Yes. Battle. Back to the action! The first Summon from Twilight Town finally appears in this chapter. Enjoy!

Demyx: "DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else. Just his plot and O.C.s ...Hey, what's an O.C.?"

(Sigh...)

--

Chapter 28: The Battle for Disney Castle

Riku was resting comfortably with his new girlfriend in his arms. They were now sharing a room deep in the castle, much to their delight. They hadn't actually done anything. Regardless of what people might assume, Riku wanted to hold that off until marriage.

He was glad he hadn't hesitated back in the garden earlier. He didn't really know what had come over him, but there was just something about the peacefulness of the place that motivated him. Even he had been surprised at his leap of faith.

He looked down at the sleeping Yuffie. Her hair was sticking up in a few places, and it tickled his bare chest. She was mumbling something in her sleep, and smiling slightly. She looked adorable, and Riku grinned and brought her just a bit closer. He buried his face in her raven colored hair.

Is this what Sora feels around Kairi?

That would mean he was in love with Yuffie, and he really didn't doubt the idea. He didn't know for sure why he felt drawn to her, although nobody could deny that she was beautiful with her shiny black hair and dark brown eyes. Perhaps it was the fact that she was always energetic, and constantly cheerful. He thought that was endearing, and very enjoyable. He smiled to himself and kissed the top of her head.

Maybe I am in love.

Suddenly, the moment was ruined. On the far side of the room, the door banged open, and in rushed a bedraggled Hayner. Yuffie and Riku shot up in bed.

"Riku! Yuffie! We have to..." He suddenly realized that akwardness of the conversation and turned to look in the other direction. "Some guy has attacked the castle, and the knights need our help!"

Riku and Yuffie lept out of bed and ran toward their clothes (which were in a pile in the corner). They pulled them on hurriedly, and Yuffie grabbed a handful of her weapons. They ran out of the room as if catapulted, knocking over Hayner in the process.

Yuffie called, "Sorry!" Over her shoulder as she ran and tied her headband around her forehead. They ran through the corridors, and soon heard the sounds of fighting.

They arrived in the castle's dining room. It was a massive room about the size of the audience chamber deeper into the castle. There was a single long table in the center, lined with several chairs (many of which were overturned). The walls were covered in portraits of various ancestors of the King's. A few doors led to the kitchens and other hallways in the castle. Three giant chandeliers hung from the ceiling.

But nobody was paying any of this any mind.

The room was completely soaked, and it took a lot of effort just not to slip on the tile floor. Farther into the room, a fight was raging.

And there was none other than Demyx from Organization XIII. His hands were a blur over his sitar's three strings as he attacked utilizing water, and he was actually telling his opponents, "C'mon! Keep to the beat!"

Riku couldn't actually tell if anyone would act on his words, or if it would do them any good in some way. There were nine or ten royal knights lying unconscious around the room, drenched in water. Two were still fighting, with their captain Goofy spurring them on.

Hercules was in the fight as well, tossing chairs at Demyx with the force of bombs, or otherwise throwing punches. Somehow, Demyx was able to avoid most of the thrown projectiles. He seemed almost to melt into water himself, and turn solid again. Stitch was in the fray as well, charging at Demyx with his claws slashing, only to be batted away like a furry baseball with the sitar. He then got aggrivated, and pulled out his pistols and opened fire. He was joined by Genie, who popped out of nowhere and started shooting bullets of energy from his fingertips, pointing them at him like guns.

The shots missed.

Hayner, Pence, and Olette ran into the room from the other direction, with their weapons in hand. They took one look at the battle, and rushed in fearlessly, Riku had to give them credit for that.

Riku looked at Yuffie. "An interesting first date, don't you think?"

She laughed, "I expect some flowers afterwards."

Way to Dawn appeared in Riku's hand, he took his fighting stance and charged at Demyx, with Yuffie hot on his heels. He lept at Demyx, who miraculously twisted around and smacked him with the sitar. He flew backwards, and landed back near the door he had just come through. He followed up with a burst of water that caught Yuffie in the chest and sent her flying.

Riku rushed to catch her, and she landed in his arms, bridal-style. Demyx had never been that tough before.

He looked at the girl and said, "It's going to be a long night."

