Chapter 2: Allies
Great, Riku thought. She's turned on us again, and she has an Organization-level Nobody on her side. At least now we know we're not fighting the wrong people.
"Would these creatures be 'the Heartless' that I read of?" asked Iroh.
"That's right," the King answered, drawing back his Keyblade and gathering a brilliant aura of light into his free hand. "And we're gonna have ta defeat all of'em to get to Xaizo and Maleficent. Watch yourself. Maleficent is very powerful."
"And if Xaizo is a Nobody," Riku said, "We can expect him to be as powerful as the original, at least."
"Fun," Zuko said. "Still, the Avatar defeated Ozai. He can do it again."
"Are you so sure, son?" Xaizo asked, smiling.
"Wait a second!" Donald quacked. "If you're a Nobody, how do you remember that he was your son?"
"Oh, it wasn't terribly difficult," Maleficent said, as the dark pools finally vanished, leaving her surrounded by thousands of enthralled Heartless, including multiple towering Darksides.
"Indeed," Xaizo said, smiling. "I opened my mind to Maleficent here, letting her take in all that I'd need to know in order to exact my revenge, including the knowledge of my most powerful bending techniques. After Maleficent kindly facilitated my transformation, she returned those memories. I've never felt so powerful, and there's a delightful emptiness in me where before I might have felt faint pangs of regret."
"Now," Maleficent hissed, "it is time for all of you to disappear."
In a rush, the Heartless swarmed forward, following in the wake of a monstrous ball of fire that Xaizo launched from his outstretched hands.
Aang, Zuko, and Iroh leapt in front of the rest of their party and redirected the flame up and over everyone's heads. A moment later, a blast of light from the King vaporized a Darkside in one hit.
Then the heartless were upon them.
Riku charged fearlessly forward, with Sora, Kairi, and the King right behind. The four of them thrashed the closest Heartless with sweeping strikes from their Keyblades, while Donald's lightning rained down upon the enemy. Black mist filled the air.
Kicking and stomping, Toph hurled great mobs of Heartless skyward with powerful upsurges of earth, and Sokka's boomerang spun through the air, destroying several before they could land. Sokka then charged forward, flanked by Suki, who snatched a pair of clawed gauntlets from a dissipating Soldier Heartless. Fearlessly, they joined the Keyblade wielders right in the thick of it. Katara single-handedly intercepted and extinguished Xaizo's next attack, a spiraling vortex of threadlike flames that had been aimed at the Keyblade wielders. Goofy cheerily spun across the battlefield, blocking elemental and dark attacks from many of the more powerful Heartless.
Once more entering the Avatar state, Aang rushed through the enemy forces under the covering fire of Iroh and Zuko, who followed in his wake. The Avatar punched bodily through a Darkside like the monster wasn't there, aiming directly for Maleficent. Laughing, the sorceress expelled pulses of dark energy in rippling waves, forcing Aang to evade. He couldn't directly bend that sort of attack, which had no parallel in his own world.
Riku hacked his way ferociously through the teaming swarm, building up a seething charge of dark energy in his free hand while closing on Xaizo. Leaping up and over a concentrated stream of flame, Riku unleashed the pent-up dark blast with terrible fury.
Xaizo made no move to dodge. A chill ran down Riku's spine. The Nobody just smiled up at him.
Sora blinked in surprise as Xaizo faded partly out of sight… and then split in two, much like an image refracted by a prism. Riku's dark blast passed narrowly between the two figures, which quickly solidified into more distinguishable forms. The figure on the right still looked like Xaizo, but the being on the left was clearly Ozai's Heartless. Similar in appearance to Xaizo, but almost entirely black, this monstrosity quickly struck out at Riku with a storm of dark lightning. Even with his Keyblade held forward to block, this lightning overwhelmed the boy's defenses and hurled him back and away.
