Ventus: Okay, this is definitely getting a little nuts. I don't think any of us who've worked with this guy have had back-to-back updates like this since...when was the last time this happened?
Sora: I think it was when he was working on Code Avengers, or maybe when he started Hearts of Avengers, or A Spider's Focus. I can't really think about it right now to be honest. I'm wiped out from all the work we did here.
AN: Hey, what're you guys complaining for? You've got another update, and it's for an awesome chapter. One that several of our readers and followers have been waiting ages for. And it's also one that I've been waiting to both write and post. That said, everyone, welcome to the newest chapter of Dual Keys, and Part 2 of the first trip to Hollow Bastion!
[audience applause]
Yeah, you know you're excited, and I can guarantee that excitement is about to double, because there are plenty of epic moments about to unfold here. One of which is one that many of you have long been patiently waiting for. In case you didn't figure out by the preview in the last chapter, then I'll spell it out for you. Ladies and gentlemen, it is time at last to unveil this story's very own...Star Wars Summon!
[audience roaring applause]
Yep, thought that would get that kind of reaction, from our audience in the studio, and I can only imagine how many of you at home are reacting to the news. Oh, by the way since I forgot to mention this last chapter, I'll tell you all now. The symbol on the Star Wars charm is that of the Jedi Order's emblem, with a pair of lightsabers crossed beneath it. Namely, the ones used by the person it summons.
Roxas: Yeah, that's not a give away on who it is or anything.
AN: Well, someone's still a little bitter about the previous chapter's starting author's note. To be fair though, if people had seen the poll results and how they were going in regards to this particular summon, I don't think that they'll be too surprised. But the excitement won't stop at just our Star Wars summon. Oh no, this chapter has got it all! Action, drama, emotion, and more! To put it simply, this time on Kingdom Hearts Dual Keys, a summon shall be revealed, a villain shall be discovered, a friend shall awaken, and a hero...may be lost.
Kairi: Wait, what was that last one?
AN: Want to know more? Then you can find out...now.
Sora: Uh, shouldn't we answer some reviews first?
AN: Yeah, we probably should, but this chapter is so epic that I want everyone to get right into it. Besides, most of the answers we could give them will be revealed in the story of the chapter. So like I said, let's get this baby started!
I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
Chapter XVII
"You know, if Ansem was so thorough with his research and kept copies of everything, how come we haven't found any other copies of his report on the Heartless while we were here," Sora asked as they continued leafing through the library for a clue on how to get past the sealed door that Donald and Goofy had found.
"I'm not entirely sure, to be honest," Ventus admitted. "Then again, one of the last times I was here to visit him, Ansem did tell one of his apprentices to destroy all research they had done on the Heartless and the world they come from, so that might have something to do with it." He then paused for a moment before adding, "Although, I do have a few suspicions of my own on what another reason might be."
The team had spent quite a bit of time in the library after Sora's face-off with Riku, long enough for Sora to confirm that Metal Chocobo had reverted back into a Keychain when he reclaimed Kingdom Key for himself, and while they were there, they figured it could not hurt to see if there were any pages of Ansem's report on the Heartless in here as well, or at least some copies of it. Given what Ventus had said before, it made sense that Ansem would have a copy or two of such important research, but so far, they had no luck finding anything of the sort. It had honestly left Ventus baffled that such an important bit of research would only have one copy, even if Ansem had ordered for all of it to be destroyed the last time the blonde had seen the man, but considering what he had seen of the pages they had already found, he was getting more and more certain that whoever wrote that report was actually someone else. Despite that, they all knew that they had not come into the library to look for more pages from Ansem's report on the Heartless; they were here to find a way past the locked door, and they had to find it quickly, before Maleficent and Riku did anything stupid. Well, anything else that was as stupid and insane as what they were no doubt already doing, or worse.
The search through the library was not a total waste, because while they did not find any pages from Ansem's report, they did find the last missing page from Merlin's book, so that was a good bonus. Other than that, they only really discovered a way to open the locked door when Goofy found something that looked like a piece of a larger picture, with Donald finding another soon after. When he asked the two to show him the door itself, Ventus was quickly brought before said entrance and had immediately compared the two pieces that his friends had found to one of the symbols on the door. Namely, the Heartless emblem, and he found that the two pieces were a perfect match to two sections of said symbol. That immediately clued everyone in on what that likely meant, and they all set to work searching through both the rest of the library and the entrance hall for the other pieces. Thankfully, Beast and Sora managed to locate them on the entrance hall's upper most level, and once they had all gathered before the door again, they carefully slid all four pieces into place.
When the pieces had been aligned in their proper positions, they all breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the sound of a lock being undone while the door itself moved aside, allowing them entry into the next room. Making their way forward, most of them were surprised to find a large room that was seemed to extend all the way up to the top of the castle, if they had to make a guess, while certain parts of it were sectioned off by walkways that were lined with energy barriers composed of several beams of light, similar to a fence. Ventus immediately recognized this place as the castle's lift-stop, and explained that they were going to have to take several different elevators to reach wherever it was that Riku and Maleficent were now waiting for them. Sure, doing so was a bit tiring, seeing as the castle was a complete maze even without this little obstacle, but it was the only way forward that they had. Besides, considering that they were going to have to go along the outside of the castle several times to get to the elevators that they wanted, there was always the fact that they would be getting a very special look around more of the castle, inside and out as they went up.
While Sora and Beast were able to acknowledge that it was good to know more of their surroundings, they were much more anxious to reach the people that they had come to save, and so, that made them fight even harder the next time they all encountered resistance in the form of more Heartless. Between Defenders, Wizards, and Wyverns alone, it was not really too surprising that the whole group was slowed down a bit in their attempts at getting to where they needed to be in this place, and they were all quickly growing worried that they would likely end up being too late at the rate they were going with every second that they had to stop or change directions.
Maleficent was barely able to contain her excitement. Even her goosebumps had goosebumps, and staring up at the Keyhole that now lay before her, enticing her with all of the dark powers that it promised, any other villain worth their salt would likely feel the same, at least in her eyes. Even if Ventus and those other three fools were to arrive now in an attempt to stop her, their efforts would all be in vain. This was her victory, and no one was going to be able to steal it out from under her this time. Not like Ventus's precious Aqua had back on her own world, Enchanted Dominion, and her most recently made ally would be able to help guarantee that.
Speaking of which, that same ally had now joined Maleficent in staring up at the Keyhole, and she could not help but note how he had changed from what he was before now. When she first saw the boy, Riku coming up to her in his new dark form, her first thought was that the boy had allowed the darkness he now commanded to completely overwhelm him, despite her warnings. Not that she truly cared one way or the other, but Riku had proven to be of far more help than any of the other members of her little gathering of villains, so it would have been a shame to lose him like she had the others. Then, Maleficent took the time to note that the darkness in and around Riku was much different, and that was when she realized that it was not actually Riku who had approached her. At least, it was not entirely. Yes, it was Riku's body, and yes, it was in his dark form, but Maleficent knew that particular darkness anywhere as that of the one who had first told her about the seven maidens with the purest of hearts, and the one who had helped her to gather together the forces of evil so that she could accomplish these plans. It did not take much more to realize that he had now taken the boy's being as his vessel completely, and that meant that everything was going just as they had planned.
"So, I see the path has emerged at last," not-Riku noted, his voice a mix of both Riku's and the other individual's, as it had been after the two had first merged.
"Yes. The Keyhole to the darkness," Maleficent confirmed with a smirk.
"Unlock it and the Heartless will overrun this world," her ally mentioned, clearly cautioning her about what would happen as a result of that, at least in regards to anyone who could be affected by the darkness.
"What do I care," Maleficent asked. "The darkness holds no power over me. Rather, I will use its power to rule all worlds."
"Such confidence," Not-Riku smirked, and he then raised his hand like Maleficent had seen the Keybearers do many times before.
If anyone had been expecting Not-Riku to summon Soul Eater, they would have been in for quite the surprise, because a few seconds later, a certain sword did appear in his hand in a shroud of shadows, but it was not Soul Eater. Instead, much to even Maleficent's surprise and intrigue, what appeared was in fact a Keyblade. This one was clearly not like the ones that Ventus and his apprentice carried though. It held a dark color scheme with its thin blade and handle being completely black, while the guard was a dark red, with the teeth of the key forming the outline of a heart. It was not just the design that set this Keyblade apart from the ones that the two Keybearers of light used though, as Maleficent could sense the familiar essence of the six Princesses of Heart within it. Either way, it seemed that they would not be needing the Keyblades of either Sora or Ventus to open the Keyhole before them after all. With this new Keyblade in the possession of Not-Riku, they had everything they would need to open the way to everlasting darkness. At least, that was what Maleficent thought.
When Not-Riku aimed his new Keyblade towards the Keyhole to darkness, Maleficent had fully expected the Heartless to suddenly gain a massive upsurge of power, allowing them and their darkness to overrun this entire world, but for some reason, neither Keyblade nor Keyhole reacted at all. They both just remained completely unresponsive to one another. "Impossible! The Princesses of Heart are all here," Maleficent protested, turning from the Keyblade to the Keyhole, trying to figure out what was wrong. It did not take her much longer to realize what it was that was stopping them from achieving their goals, and she immediately turned a vicious gaze behind to the one responsible for delaying them. "It must be her."
Not-Riku turned his gaze in the same direction that Maleficent had, and he was soon frowning a little as well, knowing that the evil fairy was correct. There, lying just across the floor from them was the unresponsive form of Kairi, who he had long since identified as the seventh Princess of Heart. He had known this all along, and informed Maleficent of the fact as well, but he had to go through a great deal to make sure that neither one of them would reveal this fact to Riku. If the boy had found out the truth about why they wanted him to help them recover the girl's heart, there was no doubt that he would turn against them without a second thought, even if he had already forsaken his best friend and the blonde master he was traveling with. Still, the fact that they never discovered where the girl's heart was after all this time was now much more problematic than ever for them.
"Without her heart, she will never be able to release her power," Not-Riku confirmed for Maleficent, knowing exactly what needed to happen if they ever wished to obtain what they sought. The only question now was just where could the seventh princess's heart be? They had searched practically everywhere now, and not once had they ever turned up a single clue on where it was hiding, and a heart like hers was not an easy thing to conceal for too long. Not unless someone had found it and was keeping it concealed from them on purpose.
The two would have pondered this mystery for a little longer had a sudden crash not echoed from somewhere nearby, followed by a familiar roar. When they heard the sound of a certain Shotlock and Command Style going off afterwards, they both instantly knew what that likely meant. "Ventus and the king's fools are here," Maleficent practically growled, having finally had enough of said group's interference. "I'll deal with them myself. You stay here and guard the princesses."
Normally, the being who was now possessing Riku would have punished the fairy for her insolence in ordering him around like he was another one of the pathetic fools who had attempted to use the darkness for their own means, but he managed to restrain himself for the moment. He knew that it was only a matter of time before Maleficent got what was coming to her, be it because of Ventus and his apprentice, or because of the darkness that she claimed to have a firm hold over. Truly, she had no clue of who was actually in control here, and he was looking forward to the moment when he made her realize the truth of that matter.
Climbing up through the many levels of Hollow Bastion's castle proved to be much more tiring than any of the adventurers had expected. Even Beast was a little weary after so many back-to-back battles with Heartless while attempting to navigate the massive maze that the building had proven to be, but thankfully, Ventus and Sora both quickly confirmed that they were now closer than ever to wherever it was that Maleficent was holding the six captured Princesses of Heart. Kairi immediately verified that as well, having sensed her fellow Princesses of Heart's light almost right at the moment that they had stepped off that last elevator and into the hallway that led into the castle's chapel, and while that was good news, it also meant that they were about to find themselves face to face with a much greater obstacle than any of the ones that they had encountered so far.
