Kingdom Hearts: Chaos Angel
Episode 11: Mansion of Souls
(A/N: No ownage of KH, Poké/Digimon, whatever... My character, Daniel, or "Taz" is mine, although his name is not.)
"This all makes sense now!" Siege typed furiously on his computer.
"Too bad I still can't make sense of this..." Sora added, falling on a bed in the Hyperion. "So now there's two sides, light and dark. Each has two evil minions on each side, Heartless and Soulless. But NOW PEOPLE SAY THE HEARTLESS AREN'T AT FAULT FOR THEIR OWN EVIL!'" He roared. "Oh... now I'm confused! Are we supposed to destroy the Heartless or convert them? And what about the Soulless? Dang it, Sara, come BACK already!"
"It's been two damn hours..." Conker hissed in annoyance.
"Yeah... so WHAT'S taking her so long?"
"I don't know..." Siege answered. "She said she needed to take care of some business. And Sora...your letting your anger drive your actions. But then again, I can't blame you. Teenagers have their hormones and such." Siege gave a quiet smirk.
"AND WHAT THE HECK DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ANGSTY TEENAGERS?!" Sora roared.
"EVERYTHING," Siege gave a cheeky grin, making Sora roll his eyes. "Including the fact that you are one."
"Sorry for being a jerk, but I'm so frustrated..." Sora sighed. "Everything I fought for could've been in the wrong direction." Sora blew a strand of hair from his face, and got up. "I'm going in after Sara, I'll talk with Jim and see what he says."
"Go right ahead," Siege's grin fell, but didn't disappear. "I'm still looking into the situation. I don't know what Sara knows..."
Sora nodded and walked off.
Jim Raynor sat in the control room with Beelzemon and Buu, playing some sort of card game. Buu snarled. "Got any sixes?"
"Feh... Go fish!" Beelzemon grinned.
Jim was more perceptive than his teammates, "Sora! What's wrong, kid?" Jim's outfit was more comfortable; from first glance, he almost looked like Jimmy Dean in a brown leather jacket. Beelzemon and Buu still looked the same. However, they did glance at Sora.
"I've decided," Sora said. "I'm going after Sara."
"Knew you were gonna say that...," Beelzemon stated. "She been gone that long already??"
"Two hours?" Sora tried, raising his eyebrows.
"Feh... got me..."
"Where'd she go, anyway?" Buu asked.
"It's called the Mansion of Souls," Jim said. "The name sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me, but in a world like this, anything can happen. Sara knew about it...said it was connected to this 'Mary' she talked about, and I'm sure as hell she's not talkin' bout the Virgin Mother, either. She also said it's connected to those Soulless critters we've been hearing about."
"If she found Mary, she probably wanted a private moment," Sora said, bowing his head in reverence. Everyone else did, as well. Then Sora grinned. "BUT WHO CARES?! Most likely she didn't and it's safe, so we should make sure 'tough girl' didn't get into any trouble. So who's with me?!"
"Not me!" Samus walked in, wearing her full suit. "I've got a small recon mission to accomplish. I'll see you later, Sora," She dashed off, and Jim smirked. Pushing a button, Jim opened a hatch on the Hyperion, allowing Samus to leave.
"Hmm... I don't think I can join you this time around, kid," Jim said. "We've just got updated on a Heartless attack nearby here, and we've got to get down there and assist. But I bet ol' Beelzemon will help you! Won't you, Beelzemon?" Jim flashed him a cheeky grin.
Beelzemon raised an eyebrow and looked at Jim. "Hey! What about everyone else?"
"Conker and Buu have to go with me to stop that mass of Heartless nearby, and Siege is still doing research on the damn things. Sora can't exactly rough this alone, and if anyone here can do anything about darkness better, it's you. Am I right?"
"Yeah, but..."
"Good! I knew you'd agree with me..."
"Hey, don't you pull that sh-"
"Come ON! I don't have all day!" Sora picked up Beelzemon and dragged him off the ship. "And besides, if you wanna help everyone else, we need to find Sara quick!"
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"Things are going quite well today!" Captain Hook grinned, swinging his new sword around. "Peter Pan and his annoying friends are nowhere to be found, the Heartless siege is sure to distract any would-be heroes, and on top of that this HUGE, BEAUTIFUL mansion will be MINE for the taking!"
"Patience, my overeager friend," The glaring eye of Slade followed the jolly captain. The man himself walked slowly alongside Hook. "Remember, our primary goal is to unearth the movements of the Chaos Saints. You are to head off any offense that may change that."
"Yes, of course, me laddie," Hook agreed, although he was far too distracted.
"Terra," Slade called out, and the earth shook, and from the ground a blond, fairly thin girl rose to the surface. Her blue eyes faded from yellow, and the bandages that covered her exposed midriff and legs had begun to slightly unravel and hang loosely. She glared softly at her master, while the man continued. "It's time. Find the girl and bring her to me. You know who I speak of."
"Yes, master," she complied. Her eyes glowing, she severed a part of the earth beneath, allowing her to form a small platform for her to ride on. She rose and drifted into the mansion through a window.
