SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR (MOST) DISCLAIMERS
PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGE (CHARACTER PAGE IS NOW GONE)
-CHAPTER START-
In Twilight Town, two black-cloaked figures approached the old mansion; one was a prisoner of the other, plucked from his solitude in the Realm of Darkness and press-ganged into "service". Unknown to them, a trio of locals were watching from the trees, stealthily following them up to the mansion… The older of the two stopped walking, glaring at the younger.
Xehanort's Heartless sighed, turning back to look. "What now?"
Freshly 'freed' from the Realm of Darkness, the thought-dead Ansem the Wise looked up at the white lace curtains in one of the mansion's second-floor windows.
"Please…" he said. "I have created enough victims."
"Yes, you have…" XH replied. "All the children sacrificed in the name of your research… So make things right."
"…I told you, I did not take her. Her disappearance was why I put a stop to the research."
"And that makes you honorable? You used Roxas and Naminé as disposable tools, and then threw them away. I doubt there's a merciful bone in your body. You took the girl, and hid her. Now, show me the data you are hiding here."
"Roxas and Naminé…" Ansem murmured sadly. "If there is any reason that I still draw breath, it is to atone for what I did to them. …If you do find the girl, what is it that you expect will happen?"
Xehanort's Heartless smirked. "The child's memory holds a mystery to unravel – one concerning the battle we seek between Light and Darkness. You know something, and that is why you stopped the experiments."
Ansem growled under his breath. "You are completely deluded, Xehanort."
"We shall soon see…"
He grabbed Ansem the Wise by the shoulder, starting to force him toward the mansion. Suddenly, a voice called out from behind. They turned, and Pence was right there, a sly grin on his face.
"Scuse me" he said. "I'm looking for a friend who used to live here."
"No-one lives here anymore" Xehanort's Heartless replied. "Begone."
"Oh, but sir, what brings you here if you don't live here?"
"We're… in charge of inspecting the mansion, seeing what repairs need to be made before it can be resold! Now kindly leave, so we can get on with our work."
As XH began stalking towards Pence, Olette popped up from behind one of the columns, grabbed Ansem the Wise by the hand and started leading him away. XH turned to look, giving Hayner the opening to come flying in with a drop kick… and, without looking, XH caught the boy by the ankle.
"Really?" the human-form Heartless said dryly. "I don't suppose you had a Plan B, children?"
"…Not as such, no" Hayner admitted.
Xehanort's Heartless then wound up and tossed Hayner at the mansion's court wall with enough force that the impact would break the boy's bones… and suddenly, a Dusk leapt out from the shrubs, shifting into a rubbery spring-like shape and coiling around Hayner. The boy bounced harmlessly off the wall and tumbled to the grassy ground, the Dusk uncoiling from him. Several other Dusks then emerged, all of the Nobodies surrounding Xehanort's Heartless and his 'Guardian'. As Hayner and Pence made a run for it, XH glared at the hostile Dusks.
"I serve the Organization" he spoke lowly to them. "This is treason."
In response, one Dusk's mouth opened.
'…We serve Lord Roxas, now and forever.'
-Break-
In Twilight Town's tunnels, Hayner & Pence caught up to where Olette & Ansem were catching their breath.
"Are you guys okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I think" Hayner replied.
"Nobody knows the twists & turns of Twilight Town better than us" Pence boasted.
"…You are Roxas' friends" Ansem realized.
"That's right" Hayner nodded. "So you know him, too?"
"Oh yes. Quite well. Though, we didn't exactly part on good terms…"
"I guess it was worth staking out the old mansion after all," Pence said, "because this guy here is what I'd call a lead."
He pulled out the picture of the trio and Roxas posing in front of the old mansion's gates.
"That's the only proof we have that Roxas was our friend" Olette said.
"…Tell us about him" Hayner asked. "We wanna know him better.
"My dear master" a new voice joined. "You are safe."
As the kids went on guard, Ansem's eyes widened as he saw the tall, thin, pale-blond young man emerge from the shadows.
"Even? Is that you? …So, those Nobodies were your doing."
A quartet of Dusks emerged behind Even; as the three kids tried not to panic, Ansem stood protectively between them & the Nobodies. Looking sad, Even bowed his head.
"I have been waiting for this" he said. "I gave up a normal life in order to plant myself as a mole in the Organization. And when I heard Xehanort had gone looking for you, I realized it was my chance to find you as well. For you see, I too wish to atone."
-Break-
Four heroes found themselves strolling down a massive red suspension bridge lit by the dusk sky. Numerous vehicles were scattered about. As Sora excitedly looked around, his three friends trailed behind.
"All these cars look like they were abandoned recently…" Madoka Kaname observed. "And I don't see any blood or bodies. It's like everyone just abandoned their vehicles and fled together."
"So what could they have been runnin' from?" Goofy wondered.
"The Heartless are probably already here" Donald replied. "Come on, Sora!"
"But, I wanna take a look at the big city" the youth complained.
"It does seem pretty exciting" Goofy said.
Suddenly, a blast shook the bridge. Up ahead, there was a plume of smoke surrounded by a squadron of mechanical Heartless with roughly beach ball-sized main bodies in indigo armor, a small wheel sticking out from the back of each one, flying on big wheels that had shifted to the sides, opened up, and projected pink hardlight wings.
As the quartet readied their weapons and began to rush toward the flight-form "Tireblades", a figure came flying overhead – a teen girl in a form-fitting yellow suit with wheels attached, hitting the tarmac and tumbling to a stop. Seconds later, a large humanoid figure clad in red armor flew in using boot-mounted thrusters, with a petite teen boy in purple armor riding on its back. They set down in front of the downed girl.
"Baymax!" the boy turned to his giant companion.
"Gogo's suit has shielded her from a major injury," the robot replied as he scanned the girl, "but the blow she sustained to her head has caused a mild concussion."
"Is it safe to move her?"
"She has no neck or spinal injuries. However, we should take caution to avoid jostling her too much and aggravating her concussion."
