Silver Linings
Chapter 25: "Dispatched in Mankind's Darkest Hour..."
A/N: Yep, this took way longer than I thought. I'm going to blame BlazBlue: Centralfiction. Not only was it a really fun game that ate up all my free time, it also revealed that several assumptions that already made it into this story were canonically wrong. Therefore, it's up to me to create an alternate cosmology of the Azure Timeline in which to finish this story. Because yes, it will be finished someday.
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Twilight Town: The Old Mansion - Front Yard...
Lambda stared at the green-haired newcomers, slipping into her robotic tone to avoid letting them feed off her emotions. "Both targets recognized as Yuuki Terumi. Paradox detected...resolved. Target 1 is an Azure Grimoire and vessel for Terumi. Reclassifying target as Hazama. Target 2 is Yuuki Terumi's spiritual form. Recommendation: maximum power attack against Target 2."
Terumi growled. "So you figured out that we're two people now. And let me tell you, it is a PAIN being able to feel pain."
Hazama, on the other hand, grinned madly - an unhinged expression that ripped at the sanity of those around him. "Speak for yourself, Terumi ol' buddy! Feeling pain is the only way I know I'm me! But let's leave that discussion to the philosophers sitting on their asses at home - right now, it's time to dish out some delicious Hazama name-brand torment!"
"Not yet! Heal up, everyone!" King Mickey suddenly flipped onto the scene with utmost style, brandishing the Kingdom Key D and casting a wide-area healing spell. All the heroes in front of the old mansion were restored to full health. "Riku, ya started without me! I guess I won't have to keep that secret from Sora, though!"
"Sorry, Your Maje-er, Mickey. You're just in time, though, as usual! It looks like we'll need your Keyblade to deal with these Time Breaks."
Xigbar's voice called out again. "Eh, I can work with this. With that, the halftime break - heh, Time Break puns - is officially over! Run along back to your places, now!" Everyone was teleported all over town again, leaving Riku alone with Terumi, Hazama, and a Time Break.
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[Azure Timeline]: Kokonoe's Lab...
Kokonoe spit out her coffee when a Time Break opened in her lab again. No big loss; the coffee around here was never any good. "Argh, I thought Lambda had these things under control!"
"Lamb...da...?" Lambda-11 slowly asked from beside her. Kokonoe had decided to step up the timetable of getting "Lambda-11 2.0" online after the other Lambda made a call from another timeline.
"Not talking about you. There was another timeline, and... Argh, it'll take too long to explain. Still, this is the perfect chance to test my new Time Breaker Mk. II!" Kokonoe moved over to her desk to retrieve a gun-like device.
"Another...me? Target detected. IDEA Engine activated." Lambda-11 2.0 suddenly armed herself, dashed forward, and rushed through the Time Break.
"What?! That was not an order! Where the hell are you going?" Kokonoe yanked a handheld radio out of her pocket. "Goddammit...Tager! We've got trouble! Get your rusty ass in here ASAP!"
"Roger that, Kokonoe. Arriving in...um, zero seconds." Tager lumbered into the lab while still talking into his own radio.
"Well then, stop talking into the radio if you're right here! A Time Break just opened here - I hope you can at least see that much."
"Affirmative. Is this related to the spatial instability that shortened my arrival to the lab?"
"No, it's something older. This rift leads to a whole other timeline...and Lambda just went through it. Your orders are to go through there and retrieve Lambda-11 2.0, and keep her intact. We need her IDEA Engine to stand any chance against Terumi's, Relius', and Izanami's collective bullshit. Keep in contact by radio, and don't mind any further anomalies with the rift itself - if the Time Break grows too large, I can just seal it up before it becomes a Collision Zone and make a new, smaller Break to get you back here."
"Roger all that. Orders are to retrieve the rogue Prime Field Device, Lambda-11 2.0, alive - er, intact. TR-0009 Tager, commencing mission." Tager lumbered through the Time Break and vanished from the lab.
"Right. Be quick about it." Kokonoe turned back to her console to see a blinking red pop-up. "What? Terumi, you bastard...you're there, too?! This time, Mother isn't going to pull you out of my trap!" Kokonoe fired up the Time Breaker Mk. II, closing the rift Tager and Lambda used and opening a new one with beams of erratic colored light.
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Kagutsuchi: Orient Town...
"He's got to be here somewhere...I can feel his presence. Is this the Boundary's influence?" Litchi Faye-Ling, apprentice scientist, owner of a small clinic in Orient Town, and unbeatable world champion of bra-size competitions, peered into another sewer drain in search of her true love.
"Wha-disto-ion is th-? An-er time? 'Ti-Break'? Mus-know! Must eat! Must de-our! Must must must MUST!" A mass of horrifying black ooze burst from the sewer Litchi was examining, forcing her to jump backwards to avoid the manhole cover. The monster known to the world as Arakune, but stubbornly referred to by Litchi as Lotte "Roy" Carmine, oozed his way into a jagged rip in space that appeared a short distance down the street.
"Wait, Roy! WAIT!" Litchi recovered from her surprise and rushed after her one true love without another thought.
"Miss Litchi! Don't go, my love! NOOOOO!" This was said by BANG SHISHIGAMI, HERO OF LOVE AND JUSTICE, who had been stalking - er, watching over - Litchi from a nearby rooftop. "Wait for me! I'll protect you from that beast! Toh!" He jumped...directly into yet another Time Break which suddenly formed in midair.
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[Heart Timeline]: Twilight Town: Sandlot...
