This is exciting. We've come to it at last. The final chapter in this story. It's been a long journey getting here, but to me it was worth it. All of you have been very helpful and loyal, and I hope this chapter rewards you.
I don't own Kingdom Hearts and/or Disney.
Jason, Clair, Madsane, and others are mine.
Braxton, Johri, Eini, The Agent, and Armon belong to Flautist4ever. Special thanks to you for helping me edit and write the chapter. She's also the one who came up with the chapter name, which I had to edit some dialogue in the last chapter to keep things consistent.
Mortem belongs to YamiChaos27. Special thanks for helping write out the section with him.
And special thanks to XBoy for pointing out the inconsistency with the dates.
Chapter 40: Operation Harrow
Harthyn…
Saarin 9, 91 KA…
CLAIR'S POV
As the cyan mist cleared to allow us to see we were back on our home world, I let out a sigh of relief. "We did it." The penthouse that Eini agreed to let us use was off the books, and she had made sure to disable the communications beforehand so I felt free to speak out. It was incredibly spacious, and well cleaned by the mechanical help she had here. It felt like a good place for us to work.
"Not completely." Jason looked down. His expression made my heart ache with pain. He told us about how his father had joined Yeller when given the opportunity, and the brief fight they had. I could see there was a part of him that enjoyed showing up his father, but it still felt wrong for them to be like this.
I then noticed Jiminy on his shoulder. "You did what you could." The conscience told him as he patted my cousin's jaw. "All we can do now is move on."
"Bless me bagpipes. Is this truly your world?" Scrooge asked as he looked out the window with wide eyes. "Flying vehicles. Clean cities. Robots. I could make a fortune selling this stuff."
"That's not why we're here." I shook my head at him. "We need to stop Madsane."
With a nod, my cousin said, "You were with us when this started. Seems right to have you here when we finish this."
"Thank you lad." Scrooge smiled. "So where are these friends of yours?"
"You made it back." Johri said, causing us to turn to the hallway she, Braxton, and the person I used to know as Gracie were coming in from. "So they're all safe now?"
Nodding, Scrooge said, "Madsane will never find your relatives now."
Braxton stared at Scrooge for a moment, and then sighed, "A talking… bird… thing… Okay."
Shaking her head, Johri turned to me. "Now, you need to keep your promise. Destroy the Tesseract."
"Wait. Where's Eini?" Jason asked. "She was supposed to be here."
With a shrug, Gracie, er Agent… whatever her name was said, "We haven't seen her. We thought she was just hiding herself in one of her closets trying to make more bad outfits."
Shaking his head, my cousin said, "No. Something doesn't feel right. We need to go look for her."
"Look for her? Are you crazy?" Braxton asked. "We're the most wanted people on the planet!"
"We should at least start here," the agent added, "This is a pretty big place. It's possible she took some synthetic sleep and everything's fine."
Jason's hand started to go for the Tesseract, but a Johri's glare stopped him. "Don't even think about using that." Johri's expression told me she meant it.
With that we began to search in her penthouse.
At Braxton's insistence, the agent went with him and Johri to search the guest rooms while and pantries. Jason, Scrooge and I searched for her in her entertainment rooms. She had virtually every gaming system and home theater equipment imaginable. Some of the rooms were like private theaters.
"Any sign of her?"
"No. I'm having a better job finding copies of Hooray for Natalie than I am finding Eini."
"I thought no one had that left."
"Apparently Eini does. And hard copies too, not virtual copies."
"I never even heard of that movie." Scrooge scratched his head.
"That's because it probably only exists on this world, Scrooge."
"OOH!" Scrooge's eyes lit up, "What a bonnie opportunity!"
"Hey, can you focus?" Jason reminded our mentor, "Just because we stumbled on a lost trove of old movies nobody likes doesn't mean we can forget about our friend!"
With a nod the old duck resumed his seriousness. "Right. Search and rescue first. Profits… later."
We looked through several more rooms and found many, many more fascinating pieces of entertainment history.
But for all we did find… There was no sign of our friend.
As we regrouped in the living room, I could see looks of disappointment on the other's faces. "No sign of her anywhere?"
"Not just that. There's no way we can ever make her clothes look normal." Johri managed to joke.
Braxton shot her a disapproving look, "She's still missing!"
"So where else could she have gone?" Jason began to pace as he thought about it. "She knows better than to go to a shopping mall, she has no interest in rescuing her parents. We need to think like Eini. Is there anyone she could've gone to?"
Braxton looked like he'd seen a ghost, "Armon!"
"Who's Armon?" Scrooge asked with a raised eyebrow. Featherbrow? HE just looked confused.
"Eini's friend. THey've been together for a long time."
"Then that's where we start." Jason said with a nod to me. As I held up the Tesseract, I ignored Johri's death glare and focused on Eini. The blue cloud then appeared and engulfed us, clearing to reveal that we were now in a different penthouse. Unlike Eini's, the colors were well-coordinated, but EVERYTHING was some type of glittery, metallic, or sequined finish.
Braxton then turned to us. "Are you crazy? What if Sticklers were here?"
"Believe me when I say we can handle Sticklers." My cousin told him as we began to look around. However, we didn't have to search long as suddenly from one of the halls came Eini and Armon. Eini had apparently decided to change into a new outfit. The neon green hat, fluorescent orange plaid shirt, denim booty shorts and thigh-high cowboy boots were still on-brand for her.
With a sigh, I took a step towards them, "Please don't scare us like that. We were worried about you." I expected some sort of sass from her, but she just stood there motionless, her star-shaped 3D glasses obscuring her eyes. "Eini?" Now I was starting to get worried.
