(Well, looks like Riku's joined up with the Freedom Fighters, thankfully; better than being with Robotnik. Speaking of Robotnik, I believe it's time to check back with him…and Zexion. Let's see the aftermath after the destruction of the Roboticizer. Sonic and Tails are owned by SEGA, while the rest of the SatAM crew are owned by DIC. Riku and Zexion are owned by Square Enix, while Scar is own by Walt Disney.)
CHAPTER 7
"S-Sir! This is VERY bad, indeed!" Snively said; panic evident in his voice. "It's the Roboticizer! IT'S GOING TO EXPLODE!!!" Snively broke into a sprint, concerned with only saving his own skin.
As if on cue, the Roboticizer did, indeed, explode.
WAKATHOOOOOOOOM!!
The Roboticization Room was engulfed in a cloud of flames as the Roboticizer burst apart. The surveillance camera within the Roboticization room suddenly shorted out, leaving nothing but static on the screen; but the sounds of flames igniting and sparks crackling could still be heard through the sound amplifiers.
"How can this be!?" Robotnik spluttered, "The Roboticizer isn't supposed to break down like this; not so easily!"
'Maybe not," Zexion thought, 'but you obviously know so little of the Heartless, Doctor.'
Snively hit the keypad before him and zipped out of the doorway as soon as it opened; panicked. Would the explosion take out JUST the Roboticizer? Or would it take out much more? Either way, he did not want to stick around and find out. But fate had other plans.
"ROAR!" A huge feline shape dressed in a similar cloak to Zexion's suddenly lunged out of the darkness and pinned Snively to the ground. "Fool, you are not going anywhere. The fun has just started, and it would be rude to back out now. Or perhaps I should rip out that heart of yours and devour it? Ha-ha-ha-ha…"
"Wh-Wh-Who are you!?" Snively shrieked in fear.
"Let's just say," the voice purred, "I am of the same blood as Zexion now."
Snively overheard explosions going off in the Roboticization room, still, and worried if the flames were going to spread.
"No! My precious Roboticizer!" Robotnik rushed for the door and punched the keypad to open it, revealing a sea of flames and sparks before him. "What…What happened in here!?" Robotnik demanded furiously.
BOOM!
Another explosion erupted and the force knocked Robotnik backwards; slamming him against the wall and smashing his roboticized arm to pieces. "Ghhg…" He growled as he slowly slipped into unconsciousness.
Zexion, however, acted like nothing was happening, calmly looking at his lexicon.
OH ZEXION… Naugus' voice echoed out in Zexion's brain.
'Naugus?' Zexion asked rhetorically. 'What is it?'
OH NOTHING, REALLY. BUT I FIGURED THAT YOUR GOAL COULD BE ACHIEVED MUCH FASTER IF YOU HAD HELP FROM SOME OLD COMRADES. GO AHEAD, TURN THE PAGE OF YOUR LEXICON, AND YOU'LL SEE WHAT I MEAN.
Zexion turned a page in his lexicon and suddenly smiled at what he saw. On the two frontal pages were the symbols of a shield and tomahawk; two symbols that seemed VERY familiar to the Cloaked Schemer. "Ah, yes… Perfect." Zexion held up his Lexicon and the two symbols floated out from the pages, before halting in the middle of the room and bursting into clouds of black smoke. When the smoke cleared, two new figures in cloaks similar to Zexion's stood; from where the shield symbol once was, there stood a man with long blonde hair possibly in his mid to late 40s, wielding the very shield that was depicted in the symbol; from where the tomahawk symbol used to be, there stood a large burly looking man with short curly brown hair possibly in his mid 30s, wielding the same tomahawk as in his symbol. Slamming his book shut, Zexion stepped forward. "Vexen… Lexeaus… Welcome back."
"Ugh…Zexion?" Vexen held his head as if he had a headache. "What on earth is going on here…? Last thing I remember is…Axel!" Vexen looked up with angry eyes. "Where's Axel!? He'll pay dearly for what he did; and Marluxia too!"
"Riku!" Lexeaus gripped his tomahawk. "We have to get him to open up his heart to the darkness before Marluxia completes his plan!"
