Whoo-hoo! Battle time! Ah, but first...
kingdomhearts soar: That makes two of us; we BOTH whooped KH2 tail! I'm just glad it wasn't a super-suckish chapter.
crystalfeathers: Well, I already have the sequel planned out, but that would make a great tie-in! I'll be sure to start on that and credit you for the idea!
xEternal Wingx: -backs away VERY slowly- You're starting to scare me more than I scare myself. -cheers- Yay! Someone more mentally insane than me!
Ooh, right, the battle.
Chapter 13 - The Final Battle
Dancers, strike! Tlaboc silently commanded. As if they had rehearsed it a million times, the Dancers swiftly skated over to a large group of Barrel Spiders. They glanced at each other as if to quickly coordinate a "dance." Calil nodded and grabbed one of the spiders by the arm as the others rounded up the remaining barrels into a line. The Dancer threw her little prisoner into the others, causing a chain reaction of explosions. Several other Heartless were caught in the explosion.
"Lilac, watch out!" Cobalt shouted. I spun to my left and saw a Gargoyle racing toward me. I bent to the side and grabbed his legs as he whizzed past me.
"Hey, Truff!" I cried, spinning the Heartless in circles. "Batter up!"
"I got him!" Truff replied, jumping up into the air. I tossed the Gargoyle at him, and he slapped it into a group of Black Fungi, knocking them over like bowling pins. "STRIIIIIIIIIKE!"
"Nice one, you two!" Cherry cheered.
I clapped my hands. "Cherry, I've got an idea! Round up all of our White Mushrooms and Wizards!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Cherry saluted, treating me like the general of the Imperfect army. She ran off in the opposite direction as I turned around to see Midnight struggling with a swarm of Blue Rhapsodies, Green Requiems, Red Nocturnes, and Yellow Operas.
" Midnight!" I quickly ran over to my partner in heroism, only to be stopped by a mob of Shadows. "Oh, t'shi."
"Aww, how cute," a female Shadow purred in a singsong voice. "Lilac wants to save her boyfriend." She ended the 'boyfriend' on a rather high note.
Wait a minute... I thought. A female Shadow... Singsong voice... Perfect high note? "Siren?" I gasped, backing away.
"That's right!" Siren giggled and narrowed her eyes. "Your stupid ghost friend might have made it out of my spell, but I very much doubt that you're strong enough!"
"I don't think so, denki!" Midnight shouted, suddenly breaking free of his own battle and jumping on top of Siren in his stone form. As soon as she was as flat as a piece of paper, the Black Fungus turned back into his normal form.
My hero, I mentally sighed.
"Lilac, I got 'em!" Cherry called. I spun around and gave her the best thumbs-up I could.
"Everybody, hold off the other Heartless and Male... Hey, where is Maleficent?" I inquired, looking around. "I haven't seen her since – AIEEEEE!" I suddenly found myself being sucked into the air. I held out my arm in hopes that someone would catch me, but nobody was fast enough to grab me. I looked behind me to see a Heartless shaped like an empty oversized gumball machine. It sucked me into the large slot where the gumballs usually came out of, and I soon found myself trapped inside.
"Lilac!" Litra shouted. "Let her go, you bitch!"
Maleficent cackled evilly and appeared behind my captor. "You fools! You thought you could defeat me?" She held out her hand, and all the Heartless started flocking back to her like sheep. Everybody on the good side stopped and stared at either me or Maleficent. "Surrender to me, or the mushroom girl perishes!"
I looked down into the eyes of my captor. "You're not gonna turn me into a gumball, are you?" I shakily asked.
The strange creature didn't say anything. He locked eyes with me for a second and looked back ahead of him.
"Guys!" I shouted through the glass. "Whatever you do, don't surrender!"
"What?" Cherry shrieked. "Lilac, are you crazy? She'll kill you!"
"I don't care what happens to me! Even if I die right here, I don't wanna see my friends being forced to the dark side!"
"Lilac..." Midnight whispered, approaching the capsule.
