CHAPTER XXV
BE-FORE AND AFT-ER
Scroop tucked the map into a pocket on his dingy black vest. The pirates began to close in on Sora, Kairi, Jim and Goofy who stood, weapons out, in the center of the ship.
Luckily, the pirates didn't seem like the heartless they usually encountered – they still behaved very much like their former selves, with the most glaring exception being the heartless insignia on their chests and their glowing, yellow eyes.
In a dash, the heartless pirates separated into groups and divided the heroes into all parts of the ship. Scroop and two smaller pirates dove down into the belly through the hatch, with Jim right on their tail.
Two lanky pirates climbed the mast to the crow's nest with incredible speed – Kairi bounded from rope to mast and back again, climbing like a cat.
On deck, four large pirates surrounded Goofy and Sora. They were holding massive sword-axes, just like the berserker nobodies did. It took all their strength to lift them over their heads, but when they came crashing down, Sora and Goofy barely had enough time to dodge out of the way. They smashed the wooden floor of the ship, creating a large hole in the deck.
Meanwhile, up in the crow's nest, Kairi was making quick work of the two heartless she had chased. They weren't very strong, but insanely quick, she soon realized. With a mighty upswing, she caught one between its five eyes, sending him into the flowing pirate flag. She was caught off-guard by the larger of the two as it zoomed between her legs, causing her to flail and nearly fall off the edge…she reached out with her keyblade and caught onto the side of the crow's nest, dangling at least one-hundred feet over the deck of the Legacy. She could see all the way down…to Sora and Goofy being surrounded by heartless…and through a hole in the floor to Jim being backed into a corner by Scroop…things weren't looking good.
Jim indeed was almost at the end of his girder when Scroop dove at him. Jim skillfully leaped onto another girder, sending Scroop into the wall. Across the belly, the two smaller heartless were pushing the button that opened the ship's bay doors…if they fell, it would be all over…
Sora cried 'fira', shooting flames all around him…but the heartless that surrounded he and Goofy were too strong to be taken down by an attack of that strength…
Kairi looked up, helplessly, at the two heartless tiptoeing over to her keyblade…like two little bullies, they poked at the keyblade, perfectly aware of how loosely Kairi was hanging on by…
Suddenly, two large laser bolts shot across the sky and connected with the two smaller heartless on the nest. They instantly vaporized as the crow's nest shattered, sending Kairi into a free fall, clenching her keyblade…but she didn't fall far – she landed on her back in a small longboat, looking up at a familiar face.
"Oh, my, oh dear, sorry if I, um, almost incarcerated…er, I mean, incinerated you. Hang on tight!" said Delbert Doppler, piloting the other longboat that Kairi had seen at the pirate's camp. "We assumed you would need backup, hence, the rescue."
Captain Amelia sat in the center of the longboat, aiming a decent sized laser cannon down at the pirates on the deck.
"No! Sora and Goofy are down there, too. So is Jim," Kairi pleaded. Amelia let the cannon down and pulled a small ray gun from her coat pocket.
"So I suppose I'll have to scale it down a bit," she said coyly. "But just a bit, mind you, just a bit." She fired off several blasts with her gun and took out two of the heartless surrounding Sora and Goofy.
"I like these odds much better," Sora said, as he sprung from the center of the deck at the first heartless. He was huge – fatter than Pete but still fast on his feet. Sora struck him with a simple one-two combo, launching him up in the air. He jumped up, spinning, and wiped him out in a few more blows. Goofy, meanwhile, was spinning wildly around the deck, missing the only other pirate on it.
Suddenly, a giant thunder shockwave landed on the head of the last remaining heartless pirate on the deck. He stood stunned for a moment, using his large battle axe like a cane to steady himself. Donald gathered energy to launch a blizzaga attack down at the pirate, which destroyed him completely.
Donald jumped down to the deck as Goofy stopped spinning next to Sora. "Sora!" he said. "What's left of da heartless?"
