Author's Notes: Welcome readers! This will be my first ever story I have done, one of many I hope. As you probably know, the original fic is by author 99-cells. I have collaborated with him/her and they were okay with me making a continuation.
If you're just starting out with this, I HIGHLY recommend that you read the first "Kingdom Killed" by 99-cells or would will be lost.
Now, onward!
Kingdom Hearts © Square Enix, Tetsuya Nomura
Kill la Kill © Hiroyuki Imaishi, Kazuki Nakashima, and Gainax/Trigger
Inspired by the Original Fanfiction by 99-cells
Prologue
[Location: Open Space. / Time: 2 Months after the death of Ragyo Kiryuin (2:53 P.M.)]
On the far reaches of known space, one could say that its vastness brings wonders and beauty, and that are almost unfathomable. One can't help but wonder what other forms of life exist out there. However, it also can hides dark secrets, some of which have lain dormant, waiting to be unleashed.
Such secrets like the never ending conflict between the forces of light and dark. Or the struggle between creation and destruction, life and death, and good versus evil.
Many ask, what is considered good and evil? Too much of one can prove dangerous, for an equilibrium must exist. A middle ground if you will, a place where neither side has any influence.
How does this tie to the previous question? It comes down to one's perception of the situation, one must be unbiased when observing and understanding what lies before them. They must look at all the facts and never discard a single detail, for the smallest one may prove to be the most crucial.
That being said, can one truly justify their actions and the reasonings behind them?
If only it were so…
The calm moment in space was soon disturbed as a collection of ships suddenly materialized from seemingly nowhere, forming a rather unique triangular formation, each of their design and architecture. But what was most interesting about these ships, was that their designs gave no hints that their construction used Gummi Blocks. Something else that was noteworthy was that these weren't your everyday transports. They were warships, armed to the teeth from bow to stern with a wide arsenal of weapons and countermeasures, immense durability, and are brutal in naval combat.
The leading starship was covered with silver/chrome colored armor. Its design looked as though the two larger circular pieces on its sides were separated, when in reality they were anchored by levitation. The illusion made with a mid-sized hanger in the midsection that cut through the ship. The bow was relatively long compared to the rest of the ship, and it was slightly angled downwards at the top of the deck, in a shape almost like a sword. The stern was roughly a third of the bow's length designed with two reversed "fins" at the bottom with the bridge being built on top of an aircraft bay which lead to a runway. It had multiple gun batteries and what appeared to be missile pods scattered all across the hull, above below and broadsides, powered by advanced engines that were not found in any record. On the side of the hull outlined in blue bold highlighted etters: "RETRIBUTION" as it and the ships behind it passed through the debris field unscathed as the rocks bounced off the armor, yet leaving no marks on it.
Behind were two identical triangular ships with the appearance of a knight's shield with its own hanger running directly along the bow covered by massive red blast doors. Armed with several deck guns, a dual tower bridge system and powered by 8 engines. The ship on the left was designated: Venator-"ARBITRARY", while the ship on the right was: Venator-"PRESERVER".
Following up behind them, two distinctively box-like ships with steel coloration, one resembling the shape of a rifle straight out of science fiction with a lower hangar bay with the appearance of a fin with twin Fusion Engines on both sides and a large front mounted cannon. Alongside it were two "arms" that went along the forward mounted cannon, each having 7 Point-Defense turrest and numerous missike pods. On the port side of the hull in white bold letters: FFG-380 'PARIS'-Class "SARATOGA".
The other had with two front mounted cannons at the bow. Near the stern were massive black angular warship with a more arrowhead shaped design with heavy armor plating ranging at four hundred and eighty five meters from stern to bow. Armed with point defense turrets housing two individual guns, numerous pods containing missiles, and two massive protrusions sticking out at front with one stacked up on the other. Four 'fins' were located at the back of the ship possibly for stability, a structure sticking out of the dorsal section of the ship which was the bridge, but the most obvious feature was that from the bow to mid-section on both sides was these two utterly massive sloped plates of metal supposedly to act as heavy armor and on each of those plates were letters written out also in bold white: DDH-535 'HALBERD'-Class "SENTINEL".
