Author's Note: The latest new Artwork of Union X by Nomura is amazing, but now it raises even more questions about the story and KH3 itself. Wonder how the rest of the Mobile game's story is gonna turn out.
Guess we'll wait and see 'til at somepoint this month. Speaking of stories, let's continue on with this story as he reach the climax of the Atlantis World.
I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.
CH23: Battle for the Crystal.
Not long after exiting the hidden cavern, the Crystallized Kida had been guided by the human masked soldiers and the Heartless to the two trucks waiting outside of Atlantis just before the long, wooden rope bridge. The canvas had been removed and a special-made ramp was in position to lift the Crystal aboard one of the trucks. Audrey had just finished creating a metal "container" to carry the Crystal without damaging it, locking it away with the twist of her wrench.
Sora, Milo and Kairi glared at her.
All around the crew were numerous Atlantian spectators, Milo, and the worldly travellers. The sky was dark, but showing signs of early sunrise. Milo and Sora both tried to reach to Kida, but were forced back by the soldiers.
"Ah, ah, ah! Not a step closer." Pete said, waving a finger at Sora and Milo who both glared at the large cat while they were shoved several feet back by two soldiers, while Mole and Vinny lifted the Crystal's container onto the truck while using a winch.
Sora and his friends watched as Vinny and Mole both secured the container onto the truck's bed. Packard was seated in one of the truck's cabs. Helga and Rourke were in the other.
In defeat, Milo scowled at the crew members who he and Sora's group had thought were friends, "So, I guess this is how it ends, huh? Fine. You win. You're wiping out an entire civilization, but hey, you'll be rich."
Milo turned his eyes to Audrey, saying, "Congratulations, Audrey. Guess you and your dad will be able to open up that second garage after all."
The teenaged mechanic, trying to ignore the pangs of self anger, slammed the door shut angrily at the driver's seat. Something was bothering her, and no matter how hard she tried, it was screaming at her that this was the wrong decision.
"And Vinny, you can start a whole chain of flower shops. I'm sure your family's going to be very proud." Milo continued as he cast a glare at Vinny who, while finishing up securing the container, just looked away, and if Milo and Sora's group had payed more attention, the demolition man held a sombered look.
In fact, even Cookie and Mole were both feeling the same feelings as both Audrey and Vinny.
The linguist cast a glare to all of the crew members, saying angrily, "But that's what it's all about, right? Money."
Sora and most of the worldly travellers nodded Milo emphasized the word "money". Even Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirate Captain of the Black Pearl and who had made some greedy decisions before, was disgusted at just how greedy the crew in front of him and his companions were. Jack had encountered real greedy pirates before, but as much as he held a grudge to his dead nemesis Barbossa, he had to give him credit for returning the cursed gold and as Jack once recalled the cursed crew that the first thing Barbossa wanted to do when the curse was lifted was to eat a whole bush of apples to his heart's content, but never got the chance.
As far as Jack was concerned, this was more of the case of Cutler Beckett; only for power and no care for the lives of many people. The more power you have, the more you want to control people to do what you want or just kill off innocent people who just fill up the space and are not worth it. Rourke was definitely a man who craved for money and power and was possibly thrilled to cause extinction to the Atlantians.
And Jack also knew this was far more worse; Rourke's crew were stealing the heart of this world and from his experience of travelling with Sora and all of his friends and a couple of former enemies who had turned for the better, are feeling devastated for failing to keep this world safe. It possibly wouldn't be long before this world will be destroyed and many of this world's residence will either be lost with it or get taken to another unknown world. The gummiship would have no room to take Milo or a few Atlantians, or even Sweet who he had to admit still had a heart. In fact, the Doctor was still with the Atlantian King, announcing that he was staying, most likely very angered for Rourke's decision to fatally punch the old man.
"Get off your soapbox, Thatch." Rourke said as he climbed out of his truck and stepped up to Milo and the worldly travellers, "You've read Darwin. It's called 'Natural Selection'. We're just helping it along."
The group could only glare at him in return. Lea wanted nothing more than to summon his Chakrams and slice Rourke into millions of pieces, but tried to hold it back. In fact, the redhead was pretty certain Isa, Terra, Riku, Ven, Sora, Roxas and Jack wanted nothing more than give the Commander a full, slow pain of suffering, but like the pyro, they were holding it back. None of them could ever give into the anger, or the darkness would overtake their hearts.
"Commander! We're ready!" Helga called.
"Yeah, gimme a minute." Rourke responded. He paused and started counting on his fingers. "I know I'm forgetting something. I've got the cargo...the Crystal...the crew." His eyes lit up as he remembered. "Oh, yeah."
Rourke spun around and punched Milo in the face. The young linguist was sent flying onto his back. Sora and his friends were alarmed, before Sora, Ven, Riku, Lea, Terra, Roxas, Jack and Isa all made to charge to give Rourke a piece of their minds, no longer able to hold their anger back. Before they could do anything foolish, though, Kairi grabbed hold of Sora and held him back, Mickey grabbed hold of Riku's left arm, Aqua held Terra back, Skuld stood in front of Ven and placed her hands on his chest to stop him, Xion wrapped her arms around Roxas' waist to pull him back, Donald pulled at Isa's arm, and Myde and Goofy both pulled Jack and Lea by the back of their coat and jacket.
"Look at it this way, son," Rourke began, as Milo saw a photograph from his shoulder bag had fallen out and tried to grab it but the commander stepped over and crushed the frame with his feet as he grabbed Milo's glasses from the ground and cleaned them off. "You're the man who discovered Atlantis, and now you and your friends are part of the exhibit." He then tossed the glasses to Milo who glared at him.
