Here we go! Hope you all enjoy.

Xaynew: "This'll be good." (Smiles evilly)

(Smirks) Yeah. Maybe not for you, but we'll see.

Xaynew: "You suck. And don't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else."

Chapter 70: Boarded

"We've been boarded!" Gantu transmitted, back in the cockpit.

"Ohhh?" Hamsterviel answered, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Is that why all the alarms are going off? Of course I know that we are being boarded, you shark-like bafoon!"

There was a growling noise over the speaker.

Hamsterviel turned around to address Xaynew and Saix. "You two have to take care of them before they can get to us or to the experiments."

"My price is now forty experiments." Xaynew said casually.

"No!"

"Fifty." He summoned a corridor of Darkness behind him. He meant business.

"Fine! Forty."

"Fifty." He took one step backwards into the corridor.

"Alright!"

"He's in here." 625 said.

The group entered something of a storage area. It was a long room, lined with shelves holding all manner of equipment. There were jars with unsightly tissues and organic matter floating inside, along with multiple vials and test tubes of multi-colored fluids, and crates containing God-only-knew-what.

On the far side of the room, buzzing around inside his container, was Experiment 221. Sparky stopped what he was doing when he saw them at the doorway. His dog-like face split into a toothy grin, and he waved at them.

Stitch rushed across the room first, and leapt toward the container. "Aloha cousin!" Using only his head, he smashed the container open. Sparky flew out of the breach in the pod, and hovered over Stitch's head. The two shook hands.

"Sparky," Sora said to him, "We need you to short-circuit the ship's systems so that Hamsterviel can't escape from here. Can you do that?"

Sparky's response was one he had come to expect from Stitch. "Ih."

The experiment shot toward a thick pipe in one corner of the room that ran through the floor and up through the ceiling. This was one of many special conduits that led to the main power grid of the ship.

He transformed, like he had during his fight with Sora and the others. He became pure electricity, and shot into a tiny gap in the pipe line. He was soon in the circuitry of the ship itself.

And seconds later, the power went out. All but the most basic life support systems went off line. And they intended to keep it that way.

"Nice." Axel said. "One down. Six hundred twenty-three to go."

"Relax hot-head I know where the other ones are." 625 said. "Up on the observation deck with Hamster-Wheel, and now he can't activate any of 'em because the power's out and he can't access his water supply!"

"Alright!" Riku said. "So which way to the observation deck?"

"You don't need to know." came a familiar voice. They turned around. Standing there was Xaynew, sword already in hand. It glowed softly in the lack of light. The light of Presul joined it as Nehrut unsheathed it, and stepped to the front of the group.

"It's nine against one, Xaynew." Bariss said. "I'd give up if I were you."

"Actually slave, it's more like two against two."

Perfectly timed, two corridors of Darkness opened up behind the group. Then, the Telekinetic appeared directly behind Xaynew. With a blast, more than half of them flew back into the corridors. Sora, Kairi, Stitch, and 625 went into the left one. Riku, Yuffie, and Axel went into the right one.

Nehrut and Bariss were alone with Xaynew and his Heartless.

"See?"

Sora didn't like corridors of Darkness. The oppressive feeling of Darkness surrounding him, and pushing him along wasn't something he particularly enjoyed. He felt cold all over as he was yanked through the blackness toward wherever he was going. He dimly sensed Kairi and the two experiments to either side of him.

Finally, there was light. Dim light, but light nonetheless. They landed on the hard, metal floor in another part of the ship. Sora looked up.

They were in another large room, but it wasn't like the rest of Hamsterviel's ship. It looked a bit like someone's living quarters. There were a few very large chairs around, a meeting table, and a large screen in this room. There were also a few other doors that presumably led to the rest of the vessel. The large door behind them would take them back into Hamsterviel's ship.

They were in a different ship altogether, linked to Hamsterviel's by the same type of airlock that their two ships were. Its owner was standing in front of them.

Gantu cracked his giant knuckles menacingly. He picked up two oversized plasma pistols from the table next to him, and aimed them at the four. But he addressed Stitch directly.