Xigbar's teleportation had dropped Lambda right back where she started. She picked herself up off the ground and brushed sand from her suit. "Ugh, I'm really getting sick of Xigbar's space powers. Scanning...Xigbar not found. Of course, the one time a Black Coat actually hides someone from prying eyes...! I'll need some other way to track him. Maybe I can track his powers instead? Scanning for spatial distortions. 3... Correction: 2... Correction: 4 Time Breaks detected. There's too much interference with all these Time Breaks popping up. Wait, did one of them close already?"
Glancing around, Lambda located the closest Time Break at the ramp between the Sandlot and the Back Alley. Out from the rift came something she couldn't have expected...
Lambda-11 2.0 came to a stop exactly two meters away from Lambda. "Scanning...Target located. Target identified as...me."
Lambda (Riku's Lambda) was taken aback. She let her protocols handle a situation she couldn't make heads or tails of. "Who - what - how...Scanning...Target recognized as identical existence. Separate phenomena confirmed. Asserting difference. You're the one Kokonoe repaired, right? I didn't know she was done already. Well, I was here first, and I'm staying. Don't you have someone to protect in the Azure Timeline?"
Lambda-11 2.0 stood perfectly still; a soft clicking sound could be heard. "Disk error; bad sectors detected. All memories regarding 'someone to protect' are corrupted. Repairs in progress; prioritizing other actions. Base programming directive: eliminate identical existence. Identical Murakumo Unit, I order you to self-destruct."
"No, not this again! ...I reject your order. Engaging combat mode. Release restriction 13." Lambda summoned her weapon and took an identical combat stance to Lambda-11 2.0.
"Activating IDEA Engine. Output stabilized." A field of green particles surrounded Lambda 2.0.
"Summoning Lux Sanctus. IDEA Engine linked. Murakumo, activate." Lambda summoned her armor. Darkness wafted from her shoulders like smoke due to her released limiter.
Both PFDs spoke in unison. "Terminating target." Both sets of Petal blades oriented themselves towards the enemy...
"CRIMSON METEOR!" A giant red-and-black mass crashed into Lambda 2.0, stopping the battle cold. A behemoth of a man stood from the resulting cloud of dust. "Lambda-11 2.0, your orders are to return to base. Why did you run off without orders, anyway?"
Lambda lowered her Petals to their default configuration, but didn't dismiss Murakumo. "It was probably because she sensed me."
Tager glanced at the other Lambda and lost his composure. "What - are you...another Lambda?"
Lambda gave him a wry smile, but she was still unable to leave Combat Mode. "Yes and no. I know it's confusing; I hate paradoxes. Hence the base directive to terminate any other Murakumo Unit, even if I'd rather not. But if you get her back through the Time Break, our existences won't be in conflict anymore, so... Hey, where'd it go?" The Time Break which Lambda 2.0 and Tager had used to get here was gone.
Tager tightened a bulky fist, releasing yellow sparks. "Blast! Kokonoe must have closed it already."
"Wait, she found a way to do that with just one person? That's great news; there are too many Time Breaks to leave alone on this world right now. But...drat, that means there's no way to argue with my directive. Resuming combat..." Lambda summoned a few swords to send at Lambda 2.0, who flipped back to her feet...leg-blade things...and dodged the attack.
Tager pulled out his radio. "Kokonoe, this is Tager. I've encountered Lambda 2.0. She's engaged in combat with another Lambda who was already here."
"I figured as much. Give me thirty seconds to get Terumi pinned down, and I'll collect her. Try to keep both Lambdas intact until then, but don't pull your punches too much; otherwise, they'll kill you to get at each other."
Tager shot a surprised glance at his radio, regardless of the fact that it didn't have video capabilities, and his goggles were too opaque to see his eyes anyway. "Terumi?! Well, that certainly explains the change of plans. New mission parameters acknowledged."
"Good luck, Tager. Kokonoe, out. Hey! I found you, Terumi, you bast-" The transmission cut off.
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Twilight Town: Sandlot...
Riku: Defeat Yuuki Terumi and Hazama!
Hazama sighed in disappointment as all but one of the other fighters vanished. "Aw, we only get to cut up one of you? I call dibs on his liver! Gyahahaha!"
Terumi's eye twitched under his hood. "Wait, this is that punk who caught me off guard last time I was in this continuum! Watch out, Hazama; he's got some kind of freaky body-controlling technique."
Riku smirked. "Sure do. But I don't want to scare Lambda like that again, so I'll deliver your beatdowns a bit more manually this time." He summoned Soul Eater and got into his fighting stance, complete with a "bring it on" gesture. "Let's see if it's possible to beat you in a straightforward contest of fighting skill?"
Terumi hissed. "Hate to break it to you kid - oh, what am I saying? I love breaking people! - You're up against a guy with WAY more experience than your little mortal brain can even comprehend. C'mere and let me cut you!"
"DIBS!" Hazama summoned his Nox Nyctores, Ouroboros, to swing closer to Riku, coming down on his head with a darkness-shrouded axe kick. "Dancing Fang!"
Riku vanished from the point of impact, appearing behind and above Terumi, but Terumi's knives were already crossed in the way of Soul Eater behind his neck. "Predictable, kiddo. A guy can teleport, so he attacks from behind. Give me some harder reads, or this'll just be boring!"
"Don't mind if I do. Dark Cannon!" Riku hovered back up, launching a dozen Dark Firaga blasts at once from the tip of his sword. Hazama summoned Ouroboros to wrap around himself like a barrier, while Terumi cut the projectiles apart in a whirl of knives.
