Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Lion and Blade ❯ Chapter 4
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: whymihere 
Non Anime: Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Hentai / Fantasy / Romance / Shounen | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 09.20.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 6.5K | Visits: 264 | Status: Completed
Non Anime: Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Hentai / Fantasy / Romance / Shounen | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 09.20.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 6.5K | Visits: 264 | Status: Completed
Reason for lack of updates moved across country and got a job. OOCness is required as this story is a bit darker than the others, but it sometimes needs to happen.
Chapter 4
Waking up on the cold ground, Sora stretched his claws out and pawed the hard stone floor before heading down to the grass. Finding a patch of private land, he relieved himself with a heavy sigh and made his way over to a nearby watering hole. Dipping his head down, Sora gratefully drank the crisp, cool liquid until he was disturbed by three voices cackling happily. Turning his head he growled seeing Banzai, Ed, and Shenzi snickering about something. Rushing up to them, Sora crouched and roared prompting them to scatter. Taking after Banzai, Sora pushed his muscles to their limit allowing him to quickly over take the Hyena, but roared as Shenzi bit him on his left flank. Swatting her away, Ed tried to get at his throat, but Sora turned and kicked out his legs knocking the fool into a rock. Getting to his feet, he pressed a claw to Banzai’s throat demanding to know why they were in the Pride Lands.
“We’re here because Simba sent that blue bird to fetch us. Said he needed a job done, something about a bunch of weird looking animals.” Sora pressed the full weight of his paw against the Hyena’s throat, forcing him to gasp out, “I’m serious...let me up...” Suddenly a loud roar reached their ears and Sora was forced off Banzai by the arrival of Simba. Climbing to his feet, Banzai rubbed his throat gingerly and scowled at Simba saying, “Keep him on a leash or something. Man, I felt like my throat was going to be crushed.” Being joined by his cohorts, Banzai said, “We got the information you needed, Boss. Seems that those gold animals are something different than the ones Scar turned into. And a lot more dangerous.” Banzai tilted his head in Ed’s direction to show a large burn across the less comprehensible Hyena’s back.
Sitting next to Sora, Simba gazed at his three spies saying, “We shall discuss this later. For now, go up to the lair and tell them to give you some of the kill. I believe a few of the females managed to get a couple of young water-buffalo.” Letting the three slobbering fiends go, Simba turned to Sora with a small smile. “I thank you for your worry, but they’re loyal to those who do not try to betray them. I’ve fed them and given them a fair bit of land to live on here, and in return they keep their noses clean. By the way, you’re bleeding a little.” Simba pointed a claw at a few oozing holes on his friends back.
Putting them aside as nothing more than a minor annoyance. Sora walked back to the lair with Simba asking, “How do you know they’ll remain loyal? What if someone comes along and offers them more than what you’ve given?” Simba continued to walk, commenting that it was bound to happen, and if it did he would handle it then. And if not, then he would just have to make sure he kept them happy so as not to receive any backlash for his kindness. Turning up the stone path to the lair, Sora was greeted by Kiara jumping onto his mane like she had done to Riku the previous night. Grunting, he shook her off and began batting her playfully in the head. The cub growled, pounced, and chased him around until Nala called her up to eat.
Back at the lair, Sora and his friends were eating yet another finely made meal of roasted meat while Simba discussed things with the Hyenas in the main chamber. Riku could see Sora scanning the door suspiciously and made the comment, “Why don’t you just go in there to see what’s going on?” Used to Sora’s glares, Riku snorted as he ate his last bit of meat saying, “Simba isn’t an idiot. He knows how to handle diplomatic matters as well as the King, so let it go and eat something.” Stretching, Riku excused himself and went down to the water hole Sora had used earlier. Bending his head, he drank heavily for a short while when a familiar scream resonated throughout the surrounding area. Looking up he saw Timon riding on Puumba as the two of them were chased by a couple of small cheetah cubs.
Jumping in front of them, the cubs came to a halt and slammed into Riku’s powerful form. When he laughed one of them dropped to a fighting position demanding, “Who are you? Tell me so I won’t have to rip your gizzards out.” Riku continued to laugh and turned his back to them muttering about their spirit. Mad at the disrespect he was given the cub attempted to pounce onto Riku’s back, but was stopped by a full grown male leopard appearing in front of him. This however did not stop the cub who growled out that he was an impostor. Catching this Riku turned back with Timon on his back to see what the problem was. When he arrived the male told the cub to find it’s mother and not to threaten animals who were guests of their king. The cub ran off with it’s friend shouting insults at the intruder while it grew smaller with each leap.
Turning the Leopard smoothed out a bit of hair that looked like a giant spike saying, “So you’ve taken to picking on little defenseless animals now?” Riku scoffed saying that he didn’t need help fighting off a couple of cubs. Giving a yawn, the leopard flicked his head to reveal a large sword. “Maybe not cubs, but against me you’re nothing more than a cub when it comes to swordplay.” His words garbled slightly by the handle of his sword laying in his mouth, the leopard attempted to make a mad dash, when a large black lion got in his way. “Out of the way Squall, this is between me and him.”
“Cloud, you’re honestly more of a hot head than that gun-wielding oil drilling friend of yours.” Turning around, the majestic form of a transformed Leon nodded curtly to Riku saying, “We got the signal, but finding you guys in this world is too much trouble. But, it’s safe to say we’re relived to find you.” Hearing the sound of Cloud putting his sword away, Leon added, “Tifa and Yuffie are out looking in the jungles, and Aeris is on the ship waiting for us.” Leon began to make his way up the path when Riku shouted that they had encountered an enemy. Nodding Leon said to his comrade, “We know, we found your ship and won’t leave until we’re done investigating on this world.”
“We’ve done more than our fair share of battle and have no need for you to tell us how to handle it.” Riku was then nudged out of the way by Cloud who followed in Leon’s steps. Arriving at the lair, Sora and Kairi expressed their deepest thanks at them showing up. Smiling at the two, Cloud said, “Don’t worry about it. We got your signal a few days ago and hurried here. Besides, this type of thing requires a few Keyblade masters.” Seeing Riku show up, Cloud added in a much more serious tone, “The King also requests a sample of the enemies armor for study.” Kairi and Sora said there were a few remains at the gorge, but Leon shook his head mentioning that the remains were not there when they had passed through.
“That means we were being watched,” muttered Sora darkly. Looking to Riku who was sitting next to Kairi he asked, “Riku, anything suspicious happen while you were down there.” Saying that other than finding Timon, Pumbaa, along with the attack of a few cubs, and the arrival of their comrades he told Sora nothing had happened. Scratching at a bug on his ear, Sora regained his composure and asked Leon, “What’s your take on the situation? We have no bodies left of the enemies we fought, as well as no clues as to where we should look, plus the communicator we had ended up breaking down last night. So, as the saying goes, we’re shit out of luck on any sort of clues to put us on the right path.”
Tasting some of the remaining meat, Leon swallowed happily as Cloud sniffed the ground. A bit unnerved, Kairi growled, “Are you two just going to act like your animal forms or help us find the enemy?!” Both of the older men chuckled and pointed at their paws. On the part just above the paw, there was a communicator attached to both of them. Tilting her head, Kairi asked, “SO, you have a communicator, what good does that do us if you haven’t even found any clues?” Her question was answered a second later with Aeris saying that she had picked up a foreign life form close to Pride Rock. Swallowing her pride Kairi whispered something along the lines of, “Why do I even bother?”
