A/N: After too long of a delay, I'm finally back with another chapter of LoHH! Unfortunately, this one ended up shorter than some of the others, but the final KH chapter should be epic enough for you guys. And I have a few reviews to respond to!

kingdommast: Thanks! Here's your next chapter!

TheHeroOfAkatosh: Thanks for the compliments! Here's your next chapter, and sorry for the delay! ^_^

Link543: This chapter will answer your question.

Prometheus16: Glad I'm improving. As for the rating... well... I dunno...

legendofsora: You'll see.

sokairoxnam12349: It's fine! Also, thanks for the words. As for any Fire Emblem...? You'll see.

Sheaon13: Thanks! I know my chapter numbering is different than the way numbers 'em, but thanks for reading anyway!

I need a disclaimer!

Mysterious Voice: GamesMaster64 doesn't own Legend of Zelda or Kingdom Hearts. Those belong to Nintendo and Square Enix, respectively... now, this fanfiction has been connected... tied to the dark-

Me: Shaddup!

Enjoy!

Table of Fonts:

Standard Text: Regular Dialogue/Storytelling

Italics: Emphasis, Sound Effects, Thoughts

Bold: Maleficent Speech, Boss Name

Bold Underline: Special Attacks (this is cried out)

Bold Italic: Mysterious Voice

CAPS: Yelling

Underline: Flashback/History, name of location

Italic Underline: Dream

BOLD CAPS: Dungeon Name

Chapter 33: Imposing Castle! The Dragon, Maleficent!

The group stared at the hallway, now that Riku had left. They saw three doors, but all of them were out of reach. There was another door once the stairs were climbed, but it wouldn't budge an inch.

"Well, now what do we do?" Link asked. Then, they heard something.

"GRAAAH!"

"What was that?" Link asked. The four turned around and saw a hulking beast wearing a purple cape come flying into the hallway from the door at the top of the stairs. Behind him were several Heartless, two of which they'd never seen before.

Some of the first ones through looked like Shadows, but they had more humanoid body structures. They shared the same pitch black skin and spherical, glowing yellow eyes. Their crooked antennae were quite long and fell back behind the Heartless. They seemed to be rather muscular, and had large hands, each one sporting five clawed fingers. Their feet, like those of normal Shadows, were long and lacked digits, but more resembled boots. Their bodies were also lined by several faint, blue veins of color. Sora mentioned to the group that these were Neoshadows.

Next were what Sora called "Defenders". They looked rather simple, resembling knights clad in purple and blue armor with white trim and yellow buttons; they also had the tell-tale Heartless zig-zag jawline, with purple heads and silver jaws. The arms and torso were also proportioned much larger than the head and legs, the arm not holding the Defender's main weapon actually rested ape-like on the ground. They wielded massive and fearsome shields. The barrier portions of the shields was a simple blue and light blue pattern with gold trim, but far more prominent was the very large and very dangerous blue-black dog head on each shield, complete with sharp fangs and spiked collar. The dogs also had three glowing yellow eyes arranged in a triangle formation.

"This... doesn't look fun..." Link muttered, drawing the Master Sword. The others readied their weapons, and rushed at the group. Link had to leap to the side from a fireball that was shot at him. Link looked for a Red Nocturne, but didn't see any. He then saw one of the Defenders raise it's shield up. The dog mouth opened and shot another fireball at Link, who managed to dodge it again. A few seconds later, the Defender disappeared as Link's Master Sword cut through it, after Link has used the Pegasus Boots to close the distance.

Firaga Burst!

A giant fireball launched from Sora's Keyblade, and smaller fireballs started raining down on the Heartless. However, behind Sora, a Neoshadow lept at him. All Link could do was shout in warning.

"SORA! LOOK OUT!" Sora turned around in time to see the beast that had flown throught he door charge right into the Heartless, destroying it. The beast then destroyed the few remaining Darkballs in a similar manner.

"Who... are you?" Sora asked as he, Link, Donald, and Goofy regrouped.

"Me? I am simply called Beast. And you are?" the beast replied. Sora handled the introductions, introducing himself, Link, Donald, and Goofy. "I... see... and why are you here?" Beast asked. Link handled that one.

"We're here so Sora can get a couple of his friends back." the Kokiri teen replied.

"Well, it appears we have the same reason for being here. Belle was stolen from me, and I WILL HAVE HER BACK!" Beast replied, shouting the last bit. Link looked through the doorway where Beast had come from.

"Looks like our best bet to go forward is through there..." he said. Sora led the way, and Beast brought up the rear of the group. On the other side of the door was a long hallway, mostly black. On the right-hand side of the hallway at even intervals were four chambers. On the left-hand side were three. The way they were set up, the chambers alternated back and forth as the hallway went on. Link looked inside the first one and saw a familiar face... "Alice!" Link cried out. Sora, Donald, and Goofy all ran over to see the face of Alice inside the chamber.

"Gawrsh! This must be that 'dark world of the Heartless' that the Cheshire Cat was talking about back in Wonderland, a-hyuck!" Donald said. In the next chamber, they saw a figure they didn't recognize. She had fair skin and ebony-black hair.

"She looks like a real nice lady." Donald commented. In the next chamber, they saw Jasmine. The next chamber held another figure they didn't recognize, as did the one after that. In the penultimate chamber held...

