Chapter 24: Final Battle: Cosmos and Chaos Vs. Heartless, Nobodies, and Organization XIII\ Lorena Vs. Riku and Karin Vs. Sora
'The ultimate battle for humanity lies in the hearts of two chosen warriors of Cosmos. One to battle light as the other enters a world of true darkness. Will they come back, or die in vain...'
Karin knew she had everything on the line, but nothing like this. As if by will, Riku summons a vast amount of unknown creatures of many sorts, all bearing the same symbol as Riku. The amounts were enormous and most of them were of black and show characteristics of being humanoid.
"These are the Heartless. They follow my commands with no question, like my shadows...Lorena..Are you prepared to enter darkness that you never could of imagined it to be? True darkness?" said Riku. Just as the Heartless appeared, so does another group of creatures, but not like them.
The next vast group was all in white, silver white with designs that looked like an upside-down heart with the prongs aiming up, in black and white. They appear like they are very flexible and sorta pulse with instability. Also, before Sora, thirteen portals appear and reveals a group before him. The first, and their leader, had spikey silver hair and tanned-like skin. The sceond had black, silver stripped hair pulled back in a pony tail with scars on his face, including an eye patch across his left eye.
The third had dread locked black hair that was pulled back, plus sideburns on both sides. The fourth had long, blonde-ish hair that stretched past his shoulders. The fifth had spiked, slicked back reddish hair and showed a kind of angry look on his face. The sixth had short, dull blue hair in downward spikes that covered his right eye. The seventh had long, bright blue hair that alittle spiked up at the top. His eyes were golden yellow and a 'X' shaped scar was shown across his forehead.
The eighth was a red head, alittle similar to Reno, but there were plenty of differences. One: His red hair was shorter than Reno's and pointed into spikes. Two: He had green eyes, and three: He was dressed in a black hooded trench coat, pants, boots, and gloves; just like the rest of the group of thirteen. What showed a great resemblance between the two was the tattooing below their eyes, but different designs. The ninth was a dirty-blonde with a hairstyle that was a cross between a mullet and a Mohawk, spiked. The tenth had white, short cutted hair and a same colored beard. What was striking was his multi pierced ears that had multiple ear rings, including one that bore the same design of the upside down heart design.
The eleventh was a man with short, neck legnth puffy dull red hair. The twelveth was the first female of the group Karin and the others saw for the first time. She had neck legnth, golden blonde hair with two sets of strands sticking up to point to the back. The last and thirteenth was younger than the others with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. What was shocking to Karin is that the thirteenth group member had some similarities to Sora in someway, but why and how is the question.
"These thirteen are called 'Organization XIII'...They are higher leveled Nobodies," said Sora, "A Nobody is a shell left behind from those of strong will and heart corrupted with darkness, and becomes a Heartless." Riku steps foward to the group, then said, "Here are the names and aliases of each member: Xemnas the Superior, Xigbar the Sharpshooter, Xaldin the Whirlwind Lancer, Vexen the Chilly Academic, Lexaeus the Silent Hero, Zexion the Dark Schemer, Saix the Luna Diviner, Axel the Flurry of Dancing Flames, Demyx the Melodious Nocturne, Luxord the Gambler of Fate, Marluxia the Graceful Assassin, Larxene the Savage Nymph, and lastly; Roxas the Key of Destiny."
Reno turns to Cid, then said in a whisper, "That red head over there is named 'Axel'?" Just as Reno looks foward, Axel was right in front of him, scaring him.
"Your a quick learner...Have you memorized my name correctly?" said Axel. Karin began to panic, but she was then caught off guard by Roxas, who was standing before her.
"Have you figured it out yet?" he asked, "Have you figured out who's Nobody I am. Those of great hearts and will that lose their hearts to the darkness shed their shells of their former selves, thus creating a nodody. Have you figured it out yet?" Karin looks at Roxas, then answered, "I already know...Your name's an anagram of your true self..Your the Nobody of Sora." An eerily wicked smirk appeared on Roxas's face.
"But there's one thing that separates the both of you...Your evil, like an evil twin," Karin said. Roxas then grabs hold of Karin, bringing her to his face. "Really?...Would you like to find out?" leered Roxas.
"Roxas!" Xemnas, the leader called out. Roxas turns to him. "Let her go...She is not your foe..." said Xemnas. Roxas had a distastefully look on his face about this command, but Axel was the one to convince him, "Let her go Rox...We can beat up the other guys." Roxas then releases Karin from his gloved grip and went to Axel, then the both of them went back to the group.
"It looks like the final battle is about to start..." Tidus said to Jecht. "Good...I'll show them..What happens if anyone tries to destroy Zanarkand. I don't care if its a ruin, or a city. Its still my home and I will kill anyone that tries to do that," answered Jecht.
"It seems all your hearts have lead you to damnation," said Xemnas. Everyone looked towards Organization XIII.
"All sins will lead to darkness..Your feeble, fragile hearts," said Saix. "Soon..You two will be gambling for your lives..And I know who the two I'm speaking of are," said Luxord, addressing to both Karin and Lorena. The other members: Xigbar, Xaldin, and Zexion giggle to themselves.
"All of you will become Heartlesses and Nobodies very soon...It will all end here," said Vexen, being logic. "Enough...In order to do so..We must wipe them out..Lets see how long everyone will last...Before Karin and Lorena can defeat me and Riku.." said Sora, silencing the Organization members. A portal appears behind Sora and he leaps backwards into it. Karin quickly dashes to the portal and leaps into it, making it and causing it to disappear.
"Karin!..Huh? Riku!" Lorena called out, turning her attention to Riku, who as well created a portal and went through. Lorena makes it and walks through, entering the dark realm that was inhabited by the Heartless and the Deity of Darkness himself: Riku.
"While those girls are busy with the deities..We have to hold out against the Heartless, Nobodies, and Organization XIII til they defeat them, its the only way!" said Tidus.
"Now can we beat them up?" asked Roxas. "Yep...Now we can beat them up.." answered Axel. "Finally! I was getting bored already," said Demyx, overhearing the two.
"You can't even fight...Why would you get bored...You don't even have a heart like all of us," sneered Larxene. "We do have hearts! Why won't you listen to me?" said Demyx.
"Because your an idiot.." said Xaldin. Xigbar started giggling. "Good one, Xaldin," answered Larxene. Demyx crossed his arms in disgust.
"You guys..." Demyx growled. Xemnas cleared his throat, signaling the other Organization members to cease their actions and silence themselves.
"Lets put an end to this...Their hearts have lead them to eternal oblivion. Let's guide them to their destination," said Xemnas. Each of the members then got out their weapons of choice. The battle between the combined group of Chaos and Cosmos and Organization XIII, Nobodies, and the Heartlesses was about to start. Deep in a cavern-like battlefield with a gigantic lake in the center of it, Karin looked around the area, trying to find Sora.
"Where is he? Where'd..Huh? What's this?" said Karin, spotting a type of plack near the lake. "What does this say?" wondered Karin. The plack read:
'When the worlds are in danger of the threat of Dark, or a disrupting in the balance that needs to be quelled, the Keybearer of Light will appear, armed with the Keyblade.
No matter the depth of Darkness, there will always be a light, a guiding light that will shine through the eternity of pure Darkness.
I will guide you, for the passages are of darkness, I shall be your heart's light.
Your light is my light, my light is your light. Prosper it well, or it will fall from its grace.
There was one more inscription on the plack, but it was in small letters, as if it was freshly engraved into the stone structure:
'Thinking of you, where ever you are..We pray for our sorrows to end..'
Karin was in confusion of what it meant, but then a familiar voice behind her forced Karin to turn to face the lake. "A scattered dream is like a far off memory...A far off memory is like a scattered dream..," said Sora, rising from the water as a merman, looking towards Karin, "I want to line the pieces up...Yours and mine..." Deep in the blackened realm of darkness, Lorena searches for Riku, but then enters a blackened room that had cavern-like wall spikes of black and the stone floors of blood red.