Fire Lord Zuko could barely believe his eyes. That was dangerous, he thought grimly, even as he jabbed the air, incinerating a trio of largish shadowy monsters with a series of fast flame bursts. I don't think even Uncle could redirect that sort of lightning. If this thing aims it at me next, I'm not sure what I'll be able to do…
"It's time we bring her out!" Xaizo called, his voice already triumphant. He filled his hands with flame, then brought them into contact with the dark energy already filling the hands of Ozai's Heartless. They then poured this new, dark fire into the ground at their feet, and two more figures emerged from a burning portal.
Zuko's heart almost stopped. Though there were noticeable differences in appearance, he clearly recognized one of the two beings that had been summoned.
Sister… my poor, twisted, monstrous sister... What did they do to you?
"It's good to have you at my side, Axulza," Xaizo said with an evil smile. "And you're so much more manageable without your old, broken mind."
"You did that to your own daughter?" Iroh demanded, his gentle demeanor quickly fading away. "You turned her into a Heartless? How could you?"
"It's quite easy," Xaizo said with a shrug, "when you don't have a heart..."
It's a good thing these critters are so evil I can actually feel where they are, Toph thought. Too much of the time, they might as well be invisible. The mighty earthbending thirteen-year-old had discovered that her unique powers of perception couldn't always detect the most common Heartless. When the little things flattened themselves into two dimensions, her earthbending lost track of them. However, they couldn't hide their darkness from her. With her uniquely fast earthbending style, Toph sent countless spikes of earth through waves of enemies, launching some into the air, engulfing others in grinding stone, and knocking the largest Heartless off their feet with boulders the size of cabbage carts. When a Neoshadow pounced on Toph from behind, she simply dropped beneath the earth, leaving her puzzled attacker kneeling where she'd just been. An instant later, the girl shot up beneath it holding a jagged spire of rock. "Who wants Heartless kabob?" she called. Sadly, no one close enough to hear seemed to be in the mood for humor. And even if they were, the effect would have been lost when the defeated enemy melted away into smoke. Oh well, she thought, turning her attention to Maleficent. I love kicking butt on my own, but with someone like her in charge, I guess we'll all have to work together. I hate to cut my fun short, but I suppose the others could use some help.
King Mickey tore through the fray, bursting dozens of Heartless with casual ease. His goal: Xaizo, Axulza, and their mighty Heartless counterparts. The Avatar rained a barrage of all four elements down upon Maleficent, holding her attention with a spectacular display of power, while most of the others just focused on holding back the vile tide. A Darkball to Micky's left burst apart, and Sora was at Mickey's side, radiating confidence and smiling. "This is the most fun I've had in days," he said cheerfully.
"Don't get careless," Mickey replied, unceremoniously bisecting a towering Darkside that had been grasping for Sora. "We don't know what those two Nobodies are capable of, to say nothing of their corresponding Heartless."
"Yeah," Sora said, punching through a clot of Soldiers with a lunge he'd learned from Cloud. "Being able to split in two seems like a neat trick… I think it's time I show you something we've been practicing."
"We?" Mickey asked, confused, but Sora wasn't listening.
Kairi slashed through a pair of Shadows that had pounced on Suki, but then spun around when Sora called to her. "Kairi! Tell Namine it's time!"
"Right!" Kairi shouted. While Donald, Goofy, and Toph covered her, Kairi stood absolutely still, reaching within herself. Namine: Sora and Roxas need you. Give them the power to begin turning the tide of this battle.
Azula's Heartless rushed forward, propelled by a jet of dark flame, and clashed with King Mickey. Axulza herself, austere and impassive, supported at medium range, sending gushes of seething blue fire at the agile mouse.
Sora launched himself high into the air, chopping through several flying Heartless without taking his eyes off his primary targets. Xaizo and Ozai's Heartless both tracked him, and each moved their arms through a bizarre and complex pattern. Lightning crackled and surged on their fingertips as they did so. Xaizo's crackling energy seemed more powerful, while that of his Heartless felt darker and more dreadful.