Zexion waved his hands in "cease and desist" manner. "Gentleman, please! Calm down," he cleared his throat, "Where exactly do I start…?"
PERHAPS YOU SHOULD LEAVE THAT TO ME. Naugus' voice echoed from Zexion's book.
"Naugus?" Zexion opened up his book and a holographic image of Naugus appeared on the pages.
AH, VEXEN THE CHILLY ACADEMIC AND LEXEAUS THE SILENT HERO, I PRESUME, Naugus addressed the two elder Organization members, ORGANIZATION MEMEBRS FOUR AND FIVE.
Vexen narrowed his eyes at the strange creature before him. "How do you know who we are?"
"Indeed; it seems rather suspicious," Lexeaus agreed.
Naugus chuckled and shook his head. LET ME EXPLAIN. Naugus introduced himself to the two Organization members, before filling them in on every detail that he had told Zexion earlier; from Marluxia's defeat, to Sora and Riku's conquer of Organization XIII, to where they were at this very moment.
"So, Sora actually managed to kill the superior," Vexen looked like he was in disbelief, "And he found out about Roxas anyway…"
"This world called Mobius," Lexeaus asked, "Why exactly have we been brought here in the first place? Why is it just the three of us?"
THE THREE OF YOU HAVE HAD PERSONAL INCIDENTS WITH RIKU, SO IT ONLY SEEMED NATURAL TO HAVE YOU THREE AGAINST HIM; BUT THAT IS NOT THE REAL REASON. WHAT THE REAL REASON IS; I THOUGHT I'D GIVE YOU ALL A SECOND CHANCE FOR YOUR ORIGINAL GOAL. THE PLANET MOBIUS IS FULL OF STRONG AND RADIANT HEARTS FOR YOU TO COLLECT; YOU CAN REBUILD YOUR ORGANIZATION STRAIGHT FROM SCRATCH IF YOU WISH, Naugus explained to the three Nobodies, FEEL FREE TO GO ABOUT IT WHICHEVER WAY YOU FEEL LIKE IT. I JUST FIGURED I'D PUSH YOU IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. With that, Naugus' image vanished.
"Hmm," Lexeaus put a finger to his chin in thought, "Why would this Naugus character help us? What does he hope to gain?"
"What does it matter?" Vexen shrugged, "We live again, and now we can carry on with our original mission."
"Yes, perhaps you're right," Lexeaus decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Well, now that that's all settled," Zexion interrupted them, as he sat down in Robotnik's chair and fiddled with his computer, "I believe we can get down to business."
Vexen raised an eyebrow at Zexion take charge attitude. "Oh? It sounds like you already have a plan."
"I do actually," Zexion admitted as he seemed to be searching through some files that he had found on the monitors, "If I can just find what I am looking for…aha! I found them!" He punched a key, bringing up some documented profiles. "Gentlemen, take a look."
Vexen and Lexeaus stood on either side of Zexion to read the files on the monitors in front of them. The profiles they read each showed a photo of a strange anthropomorphic animal along with a detailed and interesting profile of their strengths and abilities.
"These," Zexion explained, "are the good Doctor's enemies; the Freedom Fighters."
"They are…these Furries?" Vexen did not look too impressed, having not read the profiles yet. "They don't look very intimidating…but I suppose looks can be deceiving." He took a look at the blue hedgehog's profile, titled "Sonic." "Hmm…super speed? Fast as…the speed of sound?" Vexen read on, his attention grabbed. "Interesting…"
"Two tails; capable of flight?" Lexeaus read the profile entitled "Tails." "Odd…"
Zexion then brought up the security videos showing Sonic and the Freedom Fighter in action against Robotnik's robots. "In this case, looks ARE deceiving as we can see here. These Freedom Fighters are reminiscent of Sora and Riku in their heroic efforts, and I am almost certain that they have the same heart essences. And what's more is Robotnik there," he pointed to the unconscious dictator, "has a strong scent of darkness radiating from him; as strong as the Superior's and his Heartless. At the same time, he has a strong craving for power and dominance and will stop at nothing to rule over everything."
