Asleep at Dawn
Chapter 11: Dream Team
-"Commit It To Memory."-
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A/N: This chapter was brought to you in spite of the video games Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Kirby Star Allies, and Shining Resonance Refrain, all of which tried their hardest to distract me.
When we last saw Team Kairi, they were about to enter the second phase of an airborne gauntlet in Training World 4: Sky of Battle. Before we get back to that, though, here's a quick change in perspective...
Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own Kingdom Hearts, BlazBlue, or Strike Witches. I'm still making no profit, I still don't intend to infringe on any copyrights.
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A few hours/weeks ago...
[The Realm Between] Twilight Town: Station Tower...?
Axel returned to awareness for the first time in...um, a day, maybe? Well, how was he supposed to know? Wasn't he supposed to be dead, terminated, eliminated, or at least somewhere in that general zone of stopped-existing? Well, whatever had happened, the sea salt ice cream bar that had somehow ended up in his hand was as tasty as ever. Now if only he could get some peace and quiet...
"Hey. Hey. Hey, Axel! Axel! C'mon, I'm supposed to be the zombie, remember?"
"Ergh...whuh?" Axel finally cracked his emerald eyes open to see, "Roxas! You're back? How?!"
Roxas shrugged. "Because of Lambda's Observation, Namine's memory powers, Kairi and Sora generally breaking the rules of everything...take your pick. What matters is that you're not back yet. You promised you'd always be there to bring us back, right?"
Axel groaned. "I get it, I get it. Seems like you grew an attitude along with that heart. So, if you came back with help from all those other people, how am I supposed to come back? I'm pretty sure I'm on Kairi's bad side, for starters."
Roxas shook his head. "You probably should be, but I don't think Kairi even has a bad side. But I'll be the one bringing you back, with my training as an Observer...and a little help from this." He held up a crayon drawing of Axel and himself in their Organization coats. "Namine drew this a while ago while she was fixing Sora's memories. It has some of my memories of you tied to it, so I used it to help Observe you. You were already going to come back anyway, but it might have taken a while since we didn't really spend that much time together. I've been told the connections between hearts are supposed to help."
Roxas turned away and walked off the Station Tower balcony, stepping across thin air much like Xion had once done. He called over his shoulder, "Once you get back, finish whatever business you might have in Radiant Garden, then come find Merlin at The Mysterious Tower; he'll help you enter the place where I'm training with Xion, Lambda, and Kairi. There, I'll transfer the primary Observer position from me to you, which will help stabilize both of us. Since you were supposed to be alive anyway, you won't need my help staying that way. At least, according to Merlin, who's been training me. Play nice with Mickey's group, and you might even get a Keyblade out of the deal! Did you catch all of that?"
Axel grinned - that deal couldn't have been any sweeter even if Roxas passed him another ice cream bar. "Consider it memorized! With so many pleasant surprises waiting for me, why would I ever want to stay asleep?"
The world around him grew brighter and brighter...
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[The Realm of Light] Radiant Garden: Ansem's Study...
Axel awoke in a much less comfortable position, lying on the cold, metal floor of Ansem's computer room. "Right...this is where it happened." He pushed himself up and took a peek at his reflection in the glass separating this room from the Heartless Manufactory downstairs, noting that the teardrop-shaped tattoos under his eyes had vanished, though he looked just like he always had in every other way, including the Black Coat he was wearing. Axel - no, Lea - whispered to himself, "I'm whole again. But what about the others?"
Turning around, he saw the collapsed forms of four of Ansem the Wise's former apprentices: Dilan, Even, Aeleus, and Ienzo - no longer Xaldin, Vexen, Lexaeus, and Zexion. Lea gulped in apprehension. "Just my luck that I'd wake up next to the two guys I personally backstabbed." It made sense; they had all been here, right in this room, when they lost their hearts in the first place. But if that was the case, where were Ansem's other two apprentices: Xehanort and Braig? And...Isa? Shouldn't they be here, too?
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A far-off memory that's like a scattered dream...
"Lea, we should go back. We'll be in serious trouble if they catch us sneaking this far into the castle." Lea's blue-haired and unfortunately sane friend glanced at shadowy, pipe-filled corners, expecting guards to jump out and arrest them both.
"C'mon, Isa, we're so close! Don't you wanna see your idol in person?" Lea was referring to Xehanort: the cool, strong, smart, attractive, and overall suspiciously-too-perfect star pupil of Ansem the Wise. Isa had read one of Xehanort's published papers once, and ever since then, Lea's days had been filled with "Xehanort theorized" this, "Xehanort discovered" that, and "Xehanort kicked the butt of" the other guy. Sure, all of those claims were true, but did Isa have to keep bringing up every new bit of information?
At least it helped Lea finally convince Isa to help him sneak into the castle again, after their botched attempt a couple months prior got them literally thrown out the door. This way, Isa could watch Xehanort at work firsthand. As for Lea, he was really just being nosy. He wanted to see what crazy experiments kept the king down in his study all the time and made him miss the last two scheduled town meetings and events.