They had no idea just how right that assumption was, but what they were not expecting was for that obstacle to be none other than Maleficent herself, and she was no happier to see them standing before her than they were her. Still, most of her distaste was hidden rather well behind a smirk, as she boasted, "I'm afraid you're too late. Any moment now, the final Keyhole will be unsealed, and this world will be plunged into darkness. It is unstoppable, even if your dear friend, Aqua were here to help you, Ventus."
"Don't make me laugh," Ventus retorted. "Aqua could easily stop it on her own, if she had to, or did I hear wrong when I was told about how she bested you when you were supposedly at your best ten years ago?
Maleficent leveled Ventus a glare for that remark, not enjoying the reminder of that particular defeat, but before she could bite back, Sora cut in with his Keyblade at the ready, shouting, "Besides, we won't need Master Aqua's help here. We'll stop it ourselves! After coming this far, there's no way we're gonna let that happen!"
"Yeah, you tell that mean old witch, Sora," Kairi cheered on, earning her a small grin from the boy in question.
Goofy and Donald had immediately drawn their weapons after Sora's declaration, with Ventus doing the same while the Beast crouched down in preparation to charge into action, but Maleficent did not seem too worried. If anything, she was both confident and much angrier than ever. "You poor, simple fools," Maleficent sneered. "You think you can defeat me? Me, the mistress of all evil?!"
"Why not? I beat you ten years ago when I was just a kid," Ventus reminded her.
Maleficent then let out a small cackle before she revealed, "Surely you do not think that I had actually been using my full strength against you then, do you?"
While the others seemed to grow a little more worried after hearing that, Ventus remained as calm as ever, and was thus easily able to reply, "No, I didn't think so, but then again, I was still in training at the time, and I'm much stronger now than I was back then."
Maleficent only grinned evilly in response before she declared, "Well let's see how much stronger you are now, for now you shall deal with me, and all the powers of hell and my darkness!"
The minute Maleficent had said that, a massive explosion of darkness erupted from her being burst forth from her, and everyone was forced to raise their arms in front of them in order to block the wind that had accompanied the explosion. When they lowered their arms and looked to her again, they saw that she had enchanted a large amount of the floor so that it would lift her up and above their heads, and a pair of Defenders had appeared on either side of her floating platform on the ground. Without any prompting, Beast immediately charged the Defenders, lifting one up by its shield and tossing it into the other, throwing them off their feet. "I'll handle them! You deal with the witch," Beast roared to his friends.
"Technically she's a fairy, but…" Ventus started to say, only to be cut off when Maleficent suddenly called down a storm of dark lightning bolts, forcing him to roll aside in order to avoid getting hit.
"Less talking and more fighting," Donald shouted to Ventus as he aimed his staff at Maleficent, and he immediately unleashed a burst of Firaga on the mistress of evil.
Donald's spell did not quite reach Maleficent herself, but instead, impacted the platform as she flew over his head. That did not keep her safe from the Thundara spell that Sora threw out at her soon after, and she immediately turned a glare and a powerful blast of green fire on the boy in retaliation for his attack. Sora would have rolled away had Goofy not jumped in with his shield at the ready just in time to block the attack, and with but a simple glance between them, Sora knew what Goofy had in mind when he did not move from his current position. Instead, the knight allowed Sora to use him like a step-ladder in order to jump up onto Maleficent's perch and attack her head-on. Clearly, the evil fairy was not quite prepared for that, and her surprise ended up causing her to be left wide open for Sora's barrage of attacks via Sonic Blade, which he somehow managed to keep enough control over so that he would not drop down from the platform. Ventus had soon joined Sora in the attack as well, tossing his Keyblade at Maleficent while coating it with wind magic, which allowed it to turn and hit Maleficent several times over as a result, but it only served to annoy her even further.
To prove her annoyance, she soon blasted Sora off of the platform, making him crash land into the charging Ventus when he fell, and flew across to the other side of the room, where she raised her staff and chanted, "Meteors of heaven, unleash thy fury!"
A second later, a massive black hole appeared behind her, and several massive balls of dark magic came racing out from it towards the heroes. They all quickly scattered to avoid being hit, with Ventus and Sora pausing only long enough to cast enough Aero Shields to defend both themselves and their friends, but the Defenders were not so lucky, and took a direct hit that destroyed them in an instant. Thankfully, the worst that the team suffered was a small amount of glancing damage, but even with the spheres of wind that were protecting each of them, they still took quite a bit of damage from those minor hits. Goofy had immediately tossed some Potions to everyone so that they could recover, and with her extra backup gone, they all thought that things would now be easier, but after having to dodge another storm of lightning bolts, they found out that they were wrong, because some more Defenders appeared on the battlefield soon after.
Since they were not able to really hit Maleficent while she was up in the air on that platform of hers, Beast and Goofy both turned to try and take down the Defenders, leaving the others free to focus on Maleficent, but even with their long-range Shotlocks, Ventus and Sora were both frustrated to find that getting to the mistress of evil was no easy task. Add in the fact that most of Donald's spells were only hitting the rock slab she was riding around on, and anyone would have been hard-pressed to not start getting more than a little frustrated, at least until Sora noticed something about said platform after the most recent hit it took from Donald's magic attacks. It may have only been a moment, but Sora just knew that he saw the aura around the platform flicker a little, and when it did, it seemed that the rock slab had faltered in the air a little, making Sora think that maybe there was a way to even things up a little.
"Ven, focus some of your attacks on the platform Maleficent's flying on," Sora shouted, and he immediately shot off a round of Typhoon Barrage.
Ventus was not entirely sure why Sora wanted them to do that, but he figured that Sora would not have suggested that action without good reason, so he quickly used his Wind Raid ability to do just as Sora had asked. After following up that with a quick use of both Pulse Bomb and Meteor Shower, Ventus quickly realized what Sora had, and saw the aura around Maleficent's platform flicker and fade until it finally disappeared completely, dropping to the ground when it did, and leaving its rider disoriented. "Good eye, Sora," Ventus shouted in praise, and he immediately charged forward through use of the Photon Charge Shotlock, with Sora following after with his Radiant Blade Shotlock.
The two light-based attacks easily tore through Maleficent, and given her dark nature, it was no surprise that she was seriously hurt by the powerful light-based attacks. After a couple more attacks on their parts, both Sora and Ventus quickly began glowing with faint auras of light, and they quickly shunted the power through their beings and into the Keyblades, instantly activating their respective Unique Command Styles, Destiny Blaze for Sora, and Fever Pitch for Ventus. It was at this point that both Keybearers were glad that Sora had figured out a better idea on how to active his Unique Command Style while they were fighting through the Heartless on the way up, but before they could really unleash the full power of their Command Styles, Maleficent managed to cast the same enchantment on the rock slab beneath her feet, and rose up into the air once more, flying away from the heroes a second later. It was a lucky thing that Sora was able to use the strength boost of his Command Style to throw Ventus a little higher than he normally would have been able to, and that he was able to jump higher with it as well, because that was the only thing that allowed them to reach Maleficent while she was airborne again. Sadly, they were not able to get too far with their attacks, even after using such moves, because Maleficent was almost always able to bat them away with either her staff or a burst of fire magic, and the little spell she used to rain down what could only be called a storm of dark meteors did not make things any easier for them, so they soon found themselves losing all the power of their Command Styles before they even came close to having a chance to use their finishers.
What made matters worse was that Goofy and Beast were constantly having to deal with the Heartless that Maleficent summoned, because for every single Defender that they destroyed, it seemed like another two were summoned to take its place, and Maleficent did not seem like she was getting too worn out from summoning such powerful magic to her call any time soon. It was not long before they all had to deal with both the evil fairy and the Heartless she was summoning, despite Goofy and Beast's best efforts, and it immediately became clear that they were not going to make out of this fight unscathed. At least, not so long as they were fighting it on their own and a quick glance between master and apprentice immediately told them that they both had just the backup in mind, even as they reached into their pockets to pull out the corresponding summon charms.
"Come give us a hand with these Heartless, SIMBA," Ventus called out as he raised the mighty lion's charm above him.
"We could really use some magic backup, Genie," Sora shouted, doing the same with his own charm as his master had.
A moment later, the mighty lion had appeared before them with a roar that was much like the one he had let loose the first time they met him, while their cosmically powered friend materialized before them in a military get-up, saluting to Sora as he declared, "Private Genie reporting for duty, Commander Sora, sir!"
Sora laughed a little at Genie's antics and decided to play along with the act by talking like a general as best as he could. "Focus all magic-based fire on the enemy's transport. We need that witch out of the air and down on the ground so we can rain down some serious hurt on her," he ordered.
"Sir, yes sir," Genie replied, and he immediately aimed his hands at Maleficent, making a pair of finger-guns when he fired off beam after beam of magic towards the platform she was flying around on, while sparing a shot or two for the evil fairy as well.
"I guess I'll be handling the Heartless then, right," Simba asked.
"Pretty much, but we mainly need you to keep them off of us while we hit their boss," Ventus explained to the mighty lion.
"No problem," Simba grinned, and he immediately pounced at the nearest Defender, knocking it out of the fight, and freeing him up to slash at the next closest one with his claws. Just when he was chomping down on another Defender with his teeth, Beast had rejoined the fight against the Heartless minions, showing a brutal savagery that could only fit such a being, and Simba had to admit, he was glad that he was not dealing with the Heartless all by himself. There was no doubt he would be toast if he did have to handle that alone.
With Beast and Simba dealing with the Defenders, Goofy was able to rejoin his friends in a full-frontal assault on Maleficent, an assault that became much easier after Genie had knocked her out of the air once more, and they all charged in with everything that they had. Goofy's shield was flying and bashing into her, Donald was throwing out spells and batting her back and forth with his staff, Ventus was throwing out every trick he had ever learned in his training, and Sora was doing the same as his master, all resulting in a relentless barrage that Maleficent could not hope to defend herself against for too long. In the end, a loud roar from both Beast and Simba ended up vanquishing all of the remaining Defenders, while throwing Maleficent off-balance, right to the point where she had stumbled into a little magic trap that Donald and Genie set up perfectly for her. Goofy then threw his shield at Maleficent to make sure she remained too disoriented to escape from the trap, and thus, she was unable to do anything to stop Sora and Ventus charging forth, and bringing down both of their Keyblades on her in a simultaneous slash that ended the fight in their favor.
When they landed behind the evil witch, Ventus and Sora both turned just in time to aim their Keyblades towards the weakened and beaten dark fairy along with their friends, while the two summons vanished with a fond farewell, and blonde Keyblade master stated, "It's over, Maleficent."
"Now let the princesses and Kairi go," Sora demanded, with Beast growling viciously at her to show what he would do if she did not give a response that they liked.
Any other sensible person would have acknowledged this fact and done as the five had asked, but Maleficent was not so willing to admit defeat easily. She had not become the mistress of evil by giving into the demands of heroes when it seemed like she was bested, and she had no intention of doing so now. Yes, she was severely hurt, and barely able to stand, but she was still able to stand and could still cast magic, and she demonstrated the latter by throwing out a quick smokescreen to disorient the five before her while opening a dark portal that she could retreat into. Not that said smokescreen lasted for long, as Ventus was able to blow it away just in time to see where she was running too, and he immediately waved for the others to give chase.
They would have gone straight in had Donald not noticed that Maleficent had dropped something on the ground and called everyone's attention to it with a simple sentence. "Hey look! I think this is another page from Ansem's report!"
