Sorry this chapter is a week late. I was busy with end-of-semester projects and an exam. That didn't exactly stop this chapter from existing, but I wanted to actually keep a good enough lead in terms of pre-written chapters. Recently, I've been completing one chapter a week at most while posting two chapters a week, and I didn't want it to get all caught up and leave me with no lead time. We'll see about next week, where I'll have final exams to deal with.

Without further ado, here we go.

Chapter 82

Dark Hide

Sora sprinted ahead, running as fast as he could in hopes of catching up to the monster. Heartless appeared in his path, but he simply ran past them, not even summoning his Keyblade to engage with any attacks. The Heartless were confused at the fact that the strange creature with flesh had completely ignored them, so confused that they did not bother going after the five other creatures that ran by.

After a few minutes of running, Sora slowed down and finally stopped to catch his breath. At that moment, while his panic had subsided and allowed him to think somewhat clearly, he realized that he had no idea where the beast had actually gone. The very fact that his path had been swarming with Heartless proved that the monster had not come this way. Losing the strength to stand, he fell backwards onto his rear end as he realized that he had lost Kairi, lost her to an enormous predatory hunter, and he had no idea where she could be.

"Sora!" he heard Riku's voice call. He turned his head until he could see Riku, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Aqua running toward him.

"Gosh, you shouldn't run off like that," Mickey advised. "We can't risk getting separated."

"Sorry," Sora replied. "But we have to find Kairi!"

"We won't be able to find her running around without a clear idea of what we're up against," Donald scolded. "Besides, she's a Princess of Heart. I doubt that thing will have an easy time making a snack out of her."

Sora shook his head. "That doesn't totally mean she's in the clear," he said gravely.

"What do you mean?" Mickey asked, concerned by his tone.

Sora shivered. "Right before the monster grabbed her, Kairi cast Firaga at it," he recounted. "But somehow, as the spell was launched, it lit her arm on fire." Everyone's eyes widened in shock at that. "She had some nasty burns. We can't leave her all alone with burns and blisters like that."

Goofy appeared confused. "But, how could that have happened?" he asked. "Your spells don't backfire on you. Well, not unless they're repelled."

Donald shook his head. "There's a reason you don't jump up to the stronger levels at beginner level," he argued. "I had to limit myself to the first-tier spells when we first met Sora so he wouldn't try to do the big ones too soon."

Sora raised his eyebrow. "Really? What's the problem?" he asked.

Donald groaned. "You don't get the stronger spells until your heart develops the sense and fortitude to protect your body from their effects! Spells like Fire, Blizzard and Thunder send brief flares in all directions, like a gun's recoil. Without the proper sense to shield your body as you cast the spell, you'll hurt yourself. Since she was already accustomed to Fira, it probably didn't burn her as much as it could have…"

"WHAT?!" Sora and Riku shouted, horrified. It could've been worse? Sora thought.

"Gee, it would've been nice to tell us about that while we were training in the Mirage Arena!" Sora snapped.

Donald shrugged defensively. "I figured she was fine as long as she stuck to a level she was comfortable with," he claimed. "I didn't expect something like this, where those spells weren't strong enough to do anything to it, making her desperate enough to try something like that."

"Whatever the case, we need to find her fast," Riku said, reminding them to focus on the task at hand. "Before that thing hurts her, and before her burns become infected."

Aqua nodded. "Fortunately, I've faced those things a few times in the last month… about two years for you. And in the last few weeks…" She flashed a knowing smirk. "I know where the predators of the dark hide."

"You know, Jiminy, I think 'Predator of the Dark' has a better ring to it than what you're suggesting," Sora told the cricket.

Jiminy shrugged. "To me, it sounds kinda clunky," he argued.

"Whatever," Sora said, deciding not to drag the debate. He and his friends followed Aqua, who was paying close attention to the terrain for reference points and using them to determine the path to the monster's lair.

"So, Aqua, you've fought these things before?" Riku asked.

