Finally back on the writing grind! Been taking a bit of a hiatus to deal with real-life stuff, but I'm here again!
"The monsters seemed to be targeting Melty," Eclair added once Keel had finished. "Why that was the case is beyond me."
"Well, as long as Melty stays in Lighthaven," said Aris, "that makes her - and by extension the rest of the area - a prime target for the Heartless. And that leaves us with one of two options."
"Which are?" said Sora.
"The first is simple: we have Melty evacuate and stay on the move at all times," Aris replied. "But now that I think about it, doing so might not be such a good idea, seeing as Lighthaven needs someone like her in charge."
"So, what's the second option?" asked Raphtalia.
"We send a group back there to serve as her bodyguards," said Aris. "Problem is, I don't know who to send."
"The Heartless can only be harmed with weapons of light," Sora suggested. "Keyblades in particular. So, me and Keel could return with a few others."
"Yeah," Aris agreed, "but you're more experienced with fighting Sephiroth. And if he shows up again, we'll need all the help we can get."
"Not only that, but the Familiars are fighting alongside great numbers of Heartless," Ost added.
"I'll go," Ness volunteered.
Aris nodded. "Sounds good." He turned to Keel. "Kid, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you'll have to return, too. I'm comfortable with having you fight a few Heartless every now and then, but not the hordes of Familiars and Heartless we're fighting out here."
Keel sighed, reluctantly nodding her head.
"I'll go, too," Pit chimed in.
"You sure?" asked Aris.
Pit nodded.
"Small problem," Keel suddenly pointed out. "How are we gonna get back quick enough?"
"I've got an idea!" Ness snapped his fingers. "I'll use PSI Teleport to warp us there. It can take up to four people - me included - to any area I've visited in the past."
"Alright then," said Pit.
Ness, Keel, and Pit all left to warp back to Lighthaven.
BGM: A Walk in Andante - Kingdom Hearts 2.5 ReMix
The next day, Aris and the remaining members of the Rebellion broke camp and prepared to set off for the Spirit Tortoise. Ost, Joker, Rishia, and Cloud had all loaded up onto Filo's wagon, which Raphtalia would drive. Loretta would fly alongside them via her Sheikah Armor while Aris would use his motorcycle.
A horse whinnied as the sound of hooves grew closer to the group. An armor-clad Eclair rode up on a white stallion. "Sir Aris, I assume the plan remains the same?"
Aris nodded his head. "Yep. Try not to die out there."
Eclair smirked. "I should say that to you." She took off with a snap of her steed's reins.
Once Eclair had left, Raphtalia turned to Aris. "Ready to set it up?"
"Oh, yeah, forgot about that," Aris remarked as he boarded the wagon to help Raphtalia fasten a tall pole to the front.
"What's that for?" asked Filo.
"It's a surprise," Aris told her. "Raphtalia's idea."
End BGM
"All hands!" called Eclair as she raised her sword skyward.
"Ready!" the battalion behind her responded.
Swords were drawn, including that of Ake, who, upon hearing that the Shield Hero would be helping to fight the Spirit Tortoise, had volunteered his assistance without hesitation.
Behind the swordsmen, halberd knights readied their shields. In front of them, the dragon cavalry sat atop their mounts, ready to charge.
Eclair pointed her sword forward. "Charge!"
The cavalrymen followed directly behind her, followed then by the swordsmen and then the spearmen.
Ake heard something - something vaguely familiar. It was a deep, mechanical rumble.
Suddenly, a swordsman somewhere to Ake's right pointed. "Over there! That flag! It's the Shield Hero!"
Ake turned his head, and a smile beamed from his face.
Billowing in the wind was the flag of New Hyrule. It sat bolted to a wagon pulled by a beautiful Filolial, alongside which Aris drove his mechanical wolf on wheels.
Overhead, Ake saw an armored figure soar through the air as blue energy burned from their palms and feet.
Aris looked to his right, witnessing the sea of soldiers cheering for him.
Amid the cacophony of praise, Ake let out a cheer of his own: "We won't let you down!"
Aris smiled and raised his left hand, the back of which faced the soldiers. On it, a symbol of three triangles glowed with golden light before enlarging for all to see. The bottom right triangle gleamed the brightest of all.
"So that's what you were setting up," Elrasla remarked. "You managed to raise the army's morale just by letting them know we're here to help."
"Well, that's part of it," said Raphtalia. "But the flag serves another purpose: a means of warning the soldiers not to get too close."
"Why's that?" asked Joker.
"You'll see."
BGM: Tearing Through Heaven - Fire Emblem: Three Houses
The Rebellion of the Shield quickly split off from the soldiers, as the latter group charged the Spirit Tortoise.
A swarm of two monster species flew overhead: a mixture of Bat Familiars and Vaporfly Heartless. Aris lifted his right arm, activating a shield he'd unlocked a while back. "Hate Reaction!"
Overhead, the Bat Familiars and Vaporflies directed their course away from the soldiers and made a beeline for the Rebellion.
"Filo, full speed ahead!" said Raphtalia. "We can't let them catch up!"
"You got it!" Filo started flapping her wings to increase her speed. Aris hit the throttle on his motorcycle; its engine roared as it kept up with Filo and the others.
Aris's CD-Comm beeped. "I'll help Eclair and the soldiers keep the Spirit Tortoise distracted," Loretta said through it. "Keep doing what you're doing!"
"Got it!" said Aris.
The soldiers continued their advance, meeting the Spirit Tortoise between two mountains. Siege weapons lined the slopes, ready to fire upon the titan.
Aris looked over. "We've got it right where we want it," he said.
