Chapter 15: A Dark Riku?
Riku, Leon, and Cloud headed back inside the Bastion to try to find their friends, Belle and the Beast, to make sure that they managed to get away safely but found no sign of them. However, near the Keyhole of Hollow Bastion, they met the instigator of the Heartless invasion, Ansem, the man who first started studying the Heartless. He was getting ready to unleash the most powerful Heartless from the huge door with the Heartless Ensigna on it. Riku, Leon, and Cloud rushed forward to stop him, and Ansem waved his hand, and a massive black portal swallowed the party sending them back to someplace that Riku knew... someplace he saw destroyed during his fight with Darkside. Riku shook his head in disbelief. "This can't be possible..." Riku said shaking. Leon and Cloud blinked and looked at their friend. "Riku, what is it?" asked Leon. Riku looked at them. "This is... was... my home. The Destiny Islands, but while I was fighting Darkside, I saw it destroyed right before my very eyes..." Riku said with tears in his eyes. "How can it still be around?"
The answer could be found in a figure that had their back to them and had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Riku blinked. Whoever this was had the same hair color as he did but had on a much darker outfit than he did. Riku, Cloud and Leon behind him for backup, cautiously approached the figure. Before Riku could tap the figure on the shoulder to ask him who he was, the figured turned around, and Riku found himself face-to-face with a much darker version of himself that wore an outfit bearing the ensigna of the Heartless. Riku was no doubt shocked as was his friends.
"Who are you?" demanded a very angry Riku. The Dark Riku sneered. "I am you," it stated. Riku shook his head. "There's no way I would've sided with the Heartless," said Riku. "Yes," said the Dark Riku, "you would've, but instead, you chose the path of light instead of the path of darkness, but there's still time to change your ways." Riku shook his head. "There's no way I'm going to change my ways to the ways of the Heartless!" Riku said as he grasped his Keyblade tightly. "I've sworn to defeat them to protect my friends, and that's how I'm going to keep it!"
"Oh, really?" sneered the Dark Riku. "Then let's see which one of us is the strongest!" The Dark Riku held his hand up high, and a darkened Keyblade, the same one that Sora had when he was fighting alongside Sephiroth, appeared in the Dark Riku's hand. "Agreed!" said Riku. Cloud and Leon were going for their weapons, but Riku shook his head. "This is my fight. Once this is over, we can start looking for Ansem." Cloud nodded solemly. "Alright," said Cloud, "but be careful. I have a feeling he'll know all of your moves plus a few other tricks." Riku nodded and got into an attack posistion facing his dark counterpart.
As soon as the battle began, the Dark Riku dashed in for an attack, but Riku was ready by casting Aeroga on himself to block the attacks. Riku then followed up the blocked attack with the Arc Arcanum causing some massive damage on the Dark Riku. The fight lasted a little bit longer, but in the end, Riku was victorious. However, the Dark Riku had one more card to play.
As Riku was heading back to where Cloud and Leon were waiting on him, the Dark Riku used the last of his strength to send Riku into a darkened abyss. Leon and Cloud made a grab for Riku, but it was too little, too late. Riku was sucked inside of the abyss where he had to once again face an old foe before he could return to his friends...
Riku slowly got up from his fall after getting sucked into the abyss created by the Dark Riku. "Damn, where am I?" Riku asked himself as he looked around. He didn't see anything until something started appearing from the darkness. It was Darkside, the very first boss that Riku had fought so long ago. However, Riku wasn't that weak anymore, and with a few swift combos, he managed to defeat Darkside. Then, the world around him went blank...
"Riku? Riku, wake up!" said someone as they were shaking him. Riku's eyes blinked open. There was his friends, Cloud and Leon, worried looks on their faces, looking down at him. Riku looked at them. "Leon? Cloud? What happened?" Riku asked. Leon looked at him and explained. "Well, after you got sucked into that abyss, that darker version of you disappeared. We were searching for a way into the abyss to help you out but didn't have any luck. We thought we'd lost you, but then the abyss started to swell up before it exploded blinding Cloud and myself for a moment. When we could see again, you were lying still on the ground, and we rushed over to your side. We thought that you had been killed, but it was discovered that you had only been KO'ed momentarily, so we knew that you'd be waking up soon. Some Heartless then appeared and surrounded us obviously wanting to take advantage of the situation to try to steal your heart, but Cloud and I showed them a thing or two. So, what happened down there in that abyss?"
"I ended up fighting Darkside again, but he was way too easy with all the new moves and spells that I had learned. I wonder why he was brought back?" asked Riku.
"I believe I can answer that question, Keyblade master," said a sinister voice.
