Kingdom Hearts: Keyblade Masters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Kingdom Hearts: Keyblade Masters (sometimes known as just Keyblade Masters) is a completed Kingdom Hearts fanfiction written by Joey245. The series sells itself on intense action, romance, and humor.

Set several months after Kingdom Hearts 2, Sora, Kairi, and Riku are approached by an ancient being called Gummi and told of the return of Organization XII. In an effort to stop the Organization, Gummi gives them the ability to summon armor, gives them new abilities, and gives them a new mission: Defeat the Organization, once and for all.

New members are quickly introduced, with Gummi giving Roxas superhuman strength, giving Xion telekinetic powers, and eventually a character with fire powers and a silver tongue.

At first, the Keyblade Masters' mission is simple enough. Defeat the Organization, once and for all. Eventually, though, the Keyblade Masters find themselves in over their heads. Several complications arise such as personal loss, super-powered Organization members, and the growing suspicion that Gummi is not telling them everything.

The fanfic is unique in its style. The story is set up like a TV show, with every four chapters making up one "episode" of the "show". The chapters are split up by where the commercials would air if it were an actual TV show, enhancing the TV analogy. The plot of Keyblade Masters lends itself very nicely to this format, with chapters ending at crucial moments, and the next chapter picking up where the last left off...just like a real TV show!

The story is told mostly in these self-contained episodes, with a larger, overarching story arc in the background. Each episode contains character development, crucial plot info, and at least one fight scene. Some episodes are more character-centric, with no action scenes in them. Otherwise, Keyblade Masters sticks to a formula: heroes arrive, villain of the day shows up, heroes defeat bad guy, resolution. Like any rule, though, there are exceptions.

The series has reached a grand total of 120 chapters. It has received praise for its well thought out scenarios, detailed fight scenes, sharp humor, and a well-rounded cast of characters.

Can be found here.

Tropes used in Kingdom Hearts: Keyblade Masters include:
  • Anime Hair: Wouldn't be Kingdom Hearts without it.
  • An Ice Person: Sora, utilizing Blizzard Magic.
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The Kraken is fifty feet tall.
    • Though it's actually ten stories tall, or 100 feet, the Death Bloom qualifies.
  • Beach Episode: An interesting case. The Keyblade Masters only spend a few paragraphs at the beach (and even then, it's sort of an overview, consisting of Sora seeing Kairi in a bikini and Riku and Xion kissing underwater). Then Larxene shows up. Cue Curb Stomp Battle and Tear Jerker.
  • Berserk Button: Under NO circumstances should you say anything bad about OR do anything bad to friends, relatives, or lovers of Sora and Roxas. Vexen, Larxene, and Zexion learned this the hard way.
  • Non Sequitur Scene: Oogie singing an improvised version of This is Halloween while fighting the Keyblade Masters. Crowning moment of funny for some.
  • Black Magic: The summary for Riku's attributes. He utilizes Darkness, Gravity, and Time.
    • In the Final Fantasy sense of the word, then it could also apply to Sora as well.
  • Blow You Away: Kairi, once she trains for a bit.
    • Xaldin qualifies too.
    • Don't forget Ventus.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: Roxas, with his super strength.
    • To an extent, Sora has a version of this, as he was able to withstand a ton of slashes from Xaldin and Sephiroth without, you know, being cut into pieces.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Ye gads, there's a lot...
    • Chekhov's turret in the form of a mass accelerator cannon made specifically for Xigbar. Xion uses this to mortally wound the giant Twilight Thorn in the Grand Finale.
    • Chekhov's charms show up in the form of the Dimension Link Conduits Aqua gives to Sora. Sora uses them to distract and wear down Xemnas while the Keyblade Masters heal.
    • Chekhov's bracer in the form of the bracer Zexion gives Demyx, which allows him to copy the powers of the Keyblade Masters. He uses this to stop Saix.
  • Cold-Blooded Torture: This is how Xion is introduced. Serves as a Kick the Dog moment for Xemnas, shows Larxene's sadistic nature, and foreshadows Axel's Heel Face Turn.
  • Complete Monster: Xantos definitely qualifies.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Just like in the games, Demyx is someone you do not want to make angry.
    • In part 47, he almost causes Kairi to drown on dry land.
    • In part 76, he manages to hold his own against Saïx pretty well, holding him steady while Sora uses Nothing's Bane.
      • That last one, he did borrow Roxas's super strength.
  • Crowning Moment of Awesome: The Battle with the Kraken in Port Royal.
    • Also, Axel's battle with Sephiroth. Just goes to show how badass he is.
    • Riku gets one when he charges right into the middle of Xion's telekinetic storm to save her. Makes use of most of his powers in this one moment.
    • How about when Kairi takes out an entire army of Heartless with a light blast equivalent to a nuclear explosion?
    • Sora gets one when he takes out Marluxia and the Death Bloom single-handedly. Granted, he had the Battlizer, but still...
    • How about when Xion takes on a dozen Neo Shadows and Auron himself in Olympus Coliseum?
  • Crowning Moment of Funny: About half the time Axel opens his mouth, it's one of these.
    • Before entering Oblivion Souls "Well, here we are at the gate to hell. Point of no return, suicide mission, cannot save past this point, press X to save game final time, you know the drill."
    • Roxas gets one too in his fight with Hyper Form Larxene, where he throws a car at her. The twist? It's told from the perspective of a random passerby.
    • Roxas gets another one when fighting the fat guy from Aladdin and the King of Thieves. He keeps trying to attack, but his attacks keep bouncing back. Roxas's solution? Kick him in the nuts.