Thanking their hosts for their hospitality, the group left with Simba taking the lead next to Sora and Leon. Cloud took the middle, Riku the rear, and Kairi was sandwiched between the two of them. Some time into the trip, the group stopped so that Cloud could ask where the signal had moved to. “Looks like seven kilometers south-east and it’s resting. You want me to get visual?” Leon told her that it wouldn’t be necessary with all that was happening. “All right then. Be careful you guys.” She then cut off the communication leaving them alone in the vast savannah. Suddenly she got on the line saying, “Looks like you should hurry. Seems Tifa and Yuffie are already engaged in a fight and are out numbered now.”
The group cursed simultaneously and took off full speed with Cloud leading the pack. The remaining trip would have gone smoothly, but the course they had to take was covered by sharp rocks and required careful maneuvering. Once cleared of the rocks, they found themselves in the gorge where a gorilla was taking on what looked like a teenaged golden elephant, as a jackal went after a rhino while attempting to fight off a few lion shaped entities in the process. Riku had to hold Kairi back as she attempted to jump head first into the battle. Keeping her down he said to Leon, “What do you think of this? You, Sora, and Cloud help Tifa. Me, Simba, and Kairi help Yuffie?” Leon nodded and took his three into the battle while Riku dashed off with Simba and Kairi.
Catching up with Tifa, Cloud slashed at the elephants face saying, “You know, ya should have gotten used to a sword. Makes for a quicker kill!” As the elephant stamped it’s feet in rage. Sora and Leon stabbed their swords into it’s knees as Tifa snapped off it’s trunk and punched it’s head while telling her best friend to quit mocking her. “No problem,” said Cloud as he jumped into the air and told his friends to back away. When they did he somersaulted in the air before slicing down into the elephant, bisecting it perfectly down the middle. When the elephant toppled over, he dashed off without a word to help Yuffie take care of the rhino.
Sora was about to rush off to take care of a lion when another rhino appeared and slid it’s horn into his side. Coughing out a bit of blood as he was raised up, and violently flung through the air, he landed with a loud crack. His eyes fluttering he heard a voice shout something and in a flash of light and loud thuds, he lost all his senses amidst a black void. He didn’t know that it was Tifa who had taken out the rhino with her “Beat Rush,” and “Somersault,” attacks. But he did know pain when he felt a needle begin shooting some sort of liquid into him. Growling he tried to soot up but he was held down by straps. Opening his eyes he found a bright light assaulting him and he asked for someone to turn down the sun.
Laughing, Aeris stood over him asking, “How about turning down the surgical lamp. But, I will need you to sit still so I can get back to work fixing your stomach and kidneys.” Realizing that was the wrong thing to say, Aeris said, “Don’t worry you’re almost done and as you can tell the pain is almost non-existent, but it stings horribly when the process begins.” As he lay back down, Aeris went back to work using a new bit of technology from her home world to repair the damaged organs. Her face covered in a surgical mask, Sora noticed her smile jovially, “You have sanitized undergarments on and will be back to normal in no time, but that no time is a nine day recovery period. Which the King has offered you a state room for just that purpose. Towel please.”
Gazing through his blurred sight, Sora saw Queen Minnie dab at Aeris’ head with a towel from a step stool. Smiling at Sora she asked if he would like anything after he had some rest from the surgery, but he just shook his head and fell back asleep. The reason behind that was an extra amount of anesthesia had been put into the tube that was pumping liquid into his arm. Waking up in a large bed, he saw Riku and Leon asleep in chairs with stacks of magazines next to them. Coughing uncontrollably loud, he woke the two gaining both disapproving, but relieved looks from them. Pointing heavily to his throat, Sora was glad to see Leon read with a cup of water holding a straw. Raising his hand, he whispered a spell and cooled it a bit before putting it to Sora’s lips. Drinking slowly, he hacked again and vomited a bit onto his mouth. Riku tossed him a towel and he wiped it away asking, “Where’s Kairi? And Tifa? I want to thank her.” Setting the cup down, Leon left the room waving his hand saying he’d go and get them.
Moving closer to his friend, Riku said, “I’m sorry about that. I should have gone with Cloud and Leon.” Sora laughed saying that he’d had worse done to him and didn’t blame Riku. “You have a point, it couldn’t be worse than becoming a Heartless or all those fights we had during your first adventure.” Both of them laughed quietly and chatted for a few minutes when the girls came back in with Leon and Simba. “Simba here took out the last remaining enemies and managed to get us those samples Mickey wanted. Problem is we can’t take him back for a while since the fleet’s gone and the Ragnarok was damaged during our escape. But, you wouldn’t know anything about that since you were sleeping through it.”
Tifa raised a fist, smacked Riku hard in the head, and said, “Even Riku would have been taken off guard, and probably would have struggled so much that he tore out all of his organs in the process.” She ruffled Sora’s hair and scooted them all out saying that he needed the rest, and also that if they were caught Minnie would have them thrown from the part of the castle they were in. Out of Sora’s room and into her own, Tifa laid down on the bed in preparation for a nap when her communicator went off. Opening it she saw a familiar face staring at her. Smiling she said, “I’m fine, Sora’s fine, and everyone is alive. Just don’t expect to meet Sora soon.” Nodding, the image said something to the girl and went blank. Yawning loudly, Tifa pulled a pillow up under her neck and she fell asleep before her eyes were even fully closed.
An unknown amount of time later, Sora was sitting up in his bed as Aeris changed his bandages. The gauze was gone now, but he needed the extra support for his stitches that were still healing. Annoyed at their itching he asked his friend, “Couldn’t you have just used some magic to heal the wound? I mean there would have been no scar and I’d be up moving around a lot...YEOW! What the hell was that for?” His scream was ignited by Aeris tying his bandages in a much more violent manner than normal. When she let them go he asked again, “Why did you do that? It was just a simple question?”
Despite the innocence and politeness that filtered out of his mouth, Aeris just huffed saying, “Because you nearly died and I had to stitch up your organs in a way for them to work properly. Magic can only do so much and can be unreliable at times.” Pointing at the small bit of blood that leaked through the bandages from where she’d stitched him she said, “Your body knows how to heal itself better than anything in the universe. So take your medicine and you can go out with the others in a few more days. Until then sit down and enjoy this vacation.” Stomping out, Aeris nearly hit Stitch who had come in carrying a small record player and a few records to play on it. “Stitch keep that music down or you’re sleeping out in the garden tonight.”
“Yeah yeah,” replied the tiny blue alien. Putting a record on, Stitch turned the volume down and pulled a small bag from one of his internal pouches. Climbing up on the bed he opened the bag and removed a couple of bottles. He tried to open them, but even his advanced brain functions still hadn’t full grasped the idea of child-proof bottle caps. Grunting at Sora, he hand them over and poured some water saying, “Sora drink. Get happy and healthy.” Watching his friend open the bottles, the alien clapped and chuckled excitedly seeing how simple it was. Taking the bottles back from Sora after the human closed them, Stitch tried to turn and twist the caps as instructed, but only succeeded in falling off the bed and spilling pills everywhere.