"Whoa...This must be what Riku meant by 'True Darkness'..." said Lorena. She also sees that some of the walls were of organic in someways, pulsing with a type of light running through it to highlight the area. Lorena walks carefully around til she spots one of the Heartlesses rising from the ground. From the games she played, Lorena knew what the Heartless was. It was called 'Shadow'.
"Its a Shadow Heartless...Hold on, where is it going?" wondered Lorena. She follows the Shadow and soon it leads her to a center platform with a plack in the middle. The Heartless faded into the floor and moved away.
"Whoa...What does this say?" wondered Lorena as she walked closer. The plack read:
'It swallows me...The darkness is swallowing me...
I fall into the shadows...Just like before. I fall to the shadows...Never to return again to the world of light.
My descent is eternal, continuing its hold on me...My descent is everlasting, to herald's end.
My pain, my sorrow are fusing into one..My madness, my insanity, mixed into one with the infinite darkness.
The shadows follow me, everywhere I go..It follows me, like a follower to its ruler.
Follow me...I command you...Follow me into the eternal void of darkness.
My descent is eternal...Everlasting..I have forever fallen into the darkened abyss.
Poisonous vines of the darkened void, swarming, cloaking, cladding me with the eternal dark.
I am darkness...The darkness of the world...My darkness, your darkness, our darkness...
Your heart is strong, but is it strong enough against light's end? The realm of darkness and the void of eternal madness?
Behold the everlasting darkness...A poison of all of sin to suffer...Especially you.
Lorena was puzzled, but soon her thought was cut off by a familiar voice from her right. "Behold the endless abyss...Within this world, there is no light to save you from true madness," the voice said. Lorena turned to her right, seeing Riku rising from the ground like a Shadow Heartless.
"Look as hard as you can...As hard as you are able..There is not a glimmer of light to save you of a realm that is where the condemned fall to..A realm of darkness..This is darkness at its fullest..True darkness," Riku continued.
"Yeah..Its the same darkness you drew to Destiny Island...What caused you to attract them to your home?" questioned Lorena. Riku kept his vigil on Lorena, showing no emotion. "You will fall into the shadows...But before you do..I will show you, my true potential," said Riku. As if on cue, a centaur-based Heartless arrives to the scene with its spear. Riku's body began to become like a ghost, see throughy and as if going to phase through something.
Lorena then noticed what kind of Heartless it was. It was an 'Assualt Rider' Heartless. Riku shows one of his abilities by phasing into the Heartless and begins to merge with its body, as if fusing into one. The Heartless begins to take form of something else, but still it was a type of centaur. The entire body was a combination of dark blue, purple, black and small traces of yellow. The only yellow seen was its eyes. It became more reptilian with traces of dragonic features, including a reptilian, amphibious-based upper body and sharp dagger fangs.
"Do you see what I can do?...I can merge into any Heartless in order to morph into one of my forms I possess. Do you think you can fight darkness? You will becomed swallowed by it..I am darkness..And I will swallow you!" said a newly transformed Riku. Lorena braced for the worst, but knew she had to defeat Riku somehow.
"Sora...I have to defeat you..." said Karin, drawing out her sword from its sheath. "Karin...No one can defeat me, but I have foreseen my defeat. I will change all that. I foresee everything; good or bad...I do what is necessary to follow the great balance," said Sora, swimming in the water with his lower fish-like body.
"Does that mean destroying our homes? Your trying to take away the things I care about. Like I stated earlier, 'Even if your good, if you try to take all that away, I will fight for it...'," said Karin. Sora then leaps out of the water, but soon changes his form quickly to a new appearance Karin hasn't seen. Sora now appears as a type of ghoul with clothes that mimicked his original outfit, but it was black and grey and pointed ended shoes. White gloved, claw-like hands and vampire fangs, he also had a type of pumpkin covering his right eye, giving a wicked smile. He hovered with the two little bat wings on his jacket, landing safely to the ground.
"As I stated...I am a shape-shifter. My appearances are deceptive, just to adapt to the world I go to..," said Sora. As if by magic, Sora summons his weapon of choice: the Keyblade. "I am the Keybearer of Light...I will risk and sacrifice everything to protect those that threatened the great design. I am the one that saved all worlds from the threat of darkness...Thousands of years ago. I have been alive since the creation of Light and Darkness, much longer than Bahamugena and Sin," Sora said, placing the facts to Karin.
"Show me the strength of your guiding light.." said Karin. Sora then smiled, "Karin..I am the light..." Groups of Chaos and Cosmos charge forward at the attacking force of the Heartless, Nobodies, and the Organization.
"The red head is mine!" shouted Reno. Armed with his fire chakrams, Axel charges at the group, then answered Reno's battle call, "I'll burn you to a crisp!" The two combined groups collide, fighting one another with such ferocity. Jecht slashes and collides his sword into Lexaeus's tomahawk, landing the both of them in a quick stalemate.
"Nice sword," said Lexaeus. "Nice tomahawk," answered Jecht. "Too bad I don't have a heart.." Lexaeus said, pushing Jecht backwards. Tidus slashes at the 'Assassin' Nobodies as he took out the 'Neo Shadow' Heartlesses surrounding him, but a sneak attack was being deployed. A type of arrow-bullet nails Tidus in the back, he quickly turns to see a glimpse of Xigbar, but he teleports as quick as the glance.
'Xigbar is like a sniper...He's quick..' thought Tidus, but another arrow-bullet hits him in his left side. "Gahh!" screamed Tidus. He then turned to the attack's direction of origin to face the Sharp Shooter, but he was already gone in a flash. Rude tries to punch and kick Vexen, but he always draw up his blue, silver outlined sheild as a defense.
"Drop your stupid shield, you hippie!-" As a response to Rude's comment, Vexen slams the front of his sheild into Rude's face, knocking him to the ground on his back. "Don't you ever...Call me a 'Hippie'...Or suffer," threatened Vexen. Demyx, armed with a blue, white lined sitar in the same shape as the insignia of the Nobodies, begins to play a tune, facing the Onion Knight and Paine.
"Ready to dance?" smirked Demyx. "I don't think we want to dance...But lets tango.." said the Onion Knight, already contradicting himself in Demyx's statement.
"Here we go!" Demyx said as he started playing his sitar, summoning water clones of himself into the battlefield. Paine was in shock, "Oh, great...More Demyxs..?" The Onion Knight casts Comet at the clones, trying to hit the real Demyx as he slid on a wave of water away from the attack, but the worst was yet to come.
"Dance water dance!" cried Demyx, casting a pillar attack of water at the two. In a quick speed, the two dodge it, then began to think of a counter-attack against the Melodious Nocturne. Cid had a tough time against Marluxia, who was armed with a scythe that has a pink blade and a green and yellow handle; like a flower.
"Some scythe...A pink blade? What are you, a girly man?" questioned Cid, preparing to strike his spear at Marluxia. "Beauty can be a deadly disguise..." was all Marluxia said, and swung the scythe at Cid, but he leaps over it, dodging all the damage from the receiving end. "Gah...What a swing..." Cid said to himself.
Bartz had his hands full with Roxas, who was proving to be a worthy opponent. "You maybe Sora's Nobody, but your not him," Bartz stated.
"Say what you want...Human...I am a Nobody, I don't even have a heart. We Nobodies never did have hearts to begin with," said Roxas, resisting Bartz's statement. Bartz charges at Roxas at full swing, but the Key of Destiny had a better counter attack planned out in his mind. Dodging Bartz's swing from his sword, Roxas lands behind the mimic and nails his back with his own Keyblade, causing damage.
"Gah! Darn it..." Bartz fumed to himself. What irritated Bartz more was Roxas's constant smile, which showed a wicked opposite to a kind hearted Sora.
"Your not ready to battle me...How about you practice with a Dusk?" said Roxas. "I got an idea...How about you shut up and die already!" Bartz roared, showing his anger at Roxas. Roxas was impressed, "Such harsh words...This is going to be fun.." Reno runs across the battlefield with his hair on fire, due to some of Axel's fire attacks.
