Taking Back the Crown

by JCMorrigan

Mozenrath. Archibald Snatcher. Roman Torchwick. Mad Madam Mim. Yzma. The Huntsman. Wuya. Ayam Aghoul. Their mission: take over the multiverse, or look fabulous trying. Rated M for swearing, steamy implications and VERY bloody battles. Contains slash and het shipping.

82. Dragon's Eye and Book of Prophecies

A/N: Blood! Gore! Mutilation! It's the climactic battle of our first act, so things are about to get messy! Stay safe, readers!

...

It didn't go unnoticed when the entire castle contingent marched toward the gummi garage, determination in their eyes. Cid had agreed to let them all use the biggest ship in his arsenal, which was able to fit them all comfortably. As they walked, weapons in hand, they picked up some spectators.

"Hey!" Huey called out as he, Dewey, and Louie kept pace. "Where ya goin'?"

"To stop Maleficent!" Donald answered, already knowing what was coming. "And YOU CAN'T COME!"

"Awww…" all three boys sighed in unison.

"BOYS!" Scrooge turned the corner, barging after the triplets. "Ye know what I said about wanderin' about when all these Heartless are roamin'!" He did a double take at the sight of the amassed heroes that had caught the triplets' eye in the first place. "And where d'ye think yer goin'?"

"I keep saying!" Donald insisted. "We're gonna go stop Maleficent!"

Scrooge rolled up his sleeves. "I've got a thing or two I want to say to that old witch!" he grunted. "Like it or not, I'm comin' with ye!"

"It's gonna be dangerous," Sora warned him.

"An' I'm ready!" Scrooge insisted.

"You better not slow us down," Cid insisted.

"But we could use the help!" Sora chimed in.

"YAY!" Dewey cried. "Unca Scrooge gets to go! That means WE get to go!"

"No, it most certainly does not!" Scrooge informed the boys. "That means YOU get to go home and mind the manor while I'm gone! Keep the doors locked an' the windows shut!"

"You don't trust us?" Louie pouted.

"I trust ye enough to mind the manor, don't I?" Scrooge reminded them. "What I don't want is for ye ta get hurt."

The triplets hung their heads. "Fine," Huey sighed.

"We'll go home," Louie moaned.

"An' if it's been too long before I get back…" Scrooge said tentatively.

"We'll call Mrs. Beakley," Dewey confirmed.

"Now get outta here!" Donald snapped. "Maleficent's already caused enough trouble! Something bad happening to you is the LAST thing we need!"

The triplets sulked their way back down the street – though this turned out to be a ruse, as their enthusiasm had not been dulled one bit and sprang back into their eyes as soon as they were out of sight of the troop.

"If Unca Scrooge and Unca Donald think we're gonna miss out on this," Dewey stated, "they forgot who they were dealin' with!"

...

The view from atop the tallest tower in the replica Forbidden Mountains was stunning, from a certain point of view. Even without the light of sun, moon, or stars, the spires and crests of the other palaces still glittered, illuminated by design of their creation; within the Book of Prophecies, it was said that these fortresses would always be visible even as the kingdoms below them were cast in shadow, a shining reminder of who was in charge.

In charge of nothing, yet, of course, but Maleficent had plans: plans that wrote themselves out in her head as she surveyed her empire from atop the aforementioned tower. For, make no mistake, it was her empire, though she was more than content to share it with her bosom allies and her new warriors. A soft breeze blew back her night-black clothing as she clutched her staff, letting Diablo perch atop the sphere called the Dragon's Eye.

She would fill the streets with loyal subjects for every lord of the Forbidden World, destroying the worlds she saw fit to erase and collecting their refugees to put to work doing dirty jobs. She would extinguish heroes and leaders, leaving the commoners without hope.

Her mind turned once again to those she had personally vowed to make suffer: the WHAM ARMY, the Cinnamons. She had heard both of those pathetic names through Grimhilde's glass. As though either could truly strike fear or confidence into the hearts of the common people. No ordinary death was reserved for them. The fools who wished to play hero in Radiant Garden would be served their supper soon enough; for now, it was enough that they knew their own were responsible for handing Maleficent the key to her domination.

As for the rest of Mozenrath's forces, the tools selected for their destruction lay in wait within the bowels of the fortress atop which Maleficent stood. All that was left was to deploy them.

So why had Maleficent not done so? First of all, her allies were still all settling in to their new domiciles. They needed time to get acclimated. She was sure they would want to be audience to the suffering that was planned. More relevant, however, was Maleficent's desire to simply look over her empire and be proud of what she had achieved: something Mozenrath could have never hoped and something Sora would never understand.

Her mind turned briefly to the failsafe she had written into the Forbidden World's makeup. For as much as she wanted to be secure in her victory, part of her knew that victory did not come certain to her. Hence the need to add a last resort, should things in fact go sour. Yet she did not anticipate using it. She was thorough, but no pessimist.

She rather liked the view of the sky with neither sunrise nor sunset to besmirch the dark with its garish colors. It contrasted well with the rocky gray plains that surrounded her fortress. She turned her attention to the surrounding area then, admiring every jagged rock, every barren patch.

That was when her eyes lit upon the thing that should not have been there.

Its shape was unmistakable. Truly, they thought her a mockery if this was how they chose to approach her. "No," she growled, glaring down at the vehicle that was slowly but surely making its way up the path to the Forbidden Mountain replica. "NO! THOSE FOOLS!"

Maleficent knew immediately who was to blame for this. Sora and his band of happy heroes would never think to approach her in a steam-emitting vehicle fashioned in the shape of a giant metal dragon. That sort of vicious pageantry was the signature of the WHAM ARMY and none other.

The dragon had been Snatcher's idea. The entirety of the WHAM ARMY was crammed inside it, having deployed it from the warship as said warship hovered in the Forbidden World's atmosphere. As the vehicle wheeled up the path, breathing smoke and the occasional plume of flame, it rattled warningly, threatening to fall apart at any moment. Such was the hazard of only giving Jack Spicer and Herb Overkill a few hours to put it together. However, it had been unanimously agreed upon that showing up in a steam-powered dragon would make Maleficent absolutely furious, and that was more than worth it.

It seemed Maleficent would not get to unleash her secret weapon upon the WHAM ARMY while they were in their base after all. Now that they were at her doorstep, there was no time like the present. Hopefully, they would have indeed been stupid enough to have all come at once. That way, Maleficent could wipe them out in one blow.

She tapped the bottom of her staff on the stone floor. Her summons reverberated throughout the fortress, calling to arms the minions she had assembled for the very purpose of wiping out the WHAM ARMY. They were not Heartless this time, nor were they Maleficent's trusted goblins. They were something far more invincible.

Inside the dragon, Wuya held a portal up front that gave a view of the road ahead. When a barrage of foot soldiers came rushing down to greet the metal dragon, no one was surprised. "Oh, good," Wuya remarked. "The roadkill has arrived."

"We shall simply drive over them," Snatcher declared.

"Hey, um, not to burst your bubble," Roman pointed out, "but don't those things remind you of something Righty told us about?"

"Oh, yes," Aghoul confirmed, "those are definitely Mamluks."

The hordes of the undead had been loosed upon the metal dragon, now answering to Maleficent instead of Mozenrath. Many of them drew sharp, curved swords, holding them aloft. But the vanguard held a completely different sort of weapon: one that struck the WHAM ARMY as too familiar for comfort.

"Wait a minute," Scarlet realized. "Are they holding HERB'S LAVA GUNS?"

"They can't be Herb's lava guns," Yzma replied. "Herb does not have them in his possession, ergo, they are Maleficent's lava guns."

"You know what I mean!" Scarlet barked. "That's the exact same design! And those guns are FILLED WITH LAVA!"

"That's my intellectual property!" Herb cried, genuinely hurt. "How did Maleficent get ahold of my design?"

Grany tried his best to look invisible, which is hard to do when you are a person his size. Rémington casually said "Must've had the same idea" while refusing to look at either Overkill.

"It makes no difference!" Snatcher barked. "RUN THEM DOWN!"

The dragon collided with the first Mamluks. Its passengers felt turbulence as the vanguard squad became bumps beneath the vehicle's wheels.

"Shouldn't we be a little more worried about this?" Jack asked. "Y'know, since they have – "

There was the sound of a wet splat. The left wall of the dragon melted away entirely, exposing the passengers to the elements.

"Lava," Jack finished.

Because the dragon had already run over so many Mamluks, all of whom simply got up unharmed on the other side, the undead now surrounded the metal vehicle, spraying it with lava from all sides. The metal liquefied, threatening to rain down on its passengers in a deadly torrent.

"ABANDON DRAGON!" Jack shrieked.

Mim, Wuya, Irmaplotz, and Xayide all had the same idea at the same time; a deflection shield four powers strong burst upward from the melting remains of what had been a steam-powered dragon, raining hot, boiling black liquefied metal onto the zombies that surrounded. While the Mamluks could easily take the loss of a limb, there was no coming back from such burns. The entire WHAM ARMY exploded forth, leaving the vanguard squad behind and barreling toward the sword-bearing Mamluks to engage in combat.

This proved more difficult than expected. While the Mamluks seemed simple enough to beat in combat, they could piece themselves together whenever disassembled. It was easy enough for Wuya to rip both arms off her assailant. It was not as easy for her to predict that those arms would begin crawling around like snakes, seizing one of her ankles and making a fierce chop at the leg with a sword; her other foot planting firmly on the sword-arm's wrist prevented her from losing the foot altogether.

After watching the fourth Mamluk he'd blown up simply reassemble himself, Roman cried, "OKAY, WE COULD USE SOME BACKUP HERE!"

"MR. SPICER!" Snatcher cried as he bashed a Mamluk's skull with his mallet. "DEPLOY THE SECRET WEAPON!"

"THIS EARLY?" Yzma cried, ducking a slashing sword.

"I REFUSE TO PERISH TO A HORDE OF THE SHAMBLING UNDEAD!" the Huntsman cried, cutting through three of them at once right through the waists; hopping torsos continued to threaten him with their swords while the disembodied legs kicked. The huntstaff was quickly put on parrying duty.

"Awww, but I'm having fun ripping them to shreds!" Mim complained from the mouth of an Ursa that had just tossed aside five Mamluks' heads.

"There will be plenty of others to tear apart once Maleficent sees that we have vanquished her frontlines!" the Huntsman roared.

Jack was in the process of summoning the "secret weapon" Snatcher had specified, but as he reached into his coat, he found himself surrounded by Mamluks, swords held high. Too intimidated to have his fight reflex activated, he stared up at the gleaming blades, screaming in terror.

The swords all came down onto a green deflection shield. While the confused zombies tried to figure out what had blocked their attack, Jack twisted about to try and discover the same. His eyes alit upon Irmaplotz, who had just body-slammed an incoming trio of Mamluks. She gave him a quick look, a smile, and a thumbs-up; "Got your back!"

The smile Jack returned was so besotted, it seemed drunken. He suddenly snapped back to attention, fishing the remote control out of his coat and pressing the large red button – because if you were going to be a proper villain, your doomsday devices should always activate with a large red button, and that was non-negotiable. As the swarm descended from the warship above, Jack gave the war cry: "JACK-BOTS! ATTAAAAACK!"

Airborne bronze-colored robots several hundred strong buzzed down onto the field, their targeting systems locking onto the Mamluks. Lasers blasted, taking the zombies apart without any help from their combatants. The Mamluks, realizing their true enemy, grouped up to attempt to strategize a countermeasure to the Jack-Bots. Throwing their swords didn't really work. Nor did stacking on top of each other to tackle the machines. The best they could do was continue to reassemble every time the Jack-Bots ripped them apart.

With every Mamluk now occupied by a Jack-Bot, the WHAM ARMY pressed forth toward the fortress.

"NO!" Maleficent cried. She turned away from the sight in one fluid motion, storming down the stairs to the fortress' interior with Diablo at her side; "They will fall before they ever cross the threshold!"

At the side of each and every one of her allies spread throughout the Forbidden World, a green orb materialized. "Mozenrath's fools have seen fit to attack our empire," Maleficent's voice emitted from each orb. "To me, so we may end their reign of aggravation once and for all!"

Corridors of Darkness opened up en masse in the field before the fortress.

"DO NOT BACK DOWN!" the Huntsman cried as he led the WHAM ARMY charge, huntstaff outward. "ENGAGE AND DEFEAT!"

The two forces clashed.

Clayton and McLeach could barely contain their laughter when a leaping Tubbimura slammed down onto the ground before them. "They think a fatso like this is gonna help them?" McLeach laughed.

"You will regret mocking me," Tubbimura informed him.

McLeach cocked his crossbow while Clayton shouldered his cannon. "And I suppose you are going to devour us?" Clayton said smugly. "Is that your strategy?"

Before they could blink, Tubbimura had leapt over their heads, landing behind them and dealing them each a blow to the back of the head; both of their shots went wild. McLeach transferred the crossbow to one arm momentarily, drawing a knife as he turned to stab it at Tubbimura. The ninja was faster, spinning out of the way of the knife and seizing the wrist that held it. He then wrenched McLeach's arm back behind his body, putting McLeach in a painful hold.

It was dropped when he was forced to dodge Clayton's cannon blast. Tubbimura rammed Clayton with his full weight, driving Clayton back; the cannon rolled from his hands and down the slope of the path. Clayton, however, was unfazed.

His Grimm arm shot out like a claw; Tubbimura knew just from looking that if he were caught in that hand's grip, there was no breaking free. The ninja backpedaled, delivering a roundhouse kick to McLeach's solar plexus. McLeach staggered back, hoisting up the crossbow again.

This time, all Tubbimura had to do was wait. McLeach aimed the crossbow. There was a click. A green bolt shot forth. Tubbimura cartwheeled out of its path. The bolt hit home in Clayton's shoulder.

"I DON'T WANT TO END UP WITH ANOTHER OF THESE BLASTED MONSTER ARMS, YOU IDIOT!" Clayton bellowed.

"THEN TAKE THIS CLOWN DOWN!" McLeach harped back.

Tubbimura was put on the defensive, dodging crossbow fire and a swinging, clutching claw. It wasn't ideal, but if they were kept busy trying to defeat him, they weren't hassling the members of the WHAM ARMY who most needed to reach the fortress' gates.

Katnappé squared off against Mercury Black, who tossed his silver hair confidently once he saw who was challenging him. "When will you people understand that I am perfectly fine with hitting a girl?" he teased.

"Such a gentleman," Katnappé said sarcastically. "You must be a real hit with the ladies."

"I'm not too concerned about the ladies," Mercury told her, "and I wouldn't call myself a hit so much as a kick…in the ass."

At that, he launched himself into the air, legs swinging.

His first kick missed; Katnappé leapt back, skidding onto the stone inches away from where Mercury's foot touched down. "Oh, dear," Katnappé taunted. "I'd really be in trouble if I didn't have this." She withdrew the Shen Gong Wu she had brought onto the battlefield: a wand shaped like a golden flower. "Lotus Twister!"

Mercury spun; Katnappé's body bent unnaturally, as though it were made of rubber, allowing her to writhe out of the way of the swinging foot. Mercury turned a full 360 before trying again, this time activating the gun in his leg; he sent off blast after blast, but Katnappé cartwheeled around him, dodging each shot.

"Looks like you missed," she said slyly, giving Mercury a smirk.

"Did I?" Mercury asked.

That was when Katnappé noticed the white energy of Mercury's ammunition gathering into a cyclone around her.

She had just enough time to proclaim "Oh no" before it all came slamming down.

Cinder Fall had her eyes set upon Roman; it was time for payback. She rushed down the field toward him, glass heels clicking on the stone, when her path was suddenly blocked by Hannibal growing to human size in front of her.

"Stand aside, BEAN," Cinder growled.

"Aw, you think I came down all this way just to follow your orders?" Hannibal replied. "I know you're lookin' for a fight as much as I am."

Cinder clenched her teeth – then relaxed, feeling this would be but a momentary obstacle. She let her hands unfold to either side of her, first the left, then the right erupting with small columns of flame. "All right. If you want to play with fire, I'll let you play with fire."