In the end, although they avoided the guards, Lea and Isa didn't get to see much of Ansem's research or experimental processes. Just the results: a tidal wave of dark monsters bursting out from beneath the castle's basement. The castle's secret basement containing Ansem's study was hard enough to find and sneak into, but who knew it had its own secret basement that was hiding a monster factory? It hardly mattered to Radiant Garden's sun- and moon-themed delinquents; all they knew was that they definitely needed to get back those sparkly pink things that the monsters had ripped out of their chests. Well, maybe after a nap...
...They woke up as Nobodies in a completely different city. They joined Organization XIII, headed by Xehanort's own Nobody, Xemnas, and dedicated themselves to climbing the group's hierarchy to find out just what Xehanort had done that day.
However, both of them lost sight of their original goal somewhere along the way, and the rest was history.
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Back in the present...
Speaking of history, Lea knew he should get out of here before the others woke up - especially Even and Ienzo, who would now be capable of holding grudges for the brutal murders they'd suffered at Axel's hands.
Following Roxas' directions, Lea snapped his fingers to create a Dark Corridor to The Mysterious Tower to meet Merlin, but not much happened aside from a few wisps of smoke where he wanted the Corridor to appear. He did get this feeling from the Darkness, though. Like, No! I don't wanna! You can't make me!
Of course, Lea wasn't going to allow that kind of back-sass from his own feelings just because he finally had them again. He twisted his hand around and wrangled the Darkness into compliance, then rushed through the new Corridor before any more complications could arise.
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The Mysterious Tower: Sorcerer's Loft...
Lea stumbled out of the Corridor, collapsed it behind him, and double-checked that all his limbs were intact and properly positioned. Holy smokes, those things were way harder to traverse with a functioning heart! How did Riku manage it so often?
"More troubles...?" Lea finally got a good look around the room. Apart from some artifacts with appropriately arcane appearances, this architectural anomaly's apex also accommodated an aged and annoyed arcane/astrological academic. "Why have you appeared before us now, Ax...no. It appears you have been recompleted. What is your name, and why have you come here? I certainly have my hypotheses, but I have often failed to predict your actions in the past."
Lea grinned. At least the old man seemed to be up to speed, and sharp enough to notice the missing tattoos. "Whoa, nice catch! My name's Lea - got it memorized? As for why I'm here, Roxas asked me to come, so here I am. I suppose you're Merlin, then?"
"Hmph. You are mistaken; Merlin is presently in that room over there. I am Yen Sid, the Master of this tower and a former Keyblade Master. Forgive me, but I believe you should make some effort to prove your intentions are benign before I allow you to meet with Roxas. And yes, I can stop you if I must." Yen Sid waved a hand and conjured a ghostly, blue barrier over the door to the changing room, thoroughly warding that room against teleportation, physical damage, and fire. Especially fire. A similar shield covered the sorcerer's chair, which he sank back into with a smug smile.
Lea slumped over. "Fine, fine. Roxas said to play nice, after all. What do you need me to do?"
Yen Sid affixed him with a dire stare. "King Mickey was here until shortly before your arrival, but he has left to confront the evil fairy Maleficent, who has kidnapped Queen Minnie and now holds the Queen hostage in her own Disney Castle." Yen Sid then smiled knowingly. "Maleficent's letter warned Mickey to arrive alone or with his 'pathetic retainers' only, but she wrote nothing about sending reinforcements afterward. Go, and see to it that Minnie is rescued and Maleficent is thwarted. You should be able to reach Disney Castle through a Dark Corridor, since Maleficent did the same."
Lea grinned. "Sure thing. Be back in a snap!" He opened another Dark Corridor. He anticipated even greater trouble than before, what with that Cornerstone...of Light? Was that what it was called? Anyway, even if it was apparently broken, it wouldn't be as easy to enter Disney Castle as any other world. Luckily, Lea was able to sense what was going on on the other side of the Corridor, and...bingo! A perfect last-minute rescue opportunity! He summoned one of his chakrams and threw it through the Corridor ahead of him, controlling it with basic armakinesis to intercept Maleficent's attack on the other side. "Phew, all of that still works! Okay, gotta be cool..." Axel strode through the Corridor, making sure not to outwardly show any discomfort from the journey.
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Disney Castle: Library...
"Maleficent...you lose!" King Mickey brandished his Keyblade, Star Seeker, in the direction of Pete and Maleficent. Meanwhile, Donald and Goofy defended Queen Minnie with their trusty staff and shield.
Pete pointed sideways (towards stage left, the traditional villainous escape route for getting offscreen and out of danger in a hurry). "Maleficent, I hate to say it, but I think the pipsqueak's right! We'd better skedaddle!"
