A/N: This fic is AU before Elena of Avalor begins. I have yet to figure out how that one works in this mythos.
24. For Want of Crystals
Stork neatly touched the Gummi ship down on a landing strip in the crowded metropolis that was Terra Valhalla. As he, Sora, Ruby, and Papyrus disembarked, Ruby told him, "You know, you're a much better driver than Sora."
"USUALLY WE HAVE A LOT MORE NEAR-MISSES," Papyrus added.
"Heyyyyyyy," Sora groaned.
"NOT…THAT THAT'S A BAD THING!" Papyrus said hastily. "IT MAKES THE TRIP MORE EXCITING!"
"But really," Sora said, clapping Stork lightly on the back, "nice job!"
"Thanks," Stork said somewhat hoarsely. Being able to pilot the ship had calmed his nerves somewhat, but he still faced a deep void within himself due to the loss of his teammates. And it felt like that void would never truly fill.
"So where to?" Sora asked.
"Know where we can get your ship fixed?" Ruby added.
"This way," Stork beckoned, leading the crew down a wide street.
As his three cohorts walked behind him, transfixed by the various spires and peaks of the enormous Terra, Stork realized he couldn't remember the last time he'd walked in the lead of a group. It really wasn't where he preferred to be.
He located the airship maintenance garage in short order, leading Sora, Ruby, and Papyrus into a lofty area where ships of various make were already being tinkered with. A blond man dressed in a long and ornate jacket was busy discussing matters with one of the engineers; as soon as Stork became visible in his peripheral vision, he immediately told the engineer "I'll be right back" and turned to greet the entering entourage. "Stork!" the young man cried happily, extending his arms for an embrace of greeting.
"I, uhm…hi, Capercaillie," Stork replied tentatively.
"Oh, right!" The youth, Capercaillie, dropped his arms to his sides. "You don't go in much for hugs, do you? It's so good to see you! And what's this? A new team?" He laughed. "Don't tell me you got tired of the Storm Hawks and traded them in!"
A glance at the four concerned faces before him told Capercaillie his joke wasn't funny. "Did…something happen?" he asked in concern.
"The others are…well…uhm…" Stork had trouble finding the words.
"There was an attack," Sora explained. "The Storm Hawks' old ship blew up, and they're…gone."
"POSSIBLY," Papyrus interjected. "AFTER ALL, STORK SURVIVED! SO WHO'S TO SAY THEY DIDN'T ALL SURVIVE?"
Capercaillie flinched momentarily once he got a good look at Papyrus. "And what Terra are you from?" he asked. "I…haven't seen the likes of you around before. In fact, what Terras do you ALL come from?"
"It's a really long story," Ruby answered.
Capercaillie wondered why exactly none of the mysterious trio wanted to reveal their points of origin, but he figured they must have good reasons. "Well, welcome to Terra Valhalla!" he said pleasantly, spreading his arms to indicate the entirety of the garage and by extension the entirety of the kingdom. "I am Prince Capercaillie."
"A prince!" Sora realized. He quickly bowed in respect; Ruby and Papyrus followed his example.
"You don't have to do that!" Capercaillie laughed. "Please, friends, get up."
"He makes friends almost as fast as you two do," Ruby whispered so Sora and Papyrus could both hear.
Capercaillie had heard as well. "Any friend of the Storm Hawks is a friend of mine!" His expression turned somber. "But I truly am sorry for your loss. I can't believe it. Atmos without the Storm Hawks…where will we be?"
Silence hung heavy.
Breaking it at last, Capercaillie offered, "When you're finished with your business here, come up to the castle. I will speak with my father about this matter, and we will…" He paused and swallowed hard. "We will hold a memorial for them. For their bravery and their kindness."
"That'd be good," Stork replied, almost choking on the words.
"I will see you then?" Capercaillie confirmed.
"We'll see you then," Sora replied enthusiastically.
"You're lucky," Capercaillie told Stork as an afterthought. "Lucky to have found another team so soon."
"Yeah…guess I am," Stork agreed.
The prince made his way somberly toward the exit, and Stork looked back over his three companions, who were regarding him with concern. "You heard that right," he sighed.
"We're here for you," Ruby said with a nod.
"I know," Stork replied with a small smile.
Ruby found her thoughts wandering to the last person she knew who'd lost hope: a once-fiery blonde warrior who now refused to leave her bed, watching the leaves and then the snow fall from her window. Ruby had tried to be there for her, but this once proud warrior had turned her away. She knew what Sora and Papyrus would think: that there was still hope. In the meantime, if Ruby couldn't offer any comfort to Yang Xiao Long, she was glad to do it for Stork.
"WHAT ARE WE ALL STANDING AROUND FOR?" Papyrus blurted, interrupting Ruby's reverie. "WE HAVE A SHIP TO FIX!"
Stork nodded. He extended a hand, walking toward an engineer, clearing his throat, but before he could get the engineer's attention, she had walked away.
"Let me handle this," Sora said, striding out in front of Stork. "Excuse me?"
The engineer turned to face Sora. "How can I help you?"
"We kinda need a ship fixed. Or…well…built. Think you can help us out?"
"Sure! Though if you're building something from scratch, it'll take a while. What are you looking at?"
Sora looked to Stork, who now had the confidence to speak: "I presume you remember the Condor? We need that."
Outside, Capercaillie had begun to make his way toward the towering fortress in the center of the kingdom when he was waylaid. The medical ship from Terra Lumina had landed, and as soon as Capercaillie had seen the paramedics disembark, he had rushed to the scene to see who needed help and of what variety.
"What's happening?" he asked. "Can I help?"
One of the paramedics gestured to the person who had required the rush transport. "We found him like this just outside of town on Terra Lumina. We didn't have the facilities we needed to treat him there – "
It took Capercaillie a moment to look through the burns and bruises, but when he recognized the patient, he went pale. "Come with me," he urged. "We'll get him help right away!"
He paused a moment to hover over the wounded: "It's all right. We're going to help you. You'll be fine. And you need to know you're not the only one who made it. Stork is here on this Terra."
Having said that, he turned sharply and led the paramedics and their charge at a brisk pace to the nearest hospital.
...
King Petrel of Terra Lumina was already anxious. First, he'd assisted in the recovery of a badly injured ally, sending him to Terra Valhalla for medical assistance; what it meant that the boy was all alone and that horribly burned and broken did not bode well. Then he'd heard about the incident at the crystal shop. Apparently, he was lucky that a madman bearing a crystal-powered staff had not begun a mass slaughter of everyone on the Terra. And another ally had been lost to the clutches of a group of unknown villains. He didn't see how the day could get any worse.
But it was about to.
The last person he wanted to see came striding through the doors of his hall, flanked by a newcomer clothed in a black robe and a hood that resembled horns. Petrel's heart nearly stopped. "M-Master Cyclonis!"
"Hello, King Petrel," Cyclonis replied slyly. "And how are you today?"
"You should know," Petrel replied. "Whatever happened to the Storm Hawks was YOUR fault! And I know it was your men that robbed our crystal shop! One of them even invoked the name of Cyclonia!"
"I'll take responsibility for the Storm Hawks," Cyclonis replied, "but I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about on the second count."
"Your archer," Petrel described, "a strongman with a mace, a mage with a strange gauntlet, an old woman, and a large man bearing a staff."
Two descriptions stood out to Cyclonis. "Ravess and Snipe," she hissed. "What are THEY doing here, and why are THEY invoking the name of Cyclonia? They should be dead by now!"