"She's not the cheery type, is she?" Hook asked Slade.
"You'll be thankful for it," Slade responded before disappearing in a swirling form of darkness. Hook snarled before stalking off into the mansion.
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"Whoa..." Sora gaped at the grandness of the mansion.
"It's big," Beelzemon stated the obvious.
"Yes... but HOW big?"
I'll answer that question. The Mansion of Souls stood about the size of a small island, dwarfing poor Sora and Beelzemon to look like ants approaching a school building. The entryway stood about 14 feet tall, adorned in red with the Heartless and Soulless crests upon it (The Soulless cross stood inside where the X on the Heartless would normally be.)
"Damn, that's huge," Beelzemon gaped. "But no time to waste," he punted the giant door open with ease, and annoyingly yelled, "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"
But only silence answered them. Inside had the appearance of a twisted mansion built by Ansem himself. If it weren't for such an influence, Sora might have admired the church-like designs on the walls, or the paintings of a family Sora never knew, or that shy little Heartless with a blue jacket and a pointy hat...
... HEARTLESS WITH A POINTY HAT?!
Sora jumped in shock and whipped out a Keyblade in a fighting stance as the mysterious, child-like Heartless cautiously made himself more visible. "Excuse me, s-s-sir, but this p-place is off l-limits. Please go back to where you c-c-c-came from..."
"Huh?" Sora blinked. "Who are you? You're not like the Heartless I've normally seen..."
The Heartless child scratched its head, but then apparently saw some offense from Sora's words as it then got angry, "HEY! I'm w-warning you!"
"Chill out!" Beelzemon shot back. "We're just lookin' for someone!"
"Don't worry, Vivi. I got this," They heard as they saw the child look behind him before stepping back. The one known as Vivi disappeared over the balcony, with a copper-haired teenager replacing him. There was only one problem.
This guy had a shotgun.
And apparently a powerful one, too, as the teen whipped it out and shot at Sora with lightning speed. Although Sora blocked the attack, the sheer force knocked him over and caused him to crash. Sora recovered and snarled.
The teen continued, "You're not invited to the mansion, my duckies, so you'd best clear out now!"
Sora shot back, "WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?! You nearly shot me!"
"I can do it again," the cheeky shotgun-wielder replied. He looked down to see Sora and his Keyblade. "Waitaminute... Keyblade, spiky hair, black outfit, oversized shoes... you must be Sora!"
"Ummm, yeah, that's me," Sora raised an eyebrow.
"Ah... I've been expecting you lot for some time, What took you so damn long?!" The shotgun-wielder jumped in front of Sora. He stood slightly taller and wider than the weary Keyblade Master, with copper hair and small eyes. He wore a high-school varsity jacket that bore both the Heartless and Soulless crests. "You're pretty slow for a Keyblade Master, I know someone who'd be here in a flash if it weren't for his sorry ass sense of direction."
"Well that means I got a better sense of direction than he does," Sora grinned.
"Damn straight!" Beelzemon added.
"You can call me 'Taz', after the Tasmanian Devil himself," Taz said. The Heartless-like child walked behind him. "This is a buddy of mine, Vivi. I'm the guardian of the mansion you see here, so you'll have to forgive my less than friendly approach to everything. Oh, and Vivi helps out from time to time."
"Umm... nice to meet you," Sora said to the yellow-eyed mage.
"N-nice to meet you too," Vivi responded. "C-c-curse my stuttering..."
"So why were you expecting this spiky-haired dumbass here anyway?" Beelzemon jerked his thumb at Sora.
"HEY!" Sora shot back and pointed the Keyblade threateningly.
"Because someone else passed by here, and she mentioned 'you're the one they need', or some other cryptic crap before she sodded off and disappeared," Taz answered.
"Sara," Beelzemon filled in the blank.
"Right, mate," Taz continued as he quickly dug in his ear. "And now the bugger's still lost in the mansion. Need you to go find her with me."
"Ummm... okay," Sora said.
Taz turned tail and walked further into his manor. Vivi walked alongside Sora and Beelzemon.
"Taz patrols th-this huge mansion. It has connections to all worlds," Vivi stated as the other two walked alongside him.
"All worlds?" Sora asked in surprise.
"Yeah, hard to b-believe, but it's true." Vivi said. "Taz found me after I had accidentally led a c-c-c-couple of black mages here from my world. Since we as H-heartless have conscious thought, we needed a p-place to stay."
"How'd he find this place? And what made this mansion his in the first place?" Beelzemon asked.
"Taz said he was sent here by 'f-freak events'. And that's all he'll tell me." Vivi shrugged.
"'Freak events', huh?" Beelzemon smirked as they walked down some stairs into another room.
They suddenly heard Taz shout, "NOT YOU BASTARDS AGAIN!"
"Huh?" Sora blinked.
"Sounds like he f-found more of those... those D-something thingys!" Vivi said in alarm.
"Dusk?" Sora asked.
"Yes!"
"We fought those things a week ago! Let us help!" Sora summoned his Keyblade yet again, and Beelzemon whipped out his two Berenjena.
