Knight Form
Sora's world stopped. Riku was laying on the ground, probably dying, and Sora couldn't help him. At all. And then Joker's Heartless started shifting into a second form and hit Kairi and everything was going wrong all at once. He cried out in anguish, but that quickly turned into a cry of vengeance. That thing would regret hurting his friends.
He didn't notice Dick and Jason vanishing. He did, however, notice the rush of power hitting him like a brick to the face. It felt similar to his Drives – the sudden burst of strength, the feeling of invincibility, the boost to his magic – but different enough that he knew he'd never been in this Form before. It felt similar to Final Form – he even had two Keyblades – but darker, like it had been meshed with Anti-Form. The Keyblades were very similar to each other, with pure black shafts and handles, and a gold guard. The difference came in the blades. One was blue and similar in shape to the blue bird on Nightwing's chest. The other was red, just like Red Hood's bat... symbol...
Oh.
Oh.
A quick glance around confirmed it. He'd accidentally gone into Drive mode and his friends had somehow affected it enough to give him a new Form. His clothes were almost exactly the same, mostly black, but now his shirt had a blue bird on it and his jacket was brown.
He stopped himself before he could waste anymore time. He hadn't meant to, but he was in Drive now, and those were limited. He couldn't waste it.
He took one last look at Riku and Kairi, promising them that he would get this done soon so they could get proper medical attention, then hefted his Keyblades and charged.
Pure energy. That was all Sora felt as he bolted towards the Heartless and broke through its defenses with a series of wicked fast slashes. As soon as his enemy was vulnerable, he thrust his Keyblades down, aiming for the Heartless's shoulders. It stretched out its hands with amazingly quick reflexes and caught his swords. Sora had to push off its chest, flipping up and tearing his weapons out of the creature's grasp. It hissed and lunged at him again. Summoning the energy within him, Sora willed himself to stay airborne for a few more seconds so he wouldn't fall right into the Heartless's path. It stretched out a hand, ready to electrify him, and Sora chose that moment to perform a complicated aerial maneuver, slashing the Heartless's chest and using the force to dodge left past the oncoming attack. As he fell, he turned in mid air as to keep locked on to it. As soon as his foot touched the ground, he launched at it again.
The Heartless's new form was definitely posing more of a threat, which was troublesome seeing as it had managed to catch Sora off guard in its previous state. He had to abandon his frontal assault and flip backwards as it shot blades from the tips of jet black wings it now sported from its back. The creature also had razor sharp teeth that complemented its wicked smile. Three whip like tails slashed through the air in front of and behind it, acting as both an iron defense and a barrier. Sora studied the new form, wanting to find an opening again but unsure of the most effective way. Suddenly he didn't have time to contemplate anymore as it lunged forward, electricity crackling around its fingers. Sora jumped and flipped right over its back, but not before being slashed by one of the monsters tails. He skidded to a stop behind it and whirled around, throwing his red Keyblade at its exposed back. It connected and the creature let out a low giggly growl before turning and charging him again. He had to re-summon his second Keyblade to block the new assault of knives the creature was launching at him. He slashed them out of the air, amazed at his new reflexes. He wasn't even grazed. Then he thrust his blue Keyblade up to block a strike from one of the Heartless's tails. It lifted its wings, the tips of which were glowing, suggesting another dagger attack, as it meanwhile lashed out with its other two tails. Instinctively Sora sprang forward and caught onto one of the tails, using what had to be Dick's acrobatics to flip up and land on the Heartless's shoulders. He started attacking its head with everything he had, landing hit after hit, and though he was sure he had dealt a great deal of damage, the creature shook him off before he could finish it. Sora rolled forward as he hit the ground, and came to his feet just in time to see the Heartless launching itself into the air. He was just about to follow when something hit him. Hard.
Pain blazed across his back and he fell to his knees, his mind immediately thrust into a confused daze. He managed to shake his head and jump to his feet, stumbling forward as he attempted to avoid blacking out. Luckily he was able to grasp the situation pretty quickly despite the new agonizing injury. An Invisible stood behind him, it's sword poised for another attack. How had he forgotten about the other Heartless? He slashed his red blade across its chest, the power behind the strike vaporizing it in seconds. But there were dozens more closing in. Okay, Sora thought. Air battle it is.
