If it were up to me..... ~ My Kingdom Hearts 3 ~ REPOST

Assessments

Riku shook his head. After demonstrating her keyblade wielding abilities, of course Lea had to offer to do a 'practice match' with her. And then Kairi. And when Aiko had beaten both of them, Sora volunteered to do a match.

Thus why they were yelling at each other on the training ground with everyone else watching.

Despite the girl's exhaustion, she'd fought surprisingly well. Her fighting from started off simple, a two hand hold on the hilt of the weapon.

It was when she strikes that she was most surprising.

Aiko was fast. Not just fast, almost superhuman fast. Although she promised she wasn't using any aura to boost her fight, Riku couldn't help but doubt it. Once she started to fight, she used on hand to slash and stab at the opponent. Sora, who was uses to wide swings and deliberate movements, was forced to block and parry every move she made. And her wrist work was getting pretty close to disarming him.

"You're not even fighting properly!" Sors complained as he rolled out of the way of a jab.

"Well, sue me for never having anyone to practice 'real' offensive fighting with," Aiko retorted, using a low sweep at his legs, which he jumped over. "Fencing doesn't really teach you survival skills."

He answered by throwing his keyblade at her, which she promptly caught.

"Hey!"

"Geez, this is heavy," she hefted the Kingdom Key above her head. "Mine is much lighter. And how can you fight when it's so dull?"

"What are you, a weapon specialist?" Sora huffed.

“Of a sort." She tossed him back his weapon. "Are we done?"

He only grumbled in return, and the two dismissed their keyblades.

"Aw, is Sora upset because the new girl bested him?" Kairi teased.

"They could've kept fighting," Riku pointed out. "I mean, Aiko's starting to tire out."

"But really, who taught you how you fight like that?" Lea asked in amazement.

Aiko looked off to the side at Roxas, who was still invisible to the others. He shrugged.

"Roxas taught me as much as he could without a body," she said casually, "And I used to spar all the time with some of my friends. But I've been studying weaponry and different fighting styles since I was about eight years old."

"That long?"

Her face darkened. "Yeah. It's mostly self-taught."

"Now that we've gauged how strong Aiko is, dont'cha think we should be getting back to the problem?" Asked the King.

"Yeah," Riku agreed. "Mickey and I'll be heading out to find Master Aqua soon."

"Right..." Remembered Lea. "So what will the rest of us do?"

"We can try to find Ven," suggested Kairi. "He's somewhere in Castle Oblivion, right?"

Aiko shook her head. "Yeah, but we won't be able to get to where he is without Aqua. Not to mention getting him his heart back..."

"What about the Key to Return Hearts?" Sora blurted. He caught Riku's warning glance. "What?"

"You know about it?" Aiko asked. Her eyes gleamed with interest.

Riku crossed his arms. "How do you know about it?"

She shifted from foot to foot. "Insight?"

"Yeah, right."

"Why does everything have to be so complicated...?" She asked herself under her breath before clearing her throat. "Ahem. Because I've read a bit about it back home. Earth does have quite a bit of information about these kind of things, even if they're believed to be fictional. I've seen mostly theories about what it is and what it does, but absolutely nothing concrete." She cocked her head. "I was hoping you guys might know something more."

"All we know is that there's a new one every 75 years."

"Hm," she rubbed the back of her head. "That makes it harder to get a energy trace on... Well, that's only if it's changed recently."

"What do you mean, energy trace?" Asked Kairi.

"Something with as much power as it's rumoured to have should give off a unique energy signature." Aiko said flatly. "I can trace it with my aura, but if changes every so often, it'll be harder to pin down."

"There's also the issue of saving Terra..."

"Riku's right, what about Terra?"

"I don't know, Sora. We might have to get rid of Xehanort first."

Roxas fizzled into visibility, making Aiko wince as her eyes turned green. "We don't really want to fill the seven seats. If we do, Xehanort will have already won."

Goofy nodded. "That's right! If we fill all the seats, Xehanort will try and create the X-blade."

"Do we even have a choice, though?" Asked Donald.

"Well," started Aiko, who had squeezed her eyes shut again. "There's two ways this can go. We can either get all seven lights and protect Kingdom Hearts by fighting Xehanort, creating the X-blade anyway, or we can just keep on running, never fill the seats, and let Xehanort hunt us down like mice." She cracked an eye open to give Mickey an apologetic glance. "Ah... sorry."

"So what exactly are you saying?" Riku asked.

"I didn't mean to offend the King..."

"She's saying that everyone who becomes part of the clash will become one person," interrupted Roxas. "Which means it's better not to get into a fight with them all at the same time. On the other hand, if we don't fight, the worlds will fall into darkness."

"So we're stuck in a corner, huh?" Lea joked. He didn't get any laughs.

"Well, I had some ideas of a final confrontation..." Aiko muttered under her breath, but only Roxas heard her. And of course, because they shared the same mind for three years, he already knew what those tactics were.

"First course of action is to find Aqua. Then find the Key to Return Hearts." Mickey turned to Aiko. "Ya said you could track the Key. How about Sora, Goofy, and Donald take ya to where you think it is?"

She blinked in surprise, losing her concentration and making Roxas disappear. "What?"

"That's a great idea, Your Majesty!" said Sora. "We should go as soon as Aiko gets the scent!"

"Wait, Sora - "

"Then Riku and I'll leave right away!" Said the equally optimistic mouse. "C'mon, Riku!"

Riku smirked at Aiko's stupefied face and waved a hand at the others. "See ya, guys."

A/N

Okay, maybe not too many powers... But you'd gotten pretty good at swordplay, too if you were in Aiko's shoes. 

Pic of her keyblade in the box! I actually drew it in a rush, then added colour on the somputer, so excuse the shoddy work. I don't actually have a name for it.

Question for everyone: Out of all characters mentioned in the story so far, who's your favourie? First to respond gets a dedication in the next chapter! =D

Comment, vote, follow!