Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light
Final Fight-Chapter 34
Ones born of the heart and darkness, devoid of hearts, ravage all worlds and bring desolation. Seize all hearts and consummate the great heart. All hearts to be one, one heart to encompass all. Realize the destiny: the realm of Kingdom Hearts. The great darkness scaled within the great heart. Progeny of darkness, come back to the eternal darkness.
For the heart of light shall unseal the path. Seven hearts, one Keyhole, one Key to the door.
The door of darkness, tied by two keys. The door of darkness to seal the light. None shall pass but shadows, returning to the darkness.
Ones born of the heart
And darkness, hunger
For every heart until
The dark door opens…
Slowly the Warriors of Light approached the gigantic glowing orb watching the specks of light collecting over top of it. There was something eerie about this world despite the fact that it was mysterious and beautiful at the same time. It was definitely cold and lifeless. "This place gives me the creeps," Sora said looking around the vast emptiness around them. "It feels strange here."
"Probably because it's made entirely of darkness," Ti-Day said. "I'm a warlock, I can sense these things."
"Can you sense Ansem in there?" Goofy asked pointing to the glowing orb.
"Something's in there for sure," Ti-Day said. "But to be honest it feels huge." Everyone seemed to tense up knowing there was probably something big and powerful waiting to destroy them upon arrival. The closer they got to the glowing orb, the larger they realized it was. Standing only feet from it was blinding.
"Shall we?" Kita asked covering her eyes. She led the way walking towards the glowing orb. It felt like passing from life into death. On the other side it was dark as night, thick heavy clouds all around. Kita slipped and felt as though she were about to fall, but she remained hovering in place. "What gives?" she asked.
"We can fly," Sora said noticing that without ground below them, they remained airborne. They took a moment to take in this new surprise, but as they floated, a loud roar came from deep within the darkness. "What was that?" Sora asked sounding scared.
"The thing I was telling you about," Ti-Day said. Everyone's attention was drawn to the source of the sound. Some of the clouds floated aside and revealed what looked like a volcano before them. "I don't see anything though," Ti-Day said squinting in the dark. Before he could say another word, the volcano began to move. Its sides split in two and began stretching out to either side revealing a large horned beast that stretched its arms out and roared loudly.
"Oh dear…" Kita said seeing the immense monster in front of them. What had previously looked like sides of the volcano had become the giant beast's wings.
"Oh no! It's the Chernabog!" Donald shouted.
"The what?" Kita asked.
"The Chernabog," Donald repeated himself. "The King banished it from our world long ago because it almost killed everyone!"
"Sounds like we'd better take care of it before it takes care of us," Ti-Day said. He pulled his magic scythe out ready to fight. Everyone else did the same. It would be tough to battle in flight since no one had expert flying experience. Nevertheless, they flew forward ready to battle for all or nothing just to save the universe from Ansem. This was just one of the roadblocks they would have to overcome.
Kita, Sora and Kairi agreed to fly in opposite directions to go behind the Chernabog's head and surprise attack it while it was focused on Donald and Goofy coming from the front. Hercules and Ti-Day took a lower approach and came up right in front of it. Everyone struck at once causing the monster to roar in pain. "Good one! Ok, again!" Ti-Day directed. They kept repeating their tactics again and again until the Chernabog was weak enough to destroy with one final blow. However the Chernabog swung it's arms around and thrashed almost everyone surrounding it.
"Ok Ti-Day, you know what to do!" Kita said weakly as she held her side painfully. She and others flew a safe distance away from the monster as Ti-Day looked it square in the eye and raised his scythe proudly.
"OBLIDERATE!" he shouted as huge explosion occurred causing the Chernabog's head to blow right off. "YEAH!" Ti-Day shouted in victory watching the monster fall slowly before disappearing. A huge heart floated into the air and a solid piece of land was revealed below. "Ok, forward ho!" Ti-Day said flying down towards the volcano shaped cone. Its top was open so the warriors decided just to enter that way. There were several layers of rock they had to weave through in order to reach the bottom where it seemed a tunnel that led further into darkness was located.
Kita was shivering as she walked. She didn't have the sixth sense that Ti-Day did when it came to magic or dark powers, but she could tell this was no safe place. She jumped and let out a small scream as Ti-Day suddenly flung his arm around her. "Scared?" he asked.
