Locksmith

by QuartzScale

18. Body

Yen Sid stood up from his desk and stepped forth leading me towards a wall. With a wave of his palm a door materialized and opened into a dark hallway. The floor was covered in glyphs and alternated showing each symbol of the darkness in the world. One I clearly saw as the emblem of the Heartless. At least the fake created ones. That was followed by the emblem of the Nobodies. On the opposing side were the symbols of the Dream Eaters and the Unversed. It was a surreal moment to be sure that something like this existed within the tower… especially when we were walking further away from the tower into space that was in the air.

“Where are we exactly?”

“This… This is the hallway I use to reach something to help new recruits train. Unfortunately I have to train you much faster than I thought was possible. Dark forces are gathering far too quickly so we must not waste a moment. There is little I can do unless we prepare you for the battle ahead.”

“So this will be training my fighting skills?”

“Yes… but there is one condition you must follow.”

“That is…?”

“You may not use your magic while you fight. You must raise the skills you already have started to develop and temper into a power that is all your own. There will be no shortcuts in this and the training… will be brutal.”

“I understand. I need to get better. Eventually something will happen I need to be ready for.”

He merely smiled as we both fell into a comfortable silence. I wasn’t exactly optimistic about the training. Part of me wanted desperately to just stay on… Equis…? I think that was the name of the world, and live my life as I saw fit. The keyblade in my hoof had other decisions behind it and I would forever be hunted by the darkness. I wasn’t exactly happy about it but the use of a keyblade came with perks as well. While I wouldn’t use the glider functions much due to having my own wings it would be useful should something happen that would require me to need it.

The hallway came to another door with the symbol of the Dream Eaters emblazoned over it. Yen Sid calmly opened the door and led me in where I saw two other magical beings I thought wouldn’t be here. Merlin, from the Sword in the Stone, and the Fairy Godmother, from Cinderella, stood at the ready. The two were at different points on a triangle on the floor. Yen Sid stood over the third point as well and motioned me to enter the center of the area. I complied quietly. I really didn’t have a choice in the matter if I wanted to survive any longer in the world. There was something out there which could carve its way me regardless of my motivations or my attempts.

“It is a pleasure to meet with you Gray was it?”

Merlin was the one who spoke first, I merely waved finding a lack of words coming to mind. I always liked Merlin because he literally didn’t care about society and it’s rules because he broke the laws of time all the time. The Fairy Godmother didn’t speak but she waved at me as well and I returned that kindness back. Then she started to chant pushing her power through her wand.

Merlin did the same and his chant was much more ornate than the one he used to move his furniture. The magic pooled into his wand and powered up the triangle on the floor. He wasted no time in letting the magic flow with the Godmother’s magic as a sphere appeared around me. While I didn’t know much about thestrals and their tics on stress I could feel my wings flinch and flap ready to run away. I quashed the feeling down but it was still there telling me that this was dangerous in all senses of the word.

“Gray… what we do is very dangerous and will allow you to train faster than is possible. We do this under the condition you agree that this was your decision and no one manipulated you into it. There is a chance you may die.”

“Do it.”

I gave a cocky smile. I knew it was utter bullshit but I came this far already. He nodded and closed his eyes as the hat on his head glowed and the magic gathered into his hands. The sphere became more opaque and I finally saw what they were doing. Within the sphere I saw a room filled with heartless. More than the eye could possibly see and I finally understood what they wanted from me. I felt my throat dry and I knew I could still flee.

“Dearie. You don’t have to do it this way. You could still train the old way but that will take years to get you to the point that you need to be. This is your decision and the most we can do for you should you enter is heal you. This will train you the only way one can… through experience.”

I looked at the Godmother… the worry was clear on her face and I knew what the chances of my survival were should I head inside the sphere. I could take my time… or speed up and take the chance. I was a cop… I always trained through procedure and took the time to learn all the techniques and how to perform. When the time came I excelled because of all the training I did to get to that point. The thing that made it worth it was going at my pace. I didn’t follow another to figure out the ropes. I made the ropes for myself to follow. I took a deep breath and jumped into the sphere leaving behind all sensibilities and ideals of safety behind to follow my own merits.

