The Uprising
Sorry for the long delay everyone! I've been super busy all month AND my internet was down… But I'm back now with Chapter 22! If you can recall, Axel has escaped with Kairi and Namine after Xigbar and Saix liberated Xemnas from the Altar of Naught. Not exactly the original plan (which was to free Sora, Roxas, and Xion from the Aros body), but at this point, I think Axel is just going to take what he can get. Needless to say, Marluxia is not a happy camper. Then there's 44 sneaking around with DNA samples, and Zexion's secret experiments… Speaking of which, now that Zexion's intentions of giving up his power to Xemnas have all but been revealed to be a farce, two of their number have deserted them, leaving the Schemer with empty slots on his roster. But number six won't let something like that get in his way! Then of course there's DiZ and his Maleficent-controlled minion, Delta who was just at Memory's Skyscraper. I think that covers all of my bases… Read and REVIEW!
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Kairi sprinted alongside Axel and Namine, her slender legs pumping to keep up with her savior. Crackles of electricity tore at the ground behind her as Larxene stormed after them. The Savage Nymph was now shooting towards them at full force, her body parallel to the colorless ground. Only Axel's well aimed fireballs kept their pursuer at bay, although they were quickly losing ground. The Rogue was adamant about meeting DiZ and Delta before leaving the world, sending the three on a race against the sadist to the Dark City.
Kairi became lost in thought, looking back regretfully in the direction of the black-haired Sora facsimile that was currently battling Xemnas's storm atop the Castle's peak. I should've been able to save him… She bit her lip to dilute the emotional pain with that which was physical, the sting dulling the fresh wound of losing her island friend again. As she ran down the castle steps, a small flow of blood filled her mouth, the salty taste giving her clarity. The princess was brought out of her nostalgia by a bolt of electricity that struck her left calf, burning through her fair skin effortlessly.
Kairi was sent to her knees, the momentum of her sprint causing her to tumble down the steps, bruising her pale sides as she fell. The Keybearer continued her descent until she landed squarely on her back atop the Crooked Ascension. Namine cried out to her as she and Axel ran to meet the fallen girl, their worry giving them enough speed to escape the brunt of Larxene's further attacks. The elevator groaned as it shifted into gear, the platform slowly sinking into the dreary ground. The witch gingerly sat upon the edge, her willowy legs dangling over the side before she gently scooted herself onto the pulley. Axel, on the other hand, vaulted himself over the boundary, spinning midflight to hurl flames at the Savage Nymph.
He landed gracefully on his feet, summoning a wall of fire to block the entrance as the elevator continued its plunge. Voltage pounded upon the barrier as Larxene paced behind it. Her fiery silhouette looked menacing and demonic against the inferno. She slashed her knives through the heat, giggling as the fortification slowly weakened against her power opposing that of her fatigued target. The elevator growled again as it eased to a stop, the flame partition shattering at the same time. Larxene had entered one of her Drive Forms while she had waited to advance, taking on a more bestial form. Her cloak was now hemmed with jagged edges, matching the crackling elongated antennae of her hair. The Savage Nymph cackled, sending jolts of electricity through the hollow voids that were now her eyes. She bore her teeth and giggled, one hand on her hip, a girlish pose that contrasted her demonic form.
Larxene leapt from the rim, the energy pouring through her body discharging as she landed at the bottom. Axel led the girls to Nothing's Call, shielding them from the sparks that flew as their pursuer fried the elevator's controls with her powers. The trio was trapped at the edge, halted by the chasm spanning between them and the Dark City. Namine wasted no time, spinning around and summoning her jagged white Keyblade. An orb of darkness appeared in the Nobody's dainty hand, separating into wisps that materialized into rough chains wrapped around her arm. She struck the ground with her metal whips, keeping Larxene at bay within the ruined elevator. A silvery barrier, summoned by the witch, appeared at the threshold, the wall barely holding its ground against the mini storm raging beyond it. Gently, Axel lowered her sword, distorting her fierce battle face with that of confusion and innocence.
"Not yet, Nam. We need you two alive. I'll hold Larxene off," Namine shook her head, eyebrows furrowed as Axel willed his Eternal Flame Chakrams to float above the girls. "I'll meet up with you all later, in front of Memory's Skyscraper. Got it memorized? Find Delta, he'll know what to do. Only go to DiZ as a last resort, he isn't safe. Now go!" The witch hesitated and then softly kissed Axel's cheek, a sign of respect and platonic affection. "Thank you." Banishing her Keyblade, she summoned more chains in her dominant hand, lashing them onto the Chakram. The shackles held, and Namine prepared her dismount.
