Special Chapter
From A Detour To The World's Strongest
Sometime after departing from Heiligh, as well as letting Shea give herself some new clothes to wear, Hajime, Sora, and their companions were now proceeding down the road to find new power when they were about to pass a convoy that had been attacked by some dangerous enemies.
"We've got wounded, Haji," said Compa, spotting the remnants of the convoy quickly.
The gunner stopped Brise, then under Sora's careful guidance, most of the members of Team SKYYYYYLAARRCCC managed to take up defensive positions around the healers.
"Kaori really cares about the people here," he admitted.
"But at least our other companions are making sure to watch her back so that she doesn't get attacked by our enemies," added Tio.
"And from what we know, I kind of think that Cody's formed a bit of a crush on her," smiled Shea.
"I just hope that Papa doesn't get too mad at her for giving up on him," replied Myu.
Yue sighed, despite her annoyance at how Kaori knew a lot more about Hajime than she did.
"He won't, Myu. If Hajime did get angry at Kaori, Shizuku would be right up in his face as well as talk his ears off for trying to do something beyond her powers of forgiveness," replied Yui.
"Well, you're not wrong about that, Yui. But at the same time, we did agree that you guys were willing to help Hajime through his breaking point," admitted Yue.
"Still, some of us might be able to convince her to join the ranks of the Warriors of Light, even though Hajime still wants to just find his way back to his own world and return to his family after he finishes his business on Tortus," said Sora.
"I know what you mean. But at the same time, he's actually relieved that some of us are nothing like that jerkface Kouki. Especially after Shea said that some of us are humble heroes," added Kirito.
"But Yue, we were wondering something. Do you think you could give us a couple of lessons on how we can use other forms of magic? You know, like how Piccolo, Goku, and several others helped Gohan be something better than himself, even though Chi-Chi wanted him to be a scholar, rather than a fighter. At least until she finally accepted that he'll always be ready to fight for those he sees as family to him," finished Asuna.
"You want me to give you some training?" asked the vampire princess.
"Of course," grinned Chisato.
"But, let's not forget that you are the brains, while some of us are more like the brawn of this group," said Leafa.
"She may be right, Yue. You are the greatest. Even though you were sealed away in the darkest part of the Great Orcus Labyrinth, Sora and most of our friends refused to leave you all alone in the darkness. But you slowly began to understand how he felt at seeing an illusion of a dark future where everyone important to him was killed, which he vehemently rejects, as well as used as a form of motivation to never let it come to pass," agreed Yumi.
Yue agreed to give them some training, and to push the heroes beyond their own personal limitations, which did fuel the desire to improve within the two boys, while Hajime would work on improving his equipment, even as Cody stayed at Kaori and Compa's side.
"Training is always a good idea, guys, but just one thing. Don't even think of trying to push yourselves too hard, or you might end up exhausting yourself to the point where the bad guys will seize the advantage. In other words, you'll lose the race if you don't pace yourself," said Sora.
"Yeah, and Sora's not kidding around about it either, even though there were times when he and his friends had to stop Usagi and Rei from taking their arguments too far that it'd devolve into an all out catfight between them," squeaked Happy.
"Well, then it's decided. But, if we do see any Heartless approaching, we'll fight them off. Unless they were some form of training dummies for us when they appear," declared Rebecca.
"I'll be ready to join you guys after I finish tinkering with this pile-driver that's started malfunctioning," replied Hajime.
"Fine by us, Hajime. But a little bit of training wouldn't hurt us too much," smirked Yuzuriha.
"Yeah, it can help make sure we don't get too lax in our ability to fight. Especially considering how we all agreed to help the Haulia Clan be ready to fight to protect what's most precious to them," agreed Asuka.
"Me and Myu are gonna have to pass on this one," sighed the Counseling AI.
