I'm so so so so so sorry for taking so long with this chapter. You know how bad I am with fight scenes? Well, this chapter was about sixteen pages worth of nothing but fight scene. I hope that the result is a good enough that you're willing to forgive me and leave a review. Also, since I've been so slow, I decided to post this chapter unbeta'ed, but I'm still going to send it to Syaoran-san, so a better-looking version should be up in a week or two.
Also, the internet gave out in my dormroom. I now know exactly who frequents the 24-hour computer lab at 3:30 in the morning. Kinda like shopping at Walmart at four a.m...
Disclaimer: is the exclusive property of Naoko Takeuchi-sensei and, therefore, not mine either. Kingdom of the Elemental Hearts Chapter 25: Crystal Tokyo Pt. 6
An icy smile slid over Beryl's lips as she watched the spell unfold around her, felt each tendril of icy darkness reaching out for her, melding with her own magic and drawing her closer, ever closer. All the pieces were falling into place now, one by one - the Weapon of Fire had been drawn to her beckoning almost as soon as it had been freed from its owner's grip, and the Wielder of Lightning had been drawn into her grip just moments afterwards. The others, those few that remained, we close…so close…not a part of the circle just yet, but so close that she could feel them, smell them, taste their power…
"Mine, mine…" the words fell from her mouth between the syllables of her unstoppable spell. "They're mine, all mine, the power is mine!"
She brought her arms around in a powerful arch, tracing the flow of power through the air. Her skin prickled with it in a delightful manner completely unlike static electricity, the force of the magic running along her bones from the tips of her fingers all the way up to her collarbone, and her smile widened even more.
It was then that the next step of the spell, the strongest step, moved in and took hold. The power entered her mind, spreading her consciousness, pushing her thoughts and her awareness into the shadows, which folded back to reveal to her the information that they hid. The long-hidden knowledge of ancient shadows, power that no sorcerer before had ever dreamed… more than anyone, anyone in this world or any other, had ever known…
"Mine, mine, mine…" she giggled, her consciousness spreading, stretching, reaching ever deeper through the darkness. "Mine, mine, mine, all mine…"
"Oh…wow."
Sora stared up at the impossibly high ceilings, craning his head backwards on his neck, turning so quickly he could hear the popping of the vertebrae in his neck. The strange mixtures of light that they had been forced to physically push through had not disappeared, rather, they seemed to wrap around the entire huge room, isolating it from the rest of the world, and isolating them from the rest of the room. It was like they had broken into a bubble inside of a bubble, and the bizarre distortion of not-quite-solid light made it impossible to tell just how big either 'bubble' really was.
The Keyblade Master stumbled back a few steps, twisting in his steps to get a better view and trying to comprehend the . "This place is…wow."
"We've broken through into the interior of the castle," Kouji muttered with forced impartiality. "It's bound to be extravagant."
The tone was too impartial,. too controlled, even for Kouji. Something was wrong.
Sora pulled out of his gaze to turn to his friend worriedly. "Kouji…you okay? That spell doesn't still have you, does it?"
"I don't have any idea about this 'spell' that you're talking about," the swordsman muttered through gritted teeth. "All I'm doing is ignoring my hand."
"Your hand? What…"
Sora looked down. Kouji was cradling his right hand in the protective cast that covered his left arm, doing everything he could to keep it from moving. The hand was twisted, two of its fingers sticking off at unnatural angles as the rest were curled in on itself in pain.
It was then that Sora remembered exactly how the Keyblade had landed when he threw it, and an awkward sort of guilty feel slid down into the pit of his stomach. "Oh."
"Yeah. 'Oh,'" Kouji's scowl deepened, adding frustration to his pain, and his hand twitched in a painful-looking muscle spasm. Kouji grunted and pulled his arm closer to his chest as Sora reached out to… "Don't touch it!"
Sora winced and pulled his hands back. "Sorry."
Kouji grunted in a way that may or may not have meant 'apology accepted' and gradually tested the range of movement still left in his fingers. Determining that the range was, in fact 'not much,' he pulled his broken arm away gently and extended the hand towards Sora. "On the ship…you said you knew a spell?"
"Well, yeah, but…" Sora gripped the Keyblade tightly. "I'm not good enough with magic to fix it, and it hasn't been set properly and…"
"It doesn't matter," Kouji grunted, and his voice dipped into the feral range. "Can't you feel it? There's something here…Something important."