"A robot? So cool!"
The two locals turned as Sora, Donald, Goofy, & Madoka came running over.
"Hello" the armored robot raised a hand in greeting. "I am Baymax, personal healthcare companion."
As Sora started fanboying, Goofy tapped him on the shoulder. "Uh, Sora? Remember our other problem?"
"Huh? Oh, right! The Heartless!"
"Heartless?" the local boy said. "Is that what those dark creatures are called?"
Sora nodded. "We've been dealin' with them for quite a while now, tracking them down in all sorts of different places all around the World and clearing them out. I'm Sora!"
"Donald Duck!"
"Name's Goofy!"
"I'm Madoka"
The local nodded. "My name's Hiro. And you've already been introduced to Baymax. You guys have experience taking care of these 'Heartless' things? Since they're attacking our home city, we'll help you get red of them! Me, Baymax, Gogo, and a few others make up a hero team called Big Hero 6!"
SAN FRANSOKYO
Closing in on the sizable squadron of Tireblades, Madoka summoned her 'Blooming Hope' and 'Rumbling Rose' Keyblades, dashing in and cutting a few of them apart in the first few seconds. A rocket-punch from Baymax destroyed two more, and a double Thundaga from Sora & Donald got five more. Some of the remaining Tireblades shifted to land mode, three wheels propelling them around, but they couldn't out-speed or avoid Goofy's deadly shield-throw attacks.
As Sora swatted the last Tireblade, numerous Pole Cannons spawned in, the turret-type Heartless opening fire. The heroes moved up from car to car, using ranged attacks to take the Pole Cannons out from medium range; Madoka fired a magic arrow that pierced through and destroyed three at once when she got them lined up. Steadily, the heroes cleared the turrets out.
Then, from further down the bridge, a massive 'Rock Troll' Heartless came charging in, smashing cars out of its way like they weighed nothing; Sora and Donald almost got flattened by a taxi hurtling through the air. The massive Heartless swung its huge glowing axe at Goofy and Madoka, the former ducking and the latter leaping to avoid it; Madoka fired a wave of pink Sagitta Magica before she hit the ground, the mana bolts slamming into the Rock Troll's thick hide but not really doing very much.
The Rock Troll tried to smash Donald with its hammer-axe, but Baymax jetted in and pulled Donald to safety, then fired a rocket punch at the huge Heartless' face, hitting with enough force to leave a small crack in its faceplate. The monster roared and stomped toward the red-armored robot, trying to crush Baymax with one of its huge fists, but the local robo-hero jetted backward to dodge, while Sora & Madoka dashed in and bombarded the Rock Troll with Keyblade strikes.
Donald fired a few Firaga shots at the monster, scorching its armor and burning its wrist (not the wrist of the arm holding the hammer-axe, unfortunately). The Rock Troll used its weapon to shatter a section of the bridge's asphalt and then fling the chunks of debris at the duck-mage, who protected himself with a Reflega barrier. Sora struck at the Rock Troll's legs with a few Sonic Blade attacks, forcing it to kneel, and Baymax hit it with a jet-boosted rising uppercut that knocked its head up with so much force it ended up falling on its back. Sora & Goofy leapt high and hammered it with a "Goofy Bombardier", and then Madoka leapt onto the Rock Troll's upper chest and used all her might to swing both Keyblades down at its neck. The Rock Troll's head rolled away, it and the decapitated body disintegrating into Darkness particles as its Heart floated up and away.
-Break-
Back at Big Hero 6's home base (Hiro's garage, basically), everyone was looking at the holoscreen display of the latest news article – talking about the Heartless attack and about how BH6's attacks did very little damage to the strange dark creatures, pointing out that the local heroes aren't strong enough to protect people from the new threat, urging people to leave San Fransokyo behind…
"Not cool…" Gogo frowned.
"People want spectacle," Honey Lemon replied, "not truth."
"Yeah," Wasabi snarked, "who needs quality reporting when you can just make stuff up?"
"I don't get it" said Fred, still in his suit. "I mean, didn't they see how awesome we were?! Sure, those things landed a couple of good hits, but we had chem-balls, and laser hands, and fire-breathing!"
"Well, it really didn't matter" Honey said. "They beat us."
"Where'd they come from, anyway?" Gogo asked.
"Why don't we ask the guys who actually stopped 'em?" Wasabi looked to the traveler quartet.
"Hiro, you never introduced us…"
"Huh? Oh, right!" the short teen came together with his friends. "You guys, we are Big Hero 6. You already met me & Baymax and Gogo, though she was out cold for it… This is Honey Lemon, Wasabi, and-"
"I'm Fred!" The teen took off the 'head' of his suit. "Don't worry, I'm a person."
"I'm Sora! This is Donald and Goofy! We're the-"
"Don't try to come up with a hero team name, Sora" Donald interrupted, figuring where his friend's train of thought was going. "You're not too good at thinking up cool names."
"Hey!"
"We don't really have a team name" Goofy admitted. "Though, some folks call us 'Team Sora', on account of how Sora's usually leadin' the charge and is our heaviest hitter."
"And I'm Madoka" the pink-haired girl smiled. "Kaname Madoka. I'm not a regular member of 'Team Sora'; I'm actually the leader of a different team of heroines. But I decided to come along with these three for this op as some extra power."
"Tell us how you took those monsters down" Gogo 'asked' them.
Sora nodded, his expression serious. "They're called the Heartless. They're what happens when a person's Heart is consumed by Darkness… or is tainted and consumed by another Heartless. They're drawn to the darkness in people's Hearts, so that they can corrupt those Hearts and turn them into more Heartless. The greater the darkness in a person's Heart, the stronger their Heartless will be; they can range from weak little foot-high Shadows to enormous monsters."
"Why weren't our attacks doing much to them?" Honey asked. "Only Baymax seemed able to reliably damage them, and he had to use way more force than any regular human could withstand to do it."
"We use magic" Donald replied. "Heartless are vulnerable to magic attacks."
