Chapter 20 Ballroom Brawl

The Shadow Striker fazed into the wall, causing its face to appear in between the pillars where the windows were and unleashed a wave of darkness that sent Kaze flying back to the rest of the group.

Donald patched Kaze up with a heal spell and the Shadow Striker exited out of the wall and moved around the room rather fast.

"Be careful. This thing can attack from anywhere." Corrin warned as the Shadow Striker went into the pillar causing all the pillars to come to life and swipe at the group.

Sora dodge rolled out of the way and pointed his Keyblade at the pillar.

"Release!" Sora called out as a beam of light shot towards the possessed pillar causing the Heartless to be expelled. Corrin and Kaze tried to attack it, but the thing moved way too fast and dodged the attacks.

The Shadow Striker then dove into the ground.

"Now where did it go?" Donald asked annoyed.

"Lord Corrin, look out!" Kaze shouted as he pushed Corrin out of the way before the Shadow Striker could devour him from bellow.

"Thanks, Kaze." Corrin said as Kaze nodded.

Sora and Beast tried to hit the creature, but like before, it dodged the attacks with its speed. Donald even tried a Thunder spell and missed.

"Strike Raid!" Sora shouted as he tossed his Keyblade at the creature. Sora was close, but the Heartless zipped out of the way.

"This is ridiculous! This thing moves too fast for us to hit it!" Donald cried.

Beast was silent for a moment thinking.

The Shadow Striker then rose to the ceiling and possessed the Chandelier.

"Brace yourselves!" Corrin warned as the Chandelier slammed into the ground creating a shock wave that knocked everyone away and to the ground.

"So, now what is this thing up to? Just trying to ram us from above?" Corrin asked as he got back up.

To his surprise, beams of light fired from the Chandelier from two different sides as the Shadow Stalker started to rotate the Chandelier around.

"Move!" Sora yelled as the group got to their feat and moved to try and avoid being hit.

"This is getting us nowhere. When its not possessing something, that Heartless moves too fast for us to hit it." Corrin cried out.

"Sora. I want you to release that creature like you did before." Beast said.

"Uh sure but do you have a plan? Because if not, it's just going to end up like it did before." Sora pointed out.

Beast just nodded.

"Regardless of the plan, just do it!" Donald cried still trying to avoid being hit by the laser.

Sora nodded and pointed his Keyblade at the Chandelier. "Release!"

Like before, a beam of light fired at the Chandelier and the Shadow Stalker was ejected. However, this time, Beast immediately jumped into action and grabbed the chains of the Heartless to keep it in place with his tremendous strength.

"Attack it now!" Beast grunted as he tried to keep the Heartless restrained.

Sora and Corrin nodded and jumped up to slash the Heartless with their swords.

"You got em!" Goofy cheered.

The Shadow Stalker floated slower as a dark aura covered its body in a cocoon-like shape of darkness.

"That's new." Corrin commented.

"Get ready." Beast growled.

The cocoon burst open to reveal a more monstrous form. The creature had sharp claws on both its hands and feet. Its body also had some thorns all around it and chains on its arms and legs. The Heartless also had long red hair on its head.

The Dark Thorn let out a roar as its body became transparent.

"Careful everyone!" Corrin called out.

The Dark Thorn slammed its fist into the ground summoning Possessor Heartless that started to jump around frantically.

"Donald, Goofy! Take care of those smaller Heartless!" Corrin ordered.

"Why is it that Goofy and I are always stuck with the small fry?" Donald grumbled as he got to work blasting the Possessors with magic.

Goofy just shrugged and started to toss his shield at the Possessors.

The Dark Thorn started to do a summer-salt with its claws out to try and slash the others.

Beast was attacked first by the creature, being knocked back as a result. The Dark Thorn then set its sights on Sora.

"To your left!" Kaze called out allowing Sora to dodge roll out of the way from an attack. Kaze then tossed his Flame shuriken at the Heartless resulting it getting wedged into its shoulder.

"Great job Kaze!" Corrin cheered as he summoned his mask and charged a Hydro Shot at the Heartless, blasting it thanks to the target that Kaze made. Kaze looked on surprised at this.

'I never saw Lady Kamui use an attack like that. How long as Lord Corrin been practicing?' Kaze thought.

Corrin and Sora dodge rolled out of the way again from another one of the Heartless's attacks.

"Thanks to Kaze, we can pinpoint its location easier but it's still too fast to land a good hit." Corrin said.

"I don't think I can get a good grip on this thing like earlier." Beast grunted.