Hazama cackled. "Gyahaha! Got any more tricks? Oh, I guess I shouldn't expect much more from a newbie, huh? My bad. Here's one from me - Eternal Coils of the Dragon Serpent!" Riku suddenly found himself caught in a binding circle of green Ars Magus, and then yanked toward Hazama by Ouroboros' teeth. Hazama's knives glinted as he prepared to slice, dice, and make Julienne fries out of the dark hero.
In desperation, Riku yelled, "Dark Shield!" He managed to use the shield to bounce off of Hazama's knife and regain a safe distance...landing right under Terumi's slime-coated boot.
"Serpent's Laceration!" Terumi stomped Riku's head, over...and over...and over, so quickly that Terumi's leg became a blur. Then he scooped Riku into the air. "Look, Hazama, no hands!" Two successive kicks knocked Riku skyward.
"Nice! Hungry Coils!" Hazama grabbed Riku with a chain and slammed him back to the ground.
Riku pulled himself to his feet, swaying from a bad knock to the head. "This isn't good..."
A new woman's voice called from the opening to the woods, "I found you, Terumi, you bastard! Graviton, deploy!" A round machine appeared, floating in midair between Hazama and Terumi.
Gravity warped around the device It drew in the two villains, but not Riku or the newcomer, who revealed herself to be a rather short woman with pink hair and pink fur on her cat ears and her two cat tails. "Flame Cage, launch!" The cat-woman pointed a large gun into the air and shot a trio of fireballs straight up, which were then immediately dragged into the Graviton's pull, causing them to smother Terumi and Hazama in flames. "Remember, Terumi. You'll be killed by Professor Kokonoe Mercury."
"But what about me?" Hazama whined sarcastically. "I mean, it's not like killing Terumi would actually get rid of him. Might feel nice for a minute or two, but then the chains lock around your feet! Eternal Coils of the-"
"Planar Haze, warp." Kokonoe disappeared into a ring of red-painted metal that descended out of nowhere, reappearing right behind her Graviton. This caused Hazama to miss with his attempt to bind her as he had done to Riku. Hazama turned around, expecting to be attacked from behind, but whatever weapon he was expecting was probably smaller than the drill-ended hammer Kokonoe swung at him. "Hmm, that did feel good. I guess total assholes can have the right idea once in a while, too. Hold still; I'm going to need some repeated trials..." She dropped the hammer (which fell into a metal hatch that appeared from nowhere), then pulled out a rocket-propelled baseball bat. She swung the new bludgeoning tool at Terumi, overwhelming his dual-knife defense. "Graviton, activate." The Graviton flashed yellow, expelling its remaining charge to reverse gravity and push Terumi and Hazama into opposite walls.
"Dark Maelstrom!" Riku rejoined the fray, attacking Terumi with a double-ended naginata spin attack. "Thanks for the help! Are you the same Kokonoe Lambda was talking about?"
Kokonoe popped a lollipop into her mouth. "Yep, and I take it you're Riku. Keep 'em busy if you can; Terumi and I have some unfinished business, but I'll need a moment to set things up." She began typing into a handheld screen.
"I'm not sure how long I can hold them! Gah!" Riku swatted away Hazama's next attempt to chain-leap at him.
Terumi growled. "Every time it looks like I can have some fun, another big damn hero pops up out of nowhere! I'm sick of it! Gleaming Fangs!" He cloaked himself in slimy magic and rushed at Kokonoe, only to run headfirst into Soul Eater.
Riku shoved Terumi away with a smirk. "I can't be in two places at once, but I can move a lot faster than I have been." He appeared on Terumi's left side, was blocked, then appeared behind him, was blocked...then appeared below the yellow snake in a dark portal. Terumi was blasted skyward as Riku exploded out of the portal in a burst of Darkness. "Dark Riser! ...This calls for a new move."
"Do you name your moves Dark everything? Kinda boring, if you ask me. Serpent's Infernal Rapture!" Hazama had snuck up behind Riku, and delivered an incredibly heavy upward kick. "Or 'Super Snake Kick', if you can't say big words." Riku was thrown high into the air, and Hazama got ready to catch him with Hungry Coils on the way down.
Riku flipped upright and floated in midair beyond Ouroboros' length. "That's funny coming from you, Captain Snake-Moves. Bladecharge!" He'd managed to shorten the time it took the Light blade to grow down to one second. Then he flash-stepped behind Terumi, who had started eyeing Kokonoe's progress. "Think fast, Terumi!"
"Serpent's Cursed Sting!" To his credit, Terumi thought fast, and caught Riku's blade of Light on a giant knife formed from both of his knives coated in magic. But his knife was still too small to hold up against Riku's six-foot sword, and he crumpled under Riku's strength...but he slithered back to his feet in an unnatural motion, more angry than hurt. "That does it! Xigbar can take his debt and stuff it! I'm out!" Terumi turned toward the Time Break, only to find it wasn't there.
"You're leaving, Terumi, but you're doing it my way." Kokonoe swiped her screen and raised a larger gun-like device. "Targets and destination, locked in. Time Breaker Mk. II, fully charged. Aaand CLICK!" A ray of light lanced out and struck Terumi, enveloping him in a new Time Break. Hazama received the same fate only moments later. Pulling a second trigger, Kokonoe closed both new Time Breaks simultaneously. She pulled out a radio. "Kajun, are the cages ready?"
A demure voice responded, "Indeed they are, Professor. Shall I commence the planned experiments?"
