Valour Guardians 5: Rise of Maleficent

by typhoonboom08

Peace is once again torn apart as Maleficent arrives, bringing her allies and countless Heartless with her in search for the ultimate power. With five Guardians captured and the rest fighting with allies, this may very well be more than they can handle.

14. Final Battle: The Keybearer's Sacrifice

AN: Hey, sorry about the overly long wait. It took a while to right and MUCH longer to convince my beta guy to check it over. On the bright side I've given you a huge chapter, so forgive me?.

Just gonna say thank you again to the people reviewing, sending me PMs and setting this story into favorites and alerts. Makes it worthwhile to write.

Speaking of which, Megaman Zero 2.0 suggested some new characters and scenarios to add in the future and I've agreed with a few of them so I was curious if anyone else had heroes or villains they want to make an appearance. If you have an idea I'll be happy to consider them.

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Final Battle! The Key's Sacrifice

While the others were stretching, groaning or relaxing their tense muscles, Namine, Kairi and Sora dropped to the ground, taking in deep breaths and trying to gather their strength. Raimundo, Kim, Ryo and Valerie were all in severe conditions by the time they'd reached them, horrifying everyone who saw them and astounding them that they were still alive. It had taken the bulk of Namine's restored power to get them all stable and healing them all close enough to a full recovery had left her and the light Keybearers all struggling to remove the black spots from their eyes.

"Are you sure you don't need healing too?" Sora asked a little sluggishly as he stood and picked up the little dragon. Though tired out, both from fighting and healing magic, he was a fair bit stronger than the girls and only had Roxas' level of talent in healing, not Namine's gift or Kairi's enhancing talents so he was back on his feet easily enough.

"No, no, I'm fine. Thanks anyway." Dojo smiled. "It's best that you save your strength and I'm not all that hurt."

"Dojo probably won't be fighting anymore anyway." Rai added, helping a grateful Namine to her feet. "Ben, Roxas, Donald and, until we get her powers back, Gwen are helpless right now. It'd be best if he stays back and protects them." He finished with a questioning look at the aforementioned green reptile.

"You bet. This way I can say that I helped without getting blown right into the middle of it." Dojo nodded, grinning mischievously, much like the monk.

"Before we do anything else, does someone want to explain what's happened to the King and Goofy?" Riku exclaimed, looking quite panicked as he pointed at the duo's still glowing bodies.

"The Heartless ripped their hearts out. They were the shadows that you destroyed." Kim answered sadly, causing Riku to freeze. "Their bodies started glowing as soon as their hearts were released. We don't have a clue why."

"But I have a way of finding out." Said Gwen. However, she didn't turn to the bodies, but rather her cousin. "Or rather, Ben can find out."

"What, me?" Ben was so stunned that he almost dropped Roxas. "How could I possibly do it? The Omnitrix was destroyed and even if it wasn't, I never had any aliens that played with magic."

"No, but you have magic. Roxas told you, remember?" Gwen replied. Moving behind him, she gently lowered Roxas to the ground and pushed Ben's back, leading him to the fallen bodies.

"Yeah, but it's weak and it revolves around mental stuff, like premonition or memory." Ben argued.

"Sensing magic is a mental art." Gwen rolled her eyes. "And that's not all you can do anyway. You're a sorcerer Ben, even if your magic specialises in the mental arts, you can still cast spells. You just won't be able to cast powerful ones and your mental skills and power will exceed them."

"Roxas never mentioned that I could cast spells." Ben raised an eyebrow, more out of confusion than anything else.

"Because he saw your magic mostly wrapping around your head and increasing your mental capacities far beyond any of ours." Gwen explained. "You can still cast spells, they just won't be as powerful or as easy to accomplish as they usually would be for someone with your level in power. But we can talk about that later. Right now, we need you to sense the magic around them and tell us what it's doing."

"How?" Ben asked, glancing nervously from his fallen allies to his cousin. "I don't have a clue how you do this."

"Don't worry, I'll walk you through it." Taking his hand, she gently guided him down into his knees and placed it on Goofy's surprisingly warm shoulder. "Take a deep breath and clear your mind." She started slowly. "Next you gather your energy and focus it around your head. In your case it's already mostly there and you're used to gathering power in your transformations, so this should be easy. The next step is to direct it to your eyes. After that, just focus on what you're looking at."

Taking long, slow breaths, Ben did everything she said, ignoring the intrigued eyes watching him. He had to admit she was right. Once he started, wielding this power seemed natural, like he'd known how to do it all along. He smiled as the magic responded to his command, sending a pleasant, soothing feeling through every part of him it touched. It was only a few seconds after Gwen finished talking that he felt the energy fill his eye and his sight changed, leaving the sorceress smiling brightly as the green and white was consumed in a pink glow.

"That's it Ben. Now focus on Goofy and Mickey and tell us what you see."

"The magic seems...solid." Ben responded, a confused tone entering his voice. "It's like a hard cacoon. But there's also magic underneath it. It looks and feels like it's pulsing against the cacoon, but it can't break out. And it's weird. The cacoon's energy on both of them feels a bit like the energy trying to come out of Mickey, but it's...purer I guess is the best word for it, than what's trying to come out."

"They did it on purpose!" Gwen exclaimed, shocking everyone and starling Ben so much that his magic receded to wherever it came from. "Or rather Mickey did."

"What do you mean? How can you tell?" Sora asked, sounding both curious and worried.

"Think about it. When Heartless are created, it is possible for a Nobody to also come into existence if the victim had a strong enough will right?" Gwen asked, getting nods from those from other worlds. "And even if the victim was a weakling, the Nobody would be very powerful. Mickey and Goofy are powerful already, and they have very strong wills, so they'd create powerful Nobodies and could have become a serious threat to us all. So, Mickey's cast a spell to seal their bodies' magic to prevent that from happening if they were defeated by Heartless."

"Seriously? Man, I've never even heard of a spell like that. How did he manage it?" Sora asked excitedly. However, it quickly drained away. "And will it help us get them back?" He asked, this time forlornly.

"Not unless we can find a way to send his heart back to his body, like anyone else." Ben shook his head sadly. "The seal won't let anything in or out, except for their hearts, if my assumption is correct, and it won't fall until either the heart returns or something breaks it. Though that's coming more from my intuition than my understanding of what I saw."

"Then we can't do anything for them now." Gohan stated his voice turning firm. "All we can do is make sure that their sacrifice wasn't in vain. We have to finish this."

"The question is, can we end this?" Jake broke in with a nervous frown, biting his lip. "Roxas, Ben, Gwen, Donald, Mickey, Goofy, they're all out. On top of that, only you, Riku, Danny and I are anywhere near full strength. And we're one door away from the most powerful villains yet. Do we stand even the slightest chance?"

"Wow, this must be bad." Kim couldn't help herself. "When Jake, Rai or Ryo get this far from cocky you know we're doomed."

"Not helping Kim." Danny sighed as morale only continued to fall. Everyone was either closing their eyes and lowering their heads in dread or scratching nervously, looking about ready to flee. Only Gohan, Gwen and Riku stood firm.

"Guys we have to try. It's taken too many sacrifices to get this far to stop now and from what I've gathered is true, Maleficent and her boys are about to become invincible. If we leave now, we'll never get this far again and they'll win for sure. We could very easily die today, but I for one am going to go without regrets. I'm going to do everything I can to stop this destruction from happening everywhere else."

"We're with you on that Gohan." Rai started, though his voice clearly told everyone that he wanted to run. "But how can we hope to accomplish anything?"

"We start by getting Gwen's magic back." He answered. "With it, she should be able to stand up to Maleficent, with a little help, leaving the rest of us only focusing on two."

"A God and a genie." Namine reminded him, her doubt clear to all. "Both at full power. just one of them could take down most of us in our conditions."

"I...might be able to cause Hades grief." Jake spoke up hesitantly, though it was clear to everyone that he had serious doubts in his own statement. "But I won't be able to beat him."

"There's plenty of us here to help with that." Valerie said fiercely, quickly regaining her confidence. "The ghosts included."

"NO!" Danny yelled, surprising everyone. "Hades is the Lord of the Dead. It's risky enough with me going in, we can't give him group of fully dead ghosts to possibly take control of. And even if he can't, who knows what he could do to them?"

"Then they stay and help protect those who can't fight." Riku replied impatiently. He'd had enough of talking. The sooner they blew down those doors and attacked, the less time the psychopaths had to prepare. It wasn't like they had the time for a complex plan and even if they did, Maleficent was probably watching and listening anyway. Summoning his Keyblade once again, he turned and marched right for the giant doors.

"Riku? What are you-" Sora started.

"One way or the other, this ends now." Was his only response, only increasing his pace forward. Taking a deep breath, Sora shoved all his fear to back of his mind and nodded, following after him. Riku was right, this had gone on long enough and Sora wasn't about to let Riku face whatever was to come alone.

Gohan and Valerie followed almost immediately, both looking fierce. They were warriors and not afraid of death. If they had to lay down their lives to save the innocents then so be it and may all who stood in their way of their goal fear the consequences.

Kairi and the remaining Guardians however, were a little more hesitant. They were all scared and though they wouldn't admit it, doubtful of there being any point attempt what was most likely going to be a hopeless battle and a pointless death.

However, that wasn't going to stop them. Steeling himself, Ryo put one foot in front of the other while the others simply decided to stand by their friends and followed.

They weren't likely to live. However, what Gohan had said held true. They had to fight to honour those that sacrificed themselves to get them this far. And if they died too...well, at least they'd die with honour, knowing that they gave it all they could.

...

"They're tougher than I thought." Hades grinned amusedly as he watched the team's healers getting to work. "To think so many of them got this far. This just might prove interesting after all."

"I doubt that." Jafar shrugged, completely uninterested in the magical image. "There might still be a lot of them, but most are reaching their limit. Even without the little...surprise Maleficent has set up, our powers far exceeded theirs."

"True, but don't get too cocky. It never ends well." Maleficent cautioned, cancelling the image of the heroes as they came their way. Setting down her staff for a moment, she put her hand into the folds of her robes and pulled out the blue crystal, letting her own magic dance over its surface and grinning malevolently as she felt Gwen's power pulse at her will. "We shall unleash our full fury on them."

Scowling, Jafar went to retort, but before he could the giant doors blew up with a deafening bang, spewing debris in all directions. Though all of it turned to ash long before it could touch Hades, Maleficent and Jafar were not so fortunate and had to shield themselves with their robes.

