//------------------------------// // CH56: Dragon Tales Part 2 // Story: Kingdom Hearts F.I.M: Rise of The Elements // by Spirit Shift //------------------------------// “Attor was the name of the cursed half breed dragon that’s rampaged in our village, ruining our lives and turning our world into the ash lands you saw. Like most tragedies, it began on any normal day.” “Jinkei!” Trial called as he entered the training hall, a staff held tightly in his grip. Looking around, the dragon could find no sign that his adopted son had been doing his daily training. Just as he was about to call again. The opposite door, leading out of the building, burst open. Breathing heavily, a young human boy and a young dragonling ran into the hall and stood in front of Trial at attention. Jinkei wore light clothes that hugged his body tightly a black mask hanging around his neck and his silver hair reaching just down to his shoulders. Next to him was a dragonling dressed in thick leather armour, his sword sheathed to his side. Trial allowed them a mere moment to catch their breath before beginning his interrogation. “Another ‘outdoor training session’?” he said suspiciously. “I’m sure you know how I feel about that.” While Jinkei could not help but roll his eyes, the dragonling pipped up immediately. “Yes, sir. But we didn’t skip our training, we defeated several rock worms and lava wolves!” she said proudly. Trial’s eyes widened slightly. “Several?” he asked incredulously. He looked over the boys once more. They looked no worse for wear if only tired and a bit singed in places. He hummed inquisitively. “Very well then. Show me how you defeated these beats.” Trial moved back and assumed a defensive position with his staff.” Jinkei and Areth immediately took their weapons in hand. While Arerth unsheathed his with practised precision, Jinkei summoned his keyblade. The three stood there for a tense second until Areth let out a battle cry and stormed towards Trial. With a spin of his staff he deflected Areth’s impatient strike, however before he could counter attack, Jinkei came from his right with an attack to his blindspot. Clever, although not quick enough for Trial to miss parrying it as well. The three of them carried on, with Areth swinging hard and trying to overpower Trial, and Jinkei swinging fast from odd angles. His attacks were precise and his movement was fluid, nearly forcing Trial into an almost circle-like defensive motion, however, his attacks were nearly always accompanied by the sound of flowing wind, which was easy to track with a dragons’ senses. After a bit of time of staying on the defence and testing their strength, Trial flexed and swung outward, blowing both of the boys away with a single swing from his staff. The second that they recovered he advanced on them, spinning his staff in a wide arc to catch both of them in the stomach. Areth stood his ground and blocked the attack while Jinkei jumped over the attack and came down with a swift swing towards Trial’s head. Seeing the attack coming, Trial took a step back and, with a flourishing spin of his staff, stabbed at the spot where he knew the boy would land. However, his stab missed, piercing through thin air just below the boy and giving him just enough time to adjust his landing. ‘Had he miscalculated his attack?’ Trial wondered idly. Jinkei took advantage of his minor confusion and moved in for another hit with Areth close behind. The dance continued, with Trial constantly knocking them back and counter attacking. It was only when he held his hand up that the spar came to a close. While Areth growled, he reluctantly sheathed his blade. “Your training has certainly bore fruit. Your teamwork is commendable,” he said, giving another once over to the boys. He noticed that, though their appearance did match up to their tales, their injuries, or lack thereof, did not. “Though I would question if it was on the level of those who could easily best the Rock Worms.” He tilted his head slightly, levelling an inquisitive gaze towards the boys. “Are you training with the other children perhaps?” The two boys shared a glance before shaking their heads and answering in a loud, “No sir! Strictly the two of us, as usual!” A glance that, of course, did not escape the notice of their teacher. “Hmm, very well, as long as you are progressing forward and you do not forget the honour and laws of a soldier of our people.” As Jin was about to open his mouth, Areth eagerly spoke out. “Yes sir! Protect the people, Honour the people and Fight for the People! Trial nodded, before looking at Jinkei. “Especially you, Jin, you may not be one of us, but we hold you to the same standards, if not higher because of the power you wield.” “It's just a big key,” muttered Areth under his breath. Trial continued, “ As expected of a Keyblade wielder, your control over the breeze and wind increases by the day,” he said, praising Jin who could only smirk over at Areth. “But you rely too much on your power. Though useful, it can become predictable if you rely too heavily.” Just as Areth began to smirk back, Trial continued. “And you, youngling, you remain too brash and hard-handed in your attacks. They are simple… but