"Certainly. Killing them would be unproductive, but that doesn't mean we can't get a lot of lovely data from them. I recommend Serum #492. I've still got some high-priority tasks on this side, so go ahead and start sticking needles in them without me. Over and out." Kokonoe pocketed the radio and turned toward Riku. "Your Lambda and mine found each other, with the expected result. Tager should be keeping them off each other's throats, but you should probably hurry back to your girlfriend before one of her selves dies."
"Hey, don't even joke about that!" Riku zipped off to find his girlfriend, only to realize that he hadn't asked Kokonoe where the two Lambdas were. When he returned to the mansion's front yard, Kokonoe was gone. "Darn it!" Now he had to search manually. He zoomed off to Tram Common first...
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Sandlot...
Tager: Subdue Lambda-11 2.0!
"Target recognized: Iron Tager. Registered as friendly. Requesting you stand aside."
Tager faced Lambda 2.0 and spread his massive arms out. "I apologize; I can't do that. I have my orders...and you do, too, Lambda 2.0. You're coming back to the lab, even if I have to break your legs and carry you there."
"Continuing attack. Legacy Edge." Aiming for Lambda through Tager's body, Lambda 2.0 released a storm of daggers.
Tager pulled his arms across his body and charged up energy, allowing the tiny blades to ping harmlessly off his reinforced skin. "I see you won't come quietly. TR-0009 Tager, commencing mission. Spark Bolt!"
A yellow ball of energy launched at blinding speed from Tager's chest, slamming into Lambda 2.0. She flew backwards into a wall of the Sandlot, and when she rose to her feet again, tiny yellow sparks were randomly flying off her body.
"What's that?" Lambda asked. She was keeping her protocols satisfied by letting Tager remove the other Lambda from this timeline.
"'That' is my favorite part of my often-demeaning job. Come here!" Tager stretched one massive gauntlet forward, generating an electromagnetic charge that drew in the magnetic tag he'd left on Lambda 2.0.
Unable to fight the pull, Lambda 2.0 was drawn into Tager's iron grasp, and was then promptly thrown skyward. "Genesic...!"
Tager leapt straight up to catch the rogue PFD, jumping way higher than someone so heavy should be able to. "Emerald...!"
He caught Lambda 2.0 in one hand and came rocketing down, both mechanical life-forms trailing sparks as they fell. "TAGER...!"
The impact created a burst of electricity and left a massive crater in the sand. "BUSTER!"
When the smoke cleared, Lambda-11 2.0 was left lying facedown in the crater, her whole body covered in electrical burns. "Damage 60%...termination of target deemed impossible in current condition. Re-routing power to auto-repair systems."
Lambda called out to her double, "There's someone out there who's more important than killing me. Ragna the Bloodedge - do you remember him? I decided to leave him behind...meaning it's up to you to protect him."
There was an audible *click* from Lambda 2.0. "Rag...na? Ragna...! All memory errors repaired. Tager, I request transportation back to the Azure Timeline."
"No problem." Kokonoe teleported into the clearing with her personal teleporter mechanism, then whipped out a pistol-like device. "And...click." A beam of light that rapidly changed color shot out, ending at a point above Lambda-11 2.0 and opening a Time Break. "Mission accomplished, more or less. Terumi's going to feel that one tomorrow. Return to base, everyone." Kokonoe sauntered through the Time Break, expecting her two minions to follow her, which they did. The rift closed behind them.
"Reapply restriction 13." Lambda breathed a sigh of relief as her Darkness obediently crawled back into her heart, where it could be kept to a manageable level. "Scanning for spatial distortions...Xigbar located. Target lock acquired...Calamity Sword."
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In the woods...
"Argh!" Xigbar fell out of the tree where he'd been hiding. "How did she even find me?! Well, I'm not sticking around here to get stabbed by any more giant swords - not that she'll catch me off guard like that again. As if! But I do have one more neat trick in my space pocket..." The sniper spat on the ground, then vanished into a Dark Corridor.
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Tram Common...
Hayner and Olette had come running as soon as Pence told them about the Absent Silhouettes, but by the time they arrived, there was no one left to fight off. Hayner looked left and right, then collapsed dramatically in the middle of the street. "Aw, man! I was so psyched for this!"
Olette consoled him, "I suppose it's better than the alternative, right, Hayner?"
Pence agreed. "Yeah! I mean, if there were any left, it would mean the bad guys beat Sora, right?"
Hayner groaned for another moment, then kicked himself back onto his feet. "Good point. Still, I can't believe Seifer got to show off his cool new moves first!"
The Usual Suspects went back to chatting as usual, unaware of the monster stalking them from the tunnels...
Arakune studied the children from afar. His unsettling white mask spun and bounced on his fluid body. "I sen- it! Light, tasty...heart-sou-AZURE!" He oozed out of the shadows and spat a huge, nasty bug at Pence. The thing had too many legs to identify, and dissolved into sludge as swiftly as it appeared, but not before cutting Pence's leg. The sludge also got into his StreetSweeper, which began to spark and smoke.
Pence stared at his device in horror. "No, my masterpiece! It's gonna blow!" He glared at Arakune and hefted the malfunctioning StreetSweeper, then tossed the whole tube at the monstrous blob. "You...whatever you are! Do you know how long this took to make!? Well, I hope you're happy!" The StreetSweeper exploded in a massive plume of inky Darkness. The force of the explosion splattered Arakune's gooey body and residual Darkness all over the street.
