Chapter 9

Sora and Jaina ran through the street, making their way to where the Millennium Falcon was located. Fortunately is what not too far away from their location, and they were fast approaching it. Destruction was all around them, caused by the Heartless. Fires raged in buildings, the permacrete sidewalk was smashed, thousands of vehicles laid where they crashed when their owners' abandoned them, trying to flee the Heartless assault.

Sora and Jaina were the only humans left on the street. All others had either fled for their lives or been turned into Heartless. Only now no Heartless were present, thanks to Jaina's Force whirlwind, but it was only a matter of time until they reappeared.

"Jaina," Sora called out as they ran. "Are we almost there?"

"Yeah," Jaina said. "The platform is right here, after the next corner. Everyone else should be there already."

"Good, let's hurry." Sora said.

They rounded the corner, seeing the Millennium Falcon just a little further ahead, and ran straight into a group of Soldier Heartless, basic Shadow Heartless except more erect and covered in armor.

"Not again," Jaina said. "Sora, take care of these guys."

"Got it." Sora said.

Sora instantly swung out his Keyblade and attacked a Soldier, killing it instantly. Next Sora pointed his Keyblade at two more approaching Soldiers and cast a blizzard spell, freezing and destroying the Heartless. With another swing of the blade, he took out another two Heartless. Jaina watched on amazed.

Just one more remained and, seeing it was the last survivor, ran off in the direction of the Falcon. Someone on board must have seen it coming, and unleashed a laser blast from the quad cannon at the Heartless, only to have no effect. The Heartless continued its sprint toward the ship.

"Sora," Jaina called. "If that Heartless gets on board, who knows what it might do to everyone."

"Don't worry," Sora said as he ran toward the Heartless. "I'll stop it."

"Sora, wait!" Jaina called after him.

Both of them closed the gap between them and the Soldier, nearly reaching it, when it stopped in midstride. Seeing an opportunity to destroy it, Sora leaped up and slashed at the Heartless.

"Good job, Sora." Jaina complemented him. "C'mon, the Falcon is right-"

Jaina stopped in midsentence as the ground began to shake.

"What's going on?" Sora asked, his voice vibrating along with the ground.

"I don't know!" Jaina responded, trying to regain her footing.

"Jaina, Sora, hurry!" Luke, appearing on the Falcon ramp, called out. "We have to-"

Before Luke could finish, a wall, appearing out of no where, came up out of the ground. At least twenty stories high, it completely blocked Jaina and Sora from reaching the Falcon. The wall spread around and boxed Sora and Jaina in. On all four sides they were surrounded. The ground continued to shake.

"Sora, what's going on?" Jaina asked, her lightsaber blazing as she turned around looking for a way out.

"I don't know," Sora said, looking for a way out as well. "But things like this have happened to me before."

"What happens then?"

"Well-" But before Sora could answer, a huge black shadow manifested in the center of the square. Jaina and Sora both ran to the side as something appeared. It came out slowly out as the ground continued to quake. It was black as night, and as its head first appeared, Jaina and Sora saw that it had many teeth. Its upper jaw hooked over its lower making a sort of beak shape. The monster continued to appear as its huge muscular body appeared. It was really a beast of a creature. It was huge humanoid creature, walking on two legs, but instead of having only two arms, this creature had six. As it fully formed, it let out a roar. In the center of its chest, there was a tattoo of a heart like shape.

Once Jaina was able to get a look at the monster, she saw a slight resemblance to another creature, called a Rancor. Her uncle Luke had once had a nasty experience with a Rancor in Jabba the Hutt's palace, and encountered tamed Rancors on Dathomir. But both times Luke had said he had sensed something in the creatures in the Force, at least knowing that they were alive, but when Jaina searched for this creature in the Force, she found nothing.

It slowly lumbered over to where Sora and Jaina stood. By now the ground had stopped shaking, but each of the creature's footsteps created a small shockwave.

"Sora, I think we're in trouble." Jaina said, fear in her voice. "How can we fight that thing? We're completely separated from everyone else, and I can't do a thing to damage Heartless."

"Separated…" Sora said, distracted, then turned to Jaina and said. "Jaina, I'm going to attack it. Fight with me."

The creature was getting closer.

"But how? My lightsaber doesn't do anything."

"You can now. You're in my party now."

"What, party? I don't understand." Jaina said confused.

"Don't worry," Sora said. "Just fight."

They both stood back to back, facing as the behemoth approached, and then went into an attack. Sora ran over to the creature's feet and began swinging his Keyblade at the monstrous feet. The creature howled in pain, and tried to stomp on Sora, who just jumped over the shockwaves and continued his assault.

Jaina meanwhile, propelling herself with the Force, jumped up and swung her lightsaber. Its blade sliced through flesh, and lopped an arm of the monster. The arm fell to the ground with a splat. The creature howled again, but it soon recovered and attempted to grab at the falling Jedi. Jaina used the Force to push the creature's hands away as it nearly grabbed her. She landed on the ground and jumped up again to chop another arm off. This time though when she jumped the creature grabbed her, catching Jaina by surprise. Her lightsaber fell to the ground and landed by Sora. He stopped and picked it up.

"Sora, help!" Jaina called as she squirmed in the creature's arm as it lifted her up to its mouth.

"How?" Sora asked, not knowing how he could stop the monster at all.

"Like this!" Jaina said, managing to get one hand free. "Get your blade ready!"

Using the Force, Jaina lifted Sora into the air, sending him flying. At first Sora was a little shaken up, but quickly recovered, seeing his target. The monster turned to see the flying boy, revealing the heart like shape on its chest. Sora pointed his Keyblade straight ahead of him, and soared straight for the chest. The monster tried to turn away but was too slow, and Sora's blade plummeted into the creature's chest. It roared in pain, dropping Jaina and clutching at its chest.

"Jaina, I got you!" Sora yelled as he leaped of the chest and caught Jaina in midair, landing on the ground.

The monster continued to roar, backing up, as sparks started to fly through its body. Slowly the space around the monster began to dissolve as the creature melted away. With its final breath, before it disappeared completely, it gave final roar of pain.

Finally, after it disappeared, the ground began to shake again, and the walls surrounding Jaina and Sora went back into the ground.

"Jaina, your hurt." Sora said noticing Jaina's wound. "Let me help you."

"Thanks, Sora." She responded, embarrassed to getting helped. "The Falcon is right there. Let's go get on."