Lexeaus rubbed his chin and nodded in understanding as he observed Robotnik. "So, you're saying if we separate the Doctor's body and heart; we can have his Heartless be turned loose on this world and he will start to go after all of the hearts on Mobius. That would most certainly attract Riku's attention as well as the "Freedom Fighters; a lot of heart would be gathered."
"So the Heartless will follow him like they did with the Superior's Heartless," Vexen mused, "and they won't stop until they steal every single heart. In turn, Riku and these "Freedom Fighters" will fight against the Heartless, including Robotnik's." He started to grin wickedly. "As the Heartless multiply and spread across this world, those "heroes" will start slaying them left and right… Oh, the hearts that would be set free and collected by Kingdom Hearts."
Suddenly, from the ruined Roboticization Room, one lone Heartless emerged, seeming to have survived the explosion.
"Ah, it seems that we have a survivor," Zexion said.
This Heartless appeared to be of a new breed; it looked like a cross between a SwatBOT and a Neo Shadow. It was built similar to a SwatBot; armor, dome head and all, but its limbs were long and twig fingered much like a Neo Shadow, as well as having the two beady yellow eyes opposed to the red visor of a SwatBot. It crept over to Robotnik eerily in a zombie-like manner, its yellow eyes focused on the overweight dictator. It stopped right in front of the doctor and stared at him for a moment, before plunging its claws into Robotnik's chest.
Robotnik's eyes shot open and he let out a guttural scream of agony as the shadowy claws dug into his chest and probed around his rib cage.
Finally the SwatHeartless pulled its arms out; but it was not empty handed. In its claws, the SwatBOT/Heartless hybrid held Robotnik's heart in its grasp.
Robotnik's body just seemed to go limp, before it disappeared into darkness.
Zexion took a deep breath through his nose, taking in the scent of Robotnik's darkness; the Cloaked Schemer immediately started to choke and gag, clutching his throat. "GACK! I've never smelled anything so evil, putrid and vile…"
Vexen's eyes widened as he gazed at Robotnik's heart. The heart was black and grey in color and appeared to have many pale green cracks in it; instead of sparkly pink light, the heart seemed to emanate a putrid black and green smoke. "I have NEVER seen any heart in such a state in all my research; even when I had a heart myself!" The Chilly Academic exclaimed.
"How can one heart be so tainted with darkness, malice, and evil to the point of decay?" Lexeaus questioned, appalled by how dark, festering, and rotten the Robotnik's heart appeared to be; he slowly reached out and laid a gloved hand on the rotting heart. The moment his fingers touched it, however, the Silent Hero's brain was suddenly flooded with the most horrendous images. He saw people fleeing for their lives, the tears of fear and sorrow shed, innocent animals turned into soulless machines, and the lives torn apart by Robotnik's work. He heard the screams of the dictator's victims, the protests of those who opposed them, and those same protests silenced. He felt the wicked intent of the mad doctor as he laid siege to the planet, the sorrow of those who lost everything and everyone to the doctor, and the anger and hatred felt by his enemies. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!" Lexeaus screamed out and tore his hand away from the heart, his face sweating profusely.
"Lexeaus!" Vexen was shocked by the Silent Hero's outburst. "What's wrong!? What did you see!?"
Lexeaus shook his head as he recomposed himself. "That heart," he began, "That heart belongs to no man. It belongs to a monster…one who has laid siege to his planet, taking whatever he thought should belong to him."
"I know…I can smell it," Zexion growled as he held his nose in disgust, "That heart isn't fit for Kingdom Hearts. It's far too tainted with evil." He waved a hand to the SwatHeartless. "It's only fate is to become a Heartless."
The SwatHeartless released the heart, which floated down to the ground. On the moment of impact, the heart burst into a cloud of sick green smoke that seemed to fill the entire room.
"What is (cough) going on (hack) here!?" Snively coughed out as Scar's Nobody carried him into the room in his mouth. "Where is Dr. Robotink!?"
"Why I'm right here, Snively," a familiar deep voice purred out ominously, "And I haven't felt better."
