"Look," said Stevonnie, pointing through the Osprey's small porthole, "there it is!"
"Where? Let me see!"
Amethyst stood atop her fold-down seat and leaned over Stevonnie's shoulder to peer out the window.
After roughly an hour and a half of bus-riding and flying, they had finally found their target. Luckily, the training and briefing had been brief. Thanks to time constraints, the officials at the base had given them a quick demonstration on how to use their parachutes and provided them with maps and survival manuals in case they got lost in the wilderness. But thanks to Connie's knowledge and Steven's gravitational skills, it was likely that Stevonnie wouldn't be needing those things.
Down in the vast, hilly, autumn forest below, they could see the small blip of black and yellow streaking through the trees in a blaze of dark fire. Had it not been for the great fire searing through the landscape and spewing its shadowy fumes, this forest would have looked magnificent, with its shades of red, green, and vibrant yellow.
Additionally, there were two battle copters trailing behind the Heartless sports car, waiting for an opportune moment to test it with their ammunition. Unlike the strange pivoting-rotor plane Stevonnie and their friends had taken, these looked more like conventional helicopters instead.
The pilot turned towards the passengers in back, "Y'all ready for this?"
Lea summoned his fiery chakrams. "Never been more ready in my life."
"Once we pass the target, we'll be dropping you into the fray. If any of you are having trouble out there, use one of the flares we gave you, and one of us will come pick you up."
"Got it!" said Stevonnie.
"Good to hear," said the pilot.
Even though the vehicle down below had been traveling at over 120 miles an hour, they had no problems catching up to it.
"Hold on," Pearl said as she turned away from the window, "I have an idea. Amethyst, why don't we fuse into Opal?"
"You mean right now?" asked the purplish gem.
"Yes, as a matter of fact. If we hit that Heartless in just the right spot, we might be able to divert its current course."
"Well, alright. Just tell me when."
"So what is my job in all of this?" said Lapis.
"Just make sure the others make it to the ground safely," said Pearl.
"Yeah, some of us are going to need it," Riku said, eyeing Lea.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" said the tall red-headed man, holding his wrists at his hips. "I can handle myself just fine."
Things would be a lot easier if the military let Lion tag along, but for some reason, they wouldn't let him on the bus. Lion could find his own way around, of course, but that meant getting to the fight would be a bit harder.
Then, Stevonnie had an idea, "Hey, why don't we use my bubble?"
"That is an interesting thought," Pearl remarked.
"Eh, don't worry about it," said Lapis, "I think I can carry this doofus just fine."
"Just make sure we land somewhere where Lapis can make use of her abilities," said Riku, "just in case our friend messes up."
"You guys are the worst," Lea lamented.
"Thirty seconds until we pass over the target," the Pilot called out.
In the back of the Osprey, the loading ramp began to open up, until it became level with the rest of the vehicle.
Those who weren't already standing up out of their seats undid the straps that secured them there. Stevonnie and Riku summoned out their signature weapons if they hadn't been summoned out already, while Lapis formed her wings from the water in the air.
"Be careful out there," said the pilot.
"Ready Amethyst?" Pearl said, stretching her hand out as she made a step towards the back.
"Heck yeah!"
Using what little space they had, the two gems engaged in their dance of fusion, spinning around in glowing brilliance as they dove out the helicopter.
"Let's do this!"
Stevonnie made a run for the back and then leaped out. Far up ahead, they could see the Heartless vehicle fast approaching, though it would be several seconds before it would come close.
Opal materialized several feet ahead of them, and then landed herself upright in between a pair of trees using the balls of her feet. She then swiftly conjured out her bow and let loose an arrow straight at the Heartless sports car.
-KABOOM!-
The car tried to swerve out of the way, but the arrow landed right into the car's left bumper, causing it to spin and tumble backwards, while still leaping its way forward.
As Stevonnie came close to the ground, they lowered their descent and then launched their shield right at the car, though one of the floating tower-like Heartless moved to intercept the blow before the shield could hit the car's hull.
