Fall of the Shadow Queen

The three face off in an epic battle. This time, the shinobi was not about to hold back on anything. Deploying her most devastating techniques, Caesar planned to confine Riku and Sora to the point where they could no longer maneuver effectively. The high step pillars emerged from the ground. While some nearly touching the spiked walls, others barely lifted off the ground. Riku and Sora were caught in the rising tide of stone.

"Now then, let's have some real fun!" Caesar chuckled. She began her run and charged at the two key bearers. First, attacking Sora who managed to climb onto one of the pillars, she knocked him off with her staff. "That's one."

"Sora! Look out!" Riku cried. Sora hit the ground only to be lifted up by another pillar.

"What is she trying to do?" Sora asked.

"Don't you see yet? She knows that our agility is the most effective and that we can fight 100 on open ground. Using these techniques and aerial advantage, she can strike down at us without us knowing. It's best to keep our heads down for the time being."-

"This is getting a little boring!" Caesar suddenly shouted, swooping down again. She knocked the two boys off their pillars, but they managed to regain their stamina, grasping the side of the pillar and leaping back onto its top. "You think it's over!"

"Riku, Watch out!" Sora cried. "They're coming straight at you!"

Riku looked up to see stone shurikens coming at him. He immediately deployed his Hurricane Slash. The shurikens were repelled, but the threat wasn't over as Caesar emerged from behind Riku and hit him on the back. Riku fell off the pillar and fell to the ground.

"Now, to finish the job!" Caesar went flying towards the ground, her staff aimed at Riku's back. She intended to break his spinal chord and paralyze him permanently. But Riku quickly rolled out of the back. The staff's impact caused a small explosion to erupt. Riku drew his sword and struck at Caesar, but the agile ninja used her staff to block his strike. She swerved to the right and kicked Riku in the gut. Riku went flying towards the wall and was about to be impaled upon one of the stone spikes, but Sora emerged from behind him and caught his friend in his arms.

"Are you OK, Riku?" Sora asked.

"I'm alright." Riku replied. "Thanks Sora."

"Oh, you stupid little idiot!" Caesar shouted. "You just had to go and save him from being skewered! You've ruined my fun!"

"We've been going at this the wrong way." Riku uttered. "We have to create a diversion and catch her off guard somehow."

"What did you have in mind?"-

"I have a plan." Riku whispered it silently to Sora, so Caesar couldn't hear the conversation they had.

"You imbeciles dare to mock me!" Caesar roared. "I won't allow you to come up with a plan!" She rushed at them, but the two young men dodged her attack. "You think it's that easy!" The Shurikens came rushing at them.

"You're getting on my nerves!" Sora shouted.

"Get used to it!"-

"Sora!" Riku cried. "Behind you!"

Sora looked behind him and saw the shurikens coming straight at him. He deployed the Firaga spell to stop the shurikens. But as soon as he had deployed the fire, the shurikens were coming straight for him. There was a sudden explosion and Sora went flying to the ground. He tumbled down the pillars, landing on the ground. There, the young key bearer lay motionless.

"Sora!" cried Riku.

"Sora! Sora!" Caesar mocked. "Bah! Do you always have to concern yourself with bastard's fate?"

"You'll pay for that! You'll pay for what you did to Sora!"-

"And how do you plan on stopping me!" She rushed forward and knocked Riku off the pillar. Riku rebounded and managed to leap back onto that same pillar, but again the shinobi attacked him. She flew off her levitating slab of stone and landed on one of the pillars. Riku drew his sword and began to engage in hand to hand combat with Caesar. Amidst the ascending and descending pillars, they fought. Riku dispatched several attacks with his Cinder Canister, but the pillars always acted as a shield, protecting Caesar from harm.

"You idiot!" she chuckled. "Do you really expect that same attack to work on me constantly? You haven't even succeeded once!" She threw a large block of stone at Riku. Riku saw the stone coming and jumped from the pillar. However, he jumped too late as the block caught his shoulder and the young key bearer was knocked violently to the ground. He fell to the base of one of the pillars and lay there helpless. Caesar landed a few feet in front of him and began to walk towards him.

"This can't be." Riku uttered. He crawled towards the pillar base and laid his back against it. His arms dropped to his side soon after and he could no longer move.

