Roman and Lucky walked alongside a bridge after crossing a gate that led to a castle - not Castle That Never Was, though. It was the middle of the night. "I'm ready to bet The Inventor wants us to go in there to meet our opponent," Roman remarked. When Lucky made some clicking noise behind his mask, the wolf replied: "I don't know, Lucky: I already told you that I'm not familiar with Disney Princesses movies. For all I know, it could be the castle of Frozen."
The two made it to the castle and pulled the large gates open, finding themselves in a large entrance hall that looked similar to Darkmare's manor, with the large paintings, fancy staircase, and all. However, their vampire friend's residence looked a lot more welcoming, and didn't have torn apart curtains and furniture lying everywhere. This place was also in desperate need of some dusting off...
While smelling the air, Roman couldn't help but frown. "This place could use a cleaner." He noticed a cockroach crawling by. "... And an exterminator." Lucky once again clicked at him. "You're right. Let's stay focused and find where our enemy is-"
The wolf suddenly widened his eyes and managed to jump back at the right time to avoid a lance that took away some of his head's fur and went to plant itself in the wall. "Ragh! Dang it, I would've wanted to end this in one go!" exclaimed a loud voice. The one owning it appeared in the middle of the hall for Roman and Lucky to see: a broad-shouldered man wearing the Organization XIII cloak. His black hair was styled into distinctive dreadlocks. He also had bushy eyebrows and very thick sideburns that hooked around his cheeks, parallel to his violet eyes.
"Hey, are you the one who threw this at me?" Roman asked with pointing at the lance that almost pierced him.
"I, in fact, am," the cloaked man confirmed with a smirk. Rising his hand, he made the lance disappear and return to his side. "Whoever you are, know that you had the misfortune of having me as your opponent."
Roman crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "I never played the Kingdom Hearts games, man. Would you mind explaining who 'me' is?"
Grabbing his lance and swinging it around a bit, the man gave a piercing glare at his opponents. "Glad you asked. I am Xaldin, the Whirlwind Lancer, number III of Organization XIII! It also happens that I am one of the strongest members of the whole organization!"
"No kidding; that lance almost turned me into a wolf skewer!" Roman sarcastically thought. "Alright Xaldin, I'm Roman Volk, security agent of Hollywood Studios, and this is-"
"Stop. I'm not interested in knowing who you are; I just want to take you down right here, right now, and make sure my master's plan is a success," Xaldin cut him off. Rising his two hands in the air, a violent wind blew by as five little tornadoes appeared around him, turning into more lances like the one he tried to pierce Roman with.
"Six lances? That guy isn't messing around!" Roman thought. "Fighting him in close combat might not be the best idea. I have no clue what he's capable of, while The Inventor probably showed him what I did during the corridor fight." He analyzed his surroundings. "Plus, this castle is way too closed off for our fighting style. We better change the field a bit, if we are to stand a chance."
Turning towards his friend, Roman did a few paw gestures that Lucky understood and activated his camouflage. Immediately after, the wolf closed his eyes and focused to become invisible himself.
"You're gonna try and attack me from a blind side? Forget this; I'm always prepared!" Xaldin declared, creating a whirlwind around him that made his six lances fly around rapidly, making it almost impossible to directly attack without taking damage. He waited for his enemies to clash with his defense... but it never happened. It was then that the castle's doors flew open, catching his attention. "You're trying to run away?! I won't let you!"
Not about to let his opponents escape the fight, Xaldin rushed outside the castle and along the large bridge. He saw the gates at the start of the bridge opening, making him understand the duo was truly trying to get away. After crossing the gates, he wandered around the forest around the castle for a while, searching his enemies.
"You really ran away just because I have six lances?" Xaldin yelled, his voice echoing through the forest. "Pretty disappointing. You guys seemed like strong warriors who-AAAARGH!" He suddenly yelled as he felt electricity rushing through his body, causing him to collapse on one knee. "W-What was that?!"
"Surprised?" Roman walked from behind a tree with a grin on his face. "We didn't come here because we wanted to escape from you. It's actually because we wanted to take advantage of the forest. Not only are we more used to fighting here, but it's also an ideal spot to use my Trap Magic."
Xaldin raised an eyebrow. "Trap Magic?"
"Yeah. You probably didn't know since I rarely get to use it, but I have Trap Magic to allow me to set special traps where I want, when given enough time. That electric discharge you just received happened because you stepped on a trap of mine," Roman explained. "I had the chance to set many of them all across the forest while you were searching for us... I won't tell you where they are, though."
"Don't worry; I won't have the time to fall into them!" Xaldin declared as he charged forward and attacked with his lances, forcing the wolf to take out his two survival knives to defend himself. He managed to deflect the lances, but still had to step back since it was six blades against two.
Something bothered Xaldin: despite clearly having the advantage, Roman did not seem to be nervous - he even smirked a little. At one point, the Nobody noticed a strange detail: three little red lights glowing on his chest. Upon seeking their source, he widened his eyes. "Why, you little-" He didn't get to finish his sentence as a laser blast hit him straight in the chest, knocking him many feet away.
