Chapter 18 Unleash the Dragon: Maximus's Almighty Break Down
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts but if I did then a whole lot of shit would go down
Hollow Bastion
"This is amazing" said Riku as Maximus began to glow and a purple aura began to pulse out from him. "So Maximus's true form is a fucking dragon!" said Sora as he continued to stair in awe. The ground began to shake and dark clouds began to appear in the sky with red lightning shooting down onto the arena.
Cell still looked shaken but had gotten over his shock he grinned and held his arms out as if to congratulate Maximus "Very impressive Maximus, it's true you are full of surprises. But just because your true body is strong doesn't mean you have the advantage. That huge body will make matching with my speed much harder"
Cell then clenched his fists and began to pulse and a golden aura began to surround him, sparks began to run up and down his body "Now let me show you true power" he shouted as the ground continued to shake and the arena began to crack and small pieces of rock flew into the air and swirled around the two super powered warriors.
"You should quit now" said Maximus, his voice had become dark and animalistic, Cell merely chucked and stepped forward so that he was only a feet inches from Maximus "Your move" he said confidently, Maximus didn't smile or smirk. He then punched forward sending Cell flying before grabbing him and smashing him against the ground before smacking him away with his tail. Cell was sent swirling before he stopped and stopped in mid-air, up-side down, and slowly spun back round. He wiped his jaw as his lip started bleeding, he looked pleased.
"Good work Maximus, at last a worthy opponent, this is the competition I have been waiting for and since our power levels are almost the same it should make for an interesting contest don't you think? " he said as he spun back so he was no longer upside down. Maximus didn't smile or agree he growled and clenched his fists "Your making a mistake, I'll make you dead" he said before his wings spread out and he flew with lighting fast speed towards Cell and caught him in his jaws.
Cell cried out in surprise as he was lifted into the air by Maximus as the beast flew high into the air, Cell pushed open Maximus's mouth and then kicked upwards at his bottom jaw before kicking again at his midriff, Maximus was barely affected. "Come on Maximus, you honestly think you'll defeat me by using that form, your too big and spread out to catch someone as fast as me" gloated Cell.
Maximus grinned and grabbed Cell before he could finish and flew down to the arena with Cell screaming as they collided with the arena causing massive fissures in it and the ground to shake, Maximus then flew back up into the air without Cell and stretched his arms out before slamming them together.
Zidane then panicked and began to move away "Guys move! Maximus is about to use the Final Flash attack and with this range he could destroy the entire arena! Move!" he shouted as he ran away from the arena, Riku and Sora didn't have to be told twice and quickly followed him, even Reno took several steps back.
The others ran back as well as the dust cleared and Cell struggled to pull himself up, his face was battered and bruised and he looked shocked
"But how did he move so fast? His new body is so huge and yet his speed has increased as much as his power, incredible" he said to himself before looking up to see Maximus preparing his blast, "What do you think you're doing!" he shouted up to Maximus who simply laughed.
"Fuck you! That's what I'm doing!" he shouted before golden energy began to form at his finger tips and sparks began to shoot out from his hands, "You're going to destroy the whole planet Maximus! You have to stop it!" shouted Zidane as Sora and Riku ran for their lives "Zidane let's go!" shouted Sora as Maximus finished charging his attack and aimed down at the arena
"Final Flash!" he shouted sending a massive golden beam of energy down toward the arena, the ground disintegrated as a giant explosion rocked Hollow Bastion, there was a blinding light as the beam engulfed and destroyed the arena.
There were cries of pain and fear as both the fellow warriors and Cell's comrades were flung into the air and crashed back down to the ground only to be engulfed by dust as the shockwaves tore through the battered planet. It seemed to rain rocks as small rocks fell down from the sky, Sora and Riku and Zidane took cover and dodged any rocks that came close to them.
Then the dust began to clear, were the arena for the Cell games once stood was now a giant crater, there was no sign of Cell. Maximus was still in the air and he was still a dragon he began to laugh, calmly at first but quickly began to laugh hysterically as he landed down to the ground. His laughing stopped as the ground began to pulse and something began to rise from the crater, it was Cell.
He was battered and bleeding and, to top it all off, was missing the entire right side of his body, he looked shocked and his eyes were wide and he gritted his teeth as he looked to his injury in shock. "You actually damaged me" he said as he placed his hand over his wound. Maximus kept laughing
"How do you like that Cell? It's quite an improvement don't you think? Now the whole planet is our ring, let's say the last one standing wins the game" said Maximus grinning and then laughing as Cell kept holding onto his wound.
