Okay everyone. I know it's been quite a while since I've put up a chapter but here's another one. I hope you all like it and thanks for trying to keep this thread going.
“Guys?” Roxas called out as he looked through the deserted streets. After the floating tattoo had touched him he got separated from Riku and Sora and now the normally crowded streets were deserted and empty. But even then he couldn’t shake the feeling of someone or something watching him, “Hellooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!”
“Grrrrrrrrrrrllrrrrrr.”
Roxas turned as he heard a low growling sound. Coming from around a corner was a wolf creature. It had grey fur with streaks of black going through it but what caught Roxas’ attention was the fact that it’s front legs and tail seemed to be tattoos that were movable and their eyes were a solid yellow. As the wolf crouched down and approached closer another three came from behind, trapping him in the alley.
“Not cool.” Roxas said summoning his keyblade to his hand and turning to keep an eye on all the wolves.
When they got close enough the wolves stopped walking at him and began baring their teeth at Roxas. Suddenly the middle one of the pack of three lunged at him, his teeth and claws ready to attack. Roxas ducked under the flying creature and brought his keyblade up and slashed at it’s underside. As it fell forward it turned into static and dispersed. As Roxas recovered his stance the other two of the three pack ran at him, Roxas jumped and flipped over them, slashing at their backs as he did. As they dispersed the first one ran, jumped off a wall, and attacked from above.
“Sneaky bastard.” Roxas said as he dodge rolled out of its way and threw his keyblade at it when he stopped.
The wolf jumped out of the way of the keyblade and charged at Roxas. When it got close it lunged in for the kill but Roxas summoned his keyblade back to his hand and slashed the wolf. As it faded away Roxas leaned back against a wall, until several more wolves came around the corners and charged at him.
Crshck! Crshck! Crshck! Riku jumped from wall to wall as he slashed the bird creatures that kept attacking him. The birds were black all over, and their beaks and talons were tattoos that acted as part of their bodies. They were quick and their wings were as sharp as blades, always making Riku dodge before he could attack. As a bird dived at him he jumped off the wall again and into the middle of a circle of them, spinning around and slashing at them all at once.
As he started to fall he blocked at another bird dived straight down at him. Unfortunately it caught his keyblade in it’s talons and held onto it as it rushed at the ground. Riku turned his blade and cut through the bird, landing on his feet. He looked up and saw over a dozen other birds flying above the buildings, circling like they were hunting for food.
“Just what I needed.” Riku sighed looking up as six of the birds began circling down at him. He held his keyblade behind him and fire began to coat it, “Omega Fira!” he yelled out bringing his keyblade around and sending a large fire spell at the birds. Halfway to them it split into six smaller spells and connected in six fiery explosions.
As the smoke from the explosions cleared away the other nine birds dove through it and straight for Riku. He jumped back as they plowed into the ground, beak first. When he caught his footing his pushed forward and rushed through them, slashing them all with his keyblade. When he stopped he looked back as the birds faded away.
“What the hell was that?” Riku asked walking out into the abandoned streets. Everything was still the same, the same stores, the same signs, the same buildings, everything was just abandoned, “Where am I? Or more importantly, where’s Roxas and Sora?”
“Blizzara!” Sora yelled sending a wide ice spell down the alley at the frogs. Several of them were frozen and a quick slash with his keyblade shattered them into thousands of pieces, but he was quickly followed by dozens more.
It wasn’t that Sora was having trouble getting rid of the frogs, it was that their numbers kept increasing. For everyone one that he took out five more hopped into its place. He couldn’t tell where they were coming from but the alley was already full and he was back against a wall. He took a defensive stance as they got closer. He dodged as several jumped at him but he couldn’t avoid them all and a few got a hold of him. They dug in with their front claws then pushed off him with their back legs, so strongly that they pushed him back into the wall that cracked.
As Sora slumped to the ground he looked over and saw his way out. He leaned forward quickly and threw his keyblade through the mass of frogs, creating a narrow path. He ran as fast as he could through the path before the frogs filled it up again and managed to make it out to the street. But as he turned around to check to see how close the frogs were behind him he was hit by an onslaught of bubble bullets. Almost each frog was swelling up and then spit out bubbles that shot forward at Sora. Each bullet had the impact of a rock shot from a gun, and the force lifted Sora off his feet and knocked him back into a store front. But the continuous bullet attack kept him pinned against the store front until it ended and he slumped down to the ground.
“Damn.” Sora said to himself as he tried to stand up and fell back down, the frogs crowding out into the street from the alley, their numbers even greater than before, “Damn.” Sora looked up at the frogs, his vision going blurry from the pain of the attacks.
Before he could do anything the frogs had surrounded him again. Sora looked out around him as they all kept moving in closer.
Am I going to die?
Ba-bump.
The frogs moved in closer.
I can’t die.
Ba-bump ba-bump.
Not yet. They haven’t paid yet.
Ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump.
Sora could hear the small sounds the frogs were making as they sized up their prey.
They haven’t paid for taking her!
Ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump.
“Sarah.” Sora said quietly to himself.
The pendant under Sora’s shirt began to glow bright, so bright it could be distinctly made out from under the shirt. The frogs stopped and stared as Sora stood up like a limp marionette getting its strings pulled.
Ckr-ckrshck!!!
A loud cracking sound resounded as a large crack appeared on the side of Sora’s keyblade going all the way up to its tip. A strong light began to leak from the crack and the frogs began to hop away. Sora raised his keyblade as he looked out over the crowd of frogs, a deep hatred in his eyes. He brought his keyblade down and an explosion of light erupted from him, the frogs were caught in it and everyone was annihilated as the explosion encompassed the entire area in a blinding light.
“There. All done. Whew, I feel better now. Loose buttons drive me nuts.” Said a fifteen year old girl with long pink hair wearing a cap, a green skirt with several pockets in it, a white sleeveless shirt with a sleeveless pink vest over it that had a few pockets itself.
