Oh no. Will Sora and Artemis meet their end? Find out, now.

Wandering the Darkness

Chapter 11

Hellfire

Sora let go of the rope and prepared to meet his end. All of a sudden, a large hand grabs onto his own before he could fall.

"Do not worry, friend of Riku," said Quasimodo. Using what strength he had, Quasimodo heaved them both up onto the floor where they collapsed.

"Sora?" Kairi pleaded. She drew her Springs Despair and cast Curaga on all of them. Artemis woke up and Sora leapt up in shock.

"What just happened?" Sora said. "I thought I was going to die."

"Quasimodo helped you," said Kairi. "I guess you owe him big time."

"I'll think about how I can repay you later Quasimodo," smiled Sora. "Where's Riku?"

"I'm here." Sora turned around a yelled in surprise at the burning mass that was Riku.

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Artemis said.

"I discovered new powers but was hit by a heartless during transformation," said Riku. "I think that if I manage to get myself hit by another one, I'll change back." He threw his burning weapon at the remaining enemies. "Come on then, if ya think you're hard enough!" The Gold Ringers heard him shout and they started to appear in masses. They all cast Firaga and shot at the same time and all aiming towards Riku.

"Riku what the hell!" Sora shoulder barged him out of the way seemingly un-hurt by the flames. The giant fireballs however hit the wooden floor and it exploded. The fire ignited the ground and spread into fireballs burning the surrounding area.

"Why the hell did you do that Sora!" Riku shouted.

"Run!" Sora yelled. He ran away from the fire closely followed by Kairi, Artemis and Quasimodo. Riku just sighed and ran after them. The Gold Ringers however had other ideas. Just as the gang reached the stairs, the Gold Ringers flew in front of them and barricaded the exit.

"There's no escape!" Kairi yelled.

"Actually there is," said Quasimodo. He ran away from the group running past the bells of Notre Dame. He then jumped over the edge and disappeared from sight.

"Quasimodo?" Sora and the gang ran after him and looked down. they saw that Quasimodo was now sliding down a large drainage system swooping down to the ground. "That's as good an idea as anything." Sora stepped back then ran forwards over the edge. "Geronimo." He landed on the drainage and started to slide down it. Everyone else soon followed. Riku however became injured due to the water on his flaming skin. He jumped off and clung onto stone railings and climbed down to the next level of the tower.

Sora couldn't enjoy the experience too much however. Gold Ringers had followed them and had started to shoot fire balls back at them. Sora summoned his Keyblade and deflected them back. They hit the heartless destroying them. The patterns on Sora's shorts started to increase in size. He eventually reached the end of the drainage system and leapt through the open window where he met with Quasimodo. Artemis soon landed next him and Kairi next to him. Quasimodo led the way towards the exit.

"Were on the first floor," he said. "Just down these stairs and…" BOOM. "What!"

A Gold Ringer smashed the ceiling above them and floated in front of the group. It cast fire and started to spin on the spot. The fire engulfed it and it started to expand. Suddenly it stopped spinning and a wave of fire emitted from its side. It was a large version of the Gold Ringers. Its wings were larger and the heartless emblem was also larger. Either side of the emblem were black wing patterns and emitted a light, golden glow. This was a Maxi-Ringer. It then span once more emitting a wave of fire setting the walls alight.

"Guess we have no choice but to fight," said Artemis.

"Quasimodo, go and hide," said Kairi.

"Yes of course Miss Kairi," Quasimodo said. He ran away and jumped out of the window to the lower floor.

"Ok here we go," said Sora. Sora made the first move by drawing his Keyblade and hit the side of the Maxi-Ringer. It surprisingly and easily flew sideways and hit the flaming wall. Kairi too drew her Springs Despair and hit the other side and it again flew into the wall.

"This is too easy," Kairi questioned. The Maxi-Ringer then regained itself and slammed itself into the floor. A wave of energy hit the three of them, but it seemed to do nothing but give them a cool breeze. "Yeah too easy."

"Let me finish it off then," said Artemis. He drew his Bow and docked an arrow. He fired to straight for the heartless emblem and it embedded itself within its supposedly tough shell. The Maxi-Ringer then fell to the floor and started to disappear.

"Oh come on, no heartless is that weak," Sora complained. The darkness of the disappearing Maxi-Ringer then seeped into the burning walls. The fire then moved through the air onto the carcass of the Maxi-Ringer and started to engulf it. The Maxi-Ringer then rose above them covered in fire. A blast of flames flew from it and burned the walls again.

"Oh I see what it did now," said Kairi. "It waited for the flames to get hot enough so it become stronger. We must have to defeat it at its strongest, aka, when its at its hottest."

"So we just distract it until the flames are too hot to handle?" said Sora.

"Exactly. Whoa look out!" The Maxi-Ringer slammed onto the ground and created yet another wave of air. The fire within it however couldn't be dodged so they got a slight burning. Artemis docked another arrow and shot it into the heartless emblem again. It fell over in pain but quickly regained itself. It then flew higher up and shot a large fireball out of itself hitting the middle of the area. Thankfully, they all dodged but the centre started to burn. Sora ran up to it and took a large swing hitting it into the ground. The Maxi-Ringer fell unconscious again and once again started to disappear.