"Focus on the task at hand," Maleficent said brusquely. "We can take care of those rogues later." Besides, she thought, if there was a mage with a gauntlet involved, she knew exactly who she was dealing with, and it was absolutely no surprise that that particular annoyance had picked up Cyclonis' leftover nuisances.
"The task at hand," Cyclonis repeated, her voice suddenly dripping with honey. "King Petrel. Do you know anything about the Book of Prophecies?"
"I've never heard of that before in my life," Petrel answered.
"You'd better not be lying," Cyclonis told him. "If the book isn't here, then someone, somewhere, is lying. Either you, one of the leaders of the Terras we've yet to visit, or the person who told us the book would be here. Though at least we can be sure that the leaders of the Terras we've already visited haven't been lying. When they said they didn't know what the Book of Prophecies was, we tore up every scrap of their kingdoms and searched for the book high and low. So far, we haven't found it. It's almost a pity that we've already had to waste so much time destroying the kingdoms of honest people. So, now that you know what's on the line, I'm going to give you a second chance. Tell us where the Book of Prophecies is, or we'll be forced to search all of Terra Lumina for it, and I can guarantee you won't survive the process."
"My kingdom has already been threatened once today," Petrel informed Cyclonis.
"And yet it's still in one piece," Cyclonis observed. "We aren't as merciful as whoever the last threat was. Though, if it was Ravess and Snipe, I'm not surprised."
Petrel knew whatever location he named was doomed, so he aimed for one unpopulated: "The last I heard of the book, it had been lost in the Wastelands."
"Interesting," Cyclonis mulled over. "Is that your…final answer?"
"Yes. That is where I know the book to be."
"I would love to take your word for it," Cyclonis told Petrel. "However, we do still need to be sure you're not lying."
"Please, Master Cyclonis – "
Cyclonis wasn't listening. She had turned to Maleficent. "The luminous crystals make it impossible for the Nightcrawlers to land here," she informed the faery.
"Then we shall have to see to their extinguishing," Maleficent replied. She raised her staff high, chanting a spell: "Bane of Nightcrawlers, to me make your flight. Come to me, o crystals' light!"
In one great flash, the light of every single glowing crystal embedded in Terra Lumina shot forth from its home and into Petrel's hall, absorbed at last into the globe atop Maleficent's staff, the gem called the Dragon's Eye. No longer was the kingdom guarded by light.
"Now let's see if you were really telling the truth," Cyclonis said with a smirk.
And from all around, the Nightcrawlers descended.
...
Full-body paralysis gave Mozenrath a lot of time to think.
He had been given a good view. After the Huntsman, Yzma, Snipe, and Ravess had commandeered an airship, the Huntsman had taken the wheel and insisted Mozenrath sit right up front where he could see out the window. Piper was stowed in the cargo hold, and in the back of the cockpit, Mozenrath could hear Yzma asking Ravess and Snipe their thoughts on karaoke and Ravess responding that she was an okay singer but a virtuoso violinist. Not a very engaging conversation, when all was said and done. So the sorcerer shut them out and focused on the view ahead as well as his internal landscape.
How had he gotten here? He had once been a lone wolf. The closest thing he had to companionship was the stint with Amin Damoola, unless you wanted to count Aladdin and Jasmine's constant invasions as company. The more he went over it in his head, the more he realized he couldn't pin down exactly how he'd tripped and stumbled into friendship.
But it seemed to be working out for the best. After all, they had a fair amount of the ingredients for the conquest spell, hadn't they? Mozenrath reflected on the fact that he had very nearly ended up trying to follow Maleficent's path to glory. Perhaps that had been a stupid decision, but if he hadn't tried to do that, he wouldn't be where he was now.
Which was, admittedly, frozen in place in an airship, but that was sure to be a temporary affliction.
He'd had his sights set on conquest for longer than he could remember. When he was a child, he knew he would one day rule nations. It was almost instinctive. It was only recently that he had been dissatisfied with repeatedly trying and failing to seat himself on one of the thrones of the Seven Deserts and instead gunning for the kingdoms of other worlds. The existence of these worlds hadn't exactly been a secret to him. Ancient tomes spoke of parallel dimensions, and he had first proven their existence when he had summoned the Thirdac from another plane. (The incident had taught him to always make sure putting a magic-resistant collar on any beast he summoned was the FIRST step of the sequence.) Curiosity had brought him on his many travels, and he had seen so much. He wanted it all to be his. He deserved it, after all. He deserved something, anyway. After the time spent with Destane, he sure deserved something.
He had wanted to be large and in charge even before Destane. He had sought out the sorcerer as a mentor, as a stepping stone to triumph. And perhaps that was where Mozenrath had learned the art of solitude. Destane was an expert at making him feel alone and ignored. Yes, Destane had been like a father to him: like his ungrateful, neglectful father whom the very memory of made Mozenrath positively enraged. Thinking about Destane was slightly less rage-inducing, though it came with its own set of unpleasant feelings and even a slight churning of the stomach. Young Mozenrath had known hurt, but Destane had taught him the true meaning of pain, at least in the physical sense. The older sorcerer had been all too willing to take on an apprentice when Mozenrath showed up at his doorstep, but had a very low tolerance for failure. Perhaps, when Mozenrath really reflected on it, his father wasn't so bad by comparison. Being thrown about by Destane hadn't made Mozenrath power-hungry, nor had it made him what most would term "evil." But it had made him alone. And when he had finally put Destane away somewhere that the old man finally had to answer to Mozenrath and endure abuse from the one he'd abused, Mozenrath found that he preferred "alone."
And now, things were so different.
"I will only wait until sundown," the Huntsman said softly enough that only Mozenrath could hear. "If your condition hasn't resolved itself by then, I will be taking more drastic measures to put it right."
The Huntsman. What was his story? Mozenrath still didn't know. He could guess at bits and pieces. The clan indoctrinated people from birth based on if they were marked with the image of the red dragon. They were trained to kill magical creatures and encouraged – no, commanded – to put that training to use. But was that really all that fueled the Huntsman's drive to kill? Was he simply carrying out orders, or was there more beneath the surface? After all, at a certain point, he had been the one giving the orders, and he hadn't changed them. And now he'd gone from giving orders to taking them from Mozenrath like some sort of – well, Mozenrath had been about to place the comparison of "lapdog," but that seemed a bit too demeaning for the man.
"At the very least," the Huntsman said, "you can take comfort in knowing that we are that much closer to the crystal we need."
Though he wouldn't say it out loud even if he could, Mozenrath greatly appreciated that the Huntsman spoke to his frozen form every now and again. It kept him from getting too bored, too wrapped up in unpleasant memories, or –
No. He wasn't afraid of being paralyzed permanently. That wouldn't even be reasonable. Or so he told himself. But he'd gotten out of this sort of situation before. Such as the incident with Dagger Rock. Then again, that time, Mirage had been around and wanting to put him back in the game on a lark.
"I believe that is our target," the Huntsman announced, and indeed, an expansive Terra with many peaks and valleys was coming into view. "Terra Valhalla. I shall confirm it with our prisoner once we land."
He steadily brought the ship in to land near the central spire, and after he got up from his own seat, he tucked Mozenrath's waist under one arm and used the other to steady his grip before carrying his leader out of the ship.