--

Nehrut charged at the girl who had called herself Bariss, floating two feet off the ground with his sword ready to strike. Bariss lept to the side as he neared her, delivering a kick to his stomach as she did so.

He lost his concentration and skidded across the ground. He stopped at the doorway (which apparently had a shield cast over it) and got to his feet again just in time to leap away from her whip.

Kiara jumped up from behind the girl with claws extended. But she ducked, allowing the lioness to pass harmlessly over her head. With astonishing reflexes, she reached up and grabbed her tail as she passed overhead.

She held tight, and swung her around her head a few times before tossing her at Nehrut. Kiara yelped in surprise as she was released.

Thinking quickly, Nehrut reached out and held her in the air. He caught her in his telekinetic grip and guided her around him. He then shot her back at Bariss, who was getting ready to attack again.

Both were surprised, but Kiara understood what she was supposed to do. She extended her claws again and latched on to her shoulders.

Bariss cried out briefly in pain, and was able to throw her off into the direction of the Cornerstone, where she landed on her feet. Nehrut charged Bariss again, with his sword pointing directly ahead. She dove to the side again, possibly intending to kick him again, but he wouldn't have that.

He landed on the ground a few feet from her, and adjusted his path and ran the rest of the way. She raised the hand holding the whip, and blocked the strike with the hand grip. They stood at a stalemate for a minute, pressing against the other's weapons trying to get through. Nehrut held his blade with both hands, and pushed down harder. Bariss pushed with both hands, too.

Their faces were so close together that they were inhaling each other's breath. He grinned.

"Not bad..."

She grinned back, "You want to give up yet?"

"Sorry. But this is just too much fun. Right Kiara?"

They disengaged as if on an unspoken agreement. They lept backwards away from each other. They space they had just occupied was now filled with twenty pounds of pouncing lion cub.

She latched onto the intruder's arms like before, but the girl was ready this time. She backflipped through the air, and successfully shook her off. She quickly reached down and grabbed her by the tail again. She tossed her with all her might at the wall on the far end of the room. She hit was a resounding thud, and slid to the ground, unconscious.

And that was one step too far for Nehrut.

He balled his hand into a fist, and Bariss was lifted three feet off the ground. This surprised her immensely, and she tried to free herself from the bonds that weren't there. He a made violent sweeping motion, and she soared across the room, over the Cornerstone, and smashed into the wall. Her dropped whip clattered to the ground ten feet away from her.

Nehrut let out a gasp of breath. He had never liked using his abilities to be that aggressive, but she had pushed him a bit too far.

He looked at the girl for a moment, and realized that she wasn't moving at all.

Oh no...

Was she alright? He hadn't meant to deal any serious damage. He ran over to her side and crouched down.

Low and behold, it was a trap.

The second his hand touched her arm, she sprang back into action, seemingly unharmed. Her sai was in her hand and flashing toward his neck. Only quick reflexes and a split second warning from his searching mind turned what would have been a bleeding gash across his throat into a barely noticable scrape across his chest plate.

His sword was back in his fighting stance inside of two seconds. She had taken up a new stance with her shining blade held in a style that almost reminded him of Riku's. She moved a lock of hair out of her face and behind her ear; the only thing that seemed to have come from his attack.

"You have a talent for the unexpected." She said lightly.

"So do you. Always nice to see a fellow master at work." He responded with a smile, accepting it as the compliment that it was.

Bariss cracked a smile, and rushed him again. Her small blade was practically wiped from existance by pure speed. She came on fearlessly, never stopping, and never hesitating.

It was all Nehrut could do to block the strikes, and he was losing ground fast.

--

I'm really getting sick of these guys...

Sora had just been soaked by yet another column of water. Their entire world-adventuring team had now arrived to fight Demyx, and the combat had since moved to the lower level of the Gummi ship hanger.

The Nobody (if he could still be called one) had called up nearly two-hundred water forms that were causing them all grief. Sora wondered if Demyx was stronger simply because he was a spirit now, because he certainly hadn't been this much of a challenge last time. Even the water forms were stronger.

That was not to say that Demyx was untouchable, of course. He was sporting a number of buises and scratches, most of which -Sora would happily admit- were inflicted by Keyblades.

