Chapter 24; The Academy Crumbles
Disclaimer: It is approaching us!
DW Academy
Riku, Sora, Zidane, Reno and Mickey all boarded the train to the academy, the train was what linked Master Yen Sid's tower to the academy, Sora looked out of the window as he saw the academy was still on fire and he could hear shouting and gunfire.
The train stopped at the station and they left quickly, "What do we do now Your Majesty?" said Sora as they ran up towards the entrance, "We need to help everyone evacuate" said Mickey as they ran through the main doors.
They were met with pure chaos; there were hundreds of Shadows of each and every variety crawling around the walls, across the ceiling. Many students were fighting against them while others were injured and being defended by teachers.
Mickey clenched his fists in anger before charging his way forward and cutting through any Shadows in his way. Sora and the others followed him, Sora saw a Neoshadow that had cornered his friend Tidus and he ran forward and stabbed it through the chest.
"Sora?! Man I'm I glad to see you!" said Tidus as he ran with Sora to where Mickey was fighting back to back with a man carrying a gun shaped blade and another wizard dressed in blue and with a very long beard "Leon, Merlin what's happened here!?" he shouted as he fried a Firaga that destroyed a cluster of Shadows, "We were just having a usual lesson and then these things showed up" said Leon as he slashed a pouncing Neoshadow in half.
Reno and Zidane were flying through the air knocking off any Shadows clinging to the ceiling and Riku took care of any on the ground, he was plowing through them like a bulldozer as he slashed through any in his way. But no matter how many they killed more and more kept showing up, then they heard a loud roaring noise as something huge crashed through the roof and into the school.
It was shaped like a giant flying serpent covered with armour with several wings, the Leviathan, soldiers jumped out of the monster and landed on the ground and started firing at the students, "Chitari?!" shouted Zidane as he cut through one and drop kicked another before it could shot a helpless girl student.
"Where did they come from?!" shouted Reno as he smashed one away from some kids and helped them into a safer room, Zidane heard laughter and looked up to see Loki grinning evilly down at him.
"I should have known it was you Loki!" spat Zidane as he glared at the demi-god, Loki raised her arms and grinned triumphantly "Isn't this not the preferred state you would see your world in? Total chaos and then sanctuary, once my army has taken your school, your friends will become my students and I will teach them the arts of true war" Loki gloated as he aimed his sceptre at Zidane and shot a blast at him, Zidane rolled out of the way and started running away as Loki chased after him on his speeder.
ROS
Riku was fighting against several Chitari when a familiar looking ship crashed through were the Leviathan had entered, someone jumped out and immediately began firing at several Chitari, "Nice you could make it Samus!" said Riku as they both landed back to back "It's about to get worse!" said Samus as Riku looked up to see a massive ship in the sky and then several Space Pirates materialised into the courtyard, "Space Pirates!?" he shouted as he ran with Samus.
"It's an invasion, it seems like the entire Alliance is here!" she said to him as they started taking out Space Pirates, Samus fired through several with her Plasma beam while Riku obliterated them with the Dark Firaga attack.
Then a much larger pirate landed, it was covered in blue armour with purple crystals and mandibles for a mouth with tiny red eyes, it swung its giant talons at him and he back flipped away as Samus aimed her cannon at it.
"Samus any ideas?!" shouted Riku as the monster breathed out purple like goo that he had to jump over to avoid, "It's called a Berserker Lord, wait until it stars firing its energy balls and then deflect them back to damage its armour!" shouted Samus as she fired at the red glowing shards on its shoulders as Riku waited for it to do what she said it would.
When it fired its purple energy balls at him he deflected them back and its amour cracked and broke off as it growled it pain exposing its brain, Riku aimed at launched the Way to the Dawn straight into its brain. It howled in pain as it collapsed and convulsed in agony before going still "Riku! Don't throw me into monsters brains like that it's gross!" shouted Xion as Riku pulled her out of its head.