With a chuckle and a few twirls of his knives, Roman turned and gave a thumb's up to his invisible partner. "Nice shot, Lucky!"
The attack didn't leave long effects, however, as Xaldin got back to his feet and launched his lances towards Lucky's position, forcing him to run away and change his hiding spot. Roman also started running away, getting on his four paws to escape the raging Nobody. While trying to hit him from behind with his lances, Xaldin stepped on another trap, this one setting him on fire long enough for the hunter to escape.
For the next many minutes, the encounter summed up to Roman and Lucky leading Xaldin to one trap, catching him with a brief, surprise attack, and then escape across the forest to repeat the process. The Whirlwind Lancer was too blinded by his anger and rage to come up with a different strategy.
But after falling into many traps, Xaldin had enough. "This has gone on long enough! I'm gonna end this once and for all! DRAGOON STORM!" His six lances fused together and took the form of a dragon, on the head of which Xaldin jumped. The 'dragon' blew a powerful gust of wind that destroyed practically every ounce of forest around. In the process, it took out Roman's traps whilst knocking he and his companion away.
"... What... the heck... was that?!" Roman asked after getting out from underneath a trunk with Lucky. After giving a quick look at his surroundings, he took realization of the situation. "Crap! Without the forest, we can no longer hide nor take him by surprise! And all my traps have been destroyed too! This is no good..."
Xaldin slowly floated towards their position with a glare. "Listen to me well: it doesn't matter if you're from the Magical World, from the Real World, a replica or even a Nobody - anyone who looks down on me and my power will be crushed!"
The Nobody charged with his lances swinging all around him at tremendous speed, forcing Roman and Lucky on the defensive, the wolf with his survival knives and the Predator with his arm blades. Sparkles were sent flying all around as the many blades connected over and over again. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, the partners just could not keep up with Xaldin's speed, the lances hitting them many times, eventually knocking them to the ground.
"Dang... it...!" Roman groaned whilst struggling to get up and staring at Lucky, who seemed to be in as much pain as he was.
Xaldin slowed down his lances to a stop, giving an air of superiority towards his enemies. "Taking down the two of you will be a great pleasure for me. Don't take it personally: I am a Nobody, a being devoid of a heart or purpose, while you are living beings with feelings and ambitions. We were destined to fight as soon as our paths crossed - that's how it has always been. And out of this fight can only one come out alive. That's the rule of survival!" He narrowed his eyes a bit because Roman was back up, but looked at Lucky with his back facing his enemy. "I know I'm no one to make demands, but would you have the dignity to face me before losing this fight - and your life? I didn't think you were the kind to fear defeat!"
Accessing to his request, Roman slowly turned around... to reveal a wide, almost sadistic smirk that stretched across his face and bared his fangs. His amber eyes were glowing with malice. "Fear? Are you kidding?! I haven't felt this alive in forever!" He stared at one of his paws, curling it into a fist. "After so much time catching dumb criminals that always go down with only two hits... This is something else! The excitation of the fight, my survival instincts at their best, the adrenaline of my life being on the line... Everything's here! I haven't felt all of this a single time since coming to the Magical World - my heart's beating faster than a motorboat!"
For a moment, Xaldin remained still, not sure what to think of what he was seeing. "This is the first time I see someone so excited to be on the verge of defeat... Just who the heck are you? I thought you were one of those soft-hearted kids who love making speeches about friendship and dreams."
A loud, almost exaggerated chuckle escaped Roman's throat. "That's not my kind: I won't break into a long speech about how I care about my teammates and wanna save that young boy, Sora. To be completely honest, I don't have a clue about who I'm saving - I never played a single Kingdom Hearts game! Not only that, but I don't even know that much about the rest of my group as well..."
"Really? Then what reason pushed you to come all the way here and put your life on the line?"
Roman grinned softly. "It's that guy, Logan. When I first met him, I wasn't sure what to think... But when he asked for help to rescue his friend... he had that fire in his eyes. I don't know why, but my instincts told me I would be right to follow him on his quest. That's why I decided to trust them and come here."
"What?! You chose to face an army of Nobodies and put your life - alongside your partner's - on the line, based on instincts alone?! That's stupid!" Xaldin bellowed.
"You think that... But it was my instincts that guided me through every challenge I faced as a hunter, that instructed me to come here, to the Magical World, and that told me to take my job as a security agent... I never regretted any of those decisions! Just like I don't regret that one!" Roman once again rose his survival knives. "Let's keep this fight going on - I don't want it to end now!"
Many seconds of silence passed before Xaldin talked again: "You can act all tough as much as you want; even a clown can see that you're on your last legs!"
