Final Fantasy XV - Kingdom Hearts
Part 2
Summary: Two warriors of Light, the Chosen King and Keyblade Master, face an unseen Darkness.
Nearing the Outpost
'So, what exactly are we gonna be dealing with once we get to Prairie?', Gladiolus asked, looking at the spiky-haired boy. 'The shadow heartless or are there more varieties?'.
'Who knows?', Sora said with a shrug. 'The heartless usually look like they belong in a world but so far the only thing we've seen are just the wildlife'.
'And that tower of them?', Prompto asked, his Chocobo trotting along near the boy.
'They…are kinda new to us. I've only seen them once', he said with a smile. 'But nothing we won't be able to handle'.
As Sora conversed with Prompto, Ignis would often share glances with Noctis when Sora would answer a question. So far from what he, or rather Donald would answer, they are apparently "adventurers" that are looking for a group of people. Yet when asked about their homes, while Sora seemed easy going to answer, Donald would often stop him. Muttering something about "order" or some nonsense.
Regarding what they managed to gather, Sora was from a different place compared to Donald and Goofy, if that wasn't obvious enough. He was from an island of sorts, while the two were from a castle in service to a king, and if Iggy was a betting man, that king was another anthropomorphic being. He was impressed by what Noctis told him about Goofy's rather impressive combat prowess, stating that he used nothing but his shield to fend off the heartless, and he's surprisingly strong too.
Ignis couldn't discount Donald's capabilities either, the duck using such powerful magic he had never seen outside of the Kingsglaive or his former majesty. Sora remained a mystery to him though, but from what Donald told him, he was on a whole new level in comparison to him and Goofy.
His thoughts were broken when he heard Donald yelling as a yellow blur rushed past the car. It appeared Donald wasn't as gifted with riding Chocobos as Goofy or Prompto, the bird speeding off despite the duck's insistence in slowing down. He chuckled at the sight, the duck holding the reins with one hand while his other was keeping his hat from flying off, yelling at the bird profusely.
'Donald slow down! It's not a race!', Goofy said, keeping his bird under control.
'How do you stop this thing!?', Donald yelled as the bird leapt into the air.
The bird then halted suddenly, catching the duck off guard and sent him flying over it. Donald bounced on the road before landing face-first into it. He pulled his flattened face from the pavement, shaking his head and then his eyes narrowed at the bird and Ignis, for a moment, was worried he'd incinerate the Chocobo.
'Lousy no good…', he grumbled, picking his hat off the ground and plopping it back on his head. But as he marched towards the group, behind him more black pools appeared. Seeing this, Ignis immediately slammed his foot onto the breaks, catching everyone off guard and even hitting the car in response, Goofy and Prompto just barely halting their birds trots in response.
Donald blinked at the sudden halt of their march, turning around to let out a "wak" as the heartless began to rise from the pools.
There were a handful of shadows and neo-shadows, but now behind them were iron golems. Four in total, they were twice as tall as a small pit stop store, fours arms carrying four swords equally, on their chest was the heartless symbol, helmets looked more like goblins than the usual knight looks.
In the air were flying goblin shaped heartless with bat wings and carrying child's toy-like pistols.
'Heartless!', the duck cried as everyone joined him.
Noctis drew his engine blade as Gladiolus and Ignis took the front, weapons drawn. The golem ran at the trio, but Sora leapt over the three men and brought down his weapon, and with one clean cut, split the heartless in two. Landing behind it, Sora stood up and stared down the other heartless, leaving a bewildered Noctis and even more speechless Ignis and Gladiolus.
Resting on his shoulders was a weapon none had ever seen before, it looked like a key-shaped sword, but one look and Noctis could sense a powerful light within the blade, almost akin to his royal arms in away. But where he'd feel the coldness and draining aftereffects of his arms, this had a softer and even friendlier light.
Spinning the weapon in hand before he readied himself for the upcoming fight, Sora rushed in with Donald and Goofy by his side. 'Well, what are we waiting for, an invitation?', Noctis asked, flinging his sword at the flying goblin.