"Gah! My hair! My hair! Oh, water!" Reno screamed. He uses the water ground in Cosmos's sanctuary to qwell the fire and extinguishes the flames on his head, but soon sees a reflection of Axel, about to slash his left chakram at him. Reno rolls away in a panic, dodging all the damages flying at him. He then gets out his shock staff and attempts to shock Axel, but the Flurry of Dancing Flames dodges it, moving to the right.
"Oh..So close..." cooed Axel. Reno tries again. "Almost had it.." Axel said again, moving to the left. This was getting on Reno's nerves. "Hold still!" he shouted out. Axel then shows a wicked smirk and knocks the shock staff out of his hand with his left chakram, preparing for a kick attack. "Burn!" Axel called out as he nails Reno in the gut, causing him to fall to the ground in pain. Reno coughs, getting back up, but then falls to the ground again.
"Well...That's that...Your no fun at all...To bad I don't have a heart. Memorize that.." Axel said, unimpressed by his victory against Reno that arrived quickly. Reno gets back up and physically punches Axel in the right side of his face, showing the first sign of damage to the Flurry of Dancing Flames.
"Memorize that...Axel..." said Reno, panting from the rush attack he used against Axel. What Reno doesn't know, things are about to get worse. Axel turns to Reno, showing rage in his green eyes.
"Now you done it...No one..Is going to save you...Now!" Axel said, ending it with a scream. A wall of fire surrounds Reno and Axel, making sure Reno doesn't flee from the scene. Reno had to redeem himself, so he prepared to use his hands, not his shock staff to battle an enraged Organization member.
"Now I will show you...Why they call me the 'Flurry of Dancing Flames'...As long as I am standing, my fires won't die! They only die when I die...I will show you the meaning of 'Hellfire'!" Axel stated, spinning the chakrams in circles in his hands by the crossed handles in the middle. The blades of both chakrams caught fire, channeling Axel's fire energy into his own weapon. He then shows a familiar wicked smile, which was more like a wicked smirk as he faced Reno face to face.
"Got it memorized?" Axel questioned. Reno prepared for the worst. Lorena dodges the Heartless fused Riku in combat with her sword she was given to by Garnet, which became very handy from the battle before and now it would prove more handier against the Heartless lord.
"Firaga!" Lorena shouted out, casting Firaga at Riku. It did half the damage, but it wasn't enough. "Nice Firaga spell...You must've learned it from that black mage, Lulu...Sora's Firaga is more, more powerful than hers and yours combined, including that Vivi...My turn to show you a spell of my own..." said Riku. He reared himself up into the air and then called out, "Dark Aura!" A dark Firaga-based energy blast shoots out of his right hand, aiming at Lorena. She dodges it and casts Thundaga, damaging the Heartless even further. The form became unstable and instantly Riku diffuses from the Assualt Rider quickly, then the Heartless was destroyed, releasing a captive heart.
"Magic alone cannot save your soul..." said Riku, materializing physically. Lorena runs at him with her sword in hand, but there was a surprise awaiting for her. Before she struck him, Riku summons a magic barrier to defend himself, bouncing Lorena off, instantly landing on her back.
"Gahh...Dark Shield..Of course," Lorena fumed to herself in a lone tone. She gets back up and prepares for another assault, but another type of Heartless is summoned by the Heartless lord's will of a noble sacrifice. This type of Heartless kinda resembled a robed creature with a Chinese-like hat with the insignia of the Heartless on paper taped to the hat. It was known by Lorena as 'Nightwalker'.
'No...Another Heartless? He's going to merge with that one...' thought Lorena. She was right. Riku began to become intangible as a phantom and phased into the Nightwalker, fusing as one into it. Riku's second Heartless form is revealed. In a type of cloak and a drape-like hat of blood red, his new form had long, talon-based claws on his hands and a more bird-like head that resembled a vulture in a twisted way. His feet was also bird-like with long sharp talons.
"Darkness is eternal. I am eternal. You cannot destroy darkness, no matter how much power you obtained in the process," said the newly formed Riku. Lorena wasn't going to back down. She makes a dash at the Heartless lord and slashes her sword at him, but misses with each time he moved away.
"Not this time! Thundaga!" shouted Lorena. She casts Thundaga at the deity, leaving no chance for him to dodge. Riku responds with Dark Aura, but Lorena casts a wave of Firaga to nail the Heartless lord, only three out of six hitted him. He then becomes stunned for Lorena to slash at Riku with her sword, causing more damage on him. After three powerful swings, the Heartless's form becomes unstable and Riku diffuses out quickly. In mere seconds, the Nightwalker is destroyed as a sacrifice. Riku materializes at a far corner of the platform, but enters a trance-like state. His aqua eyes peer upward in a trance, unable to move. Lorena was puzzled, til she saw what the trance was for. Riku was regenerating.
'No..He's healing himself, but slowly..I have to defeat him quickly,' thought Lorena. After a few minutes, Riku begins to move, only able to recover five percent of his energy, but more soon later. Karin dodges each swing of Sora's keyblade and retaliates with swings of her sword in return. She casts Firaga at Sora, but he has a spell in his arsenal that not even Karin knew.
"You should not have done that..Allow me to demonstrate..Reflect!" Sora said. A type of shield surrounds Sora, but this shield was no ordinary sheild. As soon as the Firaga spell hitted it, it bounced off and flew directly back at Karin. In a nick of time, she dodges it all together.
"Whoa!" was all Karin said. 'The Reflect spell...That's a powerful spell...I need to learn that..." thought Karin. "I can read your thoughts...You want to know 'Reflect? Keep fighting and you might figure it out..." said Sora. He then changes his appearance again, but this time it was more different than the merman form and the ghoul form. He appeared as a lion cub with light tinted brown fur, his hair and hair color is retained, but becomes his mane. His necklace becomes a collar. Sora's eyes are yellow with blue irises and sharp wild cat fangs are shown as he growls at Karin. His paws are silver white while his underbelly fur was a light silver gray. Sora in this form was only able to communicate through telepathy.
'See? I am a true shape-shifter..All thanks to magic..' Sora spoke in telepathy, circling Karin as prey. Karin kept her guard up.
"I won't let you eat me like a lion..." Karin warned. 'Eat you? I'm not a cannibal. This battle is not over yet, til one of us is still standing..' said Sora. Karin held her guard high, but knew from game experience, Sora cannot use magic in this form, unless to change form again. The lion cub pounces, trying to knock Karin down, but since watching a certain movie, she knew what to do in case if he did held her down. Sora continues his assaults on Karin, til he leaps up and pounces on her, holding her to the ground, swiping his clawed paws at her face.
"Get off! Get off!" Karin cried out, trying to fight Sora off. He growls a feral growl like a typical lion and continues to attack. Karin then takes both her legs and tosses the cub into the ground from the air, dazing the lion-based Keybearer for a bit. Karin gets up and does the exact same thing, damaging the cub with physical attacks.
"How you like that? How you like that? I'm gonna smack you back to the Pride Lands!" said Karin, smacking the cub with her hands. The cub then knocks her off, getting back up to repeat the attack, but Karin out weighs the cub and continues to smack him some more.
'Gesh...I thought Kairi was the only one that smacks me around occasionally?' thought Sora. The cub then knocks her off, then gallops away from the area to a double turret defense system and changes form for the fourth time. Sora returns human with the same outfit, but this time it was far more different. His clothes was a dark blue with bright, neon blue highlights and a type of plug-based helmet on his head. As soon as Sora takes this form, four grapple cables grabs hold of his back and pulls him up to the center of the defense system, acting as an energy source. Karin knows this form by gaming experience; Sora was now a program and can operate any machinery terminally at will, like a program would.
'All main systems are functioning at fourty-five percent...Calibrating main system function...' The program version of Sora said in telepathy, wasting no energy to speak. The defense system began to whir to life, lighting up the turrets with colors of black and neon highlighted bright red lights. The center console where the Keybearer was still dark blue with neon bright blue as of Sora's new form's color schemes.