"Am I?" Reaching into one of his pockets, the wolf took out a needle that he planted in his neck, injecting the content inside. His pupils dilated, his veins getting visible both on the sides of his head and his arms, and a growl blasted out of his throat. "I usually prefer winning with only my survival skills and equipment, but a little adrenaline rush won't hurt too much in this case!"
Seeing the wolf charging at him, Xaldin quickly re-activated his defense whirlwind to make his lances dance around him. As soon as he collided with it, Roman made sparks fly all around the place once more. Thanks to his adrenaline rush, he moved even faster than before, actually managing to strike hard enough to pull the lances back and break through the defense to land blows on Xaldin. The Nobody, however, was not about to lose like this and used his higher number of blades to his advantage: for every strike Roman landed, Xaldin would land three... Yet, it didn't stop the hunter's charge for more.
"What's wrong with him?!" Xaldin thought to himself. "No matter how many times I hit, he doesn't falter at all! In fact, his grin seems to grow bigger with every hit - is that saliva I see in the corners of his mouth?" After receiving a jab across, the face, Xaldin glared angrily. "Alright, that's enough! Time to stay down for good, hunter!"
With a flip of his hands, Xaldin made all six of his lances come to a stop, turn around, and then fly to go plant themselves into different parts of Roman's body. This time, the anthropomorphic wolf ceased moving completely, his body staggering forward.
Xaldin grinned whilst panting heavily. "I was scared for a second there... You can have all the will and instincts in the world, in the end, true power is what always comes on top-"
SLASH!
Roman's body suddenly jolted up, his two survival knives cutting across Xaldin in an X. For a few seconds, the Nobody remained still, looking at the smirking wolf with his eyes wide open. His mouth trembled. "But... How...?!"
Despite the pain and fatigue, Roman leaned forward and mumbled in Xaldin's ear: "I'll tell you once again, just to make sure you don't forget the name of the one who defeated you. My name... is Roman Volk!"
The six lances faded away, Xaldin doing the same seconds after. His body turned into a light ball that transformed into a key. While he did manage to take the item in his gloved paw, Roman suddenly found himself resting on his knees. The effects of the adrenaline started fading away, causing him to feel the sequels to the inhuman feat he just accomplished.
"... Eh, eh, eh...," he softly chuckled. "I'm sorry, guys... Looks like I have to leave the rest... to you..." Collapsing on the ground, Roman closed his eyes, passing out from the fatigue and pain.
Almyra and Judy analyzed their surroundings. "Where are we? I've never been here before," the peafowl remarked. "Do you know what world this is, Judy?"
The bunny shook her head. "Can't say I do. It seems we're in a valley of some sorts," she remarked, poking at one of the valley's walls that seemed to be made of blue crystal. Another detail caught her attention. "Hey, what's this?" She pointed at a large figure standing far in the distance.
"Hmm..." Almyra leaned forward and shielded her eyes from the sun with her wing. "I can't say for sure, but from my perspective, it looks like a castle that is falling in ruins..." Widening her eyes, she snapped her feathered fingers with a smile. "I got it! Maybe we're supposed to get over there to start our fight - it seems like the kind of place where heroes would be forced to fight the villains in a video game."
Judy rubbed her chin. "Yeah, that would make sense. Let's go!"
The two friends were about to start running in the castle's direction, when a strong noise was suddenly blasted across the valley. It was so strong that Almyra and Judy were forced to cover their ears to avoid becoming deaf. "W-What the heck is that sound?! It's annoying!" Almyra exclaimed.
"Well, try to imagine what it's like for someone with ears like mine!" Judy yelled through the noise.
Whilst protecting their ears, the two girls managed to locate the source of this ear-piercing wreck. Somebody was standing on top of the valley's wall, rushing his fingers over what looked like a guitar. "Welcome to my concert, people of Hollow Bastion!" he yelled with a grin before finally putting an end to his little 'concert'. This man had cyan eyes and dirty-blond hair pulled in a mullet-like style, some bangs falling over his face. And, of course, he wore the traditional black coat of Organization XIII members.
"It is time for us to fight until only one side is remain...?!" The blond man stopped talking and simply stared at the two girls with a blank expression.
Almyra raised an eyebrow. "... Well? Continue your speech."
"... Y-You... You..." His face twisted into an expression of awe. Before he could say anything else, the man comically tripped over his own foot and fell down back first on the valley's ground.
"Oh my gosh! Are you alright?" Judy asked in concern.
"Yeah, yeah, don't worry; I'm alive!" the man assured as he got back up and cracked his aching back. "When The Inventor said I would have to fight two invaders, he forgot to mention they would be beautiful, young ladies. Wanna go on a date tonight?"
An awkward silence settled in, Almyra and Judy showing expressions mixing confusion... and a hint of disgust. "You wanna go on a date when we're about to fight?" the peafowl asked as she crossed her wings.
"I know what you're thinking: a scary and imposing guy like me can't possibly be good - especially since I'm a Nobody. But don't worry: I do have a heart, too, and I know how to be a gentleman with girls."
