Book I: Serial Dilution
Chapter XV: Stormbringer
Sora and Rapunzel (and Pascal) moved into battle-ready positions as they stared up at the elephant sized beast – the Stormbringer – that had appeared before them. The bizarre amalgamation of a polar bear and a frost dragon – the size of an elephant, and with stripes like a zebra – bared its huge fangs. Its lamp-like yellow eyes glared down at the pair, seemingly piercing into their very souls.
"I don't think even my finest frying pan can topple this thing," Rapunzel gulped, fingers fiddling with her kitchen utensil and secret weapon of mass destruction in question. Pascal gulped as well and nodded in agreement on her shoulder.
"We'll find a way," Sora said, confident and encouraging, as he gripped his keyblade more tightly.
There was no time for anything else even vaguely resembling a pep talk, for at that moment, the Stormbringer let out a bestial roar, and then swung itself around. Its spiked tail lashed out, sweeping over the snow covered courtyard towards the pair.
Rapunzel dove to one side, while Sora jumped away in the opposite direction. The Keeper of the Kingdom Key twirled his weapon, and then thrust it out.
"Fire!" he shouted, and launched a fireball at the massive Heartless, much in the way he had dealt with some of the Shadows from earlier.
The blast of flame struck the Stormbringer in the shoulder. The "fur" was scorched, and Sora saw a puddle of water gather at the alien beast's paw on the same side; it was as if the creature, itself, was carved out of ice and snow.
With a cry of fury, the Stormbringer lifted one of its mighty paws, and swung it down towards Sora. The teenaged battler ducked, dodged to the side, and then charged forward, slashing at the demon's other foreleg.
This was perhaps the wrong attack to make, as the Stormbringer snarled and then lifted that leg, fast and hard. The impact sent Sora flying; he yowled as he was thrown back a good couple of yards, before hitting the ground and rolling through the snow.
The Stormbringer grunted, seemingly pleased, and as Sora began to get back to his feet, the monster reared back its head. A low rumble was heard in its chest…before it opened its jaws and expelled a blast of blue-white mist, peppered with snowflakes, in the boy's direction. Sora's unkempt brown hair was blown back and about his face as he suddenly felt the cold – already so great – pierce his very bones. He groaned and growled, grinding his teeth till they almost felt numb, eyes prickling with tears that froze on his cheeks. A crackling was heard as his feet began to freeze, blocks of ice surrounding them and beginning to spider-web up his legs…
The Stormbringer growled, sounding almost pleased as it watched its victim start to freeze…before…
SPLUTT!
The Heartless abomination stopped, and let out a growl of confused aggravation…after something small and sticky suddenly slapped into its ear. It was, of course, Pascal's long tongue, and as the gigantic paw of the beast came swiping upward to try and crush the tiny reptile, the little lizard leapt away and landed safely in the palms of Rapunzel.
The Princess of Corona kissed her little pet on the head, then placed him back on her shoulder, as the monster spread its wings threateningly, lashing its tail in a warning sort of way.
"Hey, big guy!" Rapunzel yelled, as she braided her hair into a lasso. "You're messing with the wrong Princess!"
The Stormbringer roared; cold fluid spilled from its maw, and as it spattered on the ground, froze instantly into thin sheets of ice. It bounded forward like a rampaging grizzly, mouth wide open as it ran towards Rapunzel.
The blonde-haired Princess smirked, and tossed the "rope" formed from her hair…lashing it about the Stormbringer's neck as she dodged to the right, those huge jaws snapping shut inches away from where she'd been. She then swung herself up onto the Heartless atrocity's shoulders, riding it as easily as one rode a horse.
The dragonbear clearly did NOT take kindly to this sort of treatment, as it shook itself violently to try and knock Rapunzel off. The Princess just whooped and hollered, pumping her fist in the air tauntingly.
"Yee-haw!" Rapunzel laughed. "Come on, big guy! Is that all you've got?!"
The beast growled over its shoulder at her and responded by unfurling its great wings.
Rapunzel's smile fell. Pascal looked up at her, raising an eyebrow and sighing as if to say, You just HAD to ask, didn't you?
