Last time found Sora and the others amazed by the new Gummy Ship, especially with the ships' A.I., Sidney. Our heroes got aquainted with the specifics of the ship, named her The Intrepid Heart, and set out to tour the worlds, the first stop being Neverland.
Meanwhile, Maleficent ordered Pete to pick out from the ranks of Hakonians some new minions, as well as cull several strong-willed Hakonians. The mistress of all evil then okayed a new operation to procure some new resources.
In route to Neverland, our heroes once again dreamed of chasing after The Girl who Runs with Wolves, only now Tess joined in the chase. Sidney pointed out that the ships sensors detected energy waves that induce dreams.
On Twilight Town, the mysterious L revealed to Ansem and Happosai that he was the one causing our heroes to dream of the girl, while at the same time, sending dreams to others throughout existence.
Our heroes then came upon a large, naturally occurring portal in space. They then saw a massive armada of Heartless and Hakonian warships heading for the portal. Realizing that something insidious was afoot, our heroes gave chasse. 'Nuff said, on with the show!
Chapter 2: The Wave Motion Gun
The sensation of passing through the massive portal in space left Sora and the others severely disoriented. It wasn't like traveling through hyperspace for the first time, rather, it was like being turned upside down, having your vision messed up like it was a photo negative, and then being spun like a top. Add to the fact that time seemed to stop completely for a few seconds, all of it left our heroes feeling like they had just been on the most violent roller coaster ride of their lives.
But in reality it all lasted less than a second and our heroes soon recovered their vision and sense of balance, though they all felt like they had just ran a mile without warming up first.
"Everybody alright?" Sora asked as they all got back up.
"I think I can taste sound," said a still dizzy Aiden.
"You think that's bad?" a rather green looking Tess asked, "I can smell color."
"Just give us a second so we can all recover our senses," said Riku. He shook his head as if to clear his ears of water, "there, everything is where it should be now."
"For a second I thought my eyes had been taken out and put back in upside down," said Kairi.
"How exasperating," said Donald.
"I didn't feel nuthin'," said Goofy.
"Well that just makes you special," said a slightly irate Tess.
"Let's just pull ourselves together," said Sora, "Sidney, what's the ships' status?"
"Keep your shirt on," said Sidney as her holographic image flickered for a second, "you're not the only ones disoriented. Hang on…yes…yes," her image cleared, "there. All systems are status green except for external sensors. The engine core was also effected by the portal transition. I'm reading a 2.37% balance disruption, nothing dangerously serious, but the imbalance should be corrected as soon as possible."
"On it!" shouted Donald as he ran for the door and headed for the engine room.
"Who's going to remind him that he can take care of the engine core from up here?" Aiden asked, "the manuals said that a core imbalance can be corrected from the bridge."
"Let's wait until Donald gets back," Sora, "but we'll have to be careful, or he'll bow his top."
"What about external sensors?" Riku asked, "Sidney, how soon until we can see where we are?"
"Oh, the short-range sensors are still online," said Sidney, "as well as the hull cameras. Activating view screen now."
The forward screen turned on and our heroes saw a different set of stars than before.
"We're really in another universe," said Tess, "wow."
"Where did that horde of Heartless ships and Hakonians go?" Kairi asked, "Sidney, how do I change the camera view on the screen?"
"It's on your consol panel," said Sidney.
The appropriate buttons lit up on Kairi's station and she pressed them. The forward screen showed different angles of the stars outside, until finally the image showed the massive formation of Heartless and Hakonian ships. The enemy armada was forming up to jump into hyperspace.
"They're getting away!" shouted Sora. He hit a communications button on his computer consol, "Donald! How soon until the engine is ready?"
"Hold your horses!" said Donald, "I'm working here!"
"Even if the engines are working completely," said Riku, "it won't matter."
"The sensors are still offline," said Sidney, "if we try to go after the enemy without sensors, the ship could easily get lost in this strange universe. And before you ask, I'm working as fast as I can to restore sensors. It'll be another thirty seconds before the system is restored."
Just then the enemy armada vanished into hyperspace, leaving our heroes alone among the stars.
"We can track their energy signatures," said Sidney, "all ships capable of Faster Than Light travel have engines that give off unique energy signatures. Once I've locked onto their signature, we can easily follow them wherever they go."
"Won't they be able to track us as well?" Kairi asked.
"Not if we stay directly behind them," said Tess, "they can't track what they can't see."
"This isn't like a human being not being able to see directly behind them," said Aiden, "I'm guessing that all ships have eyes in the back of their heads."
"True," said Sidney, "but our ship is equipped with a cloaking device, it' sin the manuals."
"That's right!" said Kairi, "we do have a cloaking device!"