While Beast just moved towards the portal that Maleficent had gone through, the other three quickly joined Donald with Ventus scooping up the page that the magician had found. After looking it over, he confirmed that it was indeed another page from said report and began reading it aloud for everyone to hear. This time, it detailed how Ansem had apparently picked out a single Heartless so he could study its behavior, how that study allowed him to find a mysterious door with a large Keyhole because of that Heartless, and how he opened it and discovered a powerful mass of energy on the other side. Hearing all of this had immediately reminded Sora of the strange door in the secret place back on his world, and when he mentioned this to the others, they all had a feeling that meant that Ansem had found the Keyhole of Radiant Garden when he wrote this report. Sure, it also mentioned how a meteor shower had appeared in the sky that same night, but that did not seem like a very big deal for them, and especially not for Ventus. He knew that Ansem had not been the one to do this sort of research, and he knew of only one person who mentioned secret doors more than anyone else, aside from Ansem himself when it came to the research regarding the Heartless and the world they come from, so this served as the final bit of proof he needed to confirm his suspicions at last.
Of course, that was a rather unimportant detail at the moment, because right now, they needed to stop Maleficent from getting away, so he pocketed the page, and then ushered everyone through the portal, hoping that they could catch up before she had gotten too much further from them. Not that Maleficent really seemed like she was in any condition to flee too far on her own.
She could not believe it! Maleficent found it completely inconceivable that she had actually been bested by those fools. Yes, she may have been holding back just a little, but in hindsight, she could see why doing so would have led to her downfall. She should have known that Ventus was not just spewing empty words when he said that he had gotten better since she last saw him, but she was sure that her own strength had grown considerably in that time and was still much greater than his. She had the advantage in power and numbers, and yet they had managed to not only scrape out a victory, but make a fool out of her afterwards by standing tall and proud, like they had not just been in the middle of a fight for their lives. She was not beaten yet though, and as soon as she had rested in this particular part of the castle, which could only be reached through the use of certain magic and was now flowing with her own brand of dark magic, she would be restored to full strength and truly show them her full power. At least, that was what she had been planning, but any hopes of a peaceful, undisturbed rest were quickly dashed when someone else suddenly appeared in the chamber with her. Thankfully, it was not the five who had just defeated her, but she was not sure whether or not she would have preferred it if it was them instead of the one who had shown up.
"Do you need some help," Not-Riku asked after he appeared, clearly sounding like he was mocking her.
Before she could snap at him for his impudence, the five heroes had arrived in the room, having used the portal that Maleficent had left open without realizing it, and the possessed boy's attention was soon drawn to them after Sora had called out, "Riku!"
Just before Sora could rush over to his friend, Ventus shot his arm out in front of his apprentice and cautioned, "No, that's not Riku. It may be his body, but the power and darkness he's giving off is that of someone else. Someone very dangerous."
Hearing Ventus say that alone was reason enough for everyone to brace themselves for what would no doubt be a very deadly encounter, but while they were doing so, Not-Riku's senses suddenly detected something he had not expected. He gave no outward indication of his shock though, partly because he had to be absolutely sure he had not imagined it. So, he reached out with his senses, making sure that the others were too busy getting ready for any sudden attacks to really notice what he was doing, while also keeping track of what was going on to make extra sure that no one could notice him. As it turned out, he had the perfect distraction currently on display for such a distraction.
After he had summoned his staff, Donald had taken note of the weapon that Not-Riku was carrying, and gasped in horror at the sight. He immediately pointed it out to the others, and when they gave similar reactions, he knew he was not seeing things. Still, Donald found that he had to ask what they were all wondering. "Is that…"
"Yes. A Keyblade," Not-Riku confirmed with a sinister grin, holding the dark weapon up for the fools to see, and preventing them from seeing his grin widen once he found what he was searching for. It all made sense to him now. The answer that they had been searching for was staring them in the face without them ever realizing it, and these fools had just unwittingly given it away to them. He felt that he should thank them for such a service and what better way to do so than to explain a little more about his weapon. "But unlike yours, this Keyblade holds the power to unlock people's hearts."
"'Unlock people's hearts,'" Ventus repeated in questioning, not entirely understanding what the possessed boy meant by that, and somehow, he already knew that he was not going to like the answer.
"Allow me to demonstrate. BEHOLD," Not-Riku said, and with that, he immediately spun around and stabbed the Keyblade right into Maleficent's chest, much to everyone's shock and horror. Even Maleficent could hardly believe what had just happened, but for some reason, she was more stupefied by the sudden surge of energies that were spreading through her after getting stabbed. "Now, open your heart, surrender it to the darkness," Not-Riku commanded as he held his Keyblade where it was. "Become darkness itself!"
After holding his Keyblade of Heart in Maleficent for a few more seconds, Not-Riku finally extracted the blade from her and disappeared into another dark portal, leaving the others with Maleficent, who was getting far too exhilarated for someone who had just been stabbed by their ally, let alone for the team's liking. "This is it," Maleficent finally gasped as her body glowed with a dark aura. "This power! Darkness…The true darkness!"
An instant later, a massive tornado of fire erupted around the evil fairy, reaching all the way up to and beyond the ceiling, making the five heroes back up in worry for what might emerge from this dark inferno. They soon found out that they were well within their rights to do so, because when the fires settled and the smoke cleared, they were horrified to see that Maleficent had transformed into a massive, snarling, black dragon with evil, greenish-yellow eyes, nearly transparent black wings, and a purple underbelly. When the dragon dropped down onto his four, clawed feet, a massive shockwave ran out from beneath it that pushed the team back against the wall, where they saw that portal had almost completely disappeared, making any escape attempt impossible for the moment. Knowing this, they quickly figured out that if they wanted to leave this place and rescue the captive princesses, they were going to have to enter the toughest fight any of them had ever faced, and they were all very worried for their lives.
"I think I'm going to need a bigger shield," Goofy moaned in worry, and Donald could only let out a similar moan of his own in agreement.
"And I thought she was ugly before," Kairi admitted. Normally, she was not one to insult others, save for when she first saw Oogie Boogie, but given what Maleficent had done to both their world and their friend she was definitely willing to make an exception.
"It doesn't matter how big she gets or what she turns into," Ventus encouraged everyone, readying Guardian Wind for battle as he did. "She's still going to end up like any other villain we've faced up until now."
Sora nodded in agreement with his master, and immediately used what magic he currently had available to him to help Ven cast some fresh Aero Shields around the team. It was a good thing that he had too, because barely more than a second later, the dragon had unleashed a massive blaze of fire that would have burnt them all to a crisp in seconds if they did not have the extra defense. Of course, having Goofy jump in front of them all with his shield forward helped a lot too, but the Aero Shields definitely made a huge difference in making sure that they only felt the intense heat of the flames and avoid getting any glancing burns. When the stream of fire breath finally ended, Beast immediately leapt over the other four and straight towards Maleficent with a roar, intending to tear through the dragon like he had already done to so many Heartless. His efforts prove futile though, because the dragon immediately spun around at a speed that was much faster than a being of its size should possess and smacked him in the side with its tail. The dragon's attack had resulted in Beast flying into a large, thorn branch on the side of the room, hard enough to send him crashing through the branch and into the wall behind it. Feeling extremely worried about their friend, Donald quickly raced over to make sure that Beast was okay, and soon breathed a sigh of relief when he discovered that the big guy was, miraculously just unconscious after the hits he had received. While that was good news, it left the others more than concerned, because if Maleficent could now do that to someone as strong as Beast in a single hit, then they were definitely going to have to watch out for themselves in this fight, because they knew there was a good chance that they would not be as lucky if they got hit in any way like that.
The fight was not likely to get any easier either, because now that Beast was unconscious, he was easy-pickings for Maleficent, and both Goofy and the dragon were quick to take notice of this, as evidenced by how the former had immediately rushed to Beast's defense when he saw the latter swipe at Beast with her claws. With their strongest defender forced to focus most of his attention on protecting Beast, the others were forced to be even more careful than they already had been before, and considering they were dealing with a powerful, fire-breathing dragon, that was saying something. Donald had tried to compensate for Goofy's inability to leave Beast's side for too long by reinforcing their magic defenses with more powerful wind-based defense spells, and on occasion, even threw in a Reflect spell or two in the hopes that it would help to even the odds. Sadly, it only served to either irritate or tickle the dragon, the latter they learned when a Reflect spell's after-effects only earned them a small chuckle from the dragon, which had sent a few shivers up their spines. Sora and Ventus ended up doing a lot more attacking than Donald was able at this point, but the two could barely get close enough for more than a handful of minutes to really do too much significant damage for things to turn in their favor again. Eventually, it was starting to look like Maleficent was going to win this round, and she showed how much she was enjoying this fact by letting a small cackle as she coated nearly the entire room in fire with another blast of fire breath.
Everyone was forced to either scatter or raise whatever defenses they had in order to protect themselves from the blazing inferno that Maleficent had unleashed, but afterwards, they all looked to see that the flames had separated each of them from one another, and any attempts that they made to regroup were quickly blocked by more of the dragon's fire, or just by the dragon swiping at them with her claws and tail, or due to her snapping at them with her massive jaws. Eventually, the heat from the flames started to become too much for Goofy to handle, as he ended up having to drop to one knee as he attempted to stay conscious, and Donald did not appear to be fairing much better, even as he tried to get to his friend by blasting his way through the fires with some ice magic, only to have minimal to no success. Sora had ended up backed into more of a corner than anyone, as Maleficent seemed to be focusing a great deal of her attacks on him, and thus, he was unable to come out from behind the thorn branch he had taken shelter behind without taking the risk of being chomped up in the dragon's maw, sliced up by her claws, or being completely burned to death by her fire breath.
Ventus was able to see all of this as he took a quick glance around the battlefield from within the ring of fire he was trapped inside of, and he was rapidly trying to think of some way for him to escape so that he could help the others. His first thought was to try and use one of his Command Styles, like Wingblade or Sky Climber, but the heat from the fires was so intense that it was proving difficult to focus. Any magic he tried would not be effective enough to extinguish the flames, or just would not be able to work fast enough to get him out and prevent Maleficent from reforming the ring seconds later, and he doubted that any of his Shotlocks would be able to protect him completely from the inferno if he tried to use one that would allow him to rush through the flames at his target. After a few seconds, Ven was starting to think that they did not have any options at all, until he remembered that they still had some summon charms. If Sora could summon Genie, then the cosmic-powered being could probably counter the dragon's magic a little better, but the problem with that was that Sora had already summoned Genie in their previous fight, so they would not be able to summon him again so soon. Sure, they both had other summons, but none of the ones that they knew of could really be of much help.
That was when it finally hit him. None of their available summons that they knew could provide them with much help, but there was one summon charm in his arsenal that he did not know too much about just yet. Sure, it was incredibly risky to bet all of their chances on a single summon that they knew nothing about, but at this point he could not really see any other options, and desperate times called for desperate measures. Reaching into his pocket, Ventus immediately pulled out his newest summon charm, prayed to every being of higher power he could think of that the person it called to their aid could help them, and then lifted it high above his head as he infused the magic necessary into the charm to make it work while he shouted, "SUMMON!"
Whoever this charm summoned must have been powerful, because the minute it activated, a powerful shockwave erupted from around Ventus that extinguished the fires surrounding him and his friends, much to their surprise. Soon afterwards, a massive column of light erupted from behind Ven, making him turn back to see what would come out of it, while everyone else, including Dragon-Maleficent turned just in time to see a figure stepping forward from the powerful light. "I'm guessing that must be Ven's newest summon," Kairi commented to Sora.
"Well it's not like there's anything else it could be. I just hope they're good enough to help us out here," Sora admitted, his worries showing through the tone of his mental voice.
