Org. XIV (story)

Tatsu, being about as observant as a can of tuna, didn't notice the ice until it was too late. He spun around and tried to block it, but only deflected the one that was now aimed at his head. The others both pierced his stomach, and he fell to his knees.

---

The dojo wasn't far off now, at least not with the pair running at top speed. They were almost there. What were these creatures? And why had whoever summoned them done so? These were the questions that raced through Izanagi's mind. So much so, in fact, that he hadn't thought to fly. At this point, there would have been very little point anyway. Even if he had thought of it, it wouldn't have been any faster by then.

"You should have taken your shot first. Maybe then you'd have scratched me." She took a couple of steps forward, looking down at the collapsed Tatsu. "It would be a shame to kill you now. And to be fair, you never really did anything but look at me menacingly. So how's this? You can be entertainment. Let's see if you can take revenge on me for swallowing your world and injuring you, if you survive all this."

She started walking away, lazily waving back to the boy.

"I am known as Hilda the Cold. You can't go on a quest for revenge if you don't know who you're up against. I suggest you figure out a way to combat me, if you want to stand a chance!"

The witch, Hilda, continued to walk away at a leisurely pace. The black pit that she'd created remained, steadily releasing those Heartless into the world...

It wasn't until it was too late that Izanagi and Ai finally arrived back. Tatsu was bleeding on the ground, but Izanagi ignored that for the moment. More important was those creatures pouring out of that black hole. They didn't look especially menacing, but they definitely weren't friendly. Probably the peons.

"Ai, get Haru," he said, the wind swirling around him. "I'll see what I can do about these."

Ai looked nervously at the creatures, then at Izanagi, but eventually nodded. "Right, Haru, right, got it, be right back!" She dashed off, leaving Izanagi in the room alone. He launched himself at the nearest creature and punched it.

The fist connected a little better than the pipe had, actually hurting the creature a little.

Then, a male voice rang out from... somewhere.

"Stand back!"

At the sound of the voice, the Heartless stopped and looked around, confused, even the one that had just been attacked.

Izanagi might have stared at his own fist in shock at its ineffectiveness, if not for that voice. He jumped back and looked for its source.

"I'll admit, you've got balls to take on a Heartless with your bare hands... but I'll take it from here."

The darkness coalesces into the shape of a person, then scatters, leaving behind a young man in a black coat.

Brown, spiky hair that shot out in back, unimpressive height... He didn't look like much of a help.

The boy turned his head back to address Izanagi. "I'll explain about this once I've taken care of things, alright? Start thinking of questions now; this won't take long."

With that, he took a different stance: wider, lower to the ground. A black blade appeared in his hand as he lunged forwards, cutting down Shadows with remarkable speed. In a matter of seconds, he had cleared the field of them, and now dove into the pit they were coming from.

After a brief, tense moment, he leapt back out, the pit closing, as if it had never been there in the first place. The boy looked at Tatsu, taking note of his wounds. "You. Do you know who summoned them? I'm guessing they're the one who stabbed you."

Tatsu just groaned thickly, clearly just doing his best to stay conscious. Luckily enough, Ai and Haru arrived just then. Haru covered her mouth in shock, but with a quick nudge, cast a healing spell on Tatsu.

Turning to the unknown short, spiky-haired...boy, she said, "It'll be a little while before he can talk again, but..."

Izanagi stepped forward. "In the meantime, you promised us answers. What were those things and where did they come from? And why?"

"I guess it is pretty hard to talk with sharp objects sticking into your gut." He sighed. "Those creatures are Shadows, the most basic form of pureblood Heartless. Long story short, those things come from the Realm of Darkness, and they're made of darkness themselves. They seek out and devour hearts, driven by primal hunger. Usually they target people, but sometimes they go after the hearts of worlds, like the one we're standing on now. If they devour the heart of a world, then it sinks into the darkness."

"That's 'what' and 'where' for you. As for 'why', I don't know. This world has no history of Heartless attacks, so I bet they were summoned. That's why I came in the first place: to investigate such a strange incident. Can your friend talk yet? He might know who did it."

