OKAY!!!!!! YOUR PATIENCE HAS NOW BEEN REWARDED!!!!! NOW PRESNTING THE LONG AWAITED CHAPTER 19 OF BOD!!!!!!
----------
Chapter 19: The Fateful Encounter!! Union of Fire and Light!
“OH COME ON!!” Buddy hollered angrily, waving a black and white skateboard with a very chipped deck at the vendor of an outdoor stand, an obvious contrast to the fuming youth, as he was reclined in his seat, his feet propped onto his table in an area that was clear of the various items that littered his table. ”TWELVE HUNDRED IS WAY TOO HIGH FOR THIS WORN DOWN BOARD!!”
“The price is twelve hundred munny.” The vendor said, opening up a bottle he retrieved from his nearby cooler, taking a sip while maintaining his cool composure, infuriating the boy further. “Take or leave it shrimp.”
The trio’s latest stop on their trip through the hustle and bustle of Mall Street is a street filled to the brim with outdoor vendors and merchants, peddling their wares of used or homemade merchandise. Here, people can attempt to argue down the price of whatever has caught their eye, Because of this, it is affectionately called Barter Boulevard by the citizens of Twilight Town. They have a saying that with enough skill and patience, which Buddy apparently has none of, one could buy everything they wanted from the street for under a thousand munny. His female cohorts, who were keeping a watchful eye on their own purchases while browsing at a stand of homemade clothing across the street couldn’t help but chuckle at the spectacle he was creating while they searched the stand.
“Just look at him go.” Olette chuckled with a sigh as she looked up from the selection. “It’s hard to believe that only an hour ago he was complaining about shopping. Unbelievable…”
Fuu, also looking up, stared plainly at the boy, as usual her face shows no indication of what was going through her mind. She leaned up to Olette’s ear, and quietly whispered something to the brightly clad girl, cupping her hand around ear. Suddenly, Olette covered her mouth, tears welling up slightly in her eyes as she tried to choke down a stomach wrenching fit of laughter.
“NO! We can’t do that to the poor guy!!” Olette said with a big grin as she removed her hand from her mouth, still trying to choke down the case of the giggles brought about her friend’s mysterious remark. “Be nice Fuu!”
“HMPH!!” The girl clad in blue grunted loudly as if to dismiss Olette’s instructions. Suddenly, a shirt caught her eye at the table behind her. She circled around, removing her handbag from her shoulder to get into a more comfortable position to examine the article of clothing. After some thought, she caught the attention of Olette, gesturing her to join her.
“You find something Fuu?” Olette inquired with curiosity as she joined the blue haired youth. She too removed her bag, placing it next to Fuu’s and examined the finding. “Oh, I like that one! It’s very cute! Let’s see if we can find anything that would go with it…”
As they looked to see what could go with what, the two failed to notice that speeding towards them from up the street, an individual clad in black denim sped towards their direction on a bike, weaving his way through the crowds, he spots an opportunity, and in one fell swoop, takes it, snatching up the girl’s handbags and sped off to make his escape.
“HEY!!” Fuu called out in anger, turning around to catch a glimpse of the thief.
“MY BAG!!” Olette hollered, instinctively reaching out after him in vain. Their commotion, however, was not. They had caught Buddy’s attention, who, after looking towards the girls and then after the thief, instantly pieced together what had happened and acted.
“You twisted my leg!” Buddy snarled as he began digging into his munny pouch and pulled out 12 hundred munny, slamming it onto the table, startling the vendor, causing him to fall over. “Twelve hundred munny! Enjoy, ya rip off artist!”
With that, he instantly started running towards the culprit, skateboard in hand. Once he got a running start, he jumped into the air, brought his legs up, placed the board under his feet, and slammed onto the ground, quickly rolling after the dark denim wearing individual.
“BUDDY, WAIT—“ Olette called after the boy, but she was too late, as he had his mind set on catching the perpetrator, and disappeared from the girls eye sight. He struggled at first, having never ridden a skateboard before, but quickly got the hang of it, dashing, weaving, dodging and grinding his way through the crowded streets, being sure to never lose sight of his opponent. Not a small feat, considering his target, had much more practice on his faster vehicle. The thief however, took a chance and looked behind him, and took note that he was being followed. He chuckled and grinned evilly, rather amused with his pursuer.
“So, there is actually someone who wants to play the hero, eh?” He muttered to himself with a sneer, returning his gaze to the road ahead, his greasy black hair flowing wildly in the wind. “Well, guess this ‘hero’ can show me and the gang a good time. This’ll be fun!”
“COME BACK HERE!” Buddy hollered, his own short, blond spiky hair being ruffled by the wind as he desperately tried to keep pace. The chase lasted for ten long minutes, the two weaving their way from Mall Street’s busy section to the more warehouse district, a deserted part of town that few people frequent. The thief stopped and deserted his bike in front of an abandoned office building, quickly dashing inside with the bags in tow. Buddy also came to a stop, but didn’t enter the building as quickly as his foe, examining the building closely. “It figures, that had to be in a creepy place like this.”
The building was five stories tall with the exterior being made of brick and mortar. The trimmings around the door, roof, hand rails, and base looked to be white limestone. The door was in the middle of the front with two windows on each side, and five windows on each floor above that. The black marks around the edges of the windows and on the white limestone were the tell tale signs that there had been a fire some time ago. All the windows were boarded up from the inside, save the ones on the top floor, which showed various bits and pieces of broken wood sticking out.