Kairi and Riku were back to back on the other side of the hanger, fending off the form's attacks from the top of an orange Gummi. Mickey and Goofy weren't far from them.

Hercules, Hayner, Pence, Olette, and Yuffie were guarding the doorway, preventing access to the rest of the castle. Jack, Barret, and Stitch had taken cover behind a light blue craft and were shooting at forms from behind it. Genie was faring well, firing energy blasts from his fingertips at the various forms. Demyx himself was blasting large, explosive bubbles everywhere he could from somewhere in the center of the room.

He, Axel, and Donald were nearest Demyx, and therefore in the best position to attack and end the fight. But every time they tried, he saw them coming and was usually able to beat them back before they got too close.

It was time to try something he hadn't done in a while.

"Give me a bit of cover while I do this, guys." He told his two companions. They nodded and took up positions on either side of him.

He reached into his inside pocket and pulled out the charm he had picked up as they left Twilight Town. "Aladar!" He shouted.

There was a vast, mountainous desert. In the distance, a dark shape could be seen that was kicking up a lot of dust. It was growing larger by the second.

Soon, it could be made out. It was a massive iguanadon, a plant-eating dinosaur long since extinct on most worlds. His scales were mostly sand colored. The areas down his spine and on parts of his huge thighs were a deep green. His eyes were a yellow-green color. He smiled as he approached. "Hey Sora!"

Sora smiled back at him. He knelt down on his massive legs, allowing the Keybearer to jump on to his back and mount up as if he were a giant, scaly horse. "Let's get 'em!" Aladar roared.

Back in the hanger, all of this had happened in less than a second. Sora was suddenly astride the iguanadon Aladar, who was charging through the water forms as if they weren't even there. In fact, Aladar seemed almost to enjoy the water bursting against his skin.

Occasionally, the dinosaur would jump into the air, and land with a loud bam on the ground, creating a shockwave powerfull enough to destroy several forms at once. They charged at the very surprised Demyx, who clearly hadn't expected a dinosaur to come to their aide. He created a huge wall of water, which would hopefully keep his attackers away.

It didn't.

With one huge lunge, Aladar and Sora burst through the pillars of water unscathed. They proceeded to unleash a flurry of attacks on the hapless Demyx. Aladar's claws slashed across him up and down, leaving a few gashes. He let out a few comical-sounding yelps whenever he was struck. Sora threw in a few Keyblade strikes for good measure.

To finish things off, Sora jumped off the dinosaur's back and landed right in front of him. Aladar skidded to a stop. Sora held his blade high, and the tip was engulfed in bluish light just as Aladar raised his head and bellowed with everything he had.

A huge soundwave formed, and spread around them, destroying every water form within twenty feet of them. Demyx was caught in the blast as well. Sora coud hear him crying out, "NO WAY!!"

When things calmed down a bit, the hanger was silent. Sora turned to his new ally with a smile. "Thanks for your help, Aladar."

The dinosaur smiled and nodded his huge head. "See you soon." And he vanished in a flash of light, back to his own world.

Sora looked around the hanger. There was minimal damage, but everything was soaking wet (just like the dining room and all the hallways leading to this hanger). The water forms had all vanished, and were now nothing but additional water on the floor. Everyone was running toward the spot where he was, trying not to slip.

Demyx was at his feet, groaning in pain. He was beginning to fade away, almost as he had the first time he had died. But he wasn't exactly returning to darkness, his body was starting to tremble in unnatural waves, as though he was just a reflection in a pool of water that was filled with ripples. He looked up at Sora through half-lidded eyes.

"This seems familiar." He muttered.

Sora got down on his knee and leaned over him. "I'll have to ask you a few questions now."

"Sorry, but I don't know any more than you do."

"Why don't we make sure of that?" Riku said, mirroring Sora's posture. "How did you get in here?"

Demyx was silent for a moment. "That girl released me in here. I wasn't an actual being until she did that, so here I am."

"Girl?" Sora repeated. "Wait, what girl?"

"The blonde one wearing green. Carried a whip? I guess my distraction worked, then." His head rolled to the other side. "She'll go after the Cornerstone thing, maybe you should follow her..."

Finally, Demyx's body gave one final ripple, and he disappeared. In his place was a small card, which faded into darkness soon after.