The sword found its mark, landing right into its stomach. The prince appeared before it and yanked the blade out and swing a devastating blow that destroyed the heartless. Mid-air, he summoned his spear and tossed it at another goblin, piercing it entirely and returning it to the darkness.
Noctis began to fall but his eyes fell to Goofy, who stood below him, shield raised. Getting his idea, Noctis flipped and landed on top of the shield, and with one take of breath, leapt off it like a trampoline and returned to the skies once more.
Gladio cleaved his way through the neo-shadows, having a better understanding of how they function as a threat and how strong they are. He parried the neo-shadows and pulverized the smaller ones with his sword and boot. The little critters were crafty buggers though, they'd gather around him while he dealt with a neo and once he was done, they all spring upon him.
They managed to give him some fresh cuts and scratches, and that would be the last thing they'd ever do. Gladiolus turned at a golem brought its sword down upon the shield's blade, the attack forced him to bend a knee due to the sheer force behind it. Gritting his teeth as sweat ran down his forehead, Gladiolus roared and pushed the giant off him.
The golem was wide open, and Gladiolus grabbed his sword with both hands and swung with all his might and slashed the giant's stomach open, darkness spewing from it like a broken hose. The heartless staggered back before it collapsed and disappeared.
The shield had no time to enjoy his victory for a neo slashed across his exposed back with its cruel claws. Gladiolus let out a roar of pain, being knocked onto his side, sword dropped. He glared at the neo but before it could finish off Gladiolus, it was suddenly encased in a solid block of ice. The block fell and shattered, destroying the heartless in the process.
'Gladiolus!', a scratchy voice cried out.
He sees Donald raising that ridiculous looking staff in the air with green tendrils swirling around it, and then looking at himself, he sees the same greenery surrounding his form. His wounds gone, flesh knitted together again and feeling reinvigorated. To test it, he grabbed his sword and effortlessly swung it upwards to cleave the sneaking neo in half, not even exerting himself. He gave Donald a nod of gratitude before rushing into the fray once more.
Prompto rolled on the ground, evading the flying goblins bullets. He took cover behind a rock and started to take potshots at them, managing to hit one. The blonde hopped over the rock as the goblins began to disperse when he fired back, a golem began to stomp towards the blonde. Prompto spotted it getting close to him, but he dashed towards it.
Prompto then dived and slid right underneath the golem between its legs and managed to skid behind it while keeping himself at a fair distance. 'Donald, some magic!', he shouted.
Donald turned to see the blonde and then the golem before he grinned. With a raise of his staff, he shouted: 'THUNDAGA!'. A golden bolt of lightning rocketed down from nowhere and found a home right on top of the golem, bathing in a shocking bright light that melted most of its metal skin. But when it turned around staggeringly, Prompto aimed at the heartless symbol and smirked. 'Opening, meet bullet!'.
He fired one charged round at the symbol and like he hoped, the bullet tore right through the golem, leaving a large hole in it for a moment before it vanished into nothing. Prompto beamed as Donald joined his side, giving him a quick hi-five before they split and rushed to aid their allies.
Ignis expertly tossed his daggers across the battlefield, the silver blades hitting their marks perfectly. He backflipped from a golem's swing, flipping over the steel and landing on his hands, pushing himself further back. Summoning his lance once his feet touched the ground, he threw it at the golem's head. The spear was plunged into its eye, blinding it for a moment.
Then Sora appeared beside him, looking at the heartless. Remembering Sora's strength and the leap he made earlier, Ignis came up with an idea. 'Do you think you can reach his head?', he asked, plucking out a flash of fire. Sora nodded with a grin and without a word, dashed towards the giant. It swung all the swords in its possession, yet before Ignis could call Sora to return, the boy expertly evaded every attack it threw at him, leaping over and under the swords.
He even leapt on the sword and ran along its upper arm, swinging the keyblade and slashing its metal flesh. Once he reached the shoulder the boy leapt high into the air, just five feet above the skull. Ignis tossed the flash and Sora aimed the keyblade and fired a large ball of fire at the head. Both collided and resulted in a massive fiery explosion that consumed the golem. Sora was sent up higher in the air thanks to the explosion.