"Fine!" Vivi ran forward into the next room, with Sora and Beelzemon right behind him. There he saw Taz glaring at the twisted Soulless creatures, the Dusk.
"Argh!" Taz shot at one, but it stretched and bended out of the way. He whipped about and jumped to his left to dodge a Dusk surprise attack, and shot at it again. This time it was struck, and died in a flash of white light.
"It's our turn!" Sora bellowed. He ran towards another Dusk, Keyblade outstretched. Beelzemon gave a shout of "Double Impact!" and shot dark energy into Sora's Keyblade. Sora ripped through the Dusk like a butcher knife through warm butter-it was that fierce.
"Nice, mates! Gives me an idea," Taz dodged another Dusk and hopped backwards next to Vivi. "Vivi! Give me a Doomsday!"
"D-doomsday?! That'll b-blow us all into smithereens!" Vivi protested.
"Don't worry! My shotgun can control it! Remember Flare?"
"Oh..." Vivi recalled the time he and Taz had teamed up to defeat the Dusk. Taz's shotgun can also control magic from his allies. He focused the insane Dark energy as it began to flood the room into one point. Taz, however, drew it into his gun.
The Dusk drew back, weary of something big.
Suddenly, Taz fired. A powerful orange burst of Dark energy killed all the Dusk in the room in one instant. Taz smirked and blew the smoke off of his shotgun. "I love my job."
"That's nice and all, but there's still another Dusk," Sora pointed as precisely another Dusk emerged from the ground. Taz grit his teeth in almost Rob-like anger and aimed at the offending creature, but it backflipped out of the way. It ran into another room. "AFTER IT!" Taz bellowed, and the four heroes gave chase.
------
"This is a quaint mansion, I'd say. Better than Hollow Bastion," Larxene smirked as she walked inside. "Why were we there in the first place. All we got to do is let Zexion taunt that Sora kid before 'King Sephiroth' kicked us out," She rolled her eyes at the mention of his name, although it was to hide her fear of the man. The ire of the one-winged angel was nothing that could be matched; the sight of an angry Donald and Goofy beside him didn't even deter it.
"Keep in mind 'King Sephiroth' could've slit out throats in an instant if he wanted to," Axel grinned. "Not even I could've taken him down."
"Being so humble, Axel?" A high-pitched, yet male voice shot to Axel. The red-haired man flinched at the sound. "It's a nice change."
"VEXEN," Axel snarled.
"Why Axel," The man appeared in the usual Chaos Saint outfit, his blond hair betraying his more Asian face. "There's no reason for you to hate me. You're nowhere as annoying as that dog Marluxia."
"I'm a DOG, you say?" another face of the Chaos Saints appeared. He was a bit taller and younger looking than the rest (well, Larxene was the youngest, but no one cared.). His orange-blond hair only reached his shoulders. Where he walked, flower petals fell to the ground. "That's the nicest insult I've heard from you in a long time, old man."
"Keep your tongue, Mr. Flower Man," Vexen shot back. "Or you will not last long."
"Not as long as Axel, anyway," Larxene winked. Axel simply sort of grinded his teeth at those words.
"Rumor has it Sora's here," Zexion appeared. He walked past the group and towards the mansion. "He will be most persistent if he sees us."
"That is inevitable," A sixth man appeared. If Marluxia was tall, this man was taller, and had tons of muscle to back it up. He carried a large, black tomahawk with him. "If that one-winged girl said that he is needed to unveil our meeting place, he will meet us all no doubt."
"I'm pretty sure if worse comes to worse, Lexaeus here can knock out Sora in one hit. Right Lexy?" Larxene said.
"Don't act cute," Lexaeus deadpanned. Larxene simply stuck her lower lip out.
"In any case, we must keep moving," Zexion advised. "Miss Oni does not like to be kept waiting."
(Who said I was impatient?) The flapping of four angelic wings and the arrival of Charlotte's body answered them. The other six, aside from Axel, deeply considered groveling, but Oni stopped these thoughts. (What did I tell you? Don't. Grovel. Before me. You don't need to!) Charlotte walked in and opened the door to Mansion of Souls. (We should get in. The Keyblade clown might even need our help.)
"Works for me!" Axel flexed his arms before following Charlotte and the others inside.
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Grinding down a stair rail, Sora balanced himself before leaping off to counter and smash down a Dusk that leapt to attack him. Beelzemon sliced through another row of Dusk with his Darkness Claw. Vivi fired a shot of Firaga at the oncoming Dusk, smashing it into oblivion. All three struggled to match the speed and fury of Taz, who was still chasing the same Dusk that got away.
"DIE, DAMN YOU!" Taz shot furiously at the Dusk. He and the doomed creature disappeared into another room.
"He reminds me of Rob," Sora muttered under his breath. The Dusk had stopped appearing, so he cooled down. "Wait a minute..." He remembered at the beginning of the mansion, there was a portrait that had Taz in it. "Taz has a family portrait at the beginning at the mansion."
"You didn't see Rob in it? Man, you're blind! I saw those neon orange eyes a mile away!" Beelzemon added.
"Why didn't you say anything?!" Sora shot.
