Chapter 23 Guardians of the Galaxy

Disclaimer: Yep zippity doo da!

DW Academy

Maximus stood leaning against the wall, Rocket Racoon had told him to meet him outside where he and the other Guardians had parked their ship, Serenity, and he was waiting for Terra.

He had been waiting for a while and he had almost fallen asleep when she appeared and poked him in the stomach causing him to jut out of his daydream, "Oh your ready now…." He said slowing his speech with each word as he took in her outfit.

She wore a black and white top and skirt with stripes, exposing her midriff, with a transparent gray-blue cape and a small cloth of the same colure hanging under her skirt.

He stared at her in awe as she twirled round "Well, what to do you think? I was gonna wear it on that date you stood me up on but I guess I could wear it now while we're on this mission" she said grinning at his reaction.

"Ummm…wow" was all he could say as she brought her own rucksack with her, it was considerably heavier than his.

"Jesus Terra how much you got in this thing?" he said as he lifted it over his shoulder, she shrugged "Oh you know, stuff" she said shyly, "Stuff?" he said raising an eyebrow, she groaned and took his hand and started pulling him along "Come on, the others are waiting" she said as he followed after her.

They entered the ship and were immediately given a wolf whistle from Rocket Racoon who was checking the engines "Nice outfit Terra!" he shouted from above giving a wink to Maximus who glared at him, she just laughed.

"Put your stuff away in the hold for now until we enter deep space, the others are waiting in the bridge" said Rocket as he clambered up some vents and was out of site.

Maximus led Terra through several hallways until he stopped at a door and opened it, inside was a double sized bed with a closet, some tables and a bathroom.

"Sorry about the lack of taste, we just got anything cheap and stuck with it" he said as he looked round at the room. She shrugged and through her back onto the bed and sat down, "At least the beds comfy" she said as she lay back.

He sat his pack down at the foot of the bed and stretched his arms "Come on" he said grabbing her hands and pulling her off the bed, she giggled as he brought her close to him and wrapped her arms around him.

"It's been so long since we last travelled together hasn't it?" she said into his chest as he stroked her emerald colored hair.

"Yeah back in the days when we didn't know we would end up having the entire universes fate resting on our shoulders" he said, sighing "Hard to believe it's been four years since we first met" she said, "Yeah, you were so shy and confused back then, it's hard to believe how much you've changed since then" he said as she looked up at him, she then looked away, sad. "I sometimes still feel afraid though, that's this is all one big dream and when I wake up I'll still be in that mad house with him and he'll….."

She shut her eyes and hugged him even tighter, he shushed her gently as he stroked her cheek "Hey, you've got me and I ain't going anywhere. Come on let's stop with the moping and doping and go see the others " he said trying to get her to smile, he let go of her and gave her a funny look and she burst out laughing "That's better, keep smiling Terra. I love it when you smile" he said before kissing her and taking her hand and together they left.

They entered the control room and Terra was greeted with a very odd sight, standing around the holographic table was the strangest group she had ever seen.

There was Rocket Racoon but there was also man wearing a blue metal suit, much like with Rocket he had pistol machine guns holstered on his legs and he was wearing a helmet with glowing orange eyes and glowing orange lights over his mouth. Then there was a shirtless bald man with green skin with two large swords holstered behind his back, he had a permanent scowl on his face which was littered with scars.

There was a green skinned woman with glowing orange eyes and dressed in a skin tight blue and gray jumpsuit and finally a giant tree like monster with a face like that of an old man, the man in the metal suit took off his helmet to reveal his human face with blue eyes and blonde hair, "Peter Quail aka. Star Lord, leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy" said Maximus grinning as he shook the man's hand "Good to see you again Maximus, it has been too long since our last battle" he said grinning before turning to Terra.

"This is my fiancée Terra, Terra this is Star Lord, over there is Gamora" he said pointing to the woman who nodded and looked to Maximus with a lock of mocking of her face "I see you have cut back boy, you should eat more" she said sarcastically as Rocket Racoon laughed. Maximus just shrugged and pointed to the green skinned man who scowled at him "That grumpy looking fucker is Drax the Destroyer" he said grinning as Drax looked over to Terra "Tell me girl, does Max fuck as good as he gloats?" he said.