"Why didn't Cid tell us about it?" Aiden asked, "why did we have to read about it in the manuals?"
"I'll bet Cid had a lot on his mind," said Sora.
"Well reguardless," said Sidney, "We can remain invisible to their sensors for as long as the cloaking field remains active. And just so you'll know, all our sensors are online again, and Donald just finished correcting the imbalance and is on his way back to the bridge."
"Right," said Sora, "Riku, take us forward to where the enemy was. Let's lock onto their energy signature and follow them."
"How long can the cloaking device remain active?" Kairi asked as she checked her manual, "according to this, the device is an experimental model."
"It's one of Cid's more recent inventions," said Sidney, "with a little help from Merlin. The device can remain active for up to two hours. But the device requires enormous power amounts. All secondary systems will have to be deactivated while in 'stealth mode.' That means no using the galley, the recreation room, and at the same time we can't use the weapons and the transporter. I'll also have to deactivate my visual projectors and use audio only."
"So while we're cloaked we'll only be able to talk to you," said Sora, "okay."
Just then Donald walked onto the bridge, "dog gone engine," he muttered, "making me run all the way down there to fix it."
"Actually, Donald," said Kairi, "you could have fixed it from up here."
"It's in the manual," said Aiden.
At that Donald looked he was about to blow his top, but he grabbed his copy of the manual and ripped it into pieces. "Dog gone manual!"
"That won't do any good," said Sidney, "I've got plenty more."
"How exasperating," said Donald again as he slumped into his seat.
"If anyone's interested," said Riku, "we've reached the coordinates where the enemy was before they went into hyperspace."
"Scanning now," said Kairi, "we should have their energy signature locked in soon."
"Am I the only one who's wondering if we have a plan?" Aiden asked, "even if we catch up with the enemy, what are we going to do when we catch them?"
"He's right," said Tess, "we chassed those ship into that portal without a plan. If we're going to fight them, we need to know what we're doing."
"I think we could use the stealth mode to our advantage," said Riku, "we should wait to use it until the last second, then use the cloaking device to get into a position where our weapons can do the most damage. We decloak and attack, destroying as many as we can. Then we jump into hyperspace just enough to move behind the enemy from a different direction and repeat the attack as many times as we can."
"Hit and run tactic," said Tess, "it worked for the rebels on Metamore."
"And it may work for us," said Sora, "okay, we'll do it. As soon as we've got their energy trail locked in, follow them."
"Aye captain!" said everyone.
Just then Aiden had an idea. He imputed a command onto one of the computer stations and there was a loud 'ding!' from the computer.
"What'd you do?" Riku asked.
"I dropped a communications relay," said Aiden, "that way we'll be able to talk with everyone back at Disney Castle."
"That's brilliant!" said Kairi, "they should know what's happened to us."
"But we can't hang around and wait to hear from The King," said Riku, "I say we send a message back to the castle and we'll drop another relay as we chase the enemy. Eventually The King will be able to respond and we'll hear from him along the way."
"Alright, we'll do that," said Sora.
A minute later all was ready and the ship jumped into hyperspace after the enemy armada.
Several light-years ahead, the armada of Heartless and Hakonian ships cruised through hyperspace towards their destination to carry out their dark purpose.
One of the Hakonian warships was significantly larger than the others and served as the flagship of the dark armada, the flagship being known as The Night Terror.
On the bridge of this dark flagship sat three upper-level Hakonians that were somewhat older than the seven we've already met.
The first of the three was tall with black, shoulder length hair and orange eyes that were somewhat bloodshot. He wore a full body orange and black body armor suit and carried a silver and black falchion sword. His apparent age looked no older than 39, but in actuality he was 158. He had the look of a short-tempered man. His name is Orkal Bloodsport.
The second Hakonian was a woman in her mid to late 20's but was actually 99. She had short black hair and pale orange eyes and wore a green and black martial artist outfit. She had the image of a clam yet eager personality. Her name was Ikura Shadewalker
The third Hakonian was a warlock wearing black and gold robes. He had long gray hair and a short beard, while his eyes were orange and silver. He carried a long black and silver staff. He looked to be about 55 but his actual age was his secret alone. Not even the other Hakonians knew how long he was. His name was Grekor Darkeye, who just happened to be the grandfather of Reddik Nightshade.
"How soon until we reach the first target world?" the warrior Hakonian, Orkal Bloodsport, asked in an impatient tone, "I'm ready for action."
"We'll be there in less than an hour," said the martial artist Hakonian, Ikura Shadewalker, "from then it will be a matter of minutes before whatever defenses that world has is overwhelmed, if there are any defenses. After that, it all depends on how long it takes to extract the element, which depends on how much that world has."
