Chapter 15
Sora and the gang ran out from the ruins of the bailey and out into the creviced plains past Hollow Bastion. The rock was an eerie purple-blue color, shadowing anything that might have been following them. Running and jumping over rocks and debris, they made their way through to some dated ruins. Pillars and beautiful mosaic tiles had collapsed and cracked, but there was still a clear pathway towards the other side.
"Once we pass through here, we'll be at the forefront of the wave of Heartless and Nobodies. Whoa!" Sora suddenly skidded to a halt as a black portal opened in front of them; who should step out but a member of Organization XIII, if anyone had any doubts.
Looking around, the member took off their hood and smiled at the three. "Well, you're all looking lively today." The Nobody had a large blonde mohawk with the rest of his head in a buzz cut.
"Scram!" Donald said.
"Hey, didn't we catch you messing around in the Underworld? How did a weakling like you join the Organization?" Sora asked. The Nobody looked indignant. "I bet you can't even fight."
The Nobody shook his finger at them. "You really shouldn't judge people just by appearance." Sora, Donald, and Goofy raised their weapons at him and prepared for battle. "Hey, hey, hey! Oh, I told them they were sending the wrong guy..." The Nobody turned around and began talking to himself.
"Who is this guy?" Sora wondered.
"Considering he's from the Organization, that means he has no heart."
The Nobody spun around. "We do too have hearts! Don't be mad at us!"
"You can't trick us," Sora responded, sounding bored.
The Nobody slowly turned, his demeanor changing from foolish mischievousness to one of ominous solemnity. "Silence, traitor," he said flatly while pointing at Sora. Suddenly, droplets of water began forming around him, falling up instead of down. Reaching his hand up, he created a large water bubble, and from it he produced a blue sitar-like weapon. "I, Demyx, will be the one to drown your pitiful heart!"
Sora, Donald, and Goofy prepared their own weapons. This guy's attitude is completely different from before, Sora thought. What brought on this sudden change? His ponderings were cut short as geysers of water began to shoot up from the ground and blast them back and forth. Demyx was the Nobody with the ability to control water at his beck and call, sending tidal waves, blasts, and more geysers their way constantly. Sora could hardly fight back without being soaked to the bone.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy fought with their all. Goofy smashing with his shield, Donald casting spells on Demyx and his water forms, Sora brandishing and thrusting his Keyblade into the highly evasive water. However, Demyx evaded most of them with his rock star moves, using his sitar to control the water around them.
After whipping yet another water form at Demyx and obliterating several others in the process, Sora was getting tired of Demyx avoiding his attacks with his perpetual geysers. Also, those moving water bombs were hard to hit and just as hard to avoid. "What's the matter, Sora? If I'm weak, then why am I kicking your –" He was cut off by a Blizzard from Donald, temporarily freezing his water attacks.
"Come on Sora, get with the program! Use your Drive Form or Summon already!" Donald shouted.
"Oh, right!" Sora thought quickly – what could he use that would defeat Demyx quickly? Smiling, he yelled "Give me strength!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy all glowed for a moment before Sora's new Master Form took shape. A Keyblade in each hand, Sora doubled his speed from before and lunged at Demyx. A fierce battle ensued, but as they prolonged the battle Sora's could feel his energy waning with every dodge and hit. We've got to end this before we separate! Sora heard Donald say inside of his head. Nodding to no one is particular, Sora charged his Keyblades.
Demyx, for once not acting like a complete fool, noticed this reaction and decided to throw off the Keybearer. Grinning, he said, "Hey Sora. I remember when your sister was in the Organization. Man, was she ruthless. All the people she took hearts from, the towns she destroyed. She was practically Number I's lapdog, begging for any scraps from him." He could see Sora stop in his tracks, his full attention on Demyx. Sora gripped his Keyblades tighter, his eyes beginning to smolder with anger. Demyx took the opportunity to start creating more water bombs behind Sora.
"Don't you dare talk about my sister that way," Sora said warningly.
Demyx continued, loving how the conversation was going. Might as well go all the way, he thought. "Oh, and do you know what my favorite thing she did was? You're going to love this: she was the one who took personal charge of destroying your beloved Destiny Islands and splitting you and your friends up in the darkness!"
