Chapter XLI- Hollow Bastion (Part 2)
With a roar of anger, the Beast charged through the group of Heartless, throwing a Shadow against the stone wall. Two more jumped from behind but he let off a powerful roar that blasted the Heartless to pieces.
Koga jumped back and quickly blasted a new type of Heartless. It was some sort of bulky knight with a big dog-faced shield that breaths fire and ice.
Defender
The blast easily bounced off the strong shield. The Defender then shot a fireball at him with fast speed that knocked the boy on his back. It prepared to attack again before something weakly struck it in the back. It turned around to find Sora staring defiantly at him with it's dinky wooden sword. The Heartless looked rather amused at this easy target.
"Just needed to distract you long enough." Sora said. The Defender heard growling and barely turned to the right before the Beast pounced on it and ripped it to shreds. If it was a human then it would be a disgusting sight.
Sora turned to his brother and saw two masses of darkness form behind him. They formed black spheres with yellow eyes and jagged teeth.
Darkball
"Koga, look out!"
The boy reacted fast, he drew his Keygun and blasted the Darkball on his left. Unfortunately the other one went berserk and slammed into him, pinning Koga against the wall.
"Step aside!" The Beast roared slamming the Heartless to the ground and mauled it.
"You alright?" Sora asked his twin.
"I can do this all day." He noticed his brother's concerned look. "But don't worry, I got this."
They continued along the gates of the castle. Almost an hour ago they reached the main entrance into the castle only to have it locked shut. Koga pointed out it was mechanically shut and that it probably has an emergency unlock switch. So they followed the wiring at a painstakingly slow pace along the castle exterior until it led them to the waterways and they found the release switch, behind a now broken wall courtesy of the Beast.
Now with the gate unlocked they can actually enter the castle. They passed through a long hallway that probably was full of beautiful artworks in the past. Now it has nothing but cracked stone and piping sticking out of it. They then entered a large entrance hall with a ornate marble fountain in the center surrounded by a staircase leading to the second floor. The fountain was bone dry due to a lack of use for a decade.
"Be on your guard." The Beast said. "They're close, I can feel it." The twins nodded as they continued on.
"Beast..."
The Beast gasped and turned around. There was a familiar woman in a golden dress smiling at him behind the door frame. "Belle?"
Suddenly darkness surrounded her, revealing the form of a Shadow.
The Beast trembled in rage as he let out a roar of fury and lunged at the Heartless. The doors mysteriously shut closed behind him.
"Beast!" Koga called pulling on the door handle with Sora.
"It's locked tight!" Sora said.
"I thought I told you to stay away." Sora and Koga turned and saw Riku staring at them, Donald and Goofy by his side. "Quit while you can."
"Not without Kairi." Sora said. They two of them put up defensive positions.
"Seriously, without a weapon? The darkness will destroy you..." Riku said as he transformed. Darkness surrounded him and formed a skintight blue, red, and black suit with the Heartless symbol on the chest.
"You're wrong, Riku!" Sora said taking a defiant step forward. "The darkness may destroy my body, but it can't touch my Heart. My Heart will stay with my friends. It'll never die." Koga rolled his eyes at his brother's poetic speech. It was sweet and all, but it hardly matters when your life is on the line not that he's gonna tell him that.
"Really, you think you're invincible? Well, we'll just see about that!" Riku growled creating a ball of dark fire in his hand and he threw it at the defenseless boy. Time seemed to slow down for Sora, he closed his eyes waiting for the impact. But nothing came, he opened his eyes to see Koga blocking the blast with his Keyblade.
Koga blocked the dark fireball with his Keyblade. He kept it up in defense as he glared Riku down.
"You're gonna have to get through me if you wanna hurt my brother." He said. Sora backed away from his brother, he knew he was going to be a liability if he tried to help.
Riku scoffed, the Kingdom Key still in his hand. "Really? You think you're any m-"
Koga charged with a yell, swinging his Key. Riku put his blade up and their blades clashed.
"I had enough of your taunting, fight!" Koga said slamming his blade against Riku's repeatedly screaming with each hit while Riku kept up his guard. He then kneed Riku in the stomach, making him fall to his knees. Koga was releasing all his pent up anger.
Riku grunted as he almost had the air knocked out of him. He looked up only to have Koga slug him across the face with a hard punch. He staggered back rubbing his cheek.
"Batter up!" Koga said ready to swing his Keyblade with all his might. Only to have Riku intercept it. He put his weight on the base of Koga's blade and twisted into a downward thrust.
*clang*
Koga's blade fell to the ground with a clang. Before he could summon it back Riku did a counter slash at him. Koga jumped back and hissed as he felt the blade scrape against his arm. He summoned his blade and tried to block but Riku charged forward at lightning speed and struck his hand with the hilt of his sword. He screamed and dropped the blade again.
"Can't even keep a grip on your sword, pathetic." Riku growled. He jabbed at Koga's throat then threw his hand back. He powered up another dark firaga and hit him square in the chest. Koga went airborne, flying almost twenty feet and went crashing into a pillar. He collapsed onto a heap on the floor, wheezing weakly through his bruised throat.
"Koga!" He heard someone shout.
Riku laughed. "You never had what it takes to be a Keyblade master. Now to finish you!" He prepared another dark firaga but then Sora ran inbetween them. Riku raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
"Sora... no..." Koga groaned weakly.
