Chapter 90: Anger
The two female warriors stumbled through the portal, the red portal disappearing from behind, to see that they have fallen within a throne room that looked similar to the Emperor's back at the capital only to find this one in near ruins. The two noticed that instead of a throne at the back of the collapsed hall, a statue of a golden dragon stood, looking down at its chest as the shape of the keyhole remained.
A sudden black and red blur appeared in front of their view, grabbing their attention. The two drew their weapons as they saw Skullo appear, only to watch him distracted by something else as he placed his glowing claw in front of him. "Calm-"Another red blur appeared to strike at Skullo, the Endless dodged the attack but the blur seemed to be able to knock the Endless' helmet off, revealing his outraged expression on his face. The red eyed Endless growled as he began to fire at the rapid creature, "Get back here!" He commanded it as he shot fireballs at them.
"Cover!" Kairi quickly casted protect, covering her and Mulan from the fireballs as the blur halted to block the attack hitting the girls. The blur halted to a red tiger with black stripes, twitching from being under the berserk control as the girls smiled with hope of their friend's strength to fight back. "Brian!" The girls said in joy and relief. His rage had ripped most of his garments apart, only leaving behind his ripped jeans behind as remainders of his white shirt were on his flurry arms.
The tiger dropped to all fours once more as he dashed towards the controller of his actions, "I SAID GET BACK HERE!" Skullo halted Brian in the air as he was about to pouch him, creating a huge fire ball and fired it at Brian's mid-section, making the tiger shot pass Kairi and Mulan and collapsing against the wooden door that still remained. The Anger Endless placed his claw to his side as he glared at the two fighters he had encountered earlier, "So, decided to face your doom?" Skullo smirked evilly at the two.
The Princess of Heart gulped as she felt Skullo's stare pierces through her, the other members that she had seen face to face didn't seem to have this effect on her, not even when Abroc had tried to inflicted his emotion on her back at African Depths, but the way his blood red eyes burned her made her feel uncomfortable, "W-We're here to free our friends and s-stop you from taking this world." Kairi glared at him but her voice spoke with fear behind it.
The Endless chuckled at her purpose to follow him as he stepped towards them, "So determined for one that has been called 'worthless' by the chosen one himself." He spoke to her.
She looked at him with a shocked expression, wondering how an Order member could have heard about their fight, before looking back him bravely, "I'm not worthless." She told him. Mulan looked behind them to hear growling. "I'll prove that to you today." She slashed Oathkeeper with determination.
Skullo chuckled once more as he faced the princess with a calmer expression, "I would like to see you try." He smirked as he simply clicked his claw like fingers, making his shadowed claw glow once more.
Mulan gasped at the sudden attack from their tiger-like friend as he tried to push Mulan to the floor, pushing her defensive placed sword towards her with his flame lit claws. "Kairi!" She called for help as she felt Mushu leave her shoulders to climb on Brian. "Mushu, what are you-"
"Prepare to face the wrath of the dragon, tiger boy!" Mushu told him as the small dragon bit into his shadowed claw. Brian's eyes widened with pain as he shot away from Mulan and tried to get the dragon off of him.
"Brian!" Kairi glared back at Skullo, seeing that he was controlling her friend's every move with his claw. "Let him g-" Kairi slashed air as Skullo side-stepped her attack once more and kicked her into the broken steps of the ruin throne.
"Watch how your friend will be murdered by your other friend. All you have to do is agree to meet up with the Colonel." Skullo instructed her, watching the movement that he creates with Brian, making him run like a wild animal. "And this rage fest can stop."
"My friends won't die." Kairi rushed passed the Lieutenant, ignoring his angered expression, as she went to help with calming Brian down.
Brian's head shot over to Skullo's anger, only to see the Princess of Heart running towards him, just as he grabs the dragon off of his back and throw him back to Mulan before dashing towards her. The tiger roared as he lunged on the princess, trying to claw her with his claws. His eyes widened as a burst of light blasted from underneath, sending him flying off of Kairi as she placed Oathkeeper ready for use.
"Brian! Calm down!" Kairi slowed his path down by casting a path of water to prevent her fire element friend from running straight to her as the water rised up, stopping the tiger from jumping over. "Don't let him control you! You control your own heart!" she said to him.