"Knock knock." Straightening their postures as the cold voice met their ears and the debris receded, the villainous trio found a livid Gohan standing right in the middle of the doorframe, a hand raised and still glowing from the blast he'd unleashed. On his right stood Riku, Sora, Kairi, Namine and Valerie, all bearing fierce glares and either a raised Keyblade, daggers or two wrist mounted ecto guns. On his right stood Rai, Ryo, Danny, Kim and Jake. Their glares just as firm, each one was tense and ready. Rai already had the Crest of the Condor activated, his arm poised to strike alongside Ryo's metal one. Danny had opted to raising the Fenton nine tails. Kim and Jake however, had forgone weapons, merely raising their fists and claws.

"Hmm, the kid has a flare for the dramatics. I like it." Hades commented casually. "Nothing says extravagant like blowing up the door on the way in."

"Ok, not what I expected from a dark God." Kim couldn't help but mutter, her glare slipping into confusion, though only for a split second.

"Oh trust me, he'll look more the part when he gets irritated. Don't let his aloft attitude fool you." Sora snarled. However, it was more to hide his anxiety than anything else. The simple fact was that without Herculeses and Auron, he'd never have survived his encounters with Hades. He only hoped that their combined power and skill was enough.

"This is where it ends." Gohan growled, turning his eyes from one villain to the next. "Right here and right now."

"I have an idea." Said Jafar, floating into the air. "What do you say that we skip all the clichés and get right down to the brawl?"

"Fine by me!" Riku snapped, jumping forward. Landing in the centre of the room, he slammed his glowing Keyblade into the ground and sent five small streaks of darkness through it, one heading to Hades, two to Maleficent and two shooting skyward towards Jafar.

Not one streak hit as the three villains simultaneously teleported themselves to different parts of the room, but before they could retaliate Gohan, Ryo and Danny had shot right into their faces.

"Have a nice trip!" Gohan snapped, snap kicking Jafar in the chest.

"See you next fall!" Ryo smirked, unleashing his thunderclap right into Hades' head.

"We need new clever quips!" Danny shouted, ensnaring Maleficent with the nine tails and flinging her down. All three villains went bug eyed as they shot down and crashed into the ground.

It didn't end there. Three different light blasts, dragon fire, a lightning bolt and a blue and two pink beams were all fired simultaneously, unleashing around the same amount of power at each villain and blowing them all back towards the other side of the room with shocked screams.

However, any pride or satisfaction the young heroes felt at their accomplishment disappeared as the smoke their attacks created cleared, revealing Maleficent, Hades and Jafar standing side by side and looking completely unharmed, the dust and a few rips in their clothes the only signs that anything happened at all.

"Is that the best you can do?" Jafar asked boredly, barely even looking at the flabbergasted teenagers. "It seems I was right Hades. They're not all that strong."

"What do you know, I guess they are all show." Hades sighed, looking almost disappointed. Though the look quickly changed to a dark grin.

"Impossible!" Sora cried, his voice shaking at the sight before him. The three of them were all extremely powerful, the strongest forces of evil he'd ever had the displeasure to run across outside the Heartless Ansem, but he could still hurt them. On top of that, all the Guardians had real power, hell Gohan was far stronger than him, and yet they still didn't even leave so much as a scratch! "That should have...they've never been invulnerable! How aren't they hurt?"

"Consider it an upgrade." Maleficent sneered, raising her hand. Gohan had just enough time to gasp as he caught sight of the crystal before it pulsed blue and green.

"Gwen's magic!" He shouted, dropping before the team. Panicking, he just managed to throw up a large energy dome before blackish green and blue magic surged right for them. however, it appeared unphased by Gohan's defence and spread out over it, shaping itself like a spider web and pushing down on the dome. Gohan grunted as the spell took shape, his entire form tensing visibly and his face scrunching up in intense determination. The pressure was immense and it was taking everything he had to stop his force field from popping like a balloon.

"Impressive child, but insufficient." Jafar smirked, raising his left hand as it developed a red glow. Gohan froze as he felt Jafar's energy mix with his own. A second later, Maleficent's web glided right through his shield like it wasn't even there and dropped down faster than any of them could react, crashing on them and knocking them to the floor with startled cries and minor grunts.

"What did he do?" Gohan cried gobsmacked, struggling and failing to free himself. The web was as sticky as that of a spider's and much thicker and tougher. Not particularly resistant to magic, even Gohan couldn't break through it.

"Simple, I altered the flow of your energy to free up space wherever the web resided." Jafar said casually, scanning over all the captured heroes with a superior grin. "Manipulating and reshaping energy in all its forms is the nature of magic after all."

"I've never even seen Donald pull off a trick like that!" Sora grunted, his face scrunched up in pain due to a web thread pressing down hard on his temple and pushing the other into the stone. "Or Maleficent and this is the first time Jafar's tweaked our powers. It makes me worried about what other tricks he might have learned."

"Oh, no need to worry." Hades smiled malevolently, raising his hands above his head. Kim sucked in a loud breath and her body stiffened in terror as she watched the flames around Hades' hands turn red and spin in circles before soaring up and gathering above him. It only took a few before a fireball the size of your average car was completed. "In fact, there'll be no need to ever worry about things again. Fry now." He added cheerfully, and with a casual wave of his fingers, he sent the ball down, right at them.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Unable to move a finger much less protect themselves, Raimundo, Kairi, Namine, Sora and Valerie shut their eyes and screamed. The rest of them could only tense up and stare in fear, denial and desperation as the source of their death turned into blue flames and dropped down onto them, already feeling the incredible heat it produced.

"NO!" From where he'd been watching back in the hallway with Gwen, Dojo and the unconscious and post living, Ben broke out into a run, effortlessly leaping over Dojo's large, coiled form.

"BEN, COME BACK!" Desperate to save his friends, Ben ignored Gwen completely and just ran faster while simultaneously concentrating on gathering his magic. He knew that it was pretty pathetic compared to everyone else's and he had no training in it, but he had to try. His eyes started glowing pink again within a few steps and it was in that moment that he almost stopped as an image flashed across his mind of Sora on his knees being consumed in a bright light, but he paid it no mind and focused as hard as he could into controlling his power.

Please let this work! Was the only thought that crossed his mind as he made it through the doors. With only a few seconds left, he jumped as high as he could and threw up his hands as he landed on an indignant Danny's back. "Contego!"

The relief Ben felt was so intense that it rolled off of him in waves as a large pink barrier appeared before him. A slight bit of irritation crossed his mind as he realised what colour magic he'd produced, not having noticed it before, but it was quickly overwhelmed and vanished completely as the fireball crashed into the shield. Though not powerful by anyone's standards, the shield proved to be sufficient as the fireball failed to pass it and exploded on impact.

"Oh, thank God." Gwen sighed, looking about ready to collapse as her fear dispersed. If that had been a flamethrower, Ben's shield would have been useless. Heck, with how little power Ben had and how little of it he actually managed to put into the spell, even when she saw the pink barrier appear she'd feared that the fireball would just blow through or consume it. Words couldn't describe how relieved she was that the flames weren't as stable as she'd feared.

"WAAHH!" However, the shield also failed to survive the collision and its destruction released a small shockwave that, though saving all the teens from the flames, blew Ben right off his feet, leaving him landing with his back pressed and sticking to the magical web and Jake's wing.

"ARGH! Your shoulder just struck a joint!" Jake cried, trying desperately to remove the painful pressure from his wing.

"Sorry." Ben groaned, turning his head to the dragon apologetically. "I'd get off, but I'm stuck now too."

"I don't believe it!" Hade's exclaimed, confused as to whether be impressed or insulted. "That little pipsqueak has just enough magic to fill a soda bottle and he still managed to stop my fire?"

"It appears that you're slipping Hades." Maleficent commented, amused by the situation and even more so by the scowl growing on the Greek God's face. However, she only caught that through the corner of her eye, for her interest lay in the boy. His magic had never been focused before, that much was clear both from what she could sense and how little he'd summoned, yet not only had he managed to cast a spell, but it was solid, perfectly cast. No doubt he'd watched his cousin before, but the fact that it came out so perfectly on the first try spoke volumes of his potential talent.

He'd make a good apprentice. She mused. His power is lacking, but that could be a good thing. He'd never succeed in defeating me no matter what I taught him. I'd have to do something about his righteous nature, but with my power that should be easy enough to handle.

Meanwhile, unnoticed by the snickering and scowling villains, Namine was already back at work, reaching out with her mind. She sighed in relief as she felt the minds of Ben and Gwen connecting with her own. With the magical knowhow of their adversaries, she'd feared that they may have blocked her most dangerous gift.

'Gwen, is there any spell Ben can use to break us free?' She asked quickly, startling the pair of them. 'We don't have much time here.'

'Yeah, I know one.' Gwen replied instantly. 'Ben, repeat after me.'

"Turbo!" Opening his hand flat, Ben focused as much power as he could into it as he cast the spell and grinned as a tornado made of pink magic roughly half the size of his leg rose from his palm. Shifting his hand, he guided it to the magic webbing as Gwen instructed him and watched with a huge smile as the swirling magic sucked the webbing up like water to a sponge and grew, the three colours mixing and shifting around each other. As the last of Maleficent and Gwen's power was sucked into his spell, Ben took Gwen's directions again and thrust his hands towards the startled villains, sending the shifting horizontal tornado right at them.

To say Maleficent, Hades and Jafar were stunned was an understatement. The idea that a weak, novice magician could manipulate the power of another's spell was ridiculous, yet here they were, facing down a vortex made up majorly of Maleficent's own magic. Jafar was so gobsmacked that he barely managed to raise his hand in time. But react he did and like Gohan's shield, he altered the shape of the vortex and made it dissipate harmlessly around them.

"An impressive trick, but insufficient against a being made of incredible magic." He sneered as Ben fell onto all fours. It was clear to all, magical or not, that he was already drained too far to cast even the smallest of spells. "You lack the power to have any hope of ever causing someone like me grief."

"You thinks so huh?" Jafar felt a cold shiver run down his back at the sound of the low, icy voice coming from behind him. It was at that moment that the last of the vortex disappeared and he realised his mistake: the spell holding down the still active heroes was gone and they had used Ben's spell not to attack, but to cover their actions. There was nothing but a split second after the voice before a flash of green exploded into his back, flinging him screaming away from his associates. Before he even began to slow down Riku appeared out of nowhere and Way To Dawn struck his side and propelled him to the right.

"Typhoon Boom Wind!" a fierce shockwave of wind, enhanced by the Crest of the Condor, slammed down into him next and sent him pile driving right at the ground only for the glowing Ultima Blade to intercept him and slash his chin. The end result was a rather satisfying, reverberating crash into a stone wall.

Jafar wasn't the only one taken for a ride though. Hades barely had time to blink before a ki encased foot stomped right on his face, knocking him flying backwards while at the same time a spiralling stream of what looked like white sparkles ran straight towards Maleficent.