"This was all a distraction?" Sora said, rising to his feet.

"Someone's going to destroy the Cornerstone!" Goofy exclaimed. He turned and began to run, along with a few others.

"Hold a moment!" Jack said suddenly. "Aren't we short a few?"

Sora did a quick head count, and there were indeed two of them missing. His eyes widened as he realized what that meant.

"Nehrut and Kiara are in the Hall of the Cornerstone!"

--

Bariss had reclaimed her whip, and was moving faster than ever. She advanced with the whip whirling around her at a blindong speed, to where it almost resembled a whirling black and green cage with the girl inside.

Nehrut was backpeddling across the room away from her, he was exhausted. This girl was incredible; strong, fast, and agile. With no other alternative, he took to the air, and floated over her.

Caught off guard, her attacks became just a hair slower, presenting a narrow window of opportunity to counter-attack.

He flew down at her with his blade slashing. Bariss had to dive away from the falling blade, and was suddenly back on the defensive. Theoretically, a whip was a horrible weapon for defense, being effective only at long range, and lacking any defensive mechanism. But somehow, she made it work.

Her hand grip was long and hard enough to where she could catch the blows from his blade and occasionally parried them. And even then, the cord was still dangerous. She had clearly adapted the whip's fighting style to be capable of defense as well. She had eliminated the weapon's cons altogether.

Nehrut had to respect that.

She pulled an unexpected manuever, and jumped right at him. He withdrew his blade to block a strike that never came. Bariss actually used his shoulders as a springboard, and pushed him over as she jumped off of them.

He crashed to the floor, letting out a gasp of air. He was just starting to get up, when he was kicked in the side and knocked over onto his back. His breath was knocked out of him yet again, when Bariss landed on top of him, her face was an inch from his, and the tip of her sai was pressed against his throat. She could kill him with a twitch of her two fingers.

"Please..." She said, in a surprisingly soft voice, "Surrender. I don't want to have to kill you."

"Why is that?"

She looked at him for a moment. It was the only pause he needed.

Mustering all his mental strength from his weary body and mind, he blasted her off his chest and flying into the wall opposite. She hit with a loud smack, and fell crashing to the ground, and landed in a sitting position against the wall near Kiara, her head slumped over her chest.

Nehrut straightened up, and felt a sharp pain in his side where she had just kicked him. He could feel at least a dozen different cuts across his body from her weapons. He reached out and touched her mind. It was blank, but still there, at least. She was unconcious just like the lioness.

He walked over to the two of them and checked them for wounds. Kiara was fine, but she had a lump on her head, she'd be alright. He bent over Bariss, and checked her head. There was a similar lump there, and her shoulders had cuts that almost penetrated the skin from Kiara's claws. There were marks from his sword as well.

Gently, he scooped her up into his arms, and picked up Kiara with his mind. He looked down into the girl's face and for the first time, noted that she was quite pretty. From up close, he noticed a small, pale scar on her right cheek that was more decorative than disfiguring. "I'm sorry about that." He said to her unconcious form. He hadn't liked striking like that. She could have killed him, but instead chose to give him a chance at life. She had almost begged him to.

He walked with her toward the door with the lioness floating behind them. Just then, the entire group flooded into the chamber, looking panicked.

"Nehrut!" Mickey cried when he saw him. They all ran toward him. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." He adjusted his 'grip' on Kiara, and she floated toward Goofy's arms. "She'll be fine too, when she wakes up. Roxas and Namine sent my message, then? Thanks guys."

Sora walked up to him and looked at the unconcious girl in his arms. "Is this the girl Demyx told us about?"

"Demyx, eh? So that's who I sensed." He looked back at the girl. "Her name is Bariss, she was sent to destroy the Cornerstone of Light."

"We'll get a cell ready-" The King began.

"No!" Nehrut burst out. He caught himself, and lowered his voice. "She doesn't use the dark, something's not right here." He looked at them all. "She had plenty of opportunities to kill me, but she wanted me to stand aside instead. Something isn't quite right about that. Let's just treat her wounds and ask her what she knows when she wakes up."

The King seemed a bit taken aback at his initial tone, but conceded. "Okay, let's get them to the medics and we'll deal with this later."