"So you think everybody who lives here aren't even people? You're a totally sick guy." Lea grunted angrily, but gave up on struggling as he knew that he would only make things worse. He wasn't going to lose his heart to darkness again.
Pete gave the heroes a taunting raspberry, which made Donald angry.
"Why you, little...!" Donald growled, but this time Isa held out an arm to stop him just as the former stopped the young man from attacking Rourke.
"So long, suckers! Have a nice funeral! Bwahahaha!" Pete laughed, walking away to climb into the truck, before looking back as he remembered something, "Oh! Except you won't have nobody there to attend. HA HA!"
Audrey, Vinny, Mole, Cookie, and Packard were staring at Milo and the worldly travellers as though they witnessed a shocking and tragic events. The linguist looked at the picture as though longing for comfort, and possibly mentally apologising to his late grandfather for making such a mistake. Sora and his companions gazed at him with sympathy and feelings of guilt. Mickey walked over to Milo and placed a comforting hand on the linguist's shoulder even though the young king was feeling his heart begin to drown in hopelessness.
"Let's move, people." Rourke instructed.
When no one moved, Helga scowled at the crew. "That was an order, not a suggestion! Let's go!" She snapped.
Still, no one moved. Except for Audrey who sighed, finally accepting this had been the wrong decision, before she kicked open and climbed out of the truck, approaching the group and helped Milo to his feet before glaring at Rourke.
Vinny also left his post and put his hand onto Milo's shoulder. Mole and Cookie were both next as the latter jumped out as well, scowling at Packard while joining Milo and the others. Thankfully, even the old woman tossed her cigarette, muttering to herself, "We're all gonna die."
With that, she joined up with Sora and the others who were a bit surprised but relieved that they had finally come to their senses. All of them glared at the villians who took notice of this.
"What!? You're all joining up with those li'l pipsqueaks?" Pete asked in disbelief as he turned to face the group once more.
Mickey glared at his old nemesis, "Pete, we may be smaller than you, especially me, but our hearts make us taller than you and Rourke put together!"
"Oh, you can't be serious!" Rourke groaned in disbelief and annoyance.
"This is wrong and you know it!" Audrey snarled.
"Yeah, you said it!" Donald agreed.
Rourke shook his head as he climbed out of the vehicle, saying to the five traitorous crew members, "We're this close to our biggest payday ever and you pick now of all time to grow a conscience?"
"We've done a lot of things we're not proud of," Vinny informed the corrupt commander. He started counting on his fingers. "Robbing graves, plundering tombs, double parking. But, nobody got hurt. Well, maybe somebody got hurt, but nobody we knew!"
Lea folded his arms across his chest, infroming Rourke, "I was once a bad guy myself, but there were times I questioned myself for my actions. It was my friends and Sora who helped me realise I was wrong. You're just as wrong as anyone else."
"I was in a worse case of being evil as well, and I regret that. All you care about is being rich; you don't even care about your own men. Your selfish desires will destroy you." Isa continued.
"As I once learned eleven years ago, mate. Not all treasure is silver or gold or jewels." Jack added to the commander. "Not to mention that you're taking away a king's deloved daughter and the lives of all of the natives of the city, which is something no one here can let go or forgive. Savvy?"
"You're messing with the light. The Heartless will kill you and Pete won't be there to help you." Sora said, glaring at the evil commander.
"Your heart is too clouded in darkness. You don't understand the real meaning that there are things and people far more greater and worth to live for than your ideals." Aqua concluded firmly.
"Well, if that's the way you want it, fine! More for me." Rourke said dismissively, climbing into his truck cab, while Pete and the Heartless climbed into the back of it. The commander nodded at Helga, who had taken control of the other truck. The two drove off down the wooden bridge.
As the villians drove off and were already halfway onto the long bridge, the Keyblade wielders and Milo felt changes taking place around them. The sky suddenly transitioned to complete darkness. Next, the waterfalls on the edge of the enormous plateau stopped flowing. After that, the glows on each of the Atlantians' crystals faded to the point where they were super dim. It made the worldly travellers realise the world's Light was fading.
"Rourke, stop!" Myde shouted and to the group's surprise, the young mullet-haired man began to give chase towards the wood bridge.
"Wait a minute!" Vinny warned as he rushed over and grabbed the younger man's shoulder to stop him.
Without warning, the rope bridge exploded into a fiery shower of sparks and debris. Everyone had to fall to the ground to avoid the falling debris as Rourke, Helga, Pete, the Heartless and the soldiers were on the other side, driving off into the tunnels.
Once things had calmed down, Vinny turned to Myde next to him, saying, "Okay, now you can go."
"Too late. They're already gone." Myde sighed, disappointed as he pushed himself up, kicking the ground angrily.
"There's gotta be some way to get across!" Mickey pointed out, already thinking desperately to try and come up an idea.
"Milo! Guys!" Sweet's voice called from the palace. "You'd better get up here!"
Wondering what was going on, Sora, Milo, Mickey, Kairi, Skuld and Aqua hurried over to the Atlantian Palace, with everyone else following behind.
Though Lea couldn't help but mutter, "I have a horrible feeling it isn't good news."
"I think you're right." Goofy said, sadly.
When the six of them arrived in the still ransacked Throne Room, Sweet was on the other side of the room with his medical bag. He was busy checking the Atlantian king for injuries, the latter lying on the makeshift cot.
"How is he?" Sora asked.
Sweet shook his head, admitting, "Not good, I'm afraid. Internal bleeding. There's nothing more I can do."
