Chapter 10: Pirate Fighting

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or characters.

Sora: Isn't it the middle of March.

Neko:duck tapes mouth shut Now please enjoy the long awaited chapter.

Ban walked up onto the ship with his saber out and ready for the first pirate who attacked him as he made his way for the place where the treasure was. Of course most of the crew was undead so the worst bit was that some were having problems with missing body parts, but it was still not in the favor of the keyblade wielder. The only person who hadn't cut himself was Ban, who had volunteered to do so as a way of making sure that Ashcraft wouldn't have to worry about capture. Being able to exploit ones weakness was something that always made Ban smile, but he couldn't be a bad guy, it was those memories of his dead wife that would keep him from doing it. On the deck was a scene of chaos as men tried to run from the massive destruction that was being wrought on the Dauntez as he searched for her captain and found him in his room looking at the gold chest. The room was meant to be a hidden room, but the moonlight shined of the gold coins giving away the mystery of his hiding spot.

Greed was a funny thing that made a lot of men do funny things that were questionable, but Ban was uncaring of money. Posing as a mercenary helped him maintain the level of stature that he had with the world of darkness and it helped him as an inside agent sent in to sabotage organized crime. When the planet was consumed by darkness, Ban was left somewhere floating out in the space before he was found by King Mickey, who decided to use him as an informant against Maleficient. He had kept his cover for so long and it was simple when all he had to do was take the blame for something that he didn't do. Something that wasn't his fault, but he could do it so easily because he felt it was his fault that Hollow Bastion fell. During the time of its invasion, Ban was treating his wife who was sick of a disease

and it led to a depression that caused him to neglect his duties and without his command on the gates, Hollow Bastion fell.

"Don't worry gold, I won't let anyone take us away," said Ashcraft as he looked at the gold, not even noticing Ban approaching him with a bloody coin.

"I'm sure you can follow to the bottom of the sea," said Ban as he threw the coin back into the chest and stabbed Ashcroft in the chest before he could call out for help. As he walked off he saw that there was a boarding party on the ship and decided it was his time to leave.

"Going somewhere," asked Leon as he pointed his gunblade at Ban who then turned to Cloud who was behind him.

"You aren't getting away from us this time," said Cloud and he crouched into his sword stance.

"I see, well I guess I'll have to try and live a little longer," said Ban as he created twin ice swords in his hand and waited for one of them to make their move. They both attacked at the same time, slashing at Ban with such ferocity that the ice swords almost shattered, but ban was able to hold them off until he could start to cut around with his sword, slashing at both of them with perfect synchronization. For his old age he was very quick to fight and with each lunge and parry he was proving that he truly did deserve to be the second greatest mercenary. The only problem was Cloud was the best mercenary and Leon was the best knight of Hollow Bastion so that it was already in their favor, Ban was just doing everything he could to keep them away. Finally, after it seemed like they were gaining an advantage Ban spewed ice out of his mouth that froze their ankles giving him time to jump away onto the deck, but he underestimated Leon's ability to shoot.

"You're not getting away, you bastard," shouted Leon as he fired the weapon and it hit Ban in his lower stomach causing him to spit out blood as he hit the deck of the ship and then got up to start limping away. "Going to freaking kill you asshole!"

"You can try, but I think you should be more worried with helping Sora right now," said Ban as he started to move towards the lower decks and the prisoner holding cells where his protégé was.

Down in the cell room, Neko's only sign of life was her occasional blinking as she gazed at the ceiling. She had heard it; she knew she had. Ban was fighting above, quite obvious since the cells were directly under them and the three men's voices were much too loud to mistake. Normally, she would be watching from a safer distance out of curiosity, but today was different. When it all started, she was snoozing in a nearby barrel, so as not to be found by any enemies since she actually did not enjoy anything dealing with zombies even if it was a fight, until someone ran by bellowing at the top of its lungs about the death of Ashcraft. The barrel was knocked over just as they raced by, sending Neko rolling down the hall to crash into a wall.

The zombies of course thought she was a threat and pursued, thus leading to a near heart attack for Neko until a loud crack and thud hit right above them. Judging by the area of the sound and where the other two enemies were, it was no doubt Ban that had fallen. The zombies retreated out of shock, but Neko could not move a muscle and had not moved a muscle since then.