He must be up there… Buddy thought to himself, examining the top floor. He was about to proceed, but didn’t want to leave his new purchase behind. And he figured that he would need both hands, in case something came up. He quickly surveyed the area, and chanced upon a thin rope, about five feet in length. He threaded it through the axels of the wheels, looped one end over his left shoulder and the other under his right, tying the two ends together tightly. Satisfied that his improved carrier would accommodate his immediate needs, he continued inside the building with caution.
The inside of it was pretty much as Buddy expected, it being every bit as run down as the exterior. The walls had huge holes in it, having been gutted by the fire. All the furniture was black and broken, waiting to be cleaned up after the eventual demolition. Cabinets were knocked over, various supplies were lying about, and everything was in disarray. Buddy paid it no mind, however, as he located the stair case in urgency. He looked up into the stairwell, and saw a faint light glowing from the very top of the floor. He slowly started his way up the stairs, on guard for anything that might happen. All of his senses on high alert, he tenses up, just waiting for someone to pop out and attack him. Finally, he reaches the top floor, and sees the door thrown slightly ajar, sunlight peeking through. He gulps nervously, as he opens the door and enters with great caution and care.
The room is dark, except for the light streaming in from the windows, striking the floor and creating a sharp contrast with rest of the room. It was filled with wooden crates and old file cabinets and broken down tables. Seated upon them were people scattered throughout the room, all wearing black clothing, sneering evilly at their intruder. Buddy suddenly heard a loud slam, and didn’t need to turn around to know that they just cut off his escape. His body instantly went tense as he eyed the room, locking eyes with everyone there, grinding his teeth as he thinks that he had made a grave mistake. Suddenly, a voice caught his attention.
“About damn time you got here ‘hero!’” A scratchy voice said rather angrily, buddy turned towards the windows to see the person that he had been chasing for the last several minutes sitting on a large crate placed under the first window, him sitting on it with a leg resting on top, one hanging off, leaning back on his arm. The handbags that he had pilfered were placed next to him. The light coming from behind him made it difficult for him to see in the darkness of the room. “If you’re gonna play the hero, you should at least have the decency to not keep the bad guys waiting!”
“I’m no hero.” Buddy replied plainly, holding his forearm in front of him to block out the light of the window as he tried to see the thief. A cloud cover must have rolled in, because the light suddenly dimmed and Buddy was able to see him clearly. “I’m just here to get back what was taken from my friends. Hand them over and I won’t have to hurt anybody.”
”YOU WON’T HURT ANYBODY!?!?” the thief repeated loudly in an astonished and amused tone, now sitting up right with both legs hanging off the crate, leaning forward with wide eyes, starring at the youth. He started laughing hard, and as if they were on cue, the rest of the people there joined in his roar of laughter, filling the room with a patronizing sort of evil laughter. Coming off of his high, the thief leaned forward and looked at him. “Damn, that was funny. It was almost funny enough to let you leave here alive. Almost.”
“Hey, I’ve seen this guy before!” A girl’s voice called out from the crowd. “This is the guy that beat Setzer! He has over fifty thousand munny on him!”
“Yeah, that’s right! I beat him!” Buddy hollered loudly, his voice filled with false pride as he stands erect, legs apart, fists placed firmly on his hips and his chest thrust out, all in an attempt to bluff his way out of this predicament. He then took his right fist, stuck out his thumb and pointed it towards his chest. “And if you don’t want some of what I gave him, you’ll give me those bags and surrender peacefully!”
“Heh, well that’s one idea…” The thief said, jumping down from his perch. He dug through his pocket and pulled out a switch knife, and with a flip of the switch, unsheathed the blade. He admired his reflection in the well kept blade and sneered. “Or we could kill you and take the money. How’s that sound?”
“Ruh roh…” Buddy grunted as he heard the combined sounds of feet hitting the floor and switch blades popping out of their sheaths. He looked around nervously, looking for anything that he could use as a weapon. He then looked down at his left hand, and remembered the peculiar dream he had at the antiques shop. He then looked around one more time, and in desperation stuck out his hand, palm open. With closed eyes, he imagined the Oblivion Keyblade materializing in his left hand. Please don’t be a dream…
No sooner had he finished his plea, a flash of light emanated from his hand, startling those who were closing in for the kill. But Buddy, who still had his eyes closed, didn’t notice the light, but the feeling of a smooth, leather like handle in the palm of his hand and instantly closed his grip around it. He opened his right eye to peek at what had appeared, and to his astonishment, the Keyblade was there in his hand.
“How did he do that?!?” An astonished voice called out, asking the question that was on everyone’s mind.
“Yeah, how did I?” Buddy himself asked under his breath in silence, he himself amazed and in shock of the Keyblade’s sudden appearance. He looked it over in awe and wonderment. But it isn’t Oblivion…
The Keyblade that he had summoned wasn’t Oblivion or Oathkeeper, but a new one. This Keyblade had a gold guard, and the chain attached was silver and connected to a pendant comprised of a metal coin that was attached to two smaller ones, resembling ears of sorts. The blade of it was no blade at all, it being a long silver metallic poll, resembling a blunt force weapon. It had four teeth on it, with the two in the middle having round attachments to it. It was familiar and at the same time foreign to him. It struck at something within his forgotten memory. He was sure he had seen this Keyblade before.
“IT DOESN’T MATTER!” The thief barked angrily at his cohorts, pointing at Buddy as he yelled angrily. “JUST KILL HIM BEFORE HE TRIES ANYTHING ELSE!!”