Tears were falling from my eyes and to the bottom of my prison. "Please, Midnight. Don't surrender."
Midnight clenched his fist. (How on Earth did he do that?) "I won't surrender, but I'm not letting you die, either!" He jumped back and got into a fighting stance. "I'm gonna fight for you, even if it means getting killed in the process!"
I gasped. "M-Midnight..."
Lilac, Calil suddenly transmitted. Whatever happened to your plan involving White Mushrooms and Wizards?
Oh, right! I looked at Cherry. Something suddenly coursed through me; a new ability. Cherry, can ya hear me?
What the? my White Mushroom friend silently gasped. Lilac?
No time to explain. Tell all the White Mushrooms to get into an "empty lightbulb" position. Litra should know what to do next.
I could see Cherry's hidden smile shine through her face. "Mushrooms, empty lightbulb position!" she commanded, throwing her arms to the side like a powerful commander. I hung my head and felt the bulb appear over me. A shock suddenly went through me, and the light above me began to fill.
"What... What are you doing?" Maleficent shouted.
As soon as I was full of electrical energy, I spun around and faced the evil witch. "Take this, you old hag!" I spread my arms out, and several thousand volts of electricity shot out of my body, destroying the capsule. The other mushrooms followed my lead, eliminating several other Heartless around them. Maleficent was also struck a few times in the process.
"And that," I began, jumping back with my friends, "is the power of the light side!"
Maleficent seemed "shocked" for several moments, but she soon recovered... and started laughing? "You idiots! I cannot be easily defeated! I am ten times more powerful than the clone that your friend Sora battled."
"Clone?" we all gasped.
"I have a really bad feeling about this," I whispered, backing up close to Midnight. When I saw how close I was to him, I blushed and scooted away.
What, you guys are just gonna give up? an unfamiliar "voice" laughed. I looked up to see a dragon-like Nobody... er, Body soaring through the air. He suddenly dove down and stuck Maleficent hard, sending her into a wall. Ever heard of "expect the unexpected"?
"I was wondering when you'd show up!" Mauve chuckled.
"Uh, care to explain?" Cobalt whispered.
"Guys, that's my body, Evuam," the Search Ghost explained. "He's one of the few Bodies who has taken on Dragoon form."
"Well, at least we've got backup!" Cherry cheered, jumping into the air in sync with Truff.
That's not all you've got, Evuam sang, flying circles around us. As we followed him, we saw two figures standing behind us. Upon closer examination, I noticed that it was...
"Leon, Yuffie!" I gasped. "Thank Walt you guys are here!"
They were in the area, and I thought you needed help, so I asked them to come.
"Way to go!" Truff cheered, hopping into the air with the other Rare Truffles. "Now, let's do this!"
"All for one and one for all, no matter how cliché that phrase is!" Cherry half-joked.
"And I'm gonna help!"
My friends and I spun around to see Coral standing there, bouncing in excitement. "Coral!" Cobalt shouted. "What are you doing here? You're –"
"Cobalt!" Coral whined. "Let me fight!"
Just let her, Laroc silently sighed. I was in the same situation and came out okay.
"Uh, guys," I squeaked. "This is all fine and dandy, but can somebody please help me!" Several Heartless, at least one of each type, were surrounding me. I shrieked in fear and tried to back away, only to be corner by an Invisible.
"You guys take care of the Heartless!" Leon commanded as he shot at my would-be captors. "Yuffie and I will deal with Maleficent."
With our help, Tlaboc transmitted. We're gonna work together. Weaken her backup first. Leon and Yuffie nodded in affirmation.
"Ready?" Midnight called from on top of Mauve's head. "CHARGE!"
Yuffie jumped into the air and threw her shurikens at the Heartless that surrounded me. I shot a lightning bolt at the remaining ones, and Yuffie high-fived me for my work.
"Lilac, I've got an idea!" Truff called. I nodded and ran up to him, burning up some Shadows on the way. "I'm getting all of the mushroom-shaped Imperfects together and having them stack on top of each other."