This new form, whatever is was called, couldn't fly. He knew that. But that didn't mean it couldn't hold its own in mid air. He launched into the sky where Joker's Heartless flew, waiting for him, as he left the swarms of Heartless below. Blades shot forward to intercept his midair leap, but it had to be Jason's well trained eyes that gave him the power to strike aside the projectiles. Knives went spinning to the ground, gleaming in the pale moonlight as Sora got close enough to jab his Keyblade into the Heartless's left calf. It howled a crazy laugh as tails once again whipped around him. Having only one Keyblade free to defend himself, Sora took the brunt of the attack, concentrating on swinging upwards to grasp onto the monster's back. Trying to get a good grip on the Heartless was, of course, nearly impossible. Its skin was oily and smooth, so instead of trying to grab onto a shoulder, Sora stabbed his other Keyblade into the thing's lower back so he could keep climbing it. Just in time too, for at that moment it decided to take advantage of its new powerful wings. It plunged downwards, and Sora felt a sudden wave of nauseousness as it pulled out of the dive with milliseconds to spare, twirling in dizzying circles as it lifted the two of them higher and higher into the dark chilly air like a tornado. It was a good thing Sora wasn't afraid of heights. They were easily six stories above the tower now.
When the Heartless's wings finally settled into a more rhythmic beat and the world stopped spinning, Sora could finally summon his second Keyblade into his free hand. The creature might not have been able to shake off his death-grip, but its tails were still dancing furiously around him, striking at his back again and again. He slashed at them until he had some breathing space, then once again gathered himself and grabbed the Heartless's wing joint, spinning himself until he was sitting directly atop the great appendage as it worked to keep them air born. He would never have been able to sustain his balance without this new form as the wing rose up and down, each time threatening to dislodge him. The Heartless tried to lash at him with its arms and tails, but he was sitting in just the right place so that it was unable to reach him with either. If this Heartless was going by a pattern which Sora guessed it was, that meant he didn't have much time before it tried to buck him off again, his sense of urgency spiked.
Grasping both Keyblades tightly, Sora leapt up until he was a few feet above the thing's head. He gave himself a second to breathe, summoning the energy from his friends, then attacked, giving everything he had into the next flurry of strikes. His Keyblades ripped through the air, landing devastating hits that knocked the Heartless back, even in mid air. It kept flinching so he kept striking, using the momentum to push his attack further and further. A knife came flying at him and he flipped sideways, smacking the Heartless's neck as he went. Its hand swiped at his leg, but he was moving too fast, gracefully sliding through the air while dealing devastating blows to his opponent. He could tell the thing was on its last legs when his luck finally ran out. He felt the monster's cold, smooth fingers grab at his shirt and immediately a current of electricity ran through him.
Sora's attacks abruptly stopped as white hot pain overloaded his thoughts. The world went dark, fading in and out as he willed his eyes to stay open. After what seemed like an eternity, he was able to blink the world into focus, and watched transfixed as he became aware he was falling while dozens of knives rained down upon him. He knew blocking was no use. His whole body was either pulsing with pain or completely numb. Suddenly his arms lifted of their own accord, as if drawn to the hail of metal and the giant Heartless now flying down towards him. Panic overtook Sora's thoughts as he watched the scene unfold. Then suddenly, his Keyblades began to glow, and without knowing what he was doing, Sora shot beads of swirling red and blue light from their tips. They were like abnormally large bullets as they flew skywards to intercept some of the knives directly in front of them, but their main target was clear. A cascade of light and dark bullets were on a direct collision course with the Heartless diving towards him. Even as Sora felt the knives that the bullets were unable to stop grazing him, he watched, mesmerized as the monster reeled back before being smacked point blank in the chest by the projectiles. Summoning them had happened in the span of about three seconds, and the Heartless was taken completely off guard as it froze, curled in on itself, and exploded into a cascade of darkness.
And Sora was falling. Falling... Falling. His consciousness slipped away as he stared at the wave of darkness, blotting out the moon and falling through the sky to meet him.
AN: Arrow: So, we know this chapter was short, but necessarily so. Because chapters do that when there are cool battles in them. And that's how I'm justifying this situation. So there!
Loxie: No kidding. Besides, it took place in the space of one Drive mode. So of course it's short.
We only have one more chapter left folks, and then a short epilogue. Then the Door to Gotham Hearts will be closed forever.
Bad joke is baaaaad.
Read and enjoy! You only get to do that twice more!