With a deafening crash of thunder, Ozai's Nobody and Heartless both released their pent-up lightning. As it screamed upward toward Sora, he smirked. A hazy image appeared to the boy's right. In a brilliant flash, the image solidified into Roxas. And both boys now bore twin Keyblades. They braced off each other and kicked with all their surprising strength, dodging to either side of the combined lightning strike. Sora hit the ground running, bearing Ultima and Fenrir, while Roxas carried Oathkeeper and Oblivion.
Thank you Namine, Kairi thought.
They must hurry, Namine replied in her mind, sounding strained. Even with my help, this can't last long. I spent a whole year merging them back together. They'll both start losing strength if they remain separate for long.
Spinning faster than sight, King Mickey landed a numbing blow, hurling Azula's Heartless between Sora and Roxas. With coordination only possible between two halves of a single whole, the boys caught the Heartless in a pincher move. With their four powerful Keyblades, Sora and his Nobody smoothly slashed the abomination into five segments.
These dark remnants swiftly melted into shadow and faded away.
What a pity, Maleficent thought, as Azula's Heartless vanished. Still, Azula was never as powerful as Ozai. And as for her Heartless... Despite all the darkness in Azula, it was still less mighty than her Nobody, Axulza. In any case, I'll forfeit all four of them in exchange for eliminating the King and his champions. Though few Heartless are as powerful as the one that just fell, their greatest strength has always been numbers…
The airborn Avatar continued to pressure Maleficent directly. His elemental prowess had largely forced her onto the defensive, and what attacks she attempted had not yet come close to connecting. Frustrated, the sorceress surrounded herself with a vile green inferno, concentrated it with fury and hatred, and then sent it screaming out in all directions. In so doing, she destroyed a number of the weaker Heartless that were near her, but she didn't care. It had bought her the moment she needed.
Plunging her staff into the earth, Maleficent opened a far larger dark vortex than those she had created earlier. Neoshadows swarmed out by the thousand, and hundreds of larger Heartless joined those she had already summoned.
For a moment, even the King and the Avatar were taken aback. The might of this new horde shook their resolve...
But in that brief moment of stunned silence, two people reacted without fear.
Goofy threw his shield with a cheerful "A-hyuck!" In the same moment, one of the Avatar's friends hurled a boomerang with a cry of "Spinning thwackapow!" Neither attack destroyed anything more powerful than a Neoshadow, but the spell of terror and despair was broken.
The rest of Maleficent's enemies flew back into action with renewed confidence, and the air filled with dissipating black mist.
So be it, Maleficent thought, annoyed. If they want a glorious death, I shall deliver.
Wielding the ancient might of the Avatar state, Aang rocketed through the air, enveloped in a rapidly rotating sphere of wind that kept him aloft and scattered any flying Heartless that got too close. For the moment, no one else could directly assault Maleficent and her three remaining champions. But he quickly determined that he couldn't defeat them alone. Their power was not of his world, and he couldn't fully understand much of what they did. For one thing, he couldn't bend the dark, seething ground on which they stood, either to throw them or suck them under. Further, he couldn't directly affect their dark energies. He always had to dodge or block with earth and compressed water. I'm glad Appa and Momo are resting back at Zuko's palace. This is waaaay too messy for them.
Sparing a moment to observe the battlefield, Aang found himself focusing on Zuko and Iroh. They were moving in a circle, but in opposite directions, so that they would soon meet. Every step they took, they assumed a new position, expelling fire as they did so. They destroyed many of the weaker Heartless this way, but Aang knew that wasn't the main purpose of their moves. They're performing the Dancing Dragon... The ancient Sun Warrior form that Iroh learned years ago, and that Zuko and I learned six months ago. Just before meeting the Sun Warriors and… Oh wow! Are they doing what I think they're doing?
Sure enough, when the Fire Lord and his Uncle met, they assumed the final stance of the Dancing Dragon style, and at that moment, they did something even Aang had never tried. Glorious, multicolored flame came to life in a spiral around the duo, then the beautiful fire soared upward, taking on the form of a multi-hued dragon.
