A/N: Radiant Garden is under sieged. It's pretty epic won't you all agree? It's the Heartless War all over again. Now let's see what's going to happen next.
World: Radiant Garden
Ventus, Terra and I are now in the Front Doors with Riku. We are assigned to shut down the door portals all over the city. Once that's done, we all meet up at the Bailey to raid the Dark Depths. The second we're out, we are greeted by Heartless, Unversed and Nobodies.
But they are no match against four Keyblade wielders, and two of them are masters.
As we fight through the enemies, we take the path to the Gardens, then take the metal doorway to the Reactor Area. There lays the portal, in the center of the area. We jump down from the higher ground, taking on the Unversed, Nobodies and Heartless. Riku, however, does not fight. He just goes straight for the portal and begins channeling his dark powers.
"I will close the portal! You must hold off the dark forces." Riku tells us.
It takes about a minute for Riku to do this.
The three of us focuses on protecting Riku. I gather them with Magnega. Terra attacks them while Ventus cases Aeroga then Thundaga. The enemies went down quickly, but more are appearing. I throw a couple of swings then cast Chaotic Fusion. That causes me to enter Star Surge.
The waves of enemies are endless, up until Riku closes the portal. "That's one down!" Riku helps us finish up the mess here, then we continue on.
The Heartless, Unversed and Nobodies are at the only things that stands in our way to the next portal in Central Square. The Aqueduct is crawling with hordes of these creatures. Terra and I fight in vanguard against them while Ventus and Riku attacks from behind. My power surges deeper then I enter Black Maelstrom, due to Duskja.
After clearing the Aqueduct, we move on into the Fountain Court. We encountered Yuffie in this one, so there was much fighting to do here.
"Yuffie is on the scene!" She says.
We now arrive at the Central Square, our home area. Riku begins closing the portal while the rest of us handles the Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed. I start off with Transcendence. Terra and Ventus have a bit of trouble reaching the enemies when they're bouncing around.
The first wave dies then the next horde appears. I reach my full power and unleash Black Maelstrom. More of the enemies down and reappear. When Black Maelstrom ends, I continue attacking. The enemies fought hard, I had to use Zero Gravija or Magnega to keep them contained. The Defenders had no effect to the Magnet spell.
The portal closes. "Two down. Only three remains." Riku helps us clean up the enemies around here.
Our next portal target is the one in Purification Facility. We head into the Outer Gardens. The army of the darkness was pretty big. Even since Cloud and Tifa is here fighting the dark forces.
We fight our way through the Outer Gardens, with Cloud and Tifa's help as well. I use my Mushu Charm for the battles in this area. My fiery attacks burn the enemies easily. Ventus attacks using Tornado Strike, Terra does Sonic Blade. I give the enemies a taste of Pyro Storm.
We make it though the Outer Gardens and arrived at the Purification Facility. The portal is right in the center of the platform. Riku goes to close it, while the three of us holds off the Nobodies, Heartless and Unversed.
I do Raging Storm, floating off my feet while three burning tornados swirls around me. I float around, burning the enemies close by. Terra and Ventus fights off, but they get hit, a ton. The Defenders, Berserkers and Magicians were hard hits for them.
Ventus casts Curaga, which heals the three of us at once. When my Raging Storm ends, I unleash Guardian Flare. That finishedsoff the Heartless of this wave, Nobodies and Unversed remains. Terra takes care of the Unversed. Ventus and I handle the Nobodies. When the one wave is down, another horde of dark forces appears.
We hold them off until Riku closes the portal. "Three are closed."
After cleaning up the mess here, we return to the Outer Gardens. There are still enemies roaming around, but Cloud and Tifa got this under control.
We make our way all the way to the Postern. Rinoa now takes care of the enemies in the Central Square. She was able to handle them, but we led a hand anyways. When that's done, we went to the Front Doors, take the nearest route that leads to the Postern.
Riku starts closing the portal. I start off casting Chaotic Fusion. All the enemies staggers from the spell, Terra and Ventus attacks them, making easy prey with them. I enter Star Surge then start attacking like crazy. The next horde appears, Ventus casts Aeroga, Terra Dark Firaga. I cast Magnega, then Blizzarja. I shoot three ice shards at the one Unversed. It sticks on the Archraven, ice pops out of it in all directions, then explodes hurting the enemies nearby. That causes me to enter Elemental Mastery.