Unfortunately, Maleficent was far more prepared and blocked the spell with a casual wave of her staff, grinning darkly as its caster, Kairi, gritted her teeth.

"Please don't tell me that's the best that a Princess of Heart and Keybearer can do." She sneered, raising her staff. But whatever she'd planned to do was quickly cut off as flicker in her field of vision just managed draw her attention and allow her to throw up her staff defensively just before a white clad foot would have smacked into the side of her head.

"Away with you, powerless fool!" Maleficent snapped, blowing a screaming Kim back with a small green flash from her staff.

"We'll show you powerless!" Valarie growled, soaring in crouched down on her board as a missile launcher appeared from below and fired away.

Unimpressed, Maleficent merely waved the crystal and stopped them in their tracks before, with the slightest twitch of her hand, sent them right back.

"ARGH!" Caught off guard and unable to respond, Valerie flew right into them, the resulting explosion knocking her clean off her board and doing some impressive damage to her suit before she crashed hard into the ground.

"Like I said, powerless fools, one and all." Maleficent drawled, looking quite irritated. "I grow weary of this display of incompetency. Forces of evil, unleash thy power!" As she shouted her command, the dark sorceress threw both her hands up at her sides and both the blue crystal and the green one of her staff flared with astounding and malevolent light.

"EVERYONE MOVE!" Kairi screamed. The power she could feel Maleficent unleashing was enormous, more than she'd ever felt from even Mickey or Donald. As she raised her Keyblade defensively before her face, the fact that it could very well kill them all could not removed from her head.

Flipping back to her feet, Kim ran straight for the struggling Valerie as what looked like two giant fireworks went off before Maleficent. Seeing them, she almost stopped to mock the evil spell caster's pretty display, but desperately increased her pace with a look of horror as she realised that not only had the fireworks not faded, but each speck of light had turned into a fast moving beam angling right for them. Jumping and flipping over the first to reach them, Kim just barely reached her target in time to put up a force field before Valerie would have been effectively obliterated.

Kairi however, wasn't even close to the other girls and jumping and dancing around faster than she'd ever moved before. Though thoroughly terrified, she stood her ground and pulled feats that she never thought she was capable of, flipping over, sliding passed and deflecting almost every shot to come near her with her Keyblade. The occasional ones got passed her guard and sideswiped her arms, hips and legs with quite a bit of force and had her screaming in pain, but even so she still managed to alter her form and use the momentum they gave her to avoid or deflect the next oncoming beam. If the first wave had been the end, all three girls would have been ok, but unfortunately more fireworks were exploding into existence. As that fact registered, both fighting redheads paled considerably; neither Kim's shield or Kairi's stamina would last through a second wave.

"Oh we are SO dead!" Kim cried, not taking her dinner plate sized eyes off the incoming assault. Behind her, the newly recovered Valerie could only nod in agreement.

"Oh no you're not! Justice Burst!" The girls cheered with both shock, relief and joy as a barrage of small, purple electrical blasts zoomed by like bullets all around them and colliding with the beams, eliciting explosions as the two attacks cancelled each other out. Few beams made it through the proud Justiman's assault at all and only one managed to be on target.

A fact that Maleficent was quick to curse, for with the distraction of evading countless blasts, Kairi was more than capable of deflecting the beam right back at Maleficent, who, thanks to the smokescreen of the explosions, failed to even notice it until it had hit her hip and sent her stumbling back.

"Man, do you have the best timing or what?" Kairi puffed, smiling gratefully at Justiman as the cocky hero stepped up in front of the girls.

'Just doing my job ma'am." Justiman grinned before turning a scowl towards the witch. He didn't need the clearing smoke to go away to know they were still in real danger, he'd watched Maleficent through his heat scanner the whole time and knew full well that she hadn't even sagged, much less hit the ground. "Be ready, this is far from over."

"Thank you captain obvious." Kim rolled her eyes as the smoke cleared, revealing the snarling sorceress. "If it was that easy to take this crone down, she would have been in chains two minutes after meeting Gwen, not terrorising our whole planet."

"An interesting move. One I didn't expect, I admit." Maleficent commented, her eyes fixated on Justiman's half covered face. "But your power will not protect you from mine. Strong and impressive as you are, your assistance will not change the end result of this battle."

"That's where yours and my opinions differ." Justiman retorted as he jumped her way, his metal hand growing quickly. "Thunderclap!" He quickly slammed it into the ground before she could react and released a vicious shockwave that shattered all it touched and sent shooting right for Maleficent only for her to levitate high into the air.

"Such a lousy parlour trick." She sneered, pointing her staff down and retaliating with a blackish green beam. The ground ducked and dived out of the way, leaving it to crash into the ground and toss debris as well, before Kairi and Valerie a fireball and a pink ecto blast respectively. Though Maleficent easily blew them aside, they kept her perfectly distracted while Kim and Ryo shot into the air after her.

"Voltage Blade!"

"AAH!" What looked like a rectangular plate of blue glowing glass was the only thing that saved Maleficent from being cut in half as Ryo brought his energy blade down on her head. However, despite his failure, he still managed to grin, something that sent Maleficent on high alert.

Too little, too late, for at the risk of her life she'd completely ignored Kim and the non- super powered teen was quick to take advantage of it.

"Thanks for the gift." Maleficent roared in rage as a smirking Kim blew passed and ripped her staff right out of her hands.

"RETURN MY STAFF AT ONCE!" Maleficent's roar was clearly heard by everyone in the room despite the bangs, cries and explosions going off every few seconds as she turned to Kim, though making sure that the blue panel exploded and tossed off Justiman, raising her hand as it glowed blue, black and green. Between her rage and the power gathering and growing in her hand, it was clear that the next spell would hurt if it hit.

"Thunder!" Fortunately for Kim, Kairi had seen it too and the lightning bolt she summoned, though basic, hit home right in the centre of Maleficent's back, reducing her gathering power to nothing as she screamed and spasmed. It didn't last long though and even Ryo couldn't hold back a shiver at the look of merciless rage that had grown on Maleficent's face.

Things weren't going too well against the other two either.

"Say monkey boy, why don't we try a ring of fire act?" Hades grinned, tossing fire rings merrily from each finger. Gohan was quick to respond, never slowing down or changing direction as he evaded every one on his way to the evil God.

"I'm not impressed!" Gohan growled, swivelling around one last group of rings before planting a bone breaking uppercut into Hades' chin. However, his eyes widened as Hades' grin turned into a smirk as he disappeared in a flash of fire and smoke, Gohan only being spared a very painful burn by the energy covering his hand. "Where'd he go?" He cried, forcing down his panic. He couldn't sense the Lord of the Dead's energy at all. He'd still be nearby, so why couldn't he-

"Burn baby, burn!" Gohan gasped as immense heat followed the creepy voice down to him and sucked in a deep, petrified breath as he looked up to find a large, but still very concentrated flamethrower pouring right down on him and it was already too close for him to shield himself from fire that intense.

"I'm d-"

"In a hot spot!" Gohan was cut off as something red and yellow cover his vision. His brain, a little slow from facing death, just managed to register the voice as Jake's as his body pulled into a ball and wrapped within rough scales a mere second before a discomforted grunt was accompanied by a huge amount of pressure and heat. Hisses and groans continued to leave Jake's mouth as the two were blown right into the ground, forcing Jake to wrap his wings around and press harder against Gohan to ensure he was safe from the rebounding flames surrounding them. however, when it was all over, Jake was still able to unwrap himself from the alien hybrid with no more signs of damage than soot, a few burnt scales and Jake tenderly rubbing his back where the attack had been most intense. "Ok, that smarts." He groaned somewhat childishly with a large pout covering his reptilian face. Despite the situation, it was still enough for Gohan to chuckle.

"Thanks for the save." He said appreciatively as he jumped back onto his feet.

"S'all good, sorry it took so long to join back in." Jake shrugged it off, wincing as the action shifted a few burnt scales. "Had to sort out the wing Ben landed on."

"Ok, how are you two still alive?" Hades asked confusedly, not that he looked all that upset about it. "Those flames were more intense than even what most spell casters could ever hope to produce. You should both be burned to a crisp."

"Hello, dragon?" Jake retort as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, pointing to himself. "As in magical creature who breathes and transforms in flashes of fire? I naturally have an extremely high tolerance for fire, DUH!"

"Oh yeah, that's true." Hades shrugged, tapping his head. "No matter. If fire won't do the job, then how about this?" He cackled as a very familiar, eerie green glow appeared over his hands.

"MOVE!" Gohan had only just manage to swing Jake away seconds before a green beam as big as Piccolo blew right through where he'd been standing. Turning around, Gohan what in terrified amazement as it continued on and blew simply enormous holes through every wall until it had reached out side and disappeared into the darkness, an event that captured every hero's attention.

"No way! Hades couldn't do that before!" Sora yelled, his voice filled with fear and disbelief as he dodged red lightning Jafar was summoning by the barrel full.

"That was ghost energy. MY energy!" Danny exclaimed, looking a cross between indignant and scared.

"How did you get that power?" Jake growled, blowing wisps of flames through his nose as he tried to bury his fear behind rage.

"That spitfire of a sorceress managed to get a small sample of ghosty's power before your little do-gooders interrupted her. After that it was easy enough to mix it into my being." Hades smirked, creating an ecto ball and tossing it up and down like it was a tennis ball. "Actually stealing the powers from you was the hard part."

"You have all Danny's powers?" Gohan mumbled, paling considerably. This guy was extremely powerful and even more dangerous with his natural abilities. If he had all Danny's power on top of that...

"...No, unfortunately not." Hades shook his head, though he never stopped looking amused. "The speck Maleficent got wasn't enough for the whole package. I still need him to get the power boost and his other tricks. However, ectoplasmic energy blasts aren't a bad start. Neither is intangibility for that matter. Or..." His grin turned into a very dark sneer then and a moment later even Gohan was visibly shaking at the sight of no less than five copies of Hades. "Cloning." All five finished smugly.

"Dun dun duh, we're dead." Was all Jake, ever the smart aleck dragon, could say.

Jafar was even worse. The moment he'd risen from the initial assault, he'd become unmoveable. They were hard pressed just to get close for the former advisor had black clouds circling all around him at all different levels of altitude, unleashing lightning bolts everywhere. Danny quickly tossed all of his equipment simply to avoid attracting ever bolt of electricity coming down and visibly flinched as it was all obliterated. However, that action had giving both Danny and Raimundo an opening and they fully intended to capitalise on it.

"Dude, that ugly mug of yours is shocking enough on its own." Danny jibed, pulling himself into a spin, raising his hands and unleashing his ice power much like he had against hook, completely freezing all of the clouds level and below him, cutting off the lightning production.