The Keyblade shuddered with a resounding tone, vibrating in Sora's hand as though agreeing with the statement. The movement sent a shudder up Sora's spine, a sort of magical tingle that only happened when the Keyblade was trying to tell him something. The Keyblade Master closed his eyes for a moment, letting the feeling wash from bone to bone until he knew the message like his own name and sighed. "Yeah…you're right about that."
Kouji gave one nod, short and sharp. "We have to be ready for anything…"
"Kouji? Kouji!"
A second later, Takuya appeared from the light, stumbling forward as though blinded - which, given the strange state of the room, he probably was. Kouji jerked back like a startled cat, his arms dropping into a battle-ready stance, until the pain brought him back to reality and his mind caught up to realize who the new presence was. "Taku…What the hell are you doing here?"
"Actually, I, um…" Takuya rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, glancing around them as Taichi, Agumon, Goofy and Ceres pushed out of the light behind him. "I don't actually know…"
"We kinda got dropped here," Taichi muttered, indicating Takuya with an off-handed wave as he tried to catch his breath. "Thought it was his idea, but now I'm not so sure…Things have been pretty nuts. You two okay?"
"You three," Ceres corrected.
"Four," Kouji muttered, and at that moment, ChibiMoon and Pallas appeared just behind him.
Pallas looked up, blinking through the light, and her blue eyes began to tear up the moment her eyes landed on her big sister. Breaking away from ChibiMoon, she launched herself at Ceres and threw her arms around the pink-haired little senshi. "Cereeeee!"
Ceres blinked once, twice, then realized her arms were pinned to her side. Pallas had a death grip on her sister's shoulders, sobbing into her bow so hard that it was difficult to tell what she was saying. "Palla? Palla, what…? What's wrong?"
"It was awful, Cere!" Pallas sobbed. "Just awful!"
ChibiMoon sighed, reaching out to take her two Senshi by the arm and pull them else where to explain the entire situation. Sora had to smile just the slightest bit - for somebody so young, the kid really knew what she was doing as a leader.
"Okay, that was unexpected," Taichi groaned, rubbing his neck as though it was sore. He glanced at Sora and Kouji with an expression that wasn't quite aggravation, but was pushing it. "Do you two know what's going on here? 'Cause I'm lost. Ceres over there explained a decent chunk of the whole 'infiltration' plan, but she never said anything about these crazy lights or something making Takuya freak out or-"
Kouji's eyes shot to Takuya. "You, too?"
"Too? What, did it happen to you again?"
Taichi scowled. "Hey, I was talking here…"
"Apparently," Kouji scowled, ignoring Taichi to focus completely on Takuya. "And not just us - Junpei, too. But it's only affecting us. Something's affecting us, and I think it's acting through…"
Takuya snapped his fingers. "The Weapons! That's how it's happening!"
Taichi made a disgruntled face and crossed his arms over his chest. "We knew that already, I figured that out. What we don't know is what's causing it, or how-"
"It's magic," Sora interrupted. "That weird control, this light…it's all magic."
Taichi let out an annoyed groan, but seemed somewhat placated by the fact that he was actually being spoken to, rather than talked around. He brushed his hair back out of his eyes and glanced at Sora with a sigh. "Magic, huh? And how would you know?"
"I can feel it," Sora held up the Keyblade as an example. It was humming constantly, creating a slight tone that reverberated around them like a protective bubble, as though the sound itself were keeping the too-much strange light of the room at bay. "The Keyblade can sense it, too."
"As if it wasn't obvious," Kouji muttered sourly, motioning to the lights with his unbound arm. "Nothing else could cause something like this."
Sora set his face into a serious expression, turning back towards the strange wall of light. The Keyblade's humming increased a bit as he moved, shifting through the notes and tones as though whispering to him - warm…warmer…
Finally, he came to the point when the Keyblade's hum increased to its strongest point, and grinned. "That way. That's where the spell's coming from."
Takuya frowned at the clear wall and, specifically, the thick crystal it seemed to be radiating from. He moved along the edge of the light, brushing his fingers along the not-quite-existent surface until he reached the cold edge of the crystal. He squinted against the light, leaning pushing forward to press his face against the thick, clear piece of rock. There was something in there, a shadow, a shape he could almost make out. It looked…familiar…
There was a flash of a familiar shade of orange, and Takuya jerked back in surprise. "Tomoki!"
