Kingdom Hearts: Chaos Angel
Episode 8: Paint My Picture
Rob's body whipped around and crashed into the street painfully. Sora stood back, Keyblade ready. Rob struggled to recover. From what one could tell, Sora owned Rob's sorry butt."You must be joking... test ME for MY Keyblade?" Sora asked. "You're nowhere near bad, but I've had three years on you!" He pointed the Keyblade at Rob. "Do you give up?"
"No... not by a long shot!" Rob snarled before putting his hand out by instinct. "EAT DARKNESS!" He bellowed in rage. A powerful blast of Darkness caught Sora off guard, knocking him skyward. Sora landed on his feet clumsily, shaking from the sudden pain. "Rage... My darkness is connected to my rage!" Rob realized.
"You... you make me sick. I feel... Ansem from you," Sora snarled. Almost by a similar instinct to Rob, Sora pointed his Keyblade. Quivering with light, Sora bellowed. "You WON'T destroy this world in Darkness! HAAAAAAAAA!" A burst of light flew forward, and Rob took the full brunt of it. Rob fell slowly to the ground, twitching from pain. He strained to glare at Sora through neon-orange eyes.
"Ansem... had those same eyes..." Sora leered at Rob. "How... can he not be evil?!"
"The same reason we both have Keyblades... it was meant to be," Rob answered, not letting his eyes off Sora.
"Bravo... bravo indeed," Slow clapping was heard, and Sora turned to see a red-haired man grinning at them. He was dressed in the same way the Enigmatic Man was... "So your real powers are awakening?"
"Who are you?!" Sora shot back.
"You can call me Axel," Axel flexed an arm before turning back to them with another grin. "I've studied the two of you for quite some time. Larxene and Zexion told me the rest. According to Oni, you two Keyblade masters being at odds are the key to the Chaos Angel."
"Chaos Angel?! What do you hooded freaks want with the Chaos Angel?!"
"Chaos Angel?" Rob asked. He reared his feet back and whipped them to stand up. "Charlotte said something about that... what IS it?"
"It's a glorious thing indeed... He who operates the Chaos Angel operates all of existence!" Axel laughed. "There's no stopping its culmination! It's a race of who gets to the controls first!"
Rob snarled. "We won't let you get it first!" He readied his Keyblade.
"Who said I was going to use it for evil?" Axel thrusts his arms out to his sides. A whirling flash of light appeared at each of his hands, spinning rapidly until they solidified into circular, spiked weapons (called Fire Wheels.). "All I'm doing is letting it live. I've seen you two fight each other... Now let's see how you two cooperate!" Axel lunged. "RRAAUUGHH!"
Rob dashed forward first, sweeping his Keyblade to block Axel's strike. Sora saw opportunity and bounded into the air, bringing down his blade right into Axel's face...
If only he didn't use his other hand... Axel blocked Sora's attack, then whipped out his foot, smashing Rob in the chest, then striking Sora away. Rob growled and bounded back up. He swung his Keyblade repeatedly, trying to parry Axel's attacks to leave him open.
Sora, who had crashed further away than Rob, rose and cast a round of Curaga on himself. Axel was tougher than the Enigmatic Man, so he'd have to keep his guard up. Running towards the battle, Sora gritted his teeth. This could get ugly...
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Robin, Raven, Maya, and Siege stared at the area around them. Surprisingly, there was nothing to be seen. Where there was supposed to be life, or at least demented Soulless, there was only emptiness. Where there was supposed to be chaos, there was only peace. Where there were supposed to be panicking masses, there was only a young girl, drawing in a sketchbook. Her blond hair curled around one side of her face, and her one-piece summer dress just reached her legs. She noticed the group after a moment, and answered with a "Hmmm?"
"We got a call that said the Soulless were running around... where are all the Soulless in here?" Robin asked, looking around.
"They all went home..." She stopped in front of Robin. "All things have a home..."
"Shouldn't you get to yours?" Robin asked, half-shrugging.
The girl hung her head in sadness. "I do not have a home... Not anymore. But at least this art... MY art has a home. This place, this museum... it feels like I belong here," she smiled slightly.
