Time for an update! And a thought occurs… The next generation of consoles should be coming very soon… Can you imagine Kingdom Hearts 3 on the PS4?

Roxas: "GLORIOUS!"

Imagine the whole Xemnas boss battle with today's graphics and power…

Roxas: "On that happy note, DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else he doesn't hold the rights to… Though I guess he doesn't actually own the rights to anything officially."

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Chapter 127: Horrible Timing

Riku opened his eyes blearily, feeling Yuffie's rhythmic breathing on his cheek, and her light form leaning against him. He took in his new surroundings, trying to remember what had happened the previous day through his foggy, dream-like state.

It all came crashing mercilessly back to him like a tidal wave, when he caught sight of Tidus sleeping against a nearby wall, with Yuna resting contentedly on top of his head.

Sora, Kairi...

He looked across the silent room, filled with its sleeping occupants, and into the operating room next door. Through the glass, he saw that Sora and Kairi hadn't been moved, and that there were still four doctors attending them with great care.

Wondering just what had woken him, he looked over to the door, and saw Mickey, Leon, and Yen Sid conversing quietly with Aerith, who by the looks of it, had just entered from the operating room. Riku wondered for a moment whether or not she had been working all night. There were dark bags beneath her eyes.

Yuffie stirred slightly against him, and her eyelids fluttered open. She sighed, and met his eyes. "Tell me yesterday was a bad dream..."

"Afraid not."

Aerith and the others turned at the sound of their voices. "Mornin' fellas." Mickey greeted.

"Has there been any improvement?" Riku asked, getting to his feet with along with Yuffie.

"With Sora and Kairi: Little." Aerith replied sadly.

"But certain other matters have developed interestingly." Yen Sid finished.

"What do you mean?" Yuffie asked.

"Wake the others." Mickey said, walking out of the room. "They're all going to want to see this."

Curious, they gently shook awake everybody else in the room, until they were all attentive, but still groggy. "This'd better be important." Cid had grumbled, yawning loudly.

"Very important." Leon answered. He opened the door, and looked out. "You can come in now."

Three people entered the observation room. Upon seeing the one in front, Goofy's eyes lit up. He sprinted across the room, laughing loudly, and crushed him in a massive hug the likes of which he reserved only for those very, very close to him.

"Maxy!" He explained loudly, hoisting him up into the air.

"Dad!" Max had said, trying to sound like he was annoyed, and failing miserably. He finally gave into temptation, and hugged his father tight.

While the father and son were reunited, Max's companions entered the room.

The first was a feline-like teenager. He had a large belly, and thick limbs. He sported a grin on his round face. He wore a thick blue sweater, with a pair of bandoliers wrapped around his upper body. His belt pouches were filled to bursting with small electrical gadgets, and he wore blue and black sneakers.

Goofy soon caught sight of him, as well. "Ahyuck! Pete Junior! How's my favorite teenage friend doin'?"

"Ah, Mr. G, how many times do I have to ask you to call me PJ?"

"Pete Junior?" Riku repeated, dumbstruck.

"That guy was capable of reproducing?" Axel added.

"Yeah, I hear that a lot." PJ said, noticing them. But, he seemed like a nice guy, despite his upbringing.

The man who had entered behind PJ was a tall human. He was wearing a charcoal grey tuxedo, which had a thin layer of brown fur on his collar. The button-up white shirt that he wore beneath his jacket had a popped collar. He had his head lowered slightly to an angle where the fedora he wore shielded the upper half of his face from the room. In the rim of the fedora sat three playing cards.

"And who are you?" Donald asked.

The newcomer removed his hat, startling half of the people in the room. These people recognized the short, platinum blonde haircut, the thin, well-trimmed goatee, and the bright blue eyes. Two silver loops were in his left ear.

"Morning, Sunshines." Luxord –Gambler of fate, and number X of Organization XIII- greeted.

Weapons were pointing at him within two seconds of his statement.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Max said, breaking away from Goofy's hug. He placed himself pointedly between them and Luxord. "Cool it, he's with us now."