The training began, even though everyone had to find a suitable training partner, despite having someone important to them. Yue tutored them as best as she could, as well as drove them to be better, which did surprise Compa. Of course, there was the occasional Heartless attack every now and then, but they were quickly defeated so that the group would be able to improve themselves, while also making sure that no harm came to the children and the healers. The former princess was most surprised, but she did help out from time to time, as well as accepted any and all types of blood to recover, thanks to her ability to drink it.
"Now this is actually a bit better than just learning how to use magic properly," admitted Shea.
"Oh, you got that right, Shea," snickered Yuffie.
"Maybe, but I mostly prefer to let my fists do the talking," remarked Yang.
"And I may have my silver eyed powers that can eliminate the Heartless, Grimm, and all manner of dark creatures. But if I use them in front of Yue, it'll cause her pain," shivered Ruby, who had grown visibly worried about the vampire.
"Ruby, please, there's no real reason for you to get panicky about what would happen if you used your silver eyes to destroy the worst dark creatures imaginable," assured Yue.
"Yue's right. But, at least I can get a firm grasp on how to let my own power be used after I get a firm grasp on it. And seeing most of you guys training with each other in different fighting styles, it does give us a chance to improve, even though some of us explained to Miss Aiko about how Hajime needed to be better than his old self, thanks to our refusal to let him choose option 2: just give up and accept that all you've done was for nothing at all. But he chose option 3, despite how we refused to let him be alone, after he was betrayed by one of Sephiroth's apprentices. Much like how some of us did after we got pushed beyond it by someone we hated. For Kirito, it was Gouxas, after he went too far and said that he'd take Leafa as his puppet-bride," explained Sora.
"Yeah. How could I ever forget him after he made that threat?" sighed Kirito, who was still wracked with guilt after he let his Gleam Eyes form evolve into the dreaded Kikuma.
"But when Gouxas said that he'd target Leafa, it was after he became yet another puppet of darkness," assured Asuna.
"Please, don't blame yourself for things that were beyond your control," added Yui.
"Well, I for one agree. And I too should take some time to train with most of you guys, even though Yue might angrily say, 'Buzz off, dead weight!' to my face," decided Kaori after she finished healing and helping the people.
"Now wait just a moment, Kaori. I'd never say that about you, even after Sora and the others said that you're more than willing to make a difference for everyone as a White Mage," protested Yue.
"She may be right about that, but still. Even though you were burdened with some small form of guilt after I was sent over the edge, it slowly vanished thanks to Sora's refusal to let me be alone," added Hajime, who was still cleaning and improving his equipment.
"Yeah, totally. And you too could be the greatest instructor after you talk things over with Miss Aiko. That way, after she and her class return home, you can help them improve, but you might have to be tough on them if they start to slack off, or continue to perpetuate the cycle of cruelty," agreed Leafa.
Caught by surprise, Yue soon realized that this new form of support was just the right kind of thing she needed in order to help everyone improve, despite how some of them were still unable to grasp it firmly, while also going through some more intensive training. Finally, she agreed to tutor Kaori, but Sora did join her, and together the two friends had managed to combine their powers into creating a strong yet powerful protection spell, which instantly surpassed Hallowed Ground. Everyone was in awe, even Hajime. But Cody was impressed by what he saw.
"No way. You managed to cast Divine Shield," he gasped.
Kaori tried it again. Then once more. Even Sora did so, as well as Cody. Finally, they tried casting the spell together.
"DIVINE SHIELD!" they cried, and a far more powerful barrier was created, right as the Heartless appeared again and tried to pounce.
However, they were all disintegrated into nothingness, and the hearts that they collected returned to Kingdom Hearts to be at peace.
"WHOA! But, it looks like those Heartless got reduced to nothing after you cast Divine Shield, Sora," admitted Shea, who was still in awe.
"Maybe, but there are some things that we can perform, and some that we can't do," replied Sora.
"Also, Hajime…" Kaori was about to say.
"Don't worry. I don't mind if you choose Cody over me," he replied.
