Chapter 8

"So, what do we do?"

Rangiku was bored. She was busy looking at her captain, hoping that he had an answer. She eyed his with puppy dog eyes, hoping to get him to feel sympathetic.

"Will you let me concentrate?!" screamed Toshiro. He was focused on that other ship. There was some hollows and heartless guarding it. There must have been an space-gravity field surrounding them from being sucked into the vacuum of space.

"This ship is called the Mistress," he said. "The owner, according to its side bar, is Maleficent. We need to be careful of the surroundings, and take the ship down!"

Ichigo was prepared to do so. Rukia, Renji, and Ichigo used shunpo to take out the creatures. They entered the ship's side, contacting Toshiro.

"We found some data on this stuff," Ichigo said, pointing to the black aura around the ship. It seems to thicken visibility and reduce magic powers. We need to break into the control center to find out what the objective of the ship was."

The trio proceeded with speed. Hollows and heartless lunged at them, but Renji used his sword powers to wipe all of them in one strike. They reached the room near the control room.

"Why does the security suck?" asked Ichigo.

"They have other modes of transportation," said Rukia. "I think that they are using the ship to transport calvary. That would explain why the ship is empty."

They all heard ticking noises, and widened their eyes. "A bomb?!" yelled Renji. They used shunpo to get out of the ship as it exploded.

"It was a trap," said Ichigo. "They left it for us. Did she expect us to fall for it?"

"She expected us to go on it," said Donald. "That's why she placed it there. She didn't know of shinigamis. I think."

"Gwarsh, though, speaking of that," Goofy said, "What did you guys remember before you got kidnapped?"

"I remember only working," said Toshiro. "Everything was peaceful. Then, this thing got the jump on me and Rangiku, and then Hisagi, who was helping us, got knocked out. That is all I remember."

"Did you guys sense the rift in the dimensions?" asked Ichigo.

"No," said Hisagi, "Everything was normal."

"I think that we should wait on talking about this until Sora and the others come back. Sound fair?" asked Ichigo.

The others silently agreed.

"So," asked Cloud, "Who wants to watch the Avengers while waiting for them?"

Down at the Beast's castle, roars were heard.

"Man, is that the Beast?" asked Sora.

"He changed," said Riku. "I never heard him make such a noise in over two years."

"We have no time thinking about his nonsense," said Axel. "We have to worry about the situation. Got that memorized?"

A crash was heard, and a young princess is seen running towards Sora.

"Belle! What happened?"

"It's Maleficent! She attacked the castle. Everyone is in danger! They were locked in the basement to be safe!"

The trio rushed to the house, but a witch appeared in front of them.

"Maleficent! How can you be alive?!" asked Riku.

"I was able to teleport out of there," grinned Maleficent. "My abilities are beyond any of yours. I will unlock Kingdom Hearts with my own hands. In order to do that, I will let Xheanort do his work, and I will do mine!"

She croaked, and summoned monsters with beast shields. "Heartless! Kill these morons and fill this world with the power of-"

In two seconds flat, Axel incinerated the heartless. "Oh, c'mon, you hag! There's no way for you to win against us, so go back and cry about your life!"

"How DARE you mock me!" the witch ran away, into the castle. The Beast appeared, trying to grab the witch, but failed, and she escaped.

"Beast! Are you alright?" asked the concerned Riku.

"You...the one who attacked me...why are you here...?"

"To stop evil from taking over. What's the status of the castle?"

"It's fine, but...there's a new threat. Someone who wants to kill me is coming from the human city. I think his name was...Bastion?"

Belle looked up in shock, and the Beast looked at her with sadness. "That witch said that they trapped your father in a cellar and will not let go unless you came. You have to go and save him, my love."

"You can't," said Belle. "This is a trap. I'm a princess of the seven hearts. If they capture me, it's over for all of us!"

"We need to get him ourselves," said Axel. "I'll go with Sora and retrieve the old man. Riku, you go and defend this castle."

"Got it," replied Riku, feeling the gravity of the situation. If Maleficent manipulated the town, then it fell into darkness. What was it that she wanted to do, though? What is Xheanort doing with his minions?

"Look at that."

Lexeaus stepped out of the shadows. The Beast looked at him with contempt. "You all were foolish to believe that we would just stand by while you were having fun with your blades. Soon, our thirteen warriors will strike your thirteen. We just have to wait for you to be ready."

He vanished into a shadow, leaving behind silence. "We have to worry about that too, huh," said Sora.

"Right now, we have to focus on the castle," said Belle. "Otherwise, we will lose this fight."

They all agreed, and Sora and Axel left for tow. "What do you think is awaiting us in town, Sora?" asked Axel.

"Either Saix, or a bunch of heartless."

"I would agree, but this is a strange conflict that we have. There are the neithermans, the heartless, the Xheanorts, and the other members of Organization 13 who support that group, fighting against each other. Then, there is the matter of more past enemies showing up. This is a messed-up start to another war."

"Wait, it's war now?"

"It will be soon. I guess both the neithermans and the Xheanorts want this to happen-but they will be stopped for it. I know that it seems unlikely that war could ever happen, but don't forget about their promises. They will make these universes their battlegrounds, so we need to make sure that the inhabitants can defend themselves."

"How can you speak calmly about this?" questioned Sora.

"You have to be prepared for the worst, Sora. Any being does that-except for power-hungry idiots who aim to accomplish some stupid goal, or whatever."

Sora nodded, and pointed in front of him. "Look, there's town!"

The duo saw a bunch of angry men marching towards the Beast's castle. "We'll help Riku after we rescue the father," said Axel. They entered the town, looking for Belle's house.

"Look, Axel, a heartless!"

A bunch of heartless confronted them. Sora yelled "Strike Raid!" and hit several opponents with his flung keyblade. Axel burned the ground in front of the heartless, and then hit them with a fire dash.

"Well done, Axel."

Lexeaus looked at the two warriors. "It's time that I took care of you both here." He powered up, his muscles bulging underneath his cloak. He hit his weapon on the floor, scattering rock and debris all over the place. "DIE!"

He threw a rockslide at Sora, who blocked it effectively. Axel dashed and hit Lexaus with his keyblade. He grunted, swinging his blade around him, and missing Axel. Sora went behind him and slashed a hard blow into his back. "AAAAH!" he screamed as he was pushed upwards.

"Fire Vortex!" Axel said, pushing Lexaus to the air. The keyblade wielders left for the house, leaving Lexaus in the air.

They found the cellar locked. Sora broke it, and the old man got out. "Thank heavens that someone saved me!" he cried. "Belle's in danger! Bastion brought lots of mercenary creatures to kill the Beast!"

"Ok, old man," said Axel. "We will go, but-"

"What is it with interruptions these days? Am I right, Axel?"

Lexeaus stood in their way. "Prepare for round 2," he shouted.

"What?!" asked Sora. "How did you get out?"

"I can still activate voids in the air. Time to put an end to you miserable creatures-"

Lexeaus powered up again, this time with aura turning darker around him.

"Hope you can fight without us, Riku," said Sora.