She hurled both flames at empty air; Hannibal had become airborne, though how he could jump without any legs, Cinder could only wonder. She propelled herself upward on a jet of flame, twirling as she did so; twin swords of black formed in her hands, turning her into a whirling propeller of blades.

Hannibal's arms connected in midair, piecing together his favorite Shen Gong Wu: "MOBY MORPHER!"

He became the spitting image of Cinder herself, one glass shoe landing on each of Cinder's blades. Once he'd steadied himself that way, he displaced one of his new long legs to deal a kick to Cinder's sternum. She was sent toppling backward; on his descent, Hannibal grasped Cinder's ankles and swung downward hard so that she slammed into the rock when they landed. Angered, Cinder let loose a massive stream of flame toward Hannibal; he became the form of the much shorter Jack Spicer, only the tips of his hair becoming singed with a fire that was easily patted out with a hand.

Cinder flipped up from the ground, legs swinging into Hannibal's side and bowling him over on her way up. As she stood, she took up her swords again, rushing the temporarily downed Hannibal.

He chose Wuya's form this time, sliding away from where the swords bit into the stone and rising gracefully to his bare feet. Cinder struck out again and again, but he dodged each time, sliding behind her and dealing a kick to her back that sent her stumbling forward.

"And Torchwick said you'd be a problem," Hannibal mocked in Wuya's voice.

He was prepared for the black arrows Cinder loosed at him, catching their shafts deftly in his hands. He spun, launching them right back, using only the force of his throw to propel them at Cinder.

She crossed her arms; the arrows were deflected from an invisible surface as they went up in flame. "I should've known better than to underestimate you," Cinder said as her eyes became bordered in glowing flames. "I won't make that mistake again."

The area around her body literally exploded with fire; Hannibal was sent tumbling to the ground. He looked up to see Cinder advancing upon him, hovering ever so slightly off the ground.

Hannibal now had the distinct feeling he was in trouble.

An intense column of flame forced him to roll to the left as it ripped apart the stone. Cinder's other hand sent a matching jet to force Hannibal to roll right. "Shapeshift all you want," she laughed, "but there's no way out of this."

When Hannibal came flying at her foot-first in Chase's body, she was ready to lean ever so slightly to the right and let him sail past her.

The real Chase had been accosted by Harley Quinn. "You don't know what you're dealing with," he threatened when she stood in his path.

"You boys, always underestimatin' me!" Harley quipped. "Try this on for size!"

She threw a punch at Chase's face; he tilted his head only slightly to evade it. As Harley drew back, Chase quickly gave her an uppercut to the stomach. He followed it up with a roundhouse kick meant to land on her head; Harley was ready this time, grabbing Chase's leg and hauling him off-balance with all her might. Taken by surprise, Chase landed hard on the stone, where Harley dealt a swift kick to his stomach. She drew back her foot for another; it was blocked by Chase's wrist. Rising to his hands, Chase slammed his feet into Harley's shoulders; as she fell back, Chase sprang into a flip, landing nimbly on his feet.

Harley's fists swung at him again and again; he nimbly sidestepped each blow. Over her shoulder, he could see Wuya making headway toward the fortress.

"I don't have time to waste here," Chase declared, positioning his hands toward his opponent. "Repulse the monkey!"

Harley was blown backward into a sitting position on the stone. She reached for the sands she carried on her, expecting Chase to deal a more serious blow, but instead, he took off running right past her.

Harley knew that a sensible person would be thankful that she wasn't being attacked anymore. A sensible person who was devoted to Maleficent's cause would find someone else to hold off, trusting the rest of Maleficent's forces to stop Chase. Harley, however, was well aware her reputation was built on rejecting common sense. Chase had humiliated her, and now he was running from her like a coward. She was going to finish this fight.

Leaping to her feet, she surged after him, keeping her eyes pinned on his long black mane of hair.

"I'm doing it!" Jack Spicer cried to himself as he ran, seemingly unnoticed by any of the warriors on the field. "I'm actually making it to the fortress! I'M GONNA DO IT! I KNEW there'd be a benefit to being underestimated!"

The moment the girl dressed in purple landed on the stone before him, he let out a screech of surprise.

Cyclonis drew herself up to her feet slowly, giving Jack a glare that could kill over a sly smile. "Aren't you a little young to be playing with the big boys?" she asked.

"Yeah, same to you," Jack quipped. "Also, you are wearing WAY too much eyeliner. And if you have to hear that from ME, then you KNOW something's wrong."

"ENOUGH!" Cyclonis aimed her staff directly at Jack.

"Uh-oh," Jack squeaked.

At the first blast, he dove and hit the dirt, letting the heat streak past him. He scrambled into a crawl, removing the Shen Gong Wu he'd kept hidden in his coat. "Monkey Staff," he pleaded, "don't let me down now!"

As he grasped the staff, he felt his features contort ever so slightly; his limbs were more nimble, a tail sprouting from his lower back as fanged teeth protruded from over his lips.

He gave a primate screech as he leapt up from the ground, evading another one of Cyclonis' blasts. Bolstered by a newfound confidence, Jack swung the Monkey Staff itself at Cyclonis, forcing her to parry with her own weapon. The two staffs clashed again and again until the fiery crystal that topped Cyclonis' weapon gave an explosive blast that knocked Jack head over heels, sending him tumbling a fair way back down the path.

Cyclonis proudly turned her back on him. "This is what happens when simpletons challenge – "

Her gloat was cut off when Jack simply leapt onto her back, seizing her weapon's shaft from behind and giving out monkey screeches all the while. "GET OFF ME!" Cyclonis growled, spinning and twisting to try and dislodge Jack's position. It was to no avail up until the point that her elbow rammed right into his face, giving him a jolt that loosened his grip. She pried his limbs away, spinning around; the staff collided with him and sent him rolling again. He swiftly got back up, taunting Cyclonis with animalistic eeks. When Cyclonis was given a taunt, she always responded, and with staff in hand, she did exactly that.

"Oi, Horace!" Jasper Badun rushed down the path to his opponent of choice. "Come look at this one here! Dressed all fancy, she's like to have something of value on her for the picking!"

"I dunno," Horace said as he skidded to his brother's side. "She's not wearin' no purse. No jewelry, either. Just a lot of knives."

Their target couldn't help but laugh as she observed them. "Now, where have I seen this before?" Gothel chuckled. "Two brothers who are well-versed in crime and think they can stop me. And me without a suitable bludgeon." She withdrew a knife for each hand. "I guess I'll just have to settle for something deadlier."

Jasper and Horace, of course, were outfitted with suitable bludgeons. Their clubs arced through the air toward Gothel. She quickly crouched, letting both clubs sail over her head before she stood up, now behind both brothers, jamming the knives backward.

Had she been a hair quicker, she would have stabbed them both. As it were, the Baduns had run out of her range by the time of her strike, turning around to see what she had nearly done. Gothel spun back to face them, letting one knife fly through the air.

"Oi, watch it!" Jasper barked as he tilted his head, letting the knife's blade just graze his cheek; a line of red began to ooze blood.

Gothel already had a replacement knife in hand. "Oh, I'm watching it," she sighed. "I'm watching it get bungled by two idiots."

As Horace swung his weapon toward her, her blade slashed. Feeling a sharp pain in his hand, Horace dropped his club, clutching the arm that dripped blood in the one that still worked.

"You're gonna pay for that!" Jasper threatened, coming at Gothel again. He expected her to stab, so he feinted, sidestepping at the last moment. So began a deadly dance of Gothel's clawing blades and Jasper's swings while Horace tried in vain to simply hold a weapon without his arm shooting agony through his entire body.

Then, at random, Gothel declared, "I'm already bored." The knife in her right hand was substituted for a different object.

"Knew she had somethin' valuable on her!" Jasper declared once he spotted the ornamental comb.

"Oh, this?" Gothel said with a smile. "This is just my…Tangled Web Comb."

The comb's tines lengthened into restraints, shooting outward and tying around Jasper. His arms pinned to his sides, he was unable to hold a club; the weapon crashed down onto the stone.

Gothel now knew she was in a tricky position. She was counting on Horace to be unable to attack her while dealing with his wound. After all, the Tangled Web Comb only kept someone bound for as long as you kept your focus on it. As of that moment, Gothel had no distractions, allowing Jasper no escape. She couldn't allow herself to even entertain the notion that that would soon change.

Bill Sykes spotted Scarlet Overkill running at top speed through the crowd; he could tell already she would be a problem. He hoisted his axe upward, its blade assuming its green glow.

Then he felt a mild tap on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Herb said confidently, "but that's my wife you're looking at. And I'm not letting you lay a finger on her."

Sykes turned around to stare Herb down, first looking at the unwieldy gun the inventor toted and then meeting his gaze. "You'll do," he decided.

The axe was drawn back.

Herb pulled the trigger on the gun.

Sykes sidestepped a stream of hot lava that bubbled over the stone, putting Herb out of reach of his weapon. "That's some firepower you have," he observed.

"It is," Herb confirmed, "and I wanna know how you got the plans for it."

"That is what Maleficent's undead foot soldiers were holding, wasn't it?" Sykes chuckled. "I wouldn't know. R&D isn't my department."

He made a swing; the axe was blocked with the gun. "You seriously think you can cut through a gun designed to hold LAVA?" Herb taunted. "Wait a second. Wait – wait a second. You're gonna love this."

He shifted so that the gun was held in only one hand, still holding back Sykes' terrible weapon. With the other, Herb hoisted up a blue sphere. "ORB OF TORNAMI!" he declared.

A wave of water surged over Sykes, pushing him back.

"Pretty cool, right?" Herb asked. "Lava in one hand and water in the other."

"It was impressive enough to keep you talking about it," Sykes told him slyly.

"Wait," Herb replied. "That makes it sound like while I was fighting you, you had somebody else sneak up behind me to – "

He quickly spun around to see Snoops retreating at high speed and an utter pile of fireworks scattered behind him, all connected to one lit fuse.

Herb was soon sprinting over the battlefield as the explosives whizzed and boomed behind him in all colors.

He zoomed past Scarlet; who had only a moment to halt in her tracks, looking at the path he had taken; "Herb?"

As she stood still, she felt a rough hand seize one of her arms and pin it behind her back. Instinctively, she twisted, slipping out of the grip and dealing several quick blows to her opponent. By the time he had begun to dodge and retaliate with martial artistry of his own, Scarlet took in the sight of who she was fighting: Ozai, or, more accurately, his Nobody.

"This is cute," she laughed. "You think you can beat me. Let me tell you, mister, I have taken on WAY worse than – "

She was interrupted by a roar that signaled the incoming of a second opponent. Whirling on one heel, Scarlet jammed her other leg upward to catch Scar in the stomach hard. As Scar landed on his side on the stone, Ozai's arm became locked against Scarlet's.

"Okay, you know what?" Scarlet sighed, reaching for her own little talisman. "Let's just cut this short. Star Hanabi!"

When the Shen Gong Wu emitted its flames toward Ozai, he instinctively tried to bend them. He was reminded all too painfully that he could no longer do so; his skin showed the burns.

Scar had dragged himself up to his feet at that point; he bared his teeth at Scarlet. "I won't be bested by you," he seethed.

"Nor will I," Ozai declared. "I was the Phoenix King! I cannot be defeated!"

"Then bring it on," Scarlet encouraged.

Ozai and Scar rushed her from opposite sides, and she was ready.

When the summons had gone out, Hans had assured Demyx he could stay behind. When Demyx had heard that the WHAM ARMY was the force that had come out to play, however, he found he simply couldn't let this opportunity pass by without his participation. Standing amidst the battlefield, he wondered: who to choose? Preferably one of the weaker ones. Perhaps –

"YOU! BETRAITOR!"

Perfect.

Demyx turned to face Zevon. "Aw, c'mon," he urged, "don't be mad. You would've done the same thing, right?"

"NEVER!" Zevon declared. "The WHAM ARMY is a family to me, literaturally in the case of Yzma! I would sooner experish than give her up to Maleficent!"

Demyx shrugged. "Then perish."

His sitar materialized at the same time Zevon grasped the pendant around his neck. Zevon was faster, crying out, "EYE OF DASHI!". A bolt of lightning zapped Demyx in the stomach.

"OUCH!" Demyx screamed. "Warn a guy next time, will ya?"
"I did," Zevon reminded him. "I called out, 'EYE OF DASHI!'"

That activated the pendant again, and Demyx was zapped with another "OUCH!"

"That…was completely intentionalized!" Zevon claimed. "Now, to do what I do best!"

A flask of bright red was loaded up into his hand. "BA-BOOM!" Zevon proclaimed as he launched it directly toward Demyx.

Demyx whipped the sitar's base through the air, shattering the flask. The contents kept up their trajectory until Demyx's fingers found the chord that sent the potion splashing right back toward Zevon, riding on an arc of water. Zevon barely had time to register what had happened before his own potion had washed over him. It took effect immediately; Zevon began spinning uncontrollably, losing track of his surroundings.

Demyx took a moment to laugh at Zevon's predicament before sealing the deal. As he plucked out the notes that formed the song he could play in his sleep, he cried, "DANCE, WATER, DANCE!"

A hundred watery forms sprang up around Zevon.

Demyx giggled; "Good luck trying to defeat them all while you're – "

"EYE OF DASHI!"

Once Zevon activated the lightning, his spin brought him around so quickly, the electricity jolted into and brought down every water form that dared get close.

"Aw, dangit," Demyx sighed.

Grany found himself locking eyes with a certain man who strode deliberately toward him on the battlefield. Interesting, Grany thought; this man was very nearly his size, tall and bulky. Expecting a fight, Grany drew his sword from his back.

To his surprise, the man approaching him told him, "You still have a chance to just walk away. This doesn't have to end in bloodshed."

"Are you serious?" Grany replied, bewildered. "After everything, NOW you're gonna try and say you don't wanna kill us?" He gave a short laugh. "Too bad, 'cause we're sure gonna kill you!"

The other man closed his eyes and shook his head. "You can't say I didn't give you a chance," he growled.

Without further warning, Hazel Rainart barreled at Grany.

Grany swung his sword; Hazel darted around its trajectory, slamming his body into Grany's. Grany found himself momentarily put in a headlock; Hazel was attempting to squeeze his neck tight enough to crush the bones. He would have to try that trick on someone weaker. Grany managed to throw Hazel over his entire body; Hazel landed hard on the stone. Grany's sword flashed as Hazel attempted to stand; blood splattered across the ground.

Hazel continued to get to his feet as though nothing had happened, despite blood dripping from his chest.

"How…are you…" Grany gaped. "Doesn't that hurt?"

"No," Hazel replied, reaching into his pockets to withdraw two red Dust crystals.

"Either you're an idiot for trying to use those without a weapon to load with them," Grany observed, "or you're about to do something I'm going to hate."

Hazel's left hand quickly stabbed the pointy end of the crystal into his right forearm.

"I already hate this," Grany said nervously.

Hazel's right hand punctured his left forearm with the other crystal. His veins were momentarily visible, bright crimson beneath his brown skin. His eyelids closed, almost serene.

The change was instant. "You wanted death," Hazel announced. His eyes snapped open, almost too wide. His next words were a positive roar: "THEN DIIIIIIIE!"

Grany held up his sword in front of himself to act as a defense when Hazel charged. Hazel seized the sword, not even bothering with the fact that the blade was cutting into his hands, and shoved it down so he could aim a decent punch at Grany's face.

At the same time, there was a loud crack; Grany felt something propelled by intense speed zoom over his and Hazel's shoulders. His head twisted back over his shoulder so he could get a good look. Above, Medusa was perched in the purloined Huntsclan hovercraft, cursing out her rifle for making her miss. Of course, Grany thought. It was the perfect strategy: assign a sniper above while a more physical fighter kept him busy on the ground –

In the time it took him to think of all this, Hazel decked him, the offending fist letting out a burst of flame as it connected. Grany staggered back a couple steps.

As Medusa raised her gun for another shot, Grany spun, the flat of his blade deflecting the bullet; he kept on turning and drove his fist into Hazel's face. Grany knew he had his work cut out for him.