they are stronger than others of your years.” Both boys nodded simultaneously at the criticisms. Trial also nodded. “You are dismissed for the day, take tomorrow to rest and we will begin the next stage of your training.” Areth’s smile instantly grew to at least twice its previous size. “Battle flight training!” he exclaimed! “Indeed,” Trial acknowledged. “ And Jin, you will begin formal soldier regiment training with the other new recruits.” Jin’s eyes grew wide and Areth’s massive smile vanished immediately. “What?” he muttered, confused. Jin piped up. “But… but isn't it too early? I’m not ready,” he said. “Yeah!” said Areth, “Why does he get to join the regiment! I’m the older one!” “Because, you need more training,” Trial replied, calmly raising a hand to catch Areth’s further objections before they could come. “It isn't through a lack of your own skill, dragonling. You still need to be prepared for aerial combat and other forms of draconic fighting. These do not apply to Jinkei.” He looked over at Jin. “Though I trust you will still self-train your keyblade magics with the local Wise Ladies.” Jin gave Areth a sidelong glance before nodding hesitantly. Areth, for his credit, simmered down and nodded, though both Jin and Trial noticed his slightly shaking fist. Jin was the first to respond. “Do you think we can go train a bit more before nightfall?” Trial nodded. “You are free to train as much as you wish, however, do take care to make use of tomorrow for rest. The Dragon regiment’s training to be a soldier is far more strict and daunting than my own.” He glared down at Jin.” Do not expect to have the same freedoms of exploration that you’ve become accustomed to.” The two boys nodded, and ran off, out the door they came in through. “If I had known what was waiting outside the village, I never would have let them leave” ~~~ “What do you mean?” asked Twilight, leaning forward towards Trial. Trial glanced over at Areth and sighed. “Areth can no longer speak of that day, due to his severe injuries, but I was told enough of the story to regale it to you.” ~~~ As the children left the large village, its surroundings were a unique combination of smooth sand and lush trees with maple brown leaves. Areth groaned and kicked a nearby rock. “I can’t believe this! I’ve been training since I could crawl.” Jin rolled his eyes and stared forward. “You know the drill, train your frustrations away, my dude!” he said, smirking. However, this only earned him a sneer from his dragon brother. “Whatever, let's just hurry up. We might be able to catch Spike before he leaves,” with that Areth broke into a run, with Jin following suit. Within minutes, the two of them caught sight of a figure no taller than themselves wearing a dusty brown cloak. In front of him were several worm-like monsters made of rocks each with a head that sported a very sizable horn. One moved in and slammed its head down at the figure who nimbly jumped away. Jin’s eyes widened in shock. “Rock worms shouldn't be out this time of day,” he muttered, grinning from the new chance to practice his powers. In an instant he summoned his Keyblade. Opposite him, Areth’s eyes narrowed on his targets, unsheathing his blade in one swift motion. “Don’t get so excited! Spike, wait for us!” he yelled towards the figure. The figure, hearing a familiar voice, turned and peaked an emerald eye out from his hood and, seeing his friends, Spike lowered his hood to reveal the rest of his smiling face. “Hay! Over here! I found an entire-” mid statement, the tail of one of the other worms slammed into him, sending him tumbling over to a nearby boulder. “SPIKE!” screamed Jin as he ran over to help. Areth, growled and charged forward at the rock worm. Spreading his wings, he leapt high into the air and swung his sword down on the part of the creature that struck Spike. His sword sliced through the air but stopped dead on the rock hard surface of the Rock worm. With even less effort, the creature shook him off. Areth flipped around, righting himself before coming back in for another attack. However, before he could get back at the worm that shook him off another Worm from the group struck him from behind with his horn, while not wholly piercing his dragon scaled hide, did knock him higher into the sky before crashing into the ground. He coughed, once, twice, three times before getting to his knees to stand back up. “Dude are you alright,” he looked up to see Jin staring down at him, offering a hand for him to grab, next to him was Spike, doing the same. “I think you beat your height record with that one,” Spike snickered. Areth growled, but took their hands anyway. He looked Spike up and down. “Didn’t you get blasted into a rock?” Spike pushed his arm past his cloak, revealing his, rather dirty, sleeveless red hoodie that had been decorated with a flame emblem. He took a stance and flexed his bicep. “You guys aren't the only ones with high defence! Jin put a finger to his mouth and shushed Spike. “Shh, don't even joke about that out loud.” Spike shrugged. “You’re too cautious my dude, nobody’s out here. I checked. Now,” he muttered before summoning his black and white keyblades in a flurry of green