Chapter 16: The Lord of the Shadows
Cloud and Leon helped Riku to his feet and turned towards the voice. There, they saw someone who could almost be mistaken for Sephiroth's brother due to their similarities. However, the guy they were now looking at had on a white and black long coat, a white vest, black pants, and black knee-high boots. His chest was bare save for the Heartless Ensigna over where his heart would have been, and he was tan rather than pale like Sephiroth was. His red eyes glared coldly at the trio. The only other thing that was noticable about him was the menancing Shadow attached to him via his own shadow that almost seemed to stand guard over him.
Riku glared at the guy. "Who are you?" Riku demanded.
"WHO am I?" the guy said laughing. "I am Ansem, lord of Hollow Bastion and soon to be the Lord of the Shadows!" Riku grasped his Keyblade tightly. "Not if my friends and I have something to say about it!" said Riku. Cloud and Leon nodded together as they got their weapons out as well. Ansem laughed. "We shall see about that!"
And so, the battle to save all the worlds from the darkness and the threat of the Heartless soon began. Riku and his friends started to attack Ansem, but he quickly counterattackked by sending his shadow guardian to attach itself to Riku. Now, if Riku tried to attack, the guardian would drain him of his energy. Riku had to think quickly and used magic instead of the Keyblade to attack Ansem. Soon, the shadow guardian deattached itself from Riku and went back over to Ansem. Riku was weakened slightly, but Cloud used Cure 2 on Riku to restore his strength, and Riku began attacking Ansem again with his friends. Even with the guardian attached to him and draining his strength, Riku found ways to attack thanks to the fact that Cloud used Regen on Riku to regain his energy even while it was getting drained while he was attacking. Cloud and Leon altenated attacking and healing Riku to make the team attacking flawless even if was Riku was getting hurt. When Ansem was down to half his life, he started to show his true power by letting his shadow guard do most of the attacking while he put a force shield up around himself to block any attacks from the weapons... any normal attacks, that is. Riku also had to be careful to not attack while the guardian was attached to him, as that would result in a double-team on him. Cloud and Leon found that if they used their abilities and limits, Ansem's shield couldn't stop them, and the possession time on Riku lasted much less when Ansem was being attacked than when he wasn't. A couple of times, Ansem would try to dash at Riku to attack him, but Riku had Aeroga cast on himself, so the attacks bounced off of him.
The battle was drawing to a close, but Ansem had one more trick up his sleeve. He used dark portals to suck Cloud and Leon away sealing them in another dark world. The only way that Riku would be able to free his friends was to defeat the challenges that Ansem had set up. Then, the three of them could take out the so-called "Lord of Shadows" once and for all.
Riku, Leon, and Cloud headed back inside the Bastion to try to find their friends, Belle and the Beast, to make sure that they managed to get away safely but found no sign of them. However, near the Keyhole of Hollow Bastion, they met the instigator of the Heartless invasion, Ansem, the man who first started studying the Heartless. He was getting ready to unleash the most powerful Heartless from the huge door with the Heartless Ensigna on it. Riku, Leon, and Cloud rushed forward to stop him, and Ansem waved his hand, and a massive black portal swallowed the party sending them back to someplace that Riku knew... someplace he saw destroyed during his fight with Darkside. Riku shook his head in disbelief. "This can't be possible..." Riku said shaking. Leon and Cloud blinked and looked at their friend. "Riku, what is it?" asked Leon. Riku looked at them. "This is... was... my home. The Destiny Islands, but while I was fighting Darkside, I saw it destroyed right before my very eyes..." Riku said with tears in his eyes. "How can it still be around?"
The answer could be found in a figure that had their back to them and had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Riku blinked. Whoever this was had the same hair color as he did but had on a much darker outfit than he did. Riku, Cloud and Leon behind him for backup, cautiously approached the figure. Before Riku could tap the figure on the shoulder to ask him who he was, the figured turned around, and Riku found himself face-to-face with a much darker version of himself that wore an outfit bearing the ensigna of the Heartless. Riku was no doubt shocked as was his friends.
"Who are you?" demanded a very angry Riku. The Dark Riku sneered. "I am you," it stated. Riku shook his head. "There's no way I would've sided with the Heartless," said Riku. "Yes," said the Dark Riku, "you would've, but instead, you chose the path of light instead of the path of darkness, but there's still time to change your ways." Riku shook his head. "There's no way I'm going to change my ways to the ways of the Heartless!" Riku said as he grasped his Keyblade tightly. "I've sworn to defeat them to protect my friends, and that's how I'm going to keep it!"
"Oh, really?" sneered the Dark Riku. "Then let's see which one of us is the strongest!" The Dark Riku held his hand up high, and a darkened Keyblade, the same one that Sora had when he was fighting alongside Sephiroth, appeared in the Dark Riku's hand. "Agreed!" said Riku. Cloud and Leon were going for their weapons, but Riku shook his head. "This is my fight. Once this is over, we can start looking for Ansem." Cloud nodded solemly. "Alright," said Cloud, "but be careful. I have a feeling he'll know all of your moves plus a few other tricks." Riku nodded and got into an attack posistion facing his dark counterpart.
