Sora inspected the damage a strange meteor made on the icy wall of his new home. This meteor was strange; it appeared to be artificial like some kind of drop pod. Sora looked onto the ice wall and saw an obscured reflection. He turned around wrapped his arms around a certain water tribe woman.
"Katara when are you going to learn that you can never sneak up on me?" Sora said playfully. Katara giggled as he kissed her. Suddenly they heard scream, they instantly recognized it as their 13-year-old son Roxas. They ran into the city and Sora punched the assailant. His fist was actually injured on impact, Sora withdrew his fist and shook it in pain.
"Ow…" he started. He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. The creature wrapped its claws around Sora's neck and squeezed. Sora gasped for air and tried to summon his Keyblade but it wouldn't come. Suddenly a Keyblade locking beam blasted the creature in the side, blowing it to pieces. Sora rubbed his neck and looked over to where the beam originated. It was King Mickey!
"Your Majesty?!" Sora exclaimed. Mickey put away the Keyblade and strode forward.
"No, time to chit chat Sora! We gotta get to the ship before more Heartless show up!" he said.
"All right…but not without my family," he said. Mickey arched a brow. Katara and Roxas accompanied him and he wrapped his arms around them. Mickey smiled and turned around.
"You two follow him, I'll be right back," Sora said before vanishing. He returned five minutes later. Aang, Toph, and Sokka accompanied him.
"So you guys sure you want to come with us?" Sora asked again.
"Sora you're our friend, we'll always be here to help you," Sokka said clapping his old friend on the back. Katara, Roxas, and King Mickey were waiting for them outside the village. The King key something on his watch and the entire group vanished. They reappeared within an enormous control room. At least 70 feet from floor to ceiling. The Gaang looked around in amazement. Sora walked up to Mickey. He was about to say something when the ship exited Hyperspace but cut himself off when he saw the cluster of gigantic space stations surrounding Disney Castle. Each one was armed with a cannon at least as big as the ship Sora was in. Mickey strode up to a man in his late 50's who was at the controls.
"Bring us in Cid," he ordered.
"Aye, Aye," Cid replied. Sora's eyes widened.
"Cid?!" he exclaimed. Cid turned slightly and had the person next to him take the helm.
"Sora!" he exclaimed. They shook hands and walked throughout the station just talking about the things that have happened since they parted ways.
Suddenly, as they entered the room Leon and the others were in, The Enigmatic Soldier, minus his helmet crashed through a window from the second level. He raced up to Sora and restrained his hands.
The soldier raised his hand and a blade identical to the Sora's appeared. He swung it down but someone caught the soldier's arm.
"Enough! Sora's with us," Riku said, "C'mon now, we'll have enough to worry about without you two trying to kill each other."
After the soldier put his blade away Sora cracked his knuckles and glared at the Enigmatic Soldier.
"Were it so easy," he said as he turned around, "We must go the king is expecting us in the briefing room."
They all walked around a large elevated platform. Sora noticed a few other people enter; they included InuYasha and co, also Danny Phantom and his group. Mickey entered from the back of the room.
"Good evening, I am King Mickey. Allow me to introduce this Gummi Ship's AI Arcana," Mickey said. Suddenly the center platform glowed and a tall woman appeared. She wore a toga and carried a small scale in one hand.
"Greetings, my function currently is to inform you of the current situation. A conflict, which the residents of Radiant Garden and Destiny Islands were already a part of for around 6 months. Arcana walked aside and pulled up a hologram of a world familiar to Sora.
"Now Sora, you know this world as being the one called Traverse Town correct," she asked. Sora nodded, "Now can you identify what world THIS is?"
She snapped her holographic fingers and the world changed. Its surface was crusted over with glass.
"What world is that?" Sora asked. Arcana pulled up the other hologram and placed them side-by-side.
"These worlds are one and the same," she said. Everyone new to the situation gasped.
"The culprit is a group of high class Heartless and Nobodies calling themselves the "Syndicate"," Arcana said, "Now we have Intel on their leaders. There are only three. The first one and lowest of the three is Sephiroth. The second is…Xehanort."
Sora had reacted somewhat to Sephiroth being back but when she said Xehanort had returned he pushed past the Terra (Enigmatic Soldier) and both he and Terra glared at Arcana.
"Are you positive?!" they snapped simultaneously.
"Yes, but he is only second in command," Arcana added causing Sora to arch a brow.
"This one is the top brass of the Syndicate leadership," Arcana said enhancing the middle image. Then she changed it, "He is the only leader ever seen in battle so far. Riku has first hand experience at that."