"I dunno, thought ya saw it already. Besides, what's so important about Taz living with Rob, anyway?"
"I dunno," Sora thought about it. "I'm guessing Rob is where Taz picked up his current rage from. It's so... Rob-like."
"Rob?" Vivi asked. "Taz m-mentioned someone b-bearing that name."
"Yeah?" Sora said, encouraging Vivi to go on.
"He was pretty n-nostalgic about him. S-said while everyone else at the church was v-visibly happy, his was... s-silent. Almost twinged with s-sadness..."
"Sadness?" Sora asked.
"Oh yeah..." Taz came back, blowing smoke off of his shotgun. "Rob's an angsty fellow. Even though he's fortunate, he's almost like a bleedin' heart, the poor lad. Guess that's why that Keyblade came to him one night... Sorta miss him."
"Yeah... we saw him last week," Beelzemon remarked casually.
"What?! WHERE?!" He zipped towards Beelzemon and gripped him by the collar.
"Hey! Chill OUT!" Beelzemon pushed Taz off of him. "We saw him last week at Jump City. Sora kicked his ass plenty of times; sorta surprised he hasn't bragged about it."
"That's a no brainer, chump. You have experience," Taz said. "I bet with enough training, Rob could hand your ass to you."
"Doubtful, but I'd like to see," Sora answered. He looked around. "I don't see any Dusk. So where's Sara?"
"Oh yeah, Sara? I... locked her in a closet."
"WHADDYA MEAN YOU LOCKED HER IN A CLOSET?!"
"SHE BEAT ME, ALL RIGHT?!"
"Figures..." Sora rolled his eyes. "Let's go."
"Right this way, you lot," Taz took a left into a foyer, and the other three followed.
"So... Sara's in THIS closet?" Sora asked.
"Yep!" Taz said.
Beelzemon kicked down the door, and found...
Nothing.
"She WAS in there!" Taz complained as Sora and Beelzemon gave him demonic looks.
"Did you try... looking somewhere ELSE?" They heard a snide voice, and they whirled around.
"Captain Hook!" Sora recognized the villain instantly. Captain Hook stood on a statue, holding a long sword in one hand and dangling a rope on the other. On the end of this rope dangled...
"SARA!" Sora gasped. Sara, tied and gagged, didn't look fearful at all. On the contrary, her cheeks flushed from embarrassment, and once Sora saw this, she gave him and Taz a death glare that would've melted lesser men.
"Why, HELLO, Sora!" Captain Hook evilly greeted. "Been ages since I've fought the likes of a scurvy dog like you. But I have a new sword," Sora noted his new sword; it looked much like a defined version of his old one, with flowing darkness and a Heartless symbol upon it. "And YOU don't stand much of a chance! With all these Heartless here, I'll make this giant mansion a new home! I'm surprised you didn't go to the Heartless siege I planted!"
"That was YOUR idea?!" Sora shot.
"OF COURSE, Sora boy! But that's just fine and dandy, because now I can test my NEW SWORD ON YOU! OH TERRA! Distract his buddies!"
"You rang?" A smirking Terra emerged from the earth. An evil grin was plastered over her face has her blond hair whipped from the powerful kinesis she was using. "I have a mission to do, Hook, but if it's smashed good guys you want..." Her eyes glowed yellow, and chunks of earth began to rise from the ground. "I'm more than happy to comply."
"YOU'RE Terra?!" Sora gasped, remembering Robin's words.
Terra ignored her recognition as she tried to pelt the other three with the large chunks of rock.
"You DID NOT just mess up my floor, damn you!" Taz bellowed as he shot at Terra. Vivi simply added a Blizzaga as his answer.
Captain Hook raised his sword and attempted to slice Sora. The nimble boy dodged, and attempted his own slash. Captain Hook dodged easily and leapt to the side, using a four-hit combo Sora could barely parry. "You've gotten stronger, me laddie, but so have I!"
"All right, let's REALLY PLAY! Thundaga!" Sora raised his Keyblade and strong thunder poured from the heavens. However, Captain Hook absorbed the blast by twirling his sword. "Ah, on of the fine features of me sword, I can absorb magic!" Captain Hook raised his sword and used a powerful swipe, now loaded with lightning. Sora leapt out of the way, but took quite a shock from the lightning.
"AUGH!" Sora cried.
"Hang on, Sora!" Beelzemon shouted as he dodged another attack from Terra.
"Can't you stop trying to kill us for a moment, woman?!" Taz barely dodged a vicious earth attack from Terra.
"Nah, it's not fun!" Terra answered, ignoring a direct Thundaga strike from Vivi and ignoring the semi-curses from the mage when he realized his mistake.
Taz simply sweat-dropped. He shot two rounds, knocking Terra off her feet. He then took another shot and Hook flinched, allowing Sora to rake in a Ragnarok combo.
"Nice one, Sora!" Beelzemon cheered, using his Berenjena to ward off a counter attack from Terra.
"Hey, no cheating!" Captain Hook sliced the air with his sword, and a dark wave sliced Taz, drawing a bit of blood. Taz crumpled, but stayed conscious.
