Time for a nice boss fight. Now, Ruxik?

Ruxik: "I'm the first O.C. to do the disclaimer. Sweet! DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else. Just his plot and O.C.s like me.

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Chapter 17: Battling the Dark Bearer

Sora, Kairi, and Riku re-entered the foryer, only to find it empty.

"Huh?"

"Where is he?" Sora wondered out loud.

"Up here Keyboy." Said a malicious voice from behind them. They turned and saw their target leaning casually against the wall above them. Riku had been in that exact same position earlier, and the resemblance made Sora uncomfortable.

Ruxik walked forward and put his hands on the banister, overlooking them with that horrible smirk. "You three are a threat to our plans." He said, "And it looks like I have the honor of eliminating you. How lucky for me."

"Unless of course Riku would like to join us?" He added, almost as if it were an after thought. "All that untapped potential... I'd hate to see it go to waste."

Riku glared at his Nobody. But, to Sora's great relief, he didn't charge at Ruxik blindly like he had before. All he did was point Way to the Dawn at him. He and Kairi did the same with Oblivion and Destiny's Light.

Ruxik seemed unsurprised. "So be it."

He stretched out his hand. A replica of Way to the Dawn appeared in his hand. There were a few key differences, however. While Riku's Keyblade was part angel wings and part demon wings, Ruxik's was all demonic. The bat wings were jet black instead of dark blue, the eye shape on the hilt was yellow rather than blue. And the Keychain was the full Heartless emblem.

"The Way to Dusk." He smiled and whirled it in an X-shaped pattern; a salute.

Sora, Kairi, and Riku took up their fighting stances and faced him. Ruxik gripped his Nobody Keyblade in both hands, and swung it hard into the space in front of him. A huge disk of dark energy sped through the air directly at Sora. Only a quick block and years of training saved him.

Not stopping for a second, Ruxik lept off the balcony and came at them fast. Riku rushed forward to meet him, and their identical blades met with a sharp noise. They disengaged and lept apart. Riku jumped in first slashing left to right. The blow was easily caught by his Nobody, who tossed it away and stabbed forward. Riku slipped to the side to avoid it and delivered a slash at his neck, which he ducked.

They seemed equals, exchanging blows at unbelievable speeds. Their blades were dark blurs. When Sora and Kairi came in with their own blows, however the rules of the game changed.

Sora jumped toward him and struck at him from midair. They proved difficult to deflect, and so Ruxik was forced to give ground, and in the process nearly lost an arm to his other. Then Kairi came in from his left, stabbing forward. He just barely managed to dodge, but ended up with a large tear in his jacket.

She kept on swinging at him, but he was able to parry most of her strikes, then Sora came in from the exact opposite direction, making it twice as difficult to protect himself. Three times when Riku reentered the fight.

The phrase "strength in numbers" was demonstrated perfectly at that moment in the fight. Ruxik was only one person, and he was facing three warriors who were at least his equal.

No matter how much the Nobody hated to admit it, for all his talk of superiority he couldn't win against all three of them. He'd have to get creative.

Disengaging from Kairi and Sora's blades and kicking Riku in the chest, he lept backwards toward the window. He twisted around and shot a blast of dark energy from his palm. It streaked towards the window and shattered it easily. He ran to the opening he had just made and ran through it into the mansion's old garden. The other three gave chase.

The garden was enormous, and still mantained traces of it's former beauty. Dried and withered plants were planted all along it's walls, and in extra open spaces. Some were sitting in elegent pots with brilliant patterns. A cobblestone pathway wound through the garden. Ruxik awaited them in the center of it all.

Sora rushed in, slashing right to left with the Keyblade. Ruxik blocked it and the following strikes at his head and legs. Kairi and Riku moved to his opposite sides, creating a triangle with the Nobody at the center.

They all moved it at once. Ruxik blocked a downward stroke from Riku, and used a dark shield to slam into Sora and Kairi with his free hand. The latter two were thrown backwards several meters, but sprang back onto their feet immediately.

Ruxik dueled with Riku for a moment, and seemed to be gaining ground. But once again, the advantage of numbers came back to Riku. Sora jumped at the Nobody, bringing the Keyblade down hard. Ruxik was barely able to move out of the way, but Sora managed to graze his shoulder.

Out of the large cut in his arm came not blood, but a kind of black smoke. Ruxik clutched the wound for a moment, before snarling at Sora. "Now I'm angry!"

"No you're not." He retorted as Kairi rejoined them.

Simultaneously, they fired spells at Ruxik. Kairi delivered a blast of fire the size of a man. Sora delivered a crackling bolt of electricity from the tip of his blade. Riku shot three smaller blasts of dark energy.

Ruxik immediately raised a shield to defend himself, but it wasn't enough. The attacks overwhelmed the shield and came crashing into the Nobody. He flew backwards to the other end of the garden, smoking.