"It's the end for you, Riku." Caesar chuckled. "End of the line. You tried so hard to stop me and failed. But let this be a lesson to you and your friend, Sora. You can never hope to defeat me." She took her staff's end and from it, she unsheathed as spear point, which was long enough to impale straight through Riku's back. "Now die!"

She lunged forward with the spear. But suddenly, she was frozen by some unseen force. Immediately, Ice came from out of nowhere and entombed her. Her spear has stopped only a centimeter away from Riku's chest. Sora suddenly appeared and with his sword unsheathed, he slashed straight through Caesar. Instantly, her body shattered into oblivion, turning into dust and sand. He sheathed his sword as the ninja's spear fell to the ground. He turned and smiled at Riku.

"Hey there, Riku." Sora chuckled. "You miss me!" Suddenly he felt Riku's fist slamming itself against his cranium.

"I love your timing, you fumbducker!" Riku roared. "What they hell were you doing! Taking a nap!"

"Hey! What's the idea! I got to you in time didn't I!" Sora said, rubbing the top of his head.

"Had you decided to stall for a second longer, I would've become a Heartless!"-

"Really? A Heartless?"-

"Yes! Especially, when there would be a six foot long spear lodged in my chest!"-

It was then that Sora noticed a small gem lying on the ground next to the black information disk that Caesar kept from them. He picked them up and placed the disk in his pocket. Sora however continued to gaze at the yellow gemstone and examined it closely. On the surface of the gem, a lightning volt was inscribed on its surface.

"I wonder what this it?" Sora said. "Could it be that this is a summon stone?"

"We'll have to wait until we return to Traverse Town." Riku replied. "We can ask that old wizard, Merlin to help us." Sora placed the gem in his pocket. He then gazed at the pile of sand, dust, and glass that accumulated on the ground where Caesar once was.

"I don't understand how she could've fallen so easily?"-

"It's simple, Sora. She wanted to get the job done so quickly she never took time to realize her opponent's true potential. To add, she really enjoyed watching us squirm too much and lost concentration on focusing her energy, which is why she was taken by surprise so easily."-

"Well, come on, let's go help Ico." Riku sheathed his sword and both he and Sora ran through the passage that led to the sacrificial chamber.

Meanwhile, Ico confronted the might of the shadow queen. For minutes on end, he took on the dark energy waves head on. They were powerful and pushed Ico back with every gust. The queen took pleasure in the boy's struggle.

"Well, boy?" the queen uttered. "You plan on doing this all day, or will you fight me right and fulfill what you came to do? Or is it that you're afraid to come any closer and attack me? If so, just give it up and leave this castle!"

"And have you go after Yorda!" Ico said. "I can't allow that!"

"Then fight me right!"-

Ico rushed forward with all he had, reaching the queen and struck her. But her energy shield prevented the sword from making impact. The blast blew Ico off his feet. He fell to the ground, with the sword falling only a few feet away from him. He quickly stood up and picked up the sword just as the queen released another energy wave. Ico was struck by the wave, but not effective.

"You little pest!" the queen said.

"You thought I'd go down so easily?" Ico said. "You've underestimated me!"

The queen continued to deploy her attacks, but Ico would not back down. Again he managed to charge forward and strike at the queen. But the queen's shield repelled him again. This time, when he lost the grip on his sword, the blade went flying fifty feet away from Ico.

"Now let's see you get out of this one without protection!" the queen shouted. She fired another energy wave and this time there was nothing to protect the boy. Or so she thought. Suddenly, Ico rolled behind a stone pillar. The pillar itself, consisting of that same magic energy, repelled the dark energy from harming him. "Oh that is very clever. Realizing that those sacred pillars obtain the same type of energy as the sword! But tell me, how do you plan on retrieving the sword now when it's so far away?"

"She's right." Ico thought to himself. "How do I get myself out of this now?" It was then that he noticed the pillar had no base beneath. Instead it stood upon four pegs that trailed along the crests in the floor. It was a movable pillar. "Hope isn't lost for me yet."

He began to pull at the pillar and moved it closer to where the sword lay. This did not go unnoticed to the queen.

"Blast, that little bastard." She said. She attempted to run and grab Ico, but the young boy had taken grasp of his sword. "You little…"

"Get ready for round two!" Ico shouted and continued his attack.

At the same time, in the main chamber, the shadows were still massed around Lu Bu, still hesitating to attack. Lu Bu only stood like a statue and chuckled.

