Fan Fiction ❯ Black Orchid ❯ Metal Monstrosity ( Chapter 8 )

Nekokoneko: nyan!

Anyways: Ah, thank you, HisLight for your reviews. Makes me all warm inside. And for the general public, I have a few things. First, it's the end of traverse town, on to wonderland! Yay! Guard Armor… Also, if you haven't noticed, my story's more FF less Disney. Like how Montblanc uses water and how Aero is back to being an attack spell. Also, I've changed what happens in most all worlds, or replaced them with entirely new worlds (did you know that whale rhymes with jail?). A fight with the bandersnatch is imminent. Yeah, I finally got the skeleton of the story planned out, and some of the really key scenes too. Like how Eriks goes and *removed forcibly*. Doesn't that sound cool? Yeah, poor Sora (referring to this chapter). Also, there was the point of the heartless being stronger in my story: it's cuz I'm going for quality over quantity in battles. As well as hundreds of random battles work in games, you can't write descriptively about it, or the story would be 50 pages battle for every 1 page story. Also, the next chapter involves the poem Jabberwocky, by Lewis Carroll, the original author of Alice in Wonderland. If you are not familiar with the poem, I suggest looking up on google the word Jabberwocky, then going to the first site and reading it. It's a great poem and the next section's all about it and Wonderland.

Last of all: Hints, since I can't contain myself: Seifer, Clockwork Grape, Devil's Rose, Hand of Midas, Stairway to Heaven. Who is the Master?

And now, R&R, then it's off to the tulgey wood! (PS: this is an update, I just caught a mistake *embarrassed*)

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In the dark of the approaching evening, the silence was unnerving. Orchid, Arc and Montblanc walked into the middle of the Third District Square, wary of anything.

The stonework floor at the exits suddenly broke apart and slammed upwards into imprisoning walls. Orchid brought out the Bramblebite, and could feel it pulsing; there were Heartless afoot. Suddenly, pooling shadows and dark portals turned into Heartless, dark and staring. Shadows scurried about as soldiers jangled eerily and a trio of large bodies stood looking ponderously about.

"I knew it," hissed Arc, his eyes glinting dangerously behind yellow lenses.

"Let's get 'em!" shouted Orchid, charging the nearest soldier. She swung widely, destroying and absorbing the soldier and a couple shadows that had creeped too close. Next to her, Arc started to rain decimation upon other Heartless with his fist.

"Water!" shouted Montblanc, holding his rod aloft. Several Heartless were stopped as spheres of water filled up around them, then exploded in a torrent of high pressure liquid. The Heartless lay there weakened and wet, only to be fried into particles by the following spell as Montblanc cried, "Thunder!"

They efficiently chopped their way through the Heartless, each finding themselves able to take care of them while only receiving the most minor cuts and scratches.

"Take this!" yelled Arc, the light gleaming off his shades as he leaped above a large body. He slammed down, fist first on the Heartless' head, and it exploded into inky blackness around him.

Meanwhile, Orchid had come face to face with another large body. Or at least face to belly. The lumbering giant finally decided she wasn't something it liked, and after a little chest pounding, charged at her. Having been waiting for it, she rolled out of the way, and struck at its unprotected back. Continuing with its charge, the large body smashed into a wall and fell over. Seizing the opportunity, Orchid struck it repeatedly with the keyblade until it had been vanquished and absorbed.

The square had been cleared of Heartless once Montblanc finished his barrage of spells on the last large body, but something still didn't feel right. There was still a sense of darkness floating.

"Wait," started Orchid, looking to Arc, who was standing a few yards away, rubbing his stone hand, "didn't this happen before? To Sora, I mean?"

"I think so, kupo," said Montblanc, snuffling the air suspiciously.

"Then that means what's next is-" Orchid began, but was cut off as a large shadow fell upon them. Its cause slammed down between the three of them, scattering them like leaves to the wind. Clanking menacingly, it arranged itself to its full height. It was mostly purple, gray and black, and consisted of six floating parts; a round helmet with a face guard and three horns, one sticking up and one to each side, floated above an hourglass like armored torso with the Heartless symbol imprinted largely upon it; a floating pair of clawed gloves twirled threateningly in the air while the armored feet stomped noisily on the ground.

"GUARD ARMOR!" shouted trio together. They each dodged out of the way as the claws swung in a deadly circle. The metal monstrosity split into three units then, the torso whirl winding at Arc, the gauntlets clawing towards Montblanc and the feet charging at Orchid.

"Oh, no you don't," said Orchid, parrying and striking at the feet's advance, throwing them back and stopping their charge from building speed. The feet then started towards her again. She called the warmth of her magic to mind, and felt the fire build in her free hand.

"Fir-uwah!" she yelled as she jumped out of the way of the feet and her fireball shot off into the night sky. She decided that Montblanc was right; she would be wanting to practice that later. For the moment, she decided to stick with her keyblade. She ran from the feet to gain some distance, then charged them as they did the same; both ran at each other in a mad game of chicken. Just as they almost met, Orchid leapt over the feet, giving them a fly-by thrust of thorns as she passed over them, landing hard on her feet behind them. She backed away from them quickly, only to topple into Arc.

The pair landed hard on the ground. Before she could become aware of their proximity to each other, Arc grabbed her and rolled out of the way as the torso did a flip and tried to hit them with its head. The two of them were quickly on their feet again.

"I got an idea," said Arc, breathing heavily. He wiped some blood from his lip with his left hand.

"What?" asked Orchid, eyeing the feet, torso and head as they circled the pair.

"Attack the head," replied Arc, lowering his stone right hand, palm up. "Step on, and get ready to jump. Acting quickly and without question, Orchid got on and crouched down. Just as the feet charged, Arc flung up his right and brought it down, launching Orchid towards the head and bashing the feet at the same time.