"This place IS pretty cool," Maya added, looking around at all the paintings. "But you should leave! There's a dangerous Soulless running around here, and—"
"I will not leave..." The girl stated firmly. "This is... MY place! My friends will prove it!" She slung her arm out, showing her sketchbook and her picture. The other four flinched, but then stared mutely at the sketchbook. The picture sketched on there was of a short boy in a green jumpsuit, with a pink-haired girl, dressed in a gothic dress with a hint of pink, right next to him.
"That's a drawing of Gizmo and Jinx..." Raven blinked mutely.
"More than a drawing, I'm afraid," a familiar voice echoed. Without warning, a pink hex flew out of the drawing, smashing Raven and Robin away. Siege looked back in shock before turning back to face the strange girl. Maya snarled before unsheathing the twin daggers; her brother was still using the Keyblade.
But she was no longer alone. Gizmo and Jinx now stood beside her, malicious grins plastered on their faces. Worse yet, they seemed to be fully real, rather than simply animated drawings. Gizmo chuckled before floating forward to taunt the group. "You weren't expecting that, now were you, crudsniffers!"
"Awesome, Namine," Jinx gave a small grin to the girl before turning back to face the angry Titans. "As you can see, our new friend Namine has quite some powers. She can bring anything she draws to life, and if they already exist..."
"They're summoned to her so she can end your sorry, monkey-lickin' lives!" Gizmo finished, using his index finger to make a face at them. He then conjured a laser from his high tech backpack (don't know what it is...) and proceeded to aim it. "Let's make that happen, then!"
Robin clenched his teeth before whipping out his bo staff and shouting "Titans! GO!"
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"RRAAUUGGHH!" Cyborg bellowed, letting a full blast of his Sonic Cannon rip through a pack of the Dusk. He landed down, only for another Dusk to smack him with an extended limb. Cyborg growled before whipping around and letting another shot of the cannon knock it backwards...
...Right into Cloud, who then slashed it down with his giant sword. It disappeared with a flash of light. Cloud ran over to Cyborg, offering a hand to help him up. "You all right?" Cloud asked.
"Peachy," Cyborg answered as he recovered. "How many of these damn things are there?!"
"These guys are annoying, I'm havin' to use all of my abilities just to kill 'em! CORONA BLASTER!" Beelzemon shouted as the "mouth" on his arm gun opened up, firing a powerful positron beam, wiping the floor with the Soulless Cyborg couldn't kill.
"Is it just me, or does this look like a distraction?" Cloud asked as he blocked another attack from a Soul Spider.
"In all likelihood, it IS," Jim Raynor added as he fired another round of bullets from his sub-machine gun. "Only question is... what's it distracting us FROM?"
"Wouldn't YOU like to know?" The crowd turned to see a large, hulking teen with red hair. Cyborg and Cloud snarled as Mammoth raised his fists to send a wicked shockwave though the street.
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Axel stood facing Rob and Sora, still grinning. Neither side had moved after Axel had used a devastating blast of fire. To tell the truth, Sora wasn't even sure how Rob was still standing, as he had taken most of the damage.
"It was fun!" Axel said. "Nice to see that you can kick ass together as much as you hate each other. My mission's done for now. Don't you two have a case of Soulless to stop?"
"Umm..." Sora blinked. 'What's WITH this guy?' He thought. 'One moment he's trying to flay us alive and the next moment he's chatting away without any sort of rage!' "Yes," Sora pronounced firmly but cautiously. Axel then turned and began to walk off. "Hey, wait! Where are you going?"
"I've got other business to take care of." Axel shrugged. "Rest assured, we will meet again," Axel grinned once more before walking off.
Sora blinked once again before turning to Rob, who had been silently standing there the whole time, holding his Keyblade rather weakly. His clothes were torn, and even some of his skin was slightly singed. Rob strained to stand up, but at last fell, too tired to go on. Rob whispered, "Maya... remember... the Keyblade..." he dropped it out of his grasp and it disappeared, and Rob promptly fainted.
Sora looked in confusion and sadness. "What... did he just do?" Sora remembered that he DID beat Rob pretty badly, and perhaps he had been straining the whole time just to stay out of Axel's wrath. What... was he then? Why did he still feel loathing for this strange kid?
"That would be his connection with the Keyblade of Darkness," Sora came face-to-face with Sara. She was walking towards him.
"Sara?" Sora asked. "I wondered where you went..."
"Heh," She grinned. "The Keyblade of Darkness is not merely his own power. It's a family heirloom."