"Hello abomination."

"Aloha stupid-head!" Stitch drew his pistols, as well. Sora and Kairi drew their Keyblades, and faced Gantu.

"Sora." Kairi whispered to him, while still facing Gantu. "I can take this guy easy. You take Stitch and 625, and go get Hamsterviel."

"What!?" He answered. "Kairi, this dude beat Axel and the King! Do you honestly think that I'll leave you to fight him on your own?"

"First off, he cheated against them. Now that I know he fights dirty, I'll be watching for it. Second, I'll be fine! But somebody needs to get those experiments back!"

Sora was forced to admit that she was right. Grudgingly, he said, "Okay. Just be careful."

"Aren't I always?" She smiled at him. Sora returned the smile, and rushed through the door behind them, with Stitch and 625 on either side of him.

"Oh no you don't!" Gantu exclaimed. He pointed his pistols at the fleeing Keybearer, only to have them blasted out of his hands by pure Light. As Sora easily opened the door with his Keyblade, Kairi smiled.

"Oh yes they do." Gripping her blade firmly in both hands, she flew at Gantu's face.

Surprisingly quickly, he dove to the side, and she buzzed by his head. She spun around to face him, and was nearly flattened by his giant fist flying at her. She swerved around it, and blasted Light at his face. The beam struck him in between the eyes, and he fell over backwards.

Kairi touched down near his head. Gantu looked unconscious, but she knew not to believe that at first glance.

That was a good thing, too. Gantu reared up, and brought his fist crashing down towards her. She blasted herself back, just out of the alien Heartless' reach.

That blast hit him right between the eyes.

"He's pretty tough." Namine agreed. "Keep your guard up."

Charging a blast of Light energy in her blade, and shot it at Gantu just as he had gotten back on his feet. He held up his arm, and the blast struck his combat bracelet without visible effect, apart from pushing his arm back.

This could take some time...

Riku spilled out of the corridor of Darkness. Yuffie and Axel were right behind him. He had traveled through them on more than one occasion, but like Sora, never liked the feeling. He'd take a nice Gummi ship any day.

He looked up, and found that the lighting was much different here. They now stood in a long room in one of the ship's rear fins. There wasn't much to say about the room, apart from the fact that it had one heck of a view.

The walls and ceiling were all made of an extremely thick glass. They could see the space battle unfolding between the Brotherhood ships, and the police cruisers of the Galactic Federation. The police cruisers were small, one-man fighters with blue and white painted hulls, and sirens on top of them. They had belly-mounted plasma turrets, which were firing rapidly at the enemy vessels. (1)

Standing at the end of the room with his arms held behind his back, was Saix. His back was to them, and he was looking down at the world below. He turned slowly around when he heard the sound of Riku summoning his Keyblade. On either side of him, Axel and Yuffie had taken up their usual fighting stances.

"Hey, Looney!" Axel said, casually. "What've ya been up to lately?"

"Dwelling in the empty blackness, waiting for some chance of survival." Saix answered, glaring at his former colleague. "And you helped to bring that about, traitor."

"You know, I got that kind of response from Marluxia, and look what happened to him."

"We beat your butt into the ocean last time, scar-face." Yuffie cut in. "Do you really think you stand a better chance now?"

In response, Saix pointed behind him, to a specific point in the 'sky'. The full moon shone brightly on this side of the world.

"Ah crap..." Axel said, as Saix summoned his claymore.

"Can you feel the moon's power?" Saix asked. He started to glow with an eerie blue light. "You soon will!"

He shot toward them at an unbelievable speed, roaring like an angry beast. He came on so fast that they had to dive to either side to avoid being smashed into.

The Silhouette stopped on a dime, and twisted around. He rushed toward Riku, massive claymore held over his head with only one hand. He struck at Riku over and over, the weapon let off a flash of bluish light every time it struck a solid surface. The floor around him was periodically getting singed.

Riku had to move his blade very quickly just to catch the blows. He was giving ground so fast that he was practically running backwards.

Yuffie ran at Saix's back, holding her shuriken high. She leapt into the air, and was going to slam it into his back when she landed.