Axel turned to Kairi, who was anxiously twisting her necklace. The pearl glowed at her touch, retaining its illumination as she clasped her hands together. Slowly she released her grasp, exposing two radiant objects held immobile in the air. Soundlessly, the princess levitated them over to Axel's gloved fingers. The luminosity immediately faded as they made contact with his digits, revealing Roxas's wooden winner stick and a plain Thalassa shell, a favorite of Xion's. "They wanted you to have these… I can feel them in Sora. They need you, Axel . . . and I need him, more than anything. So come back in one piece, okay?" The Nobody clutched the keepsakes to his chest and muttered his thanks, holding back his newly sprouted emotions as he guided the islander to the other Chakram. Kairi brushed away unexpected tears and raised up her arms, mirroring Namine, summoning thin cords of light that tethered the princess's hands to the disk.
The weapons smoldered and smoked as they hovered across the expanse of emptiness, their riders holding tight to the cables supporting them. As they reached a quarter of the way across the abyss, the unmistakable sound of electricity broke through Namine's defenses, releasing the sadist within. She cackled, the rage required to maintain her drive form, banishing whatever rationale she had left. Axel held his ground stoically as she approached him, her voice made indistinct by the crackles of electricity, yet somehow retaining the seductive tone she reserved only for the Flurry of Dancing Flames. "I was too hasty when I spared you last time, Axel . . . But not to worry, I will redeem myself. I'm going to make you suffer, traitor. I'm going to have that filthy witch shatter your memories to make you much more obedient, we won't make the mistake of trusting you again." Larxene giggled, summoning her eight knives in a flash of voltage.
"Then I'm going to keep you as my own personal trophy . . . And you will witness the slow, beautiful deaths of the two tramps floating away from me, your X-faced friend, that prick Sora, the spineless doll, and finally Roxas. After I'm through with them, I'll have you burn what's left of their corpses," Larxene was now uncomfortably close to her prey, who dared not to stir while the sadist was in such an unpredictable state, especially weaponless. His clenched teeth and balled fists tightened beyond movement out of the sheer rage pent up inside of him. The revolutionist's cool breath, infused with the electric burnt smell of metal, rolled over the side of his face in waves as the Savage Nymph stroked his neck with one of her blades.
"And bathe in their ashes."
Whatever degree of self control Axel had maintained snapped, the fury giving him the power to summon a second set of Chakrams, the ones he had named Prometheus. He spun the weapons at Larxene, the twin points flashing against her knives. He swung his disks expertly, calling forth wave after wave of flame that was dodged by his agile foe with a number of acrobatic motions and counterattacks of her own. As she somersaulted backwards, clones of her powered form were spawned in the wake of her movement. The duo of blob-like masses writhed like gray putty until they formed almost feminine shapes. The two facsimiles were discernible by their even less human forms, sharp talons taking the place of her knives. Their cloaks were hewn off jaggedly, revealing long black boots beneath. Even their teeth had been ground into sharp points, gnashing at the air like a snake. Pure white eyes, ringed with heavy black ink, matched the dull papery skin holding the things together. Their bodies twitched, sending out electrical spasms that made their forms appear shadowy and out of sync with reality.
Axel swiftly attacked their commander by swinging the chakrams in wide arcs, his attacks parried by Larxene's flashing knives. Meanwhile, the two copies sprang into the air, bounding off jagged faces, sending out powerful discharges of energy. In one giant leap from the edge, they cleared the distance between themselves and the girls, whose slow-moving chakrams were only halfway to their destination. Inhumanly, they landed upon the hovering disks, perched atop them like vultures. Each clone giggled at each other, a laugh so warped from the original that it could scarcely be recognized, and then released a concussive blast of voltage that was easily conducted by Axel's makeshift metal vehicles. Namine, held by metal chains that directed the flow of power, writhed and tried to scream as the electricity rocked her body. Kairi, protected by her own light, was only slightly affected by the current, with only her legs shuddering spastically beneath her. Fighting through the pain, she willed one of the radiant cords to release her left hand, her dominant gripping ever-tighter on the remaining binds. Shaking fiercely, she raised her free arm, a beam of light shooting into it that left the Oathkeeper keyblade in its wake. Trembling, she aimed it at the edge of the gorge, firing a ray of power into the small keyhole hidden there.
A blue energy bridge flooded over the chasm like water, thinly covering the area up to the battlefield above. With a nod to a semi-conscious Namine, both willed their binds to vanish, dropping them down to the link below. Both landed hard on the aqua surface, coughing up a fair amount of blood that simply rolled off of the sides, repelled from the surface as if oil to water.