Rémington had precious few seconds to observe his brother's plight and consider rushing to assist him before his view was blocked by a gleaming, sizzling-hot red blade. "Were you thinking of going somewhere?" the Dark Ace asked tauntingly.

"Actually, no," Rémington replied. "But I was thinking about sending you down to the Underworld."

He was a quick draw as ever, firing nonstop. The Dark Ace's blade spun, deflecting each and every bullet. One of those projectiles was driven back into Rémington's leg, tilting his balance as he cringed from the pain. The Dark Ace took that moment to lunge, sword swinging.

Rémington managed to duck the first blow, rolling out of the way. Trusting his good leg to carry him, he exchanged one pistol for his dagger, springing up into the air to launch the small blade at the back of the Dark Ace's neck. The Dark Ace spun to grab the handle of the dagger with his free hand.

"Nice going," the remaining pistol in Rémington's hand said sarcastically.

"Shut up," Rémington growled.

"Don't mind my guardian," the dagger the Dark Ace held stated. "He can't aim worth a thing."

As Rémington yelled "I SAID SHUT UP!", the Dark Ace dropped the dagger, surprised it could talk.

"Your weapons don't have a high opinion of you," the Dark Ace said finally.

"Just be thankful yours doesn't talk," Rémington snapped. "You wouldn't want to know what it thinks about you." His second pistol snapped into his hand, and he opened fire once more, knowing the Dark Ace would deflect the shots again but not knowing what to do about that besides hope he would get lucky.

Arthur Watts was not a fighter by nature. The topic had been broached that he might have to assist his new alliance in battle. He had made a very particular suggestion, and was pleased as punch that it had been granted. Seated within an Atlesian Paladin, he towered over the field, the mech's targeting systems seeking the perfect opponent.

The one that had taken flight over everyone else seemed a good place to start.

Firefly had sought a vantage point at first: somewhere he could observe the battle below and strategize his next move. Once he had gotten up that high, he had noticed the only other person on his level: Medusa, sniping from her perch. Obviously, the logical course of action seemed to be to take her down.

When the Paladin's guns turned on Firefly, forcing him to make quick evasive maneuvers, he realized he had to make a change of plans.

"This must be the one they call Firefly," Watts mused from inside the Paladin. "Apt."

Firefly was given no chance to retaliate; the constant barrage kept him zooming through the air, this way and that. "All right," he said through gritted teeth, bringing out a round disc. "You wanna shoot me? Good luck finding the real one. Shadow Slicer."

Ten Fireflies erupted from one place; nine were illusions and one was real. Watts was certain of this fact simply from observation. Finding the real Firefly, however, would be the trick. All of them were doing complex aerial maneuvers, baiting him to shoot. Figuring he had nothing to lose, Watts picked one, locked on, and fired.

He was rewarded with an immense blast of energy radiating from the real Firefly, who had gotten close enough to the Paladin to launch an attack. A brief red warning glow filled the Paladin. If Watts took any more hits of that caliber, he could kiss his weaponry goodbye.

However, he knew quite well that illusions couldn't attack.

The Paladin twisted, one arm arcing toward the source of the assault. The great metal arm slammed into Firefly with full force, sending him careening through the air dizzily, spinning head over heels. When he finally got his bearings, he was a good distance away from Watts' Paladin.

And very, very angry with it.

Watts shared the sentiment, keeping his sights trained on the Firefly he knew to be the real one.

They charged each other.

Tyrian Callows rushed over the battlefield, opening fire wherever he could. He sought no opponent in particular, instead hoping to take down as many people as he could reach.

He was halted when a finger playfully tapped his shoulder. Turning to look, Tyrian saw no one.

"Over here."

Tyrian then twisted the opposite direction to see Ragdoll waving at him. "Care for a rematch?" Ragdoll asked slyly.

The reply came in the form of Tyrian's tail immediately striking out at him; Ragdoll had the good sense to cartwheel out of its path. "Eager, I see," he remarked.

"You know, I didn't really care who I took out at first," Tyrian told him. "But you? YOU, I'm ready to DESTROY!"

His arms lashed out, blades slashing. Ragdoll weaved from side to side, the sharp edges narrowly missing cutting him to ribbons. Tyrian then pitched forward, standing on his hands and spinning while his legs kicked out; Ragdoll latched onto one ankle, tugging Tyrian off balance. Tyrian managed to do a full flip, his free foot landing on the ground while Ragdoll still held the other captive; both of Tyrian's guns were pointed at Ragdoll's face. They blasted; Ragdoll somersaulted down low, taking Tyrian's ankle with him and managing to bring Tyrian crashing down on his stomach.

Tyrian's free foot kicked out, prying Ragdoll off of his leg. They both sprang to their feet, ready for action once more. Yet Tyrian was stalled when he saw that Ragdoll had brought forth an odd-looking object, somewhat resembling a closed flower bud.

"Dare I ask?" Tyrian said with a smirk.

"Oh, this little thing?" Ragdoll replied with an even more knowing smile. "This is just my Ju-Ju Flytrap."

Upon the speaking of its name, the Shen Gong Wu activated, its bud opening up to reveal a unique projectile surging forth in droves.

"Or, as I prefer to think of it, sixty thousand bees," Ragdoll explained, his smile only growing wider.

"BEEEEES?" Tyrian cried as the stinging insects surrounded him. There weren't nearly sixty thousand, but it sure felt like there might as well have been.

Ragdoll laughed liltingly as Tyrian slashed hopelessly at the air, trying to cut down the bees. "Sweet dreams are made of bees!"

Salem observed Cinder, Hazel, Watts, and Tyrian with less than satisfaction. The four were holding their own well enough, but she had expected Hannibal, Grany, Firefly, and Ragdoll to be crushed by now. The fact that Katnappé was still on her feet and bending around Mercury's attacks like a rubber band was not as surprising; Salem had yet to have a reason to believe in Mercury. Perhaps it was time she stepped in, however, and lent a helping hand to her more competent subordinates. The shapeshifter was being more trouble than he was worth to Cinder. Salem decided she would start there.

As she made her way, the sudden appearance of a spear pointed directly at her, hovering in midair, gave her pause. The spear split again and again, becoming a circle of fifteen spears that surrounded her. "I see someone is either confident or arrogant," Salem observed with a smirk.

The spears shot inward; Salem was lightning-fast, grabbing each one by the shaft and breaking it with a squeeze of her fist. "I want to know who did that," she said calmly.

Xayide stepped forth, walking directly into Salem's path. "I can tell by the way that you carry yourself that you are powerful," Xayide diagnosed. "I dare not leave it to any of my other friends to stop you without risking losing their lives."

"An astute observation," Salem told Xayide. "Am I to understand that you are just as powerful as I am?"

"I am nothing to be trifled with," Xayide said before throwing her hands up in the air.

As she did so, a column of flame engulfed Salem. Salem walked straight through it, the flickers rolling off her shoulders like water. "You do have power," she observed. "I think I'll take it."

Her arm stretched out impossibly long, seizing Xayide by the neck. Xayide could feel her very essence being shaken inside; Salem was trying to draw it out. Both of Xayide's hands wrapped around the wrist of the offending hand. In a great explosion of red, Salem's grip was broken; Xayide hovered a few feet in the air for effect.

"You are welcome to try with all of your might," Xayide said smugly, "but you will not be able to strip me of my power."

She hurled bolt after bolt of pure scarlet down at Salem. The Grimm master was jolted, but mostly shook the attacks off. She attempted to grasp Xayide again only to find herself blocked by a spherical deflection shield that encased the witch. Drawing back her fist, Salem dealt the shield a solid punch; it cracked.

At Xayide's behest, storm clouds formed above Salem's head, striking down red bolts of electricity. Salem breezed away from them and came to rest behind Xayide, striking the shield and cracking it once more. Xayide responded by dispelling the shield long enough to send a barrage of small blades of crimson energy toward Salem. Their sharp edges nicked; Salem once more breezed to a safe place, but not without sustaining several cuts. Truly angered, she lashed out, her hand becoming a pointed claw. Its tips dug into Xayide's side.

Xayide realized Salem would disembowel her if given the chance. She vanished in a roar of flame, reappearing behind Salem in a shower of sparks. Several red spheres, each dense as a cannonball, hung in the air around Xayide. By the time Salem had turned around, she was being pummeled by the spheres.

Xayide was all too proud until Salem started catching them and throwing them right back.

Irmaplotz readied her hand to throw a magical missile at Cyclonis: what the young empress deserved for threatening Jack. The green bolt soared through the air and was intercepted by a Neo-Shadow, which dissipated upon being struck.

"No double-teamin'," a smooth voice said from behind Irmaplotz. "That just ain't fair on the rest of us."

Irmaplotz whirled around to see Facilier staring her down. She surveyed him, recognizing him from descriptions she had been given. "Aren't you the guy who can summon thousands of Heartless at will?" she asked.

"That I am," Facilier confirmed.

"So isn't that way more unfair than two of us ganging up on one of you?" Irmaplotz asked.

"I think you know the answer to that one," Facilier told her.

"Right," Irmaplotz sighed. "It's only unfair when it's not you winning. You know, the one thing that really bites about evil is the double standards."

"Ain't you a bit young to be playin' this game?" Facilier asked. "No way a kid like you knows what evil is REALLY about."

"Are you saying I'm not evil enough to make it out here?" Irmaplotz gasped, offended. "I am SO evil."

"Really?"

"I always rip the last pages out of my library books before I return them."

"Child's play," Facilier retorted.

"I never replace the toilet paper after I use the last of it," Irmaplotz continued. "Or the paper towels."

"This is supposed to impress me?"

"And," Irmaplotz said with conviction, "I go into toy stores just so I can loosen the seams on the teddy bears and make them fall apart minutes after they're given to a child who really wanted one!"

After a pause, Facilier said quite seriously, "Y'know, even I got standards."

"I'm a real villain," Irmaplotz insisted, "so you'd better start treating me like one!"

"If you insist," Facilier said slyly. He tapped his cane on the ground twice. A horde of Neo-Shadows sprang up around him, moving jerkily toward Irmaplotz.

"Also, I'm not just a villain," Irmaplotz reminded him. "I'M A PLUNDERBALL MVP."

She tackled two Neo-Shadows at once, slamming her hands into their heads; they erupted into pure Darkness. Standing in one fluid motion, Irmaplotz shoved one Neo-Shadow back so that it toppled two more before she zapped the lot of them. She turned her attention to the next Neo-Shadow, readying an attack.

She was struck by what she perceived to be thin air, bowled over and rolling across the stone. As she got her bearings, she could see through her now-cracked spectacles the vague outline of an enormous chameleon-shaped Heartless before it vanished out of sight again.

"Great," she sighed. "I should've known he'd have an invisible one."

The only thing she could do, which was what she proceeded to do, was to let bolts of magic fly in every direction in hopes of hitting the Stealth Sneak. A hiss let her know at least one of her attacks had hit home. It also gave away the Stealth Sneak's position for but a moment, allowing her to jump to a safer patch of ground where she kicked a Neo-Shadow's face in along the way.

"ALL RIGHT!" Snipe cried as he hoisted his mace high. "WHO'S READY FOR A BASHING?" He turned and pointed at the nearest opponent. "YOU! I'M GONNA SMASH YOUR SKULL!"

Ganondorf did not reply with words, instead giving a low chuckle.

Snipe charged Ganondorf full tilt, mace swinging. Ganondorf put up both hands, intending to catch the weapon mid-strike. He was surprised when the force of the mace pressed his hands back against his body and shoved him back a few feet. Snipe was almost inhumanly strong.

That just made it more of a challenge, and Ganondorf did appreciate those few times he was truly challenged.

The next swing of the mace went wild as Ganondorf slipped to the side. Ganondorf's fist drew back, then collided hard with Snipe's face. Now Snipe was the one stumbling, feeling as though his head had been hit with a battering ram. A follow-up knee to Snipe's stomach landed the Atmosian warrior flat on his back. From there, Snipe swung the mace hard to whack into Ganondorf as the latter approached him for the kill; Ganondorf was forced back just long enough for Snipe to get back up standing.

The mace flew through the air. Ganondorf's fist rocketed to meet it. When the two collided, the shock jolted the bodies of both opponents. As Snipe reveled in having Ganondorf locked in stalemate, he forgot completely about Ganondorf's other hand, which soon pummeled him hard enough that he almost lost three teeth.

"That's IT!" Snipe growled. "You're going down! RING OF THE NINE DRAGONS!"

Eight duplicates of Snipe appeared around Ganondorf. These were not illusions like those Firefly had cast to confuse Watts. These were replicas that each contained an aspect of Snipe's personality.

"KILL HIM!" one of them roared. "DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE!"

"I don't even need to worry about this fight," another boasted, "because I know I'm gonna win!"

"But I'm secretly worried that I'm not actually strong enough!" another wailed. "That's why I gotta prove that I can do this!"

All nine maces flew at Ganondorf.

They were repelled when Ganondorf became an amorphous mass of darkness, surging larger and larger.

"Huh?" all nine Snipes asked in unison.

Divine Beast Ganon roared at his ninefold opponent.

"My secret inferiority complex really doesn't like this!" the third Snipe duplicate moaned.

From a distance, Ravess could see several Snipes launched up into the air by the charging beast. She didn't have time to worry about that, knowing her own attack would come very soon.

Her keen ear heard the whistling of what she assumed to be shuriken. She loaded her bow with three arrows, spinning to loose the projectiles at the incoming threat. All three of the razor-sharp metal objects were incinerated by the fiery crystal tips of her arrows. She did have just enough of a glimpse of them to realize they were not true shuriken, but something more rectangular – and marked with symbols in red and black.

"Don't tell me," the Joker laughed. "You're the one who robs from the rich and gives to the poor."

Ravess rolled her eyes. "Don't tell ME: you're the ridiculous one."

"Such compliments!" the Joker squealed as he opened his coat to reveal tiny missiles fixed to a loaded vest. "I suppose I owe you one: you're going to look stunning as a pile of ash!"

The missiles all shot forward in one wave.

Ravess lowered her bow, crying out, "TWO-TON TUNIC!"

The metal shirt that covered her upper body solidified. As the missiles exploded against the hard armor, Ravess flinched, stepping backward from the sheer force, but was ultimately unharmed.

"I suppose I should make some comment about the clever strategy of giving the heaviest armor to the ranged fighter," the Joker sighed as he gave a few bounces on his pogo stick weapon, "but it really isn't as though I care." He launched high, releasing the blades of the stick to come together as a sword pointed straight down at Ravess' head.

She fired another arrow at him before leaping several feet back to safety. The arrow exploded; the Joker landed hard on his stomach on the rocky ground while the stick clattered next to him. His hand reached into his coat; another round of playing cards was sent whizzing at Ravess.

Ravess launched herself into the air with a graceful leap, loading her bow as she sailed over the cards and over the Joker himself. Three arrows struck the ground around the Joker.

"You missed!" he called out to her.

"Did I?" Ravess asked smugly as she landed on the other side of him.

The Joker sighed. "The worst part is I know this trick."

The arrows emitted a net of electric energy that connected them and washed over the Joker, pinning him down.

"Now," Ravess mused, "to take care of that aerial sniper." She nocked an arrow, aiming up at Medusa.

Failing all the while to notice the Joker producing a pair of chattering teeth that locked around the shaft of the first arrow holding him down and started to chew right through.

By then, only the founders, Xerxes, Neo, and Vexen had managed to break through the crowd. Vexen knew full well it was more important for all of the former to reach the fortress than it was for him to do so. Hanging back, he created an immense wall of icy peaks that cut the raging battle behind off from those who had made it out ahead, sealing himself back in the fray. Satisfied with himself, he turned to see one man who had been intent on pursuing the founders rushing at him at full tilt. Vexen summoned his shield, planting down before this man and preparing for a fight.

"You won't pass," Vexen declared. "I am aware you have quite a high opinion of yourself and your allies, but you must admit that this day, you have met your match."

The man stopped in his tracks to face down Vexen. "It is the opposite, actually," Zhao corrected. "This is the day you learn you have no power compared to our forces. It is our destiny to reduce you to ash and rise above you."

"If you want to reduce anyone to ash," Vexen informed him, "you will have to start with me."