We encountered three waves of enemies in here until the portal is closed. Riku helps us defeat the leftovers. "Just one more!"
We went down the Postern, to the Restoration Site. Noel is here, taking care of the Heartless and Unversed. We lend him a hand on clearing the path, up to the point we reach the Bailey.
There, we see Sora, Donald and Goofy holding off the enemies coming in from the Castle Gates Ruins. "Sora? You doing okay?" I ask.
Sora defeats a Large Belly, then turns looking at me. "We're fine! We have everything under control!"
Of course he does. Without anymore hesitation, we head through the Borough. We ran into Leon who is handling the crowd control down here. The Unversed and Nobodies are hard down here, guess they're aware the great Leon is down here. I was able to handle them easily with my Elemental Mastery attacks, then finish them off unleash it's power. After clearing this area, we arrive at the Market Row to take care of the last portal in this city.
The portal lays in the center, Riku begins closing it. Dancers, Darkballs, Dawns, Shadow Screechers and Grandmasters have us surrounded. If they think they have the advantage, they're sadly mistaken. I gather them all with Magnega, then the three of us attacks them. The first wave went down quickly, the second wave gets caught in the magnet, only shortly that's when the Magnega finishes.
Ventus casts Faith, took out half of the enemies. I finish them off with Quakeja, that causes me to enter Critical Impact. A third wave appears, my Gaia-Explosion wipes out most of them.
Riku finally closes the portal. After taking out the enemies, we take the moment to rest. "That's the last of them, isn't it?" Terra asks.
"Yeah. It should be...within the city at least." I say. "We still have to take care of the army within the Dark Depths."
"Right. Let's return to the Bailey. Leon and the others will join us soon enough." Riku says.
We arrived at the Bailey. Sora was able to take a break, while Donald, Goofy, Terra, Ventus and I holds the line. Sora and Riku just stand back, still having their Keyblades at hand incase anything gets out of hand for us. We now just wait for Leon and the others.
They soon arrive. "How's everything going?" Leon asks.
"Just fine." Sora says.
"We've closed all the portals in the city." Riku say.
Leon nods. "Excellent."
Aerith, the King and Serah joins in on us. "We've evacuated all the citizens. They're now with Kairi in the castle." Serah says.
"Good work." Leon says.
Leon gives us the signal. Terra and I cast an earth spell to block the entrance to the Castle Gates Ruin. The four of us joins with the rest of the gang, Leon stands right in front of the earth barrier.
"Everyone! One year ago, we have witnessed the Heartless War! Now, the forces of darkness have returned to invade our peaceful city! But we will not allow it! In the name of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee: We will not allow the darkness to take away our beloved city again!" Leon turns. He holds his weapon out, extending it with magic. I use my magic to remove the earth barriers, reveal a massive army of Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed at the other side. "ONWARD!"
Leon charges right in. The rest of us follows him from behind, fighting off the enemies as well. Serah and Aerith stay behind us from a safe distance, supporting by healing us when we're injured or weak.
We push through until we arrive at the Castle Gates Ruins. I handle a massive group of the enemies with Waterja, shooting a large orb of water. When it hurts the target group, it bursts into a massive splash. Yuffie and Rinoa handles the enemies from the right, Noel, Tifa and Cloud on the left. Ventus and Terra stays right Leon and I while Sora and Riku cover the rear.
We make our way towards the Crystal Fissure. On the path, Goofy does his Tornado attack to take out the enemies around us. Donald does his Thundaga to clear those up ahead. Their numbers are endless.
"Push forward!" Leon orders.
I give them a taste of Shadow Dash, I use it to rush into the center of the ground. I gather them with Magnega then cast Chaotic Fusion.
That causes me to enter Star Surge.
"Hurry! To the Fissure!" Yuffie says.
We're just at the entrance to the Crystal Fissure, then more enemies appears and have us surrounded. I cast Thundaja while everyone spreads and attacks. Terra takes on the heavy Defenders and Berserkers, Ventus handles the Morning Stars.
Soon, we defeated our enemies and then arrive the Crystal Fissure. We take the moment to rest and recover from the rush. There are enemies coming in, so Sora and I hold them off. After five minutes of resting, we push on to the Great Maw.
The Great Maw is full of countless enemies. Just like the Heartless War.
"We don't have time for this!" I say.
