Leaning on the table in front of him, Spike continued to stare out the window at the perpetually full nighttime moon. He sighed, “I’m bored.”
Across from him, another figure in a black coat, hood raised, quietly reached over and moved her pawn. In between them sat a rather large chess board, with the game in progress nearly over. Both of them only had a few pieces left on the board. “Shouldn’t you be outside?” she asked, her tone even and uninterested.
Spike groaned and turned back to the game, rolling his eyes as he trailed them along the ceiling of the small white room they were playing in. “They’re in a world that I… can’t go to anymore.” The girl remained silent, and he frowned. “Plus, you’re such good company. Why don’t you go get them. I wouldn’t be opposed to it. After all…” Spike sluggishly reached over to move his bishop into place. “You probably have just as much a reason as I do, Rook.”
The girl’s continued silence would’ve begun to grate on his nerves, hadn’t Spike been so used to it. She simply moved to place her rook adjacent to his bishop, priming it to be captured.
Spike stared at her, the darkness of her hood continuing to mask her face. It was only by her feminine voice that Spike knew her gender. While he had seen her face once or twice over the last two years, it had never been for any sort of extended period of time.
Absentmindedly, Spike reached out to move his queen, before he could, Rook spoke up. “Pay attention,” she said.
Confused, Spike looked down at the bored. He noticed her previous move and smirked. Taking his queen anyway, he moved to take her rook. “Looks like you just lost your favorite piece,” he teased.
Rook shook her head. “That’s not what I meant.” Taking her final pawn, the one she had moved two turns ago, she placed it firmly on Spike’s edge of the board. She held out her hand until Spike scoffed and handed her the rook back. “I’m not mad because I have no reason to be.”
Annoyed, Spike moved his queen over several spaces so that it sat diagonal to the new rook. “Why not, you have no memories either.” What he didn’t notice, however, was what was in the other corner of the board.
Rook shook her head. “Being upset over something that’s not true is a waste of energy.”
Spike felt his fist clench. “What did you say?”
Rook, unaffected by Spike’s tone simply reached into the pocket of her coat. She pulled out a book, titled, The Chains of Memories. Spike remembered giving her that book himself, after he had researched his own problems extensively. “Memories, like hearts, are connected. As long as someone remembers another, those lost memories will still exist within both.”
She paused for a second and reached down to move one of pieces on the board. Despite this, Spike never took his eyes off of her shrouded face. “Memories cannot be stolen, not completely,” she continued. “They can be replaced, copied, or even suppressed. No matter which... one day, our loved one’s hearts will restore our own hearts true recollections.” Her piece placed and her turn complete, Rook placed her hand back on her lap. “It’s merely a matter of time.”
Spike was seething, teeth clenched. “But my loved ones are gone!” he fumed, not quite calmly, but not yelling either. “That’s the problem. There’s only one way to restore mine, and that’s to reverse what Twilight has done.”
Spike, once again, absentmindedly reached out to move a piece but looked down when Rook stopped his hand. He looked up at her, brow raised. She moved his hand and pointed down at the board. Spike finally noticed that his queen was no longer there, replaced by a bishop that he remembered she had placed on the other side of the board some time ago.
Directly in the diagonal path where he placed his queen last turn.
Spike also noticed that his king was also now in check by the same bishop. He looked around and saw that his only other remaining piece, his knight, was too far away to help. He resorted to simply deciding to move his king one space back from where—
“You can’t move there,” said Rook.
Spike quickly realized what she meant. His king was on the second row on his side, one space back would put it in the path of her rook. His only option was to move it to the side. He did so and glowered sullenly. “I’m not going to win this, am I?”
Rook moved her namesake piece up one, directly in the horizontal path of his king. “You would’ve won if you had payed attention.”
Spike lacklusterly moved his king out of harms way. “I doubt it. I suck at chess. It’s so boring.” He leaned back in his seat and sighed once more. “Why are you here, Rook?”
“You said you were bored,” she deadpanned. Lifting her hand to move her piece.
Spike shook his head. “No, why are you here, with us, in the castle. You’re not interested in Twilight, you’re not lost, and you’re more than powerful enough to traverse the worlds on your own.”
Her hand paused midair. After a few seconds she returned it to its previous position. “I’m curious…”
“About what?” asked Spike, more than a little interested now.
“About you, and about Chrysalis… and about what both of you have to do with me,” she said. “Whenever you’re nearby, I feel like I’m about to remember something. I feel like we have a connection.”
Spike leaned forward and placed his elbows back on the table. “Hmm, what’s that supposed to mean?”
