KHNG: Dark Past, Bright Future

Ishine - Korrupt Swordsman

Suguha was pinned against the wall, holding her bamboo blade against a strange opponent that was entirely colored pitch black--clothes, skin, weapon, everything. Colored squares of red, blue, green, and yellow moved across the face of its body. Kaijai, Vanitas and I moved in to attack. Vanitas managed to swipe the creature aside, allowing Suguha to escape the building while we faced off with it.

Though it was seemingly made out of darkness, much like a Heartless, I could make out certain features. Short hair, a long, flowing cloak, and a heavy sword in its right hand. It looked almost like a teenage boy, with its thin build and childish face. I wondered what kind of creature it could be--it wasn't quite like any Heartless I'd heard of. Red text began to scroll across the being's face.

"HELLO, ISHINE, KAIJAI, VANITAS," it read.

"How do you know who we are?" I asked it.

"THE ORGANIZATION," it replied, "I WAS SENT HERE BY THEM."

"Sent to do what?" Kaijai asked, "What is it that the Organization is after?"

The being paused for a moment, "UNAVAILABLE."

"Why are we talking to this thing?" Vanitas shouted, "We should be killing it!"

"AFFIRMATIVE," the being replied, "KILL KEYBLADE WIELDERS."

The being swooped in for the attack. I blocked its blade with my own, but the sheer strength behind this thing was immense. It took all I had just to hold it back, but it just drew its blade back up and struck again. I dodged to the side as the creature's blade began to glow with a purple light. Kaijai and Vanitas moved in as the thing unleashed an attack that spread out in a square all around it. The attack blasted all three of us backwards.

"Tch, what the hell is this thing, anyway?" Vanitas said, picking himself up.

"It's very powerful," Kaijai replied, "We'll have to pull out all the stops to defeat it."

The being's sword began to glow again, this time with a blue light. The three of us jumped out of the way as it launched its attack between us. The problem was, the being wasn't trying to attack us. I ricocheted off the wall behind me and zoomed over in front of Suguha, raising a Dark Barrier to protect her.

"What are you doing here?" I yelled, "Get back! We'll take care of this thing!"

"No way!" She said, "I can fight too! And besides...that's...I have to fight it!"

"You could get hurt!"

"I don't care!"

I dispelled my barrier and batted the creature back.

"I really don't have time to argue with you right now," I said, "Just let us handle this!"

I focused my dark energy and awakened my new Dark Form. My muscle-tissue outfit changed to black bone armor as power surged from my Keyblade. Kaijai's eyes began to glow golden as a blue aura surrounded his blade, and Vanitas' body was shrouded in a dark golden light. The three of us attacked the creature at once, managing to hold it back using all of our powers combined. The being fought back, though, and it seemed like it was getting even stronger than before.

Using another horizontal square attack, the creature pushed us back again, but this time we were ready. Kaijai, Vanitas and I all cast powerful magic blasts at the creature; Kaijai using time magic, me using darkness, and Vanitas using the power of the X-Blade. Still, none of this was enough to slow the creature down, and it charged toward Suguha. I jumped forward, but I was too slow. The being brought its blade down on her.

But Suguha deflected the blow with her own bamboo sword. Instead of catching it in a block, she swept her blade through the air, carrying her attacker's sword around her body and to the ground. The being staggered for a moment, allowing us to counterattack. Just as the three of us charged forward, though, Suguha raised her blade and tapped the monster on the head with it.

"Knock it off, Kazuto," she said.

All of a sudden, the creature simply froze. Then, it fell to its knees and began to disappear. I didn't take my eye off of it until it was completely gone, but once it was, it didn't look like it was coming back anytime soon.

"How did you do that?" I asked Suguha.

"That..." she tried, tears welling up in her eyes, "Well, you see...I had to fight that thing because...because...it looked just like my brother..."

"Your brother?" Kaijai replied, "The one trapped inside the game?"

"That's right. That thing looked exactly like Kazuto. I don't know why, I don't even know what it was, but I don't care. That thing looked exactly like my brother, but it wasn't him. That, to me, proves that my brother is okay."

"What makes you say that?" Vanitas asked.

"Well, that thing...my brother never had those kinds of skills out here in the real world. But if he were inside of that game, I think that creature is a reflection of exactly how he'd be. He used to do kendo with me when we were both really little, and I could see a little bit of that old skill inside of that creature. That means that it must have copied my brother, and if that's the case, it means that my brother is alive inside of that game...and that he's fighting to get out."

"Suguha," I started, "I'm sure that your brother will come back. As long as you belive that he will, and as long as he keeps fighting, he'll escape that game."

Then, my Keyblade abruptly began to glow. So did Kaijai's and Vanitas'.

"That's the signal," Kaijai said, "Our comrades have found a lead."

I turned back to Suguha, "Hey, listen, we've gotta go. It's about those creatures and the guys in black that we asked you about before. I really hate to leave you so suddenly, but--"

"Don't worry about it," Suguha replied, "Now that I know my brother's okay, I know I'll be able to take care of those creatures! I'll keep this place safe while I wait for you to come back! ...You will come back someday, right?"

"Well...yeah, of course!" I replied, "We'd be glad to come back and visit someday!"

"Good...well, you'd better get going, right?"

"Right. We'll be back! See you, Suguha!"

Kaijai, Vanitas, and I headed out of the building and flew off on our Keyblade Gliders as they guided us toward Halios, Selena, and Hyperian.