Author's Notes:
• I do not own Kingdom Hearts, How To Train Your Dragon, or Disney. Period. End of discussion.
• I don't know why, but I figured that if HTTYD was actually a world in one of the games, Maleficent would make the perfect enemy since the Red Death is, well, dead.
• Was planning on doing a similar story for other characters to give more depth to the tale through different points of view.
• Not sure if I'm going to actually go through with my idea since I'm currently stuck on Astrid's part.
• I haven't written a story that implies a fight in a while, and I have been asked by different people if I would ever write one. Well, this is the closest I've gotten to an actual fight sequence thus far.

Out of breath. Out of his mind. Out of range . . . for now at least.

He should have seen this coming. Why hadn't he seen this coming?

Wave after wave of the black beasts had taken a toll on everyone. He felt no remorse toward the Heartless he'd felled in the last few hours. There was no point in such a thought. It was either slay the monsters of the dark be be slain himself at the hands of their inky, black claws. He was used to fighting the Heartless. After battling against them for almost two years now, one should hope the brunette Keyblade Wielder knew what he was doing.

His target? Their leader. His task? Anything but easy. But he'd done this before. It could almost be considered a routine for Sora by now. Sometimes his mind would go completely blank while his body did what came naturally to it.

Swing. Parry. Dodge. Magic. Heal. Chained Combo. Rinse. Lather. Repeat As Necessary.

A flash of neon green.

A sudden heat wave.

A nauseous smell.

A loud, ear - splitting roar.

The sound of trees snapping and wings flapping.

Sora whirled himself around, subconsciously pulling up the collar of his shirt to cover his nose and mouth. With it being so dark out, finding his target was going to be a bit of a pain. Nowhere near as hard as trying to track down a NeoShadow... thankfully.

His azure eyes narrowed, trying to find the black reptilian body. The green fires lighting up the trees on both sides and behind him provided some illumination, but it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the new brightness. The scaled hide loomed into view, blocking the only direction Sora could run without potentially being set on fire. It's underbelly and the front of its long, thin neck was a deep and dark violet, nearly blending in with the rest of the beast's body entirely. The back of its head was adorned with two long black horns that were even present in the dragon's human form. The only reason its head was even distinguishable from the rest of the darkness were a pair of bright yellow eyes that lacked pupils; much like that of a Heartless. The inside of her narrow mouth lined with sharp black teeth was also yellow, but at the moment those jaws were closed. Adorning the beast's back, just above the shoulder blades, were a pair of wings that looked far too small when compared to the rest of the ebony monster. Spikes lined its spine, upper neck, and long, powerful tail along with ivory claws were a force to be reckoned with.

That is, if the fire didn't get you first.

The toxic green flames the beast breathed clung to whatever and whoever they touched. The fires weren't as sticky as that of a Monstrous Nightmare, but the after effect of the flames more than made up for that. Anything the flames licked at and burned released nauseous fumes into the air which, if too much is inhaled, burned at the throat and lungs. It wasn't like normal ash. Sora had the sneaking suspicion that if he breathed too much of the terrible stench, it could potentially be deadly. Aside from the terrible burning sensations, it made breathing difficult and made his nostrils feel like they were bleeding. It was possible the fumes released from the fires were poisonous.

Taking as few breaths as possible, Sora adjusted his grip on the Keyblade, currently in its Oblivion form, and glared up at the beast. The dragon before him had been defeated by his hands with the help of Donald, Goofy, and the Beast while she was still in her [i]human[/i] form and had reverted to such a twisted state at the hands of Riku, who was possessed by Xehanort's Heartless at the time. But it would seem this time the Mistress of All Evil decided to skip the first fight and go straight to her dragon form.

He'd fought this monster before when he was fourteen years old inside of the Castle Chapel of Hollow Bastion. Sora hadn't been alone then like he was now and he had been given the chance to rest up and restock his item supply before taking Maleficent on again. But Sora liked to think that he was stronger than he used to be and far wiser in the ways of battle. His current item stock was running extremely low. After splitting his Hi-Potions up between himself, Astrid, and Hiccup, Sora was lucky he even had two left at all. He'd handed over three to both of them, telling them they were for dire emergencies only. He hadn't seen either of them since this whole battle began several hours ago come to think of it. Sora hoped they were okay, but right now he wasn't in a position to drop everything and go looking for them. He'd located his target and knew that in order to end all of this, Maleficent would need to be taken down. And the sooner the better. The longer she stuck around, the more Heartless were able to leak to this world. And while the Vikings were a hardy, war-like bunch, Sora didn't want to test their luck against inhuman beasts for much longer.

Well . . . At least he wasn't [i]completely[/i] alone.

Spitfire had hung around for the majority of the battles. The green Terrible Terror was currently located on his favorite perch; Sora's head. The dragon's supply of fuel for his fire had run low not even an hour into the fighting. And by the time Sora had managed to take down the only Behemoth to show up thus far, Spitfire was completely spent. Sora couldn't blame the little dragon or be crestfallen by the news either. The Terror continued to stick with him, sending out chirps and hisses to warn him if anything was sneaking up from behind them. Spitfire would also occasionally dart out and fly quickly around a cluster of Heartless, distracting and confusing them long enough for the brunette to send them back to Kingdom Hearts. But even that had taken its toll on the small dragon as he wore out far quicker than his larger relatives. Spit's tail clung loosely around Sora's throat and shoulders, the dragon's claws barely digging into his hair to support himself.