"TAZ!" Sora cried.
"Oh, stop whining, I'm alive!" Taz clutched his wound, and a Green Requiem dropped some green powder. Taz's wounds faded away. Taz bounded back up, and grinded down the banister, shooting at Terra all the way. Vivi finally managed to get in a shot on Terra by smashing her with a Flare.
"But soon YOU won't be!" Captain Hook cackled, and sent another wave at Sora. Sora jumped it, and super glided towards Hook, finally hitting him with another combo and a prod to the stomach.
"What was that?" Sora taunted.
"Sora, watch OUT!" Taz warned, but it was too late. Captain Hook used his hook and stabbed Sora in his left shoulder. The blood gushed out, and Sora screamed in pain. Captain Hook, being a sadistic bastard, pulled it out, causing more pain and Sora to fall.
"Sora!" Beelzemon cried.
"Keep crying, you'll join him!" Terra roared. She summoned a round of kinesis, causing the earth to shake from a tremendous earthquake.
Sora fell. He could barely glance up, as Captain Hook prepared the finishing blow.
"Ay AY, Captain Hook!" A piercing arrow made of light knocked Captain Hook off of the second floor, making him fall to the first floor. Captain Hook rose in anger, ready to take on this figure when he realized who it was.
"PETER PAN!" Captain Hook gasped.
"Nice powers, huh?" Peter Pan flew down to where Captain Hook stood, arrows in hand. "I've been training with some new powers against the Heartless! That means I can use the powers of light, and YOUUUU can't!" Captain Hook was surprised to see that Peter Pan had grown older by about three years.
"Your maturity hasn't aged at all, I see," Captain Hook sneered.
"Or course not!" Peter Pan laughed and took the insult in stride. They began to cross swords and bows.
Sora struggled to get up, but a firm, healing hand told him otherwise. "Friends are always there for you... no matter what," His hook wound was gone, but his shoulder was still smarting. Sora looked up to see a person he didn't expect.
"Riku?" Sora gasped. Riku had changed. His hair had grown thinner, he had grown much taller (and even got some muscles), and he now oddly wore a blindfold. What was most unsual, however, is that he now wore a Chaos Saint outfit. "Thanks, Riku. What's the blindfold for?"
"Being in darkness for a year tends to do nightmares for your eyesight. My eyes are actually fine, but I have developed senses better than sight," Riku turned to Sora, and grinned. "Now stay here until that shoulder of yours recovers. I got this. And the Chaos Saint thing... I'll answer that later."
Riku leapt off of the second floor, and joined Peter Pan against Hook. He pulled out the Soul Eater and struck, knocking Hook by surprise. Both easily dodged the returning swipe Hook sent, and smashed him again.
Peter Pan got an idea. "Oh Captain HOOOOK! Catch!" he threw something at Captain Hook, and he caught it in confusion.
"A ketchup bottle?" the good guys raised their eyebrows in confusion.
Terra, however, snarled. She'd seen this trick before in her travels with Slade...
"Observe," Peter Pan held a confident look on his face. "HEY, PIKACHU! HE'S GOT YOUR KETCHUP!"
An odd, Heartless version of the yellow rat appeared and looked at Captain Hook for the moment. Then he started trying to tug the ketchup bottle.
"That's MY bottle!" Captain Hook said, angry and confused.
"Pika PIKA!" The Heartless Pikachu shouted.
"You're a goner, Hook!" Peter Pan said with a confident smirk.
By now the Pikachu got angry. "PIIIII KAAAAAAAA CHHUUUUUU!" Captain Hook got the shock of his life. Pikachu then used a Seismic Toss and threw Captain Hook well out of the house.
"SMMEEEEE!" Captain Hook cried as he disappeared in the night sky with a ding.
Terra stood back, aware that she was outnumbered and outclassed. "Funny. Never got called Smee before. Guess that chump needs his old lackey anyway. But my fight's over. I'll be seeing you losers later." Terra conjured swirling dust like a smokescreen and disappeared.
Everyone looked at Peter Pan. He just smirked. "Never stand in the way between a Pikachu and his ketchup!" The Heartless Pikachu agreed and started licking the blood-red goodness.
"That's Anti-Pikachu..." Taz looked at it. "Every unique living animal or human has one. This Anti must be the strongest of its kind. I could tell because it likes ketchup, just like the strongest Pikachu in the world does..."
"Excuse me, what's an Anti?" Beelzemon raised his hand slightly, as if trying to stop someone.
"An Anti represents your maximum powers. It's your Heartless equivalent. Apparently, you get a HUGE power increase if you defeat yours," Sora didn't remember this happening when he beat HIS Anti. "But here's the trick: you have to defeat it by yourself. And in a fistfight, it's impossible to defeat your Anti alone."
"Oh! Is MY Anti here?" Beelzemon grinned.
"Probably. All the Antis came to this mansion after Ansem was beaten..."
"COOL! LET'S FIND IT! Forget the Heartless war! Jim probably beat it already!" Beelzemon gibbered as he raced off into the deeper parts of the mansion.
