Phantom64: I'm back! It's time to see what Mickey, Riku, and Ed are up to!
Chapter 12: Dark Gathering
The shadowy creature struggled with it's chains. It growled, gurgled and bared it's teeth. Their a few feet away was a girl looking at the savage creature with sadness. "Don't worry Aros, she said to the chained beast, "I'm almost there. I have what you need to get your humanity back." She held up a grey floppy disk that had the Nobody emblem on it. "All I need now is someone who can fuse it with you. " She looked into Aros's savage yellow eyes and sighed. "I need an alchemist." And she knew where to find one. "Don't worry Aros. I won't fail you." And with that she disappeared into the shadows...
Twilight Town
"So what do we need here?" Edward asked as they entered the abandoned mansion.
"We're checking Diz's computer to see if we can access the World that Never Was." King Mickey answered. They made their way to the library and down the steps to the computer room. "Oh-no!" Mickey yelled at the condition of the computer room. Everything was utterly destroyed. The computer, screens, and the device used to travel to the alternate twilight town were destroyed beyond repair.
"It looks like Organization VII was one step ahead of us." Riku sated inspecting the useless computer. "Well, looks like we're gonna have to find another way there."
"I think we should be focusing our attention on finding Maleficent's castle." Edward sated annoyed. "They told Sora that they aren't his enemy. Right?"
Mickey looked up at his alchemist friend with care in his eyes. " I know you want to save your father Edward, but we need to face our enemies one at a time." the King explained. "I doubt Maleficent would go through the trouble of kidnaping him unless he had something they needed."
Edward thought for a minute and finally agreed. "I guess you're right, but that doesn't mean that I can't worry."
" We know Ed." Riku said. " Worrying about those we love is what separates us from the Heartless." he was stared down at the ground, remembering the things he had done for Maleficent and the fake Ansem.
"Well, there's nothing for us here. Why don't we take a break and get something to eat?" Mickey suggested.
" That sounds good to me!" Edward said rubbing his belly. Riku just chuckled and nodded. They made their way out of the woods and into Market Street. They found a nice café and had lunch, or brunch, or ah hell you can never tell what time it is in Twilight town from looking at the sky. After having a nice meal they were coming out only to be met by Hayner, Pence, and Olette.
"Hi your majesty!" Olette greeted cheerfully.
"Glad to see you're back." Hayner said to the king.
"So how are things?" Pence asked licking a bar of sea-salt ice cream.
"You all must be Hayner, Pence, and Olette." Riku said looking at the trio.
"And I guess you're Riku." Olette said to the silver haired boy. "Kairi told us about you."
"So who are you?" Pence asked the young alchemist.
"Me? I'm Edward Ulric." he said proudly. "I'm also known as the Fullmeatal Alchemist."
"You're an alchemist?" Olette asked curiously.
"That's right!" Edward said proudly. "I can combine thing, fix things, and even creating things." he said proud of his skill.
"I guess that makes up for your size." Hayner said jokingly. Edward felt one of his vein's pop.
"Why you little punk! Who are you calling short! I'll tear you limb from limb! Don't mess with a pissed off alchemist! Let me at 'em! Let me at 'em!" Ed yelled, his arms stretched out attempting to grab Hayner, while Riku held him back.
"You have to forgive him," Riku grunted, barely keeping the enraged alchemist back. " He has height issues." Finally Ed calmed down but still glared at Hayner.
"Ah, I'm going to explore the town." Edward stormed off.
"Geez, what's his problem?" Hayner asked only to be whacked upside the head by Olette. "Ow! What was that for?"
" You shouldn't have made fun of him Hayner!" the brunette scolded.
"Say, has anyone been in the mansion lately?" Mickey asked Pence.
"Yeah, a few days ago, we saw someone in those black cloaks walk in there. When we checked inside the computer room was completely destroyed." Pence explained.
"So it's just as I feared." Mickey stated. "Well has anything else happened?"