When the green smoke faded away, Robotnik stood in the middle of the room, sporting some rather disturbing changes: Robotnik's skin had changed from Caucasian to a dark tan color; his once red and black suit was now completely black, save for each "quadrant" of his suit now sporting the Heartless symbol; and his once yellow cape was now a dark blood red, also sporting a large Heartless symbol on the back. Clenching his fists (both of which were flesh and blood now), Robotnik's Heartless stretched his arms up to the ceiling. "Yes…oh yes…I feel it," he murmured, "I feel the power of true darkness…the power of the Heartless courses through me! I understand now." A legion of SwatHeartless began to rise around Robotnik's Heartless, surrounding their master like flies to excrement. "I can sense them… The hearts of those cursed Freedom Fighters," the Heartless dictator grinned, "Now I know where I can find them. SNIVELY!"
Snively squeaked, both in being dropped by Scar's Nobody and by fear of Robotnik's Heartless. "Y-Y-Y-Yes, s-s-s-sir?" He stammered.
"I am leaving Robotropolis in your hands for the moment. I'm going Freedom Fighter hunting with my new Heartless army," Robotnik grinned maliciously.
Snively's look of fear was replaced by slight confusion. "B-B-B-But how, sir? We don't know the location of Knothole Village."
"WE didn't before," Robotnik corrected, "But I do now; the powers of the Heartless shall guide me. I WILL know where to look, along with my fellow Heartless. Once Knothole Village has fallen, the Heartless and I can easily seek out the other Freedom Fighter groups across Mobius."
"H-How will you track them, sir?" Snively inquired again.
Robotnik flashed a predatory grin at Snively. "Their hearts will tell me where they are. My Heartless army shall flush those Freedom Fighters out like the rodents they are." He turned away from Snively, flicking his blood red cape out behind him. "See that the Nobodies feel welcome at my humble abode, will you?" With that, the Heartless ruler of Mobius (along with his minions) disappeared in a puff of black smoke, leaving Snively alone with the four Nobodies.
Scar's Nobody slinked past Snively and walked smoothly towards the three Organization Nobodies; his black hood slipping off and revealing his cruel smiling face. "Organization XIII, am I correct?" He inquired to the three.
"Merely a fraction of what it used to be," Vexen corrected, "And who might you be?"
"I was once known as Scar," the lion Nobody introduced himself, "until the Key bearer, Sora, along with Simba, killed my former self AND my Heartless. I am all that remains; a Nobody, like your selves."
"If you seek to get your heart back then join us," Lexeaus offered, "With the majority of the Organization gone, we're short on members."
"Might I ask what your plan is?" Scar's Nobody asked a third question.
"We purposely had Robotnik become a Heartless," Zexion explained, "So that he could achieve his goal; finding the Freedom Fighters. We believe the Key bearer of the Twilight, Riku, is with them. When the Heartless make their attack, Riku will most certainly try to stop them, along with those Freedom Fighters. Many hearts will be collected; being stolen by the Heartless, only for a Key bearer to set them free to drift back to Kingdom Hearts. Thus, those hearts will be ours to claim for ourselves."
"But how do we know if those "animals" are worthy pawns for our gathering of hearts?" Vexen asked. "Riku, we're familiar with, but these "Freedom Fighters…" All we know of them were in those profiles you showed us; we have yet to see them in action."
"If you're so concerned about it," Zexion suggested, "Why don't you go and watch the battle yourself and make your decision then?"
"Actually, I was just about to suggest that," Vexen grinned, "There's nothing wrong with a little research; I AM a scientist after all." He disappeared in a flash of darkness, headed for the Great Forest.
"Now wait a minute!" Snively protested, too little too late, "Dr Robotnik didn't say anything about-" He was cut off immediately by Lexeaus.
"I don't recall him or you giving us orders," Lexeaus said in a gruff tone, "We are NOT his lackeys, unlike you; therefore neither he nor you has any authority over us?"
"Besides, what do you care about Robotnik's safety; Heartless or not?" Zexion looked directly at Snively. "You'd rather that the "fat fool" gets what's coming to him, do you not?"
"What?" Snively was taken aback by Zexion's words. "How do you even know what I think?" He asked; his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Are you some sort of mind reader?"
"I know a lot of things," Zexion said simply, turning his back to Snively, "I just don't like to explain how I know; simple as that."
TO BE CONTINUED