"I wonder if there's a SOULLESS Anti running around here..." Sora thought out loud, but when he saw Beelzemon run away, he shouted, "Beelzemon! WAAAIT!" and raced after his friend.
"Heh, I MUST see this!" Peter Pan raced off. Taz shook his head and followed.
"Fighting an Anti is n-n-n-not advisable!" Vivi ran after the group.
Riku stood alone. It was there he saw the angry Sara, apparently mad that Sora forgot to untie her, or maybe angry because she missed the opportunity to kill him. Riku took a quick motion and sliced the bonds off of Sara, and she removed her own gag.
"I am going to KILL Sora, and I'm going to KILL Taz... TWICE," she turned around to see the smirking Riku. "Who're you, faker?"
"I see that insult is quite popular now," Riku's smirk grew wider. "You do look quite like me..."
"How the hell can YOU tell, with that blindfold and all?"
"I have senses better than sight, and beauty only grows stronger than that."
Sara caught onto his cryptic compliment. "You think I'm hot, do you?"
"Why not? You look like me..."
"So frickin' vain, I see," Sara now shared Riku's smirk. "How'd you get here?"
"To tell you the truth, this mansion is in fact, Kingdom Hearts. It has doors to many worlds. Since Ansem's defeat, we sat in Kingdom Hearts for quite some time, until Taz showed up, wondering 'what the blue hell we were doing in his closet,'" Sara snickered at this. "Turns out his 'closet' is the Heart of this mansion, and this Mansion is the Heart of all the connected worlds. The End of the World strangely ceased to exist, replaced by this Mansion after Ansem's defeat. Taz must've been at the right place at the right time. He can apparently meld this mansion to his liking. It's his, after all. Little Planet is one of the worlds. I ought to tell Sora he can look for Kairi and King Mickey from this mansion."
"Not yet..." Sara walked to Riku. "He should look for Kairi first. The king will return in good time... Say, wanna help me kill Sora?"
"Why not?" Riku darkly grinned, clenching his teeth. "Monkey didn't even remember what he came here for in the first place!" They ran off together.
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As Sora all but gave up on chasing Beelzemon, he waited for Vivi and Peter Pan to catch up to him. The teen Neverland resident and the black mage came to a stop next to Sora. The spiky haired boy then launched a surprise question. "Vivi? What makes you... different from the Heartless? How are you... able to have conscious thought or... be un-evil, or something like that? In fact, I'd seen a few Heartless in here, and they're all docile... even intelligent!"
"Umm... th-that's hard to answer..." Vivi began.
"That's okay, you don't have to answer if-" Sora began as well, but Vivi quickly interrupted.
"N-no! Not a problem! Just a b-bit of a long story," Vivi cleared his throat.
"I wanna hear this," Peter Pan crossed his legs and floated down to the floor.
"O-okay. Taz understood the barbaric processes of the Heartless... th-their insatiable hunger for w-w-what they lack. But it-it's not so disturbing to you if you have a free mind."
"Free mind?" Peter Pan asked.
"Y-yes, they don't go after people when they have a free mind. Often t-times a Heartless is being controlled by someone, if not their own crazy appetite. With n-no mind to reason with them, there's nothing to hold b-b-back that chaotic desire for d-darkness, the heart, and d-d-destruction."
"I'm guessing who's controlling them is what this whole mess is all about," Riku walked in. He had his blindfold off, but it was still clutched in his hand. "King Mickey told me that the Heartless are merely puppets for whomever's evil or dark enough in the vicinity. Get rid of them and the Heartless will have no direction. Same goes for these new Soulless creatures," He turned to Sora. "I'd watch out if I were you."
"What?" Sora blinked.
Sora felt the very tip of a familiar sword pressed to his neck. "You know, I COULD kill you for ignoring me back there," Sara said in a cool voice.
"Or I could say 'sorry' for forgetting about you. Besides, wasn't Riku with you?" Sora calmly answered, knowing Sara wasn't angry enough to follow through on her threat.
"OR you could NOT kill him and say you did," Peter Pan offered. Everyone stared at him. "What?!"
Sara withdrew her sword. Sora turned around to face her. "So what were you doing here, anyway?"
"Looking for Mary, of course," she answered. "But on the way I ran into the Chaos Saints."
"Chaos Saints?!" Sora exclaimed.
"That lot of cult monkeys?" Taz came in. "I promised them a meeting place..." Taz thought about something he said earlier and added, "Hey, maybe you're the one they were asking for?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"What he means is that they've got business here, and you have to help them out." Sara answered.
"And why would I want to help them?!" Sora's temper began to rise.
"Because as they told me: 'The rise of the Chaos Angel is inevitable.' So if you're going to save the universe properly, you simply have to help them activate it and get to the controls first." Sara responded. "There's no two ways around it. It might be upsetting to help the enemy, but we've got little choice."
Sora grit his teeth in frustration. However, he then took a deep breath and relaxed a bit. "So what do I do?"
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"A mirror?" Sora blinked in confusion. He Sara, and Riku stood at the mirror. Taz, Peter Pan and Vivi had flanked off to go find Beelzemon.