Riku then flashed before them, zipping into the car multiple times at blinding speed before following up his series of teleportations with single slam into the hood, creating a four-directional shockwave and obliterating the remaining sentry Heartless almost instantaneously.
"Whoa," Stevonnie remarked, standing speechless before the buff boy's signature technique.
Just shortly after, Stevonnie heard Lea land behind them, his landing softened by Lapis's aid.
"Looks like you guys don't need my help after all."
"It's a lot weaker than I imagined," Stevonnie replied.
As the car was still tumbling, Riku swiftly flash-teleported over near the others.
"Sure said it. This thing's only got three health bars, and we've already chipped off one of them."
"Health bars?" Lapis asked, puzzled.
"You mean like in a game?" said Stevonnie.
Lea shrugged. "Who knows? We sorta have a thing that allows us to see whether anyone's badly hurt."
Another arrow flew overhead and slammed right into the Heartless car.
-KABOOM!-
"But enough chat," said Lea, "let's finish this!"
Everyone but Lapis and Opal then rushed for the tumbling car.
Just as the roof of the car was about to slam into a thick tree trunk, the car's trunk burst open, and a giant, cartoon-y, spring-operated hand sprung out. The gloved hand latched itself onto another tree nearby, pulled the car away from the tree it was about to crash into, and then used its sudden momentum to fling the whole vehicle at Stevonnie and the two outsiders before retreating back into the trunk.
Riku rolled underneath it, but Stevonnie stood where they were and instinctively enlarged their shield.
Lea however, wasn't quick enough to react.
"Watch out!" Stevonnie tried to call out.
But just a second before the car's heavy chassis was about to crash into Lea, Lion suddenly leaped forth from out of nowhere and slammed right into the Heartless.
"Lion!" Stevonnie called out.
Although the beast tried to stand itself back up when it landed, Lion collapsed from the shock of the impact.
Another of Opal's arrows soared overhead, but whizzed just over the car's bumper as it was thrown back.
The trunk opened once again, but this time the gloved hand inside was wielding the hammer from before.
-BAM!-
The Heartless then slammed this hammer into the ground, which launched it sky high just past the Apaches flying overhead.
"Looks like this Heartless has learned a few tricks," said Lea.
"I take it they don't normally do stuff like this?" Lapis said from behind.
"They're tough alright," said Riku, dusting the dirt off his pants, "but usually they don't try to pull off crazy stunts like this."
As the Heartless car spun around in the air, its rotation slowly began to decelerate. The hand swapped itself out for a large, pirate-age cannon, which angled itself towards Opal and the others on the ground.
-KAPOW!-KAPOW!-KAPOW!-KAPOW!-
A series of molten cannonballs came barreling down for the ground.
"I'll cover for you!"
Opal then leapt down from her perch and fired away at the cannonballs. A few of them were deflected from their course, though most of them were still headed for Stevonnie and the others.
"Everyone over here!" Stevonnie shouted out as they stepped in front of Lion.
Although Lea initially prepared to conjure out a circle of fire, he then heeded Stevonnie's command and took cover behind them. Lapis shortly followed, despite her flight capabilities.
Stevonnie saw Riku standing alone by himself. "Riku, what are you doing?"
"Heh."
The boy let out a slight grin, and then turned to face the burning projectile head on.
"Riku!"
Just before the cannonball was about to collide, Riku whipped his dark keyblade in front of him, causing a shimmering barrier to appear.
-CHING!-POW!-
The barrier sent the cannonball flying back despite all laws of physics dictating the contrary. Almost a second later, the other ball slammed into Stevonnie's shield and sent the people gathered behind it flying back, though the shield remained intact.
Just moments before the deflected cannonball could collide with the Heartless car, the car's cannon retracted back into the trunk and replaced itself what appeared to be a miniature jet engine. As this happened, several tower Heartless drifted out of the trunk. On the sides, the wheels extended out and then snapped downward relative to the car's frame of reference. The hubcaps extended from the wheels themselves and then grew into large buzz-saw blades.
