KHNG: Dark Past, Bright Future

Ishine - Beneath the Castle

"Wait," I said, putting my hand on his shoulder.

Kaijai stopped as the rest of the group left the castle.  Halios hung exhaustedly on Selena and Hyperian's shoulders, and our newly met friends chatted with them.  I directed Kaijai's attention to a lower platform of the castle, below the main entryway upon which we stood.

"Something feels wrong about that place..." I said to him.

Kaijai furrowed his brow.

"You're right," he replied, "something about it...there!"

He pointed at a portion of the wall that was fractured, obviously having been repaired due to the different coloration of the bricks.

"Good eye," I commented, "wanna check it out?"

Almost before I finished the question, Kaijai leaped down onto the lower platform, jumped over the railing onto the makeshift walkway, and stood facing the wall.  I dove after him, rolling once I hit the ground, then shooting up over the railing and dashing over next to him.  I stared at the wall.

"I wonder what--" I started, but Kaijai summoned his Keyblade and blew the wall open with a Dark Thundaga spell.

"You won't have to wonder for much longer," he commented.  Then he walked straight into the hallway beyond, the bits of debris mingling with the older ones from the first time this passage was here.

"The word 'restraint' mean anything to you?" I muttered to myself.

"Yes," Kaijai responded mockingly, "but I don't tend to think of it as a way of life.  Coming?"

I muttered a few other things under my breath, then entered the passageway.  The walls were lined with several pipes and wiring running all throughout the corridors beyond, connecting to generators and transformers and other various electrical consoles throughout the passage.  We turned down several corners, walking in a circle at least once before we finally came to a large open space.  To our left was a short, straight hallway with a door at the end.

"There," I said, "I feel like...there's something in there.  Something dark and powerful."

"We may want to worry about this first," Kaijai replied, summoning his Keyblade.

I turned and saw seven large Unversed in front of us. The first was a green quadruped with an upright body and two curved, thorn-like limbs close to its head.  Protruding from either side of its head were horns that curved down and had attached to them two rings: one that dangled just beside its head, and the other falling almost to the ground by its feet. [Envy]  The next one was very rotund, with a thin neck, a small head, and a vacuum-like snout that fell from its face.  It had small arms and stout legs and didn't seem to be able to move much at all. [Gluttony]  Beside that one, was an Unversed that looked like a pirate ship with bat wings on either flank. [Greed]  Another with a large lower body like a dress with a thin and tall upper body leading to a head with long drooping ears stood beside the pirate ship. [Lust] A fifth had an upright insect-like body with a peacock-feather looking mane. [Pride]  Another larva-like creature had a shell that was pointed at the top and had limbs ingrained in the floor, leaving it incapable of movement, but not of battle. [Sloth]  The last was a large, ferocious-looking beast with massive arms with claws at the end and a hammer at the tip of its tail. [Wrath]

"You think we can take 'em?" I asked Kaijai as I summoned my blade.

"Of course we can," he responded.

Then Wrath swung its hammer-tail as we both jumped out of the way.

"As a matter of fact," Kaijai continued, slicing through Envy, "I believe we can dispatch these Seven Sins whilst continuing this conversation.  Care to give it a shot?"

I drove my blade into Gluttony, having been smacked by Kaijai and rolling in front of my target, Lust.

"I don't see why not!" I replied, removing my blade from Gluttony and slicing my way through both it and Lust.

"Three down already?" Kaijai questioned, leaping atop Greed "You would think that whoever sent them would know better than to leave such weak monsters."

I deflected a claw-swipe from Wrath, "I wonder who it was that sent them..."

"If they're at all as weak as their minions," Kaijai started, steering Greed right into Pride, "then they shouldn't be much of a threat to us."

I ran my blade through Wrath's middle, severing it in two as it disappeared.  "Yeah, we can take 'em, no sweat!"

I stuck my fist out to Kaijai, who stared at it blankly.  I shook my arm, then he raised a fist and touched my own.

"Not much of a social life until now?" I joked.

"That is more accurate than you may ever come to know," Kaijai replied solemnly, "Come, let us hunt down our attackers' leader."

"Onward, then!"