"Leave the Princess." Skullo commanded Brian, making the tiger look at his puppet master with confusion and rage, "Destroy China's Greatest Hero." He finished, making Brian shot back towards Mulan and Mushu.
"Brian!" Kairi tried to call some sense into him when a similar attack that she had dealt on preventing Brian from reaching had struck her but within flames as well. "What about Jun?" She shouted to him. Kairi watched behind the flames as Mulan raised her sword once more to block the receiving attack from the tiger when he halted his actions and grabbed his forehead as he yelled in pain.
The Anger Endless looked down at the fire puppet, who was in pure pain from the flashback, with frustration, "Fight them!" Skullo commanded him, using the ability of his claw to try and move the Endless. "I SAID FIGHT THEM YOU USELESS PIECE OF EXSITENCE!"
"Take this!" Kairi appeared next to Skullo and struck at his claw, making the Endless' anger rise from the amount of pain coming from his claw and he shot his attention towards Kairi.
Brian dropped to the floor freely, feeling the control that Skullo had on him broken, as he closed his eyes to see the vision that was causing him so much pain in his mind and heart.
Flashback
"Remember you two." Twelve year old versions of Nikolai and Brian sat there, taking in their teacher's words with pure intentions. The two faced their teacher, who looked in her thirties, had orange highlights with her long brown hair and while wearing a red Chinese robe that covered her. "So long as you keep in touch with your heart, who you really are, your soul will remain balanced and you can live without the virus destroying your being."
Nikolai sighed at this, "I don't really want to hurt anyone though. Every evil deed we have to cast to balance our good deeds seems a bit selfish to me."
"We can cover our 'evil deeds' with our missions to the Order." The young Brian air quoted, making Nikolai chuckle slightly.
"Keep the balance in your heart." The teacher said to them, "No matter what the other members say."
The two kids faced their teacher once more a bowed to her in respect, "Yes Jun."
End of Flashback
Brian's eyes shot open, filled with confusion, as the memory seemed to throw him off balance slightly. His surroundings were blocked out as he felt forgotten chains connect once more because of the memory, unlocking many other memories that involved lessons with the teacher, making the Endless even more confused and started to feel scared.
Mulan and Kairi stood in front of the Anger Endless, weapons ready, as they watched Skullo drawn both of his ninja swords, having similar makings on the weapons that Brian have on his staff. The enemy looked back at the woman with a sicken expression on his face, "Face my wrath!" he shouted as he ran towards the two.
Waking the demon
Where'd you run to
Walking in shadows
Watch the blood flow
Mulan and Kairi was placed on opposite sides of him, seeing his rush towards them as a chance to strike at him, they began to strike at him at a fast rate, only for Skullo to block the two from both sides using both of his swords. "Your expressions might have calmed." Skullo said as he blocked the fury of attacks coming from the side of him, "But your mind and heart is full of rage for the lost of someone close."
There's not much longer,
so don't try and fight,
My bodies weakening,
walk to the light.
Skullo side stepped Kairi once more as she tried to strike him using a strike from above before tripping Mulan over with a floor kick. The Order member moved away from female soldier and began to cast Firaga towards the princess, striking her at the spot that she was heading to, not the spot that she was at.
Those painful times so
alone, so ashamed.
I'm not going back,
there's nothing to gain.
Kairi turned to the remaining fire spells, feeling the damage of the others, seeing Skullo through the flames. Might as well try. Kairi got back up on her feet and dashed through the fire and the flames, performing a strong air strike as she came out of the flames, striking the broken stairs. What?
Breathe for me
Don't wake me from this slumber.
"Pathetic." Skullo stood besides the statue, looking down at her with boredom. "The offer still stands. Do the smart thing, Kairi. Sora will remain alive then." He smirked as he felt her rage built up inside her again from the mention of her friend.
"You and the rest of the Order are the reason that he's not here." Kairi yelled as she pulled Oathkeeper out of the rotting wood and quick dashed towards Skullo, only for him to teleport across the broken room.