and purple flames. “You wanna practice the thing and take them all out?” Jin sighed and nodded. Areth tried to step forward, but was stopped by Jin’s arm. “I’m fine!” he asserted. “Stay back, I just don't want you to get caught in the crossfire.” And without another word, Jin and Spike dashed forward keyblades in hand, leaving Areth to clench his fists in anger. Before they could reach the enemy gathering, Jin skid to a halt and threw his keyblade. It spun through the air straight to the middle of the pack. As it picked up speed, the keyblade began glowing with power. “Twister!” he yelled. The keyblade exploded outward in a waft of fierce winds. While not enough to create a full blown hurricane or tornado. It was enough to raise a cloud of dust, leaves and sand. Spike continued his dash straight into the dust cloud, both of his keyblades glowing softly. Just as he reached the middle of the cloud, he slammed his black blade down and called out. “Firaga!” The resulting explosion rocked the area, whipping up fierce winds and forcing Areth to cover himself with a wing in order to not get thrown away by the shockwave. By the time the dust settled and he could lower his wing, his eyes widened at the sight. Moving inside of the flames were both Spike and Jin, jumping around striking the worms that were rocked and disoriented by the explosion. He also noticed that the explosion created several cracks in the stone worm's hide, and that the two of them were striking them precisely. While Jin glided along the battlefield attacking from below. Spike hopped between the monsters and struck from above. Areth watched in awe before gritting his teeth, especially towards Spike who seemed to be doing even better in the air than he was. Growing ever more angry and unable to stay put, Areth sprinted forward to join the fight as the flames died down. One of the worms, still flailing from the explosion, turned in his direction and dove at him. It swung its head down, bringing its full weight on him like a wrecking ball. Areth braced and blocked with his sword. As it came down, the ground cracked under the weight of the worm. His knees shook, and his muscles ached, but he did not let the worm crush him. Instead, with gritted teeth he lifted and pushed it back before diving to the side. Running around, to the other side of the worm, Areth placed both of his hands on the hilt of his blade he prepared to strike at its neck, right where two of the rocks covering its skin met and created a small opening. Unfortunately, at that moment, Jin glided past Areth on a ski of wind. Leaping from his cushion, the boy easily sliced right at the spot that Areth had previously been targeting. The rock worm's head separated cleanly from its body and fell to the ground. Jin landed on a cushion of wind just as Spike caught up to them. “That! Was! Awesome!” Spike cheered, rushing past Areth who simply stood there. “That was the best combo yet!” Jinkei did a fierce fist pump before looking over at Spike with a wide smile! “Hell yeah! What was that move you used to break that one worm’s rock skin!.” Areth could only stand there, staring at the two boys talking cheerfully in front of what was supposed to be his mark, his kill. Spike smiled his own big dumb smile and snickered. “Just a skill I picked up from a certain Black Swordsman friend of mine. But hey, do you think that can be our move? That fire and wind move could be a really cool limit break combo.” His sword clattered to the ground. Jin shook his head and let out a dramatic sigh. “You know, you keep coming up with these so-called ‘combo attacks’ but they all end up with you self-destructing yourself.” A vein popped into view near his head. Spike shrugged, “Not my fault if I’m more dragon than you. I bet Areth could take it,” he said, finally turning around to face their third friend. By this point however, Areth was shaking, his fists clenched hard enough to draw blood, and his head dipped low enough to see the veins popping out near the top of his head. Jin looked at him, concerned before taking a step forward. “Areth?” he called out. “Why you…” Spike tilted his head and glanced at Jin, who shared his confused look. “Why… us what?” “Why are you two so special!” Areth blurted looking up at both of them with tears in his eyes. Both of the boys took a step back. “I’m older than both of you. But, why are you both so much stronger!” Spike nervously scratched the back of his head, while Jin tried to close the distance between the two of them. “I’m not at all stronger than you, Areth.” Jin moved in close and sat a hand on Areth’s arm. “You just need to train more, you keep trying to rush straight in and-” Areth slapped it away, shocking Jin who cupped his hand defensively. “You’re just saying the same things that Trial said. I know I need to train, but I don't have magic to fall back on like you two,” he yelled, pointing directly at Jin “No explosions or wind attacks. You two just make up whatever you want while I have to learn strict techniques and discipline” He pointed at Spike, his tone lowering into a hiss. “And you’re not even supposed to be here.” “Dude, sorry,” said Spike, looking a little offended. “I know I'm