"Uridium," said the warlock Hakonian, Grekor Darkeye, "an mineral essential to the Synthesis of the white rings needed to control Nobodies. Those young pups, Erika, Konrad, Rakel, and my whelp of a grandson, Reddik, they combed the worlds near New Hollow Bastion for Uridium and found enough for less than a dozen control rings. Maleficent wishes for enough Uridium to create hundreds of rings."
"Enough for nearly every warrior in the Hakonian race," said Orkal as he grinned in anticipation, "from then the conquest of existence can begin, and the Hakonian Empire shall rise once more."
"But first thing's first," said Ikura, "we need to gather several tones of Uridium. The younglings were only able to find 1,500lbs in one universe alone."
"This universe was chosen because of the reports of high concentrations of Uridium," said Grekor, "we will find what we need, and a little extra to satisfy Maleficent. And if anyone is foolish enough to stand in our way, they will surely meet their doom."
"And we'll doom anyone else nearby just for fun," said Orkal, "each world we visit shall be plunged into darkness as we rape the Uridium from the soil."
Just then a lesser Hakonian handed a report to Grekor, "well, it seems we have some multi-sided competition in this universe. Apparently there's another race on the path of universal domination, a race willing to either wipe out or enslave other races in order to achieve their goals."
"Interesting," said Ikura, "we'll have to make contact with this race of conquerors. We may have something in common. What is the name of this race?"
"Gamilus," said Grekor, "from the world of the same name."
"I'll look forward to making contact with Gamilus," said Ikura.
"What's the other competition?" Orkal asked.
"It appears that The Heartless have been in this universe long before we arrived," said Grekor, "and they have successfully consumed several worlds all on their own."
"So we have another source of Heartless to exploit," said Ikura, "Maleficent wil be pleased to hear this."
"I do not think we should inform Maleficent of this just yet," said Grekor, 'no, there's more to this than it seems."
"What do you mean?" Orkal asked.
"According to the data at hand," said Grekor, "The Heartless in this universe seem to be moving from world to world all on their own without a Villain directing them, as if the creatures themselves are moving with a purpose and a will of their own."
"That's impossible," said Ikrua, "Heartless have no will, nor sense of purpose. They're creatures of pure instinct, always being drawn to more and more hearts in order to corrupt them with darkness. They can't be acting on their own like this. No, there has to be someone or something controlling them."
"Why?" Grekor asked, "why do The Heartless have to be that way?"
"Well, because," said Orkal, "it's what Xehanort and that old fool Ansem discovered when they studied the darkness and stumbled on The Heartless."
"That is true," said Grekor, "but how do we know that Ansem and Xehanort learned all that could be learned about The Heartless? They only saw Heartless as creatures of instinct to be ordered around. But maybe there's the possibility that Heartless can be something more."
"What are you suggesting?" Ikura asked, "that in this universe The Heartless have intelligence? Like the Heartless of Xehanort that used the name of Ansem?"
"Exactly," said Grekor, "that particular Heartless nearly succeeded in opening the door to Kingdom Hearts."
"As did his Nobody, Xemnes," said Ikura, "both were completely out of control, answering only to themselves."
"There's also that hybrid creature that young Nikolai encountered on the world of The Sailor Senshi," said Grekor, "a cross between Heartless and Diamond, Kurayami."
"Another out of control creature," said an irate Ikura, "that willful abomination should never have been created in the first place."
"What's this got to do with the Heartless of this 'verse?" Orkal asked.
"It has everything to do with the heartless of this universe, you muscle-bound buffoon!" said Grekor, "we have the opportunity to observe a completely different breed of Heartless and expand our knowledge of the creatures as a whole. And maybe, just maybe," a mad glint shown in his eye, "prove that the creatures have the potential for intelligence."
"Well, you have fun with your pet projects," said an annoyed Ikura, "I'm going to focus on the real mission; filling our quota of Uridium."
"I'm just here for the killing," said Orkal, "you all do what you want."
"At least we agree on that," said Grekor, "what was Maleficent thinking when she assigned the three of us together?"
"As if that matters," said Ikura, "you play with The Heartless all you want. After we get the Uridium, we're going to find these other would-be masters of this universe and see what can be made of them. Who knows, maybe they'll bring us one step closer to resurrecting our old empire."
"Wouldn't that be something," said Orkal.
"Yes," said Grekor, "something."
"We're still on their trail," said Kairi as she read the sensor screen, "but we're still no closer to catching the enemy. In fact, the trail is getting a little colder."
"They're getting away," said Sora, "Riku!"
"I'm already pushing the engines as far as they can go," said Riku, "unless you want to blow us up, I'll gladly push the engines into the red."
