Authors Notes: How will Mickey, Riku and Donald cope against the mystery Heartless? Will the others make it in time? Will Seth learn that patience is a virtue? Find out in this chapter of The Dark World.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Kingdom Hearts except Dav Strife, the storyline of the Balance, Dav's Nobody Seth, the events of this story, the world of Tracton and the new Heartless models I create. Zen, Zalak, Orachron and Ashura belong to MASmaster and Dark Lord Sigma. I do not profit in any way from this story except the satisfaction of writing for my fans.
The Dark World
By Dav Strife
Chapter 02: The Guardian Hound
"What in the worlds is that…" Riku asked quietly as a huge shadow towered over him and his companions.
"…One of the three Guardians of the Planet…" King Mickey replied equally as quiet.
"Your majesty, what do we do?"
"Do… we try to survive old pal, that's all we can do until the others arrive"
"Is it really that bad?" Riku asked slightly louder, getting nervous.
"Yup, sure is. Lets do our best guys!"
"Right!" Donald chimed in while holding his staff ready for battle.
"Here it comes!" Riku yelled, bracing himself for what was to come.
A8A
"Hey pal, what's that shadow thing over there?" Goofy enquired from his place on top of a large sand dune that over looked the desert and inevitably the crash site.
"Oh no… not again" Dav uttered, earning a worried look from Goofy.
"What ya mean?"
"I mean that whoever is down there is as good as dead… That Goofy, is one of three super Heartless that inhabit this world. That is Hell Hound, the weakest of the three and yet far stronger than all of us… We have to get down there and help the others…"
"Gosh, we better hurry!"
"Yeah… we better hope our back-up arrives soon…"
A8A
The Heartless guardian of legend Hell Hound stood over the three warriors ready to kill any who oppose it. The huge beast towered above them all, standing at the height of a Behemoth and four times as deadly. The massive beast stood on four legs which each were as long as a Trickmaster's whole body and had spikes similar to a shark's dorsal fin running all down the back of the leg and three sharp deadly claws at the end of each foot. The body of the beast was slender like a wolf with the same spikes except much larger running down the spinal column down onto the tail that was half the length of the body. The end of the tail also was adorned with a long sword like bone for whacKing enemies away that again was the typical Heartless colour. The head boasted similar features to a wolf with two piercing yellow eyes that stood out from the rest of it's Darkside coloured body. Three rows of teeth lined both its top and bottom jaw to crunch up anything it desired.
It glanced down on its prey and began to growl quietly at first but as Riku rose his voice the volume of its threatening growl grew sharply. It then let out a fierce roar that could strike fear into even the most battle hardened. It crouched low and leapt over the three warriors while swiping its tail downwards in an attempt to cut its prey in half. All three fighters leapt from harms way as the giant wolf landed and turned around ready to pounce again. Mickey, now with Keyblade in hand, made a beeline for its leg and slashed its front right leg which caused to yelp in pain and then tried to bite the King in two. Riku was next to attack with his Soul Eater, he leapt as high as he could and slashed at the beast's snout which caused the monster more agitation than pain but it did distract it from attacKing the King. Donald who had hung back until now raised his staff and pelted the wolf with lightning magic. However the boss Heartless barely noticed the attack and moved to attack Riku with the paw that Mickey slashed. It caught the silver haired boy in the chest and this sent him flying backwards into a low sand dune. Donald ran over to him and cast Curaga on him which gave him a temporary green glow that disappeared after a few seconds but gave him energy enough to stand back up and enter the fight again. The King meanwhile tried jumping onto the creatures back to attack but it was proving difficult as the Wolf would stand still for long enough.
Mickey landed back on his feet after another jump attempt and was knocked aside by the bladed tail. Riku took his place and slashed at the tail but it swung its large tail upwards and caught Riku in the chest again. Both Mickey and Riku were slowly recovering but this left Donald to combat the creature on his own. The duck mage glanced around to see where the others were but found nothing so he directed a Firaga spell at the huge hound's face which exploded on its nose and caused it a great deal of pain. In retaliation the Heartless reared its head back and then spewed out a dark stream of energy that was directed at Donald. The mage ran as fast as his legs could carry him and he narrowly avoided the deadly shadow attack. Another Firaga spell to the front paw caused the beast to stand on its hind legs and then slam its two front paws into the very ground under it. Shockwaves ran through the ground and a pillar of earth was pushed up that collided directly with Donald and sent him flying like the other two fighters before him. The black dog walked up to Riku who was on his side still clutching his chest and sniffed around him before raising its head for a bite attempt.