"Huh? How can that be? Mine isn't!" Sora responded.
"My father told me someone within the kingdom also had a Keyblade. This someone was hired to keep down Ansem's experiments... It was an exceptional weapon, and that's how Ansem knew that there were Keyblades amongst the universe before King Mickey visited him. However... something went wrong. Apparently as Ansem lost his sanity, he turned on this person and nearly destroyed his/her heart. Apparently they escaped to another universe and sought to continue the Keyblade lineage before it could be lost to the darkness."
"Wow..." Sora blinked in amazement as he looked at the fainted Rob. "So apparently this Keyblade being darker was... a side-effect?"
"Not a clue. My father only knew so much. I believe Mary may know the rest of this puzzle," Sara answered. "That's why I'm looking for her. You should be more considerate to your... 'rival.' He might not like the street for a bed."
Although he still didn't like him, Sora agreed with Sara and decided to at least lay him down SOMEWHERE where he wouldn't be road-kill. He scooped up the fallen boy and walked with Sara down the street.
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Robin struck first."HAA!" He struck his bo staff towards Jinx, but she twirled and dodged the strike. She flung a pink hex with grace, forcing Robin to retreat. She then shot a wave at the ground, creating an earthquake that knocked Robin off of his feet.
Raven floated forward. Her eyes glowing white, she flung two streaks of dark energy. Jinx ducked under the first and hopped over the second, before countering with her own wave of bad luck. Raven took to the air and flew past the counterattack, now heading forward into a straight offense.
Meanwhile. Maya took the liberty of striking Gizmo. She let out a shrill cry of "ROAST BACON!" before letting loose a fast volley of fire. Gizmo flew forward on his jetpack, pulled out another sort of gun and fired it at the onrushing attack. It grabbed the rush of fire in its clutches before Gizmo aimed it and fired it back at Maya.
"YEEEK!" Maya flipped out of harm's way, letting the fire explode under her feet. She stumbled back, readying another attack.
However, Siege Mortar beat her to the punch. He aimed his shoulder cannons, and a burst of water issued forth. Gizmo couldn't fly out of the way in time, so the water struck him in full force. "WAAAAHHH!" Gizmo cried as the water burst into him, sending him crashing into the floor. "Aww... man! I'm all washed up!" He whined.
"What you deserve for your terrible puns," Siege grinned. He then took a second look—-and his jaw dropped.
Gizmo was FLAT! Worse yet, he had the appearance of shredded, wet paper. "I'm useless now! Jinx! Smash the ugly Blastoise before he soaks ya!"
Unbeknownst to the warring groups, Namine was hard at work sketching another picture.
Jinx tensed as she dodged another strike from Raven. Seeing Siege aim his cannons, she quickly moved away from Namine and the pursuing Raven.
Siege fired.
Jinx fired a powerful blast of hex right before the water reached her. The hex wave shot her out of reach of the attack, at the same time knocking Siege out with yet another bad luck earthquake.
That was all Robin needed.
Robin pulled out two birdarangs and hooked them together. The combined weapons stiffened into a sword. Robin ran forward with a desperate sort of speed, as to not miss his opportunity. "HAAAAA!" Robin slashed upwards into the air before landing gracefully into the ground.
Jinx twitched for a moment before she split into two paper halves, which fluttered neatly onto the floor. "That was a bust..." She, or one of her halves grumbled.
Raven and Robin blinked before staring forth at Namine, who drew back in fear. "What's the H.I.V.E planning?!" Robin shot. However, Raven raised a hand to motion Robin to stop before calmly gliding towards Namine.
"Namine... why are you with those guys? Are they really your friends?" Raven asked.
Namine hung her head. "The Heartless destroyed my home. They offered me a place to stay, a place to draw..." Her eyes began to glow a calm red. Somehow, her voice grew louder without sounding threatening... for the moment. "A place to fight back." She showed her second drawing. Now the four members saw what looked like a strange, almost angel-like creature wearing a cloak. It held a strange lantern that seemed to glower with an increased light. Without warning, the creature emerged, its light glowing stronger.
"AAUUUGGGHHH!" Raven screamed as the painful light forced her back. The creature continued to stomp forward, growing to its full height, which barely doubled that of Namine's.
