//------------------------------// // A Duel With the Princess?! // Story: Kingdom Hearts: Friends of Harmony // by indigohue //------------------------------// XV A Duel With the Princess?! As Roxas sat in the waiting room before entering the dueling ground. He was preparing himself for the fight by doing numerous amounts of moves through the air with his keyblades. "Roxas, this is crazy," Sunset said. "Are you really going to fight Princess Luna?" "Yeah,why wouldn't I," Roxas asked. "Gee, I don't know, oh yeah, maybe because she's the PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!" Sunset shouted. "And, your point is?" Roxas said. "Ughh, Twilight explain to him," Sunset said. "Well, I guess what Sunset is referring to would be that Princess Luna is an all powerful ruler of Equestria who has the power to raise and lower the moon, can fly, use magic, intelligent, and other godly powers," Twilight said. "And," Roxas said. "And you.......have swords that are shaped like keys and a shoulder plate." Twilight nervously said. "Hmph, so you're saying that I don't have a chance," Roxas asked. "Statiscally speaking, you don't have a chance in edgewise," Twilight said. "That's why I don't think that you should do this," Sunset said. "....Sora what do you think about this," Roxas asked. Sora looked left and right and pointed to himself. "You're asking me?" "I'm your nobody, we share the same memories," Roxas said. "You only know what happened when that guy and I confronted each other in the world that never was, but I lived it. I need to know if I can fully trust him, because if he was thrown into this world too, then it was for a reason, and I need to know if he's on our side or not. So, if fighting the princess gets me another chance to answer these questions, then I'm gonna take it." "Listen Roxas, Riku isn't that kind of guy," Sora said. "Not the one I met," Roxas said. "I guess if you really want the facts straight from the source then you should go on ahead," Twilight added. "......you're really about to do this," Sunset sighed. "Well, I guess if it's something that you really have to do, then I won't second guess it." "Thanks everyone," Roxas said. "Just try not to get too banged up okay," Sunset said with a smile on her face, but through the smile lied a feeling of worry for Roxas. "Don't worry so much," Roxas said as he playfully put his hand on her head. "I'll be fine, trust me." As Roxas walked away, Sunset's feeling of worry began to grow. "Roxas, please be safe." Roxas was walking through the dark corridor which was leading to the arena. "I wonder why we needed to do the duel here. It's not like we're hosting an event for the entire city." As Roxas continued walking, he began to see the light at the end of the tunnel and started to get excited. "Alright, here we go." Roxas walked through the end of the tunnel, and what appeared on the other side surprised him. In front of him was Luna herself adorned in a midnight blue light armor, which consisted of a chest piece and a mini skirt, and black and white skirts over the belly line. Surrounding both of them was a giant crowd of people in the stands screaming and cheering their heads off. "What's wrong, don't tell me you're shy of crowds," Luna joked. "No way, I've just never seen a crowd this large before," Roxas said. "And.....I've never seen armor that....... small before." Roxas said as he saw Luna's armor revealed most of her mid section only leaving her chest covered. "What's wrong with it, this is a royal armor set passed down from ruler to ruler, plus I've no reason to hide anything of mine." Luna boasted. "Besides, you should have expected a crowd of this size, they'll all get to see first hand the new familiar to the Princess. This is just another task for me to complete." "Hope that guy can keep his eyes on the right thing," Ed said to Celestia as they were both seated in the private area of the stands along with the rest of the group. "Honestly, Luna will do anything for attention," Celestia said. "But, that's just like a little sister." "So, where are your two protege's," Ed asked. "I told them that they were welcome to join us in the private quarters, but they insisted they stay down in the corridors to watch the duel." "I'm kind of interested to see what those keyblade things are like in battle, especially if they were thought to be just a fairy tale," Ed said. Ed looked to his left and noticed Riku walking up towards them with his blindfold and black coat on. "Riku, you came, come take a seat." Celestia insisted. "Thank you princess," Riku stated. Edward didn't say a word to Riku, keeping a slight defensive stance near him for he barely knew who he was and how he actually got to Canterlot in the first place. As more and more and patrons filled each row of seats, one of the royal guards began to announce the beginning of the duel. Ladies and Gentlemen!! We