“That was . . . fast . . . Do you always carry around a needle and thread?” asked the fifteen year old boy she was talking to. The boy had incredibly spiky orange hair and wore a purple and blue sleeveless shirt, white shorts with a few pockets, and he sported a pair of head phones around his neck.
“Of course. They come in handy. Plus I enjoy sewing. If you need anything else mended just say the word.”
Will I have to strip again?- The boy thought a little worried –I’d better take care of my clothes.
“C’mon.” the girl motioned for the boy to follow her, “Let’s get going Neku, we can’t make Beat and Rhyme wait forever.”
“Well pardon me if I don’t exactly feel comfortable having taken off my clothes in front of a girl just now Shiki.”
The two started walking through a crowded street lined with shops for people with expensive tastes. What was strange about the pair was that as they walked not a person they walked by noticed them, paid any attention to them, or even looked their way. And the pair seemed to take as normal.
“WOULD SOMEONE HELP US!!!??” came a panicked voice.
Neku and Shiki looked over at the source of the voice to see Roxas running back and forth in front of an alley trying to get people’s attention. But all the people just walked by without even noticing him. The pair looked at each other then walked over to the commotion. As they got closer they saw Riku pushing down on Sora’s chest continuously, Sora unconscious on the ground.
“I wonder what happened to him?” Neku asked, “And why isn’t anyone calling for an ambulance or something?”
“You!” Roxas yelled looking at the two who were surprised as well, “You can see us. Thank god! Help us, call an ambulance or do something. He’s not breathing.”
“You can see us!?” Shiki asked surprised looking at Roxas.
“Of course we can see you, now one of you help us out!” Riku yelled at them as he kept pushing on Sora’s chest.
“What are we supposed to do? Our phones won’t contact anyone.” Shiki said starting to panic a little.
“Do you know CPR?” Riku asked looking at them desperately.
“Kinda.”
“Then get to it.”
Roxas pushed Shiki over to Sora and went back to the street to try and get someone’s attention. Neku just stared as Shiki knelt down by Sora and looked him over. After taking a deep breath she leaned over, closed his nose, and started getting close to his face.
*GASP!* Sora opened his eyes and took a deep inhale as he started breathing again. Shiki recoiled back and gave him some space as his breathing started to become regular again. Roxas rushed over and knelt down by Sora in her place and helped sit him up. After a few minutes Riku and Roxas put his arms around their shoulders and stood him up then looked over at Neku and Shiki.
“Thanks.” Riku said gently letting Sora start to stand on his own, “Neither of us knew CPR so it’s a miracle you came by.”
“No problem although I didn’t really-“Shiki started to say
“How can you see us?” Neku interrupted with a note of suspicion.
“What do you mean ‘How can we see you?’ You’re standing right in front of us.” Roxas said, “Or are you two using some sort of invisibility magic that would make us not see you?”
“Don’t play dumb with us. You’re Reapers aren’t you?”
“Reapers? What are you talking about?” Riku asked, “More importantly why can’t those other people see us? Roxas was yelling and grabbing people but no one noticed. Then you two came by and it seems no one can see you either.”
“Neku.” Shiki said looking at the three, “Maybe they aren’t Reapers. They don’t seem to know what’s going on and we can interact with them.”
“Only Reapers can see us.” Neku said not taking his suspicion view from Sora, Riku, and Roxas.
“What if they’re Players? Players can see each other.”
“Would you two start making sense.” Roxas snapped at them, “What are Players? What are Reapers? What the hell is going on!?”
“If they were Players, wouldn’t we have met them already?” Neku asked ignoring Roxas.
“Maybe they got entered in the game late for some reason. Either way they don’t seem to understand what’s going on. It’d be wrong to leave them here.” Shiki said looking at Neku pleadingly.
“Don’t tell me you want to bring them along with us!” Neku said surprised
“Please.” Riku said stepping forward towards Neku, “I swear we’ll try not to cause you any trouble. You’ve probably got good reason to not trust us but we honestly have no idea what’s going on. You two do, so I’m asking if we can stick with you.”
“. . . . . . . . . Fine.” Neku finally said, “But stay where I can see you.”
“Thanks Neku.” Shiki said smiling, “My name is Shiki and this is Neku.”
“I’m Riku.” Riku said pointing to himself, “This is Roxas.” He pointed to Roxas, “And Sora.” He pointed to Sora.
“Whatever, let’s just go.” Neku said and the group started walking out in the street, Sora managing to walk on his own.
“It’s strange that you guys don’t know anything.” Shiki said as they walked, “Normally people entered in the Reapers Game get the info before they enter. Or are you like Neku and don’t have any memories?”
“Reapers Game?” Roxas asked, “What’s that? All we know is that since we got touched by that weird floating symbol and fought some freaky monsters no one seems to be able to see us.”
“Huh? So you just got drawn into the UG by the Noise?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Wow, this could take a little while.” Shiki took a deep breath and got into a thinking pose as she walked, “Let’s start with the Reapers Game. Since you’re not Reapers that means you’re Players and are playing the Game. Cause you’re players like me and Neku no one can see you, hear you, or anything. That’s cause we’re in a different plane called the UG while everyone else is in the RG. The Reapers run the Game and they try to erase us Players. The symbol you guys ran into is a Noise symbol, it takes you into some strange place where everything’s abandoned and you have to fight the Noise.”
“So those things we fought are called Noise?” Sora asked, “They seemed kinda like Heartless if you ask me.”
“That’s funny actually. Shibuya’s never really had a Heartless problem. It’s considered to be a paradise.” Roxas said looking around.
“Hold on just a second.” Riku interrupted, “You said those ‘Reapers’ try to erase Players. By erase you mean kill right?”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much it.” Shiki said.