"Maybe…" Kita said looking forward, her eyes wide open to scan every inch of the tunnel. She was finding it hard to hide her shaking fear.
"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you," Ti-Day said assuringly. "Just think about it this way, Ansem ruined our lives. He should pay. That should be enough to feed the fire right?"
"But what if I get the perfect opportunity to take him out and I can't do it?" Kita asked. "He's my dad, enemy or not. Can I destroy my own flesh and blood?"
"Well Kita, you may have known him longer than me, but he felt like a father to me too," Ti-Day said. "But when he suddenly changed, I felt like he was a stranger. I thought you felt that too, but when he told you he was your dad, you believed him, and you still do. But the way I see it, there's no way this guy is Ansem the Wise."
"Maybe he's a heartless?" Goofy said. "Riku looked like Riku, but Kita knew he wasn't really Riku. He was Riku's heartless, consumed by darkness."
Kita thought for a minute. Bringing Riku to mind made her feel sad, not better. But Goofy was right about how she felt upon seeing heartless Riku. She could tell just by the way he acted that he couldn't be Riku as stupid and childish as Riku would sometimes act. Was it possible that the Ansem she had believed to be her father was only a dark side of him? And if that were true, was the real Ansem still someplace else? These thoughts, as confusing as they were, brought a small light of hope to Kita's heart. She put her chin up ready to go feeling that there could only be answers ahead.
"Sora, when we beat Ansem, does that mean our home will be back?" Kairi asked as she walked next to Sora.
"I hope so Kairi," Sora said feeling unsure. "I bet everything goes back to how it was before. Everyone will be safe and happy again."
"Even Riku?" Kairi asked. She didn't know much about Riku and his heartlessness, but she did know that he was trapped in the dark realm.
"Yeah, Riku will definitely be ok," Sora said with a smile. The group arrived at a huge cave like room at the end of the tunnel with a strange glowing floor. At the other end was a tiny hole in the wall only big enough for one person to crawl through at a time. "What is this place?" Sora asked. Before he could take another step, tons of heartless appeared within the cave. These heartless were new and very strong. Sora started to back away feeling they'd never be able to destroy them all.
"No! We have to keep moving!" Hercules said shoving Sora forward. "We didn't come all this way to give up."
"Sora, you're Key Blade is the only thing that can seal Kingdom Hearts," Kita said. She looked and sounded just as unconfident as Sora, but she held her key blade shakily forcing herself to fight. She forced a small smile on her face feeling immense butterflies in her stomach as she leaped forward to start pounding heartless left and right.
"Ok Kairi, ready?" Sora asked. Kairi who had little experience fighting looked around at all the heartless.
"Yeah…" she said. "We can do this together." She held up Ni-Ne's key blade and moved forward to join the fight. Sora admired her bravery. Sora too started beating the heartless hovering around him. They were much stronger than any they'd fought so far. Only a few minutes of constant battle and everyone was worn down. They were moving slower and struggling to fight let alone stand.
Hercules who was a demi-god still had not fully recovered from fighting heartless Kita and was really struggling to stay up. Donald and Goofy seemed unnaturally good at fighting heartless with special shield and magical powers they could only have gained from the King. Sora and Kairi were trying their best to fight and protect each other at the same time. Ti-Day was just plain pissed off for the most part, blowing huge amount of heartless to bits constantly only to have new one's replacing them. Kita was fighting an internal battle and an external one which made it hard to concentrate and took a negative effect on her performance.
"Let's just try getting through that hole one at a time!" Kita suggested seeing as how they may not make it out of this fight alive. Ti-Day agreed it might be their only chance. He started moving towards the hole as everyone else tried their best to follow. Sora told Kairi to make a run for it and get through first and so she did. Ti-Day ordered Kita to be next though she seemed reluctant, but eventually did so. Hercules climbed through next and then Donald and Goofy. Sora was still stuck down at the other end of the cave and so Ti-Day had to run to him and help clear the way.
"Come on Sora," Ti-Day said joining Sora's side. "STOP!" The heartless surrounding them temporarily were held in place, but only for a few seconds before they burst into motion again. Ti-Day continued casting the time spell as he and Sora ran down through the middle of room chased by the heartless who had escaped the spell. Ti-Day pushed Sora to the hole first as he leapt through quickly and finally Ti-Day squeezed in just before losing his legs to the angry heartless.
