Authors Note: At long last, my summer has truly begun, and by that, I mean all college work is finished!

Chapter 18: Battle at the Castle

Sophie was waiting in the Gummi Ship, thinking that it sucked being left in the Gummi.

'God, just because Beast doesn't like vampire doesn't mean he only had to let one in! This Gummi Ship has no beds, and the chairs hurt like hell!'

Her thinking was interrupted as she felt a wind pick up. Knowing that the Gummi was closed except for the vent shafts, she stood up and looked around. She was suddenly grabbed and picked up by an invisible force.

"Hey! Let me go!" she shouted, but the door opened, and she was taken away.

Meanwhile, Nash was still holding Sora hostage, threatening him with fire if he continued to struggle. As if on cue, Sophie appeared in front of them, and after she stopped moving, a man appeared holding her hostage too.

Getting a good look, Sophie could see what Nash looked like. His orange hair was spiked upwards, with the tips a nice crimson red. The colours seemed to flow into each other. Judging by his face, he was quite mid-aged looking.

Sora could see that the other guy was much younger; he looked like a teenager, nearly as tall as Sophie was. He had similar hair to Nash, but it was mainly red rather than the fiery orange Nash had. It also was discoloured at the tips, like Nash's hair, but instead of red, it was black. His hair was shorter than Nash's also, and looked like the wind had permanently dragged it in a backwards direction. He was definitely shorter too, as Sophie wasn't near as tall as Nash was. He looked only a slight bit taller than Sora.

"Razor! What took you so long?" Nash shouted at his partner, angry obviously at his partner for some sort of absence.

"Hey, I wanted to take my time, admire this… beautiful lady…" Razor said in a slow, almost nice voice. But all it did was revolt Sophie.

"What? You jerk!" Sophie said, as she started to struggle against Razor again. But his grip was iron, and Sophie couldn't break through.

"Razor, do you need to be warned about the dangers of doing undignified acts like that?"

"Nope, cause it doesn't make much of a difference to me."

"Yeah, well, for all you know, backup for these fools may very well b on their way while you're 'checking out' that young lady!"

"Not far off, you creep!" Riku shouted, and from out of nowhere, he and Cloud sprung on the two assailants and attempted to break their hold on Sora and Sophie. Although at first they didn't affect them much, this gave Sophie and Sora the chance to fight back and get free.

"You see, Razor? You see what happens?" Nash shouted.

"Damn, you two argue endlessly, no wonder it was so easy for me and Sophie to get away from you two." Sora said, with a smile on his face.

"Oh, you haven't gotten away. Don't think just because you outnumber us, that you can get us. 4-on-2 is nothing."

As they said that, Beast walked on to the scene.

"Okay, 5-on-2 then. Let's take this to a more open ground. See you on the bridge."

And with that, they disappeared, the hot wind a sign of their travel. (By the way, Razor and Nash need each other to do that fast travel thing)

"Let's get to the bridge!" Sora ordered, and without hesitation, they moved in the direction of the bridge.

As expected, Nash and Razor were waiting for them at the bridge. This reminded Sora of his battle with Xaldin. Only this time, it was a dual affair. And instead of 3-on-1, it was 5-on-2.

"Well, you showed up. And I see you brought the 'damsel' with you…" Razor said, drawing irritation from Nash and Sophie. Sophie was more annoyed though.

"Jerk." She muttered.

"Oh, did I hurt you?"

"Enough! Razor, this is neither the time nor the place. Stop screwing around and get ready to fight." Nash said, as his arms slowly built up the fire and spread it around his body like a spiral.

Razor also got ready. He built up a big gust of wind that almost blew Sora and his companions back, until the wind became visible. He used it to shield himself, making it look like someone had cast Aeroga on him.

Sora and the party readied their respective weapons, although Beast just got ready to fight.

Sophie, on the other hand, put her right hand on her hip, as if reaching for something.

Just as Nash pulled his hands back, readying himself to fire at them…

Earlier

Sophie was sitting in the Gummi Ship quite a while after the others had left and entered the castle. Sophie was standing, waiting for someone.

"You seem to always know when I'll come to see you." A voice said.

She turned to see Frank standing behind her.

"Do you have them?" Sophie asked.

"Yes I do. Here." He passed her a black briefcase. She opened it to reveal 4 guns.

"These are for Sora." He pointed to 2 golden made pistols (Think of the pistols Alucard uses.) "They have been remade to fire silver bullets. I had them remade into gold so he could handle them, because the silver he uses to make these things will burn through clothing, even the gauntlets."