This catching Buddy’s attention, he pushed the mystery of the Keyblade out of his mind and readied himself for the fight at hand. As the thief rapidly approached Buddy, holding his knife out and off to the side with the intent to kill, Buddy firmly gripped his Keyblade with both of his hands and brought it around to his right. As soon as the thief was in striking distance, Buddy swung it around with all his might, smashing the end of the Keyblade into the side of the thief, cracking multiple ribs instantly.
”AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!” The thief howled in unimaginable pain. Buddy kept pushing, swinging the Keyblade around and he sent the thief flying to the other side of the room and crashing into three of his cohorts. With four enemies out of the way, he then instantly prepared for the next attack.
It was no contest. With the superior length of the Keyblade, Buddy could strike down the gang members before they could even get into the striking distance of their knives, and those who were lucky to get into range, the blond haired youth expertly dodged their attacks. Dodging, swinging, slashing and thrusting his way through the battle. He struck cleanly and precisely. He dodged with quickness and agility that he never thought he had. Finally, with the last of them unconscious, the battle had finished. Not even out of breath at the least, Buddy looked about the room at what he had accomplished.
“Wow…” He muttered under his breath as he looked at the various gang members that have been thrown across the room, groaning in pain and clutching the places where broken bones were present. Amazed and bewildered that he actually beat all of them by himself, Buddy turned his concentration towards his Keyblade. He imagined it dissolving back into light. Responding to his thoughts, the mystery shrouded weapon disappeared in a flash, leaving Buddy only his bare hand. He looked at his palm, contemplating what it all could mean, wonder what exactly happened in his past that let him do such amazing and frightful things.
“Wha- What are you!?!?” The thief demanded. He had crawled towards Buddy on his stomach using his left hand, his right hand clutching the fractured ribs in an effort to ease the pain which paralyzed his legs. He was coughing up blood, as it streamed down his check from his lips. “No human can do what you did just now!! Just what the hell are you!?!”
“I’m…. not really sure…” Buddy answered, now wondering himself that he may be more than just a regular human being. The thought of it scared him, and he quickly put it out of his mind. He looked about the room once more, trying to find logic in what had occurred. He had forgotten why he was there in the first place until he saw the crate that the handbags had been resting on in ruins, decimated by the impact of a gang member launched by his own attack. Buddy started towards the crate to look for it, but stopped midway and looked over his shoulder back at the fallen thief. “I’ve got to get those bags back to my friends. I’ll send medics along with the police later, so sit tight okay?”
”No…” The thief hissed under his breath as Buddy started inspecting the ruins of the crate, moving the gang member off to the side of the room and out of his way. The thief had managed to get to his knees as he watched the boy search. Hatred for Buddy boiled inside of him. Anger welled up in his heart. His eyes were wide with contempt, his nails dug into the damaged, decaying floorboard. He wanted so badly to hurt, to kill. He was consumed by his emotions. So much so, that he had failed to notice the dark wisps of vapor emanating from his entire body.
“Ah, here they are!” Buddy chirped happily, retrieving the two handbags from under a pile of broken wood. He checked to see that everything was still in the bags and smiled at accomplishing his goal. Just as he was about to turn around, he heard something that sounded like an explosion. He looked towards the door and saw that a strange black creature resembling the ones from his dream was standing where the thief had once lay. Like the ones he saw at the station, this one was all black with beady yellow eyes and antennae. However, these were much taller than the smaller, ant like creatures. This one’s antennae cascaded over its head and down its back. While the others had been sporting a pot belly, this one was lean and fit. It stared at the blond haired youth blankly, turning its head slightly. Buddy could only return its blank gaze with his eyes scrunched in annoyance and disbelief as his eyebrow twitched slightly.
As if setting off a domino effect, explosions rang out and into the room. Each of the gang members that were thrown about the room erupted with darkness, and in their place stood a strange creature with beady yellow eyes. These creatures of every shape and size danced about the room, all staring at Buddy. Some of them resembled the first creature while most had a symbol of a heard being pierced diagonally from the bottom half of each side to the opposite, dividing the heart into four parts. Buddy panic slightly as he immediately realized that things may have turned for the worse for him, which he vocalized simply with a “Crap.”
Then the one in the middle of the room lunged forward towards Buddy, the others following suit. Buddy panicked and attempted to summon his Keyblade, but was too scared to concentrate, resulting in brief bursts of light flashing from his hand.
”DUCK!!” A foreign voice called out in command. To scared and panicked to disobey, Buddy squatted down and threaded his hand through the handles of the handbags, covering his head with both hands as he tucked it in, leaving him unable to witness the spectacle that was about to unfold. With a flash, the entire room was illuminated, and two wheels of fire spun out and struck at the creature that used to be the thief just as it was almost on top of Buddy, it making a horrific screeching sound as it evaporated instantly. But before the wheels could strike Buddy, they split apart and went in opposite directions, ripping into dark creature after dark creature, leaving them nothing but mist while decimating a lot of the furniture and boxes at the same time. When the last of the creatures had been decimated, the flames evaporated, revealing two large bladed chakrams. Buddy, sensing that the danger had passed, looked up to see what had saved him just in time to see the two bladed rings fly towards the door. They were caught by a man, much taller than he was, with triangles under each eye and fire red hair. He wore black jeans and black denim jacket that were both embroidered with flames. Under his jacket, was a plain white t-shirt, and he had a back-pack slung over his left shoulder.
“Th-th-thank you…” Buddy stuttered nervously as he stood up and approached the stranger. The red haired man ignored him and went to the wall that was on the left of the teen.
