Kingdom Hearts: Final Confrontation
Another Showdown
The mighty General Gryphon stood vigilant over his enemies. He was a rather tall and monstrous man. He was dressed in black armor with white cape. His face was unlike anything Riku and Sora had ever seen before. He had a dark blue complexion like navy and a black beard upon his face. His eyes were a light orange. And upon his shoulder, he carried a giant stone mace. He glared at the KH team with those intense orange eyes of his, like two lit candles from a burning skull.
"If it's a fight you seek," Riku implied, "Then you've come to the right guys to battle."
"I don't know what it is that His Excellency finds so irritating about you, Riku." Gryphon uttered. "However, I can assure you that I will not allow you, or your friends to proceed any further! There is a grand opportunity before the Midnight Faction and I am not going to let you spoil it for us!"
"But what the faction is doing is wrong." Sora said. "What you guys are doing is for the well being of the faction itself. Not the people that you conquer."
"I order to unify all worlds as one, we must show a clenched fist and cold steel to our enemies and open the way to a new power, the new imperial power!"-
"But what means would you have gained? By subduing people, you only cause hatred and hopes of retribution against you! There will be nothing, but an era of endless chaos and rebellion. People should be allowed to live their lives in any way that they please! But forcing them to do something they don't want to do only causes a sentiment of scorn!"-
"That is why we must show harshness and ruthlessness to these people, so that they will never attempt to raise arms against the faction ever again."-
"For the sake of power and glory," Riku uttered. "You'll never achieve anything with that sort of twisted logic! If there is one thing I know, it's that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That is an experience that I have encountered myself and I never want to experience again." There was a silent pause before Riku began to speak again. "You seem all powerful when you have all this strength and hundreds of minions behind you. But strip a person of that and they are no more powerful than you. They are just another individual. I had encountered such a feeling of helplessness after I was stripped of my power and influence. But when I realized that I still had friends out there that cared for me; that was all the power that I needed."
"What you say doesn't matter!" Gryphon shouted. "Friendship and compassion are irrelevant compared to the ultimate goal of total unification. Don't you realize that if we integrate all worlds into one great melting pot, there would be a great amount of diversity? There would be no need for boundaries, or barriers. All people would be as one under the flag of the Midnight Faction."
"But by doing that, you strip people of their own identities as a society. What these people are hoping for is a life of peace. But you take that away by conquering them, subduing them, and exploiting them. And when they try to resist, you attack them mercilessly. Attempting to unify the worlds only brings more pain and suffering to the people who live on those worlds. And as long as they are suffering by the hands of tyrants like you, we will not back down."-
"Anyone who has enough nerve to form an alliance with the Heartless is out of their mind!" Sora implied. "What do you plan to achieve with the Heartless on your side? You'll never be able to obtain such a goal with them at your service!"
"The Heartless are merely a tool to help us further our expansion faster and more efficient." Gryphon continued.
"But by employing the Heartless, you have also become food for them. Rely on the dark powers too much and they will consume your heart!"-
"Not a chance! My heart is too strong to be consumed by the likes of them. Besides, I never rely on the Heartless to fight my battles!"-
"You'd be surprise how vulnerable your heart is…" Riku uttered.
"Now enough of your blathering," Gryphon said, deploying his mace before him. "Talk is cheap compared to taking action. I said that I would kill you two and I will."
"Why can't a person like you listen to reason?" Sora said.
"A person like him never listens to reasons." Triiken interrupted. He stepped forth before the two key bearers. "For ones like him, they need to be taught the hard way in order for the point to be drilled into that thick skull of theirs. So I hope you don't mind, but I will be facing this foe myself."
"But why would you get involved?"-
"I just hate his face that's all." Triiken stepped forward. "I shall be the one to fight you, Gryphon."
"You stay out of my way!" Gryphon demanded. "I have come to fight the key bearers! They are the ones that pose the greatest threat here! Not you! So get out of the way unless you want to die!"
"Me? Die? That's very amusing. You almost sound convincing."-
"Are you mocking me!"-
"Yes, in a way I am provoking you."-
"You mustn't value your life that much then if you have the audacity to confront General Gryphon of the Midnight Faction."-
"You assume too much and you think too highly of yourself." Triiken's mockery began to wear down on the faction general. "Are you just as big a novice as General Venti?"
"I heard that!" Venti shouted as he was being lead to the stockades.
"If there's anyone who thinks too highly of themselves, it's you!" Gryphon said
"Unlike you however, I know the position I'm getting into." Triiken replied.
"Shut up! You irritate me!"-
"Oh am I getting under your skin now? If I irritate you so badly, why don't you come here and force me to shut this hole in my face."-
"That's a very good idea! Then, why don't we start now!"-
"Man!" Sora uttered. "When Triiken gets under your skin, he really gets under your skin."