A second later, the beast flapped its wings powerfully, and flew into the air. Rapunzel held on tight to the lasso, as the creature rose higher and higher into the sky. It ascended towards the castle towers, and then began to fly figure-eights around two of them, rocking and pitching to try and send Rapunzel hurtling to the ground below.
Sora watched the strange sight for a moment or two…then shook himself out of his stunned state, and used a fire spell to melt the ice that had frozen his feet. He shook away the pins-and-needles feeling in his lower legs, and then began to race towards the palace, in a somewhat ungainly manner.
"Rapunzel!" he shouted up, waving one hand. "Try to guide it towards me!"
Rapunzel gave Sora a thumbs-up (so did Pascal), and then tugged HARD on the "reins" around the monster's neck. The Stormbringer let out a slightly strangled sound, and then whirled back around, its ascent dipping slightly. Sora lifted his keyblade.
"Try to keep him there!" he yelled, aiming the weapon like a rifle. "And when I say jump…jump!"
"Got it!"
"Three…two…one…JUMP!"
Rapunzel unwound the lasso and dropped from the Stormbringer's back. At almost the exact same moment, Sora fired three balls of flame at the beast, aiming for its face, its stomach, and its hip. The Stormbringer cried out and fell out of the sky, landing on its back in a corner of the courtyard. The whole castle seemed to shake.
The Princess silently shut her eyes as she fell…and her already glistening hair began to glow with a shine like the Sun itself. It wound itself around her in a ball, like a living thing…and as she hit the ground she safely bounced and rolled inside it, before coming to a stop near Sora. The ball then unraveled, and Rapunzel and Pascal, in the center of it, wiped their brows and sighed with relief.
"You know, if I didn't have brand-new unbreakable hair…" she started to say.
"I knew you'd find a way out of it," Sora smiled.
The pair were interrupted by a deep growl. The Stormbringer rolled back onto its feet and shook itself. The pair once again adopted action-ready stances as it looked toward them…
…And this time, its eyes zeroed in on Rapunzel. The Princess' hair was still glowing brightly.
The Stormbringer ROARED, louder than ever before, and its eyes changed from yellow to a glowing shade of cobalt blue. Cerulean beams blasted from its eyes. Rapunzel nimbly sidestepped the attack…and gaped as the beams struck a statue of her father, standing in the courtyard…which turned into snow and disintegrated into a thousand flakes before her very eyes.
Sora blinked.
"…Okay…that would be kind of cool, if it wasn't…terrifying," he muttered, and turned towards the beast, expecting it to round on him.
It didn't. For some reason or another, the Stormbringer had suddenly become fixated on Rapunzel, whose hair continued to glow. She ran out of the way, as it began to fire beams of blue light again and again. Everything the beams touched turned into loose flakes of snow, puffing up into a white cloud before settling again.
"It's your hair!" Sora realized. "RAPUNZEL, SWITCH OFF THE LIGHTS!"
"That's the problem!" Rapunzel called back, diving behind a wall against the steps leading up to the palace as another beam soared over her head and turned a flower pot and its petaled delights into snowy powder. "I don't know how! It's like it has a mind of its own some-YAGH!"
The shrill cry was the result of the dark creature suddenly SLAMMING a paw into the stairs over Rapunzel's head, its huge claws nearly catching her.
Rapunzel jumped out of hiding, and the beast growled as it approached her. She once again whipped out her frying pan, and tried to smack the monster across the snout.
WHAM!
The beast didn't even flinch. It lifted a claw, and flicked the pan out of her grip as easily as one might flick away a speck of dust. Rapunzel yelped as the creature drew closer. It began to inhale deeply, preparing to attack with a blast of freezing mist…
Sora knew he had to act fast. He held the Kingdom Key aloft and sprinted forwards, leaping into the air as he got close enough. He flew at the dragon-bear hybrid and swung his keyblade in a wide arc as he drew closer…
…And hacked off one of its great wings.