Aqua nodded. "Two, maybe three. Hard to keep track. And it could've been the same one for all I know," she replied.

Goofy raised an eyebrow. "Gawrsh, does that mean you've never beaten them?" he asked fearfully.

Aqua shook her head. "I barely escaped with my life the first time, though I did manage to stun it long enough for me to escape. After that, I didn't exactly want to push my luck. Though, I did follow one from a good enough distance to study its hunting patterns, so I wouldn't get caught by surprise again."

Mickey gulped. "Gosh, that doesn't do a lot for our confidence," he lamented.

Sora shook his head. "Guys, focus! This thing's tough, but we've beat bigger Heartless. And we did it together," he told his companions, trying to rally them up. "We were taken by surprise before, but this time it's us who will have the element of surprise. We didn't come all this way just to lose to one monster."

After a moment, Riku, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Aqua smiled. "Sora's right. We can handle whatever comes our way," Goofy agreed cheerfully.

Aqua let out a chuckle. "Of course," she said. She looked away, her smile fading as she became lost in thought. Maybe if we had been together through it all, none of this would have happened…

Aqua continued to lead them through the dark mountain, the scenery gradually becoming more cavernous. There were several cracked rocks nearby, indicating that something big had been crashing into them. Territorial disputes between the Dark Hides, perhaps?

As they continued on, Sora grew tired of the silence, and there was a lot that he wanted to ask Aqua about. "Hey, Aqua? What was it like, training with your friends?" he inquired.

Aqua smiled wistfully at the memories of more innocent times. "Every day of learning was enlightening. And training alongside Terra and Ven, I couldn't ask for happier memories," she replied. "At first, it was just me and Terra. We teased and fought, and we laughed and had fun. Ven came when I was fourteen. He was about eleven. To you, it would have been about sixteen years ago. At first, he was quiet and introverted. He suffered amnesia due to his heart being damaged when he was being trained by Master Xehanort."

"Wait, what?" Sora blurted in shock.

"I don't know the full details, but Xehanort was trying to mold him into a warrior with a heart of pure darkness so he could pit him against someone with pure light to forge the χ-blade. Things didn't work out, so Xehanort ripped the darkness out of his heart, creating a separate entity, Vanitas," Aqua elaborated.

"Oh, yeah. I guess the King did mention that," Sora recalled. "Go ahead."

"So, Ven started out quiet and nervous, but Terra and I befriended him and helped him open up," Aqua continued. "He became a sort of little brother to us. We trained and played together, and we all dreamed of one day becoming Keyblade Masters."

Riku chuckled. "Not too bad a dream," he mused.

Aqua nodded. Talking about her time with her friends with people who were more than happy to listen seemed to cheer her up. "Master Eraqus was a good teacher. He was a wise mentor, and he could be stern, but cared a lot for the three of us. I listened to his lessons dutifully. I guess you could say I was a bit of a teacher's pet," she joked. Or, I suppose, a "Daddy's girl"… she thought, considering the depth of her relationship with her friends and mentor. "He would tell us that we should never give in to the darkness, saying that it would be best if it were destroyed completely."

"I can see his point, but I'm not sure if that really is the best course of action," Riku argued. Aqua turned to look at him in surprise. "I used to think that way, mostly after I let my own darkness consume me. But I've since learned that I can use the powers my darkness gives me to do good."

"He's right. Light and darkness are two sides of the same coin," Mickey affirmed. "Neither is exclusively good or evil; it's all about how you use it."

Aqua pondered their words. "Huh. I wonder… Cinderella's fairy godmother did warn me that I couldn't simply fight darkness with light, as light just casts deeper shadows."

While she considered the reasoning of that line of thinking, Aqua continued to lead them through the cavernous terrain. Soon, they came to a dim area with a low ceiling. There were spots all over the place where it was clear stalactites and stalagmites had formed only to be broken off and crushed to pieces by some sort of great force. The floor was littered with pieces of broken steel chain links.