“Why don’t you report this to your world leaders!? Something like this Game can’t actually be allowed.”
“No one knows it exists. I didn’t know it existed until I was a part of it myself.”
“And what do you get for beating this Game?”
“I guess we get to leave it. I don’t really know.” Shiki looked down sadly.
“Let me get this straight.” Sora said, “Since we’re in the UG we can’t interact with anyone or anything in the RG and vice versa. You’re playing some game made by those Reapers that are trying to kill you and you have no choice but to play.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much it.” Neku said
“Then I guess the disappearances recently have been because of the Noise attacking people in the RG.”
“What kind of Noise would do that?” Shiki asked, “Neku and I haven’t seen any kind of Noise that actually draws in people from the RG. They affect them but never attack them.”
“This is all sorts of twisted.” Riku said as the group walked out to a small area.
“Hey Phones, you’re late yo!” came a voice followed by two other teenagers.
The first one was older, about the same age as Neku and Shiki, and wore a black cap, a white sleeveless shirt with some letters on it, and faded tan shorts. The other one was younger, about twelve or thirteen, and she wore a large cap that almost completely covered her head, a large faded pink large sleeve shirt that was larger than she needed and off-white shorts. They walked over to Neku and Shiki and started talking.
“Where you two been yo? This is a race, donchu wanna win?” the older one said.
“Hey Beat. Hey Rhyme.” Shiki greeted with a smile.
“I never recall agreeing to this race.” Neku said dismissing Beat, “Besides, if it is a race why’d you wait for us instead of going on ahead?”
“Whaaa! Hey man, I jus wanna see your sorry face when you see me beat you.” Beat said raising his fist at Neku.
“Actually, Beat insisted we wait for you two to catch up.” Rhyme said smiling as Beat panicked about the truth.
“Hey! Don’t tell them that yo!” Beat looked back at Shiki and Neku and finally noticed Sora, Riku, and Roxas.
As Rhyme noticed they just stared at each other. Beat and Rhyme moved around and Sora, Riku, and Roxas followed them.
“Hi.” Roxas said trying to break the ice.
“Wow, more Players?” Rhyme asked raising a hand to wave at Roxas.
“Not exactly.” Shiki said, “It seems like the Noise pulled them in from the RG.”
“Whoa, is that even possible?” Beat asked looking at the three like they were ghosts.
“Apparently.” Sora said looking around, “So is there something you guys are doing?”
“Nothing much, just the mission for today.” Rhyme answered.
“Mission?”
“Yeah. Everyday we get missions that we have to complete or the Reapers erase us.”
“And what’s your mission today?”
“Reach Towa Records with no time limits. Pretty easy compared to what we’ve had to do so far.”
“Considering the fact that this is a life or death game then I’d be a little suspicious about the mission.”
“Oh c’mon. You all thinking too much yo.” Beat said heading away from the group, “More importantly it’s time we won this race Rhyme.” And started running off to another street.
“Beat! Wait up.” Rhyme yelled running after him.
“We should follow them.” Riku said quickly following behind, “Sora’s right, the mission is too easy.”
The group looked at each other then followed themselves. As they reached the next street they saw a large store on one side of the street with the sign ‘Towa Records’ over its doors. As they looked around they saw Beat off in the distance waving to Rhyme. She was waving back happily until she looked at something on the ground. Sora, Roxas, and Riku only saw the Noise symbol flowing along the ground as it settled just under Beat, it looked like an open set of shark teeth. Before any of them could yell out anything he finally noticed as the Noise moved to get him Rhyme appeared out of nowhere and pushed him out of the way, the Noise reaching up and taking her instead.
“RHYME!!” Beat yelled as he rushed back to the spot where she had been taken, nothing left but a bell pendant that had fallen off.
“No, Rhyme.” Shiki yelled running over to Beat as the Noise symbol moved off and began circling the group.
“Don’t let your guard down.” Neku said as he joined the two, “It’s still around.”
Sora, Riku, and Roxas watched carefully as the symbol moved smoothly across the ground then headed straight for them. Halfway to them it split into two, one grabbed Neku and Shiki and the other took Sora, Riku, and Roxas. There was a bright flash of light and Sora was standing alone on the now abandoned street. He looked around and then heard a swift sound and looked to see a blue fin sticking out of the pavement and heading right for him. He jumped out of the way and noticed the fin had a razor sharp edge to it and the back end was like the tattoo limbs of the other Noise. The fin turned around and headed back at him but Sora was ready to jump out of the way again until the area around the fin seemed to melt and a shark jumped out of the pavement at him.
Sora called his keyblade to his hand and stuck it in the shark’s mouth to keep it from biting into him. As the shark pushed him back he noticed the ground behind him was melting again and pushed away to avoid getting dragged down. As he caught his footing the shark’s tail swung around and hit him into a wall. After pushing himself back up he summoned his keyblade back to his hand and waited. As he looked around he could hear the shark moving just under the ground, hiding itself to attack him in an instant. There was a loud swishing sound and the fin popped back up and headed straight for Sora again.
Sora brought out his keyblade and braced it with both hands as the fin reached him and he blocked. He was pushed back, his shoes scraping against the pavement, until he dug in and slashed through the fin. It disappeared beneath the pavement again but Sora could hear the shark crying in pain. After a few seconds the crying stopped and a small area a few feet away melted. The shark jumped out of the pavement and lunged at Sora, it’s mouth open wide revealing it’s rows of sharp teeth ready to tear him apart.
“Lightning!” Sora yelled out pointing his keyblade at the shark and a large bolt of lightning shot out of the sky and through the shark, “Blade!” the bolt continued on to Sora’s keyblade and it began to glow blue and course with electricity. As the shark fell forward Sora stepped to the side, brought his keyblade back, and cut through the entire left side of the shark as it reached him.