But he twisted around immediately, and swept his blade at her. Her weapon soared out of her hand all the way to the other side of the room. He clenched his fist, which became enveloped in lunar energy. Before she had even landed, he punched her in the stomach, knocking her a full fifteen feet backwards before she hit the ground.

But Axel took her place, rushing at him with chakrams blazing. He and Riku struck as quickly as they possibly could from either side of the Luna Diviner, but he kept moving to either block, parry, or dodge the blows. Under the moon's influence, he was incredible.

Saix slammed his blade into the ground, creating a powerful shockwave of lunar energy that blasted the two of them away. Axel landed less than gracefully, but Riku was just able to skid to a stop on all fours.

Riku sprang toward him quickly, and swung at his head. Saix's blade shot up, and blocked it. He used his blade to knock Riku's out of his grasp. As Way to Dawn clattered across the floor, he punched at Riku's face with his glowing fist.

Thinking on his feet, the Keybearer set his fist alight with Dawn energy, and returned the punch. Their fists collided, and let off orange and blue flashes of light. The two leapt away from each other, unscathed.

A throwing knife then passed less than an inch in front of Saix's nose. He turned his head, and snarled at Yuffie, who was back on her feet. He slammed his blade into the ground a second time, and a wave of energy blasted across the ground toward the ninja.

Just before impact, she vanished in smoke, and reappeared right above Saix. She drove her foot into the side of his head as she landed on the ground.

His head shot back, and that was all. He roared, and ran towards Axel, who was charging at him. He struck his flaming chakrams against the claymore. They pressed the weapons against the other, trying to break through.

The battle of strength remained undecided. Riku blasted at Saix's exposed back with Dawn energy, causing him to drop his weapon. It hit the ground with a loud noise, and Axel struck him across the chest twice with his burning weapons. He let out a single grunt of pain, and leapt away, just in time to avoid Riku's slashing blade.

He landed in front of the door. Yuffie and Axel ran towards him. They threw their weapons. Two burning chakrams and an oversized shuriken flew towards him, spinning rapidly as they came.

His fist became engulfed in lunar energy. With a snarl, he knocked them away with a single wide swipe of his hand. The three weapons shot away at the walls, and Riku thought for sure that they would crack the glass walls. But they were highly reinforced, and didn't break.

The Nobody floated into the air, and his dropped weapon floated toward him. It stopped behind his back, and began to shine brightly. The blue light emitting from it spread to him. He let out a loud, animal howl as his eyes started glowing with the same light.

He reached behind his back, and took the claymore by the handle. He shot towards the ground, and the second his feet touched the ground, he slammed it into the ground with enough force to leave a huge dent around him.

The lunar energy released on impact spread out across the room in the form of a massive shockwave. Meter-high waves of energy rushed away from him.

Riku leapt high into the air, and changed it into a hover when he was safely above the action. Axel tried out a trick inspired by Liasa. He gathered fire beneath his feet, and used it to shoot himself up into the air, over the lunar attack.

Yuffie used her usual method of avoiding ridiculously strong attacks. She vanished in a cloud of smoke, and reappeared in the air high above them. For a moment, she made an impressive sight, silhouetted against a bright explosion caused by a police cruiser's blasters.

Saix's energy attack had just hit the walls. On impact, the walls would surely crack. This was what Riku thought, anyway. But the glass walls simply became warped under the pressure.

Yuffie pulled three throwing knives from her belt, and threw them at Saix as she fell.

But Saix wasn't there when they hit. He had stepped neatly to the side right before they struck him. He looked up at her, and leapt high up, his weapon ready to strike.

Riku flew in his way, blocking the strike with his Keyblade. The two of them fell back to the ground, blades still locked together, as Axel and Yuffie landed lightly on their feet.

(2)Xaynew was definitely out of his element.

His special abilities to manipulate weather conditions could only work when someplace actually had weather. A ship in the middle of an airless vacuum didn't fall into that category.