"And that is for Riku." He pointed to a silver Desert Eagle-like gun. "Similar to Sora's guns, only it has more kick to compromise for Sora having 2 and Riku only having 1. And that one…"

He pulled out a silver Magnum gun with a laser attachment. The handle was covered in a firm wooden hold to protect the user from the silver.

"Is for you."

Sophie pulled out her gun and fired directly at Nash.

"Crap!" Was all Nash could say as he barely dodged the gunshot. "Razor, why does she have a gun? You said she was clean!"

"I thought she was!" He shouted back at him as Sophie fired a shot at Razor's head, only for it to be stopped in midair by his wind shield. She was relentless, and continued firing at him, until she had used all eight (A Magnum carries 8 shots, folks) of her shots.

"Not a smart move, lady." Razor said as the bullets, all still hanging in mid-air, turned to aim at her.

"Uh oh…" she said as they came at her at light speed. Luckily, Cloud came up front and deflected the bullets with his sword.

"Don't forget about us!" Sora shouted, as the gang grouped up around Sophie.

"Oh, we wouldn't forget about any of you…" Nash and Razor said together, mockingly. Suddenly, the wind picked up and the two were out of sight.

The air began to get increasingly hot around them.

"Jeeze, it's damn hot here…" Riku said. Just as he said that, he was cut off by a sudden rush of wind pushing him off his feet.

"Ow! Damn, felt like I got hit by a damn fireball!" Riku said. And when he looked at his coat, he saw burn marks on them, all going in one swift direction.

As Sora was examining the damage, he too was caught by a swift wind, but this time, Riku saw the fire hit him. They were trying to do more damage to Sora. Maybe it was because he had their regenerative abilities.

Sora swung his Keyblade in the direction the blast came from, but although it felt like it connected, nothing happened, and he was launched off the ground again.

The enemies reappeared in front of the four.

"This is pathetic! No point in using that attack, might as well just attack you up close and personal!" Nash claimed. Everyone readied up again, as Nash and Razor came rushing towards them.

Cloud was the first to attack, using his Sonic Blade attack. Not knowing Clouds abilities, Nash was barely able to get out of the way, but Razor wasn't so lucky.

Nash readied an attack to get Cloud while he was vulnerable. He combined the fire in both hands to form a swirling fireball.

"Take this!" Nash shouted as he threw the thing at Cloud. Cloud noticed it too late, and he was blown back face first onto the ground, dropping his sword in the process.

Sora bit back with a Blizzaga attack. "Deep Freeze!" Nash dodged the attack though and taking the opportunity, rushed up to Sora and gave him a surprise. He pulled out a sword and slashed at Sora's gut. Sora fell immediately, coughing up blood.

"Sora!" Sophie and Riku shouted in unison, running up to Sora, Sophie shooing Nash away with gunfire.

"Sora, just hang in there, I'll get a healing spell ready-" Sora stopped him before he said another word.

"I can… regenerate from this… Just need time…" Sora's sentence was split due to a heavy loss of blood.

"Alright, we'll give you that time!" Riku said as he got into his battle stance.

'Frank was wrong… I have ended up protecting Sora, and those regenerative abilities he talked about aren't looking to be very good at the moment…' Riku thought mentally.

Razor came at Riku, taunting him.

"Oh dear, looks like the strong one is already finished! How can you hope to even touch me? You look pathetic Riku!" Razor shouted, floating in the air with visible currents beneath his feet, keeping him afloat. After smirking at Riku, he rushed forward with lightning speed, ready to strike.

'Damn, I can't hit him! Gotta keep movin!' Riku thought. With barely any distance between him and Razor, he rolled out of the way, and Razor barely missed. Again and again, Razor came at Riku, and he would barely be able to dodge.

"Come on, Riku! Fight me like a man!" Razor shouted.

So far, it was not in the favour of our heroes. Sora was incapacitated, Riku was unable to attack, and Sophie and Cloud were now occupied with keeping Nash at bay, albeit unsuccessfully.

'Why… am I not regenerating? Did Frank… lie to me? So much… blood…' Sora thought as he felt his strength die down…

'Use it…'

'What? Who's that?'

'The darkness… use it… Now!'

Sora's eyes began to roll back in his head in pain, as darkness began to flow from the wound in his stomach. He felt his consciousness be pushed away as something else took over.