"Get us out of here, lass." Our mentor warned us. With a nod, I reached for the Tesseract, but a pair of hands grabbed me from behind and held me flush against what I had to assume was my captor's body. I screamed as several dark corridors opened up and hooded figures seized my friends.
The one who held me then leaned in so their mouth was by my left ear. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you again, and to have you in my arms."
A chill went up my spine. "Santos." I shuddered, trying to squirm away.
"Don't sound so worried," He placated, holding me tighter so it was hard to breathe, "You're safe, I promise you."
I was about to pull away when in one of Armon's fancy chairs appeared a holographic image of our enemy. "My apologies for such barbaric actions, but I had to make sure you wouldn't run off the way you have been."
"So you're responsible for all this!" Scrooge narrowed his eyes. "You backstabbin' blaggard!"
"My apologies for not being completely honest. I had every intention of bringing Jason and Clair back to Harthyn. I just wanted it on my terms, when I had the technology available. I didn't want to use the power of darkness to bring them back unless they gave in to the darkness themselves."
My jaw dropped. "You wanted us to go evil?"
"I didn't say evil. One does not necessitate the other." The hologram looked at me. "But yes. I had hoped that you two would succumb to the darkness in your hearts so you would become part of the Neo-Thirteen."
"Do you have any idea what your inspiration did?" Jason asked. "He stole lives and worlds!"
Yeller didn't react. "Yes, thanks to my students I learned what kind of man my associate was. Naturally I am appalled by the actions he took, but I believe the ends would have justified the means. Just as you found your own means of getting back here without my assistance or the powers of darkness. Now, what is this power you have?"
The Tesseract. I had to get rid of it before he found it! Come on. I tried to channel my magic to activate it, but I felt some sort of ability from my captor that seemingly canceled out the spell I tried. "Ah-ah-ah…" Santos singsonged in my ear, "No magic for you. My powers are more than enough, my sweetheart." Santos warned me.
"I am not your sweetheart!" I snapped at him.
Ignoring me he began to frisk me, pulling out my keychains for my Keyblade, "Wait 'till I show you what lies beyond the walls."
"No one goes outside the walls anymore." I reminded him. I squeaked and tried to flinch away as he reached into my back pockets, but he wouldn't let go. I never felt more violated than I did at this moment. He didn't linger long, but that didn't mean I liked feeling his fingers there. "It belongs to the kaiju."
As he finished searching me, he insisted, "Madsane can change that. The outside will be opened again." His fingers tightened around my arms, "And it'll be ours to explore, sweetheart."
"I'm not your sweetheart!"
"You'll change your mind… hello. What's this?" In my anger I ended up losing focus and caused something to fall out of my magical storage. "No!" I tried to fight him taking the blue cube away from me and holding it up, but I couldn't. Whatever the professor did to him must've made him stronger, and more resistant to my magic.
The professor's eyes widened as the hologram stood up. "Is this what was causing all those spikes? Fascinating. The energy I'm picking up is off the charts. You have truly brought me a gem."
"That's not yours!" Scrooge then threw his captor off his back before smacking them across the head with his cane. He then turned to strike another of our captors only to scream as something shocked him in the back. As he fell over to my horror I saw it was one of the cloaked figures who had shocked him.
Shaking his head, our world's leader said, "That's where you're wrong, Scrooge McDuck. It is mine now. A corpse cannot claim ownership."
Jason narrowed his eyes. "So you're going to kill us?"
"As far as the world is concerned you two are already dead, and you are just imposters posing as my deceased students. But as fate would have it, I still have need of you, Jason Norman. You see, the world is scared. We cower behind our walls, fearing the kaiju that rage outside our homes."
"Save it. I know you sabotaged the security and let Bludgeonhead in right as we were lifting off." The agent frowned. "That damage was on your head."
"It served its purpose," He looked out the window, "The people are starting to come together, looking to me to figure out a solution for the Downtrod's action in letting that monster in. All they need now to truly be unified in the cause is a terrible tragedy." With that the hologram reached for something that I couldn't see.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and Jason cried out in pain before doubling over.
"What are you doing!?" I cried, helplessly watching my cousin writhe in agony.
He stopped.
I stared in horror as he lay motionless. The only sounds were his ragged breath and Santos' gloves as he tightened his grip on me. Then, Jason stood up like nothing was wrong, but when he looked at me I could see something had changed. His eyes were expressionless, and his gaze gave no indication that he recognized me. It was like everything that made him who he was had been stripped away. Like he no longer had a soul.
With a smile, Yeller then gave his orders. "Go." With that Jason, Armon, and Eini headed for the door. Their footsteps fell in perfect time.
My blood chilled as I saw Jason's Keyblade appear in his hand. "Jason, stop! Listen to me!" My pleas went unheard as the three of them left the penthouse.
"It seems hard to understand now, but Yeller knows what he's doing." Santos told me. "He's kept humanity alive after all."
"Your loyalty is admirable, Santos, but there's no need to patronize her." The professor looked at him. "Bring me the cube."
"What about the others?" Another of the cloaked figures asked. I knew that voice. Jezebel too?
"We can make practical use of them." The professor replied.
His attitude, the way he spoke like we didn't matter, it infuriated me. Did he not care about the lives of the people he was supposed to protect? Were we really nothing but tools for him? I didn't know what he wanted to use us for, but I wasn't going to stand for it. "Release everyone from your control now!"
The man who I had trusted to keep us safe laughed at me. "Just for that, I think I'll pay special attention to all of your remaining friends and family."
"NO!" Braxton strained against his captor, "Do what you want to me! Just leave them out of it!"
"They became involved when you decided to go behind my back." The professor looked at him.
"Don't. You. Dare." I breathed out. I could feel my magic building up inside me despite Santos holding me back.