The wing fell to the ground and melted, instantly, into a puddle of water. The beast rounded on Sora, eyes beginning to change color…
Now, Rapunzel thought fast, and lashed out with her still-glowing hair, once again forming a lasso and wrapping it around the other wing…
Then something happened that neither the Princess nor the Keyblade Bearer had anticipated: just as when Sora had struck with his weapon, the wing that Rapunzel's long hair wrapped about suddenly melted off! The Stormbringer let out a high-pitched howl of pain and backed away from the pair. It swung its spiked tail at Rapunzel, who ducked and ran to Sora's side, as the beast glared at them both.
The two humans looked at the wounded creature, then to Rapunzel's flowing hair, then at each other.
"The Light!" they both gasped in unison.
But the Stormbringer didn't give them much time to reflect on the revelation. It roared, shielding its eyes with one paw. It lifted its other paw and slammed it down again, creating a shockwave that knocked both off their feet. As they dropped to the ground, Pascal suddenly tumbled off of Rapunzel's shoulder.
The Princess' hair flickered and stopped glowing as she groaned, stunned and dazed.
The little lizard moaned and shook his head to clear it…then squeaked with alarm as he saw the Stormbringer charging towards his human friends. The chameleon quickly blended in with the grass and bounded forward as fast as his little legs could carry him. As the monster drew close, it reared up, ready to mash both of its enemies into the ground with its giant paws…
…Only to then be blinded as a certain lizard attacked one of its eyes. The Stormbringer bellowed with rage, and managed to grab Pascal in one paw. Its eyes began to glow as it prepared to turn the tiny reptile into nothing but a pile of white powder…
"No! Pascal!" Sora cried out, scrambling to his feet and readying his keyblade.
Rapunzel stared in shock, jaw dropping as time seemed to slow down for her. She didn't hear Sora, or notice his movements. She saw only Pascal…Pascal, her pet and closest friend. The one creature that had been there for her almost her entire life. The one creature she could trust without ever doubting that. The one creature that stuck by her even when others didn't.
About to be destroyed.
And as the flood of emotions this revelation caused filled her heart… that's when it happened.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
Sora stopped in place, jumping back, as a line of sharpened black rocks suddenly jutted out of the ground, moving in a wave like formation towards the Stormbringer. The giant Heartless stopped, and looked…
…And both it and Sora froze, as they saw Rapunzel's hair had unfurled, seemingly of its own accord, glowing once more. It was brighter than ever, the flowing locks forming huge, snake-like tendrils.
A moment after spotting this oddity…
THRACK!
The Stormbringer let out a bloodcurdling cry and dropped Pascal, who landed – dazed but unhurt – in a bit of snow. The black rock that pierced the Stormbringer's body sank into the ground with all the rest as easily as it had appeared…and the instant it did, the giant heartless seemed to melt into a puddle of dark fluid…which then evaporated into violet-colored mist.
Rapunzel's hair instantly flopped down to the Earth again with a faint thudding sound, and the Princess moaned, clutching her forehead as she suddenly grew dizzy. Shocked, Sora and Pascal both darted over to her, the teenager allowing the keyblade to vanish in a flash of light as he helped the fainted princess sit back up. Pascal hopped onto her chest and pawed at her with a slight whimper, almost in a puppyish way.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly.
"Y-Yeah…I think so," Rapunzel admitted. "But…what just…?"
"Don't ask me," Sora answered with a shake of his head…then both looked around as, suddenly, the sky grew slightly brighter. The storm clouds that had been lingering all began to dissipate, as if they had never been there at all. The snowfall very rapidly slowed…and then stopped altogether, as the screeching wind changed to a gentle breeze.
Now…they could clearly see that night had fallen. The moon's silver spotlight shone down unimpeded, and the stars were bright as diamonds.
With no Bringer of Storms…there was no storm to be had.
"…Wow. THAT was interesting."
The three in the center of the courtyard turned…to see Maximus standing there, while Flynn Rider (the one who had spoken), Queen Arianna, Donald Duck, and Goofy all at his side. King Frederic was mounted somewhat unsteadily on Max's back. His jaw gaped as he stared first at his daughter, then at the battered courtyard around them…then back to his daughter once more.
Rapunzel blinked…then smiled nervously and waved.
"Uhhhh…hi, Dad! Mom! Ah…h-how much of that did you see?"
"Gawrsh! Since when could yer hair do all THAT?!" exclaimed Goofy.