"Yeah. There's this weird shadow that pops everywhere sharing the heck out of people." Pence said. " It's only been spotted in the ally way by our usual spot. But the creepy part is that this shadow looks like Sora!" Riku's mind snapped to attention when Pence said this.
' A shadow that looks like Sora?' he thought. 'No it couldn't be. Could it?' They heard a scream come from the ally way.
"That sounded like Vivi!" Olette said worried.
"Come on!" Riku said running toward the scream. Mickey and the trio ran behind him and toward the ally.
Seifer stared at the strange creature with a stern look on his face. Rai and Fuu fight behind him. In-between him and the shadow was a beat up Vivi. Even though his clothing hid much of his face, Seifer could see the fear in young boy's eyes. "Vivi, get behind me and go to Fuu and Rai." Seifer ordered.
"Seifer..." Vivi said in awe at his savior. He quickly got up and ran toward Fuu and Rai. Seifer returned his gaze to Vivi's attacker.
"So the rumors of you are true." he said pulling out his struggle bat. The shadow simply stood there with a sinister smile on his face. "Listen punk, It was bad enough that you're scaring people, but now you hurt one of my friends, that's where you crossed the line." He then charged at the shadow. He swung his bat only to hit air as it sidestepped to the left and slammed his fist onto Seifer's back. He gave out a yelp of pain and fell to the ground. "Ow..." he moaned as he struggled to get up.
"Seifer!" Rai, Fuu, and Vivi yelled together. Seifer then collapsed to the ground again. The shadow then turned his attention to the scared teens and child.
"Your turn." he said with a mix of playfulness and venom in his voice. By this time Riku and the others had made their way to the scene. When Riku saw the shadow his eye's budged. This figure looked just like Sora, except that his hair, skin, and clothes were jet black. Instead of the bright blue eyes that Sora has, this creature had completely yellow eyes. Pupil, retina and all were yellow. Riku knew who it was.
"Shadow Sora!" Riku yelled pointing at the Sora copy. He remembered him well. It was the same creature he had created to fight Sora in Neverland when he was on the side of Darkness.
"Glad to see you too Riku." he said smiling.
"How are you still alive! I thought Sora killed you!" Riku yelled at his former creation.
"Yeah, Mr. Goody two-shoes would like to think that wouldn't he?" Shadow Sora said chuckling. "I was badly damaged after that fight, but I escaped to the realm of darkness to heal myself, make myself stronger, faster, and learn to talk. It took me three years, but now I'm back with a vengeance!"
"Why have you been harassing the people of this town?" the King demanded.
"Unfortunately, I don't have the power to teleport to other worlds. And since this place doesn't have a freaking gummi garage, I decided to have a little fun until Sora would come here at some point." he explained.
"Well, I'll make sure that you stay dead Shadow Sora!" Riku said calling out his keyblade.
"I'd like to see you try pretty boy!" Shadow Sora said as he called his keyblade, Kingdom Shadow. It was an exact replica of Sora's Kingdom Key, except like his body, it was jet black. They both charged at each other as their keyblade's connected.
Elsewhere...
Edward made his way down though the Tram common, still mad at Hayner. He had hated it that he was so short. He's 15 years old and he's as tall as a 13 year old. He was such a powerful alchemist, but does anyone notice that? Nooooooo. When they first see him they see height challenged teen! "I just wish I could get some respect." he said aloud when he heard the sound of a girl crying. He went down into the a dead end and saw a girl that looked about 17 crying. With her face hidden by her hands. "Um excuse me? Miss? Is something wrong?"
The girl looked up at the boy in front of her. He almost mistook her for Kairi. But then he noted her physical differences. She had lightly tanned skin and had raven black hair styled like Kairi's, and yellow eyes just like his. All she had on for a top was a black leather hook-on bra which showed her breasts quite nicely, a pair of tight but flexible leather pants, and black sandals. "Oh, h-hi." she said weakly." My name is Darima." She then noticed his metal hand and gasped. "A-are you an alchemist?" she asked hopefully.