Had it been anyone else, Mozenrath might have found it demeaning. But he was actually growing rather fond of the feel of the Huntsman's arms in particular. He wasn't sure what word to place upon it. Though what he didn't know he was looking for was the term "safe."
...
The Condor specifications had been dropped off with the engineers of the Terra Valhalla garage, and Stork, Sora, Ruby, and Papyrus set a course for the fortress at the Terra's heart. They were almost immediately met by Capercaillie running toward them at top speed. "STORK!" he cried. "I was hoping I would catch you in time!"
"What's going on?" Stork asked, thrown into a sudden panic. "Nightcrawlers? Giant rampaging beasts?" His head whipped this way and that before he grabbed Capercaillie by the shirt front and yanked him close: "IS THE KING INFECTED WITH MINDWORMS?"
"No," Capercaillie answered. "Something better. I…think."
"You…think?" Stork let go of Capercaillie's clothing.
"You're not the only Storm Hawk that survived," Capercaillie informed Stork.
It was as though a tidal wave had just washed over the paranoid pilot. Sora and Ruby were stunned into silence as well. Only Papyrus had a verbal reaction: "I KNEW IT!"
"But he isn't in good condition," Capercaillie said hurriedly. "He's alive and stable, but…you should see for yourself."
"Who is it?" Stork asked hoarsely.
And Capercaillie's answer nearly floored him.
...
The prince led the four companions to the hospital where Stork's teammate was being held, bringing them to a closed door. "I don't know if he's awake," Capercaillie whispered. "You should go in quietly."
"We'll let you go alone," Sora told Stork. "This is between the two of you."
"That'd be…well…thanks," Stork replied, looking nervously at the door. Swallowing his trepidation, he gently turned the handle, slipped into the room, and softly closed the door behind him.
"We should definitely go somewhere else for a while," Ruby proposed.
"AFTER ALL, STORK AND HIS FRIEND HAVE CATCHING UP TO DO, AND IT WOULD BE RUDE TO EAVESDROP," Papyrus added.
"Sounds like a plan!" Sora gave a thumbs-up.
And in synchrony, all three of them pressed their ears to the crack of the door to listen in on Stork's rendez-vous.
When Stork entered the room, the patient in the bed rolled his head in the direction of the door to see who had come in. "…Stork?" he croaked in disbelief. He was bandaged from head to toe, and Stork could see the edges of nasty burns playing around his face. His hair had been completely incinerated away. Still, Stork would have recognized him in a second, even if Capercaillie hadn't given him a name.
"Finn," Stork replied, his voice breaking; he tried his best to will away the tears that were gathering. "You're okay…"
"…Are you crying over me?" Finn teased, cracking a smile.
"No, I'm not!" Stork wiped furiously at his eyes with his sleeve.
"It's okay," Finn reassured him. "I didn't think anybody else got out of that alive." Now his voice was cracking. "Looks like it's just you and me. But not Junko or Aerrow or Piper or Radaar – "
"Well…" Stork interrupted. "If…the two of us made it out, then maybe…"
That stopped Finn short. "Wait. Are you actually being positive? Great. You're probably just a big hallucination."
"I am NOT a hallucination, thank you very much!" Stork snapped. "I've just been spending way, WAY too much time around somebody who kept INSISTING that things weren't as bad as I thought they were. And…you're okay, so it looks like he was right."
"Who are you talking about?"
"Well…after the…the big kaboom…I found another squadron. Or something like a squadron. They're way too idealistic to ever survive, but if they weren't there, I…well…uhm…" Stork realized he didn't want to tell Finn how close he'd been to killing himself. "Let's just say I'm following them now."
"They'll survive if you're with them," Finn told Stork with a smile. "You think the Storm Hawks woulda survived as long as we did if you weren't there to bail us out?"
"Flattery aside, I don't exactly know how long-term this arrangement's gonna be," Stork answered.
"You're friends with them?"
"Well, we've only just met, but…more or less, yes."
"You like 'em?"
"For some reason, I do."
"Then go with 'em," Finn encouraged. "Be their helmsman. They probably need you. And…right now, the Storm Hawks…well…we kinda don't."
A heavy silence hung between the two of them for a while before Stork said, "You need me."
"Stork, look at me. I'm not going anywhere for a while. I'm not exactly in need of a carrier pilot. And having you around for the company would be great, don't get me wrong, but…I'm me and you're you. I'll be fine, even if it turns out everybody else is really gone. But…and don't take this the wrong way…you're kind of a mess."
"Gee, thanks, Finn."
"If you found somebody who can take you out on adventures and let you relive the good old days, then go with 'em!" Finn urged.
"They were pretty good, weren't they?" Stork agreed.
Neither of them wanted to bring up the fact that they were referring to only yesterday as "The good old days."
"You're...sure you'll be okay?" Stork reiterated.
"Come on, man!" Finn actually laughed. "When am I not? Okay, ow. Laughing hurts."
"Well, you've been way, WAY more serious than you usually are, and for good reason."
"And whoever you've been with got you to say that maybe everything isn't so bad. I dunno. Might be good for you."
"Might be," Stork agreed.
"Without the Storm Hawks, there's gotta be SOMEBODY, y'know?"
"And that…would be me and them."
"You got it! But hey, I'll be back on my feet soon enough, and I'll check in with you then. That's when things can REALLY start getting awesome."
Once again, they found themselves without anything to say. Finn racked his brains before finding a comment: "Y'know, I'm real bummed out that I got beat up this bad, but it's cool that you're in good shape."
"Yeah…cool," Stork muttered.
"Okay, that's it. You're getting depressing. I think you need to get out there and have an adventure."
"I think I don't just want to leave you like this."
"I'll be FINE! How many times do I have to say it?"
Stork idly clenched and released his prehensile toes. "Mayyyyyyybe just…one more time."
"I'll be fine, Stork. Thanks for coming to check in on me and all, but if I were you, I wouldn't wanna just be hanging around a hospital all day. I'd wanna have some serious fun. Just promise me one thing."
"What?" Stork asked.
"Seeing you alive made me pretty happy. So don't die."
Stork nodded. "On one condition."
"And that is?"
If you're going to be my reason to live, don't take that away. "You don't get to die either."
"Easy! So…who ARE these friends of yours?"
"Well…" Stork reached back to open the door.
And as he did so, Sora, Ruby, and Papyrus, not expecting the door to move, all toppled into the room in a pile.
"You just COULDN'T leave it alone, could you?" Stork snapped at the trio.
"I like them already," Finn said with a smile.
...
Cedric was doing it for the Amulet of Avalor. That was what he told himself, anyway.
After the disappearance of Princess Sofia from the royal gardens of Enchancia, King Roland and Queen Miranda had issued a demand that every guard was to search for her and bring her back safely from whomever had kidnapped her. Roland had made a special entreaty to the royal sorcerer, Cedric, to employ whatever magic he could in the location of the young princess.
Cedric had mixed feelings upon hearing that something terrible had befallen Sofia. On one hand, she was a nuisance, always coming to him to bother him about wanting this or that because she couldn't solve her problems on her own without magic. If anyone stood in the way of Cedric's secret plans to one day rule Enchancia himself, it was that girl, always getting in his hair and being righteous beyond what any normal person should be. He put a lot of effort into pretending to care for her so that Roland would keep him employed. He was far better off with her gone.
And yet, sometimes he didn't really have to try. There were endearing things about her. She was a kind young soul, and as annoying as she could be to Cedric, there were many days she was genuinely thoughtful toward him, and she seemed to have faith in him when no one else did – not Roland or Miranda, not his own parents. To hear that such an innocent soul was in the clutches of evil had come as a bit of a horror.