Everyone continued to watch the figure stepping forth from the large column light come closer and closer, until it was standing almost right next to Ventus, revealing who they were when they did, while the light itself began to die down to the point where they were not longer just appearing as a simple silhouette. When they all finally got a good look at the individual, they were all left in awe of said person for various reasons. The person that Ven had summoned appeared to be a young, alien-looking woman with dark orange skin, brownish-gray lips, and bright blue eyes that seemed to burn with unbridled courage, while upon her head was not hair, but what appeared to be some type of horns that were white with blue stripes, and extended down to her shoulders. Her attire consisted of a burgundy top with a decorative hole in the front, dark grey leggings with diamonds cut into the sides, three armbands on each arm, dark combat boots and gloves, and crossed belts that held what looked like two silver hilts. The most shocking thing about this young woman was when she levitated the two hilts into her hands, and then activated them to reveal that they were a pair of energy swords, one full-length green blade and the other being a shorter yellow blade. With both of her sabers activated, the woman then made of show of spinning the two swords around in her hands before holding the yellow saber in front of her while the green blade was in the back, both in a reverse grip, similar to what Ventus used when he fought with his Keyblade.
"Wow," Goofy and Donald both gasped at the same time.
"That's…definitely awesome," Sora breathed in awe.
"She's…really beautiful in an alien kind of way," Kairi commented, finding no other way to say it besides that.
Ventus was also left in the same amount of awe as his friends, but when he saw the woman activate the two sabers, he immediately realized something else about this person he had just summoned. While he was glad to have realized this, knowing that this person was definitely going to be a huge help in defeating Maleficent's dragon form, he was much more shocked than anything else now that he knew just what this individual was, right to the point where he could hardly even speak for a few moments. "I…I don't believe it," Ventus finally whispered once he had found his voice again. "A…A Jedi! An actual Jedi!"
Despite not appearing to let her gaze move away from the dragon before her, the Jedi, as Ventus had called her, did take a moment to address the blonde that was currently standing near her. "I'm not entirely sure what's going on here, but I think I've got enough of the basic idea to understand that Lizard-Lips over there is the bad guy and you need some extra help, right Keyblade Master?"
Hearing the young Jedi speak to him was what finally got Ventus out of his stupor, and he immediately stood up to his full height again and replied, "Yeah, that's the short version of it, so would you mind lending us your saber, Master Jedi?"
"Like you even need to ask," the girl smirked in reply with a wink. "Besides, if we're lucky, after this is over, I may end up getting me a nice new pair of boots."
Ventus returned the Jedi's smirk with one of his own, and the two immediately charged forth to attack Maleficent head-on. Now, it was the massive dragon's turn to snap out of the stupor she had fallen into, because the minute she realized that Ven and the Jedi were on the attack, she let loose another blast of fire. However, she did not expect for the Jedi to suddenly stop short, just in front of Ventus, thrust her hands forward, and apparently stop the raging inferno from reaching them before spreading it out to the sides with a wave of her arms. While the Jedi was dealing with Maleficent's fire blast, Ventus took the opportunity to leap high over her head and then use a quick burst of Glide so that he could get close enough to Maleficent for another aerial strike, one which was followed up by a few more slashes from his Keyblade onto the dragon's front legs. The dragon tried to snap at Ventus once again, but her jaws ended up never reaching him. Instead, they were intercepted by the Jedi's lightsabers, and the power of said swords immediately made the dragon recoil away in pain, opening her open to the Jedi's own barrage of attacks, which proved to be twice as powerful and deadly as Ven's given the simple fact that she was fighting with two swords instead of one.
It was not long after that last counterattack on the Jedi's part that Sora found himself looking on in awe as Ventus and the Jedi began a furious dance of sword strikes and special attacks on the dragon, and from the boy's perspective, it almost looked like the two were performing a vicious, deadly dance with the way they moved. Ventus had always had power and speed to his various attacks, be it in magic or sword combat, but this Jedi had a kind of grace and elegance to her that was unlike anything that Sora had ever seen before. There were even times when she almost seemed to know where an attack was going to come from and how to best deflect or block it, and not only that, but she even showcased even more impressive talents like the one she used to disperse that fire blast from earlier when she waved her hands at the dragon, resulting in it getting pushed back a little like something had just shoved it, while at other times, she would wave her hands at some large rocks before making a throwing motion that sent said boulders flying into the dragon. The whole thing almost made Sora forget that he was still in this fight as well, until he suddenly felt the energies of a healing spell wash over him, and turned to see Donald giving him a thumbs-up as a way of saying to go get them.
Sora immediately nodded in thanks to his friend, and quickly aimed his Keyblade at the dragon, making sure to avoid targeting Ventus and the Jedi by accident as he cued up another Shotlock. Unlike his previous ones though, this one felt a little different. It was not like the feeling he got from Radiant Blade or Typhoon Barrage, but rather, it felt like he was drawing power from another source besides his own for some odd reason. Whatever the case, Sora did not have time to think about it right now, because he needed to focus on the fight. An instant later, he was leaping up into the air with a spin, while his body was coated in a rainbow aura and several star-shaped projectiles suddenly came rocketing out of his Keyblade the next time he pointed it towards Maleficent. He then waved his Keyblade at the dragon a few more times, and each time he did, a wave of star-shaped projectiles came blasting out and into the dragon, earning cries of pain from the overgrown lizard. After one last wave was unleashed, the aura around him began to glow much more brightly, while he held his Keyblade down at his side, until he finally drew it back above his head, swung it down until it was pointed at Maleficent, and unleashed a powerful beam of light directly into and through the dragon, which he could not help but notice was shaped like a five-pointed star.
Even under the assault of this incredible new Shotlock of Sora's, the dragon still somehow managed to remain standing, but just barely, as anyone could tell from how it was wobbling from side to side, and quite viciously at that. Still, the fact it survived Sora's attack mattered little, because Ventus and the Jedi were soon charging towards it once again, with the Jedi using her abilities to shove the dragon down onto her side as she went. Once they were both close enough, Keyblade master and Jedi leapt up into the air, with their respective swords drawn back, and when they landed upon the beast, they instantly stabbed the dragon right in its chest, earning a loud shriek of pain as a result. Maleficent's shriek did not end even after the two had pulled their blades out and leapt clear, and it continued on until Maleficent had faded away into nothing more than dust and her tattered cloak. As this was happening, no one could help but notice how the thorn branches in the room had spontaneously burst into green flames before vanishing as well, and they took that as a sign that Maleficent finally down for good at last.
When the realization that they had just defeated Maleficent at her most powerful finally sank in, the whole group looked like they would have shot up and started dancing if they were not so tired at the time, but their victory was quickly spoiled when Not-Riku entered the room again, looking down at Maleficent's remains with a cocky smirk that indicated he had been the one who had emerged victorious from all of this instead of them. "How ironic," the possessed boy commented. "She was just another puppet after all."
"What," Donald questioned, voicing nearly everyone's thoughts when he did, while the Jedi just looked on in confusion.
"The Heartless were using Maleficent from the beginning," Not-Riku explained, rubbing his foot into the ashes of Maleficent's remains. "She failed to notice the darkness in her heart eating away at her. A fitting end for such a fool."
Now none of them really liked Maleficent at all, but no one deserved to have their death disgraced in the way this person was doing. Sadly, before any of them could do anything in retaliation of Not-Riku's disrespect, he had already backed away into a dark portal, and vanished from the room. That did not stop Sora from attempting to charge him, only to reach him just seconds after he disappeared. The only good thing that came from that was the fact that Sora noticed another summon charm had appeared in the spot where Not-Riku had been previously standing. He was not sure if the guy had dropped it, or if it had gotten there after Maleficent was defeated, but considering what their last new summon brought to the table, Sora found he did not care too much, and pocketed the new charm all the same.
Speaking of the team's newest summon, a small cough reminded them all that she was still here, and they turned to see her giving them a look that was demanding a more in-depth explanation on what was happening at the moment. "My apologies, Master Jedi. I guess proper introductions are a bit overdue, aren't they," Ventus said with a quick bow to the woman.
The Jedi smiled in response to Ven's courtesy, and then replied, "I appreciate the compliment, Keyblade Master, but I'm actually not a Jedi yet. My name's Ahsoka Tano, Padawan Learner to Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker."
"Well, you're very talented for a Padawan," Ventus chuckled in praise, while Sora and the others just commenced with looking back and forth between the two, completely lost.
Eventually, Sora could not keep it in, and just had to ask, "Ven, what the heck is a Jedi, and how does she know about the fact you're a Keyblade master?"
"I can tell because I can sense his strength through the Force," Ahsoka replied in answer to Sora's second question. "That and the giant key-shaped sword was more than a bit of a give-away, Little Spiky."
Ventus and Donald both had to let out a small laugh at the nickname that Ahsoka had just given to Sora, while the boy in question just huffed in response, before pointing out, "That only would've told you that he has a weird sword, not that he's a Keyblade master."
"I guess you have a point there, Little Spiky," Ahsoka shrugged, clearly not dropping the nickname any time soon. "To answer your first question, the Jedi have known of the Keyblade wielders and their mission since the days of the first masters, the Foretellers, and their master. We've had a few encounters with some in the past until one day they just seemed to disappear altogether. To be honest, I had long thought you guys were just some fancy bedtime story."
"Well, the same could be said for me in regards to the Jedi, because I thought you guys were just a myth until now," Ventus informed Ahsoka. He then looked to Sora and explained, "The Jedi are peacekeepers with incredible powers, much like us Keyblade wielders, except for the fact that they're only stuck with their own world, while we've got all the worlds."
"I'd correct you and say we protect the entire galaxy, but I get the feeling that if what I read is accurate, then when you say world, it doesn't mean the same thing as what I typically think," Ahsoka snipped in good humor.
Ventus just smiled in response, while Sora took the chance to ask another question. "So if the Jedi are like Keyblade wielders, does that mean that Padawans are like what I am to Ventus? You know, an apprentice?"
"That's just about exactly right," Ahsoka confirmed with a smile. "So, as much as I enjoy coming up with nicknames for some of my friends, I do prefer to at least know their actual names."
"My name's Goofy and this is Donald. Nice to meet ya, Ahsoka," Goofy started with a friendly wave.
"And I'm Ventus, and this is my apprentice, Sora. You can just call me Ven," the blonde Keyblade master added on.
Ahsoka nodded to each one of them before turning her gaze over to Beast, who was just starting to come around, and asked, "So then who or what is that?"
"He's a friend who goes by the name Beast. You don't have to worry though, he's on our side," Sora explained. His face then fell a little when he remembered how Riku was acting earlier, and he added, "I just wish all of our friends were on our side right now."
Ahsoka would have asked what Sora meant by that, but she seemed to piece it together very quickly just based off the emotions she was sensing from him. "I'm guessing that boy with silver hair from earlier is a friend of yours that's lost his way, right?"
"How'd you…" Sora started to ask.
"Jedi can learn many things through our connection to the Force, including a person's emotions regarding a specific subject," Ahsoka explained as simply as she could. She then placed a hand on Sora's shoulder as she explained, "Don't lose faith in him. Master Skywalker and Master Yoda have always told me that there's always a chance to save those who have been taken by the Dark Side, but they're only lost forever if we give up all hope of saving them."
Sora nodded in thanks to Ahsoka for that, and the Jedi Padawan returned the smile with a bright one of her own just as she began fading away, indicating that the magic of her summon charm was wearing off. She must have realized this very quickly too, because she was shooting a questioning gaze to Ventus in hopes of getting an explanation on the phenomenon from him, which the blonde quickly answered. "I'd hate to tell you this, Ahsoka, but the spell we used to bring you here is only temporary," Ventus informed her. "When it wears off, you'll go back to whatever limbo you were in before, at least until we find a way to save your world and restore it to what it was before it fell to darkness."