"Wow, I didn't think you guys were gonna make it," Hercules said watching Sora and Ti-Day collapse on the floor. "Sorry I couldn't be more help. I've never felt so worn out in my life."
"Probably my fault," Kita said looking at her feet. "I was a little out of control as a heartless."
"That's not your fault, it's Riku's," Hercules said.
"No… I told you before. That was Riku's heartless," Kita explained.
"Where are we now?" Sora said standing up from catching his breath. The group was standing in a smaller cave-like room. There were a few holes in the top of the cave where sparkling liquid was flowing out and onto mushroom shaped objects. The ground was just as squishy and unreal as the rest of the world was. Before them was a huge set of pink doors.
Kita stepped up to the doors and ran her hand across them. In the back of her mind she heard a voice whisper. 'Beyond lies the darkness. There is no light to be found. This is your last safe haven. Are you really ready to proceed? There will be no turning back.'
"Wah?" Kita said stepping back.
"What?" Ti-Day asked looking at Kita like she was nuts.
"The doors just asked me if I was ready to proceed," Kita said. "Don't look at me like I'm crazy! I swear they did!" Ti-Day stepped up to the doors and heard the voice in the back of his mind before he could even lay a hand on them.
"What do you know, she's right," Ti-Day said also stepping away from the mysterious doors. "We don't really have a choice but to go through them though… I can feel Ansem on the other side."
"Then lets go!" Sora said reaching for the handles. Kita and Ti-Day grabbed his arms and held him back.
"This is our last safe haven," Kita said. "We have to be sure that we're ready to go through."
"I'm really sorry guys, but I don't think I can do it," Hercules said. He was beaten up badly and unlike everyone else, was never really given a chance to rest. Kita let go of Sora and joined Hercules's side. "I'm sorry Kita."
"Don't be, stay here where it's safe," Kita said. "We're gonna beat him. I promise. And then you'll be free to return to your world and see Phil again." Hercules smiled. He had never seen Kita care so much about helping others and making them happy.
"He's really lucky," Hercules said.
"Who?" Kita said cluelessly. "Surely you're not talking about Ansem."
"Nope," Hercules said. "But it's a secret anyway. Good luck in there." Kita got up and walked back to the door feeling confused, but she couldn't linger on the thought.
"Anyone else need to stop here?" Kita asked, making sure.
"Nope, we're all good," Kairi said.
"You sure Kairi? We have no idea what's in there," Sora said feeling concerned for Kairi's safety.
"Yes Sora," Kairi said confidently. "I'd fight along side you to the end." Sora smiled, still nervous, but feeling fuzzy inside knowing Kairi was so caring to help him out. "Ok, let's go!" Kairi said stepping up to the doors. Kita looked back at Hercules and mouthed 'good-bye' as she then turned and pulled on the door handles. At first a blinding light came out, but on the other side was a sandy beach.
"This is Destiny Island!" Sora shouted running through the doors. Kairi follow close behind and the two looked around wildly unable to believe that their island was here of all places. "It looks a little different."
"Man, this place is infected by darkness," Donald said seeing purple and black splotches all around. Parts of the island were broken away and a lot of things were oddly placed. There was no ocean surrounding the island, but only dark auras. Sora ran towards the ocean where some of the land had broken away. He thought he saw someone, and rubbing his eyes realized he was right. Out on one of the broken pieces of island was Riku.
"Riku?" Sora asked. He stood quite still facing the dark endless abyss before him. "Riku!" Sora shouted to get his attention. This time it seemed Riku heard him as he slowly turned around with a smirk on his face. He didn't look happy to see them at all. Rather he looked devilish. "Riku?" Sora asked stepping backwards and looking at Riku confused.
"Ansem!" Kita shouted. Riku closed his eyes and slowly his body faded away and turned into a much taller figure with tan skin and long white hair. He wore a grey coat and black pants and the heartless symbol across his chest. "I thought I smelled a rat…"
"No fooling you is there Kita?" Ansem said smoothly. "You make a far better heartless. Why don't you SUBMIT!" A huge glowing ball of lightening shot towards the warriors, Kita in particular. They all dodged out of the way falling to the not so sandy ground.