Laughing at the sight, Sora grunted in pain when he felt his own stitches begin to pull. Laying down, he waved goodbye to his friend who had been called by his owner. Before he left though, the little alien put the records next to his bed so he could change them whenever he felt the need. Laying down listening to a few songs, he was about to go to sleep when Minnie came in with a tray and a meal. Sitting back up tiredly, he thanked her for helping him recover from his injuries. Readjusting the pillows for his comfort, the Queen simply said that it was no problem. When she left, Sora looked down at the meal of a salad, some meat, and a bit of soup with a pitcher of cold juice. Just as he was digging into the porkchop, King Mickey came in with Jack Sparrow in tow complaining about something.
“Now see here mate. Despite the fact that I procured your precious bit of armor for your witchcraft manner of research. I have business expenses that therefore require me to make some sort of defrayal, that is a payment, to those who not only chartered my passage legally, but also put a bounty on my head should any of their cargo be destroyed if I do not come up with the means to keep my head from settling on a pike for the rest of eternity.” Finally taking notice of the room, Jack took a good look at Sora and asked, “Shame to hear about the maltreatment you were given while staying with the lions, lad. But, as the saying goes, never trust anything that you’ve never seen before.” Giving Mickey a look, Jack said, “I wish for my payment in a weeks time. For now, I will see if your bonnie lass would be kind enough to contribute a few supplies to my men. Lord only knows what’s happening on my ship now that they’re sober.”
The pirate now gone, Mickey pulled up a chair with a broad smile on his face saying, “We have the information we need on the new enemy.” Tilting his head to the door he whispered, “And just incase you were wondering, I already paid off Jack’s employers so all of the money he’ll be receiving is profit. He risked a lot and deserves it, despite his attempts at being a less than honorable person.” Pulling out a stack of papers, Mickey rifled through them and found the one that was required for the conversation. Handing it to Sora, he gravely said, “It seems that we’re a bit out matched this time.” Pointing at a few of the numbers he continued, “The enemy’s bodily make up has the instinctive ability to change it’s density when an enemy is about to attack. From what we can tell, the bodies are about as soft as a humans, but when threatened adjusts to the handle the strength of an attacking individual.”
Noticing the numbers, Sora felt his head begin to go dizzy. Rubbing his temples he asked, “So how do we fight it?” Mickey handed over another few pieces of parchment with what he hoped would be a plan. Scanning them, Sora said, “Schematics for upgrading our weapons? Do you honestly think that by making a slight adjustment to our weapons will make that much of a difference?” Pointing to the blueprint he said, “From these writings it will take months to make all the adjustments. And not to mention making the technology work inside of a Keyblade chain. Do you even know how you’re going to create this stuff?”
Mickey chuckled saying, “Well we put it up against some of the Nobody and Heartless samples, and it seems to react negatively to a mix of both. Meaning the armor will grow weaker, and you won’t have to gang up on one just to take it out. Unless of course it’s good at fighting a lot of people at once.” Putting his files away, Mickey stood next to the bed a bit shy as he asked, “Sora, we’re going to need to borrow your Keyblade for a bit though. A couple of hours at the most so we can figure out how best to make your keychain.” Sora told Mickey he’d do it once he was allowed to move around. “Thanks pal, and by the way Aeris says you should be well enough to walk around tomorrow, but fighting will be another week or so.”
Turning the current record off, Sora decided to put on one done by somebody called, “The King.” Hearing the slow blues like riffs of the music, Sora read a few of the papers Mickey had left with him. One was a note about his mother coming to visit him, another was from Hercules saying that any sort of tournament was put on hold because of problems with a magic spell not working correctly. The final one was something he thought had to have been a joke. It was a letter to someone that was dated almost a year prior. Opening it though he read something that addressed what appeared to be personal issues. Common sense told him to look away, but as it is with things of such a curious nature he could not, and so he read the bit of paper.
Here I am,
Another day, another mission succeeded. Where do I go to now, I don’t know since I haven’t received my orders. And while I wait, I ponder what’s going on beyond these stars. I’ve flown through them, fought powerful enemies, and now life seems a bit boring. Everything is monotonous and there’s no excitement. The woman in my life, while fun, exhilarating and loving just doesn’t seem to have that great of an effect on me. Despite the face I put on, and say I’m having a good time is not only false, but it seems like I an betraying her and my friends. So what do I do now? I guess I shall continue on with my life and hopefully find meaning behind some of the dreams that have come into my mind and to make a few of my own dreams from childhood come true. While some have come true, many remain to be fulfilled, though in all likeliness that will never happen. But, all I can do is attempt and allow fate to run it’s course.
See you soon,
Your closest friend.
Sora put down the letter and placed it back into it’s envelope. He didn’t know who it belonged to, nor the address, yet he had seen that handwriting before. Feeling woozy, he put all the papers away, turned off the record, and turned over to sleep. Problem was that the sleep lasted for what seemed to be only a split second, but he soon learned that he had slept more than 12 hours and had Aeris shaking him awake. Nearly falling off the bed, he opened his eyes and screamed at the bright light hitting him in the eyes.
“Damn it, Aeris! Why did you start doing that?” Hearing her breathe heavily with relief, Sora sat up growling, “I was sleeping heavily, you didn’t have to wake me up like that!” She apologized for her behavior, but that still didn’t help Sora’s mood. Calming down only a bit, he controlled his voice enough to say, “”It’s fine, I’m sorry I yelled. Just plug my nose or hit me in the face with a pillow the next time you think I’m dead.” Apologizing for his behavior, Sora climbed shakily out of the bed with no protest from his friend. Grabbing some clothes, he walked off to the bathroom and changed into another set of his pajamas, put on his slippers, and left the room to see what the others were up to.
Walking through the castle, he passed many of the servants who bowed politely. He returned the gesture with a nod and continued on his way. He heard Donald arguing with Daisy about something as he walked, finally he came upon Goofy and a couple of the others walking around the grounds. Picking up his pace, Sora tried to sneak up on Tifa, but Pluto’s barking had him stop his stealthy movements. Waving a finger, Tifa told him that had he successfully snuck up on her, he’d probably die from internal bleeding due to his wounds not being fully healed. Sora snorted and sat down on a hill while the others finished their talk with Goofy before he left for guard duty.
Stretching out on the cool grass, Sora was careful to prop his back against a wall to keep his stitches in place. Summoning his Keyblade, he sighed at having to get yet another chain for it. Currently it was in it’s Oblivion mode, but with a new chain he didn’t know what it would turn into. He hated getting new Keyblades sometimes, mostly because of the changing of how he had to handle it, and if he did that in middle of battle it could prove to be fatal if he couldn’t find the appropriate chain. Sending it to where all Keyblades went when not in use, Sora remained seated and made no attempt to move when Leon smacked him in the head.