Sora froze in his tracks, his body unable to move and his mind paralyzed. Sora! Come on, snap out of it! Goofy mentally shouted. However, this information was too much for Sora, and his Master Form ran out and split up the group once more. As soon as Demyx saw this, he fired his water bombs and hit the three pitilessly. Donald and Goofy were thrown to one side of their makeshift arena, while Sora was thrown to the other. Donald and Goofy stood up straight away and continued fighting; unfortunately, Sora slowly got to his knees and shakily stood up, but had not reentered the fight yet.
Come on body, move! Sora said to himself. His body felt like lead, and he could not force himself to go forward even an inch. Why can't I move? Is it because of what Demyx said? But Geni was under the Organization's control – it wasn't her fault! Sora's feet gradually began to move forward. I know it was terrible to lose my home, then Riku and Kairi. It wasn't her fault! It wasn't! Sora began to speed up, heading straight for Demyx.
Donald, seeing that Sora had finally snapped out of it, occupied Demyx's attention while Sora attacked from behind. Goofy saw this, and took a second side to split Demyx's attention in two. They had worn him down, and he was almost out of energy when Sora attacked.
"It wasn't her fault!" he yelled while slicing and dicing Demyx to his peril with his Keyblade. Demyx was so caught up in the attack he couldn't concentrate enough to get his water to defend him.
"Are you sure?" he said with a laugh as he felt his end drawing near. Demyx began to glow as Sora attacked him. "If I'm going down, you're coming with me!" Demyx glowed brighter than the sun for a few moments before his body exploded with the force of several hurricanes. Donald and Goofy were far enough away to avoid most of the force, but Sora was unfortunately at the epicenter of it and was thrown at several hundred miles per hour at the wall behind him.
Boom! Crack! Sora left a huge indentation in the wall where the force of the blast had thrown him. Unluckily for him, he had landed on his arm and fell to the ground half conscious because of the pain.
"SORA!" Donald and Goofy shouted as they ran to their injured friend.
"Ah!" Geni cried, holding her left shoulder. She had been bending down to pick up a box full of bandages when her shoulder seared with roaring pain.
"My dear! Are you all right?" Merlin asked, looking concerned. Geni was bending over, her right arm clasping her left shoulder.
"I think so," she said as the pain slowly subsided. "I didn't hit or pull anything, so what –?" Her eyes growing wide, she looked at her shoulder in horror. "It's Sora! I have to go!" She got up and grabbed her small backpack full of supplies and ran out of the first aid tent.
"But wait! You don't know where he is!" Merlin cried. "Geni, come back!" But his words fell upon deaf ears; Geni knew to follow her instinct and began running as fast as she could for the far borough near Merlin's house and the bailey. Reaching the ruined bailey, she looked around. Heartless and Nobodies were still swarming into the city. She knew Aerith, Yuffie, Leon, Tifa, and Cloud were out on the plains fighting, but where were King Mickey, Sora, Donald, and Goofy? Closing her eyes for a moment, she thought of Sora. A shot of pain ran through her arm, but she ignored it, jumping down from stone to stone next to where the Heartless had made their makeshift entrance.
She followed a path the Heartless had made, running into only a few, surprisingly. Using her staff, she destroyed several of them, but still kept running. After a few minutes, she came upon a ruined structure which looked like it had recently seen a battle. Slowing on the tiled ground, she looked around her.
"Geni! What are you doing here?" a voice quacked. She looked to her right, and was terrified at what she saw. Donald and Goofy were leaning over what looked like an unconscious Sora, his left arm bent at a funny angle.
"Sora!" Geni cried, running over to her brother. "What happened?" she asked, as she kneeled next to him. She was out of breath and heaving, but she was where she was needed the most right now.
"Demyx, from the Organization," Donald said. "His last attack was a kamikaze; we were mostly protected but Sora took the full force of it. Something's wrong with his arm, but I don't know what."
Looking at Sora, Geni realized why his armed looked so strange. She gently poked and prodded his shoulder, earning her a definitive alive-sounding noise from her brother. "His shoulder has come out of its socket; we have to put it back in."
