Kingdom Hearts {Reader Insert}

20. One Keyblade Master

You grunted as you shielded from Sora's ice attack. You threw a firaga at him after that, but he managed to dodge it. Merlin cheered for both of your quick reactions before critiquing your spells. The group had left the two of you at Merlin's to train while they gathered supplies. You buffeted Sora with a gust of wind and then attempted to shoot a blizzaga at him from the other side, but he threw up a reflect spell at the last second. The chunk of ice flew away and crashed into Merlin's wall.

"Oh ho-" Merlin watched both of you go back and forth with excitement. "You are lucky I have protections on my home. Or... I am the lucky one..." Merlin got lost contemplating the philosophy of his statement.

"Focus!" you heard Archimedes call down from the rafters at Merlin. "You are coaching them, remember?"

"My house is the thing that is protected, but they would be the ones receiving punishment if they were to ruin it..." Merlin rambled on.

Sora placed a graviga spell on the center of the room and you attempted to fight its pull with an aeroga spell. Archimedes yelped from the rafters as he was sucked down and into Sora's spell. Sora quickly released the spell and the owl landed on the floor, clearly dizzy. His feathers were ruffled and matted in every different direction. When he had regained his balance, he turned to Merlin and perched at the table next to him. "You-you-you... blockhead!" he shouted at him. "You are supposed to be paying attention!"

Merlin glanced at the owl and then turned to the two of you. "It is important to remember that your spells will not only affect your opponent, but also whatever is around them. Archimedes has taught you an important lesson."

Sora chuckled as the owl was stuck between his frustration with the wizard and being given credit for a lesson. Finally, he landed on something somewhere in between.

"A very important lesson," Archimedes nodded at you and Sora before huffing and perching on the back of Merlin's chair, where he hoped to be safe from any further attacks.

You grinned at Sora, starting to get tired from all of the rapid-fire magic use. "You've gotten really good at that spell."

"Thanks, but it doesn't do me any good when you find ways around anything I throw at you," he grinned. "You're much more creative with the spells you know than I am."

"I haven't landed a hit on you, either," you reminded.

"Alright," Merlin called. "Start again."

It was late afternoon by the time Tifa came to get you. You and Sora were both exhausted from pushing your magic muscles to their limits. Merlin had told you that it was similar to overeating. By pushing your stomach to the limit, you stretch out your stomach and can eat more in the future. When you push yourself to the limit magically, your abilities grow and you can do more in the future. It might be uncomfortable at first, but your body adapts. On the other hand, if you were to do the opposite and use magic less frequently your abilities with magic would slowly diminish.

"All that talk of overeating made me hungry," Sora grumbled as he took a seat next to you at the table. It wasn't quite dinner time, but Tifa and Leon wanted to go over their plan for facing Maleficent, so everyone was gathered around the table.

You sighed. "No kidding. I could eat a whale."

"After this, we'll eat," Leon told you both.

"Okay," Tifa looked around and made sure everyone was present. "Here's what we've got. We don't know much about Maleficent herself, but I think it's safe to assume that she will know as soon as we land on Hollow Bastion."