Shocked silence greeted this statement. A few seconds later, Donald asked, "Max, do you know who-"

"Yeah, yeah, Organization XIII, yadda yadda." Max waved it off. "You never heard his part of the story."

Mickey stepped forward. "Guys, this is my former colleague, Olrud."

"...Mouse said what?" Riku asked.

"We can go into this later, can't we?" Luxord asked, with pleading eyes. "I can prove my good intentions to you later. Though I would like to personally apologize for any sort of pain or discomfort that I caused to any of you..."

Riku didn't even have to ask Nehrut to check the guy's sincerity, he was doing it already. After a moment, he shrugged. "He seems clean to me. I say we welcome him aboard."

Cautiously, Riku held out his hand, which Luxord shook. He had a surprisingly strong grip.

"Well, isn't this dandy?" Axel said. "The Organization is all but destroyed, but now the members are popping up in ones and twos."

"I had heard about Saix and Larxene, but isn't that exaggerating a tad?"

"Well, Roxas is still in Sora. And right now, we don't know what's going on inside there." Axel inclined his head toward the operating room. "And Zexion escaped us a few weeks back. Xyran's been woken up, too."

"Ah, that is very disturbing news." Luxord agreed. "We'll deal with them eventually, I am sure."

"So, Maxy!" Goofy redirected the attention back toward his son. "How've ya been?"

"The mission was a complete success." Max said with great pride. "We got to Pax Pacis, I got out after a few weeks. And there's a real-live, working dark matter warp engine attachment waiting in my brand new Gummi."

"Way to go, Max!" Nehrut said, grabbing him in a friendly head lock. "Timing could have been a little better, though."

"Well, what can you do?" Max said, accepting the praise from the rest of the party in the room. His eyes widened in recollection. "By the way..."

He had been carrying a black duffle bag over his shoulder, but now he removed it, and dropped it into Nehrut's hands. "That's for you. Compliments of Essej, Liz, Takuya, and Mina."

Nehrut was still as stone for a moment. "Max, if you're joking with me, I promise you that you'll die an agonizingly painful death."

Max grinned. "No joke. They made it back to the world alive after what Sora pulled off. They've gone underground, and are heading a resistance movement on Pax Pacis. We destroyed Marluxia a few weeks back, and just before I left, we busted a whole bunch of Brotherhood prisoners from jail, and Altair killed Crucion."

"Remind me to send him a Christmas card." Axel muttered under his breath.

"This is unbelievable..." Nehrut looked down at the bag, and appeared close to tears. "Alive... My God."

Bariss moved to his side, and put a hand on her shoulder, smiling softly. Nehrut was so happy at the moment, that he slung the bag over his shoulder, and scooped both her and Max up into his arms, laughing.

"Figured that'd make you happy." Max commented. "They said that whatever is in the bag is for your eyes only."

"Dude, I could kiss you." Nehrut replied, crushing him in a brotherly hug. "But since I don't swing that way..."

He put him down, twisted around, and pressed his lips to Bariss's.

"Oh brother." Cid said. "You two wanna get a room?"

"Shut up, Cid." Nehrut muttered, before kissing Bariss again.

"If you're through, there's still one other matter..." Yen Sid interrupted gently.

Luxord moved out of the doorway, to allow another two people to enter.

The first was a man of average height, with shocking blonde hair spiked straight up in the front. On the side of his face, nearly touching his eye (which was blue) was a distinctive black tattoo that slightly resembled a set of thorns. He was garbed in a thin, jet black jacket, marked with ornate silver patterns. He wore blue jeans, and fingerless metal-backed gloves.

He looked ludicrously different from the person behind him. He was over six feet tall, resembling something of a blue-haired lion on two legs. He had a mane of silver hair, either running free down his back or in braids on either side of his face. A broken horn protruded from the center of his forehead, over his calm yellow eyes. He had two spiky patches of orange hair on his shoulders, which almost resembled wings. He had two metal arm bands over his thick, heavily muscled forearms. He wore some sort of tribal skirt around his waist, and his clawed feet were bare.

"We're back from Villain's Vale!" The first man said, forcing cheeriness despite the fact that they were in a hospital.

"And...?" Rikku began hopefully.