Sora was fading in and out of blackness, his left shoulder searing in pain. He scrunched his eyes tight, trying to make the pain go away. "Sora? Sora, open your eyes." He heard a gentle voice calling his name, and the pain faded enough so he could open his eyes. Staring down at him was a pair of concerned ocean blue eyes. "Sora?"
"Geni? What are you doing here?" he managed to croak out before he cried out in pain.
"Here, take some of this," Geni replied, holding up a small green bottle she had brought out while rummaging through her knapsack.
Sora took the bottle with his good right hand and tried swallowing it. Gagging and trying to spit it back out, he said, "What's in this stuff?"
"Natural pain relievers that won't slow you down."
She was right; the pain in Sora's shoulder slowly ebbed away. "What happened? I remember fighting Demyx, and then this light…"
"You hit the wall a little too hard," Goofy said, smiling.
"You've dislocated your shoulder," Geni said. "I have to pop it back in or you won't be fighting any more Heartless today." She poked around inside her backpack and brought out a large cylinder wrapped in cloth. "I need you to bite down on this when we do it – I'm sorry, but it will be quite painful at first. Donald, hold down his arms. Goofy, hold down his legs." Geni helped Sora sit up and lean against the chasm wall, and Donald and Goofy assumed their positions.
"Are you sure about his?" Sora said warily.
"Positive – and I've done this before, so don't worry," Geni replied with a large comforting smile. Sora nodded, and used his right hand to put the cylinder in his mouth.
"Mmm-mm," he mumbled.
"Okay, on three you guys." She gently pulled Sora's arm up until it was horizontal to his shoulder. She placed his hand on her shoulder, and her hands on the end of his to steady it. Donald and Goofy held him down tightly, and Sora bit down and closed his eyes. "One, two, three!" Geni shoved Sora's arm in, earning her a muffled scream from him. Pop! "And we're done," she said, letting go.
Sora had a few tears in his eyes from the pain, but already his shoulder was feeling better. Taking the cylinder out, he said "Thanks a lot. I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't shown up."
Geni shook her head and blushed a little. "It was nothing; I sort of…felt the pain in my own shoulder and assumed something was wrong, so I came looking for you guys. Eat this, and you should be feeling fine." Geni had fished out a small tablet from a bottle in her backpack. Sora popped it in his mouth, and his pain vanished. He slowly and carefully moved his shoulder and arm around a little, but there was no pain and no slowness.
"I feel great!" he shouted. Geni laughed, still sitting on the ground, panting heavily but not as much as before. Sora bent down and hugged her tightly. "You shouldn't have pushed yourself so hard just because of me," he whispered into her ear.
Geni hugged him back. "Silly, I did it because it was you." Sora let go and helped her up by pulling on her hands. Standing up, she dusted off her skirt. Her clothes were dirty, but you could see she was wearing workable clothing. Her skirt was dark denim with an aqua tank top and mini jacket. She also had on her favorite pair of sandals, as usual. "By the way, where's King Mickey?"
"Aha! There you are!" a small voice shouted from behind them. King Mickey was walking towards them, a stern scowl on his face. Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked everywhere but him; Geni could tell right away something was up.
"King Mickey! I didn't know you were in Hollow Bastion," she said, trying to lighten up the mood.
"Hello, Geni. It's good to see you, but you should be up where it is safe inside the city walls."
She nodded. "I know, I just came here to help out Sora."
"I see," he said. Sighing, he smiled. "You sure have a lot of friends to help." Sora, Donald, and Goofy all looked at him, slightly bewildered and relieved at the same time. "So, I think it's time we finish this battle for good!"
"Yes, your majesty!" the three shouted, saluting. Geni giggled at this, knowing only too much how corny her brother and friends were. King Mickey nodded, and started heading towards the main part of the chasm.
High above them, a Dusk was in the process of destroying a Heartless. The explosion it set off in the process caused large pieces of rock to fly off of the chasm wall and towards King Mickey. Goofy noticed this, and tried to warn him.
"Look out!" he cried as he pushed King Mickey out of the way. The small boulder hit Goofy hard on his head, sending him flying into the wall behind him. He lay there motionless.