Before Terra could say anything the giant tree man slammed his fists down on the table shaking the entire room "I'am Groot!" he shouted as Terra jumped back in fright, "I'am Groot" he shouted again, "He wants you to say hi" whispered Maximus, Terra gave a half wave thought still looked terrified "Hello there Groot" she said in panic as Groot nodded and stood up straight again.

"Well now that that's all done and gone let's get this show on the road already!" said Rocket as he brought up what looked like a giant star map, Terra looked in amazement as nearly every world in the universe seemed to appear, then she noticed that many of them were covered in dark patches.

"The Shadows are moving" said Gamora as Maximus looked round the map for the planet he was looking for "Probably getting ready for the awakening, they'll be heading towards the enemy's base"

Rocket Racoon grinned "And when we find them we hit them hard!" he said enthusiastically, Star Lord shook his head and gave him a stern look "No Rocket, we'll need more than just us to defeat them once and for all, we need all the help we can get" he said as Maximus found the world and plugged in the coordinates.

"He told me he'd meet us here" he said, Rocket nodded and put in the coordinates on the ships console and Terra felt it move off and began to leave the world. "Who's he?" she said as the ship left the planet and started travelling through space "An old friend" said Maximus.

ROS

Master Yen Sid's Chamber

Sora was once again surrounded by dark red and a deformed screaming skull like face that stretched and convulsed around him as the ground seemed to pulse and dark red Neoshadows began to emerge from the ground. Sora held out his hand and the Oblivion keyblade materialised in his hand "I hope you know what you're doing" he said to the keyblade as the Neoshadows surrounded him.

One jumped at him, he swung upwards and cleaved it in half before spinning round and slicing straight through another one, he flipped backwards over another and spun his keyblade round like a buzz saw and cut through them, "Cannon fodder I take it?" he muttered as more Neoshadows appeared. Then another creature, it looked like an armless dragon with an arrow shaped head and yellow eyes, it spat a blue ball of fire towards him which he deflected.

He shot an energy ball at it and blew a hole through its wings sending it crashing to the ground, the Neoshadows melted into the ground began to fuse with each other, out from the ground surfaced a gigantic Neoshadow several storeys tall, "That's a bit more like it" he said as the Megashadow slammed its fist down towards him which he dodged and he ran up its arm and sliced at its face causing it to lean back in pain.

He jumped up and activated Trance and grabbed its head as he flew down and smashed it against the ground, he then stabbed his blade into its head and sliced straight through it. "Not bad" came a voice as several red and black spikes flew towards him, he sliced and dodged them, more exploded from the ground, "Rather impressive actually" said the voice as he back flipped to dodge them.

Sora swung held onto his blade with both hands and leaned forward in his trademark battle pose as Vanitas rose from the ground covered in red and black skin like amour "Our union was not finished yet" he said as his weapon appeared in his hand, the Void Gear. "But know you have no choice, Sora, join with me and together we can do such extraordinary things" he said holding his hand towards Sora.

"Yeah? Well you can go take your offer and shove it right up your fucking ass!" shouted Sora as he charged towards Vanitas, he slashed at him but Vanitas blocked and forced him away, "Things are starting to get interesting now eh Sora? Do you actually think you can defeat me?" sneered Vanitas as Sora striked at him several more times, "Either way I'm not going to stop until I'm dead" said Sora, Vanitas laughed "Well then, I guess I'll just have to kill you quickly"

ROS

Riku and Zidane along with their partners were on their way to their airship when a huge blue light burst out from the crater were the Iifa Tree had once stood, it flew high into the sky as they shouted in confusion as the ground began to shake, "What's happening?" shouted Riku, "Hell if I know" Zidane shouted back.

They ran into their airship, "We don't have much time, we need to get back to Sora pronto!" shouted Riku as Zidane fired up the controls and flew back to Alexandria as fast as he could, "Blank!" Zidane shouted and one of Zidane's friends, Blank who had come with them but had stayed on-board when they had went to the Iifa Tree, came up onto the deck "Yeah what is it?" he said as Zidane let go of the wheel and turned to him.