Maleficent scowled, but had to admit she'd been outplayed. "I will retreat for now, but rest assured that when I return, this castle and its invaluable data shall be MINE!" Next time, more attention would be paid to the possibility of last-minute interference from unknown parties. Perhaps it was too arrogant of her not to cordon this room off with a Dark Wall. For now, Maleficent opened a Dark Corridor (near the stage left exit) with a sweep of her hand and stalked through it.
"Maleficent, w-wait for me!" Pete hurried after her, and the Corridor closed.
Mickey relaxed and dismissed his Keyblade. "That was too close. Still, I never expected you to save us..." He turned to regard, "...Axel."
Axel - er, Lea - belatedly realized that he'd be dealing with a lot of accidental misnaming from now on. With a sigh, he corrected, "'Axel'? Please. My name is Lea. Got it memorized?"
Mickey nodded, then frowned seriously...er, smiled slightly less than usual while making angry eyebrows. "You used the Darkness to get here? That was reckless."
Lea shrugged. "Figured that out for myself, thanks. Still, it worked, didn't it? Now maybe Yen Sid will believe me when I get back. I have a few things to ask him..."
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[The Training Worlds] Sky of Battle: Over the Ocean...
Stop the Possessed Neuroi!
While flying toward the Neuroi, Yoshika took the lead and created an intricate magic circle as a shield. This turned out to be a smart move, because the closest Neuroi reacted by firing a salvo of purple beams that faded to black in the middle from all the purple hexagons on its shell. After bending sharply in midair to fly directly at the newcomers, a dozen of these beams splashed against Yoshika's shield and bent off to all sides, missing Team Kairi completely and merely splashing into the water below. Yoshika yelled, "Everyone stay behind me!"
"That's no good," Kairi replied. "The rest of us need to get into arm's reach to fight those things."
"Heh, speak for yourself!" Hazama smirked as she broke formation, wrapping Ouroboros around herself to deflect more beams. A beam pushed her backward slightly, but didn't break her barrier. She raised her arms and fired a few spikes at a shallow angle to the Neuroi's shell. The spikes ripped through a Shadow Blob on the back of the Neuroi and bounced through a second blob on its wing before falling into the ocean. Ten seconds later, Hazama's guns flashed green to indicate that her spike supply had regenerated.
"I can take a few hits, too." Xion boosted over Yoshika and took aim with her Arm Cannon, ignoring a beam that splashed against her defense screen. "It'd take at least five more of those to even put a dent in my shield!" She fired a fully-charged, blue plasma shot, smashing another Shadow Blob and most of the possessed Neuroi's right wing.
Unfortunately, the Neuroi retaliated by firing all its beams while the damaged wing regenerated. Each beam curved in midair to intersect at a point directly above the Neuroi, gathering into a ball of black and purple energy that finally fired at Xion as a much larger beam. Xion took a direct hit, and when she tried to push against the attack, her defense screen shattered into red wireframe fragments. She barely managed to boost to the side before being hit directly as the beam screamed out into the distance. "Okay, point taken! Yoshika, I need cover!"
Yoshika quickly gained altitude to get Xion back behind her shield. "You can count on me! Three, you stay close to me, too!"
"Acknowledged." The team's Neuroi ally fired a few red beams through Yoshika's one-way shield as they moved to cover Xion, managing to burn away a Shadow Blob on the Neuroi's tail fin. "One Shadow Blob remains attached to target. Recommend an attack from below."
Lambda and Kairi were left to dodge more beams by themselves, which they were thankfully agile enough to manage with barrel rolls and air dashes. However, Lambda had had enough of being the defenseless one. "Custom Option design finalized. Protect Option, standing by."
Lambda's new Option appeared in a white flash, taking the form of a floating, slate-gray escutcheon - a medieval knight's shield designed to bear a coat of arms. This one had Lambda's personal Ars Magus seal emblazoned in green paint on the front, identical to Elysium's Keychain. A barrier of interlocked, transparent hexagons sprang into existence around the Option, enclosing Kairi and Lambda in a protective bubble. A Neuroi beam splashed off the new barrier with no effect.
"Now that's a useful Option! Let's go get that last blob, Lambda!" Kairi and Lambda swooped underneath the Neuroi side-by-side, watching as the next Neuroi in line fruitlessly added its firepower to the assault on Lambda's shield. "Firaga!" Kairi launched the strongest Fire spell she could muster at the Shadow Blob clinging to the center of their current target's underside...but the fireball was blocked by the inside of the Protect Option's barrier, harmlessly dissipating along the transparent surface. "That's...less useful."
Lambda shrugged. "No problem. Cast again in three...two...one...Firaga!" As Lambda pointed her Keyblade at the target and launched her own Firaga spell in tandem with Kairi, her Option's barrier vanished for a moment, allowing her and Kairi's spells to destroy the target before the barrier reappeared. "That's all of the Shadow Blobs...but it doesn't look like the Neuroi was freed from possession."