“That’s for being rude to Aeris. And this,” he punched him in the arm, “is for not giving Stitch back Lilo’s record player.” Sora made an attempt to trip his friend, but was stopped by a dog suddenly growling loudly at him. “Angelo, quiet down or leave.” The firmness in Leon’s voice had the attack dog whimpering loudly as it walked off with his tail pointing between his legs. Pulling out a small flask, Leon took a sip and tossed it to Sora, when questioned about it all Leon said was that it was in honor of him being able to leave the room. Watching Sora, he couldn’t help but smile as the teen began coughing loudly asking what the drink was.
Taking his flask back, Leon capped it loudly saying, “It’s a tonic from the town near the Garden I grew up in. Nice place called Balamb. I had it specially made for your injuries.” Hearing a small hiss he continued, “If you drink it without being hurt it acts as a strong liquor. But, with injuries like yours it will heal them in a matter of hours. Oh and it’ll start to feel like your stitches have been lit on fire right about,” he was too late as Sora began rolling around on the ground screaming in agony. Snorting, Leon watched him for a minute before finally pulling another flask out of his pocket and poured some on Sora’s hands.
Feeling the cold liquid, Sora began shouting loudly asking how it would help if it was his stomach that was burning. Leon just told him to stay quiet, but Sora continued to shout until he felt the liquid touch his stitches. A cooling wave spread throughout his body, he began to calm down, and sat up to feel his stitches only to find them completely gone. Staring in amazement at his sudden healing, Sora climbed to his feet and did a couple of stretches relieved to find nothing wrong. Satisfied, he began to slowly bring his foot down, but instead decided to plant it into Leon’s face saying to him, “That’s for putting me through all that agony you jerk! I thought I was about to die!”
Hearing the crack of leather to bare skin, Rinoa looked down from her perch in a tree to see Leon and Sora wrestling on the ground arguing about what had happened. Laughing, she remained still when a rustle of leaves caught her ears. Turning she saw Zell and Kairi sitting together in a nearby branch watching the fight. Sitting up she asked, “I guess he told you all what would happen once he gave the potion to Sora?” The two friends nodded and both took a bite of an apple in an almost perfect unison. Reaching for one off the branch, she began chewing on it as her friends told her through mouthfuls of how skirmishes between both swordsmen weren’t that uncommon. Snorting she took another bite, and with a muffled voice asked, “Do you think Cloud and Riku fight like that?”
Nearly choking on her apple from laughter, Kairi pointed to an open window where the group could hear loud grunts and cracks echo from the rooms acoustics. Snickering, Kairi said, “Those two much prefer actual physical combat where as Sora and Leon,” she sighed heavily before continuing, “those two idiots prefer to bicker like children whenever they can. A bit weird considering just how serious the two of them are all the time.” Seeing a pained look in Riona’s face, Kairi coughed to get her attention. When acquired the female Keyblade master asked, “Is it weird for you to see Leon like this? I mean, didn’t he at least laugh sometimes when you were on your home world?”
Rinoa shook her head saying, “It’s hard to say. There were times when he was relaxed and smiled, but laughter was an almost non-existent thing with him.” Seeing Leon and Sora sitting across from each other, Rinoa smirked as she told her new friends, “I’m glad he met you all. The fact that Squall had so many friends around to change him is a great blessing.” Picking up her apple core, Rinoa focused for a second and transformed it into a flower petals and sent them swirling around Sora before hopping down from her branch in order to head into the castle.
In the castle training room, Cloud and Riku both sat on the ground panting heavily amidst a scent of sweat and adrenaline. Falling back to a sitting position, Cloud sighed and took a sip of water from his hip flask. Sighing in relief he tossed it to Riku, who drained what was remained before throwing it back to its owner. Putting his training sword down, Riku began to move his legs a little bit to prevent cramping as Cloud stretched. Hearing his knee pop into place, Cloud grunted loudly saying to his rival and friend, “You won this round.” Riku nodded without a word and stretched his back and arms loosening them with a loud groan. Laughing, Cloud grabbed their swords and put them away before heading out leaving Riku to fend for himself.
Making his way through the halls, Cloud returned to his and Aeris’ room to find his girlfriend going through some medical books. Giving her a small kiss on the cheek he went into the bathroom and climbed into the shower. Setting it to massage he sat under the warm water for a good fifteen minutes before cleaning himself off. Getting out he changed into a set of clothes that weren’t made for combat. Sitting on the bed he stared at Aeris which wasn’t unsual for him, but he was glad to finally have her back. Granted she had died, at one point and come back without his friend Zack but fate was a weird thing to figure out. Not complaining he laid back on the bed and fell into a light nap.
Some time later he was woken by a knock at the door. Climbing groggily to his feet, he opened it seeing Tifa and the guy named Irvine staring at him. Rubbing his eyes he asked what they wanted. Flicking the former Soldier in the nose, Irvine simply said, “There’s food if you want it. Aeris is waiting for you before she starts. The others are already done.” Growling Cloud flicked Irvine back with what he thought was the same amount of force, but once again he underestimated his strength and cut the sniper’s nose. Feeling a small trickle of blood, Irvine wiped it away and laughed, “I guess I’d better be careful against you in that ‘tournament.’ Don’t want Selphie to get worried about me.” Waving bye to them, he walked off leaving the two childhood friends alone.
Chuckling at their friends attitude, Tifa began walking with Cloud to the dining hall. It was quiet for a moment but when asked about the sample of armor, Tifa shrugged it off saying, “Don’t know yet, the King is working on it full time with Donald, Merlin, that wizard who had the three fairies kept safe, and of course some other magic users.” Yawning she looked at her watch shaking her head. “Not even seven and I’m this tired. I hate going to new world because for some reason I can’t get used to the time differences.” Peering down at the courtyard, Tifa shook her head and jumped down saying, “I’ll see you later, Cloud.”
Keeping pace, Cloud entered the dining hall to find Sora sitting down talking with Aeris and Kairi. Grabbing a plate, he loaded it with some food and sat down next to the long-haired brunette. Eating a bit of ham, Cloud couldn’t help but notice that Sora seemed much more energetic than usual. He thought it was because he had finally been freed from the confines of his room, but something told him that it was a bit more than that. Ignoring it as it really had nothing to do with him, Cloud didn’t speak until Aeris asked when they would go on another message. Thinking he said, “It depends on when another call is made, it’s quiet and all the worlds are reporting no problems with any suspicious enemies. So, we can kill some time until another appearance is made by the enemy. Maybe by then the king will have finished our upgrades.”
Deep in the lab with Merlin, Mickey was rubbing his eyes staring down at a machine that was using magical energies to construct what appeared to be a glove. Since it was the least complicated, they had put their energy into fitting the gloves to suit Tifa and Zell’s own styles and strength. Their wasn’t much difference in ability save for fighting style that gave Zell a slight advantage over Tifa. Keeping his gaze on the meters, the two were hopeful that the material from the armor sample had been properly analyzed giving their weapons the appropriate measures to change independently when striking an enemy.
With a sudden burst of energy, the machine gave a final jolt to the gloves before going into cooling mode. Putting on some protective gear, Mickey picked up the gloves and set them down onto a couple of small pillows. Since they were just created, any sort of contact with metal could cause a problem with the magical programming, so keeping them off the steel tables insured that after the twenty-four hour programming period they would work correctly. Sighing, Mickey looked to his master and Donald, both of whom were trying to figure out how to stableize the energy into a rod for Aeris. Yawning he excused himself and went into the back where they had cots set up. Laying his head on a pillow, Mickey fell into an uneasy sleep hoping that his theory was correct.
Chapter 4
Waking up on the cold ground, Sora stretched his claws out and pawed the hard stone floor before heading down to the grass. Finding a patch of private land, he relieved himself with a heavy sigh and made his way over to a nearby watering hole. Dipping his head down, Sora gratefully drank the crisp, cool liquid until he was disturbed by three voices cackling happily. Turning his head he growled seeing Banzai, Ed, and Shenzi snickering about something. Rushing up to them, Sora crouched and roared prompting them to scatter. Taking after Banzai, Sora pushed his muscles to their limit allowing him to quickly over take the Hyena, but roared as Shenzi bit him on his left flank. Swatting her away, Ed tried to get at his throat, but Sora turned and kicked out his legs knocking the fool into a rock. Getting to his feet, he pressed a claw to Banzai’s throat demanding to know why they were in the Pride Lands.
“We’re here because Simba sent that blue bird to fetch us. Said he needed a job done, something about a bunch of weird looking animals.” Sora pressed the full weight of his paw against the Hyena’s throat, forcing him to gasp out, “I’m serious...let me up...” Suddenly a loud roar reached their ears and Sora was forced off Banzai by the arrival of Simba. Climbing to his feet, Banzai rubbed his throat gingerly and scowled at Simba saying, “Keep him on a leash or something. Man, I felt like my throat was going to be crushed.” Being joined by his cohorts, Banzai said, “We got the information you needed, Boss. Seems that those gold animals are something different than the ones Scar turned into. And a lot more dangerous.” Banzai tilted his head in Ed’s direction to show a large burn across the less comprehensible Hyena’s back.
Sitting next to Sora, Simba gazed at his three spies saying, “We shall discuss this later. For now, go up to the lair and tell them to give you some of the kill. I believe a few of the females managed to get a couple of young water-buffalo.” Letting the three slobbering fiends go, Simba turned to Sora with a small smile. “I thank you for your worry, but they’re loyal to those who do not try to betray them. I’ve fed them and given them a fair bit of land to live on here, and in return they keep their noses clean. By the way, you’re bleeding a little.” Simba pointed a claw at a few oozing holes on his friends back.
Putting them aside as nothing more than a minor annoyance. Sora walked back to the lair with Simba asking, “How do you know they’ll remain loyal? What if someone comes along and offers them more than what you’ve given?” Simba continued to walk, commenting that it was bound to happen, and if it did he would handle it then. And if not, then he would just have to make sure he kept them happy so as not to receive any backlash for his kindness. Turning up the stone path to the lair, Sora was greeted by Kiara jumping onto his mane like she had done to Riku the previous night. Grunting, he shook her off and began batting her playfully in the head. The cub growled, pounced, and chased him around until Nala called her up to eat.
Back at the lair, Sora and his friends were eating yet another finely made meal of roasted meat while Simba discussed things with the Hyenas in the main chamber. Riku could see Sora scanning the door suspiciously and made the comment, “Why don’t you just go in there to see what’s going on?” Used to Sora’s glares, Riku snorted as he ate his last bit of meat saying, “Simba isn’t an idiot. He knows how to handle diplomatic matters as well as the King, so let it go and eat something.” Stretching, Riku excused himself and went down to the water hole Sora had used earlier. Bending his head, he drank heavily for a short while when a familiar scream resonated throughout the surrounding area. Looking up he saw Timon riding on Puumba as the two of them were chased by a couple of small cheetah cubs.
Jumping in front of them, the cubs came to a halt and slammed into Riku’s powerful form. When he laughed one of them dropped to a fighting position demanding, “Who are you? Tell me so I won’t have to rip your gizzards out.” Riku continued to laugh and turned his back to them muttering about their spirit. Mad at the disrespect he was given the cub attempted to pounce onto Riku’s back, but was stopped by a full grown male leopard appearing in front of him. This however did not stop the cub who growled out that he was an impostor. Catching this Riku turned back with Timon on his back to see what the problem was. When he arrived the male told the cub to find it’s mother and not to threaten animals who were guests of their king. The cub ran off with it’s friend shouting insults at the intruder while it grew smaller with each leap.
Turning the Leopard smoothed out a bit of hair that looked like a giant spike saying, “So you’ve taken to picking on little defenseless animals now?” Riku scoffed saying that he didn’t need help fighting off a couple of cubs. Giving a yawn, the leopard flicked his head to reveal a large sword. “Maybe not cubs, but against me you’re nothing more than a cub when it comes to swordplay.” His words garbled slightly by the handle of his sword laying in his mouth, the leopard attempted to make a mad dash, when a large black lion got in his way. “Out of the way Squall, this is between me and him.”
“Cloud, you’re honestly more of a hot head than that gun-wielding oil drilling friend of yours.” Turning around, the majestic form of a transformed Leon nodded curtly to Riku saying, “We got the signal, but finding you guys in this world is too much trouble. But, it’s safe to say we’re relived to find you.” Hearing the sound of Cloud putting his sword away, Leon added, “Tifa and Yuffie are out looking in the jungles, and Aeris is on the ship waiting for us.” Leon began to make his way up the path when Riku shouted that they had encountered an enemy. Nodding Leon said to his comrade, “We know, we found your ship and won’t leave until we’re done investigating on this world.”
“We’ve done more than our fair share of battle and have no need for you to tell us how to handle it.” Riku was then nudged out of the way by Cloud who followed in Leon’s steps. Arriving at the lair, Sora and Kairi expressed their deepest thanks at them showing up. Smiling at the two, Cloud said, “Don’t worry about it. We got your signal a few days ago and hurried here. Besides, this type of thing requires a few Keyblade masters.” Seeing Riku show up, Cloud added in a much more serious tone, “The King also requests a sample of the enemies armor for study.” Kairi and Sora said there were a few remains at the gorge, but Leon shook his head mentioning that the remains were not there when they had passed through.
“That means we were being watched,” muttered Sora darkly. Looking to Riku who was sitting next to Kairi he asked, “Riku, anything suspicious happen while you were down there.” Saying that other than finding Timon, Pumbaa, along with the attack of a few cubs, and the arrival of their comrades he told Sora nothing had happened. Scratching at a bug on his ear, Sora regained his composure and asked Leon, “What’s your take on the situation? We have no bodies left of the enemies we fought, as well as no clues as to where we should look, plus the communicator we had ended up breaking down last night. So, as the saying goes, we’re shit out of luck on any sort of clues to put us on the right path.”
Tasting some of the remaining meat, Leon swallowed happily as Cloud sniffed the ground. A bit unnerved, Kairi growled, “Are you two just going to act like your animal forms or help us find the enemy?!” Both of the older men chuckled and pointed at their paws. On the part just above the paw, there was a communicator attached to both of them. Tilting her head, Kairi asked, “SO, you have a communicator, what good does that do us if you haven’t even found any clues?” Her question was answered a second later with Aeris saying that she had picked up a foreign life form close to Pride Rock. Swallowing her pride Kairi whispered something along the lines of, “Why do I even bother?”