Genie conjured up a stretcher for the girl, and Nehrut placed her in it gently. He and Riku carried it off down a series of hallways, led by Mickey, Donald and Goofy (who was still carrying Kiara). Sora and Kairi trailed behind them.

As they walked, they went into further detail of the attack, describing their respective experiences to each other. There were no casualties in the attack (aside from Demyx himself, of course), and the brooms were already cleaning up the mess.

They soon arrived at the medical bay in the east wing of the castle, it was a nice, big room. There were five large windows on each wall, through which you could see the distant mountains. Moonlight was still streaming in. There were comfortable-looking beds lining the walls. A dozen very soaked knights were resting comfortably in a few beds, and were being looked after by a handfull of nurses.

One of those nurses was a short hen wearing a bonnet who looked oddly familiar to Sora. She approached the group and scooped the lion cub into her feathery arms, and directed Bariss toward another bed.

"Thanks, Clara." Mickey said. She gave him a smile and wandered off to the other side of the room. Sora looked surprised.

"Clara?"

"Yeah. She's an old friend of ours." Mickey said. "Why?"

As Sora told the King a few things about their trip to the past, Nehrut took a seat next to the bed and looked down at the girl, she might have just been asleep. Clara had returned and started dabbing at the cuts and bruises with a wet cloth, and then put bandages on the worst ones.

"How long will she be out?" Kairi asked her.

"Oh, not very long I, expect." She checked her head, and opened both eyelids to peer at the pupils. "No sign of concussion, and she's breathing fine. She'll be out and about by morning."

"Hopefully she won't be 'about' all over us." Riku muttered.

"I'll hang on to her weapons, then." Nehrut said. For the first time, they noticed that a whip and sai were on his belt by his sword. "And I'll tell you if anything happens to her."

"That's very kind of you, young man," Clara said, "But you all should probably be looked at, as well."

They assured her repeatedly that they were just fine, and soon, the room was empty, aside from the sleeping patients, Nehrut, and Sora and Kairi.

"Are you okay, Nehrut?" Sora asked. The guy had been fairly quiet since his battle with Barass, and had never taken his eyes off her.

"I'm fine. It's her that I'm worried about."

"Well, Clara said she would be fine..."

"Oh, I know physically," He corrected, "But during our fight, I tapped into her mind. What I found there was surprising."

"What was there?" Kairi asked apprehensively.

Gently, he placed a hand on her forehead. "A complete absence of anger, hate, or spite. She isn't dark at all. She didn't enjoy having to fight me."

"If she doesn't have darkness..." Sora said, thinking, "Does that make her a Princess of Heart?"

"That's not quite what I meant." He corrected himself. He turned in his seat to face them now. "We all have darkness, of course. You're one of the few exeptions to that rule, Kairi. I only meant that she didn't act on any of that darkness, and there's not much in her heart to begin with. She didn't want to fight at all, though she's perfectly capable of it. She wanted me to stop because her conscience wouldn't allow her to live it down if I died."

"So she didn't want to hurt us?" Sora said.

"That must mean that she's not happy working with the Brotherhood. But what do they have over her that she'll listen to them?"

Nehrut sighed and looked at Bariss again. No anger. No hate. No spite.

But sadness.

--

I think I hear an anrgy mob of Demyx fans beating my door down... Look I'm sorry but I had to kill him off! The Absent Silhouettes rely on the owners of their cards for their life and with Bariss out...

Anyway, I hope you liked Bariss, and congrats to all who guessed Aladar was the Summon. In sadder news, I start school again on Monday. But I'll still be able to update on a regular basis. Review please!

Rach981: Thank you! And you'll find out more about her soon.

JoBrosCupcakeSwirl: Thank you!

DaemonArts: (Wink) Thanks

Quartermass: I'd just gotten your first review when I was about to update. What are the odds? And incidently, you're correct.

Shinku Ryuuga: Thanks, and take your time, bud. I look forward to it.

ConfederateofZ: Hmmm... You have a point there. I forgot all about her and Max. But don't sell yourself short, man.

Syrena Li: Thank you very much.

Garuto: Aren't I evil?

SamuraiJedi: YEAH!!

Sailor Winx: Thanks, and not in this story.

Master if the Void: I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you mean.

Hermitgenius: Thank you.