"Stop laughing!" shouted Cell in pain, Maximus crossed his arms and frowned "Oh come on! I know you're not hurt from that attack, hurry up and regenerate so we can continue!" he said, Cell looked up and then glared at him, his damaged area began to regrow, his arm returning which he flexed and stretched. "You knew of my regenerative powers?" he asked confused.
"Yeah obviously, your composed of cells from other Schism and one of them was Logan who had amazing regenerative powers and I imagined they would have used his to make you" said Maximus as Cell floated closer to him and frowned. "I see, you destroyed my arena and you want to fight the death now?" he said changing the subject. Maximus grinned "Yeah would you have it any other way?" he said.
Cell still looked angry but smiled slightly "No I guess not" he said as he started flexing his muscles. Maximus also started stretching, he flexed his muscles and slammed his tail against the ground causing small cracks, he then stretched out his wings and flew towards Cell and they began to punch and kick at each other. Cell was able to block and punched Maximus hard in the gut but this did little to affect him catching him off guard allowing Maximus to grab him and throw him into the air where he flew after him and elbowed him in the back sending Cell flying forward.
Cell growled and yelled in frustration before disappearing and reappearing behind Maximus and swung at him, Maximus blocked with his tail before swinging round and round-house kicking Cell in the face. Cell shot back and then placed his first two fingers to his head "Let's see how you like this!" he shouted as yellow and purple sparks began to pulse from his fingers "Special Beam Cannon!" he shouted as a blast was sent straight to Maximus, Maximus grinned and slapped the attack away sending it into the sky.
Cell stared in awe before growling and glaring at Maximus "His power is so incredible, there has to be a way of stopping him" he thought as Maximus flew towards him, he dodged all of Maximus's punches and tail swipes, then he suddenly had an idea. He allowed Maximus to punch him and he deliberately sent himself flying to the ground.
He looked up to Maximus and smirked, "I know what to do, if I allow him to bring me to a stage of near death then I can regenerate and gain a tremendous increase in power, it is part of the Schism genetic code to get stronger with every near death experience, once I obtain this power increase he won't stand a chance against me"
He laughed and crossed his arms "Honestly Maximus, you disappoint me! As a Schism I would have thought you would actually try to damage me, I bet your most powerful attack will be nothing to me!" he said confidently, he knew Maximus would accept and sure enough Maximus laughed "You want me to go at you with everything I've got?!" he shouted, Cell uncrossed his arms and spread his arms out.
"Come on, I'm right here. I promise I won't move" he said, Maximus grinned and began charging "Fool, this was easier than I thought it would be!" he said as he began to charge his attack, "Final….." he said slowly as he collected all his spare energy into his attack, "This will take him out for sure!" he said.
Cell frowned and concentrated "If I make one false move then that attack will kill me, I have to make sure and not take the full blunt of the attack when he fires otherwise I'll die" he thought as he faked looking panicked. Then Maximus teleported right in front of him, he leaned back shouting "Noooooo!" as Maximus shouted "…Flash!" causing the top half of Cell's body to explode leaving behind his bottom half, the legs collapsed and began to melt into a puddle of green goo.
Maximus started laughing and so did Riku and Sora "Yeah way to sock it to him bro!" shouted Sora. Beezlemon and the others looked on in horror, "I don't believe it, he actually destroyed Cell!" shouted Envy in shock.
Beezlemon looked confused and angry "Why the hell did Cell let him attack him, is he that idiotic?" he said, then he noticed the puddle of goo begin to bubble and solidify, a grin came back to his face. "Relax guys, Cells not done yet" he said, the others looked confused and then they too saw the puddle begin to rise.
Maximus was too distracted to notice the rising solid mass behind him, it began to pulse and arm and legs began to grow out and take form, Maximus then looked round in horror as the blob reformed itself into a grinning Cell, he smirked and before Maximus could react moved forward and punched him hard in the gut.
Maximus doubled over in pain as he felt his entire world begin to sway and he began to feel nauseous, he puked out blood as he struggled to stay standing, "What the hell? How did Cell come back after my last attack and how did he get so strong?" he thought as he stared at Cell in shock.
"Did you forget that I inherited the Schism ability to increase my power with every near death experience?" said Cell grinning, Maximus cried out in shock as did Zidane, "Oh fuck this is not good!" he said alarmed. Sora and Riku looked worried "How so?" said Riku, Zidane clenched his fists and gritted his teeth "Cell has exceeded dramatically in power but Max used all nearly all of his power in that attack, Cell planned this so he could get stronger than Max!" he shouted, Sora and Riku gasped and then glared at Cell, "That son of a bitch" said Riku.
Maximus then flew forward and tried to punch Cell who dodged easily and kicked him in the face before back flipping over him and elbowing him hard in the back and sending Maximus flying down to the ground, Maximus could only yell as he smashed into the ground, when the dust cleared everyone yelled out in surprise, Maximus was no longer a dragon, he was human again.