Mickey gasped, "Oh no...!" as he and the others approached and he could hear the horrified gasps of horror and sorrow from Kairi, Skuld and Aqua. The younger King hung his head low, eyes shut tight in utter guilt and sorrow. He knew that it was because of Rourke's punch that fatally wounded the Atlantian King—Kida's father—who was now dying.
King Mickey knew that soon Rourke would be an official murderer as well as kidnapper. He wanted desperatedly to try and comfort the older King, but felt that it wasn't his place. It was the case of Ansem the Wise, the former ruler of Radiant Garden demise all over again, only worse.
"What a nightmare...and I brought it here." Milo sighed in guilt.
"We all did." Sora muttered in the same guilt, knowing that he helped with the expedition and it was his fault.
"We're all to blame for this." Aqua somberly announced.
"Yeah." Skuld agreed, sorrowfully.
"Ah, don't go beating yourselves up." Sweet said to them, explaining, "He's been after that Crystal since Iceland."
The five worldly travellers sighed, remembering that Whitmore mentioned to Milo how Rourke lead the team to retrieve the journal when this expedition started.
"Too bad Pete stole our potions and Ethers, and we're dangerously low on our magic." Sora sighed, crossing his arms, while thinking to himself, 'And Rourke's a regular Heartless, just like Xehanort, that Beckett guy, Clayton, Shan-Yu and Yzma.'
Just then Kairi's eyes lit up, "Wait...that's it, the Crystal!"
"Huh?" Everyone else asked, confused.
"These crystals have healing magic!" Kairi announced as she stared at the crystal that hang around the old King's neck. "I saw it work on my arm earlier. We can use this to help him!"
"Really?" Sora asked, surprised.
"No." The Atlantian King shook his head, causing everyone to glance at him, asking weakly, "Where is my daughter?"
Sora, Milo, Kairi and Mickey hesitated to answer, not sure how to break the bad news.
Sighing, the older King began, "She has been chosen, like her mother before her."
"What?" Sora and Milo asked in unison, surprised.
"In times of danger, the Crystal would choose a host, one of royal blood, to protect itself and its people. It will accept no other."
"Wait a minute. Choose?" Milo inquired.
Mickey stepped closer to the older king, asking, "A-are you sayin' that the Crystal is actually alive?" as Sora, Kairi, Skuld and Aqua shared astonished glances. To think that the Crystal, the heart of this world, was alive was unbelievable.
"In a way." The older king answered to the younger king. "The Crystal thrives on the collected emotions of all who came before us. In return, it provides power... longevity... protection." He held up his own crystal like it was a tiny sample. "As it grew, it developed a consciousness of its own."
"So when Rourke kicked a small pebble into the water in the chamber, the Crystal reacted and sensed the danger from him, Helga and Pete." Sora realised. It was amazing that Crystal was alive, but at the same time, he put the pieces of the puzzle together; the Crystal felt threatened and that was why Kida was merged into it since she was the royal blood to try and protect it. Too bad that backfired.
Sora then also realised that the crystal was somewhat like a Nobody; developing a heart and feelings of it's own. Even replicas can do that. Roxas, Axel, Namine, Demyx and Xion are all the perfect examples of that, and now all five of them and Isa were made humans. Well, Axel returned as Lea who got his heart back. Same with Isa and Demyx and all of the original Organization XIII members.
The Atlantian King then continued, "There was once a great war for the Light of the world. Young warriors of weapons known as Keyblades fought to protect it, but all began to turn against one another, believing one another was stealing their light, collected to prevent the war from happening."
Skuld gasped when she heard this, before asking hurriedly, "This wouldn't happen to be the Keyblade War, would it?" which made Sora, Kairi, Mickey and Aqua gasp in shock at this new revolation.
"Yes," The old king nodded, "Five Unions turned against one another, because of the belief there was a traitor among them. Their master, who calls himself the Master of Masters, came to Atlantis and warned me of the dangers. The great God we call Bhunivelze, who hated the freedom other gods created in us, brought upon the hatred with his powers to destroy us all. In my arrogance, I sought to use the Crystal's power as a weapon of the war, to stop Bhunivelze. But it's power grew too great to control; it overwhelmed us, and lead to our destruction."
"And when that light faded from the world, that darkness overtook it and thus the Keyblade War began, destroying it." Skuld finished for him, hanging her head low. "And the new Union Masters lead Keyblade Wielders were not at the war to rebuild it..."
It was clear to her now that like Ventus, possibly Lauriam, Ephemer and herself, the Atlantian King, his daughter and most of Atlantis who survived are the original survivors of the Keyblade War. Skuld couldn't bring herself into revealing that she is one of the second generation of the Union Masters...and how they'd been betrayed. On top of that, the Crystal itself was part of the original world, possibly connected to Kingdom Hearts.
Sora couldn't believe what he'd been hearing. So it was Bhunivelze and the Keyblade War that caused Atlantis to come here in the first place. He knew now, Chaos had to be stopped or else Bhunivelze would return and destroy everything and rebuild it in his image all over again.
"That's why you hid the Crystal beneath Atlantis; To keep anyone from using it and repeat history." Aqua realised. One thing still didn't add up to her, though; Wasn't the X-Blade involved in the first War too? The very weapon Master Xehanort wanted before his demise?
"Because you were worried history would repeat itself." Mickey added, "That's why you didn't want anybody to come here."
"And to prevent Kida from suffering the same fate as my beloved wife." The old King nodded.
"What do you mean?" Milo asked, puzzled and now worried, "W-What's going to happen to Kida?"