"They just keep coming" said Riku as more Space Pirates made their way towards them, "We need to get everyone out of here as quickly as possible" said Samus as she shot more Space Pirates in the head, then something flew over them sending plasma breath towards them which they had to leap out of the way to avoid, "Ridley!" shouted Riku as the dragon circled round the courtyard firing flame balls toward the ground, setting off a massive explosion sending both Shadows and people flying.
ROS
"This is insane!" shouted Kairi as Sora kept slashing and firing blasts to more and more Shadows as he, Mickey and Leon kept as many students as they could inside a shield that Merlin had created, "Sora, you and me try to space them out while Merlin and the others make their way out of the emergency exit" said Leon as he charged his gunblade causing it to extend and grow larger, "Ok" said Sora as he activated Trance and spun round like a tornado shredding any Shadows that got in his way.
He saw fellow students Wakka, Yuffie and Selphie fighting against a flying demon like monster, Yuffie was holding it off with her shuriken while Wakka was looking after Selphie who was bleeding heavily. "Yuffie!" shouted Leon as the demon smashed its fist against her and sent her flying, the demon turned to him as he jumped and tried to slash at him, Leon was knocked aside as it kneed him hard in the gut, so hard that he coughed out blood.
It was human looking with a pair of curved over goat like horns on its head, it had had only three fingers and two toes, it was covered in armour that was grey in some parts and in other parts it's armour was missing and pulsing muscles could be seen, "I have been waiting for this moment for some time, you have no idea what awaits you and your people, either I'll kill you and Giygas will, either way your fate had been sealed"
It spun around and fired several fireballs toward Sora which he blocked only for it to rush forward and knee him in the face, he yelled in pain as it grabbed him by the foot and launched him away, he landed in a more open area as it floated down towards him, "All right who are you!?" Sora shouted as he swung his Keyblade at it which it caught with its bare hands and elbowed him in the face, he landed hard against the ground.
"He is the Magician Type 0, the master piece of the great Dr Curian's research" a man said as Sora looked up from the dirt to him, he had combed back blonde hair and wore a pair of shades and was dressed in a black leather coat and a tight black leather outfit, he smirked down at Sora as Sora picked himself up from the ground.
"And you are?" Sora said as he pointed his keyblade at the man as Magician landed next to him, "Albert Wesker and soon your new ruler" he said in a deep voice as he looked round the destroyed academy, "Beautiful isn't it? You academy has spent all its time combatting the darkness with its students and yet when it is attacked you are unable to defend yourselves, I had honestly expected more from you after everything I had heard" he said as Sora glared at him.
"So you're the one whoes leading this attack?!" said Sora as he held onto his keyblade tightly as Wesker smirked and summoned several Shadows from the ground, "Yes I'am, as you can see the forces of darkness are so easy to control, I have an entire army of these creatures ready to tear you academy to pieces, but you will not live long enough to see that!", he then charged forward at break neck speed, "Sora watch out" shouted Kairi as Sora blocked Wesker's attack and slashed at him but it seemed to go right through him before he appeared next to him and elbowed him in the face.
"What the hell!" said Sora as he back flipped and landed a few feet away from Wesker and Magician, "I was under the impression you students were made of something more than that, clearly I was mistaken" gloated Wesker before he ran forward as Magician floated into the air, Wesker punched and kicked at Sora who could only block as Wesker was moving too fast for Sora to launch a counter attack.
As Magician was about to fire a blast at Sora, Reno drop kicked him in the face sending him flying to the ground, Wesker looked back for a second giving Sora the chance to smash his keyblade right against Wesker's face and knocking off his shades, revealing his gold cat like eyes.
"Albert Wesker, fancy meeting you here of all places" said Reno as he landed down to face Wesker who chuckled "Well if it isn't the rebellious young Reno, I see you haven't learned any respect since I kicked you out" said Wesker as Reno shrugged and pulled out another stun rod and took off his goggles "Why would I respect someone who just turned out to be another lab rat!" said Reno, Wesker flared in anger and charged towards him as he and Reno started fighting at a speed even Sora couldn't keep up with.