"That's not exactly it," Judy said. "No offense, but you're not exactly villain-esque, you know what I mean? You look more like the kind of guy who tries so hard to be bad that it actually becomes sad and pitiful."
"Hey! You shouldn't judge anyone by appearance!" the blond man defended himself.
Almyra tilted her head to the side. "So? I take it you're one of the Nobodies Logan said we would face up against?"
A grin forming on his face, the man took a pose with his guitar. "You betcha! I'm Demyx, the Melodious Nocturne, number IX of Organization XIII!"
"That's what I thought." Almyra placed her headphones on her ears, assuming her fighting stance, while Judy took out her shock pistol. "Let's get our fight started then!"
Demyx dropped his cool pose and nervously rubbed the back of his head. "Hum..."
"What?" Judy asked.
"It's just that... Fighting isn't really my thing. I don't like being all aggressive and wild, y'know?" Demyx explained.
The two girls comically blinked their eyes in disbelief at the same time. "... What the heck? You're a member of a super villain organization, and you don't like to fight? What's that joke?" Almyra asked. An awkward silence settled, with everybody exchanging hesitant expressions. The peafowl sighed. "Okay then, you have a guitar, what would you say about a dance fight?"
"Dance fight? Me? Tops!" Demyx beamed, giving two thumbs up.
Almyra nodded with a smile before turning her headphones on and started dancing to the song. Using her Dance of the Mystical Veils, she allowed her magic to flow around and touch Demyx, affective his feelings to make him not afraid to fight anymore. He played a few notes of his guitar and yelled: "Dance, water, dance!" to summon water clones of himself. "You have 40 seconds to defeat 50 of my water clones, or you lose the match by default!"
"Hey, no fair! You don't have the right to add rules to the match like this!" Judy protested.
Almyra, however, did not seem bothered. "Don't worry, Judy; I think we can handle this." The peafowl jumped in the middle of the zone and pressed her two wings together in front of her as she started moving her waist in a circular motion. Soon, a ring of fire appeared around her and stretched all around to take out many water clones at once. She repeated the same trick multiple times to defeat the required amount of water clones before the end of the allowed time.
"A little heads up next time would be nice," Judy remarked as she brushed a little burn mark on her ear.
"H-How did you know that fire was useful against my clones?" Demyx asked in surprise. "Most of my former opponents either used ice or electricity!"
"That would've been a logical choice. Lucky for me, I made a lot of studies on the art of magic and learned that water clones are, in fact, weak against fire magic," Almyra explained with a grin. She turned her song back on and performed a few dance moves to summon smaller rings of fire around her wings. "Now, let's keep dancing, shall we?"
Demyx ran his fingers along his instrument once more, this time summoning big water balls that rained from above. Almyra flipped all over the place to avoid them, whilst Judy used her smaller size and ability to hop around to her advantage. For his next offense move, Demyx started summoning water geysers out of the ground and walls that could cause terrible damage, if connecting with the opponent. Whilst Judy once again bounced around, Almyra found herself having to dance to escape the attacks.
"Ha!" She pulled her head to the side to avoid a geyser from the wall. "Whoa!" She would've been hit from the side, had she not sucked her stomach in at the last second. "Watch out!" A geyser dashed straight at her, forcing the peafowl to perform an impressive back bend Matrix style to avoid it.
The two girls quickly realized they were not going to win by just avoiding all the attacks and decided to take the fight to Demyx. Almyra swung and launched her fire rings at him (they always returned to her after every launch) while Judy backed her up with electric projectiles from her shock pistol. Despite not moving fast, Demyx could rapidly summon his geysers and water balls, making it hard to actually hit him.
"That's not good; at this rate, we're never gonna touch him!" Almyra remarked with a frown.
Judy thought about the situation, then snapped her fingers as she came up with a plan. "I know what to do, Almy. Listen..." She mumbled her plan into the peafowl's ear, making her nod her head a yes.
"Hey, what are you mumbling to each other? Don't leave me out like this!" Demyx said.
With their plan set in place, the two girls took action. Judy ran toward Demyx while Almyra performed a few dance moves to summon daggers made of ice in her wings. As they had predicted, Demyx played his guitar and attacked with geysers and water balls. The peafowl threw her ice daggers to freeze all the attacks on the spot, effectively preventing the Nobody from summoning as much as he wanted due to the space being limited. Judy bounced on the frozen geysers and balls to reach Demyx and used her strong legs to dropkick him far away.
"Aww, man!" Demyx groaned as he got back up. "I hate when my opponent can use ice - it can just freeze all my attacks and leave me with no chance to win at all! Not cool!"
Almyra looked at her opponent... before smiling. "Alright then, if that bothers you so much, then I'll just stop using ice spells."
"Really?" Demyx beamed.
"Y-You're not being serious, Almyra?!" Judy asked, her eyes widened in shock. "We can easily beat him with your ice spells!"
