Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ And So the Hunt Begins... ❯ Surprises ( Chapter 2 )

Mandy: Welcome to the next chapter! Woot! -glares at Organization- Don't you DARE clap, or anything. You take all the fun out of making a fanfiction.

Organization: -silent-

Mandy: Demyx, do the disclaimer!

Demyx: Mandy does not own a single Kingdom Hearts character, and only owns herself and Alexa. If she did own a KH character, it would be Axel!

Axel: What?!

Mandy: He's right, y'know.

Roxas: Before anymore happens here that confuses the hell out of me, I present to you Chapter 2!

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Chapter 2: Surprises

Axel...

“Welcome to this year's Struggle tournament!” I heard the announcer shout. I grinned from my rooftop hiding place, thinking of what I was about to do. Won't Roxas be surprised?

I looked down at the crowd, seeing familiar faces. These were people I saw around Roxas all the time. Some were in the pictures the Dusks had stolen from various people. I glanced at the one I had in my right hand, which had Roxas, Hayner, Pence, and Olette in front of DiZ's mansion. I tossed it into the winds, not wanting to think about how all of this could've turned out. I could've still had my best friend, if only he hadn't been so stubborn... And now he has new friends. Typical.

There was a single girl coming into the crowd that was late. The Struggle between Roxas and Hayner had already started, and I watched her curiously. Her black hair tumbled down her shoulders like a waterfall, and I noticed her sharp blue eyes scanning the Sandlot. She wore a long-sleeved pink jacket, with a white tank top underneath. Tan cargo pants adorned her legs. What is she expecting? She seems a little more intelligent than all of the rest of this fake town. I haven't seen her hanging around Roxas, either, and everyone talks to him. I thought about it for a moment. Well, it's not like she's a real person, anyways.

I couldn't summon any Dusks to investigate her, because then DiZ would know where I was. I'll find out later, when DiZ isn't watching.

Alexa...

Roxas was winning all of the matches. While cheering for him, three teens noticed me, letting me join their watch group. Their names were Hayner, Pence, and Olette. I recognized Hayner from the first match, whom the announcer had said was Roxas's best friend. He had a strange hairstyle, I noted, and it was a sandy blonde. His eyes reminded me of chocolate, and they lit up as he watched his friend Struggle. I identified the next brown-eyed boy as Pence, and his dark hair was spiked and held up by a headband. For whatever reason, he wore a red shirt with a dog on it that said “Dog Street.” Olette was the only girl in the group. Her hair was up in a bun, with some of it curling around her face. Her eyes were a forest green.

“The next Struggle match is between Seifer and Vivi!” The announcer called. He explained that Vivi was a part of Seifer's gang. That meant they had to be friends... at least, that's what I thought. There were two people next to us who cheered the competitors on, so I guessed that this was another part of his gang.

“Seifer, y'know?!” Said the tall, muscle guy (whose name was, I found out later, Rai). He wore sweats with the number 8 on it, and a red-orange top. A chain necklace with a lightning bolt swung from his neck while cheering. The girl next to him was Fuu, who only gave monosyllabic cheers... occasionally. Her purple hair covered her left eye, and the eye that I could see scared me. It was red, like DiZ's, but twice as scary. Once, she glanced over at me, and I never looked back. Her look was like death to me.

Seifer and Vivi were matched up. Seifer wore a silver jacket, and a beanie that had the kanji “Ore” on it. A scar went horizontally down his face, where I saw blue eyes. Blonde hair poked out from underneath his beanie. I saw a purple vest covering his chest, since he left his jacket open. Vivi, on the other hand, was tiny, and he looked like a mini wizard. All you could see of his face was two yellow, beady eyes. He wore blue, and his wizard-like hat was yellow with green decorations.

The fight was very dramatic... actually, I thought it was overdramatic. I could hear Rai shouting for Seifer to go for it, and the rest of the crowd was chanting Seifer's name. The outcome was unbelievable to all of them, as the teen they cheered for fell, with all of his orbs gone. Vivi giggled cruelly, which had my attention. Was this how Vivi usually acts? I wouldn't think that DiZ would create such a cruel character in this environment. Would he?

Roxas was up next, and had to face Vivi. Seifer got up, tearing off his Struggle uniform. He tossed it at Roxas, walking towards his gang on our side of the stage. Roxas turned to watch him, and was surprised to see Seifer stop at the edge.

“That's not Vivi.” He said, and then jumped off of the arena. I scooted closer to the stage, now sensing the danger. My skin was tingling as they set the two contenders up. I gazed at Vivi, whose eyes seemed to gleam maliciously. I was right. This isn't how Vivi usually acts. And that can only mean one thing...