'Who putted this in here? It looks really deadly...' thought Karin as she looked at the turrets. The turrets turn online. moving left, right, up, down, and diagonally up and down to test its maneuverability. All the turret defense systems were now fully operational.
'All systems are operational at a hundred percent. Beginning to engage the enemy...' the program in the center said in telepathy. Sora then turns to Karin then said in a normal human fashion, 'Do you think you can find away to disable this turret? Show me what you can do...' Karin prepared for the worst as the turrets began to charge up for an attack. Lorena skids across the platform as the third transformation of Riku rams her with one of his fists. Merged with a 'Neo Shadow' Heartless, he appeared as his original self, but more demonic and darkened with black colored skin, red claws, a lizard tail, and a more demonic, reptilian head with sharp yellow fangs.
"I am eternal...You can't get rid of darkness. Like Chaos, the God of Discord, always says, 'Light...Will never purge darkness.'," said Riku, glaring at Lorena with his snake-like serpent eyes.
"Light and Darkness are eternal, like you always say. But if you set your mind to the task in the service of Light, you can work at it to purge Darkness...That's how we create peace," said Lorena, placing a fact that Riku has been stating through out the battle.
"My envy...Lead the Heartless to my world..." muttered Riku. Lorena overheard him, "Envy?"
"Do you see...I truly am a Heartless...Suffer!" roared the creature before Lorena. Riku casts Dark Aura this time with his left hand and aims a wave of Dark Auras at Lorena. She leaps to the left and dodges the attack simultaneously. As like a Neo Shadow, Riku melds to the ground and moves to Lorena's location. She tries to move away, but thorns of darkness began to emerge from the ground, bounding her ankles to the ground.
"Gah! No! Gah!" screamed Lorena. She struggles to free herself, but Riku makes it to her location, rising from the ground.
"Now do you know what true darkness is? My darkness is eating away at your soul..." cooed the Heartless lord, fuming darkened fog from each exhale, "With each and passing minute here in this realm...Your heart slowly becomes corrupted with darkness...And soon...You will become a part of us...Heh heh heh heh.."
"No...I won't become a Heartless...Despite what you say!" Lorena called out, breaking through the vines that bound her and slashes her sword into his form, causing damage.
"Grrraaahhhrrrr...Your light is strong, but is it enough?" said Riku. The turrets began to fire a stream of blue lasers at Karin fled away from the turret's accurate aim. "Wah! Feet don't fail me now!" screamed Karin as she ran for dear life. She then hid behind a rock pillar and the beams were hitting the pillar instead of her as a shield.
'Enemy out of range...Engaging thermal scan...' the program spoke in telepathy. A type of scope visor rose from the top of the main turret's body, scanning the area for Karin, even though she was hiding behind the pillar.
"I have to disable that thing...And Sora..He really is a true shape-shifter in adaptation..Huh?" Karin's thought was then cut off by a type of terminal to her right. It appeared to be connected to the turret systems. An idea pops into Karin's brain.
'Of course...A virus..That way it will infect him and the defense system at the same time...Karin, your a genius!' she thought to herself. The scope visor in thermal vision picks Karin up on radar, showing Sora where the 'Enemy' is.
'Enemy in sight...Proceed to firing mode...' the program said in telepathy. The turrets then turn to the pillar and open fire again, but Karin picked up a medium sized rock and tosses it at the scope aiming at her and causes little damage, causing it to swish to the left away from her. Karin makes a dash to the terminal and begins to use it to defeat the machine.
'Okay..Thanks to another friend of mine before 'he' moved away...I'll be able to infect the machine and him at the same time...' thought Karin. As soon as she was getting started, the image of Sora in his program form appeared, as if he was trying to block her attempt.
"Young one...Do you think you can infect me? I want to see if you can...My defenses are at a hundred percent, can you weaken it to a certain percent range to win? Let's find out.." said Sora. The image fades and an indicator of the shielding in the program world used against Karin's attempts to upload the virus.
"Great...I have to try to damage the sheilding on the outside world here, and it will also weaken the program world sheilds as well...Oh, boy..At least for me to try to figure out Reflect..." Karin fumed to herself. She rushes out to the turret and prepares to attack one of the parts to the machine: The scope. The visor focuses on Karin, then the barrels of laser cannons soon followed.
'Enemy in range and in sight...Engaging...Fire at will..' said the program once again in telepathy. The turrets fire towards Karin, then she makes a dash away from the lasers and quickly picks up another medium sized rock and tosses it at the scope visor, causing more damage to the machine.
"Take that!" screamed Karin as she finds another medium size rock as the turret's fire was briefly interrupted as the scope spun in circles. The visor returns its vigil on Karin, but she returns the favor by tossing the rock at the scope more harder than before. As the final rock hits the scope, it crackles with damage and breaks off, leaving the machine sightless.
'Warning...Warning...Scope visor malfunction...Repairing damage momentarily...Scope irreplaceable...Reverting to alternate visor..' as soon as the program finished, the blue sheild-like glass visor rose from Sora's eyes, revealing his full face to Karin, retaining the scope's lost vigil. Sora then uses his own voice, then said to Karin, "I see you..."
"Rahh! I won't become a Heartless to you!" Lorena called out, slashing her blade at Riku, causing extensive damage to his Heartless form. It soon becomes unstable and Riku diffuses out of the Neo Shadow, instantly destroyed in a sacrifice.
"Enough Heartlesses...I will fight you as I am...I bet you are growing weary of me hiding in a Heartless and not fighting you as my own entity. Here is your chance...Show me how powerful your light is, til you fall into the infinite shadows.." said Riku, arming himself with another kind of Keyblade that the blade had a small angel wing at the top and the blade part mimicking a demonic wing. The handle was half demonic wing, half angel wing with a keychain that looked like the Heartless symbol, or insignia.
"I am the Keybearer of Darkness.." said Riku, "And I will steal your heart...Just to make you one of us..." Lorena enters her fighting stance, preparing to combat Riku head to head. The two rush at one another, clashing both swords together in a quick stalemate and leap backwards to launch another wave of attacks. Lorena casts Thundaga and a Blizzaga combination at Riku, only able to hit him with Thundaga.
"Such powerful spells...Is it enough..." said Riku, entering his trance. Lorena knew she would be able to nail him while he was immobile. Lorena does this and causes more damage to Riku, til he breaks out of his trance and attacks back.
"Gah...I'm such a fool...I will not be fooled again!" said Riku, realizing his mistake. He then retaliates and attacks Lorena, but she blocks each strike with an attack of her own. Lorena tries to pierce through Riku's Dark Sheild, but it was impossible.
'There's no way to pierce his shield!..I gotta wait til he lowers it..' thought Lorena. Riku disengages his Dark Shield and prepares to attack Lorena. Each assault shook the area with clashes of metal and will, including Lorena's will to not fall into the darkness that Riku's essence was truly of. She finally nails him with her Blizzaga, knocking Riku backwards on his feet. He teleports away from the scene with Lorena knowing why he did.
'No...He's going to heal himself...Where is he?' thought Lorena. She frantically searches the area for any sign of him, til she sees crackles of dark energy from a far platform corner to the left. 'There!' thought Lorena. She makes a dash to his location and intercepts the deity of the dark, causing as much damage as she could to break Riku out of his trance.
"Grahh! Grrr...My..Form cannot be sustained..." groaned Riku, then teleported away. Lorena then looks to the platform; then makes a dash to the area where Riku was, in the middle of the floating platform in the center of the blackened room of an abyss. As she leaps onto it, she quickly attacks Riku, and he attacks back. In sync of Riku's attacks and Dark Auras, Lorena dodges each attempt of Riku wounding her. She then returns it back with attacks of her own. After a few minutes of dodging and attacking. Lorena had won the round, but Riku has a 'Dark' secret, which was becoming uncontainable inside the deity's fleshy form.