In the end, Cedric had based his decision on the fact that if Sofia was gone, so was the Amulet of Avalor. And if the Amulet of Avalor was gone, he couldn't use it to take over Enchancia. True, he'd discovered that such a feat was incredibly complicated, as he himself couldn't wear the amulet without it cursing him for all his bad deeds, but he was working on ways around it.
So it was after the amulet he literally took flight, rigging up a carriage with a single flying horse and setting out over Enchancia on his quest. Based on the description of what had happened, he had a pretty good guess who was behind the kidnapping: Morgana le Fay, the only sorcerer in all the land who was even more rotten than himself. (That was what he told himself, anyway.) He was frightened by the prospect of having to take her on alone, but was he not Cedric the Sensational? Was he not an incredibly powerful mage, able to cast devastating spells? So what if Morgana had managed to completely stymie and kidnap him once in the past? This time would be different! This time, he would show her who was the top sorcerer!
While thinking about his glory to come and focusing on the skies ahead, he didn't think to look below him to the trio of travelers that emptied out of a Corridor of Darkness. After all, there was no possible way he could have been prepared for one of them, eager to play a game of target practice, to launch an exploding skull at his vehicle. The skull didn't quite hit home: it exploded nearby, spooking the flying horse and blowing the front wheels of the carriage to splinters. The horse went wild, speeding off into the blue while Cedric's carriage plummeted down and down, only stopped from a terrible shattering against the ground when it connected with and bounced off the top of a tall tree, then a slightly shorter one, then an even shorter one. Cedric clutched the front edge of the vehicle in a death grip as he finally hit the ground, clenching his eyes and mouth shut in a brace for the worst. When he found himself not only alive but relatively unharmed save for a few bruises, he gently pried his eyes open. "I'm all right," he muttered. "I'm all right! …But whoever did that to my carriage isn't about to be."
He vaulted out of the carriage and stormed into the woods to look for his attacker. It didn't take him long to run into Mim, Aghoul, and Neo.
"I TOLD you you missed!" Mim announced. "He's still alive!"
Neo snapped her fingers in disappointment.
"Well, there's always next time!" Aghoul replied, materializing a second skull into his hands and bouncing it up and down threateningly.
"M…" Cedric sputtered. "M…M-M-M-M-M-M-M – "
"Oh, come on, you can give us better last words than that," Aghoul cajoled.
"M-M-M-M-MAD MADAM MIM!" Cedric yelped.
"Better," Aghoul commented, drawing back his throwing arm.
Mim caught him by the wrist, stopping him from letting the skull fly. "Hang on," she pointed out. "How does HE know who I am when I've never seen him before in my life!"
"You think I wouldn't know Merlin's archnemesis?" Cedric explained. "I happen to know everything about Merlin, from the first spell he ever cast to his favorite sort of hat! I'm his biggest fan, after all! And from what I know about you…" His voice quivered. "I've only got a few more seconds."
"I see," Mim replied. "And what do you think of…Morgana le Fay?"
"Morgana?" Cedric repeated. "Merlin's second biggest rival, of course. Very powerful and ruthless, but only about half as frightening! Please, I beg of you, whatever you're planning, don't make it too painful!"
"Hmmm…" Mim thought her options over. "Is Morgana on this here world?"
"Of course she is!" Cedric answered. "I was on my way to her dark fortress right now to retrieve a very valuable amulet she stole!"
"Did you just say 'valuable amulet'?" Aghoul's interest was piqued as he let the skull dissipate. "Would it happen to be a MAGICAL amulet?"
"Who cares?" Mim snapped. "We finally know where Morgana is hiding, and we can get RID of her once and for all!"
"Get rid of Morgana…?" Cedric repeated. Suddenly, an idea took shape. Mim was far more volatile and dangerous than Morgana in his eyes, but unlike Morgana, she rarely paid visits to Enchancia. If he could somehow convince Mim to ally with him instead of harming him – loath as he was to join forces with such an enemy of Merlin – then he could set the two of them against each other, and at the end of the day, one of them might be gone. Mim might just even be the secret weapon he needed to face down Morgana and get Sofia – and, more importantly, he reminded himself, the Amulet of Avalor – back! "I could…potentially help you on your quest to do that, you know!"
"Oh, really?" Mim barked. "Are you some sort of sorcerer?"
"Why, in fact, I am!" Cedric boasted. "They call me Cedric the Sensational for a reason, after all! Watch and be amazed!"
He withdrew a wand from his sleeve, waving it about to charge up the magic within before letting loose at a nearby tree. Beautiful pink flowers that smelled of bubble gum sprouted up all over the tree.
"PRETTY FLOWERS?" Mim seethed.
"Right, right, right!" Cedric realized. "Perhaps you'll find THIS more impressive!" Another flick of the wand caused every single flower to rot to black and drop off the tree.
"Now, that's more my speed!" Mim complimented. "But why would we need YOU to take on Morgana?"
"Because I know where she is, and you don't," Cedric replied haughtily.
"Point," Mim conceded. "Well, then, lead on!"
"It's a bit of a walk," Cedric informed them. "After all, you wrecked my carriage!"
"Well, that's all the more time for you to tell us about this…magic amulet," Aghoul suggested as the quartet began to walk in the direction Cedric had been flying.
"I don't see why I should!" Cedric huffed.
"You remember what you did to those flowers?" Mim prompted. "If you decide not to play nice, we can do that to YOU."
"The Amulet of Avalor!" Cedric sputtered. "Of course, of course! Well, you see…"
...
King Ocula of Terra Valhalla was found in one of the dark, tall-ceilinged chambers of his fortress practicing his proficiency with his halberd, using the crystal-powered weapon to cut through several wooden dummies right through the chest area. Their top halves hit the stone floor hard and bounced.
"Your Highness," one of his messengers interrupted. "There is a group of…rather colorful visitors here to see you."
"Oh, really?" Ocula stepped away from his targets and stood up to full height. The room was lit by an arched fireplace whose flickering glow highlighted the patch he wore over the socket where his left eye had been. "And what do these 'visitors' want?"
"They come seeking crystals," the messenger reported. "The same crystals, apparently, that you granted to Master Cyclonis not too long ago."
Ocula let out a deep laugh. "I owed the daughter of Anarchis a debt," he stated. "Let me guess. These strangers think they can just waltz in and ASK for the Leviathan Crystals the way she did?"
"Apparently," the messenger replied, "though I have not explained the proper procedure to them. I thought you would like the honor of doing that yourself."
"You thought right," Ocula confirmed. "I want to see who has the guts to come ask for the Leviathan Crystal. I want to see what they're made of!"
He placed the halberd in a holster strapped across his back and made his way down to the entry hall of the fortress, which, like everything else in the building, was dark, spacious, and characterized by arches in its architecture. A row of narrow windows illuminated the strangers who stood before Ocula. Of the five of them, Ocula was caught off guard that one of them was completely unmoving; the other four showed signs of life, shifting a bit where they stood.
"You are the lord of this Terra?" the Huntsman asked. He, Yzma, Ravess, and Snipe had left Piper in the cargo hold of their ship for safekeeping. Ravess had suggested they leave Mozenrath there as well, since he wasn't doing much to actively help them as it were, but the Huntsman wouldn't hear of it, and had brought the frozen man inside to stand alongside the rest of them.