Roxas held his club, facing the sniggering Vivi. He was hiding something behind that face of his... because this obviously wasn't the real Vivi. The mini wizard immediately spun at him, knocking some of his orbs off. Roxas answered with a six-hit combo that flung Vivi to my side of the arena. He pushed himself back up, giggling some more, facing me. I didn't like his gaze on me as he brandished his club.

“Vivi!” The referee shouted, “If you attack anyone in the crowd, I will disqualify you! Do you hear me?” Apparently he did not, as he swung his weapon at me.

I didn't expect it to hurt --- they were really soft clubs only meant for knocking off orbs --- but Vivi turned into one of those silver creatures and wrapped himself around me. More of them appeared, tackling me. While struggling to get out, I noticed that time had stopped once again. When I bopped one of them on the head, two more came in its place, and I couldn't reach for my secret weapon...

“Alexa!” Roxas cried out, running over to the large pile of creatures. They sensed him, and they threw me aside to pursue Roxas. I awoke moments later, getting up to watch as Roxas took out the last of the silver creatures with a blade that looked a lot like a key. I clambered up onto the stage next to him. He noticed my inquiring look at the key.

“Keyblade. That's all I know about it. It appears sometimes when I'm in danger.” He explained. We heard a faint clapping, and turned to find a very lean man in a black cloak, and I knew it wasn't Ansem. So there was only one other person...

“Axel!” I shouted. He stopped clapping.

“Bingo.” He said, sliding off his hood to reveal the spiky red hair and emerald green eyes that had been described to me by Xemnas. He had twin double reverse purple teardrops, one under each eye. “We've got a smart cookie on our hands. But cookies have got to crumble at some point, right?”

“That was a terrible analogy!” I said, laughing at his stupidity. “Don't ever say that about me again!”

“What's going on here? Who exactly are you?” Roxas yelled at Axel. Axel put on a sad, puppy dog face.

“You really don't remember?” His eyes hardened, “I don't think even the Dusks will be able to crack this one.” Axel grinned, “Guess I'll have to crack it myself.” He got into a strange fighting stance, summoning two circular weapons with lots of points. I inferred that these were his chakrams. They were quite surprising looking weapons, but I knew that if he wanted to, he could take off someone's head with them.

“Your fight isn't with him, Axel. It's with me.” I said, stepping between Roxas and Axel.

“Yea, but how are you going to fight without a weapon?” Axel asked, gesturing to my bare, weaponless hands.

“Hmm... I don't know. Where did I put it?” I pretended to look around for it. “Here, weapon, come here, boy!” I searched around, and then put a fake pout on my face, “I give up. I'll have to fight without one.” I fooled him; I could tell...At least, I think so. He smirked, looking overconfident.

“If you don't have a weapon, then why are you a bounty hunter?” He asked.

“Wait... How do you know I'm a bounty hunter?” I questioned, suspicious. He didn't answer, only grinned.

“If you can beat me, maybe I'll tell you.” Axel replied.

Roxas shoved me out of the way, “I'll face him, Alexa. You don't have a weapon, and once I defeat him, he'll tell us what we want.”

“Hey! I'm the one that's got more business with him than you do!” I said, “Unless... We team up!”

“Ok, time's up,” Axel said, “It's time for less talking and more action!”

“If time's stopped, then how is it up? And how can it be time for something like that, if there is no time?” He threw his pair of chakrams at me, and I watched as they passed me by. I smiled. Frustrated, he summoned another pair and threw them at me. They dropped to the floor suddenly. “So it's impossible.” He was surprised as his own weapons rose from the stage and went straight for his head. He dodged them just in time.

“What the ---?!” He swore, not noticing Roxas coming at him with the Keyblade. He managed to miss this, too.

“Stay in the game if you want to play, Axel!” I said, running at him.

My secret weapon, you ask? Oh, yea, I forgot to tell you, didn't I? I smirked as I blocked the flurry of flames with my katana, which seemed more like a claymore to me. It was a flash of blue as it struck, that only trained eyes could see. Axel was obviously didn't have trained eyes. He lashed out at me blindly, hoping to get a hit. The claymore went into invisibility mode as soon as it wasn't moving anymore, and hovered at my side at all times. The only time it came out when I wasn't using it was when I was sleeping or I was knocked unconscious. But, who cared? I wasn't sleeping in the middle of a battle, and I definitely wasn't going to faint or get bopped upside the head with my sword skills. You could say I was a very special little girl.