"I guess this is it," Goofy commented. "The Dark Hide's hideout."

Aqua nodded. "Yep. We're in dangerous territory now," she said.

"Kairi's in there," Sora reminded everyone. "We have to do this."

"Keep in mind, everyone: we're here to rescue Kairi, not to get into a fight. Best case scenario, we find Kairi, heal her, and get her out safely. Worst case, we run into the Dark Hide, in which case we'll need to do everything in our power to get out alive and together," Mickey briefed the party.

Sora nodded. "There's always some way to beat them. Even if it takes more of a push," he said. "But if things go in a way where we don't have to get into a difficult fight, then we get Kairi and get out."

"Very well. Are we ready?" Aqua asked. Everyone around her nodded. She nodded in response. "Right. Then let's go in."

They proceeded quietly, doing their best to make as little sound as possible. Riku contemplated using his Silencing charm to make sure no noise escaped from them period, but he decided against it because a loud warning would be helpful if the Dark Hide started tracking them.

The monster's lair was surprisingly clean for the home of a vicious predator, though this could easily be chalked up to the fact that most Heartless dissipated on their deaths. Perhaps that sort of matter was enough to sustain most denizens of darkness, even though it probably would not do the same for a human from the Realm of Light. There was enough stone debris to mark the territory.

Goofy stopped and pointed when he saw a few drops of blood on the ground. Sora jumped and nearly shouted in his excitement. "That has to be Kairi," he whispered, common sense taking over just in time.

Donald crouched down to study the speck. "Not a lot of blood around here. That's good. She's not bleeding too much. You know, for a ferocious predator, it's pretty careful not to cause too much damage to the prey it captures," he observed.

"Well, if it were trying to bring a smaller Heartless back with it, it wouldn't want to crush it into smoke long before it's ready for it," Aqua surmised.

"Wait… Are you saying it hunts for a pack?" Riku asked, worried.

Aqua shook her head. "I doubt it. Maybe just saving something for later. This time, it could be that, or it saw Kairi hurt herself with her own spell, but not die, and got curious," she suggested. "I don't know how intelligent these things are, but that's a possibility."

Jiminy shrugged. "Feral or sapient, you're gonna wonder about stuff that doesn't make sense to you," he said. Then, realizing that he was partially visible inside of Mickey's pocket, he fidgeted with the zipper and closed it up as much as he could.

Aqua resumed in leading them through the cavern, all eyes keeping a lookout in all directions for a pair of red dots. Fortunately, the demonic eyes did not appear. However, they still listened closely for the sound of any footsteps or abnormal breathing.

Sora realized that he was not used to this form of tracking. Usually, he went from place to place heedless of anything that might notice him, and whatever Heartless, or Nobodies in certain circumstances, attacked would materialize out of the ground. Even when there was a giant boss-type enemy, it usually appeared out of nowhere in what was normally a prompted encounter. He had never been caught sneaking into a dark dungeon where a dangerous foe could be lying in wait, capable of striking and catching them off-guard at any time. It was quite an unnerving situation to be sure.

They tensed up when they heard a pained groan. They all looked around to find where the noise had come from. Sora, having recognized the voice, looked in the direction that he thought it had come from. The moment he heard the voice again, confirming the source's location, he ran toward it. The rest of the party quickly followed after him.

They found a wall with an immense hole in it, elevated by about ten feet off of the ground. The hole seemed large enough for something as big as the Dark Hide to jump through. Sora jumped up, then boosted his height with an aerial spin, and he caught the ledge at the apex of his ascent. He pulled himself up and, standing on the ledge, looked over into the pit. He grinned and nearly shouted in delight as he recognized the figure. Instead, to avoid alerting the beast to their presence, he turned around and gave a thumbs-up to his friends.