"That I am," Ocula confirmed. "And who are you?"
"Travelers from afar, seeking a treasure we are told you guard," the Huntsman replied.
"The Leviathan Crystals," Ocula filled in. "Capable of massive quantities of energy. Able to power entire Terras if acquired in the right size. Carrying within them the power of wild beasts, able to attack at the behest of their wielders. Is that what you have come seeking?"
"Yes, that sounds like EXACTLY what we want!" Ravess chirped.
"So if we could just load up on some of those and get outta here…" Snipe added.
Ocula responded to this by laughing long and loud.
"You will forgive our associate's density," Yzma sighed.
"Aw, but that's what makes me so good in a fight!" Snipe pounded his chest proudly. "It's 'cause I'm so dense!"
"OH, for the love of – just SHUT UP," Ravess groaned.
"I'm glad you think you're good at combat," Ocula stated. "Because that's the only way you're going to get your hands on any Leviathan Crystals."
"Please, do explain," Yzma implored.
"Here in Terra Valhalla, we value soldiers and strength," Ocula expounded. "Whenever a favor is demanded of the king, whoever asks earns the right to that favor by proving themselves in combat against the Terra's strongest warrior. If you are victorious, your request will be considered and, in all likelihood, granted. But if you fail, your request will be denied."
"So we must fight you in order to earn the crystals we seek?" the Huntsman reiterated.
"Me?" Ocula repeated. "I wish I could claim to be the Terra's strongest. But no, you will be facing the champion Huginnmuninn. And he has turned many people away with fewer limbs attached than they had when they came in." His mind momentarily recalled the last challenger who was actually able to defeat Huginnmuninn: the lithe blue-haired crystal mage, Piper, and her fast flight. "You may, of course, withdraw your request if you do not believe you are up to the challenge."
"Oh, we're UP for it!" Snipe cried enthusiastically. "Besides, your champion can't take all four of us at once!"
"Only ONE of you will face Huginnmuninn," Ocula clarified. "Choose wisely."
"We shall rise to your challenge," the Huntsman told Ocula. "And I shall be the one to face Huginnmuninn."
"But I wanted to – " Snipe began to argue.
The Huntsman held up a hand to silence Snipe, sending him a glare that sent a shiver of fright running down the purple-haired man's spine. "I shall be your champion," he growled decisively. "And the crystals shall be ours."
"You seem very confident," Ocula observed. "I like that. The battle shall commence at moonrise. Will you be needing a weapon?"
"No," the Huntsman answered, bringing out the huntstaff for Ocula to observe.
"That is a unique weapon," the king commented. "Very well. I will give you room in this fortress to make any preparations you need. One more thing, if I may ask it. What is wrong with your companion there?" He pointed to Mozenrath.
"What do you know of crystal magic?" the Huntsman asked.
"It powers weapons," Ocula answered. "What more does a person need to know?"
"Then never mind him," the Huntsman implored.
"Follow me to the preparation chambers," Ocula commanded, leading the group deeper into the dark labyrinth of the fortress, the Huntsman once again taking Mozenrath up to carry.
Mozenrath was by now beyond frustrated that he still couldn't move a muscle, but at the very least, the architecture of the fortress made everything feel that much more like home.
...
By the time Riku and his newfound entourage had been briefed and come up with their mission, Mog had finished repairs to Jaune, Nora, and Ren's weapons. Now fully armed, the team made way toward Villain's Vale, careful to take the long way around and approach from behind.
"Won't Maleficent be expecting that?" Jaune asked nervously.
"We have to try something," Riku told him, "and it's better than approaching from the front."
As the group continued on, Kairi, who had been out front in the original formation, intentionally slowed her pace so she could walk next to Jaune. His fascination with her hadn't gone unnoticed; she simply wasn't sure how to respond quite yet. She did know that he was very kind, fun to be around, and not bad-looking at all. Looking at him now, she could see that he was tense, even quivering a bit as he walked. "You okay?" she asked.
"Me?" Jaune replied. "Yeah! No problems here! I'm Mister Fearless! Gonna break in there, kick some villain butt if I have to, and save the day!"
"Jaune," Kairi said sternly.
"All right…" Jaune sighed. "Right now, I'm terrified. The way they talk about this Maleficent, it sounds like she's more powerful than ANYTHING we ever had to deal with back on Remnant. Even the giant Grimm dragon. Am I the only person here who thinks we're heading toward our deaths?"
"If you're scared, why didn't you stay behind?" Kairi asked. "We would have been okay with that if you needed to."
"Because I already let one person I loved run toward her doom without me," Jaune replied, "and I'm not gonna let that happen again. I just wish I was more like you. Y'know…actually good at fighting. And less scared."
"I don't think I'm that good," Kairi admitted. "At least not next to Sora and Riku."
"Are you KIDDING? You're the only reason I'm alive after the dragon incident!"
Kairi blushed a bit, tucking her long red hair behind an ear. "And can I tell you a secret?"
"Sure. I won't tell anybody."
Dropping her voice, Kairi told Jaune, "I'm scared right now too. I'm actually really scared of most things we have to fight. I guess I'm just good at covering it up. But I trust Riku to know what he's doing. I know the rest of us are good fighters, and these new people all seem to know what they're doing too. I don't really have any reason to be scared…but I still am. I wish I was braver."
"Isn't that what being brave is?" Jaune reminded her. "When you're really scared, but you do stuff anyway?"
"I guess it is," Kairi realized. "That makes you brave, too, and you should be proud of it."
"Heh…thanks." Jaune felt a blush rising to his own face.
The group fell quiet as they neared the fortress. A door in the rear of the building allowed them passage inside, and they went as quietly as they could until Ren whispered, "Something is wrong. They shouldn't have let us get in this easily."
"Hey, I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth," Chip told him. "Um…no offense."
"None taken…I think," Cadance replied.
"It's some sort of trap," Ren insisted.
"We can't go back now," Riku decided. "If it is a trap, we just have to be able to fight our way out of it."
"Which way now, Phineas?" Madison asked. "Your light led us here."
"Hmm…" Phineas looked over the twisting and turning dark hallways ahead. He pointed decisively down one; "Thataway."
"Take the lead," Riku encouraged him. "We'll follow."
Phineas brought the group through a winding maze, then a spiral staircase that went far below the ground. At one landing, Phineas paused; they could all hear a voice cutting through the silence.
"Blast this cleaning duty; blast this wretched, wretched cleaning duty! Isn't it enough that I brought that heart back for Maleficent? These rubber gloves aren't even my color one bit!"
Luna and Cadance both gasped quietly.
But the owner of the voice didn't notice the group, and they were able to continue to the bottom of the stairway unnoticed. A small wooden door was set there, and the landing opened out into an expansive room filled with similar doors.
"We should split up," Riku suggested. "Can you tell us what Necrolai and Leelee look like so we know what we're looking for?"
"Necrolai is skinny and brunette," Nick described. "Leelee has long blonde hair. What about Even?"
"Blond," Riku answered. "With bright green eyes and a sharp face. He's also…loud. You'll know who he is as soon as he starts complaining."
As all but Riku, Vida, and Nora took off into the bowels of the dungeon, Riku struck out at the door before him with a loud cry, shattering it. He was instantly aware of a drop in temperature as he entered the small cell beyond. Vida and Nora followed him in and were instantly greeted by the sight of the cell's prisoner.
