Chapter 28

Journey into Mystery

The sound of warning alarms was like a jolt through the body. Worse than even an alarm clock, it pounded through Madoka's ears, shocking her out of whatever dreams she had been having and galvanized her into action.

There were red lights flashing everywhere. Madoka leaped out of bed and she rushed out of her room to see the confused faces of the others as they emerged as well.

"What's going on?!" She asked.

"I don't know!" Mami answered.

Suddenly the ship shook, sending everybody stumbling about.

"Did we hit something?" Sayaka asked.

"Look!" Nagisa pointed towards a window, where for the briefest second, something streaked past.

"Another ship?"

Madoka rushed over to get a better look at what was out there, only for a knot to form in her stomach as she recognized the symbol on the ship.

"Heartless! We're under attack!"

The girls rushed towards the bridge, stumbling occasionally as the ship shook from impacts.

"Weapons?! Does this thing have weapons?!" Kyoko shouted as she looked around the bridge.

"I don't know!" Mami said.

"It has to!" Sayaka said.

The ship shook from another impact. Madoka looked outside again, seeing several Heartless ships approaching, shooting lasers at them. The ship shook at the impact.

"Are you serious?!" Kyoko said.

"What do we do?" Nagisa shouted.

"We fight!" Kyoko said, heading towards the pilots seat, only for Mami to beat her to it.

"I think I've got this!" Mami leaped into the pilots seat and made a hard turn to the left, dodging a laser blast. All the other girls stumbled about from the sudden motion.

"One of these has to be a weapon!" Kyoko leaped into another seat, and started frantically pushing buttons.

"Don't do that!" Mami said. "We don't know what any of those do!"

There was a sudden flash, as apparently a series of fireworks were released from the ship. At the same time the windshield wipers were activated.

"Well it's better than letting them shoot at us. Which you should really get on by the way!" Kyoko shot back, still mashing buttons. Now a disco-ball descended from the ceiling while a hologram of Mickey Mouse disco dancing appeared.

"Why is that even a feature?!" Nagisa asked.

Mami jerked the ship again, forcing everyone to hang on again.

"What are you doing?!" Kyoko asked.

"There's an asteroid field. Maybe I can lose them there!"

"The girl who's never flown a ship is going to try to do an asteroid field run! Yeah, that sounds great!" Just then, Kyoko's button mashing finally produced results.

"Weapon systems engaged!"

"Ha! Finally! Prepare to die!" She laughed as she grabbed the controls and began opening fire, though her aim wasn't that good, missing more than she hit.

"You're not very good at this." Sayaka said.

"Well maybe we should switch then! She's the one who does guns!"

"What?!" Mami said. Just then the ship shook as it bounced off an asteroid. "What makes you think you'd be better at this?!"

"Trust me! I've played Ace Combat!"

"More video games?!"

"Well have you ever even played Asteroids?!"

"Are we seriously having this conversation again?!" Sayaka asked, only for another shake of the ship to knock her out of her seat, leaving her grunting in pain.

Thankfully, the asteroid field seemed to be harming the Heartless ships even more, as they crashed and exploded against the drifting rocks.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the pursuit died down, only for Madoka to notice something.

"Look out!" Madoka shouted, as an asteroid drifted into their path. But it was too late. The asteroid was drifting closer and closer, too fast and too big to maneuver around.

Then, all of a sudden, the rock exploded. Smaller bits of debris slammed into the ship, and the lights flashed ominously. Several instruments sparked.

When they could see through the debris, Madoka gasped. Floating in front of them was a massive Heartless, uncomfortably resembling a gigantic spider.

Madoka felt powerless. Here she was, trapped in a ship unable to do anything while they group was chased by Heartless ships. The Keyblade could do nothing against them.

Kyoko immediately opened fire on the Heartless. However the shots didn't seem to have any effect, merely bouncing off of the target.

"Crap! What now! Do we have any stronger weapons?" Kyoko started fumbling with buttons again, to no avail.

"Get us out of here!" Sayaka shouted.

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Mami said. The ship accelerated, just in time as the Heartless let loose an absurd barrage of lasers and projectiles. Despite Mami's best efforts, the ship shook harder and harder with each impact. Electricity ran along the controls, and the lights went completely out.