Orchid landed hard on the edge of the torso's top opening with only her arms over the lip of the armor, and found herself face to face with the helmet. The whole thing spun wildly, trying to dislodge her like a wet dog shaking off water, but she clung on tightly and finally climbed on top of the armored body.

Swaying to keep her balance, she fell forward onto the free-floating helmet as the armor spun again, grabbing onto the top horn. In the dizzying few moments, she saw Montblanc fighting a losing battle as Arc wrestled with the feet, and then the body stopped. The torso flew down, ramming into Arc, knocking him to the floor to be dealt with by the feet, then flew back up. Unable to contain her rage, she swung herself around to be in front of the helm.

"You leave my friends," she yelled, kicking the visor up, to stare into the gleaming yellow eyes of the Guard Armor, "ALONE!"

She plunged Bramblebite into the inky blackness, and felt her hand almost go numb with reverberations that traveled up the haft of the blade. She was flung backwards to land hard on the pavement, without the keyblade. The armor twitched convulsively, the keyblade still sticking out of its head. Around her, the limbs of it were shattering and disintegrating. Finally, beams of light shot out of the visor, and the Heartless' armor cracked and shattered, then exploded in a spray of darkness, which became a vortex into the keyblade. Bramblebite hovered momentarily, then dropped to pierce the stones below and stick there, still vibrating and pulsing.

"Few, at least that's…" she started, looking around. Then she saw him. "Arc!"

He was lying on the ground, bleeding from a head wound. She ran over, looking to Montblanc, but the little moogle was too far away, only barely making progress towards them in his exhaustion. She knelt down, wondering what to do as she watched the blood flow down Arc's face.

In the moment of need, the healing light shall bloom; you need but call.

A voice from eternity.

"Cure!" she cried urgently, holding both hands over him. Soft light formed between her hands, then drifted down onto him. As she watched, the blood flow slowed to a trickle, then stopped entirely. Before her very eyes, the gash on his forehead, previously obscured by the blood, sealed itself. Soon his face was completely healed, and his eyes slowly opened.

"You saved me…" said Arc. Orchid could only nod, her eyes wet; she had lost one friend, and she never wanted to lose another again.

"What was that, kupo?" asked Montblanc, finally making it to them. "How did you know that spell?"

"I-I don't know," said Orchid, getting up, and helping Arc up. "A voice told me…something,"

"What did it say?" squeaked the moogle urgently.

"I…don't remember," she replied, the voice already fading from her mind. Had it really even been there?

"Whatever," said Arc, smiling at her. "I'm just glad she knew the spell. A little longer and I think I might have…died? Or something bad."

*

They were now in the Accessory Shop. Cid was 'slacking', as Orchid thought of it, behind the counter, while she, Sora, Montblanc, and Arc had taken up various positions around the room, on the couch, and, in Monatblanc's case, on top of the fireplace.

"So now what?" asked Orchid from one end of the couch.

"Well," replied Sora, from the other end, "I think we'll have to find out what's happening in the other worlds. If the Heartless are back, then-"

"Hey," interrupted Cid, who had returned to his normal outfit, "who said anything about 'we'?"

"Well, Merlin said these three are going," stated Sora, "And I can help them."

"How? You have no keyblade; you can't fight."

"I can do magic!"

"I saw. But even though you know some top-end spells, you barely even do more damage than Montblanc."

"What are you saying? That I've weakened?"

"That's exactly what I'm say-!"

Cid was cut off as a winged envelope flew in through the chimney, becoming slightly scorched, to land in Orchid's lap as the wings disappeared. She opened it quickly and began to read aloud.

"It starts 'To Orchid and Co.,'" she read. " 'If my timing is right, then Sora just said that he'd be going with you,'"

"He's a few seconds off," mused Arc.

" 'To prevent this, as it would both hinder you and endanger him if I did not, I feel I must explain further. Sora will be needed later, but now he would only get in the way or hurt in his weakened state. He was the wielder of the Key of World, Heart. You, Orchid, wield the Key of World, Life. These are the two halves of it. Before, Sora had built up his and its power in a constant rise. Now, four years later, it has taken a sudden plunge, and him with it. In it's place, the second half should rise with you. If I am correct, when it reaches its personal apex of power, at the time of need, the Heart half should be restored and both shall come forth to save our world. Sora, I plead that you stay here, until the time comes. You shall know when. Your friend, Merlin'," finished Orchid.

They stood in silence awhile.

"Fine," said Sora, defeated. He walked out of the Shop, presumably for the Hotel in the Second District.

"Either way, with or without him," said Arc, "he's right. We'll have to see the other worlds."

"But how will we get there, kupo?" asked Montblanc. "We have no ship."

"Oh, ho!" answered Cid cheerfully. "That's what you think! The Cid before me, Cid Highwind, was a gummi ship man. I think it can be used, since the world barriers are down, seeing as the Heartless are back. I'll take you to it."

*

They were soon sitting in side the gummi ship, gently orbiting the world of Traverse town.

"Wow," said Orchid, her face pressed up against the glass. "I didn't know the night sky was so big!"

"It's called space," said Arc absently, busy messing with the controls.

"It's beautiful," she whispered.

"Pretty kupo, huh?" said Montblanc, also admiring the stars.

"Here it is!" said Arc, causing the other two to turn. "The map!"

"So where are we going?" asked Orchid.

"Kupopo…There's a one by the world over there," said Montblanc, pointing. "Let's go there."

"Um…Wonderland…" said Arc vaguely.

"To Wonderland!" shouted Orchid.

And they were off.