"Sure, but the victory would be way too easy. Let's make things funnier, shall we?" the princess peafowl said with a smile and a wink. She looked back at her opponent. "Alright, Demyx; it's your turn to attack!"
Nodding, the Melodious Nocturne played a few notes and made other water clones appear. "This time, you have 30 seconds to defeat 60 of my water clones!"
Far from looking bothered, Almyra placed her wings on her hips and grinned. "You call this move 'Water Dance', don't you? In that case, how about I show you my 'Sword Dance'?" She once again danced, using her Dance of the Mystical Veils to summon seven scimitars around her. Controlling them through her magic, she made the seven swords float around at great speed and cut down every water clone in their way. "Got anything better?"
Judy stood back, casually looking at the Mystical Dancer trading spells and attacks with the Melodious Nocturne, both of them having fun. She rubbed the back of her head. "This is supposed to be a very serious battle... and yet, they make it look like it's just a sparing session between two friends..."
"I still got two VERY strong attacks that you haven't seen yet; want me to show them?" Demyx offered.
"I'd be delighted," Almyra answered.
"Alright... Dance, water, dance!" Playing possibly the strongest notes he ever played so far, the Nobody summoned an army of water clones all around the place. "This is the best version of my Water Dance, with a hundred clones! This time, I'll give you no time limit; just try to deal with them as good as you can!"
"Thanks. I think I have just what it takes to deal with that." The Mystical Dancer placed her wings on her hip and started rolling her tummy at a fast pace, slowly creating a turquoise fireball in front of her. The faster she performed her dance move, the faster it gained in size. "Take that: Peafowl Meteor!" Once it was big enough, she hit the fireball with her hip, sending it flying in the sky, where it exploded and sent many smaller meteors to crash onto the water clones. They all got wiped out in one go.
"Wow, that was pretty good!" Demyx exclaimed with a smile. "Now, time to conclude the concert with my final, best attack. Look at this!" He started jamming his guitar at fast speed, slowly building up a water ball - the same way Almyra just did with her Peafowl Meteor.
"I see what's happening here. How about I play that game too?" Taking position, Almyra started shimmying her hips as fast as she could, also building up her own water ball.
The two water balls kept gaining in size. Once they were about the size of ten watermelons combined, the two opponents stopped moving, exchanged a grin, and then, with a yell, launched them forward. Upon colliding, the attacks exploded, with water being sent everywhere. Almyra and Demyx got pushed back and left all wet, whilst Judy escaped this fate by taking cover behind a crystal stone. After getting back up, they shook some of the water away before staring at each other... and laughing.
"Man, a real day at the beach without a beach!" Demyx mused. "Alright, it was fun and all, but I'm all out of juice now."
"Yeah; I like to dance, but it drains quite a lot outta me," Almyra agreed, feeling the tiredness from all the powerful spells she pulled off with her Dance of the Mystical Veils. "Judy and I cannot afford to lose; that would mean abandoning Sora to his fate. What now?"
Demyx thought about it. "Well, I'd like to throw away the fight and end it there... but The Inventor doesn't allow my program to do so. The only way for me to lose is to be defeated. So, I guess that's what you have to do." He sighed with a sad expression. "This sucks... If I wasn't a virtual replica meant for only one event, I would've taken you out on a date."
Almyra looked at the Nobody with a sorry expression. She decided to walk over to him, and planted a kiss on his cheek, making him widen his eyes and turn as red as a cherry. "W-What was that for?!"
"I may be wrong, but I have a feeling that might have been what I would've done, had you taken me out on a date, like you suggested," the peafowl explained with a shy smile. "Since there won't be one, I decided to go ahead with it..."
The two opponents remained in an awkward silence for a while, both of them blushing cutely. "Hum... Thanks...," Demyx finally said. "So... What are you gonna do to defeat meEEEEERGH!" He yelped in pain as he felt strong jolts coursing through his body. Upon collapsing on the ground, Almyra got to see Judy standing behind him with her shock pistol out.
"Judy! What did you do?"
"What? It was the fastest, most effective way to take him down," the ZPD agent answered with a shrug. Demyx's body turned into a light ball, and then, into a little key that she took in her hand. "Great! We won our fight! The others will be... Huh, are you okay, Almy? You look sad."
The Mystical Dancer crossed her wings, looking at the ground. "It's this guy... I know that he was just a replica, but let's keep in mind that he's based on someone real. From what I could understand, he wasn't evil; just lazy - the kind of guy who receives no expectation from anybody. He wouldn't even have fought us right here, right now, had I not used my powers to motivate him. It's almost like everything he did... was because he has been forced to do so..."
"... Yeah, there's true to what you're saying," Judy agreed, also looking down. "But he's gone now; what do you wanna do?"
Almyra thought about it for many seconds before giving a serious look to her friend. "Once all of this is over, I'm gonna go out and search for the REAL Demyx..."