The three approached warily, a wounded opponent could still attack. They were amazed when Ruxik picked himself up off the ground and stood nearly straight again. He snarled at them, and fired a ball of darkness at the three.

They dodged to the sides, and landed perfectly on their feet. Both parties ran to meet the other with their blades slashing. Ruxik was drawing more heavily on the darkness now, his movements were faster, swifter and stronger. It was becoming increasingly harder for the trio to protect themselves.

Ruxik suddenly stopped, and backtracked. His blade was enveloped in dark energy, and tripled in size. He summoned all his strength, and swung it in an arc. The blade connected with Sora and Riku's. They kept it away from their flesh, but the sheer power packed behind the blow was enough to knock the Keyblades from their hands and send the two Keybearers reeling back across the yard.

Kairi was more fortunate. She jumped over the blade and to the other side of the Nobody. Just like the Shadow in the simulator, she spun on the spot and slashed Ruxik across the back.

He cried out in pain, and staggered forward a few steps. Two seconds later and let out a feral cry and sprang at Kairi. He rained blows down upon her, forcing her to give ground. She counter-attacked at every opportunity, and showed no sign of fear at all. Kairi's blade was a red and gold blur, while Ruxik's was one of black.

Sora struggled back to his feet, and charged at the Nobody's back. He wasn't about to let that twisted immitation of his best friend hurt the love of his life.

What happened was a bit unexpected. The instant before Sora could strike, Ruxik twisted around and grabbed Sora by the throat.

"Going up Keyboy?" He said with that smirk.

His feet left the ground all together, and he flew toward the roof of the mansion with Sora's neck still held in one hand. He slammed his victom into the roof, dislodging tiles and dirt. Sora grunted in pain as Ruxik kept him pinned there, and flew higher, scraping his body against the roof.

Below, Kairi and Riku were leaping onto the roof, fully intent on reaching him before Ruxik could do him any more harm. They managed to make it up several feet, but the incline was just too steep, and Ruxik was nearly to the peak of the mansion's tallest tower.

After the third failed attempt at persuing the old fashioned way, Riku dismissed his Keyblade and filled both hands with dark energy. Aiming as well as he could, he tossed blast after blast at his Nobody.

Kairi had another idea. She stood perfectly still, and then extended her arms away from her sides. She closed her eyes.

"Angel in flight!"

There was a flash of light, and she stood there in her Angelic Form –wings and all. As Riku stupidly stared at her, mouth agape, she blasted into the air. Her Keyblade appeared in her hand, but it had a drastically different appearance. She recognized it from Sora's descriptions; a silver, angelic looking Keyblade with a star-like point. The Keychain was actually her lucky charm.

The Oathkeeper.

As Ruxik flew above the house. He smirked at the semiconcious Sora as he held him at least one hundred feet above the ground This would be a nasty fall.

"See ya!" He said, and dropped him.

Sora tumbled, causing everyone to gasp. At this point evan the group at the front of the house could see him. Kairi immediately changed course, and aimed at Sora. Time seemed to have frozen with Sora in midair and Kairi streaking toward him like a bullet.

And suddenly, she caught him. And everyone let out the breath they hadn't realized they were holding. Sora gazed up at her through half-lidded eyes, and gave her a pained smile. She smiled back and pecked him on the lips. She flew toward the ground and set him down gently in front of Riku.

"Help him." She said to Riku. She kissed Sora again, and straightened. Her head turned to glare at the figure of Ruxik high above them. He seemed totally shocked. Destiny's Light appeared in Kairi's hand, and she took off at an unbelievable speed.

She soared up to Ruxik's hight and stopped, facing him from ten feet away. "You shouldn't have done that." She said with narrowed eyes.

Ruxik sent her a similar look. "So the Princess can fly now? As if you weren't horrid enough."

"Woah. Just imagine if Sora had heard that." Namine commented in her head.

Kairi rocketed toward Ruxik, her Keyblade flew all over, meeting his and creating sparks with the force of the impact. This time around, her strikes were faster and more precise, and her enemy was the one on the defensive.

He tried to get some space in between them, but Kairi's wings propelled her toward him to cut off his escape any time he tried. She met him with a flurry of attacks, many of which left him with numerous cuts and abrasions.

She swung at his head, but he went backwards in the air. She followed after him and swung at his chest, leaving a narrow gash. He cried in pain and stabbed at her, but she descended and swept at his legs, causing a fracture.

She ruled the skies.

--

Below them, Riku was trying desperately to heal Sora, they were both out of potions and hadn't thouhgt to bring any extras.

"Come on, Sora! You've got to make it through!"

He was examining his back, it was covered with so many deep cuts and bruises that he was amazed that he wasn't screaming in pain. He was bleading very heavily, and he thought he saw a bit of his shoulder plate.

