Losers Club vs. Melodious Nocturne

Kairi looked at the man with the sitar…and he looked at her. They both looked at Tine who lay on the ground before them. Particles of darkness were had begun to stream from her again. Except this time it was more like a flood. Kairi didn't like the looks of that. Tine was dying. And if they didn't get her medical help soon, she would die. Kairi's frazzled mind, already burdened with the reason she had come to Twilight Town, shouted out the only thing it could think of. "Why didn't you idiots take her to the hospital, when you had the chance?" she shrieked at Hayner, Pence, and Ollette

"She didn't want to go" was all Hayner could think to say. It seemed lame, but it was all they could think of. And it was the truth. Then the man with the sitar dismissed the instrument, much like Kairi had dismissed her Keyblade. He walked over to Tine. "Are you sure she's not just pretending?" he asked. He nudged Tine with his boot---and a very worn looking Struggle bat came down a few inches from it. The Organization member looked up. Hayner stood protectively over Tine's body.

"If you touch her" he said. "You die."

The man stepped back, and regarded Hayner contemptuously, and puffed himself up. "You think you can beat me?" he asked. "Number nine in the Organization. Demyx, the Melodious Nocturne." He pushed Hayner in the chest, knocking the boy down.

Ollette and Pence ran off toward the alley. Kairi didn't blame them. This was a member of a very dangerous group of people. But, someone had to stop them. Riku was muttering and laughing to himself in a corner. He seemed to have temporarily lost his mind. So there was only one choice. "Get away from her, before I kick your ass" Kairi threatened, sounding a lot braver than she felt. She settled her body into the attack position she had seen Sora use when he was practicing at home on the Islands with his Keyblade.

Demyx hesitated. "How can you defeat me?" he asked. "You don't look so tough."

"Have you forgotten me Demyx?" asked Namine from Kairi's mouth. "After all, you're terrified of me. When I first came under the Organization's control, you wore tin foil hats for two months, afraid I was tampering with your memories from far away."

Demyx grinned and waved his finger at Namine. "Ah, ah, ah," he said. "I know the basics. Once you become joined with your Other, you can't use any of your Nobody powers. It's a proven fact."

"True" said Kairi, in charge of her mouth once more. "But now, I have a Keyblade, and I can kill you, Nobody."

"We'll see" said Demyx. He summoned his sitar. He was about to start playing it, when Kairi heard footsteps behind her. She turned to see Ollette and Pence run back from the alley. Kairi groaned. Ollette was carrying what looked like a large silver muffin plate. Pence was carrying a table leg. Not much in the way of weapons, or warriors.

"Get away from Tina, before the Losers Club of Twilight Town puts you in your place, man!" Pence shouted.

"That's Tine, not Tina or whatever name she was using" said Kairi. "But that's good enough."

"So you're going to take me on with those?" Demyx chortled with laughter. "Let's make this quick."

"With pleasure" said Hayner. He took his place with Kairi, Pence, and Ollette. They all rushed forward.

"Dance, water, dance!" Demyx cried. There was a cracking sound as pipes beneath the arena burst and spilled their water up into the street. Strumming his instrument madly, Demyx danced out of reach of Welcoming Garden. A string of water balls slammed into Pence, knocking him down.

"Ahh!" he cried.

"Pence!" Ollette cried. She rushed at Demyx with the silver tray, intent on hitting him with the heavy object. Demyx bashed her in the face with his sitar's handle. Ollette went flying, blood streaming from her nose. She hit the ground and lay motionless.

Hayner rushed Demyx. He got inside of the Nobody's guard, ducking under the flailing sitar, and swung out with the struggle bat, and hit---a clone made of water!

"What the---?" Hayner snarled in anger.

"Oh, I've got something special for you" Demyx said. He made a bubble of water form around Hayner's head. The boy gurgled and tried to scream. Hayner clawed at the water bubble that was slowly choking him, but it wouldn't budge. He fell to his knees, his face turning blue under the water.

"Hayner!" Kairi yelled. Demyx casually kicked her in the stomach, sending her to the pavement with a scream of fury and pain.

"Isn't it awesome?" Demyx asked. He strummed the sitar again, and bubbles of water began to pelt them mercilessly. Ollette managed to get within ten feet of him, before she was pummeled down by the water balls.

"Ha, ha! You'll never beat me!" Demyx smirked. "I told you that you were no match for Organization XIII. You sure are the Loser's Clu---" Pence's table leg slammed into his stomach, sending the Nobody backward, gasping in pain and surprise. Kairi took advantage of Demyx's discomfort to reach Hayner. The boy was now motionless and silent. Kairi reached into the bubble of water around his head. It was touch and jellylike; she couldn't get it off. Then, and idea that was more instinct than actual thought occurred to her. She summoned Welcoming Garden and pointed it at Hayner. "Release" she said. A beam of green light shot from the tip and popped the bubble. Hayner lay on his side, gasping for air. Suddenly a shadow fell over Kairi.

"Now I have you!" Demyx slammed Kairi with his sitar. The Nobody's strength was immense. It was like being hit with a freight train. Kairi went flying into a bench, shattering it to splinters. Those splinters are going to be tough to get out she thought dreamily. I hope mom and dad won't have to use a needle. Demyx was getting ready for another salvo of water bombs, when Ollette threw the heavy silver muffin plate. It hit number nine in the face; he screamed and clutched his nose.

"For Tine!" Hayner drove the Struggle bat into Demyx's back with the force of revenge.

"Gahhh!" Demyx said and staggered forward. Pence struck him across the face with the table leg, at the same time Kairi and Ollette got to work with Welcoming Garden, and the muffin plate.