My abilities extended even beyond that, but I didn't have time to speculate them. Axel released a whole chain of flaming chakrams, which were hitting even more blindly than before. Flurry of Dancing Flames... Quite a nickname you've got going there. It's obvious that you're not dancing... You're just blundering around like an idiot.

There was something about Axel that made me want to just get closer. I fought of his chakrams, and found myself barely two inches away from his face. His eyes weren't really emerald, they were more like peridots. Funny, I thought, That's my birth stone. They shone brightly, and I could see the flame behind them just wanting to come out. I jumped over him, surprised at myself. Why did I just think of all of those things?

“Why can't I touch you?!” Axel growled, meaning “why can't his attacks get to me?”, but I just had to comment (it's unlike me not to do so!).

“I would never allow you to touch me, pervert!” I said, fanning off his flames with my claymore, and then I let it drift at my side invisibly.

Roxas hit him in the back, and Axel spun around to face him, rocking back on his heels. He summoned more of the silver creatures that I assumed were called “Dusks,” according to Axel. “You're making me angry!” He said, sending the Dusks on us. Roxas managed to get most of them, but some slipped past him to me. I couldn't manipulate them like I had with Axel's chakrams --- another ability of mine --- since they were mindless, and were already controlled by Axel.

These creatures were clever in the midst of battle, since this was all they knew. The Dusks could faintly see my claymore when I struck at lightning fast speeds, but not enough to save them or warn others. They all fell to my blade.

“Roxas. No. 13. The Keyblade's chosen one.” Axel said. I looked to see him facing Roxas.

“Axel!” I heard DiZ's voice say out of nowhere. Well, this was his digital town, so he could do what he wanted. He appeared in a swirl of data, and Axel turned to him, as did a very confused Roxas.

“So it was you.” Axel glared at DiZ, and then threw his weapons at him. They collided with a shield --- made out of data, I presumed --- and DiZ ignored him, turning his attention to Roxas.

“Roxas, this man deceives you. Believe none of the words he speaks!” DiZ exclaimed.

“Roxas, he's lying to you!” Axel shouted, getting Roxas's attention. DiZ and Axel kept this up, and Roxas started looking dizzy. He shouted his friends' names to the sky, including mine, surprisingly.

Deciding not to wait a moment longer, I tackled Axel. DiZ disappeared, and Axel summoned a swirling portal of blacks and purples. At which we were headed for because of the force of my tackle. I glanced back at a wide-eyed Roxas, whom was running for the portal, but it closed before he could reach it.

It felt like my soul was going through a filter, and that I left my stomach behind. Everything swirled around me darkly, almost as if it was sneering at me. I tumbled onto solid ground, landing into a wall. I groaned, losing consciousness. I managed to turn myself over and see the faint --- and growing fainter --- figure of Axel. That was the last image on my mind as I slipped into darkness.

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Mandy: Oh my god I finished it! It was SO hard, I nearly cried! You can tell I enjoyed the fight scenes, and the stupid jokes between Axel and Alexa. I think I'm going to pass out...

Roxas: -patting her on the back- Poor Mandy...

Axel: Want some candy? -holds out bag of candy-

Mandy: -glinty eyes- I will ignore that you just rhymed my name and ask if you have lollipops, and maybe spare your life.

Axel: Yup!

Mandy: I love you!! -hugs him, steals all of his lollipops, then runs-

Roxas: Oh, yea, Mandy also wanted to say that she got most of the descriptions of the characters by looking in her strategy guide. And went to Kingdom Hearts Wiki and got very confused...

Mandy: -from around the corner, with a lollie in her mouth- I didn't know Axel markings were purple. Are they really purple? -examines Axel's face- They're so small! I think they're red, but the people on Wiki said they're purple, so...

Roxas: She'd also like to explain why Alexa was attacked by the Nobodies.

Mandy: Vivi attacked her because Alexa's an actual person, unlike all of the virtual people there. Nobodies can easily mistake Alexa for Roxas this way because all they're searching for in the digital Twilight Town is a real person.

Roxas: Also, the “Ore” symbol on Seifer's hat...

Mandy: The “Ore” kanji is a distinctly masculine and sometimes vulgar way of referring to oneself. Kind of matches him, don't you think?

Axel: All of the above information was taken from Kingdom Hearts Wiki. Just so you don't start thinking of Mandy as a highly intelligent person... -runs, knowing he's in for it later-

Roxas: Please read & review, maybe Axel will give you a lollipop!

Axel: -in background- No, I won't!