Tatsu coughed, blood dripping from his mouth, but he wiped it off and stood on shaky legs. "Some...some old witch...said her name was Hilda something..."

The stranger closed his eyes for a second.

"...I see. So, a woman came here, struck up a conversation with you, and ended up summoning the Heartless to devour this world when you expressed a desire to leave, and weren't telling her what she wanted to know. Then she stabbed you when you tried fighting back. She called herself Hilda the Cold, and she's a witch who uses ice magic. Got it."

He cracked his neck, then quickly surveyed the area. "Seems like she left already. Well, now that I know about her, it's only a matter of time before she's taken in for questioning. So, Tatsu, other people... see you."

The boy started to walk away, hands in his coat pockets.

Izanagi grabbed the boy's shoulder. "Not quite done yet," he said. "How do you know all of that?"

He stops, turning his head to look at Izanagi. "He wasn't giving me all I needed to know, so I read his mind. I typically try to avoid doing it, but I didn't want to take too long getting what I needed from him. You people can treat his wounds, right? You don't need me to get any assistance for your friend?"

"He's fine," replied Izanagi. "Haru can take care of any sort of wound. And you didn't fully answer my question. How did you know what those Shadows were? Why could you hurt them when I couldn't? And how did you get here in the first place?"

He sighed, turning around to face them all.

"...Because I kill them all the time. I'm not from this world, as you might have guessed, and my methods aren't of this world either. I don't want to go into the specifics, but the weapon I use to destroy Heartless comes from the strength in my heart."

"As for how I got here, I traveled the same pathway that the Heartless do. It's not something many people can do, but that tends to be my favorite method of tracking them: just going through the same path they did. ...But I suppose I didn't answer your first question very well, did I? I know about them because I've fought thousands of them, but I also have access to information on them. There was an individual who researched them once, until he got eaten by the Heartless himself."

Izanagi nodded. "Alright. One more question," he said. "What can we do about them?"

Tatsu glared at Izanagi. "What the hell is we?" he asked. "Don't just...volunteer me for crap!"

Izanagi wheeled around on him. "Those things just tried to kill you."

"I'm not interested in revenge."

"Who said anything about revenge?" said Izanagi. "This isn't about revenge and it's not about you. This is about stopping something that could destroy everything I, you, Sensei, and everyone else has ever cared about!"

Tatsu couldn't think of an argument. He just glared at the ground. "Tch."

Turning back to the world-traveler, Izanagi asked, "One more time: What can we do?"

The traveler looked at each of them, sizing them up, his eyes seeing beyond what they did.

"...You're not exactly strong, but you have potential to become so. If you train yourselves to use the strength in your heart to fight, then you'll get powerful enough that the Heartless won't be such a problem."

"Not that you need that power. The Heartless are gone from this world, and I can influence them to stay away. In fact, I know of some people who could completely seal this world's heart, preventing it from ever being eaten, so the Heartless would never come here again, between that and my influence. ...Of course, there are other worlds that are plagued by those creatures. ...If you want to get stronger, I can teach you some basic things. But if you want more training, it has to come at another date. I'm already late for something."

"So, want a little instruction now?"

Izanagi nodded. "I always appreciate the opportunity to learn."

"Count me in too," said another voice. Izanagi knew who it was without turning around.

"When did you get back?"

Drawing level with him, Mi replied, "I heard the sound of a fight, but I didn't get back in time. All I heard was training. So I'm interested."

"Well I'm out of here," said Tatsu, turning and leaving.

"I'd...only be a hindrance..." Haru said, and she turned as well.

She hadn't taken her first step before Izanagi said, "All the more reason for you to join."

Haru looked over her shoulder. "I...I really wouldn't want to hold you back like that..."

"That's why you train, though, isn't it? To get better so that you don't hold us back?"

"M-maybe another time..." she said, and hurried out of the room. The out-of-worlder made her uneasy, for more reasons than one.