"BELLE!" Beast cried out. The last chamber held a surprise for Sora as well.

"It's Kairi! What have they done to her? Kairi! Can you hear me?" Sora said, his voice frantic. The five then heard footsteps behind them, and saw Maleficent. Link and Sora readied their weapons. Maleficent laughed.

"Pitiful fools. You really think you can stop me? I have all the Princesses... but one's heart is sleeping inside of you." Maleficent pointed to Sora. "You hold Kairi's sleeping heart inside your own. For a Keyblade wielder, that is most impressive indeed."

"Yes, it is most impressive. And I have the Key to awakening her heart." Came a male voice. Everyone looked back to see Riku in his uniform he wore when he fought the group in the foyer of Hollow Bastion. The only thing was, he had a much more dark and evil look about him, and his voice was different. "Riku" then pulled out a dark-looking Keyblade.

"You... that blade..." Maleficent said. She then gestured at a giant door at the end of the hallway. "Go ahead... use that power so we can open the final Keyhole." she said with a smirk. "Riku" shook his head.

"You know that doing that will cause the Heartless to overrun this place, right?" he asked. Maleficent shook her head.

"What does it concern me? The Dark has no sway over me..." The witch said with a shrug. This made "Riku" laugh.

"Oh, really? Let's see about that, shall we?" he asked, holding the Dark Keyblade to Maleficent's heart. Black energy started pouring out, and Maleficent disappeared into a room above the hallway. "Riku" turned to the group. "The Keyblade of People's Hearts... it brought out Maleficent's true Darkness... she was blind, not seeing the Darkness eating away at her... I suggest you go stop her, before she wrecks the place." The group then headed up a hidden stairwell, arriving in a larger hallway. At the end, they saw a large black dragon. As the group readied themselves for battle, the mysterious voice again called out to them.

Your next foe is

Dark Dragon, Maleficent

The dragon roared at them in challenge, almost as if Maleficent recognized them. The four rushed it, splitting up. Link and Sora headed right at it, while Goofy stayed behind to cover for Donald.

Strike Raid!

Sora threw his Keyblade at Maleficent, striking the dragon on the nose and causing it to roar out in pain. Link followed up with bombs at her feet, which caused the Dragon to rear up on her hind legs in pain. When she landed, the floor shook. Maleficent then spewed green flames at the group, who were unable to dodge due to being off-balance.

Cure!

A few quick spells from Donald took care of the group's burns, and they resumed attack.

Farore's Wind!

Link appeared on Maleficent's back, and he struck at the Dragon repeatedly, the sacred power of the Master Sword actually caused a bright flash each time it came in contact with the scales. However, after a few hits, Maleficent shook Link off and batted him away with a viscious back swipe from her front leg. Link hit the ground and rolled to a stop. Sora, meanwhile, had rushed in and started attacking the face of Maleficent. However, the Keyblader's barrage didn't last long as he took a direct attack from Maleficent's flames. By this time, Link had recovered. He rushed in as Donald moved to heal Sora. However, Link was stopped short when Maleficent gave a great flap of her wings... and took off flying!

"What the...!?" Link asked, stopping. He then pulled out his hookshot, firing it at the dragon.

Curaga!

Sora got up and saw Maleficent flying. He also saw Link starting to retract his hookshot. Out of pure instinct, Sora grabbed Link's foot and held tight at the two zoomed toward the dragon. Link looked down.

"Glad you could come hang out, Sora!" Link said, pulling them both onto the leg. They both climbed toward the head, Link from Maleficent's back and Sora up the front. Link raised the Master Sword as Sora pulled the Keyblade back. However, both were thrown off as Maleficent rolled in the air. As they fell, Link pulled out his Boomerang and threw it. The projectile struck Maleficent in the face, stunning her. As Link and Sora hit the ground, Maleficent also landed with a huge crash.

"Let's get her, Goofy!" Donald said. He and Goofy charged in, but were stopped as Maleficent recovered and struck them with her tail. Maleficent then took off again, this time before either Link or Sora could react. Sora then had an idea. He threw the Keyblade at the ground.

Reflect Raid!

The Keyblade bounced off the floor, flying up into the air. Maleficent looked down to try and incinerate her foes, but was hit with the Keyblade right between her eyes. As she fell, Sora recalled the Keyblade and struck Maleficent as she landed. There was a bright flash of light, and Maleficent's normal form was sent sprawling through the air. Before anyone could make a move, darkness covered her body, and she disappeared.

"Well...that as intense." Link said, his fingers gingerly playing with a burn on his forearm. He shook his head. If Saria knew about this, she'd yell her head off at him. Link then shook his head again. Sora looked over and saw Link's look.

"Worried about them, huh?" he asked. Link merely nodded. Sora did too. "Whatever it is, we can fix it! There's nothing you and me can't do together, Link." Sora said. Link looked up and saw Sora's grinning face. Link grinned as well and nodded.

"Right... but first, we have to go stop that door." Link said. Everyone else nodded.

"Remember, guys." Goofy said, before the four spoke simultaneously.

"All for one and one for all!"

Notes on the Chapter

1. Yes, we finally see a Maleficent fight, and she gets what for!

2. In case anyone was wondering, I did end the Omakes. They didn't take too well...

3. Sorry for the short chapter. I'll make the final KH chapter as epic as possible to make up for it.