"Necrolai?" Vida said softly once she took note of the woman chained to the ceiling and floor.
"Vida," Necrolai croaked. "Why are you here?"
"We came to save you and Leelee," Vida answered. "And how's that for irony that I'm the one that found YOU?"
"Just hang on," Riku told Necrolai. "We'll get you out of here. Hold still."
He shot forward with powerful speed, slashing twice. The chains that bound Necrolai at wrist and ankle were severed.
"Now come on!" Nora beckoned. "Let's get outta here!" She bolted out the door.
Necrolai turned to Riku first; "Thank you." Then to Vida; "And I thank you for coming after me. I would not have thought you would want to."
"So you turned me into a bloodthirsty vampire once," Vida said with a shrug. "Past's the past, right?"
Riku gave the air an experimental sniff. "The Darkness is thick in this castle," he observed, "but none of it's coming from you."
"I've left the Darkness behind," Necrolai stated.
Nora poked her head back into the room to yell "Hel-LO! We're still in the middle of the enemy base here! TICK TOCK!"
That was enough to spur the four into moving.
Kairi broke through another door in the dungeon to find not a prisoner but an object: a glimmering heart carved of pure crystal. "Cadance!" she called across the hall. "I think I found what you were looking for!"
Jaune, Xander, and Cadance crowded in around Kairi. "It is the Crystal Heart!" Cadance gasped.
Kairi gathered the gem into her arms. "Let's go."
Luna broke down a third door with Phineas and Madison in tow. The drop in temperature was even more noticeable here than in Necrolai's cell; wintry conditions had caused frost to form on the walls. This cell also contained a prisoner, chained to the ceiling and floor, pale and thin from her time in captivity. She shivered from the cold she had been kept in by Maleficent's cruelty.
"LEELEE!" Phineas cried in horror.
"Ph-Phineas?" Leelee replied in a thin voice.
"Fear not," Luna said calmly. "We've come to rescue you." Her horn glowed, and Leelee's shackles popped open.
Leelee rushed to Phineas, and the pair locked in a tight embrace. "I was startin' to get scared I'd never see you again," Phineas practically sobbed.
"I missed you so much," Leelee breathed, "and I kept hoping you were okay."
"It's okay. We're gonna get you outta here!"
"Thank you…so much…I'm so cold…"
"Here." Phineas wrapped both of Leelee's hands in his own. "That should warm 'em up."
All but Nick, Chip, and Ren reconvened in the center of the dungeon. "MOM!" Leelee cried out, breaking into a run at Necrolai.
"Leelee!" Now it was Necrolai and Leelee who embraced tightly. "Oh, Leelee, are you all right?"
"I think so…I'm just cold. What about you?"
"I'll be okay. Oh, I'm so glad you're safe…"
Ren, Chip, and Nick returned to the group with somber looks. "We checked out every other cell down here," Nick informed the rest. "There's no one else."
"It's a big castle," Kairi pointed out. "Maybe they're keeping Even somewhere else."
"Great," Jaune sighed. "And here I was thinking it would be easy."
As if fate was determined to get Jaune back for such a statement, there was the sound of a heavy SLAM; a thick gate of metal bars had fallen into place before the entry to the spiral stairway.
"Ohhhh, that is not good," Jaune whimpered. "That is not good that is not good that is not GOOD!"
"Nobody panic!" Nick called out.
"I can easily return us to the town square," Luna informed the group, charging up her horn to cast a Corridor of Darkness. As the magic began to form, it fizzled out with a pop.
"Did you really think I would not see your arrival in my mirror?" a regal voice sounded from the other side of the bars. All turned to see Grimhilde staring into the enclosed dungeon at her prisoners. "You are now stripped of all of your magic. The Inhibitor should have seen to that."
"It WAS a trap!" Chip cried.
"Inhibitor?" Vida repeated.
"I think she means this," Cadance pointed out, looking up to where a strange device had appeared on the ceiling. It was spherical in shape and covered with numerous eyes that blinked and gazed about.
"Ewwwww," Jaune groaned.
"That would be kinda cool if we weren't in so much trouble right now," Nora pointed out.
"Inhibitors have appeared throughout the castle," Grimhilde informed the group, "and whatever they see is stripped of magic. You will be forced to await your fate here."
Riku gritted his teeth. He tried to summon his blade to hand, but it refused to come; the act of calling and dismissing the Keyblade was magical in nature.
As Grimhilde turned and stalked away, Nora began laughing. "Boy, is she dumb!" she crowed once the witch was out of sight. "She thinks a little iron is gonna stop us?" She drew Magnhild, swinging the hammer full strength at the gate. The bars bent where they were struck, but did not break. "Okay, so this might take a couple tries." Nora drew Magnhild back again, going in for another swing.
"Nothing Maleficent ever does is dumb," Riku muttered. "There's more going on here than we know…"
Grimhilde stalked into the only room in the castle that had not sprouted an Inhibitor, and for good reason; a bubbling cauldron was overflowing with magic in the center of the chamber. "I have trapped them momentarily in the dungeons," she informed the two others in the room. "You have but a short while before they escape."
"It will hold them for long enough for me to finish this spell," Ursula replied, dumping a bottle into the cauldron and producing a mushroom cloud of smoke. "It'll be the first time I've given this baby a real run for its money. The last version of it wasn't meant to work on magical weapons, after all. Now, since we'll be hitting phase two any minute now…"
"Way ahead of ya, babe," Hades said with a wink as he disappeared in a column of flame.
Nora gave one last powerful swing, and the bars of the gate broke, allowing the group to slip through one by one. Riku led the charge up the spiral stairway. "Luna!" he called back down. "If we get out of the way of the Inhibitors, can you still bring us back to town?"
"Yes, I can!" Luna confirmed.
"We're getting out of the castle," Riku announced to the group.
"But what about Even?" Kairi cried.
"We'll have to come back for him later!" Riku told her, though he already had a bad feeling from the fact that Even wasn't to be found in the dungeon with Necrolai and Leelee.
Kairi nodded, tightening her grip on the Crystal Heart.
As Riku burst through the door through which the team had come, he stopped short. And as the others followed, they too pulled to a halt right behind him. Grimhilde, Ursula, Hades, and Cruella had been ready for them. The entire valley was packed with Heartless: Shadows, Neoshadows, Invisibles, Darkballs. And all of them were now alert to the new arrivals among them, hungry for a fight, surging as a tidal wave toward Riku and his team.
Hoping against hope, Riku reached out, and this time, the Keyblade came when called. With a roar, he dashed at the front line of Shadows, cutting them down en masse with a Dark Splicer. Upon seeing Riku's success with his Keyblade, Kairi, still clutching the Crystal Heart close, summoned her own, whirling into the fray.
"All right, everyone!" Nick called out. "You know what to do!"
He, Chip, Vida, Madison, and Xander removed five magic wands disguised in the form of cell phones from their pockets, waving them in an identical gesture; "LEGENDARY SOURCE! MYSTIC FORCE!" Light engulfed the quintet, clothing them each in a uniform consisting of a tight suit, a cape, and a helmet: Nick's red, Chip yellow, Vida pink, Madison blue, and Xander green. Magical staffs topped with devices that resembled phone rotaries appeared in their hands. With a loud battle cry, they rushed at the Heartless, firing out beams from their staffs.
"Whoa…" Jaune remarked. "That was cool."