Aqua jumped up to the ledge in a similar manner to Sora, except she used some form of light magic to propel herself upward and double her height. Riku ran up the wall and stopped right next to Sora and Aqua. Mickey, Donald and Goofy stacked on top of each other in a ladder formation. When Mickey grabbed onto the ledge, Goofy climbed up his and Donald's backs to reach the top, then he helped Donald and then Mickey climb up.

They all jumped down into the pit, relieved to find that it was no deeper than the floor on the other side of the wall. Sora and Riku ran to Kairi's side. Her breathing was somewhat normal, though slightly faster than usual. Her gaze was unfocused, even as her closest friends came into view.

Riku examined her arm, visibly wincing at the sight of the nasty burns. Sora looked at it as well and was somewhat glad to see that it did not look any different than it did before the monster grabbed her.

"Good news: it doesn't look like it's gotten infected," Riku diagnosed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flask that resembled a golden Christmas ornament, which contained the restorative fluids of an elixir. "This should repair her burnt skin and restore her blistered tissue." He popped the cork out and poured the contents over Kairi's arm. In moments, true to form, the damaged skin healed and her arm looked good as new.

Kairi's eyes fluttered as her mind cleared. She groaned and looked around, sighing in relief when she saw Sora and Riku.

"Are you all right?" Sora asked.

Kairi nodded. "I am now," she replied. "Thanks." She tried to stand up but found that she was still too disoriented.

The boys wrapped their arms behind her back and helped her to her feet. They took a few steps until Kairi's head cleared and she started walking on her own.

"What happened earlier?" Kairi asked. "Your spells don't backfire on you."

"Turns out you need to develop the resistance to the higher level's power before you can cast it safely," Sora explained.

"Great. Good to know," Kairi replied sarcastically.

The three of them walked over to rejoin Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Aqua.

"Okay, Kairi. Can you let Naminé know that we're ready to head back?" Riku asked.

Aqua crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Naminé? That's her Nobody, right?" Aqua recalled Riku bringing the memory-manipulator up when recounting events. "How… Is she here?"

"Kairi and Naminé share a body," Riku clarified. Aqua mouthed Oh, understanding what was going on, sort of.

Kairi obligingly held her arm forward, but before she could let Naminé act, her eyes widened in terror. "Look out!" she shouted.

The others turned around and flinched in fright as they saw a massive form leap through the hole and land in front of them with a thud.

The Dark Hide had a purple quadrupedal body. Its feet were a brighter shade of purple. The hind feet had three toes each while the front feet had five toes each. Chains were wrapped around the ankles of the front legs, with a three-pronged hook attached to the end of either chain. Three magenta-colored spikes grew from the beast's spine. Its tail turned red toward the tip, where purple spikes stuck out around it. A mane of six magenta tentacles grew around its head. Bright blue markings glowed on the sides of its head, up the top two mane-tentacles, and along its back around the spikes.

Unlike how it had appeared when it had ambushed them, its eyes glowed yellow. Now that it had appeared up close, Sora, Riku and Mickey were able to process this trait and wonder why its eyes had appeared red earlier. However, Aqua had seen it enough times to deduce that its "red-eyes mode" was for night vision.

Sora noticed that the beast's form reminded him of the Dark Thorn which Xaldin had unleashed in Beast's Castle, except for the fact that Dark Thorn was bipedal and could turn invisible, and the fact that while Dark Thorn was almost entirely black with red "hair" and horns, the Dark Hide was multicolored. He found it quite curious that this Pureblood Heartless had a wider range of colors beyond dark blue and purple, as, aside from the glowing Water Cores, the most colorful of this type of creature that he had faced was the Invisible (which he hoped he would not have to run into).

All present summoned their weapons, preparing for a fight they would not be able to avoid.

The Dark Hide charged toward Sora, Riku and Kairi, apparently attempting to trample them. The three Keyblade wielders cast their most powerful Reflect spells. As the Heartless barreled over them, the shields exploded, causing it to tumble across the ground before crashing into the wall.