He would soon regret that choice of words.

"Gladly," Zhao stated as he punched forward, a blaze of fire rocketing toward Vexen.

Vexen repositioned his shield just enough to take the blast, his heart now pounding at high speed as images of Axel's fire flashed through his memory. It could very well happen all over again. He would be ignited. He had to escape.

No. Escaping was the sort of cheap tactic Demyx would resort to. Vexen had to hold his ground and protect those he was loyal to.

The ground became frozen over beneath Zhao; instead of slipping, Zhao's feet burned right through the ice to gain purchase. Zhao spun, another rush of flame breaking like a wave toward Vexen.

Vexen ducked to the left, turning his shield horizontally to repel the incoming fire. He then sent a fence of icy spikes protruding from the ground, heading right for Zhao.

As Zhao shattered the spikes using no more than his limbs, Vexen took the moment to position himself behind the firebender. He gave Zhao's shoulder a small tap.

Instantly, Zhao became encased in a large iceberg. Vexen knew it would not last for long. He stood before Zhao's front once more, knowing what he had to do. After all, he, too, held a Shen Gong Wu.

Zhao's hands alit, searing through the iceberg and transforming it into a splash of water that cascaded down off him. No sooner had the water pooled, freeing Zhao, than Vexen's free hand pummeled Zhao's face, encased in a very particular gauntlet closed in the shape of a fist. "FIST OF TEBIGONG!" Vexen growled.

The gauntlet amplified Vexen's strength, sending Zhao tumbling head over heels down the path.

Now, perhaps, escape was more appropriate. Vexen had certainly bought time. He took only a moment to reinforce the wall of ice he had created before Zhao could regain his bearings and begin trying to melt through it. Then Vexen attempted to lose himself in the fray.

Only one of Maleficent's forces had made it to the other side of the wall, closest to the fortress doors. No one in the WHAM ARMY was particularly concerned, however, about Edgar Balthazar. "Stop right there, you!" the butler attempted, chasing after the group while wildly waving an umbrella. "I mean it!"

Roman gave Neo a look. "Neo, go take out the trash."

Neo had been awaiting such a command. She spun, drawing her blade.

At the same time, Edgar pressed a button on the shaft of his umbrella, revealing a blade of his own; Harley had sprung for it for him after all.

Neo and Edgar fenced for a few moments; Neo calculated how long to let him have his fun before she hit him with the big guns. She became bored after about sixty seconds. Retrieving a disc topped with a golden ant, Neo sent her will to the Shen Gong Wu.

She didn't have to say the name "Ants in the Pants." The object could read her meaning.

Edgar found his trousers suddenly filled with stinging, biting ants. He yowled as he surrendered, barreling away from Neo and attempting to scale the wall to get back to the other side. Neo let herself have a silent laugh at him as she watched him flee.

"He never was any match for you," a voice said from over Neo's shoulder. "I'm willing to give you more of a challenge."

Neo quickly whipped around, stabbing as she did so. There was no one there.

"Or perhaps it is you who is no match for me," the voice continued, behind Neo once more. "It seems the tables have turned."

Neo spun, once again finding no one. A sense of unease overcame her; danger could come from any direction. She had to be on the alert.

A bright blue portal opened behind her: the same type that had been used to carry this warrior across the ice wall. A curved blade slashed.

At the last possible moment, Neo leapt, twirling in midair to see what attack she had just evaded. Qilby, his arm glowing blue with Hades' power, had struck out at her with a scythe created of pure energy. Neo nimbly landed before him, glad she could finally see who was giving her so much trouble. A strong will was sent to the Ants in the Pants.

Qilby casually plucked an ant off his skin. "They don't bother me," he remarked as he squashed it between his fingers. "Every report says that the little girl with the three-colored hair is invincible. Shall we test that?"

Neo fixed Qilby with a very angry glare; she was a woman, not a girl, thank you very much. Her sword was poised at the ready.

Thirty portals opened up around her. A beam of hot energy shot from each.

Neo practically danced, leaping over and bowing under each beam. At the very edge of her vision, she became aware of Qilby disappearing into another portal. If he wanted to play this game, she would play right along with him.

He reappeared, scythe flashing; Neo bent back, letting it pass right over her. More portals sent out hot beams, and Neo backflipped again and again, each time landing in a safe spot between the energy. A quick step back and to the left saved her from the next strike of the reappearing Qilby's scythe.

"I can do this all day!" Qilby cackled as he vanished again.

Good, Neo thought; so can I.

Neither of them noticed Chase Young vaulting over the wall, nor Harley in close pursuit.

By that time, the Huntsman, Wuya, Yzma, Mim, Aghoul, Snatcher, Roman, and Xerxes had reached the gates of the fortress. The Huntsman grasped the doors to wrench them open; Wuya lay a hand on his arm, shaking her head. The Huntsman backed off as Wuya and Neo positioned themselves before the doors, blasting them to smithereens with one powerful explosion of magic. The seven plus eel surged into the room beyond, ready for battle.

Beyond them lay a vast courtyard walled in by dark stone tinted green. The welcoming committee waited against the far wall. Maleficent stood at their center, arms held outward to spread the fabric of her robes. To her left stood Ursula and Grimhilde. To her right were Hades, Jafar, and one other.

The WHAM ARMY needed no more confirmation as to the identity of their traitor. Hans Westergaard was the final who filled out the squad next to Maleficent.

"Well, this is awkward," he said playfully as the seven approached. "See, I could keep playing dumb, but honestly, I'm just glad I don't have to pretend to like Snatcher and Roman anymore."

Roman's Cudgel aimed directly at Hans' head. "And I'm glad I finally have an excuse to blow a hole through your stupid face."

"Oh, that's the thing," Hans said as he raised his right hand, twisting it to show off the gauntlet. "See, I figured out the whole sword thing wasn't working out for me, so I traded up. Try and shoot me if you want. I could use the practice."

"Leave him alone, Roman," the Huntsman growled, putting an arm out before the redhead's chest. "He belongs to me."

"It seems Mozenrath did have beloved ones who came to save him after all," Jafar observed with a grin.

"HA-HAAAA! THIS IS PERFECT!" Ursula cackled. "Now we can bring all of them to heel at once!"

"Where is he?" the Huntsman growled, looking over the lineup. "WHAT have you done with him?"

Maleficent's lips cracked into a smile. "It almost touches me, to see your blind devotion to him come to fruition," she remarked. "You truly do want Mozenrath returned to you. Here is your precious sorcerer."

She swept her robes away, revealing a bound, unconscious Mozenrath – now fully dressed – leaning against the wall.

"I know what you're thinking," Wuya told the Huntsman, "and go with your first plan. Take out the traitor. I'll handle HER."

The Huntsman gave a simple nod.

"We shall prove once and for all that our power exceeds yours," Maleficent declared. "You will perish here, and the last words on your lips will be repent at challenging us so!"

Her associates stepped aside as the floor beneath Maleficent quivered; a circular portion of it broke away and rose into the air, levitating with Maleficent atop it.

The room erupted into chaos all at once as the two sides attacked each other with all they had.

Grimhilde called lightning down to strike at Roman and Snatcher; they danced out of the way of the raining bolts, giving each other a knowing look. "Shall we?" Snatcher asked.

Before Roman could answer, the sound of squealing brakes and a gunning engine washed over the courtyard.

Cruella de Vil's car sped around the corner, its headlights trained directly on Roman. Acting on instinct, Roman leapt into the air, his feet landing on the car's hood only for him to stumble over the windshield, grasping onto the roof of the car. The vehicle pealed out into the center of the courtyard, leaving Snatcher to face Grimhilde alone.

"You cannot hope to face me," Grimhilde said smugly before summoning columns of fire to burst up from the stony floor.

Snatcher's dancer's reflexes were put to the test as he twirled to safety from each incoming blow. A quick sidestep here, a stumble, and he had put himself close enough to Grimhilde to launch his attack. The mallet flew, catching Grimhilde off guard as the chain wrapped around her. Snatcher drew her close, pressing the barrel of his gun to her chest.

Grimhilde merely smiled at him.

Snatcher pulled the trigger.

The force sent Grimhilde spinning back out of the chain's wrap, shaking her up but leaving her otherwise unharmed. Snatcher noticed a tipsiness to her step, and saw this as confirmation that his attack had some negative status upon her at least. He fired again, and this time she was the one to dodge, letting his lightning impact the wall behind her. Snatcher's focus on striking Grimhilde caused him to temporarily forget that she was focused on striking him, and all of a sudden, he was wracked with pain, one of her lightning bolts having found its mark. He very nearly collapsed, but kept himself on his feet out of sheer force of will. This was a fight he could not afford to lose.

The mallet-pistol combination was pocketed. It was time for something stronger. From a scabbard that hid beneath the folds of his long red coat, Snatcher produced a jagged bronze-colored blade. Swinging it in Grimhilde's general direction, he called out, "SWORD OF THE STORM!"

Gale-force winds whipped at Grimhilde, throwing back her cowl and spilling out her raven hair. She responded with ever more frequent bolts of lightning, the combined attacks in effect becoming a thunderstorm in its own right.

Cruella's car made sharp turns in an effort to throw Roman off. Roman balanced himself in a standing position on the roof of the speeding car, Cudgel planted by his feet. He then shot straight down.

Had he been a little steadier, his ammunition would have blasted Cruella directly. As it were, the force of the moving car shifted the Cudgel's barrel ever so slightly, causing the force to blow through the roof and leave a hole in the passenger's seat. Cruella flinched, the car taking an unplanned swerve. Roman kept firing, missing again and again; Cruella spun the car round and round, calling up to him, "YOU BLASTED IDIOT!"

"LEARN TO DRIVE, WILL YOU?" Roman shrieked at her, letting off another shot.

This one pierced the dashboard, and Cruella knew the engine would not react well to that. She kicked open the car door, spilling out in a tumble of furs. The car ran into the wall, where the engine promptly exploded; Roman was thrown so hard, when he hit the floor, he bounced once before settling.

Cruella took several strides toward him, noting his motionless body. His eyes were closed; she presumed he had been knocked unconscious. Perhaps he was even dead. She had to make sure of that fact, though, and so she planted one high-heeled foot firmly on his sternum, aiming her pistol down at his head.

The Cudgel swung up and whacked her hand out of the way, the bullet planting into the floor three inches away from Roman's face. Roman sprang to his feet, aching all over and swinging the Cudgel violently. Cruella ducked every blow, raising her pistol to get in another shot edgewise; the second bullet grazed Roman's jacket, tearing a hole in it just over his hip.

"Okay, that gun has to go," Roman remarked, drawing the Shen Gong Wu he had chosen to bring into battle. Aiming the prongs, he declared, "THORN OF THUNDERBOLT!"

A jolt of electricity shot through Cruella's wrist, causing her to drop the pistol.

"And now," Roman declared, "to kick – "

He was interrupted when Cruella produced a long skinning knife from within her coat, slashing out at him. He managed to withdraw his hand just in time to avoid losing it. However, in that action, he dropped the Thorn of Thunderbolt right on the floor.

"This complicates things," Roman admitted.

Cruella's knife stabbed at him again and again, parried by the Cudgel's shaft. "I'LL HAVE YOUR HEAD!" she threatened.

Ursula held a flask of glittering dust high above her head, shattering it in her fist. The shards rained down onto the floor as pixie dust cascaded over Ursula's body, lifting her off the ground. She soared high, laughing at those down below her.

Mim gave it a moment of thought. Octopi really only had one natural predator that she could remember, and it was quite an appealing form. Mim took to the skies as a great maroon shark gifted with the power of flight, snapping her jaws at Ursula.

Ursula kept on laughing as she spun like a propeller, gliding back and forth across the courtyard and slapping Mim with her spinning tentacles. Mim was turned round and round by the force hitting her, becoming dizzy enough to see stars. Once Ursula had gotten her combatant disoriented enough, she changed tactics, holding out her hands to project two red-hot beams of energy.

Mim was struck, propelled all the way into the opposite wall. Her anger had grown considerably, and her first act upon regaining her senses was to summon up a glimmering ball of magic, roll it up into the air on a fin, and then use her tail to serve it across the field at Ursula.

When it collided, Ursula was bowled over, flipping head over tentacles in midair. As she rolled, Ursula formed clouds of Darkness in her hands, hurling them at Mim every time she tilted back upright.

Mim's tail batted each of these projectiles back; Ursula prevented them from hitting her by zapping them with bolts of red-hot magic. Mim came zooming at Ursula, jaws open wide; Ursula seized the shark's upper and lower lip, holding the hazardous mouth open while she was slammed up against the wall. She chanced loosening her grip on the lower lip for just a moment; before Mim's mouth could slam fully shut, the now-freed hand sent a heaping serving of lightning down Mim's throat.

Mim was shaken just enough that Ursula could slip free and begin to spin through the air once again. With a war cry of "I…HATE…YOUUUUUU!", Mim took off after her.

Jafar's staff sent electric bolts of red toward Yzma, who was kept literally hopping in order to evade each attack. "What a pitiable sight," Jafar commented. "If only I had any pity to give!" This was followed up with a raucous laugh.

In a split second, Yzma had slipped a pair of golden arms on over her own. "MIKADO ARM!" she cried to activate her trinket.

"And what is that supposed to do?" Jafar asked as he singed the spot where Yzma just was with another blast.

Yzma leapt to the left, hurled herself to the right, and surged forward in one mighty spring, drawing back her now augmented arm to land a solid punch on Jafar's face.

He had to admit he hadn't been expecting Yzma to resort to physical violence. A clever move, on her part, to beef up the attack style she didn't usually play to, and Jafar would have told her as such had his mouth hurt less and his temper been lower. Instead, he abandoned magic on his own part, striking her with his staff and sending her rolling across the floor.

She stopped herself by pressing her hands to the floor, turning a circle around them that was essentially a breakdance before ending up back on her feet with a "HA!" She spun on a heel, and when she faced Jafar once more, she was armed with her atlatl; she let a dart fly with another "Ha-HA!"

The dart pierced. Jafar vanished in a cloud of pink. A tiny mouse skittered across the floor.

"Run, run, as fast as you can," Yzma jeered as she approached the mouse, lifting her foot to stomp on it.

The mouse stopped, standing stock-still. "Really?" Yzma asked dryly as her foot hovered. "You're going to give up just like that?" She then shrugged. "Oh, well. Can't question it."

When her foot came down, it hit something that was not exactly a mouse.

Jafar's shape expanded and shifted, becoming tall enough that Yzma's foot was shoved away and the rest of her hopped backward on the other foot, almost losing balance. He kept on growing, dwarfing Yzma as his entire body lengthened and brightened, stunning orange on black.

When all was said and done, an enormous cobra towered in the courtyard, baring his fangs at Yzma.

"Uh-oh," Yzma squeaked before Jafar struck the first time. Her quick reflexes saved her; she had pounced right onto his head. Jafar whipped from side to side, attempting to shake her off, but she held fast.

Aghoul wasted no time in wrapping a length of cloth around his waist and activating it with the words "Third-Arm Sash!". The sash rose up from behind his head, now with all the properties of a third limb he could manipulate. He summoned his scythe, then placed it in the grip of the sash, filling each hand with a skull.

"Gotta tell ya, babe," Hades told him as he advanced, "you're dead meat."

"Tell me something I don't know," Aghoul retorted with a smile.

The skulls were launched one way; a pair of fireballs was launched another. Aghoul's scythe spun, dousing Hades' fire. Hades backhanded both skulls into the wall behind him, leaving deep marks. As Aghoul charged Hades, scythe swinging, Hades put out his arms, a thick wall of flame erupting from each. Bringing his arms together, Hades closed these walls in on either side of Aghoul.

Aghoul didn't slow down. He ran right through the flames, scythe chopping. Hades found he had to activate his intangibility in order to avoid taking a blow. The scythe cut through a puff of smoke. Aghoul then exited the fire, dropping to the ground and rolling until the flames were doused.

Reappearing to stand over Aghoul, Hades observed, "You actually are dead as a doornail, aren't you?"

"Guilty as charged," Aghoul confirmed, standing back up.

