Kingdom of Corona pt1
Kingdom of Corona pt1
When Riku landed the gummiship in this new world, it was, luckily, in the denser area of a heavily wooded forest. As there were no signs of civilization close enough to suddenly take notice of an oddly shaped and colorful spaceship, the three wielders left it partially covered before they made their way through the woods. It was a calm and idyllic place, the sun overhead at noon time, giving the trees a soft golden glow. It was warm with some cloud cover, the occasional bird chirping as it flew by.
“It’s so calming here,” Aqua remarked with a smile, stretching her arms out.
“I feel like I could take a nap,” Lea said, arms behind his head as they walked into a small clearing.
“I could see Sora liking this place,” Riku said with a smile as he looked around the forest before stopping to turn to the others. “So, why do you think we were brought here? Do you two feel anything?”
“Not really,” Lea said with a shrug, giving a small yawn.
“Same,” Aqua said as she crossed her arms in thought. “But there must be a reason the gate would lead us here. Did you feel anything, Riku?” Riku only shook his head, leaving Lea to smirk at them.
“Maybe this is our chance to take a break?” he asked them curiously. Riku and Aqua gave him a look that said they were tempted to agree.
“Make way! Make way!” a male voice shouted. The trio turned just in time to see a young man wearing a blue top and brown leather satchel in hand run past them, just behind him were a couple of Shadows and Bizarre Archers chasing him. They gasped when the Heartless approached them, quickly summoning their keyblades to block their path.
“Aw, man!” Lea groaned as he took out a Shadow that got too close. “There goes my nap!”
“We’ll take a break once we find Sora,” Riku said with a grunt as he blocked some arrows from the archers, making Lea groan even louder.
“Since… you seem to know what you’re doing, mind handling them?”
The trio looked behind them and saw the man from a moment ago peek out from behind a boulder, giving them a weary smirk.
“Yeah, we’ll take care of them,” Aqua said. “You just look for someplace safe.”
“No problem,” he said with a small flourish of his hand. “The name’s Flynn. Flynn Rider.” He then gave Aqua a charming smile and a wink, making the woman blush enough that she would have missed the shadow sneaking up on her if Riku hadn’t taken care of it.
“Just focus on the Heartless, for now,” Riku said. Aqua nodded and returned to the matter at hand.
===
Once the Heartless were gone, they dismissed their weapons and went to see if Flynn was okay, but he wasn’t behind the boulder.
“Where else could he have gone?” Riku asked as they looked around the clearing. “This is nothing but a dead end.”
“I hope the Heartless didn’t get him,” Aqua said with a worried look as they walked around the clearing some more. She hoped that there was someplace he could have hidden or escaped through.
“Nah, I’m sure he’s fine,” Lea said as he went to lean on a rock wall covered in vines. When he let out a sudden cry of shock, Riku and Aqua turned to see if he was okay. Except he was no longer there.
“Now where did he go?” Aqua asked with a frown, hands on her hips. Just then said redhead poked his head out from past the vines, causing the other two to jump back in surprise.
“Check this out,” he said with a smirk as he pushed aside the vines, revealing a cave of some kind. “It’s a hidden passage.”
“Huh,” Riku remarked with a raised brow as he pulled back the vines a bit more. He entered the passage, Aqua right behind him, and the three of them made their way through. The passage seemed to continue onwards into a tunnel, and when they reached the other end, they found themselves in another clearing, surrounded by high rock walls and a waterfall. And at the center of the clearing on a small hill was a thin tower, nearly 70 feet in height.
“What is this place?” Aqua questioned as they walked around the clearing. She noticed that the rock walls were so high that you wouldn’t have known this clearing was here unless you could scale the cliffs or fly.
Riku also looked around curiously, when he saw someone familiar climbing down the side of the tower. “Hey, I think that’s Flynn,” he pointed out the figure, the three of them approaching the tower.
Just then long golden blonde hair came down from the single window of the tower, and sliding down the hair like it was a rope was a girl in a purple dress. The trio watched her curiously as she slowly set her bare feet down on the grass with a look of surprise.
“I’m free!” she cried out with joy as she ran past them, not noticing them in her excitement. “I’m finally free!” Riku looked to the others in confusion as they approached Flynn, who had just reached the base of the tower.
“Flynn!” Riku called out to him, gaining the man’s attention. When he saw them his eyes lit up.