"So this is it?" Lu Bu laughed. "Is this the feared army of the dead? Cowering before me? You should! Well, you plan on attacking me anytime soon!" The shadows neared him. "Hah! Well, if you won't attack, then I certainly will!" He used his pike and impaled one of the shadows. Slashing at it seven times, Lu Bu made a finishing move thrusting the shadow down towards the ranks of ghouls and spirits. Immediately after impact, a bright flash of the rune element, still attached to the shadow, erupted and destroyed a large portion of the horde. Twenty shadows were dispensed with instantly. The shadows continued to advanced, more aggressive this time.

"That's more like it!" Lu Bu chuckled. He used his powerful sweeping move and blew a hundred and fifty wraiths away. He then musoued his way through the ranks, taking up scores of spirits in the process. Slamming his pike onto the ground, the explosion blew away fifty more spirits. He jumped and swirled in the air and lashed out with a powerful hit from his pike. Again Lu Bu diminished thirty spirits. Spirits continued to attack, full force now.

"Is that all you worthless maggots have for me!" Lu Bu scoffed. The wraiths continued to charge in mass, making it easy for Lu Bu. He used as second sweep attack, taking out two hundred shadows at once. "Pitiful! You dogs are all bark and no bite!"

In less than two minutes, a thousand spirits had been disposed. Lu Bu continued to wreak havoc on their ranks. Eventually, some of the wraiths took to the air and attacked from above.

"You fools think aerial attacks will help you!" Lu Bu levitated himself as well and flew amongst the wraiths, slashing a dozen at a time. He then charged back to the ground and slammed his energy into the ranks. Three hundred shadows were dispensed with in his attack. He then placed himself in the center again and once more, he was surrounded.

It was at this point that Riku and Sora made it to the main chamber and began to climb the stairs, when they saw Lu Bu surrounded. They jumped on to the platform where a column of pods stood. There they saw Lu Bu in the midst of the shadows, completely surrounded.

"Lu Bu!" Sora shouted.

"Glad to see that you could make it." Lu Bu said. The shadows began to come towards Riku and Sora.

"Oh God!" Riku said. "There are so many of them."

"How are we gonna fight them all?" Sora asked. "We only have so much ether left to fight with and we need to save some for the fight against the shadow queen!"

"Leave that to me!" Lu Bu said. "I would brace myself if I were you!"

Riku and Sora agreed and hid behind one of the pods, the wraiths still closing in of them. Lu Bu began to power up.

"Pray for mercy, you maggots!" Lu Bu shouted. "This ends today!" He pounded his foot into the ground and s powerful energy wave erupted, blowing away all wraiths surrounding him. In a bright flash of light, and a sudden explosion, all the ranks of ghouls, wraiths, and shadows had been eliminated. The warrior stood in the center of the chamber, now surrounded by nothing. Riku and Sora stood up from behind the pillar.

"Man." Sora uttered. "What was that?"

"A foot stomp?" Riku added.

"Are you sure that Lu Bu was correct? He and you are equal in strength?"-

"I'm starting to wonder if he really was fooling with us."-

"That was easy." Lu Bu chuckled. Riku and Sora approached him.

"That was something else." Riku said. "I hope that I can hold my own against that when it comes to our rematch."

"Maybe you will." Lu Bu turned toward the door leading to the throne room.

"Well, let's go." Sora said. "We have one more nuisance to get rid of."

"This'll be easy."-

"Alright, Ico," Riku said, "brace yourself because we're coming to the rescue!"

The three headed towards the opening, ready to confront whatever was occurring in the throne room.

At the same time, Ico had managed to strike several times at the queen. But due to the queen's powerful shield, he was not able to break through and smite her. Again he was repelled. This time he lost the grip on his sword and the blade went flying across the room.

"Again you lose your sword." The queen chuckled. "However, I won't allow you to gain control." This time, the queen placed herself in front of the sword and guarded it from Ico's attempt to retrieve it. "Now how do you plan to defend yourself from my attacks?" She deployed another wave of her dark energy. Ico tumbled behind the protection of the rune pillars.

"You won't be going anywhere I guess." said the queen. "Face it Ico. You took a gamble and you lost. And your insolence to me will not go unpunished. For taking my daughter away from me, you will not leave this castle ever. I'll track down Yorda and bring her back and this time, there won't be any pesky horned boys to try and get in my way to rescue her!"

"Don't you think you flap your gums too much!" Ico shouted from behind the pillar.