"Were not going to make it!" Nagisa exclaimed with fear. More and more shots struck the ship, so much that the darkness of space was lit as brightly as day. The ship shook harder and harder, and that light became brighter and brighter, now mixed with roaring noise. The others screamed.

Madoka forced her eyes open, and in the bright flashes saw some shadowy silhouette appear in front of the ship. Acting on instinct more than anything else, she summoned her Keyblade and raised it into the air as the light became blinding and searing...

Everything hurt. That was the first thing Madoka felt upon returning to consciousness. Pain. She struggled to move, that only causing more pain. Eventually, she managed to focus her mind enough to channel magic.

"Cure!" A green light shone across her body, and immediately, she felt relief as the soothing magic healed her injuries. Her vision was no longer blurry, and her hearing was more focused. She realized that she was lying in the grass.

Madoka sat up and looked around. She was in a forest of some sort. Not one she recognized. She stood up, and leaped up into a tree. She still didn't recognize where she was and she couldn't see any of her friends.

Madoka pulled out her gummiphone, only to find that she couldn't get in contact with any of them. They weren't picking up. She sighed, and leaped back down to the ground. Well, she wasn't going to figure things out just standing around here. She was about to place the Gummiphone away when a familiar voice sounded.

"Madoka?"

She looked at the phone, seeing the screen crackle.

"Ramuh? Is that you?"

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Madoka said. "I can't get in contact with the others though."

"We'll have to work on that."

"So, where am I?" Madoka asked.

"I'm not sure. It does seem familiar though." Ramuh said. "Can't quite place it however."

At that moment, there was the sound of an explosion, somewhere off in the distance. She could hear screams. When she looked in the direction the sound came from, she could see smoke trailing into the sky. It looked dangerous, but it was also the only lead she had on anything.

"That looks risky. Be careful." Ramuh clearly knew what she was thinking.

"Right." Madoka placed the phone away, and began running through the forest. It wasn't long before she encountered people, screaming and running. Every so often a pulse of energy would be fired from somewhere in the distance, hitting a tree or occasionally a person. They mainly wore clothing that was old-fashioned in nature, like something from a quaint European village, though there was something subtly different about it that Madoka couldn't quite put her finger on.

More importantly was what they were running from: Heartless.

Armored Knights pursued the fleeing people in packs, cutting down the ones that lagged behind. In the distance, similarly armored Heartless carrying bows launched arrows at the fleeing people, making the sky rain death.

Madoka clenched her fists. She wasn't going to let what happened in Mitakihara happen here. There was a flash, and she was in her costume, holding Crystal Clarity in her hands.

She pointed the weapon forwards and shouted "Quake!"

A portion of the ground burst beneath a crowd of Heartless, destroying them before they could slash the people fleeing from them. Madoka landed in front of the group, who looked at her with confusion. Absentmindedly, she wondered if she was in some kind of fantasy world, like something from an isekai manga. She couldn't dwell on those thoughts for long though. She had people to save!

"Go! Go! Run!" She gestured. They nodded, and kept fleeing, while Madoka spun and narrowly blocked the swing from a Knights sword. She kicked the Heartless away and then leaped towards it, bringing down her Keyblade on the monster, destroying it.

She heard a twanging sound, and then rolled to the side as a barrage of arrows came raining down on her. More Heartless were approaching. Even worse, there were still civilians in the line of fire.

"Blizzard!" She shouted, pointing her Keyblade at the ground. A wall of ice sprung up, intercepting the arrow shots.

"Is anybody hurt?" Madoka asked. She immediately noticed several people nursing arrow wounds. "Don't worry, I'm on it!"

Madoka rushed over to them. The arrows were clearly produced by some sort of Heartless magic, as they were fading into wisps of darkness, unfortunately leaving the wounds to start bleeding profusely. Though she flinched at the sight of the blood, she took a deep breath and continued.

"Cure!" Madoka held out her hand over the wound. A green light shone, and the injured woman relaxed. The wound was healed, leaving the woman perfectly healthy.

"T-thank you!" She said, smiling widely.