The Atlantian King answered, "If she remains bonded to the Crystal, she could be lost to it...forever."
The five Keyblade wielders gasped softly in shock at this.
"I'm really sorry, your majesty. It's all our fault." Mickey sobbed, leaning against the makeshift cot the older King was dying on and buried his face in his arms, crying. Sora, Milo, Kairi, Skuld, Aqua and even Sweet hung their heads low in guilt, and seeing the younger king cry broke their hearts.
"Do not blame yourself...King Mickey." The Atlantian King said, gently placing a hand onto Mickey's head as the latter gazed up at him, shocked and confused at what he just said. Everyone else was stunned as well. How'd he know? "I had known since you first came...you have the same power as the Sorcerer, Yen Sid."
"You knew Master Yen Sid?" Mickey asked, surprised. He knew that his mentor had once been on many adventures in his youth before retiring from his Keyblade duties, but never once thought that Atlantis was one of the worlds the powerful Sorcerer who is now in Aced's clutches ventured to.
"He came...years ago in his youth. I taught him to never use his powers to overwhelm him. I will tell you what I have told him;...Do not make the same mistakes as I have done, to your home or kingdom."
When Mickey didn't respond, the older king continued, "You have your friends and family...to protect. Don't lose sight of the love you have for them...the love of my daughter is all I have left."
He then turned his gaze to Milo and the others, "My burden would have become hers when the time was right." He took off his crystal and handed it to Milo, concluding, "But now...it falls to you."
"Me?" Milo was surprised and shocked.
The young linguist moved forward and took the crystal, as the king put his hand onto the young man's shoulder, saying to Milo, "Return the Crystal...save Atlantis...save my daughter."
The Atlantian King then gazed both Mickey and Sora who knelt next to the younger King and gazed at the older King who said once more, "Save the worlds...tell Yen Sid...he has chosen you both and Riku well..."
With a final soft breath, the King's hand fell from Milo's shoulder. His eyes sealed shut and he stopped breathing. Sora and Milo stared in shock for a moment before looking down. Milo shut his eyes. The guards watching over the group bowed down and closed their eyes, too. The sound of a trumpet shell echoed in the distance.
Kairi sobbed softly, Skuld and Aqua both hung their heads, Mickey lowered his head and shut his eyes, tears falling free and Sora sighed in guilt and sorrow. They all failed to protect a world from the Heartless and failed to prevent the death of the Atlantian King. Sora then realised that, in the older king's last words, he wasn't completely wrong; it had been Yen Sid who taught both Sora and Riku of the situation of the Heartless and who had also put them into the Mark of Mastery, which made him realise that they were now also the Sorcerer's two new apprentinces.
Though neither of the two teenagers had the same training as Mickey did when the young king was Yen Sid's Apprentince, Sora still felt mentored by him as well as by Mickey. It made him even more determined to find the Sorcerer and save him from Aced, as well as save Angeal and Genesis. But first, Atlantis had to be saved, and Kida had to be rescued.
Sweet had just finished packing his medical bag. He walked towards the gaping hole in the stone doorway. "So, what's it gonna be?" he asked.
Milo, Sora, and Mickey turned their eyes to him. "Excuse me?" Milo asked.
"I followed you in," Sweet replied. "And I'll follow you out. It's your decision, Milo."
"Oh, my decision?" Milo began, suddenly realising he was made leader of this small group. "Well, I think we've seen how effective my decisions have been. Let's recap; I lead a band of thieving vandals to the greatest archaeological discovery in the history of mankind, thus enabling the kidnap and/or murder of the royal family. Not to mention, delivering the most-powerful force known to man into the hands of a mercenary nutcase who's probably gonna sell it to the Kaiser! Have I left anything out!?"
"Well, you did set the camp on fire and drop us down that big hole." Sweet reminded.
"Thank you! Thank you very much!" Milo declared in a sarcastic voice. He sat down on a nearby rock to mope.
Sora sighed, shaking his head. There were times that he almost failed before, and back then, he hadn't been willing to give up. Other worlds still needed their help, and Sora was willing to set things right in this world.
With a nod to himself, the teenager approached Milo, saying, "Hey, c'mon! This isn't the time to beat yourself! Okay, so all of us were tricked, and the crystal was stolen, so what? You can still get it back! I know you can! No matter who deep the darkness is, there's always Light that never goes out!"
Mickey, feeling the words from Sora form new hope and determination within his heart, realised what the teenager was saying. In retrospect, the two of them shared a very similiar personality. That was why Donald and Goofy became close friends with Sora and why Riku became close friends with Mickey himself.
"He's right." Mickey spoke up, approaching the two of them, continuing, "Rourke probably hasn't gone that far yet, and I'm sure there's a way to stop him before he leaves this place. Follow the hearts and you'll know the way."
"Who told you guys?" Milo sighed.
"It's something Kairi showed me about the light." Sora replied.
Kairi nodded in agreement, "It was when he saved me."
"And it's also something Aqua once told me." Mickey added, with Aqua nodding in agreement.
Skuld, feeling sensing renewed hope, added, "Let your Heart be Your guiding Key, and I know in your heart, it's telling you what you can do."
"Those sound something like a fellow by the name of 'Thaddeus Thatch' would have said."
Milo opened his hand and gazed at the crystal in it. For a few moments, nothing happened. Then, he clutched the crystal tightly in one hand and knew that Sora, Mickey, Skuld and Sweet were right. The young man then marched towards the doorway and through the opening where on the other side the rest of the worldly travellers, Audrey, Vinny, Mole, Cookie and Packard were waiting.