Tomada and Dory exited a forest, finding themselves at the gates of what appeared to be an abandoned manor. "That's weird...," the falcon mumbled whilst rubbing his chin and staring at the structure. "I feel like I've seen this place before, but I can't put my finger where..."
"Don't worry. I know that feeling; it happens to me all the time," Dory assured. "Sometimes, I forget details about the Great Barrier Reef - and yet, I've lived there for... Huh, a very long time!" The floating fish turned her attention back to the manor. "Come on, let's go see what's in there!"
"Wait, Dory," Tomada said, grabbing his friend by the fin. "We don't know anything about this place; it may not be a good idea to just charge in like this."
The blue tang chuckled a bit at this. "Now, Tomada, do you know what you gotta do when things seem unsure?" The falcon rolled his eyes and started singing with her: "Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim."
This time, it was Dory who took Tomada's wing and led him towards the manor. However, before they could reach the gates, Tomada widened his eyes and froze on the spot. "Wait a minute: something's coming!"
Indeed, a portal that seemed to mix darkness and ice appeared between the duo and the gates. Out of it came a man cloaked in the Organization XIII's outfit, his slender, almost skeletal face covered by two bangs of his dirty blond hair. He grinned at the duo.
"Who are you?" Dory asked.
"I'm Organization XIII's number IV, Vexen," the man simply replied, the grin never leaving his face.
Tomada and Dory stared at the named Vexen for a few seconds before the former blinked his eyes and crossed his wings. "Vixen? That's a strange name... but then again, it's true that your face looks like that of a fox... More that of a male than a female's."
"What? No, not 'Vixen'! I said 'Vexen', with an E!" the Nobody explained.
"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to vex you there," Tomada said, laughing at his pun alongside his blue friend. Vexen's eye twitched a bit at this. "Anyway," he sighed after the laughing died down, "you said you were part of Organization XIII, huh? So, you're like those Nobodies that we fought moments ago, but stronger?"
Regaining a certain level of pride, Vexen ran a hand through his hair and grinned. "Indeed. We, Organization XIII, rule over Castle That Never Was and also control every Nobody. However, despite holding such a prestigious position, I must admit that I, myself, am not that great of a fighter. I'm a scientist. Experiments are what I do, yes. Even though I am but a replica of the real one, I have been charged by Ansem in person to lead research on everything related to the heart and darkness. It's the thing I enjoy the most in the world!"
The Nobody leaned forward, giving an interesting look at the two animals. "You two are quite interesting. I was hoping my master, The Inventor, would allow me to face and analyze either the young boy who serves as your leader or that mysterious century-old human... But I guess it wouldn't hurt to study you either. In any case, I always enjoy giving a welcome party of the highest quality to my new test subjects"
"A party?!" Dory suddenly exclaimed with a smile. "Oh, great, I love parties! Hope there'll be balloons, like those at Bruce's party." She leaned towards her friend and mumbled: "Just don't get too close to them; they can explode."
Vexen blinked his eyes while his face was twisted by a confused expression. "No! Not that kind of party! My, what's wrong with you kids' minds? Back to the subject at hand, what do you say about throwing this encounter away and following me now? That way, we can start the tests and end this little game all at once. Once The Inventor has Sora's heart, he will take us all with him to the Magical World, where I'll be able to-"
"Dude, stop it," Tomada suddenly cut him off. "Not to be rude or anything, but we didn't come here to hear your whole backstory and chat about your plans. If we're here, it's to defeat you and rescue Sora. If you wanna talk, then do it whilst we fight."
The Nobody said nothing for a moment... before chuckling. "So eager to begin the fight... when it has already begun!"
Tomada raised a curious eyebrow. He then noticed a circular sigil with the Nobodies' symbol glowing beneath his feet. Memories of watching Kingdom Hearts 2 videos surfacing, he quickly jumped away, with the sigil going after him. "Dory! Stay away from this sigil; Vexen can use it to scan your abilities and create a clone of you if you step over it!"
"... Huh, what?" the blue tang asked with a confused expression.
Understanding he needed to use words she could understand, Tomada quickly thought about it before talking again: "This is part of the game. We need to defeat this guy while avoiding this little circle as much as possible. If we stay on it for too long, we lose, understand?"
"Oh, this sounds like a fun game! Let's play it!" the female fish beamed.
With the situation understood for his friend, Tomada turned his attention back to Vexen, taking out his tomahawk. "Ancestors, watch over me and grant me strength!" he mumbled before throwing his little weapon at the Nobody.
Vexen summoned a large, spiked shield that deflected the tomahawk, sending it back in the falcon's hand. Not stopping there, he charged forward and took out his double-bladed sword to engage his enemy in close combat, the blades sending sparks flying everywhere every time they collided with the shield. Under normal circumstances, he would have no trouble moving all around and cut Vexen down, but with the sigil following him everywhere, he couldn't just follow the trajectories he wanted. Not only that, but Vexen could also use his Ice Magic to fight back - first showcasing it when he summoned snowflakes that cut the falcon and pushed him back.