"They're gaining on us!" Sora exclaimed. The Bat Familiars and Vaporflies were, sure enough, closing in on the Rebellion.
Filo panted. "I...I can't keep this up much longer!"
In front of her, shadows formed on the ground. A horde of Neoshadow Heartless emerged. Filo brought the wagon to a grinding halt as Aris hit the brakes on his bike. Everyone dismounted the vehicles and readied their weapons.
"These things are going down here and now!" said Aris as he brandished the Master Sword.
Sora called his Keyblade. "Let's do this!"
"Alright, Zephyrus," Joker said, addressing Rishia by her new Phantom Thief moniker. "Show me what you've learned!"
Ost stood tall within the wagon, lifting her hands while conjuring some sort of magic. "Ultra Gravity Enhancement: Sinking Temple!"
Suddenly, the Bat Familiars and Vaporflies began to plummet to the ground like raindrops during a tropical storm. "Where'd you learn that?" said Cloud as he readied his Fusion Sword.
"Only a select few of my kind can use magic like this," Ost replied. "But now is not the time for explanations!"
A barrage of artillery fire pelted the Spirit Tortoise as Loretta flew overhead, using her armor to summon high-power bombs to drop onto the giant. She soared over the Spirit Tortoise, loosing bombs as if she were an AC-130.
The titanic tortoise lifted one of its front legs and brought it down on a battery of siege weapons, barely missing the operators as they ran to avoid the incoming stomp. The attack left behind a sizable crater.
"M. A. I. A., gimme a sitrep!" said Loretta.
"Target's takin' heavy fire," replied M. A. I. A.'s robotic Scottish accent. "Almost managed to flatten some poor bastards with its foot. Probably gonna try again soon."
"Got it," said Loretta.
We've gotta take this thing down soon, she thought. If it gets another chance to try and squash the artillery, I don't know if we'll be walking away with even half as many people as we came here with...
Raphtalia's sword lit up with light and dark energy. "Ying-yang blade!" She cut down a Neoshadow, causing two large projectiles - one of light and one of darkness - to tear through more of them. At least, the light did. The Neoshadows were able to somehow absorb the dark projectile.
"The Heartless are creatures of darkness," Sora pointed out to Raphtalia as he killed a Neoshadow with Firaga. "Try to not use darkness-based magic on them."
"Noted." Raphtalia cut down an incoming Bat Familiar.
Elrasla cracked her knuckles. "Hengen Muso secret technique: Crescent Moon!" The old woman darted about the battlefield, incapacitating several Neoshadows with nothing but her bare hands and a lot of speed.
Sora readied his Keyblade as Filo prepared to cast her magic. "Combo Spell..." they said in unison, "Drifa Firestorm!"
Filo cast Drifa Tornado as Sora used Triple Firaga. Three fireballs shot forth from Sora's Keyblade and fused with the tornado. Searing flames burned in tandem with deadly cyclonic wind, incinerating a slew of Vaporflies.
"Decidueye, get ready!" The panel on the back of Aris's prosthetic hand switched to one holding a rhombus-shaped gem: a Z-Crystal.
"Alright! Z-Move: Sinister Arrow Raid!"
Decidueye leaped skyward, conjuring arrow-like projectiles of purple energy. The Grass/Ghost-type dove through a group of Bat Familiars, taking some of them to the ground and leaving the rest to fall to the barrage of projectiles.
"They just keep coming!" Rishia exclaimed as her Persona shot out a broad wave of fire and scorched a few Vaporflies.
"Then we just keep fighting!" Joker shot back, using Arsène to dispatch a gang of Familiars with Maeigaon.
End BGM
Aris activated his CD-Comm. "Loretta, what's your twenty?"
"Above the Spirit Tortoise," Loretta replied. "Fucker still hasn't been stopped. Siege weapons are barely doing anything, if at all."
"Are they still firing on it?" Cloud asked through his CD-Comm.
"Yep," Loretta affirmed. "But the Spirit Tortoise isn't retreating. It's a stubborn bastard, I'll give it that. They're concentrating fire on its right foreleg in the hopes that it'll cop enough damage to stop moving."
She paused. In the distance, Aris could see her flying towards the targeted leg and watched as she began to sear lines through it with her repulsor beams.
The colossal amphibian teetered to one side, causing its large shell to destroy an entire battery of artillery. "According to M. A. I. A.'s calculations, over fifty percent of the artillery soldiers are dead."
"And the sappers?" said Joker.
"They've finished their preparations," she replied, "but the Spirit Tortoise Kingdom's commander stayed behind to detonate the bombs."
Sure enough, an explosion went off in the distance.
"The bombs worked," Loretta reported. "Our big friend is immobile for now. The commander died in the explosion."
"Now, we just need to cut off its head," Cloud stated.
"Which seems beyond any of us, as far as I know," Elrasla added. "If Joker and Rishia had both mastered Hengen Muso, or if Cloud's sword was a thousand times larger, it'd be a different story."
Sora had seated himself in the wagon and was reading a large book. Ost walked over to him. "What is that?"
"Some records the queen gave me the other day," Sora replied. "Wait, I think I just found something that...may or may not be important right now."
Ost looked over his shoulder. "What did you-"
She stopped abruptly, clutching her temple and wincing.
"What's wrong?" said a worried Rishia. "Ost, is everything okay?"
"Our best bet is to get real close and try to-" Joker was cut off mid-sentence.
"No, we can't!" Sora interrupted, walking over while supporting Ost. "It's still dangerous when it's not moving!"
"Being this close to the Spirit Tortoise made me remember something," Ost said in a pained voice. "When the Spirit Tortoise can't move to gather souls, it resorts to using a long-range assault!"