"WIND!" Using a burst of wind from his feet to increase momentum, Rai shot up faster than the eye could see and threw the strongest punch he could right into Jafar's face...

"AAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!" Only to scream as excruciating pain as almost every bone from his knuckles and down his fingers broke, the snapping and crunching audible to everyone nearby. Jafar just smirked victoriously in response, cackling as Sora, Riku and Danny's faces turned panicked, astounded and disbelieving.

"My turn." Jafar's smooth voice was quickly accompanied by a backhand punch of his own that landed squarely where Rai's arm and shoulder met on the opposite side of the broken hand, the thunderous boom of the contact drowning the crunching as more bones were shattered, and sent Rai plummeting at break neck speed to a corner of the room, screaming all the way. It was only a reflexive cacoon of wind and his armour cushioning the impact that save him from an instantaneous death, though it was clear that he'd quickly fall into shock and a much more painful death if he wasn't treated quickly. As it was, he was already swimming in and out of consciousness and in more pain than any of them could imagine.

"Wudai Warrior!" Danny shouted as he created two clones, sending both to check and protect the fallen warrior. He was quite tempted to forget the fight and go to him himself, an urge shared by every Guardian. Unfortunately, Hades and Maleficent only took the event as a reason to press harder, seemingly not wanting to be one upped by the genie and could barely find the time to spare a glance. After a few failed attempts to escape battle, Gohan, Jake and the others were forced to give up and returned all their attentions to their foes, lashing out in vengeance.

"How did you do that?" Sora screamed, quickly turning livid at how smug and pleased with himself Jafar had become. "You were never that strong!"

"You'd be surprised what magic can give you with the right ingredients, such as blood." Jafar smirked, letting his eyes noticeable waver to where Gohan was letting loose a particularly violent dozen ki balls. "Something that Saiyaman was exuding constantly before you all interfered."

"Saiyaman's powers." Danny muttered, everyone in hearing range paling completely white as that thought registered.

"Combined with the magical power of a genie." Sora continued, so horror struck that he could barely stop himself from falling to his knees.

He's basically unstoppable. Namine couldn't stop herself from not only shaking, but also opening up a portal to the farthest world she could reach as she made her way to Rai. Between the three of them, every possible weakness that Sora and others had exploited in the past was covered or removed. They were extremely dangerous alone before coming to Earth, but now together and with the powers they'd gained from three of the most impressive Guardians, they were completely invincible. I might do him a favour if I stab his head and end his life instead. The thought sickened her, but as much as she hated it, she still felt a ring of truth to it as she started healing Rai. Chances were she was only preparing him for a longer, more painful death.

"This isn't a hospital girl!" Jafar scowled as the light drew his attention. The Danny clones stiffened as he waved his hand and grabbed Namine and Raimundo, just managing to turn them all intangible before deadly stone spikes burst from both the floor and the joining walls.

"Hey, haven't you ever heard the rules of war?" Sora glared, his fear forgotten as his rage took over and tossed his Keyblade like a boomerang. "Medical tent's off limits!"

As a weapon made of magic, Gohan's power couldn't protect Jafar from the blade, forcing him to deflect it with his staff, a move that left him wide open as an invisible Danny swung out his crossed arms and two beach ball sized ecto blasts straight into his chest.

"Oh, do stop that tickles." Jafar drawled with a sly grin, wiping imaginary dust off his robes. Danny frowned hard and bit his lip at the absolute lack of a reaction, but also to hide his grin. Though there strikes had yet to work, they had still managed to hold his attention long enough for his clones to take Namine and Rai back to Gwen and Dojo.

Riku however, seemed to take offense to Jafar's words, for with a great leap he lashed out with a diagonal slash up at Jafar's exposed back, only for the still unfrozen clouds to unleash lightning bolts again. Using a small burst of dark magic, Riku thrust himself back toward the ground while throwing Way To Dawn into the air, letting it draw the lightning away from him before resummoning it to his side and pointing it at Jafar's turban.

"Dark Volley!" With a furious roar, Riku unleashed dozens of rapid fire dark blasts that had Danny yelp and flying as far away as he could. However, Jafar barely turned to look as his eyes flashed red. Not a second later the few blasts reached an inch from Jafar only to stop right in midair.

"Heh, baby magic." Jafar snorted as every shot stopped moving and just floated there alongside the first ones, leaving Riku gritting his teeth frustratedly as he ended his spell. "A Wudai Warrior, a dragon, a Nobody, a magician and four Keybearers and all you have up your sleeves is parlour tricks. How about I give another demonstration of what real magic can do?" With that he raised his index finger and fired a red stream. Quick on his feet, Riku dodged it no problem, however, as it hit the ground and ran through it and right under Riku's feet. Before Riku could so much as gasp, the stone sprung up and wrapped around his legs like vines and continued on to do the same to his arms. Grunting, struggling and squirming with all his might, he failed to notice as Jafar's smirk turned malicious. Then, with the clenching of the genie's hand, thick spikes burst out from the rock vines on all sides. His blood drenching his clothes and the stone Riku threw his head back and released the most agonised scream to be heard all day.

"We're getting slaughtered out here." Kim cried, diving into an army roll as a trio of comets zipped by and flinching at the intense heat they gave off.

"And it's only going to get WORSE!" Maleficent exclaimed as her power flared and swirled around her before, with a thrust of her arms, it exploded outward as streams of green and black fire across the ground. With Kairi pushing Valerie out of the way, each of the young heroes managed to avoid the initial assault, but the flames continued to rise and connect to each other until they formed a large, tall pentagram. The walls of fire cut each teen off from the others, excluding the still united Red Huntress and Princess Keybearer, while Maleficent cackled away in the very centre.

"No." Gwen whispered as she watched on from beside the motionless forms of Ben and the victims, her skin breaking out in sweat as she took deep breaths, her panic reaching new bounds. "No, you have to move!" She shouted, running straight towards the door and into the enemy's firing range as she waved her hands around desperately to get their attention. "You're in a pentagram and they quickly draw ENORMOUS amounts of power to the centre. As long as she's standing there, she's unstoppable."

"Quite true." Maleficent grinned as her opponents turned horror struck. "And anyone within the points is at my mercy!"

"AAHHHH!"Kairi's heart rate went through the roof as she turned to run, only for her body to completely freeze on her within two steps and glow with very distinct aura. It seemed impossible, too horrible to be true! Maleficent hadn't so much as muttered a word and waved a finger and as powerful and talented as she knew Maleficent was, even she couldn't just will things to happen.

Other cries were quick to join hers for once again, without the slightest sound or motion, Maleficent enforced her will upon them and lifted all four of them into the air.

"H-how are you..." Valerie stuttered, all her previous bravado gone with the wind. "You didn't move...o-or say anything."

"Like I said, anything in the points of the pentagram is at my mercy." Maleficent repeated smugly. "As long as I stand in its centre, the pentagram itself can be the channel needed to use my power. I only need the addition of words or actions for the most complex of rituals, so long as my prey also lies within this star."

"Does it handle prey with bite?" Valerie asked, trying to sound tough again as a laser grew out of her shoulder and fired. Maleficent didn't even bat an eyelash as the beam got halfway to her before performing a U-turn and flying right towards the battle with Hades.

A battle that was not going well. Gohan was in a flurry of motion, back flipping, sliding across the ground, army rolling and flying in loops just trying to avoid the flamethrowers and ecto blasts that never seemed to end, Jake doing much the same a few feet away.

One Hades was bad enough. But now, with four clones that were almost as powerful as the original and the constant, fiery teleportation trick being used by all five, it was all they could do just to stay alive and they were tiring fast.

"I can't take this anymore!" Jake growled, looking around in pain induced fury as an ecto ball clipped his tail. His jaw drawing into a snarl as the telltale smoke of Hades' appearance popped into existence fifteen feet away from him, he shot up straight at him as fast as his wings would carry him, ignoring the deadly green beams passing by on either side of him.

His target had clearly been intending to strike Gohan while the Saiyan was trying to correct his flying after a blasts sideswiped his shoulder, for it was spinning flames that appeared in his hands. However, he sucked in a deep, startled breath as He noticed Jake climbing for him and quickly switched targets.

"You might be a dragon, hatchling, but I'm a God! Do you really think you can handle my flames?" Hades jeered as he realest a torrent of extremely powerful flames.

Despite that, Jake didn't change his course. Growling under his breath like a wild animal, he pushed his wings even harder, raised his claws before him and flew right into it.

His every cell screamed at him as the flames consumed him, many of his scales actually burning away. As much as he hated to admit it, Hades was right. There was no way he could withstand such flames for long and he doubted that this was even close to the full extent of Hades' power. But he pressed on anyway, forcing his charring wings to press on up and through, forever closing in on his target.

"NO WAY!" Hades exclaimed, astounded as Jake reached the top of the flamethrower and burst free of it, just as much black as he was red, but still looking fierce and battle ready. His claws red as the fire in his eyes from the super hot flames, Jake ploughed his right hand across Hades' face with so much force that his upper body bent to the left a split second before Jake's left hand slashed through his gut and dug out deep gashes. Hades jerked and spasmed for a second his eyes and mouth wide , before he disappeared, this time imploding in green and grey smoke, very similar to the destruction of Danny's clones.

It was at that moment, when his objective was completed, that the damage he had taken to achieve it finally found clear entry to his brain. He let out a primal roar and tensed and spasmed as a sensation like white fire dancing over his human skin covered his entire being, losing altitude quickly as his wings stiffened and refused to move an inch. He was so lost and drunk on pain that he never noticed another Hades poof nearby, his hands glowing a particularly bright beam as he raised them over his head. A brightness, Gohan realised as he turned to it, that had only been seen before when Danny was putting as much concentrated power as he could into his beams.

"JAKE!" Gohan screamed as an unbearable level of fear ran through his system. Hades was already releasing his blast, one Gohan could sense more power within than even his father could have ever hoped to create, and his reptilian friend would never be able to avoid it in time.

"YAA!" Swinging both his arms out, Gohan unleashed two arcing beams to his sides, effectively halting attacks from the other three Hades', and flew as fast as his body would take him towards Jake...only for a pink beam to strike him in the cheek.

"ARGH!" Unprepared, the blast sent him spiralling out of control and unable to pull to an instant end, Gohan felt his heart freeze. Tears quickly pooled at his eyes as the fact that he could not do anything to save Jake came crashing down upon him and a heart wrenching wail escaped his lips.

But then, just as he had given up all hope of saving the scorched dragon, hope appeared in the form of pure light and Gohan's heartache was replaced by joy as the light grew into a very familiar portal opening right in between Jake and the beam, its sister portal appearing behind the attacking Hades. Namine, you are too good to be true. Gohan cheered.