"…Well, that gives us a hint," Rapunzel said, the smile far more forced.
King Frederic's bushy eyebrows shadowed his eyes as he looked at Rapunzel. For a while, he was silent…then he looked up at Sora.
"Thank you," he said, but the words didn't meet his eyes. "For helping my daughter."
"Ah…d-don't mention it?" Sora answered, not sure how to react to the tone the King took.
Frederic nodded, then opened his mouth. He looked like he wanted to say more…but then winced as he moved the wrong way, and his ankle stung.
"Sweetheart," Arianna said, "Whatever you have to say…it should wait till morning. After a night like this, we ALL need rest."
"You said it," mumbled Donald Duck, exhaustedly.
The King glanced at both, then looked back to Rapunzel and Sora.
"Very well. But I think we'll need to have a…talk tomorrow," he said dangerously.
"…If, um…if it's about the courtyard…"
Frederic's expression silenced Sora's thought before he could continue it.
"No," said the King, darkly. "It's not about the courtyard."
Rapunzel and the Keybearer looked at each other worriedly.
They'd won this battle…but it seemed the storm hadn't truly passed yet.
Look for a shadow in the kingdom of the Sun…if those Shadows weren't what Master Yen Sid meant…what else is coming?
In the castle at Old Corona, Ruddiger stood near a bench in the workshop. He had given up on trying to get through to Varian physically, but he couldn't bear to leave the room. So he sat…and watched, chittering once or twice – just to see if his human would react – but Varian had evidently tuned him out completely.
The young alchemist knelt on the floor. His face was covered in tear stains after weeping, longer and louder, than any human Ruddiger had seen, Varian himself included. The raccoon seriously had not known just how many tears a two-legger could hold till now…but by now, the teenaged scientist had stopped crying ages ago. That was perhaps what worried Ruddiger the most. When Varian was sad, he could comfort his human, or at least try…but what he could do when those baby blue eyes were filled with…nothing? Just a hollow, empty, vacant look, something the raccoon had never really experienced before, from his boy or any other humans he knew.
Varian knelt there, totally still and silent, for what felt like hours. He barely seemed to breathe. He blinked only three times – Ruddiger counted. The animal was just beginning to wonder if he should try moving closer to once again console his favorite boy…perhaps encourage him to eat something – a thought that may or may not have been suggested by the coon's own rumbling, pudgy belly – just to try and get his spirits up…
…When finally the young alchemist spoke. His voice was hoarse after crying for so long, and then being supremely quiet so long after that. It was a broken voice; a voice that drove a dagger into the raccoon's worried heart with each syllable.
"Don't worry, Dad," Varian whispered into the cold, quiet darkness of his lab. "I will get to the bottom of this."
The alchemist bit his lip and gulped back a fresh sob.
"I promise," he said, and when he regained some composure, slowly dared to look up at his parent, naturally still trapped inside the amber-colored crystals. "I will find the answers. I will set you free. I…I'll make you proud of me."
There was a pause…and then, Varian slowly got to his feet. He marched over to his trapped father, and placed his gloved hands on the crystal surface that contained the man. Ruddiger watched closely, the daggers changing into icicles, a chill going over his spine as Varian's expression and voice hardened…
"And I swear, here and now…no matter what comes of me…ANYBODY who stands, or has stood, in my path? THEY'RE GOING TO PAY!"
Ruddiger yelped and ducked under the bench in fright as the final words echoed through the rafters. His heartbeat quickened with horror, and he whimpered softly, backing away a bit further as Varian – at the same time – began to back away from his father's trapped form. A single ray of moonlight fell over the boy. He kept his head low, but from his position, Ruddiger could still see his expression. There was a bitterness, a roughness, to that freckled face…he suddenly seemed to have aged a full ten years…
The boy's fists clenched and he twitched slightly. His eyes slowly opened as he hissed three final words through his teeth. Ruddiger's own eyes widened and he felt his own bushy tail slip between his legs as he whimpered once more.
These were not the soft, bright, kind, excited, baby blue eyes of his beloved Master.
They were the eyes of something far colder. Far darker.
Far…FAR more dangerous.
"They. Will. Pay."