She pulled up a video of Riku battling the leader. Suddenly the holographic Riku was blasted back by a gust of air. Aang walked forward.
"Wait!" he snapped causing the video to freeze, Aang hovered up to the image and hovered around it. He checked and double-checked the image. There was no doubt… "This guy's an Airbender!" he exclaimed.
Katara stepped forward, "Are you sure?" she asked.
"Arcana, please rotate that image so everyone can see the arrow," Aang said.
The image followed what he said and rotated. Aang pointed at the arrow tattoo barely hidden by the crown. King Mickey approached Arcana, "Arcana, please run the video of all of the events after the fall of Traverse Town," he ordered. Toph turned her head slightly, having heard a small gasp.
"Arcana can you hold off on that for one second?" Toph asked.
"Sure but why?" the AI replied. Toph held up one finger signaling her to stop. She shifted her stance slightly and stomped on the deck hard. The metal plating crumpled in a straight path and a column of metal sent a 13-year-old girl into the rafters screaming. She landed on one of the support beams and Aang frowned.
"Hitomi, what are you doing here?!" he snapped.
"Whatever dad, if Katara's kid was allowed to come then why didn't you bring me?" she grumbled. Toph placed her hands on her hips.
"Where does she get that attitude from?" she asked hypothetically. Everyone in Sora's group just glared at her, "What?"
Aang whipped up an air scooter and flew up to his daughter. He scooped the young girl up and hovered back down to the deck. Roxas gazed at the beauty standing before him. He examined her head to toe. She noticed and looked away, playing with her hair and blushing. Toph could feel both Roxas' heartbeat and her daughter's heartbeat clearly through the floor; Toph smiled to herself.
Arcana complied, "Sora, these events took place while you and your group were in the Port Royal world. We fled from the world and warped away we wound up finding this," Arcana enhanced the main object on the display, "The Syndicate called it…Nova," the object resembled a huge disk, "Nova was an artificial world and…" Arcana was cut off.
"Wait, Wait, was?" Sokka asked. Arcana fast-forwarded to a future time.
"This is what's left of Nova," Arcana said pointing to the broken disk as holographic debris floated around them, "After Terra found a new hostile life-form he had do destroy the platform."
"Hostile life-form?" Kagome asked. Arcana pulled up a bio.
"These are bringers of light, the Illuminados," Arcana pointed at zombie-like creature now displayed, it had what looked like glow worms protruding from the side of its broken neck, "These creatures overload their victims with the Light of Destruction and cause severe mutation. They…" Arcana turned to the view port behind her. Everyone followed the motion. They gasped at the sight. A Heartless fleet was closing in on Disney Castle! A group of small craft attached to a nearby station. After about seven minutes Mickey raced over to a terminal.
"Station 13, what's your status?" Mickey said over the comm. system.
"Too many…the Syndicate forces are breaking through and they…" the comm. went dead when the station exploded with a flash of light.
"Arcana status!" Mickey barked.
"They must have brought something with them…a bomb," she replied.
"Then they sure brought one here," he turned to the groups, "Find it."
The InuYasha and Danny's groups were off. Terra placed his helmet over his head and raced off as well.
"Kairi get to your ship and link up with the fleet," Mickey ordered, "Sora, Riku, go with her."
"Yes sir!" they said as they ran back to the ship. The Gaang wasn't far behind.
Ten minutes later…Terra entered the next room and saw heartless from the Syndicate clustered around a spiked torpedo-like bomb. Most of which were humanoid heartless like Xehanort. Terra took them all down. Suddenly a miniature hologram of Arcana appeared on a small pedestal.
"Me. Inside you head. Now," she ordered. Terra took her data chip and inserted it into a slot in the back of his helmet. He then touched the bomb's controls; the controls stopped flashing red and turned green.
"How much time?" Terra asked.
"Trust me, you're better off not knowing," Arcana said. Suddenly Kairi's voice was heard over the comm.
"Your Majesty, this is the cruiser Valhalla. The 1st carrier's shield is down I'm going in to finish it off," she said.
"No way Kairi. Not against a ship that big," Mickey replied. Then Terra keyed the comm. in his helmet.
"Your Majesty, permission to leave the station," he asked.
"Why?" Mickey asked.
"To give our little friends back their bomb," Terra replied.
"Go ahead Terra," Mickey said.
Terra arrived at the airlock and dragged the bomb into the room, Arcana posed a single question.
"What if you miss?"