The last vessel was rather long yet round and bulbous, and perhaps the most exotic of the group. The 'neck' was elevated from the body of the ship and extended towards the front forming the bow, while four fins protruded out underneath the ship. Armed with two Energy Projectors, along with numerous Plasma and Pulse Laser turrets, this ship's name was not etched into the side of the hulk like the smaller UNSC ships. But everyone in the group knew the name as: Covenant Heavy Cruiser-ORS "PROCLAIMED JUSTICE".
On board the RETRIBUTION bridge, a male figure was standing at the front with his arms crossed and his eyes closed as if he were attempting to hear something, his mind focused as he stood in front of a large console table. He had medium dark hair resembling a military, though the length of it was deemed questionable. He had black markings or rather stripes under his eyes that almost looked like check marks and a small but distinctive scar over his left eye.
What really stood was that he had the attributes of a humanoid lynx, as he had brown fur, silver chest fur and large ears that were tipped with black. He was indeed a lynx though to be precise, he was a Mobian lynx. The oddest thing though was that he had a long tail similar to a snow leopard with black stripes running down rather than a short tail that lynxes normally have.
He wore a pair of tailored gunmetal gray combat gloves with cuffs at the end around his wrist. He also special friction-resistant combat shoes that like the gloves, had cuffs at the ends around his ankles. He had a magnetic holster strapped to his left thigh, while he had an adjustable strap that went around his right shoulder and over his chest, wrapping around him like a belt.
His ears perked as the console in front of him lit up, a small avatar flashed into existence. Said avatar was also a Mobian lynx, though the figures' appearance suggested the gender was female. She wore a shoulderless and sleeveless, purple dress with split tails with black pants underneath, along with white and black gloves and shoes. Her eyes opened to reveal emerald green eyes, her expression soft and kind, but had a hint of profession to it, as a ghost of a smile appeared on her face.
/"Am I interrupting you tranquil moment Locke? I can always report later if you wish,"/ she asked genuinely, along with a small hint of playfulness in her voice.
The individual now identified as Locke, opened his eyes revealing to be a striking brown, his expression calm, yet held authority. The faintest smirk could be seen as he uncrossed his arms and leaned forward on the table, his eyes focused on the construct before him.
"That won't be necessary NICOLE. I would say I've had enough time thinking to myself. What new information do you have as of now?"
The AI identified as NICOLE closed her eyes and raises her right hand and summons a small blue sphere before expanding it, turning into a large star map, with their location being at the center of the map.
/"We've arrived at the last reported site of the enemy fleet and have already initiated long-range scans for any traces of it via energy trails."/
"What of the debris field in our current vicinity?"
/"Unknown. They're not pieces of Latch's ship I can assure you. They seem natural in formation, but not enough mass to be a planet. I can't seem to cross it with any other material we've come across previously. What's more is that one of the pieces is giving off a strange reading, indicating that there may be something imbedded within the fragment."/
Locke leaned up from his position and proceeded away from the table and towards the observation window, his face returned to its neutral state as NICOLE continued.
/"Should I prepare retrieval probes and have it examined?"/
"No. Our first priority is to locate the Dark Harvesters and stop Latch's efforts. Iif the debris out there is giving a strong reading and you are not able to recognize it, I will not run the risk of possibly contaminating the crew and our family."
/"I detect no radiation coming from the object. The nature of it however is what I can't read."/
"All the more reason to leave it alone. If there's the smallest chance of uncertainty, I won't risk anyone here because we found something we don't know about."
NICOLE nodded her head in acknowledgement. All the while, she couldn't help but notice he seemed a bit tense while looking out into space. Concerned for him, she called out to him.
/"Locke, are you...okay? Do you want me to-."/
"I'm alright for the most part, thank you. As much I would like to take a moment with you, we must stay on task. I promise to have some time later on."
NICOLE's eyes widened at his word and felt the speed of her code accelerate, resulting in her cheeks to turn a small shade of red. She smiled at him and though his back was turned, she could see him glance back at her with his own smile.