His body began to overload with darkness. Bandages wrapped themselves around his arms and lower face. His hands extended and became razor-sharp claws. Black inky tendrils like gas leaks flowed all around his body as he slowly stood up. By now the battle had stopped, everyone watching this event unfold. Slowly, Sora began to haul himself up, and the only sign of his face was those glowing yellow lights that used to be his eyes.

"S… Sora?!" Riku stuttered, he couldn't believe what he was witnessing. Sora looked like a Heartless. But suddenly, it clicked in his head what was happening. Sora had entered Anti-Form. He hadn't seen it in action before, but the sight of it chilled him to his core. He was even more afraid of Sora now than usual.

Suddenly, Sora rushed forward, towards Nash. He rushed so fast, Nash didn't see him coming. To him, one second he was there, next he was behind him, and next he was tearing Nash apart.

"MuSt… DeStRoY… yOu…" Sora said, it sounded like two voices at once, though similar, very different. Claws ripped apart his clothing and skin, until Razor interfered.

"Hey, you freak! Leave my father alone!" The rest of the party were too distracted to realize Razor had just called Nash 'father'.

Sora turned as soon as he heard Razor shout at him. Without hesitation, Sora launched himself at Razor, using Nash as a launch pad, sending Nash to the ground below him. He wasn't dead, but he sure was injured.

Razor upped the intensity of his wind shield, but it proved futile as Sora went right through it, claws first towards Razor. He just managed to grab Sora and chuck him to one side, preventing him from doing little more than a big scratch mark in his face. Sora quickly regained his balance, and again went at Razor. This time he struck even more fiercely, landing several hits on him before finally kicking him to where his father was, rather harshly.

Nash and Razor quickly got up. They realized it was not the time to fight Sora as he was now.

"You've won this round, ya little brat, but we'll see you again!" And with that, Nash and Razor combined their abilities and left as fast as they could without letting Sora on to their trail, a hot wind a sign of their passage.

"Sora?" Riku asked him. No answer. He got closer to Sora, feeling safer now…

"Sora?" Riku whispered into his ear.

A second later, Riku was on the ground, underneath Sora. Sora had him by the neck, gripping it tightly and almost choking him, while his other hand seemed prepped to rip apart Riku.

"Sora, you don't wanna do this! It's me, Riku! I'm your friend! Please!" Riku shouted.

Sora's grip loosened. This confused Riku, until he looked up and saw Sora wavering. Slowly the darkness left him as he fell out of consciousness.

"Sora!" Everyone shouted in unison as they ran to him and Riku's position.

Riku checked Sora for injuries. None. Wait, none? He checked, but the wound from earlier was gone. Only the blood pool a few feet away was a sign that it was real and had happened.

"We better get inside the ship." They all ran to the ship, Riku carrying Sora in his arms.

The Gummi Ship

Sora began to wake. He looked at his surroundings, and saw he was back in the gummi Ship. He also saw his friends were sitting with him.

"Hey, he's getting up." Sophie said. He got up slowly, to ease any pain, but he found none. He sat upright.

"You can stop all staring at me now…"Sora said. "I'm fine."

"That's a relief. I checked your pulse and-" Riku stopped himself there, realising the mistake he'd made.

"Remembered it would be useless. Riku, I'm dead, remember? Don't have a pulse? Geeze how many more times…"

"As many as it takes." Riku said. Sora smirked at his remark.

"Anyway, you were out for a while. Sophie went out to check the perimeter. When she comes back, we're leaving, okay?"

"Yeah, sure, no problem."

"Yeah, no problem." Sora said. And then, as if on cue…

"Area's clear. Are we ready to go?" Sophie said, re-entering the Gummi.

"Yep, we're ready." Sora said, indicating to her he was awake.

"Well then, it was good to see you again, Sora. But hopefully you won't have to make a double visit here." Belle said, standing by Beast.

"Don't worry. Hopefully if we do come back, it'll just be to say hello." Sora said. Belle smiled to acknowledge his gesture.

"Well, see you two some other time!" Sora said. They waved and stood back as the Gummi door closed, and the ship took flight.

The crew wasn't all happy at the moment. What had they witnessed in Sora? Was it the embodiment of his darkness? And was it the last they had seen of Nash and Razor?

End Chapter

Authors Note: At last, I have finished this chapter. Boy, fight scenes take ages! Anyway, there was supposed to be more in this chapter (rather, more at the end) about those guns Frank wants Sophie to give Sora and Riku. I'll do that in a separate chapter, right now I need my beauty sleep, and I'm tired as hell.