"Alright, then you both will disappear!" He threw the dark fireball at the two of them. Sora's eyes widened as he ran to his brother, wrapping his arms around him to shield him from the attack. He shut his eyes waiting for the blast but again it didn't come. He opened his eyes to see someone blocking the attack with their shield.
"Goofy?" They both said in unison.
Goofy glared at the silver haired boy with the determination of a captain of the royal guard. "Sora and Koga ain't going anywhere."
Riku frowned in surprise. "You'd betray your king?"
"Not on your life." He turned to the duo with a smile. "But I'm not gonna betray them either, 'cause they've become one of my best buddies after all the things we've been through together."
"Goofy..." Koga said tearing up.
"Aw Koga, I didn't mean to make you cry." Goofy said.
"I'm not, it's just that my rib is cracked and it hurts so much..." Koga said wiping his eyes.
The royal guard turned to his friend Donald. "See ya later, Donald. Could you tell the king I'm really sorry?"
Donald squawked and shook his head. "Hold on a minute! We'll tell him together." He ran over to their side. He looked over at Koga with a sorrowful look. "Heal." He said curing all his wounds. Koga felt his strength return. Koga looked at him perplexed. "Well, you know... All for one and one for all."
"Looks like you're stuck with us guys." Goofy chuckled.
The twins gave a sincere smile to their friends returning to their side. "Donald Goofy, thanks."
"You may have your friends back but you are powerless against me!" Riku snorted. "How will you fight?"
"I know now I don't need the Keyblade. I've got a better weapon." Sora said.
Koga glanced to the side. "Sora don't say i-"
"My Heart."
"Oh my god..." Koga facepalmed.
Riku rolled his eyes. "Your Heart? What good will that weak little thing do for you?"
Sora took a step forward. "My Heart may be weak, it's not alone. It's grown with each new experience and it found a home with all the friends I made. I've become a part of their Heart just as they've become a part of mine. And if they think of me now and then... if they don't forget me... then our Hearts will be one. I don't need a weapon. My friends are my power!" He said drawing his wooden sword.
"Sora, bro. I appreciate this extremely cheesy speech of friendship but let's be a little more realistic herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-" Koga stared at his brother eyes comically wide. The Keyblade was back on his hands and no longer on Riku's.
"What?" Riku exclaimed in surprise. He clenched his fist where the Keyblade was. He turned towards them with a nervous expression. Without saying a word he ran off.
"Riku wait!" Sora shouted but his brother grabbed his wrist. He shook his head to let him go.
"We need to stop Maleficent. Come on." He said walking ahead.
"What about Beast?" Sora asked.
"He can definitely take care of himself, besides we can't wait for him to let off steam."
Sora nodded and together they continued deeper into the castle.
Riku breathed heavily as he leaned against the a wall of some hallway. He doesn't even know where he is, only wanting to put as much distance as he can from the others.
"I don't understand, it was mine!" Riku choked out, gritting his teeth. "I was the chosen one!"
*Arf arf*
Riku looked up and saw Pluto walking up to him. He nuzzled himself against his leg comfortingly, tail wagging excitedly.
The silver haired teen chuckled and patted his head. He always was more of a dog person than Sora and Koga.
"At least you're still on my side."
Suddenly the dog tensed up and started growling.
INDEED THE KEYBLADE WAS YOURS...
Riku jumped up hearing a deep voice. He turned around and saw a figure dressed in a cloak a purple aura surrounded him. He recognized him, he saw him briefly just before the Heartless invaded his world.
"Who are you?"
WHAT I AM IS OF NO IMPORTANCE... He said holding his hand up. BUT KNOW THIS. A HEART THAT IS STRONG AND TRUE SHALL ATTAIN THE KEYBLADE...
Pluto growled threateningly but was ignored by the mysterious figure. Riku was taken about by his words.
"What do you mean? You're saying my Heart's weaker than his?"
FOR THAT INSTANT IT WAS. HOWEVER, YOU CAN BECOME STRONGER. YOU SHOWED NO FEAR IN STEPPING THROUGH THE DOOR TO DARKNESS. IT HELD NO TERROR FOR YOU. PLUNGE DEEPER INTO THE DARKNESS, AND YOUR HEART WILL GROW EVEN STRONGER...
"What should I do?" Riku demanded.
IT'S REALLY QUITE SIMPLE. OPEN YOURSELF TO THE DARKNESS THAT IS ALL. LET YOUR HEART, YOUR BEING, BECOME DARKNESS ITSELF...
Riku's eyes darted back and forth, weighing his options. Under normal circumstances he would have accepted without hesitation, but his better instincts are telling him that something is really wrong.
But he made it this far with darkness, what harm can a little more do?
He concentrated as his aura started to glow, a fiery green thanks to Maleficent magic.
Pluto barked in alarm, sensing the changing atmosphere.
Riku gritted his teeth as electric sparks of dark energy crackles from his hands.
The cloaked figure watched intensely as the glow darkened and changed it's hue to blue. Then in a split second something amorphous jumped out of the cloak and into Riku, letting the cloak drop empty on the ground. If Riku noticed, he didn't show. Then the aura faded.
Pluto backed away, his instincts screaming for him to run away.
Riku turned his head towards the dog. He slowly raised his hand and fired a ball of darkness. Pluto yelped and ran away before he can get hit.
Riku smirked darkly. His eyes have lost it's youthful blue hue. Now it was nothing but a dark sinister yellow.
Heart light heart light friendship friendship heart!
Dark dark dark dark dark dark darkness darkness!
HAVE FUN!