Disclaimer: I do not own any of this and any of this belongs to the original creators.
WORLD OF HEARTS
LINKED AS ONE
Act 1
Chapter 5
Relics
Son Gohan was standing in front of a shrine that had several pedestals standing. On each of the pedestals were the supposed relics that were to be collected. He felt a little uneasy with how quiet and peaceful this place is. There were no Grimm to be seen or any kind of monsters for that matter. There were other people here, some of them got here on their own and some of them came in groups. Some of them had grabbed their relics and were leaving. He walked over to the shrine to examine the relics in question.
Most of these supposed relics were just random stuff. Chess pieces, action figures, cards, antique items you'd find in a pawn shop, bracelets, and a bunch of other things. Gohan couldn't help but feel a little let down that there were no actual relics from some ancient civilization or anything, but it was what it was.
He took a card from one of the pedestals and looked at it. He flipped it over to see that it was a two of spades.
'A Two of Spades...' Gohan thought. 'I guess all that's left is to make it to the goal. Still... I can't shake the feeling that something feels wrong...'
"What's wrong, Gohan?"
Gohan turned around to see a young man with a straw hat on his head. He looked at Gohan with a straight face. Standing next to the young man was a young boy with blonde hair and blue eyes with what looked like whiskers on his cheeks. He too was looking at Gohan with a straight face.
"Yeah, what's up?" The blond kid asked.
"Well... it's probably nothing, but something about this seems off," Gohan said. "It's too quiet, and I have this feeling that I can't seem to shrug off..."
"Are you hungry?" The straw hat asked.
"What? No, I just ate before the exams began," Gohan said. "Are you hungry?"
"No, I'm Monkey D. Luffy," Luffy said, "And I wish I had something to eat right now..."
"Now that you mention it, my stomach's feeling empty already..." the blond kid said. "I hope they have food at the goal..."
"W-We'll get some food after we grab our relic and just leave..." Gohan said.
He saw a group of applicants arrive at the place. Among them was the brown-haired person called Yoh. He and his friends made it here unscathed.
'So they made it here as well...' Gohan thought. 'I wonder how that Kizuna kid is doing. Did he get that Senzu bean I gave to Yoh?'
-1-
Kizuna saw various applicants at the site and went around exploring the place, hoping to find a relic for his team. Ruby, Madoka, Izuku, and Yoh followed him. Upon seeing the relics before him, he...
He...
He felt disappointed and let down.
It was all a bunch of junk you'd find at a garage sale coming from your next-door neighbor.
Playing cards, chess pieces, glasses, some old phone, and so much more worthless junk.
"This is a joke, right?" Kizuna asked.
"If it is, I don't feel like laughing..." Ruby said.
"W-Well, I just hope there aren't any booby traps..." Madoka said. "Trying to change the mood of the conversation."
"A booby trap? With all this stuff here? I highly doubt it," Yoh said.
"Though it wouldn't be too far-fetched if they did plant a booby trap with stuff like this..." Izuku said. "Some of them are actually antiques..."
"Hmm..." Kizuna said.
Amidamaru appeared.
"Something feels off, Master Yoh," Amidamaru said. "Why would the staff leave all this junk out on this mountain?"
"Don't read too much into it, Amidamaru," Yoh said.
"But master, it could be some kind of trap!"
"It'll work out, we just got to pick something and then—"
"Guess I'll just take this card and see what it is..." Kizuna said, pulling a card from a pedestal.
Izuku and Amidamaru looked shocked at Kizuna's action. Madoka and Ruby blankly stared at Kizuna. Yoh did nothing but look at Kizuna. Kizuna flipped the card over to see the Roman numeral "I" and a name that read: The Fool.
"The Fool? Huh... well it is the beginning of my journey, but..."
The pedestal began to sink. Everyone but Yoh gasped. Kizuna looked at the pedestal sink. His heart rate jumped into the sky before falling down into the abyss that was his stomach.
"No... No! NO NO NO NO!" Kizuna yelled as he tried to stop it from falling, only for it to fall all the way down. He looked in terror, knowing that he may have triggered some kind of trap.
...
...
...
...
...
Nothing happened.
The group sighed in relief.
"Maybe the trap mechanism was too old to work..." Izuku said.
"Y-Yeah... maybe that's why nothing happened yet..." Ruby said.
Kizuna heard footsteps approaching and turned to see a guy in a purple gi coming to him.
'Wait, purple gi?' Kizuna thought on it.
"Son Gohan," Yoh said. "I just knew we'd run into each other."
Now all eyes were on Yoh. Amidamaru turned around and began to explain to the group about this Son Gohan person and how he and Yoh met one another.
"So he's the guy who gave you that bean," Kizuna said. "A strong martial artist..."
"Son Gohan..." Madoka said.
"How many sit-ups did he do?" Ruby asked. "How many push-ups?"
"What kind of juice did he drink?" Izuku asked.
"Kizuna, guys, meet Gohan," Yoh said. "Gohan, meet my friends Kizuna, Madoka, Izuku, and Ruby."
"Hello," Gohan said.
"Glad to meet you," The group said.
"Hey, guys, we made it," They heard Sayaka's voice.
The group turned around to see Todoroki's group arrive on time. Though, it seemed like they had an extra member with them. He had red hair and squinted eyes.
"Sayaka-chan!" Madoka said, waving off to the group.