"Where are you goin'?" Terra asked.
"I'm going after Rourke." Milo said with determination.
"Are you crazy!? It's too risky!" Myde protested in shock.
"I didn't say it was the smart thing," The linguist said, "But it is the right thing."
"I'll go too. You'll need all the help you can get." Mickey declared with equal determination.
"Me too. I'm not letting you guys go alone." Sora added, as he and the king followed the linguist. The rest of the worldly travellers and expeditions crew followed the trio who approached a large, abandoned fish-shaped vehicle. Sora, Mickey and Milo climbed on top of it.
"What are you doing?" Isa asked, skeptically.
"Just follow our lead." Sora nodded, as Milo placed his crystal into the slot the way Kida had. The vehicle rose into the air.
"Whoa!" Ven, Lea, Roxas and Myde exclaimed in awe.
"Ay-yhuck! Flying fish!" Goofy commented.
"Well," Packard began, sarcastically, "I'm impressed."
"It's simple, all you gotta do-"
"Ah, let me drive!" Donald, who had been thoroughly amazed, interrupted Milo as the duck climbed up with the trio and made to press the panel.
"Donald!" Sora warned.
"Donald, no!" Mickey cried out.
Too late, the mage slammed his hand onto the control panel. The vehicle flew swiftly in reverse and slammed into the wall behind it. Several people standing close by gasped at the sound of the accident. Donald, Mickey, Sora and Milo quickly recovered while the vehicle shut off.
Shaking his head, Mickey told him, "Donald, you gotta be really gentle with these things."
"May I suggest that you use something more...stable? Perhaps a whale?" Jack piped up, a bit sarcastically.
"How is this done?" One of the Atlantian guards inquired.
"Just use the crystals. Kida showed us earlier." Sora explained with a nod.
The linguist and the two Keybladers along with Kairi took a few seconds to show the guards how to use the crystals to start up the various vehicles. Before long, a large amount of fish-shaped vehicles were airborne alongside a few hammerhead shark-shaped ones. Sora, Mickey and Milo had taken charge of a single shark-vehicle, Kairi and Aqua took another, as did Audrey and Sweet. Jack and Myde took the large fish vehicle, as did Donald and Goofy, Mole, Lea and Xion, Roxas and Isa, Terra, and Riku, Ven and Skuld. Within minutes a whole Atlantian air force was hovering above the ruined city.
"All right, this is it! We're gonna rescue the princess! We're gonna save Atlantis! Or we're gonna die trying!" Milo declared, "Now let's do this!"
The vehicles were soaring away within seconds as Sora and Mickey both felt confident once more. Things were about to set right, even though they were about to go into a small war against Rourke, his soldiers, Pete and the Heartless.
In the volcanic chamber, the Heartless soldiers had proved to be quite handy. Many of the totaled machinery had been taken apart and remade into various things. Among them was a truck that had been modified into a plane launcher. Heartless soldiers were taking orders from Helga to construct small battle planes in case anyone showed up and tried to interfere.
Some of the human soldiers made makeshift cannons and pulled the trigger, sending a small rocket up the shaft. The fireball collided with the top of the tunnel and sent a series of falling rocks. Everyone managed to avoid from getting crushed.
Rourke emerged from his hiding place behind the boulder and strode up to the rocks and gazed upward. In the middle of the ceiling far above, the blue sky could be seen and the sunlight was shining down.
Rourke gave a sinister grin. "I love it when I win."
The Atlantian air force was well underway. Sora, Mickey and Milo led the others across the gap between the city's plateau and to the opening beside Mole's drilling machine. They were now soaring down the volcanic tunnel towards the heart of the volcano. The cavern was still dark except for a strange reddish glow.
Sora was focused straight ahead. After all, Milo wasn't paying attention to where they were flying. If the linguist, the mouse king and spiky haired teenager crashed into the wall, everyone else would do the same.
Milo turned around to see everyone behind and called, "Okay, here's the plan. We're going to come in low and fast and take them by surprise."
"I've got news for you, Milo," Audrey replied from nearby. "Rourke is never surprised, and he has a lot of guns."
"Great. Well, do you have any suggestions?" Milo asked.
"I have one; Don't do anything stupid!" Jack called from his and Myde's vehicle.
"Yeah, like get shot!" Vinny added in agreement.
"Guys, we have'ta be careful with both the soldiers and the Heartless!" Mickey called to everyone, "Who knows what they have in their minds!"
As everyone prepared to make a trip upward, one of the soldiers pulled a lever which the truck's compartment opened, causing an enormous, airship to inflate. The airship resembled a giant, red hot-air balloon with two matching, smaller balloons. A propeller on the bottom allowed the airship to rise vertically.
Pete glanced at Rourke with a dumbfounded expression, "You're using a hot-air balloon to get us outta here?"
"Well, we don't have other aircrafts to carry the Crystal, now do we?" Rourke replied with a challenging look, as he helped to lift the container up while Helga secured the container to the airship using a winch. As the airship started to carry the Crystal upward, Rourke's grin intensified.
Suddenly Pete's eyes eyes switched to the tunnel leading towards the ancient city and his mouth dropped open in shock as a number of flying vehicles shaped like fish and hammerhead sharks were heading straight toawrds him and the other villians and Heartless. In the lead shark was none other than Mickey Mouse, Sora and Milo.
Where'd they come from?
"There they are!" Milo shouted.
"Let's get'em!" Mickey declared as he, Sora and the other wielders summoned their Keyblades.
"Uh-oh...!" Pete muttered, now getting really worried.
