Kingdom Hearts III: The Heart's Greatest Weapon
Chapter 25: While Sora Is Away
As Sora and friends met up with Bolt and the others in the new world, back at Radiant Garden, Riku was having a sparring match with Seifer. The two clashed swords with critical timing and Seifer put a lot of force behind his attacks. When they reached a stalemate, Seifer glared at Riku with a snicker.
"What's the matter? Running out of steam?" Seifer asked. Riku huffed.
"Not even close." Riku said. Suddenly, he pulled off a quick swing at Seifer while he felt confident and knocked his blade from his hand. The surprise move knocked Seifer to the ground and he groaned.
"Humph. Lucky break." Seifer said. He dashed for his blade and quickly grasped it.
"Let's see you do that again!" Seifer shouted. He came at Riku again as Raine, Genis and Stitch watched. Hercules arrived shortly.
"Hey guys. What are you doing?" Herc asked.
"Watching Seifer and Riku's sparring match. Without Sora, not much happens." Genis sighed. Raine smiled.
"Now Genis, just because Sora isn't with us doesn't mean we shouldn't expect trouble." Raine said. Herc agreed with Raine, saying they all needed to be prepared.
"For what? Anyone else but me notice that the Heartless ONLY show up when Sora is around here? We've hardly had any Heartless attacks when he's out exploring. And why hasn't he invited ME to come along yet? Emil and Marta left too." Genis groaned.
"Hey. Don't worry. Something might happen. Don't feel so left out." Herc said. But unknown to them, a telescope came peeping up from under the man hole cover and was spying on them. As the scene changes, there is a quick "Doofenshmirtz Underground Hideout" jingle sung. On the other end of the periscope was Doofenshmirtz himself.
"Ah ha ha ha! Perfect! The fools do not suspect a thing!" Doofenshmirtz gleefully chuckled. He turned around and spied all of his diabolical gadgets and gizmos, including his unplugged Shrinkinator. But beyond all of those was a large chamber with floating hearts inside.
"With my newest, most sinister creation yet...I will truly be EVIL!" Doofenshmirtz laughed. He approached the container and pulled on a handle. Out popped a heart from an opening and in a flash, it created an Emblem Heartless. The Heartless was a Toy Soldier.
"May I present the Doofenshmirtz Heartless Creatinator!" Doofenshmirtz annouced. He pressed a button and applause was played.
"No! No! You're too kind. But...eh wait. What about this doesn't seem right? Hmm. Something's missing. I know. It's Perry the Platapus." Doofenshmirtz said. As the doctor yakked on, the scene changes back to Sora and friends in a truck heading out of town. With them was Bolt and Mittens.
"Wow. This is the first time we've got around by hitching a ride. It's a lot easier on the feet." Sora sighed. The truck they were in was the same moving van that Bolt tried to blow the lock off. Bolt sat on the couch, ever vigilant.
"So, your name's Bolt?" Goofy asked. Bolt nodded.
"Yeah. And as I said before, me and my prisoner are heading off to Doctor Calico's lair. When we do, I'll finally save Penny." Bolt said. Mittens groaned.
"Look you dumb dog. I've been trying to tell you. That tiny dog mind of yours has got everything backwards." Mittens said. Kairi watched from the wall and felt a little disturbed, seeing all of her friends were animals now. On the other side, Marta had trouble maintaining balance as a dog.
"Whoa! Okay. This is getting hard." Marta stuttered. Suddenly, she lost footing and tackled into Emil.
"Ouf! Marta. Are you okay?" Emil asked. Marta gasped and quickly scurried back.
"Oops. Heh heh. Sorry Emil. It's just...It's really hard standing up like this." Marta said. Suddenly, a box above Bolt was shaking and it came crashing on him. He yelled and furiously leaped out of the box. Attached to his fur was styrofoam peanuts.
"Aah! Get it off! Get it off!" Bolt exclaimed. He furiously shook his fur as the styrofoam was flying everywhere.
"Bolt! Bolt! Calm down! It's just styrofoam." Sora said. Bolt barked, saying that styrofoam was his weakness. Suddenly, Bolt slipped and his force opened the door. Still clinging to Mitten's leash, the two fell from the truck and tumbled into the grass.
"Bolt! Mittens!" Sora exclaimed. Everyone quickly jumped out and chased after the two animals, rolling down towards a trailer park neighborhood. When they finally caught up, Bolt could feel as if he was in pain.
"Ooh...what...what happened?" Bolt muttered. He put his paw down and felt a sting. Kairi examined Bolt's paw and saw he cut himself.
"Oh. You poor little guy. You cut yourself. Maybe I can...huh?" Kairi said. Suddenly, as she held Bolt's paw, a glowing blue light was surrounding her hand. When Kairi looked again, Bolt's paw was completely healed.
"What?" Sora, Donald and Goofy exclaimed. Bolt looked at his paw and set it back down, feeling no pain at all.
"Gawrsh! Did...Did Kairi just heal Bolt?" Goofy asked. Sora was too speechless to say anything, so was Marta and Emil. Just then, the Dark Knight could be seen watching from behind a tree.