"He changed back, either he's unconscious or he's….." said Sora, Zidane ran closer "Max!" he shouted as his best friend remained lying on the ground , Cell causally landed in front of Maximus and grabbed him by the scuff of the neck and smirked at him, Maximus groaned in pain as he was lifted by the android.
"Not so tough now are you?" said Cell looking angry, "You completely ruined my arena and embarrassed me in front of my audience, your death would have been slow and painful but since you have given me such a massive increase in power I will make it quick and as painless as I can" he said, raising his hand to Maximus's face, "Goodbye Maximus"
KHROS
Bald Mountain
Terra, Xion, Garnet, Aht and Kairi all cried out in surprise as they tumbled slowly to the ground, then they landed softly and looked round to their surroundings. They were in the middle of a gloomy looking village and above it was a massive mountain, taller than any mountain any of them had ever seen. "Wow" said Kairi as she looked up at the mountain, she could feel a great power coming from it and she suddenly felt very nervous.
"What do we do now?" said Xion, she looked frightened. Terra put her hands on her hips and looked around "Master Yen Sid!" she suddenly shouted out causing several crows to fly away in fright, Kairi grabbed her and looked at her as if she was crazy. "Are you nuts? What if this place is filled with hostiles?" she hissed, Terra laughed and scratched the back of her neck "Another one of Max's traits" she said embarrassed.
The girls then heard a scream of an old woman and they rushed into the square were they saw a bunch of people; they all looked old and lost and looked like the walking dead. "Every night we see him and every night he takes our dead for his own leisure, we must purge our town of this demon so that our dead can rest in peace, leave us Chernabog" said a man who was speaking to the crowd.
Terra and the others pushed their way through the crowd trying to talk to people but nobody listened, Aht saw a young man with blonde hair, he looked confused and frightened. "Hi" she said startling him, he looked nervous but smiled none the less "Oh, hello ummm are you lost little girl? Because I'm afraid that I'm a bit lost myself" he said chuckling nervously.
"No I'm not lost, I came here from another world, my names Aht" she said, the man looked shocked and knelt down so that they were eye level "You mean, you're not from here either? he said stunned. The other women walked up to Aht, "Who's this Aht?" said Terra. The man looked confused but tried to be polite "Hi, my name is James Sunderland" said James.
Kairi looked him up and down "Yeah you're definitely from around here" she said, he scratched the back of his head, "Yeah but I'm not exactly sure how I got here" he said, Kairi looked sympathetic but before she could say anything Terra asked him the obvious question "Have you seen a wizard and a anamorphic mouse, dog and duck?" she said.
The other woman looked at her deadpanned as he too looked very confused "Ummmmm….no" he said slowly, Terra sighed and stood back up "Damn it, hmmmmm" he said putting her finger to her lip like she was thinking "Oh well plan b" she said and before anyone could stop her, she began to glow purple, her hair became longer and turned lavender and her eyes became catlike and she grew claws from her fingers, the Xion and Kairi looked on in confusion as she flew from the village to the top of the mountain until she was just a tiny glowing speck.
"Didn't expect that, so Terra can use Trance as well?" said Kairi as they watched her leave. Aht shook her head "That is Terra's true form, in her world she was the last survivor of a race of magical creatures called Espers, she is half human and half esper. She used to be too scared to use her power because of how it changed her but Max showed her that people can still love her for who she is" said Aht.
A few minutes later Terra landed looking unimpressed "Nothing" she said when they asked her what was up there. "Just a bunch of rocks, how are we supposed to find Mickey and the others?" she said as she returned to normal. They stood around thinking except James who just looked confused and wasn't sure what to do.
Night time came sooner than expected "Hey is it just me or does time flow faster than usual here?" said Xion, Garnet looked around to see the town's people fleeing into their homes "Ummm guys, I think we should go inside" she said as it became darker and darker. Then they began to hear something shake in the distance and when they looked up to the top of the mountain it had changed.
The peak of the mountain had become a horned demon with long black wings and white eyes, it began to sway its hands causing gusts of air to swirl around the mountain carrying the souls of the dead, the women looked up horrified as the graves around them became upturned and the skeletons and still rotten corpses flew up the top of the mountain.
"What the hell is that thing" shouted Kairi, as they continued to watch the giant demon play with the souls of the dead like a child playing with sand, collecting it and then crumbling it into something else. "Well whatever it is we have to stop it" said Terra as she went back into her Esper form, she held her hand out to Aht who transformed into her claw mode, and she then looked to Garnet who transformed into her dagger mode.