Instead the large dog yelped loudly and backed off from Riku and the others and lowered its head so it rested under its body to protect it from something. From behind where Riku was laying Dav was stood on another of the world's many sand dunes with one gun raised and smoKing. Replacing the gun into its holster he slid down the hill followed by Goofy and knelt down beside Riku.
"Goofy, get Donald while I distract it and get him and Riku to safety"
"What about the King?"
"See for yourself"
King Mickey had already recovered and was attacKing the hound with his Keyblade in hand. Dav nodded to Goofy who dragged Riku out of harms way and then went quietly to retrieve Donald without drawing the boss Heartless' attention. Dav drew his sword and ran to join the King who had just ducked under another tail sweep. The wolf Heartless stopped attacKing and stared at Dav for a second while tilting it head to the side. Dav pointed his sword at the giant canine and shouted at it, trying to get its attention.
"Remember me doggy? You'll defiantly remember this sword won't you?" The dog heartless growled louder than ever and blindly lunged for Dav jumped out of the way and this gave the King a chance to jump on its head while it was recovering.
"Hit the nose your majesty!" Dav yelled to the royal mouse who nodded in concentration and agreement and raised his Keyblade in the air.
With all his strength Mickey threw the blade at the dog's nose but the canine moved its head so the blade grazed the Heartless' skin and nothing else. Mickey was thrown off as a result of the quick movement and landed with a loud thud at the side of the dog. Dav ran forward the jumped into air just under its chin and thrust his sword into the bottom of its jaw. Rather than the simply dying the Hell Hound cried loudly and then spun around quickly bringing its tail to whack Dav who also turned around at the same time and the bladed tail collided with Dav's Buster Blade that was resting on his back. The young blonde was still thrown forwards but suffered minimal damage. Knowing this the Hell Hound raised its front paw and slammed it down on the already injured teen. Dav yelled in pain as the Hound's paw applied crushing pressure onto the Buster Blade that then crushed Dav.
Everyone was too injured to act and could only watched as the uber-Heartless proceeded to continue hurting Dav. The sound of a ship filled the air and everyone looked up to see a Gummi Ship tearing through the air and over the Hell Hound. As it passed over the Heartless a figure dropped directly from the ship and plummeted straight for the dog who was still concentrating on crushing Dav. The figure gained speed as it descended towards the dog and then the figure landed on the dog's nose, it's fist aimed directly on the muzzle of the beat. A loud cracKing sound was all that anyone could hear as the figure's fist impacted with the Hell Hound's face. The figure then jumped down off the dog's face and dragged Dav to his feet and took out of the path of the greatly injured dog who had released the blonde as it was attacked. Two more figures that were Wakka and Tidus came to confront the dog as Ashura dragged Dav over to where Riku, Donald and the King were laid.
"Tidus, go up man!" Wakka yelled to Tidus who responded by planting his sword in the ground, putting one foot on the hilt and jumped way up into the air.
Wakka then threw the ball up to meet Tidus who flipped forward in mid air and kicked the ball powerfully into the dog's left eye. Just as the dark blonde touched back down on the ground the Hell Hound charged forward, now blinded by pain. Both the Destiny Islanders moved out of the way and the Hound stamped harmlessly by them. Sora and Seth were the next to appear as Sora sent both Oathkeeper and Oblivion flying at the Hound and they struck it in two different places on the side of it's mouth. Seth then delivered an uppercut to the Hound with his Scythe which opened another wound on it's already badly injured face.