The path down was a clusterfuck of turbulence and energy. The darkness overwhelmed my senses and bombarded me through smell. It was too much but I couldn’t exactly turn it off. I chose to ignore it but I always noticed. When I finally pierced into the center there was nothing but a large platform in the middle of a technicolor cubist’s nightmare. It was similar to the are at the end of Hollow Bastion where they fought the Behemoth. When my feet hit the ground I was confronted… by a single shadow heartless.

“That’s underwhelming…”

I summoned my keyblade and after a few whacks I made it disperse back into darkness. As it disappeared another two appeared in front of me. I took my time and used a few horizontal slashes to keep them both at bay before they dispersed as well. Then three appeared. This continued on until it got to twenty shadows at a time. It capped at twenty shadows.

Several flowed through the ground becoming invulnerable while the others would try to surround me and claw at my sides. A quick slap of the keyblade shook them off while I used my free hoof to grab the closest shadow and toss them into another. Unfortunately I was being slowly overwhelmed. There were small things at first. A misplaced hoof, a swing gone too far, or a lucky hit were only some of the problems coming up. I was getting tired and this was the fifth wave of twenty shadows.

Throughout the entire fight I noticed that I never faced anything more than pureblood heartless and only pureblood heartless. Yes they were only shadows but those were the base of the pureblood heartless. Another scratch against my side and another shadows down. Another climbed onto my back and tore at my wing and another wave was done. Seven waves of twenty at this point. I finally managed to stumble back to the center as I felt a wave of magic heal my wounds up… it did nothing for my stamina though. I was exhausted.

Then it reset… Instead of one shadow, the heartless that came out was a different one… It was a Darkball. It was chattering it’s makeshift teeth as it immediately charged at me before blinking out of sight. I had rolled out of the way but lost sight… until I noticed the dull purple light which nearly appeared on top of me. I flapped out of the way as it rematerialized and wildly shuddered in place. I struck at it with the tip of the keyblade only to be knocked back doing absolutely no damage.

‘Seriously how did I forget that they do that. Gotta get away.’

It charged forward only to get smacked out of its charge. I flew in swinging, knocking it around but every time it shuddered I would be knocked out of my combo. Then I would be forced to dodge it’s rematerialization ability. After several strikes the darkball dissipated back to darkness. The second wave came out and two darkballs appeared. One floated in place watching me while the other charged forward. I rolled out of the way smacking it from behind and knocking it to the ground.

“Argh!”

The Darkball that had merely been watching me floated forward while I was distracted and in the last swings of my combo grabbed my leg clamping down on it. Flapping around wildly I kicked my free leg at it’s face until the jaw opened up. My leg was throbbing forcing me to keep to the air.

The entire fight was taking its toll on me. My breathing had gotten shallow after the first few waves of shadows and I was running ragged after the last wave of twenty shadows on one. I managed to destroy the Darkballs but my leg was still sore. Then the third wave appeared. I took stock and flew around taking potshots whenever it was convenient until I finally managed to take the three out.

This continued on until I got to fifteen Darkballs per wave. When I faced the shadow heartless I faced twenty at once. Then I face six waves of twenty until I finally managed to complete it. Several bites later and I was facing the fourth wave of fifteen Darkballs. There were several bite marks across my body decreasing my mobility which got me tackled to the ground multiple times. Everything was sore… wings were torn once again… back leg was swollen… and several welts were covering my entire body. I wouldn’t give up though. After a few clever feints I cherry tapped each Darkball till they dissipated to the darkness they came from. At the last swing I fell to the ground drenched in blood and sweat. The visible parts of my body were covered in welts and bite marks.

“See that… I can handle… it, easy... peasy lemon squeezy…”

I couldn’t even move much at that point. I was on the floor once again just like after my fight with the Demon Tide. I was healed once again but I still couldn’t stand. If I forced it I could strike down one more enemy. I did my best to look around for the next wave or enemy I would face… I finally saw what was next.