"I won't," Terra replied and pulled down on the door release. The spikes on the bomb scraped the deck and then it began to hurtle towards the carrier, sucked out as the atmosphere vented. Terra grabbed onto one of the spikes as it passed him. Aang looked onto the top view screen on the bridge of the Valhalla.
"Look!" he exclaimed. Everyone looked at the view screen and saw Terra plummeting towards the carrier in front of them. Kairi looked to Cid.
"Cid, position us directly below that carrier!" she ordered.
"Aye, aye ma'am," he replied and accelerated the ship downwards. Not before firing a salvo of missiles to punch a hole in the Heartless ship's hull. Terra dove straight through the hole and rearmed the bomb. He kicked it towards the core and plummeted towards the Valhalla. He landed in the hangar and the Valhalla accelerated away just as the carrier exploded. Kairi keyed the comm. to command her entire crew.
"Everyone suit up, we're taking this fight to solid ground," Kairi ordered, then she turned to Leon, "Leon, would you be so kind as to fit Sora and his friends into a couples of sets of battle armor."
Leon nodded and led Sora and the Gaang to the armory. Sora took off his coat and all he had on was a t-shirt and his pants. He placed his boot on the wall and strapped the first piece of armor on with a clack. He finished putting on the armor and left the helmet behind, only taking the comm. earpiece. He placed the comm. in his ear and grabbed a cameo design hat.
He walked out of the dressing area and looked at his friends and family who were waiting for him. They preferred their own outfits to the armor Leon was going to fit them for. Sora did a turn around.
"So what do you think?" he asked. Sokka inspected the armor visually.
"Nice," he said.
Leon walked up to Sora.
"Kairi wanted me to inform you that you and your group are now Alpha Squad. And you, Sora, are squad leader. You are also in command of ground operations," Leon said.
"Alright! Let's do this!" he said as he led his group to the dropships waiting in the hangar. InuYasha and Danny's groups were waiting behind their dropships.
"Well "commander", what are we doing?" InuYasha asked.
"That carrier has one of the Syndicate's leaders aboard it. We're going to give him a warm welcome. Ken," Sora said turning to Ken, "you and your group are Beta Squad, you are squad leader." Ken nodded; him and his group entered the back of the dropship. Sora walked to Danny, whose group was accompanied by a group of three soldiers in the same armor as Sora, but they adorned helmets that resembled a motorcyclist's.
"Danny, you and your group is Omega Squad; you're squad leader," Sora said. Danny nodded and Omega Squad entered their dropship. Sora and his squad entered their dropship. All three dropships' hatches shut with a hiss and they took off from the hangar.
A group of dropships flew towards the carrier station over the main city. Suddenly a huge heartless appeared; it was at least 80 or 90 feet tall. It resembled a purple beetle.
"Heartless Scarab!" Riku exclaimed.
It's mouth glowed blue and sent a laser towards the dropships. The middle ship was obliterated but Danny could be seen carrying Sam, Tucker, and the three other soldiers out of the blast; he flew away intangible. The two ships on either side got a wing blown off and veered in two different directions. Sora's ship landed belly up in the wreckage of an old building. Sora, Terra, Riku and the Gaang piled out.
"Move it out. Go, Go, Go!" Sora ordered over the comm. The group nodded and Sora pulled out his Keyblade. He leaned against the wall of a nearby doorway and peered down the next hall. He saw a single Neoshadow heartless. He pulled out the knife stored on the front of his chest armor and threw it. A second later the heartless vanished. They snuck into the courtyard outside and silently took out the patrolling groups of Heartless. Riku ran to the locked gate and placed a charge and armed it. Suddenly the gate was smashed open and Riku was sent flying back. Aang jumped up and caught him in midair.
"Living Wall Heartless!" Riku exclaimed. Sora turned around after having just killed a guard and saw two Heartless that looked like Berserker Nobodies, except that the hammers lacked handles and were mounted on their left arms as shields. They waddled forward, crouched behind their shields. Sora noticed the charge Riku had armed laying right next to Katara. He ran to the bomb and slid to grab it swiftly off the ground. He activated the timer for 30 seconds. He rushed at the Nobodies.
"Sora, no!" Riku yelled.
00:27, The first one swung his shield down at Sora. Sora sidestepped this and stuck the charge on the Heartless' stomach. 00:15, he grabbed its head. He leapt up, not lifting the heartless, and grabbed the other one with his feet. Sora pulled it closer and let go with his feet. 00:09, Sora grabbed the other one with his free hand. 00:05, he smashed the two Heartless' faces together. 00:02.