"Look at that fire in Gryphon's eyes." Riku added.
"He really wants to hurt him doesn't he?" Goofy implied.
"You think!" Donald shouted.
"Now die you ignorant scum!" Gryphon came charging head long with his mace. He swung the massive weapon at Triiken. Triiken at the last minute leaped over the attacking general's head. The mace itself caused a sonic boom due to the incredible amount of speed placed behind it. The KH team could feel the energy and ducked to the ground. The powerful sound wave blew everything within its path away."
"Did you see what I saw?" Sora uttered.
"That guy uses sound waves to cause destruction." Riku implied. "And it's all due to that giant mace. Some how, he's able to distort the air pressure and cause sonic booms."
"Not bad for a guy that's armed with such a bulky weapon."-
"Then again, I've never seen anyone who could do such a thing with such a massive mace. He's definitely not as big a novice as General Venti."-
Gryphon swung the mace so easily as if were a mere extension of his body. The mace posed no real maneuverability limitations, since it was less in length than the sword used by Venti. However, it's mass made it a rather heavy weapon to use. But that posed no problem for General Gryphon who was a master at using such a clumsy weapon.
"Unlike General Venti who thought he had an advantage mastering that massive 20 ft. sword, I have the special ability of causing ruptures in the air pressure around me with the mass of this mace and create powerful sonic booms to battle my opponents." Gryphon chuckled. "Venti thought that he had no weakness whatsoever with a large weapon like that sword to protect him. But he forgot to add one other factor into his equation and that was the length of that sword. Despite being lighter than most other swords, the length itself slowed him down and made even his quickest attacks seem slow and predictable." He continued to battle Triiken for an additional ten minutes. By now the area had been cleared and many of the queen's subjects as well as the KH team watched the intense battle unfold. Every time Gryphon unleashed a sonic boom, they would duck in fear. Gryphon continued his lecture while still fighting. "I however don't have length to make my moves predictable."
"You boast yourself too much and your blathering bores me." Triiken uttered. This caused Gryphon to cringe most hatefully towards his foe. "So far, despite swinging that bumbling monstrosity and causing fatigue upon me with that constant, meaningless chatter, you haven't even managed to cause the slightest bit of damage to me. Perhaps you should change your tactics. Just drop the mace and defeat your enemy by talking them to death with your mindless dribble. It seems to work on me."
"You dare to mock me! I will not have some lowly alliance dog show me up!"-
"Then quit your chatter and hit me with that clumsy weapon of yours."-
"Then die!" Gryphon suddenly leaped into the air and using the power of the mace, he slammed the weapon upon the ground. A burst of energy erupted and spread like a nuclear explosion for a mile, or so. The powerful attack nearly blew all within that one mile away.
"Did you see that?" Riku uttered.
"No, but I felt it." Sora implied, staggering to his feet. "How the heck did he manage to unleash and explosion like that?"
"What a rush." Donald said leaping back to his feet.
"Did someone get the number of that truck?" Goofy uttered.
They gazed upon the battlefield where the confrontation was taking place. There was utter silence upon the battlefield. Gryphon looked around, but there was no sign of Triiken.
"I guess I made quite an impression on him that time." He chuckled. "That fool didn't know what hit him."
"A fool am I?" a voice uttered. Gryphon looked around to see who spoke.
"Where are you! Show yourself!"-
"In my opinion, you are an even bigger novice that General Venti."-
"How dare you! Show yourself and say that to my face if you're not a coward!"
"Just looking at your face makes anyone a coward. You should consider a makeover. Or better yet…plastic surgery."-
"You insolent…show yourself!"-
"You certainly aren't very bright either. You've been looking around for me, but you didn't bother to look up." Gryphon looked up to see Triiken hovering in mid-air.
"But how did he manage to survive that attack at so close a range?"-
"Oh you found me. Congratulations, shall I give you a prize for that?"-
"You will regret mocking me!"-
"So far I've experienced no regrets for making sport of your idiocy." Triiken descended to the ground. "I wonder now if it was worth taking up the challenge with you. So far I am displeased with what I've encountered."
"Then, encounter this then!" Gryphon suddenly lunged forward unexpectedly and at such speed that the human eye could not possible register his movements. He swung the massive mace in front of him. "I will not allow myself to be insulted by a mere policeman of the alliance!" With one great crack, he smashed the mace against the side of Triiken's face. "I don't hear you making any wisecracks now. Hope you liked having your face broken." But Triiken straightened his neck out and crack his jaw. A drip of blood trickled down his face. This sudden twist of events caused Gryphon to stand with a shocked look on his face.
"A mere policeman you said?" Triiken chuckled. "I beg to differ. My reputation is far greater than you yourself know. But you mustn't be familiar with the outside world if you don't know who I am. If you did, you would not have bothered to challenge me from the start."