Tine meanwhile had regained consciousness, and was watching the whole scene unfold. She didn't know who the black robed man was, but he didn't exactly make her feel comfortable. She couldn't sense light, or darkness from him. It was more of a nothing. She didn't know why he or this Organization XIII wanted her. She had never heard of them at all; it had not been downloaded. But whatever their intentions were, she got the feeling that they weren't good. Then Tine stopped thinking about that, and began to think about her obvious problem. She was dying; she could feel her life force ebbing fast. She was soon going to be a lifeless shell, all darkness fading. She had been hit with too many Keyblades, and expended too much energy. She looked over the ruined arena. I need darkness she thought frantically. I need to get darkness from somewhere! It was beginning to get harder and harder to think clearly. Then Tine noticed the boy who had attacked her. Riku, his name was. He was sitting and rocking back and fourth in a corner. He was drenched from the water spray of the man in black's attacks. He claimed to be an ally of the light, but he was filled with the darkness power. If she could just absorb a little from him, she might be able to prolong her life until she could get to a hospital. Tine crawled as slowly as she could over the cracked pavement. She didn't want to attract the attention of the others. Finally, after what seemed like a millennium, she reached Riku.

"Riku" Tine croaked. She was amazed at how weak her voice sounded. She looked at her hands. They were flickering and she could feel that her time was almost up. The boy looked at her. He didn't seem to recognize her. He simply kept muttering nonsense words to himself.

"Okay then" Tine whispered. This was going to hurt him, but he seemed to be in too much of a daze to notice. She hoped it wouldn't hurt too much. Even in her dazed state, Tine wondered why she was worried about why one of Sora's friends, one of Sora's friends who had hurt her no less, would be alright. She laid one hand on his chest. "Siphon Dark" she muttered. Immediately Riku's excited mutterings turned into screams of pain. His body went into spasms as coils of darkness power surged up Tine's arm.

To Tine it was like a cool drink of water after years in the desert without fluids. She tried to control how much she took. Tine wasn't human, she was brimming over the top with darkness power at the best of times, if a human amassed as much power as she had normally, they would be a Heartless. The void left by that power was massive. Riku's darkness instinctively flowed to fill that void. She didn't want to drain it all from him. She stopped after a while. Riku now lay unconscious. His power would renew itself in a few hours. Tine was still too weak to walk, but she wasn't on the brink of death anymore. She lay gasping, trying to gather herself. She wondered if she could use a Corridor to escape. Then she decided against it. She didn't want to use that much energy.

"Water!" Demyx called. A string of geysers erupted, splitting the ground like paper. They tracked the movements of Kairi's group.

"Come on!" Kairi called. "If we fight together, we can WIN this!" she saw Pence get hit by a geyser and fall down. Then he got up and rushed at Demyx. The Organization member was flagging badly now, Kairi could see. He looked tired and he wasn't exchanging as much small talk as before. He looked seriously concerned about losing the battle.

Pence's vicious swipe with the table leg hit Demyx in the side. "Agh!" he screamed. Ollette smashed him across the face with the muffin plate, followed by Hayner's bat.

Kairi came running up to him, her Keyblade wrapped in an aura of green light.

"N-no! Wait!" he called to her. But the young Keyblade Master paid no attention. She continued to rush at him. Kairi jumped high into the air. The aura surrounding Welcoming Garden became huge. Flower shaped patterns formed along the energy channel. "And…now…for the…FINAL ATTACK!!!!" she screamed. She slammed Demyx directly with the blast. A green explosion of light spread out for twenty feet, demolishing the buildings. The energy wave passed through Hayner, Pence, Ollette, and Riku without harming them. Tine felt a small stinging tingle, but that was all. Demyx's body disappeared inside the nexus of the explosion.

"Uwwwwwaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!" Demyx screamed. The Melodious Nocturne slumped to the ground, his robes torn and shredded, his sitar ruined, blackened and cracked, its strings snapped. He then staggered to his feet, and stood swaying. His hair was standing in all kinds of weird directions, and his face was singed. "Y-you kids…you kid…you c-c-can't do this!" he cried, holding up a badly burned note. "I h-have orders from Superior Xemnas!"

"Well, Superior Xemnas can take his orders and shove them---" before Hayner could finish, Kairi stepped forward. "Unless you want some more of that, clear out of here---now!" as if to emphasize this point, a spark of green sizzled along the length of Welcoming Garden.

A Dark Corridor opened behind Demyx. "Fine!" he huffed. "I'll remember you all!" A squishy and melted Sea Salt ice cream hit him in the chest, sticking to his tattered robe.

"Remember that!" Pence cried. "Tell your Superior it came from us!"

Demyx beat a hasty retreat to the portal, where it closed behind him.

The moment he was gone, everyone collapsed. They were tired, and soaking wet. Kairi was tired from using that special ability. Angel's Embrace she called it. She had never actually put it to practice in a battle situation. She was also realizing how close to death they had come, how lucky they had been. If it had been another member---Saix for instance---then they would have fallen very quickly, most likely without having even landed a single blow.

"Don't…ever….do…that…again…" Kairi panted. "You could have been killed. Next time, leave it to people who are trained for taking out the universe's scum." She pointed to Welcoming Garden. "Keyblade Masters are those people!"

Hayner gave a choking laugh. "What do you mean?" asked. He still looked a little blue. He had come the closest to dying. "If it weren't for us…he would have killed you and taken Tine."

"Where is Tine?" said Pence, leaning against the wall.

"I don't know" Ollette said. "Tine, where are you?"

Kairi saw Riku lying unconscious. Tine was missing.

"I'm going to find that experiment" Kairi said, hefting Welcoming Garden. Before Hayner, Pence, and Ollette could protest, she ran off toward the rest of town. Perhaps it was time to start rethinking that earlier sentimentality