"I don't think that's a good idea," said Sidney, "it can be done, and we would go faster, but the engines would be critically imbalanced."
"And I have to fix it," said an annoyed Donald.
"We're going to catch them," said Kairi to Sora in a reassuring manner, "they can't remain in Hyperspace forever, no matter how fast their engines are. We'll catch them."
"But how many worlds are they going to attack before we do catch them?" Sora asked, "how many innocent people are going to suffer? How many hearts will be consumed by darkness?"
"I think we may be too late," said a slightly confused Tess as she looked at a sensor display, "I may be reading this wrong, in which case I need to read the manuals again, but I think The Heartless have been here in this universe for a while."
"What?" Sora asked as he and everyone pulled up the sensor readings on their computer screens, "how long?"
"Long enough to do a lot of damage," said Riku, "we've passed several systems where there were worlds, but now only darkness. I'm also picking up almost a dozen," the sensors beeped just then, "correction, we just passed a twelfth dead star."
"The Heartless have done all of this?" Sora asked.
"They've done a lot more, I'll bet," said Tess, "We've only seen just a bit of this universe."
"Speaking of this universe," said Jiminy, "I've also been looking at the sensor logs and I'm convinced that we're in a universe that parallel's our own. We've arrived on the outer edge of The Milky Way galaxy and are heading in the general direction of The Large Magellanic Cloud."
"That's a satellite galaxy that's next to ours," said Kairi, "what do they want out here?"
"I don't know," said Riku as he looked at the sensor readout, "but the trail is getting warmer again."
"We're gaining on them," said Sora, "Sidney, how long can we push the engines into the red without blowing ourselves up?"
"Hang on," said Sidney, "I've calculated that the engine output can exceed the safety parameters for a length of ten minutes with only a 3.91% probability of a fatal engine imbalance. Any longer than that and the chance of an imbalance rises exponentially."
"Just to be safe, let's only go into the red for seven minutes," said Aiden, "if we don't catch up with them by then, we'll think of something else."
"Alright," said Sora, "Riku, take us into the red. Donald, just to be safe, keep an eye on the engine core."
"Rodger!" said both Riku and Donald.
"Here's mud in your eye," said Riku as he pushed the engine pass its safety limit. The energy output display went from orange to red and a warning light began blinking rapidly. The ship's speed then increased dramatically.
"We're definitely catching up with them," said Kairi as the sensors continued to relay data on the enemy trace, "at this rate we'll be able to see the enemy on the long range scanners in four minutes."
"We'll slow down just before then," said Sora, "just outside of their sensor range and go in in stealth mode. Whatever the enemy is up to, we have to stop them before they hurt anyone."
Three and a half minutes later found our heroes slowing the ship down. Riku and the others sighed with relief as the warning light stopped blinking. Fortunately there was no further problems with the engine core.
As they approached the enemy coordinates, Sora ordered the ship to go into stealth mode. The ship's system displays showed that all nonessential systems had shut down and that power had been diverted to the cloaking device. The lights on the bridge dimmed and turned blue, while Sidney's holographic body vanished, but her voice could still be heard over the loudspeakers.
"Stealth Mode activated," she said.
"We're invisible to anyone watching," said Riku.
"We're coming up on the enemy position," said Kairi, "they've stopped in a star system, and are in orbit around a Class M world."
"Class M?" Tess asked.
"Suitable for carbon-based life forms," said Riku, "like us."
"What are they doing?" Sora asked.
"It looks like that big ship with the mining equipment is heading for the planet," said Aiden, "while a whole swarm of Heartless are around it as if to protect it."
"Let's attack now!" said Tess eagerly, "blast them before they do whatever they're about to do!"
"Wait," said Riku, "if we rush into this, we'll just get ourselves killed. Sidney, is there any intelligent life on that planet?"
"Scanning now," said Sidney, "The world is Earth-sized with an atmospheric ratio of 80% Nitrogen, 19% Oxygen and 1% of trace elements. I'm also reading large oceans and two large continents. There is extensive plant-life on land and a whole slew of water-based life forms in the ocean. But there no sign of higher-animal life on land or sea. This world has no intelligent life."
"And no human hearts," said Riku, "Sora, I know you want to stop the enemy, but we need to know what their plan is. I say we stay back so they can't see us, but we can still see them."
"Watch them and see what their plan is," said Aiden, "so we'll be able to stop them the next time."
"Oh, okay," said Sora, "I guess we can do that. Alright, everyone, let's see what the enemy is up to."
The ship exited hyperspace several hundred thousand kilometers from the enemy armada. Riku piloted the ship to a nearby asteroid that offered our heroes a concealed place to observe the enemy in action.
