Wow, sorry for the delay! I've been working out the direction I want this story to take. A shout out to RoyDilanCastler and khfan12 for the reviews and inspiration for me to keep this story alive. -Drachesoul
Brittany S. Pierce was pretty sure that unicorns weren't that big. She was also fairly sure that they didn't have ominous red eyes. Dark armor that seemed at once both solid and shadow covered its legs. Yet here she was, with her girlfriend and the rest of her friends, and she was about to fight a giant unicorn.
"I don't know if I can do this morally. It's like animal cruelty or something."
"You don't have to fight, babe," Santana whispered from next to her. "It's okay."
Brittany's gaze hardened and she shook her head. "No. I may not want to fight it, but I will not stand by while my friends fight." She tightened her grip on the Keyblade and surged forward, but Terra stopped her.
"This thing is too huge to fight without a plan. We have three groups of four and the six of us. You, Santana, Olivia and Quinn should focus on its front hooves." She nodded curtly and passed on the strategy to her friends.
"Ready?" She heard Quinn say and could feel herself shout a confirmation. "I think we should think of this fight like one of our routines."
"Make no mistakes or Coach Sue will make us run a hundred laps," Santana repeated immediately.
Olivia hissed sympathetically, "Thank god she didn't coach the volleyball team."
"Be really glad," Quinn said, holding her Keyblade at the ready. Brittany fell into place at her left side, feeling a small amount of comfort at flanking her captain. "Let's go."
As one, they rushed to the giant unicorn, followed quickly by the fourteen other wielders.
The first few blows didn't seem to do much to the giant Heartless. The Keyblades bounced off of its black armor, leaving scratches and dents in the protective shield. The Heartless whinnied in annoyance and lifted one of its front legs.
"Scatter!" Terra yelled, leaping to the side as the giant hoof struck the ground at the exact spot he had been standing.
"Holy shit!" Puck shouted, "Are you okay dude?" Terra nodded and dusted himself off.
"Keep attacking it," Riku rallied the group of new wielders and leading them back in the range of the unicorn's attacks. "There's got to be a weakness somewhere!"
Blaine was the first one who broke through the armor. He whooped with joy as a piece of armor fell off the unicorn and clattered at his feet. His victory was short lived however as the unicorn kicked its foot, clipping him in the shoulder. Blaine fell to the ground, clutching his shoulder.
"Blaine!" Kurt yelled, abandoning his group and rushing over to his boyfriend. Placing both hands underneath the boy's shoulders, the countertenor lifted his boyfriend off the ground with a show of sheer strength. He struggled to drag his boyfriend away from the battlefield.
Seeing his stepbrother struggle, Finn raced over to the pair and easily lifted Blaine up, carefully avoiding his injured shoulder. The rest of the new wielders stopped their assault to watch.
"No!" Ventus shouted, "Keep going! We have to knock off the rest of its armor and fast, or Blaine won't be the only one needing healing after this battle!"
"Find a partner and pick a hoof!" Kairi called, rallying the frightened new wielders. "Let's go guys!"
Brittany clutched Santana's arm. Olivia and Quinn looped arms while Sam and Puck fist-bumped. The rest of the Glee kids were soon paired up and attacking a hoof, bits of armor flying off left and right. With each bit that fell off, the Heartless became angrier, and everyone else had to dodge its flailing hooves.
"Alright, one last piece left!" Sam crowed in excitement. He jumped for it, Keyblade swinging, but missed. "Damn, I can't reach it."
"Let me try," Finn elbowed his way past Sam and jumped. But even he couldn't reach it.
"I'll get it," Rachel stated. Everyone within earshot turned to stare at her.
Michael cocked his head, "No offense Rach, but you're tiny."
"I'm light," Rachel explained. "Finn, give me a boost."
Not being one to disobey a direct order from the tiny diva, he offered his hand to Rachel. With Finn's help, Rachel balanced herself precariously on his broad shoulders. Raising Star Seeker, she swung the Keyblade at the last piece of protective armor.
Everyone watched as it fell. As if realizing that its last defense was gone, and it finally had something to worry about, the unicorn Heartless rounded on them. It stamped its hooves again and again and everyone had to jump out of the way.
"We got it!" Mike cheered, dodging a hoof. "Let's finish this, guys We can beat it!"
