CHAPTER XXVI
MATERIA GHOUL
"That's it? That's all he has to say?" Kairi sounded panicked. "What kind of advice is that?" she huffed, drawing her keyblade out into an attack stance.
Goofy and Donald did the same with their shield and wand.
Amelia loaded a large laser cannon on B.E.N.'s shoulder, then passed a small pistol to Doppler and kept two for herself.
Sora and Jim stood side by side, keyblade and scimitar nearly touching in an impressive v-shape.
Scroop finally stopped glowing, as he glowered down at the heroes. He reached his arms over his head in a strange display, as red designs drew themselves in the air around his head. They grew more and more intricate, creating a large circular portal that looked like an ancient hieroglyph, until finally, a large bolt of lava and rock came spewing downward, completely engulfing Scroop.
It happened before anyone could even realize. The lava stopped spewing long enough for Jim, Sora and the gang to see a charred pile of Scroop's remains as the small, golden globe rolled off to the side of the ship.
"Well, that was easy enough…" Sora said, ironically. It was about that time when a huge monster, nearly three-quarters the size of the ship, emerged from the portal of looping red writing. The creature had a freakishly long head, with strange coiled braids coming off the back side of it. The body was almost catlike, with a giant, strong upper torso that made it look more like a lion. The creature opened his large, black, bat-like wings as two glowing, orange eyes opened on its head. It screamed a shrill battle cry as it swooped upwards into the air, spewing lava into the abyss.
Jim glanced nervously at Sora. "Wh…what the hell is that!"
Sora looked at Kairi, Goofy and Donald for an answer, but got nothing. He tapped his micro-com, hoping for a response, but it was just as dead as it was before. Suddenly none of this mattered, as Sora was pushed out of the way of a giant lava pillar that cut through the center of the Legacy like butter.
In one shot, it evaporated the entire belly of the ship – the longboats all went up in flames, and the heroes knew it wouldn't be long until it was them as well.
The summoned creature was now flying alongside the Legacy, toying with the ship. Amelia's eyes lit up when she noticed an opportunity.
"Quickly, lads! Do as I do!" she said, running to the starboard side of the ship and grabbing a laser cannon. She hefted it to the port side and set it up next to the other ones. One by one, while dodging the occasional shriek or lava blast from the creature, the cannons all ended up on the port side of the ship.
"Doctor Doppler, a calculation, if you please?" she asked.
Doppler concentrated hard, using all his fingers to count. By the time he had used all of Sora, Goofy and Jim's fingers to count as well, he yelled out "the proper trajectory will be obtained if you start the fuses…" he hesitated… "now!"
Amelia set all of the cannons off at once, as the creature passed right in front of them, taking nearly every laser ball to the head. It shrieked in pain as it lost its flight path and drunkenly soared across the sky, trying to regain its balance. When it finally did, it was terribly wounded. They could see deep gashes on its head where the laser balls had struck…
The beast wasn't giving up though. In a last mighty effort, he hurdled at the ship at full force.
"Hang on!" Jim said, handing everyone on board a lifeline that was tied to the center mast. "He's gonna ram us!"
With its full force, the beast rammed into the side of the ship, sending it into a delirious rock. Everyone on board was thrown off guard, but Sora and Kairi seized an opportunity as the beast was close to the ship…they threw down their ropes and jumped onto the monster's back, as it flew straight up in the sky, leaving the Legacy behind in the blink of an eye.
Back on the Legacy, Jim noticed something gleaming in the corner of his eye – the map – rolling ever so close to the edge of the Legacy. The monster had smashed out the portside wall, and on the return sway, the ball was sent rolling directly toward the hole.
"The map!" Jim cried, finally gaining enough balance to let go of the rope. He ran straight for it and dove…but it rolled off the edge, diving down to the surface of Treasure Planet below. But from over his head, he saw a small white and blue blur jump over him and straight over the edge. Was Donald crazy? Jim reached out and grabbed Donald's ankle as Donald stretched his wand arm out as far as it would go and cried "magnega!" A whirlwind of magnetic energy spun in the atmosphere, as the map glided gently into the center of it. With Goofy holding onto Jim's legs, they lowered themselves enough to reclaim the map and return safely to the deck.
"Couldn't let the map go, could you?" Goofy complained, catching his breath. "You two ain't exactly light, ya know!"
"It'll be worth it when we get dat treasure!" Donald explained. "Isn't dat right, Jim?"
Jim stared up at the monster flying high above. "It better be," he said.
Kairi and Sora were hanging onto the strange braids as the creature flew erratically, trying to shake them off. Kairi started to lose her grip, sliding further back on the greasy braid. Sora reached out, calmly, and said to Kairi, "grab my hand. I've got a good grip!"
Kairi reached up to Sora, grabbing his hand tightly. Suddenly, a white light engulfed them both, flashing down so far that the Legacy could clearly see the light.
"What's goin' on up there?" B.E.N. asked. "No, I'm serious!"
The white light on the back of the creature dimmed and revealed Sora, standing alone, his feet touching the back of the monster with such certainty that one would never expect they were on the back of a monster flying a thousand miles above the surface of a planet. Sora no longer needed to hold on to the creature – he has his own gravity, a power so strong he could not only fly, but create his own pull to anything. He spun two keyblades masterfully in his hands – Kairi's Twilight Petal keyblade and his One-Eye. His clothes were a stark white, with pink pieces of trim outlined in black patterns.
"This, I like!" Sora marveled at his new form. "Let's call it…Gravity Form," he said to himself, dashing up the top of the monster's head. It was no problem, he realized…he stayed on the monster as he ran, as long as he concentrated…when he made it to the massive jaws and bulging orange eyes, he slashed several times, as the keyblades went into a drill formation, dealing massive damage to the creature. It shrieked in pain, and suddenly, the two bat wings stopped flapping. They crossed over in front of themselves, as Sora rode the dead beast down toward the surface of Treasure Planet.
As the beast passed the Legacy, Gravity Sora jumped off and landed on the deck in front of a stunned crew. They marveled as the beast disintegrated in the background and a white light consumed the ship. After it faded, Sora was back to normal and Kairi was standing next to him.
"Well…that was pretty impressive, I'll definitely give you that. But now, ladies and gentlemen, the main event," Jim said, poking the small circles and turning the circular globe like a strange Rubik's cube. Suddenly, it glowed brightly as it shot a beam of green light into the air. The beam suddenly bent, and pointed, pulsing, down toward a spot on Treasure Planet.
"Let's go get what we deserve," Jim said smiling, behind the wheel of the damaged Legacy.