"They're especially vulnerable to the ancient power in Keyblades" Goofy explained. "Sora and Madoka have Keyblades, so they can cut through Heartless pretty easy. Plus, Sora, Donald, & I have been fightin' Heartless for over a year now, so we got plenty of experience with 'em. And Madoka's got lots of monster-fightin' experience, too, even though Heartless are a newer foe for her & her friends."
"Technically, Witches were evolved Heartless" Madoka corrected him. "So you could say that my friends & I have just as much experience as you three."
"So," Wasabi asked, "without the kinds of powers you guys have, we can't take care of those things?"
"Not necessarily" Sora replied. "A lot of our friends & allies who aren't big on magic- or chi-based fighting can still handle Heartless, at least the lower-end ones. You just gotta figure out the tricks to it! You guys don't need to worry; the four of us can clear out the Heartless."
Hiro shook his head. "We have to help. This is our home, and we're supposed to protect it. …It's what my brother would've done…"
"But how are we gonna handle those things?" Honey asked.
"We train up!" Fred replied. "When heroes are brought low, they get new powers. It's shugyō time!"
"Did you read that in Geeks Quarterly?" Gogo snarked.
"Fred's actually not wrong" Hiro said. "I may have an idea."
-Break-
Soon, Hiro had put together an AR visor for Sora, black with red accents to match the young hero's outfit.
"This'll create a CG overlay that augments your vision."
Sora looked confused "…Huh?" Goofy leaned in and whispered definitions into Sora's ear. "Oh! Got it!"
"While you wear it," Hiro continued, "this device sees everything you do and logs the data. That data can be used to help us come up with training and ideas – help make us better so we can do better against the Heartless!"
"Maybe we can upgrade our hero suits, too!" Fred said.
Honey giggled. "I wouldn't mind something as cute as Madoka's magical-girl outfit. I think I'm too tall to make it work for me, though…"
She then 'hmmed' while looking Gogo over.
"No." Gogo said to her.
"But Gogo~"
"Honey, no. The day I willingly wear something pink & frilly is the day the world ends."
-Break-
A night of training led to the Big Hero 6 learning a few new fighting moves and also getting inspiration for new gear & abilities. Gogo altered her wheels to let her roll up and along vertical surfaces; Honey came up with new chemical combinations and a new delivery system for them; Wasabi's plasma-blade gauntlets could now fire plasma bolts; Fred's suit had ice breath to go with its fire breath; and Baymax got a new combat module based on Sora & Madoka's fighting styles.
"That should do it…" Hiro said as he installed Baymax's new chip.
"We interrupt your scheduled program to bring you this breaking news."
A news-alert suddenly piped up on the garage TV, drawing everyone's attention.
"Moments ago, the city's South District was attacked by numerous unidentified creatures. Witnesses describe losing sight of victims during the mayhem. Many also said they saw strange, floating heart symbols in the vicinity of the missing victims. City police are urging citizens to stay at home. For those just joining us, only minutes ago the South District was attacked by-"
Hiro turned the display off, turning to face his new & old friends. Everyone nodded, suits ready; a flash of pink accompanied Madoka's outfit forming (Fred and Honey had positively squeed when they'd learned she was a bona-fide Magical Girl).
"Go time" Hiro & Sora said together.
-Break-
In the downtown district of San Fransokyo, Baymax accompanied "Team Sora + Madoka" in facing off with the bulk of the Heartless.
"Sora," Hiro contacted as Sora & Donald cut down half of the enemy units with a Flare Force barrage, "I've detected an unknown threat higher above. You may have to scale the buildings to identify & engage."
"Understood" Sora replied, watching as Baymax caught the flying kick of a Soldier wearing a spiked Viking-like helmet, holding it for Madoka to slice apart.
Donald took out the few remaining Shadows with a Thundara spell, while Goofy's shield and Baymax's fists made short work of the shadows. Madoka threw twin Strike Raids that cut through most of the Tireblades, with Sora slicing the last one in half before it could get away.
Scaling a nearby skyscraper and blasting a couple Pole Cannons, the team suddenly found themselves fenced in by a magic barrier atop a circular roof, and surrounded by five Satyrs in fancier-looking metal armor – Mechanitaurs. Several Soldiers spawned in as well, they & the bigger Heartless all rushing in at once. Baymax caught one Mechanitaur's charge, he & the Heartless trying to overpower each other. Madoka called up both Keyblades, using one to block a Mechanitaur's punch and the other to cut down a Soldier after she dodged its flying kick.
Ducking under a swing of a Mechanitaur's fist, Goofy smashed its legs with his shield, forcing it to kneel and letting him hammer its helmeted head with crushing blows. He finished with a blow that smashed the Heartless' face in, destroying it. Sora kept dancing around his opponent's attacks and hitting it in the back, eventually doing enough damage through its armor to destroy it. Baymax finally overpowered the Mechanitaur he was squaring off with, getting it in a full-strength headlock that crushed its neck. Donald cooked a Mechanitaur by finding a gap and firing off a Firaga inside its armor, and Madoka finished off the last one using her Keyblade to scissor-slash its head off. The few remaining Soldiers only lasted a few seconds more.
(BOSS MUSIC: Kingdom Hearts 2.5 – "Vim & Vigor")
"Sora!" Hiro suddenly shouted over the comm. "Something big is headed your way!"
Down below, cars sped away for safety as a huge Heartless pursued – looking like a cartoony T-rex with a volcano-like spout on its back and a tail that looked like it electrical wires. Baymax got everyone down to street level, cutting the beast off, and the "Catastrochorus" let out a roar that shook the air.
"Scans indicate our target is actually three separate Heartless acting as one" Baymax announced. "The volcanic hump on the main Heartless' back and the tip of its tail are secondary Heartless."
"Maybe if we destroy them," Madoka said, "we can make things easier."