"Whoa, now that's some serious fighting going on there" he said before a fireball narrowly missed his head, he turned round in panic to see Magician flying straight towards him, "Oh shit I forgot about him!" he shouted as he dodged another set of fireballs. He jumped up "Play times over!" he shouted as he powered up and another Keyblade materialised in his hand, much to his surprise it looked like Vanitas's keyblade.
"What the hell?" he thought as he blocked an attack from Magician before using his other keyblade to slash across its exposed muscle on its leg, it glowed red for a few seconds and backed off "I didn't know you could wield two blades!" said Kairi as he landed, "Neither did I! It must be Vanitas, he must have given me his power when he died" he said as he used his Keyblades like a shield to block and armada of fireballs that Magician shot at him from above.
Sora could see that Reno was still fighting against Wesker while Mickey was helping Leon to his feet as all the students who had survived were making their way to the secret tunnel that led out of the school; he couldn't see Riku or Zidane anywhere.
He was interrupted by Magician who punched at him with his claws through Sora's Keyblades knocking him off balance, "First I gotta deal with this fucking thing!" he shouted in his mind before flying up after it, "Wait Sora, remember how it was injured when you hit its exposed muscle? Try aiming for that!" shouted Kairi as he slashed and hacked at Magician.
"Good idea Kairi" he said before blocking one arm with one keyblade and using the other to hit the exposed muscle on his other arm, again it glowed red briefly and growled in pain as Sora kicked it away, when Sora tried to hit the same bit however it didn't react and he was sent flying back with a kick.
"There's only one piece left and that's on its face, but if I go anywhere near him I'm just gonna get blasted, I'll have to snipe it" he said as he launched a blast at it, it knocked the blast aside, "Scatter shot!" shouted Sora as he shot multiple little shots toward Magician.
Magician was too quick and kept dodging them and fired a fireball that hit Sora right in the chest, Sora cried out in pain as he fell down to the ground, his Keyblades vanished and Kairi reappeared in her human form "Dammit this guy's way too fast, I'm not built for combat like this, if he kept fighting physically it would be no problem but now he's fighting from a distance and he can only really be attacked from a distance as well but I can't hit him!" he shouted to Kairi.
"Wait lets swap roles for a second" she said, he looked confused but did as she said and transformed into his Keyblade form, she threw him toward Magician, Magician caught the blade in his hands. Kairi used this opportunity to pull out her revolver and fire a shot towards Magicians face, the bullet tore through Magicians exposed face.
Magician began to convulse and shudder as he stretched out his limbs, his body became covered in tiny explosions before he stopped and stuck his hand out to Kairi "You haven't seen anything yet!" he shouted before exploding and combusting into tiny pieces.
Kairi relaxed for a minute as Sora transformed back into his human form, "You ok?" he said as she gasped for breath with her hands on her knees, she nodded "Yeah I'm good, come on we gotta help the others" she said smiling at him, she was about to transform when he stopped her "Wait" he said and then he kissed her, "Ok let's go" he said with a grin as she gave him an amused look as she transformed back into her keyblade form and he charged back into the chaos.
ROS
Zidane kept running as Loki shot at him again and again with his sceptre, "Hold still you filthy primate!" he shouted as Zidane jumped over another blast and ran up against the wall and jump kicked Loki in the face sending him flying off his speeder and crashing to the ground.
"You're gonna pay for that you little shit!" shouted Loki as he stabbed at Zidane who blocked and flipped over him, he then started slashing at Loki who blocked with his sceptre which turned into a longer staff, he swung at Zidane and Zidane blocked but was forced to the ground due to the impact, Loki stabbed down at his head which Zidane avoided at the last second before kicking up and catching Loki on the back of the head, he then back flipped away as Loki fired another energy bolt at him.
"Damn you!" said Loki as he teleported toward Zidane, they parried and blocked each other's attacks for a few seconds before bouncing off each other, Zidane took this time to leap forward and head but Loki, hard, in the face. Loki cried out in pain before Zidane uppercutted him and sent him flying, Loki landed a good distance away. "You really aren't very good at this are you?" said Zidane as he spun his knife playfully as he watched Loki pick himself up.