As soon as the battle began, the Dark Riku dashed in for an attack, but Riku was ready by casting Aeroga on himself to block the attacks. Riku then followed up the blocked attack with the Arc Arcanum causing some massive damage on the Dark Riku. The fight lasted a little bit longer, but in the end, Riku was victorious. However, the Dark Riku had one more card to play.
As Riku was heading back to where Cloud and Leon were waiting on him, the Dark Riku used the last of his strength to send Riku into a darkened abyss. Leon and Cloud made a grab for Riku, but it was too little, too late. Riku was sucked inside of the abyss where he had to once again face an old foe before he could return to his friends...
Riku slowly got up from his fall after getting sucked into the abyss created by the Dark Riku. "Damn, where am I?" Riku asked himself as he looked around. He didn't see anything until something started appearing from the darkness. It was Darkside, the very first boss that Riku had fought so long ago. However, Riku wasn't that weak anymore, and with a few swift combos, he managed to defeat Darkside. Then, the world around him went blank...
"Riku? Riku, wake up!" said someone as they were shaking him. Riku's eyes blinked open. There was his friends, Cloud and Leon, worried looks on their faces, looking down at him. Riku looked at them. "Leon? Cloud? What happened?" Riku asked. Leon looked at him and explained. "Well, after you got sucked into that abyss, that darker version of you disappeared. We were searching for a way into the abyss to help you out but didn't have any luck. We thought we'd lost you, but then the abyss started to swell up before it exploded blinding Cloud and myself for a moment. When we could see again, you were lying still on the ground, and we rushed over to your side. We thought that you had been killed, but it was discovered that you had only been KO'ed momentarily, so we knew that you'd be waking up soon. Some Heartless then appeared and surrounded us obviously wanting to take advantage of the situation to try to steal your heart, but Cloud and I showed them a thing or two. So, what happened down there in that abyss?"
"I ended up fighting Darkside again, but he was way too easy with all the new moves and spells that I had learned. I wonder why he was brought back?" asked Riku.
"I believe I can answer that question, Keyblade master," said a sinister voice.
Chapter 16: The Lord of the Shadows
Cloud and Leon helped Riku to his feet and turned towards the voice. There, they saw someone who could almost be mistaken for Sephiroth's brother due to their similarities. However, the guy they were now looking at had on a white and black long coat, a white vest, black pants, and black knee-high boots. His chest was bare save for the Heartless Ensigna over where his heart would have been, and he was tan rather than pale like Sephiroth was. His red eyes glared coldly at the trio. The only other thing that was noticable about him was the menancing Shadow attached to him via his own shadow that almost seemed to stand guard over him.
Riku glared at the guy. "Who are you?" Riku demanded.
"WHO am I?" the guy said laughing. "I am Ansem, lord of Hollow Bastion and soon to be the Lord of the Shadows!" Riku grasped his Keyblade tightly. "Not if my friends and I have something to say about it!" said Riku. Cloud and Leon nodded together as they got their weapons out as well. Ansem laughed. "We shall see about that!"
And so, the battle to save all the worlds from the darkness and the threat of the Heartless soon began. Riku and his friends started to attack Ansem, but he quickly counterattackked by sending his shadow guardian to attach itself to Riku. Now, if Riku tried to attack, the guardian would drain him of his energy. Riku had to think quickly and used magic instead of the Keyblade to attack Ansem. Soon, the shadow guardian deattached itself from Riku and went back over to Ansem. Riku was weakened slightly, but Cloud used Cure 2 on Riku to restore his strength, and Riku began attacking Ansem again with his friends. Even with the guardian attached to him and draining his strength, Riku found ways to attack thanks to the fact that Cloud used Regen on Riku to regain his energy even while it was getting drained while he was attacking. Cloud and Leon altenated attacking and healing Riku to make the team attacking flawless even if was Riku was getting hurt. When Ansem was down to half his life, he started to show his true power by letting his shadow guard do most of the attacking while he put a force shield up around himself to block any attacks from the weapons... any normal attacks, that is. Riku also had to be careful to not attack while the guardian was attached to him, as that would result in a double-team on him. Cloud and Leon found that if they used their abilities and limits, Ansem's shield couldn't stop them, and the possession time on Riku lasted much less when Ansem was being attacked than when he wasn't. A couple of times, Ansem would try to dash at Riku to attack him, but Riku had Aeroga cast on himself, so the attacks bounced off of him.
The battle was drawing to a close, but Ansem had one more trick up his sleeve. He used dark portals to suck Cloud and Leon away sealing them in another dark world. The only way that Riku would be able to free his friends was to defeat the challenges that Ansem had set up. Then, the three of them could take out the so-called "Lord of Shadows" once and for all.