"Goofy!" Sora cried. Donald, Geni, and Sora ran towards their fallen comrade.
"No…" King Mickey uttered.
Donald was the first to reach him. "Hey, you're the King's Captain! You have to get up! I'm sorry about the ice cream!"
"Goofy, wake up!" Sora pleaded. Geni knelt down beside him, her eyes scanning her friend for signs of life.
"Oh Goofy," Donald warbled.
"This can't be happening…it just can't…" Sora said to himself. He hung his head, tears stinging his eyes. Geni put her hand on Sora's shoulder, at the same time trying to find a pulse in Goofy's wrist.
King Mickey clenched his fists. "They'll pay for this," he said angrily as he ripped off his Organization XIII cloak, revealing his regular red clothes underneath – ones similar to what Sora was wearing. Withdrawing his Keyblade, he ran forth into the chasm. Donald with a war cry soon followed after.
"Sora, wait," Geni said as she grabbed his arm, stopping him from leaving as well. "Don't let your emotions control you. I'll stay with Goofy and do what I can."
Sora nodded, leaving Goofy in quite capable hands. Running through twisted passageways, Sora helped Yuffie, Leon, Tifa, and Cloud fight off the Heartless. Most of the battles were quite easy, but Sora's heart was laden with the sadness of possibly losing one of his best friends. Geni, please help Goofy. Make sure he'll be okay, he thought as he destroyed a Large Body.
And she was. Geni had begun checking Goofy over as soon as Sora had left. She had quickly found a faint but persistent pulse, and used some of her magic to strengthen Goofy's weakened energy. After a few minutes, he was snoring loudly – a good sign that he was just fine. If anything, he'll have one heck of a headache. Good thing Goofy has a hard head, Geni said to herself as she watched over him.
Behind her, twenty or so Heartless had made their way past Sora and his friends and were creeping up on her. Suddenly sensing the darkness behind her, Geni turned quickly and whipped her staff into an offensive stance. The Heartless came at her in small groups from all angles, making it nearly impossible to destroy them all at once. While Geni was fighting a Jazz in front of her, several Soldiers crept up behind her. She had just turned around and saw them not two feet away from her when they were obliterated. "You've got to be more careful," a cheerful voice told her.
After a long while of prolonged fighting, Sora made his way to a crystal fissure. As he came to a bend in the passage, he saw Donald and King Mickey waiting for him. He came up to them and bent over, breathing hard.
"Are you okay?" King Mickey asked him.
"Yeah, I'm fine, but..."
"Oh, Goofy," Donald sighed. He and King Mickey looked to the ground and thought about the possible loss of their friend.
"Hey fellers!" a voice shouted out from the front of the passageway. Sora, Donald, and King Mickey all looked up to see Goofy running towards them, waving.
"Goofy!" they all shouted with joy.
"Ya know," Goofy said as he joined them, "That really hurt!"
"Aw, Goofy!" King Mickey said as he hugged his friend tightly.
"Gawrsh, your majesty, I get bumped on the head all the time. Even Geni said my hard head is what saved my noggin." Goofy didn't see that Donald was walking up to him with a stern look on his face. Reaching him, he swung around and hit Goofy hard on the knee with his staff. "Ow! That hurt too!"
"Don't you ever do that again!" Donald shouted at him.
Sora sighed, glad Goofy was alright. "Hey Goofy, where's Geni? Isn't she with you?"
Goofy shook his head, still rubbing his knee. "No, I sent her back up to the town..."
"Goofy! You're awake!" Geni shouted as she ran to him and hugged him. "How are you feeling?"
"Well, now that I had that nice nap, much better! My head does hurt a little though. Hey, where is everybody?" he asked, looking around.
"They left pretty angry when you were knocked out. They're down in the chasm fighting the Heartless and Nobodies with everyone."
"Well, then I had better skedaddle and go help them. I know this might not seem fair, but could you head back to town? I'm sure King Mickey and Sora would feel much better if you were out of harm's way."
"Of course; I'm probably needed up there anyway. I also left without really telling Merlin where I went, so he is probably worried too." Reaching into her knapsack, she took out several bottles. "Here's some potion and ether, just in case. Good luck!"
