Due to the many threats I received, after this chapter I have decided to cancel this fic…

…Kidding! Did I get you? No this fic is not getting canceled, but apparently some people weren't happy about my updating times. It happens. Anyway, please enjoy this chapter…it'll be the last.

…No not really.

Chapter 26: Desperate Conflict

Blackout thrust his blade forward toward Roxas's heart, the blonde's eyes widened and he rolled out of the way. The sword clanged against the floor as the blonde stood back up. Thank you Capcom for Resident Evil, and thank you for Leon S. Kennedy! Roxas thought, picking up the axe and swinging it at the vampire. But his luck couldn't hold up for long, Blackout simply grabbed the handle of the weapon and kicked him back. He slammed against the wall and rolled behind the bleachers.

"So much for heroes," Blackout smirked, "Now, Ms. Kisaragi, do you mind coming with me?"

"Who the hell are you?!" Yuffie demanded, not at all intimidated by the vampire.

"My name is not important," Blackout growled, walking around the pool to Kairi and Yuffie, who went the opposite way to avoid him. "But you're the only way to get Valentine to come to me."

"Who?" Yuffie asked, she didn't know (or recall) someone with that name.

Kairi looked at the vampire, the axe, and the fallen blonde, a plan hatching in her head. She began to edge herself over to the other side of the pool, where the axe was laying on the floor. Yuffie seemed to have this guy distracted so she thought she could get to it very easily. Or so she thought.

A slight hitch in her plan formed, the vampire took a step back and leaped across the pool to Yuffie. She screamed and tried to run, but he grabbed her by her shirt and hoisted her in the air. Kairi ran to the axe, she picked it up and threw it at him. He caught it and threw it into the pool.

"Go on and scream," he grinned, "No one will hear you, as I have a little snack."

His fangs bared and his eyes changed color as he neared the teen's neck to bite and drain her, however the window shattered and someone in bright red landed and drew a gun.

"Let her go!" Vincent shouted.

Blackout smirked and tossed her aside, she flung into the bleachers and laid still. Enraged, Vincent fired off some shots with his gun as Blackout began running around the room. He leaped for him and struck with his katana, however Vincent leaped backwards and pulled his out his own. He managed to get a quick slash on his shoulder, but the rest was blocked by Blackout's own strikes.

Kairi ran over to Yuffie and helped her up, then the two of them went to Roxas and helped him up. The blonde boy gave a low moan and when he saw the battle he stopped, they watched them fight from the safety of behind the bleachers.

"I know this is a life or death situation, but girls…you can't honestly say this isn't the coolest thing you've seen," he nudged their shoulder, trying to lighten the tension a bit.

The two of them stared at him and he sighed, "It's not easy to impress girls anymore…"

Sora, Aerith, and Namine made their way through several class rooms to find the second entrance to the swimming pool. Luckily for them there weren't any vampires around, but the tension was thick enough to make people jump if they accidentally bumped into a chair.

"You think Kairi is okay?" Namine asked after awhile of walking.

"I'm sure she's fine," Sora assured, finding himself hoping she is as well. "They probably made it out already."

"I doubt it," a voice spoke behind them.

The three of them turned around just in time to see a man with brown hair leap for Sora, he collided with him and they skidded across the class, sending desks and chairs flying.

"Sora!" Aerith shouted as the vampire pinned him to a wall.

"Get out! Go!" he shouted, kicking the vampire off him and throwing him back.

Aerith and Namine reluctantly agreed and ran out of the class, leaving Sora with the vampire. He got up and tried to run for the door to follow them, Sora stopped him by summoning his Rider strength and throwing a chair at him. The speed and strength behind the throw bashed the vampire backwards, giving the young Rider enough time to get in front of the door.

"You know, I've only fought vampires for two days but…" he grinned as his face caught flame and he transformed. "I'm getting sick of your kind already."

He charged a fireball and threw it at the vampire, the fireball hit his chest and caught flame. He opened the door and left the classroom as the vampire burned to crisps. Making a quick point to change back into his human form as he ran after the others, however as usual there was another complication. Standing a few feet in front of him was a familiar female with short brown hair, a maroon tank top, blue jeans with a red sash around her waist, and two different colored eyes.

"Hello Sora," Yuna smiled softly, although there was a hint of coldness against that smile.

"I'd say nice to see you, but honestly I'm getting sick of you and your happy family," Sora retorted. "Still following granddaddy Blackout's orders?"

"Still going to be a pain in our side?" she retorted, "Or Mephisto's errand boy?"

"Touché," Sora acknowledged, his hand glowing softly from the power of the Rider. "So, are we going to get started?"

"Aw so sorry," she smirked, "I prefer a bit of foreplay before the main event."