Meanwhile, Axel was still battling Larxene, the arena heating up with each degree of the Rogue's wrath. Soon lava was pouring down the elevator shaft, onto the platform, and then, after burning through a fair bit of the bridge, into the vast expanse of Nothingness below. Larxene, who was floating harmlessly above the magma, shot forward, slashing at her foe with round after round of vicious knives until Axel was thrown backwards into the volcanic emission. Powered by the intense heat, the Flurry of Dancing Flames met the newest discharge of voltage with a jet of his own flame. The flowing liquid fire beneath the master of warmth bubbled and intensified the attack until the Savage Nymph's void eyes widened in fear as the flame engulfed her, leaving the entire stage charred and battered. When the smoke at last receded, an electric bubble emerged, revealing Larxene, with no drive form but nonetheless safe inside.
Below, Namine and Kairi were both fighting off the duplicates, parrying their attacks with the hilt of their Keyblades and using chains and blasts of light to move into the offensive. One of the creatures slithered past one of Kairi's ranged assaults, moving snake-like on the ground around the ground-melting flares until she reached her target. The princess swung her Keyblade through the beast's torso, only for its form to pull itself apart like taffy, letting the weapon pass harmlessly through before the tendrils reattached the two pieces.
With a shriek of glee, the animal bit into Kairi's exposed forearm, black saliva running down its sharp teeth. Her jaws tightened as the princess tried to shake her off, screaming in pain as poison seeped into her system. Namine looked up at the sound of her sister screaming, her own foe screeching behind a barrier of magic. The container began to falter, however, as the witch turned to Kairi's foe and struck it upon the temple with her long chain before returning to deal with her own crisis.
The Larxene-creature's jowls loosened as the papery skin beneath Namine's blow crumpled and broke. Angrily, the creature swung its long talons at Kairi, who held up her Keyblade in a panic. The claws struck the sword, sending it skittering across the bridge and into the void. Victoriously, it cackled, insect-like mandibles clacking and eyes crinkled shut in delight as it prepared for the fatal blow. Oh how it enjoyed the chase: pure instinct and raw pain. Weaponless, the thing thought to itself. The preys will have no choice but to submits to us! Then we shall eats it! And then we shall cooks it! Then we shall dances with our sister and munches on their boneses! At the notion of its grammatically incorrect schemes, the golem laughed again, completely oblivious to anything but the festivities that were to take place shortly. When its gaze finally returned, it faltered.
Its prey was holding a weapon once more.
Irritably, the Larxene-creature swiped the blade out of her hands again and prepared to destroy its foe with a clean cut across the jugular, only for the girl to summon the sword anew within a beam of light. Screaming in fury, it snatched the blade from her hands and shoved it, teeth first, into her sickening mouth, mandibles protruding out the sides to pull it into her throat. In one terrible bite, she swallowed the key, grimacing as it slid down her oily gullet. A disgusting metallic heaviness filled the beast's half formed digestive system, bringing on a wave of nausea that was easily powered through by the being of instinct. Retching on the meal, the duplicate looked up deviously, filled with pride at the deed it had completed, only to lose her smirk and the metallic heaviness in her stomach: both feelings being replaced by pure rage. The prey was now leaning against another bludgeon, looking amused and almost bored. Bored!
How dares the prey insult us like this?
It howled, the negative emotions exploding along with her power. The stalker's body was now engulfed in electricity, sending out bolts the tore holes through the energy bridge with each strike. Kairi backed away, realizing she was no longer in a position to toy with Larxene's minion. "Fear!" It shrieked in a voice of pure voltage, triumphantly noting its victim's emotions. "It feelses fear!" The Larxene-beast raised its claws into the air, the unnaturally long digits forming a giant ball of power that crackled into the sky.
"Die!"
Kairi prepared for the worst as the sphere rocketed towards her, silently praying that Namine, Sora, and Riku would all somehow be alright. Dear God… She began, before her head was suddenly filled with a vision of the blue-haired woman, Aqua, casting a spell. A crystalline arrow that had been shooting towards her was suddenly blasted back at her foe. Without realizing it, Kairi spoke in the voice of the Keybearing woman.
"Reflect!"