The Catastrochorus stomped forward, trying to crush the heroes between its massive jaws. They scattered, Madoka and Donald firing magic blasts at the fused Heartless, but it barely slowed down as it swung its tail like a club at Goofy. Baymax got the Royal Knight out of the way and flew at the monster, punching and kicking with his mighty super-strength, actually pushing the beast back a little. Sora joined in, hacking away with his Keyblade, until the Catastrochorus swung its huge head like a hammer, knocking Baymax away and forcing Sora to leap back as well.
The fat 'smokestack' on the Heartless' back lit up a little and spouted out a wave of flaming boulders that forced Sora, Goofy, & Baymax to abort their next attack. Madoka shifted her Blooming Hope into its longbow form, firing bright-pink magic arrows at the Catastrochorus, while Donald flung Blizzard blasts at it. The monster snarled as the magical attacks stung it, and then it leapt toward them; the two mages dodged its crushing feet, only to be blasted back by the Darkness shockwave it produced upon landing.
Sora hit the Catastrochorus in the face with a Strike Raid, and an arrow from Madoka pierced the clawed hand at the end of its stubby right arm. The beast roared as its body gained a faint orange glow, the volcano-smokestack Heartless on its back rumbling as energy & heat built up, while the little storm-cloud Heartless in its tail peeked its head out, electricity crackling around it. Breathing deep, the Catastrochorus exhaled a stream of intense flames at the heroes. Donald and Sora formed a Reflega barrier to protect them all, and Madoka started firing Watera blasts into the monster's blazing mouth, soon quenching the flames at the source.
The compound Heartless started rampaging around – shockwave stomps shaking the pavement, fiery rocks spewing out from its volcano-hump and raining down all around it, 'weak' lightning bolts being projected from the little storm-cloud Heartless in its tail. Everyone moved around, trying to keep clear of the tantrum-ing monster, firing what projectile attacks they could at it. Eventually it ran out of steam, its symbiote Heartless going dormant to rest, and Sora flashed red as he assumed his Valor Form, rushing in and bombarding the Heartless with extra-strength blows from his two Keyblades.
The Catastrochorus leapt atop a nearby building, holding its thundercloud tail high and starting to rain down bolts of lightning magic. Sora & Madoka ran up the side of the building while Donald & Goofy rode on Baymax's back as he flew up, dodging lightning bolts as they closed in on the monster. Sora & Donald managed to freeze the thundercloud Heartless with a dual Blizzaga, and Baymax struck it with a full-power blow that shattered it, destroying the lightning-generating Heartless.
Deprived of one of its means of attack, the Catastrochorus roared and started spewing volcanic rocks from the Heartless on its back again. Baymax, Madoka, & Donald intercepted the semi-molten boulders that weren't dodged, while Sora & Goofy smashed the monster with a Goofy Bombardier, knocking it off the rooftop to hit the streets below with a mighty thud. Snarling as it got to its feet, the Catastrochorus breathed out fire at Baymax as he flew past, and took a Strike Raid to the side of the head from Sora. Madoka leapt onto the monster's back and started slashing at the volcano Heartless sitting there, avoiding the frantic bursts of fire it tried to throw at her. Soon it shook her off, but a Watera spell right down the hole from Donald dealt the finishing blow.
Now without its two symbiotic partners to make it a 'Catastrochorus', the Catastrophe Rex roared and flailed about, shaking Madoka off and bashing Goofy & Baymax away with its tail. But then, Donald caught it with a Gravity spell that pulled it down, and Sora came in from below and expended his remaining Valor Form 'charge' in a full-strength double slash. The Catastrophe Rex roared and groaned as it collapsed to the ground, beginning to come apart into wisps of Darkness as a captive Heart was freed and floated away.
(MUSIC END)
-Break-
In the wake of the heroes easily scouring the city of Heartless, they all met up atop the big red bridge for ice cream. Sora, Madoka, Hiro, & Gogo were on an upper level above the others, gazing out at the sunset.
"My brother wanted to help people…" Hiro said solemnly. "Now, we try to do the same."
"Your brother?" Sora asked.
"Tadashi" Hiro replied. "Less than a year ago, he was… he was killed in a fire. But he always wanted to make a difference. He cared about people. That's why he worked so hard to create Baymax."
Sora lowered his gaze. "I'm sorry…"
"We know what it's like to lose people…" Madoka admitted, remembering a lavender-haired ice user.
"…He's still here" Hiro said. "In Baymax. In all of us."
"He lives on in your hearts" Sora replied.
Hiro nodded. "In some way or another, he will always be a part of us."
Sora leaned back, looking up at the orange-hued sky. "And when you're not strong enough, he'll make up the difference."
For a moment, Sora wasn't Sora, and the people beside him weren't who they were…
"Sora?" Hiro spoke up. "You okay?"
"Uh? Y-Yeah, fine. Just… remembering someone…"
He held a hand to his heart.
'I'll get you two out of there so you can live your lives again. I promise.'
-Break-
The whole gang patrolled the city after nightfall. There were no signs of any Heartless, and seeing the young heroes was helpful to civilian morale. Suddenly, though, a bizarre sound caught everyone's attention. They turned, catching sight of what looked like thousands of tiny black cubes with teal lights molded together into a vaguely octopus-like shape, 'swimming' through the air at street level. As the strange thing floated away, most of BH6 ran after it.
"Wait, guys!" Hiro shouted. "It's not like the others! …It can't be. Microbots?"
"You know what those things are?" Madoka asked.
"Microbots are designed to do whatever you command them to by thought, via a neural transmitter. I invented them, months ago, but they're supposed to have all been swallowed up by a dimensional rift!"
"If my theory that the Heartless are from outside this world is correct," Baymax spoke, "then perhaps they managed to find wherever the microbots ended up and assumed control of them."
"From what you guys have told us, the Heartless don't have enough brainpower to control the microbots."
"…But the Organization's members do" Sora said, face serious.
"…I'm gonna go back to the garage and look into things more. Baymax, go with Sora & company; help them contain the situation."
"Understood, Hiro" the big robot replied. "Sora, Donald, Goofy, Madoka, I will be your personal healthcare companion."
Sora grinned. "C'mon, let's move!"