Renewed, everyone began striking at the weakened hooves again and again. The fissures and gashes that covered the lower half of the Heartless began to widen. Puffs of darkness flew from its body in every direction and the Heartless stumbled. Falling to its knees, red eyes still glowing with malice, the wielders began attacking its exposed head.
Sam and Puck jumped on the head and began smacking the horn for all they were worth. With a loud crack, the horn shattered and pieces rained down on the teenagers. The red eyes of the Heartless faded and it stopped moving, disappearing back into the darkness from which it originated.
"We…did it." Michael said, breathing hard, and his Keyblade disappeared. "I can't believe it." The grove was oddly silent now that the battle was over.
"Now what?" Olivia's voice broke the silence.
"Now you start the rest of your journey," Yen Sid's reedy voice carried across the battle field.
"Are you kidding me?" Santana said incredulously. "You mean this bitch of a fight was just the beginning?"
"The fact is, other worlds out there are facing similar situations to the ones you've been in for the last few days. They need your help, Santana," Yen Sid pleaded.
"I didn't ask for this," the Latina yelled. "Two days ago I was sleeping in my own bed, and the most important thing on my mind was whether or not I had enough money to take my girlfriend out on a date!"
Brittany put a comforting hand on her girlfriend's shoulder, but Santana shrugged it off.
"Santana, we get where you're coming from," Sora placated.
"Really?" Santana scoffed angrily, "Cause I find that hard to believe."
"But we do," Sora said softly. "One day I was racing Riku on the beach, and gathering materials for a boat we were building. The next, I was being licked awake by a large dog in the alley of a strange town. At least you have your friends here with you."
Santana's hard gaze softened and she seemed to deflate. "I'm…sorry for acting so bitchy."
"It's okay, San, we're all going through the same things as you," Quinn said. "And we're here for you."
"Thanks." She replied shortly, ducking her gaze in embarrassment. "Um…so about helping other people?"
Yen Sid nodded, "Yes, about that. I would like to send a group of you out to a world that has been experiencing a rise in Heartless and Unversed. Santana I would like you, Quinn, Olivia, Rachel, Puck, Finn and Sam out to this world."
"And the rest of us?" Mike asked.
"I would like the rest of you to stay here at the castle for now, to train some more and study the lore of the Heartless and Unversed. Riku, Sora and Aqua will join the group going to this new world."
"That's not fair," Michael said, "What if we want to go see this new world?"
"You'll get your chance," Master Eraqus said from behind Yen Sid. "But we cannot send everybody to this world at once. I'm not saying that another attack like this one will come, but I would like it if some of you stayed behind." Those chosen to stay behind grumbled but didn't object.
"So it's settled then," Yen Sid clapped his hands. Stepping back, he waved his wand and a portal appeared in front of him.
"You want us to go now?" Rachel said. "But that was a long fight."
Yen Sid waggled his finger, "There's no time like the present, dearie." And with that he gently pushed the diva through the portal.
"Rachel!" Sam called, diving in after her.
Santana and Olivia sighed. "Well, let's go after the midget before she annoys something."
"Yes, let's."
XXX
Rachel Berry was the first one to tumble out of the portal, landing with an ungainly huff on a bed of thick grass. She had just enough time to roll out of the way before Sam, Santana, Puck, Olivia and Quinn came crashing to the ground.
Their small group had landed on the top of a small hill, with swaths of flowers and trees surrounding them.
"At least there was grass this time," Puck said, still lying face-down in the grass. And then Finn fell on top of him.
"Way to go, Finn," Olivia muttered, kneeling down to help Puck to his feet. "You good, Puckerman?"
"That's what the ladies tell me," he wheezed, clutching his side. "Ow." If the Mohawked boy could still crack sexual jokes, he wasn't in any serious danger.
The portal began to fold into itself as three more people exited. Riku, Sora and Aqua landed gracefully on their feet, and glanced around at the six Glee kids.
"You'll get used to it," Sora waved at them nonchalantly. "It only takes a few times to get your bearings."
Riku scowled, "Says the doofus who took more than a month to land on his feet." Sora shoved him playfully and earned an earnest punch in the ribs for his teasing. Aqua however was busy staring out at the horizon.