“Don’t thank me yet. We’re still not out of the woods. And don’t put that Keyblade of yours away. We’re gonna need it in another minute.” The man said, dismissing one of his chakrams. He took his new free hand and pressed it against the wall, examining it. Buddy, looked in his hands and double-taked as he saw that in his right hand, he was holding a Keyblade. I must have summoned it when I was ducked under…
The red haired man stopped his hand at one point on the wall and stopped. He gave a sly smile, knowing that he had found what he was looking for. He backed off a couple steps and placed his arms down, as if he were about to strike.
“I’d keep my distance if I were you.” He warned Buddy as he summoned his other chakram and returned his attention to the wall. The bladed rings began spinning at an incredible pace, looking more like buzz saws to the younger than bladed rings, the sound of them slicing through the air only increasing the resemblance. On closer inspection, Buddy noticed that the man himself wasn’t spinning them. His palm was held open above the spinning blades. All of the sudden and without warning, the man flung his arms forward, the chakrams following them up and into the wall. Buddy instantly covered his face as chunks of brick, mortar and splinters of wood erupted from the wall as the chakrams dug into them. One lurched up and the other down as they burrowed forward with an incredible sound, each of them arcing to the left to make a circle, decimating the wall. Once the two had reached where their brethren once was, the man clenched his into fists, brought them to his chest, leaned back with his legs still lunged forward.
“Cover your ears.” The man suggested once again, where Buddy was only too happy to oblige. He clenched his ears as hard as he could in preparation for whatever the man had planned. The red head then thrust his entire body forward, unclenching his hand as he did, pushing his open palm towards the wall. Instantly, the chakrams turned into flames once more, expanded inward, and exploded, taking out the circular cut made by the chakrams with a deafening boom, rattling the entire building. Buddy, who was apparently shaken enough to lose his balance, successfully regained it as the shaking subsided, smoke filling the room. As the smoked cleared, Buddy saw the man staring out the hole that he had made, standing straight with his hands on his hips and smiling, looking rather proud of what he had done. He then looked over to Buddy and stuck out his hand, gesturing that the boy was to come forward.
“Wha-what’s going on? What were those things?” Buddy asked as he approached with caution.
“Those things are called Heartless. They are creatures of darkness created whenever somebody gives into the darkness within their hearts while a world is flowing with darkness. Their hearts are then consumed by darkness as they lose their form and gain a new one.” The man replied plainly. “As for what caused them…”
He pointed out the hole at something, at what Buddy couldn’t see from where he was standing. He got in closer and peered out the hole. Outside, right above the alley looked to be some kind of black energy ball that was covered in a dark aura. It appeared to be hemorrhaging dark energy very violently.
“This world isn’t one where darkness flows naturally.” He said very plainly. “The only way that they could transform into Heartless so quickly was because of long term exposure to this thing.”
“What is it?” Buddy asked, rather curious.
“A dark rift. It’s a rip in the fabric of reality into the dark realm. These things are nasty hazards that have a tendency to leak darkness into this world. They usually mean trouble and need to be sealed immediately. Usually these things are a hassle to fix, but you should be able to make quick work of it.”
“And how am I going to do that?”
“Well, duh!” The stranger said sarcastically. He then pointed towards the weapon that was still in Buddy’s hand. “With your Keyblade, of course!”
“And how am I supposed to go about doing that?”
“Just point it at the damn thing!” He barked, a little annoyed. “The Keyblade should just take care of the rest.”
Not sure of exactly what will happen, Buddy decided to take a chance and just roll with it. The stranger got out of the way and Buddy stood directly in front of the dark rift. Raising his Keyblade up over his head, he then swung it down swiftly, pointing it right in front of the dark rift. Sparkles started to form from the opposite end of the Keyblade, and soon after, a ray of pure white light streamed out and into the floating dark energy ball. It began to shrink, its aura becoming less thick by the moment. It kept getting smaller and smaller until finally, it disappeared with a pop, a small ring of light flowing outward. With it gone, Buddy dismissed his Keyblade and turned towards the stranger.
“Finally, we can get down to business…” The Stranger said with a sigh as he walked over to the wall, leaning up against it. “So, newb, where were you before you came to this world? What was your name from before?”
“Wait a minute…” Buddy complained. “Isn’t it common courtesy to give your name before asking the name of someone else?”
You little smart ass… The stranger thought to himself with a slight scowl. But he then just chuckled with a soft smile.
“Who am I?” He said rather snidely. He smirked as he stepped rushed forward and stopping right in front of Buddy before he could react, jumping slightly from the shock of the red haired man’s sudden appearance in front of him. His smirk grew into a big smile as he stared a nervous Buddy in menacingly in the eyes. Once he was sure that what he said next would be engraved into his memory, he said with authority:
”I’m Axel!!”
Chapter 19: The Fateful Encounter!! Union of Fire and Light!: End
________
So Axel and Buddy finally meet. I guess that Axel could bring him back to the org now, but I'm not gonna make it that easy for him. The story isn't over yet!! There's a lot more of BoD goodness to shell out before I'm through!
And in case you're wondering why Buddy is using the Kingdom Key instead of Oblivion or Oathkeeper, it's because of two things. 1) It's been confirmed that Roxas's primary weapon for 358/2 will be the Kingdom Key, so naturally he'll have to weild it here as well. 2) Axel's reaction to Roxas dual wielding in KH2 was that of surprise and shock, meaning he didn't know Roxas could weild two at a time. So if Axel doesn't know, there's a good chance that the rest of the org doesn't either. So Buddy aint gonna dual weild infront of Axel or anyone from the org, but he will dual weild again, you mark my words!!!"
Well, this has been a long chapter. Loads of things have been getting in my way durring it's production, causing trouble for me. Needless to say though, I'm glad its done and I'm happy with how it turned out. I'm just gonna take a small break if you don't mind.