"I need you to pilot this ship back to Alexandria and warn the others, all hells about to break lose and they to be ready!" he said, "Aye alright but what about you Zidane?" he shouted as Zidane grinned and grabbed Riku's arm "See you soon!" he said with a wink before concentrating and disappearing in front of Blanks eyes.

Riku barley had time to react before he felt himself lurch through space at a million miles per second before landing on his hands and knees on a stone floor, "Holy shit!" he heard Zidane cry out and he felt someone push him out of the way and he looked up to see black and red tentacles striking at Zidane.

"Zidane, Riku!" he heard Kairi shout as he saw her in the middle of the swarm of tentacles, they seemed to be coming from upstairs, she was with Master Yen Sid, Mickey, Donald and Goofy. Yen Sid had obviously conjured some kind of barrier to protect him and the others; they all had their weapons while Kairi was wielding a large powerful looking revolver which she was using with supreme accuracy.

"Look out!" she shouted as she fired at one tentacle that tried to flatten Riku, he dodged another and slashed through one that tried to hit him from behind, he grabbed Zidane by his pony tail and threw him into the barrier as Riku jumped in after "Son of a bitch, you pulled my fucking hair!" shouted Zidane angrily as he stood up and gave Riku a glare.

"And you used that Instant Transmission without telling me, serves you right!" Riku retorted as they armed themselves for the next attack, "Mickey, Kairi what the hell are these things!" shouted Riku as more tentacles shot themselves toward them, "We don't know, I went to go check on Sora and these things just burst out of his body like in an Alien movie" she shouted as she shot at one and the top of the tentacle exploded.

"Sora must be fighting with Vanitas!" said Mickey as he shot a fireball to one of them and it exploded, "Well that complicates things!" shouted Riku as he used a Dark Firaga to incinerate a group of them but more kept coming. "How so?" shouted Kairi as she flipped over him and shot on of the tentacles causing it to convulse and screech in pain.

Riku took out the device Garland gave him "I need to get this to Sora, it'll help him!" he shouted, they couldn't move though because the tentacles kept blocking their way. Then a red laser beam shot out from seemingly nowhere and obliterated several tentacles, a red blur flew across the room and a new member was added to their party.

"Reno?!" said Zidane as the red head grinned with cockiness "Finally! I knew I would find some action eventually and this seems to be just the place!" he said as he blasted some more tentacles "Ok so here's the plan, while I blast the everlasting shit out these things, Silver will rush ahead and give Porcupine head whatever it is that he needs and then we can get the fuck out of here!" said Reno without even giving time for the others to react before body slamming into the pool of tentacles.

"What?!" they said in confusion before Reno surfaced and sent an energy ball that went up the stairs, clearing a path for Riku. "Now your chance Silver!" he shouted as he kicked away another tentacle. "Ok then!" shouted Riku and he made a run for it; he ran up the stairs as fast as he could, just to be safe he activated his dark mode and ran in the room where the chamber that contained his friend was.

It was surround by a red and black shell like casing with several thorns coming off it that pulsed out small floating balls covered in tumour like appendages, "Ok whatever the fuck you are, leave my best friend alone!" he shouted and sent a Dark Firaga flying towards it, then he pulled out the device that Garland gave him and threw it at the casing, the device grew long spider like legs and produced a needle from its head which it then injected into the casing.

Green liquid was injected into the casing and it began to crack and glow, Riku could hear screams of pain before it shattered and exploded taking the top of the tower with it, the tentacles vanished from sight as the others looked round confused "Did it work?" said Donald, "Is it over?" said Kairi, Reno looked around, still alert, before chuckling and relaxing "Relax, I think the worst is now over" he said.

No sooner had he said that did the room seem to explode as something huge emerged from the upper room and slithered its way down to the grassy plains that surrounded Master Yen Sid's tower, if Yen Sid was bothered by the destruction of his tower he was doing a good job of showing it.

"What the fuck is that?!" shouted Reno as the dust cleared, "Trust me, you don't want to know" came a voice from the rubble and Sora and Riku appeared with Sora holding onto Riku as he helped him out of the collapsed tower.