The only problem, one that quickly made Gohan's fear for Jake return, was that it took too long to grow. Though most of the ectoplasmic beam was consumed by it. A small portion still made it through on the side and struck home; blowing a hole right the American Dragon's wing and doing considerable damage to his side. Yet another ear splitting scream echoed throughout the room as his sped up decent had Jake slamming into the ground before slumping lifelessly. The fact that the energy passing through the portal collided with and destroyed the clone that unleashed it did little to comfort the remaining teens even after Gohan and Namine found enough energy and subconscious activity respectively to determine that the dragon was still alive. He was so badly injured that, like Raimundo, he may soon die anyway.

"Wow, didn't see the lightshow coming." One Hades mused, eyeing Namine curiously as she rushed to Jake's side.

"I should be embarrassed, my moves being thwarted a second time by a magical amateur." Another frowned, scratching his head. "Even Dragon boy's success seems degrading."

"Oh, what does it matter?" The third Hades shrugged, closing his eyes with a very uncaring look on his face. "More clones can be made in an instant and scales is out. Let's just move on and take down this world's answer to Wonder Boy."

Caught between rage at the dark God and concern for his friend, Gohan positioned himself between the two, gathering as much energy into his hands as he could as he dropped into a defensive stance. Namine was already doing what she could for Jake and without the Senzu Beans there was nothing Gohan could do for him, so he settled for protecting them until Namine deemed Jake's condition stable enough to waste time sending him through a portal to the others. Only then would he release his aggression.

"Why thank you my dear." Maleficent sneered as Valerie paled. "Your help is most appreciated."

"Then what do you think of mine?" Ryo growled, his whole body glowing purplish blue as he pulled himself into a spin and quickly grew in speed despite the spell's intent to hold him still. "Voltage Blade!" Every bit of his glow immediately surged to his metal arm and created the longest energy blade he'd ever produced, coming right around at Maleficent's throat...only to stop an mere centimetre away from the unflinching sorceress.

"Impressive, but pointless." Maleficent said calmly, completely unphased as Ryo's breath hitched. "Now, how about I show you what happens when technology finds itself the focus of too much magic?"

Her widening eyes was the only hint they got before what looked like green and blue lightning surged all over Valerie, Kim's battle suit and Ryo's metal arm and helmet, eliciting blood curdling screams from all three, none of which ended until a small explosion came from each and sent all three teens crashing into the ground. They were all fortunate enough to fall safely over the flames and outside the pentagram, however, they were all wracked with severe burns wherever technology met their flesh.

Valerie's suit had disappeared by the time her body met the stone, revealing her charred skin, a pained whimper was all the only sign of consciousness she produced. Beside her, though her suit was still intact, hiding the bulk of her injuries, Kim was in no better condition.

Ryo was the one exception. Grunting and crying out as his body visibly throbbed, he grabbed the top of his metal arm and forced it off of him, revealing his burnt sleeve full of holes, though it seemed that the protective, durable material and his enhance durability had manage to protect him a little, for his arm only bore angry, red burns rather than black, charred skin. He then removed his helmet with shaky fingers to reveal much the same around the upper part of his face, and an inch of his hair all around his forehead burnt.

"No. Please be ok." Kairi muttered, tears pooling in her eyes. She felt absolutely helpless. Unlike Justiman, she couldn't so much as twitch, her Keyblade hanging uselessly at her side, and it was driving her crazy. She'd come to help people, that was all she wanted to do, like Sora, but all she did was become a damsel in distress. She couldn't even use her power to heal their wounds in her condition. Sobs left her mouth as gazed over the battle to find all her friends, new and old, getting horribly hurt and the fact that there was nothing she could do sank in.

Grunting, Roxas placed his hands on Dojo's curled body and forced himself to his knees, grimacing at the sight before him. Only Dojo and the ghosts had noticed with everything going on, Roxas had awoken from his sleep a while back and had listened with a growing need to help as the sounds of battle and pain grew more and more horrid. He hated how weak and pathetic he was. He hated that he couldn't do anything to heal Rai or Jake when they were brought to his side. Namine, in a need to save her own strength, had only just healed them enough so their lives weren't in immediate danger and there was no way they could help either anymore. He hated that prevent the overload induced explosions that had burned Kim, Ryo and Valerie. He even hated the fact that he couldn't save that pain in the neck Riku from the stone thorns still imbedded in his limbs, the only things holding him up. He hated being useless!

"They need help." He muttered to himself as Jafar took the darkness blasts from Riku and quadrupled their size.

"You'll pay for that, Turban Head!" Danny yelled, swooping in and firing a shockingly bright beam right for Jafar's heart at the same time Sora sprinted in on the ground.

"I highly doubt that." Jafar drawled as he waved his hands. Danny's beam broke its straight line and spiralled around the genie's form before swirling towards Sora. At the same time, the dark blasts were released. Danny's blood ran cold as they flew on a direct course for him, their speed having increased as much as their size. Not able to do so much as put a shield in time, he instinctively threw up his arms to cover his face and screamed as each and every one hit its mark, sending Danny crashing down to the ground with enough force to create a small crater. Fortunately, Sora had more distance between him and their foe and managed, albeit barely, to dive and army roll out of the ecto beam's way.

"There has to be something I can do." Roxas muttered desperately as his eyes turned to the fight with Hades.

"Feel the heat!" One Hades cackled, sending two streams of fire Gohan's way.

"GGAAHHH!" Gohan's shriek made Roxas and Namine flinch and wish they'd covered their ears. The Saiyan hybrid had managed to avoid the brunt of the flames, but his tail got singe, leaving him falling to the ground in a considerable amount of pain. He only just managed to recover enough in time to stop another Hades that appeared beside him from shoving his wicked, claw-like nails into his head. Even so, Gohan's moves had grown considerably more sluggish.

Not far from him, the third Hades had taken to charging in at Namine. The blonde lashed out with her daggers only for him to go intangible before solidifying himself behind her, fire already flaring to life in his hands. It was only a quick thrust of her palm downward and a portal snapping into existence beneath her feet for her to fall through that saved her from being incinerated.

"At this rate they'll all die." Dojo actually twitched in discomfort as Roxas' hands tightened around his scales. Something Dojo found strange. It was a feat in itself for a strong, healthy man to cause his enlarged form irritation. The fact that Roxas had managed that kind of strength when he could barely stay conscious...

"Once again, your heart is within my grasp." Maleficent said silkily, Kairi crying out and struggling as hard as she could as the dark sorceress willed her in close. The desperate redhead just glared in response. Struggling was pointless, she knew, but that didn't mean that she was going to give Maleficent the satisfaction of seeing her giving up. "With Kingdom Hearts within my grasp, I don't really have need of it anymore, but I think I'll take it anyway. After all, you never know what the future holds and it's always better to have a backup plan in motion."

"Please let there be something in here!" Roxas cried, whipping out his spell book, surprising Dojo, Ben and the reawakened Rai and Jake with the stability and speed his form suddenly had again. However, before they could make any comments, they found themselves groaning and shielding their eyes as the Keystone glowed even brighter than before.

"A purging spell! That could help, but I'd need to touch them. Damn it, whatever spell I find, I'd need more power to use it."

"Just stay down Roxas. You're in no condition to help." Dojo said softly, looking down at the distressed blonde with sympathy. The poor kid felt a desperate need to help, but was helpless himself, a horrible feeling that Dojo shared. With all his strength still intact, even Dojo would only die if he went to join the fight. What made it even harder for the dual Keybearer was that, had he not been crippled by whatever was happening to him, he could have given them an edge. With two Keyblades, he was more powerful than any of the Keybearers present, maybe even more so than Mickey, and his talent with light magic would have had a seriously damaging effect to all three wielders of the dark.

"NO! There has to be something I can DO!" Roxas yelled, his eyes looking wild with desperation. However, just as he finished talking, something within him snapped. His tense body slumped and relaxed before his pupils disappeared, leaving his eyes blank, emotionless crystal blue pools.

"Roxas!" Ben cried with more than a little panic, forcing himself to his feet and grabbing the blonde by the shoulders. "Are you ok? What's happening to you?"

"Roxas isn't here anymore Ben." The whole group, the ghosts included, jumped as the unfamiliar voice hit their ears and, bar Ben and the nearby Gwen, nearly jumped right out of their skin as they found a greying haired man in a lab coat standing within Dojo's coils.

"Hey, how did you get in here?" Dojo snarled, opening his mouth just enough to reveal a threatening display of fire.

"Calm yourself Dojo, I am a friend. Ben and the Guardians know me as Professor Paradox." The scientist smile casually, completely unphased as usual before turning to Ben and Roxas.

"What did you mean by 'Roxas isn't here anymore'?" Ben snapped, not in the mood for Paradox' casual nature or riddles. "He's right here!"

"I meant mentally." Paradox responded, his voice turning serious. "Roxas has been growing considerably weaker, because, unlike Namine, his body has not completed itself and is much more closely linked to the originals that he comes from. The part of him that came from Sora has been returning to Sora with every physical connection that has been made between them. In fact, so much has already returned that the only reason Roxas has still existed up to this point was because of the Keystone of Bezel. Almost all that remains of him now is from Ventus and as such, When Roxas' desperation overwhelmed him, Ventus' unconscious mind took over."

"What will that do?" Jake groaned before hissing at the pain talking caused him. "To Roxas? Or to us."

"You'll see in, oh, about five seconds." Paradox answered cheerily, pulling out his pocket watch. He spent but a second looking at it before smiling at the battle. Confused, the others conscious turned to the fight, keeping a worried eye on Roxas.

"Explosion!" Sora exclaimed as Jafar casually created metal spikes all around him. The rotating light balls quickly appeared, destroying them all as they approached.

"Magical Ball!" Namine shouted, aiming her daggers for the middle Hades as she created and fired a purple outlined ball of light.

Kairi's glare intensified as Maleficent raised the staff to her chest. There was no way she was going down without a fight. Even if she did die in the end, she was going to cause Maleficent a considerate amount of pain in the process. Gathering all the energy she could, she waited just until Maleficent was in range.

"Holy Burst!" Screaming in shock and pain, was blown back as light released itself from Kairi's body. The spell created what looked like a model solar system, with thin rings spinning around her, each with a bowling ball sized light connected to it like a planet and a number of small, streaking lights like meteors dancing through it. Kairi smiled with joy as she not only threw off Maleficent, but also dispelled whatever magic was holding her, letting her drop freely to the ground.

"And here we go!" Paradox cheered.

True to his word, the others gathered watched in amazement as Roxas raised his hand, the appendage beginning to glow white and yellow.

"Huh?"

"What the heck?"

"What's going on?"