"I call it the Lightbringer..." Namine said softly. "Do not resist its light, and it won't hurt you..."
"Yeah..." Raven said dryly, straining to recover. "More light-bringing than Lucifer himself..."
Maya shouted, "This Lightbringer is no goody! It's MEAN!" With that, she rushed in, summoning a shock of thunder as the light grew brighter...
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Cyborg grit his teeth as Mammoth forced him back for the fifth time. He aimed his Sonic Cannon, and Cloud readied a combo sword attack. Cyborg released the shot, and Cloud caught it in an upward sweep, smashing Mammoth with a Sonic Cannon powered swipe.
Mammoth groaned as Cyborg aimed his cannon at him. "Gonna give up, big guy?"
Mammoth looked up, and was about to retort when he noticed the growing light inside the museum. With that he grinned, making Cyborg nervous. "It has begun." He answered cryptically.
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A flash of thunder struck the Lightbringer as Maya ran forward into the burning light. The ghostly, angel-like Soulless flinched and answered with swing of its lantern, smashing Maya across the room. She recovered, shaking her head to get the kinks out.
The Lightbringer stalked towards Raven, walking slowly but surely. Raven let her eyes glow and focused her power. "Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!" Two waves of energy cut through the Soulless, but using its light, it recovered, and began to advance on Raven. "Ugh..." She backed away as that glowing light burned.
"NNAAAUUUGGH!" Robin came forward with his bird-sword again, executing a swift three-hit combo on the Lightbringer. Robin strained against the light as he continued to slash down against the Soulless. The creature suddenly whipped back and struck Robin with its lantern. Robin crashed onto the floor, but rolled backwards and stood up once again. The creature continued to amble over to Raven.
Raven prepared another attack. "Azarath, Metrion—-URRRGGH!" The Lgithbringer had once again started to intensify its light, forcing Raven to guard herself.
"Eat Photon Cannon!" Siege's right arm transformed into something similar to Cyborg's Sonic Cannon. However, instead of deadly sound waves, it was a powerful burst of electricity. The Lightbringer flinched as Siege unloaded blast after blast, somewhat dimming its light. Siege then grinned as he aimed his hydrocannons and fired a gush of water.
The Lightbringer brought out its lantern and blocked the oncoming stream, although it was pushed back considerably. Its light then grew brighter, as Siege flinched from the sudden gain of light and stepped back. His hydrocannons stopped firing.
The Lightbringer, seeing as Siege was no longer a threat, continued to increase its light and walk towards Raven.
Robin took note of this. "It's after Raven! Don't let it get to her!" He pulled out his sword again and took a sprint, running towards the creature. "HAAA!" He leapt into the air.
Maya saw a teamwork opportunity, so she lifted a dagger and cried, "THUNDER!" A bolt of lightning struck Robin's sword, and Robin brought down the weapon right into the face of the creature, greatly wounding it. The light dimmed down...
...Then rapidly increased. The sheer force knocked Robin back straight into Maya, and the both of them crashed next to Raven, who had put up an obsidian barrier to guard against the Lightbringer's advances.
"It's... too bright!" Raven strained.
"This... this won't happen!" Maya cried, nearly to tears.
'Maya... remember the Keyblade...'"Huh?" Maya blinked. Her brother's voice. Was it...?
Maya felt a different sort of light from her Heart. She concentrated.
It was here that she conjured the Keyblade. She grabbed it... and felt her brother's power. This was only the second time she wielded it, but she felt enough rage to more than make up for it. "C-c-curse you!" Maya stood tall, the Keyblade's darkness growing stronger. She shut her eyes and sprinted towards the Lightbringer. "Curse you and YOUR LIGHT OF EVIL!" She delivered a powerful stab. The Darkness consumed the creature, destroying it and the shining light in a sparking blast of obsidian.When all was said and done, there was now only Namine, shaking form fear and weakness. Namine fell to the ground on her knees. Maya cautiously began to walk towards her.
"You... you don't like hurting people, do you?" Maya asked. "But why do you do it?"
Namine quivered. "But... you're evil. They, they said so! The darkness is evil!"
"No..." Maya walked closer.
"GET AWAY!" Namine screamed.
Maya hopped back in shock.
"LEAVE HER ALONE," a voice commanded. From out of nowhere, something crashed on top of Maya, forcing her to eat the floor. Maya strained to look up, seeing a strange blond kid in white. She noticed something before the sheer pain could make her faint.