They took off in pursuit, having trouble locating the target or the rest of BH6. Finally, after several minutes of searching, the gestalt construct reappeared hovering over an intersection, this time ready to fight.
"They're not microbots" Hiro contacted. "They're a tech-type Heartless – a single Heartless mind controlling thousands of tiny bodies!"
"So does that mean we'll have to scrap every last one of 'em to take out the Heartless?" Goofy asked, readying his shield.
"Not sure; I'll keep scanning. Do what you can to fend it off!"
Donald fired a few Fira blasts, and Sora & Madoka threw Strike Raids. Unfortunately, the bizarre Heartless easily flowed its countless components around, dodging each & every attack. A Thundara from Donald stunned some of the tiny cubes, but the rest moved to shield and reboot them. The multi-bodied Heartless' tendrils glowed red at the tips, and it started firing vaguely cube-ish energy blasts at the heroes, forcing them to scatter and dodge. Finally, Sora boosted up and slammed his Keyblade against the thing, but other than a few cubes turning red and rippling, there was no noticeable effect. A Blizzard blast from Donald and a cluster of magic arrow-bolts from Madoka had the same outcome.
"How are we supposed to hurt this thing?!" Sora exclaimed.
Then, as if bored, the gestalt Heartless floated up and shifted form, flying away at high speed. The team tried to pursue, but weren't fast enough.
"Sora? You guys alright?"
"Yeah, but the target escaped. Have you got any leads?"
"Tons. Somewhere inside that thing, there is a core. It's what powers the whole cluster – the Heartless controlling all those cubes. You have to destroy it."
"Now he tells us?!" Wasabi was heard, followed by a grunt of pain.
"Wasabi! What happened?!"
"Let's just say it's a handful!"
"Team, check in!"
"So far, so good" Honey reported.
"Guys, I'm really tired of just dodging this thing" Gogo griped.
"Freddie getting frustrated!"
"I'm on my way" Hiro said.
"No!" Fred replied. "We need that big brain of yours keeping an eye in the sky! Just keep analyzing these Darkubes!"
"Darkubes?" Wasabi asked.
"They're dark, they're cubes, I call 'em like I see 'em. Every bad baddie needs a cool name!"
"We'll gather as much data from these things as we can" Honey said.
"Hiro, please figure out a way to beat this thing!" Wasabi shouted.
"But guys, I can't leave you out there all alone…"
"Hiro," Gogo said, "we are a team. And teams delegate. We need you at the garage. We trust you, so please trust us."
There was a long silence, and then "…Understood. I'll look for a way we can expose the Darkubes' core. Just keep that data coming."
"What should we do, Hiro?" Sora asked.
"Assist and protect the others. I'll mark their locations on your AR display."
The core team headed for Honey Lemon's location first, finding her encased in a cocoon of Darkubes, multiple spidery 'limbs' anchoring the construct in place, secured to their positions by Honey's own chemical adhesives. At Honey's own suggestion, the team's three magic-users blasted the adhesives with elemental magic, disintegrating them and weakening the cube-mass' hold enough for Honey to blast her way free.
Pressing on, they scaled a tower to find Wasabi trapped in an orb of Darkubes at the top. Madoka used a magic-charged leap to get high above, using an Aero spell to go even higher, and then made a diving strike to a weak-point at the orb's top, breaking Wasabi free. Down on the streets, a giant ball of Darkubes was rolling around with Gogo trapped inside. Sora hit with a Rasengan from high up, shattering the orb and freeing Gogo. A quick search found where Fred was trapped in another mass of Darkubes, which had secured itself to a few lampposts. A triple Strike Raid from Sora & Madoka quickly cut the securing tendrils, letting Freddie fling himself free.
"Sora!" Hiro radioed. "The Darkubes are converging on a single location. Whatever's happening can't be good…"
The team headed for one of the taller towers, where the Darkubes were flying into a single mass floating just above the tower rooftop.
"I'm almost done pinpointing the core" Hiro continued. "If you need me to help-"
"It's okay, Hiro" Sora replied. "We're on it."
They made their way through streets and then ran or flew up the side of the tower, meeting up with the rest of Big Hero 6. Hovering several feet off the roof, the Darkubes had come together in a huge ball, its surface undulating as the cubes moved.
"Okay, there's a lot of them…" Gogo remarked.
"What do ya suppose they'll do?" Goofy asked.
"I don't think we wanna find out" Wasabi replied.
"I say we just smash this thing!" Fred hopped forward.
"But without a strategy," Honey replied to him, "we'd just be wasting our strength."
"If we knew where to strike…" Sora murmured.
"Sora!" Hiro contacted. "I've got it! I'm sending you an AR software update. It'll show you where the core is – the lead 'Darkube' Heartless that's controlling all the others. I'm coming to he-"
Suddenly, the transmission cut out as Sora's AR display went red for a moment.
"That's weird" he tapped at it. "Is it busted?"
As the image briefly glitched, Sora looked down to see a short figure in an Organization black coat approaching.
"Hiro, who's that on the display?"
"That's not the AR display, Sora" Madoka readied her Keyblades. "He's really here."
"The black coat…" Gogo took a stance. "He's back?"
"Are you done messing around?" the hooded youth asked in a very familiar tone.
"That voice…" Sora's eyes widened.
"Enter the supervillain" Fred said.
"He definitely has the vibe" Honey replied, chem-ball in hand.
The interloper lowered his hood, revealing a young face with upper-back-length spiky pale hair and golden eyes.
"…Riku?" Sora almost dropped his Keyblade.
"He's smaller" Donald replied. "Younger. He looks like Riku did a year or two ago, before he hit his last growth spurt!"
"He's someone you know, but from the past?" Wasabi asked.
"Riku has been my best friend since we were babies, more or less" Sora replied. "A year or so ago, he… fell in with a bad crowd, got a little lost. But then he saw where he'd gone wrong and made up for it – came back to the good guys, purer and more heroic than ever. …I think this is somehow the Riku from that brief period when he was a villain…"
"How is that even possible?" Gogo asked.