Rourke, who had heard the familiar voices, turned sharply and he too was shocked, before quickly shouting to his group, "We've got company!"
He quickly lambered aboard the airship and climbed up to a metal landing where Helga was located, which Pete noticed and cried out as he hurried onboard, "Hey—Wait for me!"
The Heartless and soldiers in the meantime quickly battled against the Atlantian AirForce. From the patches of darkness, flying Heartless appeared and began to battle against them. The Keyblade wielders, except for Jack, all stood as still as possible on their vehicles and began to battle it out against the Heartless, while the Atlantian's shot arrows at the soldiers who fired back with rifles.
Sora and Mickey both climbed onto the back of their and Milo's shark-vehicle before slashing and whacking away the flying Heartless that tried to get to them. Sora tossed his Keyblade through the air which it flew around and eliminated the Heartless before returning to him. Mickey slashed and swiped at the Heartless without the risk of jumping and accidently falling off and being careful in using his magic since they were running low.
Lea switched out from his Keyblade after whacking away another Heartless and summoned his Chakrams, coping Sora, Roxas and Ven's movements, throwing them like frisbees that successfully sliced the Heartless and suddenly airplanes with human soldiers in half, causing one airplane to explode in mid-air.
That's when the worldly travellers and Milo saw the flying airplanes with the human soldiers. One of the planes shot directly at Sora, Mickey and Milo who barely dodged it.
"Holy smokes!" Milo exclaimed, turning to Audrey who was in the shark-vehicle below him, Mickey and Sora, "You told me he only had guns!"
"What I said was 'He's never surprised'," Audrey argued.
"Forget that! We have other things to worry about!" Sora cried out while quickly slashing another Heartless into oblivion.
Milo nodded before swooping into view of the airship. Aqua and Kairi both thrusted their Keyblade at the Heartless coming their way, while Skuld and Ven both double-combo the Heartless as Riku and Terra did the similiar thing. Xion used at least one Blizzard Spell to freeze the incoming Heartless that headed towards her and Lea. Isa and Roxas did the same as Kairi and Aqua did. Goofy tossed his Shield at the Heartless that attempted to get near Sora, Mickey and Milo who thanked them and the Knight saluted while Donald waved.
Another airplane shot are Jack and Myde who both cried out while the latter tried to use his Sitar to stop it, only to accidently bump Jack into the panel and both men's hands touched the panel where a surge of blue-colored electricity flew from the fish's mouth and struck a truck down below where a few Heartless and human soldiers were shooting from. Vinny had done the same thing while trying to avoid in getting shot.
The three of them and the Atlantian Guards smiled when they saw what happened.
"That's interesting." Jack commented.
Myde let out an impressed whistle, "Old Atlantian guys sure knew how to build their stuff."
"Okay, now things are gettin' good!" Vinny grinned.
"Heads up, fellas!" Mickey called out as he, Sora and Milo swooped in, the forming pointing at the hot-air-balloon, "We gotta stop them from reaching the shaft!"
The three others nodded and focused on the enemies. The Atlantian Guards were using surges of electricity, successfully destroying the airplane launcher and some more Heartless and human soldiers on the ground below. Xion and Lea both tricked a few human soldiers and Heartless in airplanes by flying towards the rock walls. The two travelles then flew up on their vehicle while the six enemies saw too late and crashed into the wall, exploding into a ball of fire seconds later.
Lea and Xion grinned before giving each other a high-five.
As Jack and Myde both destroyed an airplane in front of them, the duo flew right through the thick black smoke after the enemy plane exploded, coughing and their faces briefly covered in charcole.
"Think I got some smoke on my mouth." Myde muttered in disgust.
"Myde, Jack!" Sora called up as he, Mickey and Milo swooped close to the duo, "The five of us are gonna distract Rourke!"
Milo turned his attention to Audrey and Sweet, as well as Xion, Lea, Donald and Goofy, "Audrey, Sweet, Xion, Lea, Donald, Goofy! Fly up underneath that thing and cut her loose!"
"Got it!" Lea nodded.
"We're on it!" Sweet gave the others a thumbs up.
"Let's go!" Donald agreed.
All four vehicles flew towards the balloon where Rourke and Helga were using every weapon they could use against the Atlantian battle vessels while Pete continued to shout orders to the Heartless, but the more the Heartless and the soldiers were being defeated, the more he was beginning to really panic. Now the focus was on Sora, Mickey, Milo, Myde and Jack who flew in two different fish-vehicles while taking down more Heartless that tried to attack them.
Just then, a Keyblade hit Pete on the back of the head, causing him to be seeing stars comically circle around his head and he could hear birds tweeting before he fell onto the platform, dazed while Mickey's Star-Seeker Keyblade returned to him as the King's little revenge for capturing him earlier.
"...Not this again." Pete groaned, dazed.
Below the three villians, Lea was trying to use his Chakrams since his fire abilities needed serious recovery, Goofy was using his shield, Xion was using her Keyblade, and Audrey was using a body-saw Sweet had carried with him, trying to caught the rather stubborn chains holding the container.
"Ugh! I wish I could use my fire to melt these chains!" Lea grunted, irritated.
"Less talk, more saw!" Sweet ordered impatiently.
Sora, Mickey and Milo zoomed past Rourke who was firing at the trio with a machine gun but kept on missing, much to the commander's irritation. Just then, a surge of blue electricity suddenly appeared from above and crushed the weapon out of the commander's hands. He glared upwards, where Jack grinned back and Myde gave the evil commander a taunting raspberry while he sticked his thumbs in his ears and twiddled his fingers in a motion of 'Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah!' before the two flew off.