"WAY cool!" Nora agreed. "Now let's not let them have ALL the fun!" She swung Magnhild hard at a Darkball. Jaune held up his shield in time to block a jumping Neoshadow. Ren opened fire on a troop of Shadows. Luna and Cadance blasted Invisibles left and right with their magic. Leelee and Phineas exchanged glances before assuming a synchronized routine of martial arts against the horde. Necrolai spun to kick a Darkball out of the air.
The horde was thinned in very little time. Riku and Nick had ended up side-by-side, Darkness and Light banding together to bring down the entities of evil. As they disposed of one particularly tough Invisible together, they were met with a wall of fire that solidified into a tall figure. Nick was filled with a sense of dread, but nothing in comparison to the horror that Riku felt, for unlike Nick, he recognized the being standing before him.
"Kids these days grow up so fast," Hades remarked. "One minute, you're raisin' 'em to become the next avatar of Darkness in the known multiverse. The next, they're trying to steal your stuff and sneak out of your house. What's a parent gotta do these days, huh?"
"You and Maleficent don't control me anymore," Riku seethed through gritted teeth.
"Uh, yeah, duh," Hades replied. "As you can see by the fact that you're TAKING OUR PRISONERS BACK."
Riku held his Keyblade outward menacingly. "You've been beaten by Keybearers before. It can happen again."
"Where's the last prisoner?" Nick demanded, pointing at Hades. "Where's Even?"
"Don't know, don't care," Hades offered. "How's that for ya? Oh, and on the note of you beating me up…see, funny story…"
He erupted into another column of flame, this one reaching as high as the tallest tower of the castle. When the fires settled, they revealed that Hades was as a giant, now the size of the height they had reached.
"Okay," Jaune called out as he skewered a Shadow, "anybody got a plan for how to deal with a GIANT GUY ON FIRE?"
"This looks like a job for a Titan!" Vida answered; she, Nick, Madison, Chip, and Xander banded together, spinning the rotary dials on their staffs. "Spell code 5!"
The light that resulted was immense, morphing the five Mystic Rangers into an entity just as large as Hades: a mechanized, armored humanoid wielding a positively enormous spear.
"You call that a Titan?" Hades scoffed as he called a fireball into each hand, launching them both at the Megazord in succession.
The Megazord, at the behest of its five pilots, blocked both shots with the spear before charging the weapon up with magic and thrusting it at Hades. Hades caught the spear point in both hands, trying to shove it away, but the Megazord was strong enough to give him difficulty, and the spear was actually burning his hands ever so slightly.
"GO RANGERS!" Nora squealed as she swatted a Darkball into a range where Luna could zap it. There were now only a few Heartless left on the field; soon, Hades would be the only opponent worth focusing on.
"Sheesh, you kids really pack a punch!" Hades remarked, shoving back against the spear. "Almost makes me glad I'm just a diversion!"
His booming voice echoed out over the whole battlefield, and just as the last of the Heartless were slain, everyone was given pause.
"He…did NOT just say…" Jaune sputtered.
"I am afraid he did," Luna said somberly.
Hades disappeared in a rush of flame, leaving behind one last statement: "And by the way, you are REALLY going to regret bringing out the big guns."
Inside the fortress, Ursula's spell had reached completion. A pink smog poured out from her cauldron, seeping out through the windows of Villain's Vale and through the surrounding valley. It engulfed the team of warriors completely, inciting a few fits of coughing.
"Poison?" Cadance gasped.
"No…" Luna realized. "Not poison…this is something else."
Riku's Keyblade, having absorbed enough smoke to gain a pink aura, ripped itself from its master's hand and turned on him. Riku quickly zoomed out of the way as the Keyblade attempted to murder its owner, speeding toward where he had stood, then circling back around for a retry; Riku darted to the side again, missing by only a hair.
Kairi's Keyblade had also gone wild, spinning round and round in the air like a thrown boomerang, circling far away from its owner to come back at her with greater force. Kairi turned and fled, keeping a tight grip on the Crystal Heart. As she passed Cadance, Cadance summoned up a deflection shield that caused the flowery blade to bounce harmlessly off.
"KAIRI!" Jaune yelled, raising his shield and running toward the redhead. "I'M COMING – "
His shield, glowing bright pink, turned and bashed him in the face, knocking him over. He shrieked as he rolled to avoid his sword, which was jabbing itself into the ground on a course for his body.
Magnhild and StormFlower were similarly possessed. Magnhild collided with Nora at full force, and were she made of less sturdy stuff, she might have suffered something worse than having the wind knocked out of her as she flew backward. Ren was having trouble avoiding the slices of two blades at once, and he came away with quite a few cuts.
The worst of it, however, came from the Rangers' end. Up in the cockpit of the Titan Megazord, Nick suddenly realized he had no more control over the armored behemoth. "What's happening?" he cried.
"It's going out of control!" Chip answered as the Megazord began to move of its own accord, glowing with a bright pink aura on the outside.
"It's going to hurt them!" Madison realized as the Megazord raised its spear to bring down upon Necrolai, Phineas, and Leelee.
The three unlucky targets looked up to see the possessed Megazord far too late to do anything about it; Leelee and Phineas screamed as the spear was brought down. The enormous weapon was halted when Luna skidded in front of them, forcing a beam of magic upward that repelled the spear just long enough for Necrolai, Leelee, and Phineas to move. Sweating from the effort, Luna let go of her spell and dodged in time for the spear to harmlessly hit the ground.
"EVERYPONY, TO ME!" Cadance cried. "I'LL SHIELD YOU!"
The pink smog had finally died down, but its effects lasted; Riku, Kairi, Luna, Phineas, Necrolai, Leelee, Nora, Jaune, and Ren rushed to the Crystal Princess in time for her to put a dome of blue energy up around them, protecting them from their wayward weapons. Magnhild, StormFlower, Crocea Mors, and the two Keyblades hammered at the dome; they were soon joined by the massive spear of the Megazord.
"I can take you back to the town square," Luna pointed out. "You can all escape."
"But what about the Rangers?" Leelee asked worriedly.
"We have to get them out of that thing!" Riku insisted.
"That is what I thought you would say," Luna replied with a nod; there was a reason she hadn't simply created the portal on the spot.
"What can we even DO at this point?" Jaune asked worriedly.
"A Limit," Riku realized. "Or something like it. A joint attack. If we all put our powers together, we can bring down that armor."
"But we don't have our weapons!" Nora cried.
"We don't need our weapons," Riku insisted. "Just ourselves. Follow my lead! Kairi, help me charge Nora!"
"EEEEEE-YES!" Nora bounced up and down, fist in the air.
Riku and Kairi cast their hands toward the jumping girl; "THUNDER!"
Nora crackled with the electricity she absorbed, and the giggle she let out was positively maniacal.
"Phineas, Leelee, Necrolai, Nora, Jaune, and Ren," Riku ordered, "hit it as hard as you can from below. Cadance, you take Kairi up high. Luna, take me up higher. And remember to work together! Everyone got that?"
He was met with a crowd of nods.
Riku waited for the spear point of the Titan Megazord to come down on the dome one more time before yelling, "Cadance! DROP THE SHIELD!"
The dome vanished, and everyone ran out of range of the possessed weapons, heading for the Megazord. "Ren!" Nora yelled. "Jaune! You guys ready to fly?"
The two addressed fell in running on either side of Nora. Ren just gave her a nod of affirmation.
"Wait," Jaune said warily. "What do you mean, 'Fly'?"