Taichi and Sora jerked around at the shout, and Kouji darted over for a look himself. He swore, nearly reaching out with his broken hand, but winced and pulled back as a blast of icy air burst from the crystal case, sounding of its next note in the chorus.
Sora's eyes darted along the length of the round shield and caught sight of the next crystal case, where a coiled rope was reaching for the sky with a leafy tip. Acting on instinct, he slid to a stop in between the two items and looked directly across the huge circle. There was a case there too, and in it, framed by a soft sea blue, he could make out the shape of…
"Kairi!"
The Keyblade Master's blue eyes burned with a white-hot fire as he yanked his weapon back into his grasp and lunged. He hit the force field head on and was held back easily - much too easily. His feet scrambled for a grip on the smooth floor, only managing to hold him in place for a few precious seconds before he was thrown backwards with a cry.
"Sora-kun!" ChibiUsa darted to her hero's side. "Are you all right?"
Sora grunted something that could have been a 'fine,' pulling himself back to his feet. "Kairi…They've got Kairi. I have to get her out of there!"
Taichi grit his teeth and stepped forward, his hands curling into fists. "Let us give it a shot! Agumon, you ready?"
"Ready!"
The Digimon-and-partner team gave each other one more quick glance and a nod before they charged as a pair, Taichi putting his strongest foot forward and Agumon launching forward with claws bared. They struck the barrier at the same time, but lasted barely half the time that Sora did before they were thrown back as well. Takuya, who had moved forward for an attempt of his own, got caught in their wake and their little pile slid to a stop just before they reached Ceres and Pallas.
"Okay…" Taichi muttered. "That hurt. We need a new plan."
"Ow…" Takuya groaned from the bottom of the pile.
Sora shook his head as though clearing water out of his ears and narrowed his eyes in determination. Raising the Keyblade again, he slipped around ChibiMoon almost too quickly to see and moved for another lunge.
But before he could reach the barrier, Kouji slid in front of the Keyblade Master, planting his feet and thrusting one shoulder up against Sora's chest, stopping him without involving either of the dark-haired boy's injured arms. "Sora, chill! This isn't the way to do this!"
Sora stumbled back a few steps and righted himself with an annoyed growl. "Then what? What do you want me to do?"
"Start with using your head," Kouji snapped, and nodded towards the Keyblade. "That thing is supposed to open up anything, isn't it?"
Sora blinked. "Yeah…"
Kouji jerked his head backwards to motion at the barrier over his shoulder as he stepped out of the way. "Then trying using it to open that. Without hitting it."
A slight frown crawled across Sora's face, just enough to cause little bit of a worry line to cross over his features. The rest of the group backed up to give him room as he stepped forward, holding the Keyblade lightly in one hand. He lifted it up to touch the edge of the barrier and felt the magic hum run up his arm yet again, but this time, it was not constant in the least. It shifted with the changing lights, playing note after note along his arm, the tuneless song echoing in his mind.
Sora let his eyes slip close without thinking about it, letting the not-quite-song wash over every part of his body. For a split moment, the rest of the world seemed to slip away as the magic took hold. There was nothing in his mind by the tune, his thoughts echoing with the wordless song, the rhythm so familiar it almost seemed to match that of his heart…
The sky blue eyes snapped open and Sora jerked the Keyblade to the right, striking Tomoki's case just as it lit up with another icy note. The resulting tone rang through the air like a pleasant gunshot, and, just as suddenly, the barrier between that case and the wooded whip vanished.
"Move!" Kouji shouted, and the group responded instantly.
Taichi dragged Takuya along by one arm, yanking Agumon up with the other. Ceres seized Pallas and leapt through the gap together. Finally, Kouji tucked his arms close to his body and jumped through, with ChibiUsa on his heels and Sora slipping through just before the force field popped back up.
They found themselves standing in the center of the magic circle. The light was finally clear - actually, if anything, the interior of the circle seemed downright gloomy. It was as though the brightest lights had been sapped away in exchange for violently dark colors against the blandest imaginable shade of grey, flashing constantly above them like a silent thunderstorm. The only light came from the soft glow of the chalk lines, buzzing, as the Keyblade had, with the magical power. And there, in the middle, stood the ivory, and ebony pillar that could only be 'Queen' Beryl - who looked absolutely horrible.