"And what if I do? You can no longer harm me as long as the sword is out of your grasp. Without it, you're just a pathetic canker soar!" She released an energy wave again, but Ico remained behind the pillar. "So, boy, what do you intend on doing now?"

"He doesn't have to do anything!" a voice sounded out from the entry way. The queen looked up to see Riku, Sora, and Lu Bu standing in the doorway.

"Leave Ico alone!" Sora demanded.

"And what do you intend to do if I don't?" the queen asked.

"We'll fight you. That's what!" Riku replied.

"Hah! And how do you intend on doing that? If you haven't noticed, that rune sword just behind me is the only thing that can hinder me. And it's the only type of its kind ever made. All other weapons are useless against me."-

"You assume too much!"-

"Do I! And how do you intend to fight me with regular weapons?"-

Riku and Sora drew out their blades. Lu Bu revealed this halberd from behind him and threw it before him. Immediately, the three weapons glowed with the same powerful energy that accumulated from the sword.

"Who said anything about them being regular?" Riku said. The second she saw the weapons glow with the same resonation as the rune sword, her eyes grew large with fear.

"It can't be!" she said. "Where did you get those!"

"That's not open for discussion." Lu Bu uttered.

"And who are you!" the queen asked.

"I am Lu Bu! Bow down before me!"-

"You fools! My minions will stop you!"-

"What minions? You mean the thousands of shadows who were fighting in the chamber? You won't be getting any help from them anymore! They were taken care of!"-

"But how!"-

"Just live with it!" Sora shouted. He soon saw the petrified figures of Goofy, Donald, and Mickey. "You'll also pay for what you did to our friends!"

"You think it'll be that easy to defeat me! Even if you do have rune weapons as well, there's no way that you'll win against me!" the queen stated.

"Well, there's only one way to find out!" Sora lunged forward and attacked the queen.

The queen deployed her energy and shielded Sora away. Riku attacked with a powerful lung and the queen's shield. The queen repelled his attack, but the shield was now growing weak. She knew she wouldn't be able to stop them for long with the shield. Again, Riku and Sora attacked. Now, the queen was dodging the attacks, trying not to let her shield be weakened any further. She used her powerful energy waves to repel her attackers. At the same time, Ico managed to retrieve the sword and joined the attack against the queen. The queen dodged and repelled again and again, trying to evade the three, while Riku and Sora deployed their elemental attacks. The queen's shield slowly began to falter with each strike made.

"I've had enough of this!" the queen roared and with a sudden energy wave, she managed to sweep the three boys off their feet. The three fell back against the wall, still holding on to their blades. "You three have been under my skin long enough! But once again I have proven that I am too much even for you three put together! Now, I will extinguish you permanently!"

"Hey!" Lu Bu shouted. "Aren't you forgetting about someone! I'm still here waiting for my turn!"

"And what to you plan on doing!" the queen replied. "I've already proved that I'm more than a match for these boys! What makes you think you'll succeed where they failed!"

"If you haven't noticed, it's not a boy you are addressing, but the mightiest man alive! And unlike those boys, I don't hesitate to kill!"-

"But you're just as foolish!" The queen deployed a powerful energy wave against Lu Bu, but the mighty warrior only counterattacked with his foot stomp. His own powerful energy wave, accumulated from his foot, repelled the queen's dark energy.

"Do you expect a pathetic attack like that to work on the mighty Lu Bu!" The queen began to shutter with fear. "You want to know who was responsible for dispensing with your minions? I'll tell you. It was me, I did it all by myself!"

"That's impossible! No one could have fulfilled such a task on their own."-

"Again you mock my abilities. Well, you'll regret ever doing that." Lu Bu began to attack. The queen strengthened her shield and prepared to deploy another wave of dark energy. But in the process, Lu Bu deployed a powerful musou attack and broke through the wave. He clashed at the shield with ten spin hits. With every powerful hit, the shield weakened ten times more than when Ico, Riku, or Sora struck at it.

"This can't be." The queen uttered. "How could someone have this kind of strength!"

Lu Bu then finished off the attack with an over-the-head slam of his pike. The last strike broke the shield and the queen was left vulnerable. Riku and Sora slowly stood up and saw the result.

"Oh my God!" Sora uttered. "Lu Bu broke through her shield as if it were glass!"

"I've never seen strength like this before." Riku said. "And to think he lost against me in the 'Treasure Realm.'"