"Apparently, this mirror has something... wrong with it," Sara answered, sounding not quite sure with herself. "Their leader said if you look closely, you could figure it out."
"Okay..." Sora inched closer to the enigmatic mirror, merely staring at his own reflection. He reached out...
... and pulled back suddenly. His reflection had an evil grin!
The demonic doppelganger inside the mirror struck first. It pulled out its own Keyblade and struck at Sora. The real Sora could barely dodge the attack, and had even more difficulty launching his own. Sora dodged an attack and looked up at the top of the mirror. It had a Heartless symbol etched on top of it! No wonder it was launching evil clones!
Riku dashed forward with the Soul Eater, slicing through the fake Sora on the other side and forcing the fake backwards. Unfortunately, the wicked mirror registered Riku, and this time a doppelganger of Dark Riku appeared, brandishing its own Soul Eater. The fake and real Rikus clashed swords, while Sora frantically dodged the attacks of his fake.
Sara stood back. Although nowhere near afraid, she didn't want to complicate the battle with her own clone. "Break the mirror!" She advised.
"How am I supposed to do that?" Sora shot back as he dodged his own Sonic Blade.
"Switch dance partners!" Riku bounced off of his fake. "Or better yet, team up!" Riku and Sora grabbed hands. With that, Sora's Keyblade began to glow with a touch of Holy power, and Riku's Soul eater began to glow with dark power. They whirled together in a frenzy, smashing their clones back and even causing the mirror to crack in a small area.
The fake Sora snarled, then looked at Riku. It nodded.
Fake Riku nodded back.
"Uh-oh..." The real Sora and Riku chorused.
The fake Sora began to glow with light as Dark Riku began to levitate and prepare a familiar attack...
"It's using Dark Aura!" Riku exclaimed as Dark Riku launched said attack, now fueled with an unholy light.
Sora dodged a streak from Dark Riku as he exclaimed, "What are we gonna do?!"
"SHOTGUN!" Taz was back, and a piercing volley of shotgun spray stopped the Dark Aura in its tracks. Beelzemon and Peter Pan ran in from behind. "Somebody miss us?!"
"Looks like a missed a party!" Beelzemon quipped. He pulled out his Positron gun this time. "Time to throw my own fiesta! Corona Blaster!" The mouth of the gun opened up, firing dark energy upon the mirror. To Beelzemon's dismay, only a small part in the middle of the mirror shattered. "What?!"
"Look closer, Beelzemon! You did just great!" Peter Pan pointed at the offending "crack" in the mirror.
Sora and Riku saw this too.
A keyhole.
"A keyhole?!" Sora blinked. "That's how I stop this thing?!"
"Here's the catch," Sara landed by Sora. "You have to open it, not lock it."
"Alright then..." Sora pointed his Keyblade at the Keyhole. By now, the fakes in the mirror were enraged. They began to become more demon-like, they emerged out of the mirror to finish Sora...
The familiar light beam shot out. Something was unlocked.
And the mirror shattered into a thousand fragments.
The clones disappeared along with it, leaving only a thousand tiny shards in which Sora saw his reflection. Sora sighed as the fallen mirror gave way to a mysterious door opening on the other side. He was about to dismiss his Keyblade when he heard someone clapping very slowly.
"Marvelous, Sora," Sora scanned amongst his friends to see who made the comment. Instead, he found Axel standing right by Peter Pan, speaking of which who raised his eyebrows when he realized the flame-haired Chaos Saint was standing next to him. "You prove yourself yet again. I guess we owe you one."
"Axel..." Sora blinked. "What do you want?"
"Nothing now... you opened the doorway for us!" Axel teleported and appeared next to Sora. "We can finally get this Chaos Party started." He walked inside, but turned around and faced Sora again. "Oh, I hope you don't mind if I bring a few friends."
Sora looked around to see six other people, all except one in Chaos Saint outfits, walk towards Sora and the entryway. The first approached Sora.
"You're an interesting specimen indeed. How you have survived many encounters that have killed lesser men still baffles us," Vexen spoke to Sora. He then grinned. "We will meet again in the near future." He walked in.
The second Chaos Saint walked by. He dwarfed Sora in height and muscle. "Puny child of the light... you will understand Darkness..." With that, Lexaeus entered the room. Sora decided immediately he did not like Lexaeus.
The third walked by Sora. Zexion muttered not a word, but Sora still heard his thoughts. (You understand the task before you. We as the Chaos Saints will not help nor hinder you, but for you to progress... you must help us. As I said before, you must have an open mind, and embrace the Chaos Theory.) With that, Zexion entered the room.
The fourth walked by Sora. "Ignore the words of Lexaeus," Marluxia smirked. "Light is a powerful thing. You'll learn to use it." Marluxia entered the room.
The fifth walked by Sora. "I take it you and the Dark Boy get along just fine?" Larxene taunted. "Or are you as spineless as ever in your hatred for him?" Sora decided he disliked Larxene even more than he did Lexaeus, as the blond Chaos Saint walked in, laughing all the way.
The last landed in front of Sora, closing the four wings on her back. Before she could say anything, however, Taz bellowed. "CHARLOTTE?!"