The patches of liquid seithr slowly crept back together and reformed into Arakune, but the patches of Darkness remained where they were...and those puddles began to spawn Heartless. Pence began backing away from the small army of Neoshadows that popped up. Pence chuckled nervously. "Heh heh... I was afraid of this..."
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Hayner and Olette: Defeat Arakune and the Heartless with superior teamwork!
"Stay back, Pence!"
"It's our turn now!" Hayner and Olette rushed to put themselves between Pence and the monsters, brandishing their own weapons.
Hayner had a simple bastard sword. It retained the unusual balance of the foam bat he used in the Struggle, but the heavy, sharp, double-edged weapon would be far more effective for fighting Heartless. Olette had a generic magic staff, but instead of a Black Mage on the end, it sported a White Mage ornament, complete with red-and-white hood. She waved it and surrounded Pence with a green glow that healed the cut on his leg (and removed a tainted residue left behind by Arakune's attack, even though none of them had noticed the extra effect).
Arakune had pulled enough of his mass into one place to notice the Cure spell and crawl towards Olette, but Hayner got in his way and delivered a heavy slice, causing the blob to lurch backward.
Meanwhile, Olette started casting stat-boosting spells on Hayner, increasing his speed, strength, and resilience. The Heartless took note of this; several Neoshadows pounced on Olette in unison, but they were dispersed...somehow.
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Meanwhile, in the Station Heights area...
Riku was still searching the town for Lambda. "Ugh, I think I got some Heartless gunk in my mouth when I rammed into a few back there. They taste as foul as they smell! Well, if the Heartless have joined the fight, then I definitely need to find Lambda. They could multiply out of control again." He sped off again, oblivious to the citizens he'd just saved.
Luckily, he quickly found Lambda waiting for him only one area away. "There you are, Riku! Does this mean you beat Terumi? ...And Hazama? I should probably mention him too."
Riku replied, "With a bit of help, yes. Kokonoe's gadgets are amazing! And I guess you beat your doppelganger?"
Echoing Riku, Lambda replied, "With a bit of help, yes. Tager's wrestling moves are scary! Anyway, let's meet up with Sora at the mansion. I gave Xigbar a good whack and got him to leave, so we won't be teleported away again this time."
"Great job, Lambda! That's a point for you."
"Okay. The new score is 9 to 10, my favor. I'll give you a point if we don't use Darkness-enhanced speed to get where we're going this time, by the way. It never seems to go well for me."
"Fair enough, dear." Riku and Lambda set off for the woods.
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Back in Tram Common...
Hayner jumped back to better defend Olette. Arakune tried to confound him by seeping underground and popping up elsewhere, by doing it again only to turn out to be an illusion, by changing color to blend in with his surroundings, by floating through the air, and by spawning more kinds of limbs than any one creature should own...but even with all these tricks and with intermittent attacks from the Heartless, not one claw got past Hayner's defensive stance to reach Olette.
Hayner's defense was utterly impassable, even if the blond had to use his unarmored body to block when his sword couldn't reach. He'd done some serious training and studying in the Knight style mentioned in those history textbooks Olette loved so much; how did the teachers manage to make this sound so boring?!
Meanwhile, Olette kept Hayner's health in tip-top shape - she had focused entirely on healing and bolstering magic, since in her own words, "No one else would've volunteered to be the healer. It's not flashy, but it's necessary."
The duo could sustain these defensive tactics forever if necessary, but without Pence's gadget, the plan the Usual Suspects had trained for wouldn't work; they'd been counting on their mad scientist-in-training to be able to deliver a decisive blow.
Speaking of Pence, he had managed to flee the area and hide behind the defenses he'd set up in the Usual Spot.
Even though Hayner couldn't deal much damage, Arakune was beginning to tire out; the air here had no seithr and no connection to the Boundary, so Arakune had to fuel his attacks with his own biomass, and the prolonged combat was taking its toll.
Arakune's attacks began to slow down and come from predictable angles. Hayner eyed the monster, looking for an opening. There! The pounces of the Neoshadows and Arakune's swipes finally fell out of sync with each other, giving Hayner the chance to put all his strength into an attack on the blob...
A woman cried out, "Tsubame Gaeshi!" Hayner's swing was stopped by a pole slamming into the ground at literally blazing speed and standing upright. Half white and half black, the rod stayed right where it was; it didn't budge an inch when Hayner's heavy-handed hack hit it. Hayner hopped a few paces backward to try a different angle, but the owner of the staff jumped into the fray between the kids and Arakune. "Don't hurt him!"
This was probably the most gorgeous woman Hayner had ever seen. She wore a red dress with a skirt that fell to her ankles behind her, but barely covered anything in front. An argument could be made that this was to allow her to use her graceful kicking moves without getting tangled in the skirt, but her overly-generous cleavage window indicated otherwise. Perhaps she wanted her enemies to be distracted? The strangest part of her outfit was the tiny, but definitely live panda sitting on her head, holding her extremely long black hair in a ponytail. With a wave of her hand, her staff spun into the air and began floating behind her.
Hayner was certainly "distracted", but he snapped out of it when Olette whacked the back of his head. "Ow! Geez, Olette!" Hayner suddenly remembered that he was in the middle of a battle to the death. "Sorry, Miss...um..."
The woman supplied with a cold tone, "Litchi Faye-Ling."
"...Miss Litchi, but that thing attacked us first. We were only defending ourselves. Besides, there are a bunch of Heartless here, too; it's not safe! You should get out of here before these monsters attack you, too!" A Neoshadow leaped at Litchi as if to prove Hayner's point, so he smashed it into the street to try to prove his goodwill.