Before Ignis could try and think up of a way for the boy to land safely, he, instead, dived forward to a pile of heartless with intense speed. His keyblade stabbed into the earth and let out a blast wave that soaked up all the heartless and vanquished them. He yanked the key out of the ground and gave Ignis a thumbs up before he ran at the last golem.
Bewildered by the display, Ignis turned in time to slice up a neo and rushed back in.
Noctis and Goofy stood before the final golem, joined by Sora and Gladiolus. 'Just one more to go!', Sora announced.
Until more shadows started to appear and surround them all, completely populating the entire area of heartless. The group gathered up, surrounded by the threat before them all, weapons drawn.
'Are we doomed!?', Prompto asked. 'PRETTY SURE we're doomed!'.
Sora looked at Donald and Goofy and then grinned. Quickly Sora aimed the keyblade upwards and as it beamed with light, he cried: 'TEA TIME!'.
Next thing Noctis and his royal company knew they were each in a spinning…teacup.
The prince's world was spinning around as the strange magical cup practically spun around and swirled around the field, destroying the heartless. It didn't make it any easier when he accidentally spun into another cup, for the impact sent him and whoever was unlucky to bump into him blasting off into the other direction.
He could hear Prompto's screams of both horror and joy as he sped through the field, bumping into everyone like a drunk bumper car driver. The blonde looked like he was trying to control it but he appeared to have better control over the weather from the lack of success he was having on his end. Ignis himself fared a tad bit better than the others though, he was mostly focusing on dodging his fellow teacup drivers.
It figures the man was an expert teacup driver…
Gladiolus, however, was seemingly have a blast with this whole ordeal. The man was actively hitting the heartless with his cup, spinning the strange pedestal in his vehicle faster and faster until he was speeding just as fast as Sora.
Speaking of Sora?
The boy, to the amazement of Noctis, was doing tricks on his teacup, hand standing and spinning around his pedestal even faster to the point where he turned into a blur of bright red lights, bashing and bumping into everything and everyone around him.
'I WANT OFF THIS RIDE!', Prompto said, sounding like he was about to throw up.
'Bring it together!', the spiky-haired hero shouted.
In moments the trio of otherworldly heroes brought their cups together and spin in a tri-symbol, sending waves of energy and magic all over the field while Noctis and his four all gather in a corner in a square formation, spinning in such a fast pace they were all blurs, beams of light heading to the trio and if possible, increasing the speed.
Their combined attacks obliterated the heartless in a blinding flash of light, the teacups vanished.
Noctis and company had a difficult time stabilizing themselves and shaking off the dizziness of the event, Prompto all but collapsed on his back. 'So…dizzy…', he whined.
Sora and the other two joined them, looking as if they weren't just in supersonic speeding teacups. 'You guys ok?', he asked, looking at Prompto in particular.
'None the worse for wear, though might be wise to warn us when you summon teacups in future', the tactician commented, pushing his glasses up.
'Heh sorry about that', Sora chuckled, placing his hands behind his head, smiling.
'Why are there three Noctis'?', Prompto asked.
Gladiolus picked the poor blonde up and carried him to the car, while Ignis returned with him, Donald and Goofy. Noctis, however, remained behind with Sora, looking at him. Noticing the prince's stares, Sora looked at him. 'What's up?', he asked.
'What the hell kind of magic are you using? And what kind of sword are you using?', he asked, pointing at the boy.
Curious, Sora summoned the keyblade and showed him the weapon in question. 'This is the keyblade, a weapon made of light', he explained.
Light? Immediately Noctis regarded the keyblade with interest as strange as it sounded, he believed him. Maybe it was because of his connection to the crystal and its light, but when he looked at it he felt a surge of warmth from it.
'Mind if I give it a shot?', he asked.
Sora beamed and handed it to him. In his hands, the weapon was lighter than it looked, but the square ring made it difficult to use efficiently. Then it suddenly vanished into light and then re-appeared in Sora's hands.
'Keyblade users exclusively', Sora said with a cocky smile.
Noctis smirked in response to the boy. 'Show off', he commented. 'But what about the teacup…thing? How'd you do that?', he asked.
Sora, in turn, shrugged and dismissed his weapon. 'I dunno, it just happens when I use my magic. Can't explain it', he said.