"No problem!" Madoka said, she then proceeded to heal the others. "Now go! Get to safety! I'll hold them off!"

As she said those words, the ice barrier started to crack. The civilians cringed and some screamed in fear.

"Hurry!" She gestured away.

The people nodded and began to flee. As the barrier broke down, Madoka focused, concentrating on the feeling of helping those people. The Flowmotion aura surrounded her, and as the ice shattered completely, she dashed forwards. When she reached the Heartless, she spun rapidly, destroying those around her.

She then turned and unleashed an Aero spell, knocking away another barrage of arrows. More Heartless were approaching. There appeared to be no end to them!

But she was stronger now. She had more tools in her arsenal. Madoka rushed forwards, sliding beneath another volley of arrows, and closing the distance with the archers. As she did so, she transformed Crystal Clarity into Eternal Struggle.

She immediately felt the boost in strength and force, the her strikes coming harder and faster. The archers couldn't keep up, too slow to attack and too slow to dodge. She finished off her attack sequence by slamming the ground, releasing another Quake spell, destroying the Heartless around her.

Before she could even celebrate, a fireball was shot at her. Madoka ducked, and then rolled out of the way as a burst of lightning came crashing towards her as well. Bell shaped Heartless were hurling spells at her.

Madoka switched back to Crystal Clarity, feeling the enhancement to her magic. She then pointed it at the cluster of Heartless.

"Aero!" The magic took form as a raging whirlwind, sucking all the Heartless together and battering them with fierce winds until they were destroyed. Madoka then leaped into the cyclone, using it's winds to propel her high into the air.

From there, she could see the source of the smoke. A village. She switched back to Eternal Struggle and came crashing down on another group of Heartless, using Flowmotion to create a burst of energy, destroying them. She then approached the village.

It was a fairly small village, comprised of single story huts. Most of them had been damaged in the fighting, though a few were still intact. Fire was everywhere. Just as Madoka was about to start searching for survivors, the fires flared, and out of them emerged Flame Cores, their wicked grin augmented by blazing fire. They immediately charged towards Madoka, who rolled out of the way. She then switched back to Crystal Clarity and pointed it at them.

"Water!" A stream of water emerged from the tip of her blade, spraying out towards the Heartless and extinguishing them. Some dodged out of the way, forcing Madoka to pull the water towards her, gathering it into a ball and then slamming that ball into the ground. As the Heartless came in for another charge, the water ball expanded, washing over them, and they were extinguished too.

Madoka breathed a sigh of relief, when she saw that there were no more Heartless around. At least for the moment. She then cast Water again, directing a stream of water over the burning buildings of the village. Best not to let the fire spread. They were in a forest after all.

It was after the fires died down that Madoka could hear it. Screams and pounding. There were still people here!

She followed the noise to where it was coming from, to find a hut that was intact, though there were chains locking shut the door. There were people inside, screaming for help. With the Keyblade, a light tap released the chains, leaving her free to open the door. Inside, she could see multiple young men and women, clearly frightened. Madoka clearly hadn't been what they were expecting.

"Are you okay? Is anyone hurt?" Why were they locked in here? They clearly didn't do it to themselves, and Heartless didn't take prisoners. What had happened? Regardless, she had to get them out of here. "C'mon! You're safe! This way! Let's get moving!"

The prisoners tentatively followed her directions, moving out of the hut and through the village in the direction the others had fled to.

Their progress was cut off by a strange pulsing sound. There was a blue flash of light, and a building in front of them exploded. The villagers screamed and fled faster, while Madoka turned towards where the shot had come from.

Standing there was a figure clad in black horned armor holding some sort of launcher over its shoulder. She saw the weapon began to glow. They were going to fire on the civilians! Acting on the first thought to come to her mind, she hurled Crystal Clarity towards the cannon, knocking it out of the warriors grip.

The cannon landed on the ground just as it fired, the explosion destroying the weapon. The warrior looked at the resulting crater then back to Madoka. They drew a spiked club from their side and charged towards her.

Madoka immediately switched to Eternal Struggle, blocking the warriors swing. He laughed, in an oddly human-like tone. Madoka quickly realized that this was a person, not a Heartless. She leapt away, narrowly avoiding another swing.