"Do you have any last words!" Lu Bu said.

"You think it'll be that easy!" The queen shouted. She suddenly began to levitate herself from off the ground. With sudden speed, she then flew out of the throne room and into the sacrificial chamber. Lu Bu and the other s ran out. "Now you can't attack me so long as I remain in the air! I can always defeat you from the air! So now what, Lu Bu! You can't possibly attack me effectively from that distance! And I can see your every move from up here! You can't possibly take me by surprise!"

"You truly are a fool!" Lu Bu chuckled. He suddenly burst into the air and flew straight into the queen. The queen was taken by utter surprise, but it was too late. In almost a slow motion effect, she could see her own death at the hands of Lu Bu. "I told you that I don't hesitate to kill!" With a swipe of his blade, Lu Bu cut the queen in half. Instantly, her energy dispersed and she was no more.

"Did you see that?" Ico asked. "How could anyone defeat the shadow queen that quickly?"

"Only someone like Lu Bu can something like that." Riku uttered, astonished by what he had witnessed.

"Lu Bu's stronger than we thought." Sora added. He suddenly remembered his friends still held captive in stone in the throne room. "Oh yeah! Mickey, Donald, and Goofy!" Sora ran back into the throne room. When entering, he saw the three had been released from their stone prisons. "Hey guys! You're alright!"

"What happened?" Mickey uttered.

"You guys were turned to stone."-

"By whom?" Donald asked.

"It was the shadow queen who did it." Riku replied, walking into the throne room. "After she was killed, the dark energy diminished and you three were restored to life."

"Well, thanks for helping us." Mickey said. The five exited the room, where Lu Bu and Ico awaited them. Lu Bu's presence however was found rather shocking to the three revived KH members.

"Lu Bu!" Donald said. "What's he doing here!"

"He was the one who helped us defeat the shadow queen and her minions." Sora said. "If it wasn't for him, we might still be fighting against her."

"So this is the second time you helped us." Mickey said.

"The second time?" Riku asked. "When was the first time?"

"It was at Halloween Town, when we were confronted by General Kai and the Imperials forces."-

"Boy, Lu Bu," Sora uttered, "you certainly are full of surprises."

"What about Caesar?" Donald asked. "Did you defeat her?"

Sora took the information disk from out of his pocket.

"Here's what she left us." He replied. "Our next destination. Too bad she didn't leave any new abilities for us."

It was then that the castle began to crumble all around them.

"The castle's breaking up!" Ico said. "We have to get out of here!"

"What's the quickest way to get out of here!" Lu Bu said

"We should take the boat from the jetty."-

"Then, let's get going!" Sora shouted. The united KH team and their comrades ran down two the lower floor of the chamber and used the lift to reach the jetty. They managed to climb into one of the undamaged boats and rowed out. The earth pillars and spikes, which were made by Caesar, began to crumble all around them.

"Hurry, Hurry!" Ico cried. "We have to go faster!"

"We're too heavy!" Lu Bu shouted. "That's why we're going slow! We need to get rid of some weight!" They then looked at Goofy, holding his heavy shield.

"What are you looking at me for?" Goofy asked.

"We gotta go faster!" Donald said. "Gotta go faster!"

"The place is crumbling all around us!" Mickey added. "We have to move now!"

"You want faster?" Riku said. "Then let's turn up a little wind!" Riku went to the back o the boat and deployed Hurricane Slash. The boat suddenly went high speed and reached shore within seconds. As the party jumped out of the dingy, they watched as the castle began to crumble and sink into the crashing waves.

"Ico!" a voice cried. The party turned to see Yorda and Zeke coming at them. She embraced her horned friend tightly. "So glad that you're alright."

"I'm glad to see that you're alright." Ico replied. Sora in the meantime, walked up the Zeke and patted him on the snout.

"Great work Zeke." Sora uttered. "You fulfilled your mission well. Van would be proud of you." Zeke growled and nudged Sora on the cheek, affectionately. There was a sudden roar coming from the sea now.

"Look at that!" Goofy shouted, pointing out to sinking castle. The party looked to see the castle's highest towers crashing beneath the water's surface.

"Going" Riku said, watching the bridges sink beneath the waves. "Going." The tall towers were touching the water surface and eventually disappeared from sight. "Gone."

With Riku's final word, the once magnificent castle that stood proudly over the landscape, a grand ruin of so many memories, was no more.