"This is between you and me!" Kita said bouncing back up again. She was ready to kill Ansem looking back at all the pain he had brought to her life. She walked forward, unprotected and thoughtlessly. Ti-Day reached out to pull her back, but she was walking too fast to catch. "You're not the same anymore! I don't even know who you are! You stopped caring about your family and you tried to kill me! You only care about yourself and darkness! You've taken so many lives and ripped them apart! I'll bet you don't even know the half of what you've done! I hate you! You're not my father, you're lower than scum! I hate you! I hate you!" Kita's face was so red it could have exploded.
"Kita, stop!" Ti-Day pleaded crawling on the ground to reach her. But he couldn't make it in time. Ansem made another huge ball of lightening and hit Kita directly causing her to fall to the ground in great pain. "Leave her alone!" Ti-Day said picking up his magic scythe. He swung it around and began wildly casting spells. "Lightening! Fire! Blizzard! Obliterate!" Ansem was hit several times, but he was merely knocked back a step or two and then stood proudly once more. A heartless appeared in front of him with its arms outstretched like a shield.
"Did you really think you could win that easily Ti-Day? Fool…" Ansem said laughing. "Surrender to the darkness!" Several balls of dark energy were shot out and flew all around aiming for the warriors. Kairi, Sora, Goofy and Ti-Day were hit while Kita and Donald were lucky enough to be missed, but that didn't mean that Ansem was prepared to give up. He then cast dark lightening bolts down onto everyone of them at once. Kita's back arched as she winced in pain lying on the ground. She still hadn't managed to get up. Ti-Day tried to protect her. He knew there was no going back. They were all in this together.
"THUNDER!" Donald shouted standing behind Ansem. Again he doubled over, clearly struck, but it took little to no effect on his strength. Ansem summoned the dark orbs and lightening all at once. Sora and Kairi chose to try to outrun them. Goofy was able to deflect the orbs and ran towards Ansem. He held out his shield and started spinning like a tornado and hit Ansem directly several times.
"I'm getting impatient with you!" Ansem said. "SUBMIT!" Two identical lightening balls shot out from each of his hands and knocked Ti-Day, Goofy, Donald and Kairi off their feet. Sora hover was just missed down the middle and then threw his key blade at Ansem causing him to fall backwards. This seemed to work a little better than the spells, but no doubt Ansem was still going strong. "So the Key Blade Master thinks he's so tough? Lets see how you fight on your own!" Ansem disappeared in a dark aura.
"Running away Ansem!" Ti-Day shouted as he helped Kita off the ground. Donald quickly gave her some potion to recover from the blasts. The ground began to shake at the island broke apart more and more. A huge round circle of dark power was radiating in the center of the island that left behind a crater. Ansem was floating inside, his shielding heartless right behind him.
"Come and get me Key Blade Master," Ansem taunted. Sora ran forward feeling angry.
"It's a trap!" Kairi shouted watching Sora run for the crater. Sora wasn't listening anymore and so charged forth to challenge Ansem alone. As he did, a force field appeared trapping him and Ansem inside. "Sora!" Kairi shouted in distress. Sora looked at Ansem, knowing full well it he was lured into this fight. Ansem was looking very confident. The heartless that was behind him suddenly disappeared and reappeared grabbing Sora and holding him in place.
"Foolish Key Blade Master," Ansem said laughing. "You'll never make it out alive." Ansem flung his arms forward and two streaks of light shot towards Sora. Because he was being held by the heartless, there was no escaping the attack.
"AHHH!" Sora shouted hit by the attack. The heartless let go and Sora fell to the ground. Kairi and the others were pounding on the force field trying to break through. Sora slowly got up as Ansem laughed at him. He pulled his Key Blade up slowly, hardly able to lift it. He was breathing hard trying to regain focus. "Shut up Ansem!" Sora shouted. Ansem looked angry, but not really threatened. Somewhere in the back of Sora's mind came two words. 'Ars Arcanum.' Though Sora didn't know what they meant, he felt compelled to say them. "ARS ARCANUM!"
Suddenly Sora was launched forward and Ansem looked caught off guard. Once, twice, three, four, five times Ansem was hit with Sora's Key Blade. Ansem doubled over for the first time since he and Sora began fighting. Now looking more upset, he surrounded himself with a dark ball of energy that exploded in all directions. Sora was hit again, unable to predict the speed of the blast. "I'll teach you to mess with me!" Ansem threatened.