good job Kid." Tetsuya said, clapping quite pleased with Riku's performance "Wish you didn't destroy Titan but either way, you've passed congratulations" he said holding out Emperor's hand which Riku took with Great's
"So, what happens now?" Riku asked
"Now at least for today, we relax and then tomorrow we come back here, and we'll test Great's Flight System" Tetsuya explained as he led Riku back towards the Photon labs to prepare for the next day. And now we must the Photon Labs and Riku for a while and return to the World of Metal where the battle for humanities liberation is growing ever closer.