A sharp, bluish flame shot out from the rear end of the newly emerged thruster.
The car then propelled its way out of the cannonball's trajectory, and then grew a set of wings from its sides.
"It transformed?" Stevonnie remarked.
"Great," said Lea, "now how are we gonna get it? It's times like this I wish we were in Neverland."
"Well, sooner or later it'll come back to us," said Riku. "Remember, the Heartless…"
Just as Riku said this, Opal leaped up from her spot, slid close to the others, and then fired an arrow at the car, which then split into many more arrows.
"Or that," Lapis remarked, pointing towards the rough center of Opal's technique.
Several shots landed as the car attempted to dodge it, but it then dove toward the ground as its wheels then turned back upward, tearing through the forest as the trees crossed its path with both its drill and buzz-saws.
"Get ready," said Riku.
As the car came close, Stevonnie jumped far to the side, and as if driven by some instinct, they flung Rose's sword towards the car's chassis. Somehow, the force and angle of Stevvonie's throw caused the sword to spin about its center while maintaining a relatively straight trajectory.
Mid-flight the blade seemed to turn into some sort of key, before retracting back towards Stevonnie, as if driven by some magnetic force.
Stevonnie could also vaguely see Riku and Lea execute their own techniques, though Lea accidentally collided with one of the buzz saws. For whatever reason, Lea did not seem to suffer any grievous injuries.
Just then, the tower-like Heartless had finally drifted towards the forest's canopy, and then took aim at the various fighters.
"Watchers," Riku noted.
"Been a while since we've run into one of those," said Lea.
The two outsiders leaped out of the way of the Watchers' laser fire, though Stevonnie was simply content with deflecting the blast off their shield.
When the Watchers came close enough, Riku leaped high in the air and then began unleashing combos upon the floating Heartless.
As this was happening, Stevonnie continued to watch the Heartless Car as it tore through the forest, dodging many of Opal's energy arrows. When it got to about a tenth of a mile away or so, the car began to turn around. Like a set of shade blinders, the hood retracted downward towards the front, though instead of an engine and whatever other components must have existed in there, the interior was mostly empty save for one notable exception.
A large, shining, disco ball rose out from the center, supported by a long metal pole.
What is that?
Even though Stevonnie had no idea what exactly the disco ball was supposed to do, they knew that the Heartless was preparing to unleash a special attack.
Their suspicions were confirmed, for as the Car began to drift close, Stevonnie could see the disco ball beginning to glow brighter, while cracks of lightning leaped across its surface.
"Guys, it's doing something!" warned Stevonnie.
After Riku, Lea, and Lapis finished off the remaining Watchers, they all turned towards the incoming car.
"Looks like it's desperate," Lea remarked.
The side doors of the car suddenly sprung open, and out came three shadows, one soldier, and two yellow-cloaked pods.
"Don't let them distract you," said Riku.
Shortly after the lesser Heartless jumped out, the doors, buzz-saws, and wheels retracted to their original positions. The car dipped down and then began digging through the soil, leaving everything above the headlights above ground.
The disco ball's inner light suddenly shone brighter than before. Within the last moments before the attack, Stevonnie stepped back in front of Lion and readied their shield.
-PSHOOOOO!-
Many laser-like beams tore through the forest, igniting almost everything it touched.
Opal tried to dodge out of the way, though one of the beams happened to hit her directly, forcing her to de-fuse. Lea also tried dodging one of them, though his timing was off.
Even though the beams couldn't have been bigger than a few inches, their power was evident.
When the beams hit Stevonnie's shield, along with Riku's blocking barrier, they were deflected back towards the car, tearing through the dark steel.
One of the beams blasted open the front right window, and inside Stevonnie could see an armored, humanoid figure, its arms fused to the steering wheel and a Heartless emblem etched on its chest.
Something about the shadowy figure seemed familiar.
Out of the corner of their eye, Stevonnie then saw one of the yellow pods drift close.
-PSHOOM!-
The blast of lighting shot Stevonnie up into the air.
Sharp pain and burning seared through their body.