Loki snarled and charged towards him, "Oh come on! You're like a broken record you know that?!" shouted Zidane as he ran forward too, when he slashed at Loki his attack went right through him and Loki became smoke, "What the…" before he could finish he felt immense pain as Loki stabbed through his side, missing any internal organs but still dealing serious damage to him, "Mother fucker" said Zidane weakly as he dropped his knife and held his wound, coughing up blood as he breathed heavily to try and ignore the pain.
Garnet turned back into her human form and screamed his name as she ran towards him, Loki appeared in front of her and pointed his staff at her "Please don't" he said grinning widely at her tear strained face "Get away from him you bastard!" she shouted and ran at him, he swung his staff and caught her right in the jaw sending her flying, she landed with a whimper and she held her face in pain as Loki advanced toward her slowly.
"Garnet!" screamed Zidane, trying his best to cover his wound but he only coughed up more blood. Loki approached her and raised his staff, the bottom forming into a knife, "Be glad that your death will be quicker than you filthy monkey friend" he said softly, "I wouldn't count on that Loki" said a voice before a blast hit Loki sending him flying away from Garnet, then a red, white and blue rounded shield came wising out of nowhere and caught him across the face.
Thunder and lightning began to shoot from the sky as a man with long blonde hair dressed in silver and black armour with a long red cape appeared, with him was a man covered in red and gold amour and a man dressed in a blue a white costume with his shield on his arm, "The Avengers, Iron Man, Thor and Captain America!" said Zidane grinning as he saw the trio aim their weapons at Loki, Loki looked in horror "But how did you…."
"You really think we wouldn't come looking for you at some point, old Thor here was able to give us the ability to travel through space and when we sensed you, we made our way here. Just in time too" said the armoured man as he saw Zidane, "Cap go help Zidane, me and Thor can handle him" he said before flying into the sky while Thor swung his hammer around like a helicopter.
"Zidane!" said Captain America as he ran too him, "Are you ok?" he said as he looked over his wound, Zidane chuckled painfully "I'm just peachy Cap" he said smiling weakly, "Just hang in there, we'll get you out of here" he said as he started dressing Zidane's wound, Zidane grabbed his arm "Forget about me just get Garnet out of here!" he said as he growled in pain as Captain America finished dressing his wound.
Captain America looked over to where Garnet was lying, she was stuck in the crossfire between Loki and Thor and Iron Man, and she had curled up in a ball covering her head with her hands, "Tony! Get Garnet out of there!" shouted Captain America as he threw his shield at Loki, Iron Man flew down and picked her up, "Zidane?" she said weakly, "In a second kid" said Iron Man before flying over to where Zidane and Captain America where.
Iron Man landed and laid Garnet down gently, "Take it easy your Highness" he said before he flew away back to the fight with Loki, "Cap go with him, I'll be fine" said Zidane as he pushed himself up and rested Garnets head on his lap, Captain America nodded and gave him his pistol "We'll be right back" he said before running in the join the fight.
Garnet whimpered and opened her eyes, "Zidane!" she shouting sitting up only for him to grab her shoulders and turned her round so that they were facing each other. "Hey I'm ok" he said as gently as he could but he let out an audible wince and he leaned back as she sat up, "Here let me help" she said and used a Cura spell on him.
He groaned and hissed in agony as he felt his flesh slowly regenerate, "God damn it this hurts" he whispered with his eyes closed as he grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly.
"Oh Zidane, why do you keep pushing yourself like that?" she said as she stroked his hair affectionately, he sat up and looked at her, "I promised to protect you, don't you remember?" he said softly as he leaned in close to her, he stroked her hair and cupped her face, "Zidane" she whispered, their faces got closer and closer until their lips were nearly touching before there was a shockwave that caused them to knock their hands together.
"Ow" they both said as they rubbed their head in pain, they both chuckled awkwardly.