She remembered what was said about dark people being able to control Heartless. That would explain the prisoners in the hut. The warrior leaped towards Madoka. She blocked the blow, though she was knocked off her feet. He was a lot stronger than he seemed, though she was still faster. She flipped in mid-air to right herself, hit the ground, and dashed to the side, dodging another swing, and then striking him with the Keyblade.

The warriors stumbled back, before attempting to strike again. However, Madoka transformed her Keyblade, changing Eternal Struggle into its hammer form. Before he could process what was happening. She smacked him with the accelerated hammer, sending him flying through a building where he lay still.

Now, Madoka returned Eternal Struggle to it's normal form and dismissed it, leaning over and catching her breath. She looked around the village. The people were safe, meaning she now had a chance to find out where-

Madoka's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of… hooves? She turned to see four more armored warriors mounted on horses approaching, weapons drawn as they bore down upon her.

Madoka immediately re-summoned her Keyblade and prepared to cast a spell at them, only for a cannon blast to knock her off her feet.

She rose to her feet, prepared to fight as the mounted warriors bore down on her, only to hear a voice ring out.

"Four shady fellows come rushing at a young lady? That's no way to win her affections!" There was whinny, and a white horse leaped in front of her. A blond man on top drew a rapier and with two swift slashes, cut down two of the warriors. The other two curved around him, one heading for Madoka while the other attempted to engage with the blonde man.

His distraction was just what she needed. She switched back to Crystal Clarity and then cast Fire at one of the raiders, blasting him off his horse.

The newcomer leapt off his own mount and kicked the last raider off of his, downing him with a thrust of his sword.

The blonde haired man then turned to her. "Now what's a fair maiden like yourself doing on such a desolate battlefield?"

"I-" Before Madoka could answer, she heard the sound of Heartless emerging. Dark corridors appeared, and from them emerged Armored Knights. Again? This was starting to get annoying.

"Ah, more of these beasties!" The blonde man said jovially as he raised his rapier. "You made the mistake of challenging Fandral the Dashing!"

"Hello?"

Her voice echoed loudly, but there was no response. There hadn't been one for the past few hours. Or so Nagisa supposed. It was really hard to tell time here. The clock function on her phone was fritzing out and she couldn't get in contact with anyone.

She wasn't even sure where she was. Some sort of cavern, though clearly not natural. She hadn't encountered anyone or anything else the entire time she'd been here, though she still had her costume and trumpet out. She wasn't scared. No. Definitely not scared. Her echoing footsteps were definitely not unsettling. No. Not at all.

Again, she tried to call the others on her phone. Again there was some sort of interference, the screen flickered red. That was odd. She had never seen a phone do that before.

Eventually, she looked up, to see a red glow emanating from around a corner. Nagisa rushed towards it, and paused at what she saw.

Standing on a bridge over a seemingly bottomless abyss was some sort of monolith, made of two slabs of stone. Suspended between the stones was something red and glowing.

Nagisa had once stayed up late binging horror movies with Sayaka and Kyoko. While Mami had disapproved, thinking it would give her nightmares, what bothered Nagisa more was the sheer number of poor decisions made by the people in those movies.

While that critical part of her told Nagisa that this thing was dangerous and she should stay away from it, another part told her that she had been wandering for hours and this was the first unusual thing she had encountered.

She took a deep breath, and carefully approached the monolith, slowly, and ready to back away should something suddenly happen. Nothing did. The monolith stayed where it was, still glowing with that red light.

Eventually, she came up to it. Tentatively, she poked it with her trumpet. Nothing happened. She poked it again. Nothing continued to happen.

Curiosity now piqued, she pulled herself up, looking into the gap between the stones. Nagisa was completely confused at what she saw. The glowing red light was emanating from some sort of fluid that was floating around between the stones. It was eerie to look at, feeling less like it was flowing and more like it was… suddenly, the fluid stopped moving. Nagisa was confused. What was it doing? Then, before she could react, the liquid lunged towards her...

And here we are! The beginnings of the next arc!

Thanks to The Name Of Love for beta-reading and idea sounding!

~Dragonexx