Out of nowhere came a small yellow sphere. It cracked open over Sora's back, and out poured strange, multicolored streams of something. When they touched Sora's wounds, their miraculous powers regrew skin, stopped bleeding, repaired damaged body parts, and finally closed the wounds completely. In thirty seconds, nothing remained of Sora's horrible injuries but a few pale scars.

Sora, filled with new energy stood up. As he did so, the magical properties of his clothes caused them to mend immediately.

The two turned around. Exiting the mansion through the cracked window, walking casually toward them with a smile on his face was Axel.

"Always carry medical supplies to a battle, boys." He said, coming nearer. "Got it memorized?"

"Thanks." Sora said, holding out his hand. He shook it eagerly. "We owe you our lives."

Just as Riku was about to ask what he meant by 'we' and 'our', the image of Roxas emerged with a grin on his face.

"Hey Hothead! Could you please stop it with the 'Got it memorized' thing?" He said jokingly.

"It's been engraved in my head. Sorry." Axel said with a shrug, waving a hand through his old friend.

Everyone turned their attention to the ferocious arial battle going on above them. Kairi appeared the superior. She was flying circles around Ruxik (sometimes literally) and striking unbelievably fast.

"Shouldn't we help her?" Axel asked.

"We've tried to get up there, but nothing seems to work. The roof is too steep." Riku said. "I think we'll have to leave this to her."

"Actually, I've got an idea." Sora said, a curious expression coming over his face. He smiled deviously and stepped back a few steps away from the other three. "Valor!"

His clothes flashed as he entered his personal favorite Drive Form. His clothes changed to scarlet and black. On his sleeves and pants formed four fleur-de-lis. Sora took up a new fighting stance with his legs fugi fugi fugi spread out. Both of his hands flashed, and two Keyblades appeared in them.

The first was Oblivion, as always. The second was Gaurdian Soul, which he had received from his old "friend" Auron. It was a long, deep red blade with a white symbol and three black prongs at the end. The hilt and handgaurd resembled the head of some horrible beast. The keychain was a sake jug.

Sora examined both Keyblades, slung one over his shoulder and rushed toward the side of the house. He jumped into the air –much higher than he could have normally- and landed easily on the roof. Immediately, he ran up the roof. He didn't lose any speed or momentum as he made his way up along the trail of missing ceiling tiles Ruxik had made with his own body.

Kairi apparently saw him coming, and directed the fight back toward the spire of the mansion. Ruxik was unaware of the second Keybearer rapidly approaching from below him.

The double attack was timed perfectly.

The instant Sora reached the top of the spire, he lept straight up at the Nobody, slashing him across the back with his two blades. Within one second, Kairi delivered a hard slash across his stomach.

Ruxik howled in pain and fell, his Kayblade vanishing. He bounced off the side roof as he fell, some of his "blood" streaming from him. Somehow through his pain, he managed to grab onto the side of the roof. He pulled himself up with a great amount of difficulty, clutching at his wounds.

He glared up at Sora and Kairi, still very high above him. Sora was holding onto the side of the spire with one hand, and Kairi hovered next to him. They looked down at their injured enemy.

Ruxik let a low growl escape his throat. "This isn't over!" He shouted, and jumped off the roof and into a waiting corridor of darkness that appeared out of nowhere.

Sora and Kairi looked at each other and shared a smile.

"I have a gaurdian angel." Sora said softly. He reached out and ran a hand through her hair.

"And she's the most beautiful one I've ever seen." He added. "Thanks for saving me."

"Well that makes us about even right?" Kairi said with a laugh. She leaned over, took his face in her hands and kissed him deeply. Below them, Axel and Roxas wolf-whistled. By the time Sora and Kairi pulled away, they were both a bit woozy, and Sora nearly fell off the roof. Kairi grinned mischeviously. "Race you down! Ready...setgo!"

She rocketed toward the ground before he had evan fully registered what she had said. She was halfway there before he sprinted back down the way he came. His momentum carried him down in seconds. She beat him by a half inch.

All Riku could do was smile and shake his head. "I've got to learn a Drive Form."

--

So, how was it? Is my version of Riku's Nobody/Heartless as good as others you've read? Review please.

Shire Folk: A few things. I partially agree about the Riku/Yuffie thing, but to be honest, I liked the pairing before I read your story (which I love). I also agree about the sappiness, we just can't help ourselves, huh? I have an idea of how to get rid of the 'extra' characters later. Thanks about the outfit, Keyblade, Genie, and pointing out that word. My idiot brother must have gotten to my computer. And thank you for the support about my 'theory'.

And sure, you can use the Unity if you'd like. But could I please use Riku's 'Dawn'? It's a great idea that I wouldn't mind playing with if you'd allow it.

Craxuan: I said it might not make sense. So, I made him another 'unconventional Nobody.'