Sora looked visibly shocked. He had forgotten about Jim down in the belly of the ship in all the excitement of Donald, Captain Amelia and Doppler arriving. Quickly, he grabbed Donald's hand and looked at him seriously.
"There's three more in the belly. You with me?" Sora asked.
Donald smiled. "You got it!"
A blinding flash of white light burned in the minds of all on the Legacy, and as it dimmed, they could see Sora, standing on the deck.
But was he standing? No. He was floating. His clothes had become a dashing blue and white as he spun his keyblade masterfully in his hand. Donald was nowhere to be seen as Wisdom Sora dove into the belly below.
Jim held the claw inches from his throat…Scroop would cut his head off, if he let his guard down. It took all his strength to hold him off for so long, he realized. "Sora! He-" was all he managed to blurt out as the blue and white Sora dashed into sight. He held his keyblade out like a shotgun, firing white laser bolts at the two smaller heartless pirates flanking Jim and Scroop. They quickly dashed back and forth between girders as Sora slid in between them on a girder of his own. They climbed the ladder as Sora fixed his sights on Scroop with a huge firaga blast. Scroop yowled in pain and turned, claws out, to face Sora. Jim scrambled up the wall and leaped across to another girder, holding his scimitar to face Scroop.
"I like these odds, too," Jim said sharply.
Up on the deck, the two pirates were dealt with quickly – already weak from their tussle with Sora and Jim, it was child's play for Amelia and Delbert, armed with laser cannons, to blast them to smithereens. Suddenly, the deck of the ship shuddered and splintered as a red claw punched through, followed by Scroop. Jim and Sora bounded up after him, as Scroop landed near the steering wheel, facing down on Wisdom Sora, Jim, Goofy, Kairi, Amelia and Delbert. B.E.N. climbed up from the belly and genuinely wanted to know "who caused this mess!", but he was silenced by a stern look from Jim.
Up near the wheel, Scroop smiled coyly.
"What are you smiling about Scroop? Did you finally realize how funny you look?" Jim teased.
"You're pretty outnumbered, Scroop. Just give up, and maybe we'll go easy on you," Sora lied.
Scroop just kept smiling. "You know, that Ember fellow from the Legion was pretty generous…"
"Ember?" Kairi said. "So that's his name? What did he do-" but she was interrupted by Scroop.
"It's my turn to talk, girl. Yes, Ember. His safety is none of my concern, now that I've got my prize. I believe, however, that I'd much rather show you the gift, than describe it."
And he did just that. Scroop reached into his inside coat pocket and removed a small, glowing orb. About the size of a plum, it was glowing with a bright red hue. It looked majestic, full of swirling, bright light. Even between Scroop's claws, Sora could tell it was powerful.
Sora shined white brightly, for a moment, and Donald was back on deck. Sora reverted to his normal state, blue clothes gone.
"Aw, phooey! That was a waste!" Donald said, grumpily.
"What is that thing?" Sora asked, half to himself.
But Scroop, in a mockery of an answer, put the ball up to his forearm, right below his wrist. He pushed on it, as it slid seemingly into his arm, vanishing and making Scroop's forearm glow briefly.
Sora stared intently at Scroop. "Anyone here know exactly what that stuff does?"
The friends all shook their heads to indicate no. Seeing that there were no answers on the Legacy, Sora tapped his micro-com which was attached to his necklace.
After the initial buzzing and hissing subsided, Sora talked into the micro-com.
"Merlin, Cid, Mickey, is anyone out there?" hey whispered, still staring at Scroop, glowing ever brightly.
The line crackled with static, and Cloud's voice rang through, though in a soft whisper. "Sora, it's Cloud. What's up?"
"Cloud, have you ever seen a small orb, size of a plum, glows red? We just watched someone push it into their skin…any idea what it is?"
Cloud spoke immediately. "It's called Materia. Is the person that used it friend or foe?"
Sora replied, "foe."
Cloud shook his head on the other side of the micro-com. He knew that answer before he asked the question. All he managed to say to Sora before the micro-com shut off was, "That's some powerful stuff. Good luck, guys."