"That means," Hades said, gritting his teeth and becoming more agitated on every word, "you belong in the Underworld. AND YOU…ARE NOT…IN THE UNDERWORLD."

"The Netherworld, technically," Aghoul confirmed, "but the trip I made out was one-way!"

"SO IS THE TRIP I'M GOING TO SEND YOU ON BACK IN!" Hades roared as he reached out with burning hands to grab Aghoul and set him aflame once more.

Aghoul ducked and rolled, somersaulting beneath Hades' arms as the Third-Arm Sash pulled the scythe along behind him. He left a gift near Hades' feet; as Hades turned to follow Aghoul, the skull exploded, toppling the god.

Aghoul righted himself, ready to launch even more explosives at the irate god.

Wuya launched a steady stream of green fire at Maleficent; the latter shielded herself with an invisible sphere, letting Wuya's attack curve around her on all sides. Wuya then launched herself at Maleficent physically, only for Maleficent to strike her back with her staff, then manipulate her levitating platform to fly to the other side of the courtyard, out of Wuya's reach.

Wuya saw this as no problem; she simply levitated herself, flying at Maleficent. Maleficent raised her staff to the air, proclaiming, "METEORS OF HEAVEN! UNLEASH THY FURY!"

The massive blue spheres of hostile magic erupted from behind Maleficent, pummeling Wuya. The Heylin witch was able to power through one of them before the next meteors in the barrage overcame her, forcing her to drop like a stone, burned and bruised on the floor. She still glared up at Maleficent, refusing to give in. Clapping her hands, Wuya summoned a small horde of rock creatures from the floor, deploying them toward Maleficent's platform.

"TO ME!" Maleficent cried, and an equal amount of Defender Heartless appeared, shields slamming against the rock creatures' fists.

Wuya summoned swords, spears, and arrows of all sorts, sending them rocketing toward Maleficent from every angle. Maleficent waved a hand, and every one of Wuya's implements was engulfed in flame until it was no more than ash. Wuya had used the diversion to sneak onto the back of Maleficent's levitating platform, however, throwing out another stream of fire. Maleficent countered it with one of her own; the two flames crashed together, pushing at each other for dominance.

Xerxes flitted toward his unconscious master, crying out, "Mozenrath! MOZENRATH!".

With a loud caw, Diablo seized Xerxes' back with both claws, pulling him up and away from the sorcerer. Xerxes squirmed, slapping Diablo with his tail until the raven lost his grip. Diablo gave chase as Xerxes zoomed around the courtyard, trying to find a safe place to hide.

The Huntsman had nothing more on his mind than slaughtering Hans. He had always known that when you rush a dragon, you should absolutely not come at it directly from the front, as that allows it ample opportunity to roast you alive. The same logic should certainly have applied to a newly made sorcerer. However, for a moment, all reason abandoned the Huntsman, and he found himself charging Hans head-on.

He was blasted back by an utter explosion of blue. Once the Huntsman was on his back, Hans created a blue whip in his right hand, cracking it against the Huntsman's body again and again. The Huntsman ignored the pain, pointing his staff at Hans' lower body and shooting. Hans jumped rather awkwardly, landing off-center from his previous position.

"You still love him, don't you?" Hans taunted, forming several blades of blue in midair while the Huntsman scrambled to his feet. "Don't even try to lie. It's obvious. That's why you want my head on a plate, right?"

The blades zipped forward. The Huntsman cut through them all with a spin of his staff only to be blasted with an electric jolt.

"Just for fun, I'm going to tell you how I got him here," Hans went on, summoning a ball of energy and chucking it at the Huntsman's head; it was barely dodged. "First I brought him to a personal hideout of mine. A place that actually was special to me. We had an intimate talk, and then we did something a little MORE intimate." He drew an X in the air, forged of crackling electricity, then shoved it at the Huntsman, forcing the latter to roll out of the way. "After I gave him his first time, I drugged him into sleep and had Maleficent come pick him up. Can you even imagine how BROKEN that's going to leave him?" Sparks erupted under the Huntsman's feet. "I just wanted that to be the last thing on your mind before I put you out of your misery."

The Huntsman knew he couldn't let Hans' words get to him. The man had only just acquired the gauntlet and was new to wielding magic. As an utter novice, he was bound to make a foolish mistake Mozenrath would never slip up to do. He was enjoying his new power's capacity for attack, but would he be prepared for defense?

A burst of green erupted from the huntstaff. Hans put up his hand to catch it. He immediately felt the recoil; while the gauntlet itself was too strong to be disturbed, its magic couldn't hold back Huntsclan technology.

That was two mistakes: trying to use his hand instead of a deflection shield and forgetting the potency of the huntstaff. The Huntsman could work with this. He adjusted his position, taking a curving path to approach Hans.

Hans rotated to follow him, sending wispy bursts of magic to tail the Huntsman one at a time. The Huntsman ignored the attack, instead focusing on shooting Hans as rapidly as he could.

Hans panicked, attempting to shoot down each blast with a counterspell. Blue and green energies collided, the green winning out. Hans was pummeled, the green energies tearing holes in his clothing and leaving him with several surface wounds.

The Huntsman took a moment to pivot and slash the attacks that had been following him. By then, he had gotten quite close to Hans.

Hans, seeing his opening, charged his right hand up with blue energy, drawing it back dramatically.

The Huntsman turned, taking in the sight and standing stock-still.

Hans punched forward.

The Huntsman expertly dodged, the huntstaff twirling in his hands and biting down on its target.

Hans' scream echoed throughout the courtyard as his right arm was severed from his body midway down the forearm, the gauntlet and the flesh inside dropping neatly down into the Huntsman's hand.

Leaving the now powerless Hans to bleed, the Huntsman rushed to the unconscious and, more importantly, unguarded Mozenrath. He knelt at the young man's side, peeling the gauntlet from Hans' disembodied arm and tossing the useless flesh aside. Picking up Mozenrath's right arm and feeling how gaunt it had already become, the Huntsman slipped the gauntlet onto it, settling it in place.

"Mozenrath," he urged, "wake up. You must!"

At the sound of his voice, Mozenrath's eyelids twitched, revealing a glimmer of consciousness beneath.

Desperate, the Huntsman gave Mozenrath's shoulders a light shake.

"Y…" Mozenrath's voice fumbled for the words. "You…"

In a great combustion, Maleficent's fire overpowered Wuya's, propelling Wuya off the platform. "MOZENRATH!" Maleficent called out, gleeful at the thought of her next words.

The original plan had been to send the Mamluks to destroy the WHAM ARMY on their warship base. Of course, they alone could not hope to stand against so many warriors. That was why Maleficent had always intended to assign Mozenrath to their lead, forcing him to annihilate his own friends – or become annihilated, no longer able to resurrect them. It was all thanks to the gem of information Hans had submitted from his report.

Mozenrath blearily looked up into the Huntsman's eyes.

Joyously, Maleficent proclaimed, "THE EARTH KING HAS INVITED YOU TO LAKE LAOGAI!"

Mozenrath's expression immediately went blank. The Huntsman had a mere second to comprehend what was happening.

"DESTROY THE INVADERS!" Maleficent commanded.

Before the Huntsman could react, Mozenrath's gauntlet had slashed him across the chest, leaving bloody marks where his fingers had rent. The Huntsman backpedaled in horror as Mozenrath stared at him with purpose-driven eyes, only wanting to destroy.

This Mozenrath would not make the mistakes Hans would. If fired upon with the huntstaff, he would triple-reinforce his deflection shield to slow down the projectile. Yet that did not matter at all, for the Huntsman simply could not bring himself to attack Mozenrath.

A cage of lightning crackled in around the Huntsman, preventing him from moving any which way. A pure bolt of energy shot at him; he barely had enough room to move the huntstaff to cut it down. No sooner had he loosed the last one than Mozenrath had another queued up to follow, this time aimed from a different direction, and larger.

Wuya knew what had just happened, but had no time or energy to spend dealing with it. Left unchecked, Maleficent would do far more damage than a hypnotized Mozenrath ever could. Wuya stood at the ready once more, throwing out her hands to either side in order to build up enough magic for her next blow.

She never got the chance. The assault came from behind, pulling her aura away all at once. While she recognized the sensation immediately, she couldn't bring herself to believe that it could be happening here, now. Yet as she was drawn physically away, she had no choice but to confront the facts, having only enough time to shriek "NO!" before she was sucked into a tiny wooden puzzle box.

The box rested on the palm of Chase Young, who extended it toward Maleficent. "I've come to bargain," he stated calmly.

Maleficent raised an eyebrow; the fact that he had so casually taken out one of his own had her interest. "What do you propose?" she asked him.

"As you can see," Chase explained, "I hold in my hand a now defenseless Wuya, arguably the most powerful of the WHAM ARMY. If you must know the truth, I am only finishing a fight she picked with me long ago. I offer her to you in exchange for Mozenrath. Release him from his spell and turn him over to us. You may do as you wish with Wuya, whether it is to turn her to your purposes or simply to dispose of her."

Maleficent was pleasantly surprised by this turn of events. She could see in Chase's reptilian eyes that this was no feint. He was truly able – no, willing – to turn Wuya in so that his faction might regain its leader. She was tempted to accept if only to reward his brash treachery.

A wordless screech announced the arrival of an interloper. Yzma had abandoned Jafar, tackling Chase and making a desperate grab for the puzzle box. "YOU LET HER GO!" Yzma cried. "LET HER GO NOW, OR I'LL MURDER YOU!"

"REPULSE THE MONKEY!"

Yzma was flung away as Chase stood up and dusted himself off. Jafar held back from striking, now simply amused at the turn of events. As soon as Yzma hit the ground, she was back up again, hurling herself at Chase; her fingertips brushed the box as Chase's foot rammed into her stomach, keeping her away.

Harley finally caught up with Chase then, looking over the courtyard and all the chaos that it contained – Roman dueling Cruella, Snatcher and Grimhilde creating harsh weather, Mim and Ursula chasing each other, Aghoul and Hades exchanging fire, Yzma struggling to take the puzzle box away from Chase –

And Mozenrath tormenting the Huntsman. Harley had to think a moment about that one.

"Weren't they on the same side?" she asked.

"Do not meddle, you insolent girl!" Maleficent barked, concerned that the inexperienced Harley would ruin the delicate balance of the confrontation.

"I gotta right to know what's goin' on!" Harley stamped her foot. "Ain't I one of your friends?"

"YOU are not fit to be any friend of mine!" Maleficent growled, thinking back to Harley's comments about how losing to Riku was "just how the game was played." "You are barely capable as a warrior! Now get out of my sight so I may watch Mozenrath destroy those he loves without realizing what he has done!"

It clicked. Mozenrath was hypnotized. That made sense. Maleficent was trying to use that to pit him against his friends.

Maleficent, however, had made a mistake in pushing Harley too far. Harley had finally taken enough: from Maleficent, from the Joker, from the whole crowd. She missed Ragdoll. She missed Firefly. She was even beginning to think they were innocent of murdering her first Joker after all. Was that not exactly the sort of calculated play Maleficent would make in order to win Harley's loyalty? Despite what Maleficent might have thought, Harley wasn't stupid.

Nor was she incompetent.

Drawing a handful of sand, Harley barged toward Mozenrath. She muttered an incantation she had read in the texts of the Witches of the Sand, imbuing the grains in her hand with a sparkling enchantment.

Mozenrath turned to face her, curious about what threat she might pose.

Harley blew the sand into Mozenrath's face, letting it get into his eyes. Her enchantment worked its way into his system. It was a reversing of sand mesmerism; as Mozenrath blinked the grains out of his eyes, the Earth King's brainwashing was slowly purged from his system – permanently.

He looked around the courtyard in confusion, focusing in on the battered Huntsman in his cage of lightning and recognizing the spells that had gone into that particular attack. "Did I…?" he said rather meekly.

"It does not matter!" the Huntsman insisted. "Dismantle the spell and attack Maleficent!"

The cage of lightning came down. Mozenrath's eyes were fixed on the blood seeping from the Huntsman's chest, the question written on his face.

"IT DOES NOT MATTER!" the Huntsman roared before turning and bolting toward Maleficent.

Chase had thrown Yzma to the ground for a fifth time when Yzma noticed Mozenrath and the Huntsman headed her way. "WUYA!" she cried, pointing at Chase. "WUYA IS IN THAT BOX!"

The box was immediately surrounded with blue light, tugging out of Chase's hands and zooming into Mozenrath's bare left hand. "I will take THAT," Mozenrath informed Chase. "Maleficent's hiring standard really has gone down."

"He was our ally," the Huntsman informed Mozenrath. "Chase Young of the Heylin."

"In that case," Mozenrath said stonily, "if you were doing what I think you were doing, we are going to have a very serious talk about this later."

"ENOUGH!" Maleficent slammed her staff down on her platform, and a shockwave of green fire emanated from it across the entire battlefield. "YOU WILL PERISH!"

She knew better than to assume the form of the dragon again in front of the Huntsman. However, she was confident her magic was enough to bring down the WHAM ARMY, especially with so many of them occupied by her allies. She whirled her staff in the air, building up a great cloud of Darkness shot through with electric sparks.

Mozenrath daringly sent out a whip-like stream of blue magic that caught the staff at the Dragon's Eye, tugging the sphere. Maleficent found herself fighting to pull the staff back. Slowly, Mozenrath's magic changed from blue to green as it was taken ahold of by Maleficent. Mozenrath steeled himself, pushing back at it, willing the green to abate.

The Huntsman raised his staff, firing it off at the Dragon's Eye; its beam grasped the sphere as well, struggling along with Mozenrath for control.

Yzma realized it was time to play her ace. She withdrew a very special potion from where it had been strapped on her garter, dipping the tip of a dart into it. She was well aware she only had one shot at this, and if she missed, it might very well mean the doom of herself and her allies. Regrettably, her target was moving, and at high speed, too.

Yzma eyed the entity she wanted to shoot, attempting to calculate trajectory. "Well," she resolved at last, "here goes nothing."

The dart whistled through the air, sticking into Xerxes' side. "OUCH!" Xerxes cried as the dart dropped to the floor. "THAT HURT!"

A perfect hit.

Xerxes suddenly doubled in size, confused at first but taking the opportunity to make an about-face and snap at Diablo. When he grew yet another increment, Diablo backpedaled, hurrying away to avoid being swallowed.

"GET THEM!" Yzma yelled to Xerxes.

Still ever-expanding in size, the now rightly monstrous Xerxes didn't need to ask for clarification of Yzma's meaning. He barreled into Ursula, knocking her off course.

"MIM!" Yzma cried. "GET DOWN HERE!"

Sparks heralded the arrival of Mim, now in human form, adding her own magic to the Huntsman and Mozenrath's attack, seizing the Dragon's Eye.

Grimhilde was slapped aside by Xerxes' serpentine tail. Snatcher, recognizing his cue, bolted toward the confrontation of Maleficent. Xerxes' teeth latched onto the back of Cruella's voluminous coat, dragging her back and away from Roman, who was picking up the signals as well.

Snatcher and Roman skidded into place just in time to open fire on Maleficent; they couldn't make a grab for the Dragon's Eye, but they could sure divert Maleficent's attention from holding onto it. Gritting her teeth, Maleficent poured precious energy and concentration into deflecting the barrage of lightning and explosive fire.

Xerxes rammed his forehead into Hades, pushing him away from Aghoul and making way for Aghoul to barge toward Maleficent, casting his own hand of magic up toward the Dragon's Eye.

Ursula, Cruella, Grimhilde, Hades, and Jafar now realized they had the giant Xerxes to contend with above all else; thanks to Yzma's transformation potion, the eel's teeth had become much sharper and his skin much thicker. He could go toe-to-toe – or fin-to-coil – with Jafar now, and that was exactly what he proceeded to do, with the others attacking him to no avail.

Harley was unsure what to do with herself by that point, and so stepped aside, becoming unnoticed in a corner. Chase backed away as well, now certain he had no friends in this room.

Mozenrath, the Huntsman, Mim, and Aghoul were now working in concert to draw the Dragon's Eye down, giving everything they had. They pulled. Maleficent pulled back. Snatcher and Roman continued their fire. Maleficent repelled.