"Is...is...is he...dd.." Neko stuttered, listening closely.

"Dead?" Yuffie's voice echoed from her cell so suddenly and unsuspectingly it made Neko jump. The steel bars holding the two captive within the damp quarters seemed to have been mangled

by the mouth of the mighty Fenrir from the way mysterious slashes embedded deep into them, apparently fresh.

"Decapitated?" added Riku in a lowered voice in the corner of the cell, hidden from view by the dancing shadows.

"Degraded in public?" a random voice came from down the hall.

"Yes to the first one." Neko answered, reaching back to confirm her sword was strapped safely in its case across her back. The girl crawled the rest of the way out of her demolished barrel, drawing her sword out for further use. Just as she started to walk towards the stairs, however, a roar of wood being forced apart by sheer power froze her in her steps. A good thing it was, for one of Ban's ice swords soared and engraved itself into the floor right where Neko was just about to step.

"...what the Oreo..." muttered the confused girl staring blankly at the icicle lined sword, then laughing at how close it had come. A shadow fell upon the wall connected with the exit. Ban appeared seconds later, bleeding pretty bad but not fatally from the lower abdomen.

"Oh, HI! Care to join us?" Neko greeted jokingly at the wrong moment as always, "Care for a drink? The pesky colonists might've dropped all the good tea into the harbor all those years back and the rum here is rat's blood but there's always the poisonous sea water!"

"Pass me that sword." ordered Ban, completely ignoring what Neko just said. Raising an eyebrow, the girl jiggled the sword from its confinement between the splintered remains of floor.

Foolishly forgetting about the spears of ice creating the sword, Neko flipped it in the air. The handle reached out to Ban's palm while the iced end pierced Neko's soft palm, dabbing it with little drops of blood.

"Draw out your sword and be prepared to fight." Ban mumbled, passing Neko quickly in spite of his wound.

"It's already drawn out..." answered Neko, holding up the sword limply.

"Then be prepared.."

"To fight who?"

"You'll find out soon enough..."

"But why can't you tell me beforehand?"

"Because we would like to make our own introductions." One of the low voices from up above answered by the stairs. Neko turned on her feet slowly, only to jolt back the moment she saw the man's faces. She had heard them when they were fighting Ban, but she had not a clue who they were until they were staring her dead in the face, their mere presence sending fear down her spine.

"Cloud and Leon..." Neko whispered, sweat forming on her neck. She swerved around to face the man leaning against the wall, pressing clothe against his wound and grasping the ice sword tightly. "ARE YOU FRICKIN' KIDDING ME!"

"Cloud! Leon!" Yuffie called, scooting over to the rails. The two men's faces glared in anger and vengeance, not at Riku and Yuffie but directly at Ban. The shadows falling over their faces created a sense of danger in the air.

"So, I take it you're this man's pupil? Well then …let's see which one of us learned most.." Leon stepped forward, the gunblade in his hand rising with the urge to fire. Cloud inclined his head slightly, his hand curled around his sword, just as ready as Leon.

"...oh ratatouille.." Neko mumbled, eyes wide in complete and utter fear.

Sora glided through the undead army like a tornado, attacking in all directions and hurling his enemies through every open space possible.

With every hurl and swipe of the keyblade, more and more monsters appeared in their place. Granted, most of the monsters that came where the same ones thrown the minute before, some just plain body parts working on their own, or just both; none of them appeared to grow weary, quite opposite of the keyblade wielder whom was struggling now to aim a slash for a quarter of the crowd. Every muscle in his body screamed in pain, begging for the break that had the least bit probability of happening.

But Sora fought on, determined to get to his friend. Sweat began to fall, but his courage did not. Sora hacked his way through, slicing every body part there was, with full body or not.

Just when the odds seemed impossible for Sora, the crowd disbanded mysteriously. Confused yet relieved somewhat, Sora did not question the actions but ran forth instead. No zombies came out at him. No muskets shot his way. No nothing. Only a clear path for the rooms onboard.

"Oi, mate!" yelled a man from above, slowing Sora's pace. Captain Jack

Sparrow leaped from over the railing upon the cabins, landing precisely next to Sora with a bottle of rum in his hand.

