It's a good time to be a gamer. Soon, we shall be graced with more Call of Duty, Elder Scrolls, and Assassin's Creed, all within one week of each other! They're going to have to drag me away from my PS3!
Namine: "I have your intervention scheduled for next Friday. DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix or anything else."
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Chapter 109: The Vanishing Isle
"I know the treasure's limitless, but I'm not crazy about a forty-way split."
The sun had yet to rise on the world, and Cassim and Iago had just arrived back to the lair of the Forty Thieves. The King of Thieves was ascending the stone steps that would lead them directly to the square of the city inside the island. He gazed into the emerald gem of the oracle's staff as he walked.
"If it was just uh, you and me-" Iago continued.
"I would never cut my men out of a deal." Cassim interrupted. "They're my family. My only family now... And I can always count on them."
They entered the square, which was suspiciously empty, apart from a few scattered possessions of no apparent value. "I'm home!" Cassim called out.
There was no response for a minute, but then everything came crashing down around them. Heartless appeared around them, along with Dusk, Creeper, and Fencer Nobodies. Next, seven of the deadliest the Forty Thieves had ever known emerged, all holding swords. Klaxam and Zexion walked up to them, ready for a battle.
Cassim backed slowly away from this obvious show of force. Perched on his shoulder, Iago looked terrified. "Why don't they look happy to see you?"
"Oh, but we are!" The supposedly dead Sa'luk stepped through the crowd of creatures and humans, smirking, and with claws bared. "We're thrilled!"
!
The likely stolen ship was small, but this was a good quality in a pirate's vessel. It sailed through the rough ocean waters, jerking back and forth as the waves rocked it. On board were twelve beings.
Klaxam stood at the stern of the ship, gazing out across the waters with one hand resting on the railing. Zexion joined him.
"How much longer must we continue this?" The Silhouette asked quietly.
"Just until Sa'luk finally succumbs to his greed." Klaxam replied. "Though I am beginning to reconsider our mission on this world..."
"Elaborate, would you?"
"This Hand of Midas..." He thought out loud. "If it truly can turn anything into gold, then why allow it to merely sit with these belligerents as a source of income?"
"You want to take it, don't you?"
"An item that can transform even living matter into gold would be an interesting weapon, wouldn't you say?"
"I should hope so." Zexion agreed. He looked across the ship, where Sa'luk and his seven colleagues were assembled at the stem. "But we should wait for a while longer, and ensure that these imbeciles don't realize until it's too late."
"Until then, we play the part of Sa'luk's little friends."
"I'm growing impatient, Cassim!" Sa'luk growled. The de-throned King of Thieves was tied to the mast of the ship by several thick ropes. His parrot friend was tied on the opposite end, squirming and struggling to free himself. He thrust the oracle's staff into his face. "Ask the question!"
Only Klaxam noticed Iago slip one wing free of his restraints. "Just a little further." He hissed.
"We must be further out to see." Cassim said.
"Ask it now!" Sa'luk barked.
"Now's good." Iago whispered.
"Where can we find the Hand of Midas?" Cassim asked the staff. It began to shine, as it always did before the oracle revealed herself.
The great silver light emitting from the staff was enough to blind all aboard the vessel for a few seconds, before it faded, revealing the oracle. She was larger than ever before and floating several feet in front of the boat's stem.
"The Vanishing Isle will appear at dawn. I will show you the way."
She compressed herself into a tiny ball of light, and shot off to a distant point beyond the horizon. There was a flash of light, and a massive pillar of silver shot up from where the magical being had stopped.
"There's your setting, 'Captain.'" Cassim said.
Sa'luk smirked. "Set sail."
Among them, only Klaxam noticed the small red parrot flying away from the boat after escaping his bonds. And he decided to remain silent, guessing where he intended to go.
He smiled to himself.
That should make things interesting once we reach the isle.
!
Dawn was only minutes from breaking, but everyone standing on the main balcony of the palace's central tower was wide awake, not having slept for most of the night.
The Sultan fixed Aladdin, Sora, and the rest of the off-worlders with a stern gaze. Jasmine, Carpet, and Abu all stood behind them. Rasoul (looking more smug and satisfied than ever) stood by the Sultan's side, arms folded over his chest.
"Frankly, my boy," The Sultan said at last, "Your actions were most disappointing."
"It is tragic, Your Highness." Rasoul agreed. "But the street rat has obviously followed in his father's footsteps. Aladdin and his friends are criminals."