As Rourke glanced down, he saw Donald, Goofy, Lea, Xion, Sweet and Audrey below, trying to cut the container from the balloon and turned to Helga who just ran out of ammo from her gun, "Looks like somebody's workin' overtime."
The lieutenant nodded before approaching the platform's railing. She pushed a small torpedo off the airship. It flew down and nearly hit Donald, Xion and Sweet. Donald panicked before pulling Goofy off.
Lea looked up and noticed, and cried out, "Uh-oh! Time to go!" and stopped what he was doing before grabbing Audrey by the collor of her shirt before they, Donald, Goofy, Xion and Sweet dragged back their vehicles where they soared away just as Helga pushed a second torpedo after them.
Meanwhile, Sora and Mickey were both still fighting the Heartless that were coming towards them and Milo who continued to steer their vessel, until hundreds more appeared.
"Well, guys, any last words?" Milo asked, nervously as he noticed.
"Nope." Mickey shrugged.
"Not me." Sora shook his head, "How 'bout you?"
The linguist nodded, confessing, "Yeah, I really wish I had better idea than this!"
Mickey knew that they had to do something or else they'd lose the Crystal, but at the same time, if they didn't focus, then the Heartless would crash their vessel, until he noticed a series of brown ropes keeping the airship together, especially at the hot-air-balloon's third balloon, before a crazy idea formed in the King's mind.
"Sora!" Mickey shouted, "You keep Milo safe and distract the Heartless! I'll go stop Rourke!"
"What!?" Milo cried out.
"Wait, your majesty!" Sora protested.
"Don't worry. Just trust me!" Mickey said, firmly.
Seeing the determination in the king's eyes, Sora immediately knew that Mickey couldn't think of a better idea. Had Sora come up with the same idea, he would've done the same thing, but as Mickey told him to protect Milo, the younger Keyblade Master had to trust him.
"Okay! Let's do this!" Sora declared.
Milo, while thinking that this was a crazy idea, steered the shark-resembling vehicle on a direct route for the airship's third balloon, and while he and Sora soared past and the latter thrusted another flying Heartless back smacking it to the wall with his Kingdom Key, Mickey jumped and slashed the third balloon with his Kingdom Key-D, bursting it while he grabbed the ropes from the main balloon to prevent himself from falling and quickly hanged on.
Rourke was furious when he saw Sora and Milo soar past and Mickey having destroyed the airship's third balloon, before noticing that the vessel was slowly starting to descend.
"We're losing altitude," He informed his lieutenant. "Lighten the load."
Helga grabbed a container of extra fuel and tossed it over board. She then shoved some wooden crates over the side. She wiped some sweat from her forehead. "That's it, unless someone wants to jump." She said.
The two glanced at Pete who stood up and shook his head to snap out of the daze, before noticing that Rourke and Helga were glaring at him. When the fat villian noticed what was happening, he held up his hands while backing away slowly.
"...Well, maybe to make things lighter and since I don't wanna jump...I'm outta here!" Pete cried out before using his teleport powers to get out of this world, disappearing in a dust of cloud which vanished as well.
"Well, that's one fat lard out of the way. Who wants to jump next?" Helga asked sarcastically.
Rourke snuck up from behind and grabbed the blonde-haired woman's arms. "Ladies first."
He shoved Helga over the railing. The lieutenant grabbed the edge of the platform and jumped back. She kicked a startled Rourke in the mouth and knocked him back.
"You said we were in this together!" She yelled furiously at the betrayal, repeatedly kicking his face. "You promised me a percentage!"
Rourke grabbed her foot. "Next time, get it in writing!"
With a great shove, he threw Helga over the railing. She yelled in alarm and panic while she fell towards the volcanic ground below.
"Nothing personal!" Rourke called down to his former lieutenant.
Mickey, shocked and horrified at the betrayal Rourke had displayed to his own lieutenant, untied part of the rope and used it to swing down, holloring a Tarzan-like yell, clobbering the stunned commander, knocking him down to the lower floor platform and dangerously above the repellars still swinging around.
However, Rourke surprisingly grabbed hold of Mickey's arm and tossed him to the floor with him where the king nearly fell off the platform all together, grunting as the impact hurt his ribs, but Mickey ignored the pain and instead glared up at the evil commander who was responsible for this mess, and the one who carelessly murdered Kida's father.
"Well, I have to hand it to ya', Mouse. You, Thatch and that Sora are a bigger pains in the neck than I ever thought possible." Rourke told Mickey as his body was now reeking with darkness that was forming on his body.
Mickey stood up and glared at the commander, holding a tight grip on his Keyblade. "I'll never forgive ya' for what you did to Kida, to her father and to her people!" The young king snarled. "It's not fair to any of 'em!"
Rourke just laughed cruely, "Life is never fair. Get used to it!"
"Never!" Mickey yelled, aiming his Keyblade to slash at Rourke's face while leaping upwards. To his shock, the commander grabbed it by the blade, before spinning around a couple of times with Mickey clinging onto the weapon's hilt and when Rourke let go, Mickey was flown backwards into the railing which caused him to fall and had to hold on while his weapon dismissed itself and the railing damaged the repellars above him, causing it to stop when it got stuck.
"I consider myself an even-tempered man," Rourke told him as he leaned down and darkness growing stronger and stronger, "It takes a lot to get under my skin, well congratulations! You've just won the solid-gold kewpie doll!"