With Kairi and Aqua's power combined, the full might of the attack was fired back at the copy, who shrieked in pain as she fell down against the bridge, her lengthy body preventing her from falling through one of the holes she created. The princess fell to her knees from the sheer momentum, but quickly gathered her bearings and hoisted herself up by the teeth of her Keyblade. She examined her wounded arm and grimaced. The wound was festering and would require immediate medical attention. Already she felt so very weak…
Suddenly a blast of darkness shot over her head and another ghoulish cry resounded. The girl spun around to see the Larxene fake, who had recovered and was preparing a deadly ambush, clutch her crumbling face in pain as the acidic darkness ate away at her body. Stumbling backwards, the banshee fell through one of the bridge holes, her screams enveloped by the Nothingness below.
Kairi turned to see a boy with spiky white hair looking up at her holding what appeared to be Riku's Soul Eater and a crossbow. Glancing to the right, the princess saw Namine choking her own enemy, one of her dark chains wrapped firmly around the creature's neck. As the shackles tightened, the banshee's paper white skin blanched even more before its entire body crumbled into tiny bits that slid soundlessly off the edge and into oblivion.
Namine dropped her chain, breathing hard and bleeding from several places, the crimson liquid staining her previously flawless white dress. Summoning a gust of aero magic, she cleared the remaining fragments before finally noticing the dark knight waiting apprehensively below. Wearily, and with a twinge of hysteria, the witch's face broke out into a grin, recognizing the Replica even after his transformation. She ran to greet him, throwing her slender arms around his neck and squeezing as hard as she could. "Okay, okay!" Delta managed, laughing. "Give me a little room to breathe Namine!" She giggled, her warm smile nothing like the mirthless laugh of her former sadistic captor. "I'm just happy you're alright."
"Augh!"
The trio of teenagers looked up to see Axel flying through the air and landing horribly onto the melting bridge. Above him, the real Larxene hovered, the glow of lava casting demonic shadows along the walls as electricity discharged off of her. Kairi choked down a whimper, not wanting to give her opponent the satisfaction of seeing her trepidation. The Nymph would make it impossible to return to defuse Aros, at least by land, and the energy storm's disruption could make Corridors of Darkness within the Castle deadly. "Run." The princess whispered, slowly realizing how she was sealing Sora's fate within the puppet. No one moved, transfixed by the harpy charging her power before them. She would destroy them all, but not quickly. Larxene always played with her victims before finishing them off.
"Run!"
Delta quickly sent his arm around Namine's shoulders, causing her to bite her lip uncomfortably as the Nobody realized how their reunion was anything but platonic for the replica. As gently as she could while sprinting, the witch brushed his arm away and ran to link pinkies with her sister. Kairi calmed at the soft touch of her dearest friend. Selphie wonderful of course, but she was always so preoccupied with boys that the princess seldom found her company as pleasant as Namine's had been. They had an unspoken bond of friendship that reassured each girl as they battled through their own emotional and physical turmoil.
Axel, catching up to Delta, snapped his gloved fingers in front of the spellbound apprentice's face, the flicker of heat drawing him out of the confused and awestruck gaze he had fixed upon Namine. "We have company, lover-boy, got it memorized?" The Rogue's burning hands harshly grabbed the replica's face, directing it at the Nymph storming towards them, mounting an electrical assault that ate away at Kairi's flimsy bridge. Delta shot an arrow from his crossbow, the point pulsating with Darkness. Discharging a ball of fire into the thin landscape onto which the pointed projectile hit, Axel and Delta ignited the site in a dark inferno, the result of the combination of their powers.
Axel looked back to see Namine and Kairi running to aid DiZ, who was shooting lethal holes through oncoming Neoshadows. He smiled contentedly, happy to see the girls safe, before reverting to a stern mask to reemphasize his authority to Delta. Don't go soft on me now… A shaft of voltage hit him in the shoulder, sending the trump card sprawling down the slope. Digging his fingertips into one of shimmering gaps in the bridge, Axel halted his plummet, watching in agony as Larxene levitated over the firestorm, attacking Delta with her dangerous thunder magic.
Delta parried her attacks with his Soul Eater, fearing not only for himself, but also for Namine as well. He didn't care so much about Kairi. Each attempt to distract the Savage Nymph with the projectiles of his crossbow met only in disaster as Larxene simply annihilated each arrow with a burst of electricity. The harpy giggled cruelly. "And so ends the pitiful life of a replica." She raised her knives into the air, preparing to finish off the nuisance in one solid strike.
Suddenly a whirlwind stirred below the sadist in the inferno. The gusts increased in speed and power before rising up into a dangerous cyclone that enveloped the Traitor. Larxene screamed in pain and rage as the fire tornado engulfed her body, sparks of power shooting from within the twister. Delta could only look on in surprise and relief as the fire and wind fought against their prisoner.