an outsider, you don't have to compare yourself to me.” “That’s not what I meant, you idiot. I know what you are! You’re not even supposed to exist!” Areth yelled, stepping up to Spike directly. “Areth!” Jin yelled, stepping between the two of them. Spike was taken aback, dumbfounded at the statement. “Wh… huh? What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, pushing against Jin. Areth pushed from the other side, ready to continue arguing, however, a deep rumbling noise echoed through the area. The trio turned around to see one of the rock worms slowly growing in size. As it grew a dark purple aura began emanating from it, slowly at first, then in waves. Its normally char grey rock-like hide began turning almost pitch black. Almost as if they were reacting to the creature's transformation, both outsiders’ keyblades appeared in their hands. “Is that thing turning into a heartless?” yelled Spike, taking his normal fighting stance. “What the hell is a heartless?” asked Jun, taking a step back. “A creature without a heart, duh,” he smirked, rolling his eyes. “I remember my sister told me… I think.” Suddenly, Spike’s eyes went wide and he clutched his head, dropping his keys in the process. “Aggh,” he screamed, falling to his knees and surprising Jin and Areth in the process. “Spike!” cried Jin, reaching down to help him. “He’ll be fine,” said Areth, grabbing his blade and looking towards the monster. “In fact, both of you stay back. I’ll take care of this one.” “Don’t! We don't know what’s happening to it!” “Jin warned, still holding onto Spike. “I can handle it!” Eventually the former rock worm turned fully black, as it did, two beady yellow dots appeared near the top of its head. It wasted no time in moving forward to attack the group. With speed it didn’t have prior, it slithered over and slammed its head down on the spot where Areth had been standing prior. Jumping out of the way, Areth sprinted around the monster, slashing at its side. Seeing his attack have no effect, he spread his wings and took to the air. Although it took no damage, Areth’s attacks did not go unnoticed. The creature turned to him, desperately trying to knock him out of the air. However, unlike last time, Areth maneuvered around the frantically flailing creature. Spinning through the air, Areth positioned himself directly above the creature. Aiming carefully, Areth let out a war cry as he pointed his sword down and dove at its head. The tip of his blade stabbed directly into the creature's ominous yellow eyes. The force of his strike brought both him and the creature down to the ground in a cloud of dust. A spray of sand and smoke filled the area around Jin, who used his wind magic to keep it from getting in his eyes, and Spike who was still clutching his head and groaning. Slowly, however, he reached up to grab onto Jinkei. Inside the cloud, standing on top of the creature, was Areth. His face beamed with pride looking down on his sword that had gone hilt deep into the creature's head. “Hah! You see that!?” he announced, breathing heavily. As the dust cleared, Areth looked down at his game. Something was different. The formally nauseating waves of darkness that were flowing from the creature had ceased. Its hide had turned from pitch black, to mere charcoal grey. Areth blinked, looking at nothing but a normal Rock Worm. Had it vanished as it died? Either way, a victory is a victory. However, a victory is never a victory while screams still rang out. Areth’s head snapped over to where his friends were. His eyes widened at the sight of Jin doubled over onto the ground, one arm having been twisted behind him. Standing atop the boy, holding said arm, was none other than Spike. One glance told Areth everything he needed to know. Spike’s skin had turned pitch black, his eyes became a golden yellow, and the stench of darkness flowed off of him in waves. Whatever had controlled or infected this creature had moved over to Spike. Without a moment's hesitation, Areth spread his wings and charged at Spike. With a single kick, he easily knocked the darkness infected boy away from his friend. Jin, his arm now freed, collapsed onto the ground and clutched his arm. Spike growled and leaned closer to the ground. His pale yellow irises locked onto Areth before dashing forward. Areth jumped backwards, dodging a swipe from Spike. He noticed something else odd about the boy, his hands had grown claws and fangs grew from his already noticeably sharp teeth. “I knew it,” Areth mumbled. “I knew you were the one the wise ladies were talking about.” Jin struggled to his feet, still holding his injured arm to his chest. “No he isn't,” he called out weakly. “He needs help, that… heartless thing got inside of him!” Areth locked eyes with Spike, not even as much as a blink between the two of them. “Get back to the village Jinkei,” ordered Areth. Tell the Dragon Regiment that they need to be ready.” His fingers tightened around the grip of his blade. He could feel the aura coming off of Spike. Inky, black waves continued to slowly waft off of him, nearly making Areth puke from the smell. "Tell them that Attor has returned to kill us all." And with that, Areth charged forward.