The shark fell to the ground with a loud thud and cried out in pain again. It writhed around for a few seconds before it dissolved into nothing. As Sora leaned back to take a breath there was another flash of light and he was back in the crowded street with everyone else.
“Oh man, how annoying is that? My record, ruined.” Came a loud female voice.
“Aww, that’s too bad girl. But at least you got a Player.” Came a male voice
The group looked over to see two people standing in the middle of the street looking right at them, the other people on the street passing them by without notice too. The male looked about twenty-three with orange spiky hair that was bunched up in the back, a sleeveless zip up shirt with a rib cage design on it, brown pants, small glasses that hung off the edge of his nose, and a lollipop in his hand that wasn’t far from his mouth. The girl was about the same age with short pink hair, a dark blue shirt that was unbuttoned at the bottom revealing her stomach, and a set of short shorts. But what caught Sora, Riku, and Roxas’ attention wasn’t that they were like them, it was the set of black wings they each had. The wings looked like bat wings without the skin between the extended fingers to allow them to fly.
“Yo!” Beat yelled glaring at the two, “You two the one’s who just did that?!”
“Oh my my. Where’s our manners.” The male said, “I’m Kariya Koki and this,” he pointed to the female, “is Uzuki Yashiro. And now that we’re all friends.”
“What did you just do to that girl?” Riku asked forcefully stepping forward.
“We erased her.” Uzuki said with a smug smile, “Poof. Gone. Dead.”
“Just another speck of dust in Shibuya.” Kariya finished.
“You . . . You did this!?” Beat asked starting to become furious.
“Yeah.” Uzuki said, “So what if we did. We’re Reapers, it’s our job. You knew that.”
“Screw your job you MURDERERS!!”
“You’re Reapers?” Roxas asked stepping forward.
“Uh yeah.” Uzuki looked at Roxas like he was stupid, “Did you hit your head or something? It’s Day 4, you’ve seen tons of Reapers by now, I’m sure.”
“Don’t bet on it.” Roxas mumbled.
“Yo! Dontchu ignore me!!” Beat yelled at them running in front of Roxas and Riku, “Give back Rhyme, or I’ll make you pay!!”
“Ooooooh, real scary Skulls.” Kariya said faking fear, “But just know that we weren’t the reason she was killed. You’re supposed to protect your partner. Skulls Jr. knew that, that’s why she did what she did. Gave her life for you. If you want someone to blame, look in a mirror.”
Beat went from glaring at the two Reapers to looking guiltily down at the ground.
“Not that anything you can do would affect us, you’re powerless without your partner. Face it Skulls.” Kariya and Uzuki started to walk away, “But if you want revenge, man up why don’t you.” Kariya turned around and taunted Beat to follow.
“Dontchu run from me yo!!” Beat yelled getting furious again, “Dontchu run . . . Dontchu . . . “ but he quickly fell back into guilt.
“Don’t worry though.” Uzuki started calling back, “You’ll be joining her in a little while. Players can only last seven minutes after their partner’s taken out.” And the two Reapers disappeared into the crowd.
“Seven minutes!” Shiki cried starting to panic a little, “No! What are we gonna do?”
“You don’t have to do anything.” Came another male voice and everyone looked behind them to see an man wearing a long sleeve button up shirt with it’s sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a black vest over it, black pants, and a pair of sunglasses tipped down so his eyes were visible just over them, “Come with me.”
“Mr. H!?” Neku and Shiki asked at the same time.
“No.” Beat said still staring at the ground.
“Don’t throw away that girl’s sacrifice.” The man said, “She gave you a precious gift, life. Now if you want to stay alive then you have to come with me. Now!”
Beat closed his eyes tightly for a second then started to follow the man as he led him further down the street.
“Think Beat will be okay?” Shiki asked watching them go.
“He’s with Mr. Hanekoma, he should be fine.” Neku said dismissively.
“But still . . . Why couldn’t we save Rhyme?” Shiki asked sadly.
“This stuff happens.” Riku said looking back at the two of them, “You can try your hardest and still fail to save someone close.”
“Yeah, we couldn’t save her. That’s how it was meant to be.” Neku said looking away.
“You piece of shit!” Roxas yelled grabbing Neku by his collar and lifting him up, “A girl just died saving someone else and you’re just going to write her off!? What happened was everyone’s fault. Even though we just met her it’s our fault too. Don’t you care that your friend is dead!?”
“I never said she was my friend.” Neku said grabbing Roxas’ arms and breaking out of his grasp, “I never said any of you were my friends. I don’t need friends, I just stick with Shiki to survive.”
“How can you say that!?” Shiki asked, tears starting to form in her eyes, “Saying something like that’s inhuman. You’re no better than the Reapers!”
“Man, I can’t believe I missed the idiot.” Uzuki said as she and Kariya looked down onto a street from a rooftop.
“Chill girl.” Kariya said leaning against a wall holding his lollipop, “You still got another Player, be happy with that.”
“I guess. But who were those other three?”
“Other three?”
“Yeah, when I got my report it said to lay a trap for the four Players left, but when I saw them there were seven. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice the blonde, the brunette, and the emo looking one.”
“You mean the one who seemed like he didn’t know anything about Reapers?” Kariya asked starting to get interested, “Maybe he didn’t know anything about Reapers.”
“What are you talking about?” Uzuki asked walking over to look at Kariya.
“Think about it for a second. There’s no way the top brass would mistake the number of Players left. That means those three would have to have gotten into the UG by some other means, and I don’t think the Game allows for late entries.”
“So you’re saying that they may have been drawn into the UG?”
“Probably against their will. And I don’t any Reaper would just go to the RG and recruit new Players.” Kariya looked off into the distance for a second then turned back to Uzuiki, “Get the brass on the phone, we gotta report this.”
“Sure.” Uzuki reached into her pocket and pulled out a phone and started dialing on it.
Like I said, I hope ya'll liked it. For everyone who's played TWEWY I hope I stuck to the characters personalities correctly.