"Thanks!" Goofy said. He put the bottles in his pockets and headed for the main part of the chasm. "Be careful!" he shouted back.
"You too!" Geni yelled. Smiling, she picked up all of her things and began to make her way back towards the bailey.
"...so she should be back at the town square by now."
"Good," said King Mickey. "Well, shall we finish this?"
"Alright!" Sora said as he punched the air. The four of them raced out of the crystal fissure and into the maw of the chasm. Ahead of them stood the main body of the army of Heartless, unmoving. "What's with them?" Sora wondered.
"Look!" Goofy cried as he pointed to one of the nearby hills. A figure in black had just emerged and removed his hood. "It's the guy who's not Ansem – his Nobody!"
"The leader of Organization XIII..." Sora murmured.
"Wait a minute! Now I know where I've seen him – he used to be Ansem the Wise's apprentice, Xehanort! The leader of Organization XIII is Xehanort's Nobody!" Whipping out his Keyblade, King Mickey ran after Xehanort's Nobody.
"Let's go!" Sora shouted, but was stopped short as thousands of Heartless surrounded the three of them. "Hey, move it!" he yelled at the Heartless.
"We can't let Xehanort get away!" Donald said. Sora looked at them, and looked out at the Heartless. Donald and Goofy gave him a thumbs up, then dashed away into the midst of the sea of Heartless. Sora turned and ran in the opposite direction into them. For what seemed like forever, Sora, Donald, and Goofy pummeled and smashed Heartless. Using their own attacks against them, like Rising Sun and Sparkle Ray, Sora beat the one thousand Heartless in about ten minutes or so – probably a new record for anyone.
Running through the now empty maw, Sora found himself in yet more passageways. Finding himself at a cross section again, he paused to catch his breath. Turning around, he saw that Donald and Goofy had caught up to him.
"Where's the king?" Donald asked.
Looking around, Goofy spotted him just ahead of them. "There he is!" The three of them ran forward just in time to see King Mickey speaking with Xehanort's Nobody. "Your majesty!"
King Mickey turned and nodded to them. "Xehanort! You have some explaining to do!"
"How long has it been since I have abandoned that name," the Nobody drawled.
"Out with it Nobody! Where's Kairi? Where's Riku?" Sora said angrily.
"I know nothing of any Kairi. As for Riku...why don't you ask your king?" Sora looked confused for a moment. As he was about to say something to King Mickey, King Mickey yelled "Stop!" Xehanort had opened a dark portal and was disappearing through it. King Mickey ran and jumped through the portal without any second thoughts.
"He's gone again," Sora whispered. He slumped to the ground, pounding his fist in anger. Why is everyone being so secretive about Riku and Kairi?! he thought to himself. Goofy came over and put a hand on Sora's shoulder.
"Sora, Goofy," Donald began before he was interrupted.
"Way to fall right into their trap," someone said behind them. The trio turned around and prepared for battle against a red headed Nobody. "Come on, it's a setup by the Organization. Xemnas is using you to destroy the Heartless – that is his big master plan."
"Who's Xemnas?" Donald asked warily.
"The guy you just saw, this Xehanort's Nobody you were talking about. He's Number I, the leader, the alpha male. X-E-M-N-A-S, Xemnas. Got it memorized?" he said, tapping his head.
"Why does Organization XIII want to get rid of the Heartless?" Goofy asked.
"Man, you guys are clueless." Pointing to Sora's Keyblade, he said, "Every Heartless slain with that releases a captive heart. That is what they are after."
"What are they going to do with all of the hearts?" Donald asked.
"Sorry, that's for me to know and for you to find out." He grinned and looked at them superiorly.
"You...you are the one who kidnapped Kairi, aren't you?" Sora said accusingly.
"Congratulations! The name is Axel; got it memorized?"
"Where's Kairi?" said Sora, his eyes turning angry. Axel looked away for a moment, scratching his head. "Please – just tell me!" Sora begged him.
"Look, about Kairi...I'm sorry. Saïx took her from me. Big guy with blue hair and an x-shaped scar across his face – can't miss him." Axel then opened a dark portal and stepped through it.