Stay with me
Possession Taking over
"Funny!" Skullo chuckled before performing slashes in the air, creating fire cuts in the direction from where Mulan and Mushu were approaching him. "Brian said those exact words when his father failed to beat the Colonel." He laughed as he looked over to the weak tiger, having no strength from the constant flashbacks. He took his blood eyes off the tiger and grabbed Mulan by the neck, ruining her surprise attack. "You're really starting to annoy me, Fa Mulan."
"You leave my girl alone!" Mushu appeared from Mulan's pocket and fired a fireball at the Endless, only to watch the attack have no affect on him.
Skullo smirked at the shocked dragon while holding Mulan, "I'll show you a real fireball!" He smirked as he shot Mulan and Mushu against the wall, cracking it slightly from the impact as Mulan fell against the wall with smoke coming off of Mulan's garments.
Breathe for me
Don't wake me from this slumber.
Skullo smirked as his shot before closing his eyes, "Now then, Princess." He spun just as Kairi tried to strike at him again, placing the two fighters back to back, before appearing behind her to slash upwards in an diagonal slice just as he used his foot to trip the princess once again. He watched as she collapsed to the floor, losing grip of Oathkeeper as it fell between the broken staircase that lead to the Keyhole. An evil thought ran through his mind as he placed one of his swords down at her, preventing the princess to get up as he forced her to lay on her cut back, causing her to twitch in pain. "You had the choice to do the intelligent thing." He told her, "But now you're going to come with me whether you like it or not!" He raised his other sword at her, ready to strike.
Stay with me
Possession Taking over
"Blizzaraga!" An ice shard shot Skullo's claw, freezing it completely. The Anger Endless yelled in pain as he disarmed himself to try and unfreeze his arm, only to feel the rest of his body get completely covered with more ice shards, turning him into a frozen statue.
Kairi looked up at the frozen enemy with shock before feeling the pain return to her back and arm as she felt herself get pulled away from the frozen enemy. She turned her head to the side to see Brian on his knee, his staff in his paws once again, breathing heavily for air. "Brian!" She looked at him tiredly; I need a way to defeat Skullo and fast!
"Calm your soul!" Brian instructed her, looking at Skullo's status before turning back to her. "When his heart shows, shoot it." He disposed of his staff and placed his red claw in front of him, "Cure!"
Kairi shook her head as she felt the cuts on her arm and back heal up, still feeling the cut at the back after the spell was finished. "He knows my every move-"she spoke.
"Because he keeps getting you angry." Brian interrupted her, making her look at him with his paws. "Me and you will be taken if you don't calm your heart! You're the only one that can do this." The sounds of crackling could be heard from behind them as the two of them looked back at Skullo's ice status, only to see heat build up inside it. "I'll get Mulan and we'll go into the base to free the others." Brian told her as he got up.
"Brian!" Kairi quickly placed herself back on her own two feet before looking at her tiger friend with concern. "I can't-"
"Don't doubt yourself!" Brian shot back round towards her, "I believe that you can do this, Kairi!" He said softly.
Kairi wasn't sure what to say, "Brian..." I need to calm my heart. To save everyone...to save Sora.
NO! Trip!
The ice structure broke into a million shards, blasting all across the room from the amount of power that came from inside. Kairi quickly cast Aero to block the shards while Brian sprinted over to Mulan and cast Protect to shield them from the pointy ice shards. "THAT'S IT!" A voice roared behind the burst of flames that merged from behind the ice shards. A flame based barrier formed, blocking Brian and Mulan out of the barrier as the two got up and made their way outside the ruined throne room. The Princess of Heart looked at the departing two, knowing that the two will free the others, before turning back to the burning flame in the middle of the room, watching the stray flames flick onto parts of the ruined throne room, setting it alight. As soon as the flame disappeared, a new reformed Skullo stood, "I DON'T CARE WHAT DESTINY HAS SET! I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF!" the demonic voiced raged as Kairi summoned Oathkeeper once more.
Skullo's new form showed the keyblader that the Endless has had enough as she looked at his outburst mode. His short black had turned completely red and managed to grow longer and spikier, pointing at the back of the head. His armour was replaced with a black robe undergarment, much similar to Jun's training robe, and had blood coloured samurai plate armour that covered his shoulders, the back of his body set a trail of flames as parts of his body had red veins glowing on all parts of his showing skin, heading straight to his blood red eyes, which were now fill with the colour.