He was forced to fall back on his swordsmanship. And honestly, no matter how much the Nobody hated to admit it, Nehrut had him beat in that department. He had grown a bit lax in the past few years, having relied heavily on his storms to get the job done. Now he had been robbed of that.

They had moved from the supply room into the hallway. The power was still out, and the hallways were very dark. The only light came from viewports across the walls, spilling the light of explosions and plasma bolts into the hallway. But these viewports were fairly scarce, only appearing every twenty or so feet.

Nehrut tossed him backwards with a blast from his mind. He landed in front of one of those windows, and got up just in time to block a downward strike from his former brother.

The elder one came on hard, pushing Xaynew back farther and farther down the hallway, their glowing blades illuminating the darkness.

Somewhere behind them, Bariss was faring well against the Telekinetic. Her shield was in her left hand and Rose Blade in her right. The majority of its blows were caught by the shield, and sometimes parried by the sai. They were backing down the hallway in the same direction as the two former brothers.

She parried a strike from one of its daggers, and reached from behind the shield to stab into its chest. The attack just barely reached it, but it still gave ground for one split second.

Then it came on again in full force, its weapons were all over the place. It pushed Bariss down the hallway, and directly into the back of its other.

Xaynew spun around and swept at her waist. She twisted around and blocked it with her sai, and then back flipped over his head, landing next to Nehrut. The Nobody stabbed at her with his blade, which only stopped against her shield. Nehrut reached around her and stabbed toward him using Presul. The Heartless blocked that strike.

Nehrut and the Telekinetic moved in front of their partners, and sent mind blasts at the other. The close proximity of the attacks had unforeseen consequences. Instead of hitting the intended targets, they rebounded off each other and hit Xaynew and Bariss, sending them flying down the hall in opposite directions.

Nehrut sliced horizontally at the Heartless, trying to cut it in half at the waist. It shot backwards quickly, just out of reach of his blade. It then rushed forward, left knife extended to remove his head from his shoulders. He ducked under it, and stabbed at its exposed chest.

He succeeded in hurting it, but the Heartless had turned aside at the last second, so the blade cut across its broad chest instead of piercing through it.

It stumbled backwards, and he rushed in to finish it. But it sank into the ground like a common Shadow would. In its place was Xaynew, leaping at Nehrut ready to kill. But then with a whip crack, he fell to the ground less gracefully than he intended.

Presul was at his throat inside of a second. But before the telepath could do anything other than this, he was blasted backwards by the Heartless. He flew over Bariss's head, and hit the ceiling.

Kairi touched the ground for a split second, before leaping into the air. The ground where she had just been standing blew apart due to a bolt of plasma.

Gantu had somehow gotten his pistols back, and he didn't have any trouble using them. The inside of his ship was a mess. He was blasting holes in everything as long as it was near Kairi. But she was too quick for him to get a decent lock on her, so his shots went wide.

She flew at his face, Keyblade enveloped in Light. She batted away every shot that came her way, regardless of the fact that the plasma bolts were about as big as she was. They bounced into the walls and floor, adding to the wreckage. She got within one foot of him, and he dropped the pistol in his right hand.

His fist shot up in an uppercut toward the girl. She extended her free hand at his fist, and a Light barrier appeared below her. Gantu's fist bounced off of it, and she didn't yield. She swung her blade in a wide arc, shooting a crescent-shaped disk of Light at his face.

The giant Heartless-alien tried to jerk his head away, only to have the disk cut a deep gash into the side of his face. Darkness seeped from the wound for a few seconds, and Gantu held his free hand to it in obvious pain. He lifted his other hand, holding the pistol, and aimed carefully at the girl.

He used his thumb to flick a single switch on its barrel, and fired.

Rather than plasma, a giant net flew out. It was infused with Darkness, and had an eerie dark glow about it.

Kairi wasn't quite able to move away in time. The net collided with her full on, and wrapped around her entire form, trapping her. It then began to shrink, pressing painfully into her skin, and letting the Darkness covering it do its work.

Gantu smiled in triumph and walked forward, holstering his weapon.