If Spitfire thought he was weary and tired, Sora felt fatigued and short of breath. He hadn't fought this hard since he teamed up with Riku and took down Xemnas. Granted, Maleficent didn't throw fight after fight against him along with an army of Nobodies. But fighting alone was always harder than fighting with some back-up and an army of Heartless was probably a lot more annoying and taxing since there were far more Heartless species than Nobody. Heartless seemed to be a lot more numerous and any slain by something other than a Keyblade had the potential to re-spawn and go for Round 2. Even slaying 1,000 Heartless back in Hollow Bastion / Radiant Garden hadn't been this taxing in his body and mind.

Biting back any sense of doubt, Sora spread his feet apart and squared his shoulders. He could hear Spitfire twitter uncertainly over the roar of the fires behind him. The brunette almost wished the dragon had stayed behind when Spitfire had the chance, but Sora was none the less grateful for the Terror's companionship and desire to see this battle through with him.

With yellow eyes narrowed and mouth slowly opening, Maleficent curved her neck back and stood on her hind legs. If she looked big before, she appeared colossal now. Wisps of neon green smoke escaped through her flared nostrils and gaping maw. If a dragon could have a sadistic grin, she now wore one proudly. She had her target cornered, surrounded on all sides but directly in front of him by her toxic flames. The brat's only option was to either recklessly charge through the pillars of fire (which she doubted even he was stupid enough to do that) or face her jagged teeth and hellfire head-on.

Letting out a deep rumble the equivalent of a laugh, Maleficent threw her head back and spread her wings. Balls of green fire lit up before her in a circle. With another roar, she slammed her front feet onto the soft soil and opened her jaws wide. The spheres of acidic flames rained down in curved arcs, making it near impossible to determine their paths.

Having done this long before, Sora jumped back as far as he would dare to put some space between him and Maleficent. His jump served another purpose as well. It meant the shockwave that went off when the dragon slammed her front feet down passed beneath him harmlessly. The trees quivered from the powerful jolt, but the fires did not cease burning. With his magic running dangerously low and no Ethers on hand, Sora decided against calling forth a Protega spell and instead went for the old duck and dodge roll method. Some of the flames landed too close for comfort and Sora was barely able to throw the Keyblade up in time to avoid being burned at one point. After such a close call, Sora now thought he understood why Astrid had thought he was nuts for turning down the offer of a wood and iron shield.

Another sharp screech drew Sora's attention, but not in time to avoid the dragon's next offensive move. Maleficent was furious her attacks missed and she shot her head down, using her neck like a coil spring, and scooped up her young target within her jaws. Sora was just lucky enough to throw the Keyblade up in time to avoid being crushed. His sneakers pressed down on Maleficent's bright yellow tongue, both of his arms over his head to hold the Keyblade by both its handle and its teeth against the dragon's upper jaw. The jolt from being suddenly scooped up off of the ground had jarred his shirt loose from his nose and mouth. The dragon's breath smelt terrible and the idea of being within the jaws of death was barred from crossing his mind through sheer force of will.

And the green gas began to build up again.

Spitfire hissed and jumped down from Sora's head, using what little might he had to pierce the long, forked tongue with his claws. Maleficent hissed sharply, sending out her flames as a mere defensive reaction and swinging her head around violently. And with Sora still trapped between her jaws, he was as good as fried.

Or at least, Sora would have become a Kentucky Fried Keyblader had he not used the last of his magic to throw up a Protega spell. The flames licked on past him and Spitfire. The attack caused the protective shield of transparent hexagons to break and shoot off balls of light as a offensive reaction, catching Maleficent by surprised. She roared once again, swinging her head around in a series of violent arcs while her jaw opened further. Sora was spared from the flames, but not from the merciless force of gravity.

The arc at which Maleficent had thrown her head sent the brunette careening back toward the ground like a rocket. Her green fires had finally began to die down, but it was of little conscious to Sora. He barely had the time to register just what had happened and where he was going before he was slammed into an unforgiving tree (which had recently ceased being on fire) with his left shoulder. The impact jarred Sora's senses so much he lost his grip on the Oblivion and the sword vanished before it made contact with anything else. The weakened trunk didn't hold as Sora hadn't hit it dead on, causing it was break at an angle and let Sora continue on his descent to the ground. His shoulder screamed in pain, but that meant nothing to the brunette before he felt the back of his head and upper back slam into something else. He skipped against the ground, sending up dirt, rocks, and ash as his upper spine felt like it was on fire, much like his lungs and throat. Despite the protection his spell had provided him, it didn't filter out the hazy, potentially poisonous gas.