"Well then, I guess I'll be counting on all of you to make that happen, and if there's anything that I can do to help, you just have to ask," Ahsoka told the team.
"Thanks. With you on our side, I think our fight is going to be a lot easier from here on out," Ventus nodded with a smile.
Ahsoka returned Ven's smile with a nod, and just before she vanished completely, she left the team with a quick bow and six final words that seemed to carry a great deal of power and weight to them. "May the Force be with you."
"I really like her," Kairi decided, not knowing that she was voicing the same opinion as everyone else in the group, aside from Sora that is. They were all definitely looking forward to another chance to work with Ahsoka in the near future, but right now, they still had some princesses to save, a Keyhole to seal, and a friend to free from the darkness. So, after making sure that Beast was all healed up, they immediately jumped back into the portal that had brought them here in the first place, and dashed through the castle chapel to the next room, certain that was where they would find the Princesses of Heart, and whatever dangers that were left for them to face. All the while, they remained unaware that one of their biggest secrets had been found out by the enemy, and that they were going to be walking into the most dangerous challenge that they were likely to face in their journey to date.
Passing through the chapel proved to be shockingly smooth, and when you take in the fact that the place that the team needed to go was just a short distance away, you would think that they would have encountered a much stronger force of resistance. That was what was the most shocking: after defeating Maleficent, they did not seem to encounter any Heartless at all. Maybe it was because most of the Heartless had been dispatched to the parts of the castle that they had already passed through, or it could be that whoever was possessing Riku was not sending the Heartless after them as a way of daring the group to chase him, or maybe there was some other, darker reason that none of them knew about. Either way, it still proved to be a respite of relief that they were able to proceed to their final destination in Hollow Bastion without anymore incidents, and after a simple push against a massive door, they found themselves right where they no doubt wanted to be: the Grand Hall.
When the doors had fully opened, Ventus was sure that they would have gotten jumped by something right away, but despite seeing nothing appear, he was not anymore reassured. Something about all of this just felt off to him. Everything from the room to the lack of enemies despite the immense amount of dark energies seemed to scream ominous danger into all of his senses, and the blonde could not help but think about the last time he felt something that made him this worried. That particular memory was not one he enjoyed thinking of considering it roused enough fear in him to make him want to distance himself from his two best friends in what he believed would be a benefit to their safety, but then again, considering that it involved him merging with someone who was literally his dark half and creating a weapon of terrible power, one could understand why he would think that at the time. Still, there was no denying that all of this felt very similar to some of his last few encounters with Vanitas and what fighting with him would have brought about, and Ven knew that nothing good was likely going to come from what was about to unfold.
Ven's ill feelings only grew when they all caught sight of what was lining the first half of the Grand Hall. Or more accurately who was lining the first half of the room. There on either side were the six captured Princesses of Heart, and Ventus did not even need extra sensory abilities to be able to realize that all six had lost their hearts. That did not prevent the others from racing up to the pods the six girls were inside of in an attempt to check on them. Beast had immediately moved over to where Belle was, hoping to pry her out of the pod, but his immense strength did not seem to even crack the glass, while Sora, Donald, and Goofy all went up to either Alice or Jasmine in the hopes of trying to rouse them from the deep slumber that they had now fallen into. The three had no more luck than Beast did with getting Belle free, but Ventus did not bother stopping them from trying, because he was right there with them in checking on some of the girls, as he had quickly caught sight of the first three Princesses of Heart that he had met on his last journey: Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora. Seeing Aurora like this quickly reminded Ventus of the first time he had gone to her world, but add in both of the other two, and Ven could not help but let a small hint of rage start to fester and grow inside of him while he silently swore to make sure that the one who did this would pay for their crime. Yes, Maleficent had played a part and was already defeated, but he knew that the person possessing Riku was the true mastermind behind all of this, and he had yet to answer for anything thus far.
Sora was starting to get the same feelings as his master when he saw that neither Jasmine or Alice were waking up, but he was immediately pulled out of those thoughts when Kairi suddenly caught his attention with a simple statement. "Sora, I can sense my body is here, somewhere further into the room! I think it's somewhere near that strange machine with the weird heart in the center."
That was all the prompting that Sora needed to leave the others with the princesses and start heading up to where Kairi had indicated, which did not go unnoticed by Ventus. The blonde tried telling Sora to wait, fearing that he could be running into a trap, but if Sora did hear him, then his warnings had all gone ignored in favor of helping Kairi, much to Ven's displeasure. Seeing that there were no other options now, Ventus immediately glanced around the room and started giving out orders on what they should do in order to deal with this. "Beast, you stay here with the princesses. Make sure nothing else happens to them if you can help it. Donald and Goofy, with me."
The other three barely had time to nod before Ventus raced after his apprentice with his two friends in tow, but thankfully, they did not have to go far in order to catch up with Sora. After all, despite the room's name, the Grand Hall was not too large in terms of length. They all quickly climbed the short flights of stairs, up to where the heart-shaped device was resting over, and they all quickly slowed to a stop upon reaching the top, except for Goofy who actually ended up running into some invisible wall and then tumbling back down the most recent flight of stairs. Donald and Ventus were the only ones to notice Goofy's inability to join them in the central control area, and when he saw Goofy make a couple more failed attempts at reaching them, Ventus immediately realized that someone had raised a battlefield barrier: a special kind of magic that some people will use to capture specific individuals in an area while preventing anyone else from coming to their aid after they were knocked outside of the field. It was the perfect spell for someone to use when they were targeting a specific individual and wanted no outside interference, and unfortunately, it looked like Ventus, Sora, and Donald had walked right into the trap without even realizing it.
Sora probably would have been just as concerned about Goofy as the others were, but at the moment, he was more focused on the friend who was lying lifeless on the floor just a few feet away from them. Sure, he knew that it was only because her heart was inside of him, but seeing Kairi's body in an apparently death-like state like that still drew a very worried reaction from him. His concerns were not eased when he finally picked her up and held Kairi's body in his arms, but he was hoping that holding her close like this would naturally allow Kairi's heart to transition from his body and back to where it belonged. It was a little silly, but considering that her body had reacted to him being close by back on Neverland, you could not blame him for thinking it might work. Sadly, that did not appear to be the case, because Kairi's body remained as it was, while her heart made no attempts at trying to leave his body.
"Kairi, what's wrong? I thought you wanted to go back into your body. You seemed like you were going to be able to back on Neverland," Sora questioned, wondering why Kairi was not trying to reach out to her body this time.
"Sora, think for a minute. If all of the other Princesses of Heart are here, and have lost their hearts, then what do you think that this machine is for," Kairi reasoned. "This has to be what Maleficent and whoever's controlling Riku are using to create that Keyhole to darkness, so what if I jump back into my body only for the Keyhole to become fully completed?"
Sora had to admit that she had a point, but they could not just leave her like this. He was about to point that out to her, when a familiar pair of voices spoke up in full sync from behind him, gaining attention from both him and his two friends who were currently standing next to him. "It's no use," Not-Riku said, his voice still a mix of both Riku's and the one possessing him while he sat up on top of the heart-shaped machine that was being used to create the Keyhole to darkness. "That girl has lost her. She cannot wake up, but then…you already knew that, didn't you?"
"…What are you implying," Ventus questioned, though his hesitance did not go unnoticed. Sure, it could be brushed off as him be cautious as he watched Sora slowly set Kairi back down, but there was no doubt that this person was too smart to believe that was the case.
"You've known all along that girl was the last Princess of Heart, and that she had lost her heart, because you all have been protecting it from harm throughout your journey," Not-Riku explained, revealing that he now knew everything. When he saw Sora looking for some way to deny that, he immediately said, "Don't bother trying to hide it. I sensed her light within one of you the moment you appeared before Maleficent that last time, and I knew that she was within one of you. Just as I know that the Keyhole will remain incomplete so long as the girl still sleeps. It is time for her to awaken and complete the Keyhole."
"Sorry, but if you think we're going to let you lay a hand on Kairi or her heart, then you're sadly mistaken," Ventus snarled, his Keyblade already summoned.
Sora was soon glaring at the person who was using his friend's body like this alongside his master, as he added, "Whoever you are, let Riku go! Give him back his heart!"
Not-Riku just smirked at the two before he declared, "You cannot stop it from happening. Too much has already been set in motion. And before this one can have any chance of being freed, if that chance even exists, you must give the princess back her heart."
The silver haired boy then aimed his dark Keyblade down at the group, and a moment later, a bright light suddenly flashed out from Sora's chest, while he grunted in pain and dropped to his knees, earning him concerned and slightly panicked looks from Donald and Ventus. The two were both quickly asking Sora what was wrong, even though they already had a strong hunch on what the cause was, but if they could hear what Sora was hearing right now, he knew they would be even more worried. Kairi was screaming in pain from inside of Sora's heart, and to say that Sora was especially worried for her now more than ever would have been a vast understatement. "Kairi…what's…" Sora tried to ask, no longer able to keep the question in his thoughts anymore, not that he really saw much reason to since Not-Riku knew the truth about where her heart was.
"Something is…trying to rip me out…It's like it's trying to force me into my body or…or worse," Kairi grunted between her cries of pain.
"So it is true. The princess's heart is inside of you, and it's now responding to her body," Not-Riku noted, almost like he was mocking them by showing off how he had learned of these facts. "I will admit, I'm surprised that she is resisting the urge to return to her rightful place, but it won't matter for too much longer."
"You sound really sure for someone who's about to be defeated," Ventus commented.
"Naturally. I know all there is to know."
"Tell us, then. Who are you," the blonde demanded.
Not-Riku only smirked for a moment and then revealed a terrible truth that rattled Donald and Sora quite a bit. "It is I, Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness, and I will not be denied my prize any longer."
Donald and Sora could hardly believe their ears, and neither could Goofy, since he had heard what had been said too from outside the barrier. Ansem, the same one who had studied the Heartless, and whose report they had been trying to find, was the bad guy that they had been fighting all this time? How was anyone supposed to take that? The only thing more shocking than that revelation was how Ventus was not the least bit shocked, but instead, just smirked at the possessed boy like he had heard some kind of joke. "Do you seriously expect me to believe that," the blonde asked.
"What," Ansem questioned, caught off guard by the blonde's inquiry.
"I know the real Ansem, and I realized long ago that while the pages from the report we've been looking for were written by you, you're not Ansem. Not the real one, at least," Ventus informed him. He then placed a hand to his nose as he added, "Besides, I'd know the stench of your vast darkness anywhere, so you couldn't fool me with that lie even if you wanted to actually try."
Ansem just scowled at Ventus through Riku's eyes, having been able to quickly realize that the blonde was not bluffing, until he finally scoffed and remarked, "So, you think you've become so much smarter, do you, you feckless neophyte? Shame it won't stop me from achieving my goal."
The villain then began to approach the trio, and Donald had instantly charged him with a battle cry and his staff raised, despite Ven's warnings to wait. Donald's charge ended in failure, as Ansem just batted the magician aside with his free hand, and sent Donald tumbling out the other side of the battlefield barrier, letting Ventus know that he was not going to be getting back in anytime sooner than Goofy was going to get in at all. So, it was clearly going to be up to him and Sora to stop this imposter, but before he could move to make a defensive stand in front of Sora, his body suddenly went stiff, like someone had suddenly grabbed and restrained his entire being, proving that he had been caught by a powerful time spell at the very least. Ventus could now do nothing more than glare hatefully at Ansem while his eyes shone with concern for Sora, who was still down on the ground and trying to help Kairi keep her heart from leaving his body, but the closer Ansem got to him, the harder it seemed to become, and it had quickly reached unbearable levels when Ansem finally stood directly in front of him.