The witch's face was shallow and her skin had turned an ugly, fragile yellow color. Her cheeks had sunk down into her face until it she looked to be little more than a skull with yellowed paper stretch over it. Her too-dark makeup had run down her face, staining her cheeks with an ugly mixture of purple and black, bleeding through her too-thin skin like spilled ink. Her hair had faded into a dusty grey and looked as though it would turn to dust with the slightest touch. Her entire body matched the state of her head; completely emancipated, down to the very bone.
And yet, despite it all, Queen Beryl was smiling as though she hadn't a care in the world.
"Holy cow," Taichi gaped at the sight, wide-eyed. "What the hell happened to her?"
"It's the spell," Ceres whispered breathlessly, her voice shaking. "It…It looks like it's draining, not just of her magic, but…everything. Even her life."
As though she had heard the words, Beryl began to laugh. It was a sound that started low in her throat and seemed to die almost the moment it hit the air, and yet, it was dark enough - joyous enough - that it made everyone feel as though huge chunks of ice slid into their stomachs.
The Queen of Darkness turned away from them, spreading her broomstick-thin arms wide over her head to present the lights around her as though they were a holy relic.
"Do you feel it, children?" she asked with rhetoric sarcasm, her tone crashing up and down with the laughter. "Do you feel the way they chorus together, their song filling the world to its very core? Do you feel the way their Hearts beat as one, the way their magic pulses through thy very veins?"
Takuya lifted a single incredulous eyebrow and took several steps back. "O-kay, someone didn't read the warning labels before medications…"
"SILENCE!"
Beryl's scream reverberated through the magical dome, knocking Goofy to the ground and shaking everyone else's balance off-kilter.
The witch-queen's head turned on her neck without so much as a twitch from the rest of her body, twisting around with unnatural speed. Her purple eyes suddenly flared with neon pink light, light that corresponded with one of the cases - Izumi's - just as a gale-strength wind blasted against them hard.
Sora raised his arms and planted his feet hard against the biting gust, catching Pallas and ChibiMoon with each arm as they were thrown back. Kouji's balance was thrown off without the proper use of his arms, so Takuya grabbed his friend by the shoulders as Ceres ducked into a protective barrier created by Taichi and Agumon. Goofy stayed on the ground and covered his head with both of his hands.
"You dare to mock the power?" Beryl demanded, her voice echoing with the rumbling earth beneath them as her glowing eyes slowly shifted to a glowing tan. "You dare to mock me?"
The ground shook wildly, its reverberations running up their legs to rattle their bones. Sora grit his teeth and pushed the girls he was holding onto together, giving them both someone else to lean on. "Stay here!"
"But…Sora-kun!" ChibiUsa protested, but it was too late as the Keyblade Master charged forward.
Sora leapt across the radius of the magic circle with long, bounding strides, summoning the Keyblade into his hand. He leapt in the air over the witch and gripped the blade in both hands, about to bring it down on her head…
At that moment, Beryl's eyes shot to him and turned a gleaming silver. A barrier of slivery material, too thin to be metal but too strong to be anything else, appeared above her. The Keyblade crashed into it and bounced back, the reverberation knocking Sora to the ground.
A huge, unnatural smirk stretched over Beryl's withered face. "Ssstupid boy…"
"Crystal Rose!"
The witch hissed like a wounded snake as three sharp crystal roses jabbed into her upper arm. Her eyes shot to ChibiMoon and suddenly burned a fiery red-orange. "IMPUDENCE!"
Fire appeared from nowhere and shot toward the little pink-hair princess in a huge blaze. Pallas pushed her way in front of ChibiUsa and brought up her hands. "Rolling Bubble Blast!"
Her conjured bubbles met the flames head-on, pushing them back with a his of steam. The little blue-haired girl began to breathe hard and sweat heavily with the effort as the bubbles and flames fought each other for dominance. The two forces struggled against each other for a long while before Pallas's bubbles finally gave out.
The blue-clothed senshi cried out as her spell disappeared, throwing herself back to cover the princess she was sworn to protect, and at that moment, Goofy appeared. The guard dove between the girls and the flames, blocking them with his shield until they finally disappeared.
Goofy hyuck'ed brightly as he straightened, not even glancing at the charred face of his shield. "Golly, you girls okay?"
"Goofy-san…" Pallas's eyes welled up with tears and she threw her arms around his long, thin neck. "I could just kiss you!"
Taichi took the momentary distraction as a chance to place himself between Beryl and the three she'd been attack, Agumon moving in step with him to close the gap between them and the witch. "She wants fire, huh? Let's give it to her!"