Leon and the gang, including Sora, the king, Ventus, Terra, Donald and Goofy, stands in front of Riku and I. "We'll handle them! Close the portal!" Leon says.
Riku and I nod. While they're fighting off the enemies, we rush right through the army, making our way to the Dark Depths. When we arrive, we see a giant portal at the end of the area. We are both surprise by the size of it. A building could fit in it.
"That's a big portal." I say. "Can you close it, Riku?"
"I'm not sure if I can do it alone." Riku says.
"Don't bother trying." We are both startled. We turn to see Vanitas, leaning beneath the cliff.
Riku is surprised. "What...Sora? Is that you?"
"No. He's not Sora. He's Vanitas. One of the members of the Shadowmoon." I say.
Vanitas smirks then approaches us. "It's been a while, my friend. I take it you have gotten stronger."
"Yeah, I have." I summon my Keyblade. "Want to find out?"
Vanitas chuckles and summons his as well. "Gladly!"
I make the first strike against Vanitas. Vanitas staggers, then he vanishes and does his dive attack. "Too slow!"
I dodge roll, then do Shadow Dash. "No! You're too slow!" I unleash Shadow Dash on him, the final strike knocks him back.
Riku charges at Vanitas, strikes then casts Dark Firaga. Vanitas vanishes then reappears to cast Crawling Fire. "Suffer!" The fire slowly creeps as first, then divides into fast firebolts. Riku appears in front of me and shields me with Dark Shield, the shield takes the bolts. I do Sonic Blade on Vanitas, he disappears on the fourth rush then does his dive attack. Sadly that missed me.
I enter Fever Pitch. Vanitas jumps then dives into the ground. Three times, his dark mist rushes towards me, he jumps, attacks, then dives back in. For the final attack, he unleashes dozens of fire bolts to rain down around him. Riku weakens then I cast Curaga on him. Vanitas strikes at me, then does Dark Rave. His magic cut roams around. I strike at him several times, then do Ars Arcanum.
Riku darks Dark Splicer, vanishing, appearing behind Vanitas, striking swiftly and repeating. Vanitas vanishes and appears midair to do Dark Storm, doing a sweep thunder with dark power. Vanitas channels dark power. "Show me Anguish!" Vanitas charges at us, strikes at us, then does a cross ground, second strike, then jumps and unleashes a X rave at Riku and I.
I heal us with Curaga, then continue attacking until I unleash Fever Pitch. Riku does his Dark Aura ability, while doing that, Vanitas and I at striking at each other. I make the first few strikes, then he vanishes to do his dive attack.
I finish off Vanitas with an Explosion.
Riku and I now stand next to each other, looking at Vanitas, who lays on the ground fading away. Vanitas looks at us, with a smirk. "Well done...you have grown quite strong...Rasputin enjoys a challenge."
"Vanitas. Tell me: How are you still alive? Ventus told me you are the darkness that was inside of him, but he defeated you in order to destroy the χ-blade." I say.
Vanitas was silent at first, then speaks. "Rasputin brought me back to life. Two years after my defeat, he found a fragment of my darkness and use it to resurrect me. He needed an army to defeat Aqua and hunt down the last LeiShen. For a sign of gratitude, I offer him my services."
"You're pathetic you know that?" I ask.
Vanitas just chuckles. "Well now, I have done my part...I think it's time you do yours, if you want to save your little friend."
Vanitas completely fades away. His words just sinks into my head. 'Save my little friend'. I know he's talking about Aqua. She's suffering, probably dying even, in the darkness. I have to do something or I'll lose her forever.
Leon and the others join us in the Dark Depths. "Hey. You guys didn't close the portal?"
Riku and I turn to see them behind us. "We had a...bit of an interference." I say.
"But it's done now. We'll close the portal now." Riku says.
Riku positions himself in front of the portal, and attempts to close it. Dark forces pop right out of them. Leon and the gang holds them off. Riku now struggles to keep up his power.
"It's...too strong! Can't...do it...alone!" Riku says.
Terra stands beside Riku. "I'll help out."
Terra uses his dark powers to help Riku close the power. Together, the portal slowly depletes. "It's closing!"
I stay in the back with Serah, Aerith and the exhausted Noel, Donald, Goofy and Cloud. I gaze at the dark portal, as it's closing, then I look back at Serah, who's busying tending to Cloud. I sign, looking down as I grab my Wayfinder.