"Kiss and make up," Sora said before leaping to Katara, 00:00. He shielded her from the explosion. Sora and Katara were thrown a good 50 feet by the blast. Sora received a piece of shrapnel in his shoulder. He stood and helped Katara up. He reached over his shoulder and yanked out the 6 inch sharp of metal. He cast his Curaga spell and the wound closed like a zipper.
"Sierra117, we need evac on the double," Sora said over the comm, trying to get a new dropship into the city. A voice chimed over the comm.
"My bird's a little big for that courtyard Sora, I see a clearing 6 miles from your position, head there and I'll pick you up," Cid said.
"Roger that," Sora then changed the frequency, "Beta Squad, what's your status?"
"We're operational, barely," Ken replied.
"I'm sending you a set of coordinates, that's our rendezvous point. Get there," Sora said.
"Coordinates received, heading to the RV point," Ken said.
"Omega Squad can you read me?" Sora asked.
"Yes, we're with Beta Squad and are headed towards the RV point," Danny said.
Sora turned to his squad, "Alright let's kick some ass," Sora said hefting his large Keyblade.
Him and his squad made it to a small building where Heartless were attacking a group of soldiers. Sora and the Gaang took them down.
"Where's the rest of your squad?" Sora asked Danny.
"Wasted," Danny said.
"We will too if we don't get outta here!" Tucker said. Tucker tried to run but Sora raised his arm and caught Tucker by the neck.
"You hit?" he asked unsympathetically.
"No…" Tucker replied.
Sora threw Tucker down violently. "You had the chance to be afraid before all of our worlds…our homes were at stake. Now we need to take down that Scarab before it destroys the castle."
"We've tried everything but nothing works!" Danny snapped, irritated at his friend's humiliation, "That thing is unstoppable!" Danny finished while getting in Sora's face. Sora grabbed his ally's shoulder and shoved him away.
"I've faced Heartless as big if not bigger than that before. It's tough but it ain't invincible. Stay with Terra he'll know what to do," Sora said. Sora got on the dropship piloted by Cid.
Before long the whole group caught up to the Scarab. Sora saw that there was a weak point on the Scarab's back area.
"There! It's wounded!" Sora said over the comm, "Disable it! Target its legs!" Aang used his glider to fly towards the Heartless Toph rode on his back. Aang dropped Toph off on one of the heartless' legs and using her metalbending she detached the entire limb. Aang swooped in and picked her up. The Scarab plopped to the ground after losing its leg. Sora jumped out of the dropship and Katara followed. She used a stream of ice to slide to a safe landing. They landed on the rear area of the Scarab and took down the few humanoid Heartless guarding its reactor. Sora smashed the casing and Katara sent a spear of ice into the reactor damaging it beyond repair. The Scarab's eyes flickered and went out. Suddenly a whining noise could be heard. The noise increased in pitch. Sora's eyes widened. He wrapped his arm around Katara's waist and leapt from the Heartless. He keyed his comm.
"Everyone! Back away! It's going to blow!" Sora exclaimed. The dropship, Aang, and Danny all retreated. A single humanoid Heartless was left alive. He got up and looked at the reactor.
"Oh, perfect…" he grumbled. The reactor blew, vaporizing the Human Heartless, and the Scarab itself.
The dropship landed near Sora so everyone could get on.
The ship returned to the Valhalla.
"Hyperspace chargers detected, it's going to warp. Inside the city!" Leon said. King Mickey was heard over the comm.
"Get him, do NOT let that leader escape," he ordered. The Valhalla rocketed towards the heartless ship. It attached to its underside as it warped. A wormhole opened and sucked pieces of Disney Castle into it. It then closed leaving a ruined Disney Castle behind.
The Heartless ship decelerated suddenly, jolting Valhalla off of its undercarriage.
"Report," Kairi said.
"Reactors offline, we're drifting," Cid said.
"Well get them back online and…Arcana what am I looking at?" Kairi asked.
Sora and Terra were in the ships individual drop pods listening to this.
"That…is another Nova," Arcana replied. Riku was in his own drop pod when he heard this.
"Wha…What!?" he exclaimed.
"Is this some kind of super weapon?" Kairi asked. Arcana answered over the comm.
"Yes, if activated this installation will cause destruction on a universal scale."
"Well now it's even more important that we capture that Syndicate leader," Kairi said, "Sora, take the first platoon, hard drop. Riku, load up a set of dropships and follow him in."