Xion frowned. "Drat. The blobs must have been a side effect, not the cause. I guess that just leaves destroying them until we can take down the boss." Then she smirked. "Oh well; I've been waiting for a chance to use this, anyway!" Using the targeting data Lambda had sent her to find the quickest path to the core, Xion summoned a new weapon: a massive orange warhammer as tall as Xion herself, with concentric circles marked on the flat face of the hammerhead. "Check out my newest weapon: I call it Impact!"
With a long yell, Xion dropped into a booster-aided dive, slamming her new hammer down onto the armor blocking the Neuroi's core. A circular shockwave radiated out from the point of impact with a loud BANG sound, smashing more armor as it went and leaving the Neuroi's core wide open.
The Neuroi's core was a red, twelve-sided crystal that shone with its own crimson light...but that light was swallowed up by the cloud-like Possessor Heartless engulfing it. Xion smirked and reported, "I've found the source of the possession! I remember how Sora handled these little guys..." She dismissed Impact and summoned her Keyblade, which hovered in front of her left hand and fired a Release beam. The Possessor was shunted aside, allowing Xion's flying Keyblade to cut through it. "Nailed it! This Neuroi should be free now!"
Just as she thought, the purple hexagons on the Neuroi's shell turned red all at once. The shell had already almost finished repairing the damage from Impact, and the newly freed Neuroi turned around in midair to fire a volley of bright red beams at the next possessed Neuroi in line.
Yoshika gasped. "Uh-oh, it'll destroy its allies if it keeps this up! Three, can you tell it to stop so we can free the others?"
Three replied with a faintly regretful tone, "Negative. My request to open communications was refused. However, that Neuroi unit is no longer targeting us."
"Let's just try and save the others as fast as we can, then," Kairi decided. "At least the other possessed Neuroi will be distracted, and now we know that we don't need to waste time on the Shadow Blobs. Go straight for the Possessors around their cores!"
Lambda scanned ahead. "Scanning...All enemy Neuroi cores located. Transmitting data...done!"
Hazama smirked and took Xion's free hand. "We'll clean these guys up in no time! C'mon, Xion, I'll clear a path." The two of them boosted ahead, leaving Lambda and Yoshika to catch up while defending Kairi and Three.
Releasing and attacking the Possessor first caused any Shadow Blobs on the possessed Neuroi to vanish, making the next part of the fight nearly effortless. Working together, Team Kairi managed to free all but one other Neuroi, which was destroyed by the first one they'd saved. Now that there were no more possessed Neuroi in the vicinity, Three tried to contact its four former allies again: it provided a status report, its most recent memory records, and an outline of the plan to save Hive 2953. Its projected chances of success were much higher now that it had seen its human (and mostly-humanoid) allies discover a working method to save possessed Neuroi from the Heartless.
This time, Three received a reply. "...Acknowledged. Namine, these Neuroi have agreed to pass along your information regarding the 'heart' and its benefits of self-sustained magic power generation. However, they cannot help us battle Hive 2953."
Namine replied as the team returned to flying in formation, "That's great news, Three! Our plan still works with or without them, and the future of the Neuroi race is looking brighter than ever."
"Affirmative. This outcome is far superior to all of my previous estimates." Three bobbed up and down in midair excitedly, visibly emoting for the first time ever.
Hazama pointed out, "Not to kill the mood or anything, but we still have to actually stop the Hive. Where is it, anyw... Wait, is that it?! It's huge!"
Visible on the horizon was a heavy storm cloud shaped like an upside-down funnel. Purple lightning surged through it in random arcs, and pairs of giant yellow Heartless eyes formed and vanished from random parts of the cloud.
Three replied, "Negative. That cloud is merely a defense mechanism that surrounds each Hive. It is a swarm of nanomachines that defends the Hive from hostiles, counterattacks with electrical discharges, and gathers ambient magic power to transfer back to the central Neuroi consciousness, along with raw materials to create new Neuroi. However, the Heartless have corrupted the cloud itself and possessed the Hive inside."
Kairi nodded. "Then we have to clear away that cloud and the...Gigas Possessor inside it first. Any ideas?"
Lambda replied, "I've got one, but I'll need to get a bit closer."
Xion summoned most of her weapons. "Then let's go, everyone!"
"Ready!" Yoshika led the charge again, keeping her shield up to defend the group against any nasty surprises.
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Save Neuroi Hive 2953 from the Gigas Possessor!
Lambda gestured to stop when the group was almost beneath the shadow cast by the cloud's edge. "Alright, here I go! HOLY...!"Lambda thrust Elysium skyward and called down a beam of blue-white Light from the sky with the same powerful spell Kairi had used in Lotus Academy, slamming straight into the tip of the inverted funnel cloud...only for the beam to splash out to the sides, doing no more damage than the deflected Neuroi beams from before. On top of that, Lambda faltered in midair, forcing Kairi to catch her. The Protect Option sputtered out of existence, but Yoshika moved to cover them.