"I'm sorry, Serah." I put on a serious face then bolt ahead.
I ran past Riku and Terra, who are surprised to see what I'm doing. "He-hey!"
"Patrick! What are you doing?" Riku shouts.
Serah and the others look ahead. They notice I'm heading towards the dark portal, cutting down the Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed in the way.
"Big brother! Don't!" Serah shouts, but she's too late.
I jumped into the darkness.
Aqua fights off the Heartless in vein. This time, she's covered in cuts on her arms. Burns and bruises on her legs, and her top is ripped revealing her stomach and her eyes are wide open with rage.
Even at her last stand, she strikes hard at the Heartless. The Neoshadow's fights back, but Aqua quickly avoids their attacks and counterstrikes them. Aqua slays the Heartless with a single strike, but doesn't stop moving. Countless Neoshadow's comes at her, and she strikes them down.
Five Neoshadows leaps towards her, all at once. Aqua saw this coming and destroys them with Deep Freeze, freezing the heartless frozen solid and then shatters along with the ice. Aqua pants heavily in rage. She looks out of the corner of her eye, slightly turning her head. She can see a Neoshadow rushing up behind her.
Just when the Heartless is right behind her, Aqua sweep strikes, destroying the Heartless before it reached her. When that Neoshadow was destroyed, more rise out of the ground, surrounding Aqua. But that doesn't stop the girl. Aqua casts Aeroja, unleashing a powerful tornado that sucks the Neoshadows into it and blowing them away in the end.
What Aqua didn't see was that one of the Neoshadow's right behind is still standing, and it strikes her from behind. The blow causes Aqua to fall off the floating path and fall into the darkness. Aqua crashes into each of the paths below and roll falls from each impact, until she starts rolling downhill and then splashes into the purple shadow water.
Nothing comes out of the water. Rasputin, Wingul, Zaela and Izu stands a level above from the little island in the middle of the shadow waters, looking down.
Aqua pops out of the water, gasping for air. She's breast deep in the water, resting her arms on the island. She pants deep and tiresome, then she slowly pulls herself on the island. When she is completely out of the water, she falls on her back, panting and giving rough coughs.
Aqua turns her head, eyes slightly open. Her vision is spinning blurs as she looks at Rasputin and his henchmen. Slowly and painfully tired, Aqua tries to get back on her feet. It takes a minute, even since her attempts to get up failed twice. She now stands, knees bent, holding her Keyblade with two hands, glaring angrily at the Shadowmoon with her bloodshot eyes, taking heavily breaths.
"Now you may finish her!" Rasputin says.
Wingul, Zaela and Izu charges towards Aqua, all at once, and then attacked her, all at once.
Aqua gets knocked down as they beat her up. Swings from Izu's axe, few punches and kicks from Zaela, a couple of cuts from Winguls sword. Had enough, Aqua gets her second wind. She unleashes a powerful nova spell, knocking the henchmen back, and her Keyblade extends in arcane energy. Blade Charge.
Aqua gives Izu a powerful strike, knocking him out. Zaela does a couple of strikes with her fists and feet, but Aqua avoids and blocks them, then she sweep kicks Zaela in the feet knocking her off of them then gives her a hard slam, knocking her back.
Aqua yells in fierce as she charges towards Wingul. Wingul swings his sword, but Aqua docks and strikes him, knocking him back. Aqua takes the moment to recover whatever strength she has left. Thunder strikes and Rasputin appears right behind her in a flash.
He holds out his Keyblade, Aqua turns but is too late. Rasputin strikes her, hard and powerful.
Aqua crushes down to the ground, out cold. Rasputin stands looking down at her. Wingul and the others gathers around Aqua as well, looking down at the unconscious warrior mage.
Rasputin looks up, eyes closed, concentrating. His men notices it and looks at him. "I sense the LeiShen." Rasputin opens his eyes. "He is here. In the darkness itself."
Zaela cracks her knuckles. "Let's finish him."
"No! We stick to the plan." Rasputin says. "Lure him to...It."
Wingul, Izu and Zaela are surprised, gasped even. "It?" Wingul says, shocked. "Are you sure you want to use It? It is too dangerous. Xehanort himself says so."
Rasputin looks at Wingul with a glare. "Lure! Him! To! It!"
Wingul hesitates, then gives a small bow. "Yes...my lord."