"Grrr...Grrr...My form...Cannot be sustained..." groaned Riku. His own human form was also becoming unstable, as if Riku was a host of something inside his body that was trying to make its presence known. Evidences of something underneath his skin appeared as if crawling up and anywhere on his bare torso underneath.
"Look what you have done...Now you will see..True darkness. My flesh cannot be sustained. Before you fall to the darkness of the shadows, I will show you...The real me...Grah...Grahra...Grrrraaaahhhh!" Riku said before roaring, falling backwards into the bottom abyss of darkness. Lorena looks down into the shadow below, wondering if the battle was over. Karin returns to the console near the defense machine and checks on the amount of shielding left til she can upload the virus.
'Good, its going down...Just with fifteen to twenty percent left, then both it and he will get it...Just alittle longer,' thought Karin as she tries to figure out how to weaken the defense system further. She runs back out and casts Firaga at the machine's turrets, damaging them til her magic was spent. Karin ran out of magic, she couldn't cast anymore.
'No..Not now...' thought Karin in a panic. Sora instantly sensed her plight, "Why did you spend all your magic like that? You need to perserve them as an attempt in life and death situations like me to stay alive...Conservation is presevation." Karin didn't need any lectures, but she listened carefully with no protest, hoping this could help her as hints. The laser cannons fire at Karin like machine guns. She flees to the right, dodging each round as it collided with the rock-based walls.
'I have to destroy those turret cannons...Somehow..Thank god my magic is slowly regenerating,' thought Karin as she fled to the left, dodging more gun fire. She continues to flee, until she loses her footing and falls to the ground, staring up at the turret's cannons with a dead aim at her.
"I'm sorry it has to end like this...Even I can be corrupted with darkness," said Sora, expressing remorse. The turret charges up, preparing to fire. Karin had to come up with something instead of backing up in fear.
'I could really use Reflect right now...I'd be able to use the turret's own gun fire against it..But the Reflect spell is the key...' thought Karin, mixed with fear and frustration. Slowly the turrets charged up, and Karin was running out of ideas.
'No...I can't even cast Reflect...Its a high leveled spell and only Sora knows it...I can't...As Cloud would say, 'I guess...This is it, then'...' though Karin, falling to despair. As she was preparing for her emanate death, a thought of what Firion said to her came into her mind, acting as an inspiration to live.
'Don't get discouraged...You can do it...Believe,' Firion's voice said. Then Cecil's voice from another thought became audible in her mind, 'Don't give up, Karin, keep trying...' She then got back up, filled with an instinct to live.
'Visualize the lasers flying back at the turrets...two damaging the main body of the machine, while the rest destroys the turrets..I just hope this works..' thought Karin, hoping this works. The turrets finished its charging phase and open fires at Karin, but even before Sora's eyes, she learns one of his spells. Time slows as the lasers closed in at Karin, but she was determined to live against the Keybearer of Light.
"My turn...Reflect!" said Karin, for the first time casting Reflect. A type of shield covers the front of her, reflecting the lasers back at the turret. It damages the body machine, and ultimately destroying the turrets permanently.
'Warning...System malfunction...Main turret defenses malfunctioning...Turret irreplaceable...' the program said in telepathy. Sora turns to Karin in surprise.
"How?...It took me longer then that to master Reflect...How did you do that?" he asked. "Imitating..." answered Karin. With magic left, she had to divert Sora's attention away from her so she can check the shield's status. Karin had a perfect solution.
"I bet you don't know this one...Stars unite!" Karin said to Sora, casting Comet at the defense systems, damaging it even further. A comet nails one of the support cables connected to the center program's body, crackling with electricity.
'Warning...Warning...Warning...All shields have been depleted...Beginning recalibration stasis phase...' the program said telepathic. The blue shield like visor slides down to cover Sora's eyes, entering a type of stasis phase to regenerate the lost shielding. Karin quickly ran to the console, showing her that the shields were gone, but regenerated only one percent.
"Not this time!" Karin said, pressing certain keys to upload the virus, which she called it after her PSP game, the 'DISSIDIA' virus. 'Your infected now...Keybearer..' Karin gleed in her mind. The 'DISSIDIA' virus coursed through the machine like a plague, infecting everything that remained, including Sora himself in his program form.
'Virus detected...All systems are shutting down..Shuttin...G dow...Nnn...' The machine was finished and immediately Sora detaches himself, falling to the ground, reverting to his human form Karin had seen earlier before following him here to battle. Karin approaches the scene with caution, not knowing what will happen if Sora got back up.
"Sora? Are you...Okay?" asked Karin. She knew she shouldn't ask things like that to an enemy, but Sora was different. He begins to stir and sits up, healing his cuts and scrapes with Curaga of his own. Karin did the same thing.
"My forms...Are useless...Like a saying, 'If you want something done, you have to do it yourself..'," said Sora, realizing that his forms weren't effective, "Even though...My human form is the real me...But this is not what I really appear as...I will show you, the power used to protect all the worlds from darkness..My power. I will use all my power to the last drop, and I expect you will do the same, then the truth will be revealed." Karin drew out her sword. Sora does the same, with his Keyblade.
"I will...Let's finish this!" said Karin. Lorena continues to peer into the abyss, but as she backs away from the ledge, something grabs hold of her and pulls her into the air.
"Gahhh! Ahhh! What?" panicked Lorena. What she saw behind her was a type of Heartless ghost that was dark black with areas of dark blue and a Neo Shadow-based head with white eyes. Types of straps were shown on its body and criss-crossing across its head and face.
'No way..Its the Guardian Heartless...If this thing is here..Then..' Lorena thought, recognizing the specter behind her from one of her games. She then turns to the front, facing a man levitating to the scene with his arms crossed, and angry. He had similarities to Xemnas, the Organization's leader, but there were plenty differences to tell them apart. His long, silver hair was more slicker than Xemnas's spiky hair, only spiking up at the top. Despite wearing the same pants and boots as the other members of the Organization, the man wore a dark black topped jacket with the zipper area highlighted with gold yellow. The bottom half of the jacket was a light gray, and so were his buttoned-style gloves.
Silver gray type of shoulder guards were on the shoulders of the jacket. The shirt underneath the jacket was white in color with three buttons on the right corner near the bottom. Straps that held the shirt together with three more buttons on the left top corner near the chest area was shown across his waist. The chest area was open, exposing the tan skin underneath that was just like Xemnas's. As Lorena peered further, she saw one more difference between this man and Xemnas: The Heartless insignia on his chest, almost like Riku.
'I don't believe this...Its Ansem...Or better yet, its Xehanort...' thought Lorena. Xehanort was not happy, glaring at Lorena with his orange colored eyes that were identical to Xemnas's eyes.
"How dare you...Your light harmed the deity. I will not tolerate this..." fumed Xehanort. "Where were you?" questioned Lorena.
"Riku telepathicly instructed me to stay away. I did as I was told. Before he comes back up, I will show you the meaning of 'Heartless'. I will enjoy punishing you for what your light did to the Deity of Darkness..." answered Xehanort, smirking to himself as soon as he was finished. The guardian tosses Lorena to the ground, then hovers to Xehanort, hovering from his shadow.
"Soon...You will be swallowed by darkness! The enevitable is drawing ever so closer, for you..." said Xehanort, clenching his left hand swiftly. He then arms himself with a double blade ended staff that the blades were of demonic wings with a blue demon eye in the center of each blade.
"Oh, boy...I guess I'll have to send you back, where you belong!" cried Lorena, swinging her sword at Xehanort, but he blocks each swing with the staff as he levitates, trying to cause damage on Lorena. She then makes a comment, "Your stalling me, aren't you?...Til Riku returns.."
"Darkness knows all...Have you ever noticed what world you are at when you crossed through the gateway? The world that will soon become your new home?" asked Xehanort as he attacks and blocks. Lorena backs away from the human formed Heartless and flees to the outside of the chamber, wondering what Xehanort was talking about. She exits the room and looks around her new environment, seeing scenarios of purple cave-based walls and many colored structures sticking out.