Rook, to Spike’s surprise, simply reached out to knock her own king over, forfeiting the game. She stood up and began to walk away from the table. “When you finally sort your memories out, maybe I’ll finally be able to piece together my own.”
She stopped her exit when Spike slammed his hands on the table as he himself stood up. “Then help me!” he yelled. “Help me capture the rest of them and I’ll finally have the last bit of my memories back.”
A pregnant silence filled the room. After a few more seconds, Rook continued to walk away, leaving the silence to be Spike’s only companion.
~~~
Asuna moved her head to the right just in time to dodge Rarity’s powerful thrust. She repeated the action several more times for several other Keyblades also being thrust in her direction. Finally, the sheer number of Keyblades being stabbed at her began to overwhelm her speed and the fight ended with Rarity’s weapon against her neck.
The two stood still, battled hardened stares locked in each others grip. Over by the wall of the indoor gym, Twilight Pinkie, and AJ stood by in awe.
Asuna reached forward and grasped Rarity’s hand. “Amazing!” Asuna cheered, giving Rarity a sparkling smile.
Rarity followed suit and began dancing in a circle with Asuna as both of them celebrated Rarity’s vast improvement.
“I gotta admit,” began Asuna, ending the little dance,“you’ve gotten so much better at dealing with close combat. I’ve also gotta hand it to whoever taught you the basics of fencing. This would’ve taken much longer if you didn’t know those first.”
Pinkie bounced over and wrapped the two of them up in a large hug. “Nevermind that! Rarity that was awesome!”
Rarity accepted the hug and wearily patted Pinkie’s head. “Yes, I suppose it was a nice idea,” she said, trying to be as modest as possible. “But it’s far from perfected. There are many things I still need to improve on.”
“Even so,” Rarity turned to see Twilight and AJ also walk onto the field. “I’m astounded to see that you’ve figured out such new and creative ways to use your powers.”
AJ tipped her hat. “Gotta say, it’ll be hard to get up close and personal with you now. Dash’ll have a fit when she finds out,” she chuckled.
Rarity couldn't help but blush at the praise and turn away. Looking down at her Keyblade she smiled. “I suppose I have both Octavia and Virgil to thank for showing me how to use my weapon and powers After flipping her hair and regaining her composure, Rarity, turned back to Asuna with a determined look. Asuna nodded and opened her menu. Picking out a few options, Asuna’s own weapon, a shining white rapier known as Lambent Light, appeared in front of her. With the initial training sessions over, the girls stood ready for an actual spar.
Twilight, Pinkie, and AJ all got the message and headed for the door.
As they walked through the halls the trio decided to check up on their other friend outside. Meanwhile, they discussed what they learned over the past two days.
AJ sighed and crossed both arms behind her head. “Welp, Ah guess tomorrow we’re off then,” she said, her tone not nearly as upbeat as it could have been.
Pinkie gave her a big thumbs up. “Don’t worry, Jackie! It’ll be easy peasy breezie!”
Twilight grinned at her friend's confidence. “Don’t be so sure. From what Kirito and Yui told us, the last five levels is going to be a sort of enemy rush. We won’t be able to rest for long before we have to fight again. It’ll be a test of our endurance and stamina in addition to strength and ability.”
Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Well duh! After 95 floors you expect the final bosses to be really really strong! It’d be a letdown if they weren't.”
AJ stopped walking and gave Pinkie a suspicious look. “Ya know something? I don’t reckon that I’ve even seen you train with either of them. What have you been doing these last two days.”
Pinkie grinned widely. And lifted herself up to whisper in her tall friends ear. Twilight looked on curiously. She watched as AJ broke out into a skeptical looking smile. Once they were done AJ burst out laughing.
“What?” asked Twilight. “What’s so funny?”
AJ moved over to her and sat a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “Don’t you worry none, Twi. You go on ahead and get you last spar in with Kirito. Pinkie just wanted to show me what she learned.”
AJ turned Twilight around and began to push her down the hall towards the exit, all the while Twilight protested and struggled. “Wait, but I want to see what Pinkie can do too!”
“Bye, Twilight!” said Pinkie, waving her away.
~~~
With the training room being used by Rarity and Asuna, and the back yard being used by Dash, Kirito, and, Twilight. Pinkie and AJ had no choice but to use the front yard that was surrounded on both sides by a thick forest.
AJ cracked her knuckles and stretched. “Alrighty then, you ready?”
Pinkie, standing a ways away bounced from foot to foot, her Keyblade already out and ready. “I’m ready!!” she cheered.