have a duel for the ages that may never happen again in the history of time!! In the right corner, we have the guardian of dreams, the ruler of Equestria, the Princess of the Night........Princess Luna!" The entire crowd of people started cheering loudly for Princess Luna. PRINCESS LUNA! YOU'RE THE BEST PRINCESS! WE LOVE YOU LUNA! And in the left corner we have a new face, a traveler from a different land, who knows what he has up his sleeve, I give you, Roxas! The once exciting and shouting crowd was now silent when Roxas' name was announced. ................Who? "Talk about being the underdog," Roxas murmured. "Come on Roxas, you got this!" Sunset shouted from behind him. Roxas turned around and saw Twilight and Sora back there as well. "We believe in you," Twilight added. "Show her what a keyblade warrior can really do!" Sora said. Roxas couldn't help but smile at his friends words. He turned back towards Luna with a confident grin on his face. "Alright Princess, you said the Keyblade was something of a fairy tale, well, it's time to bring this fairy tale into reality." In a flash, Roxas summoned Oathkeeper and Oblivion by his sides, began to spin them in the air and caused sparks to fly until he got into his fighting stance. "I hope that you don't disappoint Roxas," Luna said. The guard announcer pointed to both competitors. "Are you ready? Are you ready?" "BEGIN!" Roxas immediately began running towards Luna, and he threw Oathkeeper at her. "*sigh* Is this how you start the battle?" Luna said in a disappointed tone. With one hand, she was able to deflect Oathkeeper and launch it into the air. "Now you're down to only one." In a burst of speed, Luna was able to get into striking distance of Roxas in the midst of a second. Roxas immeidately guarded himself with Oblivion as Luna kicked him in the chest with full force causing him to propel backwards. Now having enough room, Roxas got into a defensive stance with his one keyblade. Luna saw this, and took advantage as she began to run towards Roxas to try and end the duel as fast as she could. One well placed attack would do the job for Luna, and she had it in the back, or so she thought. As Luna came closer and closer to Roxas, he began to switch his fighting style to a more offensive one. "Gothca," Roxas said as he summoned Oathkeeper back into his hand. Luna was caught off guard by this, and it left her open for an attack. With a quick spin, Roxas was able to get a swing at Luna with Oathkeeper. Luna, with quick thinking, was able to use her magic to teleport her away from Roxas before he could get a decent enough hit on her. The crowd was silent as they were all surprised at how Roxas was fairing against the Princess. The Princess was taking long deep breaths as she was regaining her stamina. She noticed that there was a small cut that had gently grazed the side of her face. "What's wrong Princess, I thought that you would put up a better fight than this," Roxas taunted. "You would be mistaken if you think this is all I have to offer," Luna said. She slowly started raising her hand as magic began to course through it. A flash of blue was seen as Luna summoned a sword that was decorated in a way to show its affinity towards the night. A crescent moon connected the blade and the hilt of the sword and bat like wings were seen jutting from the sides of the sword. She brought the sword into a position where it was slightly overhead, and she brought her free hand all the way out in front of her. She shifted her body to where her left leg was positioned in the front and her right leg in the back. "That stance," Roxas realized. Sora looked at the Princess and noticed her fighting style looked exactly the same as Riku's. "How do you know that fighting style," Roxas said. "Let's just say that my familiar and I have more of a connection than we thought we would have," Luna said. Luna began summoning symbols and runes that resembled the phases of the moon. She stepped back, and rocketed through the runes giving her a high velocity strong enough to break the sound barrier. "That's too fast to dodge, I'm gonna have to face it full force," Roxas said as he started to bend down a little with his keyblades out. He dragged his back leg to the front of him, causing him to spin foward towards Luna, put both of his keyblades together, and with all his strength, confronted Luna and her sonic boom. When they both made contact, there was no sound to be heard, but Roxas felt the impact of the attack rushing through his body, then a few seconds later, the force and sound from the sonic boom caught back up, and all that was heard was a loud explosion that pushed the audience back into their seats, and left a massive crater in the middle of the arena. "Woah, don't you think that's a little overboard," Ed said. "I told her not to use her full strength during the duel," Celestia said. "That