Author's note: Here comes the main antagonist of this story...*giggles evilly*
Please note that I suck at writing battle scenes in different angles without repeating the same attack and such.
I do not own Kingdom Hearts or the Mummy. Kingdom Hearts belongs to both Square Enix and Disney, while the Mummy belongs to Universal Studios.
Chapter 4: Imhotep's arrival.
Now lost within the tunnels while trying to find a way out that wasn't sky-filled with locusts, Rick was slowly taking lead with Riku, Mickey, Evy and Jonathan behind him. Their minds were repeatedly rewinding to how the boy, Vanitas was the name Mickey said, spoke in ancient egyptain and read the book, thus the troubles began unexpectedly. Riku still had no idea who this Vanitas was or why he was causing trouble.
Mickey knew him, even from back years ago. Did that mean Ansem wasn't the only one causing problems to the worlds. Almost eleven years ago the worlds were in danger...and Riku had only been a five year old kid back then!
Just then out of the portals of darkness, more bad knews appeared as familiar different forms of monsters stood before the group, sensing hearts to devour. While Rick, Evy and Jonathan let out shocked cries of disbelief, Riku and Mickey both gasped in shock and horror as they recongized them.
"What are those black giant ant-like things!?" Jonathan screamed out.
"Heartless! Watch out!" Mickey warned quickly, and with no other choice, he summoned his Keyblade and leaped before the Heartless who leaped to try and capture his heart after sensing the Keyblade. But the king was fast and defeated the Heartless before they got the chance.
He single handedly slashed and cleaved the Heartless at best chance he got.
"I'll help, Mickey!" Riku declared as he summoned his Soul-Eater and joined in the fight and down-ward slashed one of the armor-Heartless, side-slashing to the right at another one in a few hits, before going over to another.
The two then did a double slash at the same time at the larger and the bigger Heartless that were always a pain since their weaker spots were their backs. However, before they could finish off the next three Heartless that appeared, the ground suddenly moved violently, causing the group and even the Heartless to almost lost their balance before it stopped.
However a large mound began to rise up and the group, even Mickey and Riku who both retreated back to the others, backed away slowly. They then broke into a run as thousands of scarabs came out, looking for a feast. Surprisingly, the scarabs quickly covered up the heartless in their path while squealing and even devoured them in a matter of seconds.
"Okay, that's disturbing." Riku thought, before yelling at the others, "Run!"
Taking up Riku's advice, the group quickly ran as the Scarabs went for them next and both Riku and Mickey knew that not even their weapons were any use unless they used magic which didn't come across their minds at the moment. Instead, they head squealing and gunshots as Rick threw the torch at them before shooting at the Scarabs before running again.
Finding themselves on a bridge in the cavern, where there was a large indent on the wall which both Mickey and Evy jumped onto to the right while the others all jumped onto a platform to the left. All five of them watched as the Scarabs continued scattering across the bridge while looking for their meal, not realising that their said meals had just outsmarted them. But as Evy moved back a little with Mickey shielding her from the Scarabs in case they reach the two of them, the wall behind them to give way and Mickey was the first to notice.
"Evelyn!" Mickey cried out as he quickly grabbed her hand before she completely fell into the hole, only for her to be too heavy for him and he let out a cry of alarm as he was pulled in with her into the darkness below, while the wall closed shut once they were gone.
The Scarabs in the meantime were gone, and the three guys all sighed in relief, before realising that they were missing two others.
"Mickey?" Riku called out.
"Evy?" Jonathan called out.
"Evelyn?" Rick called out.
Riku was quickly getting worried, before he and the others leaped back onto the bridge and onto the indent where Mickey and Evy were but were obviously not now. All three of them noticed something odd about the colours rocks on it. Riku and Rick both punched against it, but nothing happened.
"Damn it!" Rick cursed. "Trap door! There's gotta be a switch or something around here someplace."