'What world am I at?' thought Lorena as she peered around. The sky was as dark purple as it could get with light purple clouds of darkened proportions. Pillars of rock stoke out from the glass-based water ground, stretching through out the horizon, leading to a portal of another location. Lorena rushes to the portal and quickly made it through, avoiding a confrontation with a giant, unicorn, curled horned Heartless called a 'Behemoth'.
'Wait a minute...This world...Is...No...' thought Lorena, looking more closely. She travels through caverns of darkness, organic in someways and pulses with white light as if highlighting the passageways to the main chambers that had a poisoned liquid of the darkest purple could ever get, teeming with new Heartless inside it. Stairs rose to the top of the cavernous tower, and Lorena rushes upwards to the top to get a good view of the world she's in.
"The End of the World...The home to darkness...And the Heartless," Lorena said to herself. Thousands upon thousands of Heartlesses swarmed the ground below, ranging from Shadows, to another type of Heartless that appeared as humanoid giants of pure black with yellow eyes and a heart-shaped hole in the middle of its torso, called 'Darkside', Behemoths, Neo Shadows, and much more; including another type of Heartless that looked like a type of angelic, light-bulb-like creature called 'Angel Star'.
"Now do you see where you are at?" Xehanort's voice said, as if catching up to Lorena, "You will soon join their ranks shortly."
"I won't be staying. I will finish this..." said Lorena, vowing that she was not going to become a Heartless. "You speak of lies. Your light is fading with each and passing minute you are here. Why don't you surrender and return to where it all began and will soon end for you...In eternal darkness.." Xehanort countered, giving a smirk.
"You fade to darkness!" said Lorena. She attacks him with everything she had. Xehanort fought valiantly, but was it enough? Karin fought long and valiantly against Sora, who proved to be a worthy adversary. Proving his power, Sora then summoned a second Keyblade, increasing his ferocity one to two notches.
'Oh gezz...Two Keyblades...Roxas can do that, too,' thought Karin. "Don't underestimate your opponents. It will get you killed in the end," said Sora. Karin swings her sword at him, but he blocks with one keyblade and attacks with the other, hitting Karin with such force.
"Gah! I'll get you!" screamed Karin. Determined to defeat Sora to save the others and their homes, she continues to fight.
"Stop!" Sora called out. Karin immediately froze in place against her will, as if time around only her stopped, as time continued to flow around other areas. Sora approaches Karin, aiming one of his Keyblades at her neck.
"I know this is breaking your heart...If you lose, everything you have obtained will be decimated...Your just a human, this battle is beyond your comprehension. I know spells that not even you can master. If by instinct, you learned Reflect, but it won't be enough," said Sora, speaking from the heart.
"Why didn't you prevent my mother's death from Garland?..You foreseen it...Why didn't you!" growled Karin. "The situation was out of my hands; then. It was supposed to happen, Karin; despite what you wanted to change out of it. It had to happen, to give you the strength to fight the soldiers of Chaos," answered Sora, "Your end is drawing near...And soon, your heart will fade to the darkness, into Riku's grasp. I'm sorry for you, but this is how it always was..." Karin listened carefully, but this fueled her rage.
"No...I will not fade to darkness!" Karin cried out, fighting Sora's Stop spell. She fought through it and broke out, armed with her sword in hand.
'Lunarian blood...' thought the Keybearer. "Sora! I'm going to finish this, and give you the punishment you deserve!" Karin roared, pointing at Sora with rushes at Sora, instantly slashing her sword quickly as he blocked with both, or one Keyblade.
"Your supposed to be a saviour! But you want to destroy everything!" said Karin, piercing his defenses. She kicks into Sora and knocks him to the wall. Karin then sticks her sword to the ground like Jecht and punches and kicks the Keybearer with all her strength. Each punch and kick caused extensive damage, and Karin didn't even let him cast Curaga, just pummeling Sora with physical attacks without weapons.
"I'll show you..How mad women can get, when you want to destroy everything they love! I'll show you! I'll show you!" Karin said as she continued to nail the Keybearer of Light. She knew that her rage was the last key to the final bout, and soon it came to its climax when Sora fell to the ground, wounded.
"Such strength...I already know how women get when angered..Heh..My wife gets that way as well..*Cough Cough*," groaned Sora, laying on his back. Karin panted in exhaustion.
"Wife? Your married?" asked Karin. She couldn't believe this. Sora, Keybearer of Light, Deity of Kingdom Hearts..Married?
"I'm not done yet...One more battle...Winner take all..I'll be waiting at home for you..." groaned Sora, then he fell to a comatose-based slumber, then the ground lit up with pure, white light; taking Karin by surprise. Everything went white for Karin, til she woke up at a shoreline of an island.
"Guh...Where am I? Huh?" groaned Karin as she got up. She sees wooden platforms and walkways that lead to other mini-based islands near the main one Karin was on and palm trees that varied in size, bearing fruit that looked like yellow stars, called 'Paopu Fruit'. Karin knew which world she was at and on. It was the world where Sora came from: Destiny Island.
"Destiny Island...Sora's home...And Riku's, too...I wonder how Lorena is doing..-" "Are you okay?" a child voice asked, interupting Karin's sentence to herself. She turns around to see a small boy with light brown short hair dressed in orange shorts and white shirt with a picture image of a Paopu Fruit on the front. A small girl with short hair that was a mixture of red and brown arrives to the scene dressed in a light blue dress and red sandals on her feet.
"Are you okay?" the boy asked again. The girl went to him and said, "Mom told us not to talk to strangers, Kori!"
"I was worried, Sari.." groaned the boy, named 'Kori'. Karin stopped the two for a second, "I'm not a mean person...Are you two brother and sister?"
"We are...Your the one that hurted Dad...Didn't you?" asked Sari. Karin was confused, "Dad?"
"With a key sword...You hurted our daddy!" cried Sari. 'Key...Sword...She meant 'Keyblade'..Oh, no...Is it Sora?' thought Karin. As if on cue, a dark, red haired woman in a pinkish zip-based dress that had a white shirt underneath. Her shoes were white with pink, including black laces that was tied to her ankles. From her games, Karin knew who it was. It was the third inhabitant, other than Sora and Riku, from Destiny Island: Kairi. She approaches Karin and had an angry look on her face and blue eyes, just like Sora's. She slaps Karin across the face, showing her anger, woman to woman.
"How dare you hurt my husband! I hope he doesn't show any mercy on your soul.." growled Kairi. Karin was confused, but knew somehow it was going to happen.
"Husband? Is he a shape-shifter that wields a 'Keyblade'? Deity of Kingdom Hearts? Sora?" asked Karin. "That's who I was talking about earlier...What is your reason of hurting Sora?" Kairi answered. Karin was in total shock. Sora's wife is Kairi, and Kairi's husband is Sora. From her games. Riku, Sora, and Kairi are best friends. It would be a good possibility, because Sora risked everything to save the both of them and bring them back to the islands, especially Kairi. Karin fills Kairi in of the scenario. Kairi understood.
"I see...It seems you struck a deal with Sora, as well as your friend struck a deal with Riku. Do you know Riku is the deity from darkness?" asked Kairi.
"Yeah...I saw him earlier with Sora. Those two...Are they your children?" Karin asked, as soon as she answers. "They are...Kori has some of Sora's features when Sora himself was that young," answered Kairi. Karin nodded. Lorena continues to attack Xehanort, but which each time she tried to attack Xehanort, he would say, 'Come Guardian!' and the Guardian Heartless would block the attacks. Worse is when the Guardian posses Lorena, but she found a good way to counter it. After casting Thundaga and Blizzaga combined, she defeats the Heartless and soon the final confrontation is at hand.
"Go back to the dark, Xehanort!" said Lorena. Xehanort falls into a dark portal, but he really letted himself be defeated, just buying his leader, Riku, time. As soon as Lorena took a step forward, the tower shook with fury and a animal, dragonic roar was then heard below.