The big creature smiled, and unstrapped something from his back. It was a long staff, with a large, ornate gold formation on the head of it that partially resembled a flower.

"Awesome!" Rikku cried out, punching the air.

"Yeah." The blonde man agreed. "Took us hours to find the thing. Of course the old witch had to put it in the deepest, darkest basement of the whole castle."

"Somebody want to explain what's going on?" Riku asked.

The blonde man turned to face him. "Oh, hey. I guess you're the guy Riku, right?" He extended his hand. "Zell Dincht. This is my buddy Kimahri."

"They went to Villain's Vale to find my staff." Yuna said. "Maleficent stole it from me, and used it to turn us into this state." She gestured to her tiny body. "Now that we have it back..."

Yuna floated up to the head of the staff in Kimahri's hand, and folded her hands before her, as if in prayer. She chanted something low, under her breath. The head of the staff began to glow with a faint gold color. The glow intensified gradually, until it was painful to look at.

At last, three beams of golden light shot from the staff, striking each of the three Gullwings in the chest. They let out bright flashes of light that covered the entire room.

When it faded, there they were: At full human height.

They looked themselves over for a few excited seconds. Rikku squealed in delight, and Paine even smiled.

"Finally!" Yuna shouted in a very un-Yuna-like manner. Riku found it significant that the first thing she did after returning to normal size was rush over to Tidus, grab him by the vest, pull him toward her, and kiss him fiercely.

"Ugh." Cid grumbled. "Is everybody going to do this before breakfast?"

"Ignore him." Rinoa said. "He's always cranky in the morning."

"Shut up."

Zell walked over to the operating room. "So that's them, huh? Man... That Sora's a lot shorter than I thought he'd be."

Even despite Sora's current situation, Riku cracked a smile. No doubt he had expected some hulking, herculean warrior. Not a short, scrawny teenager.

"Let us have some breakfast, then return here." Merlin suggested. "Staying here too long can't be good for anybody's nerves."

!

In the hours after their brief breakfast back at the castle, the group made several trips back and forth to the hospital. A few times during the day, they were able to visit Sora and Kairi for about ten minutes, while they were conscious and the doctors took a short break from their work.

During these brief periods of time, they caught the two Keybearers up on the new developments, and introduced them to the new allies the RGRC had gathered together. Goofy also personally introduced them to Max and PJ.

There was a moment of awkwardness when the reformed Luxord entered the room, but since Sora was Sora, and Kairi was Kairi, it ended friendly enough.

"Things are all coming together." Sora muttered just after the doctors had left. At the moment, Riku, Yuffie, Donald, Goofy, Nehrut, and Bariss were standing at their bedsides. Kairi tried –and utterly failed- to grab the glass of ice water sitting by her bed. Goofy saw her struggle, and lifted it to her lips, helping her take tiny sips out of it. She smiled mutely in thanks.

"Except, of course, that our two best fighters are stuck in a hospital." Yuffie pointed out.

"Meh, details." Sora said. "We'll be fine."

"But, just in case..." Riku looked over toward the bank of ridiculously complex machines on the other wall. "Tron, if these guys try anything stupid before they get back into fighting shape, stop them."

"As you wish, User Riku."

"Uncool." Sora said.

"It's for your own good, Sora." Donald quacked.

"Yeah, yeah." Sora fell into silence. "So, when do they think we-"

A loud alarm interrupted him in mid-sentence.

"What's going on!?" Donald exclaimed.

Leon's voice –projected over dozens of loud speakers all across the town- answered the question. "This is not a drill! Heartless activity has been detected near the city. All citizens are to immediately report to emergency bunkers. Warriors, report to the borough, stat. May God watch over us all."

"You're kidding!" Riku exclaimed in frustration.

Sora and Kairi groaned. "We actually have to sit out on a fight..." Kairi murmured. "Unbelievable."

"We'll try not to keep you waiting." Bariss said, already moving for the door.

"Just stay safe, guys." Riku said. "You're no good to us dead, after all."

"Ha ha."