last attack could have seriously hurt him!" "Well I guess we'll see in a minute," Ed said as the smoke began to clear out of the arena. The crowd was silent as they waited for the debris to clear and see who would be deemed victorious. Through the smoke stood Luna catching her breath after that last attack. She thought that would be it. As if anyone would be able to take an attack like that from the Princess of the Night. But, coming from inside of the crater was a glowing green light. Luna stood there wondering what could be making that light. Then, a wave of energy began to ripple through the arena. Luna began to walk towards the crater to discover what could be making that light. She peered over the crater and what she saw had surprised her. Roxas was standing in the middle of the crater, unscathed by the attack, and he was in his keyblade armor. Roxas, now clad in his armor, jumped from the crater and back onto the arena ready to continue the battle. "So, that's what that pauldron of yours does," Luna said. Roxas didn't say a word, as he flashed his keyblades signifying that he was ready to battle. "I guess it's about time I finish this," Luna said. Luna vanished away her sword and put her hands together in a praying formation. She closed her eyes and began to chant. Roxas saw his opening and began to rush after her. To protect her while she was chanting, Luna had summoned a few runes that shot waves of magic at Roxas to keep him at bay. "Darksome Lady, blackest night.. This I will by magic's rite. Roxas continued to rush forward for the finishing blow, dodging through the magic blasts. "That which troubles me tonight Take with You on Your dark flight. "What's she doing," Ed asked. "........Even I don't know," Celstia responded. "What could she be chanting," Sunset said. "By Your grace and by Your might...." Dark waves of energy began to flow around Luna as she summoned her wings, which were as black as the night, and began to fly in the air. Roxas skyrocketed into the air both keyblades aiming for Luna. "Let it never see the light.... As Luna recited this chant she opened her eyes and they apeared to have changed color from blue to a shining white. Dozens of lunar symbols and runes appeared around her and they began to circle around her body. Roxas was close enough, it was his time to strike, so how come he couldn't move his body? Luna had caught him with her magic and he was unable to move. With a simple flick, she flung Roxas back down to the ground. Luna summoned a moon that was small enough that it was able to fit in her hand, and she threw it down towards Roxas. "......Illuminate." As Luna said this, the moon began to shine and ring. *RRrrrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnnggggggGGG!!!!! BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!* Everyone looked on in silence. Luna descended back down to the ground barely having enough energy to stand up straight. Was the battle over? It didn't appear so. Amidst the smoke was Roxas walking towards the princess with Oblivion in hand, only having enough strength left to carry one keyblade. His armor began to break at every step that he took. Chips of it were dissipating and chipping away. The crowd was stunned, the girls were stunned, Ed, Riku, Sora, even Celestia herself was at a loss for words over the stamina that Roxas contained. Luna could barely hold herself up as she tried to use her magic to attack Roxas, but to no avail. She was tapped out of everything. She just stood staring her defeat right in the eyes. "Do your worst keyblade wielder," Luna said with regret. Roxas raised his keyblade in the air, and in a fast swing, launched it back down towards Luna. Everyone was anticipating a grand finale, but I don't think anyone was ready for what was about to happen next. Everyone looked on in somewhat of a mixture of surprise and shock. Luna looked up and saw that the keyblade was right in front of her face. Roxas looked directly at Luna with a confident grin on his face. "...I told you I'd win." Oblivion vanished as Roxas collapsed onto the ground right in front of Luna. "OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! PRINCESS LUNA IS THE WINNER! THE PRINCESS IS VICTORIOUS WHAT A MATCH! I WAS ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT THE ENTIRE TIME!! I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW.....WHO IS THAT GUY!?" Luna said nothing as she began to walk back into the corridor with the help of two of her own royal guards. "Princess, are you okay," one of the guards said. "Yes I'm fine, just take me back to my chambers," Luna commanded. "Yes, your highness," the royal guards said. "What about that boy?" Luna turned around towards and Roxas and saw Sunset,Twilight, and Sora running towards him trying to help him up, Sunset more than anyone else. "I'll think he'll be fine. Let our guests tend to his wounds."