Chapter 4
"Shouldn't that be a good thing." Said Matt.
"Usually I would be glad but I think that those heartless stole it." Said Riku solemly.
"What would they…wait, Zehanort was you're darkness, wasn't he." Matt said, his first question switching to a second mid sentence.
"Yeah, and they have him now…He's free…"
In the planes of destiny, Roxas, Sora, Kiari, Namine, Leena, Larxene, and the Axels quickly made their ways up the glowing stairway not knowing where it was leading, but still prepared to face whatever challenge awaited them.
At the top, the design on the other plane became visible. It depicted the heartless, nobody, and kingdom symbols. The group slowly walked onto it, no danger in sight until a dark purple flash came across their view. Behind them they heard three thuds and aptly turned to investigate.
"You made it past the armor." Said the heartless who had previously been battling Riku and Matt. "Good."
"What do you want here?" queried Sora angrily.
A loud noise thundered in the distance and when they turned to see what it was the heartless disappeared as suddenly as they had come.
On the opposite side of the plane stood a type of behemoth, still blue and still bearing the heartless symbol on its chest, yet it was leaner and looked more dangerous because the regular behemoth's weakness was it's size; a factor that this behemoth didn't have to account for.
"Hello, hello." Said a familiar voice tauntingly, "We meet again, Sora."
"Zehanort!" Shouted Sora moving into a battle stance.
"Sora, wasn't your rashness what cost you so much during our last encounter? Remember, if it wasn't for you wanting to get off your precious little island, none of this would have happened." Said the seeker of darkness.
"Sora! He's lying! Don't listen to him!" shouted Kiari from the back of the group.
"It doesn't matter what brought this upon me; without becoming the keybade master I never could have met my friends." Shouted the spikey haired teen, "I was strong enough to beat you then, I'm more than strong enough to now."
Sora quickly entered final form and went at Zehanort's heartless alone.
"Bring him to his knees, mighty behemoth! Make him bow to the darkness!" shouted Zehanort to his mount.
The behemoth rushed at Sora who brought it to its knees with a precise Thundara bolt on its horn. He slashed at Zehanort with his keyblades sending him spiraling through the stagnant space, but Zehanort recovered and began to levitate several feet above the ground.
"Let's take the behemoth, Sora is more than strong enough the defeat this poser!" Shouted the Axels in unison before they raced toward the downed behemoth.
Sora attacked Zehanort with ragnarok, a tecnique that had allowed him to be defeated during their first battle. Before the attack could be completed, Zehanort summoned his guardian from nowhere to absorb the attack. Before Sora had been unable to defeat the guardian, now he was easily defeated by the single blast that he had absorbed. About that time, the lamenting groan of the defeated behemoth shook the air.
"You insolent…" began Zehanort, but before he could finish a flurry of lighting kunai struck him sending him plummeting to the ground.
"Get ready Sora!" Cried Kiari who batted the falling Zehanort back at the keyblade master, who heard and sent the heartless back to the ground.
When he pierced through several feet of whatever it was that the plane was made of, the door to exit the realm appeared at the side of the plane opposite the stairs, and the group proceeded through it.
Back at Disney castle, King Mickey led the villagers through the dismal passageway to the safety that awaited them at the gummi ship docks. Donald and Goofy remained at the front of the group to keep the few heartless that would stand in their way, while Daisy and Minnie stayed in back. There at the end of the tunnel stood a great door that seemed to have once been an object of adoration, but that was many years ago and now it was only seen in times of peril.
"Back up ev'rybody!" screeched the King as he pulled out his keyblade and unlocked the door.
On the other side, cranking could be heard and Chip and Dale, the royal mechanic, made haste in preparing the King's flagship vessel. The group filed the people into the boatlike Gepetto, ensuring that no one was trampled in the commotion.
Once aboard, the group did a headcount, and seeing that everyone was there, they quickly departed from the world that they had all held so dear in their hearts.
Matt and Riku heard the sound of the ship during its takeoff and decided that it would be best for them to leave the castle themselves. They left the gummi ship that Riku, Sora, Kiari, Donald, and Goofy had arrived on so that their friends could make the escape on their own. Before the left the ship though, Riku placed a letter on the console. The heartless seemed to have abandoned the dying world completely, but that did not cause the duo to delay their efforts of escaping. They chose a black kingdom model with four Holy thrusters and quickly made their way off of the world.
When Sora, Kiari, Axel, and Leena emerged from the door, their respective nobodys were nowhere to be seen.
"Later buddy." Said Sora calmly to Roxas deep within him.
Kiari quickly pointed out that the heartless had abandoned the world.
"If you kill the head…" began Sora who was finished by Kiari saying, "The body dies with it…"
"If Larxene has told me anything about the heartless, it's that they don't function like that." Leena quickly stated.
They quickly made their way to where they had parked the gummi ship in the quiet hours before the heartless showed up.
On the dash, Sora found a note that read: "Radiant Garden. Riku"
"So I guess they went to Radiant Garden?" asked Sora questioningly.
"Sounds good!" Said Kiari smiling.
Her smile made Sora smile which made Axel laugh which made Leena cry about how worried she was that she may never see Matt again; they were supposed to get married that summer.
Sora took the pilot's seat and with that they began the journey to Radiant Garden.