Braxton was shaking. I could feel his fear and rage from across the room. It felt like it was fueling the pain I had in my heart. The betrayal. The manipulation. More than anything I wanted to make Madsane suffer for what he's done to us. The buildup was so powerful it was hurting more than Santos's grip.
He must've noticed too. "Professor? Something's wrong."
The professor turned around just in time for something to start scratching at the front entrance to the penthouse. I looked back to my friends and noticed Johri faintly glowing.
Yeller whirled around, "Then let's make short work of this."
Santos then leaned in. "I won't let anything happen to you. Though your parents-."
"Leave them alone!" I unleashed my magic upon my captor, blasting him off me. He crashed against the wall as I turned to the rest of Madsane's lackeys. Gri, it felt good to let my magic flow again.
Looking at me, Johri said, "Open the door." As I turned to it I used the arcane abilities I had gathered to rip the door off with pieces of the wall, and threw it at the members of Madsane's team that rushed at me. As soon as the entrance was gone several narpols and jurdas ran in teeth bared and leapt upon the people who held my friends captive.
The narpols hissed at some of the cloaked figures while flashing their head frills as their preemptive warning, the feathered ridges that ran down their backs bristling with anger. The bipedal animals then leapt up, the center claws digging into the flesh of our captors who cried out in pain.
The horned jurdas charged forward on their stubby legs while biting at ankles with their beaks. The porcine animals also got underfoot and bucked, sending some of our captors flying through the ceiling.
As the cloaked figures were overwhelmed by the incoming animals, the professor turned to me with a glare. Holding up his hand an orb of dark energy appeared in it and he threw it at me, but my Keyblade appeared in my hand just in time to allow me to knock it away. He prepared to fire another one, but to my surprise an orb of light appeared in Johri's hand and she blasted the professor with it, sending him crashing into some of Armon's furniture.
That's when the rest of our adversaries began to strike back. The one who shocked Scrooge fired a bolt of lightning at me, which I had to duck to avoid. Thankfully my mentor got back up and whacked the attacker with his cane, causing him to falter, and showing us who was under the hood. "George." Braxton frowned.
His only response was to kick Scrooge in the face. With a growl I moved to help my mentor, but then I got pelted by razor petals that ripped themselves from the flowers Armon kept in his apartment. As I was forced to shield myself, I looked up to see Santos holding his hand up. "I'm sorry to do this, but you have to understand that this is what is best for Netokan, for all of Harthyn."
With a growl I sent my magic towards him, seizing his body in my grasp. As he let out a gasp I began to squeeze until I saw what color my powers had taken. They were green. Like… Maleficent's. With a gasp I released my magic, shaken about what had happened with them.
I was taken out of my shock when I got blasted from the side. "What's the matter, bookworm? Losing your nerve?"
"Not against you, Jezebel. I still haven't forgiven you for what you pulled on Motunui."
With a smirk, she just stepped aside for the professor who had gotten up. Before I could react he fired a blast at us, sending the five of us crashing out the window and into the open air. Several of us screamed as we plummeted down to the ground below. However, then a shadow fell over us and snatched us out of the air. I was shocked to find out we were in a massive pair of talons that could only belong to one creature.
"Fushicho!" Johri gasped as we flew away from the apartment into the city. From in between the talons I could see the carnage unfolding as friends turned against each other, children against parents. The light of the setting sun cast a gloomy mood over the city as the shadows of the buildings made me feel like Madsane's reach was everywhere, unleashing the carnage that no one saw coming. Eventually I had to shut my eyes to block my vision of the evil that was unfolding, but the screams would forever haunt me.
"Heartless!" Scrooge's warning caused me to open my eyes as we saw swarms of the shadow demons coming into the city. With a cry of rage the avian kaiju flew towards them, firing tiny feathers from her titanic body like arrows of light. Her initial attack ended up obliterating quite a massive amount of the invaders, but she was not done yet. A glow then began to emanate from her, which I had to cover my eyes from due to a feeling that watching would blind me.
When I opened my eyes Johri's eyes were wide with admiration. "She outshone the city, and her light destroyed all the Heartless who had come."
Before anything else could be said Fushicho descended upon the city, landing on a couple of skyscrapers while we were released from her talon. When I looked I saw not too far away from us was a domed building surrounded by seven minarets. Outside were many people ushering fleeing civilians inside, but as soon as they saw the kaiju they bowed in reverence to her. As some approached us, they bowed again before Johri. "Blessed be the day that Fushicho has chosen a new Kānti Gulābī."
"Kanti- what?" My mentor asked as he dusted off his top hat.
The men were surprised to see a talking bird, but their awe and reverence for this moment overrode their shock. "Alas, it is fitting that one would be chosen in what must be the city's darkest hour."
"Fushicho says this is not Netokan's darkest hour, but that moment is coming fast." Johri said as she looked at us. "She also says she will gather the animals that dwell nearby and have them protect us while we discuss what to do next. For starters, Fushicho is angry that because of your actions Madsane now has a power that is not of this world."
Those words were painful to bear. "You're bringing that up now while our city is being torn apart?"
"She says you knew it didn't belong here, and yet delayed the Tesseract's destruction." Fushicho then flapped her wings, making us hold onto whatever we could that wouldn't blow away before she turned and flew into the city. "Now what?" The agent asked.
"She's going to do what she can to help make this right." Our friend explained before she turned to the holy men. "Make certain to bring in anyone you can to the temples. All of them. They'll need to serve as shelters during this crisis."
"At once." The men bowed before hurrying off to relay the instructions.
She then turned back to me. Her eyes sparked with pain, "Harthyn is going to fall."
My blood chilled at that. "What?"
"With the Tesseract all is set for Harthyn to enter its last days. Ryukumo is responding to its energy as we speak."
"Who?" Scrooge asked.