Litchi only got more worked up. "That man has a name! He's Roy! And don't try to tell me his name is Arakune, because it's not! Matenbo!" That last part was a command to her rod, which stuck itself to the ground again.
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Meanwhile, on a nearby rooftop...
Bang fell headfirst onto a hard surface. He sat up, clutching his face. "Oh, the pain...I could have sworn the ground was farther away than this! Hmm? Where in the world is this place?" Bang jumped to his feet - "Ukemi!" - and surveyed the area from this high vantage point.
He caught sight of the battle taking place below him. "By the gods, what devilry is this? I see Miss Litchi - in a hundred years, from a hundred leagues, I would never mistake her breasts for those of any other! - and the creature of her obsession, but who are those children? And those monsters are unlike any I have ever seen!"
Bang deliberated for a few moments before making his decision. "Whatever is going on, people are in danger! It is my duty to intervene, and to protect any who need my aid! First, I must separate Miss Litchi from this battle before she does anything we will all regret!" He leaped into the air and selected a red, explosive nail from his pouch. "Shuriken Special!"
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Back in the fight...
Hayner shouted at Litchi in exasperation, "We're not the bad guys here! Didn't you see that Heartless attack you?"
"I don't care about them. I only care about Roy!" Litchi hopped left, leaving Matenbo behind. "Thirteen Orphans!" The rod transformed into a roughly humanoid form that ran at Hayner, flailing its rounded arms. Hayner struggled to hold off the assault, which only ended when Arakune attacked Litchi from behind with a sharp-clawed spider leg. "Don't worry, Roy. You're just confused. I'll fix this...somehow."
"Okay, that settles it - they're both crazy. Sorry about this, Miss!" Hayner tried to swing the flat of his sword at Litchi's head to knock her out, but he was forced to jerk back when a small, sharp nail flew past his face. The projectile bounced off the street, then exploded. The explosion had more smoke than fire, but did its job of separating the two combatants from each other. "Hey! Who threw that thing?"
"Secret Art: Bang's Shadowstep Jutsu!" A puff of smoke preceded another newcomer appearing between Litchi and Arakune. Arakune's next lunge landed on the newcomer's metal wrist bracers, which flipped over his fists to enhance a two-handed punch that flung the gooey menace off him. "SUPER CRITICAL CRASH!"
The newcomer was wearing - "Garbed in the praise and hopes of the people of Ikaruga, a hero of love and justice appears! Never fear, my beloved Miss Litchi! I, BANG SHISHIGAMI, will protect you from these foul beasts, no matter how many monsters dare to bare their claws at you!"
"No, Bang! Don't hurt Roy!" Litchi recalled her staff to her side and swung it at Bang with all her strength.
BANG SHISHIGAMI was caught by surprise; after all, who would ever expect such a vicious attack from the one they love? The loud ninja was thrown headfirst into the wall of the Synthesis Shop, followed by a muffled yell from inside.
"No! My last Premium Orb is ruined, kupo!" The Moogle shop owner flew out the front window on his tiny bat wings and screamed at Bang, "You vandal! COMPENSATE ME, KUPO!" The little fuzzball shut up and flew away at the sight of the various monsters, though. "Ah! Don't eat me, kupo!"
"My apologies for the accidental property damage, little...flying pom-pom thing, but I must away! My soul calls me to battle for love and justice!" Bang dashed back into the fray, this time blocking Litchi's kicks to protect Hayner. "Young man, how did you end up fighting Miss Litchi?"
Hayner retorted, "How should I know? All of this came out of nowhere! Are you two - er, three - even from this world?"
Even as he blocked Litchi's persistent, if halfhearted, attacks, Bang considered that question. "Hrrm? This is another world? Yes, it is just like it was back then! Er, back when? My mind is overwhelmed with strange memories! But even so, one thing is clear to me - we outsiders must not tarry here! Our problems are for us to solve! And you, Miss Litchi - how could you attack an innocent child in the name of your love for this monster, whether he was once a man or not? To do this is to twist and desecrate the very notion of love! SUPER CRITICAL CRASH!" Again, Bang threw his burning, two-handed punch, but only once he was sure Matenbo was in position to block the attack.
Litchi chuckled sadly as she danced away from Bang's fists. "Bang, normally I'd humor you a little longer, but you really do talk too much. You won't make me change my mind about him! All Green!" A pillar of fire suddenly burst from the ground beneath Bang's feet, carried him up into the air in a massive green fireball, then crashed back down with the ninja in tow. "Give up, Bang! I'd rather not hurt you, but I will if you don't leave me be!"
The flames from the attack licked along Bang's arms and burned away part of his shoulder pads, but the man himself only seemed more enthusiastic. "Hurt me? This attack is but smoke and whispers compared to the loud, burning fervor of my soul! In the name of that ardor that burns in all great men, I swear that I, BANG SHISHIGAMI, will save you too! The selfsame corruption that reduced your Roy to a monster has taken hold of your own soul, Miss Litchi, and if you continue on as you are, you will only share his cruel fate! I cannot let you continue to chase Arakune's beguiling shadow into the abyss of the Boundary! Now, feel the righteous force of a true Ikaruga ninja! My brilliant plan to end this battle begins...NOW!"