Sora was silent for a moment before an idea came to his mind.

"Beast, I need you to toss me to the ceiling." Sora said much to the others surprise.

"What? What are you planning?" Corrin asked.

"Just trust me and take cover behind the pillars." Sora said as Beast grabbed Sora.

"You sure about this?" Beast asked a bit concerned and Sora nodded.

With that, Beast tossed Sora to the ceiling and he grabbed onto the Chandelier. The extra weight caused the thing to slam into the ground like before as Everyone else quickly dove out of the way. Sora gave the chain a push and rode the thing around like crazy slamming it into the Dark Thorn causing its invisibility to fade and for it to slam into a wall.

"Sora is crazy." Kaze commented.

"Yeah, but he gets the job done." Corrin laughed.

Beast took advantage of the Heartless's injured state and lunged right at it.

"GET OUT OF MY CASTLE!" Beast roared and gave a mighty slash with his claws destroying the injured Heartless for good.

With the Dark Thorn defeated, the darkness around the room faded returning the ballroom back to normal.

"We did it!" Sora cheered.

"So you think?" Xaldin mocked appearing by the door.

"Xaldin!" Beast growled but before he could charge at the man that filled his head with lies, Kaze appeared right behind the man with a shuriken in hand to end the man in black.

But before Kaze could strike, Xaldin effortlessly grabbed Kaze's arm and tossed him to the wall with ease much to the shock of the others.

"I've studied quite a bit of your Hoshidan fighting styles ever since you and the princess joined the Keyblade's chosen. I won't be taken out by such a technique." Xaldin warned.

"Xaldin!" Beast roared as he charged at the man this time, but Xaldin vanished in a Corridor of Darkness before Beast could reach him.

"Farewell." Xaldin's voice called out.

"What does he want here?" Beast growled as Corrin went to go help Kaze up.

"He must be with the Organization." Sora said.

"The what?" Beast asked.

"A group of Nobodies. When a strong hearted person becomes a Heartless, they form a Nobody." Sora explained.

"The Organization has control over the other Nobodies, so maybe he wanted you to become a Heartless so that he can gain control over your Nobody." Corrin guessed as he and Kaze joined the others.

"Big Brother!" Sakura cried out.

The others turned to see Belle and Sakura run up to the group. Cogsworth and the others also entered the room.

"You're all right." Belle sighed in relief.

"Belle!" Beast said as he ran towards her though both stopped a bit apart.

Sakura however ran up to her brother. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Sakura. But Kaze…" Corrin began.

"I'm alright. That blow hurt my pride more than my body. Seems Silas was right about these Organization people." Kaze said.

"I'm just glad that everyone is okay." Sakura sighed in relief.

"Belle…I'm sorry. I wasn't myself…I hope I haven't done anything to hurt you." Beast said with regret. "Forgive me."

"I know you weren't yourself. You don't have to apologies. I'm fine." Belle assured with a smile though that did melt away. "But I had hoped that you would change a little." She scolded causing the Beast to flinch. "I wish you would just trust me."

"I'm afraid that time is running out." Lumiere sighed.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked.

"Do you remember how we said we knew what was needed to break the curse?" Lumiere asked as the others nodded. "It ties with the rose."

"The one in the Beast's room?" Donald asked.

Cogsworth nodded. "That's right. If the Master can learn to love and be loved in return before the last petal falls, then the spell will be broken."

"Do you think he's going to make it?" Corrin asked concerned.

"We believe so." Mrs. Potts said.

"Yeah. I believe so as well." Goofy agreed.

"I hope so." Corrin said worried.

Sora's Keyblade then appeared in his hands. Despite not seeing what would make the gate, he stilled held his Keyblade up.

From the Beast's room, the rose glowed and revealed a Keyhole for Sora to unlock. Sora pointed his Keyblade at the lock and opened a new path.

"What was that?" Kaze asked.

"A new path is open!" Donald cheered.

"Does this mean you have to go?" Belle asked upset. Things finally settled down and their friends now have to leave.

"I'm afraid so." Sora said.

"We still have our mission to take care of." Corrin said.

"We still have to find the King." Donald said.

"And Riku." Sora added.

"No more arguing you two." Corrin teased.

"We'll see to it." Cogsworth said. "And you are welcomed back at any time."

With a wave goodbye, Sora and co departed from Beast's castle.

Back at the Gummi Ship:

"So, what did you two thinks of a new world?" Sora asked.

"It was…interesting." Sakura admitted.