"Two... Keyblades?"
Robin tensed. Raven prepared to cast more Darkness spells, and Siege aimed his Proton Cannon. But the boy simply ignored this and walked over to Namine, helping her up. He turned back to the other three. "This is not your concern!"
"We're only trying to help!" Robin shot back. "She's been manipulated by the H.I.V.E to kill Raven!"
"That doesn't matter," Blondie, as he will be referred to from now on, answered. "What matters is that she's the only thing I've got left, and I won't let you take her from me." Robin's mouth hung open. Blondie continued. "True, this entire thing was just a ruse to end the dark sorceress... but we have bigger problems now," He looked at the fallen Maya. "I actually don't care what you do to the rest of the H.I.V.E, you just leave Namine alone."
Raven and Robin looked on mutely, picking up something from the kid's tone. Siege simply kept his Photon Cannon trained on the kid.
"Hey! You miss us?" Cyborg was back, and so were the rest of the heroes. "We've come to put an end to..." He stared at the mute scene, and looked about in confusion. "What's going on?"
"I was just about to leave..." Blondie answered before he quickly sank into a pool of light with Namine , disappearing.
Cyborg stared blankly for a moment before Beast Boy and Sonic burst in. "DUDE!" Beast Boy shouted. "Where'd everybody go?! Just a few minutes ago we were beatin' on the Soulless and then..."
Sonic looked at the silent scene. "Everything's gone. It's over."
"This is deeper than I thought." Robin added. "Much deeper."
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"AUGH!" Jinx and Gizmo landed painfully, back in the H.I.V.E headquarters. Apparently, their drawing/soul selves had been destroyed.
"What... what's going on?!" Ken looked in concern.
"KEYBLADE!" They screamed as they recovered.
"You saw Rob? What'd he do?!" Ken asked.
"Hmph, SHE pulled out the Keyblade right when Namine had them cornered..." Jinx dusted herself off.
"She?!" Ken blinked and thought for a moment. "Wait... uhhh... that wasn't Rob."
"What do you mean, paste eater?" Gizmo asked.
"What did she look like?"
"Insane, had a cape, feminine, female-Dracula-reject, that enough for ya?" Jinx described the attacker.
"Uhh... that's not Rob. That's his twin sister, Maya..." Ken answered. A beat. "Wait, she can wield it too?!"
"DUH!" Gizmo snapped.
"Oh man. I GOTTA get the Keyblade from them... I can't imagine what would happen," He worried. "I need to see Brother Blood right away!" He sprinted away.
Jinx and Gizmo blinked. "Ken Mira for ya..." Jinx muttered.
"Wonder if the other snotfaces got back yet," Gizmo ran off.
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The world was no longer black. Maya blinked, and awakened. She saw Cyborg look her over and cheer, "Yep! She's awake now!"Maya blinked softly before she looked back at Cyborg. "Where are we?"
"You're in Titans Tower, our home!" Beast Boy grinned. "Your brother took a beating while we were gone, but he'll be all right!"
"Okay..." Maya sat up and saw the other seventeen faces that sat around the living room. Samus was having a talk with Jim, Beast Boy was questioning Sora and Sara on how they got in the Titan's base ("I told you, YOU HAVE NO SECURITY SYSTEM!" was Sora's only response.), and Sonic and Buu were having an eating contest, with Buu easily winning, of course. Most everyone else was discussing today's events.
"You mean this entire attack from the H.I.V.E was an attempt to harm Raven?" Starfire asked Robin worriedly.
"Yeah, up until Rob showed up, they considered Raven to be the biggest threat, and distracted everyone just so they could finish her," Robin answered, looking around the gathered crowd. "But I get the feeling that not all of their members are really willing to harm us." He thought back to Namine and Blondie.
"Maybe, but some of them ARE," Sonic had joined in on the conversation, now stuffing his face angrily in a futile attempt to match Buu's eating. "Take KIM POSSIBLE for instance. Worst. Traitor. Ever." Sonic stopped eating and smashed a fist into the table, startling a few people. "She led some idiot to attack MY hometown, and NOW she thinks she can friggin' HIDE behind those stupid SOULLESS!"