"The she-demon lives."
Delta spun around and raised his sword against the lance-wielding memory who calmly hovered beside the bridge. "Be still, boy, I wish you no harm. My master approves of your works and has chosen you as Guide to the Memory-Keeper, the one that will free me of my service." The guardian waited for his subject to respond or at least break from his baffled expression. After a few moments, Xaldin gave up and continued. "If you fail my master, however, I shall come back for you," Aero magic began to encase the mysterious sentinel as he prepared to return to his domain. "And your dark mistress shall not be able to save you then."
And just as quietly as he had arrived, Xaldin was gone once more with a soft breeze. Pulling the disoriented Axel to his feet, Delta half-carried, half-dragged the man down the slant until they reached the trio, the three still keeping the Neoshadows at bay. Blasting back a ravenous Heartless, the Replica summoned a large Corridor of Darkness, guiding everyone but DiZ into the gloom. As the shadows shrouded the last bit of Axel's vibrant hair, the bandaged man turned to his apprentice irritably. "That hardly looks like a victory, Replica. You were supposed to bring me Sora, not some island princess and, and…" Now flustered, the revenge-seeker threw his hands up in disgust. "Her Nobody!"
Synching his navigational watch, Delta smirked at his master, no longer fearful of his wrath. "Relax,
"I have a plan."
Deep within the halls of Castle Oblivion, Zexion stood proudly before a steaming upright vat, powered by expertly crafted machinery. Riku and Lexaeus stood stoically behind him, ignoring the jittery 44 twitching in the corner. Barely looking at the screen, the Schemer typed intricate coding into the touch screen monitor, adjusting the temperature and molecular discharges occurring inside. His Lexicon Laptop sat atop the Memory Console, feeding perfectly gathered recollections into the experiment inside, shaping the being's personality and traits.
An expulsion of vapor heralded 44 to cool down the machinery with subtle control over his icy powers. Zexion nodded at Riku, signaling him to put his bare hand on a generator panel, filling the smoothly humming machinery with his pure darkness. Power nodes lit up along the metal-enclosed vat's surface until the final pane at the top was illuminated with a soft ding. Zexion called off his minions with uncontained glee, as the device powered down and finished its sequence.
Slowly but confidently, the leader of the Loyalists approached the apparatus, waving his hand through the air to telepathically open the enclosure. Within the circular chamber was a similarly shaped glass tank, its insides obscured by steam. Looking at the others deviously, Zexion braced himself and clasped his right hand into a fist, immediately clearing the cavity.
Riku gasped, even lifting up a side of his dark blindfold to get a better look. His startling blue eye widened in shock before it turned amber, sending the dark paladin sprawling to cover his shameful mark once more. Inside the glass enclosure was a fit young man with dark red hair and strange marks under his eyes. He was completely unclothed besides the dark straps over his arms, chest, calves, and one thick band to cover his waist that secured him to the wall, keeping the newborn's unbridled rage in check. Red electricity sparked from within the tank and over the circuitry.
Zexion ran his fingers over the glass, triumphantly viewing his creation. "Titanium alloy endoskeleton…" He mused to no one in particular. "Organic components replicated from the memories of Axel during his stay at Castle Oblivion only…. Perfect. This means our recollections will be mostly comprised of Larxene." He rapidly typed his notes into the laptop. "'Subject Zero seems to have developed Number Twelve's electrical abilities, but bears physical resemblance to Number Eight. Possible facial defects. Super-increased body temperature.'" The Loyalist glanced back at the fuming experiment. "Hmm… Curioius… 'Seems as if Subject Zero has the body of a teenager; younger than myself, but older than Riku… Seventeen perhaps. Possibly a side effect of Roxas-oriented memories. Further developments will follow.'"
Zexion, content with his report, confidently removed the glass telekinetically, making it disappear soundlessly. Now face to face with his creation, the Cloaked Schemer reached into the folds of his cloak and withdrew a set of black goggles, placing them over the forehead of the experiment, giving the being his first piece of clothing. As if appraising an object, the conspirator stepped back to examine his master weapon. "The first successful Replica of the Empire… We shall call him….
"Reno."
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Phew! That was long overdue! But fairly fun to write…
Let me be clear about something: I have no intention of turning Namine and Kairi into a romantic couple. I'm not against homosexuality, but they have more of a sisterly relationship and it is strictly platonic. Besides, both will be soon tangled in an intricate enough web of love. Meanwhile, I have big plans for Zexion's Replica Project! I hope you enjoy! Please review and stay tuned!