Until the next chapter, keep doing your best!:thumbup:
----------
Chapter 19: The Fateful Encounter!! Union of Fire and Light!
“OH COME ON!!” Buddy hollered angrily, waving a black and white skateboard with a very chipped deck at the vendor of an outdoor stand, an obvious contrast to the fuming youth, as he was reclined in his seat, his feet propped onto his table in an area that was clear of the various items that littered his table. ”TWELVE HUNDRED IS WAY TOO HIGH FOR THIS WORN DOWN BOARD!!”
“The price is twelve hundred munny.” The vendor said, opening up a bottle he retrieved from his nearby cooler, taking a sip while maintaining his cool composure, infuriating the boy further. “Take or leave it shrimp.”
The trio’s latest stop on their trip through the hustle and bustle of Mall Street is a street filled to the brim with outdoor vendors and merchants, peddling their wares of used or homemade merchandise. Here, people can attempt to argue down the price of whatever has caught their eye, Because of this, it is affectionately called Barter Boulevard by the citizens of Twilight Town. They have a saying that with enough skill and patience, which Buddy apparently has none of, one could buy everything they wanted from the street for under a thousand munny. His female cohorts, who were keeping a watchful eye on their own purchases while browsing at a stand of homemade clothing across the street couldn’t help but chuckle at the spectacle he was creating while they searched the stand.
“Just look at him go.” Olette chuckled with a sigh as she looked up from the selection. “It’s hard to believe that only an hour ago he was complaining about shopping. Unbelievable…”
Fuu, also looking up, stared plainly at the boy, as usual her face shows no indication of what was going through her mind. She leaned up to Olette’s ear, and quietly whispered something to the brightly clad girl, cupping her hand around ear. Suddenly, Olette covered her mouth, tears welling up slightly in her eyes as she tried to choke down a stomach wrenching fit of laughter.
“NO! We can’t do that to the poor guy!!” Olette said with a big grin as she removed her hand from her mouth, still trying to choke down the case of the giggles brought about her friend’s mysterious remark. “Be nice Fuu!”
“HMPH!!” The girl clad in blue grunted loudly as if to dismiss Olette’s instructions. Suddenly, a shirt caught her eye at the table behind her. She circled around, removing her handbag from her shoulder to get into a more comfortable position to examine the article of clothing. After some thought, she caught the attention of Olette, gesturing her to join her.
“You find something Fuu?” Olette inquired with curiosity as she joined the blue haired youth. She too removed her bag, placing it next to Fuu’s and examined the finding. “Oh, I like that one! It’s very cute! Let’s see if we can find anything that would go with it…”
As they looked to see what could go with what, the two failed to notice that speeding towards them from up the street, an individual clad in black denim sped towards their direction on a bike, weaving his way through the crowds, he spots an opportunity, and in one fell swoop, takes it, snatching up the girl’s handbags and sped off to make his escape.
“HEY!!” Fuu called out in anger, turning around to catch a glimpse of the thief.
“MY BAG!!” Olette hollered, instinctively reaching out after him in vain. Their commotion, however, was not. They had caught Buddy’s attention, who, after looking towards the girls and then after the thief, instantly pieced together what had happened and acted.
“You twisted my leg!” Buddy snarled as he began digging into his munny pouch and pulled out 12 hundred munny, slamming it onto the table, startling the vendor, causing him to fall over. “Twelve hundred munny! Enjoy, ya rip off artist!”
With that, he instantly started running towards the culprit, skateboard in hand. Once he got a running start, he jumped into the air, brought his legs up, placed the board under his feet, and slammed onto the ground, quickly rolling after the dark denim wearing individual.
“BUDDY, WAIT—“ Olette called after the boy, but she was too late, as he had his mind set on catching the perpetrator, and disappeared from the girls eye sight. He struggled at first, having never ridden a skateboard before, but quickly got the hang of it, dashing, weaving, dodging and grinding his way through the crowded streets, being sure to never lose sight of his opponent. Not a small feat, considering his target, had much more practice on his faster vehicle. The thief however, took a chance and looked behind him, and took note that he was being followed. He chuckled and grinned evilly, rather amused with his pursuer.
“So, there is actually someone who wants to play the hero, eh?” He muttered to himself with a sneer, returning his gaze to the road ahead, his greasy black hair flowing wildly in the wind. “Well, guess this ‘hero’ can show me and the gang a good time. This’ll be fun!”
“COME BACK HERE!” Buddy hollered, his own short, blond spiky hair being ruffled by the wind as he desperately tried to keep pace. The chase lasted for ten long minutes, the two weaving their way from Mall Street’s busy section to the more warehouse district, a deserted part of town that few people frequent. The thief stopped and deserted his bike in front of an abandoned office building, quickly dashing inside with the bags in tow. Buddy also came to a stop, but didn’t enter the building as quickly as his foe, examining the building closely. “It figures, that had to be in a creepy place like this.”
The building was five stories tall with the exterior being made of brick and mortar. The trimmings around the door, roof, hand rails, and base looked to be white limestone. The door was in the middle of the front with two windows on each side, and five windows on each floor above that. The black marks around the edges of the windows and on the white limestone were the tell tale signs that there had been a fire some time ago. All the windows were boarded up from the inside, save the ones on the top floor, which showed various bits and pieces of broken wood sticking out.
He must be up there… Buddy thought to himself, examining the top floor. He was about to proceed, but didn’t want to leave his new purchase behind. And he figured that he would need both hands, in case something came up. He quickly surveyed the area, and chanced upon a thin rope, about five feet in length. He threaded it through the axels of the wheels, looped one end over his left shoulder and the other under his right, tying the two ends together tightly. Satisfied that his improved carrier would accommodate his immediate needs, he continued inside the building with caution.