Robin opened his mouth in shock. That WAS the red-haired girl he saw after all. They had worked with her a few times when her missions sent her to their city. She seemed very nice, even Teen Titans material then. But why would she do this?! Robin snarled. "I know the definition of betrayal," he hung his head. "Not too long ago, there was a sixth Titan. She was... a good friend. But in the end, it turned out she was working for SLADE."
"Slade?" Sora asked. "Who's Slade?"
"Our worst enemy," Robin answered. "Strange, since he has not attacked Jump City since. But now that she works for Slade, she is our worst enemy, too."
"Her name is Terra," everyone turned to see Beast Boy talking now. "She... she betrayed us because... Slade manipulates her. She isn't evil." He clenched his fist.
"Like hell she isn't," Raven droned. "She stabbed us in the back, and nearly left us for DEAD."
"No, she ISN'T!" Beast Boy roared and got into Raven's face. "We can't give up! You think we gave up on ROBIN when he got conned into working for Slade?!"
There were many gasps from the room, none of them coming from the Titans.
"We've got a lot on our plate now! Those stupid Soulless made us forget that Slade's still out there, and Terra with him..." Beast Boy sighed, and clenched both of his fists. "We can't give up."
"That's true, not now," Rob added. "We're here to help, whether against the Soulless or this 'Slade.' Maybe Ansem, too."
"That's the last person I'd ask," Sora muttered.
"HEY, no one cares that you hate Ansem anymore, okay?!" Rob shot back at Sora.
"Who asked you?!"
"By your attitude, I'd say YOU!"
"I think I should adjust yours!"
"I'd love to see you try..."
"Please! Stop arguing, it is not very nice," Starfire interjected. "This atmosphere is... far too tense." She looked around the angry, the dismal faces. Sora and Rob had nearly flared with Light and Darkness respectively. Sonic still looked livid and somewhat sad from the mention of Kim. Everyone else was simply in stunned or morose silence. "You two should be friends, and not let your opinions on Ansem get in the way," she hugged them both together. "Doesn't that feel better? We should be happy! We have achieved a great and temporary victory against the Soulless monsters, and we can surely beat Slade when the time comes!"
Robin has a weak smile. "That's Starfire for ya." Sonic noticed Robin's subtle fond look at the alien girl and blinked.
Sora and Rob just grumbled.
Without warning, however, Sara started laughing openly at the two of them. "Ha, you two are complete morons!"
"OH REALLY?!" Both of them got in her face.
She only laughed harder. "You prove my point. You go for each other's throats, yet when someone insults you, you both gang up on them..." She rolled over uncontrollably. Sora and Rob just stared at each other and gagged, which sent the entire house laughing at them. Rob grumbled and hid his head under a pillow. Sora snarled and stomped out of the room, noticing that Raven was suddenly nowhere to be found. Intrigued by this, Maya tailed Sora.
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Raven sat alone on the rooftop, meditating. She figured this was the only spot that the ten million guests the team suddenly had wouldn't intrude, and she needed to relieve the tense atmosphere of the gathered guests. But it turns out she was wrong even in this assumption.
Sora walked on the rooftop, puzzling over his next move. So far, his visit to Earth hadn't been a pleasant one, with the constant battle against that annoying Rob kid, and his turmoil ridden mind, wondering just what happened between him and Ansem. He was absolutely sure Ansem was pure evil with no intention of going back to good, what could've possibly happened?
Just then, Rob's twin sister hopped up on the balcony. She paced a bit before approaching Sora. "I want to know... What happened between you an Ansem? Why do you hate him so?"
Sora was taken aback by the innocence in Maya's face, a stark contrast to Rob's almost Ansem-like face that held knowledge and secrets. He snarled at this subject. "Would you like me to tell about how he possessed my best friend, or should I tell about how he doomed his own kingdom just to pursue knowledge?" Sora sighed. "I just don't know anymore..."
"In that case, I don't know what I'm fighting for then," Maya shrugged and stated as if she reached a conclusion. "I can't imagine what it's be like to hate things so much... My brother isn't very fond of humanity at all."
"He... isn't?" Sora looked at Maya incredulously.
"Yeah... both of you share something in common, you know," she idly twirled as she noticed Raven staring at the both of them with one eye open. "You both have a passionate hatred for evil. You see it in Ansem, and those that wield the Heartless. My brother sees it in the human race."