"But, won't it make you sad, Hajime?" questioned Rebecca.
"No, it's fine. Just try not to worry about me too much, okay, Rebecca? But, I'll admit, Yue was kind of surprised when she saw how Shea chose to be with Sora over me. Although, maybe having another healer as a part of Team SKYYYYYLAARRCCC might not hurt too much for Kaori," answered Hajime.
"Another healer? Hmm… It might seem fair, but Kairi might be surprised to learn that Kaori's name does sound a bit similar to her own," said Sora.
"What do you mean?" wondered Ruby.
"Well, Shea does like to wear outfits that are very revealing, but seeing her trick any of the girls at our side into wearing bunny girl outfits? All that'd do is make Yang so mad she'd want to just punch me right in what I'd call my 'Sora Jr.' And to everyone else, they'd say that she's sunk to yet another low," he explained.
Yang jumped back.
"We've been over this. I don't want to punch you in your 'Sora Jr,' Sora. Because if I did, Blake would most certainly say, 'You should be ashamed of yourself for punching Sora in that spot, Yang! You've officially become the lowest of the low, and the worst of the worst!'" argued the brawler.
"And the worst part about that is that we'd never ever have kids of our own, even after you told me about how Weiss said that you'd be a far better father than that old fart Jacques was," added Shea.
They soon arrived in another city, and the B-Cuber ran up to some windows, awed at the sight of some beautiful dresses that were inside of the shops.
"Oh my gosh, they look beautiful!" she cried.
"Rebecca seems excited, Sora," sighed Yue.
"Yeah, but she did wear a dress back on Granbell before Sephiroth destroyed it after meeting Shiki. But Lucy may kind of feel the same way if she saw some dresses that she liked, if Cody did buy her one," he replied.
"Maybe we could get ourselves some new clothes that could fit our styles, as well as ask the three fairies to use their magic to make it so that the darkness doesn't affect us when we enter the Dark World where the Heartless reside," said Asuna.
Kirito pondered this for a moment, but rather than get on the Lightning Flash's bad side, as he had done countless times before in Sword Art Online, as well as any of the other games, he decided to be silent about it.
"This town does have some pretty interesting clothing patterns, even though they've been dyed by the clothiers. But, I prefer to wear all black, much like Hajime's doing," he explained.
"Also, just between us, Myu told me that all the merfolk sometimes don't have any clothes of their own, even though they have to wear them when outside of their own city," whispered Yui.
"WHAT!?" everyone asked in shock.
"But if I saw someone without any clothing on them, Yang would just go completely ballistic and break my everything without a second thought!" wailed Sora.
This in turn made Myu glare at the brawler.
"If you hurt Big Brother Sora, I will never forgive you, Big Sister Yang!" she snapped.
"Uh-oh," shivered Ruby, even as Yang started to chuckle nervously.
"Oh yeah, you said it there, Ruby. But, what if I bought you and all the other girls that Sora and the rest of your friends know so well some bunny suits?" asked Shea.
"Watch it," warned Yuffie.
"Yeah, and no nudity allowed. Especially after Sora warned me about the worst kinds of perverts he's met in his life," added Yumi.
"And especially if it involved Ruby. Nobody should even think of seeing her shower while I'm around, or they'll get their pistachios cracked by me," growled the brawler.
Hajime jumped back in shock, even though Myu was on his shoulder.
"And on that note, I fully understand how scary Yang can be when she's royally pissed off, Yue and Tio," he said quickly.
"How about this for an exchange? We can all pitch in and buy something that Myu might like," suggested Cody.
"Big Brother Cody…" murmured Myu.
At first, she and Hajime looked around for a bit, until after a long time of thinking, the little girl decided that she would wear Yue's clothes, even though the vampire told her there were better clothes to wear than the ones she had.
"You should give her a chance, Yue. Besides, there's really no harm in letting a kid like her try on your clothes," said Leafa.