The Huntsman, perhaps not aware of what he was doing, lifted a hand from his staff and placed it on Mozenrath's shoulder. This inspired the same idea in everyone else. Mim's free hand reached up to rest on Mozenrath's other shoulder as Aghoul's hand settled in on hers. Roman wrapped his free arm around Snatcher; Snatcher's hand found its place on the Huntsman's back, between his shoulder blades. Yzma crouched below them all, wrapping one bony hand over the hand of Mozenrath's that clutched the puzzle box.

For one moment, they became linked as a single unit, auras bleeding into one another. They were not seven – no, truly, eight – warriors struggling against Maleficent. They were one fighting one.

Even so, Maleficent almost had them overpowered.

But only almost.

Her wide eyes followed the path of the Dragon's Eye as it broke free of her staff. The cloud of Darkness above her dissipated; the levitating platform crashed to the ground.

The Dragon's Eye settled neatly into Mozenrath's right hand, where he took a moment to admire it. "I'm sorry," he said without looking up from it, "were we all supposed to die at this point?"

"No," Maleficent said in rage. "NO!" She instinctively flicked her staff outward; only the barest flickers of green appeared.

"XERXES!" Yzma cried. "GET US OUT OF HERE! NOW!"

Xerxes broke free of the assault on him, still growing. He hovered down next to the WHAM ARMY members, who scrambled to climb onto his back.

"They're still alive," Mozenrath seethed. "They're all still alive!"

"Leave them be," the Huntsman told him, knowing full well the hypocrisy he was perpetuating. "We have what we came for: both you and the Dragon's Eye."

Mozenrath wanted one more thing, however. Blue cords lashed out from his gauntlet and seized Chase Young, lifting the struggling Heylin warrior up and planting him on Xerxes' back as well, thoroughly bound.

"ONWARD, XERXES!" Mim commanded, fashioning a whip in her hand. "TO THE SHIP!"

Mozenrath reached forward to grasp Mim's wrist and stay her hand before the whip could crack skin. "Just this once," he sighed, "we let him be."

Xerxes took off flying; Harley made a leap, grabbing onto the eel's tail and climbing aboard unnoticed as Xerxes crashed right through the already-abused front wall of the courtyard.

Outside, it was clear that while the WHAM ARMY's members were holding their own, Maleficent's forces were beginning to wear them down. A rope made of blue energy shot downward to the position of each ally: Tubbimura, Katnappé, Hannibal, Jack, Gothel, Herb, Scarlet, Zevon, Grany, Rémington, Firefly, Ragdoll, Xayide, Irmaplotz, Snipe, Ravess, Vexen, and Neo. They all grabbed hold of the ropes, pulled up onto Xerxes, who by that time was making a grand escape upward to the warship, up above where the Jack-Bots and the Mamluks were still tearing each other apart. A few stray shots of magic and other projectiles were fired at the now leviathan-sized eel, but none made their mark.

Harley took that moment to push her way through the crowd to the front. "Hi hi!" she greeted, stepping in next to Mozenrath.

Mozenrath whirled on her; "What do YOU want?"

"Well, that's a fine thank-you for breaking your spell and savin' ya!" Harley huffed. "You wouldn't be this far if it hadn't been for me, y'know!"

"I don't see the point," Mozenrath informed her.

"I want in on your gig," Harley told him. "Maleficent just ain't no fun anymore, and Mr. J…the less said about him, the better. I want what you guys got! Your team looks like WAY more fun! And I miss Ragsy and Gar!"

"Now, hold on just a fucking minute." Roman stepped in between Mozenrath and Harley. "You turn against us from day one. You ditch your friends for a fucking maniac, then lock us up in a museum filled with poison gas."

That confused Harley. "I don't know what you're – "

"And THEN," Roman went on, "you try and KILL us in the basement of sadistic-fuck manor."

"I didn't want nobody to die – "

"Listen, jester," Roman seethed. "You had your chance to join us. And you ruined it MORE than once. You think saving our asses ONCE is gonna make up for everything you did? Well, listen up, because I'm only gonna say this once." He raised the Cudgel. "FUCK OFF."

The cane whacked into Harley, causing her to topple off Xerxes' back and plummet toward the Forbidden World below.

"You could've heard her out," Yzma stated calmly.

"Trust in Torchwick's decision," Snatcher asserted. "We've seen more than enough of her, and if we never do encounter her again, it will be far too soon."

Harley screamed for her life as she rocketed toward the barren earth below. There was a sudden flash of yellow, a buzzing sound; she was caught safely in a pair of strong arms, now being lowered at a reasonable pace to the ground.

"Gar!" Harley gasped as she recognized her savior.

"Just hang on," Firefly told her as he descended.

They reached the ground, a good distance away from the tumult at the Forbidden Mountain replica. Firefly gently set Harley down on her feet.

"Look," he said sternly, "I don't like this either. I trust you. But they don't, and they're in charge. I like you. I also like Torchwick. I've got a good thing goin' with the WHAM ARMY, and they don't want you around. I wasn't gonna let you die, but – "

"I get it," Harley sighed. "You gotta go back, and without me. Just go."

"Harley – "

"I MEAN IT!" Harley stamped her foot. "You're gonna go back up there and forget about me, 'cause I WANT YOU TO BE HAPPY, SO YOU'RE GONNA GO BE HAPPY WHERE YOU BELONG!"

That made it so much harder for Firefly to leave her. Surely she must have understood that. All the same, his ride was leaving the atmosphere without him. He knew what he had to do, and Harley had made up her mind. It wasn't without regrets that Firefly took off from the ground, speeding to catch up with Xerxes.

Harley then realized the predicament she was in. The entire world was her enemy. She had to find some alternate means of leaving, and until then, lay low enough that Maleficent wouldn't be able to locate her. She knew she wasn't getting off with just a slap on the wrist for breaking Mozenrath's hypnosis.

The passage of a small, boat-shaped Gummi ship overhead caught her eye. As it made a 180 to veer down toward her for a landing, she thought to run. After all, one of Maleficent's forces could have been dispatched to find her already, and this ship could have contained them.

On the other hand, they were all busy at the fortress, weren't they? What if this ship held a friend within it? She hesitated just based on that possibility.

She would be glad she had played that hunch.

"Harley?" Terminus leaned out of the ship's door, regarding her with curiosity. "What are you doing out here?"

"Doc!" Harley cried joyously. "I'm in big trouble with Maleficent. I don't think I'm gonna be allowed back there anytime soon without gettin' fried to a crisp. I gotta get off this world. Can ya help me? All I'm askin' is once. Ya never gotta see me again after this. Promise."

"Get in," Terminus hissed, beckoning her forth.

Harley crowded into the small ship alongside Terminus and Hoagy as Terminus brought the ship into gear and lifted it off the ground – thankfully away from the fortress and upward, out of the atmosphere. "I know just the place to hide you," Terminus explained. "It'll be right under Maleficent's nose, but hidden away in a place she'll never think to look!"

Harley threw her arms around Terminus. "Thanks, Doc!"

"Don't mention it," Terminus told her. "And I mean it! This would tarnish my reputation!"

The ship became little more than a glimmer in the sky above the Forbidden World.

Xerxes' departure had caused quite a stir among Maleficent's forces. The entire front wall between the pathway and the courtyard had been knocked down, making a bigger area. The ice wall had been destroyed by the determined, leaving even more space. Chatter went up: should they pursue the fleeing WHAM ARMY, whose ship was then headed out of the atmosphere?

There was no time to decide. Another object was clearly visible in the sky, coming in for a landing almost immediately after the warship had left view. It rocketed toward the Forbidden World, slowing down only slightly to land on the base of the path leading up to the fortress. Weapons were braced, and rightly so.

The door to the Gummi ship that had just landed opened. Sora charged out of it, Keyblade at the ready, and his friends were close behind.

Maleficent knew what they had all come for. "STOP THEM AT ALL COSTS!" she cried, her voice ringing out over the now vast battle arena.

With the Dragon's Eye gone, her magic was at a disadvantage. She still did yet contain enough power in her for a final play, and this time, there were no professional dragon slayers headed her way. Upward she exploded, surrounded by a conflagration of green, until she assumed the form of the enormous onyx-colored dragon, smoke pouring from her nostrils.

Edgar, shaking the last of the ants from his pants, was the first to reach the group, and he was very sorry he had. As those bearing swords and magic rushed past him, he crossed both arms in front of his body to shield himself, eyes squeezed shut.

The assembled heroes figured if he wasn't going to get in their way, they weren't going to make trouble with him. Onward they proceeded.

It occurred to Edgar that standing in one place with his eyes closed and his arms up wasn't going to look good on his performance review. He had to make some attempt at stopping the horde. By the time he pried his eyelids open, there was only one straggler charging forth from the Gummi ship. At least this one looked easy to subdue.

Edgar pointed his umbrella blade directly down at the duck in the blue coat. "Stop right there," he commanded, suddenly feeling a rush of confidence.

"Ah," Scrooge McDuck responded, "so yer gonna fight me, ye coward?" He lifted his cane. "I warn ye: I ain't as soft as I look!"

The cane and the umbrella blade clashed; Edgar and Scrooge fenced, each gaining a few steps of ground before the other was able to push him back.

Horace had finally wrapped a strip of cloth torn from his shirt around the stab wound Gothel had given him, and his mind had gotten to a state where he could live with the pain. His arm still felt like agony when he lifted his club, but he was ready to rejoin the fight.

A host of sparkling shuriken scattered through the air toward him; he batted the club, their points all sticking into it. Yuffie cartwheeled to land before Horace. "Hey, guess what?" she teased. "You're going down!"

"Not by the hand of some little girl, I ain't!" Horace insisted, swinging the shuriken-studded club.

Yuffie backflipped out of range, summoning up her largest shuriken once she landed on her feet. With a flick, she sent it flying. It spun toward Horace, who quickly threw himself to the ground to let the weapon pass over him. The shuriken boomeranged around to land back in Yuffie's grip.

"This is gonna be fun!" Yuffie proclaimed.

Salem planted her in Merlin's path, arms spread wide. "I have heard about you," she informed Merlin. "The immortal wizard. Such power. If I couldn't have the witch's, I'll take yours."

"I'm afraid that won't be happening today!" Merlin huffed. "Or any day, mind you!"

Her arm shot toward his throat as he flicked his wand. A shockwave sent Salem toppling back. Truly, she had underestimated Merlin's power; no ordinary blast of magic could knock Salem off her feet. She sat up, her arms stretching out to superhuman lengths to make a grab for his ankles.

They were suddenly not there anymore; Merlin had become a brilliant blue hawk, still clutching his wand in his talons. Glittering sparks rained upon Salem, building into a cage that surrounded her. Her hands seized the magical bars, burning through them at a much slower pace than she expected them to.

Aerith hoisted her staff high, twirling it in the air and pouring extra energy into it. Setting that energy free, she cast an aura over all of her allies that shielded them with a bright golden glow, reducing the effect damage taken would have on them.

From her vantage point in the hovercraft, Medusa scowled down at Aerith. While the concept of magic was still new to her, she had been briefed on this sort of mage. Aerith was a healer. That meant she could set Maleficent's forces back a great distance by undoing damage. Aerith had to go. Medusa fixed her crosshairs on the woman in pink, pulling the trigger.

The gun jammed.

Medusa muttered curses as she pounded the rifle with her fist. At last, the bullet exploded forth from the barrel, planting into the ground a foot away from Aerith.

Aerith noticed the impact, her eyes tracing it back to its source. "A sniper!" she gasped. Quickly spinning her staff again, she trained her eyes on Medusa. "STOP!"

Medusa was frozen in place, unable to take another shot.

Aerith scanned the battlefield before her, waiting for the sound of a friend taking damage so she could reverse it.

Cid Highwind was thrown off his path by a sudden burst of light and color. Someone had thrown a lit firework at him. Another one whined into a fountain of fire before him, bringing Cid to a halt.

It didn't take Cid long to find the perpetrator. After his success with Herb, Snoops thought he would continue to have luck with the fireworks.

Cid leapt high into the air, spinning the spear he held as he dove directly toward Snoops. Snoops cowered, sure he was to be skewered.

The spear point missed him by an inch. Cid's knees knocked into his stomach, sending him down with Cid pinning him. Snoops looked up into Cid's face with terror, noting the determined glare in his eyes and the lit cigarette in his mouth.

When Snoops had fallen, his supply of fireworks had tumbled from his pocket. Cid didn't break eye contact as he reached for one of the fallen rockets, pressing its fuse to the hot tip of his cigarette.

Then he was gone, leaving behind the lit rocket.

Snoops was now the one fleeing as his own fireworks erupted around him.

Now free of Ravess' net, the Joker was back on his feet, bouncing up and down on the pogo stick as he awaited a new opponent. When someone came near, he reactivated the pogo stick's blade, spinning it to point down at the anthropomorphic dog he'd selected on its descent.

Goofy held his shield upward, and the blade bounced right off. The Joker landed on his feet, not ready to be deterred; he drew a pair of pistols, aiming them right at the dog. Goofy gave a yelp, cowering behind his shield.

Not one but two flags reading "BANG!" burst from the pistols.

"What'd ya do that for?" Goofy asked.

"Because it's funny!" the Joker cackled. "Why do ANYTHING for any other reason?" He took two steps closer to Goofy. "Take this, for example!" He holstered a pistol to grasp at a flower pinned to his coat. "A classic clown gag. Now watch as I give it a deadly touch!"

With a squeeze, he spurted a stream of acid at Goofy's feet. Goofy hustled backward as the stone beneath him sizzled upon contact with the liquid.

"Now that just ain't funny at all!" Goofy said in dismay. "That's more frightenin' than anything!"

"Oh, what do you know about humor?" the Joker sighed. "Nobody these days can appreciate a good joke! You're all too easily offended!"

"Actually, I know plenty about bein' goofy!" Goofy said with a smile. "But if you think bein' funny means hurtin' people, then I gotta get serious!"

He launched into a tornado twirl, spinning toward the Joker at high speed with his shield held out. However, he lost sight of the Joker completely, rocketing first one direction, then another, dizzily yelling "EEEEEH-HOO-HOO-HOOOEEEE!"

The wanton attack gave the Joker pause, inspiring him to quickly backtrack so as not to get hit with the shield's edge on an unpredictable turn of this spin. "Goofy, all right," he muttered, "but not FUNNY."

A host of Flame Core Heartless formed a barricade; Donald was quick to turn his staff upon them, casting a Blizzara spell that extinguished their fires and dissolved them down. When the wall of Flame Cores was gone, Donald could see Facilier standing behind where they had been.

"Ain't half bad," Facilier said with a tip of his hat. "I'd watch out if I were you, though."

"Huh?" Donald replied. "Quit tryin' to confuse me!"

The Stealth Sneak's invisible claw pinned Donald down; he could faintly see its outline above him. The mage's staff rolled away from him. "HELP!" Donald cried, struggling fervidly. "WAAHAAHAAHAAAAAAA!"

Three sizeable sparks of electricity rocketed through the air from different directions, all striking the Stealth Sneak at once and dissolving it into naught but a heart that climbed to the heavens.

"Thank you!" Donald sighed as he stood, retrieving his weapon – but unable to find his rescuer.

Facilier was surrounded by dancing Earth Cores; one of them was slightly out of sync from the others. Facilier pressed his cane to that Core, staring it down. "Now this makes sense," he observed. "Ain't no bother in usin' a creature that camouflages against an illusionist. You're so used to not bein' seen, you'd know exactly where it was."

In a shimmer of light, the Core revealed its true form; Facilier's cane pressed against Ienzo's chest. "Very astute," he complimented. "You have some experience with illusion yourself, I take it."

"Dabbled, once or twice," Facilier responded. "But ultimately, I prefer the real thing."

He removed the cane, and an army of Orcuses hovered into being behind him. "You two need a REAL challenge, don'tcha?"

The Orcuses flitted around Facilier, their dull red swords swiping out at Ienzo and Donald. Ienzo clutched his spellbook, flicking his hand out toward an empty patch of ground. A thin cyclone of Darkness shot down from the skies and struck the stone, reaching out over the ground to pull all the Orcuses in with its winds. As the Heartless were drawn into one place, Donald set off a chain reaction of fireworks among them, reducing them to nothing.