"Right!" Agumon sucked in a deep breath. "Baby flame!"
The bright orb of flame burst from the little Digimon with a crackling hiss, arching through the air like a pop fly. But Beryl just turned to it and her eyes blazed an icy electric blue. As the fireball touched her outstretched hand, there was a crackle of icy wind and the ball simply dropped to the ground, its very flame frozen solid.
"Dammit!" Takuya swore, gripping his hands into fists as Ceres darted forward to join the fight. "She's got them over-powered! We have to do something!"
"Like what?" Kouji snapped. "In case you're forgetting, neither one of us has a weapon anymore, and even if we did I can't use either of my hands. What the hell are we supposed to do about anything?"
Takuya shot his friend a glare for giving up so easy, but the tenseness that had been building in his shoulders slowly slipped away. He turned his eyes back to the battle -where Ceres's dancing petals and vines were being parried away by thick bushels of sharp thorns that had risen from the ground - and let a light hiss slip out of his lips. "That can't…we can't do anything? Dammit…I hate feeling so…helpless…"
"ENOUGH!"
Beryl's shout echoed, her voice dipping deep into octaves a woman's voice was never meant to reach, and her eyes flash yellow as a ring of thunder crashed to the ground around her and knocked her attackers in all direction. "This ends now!"
Her hands flung wide and her eyes blazed white. In an instant, the circle filled with a blaze of blinding light that erupted from the ground, accompanied by a virtual hurricane of wind and biting bullets of ice. Sora crouched down, slamming the Keyblade into the ground for leverage to keep grounded as Goofy shielded ChibiMoon and Pallas and Taichi and Agumon protected Ceres. But without any outside source to keep them on the ground or block the witch's attack, Kouji and Takuya were blinded, then thrown back and tossed into the air like rag dolls.
On instinct, Takuya grabbed for his friend, inadvertently grabbing hold of his cast. Kouji let out a sharp cry at the pressure the action put on his broken arm, pulling both of his limbs in defensively as they tumbled, head over heels…
Then, from seemingly nowhere, a voice called out: "Soar, Blazing Sparks!"
Multiple fireballs blasted unexpectedly from the light, followed by an even larger blast of ice as a nasally voice followed up with "Bizzardga!"
The combination spell hit Beryl hard in the small of the back. The witch let out a cry and the light in her eyes disappeared, all of her elemental power vanishing with it. Kouji rolled in mid-air, trying to get his balance straight as he and Takuya tumbled down, the floor coming closer, and then…
Someone grabbed him, someone strong and fast enough to cancel out the momentum of their fall and cushion their landing just enough that the shock only dropped Kouji to his knees. A deep, almost cocky voice chuckled from above his head. "Gotcha."
Kouji looked up and found himself face-to-face with pale blue eyes, surrounded by even paler blue hair. He was holding a strange sword that looked like a mounted bat's wing in his right hand - the arm of which he was currently using to support Kouji - and his left seemed oddly bruised, the arm banded attached to it ripped as though something that had been attached had been torn away.
Kouji frowned, sensing something that stuck him as almost instant dislike. "Who the hell are you?"
"Riku…?" Sora gasped, but he was cut by Vesta and Donald finally dropping down after their dramatic leap into the battle.
"Hell yeah!" Vesta punched the air enthusiastically, sticking her tongue out at Beryl. "How'd you like that, you stupid old hag?"
Ceres blinked at her sister, confused. "Ves, how did you guys get in here?"
"Duh," the red-haired senshi jabbed her thumb at where they had come from. There was a small, glowing gap in the grey that pushed out into the main hall. "Ducky washed away the chalk lines. Magic to magic, you know?"
Kouji groaned. Why hadn't they thought of that?
Sora seemed to have recovered from the huge attack in record time as he bounded across the circle, dodging past all four of the Sailor Senshi and Goofy's route to reach Donald. A huge smile was slowly spreading across his face, and he was shaking a little, his eyes watering as he refused to blink, as though he couldn't believe that what he saw wouldn't disappear if he closed them. "Riku…god, Riku, it really is you…"
The silver-haired boy smiled - not a smirk, a real genuine smile - as he looked at his brown-haired friend. "Good to see you too, Sora."
"Hold on a second!" Kouji jumped to his feet. "If you're 'Riku,' then what the hell happened to my…"
"Um, guys, we don't have time for this right now!" Takuya jabbed his arm at the center of the circle again. "Look!"