“Hey, great to see you again!” he exclaimed. The group then turned when they heard the girl laughing, seeing that she was playing in the shallow stream at the bottom of the hill.
“Who’s she?” Aqua asked as the girl ran around some more, following some birds that flew by.
“That would be Rapunzel,” Flynn said with a roll of his eyes. “Give her a moment. I get the feeling this is her first time being outside.”
“Her first?” the three repeated curiously as they followed Flynn, who was now chasing after the blonde girl as she made her way to the secret entrance to the clearing.
Following Flynn’s brief explanation was an interesting hour of watching Rapunzel enjoying the outside world, her excitement getting to her, only to suddenly be overcome with guilt and sadness from disobeying her mother who, based on her mutterings, had told her to never leave the tower. But then her excitement came back as she ran around the clearing, only to turn back to disappointment, then to rebellion as she used her hair as a swing on some low hanging branches. Then, she was sitting at the base of a tree, crying into her hands. Riku, Aqua and Lea watched the young girl with worry in their eyes as Flynn leaned against the tree, trying not to be amused at her out-of-control emotions.
“You seem to be a bit at war with yourself,” Flynn remarked as Rapunzel wiped at her tear stained face.
“That’s… more than a bit,” Riku remarked with a frown. It was at that moment that Rapunzel finally noticed the three of them. She jumped to her feet with a gasp, and Riku noticed that she had a large black frying pan in one hand, holding it up like a weapon.
“Stay back!” she cried, surprising the three of them. “Who are you?”
“Don’t worry, blondie,” Flynn said with a smile as he pulled Riku to his side in a friendly gesture. “These are my sidekicks I was telling you about.”
“’Sidekicks’?” Riku questioned him.
“Yeah,” Flynn continued as he presented them to Rapunzel with a flourish. “Let me introduce… uh…” He then gave them a nervous side glance.
“I’m Aqua,” Aqua greeted herself with a smile, getting what Flynn meant.
“I’m Riku,” the silver haired teen also added, seeming confused still. Lea stepped forward with a smirk.
“And I’m Lea. Got it memorized?”
Rapunzel looked over the three of them curiously before she eventually relaxed. That was also when a small green chameleon peeked out from behind her hair, sitting on her shoulder.
“It’s… nice to meet you,” she said shyly as she fidgeted on the spot, obviously not used to meeting so many new people.
“Yup, my sidekicks are pretty great,” Flynn said with a smug smile. Now Riku couldn’t take it as he grabbed Flynn’s arm and pulled him towards them, surprising the brunette.
“What’s with the ‘sidekicks’ thing anyway?” Riku questioned him with a frown, Aqua and Lea leaning in as well.
“Look, she really wants to see the lantern show at the kingdom tomorrow night,” Flynn whispered to them as Rapunzel watched them curiously. “I’m a nice guy and agreed to take her there, but those monsters are a bit much for me. And you guys know how to handle them easily.” The three of them looked to each other curiously.
“Well, the Heartless are pretty dangerous,” Aqua said in agreement, Flynn going “uh huh” as he gave them a thumbs up.
“And you obviously aren’t that good at fighting them,” Lea added with a smirk, Flynn either not catching his sarcasm or having no qualms with agreeing to the statement. He then stood back and presented them to Rapunzel again. Riku gave a small sigh as he smiled at the blonde girl.
“Yeah, leave the Heartless to us,” Riku said.
“Great!” Flynn exclaimed as he presented the path ahead for Rapunzel. “So, shall we continue?”
===
As the group made their way out of the clearing and through the woods, Riku couldn’t help but watch Rapunzel continue to grow excited as she examined the world around her. To help her walk through the forest easily, she had her long blonde hair bundled up and draped in her arms, the ends still dragging slightly on the ground as she walked.
“What’s the deal with her hair anyway?” Lea asked his team curiously, arms behind his head as they walked just behind the girl and Flynn, who was leading the way.
“I’m also curious about it,” Aqua remarked with a small smile. “I sense a strong light from her. Something about her seems… special.”
“But to have never seen the outside world in your whole life must seem pretty scary and amazing,” Riku said with a nod. “In a way, I know how she feels. Back when I was still on my island, I didn’t realize that there were as many worlds out there as the ones I’ve been to so far. I knew they existed, but to actually experience it first hand was more than I could imagine.” Aqua and Lea both nodded their heads in agreement. Aqua already knew of the other worlds from Master Eraqus, but actually seeing them made it more special, and Lea had spent his whole life in Radiant Garden, only learning about the other worlds through Ventus and that girl Ansem the Wise kept in his castle, the one who went missing...