"What the? Gahhh!" Lorena panicked. The flooring turned pitch black and began to sink Lorena into it. She tried to fight, but it was futile. Everything went black for Lorena, and soon what she wakes up to next will give her nightmares beyond human comprehension. Lorena begins to stir, then saw something rise from the poisonous moat water. It appeared as a tail, but it showed it was also something else. The tail end began to pulse in pulsations, as if trying to bring something inside it up and out. The end of the purple and red stripped black tail widened and opened near the platform, releasing a Heartless within it.
'What the..?...' Lorena gasped mentally. The Heartless was a Shadow and it scampered away from the tail. A low, feral growl was then heard behind Lorena. She instantly turns around and comes face to face where the tail came from. A long, serpentine creature was hooked to the wall like a queen, immobile, hanging on the wall with dark red vessel-like tubes and dark, organic webbings attached to its back. It had a reptilian appearance, but its head and shoulders looked very similar from that one boss connected to a ship from a game Lorena played.
The creature had a total of eight, pitch black skinned arms with bright red claws. It also had six, bat-webbed wings of demonic sorts of dragonic nature. Some of the webbings and vessel-like tubes were attached to the lower, serpentine body, which appeared swollen for reproductive purposes. Four of its arms were covering its face, two were wrapped around its humanoid torso waist, and the last remaining set was placed near the hips area of its upper humanoid body. Raspy, loud breathing was heard underneath its four arms covering its face and upper torso.
'Whoa...What kind of Heartless is this?..Is it a queen?' thought Lorena. The raspy, loud breathing continued, but the creature's four arms covering its head moved downward, revealing its face and yellow, lunar eyes.
"My child...Now my metamorphosis is complete...And now the test of fate is at hand. Do you not recognize me, young Lorena? You saw me earlier before I fell into the abyss...Remember..." the creature said. Lorena thought for a minute, then a shocking truth slaps her in the face.
"No...Riku? No...Is that...You?" asked Lorena. "Yesss...It is me...Do you remember? Where do you think all the Heartlesses came from..In this form, they all came from me! But human..Its impossible. What do you think of my true self? A visage worth a thousand nightmares...," said the true form of Riku. Lorena took a few steps back in shock, trying to process the info she gained. She knew that in his human form, there was no way Riku can create new Heartlesses like this, but by stealing hearts. It was all different in Riku's true form; it was possible, and the vast source was revealed before Lorena. The tail then wrapped around Lorena's waist and lifts her to the creature's face.
"Your light..Is no more. It has long since faded from you the first time you stepped forth into my world. You belong here now..In darkness," said Riku, continuing to wrap his tail around her, "Welcome to your new home...Lorena."
'No...This is not my home! But my light...Is gone...Its all over..' thought Lorena, finally submitting to defeat. As the deity's tail unwraps from Lorena, something hidden in her shirt tickled her skin. Lorena searches in the confines, then pulls out a golden feather. This was a feather from Boko, and soon her memories of before the final battle with Bartz flashed before her inside her mind.
'...Boko wanted to give you something...You could use all the luck you can get,' one of the memories said. In that memory, Lorena first received a feather from Boko. Lorena picks up her sword and by instinct stabs into the tail end, through and through. the deity shrieked.
"Grah! Why are you doing this? You belong here with us now..." shrieked the Heartless lord. "No! I don't belong here. This is a world of darkness. The End of the World. In order to take out the Heartlesses..I have to take out their source. Thanks for helping out on that one, Riku...Your it!" said Lorena.
"New deal...If you can defeat me now...I will return all my Heartlesses up from the Orders Sanctuary and release you from here...If I win...You will stay in this world forever...With our company," the deity spoke with quick thought. Lorena obliged and attacks at the creature's upper body, but Riku's now more advanced Dark Shield blocked the attacks completely.
'Dang! The shielding is stronger than earlier...Great..Hm?' thought Lorena. She remembers the tail and how it spawned the Shadow Heartless. A hunch was beginning to form. Karin walks around the shoreline of Destiny Island, walking along to the back of the main island, As she arrives; Karin spots a type of spike-based rock formation in a circle, rising from the water. Kairi arrives to the scene.
"You should be going there...He's waiting..." Kairi said to Karin. Karin nods and runs into the water, swimming in the depths to the isle ahead. She got closer to the isle of sharp rock, but as soon as she was about halfway there, Karin spots something swimming under her in the water. Something 'Big'.
'What the?...What is that? A whale?' wondered Karin as she got closer to the isle. The giant sized shadow in the depths of the water was quicker than Karin and makes it first to the isle from underneath. Karin arrives at the isle and arrives in the middle, realizing that there were stone platforms made from the structure's own stone texture, wide enough for someone to walk, move, dodge, and run. The stairs near the structure lead to the top of the whole walkway.
'Whoa...Was this done by magic? Or by hand?..' thought Karin in wonder. She continues to investigate the walkway, til she came across a large engraving of a crown; like the centerpiece of Sora's necklace. Karin walks all the way around the platform, seeing engravings of the Heartless insignia, the insignia of the Nobodies, and last it a heart design with a crown on top of it.
'Something doesn't feel right...As if..Something is here and...' thought Karin. Her thought was soon interrupted by a sudden tremor, rocking the platform and isle from the sea below. Karin instantly fell to the ground, trying to brace herself. As the tremor subsided, she got back up, but soon a gigantic gush of water sprays upwards from the center like a geyser, knocking Karin back to the ground, but this time it was right on her back.
"Wahhh!" screamed Karin as she fell onto her back. Dazed, but still alert, she then peers up to see what had surfaced from the water, but what she saw next startled and shocked Karin in one sitting. A giant merman was situated in the center of the isle in the water, but somehow this merman looked awfully familiar in many ways. Yellow stripes ran around the lower dolphin-fish body to the fin, and the upper, human body had tribal markings on it as well, but on the chest area was a design of the same heart design as the engraving.
The shoulders had the Heartless insignia on the top of the shoulder blades. Its back had a large design of the Nobody insignia, and to its head, there was a crown marking on its forehead, while on each cheek was a keyhole design. When Karin looks up to its face, she knew who it was: It was Sora, but more different. What was even worse is that Sora is now armed with four Keyblades, not one, or two.
The merman slid out of the water onto land, slthering towards Karin as she backed away from it. "Does my appearence...Look familiar too you...?" the merman asked, as if it was like a true deity. Karin somehow knew who the merman was.
"Sora?..." asked Karin. The merman smiled, "This...Is my true self. Those that see it, don't survive to tell what it looks like...Because at the end, they are sent to darkness..." Karin gulped, but then noticed Kairi and the two children with her approaching the scene with no fear.
"Kairi! Wait!" Karin called out. "I'm not afraid...We've seen this form before. He would never hurt me, nor our children. Sora isn't like that at all..." Kairi said, telling Karin he wouldn't harm her. This fact was then backed up when he lowered himself to their level and then Kori and Sari runs to him, hugging his human, upper body.
"Daddy! Your alright!" cheered the children. "I knew you would be...Like always," said Kori. Sora hugs both of the children, then turns his attention to Kairi. She slowly walks to Sora, looking up into his eyes. He returns the gaze to Kairi. He then wraps his fish lower body around Kairi and leans to her. In front of Karin, the two embrace in passion. Karin awed at the scene, but it soon ends when Sora turns to Karin.
"...Finish it..." whispered Kairi. Sora nods in response and the three near him leave to a safe location, watching the final fight unfold.
"Kairi's angry at me. Because I hurted you. She even slapped me across the face," said Karin. Sora then rises from the ground, preparing for the final battle. He slithers back to the water and stays there, arming himself with two Keyblades at first. Karin rushes at the merman and begins to swing her sword to do some serious damage. Sora anticipated this.
"Have you learned yet?..Remember...The best offense, is the best defense...Aeroga!" said Sora, casting a wind-based shield to block all of the attacks. Karin was knocked back, but was determined to pierce the defense.
