The party had just met at the castle. What should have felt like a hub from a video game felt a lot more like its final boss to Naofumi and his companions. It was a rustic, oversized wooden double door. Naofumi gazed at it for a long while, his eyes squinting to see if anything had changed.
Nothing…
Naofumi then looked at his H.U.D. It was starting to feel comforting. His stats read as such:
Lvl: 25
HP: 222
MP: 53
SP: 174
Attack: 7
Defense: 312
Agility: 19
Intelligence: 79
The Shield Hero looked over to his companions and asked them what their stats were. They were as follows:
Sora / Donald / Goofy / Raphtalia
Lvl: 20 / Lvl: 21 / Lvl: 22 / Lvl: 19
HP: 127 / HP: 76 / HP: 171 / HP: 132
MP: 79 / MP: EX / MP: 27 / MP: 64
SP: EX / SP: 45 / SP: 25 / SP: N/A
Att: 75 / Att: 10 / Att: 45 / Att: 70
Def: 32 / Def: 12 / Def: 211 / Def: 28
Agi: 177 / Agi: 5 / Agi: 13 / Agi: 129
Int: 65 / Int: 72 / Int: 48 / Int: 63
“Hey, my intelligence stat is much higher than I thought it would be!”
“A-Hyuk, I’m one of the highest ‘l.v.l’s of all of us. Wait, er, what’s an L.v.l?”
“Sorry, Goofy. It’s pronounced 'Level'. It’s to tell how strong someone is.” Raphtalia stated.
“Wow! Thanks, Raphtalia, you're awfully clever for a kid.” Goofy said, taking in the leveling system. He then tried to count the numbers on his one hand.
Raphtalia’s head tilted and sank forward.
“Quack, what does an ‘EX’ mean? Raphtalia, Naofumi? Do either of you know what that means?” Donald questioned those who were a bit more familiar with the world than he was.
“‘EX’ stands for extra. It’s to denote that you have exceeded the natural level that the stats could accumulate toward.” Naofumi replied; his analytical nature, combined with his past gaming habits, was finally useful for something.
“Ah. So, where do I go from here?” Donald grumbled, his dialect hard to make out most of the time.
“If you and Sora have ‘EX’ stats, it means that you should be able to level up its rank. Though I don’t know how. If this world is like a game, like the other heroes say, then there must be some way to accomplish a rank increase.” Naofumi answered, his voice contrasting with the duck's in tone and clarity.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“Um, Mister Naofumi? I think I’ve heard stories about heroes of old finding something called a ‘Dragon Hourglass’ to class up, which increases everything.” Raphtalia said with a slightly melancholic chirp to all her friends.
“Well, we’ll just have to see where to locate that after our meeting with his ‘royal hiney.’
The joke was almost enough to make Naofumi chuckle, but he knew what it was going to be like going to the king’s throne room. All eyes would be on him. Everything he says, every mistake he makes, will be in front of an audience, and in this world, the audience is what matters most.
“What do you guys say to going to see Erhard after this, and maybe that Moogle creature, too?”
“Sure thing! We can teach you how to synthesize!”
“Hmm?” Naofumi thought. He had read something about that in one of the H.U.D’s instruction screens.
“Mister Naofumi!”
The gate began to open, its creaking revealing a severe lack of upkeep. The interior beyond the gate was a throne room. There was a red carpet leading up to an elderly man sitting there, glaring at the party with a look that could cut through confidence, like a hot knife through butter.
“I’ve been doing my research on you, Keyblade!” The king said, his voice leaving a crack in Sora’s optimism.
The party walked up to the king. Their feet were getting heavier with each step.
“Wha- How do you know about the Keyblade?” Sora inquired bewilderedly.
Right before the King was about to answer the Keyblade wielder’s questions, Naofumi got an alert on his H.U.D.
Warning: Other Hero(es) nearby
"We've got company..." Naofumi muttered to the party, trying to maintain a cool and composed nature, when, as if on cue--
The Spear Hero charged in; the rage stinging his eyes. "Naofumi! Our last battle ended in a draw, but this time I'm going to put your head on the end of my spear!"
“*Sigh* Shut your mouth, Moto–”
“No, he’s right this time. We’re going to finish you once and for all.” The Sword and Bow heroes followed into the throneroom. They had their usual smarmy attitude of being better than everyone. This time was different, though. The anger on their faces was at its peak. Naofumi could see that they were about to pop.
