A/N: WOOT! I'm back with another update (I was afraid I wouldn't be able to before college :P). Anyway, this is gonna be kind of a wild chapter, so hang with me and enjoy, lol. Be sure to review before you go, lol.
Disclaimer: I don't own KH or anything related to the franchise or their affiliates. Now to the important part, lol, enjoy:
Chapter 26: Dark Tiimes
Vanitas stumbled backwards after receiving a kick to the chest, "So—it seems you do have some fight in you. Come, this fight isn't over yet." The Dark Soldier scoffed as he dusted himself off and readied himself to continue the battle.
"I was hoping you'd say that." Sora grunted as he lunged at Vanitas with an overhead slash, which was blocked by his opponent.
"You're becoming more aggressive. Is it because you are—angry?" Vanitas scoffed as he parried one of Sora's strikes then firmly planted his fist into Sora's gut, causing the young Keyblade Master to grunt in pain as he fell to one knee. "Shame, you've improved, but you are not—quite good enough yet." The Dark Soldier shook his head in apparent disappointment.
"I'm—not—angry, and—I'm more than good enough to beat you!" Sora gritted his teeth as he rose from his knees with an uppercut from his Keyblade, prompting Vanitas to somersault backwards in defense. Sora wasted no time in pursuing his opponent as he jumped into the air and used his momentum to catch Vanitas. The Dark Solder dropped his hands down on the ground and reversed his momentum to kick forward and crash his body into Sora's, sending the two warriors plummeting into the sand pit below. When the dust settled, Sora and Vanitas had separated and were laying a few feet from each other. Sora groggily began to move, coughing as though the wind were knocked out of him, with each dust kicking up small puffs of sand. Vanitas lay just in front of him, lying motionless for a few seconds, then, in a draconian manner slowly sat up and turned his head to face Sora.
Meanwhile, with Riku and Terra things were looking desperate. It appeared that for every one Unversed they felled, another stood up in their place.
"Man—there's no end to them." Riku angrily grunted as he fended off a horde of Unversed.
"Yeah, it's almost as though Vanitas has intentions of fighting Sora alone." Terra barked as he cleared off a few Unversed of his own.
Vanitas expectantly watched Sora as the young Keyblader struggled to stand up. "Hm…it appears that you're tougher than when we last met. I wonder how far I can push your limits." A split second later, the dark soldier threw his Keyblade above his head, then jumped up to catch it, and with his momentum slammed his weapon into the sand below. Immediately afterward, the sand began to shift violently, and out from the ground burst tentacle-like entities that appeared to be made of shadows. The tentacles then lashed out and grabbed everyone but Sora and Vanitas. "So, now you have a choice: fight me, or save your friends." Vanitas laughed as he snapped his fingers, which prompted the tentacles to begin squeezing their victims tightly.
Upon hearing his friend's screams of pain, Sora looked in horror, and immediately froze in his tracks when he saw that Kairi had gotten caught in the snare as well.
"Oh, have I struck a nerve?' Vanitas, having noticed Sora's reaction, laughed as he began to walk towards Sora.
"Let them go…" Sora grunted, slowly climbing to his feet. Vanitas continued his approached, but as he did, he noticed something was different about his opponent. Sora's body was emitting a small amount of dark energy, nearly unnoticeable, but barely traceable to a select few in the area—namely Vanitas and Riku.
"I smell something, something very dark." Riku muttered as he was struggling to free himself from the trap.
"Urgh…yeah, it's Vanitas." Terra angrily groaned as he two flailed around to free himself.
"No, it's a different presence—one that's a more concentrated darkness." Riku calmly spoke as he focused, trying to hone in on the source. A few seconds later, his eyes flashed open in shock and horror. "It's Sora!"
"What?" Terra's face mirrored that of his friends as he heard the name, and immediately he looked towards the young Keyblade Master, who was now trembling, visibly doing everything he could to keep his rage from boiling over.
"Wha-oh—not good!" Goofy stuttered as he too saw what was happening to Sora.
"Care to explain what's going on?" Dastan grumbled in pain.
"Uh…Sora's about to—transform." Donald nervously replied.
"You mean like his Drive Forms? That should be good, right?" Kairi hopefully questioned, trying to see any bright spot in the situation.
"Uh…I don't think so. He seems to turning into Anti-Form…which is a bad thing. But this is strange 'cause normally he hasta actually transform first." Donald shook his head in disbelief.
"What do you mean by that?" Riku barked his question in frustration.
"Well, normally Sora becomes Anti-Form after too many of his Drive-thingies have been performed—but he hasn't transformed fer a while now. It's almost like it's comin' out in its own…" Goofy nervously explained as he watched the events unfold before him and the rest of the group.
"That's bad—isn't it?" Riku questioned.
"Yeah—he becomes amazin'ly strong, but at the cost of control." Donald painfully sighed as he watched.
"Rrrragh!" Sora held his head as he screamed in pain. A second later, he was enveloped in a cloud of shadows.
"Hm…what have we here? This is certainly an interesting turn of events." Vanitas chuckled as he watched Sora's transformation. The Shadow Warrior then readied his Keyblade in preparation for battle. After a few moments, the shadowy cloud around Sora dissipated, revealing a creature that looked identical to Sora, only his body appeared to be as black as the night, his clothes tattered and of matching color, but the most intimidating feature about him was his piercing, cold, yellow eyes.
"A-yup! That's Anti-Sora alright!" Goofy gulped as he confirmed everyone's fears.
"Shhhhhkkk" Anti-Sora hissed as he lifelessly stared down Vanitas.
"I can see you're angry now. Come on and face me then, and we get a look at whose darkness is greater!" Vanitas scoffed as he took a defensive posture, prompting Anti-Sora to lung aggressively at him.
A/N: WHAT? I dared to envoke Anti-Sora? You bet I did! What kind of mayhem and destruction will ensue in Vanitas vs. Anti-Sora? Find out in the next chapter :D. Oh, and be sure to review, lol.