"Only the most feared kaiju to ever exist." The Agent said. "Legends called him the pet of the Devil. When he awakens… the world is supposed to end."
"End?" He sounded like he was having a hard time believing that. "It cannae be."
Johri looked deadly serious, "It is. And he will awaken soon."
Braxton looked out across the city. "Mom. Dad. Everyone is still out there."
"They'll be okay." The Agent told him. "They're deep in Downtrod territory, so they'll have-."
"What good do you think that's gonna do?!" He turned on her. "Maybe the Downtrod could protect them from Yeller…" He gestured around us, "But this is the end of the world!"
Shaking his head, Scrooge attempted to bring us back to the matter at hand. "What matters now is fixing this mess."
"Scrooge is right." I agreed. "Our friends are out there. We need to-."
"You don't get to talk." He told me, each word feeling like venom. "It's because of you that Madsane is now the most powerful being in creation. If you had just destroyed the Tesseract-"
"That's not-."
Johri spoke again. "Fushicho says no. Madsane would've done this eventually. We may have sped him up, but we're also alive and we need to do everything we can to slow him back down."
"Sounds like you need to count your blessings." A voice spoke up from my shoulder, causing us to look there. From there Jiminy continued, "We're alive, we know what kind of man Madsane is, and we can fight back."
"Talking birds and talking bugs?" Braxton threw up his hands. "What next? Talking rocks?"
With a shrug, I said, "We'll play the blame game later. Okay?"
"Aye. Right now he's using our friends to launch a campaign against the city. But for what reasons I cannot fathom." Scrooge began pacing back and forth.
With a nod, Johri continued, "There's a reason the media called Yeller Madsane. All Fushicho says is that we must break the hold he has over the clones. Then we must get the cube away from him."
"I'll do whatever it takes to free everyone from his control." I nodded. "Let's go."
"Wait." Johri looked at me. "Fushicho wants to know if you're willing to do what it takes to stop Madsane. Whatever it takes to correct your mistake."
I just frowned at her. "Yes, I am."
"That is good because you will have to make lots of sacrifices to stop Madsane. Now she says we need to get to work. Eini and Armon are in the shopping district but Jason is heading to the lower levels."
Looking down, Braxton then said, "We'll have to split up to get to them."
"Then let's do it."
Navigating through the crowded streets was not easy, but Scrooge, Jiminy, and I had to. Jason needed us now. Jiminy explained along the way that after Madsane took control of my cousin he flicked away his conscience like he wasn't there, and the cricket had to use one of the narpols to get back to us. I had to push through rows of clones to make any progress, and several times my mentor and I were left with no choice but to knock out some clones who nearly threw innocent people over the sides. Meanwhile, it seemed like the security bots were actually helping the clones!
"Halt." One said as it spotted me. "Criminal detected. You are under arr-." Its words were cut off as I destroyed it with a spell.
My Keyblade then pointed down a street. "There." Unfortunately there were a lot of clones in between me and my cousin. Now what were we supposed to do? What the? One of my Keychains was reacting? The card keychain I found after Wonderland felt like it wanted me to connect it to my Keyblade, but I had never used it before.
Taking the keychain I connected it to my Keyblade and watched it transform. It became a purple and pink Keyblade with a curved guard and pink and white checkered things. The long blade ended with a reddish pink spade serving as the teeth, and the name Lady Luck appearing in my head. "Let's hope this works." I said as a few more security bots attacked me.
As Scrooge and I dodged laser blasts, I fired spells at the bots, destroying them while Scrooge brought his cane down on some, breaking them apart. Then, I felt the Keyblade's power activate. A massive hedge maze erupted from the ground, while next to me appeared a large ball that appeared to want to roll. Leaping up, I used my weapon to hit the ball, sending it rolling through the maze.
When the maze vanished I saw it had successfully knocked the clones down, clearing the path to my cousin who was standing over… a Morugan man? Wait. I remember after the war Morugans were brought here to be "educated" on how to live, especially after the teroi bomb wiped their country out. But… oh no. Madsane was using the clones to wipe them out.
"Stop!" I hadn't used the spell to temporarily freeze time a lot, but I needed it now. Thankfully it froze Jason long enough for the man to get up and run for his life. By the time my cousin unpaused I was there shaking his shoulders. "Jason! Wake up! Madsane is controlling you!"
"Aye, lad. Don't let that loon control you." Scrooge tried to help, but to my horror Jason just knocked him aside with his Keyblade. Then my cousin turned to me with those empty merciless eyes, aided with the scar he now carried to deliver terror to my heart.
No way out of it. I was going to have to face my cousin. Holding up my Keyblade I then rushed towards my cousin to deliver the first blow. Pushing past the tears that were threatening to come, I attempted to jab my cousin with my weapon. Huh? He managed to block it, and- ow! He just hit me in the back with his Keyblade?!
I turned around in time to get the tip of his weapon into my shoulder, and then I understood the severity of this battle. Whatever it was that was making him act this way wasn't going to allow him to hold back. This would be a fight to the death. So I kicked my cousin in the gut to make him pull his weapon out.
Gritting my teeth I went back on the offensive as I pointed my Keyblade at him. "Firaga!" The fireball raced out of my weapon and struck my cousin who didn't even act phased by the attack. Gri, it was like he had been turned into a machine. His Keyblade then appeared to glow as he prepared to fire an attack I had not seen before.
Leaping out of the way I held my breath as he fired a crescent-shaped attack at me, but my maneuver kept me from taking damage. However he then rushed at me and knocked me back with a swift swipe of his Keyblade. He then jabbed me two, three times before performing a horizontal cut that made me cry out.