Lambda muttered without using her radio, "Holy... *Huff, huff...* Smokes... That spell takes way more Light than I was expecting! I managed to match your power output, Kairi, but it looks like it didn't do any good. Now I'm completely out of mana, my Light's almost burnt out, and my Options won't work again until I rest a bit...we need a new plan."
"Plan B, coming right up! Look out below!" Xion boosted up above the cloud, watching the futile crackling of lightning that could only strike downward or sideways, and summoned her Final Weapon. With a grin, she let the massive sword drop...only for it to bounce off the cloud and dissolve into golden flakes. "You're kidding me! Where are we going to get more firepower than that?"
A new, male voice suddenly crackled over their radios. "Did somebody say 'MORE FIREPOWER?!'"
A propeller-driven biplane buzzed into view from behind them. Behind the open cockpit sat a man in a Black Coat with his hood down, showing off a mass of long, spiky, flame-red hair, emerald eyes, and a cocky grin. "Make way! Comin' through!" He rammed his biplane into the Hive's cloud cover and set off a MASSIVE blast of intense fire at the moment of impact, creating a much larger explosion than the one Axel made with his apparent sacrifice before.
The cloud was blown away by the explosion, revealing an enormous Neuroi shell shaped like a triangular pyramid, oriented upside-down from the conical cloud that once covered it. Each face of the pyramid had a single large spot in the middle devoted to the purple beam-firing hexagon type, and each spot was surrounded by three flexible armored tendrils tipped with more beam emitters. Meanwhile, the scattered cloud condensed into the Gigas Possessor, which had no features except vaguely spiky protrusions sticking out of the cloud, two big yellow eyes, and a jagged red mouth floating in the smoke.
"Haven't had enough yet? Take this!" Even as he fell upside-down out of his destroyed biplane, the girls' apparent savior summoned his familiar chakrams, held them in front of his chest at arm's length, and blasted a huge beam of fire from them, throwing himself backwards and tearing the Gigas Possessor apart again. This time, the Heartless remained split into dozens of merely Massive Possessors.
"Hang on, I'll catch you!" Xion dove to catch her friend, swooped back into the air with him under her free arm, and summoned Ouroboros (her jaw-sword, not Hazama's chain). "Ragnarok! Everyone let 'em have it!" Xion's attack sent orange trails swirling into various Massive Possessors, splitting them apart again into ordinary Possessors. Xion hung back to defend the guy who couldn't fly, while the rest of Team Kairi joined the fray without her.
Now that she'd had a moment to rest (despite all the crazy stuff that just went down), Lambda summoned a pair of Fire Options and sent them to burn away more Possessors. Kairi sped past clumps of Heartless and ripped them open with her Keyblade and the slipstream from her Striker Unit. Hazama shot spikes between herself and Ouroboros, with more Possessors as the unfortunate monkeys in the middle. Yoshika and Three filled the air with bullets and beams, respectively, burning away the legion of gaseous Heartless.
Against such an assault, there was nothing the various components of the Gigas Possessor could do but die. Soon, the air was clear of any clouds of Darkness. However, Hive 2953 was still possessed - Lambda's scans revealed that there was another Gigas Possessor engulfing its core. Now the real battle could begin.
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Really save Hive 2953 from the Gigas Possessor!
But first, there were some things to clear up. While the Hive spun in place a bit, seeming to get its bearings, Xion asked, "How did you get here, Axel?"
"I'll get to that. First things first, some introductions seem to be needed. First, that's not my name anymore. I'm not Axel." Over a radio like the ones Yoshika handed out, he continued, "I'm Lea. L-E-A. Got it memorized?"
Xion hummed in agreement. He must have been recompleted, like Yen Sid explained before this whole Training Worlds thing really started. "Sure. Okay, Lea, I'm Xion. Do...do you remember me?"
"Yeah, I've got your name memorized...er, again. X-I-O-N. I don't remember you looking quite that cool and robot-y before, though. You were just a half-pint the last time we met."
Xion huffed. "Close, but I distinctly remember being twenty feet taller than you in my final form. And why didn't you get any robot parts in this world?"
Lea nodded, but then adopted a more serious expression. "I was talking about...after that."
Xion murmured, "...Right." Back when she died in Roxas' arms. "I suppose you met Roxas on the way here, then?"
"'Met' him? He was the one who called me here! When I got to the Hub, he did some Observation thing and said I don't need to worry about it anymore. Then I grabbed a plane from the Base back behind us and flew here as fast as I could. Oh, Roxas also said to tell you that he likes your new hammer, Xion."
Xion blushed. "A-anyway, we should probably get back to fighting that Hive."
Lambda reported, "Scanning...Hive 2953's core and Gigas Possessor located near the bottom of the structure. Transmitting data...done!" The core appeared as a red dot superimposed on the Hive's shell in Xion's, Hazama's, and Three's vision. "Target's armor rating: B. Attack power: S. Its armor is thick, but fragile. Any repeated attacks should be able to break through. Those tentacles can be destroyed with minimal firepower. Don't get anywhere near its beams, though!"