"That was a bit too close!" Tomada remarked, noticing the few feathers he had lost. "Dory, can you help me with your Bubble Magic, please?"
"With pleasure," Dory politely responded, summoning her notebook that floated next to her, and searching through the pages for a good trick. "Wait... There! Bubble Breath!" She took a deep breath before blowing a big bubble that flew at Vexen, the Nobody blocking the attack with his shield.
"Did you just burp at me?" Vexen asked in an offended tone.
"No, not at all! I just focused my magic inside my stomach to create a bubble that I then released at you," Dory explained.
"... That's exactly what a burp is," Vexen deadpanned. "I'm gonna teach you kids good manners!" Summoning two ice pillars from the ground, Vexen smacked them with his shield, sending many little shards of ice to hit his enemies.
While they were both on the ground in pain, Vexen sent his sigil to scan Tomada before his enemies could recover. Luckily, the anthropomorphic avian managed to regain his senses and move away before too much data could be claimed. "For a non-fighter, this guy's pretty tough. I think it's time to call for some reinforcement." He sat down and focused, his eyes glowing lime-green as a pack of spirit wolves of the same color appeared and attacked.
Try as he might, Vexen could not block all the spirit wolves with his shield, some of their attacks breaking through. There was also Dory, who launched bubble attacks at him, causing the Nobody to take a lot of damage. "That's enough!" Vexen summoned sharp snowflakes that span around him, cutting down all the spirit wolves and making them disappear.
His next move was to invoke a blizzard all over the zone that trapped both Tomada and Dory in ice. By the time he managed to break free and then release his fish friend afterwards, the sigil had finished gathering data on him. It returned to its owner and disappeared.
"Good, good. Now, the real fun can begin." Using his powers, Vexen summoned a copy of Tomada, this one being made entirely of darkness with glowing yellow eyes. It took the exact same stance as the real one.
"Great, now I have to face my own Dark Link!" Tomada sarcastically mumbled as he once again took out his double-bladed sword. He engaged his clone in combat, their blades clashing and creating a piercing noise. The poor falcon quickly realized his clone could not only match his speed, but also his movements - he could not take him out.
Deciding to not waste his energy against him, Tomada swiftly took out his crossbow and shot directly at Vexen. The Nobody blocked it with little difficulty. "Too amusing, I no longer need to analyze any of your attacks." He shot a sharp snowflake that cut Tomada on the shoulder. "I can now see them in advance and formulate strategies to counter each and every single one of them."
Saying that things took a turn for the worse would be an understanding. Despite his best efforts, Tomada could just not get rid of his clone as it copied every one of his moves and tactics - it could even summon spirits from the astral plane, just like him! Not only that, but Vexen even backed up the clone, striking the falcon, who could no fight back because all of his moves were now known by the mad scientist. Dory could not do much, as she had to keep moving to avoid the data collecting sigil.
"Urgh!" Tomada exclaimed as he got knocked to the ground by his copy. Covered in wounds, he coughed and only managed to get on his knees and wings whilst trying to endure the pain. "Must... not... stop... I must... keep fighting..."
Vexen approached the falcon, crossing his arms and holding his head high in a condescending way. "There is a reason you are losing and suffering at this moment, young one. It is because of your... inferiority," he bragged. "Even though they were not in capable hands - or wings - I have to admit your powers are pretty interesting. I think I will bring you to my lab for some tests, once all of this is done." He turned to look at Dory, who kept floating away from the data collecting sigil. "Too bad I cannot say the same about your companion. Guess I'll just make myself a little fish n' chip tonight..."
Tomada groaned, practically digging the feathered fingers of his wings into the ground. "I... can't... lose...! Sora's life is at stakes... And Logan's counting on me...!"
"Logan? The leader of your team?" Vexen asked before chuckling. "Oh, please. Everyone knows that a team is only as strong its leader... That's why the Nobody I'm based on chose to follow Ansem; he's the strongest of all the Nobodies. But it's different in your case. Before you all came to this world, The Inventor shared his knowledge about every Dream Defender with us, replicas. And you know what I found? Of all the Dream Defenders, Logan Jindrak has the biggest amount of defeats in combat and competitions." He leaned his head forward, his smirk bigger than ever. "Sorry to have to tell you... but your friend is what we call a loser."
Loser, loser, loser... This single word echoed through Tomada's mind an infinite number of times. Soon, he began to have flashbacks of his first days at school, in Canada. Due to his half-native American heritage, he struggled to fit in with the other kids. One day, he sat down with another boy, Logan, the two of them actually having fun chatting together. Then, when a passing kid made a mean remark in his regard, Logan tossed his food straight in his face, demanding an apology at the moment. The two engaged in a brawl, during which Logan punched a tooth out of the kid's mouth.