"Blizzaga!" As he temporarily froze I ran out of his range before casting another spell. "Heal." As the Curaga spell replenished my health Scrooge got up from where he fell and went on the offensive. When my cousin thawed out Scrooge whacked him on the side of his head with his cane. The next swing my cousin caught with his weapon and after parrying the blow he knocked the old duck back with one swipe of his Keyblade.
I then rushed back in with a defensive and offensive attack. "Barrier Rush!" As the crystalline shield appeared around me I tackled my cousin from behind to get him to stop. Gri's beak! As he brought his Keyblade down to take my head off I ended up doing a flip over his head, and then performed a perfect handspring to put some distance while casting another spell on the ground.
When he took a step forward the first of the Mine Squares went off, causing a small explosion that managed to send him flying up into the air. "Forgive me." I said as I cast another spell. "Raging Storm!" As the three fire twisters erupted around me I moved forward to hit my cousin while the tornados kept me safe from his attacks.
What the? He just vanished into thin air. I tried to locate him, figure out where he went. "Look out, Clair!" Scrooge's warning came too late as a demonic hand erupted from the ground and grabbed me by the throat, canceling my protective spell. As I struggled to free myself from my cousin I saw him looking directly at me with no remorse, no sympathy.
Just the orders Madsane filled his head with.
As he brought his weapon back to deliver a fatal blow he let out a gasp as Scrooge pounded the top of his head with his own fist! "Don't you dare, you hooligan!" The old duck said as his attack made Jason release me and our mentor joined my side. Noticing my expression, he just shrugged. "What? I built up quite a few muscles lifting gold and money bags for years."
That brought a smile to my face as we turned to face my cousin again. While he was getting up, I felt I could use the power from before again. As the maze appeared around us I leapt on top of the ball that had appeared and whacked it with my Keyblade. As it sped off through the maze, I could feel the attack made contact with… what? When the power deactivated I saw my cousin had actually caught my attack, and was throwing the ball back at me!
"Wind!" I tried to cast the Aeroga spell but it activated too little too late. The attack ended up hitting the both of us, knocking us back. As I took several breaths I pulled out one of the elixirs that I kept and downed it, replenishing my magic. "Heal." I then cast Curaga, healing both Scrooge and I. That was when I saw how Jason caught the attack.
He had activated his Keyblades' power, and had the Power Gauntlets equipped. As he rushed towards us I barely had time to get out of the way and perform a couple of jabs before he knocked me back. I had to be honest, his attacks hurt like no tomorrow. But I had felt plenty of pain from our journey together, both from outside sources and from myself.
I can handle this.
That was when another of my keychains began to glow. Pulling it out, I saw it was the green bottle that had appeared in my pocket after the adventure in Devil's Bayou. Why didn't I think to practice with this keychain before I ended up in this fight? Oh well. Better late than never.
Equipping it to my weapon I watched as my Keyblade changed to one that was almost seafaring in nature. The guard was like a couple of cutlasses joining together, and the blade was like flowing swamp water with chunks of hanging moss. The teeth was that of a pirate skull and a diamond. The name Pirate's Aid came to my mind, which wasn't the best name but I didn't have time to argue. Holding up the new Keyblade I prepared to launch another offensive at my cousin.
When he threw himself at me with one of his gauntlets I felt a new spell come to me. "Water!" As a jet of water rushed out of my Keyblade and hit him in the face I then rushed over to him and jabbed him a few times before getting knocked back by one of his punches. As I rubbed my hand against where he hit I winced for a moment before pulling my hand away to see blood. Taking a breath, I steeled my nerves as he rushed at me with another of his attacks.
Performing a side flip I almost lost my balance, but regained it before I could fall off the walkway. Aiming at Jason's feet I caused a geyser of water to erupt underneath him, sending him flying into the sky before I felt the final power of this new Keyblade activate. A wall of fireworks appeared behind me, and when my Keyblade pointed at my cousin they all launched themselves at him, doing massive damage.
"Well done, lass." Scrooge praised me. "That was quite a finisher."
Before I could respond the hair on the back of my neck began to stand up. Oh no. Turning, I saw too late that Jason was activating the last power of his Keyblade. Before we could do anything he slammed down in a Meteor Mash on us, doing tremendous amounts of damage! While I crashed against the walkway to my horror Scrooge actually fell off the edge! "No!" I cried out as I reached helplessly.
To my surprise the old duck wasn't out that easily. With the handle of his cane he caught the railing and used it to vault himself up where he managed to kick my cousin down. Rushing over to me, he asked, "Are you okay, Clair?"
"I'll be fine." I said as I pulled out another bottle of liquid, this one being a hi-potion. As I gulped down the contents, I felt my health return while I pushed myself back to my feet. As I did I felt the world slow down while my eyes zoomed in on Jason. I then chose my shotlock, as I had learned that was what those abilities were called, to use on my cousin. "Lightning Raid!"
With that I zipped back and forth across our battlefield, hitting Jason many times with this attack and doing pretty good damage. When I was done, I turned back and gathered the powers of light and darkness in my hand. "I'm sorry, Jason, but Yeller has left me with no other options to stop you. Harmonic Force!"
With that I fired the attack at my cousin, doing incredible damage. However, before the dust could clear he zipped out and whacked Scrooge so hard the old duck collapsed and didn't get up. Oh, please don't be dead. "He-." Before I could finish the spell I let out a cry of pain as I felt his blade enter my gut! When he kicked me I tried to call my Keyblade back but Jason jammed his blade into my arm! Gri, the crack of my bones breaking threatened to make me pass out, and when I tried my other arm he did the same thing!
No. This… this can't be how it ends. With the tears the pain brought I looked up begging at my cousin. Jason, I know you're still in there. I know you don't want to do this. Fight it. Fight whatever Madsane has done to you.
As he lifted his weapon above his head I saw my life flashing before my eyes, heralding the end of my mortality.