"Too early Sora!" Kairi yelled.

"Whoops, sorry," Sora smiled. The Maxi-Ringer absorbed the flames again and it burned brighter. Its colour changed to a blue flame and it sprouted 2, small wings of flames at its top. It then started to spin and moved towards the group. The burning at the centre was sucked up into its spinning vortex. Sora and gang were forced to try and run to avoid the small black hole. The Maxi-Ringer then stopped suddenly and the flames blasted from it burning the walls again. Kairi held her weapon up and cast a ball of light at the heartless. It flung into the walls and it fell over again. Sora front flipped and smashed into it once again and it collapsed. Once again it started to disappear.

"Sora!" Kairi yelled.

"Sorry, it's just too weak," complained Sora. The Maxi-Ringer absorbed the flames once again this time burning a bright white. The wings of flame grew to a massive size. Sora wiped sweat off his head and started to pant heavily. "I think this might be its hottest."

"You might be right," Kairi complained.

"Let's finish this," Artemis shouted. Artemis docked one more arrow and fired it at the emblem. Instead of penetrating its shell, it bounced off it and flew at Sora. the arrow went straight for Sora and hit him in the stomach. The arrow passed straight through him and landed on the other side.

"Whoa, it must be clothes doing that," said Sora. "It must allow long range weapons pass straight through me."

"That must explain the tournament incident," said Artemis.

"Now's not the time!" Kairi yelled. While stuck in idle chatter, the Maxi-Ringer shot forward and trapped Kairi underneath it. Kairi started to bake within the white and golden shell while the clapper swung around hitting her. Sora and Artemis couldn't get close enough to deal damage due to the intense heat. Kairi meanwhile tried to land a decent hit on the inside of the Maxi-Ringer but each attack was blocked by the clapper.

"Artemis! Dock an arrow," Sora demanded.

"Sure." Artemis docked another arrow in the bow and pulled back.

"Ok fire in three…two…one...GO!" Artemis fired the arrow straight for the heartless emblem at the exact same time; Sora swung his Keyblade at the arrow increasing its velocity. The arrow pierced the hard shell and the Maxi-Ringer flew up off of Kairi. She stood there for a few seconds in some sort of trance, burn marks all over her, before collapsing with a thud. Sora rushed over to her and lifted her head.

"Kairi! Kairi are you alright?"

"Yeah," she sighed in pain. "Just a little burnt." Sora lifted her up in his arms and turned to the Maxi-Ringer.

"We can't do this," Artemis said. "It's just too damn strong."

"Don't worry. There's always hope," Sora suggested.

"Oh yeah what'll hope do at a time like this." CRASH. The ceiling collapsed from above them and the wood fell to the floor. Riku jumped down still in his burning form.

"Man those Gold Ringers are tough to fight alone," he said.

"Riku?" Sora questioned. His face then contorted into fear. "Riku look out!" Riku turned around and saw the Maxi-Ringer heading towards him. He put his hands out and caught the wings. The hot temperature seemed to unfazed him and he managed to keep it at bay. Riku cast Dark Firaga from his hands straight into the wings. They fizzled away and the Maxi-Ringer collapsed in a heap. This time the actual body burned away into darkness. A giant, pink heart flew out of it and disappeared into the flames. When the heartless disappeared, all of the flames in the tower disappeared and seemed to be undamaged by burning. Riku had also returned to his original form and was also unhurt by the flames. The only person who seemed to be injured was Kairi.

"Hey. Is it over?" Kairi said weakly.

"Yeah Riku came and destroyed it," said Sora. "And he's back to his normal self."

"Oh that's brilliant," smiled Kairi. "Umm what are we gonna do about this mess?" Sora looked down and saw that the floor was covered in broken wood and dust. He looked up the hole that Riku had made and could see at least 7 floors up.

"I guess we can fix this up," said Sora. "I mean we did do this."

"No need to worry about that Mr Sora," said Quasimodo as he walked up the stairs. "You saved my tower. It's the least I could do."

"I guess I can stay and help too," said Artemis. "I mean the next competition doesn't start for a few months so I have time to waste."

"Yeah and good luck in that by the way," said Riku. "Anyway, we'd better be off. We need to heal Kairi properly and it also seems that the beings of creation aren't here."

"Well then I wish you luck in your endeavours," said Artemis. "Come on Quasimodo. I'll get the materials." They both walked off down the stairs and went out of sight.

"You know for some strange reason I think something was here," suggested Sora. "I mean who would attack a place like this. There has to be a reason."

"Well does it matter now," said Kairi. "All that counts now is that this place is safe and we can move on. You can put me down now Sora. My burns aren't too bad now." Sora did as he was told then the three of them walked away from the tower towards the ship. Little did they know, a cloaked figure had watched the whole thing. The cloaked figure then turned around, created a dark portal and disappeared.

Ooh so who was that figure who was watching them? Well I can't tell you just yet otherwise I might as well stop writing here and now. Thanks again to Ziddy2343 for his Hunchback of Notre Dame suggestion and his OC appearance. If you would like an OC put into the story, please send a world suggestion and then if you are accepted, I will ask if you wish to put forward an OC. Thank you for reading and I'll see you in chapter 12.