The inside of it was pretty much as Buddy expected, it being every bit as run down as the exterior. The walls had huge holes in it, having been gutted by the fire. All the furniture was black and broken, waiting to be cleaned up after the eventual demolition. Cabinets were knocked over, various supplies were lying about, and everything was in disarray. Buddy paid it no mind, however, as he located the stair case in urgency. He looked up into the stairwell, and saw a faint light glowing from the very top of the floor. He slowly started his way up the stairs, on guard for anything that might happen. All of his senses on high alert, he tenses up, just waiting for someone to pop out and attack him. Finally, he reaches the top floor, and sees the door thrown slightly ajar, sunlight peeking through. He gulps nervously, as he opens the door and enters with great caution and care.
The room is dark, except for the light streaming in from the windows, striking the floor and creating a sharp contrast with rest of the room. It was filled with wooden crates and old file cabinets and broken down tables. Seated upon them were people scattered throughout the room, all wearing black clothing, sneering evilly at their intruder. Buddy suddenly heard a loud slam, and didn’t need to turn around to know that they just cut off his escape. His body instantly went tense as he eyed the room, locking eyes with everyone there, grinding his teeth as he thinks that he had made a grave mistake. Suddenly, a voice caught his attention.
“About damn time you got here ‘hero!’” A scratchy voice said rather angrily, buddy turned towards the windows to see the person that he had been chasing for the last several minutes sitting on a large crate placed under the first window, him sitting on it with a leg resting on top, one hanging off, leaning back on his arm. The handbags that he had pilfered were placed next to him. The light coming from behind him made it difficult for him to see in the darkness of the room. “If you’re gonna play the hero, you should at least have the decency to not keep the bad guys waiting!”
“I’m no hero.” Buddy replied plainly, holding his forearm in front of him to block out the light of the window as he tried to see the thief. A cloud cover must have rolled in, because the light suddenly dimmed and Buddy was able to see him clearly. “I’m just here to get back what was taken from my friends. Hand them over and I won’t have to hurt anybody.”
”YOU WON’T HURT ANYBODY!?!?” the thief repeated loudly in an astonished and amused tone, now sitting up right with both legs hanging off the crate, leaning forward with wide eyes, starring at the youth. He started laughing hard, and as if they were on cue, the rest of the people there joined in his roar of laughter, filling the room with a patronizing sort of evil laughter. Coming off of his high, the thief leaned forward and looked at him. “Damn, that was funny. It was almost funny enough to let you leave here alive. Almost.”
“Hey, I’ve seen this guy before!” A girl’s voice called out from the crowd. “This is the guy that beat Setzer! He has over fifty thousand munny on him!”
“Yeah, that’s right! I beat him!” Buddy hollered loudly, his voice filled with false pride as he stands erect, legs apart, fists placed firmly on his hips and his chest thrust out, all in an attempt to bluff his way out of this predicament. He then took his right fist, stuck out his thumb and pointed it towards his chest. “And if you don’t want some of what I gave him, you’ll give me those bags and surrender peacefully!”
“Heh, well that’s one idea…” The thief said, jumping down from his perch. He dug through his pocket and pulled out a switch knife, and with a flip of the switch, unsheathed the blade. He admired his reflection in the well kept blade and sneered. “Or we could kill you and take the money. How’s that sound?”
“Ruh roh…” Buddy grunted as he heard the combined sounds of feet hitting the floor and switch blades popping out of their sheaths. He looked around nervously, looking for anything that he could use as a weapon. He then looked down at his left hand, and remembered the peculiar dream he had at the antiques shop. He then looked around one more time, and in desperation stuck out his hand, palm open. With closed eyes, he imagined the Oblivion Keyblade materializing in his left hand. Please don’t be a dream…
No sooner had he finished his plea, a flash of light emanated from his hand, startling those who were closing in for the kill. But Buddy, who still had his eyes closed, didn’t notice the light, but the feeling of a smooth, leather like handle in the palm of his hand and instantly closed his grip around it. He opened his right eye to peek at what had appeared, and to his astonishment, the Keyblade was there in his hand.
“How did he do that?!?” An astonished voice called out, asking the question that was on everyone’s mind.
“Yeah, how did I?” Buddy himself asked under his breath in silence, he himself amazed and in shock of the Keyblade’s sudden appearance. He looked it over in awe and wonderment. But it isn’t Oblivion…
The Keyblade that he had summoned wasn’t Oblivion or Oathkeeper, but a new one. This Keyblade had a gold guard, and the chain attached was silver and connected to a pendant comprised of a metal coin that was attached to two smaller ones, resembling ears of sorts. The blade of it was no blade at all, it being a long silver metallic poll, resembling a blunt force weapon. It had four teeth on it, with the two in the middle having round attachments to it. It was familiar and at the same time foreign to him. It struck at something within his forgotten memory. He was sure he had seen this Keyblade before.
“IT DOESN’T MATTER!” The thief barked angrily at his cohorts, pointing at Buddy as he yelled angrily. “JUST KILL HIM BEFORE HE TRIES ANYTHING ELSE!!”
This catching Buddy’s attention, he pushed the mystery of the Keyblade out of his mind and readied himself for the fight at hand. As the thief rapidly approached Buddy, holding his knife out and off to the side with the intent to kill, Buddy firmly gripped his Keyblade with both of his hands and brought it around to his right. As soon as the thief was in striking distance, Buddy swung it around with all his might, smashing the end of the Keyblade into the side of the thief, cracking multiple ribs instantly.
”AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!” The thief howled in unimaginable pain. Buddy kept pushing, swinging the Keyblade around and he sent the thief flying to the other side of the room and crashing into three of his cohorts. With four enemies out of the way, he then instantly prepared for the next attack.
It was no contest. With the superior length of the Keyblade, Buddy could strike down the gang members before they could even get into the striking distance of their knives, and those who were lucky to get into range, the blond haired youth expertly dodged their attacks. Dodging, swinging, slashing and thrusting his way through the battle. He struck cleanly and precisely. He dodged with quickness and agility that he never thought he had. Finally, with the last of them unconscious, the battle had finished. Not even out of breath at the least, Buddy looked about the room at what he had accomplished.
“Wow…” He muttered under his breath as he looked at the various gang members that have been thrown across the room, groaning in pain and clutching the places where broken bones were present. Amazed and bewildered that he actually beat all of them by himself, Buddy turned his concentration towards his Keyblade. He imagined it dissolving back into light. Responding to his thoughts, the mystery shrouded weapon disappeared in a flash, leaving Buddy only his bare hand. He looked at his palm, contemplating what it all could mean, wonder what exactly happened in his past that let him do such amazing and frightful things.
“Wha- What are you!?!?” The thief demanded. He had crawled towards Buddy on his stomach using his left hand, his right hand clutching the fractured ribs in an effort to ease the pain which paralyzed his legs. He was coughing up blood, as it streamed down his check from his lips. “No human can do what you did just now!! Just what the hell are you!?!”
“I’m…. not really sure…” Buddy answered, now wondering himself that he may be more than just a regular human being. The thought of it scared him, and he quickly put it out of his mind. He looked about the room once more, trying to find logic in what had occurred. He had forgotten why he was there in the first place until he saw the crate that the handbags had been resting on in ruins, decimated by the impact of a gang member launched by his own attack. Buddy started towards the crate to look for it, but stopped midway and looked over his shoulder back at the fallen thief. “I’ve got to get those bags back to my friends. I’ll send medics along with the police later, so sit tight okay?”
”No…” The thief hissed under his breath as Buddy started inspecting the ruins of the crate, moving the gang member off to the side of the room and out of his way. The thief had managed to get to his knees as he watched the boy search. Hatred for Buddy boiled inside of him. Anger welled up in his heart. His eyes were wide with contempt, his nails dug into the damaged, decaying floorboard. He wanted so badly to hurt, to kill. He was consumed by his emotions. So much so, that he had failed to notice the dark wisps of vapor emanating from his entire body.
“Ah, here they are!” Buddy chirped happily, retrieving the two handbags from under a pile of broken wood. He checked to see that everything was still in the bags and smiled at accomplishing his goal. Just as he was about to turn around, he heard something that sounded like an explosion. He looked towards the door and saw that a strange black creature resembling the ones from his dream was standing where the thief had once lay. Like the ones he saw at the station, this one was all black with beady yellow eyes and antennae. However, these were much taller than the smaller, ant like creatures. This one’s antennae cascaded over its head and down its back. While the others had been sporting a pot belly, this one was lean and fit. It stared at the blond haired youth blankly, turning its head slightly. Buddy could only return its blank gaze with his eyes scrunched in annoyance and disbelief as his eyebrow twitched slightly.
As if setting off a domino effect, explosions rang out and into the room. Each of the gang members that were thrown about the room erupted with darkness, and in their place stood a strange creature with beady yellow eyes. These creatures of every shape and size danced about the room, all staring at Buddy. Some of them resembled the first creature while most had a symbol of a heard being pierced diagonally from the bottom half of each side to the opposite, dividing the heart into four parts. Buddy panic slightly as he immediately realized that things may have turned for the worse for him, which he vocalized simply with a “Crap.”
Then the one in the middle of the room lunged forward towards Buddy, the others following suit. Buddy panicked and attempted to summon his Keyblade, but was too scared to concentrate, resulting in brief bursts of light flashing from his hand.
”DUCK!!” A foreign voice called out in command. To scared and panicked to disobey, Buddy squatted down and threaded his hand through the handles of the handbags, covering his head with both hands as he tucked it in, leaving him unable to witness the spectacle that was about to unfold. With a flash, the entire room was illuminated, and two wheels of fire spun out and struck at the creature that used to be the thief just as it was almost on top of Buddy, it making a horrific screeching sound as it evaporated instantly. But before the wheels could strike Buddy, they split apart and went in opposite directions, ripping into dark creature after dark creature, leaving them nothing but mist while decimating a lot of the furniture and boxes at the same time. When the last of the creatures had been decimated, the flames evaporated, revealing two large bladed chakrams. Buddy, sensing that the danger had passed, looked up to see what had saved him just in time to see the two bladed rings fly towards the door. They were caught by a man, much taller than he was, with triangles under each eye and fire red hair. He wore black jeans and black denim jacket that were both embroidered with flames. Under his jacket, was a plain white t-shirt, and he had a back-pack slung over his left shoulder.
“Th-th-thank you…” Buddy stuttered nervously as he stood up and approached the stranger. The red haired man ignored him and went to the wall that was on the left of the teen.
“Don’t thank me yet. We’re still not out of the woods. And don’t put that Keyblade of yours away. We’re gonna need it in another minute.” The man said, dismissing one of his chakrams. He took his new free hand and pressed it against the wall, examining it. Buddy, looked in his hands and double-taked as he saw that in his right hand, he was holding a Keyblade. I must have summoned it when I was ducked under…
The red haired man stopped his hand at one point on the wall and stopped. He gave a sly smile, knowing that he had found what he was looking for. He backed off a couple steps and placed his arms down, as if he were about to strike.