"Aye, aye!" Riku said opening his drop pod.
"Sora, until the reactors are back online I'm going to keep a low profile," Kairi said, "Once you leave this ship you're on your own."
Riku knocked on Sora and Katara's drop pod, Sora knocked once in return.
"I understand," Sora replied.
"Get ready guys, we're about to go feet first into hell!" Sora barked over the comm. Sora and Katara were in one drop pod, Aang and Toph in another. Then it was Terra, Sokka, Leon, and Cloud.
The Gummi cruiser Valhalla drifted over the construct. The construct resembled a flat Earth. Suddenly a series of flashes rang across its hull and eight teardrop shaped pods plummeted towards the surface. About 1000 feet from the surface parachutes deployed and slowed the pods down. The pods hit and Sora maneuvered in front of Katara. He kicked the front of the pod away and the couple stepped out. Sora heard a grunt of pain and spun around. He saw Katara had created and ice sword and skewered a heartless on it. He smiled and charged forward.
His squad had cleared a landing zone for Riku and his dropships in no time. Riku deployed a few jeeps and several troops, including InuYasha and Danny's groups. Sora jumped into the driver's seat of one jeep. Leon pushed him aside and took the wheel.
"You might want to let me drive," Leon said smiling. Leon hit the accelerator and the jeep fishtailed in the dirt. It sped forward and brought into view a large lake it had several installations mounted above its surface, with a temple-like structure in the center.
"That must be where Sephiroth is!" Leon said. Sora gazed over the beautiful landscape.
"Wow, it's just like a giant postcard," Sora said, "Dear Riku, Kicking Heartless ass on some weird world. Wish you were here."
"I heard that…jackass," Riku said over the comm. Katara giggled a little.
They got to what looked to be a docking station for a series of gondolas. In the center was a hologram of Sephiroth, being gazed upon by a series of Humanoid Heartless and Neoshadows. Sora's squad swiftly took them out. Suddenly a Syndicate dropship dropped off a pair of Living Wall heartless. Sora dove behind cover and signaled Cloud to approach. Cloud dove behind the small wall next to Sora.
"Cloud you go left, I'll go right," Sora said. Cloud nodded and they both leapt from cover and flanked the first Living Wall and slashed at it from two different angles causing it to fall in half. The other roared in anger and charged. It suddenly groaned and collapsed in a heap. Katara had thrown several icicles into the creatures back. Sora smiled at her as he approached the hologram of Sephiroth. He was giving a religious speech to the rest of the Syndicate. But he was talking in a different language. Arcana jumped from Terra's armor and projected a hologram of herself in front of him.
"That's what I thought. Sephiroth is planning to activate Nova," she said.
"Are you sure?" Sora asked. Arcana snapped her fingers and Sephiroth began speaking in English.
"I will darken this world, release its cleansing shade and burn a path to the divine beyond," the hologram said. Arcana arched a brow.
Sora keyed his comm, "Kairi, we have a problem," he said.
"So I hear. But from what I understand he'll need a special kind of Keyblade, the Sacred Icon Keyblade," she started, "Sora, I'll secure the Keyblade. You take down Sephiroth, he's given us all we need to know."
The group rode over the series of gondolas to the center temple. When they arrived Sora looked up. He saw a massive fleet of thousands of Heartless ships warping to the world stop the group. Then a Huge planetoid warped into view. Arcana keyed Sora's comm.
"Sora get inside and kill Sephiroth before that fleet can stop us," she said. Sora nodded and raced into the temple, Sokka wasn't far behind.
They got past Sephiroth's personal guard and Sokka glared at Sephiroth angrily.
"Fools! I'll take care of them myself!" he barked at his guards. He pulled out his Masamune and rushed Sokka. Sokka parried the sword strike but got kicked into the wall behind him. Cloud charged and Sephiroth's sword was thrown aside by Cloud's first attack. Cloud and Sora took their blades and ran Sephiroth through. He grunted in pain and the two pulled their swords out of Sephiroth; the One Winged Angel slumped to the floor, dead.
"Bad news, Nobody ships are closing in. They're preparing to fire on us!" she exclaimed, "Cid's waiting outside! Let's go!"
Everyone ran to the dropship and Sora lingered. Katara rounded the corner in full sprint. Sora reached his hand out for her.
"Come on let's go!" he exclaimed. She leapt into the dropship and they took off. The ship obliterated the temple with what looked like black and white lightning. The shockwave sent pieces of debris flying everywhere. One piece hit Sora in the face and knocked him out. The following shockwave sent him into the lake.