"That big ship is landing on one of the continents," said Kairi, "it's definitely a mining ship."
"But what are they mining for?" Sora asked.
"I don't know," said Riku.
"I'll bet we can learn if we get closer," said Tess, "we're still in stealth mode."
"It's risky," said Sidney, "even in stealth mode, there is still the possibility that the enemy can detect us if we get too close. But if we're going to learn what's going on, we'll have to take such risks."
"Alright then," said Aiden as he rubbed his wrists again, "let's do it!"
"Take us closer, Riku," said Sora, "slowly."
"I'll be extra careful," said Riku.
Slowly but surely the Intrepid Heart crept towards the enemy armada. Closer and closer the ship cruised towards the mass of Heartless and Hakonian ships, stopping every thousand kilometers or so to make sure they hadn't been detected.
But then, when Riku stopped The Intrepid Heart about 10,080 kilometers from the edge of the enemy armada, the mining ship took off from the planet. The continent the mining ship landed was scarred with dozens of deep holes.
"They must have found what they were looking for," said Aiden.
"They're leaving," said Kairi, "I'm reading energy spikes in their engines."
"Can we put a better trace on them?" Sora asked, "a tracking spell or something?"
"On it!" said Donald. He worked his magic and finished just as the mining ship rejoined the armada and the enemy swarm jumped into hyperspace.
"We've got a lock on them!" said Tess, "let's go!"
The ship jumped back into hyperspace and followed the enemy signal. As the ship entered Hyperspace, the lights on the bridge returned to normal and all deactivated systems came back online.
"We can't be in stealth mode while in hyperspace," said Sidney as her holographic body appeared again, "so don't get too close to the enemy."
"Right," said Riku.
"What was it that they were digging for on that planet?" Sora asked.
"I've been analyzing sensor readings from the planet," said Sidney, "there are trace readings of an element I've never seen before," she showed our heroes a hologram of a molecule that had a very complex structure.
"I've never seen anything like that either," said Aiden, "but Maleficent must want it badly enough to send a whole armada to another universe in order to get it."
"We'll figure out what this stuff is later," said Sora, "next time the enemy stops, we attack."
"You won't get any arguments from me," said Tess as she eagerly cracked her knuckles.
"2.7 tones," said a disappointed Ikura, "only 2.7 tones of Uridium extracted from that dust ball of a world."
"But that's more Uridium that Rakel, Reddik, Erika and Konrad managed to find in the other universe put together," said Grekor, "and we extracted this lode in less than an hour. This first acquisition was a promising start. The next load will be much larger."
"It'd better be worth our time," said Orkal, "and there'd better be people to slaughter."
"I've already selected a world that promises to satisfy us all," said Ikura.
"Excellent," said a grinning Orkal as he gripped the handle of his sword.
Just then one of the lesser Hakonians spoke up, "Commander Ikura? I believe there is a slight situation that requires your attention."
"What is it?" Ikrua asked.
"It could be just a random echo in the sensors," said the Haknonian technician, "but just now there was a reading that possibly could be another ship, one following the armada."
"Someone dares to follow us?" Orkal asked, "who?"
"Maybe someone already had a claim on that world we just visited," said Grekor, "and are chasing us to settle accounts."
"It's a distinct possibility," said Ikura.
"Well if they want us," said Orkal, "they'll soon have more than they asked for."
"Okay," said Sora, "we'll still use the hit and run plan."
"Strafe them from one side and hit them from another," said Riku.
"I've already calculated the short hyperspace jumps," said Sidney, "it's already programmed in, so all you need to do is hit the button."
"Then we're as ready as we can be," said Sora.
"All we got to do is wait for the enemy to stop," said Aiden.
"Let's just hope that the next world they stop at is one where there is no one there," said Kairi.
"And if there are people there," said Tess, "let's just hope we catch up with the bastards before they hurt anyone."
"You're about to get your wish, Orkal," said Ikura, "we're coming up on the next target world, and from what our scouting probes told us, there are a lot of innocent people for you to slaughter."
"Outstanding," said Orkal as he drew his sword and licked the edge, "I can hardly wait."
"We'll just don't take too long indulging yourself," said Grekor, "this world has an estimate of only 7 tones of Uridium, we won't be long there."
"Just let me clear away any potential 'problems' with the local population," said Orkal, "then you can get your precious rocks for Maleficent."
"They're stopping," said Kairi, "long-range sensors detect that they're assuming orbit around a world that has people, a lot of people."
"How soon until we catch up with them?" Sora asked.
"Less than two minutes," said Kairi.
"We're all ready to fight," said Aiden, while Riku, Tess, Donald, Goofy and everyone else nodded.