"Sora!" cried Kairi as she ran to greet her partner, "Thank god" she kept saying as she hugged him tightly, "No, no don't worry about me, I mean I nearly got killed trying to save his ass" said Riku sarcastically as Kairi laughed and hugged him as well "Thank you for saving him" she whispered before they were interrupted by Reno.

"Hey we can celebrate later, right now we gotta deal with that thing!" he said as he brought out what looked like a stun rod and transformed into his Trance form.

"We need a strategy Reno we can't just run in like that!" shouted Zidane as Reno charged towards outside shouting like a lunatic, "Well there he goes again" said Zidane as he transformed into his Trance form and flew after him, Sora grabbed Kairi's hand "Ready?" he said, she nodded and transformed into the Oblivion Keyblade.

Sora and Riku ran out from the office and found themselves looking at a giant worm like monster with red and black skin, it had wings that ended with sharp claws and at the end was the face of Vanitas. "What the hell happened to him?" said Riku as Sora looked at the monster in disgust "I don't know one second I was fighting him inside my mind and then next thing I know he started freaking out and then he left my body and turned into that thing" he said as they jumped down to join Reno and Zidane.

"So anyone got any bright ideas?" said Reno as Vanitas fired a laser blast from his mouth towards them, they leapt out of the way and split up, "Join with me!" he said in a decaying croaking voice to Sora who fired an fireball from his Keyblade that struck it right in the eye, "Ow my eye!" he screeched as he shot out a tentacle that wrapped around Sora and pulled him up towards his face.

He started climbing up the tower as Riku and Zidane tried to stop it, Reno ran up the tower and launched himself onto its face where he stabbed his stun rod into its other eye and fiddled around with a switch on it, "Bombs away" he shouted as he jumped off and blasted off the tentacle that was holding Sora.

Vanitas slithered to the top of the tower and prepared to fire another blast at them "I'm going to kill you!" he screamed at them but before he could Reno's stun rod exploded, decapitating him and sending his severed burnt head tumbling to the ground shortly join by his body, it twitched a couple times and then went still.

The group stood shocked for a few seconds before turning back to Reno "What the fuck was that?!" they all shouted as he chuckled "Exploding Stun Rod, trademark weapon of the Schism" he said as he powered down and went to retrieve his goggles which he had left somewhere in the now ruined Mysterious Tower.

Sora and the others approached the corpse of the monster that Vanitas had turned into, it was shrinking and deforming until it was nothing more than an incredibly thin deformed version of himself, "Vanitas" said Sora with a look of pity on his face as he knelt down to what had once been his brother, Kairi stood next to him as did Riku and Xion, Zidane and Garnet decided to leave them and went to check on Yen Sid and the others.

"What? Your all going to just stand there and give me your pity, please don't waste your breath" said Vanitas weakly, his voice coming out in a harsh whisper, "Your my brother Van, even after all the shit you put us through your still family, I know we didn't pay attention to you when you needed it most and for that I'm sorry Van, I really am" said Sora as Xion squeezed his shoulder, Vanitas chuckled and black smoke began to emerge from him as he slowly disintegrated into dust "You are too late to stop it…." where his last words before he was gone completely.

"What did he mean by it….?" Said Kairi but before Sora could react the sky above them began to change, they looked up in horror as the sky's became red and black as a screaming skull like face, the same one that appeared in Sora's mind.

The feeling of dread began to suffocate them as they felt a sharp pain in their heads, "What the hell is going on!" said Riku as a high pitched whine filled the air, then as soon as it happened it ended swiftly.

"What the fuck was that?!" said Zidane as the sky became orange and blue, the face was gone but the sky was no longer normal, "The Devils Machine" said Reno, "Seriously, what the hell was that? I felt like my head was gonna explode from that noise" said Riku as he massaged his head. "We need to move and fast" said Sora, Kairi could help but feel scared at the tone of panic in his voice.

"That was Giygas, it seems like this has gotten a whole lot bigger than we could have thought. We need to find where their hiding him and destroy him, otherwise what we just saw will be what the universe will be like for all eternity!" Sora said as he turned to Kairi, "Kairi I need your help with this" he said.