“Oh, what’s that?” Rapunzel asked with a giddy smile, pointing to a large white fluffy object that blocked their path. “It’s so fluffy!” The blonde girl dropped her hair as she ran forward to examine it more. Riku gave it an odd look, then gasped when he could sense the darkness.
“Watch out!” Riku shouted as he ran forward. Rapunzel looked back at him curiously when a pair of yellow eyes peeked out from the fluff. Riku summoned Braveheart and knocked the Heartless back, Rapunzel crying out in shock when the Chief Puff revealed its full form. Suddenly, some of the fluff detached from its head and turned into Puffballs, nearly surrounding them. Aqua and Lea summoned their keyblades and ran forward, getting between the Heartless and Rapunzel.
“Go someplace safe!” Aqua told the girl and Flynn, who seemed to freeze on the spot when the Heartless spawned, Rapunzel now gripping his sleeve as she hid behind him. After a moment, Flynn looked down and gave a small smirk before it turned into a look of grief.
“Well, I hate to break it to you,” he said in a sorrowful voice, Rapunzel looking away from the wielders fighting the Heartless to look up at him in confusion. “But I’m letting you off the deal.”
“What?” she gasped as she glared at him.
“It’s too dangerous. You would be safer back home.”
“No!” Rapunzel shouted as she picked up her hair. “I am seeing those lanterns, no matter what!” She then ran forward and stood next to Riku, gripping her hair tightly as Riku looked to her in shock.
“Oh, come on!” Flynn shouted in aggravation, then shouting in fear as a Puffball started chasing him.
“Rapunzel?” Aqua questioned the young girl as she held her long hair like a whip, the sun reflecting off it in such a way it made it look like it was glowing. The blonde girl looked to the three of them with a determined smile.
“It’s okay. I’m not afraid to face them.”
Rapunzel was right about that. Even without a conventional weapon, she was still able to help the three wielders to take out the waves of Heartless that appeared by using her hair. She was able to grab them with her long golden locks and throw them around like ragdolls, sometimes right into the keyblades of the others, and if she was surrounded, she swung around on low hanging branches by her hair, knocking them back. Even Flynn ended up getting caught in the action unwillingly, hitting the Heartless around with the frying pan Rapunzel had been carrying before. Once the Heartless stopped spawning the group took a breather, Rapunzel and Flynn resting on a log next to a small pond while the three wielders scanned the area one last time for enemies before they dismissed their weapons.
“What were those ruffians?” Rapunzel asked the three of them as they returned to their resting place, brushing her fingers through her long hair.
“Those are the Heartless,” Riku said with a frown as he leaned against a tree, joined by Lea as Aqua sat down next to the blonde girl. “They are monsters that steal the hearts of others.”
“So, they… weren’t after my hair?” she asked as she gripped her hair tightly. Riku and the others looked at her in confusion.
“I’m pretty sure no one wants to cut or sell your hair for anything,” Flynn said with a groan, stretching his arms out as he stood up. “Are you ready to go or not?” After a moment Rapunzel nodded as she gathered up her hair and started following the young man, the wielders right behind them again.
“Is there a reason someone would want your hair?” Aqua asked the girl curiously, giving her a small smile.
“Well… it’s kind of a long story,” Rapunzel said as she stroked her hair. “When I was a little girl, I—oh!” Suddenly Rapunzel was distracted when they came across a small field of dandelions, the blonde girl running to the center of it with a bright smile as the seeds floated into the air. Aqua chuckled as she joined her, deciding to let her tell them when she was ready.
And this continued as they made their way through the forest, taking the occasional break when Rapunzel discovered something new. After Aqua made all the dandelions float into the sky with a small Aero spell, they found a family of rabbits that they ended up saving from a few Heartless. Then, Rapunzel ended up pulling Riku into a small pond to refresh in and have fun splashing each other, although the teen nearly went too far smacking the water with his keyblade, causing a big enough splash that they– along with a slightly annoyed Flynn and amused Aqua and Lea– got completely soaked. Luckily, everyone just laughed it off, even Flynn, eventually. Then there was an amusing moment when some birds decided to take a rest in Lea’s hair, most likely mistaking it for a nest, which aggravated the redhead but Rapunzel found it adorable and funny.