"Now, I shall release you, Princess," Ansem decreed, his Keyblade fully prepared to strike Sora in order to carry out his plan. "Complete the Keyhole with your power, open the door, and lead me into everlasting darkness!"
Time seemed to slow down as Ansem drew back the Keyblade of Heart, while Ven's eyes widened in the only small fraction that they could as the weapon drew closer and closer to his apprentice, but just when it looked like it would hit Sora, Kairi managed to finally beat the force that was trying to pull her out of Sora and just in time to warn him of the incoming attack. Sora immediately reacted on instinct, and summoned Kingdom Key to block the dark Keyblade just at the last second, and clash of the two weapons seemed to resonate powerfully enough for the spell that had trapped Ven to be broken, as the blonde suddenly felt all stiffness in his body get blasted out to the point that he almost fell to floor like a lifeless rag doll. When he turned back to the two, he saw Sora holding back the dark Keyblade as he and Ansem exchanged vicious glares with one another, while the boy slowly rose to his feet.
"Forget it! There's no way I'm ever letting you take Kairi's heart," Sora snarled as he finally managed to push Ansem back. "You'll have to destroy me before that can happen."
"And to get him, you'll have to go through me," Ventus promised as he ran over to Sora's side, Guardian Wind in hand and a glare firmly fixed on Ansem.
"Both of those things can easily be arranged," Ansem promised, and he immediately assumed Riku's usual battle stance, showing his readiness for battle, and with that, the duel between the two Keybearers and the Seeker of Darkness began.
Ventus wanted to hold their ground and take Ansem together, but Sora opted to try and take their enemy as fast as possible and immediately charged in. Ven's protests against this action were quickly drowned out by the sounds of clashing blades, and dark powers being thrown out into Sora much faster and more powerfully than ever before. Luckily, Ventus was able to cast an Aero Shield that saved his apprentice from too much damage, but it could only do so much to protect the boy, so Sora ended up getting knocked back by what damage Ansem did get through the defensive magic. When Sora found himself backed into a control console, Ansem quickly moved to run his Keyblade through Sora, knowing that it would free Kairi's heart the moment he did, but Ventus was quick to intervene and push the dark Keyblade back before he started his barrage of sword strikes. Ventus made sure to keep moving as fast as possible in his attacks, never giving Ansem a chance to do anything other than block, but he could not keep it up forever, and as a result, he found one of his strikes finally getting parried when Ansem managed to find a small opening in his assault.
Ventus stumbled a little under the sudden retaliation, but he managed to recover rather quickly and attempt another strike, only to find his swing meeting empty air as Ansem dashed away before his hit could land. The next thing the blonde knew, he was struck in the back by a powerful energy blast, but it turned out that Ansem had actually thrown his Keyblade at the blonde, using a maneuver that was very similar to the Strike Raid ability, and it did not stop at just the one either, because Ansem was soon dashing around the area and slinging out more Dark Raids at the blonde before he finally leapt up into the air and stabbed his Keyblade into the ground, creating a shockwave that was followed by several eruptions of dark energy from the floor. Ventus just barely avoided the attack by somersaulting away, but he was quickly put on the defensive again when Ansem made another leaping strike towards him. This time it was Sora who came to the rescue, as he managed to land a quick sneak attack on Ansem from behind, knocking the villain away from his master and freeing Ventus up for a chance to unleash Freeze Raid on the possessed boy. Ansem easily dodged Ven's attack, but was unprepared for the sudden blast of Blizzara that Sora had suddenly hit him with, and as such, was frozen just long enough for Sora to rain down a storm of lightning bolts with Thundara.
Ansem was not about to let this assaults stand for long, and he proved it by leaping into the air once again and striking the ground, creating a shockwave that was punctuated by more eruptions of dark magic from the floor, this time covering a larger radius, and the two Keybearers were unable to do much to prevent themselves from getting hit by at least one or two of these blasts. That did not stop them though, as Ventus proved by activating his Fever Pitch Command Style, followed immediately by Wingblade. Sora hoped to give his master some cover for what he was clearly planning by firing off a round of Typhoon Barrage, and while Ansem was able to avoid most of his projectiles, the Seeker of Darkness was not so lucky in dodging the mini-whirlwinds that they released afterwards, nor could he avoid the finishing move to Sora's Shotlock completely, as its powerful winds managed to push him a fair distance away from Sora. Ansem would have used his incredible speed to close the gap and unleash another round of his Helm Split attack, but Ventus had already beaten him to the punch and leapt into the air with his own finishing attack.
"Command Style: Wingblade finisher," Ventus shouted as he threw down the energy swords surrounding him so that they would impale the ground around Ansem. When the swords were all in position, Ventus immediately dropped down to the ground, right in the center of the formation, and released an explosion of light that not only seriously harmed Ansem, but left him blinded for a moment as well. This gave Sora a chance to deal out a few more spells while adding in a Strike Raid or two, letting him build up the energy he needed for his own Command Style.
Soon after, Sora was coated in the energy of Destiny Blaze, and he immediately charged in to land as many strikes as he could against Ansem, but he barely got too many good hits in before Ansem managed to cue up a burst of Dark Firaga and blast him back. Sora had to admit, he was surprised by how quickly the Seeker of Darkness had managed to unleash that power, given how it normally took Riku a little bit of time to power it up for even a basic level blast, but considering that this guy was just oozing darkness from his very being, he would admit that he probably should have expected something like that to be little trouble for Ansem. The villain quickly proved how easily he could call upon dark powers when his body suddenly glowed with a faint aura of darkness while he was lifted a few inches up off the ground. The two Keybearers had immediately braced themselves for whatever would follow next, but they had not expected Ansem to suddenly dash forward at an incredible speed, and then vanish after he passed him. They were also unprepared when he reappeared again, still moving just as fast, and slashing at the two as he passed, and he continued this repeated barrage of high speed, dashing strikes, until he finally reappeared above them, and dove straight down so that his Keyblade would impale the ground, unleashing a number of dark flames that erupted over nearly the entire area. The explosions would have no doubt finished the two Keybearers had Ventus and Sora not jumped into the air and used Glide to avoid it at the last second, but they only remained airborne for a few seconds, because Ansem immediately blasted them out of the air once again with a quick barrage of Dark Firaga.
"What's the matter, Keybearers? Was my Dark Aura too much for you," Ansem mocked as he waved his Keyblade down as if he had already finished the fight in his favor and was now about to claim his prize.
"Hardly," Ventus groaned, but if he were being honest, it was more of a show on his part than anything else. That last attack did in fact deal him quite the significant amount of injury, and he was certain that Sora was much worse off than he was.
The blonde was right to suspect that, because Sora was finding it difficult to just keep himself up on one knee, let alone standing up to fight again, and he could not help but think that they were not going to survive this one. At least, until Kairi made him crash that train of thought right off the rails. "Don't you dare give up now, Sora," Kairi shouted. "Did you forget what will happen if this guy wins? Not only will he get my heart from your body, but everyone will be lost to darkness forever!"
"Well I'm open to suggestions on how to beat him, because if another attack like that hits me, I'll be lucky to still be alive," Sora informed her, and since he was grunting and groaning even in through his mental voice, Kairi could tell that he was not kidding.
"Then let me help you like I did before," the redhead offered, surprising Sora a little. "Don't you remember when you were fighting Maleficent? How you used that one Shotlock that seemed unfamiliar and strange to you? I don't know how, but I get the feeling that I somehow gave you the ability to use what's actually going to be one of my Shotlocks. If that is the case, then maybe if I concentrate hard enough, you can use some of the other abilities I'll have when I get my own Keyblade."
Sora could see quite a few holes in that theory, but he had to admit that Kairi might have been on to something when she mentioned her idea on what that last Shotlock he used on the dragon form of Maleficent could have been. He remembered feeling like he was drawing power from another source when he called upon it, so if Kairi was right in saying that it had been one of the Shotlocks she would have when she got a Keyblade, then it made sense that he would have been drawing that power from her heart. Besides, they really had nothing to lose at this point, so Sora could only think of one response. "Do it."
"Are you sure? We don't really know what might happen if we try this," Kairi asked, showing she was actually nervous about this strategy.
"Hey! Remember what Ventus said before? Do or do not. There is no try," Sora reminded her. "We either do this and win, or we don't do it and end up toast. Sure, we could just as easily be toast if we do it anyway, but it might be better to take that risk than to not take it and fail."
He could feel Kairi nod inside of his heart, and a moment later, he closed his eyes as the power of her pure light washed over him, quickly healing his injuries in mere moments. When he finally felt he was ready to stand again, Sora immediately moved onto his feet and cast a quick Cura for Ventus, getting the blonde master on his feet as well, while leaving Ansem surprised that they were actually still able to rise up. The dark villain did not let this disturb him for long, and he was soon back on the attack. This time though, Sora was a bit more defensive in his fighting style, only dodging, blocking, or parrying the blows that Ansem tried against him when he saw the best opportunities to do so, while Ventus went on the offensive in attempting to blast the fight out of him. It was odd for Ansem to see such a headstrong boy like Sora suddenly fight so defensively, but he cast it aside as the boy getting desperate and pressed his attack even harder than before. Sora's defense did not waver though, and thanks to Ven's offensive stance, he was able to hold out for quite a bit, until he suddenly felt a surge of energy that felt similar to his Destiny Blaze Command Style building up inside of him.
Knowing what this sudden build up of energy likely meant, Sora immediately directed the power through his Keyblade, and activated a whole new Command Style, while shouting out the name of said ability as he did while the aura around him settled into a bright, white and red glow. "Command Style: Shooting Star!"
"Did he say Shooting Star? But that's impossible," Ventus protested in his head as he paused in his attack to watch his apprentice for a moment, using a quick burst of Stopza to hold Ansem in place, for as long as he could any way. Ventus knew full well that particular Command Style should not be one of Sora's due to what he had been through on his first journey through the worlds, even without the fact that Sora had already awakened his Unique Tier One, but then, his senses picked up on something he had been too busy to notice before, and the blonde had to smirk a little at this realization. "Now I get it. Kairi's lending Sora her own power, so it only makes sense that he would be able to call on her Command Style like it was one of his own. Risky, but it will definitely give us the advantage here."
Sora then blasted off like a rocket, slashing at Ansem several times over as he passed the villain, much like Ansem had just done to him and his master, until he paused in his slashing for a minute to fire off several rounds of magic homing darts from the tip of his Keyblade. Some of the darts missed their target, since Ansem used the pause to try and charge at Sora, and thus had a bit of an opportunity to dodge, but the ones that did hit him allowed Sora to have time to start racing around the small, enclosed battlefield while casting a series of different spells in quick succession. When Sora next skidded to a halt, he was prepared to fire off the Command Style's finisher, but found himself freezing a little when he saw Ansem was preparing to use Dark Aura again. Sora knew that there was little chance that Aero Shield could effectively block that attack, but he was not sure he could dodge it either, so it was no surprise he was beginning to panic a little. At least he was until he suddenly felt Ventus place a hand on his shoulder, and turned to see his master was pulling him as close as he could before turning so that they stood back to back with one another.
"Stay close until I tell you to move," Ventus ordered, and Sora could only nod in reply, showing that he trusted whatever the blonde was planning. Not a second later, Ansem began his assault with Dark Aura, while at the same time, Ventus raised a hand up and shouted, "Reflega!"
Ansem was not entirely sure what Ventus could have been planning, but it was too late to stop his attack now, and he doubted that the blonde could actually conjuring any kind of spell that would protect them from his wrath, so he pressed his attack, and unleashed the same number of dash attacks as he did last time before going an extra mile and throwing in a few more for good measure. When he came out of the last dash, he stabbed the ground again and unleashed several explosions of dark fire from the ground, which easily covered the entire floor that they were standing on, earning horrified looks from Donald and Goofy, who had been watching from outside the barrier as all of this happened. When the attack ceased, they quickly saw that Kairi's body had remained unscathed, no doubt protected from the dark attack thanks to the light magic it normally contained, but they could see nothing else beyond that due to the smoke. When it finally began to clear, the two grew more and more worried by the second when they saw Ansem standing tall and proud, smirking victoriously the entire time.