"Wait!" Sora shouted – but it was too late. Axel was gone, and so were any leads to Kairi. "Kairi..." he said despairingly.
"Sora," Donald said gently. "Let's head back to the city. Anyone who could give us information is gone now, and people might still need help from those earthquakes or the Heartless and Nobodies."
Looking at Donald, he nodded silently. The made their way back through the passageways in the chasm outside of the city and soon arrived at the bailey. They met a few Heartless and Nobodies along the way, but quickly dispatched with them. Jumping from ledge to ledge, the three of them made their way towards the top of the bailey and back towards the borough where Merlin lived.
Here, there was barely any damage. A few windows were cracked, and some tiles had been displaced off of roof tops. As they drew closer to the city center, there was even less damage, and no Heartless or Nobodies either. Reaching the town square, it was packed with people sitting together in the middle away from the buildings. Some were eating or passing out food, while others entertained the children. Sora saw a large tent across the way and assumed it must be the first aid tent Yuffie was talking about earlier. Slowly making their way through the large crowd, they met Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, Cid, and Merlin talking outside of the tent.
"You're back!" Yuffie said. "How did it go?"
"Exhausting," Sora said. "Where did all of the Heartless and Nobodies come from? There were thousands of them in the main part of the chasm, and still more all over the place."
"We're not sure," Leon replied. "The Heartless were the ones who started the earthquakes, and we haven't had any since –" However, Leon spoke too soon. Just then, an immeasurable earthquake shook the entire city. "Everyone! Get down!" The earthquake was the largest one yet, and it lasted for at least ten minutes. Carts and boxes fell over, and people crowded away from the buildings lest they fell on them. One house in the far corner of the square collapsed, and a large booming sound could be heard coming from near the old castle. As the tremors subsided, people cautiously got up, checking for injury or damage.
Sora had been ducking his head, covering it with his hands. Donald was hiding under a nearby table with some little children, and Goofy had his head under a bush. When Sora felt it was safe to get up, he looked around. Babies and the littlest children were crying, while the older adults tried checking on everyone to make sure no one was hurt.
"Damn it," Cid said. "That hurt!" Cid had gotten hit on the head with a roofing tile, and a small trickle of blood was running down the side of his face.
"Come on Cid, I'll take a look at it," Aerith said as she led Cid inside the first aid tent. "Watch out for the glass." Assuming Geni was in the tent, Sora followed Aerith. Some glass bottles full of peroxide and iodine had been broken and spilled over the cobblestones. Aerith had Cid sit down on a cot and put a piece of cloth onto his head to put pressure onto the bleeding. "It's barely a scratch, so don't make such a fuss," she said as she went to the cabinet for another bottle of peroxide.
"Hey Aerith, I thought Geni was supposed to be here?" Sora asked as he carefully picked up a few shards of glass and put them into a garbage can.
"Oh! We were going to ask you about that. Geni ran off earlier to look for you, and we haven't seen her since. Wasn't she with you?"
"No...Goofy asked her to come back here after she helped us out." Sora began to worry. Dropping the rest of the glass into the bin, he said, "I'll be back to help clean up." Running outside, he went straight towards Leon. "Leon, have you seen Geni?"
Leon was helping to right a vegetable cart that had tipped over, spilling carrots and lettuce into the street. "Not recently. Why?"
Sora ran and asked everyone around if they had seen his sister. With each negative answer, Sora started to panic. He ran back to the first aid tent to see Goofy talking with Donald. "Goofy, are you sure Geni said she was going back to town?"
"A-hyuck, of course. I even saw her heading back the way we had come."
"Well, no one around here has seen her for at least an hour or two, ever since she left to help us – which means she never came back...or couldn't." Curling his hands into fists, Sora ran back towards Merlin's borough. Where could she have gone? Geni would never break a promise like that to Goofy, which means something must have happened to her on the way back...
And Sora was right. Geni had been walking back towards the bailey, knocking out a few Heartless along the way. She had just entered the bailey when she thought she heard someone calling for help.
"What was that?" Geni said to herself, stopping. Straining her ears, she listened. Nothing – no wind, no Heartless, no Nobodies, not anything. Wait – what was that?