Kairi quickly rolled out of the way of Skullo's strikes, finally able to dodge his attacks, as her keyblade was absorbed, changing her into her water element. As soon as she had managed to dodge most of his fire strikes, she watched his angry rise in the Endless as a number of fire pillars appeared between him and her, as well as a number of fireballs heading in her direction. She noticed that some of the fire pillars moved across the battle field, making her move while counter-acting the fireballs with blasts of water spells. As soon as the attacks had be deflected, Kairi gasped to see Skullo right in front of her, not giving her any time to revert out of her element as the Endless began to rapidly slash at her rapidly with his flame lit swords. She gasped as Skullo quickly grabbed her neck with his glowing claw, burning her skin, before being strike away through the broken steps.
"Naïve, aren't you?" The Samurai smirked as he watched her struggle to get to her feet, feeling the burn inflict her throughout her body. He pulled out his two ninja swords once more and crossed them together to blast a crossed fire blast towards her way. He growled at watching her dodge the strike, making him perform two more crossed strikes. Kairi managed to dodge the second, struggling from the inflict of burn, before she quickly reverted back to wielding her Keyblade to block the last cross strike. "You are really starting to annoy me now!" He said darkly as he approached her, watching her cut through the cross strike with the lack of strength that remained. "Let's see you take Anger on!"
Kairi began to check all of her surroundings as everything when pitch black, only the trail of flames that rested on Skullo's body was the only source of light. That source of light soon divided itself by eight, creating seven copies of the Endless with the original by them. Their demonic laugh echoed in the darkness as the eight Endless' placed themselves around Kairi, surrounding her, as they created a fire ring on the floor from where all eight stood, each Skullo summoned their swords and held them in the air as the flame grew stronger, "Prepare to turn to ash!
"Water! Protect me!" Kairi knelled down and created a giant bubble that surrounded her, shielding her from the eight powerful strikes that now try to pierces itself inside the bubble, making the princess panic inside. Sora! I need you! Her strength weakened more as the bubble began to get smaller.
Kairi! You can do this! Sora's voice echoed to her.
I believe that you can do this, Kairi. Brian's echo seemed to overlaps Sora's in her mind. Calm your soul!
Taking Brian advice from earlier, she held the bubble in place and closed her mind, visioning herself relaxing at Destiny Islands with Sora and Riku, hearing the ocean waves echo in her mind and the feel of the waterfall splash against her skin, her entire heart took in the surroundings of her home.
Breathe for me
Don't wake me from this slumber.
Skullo watched in disbelief as the bubble began to expand in front of him, stretching out to destroy the crossed strikes and the copies of himself, leading the Endless to destroy the bubble. As soon as the bubble was destroyed, a quick slash shot pass the Endless, making the Samurai revert out of its outburst mode, showing his heart at his chest. As soon as he noticed that his heart was showing, the Endless quickly teleported over to the dragon statue, where the keyhole rests, before looking at the keyblader with a demonic look.
Stay with me
Possession Taking over
Kairi quickly shot her attention back to the Endless, after successfully cutting through him with an amount of speed given from remaining calm, to see the Endless pointing his claw at the keyhole, "This world will fall to rage itself!" He roared, his soul still remaining in his outburst mode while his body has reverted out of it.
"Wateraga!" Kairi pointed Oathkeeper at Skullo and fired a huge hydro blast, just as Skullo shot his claw away from the keyhole and towards her to counter her blast with his own. Water and Fire pushed against each other, Anger and Calmness try to claim dominates, the balance of Ying and Yang are involved once more in the fight of light and darkness, good and evil. For a moment, the burst of fire seemed to be consuming water, getting closer and closer to Kairi, before another wave within the water blast pushed it through the fire blast and shot Skullo against the wall, cracking it slightly. I better balance the Keyhole. Kairi pointed Oathkeeper at the dragon statue as the point of the Keyblade began to glow blue.