AJ gave her Keyblade a skeptical look. She almost looked worried. “Same rules as back home, got it,” she stressed.
Pinkie saluted. “Gotcha! No Party Cannon and no world destroying summons!”
AJ nodded as she crossing her arms into an X formation in front of her. They stayed there for a second until she brought them down in a flash of white. Beowulf shone brightly on her limbs even as the initial light of the summoning died off. With her body turned slightly to her side, AJ took on a classic wide fighting stance with her feet shoulder width apart and her weight resting slightly more on her back foot.
“Ohhh,” Pinkie gasped, not bothering to take any sort of stance. “Shiny!”
Knowing how Pinkie fights, AJ wasn't at all concerned about getting in the first hit. Leaning slightly back on her back leg she pushed off and, at a stunning speed, sent a strong left hook towards Pinkie’s face.
Pinkie, wide eyed from the sudden strike, barely had time to duck. Even when AJ missed her the gloves emitted a bright white light that momentarily blinded her. However, it didn’t last long as Pinkie recovered in time to find AJ’s right leg coming towards her. Being the weird springy athlete she was, Pinkie easily backflipped from her crouched position, dodging the kick and trying to get some distance between her and AJ.
Unfortunately, AJ knew well enough not to let that happen. She kept on her, refusing to let Pinkie have any room to cast magic or attack.
Pinkie dodged strike after strike, smiling wildly. Her friend was faster than Pinkie remembered. And even if she wasn't getting hit directly, Pinkie could tell that the force of the blows would hurt way worse than they would’ve before. In fact, she also realized that AJ was moving better too, almost if if she actually knew martial arts. “Wow,” she said, ducking under a wide haymaker, “AJ. Where’d you,” she flipped over a kick, “learn such awesome fighting moves!”
AJ, while a little frustrated at still not being able to hit Pinkie, grinned. She stopped attacking for a moment and gestured to the gauntlets and greaves. “It’s these weapons,” she said, slightly awed. “It’s like when ah get ready to fight they start movin’ my body into position then they start tellin’ me where to hit an’ such.” She threw two quick test punches.
Pinkie’s eyes grew wide. “Oh no! Jackie! You’re being possessed!” she screamed. She immediately rushed over and began pulling off the gauntlets. “We need to get them off!”
AJ rolled her eyes and chuckled. She took her arm back and gently pushed Pinkie away by her shoulder. “Don’ you worry none. Ah’m still me. Dante said that it’s just the weapon trying to help me out. Plus…” AJ’s grin turned mischievous and Pinkie noticed that her hand was still on her shoulder. Before she could move, Jackie’s grip increased, anchoring the girl in place.
AJ pulled her other fist back and a bright ball of light started to form around it even before she threw the punch. “Ah also got a few new moves!” He threw her fist forward and Pinkie instinctively flinched, bracing her gut for the hit.
However, AJ stopped her fist just before making contact, instead the light shot out and blew Pinkie away.
When the ball of light finally dissipated, Pinkie fell to her knees. “Oooowwwwwiiieeee!” she groaned. She looked up to see AJ charging another ball of light. Pinkie dodge-rolled away just in time to avoid a small explosion on the ground next to her. Stumbling to her feet, Pinkie ran, frantically avoiding the dangerous balls of light exploding behind her.
Suddenly, AJ dashed in her path, a high kick already aimed at her. Pinkie realized that it was coming at her even faster than before. Falling to her knees at the last second, Pinkie slid under the appendage, the flashing metal grazing against her chin as it passed.
Pulling out her Keyblade with one hand and pushing off the ground with another, Pinkie spun around and charged at her friend. “Guess it’s my turn!” she said, finally ready to counterattack.
“Bout time!” AJ spun around with a roundhouse kick that Pinkie ducked under. Lowering her Keyblade, Pinkie retaliated with an upper slash that, while passing harmlessly in front of her enemy, left a blinding amount of confetti in it’s wake. Used to her distraction techniques, AJ wasted no time in chopping through where she expected the girl to be.
She was surprised when her hand sliced through empty air.
Her confusion didn’t last long as AJ looked up just in time to raise one arm and block Pinkie’s strike from above. The two girls smiled at each other as their weapons clashed, but Pinkie’s smile faded when AJ moved the arm she blocked with and gripped her’s. Yanking down, AJ pulled Pinkie into the path of her next attack, a charged shining uppercut.
Pinkie’s eyes shrank in fear at the unavoidable incoming attack she knew would be painful.