"Some of our enemies are the Hearts of bad guys from the past," Goofy explained, "brought forward in time and placed in artificial bodies. If they're defeated, their Hearts'll go back to their own times, minus any of this time's memories in order to avoid makin' any paradoxes. 'Course, defeatin' 'em is a lot easier said than done…"
'Riku' sighed, conjuring a dark red datacard in his gloved hand. "As if this stupid experiment wasn't already a hassle…"
"…Where'd he get that?" Hiro's voice came over the comm.
"Hiro, do you recognize it?" Sora asked.
"Yeah…"
'Riku' held the red card up, glaring at it. "Not quite ready…" he said.
"That's the first chip I made for Baymax. It's full of combat programs."
At that, the BH6 members gasped in shock.
"Programs?"
"Yeah. They tell… told Baymax how to react?"
"Does that mean… it's like his Heart?" Goofy asked.
"Kind of…" Donald replied.
'Riku' scowled. "Needs a little more, then…"
(BOSS MUSIC: Kingdom Hearts 2.5 – "Sinister Shadows")
He turned and threw the datacard into the mass of Darkubes, and then vanished through a Dark Corridor. The Darkubes seized and shifted, taking a slightly heart-shaped configuration. It spun rapidly for several seconds, its thousands of components glowing bright green, and a shimmering dark barrier sprang up around the rooftop, trapping the heroes in with it. Taking its octopus-like form, it swung its 'tentacles' and knocked Honey Lemon, Wasabi, Gogo, & Fred out of the barrier. Sora, Donald, Goofy, Madoka, & Baymax stood firm and got ready.
Some of the Darkubes' tentacles began to glow red, and soon it was firing high-velocity chunks of red cubes at the heroes. Sora and Madoka leapt and rolled to evade, Donald & Goofy defended with Reflect and shield, and Baymax rocket-punched away the 'blasts' coming at him. The Darkubes then shifted into their four-pronged heart formation, but this time a quick hack by Sora's visor disabled the optic-camouflage cloak around an extra-large (roughly head-sized) cube floating in the center of the formation, a pair of beady little yellow eyes glaring down at the heroes.
"The core!" Donald cried, firing a Blizzard blast at it. The spell hit home, and the Darkubes rattled angrily as they shifted configuration again. The mechanical Heartless hovered overhead, shifting into a rough diamond shape and glowing red. A red light was projected down from the tip as the Darkubes floated around, taking position right over Sora. The boy's eyes widened and he threw himself aside as the Darkubes crashed down at him, the roof shuddering from the impact. Red cubes spread out from the epicenter, flowing back together after a few seconds.
The Darkubes, still red, took a galaxy-like configuration and starting to spin rapidly while flying around like a giant shuriken. Everyone hit the dirt, Madoka barely avoiding a blow that would've knocked her senseless, and the hostile construct started bouncing at angles off the walls of the dark barrier, pinballing around and forcing the heroes to keep moving, dodging by narrow margins (except Baymax, who simply flew up & over). A Thundaga from Donald made some of the Darkubes lock up, forcing the Heartless to revert to their default form. With the core briefly exposed again, Baymax nailed it with a rocket-punch, leaving a tiny crack in its surface.
Floating high and back, the Darkubes turned red and shifted into a giant fist. After winding up for a couple seconds, the giant red fist came shooting down, aimed at Sora, Donald, & Goofy. They only partially managed to dodge, left reeling by the hit, but Donald used Curaga to get himself & his partners back on their feet. Meanwhile, as the Darkubes' core emerged and began pulling the other components back together, Madoka rushed in and started beating it around with her Keyblades, racking up quite a bit of damage.
Jittering in the air and giving off sparks, the Darkube Core called its components back and assumed the octopus-shape again. The Darkubes started firing off crimson cube-blasts again, and Sora blasted at the mass with Fira shots while dodging. The Darkubes then went for the giant galaxy-shuriken attack again, and Madoka leapt high, shifting her Blooming Hope into its longbow form, and fired a bright pink arrow down right into the mass' center as it was passing by, destabilizing it and stunning the Darkubes. The Darkube Core emerged again, and Madoka fell down toward it with both Keyblades ready while Sora came in from the side, three slashes cutting across and through the core.
(MUSIC END)
The Darkube Core seized and sparked, and then it disintegrated into dozens of tiny red fragments as the captive Heart floated away. The crimson datacard tumbled out and slid to a stop a few feet away. Hiro ran over to the chip, only for 'Dark Riku' to appear right beside it.
"Oh, this isn't for you" he taunted, picking the datacard up. "At least, not until we're done."
He leapt high to avoid an attempted surprise attack from Sora, landing atop a nearby AC unit.
"Why are you even here?" Sora asked, Keyblade ready.
Dark Riku smirked. "To see if we can recreate a Heart from data." He looked at Baymax. "That walking balloon over there has a Heart. At least, that's the nonsense I'm supposed to believe."
"There are Hearts all around us" Sora said. "We only have to see it for it to become real!"
"Where'd you even get that?!" Hiro stomped forward. "I made that chip!"
"Oh, sorry about that" Dark Riku replied. "But I promise: I'll put it right back where I found it…"
With that, he vanished through a Dark Corridor.
"We have to get after him!" Hiro said.
"That would be ill-advised, I am afraid" Baymax replied, standing by the rest of BH6 – all of them banged-up and tired. "Our teammates are exhausted. I strongly recommend rest."
Hiro sighed. "You're right. Let's regroup."
-Break-
As Maleficent and Pete strolled down an empty highway, Dark Riku appeared in their wake.
"Why are you two snooping around?" he asked.
"That is none of your concern" the sorceress replied dismissively.
The Replica smirked. "Overstep, and darkness will consume you again."
The old sorceress smirked too. "What an interesting thing to say. However, I believe I shall go about doing whatever I please. As should you."
Dark Riku chuckled. "Oh, I intend to…"
"Who's he?" Pete asked as the Org-13 member vanished. "Friend of yours."