'Gah...Aeroga...Such a defense...' Karin fumed in her mind, getting back up. "I still have an advantage!" said Karin. She knew that Sora as a merman can't even move on land, but only move in water. Karin tried to lure him out of the water as best as she could. The Aeroga spell then wore off and Karin leaped forward and assaulted the Light Deity's head, causing damage as he tried to swing her off. Karin continued to hold onto Sora's spikey hair and continue to dealt some damage on his head. What Sora did next defied all explanation. As if swimming through the air, he flies around with levitation, trying to use wind to get Karin off. She lost her grip and fell to the ground.
"No way!" screamed Karin. 'Well...There goes my merman out of water theory...' Karin then thought. Sora pointed one of the Keyblade's tip to the sky, then said, "Thundaga!" A set of powerful lightning strikes arched down at Karin, who had to dodge it by running. Karin has seen this spell before, it was used against Chaos, just to show him his place against Sora. Each arch of powerful electricity caused cracks on the stone platform, but it still held. Karin successfully dodges it, but the worst was yet to come. Lorena continues to attack the giant queen against all odds, and in the process slaying the freshly emerged Heartlesses at once
'There's so many! I know I'm doing some damage on Riku, but its not enough...The Heartlesses just keep coming..Huh..Wait a minute..' Lorena thought. She then sees the lower body, swollen and enlarged with new Heartlesses, then turns to the newly risen tail, pulsating a new Heartless to emerge. Lorena came up with a radical, but worth the risk idea.
'Of course...I gotta aim at the lower body. I have to disable this thing from birthing more Heartlesses for good,' thought Lorena. she then dispatches the Heartlesses near her, from 'Soldier' Heartlesses, 'Lance soldier' Heartlesses, to 'Air Pirate' Heartlesses. As soon as almost all of them are defeated, Lorena aims her Firaga and Bilzzaga spells at the underbelly shown, causing damage.
"Shhhhhrrreeeeeeeeiiiiii! Shhhrrrrraaahhh!" the Heartless lord shriek, becoming damaged by Lorena's spells. As the beast was distracted, Lorena attacks the tail and further damages it, causing more extensive damage. Her victory was rewarded. After attacking both tail and lower body, Riku was now disabled from making more Heartlesses.
"Grahhh!...Greeeeegggghhh!" roared the Heartless lord. It begins to shrink its lower body like a huge anaconda, and tear itself from the wall. It pulled and struggled, causing the tubes to rip off, causing nutrient-based fluids to spill out. The webbings also tore off. Riku outstretches his six wings and takes flight, prepared to take Lorena to the darkness.
"Child! I will not forgive you! You destroyed me...I will bring you to darkness, if I have to die to do so!" roared Riku, flying towards Lorena. She prepares by running towards him, then slashing her sword against his clawed hands, slashing back with his claws. Riku breathed out a black, poisonous fume at Lorena, causing the stream of spray to turn pitch black with darkness and fade away a few minutes later.
"No you don't! I will not fall! Someone's waiting for me!" said Lorena, fueling herself further with determination. After causing some more damage, Riku flies to the top of the tower, bringing Lorena with him with his tail. She arrives at the top, preparing for a sneak attack by any means. The dark deity flies near the tower, trying to snap his jaws at her and harm her with his fangs. Lorena dodges all of the attacks, but the worst was coming. Riku then opens his mouth and charges for a hyper beam attack of dark energy. Lorena was not going to dodge it, but maybe try to reflect it back.
'Reflect...Is one of Sora's spells...I wonder if I can do that...There's only one way to find out. Here it comes!' thought Lorena. The charging was finished and Riku soon fires the beam at Lorena, but she has a trick that Riku is not going to anticipate.
"To defeat an enemy...You must use their own weapon, or attack against them like a mime...Reflect!" Lorena calls out, for the first time casting Reflect. The beam bounces back and nails Riku through the torso, causing too much damage on the deity's now fragile body. He flies into the air in a berserk phase and tries to ram Lorena. She then spots a Keyblade on the ground. The Keyblade had a sharp, key-like end that can be used on people's hearts by taking them, or unlocking something in one's heart.
'Riku...I will release you from your madness..' thought Lorena, taking hold of the Keyblade. The giant Heartless lord above was plotting a crash course with Lorena below, but she now has the power to end it for good in one hit.
"I will free you from your lament of Destiny Island! Its time to move on!" said Lorena, throwing the weapon upward at Riku like a spear. It flies at its mark and pierces his heart, causing the dark energy to crackle inside.
"Grrrrraaaaggghhh! My heart! Is...Healing!" roared the creature. The creature exploded into sharpnels of rock, revealing the human Riku underneath. He fell from the sky and onto the platform. Riku was emitting a type of dark aura that crackled from his body, as if he was going to fade away in defeat. Lorena fell to the ground in exhaustion, but enough to face Riku.
"Before...I send the Heartlesses back here...Accordance to our agreement. Tell...Sora..I'm sorry for killing Destiny Island..It was my ill-will heart of jealousy that brought them there..I wanted to be like Sora..But...Tell him..I'm sorry...Farewell..." Riku said as a message, then faded away.
'I will...' thought Lorena. Back in Cosmos's sanctuary, the Heartless forces began to fade away, as if returning back to their world.
"Look! The Heartlesses are leaving! Lorena must've defeated Riku," the Onion Knight shouted. The Heartless had all returned to their dark world, never to return again, unless needed. Lorena stays where she is, til someone grabs her and lifts her up. Xehanort lifts Lorena to her feet, then he said, "Riku just informed me to take you home. Your free and you don't belong here anymore...Let's go." It seems she won Xehanort's respect. Back at Destiny Island, Karin tangles with the airborne Sora.
'Gah...For a merman, he sure can fly!' thought Karin as sge took her magic spells against Sora, hitting him with Firaga.
"Allow me to show you my Firaga..." said Sora. He then casts a more powerful Firaga at Karin, but she reflects it back with Reflect, but Sora manuvers around it, like a snake.
"Grrr..He's good.." fumed Karin. She tries hard to attack Sora, but he casts Aeroga every time she attacks. Karin was about to give up, til she touches her head and forgot she was wearing Firion's bandana. This fueled her resolve to win.
"I will win..If I have to die trying! I promised to return home, and I will keep that promise til the end! I won't allow you to stand in my way, even if you are a deity!" said Karin, vowing to herself. "Such determination. We have something in common, the determination to survive and to push ourselves to our goals," said Sora in amazment. Karin fights harder than before, trying to pierce through Sora's Aeroga shield. Karin still pressed on, til she finally breaks it. Is this by luck, by the will to survive, or the determination to win and return home to Firion alive and in one piece?
Karin continued to fight Sora with everything she had in her, and putting as much damage as possible. Sora was taking many hits. Knocking all of the Keyblades out of Sora's hands two at a time, Karin finishes it with a volley of Comet, Blizzaga, Firaga, and Thundaga to finish the battle, and Sora has lost...To a human with Lunarian blood. Sora falls to the ground, landing on his back as he returned to his human form.
"Karin...I must admit, your will to live is far beyond my beliefs of you..I underestimated you, and when we fight again, it won't happen again. As accordance to our deal...All the homes of your friends is spared. I didn't want any of your poison to reach the world I worked so hard to protect...That is all..." said Sora, admitting his flaw. Karin falls to the ground in exhaustion, but soon Organization XIII arrives, along with another girl that had a resemblance to Kairi. She wore a white sleeveless dress and sandals. She had silver, neck length hair, and blue eyes. Karin knew who it was. It was Kairi's Nobody, Namine. Roxas was right next to her.
'Oh, no...They're coming to kill me..Because I hurted Sora..' thought Karin. The opposite happened. They stared with worry. Karin was puzzled.
"Axel...Roxas...Help her back home...Where she belongs, this is our last task.." said Sora. Axel and Roxas nodded and helped Karin up, taking her through one last portal, all the way back to where she should be. At home.