Sora, Kairi, Namine, Jafar and Hades all gaped as Namine and Sora's light balls, along with every wisp of light Kairi had circling around her, was all pulled right off course, heading towards the door.

"WHOA!" Gwen cried, diving to the ground as the surge of light passed by. She, like all the warriors still in the throne room fighting, had just enough time to look up before all the light converged and flew right into Roxas' raised hand and consumed his entire being.

"ARGH!" Jafar screamed, shielding his eyes. "What is that brat doing? It burns!"

"Oh man, that's a lot of light!" Hades shouted, barely noticing his two remaining clones blowing up when it touched them.

"Since when does Roxas have that kind of power?" Gohan asked, watching on incredulously through shaded eyes.

"I'm not sure that is Roxas." Namine responded worriedly, biting her lip. "His mind feels completely different and I can barely get in. I don't understand it, I could always feel him." She added, falling into a full blown panic at the disconnection.

"Worry about it later, use the distraction to get the other injured fighters out of here." Gohan ordered, as much to get her focused on something else as to help the hurt. They could worry about the connection problem later, when they had more information. Biting her lip, Namine hesitated for a split second, but nodded and took off for Kim and Valerie.

When the light finally faded, the others could only gape at the young man before them. He was basically the same, however, his muscles had become a little less bulky and more streamline, though you still got the feeling that he was even stronger than before, and all the few injuries he'd acquired were gone, along with any sign of fatigue.

The other change was his clothes, though they still held similarities to his old ones. Black pants with white patches that ballooned a little around his knees cover his legs while his torso bore a high neck black shirt under a grey vest with white angular patterns on the bottom and over that, a short sleeved jacket that was white on the right side and black on the left with a red collar. A pair of black straps cross over his chest, holding his jacket in place, and are held together by a pendant that Namine and Sora recognised as a flipped version of Organisation Thirteen's symbol. In addition, he also wore a belt of dull grey and green armour around his waist that matched the piece on his left shoulder and his street shoe designed, armoured boots. He still had his wristband as well, but it was on the opposite wrist and instead of a black outline, it possessed a white one.

"Everyone, I introduce to you, the Master of Light. Ventus." Paradox stated proudly before raising an eyebrow at his watch. "Hmm, either my watch has stopped, or he revealed himself a few seconds early."

"The Master of Light?" Gwen asked, tilting her head.

"Yes. As you saw, Ventus has the power to control light. A power that is greatly needed for one who possesses his destiny. But even he has yet to learn of his true calling and he hasn't truly awoken yet, so we'll leave that story for now. Just enjoy the show while you can." Paradox grinned as Ventus walked to and through the doorway, his blank eyes taking in everything at once. They were enough to make even Jafar, Hades and the rising Maleficent shiver at the sight, for not only were they still blank and trancelike, but there was now a very distinct light hidden behind them.

"Do you feel that?" Hades asked, all his cocky bravado gone as he stared on with nervousness and, if Gohan wasn't mistaken, fear. "Please tell me I'm imagining that power."

"This is unbelievable." Maleficent said breathlessly, flinching as she sensed his power. "He wasn't even that powerful the first time I saw him, and definitely not when we were at the waterfall. He was barely a speck of magic just a moment ago, where did he get this much power?"

There's even more than I imagined. Raimundo remembered the Freight Knight saying those words when he'd acquired Roxas' power. Ventus' power must have been hidden within Roxas this whole time. The part of Roxas that was Sora must have been suppressing it. I wonder how powerful he truly is?

"Deities of darkness. Your time here is at an end." Ventus stated, his voice calm and emotionless as he raised his right hand again. With a brilliant flash of light, he summoned just one Keyblade. However, if that wasn't shocking enough to the watching Guardians, they were astounded to discover that it was neither Oathkeeper or Oblivion that rested backwards in his hand.

The new Keyblade looked more like a sword than a key. It had slightly longer and thinner blade than Roxas' beloved blades, with teeth being much smaller, making the blade more streamline and easier to manoeuvre. It was dominantly an ivory colour of varying shades, the shaft lighter than the teeth and handle bears while the handle itself was black. The only exceptions to the colouring was the red, broken heart in between ivory angel wings spread out upward that made up the teeth and the miniature double at the end of the keychain. The handle bears, though there was no red to be seen, also bore the same design. The only other details that caught the staring spectators' attention was that the shaft started as two separate blades that united in the middle. All in all, this Keyblade appeared to have a far more deadly appearance to it than any other Keyblade even Sora had ever seen before. Way to Dawn looked much more frightening, but this Keyblade was the perfect weapon for the quick kills of an assassin.

"Ah, Lost Memory. One of the three legendary Keyblades of the light and once again in its master's hand." Paradox sighed happily, before turning to Sora, Kairi and Riku as Namine assisted them in healing the latter. "Watch closely Keybearers, for what you are about to see is the power and skill it takes to be a true Keyblade Master. A title Ventus has all but officially earned."

"This boy has power, even I will admit that." Jafar scowled, having heard every word and far from pleased. "But do not insult me by telling me he is powerful enough to defeat me alone, let alone have the power and stable form to alter the course of this battle. Even I can see that one blow is all it will take to destroy his body."

"Jafar is correct. His own power is creating considerable strain on that crumbling shell of a form." Maleficent agreed, a blue glow emerging from the crystal in her left hand while her staff glowed green in her right. "This will end quickly and earn you nothing."

Ventus however, seemed to have other ideas, for at that moment he dashed right in, the others watching in awe as he moved faster than even Gohan could run. The villains seemed unprepared for his speed too, for before Hades could do any more than blink his eyes at the sight before him, a flash of ivory and a sudden, explosive pain had already struck from his hip to his opposite shoulder, sending him back a good distance before he could even cry out. However, that was only the beginning, as Ventus, not losing the slightest bit of momentum, spun on his foot and lashed out with two clean strikes, instantly cutting the remaining clones like they weren't even there and destroying them.

"No way." Gohan gasped, an astounded smile on his face. "He just took them out like they were stick figures. Incredible."

"So you're fast. Let's see if it helps you with me!" Jafar growled, raising his hands and warping the ground to unleash tall, metal spikes. Ventus' face remained as blank as ever as he not only avoided being skewered, but, thanks to the protection of his metal shoes, actually used them as stepping stones, jumping from one to another just as fast as he'd ran before on his way to a scowling and slightly scared Jafar.

"NO! I will not be made a fool by this knock-off of a Keybearer!" He roared as red and black magic swirled around his hands. At his command, all of the spikes he'd created, along with every piece of debris on the ground and Maleficent's throne, shot up like rockets, all of them aiming for Ventus.

But just as they reached his destination, Ventus disappeared like the blink of an eye, leaving the flying objects to crash into each other.

"Wha-ARGH!" Jafar didn't even have time to respond, for not even a second later a blade slashed right up his spine, causing his body to jerk violently forward as he screamed.

"Meteor Shower!" Jafar had barely even registered his back pain before Ventus cast his spell, raising his free hand out flat before him. Just as Ventus' chant suggested, small meteor streak shaped light blasts were released from his hand, dozens of them disconnecting from his skin every third of a second and moving with untraceable speeds, all of which struck home on Jafar's back and head. An agonised scream left his lips as the blasts propelled him across the room.

"Whoa! No one's ever taken Jafar out so effortlessly." Sora cried, a large, highly impressed smile growing on his face.

"You've grown much stronger since the day we met, though your body has yet to change at all." Maleficent commented as Ventus turned the blue pools that were his eyes on her. "But I assure you, you have yet to reach my level." She exclaimed, thrusting her staff and crystal forward and letting loose twenty coiling streams of blue, black and green, all of them zooming for every inch of Ventus.

Still not showing the slightest bit of emotion, Ventus ran right at them, Lost Memory held ready at his side. As the magic reach him, Ventus became a flurry of motion and astounded everyone watching as he weaved around and deflected every stream as if they was nothing more than balls of yarn. Spinning out the way of one, he finished off with a horizontal swing of Lost Memory as he turned back to Maleficent, deflecting the last stream right back at her.

"AAHH!" Panicking, Maleficent levitated herself into the air on instinct to avoid the shot before retaliating, her frustration beginning to show. "Keybearer, feel the power the pentagram gives me! Forces of Evil, bring forth-"

However, Ventus wasn't interested in experiencing her power and with speed that her eyes could barely follow; he jumped above and right into the centre and slammed Lost Memory into the ground.

"Clear Light!" The affects, much to Maleficent's dismay, were instantaneous as light exploded from the blade and expanded in a large circle until it had consumed the fiery star and burst upward like a pillar, blinding everyone. When it faded away, and the white spots disappeared from their vision, it was as if the pentagram had never existed.

"How DARE YOU!" Maleficent screeched, her face turning red with rage. Forgoing spells, she slammed her staff and the blue crystal together and, with a roar similar to a dragon's, she fired an immense blue, green and black beam right at Ventus.

"MOVE!" Gwen screamed, the amazement that had covered her face alongside the others' before now replaced with horror and panic. Emotions that only intensified as Ventus ignored her, not moving an inch as he watched the beam descend on him. "What are you waiting for, that kind of magical power could destroy anything!"

Yet Ventus still didn't even twitch. Then, at the last second, just as Gwen and the others were about to turn away from what they thought would be a horrific death, Ventus raised his Keyblade horizontally above his head.

"Reflect!" With that one word, light flashed out from his hand and blade and weaved itself into a barrier made of hexagons. The opposing beam touched it for a split second, though it felt like an eternity for Gwen, Gohan and the others as they watch on with baited breath, before bouncing off and zipping right back to, and consumed, its very surprised source. Maleficent's screams echoed throughout the area as the beam carried her to and through the stone wall and right out of sight.

Letting his barrier down, Ventus took two steps and jumped into the air for no apparent reason to those watching, though it became clear a moment later when he snared something very small from the air and tossed it towards Gwen. Confused, the redheaded Tennyson caught it on reflex, but smile as a familiar, soothing sensation filled her being the second it made contact with her skin. Opening her hand, a cry of joy left her lips as she smiled brightly at the blue crystal created to hold her magic.

"You got it back." She cheered, pulling close to her chest as she gave Ventus an appreciative smile. She would have done more, but they were in the middle of the most important battle she'd ever been a part of. Gratitude that couldn't be defined by words could wait till later.

She couldn't say anything else anyway, for a moment later, a huge explosion went off where Hades had landed, with streaks of fire heading out in all directions.

"Vortress Nebulae!" Gwen shouted, jumping in front of her friends as she focused all her willpower onto the crystal. A deep seated relief filled her entire being as she felt the familiar flow of magic responding to her call and create a blue force field, protecting her gathered friends from the flames. Ventus on the other hand almost casually cut through every flame that came his way before altering his blade so it was held upright in preparation for what was to come.