“I’d keep my distance if I were you.” He warned Buddy as he summoned his other chakram and returned his attention to the wall. The bladed rings began spinning at an incredible pace, looking more like buzz saws to the younger than bladed rings, the sound of them slicing through the air only increasing the resemblance. On closer inspection, Buddy noticed that the man himself wasn’t spinning them. His palm was held open above the spinning blades. All of the sudden and without warning, the man flung his arms forward, the chakrams following them up and into the wall. Buddy instantly covered his face as chunks of brick, mortar and splinters of wood erupted from the wall as the chakrams dug into them. One lurched up and the other down as they burrowed forward with an incredible sound, each of them arcing to the left to make a circle, decimating the wall. Once the two had reached where their brethren once was, the man clenched his into fists, brought them to his chest, leaned back with his legs still lunged forward.
“Cover your ears.” The man suggested once again, where Buddy was only too happy to oblige. He clenched his ears as hard as he could in preparation for whatever the man had planned. The red head then thrust his entire body forward, unclenching his hand as he did, pushing his open palm towards the wall. Instantly, the chakrams turned into flames once more, expanded inward, and exploded, taking out the circular cut made by the chakrams with a deafening boom, rattling the entire building. Buddy, who was apparently shaken enough to lose his balance, successfully regained it as the shaking subsided, smoke filling the room. As the smoked cleared, Buddy saw the man staring out the hole that he had made, standing straight with his hands on his hips and smiling, looking rather proud of what he had done. He then looked over to Buddy and stuck out his hand, gesturing that the boy was to come forward.
“Wha-what’s going on? What were those things?” Buddy asked as he approached with caution.
“Those things are called Heartless. They are creatures of darkness created whenever somebody gives into the darkness within their hearts while a world is flowing with darkness. Their hearts are then consumed by darkness as they lose their form and gain a new one.” The man replied plainly. “As for what caused them…”
He pointed out the hole at something, at what Buddy couldn’t see from where he was standing. He got in closer and peered out the hole. Outside, right above the alley looked to be some kind of black energy ball that was covered in a dark aura. It appeared to be hemorrhaging dark energy very violently.
“This world isn’t one where darkness flows naturally.” He said very plainly. “The only way that they could transform into Heartless so quickly was because of long term exposure to this thing.”
“What is it?” Buddy asked, rather curious.
“A dark rift. It’s a rip in the fabric of reality into the dark realm. These things are nasty hazards that have a tendency to leak darkness into this world. They usually mean trouble and need to be sealed immediately. Usually these things are a hassle to fix, but you should be able to make quick work of it.”
“And how am I going to do that?”
“Well, duh!” The stranger said sarcastically. He then pointed towards the weapon that was still in Buddy’s hand. “With your Keyblade, of course!”
“And how am I supposed to go about doing that?”
“Just point it at the damn thing!” He barked, a little annoyed. “The Keyblade should just take care of the rest.”
Not sure of exactly what will happen, Buddy decided to take a chance and just roll with it. The stranger got out of the way and Buddy stood directly in front of the dark rift. Raising his Keyblade up over his head, he then swung it down swiftly, pointing it right in front of the dark rift. Sparkles started to form from the opposite end of the Keyblade, and soon after, a ray of pure white light streamed out and into the floating dark energy ball. It began to shrink, its aura becoming less thick by the moment. It kept getting smaller and smaller until finally, it disappeared with a pop, a small ring of light flowing outward. With it gone, Buddy dismissed his Keyblade and turned towards the stranger.
“Finally, we can get down to business…” The Stranger said with a sigh as he walked over to the wall, leaning up against it. “So, newb, where were you before you came to this world? What was your name from before?”
“Wait a minute…” Buddy complained. “Isn’t it common courtesy to give your name before asking the name of someone else?”
You little smart ass… The stranger thought to himself with a slight scowl. But he then just chuckled with a soft smile.
“Who am I?” He said rather snidely. He smirked as he stepped rushed forward and stopping right in front of Buddy before he could react, jumping slightly from the shock of the red haired man’s sudden appearance in front of him. His smirk grew into a big smile as he stared a nervous Buddy in menacingly in the eyes. Once he was sure that what he said next would be engraved into his memory, he said with authority:
”I’m Axel!!”
Chapter 19: The Fateful Encounter!! Union of Fire and Light!: End
________
So Axel and Buddy finally meet. I guess that Axel could bring him back to the org now, but I'm not gonna make it that easy for him. The story isn't over yet!! There's a lot more of BoD goodness to shell out before I'm through!
And in case you're wondering why Buddy is using the Kingdom Key instead of Oblivion or Oathkeeper, it's because of two things. 1) It's been confirmed that Roxas's primary weapon for 358/2 will be the Kingdom Key, so naturally he'll have to weild it here as well. 2) Axel's reaction to Roxas dual wielding in KH2 was that of surprise and shock, meaning he didn't know Roxas could weild two at a time. So if Axel doesn't know, there's a good chance that the rest of the org doesn't either. So Buddy aint gonna dual weild infront of Axel or anyone from the org, but he will dual weild again, you mark my words!!!"
Well, this has been a long chapter. Loads of things have been getting in my way durring it's production, causing trouble for me. Needless to say though, I'm glad its done and I'm happy with how it turned out. I'm just gonna take a small break if you don't mind.
Until the next chapter, keep doing your best!:thumbup:
Last edited:
