Kingdom Hearts F.I.M: Rise of The Elements

by Spirit Shift

CH62: Dragon Hunters Part 1

“Over here you overgrown blob!” Jinkei yelled towards the dragon in front of him. Riding the wind he flew around the legs of the monster.

With a wide swing, Jin let loose a wave of flame from his Keyblade destroying one of the Dragon’s legs. However, instead of losing its balance, the massive heartless immediately turned its head and prepared to let loose a blast of deep purple flames.

“Oh that’s not good…” Jin muttered, observing as the dragon’s leg easily regenerated while it was preparing its attack.

Just then, a loud crack sounded out across the battlefield and the dragon's head snapped wildly to the side, the flames spewing out along the ground far away from Jin. Several dozen heartless that had been surrounding the trio burned and fell to ashes.

Jin looked up to see Dash hanging out daily high in the sky, her weapon smoking from the charged shot she had just released.

“What’s wrong? Afraid of a little fire?” she taunted, looking down at him. “I thought you and Spike were friends?”

“Ughh,” Jin scoffed. “Whatever, I can use fire spells just as well as he could. “ Holding out his Keyblade with both hands, Jin closed his eyes and focused. Slowly, a breeze began whipping up the dust and soot around him as a fireball began growing in front of him.

Dash, seeing what he was doing, quickly flew down to provide back up. Shot after shot came from her rifle, each one slamming into the dragon’s head with enough force to knock it sideways. However, none of them were enough to do anything more than get it’s attention.

And get it she did as well as its apparent anger as it tried over and over again to swipe her out of the sky with its massive obsidian claws.

“Can’t catch me, lizard! Cooler things than you have tried!” she chided, sticking out her tongue as she continued to harass the creature. “Let me know when you’re ready, my dude!” she said, calling down to Jin. “Just to let you know, Spike probably would have had that thing ready by now.”

Jin frowned. “Yeah well Spike can’t use two elements at once!” he said, the ball of roaring flames growing in front of him. It grew and grew, and as it did, the wind around it began spinning, covering the flaming ball in rushing winds.

He took a moment to look up. The dragon hadn’t noticed his attack spell, much too busy trying to take down the fly shooting it in the face. He also caught sight of Dash, she was smiling as if she was enjoying being a complete and utter nuisance.

“I’m ready!” he shouted.

At once, Dash’s speed increased, immediately placing her self directly above the dragon’s head. Before it could react or move, Dash leveled Spiral and fired once again, this time directly downwards. While not as strong as her previous attack, this one still forced the dragon down on all fours.

All fours right in front of Jinkei’s readied spell.

With one last push of power, Jin shot the spell, its name echoing across the barren land. “AERO-FIRAGA!”

The attack rushed forth. The dragon, acting quickly, released a breath of its own flame to drown out the attack. However, it was no use, the flames collided and merged, making the spell thrown by Jin even more powerful.

An explosion ROCKED the area as a torrent of flame erupted from the attack. Sharp winds fast enough to reach up and throw Dash off balance filled the air.

Even Pinkie, who had been busy tearing apart all of the heartless in a 50ft radius could feel the winds that the attack had released.

She let out an impressed whistle as the pile of heartless under her feet slowly faded to darkness.

Dash herself had been forced to land due to the attack. Coming down next to Jin, Spike eagerly reached over and threw an arm around the boy in celebration.

“Dude, that was amazing!” he cheered, leaning in and giving Jin a sidelong look.

Jin’s eyes widened. In a blink, it wasn’t Spike, but Dash herself that had her arm around him. Instead of emerald eyes, magenta orbs stared at him…

A deep pit opened in his stomach, not the kind that resulted from him using that kind of magic, but a new feeling. Dash was beaming, she had been since he had finished his story. He briefly wondered why. Who was she and why was she so happy to think Spike didn't hurt anyone?

“Yo! That was the move you and Spike used to use right?” she asked. “Together? It’s so cool that you can do it solo now.”

Her praise quickly knocked Jinkei out of his head and he remembered that a girl was currently all by hugging him. With a blush he nudged her away and began scratching his head. “Uh, yeah! I figured it out while I was out here. Takes a lot of concentration. Something Spike definitely wouldn’t know about,” he said sheepishly, giving a small smirk.

Dash scoffed. “Yeah sure. I’ve seen Spike concentrate before. Usually when there’s food or a fight.”

Jin looked down at his feet. Wisps of wind still moved around as the torrent of fire encompassing the dragon died down, leaving a fading, nearly formless corpse of the enemy they had just defeated.

“Hay,” he began, glancing over to her. “Who are you? To Spike I mean? How long have you known him?”

Dash blushed and she also glanced away. “Oh yeah no… we’re just childhood friends. All of us are… the girls you saw me with I mean!” she quickly answered.

Jin looked at her a bit and chuckled. “Damn… what a popular guy. I wish I had that many girls around me,” he finished, looking up into the air. A wave of loneliness fell over him. This happened sometimes, staying away from his home fighting a one man battle did that to a person.

He was quickly brought back to the present again, by Dash elbowing him in the shoulder. “Chill out, we’re all not like that.”

Jin smirked. “Sure… So you knew him before… the incident,” he said, face dropping.

“You mean, that Areth dude attacking?” Pinkie answered, popping up from behind her bestie. “Yeah get this! I think that meanie guy lied to Trial! He said that Spike was the one who attacked and destroyed this world!”

Jin’s grip tightened on her keyblade, and he quickly averted his eyes.

Pinkie, however, continued by taking a massive gasp!

GASP

“Dashie! What if he’s still around Twilight and the others! What if he attacks them!”

“Oh Shit!!” Dash cursed. “You’re right! We need to tell the others the truth!” Spreading her wings, Dash began hovering a bit into the air before looking over at Jin. “Come with us, my dude!”

“Wait…” Jinkei said, refusing to look back at her.

Dash tilted her head questioningly, her smile slowly falling from her face. “Alright… but wh-”

“Because you didn’t hear the whole story…” Jin blurted. “About what happened after Spike brought us back.”

Dash’s face went dark, a frown deeper than any other grew on her face. Faster than she probably should have, she moved around and slammed down onto the ground in front of Jin. Standing almost an entire foot lower, she looked up at him.

"No... no no no," she hissed, trying to get their eyes to lock with each other. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't force their eyes to connect. This only made her even angrier.

Her fists tightened. “I… I’m tired of the stories…” she mumbled, her voice dripping with barely contained emotion. “Just answer my one question and stop JERKING ME AROUND!”

Pinkie tentatively reached out and touched her friend's shoulder.

“I don’t care who caused what and who insulted who! Did Spike Burn Down This World??!” she nearly yelled, staring daggers up at Jin.

Meanwhile, Jin, having been building up his courage to even start this conversation, deeply began to wish he had just left her as she was. He couldn't even bring himself to look her in the eye.

Several seconds passed. Pinkie, glancing between the two of them, opened her mouth, but no words came out.

“DID HE DO IT!” Dash screamed.

“YES!” Jin answered in response. “He’s the one who burned away most of this world's plant and animal life! He rampaged for days after he got back and killed hundreds of us! But I promise that there’s a reason why… the… he…” Jin finally turned to glance at Dash.

And what he saw broke his heart. She was staring up at him with tears freely flowing down her face, looking for all the world not as a strong keyblade warrior, but as a teenage girl.

“Wait, let me finish the story!” he tried. “I need to tell you what happened to cause him to lose control!”

For Dash, all sensory input had ceased. Her vision blurred, and sounds became muffled. Scenes and sights flashed into her mind of Spike losing control, spewing flames and attacking people. Spike holding Shia over his shoulder… and then… him as a kid. The two playing, fighting, and adventuring together, the times they spent talking and arguing and being together. Even him risking his life for her when their world collapsed. And just like that world, her mind also collapsed.

Pinkie, who had long since wrapped her arms around her friend, could feel the girl starting to shake.

Jin, who had been trying to explain, noticed fairly quickly that his words were falling on deaf ears. He stood there, wholly unsure of how to proceed or how to help at all at this point.

Just then, a low rumble echoed across the area. Before either Pinkie or Jin could react. The dragon they had previously thought dead, sprung to life and jumped into the air, zooming past the trio.

Jin looked up in horror. “Oh shit!” he cursed!

Pinkie, still holding onto Dash, who didn’t react at all. “I thought you guys beat that big old dragon thing!” she said, bracing the two of them against the wind that the dragon picked up as it flew.

“It’s going to attack the town again!” he yelled. “I’ve been keeping it pinned here for years!”

Pinkie narrowed her eyes and looked around. “Wait… no,” she mumbled. She pointed to the group’s right side. “The town is that way!”

Jin looked off to the left. Having been out here so long, with minimal travel back to the very place he was protecting, he only had a slight idea of the exact location. “Did they move it?” he asked incredulously.

Pinkie frowned and groaned. “No you dummy-dumb! It’s THAT way!”

Jinkei frowned and looked back to where the dragon flew. “Then where the hell is it going?”

Pinkie, still holding on to Dash, who’s still unresponsive, reached into her pocket and pulled out her keyblade. An action that had decidedly NOT gone unnoticed by Jin.

Before he could question the size issue of a two foot long weapon coming out a small girls pocket. Pinkie pointed the keyblade off in the same direction as the dragon. The tip of it gave off a soft glow and Pinkie let out another massive gasp.

“Twilight!” she screamed.