Thanking their hosts for their hospitality, the group left with Simba taking the lead next to Sora and Leon. Cloud took the middle, Riku the rear, and Kairi was sandwiched between the two of them. Some time into the trip, the group stopped so that Cloud could ask where the signal had moved to. “Looks like seven kilometers south-east and it’s resting. You want me to get visual?” Leon told her that it wouldn’t be necessary with all that was happening. “All right then. Be careful you guys.” She then cut off the communication leaving them alone in the vast savannah. Suddenly she got on the line saying, “Looks like you should hurry. Seems Tifa and Yuffie are already engaged in a fight and are out numbered now.”
The group cursed simultaneously and took off full speed with Cloud leading the pack. The remaining trip would have gone smoothly, but the course they had to take was covered by sharp rocks and required careful maneuvering. Once cleared of the rocks, they found themselves in the gorge where a gorilla was taking on what looked like a teenaged golden elephant, as a jackal went after a rhino while attempting to fight off a few lion shaped entities in the process. Riku had to hold Kairi back as she attempted to jump head first into the battle. Keeping her down he said to Leon, “What do you think of this? You, Sora, and Cloud help Tifa. Me, Simba, and Kairi help Yuffie?” Leon nodded and took his three into the battle while Riku dashed off with Simba and Kairi.
Catching up with Tifa, Cloud slashed at the elephants face saying, “You know, ya should have gotten used to a sword. Makes for a quicker kill!” As the elephant stamped it’s feet in rage. Sora and Leon stabbed their swords into it’s knees as Tifa snapped off it’s trunk and punched it’s head while telling her best friend to quit mocking her. “No problem,” said Cloud as he jumped into the air and told his friends to back away. When they did he somersaulted in the air before slicing down into the elephant, bisecting it perfectly down the middle. When the elephant toppled over, he dashed off without a word to help Yuffie take care of the rhino.
Sora was about to rush off to take care of a lion when another rhino appeared and slid it’s horn into his side. Coughing out a bit of blood as he was raised up, and violently flung through the air, he landed with a loud crack. His eyes fluttering he heard a voice shout something and in a flash of light and loud thuds, he lost all his senses amidst a black void. He didn’t know that it was Tifa who had taken out the rhino with her “Beat Rush,” and “Somersault,” attacks. But he did know pain when he felt a needle begin shooting some sort of liquid into him. Growling he tried to soot up but he was held down by straps. Opening his eyes he found a bright light assaulting him and he asked for someone to turn down the sun.
Laughing, Aeris stood over him asking, “How about turning down the surgical lamp. But, I will need you to sit still so I can get back to work fixing your stomach and kidneys.” Realizing that was the wrong thing to say, Aeris said, “Don’t worry you’re almost done and as you can tell the pain is almost non-existent, but it stings horribly when the process begins.” As he lay back down, Aeris went back to work using a new bit of technology from her home world to repair the damaged organs. Her face covered in a surgical mask, Sora noticed her smile jovially, “You have sanitized undergarments on and will be back to normal in no time, but that no time is a nine day recovery period. Which the King has offered you a state room for just that purpose. Towel please.”
Gazing through his blurred sight, Sora saw Queen Minnie dab at Aeris’ head with a towel from a step stool. Smiling at Sora she asked if he would like anything after he had some rest from the surgery, but he just shook his head and fell back asleep. The reason behind that was an extra amount of anesthesia had been put into the tube that was pumping liquid into his arm. Waking up in a large bed, he saw Riku and Leon asleep in chairs with stacks of magazines next to them. Coughing uncontrollably loud, he woke the two gaining both disapproving, but relieved looks from them. Pointing heavily to his throat, Sora was glad to see Leon read with a cup of water holding a straw. Raising his hand, he whispered a spell and cooled it a bit before putting it to Sora’s lips. Drinking slowly, he hacked again and vomited a bit onto his mouth. Riku tossed him a towel and he wiped it away asking, “Where’s Kairi? And Tifa? I want to thank her.” Setting the cup down, Leon left the room waving his hand saying he’d go and get them.
Moving closer to his friend, Riku said, “I’m sorry about that. I should have gone with Cloud and Leon.” Sora laughed saying that he’d had worse done to him and didn’t blame Riku. “You have a point, it couldn’t be worse than becoming a Heartless or all those fights we had during your first adventure.” Both of them laughed quietly and chatted for a few minutes when the girls came back in with Leon and Simba. “Simba here took out the last remaining enemies and managed to get us those samples Mickey wanted. Problem is we can’t take him back for a while since the fleet’s gone and the Ragnarok was damaged during our escape. But, you wouldn’t know anything about that since you were sleeping through it.”
Tifa raised a fist, smacked Riku hard in the head, and said, “Even Riku would have been taken off guard, and probably would have struggled so much that he tore out all of his organs in the process.” She ruffled Sora’s hair and scooted them all out saying that he needed the rest, and also that if they were caught Minnie would have them thrown from the part of the castle they were in. Out of Sora’s room and into her own, Tifa laid down on the bed in preparation for a nap when her communicator went off. Opening it she saw a familiar face staring at her. Smiling she said, “I’m fine, Sora’s fine, and everyone is alive. Just don’t expect to meet Sora soon.” Nodding, the image said something to the girl and went blank. Yawning loudly, Tifa pulled a pillow up under her neck and she fell asleep before her eyes were even fully closed.
An unknown amount of time later, Sora was sitting up in his bed as Aeris changed his bandages. The gauze was gone now, but he needed the extra support for his stitches that were still healing. Annoyed at their itching he asked his friend, “Couldn’t you have just used some magic to heal the wound? I mean there would have been no scar and I’d be up moving around a lot...YEOW! What the hell was that for?” His scream was ignited by Aeris tying his bandages in a much more violent manner than normal. When she let them go he asked again, “Why did you do that? It was just a simple question?”
Despite the innocence and politeness that filtered out of his mouth, Aeris just huffed saying, “Because you nearly died and I had to stitch up your organs in a way for them to work properly. Magic can only do so much and can be unreliable at times.” Pointing at the small bit of blood that leaked through the bandages from where she’d stitched him she said, “Your body knows how to heal itself better than anything in the universe. So take your medicine and you can go out with the others in a few more days. Until then sit down and enjoy this vacation.” Stomping out, Aeris nearly hit Stitch who had come in carrying a small record player and a few records to play on it. “Stitch keep that music down or you’re sleeping out in the garden tonight.”
“Yeah yeah,” replied the tiny blue alien. Putting a record on, Stitch turned the volume down and pulled a small bag from one of his internal pouches. Climbing up on the bed he opened the bag and removed a couple of bottles. He tried to open them, but even his advanced brain functions still hadn’t full grasped the idea of child-proof bottle caps. Grunting at Sora, he hand them over and poured some water saying, “Sora drink. Get happy and healthy.” Watching his friend open the bottles, the alien clapped and chuckled excitedly seeing how simple it was. Taking the bottles back from Sora after the human closed them, Stitch tried to turn and twist the caps as instructed, but only succeeded in falling off the bed and spilling pills everywhere.