Stevonnie's mind went numb.
"HEAL!"
A creamy, greenish aura then swirled around Stevonnie, and the pain seemed to subside. It wasn't quite the same as Steven's healing powers, though it was quick to take effect.
Whatever this magic was, Stevonnie felt renewed.
As Stevonnie pushed themself back up, they saw Riku just a few feet before them.
"Thanks. You're a lifesaver," said Stevonnie.
"Don't sweat it."
Riku then began to slash through the various minor Heartless before them.
Some distance behind them, Stevonnie could also hear Pearl and Amethyst's pained groans, along with what was presumed to be a helicopter crashing.
"How much more until this thing goes down?" Stevonnie asked Riku.
"Just a little bit more. I can handle things from here. See if your friends are alright."
"But what about…"
"I'll heal Lion as soon as I get the chance."
"Got it."
They're more like my family though, Stevonnie thought as they began to back away from the fight.
As Riku ran forward, a shining arrow of pink light soared in from overhead and then struck the ground just a foot or so before Riku.
-KABOOM!-
Even though Stevonnie was at least a few dozen feet away from where the arrow struck, the impact created a great explosion, sending almost everyone nearby soaring through the forest.
-CRACK!-
Stevonnie's body broke straight through one of the trees a few meters away.
-SLASH!-SLASH!-SLASH!-SHING!-
When Stevonnie landed, they split back into their component selves.
"Connie, Steven," Pearl's voice shouted, "are you two alright?"
Steven groaned as he struggled to reorient himself.
"What about you two?" Steven heard Connie say.
When Steven turned to face the others, everyone had been pretty badly bruised, even though most of this fight had been nothing more than standard Gem fare.
"We'll be fine," said Amethyst.
"But what about Lion?" said Steven.
The four of them turned to look at Lion, who was lying stretched out unconscious on his back.
"Eh, he should be fine," said Amethyst.
"Just watch over him, Steven," Pearl added.
"Okay."
Steven walked over to Lion's body and began applying his healing spit.
"Just what was that thing?" Connie asked.
From the looks of things, that attack had looked like one of Pearl's energy bolts, though it was much longer and thinner. When Steven looked back at the impact site, a large crater had been left where the arrow had landed. The dark paint lining the Heartless Car was now dissipating to reveal an all too familiar yellow sports car, bent and beaten out of shape.
"Wait, that's Kevin's car!" said Steven
Standing by the driver's side was a black-cloaked figure wielding a black keyblade in her right hand. The coat was almost identical to the one Lea wore, though it was cut to fit the person wearing it. Shadow seemed to conceal the face underneath.
Kevin's unconscious body hung over her shoulder.
Despite Steven's injuries, he pushed himself back up and walked towards the mysterious figure.
"Just hold on a second! Who are you, and why did you attack us?"
The hood turned towards Steven and the Gems' direction. "Oh? Are you talking to me?"
"Yes I'm talking to you!"
"Steven," Connie interjected, "maybe we should…"
"Yes, Steven, why don't you listen to your girlfriend? Besides, I'm not anyone a twerp like you needs to be concerned about."
"Larxene…"
Near the edge of the newly created crater, Lea began to press himself back up.
"Larxene?" said Connie.
"Wait… no, that's impossible!"
In an instant, the figure Lea called Larxene teleported behind Lea.
"Why don't you just be QUIET!"
-SMACK!-
The brunt force of the woman's keyblade knocked Lea unconscious once more.
"Hehe… But it doesn't really matter whether you know who I am."
"Just who are you?" shouted Lapis, who seemed unharmed from Larxene's energy blast.
"Weren't you just listening to your friend? Obviously, he knows who I am, so why don't you just ask him when he wakes up?"
Steven looked down at Lea on the ground, and then turned to Riku, who was also struggling to recover from the blast.
"What do you know about Shrek?" Steven asked.
"Oh, those fools?" said the woman. "I'm just running a few errands for them."
"Them?" uttered Amethyst.