Riku was about to help when all of the sudden they all heard something that sounded like a loud explosion and when all three of them turned to see what was going on, all of the sudden a red-haired man in an Organization coat was thrown backwards by a strange and unusual blue monster with red eyes that took the form of a mummy and he landed onto the bridge hard and grunted in pain, his chakrams being lost from his grip before they disappeared to be summoned the next time around.
"What the hell is that thing?" Rick asked as the blue monster crept closer.
"No idea. I've never seen anything like this before." Riku added, before he once again leaped into action and despite that he knew that the redhead was like the other Organization guys he fought at Castle Oblivion and knew he would regret in saving this guy's life, he couldn't risk the lives of Rick and Jonathan.
Riku leaped high into the air before descending as he lets out a loud battle cry and stabbed the blue monster right into the head with his Soul Eater and pushed the bat-designed blade further into the non-existant skull to make sure it would be defeated. Thankfully after pushing for a few moments the monster finally lets out a moaned defeat before it faded into darkness and he landed on the ground safely as he and the others watched the blue thing vanish into nothing.
While Rick and Jonathan were stunned at how a fifteen year old kid could do something like that, Axel, whom had become exhausted from fighing all of the blue...whatever those things were and slowly stood up, staring at Riku. He knew that he was in trouble.
"You." Riku said slowly as he turned to face Axel. "What are you doing here?"
"Wouldn't it be better to discuss it at another location without company?" Axel asked in a hint of warning.
"Well then, who are you?"
A little relieved and relaxing a bit, Axel replied to that easy question, "Name's Axel. Got it memorized?" he tapped the side of his head everytime he said his catch-phrase.
"Axel?" Rick and Jonathan both asked, glancing at each other in confusion. In their opinion, the redhead was named after the accels in cars. What kind of a name was that for this guy's parents to name him, they wondered.
"And just so you know, no, I have nothing to do with those blue things, and I have no idea what's going on right now either." Axel continued as he sensed that Riku was about to ask him something else. It was random guess, but close enough.
But before Riku could even say anything or even ask if Axel was behind the Heartless appearing, yells then came from the entrace where Axel came from and all four of them looked to see Henderson, Daniels and one digger run as they screamed. Burns and the Egyptologist were missing as well.
"Run, you sons of a bitches! Run!" Henderson screamed at the top of his lungs.
Rick didn't need to ask what was going on or why and simply just said, "Go!" without thinking and even though Axel didn't know what was going on, he could then see the scarabs before being the last to follow the group as Riku quickly rejoined Rick and Jonathan, with the rival diggers close behind.
Axel skid to a stop however as he, Riku and Rick, who both also stopped, turned to see the digger fall onto the bridge and while the redhead didn't have a heart, even he was shocked as the scarabs completely covered and devoured the digger in a matter of seconds, leaving behind a thinly fleshed skeletion.
"Did those things just eat him!?" Axel exclaimed as he then followed the others down the tunnel.
"I thought they were supposed to eat people slowly, not quickly!" Riku cried out, ignoring Axel's question and his mind instead going into worry for Mickey and Evy's safeties. He hoped that the two of them would be alright, despite knowing that Mickey can handle himself.
But he still had a bad feeling.
Mickey had done his best to soften Evy's landing by having her land on top of him to cosin her fall, but that didn't mean that he had a soft landing, and he couldn't help but moan, "Ouch."
"I'm sorry, Mickey." Evy quickly said as she got off him and helped him up.
"Naw, that's okay." Mickey replied. Both of them stood up as he held his Keyblade in hand while having Evy behind him as he said, now serious, "But we'd better find a way outta here and back to the others."
The room was dark, that was certain, but this was nothing to Mickey compared to what he'd been through in the Realm of Darkness. He wasn't taking any chances, though. Heartless and/or scarabs could jump out of nowhere at any moments notice. He wished he had a flash-light or something, but he'd have to hope for the best.
"Mickey," Evy began as she looked around fearfully, the moonlight being the only source of light in the tunnel she and her only companion were in right now. "Aren't you scared?"