At this point, Noctis was going to classify Sora as an oddity just so he didn't have to ask any more questions.
'You two coming or what?', Donald asked, hopping onto the Chocobo with Goofy.
*Out Post*
Reaching the outpost without further roadblocks, the party were almost swamped with people blocking and huddling around the area. Civilians and hunters alike with some of the latter carrying weapons and standing guard at the main entrance of the pathway to the Royal Tomb. Noctis and company made their way past the people, looking for anyone in charge or any familiar faces.
To the prince's surprise, he sees Cor addressing some of the hunters and ordering them, looking haggard. And when Cor the Immortal looked exhausted, that was a clear sign of just how bad things are now.
'Your majesty', he greeted with a curt bow.
His eyes lingered on the other trio for a moment before he returned his gaze to Noctis. 'What's going on over here?', the prince asked.
'Daemons…or at least that's what the locals have been saying', he explained. 'But when we tried to fend them off, they just spawned in some new kind of monsters. For everyone we cut down, two more took their places'.
'Umm, did you see a heart-shaped emblem on any of the "daemons"?', Sora asked, raising his hand. Cor looked at the boy, his eyes narrowing. 'Yes, they did…', he said. 'Then we should go ahead and deal with them', Ignis intervened, stepping ahead.
'We've fought a few of these creatures earlier, and with Sora's group, we can handle them easier and better than any hunter now'.
'Plus, least if we go in you can keep any other hunter here and keep the civilians safe', Gladiolus offered, gesturing the hunters with his thumb. Cor gave each group a look, as if debating which course of action would be best, but in the end, he sighed. 'Very well, if you think you can handle them', he said.
Once that was settled, he allowed the party to move on and continue down the path to the old battleground, where lied one of the Royal Tombs.
'So where exactly as we are going?', Sora asked, looking at Ignis.
'Keycatrich Trench. That is where the Royal Tomb awaits, and where the heartless are gathering apparently', the driver explained.
'But what's in the tomb?'.
'Other than a coffin? Nothing of worth anymore'. Ignis turned to the confused trio. 'Awhile ago, we came here to collect a Royal Arm for Noct, and since then we haven't been back'.
Sora's curiosity peaked at the royal arm part. 'What's that?'. 'It is a weapon used by Noct's ancestors from generations ago. Those from the line of Lucis can wield the old weapons, and their power', he elaborated.
'But there shouldn't be anything there worth the heartless' attention, right?', Gladiolus remarked. 'Hey kid, what exactly draws the heartless anyway?'. Sora bit back a remark regarding "kid" and looked at Gladiolus. 'Well, see the heartless are drawn to the darkness in people's hearts. They're made of complete darkness, and well, they hunt for hearts.
'Sounds like a really weird Valentine's Day superstition', Prompto joked, looking back at Sora. 'But wait, how do you know whose got darkness in their hearts?'.
'Well everybody does', Goofy said. 'Unless you're a princess of-
Donald stood on his foot, stopping him from further blurts of information, making him yelp and focus on the pain of his large feet. Prompto let out a nervous hum, oddly eyeing his wrist band before he turned back at Sora.
'And that key thingy is their enemy or something?', Prompto asked.
'Yup! The keyblade was made to fight the heartless, and I'm not the only one!', Sora said with a grin. Then before Sora could elaborate who, suddenly there was music playing. Sora frantically searched himself before he pulled out his phone. 'Huh? Who's that?', he asked, not recognizing the number. He pressed the green button and the screen showed a familiar face.
'Sora! There you are!', Kairi said, a breath of relief escaping her.
At this, the boy immediately beamed brighter than the sun when he sees her face. 'Kairi! How'd you get my…uh…number…?', he said, slowly as he was still trying to understand the phone entirely. Outside of selfies, of course, he managed to nail that down FAST.
'It wasn't easy, did you know this thing's batteries is pretty quick to die out?', she said, a shy and embarrassed smile appearing on her face. Sora tilted his head, confusion clear. 'This thing needs batteries? Mine never died on me', he commented.
'Huh, maybe mine's out of date…GAH! That's not why I'm calling! Where are you guys?', she said.