"...Sorry." He apologized quietly before moving on.

"Now, I'll try to get the basic principle across. This is what I do: form the shape of a weapon out of my memories."

He held out a hand, his sword from before appearing in his hands.

"Manifesting a weapon using my memories causes it to take a shape I'm familiar with. It's very difficult to pull off at first, but over time, it becomes a reflex to summon your weapon. If you put a name to the weapon, it tends to make things go easier, but if you particularly dislike the idea of naming a weapon, then doing so would only hurt your ability to manifest it. After all, who can manifest a weapon while thinking to themselves 'my god this is stupid'?"

"I am very experienced with this technique. I've even made myself capable of summoning more than my personal weapon, and I can even summon other weapons of its caliber. However..."

He let the weapon fade away.

"...This isn't something just anybody can do. It's easier for people who have travelled between worlds, and detached themselves from home, I find. Now, while summoning a weapon from your heart is effective, it's not the only way to fight. If you can connect a weapon that exists to your heart, then the power will flow through your weapon, making it a true extension of yourself. It's easier to do with body parts, though... seeing as how they're already part of you. You were able to damage that Heartless earlier, just a little, using your fist."

"Honestly, I'm not sure how to teach you that basic thing; controlling your heart and directing its power. I suppose I could make you aware of the power you have, and that would help. But since that could be rather unpleasant, let's try something simpler. Each of you, give me your best kiai. Shout with all the force you can muster."

Izanagi nodded. "Kah!" It was a yell that came from his stomach more than his lungs, one meant to excersize his internal power, and one he'd given hundreds if not thousands of time.

Mi took a different approach, summoning a small blaze of fire into her palm. Drawing her fist up, she punched the ground and yelled "Hyah!", summoning a thin pillar of fire that died out after a few seconds.

The traveler blinked. "You've had some kind of training? That would simplify things, I suppose. Could you tell me about the kind of training you've had?"

"To be perfectly honest, I don't really know the details myself," replied Izanagi. "I've been training in the martial arts with Sensei since I was fairly young. A year or so back, we started doing some more spiritual training, and we recently started sparring with each other to develop our own skills. When I asked Sensei why, he wouldn't tell me."

"He said it was important to learn to control our powers, and he said we'd need them soon," said Mi.

"Hm... maybe this 'sensei' of yours has more foresight than you give him credit for. You should be able to grasp what I've told you without much difficulty. For now, let's see if you can summon any kind of weapon. I don't expect you to succeed immediately, but you might feel safer if at least one of your number can reliably fight the Heartless. Give it a shot. Think of a memory that triggers a strong emotional response. Those typically work best."

Mi's trigger was almost immediate. In a flash, a sword appeared in her hand, a gleaming silver blade that curved just slightly back at the tip. It was identical to her own weapon, except it looked somehow...newer, cleaner, and sharper.

Izanagi closed his eyes for a moment. A powerful memory...did he have one that would do the job? Maybe...though it wasn't quite a "memory" per se. Breathe...concentrate. Focus on the feelings in your heart. His hands flashed, and when he opened his eyes again, he found that it wasn't quite a weapon that he'd summoned; he was now wearing a pair of gloves, fingerless gloves with the back open. He opened and closed his hands a few times and found that the gloves weren't as restrictive and didn't give him the same trouble with movement as gloves normally did.

"So...these gloves can hurt those creatures?" he asked.

The traveler took a step back. "Hell, you guys got that in a single try! I don't think I really need to tell you guys more. Those weapons come from the heart, and you guys have strong enough hearts, so you should be able to damage them."

I'd better not teach you guys how to sense the Heartless, or you'll get good at it too fast...

"...Now, one more skill you should pick up is how to sense Heartless. They give off a certain presence, and after a while of fighting them, you'll instantly be able to tell where they are, even if you don't see or hear them. I think I've taught you guys enough, though, so if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be. But my god do you guys learn fast... I wish you guys had been my pupils instead of those two airheads."

"Airheads?" repeated Izanagi.