Nora grabbed Jaune and Ren by an arm each, then, drawing upon the strength Riku and Kairi had given her through Thundaga, threw them both up into the air at the Megazord's midsection. They drew back their fists, which crackled slightly, having taken on some residual electricity from Nora, and collided hard with the armor.
Down below, Necrolai gave her daughter and said daughter's boyfriend a playful smirk. "Let's see if you can still keep up with me," she teased before launching into a spin at the Megazord's ankles.
"Let's show her, Phineas!" Leelee cried before the pair followed Necrolai's suit, leaping at the Megazord, dealing it a thrice-synchronized kick followed by a series of fast attacks, hands and feet flying in perfect unison.
"Get onto my back!" Luna commanded Riku. "I will fly you toward the armor's head!"
"And I'll take you toward the heart!" Kairi told Cadance.
As Riku and Kairi vaulted onto Luna and Cadance, who took off into the air, Jaune and Ren flipped backward off the Megazord's stomach in unison, grabbing onto the shaft of the spear. They both got a good grip on it, but their momentum wasn't enough to disarm the Megazord. "Come on," Jaune moaned, "come onnnnnnn…"
The Megazord flailed its spear wildly in an attempt to shake the boys off. As the point dragged across the ground, Nora grabbed hold of the point, heaving, the last of the electricity she'd stored up augmenting her muscles. The spear was ripped from the Megazord's mighty hand, crashing to the ground.
When Cadance reached the level of the Megazord's chest, she told Kairi, "Jump."
"What?" Kairi was taken aback.
"I'll catch you," Cadance promised. "And let go of the Crystal Heart. I'll catch it too."
Kairi slid off Cadance's back, beginning a short freefall, dropping the crystal in the process. Both crystal and Kairi were caught up in a bright blue aura projected by Cadance; Kairi recognized it as the same magic that had made up the protective dome. She rapped her knuckles against the opposite forearm; she was covered in a magical shell that made her invincible.
"Cast your magic!" Cadance ordered Kairi. "I'll take you around!" She levitated the Crystal Heart close to herself before sending Kairi flying in a circle around the Megazord's abdomen. Kairi turned to the massive armor and began casting Blizzara, sending spikes of ice into the colossus. The Megazord attempted to swipe at her with its huge hands, but they merely glanced off the protective shield.
Luna brought Riku all the way up to the Megazord's head. "Cast your Darkest spell," she ordered. "I will make it greater."
Riku gathered a Dark Firaga sphere in his hands. As he let it loose, Luna shot her own energy directly into it, enlarging it and making it hotter. It struck the Megazord directly in the face, making the entire armor reel. And once it had hit home, Riku and Luna followed up with yet another blow.
The combination of all these attacks destabilized the Megazord; its outline blurred and it wobbled. Then, in a bright flash of light, it was suddenly gone. The spear dissolved. Nick, Madison, Xander, Chip, and Vida lay on the ground, dazed, wearing their street clothes. Their staffs stuck into the ground before them before reverting even further back into the size and shape of cell phones. Xander scrambled to pick his up, but backed off when he realized all five wands were still glowing pink.
Leelee immediately rushed to give Madison a hand up. "Thanks," Madison breathed as Leelee hauled her to her feet. Necrolai and Phineas assisted in helping the other four stand.
Nora, Jaune, Ren, Cadance, Kairi, Luna, and Riku rejoined the group, Cadance putting up another protective dome. "NOW!" Riku yelled, and Luna cast a Corridor of Darkness leading back to the Radiant Garden town square. Everyone dashed through, Kairi taking a hold back on the Crystal Heart.
As soon as they were gone, the Keyblades, the mystic wands, and the three weapons from Remnant took flight, sailing through a window of Villain's Vale into Ursula's chambers, where they floated obediently before their new master. Ursula, in response, gave a long and loud laugh.
...
Sora, Ruby, Papyrus, and Stork did end up accompanying Capercaillie on his way back to the central fortress. "We should still tell my father what happened," Capercaillie decided.
"But…maybe we should hold off on the memorial service," Stork suggested. "At least until we…know."
"I agree," Capercaillie said with a nod.
As they entered the fortress' atrium, Stork remarked, "I always did like this place."
"Capercaillie!" a voice boomed. Ocula strode down the hall to greet his son with arms extended. "And what's this? Stork of the Storm Hawks? To what do we owe the pleasure?"
"Not a pleasure, I'm afraid," Capercaillie informed his father. "There was a terrible attack on the Condor. Stork and Finn survived, but we aren't sure of the rest."
Ocula's demeanor changed; he dropped his arms, and his gaze became somber. "My condolences," he said softly. "The Storm Hawks were the finest warriors I had known." Or at least Piper, Aerrow, Finn, and Junko had been, he thought. He didn't hold much respect for tiny Radaar, and he had never seen Stork fight.
"Thanks," Stork replied.
"Well, if you need cheering up, there's going to be a battle tonight you probably don't want to miss," Ocula suggested.
"A battle?" Sora asked, lighting up. "Like a tournament?"
"Here at Terra Valhalla, requests of the royal family are granted by prowess in the combat arena," Capercaillie explained. "It's a disgusting tradition that in no way reveals a person's true worth."
"The Storm Hawks proved their own worth in the ring, didn't they?" Ocula argued. "How well a man can fight is the sum of his being!"
"What is the fight for?" Capercaillie asked.
"You won't believe it," Ocula told him, "but somebody came asking for the Leviathan Crystals, and is planning to claim them in a fight against Huginnmuninn!"
Capercaillie gasped in horror. "Father, you can't! You're not planning to give those away to anything else! I thought I told you to have them destroyed!"
"And lose our edge over the other Terras by having more powerful crystals than all of them combined?" Ocula spat. "Never!"
"But the only reason someone would want the Leviathan Crystals would be to destroy other Terras!" Capercaillie argued. "Just like I warned you about Master Cyclonis!"
"Wait." Stork had put two and two together. "Are the Leviathan Crystals pink, huge, and able to take on the shape of see-through monsters?"
"The very same," Capercaillie confirmed.
"Ohhhh, this is bad," Stork muttered. He turned to Sora, Ruby, and Papyrus. "Cyclonis tried to use those to destroy the other half of Atmos…and she pretty much succeeded. Those things are BAD NEWS!"
"Hey," Sora suggested, stepping up to Ocula. "You said if people won in the battlefield, they might get requests granted, right? What if we asked you NOT to give the crystals away…and we fought for it?"
"Well," Ocula told him, "we always welcome new combatants! If one of you were to step into the ring and defeat both our champion and the one who requested the crystals, then the crystals would go to you instead, and you could use them or refuse to use them as much as you pleased!"
"Then I wanna fight both of 'em!" Sora suggested.
"And you shall!" Ocula decided.
"But…I wanna fight them," Ruby groaned.
"WHAT ABOUT ME?" Papyrus pointed out. "I COULD FIGHT THEM TOO!"
"How about next time we pick a rep, one of you can go?" Sora suggested.
"Just so long as it isn't me," Stork muttered.
"So!" Sora turned back to Ocula. "Who am I fighting?"
"Our champion, Huginnmuninn, is the strongest man in Terra Valhalla," Ocula explained. "As for the other…I do not know his name, or regrettably, his face. He kept it hidden beneath a helmet shaped like a dragon's skull."
He wasn't sure what to make of the stunned expression that came over Ruby, Papyrus, and Sora alike when he mentioned that.