"But why?" Sora asked, wondering just how Rob felt so... Ansem.
"You see, we come from a city. We live very close to the slums there, and Rob often hears and sees many atrocious acts on the news... he doesn't like the fact that humans are in tuned with dark natures," Maya answered. "As he is human himself, his hatred is focused on himself as well. Now that we share that Keyblade, Rob can now stop hating the human race and go smite the evil he so desires with little consequence... Like you,"
Sora raised an eyebrow. "Huh? You say my Keyblade's an excuse for me to vent my grievances against evil?"
"Not an excuse, a means," Sora noticed Raven joined in on the conversation now. "Your Keyblade comes from your Heart, just as my dark powers come from my mind and soul. Your Heart may not be the purest, but it is noble. I noticed before I left that you and Rob almost share the same kind of Heart."
"Oh..." Sora nodded in understanding. He turned to Maya. "But if you two are twins... then how come you're so... so..."
"Happy?" Maya responded, thinking. "Hmmm... I'm the opposite of my brother. I like humans. They're so complex, yet so simple. Reverend Mira always said to love people and focus your hate on the sin. He's not fond of these preachers that aim hatred against people with 'different lifestyles.' That's not Christian at all...""Okay..." Sora blinked.
"But Ansem... he seems like he's REALLY TRYING to fix the mess he made... I can sense it from him," Maya smiled lightly.
"I'm not even aware of what evil Ansem has done in the past, but like Maya, I too can sense he's trying," Raven added. "I'm guessing he really messed you up for you to still hate him."
"Yeah, he did," Sora said flatly, feeling guilty over the talk of redemption.
"'It takes time to heal wounds,' Reverend Mira would always say," Maya chirped. "I guess maybe one day it'll all make sense."
"Yeah..." Sora saw the moon in the sky. He yawned. "I'm tired... I think I'll take a snooze when Samus leaves..." he left.
Maya and Raven looked at the moon together. Maya began, still staring at the moon, "I often wonder... what makes humans tick, anyway? What makes them do good, or evil? What constitutes light and dark, and whether or not either's good or evil?"
"Who knows," Raven spoke. "I bet it all has to do with their life experiences, and what they are taught, and the darkness or light in their Heart and Soul. What I do know is that Terra betrayed the Titans of her own will."
"Terra..." Maya heard the forbidden name and whispered it.
"I felt it from her. Beast Boy was probably raised, almost like you, to see the good in people before you see the evil. I know Slade merely made the offer, it was Terra that took it."
"Aww," Maya simpered. "It's too bad. Maybe Beast Boy feels that way because... he fell in love? Or something? I don't know..."
Raven thought about this. It WAS Beast Boy who was hardest hit.
"Maybe I can cheer him up!" Maya gave Raven a cheeky smile. "You know, offer some hope!"
"You can try," Raven looked at Maya, and then began staring at the moon again.
Maya began chanting something random. "I saw an alien, and I was like, 'WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!' And then there was this cool thing, and I was like, 'WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!'" She began to stum on an invisible guitar, weirding Raven out. Raven blinked, disturbed by Maya's almost Starfire-like approach, before noting a ship coming in the distance.
"I think your ride is here," Raven muttered, stopping Maya's insanely random tirade. The ship came closer and landed on the rooftop. Maya saw the ship was now much bigger, with a sleeker design as well. Eggman and Tails opened the ship and hopped out.
"There you are!" Tails declared. "We went to go get the ship modified, but when we came back we saw that the Soulless problem is already taken care of!" He looked around. "Where's Rob?"
"They're all downstairs," Maya answered. "Is it really time to go?"
"Yeah! We can't burden these people with a place to stay, can we? They're probably packed!" Tails said, looking at Raven.
Raven, however, smiled. "I think we can make room."
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"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY BED?!" Beast Boy yelled at a cozy Sara, who was cuddling her sword in a Sephiroth-like fashion.
"What does it look like?" She said in an innocent voice. However, her voice dropped. "Disturb my sleep and I shall make you die slowly and painfully." She went back to sleep.
"Check," Siege knocked Raven's Knight with his Queen, leaving her king vulnerable. Raven focused for a moment while carefully regarding her chess pieces, while Sora watched on in interest.