That smirk quickly vanished though once the smoke from his attack had completely vanished and allowed him to see his foes in their entirety, because it had quickly turned to disbelief by what he saw. Instead of seeing the Keybearers lying on the ground in defeat, Ansem was greeted by the sight of a large, reflective sphere made up of hexagonal shapes, and before he could move to get a better look at the sphere, it instantly exploded outwards, blasting him away while releasing the two Keybearers that it had previously sheltered from harm. Once the sphere had completely vanished, Ventus dropped to one knee, panting in exhaustion before glancing over his shoulder and shouting, "Now Sora! Hit him with everything you and Kairi have got!"
"Command Style: Shooting Star Finisher," Sora and Kairi both shouted together, the latter doing so from inside of the former's heart. The spiky brunette then spun around on his foot a couple of times, spinning his Keyblade in his hand as he did, while a series of five pointed stars formed around him. Upon coming out of the final spin, Sora swung his Keyblade in front of him, and the stars immediately raced off to fly into and through Ansem, drawing a cry of anguish from him when they all hit.
When the dust settled from Sora's last attack and the glow of his Command Style had faded, Ansem stumbled on his feet for a few seconds, but did not show any signs of falling until finally, the Keyblade of Heart fell from his hand with a clatter, and Riku's body vanished into a faint shadow of darkness. When he saw his friend starting to vanish, Sora immediately tried to go to him, but the adrenaline from the fight ended up choosing that time to leave him, and he dropped to one knee in exhaustion as a result. Luckily, Kairi was still giving him some of her power, so her light had managed to help him heal a little more quickly than normal, for which he made sure she knew he was thankful by giving her a smile along with some well-deserved praise for her quick thinking. After listening to Kairi accept his thanks and seeing her smile in his mind, Sora turned to Ventus to thank the master for his help, only to become worried when he saw that Ventus was not recovering as quickly as he had.
"Ven! Are you okay," Sora asked as he rushed over to the blonde's side as fast as he could, helping his master to stand once he was next to him.
Ventus only panted for a few seconds before he gave his apprentice a small grin and said, "I'll live. Just…Really wondering how Aqua made casting that spell naturally look so easy."
The two Keyblade wielders were soon sharing a laugh at that remark, while the older one of the two made a mental note to practice using his magic like that a little more when he got the chance, but their good moods were soon interrupted when Donald suddenly called out to them. Turning to the duck, they immediately realized that the battlefield barrier must have dropped, because both Donald and Goofy were standing by the heart-shaped machine that Ansem was using to create the Keyhole to darkness, waving them over in a near panic. "Sora, Ven, look," Donald cried out.
"The…The Keyhole," Goofy added as best as he could, looking from his two friends to the Keyhole as he did.
The two immediately nodded in response, and after Ventus quickly drowned an Elixir to regain his strength, they immediately raced over to stand between their two friends, and pointed their Keyblades into the Keyhole. They all stood and waited for a few moments, expecting the usual beam of light to come from the two Keyblades and seal the Keyhole, but the only thing that ended up happening was the Keyhole displaying a mirage of colors inside of it with a few sparks of lightning flickering in the center, while the Keyblades remained completely unresponsive. Ventus insisted that they wait for a few more seconds or so, but when nothing changed, they all found that they had to acknowledge the facts.
"It won't work! The Keyhole's not finished yet," Goofy gasped.
"And despite that, it's still releasing an impressive amount of darkness out into this world alone," Ventus observed as he and Sora dismissed their Keyblades.
"So what can we do? We can't leave it like this," Sora pointed out, but it did not seem like any of them really had any ideas.
Well, Goofy did have one idea, but it was still a very risky one. "Maybe, we gotta go put Kairi's heart back in her body, and wake her up."
"But if we do that, won't that just unleash the everlasting darkness that Ansem was trying to get," Donald asked.
"Most likely. Waking Kairi up now is far too risky, especially so close to that Keyhole," Ventus hesitantly admitted. He knew that they were stuck between a rock and a hard place at this point, and he absolutely hated it. Still, he knew that if they were to stop Ansem's plans, they had to take some risks. "If we can free Kairi's heart and return it to her body, that will complete the Keyhole, but the only way we'll be able to stop the darkness inside the Keyhole from spilling out is by moving fast and sealing the Keyhole the second it's finished."
"Would that work," Donald asked, sounding worried.
"Well it is risky, and the window in which we'll have to seal the Keyhole is rather small, but it's not impossible. More importantly, it's the only option we have now," Ventus revealed with a sigh.
At that point, they all started trying to think of a way to free Kairi's heart from Sora's body without losing Sora in the process, but the boy in question had already started tuning them out. Instead, he just looked down at Kairi's body, wondering just what they could really do to free her heart. Even Ventus had admitted to not having a clue on how to do that, and they did not have a lot of time to try and come up with a safe way for it to be extracted from him safely. Realizing this, Sora's eyes soon fell onto the Keyblade of Heart, and he immediately knew what he had to do.
The others did not seem to realize what Sora was thinking, being too deeply engrossed in their ideas on how to get Kairi's heart out of him, right up to the point when Donald suggested, "Hey, why don't we summon Genie and wish for him to get Kairi's heart back into her body?"
"Yeah! I mean, it should be okay to summon him now, right," Goofy asked.
"Yep. We've definitely reached a point when we can summon him again, and I'm sure that Genie should be able to return Kairi's heart to her body without any risk to Sora. So, mind calling the big guy up, Sora," Ventus asked, only to receive silence in reply. At that point, they all finally realized that the kid was no longer standing next to them, and they all immediately turned to see that the kid had descended back down to where Kairi's body was lying, along with something else. "Sora, what are you doing," Ventus asked in a slight panic, already suspecting what his apprentice was doing down there.
Sora did not answer his master, but instead, knelt down and picked up the Keyblade of Heart, holding it up as he looked it over for a few seconds, and immediately proving he was indeed thinking what the others all feared. "Sora, hold on," Goofy begged.
"No, wait," Donald cried.
"You don't have to do that, Sora! There's another way, I'm sure of it," Ventus protested, now truly afraid for the kid's sake.
Those three were not the only ones who were pleading for Sora to not go through with what he was about to, but Kairi was begging far more passionately than any of them, and Sora could tell that if she could, she would be starting to cry a little as she spoke. "Sora, please! Don't do this! I refuse to let you sacrifice yourself for me! Please, try anything but this," Kairi desperately cried in misery, hoping that her sorrow would reach Sora somehow and get him to see reason. "Please! We've already lost Riku! I don't want to lose you too!"
Sora ignored all of their pleas to stop, and instead turned to his three newest best friends and gave them a smile before raising the dark Keyblade up so that the tip would be pointed at his chest. He then took a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was about to do, and then sent one last thought to Kairi before acting that made Kairi's cries come to a complete standstill while her heart seemed to stop within him. "I love you, Kairi."
Kairi barely even had time to process or ask if she had heard him right, because a second later, she was right there with the others in watching as Sora stabbed himself with the Keyblade of Heart! When the blade went through him, Sora's arms fell limply to his side, and he barely even registered how it extracted itself from him, or how all of his friends had let out various different gasps or exclamations of dismay and horror, as he suddenly felt like everything inside of him had begun to fall out. After the blade had come out of Sora, it completely dissolved into six spheres of light that immediately flew over to the six Princesses of Heart, showing that it was made up of their hearts. A second later, another orb of light floated up out of Sora and faded into Kairi's chest, and when the Keyhole suddenly flashed brightly, Sora knew that meant it was finally completed, but he took comfort in seeing Kairi's eyes open from the corner of his eyes, because that was the last thing he did see before his eyes fell closed while his body began to fade into several sparkles of light.
"Sora…SORA," Donald cried out, leading the charge over to Sora from the Keyhole, with Ventus right next to him.
"SORA! NO," Ventus shouted as he reached out to the boy with one hand, almost as though he believed he could grab him before he disappeared completely, despite how the kid was fading more and more with every second.
Meanwhile on the other side of the brave young boy, Kairi was slowly starting to sit up, feeling a little groggy after just getting back into her body after so long, but when the last words she heard from Sora suddenly echoed in her mind and her eyes landed on his fading form, her rise became much more hasty until she was finally on her feet again. "Sora," Kairi called out as she ran over, hoping to catch him before he fell, but when she reached him, she was horrified to see that the only thing that landed in her arms was a bright light that quickly broke down into small, fading glimmers of sparks that floated up and twinkled out like stars. "N-no."
"Sora," Donald shouted in dismay. "Come back, Sora!"
Goofy could not do anything at all but sniffle sadly, proving he was about to cry after seeing his friend disappear like that, and Kairi looked like she was not too far behind him. The same could easily be said for Donald, but out of all of them, Ventus was the only one who fell to his knees in his dismay, watching the faint lights that were once his apprentice and friend disappear one by one. When the last flicker of light had finally gone out, Ventus dropped his head in sadness and allowed the slowly forming tears to start falling, while his fists hit the floor a couple of times as he thought, "Damn it….Damn it all! I'm sorry, Sora. I'm so sorry, Mickey…Aqua…I failed. I failed you all."
Somewhere deep within the Realm of Darkness, was a place that many would refer to by the name of Dark World. It was a place where pieces of worlds that had fallen into darkness were gathered together as a testament to that world's falling, and to also serve as a way to possibly break down the resolve any poor soul unfortunate enough to wander in this world of endless shadows until they too became one with darkness. It was in one corner of this world where a small village with what was once a shinning palace currently resided, and through which a young woman with blue hair and bright blue eyes had been previously walking. The woman in question wore a black and navy blue, high-collared halter top, a black corset with two pairs of white laces, black shorts, and a pair of intersecting pink straps over her chest, held together by a strangely shaped silver badge, while her arms were covered by white bell-sleeves, with a small segmented piece of armor being worn over the sleeves on each of her upper arms, and her hands were covered by tan fingerless gloves. The other half of her outfit consisted of a pair of black stockings that reached halfway up to her thighs, leaving a small area of skin on her legs bare, while two strips of blue cloth were draped over each of her hips, along with a smaller white strip that was tied around her waist and draped in the same manner. Her outfit was completed by a pair of silver, pointed boots with a sharp hook on the outer side of each. In her hand, she carried a Keyblade that had a smooth, cylindrical shaft that tapered outward at both ends, with a boxy guard made up of two small, light grey boxes and copper rod. The base of the guard connected to the grip, and both sported several small indentations lining them up, while the teeth of the blade formed and "E"-shape and the grip turned out to be squared as opposed to the usual cylindrical shape that most other Keyblades had.
This was none other than Master Aqua, now wielding her late master's Keyblade, and she had long since wandered into an area of Dark World that was made up of the remains of the Palace of Dreams, a world she had visited so long ago, but for her, it was really hard to know for certain how long it had been since she had visited this world. Time did not exist in the Realm of Darkness, which was a huge reason as to why Aqua had not aged a day since she entered this place, so as she continued her endless trek through the realm, Aqua had to wonder if days or months had passed with every step she had taken, but after seeing the home of her friend Cinderella was now here, she knew that something had gone wrong. A quick investigation of this place had dredged up old memories of days that Aqua wished she could return to, but she knew that wishing for the past would not help her find an escape, and she hoped that maybe she was close to finding one here.