The six warriors who could stand left the room in a run, passing up doctors, nurses, paramedics, and any patient who could walk, at high speed. Apparently the hospital was something of a safe zone for citizens in case of an attack, because Riku noted several armed security guards in the hallways, and several windows were being sealed tight, and covered with thick metal barriers.

They reached the reception area, and sprinted out through the front doors. They had taken a government vehicle to the hospital, and they dove inside. Yuffie was the only one among them who was even remotely familiar with the vehicle, so she took the driver's seat.

Riku immediately decided that being in that car at that moment, with Yuffie at the wheel, was one of the most terrifying experiences of his life. She banked and turned sharply around corners, and barreled down streets at unreasonably high speeds. Donald nearly fell out more than once, and only Nehrut's mental grip kept him inside. Donald soon put on his seat belt.

They stopped minutes later at the end of a street, just meters from Merlin's house. The others staggered out of their seats, and ran down the street as fast as their wobbling legs could carry them. When they came within sight of Merlin's home, they saw Aang and his friends rush through the doors. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Riku laughed upon seeing Sokka collide with the wall in his haste to get inside.

They arrived inside just after them, and found the main room of Merlin's house crowded with most of their allies. There was still a surprising amount of room for them to move about, and Riku suspected that a bit of magic was used to create this effect to allow for extra people.

Cid was sitting at his huge computer at the end of the room, frantically typing in commands. Near him were King Mickey, and Leon. Axel and Luxord weren't too far from them. Upon seeing them enter, Mickey waved them over.

"Heartless. Lots of 'em." He said, indicating the computer screen.

Riku's heart sank at the sight of hordes of Heartless approaching the town in a massive black mass. He had heard Sora's stories about the large-scale battle that Organization XIII had staged at Radiant Garden all those months ago, but from what he could tell, this was on an even grander scale.

From what Riku could see, there were the basic Shadows and Neoshadows. With them were Armored Knights, Soldiers, Large Bodies, Bookmasters, and Morning Stars.

There were millions of the wretched things out there, approaching fast through the canyons and new forests outside of the town.

"Where are they coming from?" Nehrut asked.

"Cid, get the remote moving." Leon said.

"We got a lock." Cid replied. "Moving in now."

The view changed to that of a floating reconnaissance drone hovering somewhere in the general area of the Great Maw. The majority of the Heartless were already beneath it, and now aerial Heartless were moving in to investigate it. Riku saw Invisibles, Rapid Thrusters, Dark Balls, and Surveillance Robots.

Cid wove the drone in and out among the creatures, and guided it forward, toward the direction the Heartless seemed to be approaching from. Minutes later, it arrived at a not-completely-surprising destination: Villain's Vale.

The Heartless were massed around Maleficent's old fortress, their yellow eyes glinting malevolently. Cid moved the remote farther forward, toward the massive Heartless emblem on the central tower. Through this area was what appeared to be an open, balcony-like structure.

Moving it forward until it was practically in the tower itself, they could see a wide, high-ceilinged, circular room. Its walls had an eerie sliding-water effect on them, and a circular strategy table sat in the center of the room. Hunched over it was a familiar figure.

"Pete!?"

A map and holographic images of various Heartless positions were displayed on the situation table. Pete tapped a finger to various portions of the map, directing the Heartless wherever he felt they needed to be. He was muttering to himself under his breath.

"How did he get out?" Mickey wondered aloud.

"You don't suppose Maleficent..." Yuffie began.

"No, it's not her." Riku shook his head. "I'd recognize her scent a world away, and in any case, the Brotherhood has her."

"What if the Brotherhood is behind this?" Bariss asked. "I mean, would Pete really go in it alone like this? Just attack Radiant Garden without a clear cause?"

"Probably." PJ said, entering the room with Max and Spyro's crew just in time to hear the statement.

"Whatever the case, there's fighting to be done." Mickey said. He raised his voice loud enough for the entire room to hear. "Alright! Everybody, it's time for action! Whatever happens, get to Villain's Vale, apprehend Pete, and make sure that the Heartless don't get into town!"

An impromptu battle cry broke the relative silence of Merlin's house.

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Can you say 'giant freaking battle chapters?' Probably.

Hope you enjoyed, and please leave a review!