Riku and the King joined Wakka, Tidus, Ashura and Goofy to face off against the now erratic beast who was now maKing mistakes that gave the fighters opportunities to strike it. Wakka jumped into the air and yelled "Take This!" while holding his ball which now had the spikes extended. He launched it at the Hound's face again which hit and stuck thanks to the spikes into one of it's yellow eyes. While it was distracted with the pain of it's impaled eye Riku charged up to it and stood under its face. He grabbed onto the hilt of Zantetsuken that was still stuck in the unfortunate Heartless' jaw and twisted the sword with all his strength. The Hound stopped thrashing about at the other warriors and yelped for the final time before slumping to the floor with a gurgling sound. Riku rolled out of the way as the body of the Beast fell to the floor and picked himself up. Dav had managed to haul himself up as well and watched the Hell Hound evaporate into thin air. As it disappeared both The World Champion and Zantetsuken landed on the sand with a soft thud. As the beast's body finished fading away a large heart floated up into the air and then crumbled away into pink dust, scattering on the wind that was now brewing. The clouds that were swirling above the entire area finally released their payload of rain on the battlefield accompanied to thunder and lightning.
Dav looked at the desert under his feet and uttered something quietly that only Ashura and Riku heard. "I'm so sorry…"
"What for, what are you talKing about?" Riku asked the injured blonde with concern. His concern was only worsened as he noticed Tidus and Ashura who both had similar sad and gloomy expressions.
"That….Hell Hound was once a normal wolf… It belonged to a warrior who swore to defend Tracton from the Heartless to his dying breath. The three Guardians… were originally living things… a wolf, a man and something else… but I'm not sure what the strongest Guardian was…"
"That's terrible…" the now conscious Donald added.
"Ashura, Tidus and I met him and his wolf… we offered him a chance to leave this place but he wouldn't… He was convinced there was a way to banish the Heartless once and for all. We have to defeat the Guardians to find out what happened on this world or else it will spread and consume the other worlds"
"We now know what we must do. This Guardian was the easiest but most of you look injured so it probably would have been easier if you were all fit" Ashura informed the party, most of who were paying attention. All apart from Tidus and Dav who were staring into space thinKing about the soul of the wolf.
"At the least the poor thing is finally free" King Mickey offered as a comforter.
"Yeah, we have to have the others and liberate them!" Tidus shouted angrily.
"Where will we find the next one?" Sora asked who had been silent up until that point.
"We don't. It will find us, it will sense the defeat of the Hell Hound and come looKing for us…" Ashura answered gravely. "We must not think of the Heartless as a valiant warrior but simply as a Heartless. It will make the coming battle much easier…"
"We should find a place to rest for now… We'll be ready for the next one, ya?" Wakka said trying to raise everyone's morale.
"He is right, the best thing now is to rest our wounds, the fitter among us take shifts in keeping a look out for Heartless. Dav, Tidus, Ashura… any suggestions where to go?"
"Yeah, the city" Tidus suggested, gaining a sceptical look from both Dav and Ashura.
"The city… are you sure about that?" Dav questioned while breathing heavily. "The most of the Heartless are in the city… well above mainly on the bridge but the city has its fair share of Heartless…"
"No, I mean the subway system under the city. There is a drain leading under the city under the largest of the sand dunes, I saw it as we flew in. We could take that into the sewer system and then into the subway system through a drainage pipe or Ladder. Don't you remember when he went into the subway system to try and escape the Heartless hordes… we all got seven hours sleep and not a Heartless in sight… well, until we reached the stairs that lead to the surface"
"I think that might be the safest route. In our present condition we won't survive against the stronger Heartless that dwell in this world. Let us move…"
"I'm not much use to anyone with a broken arm anyway so I'll hang in the middle of the group" Dav
"Let me take a look…" King Mickey requested as he moved to Dav's right side.
Dav slowly removed the make shift sling that was now covered in blood in places and held his right arm out while supporting it with his left hand. The King ran his gloved hand along the arm to just above the elbow and then pressed slightly earning a short gasp from Dav.
"Its just dislocated, not broken" The King informed the pained blonde with a smile.
"Ashura, would you do the honours?" Dav asked his older ally who nodded and moved towards him.
"Do what?" The King asked worriedly.
"This" Ashura said simply as he placed one hand around Dav's upper arm and his other on the elbow joint itself. With one swift movement Ashura caused the bone in his friend's arm to pop back into place, letting everyone know with a sickening sound. Dav then twisted his arm around 360 degrees and then did the same with his forearm, causing the bone to click a few times, much to the dismay of Sora and the King.