After an hour or so of walking through the forest they had to stop again when something new blocked their path: a large flower pod of some kind.
“What’s that?” Rapunzel asked curiously but keeping her distance. She knew to be weary of flowers now. Lea glared at the flower, getting a bad feeling but keeping silent about it. Aqua seemed to notice that he was getting tense.
“Are you okay?” she asked him, voice full on concern as she placed a hand on his arm. He looked at her with a half-smile.
“Yeah,” he said softly.
“I’ll check it out,” Riku said as he cautiously stepped towards the flower, everyone watching him silently. He walked around the flower, examining it, but it seemed just like any ordinary flower. However, when he reached out to touch it, the petals suddenly opened up to reveal a white figure with a hood and a pink scythe in hand, a familiar emblem on its chest.
“A Nobody!” Riku shouted as he jumped back when the Reaper swung its scythe down to attack him, missing him by an inch.
“I knew it!” Lea shouted angrily as he ran forward, summoning Flame Liberator and changing it into his twin chakrams that he threw at the Nobody. The Reaper screeched as it was engulfed in flames, but suddenly a few more Reapers and a few Dusks spawned when the first one fell.
“You two go on ahead!” Aqua told Rapunzel and Flynn, who had taken refuge behind her. “This type of enemy cannot be taken out with a frying pan, so you need to be someplace safe!”
“Don’t worry, fleeing is my specialty!” Flynn said with a smile as he took Rapunzel’s hand and they ran for it, the blonde girl reluctant but eventually giving in and following him. Once they made it out of the clearing, Aqua turned and joined in the fight.
===
Once the Nobodies were taken out, Riku and Aqua dismissed their keyblades with a sigh, but Lea kept a tight grip on his own, glaring at the ground where the Reaper first appeared.
“Something’s definitely wrong,” Aqua commented as she approached Lea with a frown on her face. “If something’s bothering you, Lea, then you need to speak up.” Riku looked to the redhead with a frown, wondering what was going on. Without acknowledging them, Lea looked to the sky and took in a breath.
“Marluxia, I know you’re out there!” he shouted, spooking Aqua and Riku. “Get out here, you pink haired bastard!”
“You don’t need to shout.”
Just then, a dark corridor appeared and a young man in a black coat with pink hair and amber yellow eyes appeared before them. Riku and Aqua tensed up and Lea growled at him. The man gave them a smirk as he stopped a few feet away from them.
“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Axel,” he said to the redhead, who huffed at the name.
“If you haven’t already noticed, I’m not ‘Axel’ anymore. Get it memorized.”
“A shame, really,” Marluxia said with a sigh. “But then again, you were always good at playing traitor, weren’t you?”
“Oh, I’m the traitor?” Lea growled. “Last I recall, you and Larxene had tried to pull a coup on Xemans!”
“But you are one, are you not?” Marluxia questioned, making Lea raise an eyebrow in confusion. “After all, why would the guardians allow someone once part of the same Organization as I to join their ranks? Unless, you plan to stab them in the back like you did with Vexen.”
Lea flinched when the memory of when he had been forced to kill Vexen for nearly revealing Xemnas’ schemes to Sora resurfaced. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and saw Aqua stand next to him, giving him a worried look, making him look away in shame.
“You’re wrong about him,” Riku said as he stepped in front of Lea, glaring at the Nobody. “Everyone has done something they regret in the past, but that doesn’t define who they are now. I trust Lea, and nothing you say could change my mind.”
“Riku,” Lea muttered as he looked at the silver haired teen in slight awe. Marluxia only sighed at that.
“Pity,” he said. “But now I must ask you a favor.”
“And why should we do anything for you?” Aqua demanded from him, stepping forward as she flexed her fingers, ready to summon Master Keeper when needed.
“It is not much,” Marluxia said with a small smile. “Just that you keep that young maiden safe from the dark horrors of the world.”
“’Young maiden’?” Aqua repeated before her eyes went wide. “Rapunzel?” Marluxia’s smile seemed to grow at that.
“As you can tell, she is the light of this world. It would be quite… tragic if something befell her.”
“Is that a threat?” Riku said, summoning Braveheart but not yet preparing to strike.
“Merely a warning,” Marluxia said as a dark corridor appeared behind him. “Our end goal is not to clash, but compliment the light. So, use your keyblades… and keep Rapunzel safe.” And with that, Marluxia backed into the corridor and disappeared.