"I know this would ruin the moment for us, but can you predict where the Dark Harvesters could be currently?"
The shade of red on her have diminished, but her smile still remained. Shifting back into her 'professional' persona, she readjusted the map and zoomed out their current location, revealing a massive web of interconnected worlds and realms, some of them registering with a green color while the rest remained gray.
/"Given that the Dark Harvesters are not here presently, it stands to reason that Latch and his fleet have made another jump through the Dimensional Nexus. Since there's nothing coming through of an energy trail, our next bet would be direction based on nearby worlds. The trajectories of where his ships could traveled is still being determined."/
"I surmise Latch has resumed his search for other potential target-systems, specifically ones that are out of range of our eyes and ears while providing the resources he needs. Keeping a low profile while obtaining what he requires before moving on. He's already tried to hit Cybertron, Haulland, the VR world of Aincrad, then Giga City."
/"Not to mention the worlds of Christophis, Geonosis, Meridian, and the Traveler's Earth."/
"Are there any worlds nearby that would be ideal for Latch?"
/"AbrXs and I are already looking into it. So far there are no worlds in our immediate proximity. We did find a few worlds to us aren't too far from us through normal transition, one of them is comprised mostly of ocean water and a collection of islands. Another world was found a minute ago resembling Earth farther out in that same direction."/
"Anything else about them?"
/"Nothing concrete."/
She zoomed back out and highlighted four worlds that were located with their fleet being at the center. The appearance and distance was as she said; the time it would take to get to one of them through normal space would be over an hour before in visual range. The surface of the world mostly consisted of ocean water along with a cluster of islands and mid-sized landmasses.
"Keep scanning these world for any sign of Latch or the rest of the Dark Harvesters setting up a base there. I do not want to leave anything to chance while we're presently here."
/"Perhaps it is why Latch took this action to throw us off and have us be unable to predict his next movement, considering by what he's done in the past and the lack of any nearby worlds and installations."/
Before Locke could reply, the ship suddenly rocked without warning and Locke was thrown off balance and resorted to the table to stabilize himself. NICOLE's avatar flickered as she too lost balance for a brief moment. Alarms screaming all across the ship, red warning lights pulsing in rythme with the alarm.
"NICOLE, what was that?!"
/"We have incoming ships! Designation confirmed, it's the Dark Harvesters!"
Suddenly the space around was filled in a blaze of fire and explosions. As the blast cleared, a second group of ships could easily be seen exchanging barrages of projectiles of all kinds and sending groups of missiles at each other fully intent on destroying the other.
Acting quickly, Locke input a series of commands into the console before speaking loudly into it.
"All callsigns engage! This not a drill, I repeat, this NOT a drill! Companies Alpha through Gamma, proceed to your aircraft and engage enemy fighters! NICOLE, target the fleet and lock on the capital ship, use the C.D.A.C. if you have to! Collective Company, I need you all on deck to defend against enemy air units and repel boarders if needed! Have Energy Lines secured and work in pairs!"
/"Understood!"/
As Locke finished calling out his orders, her looked up and saw the new arrivals, their lead vessel being the largest in ash colored plating, the bridge emitting an eerie green color from the windows. Standing there a sfigure stood in front of it, watching the carnage ensue.
"Latch, I don't what you're thinking now, but I won't let you escape this time, not ever again!"
He quickly turned around and sprinted down the hall, fully intended to fight alongside those he commanded as many leaders should.
What went unnoticed to all is that some of the debris they displaced started to seemingly drift away into deep space, unaware of the mysterious glowing fragment within it…
KINGDOM KILLED II: HOMECOMING
Ending AN: There you have it ladies and gentlemen.
I know that ending it on a cliffhanger may not best way to finish my first chapter, but hey gotta save the rest for another time!
Who are these collection of fleets? What exactly are the Dark Harvesters and what is their Endgame? More to come, soon...
Extra: Can any of you guess the worlds/Franchises I've mentioned? Be sure to pay close attention, as you might find one of them being visited.