Beryl had already recovered from the successful attack and had slowly rotated on her spot to turn to them. Smoke from the burn hissed as it rose off her back, its almost-black color setting it - and her - apart from the flat grey even as her withered white hair fell over her face in huge, messy tangles. She was breathing hard, her body shaking with every breath, and her rage radiated off of her like pure energy.
"This is unacceptable," she snarled, her voice sounding more like an animal than a human being. "It's time we ended this…once and for all…"
Her right arm slid up the side of her body, snapping out perfectly parallel to her shoulders. A small, swirling vortex of black energy appeared, hanging in mid air like a pane of glass to take in her hand. Every muscle in her arm showed through the too-thin paper skin as she clenched her hand around something and pulled it out.
At first, it seemed that she had pulled out a Keyblade of her own - one that was long, thin and almost entirely made of gold. But then it was revealed that hand was still grasping the hilt along with hers, a large hand clothed in a white glove, and its owner - a small, black figure with large ears and exaggerated features - was still dangling from it despite his unconsciousness.
Sora drew in a sharp breath and gripped his own Keyblade tightly. "Is that… the King?"
"Mickey!" Riku hissed, grabbing hold of his weapon.
"Your Majesty!" Goofy and Donald chorused, and the mage squawked in indignation.
But Beryl notice none of this, her mind only focused on the Keyblade, as though the dead weight hanging from it meant absolutely nothing. She brought the weapon up and pointed its tip straight above her head, the weapon shaking in her hand more and more with every inch it was raised until, at the exact zenith, it seemed ready to throw itself from her, with only the weight of its rightful owner keeping it in place.
"It's time…" she whispered, her voice echoing as though she had screamed it. "To open the door."
A beam of light and sound shot from the Keyblade she held, shooting up through the seemingly endless void of grey until it crashed into the direct center of the black dome high at the top. The point of light swept up all of the colors and air and light that had come before, drawing it in from the outside the circle as well as within. It all swirled together into a single color, a single point, a portal of black and darkness with something white…a light, a soft, warm endless light…at the very end…
But before it could get any further than that indistinct implication of a shape, there was another noise - this one the rough, light-hearted bark of a usually happy dog turned vicious in defense of its master.
With a snarl, Pluto leapt through the entrance that Donald had made - which had spread, Kouji couldn't help noticing, until it had taken over almost half of the gap between two cases - and launched himself at Beryl. In one swift motion, the pup's thick, flat teeth had sunk into the woman's too-thin arm so deeply that it almost looked like the limb would snap in two.
Beryl screamed, the bouncing off the inside of their skulls as well as the walls of the building. She jerked her arm and tossed everything across the room - dog, key and mouse at all once. They vaulted through the air in one group and at the very top of their arch, the King seemed to sense that it was time to wake up and somersaulted out of his freefall. He grabbed the Keyblade in his right hand and caught Pluto around the waist with his left arm, twisting back to land on his feet.
Takuya whistled. "He's good."
A little smirk quirked over Riku's face, a kind of pride, almost as though he was the one being praised.
"Miserable mutt!"
Beryl struck out with her hand and a bolt of lightening shot down between Pluto and the King. The pup leapt in one direction, sliding to a stop in front of the icy case that held Tomoki's unmoving form, as his master jumped in the other. Mickey rolled across the floor and popped up between Riku and Sora as though nothing had happened.
"Hello, boys," he chuckled brightly, adjusting his grip on the Keyblade. "Good to see you're all in shape. I can't tell you the kind of nonsense I've through…"
"You'll have to tell us about it later, Your Majesty," Sora interrupted. "We're kinda in the middle of something here."
Beryl's arm shot towards them again and vines threw themselves at the trio. Mickey jumped forward and cut through the thickest of them. "So I see."
Riku slashed through the few vines that managed to get past the King, glancing at Sora out of the corner of his eye. "We saw from the outside - she's using the magic circle to harness the power of those items she's captured. We need to cut her off."
"Then that's just what we'll do," Mickey nodded to Donald and Goofy. "Knock her out of the center and it's all over. Go!"
The group dispersed, shooting off in all directions to surround their target. The little Senshi moved first, under ChibiUsa's direction to come to a rest at the compass points around Beryl. Each of them summoned a power of their own, their auras taking the form of thick colored ropes that shot out and wrapped around the witch's torso one after another. The girls pulled at their power as a group, but it wasn't enough to budge Beryl and she didn't even blink for them, not even when Taichi and Agumon caught onto the plan and grabbed onto the ropes alongside them.