'We're…uh…Um, Kairi hate to make things more difficult, but I don't have a clue', he said with a sheepish shrug. Kairi groaned on the other end. 'Well, can you guys at least send that signal…thingy, Chip and Dale added to your ship? Just so we can track you guys down?'.
At this, Sora looked at Donald and Goofy, both giving him awkward looks of "oh crap" on their faces. Shyly and weakly, the boy turned to his friend and scratched his cheek. 'Heh heh…funny story…', he said.
'…You crashed the ship, didn't you?', she said, deadpanned.
'NO! …the heartless shot it and CAUSED it to crash!', argued Sora, pouting at her. Kairi gave him an amused smirk and rolled her eyes. 'What happened to "Expert Gummi Ship pilot"?', she accused teasingly. 'Everyone has bad days!', Sora defended.
'Except this is one of his WORST days!', Donald shouted in the background. 'Like you did any better!'. 'I DIDN'T GET A CHANCE!'.
As all this was going on, the four brothers just looked on in amazement and smirks, absolutely enjoying the situation their new friends were making. There was something about this that just warmed their hearts. Seeing Sora looking like he was ready to drop the phone and run, Noctis decided to put this miserable issue to an end and spare Sora's dignity.
He approached Sora and showed himself to this "Kairi". 'Hey there, friend of Sora's', he said with a casual wave. Kairi blinked at him, before giving him a friendly smile. 'Hi there, umm', she said. 'I'm Noctis, and you're Kairi, right?'.
'That's me', she answered. She then turned to Sora, worry appearing on her face. 'Are you three alright though?', she asked. 'Yeah, thanks to Noctis and his friends. We're helping them deal with the heartless here, so we'll figure out how to get back to you guys soon, ok?', promised Sora. Kairi gave him a nod and a smile that looked reserved for him. If Noctis was right, there was something unique about that smile, and when he glanced at Sora, he too was giving her a unique smile.
'Ok, I'll hold you to it. But I'm gonna contact the others and tell them what's going on, maybe they'll find this world and bring you guys home if you can't fix the ship', she offered. 'Okay, sure'. 'Bye, and be safe!', she said. The call ended with a silent beep, and Sora heaved a sigh. But he looked at Noctis, sporting a smirk. 'Girlfriend?', he asked.
Sora may not have confirmed nor deny that question, but his rosy cheeks strongly implied something. His two space buddies snickered quietly, which did NOTHING to help his blush but that's not important. Noctis patted him on the back, good-naturedly. 'We'll worry about girls later, we've got work to do', he said.
*Entrance of the Tomb*
No sooner had the party arrived at the entrance, each of them felt a chill in the air. Ahead was nothing but a corridor of pure darkness, swirls of blackish violet and a devoid of light before them.
'W-We're gonna, go in that, are we?', Prompto squeaked.
'Gwarsh, I hope not. I don't think we'll come back from it', Goofy concurred.
'Well, maybe whatever heartless is doing all this is causing it?', Sora said. 'And I think I got an idea how to draw them out'.
Sora approached the corridor, summoning his keyblade. He gripped the handle with both hands and lifted the mystical weapon and aimed it at the corridor. Swirls of blue light formed around the tip and then shrunk, firing a singular beam towards the corridor. The beam pierced the corridor, and suddenly the darkness swirled and flew upwards and over the party. Piling behind them, the darkness turned into a vortex, dust and sand blowing wildly.
The darkness slowly faded as a tall dark violet colour armoured figure exited through the shade of the dark. It was human-shaped but as tall as a golem, armour like the Kings of Lucis except corroded in darkness, metal bent and sickly looking, violet mist leaking from it. The helmet was broken, exposing the shadow. But instead of bright yellow eyes, it was dark red like a daemon.
In its hand was a large buster like sword, except one edged with poisonous liquid dripping from the steel. The liquid sizzled loudly when it dripped onto a rock, dissolving it quickly.
Everyone drew their weapons as the heartless raised its weapon high, grabbing the handle with both hands. 'Ok, that? Looks pretty cool!', Prompto said, grinning nervously.
'Flattery won't save you from fighting it, Prompto', Ignis remarked.
'We can take it! And then that'll stop the darkness!', Sora said.