Kairi wasn't sure what he wanted from her but she nodded and braced herself, he placed her hands on the side of her head and leaned in so that their foreheads were touching, "Now I want you to use your Soul perception, I'll handle the rest" he said as he closed his eyes and focused, she concentrated and she saw the souls of everyone present, Sora, Riku, Xion, Garnet, Zidane, Reno, Yen Sid, Mickey, Donald, Goofy and she could feel an echo of Terra and Maximus's souls, then she felt her vision widen and she could see all the students and all of the teachers, the nearby planets, the Hall of Justice, Dredd, even the far away worlds like Halloween Town and the Great Hunting ground.

She saw Jack Skellington and the others planning for next Halloween, she saw Tom and Hester flying away together on the Jenny Haniver, she saw Dredd fighting against Neoshadows and other monsters with a women with blonde hair that she recognised as Judge Anderson, she could feel Soul and Maka and their friends and then she felt it, a soul of pure hatred and evil.

She concentrated and found more of them, she could see the souls of various members of the Alliance, some she recognised others she didn't but they all felt stronger than before, she tried to locate where their base was but before she could her concentration was broken by a mighty crash that shook the room.

Sora and Kairi fell back away from each other as a tremor went through the tower causing it to shake and sway, "What the hell was that?!" shouted Riku as the shaking stopped and they heard another crash, Mickey ran to the window and yelled in horror, the others went to join him and looked on in shock, across the distance they could see that the academy was on fire.

"Shit!" shouted Sora as he took in the flaming castle, "Quick we gotta do something, the other students are in danger!" shouted Mickey as he summoned his weapon, the Kingdom Key D which Donald and Goofy transformed into to form, "Guys let's go!" he said as the others armed themselves and raced towards their academy.

ROS

Deep Space- Orbit of Hollow Bastion

"Mother fucker!" shouted Maximus as the ship did another barrel roll in an attempt to avoid being hit by a cluster of missiles that was being sent their way, they had went to Hollow Bastion to find Aht but had immediately come under attack by a star fleet that had been hiding behind the planet, "Rocket, report!" shouted Star Lord as they dodged more blasts, "Death rays! Polycarbite shielding! And a shit ton of missiles!" shouted Rocket Racoon as they avoided another blast.

"God dammit this is why I hate flying with tourists" shouted Drax as he placed a helmet on his head and got ready to open the air lock, "Woah, whoa what are you doing?!" shouted Gamora as he slipped on a jet pack "Dealing with this shit, for all you know Thanos might be on that ship!" he shouted before jumping out and flying out onto space, "Oh there he goes again, Rocket, Groot and Gamora you stay here and try to get away, Max and Terra you guys are with me!" shouted Star Lord as he put on his helmet.

"Good luck!" shouted Rocket as Max and Terra followed Star Lord to the air lock "Max! Wait! Are you crazy, you can't go out into space without protection you'll be killed!" screamed Terra as he changed into his Trance form, he grinned poked her on the head "You goon! Did you forget that while in this form we can breathe in space?" he said laughing at her frowning expression as she too transformed, they flew out with Star Lord to find themselves faced with thousands and thousands of Daleks.

"Daleks!" shouted Star Lord as he readied his guns as Terra and Maximus were back to back and raised their hands out to prepare to fight their way through, then something else came flying their way.

It was a purple skinned humanoid with white armour on his shoulders and legs and head, his face had red marks on it and red eyes looked awfully familiar, "It can't be" said Maximus in shock as he stared at him in horror, "Your dead" Terra said weakly, the fear returning to her as she found herself looking at the creature that had killed her friend all those years ago.

"Freiza!"

A/N Hohohoho! Yeah it's getting serious now! The next chapter will be the last part before the ten part finale (yes ten parts!) begins, Can Maximus and Terra stop the Daleks and their associates from destroying the dying planet were their dearest friend now lies? And how will Riku and Sora handle the sudden attack at their Academy? It's the beginning of the end as the Promised Day grows closer and time is running out.

The next chapter will be Chapter 24 The Academy Crumbles