ROS
Ridley continued to fire his plasma beam at Riku and Samus, "Dammit, I can't hit he's too fast!" he shouted as he missed another hit against him, Ridley smacked him with his tail and sent him flying to the ground, "This is bad, we're going nowhere fast, I need to find a way to hit Ridley" he thought as Samus fired several missiles which Ridley destroyed with his plasma breath before he dove down towards her.
"Look out!" shouted Riku as Ridley prepared to dive bomb her "Say goodbye!" shouted Ridley as Samus prepared herself, "Goodbye" came a gruff voice and a missile flew from across the room and hit Ridley directly in the chest causing him to cry out in pain and fly away from Samus before crashing into the ground.
Riku looked round to see a man in an a black and gold bullet proof jacket with a black, red and gold helmet that hid most of his face, "Judge Dredd?!" said Xion as Riku stared in awe as the Judge headed towards him.
"You a student?" he said to Riku, "Yes sir!" replied Riku trying to look as impressive as possible, "I'am Judge Dredd, me and many other Judges were sent here to get this operation under control, me and that armored woman will deal with the dragon, you focus on getting everyone out of here safely" he said before pulling out his gun and switching it to armor piercing mode, "Judgement time!" said Dredd before he ran forward and started shooting Shadows and Space Pirates left and right.
"Better do as he says Riku!" said Xion, Riku nodded and ran over to wear a group of students were being attacked by some Shadows, he dealt with them swiftly before being joined by Mickey and Sora, "Sora, Mickey how are things holding up!?" he said as he fought off more Space Pirates, "We're trying to evacuate as many students as possible but there too many of them!" shouted Mickey as the noise of the battle got louder and louder, then something huge burst from the ground.
It was longer than three football pitches and shaped like a giant worm with an open mouth filled with long spinning metal teeth, it was covered in thousands of metal spikes and it had multiple tentacles near its face that were shaped like spinning drills, from the top of the creature a giant robot with a single red eye and a huge cannon for a right arm emerged.
It looked round with its single eye speaking in a language Riku and Sora did not understand before charging up its cannon and growling Mickeys name, Mickey glared at the robot and tightened his grip on his Keyblade, "Sora, Riku get out of here. There nothing more we can do for the academy, get as many people out as you can and leave" he said in a tone Riku had never heard from him, rage.
The robot jumped off the giant worm like monster and charged his cannon, he roared in anger showing off his mandible like mouth before firing a cluster of missiles at Mickey who dodged and flipped over them and ran towards him with his keyblade in hand.
The robot blocked Mickeys attack before Mickey flipped over him and landed behind him and fired a blast of electricity at him, the robot cried out in anger as he spun round and tried to swat the anamorphic mouse. Mickey fired an energy blast at the robots face and left a scar on it, "That's another for the collection!" shouted Mickey as the robot cursed at him and tried to grab him.
Riku and Sora led as many people into the secret exit as much as they could, "Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, Vaan, Penelo, Yuna, Paine, Rikku, Bartz…" counted Sora as they ran past into the entrance, "Wait where are Leon and Yuffie!?" he said concerned as he looked around for her, then he saw Leon with Yuffie on his back, he was fighting off Shadows with one hand but he was injured and struggling "Shit! Hang on Leon I'm coming!" Sora shouted.
He flew away from the others straight towards where Leon was, "Sora come back!" shouted Riku as he watched his friend fly away, "Ah bollocks! Hang on Sora I'm coming with you!" he shouted and ran after him.
He looked over to see Mickey still fighting with the one eyed robot, "Wonder what the hell that thing is?" he thought as he slashed several Neoshadows in half, more approached him.
Then it seemed like everything stopped, all of the Shadows freezed in place and ceased moving, they all seemed to be looking up at something, it was as quiet as the dead. Riku and Sora looked round confused as their enemy's seized any movement aside from looking up, and then it happened again.