"Hoo boy," sighed Sora, keeping his judgment in check.
"Hmm… What if…? What if us girls switched outfits with each other?" wondered Asuna.
An argument was about to break out between them, until Yang finally had enough.
"WILL ALL OF YOU GUYS JUST SHUT YOUR FREAKING PIE HOLES FOR TWENTY MINUTES!?" she exploded.
"SHE'S GONNA BLOW!" cried Kaori, rushing out the door.
"Yang! Stop! You're scaring them to death!" called Ruby.
"Yeah, Big Sister Yang! You better listen to Big Sister Ruby before you become something that Big Brother Sora calls Trouble Incarnate!" added Myu, who was most displeased.
"OH NO!" gasped Tio, shocked and appalled by the merfolk girl's attitude.
"Trouble incarnate!?" shuddered Shea.
"Kind of like what Shiki was, even though Yang would proceed to bust him up for whatever reason," said Happy.
But Hajime eventually agreed to the idea of seeing what the other girls would look like in each other's outfits, as long as they were willing to trust in not just his judgment, but in that of both Sora, Cody, and Kirito. One by one, the girls stepped out in each other's outfits, while the boys stood back and looked carefully at them. But Kaori was embarrassed by how she was dressed, even though Shea was in her robes, even as Yue, dressed in Tio's clothes, had to drag the white mage out. Cody was surprised, but he started to blush a little.
"Kaori, you look, uh… Oh, how can I describe it without a straight face!?" he groaned, and turned away.
"Aw, is Cody acting all shy around Kaori?" teased the White Rose of Wutai.
"Knock it off, Yuffie. Please," muttered Cody.
Kaori gave a quiet giggle.
"Well, okay, I guess it's fair that I got the worst outfit from Shea, after what Asuna suggested. But maybe I'll be fine with any of you guys transferring some body heat over to me when I'm at freezing point," she said, and gently wrapped her arms around the Son of Xehanort.
"Hmm… Kind of like what I did for Shea after she trained with Yue, Kaori. Although, a part of me is wondering what you'd look like if you were reborn as an angel," replied Sora.
"Kind of like what Irina became, even though angels and demons bringing a child into the universe would result in a huge bout of anarchy from both sides," added Kirito.
"But, what if I decided to join another group that's like yours, except they were hunters whose main purpose in life is to hunt down those who use the power of darkness, or have become darkness incarnate?" wondered the dragonborn.
"Well, I'd actually be pretty happy for you, Tio. Except, Yue would kind of feel upset if she saw you with a group of people that call themselves dark hunters," replied Hajime.
The other girls had to agree, even though they wore each other's clothes, thanks to what Asuna had suggested.
"Speaking of which, Kaori. There's actually no need to be extremely self-conscious about how you dress. I mean, take me as one example. I'm a kunoichi, and I've endured a lot of scrapes as well as found someone who's way nicer than Gabimaru, until he finally unveiled his humanity after letting go of his stoic mannerisms," grinned Yuzuriha, who was now wearing Compa's clothes.
"You may be right," she admitted, then gently took Cody's hand.
This made him blush a bit.
"I want you to be honest, Cody. Do you really believe I'm gorgeous?" asked the white mage.
"Of course I do, Kaori. But I'm still unsure about how Hajime will feel, even though he's nearby," replied Cody.
"Hey. You refused to let her get hurt, even after I decided to keep the monsters in the Great Orcus Labyrinth at bay while we were on the 65th floor. And that doesn't mean we have the right to force Kaori to decide on who she wants to be with on her own terms. After all, you and your friends were able to relieve her of that burden after Sora promised her that you'd still be there for me," smiled Hajime.
"Papa's not wrong, Big Brother Cody. You refused to let him be alone, and you also managed to save me. And that's exactly why you all chose to make that difference," added Myu.
Moments later, after everyone had rested in an inn, they set off down the road the next day in Brise, while the little girl slept at Yue's side.