'Right, take it down, got it!', Noctis said.
The prince tossed his engine blade at the monster and managed to strike it in the shoulder, but the sword just bounced off it with a "clink" sound and fell to the ground. They all looked at the fallen weapon, then back at the heartless.
Noctis then patted Gladiolus on the shoulder. 'You first Gladio', he said.
The shield sighed, but regardless, he ran at the heartless with a roar, bringing his sword upwards at the heartless. Unlike his charge, Gladiolus' sword managed to at least warrant a guard from the giant, blocking his attack easily. But while it was busy with protecting itself from Gladiolus' strike, Donald fired a flurry of ice at the head with a yell and Ignis tossed his daggers at the exposed eye.
Both attacks struck it, forcing it to recoil from the attacks, staggering backwards with one hand clutching its head in pain. Prompto took a chance to shoot it, aiming for its head since it was the only part of it exposed. Though most of the bullets bounced off its helmet, he managed to hit its eye, a blast of black mist exploded from the destroyed socket.
The heartless swung its sword upwards, the sheer force behind the attack sent a powerful gust of wind that sent most of the party flying. Only Goofy and Gladiolus were the only ones who could keep their feet on the ground, shields up high stubbornly holding their grounds.
Noctis and Sora though, in mid-air, flipped themselves upright. The prince brought out his greatsword and with one spin, flung his sword at the heartless while Sora projected himself forward, diving towards the heartless.
Both warriors brought their weapons upon the metallic beast, but like Noctis' first attack, their weapons bounced off it and they recoiled harshly. The heartless swung its arm and brushed the two aside like a bunch of flies. Sora and Noctis crashed and bounced on the ground until they both slammed into a wall near the entrance. Both groaned in pain, getting back to their feet and watched their friends attempt to break the armour of that monster.
Ignis and Prompto were keeping their distances with Donald, shooting the heartless with magic, bullets and daggers alike but having more effect than the two warriors. Even Gladiolus and Goofy have been forced to merely taking the punishment and the attacks, blocking it massive sword with little respite or breathing space.
'All we're doing is just annoying it!', Noctis grunted with frustration.
'We need to hit it harder!', Sora announced.
The prince gave the poor a sour look, as if saying "No shit", but Sora then lifted the keyblade upwards and then shouted: 'Let's GO!'. A brilliant flash of light shined, for a moment the keyblade's form changed into an entirely different one, like a mixture of cowboy theme and space themed, but that was the least of things that Noctis witnessed.
Sora's weapon shifted and changed until finally, the weapon manifested into a giant war hammer. Almost cartoonish looking, yet Noctis' jaw flat out slammed to the ground in shock of this shift of weaponry. 'Do you have any heavy weapons like this?', Sora asked, laying his weapon against his shoulder. Noctis indeed have a weapon in the similar form of his new friend, the Sword of the Tall.
He summoned his massive weapon, and gave Sora a nod of encouragement, together they both rushed towards the heartless and then leapt. Together, both heroes of light brought down the massively heavy weapons down upon the heartless' chest, smashing straight into it. The combined might of the super-human strengths of the two and the heaviness of the weapons, shattering the armour entirely.
The attack sent the heartless straight through a pillar and it flew into a wall, destroyed upon impact and thus reducing it to nothing. A beautiful crystal heart fluttered from the rubble and then vanished into the air.
Both prince and master stood together, turning to the entrance to see the path cleared and the darkness vanishing from the air. They gave each other a hi-five and their friends joined in.
'Nice work', Gladiolus praised, smirking at the two while Ignis nodded with approval.
'This calls for victory photo!', Prompto declared, getting his camera ready.
That is until…
'Uh, fellas? I think we're gonna have company', Goofy announced, pointing ahead of them.
In the skies before them, the party could see ships approaching them, a total of six.
The empire had arrived…
A/N:
Well, this got a LOT of favs and follows fast. So thanks for that!
I'll be working on Dawn next and in March I'll post the possible last chapter of this, who knows? As always, thanks for reading! Please let me know what you liked about, where can I improve on or heck, what should happen next? As always, thanks for reading, stay awesome but most importantly stay safe!