Laughing at the sight, Sora grunted in pain when he felt his own stitches begin to pull. Laying down, he waved goodbye to his friend who had been called by his owner. Before he left though, the little alien put the records next to his bed so he could change them whenever he felt the need. Laying down listening to a few songs, he was about to go to sleep when Minnie came in with a tray and a meal. Sitting back up tiredly, he thanked her for helping him recover from his injuries. Readjusting the pillows for his comfort, the Queen simply said that it was no problem. When she left, Sora looked down at the meal of a salad, some meat, and a bit of soup with a pitcher of cold juice. Just as he was digging into the porkchop, King Mickey came in with Jack Sparrow in tow complaining about something.
“Now see here mate. Despite the fact that I procured your precious bit of armor for your witchcraft manner of research. I have business expenses that therefore require me to make some sort of defrayal, that is a payment, to those who not only chartered my passage legally, but also put a bounty on my head should any of their cargo be destroyed if I do not come up with the means to keep my head from settling on a pike for the rest of eternity.” Finally taking notice of the room, Jack took a good look at Sora and asked, “Shame to hear about the maltreatment you were given while staying with the lions, lad. But, as the saying goes, never trust anything that you’ve never seen before.” Giving Mickey a look, Jack said, “I wish for my payment in a weeks time. For now, I will see if your bonnie lass would be kind enough to contribute a few supplies to my men. Lord only knows what’s happening on my ship now that they’re sober.”
The pirate now gone, Mickey pulled up a chair with a broad smile on his face saying, “We have the information we need on the new enemy.” Tilting his head to the door he whispered, “And just incase you were wondering, I already paid off Jack’s employers so all of the money he’ll be receiving is profit. He risked a lot and deserves it, despite his attempts at being a less than honorable person.” Pulling out a stack of papers, Mickey rifled through them and found the one that was required for the conversation. Handing it to Sora, he gravely said, “It seems that we’re a bit out matched this time.” Pointing at a few of the numbers he continued, “The enemy’s bodily make up has the instinctive ability to change it’s density when an enemy is about to attack. From what we can tell, the bodies are about as soft as a humans, but when threatened adjusts to the handle the strength of an attacking individual.”
Noticing the numbers, Sora felt his head begin to go dizzy. Rubbing his temples he asked, “So how do we fight it?” Mickey handed over another few pieces of parchment with what he hoped would be a plan. Scanning them, Sora said, “Schematics for upgrading our weapons? Do you honestly think that by making a slight adjustment to our weapons will make that much of a difference?” Pointing to the blueprint he said, “From these writings it will take months to make all the adjustments. And not to mention making the technology work inside of a Keyblade chain. Do you even know how you’re going to create this stuff?”
Mickey chuckled saying, “Well we put it up against some of the Nobody and Heartless samples, and it seems to react negatively to a mix of both. Meaning the armor will grow weaker, and you won’t have to gang up on one just to take it out. Unless of course it’s good at fighting a lot of people at once.” Putting his files away, Mickey stood next to the bed a bit shy as he asked, “Sora, we’re going to need to borrow your Keyblade for a bit though. A couple of hours at the most so we can figure out how best to make your keychain.” Sora told Mickey he’d do it once he was allowed to move around. “Thanks pal, and by the way Aeris says you should be well enough to walk around tomorrow, but fighting will be another week or so.”
Turning the current record off, Sora decided to put on one done by somebody called, “The King.” Hearing the slow blues like riffs of the music, Sora read a few of the papers Mickey had left with him. One was a note about his mother coming to visit him, another was from Hercules saying that any sort of tournament was put on hold because of problems with a magic spell not working correctly. The final one was something he thought had to have been a joke. It was a letter to someone that was dated almost a year prior. Opening it though he read something that addressed what appeared to be personal issues. Common sense told him to look away, but as it is with things of such a curious nature he could not, and so he read the bit of paper.
Here I am,
Another day, another mission succeeded. Where do I go to now, I don’t know since I haven’t received my orders. And while I wait, I ponder what’s going on beyond these stars. I’ve flown through them, fought powerful enemies, and now life seems a bit boring. Everything is monotonous and there’s no excitement. The woman in my life, while fun, exhilarating and loving just doesn’t seem to have that great of an effect on me. Despite the face I put on, and say I’m having a good time is not only false, but it seems like I an betraying her and my friends. So what do I do now? I guess I shall continue on with my life and hopefully find meaning behind some of the dreams that have come into my mind and to make a few of my own dreams from childhood come true. While some have come true, many remain to be fulfilled, though in all likeliness that will never happen. But, all I can do is attempt and allow fate to run it’s course.
See you soon,
Your closest friend.
Sora put down the letter and placed it back into it’s envelope. He didn’t know who it belonged to, nor the address, yet he had seen that handwriting before. Feeling woozy, he put all the papers away, turned off the record, and turned over to sleep. Problem was that the sleep lasted for what seemed to be only a split second, but he soon learned that he had slept more than 12 hours and had Aeris shaking him awake. Nearly falling off the bed, he opened his eyes and screamed at the bright light hitting him in the eyes.
“Damn it, Aeris! Why did you start doing that?” Hearing her breathe heavily with relief, Sora sat up growling, “I was sleeping heavily, you didn’t have to wake me up like that!” She apologized for her behavior, but that still didn’t help Sora’s mood. Calming down only a bit, he controlled his voice enough to say, “”It’s fine, I’m sorry I yelled. Just plug my nose or hit me in the face with a pillow the next time you think I’m dead.” Apologizing for his behavior, Sora climbed shakily out of the bed with no protest from his friend. Grabbing some clothes, he walked off to the bathroom and changed into another set of his pajamas, put on his slippers, and left the room to see what the others were up to.
Walking through the castle, he passed many of the servants who bowed politely. He returned the gesture with a nod and continued on his way. He heard Donald arguing with Daisy about something as he walked, finally he came upon Goofy and a couple of the others walking around the grounds. Picking up his pace, Sora tried to sneak up on Tifa, but Pluto’s barking had him stop his stealthy movements. Waving a finger, Tifa told him that had he successfully snuck up on her, he’d probably die from internal bleeding due to his wounds not being fully healed. Sora snorted and sat down on a hill while the others finished their talk with Goofy before he left for guard duty.
Stretching out on the cool grass, Sora was careful to prop his back against a wall to keep his stitches in place. Summoning his Keyblade, he sighed at having to get yet another chain for it. Currently it was in it’s Oblivion mode, but with a new chain he didn’t know what it would turn into. He hated getting new Keyblades sometimes, mostly because of the changing of how he had to handle it, and if he did that in middle of battle it could prove to be fatal if he couldn’t find the appropriate chain. Sending it to where all Keyblades went when not in use, Sora remained seated and made no attempt to move when Leon smacked him in the head.
“That’s for being rude to Aeris. And this,” he punched him in the arm, “is for not giving Stitch back Lilo’s record player.” Sora made an attempt to trip his friend, but was stopped by a dog suddenly growling loudly at him. “Angelo, quiet down or leave.” The firmness in Leon’s voice had the attack dog whimpering loudly as it walked off with his tail pointing between his legs. Pulling out a small flask, Leon took a sip and tossed it to Sora, when questioned about it all Leon said was that it was in honor of him being able to leave the room. Watching Sora, he couldn’t help but smile as the teen began coughing loudly asking what the drink was.