She quickly began shaking Rachelle. “Dashie! Dashie! The dragon is trying to attack our friends!” she screamed.

Dash gave a few blinks, her eyes slowly focusing back on Pinkie. “I… he…” she said, tearing up again.

Pinkie looked her dead in the eyes, her own beginning to water as she did so. “I know, but remember what we talked about. Regardless of what’s happening, we CAN’T let it tear us apart. Even if you’re mad, or sad, or glad about what we learn, we need to stay together!”

Pinkie grabbed Dash into a big hug and continued. “Right now that big dragon thingie is going to attack Twilight and Rarity, and Applejack and we need to get over there!”

Dash nodded once weakly, then after a sniffle or two, nodded again, this time with far more energy. Breaking off from the hug, she wiped her face and turned to Jinkei.

“We’re not done talking,” she said simply. Looking him up and down before turning back to Pinkie. “We need to hurry, I can catch up to it, but you two need to start running.”

Just as she spread her wings, Pinkie grabbed her hand. “Wait! I can send both of you directly to Twilight. They aren't too far for me to use my marks.”

Dash reeled back in surprise. “Seriously? Wait, you can’t move yourself right? What will you do?”

“Pffft!” Pinkie scoffed, blowing a raspberry right at her face. “I’ll just ride back on Time Turner or Tigger.” she chuckled. “They’ve been wanting to come out for a while now.”

Dash looked at her for a tense second, staring into her happy blue eyes. They were cool, kind, and soft. Similar to Shia’s but so much brighter and happier.

It was strange, she’s known these eyes for years, more than a decade almost, and everytime she looked into them, she always felt her mood brighten. It was almost like looking into them inspired a smile to just fall onto her face…

But sometimes… sometimes that smile just wasn’t there like it usually was. Dash could never place her finger on it, but occasionally, when she looked deep into Pinkie’s eyes, she could swear that something else looked back, something sharp. This was one of those times.

Dash shook her head. “Hell no! You just said we should stay together. Plus, we don’t know if… if someone might come try to get you if you’re alone.”

Jin shook his head. “If we’re gonna all go together, then I can bring her with me on the wind.” he said, stepping forward. “I might not be as fast as you, but it’s faster than running. Either way, we should get going now.”

Pinkie and Dash turned to him and nodded.

Pinkie, keyblade already in hand, gave the two a playful salute. “Right-o! I’ll see you guys soon!”

Dash’s eyes widened, “Wait, Pinkie-” She turned around just to see Pinkie vanish from sight completely.

“Rachelle??” Looking down, Dash’s eyes met Twilight’s, and looking further down, noticed that she was crouching over the body of a very heavily wounded dragonkin.

~~~

“Wait, Pink-” Dash’s voice vanished just as quickly as she did. With a wave of her Keyblade, both Jin and Dash disappeared from in front of Pinkie Pie.

Her arm holding out the keyblade began to shakingly return to her side. Her head also lowered.

“I… I don’t know what to do anymore…” she mumbled. After a second, her hair slowly began darkening to a much deeper, nearly reddish pink colour. Her normally curly hair fell one by one, ending in a limp straight mess on her head.

“I… I don’t really know either,” she began, a new voice answering. Much like her hair, her voice also came out deeper, raspier, and lacked the bubbly tone it usually did. “If Spike’s so far gone that he can torch a world, maybe there’s no use holding out for a fallen hero.”

A soft wind blew through the empty area, brushing her now limp hair away and revealing the “something sharp” that Dash saw before. Dark red eyes replaced Pinkie Pie’s bright blue orbs.

Pinkamena took a deep breath and let out a long weary sigh. “I’m sorry Pinkie, we might have to do something you really don’t wanna do if this gets any worse.”

As the wind died down, Pinkamena’s ears perked up at the sound of something moving about behind her.

She lifted her head back and tilted it back towards the cave that the dragon came from. One glance was all she needed to tell that the inside of it was still crawling with heartless. Hundreds of scurrying beady yellow dots poked out from the depths of darkness within.

And Pinkamena smiled, her teeth as sharp as any dragonkins.

“You know what? I know exactly what to do,” she hissed. Holding her keyblade up, she turned and began walking. Much like the rest of her aesthetic, her weapon, which was normally decorated with pink balloons and candy corn, were now blood red. Scythes poked out and popped the balloons and the candy was now sharpened to a point.

“Let’s practise for when we see our dear friend again…” she mumbled as she walked into the cave and vanished into the darkness within.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Will this story have original Heartless bosses in it?

[Spirit Shift]

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Depends on what you mean by original? Original as in I made them myself? Then yes there are heartless bosses that i created myself in the forms of Dragon, knights, and monsters. If you mean bosses from the original Games. Sometimes i sneak one or two in as filler bosses, but the enemies are largely of my own creation.