"Wow." No matter how many times Aqua traveled to different worlds, she never ceased to be amazed by all of the different scenery she got to look at. There were the futuristic spaceship loading bays from the world she met Stitch in, and the cartoonish town square from Toontown, but this was…gorgeous.
Quinn narrowed her eyes and looked around. "Well, wherever we are I don't see a single sign of civilization."
"No," Santana said, squinting at something in the distance. "But I do see Heartless!" Her keyblade flashed into her hand and she headed down the hill and toward a grove of trees to confront them.
"Santana, wait!" Riku called, but the fiery Latina was already halfway to the small gang of Heartless. "Damn it," he swore, following her. He motioned for the rest of their small group to follow.
Rachel sighed as she slowly picked her way down the hill. The rest of her friends had already reached the bottom and were now helping Santana and Riku fight the Heartless. Only Olivia had stayed behind with her. "I wish Santana would look before she leaps. It's gotten us into more trouble than I would like," she said to the volleyball player.
"But that mindset is also what's saved our asses on more than one occasion," Olivia pointed out. She held out her hand to steady the diminutive starlet as she tripped over a rock hidden in the grass. "We all have personality traits that rub others the wrong way. Santana's just much more open about hers than most people. She's not afraid to speak her mind. "
"No, you're certainly right about that," Rachel conceded, and they made their way to the bottom of the hill.
The fight was nearly over by the time the two reached the rest of the group. "About time you two joined in," Puck groused, casually decapitating an errant Heartless. It disappeared with a poof and a smattering of dark sparkles.
"Oh relax, Puck, from where I see it, you managed just fine without us," the raven-haired girl replied. An armored Heartless that had gotten away from Finn snuck up behind her. Without missing a beat, Olivia whirled around, Keyblade in hand. Swinging vertically, she buried her weapon in the Heartless.
It twitched erratically for a second on the end of Oblivion before dissolving into thin air. She turned back around to face Puck, who had an awestruck look on his face. "See? Just fine."
"Geez, Liv, how did you do that?" Santana asked, wiping sweat off her brow.
"I-I have no idea," she said honestly, looking closely at Oblivion. "It's like I could feel the Heartless behind me and then the next thing I knew I had my Keyblade buried in its head."
Sora approached her, grinning from ear to ear, "Looks like somebody just got their first skill."
"Skill?" everyone chorused at once.
"Yeah, every now and then you'll find that you can suddenly perform amazing feats of strength or speed," he explained. Taking a few steps back from the Glee kids, he took a deep breath and jumped. Everyone watched with amazement as he catapulted ten feet in the air, twisting in mid-jump to extend the height.
"That skill is called High Jump," Riku said as his best friend landed on the grass with a soft thump. "Aqua and I can use skills like that too, though it took us a lot longer to learn them than you did, Olivia."
"Is she the only one that can learn them?" Finn asked. His eyes lit up in delight. "I wanna be a badass too."
Aqua laughed, "Everyone here should be able to learn skills like Olivia, though as to when you learn them, only time will tell."
Santana smirked, "Yeah Finn, so don't be mad if your first skill takes years to develop." The tall boy's ears reddened, but he didn't reply.
"Congratulations, Liv," Quinn broke the silence, sensing the tension. She embraced her friend and the rest of them quickly followed. The danger having passed, they all settled down in the grass to recover from the fight.
"Is anyone hurt?" Sora asked and was met with a chorus of dissension. "All right, so what happens now?"
"You stay still and don't move an inch," a voice hissed from behind a grove of trees. "Or else I'll stick an arrow through you faster than you can draw your weapon."
Everyone froze where they stood, and a tall girl with wild red hair slowly approached them from behind the trees. She was flanked by three tiny bears who quickly surrounded the wielders, baring their teeth. Another, larger bear with coarse fur lumbered up beside the girl. An intricate tiara sat haphazardly on its head.
"Who the hell are you?" Santana shouted at the girl, glaring warily at one of the small bears.
"My name is Merida of Clan Dunbroch," the strange girl replied, an accent heavy in her speech, and her bow still trained on Sora. "Who are you?"
I know, I'm horrible for leaving this chapter off like that. As you now know, the first world our brave wielders will visit is the world of the Disney-Pixar movie Brave. Until next time.