"Bounce THAT back, fatty."

  • Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: Pretty much all three first kiss scenes between the Keyblade Masters qualify for this.
    • JUST their first kisses? How about when Riku and Xion finally meet again?
      • Actually, Xion's return overall qualifies as this. Complete with a homage to 358/2 days, in the form of the Keyblade Masters all having ice cream on the tower.
    • Sora and Kairi making up after the events from the second Radiant Garden story arc. Kairi blew off Sora's concern for her earlier. After getting herself poisoned by Marluxia, Sora channels the power from his Battlizer into her to heal her. They meet later, share some sea salt ice cream, and make out. Awww.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Terra, though he only does this in the battle with the Guardians in the finale.
  • Fastball Special: Roxas is pretty fond of doing this. He used this with Xion to knock Luxord off his feet, and threw Sora up to Oogie Boogie during their fight.
  • Finishing Move: Nothing's Bane, in spades.
  • Fire, Ice, Lightning: Sora's core powers.
    • Also the components for the Blade of Aegis.
    • An infusion of these three elements can create a heart.
  • Five-Man Band: Pretty much the whole premise.
  • Grand Finale: Chapters 109-120 are all meant to be read together. It's really the only way a long-running series like this could end.
  • Gravity Master: Riku and Xigbar.
  • Growing the Beard: Joey245 himself considers that the series has gotten better over time. So do some of his readers.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: The Aeons in the fight with Xemnas, and ultimately Gummi in the fight with Xantos.
  • Light'Em Up: Kairi, and eventually Roxas.
  • Making a Splash: Demyx and Aqua, though neither is featured prominantly.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: If a Nobody is not killed by Nothing's Bane, they will come back more powerful than ever before. Roxas, Xion, and Sora all did this to Vexen, Larxene, and Zexion, respectively.
    • Also, Sora knocking Marluxia off the Death Bloom caused the Death Bloom to go berserk.
      • Lampshaded. Marluxia actually says, "Nice job breaking it, hero," to Sora.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Larxene did not kill Xion with Nothing's Bane. Xion coming back was the only thing that saved Sora and his friends.
  • Playing with Fire: Sora, Axel, and Sa'luk.
  • The Power of Friendship: It's revealed later that this is what Nothing's Bane really is. Sora uses this method twice; once on Zexion, and again on Xemnas.
  • "Ride of the Valkyries": Axel hums this during the Flight of The Light Cycles.
  • Shock and Awe: Sora and Larxene, as well as Queen La with the Thunder Head.
  • Sword of Plot Advancement: Played straight with the Blade of Aegis.
  • Tear Jerker: Xion's Death. Just as powerful as it was in the game.
    • Also, Gummi's ultimate fate. Stabbed through the chest, and then he is absorbed by Sora.
      • What seals the deal for the last one, is Gummi's final message to the Keyblade Masters, saying how he will watch over the Keyblade Masters whatever they will do.
  • The Woobie: Poor Gummi. The 5000 year old Azturi has been through a lot. Picture this: you decided to join the Council of Six instead of pursuing the family line of High Rulers. As punishment, your father denies you the Blade of Aegis, the most powerful Keyblade in existence. You're then forced to steal the Keyblade from your father's grave just to continue the chain of power. Then, you watch as your best friend slowly turns into a soulless monster, and you discover that he's been slaughtering his people to keep himself alive. One of those people he's slaughtered was your spouse, your great love. After a while, you're forced to abandon the people you tried to help just to save yourself. At last, after your entire species is gone, you find out that your friend STILL needs to feed...and now lives on a diet of entire planets. You know that you need to stop him, but he was your best friend. After a short Curb Stomp Battle, where two of your remaining friends are killed, you need to flee. And flee you do, and you resolve to seal your friend and his abomination in another dimension entirely. It goes pretty well, but at the last minute, two more of your friends get trapped inside with no way out...and one of them is the last female of your people in existence. You have no choice but to seal this abomination away anyways. In doing so, you seal away the last female of your people, leaving your people with no way to reproduce. In short: Your people have no hope...and it was by your hand. Now imagine you've got a thousand years to reflect on these events. It's amazing that he didn't kill himself over that thousand year period.