"Well, sorta." Mickey admitted with a slight shrug. Of course he was scared. It wasn't everyday he came across killer flesh eating insects. But he knew, he had to be brave in order to protect people and fight against evil beings, and he continued, "But I learned a long time ago that fear can overtake you and unless you do something about it, you'll end up being casted into darkness. And, well, I've seen things that are just as scary before I even met Riku."
Which was true. In Mickey's life, he fought against evil witches, mad scientests, a madman who was outsmarted(and possibly one of his toughest opponents before the Heartless and Ansem), a giant who later became an friend(though Mickey was accidently gobbled up but managed to avoid in being swallowed up and eaten and escaped) and such.
They then heard a moan from around the corner and found that it was Burns. Wondering how he got separated from his group, Mickey and Evy both approached him, only to jump back in horror when he turned around and all they saw was empty eye sockets.
"Oh my gosh!" Mickey screamed as he and Evy both backed away as the latter covered her mouth in shock. All the two could hear from Burns was a moanful, "My eyes." and if the now terrified king didn't know any better, he could've sworn the man's tongue was missing too.
Suddenly sensing the most evil and powerful villian he ever sensed in his whole life, Mickey quickly whipped around as did Evy, just in time to see the very same Mummy that was dug up emerge from the darkness, now with eyes and a tongue and the Mummy growled as he stepped into the moonlight.
"AAHHHHH!" Mickey and Evy both screamed loudly in terror, scared beyond belief as both stepped back until their backs touched the wall. Mickey had Evy behind him, but he was quivering in fear while holding a tight grip on his Keyblade.
"Okay, I take that back." Mickey admitted about his previous statement he said to Evy, his voice shaking. "This is way more scarier than the things I've encountered before!"
When the Mummy, known as Imhotep, gazed questionly at the two of them, Burns was crawling away, as he managed to gurgle out, "He took my tongue..."
As Mickey did his best to position himself to fight, though chances were that fighting against a mummy was just asking for a death sentence, Imhotep gazed at the terrified Evy, and muttered in a monster-like voice, "Anck-Su-Namun?"
'Huh? Who's Anck...what was it?' Mickey thought to himself, unable to prounonce the word even in his own head, but he held out his Keyblade's tip at the Mummy who took notice and gazed at the mouse before him.
"Go away, ya' evil monster!" Mickey shouted. "I've got a weapon and I'm not afraid to use it!" though his bravery was starting to slim but he refused to back down, knowing that Evy depended on him to protect her.
"Mickey!" came Riku's voice as the teenager came barrelling towards them from another entrance, getting the king's attention briefly.
"Riku!" Mickey said, very relieved to see that his friend was safe and alright...for now, anyway.
Riku was about to ask what happened, until his senses acted up again, and he struggled against the pain rising in his chest. He turned to see where it was coming from and even he wasn't immune to the sight of Imhotep before him and jumped, "Whoa!" before holding out his Soul Eater sword, though even he knew that fighting against a Mummy was a different matter compared to Heartless.
"There you guys are!" Rick now came in as he rushed over, saying to them, "Would you quit playing hide and seek?" before he turned to see the mummy himself, and jumped back in fright. "Whoa!"
"Evy?" Jonathan's voice soon came seconds after, causing the Mummy to turn towards the door way, and as the rest of the group came. In fright he yelped as he dropped the torch in horror, Henderson and Daniels jumped in horror and even Axel's eyes widened.
"Whoa! A real-life Mummy!" Axel exclaimed in shock. Suddenly he remembered the warning Ardeth mentioned earlier. If this was the powerful darkness of this world(and Axel was pretty certain that this undead guy was), no wonder those guys warned everyone else to leave this haunted ruins.
Imhotep looked at the four men, before turning his attention back to the other four and unhinges his jaw while giving out a monsterous roar. Evy squeaked, Mickey jumped, Riku flinched, and Rick shuddered, before forgoing his fear and roared back and fired at Imhotep's side on the lower part of the body, causing the Mummy to shriek before he fell to the ground. Mickey flinched in both distaste and very slight sympathy.
Very, very slight sympathy.