The net suddenly started to tremble violently and the thick layer of Darkness covering it seemed to be splitting. Pinpricks of bright silver light were beginning to shine through tiny openings.

"Oh kark it." Gantu muttered to himself.

The net exploded in Light. The shreds of supposedly unbreakable netting flew everywhere, trailing the Darkness that had been covering it. Kairi was kneeling there, glowing with her faint silver light, Darkness dissipating around her.

The burst of Light continued outwards past the net, tearing apart sections of floor, and the wall. It smashed into Gantu, hurting him as nothing else could, and sending him flying back into the wall, unconscious.

Unfortunately, it also struck the ship's main controls at the opposite end of the room. The controls it had been using included the anchors keeping it attached to Hamsterviel's ship via the airlock.

Promptly, before Kairi even totally realized what was happening, the ship separated from its larger counterpart. Unfortunately, this coincided perfectly with a misfired shot from a police cruiser into its starboard engine.

It tumbled wildly through the battle, helpless and defenseless, with the Princess of Heart still inside.

Riku ducked under a wide strike of Saix's claymore that could have beheaded him. But he wasn't fast enough to avoid his uppercut, with his fist enveloped in lunar energy. It hit him at the point of the chin, and knocked him flat on his back.

The Nobody stabbed at Riku, who was just fast enough to roll out of the way. With the giant blade now stuck firmly in the ground, Riku kicked up with both legs, striking Saix in the chest, causing him to lose his grip on the weapon, and hurling him backwards.

The instant before he hit the ground, a great column of flame erupted out from under him. It tossed him straight up into the air, the back of his coat smoldering. Axel shot up after him, chakrams blazing.

Saix was able to right himself in the air, and faced him. He summoned a replacement claymore, and struck it against his weapons. He caught the blow, but was shot back toward the ground.

Saix himself was just beginning to fall naturally, when two feet smashed into the small of his back, shooting him down even faster. He smashed into the ground, with Yuffie standing on top of him.

She put her shuriken to the back of his neck. But there was a surge of lunar energy from his body, and she was thrown off entirely.

He got back to his feet, and picked up his claymore. With one clean movement, he knocked Axel's chakrams away into the walls. Then he blocked a stabbing attack that Riku aimed at his chest. He swept his blade to the side, sending the attack harmlessly aside.

And suddenly the space between the two of them was filled with the orange mass of the Guardian. It rammed into Saix, throwing him bodily to the other end of the room. He had just landed painfully on the ground when he received a fist to his stomach.

Before the diviner could even catch his breath, the Guardian picked him up by his neck, and threw him back to the other side of the room.

As he skidded to a stop and hit his head against the back wall leading to the rest of the ship, Riku decided that now was the perfect moment to end the fight.

He looked over toward Yuffie, who was rushing to Axel's aide, administering a standard potion. "Hey Yuffie!"

His girlfriend turned at the sound of his voice, and saw him rushing at Saix, who was getting to his feet, looking exhausted. She smiled, and nodded. She vanished in a cloud of smoke, reappearing directly behind Riku.

"Miss me?" She asked coyly.

A smile was on Riku's face, as he enveloped his fist in orange Dawn. He leapt into the air, Yuffie still behind him, and punched the ground with unbelievable force.

A massive shockwave of bright red-orange energy formed. Huge waves of Dawn energy spread from his fist outward, smashing into Saix before he even knew what was coming. What he did know that he was in extreme pain, and being thrown high into the air.

He smashed into the glass ceiling, actually leaving a significant dent in it. He hung there for a moment, before falling to the ground and landing in the dent he himself had made earlier.

Excess Dawn energy washed into Riku's Keyblade and Yuffie's shuriken. It seemed to lick at the weapons like fire, without harming them in any way.

Riku and Yuffie dashed at the downed Nobody, who couldn't seem to stand totally straight after taking such a fall. The master ninja threw her shuriken at him striking him directly in the chest. It flew back to her hand immediately, and she threw it again, this time hitting him in the side, and then a third time in the leg.