"Sora no!" Katara screamed. Sokka and Leon tried to hold her back but they were too late. Katara had dived after her husband. On the way to the surface another piece of debris flew at her and smacked her in the back of the head. She impacted the water and the last thing she saw was a pair of tentacles snaking up from the lake bottom and grabbing her around her waist.
Sora was sinking deeper and deeper. Suddenly a pair of glowing green tentacles snaked up from the lakebed and snaked around Sora's waist. A gravelly voice spoke to Sora.
"This is not your grave…but you are welcome in it," it said.
Meanwhile…Kairi saw the Keyblade Sacred Icon keychain; it floated above an extremely deep chasm. She saw a tentacle hanging out of one of Nova's security drones. She grabbed it and used it to lean safely over the chasm to retrieve the keychain. She grabbed it but the tentacle began to slip and she started to fall. She suddenly stopped and Kairi looked up. Riku was there holding onto the tentacle.
"Why don't you ever ask for help?" he asked. Kairi smiled and placed the keychain on her belt.
"Guys, how's our exit? Can you hear me?" Riku asked, "We got trouble."
Kairi took out the Oathkeeper Keyblade. Suddenly Riku saw a long flowing black coat wiz by.
"Shit!" he exclaimed and began to fire Dark Firaga blasts at the figure from the tip of his Keyblade. The shadowy figure charged Riku and knocked his Keyblade from him. It pinned Riku's arms at his side and flipped down her hood. It was Zexion's heartless, Ienzo!
"How ya doin'?" Riku asked sarcastically. Ienzo growled and knocked Riku out with a strong headbutt. Kairi aimed her Keyblade at Ienzo.
"Riku stay down!" she said as she fired multiple Blizzaga spells at the Heartless. Ienzo sidestepped all of them and knocked Oathkeeper from her hands. Suddenly she was knocked out by a jolt of electricity. She was then seized by a gorilla looking Nobody with black fur. The Nobody stepped aside and let a larger one pass, this one had white fur.
"Excellent work Ienzo," he said in a deep booming voice.
"The Icon is my responsibility!" Ienzo snapped, holding his chest where a Dark Firaga had hit him.
"Was your responsibility. Now it is mine. And a bloody fate awaits you and the rest of you incompetent Heartless. And I, Maccabeus will send you to it," Maccabeus said.
Ienzo frowned, "When Afiko learns of this, he'll wipe you from existence!" he snapped.
"When he learns?" Maccabeus said. He chuckled a bit, "Fool, he ordered me to do it."
Maccabeus sent a burst of black and white lightning at Ienzo sending her down the deep chasm that lay behind her.
Sora began to regain consciousness in some kind of cavern. He realized he was wrapped up in some glowworm-like tentacles.
"Are we dead?" Katara thought aloud. The tentacles lifted her and Sora up to face a monstrous creature. It resembled a giant version of the "swamp monster" the swamp bender created.
"What is Death but a form of salvation? I am the monument to that salvation," it said.
Suddenly Sora heard a struggle up above and saw a heartless being pulled into the chamber. It struggled to free itself from the tentacles that gripped his wrists and ankles. He was lowered to Sora's level.
"Relax," Sora said calmly, "I'd rather not piss this thing off."
"Keybearer!" the heartless exclaimed.
"Silence! We must join forces if we are to keep the universe the way it is," the giant bellowed.
"Lies!" Ienzo snapped, "You are the leader of the Illuminados, you are the Darklight are you not? Why would you want to stop Afiko's work?"
"I seek to rule the universe, not to destroy it," the monster said, "Now there is still time to stop the key from turning, but first it must be found. You'll search one likely spot and you another. Fate had us met as foes, but this world will make us brothers!" the creature said before warping the two heroes away.
The human forces were currently holding the Nobody forces off. They were trying to keep them away from the control room. A Nobody lunged at Aang's daughter, Hitomi. Roxas leapt over her and tackled the Nobody away. Suddenly a bang was heard and a drop pod was launched from the Valhalla. It landed a good distance away. The whole group was surrounded. Exhausted from the battle they collapsed. A Dusk lunged at Kagome. She put her hands in front of her to guard herself. Suddenly a fire blast incinerated the Dusk. Zuko leapt in front of the group and was soon accompanied by Mai. Mai threw her hands forward and a quartet of throwing darts launched from each wrist. They hit eight different nobodies. Zuko was currently fighting a robed individual. He had an arrow on his head, it was the Syndicate leader Afiko!