"Um, yeah." he answered.
"Oh, yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" she yelled happily jumping up and down. "I've been looking for a powerful alchemist to help me with fixing my friend!" she said happily stepping in front of the young alchemist.
"Fixing your friend?" he asked confused.
"You see, he's lost his memory." she explained. "I have his memories on this disk. She said holding up a grey floppy disk. "But I can't combine them! I'm not powerful enough!" She yelled sadly. "Could you be able to do it?" she asked hopefully.
"I don't know, this sounds tricky..." Edward explained.
"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssse? She asked batting her eyelashes.
"Well, I uh...could try." he answered blushing.
"Yaaaaay! Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She said hugging him tightly, but because of Ed's height, he was being pushed right against her breasts. The young alchemist did his best to keep his nose from bleeding. She let go of him, his face all red. "You know, I can be 'very' thankful to alchemists...although you're the first alchemist I've met so lucky you!" she said playfully.
"You don't say?" Edward said flustered, still blushing.
"Come on! My friend is not far from here!" she said taking Ed's hand and dragging him away.
Elsewhere...
'Man he wasn't kidding when he said he had gotten stronger!' Riku thought as he continued his fight with Shadow Sora. Shadow Sora had blocked almost all of his attacks. And Riku could barely keep up with the Sora copy. Shadow Sora was about to attack when he froze and sniffed the air.
"Looks like you got lucky Riku." Shadow Sora sneered at his creator. "I just found my ride off this planet!" and with that he melted into darkness and disappeared.
"Is he alright?" the King asked pointing at Seifer. Fuu went and checked his pulse.
"He's okay, just knocked out." She said.
"Come on! We need to find Ed!" with that, Riku and the King said goodby to Hayner and the others and ran off to find Ed.
Elsewhere...
Edward was shocked to see Darima's 'friend'. They were in a warehouse with boxes piled high. Her friend has a shadowy creature that was bounded by red energy shackles and chains. It lurched around and growled at the newcomers. "That's your friend!" he asked surprised. She sadly nodded.
"You see, It's part of a curse that placed on him that took away his body and his humanity. I needed to find his memories and I found them on this drive" she explained holding the grey floppy disk. "I needed to find a way to combine it with him, but I'm not an alchemist."
Edward took the drive and looked at it. He noted the Nobody emblem on it. "How did you get this?" he asked suspiciously.
"I found it in the old mansion." She explained. "I found it in some sort of hidden computer room." she explained.
Edward saw the pleading look in her eyes. "Okay, I'll do it." he went toward the chained creature and placed the drive near it. Usually an alchemist would need a transmutation circle to do alchemy, but he was able to just clap his hands and think of a circle. With that he clapped his hands and stunning blue electricity sparked and blinded them for a second. When it was done, the shadowy creature and shackles were gone. There in it's place was a boy about Darima's age. He had black hair that was a tad spikier than Sora's, and yellow eyes. He wore a red short-sleeved shirt that had the Heartless emblem on the chest, a pair of brown leather gauntlets, a pair of blue jeans, and black shoes just like Sora's. he had a black hooded overcoat like Edwards, except black, over his shirt.
"Aros!" Darima cried happily running and hugging Aros.
"Thanks Dar." he said after releasing her. He then turned his head toward Ed with a sinister smile on his face. "And I suppose I should thank you too human."
"Wha-what that hell is going on?" he asked backing away.
"Oh that's right! I still owe you something, don't I?" Darima asked evilly, all the nice gone from her voice. "Well, how about this big boy?" she asked as she fired a ball of dark energy from her hands. The ball hit Ed square in the chest and sent him flying into a stack of boxes. They both began to laugh as Riku and Mickey ran in with keyblades out.
"What!" Riku was shocked to see the people in front of him.