"Okay," said Sora, "battle stations!"
Exactly two minutes later the ship exited hyperspace, but the arrival point for our heroes wasn't exactly what they expected.
"What the…!" exclaimed Sora and the others as they realized that they had reemerged into normal space right in the middle of the enemy armada, right smack center in the swarm of Heartless.
"Shields up!" exclaimed Sora, "evasive maneuvers! Deploy Teeny Ships! All weapons fire!" It was at that exact second that the swarms of Heartless began attacking the ship.
"What in the seven hells?" Ikura asked as she saw a warning flash on a display screen, "something just popped out of hyperspace right in the middle of the Heartless swarm."
"How did that happen?" Orkal asked as he and Grekor walked over to the display screen.
"There must have been a subspace distortion that interfered with their FTL computations," said Grekor, "exiting hyperspace is just as important as entering. Poor devils, they've stumbled onto their dooms."
"Wait a second," said Ikura, "it looks like they're fighting back against the Heartless swarm. Yes, they have laser cannons, missiles and torpedoes, and some of them are using Fire, Blizzard and Thunder spells."
"What manner of ship is this?" Grekor asked. He commanded the display screen to zoom in, "why, that's a Gummy ship, the type those miserable whelps used in The Realms of Light."
"How did a Gummy ship get into this universe?" Orkal asked, "wait, you don't suppose that these are The Keyblade Wielders, don't you?"
"The odds of these fools being the enemies of Maleficent are too high to count," said Grekor, "but it appears that way."
"Then this is our chance to do what those young fools failed to do," said Ikura, "destroy The Keyblade Wielders! Forget the Uridium! Maleficent will reward us doubly if we destroy Sora and his pathetic friends! Signal all warships and Heartless to attack! Crush them!"
"We're completely surrounded!" shouted Tess as she directed varius spells to the weapons, which Goofy targeted and shot at the attacking Heartless.
"How'd we get in this revolting predicament anyway?" Donald asked.
"My sensors detected a subspace distortion that occurred just as we exited hyperspace," said Sidney, "It's my fault, I should have warned you about such celestial occurrences."
"We'll worry about that later," said Sora, "Riku, can you get us clear of the swarm?"
"I'm trying!" said Riku as he banked the ship left and right in order to shake off the attacking creatures, "but everywhere we turn, there's more and more."
"What about the Haknoian ships?" Aiden asked, "aren't they going to attack us!"
"They're turning to attack us now," said Kairi.
"I've got an idea," said Tess, "Riku, "head for the nearest Hakonian warship as fast as we can! We're going to blow it up and use it to clear a path out of this mess!"
"Do it!" said Sora.
"It's better than just getting squashed by Heartless," said Aiden, "go for it!"
"What the heck," said Riku as he changed course for the nearest Hakonian warship, "immortality is overrated."
"What are they doing now?" Orkal asked, "are those brats actually trying to attack us? Have they lost it!"
"They must be planning something desperate," said Ikura, "signal all warships to maintain distance. Do not let that Gummy ship to get within attack range. Let the Heartless finish them off."
"It's too late," said Grekor, "that little ship is faster than it looks."
"Hakonian warship within range!" said Kairi.
"Lock all weapons and fire!" said Sora.
"Firing now!" said Goofy as he pressed the trigger buttons. The laser cannons and missile launchers on The Intrepid Heart and its four Teeny Ships sent their deadly payload at the enemy warship. The combined energy, projectile and magical attack overwhelmed the Haknonian ships' shields and internal systems, causing the ship to explode.
The projecting debris from the destroyed warship also destroyed hundreds of nearby Heartless and damaged two other Hakonian warships, forcing them to slow down and withdraw from the battle, creating an opening in which Riku drove the ship through into clear space.
"Okay," said Sora, "were out of the swarm."
"But now we've got all those remaining warships and the rest of the Heartless swarm chasing after us," said Aiden, "do we have a plan B?"
"We can still jump behind and strafe them," said Riku, "Can we?"
"We should double check the hyperspace computer," said Sidney, "just to be safe. That subspace distortion may have damaged the software a bit."
"In the meantime," said Kairi, "let's lead the enemy away from that planet."
"Oh, there won't be any trouble with that," said Aiden as he pointed at a tactical display, "they all seem very eager to make our acquaintance."
Sora pressed a button that showed the tactical display on the main screen. In the center of the screen was a blue blinking dot that represented The Intrepid Heart. Chasing the ship was a large mass of blinking dots that represented the enemy swarm and Hakonian warships. The red mass was about 10 centimeters from the Intrepid Heart.
"On this tactical display," said Sidney, "one centimeter represents 1 kilometer."