"Move aside Fire Lord Zuko, I have no business with you. I need to kill the Avatar so my work can be completed," Afiko snapped dodging fire blasts and daggers.
"What work?" Aang asked.
"To finish off the Airbenders of course. Oh, you think Fire Lord Sozin found the air temples all on his own?" Afiko mocked the Avatar.
"What?!" Aang snapped as his eyes and arrows glowed white. He raced past Mai and leapt over Zuko. In one swift motion he had his hands around Afiko's neck.
"You betrayed us!? We who called you brother, we who kept you safe?" Aang barked. Afiko just smiled as a Nobody Brute nearly killed the Avatar, but Toph sent a spike of earth into the Nobody's skull, destroying it.
Before long the group was being held prisoner and Afiko headed to the control room.
On the lower level the Special Operations commander Heartless lead Ienzo to a stationary Scarab Heartless.
"There Ienzo, that Scarab's main weapon can break through the control room doors," he said over the comm.
Ienzo arrived at the upper level to see Riku and the Gaang were fighting against their Nobody captors. Riku leapt into the Scarab. Ienzo leapt in and saved a woman in blue garbs. The Nobody that was attacking her soon found itself in Ienzo's chokehold. Ienzo took the Nobody's weapon and fired the weapon into its gut, white-hot spikes jutted from the point of impact. Ienzo placed the Nobody's weapon at her belt and looked at the Scarab. It opened its "mouth" and tilted its head sideways.
"Listen, you don't like me and I sure as hell don't like you. But if we don't do something Hammer boy is gonna activate Nova, and we'll all die," Riku said through the Scarab's speakers.
"Maccabeus has locked himself inside the control room," Ienzo said.
"Well then hop on the back of this Scarab and give me some cover, he's gonna know we're comin," Riku said.
About three hours before Ienzo was heading toward the Scarab and Riku, Sora and Katara were chasing Afiko and Xehanort through the halls of the Syndicate's City. Katara looked to the left, "Sora, look it's the Valhalla!" she exclaimed.
Sora looked in her direction but by that time the Valhalla was already zooming overhead. He saw it crash behind the tower that Afiko and Xehanort just fled to. Katara and Sora ran across a bridge and killed the Brute Nobodies in their way. Sora and Katara headed down the walkway and saw the Valhalla crashed within walking distance of their location. They nearly rounded the corner but Sora stopped Katara before then. He pointed at his ear then around the corner, they were going to eavesdrop on the Syndicate's leaders. Afiko and Xehanort paused before entering his ship. They turned around and Afiko lifted the Sacred Icon Keyblade. He held it to Maccabeus, "The hopes of all the Syndicate rest on your shoulders Chieftain," Afiko said handing the Sacred Icon to the Nobody.
"My faith is strong, I shall not fail," he said. Suddenly the gravelly voice of Darklight spoke from behind them.
"Do you believe in the Boogeyman?" it asked with an evil laugh. Maccabeus and the other Brutes turned and saw what was once human. It had a centaur-like body, but instead of horse hooves it had reptilian feet. Its left arm had no more bones in it and the fingers had fused, turning it into a tentacle. The face below the upper lip was no longer humanoid. The lower jaw had split open and a flailing tongue dangled from the mouth. Afiko recognized the mutant instantly.
"Sephiroth!" he exclaimed. The monster roared and charged with a horde of spider-like little creatures raced in front of him, these things carried the Light of Destruction and resembled the Alien Facehuggers. Maccabeus used his massive hammer and batted several of the Facehuggers away. The group of Brutes also stomped and bit the creatures. One creature leapt past Maccabeus and latched onto Xehanort's throat. Maccabeus bent over to take it off.
"No! Leave him be, the Great Journey waits for nobody. Not even you," Afiko said as he took his hover throne and swiftly jetted into the dropship and headed towards a structure at the center of the city. Maccabeus saw one of his captains struggling to kill the former Sephiroth. He hefted his huge hammer and bashed Sephiroth in the side of the head. When Sephiroth hit the ground Maccabeus pinned him down with his foot and smashed Sephiroth's head with all of his strength. A small pool of blood collected where his head had been. Maccabeus hefted his hammer and whistled. A pair of Nobodies dragged Riku and Kairi towards Maccabeus.
"Split them, one in each Phantom," Maccabeus ordered.
"That structure in the center of the city, it looks like an ancient Heartless ship. Afiko's headed straight for it! If he leads his fleet back to Disney Castle they're done for you have to stop him!" Katara said.