Taking his flask back, Leon capped it loudly saying, “It’s a tonic from the town near the Garden I grew up in. Nice place called Balamb. I had it specially made for your injuries.” Hearing a small hiss he continued, “If you drink it without being hurt it acts as a strong liquor. But, with injuries like yours it will heal them in a matter of hours. Oh and it’ll start to feel like your stitches have been lit on fire right about,” he was too late as Sora began rolling around on the ground screaming in agony. Snorting, Leon watched him for a minute before finally pulling another flask out of his pocket and poured some on Sora’s hands.
Feeling the cold liquid, Sora began shouting loudly asking how it would help if it was his stomach that was burning. Leon just told him to stay quiet, but Sora continued to shout until he felt the liquid touch his stitches. A cooling wave spread throughout his body, he began to calm down, and sat up to feel his stitches only to find them completely gone. Staring in amazement at his sudden healing, Sora climbed to his feet and did a couple of stretches relieved to find nothing wrong. Satisfied, he began to slowly bring his foot down, but instead decided to plant it into Leon’s face saying to him, “That’s for putting me through all that agony you jerk! I thought I was about to die!”
Hearing the crack of leather to bare skin, Rinoa looked down from her perch in a tree to see Leon and Sora wrestling on the ground arguing about what had happened. Laughing, she remained still when a rustle of leaves caught her ears. Turning she saw Zell and Kairi sitting together in a nearby branch watching the fight. Sitting up she asked, “I guess he told you all what would happen once he gave the potion to Sora?” The two friends nodded and both took a bite of an apple in an almost perfect unison. Reaching for one off the branch, she began chewing on it as her friends told her through mouthfuls of how skirmishes between both swordsmen weren’t that uncommon. Snorting she took another bite, and with a muffled voice asked, “Do you think Cloud and Riku fight like that?”
Nearly choking on her apple from laughter, Kairi pointed to an open window where the group could hear loud grunts and cracks echo from the rooms acoustics. Snickering, Kairi said, “Those two much prefer actual physical combat where as Sora and Leon,” she sighed heavily before continuing, “those two idiots prefer to bicker like children whenever they can. A bit weird considering just how serious the two of them are all the time.” Seeing a pained look in Riona’s face, Kairi coughed to get her attention. When acquired the female Keyblade master asked, “Is it weird for you to see Leon like this? I mean, didn’t he at least laugh sometimes when you were on your home world?”
Rinoa shook her head saying, “It’s hard to say. There were times when he was relaxed and smiled, but laughter was an almost non-existent thing with him.” Seeing Leon and Sora sitting across from each other, Rinoa smirked as she told her new friends, “I’m glad he met you all. The fact that Squall had so many friends around to change him is a great blessing.” Picking up her apple core, Rinoa focused for a second and transformed it into a flower petals and sent them swirling around Sora before hopping down from her branch in order to head into the castle.
In the castle training room, Cloud and Riku both sat on the ground panting heavily amidst a scent of sweat and adrenaline. Falling back to a sitting position, Cloud sighed and took a sip of water from his hip flask. Sighing in relief he tossed it to Riku, who drained what was remained before throwing it back to its owner. Putting his training sword down, Riku began to move his legs a little bit to prevent cramping as Cloud stretched. Hearing his knee pop into place, Cloud grunted loudly saying to his rival and friend, “You won this round.” Riku nodded without a word and stretched his back and arms loosening them with a loud groan. Laughing, Cloud grabbed their swords and put them away before heading out leaving Riku to fend for himself.
Making his way through the halls, Cloud returned to his and Aeris’ room to find his girlfriend going through some medical books. Giving her a small kiss on the cheek he went into the bathroom and climbed into the shower. Setting it to massage he sat under the warm water for a good fifteen minutes before cleaning himself off. Getting out he changed into a set of clothes that weren’t made for combat. Sitting on the bed he stared at Aeris which wasn’t unsual for him, but he was glad to finally have her back. Granted she had died, at one point and come back without his friend Zack but fate was a weird thing to figure out. Not complaining he laid back on the bed and fell into a light nap.
Some time later he was woken by a knock at the door. Climbing groggily to his feet, he opened it seeing Tifa and the guy named Irvine staring at him. Rubbing his eyes he asked what they wanted. Flicking the former Soldier in the nose, Irvine simply said, “There’s food if you want it. Aeris is waiting for you before she starts. The others are already done.” Growling Cloud flicked Irvine back with what he thought was the same amount of force, but once again he underestimated his strength and cut the sniper’s nose. Feeling a small trickle of blood, Irvine wiped it away and laughed, “I guess I’d better be careful against you in that ‘tournament.’ Don’t want Selphie to get worried about me.” Waving bye to them, he walked off leaving the two childhood friends alone.
Chuckling at their friends attitude, Tifa began walking with Cloud to the dining hall. It was quiet for a moment but when asked about the sample of armor, Tifa shrugged it off saying, “Don’t know yet, the King is working on it full time with Donald, Merlin, that wizard who had the three fairies kept safe, and of course some other magic users.” Yawning she looked at her watch shaking her head. “Not even seven and I’m this tired. I hate going to new world because for some reason I can’t get used to the time differences.” Peering down at the courtyard, Tifa shook her head and jumped down saying, “I’ll see you later, Cloud.”
Keeping pace, Cloud entered the dining hall to find Sora sitting down talking with Aeris and Kairi. Grabbing a plate, he loaded it with some food and sat down next to the long-haired brunette. Eating a bit of ham, Cloud couldn’t help but notice that Sora seemed much more energetic than usual. He thought it was because he had finally been freed from the confines of his room, but something told him that it was a bit more than that. Ignoring it as it really had nothing to do with him, Cloud didn’t speak until Aeris asked when they would go on another message. Thinking he said, “It depends on when another call is made, it’s quiet and all the worlds are reporting no problems with any suspicious enemies. So, we can kill some time until another appearance is made by the enemy. Maybe by then the king will have finished our upgrades.”
Deep in the lab with Merlin, Mickey was rubbing his eyes staring down at a machine that was using magical energies to construct what appeared to be a glove. Since it was the least complicated, they had put their energy into fitting the gloves to suit Tifa and Zell’s own styles and strength. Their wasn’t much difference in ability save for fighting style that gave Zell a slight advantage over Tifa. Keeping his gaze on the meters, the two were hopeful that the material from the armor sample had been properly analyzed giving their weapons the appropriate measures to change independently when striking an enemy.
With a sudden burst of energy, the machine gave a final jolt to the gloves before going into cooling mode. Putting on some protective gear, Mickey picked up the gloves and set them down onto a couple of small pillows. Since they were just created, any sort of contact with metal could cause a problem with the magical programming, so keeping them off the steel tables insured that after the twenty-four hour programming period they would work correctly. Sighing, Mickey looked to his master and Donald, both of whom were trying to figure out how to stableize the energy into a rod for Aeris. Yawning he excused himself and went into the back where they had cots set up. Laying his head on a pillow, Mickey fell into an uneasy sleep hoping that his theory was correct.