Okay, banish that nasty mental image from my head, Sora thought, shaking his head as if to shake off the thoughts. Getting back into battle groove he transformed back into the Ghost Rider and faced her. She didn't bother drawing her guns this time and threw a kick at his head. Sora grabbed the kick and held her leg in the air, she smirked and used her second leg to perform a kick while spinning in the air. Sora was knocked back against the wall, he tried to run at her but she already pinned him.

"We just need Yuffie," Yuna said, "That's all we need!"

"Why Yuffie?!" he asked, struggling against her grip.

"Because... because she's Mira's daughter, " Yuna's eyes softened.

Sora recognized the name before, then he remembered that Blackout said something similar to him when he fought Vincent. He continued to struggle against her grip but had no luck, then he saw someone behind her holding a lead pipe, before he knew it she swung it at her. Yuna must have sensed it cause her arm shot out and grabbed the hand holding it, Aerith tried to pull away but her grip was strong. However, with one of her arms off Sora he took the chance and broke free from her grip. He lowered himself and rushed forward, tackling her stomach and slamming her into the other wall. Although one thing happened that he didn't predict: he fell through the wall with her. Okay, need to watch my own strength… he frowned, pinning her to the ground and keeping her there.

"Party time is over Yuna," he said, keeping her to the ground. "Now, what the hell is the key to the tomb exactly?"

"The key…is an object that can turn the handle to the door of the Tomb, only an item with the correct enchantments can break through the protective spells," she explained.

"Okay, but what does the key look like?!" he asked, his fist charging up flames in a threatening way.

"It…It…" Yuna began, when she saw the flames charge up she spoke, "It's his claw, all right?! His claw is the key!"

Sora paused, "How can his claw be the key? It's a claw!"

"What are you an idiot?" Yuna scoffed, "Keys aren't always small objects that have metal teeth."

"Shut it," Sora growled, throwing her down. "Where's Blackout!?"

"He…he's with Yuffie right now," she choked, "I tired to stop him—,"

"Trying is not good enough!" he yelled, "Pick a side Yuna!"

He let her go and ran down the hall, he saw Aerith was there. She sighed and ran over and hugged him, "Thank goodness you're okay."

Sora blushed a bit but hugged her back, but he broke the hug just as fast. Aerith fought back a blush and ran for the room with the pool, Sora followed her and when he ran inside he saw he was too late. He saw Blackout fighting Vincent on the other side of the pool, he saw the others by an unconscious Roxas, making that his first place to go he ran over to him.

"Is he okay?" He asked.

"He should be fine," Yuffie assured, "I think he was just conked in the head…"

"Why didn't you guys leave?" Sora asked, looking back to see how the battle was doing.

"The door is bared," Kairi explained, "I can't open it."

"Let me handle it," Sora decided, running across the room to the door. "Follow me."

Kairi and Yuffie followed, Aerith grumbled as she dragged Roxas to the door. When he made Sora began summoning his Rider strength and he slammed on the handle…and the door flew off it's hinges. There was a very long silence, all the teens stood shocked as Sora chuckled sheepishly.

"Um… I… watch Jackie Chan movies?" he lied pitifully.

It didn't seem to matter though, they ran through the door and outside, Sora waited till they were gone before he ran back inside. He shut the door and transformed into the Ghost Rider, he ran at Blackout who was busy fighting Vincent to even see him. Blackout sent Vincent flying to the bleachers and Sora grabbed him by the scruff of his trenchcoat, lifting him up in the air. I'll finish him here…

"Look into my eyes…" he said.

Blackout started screaming loudly, which turned to laughter, confusing the young Rider. "Your Penance Stare does not work on me. I have no soul to burn."

Blackout shot his arm out and grabbed the spinal cord connecting the flaming skull to the body. "Guess no one told you that huh? Surprise!"

He threw Sora in the air, he slammed against the ceiling and hit the ground. He gave a groan and stood back up, only to get kicked back once again. Before he could even hit the ground Blackout was there again, he kicked him once more and he crashed through the already crumpled bleachers. When he landed on the ground Blackout leaped on his body, he gasped sharply at the weight on his ribcage as the vampire pointed his sword at him.

"You lack proper training, you cannot defeat me as you are." He laughed.

Damn it… damn it! Sora swore, he felt the tip of the katana on his skull. He was too weak and battered to even chuck a fireball, and with this guy pinning him to the ground, he wasn't going to be able to throw him off. Then a shot rang out, Blackout stumbled back, clutching his forehead and Sora managed to slowly get on his feet. Yuna was standing behind him, one of her dual guns aimed at the vampire, who stared at her as if she slapped him (even though she shot him).