MORTEM'S POV
This was crazy. One moment things were nice and fine, and the next people were turning on each other. I still remember seeing the terror as parents were thrown off the edge of these elevated sidewalks by their own children, realizing people were getting tossed out of their apartments, and seeing families just turn on each other like they were possessed. For reasons I couldn't fathom, seeing children, some no older than twelve, acting like this just disturbed me. "What kind of insanity is this?" I said aloud.
"I bet that doctor has something to do with this," Leroy replied.
"It doesn't look like the power of darkness controlling these people. So what is it?" For once I wished that the two rookies were here if only for some idea as to what was going on. Wait. What was that? I could hear explosions, but sensed magical energy.
Like what a Keyblade makes.
Grabbing the little monster I took off in the direction the attacks came from. However, as I passed a little girl about to pull the trigger of some futuristic gun on her mother something snapped inside of me. I wasn't going to let her scar herself with such an atrocious deed, and in a flash a new ability activated. The shadows erupted around her, forming a type of cage with pulsating shadows as the bars. When she tried to push through she got a nasty shock. Not my best work, but it seems to be effective in keeping them from doing any damage. I'll have to think of a name for it later.
As I rushed through the walkways of the city, I repeated the attack over and over again to keep the children from acting like monsters. I was surprised to hear praises and thanks from the people I had helped when I passed by. What was this feeling I had from receiving their gratitude? It felt so foreign and yet familiar at the same time, and it just felt… right?
I was closing in on the fight and I found a sight I never thought I'd see. The two rookies fighting each other. Upon closer inspection I could see that Jason had that same look on his face as the children I restrained. Was whatever was happening to them affecting him as well? As I watched Clair performed her Harmonic Force attack on him, but he ended up rushing at her. After he knocked the old duck unconscious he struck her down and… broke her arms?! Somehow, the sight of him breaking down his own cousin disturbed me, especially knowing that he was clearly not in control of himself.
As I watched him raise his weapon to end her life, something inside me compelled me to intervene. I couldn't figure out why, but I unleashed a Dark Firaga, blasting the boy away, and rushed in front of the girl with my Keyblade out. I then felt a spell come to me that I cast on her. "Rejuvenating Night."
As the shadows engulfed her, I watched as they parted revealing her arms had been fixed. As she tested them out again, she looked at me with confusion. "Mortem? What… Scrooge! Heal."
As she cast the Curaga spell on the old duck I glared at them with the anger I had for this whole nightmare. "Explanations. Now."
"It's Madsane." Clair explained. "He's done something to turn all the clones in the city into killing machines."
"Clones?" I asked. "Jason is a clone?"
"Yes and no. My aunt and uncle used the process to create him, but they used both of their DNA." She explained. "For all intents and purposes he's still his own self, not a copy of someone else. Most people see cloning as a way to create the perfect children." Sounded like an awfully twisted method of making children. Grown in a lab? Why don't I like the sound of that?
As Jason began to recover from my initial attack, I glared at them. "So why is he suddenly in a murder frenzy?"
"Madsane did something to him." Scrooge explained. "He activated something that I believe may have released some sort of sound wave. Hear me out, lass. First thing Jason did was cover his ears like someone would with loud music. I'd bet every penny in my money bin that this state is being caused by some sort of ultrasonic sound wave."
"Ultrasonic sound wave?" I swear I saw Leroy's eyes light up. "I have an idea. Keep him busy." With that he curled into a ball and rolled off. I had no idea what he was planning but Jason didn't give me time to think about it as he rushed at me.
I blocked his attack with my Keyblade, and I found myself surprised at how strong he was. I took more effort than it normally would to push him back. I could tell that this time he'd be fighting to the death, so I couldn't afford to hold back either. I pointed my Keyblade at him. "Phantom Hunters!" I unleashed a bunch of shadow wolves at him.
As the canine monsters rushed at him, he just began stabbing and slicing them. A couple managed to sink their fangs into him, distracting him from me long enough to get another attack in. I leapt into the air and coated my blade in darkness. "Dark Break!" I dove at him blade first. The impact did significant damage, knocking him backwards. Then he did a flip and recovered from the attack, pointing his Keyblade at me as he fired a Thunder spell. I dodged, but then he fired several more, the last one actually managed to hit me. I staggered onto one knee before I watch him dashing toward me again and began slamming his Keyblade onto mine repeatedly with fierce yet focused aggression. I'd be impressed were it not for the fact that he was brainwashed.
With a growl I pushed him off me and launched another attack at him. "Darkness Wave!" As the wave of black energy surged towards him, he managed to flip over it though he failed to see the second wave coming at him. As it crashed into him I heard my rival cry out from the pain. He then morphed his Keyblade into gauntlet and with impressive speed, he managed to punch me right in the gut and sent me flying.
As I flew off the walkway into the open air I righted myself and prepared to counterattack. Pushing off against the skyscraper I was hurtled to I shot myself back at my opponent, changing my Keyblade into its scythe mode. The two of us began attacking back and forth and I couldn't help but be annoyed with this situation. Here I was fighting a strong opponent, and yet any thrill I could be having was dulled by the fact that Jason wasn't even in control of himself. Fighting against essentially a puppet was not a true fight. I swear the next time I see Madsane I was going to make him eat his head.
I leapt back and fired an electric beam at him. He managed to block with his gauntlets before rushing at me again. I managed to deflect his punch before kicking him in the gut. I then swung my scythe at him, giving him a sizeable cut. It seemed to barely faze him, as he uppercutted me into the air, followed by spiking me back into the ground. He then managed to grab my neck and began choking me. I struggled to breathe but I soon managed to gather my darkness. "Dark Frenzy!" The darkness blasted Jason away as I entered my berserk state, my left arm twitching with red electricity once again. Why did this keep happening?