"AHA! PICHU CAN OWN YOU!" Rob bellowed as he whipped Cyborg, Eggman, and Beelzemon in another round of Super Smash Brothers Melee. "OH YEEEEEES! I WIN! YOU PHAIL!"
"Fool, you got lucky that time," Eggman muttered.
"Naw, man! How could Samus lose?!" Cyborg complained, as Samus stared at the four of them, highly amused. Apparently in this world, her entry into the Smash Brothers Tournament was documented into a video game.
"Robin!" Starfire zoomed in mid-air and gave Robin a tight hug. "I have lent friend Maya and Tifa my room. I hope you do not mind if I sleep in your room tonight?"
Robin raised an eyebrow at this suggestion, and saw Sonic zoom in. Sonic grinned at Robin. "She has all those plushies in her room, and the one she prefers to hug has a cape and is alive and breathing! How cute..." Sonic grinned.
Robin stared at Starfire for a moment. "Star, are you sure about this?"
"It would be most joyful! We can even sleep in the same bed, since Sonic has so conveniently found a bigger mattress!" The jolly Tamaran answered.
Robin shot at Sonic, "This was YOUR idea, wasn't it?"
"Nope! All Tails!" Sonic flatly lied, even though both he and Robin knew better.
Robin groaned. "This is gonna be a looonnnggg night..." Robin muttered, shaking his head.
-------------------
That morning, everyone barely moved. Nineteen people staying in one house tended to lead to excessive partying, yelling, and general chaos. In other words, everyone stayed up too late. Only Sara, Sora, Raven, and Maya had enough energy to move, since they all went to bed early.
"Where are y'all going?" Maya asked Sora as he helped Conker into the Hyperion.
"I don't know yet, but it won't take long to find out..." Sora answered. He noticed Maya was dragging her twin brother into their ship. "You take care... You're kind and sweet, unlike your annoying brother..."
"What?!" Rob yelled sleepily, as he heard the insult. "You take that back!"
"Hey, it's not my fault your sister is ten times less annoying than you are!" Sora taunted.
"Shut up!" Rob yelled as he stumbled.
"What's the matter, had too much to drink last night?!" Sora cracked.
"I DON'T TOUCH ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES!"
Sara wasted no time in silencing the argument by knocking out Sora cold and taking him in the ship. Maya dumped Rob inside. "You take care of yourself, all right?" Sara asked.
"I will!" Maya chirped.
Cloud came out from below. He walked out and headed towards Maya. "I think I want to join you, too," Cloud said. "I'm thinking I could find Aeris if I travel with you... I think I can find more answers to the Soulless question," Cloud looked at Maya.
Maya, feeling awfully agreeable, simply said, "OKAY! We've just made this ship a whole lot roomier, too!"
"Whut?" Sonic slurred somewhere, too tired to object to Maya's decision.
"I'm almost positive this won't be the last time we meet..." Robin emerged from inside, with a calm Cyborg by his side. They both came next to Raven and Maya. He handed Maya a yellow walkie-talkie with a Titans insignia. "This is a Titans Communicator. Cyborg fine tuned it so I can reach across the earth."
"Hey, maybe we can get it to reach across worlds if we work on it." Cyborg added. "We'll give you a call if we come across something."
"Thanks!" Maya said. "Bye!"
"Bye!" Robin said.
"Bye," Raven said.
"See ya!" Cyborg waved.
She shut the door to the ship and the heroes launched away.
(WEEELLL this came out longer than I imagined. Alas, I also had to edit out Kuja, because I felt like I diminished his role. You'll see him in the story, I promise!
Now to give a heads up on people. Kim Possible comes from her self-titled show (sorry, she's back, I need someone for Sonic to vent his grievances on until someone better comes along) Jim Raynor is from Starcraft. This particular brand of Buu is from Dragon Ball Z. Beelzemon is from Digimon Season 3, considering I don't even watch or play Digimon. Siege Mortar is a character created by my online friend TheFour from Conker is from Bad Fur Day/Live and Uncut, and not his cuter iterations. Axel, Larxene (had to change Roxanne's name, grumble grumble), Zexion, the blond kid (who I call Blondie) and Namine all come from the Kingdom Hearts continuum (Chain of Memories. Buy it next month!).
Keep your heads on as I continue with the last Pokémon movie adaptation, as well as something new coming SOON!)