"Yes," Maleficent replied, "though I could not tell you from when…"
-Break-
The next morning, everyone was gathered in Hiro's garage.
"C'mon guys," Fred looked around at his tired and dejected fellows, "what's with all the long faces? Did you forget that we won?!"
"Not now, Fred" Gogo growled.
"So," Wasabi spoke up, "Sora, we're dealin' with some evil clone of your childhood friend?"
"Goofy said it's a version of this 'Riku' from a brief period in the past where he was a bad guy" Honey replied.
Goofy nodded. "He's with Organization XIII, our arch-enemies."
"And if his current Replica body is 'killed', his soul will go back to its own time-period, without any of his memories from this time" Madoka added. "Riku is one of Sora's most loyal allies now, a warrior of justice, but… well, his journey to that point wasn't an easy one. At least this shouldn't affect his path back to the Light…"
"So, how'd he get Hiro's chip?" Wasabi wondered.
"And what did he mean about an 'experiment'?" Honey asked.
"What are they even here for?" Gogo frowned.
"He said they're trying to recreate a Heart from data," Sora replied, "but I don't know what they really want. None of us do. These guys – they show up, and instead of fighting fair & square, they go for the heart and say things to try & get under your skin. …And now, they're doing it to all of you. It's our fault."
"No" Hiro replied. "This could be good. That chip might finally be able to give me some answers."
"You said that you made it, right?"
"Yeah. This Baymax" he gestured to the big white med-bot beside him "is actually the second model, though bearing all the memories of the first. It's a… long story. But the first Baymax, and the chip I made… vanished into another dimension, along with the microbots. The chip's back… so the first Baymax might be back, too."
There was a long, solemn silence.
"Those who suffer a loss require support from friends and loved ones" Baymax stated.
Suddenly, there was a dull thud and a slight shuddering in the ground. Hiro hurried over to his computer, calling up a live newsfeed from downtown; the Heartless were back, along with another instance of Darkubes.
-Break-
Atop a rooftop, BH6 and the traveler quartet squared off with another mass of Darkubes.
"Hope it's learned some new tricks" Gogo remarked.
"Let's see how it fared against all of us" Wasabi said.
"Freddy want smash!"
"Our probability of success is quite high" Baymax decreed.
"It's not the sum of our parts" Hiro said. "It's the sum of our Hearts."
"Which adds up to what?" Dark Riku called from atop a nearby balloon. "Show me."
He then leapt down, summoning his Soul Eater blade, and with a single strike he killed the Darkube Core. With a feral grin, he looked up while holding the crimson datacard, a subtle dark aura surrounding it.
"Almost there…" he said. "This pile of junk collected the data we needed… The terror of being attacked without warning… The despair of having no place to run… The longing for vengeance…"
"A Heart is more than that!" Sora shouted.
"It's working together!" Wasabi added.
"Smiling at something funny!" Donald & Goofy together.
"Trusting friends" Hiro.
"Happiness, sadness, love, anger, courage, fear… You can't make a Heart with only half of those things!" Madoka shouted.
"In every Heart," Sora said, "there's hope."
"You're right" Dark Riku replied. "That's why I made sure our creation fought you. Now the data contains a complete Heart."
"A Heart made from conflict? That can't be real."
"What was it you said, Sora? 'I only have to see it for it to become real'? So, let's see it."
He turned and held a hand high, and a swirling black & purple portal appeared overhead. The inert Darkubes started floating up and being sucked in.
"First, we need a vessel…"
Once the last Darkubes were sucked in, a few seconds later a shell of them slowly floated out, shifting and red. The sphere began to contract and change, soon revealing a very familiar rotund white body which was quickly enveloped in dull purple & grey armor, a crackling fist of Darkubes over its right arm.
"That's…" Hiro breathed out. "That's the original Baymax…"
"This puppet has lost his Heart" Dark Riku said. "He won't wake up. Rather, there's no 'him' to wake up; it's an empty shell now. …Let's fix that." He held up the red chip. "I did promise I'd put this back where I found it…"
He floated it up, slotting it into a receiver that emerged from the inert Baymax's left chest. After a second, the purple-armored robot's photoreceptors came to life with a red light.
"But there's one piece missing" Dark Riku continued. "Sora, you're the one who's going to complete this Heart. You can't have a Heart without sadness… without loss. You see, you're going to destroy Hiro's 'friend' right in front of him."
He vanished through a Dark Corridor, and the Dark Baymax took flight and charged right at the stunned Hiro. Baymax came in with a flying shoulder tackle at the last second, knocking his evil counterpart off the roof; the Dark Baymax resurfaced a few seconds later, hovering and glaring.
"Hiro, tell us" Sora said. "What should we do?"
"…Baymax means everything to me. But that chip isn't who he is. I already made that mistake once before. Tadashi wouldn't want there to be a Baymax who hurts people. Sora… he has to be stopped."
"Okay. Help your teammates. You can leave this guy to us."
"Thank you. …Baymax, help Sora and his friends take down your old body."
(BOSS MUSIC: Kingdom Hearts III – [Vs. Davy Jones / Dark Baymax]
Baymax took flight, letting Sora climb on his back, while Madoka formed her Blooming Hope into its Keyblade Glider form – the same basic type as Aqua's. Sora was enveloped in a flash of blue as he took on his Wisdom Form for greater long-range capability in the coming dogfight. They took off in hot pursuit, catching up to the hostile entity in the skies over downtown San Fransokyo. Dark Baymax turned to face them and summoned several rotating cubes of red & black, drifting towards the flying heroes. Sora blasted one of them with a mana bolt from his Keyblade, and it exploded like an anti-aircraft shell; seeing that, Baymax got some distance, giving Sora room to shoot down some of the flak-mines while Madoka blasted the rest with her Glider's mana-arrow blaster.