"Yes, you'd just love to throw the guy who was brave enough not to listen to every trumped-up order you gave in jail." Nehrut said. Sora was beginning to notice that he really didn't like corrupt people in power. He'd seen him regard Frollo and Beckett in the same manner.
"You impudent little criminal." Rasoul snarled, grinding his teeth. He looked as though he wanted to say more, but stopped when Riku fixed him with an equally fierce snarl.
Genie appeared, breaking the moment, and wearing a cream-colored suit and carrying a briefcase. He spoke in a southern accent. "I object, Your Honor! I object to that outrageous statement regarding my clients as criminals."
He stood by Rasoul. "And I also object to a minor tertiary character having any lines during my big courtroom scene." He handed the guard a briefcase. "Here, take this to a higher court. Ciao!"
A snap of his fingers, and Rasoul was flying away in a red jet of rocket exhaust. Nehrut and Riku started clapping.
"Now, Your Honor, if I may enter a plea of insanity." Genie continued, pulling Aladdin, Sora, Riku, Axel, and Nehrut into a large hug. "Because I'm crazy about these kids!"
Aladdin broke free of his grip. "Genie, I can handle this myself." He walked up to the Sultan. "Sir, I convinced my dad to come here. Please don't blame Sora and the others for this, they were just trying to make sure I didn't do anything really stupid. This was all my fault, and I would have been better off if I had never known my father."
Before he got any farther, Jasmine stepped forward. "Aladdin, your father risked his freedom to see your wedding. And you risked everything to help him. That's nothing to be ashamed of. I'd have done the same for my father."
Sultan looked touched, and slightly red. After a moment of inner conflict, he cleared his throat softly. "Aladdin, I could not overlook your father's crimes, but what you have done... Well, you did it out of love. And you came back to take responsibility for your actions. Now, let's just put this matter behind us."
Everyone on the balcony breathed a collective sigh of relief. They all grinned when the Sultan added, "I believe we have postponed the wedding long enough."
"Alright, good call!" Genie cheered. "Everyone give a big, big hand for the wise and generous Sultan!"
As the group of off-worlders bowed to the Sultan, a 'big, big hand' resembling Genie's escorted the little man off the balcony, and into the room beyond.
"It's nice to know that there are good leaders out there." Kairi said.
"Really, the Sultan is as far from Claude Frollo as you can get." Mickey said.
"Hey, what's his real name?" Donald asked Jasmine.
She looked about to respond, but a shout from above them interrupted her. Everyone looked up, and saw a tiny red speck approaching quickly –and swerving slightly.
It was soon revealed to be Iago; half flying, and half falling to the balcony. Acting on instinct, Nehrut reached out his hand, and grabbed him in midair, setting him gently down on top of Carpet. The group gathered around him, hearing him gasping out words in between deep breaths.
"Al's [gasp] dad [gasp] Heartless!"
"Deep breaths, Iago." Goofy said, picking up the bird in both hands. "What about Cassim?"
Iago took in a few harsh, deep breaths before he was able to say a complete sentence. "It's Sa'luk, the guy Al beat. He's not beat! He's back with those Brotherhood guys and he's got Cassim!"
Aladdin scowled. "That's his problem. He chose to go back to that life."
Sora walked over to his side, choosing his words carefully. "Aladdin, your father may have made plenty of bad choices in his life, but it doesn't mean that you have to."
"Going after Cassim is the right thing to do, and you know it." Kairi added. "And deep down, you still want to help your dad."
"He's your father." Jasmine said, taking one of Aladdin's hands. "How could you do anything else?"
Aladdin was quiet for a moment. He muttered to himself, "I'm being as stubborn as him..."
He put one hand on the balcony's railing, and looked out at the city for a moment. When he finally turned around, he had an adventurous spark in his eye that Sora was all too familiar with. He had to smile. "Show me the way."
"Road trip!" Genie exclaimed.
"We'll need a bigger ride." Axel observed.
"Never a fear, my good pyromaniac!" Genie said. "Welcome back to Keybearer Airlines! For all your destructive, reckless, and highly dangerous journeying needs!"
He grabbed hold of Carpet with both hands, and held him over the side of the balcony as if he was going to shake the dust off of him. He was, but as he did, Carpet quadrupled in size, becoming large enough to accomodate every one of them comfortably.
"I never get tired of this stuff." Sora said with a wide grin, stepping onto Carpet.
Genie floated into the center, and sprouted several arms. "The exits are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and anywhere! But keep your arms and legs inside the carpet at all times, and we are outta here!"
!