Kairi came up with a plan. "Okay, then, Xion and Lea, blast us a way in. Lambda, cover me as we deal with those tentacles and any other minions it spits out. Hazama, you want in?"
Hazama shook her head, sending ripples down her hair. "I can't help you with this one, or it'd just reset everything. I'll just deal with any Heartless that show up...now." Just as she predicted, another swarm of Wyverns and colored spellcasters appeared between them and the Hive. "...Three, can you help with these? I have limited spikes to throw around. Yoshika, you can help too, if you want." It would take a while to deal with so many Heartless with a limited supply of spikes. Plus, Hazama was coming to realize that, like most activities, slaughtering weaklings was more fun with friends around.
Yoshika replied, "I'll protect Three!"
Three raised its beam-shooting arms. "Your assistance is appreciated. My beams will be ineffective against a Hive, so I will prioritize the smaller Heartless escorts. Addendum: the Hive has not created any new Neuroi units after it was corrupted - no further reinforcements are likely. Estimated time until nanomachine cloud regeneration: 10 minutes."
Kairi nodded. "That's plenty of time. Okay, everyone, ready...go!"
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Break through Hive 2953's armor and use Release on the boss!
Xion rocketed toward the Hive with Lea in tow. As they approached, the huge purple spot facing them began to glow brighter, and then the air they were traveling through was filled with an enormous black beam. When the beam faded, Xion and Lea were nowhere to be seen.
Kairi stared wide-eyed at the last place they were visible. "No...did they...?"
Hazama just cackled. "Of course not! Otherwise, you wouldn't still be here to cry about it!"
"...Oh, right."
"That was a close one!" A burst of fire heralded Lea and Xion's return. "Probably should've mentioned this, but I can turn into and manipulate fire a lot better now that I'm a whole person again. If I do it right, it's like teleporting! And now it's my turn, you huge hunk of junk!" Lea unleashed a compressed beam of fire right back at the purple spot, blasting a path straight out the opposite corner of the Hive. Luckily, he missed the Core while accomplishing his goal of disabling the only giant cannon facing him. "Yeah! That's how we BURN!"
"That's our way in! C'mon, Kairi! Sonic Blade!" Xion launched herself into the hole Axel made, moving too fast for the tentacles around it to react. Once inside, she started firing her Arm Cannon at the marker on her HUD, slowly blasting closer to the core.
"Uh-oh!" As Kairi moved to follow, the Hive emitted a haunting screech, and its metal shell started to undulate. The tentacles outside the Hive curled inward, even the ones on the undamaged faces of the pyramid, and began firing beams in Xion's general direction. The Hive was blasting away its own armor to get at her.
"Can't let you do that, Heartless!" Lambda summoned two Options and sent them zooming around to the other sides of the Hive, then lunged at the closest tentacle and cut it off with Elysium. "That felt good, but it looks like my Options don't have quite enough oomph to break through the others." Well, if a powerup was in order... "IDEA Engine, activate!" Lambda's Keyblade was surrounded by green holograms, and her Options began firing faster, stronger green shots. The tentacles on the other two sides of the Hive were destroyed quickly.
"I've got these two!" Kairi skimmed past the side of the Hive, severing the last two tentacles as she passed. "There, now it can't shoot beams anymore!"
"Just in time, too; it almost got through!" Xion stared at a hole where one of the beams had managed to carve all the way to the center, barely missing her. She would've sweatdropped, but her current robot body couldn't sweat. "Can you help me drill? It's regenerating faster the closer I get, and Lea would just blow up the core if he tried to blast this armor."
"I'm on it! Lambda, help Hazama's group!" Hazama and the rest were doing a fine job of chewing through the surrounding Heartless flunkies, but there were just so many enemies that beating them one at a time was no good.
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Defeat all of the Heartless!
"Acknowledged. Firaga!" Lambda dismissed her Options, turned away from the Hive, and cast a spell at the swarm of Heartless, with her Keyblade still covered in the IDEA Engine's holograms...
A sharp *SHEENG* sound unexpectedly accompanied her spell, and Elysium flashed white for a moment. The fireball that launched from Elysium's tip was much larger than a normal Firaga, surrounded by the same green holograms as the Keyblade, and created a massive explosion when it hit a Wyvern. A thousand Heartless were destroyed in the blast, including Red Nocturnes that should have absorbed the fire.
Hazama, Yoshika, Three, and even the Heartless all stopped moving to stare at the smoky aftermath. Hazama finally asked, "...Okay, Lambda, I'll bite. What the hell just happened?"
"I have no idea! ...Er, no pun intended. Replaying... Analyzing... Wow, that's neat! Okay, I've figured it out." As Lambda explained, the holographic glow around Elysium finally faded.