"Help me! Somebody!" she heard faintly from the passage leading towards the old castle. Figuring someone might have been caught in one of the earthquakes, she hurried to follow the voice. Walking quickly through the passageways, she found herself entering a large construction site. Large equipment surrounded her: cranes, bulldozers, dump trucks, cherry pickers, and many others. High above her stretched the almost completed bridge that connected Hollow Bastion with the countryside. The Restoration Committee was planning on expanding the city outside of the bailey with the new bridge.
"Hello?" Geni called out timidly. "Is anyone here?" She walked slowly through the area, checking for signs of life.
"Over here! I'm stuck!" She hurried to where she heard the voice and saw that a bulldozer had fallen over, and a shadow of a person was pounding on the window trying to get out.
"Hold still! I'll try and pry the door open!" Looking around, Geni saw a crowbar. Picking it up she jumped onto the side of the bulldozer and shoved the lever end into the door. "Almost there! Watch out!" She shimmied the crowbar back and forth, and soon she heard a pop as the door opened. "Here, let me help you –"
There was no one inside the bulldozer, but there was a large explosion as the bulldozer blew up, sending Geni flying into the dirt behind her. She landed hard and rolled a little ways until she came to a stop. What's going on? she thought to herself as she eyed the area around her looking for enemies.
"Such a foolish and easily gullible girl," she heard a nasty voice say. Swiveling her head, she saw Maleficent standing not twenty feet in front of her.
"Maleficent! What are you doing here, you witch?" Geni slowly got up on her feet, showing off a few cuts and bruises.
"Why, this is my home. Am I not allowed to do with it what I please?"
"You don't live here, you monster! Hollow Bastion is no longer under your control!" Geni grabbed her staff from its holder on her hip and flipped it out to its full length, pointing it dangerously towards Maleficent. "Leave, now!"
"I think not!" Maleficent raised her hands and created a green and black flamed barrier around them. "Now I shall enact my revenge against your brother on you!" Maleficent called forth Heartless and fired different elemental spells at her. Geni dodged the spells and slew the Heartless as best as she could, but she was still tired from her run earlier and the explosion. She retaliated by firing her own spells at Maleficent, and even struck her once or twice.
As they fought, neither one noticed the ground beginning to slightly tremble underneath them. The glass on the windows of the construction vehicles began to shake and rattle, and the bridge above them loosed some dirt and small pebbles. Maleficent, tiring of the battle, charged her long wand for a wave of darkness which Geni couldn't avoid and threw her back against the barrier.
She landed hard, and staggered to get up. Her body was physically exhausted, and she could barely move. I have to defeat Maleficent! I can't let her hurt anyone, especially Sora! Strengthening her resolve, she directed her energy into her staff. As she ran forward, the ground pitched underneath her and opened slightly. She tried to move out of the way but it was too late: her foot fell into the crack and was stuck tight. Her forward momentum kept her going, and she fell forward onto her face practically breaking her leg in half. She grimaced in pain; she had landed on her right wrist and it felt like it was at least sprained, and her head was aching from where she had hit it on the ground. Looking back, she saw her left ankle was stuck in the large crack; she was lucky she fell on her side and bent at her knee so no real damage was done.
Maleficent had been a little luckier and had not fallen into anything. She now saw her chance at ridding herself of at least one pest. The earthquake was still shaking the ground violently, but she steadied herself enough to send a large magical bolt of energy into the bridge high above them. "Have a pleasant trip, my dear, to the afterlife!" Maleficent disappeared into her portal of green and black flames as her spell hit the bridge. The bridge exploded, and hailed down upon Geni in car sized boulders and larger. The little pieces hit her first, like rain, until the first boulder hit the ground not too far from her.
She tried to get up and free her foot, but it was stuck fast. The more she tried to pry it loose, the more the ground closed in on her and scraped her leg. She already had several cuts that were bleeding down her leg. Looking up at the bridge that was going to fall on her, she tried making herself as small as possible. Her aching head made it hard to concentrate. Sora, she thought to herself as she closed her eyes. No one even knows that I'm here...