Not wasting a single moment, Sora, Riku and Aqua ran after the Heartless and attacked it while it was down. As it regained focus and began to stand itself up, it spun around, knocking them aside with its tail. As it slowed down, Mickey jumped onto it and grabbed its front spine with one hand, using the other to slash his Keyblade at the back of its head. The monster counterattacked by jumping up and performing a rapid flip in midair, shaking him off and causing him to crash into the ground.

The beast swiped at Sora, but the Keybearer rolled under the blow. Goofy blocked the head of the hook at the end of its chain, allowing it to clatter to the ground harmlessly. Donald launched Blizzaga spells at its feet, hoping to pin it in place, though it broke through the ice with little difficulty. The duck then launched a Firaga spell at the leg, hoping that the ice spell at least made it slightly more tender and susceptible to damage. This time, the leg flinched, offering encouragement in that it could be hurt.

Riku warped up in next to the Heartless and slashed at its side, then teleported above it and struck out at the base of its middle spike. Next, he appeared in front of it and stabbed at its face, then vanished before it could bite him. He appeared behind it and launched a volley of Dark Fire at its rear, then called up a Dark Shield to block its tail as it tried to knock him out of the air, causing it to bounce harmlessly away. Reappearing next to Sora, he smirked as he saw that he was provoking reactions out of it, which meant that they were doing something.

Mickey cast several light magic spells at the beast, jumping through the air both to avoid the angry monster's attacks and to get at it from all angles. The creature made of darkness turned out to not be so resilient to light magic and each hit caused it to become angrier. When he landed in front of it to deliver a frontal blast, it spat a large fireball at him, blasting him through the air.

Kairi threw her Keyblade at the monster, striking it in the right leg. It countered by turning toward her and jumping into the air, diving toward her while performing a rapid flip. Kairi dropped to the ground and rolled sideways to avoid getting hit.

Aqua cast several Fire spells at the fiend, then stopped and concentrated. Orange flames swirled around her body, ascending from her head, shoulders, arms, and hips and enveloping her Keyblade. Embers flared from the corners of her eyes. She launched herself forward, a burst of flame exploding under her feet to propel her toward her target. While healing Mickey with a Cure spell, Donald watched in awe as Aqua attacked with flame-tinged Keyblade strikes, flames exploding from every blow.

"Is that a…?" Donald was too shocked to finish the question.

Mickey nodded. "A Power Style," he finished. "I haven't learned to use them. I think they're mainly something that Eraqus put together for his students."

"Wow," was all Donald could say in response. He then quacked with fear as the Dark Hide jumped toward him and Mickey. Mickey managed to get out of the way in time, but Donald was barreled over and sent sprawling.

Aqua pursued it, dealing another combo as the flames around her flared up even more. Her style's power at its maximum, she jumped into the air and released it all in a series of fireballs, the orbs exploding into a blazing firestorm wherever they hit. The Heartless buckled under the powerful blasts. When Aqua landed, the flames around her had faded completely, leaving her in her normal state.

This only served to make the fiend angrier. It began to glow with different colors, and Riku could have sworn he saw red, green and blue copies of itself shifting in and out of its form. It leapt over the party and began running in circles around them, running so fast that it became a blur and it appeared as though they were surrounded by a wide vortex of chaotic energy.

The Dark Hide burst out of the vortex at lightning-fast speed, its eyes glowing a horrific red. The party ran aside to avoid getting plowed down. Goofy picked the already dazed Donald up and carried him out of the line of fire. As it charged by, the ground behind it burst aflame. Seconds after it vanished back into the vortex, it burst back out. However, Sora had gotten his bearings and figured out what was happening, so this time he threw his Keyblade into its path while he ran out of the way, hopping over the line of flames to avoid. He repeated this process with each jump, and Riku joined in by launching a Dark Fire volley from a safe distance, and Aqua threw her own Keyblade or an array of spells with each charge. Eventually, the Heartless slowed down, dissipating the vortex that it had formed.