"Thanks buddy, it still hurts but I think I can manage a sword or gun so I'm not completely defenceless"
"We should move on now!" Riku announced to the party loudly. "The Heartless are moving this way. Tidus show us the way now!"
"How do you know?" Donald asked surprised.
"I can smell them" Riku returned hurriedly.
Sora stared at Riku for a moment and then blinked twice "I'll never get used to that"
"You won't do anything again if they catch us" Dav retorted while grabbing his discarded sword and then he threw Wakka's weapon to him.
"And how do you know?" Donald asked cockily.
"Because I sense these things, if anything is out of balance then I pick it up. These Heartless seem particularly aggressive, especially after the loss of their master.
"Yup, you are right let's move it guys!" The King instructed, this time everyone taking notice.
The group of ten warriors moved away from the crash site of their ship and toward a towering sand dune while being led by Tidus. As they approached closer all they could see was a giant mound of sand and no pipe to be found.
"Where is this pipe then?" Riku asked Tidus impatiently.
"It was here, see, you can see city from here… The sand must have covered the entrance…"
"Leave it to me everyone!" Sora called happily. "Dav, Donald… cast Aeroga on me!"
Without questioning why Dav and Donald pointed their respected weapons at Sora and focused their magical energies into their weapons. The winds of three separate spells (including one from Sora) whipped around Sora's body effectively making him a walking hurricane. He then walked up to the where the entrance to the sewers once was according to Tidus' directions and threw himself onto the dune, instantly whipping all the sand under him into a spiral around his body. More and more sand was absorbed by Sora's vacuum until the pipe was clearly visible as it stuck out of the sand, most of the metal covering showing. The young Keyblade master wondered away from the pipe and stood still as the sand continued to float around him.
"There are two ways to get rid of an Aeroga barrier…" Donald advised everyone "Damage the shield around Sora enough that it will disperse!"
"This will be fun!" Dav exclaimed as he reached for his Buster Blade with most of its weight been taken up by his left arm.
"Stress relief" Riku stated comically which amused Ashura, Tidus and Wakka but got a disapproving glare from both Mickey and Goofy.
Tidus, Dav and Riku all took turns at swiping at the super powerful wind barrier. Dav swung first with his heavy weapon, as the heavy blade reached Sora the wind around him whipped around the approaching blade and forced it away which took Dav with it. Wakka primed his ball and threw it over arm at the shield and the ball became entangled within the wind causing it fly up into the air and vanish from sight. Wakka stared into the dark sky where the ball had disappeared only to be scared witless as his ball re-materialised into his hands. After two minutes of constant abuse the shield slowly died down and Sora could be seen again, however dizzy he was.
Ashura walked up the entrance to the pipe and knocked away the remaining bit of sand and examined the lid itself to find it was solid plate steel that didn't look like it was going to move anytime soon. He also observed that there was a small keyhole covered by a flap of steel that would be used to open the cover. He turned to his companions and looked at Sora, Mickey and Dav in turn.
"Will somebody unlock this? The Heartless will not be far behind us now"
"I will" The King said in his usual comical high pitched voice.
He took his Keyblade and pointed the end at the small lock. The tip of his Keyblade developed a light glow for a second and then disappeared again. The glow then came from within the lock itself briefly, leaving only a light clicking sound to confirm that the lock had opened. Ashura then hefted the door open and entered the tube first before coming back out again.
"We need some light in there… Donald, you go first"
"You can't order me, only the King gives me orders!" Donald yelled loudly.
"Donald, I order you to go first and light the way with your magic!" Mickey mock yelled that changed Donald's expression very quickly.
"Yes your majesty!"
Donald waddled into the relatively small pipe and held his staff a little in front of his face where a flame appeared lighting the inside of the pipe slightly. After everyone had filed into the pipe Ashura closed the door firmly and Mickey squeezed passed him and locked the door again. Sora and Dav both conjured small Fire spells to further lighten their way into the tunnels.
"How far would ya say, man?" Wakka asked Tidus who was in front of the orange haired Blitzer.
"I think 'bout an hours walk" He answered back seriously.
"Oh good" Seth's voice said sarcastically from the back of the line of the party.
"Take your chances outside then…" Ashura mocked.
"…No thanks.."