Bang's fists caught fire, and he put his all into the next string of attacks, punctuating each solid blow with another loud proclamation. "As swift as the wind! As still as a forest! Hotter than flames! As grand as a mountain!" Fire burned in Bang's eyes as he hovered into the air, surrounded by four burning kanji seals. "Shishigami Style Forbidden Art: FU-RIN-KA-ZAN!" Bang was surrounded by a glowing, golden aura, and he began to speed up even more. Before Litchi could react, he had dashed through the air over her head, smashed Arakune into a wall, then hit him on the rebound three times to launch the monster towards the tunnels. "To rid this world of evil, I will become...THE HAMMER! OF! JUSTICE!" Lowering his head, Bang charged like a raging bull and shoved Arakune into the tunnels. Manly man and slimy monster barreled down the ramp and through the same Time Break that had led Orient Town's craziest love triangle to the Heart Timeline in the first place.
"Roy!" Litchi immediately stopped attacking Hayner to chase after her frenemies and return to the Azure Timeline, with her hair and skirt waving behind her.
Hayner just stood there and stared after them for a moment. "...Were they for real?"
"I dunno, but the Heartless are real enough!" Olette's call returned Hayner to the matter at hand.
"Don't worry about the Time Break, fellas - I'm on it!" King Mickey flipped onto the scene and whipped out a radio. "Professor Kokonoe, I've found a Time Break. Can you get Tager over here to fix it?"
*Click.* "Who are - you know what, never mind. Just stand still and let me track the Break's position from here. It'll take thirty seconds."
Mickey now had to stand still for a while. Hayner and Olette moved to guard the King from the Heartless."Don't worry! We'll keep them off you! You're Sora's friend, right?"
"Yep! Thanks, fellas! I owe ya one!" As Hayner and Olette focused on the Heartless, Mickey took advantage of the wait to charge up his next Light spell. The one major drawback to the King's fighting style was how long his powerful spells took to charge up; the more he could charge while out of danger, the better.
The Neoshadows kept stacking up, slowly but surely increasing their numbers from the puddles left behind by the StreetSweeper. Hayner and Olette still kept up a stalwart defense, but they were gradually being forced back...
*Click.* "Coordinates locked in! Aaand click!" The Time Break vanished just as Mickey finished charging. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some unfinished business with Terumi..."
"Thanks, Kokonoe!" Mickey turned off the radio and summoned the Kingdom Key D. "It's about time I did my part! LIGHT!" He released a massive wave of Light that washed over the whole area, erasing the remaining Heartless and the puddles of Darkness that were spawning them. "That should do it! This place is safe now. I gotta meet up with Sora so we can take this fight to the enemy!"
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
With Sora, Donald, and Goofy: Back Alley...
Xigbar's teleportation had shunted Sora's group halfway back to their starting point, but luckily, there weren't any more Time Breaks around. Sora was about to run back to the woods when Pence came rushing to the Usual Spot.
Sora pushed aside the curtain and followed the other boy inside. "Hey, Pence!"
"Hey, Sora! Can't talk right now; gotta get our defenses up!" Pence reached behind the couch in the Usual Spot and found a big red button. "Aaand CLICK! Our turrets are online! Gotta focus the cameras... Those Heartless that came out of my StreetSweeper won't stand a chance when the turrets lock onto...hey, they're gone! Well, that's a relief."
Donald quacked, "Don't turn 'em off yet!"
Goofy clarified, "That guy from Organization XIII is still here somewhere! We've gotta be ready for his next move!"
Sora added, "And it would be nice to find out where he's hiding, if you can."
Pence gave them a thumbs-up. "Gotcha. It seems like he's trying to keep you away from the old mansion, so I'll start looking around there...Uh-oh."
"What's 'uh-oh?'" Donald asked. He tried to stretch and see Pence's monitor (which flipped out of the wall when the button was pressed), but he was too short.
"A bunch of Heartless are coming out of the mansion! It looks like you'll have to fight your way through them all to get inside."
Sora peered at the screen; the Heartless horde was composed of half convertible-car-like Hot Rods and half exactly-what-they-sound-like Aeroplanes. "Aw, man, those are such annoying types! Well, there's no way they'll stop us now! Let's go, guys!"
"Yeah!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy did a three-way high-five.
"Good luck, guys! I'll try to help through the turrets. Leave the plane guys to me!" Pence gripped a chunky joystick and concentrated on the screen while Sora and friends rushed to the woods.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
The Woods...
Sora and Riku: Defeat all of the Heartless!
The woods were thick with Heartless when Sora and company arrived, shortly followed by Riku and Lambda.
Riku grimaced and raised his sword. "Where do these things keep coming from!?"
"Probably Organization XIII," Lambda guessed. "Xigbar said he and Terumi had been working together; maybe they learned something in the Azure Timeline that let them replicate Heartless?"
Sora grinned and charged into the thick of it, swinging his Keyblade. "Well, if they thought this would stop us, they've got another thing coming!"
"But what about Kingdom Hearts?" Lambda sent swords out into the horde, noting to her dismay that it took more than one sword to pop even the weaker Aeroplanes. Murakumo's power output was nearly zero. Luckily, Pence had set up turrets on some of the trees, and the lasers they fired finished off what Lambda's swords started.
"We'll just have to slay more of 'em than Sora does! Let's not tell him about the contest, though."
Lambda smirked, beeped once, then went back to stabbing Heartless. "Scoreboard setup complete. Current scores as of two seconds ago: 35 to 150, Sora's favor. Get in there and win one for us, dear!"
"Gotcha!" Riku flashed out of sight and burst up from the middle of a group of Hot Rods, sprayed them with Dark Cannon blasts, then ducked back underground to repeat the process with a squadron of Aeroplanes, working his way toward Sora.
