Chapter Nine

A sandstorm had brewed. Riku laid on the ground completely still. He was in a large buddle of blood. Suddenly a bright light shone and the sandstorm disappeared.

"Brave warrior, you have shown your strength and bravery. Now rise and continue your journey" said a voice that came from the light. Rikus body glowed bright white and the puddle of blood disappeared. Riku began to rise in the air and float. Several beams came out of the orb and collected around Riku. Soon he became incased in a cocoon. The cocoon shattered and Riku floated back to the ground. The light disappeared in a blinding flash. Riku opened his eyes.

"Nnngh… Zack? Donald? Goofy?" called out Riku. There was no response. Riku stood up with ease. He started to run in a random direction. After ten minutes of nothing but sand, Riku stopped running.

"Where can they be?" wondered Riku. Riku noticed a few Heartless crawling in the same direction. He decided to follow them. As he followed them more and more appeared, but they paid no attention to Riku. Soon Riku saw a large group of Heartless crowding something and a few jumping into the center every few seconds. Riku ran to the crowd

"Fight back Goofy!"

"I'm tryin' Donald!"

"Donald, Goofy!" yelled Riku as he ran into the center of the crowd.

"Riku!" yelled Donald and Goofy. Riku prepared himself to fight. Riku started to swing his sword, but it froze in space and Riku could not move it.

"What the hell?" said Riku. The ground started to move and Rikus sword moved by itself. It swung itself down and pointed at the ground. Suddenly, large rocks shot out of the ground and destroyed several of the Heartless.

"What was that?" said Riku.

"Do it again!" said Donald. Riku swung his sword at the ground and larger rocks shot out of the ground. The rocks gathered in front of Rikus sword and Riku swung them around and threw them at a large group of them remaining Heartless. The remaining Heartless disappeared into the ground.

"We did it!" said Riku.

"Uuuhh maybe not" said Donald. Donald pointed behind Riku. A Heartless larger than the armored Heartless materialized. It had a machine attached to its chest.

"That must the the stolen treasure from Shinra!" said Riku. Riku looked at Donald and Goofy.

"Guys, we have to get that treasure!" said Riku. Riku, Donald, and Goofy dashed at the Heartless. Riku jumped up and struck the Heartless in the head. His attack did no damage to the Heartless and his sword bounced off. Goofy threw his shield at the Heartless. The Heartless struck his shield out of the air. Donald cast a ball of lightning at the Heartless. The Heartless stood hard and was not affected by the attack.

"We didn't do anything!" said Riku.

"What now?" asked Donald. Riku took a second to think.

"Donald, throw a fireball at me! Goofy, throw your shield at me!" said Riku.

"But-!" started Goofy.

"Just do it!" yelled Riku. Donald cast a large fireball at Riku and Goofy threw his shield. Riku caught the fireball on the tip of his sword, swung it around, and caught Goofys shield in the fireball. Riku spun around faster and faster and released the flaming shield at the Heartless. It struck the Heartless with such an enormous blow that the shockwaves from the impact pushed Riku, Donald, and Goofy back.

The Heartless fell over on its back. Suddenly its body parts detached from the main body and changed their form. The body parts started to crawl towards Riku, Donald, and Goofy. The fingers on the arms moved and became feet and arms and a face appeared on the front of the arm. The toes on the feet moved to the front of the feet and became pincers as a face appeared on the front of the feet. One of the feet lunged at Riku and wrapped around him. The two arms attached themselves to Donald and Goofy. The other foot leaped high in the air and opened its chest. Four beams of light shot from its inside into the ground as a wall of Darkness spread from beam to beam creating a force field which left the inside completely dark. Riku cast a fire spell which made the foot detach itself. He heard Donald do the same to himself and Goofy, but could not see them. Riku heard a noise behind him and swung in its direction. He connected and heard Donald yell. Riku stepped back and tripped on a rock. He felt a metal shield strike him.

"OW!" cried out Riku.

"Sorry" replied Goofy.

"We can't fight like this! Donald, cast Fire!" said Riku. Riku saw a giant fireball shoot up in the sky. Riku cast Fire at the ball and his magic absorbed with Donald's, lighting up the field. The enemies became fully visible.

"There!" yelled Riku. Donald cast thunder at one of the arms while Goofy bashed the other with his shield. Riku charged at the main body part. Donald and Goofy each managed to take out the arms. Riku performed a 13 hit combo on the main body part. The main body part threw back and counter hit Riku hard. Riku flew back and slid across the ground.

"Cure" yelled out Donald.

"Thanks" said Riku.

"Let's take care of the feet" said Goofy.

"Right!" replied Riku and Donald. However, before they could attack, the fireball lighting up the field vanished. Riku spun in every direction, hoping for a sound. Suddenly, one of the feet kicked Riku to the ground. Riku stood up and slashed in the direction the foot kicked him. He hit only air. Riku stood still for a minute and closed his eyes, trying to focus on his sense of hearing. It worked. He heard one of the feet stomping in his direction. Riku slashed in the direction of the sound and made contact. The foot flew back and vanished.

"I got one of the feet!" called out Riku. No response came. Riku cast another small fireball into the air. He looked around, but did not see anything. Then, the ground started to shake and rumble. A crack formed in the ground and flames flew up. The main body burst from the ground and Riku discovered that the remaining body parts had broken down and combined with the main body part to form a cage in it.

"Riku, help us!" said Donald.

"Don't worry, I'll get you out!" yelled Riku. Riku smashed the Heartless with his sword.

"Yeow! Be careful!" yelled Goofy.

"Grr, I can't destroy this thing without hurting Donald and Goofy!" said Riku. The Heartless charged at Riku, but Riku dodged out of the way just in time.

"What do I do?" asked Riku. Suddenly, he got an idea.

"Donald! Cast Blizzard inside the Heartless!" yelled Riku.

"You want me to freeze us inside this thing?" asked Donald.

"Just trust me!" replied Riku. Donald cast Blizzard inside the Heartless and the Heartless froze with Donald and Goofy inside of it. Riku ran up, jumped, and cut down the front of the Heartless. The Heartless split in half, releasing Donald and Goofy and dropping the Shinra machine. Riku walked up to it, picked it up, and put it in his pocket.

"Mission accomplished" said Riku as Donald and Goofy recovered from being frozen.