"Why, the Great Shrekpire, obviously! They're quite fond of their stupidly lame puns, but just as long as I do a few easy tasks from time to time, I get to do whatever I want. Besides, I like my job. I got a cool keyblade out of it after all."
"What are you planning on doing to Kevin?" Steven yelled.
"And why do you care? Kevin's been a bad boy, and I'm just going to give him the punishment he deserves. When I'm done with him, he's going to be a happy, productive member of society!"
Pearl made an audible gulp.
"I don't know what it is you're planning," said Steven as he made a sweep of his arm, "but I know it can't be good! I know Kevin's kinda a jerk, and I know he's killed a lot of people, but he wouldn't have done that if it weren't for the Heartless!"
"Steven's right!" said Connie.
"Ahahahaha…! You actually think that explanation means he's faultless in all this? This boy willingly gave himself to the darkness!"
"How do you know that?" asked Steven.
"Oh, I have my ways of knowing. But I've wasted enough time chatting with you fools."
As the woman began to turn away, Steven shouted out, "Wait! You're not going anywhere!"
"Steven," said Pearl, "are you sure we should be antagonizing this woman?"
"Well, we can't just stand here and let her take Kevin away!"
A thick sphere of darkness opened up just a few feet away from where the black-coated figure was standing.
As she began to step into it, the woman turned around and said, "And just what makes you think you can stop me?"
"How about this!"
Amethyst suddenly pulled out her whip and aimed it towards Larxene, who somehow flash-stepped through it as it was about to collide into her.
"Grrr… How are you doing that?"
"Can't tell! It's top secret!" said the black-coated figure. "Anyway, I've got places to be! Catch you later!"
The woman then stepped into the dark mist, which then shrunk and disappeared.
By this point, Riku had finally managed to sit up.
"What just happened?" the boy said.
"Someone dressed like Lea just kidnapped Kevin," said Connie, "I mean that guy whose heart was powering that Heartless."
"The Organization is involved in all this?"
"I don't know," Connie continued. "She didn't mention any organization."
"No, wait, that can't be right. We already defeated the Organization."
"What is this 'Organization' you're talking about?" Lapis asked.
"I'll tell you about them later. Anyway, did she say anything?"
"She said she was working for this 'Great Shrekpire' or something," said Connie. "Oh, and she also had this black Keyblade."
"A black Keyblade? How did… No, I shouldn't be asking that question."
"Well," said Amethyst, "she said she got it from this 'Shrekpire' or whatchamacallit."
"Either way, this doesn't bode well for us."
"Are you folks finished?" a new voice boomed in from behind the group.
When everyone turned around, they saw Special Agent Thompson come through the forestry, accompanied by a plethora of field agents and armed personnel.
"Agent Thompson!" Pearl uttered.
"I am grateful that you helped us in dealing with this supernatural threat to our country. Although we have lost several lives in this conflict, we have at least managed to avoid further tragedy. Unless there's still some unfinished business here, we'd like for you to accompany us back to the base for payment and debriefing."
Agent Thompson paused before speaking again, "And we'll make sure you and your friends are all patched up."
"Thank you," said Connie.
"No, thank you," the Agent replied.
"Well," said Amethyst, "there's not much else we need to do here, so let's head back and pick up Peridot."
"No objections here," said Lapis.
All the others, aside from Lea due to his unconscious state, settled on the same decision.
Once that was decided, Agent Thompson led everyone back to an Osprey nearby, while Riku and Lion's bodies were carried by some of the other personnel standing around.
Although it would be another hour or so before they reached their destination, the government would likely be asking them many questions concerning the nature of their enemy. Steven too, had several questions for Riku and Lea, though he would have to wait until he returned to the beach house before those questions would be answered.
A/N: Sorry for the massive delay in writing this chapter, but I got kinda sidetracked by another thing I got involved in. Updates are probably going to be a lot less frequent than they previously were, but I'll see how far I can get into this story.
I was kinda expecting for the fight against Kevin's Heartless to be a lot more elaborate, and I could have easily made it more so, though my writing pace has slowed down signficantly.
Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this chapter!