"Who were you expecting Riku? Sora and Kairi?" Aros asked.
"Edward!" Mickey ran to Ed's side and helped him up. Who are you!" the King demanded.
"I am Aros." the young man answered.
"And my name's Darima mousy." She said.
"T-this can't be..." Riku said looking at the familiar people. "A-are you..."
"Sora and Kairi's Heartless?" Darima finished. "Yes we are."
"How is this possible?" Riku said flabbergasted.
"We'd love to go into the physics of how this happened, but we don't have the time, or the care!" Aros explained evilly.
"Oi! Mind if I join ya?" Shadow Sora said as he appeared by the human Heartless.
"Oh, tall, dark, and hansom." Darima joked.
"Well, hello, hello." he said getting closer to the female Heartless. "The name's Shadow Sora, hw about you beautiful?"
"Darima." She said giggling.
"Aros." he said. "Alright you can come with us. See you all later." and with that they all disappeared in mists of darkness.
"Crap!" Ed yelled slamming his fist against the ground. "Sorry guys."
"It's okay Edward." Micky said to the young alchemist.
"But how can Sora and Kairi have a heartless while they are still alive!" Riku asked.
"I don't know Riku. I just don't Know." the King said as they made their way out of the warehouse.
5 days later in space...
Aros looked out the window of the bridge on the massive battleship Egg Carrier 3. The ship was being piloted by several robots. Darima was explaining predicament to their allies while Shadow Sora leaned against the wall listening. "You see gentlemen, although me, Aros, and Shadow Sora can control the pure Heartless, like shadows, neoshadows, and so on, Maleficent is in control of the pure and emblem Heartless."
"Bwa! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Who needs Heartless when you have the Koopa Clan on your side?" bellowed the mighty Koopa king Bowser.
"The Egg Carrier 3 is at your command." stated the robotic genius Dr. Eggman. "My robot army is at your disposal too as long as you help me take over Mobius."
"I've finished the designs for that battle mech you want Darima." said the insane Dr. Wily. " As long as you help me destroy that infernal Mega Man once and for all, I'll continue to help.
The captain of the Space Pirates came up and bowed to Darima. "The Space Pirates are at your full disposal. When the bounty hunter Samus Aran has been killed, we will swear our full loyalty to you."
"Now don't forget about little'ol me!" said the pompous King Dedede. "My spy is getting us valuable info. Speaking of which..." He pressed a button on the control panel and a monitor came down from the ceiling. It turned on to show the masked Meta Knight.
"What can I do for you your highness?" the mighty warrior asked via the monitor.
"What do ya got on chrome-dome Vader? What's he and that Emperor planning?" Dedede asked.
"I haven't learned much, but he claims the Emperor knows how to open Kingdom Hearts." he stated.
"Now that's a scoop! You keep me posted ya hear?" the King asked.
"Oh course sire." and with that the screen went blank.
Aros smiled after hearing the news. "So the mighty Empire is in the game too."
"This could be bad." Dr. Wily said. "Maleficent has the edge with the Heartless, Organization VII has the edge with the Nobodies, and the Empire has the edge with the Dark Side. What edge do we have?"
Aros simply smiled. "We have the edge with surprise and technology." he answered easing their minds. "And soon when Maleficent is out of the way we'll have the edge in Heartless. And then Kingdom Hearts itself!" They all began to laugh evilly as the Egg Carrier 3 etched it's way across space. ...
End of Chapter.
Phantom64: Yeah! Not Just Disney, FF, or Anime, Video games as well!
Aros and Darima aren't mine. They belong to Omegadramon2 but he graciously gave me permission to use them. Thanks!
The poll for the Evil Queen is still up until ch. 13. To all those who reviewed and participated in it, Thanks a lot!
To all those who didn't review and/or voted: It isn't hard to type " Yes that Villain rocks!" or "No that villain sucks!"
ch. 13 coming soon!