When the flashback ended, Tomada remembered words told to him by his uncle, when he was about to finish his shaman training under his tutelage. "You are wise and have a brave heart, Tomada. A heart that seeks companionship beyond anything else. If you meet a person who you care for and want to be with, then do everything you can to be with this person. Don't seek excuses to push them away. Show your love and commitment in every little gesture, no matter how small and insignificant they may seem. If this person truly counts for you, then he or she will inevitably be willing to do the same for you..."
"... Logan... If I lose here and now... you will be disappointed, won't you?"
His face twisting into a frown, the peregrine falcon managed to stagger back to his two feet. The glare filled with silent anger in his eyes sent a shiver down Vexen's spine. Without saying anything else, he pushed a battle cry and started attacking his clone with more ferocity than before - actually managing to push it back!
"W-Where did he found the strength to attack again?!" Vexen asked. "Just a few moments ago, he clearly was on the verge of passing out... Yet, here he is, fighting like nothing happened at all!" At this moment, he noticed that Dory stopped floating away from the data collecting sigil to catch a break, allowing the little circle to reach her. "Good! Another copy will surely be of good help right now!" He started taking in data from the blue fish... only to have it stop and reset all of a sudden. Confused, Vexen kept trying to take in Dory's data, only to have it stop and reset every time. "W-What does that mean?! Why isn't it working?!"
"I got it!" Tomada mumbled. "That sigil is supposed to collect data on the target's skills and strategies... but since Dory's always forgetting things because of her short-term memory loss, the sigil has to always change the data it's collecting! Hey, Dory! Enough with the game; can you shoot some bubbles at this shadow that looks like me?"
The blue tang did just that, opening her notebook and sending bubbles that stunned Tomada's copy upon popping around his head. This allowed the real Tomada to pierce his double-bladed sword through it, making the copy fade away into smoke. With the clone gone, he could now focus his attention on Vexen once more.
"I-Impossible!" Vexen exclaimed whilst struggling to block the falcon's attacks with his shield. Despite knowing his skills and powers, Tomada's speed made it hard for the Nobody to counter-attack. "How could that fish escape my creation?! Her memory problem is supposed to be a handicap!"
"Yeah, a handicap that caused your defeat!" Tomada exclaimed. He switched his sword for his mace, smacking it so fast and hard against Vexen' shield that it eventually shattered into pieces. "This is for calling me a bad shaman!" He hit his mace into Vexen's stomach. "This is for wanting to turn Dory into food!" He smacked his mace against Vexen's cheek, knocking him against a stone. "And that..." He switched his mace for his double-bladed sword, giving a soul-piercing glare. "... That's for calling Logan a loser!"
With a battle cry, Tomada slashed his sword, cutting the stone Vexen was resting on in half. The Nobody in question coughed and convulsed before his body turned into a light ball that itself became a little key. "Oh, look, I found a key!" Dory beamed as she came to take the little object in her fins. "You think this is our prize for winning the game?"
"Yeah, I think it is, Dory," Tomada chuckled. He then looked up at the sky with a smile. "I did it, Logan... I did it..."
Author's note: Three more victories for Team Underdog (as TheDragonSaver likes to call it)! At this rate, Sora can already consider himself saved!
This chapter revealed that Roman possesses the power of Trap Magic. While I wanted to introduce it in the same chapter where we meet him for the first time, I didn't manage to find any way to do so. It was a good chance to show it, here. My decision to put Xaldin as Roman and Lucky's opponent comes from my desire to show the two hunters pushed to their limit. Since direct fighting isn't their thing, I thought it would be good to use the forest around the Beast's castle (the same place where Xaldin is fought in Kingdom Hearts 2) as a hunting ground for Roman and Lucky. Plus, that 'power versus instincts' scene at the end make me feel super excited!
Pitting Almyra and Judy against Demyx was possibly the easiest decision to take in this arc. Since Almyra and Demyx both have magic centered around music/dancing, I knew that I wanted them to face when I took the decision to have Logan's team face Organization XIII's replicas. This was also a good opportunity to showcase the Mystical Dancer's kind nature: since Demyx is a laid-back guy who doesn't like fighting, unlike his comrades, and only does so when forced to, Almyra got to use her Dance of the Mystical Veils to cheer him up and make him feel like this was a dance battle for fun. Since the two kinda became friend by the end of their fight, it seems like she will go looking for the real Demyx after Sora is saved. I just hope I didn't make her too OP in this chapter, seeing as her Dance of the Mystical Veils is supposed to work like Gabriel's Fantasia magic, but with dance instead of music.
It took me some time to decide who Tomada and Dory would get to fight, but in the end, I realized having two simple-minded characters against the science-obsessed member of OG XIII would make for entertaining interactions. I admit that I had maybe a little too much fun having Tomada and Dory getting on Vexen's nerves. Plus... cancelling his data collecting sigil's effects was a good way to make use of Dory's shot-term memory loss, don't you think? We even got a little glimpse of Tomada's life before coming to the Magical World and how he reacts to people insulting Logan.
Stay stunned until next chapter: the fight against the virtual Organization XIII continues!