"I WILL NOT FALL!" Skullo teleported in between her and the keyhole just as a beam of light shot from Oathkeeper, piercing his heart. The Endless gasped with shock and pain from the shot before glaring at the princess and began to move towards her. "It will take more than a beam of light to destroy me!" He growled as he stepped closer to Kairi, drawing his swords once more, his anger becoming his adrenalin to move towards the defenceless Kairi, unable to break the beam of light.
Waking the Demon
The Anger Endless shot back as another beam of light appeared from behind Kairi and shot him in the heart, combining with Kairi's shot. He began to stagger backwards as his blood red eyes slowly turned into a hazel colour, the red sides in his short hair soon faded out to its original colour and his scarlet red claw turned as dark as a Heartless' claw. As soon as the beamed stopped, he fell to his knees as he held his chest in agony. A bright red colour surrounded Skullo as part of the light turned into red fireflies, flying past Kairi.
She disposed of Oathkeeper, being cautious as she watched Skullo's defeated form, before turning around to follow where the red fireflies were leading to. Her sight followed towards the other Keyblader, where the other shot had come from, as the red fireflies were absorbed by his grey shadowed claw, making it glow slightly. She moved away from the wielder's claw to their face, making her gasped with relief, "Sora! You're okay!" She smiled.
The Keyblade Master chuckled as he felt Kairi ran into him and embraced him with a hug, "Hey Kairi! You took him out!" He smiled, "I told you that you could do it."
"I'm glad that you-" Kairi looked up at his face to notice the difference in him, "Sora. Your hair!" She gasped with surprise, "It's turning-"
"White?" Sora finished for her, bushing the top of his head as more of his roots have begun to turn white. "I must be turning grey like Riku." He joked, hiding the true reason. "We should seal the keyhole and find the others." He smiled kindly at her before walking past him, aiming Kingdom Key at the keyhole.
A bright light formed from the tip of his keyblade and shot into the dragon crest, where the keyhole glowed. Kairi looked at her friend with a worried expression before summoning Oathkeeper once more, repairing the balance within the keyhole before locking it completely, making the usual click as the keyhole disappeared from the dragon status' chest.
"Kairi! Sora!"
The two turned around to see Brian, Donald and Goofy enter the ruined throne room with haste, "Are you guys alright?" Goofy asked the two of them.
"Yeah. I just came in when Kairi had stopped Skullo." Sora smiled as he pushed Kairi playfully on her arm, earning a bashful smile from her. "Where's Mulan and Shang?" Sora asked.
"Having a moment." Brian smirked while Donald and Goofy chuckled slightly, "We couldn't find Jun anywhere in the base though."
"She's gone." A weak voice came from behind them.
The five of them turned their attention back to the fallen Skullo, seeing his hazel brown eyes looking at them weakly, as if he was asking for their help. Kairi looked at her Endless before turning to Brian, "Did we cure him?" Kairi asked him, hoping that they could help Sora.
The tiger shook his head, "You only switched its effects." Brian answered, bringing Kairi's hopes down. "The virus can either consume the soul or destroy the heart. Switching what the virus does gives us a couple of minutes with the original person before the virus kills them." The tiger walked over to the heavy breathing Endless, kneeling in front of him. "From what memories I have so far, I remember Abroc calling you Shawn." Brian said to him.
The Endless nodded, "That's correct." He nodded.
"What did you mean that Jun is gone?" Brian asked him, hearing the others come closer as the tiger interrogated him.
"There were plans to gain new members on this world, knowing that the girl was special because she could see the truth within others, but I followed with the Colonel's plans because I felt that we shouldn't get another member from this world." He breathed.
"Another?" Donald repeated.
"Gawrsh, was you from this world Skully?" Goofy asked him.
Shawn chuckled at Goofy's mistake before coughing slightly, starting to feel the virus turn as well as being reminded by Abroc. "I was once a peaceful monk within the mountains. Learning the ways to move in the shadows but my master always used to say that I was one to act too smart for my own good." He coughed as he laughed, "I guess he was right."
Kairi looked at him with worry, "What happened to Jun?" she asked him.
"Link took her." He answered, "She will be one of us now."