"It can't be. She has the gift of healing. Could it be...? No. It can't. Still, I can't ignore this." he said. He walked away and looked back, snapping his fingers. Suddenly, the ground around Sora and the others began to shake.
"What the...?" Emil shuddered.
"What's...What's this?" Bolt asked. Suddenly, Kairi saw something emerging and grabbed Sora.
"Kairi! What?" Sora gasped. Everyone quickly dashed back as Kairi set Sora back down. In the ground, a large skeleton was being formed in the dirt. It took the shape of a dog and on it's head was a glowing Heartless mark. It appeared as a giant zombified dog.
"Gah! What is that...that...that THING?" Mittens screamed.
"Heartless!" Sora gasped. Sora, Donald and Goofy quickly lashed out their weapons as Emil could do the same. Marta couldn't bring out her spinner, since her weapon wasn't like the others.
"A Heartless? I see. This must be one of your friends cat. It came to spring you from my custody. Well, too bad for him that he's going to regret coming after us." Bolt said. Mittens groaned.
"Something's not right with that dog." Donald said. Sora wanted to agree, but he agreed with Bolt that the Heartless was going to regret showing up. Kairi summoned her Keyblade.
"All right Sora! Let's go!" Kairi called. Changing back to Radiant Garden, Genis was having a sparring match also. This time, he was using his magical spells and challenged Merlin.
"Ho ho! Do you think your magic can match mine?" Merlin asked. Genis chuckled.
"Raine's taught me a lot of good magic. Now it's time I prove to her how skilled I am." Genis said. Genis drew his weapon as Merlin's wand slipped out of his sleeve.
"Good luck Genis! We're rooting for you!" Riku called. Genis smiled and waved. Watching was Riku, Raine, Seifer, Colette and Lilo.
"All right. A magic duel it is." Merlin said. But just before either could cast a spell, they sensed something coming.
"Hey. What the?" Riku said. Behind Merlin, everyone saw Toy Soldier Heartless approaching.
"Whoa! Are those...?" Genis asked. Riku nodded.
"Heartless. And there seems to be a bunch of them." Riku said. Seifer snickered.
"Finally. I thought things were going to be boring." Seifer said. Lilo gasped and called for Stitch. Seifer and Riku drew their weapons as the Heartless came. Down below in Doofenshmirtz's lair, he was using his device to mass produce Heartless. They all came out as either Toy Soldier or as the different colored Requiem.
"Ha ha! Yes my pets! Go! Attack the surface! Pillage everyone of their goodies! Go! GO!" Doofenshmirtz declared. Something was wrong with Doofenshmirtz at this point. He laughed in a deeper voice and his eyes glowed black with yellow eyes.
"With my Heartless army, we will take back the city!" Doofenshmirtz shouted. With a few clicks on the keyboard and a lever pulled, new Heartless were being made. Now appearing were Defender Heartless. Above ground, Sora's friends were in fierce combat with the Heartless. Seifer slashed down a Toy Soldier before he was struck by a Yellow Requiem. Raine and Genis launched spells together in unison.
"Where are they coming from?" Riku shouted.
"I don't know. This is bad. If they continue producing like this, the town will be overtaken by Heartless." Raine said. Colette was fighting too, using her tripping tackles and Pow Hammer. Seifer struck down a Requiem as he noticed a Defender coming.
"Heh. Finally. Something worthy to fight me. Come on! Bring it on!" Seifer shouted. He came charging at the Heartless and their weapons clashed. Stitch growled as he swung a Toy Soldier by it's head and slammed it onto Heartless.
"No punch back! Aba chucha!" Stitch shouted. He threw the Toy Soldier at another and they eradicated each other. But more were soon coming.
"Garsh darn it! Where is the king?" Merlin groaned. At the Hollow Bastion Committee, Mickey, Cloud and Leon were holding back more Heartless.
"This isn't good. Where are these things coming from?" Leon thought. Mickey jumped and slashed down three Red Requiem in a row. Just then, Mickey saw Defender Heartless approaching Vincent.
"Vincent! Look out!" Mickey called. Vincent just huffed.
"You looking to die? Fine." Vincent said. He raised his hand to the Heartless as red glowing energy surrounded him.
"What the?" Mickey gasped.
"Don't worry. This is something Vincent knows how to do. He can handle them." Cloud said. Suddenly, Vincent was engulfed in red fire as his appearance began to change. In a flash, Vincent had transformed into a monstrous beast known as the Galian Beast.
"What the? Is...Is Vincent a Heartless too?" Mickey asked. After Yuffie slashed down a Toy Soldier, she chuckled.
"Not quite. That's one of his powers. He can transform himself into this form so he unleash powerful attacks." Yuffie said. Mickey watched as Vincent used a powerful Beast Flare and eradicated all the Heartless before him.
"Nice job Vincent. Come on. We've got to find the others!" Leon called. Aerith and Cid stayed behind with Rinoa as the other Committee members charged into town.
TO BE CONTINUED...