The sky became a twisted red screaming skull like face, the air became dense and they found it hard to breath, an ominous breathing noise filled the air as the purple lights began to rain from the sky, the Neoshadows held out their hands and they were struck by the lights, they turned red and black in colure. The Space Pirates became covered in purple and black armour and the Chitari were given an extra pair of arms and new and improved weapons.
The one eyed robot turned to his pet and spoke to it in a language Sora and Riku didn't understand, the monster reared up and let out a roar before drilling right into the academy like a bulldozer, it drilled and smashed through the building tearing it to shreds, Riku and Sora yelled out in shock as they watched their home crumble before their eyes.
ROS
"What is this madness?" said Thor as he pinned down Loki with his hammer, Iron man and Captain America looked round at the changed Chitari, Loki grinned and his eyes glowed red "It's the end, the beginning of your new world dear brother, everything you ever loved will be taken by him and used in his glorious empire and I will be part of it!" he shouted before teleporting away, Thor yelled in frustration.
"We need to follow him!" he said, "How? We have no idea where he even is!" said Iron Man as Zidane and Garnet limped over towards them, "Zidane" Garnet said weakly as she watched the school crumble, "What do we do now?" she said to him as he glared and clenched his fists, "We take em down!" he snarled.
They saw Sora and Riku running away from the collapsing building as the Driller kept plowing through the castle, "We need to get out of here!" shouted Sora as they met up with Zidane and the others, Riku saw Ridley fly away and he saw Samus and Dredd running towards where they were as well.
They all ran as fast as they could until they were a safe distance away, Mickey collapsed to his knees with tears in his eyes as he watched his beloved school fall right in front of him. Kairi appeared as did Xion and they stood next to their partners, the surviving students made their way over as well. Sora could only count about thirty students plus several teachers, "Mickey" said Riku as he tried to comfort his friend.
"What was that thing?" he asked as he watched the robot disappear under the ground, "That was Shockwave" said Mickey scowling uncharacteristically, "He…..killed my wife" Mickey said sadly as Riku looked at him in horror before clenching his fists and growling with anger "Those fucking bastards!" shouted Sora.
They heard shuffling behind them, they looked round to see Reno approaching them, he had a serious expression on his face "I know were their base is, I'm going to try and end this. Anyone up for one last attempt to save the universe? Or would you rather just sit here and mope?" he said as he looked to Sora and Riku and Zidane.
Sora frowned and clenched his fists "Yeah I'm going" he said, Xion and Kairi turned to him in horror "No Sora" said Xion, "You can't!" said Kairi grabbing his shoulders to stop him from moving. He looked to Riku and Zidane who nodded, "We're going too" said Riku. Samus, Dredd and the Avengers walked forward as well "As are we" said Samus.
"You sure?" said Reno, "About time someone gave these scum a true sentence of justice" said Dredd as he reloaded his gun, Kairi looked lost but threw her arms up "Your crazy you know that!?" she said to Sora, he grinned and took her hand "Yeah I know but we have to do something Kairi, it's better than just sitting around here doing nothing, please Kairi I need you help with this" he said, she looked at him hopelessly before closing her eyes and sighing, "Ok" she said.
"Lead the way Reno" said Riku as Xion gave him a glare but transformed back into her weapon form, "We'll use the Kings Gummi Ship the travel there, that ok Your Majesty" said Reno surprisingly respectively, Mickey nodded "Give them hell fellas" he said as he threw the keys to Reno, Reno caught them and then tarred off to where the Gummi ship was, behind Master Yen Sids tower.
"Reno wait, where are we going" said Sora as they ran after him, Reno turned round and jogged backward before pointing upwards to the sky, "Where to you think?" he said grinning as Sora looked up to the sky, "No way" he said as he looked up at the moon, the lunar surface was covered in hundreds of lights, like a faraway city at night.
"The Alliances base is on the moon!"
A/N Yeah a loooooooong chapter and the return of many characters and some new ones, I wanted to focus purely on Sora and co for this Chapter but we'll see Maximus in the next chapter as the finale begin, Chapter 25 The Darkside of the Moon: Part 1 Coolers Revenge.