While Kairi muttered under her breathe in disbelief, leading Sora to pull her into a hug and Donald and Goofy sighed in sorrow, Brian kept the confused and scared that he wore after having the flashback. The weak Endless turned to see the tiger's expression, "I can't tell you much—but your memories will soon reveal the truth to your past—including how you lost it."
"Why should I listen to you?" The tiger growled, "My brothers told me that you were the one in the Endless gummi that shot us down."
"Think of where you were!" He instructed him firmly, having a bit of anger left in him, "There was no way we could have found you without help." The tiger froze as he tried to think of the accident.
"You mentioned that you were following the Colonel's plan." Sora stepped forward, "What are the Colonel's plans and why isn't he following your master's plan?"
"The Colonel's plan leads to peace while our master's leads to war. Either way would repeat history in its own way." He started to breathe quicken and harder. "All I can-say for the Colonel's plans are—" He turned his vision to Kairi as he began to dig into his chest as he held it tightly, "One life saves a thousand." He suddenly halted his actions before collapsing onto the floor. The others stepped away from him as they watched his body glowed as it disappeared within his home world, watching the remains of his heart heading to Kingdom Hearts.
Brian continued to look up from where Skullo's heart had disappeared, "Guys...check the world's atmosphere." He said to them, "It should be correcting itself now the world is balanced."
While Donald and Goofy nodded and headed outside, Sora and Kairi looked at Brian with concern, "Brian? Are you alright?" Kairi asked him.
"I thought you'll be happy that one of the Order members are no longer in the way." Sora tried to see his expression.
"I just need to think something through." Brian quickly looked back at the two, "You guys tell Mulan. Tell her that we'll rescue Jun at any costs." He watched the two smiled at the request before the two headed outside. He smiled at the two, glad that they were both safe yet worried about Sora's hair beginning to turn white. He quickly shook the thought before looking up at the ceiling once more, seeing a hole where he could see the sky reforming.
"Nikolai! If you process these strange memories, if you remember her teachings, look after her." He requested as he felt the sun rest on his skin.
YES! I finished it before I went on holiday. Looking at the date, I'm not gonna meet my plan hehehe. Sorry I haven't updated fast guys, been sorting uni stuff, recording for Tales of a Nobody and other stuff that us cosplay gamers don't have to deal with in this moment of time.
Messages:
Ultima-owner: Awwww I can't help but play command to the sad puppy dog look hehehe
Taeniaea: Thanks ^^
Grey vs Ale: That would have been cools...why didn't i add that? Oh well...the limit would have been the same as Sora and Mulan anyways.
CosplayerMew: Wow! Errr thanks. I guess that writing for these two years on this story (WILL IT EVER END ¬¬) has given me practise. I'm sure you can if you kept at it ^^ Thank you for the review again.
Kisdota-The Freak Gamer: Thanks for reviewing again ^^ I think after this I will do the prince and the pauper story before starting on balance of memories.
Future Keyblader: Will do! Hehehe
LozzyBoo93: Yeah heheheh games are always late. Hahahaha, I would have properly done the same if I have just been Xenahort. I though this fight scene is good enough for my readers. At least nothing evil happened...yet. Fight scenes are the hardest to do I think, I have to make sure the fight lasts for sooo long, it's hard halve the time.
Soragirl4ever: Yeah...that random rock you threw hit Skullo while he was ascending to Kingdom Hearts. Hehehehehe. Been reading fanmail...I'm guessing that you're a fan of Demyx Time.
Artism: Computer can be cruel like that, die for no reason what so ever.
Transitions End: Thanks for your review.
Lezard Valeth: That would be cool if there was a class of how to end the main characters life in many ways possible.
Island-style-girl: YAY! I feel your pain. My laptop is fixed but I don't have word to it. It sucks...
Celticskyedancer: Awwww thank you. If you like the cake vs pie...just wait until they get back to the gummi.
Skullo
Element: Fire
Emotion: Anger
Theme: Waking the Demon by Bullet of My Valentine
I won't be writing again till September due to packing for uin and sorting uin stuff out. Sorry guys. The next chapter is an old planned one, one that me and shadow has planned when I first started to think of new characters.
Kingdommad