It jumped over them, nearly tackling Goofy and Donald just as the latter was waking up, causing the duck to jump in alarm. Donald screamed more when he saw three glowing copies leapt out from the original's form. The red, green and blue clones performed leaping and swiping attacks, proving a greater nuisance for the team who had started to believe they could overcome the monster with strength in numbers. While they were able to avoid getting taken down for the most part, they found it rather difficult due to the four Dark Hides taking up so much room, limiting area to evade. Fortunately, after their brief assault, the afterimages faded away, leaving only one predator.

The five Keyblade wielders attacked the Heartless from all sides, dealing a lot of damage before it shook them off with a spin. Aqua landed cleanly on her feet and threw herself at the fiend again. Sora jumped in as well, using Dimension energy to convert his Keyblade into a whip. He flicked his newly-formed whip, which had a claw attachment at the end. He lashed his weapon at the foe, striking it with its clawed end.

Aqua's eyes widened at the sight. "Did he just transform his Keyblade?" she asked, awed.

Mickey nodded. "Yep. Master Yen Sid unlocked the power for him," he replied.

"Back! Back, I say!" Sora shouted with each strike. "Sit! Lie down! Roll over!" The Dark Hide only flinched at the lashes and tried to strike back, with no success. Sora shrugged after a whip strike. "Worth a shot." Kairi laughed from her position to his left. He looked down at its feet and a smirk formed on his lips. He retracted the whip so he would not be dragging it around, then ran around until he was behind the Dark Hide. He flicked the whip free and slashed it so that it reached under the beast's body and grabbed onto the hook at the end of the chain around its right leg. He ran around the beast, trying to wrap it up.

"Guys! Get it to spin!" he shouted after making sure that the whip was tied tight around its hind leg. Seeing what he had planned, the rest of the party threw themselves at the monster and attacked from all sides yet again. The Dark Hide spun several times to shake them off, but they kept coming back, not realizing that its legs were becoming more wound up in the whip.

When the whip had looped around the beast's legs five times, Sora twisted his wrist. The coiled length morphed into solid energy and broke loose from the handle. The free end found the hook on the other chain and wrapped itself around it.

The Dark Hide, still oblivious to the situation, attempted to lunge at Aqua. However, once its feet had left the ground, the energy whip shrank in length, pulling the feet in as it tightened. As the beast's legs closed inward helplessly, it lost its balance and crashed to the ground. It attempted to spin in an effort to free itself, but it had no luck.

"Now, everyone!" Sora yelled. He pointed the handle of what had previously been the whip and launched Blizzaga and Firaga spells at the monster's rear end. Riku, Mickey, Aqua, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy ran in to whale on the beast, not letting up. Between its bound feet and the brute force assaulting it all over, it was unable to move, let alone defend itself. As they dealt more damage, the warriors began to deal stronger blows, free to go all out now that the monster was vulnerable.

When it felt Kairi's Keyblade slice off one of its spines, the Heartless snapped. It roared loudly, spewing orbs of dark energy from its mouth. The orbs homed in on the warriors, forcing them to disengage in order to defend themselves. One of the orbs hit the energy cable, damaging it. With this new opportunity, the Dark Hide broke free, tearing the cable apart and letting it dissolve, then jumped to its feet. However, it was incredibly weak from the barrage, and its knees buckled.

Riku saw that it had regained a fighting position but was unable to stand. "Let's finish this!" he shouted. He ran up to take the thing head-on, but the Dark Hide spat a mega-sized fireball at him, which he blocked with a Dark Shield.

Aqua was on the scene to pick up his slack. She stared the beast down and jumped high into the air, launching herself further with her Doubleflight spell to gain a higher altitude. The Dark Hide looked up at her and roared. Aqua let out her own battle cry as she held her Keyblade so that it was pointing down toward the Heartless' head. They stared each other down as the milliseconds before the ensuing contact wound down.