"Yuna! What are you doing?!" He roared.

Yuna pulled her second gun out and aimed it at him, "Choosing a side."

She fired off more shots in rapid succession, Blackout swung his katana and deflected some of the bullets but more pierced his legs, arms, and upper chest. He yelled out and leaped for the ceiling, Yuna leaped after him and kicked him mid air. She shot him a few more times as she fell to the ground, she landed on her feet, the sash she liked to wear around her waist fluttered from the updraft. Sora's jaw dropped in amazement, she never used this skill when she fought him! Then that means…she was holding back during the fight we had.

Yuna walked over to Sora and helped him up, she flashed a smile and the two of them walked to where Vincent's body was. The vampire groaned and soon he woke up, when he saw Yuna he was reaching for his gun when Sora stopped him.

"No, she helped us." He assured, "She defeated Blackout."

"Truly?" Vincent asked, "She beheaded him?"

"Um…no," Sora frowned, "Not yet anyway."

He nodded at Yuna and she picked up Vincent's katana, ready to walk over and behead the silver haired vampire. Only to find he wasn't there, they looked around and saw the back door was wide open. Swearing loudly Sora ran over and looked outside, but no one was there and there was no sign that someone left. He turned around and walked back to the others, as Yuna helped Vincent up he remembered something that she said.

"Vincent are you my godfather?"

Vincent froze and Yuna flinched a bit as well, the silence was long and agonizing for him as the vampire took his sweet time. When he spoke, he spoke softly as if he too was shocked by all this.

"How long have you known?"

Sora's eyes widened, "It's true…? You're my…godfather?"

Vincent paused before nodding, "Yes, I am."

There's another thing to add to the many shocks poor Sora has received today, he shook his head in denial and let out a growl of frustration.

"Why didn't you tell me this?!"

"Because I knew you would throw a fit," Vincent retorted.

"Call me old fashioned, some teenagers would like to know that they have a godfather!" he yelled back.

"So I was I supposed to tell you exactly?" Vincent asked, "Was I supposed to come up to you and say 'how Sora, I just remembered I'm your godfather'!"

"Something like that would have been great," Sora argued, "Instead of hearing it from the skank!"

Yuna narrowed her eyes and Vincent glared at her, she crossed her arms and mumbled something about telling Sora earlier. The teenager ran his hand through his hair, a habit whenever he was frustrated and tried to breathe through his anger.

"Who made you my godfather?" he asked, "It couldn't have been my mom, she would have recognized you before. Then that means…"

Sora felt something stir in his gut, he knew what it meant but he didn't want to believe it. He slowly turned to him and stared at him with sad and furious eyes.

"You knew my father," he said, stating as more of a fact that a question.

Vincent met his eyes and soon lowered them, the action confirmed his fear. He stood there unbelieving and in denial, Vincent is his godfather and he knew his father. Amidst the shock and denial anger rose up, he walked over to the vampire and grabbed him by the scuff of his red cloak. He didn't do anything, he just held it tight, bearing angry eyes onto his.

"You know why he left, don't you!" He roared, "Tell me! Why did he leave me and my mom?!"

"Sora if I were to tell you…" Vincent started back, "If I were to share this one piece of information with you, do you realize how you perceive your life will change?"

"I don't care!" he shouted, tears of anger welling up, "I want you tell me you bastard! TELL ME!"

"Enough!" Yuna shouted, "There are more important things to worry about right now, Blackout has escaped and he's found a way to open the door without your help Vincent!"

"What?" he gasped, "Then…then why go through the trouble in attacking the school instead of opening the door?"

"Because they're trying to create a replica of your claw," Yuna explained, "But even if they do they can't just use anybody, they need a specific someone. If they can't use Vincent, then they'll use someone he knows."

"Why Yuffie?" Sora asked, "Of all the people, why her?"

"Because her mother was Vincent's friend," Yuna answered, Sora's eyes went wide and Vincent ignored him. "Because of her blood mark as well."

"Wait whoa, blood mark?" Sora asked, "What's that?"

Yuna sighed, she hated to have to be the one having to explain everything. "A blood mark is a rare occurrence that happens when a vampire befriends a human. Because of their presence it creates a 'mark' on their blood, a scent that can be identified by certain vampires. Now years ago, Vincent befriended a woman named Mira Kisaragi, Yuffe's mother. Since her mother met Vincent a long time ago, w can only assume the blood mark got passed down to her daughter."

"Basically, I condemned the daughter of a woman who meant a great deal to me," Vincent growled, his claw tightening to a fist.

"Ah…" Sora frowned, "I was afraid that Yuffie was his daughter or something like that…she's not is she?"

"No," Vincent said firmly, "No not my daughter."