(Ah, Tazzy boy,) Charlotte/Oni grinned. (Long time, no see?)
"What's wrong with you?!" Taz didn't care Charlotte was merely a willing host to a stronger being, so he dashed down the stairs and tackled her in a fierce hug. "Gone off to head some crazy cult group without me? Being mansion guard for three damn years does a number on loneliness!" Taz sighed and let go.
(Don't worry,) the unknown spirit within Charlotte spoke alone. (Charlotte is in good hands. The other members of your family...) She began to walk in. (You'll need help to even FIND them.) Charlotte walked in. However, before the door shut, Charlotte raised an eyebrow. (Not coming, Riku?)
Riku answered smartly, "I know when I'm not invited. I'll wait for the full 13 meeting."
(Very well.) The door shut, leaving only the good guys outside.
"Riku..." Sora began. "You never explained why you're with them."
Riku bowed his head down in shame. "You want an explanation. I owe you that much."
Riku brought his head back up in a bit of shock when Sora laid a hand on his shoulder. "I know," Sora gave a small smile. "But I just thought of something, and that can wait.
"We need to go home."
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(I take it everyone is here?) Charlotte/Oni looked around as the other present members shuffled around into position. The room had the appearance of a circular altar, with a single, large crystal ball sitting in the middle of the room. Thirteen pillars stood evenly spaced within the edge of the room.
"Everyone who'd show up, anyway," Axel shrugged.
"We haven't established the Thirteenth Order yet," Lexaeus added.
(That's what this is all about,) Charlotte/Oni said. (This is the beginning of that Thirteenth Order, the members that will influence the events needed to make the Keyblade Masters give rise to the Chaos Angel.) The seraph walked to the center of the room and activated the crystal ball. A vague-looking projection of both Sora and Rob was shown, showing the two unlocking a power. She then began to "read" some sort of inscription hidden to the other's eyes. (The Chaos Angel. Two Keyblades, one keyhole. The Thirteen Orders to motivate them. The war between darkness and light, good and evil wages on. But the Chaos Angel has the power to end the war of wars.)
"Sounds good," Larxene smirked. "When do we get to have our fun?"
(Patience, Larxene,) Charlotte/Oni answered with a slight grin. (The time will come.) She continued to read. (The Thirteen Orders. The First Order: a god of knowledge.) For a fleeting moment, a silhouette above Charlotte flickered orangish-red. (The Second Order: the vessel of that knowledge.) Charlotte herself glowed this time. (The Third Order: a king of a distant land. The Fourth Order: one who seeks the impossible answers.) Vexen almost jumped when he began to flicker blue. (The Fifth Order: an unstoppable might.) Lexaeus glowed. (The sixth order: the power and the enigma.) Zexion glowed gray. (The seventh order: the heart born of darkness.) ("That was probably Riku," Larxene whispered to Axel.) (The eighth order: The enigmatic flame.) Axel began to glow. (The Ninth order: one turned against her own knowledge.) From a pit of darkness rose a girl, still bound and gagged from a previous encounter. Only now, another strange girl held her, much to the dismay of the others in the room. (The Tenth Order: The Third Keyblade Child. The Eleventh Order: The man of Nature Itself.) Marluxia began to glow. (The Twelfth Order: The goddess of lightning.) Larxene laughed as she began to glow.
(The Thirteenth Order...) Oni began, but she was interrupted.
"Is not there... YET." Terra, who had held the captive Clara since she arrived, finally spoke. With a smirk, she added, "I understand that I'm not invited to be in this cult. So I just came to borrow this one."
"I don't understand how you got in here, but I DO know how you're getting OUT," Vexen began to summon a round of ice, but Charlotte/Oni held up a hand.
(You understand Slade plays a risky game trying to insert a pawn into my business,) Charlotte returned Terra's smirk. Terra's fell, but didn't disappear. (But I won't be stopping you. Just make sure she's back before the Thirteenth Order is found. Or there will be hell to pay.)
"Of COURSE," Terra responded with a falsely sweet voice. "You have Slade's word." And with that, she disappeared into the darkness with Clara.
"Why... why didn't you stop her?" Vexen asked Oni incredulously.
(Try as he might, Slade won't be able to fully control that girl. In the end she'll stay loyal to us,) Oni answered. Charlotte spoke on her own this time. "Besides, she's a hell of a fighter, despite the many times I used to kidnap her."
"I understand. Forgive me."
(Forgiven.) Oni answered nonchalantly. (Now it's our turn to play. FIND THE OTHERS!)
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(This concludes episode 11. Terra hails from Teen Titans (this is the show Terra.). The six members all hail from Kingdom hearts, Chain of Memories, which is an awesome game, by the way. Charlotte/Oni and "Taz" are mine (No, for the last time, Taz is not the Taz from Looney Toons!). Captain Hook and Peter Pan are from Disney's masterpiece Peter Pan.
Be prepared as I launch into the next saga! Rob heads off to Japan, and Sora won't be seen until Episode 13. Rob finds old friends and new enemies, but will old friends also become new enemies?! Stick around!)