"They're gaining on us!" said Tess, "9 kilometers and closing!"
"How soon until we can get back into hyperspace?" Sora asked.
"I'm still checking then engines for faults," said Sidney, "as well as making sure that we don't encounter any more subspace distortions; it'll be at least another ten minutes before I'm sure it's safe."
"We'll they're going to catch us a lot sooner than that," said Tess, "Seven kilometers and closing."
Just then the communications terminal beeped, "we're receiving a message from the enemy," said Kairi.
"Well let's not be rude," said Aiden, "let's hear what the bastards have to say."
Kairi pressed the audio button and our heroes heard the enemy speaking to them.
"This is Grekor Darkeye, High Warlock of the Hakonian race. I am addressing the young fools who dare to stand against the darkness, the Keyblade Wielders. You younglings have enjoyed a successful campaign up until this point. But what you fail to realize is that the seven Hakonians you've faced so far were merely children in the eyes of the Hakonian race.
"I am of a different breed than the seven whelps you fought and defeated. My comrades and I are more mature and experienced, and we have been tasked by the true mistress of all evil, Maleficent, to traverse to this universe and take what the great one desires. Just what that desire is, I won't bother to say.
"But I will say that you fools have doomed yourselves by meddling in affairs that do not concern you."
"Can we respond?" Riku asked, "or is this a recording?"
"No, it's live," said Kairi as she pushed a reply button, "you're on the air, Riku."
"Thanks," said Riku. "Okay, Grekor Darkeye, can you hear me? Or do we need to adjust something."
"I can hear you loud and clear, brat," said Grekor, "do I have the honor of addressing the traitor Riku?"
"The only one I betrayed was myself," said Riku, "but that's in the past, and no good ever came from getting messed up over the past. Anyway, it becomes our business when The Heartless and you Hakonians invade other realms and threaten innocent people. There must have been hundreds of thousands, millions even, of people on that world you were about to attack, and for what?"
"I told you that it was none of your business," said Grekor, "and don't worry about that world you though you saved. After we atomize you brats, we'll come back to that world, and my friend Orkal will have all that he can stand of carnage."
"You Hakonians are insane!" said Kairi, "All of you!"
"Flattery will get you nowhere," said a female voice on the other end of the connection.
"All too true, my dear Ikura," said Grekor, "all too true."
"You think you guys can beat us?" Sora asked, "well get this. We've beaten those seven Hakonians and we've beaten a lot of other Villains. We'll beat you without a doubt!"
"We shall see," said Grekor, "we shall see." With that the connection broke.
"Well we're certainly in for it now," said Tess, "the enemy is less than a kilometer behind us and still closing."
"Another five minutes at least," said Sidney, "I'm going as fast as I can, but if there is a problem with the engines that isn't fixed, we all could die."
"We all understand, Sidney," said Sora, "and thanks for trying."
"At least we'll take a lot of the creeps with us," said Tess, "who knows, we might still win this."
"Of course we're going to win!" said Sora, while Donald, Goofy and Kairi nodded in agreement, "we have to!"
"One thing I've learned from traveling with Sora and the gang," said Aiden to Tess, "is that things have a way of working out, somehow. Trust me, something will happen that'll turn things around for us."
Just then the sensors beeped again.
"See?" Aiden asked, "what did I tell you?"
"There's another ship out there," said Kairi as she looked at the sensor data, "and it's a big one, really big."
"How big?" Tess asked.
"Big as a World War 2 battleship," said Sora as he looked at the display, "bigger even, and it's coming right for us!"
The tactical display now showed a large orange blip that represented the new enemy ship.
"Great," said Tess, "dead from behind and in front."
"Wait," said Kairi, "we're receiving a message from the new ship, text only though."
"Well don't keep us in suspense," said Aiden, "what is it?"
Kairi then read the message, "'Get out of the way, now!' that's what it says."
"The other ship is within visual range," said Sidney, "I'm pulling up the image now."
The forward screen showed a large starship that looked a log like a WW2 battleship, right down to the large caliber cannons and smokestack. But the ship have a large sensor array atop the bridge tower and had what appeared to be a second bridge underneath the hull. Also, the cannons had been converted to energy-based weapons and there was a large hole right on the bow, a hole that looked to be a large cannon.
"What kind of ship is that?" Riku asked.
"I don't know," said Kairi, "but from that message, I think they're trying to warn us."
"Maybe they're going to attack The Heartless," said Sora.
"Or maybe they're powering up a really, really big energy blast," said Aiden as he looked at the sensor display.
"I really think we should get out of here!" said Sora as everyone saw on the forward screen that the new ship was indeed powering up for a massive energy blast. A bright light was growing in the hole in the bow of the ship, a hole that indeed was the barrel of an energy cannon.