From the shadows I saw something crawling through it. It looked like another Shadow heartless which made me sigh in relief. That sigh turned to a gasp when it rose from the ground. The gangly limbs and longer antenna left no doubt in my mind on what it actually was. It was a Neoshadow heartless which sauntered over to me. It twitched erratically… up until it kicked me in the stomach and sending me flying a short distance away groaning and coughing the whole time.

“Guargh… Koff…”

I was sputtering at this point… I needed a breather. I had been fighting over one hundred heartless back to back at this point. The Neoshadow wasted no time and jumped into the air spinning around like a top. Instantly the triangle button appeared in my head. I couldn’t hesitate and I immediately poured my thoughts into that and jumped into the air spinning my keyblade wildly around and slashing with wild abandon. At the last swing the Neoshadow dissipated and I fell to the ground dead tired and slightly immobile. As the second wave started I was instantly dragged out of the sphere and fell to the floor in front of the three mages.

Merlin was stroking his beard overly concerned it seemed. Godmother came towards me and healed what few wounds I received from the battle. Yen Sid, who I was most concerned with, had his eyes closed, lost in thought.

“You did better than expected for a novice. You managed to survive until the middle ground of heartless and actually use their attacks against them, albeit only once. Rest up for an hour. After that hour we’ll try again to see if you can make it to the end.”

“How long was I in there for?”

“The sphere itself is outside the bounds of time. The magic we wield is capable of doing that but it is taxing. We can only do it three more times and assure your safe return. Within those three turns you must be able to make it at least to the fourth enemy type.”

I glanced at my body… It was healed, yes, but I was exhausted. I couldn’t really move well just yet but… I wanted to do this. I had only made it to the middling run of enemy types. I also felt that even with the delusion of leveling up I had only gotten three levels out of all that. I was now at eleven. Woo…I merely nodded to Yen Sid and closed my eyes for a short nap.

My dreams weren’t as usual. I mostly had lucid dreams where I could interact with it in some way. This dream was a recollection of everything that happened to me while I had fought and the numerous mistakes I felt I made. During the round with the Shadow heartless I had let several climb on my back and take their shots at clawing me. During that wave I had spun around chaotically enough to get away with shallow cuts but my wings were still torn for the rest of that round. When I was healed I could still feel the pain, phantom pains most likely, all over my body. My will to win kept me going.

During the second round I had faced the Darkballs with some more caution and wound up using hit and run tactics throughout the entire debacle. Near the last wave, one of them had grabbed me by my wings and tried to tear it off. The only reason it wasn’t was that I had my hooves firmly planted on the ground and smacked it into the floor when I rolled over. The first hit made it let go… the second hit knocked it far away. The third hit from my keyblade destroyed it out right. That moment left me open to being tackled away. I had gotten lucky with the Neoshadow jumping into the air… even if I did get kicked in the gut.

Those mistakes were at least fixable. I needed to plan out better and use hit and run tactics more often. I was tough and I knew I was tough but so were the enemies I was facing. Though why is it taking so long to level up. Wait… crap what if this is like the first game. I chose to travel at dusk so I’m gonna be leveling as slow as a tortoise. I smacked my head actually knocking me out of my dream and back into the waking world. I looked around noticing that I was in another room of the tower resting in a bed. On the table nearby was a small plate of fruits and some water. It wasn’t something to write home about but after the first training session I had it looked like a meal fit for a king. I wasted no time finishing the meal and trotted back out into the room where all three mages were sitting discussing other matters it would seem. The moment I entered their attention turned to me.

“One hour on the dot it seems. How were you so punctual?”

“I used to be a cop… some nights would require me to run stakeouts and I hate to force myself to create a sort of internal clock so I could power nap but still be able to get up ready to deal with anything that comes my way. I was never perfect at it but sometimes I would get the right time seven out of ten times I suppose.”

“Do you want to continue now?”