"Snag this one here from one of the storages, he he," Jack explained on his own, holding the bottle up. "Now where are ye off to in such a hurry?"

"To help Riku, the thing we came here to do." Sora sternly replied, leaning forward in indication he wasn't planning to stay and talk any longer.

"Oh, right, matey. He'd be in the cells, that fellow." Jack unscrewed the cork of the rum, taking a sip from it then gagging and tossing it aside. "Aye, the rum here is rat's blood.."

"The cells? Where are those?" inquired Sora, his heart starting to beat faster as the heat of the battle rose. "Take me to them!"

"No thanks." Jack replied, waving his hand as though fanning the order away. He took a few steps forward, leaving Sora to glare after him with irritation. However, battle cries rang out along what seemed to be a glimpse of the horizon but it was actually some bald guy's head when a cannonball

seared through the air. It came mere inches from Jack's face, how he missed it a baffling mystery for later investigation.

"On second thought, ..that might not be a bad idea, matey." Jack said, turning back and heading for the cabins, an annoyed Sora chasing after him.

Blood stained the concrete floor. It spread across the floor and hung on the walls like pesky spiders. With every swing of a blade, more blood combined with the mess, whether from a wound inflicted or from an already open cut.

As more and more blood left her body and her head felt light, Neko couldn't help but feel like a mouse between two cats. Her reflexes saved her head and arms numerous times, escaping the deadly blades with plenty of cuts. But as blood tributaries grew into rivers along her body, Neko's fear roared to unstable heights, even with the help Ban managed to add much to his pain.

"Hey!" cried Neko as Leon's gunblade swiped at her nose, thankfully unusable since anything shot would ricochet in the steelcaged room, as found out the first time. The duck was swift, but sadly not swift enough to dodge the second surprise swing of Cloud's sword to the back of her head. It miraculously missed decapitating her, but the sword did not miss the long brown hair hanging down at the moment.

Neko's eyes widened as she felt her hair suddenly shorten on the back of her head. She froze, straightening up and touching the back of her head in amazement. Time stood still in the little moments

of Neko's frozen state. A powerful blow to the front from the handle of Ban's gunblade unfroze time and rammed Neko back into the shadows of the cell hallway.

"Well, now. I see your days are numbered. I thought you taught better than that." Cloud taunted, stepping forward for Ban's way. The bleeding man budged not one muscle.

"Glad that's over with. Now, shall we resume our battle?" Leon asked, lifting his weapon high.

"HELL NO!" Neko roared from the shadows, leaping out into the light. Her hair was very short and spiky, perfect for the anger flashes dancing across her face. "THAT TOOK YEARS TO GROW OUT, YOU JERKS!"

Neko raised her sword high above her head with the luminous rays shining out in all directions. The domain dragons lying within the sphere engraved into the sword arose in a swirl of black and white. The rays streaking out of the sword's blade took form, two sharp streaks whipping out to entwine themselves around Neko's hands as the attack neared completion. Just as the sword began to gather energy hungrily from the blood and air, Cloud swung his sword powerfully at the cell his comrades were imprisoned. With an ear piercing screech, the bars stood no more, nor did the wall behind the cell as a cannonball blew half of it apart.

"DUAL DESTRUCTION!"

The cells appeared before Sora and Jack shortly after their run from the deck. But just as what happened back when Sora was younger and just discovering his powers, something separated him from reaching Riku. That something was a long crack, shining white and black with power radiating off it.

"What the " Sora managed exactly a second before a teenage boy with snow white hair and a girl apparently with him slammed into his side. The force pushed Sora off his feet, in turn throwing him into Jack. With that, the group slid rapidly down the split ship, headed for the murky depths below.

A massive boom signaled the change of one half of the ship's shift in angle. It landed against the sinking shelf, working as a lever and sending the deck part where Sora was sliding towards upward. Just as the group nearly fell into the waters, they were catapulted.

Through the air they flew, completing matrixes and summersaults left and right. The yells of the stranded pirates left aboard the destroyed wreck retreating onto some form of wood or floating surface reached high into the sky. But it all disappeared when water engulfed and dragged their worn out bodies lower and lower..

SUPA NOODLE! 3