"I hope you don't plan on putting me in there..." I sighed. "I have the balance of a toothpick standing on its pointed end!"
"Lilac, don't worry. I'm putting you on top. Me and the other Rare Truffles will jump down, one by one, and you'll cast Aeroga on us so that we can make an ultimate Heartless killing whirl – WHOA!" He bounced out of the way of an oncoming Pirate, and I quickly reacted by using the said defending spell to knock him into Truff, who quickly slapped him into the air.
"I see your point now. Okay, why not?"
As quickly as we possibly could, me and the other mushroom Imperfects stacked on top of each other with me at the top and Midnight right under me. I struggled to keep my balance for a few moments as the Rare Truffles got on top of us, as well. One of Truff's friends, Star (whom I suspected had a crush on Truff), was at the tip-top of the pile.
"Ready, Lilac?" Star called. Her voice sounded a bit like that of a human cheerleader's.
"I guess," was my meek reply. I sucked in a large amount of air and shouted: "Leon, Yuffie, and everyone else! Prepare for impact!"
Before I was even ready, Star hopped off the top of the "tower." I quickly cast Aeroga on her, causing a large tornado to form around her. She slammed into a group of Heartless, sending them flying in all directions. Leon, Yuffie, and the other Imperfects hit some back with their weapons and/or powers, the Bodies smoothly let them run into walls, and some of them even his Maleficent!
"It's working!" Coral rooted. "Truff, try the group behind you!"
"Coral!" I shrieked. It was too late. I heard Truff jump off the pile. I closed my eyes, hoping to Walt that I could cast magic on what I couldn't see. Soon enough, I saw a Shadow, Siren to be exact, fly over my head and slam into the ground, spelling her end. "Okay, never mind then," I muttered, giggling. The other two Rare Truffles hopped off the left and right sides of the pile, eliminating nearly every other Heartless on the field.
"We did it!" Cobalt whooped.
Uh, guys, a little help here, I heard Evuam say. Everybody looked over toward the Dragoon to see him fighting with Maleficent.
"Everybody, go!" Mauve commanded, pointing his finger at Maleficent. Everybody stared at him for a minute. "What? It's my Body."
"Listen to the Search Ghost!" Midnight called. As soon as he had finished the order, all of the Imperfects dashed out toward Maleficent, charging up their special powers.
"You FOO – WHAT THE!" Maleficent cried as her staff was blown out of her hand. Leon stood a few feet back, smirking with his Gunblade over his shoulder. No wonder a lot of the human girls had a crush on him.
"GET HER!" I shouted, charging forward with all the speed I had. My magic spell charged up as all of the other magic Imperfects lined up next to me. As if we could read each other's minds, we shot out several large beams that were red, blue, and yellow, the same color as the three basic elements in magic. When the light faded, only a fading Maleficent stood there.
"You did it!" Coral shouted, hopping up and down.
All of the Imperfects were cheering as loud as their throats would let them. The Bodies were applauding as they watched Maleficent melt into the ground, leaving behind only her cape.
"And yet..." Cherry muttered, standing over the remainders of the she-witch, "something feels wrong. She just went down too... easily."
And yet she's down, Calil announced. All of her power is gone; she must have used a lot of it for her clone.
"Honestly, who cares?" Cobalt laughed. "We won! We defeated Maleficent!"
To be continued...
Woo hoo! Maleficent has been defeated! But, wait, why is there a TBC at the end of this chapter? I guess you'll just have to find out next time!
This story is coming to a close. In fact, the next chapter may be the last. Of course, that's not the end of Lilac's adventures. If you've been keeping up, you know that there's a sequel, "A Heart's Worth a Thousand Words," coming soon! Also, thanks to crystalfeathers, there will also be a tie-in story involving the Bodies, which I still haven't named yet... I'm thinking something like "Something Over Nothing." Hope I can come up with something better!
Oh, ALMOST forgot:
Denki, or the "AH" word, originates from the English word "donkey," which is often referred to as an ass. No, that was not a swear. Take THAT, Mom!