"Now you've burned me up!" Hades' shouted menacingly, his flames now red as the angry look on his face. Glaring intensely at the current bane of his existence, he moved his hands up to his chest and created a large, bright ball of fire and ectoplasmic energy and threw it right at Ventus as hard as he could before teleporting.

Ventus flipped over the ball to find Hades right in front of him, lashing out with a fist coated in fire, and flickered out of existence and behind the dark God before thrusting the point of his blade at the back of Hades' head only for Hades to turn and intangible and let the blade pass right through him. Keeping up the intangible form, Hades whipped around and fired an ecto beam, forcing Ventus to jump back and sidestep it before a total of six Hades clones to appear around him, two grabbing his arms and the other four joining the original in gathering either ectoplasmic energy or unusually hot flames in their hands.

"I'll enjoy having you as my servant once you're dead." Hades snarled, the flames in his hands growing more and more intense. "It'll be fun watching you do the most horrible and degrading jobs I can think of. Nobody hurts me!"

"Light give me power!" As emotionless as ever, Ventus wasted no time in remarks and cast another spell. In an instant like appeared out of nowhere and gathered around Ventus like a rushing geyser reaching just a little higher than his head, destroying the clones holding him before they could even blink. It didn't stop there though, for the moment his arms were free he raised his Keyblade and created a focal point to which all the light around him gathered before exploding outward, destroying all the other clones and blowing Hades back with an enraged and pained roar.

"Would someone get me a pair of sunglasses real quick?" Danny asked, almost whimpering as the light blinded him. As his eyes were tightly closed and covered, he failed to notice as Ventus appeared next to him until the Keybearer grabbed his arm. "Wha-WHOA!" Danny had a split second to see wild blond hair through white spots before he felt a sudden jerk and found himself on the other side of the room. Right next to a slowly rising Hades.

"YAAH! Roxas, I mean Ventus, I mean whatever, what are you..." Danny spluttered, whipping his head back and forth from the stoic Keybearer and the startled dark God. Ventus didn't answer. He merely grabbed Hades arm and thrust his and Danny's hands together, eliciting a wide eyed scream from the ghost boy.

"Redire in potestatem!" Ventus' voice rang clear over Danny's cries, heralding a light bursting to life where Danny and Hades' hand met.

"What are you doing?" Hades screamed as the energy intensified. However, his question was answered almost an instant later as the eerie green glow of Danny's power appeared around his body only to be drawn to the clasped hands. Not that the visual was required, he could feel as the energy was drained from his being through his hand and into Danny's. "NO! MY POWER!"

"No, my power." Danny grinned as he felt the energy returning to him and all traces of ectoplasm disappeared from the Lord of the Dead. No one noticed, but as the spell quickly reached its end, his eyes flashed grey before turning a bright green not a second later. His grin turning into a smirk, he pulled back and fired a beam right into Hades' gut as he screamed 'NO' again, blowing him away.

"DIE VENTUS!" Jafar's malicious roar reverberated around the room as his glowing red form shot towards the teen duo, a particularly intense reddish orange energy blast gathering at the head of his staff.

"Oh no, I want some payback." Danny glared, flying in to intercept the genie. Before Jafar could respond, Danny created three clones and all four versions took a deep breath before releasing their ghostly wails.

Gaping and wide eyed, Jafar pulled himself to an immediate halt and thrust his staff forward just as the first ecto-charged waves reached him. The reddish orange energy grew and shined like a star as Jafar grunted and groaned, staring on with amazement. He was far stronger than even four Dannys, yet he was having difficulty just holding this power back! It was inconceivable!

Ventus however, ignored it completely, his blank blue eyes pointed solely at Hades.

The dark God wasn't paying attention either, opting to glare, albeit fearfully, at the blond before him. His strength and stamina was fading fast, a feat in itself. As a God, he was almost never tired out. Only facing Zeus or Poseidon had ever managed it. However, he was far from home world and more importantly, Tartarus, the place where he was most powerful. But even so, he had been incredibly strong, only to lose more than half of his strength to one Keybearer in a very short amount of time! And now, all the new abilities he'd acquired were gone with a strangely decent amount of power along with them. To top it off, Ventus wasn't even breaking a sweat, though the rune bearing stone on his wrist only seemed to get brighter as time went on.

"You are quite the pain." He growled between deep breaths as he slowly pulled himself to his feet. Reaching his full height, he gasped and almost toppled over again as a sharp pain coursed through his gut. Danny's blast had clearly done more damage than he'd thought. "So I think...we should.." He gasped and whimpered, falling into a slouch as one hand grabbed his gut while the other was flimsily held into the air, fire gathering around his fingers.

Unfortunately for him, Ventus wasn't interested in clashing again. Tensing his stance, he gathered an enormous, highly condensed amount energy into his Keyblade as he swung it around him, preparing for one of his most dangerous spells.

"Pulse Bomb!" Swinging Lost Memory out from behind him, Ventus released a beach ball sized blue and white sphere. The spell flew at a suddenly gaping Hades with the speed of a cannonball and struck home long before the dark God could even think of avoiding it.

"AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" Upon impact, the light ball exploded outward until it consumed Hades and stayed that way for a few moments, dealing excruciating pain as the light ripped at every shred of his being, before exploding properly with a huge blast, the resulting shockwave destroying Danny's clones and pushing him and Jafar away from each other. Ventus just stood unflinching as it past him, seeming to absorb the light that touched him, and just watched as the smoke disappeared, revealing a very deep, perfectly round crater that almost broke through the bottom of the thick floor. And at the centre, his robe torn to shreds and his body covered in gashes and bruises, was Hades.

"What...a blast." Hades choked, spitting up blood. He was finished. Every inch of his body was screaming at him, to the point of being completely immobilised. All he could do was stare up with one eye as Ventus walked up to the edge of the crater, his blade pointed down at his face. "It looks l-like...you win t-this one." He stuttered, breaking off as his particularly sharper burst of pain struck his system. "But y-you will se...see me again, I promise." With that and a final glare, Hades disappeared in a flash of smoke and fire, just as a streak of light narrowly missed, and never returned.

"Hades is gone." Gohan muttered softly, looking thoroughly dumbstruck. "His energy's completely disappeared. He left. Ventus made him leave! How did he do it?"

"Light is darkness' greatest weakness and all three of your enemies are practically made of darkness." Paradox answered. "Ventus is practically made of light and is even more powerful than Gwen. Meanwhile, Hades draws his power from his realm and the spirits within it, so, separated from it, he has no hope of standing up to someone like Ventus."

The others just continued to gaze in amazement as Paradox explained. That is except for Ben. He on the other hand, grew very worried, not by what Paradox said, but the tone he used. Normally he was overly chipper, despite almost any situation. However, this time his voice was neutral and his face had taken on a much more serious appearance.

"And the Keystone is magnifying his advantage. These goons don't stand a chance." Gwen commented happily

"Actually, the Keystone isn't amplifying any of his strikes." Paradox shook his head. "All its power is going to amplifying his body's stability tenfold. Without it, he'll cease to exist"

"That's it!" Ben cried. His blood turned cold as he realised what that meant. "Ventus won't survive this battle!"

"WHAT?" That did it. Paradox just watched the blond saviour with sad eyes as everyone around him simultaneously screamed, all of their faces turning ghostly white.

And there was nothing they could do about it, for it had already begun. Though Danny was still dizzy after the shockwave, Jafar had already poofed in close to Ventus and transformed into a cobra the size of a house. Rearing his head back, he struck down with speed greater than that of a cheetah, which Ventus only just managed to dodge thanks to moving before the thrust began. Unperturbed, Jafar immediately followed it up with a lashing of his tail to which Ventus latched onto and swung off...right into a group of glowing green arrows made of stone. Though he made no more of a reaction than jerking under the force of the blows, the teens below gasped and screamed at the top of their lungs. Maleficent laughed victoriously, along with Jafar as Ventus' arrow ridden body crashed lifeless into the ground, blood pooling around the stone. And finally, Paradox just watched on with the most bitter look he'd worn in thousands of years.

"This is not happening." Sora muttered desperately, tears pooling in his eyes. He'd only just learnt of Roxas' existence. His Nobody, his brother, his son as it had been so jokingly put. He'd only just found him, but he cared for him a great deal already. He'd found him, only to watch him die a horrible death? "It can't be happening. It can't!"

"ROXAS!" Namine screamed, throwing herself to her feet and running as fast as she could to help him only for Paradox to hold her back. "NO, LET ME GO! I HAVE TO SAVE HIM! I HAVE TO, ROXAS!" It had taken less than a second for her to fall into hysterics, tugging viciously at Paradox' arms. Namine couldn't handle it. Roxas was like her twin, he was always there for her, always protecting her, soothing her, making her feel loved and happy. He'd risked his life for months trying to make her existence with the Organisation bearable and did everything within his power to give her her freedom. If ever she needed proof that she had a heart, she could use this moment now, for it was breaking. Kairi gently pulled her into a hug as her body was wracked with sobs and rivers of tears. Despite not knowing him well at all, Kairi was crying herself, unable to look.

"We've never lost any-anyone before. Why now?" Ben sobbed, clenching his stinging eyes tightly shut as Gwen threw herself into his arms and cried into his shoulder.

"I can't believe this is happening." Rai bit his lip as he too cried freely. Besides Namine, Ben and Rai were easily the closest to Roxas. Watching someone they cared about so much get killed so horribly was a pain that was tearing them apart. They couldn't bear to imagine how horrible Namine must have felt, they'd never imagined such pain as there's existed and hers was much worse for sure.

Jake, Kim and Danny gaped and cried silently from their places while Ryo focused a hurt glare at Maleficent, biting his lip hard as he struggled to hold back his own tears. None of them were nearly as close to Roxas, not spending as much time with him or bonding as deeply, but he was still their friend and team mate, someone who helped and cared for them and received it from them in return. Kim in particular, was kicking herself for not putting in the same effort to get to know him and it pained them all greatly that they'd never get the chance again.

"Sora, only you can save him now." Paradox said softly, but firmly, startling the brunette Keybearer as he grabbed his shoulder and pushed him forward. A second later, he found himself standing over Ventus, watching in horrified wonder as he began to glow sky blue.

"No, the Keybearer shall not be saved!" Maleficent snarled, throwing a beam down at the pair. However, Paradox merely grabbed the other two again and disappeared before it could hit, reappearing a good twenty feet behind the wailing Dojo as the beam struck the ground.

"How can I save him? Namine's the healing prodigy." Sora responded as he got his bearings, staring down at the fading blond with a look similar to a kicked puppy's.