The oracle hovered in front of the vessel, unmoving, and larger than life. The thieves and Nobodies gazed up at her, waiting anxiously.
"You have arrived." Was all she said, before disappearing in a flash of bright light. Almost instantly, the waters ahead of the vessel churned violently, producing massive waves that threatened to capsize the ship.
"I've had enough of your trickery!" Sa'luk snarled at the still-tied-up Cassim.
"No, this is it! The Vanishing Isle. Just watch."
!
"Oh my God..." Yuffie breathed.
From where they all sat on the giant Carpet, they could see the Vanishing Isle. It's strange nature suddenly made sense.
The first thing they all saw as it emerged from the ocean's depths was a bright, shining city built into the sides of a mountain. All of the buildings were built with the same white, polished stone. Occasionally there was a gold-domed roof like those at Agrabah's palace. And all of this was built onto the shell of what must have been the single largest turtle that had ever been born. Its head rested lazily on the surface of the water.
The ship of the thieves had washed up on the shell just below the mountain.
"Uh... Uh..." Sora gaped. "You know what? I'll just say, 'uh.'"
"So the Vanishing Isle is a turtle." Kairi said. "That explains why it's never in the same place twice. But what I want to know is how anybody built a city on the back of it."(1)
Far below them, they could see a few little specks, which were Klaxam, Zexion, Sa'luk and his thieves. They were pushing Cassim along ahead of them, his wrists bound behind his back by ropes.
As they stepped onto one of the smooth, polished streets which wound its way through the city and up the mountain, the group riding on Carpet decided it was time for action. If one counted Carpet himself, there were sixteen of them in all. Jasmine, Iago, and Abu had come along with Genie and Aladdin.
"Okay, get the old man out, kick some Nobody backside, get the Hand of Midas, and get out." Riku stated their objectives. "Easy, right?"
"Let's find out!" Sora (in one of the recklessly fun and brave moments he was so prone to) leapt over the side of Carpet, and dropped like a stone toward the group below. He landed directly in front of them, which was clearly something they hadn't expected. Sora had never questioned why he'd been blessed with coordination enough to survive jumps from ridiculous heights and land on his feet, but he wasn't about to complain.
He smiled at their expressions, and summoned Oblivion. "You want to just skip the hassle, and let Cassim go?"
"I don't think so, Junior!" Sa'luk rushed forward. But Klaxam beat him to it, dashing past him with his pike at the ready.
The Keybearer intercepted his blow just as Genie descended from above on a parachute, wearing a camo jacket and pants and carrying a large laser rifle, which he began to empty toward the thieves and the numerous Heartless and Nobodies that had just appeared. "Time to rock and roll, dude!"
The rest of the group fell out of the sky, and the fight was on.
Kairi moved first, and beheaded a Fencer before it knew she was there. The blade-loving thief rushed toward her, holding two vicious-looking swords. He struck at her neck with both of them at once, intent on decapitation. She blocked his blades with hers, locking them in an 'X' shape.
With one hand, she threw his blades off. The other glowed with Light energy, which she fired into his chest, sending him flying backwards into the side of a white building. A Snake Charmer attacked her from behind, but she ducked under the snake, and sent a second blast of Light into its face.
Axel stood defensively in front of Princess Jasmine, keeping approaching Heartless at a safe distance. Despite his care to keep her out of harm's way however, one Neoshadow was able to get past him. It leapt towards the Princess of Heart, claws extended. But it met its end when the woman punched it between the eyes with surprising force.
The Flurry of Dancing Flames had a moment to nod in appreciation before turning back to the fight. He threw one chakram at a Fat Bandit (beheading it) and used the other one to block a Fencer's strike. He held it there for a moment, before Xonem emerged from the ground behind it and cut it in half.
"Nice timing, dude." Axel said, gesturing to the fight in general before his other chakram came back to him. "Go nuts."
"Yes, my liege."
"Again, you don't need to call me that every time."
Goofy leapt onto a pair of Shadows, crushing them beneath his shield. A Dusk charged at him, head first. The knight got back to his feet, and smacked the Nobody away into the side of a Fencer, which turned its attention toward him. It raised its blade, and brought it down on Goofy's head, only to meet his shield again. Before it could strike again, Goofy had cut it in half with the shield's sharp edge.
Donald scrambled past him, firing Thunder spells into the enemy ranks. The overweight thief suddenly loomed over him, holding a large club, rather than a sword. He smiled stupidly, and raised it high over his head. Before he brought it down on the duck, however, he raised the head of his staff.