Destiny in Motion
Chapter 5
“Guys?” Roxas called out as he looked through the deserted streets. After the floating tattoo had touched him he got separated from Riku and Sora and now the normally crowded streets were deserted and empty. But even then he couldn’t shake the feeling of someone or something watching him, “Hellooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!”
“Grrrrrrrrrrrllrrrrrr.”
Roxas turned as he heard a low growling sound. Coming from around a corner was a wolf creature. It had grey fur with streaks of black going through it but what caught Roxas’ attention was the fact that it’s front legs and tail seemed to be tattoos that were movable and their eyes were a solid yellow. As the wolf crouched down and approached closer another three came from behind, trapping him in the alley.
“Not cool.” Roxas said summoning his keyblade to his hand and turning to keep an eye on all the wolves.
When they got close enough the wolves stopped walking at him and began baring their teeth at Roxas. Suddenly the middle one of the pack of three lunged at him, his teeth and claws ready to attack. Roxas ducked under the flying creature and brought his keyblade up and slashed at it’s underside. As it fell forward it turned into static and dispersed. As Roxas recovered his stance the other two of the three pack ran at him, Roxas jumped and flipped over them, slashing at their backs as he did. As they dispersed the first one ran, jumped off a wall, and attacked from above.
“Sneaky bastard.” Roxas said as he dodge rolled out of its way and threw his keyblade at it when he stopped.
The wolf jumped out of the way of the keyblade and charged at Roxas. When it got close it lunged in for the kill but Roxas summoned his keyblade back to his hand and slashed the wolf. As it faded away Roxas leaned back against a wall, until several more wolves came around the corners and charged at him.
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Crshck! Crshck! Crshck! Riku jumped from wall to wall as he slashed the bird creatures that kept attacking him. The birds were black all over, and their beaks and talons were tattoos that acted as part of their bodies. They were quick and their wings were as sharp as blades, always making Riku dodge before he could attack. As a bird dived at him he jumped off the wall again and into the middle of a circle of them, spinning around and slashing at them all at once.
As he started to fall he blocked at another bird dived straight down at him. Unfortunately it caught his keyblade in it’s talons and held onto it as it rushed at the ground. Riku turned his blade and cut through the bird, landing on his feet. He looked up and saw over a dozen other birds flying above the buildings, circling like they were hunting for food.
“Just what I needed.” Riku sighed looking up as six of the birds began circling down at him. He held his keyblade behind him and fire began to coat it, “Omega Fira!” he yelled out bringing his keyblade around and sending a large fire spell at the birds. Halfway to them it split into six smaller spells and connected in six fiery explosions.
As the smoke from the explosions cleared away the other nine birds dove through it and straight for Riku. He jumped back as they plowed into the ground, beak first. When he caught his footing his pushed forward and rushed through them, slashing them all with his keyblade. When he stopped he looked back as the birds faded away.
“What the hell was that?” Riku asked walking out into the abandoned streets. Everything was still the same, the same stores, the same signs, the same buildings, everything was just abandoned, “Where am I? Or more importantly, where’s Roxas and Sora?”
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“Blizzara!” Sora yelled sending a wide ice spell down the alley at the frogs. Several of them were frozen and a quick slash with his keyblade shattered them into thousands of pieces, but he was quickly followed by dozens more.
It wasn’t that Sora was having trouble getting rid of the frogs, it was that their numbers kept increasing. For everyone one that he took out five more hopped into its place. He couldn’t tell where they were coming from but the alley was already full and he was back against a wall. He took a defensive stance as they got closer. He dodged as several jumped at him but he couldn’t avoid them all and a few got a hold of him. They dug in with their front claws then pushed off him with their back legs, so strongly that they pushed him back into the wall that cracked.
As Sora slumped to the ground he looked over and saw his way out. He leaned forward quickly and threw his keyblade through the mass of frogs, creating a narrow path. He ran as fast as he could through the path before the frogs filled it up again and managed to make it out to the street. But as he turned around to check to see how close the frogs were behind him he was hit by an onslaught of bubble bullets. Almost each frog was swelling up and then spit out bubbles that shot forward at Sora. Each bullet had the impact of a rock shot from a gun, and the force lifted Sora off his feet and knocked him back into a store front. But the continuous bullet attack kept him pinned against the store front until it ended and he slumped down to the ground.
“Damn.” Sora said to himself as he tried to stand up and fell back down, the frogs crowding out into the street from the alley, their numbers even greater than before, “Damn.” Sora looked up at the frogs, his vision going blurry from the pain of the attacks.
Before he could do anything the frogs had surrounded him again. Sora looked out around him as they all kept moving in closer.
Am I going to die?
Ba-bump.
The frogs moved in closer.
I can’t die.
Ba-bump ba-bump.
Not yet. They haven’t paid yet.
Ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump.
Sora could hear the small sounds the frogs were making as they sized up their prey.
They haven’t paid for taking her!
Ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump.
“Sarah.” Sora said quietly to himself.
The pendant under Sora’s shirt began to glow bright, so bright it could be distinctly made out from under the shirt. The frogs stopped and stared as Sora stood up like a limp marionette getting its strings pulled.
Ckr-ckrshck!!!
A loud cracking sound resounded as a large crack appeared on the side of Sora’s keyblade going all the way up to its tip. A strong light began to leak from the crack and the frogs began to hop away. Sora raised his keyblade as he looked out over the crowd of frogs, a deep hatred in his eyes. He brought his keyblade down and an explosion of light erupted from him, the frogs were caught in it and everyone was annihilated as the explosion encompassed the entire area in a blinding light.
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“There. All done. Whew, I feel better now. Loose buttons drive me nuts.” Said a fifteen year old girl with long pink hair wearing a cap, a green skirt with several pockets in it, a white sleeveless shirt with a sleeveless pink vest over it that had a few pockets itself.