Hazel let Sora, Kairi, Riku, Moana, and Ruby pass by him unharmed, watching them in awe. Casting his eyes over the battlefield, he spotted Yuffie engaged with Horace. The rage within him built up, and the Dust within him produced a veritable explosion of red that radiated off the entirety of his body as he roared, "WHO IS YOUR LEADER?"

Aeleus, sensing the raw power that emanated from Hazel, stepped before him. "Whatever you have to say to our leader," he stated tactfully, "you can say to me."

"YOU MAKE CHILDREN FIGHT FOR YOU?" Hazel bellowed. "THEY DON'T KNOW BETTER, AND YOU SEND THEM TO DIE?"

"They are no mere children," Aeleus stated.

"IT'S BELIEVING THAT THAT'S GOING TO GET THEM ALL KILLED!" Hazel screamed. "I will spare their lives…BUT YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE!"

Aeleus' axe-sword met Hazel's incoming grip, pushing back against the raw force. Once it became clear that the two opposing forces were of equal power, Hazel shifted, pressing the right side of his body against the weapon as he retrieved a yellow crystal from his pocket. With another sharp stab, the lightning Dust became embedded in his right arm. He quickly rolled, shifting sides in order to augment his left arm with a matching crystal. Bursts of red flame bolstered with shocks of electricity pulsed from his hands.

Aeleus was shoved back; one of Hazel's fists planted into his gut while the other pummeled his face. He staggered momentarily, finding his footing after a few missteps. A bright red aura shone from Aeleus now; he gave a cry as it erupted outward. The axe-sword was hefted high, then slammed down into the ground.

Columns of solid, jagged rock burst from the ground below Hazel, sending him flying. No sooner had Hazel landed on his back than Aeleus rushed him, berserk with magic, bringing down the axe-sword to call upon the earth once more.

When Hazel punched through the wall of rock Aeleus had summoned, fists flying for his target, Aeleus was more than ready, aiming his axe-sword right for Hazel's unprotected stomach.

Cruella's torn-apart car, its engine restored by Grimhilde's magic, skidded out of the courtyard, speeding down the battlefield; her headlights served as a warning to everyone to get out of the way or be mowed down. Cadance sprang into the air, hovering above the car.

Through the hole in the roof, Cruella got a good look at the soaring alicorn. Horsehair was usually so coarse, but that soft pink color was alluring enough to override that factor. This creature would make a fine fabric. The gem-studded pistol was aimed as the car made an about-face to position Cruella properly.

Cadance suspected an attack was coming, surrounding herself with a deflection shield just in time for the bullet to ricochet off. She put the shield down to rain golden magic upon the car, denting its exterior and pushing it back down the slope.

Cruella simply climbed up onto what was left of the roof, shooting from there. Cadance bobbed and weaved to throw off her aim.

By complete accident, Xander and Demyx collided with each other. "GAH!" Demyx cried as he backpedaled, clutching his sitar protectively.

Xander took one look into Demyx's bewildered eyes and formed his game plan. No matter how dire the circumstances, there was always Plan Xander.

"Hey," he greeted with a smile. "Listen, you don't really wanna waste all this energy fighting us, do you?"

"Well…no, not really," Demyx admitted. "I showed up because I wanted to kick Mozenrath's butt, but I don't really care about you guys. I'd rather just go home, but it's too late for that." He shrugged.

"Sorry, mate," Xander told him. "That's rough."

"Yeah, you're telling me."

Xander's eyes wandered over to the sitar. "Is that a guitar there?"

"Sitar, actually," Demyx corrected.

"You play?"

"It's how I cast my magic, so yeah."

"I'm actually a bit of a musician myself," Xander informed Demyx.

"Really? What do you play?"

"Well – "

At that moment, Vida, Nick, Chip, and Madison rushed past, all yelling angrily, "XANDER!"

Xander heaved a sigh. "We should probably actually fight now."

"Yeah, probably," Demyx agreed.

A chord sounded. Water forms sprang up around Xander. The silver axe cut them down one by one.

With a roar, Scar spun toward the nearest opponent, claws slashing out. The unlucky soul was Ren, who sprang back to safety.

"A…lion?" he muttered.

"Must you say it so condescendingly?" Scar replied, sounding quite condescending himself.

"A TALKING lion," Ren amended. "Don't see that every day." He braced himself, one gun of Stormflower extended toward Scar and one drawn back.

When Scar lashed out this time, Ren leapt over him, unloading his ammunition over the lion. Scar flinched from the impact, but was otherwise undeterred. Ren landed; Scar launched into a leap, forelegs extended. Ren positioned Stormflower's blades; Scar impaled himself at the shoulders simply by landing on them. With a roar of pain, Scar pushed Ren away, nosing at his wounds.

Ren turned to charge, but Scar came to his senses, realizing he couldn't let his opponent get away. He surged forth, his jaws locking around Ren's ankle.

Ren cried out, but pivoted on his waist at the same time, opening fire on Scar once more to keep him at bay.

Jasper Badun smacked his club into his hand threateningly as he advanced upon Moana. "What's this?" he remarked with a grin. "A defenseless little girl! How'd you end up out here among all us ruffian types?"

"I'd be careful if I were you," Moana said smugly.

"You ain't gonna make it past me alive," Jasper threatened.

"I'm going to give you one more chance to just turn around and walk away," Moana told him with a smile. "You won't have to get hurt."

"What, you think I'm an idiot?" Jasper ran at her with the club.

She ducked it easily, grunting as she threw a hard punch into Jasper's solar plexus. Her other fist battered his face. Jasper fell to the ground, where Moana's bare foot stomped hard on his chest; she pried the club from his hands and wielded it as her own.

"Do you REALLY want me to answer your question?" she asked from above him.

Unnoticed by her, a blue portal opened up behind. Qilby came flying, his scythe held upward for the strike.

A blast of sparkling magic rocketed into his side, throwing him off course. As Qilby skidded over the stony ground, Genie hovered over him, clicking his tongue and observing the energy scythe. "Talk about not fearing the reaper," Genie remarked.

Qilby pushed off the ground, backflipping to land on his feet before slicing the scythe across Genie.

"AAAAAAH!" Genie screamed as his right arm dropped to the ground. "MY ARM! MY AAAAAARM! MY – " He then broke down into laughter as he picked the arm up off the ground and affixed it back into place. "I love that one. Gets 'em every time! Ooh, wait, wait! Who am I?" He deflated said arm until it appeared skeletal. In a perfect mimicry of Mozenrath's voice, he declared, "I GAVE MY RIGHT HAND FOR POWER!"

Qilby's stunned look told Genie the joke hadn't gone over well. "Right," Genie realized. "Mozenrath is probably a sore subject for you at this point."

"You're annoying," Qilby said flatly. "That's why you're going to die now."

Innumerable blue portals opened up around Genie.

"Uh-oh," Genie remarked, "looks like we've sprung a leak!" He placed his hands over two of the portals, then immediately sprouted a plethora of arms so he had a hand to cover each of the rest. Their energy beams were blocked by his palms. With a raucous giggle, Genie declared, "That tickles!"

Qilby had no idea what to make of this creature. He did know he was aggravated to death. Vanishing quickly into a portal, he formed another directly above Genie, dropping down on him –

And rolling off a giant umbrella that had opened over Genie's head.

"Today's forecast," Genie declared in a nasal voice, "no sun with a chance of falling Eliatropes!"

Death and subsequent reincarnation would have been a mercy for Qilby at this point.

A green bolt sailed over Chip's shoulder, alerting him to the presence of an active firearm. He spun to face down McLeach, whose Huntsclan-issue crossbow was held high.

"Cool!" Chip proclaimed as he shouldered his own silver weapon. "Crossbow duel!"

"This ain't no game," McLeach growled as he fired on Chip again.

Chip released his own trigger, and his silver bolt crashed into McLeach's ammo, dissolving it.

"You're outta your league, kid!" McLeach insisted, shooting rapidly.

Chip intercepted with his own fire each time. "I'm a legal adult!" he snapped.

Completely unexpectedly, Vida was seized by the forearm, then kicked hard so that she went rolling across the stone. Madison and Nick slid to a halt, looking back to where she lay.

"I'M FINE!" she yelled at them. "KEEP GOING!"

The severity of the situation forced the pair to heed her words, taking off once more.

Vida rose, looking to her assailant; Ozai advanced upon her. "Guess you couldn't pick on someone your own size," she growled.

"A true warrior does not wait for a battle to be fair before he attempts to win it," Ozai told her.

He rushed her, his leg flying over as she ducked and his fist barely missing her. Her sword was drawn in a flash of silver, swiping at Ozai only for Vida to discover he was as adept at evading attacks as he was at dealing them out. Without thinking, she summoned up what wind magic she could, pushing him back with a pink-tinged wave of air directed at his core.

"An airbender," Ozai seethed. "It will be my honor to destroy you personally."

"Give it a shot," Vida challenged him.

His leg swept hers out from under her, but on the way down, her blade slashed his chest, deep enough to bleed but not enough to kill. His fist rocketed down toward her head; she rolled, forcing him to punch the earth and feel its hardness reverberate through his knuckles. She stood, kicking her foot into his back, right between the shoulder blades; he turned to retaliate only for her to augment her jump with wind, flying high enough to avoid his punch.

Madison's way was blocked by an axe whose edges glowed warningly lime. "KEEP GOING!" she yelled before Nick could even turn back to check on her.

Sykes positioned himself in front of her, smiling sinisterly. "Now, where have I seen this before?" he asked himself. "Those clothes, silver weapon…"

This was the man Xander had told her about, Madison realized. His axe had been powerful enough to melt through Xander's. Her sword hardly stood a chance. She would have to rely on not getting hit.

That seemed easy enough.

"Yeah, I'm a Mystic Ranger," she taunted. "Are you gonna do anything about it?"

"I'd rather settle old scores with your friend in the green," Sykes admitted, "but beggars can't be choosers."

Madison hurtled backward as the axe swung. She kept facing Sykes, not wanting to give the impression she was running away. She didn't care whether he thought her a coward, but if he wasn't wasting time with her, he might gang up on someone more crucial to the operation. The next swing, Madison almost didn't make it out of the way of; she blocked the blow with her sword briefly in order to buy time. The dent in her blade was evident.

Still, she did not back down, and as Sykes went for a third blow, she performed a spinning leap out of the axe's path.

Kairi and Jaune held hands as they ran together, keeping the fortress in sight. This did not go unnoticed. "How adorable," Cyclonis muttered to herself before taking aim directly at the clasped hands from behind.

The flash of red light alerted the couple just in time; they broke the connection, hustling away from each other to let the heat pass between. Kairi immediately spun around to face down the attacker. "Go!" she yelled at Jaune.

"But – " Jaune attempted.

"I can do this!" Kairi cried. "JUST GO!"

Jaune refused, at first, to follow her orders. When the appendage of another warrior wrapped around him and pulled him away, he found he had no choice.

Kairi glared at Cyclonis, whose smile widened as she beheld her opponent. "Could it be?" Cyclonis proclaimed. "Red hair, pink clothing, and a flowery sword. You're the princess yourself."

"I am," Kairi confirmed, "and it's a princess's job to fight for her people, so that's what I'm going to do!"

"You have no idea what you're dealing with," Cyclonis told her. "You're just a princess. I'm the master of an empire."

"Then fight like one," Kairi challenged.

She dodged out of the way of the next beam of heat, surging closer to Cyclonis. The next evasion brought her still closer. Cyclonis abandoned using magical attacks, instead striking out physically with her staff; Kairi met it with her blade, the two weapons crashing together again and again.

"You are WEAK!" Cyclonis growled. "You are USELESS!"

"No," Kairi insisted, "I am strong, and I can do what I need to do to protect my friends! All I ever needed was a chance!"

Her foot slammed into Cyclonis' stomach, pushing her back.

Jaune was not about to abandon Kairi. But when a thick scorpion's tail wrapped around him and pulled him away, he found his decision made for him. Tyrian planted Jaune down directly before him.

"Ooooh, you…" Tyrian said with wide eyes. "You interest me."

Jaune realized he was shaking. Quickly, he drew Crocea Mors, hoping to hide his nerves by clutching onto his symbols of security.

"It's too bad, really," Tyrian said in mock lament. "I'm going to have to destroy you. It's nothing personal, of course, though it will be quite fun."

"You're not going to kill me," Jaune attempted to say confidently. His fear was betrayed by his tone.

Tyrian leapt into action, swiping his wrist at Jaune's throat; Jaune's shield intercepted it just in time, heavy shock radiating from where Tyrian's blow connected. Tyrian's second wrist lashed out beneath the shield; Jaune yelped as he staggered back to avoid being sliced open. With a leap, Tyrian aimed a kick at Jaune's head; by some miracle, Jaune sidestepped it, remembering the stance Pyrrha had talked him through. His feet hit position, he pivoted, his sword thrust –

Tyrian blocked it with both blades, arms crossed. His guns activated, blowing Jaune's arm away from him. The bullets turned on Jaune; the latter's shield whipped up and down to intercept the trajectory of the incoming ammo.

Tyrian's tail swept beneath Jaune's legs unnoticed, catching him by the knees. Jaune was forced off balance, suddenly looking up into the black sky as his back hit the ground. His view was then filled with Tyrian standing over him, bending into a crouch to raise his tail. Jaune could have sworn Tyrian's eyes had been bright yellow, but now they seemed to glow a virulent purple.

The shield was raised; one of Tyrian's feet stomped down on Jaune's arm, throwing the shield to the side and pinning the arm down. The other foot stopped Jaune's opposite arm from raising his sword. The scorpion stinger hung threateningly above. All that was stopping Tyrian from bringing it down was the enjoyment he got from reading the fear in Jaune's eyes.

When Tyrian finally had his fill, he struck.

The stinger never made it.

Instead, it separated from the rest of the tail, severed by a sudden blade. The jolt of pain caused Tyrian to shift his feet slightly; Jaune managed to get his shield arm free, holding the protective device over himself in terror.

Tyrian whipped around to see from where the blow had come, seething, "BASTARD!"

"Leave him alone," Leon said coolly.

Blood dripped from where Tyrian's tail had been severed; the stinger had come to rest at Leon's feet. It was no matter. Tyrian still had a good amount of fight in him. "I don't think I will," he proclaimed. "But you will have to pay for what you just did to me!"

He surged at Leon, giving Jaune just enough time to get to his feet. Tyrian's blades crashed against Leon's gunblade before Leon propelled himself backward with a fiery blast from the weapon's end. Tyrian leapt, spinning a roundhouse kick toward Leon's head; Leon somersaulted beneath him. As Tyrian landed, he turned to see Leon and Jaune now standing together, blades held at the ready.

"Double the fun," he growled as he whirled toward them.

One wrist slammed against the blade of Crocea Mors while the other pummeled the gunblade. Bullets flew from both Tyrian's wrist-mounted weapons and Leon's sword, none making their mark. Tyrian's flying foot crashed into Jaune's shield; he then pushed hard enough to tilt the shield, turning it into a step he could launch off to hurl his body into the air and avoid more of Leon's fire. Tyrian landed gracefully on the stone, one knee bent and the opposite foot stretched out behind him like the stance of a dancer. Then, on the bent leg, he propelled himself forward, spinning as he let loose the bullets that Jaune and Leon hustled to deflect.

Luna had already chosen to go airborne, soaring across the field. Only Medusa seemed to be a threat from up this high, and she had already been immobilized by Aerith. At this rate, Luna could make it to the fortress and begin seeking the Book of Prophecies without having to dirty her hooves.

Reality did so love to prove her wrong. A hand seized her hoof from below, dragging her down. Twisting frantically, she realized that the hand was connected to an arm some twenty feet long and retracting, accounting for its ability to grab her from all the way up in the air.

By the time Clayton brought Luna down to earshot, he remarked, "And here I thought this arm would be a nuisance."

"Release me at once," Luna said coldly.

"Is that a threat?" Clayton taunted, reaching for his machete with his human arm. "Such a bold tone…coming from a mare."