I looked at my limbs, all six of them, and idly moved them around. I was still tired and I knew that any more training would be too taxing on me. Still I didn’t have a whole lot of time. Weighing my options I merely nodded and stretched myself out. We all went back into the sigil room and they all set their magic up once again. The sphere appeared before me letting me jump right back into the fray. I had to start all the way from the beginning.

“It seems he is determined at least.”

Merlin allowed his wand to power the sphere on its own while he sat down watching the young pony deal with the waves of Shadow heartless again. Fairy Godmother kept her focus on her magic but winced at every attack.

“A police officer… Yet he lies so much about everything. Why do you suppose that is?”

Merlin shrugged. His experiences with time travel and seeing both the past and the future made him certain why the young man would lie about things. Crimes became worse as soon as the world reached a point. He knew about the supposed end of the world and then traveled past that only to find nothing wrong had happened. Panic had consumed the people and people as they’re ought to do destroyed themselves. He couldn’t bring himself to speak of it though.

“Whatever makes him do so perhaps there is a reason for it. While the truth will set you free, we’re in a universe where the truth will not set you free. We are all on the cusp of darkness every single day due to the onslaught of heartless. Nobodies continue to be sighted on multiple worlds and for some reason Unversed have appeared in very strange locales. At most only three worlds so far are fully protected from the darkness but even that could change.”

Yen Sid calmed himself before continuing to watch the fight. By sheer luck Gray had managed to get through the round of Shadows without being hit. His round with the Darkballs didn’t prove to be so lucky as three managed to tackle him before he made it to the endurance portion of the round. When the final fell Godmother healed him back up sealing the wounds.

“Now this is interesting…”

“What is it Merlin?”

“Well Yen Sid, when a being casts magic or has magic casted on them they exude a small flare of mana due to the power used. Whenever we healed Gray the magic would instead be contained within his body. From my eyesight it would seem that the magic is trying to find something within his body. As far as I could tell Gray should be incapable of casting spells. I think whatever caused his transformation flubbed up most likely by accident and left him only capable of learning magic but not internalizing it. At least not well enough to not be harmed by it.”

“Is there any treatment for it?”

“I do have a few transmogrification spells that would at least alleviate the stress and allow him to internalize the magic but it would affect his soul in a way. It would be beneficial and something he would have to agree to. At the very least magic won’t be the reason he dies.”
Yen Sid merely nodded as they watched Gray battle through the hordes of Neoshadows. While there were only up to ten of them, Gray would be facing at least thirty of the damned heartless. Strangely even though his body was sluggish he was still managing well against the tides of Neoshadows. Whenever one made the tactical decision to jump into the air he would mutter something about a ‘triangle button’ and suddenly launch his body into the air wildly spinning around and in most cases destroying two or more of the Neoshadows.

“Perhaps he has more potential…”

Crap… How many more do I have to fight… I had managed well enough at the Shadow round and only minor damage during the Darkball round. It was during the Neoshadow round when things began to get pear shaped. The first one had been easy since it pulled the same jumping maneuver almost immediately when the wave started. When I got to five Neoshadows they knew exactly what I was doing and managed to coordinate better than they had been. It was harder to get them to jump into their attacks. I wound up letting them hit me to bait them into jumping. This began a dangerous loop of pain and success. I took several gouges into my sides and a large slash across an eye… It was shallow but the blood seeping down across it was starting to affect my sight.

As I got to the third round of ten I was covered in blood once again… I had this strange feeling that this was going to be a common concern whenever I fought. While cure would heal the wounds and make them not scar over the phantom pains were starting to become out of hoof… hand. I don’t know at this point. The Neoshadows wasted no time and coordinated their attacks only allowing me to strike out every time they managed to get into each other’s way. One thing I learned though about heartless from the battle is that they are still creatures of habit. Eventually one of them actually jumped into the air, from confidence or recklessness, I didn’t know. Once again I reacted accordingly and surprisingly because they all bunched up together they all dissipated back into darkness.

I was still standing and able to move… though I noticed tremors in my front hooves. My jaw was sore from the switching of my keyblade from mouth to hoof and vice versa as well. Fighting on four legs was definitely not easy… The Pride Lands lied to me.