“That was . . . fast . . . Do you always carry around a needle and thread?” asked the fifteen year old boy she was talking to. The boy had incredibly spiky orange hair and wore a purple and blue sleeveless shirt, white shorts with a few pockets, and he sported a pair of head phones around his neck.
“Of course. They come in handy. Plus I enjoy sewing. If you need anything else mended just say the word.”
Will I have to strip again?- The boy thought a little worried –I’d better take care of my clothes.
“C’mon.” the girl motioned for the boy to follow her, “Let’s get going Neku, we can’t make Beat and Rhyme wait forever.”
“Well pardon me if I don’t exactly feel comfortable having taken off my clothes in front of a girl just now Shiki.”
The two started walking through a crowded street lined with shops for people with expensive tastes. What was strange about the pair was that as they walked not a person they walked by noticed them, paid any attention to them, or even looked their way. And the pair seemed to take as normal.
“WOULD SOMEONE HELP US!!!??” came a panicked voice.
Neku and Shiki looked over at the source of the voice to see Roxas running back and forth in front of an alley trying to get people’s attention. But all the people just walked by without even noticing him. The pair looked at each other then walked over to the commotion. As they got closer they saw Riku pushing down on Sora’s chest continuously, Sora unconscious on the ground.
“I wonder what happened to him?” Neku asked, “And why isn’t anyone calling for an ambulance or something?”
“You!” Roxas yelled looking at the two who were surprised as well, “You can see us. Thank god! Help us, call an ambulance or do something. He’s not breathing.”
“You can see us!?” Shiki asked surprised looking at Roxas.
“Of course we can see you, now one of you help us out!” Riku yelled at them as he kept pushing on Sora’s chest.
“What are we supposed to do? Our phones won’t contact anyone.” Shiki said starting to panic a little.
“Do you know CPR?” Riku asked looking at them desperately.
“Kinda.”
“Then get to it.”
Roxas pushed Shiki over to Sora and went back to the street to try and get someone’s attention. Neku just stared as Shiki knelt down by Sora and looked him over. After taking a deep breath she leaned over, closed his nose, and started getting close to his face.
*GASP!* Sora opened his eyes and took a deep inhale as he started breathing again. Shiki recoiled back and gave him some space as his breathing started to become regular again. Roxas rushed over and knelt down by Sora in her place and helped sit him up. After a few minutes Riku and Roxas put his arms around their shoulders and stood him up then looked over at Neku and Shiki.
“Thanks.” Riku said gently letting Sora start to stand on his own, “Neither of us knew CPR so it’s a miracle you came by.”
“No problem although I didn’t really-“Shiki started to say
“How can you see us?” Neku interrupted with a note of suspicion.
“What do you mean ‘How can we see you?’ You’re standing right in front of us.” Roxas said, “Or are you two using some sort of invisibility magic that would make us not see you?”
“Don’t play dumb with us. You’re Reapers aren’t you?”
“Reapers? What are you talking about?” Riku asked, “More importantly why can’t those other people see us? Roxas was yelling and grabbing people but no one noticed. Then you two came by and it seems no one can see you either.”
“Neku.” Shiki said looking at the three, “Maybe they aren’t Reapers. They don’t seem to know what’s going on and we can interact with them.”
“Only Reapers can see us.” Neku said not taking his suspicion view from Sora, Riku, and Roxas.
“What if they’re Players? Players can see each other.”
“Would you two start making sense.” Roxas snapped at them, “What are Players? What are Reapers? What the hell is going on!?”
“If they were Players, wouldn’t we have met them already?” Neku asked ignoring Roxas.
“Maybe they got entered in the game late for some reason. Either way they don’t seem to understand what’s going on. It’d be wrong to leave them here.” Shiki said looking at Neku pleadingly.
“Don’t tell me you want to bring them along with us!” Neku said surprised
“Please.” Riku said stepping forward towards Neku, “I swear we’ll try not to cause you any trouble. You’ve probably got good reason to not trust us but we honestly have no idea what’s going on. You two do, so I’m asking if we can stick with you.”
“. . . . . . . . . Fine.” Neku finally said, “But stay where I can see you.”
“Thanks Neku.” Shiki said smiling, “My name is Shiki and this is Neku.”
“I’m Riku.” Riku said pointing to himself, “This is Roxas.” He pointed to Roxas, “And Sora.” He pointed to Sora.
“Whatever, let’s just go.” Neku said and the group started walking out in the street, Sora managing to walk on his own.
“It’s strange that you guys don’t know anything.” Shiki said as they walked, “Normally people entered in the Reapers Game get the info before they enter. Or are you like Neku and don’t have any memories?”
“Reapers Game?” Roxas asked, “What’s that? All we know is that since we got touched by that weird floating symbol and fought some freaky monsters no one seems to be able to see us.”
“Huh? So you just got drawn into the UG by the Noise?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Wow, this could take a little while.” Shiki took a deep breath and got into a thinking pose as she walked, “Let’s start with the Reapers Game. Since you’re not Reapers that means you’re Players and are playing the Game. Cause you’re players like me and Neku no one can see you, hear you, or anything. That’s cause we’re in a different plane called the UG while everyone else is in the RG. The Reapers run the Game and they try to erase us Players. The symbol you guys ran into is a Noise symbol, it takes you into some strange place where everything’s abandoned and you have to fight the Noise.”
“So those things we fought are called Noise?” Sora asked, “They seemed kinda like Heartless if you ask me.”
“That’s funny actually. Shibuya’s never really had a Heartless problem. It’s considered to be a paradise.” Roxas said looking around.
“Hold on just a second.” Riku interrupted, “You said those ‘Reapers’ try to erase Players. By erase you mean kill right?”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much it.” Shiki said.
“Why don’t you report this to your world leaders!? Something like this Game can’t actually be allowed.”