"Blizzaga!" Frozen ice particles sprayed from the tip, and into the man's stomach and chest. They froze over his entire front side, freezing him in a painfully cold position. "Firaga!" Donald exclaimed, firing a large ball of fire from his staff, and throwing him to the ground.
Mickey jumped over him, and ran toward Zexion, who was standing slightly apart from the battle, observing it closely. Nehrut and Bariss fell in beside him, each of them with weapons ready to go against the Silhouette.
Something curious happened next. He split into three separate versions of himself. All three became transparent, and shot at their three opponents, floating slightly above the ground. They passed through each of them, leaving a slightly cold feeling behind.
When the three turned around, the three Zexions were solid again. One held a copy of Kingdom Crown. Another held a twin of Presul. The last had a matching Rose Thorn to complete the set. Each of them fell into fighting stances identical to those of their enemies.
"That's just plain unoriginal, Zexion." Nehrut said.
"I don't particularly care if you see it that way, telepath." The Zexion holding Presul charged at him, and the matching blades met in a flash of blue light. Nehrut struck low at his legs, forcing him to leap over him.
While he was in the air, Nehrut sliced upward, cleaving through his chest before he landed. He fell to the ground behind him in a heap, and faded away into the blackness almost instantly.
But about three seconds later, there were two replacements, each one holding a copy of Presul. "Okay, this might be more difficult than I thought..."
Bariss was holding off three copies on her own, each one holding one of her three weapons. The one holding a whip lashed out at her head, but she blocked the strike with the shield in her left hand. At the same instant, she parried another one's sai, and lunged forward to stab him in the chest where the heart should have been.
She ran toward the one with the shield, using her own to dislodge it from his hand. She slashed with her sai, cutting his throat open. Before the final one could attack, she threw her blade into his chest.
Mickey was battling three copies himself, one of which was likely the real Zexion. All four Keyblades (false and otherwise) met with sparks and loud clangs. He leapt into the air over one strike, and struck one of them in the side of the face, taking him out of the action.
The other two slashed at his exposed back, but he blocked both attacks at once. Nehrut mentally threw the one he had been fighting into them with the force of a speeding car. All three faded away immediately. Zexion hadn't been there.
Fifteen Zexions carrying copies of their own weapons appeared around the three warriors. Every one of them was smirking.
Meanwhile, Sora, Kairi, Riku, Yuffie, and Aladdin were all fighting Klaxam at once. Things were proceeding similarly to the disastrous first attempt at the wedding. Klaxam had somehow gotten trapped in a ring of warriors, none of which could seem to land a decent hit against him as he slashed at them several times per second.
Stalemate.
It was one of the most frustrating battles Sora had yet been in, and this included fighting two large, invisible Heartless, pirates that were invulnerable in daylight, and a Nobody that kept turning him into playing cards (mostly for laughs, he suspected).
He struck at where he believed that Klaxam's head had been, but the space was empty when his blade passed through it. In fact, the Nobody had already struck twice at Yuffie in the amount of time it took for Sora to swing. He twisted around, and swept at Sora's legs.
The Keybearer leapt over it at the last moment, and the blade left a narrow scratch across the stone beneath. Riku struck at Klaxam's back, but missed as he turned his focus on Aladdin. Spinning his weapon in two hands, he lunged at the street rat with his weapon acting like a propellor.
Aladdin dove backwards, narrowly avoiding the blades that would have cut him open in three different places inside of one second. Unfortunately, Klaxam now had space to escape the ring of warriors he had been stuck in, and rushed through the gap directly toward Axel, who was still holding the Heartless aiming for Jasmine at bay.
He stabbed his blade toward Axel's face. The ex-Nobody was barely able to bring his two chakrams up to catch the weapon between them. The very point of the weapon was stopped exactly two millimeters from the scar on his forehead.
The two stood frozen like that for one stunned moment. Then, Axel threw Klaxam off with his chakrams, and threw both burning weapons at him. He dodged both of them, and quickly blocked Sora and Kairi's attacks from behind. Riku and Yuffie had gotten involved fighting Heartless and Nobodies with Donald and Goofy (the seven thieves that Sa'luk had deceived were all unconscious on the ground).
Many feet away, Mickey, Nehrut, and Bariss were still fighting multiple Zexions. Alone, these copies weren't nearly as skilled as the original, but by coming in such great numbers, and never allowing their opponents much rest, they were starting to gain the upper hand.
"Zexion!" Nehrut shouted as he cut down another copy. "Come on out and fight us yourself!"