"You two can resonate right?" said Terra to Xion and Kairi who both nodded, Xion transformed into her Way to the Dawn blade and Kairi had to admit it felt strange wielding a blade that wasn't Sora. "This is so weird" said Xion as Kairi swung her around practising and getting used to the feel of the blade.
"You guys ready?" said Terra, the others nodded and they floated up to the top of the mountain, Kairi discovered she could fly when she was in Trance form, also when she entered Trance form her hair turned black instead of purple.
They rode the streams of air up to the peak where they found the monster waiting for them, in front of him were four bubbles each containing, "Mickey! Goofy! Donald and Master Yen Sid!" shouted Kairi as she recognised her friends. "Let our friends go now!" shouted Terra as she pointed her knife at the monster, the creature grinned and roared and flapped its wings which flung Kairi hundreds of feet away, Terra was able to stay close and flew so that she was in the crater.
"Kairi" she said to Kairi in her head, Kairi looked confused "Terra? Where are you?" she asked out load before dodging some fireballs that the monster sent her way. "I've got an idea, while I use my magic to freeze him from below you attack head on, he's stuck in the crater so he isn't too nimble" she said in Kairi's mind. Kairi concentrated and nodded and started to fly towards the monster.
Chernabog begin to summon giant pillars if fire from the ground as Kairi flew towards him, she dodged and flew out of the way and flew faster and rushed straight into him, Chernabog growled in pain as Terra shot a Blizzaga attack at his chest causing him to convulse in immense pain. It was just enough to cause him to bend over and hold his chest.
"Ahhhhhhh fuck this!" he shouted, catching everyone by surprise "He can talk!" shouted Kairi, Chernabog grabbed his head and started shaking it cursing loudly "Fuck this! This so fucking stupid why the fuck am I even in this fucking volcano in the first place? Well fuck this, I'm outta here" he shouted as the ground began to shake as he flapped his wings and lifted himself out of the volcano.
He then pointed to the sky and a giant black hole like portal opened and he flew upwards into it, Kairi and the others were knocked back by his sheer size before they themselves began to fly towards the portal, "Kairi!" she heard someone cry and she felt someone grab her hand and they were sucked into the portal, she felt dizzy and the her world went black.
KHROS
Hollow Bastion
"Damn it this is bad" said Riku as Cell smacked Maximus all across the ground, every time Maximus tried to stand up he was either kicked and punched away by Cell who was casually giving him the pounding of his life, then he seemed to get board of doing that. "I've had enough of you now, you put up a decent fight Maximus but you let your incompetence get to you" he said as he grabbed Maximus by the throat and lifted him up.
He started choking Maximus who could only struggle to breathe and groan in pain, Zidane decided he's had enough of watching his friend get hurt and powered up to Trance and got ready to leap toward the battlefield "Zidane no!" shouted Sora but someone got there before Maximus, Cell was kicked aside by Reno who surprised him with a back attack that sent him flying.
Cell quickly recovered to find that Reno was standing next to Maximus "Nobody kills Maximus while I'm around, fate has restored that pleasure for me" said Reno as he took his goggles off and casually cast them aside.
Cell looked amused "Oh so now you make your move, well I admire your sentimentality but it will get you nowhere Reno" said Cell as he crossed his arms. "Can't have two fighters on the match now can we?" said Beezlemon who was walking onto the battle field. Cell turned to him annoyed "Beezlemon I don't need your help with this"
Beezlemon kept walking "Come on, I'm bored and beside it'll make things a little more exciting" he said grinning and pulling out one of his sawed off double barrelled shotguns and aimed it at Reno, Cell frowned but shrugged and clenched his fists and face the two warriors "Fine you may entertain yourself with Reno but Maximus is mine to finish" he said, Beezlemon smirked "Double Impacts" he shouted firing a bullet straight at Reno.
"Reno" shouted Maximus in alarm but the bullet bounced off Reno's chin with a "ping" noise, Beezlemon looked surprised but continued to grin, he casually slipped his gun back into its holster and clenched his fists. "Well Reno, Maximus ready when you are!" announced Cell.
Reno and Maximus began to power up, their hair began to glow and turn purple and became spikier and more ridged, their muscles expanded and their eyes became yellow and reptile like, Maximus used the same technique Aht had taught him to heal himself and then he was ready.
"Let's do this Reno!" he shouted earning a grin from Reno "You may be able to defeat one Schism but I doubt you can match the power of two, now face the wrath of true power!"
A/N We're approaching the end of the Cell Games saga, in the next chapter the final battle will begin but will it be Maximus and Reno who finally take out the android or is it someone else? Find out in Chapter 19 Tag Team Match: The Awakening?