Rick then grabbed Evy's hand and pulled her to make a run for it. Riku and Mickey quickly followed, as did Jonathan, Henderson, Daniels and even Axel who was still in disbelief. Then again with other things he'd seen in other worlds like ghosts in Halloween Town, merpeople in Atlantica, Genies and flying Carpets in Agrabah, ect., he figured he shouldn't even be surprised that even Mummies existed.
Despite knowing that he wasn't meant to have feelings without a heart, Axel just hoped that Zombies wouldn't come next to being a reality. One zombie-like comrade back at home was bad enough and even the kid's starting to become less and less zombie like.
The group quickly made it outside, but while the Locusts were gone for now and there weren't any more traces of Heartless or the blue monsters, they came face to face with ten armed Medjai who aimed the guns at them, forcing the group to skid to a stop, and all of them, even Mickey, Riku and Axel to raise their hands in quick surrender. Allen was there as well, the Book of the Dead in his arms as he slumped in fear.
Ardeth pulled down his mask as he glared at the group with cold eyes, even at Axel and said coldly, "I told you to leave or die. You refused. Now you may have killed us all, for you all unleashed a monster we feared for more than 3,000 years."
"Hey, I had nothing to do with this." Axel protested. "Those stupid locusts made me come back here for cover." as he was clearly annoyed for the accusion he was getting.
"Gosh, mister. We're really sorry for finding the Mummy, but we didn't wake him up. It was a fella in a...well, his clothes are hard to describe." Mickey added, "But I've known him to be a real big trouble."
"He read that book this guy's holding and that's when those Locusts came." Riku continued. "He was dressed in red and black and had black hair."
Axel gasped and sharply turned to the two of them and demanded, "Wait a minute! He wouldn't happen to be a kid with yellow eyes, would he!?"
"Y-yep." Mickey hesitatedly replied, wondering how or why Axel confronted the boy who started this in the first place.
"Oh great." Axel groaned, facepalming himself. "First he dragged me to this cursed joint, and now he somehow brought up killer bugs and a Mummy all over the place. Worst part is, mummies have a reputation of being immortal, and I've heard enough stories to know too well about this."
"Immortal?" Riku asked, suspiciously.
While Mickey wasn't a fan of the Organization and he knew that Axel meant trouble, he had to admit that the redhead was right and explained to Riku, "It means living forever and, well, I'm not sure why, but immortals can heal from wounds a lot faster than anybody else."
"Relax, he can't be immortal because I got him." Rick told the group.
Ardeth however was in agreement with both Mickey and Axel and told Rick, "No mortal weapon can kill this monster. He is among the undead." as two more Medjai carried the still moaning Burns towards them and layed the wounded man into the arms of the now shocked Henderson and Daniels.
"What happened to him?" Riku asked, shocked and horrified.
"Don't worry, these fellas didn't hurt him." Mickey quickly assured, while shuddering as he remembered that Burns's eyes and tongue were gone. "It was the mummy that got to him." since he immediately knew that the Medjai had managed to rescue him before Burns could meet his untimely demise.
Axel then gave a nervous smirk and said to Ardeth, "When you said about the next apocylpse about to happen earlier, you weren't kidding. No wonder you guys didn't want anybody to come here, and personally, I wouldn't either."
'I bet you're saying that just to get to either me or Mickey or even to Sora.' Riku thought, but didn't voice it. Axel was one of them-one of those Nobodies.
Ignoring Axel's comment, Ardeth turned to the group and told them, "We saved him before the monster could finish his work. Now, leave all of you before he finishes you all."
"I already told you, I got him." Rick told him.
Ardeth gazed at Rick and even to Riku, telling them firmly, "Know this. This monster is a bringer of death. He'll never eat, he'll never sleep. And he will never stop." before ordering his men to lower their weapons and the Medjai all walked passed the group to enter the tunnels themselves.
"We should go. Right away." Riku decided to take up Ardeth's advise.
Little did he and the others know, that the situation was about to get a lot worse.
A/N: Vanitas will make another appearence in the next chapter. Done my best with this one so far.