For just a moment, Aang noticed a look of worry cross over Xaizo's face.
Then, the flaming dragon raced in the opposite direction, vanishing over the nearby jungle and out of sight.
"Pathetic fools!" Xaizo laughed. "Neither of you ever had what it takes to be true firebending masters!"
You're wrong, Aang thought, as he shot back earthward, blasting fire at Xaizo and his Heartless in a fearsome strafing run. They both learned from the original firebending masters. By the time you understand what they just did, it'll be too late for you to do anything about it.
Roxas stood back to back with his original, swinging Oathkeeper and Oblivion with cold precision. He'd once fought as Number XIII of the Organization, and then he'd fought without his memories in the digital copy of Twilight Town. Now, he fought for loyal friends and innocent new allies.
Mere minutes before, there had already been plenty of Heartless to go around. Now though, there surged a neverending sea of them. The only chance of victory would be to defeat Maleficent, but Xaizo, Axulza, and Ozai's Heartless stood near her, preventing easy approach.
"We've got to get back over to them!" Sora shouted over the din.
"I don't know if we can!" Roxas shouted back. "Right now, only the Avatar can get close, and he cannot handle those four alone!" This is so typical, the unique Nobody thought. I finally get another chance to walk around on my own two feet, and it looks like I've got minutes to live...
Roxas had paid close attention when Sora had been introduced to the Avatar's friends. Trying to remember their names, he now took a moment to get an idea of how everyone was faring.
Kairi and Suki stood at Iroh's side, defending him at close quarters to leave him free for lightning attacks. These packed far more punch than Sora's lightning, or even Donald's. Each bolt either tore a great rent through the Heartless army, or would destroy a giant Darkside outright.
Similarly, Goofy and Sokka defended Donald, who had been grudgingly forced to continuously cast healing energy over his allies, for all their injuries multiplied by the second.
"We've got to free up some of our friends if we're going to bring down Maleficent!" Sora shouted. "What can we do to hold back all these Heartless?"
"I can't remain separate from you for very long," Roxas admitted. "But I do have an idea. I can arrange for some backup... Cover me for a sec!"
Just like that, Roxas allowed Oathkeeper to vanish, and while Sora frantically circled him to beat back the nearest enemies, Roxas held Oblivion aloft. Chaotic spirals of white and gray energy spun along the Keyblade's length, and the air around it hummed.
"What's up?" Sora asked, even as he cut down another dozen Neoshadows that had nearly reached his Nobody.
"Remember how Saiax was the best at commanding Berserker Nobodies?" Roxas mused. He began to twirl and spin his Keyblade in a dizzying pattern, creating a strange lattice of white symbols in the air. "Just like Xaldin could summon Dragoons? Well… Who do you think was the best at controlling Samurai Nobodies?"
Before Sora could try to answer, Roxas plunged his Keyblade into the earth at his feet. A white, shimmering pool of energy spread across the ground around him. The nearest Heartless shrank away from that pool, and for a moment, much of the chaos of the battle subsided.
Two hundred grey-white shapes rose up from that pool of energy before it faded. Each manifested a pair of katana, and all awaited Roxas' order.
"Samurai!" Roxas bellowed in a tone of command that no one outside of Organization XIII had ever heard him use. "Destroy the Heartless! Drive them from this world!"
Maleficent cursed in annoyance at this new development. In immediate response to their master's order, all two hundred Samurai Nobodies lunged outward in an expanding ring, hacking, slashing, lunging, and filling the air with sickly miasma. The Heartless horde attacked them furiously, but most of the Samurai survived the first counterattack as they pushed outward. In front of those Nobodies there was a great sea of Heartless, but behind them it was briefly clear. Soon, all of Sora's friends and the six friends of the Avatar found themselves within that great growing ring of relative safety.
"This is our chance!" the King shouted. "They won't last long! Let's finish this!"