"Yue, I know you might find this odd, but we both know how Myu feels when she's around Hajime and the rest of us. And yet, after seeing how she was mistreated by those bad people in Fuhren, she agreed to remain at our side. But secretly… I'm sad. I feel like after we say goodbye to her, we might not see her again after we return her to her mother in Erisen," explained Sora.
"Don't be. You know that some connections are not easy to server. And no matter how people look at it, it's impossible to cut the golden chains of light and the crimson threads of destiny. And we'll always be connected to Myu, no matter what. Sure she may love Hajime, her adopted father, but we're still the closest things she has to actual siblings. Although there are times when she'd get serious about who she can forgive or not, we fully understand how she'd react to the sight of Yang's wrath, unless Ruby were to step up and remind her to get a hold of herself. But hearing her tell the brawler that she'll never forgive her for listening to us, it actually caught us off guard," assured Kaori.
"I agree. But at the same time, both she and Yui are getting along pretty well with each other, so that does count for something after Kirito and Asuna asked her not to be cruel and let jealousy get the better of her," added Shea.
"And yet, those two youngsters look super adorable with each other," cooed Tio.
"Yeah. So don't be upset about why Myu can't call you her mother, because she already has one, Yue. And when we see her, we'll be sure to let her know that we all agreed to save her, thanks to that lead Sora and Shea got from a friend of theirs. Without it, we'd never be able to save her, as well as teach those slave traders a lesson about why treating people like objects is beyond cruel," finished Cody.
"You got that right, Cody. And we'll bring her to Erisen so that she'll be safe and sound," replied Hajime.
By that point, Myu awoke, relieved that her friends had decided to cheer Sora up about why he was worried about not seeing her again.
"Sorry for disturbing you, but Big Brother Sora said that he might miss you after you travel to Erisen and return you to your mother," said Yui.
"No, Big Brother Sora! Please don't cry!" begged Myu, and she wrapped her arms around the spiky brunette.
"Myu?" he asked.
"I know I love my papa and my other big brothers and sisters, but I don't want to see you cry over how you'd miss me!" she said.
Leafa nodded in agreement, and the others did as well.
"She's not wrong, Sora. I mean, sure she may be a kid, but Myu also understands you how you feel in her own way. So there's no point in telling her off for how she truly cares about you," decided Yumi.
"My thoughts exactly. And personally, we don't want to see you wracked with sorrow about saying goodbye to someone you've known for some time, even though there was that one moment where you mourned over Saphir and showed everyone the true spirit of Sailor Moon within you," smiled Asuka.
By that moment, Sora nodded quietly, then gently hugged Myu back. This made Hajime pleased, even as they continued down the road to their next destination on his quest to return home to his real family, after attaining the power from the Age of Gods in the Great Labyrinths.
"So, where to next, guys?" asked Hajime.
"We keep flying in the winds of adventures, Hajime. That's how we roll in both this world, and everywhere else," replied Sora, after releasing Myu.
"Hey, Sora. You know, Myu may have taught us a super intense lesson about how people truly feel. After admitting that you'll feel sad about saying goodbye to her, I kind of started to feel the same way as you did. But Myu will always be connected to us, thanks to the golden chains of light. And after hearing her beg you not to cry, as well as admitting that she sees us like the siblings she never had, even though she's an only child, we fully understand her heart. But we know what to do if Sephiroth does show up to try and kill her," declared the bunny girl.
"Shea's right. We're gonna do what we can to protect her from that prick," agreed Yue.
Despite keeping his cool, Hajime nodded, even though a part of him was surprised to sense this new desire fully unveiled. As he gunned the engine to maximum power, despite being powered by magic, their next adventure would soon begin.
"Then you can count us in as well," declared Kaori.
"I'm in, too. That bastard tries to hurt Myu or anyone else, we'll give him a taste of his own medicine," he added firmly.