By the time momentum finally stopped pushing him forward, Sora was left sitting on his upper back while his feet were sprawled out in the air above him. His head was mere inches away from coming into contact with yet another tree trunk. He let out a tired groan before his legs slammed down to the soil, leaving him dazed and staring up at the cloudy night sky. The quarter moon was obscured by a thick veil of clouds, making it was near impossible to locate even one star. Sora had no idea how far out from Berk he had traveled after he took off after Maleficent, but he hoped somebody would come to help fight the beast and locate him in the process.

Sora would never admit it to anyone, but he was getting worried. The longer this went on, the worse the final outcome could potentially be. He could hear Maleficent screeching in frustration from her lost target, but his hearing was dulling at a steady rate. The world around him was becoming hazy, but he fought against his blurring vision to see Spitfire land clumsily next to his torso. Good. The dragon was okay. Sora offered up a weak smile before fishing through his pockets for one of his remaining Hi-Potions. The brunette forced himself upright in time to yank a Hi-Potion out of his right red pouch. Spitfire was gracious enough to pull the cork stopper off with his mouth. The Terror then put his head beneath the bottle, shoving it up closer to the brunette. Sora smiled weakly despite himself and downed the bottle's contents greedily.

The Hi-Potion took affect almost instantly. Sora felt the friction burns to his upper spine and the back of his head throb less by the second. He heard and felt his left shoulder crack and pop back into its socket. The potion numbed the pain that he should have felt with having such a limb being shoved back into place. The burning in his lungs, throat, and nostrils became a tolerable thump. Hi-Potions could only work so far and Sora had neglected to see the need to carry an Elixer this time.

A distant feral cry drew Sora's attention back toward Maleficent's dragonic form. The black beast had her head turned away from him as she snapped at her spine. It was hard to tell in the moonlight, but a blurry figure racked its claws against her hide. Maleficent screeched again and attempted to bat the creature away with her wings. Her attempts were in vain. Sora found himself just standing there and watching the quarrel take place. The smaller flying beast slammed into Maleficent's right shoulder, nearly toppling the ebony dragon over. Infuriated, she returned the favor by standing on her back legs and swiping her massive claws, somehow managing to nail the smaller creature with enough force to knock it out of the sky. The shock of the whole situation multiplied ten fold as the green fires gave enough light to reflect off of the falling dragon's scales.

Blue and yellow. Two legs. Innumerable sharp spikes.

The smaller dragon let out a low cry in what could only be pain and surprise. It sailed over Sora's head, landing several yards behind the brunette. He sincerely prayed that Nadder wasn't Birdbrain. And, if it was, that the dragon wasn't seriously injured, To add onto that, Sora hoped that Astrid was okay too. He hadn't heard or seen her on the dragon, but it was hard to tell in the hazy moonlight. If Astrid hadn't been on the dragon, then Sora was left to wonder just where was she. Surely she hadn't gotten separated from the Nadder. He wasn't even going to entertain the idea of any worse possible fates Astrid could have suffered by this point.

With his magic still recharging and only one Hi-Potion left, Sora slowly hefted himself up off of the ground. He rotated his left shoulder, making sure it was still functional without causing him too much pain. It was sore and a little stiff, but still workable. His spine, cranium, and upper back felt fine, indicating these was the main targets of the Hi-Potion.

Sora slung down his right hand, calling the Keyblade to his aide once more, this time in the form of Ultima Weapon to hasten his magic recovery process. He wanted to go back and check up on the fallen Deadly Nadder, but he couldn't turn around and run away now. Maleficent still needed to be dealt with. Dragons were a hardy bunch, so he clung to the hope that the dragon had survived the landing with only minor injuries. Spitfire croaked out a low note, drawing Sora's attention to it, but the Terror was quick to adjust and climb up to the boy's right shoulder. The dragon warbled in an uneasy tone, catching Sora's attention. The boy offered up an encouraging grin to the green Terror. Spit had no more flammable gas and had barely made the small journey up to his shoulder. The fact that the dragon hadn't climbed onto his head was a serious indication that something was up.

It was about then that he realized just what was wrong. While he had made sure to try and avoid breathing in the nauseous air, Sora hadn't made sure Spitfire was safe. He'd assumed that since Maleficent was also a dragon, the stale air wouldn't affect the Terror. Apparently, he'd thought wrong. Sighing despite himself, knowing full well what he was doing, Sora fished out his last Hi-Potion, pulled the cork off, and offered the drink over to the Terror. Spitfire tilted his head back and opened his mouth, allowing the green liquid to be dunked down his throat. Sora gave it all to the little dragon. Spitfire deserved it.

Leaving the now two empty bottles behind in the dirt, Sora watched Spitfire as he hiccuped and shook his head round head. The Terror's chirps became more alert as he tested his firepower by releasing a small flicker of a flame. The dragon grinned before jumped of off of Sora's shoulder, flying a few circles around the boy, before coming down for a landing on Sora's head with an encouraging squawk. Apparently, Spit was ready for some action again. Letting his earlier grin widen, Sora's confidence swelled within him once more as he slung the Ultima Weapon onto his right shoulder.

"Get ready, Maleficent! It all ends here!"

And, with that, Sora let out his own renewed battle cry, brandished his Keyblade in both hands, and charged back into the fray.