Immediately after the fourth, which hit him in the chest again, Riku reentered the picture. He streaked above the ground, toes just skimming the floor. He held his Keyblade over his shoulder, and swung it with all his might upon reaching Saix. A large gash leaking Darkness appeared across his chest.

It was soon followed by two more across the stomach, and then a vertical strike down his shoulder to his chest. Saix cried out in pain, and slumped down to one knee. His claymore disappeared from his hand, and faded away.

"Let's go!" Yuffie exclaimed.

The two of them leapt toward each other, and stood back-to-back. Yuffie tossed her weapon into the air, where it hovered horizontally over them, spinning rapidly and pouring out Dawn energy. Riku pointed his blade out horizontally.

The two floated into the air, maintaining their back-to-back position. They then began to spin. Slowly at first, but then it began to pick up speed. The Dawn covering their weapons began to expand, and cover the area around them.

Soon, from the outside it looked like they were inside a swirling globe of red-orange energy. And they still kept spinning, stirring up the energy, making it swirl even faster than before.

Then, it stopped suddenly, coming to a complete, total halt.

All was still for a few frozen seconds outside of the globe. Until, with a loud, rushing noise, the energy shot out in all directions, expanding to cover the whole, giant room. Saix let out a loud howl of pain as the Dawn hit him. He flew once again to the other side of the room, actually cracking the glass.

The Dawn faded after a moment, and Riku and Yuffie stood tall. "Score one for the ninja." Yuffie said, grinning.(3)

They approached Saix carefully. He was leaning back on the glass, cracked behind him due to the force of his impact. The half conscious Nobody looked up at them with tiredness in his eyes.

"We'll meet again." A corridor of Darkness opened below him, swallowing him up.

"Dang it." Axel said, walking up to them.

"Hey, what's that noise?" Yuffie asked to no one in particular.

Riku listened closely, and could soon hear an odd sound. It was an unfamiliar, creaking, groaning sort of noise. It was soon followed by a barely discernable hissing noise. Riku looked ahead at the cracked window. His jaw dropped, and his eyes widened in horror.

Axel caught up on his line of thinking. "Shoot, RUN!"

They all turned tail and bolted back towards the only door at the other end of the room. As they ran, Riku said, "I knew that wall couldn't handle the pressure!"

During one of the brief pauses in the fighting, Nehrut caught a glimpse of the glass shards passing by a window. He had no idea what they were, so he didn't think anything of it. He parried a blow from Xaynew. Their blades struck the wall in a cascade of sparks, leaving behind two deep lines, faintly glowing red and blue.

The hallways had gotten much more narrow as they progressed through them. Every other movement brought a shower of sparks and the smell of scorched metal with it.

Nehrut was pressing his former brother back, down the hall. His red chest plate was scratched in numerous places, and his cloak was in shreds.

The younger one lashed out, his blade passing within an inch of his nose. When that missed, he aimed a wild punch at his face. It made contact, but with his chest instead. He staggered away, giving ground for just a second.

Xaynew thrust his blade forward. He ducked under it, and with amazing reflexes, slashed upward to knock it from his grasp. It stuck into the ceiling, and Nehrut shot out his hand. Xaynew flew backwards a full twenty feet.

He nearly knocked over Bariss, who was still locked in combat with the Telekinetic. She heard him flying at her, and leapt into the air (an impressive feat considering how little space there was). He passed underneath her and crashed into the chest of his Heartless.

The two bounced off the floor, down the hall, through a doorway, and into a wall.

The Nobody had hit his head on impact, and wasn't able to see entirely straight, but he saw six people running toward him with weapons brandished, and decided that now would be a good time to leave. An instant before the two got to them, a corridor of Darkness opened up behind them.

They fell through it, and it closed back up a split second before Nehrut and Bariss reached them.

"Why does he always have to do that?" Nehrut shook his head in annoyance.

Did you like it? Oh, tell me, tell me, please? I'll be your best friend! Please review!

1) When I saw Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, I thought that watching a duel while a space battle raged outside looked extremely awesome. That's where this came from.

2) Another Star Wars moment. Play 'Duel of the Fates' during this battle.

(3) Dawn of Wutai