"The body was already unstable and falling apart. Too much of the half of Roxas that came from you has returned to you. Namine can't save it. Roxas is no more I'm afraid. However, you can save Ventus. His heart and soul was existing inside of your heart for a decade before it was forced out by your heart's separation from your body. If you touch him and concentrate before it is too late, his heart and soul will follow what remains of you in him and return there once again until he is ready to reunite with his own body. It's the only way we can save any of him."

"I can save his heart and soul. That's better than nothing." Sora muttered with a nod. Furrowing his brow in concentration, he took off his gloves and firmly grabbed Ventus' arms just before his entire body dissolved into light.

The reaction was instantaneous as every speck of light shot into Sora's hands. His body tense and his breathing hitched as it ran up his arms and consumed his entire body, leaving nothing but the Keystone behind. The power was stronger than Sora imagined and it only got more intense. His limbs were only given a moment to relax as the energy receded from them before he fell to the ground with a strangled gasp as the energy congregated in his chest and putting a fair bit of strain on his heart. It left him baffled and panicked, emotions that only increased when Kairi noticed his predicament and let out a scared scream. But before she or anyone else could respond to what was going on, the energy exploded outward again, bringing a shrill cry from Sora. Whipping around as best as their individual conditions would allow, the young heroes were wondered and worried sick as sky blue and white light exploded from his being, creating a dome.

It was at that moment that the pain and restraint of his breathing disappeared and was replaced with a much more gentle flux around his body, developing a very familiar feeling to Sora as his body relaxed. So much so that he couldn't help but cry a very specific line.

"Give me strength!"

At that command, the power surged again, making his whole form glowed white, hiding all but his outline within the dome before it exploded a second later. As it died, the young warriors were amazed to find Sora not only looking completely fine, to the point of all injuries being fully healed, but bearing an air of immense power. His clothes had turned white with black markings all over them and every few moments his form emitted a flash of white lightning that danced around his being. His feet weren't even touching the ground, his form levitating six inches above the floor. And finally, the Ultima Blade floated near his right hand, just as Roxas' famous Oathkeeper floated by his left.

Rolling his shoulders, he took a deep breath before floating back to and in front of the group, his eyes sparkling as he focused a furious glare at the scowling Maleficent and hissing Jafar.

"They'll pay for this." Ben shivered as Gwen rose to her full height. He'd never heard nearly as much malice in her voice before. He was someone she intended to protect and even he was terrified as he watched her raised the crystal. "Reverto Meus Ops Mihi!"

With a loud snap, the crystal broke apart and released all of its power, returning it to Gwen. Her whole form glowed as every cell of her being regained that which was stolen from her. As it died down, her eyes and hands glowed brightly before a ribbon of magic twirled around her form from her feet up, changing her beach wear into her battle outfit. To finish it off, Gwen pointed behind the team and summoned the Keystone, letting it fly onto her wrist before turning her still glowing, hate filled eyes at her now slightly nervous opponents, blue lighting and the Keystone's yellow glow joining the magic around her hands.

"You killed him." Gohan said emotionlessly, standing stock still. This whole time, Gohan had been like a statue, stuck still by shock and grief. Images of Roxas from the day they met to the moment he was shot dead were flying through his mind. The hesitant, nervous smile and air of hope and fear he'd worn when he introduced himself. The sacrifices he made for the team and the world that treated him so badly. The relaxed air, smiles and laughs he'd shared with Gohan and the others when they were on monitor duty or when Roxas hung out in the forest around Gohan's house.

"Roxas. My friend." He muttered as his tears finally poured down his face as another memory, a very recent one, popped into his head.

"So, where did Namine run off to today?" Gohan asked, trying to sound as casual as possible and hold back the heat growing in his face. He'd finally convinced his mother to back off with all the studying for a while and was having a lazy day. He'd called the satellite and invited the blond duo to join him, but Namine had already left on one of her little adventures and had forgotten to take her communicator, so Roxas had come down alone. Initially he'd been a little disappointed, but he'd made the best of it. It was still a lot of fun with just the two of them, chasing each other through the forest, playing a superpowered version of tennis using Oathkeeper and an energy blade to deflect an energy ball over a makeshift net and convincing the ever shy Roxas to strip off to his boxers and go swimming. At the moment, they were just laying down on the shoreline of the lake, letting the sun dry them off as they relaxed.

"She mentioned trying to find a snow leopard in its natural habitat." Roxas responded, grinning slyly as he opened one eye to look at his companion. "Why do you ask? Were you oping to kiss her under that mistletoe we found? It's a little early for a Christmas tradition, but I guess you could have given it a shot."

"W-wh-what? What makes you...I wouldn't..."Gohan's face turned as red as a tomato as he jolted up into a sitting position, spluttering like crazy. His eyes were wide and border lining blind panic as he whipped his head to face Roxas so fast that he gave himself whiplash. He was absolutely terrified of the blond beside him discovering his feelings for Namine. Roxas was basically Namine's brother and he had very dangerous powers that Gohan's body couldn't tolerate nearly as well as a punch. Add that to the protectiveness he had for Namine and his occasional temper, Gohan was seriously tempted to fly far, far away.

"Settle down Gohan, I'm just teasing." Roxas smiled, closing his eye again and bringing a huge, silent sigh of relief from the Saiyan hybrid. "You wouldn't try kissing her. Though I wouldn't put it passed you to be the corny, classic romantic type and make a bouquet out of those wild flowers for her." He added with a smirk, opening his amused eyes just in time to watch and laugh as the blush on Gohan's face became even more pronounced by his skin turning white.

"I...um...no I-"

"Seriously, settle down Gohan." Roxas cut in, taking pity on the frazzled boy and offering him a reassuring smile. "We ALL know about your crush on Namine. Well, except the oblivious Namine herself." He added with a chuckle. Seeing that Oblivion wasn't whipping out and castrating him yet, Gohan sucked in and slowly released a deep breath to help calm himself down, though he remained ready to move in a hurry if he had to. However, all actions were wiped from his mind as what Roxas said hit home.

"Seriously? You all know?" He cried, his blushing harder, though Roxas wasn't sure how it was possible. If any more blood red to the poor boy's face, there'd be none left for the rest of his body. "And you...don't wanna kill me?"He added with a gulp.

"Of course not. If she likes you back then I'm all for it and I know she does." Roxas replied. "If a stranger tries to seduce her I'll give them the big brother talk and I'd be a little on guard if the player duo Jake and Raimundo started flirting with her, but I trust you to treat her right. There's no one I'd prefer her to be with."

"Thank you Roxas." Gohan said softly, touched by the sentiment. Roxas had not only given him the ok to pursue Namine, but in doing so he admitted just how much faith he had in the young Saiyan. For him to drop his guard about Namine said a lot about the trust and respect he had for him.

"So she likes me back?" He asked hopefully, smiling brightly as Roxas nodded. "Great! Would you help me with figuring out how to tell her that I like her?"

"No way! I can't do all the work for you. I've done enough." Roxas laughed as Gohan pouted. "Just be yourself Gohan and use some of that Saiyan courage to suck it up. I know she'll smile and agree to go out with you however you decide to tell her. Now, what do you say we catch some fish and get cooking. I'm getting a little hungry."

"Sounds great." Gohan grinned cheekily. "What are we waiting for, let's go catch that fish." With that, he grabbed a startled Roxas by the arm and tossed him back into the lake with a nice splash.

"Oh, I am SO gonna get you for that!" Roxas shouted with mock anger as he released a burst of light magic into the water. An instant later, it had travelled all the way to the shore and created a giant splash of its own, soaking the freshly dry Gohan. Coughing up water, the Saiyan flew right at the blond and the two spent the next half an hour laughing themselves hoarse through a water war.

"Roxas!" One last sob left Gohan's mouth. Then, something snapped wide open within him, letting loose a primal rage. A rage pointed squarely at the two remaining villains. "How dare you." He seethed, his face filled with so much bloodlust and fury that even Maleficent couldn't help but back step nervously away. "HOW DARE YOU!"

"AAHHH!" The rest of the young heroes were all struck with stronger winds than any of them could handle and almost blown away as Gohan's animalistic scream brought his aura exploding to life, forcing Dojo to shield them with his body and Danny to press against a far wall. However, it wasn't his usual white aura. It was the one only seen once before, when Gohan had learned of his father's demise. This one was bigger, more intense and a shining gold. However, unlike last time, it show not even the slightest possible sign of receding. In fact, it only grew stronger by the second.

And it wasn't alone in that fact. All of his muscles grew as well, becoming more well defined than before as his skin grew paler. His hair flew up and became an even bigger spiky mess than before, the tips of each strand turning blond while his eye lightened from black to a dark green and continued to lighten.

"YYYAAAAAHHHHHH!" With a final roar, the speed and intensity of his aura, and the wind it was creating, magnified dramatically, leaving Maleficent and Jafar both teleporting themselves to the ceiling on the opposite side of the room, the furthest that they could get on the battlefield and scaring the young heroes as even Dojo's heavy form was forced back. The raw outburst of power lasted for almost half a minute before the winds calmed and the bright, golden aura drew back into itself until it merely surrounded its owner. An owner who's appearance shocked and amazed all of those healthy enough to get up and look at him.

Gohan's hair was now completely blond, the extremely messy mop flapping around his head in the wind around him, and his eyes were turquoise. However, it was the air of power and animosity the projected off of him in waves that truly caught everyone's attention. For even without Gohan's ability to sense energy, they could all tell that whatever happened to him had increased his power far beyond what any of them had ever thought possible.

"And they have arrived." Paradox stated calmly, watching on as Sora and Gwen, the only two not blown back by the explosion of raw power Gohan had unleashed, stepped up on either side of him, all three glaring with various levels of viciousness at the suddenly very uncertain villains. "Lucky Girl, with her powers magnified tenfold. Sora, tapping into the power of Ventus and unleashing his Final Form. And Gohan. Now the most powerful hero ever to set foot on the Earth. The legendary Super Saiyan."

"Each one of them has more power than any of us ever thought possible." Ben commented, his previous exhaustion forgotten as he stared at the powerful trio.

"After what I saw against Garlic Junior..." Ryo grunted painfully, looking unsure whether to be happy or scared at the sight of Gohan. "I think it's safe to say that we've won."

"Oh, this fight is ours alright." Gwen snarled, the magic around her hands pulsing.

"It's time to end this." Sora glared, his Keyblades spinning on either side of him.

"I see you lot haven't learnt your lesson yet." Jafar retorted, though it was far less confident than his previous taunts.

Gohan's only response was to let loose a growl much like his Oozaru form's. Enjoying the tormented looks that crossed the dark forces' faces, he just let two words pass his lips, with a tone that promised a painful death and removed all traces of bravado from his adversaries.

"You're history!"