"Oh thank god," Sora sighed, "Because, that would have been weird if you heard the things Yuffie says about you."

"What?" the vampire looked at him questionably, "What things?"

Sora froze, not exactly sure to rephrase on the things that teenage girl said that made him want to cough violently. He cleared his throat and did the best thing to do during a problem like this: walk away. Yuna also walked away as well, leaving Vincent to only imagine the many things she could have said about him.

"Whoa, that's whacked," Roxas groaned as Yuna placed a bandage on his head. "So, your goddad knew this girl's mom? And he's not her dad?"

"Yeah, believe me it was a shock," Sora rolled his eyes, "Come on, not everything are like those crappy fanfictions you read online."

"Hey come on!" Roxas huffed, "In case you don't know, some people are writing stuff about you!"

"They are?" Sora asked, "Are they any good…?"

"Not really, they keep making you gay," the blonde grinned at the brunette's expression.

"Joy…" he sighed, turning his back on them and walking out to the front.

It seems one of the girls called the police, caused when they left the building several paramedics and squad cars drove up to the school. Luckily they avoided their questions and managed to slink away. Yuna began checking over Roxas's wounds (with Sora present) and Vincent looked around for Yuffie. Sora kept glancing through the crowd for her as well, finally his eyes settled on someone with short black hair. He walked over and tapped her shoulder.

"Hey Yuffie, good thing I—," he began, but as Yuffie turned around he saw something important: this 'Yuffie' was a guy.

Feeling his eyes widen and his face redden he mumbled an apology and walked off, resigning to leave the search to Vincent. At least until he saw Yuffie at a paramedic vehicle, she was getting herself looked over by some doctors.

"Please tell me you're the real Yuffie," he asked her when he got over there.

"You're a soulless bastard who hasn't even hit puberty yet," Yuffie smirked.

A pathetic insult with an attempt to make me self-conscious, yep that's her. Sora sighed, placing his hands in the pockets of his brown jacket. "Well glad to see your mouth isn't broken."

"That among other things," Yuffie scoffed. "Why are you here?"

"Just checking up on you," Sora shrugged, "Wanted to make sure you were all right."

"Excuse me miss," a Doctor interrupted, "I need to ask you some questions if I can pull you aside briefly…"

"Sora!" Kairi shouted, pushing through the crowd to the medical vehicle, stopping short when she saw him and Yuffie together.

"Sora!" Yuna shouted, also pushing past several students to get to him. "Oh good you found her, Vincent has been…"

She stopped when her eyes landed on the doctor next to them, her eyes widened to shock and she was reaching for one of her guns, "Sora that's not a doctor!"

Sora and Yuffie turned as the 'doctor' grinned manically, then in a swift motion he shoved Yuffie into the back of the van, grabbed a scalpel and stabbed Sora's right leg. The teenager yelled out in pain and fell over, Kairi screamed and Yuna swore, running over to the teen and ripping a piece of her sash off and wrapping it around his leg. Vincent reappeared in time to see his godson get stabbed and the doctor shove Yuffie in the paramedic truck, the one that was now driving down the road. He froze at the choice in front of him, go to his godson or save Yuffie.

"Vincent! Help me out here!" Yuna cried, she and Kairi kept him elevated and tried to stop the bleeding.

Vincent ran over to her and knelt next to him, Roxas appearing through the small crowd to see is buddy lying on the ground, bleeding. To make things more dramatic, Tifa and Aerith pushed their way through the crowd too. Both of the girls bore expressions of worry and pain as Vincent and Yuna worked together to stop the bleeding. Finally they managed to halt the bleeding before it was too late, Sora was surprisingly still awake as he fought to open his eyes.

"Aghhh, wow, it hurts a lot more than it looks on TV," he tried to joke, earning a nervous smile from Kairi.

He then finally noticed that it was Kairi's knees keeping him elevated. He went red, which was a good sign that was still blood in him, and forced himself to sit up. The red head also went a color to match her own hair, moving herself away from him as if to hide the fact she showed any affection.

"What happened to Yuffie?" he asked, electing strange glances from the two vampires.

Sora groaned and lowered his head, they took her… they tried so hard to protect her and they lost, the vampire now had her in his clutches. Sora lifted his head, his eyes showed determination as he stared at them.

"Meet me back at the tower," He whispered, "We're getting armed with weapons and we're dealing with Blackout and getting Yuffie back."

That's it. Hope this chapter was good enough for everyone, Happy 2009! And tomorrow is January 2nd, the day when Ghost Rider's first chapter was posted, a whole year as passed since this fic was posted. A whole year and 207 reviews, that's something for me to smile at personally. Here's to another year of redeeming hero Sora Shimomura.