"Madoka!" Sayaka said, hugging Madoka.
Mami was there as well. Ruby went over to Weiss and hugged her. Izuku and Todoroki shook hands. Kizuna looked at the red-haired guy.
"Who are you?" Kizuna asked.
"Oh, me? The name's Leonardo Watch," the boy said. "And you are?"
"Kizuna Daichi," Kizuna said.
"Hey! Guys!"
Bakugou's group arrived soon after. Kizuna looked at them and walked over.
"You made it, Bakugo," Kizuna said.
"Tch, it was nothing," Bakugo said.
"YAHOO! We made it!" A loud and rather obnoxious voice caught Kizuna's ears.
"Black Star! There are people here!" A concerned female voice came afterwards.
He looked to see a very rambunctious boy with a very concerned girl next to him.
"Ignore the idiot extra," Bakugo said. "He's only tagging along for the ride..."
"R-Right..." Kizuna said.
He looked at the tarot card in his hand.
"The Fool..." Kizuna said. "New beginnings and potential..."
"What does it all mean?" Sora asked.
"..."
Yujo and his group made it to the site, finding several relics. Mostly everyone was let down by this. They were expecting some interesting items, but all they saw was nothing but ordinary, everyday items and worthless antiques. Yujo did see what looked like a card. He went over to the pedestal holding the card and took the card from it. He flipped it over, only to see the Roman Numeral XIII and a title that read Death.
'Death...' Yujo thought. "So, is that to be my fate?"
The pedestal begins to sink in front of him. A trap? It sank all the way down, but nothing happened. Was there more to this? Was there some sort of mystery mechanism that was supposed to go off? If so, why hasn't it done so already? It had been only a few seconds since the pedestal sank and nothing has happened.
"Death? Now that's an interesting choice," Yujo heard someone talking behind him.
He quickly turned around to see a Chinese kid.
"So, you know what this card means?" Yujo asked.
The kid smiled.
"Of course I do," the boy said. "In the Tarot cards, Death means that a major part of your life is coming to an end a new one is about to begin."
Yujo raised a brow.
"You mean, my life will change here?" Yujo asked.
Ai and the girls made it to the marked location. They found a bunch of stuff sitting on some pedestals. Ai went over to one of the pedestals and took a card that was sitting on it. She flipped it around to see that it was a tarot card that read: Lovers.
"The Lovers..." Ami said. "That's a good pick you made."
"Huh? How so?" Ai asked.
"According to my research, the Lovers signify love, harmony, choices, and alignment," Ami said. "It also represents unity and balance."
"Love..." Ai said. "Hmm, I understand."
She smiled.
"Uh... not to ruin the moment, but is that thing sinking?" Minako asked.
Ai and Ami looked to see the pedestal fall down completely. The pedestal sank into the ground. The group stood in silence.
"Um... Ami?" Usagi asked.
"I'm checking on it," Ami said.
She tapped on one of her blue earrings. A visor materialized over her eyes. She pulled out a small computer and opened it. She linked the visor to her computer and started analyzing the structure.
"I see, I think I understand what is happening here," Ami said. "That pedestal is different from all the others. It was designed to go down as soon as the card was removed from said pedestal."
"Anything else, Mercury?" Diana asked.
Ami closes her computer, disconnects it from the visor, and tapped her earring, causing the visor to vanish.
"This was linked to two other pedestals just like it," Ami said. "For what purpose, I cannot say for certain."
"Then let's head for the exit as soon as possible," Diana said.
The girls began to make their way off the mountain.
Eight knights were standing in a room, clad in armor holding keyblades. One keyblade had a streaming fireball for a blade and an ember for the teeth. Another one had a more crystal-like design.
"Are these three the ones our initiates scouted?" one knight asked.
"Yes," Another knight said.
"They show great promise, according to our scouts," A third knight spoke. "It would seem as though fate has drawn them together."
"I worry for the second one," A fourth knight said with concern. "He relies on the Darkness too much. Is it safe for him to join our sacred order?"
"The line between Light and Dark is very thin," The fifth knight said. "You best remember that, Titan."
"Odin and Alexander have yet to return," A sixth knight said.
"They will be back in due time," The first knight spoke. "In the meantime, we must watch these events unfold."
Kizuna and his group managed to climb down the mountain and were now making their way to the exit. Behind them were scores of applicants following them. Kizuna couldn't wait for the exams to be all over. He could almost see his life ahead of him. Getting into Daybreak Academy, hanging out with his friends, going on missions together, learning how to harness the keyblade and forge his own techniques, being accepted into the Keyblade Order, and so much more. He couldn't wait for those days to come.
Just then, a sense of dread began to fall upon him.
Then he was suddenly thrown across the place.
He heard the trees rustling as people screamed and a loud roar was heard.
It happened so suddenly, and without warning, he barely had enough reaction time to land on his feet. He had his keyblade snag onto a tree branch. He landed on the branch just from swinging on top of it.
He dropped down and turned around to see a giant mass standing between him and the group.
He heard animalistic growling as the mass got up. He saw powerful limbs built on impressive musculature. A single bull-like horn was seen as another horn could be seen, only it looked like it had been snapped off. He saw the head of a sabertooth tiger, snarling at him, with one pupilless eye. It had a mohawk-like mane.
This was no Grimm.
This thing...
... is a Behemoth.