Sora & Baymax closed in, the former firing off a few mana blasts. The two Baymaxes met with a crash, fists locked together as they tried to outmuscle each other. Dark Baymax's microbot wings shifted and extended forward like spears stabbing at Baymax, but Sora batted them away with his Keyblade, while Baymax managed to start landing punches. Dark Baymax gathered the crimson microbots around itself, and Baymax broke off his attack and lurched backward to avoid being skewered by the porcupine-esque defense the mini-droids formed into.
The dark-microbot spikes surrounding Dark Baymax angled forward and shot out as deadly javelins, forcing Baymax to flit about dodging them, with Sora casting Reflect spells as additional defense. Madoka came in from behind & to the side, hitting Dark Baymax with pink magic-arrows as she closed in. Once she got close she leapt off her Glider with Rumbling Rose in hand, her inherited Keyblade being used to slash and smash the corrupted robot a few times before landing atop her autopiloting Glider and zipping back out of retaliation range.
Dark Baymax conjured several glowing red cubes which floated in formation and projected thin laser beams to 'connect' to each other, forming a deadly grid that flew at Sora & Baymax. Madoka came to the rescue, a Strike Raid with Rumbling Rose cutting through and destroying several laser cubes, creating enough of a gap for Sora & Baymax to slip through. Sora blasted Dark Baymax with rapid-fire mana bolts from his Keyblade, while Baymax sent his evil counterpart tumbling through the air with a mighty haymaker.
Madoka approached from the side, firing magic arrows and Firaga shots at Dark Baymax. The corrupted robot turned and summoned a rolling wave of Darkube javelins that speared down from above, forcing her to weave and roll her Keyblade Glider to avoid being skewered. She focused her chakra and released a slicing blade of wind, and when Dark Baymax formed a shield to block the attack, Sora & Baymax came in from behind and unleashed a furious barrage of blows against the corrupted robot's unguarded back. It culminated with Sora charging all his might into a downward Keyblade strike that knocked Dark Baymax downward and cracked its armor.
Recovering from Sora's blow, armor giving off sparks and smoke, Dark Baymax grabbed regular Baymax by the ankle and started pulling him down. The two robots got into a tumbling brawl as they fell, but finally Baymax fired off a point-blank rocket punch imbued with magical power from Sora. Dark Baymax's photoreceptors went dark, and Baymax broke off and regained control just before his evil counterpart slammed into the street.
(MUSIC END)
Baymax set down, Sora dispelling his Wisdom Form and leaping off, and they hurried over to the smoking, sparking body just as everyone else arrived. Hiro looked solemnly at the downed figure.
"Guys… Hiro…"
"So…" Wasabi spoke up. "Did we stop him?"
Hiro started to approach. "Safety Mode kicks in if he's put under too much stress, so he's probably just in stasis lock. We'll have to destroy the chip if we want to be certain."
"But… are you sure?" Honey Lemon asked.
"Yeah dude," Fred added, "you don't need to go that far."
"Maybe we can find another way" Gogo suggested.
Hiro reached over to Dark Baymax's chest compartment, tapping the small circle on the upper left and withdrawing the crimson datacard that was revealed. "It's the right thing to do…" he said, looking at the red chip with wisps of purple Darkness.
Suddenly, Dark Baymax's armor and shapeshifting right claw began to rapidly disintegrate, Darkubes floating away and coming apart. Soon, all that remained was the chubby white base body. Hiro slowly, sadly laid his hand on it.
"Tadashi would've done the same…" he said softly, choked up.
"But, Hiro…" Sora came forward. "Isn't that Baymax's Heart?"
"…It's okay. Baymax is here." The boy held a hand to his heart, then looked at the chip in his gauntleted hand. "I… should be the one."
*CRUNCH*
-Break-
…In Hiro's garage, artificial eyes opened, taking in a gathering of young heroes.
"Hello. I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion."
As everyone cheered, Hiro ran into Baymax 1's arms, and Baymax 2 quickly joined the hug.
-Break-
In the Radiant Garden courtyard, two black-coated figures met in secret.
"WHAAA-mmph?!"
Demyx's outburst was quickly muzzled by Vexen's gloved hand.
"Quiet, you dunce!" Vexen whispered.
"But dude, why would you pick me?"
"I cannot let the 'chosen' catch wind of this, understand?"
Demyx frowned. "Oh, I see; it's because I got benched!" he snapped.
"I got 'benched', too!"
"H-Hey, quiet!"
Vexen cleared his throat.
"Okay, man, look" Demyx continued. "Real talk? Backstabbing those guys would be stupid. If they find out, we're dead. I mean, what's in it for me?"
"…Forgiveness."
"Huh? For what?"
"Men like us… in the pursuit of science, we sometimes make terrible mistakes - lose sight of our mission to help people. But now I can help someone with my research. Now, I can atone."
"…I'm not a scientist."
"W-Wait, wait!" Vexen caught him as he tried to walk away.
"C'mon, dude. I'm useless, I'm chicken, we're not friends… I can count the number of times you & I have hung out on one hand – less than one hand! I didn't even know you in the old life!"
"Fine, fine! But listen."
He pulled Demyx closer, whispering startling revelations in the younger man's ear.
"Huh? …Huh?! No way!"
"It's true. The whole thing was his idea. He wants to atone, too. But, he is one of the chosen, so his hands are tied. Hence my actions on his behalf, hence my need for you to act on my behalf should all go awry. As you said, we are far from friends. No-one would ever suspect you."
"Hmm… So, I'm not doing any fighting?"
"Correct. And more importantly, no benchwarming."
Demyx grinned. "Ha! Okay, sign me up!"
-CHAPTER END-
1. Yes, I know that in the movie, Baymax's core personality chip – his Heart – is what ends up with Hiro and is used to make him a new body, while the chip left behind is just a combat programming chip. But apparently the makers of KH3 didn't know that or decided to change it, and I didn't know how I could rewrite things, so I just stuck with what the canon game did.
2. Yes, I know that 'Dark Riku' is actually the past-self of the Castle Oblivion Riku Replica, not of Ansem-Possessed Riku. But the heroes don't know that yet.