She morphed her Keyblade into Petal Blades and began slicing the few remaining Heartless apart like a buzz-saw as she kept talking into the radio. "It looks like that was an effect of the IDEA Engine. The cosmic quantum weirdness, or however this thing works, sometimes aligns just right and overcharges whatever I'm trying to do. It boosted my Firaga into a Firaza, which is at least two levels higher, and bypassed any defenses or resistances. Quantum Critical...I think that's a good name for this effect. I can't predict if or when it'll happen again, though."
Hazama and the rest rejoined the fight. "A lucky break, then. That, and a sneak preview of how strong your magic could be someday. I'd better put in more work to maintain my the-fact-that-I'm-still-cooler-than-you! Boom, headshot!" She nailed the last Wyvern in the face with a spike without looking, beating Yoshika's slower aim to the punch.
Three reported for the benefit of the team members who were still inside the Hive, "All Heartless reinforcements destroyed. Awaiting instructions..."
Xion replied, "Just hang back; we've finally broken through!" By rotating her ScimitArs like a drill and intermittently launching Arm Cannon shots and Kairi's spells, they'd managed to overpower the regeneration rate of the Hive's innermost armor. "Kairi! Now!"
"Take this!" Kairi and Xion lined up their Keyblades and Released the Gigas Possessor hiding in the Hive's core. The cloudy Heartless rushed out of the wrecked shell of the Hive and gathered itself together in the open sky. Hive 2953 was freed from possession, and all the purple hexagons on its shell turned red as its armor began to regenerate fully. Lea fire-ported himself and the girls outside as the interior of the Hive closed up.
"I don't feel like fighting another one of these..." Hazama complained.
Namine spoke up. "I don't think we'll actually have to. The Hive probably deserves it more, don't you think?" Now that Hive 2953 was free and repaired, one of its giant beam spots had turned to face the Gigas Possessor. With one shot, it annihilated the boss.
Kairi tensed up for a second, then relaxed. "...Phew, it looks like that didn't cause a reset. But where's the Practice Keyhole?"
"Scanning...Objective located. It's back at the Base?!"
"Let's hurry back, then!"
Yoshika hesitated. "Three, what will you do?"
Three turned toward the Hive. "...I haven't been eliminated yet. Reestablishing connection to Hive 2953...successfully connected. All mission objectives achieved. Yoshika Miyafuji: our temporary alliance is no longer necessary, so I will return to Hive 2953 where I belong. However, I...believe...that I'm going to miss you. Goodbye, friend. May there be peace between our species someday." Three slowly floated toward the Hive, then teleported inside.
Yoshika's eyes started to mist over, but she wiped her tears away. "Goodbye, Three. I'll miss you, too." She turned back to where Team Kairi had gathered together. "You need to unlock this 'Practice Keyhole' to finish what you came here for, right? Let's go, then."
Namine asked gently, "Do you need some time?"
Yoshika smiled brightly, with only a few tears left in her eyes. "No, I'm fine, really. We expected the Hive to kill Three even if we won, right? At least they're still alive. It even looks like the Neuroi will stop attacking, but only if the Hive and I can get back to where we belong and spread the news. So I still have a job to do, to make sure everyone is safe."
Hazama gave her a thumbs-up. "Well said. And that's coming from me - just so you know, your voice is the most goddamn annoying thing I've ever heard."
Yoshika yelped, "Hey, that's not nice at all!"
Everyone laughed all the way back to base.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Sky of Battle: The Base...
Everyone touched down on the runway and removed their radios and/or Striker Units. As Kairi was lacing up her shoes, Lambda suddenly turned toward the hangar gate. "There's someone inside - someone really strong! Wait, this reading...it can't be..." Lambda summoned Elysium and opened the gate, which rose up to reveal another newcomer from the ground up, starting with a pair of shining silver leg blades.
Xion muttered, "Another Murakumo Unit?"
Hazama grinned in anticipation. "This one isn't just any old Unit. I'm impressed even an illusion of her can exist in this timeline..."
The gate continued to rise, revealing a much skimpier set of armor than the bodysuits and harnesses on other Murakumo Units. Blue plates of metal covered only the bare minimum to allow a parody of modesty. A ragged sheet of blonde hair flowed down between the newcomer and her eight blue floating Petals. Finally, her face was revealed, with vivid Azure blue eyes and deceptively innocent features shadowed by a crown-like forehead guard.
Lambda reported, "Target identified as Boundary Interface Prime Field Device Number 12, Anti-Sankishin Core Unit: Mu. Other known aliases: Kusanagi, the Godslayer, Eye of the Azure, 'Noel Vermillion'."
"The real question is, is that the real her, or a product of this world?"
Mu-12 was the one who responded. "...The latter, but I speak with the original's voice. Merlin contacted me, to confirm his theories. Even so, if this world existed a month ago, the Azure Timeline and the Heart Timeline would have been too incompatible to allow me to exist here. I am, in many ways, a pillar of support for the Azure Timeline, which was falling into a destructive feedback loop until very recently. This timeline, on the other hand, is being strengthened, both naturally and by Lambda's attempts to alter it. It's only due to Terumi's defeat in the Azure Timeline, breaking the destined loop, that the two continua were able to synchronize at all."