"Lord Corrin. May I ask you something?" Kaze asked.

"It's just Corrin, and sure. What's up?" Corrin asked.

"How long have you been able to turn into a dragon?" Kaze asked

"For about a year by now." Corrin said.

"But how did you turn into one in the first place?" Sakura asked.

Corrin and the others were silent for a moment before Donald spoke up.

"It happened back at Hollow Bastion a year ago." Donald said.

"When we first set out on our journey, we left to find Riku, the King and our friend Kairi who was taken from us when our home was invaded by the Heartless." Sora explained.

"That witch we mentioned before Maleficent, lead a group that was controlling the Heartless in order to find the Seven Princesses of Heart like Belle, and Kairi was one of them so she could open the final door that lead to Kingdom Hearts." Corrin added.

"Kingdom Hearts?" Sakura asked.

"The heart of all worlds." Corrin said.

"But behind the scenes of that, was a man named Ansem who once ruled over Hollow Bastion. He was also a scientist and wanted to study the Heart and the Heartless. That study led to him becoming a Heartless and he took over our friend Riku to restore his body after he lost his to the darkness." Sora said.

"So, what does this have to do with Corrin becoming a dragon?" Kaze asked.

"Well, after we defeated Ansem in Riku's body, Sora used a Keyblade on himself to save Kairi's heart that was trapped inside of him. But that part is another story all together." Donald said.

"When Sora vanished, and Ansem appeared before us, I felt rage. That man took my home, my friend, and finally by brother. After that, it all went white to me." Corrin said.

"He turned into a dragon right there and the Heartless started to attack him." Goofy said.

"We took Kairi to safety after that and then stumbled across Sora who had become a Heartless after freeing Kairi's heart." Donald said.

"You became a Heartless?" Sakura gasped.

Sora nodded. "Yeah, but somehow Kairi saved me and brought me back. After that, we made it back to Corrin with the help of Leon and the others. Corrin was exhausted from the fighting, so Kairi and I tried to reach him by talking, and it worked."

"When Lady Kamui transformed, no one's words could reach her. I guess you should consider yourself lucky." Kaze said.

"I guess so." Corrin admitted.

"Though that does leave me with another question." Kaze said as he turned his attention to Sora. "If you became a Heartless, then did you create a Nobody?"

Everyone blinked at that.

"I don't think I did..." Sora muttered unsure himself.

"Didn't Master Yen-Sid say it was the body that was left behind that begins to act on its own that forms the Nobody?" Corrin asked.

"I think so." Donald said.

"But I have my body so, maybe not? I wasn't a Heartless for too long, wasn't I?" Sora asked.

"No. Only for little while. We ran into you at the entrance where you got your body back, so maybe a few minutes at best." Donald said.

Suddenly an alarm went off inside the ship.

"W-What's going on?" Sakura asked freaking out.

"It's an SOS from Chip and Dale." Donald said shocked as he looked at the monitor.

"Is something going on back home?" Goofy asked worried.

"I don't know, but it looks like we are heading back to Disney Castle next." Donald said as he started to fly the ship home.

Meanwhile:

Maleficent stood before a white door in the middle of her "Temporary" castle.

"Let's hope that bumbling fool doesn't mess this one up." She groaned as she turned to another individual that stood behind her. "Hopefully, you'll achieve better results than him."

The figure said nothing.

And that's a wrap!

So Beast's castle's first visit is finally done and Sakura and Kaze learn about Corrin's first time as a dragon. Man, this chapter was a pain to write. Big group fights are not easy to write.

As for next, Disney Castle is coming up. Yes, I know that Olympus Colosseum is supposed to be next, but I'm changing the order around a bit due to things that are going to happen in my story. Olympus Colosseum will be next after Disney Castle and that's a promise.

So, I meant to mention this last time, but I forgot. I do actually play Union Cross, so I have been playing Kingdom Hearts Dark Road and I have caught up to the story. What do I think? Well the combat is repetitive and the story...It's all right. It is cool how Eraqus and Xehanort acted as kids (Kind of like Sora and Riku in a way) and it did introduce 4 other students that were learning alongside them...Somehow I feel like I'm going to be calling all of them Xion. Ether way, it's nice to see some backstory on Xehanort and I am curious to see where it goes. Now will I bring it up in this story? Probably not, but in case anyone wanted to ask me about it, there is my opinion on it.

Anyway guys, I will see you all next time.

Guestwithideas: I do have plans with Sakura talking about that with someone, but it won't be Belle.

The Chicken: Thanks brah XD