Didn't have time to worry about that as he activated his Keyblade's last ability. Leaping up into the air, he positioned himself to come crashing down on me with his Meteor Mash. What he didn't know was I had spent some time practicing and developing a countermeasure. As he descended towards me, I opened a corridor of darkness underneath where he was going to hit. I waited for the right moment and stepped aside, as he fell right into it. I smiled at my work as I followed after him.
In the realm of darkness I saw him shaking his head as he looked around. "What the perdition? Where am I? Mortem? Is this your doing?"
So taking him out of his world broke the effect. Interesting. Unfortunately this move was only temporary, as in my hesitation my countermeasure ended and we ended up back on Harthyn. As soon as we did he clutched his ears and writhed in pain before the same expression as before wrote itself on his face. Without warning he shoulder thrusted right into me. With a gasp I then felt something sharp enter my gut. Looking down I saw his Keyblade in my abdomen.
That did it. My anger grew and something inside was compelling me to use the red lightning that was still sparking around my arm. I kick the boy back, gather as much power as I could and pointed my palm at my opponent. "Bolt of Chaos!" I instinctively shout as a stream of red lightning shot out of my arm and into him.
That blasted Jason off of me and sent him flying backwards, making him skid across the walkway like a pebble on water. As that happened my wound healed up and I glared at my opponent. But then my arm felt weird, so I looked at it and- What the hell?! My left arm had changed drastically, into something not human. It was black with hardened skin, it was longer than usual, and instead of a five fingered hand it had a three fingered claw. What the hell was this?! How did this happen?!
Then I suddenly heard a voice in my head. "Ah! So the virus has finally reawakened!" Virus what? "Don't look so frightened, demon boy! You still have much more power left to harness! All you have to do is give in to the madness!" I did not like what I was hearing. But I was feeling a great fury coming from this arm, much more primal than I was used to.
Jason then rushed at me again, swinging his Keyblade in an attempt to hit me. However his movements seemed slower like he was moving through syrup. With ease I caught his weapon in my hand...claw...whatever this was. With a push I sent him flying backwards, making him crash into the ground where he coughed up blood. Looking at the mutation, I couldn't help but wonder if this was the edge I needed to beat him.
Well, there was one way to find out.
I grabbed him with my claw and did my best to pin him down while shocking him with my red lightning. He actually screamed in agony from my attack, and for a moment I wondered if I was shocking Madsane's programing or whatever out of him. His hand on my throat answered that question. As I struggled to breathe, the primal rage within me started growing stronger and my head was starting to ache. I gasped out a shout as I intensified the electricity.
As he went flying off me again, I slowly got up and looked at my rival. I could end his life with ease here, but for some reason I did not want to kill him. What was wrong with me? As if that wasn't enough, my head continued to ache as the primal urge kept butting in. Somehow, if this battle didn't resolve itself soon enough, I knew I wasn't going to control it.
It was going to take over.
"Mortem!" I heard Leroy's voice. Turning to my companion I saw the red furball holding what looked like a disjointed mess of parts. His eyes widened when he saw me. "What happened to you?"
"I couldn't tell you!" My voice came out more disgruntled than I meant to. "Just tell me whatever you're working on is almost finished! I don't know how much longer I can control this!"
With a smile he said, "Yes. I just need the locket to finish it."
"Why?"
"Trust me!"
Pulling the locket from inside my shirt, I tossed it over to Leroy. As he caught it he inserted it into the device and pushed a button. As soon as he did a shockwave erupted from it, knocking all of us back, and all around us everything went dark. The lights, the flying vehicles, the robots. Everything went dead as the city was plunged into darkness, only broken by the sound of things crashing.
I then heard some groaning from where I left my rival. "Oh, my head. Feel like I took on an army." Jason's words were then followed by coughing.
As a light came from the girl's hand, she hurried over to him. "Jason! Thank Gri you're back to normal."
"You mean thank Mortem." Scrooge said as she began to heal her cousin.
"Mortem? What happened? I remembered being in a dark place and seeing Mortem after Madsane in… oh no. Madsane! The Tesseract!"
"He got it." Clair said sadly. "But that's not the worst part."
In the light of her magic I saw him look at her. "What is the worst part?"
"... Madsane took control of you and all the clones, and made you attack the city."
His eyes widened at that. "What?"
"It's true, lad." The old duck looked like it was a burden to say it. "You were used as a weapon to attack your home."
It was obvious that this was crushing to Jason. I swear there and then his spirit was broken.
Before any more could be said, I suddenly found myself clutching my head in pain. My mutated arm was also throbbing. The primal rage was getting stronger. I could feel the lightning envelope me, which I was certain was allowing others to see me in this darkness. Was I losing control? Damn it! Not now! That voice from before returned. "Come on now! Cain! Don't fight it! Let the primal instinct flow through you! Your most reliable weapon has always been your wrath! Now! Come on! Give in to the madness! GIVE IN TO THE FURY!"
"Please stop!" a new yet familiar voice suddenly sounded in my head. And somehow that gave me the strength to resist. No! I will not let insanity control me! Letting out a cry, the power began to recede, the headaches ceased, and my arm slowly returned to normal. I collapsed onto my knees, panting with exhaustion and clutching my arm in slight pain. Just what in Chaos's name was that all about? The voices, the mutation, the surge of power, the primal urges, and...the virus? Was this virus the source of this unsettling power?
I then noticed the others were looking at me. "What?" I frowned at them. "What are you looking at?"
"That was impressive." An all too familiar voice said as a corridor of darkness opened up. "Your new powers are impressive, Mortem."
"Madsane." I felt my anger flare up. "This is all your doing!"
I was sure he was smiling. "And what of it? I control everything in this city. The people needed a tragedy to unite them under my leadership, and now they've received it."