"But that Brute has the Sacred Icon, and Kairi and Riku… wait why only me?" Sora asked.
"I'll stay behind incase the Brute activates Nova. I'll be in the Valhalla, then I'll detonate its reactors destroying this city and the world below," Katara said.
"We'll do a remote…" Sora couldn't finish; he realized they couldn't risk a remote detonation, "…then I'll stay behind. You go and stop Afiko." Katara placed two fingers over his lips, silencing him.
"This war can't afford to lose any of you Keyblade holders. Now I'll help you get to Afiko, but when we get to the ship I'll be staying here," she explained.
Sora sighed and nodded. Suddenly one of the Valhalla's dropships crashed behind them. Illuminados charged out of it and started to infect Nobodies left and right. Katara and Sora ran back into the tower they had come from. They charged through horde after horde of Illuminados. They finally got to the end and saw the tunnel through which to board Afiko's ship. They saw Terra had somehow infiltrated the city and was fighting off some Illuminados.
"Terra, let's get out of here!" Sora exclaimed, "Katara, you get somewhere safe, away from these things." Katara nodded. She stood atop a platform well out of the way of the Illuminados. Terra and Sora dove into the black beam. It pulled them into the ship.
"Katara, when I'm through with Afiko. I'll come back for you," Sora said over the comm.
Katara smiled meekly, "Don't make me a promise…if you can't keep it."
The ship took off and when it cleared the city it jumped to Hyperspace.
Ienzo had kept the heartless away from the Scarab. Riku charged the beam as Ienzo prepared to leap to the door.
"Stay clear of the door," Riku said, "Hey, bastards! Knock, knock!"
Riku fired the Scarab's beam and broke the control room's door. Ienzo leapt the gap between the Scarab and Riku followed close behind.
At Nova's control panel…
"Come, Human it is easy. Take the Keyblade in your hand…" Kairi struggles in Maccabeus' grip. He wrenches her forcibly in front of the controls, "…AND DO AS YOU ARE TOLD!"
Ienzo entered the room, "Maccabeus, stop," he said. Maccabeus gasped, "Impossible!"
"Remove the key from the console," Ienzo ordered.
"Remove it!? And disobey Afiko?" Maccabeus snapped.
"There are thing about Nova…even he does not understand," Ienzo said.
The Brute Nobodies that flanked Maccabeus advanced on Ienzo. Suddenly a spear-shaped Dark Firaga punched through one of their heads and Riku leapt down at Ienzo's side. Maccabeus panicked; he grabbed Kairi's hand and forced her to activate Nova.
"Ienzo, the Great Journey has begun! And the Nobodies, not the Heartless, shall be Afiko's escort!" Maccabeus snapped hefting his huge hammer and the hammer erected a dark barrier to protect its wielder. He ran towards the platform behind him and leapt to it. Suddenly half a dozen Heartless accompanied Ienzo as he leapt after Maccabeus. Riku fired Dark Firagas at Maccabeus' shield and brought it down. A group of Heartless grappled with the Chieftain. He slammed his hammer against the ground sending Heartless flying in all directions. Ienzo saw that one of his brethren was thrown into the beam of light in the center of the room that was charging Nova. Ienzo then used it to his advantage. He leapt at Maccabeus and grabbed its handle. He flipped the Chieftain over his shoulders and the Nobody's legs got caught in the beam. He was struggling to keep his grip on the hammer.
"Farewell, Chieftain," Ienzo said coldly. He released the Hammer and Maccabeus was sucked up to the orb of Dark Fire that was collecting at the tip of the tower. Kairi then proceded to remove the Sacred Icon Keyblade. The tower began to rumble violently. The world fired the ball of Dark Firaga and Maccabeus was vaporized when the orb hit the threshold of Nova's atmosphere and disintegrated. A holographic message appeared where the Keyblade used to reside. Riku leapt to Kairi's side. The hologram read, "All worlds ready for remote activation from Installation Jericho."
"What do you think "Installation Jericho" is?" Riku asked. Ienzo walked up behind them.
"And more importantly where is it?" he added.
Afiko's ship appeared in the midst of a battle above the ruined Disney Castle.
"New ship, it isn't one of ours," Cloud's voice said over the comm.
"It isn't one of ours. Take it down," King Mickey ordered.
"This is Sora, I'm here with Terra. Can anyone read me, over!" Sora barked over the comm. King Mickey replied.
"Sora?! Mind tellin' me what're doing on that ship?" he asked.
"Your Majesty, Finishing this Fight."