"How can that be! I slammed the mace across his face with everything I had, but he experiences no severe damage"-
"Did you see that?" Riku uttered.
"His face should have been jelly by now." Goofy implied.
"Triiken took that mace head on," Sora added, "And yet he has no scratch on him."
"This guy is something else." Donald said.
"I'm surprised that he was dubbed only as a mere general by the Dark Empire."-
"You didn't even bother concentrating the energy through your mace this time." Triiken uttered. "That's how you managed to create that power sound wave in the last attack. However, you thought that you had no need to do so when you thought that I was off my guard. But the reality is that I saw that attack coming head on and I could have easily dodged it. However, I decided to hold my ground and allow you to strike me. This way, when the conclusion revealed itself, you would realize that you stood no chance from the start." Triiken wiped the blood from his mouth, with his finger, and flicked it to the ground. "However, you have caused me pain and that is something that I can't allow you to get away with. Now is the time for me to fight back." Triiken suddenly unsheathed his sword.
"You mean all this time," Sora uttered as he watched, "Triiken has been fighting Gryphon with his sword sheathed?"
"He's too cool I think." Riku implied. "He knew that Gryphon never stood a chance against him from the start. But Gryphon must not have the ability to sense power levels."
"As of now, your death has been assured." Triiken uttered.
"Now it is you who talk too much." Gryphon uttered. "I'll be able to break your flimsy little sword with this great mace! And you will soon realize that a mere policeman could never face me and win, no matter how talented they are!"
"After all this time, you still don't realize who I am do you?"-
"I don't know and I really don't care!"-
"You soon will!" Triiken took his stance for the Noctin Exmortin.
"The Noctin Exmortin." Riku uttered.
"Then I guess Triiken plans to finish this fight with one strike." Sora implied.
"Now die, agent of the Alliance!" Gryphon roared as he attacked. "And realize your stupidity for facing me, General Gryphon of the Midnight Faction!" But as soon as he had uttered those words, there was a sudden flash of light and clash of steel. Triiken had suddenly appeared before him; his sword now relaxed at his side. There was a dead pause then.
"You never figured out who I am." Triiken uttered. "So let me tell you the code to which I live by. 'Death before dishonor.'" Suddenly, blood spurted out of a deep wound sunk in the middle between Gryphon's eyes. At the same time, the stone ball of his mace shattered into thousands of pieces.
"Arinario...Triiken…" he uttered before falling dead to the ground. Triiken swung his sword, forcing the blood of the glittering steel of his blade and sheathed it gently into its scabbard.
"Pity, such a waste of talent." He implied.
"That was an intense fight." Sora said as he and the others stepped upon the battlefield.
"He was definitely not as big a novice at Venti is." Riku said.
"But how did you manage to hold your own against him?"-
"That should be more than obvious." Triiken said. "He was weaker, less experienced. And by his tone, he was one who was battling for the sake of progress. That sort of cause is not one to truly motivate one's heart." Triiken began to walk away. "I will sort with the things here. You on the other hand have more pressing matters to attend to."
"Yeah, that's right." Donald said.
"We have to save the king." Goofy added.
"Then, let's be on our way." Riku said.
"Yeah." Sora implied.
"Once again, thank you very much for you help." The king of hearts uttered as he and his queen approached. "We could not have gained our kingdom again if it were not for you gallant efforts."
"There was no trouble at all."-
"Let's get going." Riku said. "More time we waste here, the more time we allow the Midnight Faction to carry out their plans." The KH team took one last gaze before returning back to the rabbit hole to where they had disembarked from the gummi ship.
As they had worked their way back to the gummi ship, Riku had been preoccupied and was rather slow when going back to the gummi. He would always take a second glance back as if he had forgotten something. As he looked back for a second or third time, he felt a hand gently lay itself on his shoulder. He turned to see Sora standing there with a concerned look on his face.
"Riku," he uttered, "You're having one of those nostalgic moments. What's on your mind this time?"
"Sirius Viicous…" Riku replied.
"What about Sirius Viicous?"-
"There's something about him that seems so familiar. Yet, I have no idea where I've picked up his energy before."
"You mean you might actually know who this guy is?"-
"I might, but I can't remember. It may be someone from my past, who has been long forgotten. But if they had been long forgotten, how come this feeling I have is so familiar to me. I had sensed this same feeling for sometime. And when we finally came face to face, that same aura grew more intense. I know that there is some link between us. If only I could remember."-
"Right now, we need to focus on the matter at hand. We have to save King Mickey and Queen Minney."-
"Don't forget about Daisy!" Donald shouted.
"Of course not!" Sora implied. He turned to Riku. "Let's go, Riku. I'm sure you'll find the answer that you're looking for." Riku, unable to speak, only nodded his head and joined the rest of the group to work their way to the next destination. But which world will they save next?