“No one knows it exists. I didn’t know it existed until I was a part of it myself.”
“And what do you get for beating this Game?”
“I guess we get to leave it. I don’t really know.” Shiki looked down sadly.
“Let me get this straight.” Sora said, “Since we’re in the UG we can’t interact with anyone or anything in the RG and vice versa. You’re playing some game made by those Reapers that are trying to kill you and you have no choice but to play.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much it.” Neku said
“Then I guess the disappearances recently have been because of the Noise attacking people in the RG.”
“What kind of Noise would do that?” Shiki asked, “Neku and I haven’t seen any kind of Noise that actually draws in people from the RG. They affect them but never attack them.”
“This is all sorts of twisted.” Riku said as the group walked out to a small area.
“Hey Phones, you’re late yo!” came a voice followed by two other teenagers.
The first one was older, about the same age as Neku and Shiki, and wore a black cap, a white sleeveless shirt with some letters on it, and faded tan shorts. The other one was younger, about twelve or thirteen, and she wore a large cap that almost completely covered her head, a large faded pink large sleeve shirt that was larger than she needed and off-white shorts. They walked over to Neku and Shiki and started talking.
“Where you two been yo? This is a race, donchu wanna win?” the older one said.
“Hey Beat. Hey Rhyme.” Shiki greeted with a smile.
“I never recall agreeing to this race.” Neku said dismissing Beat, “Besides, if it is a race why’d you wait for us instead of going on ahead?”
“Whaaa! Hey man, I jus wanna see your sorry face when you see me beat you.” Beat said raising his fist at Neku.
“Actually, Beat insisted we wait for you two to catch up.” Rhyme said smiling as Beat panicked about the truth.
“Hey! Don’t tell them that yo!” Beat looked back at Shiki and Neku and finally noticed Sora, Riku, and Roxas.
As Rhyme noticed they just stared at each other. Beat and Rhyme moved around and Sora, Riku, and Roxas followed them.
“Hi.” Roxas said trying to break the ice.
“Wow, more Players?” Rhyme asked raising a hand to wave at Roxas.
“Not exactly.” Shiki said, “It seems like the Noise pulled them in from the RG.”
“Whoa, is that even possible?” Beat asked looking at the three like they were ghosts.
“Apparently.” Sora said looking around, “So is there something you guys are doing?”
“Nothing much, just the mission for today.” Rhyme answered.
“Mission?”
“Yeah. Everyday we get missions that we have to complete or the Reapers erase us.”
“And what’s your mission today?”
“Reach Towa Records with no time limits. Pretty easy compared to what we’ve had to do so far.”
“Considering the fact that this is a life or death game then I’d be a little suspicious about the mission.”
“Oh c’mon. You all thinking too much yo.” Beat said heading away from the group, “More importantly it’s time we won this race Rhyme.” And started running off to another street.
“Beat! Wait up.” Rhyme yelled running after him.
“We should follow them.” Riku said quickly following behind, “Sora’s right, the mission is too easy.”
The group looked at each other then followed themselves. As they reached the next street they saw a large store on one side of the street with the sign ‘Towa Records’ over its doors. As they looked around they saw Beat off in the distance waving to Rhyme. She was waving back happily until she looked at something on the ground. Sora, Roxas, and Riku only saw the Noise symbol flowing along the ground as it settled just under Beat, it looked like an open set of shark teeth. Before any of them could yell out anything he finally noticed as the Noise moved to get him Rhyme appeared out of nowhere and pushed him out of the way, the Noise reaching up and taking her instead.
“RHYME!!” Beat yelled as he rushed back to the spot where she had been taken, nothing left but a bell pendant that had fallen off.
“No, Rhyme.” Shiki yelled running over to Beat as the Noise symbol moved off and began circling the group.
“Don’t let your guard down.” Neku said as he joined the two, “It’s still around.”
Sora, Riku, and Roxas watched carefully as the symbol moved smoothly across the ground then headed straight for them. Halfway to them it split into two, one grabbed Neku and Shiki and the other took Sora, Riku, and Roxas. There was a bright flash of light and Sora was standing alone on the now abandoned street. He looked around and then heard a swift sound and looked to see a blue fin sticking out of the pavement and heading right for him. He jumped out of the way and noticed the fin had a razor sharp edge to it and the back end was like the tattoo limbs of the other Noise. The fin turned around and headed back at him but Sora was ready to jump out of the way again until the area around the fin seemed to melt and a shark jumped out of the pavement at him.
Sora called his keyblade to his hand and stuck it in the shark’s mouth to keep it from biting into him. As the shark pushed him back he noticed the ground behind him was melting again and pushed away to avoid getting dragged down. As he caught his footing the shark’s tail swung around and hit him into a wall. After pushing himself back up he summoned his keyblade back to his hand and waited. As he looked around he could hear the shark moving just under the ground, hiding itself to attack him in an instant. There was a loud swishing sound and the fin popped back up and headed straight for Sora again.
Sora brought out his keyblade and braced it with both hands as the fin reached him and he blocked. He was pushed back, his shoes scraping against the pavement, until he dug in and slashed through the fin. It disappeared beneath the pavement again but Sora could hear the shark crying in pain. After a few seconds the crying stopped and a small area a few feet away melted. The shark jumped out of the pavement and lunged at Sora, it’s mouth open wide revealing it’s rows of sharp teeth ready to tear him apart.
“Lightning!” Sora yelled out pointing his keyblade at the shark and a large bolt of lightning shot out of the sky and through the shark, “Blade!” the bolt continued on to Sora’s keyblade and it began to glow blue and course with electricity. As the shark fell forward Sora stepped to the side, brought his keyblade back, and cut through the entire left side of the shark as it reached him.
The shark fell to the ground with a loud thud and cried out in pain again. It writhed around for a few seconds before it dissolved into nothing. As Sora leaned back to take a breath there was another flash of light and he was back in the crowded street with everyone else.