Sadly, all she ended up finding here were reminders of the past, how she would give anything to turn back time so she could spend one more night beneath the stars with her best friends, and an illusion of one of those friends appearing before her for reasons she could not quite figure out. She had to figure that this mirage of Terra was somehow telling her not to lose heart, but she could feel cracks starting to form in her resolve. Still, as she looked out over the ruined town, she had to smile knowing that the lack of people likely meant no one had fallen into darkness, and Aqua could definitely take a bit of solace from that. There may not have been a way to escape this endless prison here, but Aqua was not going to give up yet. She still had to get back and wake up her other best friend, who also happened to be the one who won her heart in the sense of being who she loved the most.
Thinking of that mission reminded Aqua of a moment earlier when she had somehow managed to reach out and contact the young girl she had met that time in Radiant Garden, and her future self that came back to help change things for a better future, and Aqua's resolve suddenly became stronger than ever. If Kairi could reach her in this place from the Realm of Light, be unintentionally during a Dive to the Heart or otherwise, then that had to mean she was close to a point where she could get out at last. That girl's light was definitely a beacon in the darkness for her at that moment, more so when she learned from the redhead how Ventus was awake and helping to train a new Keyblade wielder at this very moment, and at that point, the slowly forming cracks began to repair themselves just as quickly as they had formed. If Ventus could find his way back then so could she, and there was no way Aqua was going to let another day go by without being in his presence.
Right at that moment, a small flash of light suddenly peaked at the edges of Aqua's senses, and after closer study, she realized with a gasp that she recognized the person it belonged to, and she knew that he definitely should not be here. With barely any time to think, Aqua immediately turned on her heel and sprinted in the direction she had sensed his light from, hoping to reach where it was beginning to take form before it was too late. "I won't allow you to fall into the same fate as I have. Not while you still have so much to do. No matter what happens, you can't fall into darkness…Sora!"
Ventus's Journal Entry 7
Out of everything involved in training to become a master, there's only one thing that I've always hated almost as meditating: reading. I get that studying up on the information regarding all the different spells is important, and I'm willing to do it too, as Aqua and Master Eraqus would tell you if they were here right now, but what I don't get is why it is necessary to study up on information regarding all of the known worlds. I mean, yeah, it's great to know things about all the places we can go to as Keyblade wielders, and it would be a big help to know whatever you can about each world's different customs and how we should act in order to avoid offending anyone, or letting others realize we're not from their world if we can help it, but there are so many worlds out there its freaking impossible to be able to remember all of this! I mean, do we really need to know everything about every world that we know of? It's not like we're going to visit all of them at some point in our lives, especially when you consider that there's always a new world out there that has yet to be discovered. Okay, maybe we only need to know the basics about other worlds, namely whether or not we would need to alter our appearances so that we don't upset the world order by too much, but how could anyone really remember every basic detail about all of these different worlds? Maybe this is why Master Xehanort went insane: because he got a bad case of information overload that only heightened his curiosity about the Keyblade War to an unhealthy level.
Then again, learning all of this stuff isn't all bad, because sometimes, it does lead to me learning about some pretty cool stuff. Take today for example. I was just browsing through some information, thinking it couldn't hurt to study up on some of these things since Mickey would have Daisy quiz me on my knowledge regarding other worlds every so often, when I came across a few books regarding a group of warriors that protected the balance between light and darkness in their world: the Jedi Order. Apparently, these guys were incredible warriors with unique weapons known as lightsabers, and they could do all kinds of things by using the natural energies of what they call the Living Force like levitating objects of any size, sometimes several at a time, connecting with various lifeforms, including animals, and even manipulating the weak minded to do what they wanted them to do. More importantly, they were dedicated protectors of the peace for their world (which in this case actually refers to a galaxy as opposed to just a single planet like most other worlds), so they will sometimes act as diplomats and overseers for peace negotiations. The more I read about them, the more I felt like they were very similar to Keyblade wielders, and I was especially excited to read that they even trained alongside some of us before the Keyblade War. After reading all of this, I really wish I could actually meet a Jedi myself. But somehow, I kinda doubt that will ever happen.
AN: Okay, before anybody freaks out too badly...I'm going to go over here. Pay no attention to the fact that my position is behind a massive, flame-proof, weapon-repelling, destruction-preventing barrier that is reinforced with all forms of protective magic that have ever existed in all forms of fiction, non-fiction, and beyond.
Sora: YOU MADE ME FALL INTO DARKNESS!
AN: Well how else is Roxas supposed to be created, fool?! A Nobody is created at the same time as a Heartless. Roxas is your Nobody, ergo, he can't be created without you turning into a Heartless. And the same can easily be said about Xion, since she needs to be created after Roxas is born, and by using your memories.
Xion: Technically, only the latter of those things is really needed for me to be born, so...
Roxas: Oh, thanks for making me that much more important.
Xion: Sorry, Roxas.
AN: Anyways! Moving on, let's give it up for our girl Ahsoka, shall we?
[audience roaring, deafening applause]
Ahsoka: Awwwww. You guys are so sweet.
AN: Hey, if the lightsaber works...I really hope I did the actions scenes including Ahsoka worked out okay. Watching a Jedi battle, be it a lightsaber duel or otherwise, are all incredible to watch, beautiful at times even, but putting into words...I just really feel like I could never really do it the same kind of justice that the movies, television, and many video games do, but I did my best, so that's all that matters, right?
Ven: Considering how often your best has turned out rather well, I'd say we're probably good.
Sora: Can we please go back to the part where he MADE ME FALL INTO DARKNESS?!
AN: We're getting to that. Just give us a minute. But, back to our original topic, how many of you expected Ahsoka and Ventus to know about their respective orders, or for the Jedi to have met with and even worked/trained alongside Keyblade wielders before? It honestly makes a lot of sense if you ask me. I mean, for the most part, Keyblade wielders are often a lot like the Jedi in the sense that they fight to keep the peace and protect the worlds from darkness. I figured it would be pretty neat to have it so that they would have worked together and known about each other quite well long ago, plus it also gave me a chance to put in a little cameo mention of the Foretellers for the story.
Ahsoka: And I'm guessing that's also part of the reason why Ven's Journal Entry for this chapter is detailing how he learned about the Jedi?
AN: Well, yeah, pretty much. I wanted to make it clear that Ven had learned about the Jedi, and go into a little detail regarding what his thoughts about it were when he first found out, while explaining how he knew that Ahsoka was a Jedi to begin with. Speaking of which, for those of you having trouble picturing Ahsoka's appearance, it's her second attire in The Clone Wars, with the second lightsaber and everything. So when we see her again in the next story, you can take that to mean that we're very likely to see her at some point in that part of her life.
Ven: Wait, does that mean there's also a chance we could end up seeing her at some point during Rebels as well?
AN: I'll admit, I did think about that, but I feel like it would be better to go with the Clone Wars era, partly due to the fact that Rebels has just recently come to its close. Speaking of which [Spoiler warning for those of you who have not seen the finale of Star Wars Rebels yet] I really hope we get some kind of story or something that tells us about whether or not Sabine and Ahsoka were able to find Ezra, and what happened afterwards, and while I do enjoy all the ideas we've seen so far in fanfictions, I'm actually referring to the official variety. There's no way they can just leave us hanging on that matter, so...
Ahsoka: We get it. And I'm glad that you managed to find a way for me to mention Master Yoda and Anakin while I was summoned.
AN: Not to mention the always-most iconic line from Star Wars as well, right?
Ahsoka: That too.
AN: Well, I think we've discussed our Star Wars end of this note well enough by now. Let's get into some of the other things that happened here today. I think the most notable of those would be how Sora seemed to use some of the Keyblade abilities that Kairi has, or will have if you want to get technical. For those of you who are wondering, yes that Shotlock Sora used on Dragon-Maleficent was indeed one of Kairi's personal ones, which will be making another appearance later on, and will be getting named as well. Also, I'm sure if any of you have read Keyblades of Future Past, you remember Kairi's Unique Tier One Command Style Shooting Star as well. Someone had mentioned having Sora being able to use some of Kairi's abilities with a Keyblade in this battle a while back, and I thought that it definitely made sense for that happen here. After all, when else would things be so serious that Sora would have to go and do that, unintentionally and/or otherwise.
Ven: What about how I got tired after casting that Reflect spell?
AN: Well, to be honest, it was more of the fact that you did not use the Keyblade to cast it that tired you out. You see, when Ven cast that spell, he was basically using the version that Aqua uses in BBS, aka the ability known as Barrier. As has been mentioned, Aqua could use that magic any time at will, without expending any additional magic. It made sense that on his road to becoming a master, Ven would try to learn how to do the same with some of his own spells, but it's not as easy for him here, and when you add in the little bit of magic he did to animate Metal Chocobo last chapter, it would only stand to reason that he would be a little tired afterwards.
Sora: Okay, we've gone over all of that, from the details of Star Wars and the Jedi as they are done in this story, to my using some of Kairi's Keyblade abilities, and Ven using a defensive spell like Aqua did, now can we finally talk about how you MADE ME FALL INTO DARKNESS?!
AN: Geez, get off of that already, will you? Like I said before, Roxas can't be born without Sora falling into darkness, so that was going to happen regardless of what had changed from the canon plot, but as you can clearly see, it still happened differently in comparison. At least Sora finally found the courage to confess his feelings for Kairi before he did it.
Kairi: Can I just say that it feels really lousy that it took Sora practically dying for him to tell me that he loved me here?
AN: You can, but it's not like you don't enjoy the fact that he admitted that.
Kairi: [remains silent and looks away with a blush]
AN: Thought so. Don't worry, Sora will be back in the next chapter, and as we all saw at the end there, he's going to have a little extra help besides just Kairi this time around. Yeah, you're not dreaming. Aqua is back once again, and she's ready to do her part to help change things for the better, while tackling this story's version of the events in Birth By Sleep 0.2. Originally, I was not going to showcase this adventure playing out until after the team got back to Traverse Town in the aftermath of the first trip to Hollow Bastion, at which point we would also see a few other changes as well, regarding another character in this story. I'm sure you can all figure out who that would be, but I got to thinking that maybe it would've been a little too much to have him helping Aqua out during the entire time she was traveling through that part of Dark World. This way, you don't have to read about something you already have full knowledge of with some small changes here and there. The next time we return to Dark World after Aqua helps save Sora, we'll be going into much greater detail, because her journey will have a much more significant change, one that could most certainly change things for the better.
Sora: Okay, now I'm really curious about that.
AN: Too bad. You're going to have to wait a while. After all, that little moment is still a couple chapters away, and before we get there, we need to run through the conclusion of Hollow Bastion First Trip and the adventures of the next original world. Now here's a little something more to tease your excitement. It starts with me saying Onto the Preview!...
Sora seems to have fallen into darkness, but despite this, Kairi refuses to let him go so easily. She may not have a choice in the matter, because with the final Keyhole's completion, the Heartless are even more powerful and relentless than ever, and Ansem has now nearly achieved his full power, having now reappeared before the group in his true form for a moment until Riku manages to break through long enough to hold the darkness obsessed man back. Knowing that they have no chance of sealing the Keyhole in this state, Ventus leads the team in a full scale retreat from Hollow Bastion, granting Kairi with a precious gift that will make her more than just a civilian watching from the sidelines as he and the others fight, but do they truly stand a chance of escaping unscathed? And what about Sora? Is he really gone for good? Or can Aqua keep her promise to somehow help keep him from falling into darkness, or at the very least, keep him from going too far before the others can pull him back? The dramatic conclusion of the first trip to Hollow Bastion is coming, next time.
So, like I said, I'll be hiding over here just in case anyone's upset with the little cliffhanger I left you all on. But don't worry, Part 3 will be here soon enough. Until then...
Please read and review, and see ya real soon!