When the real Zexion spoke, all of his duplicates spoke with him, giving it an odd echoing quality. "Oh, I entered the battle minutes ago. You've simply yet to find me."
One Zexion leapt over the main action, aiming his Presul at King Mickey. The Keybearer back flipped away from him, landing lightly three feet away. He quickly spun around and cut another fake in half.
Bariss bashed the end of her whip into the skull of another copy, and then quickly used the other end to catch another one in the neck. One that was also carrying a whip lashed out at her, and she did the same. He was struck in the face, and faded away immediately. Bariss, though, was clipped in the shoulder, and half-fell to the ground.
One copy –perhaps thinking he saw an opening- leapt in to finish her off with a Keyblade replica. Before Bariss could raise her shield to keep him away, an invisible force caught him in the side, and he crashed into the side of a building, leaving a small crater.
Nehrut was at her side in an instant, helping her fully to her feet. She gave him a smile, and then drew her sai.
Suddenly, she jerked her arm out of his grasp. She leapt onto him, and pinned him to the ground beneath her, holding the blade at his throat. And all Nehrut could do was stare up at her in shock.
The instant before she slashed his throat, the end of a whip collided with the side of her head, and she fell off of him. Nehrut looked to his right, where the attack had come from. There stood another Bariss, whip and shield in hand. He looked to his left, where his attacker had fallen, and discovered that she was changing shape.
As the genuine Bariss pulled him to his feet, she said, "What? You can't tell the difference between me and that ugly thing?" She grinned. "Please, look at that hair." The Bariss that had attacked him had turned into Zexion –the true Zexion.
"Your sense of humor is developing well, I see." He smiled approvingly. All around them, the Zexion copies vanished as their leader's concentration was broken. Mickey ran over to Nehrut's side, and held his Keyblade over Zexion's barely moving form.
The Nobody tilted his head slightly, and gazed up at them with an expression of distaste. "I won't just come along quietly, you realize."
A corridor of Darkness wrapped around him, and he was gone.
"Where's Sa'luk!" Sora shouted over the noise of the battle. He, Kairi, Aladdin, and Axel were still stuck fighting Klaxam. They had had a bit of good luck in the battle so far, scoring a hit on his left arm and leg. But they were still tiring, and han't come close to hitting the Nobody in the past several minutes.
"I saw him run down the street, dragging Cassim." Riku shouted over his shoulder, stabbing a Fencer through the stomach. Yuffie leapt past him, swinging her shuriken in a single wide arc to destroy a Dusk and three Shadows.
"Somebody want to go after them?" Axel shouted, blocking one of Klaxam's attacks, and then tossing one of his weapons into the face of a Fat Bandit.
"I'm going." Aladdin said. "Can anybody back me up?"
"I'll go." Riku said.
"I'm with you." Sora added. "Somebody cover us!"
"Can do, Captain Spiky-Head!" Genie was suddenly in between Sora, Riku, and Klaxam, arms crossed in front of him, and glaring angrily down at Klaxam. The Nobody took up a fighting stance, and gazed calmly up at his large opponent.
"You've messed with my friends, hurt a whole bunch of people, and ruined the wedding that I spent like a year preparing!" Genie bent over slightly to look him square in the face. "And for that, you're in for a world of pain the likes of which you've never seen before."
"Really?" Klaxam didn't seem afraid.
"Oh yeah."
Suddenly, Genie was gone, and Klaxam was surrounded by small, hovering Moogles. They simply hovered there, beating their tiny little wings softly, and staring at the Nobody in their midst.
Klaxam looked at them in dull surprise for a moment, dropping out of his fighting stance. "Is this supposed to be a joke?"
"You wish it was a joke... Well, okay it is, but it doubles as a legitimate move!"
Nothing happened for a moment. Suddenly, the Moogles all grew wide, gaping, toothy, foaming mouths with forked tongues. They uttered a combined, unearthly shriek, and rushed inward toward Klaxam.
"Demon Moogles..." Kairi gaped in astonishment.
"You'd be amazed at the characters that you can find hanging around Traverse Town this time of year." Genie said, grinning. "Or what the author can come up with if he's bored enough."
"What?"
"Oh, watch out for that."
Genie casually pointed his finger at a Fat Bandit that was about to belch fire onto the Princess, and sent a blast of energy shooting through its stomach.
!
Dear God, I did it again! Somebody stop me! I just need to stop watching Aladdin when it comes on TV. Maybe that will help?
1) Thoughts? Speculations? Anybody?
Well, review please!