As they wrapped around to pull as a single group, Goofy, Mickey and Donald leapt in from the opposite side. Beryl turned her head to them, her eyes blazed silver again and the metal shield flashed up, knocking their attack away. "Is that the best you've got?"
"Firagra!"
Blue-white fire shattered the shield like a baseball hitting a car window, heralding Riku as he jumped through the falling shards after his magical attack. Sora was right on his heels, and the two mirror each other's actions, coming down on the witch in a single attack.
The Keyblade hit one shoulder as the Soul Stealer crashed onto the other, a resounding crack filling the room as her shoulder bones - as dry and fragile as the rest of her - gave way. Beryl jerked forward at the waist, bending around the ropes until her back was almost bent further than a ninety degree angle.
Sora balanced on the balls of his feet, with Riku landing on the other side. They met each others' eyes a moment, almost ready to ask if they had her, when she jerked straight back up and sent him flying. He managed to uncurl himself from the flight before he was hurt too badly, but he still hit the wall. While Sora hit the for field, his head, hand and the Keyblade hit one of the cases hard - hard enough that the thick crystal cracked.
"Sora-kun!" ChibiUsa gasped, jerking backwards to follow her hero, never noticing the strange retreat of light and sound that was happening around them. But the others noticed, realizing what it was - like the retreating waters before a tidal wave.
"Everybody, back off!" Riku shouted, but it was too late.
Beryl's eyes burst huge and blared white again, the wind and light destroying the magic ropes and throwing all of her attackers backwards as though they were little more than insects. They crashed, one by one, into the field, except for Donald, who went flying through the gap and out of the circle altogether. Only Kouji and Takuya, pressed against the edge of the force field, stayed in place.
"Kouji, c'mon," Takuya reached down and took his friend carefully by the elbows, trying not to hurt him as he tried to pull him out of the mess. "We need to get out of here, we're gonna get in the way, we need to figure something out and you're hurt and…Kouji?"
The swordsman wasn't listening. He was staring at the crack that Sora's Keyblade had made in the white crystal case. The shadowed shape inside was slight, thin, and half of it glowed with a soft light of its own, independent of the magic and the circle. He'd know that shape anywhere…
"Kouji, what are you doing?" Takuya asked, then realized he was losing his grip as his friend moved away from him determinedly. "Kouji!"
Without a word, Kouji charged forward, throwing all of his weight into the case, focusing it all through his right shoulder.
Maybe it was just luck, or timing, or maybe the magic had weakened just enough, but somehow, it worked. The crack extended across the entire crystal surface until finally, the case shatter and the Sager burst free.
Kouji twisted from his attack and grabbed his weapon with his broken hand, gritting his teeth through the inevitable pain. He kicked off the remains of the crystal trophy mount and shot into the center of the circle in one smooth motion, shooting past Sora and Goofy like a bullet. Shrugging his cast-bound arm out of its sling, he seized the sword with both hands and used them for ultimate leverage, bringing them up together to slash all the way across Beryl's torso, from her waist to her shoulder.
The howl of a wolf sounded through the room as he slashed, the sound combining with the power from his stroke. Beryl cried out, her voice cracking as it suddenly breaking through two octaves up, the echo fading with her fall out of the center ring as she crashed to the ground.
The moment she hit the floor, the glowing chalk circle and the blank gray around them began to flicker in and out like a broken light bulb. What was left of the strange, tangible lights from outside of the circle were slowly sucked up into the dark portal at the top of the room, until that was all that was left, as though it was a drain and everything else had been sucked down.
The portal flickered twice, then began to shrink almost imperceptibly, closing up like a shutter lens. Sora stared at the sight, his blue eyes wide with something that couldn't really be called disbelief as much as complete and utter amazement. "Holy cow…he did it."
Kouji landed, putting most of his weight on one foot before the Sager clattered to the ground and he followed, sinking to his knees. His arms hung limp by his sides and he sucked in every breath as though it were the last one he would ever take, coming down off the adrenaline and sinking into the dullness of the pain.
But he had only drawn in a few of the deep, heavy breaths before he found himself suddenly incapable of taking anymore. Beryl's thin arm had suddenly shot up from the mass of quivering black cloth that she had become, clutching his throat and crushing his voice box back to cut off his windpipe.