“Oh man, how annoying is that? My record, ruined.” Came a loud female voice.
“Aww, that’s too bad girl. But at least you got a Player.” Came a male voice
The group looked over to see two people standing in the middle of the street looking right at them, the other people on the street passing them by without notice too. The male looked about twenty-three with orange spiky hair that was bunched up in the back, a sleeveless zip up shirt with a rib cage design on it, brown pants, small glasses that hung off the edge of his nose, and a lollipop in his hand that wasn’t far from his mouth. The girl was about the same age with short pink hair, a dark blue shirt that was unbuttoned at the bottom revealing her stomach, and a set of short shorts. But what caught Sora, Riku, and Roxas’ attention wasn’t that they were like them, it was the set of black wings they each had. The wings looked like bat wings without the skin between the extended fingers to allow them to fly.
“Yo!” Beat yelled glaring at the two, “You two the one’s who just did that?!”
“Oh my my. Where’s our manners.” The male said, “I’m Kariya Koki and this,” he pointed to the female, “is Uzuki Yashiro. And now that we’re all friends.”
“What did you just do to that girl?” Riku asked forcefully stepping forward.
“We erased her.” Uzuki said with a smug smile, “Poof. Gone. Dead.”
“Just another speck of dust in Shibuya.” Kariya finished.
“You . . . You did this!?” Beat asked starting to become furious.
“Yeah.” Uzuki said, “So what if we did. We’re Reapers, it’s our job. You knew that.”
“Screw your job you MURDERERS!!”
“You’re Reapers?” Roxas asked stepping forward.
“Uh yeah.” Uzuki looked at Roxas like he was stupid, “Did you hit your head or something? It’s Day 4, you’ve seen tons of Reapers by now, I’m sure.”
“Don’t bet on it.” Roxas mumbled.
“Yo! Dontchu ignore me!!” Beat yelled at them running in front of Roxas and Riku, “Give back Rhyme, or I’ll make you pay!!”
“Ooooooh, real scary Skulls.” Kariya said faking fear, “But just know that we weren’t the reason she was killed. You’re supposed to protect your partner. Skulls Jr. knew that, that’s why she did what she did. Gave her life for you. If you want someone to blame, look in a mirror.”
Beat went from glaring at the two Reapers to looking guiltily down at the ground.
“Not that anything you can do would affect us, you’re powerless without your partner. Face it Skulls.” Kariya and Uzuki started to walk away, “But if you want revenge, man up why don’t you.” Kariya turned around and taunted Beat to follow.
“Dontchu run from me yo!!” Beat yelled getting furious again, “Dontchu run . . . Dontchu . . . “ but he quickly fell back into guilt.
“Don’t worry though.” Uzuki started calling back, “You’ll be joining her in a little while. Players can only last seven minutes after their partner’s taken out.” And the two Reapers disappeared into the crowd.
“Seven minutes!” Shiki cried starting to panic a little, “No! What are we gonna do?”
“You don’t have to do anything.” Came another male voice and everyone looked behind them to see an man wearing a long sleeve button up shirt with it’s sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a black vest over it, black pants, and a pair of sunglasses tipped down so his eyes were visible just over them, “Come with me.”
“Mr. H!?” Neku and Shiki asked at the same time.
“No.” Beat said still staring at the ground.
“Don’t throw away that girl’s sacrifice.” The man said, “She gave you a precious gift, life. Now if you want to stay alive then you have to come with me. Now!”
Beat closed his eyes tightly for a second then started to follow the man as he led him further down the street.
“Think Beat will be okay?” Shiki asked watching them go.
“He’s with Mr. Hanekoma, he should be fine.” Neku said dismissively.
“But still . . . Why couldn’t we save Rhyme?” Shiki asked sadly.
“This stuff happens.” Riku said looking back at the two of them, “You can try your hardest and still fail to save someone close.”
“Yeah, we couldn’t save her. That’s how it was meant to be.” Neku said looking away.
“You piece of shit!” Roxas yelled grabbing Neku by his collar and lifting him up, “A girl just died saving someone else and you’re just going to write her off!? What happened was everyone’s fault. Even though we just met her it’s our fault too. Don’t you care that your friend is dead!?”
“I never said she was my friend.” Neku said grabbing Roxas’ arms and breaking out of his grasp, “I never said any of you were my friends. I don’t need friends, I just stick with Shiki to survive.”
“How can you say that!?” Shiki asked, tears starting to form in her eyes, “Saying something like that’s inhuman. You’re no better than the Reapers!”
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“Man, I can’t believe I missed the idiot.” Uzuki said as she and Kariya looked down onto a street from a rooftop.
“Chill girl.” Kariya said leaning against a wall holding his lollipop, “You still got another Player, be happy with that.”
“I guess. But who were those other three?”
“Other three?”
“Yeah, when I got my report it said to lay a trap for the four Players left, but when I saw them there were seven. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice the blonde, the brunette, and the emo looking one.”
“You mean the one who seemed like he didn’t know anything about Reapers?” Kariya asked starting to get interested, “Maybe he didn’t know anything about Reapers.”
“What are you talking about?” Uzuki asked walking over to look at Kariya.
“Think about it for a second. There’s no way the top brass would mistake the number of Players left. That means those three would have to have gotten into the UG by some other means, and I don’t think the Game allows for late entries.”
“So you’re saying that they may have been drawn into the UG?”
“Probably against their will. And I don’t any Reaper would just go to the RG and recruit new Players.” Kariya looked off into the distance for a second then turned back to Uzuiki, “Get the brass on the phone, we gotta report this.”
“Sure.” Uzuki reached into her pocket and pulled out a phone and started dialing on it.
End
Like I said, I hope ya'll liked it. For everyone who's played TWEWY I hope I stuck to the characters personalities correctly.