As I looked back on all my fights I did notice something wonderful though. I had picked up the inklings of a style of fighting. It wasn’t perfect but it did give me more defensive options as opposed to offensive. Maybe I really did need partners to assist me. I couldn’t always do this alone… I’m not doing this alone either. I broke out of my thoughts and quickly took a low stance. I didn’t know what I was facing but I was going to be ready.

From the center of the ring my next opponent appeared. Back in it’s demonic glory the Invisible heartless appeared and raised its sword towards me. I had been healed in the intervening time and I waited. It charged just like the first one only for me to deflect the blade away and strike into it. After a few more swings I had managed to take it out without taking a hit or activating it’s dark fire skill. I wanted so desperately to cheer and dance in jubilation but instead I took my stance again as two appeared this time. When the first charged, in the other planted their sword and surrounded me in dark fire. I deflected the first taking a small cut across the neck… shallow enough not to bleed but it still stang. I launched a few combo swings before rolling out of the way as the fires closed in on me. While they were both together I rushed in catching them both in another combo flapping my wings slightly to extend my time swinging.

“I don’t know about you but I’m getting into the swing of things.”

After mentally lambasting myself for making such a stupid pun the two Invisibles dissipated. The third and fourth wave went much the same with them taking distance and charging in two at a time while the third attempted to surround me in fire. I suffered several more slices across my forelegs and sides but nothing was ever cut off and after facing five at once the round was over. I had made it.

“Gray, it’s me Yen Sid. You have managed to survive and I’m proud to say you have proven yourself to be at cadet level at the very least. I would suggest stopping now but if you think you could handle it… there is one more challenge. A final battle if you would. You may take it later but you would have to face the gauntlet if you do.”

I looked over my body… I was still really tired and while I felt invincible I knew that as soon as the adrenaline wore off I would certainly pass out. The stubbornness attempted to win me over but it fell on deaf ears.

“I’ll try later. I don’t think I could handle it right now.”

“A wise choice. Perhaps you might be better than a cadet.”

A low chuckle left his lips as I was deposited out of the sphere. The mages looked over me and led me to the bed I had slept in. Merlin stood by and looked me over.

“I know you are tired but we don’t have much time to dawdle. While time was halted by the sphere and everything happened within the tests that I and Fairy Godmother have for you will have to be administered within your dreams. Are you willing to go along with this my boy?”

“Yeah… You aren’t the first to wind up in my dreams.”

“Heh… I’ll take your word for it.”

“Will it hurt?”

“Perhaps… I’m not going to lie to you about it. This is important to do so you may survive using your magic. This is the only safe way we could handle it without you hurting too much.”

“I understand… Do what you must.”

I was absolutely terrified but my talk with Dr. Horse telling me that I had to have magic siphoned out of me returned with a vengeance to the forefront of my mind. There was nothing else I could say about the treatment. I was placed in the bed by magic as Merlin cast a sleep spell on me. It… was… peaceful.

Heartless Kill Count
Shadow 686
Soldier 7
Large Body 1
Bit Sniper 10
Darkball 360
Neoshadow 75
Invisible 16
Demon Tide 1
Demon Tower 1

Comments

[Lorddarkrai2000]

Heartless Kill Count

Shadow 686
Soldier 7
Large Body 1
Bit Sniper 10
Darkball 360
Neoshadow 75
Invisible 16
Demon Tide 1
Demon Tower 1

That's quite a horde of heartless killed.

I'm guessing the "final battle" is a boss rush.

[QuartzScale]

8145076 Eventually he won't need to be so secretive but today is still not the day.

8170242 I'm glad you're enjoying it. I wasn't sure at first but people do seem to be liking this story.

8177817 Kind of. I was looking through the pureblood heartless and I found which one would fit best and realized that my character is way too underleveled to even handle that. Maybe when he gets a party. I mean seriously it would have been a Darkside, then the Earth Core, Water Core, Flame Core and finally the Dark Hide heartless. He wouldn't have survived.