"No…" the witch growled, her voice warbling with rage as she tightened her grip. "It won't end like this…I won't let it!"
"Kouji!" Sora shouted, moving forward to rescue his friend, but before he could even take three steps, someone else intervened.
"Striking Thunder Barrage!"
Beryl screamed as the sky split open and a blast of thunder crashed down on her, conducted easily by the little green-haired girl who was balanced on the very edge of the balcony railings. The name 'Juno' had barely left Pallas's lips in a shocked little gasp before another figure, this one dressed entirely in a black robe with the hood pulled over his head, appeared and vaulted over the very same balcony.
The robed figure controlled his fall just enough to land in a low crouch, using the extra momentum to bring his long, black staff down on the witch's arm. The fragile bones cracked easily under the assault and Beryl released her target with a scream.
Kouji dropped backwards, but was caught in the robed figure's free arm before he hit the ground. The figure - the boy, as close as he was to Kouji's size - cradled him close to his body with the greatest of care. "It's okay, Kouji. I've got you."
His hood fell back to reveal his face, and Kouji couldn't help but stare. "Nii…Nii-san?"
Beryl shrank back, clutching her arm close to her and letting out a long, high-pitched squeal like a kicked cat. Still crouched against the ground, she started to rear up to attack the twins again, but was stopped as Riku and Sora both stepped in front of her, lowering their weapons to hold the witch in place.
"Give it up," Riku hissed, pushing the Soul Stealer up under her thin, pointy little chin.
"Yeah," Sora added with a bit of a smirk. "It's over."
"It certainly is!"
Riku, the Keyblade Master and the twins were bawled over by the sudden appearance of something…big, dark and red. It swept Beryl up into a one-handed grip, jerking her off the floor and into the air. They came to a full stop, revealing the red 'thing' to be a man - or something that looked like one: A vampire, unnaturally tall, with a pointed red mask covering his eyes mysteriously. Seven strange black spheres seemed to follow his every move in an enchanted ring, floating around him as though caught in a slipstream. His fangs glinted in the unnatural light as though he had always belonged in it.
Taichi's body went rigid and recognition flashed over his face. "Myotismon!"
The vampire Digimon's purple lips smirked ever wider as his name floated across the room. He tightened his finely-manicured nails deeper into the cloth of Beryl's collar, bunching it up into a death grip. "I think you've outlived your usefulness, my dear."
Beryl's eyes widened, the way that they had sunk deep into the pits of their sockets making them stand out as though they had been placed inside of a skull. "You…You planned this. All of it…it was all you…"
"And now you understand."
Myotismon clenched his fist death-tight and gave it a good shake, sending a blast of blood-red energy through Beryl's entire body. The witch let out one last keening cry before her body dissolved under the assault, pouring to the ground in a pile of dust surrounded by ragged black shreds.
Before anyone could do anything to react to this, Myotismon shot upwards on an updraft of his own power, darting through the ever-closing portal. The seven orbs of energy followed him up and out, just before the dark hole snapped shut on the vampire's heels.
There was a terrible, awful noise.
And then everything was quiet once more.
TBC…
There are goodbyes and things still left to be sorted out. I just couldn't bring myself to add them to this chapter after taking so long. Besides, they'll be a good place to start for the next one. Oh, and we're finally done with Crystal Tokyo!! YEA! As much as I enjoyed this world, we've been in it too damn long.
Because I know it's confusing: Tomoki, Izumi, Kairi and Junpei were all caught by Beryl's spell - the same one that got to Kouji and Takuya through their Items - and were in stasis through the whole fight. When Kouji and Takuya let go of their Items, the Ball and the Sager answered the call on their own. Riku's shield was ripped from his arm before he could be pulled into the circle, and the Staff was close enough to the completed circle that it could be used as the final element in the spell, even though 'Kouichi' was still holding onto it. Also, Pluto came through the same magic portal that Tomoki got dragged through - he was just hiding in building for the right time to intervene.
And again, I apologize for taking so very, very long with this chapter and updating in general recently. Things…college…life…just always seem to get in the way. Some more things will be answered in the next chapter, and the one after that, so please stay tuned!
Also, for those of you wishing that I would update I/O - the final chapter of that story will be posted at the same time as the next chapter of this story, because it won't make sense without it. After that, Kouichi and Riku will be prominently featured in the rest of the main story, so we won't need I/O anymore. I'm sorry that it has taken so very long and I hope that it will be worth the wait.