As if to emphasize Mickey's words, a Darkside brought down a massive fist, pulverizing a Samurai. Xaizo and his Heartless counterpart unleashed terrible lightning, destroying a dozen more. Axulza flipped and cartwheeled down the line, engulfing Nobody after Nobody with black flame. Elsewhere, many of the Samurai fell to sheer numbers... yet they had already done their part.
While the Avatar continued to pressure Maleficent with a constant barrage of the elements, all of his allies charged toward her while the way was mostly clear. What few Heartless sped into their path were annihilated with ease.
"Brace yourself Maleficent!" Roxas shouted, rematerializing Oathkeeper and scissoring his Keyblades through a Neoshadow's head.
Chopping down three Neoshadows with a single swing of Fenrir, Sora added, "You're about to get your creepy evil butt kicked, hag!"
Axulza faced the onslaught with no show of emotion. Unlike Ozai, she had not been given special assistance from Maleficent, and did not retain any semblance of her former self. She was merely an immensely powerful Nobody, who currently served only Xaizo.
Xaizo. The Nobody that had brought her into existence by forcefully turning the original Azula into a Heartless. When Axulza watched that Heartless fall before the Keyblade Master and his boyish Nobody, she had felt no more loss than one might feel upon breaking a useful tool.
Gathering her strength, Axulza raced forward, calling on powers she had not yet shown. As dark fire shot from her feet, propelling her along the ground, intense lightning built and crackled in her hands. Just as she reached the advancing force of benders and Keyblade wielders, she blasted the lightning forward in two deadly bolts. One aimed at the mouse, and one at the silver-haired boy. Having anticipated her attack, her targets flitted away from the strikes with flawless skill and timing.
Had Axulza possessed a heart, she would have smiled in triumph.
The twin bolts of lightning suddenly materialized as jagged, bladed chains, which Axulza brought back in a recoil that her original targets barely noticed in time. And blocking wasn't actually enough. Her lethal whips ensnared her enemies' Keyblades, and with a spin, she wrenched the weapons away from their owners. She knew those weapons would quickly return to them, but she seized that split second of vulnerability. Lashing out with her metallic whips, she aimed to shred the life from her victims.
With astounding agility, the mouse caught one of the few safe surfaces of the chain, and rode the hit without injury.
Though exquisitely skilled, the silver-haired boy was less fortunate. He tried with only partial success to twist away from the attack, and when the whip caught him, he spun away with deep, jagged gashes in his side and left arm.
Xaizo wasn't ready to lose the mighty Axulza just yet. Her aggression might have left her surrounded by Riku's friends, but both Xaizo and his Heartless counterpart had charged forward to support her. Dark flame and crackling lightning constantly enveloped Ozai's Heartless. Both elements automatically blasted out whenever an enemy drew close.
But Iroh and "Fire Lord" Zuko ignored that Heartless. They instead rushed at Xaizo with cold determination.
They intend to erase me, Xaizo thought, chuckling. Has the Avatar's victory six months ago really made them so arrogant?
Seeing the surprise and alarm brought on by Axulza's new weapons, Xaizo chose to manifest his own. Punching out with a compressed ball of white-hot flame, Ozai's Nobody forced his former brother and nephew to dive for cover. Then his fireball scattered, replaced by a giant spiked flail that his former human self never could have lifted. With his new strength, Xaizo spun the terrible weapon, shattering several massive boulders that Toph launched at him. When Zuko ground to a halt just out of range and drew back for a powerful firebending move, Xaizo roared with hatred. He poured fire through his flail's chain and into the spiked ball. The spikes blasted outward, propelled by fire from within.
To Xaizo's astonishment, Iroh managed to catch one of these spikes out of the air, and he used it to block two more that had almost reached him.
Zuko's fireball struck Xaizo and nearly knocked him off his feet, but the Nobody could tell that Zuko hadn't even noticed this minor success.
One of the flying spikes had punched completely through the young Fire Lord's right shoulder.
Author's Note: The next chapter will conclude. Reviews welcome.