"I will never forgive you for what you made Jason do." Clair got up with a frown. "I will never forgive you for the lives you made others take!" Her Keyblade then reappeared in her hand, reverted back to its original form.
"Surely you don't expect to strike me down when you will not even remember who I am?" With that something flew out and struck her. I managed to see it was some sort of circular disk that shocked her while it was connected to her forehead. The light then died down as she collapsed.
I sensed Jason's anger rise as he stood. "You're going to pay for that." His voice sounded like he was about to fight, but then nothing happened.
"Any time now." I told him.
"Something's wrong." He sounded concerned. "My Keyblade, it won't come to me. I… I think I lost the ability to use it!"
I couldn't believe that. "Are you kidding me?"
"That is a pity." Madsane seemed to smirk in the darkness. "If you had given in to your darkness you would still have a place. But now you are of no use to me or my plans." I then saw him produce the glowing blue cube from his cane. How did it fit in there? "Now watch how helpless you truly are."
Before any of us could react he shot its power out and it struck the unconscious girl. As the glowing mist encircled her it then vanished, taking her with it. "Where did you send that lass?" Scrooge demanded to know.
"You should be more concerned with where I'm sending all of you." With that, he also blasted the duck, sending him to reaches unknown. "So many possibilities with this stone."
"Too bad you won't get a chance to discover them all!" Holding my Keyblade up I leapt at the madman, only for my swing to hit empty air? What?
With a chuckle the professor said, "Yes, you may have a weapon to use against me, but I can control what you hit. I cannot be touched anymore. Not even the kaiju will stop me, or any imagined god."
I growled. "You bastard!"
"Now why all this anger, Mortem? You could still have a place in my plans if you just cooperate."
"Forget it! You've crossed too many lines! You used me to cover your tracks! And I don't tolerate being used! Besides, I don't need you to capture the Princesses! So you can just shove it!"
He actually laughed. "You are a fool, Mortem. You would've held a high position in my Neo-Thirteen, but now you are no longer an experiment or a tool. You are trash!" With that he fired a blast from that accursed cube, which I dodged. However, he fired another one quickly, hitting Jason and sending him off to who knows where.
I clenched my fist in anger. "Mark my words, Madsane, you will pay for this treachery!"
"I doubt that. The odds of you keeping that oath are slim. You may have the power to do it, but you do not have the control or the manpower. You are alone."
"He's not alone." Leroy growled. "He has me." I had to admit, that statement kinda surprised me. I hadn't been particularly friendly to Leroy, but I had gained a lot of respect for him. He had several uses, but I never thought loyalty would be one of them.
Without a word, Madsane just fired the Tesseract again. Leroy pushed me out of the way so I wouldn't get hit by that stupid cube. "Dark Firaga!" I fired the attack at him, but it reappeared overhead and hit a building. I then cried out as I felt several blasts hit me across my body, and from the glow of the cube I could see slots closing in his cane. Did he have weapons hidden in there? Damn it! That last fight took too much out of me! I can't keep up!
"Mortem. We have to fall back." Leroy said. "We can't beat him like this." I begrudgingly had to agree. Opening a corridor of darkness the two of us bolted into it, closing it before Madsane's weapons could get us.
As we exited to another world before he could use the powers of darkness to follow us, I blasted a rock with my dark powers while unleashing every profanity imaginable. That crackpot loon! Who does he think he is? Turning people into machines to kill people? More than anything I wanted to destroy him! And now we had lost the two who probably could have grown enough to make that happen!
Leroy seemed just as ticked off as I was because he was punching another rock, breaking it into pieces. "That big stinkyhead. Thanks to that cube he's gotten more powerful than I thought."
"I wish I had that thing so I can chuck it into the nearest black hole!" I cursed again. "I wish Jason never brought that thing back!"
"Nothing we can do about it now. It's not like we can change the past."
"So how are we supposed to expose Madsane now?" I looked at him. "We have no way to record what he just said and did. Not to mention the people we needed to expose him are gone, and I have no idea how to find them even if I wanted to!"
"At least you beat Jason."
"That doesn't count. He was just a puppet on a string. When I beat him, I want him to be himself and no one else. Now that won't happen because he lost his Keyblade." I swear this night just couldn't have gone any worse for me. Right now nothing was going my way.
Leroy sat there thinking for a moment. I could see his brain was hard at work thinking of a solution to this mess. "Why don't we let the other Keyblade users know what is going on? Surely we can gain by creating more enemies for him."
"I'm sure they already know about Madsane."
"But not of the Tesseract."
He was right about that. There was no way they could know that the quack had the cube in his possession now. "Yes. I think right now we need to share with the Guardians of Light this development."
And with that, the Journey of Discovery is over. Do not fear. There's still more to come. I will admit I will have to go back and edit Lost and Alone to fit better with the events that have happened here. That may take a little bit, but it will give me something to do while a plan is made as to what happens next.
I will say one thing that's coming is Flautist's characters are going to get their own spinoff. I won't say what happens though, but be prepared to see worlds new and old there.
One thing I wanted to have happen was the city gets attacked by Tetsukyo, but the chapter was already way too long, so I decided to cut it out.
This has been a fun journey. I enjoyed how planning out the story has helped it flow, and being flexible enough to make changes. For example I wanted to use the original Pete's Dragon as a world, but I couldn't make it fit so I had to take it out. It ended up getting replaced with The Pagemaster. So even though I have something planned already it might end up getting changed in the future. I think flexibility is key to being a writer. I also wanted to make sure TruthoutrunstheFiction has a shoutout for her help in helping me figure out my ideas and sort through them. I've had so much help from everyone in making sure the story worked.
Anyway, enjoy your last day of 2019.