When Sora and Milo both saw what was happening, as did Kairi, Aqua, Riku, Terra, Donald and Goofy, they cried out to Mickey's name and all made to help him, but each of their vehicles were blocked by five Heartless each, all of them knowing that it was coming from Rourke's darkness.
"Back off!" Sora shouted, as he swung his Keyblade through one of the Heartless and slashed it clear through the other four. The monsters were vanquished immediately and a group of captive hearts were sent drifting into the air. Sora was then forced to clobber another Heartless' head while Milo, trying desperately to reach Mickey and the Crystal, had been forced to avoid getting hit by other Heartless while Riku, Aqua, Donald and Goofy tried to do the same, but could only watch and hope that Mickey would be alright.
On the ground, Helga was on her back, having landed fatally on the volcano ground before she gazed up and saw the aircraft still going up. Betrayed and now wanting nothing more than her revenge even though it was her last, she struggled to reach behind her back and barely was able to pull out a large pistol while the numbers of Heartless and the soldiers were dropping rapidly due to the worldly travellers, the Atlantian Guards and the five former crew members.
"Nothing...personal..." She said weakly, before pulling the trigger. A ball of fire flew in a spiraling motion at her target.
Just as Rourke was about to go down and kill Mickey, a fiery flare flew the two of them and struck the main balloon of the airship. The whole vehicle burst into flames. He was beyond appalled. Not only had he lost his only means of escape with the Atlantian Crystal, but now he still had to deal with Mickey and even Milo and Sora should the two of them try and stop him as well.
Rourke punched a small red box and crushed its glass before reaching in and pulling out a fire axe, climbing down to Mickey who landed onto the container attempted to climb back up and summon the Star Seeker Keyblade, but found himself trapped and unable to find enough room or time to do so as the evil and insanely fast commander was now more determined to kill him and anyone who stood in his way.
Mickey ducked as the commander swung his axe in a chopping motion.
"Tired, Mickey Mouse?" Rourke taunted, before he tried again downward and ended up missing, smashing the axe into a porthole-shaped window on the container, causing pieces of glass to go flying about, though some were still sticking onto the container. "Aw, that's a darn shame, because I'm just getting warmed up!"
As Mickey avoided in getting sliced, he noticed the shards of broken glass and felt the Crystal's light tainted onto it before another quick idea came to him. Light brightens the darkness and Rourke's heart was completely blackened in darkness. So a tainted piece of glass coated by the Crystal's light could possibly stop the villian for good. Mickey quickly pulled the shard off before he was grabbed by the front of his shirt-jacket and was held up in the air by Rourke who aimed to thrust the axe into his chest.
The king could hear the horrified cries from Sora, Milo, Kairi, Riku, Donald, Goofy, Aqua and Terra, and without delay Mickey sliced the glass shard along Rourke's left arm. The villain dropped his axe in alarm and pain, giving Mickey the chance to escape his grasp and climbed up the chains as far as possible.
As Rourke glared at him with pure hatred, he suddenly felt a very unusual and painful sensation spread into his arm where the cut had been made. To his horror, his body was starting to turn blue and crystal-like, transforming him into a blue-tinted figure with yellow-and-red eyes.
Mickey hanged on before feeling his grasp slip from the chains and cried out in alarm. He would've fallen to his death had Sora and Milo suddenly not appeared when they jumped from the shark vehicle and grabbed hold of the chains while each grabbing hold of Mickey's arms, the three of them hanging in the air.
"Sora! Milo! You came back!" Mickey cried out, surprised and very relieved.
"Never would've let anything happen to my friends!" Sora replied with a wink, and Milo nodded in agreement. Mickey smiled back in gratitude to the teenager and young linguist, before the three of them gazed below them to see the fully transformed and seemingly frozen Rourke.
"Did you just...?" Sora trailled off.
"Yup. I'll explain later." Mickey replied.
"Thank heaven." Milo sighed.
Suddenly a large muscular arm appeared, making Milo, Mickey and Sora scream in alarm and the trio being forced to lean back as the fully transformed but still alive Rourke climbed up to try and kill all three of them. Sora then saw the chains and repellers and had an idea, summoning his Keyblade before carefully whacked Rourke's head upward to distract him while he and his two friends quickly lowered themselves.
Rourke in the meantime saw too late at Sora's distraction and found himself leaned straight up to the now again moving repellars, being sliced in half by it, before he shattered into countless shards of glass. The impact also caused the repellers to explode and also break the chains which resulted the container, Sora, Mickey and Milo to fall to the ground.
The trio landed into the volcanic ash a few inches from it, rubbing their heads, before gazing up when the blazing remains of the airship headed directly for them.
"Oh, great!" Milo complained.
"Just push!" Sora shouted, as he and Mickey clambered up to their feet and as did Milo, the three of them rushed around the pod to the other side. They pushed with all their might and sent the container rolling into the middle of the chamber. They dashed after it.
While the remains crashed in a loud thud onto the volcanic ground, Sora, Mickey and Milo fell face-first onto the ground. The entire cavern shook so violently, it would have appeared to have been an earthquake. The trio stood up as Donald, Goofy, Kairi, Aqua, Riku, Terra, Jack, Myde, Ven, Skuld, Lea, Xion, Roxas, Isa, Audrey, Sweet, Vinny, Cookie, Mole and the Atlantian vehicles landed around the three of them.
But while everyone was relieved that the battle was over and they successfully retrieved the Crystallized Kida, they were not out of the woods yet.
A/N: Okay...so Atlantis will be five and a half chapters long. *Shrugs sheepishly*. I don't want to make the chapter extremely long, so sorry about that. The next chapter will definitely end the Atlantis world and then we'll move onto the next world.