“What are you going on about?” Naofumi wondered what it could actually be that got them so on edge this time.
“The Tanuki woman you have with you. She’s your slave, isn’t she? You use her for your own disgusting desires.”
“What the hell!?”
“Naofumi did no such thing!” Sora shouted, drawing his keyblade and aiming it at the potential assailants. There was a scowl on his face that said he was willing to put his life on the line for a friend in need.
“Gawrsh, Donald, I don’t like where this is goin’,” Goofy whispered to one of his longtime friends.
“Ohhhhh.” Donald’s eyes looked up. He was getting fed up with the whole situation.
“Do you know what this means, Naofumi?” Motoyasu questioned whilst taking off one of his gloves and rubbing it in Naofumi’s face, as both a taunt and a challenge.
“Good idea, Spear Hero!” The king exclaimed. He clasped his hands together and beckoned for referees.
“Really? Thanks!” Motoyasu had his hand on the back of his head, a sheepish grin on his face, right before going back into serious mode.
“See you in the arena, Naofumi.”
When they got to the arena, Naofumi saw something that shook him to the core. Raphtalia stood next to Bitch, who looked as if she were discussing something with her, a smile on the woman’s face. After what felt like an eternity, the three other heroes entered through their gateway. They were waving and smiling at the crowd, trying to rile them up. Naofumi knew he didn’t have that kind of leverage. He looked back and saw his party, furrow-browed and stern-faced. What did he bring them into?
Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Naofumi stood on the left side of the arena. On the right side, the three other heroes: Motoyasu: The Spear, Ren: The Sword, and Itsuki: The Bow.
As soon as the bell rang, they ran at each other, weapons drawn for a team battle that would shake the very foundations of the arena. Every time Team Hero got an attack in, the crowd cheered, and for every time Naofumi’s party landed one, they jeered. Yet still, the party fought on. Sora was using flowmotion, dashing from wall to wall. Donald was trying to cause the least amount of damage possible, so he cast the most basic of spells, such as “fire, blizzard, and thunder.” Goofy was trying his darndest to fight off the other heroes, but they kept avoiding him, just like they kept avoiding Donald and Sora. No, instead of fighting the rest of the party, they were targeting Naofumi. They used the crowd's cheering to boost their egos. The heroes, after briefly tormenting Naofumi and immobilizing him, switched their targets to the others.
“Why aren’t we as powerful in this world as the others?” Sora asked, trying to stave off Ren, Keyblade to sword.
“Don’t know, Sora. Maybe it’s because of their different rules… A-Hoo-Hoo-Hooey.” Goofy shouted after being punted up in the air by Motoyasu.
Donald was being suppressed by arrow fire from Itsuki.
“Normally, we wouldn’t fight together because of the lack of experience points, but we’ll make an exception for the ‘Shield Demon.’” Itsuki said, realizing that if he kept the duck pinned by arrow fire, he didn’t have time to cast a healing spell. The other heroes did the same thing. Motoyasu used his midrange leverage to keep Goofy off balance, and Ren sought out Sora because it was the ideal matchup for the other two to use their abilities.
“Shooting Star Sword!”
“Aero!”
Sora countered the flying swords by creating a gust of wind around him, deflecting the sword’s light shards, causing them to ricochet off of him.
“A-Hyuk, now it’s my turn,” Goofy said, his signature move, the Goofy Tornado, being used to its fullest effect. He spun around, knocking the sword’s light fragments into the three heroes simultaneously.
Naofumi just lay there on the ground. The pain was unbearable. He couldn’t understand how the other heroes got so strong, but still, he got up, realizing that.
He was on his last legs, about to charge into the fight… until.
“Stop the fighting!”
The seven combatants looked toward the source of the voice. They realized that it was coming from none other than the princess herself.
The King, who was sitting on what appeared to be a second throne, was in complete shock.
“Daughter, how could you say that? Our team was winning!”
“Yes, father. But after talking to Raphtalia here, I realized something.” Malty said, walking to the centre of the arena. Her arm raised to gain everyone's attention.
“The Shield Hero here, as big of a demon as he is, isn’t hurting Raphtalia like I once thought. No, instead she said he was there for her when she needed him. I think that he’s changed, and…
I forgive him.”