"Riku!" shouted Sora.
"On it!" said Riku as he drove the ship up and to the left, just as the other ship fired its weapon. The massive blast hurtled through space towards the enemy swarm and obliterated nearly half of the space-bourn Heartless, while destroying two Hakonian warships and damaging three more.
"Wow!" said our heroes all together.
"What in the unholy darkness was that!" exclaimed Orkal as he, Ikura and Grekor watched the destruction of their forces.
"There's another ship out here," said Ikura as she looked at a sensor display, "a ship that did all of that with just one blast."
"We can't fight that kind of power without knowing more," said Grekor, "I suggest we withdraw for now."
"Are you kidding?" exclaimed an irate Orkal, "you want to run away! We can take these losers!"
"These losers just decimated our Heartless forces and destroyed two of our warships," said Ikura, "you want to die yourself?"
"Uh…no," said Orkal.
"Then let's get the bloody hell out of here already!" said Ikura, "before that ship fires again. There are other worlds with Uridium in this universe, so let's go."
"Signal all ships to withdraw," said Grekor to the Hakonian at the communications terminal, "make for the next target world. Then patch me through to the Keyblade Wielders."
"It's the Hakonians again," said Kairi as the communications screen beeped again.
"Put them on," said Sora.
"Enjoy this brief respite, Keyblade Brats," said Grekor, "for the next time we meet, it will be the last."
"That's what they all say," said Aiden.
"They're leaving," said Tess, "all the Heartless and Hakonian ships are jumping into hyperspace."
"Should we follow?" Riku asked.
"We've still got that trace spell on them," said Sora, "we'll catch up with them later. Right now I want to meet these guys with the really cool ship."
"They're signaling us again," said Kairi, "another text. 'You really know how to wait until the last moment. Any longer and you would have been destroyed by The Wave Motion Gun as well.'"
"'Wave Motion Gun?'" Tess asked.
"That's what it said," remaked Kairi.
"Tell them that we're grateful for their help," said Sora, "and ask them what they are doing out here?"
Kairi sent the message and a reply was soon received. "'We were stopping here between Warps and detected the battle on radar, so we engaged the enemy. Is everyone on your ship alright?'"
"We're fine," said Sora, "is everything okay with you?"
"'All is well with us. Would it be possible for our two crews to meet face to face? If so then our ships can dock and we can say hello in the flesh.'"
"I don't see a reason why not," said Riku, "they could have destroyed us without sending that warning first."
"But we shouldn't take them lightly," said Sidney, "that energy blast had enough power to destroy a small moon. Oh, and the engines are all okay. We can jump into hyperspace when ready."
"We'll keep that in mind," said Aiden, "and we'll be careful."
"I'll tell them that we'll come right over," said Kairi.
"Let's all be friendly but cautious," said Riku as he piloted the Intrepid Heart towards the other ship, "they did save us, but things could still turn ugly."
"Right," said Sora.
It wasn't long before The Intrepid Heart got close enough the other ship for our heroes to see that it was indeed based on a WW2 battle ship, but retrofitted for spaceflight and combat.
"That is one awesome ship," said an impressed Sora.
"I wonder what they think of our ship?" Kairi asked.
"They'd better have good things to say," said Sidney, "as the brain of The Intrepid Heart, I'm the most advanced A.I. program in the realms, and my body is super-califragilistic-expialidocious."
"I'm sure they'll love you," said Riku.
"Wait a second," said Kairi, "Sora, do you see the name on that ship? Is that Kanji or am I going crazy?"
"It is Kanji," said Sora, "it has to be, or we both have space madness."
"We can't all be going crazy," said Riku as he looked at the Kanji writing on the other starship, "not now anyway."
"What's Kanji?" Tess asked.
"It's the writing style of Japan," said Aiden, "where Sora, Riku and Kairi are from more or less. It's easy enough to read and write once you get the hang of it," he looked at the writing on the other ship, "I think that's the ships' name, Yamato."
"It does say Yamato," said a dumbfounded Riku, "and if my history is right, then this starship was named after the largest, most powerful battleship ever built on Earth. No, it's not a naming, it's as if they took the wreck of the Yamato and rebuilt her for space."
"What are you talking about?" a confused Tess asked.
"I'm confused as well," said Kairi as Riku brought the Intrepid Heart close to the other starship, the Yamato, "but we're about to get some answers, one way or another."
The end of chapter 2.
Next chapter our heroes meet the crew of The Yamato and learn their story. Elsewhere, the three Hakonians encounter the race that seeks to dominate all live in this universe. Reviews will be rewarded with cake and pie. See you next time!