Mickey called from behind them, "Hey, guys! Am I late?"
Lambda replied, "Not if you join in now. But please don't, Your Majesty. The Organization's counting on us defeating the Heartless with a Keyblade to build their Kingdom Hearts."
"Then just keep 'em off me! I'll charge up and sweep 'em all away at once!" Mickey began floating just off the ground, charging the Power of Light.
Lambda set up Spike Chasers and Gravity Seeds to hold off the advancing Heartless, but a revved-up Hot Rod rammed right through the field of Ars Magus to knock Lambda off her feet. Luckily, the Hot Rod continued targeting Lambda, not Mickey...and Riku had seen what it did.
"Get your tires off Lambda!" Riku used Zantetsuken to cleave through the Heartless in question along with all fifty of the ones roaming between him and his girlfriend, then returned to the main fight with renewed vigor and released a wide blast of Darkness, disintegrating a wide swath of them.
Mickey almost dropped his charging stance in shock. "What happened to Riku?"
Lambda looked upon the ensuing carnage with more pride than fear. "He's done this several times before, but only when I get hurt. I call it his 'general protection fault'; his perceived failure to protect me makes him mad at whatever hurt me, and he quickly makes it clear to them what a mistake that was."
Mickey sighed in relief and funneled his faith in Riku into the spell. "Well, that sounds like a fine use of the Darkness, as long as you don't make a habit out of getting hurt."
"Of course not." Lambda jumped over another Hot Rod to prove her point, then teleported into a counterattack. "Cavalier! Right, close-range Ars Magus is always more effective than ranged attacks because the research was focused on that from the start. Act Parcer Zwei!" Lambda dashed around to attack the Heartless directly, kicking Hot Rods left and right.
Sora caught sight of Riku blasting Heartless apart and fought his way over. "Hey, Riku, I think we should work on our combination attacks!"
Riku nodded and stood back-to-back with Sora. "Good point - we've never fought side by side like this, have we?"
"Well, there was that one time in Monstro's belly, but that was more like we were attacking separately at the same time. We'll need some real teamwork for the fights ahead." As Sora was reminiscing, he was still skillfully blocking and retaliating against the Heartless.
Riku slashed a Heartless, then motioned for a brofist. "Then let's practice! I've got an idea - follow my lead!"
Sora obliged Riku's brofist. "It'd better be cool, then!"
"C'mon, Sora, did you forget who you're talking to?" Riku led Sora into a flurry of ranged attacks on a single Heartless, then dropped back and showered a whole group with Dark Cannon, which Sora instinctively matched with Light blasts similar to Mickey's Pearl spell. "Okay, the warm-up's over!"
Riku activated Bladecharge, and Sora followed suit - despite never having used the technique before. He really was a quick study in combat; although he'd also seen Leon use it before, that hardly qualified as experience. Still, he kept up with Riku perfectly, delivering broad, sweeping strokes that never got stuck on Riku's sword.
"Nice moves, Riku! Now watch my idea!" Sora used his Drive power to lift Riku and himself into the air and fly, then summoned thirteen swords of pure Light around them. The blades spun as Sora and Riku glided around, slaying Aeroplanes by the dozens. When the spinning ended, Riku coated the blades in Darkness and shot them out in all directions, homing them in on other enemies.
"Okay, time's up! Let's finish this!" Riku jumped away from Sora and threw Soul Eater into the air between them.
"Light!" Sora caught on and threw his Keyblade. The two weapons hovered in midair pointed at each other, and sent repeated bursts of Light and Darkness that collided between them, building more and more power until a wave of pure destruction washed over the battlefield. Sora and Riku landed lightly, caught their weapons, and did an elbow bump as the move ended. "That was awesome!"
"I think we should call that one All's End."
"I think you should call it overkill," Lambda called out from the sidelines. She gestured to the woods around them, which were completely free of Heartless, but also covered in concentric circles of scorched earth centered on the duo. Pence's turrets were also all wrecked.
Mickey channeled his charged Light into a healing spell, rather than the attack he'd planned. "Looks like you didn't need my help after all!"
Donald complained, "Aw, you didn't leave any for us!" Goofy peeked out from behind his shield and nodded.
Sora pointed ahead. "Well, the path's finally clear. Let's storm Organization XIII's stronghold!"
"Right! We sure won't have to worry about collateral damage there. I'll lead us where we need to go." Riku moved on, closely followed by Lambda. He whispered to her, "By the way, what was the score back there?"
Lambda replied, "Sorry, I lost track when you two started working together like that. I think we may have just giftwrapped a thousand extra hearts to Xemnas, though."
Riku scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "...Oops."
"Don't worry; it's clear that you two fight brilliantly together. With that move, Xemnas won't survive long enough to use Kingdom Hearts even if he completes it."
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Computer Room...
"Good point. Well, here we are!" The heroes piled into the Computer Room. "Lambda, set up the transporter."
"Acknowledged. Logging in...executing commands." Lambda generated a holographic keyboard and held her hands over it, and DiZ's computer whirred to life, along with the Virtual Twilight Town Transport Device in the corner. A blue beam of light and data shot down from the device. "Transfer port stabilized. We can go at any time."
Sora cheered, "Let's take this fight to Xemnas!" Everyone stood on the pad (which required Mickey and Donald to sit on Riku and Goofy's shoulders to make room), and Sora touched the beam of light, whisking the group into what was left of the virtual world.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
A/N: Dagnabbit, I promised this would be out faster, not slower! Well, I hope you have a jubilant non-denominational winter solstice holiday, everyone!