"Um...what's she talking about?" Yoshika asked.
"Remember what I said about Namine?" Kairi whispered.
"That it was too complicated to explain?" Yoshika loudly "whispered" back.
"Yeah."
Lambda brought the focus back to the topic at hand. "So, what you're saying is that everything that's happened - the Time Breaks, my unusually powerful Observation, the voices in my and Kairi's heads, the fact that I'm not a Murakumo Unit anymore, the fact that we're all here in the Training Worlds instead of waiting for Sora to handle everything - all of that is connected?"
"Affirmative. In fact, all of these events connect directly to you, Lambda. You were chosen by the Azure and Kingdom Hearts jointly, to be the one who can rejoin the damaged and separated timelines and repair the world."
"...What? That's...that changes my whole perspective! So the Azure Timeline and the Heart Timeline do have a common origin! I suspected that was the case, even back when I saw the Greek influences in Olympus Colosseum." It felt like forever ago that a misunderstanding ended with her running laps under the lecherous gaze of Philoctetes the hero-training satyr.
"I believe there are even more fractured timelines than these two, each with their own parallel worlds, their own version of the godlike, otherworldly force that controls them, their own heroes trying to prevent everything from sinking into their own seas of death...but even if there are, you mustn't overextend yourself. If you were to die, all that has transpired would be rewritten without you, and the only chance our timelines have to truly heal would be lost. But fear not, for you have the blessings of both the Azure and Kingdom Hearts. Soon, the time will come to fulfill your true purpose as the Event Convergence Moderator. Grow stronger here, so you will be ready."
"An Event Convergence Moderator... So that's the kind of unit I am now." Lambda closed her eyes in contemplation, and her armor and visor vanished, leaving her in her bodysuit and the other clothes Kairi had bought for her. When her eyes opened again, their color had changed from red to purple. "...Good thing I don't need that flight equipment anymore. And what about you?"
"This is a temporary body that exists only to pass along a message. I'll go back to the Azure Timeline, to continue enjoying the happy ending a nameless hero bought us. Once you have solved the core conflict of the Heart Timeline, only then will it be possible for us to meet again. The fear and doubt created by Xehanort runs as deep into the fabric of the World as that created by Terumi; you must ensure the survival of this timeline before it can be connected to the other. For what it's worth, having only just met you, I believe you have what it takes to succeed. Farewell."
Mu-12 vanished in a pillar of blue light, leaving behind an empty hangar. Behind where she once was, the empty harness for Kairi's Striker Unit had a glowing Keyhole on it.
"Well, now I know for sure why I came to this timeline in the first place, and what I need to do. Talk about a tall order! I'm not afraid, though. My own powers are growing stronger all the time, and I have all of you to help, right?" Lambda unlocked the Practice Keyhole.
Kairi nodded firmly. "Right, and I'm sure the others outside the Training Worlds will want to help, too. Although, I guess this is goodbye, Yoshika."
Blue sparks of Light began to rise up around Yoshika. "It sure looks that way. It was nice meeting you all! I hope we'll meet again someday...even if I'm just an illusion. I almost didn't even figure it out. But...I'm not sad. There's a real me out there, too, I'm sure of it! And she'll help the Neuroi and everyone else just like I did someday. If you meet her, tell her 'hi' for me, okay?"
Lambda, Kairi, and Xion all replied at the same time, "I promise." Then they all looked at each other and giggled at the coincidence. Yoshika joined the laughter until she vanished. Far away, a giant pillar of Light lanced into the sky as Hive 2953 and all the Neuroi it created also vanished.
Hazama sighed in relief. "Time to go back, everyone! I miss my fedora. Save point, save point..." She looked around the room.
"I'll handle that." Kairi concentrated on the way she could leave her self-initiated Dives to the Heart, and sure enough, a green save point flashed into being under her feet. This one didn't have a constant pool of Light at the center; it was just the circling green trails.
Lambda scanned the new save point. "Scanning... Yes, we can get back to the Hub with this. It would vanish if Heartless showed up, and then you'd have to make a new one, but still, full marks for convenience! How did you learn to do that?"
Namine replied, "She does this in her heart's Station when I start snoring."
"Whatever! This Training World's over, so let's just go already!" Lea squeezed into the save point beside Kairi and vanished.
"Hey, wait for me! ...Oh man, I'm gonna miss this armor. Maybe I should make it into a new weapon..." Xion jumped into the save point and vanished.
"I guess I can't just stand here processing all that new information all day." Lambda walked into the save point and disappeared.
"I can't moonwalk into the save point while floating like this...time to fix that." Hazama floated over the save point and disappeared, eager to get back to her/his normal form.
"...I'm the one who made the save point. Why am I the last one going through?" Kairi vanished.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
A/N: There we go! A real humdinger of a reveal there, eh?I hope this was worth waiting until 2019, TheMightyGyarapie!