"You will regret attempting to harm me," Luna informed him.

"You'll look quite elegant stuffed," Clayton responded as he raised the machete.

The blade came down on a hard deflection shield. Luna kicked hard, her free hoof slamming into Clayton's chest. The blow was worthless; he hardly felt it. When she focused a beam of magic over his heart, however, that was noticed. He reeled, his grip unbroken but his arm extending to give her some distance. She began to zoom back and forth, dragging the Grimm arm every which way. Clayton struggled not to hold on, but to prevent her from dragging him across the stone; his heels scuffled a little.

As Luna let out another stream of magic, this one of a tougher intensity, her eyes glowed brightly, the color of stardust, losing distinction between pupil, iris, and white. Clayton tried to endure the burning, stepping ever further back, focusing only on keeping his grip on Luna's leg.

Nick was trying to keep his mind off the other Mystic Rangers and how they had all been waylaid by various opponents. Instead, he focused on running as quickly as he could toward the fortress. His way was blocked eventually; he came to a sudden halt, looking the solidly built man before him up and down.

"I might have lost the shield-wielding waterbender," Zhao proclaimed, "but I won't miss out on destroying you."

Nick's sword was immediately drawn and hefted. "Oh yeah? We'll see about that."

Zhao punched a ball of fire directly toward Nick; Nick summoned up what little of his magic he had and gained control of the flames, catching them and redirecting them to snuff out on the ground.

"So you're a firebender too," Zhao observed.

"Uh…yeah," Nick replied, not entirely sure if he fit the label or not.

"That should make this interesting," Zhao stated.

More fire came at Nick in a tidal wave; he knew he couldn't gain control of this much. He instead opted to hit the dirt. Reaching out, he touched Zhao's feet, setting the toes of each aflame.

He was kicked with those very feet, sent rolling. His uniform might have caught fire at one point; the tumble down the stone put it out if it had. Quickly, he hurried back to his feet, his mind on escaping Zhao.

Zhao, however, had his heart set on incinerating Nick. The man was already flying at him with flames surrounding his arms. Nick responded by thrusting his sword directly at Zhao, turning it into a game of chicken.

Zhao diverted his course at the last minute while Nick held his ground. Nick quickly turned to follow Zhao, sword lashing out. He felt the resistance of metal meeting skin; he had drawn the merest drop of blood.

"You'll pay for that," Zhao insisted as he flew at Nick again.

Hans bolted from the courtyard, fresh bindings wrapped around the stump of his right arm and a sword clutched awkwardly in his left hand. It wasn't ideal, but he had refused to give up.

He found himself facing Sadira; the two regarded each other with confusion. "This hardly seems fair," Sadira remarked after noticing how Hans clutched the hilt of his sword; he was obviously right-handed.

"Don't patronize me," Hans growled at her. "I'm still one of Maleficent's top operatives. You have nothing on me."

"You don't want me to go easy on you?" Sadira asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Would you if I asked?" Hans replied, curious.

"I dunno," Sadira replied, seeing what else she could deduce about Hans from sight alone. "You're pretty hot, and you're dressed like a prince. You might've won me over back when I was less smart."

"Missed opportunity?" Hans asked.

"I know better now," Sadira confirmed, withdrawing the sand from her pocket. "You wouldn't have had a chance."

"You wouldn't be worth anything after making you spare me anyway," Hans told her. "You're obviously just a peasant."

"You'd think that would make me mad," Sadira said with a shake of her head, "but I guess I'm more secure than I thought, too."

She let the sand fly toward Hans in the shape of a fist rocketing to meet his face. Hans instinctively chopped at the projectile with his sword. It sliced in half, then dissipated, falling to the ground before Sadira caught it to bring it back up again.

"I'm surprised your sword didn't break on that one," Sadira teased.

"Actually, so am I," Hans muttered.

"What?"

"What?"

Sadira shook her head. "Let's just get this over with, top operative."

The sands formed into cuffs around his feet, linked with a chain. Hans attempted a step toward Sadira, tumbling and faceplanting. The sands released him, forming into a pair of feet that stomped on his back. Hans managed to swat them away, but they came back as a hammer that knocked him on the forehead.

"This was so much easier when I had the gauntlet," he muttered.

The advancing party was reduced to Sora, Riku, Ruby, Papyrus, Lea, Stork, Jasmine, Aladdin, Carpet, Katara, Kazuichi, Rapunzel, Eugene, Nora, and Mickey. The way seemed almost clear, but the path of all was suddenly filled by the divine beast Ganon, scraping his massive hooves on the ground and snorting a warning.

"Go on ahead!" Mickey urged. "I'll hold him back!"

The party diverted two ways, filtering around Ganon. The beast contemplated stopping them, but found himself occupied when Mickey launched himself up onto Ganon's nose, dealing out a slash with his Keyblade before spinning through the air to land on the beast's back. Ganon spun a quick 360 to throw Mickey off; it didn't work. Mickey let ten pearls of light erupt from his Keyblade, sinking into Ganon.

Ganon turned to charge after the rest of the party, hoping to just ignore Mickey. Mickey had other plans. He landed right in Ganon's path this time, Keyblade spinning. Ganon charged, but Mickey let forth another barrage of pearls that struck Ganon and forced him back ever so slightly. Mickey launched the Keyblade, letting it spin through the air to smack Ganon in the face before coming right back to rest in Mickey's own hand.

Ganon barreled forward, thinking once again he could ignore Mickey; Mickey slid beneath him, making quick work of swiping the blade beneath his two left feet. Ganon toppled onto his right side, where Mickey kept him down with a constant surge of pearls that formed a net of sorts over him.

The party's next obstacle landed before them after gliding on metal wings to catch up to them. The wings folding up on his back, the Dark Ace clasped the hilt of his inactive sword. "You've come far," he observed. "That's good. I do only challenge the strong."

"Let me take this clown!" Nora demanded as she hurried to the front of the group. "I know his type! This is gonna be fun!"

"He's all yours, Nora!" Sora proclaimed as the others ran on.

"Sending a mere girl to stand against me?" the Dark Ace taunted.

"That's exactly what I thought you'd say," Nora replied with a smug grin.

The inferno sword blazed to life. The Dark Ace swiped it toward Nora, who easily leapt over it. She responded by extending Magnhild, spinning herself around and around to gather enough momentum before slamming its head into the Dark Ace's chest.

With a cry of annoyance, the Dark Ace reeled back. He steadied himself, raising the sword high to chop down upon Nora from above. She removed one hand from Magnhild, throwing it up to catch the Dark Ace's arm; he found himself unable to lower it, Nora's strength rivaling his own. Magnhild was shortened and pressed to the Dark Ace's stomach. A small canister marked with a heart was ejected, exploding upon contact. Lightning surged throughout the Dark Ace's entire body; Nora released her grip just in time to avoid the shock.

The Dark Ace quivered and shook; he was now unsteady, and as he aimed his blade at Nora once more, his aim was not true. She somersaulted beneath the blade, feeling the heat pass over her, then dropped two more electric grenades beneath the Dark Ace's feet.

As he reeled from the next round of lightning, Nora extended Magnhild once more, this time hitting him in the small of the back. This was getting entertaining.

Back on the Gummi ship the heroes had used to arrive, the door to a luggage compartment pried open. Huey, Dewey, and Louie spilled out, tumbling to the ship floor.

"We did it!" Louie cried. "They didn't even find us!"

"So what now?" Dewey asked.

The triplets peered out the door at the intense battle raging ahead. "It looks like everybody's tied up in a fight," Huey observed. "If we're quick and quiet, we should be able to sneak past everyone and make it up to that big castle!"

"And once we get in the castle," Louie concluded, "we can find the Book of Prophecies and take it away from Maleficent!"

"Let's go, boys!" Dewey commanded.

The triplets hustled up the path, keeping to the edges. Because of their small stature and the concentration of the engaged warriors being focused elsewhere, they went completely unnoticed, hurrying all the way up past where Nora was pummeling the Dark Ace and sliding along the remaining walls of the courtyard.

No sooner had Rapunzel and Eugene entered the courtyard than a fireball sped toward them; they slid to either side to let it pass between. Grimhilde, figuring the Coronans easy targets, drew back a second flaming projectile, letting it fly.

This time, neither Rapunzel nor Eugene flinched. They instead unbuckled their weapons from their belts. A pair of frying pans slammed into the fireball, rocketing it right back to where it came from.

Grimhilde raised her hands; the pair was now engulfed in a ring of fire that was slowly closing in. Lightning struck from above, forcing Rapunzel to jump in order to avoid becoming singed.

She felt the twitch in her scalp. "Eugene," she said tentatively, "are you ready to move?"

"I feel like you have a plan," Eugene told her, "and I am already all for it."

Rapunzel reached back, ripping away the bindings that kept her hair braided. It billowed around her and Eugene, enveloping both in a golden sphere that offered a muted view through the strands. The lightning was now directly striking the orb, but unable to pierce Rapunzel's magical locks.

"GO!" Rapunzel cried, and she and Eugene began to run toward Grimhilde, the orb of hair moving with them to protect them.

Grimhilde rapidly threw everything she had at them: fire, ice, wind, lightning. The hair repelled it all. It only opened up once the orb was right before Grimhilde; Rapunzel and Eugene erupted forth, frying pans held high.

Grimhilde disappeared backward into a Corridor of Darkness, and the pans came down upon nothing.

"Where'd she go?" Eugene wondered out loud. "You think she gave up?"

"Not that easily," Rapunzel said worriedly.

Grimhilde stalked them from a parapet above, where all the pounding the room had taken had loosened part of the wall. She dug her toe into the crack in her floor, prying out an enormous chunk of stone positioned to fall right upon the Coronan pair.

Rapunzel's hair flicked into action, surrounding her and Eugene again just in time for the stone to crack against it and fall away in halves.

"That was too close for comfort," Eugene remarked.

Cursing this golden hair, Grimhilde summoned up a spell that coated Eugene and Rapunzel's feet in ice, giving Rapunzel's bare toes quite a chill as they were frozen to the ground.

"I…I can't move!" Rapunzel cried.

The hair still floated above the pair. Grimhilde sent fireball after fireball raining upon it. Still no effect, but now she had her opponents pinned to one place, and she was banking on Rapunzel's hair eventually having a limit.

Watts' Paladin stomped into the courtyard. "Well, they've certainly made a mess of things here," he remarked. "And these are our revered leaders? It's enough to make one's faith falter."

His attention was turned upon the group of heroes that had made it this far. "How conveniently lined up," he remarked, targeting the crowd.

Missiles launched, impacting behind the small group. Sora, Riku, Lea, Ruby, Papyrus, Stork, Jasmine, Aladdin, Carpet, Katara, and Kazuichi were thrown forward, scattering across the stone.

"Is everyone okay?" Sora barked as he sat up; he received grunts of affirmation as his friends stood.

Watts advanced, causing Ruby to cry out, "IT'S A PALADIN!"

"And I'm guessing not the lion-piloting kind!" Riku grunted.

"Whoa!" Kazuichi cried, scrambling to his feet and running right into Watts' path. "That thing is AWESOME! Definitely going to kill me, but AWESOME!" He fired a sharp-toothed grin over his shoulder. "I wanna fight it!"

"Kazuichi, no!" Ruby cried. "That thing will pulverize you!"

"We have to get that book!" Stork reminded her. "If he can hold it off, we stand a lot better of a chance!"

"Kazuichi, you got this!" Sora flashed him a thumbs-up. "Everyone else, KEEP MOVING!"

As his friends hurried on, Kazuichi activated his armor plate, jets propelling him into the air. Blasters rose from his shoulders. "Seriously, how does this thing even work?" he said to himself giddily. "I can't wait to take it apart!"

He clenched his jaw tightly as he performed a barrel roll downward to evade the Paladin's guns. Such aerial maneuvers were still slightly sickening, but he was learning to deal with it. His blasters fired upon the arm joint of the Paladin.

In an ordinary circumstance, the Paladin would have been able to withstand such a blow. However, Watts' weapon had already taken substantial hits from Firefly. As such, Watts was greeted once again with red warning lights. He pivoted, throwing a punch that smacked Kazuichi across the courtyard and into the wall.

"What an eyesore," Watts remarked.

The thick Gummi armor protected Kazuichi from suffering more than a few bruises. "Now I REALLY wanna rip that thing apart!" he cried as he surged forward. "ENGINES REVVING!"

Like an aggravating insect, he circled the Paladin, blasting it from all angles. Watts felt a lurch in his stomach both from motion and a sense of horror when the Paladin's legs collapsed, bringing it to its knees. Now bound to one spot, Watts had to rely only on the ranged artillery and the arms' reach, and neither was really doing a good job at getting Kazuichi to slow down.

Ursula positioned herself above the racing heroes, conjuring a sphere of dense water for each of them. With a gesture of her hands, the water rocketed downward, threatening to slam into the small group.

Katara leapt forward, collecting the water spheres in a spin. The liquid swirled around her in a cyclone kept up by the energy held in her hands. The others ran on, leaving her to deal with Ursula.

"Well, aren't you the adorable little guppy?" Ursula said in mock sweetness as she changed tactics, red-hot electricity surging from her hands.

The water bent around Katara in a sphere shape, solidifying into ice that stopped the electricity in its tracks. Ursula's next attack, a hurled orb of concentrated Darkness, broke the icy shield, but Katara was ready for that, turning the sharp shards to fly at Ursula. Ursula soared upward in a backward arc with a cry of frustration.

As the ice shards missed their target, Katara called them back to her, melting them down to water once more. She focused it into a geyser that rammed into Ursula, pushing the sea witch further off course.

Ursula threw a continuous volley of Dark balls; each was repelled with a splash of water that sent droplets raining down onto the stone just before they were gathered once again for another round.

Aladdin and Jasmine were separated from the rest when an immense scaly coil of black and orange slammed down before them, tightening around them so they could not break loose. Jafar's serpentine face hovered over them, eyes glittering with glee. "If it isn't the street rat and his precious princess," he remarked. "I might almost say I've missed you."

"Yeah, well, the feeling's not mutual!" Aladdin snapped.

"Let us go NOW," Jasmine insisted, "or pay the price."

"Ssssssuch a sharp tongue," Jafar hissed, giving a chuckle. "I'm afraid there's no trickery you can play to win this fight. A fate worse than death awaits you, and I am practically shivering at the thought of executing it."

The coils dissolved, dropping the royals onto the stone floor. Jafar's form melted into something more humanoid, scarlet-skinned, with only floating smoke for a tail: the shape of a genie. "COWER BEFORE ME!" he demanded, casting an aura of red down toward Aladdin and Jasmine.

Carpet was faster, sweeping both of them up and carrying them high into the air to meet Jafar at eye level. "I think we'd rather go after the Book of Prophecies!" Aladdin said smugly, arms folded. "What do you think, Jasmine?"

"Try and stop us!" Jasmine said playfully.

As Jafar regarded Aladdin's arrogant stance, something about the contours of his face as he held a smirk and the position of his body as he gloated struck the genie as all too familiar. Jafar could practically picture him wearing garments of black and royal blue, one hand wrapped in leather. "You're more like him than you would ever wish to be," Jafar hissed. "All the more reason to CRUSH you!"

"More like…what?" Aladdin replied, bewildered.

He didn't have time to wonder. Spheres of flame began to rain from the sky, forcing him and Jasmine to lay low on Carpet and tug at the rug's hem to steer him one way or the other. Glowing crimson magic crackled to life around them, sending Carpet through a series of gymnastics to avoid being sizzled.

Perhaps there was no way to talk Jafar down using words. However, both Aladdin and Jasmine knew they were serving their purpose as a distraction. Sora, Riku, Lea, Ruby, Papyrus, and Stork were all still left to retrieve the Book of Prophecies, and Jafar was too caught up in the thought of tormenting his longtime rivals to pay attention to those who were getting away.

"Perhaps your wit is not so SHARP as it used to be!" Jafar declared as swords poured down from the sky like rain.

"I really didn't miss his puns," Aladdin sighed as Carpet looped the loop in order to avoid being cut to ribbons along with his passengers.

"You're telling me," Jasmine groaned.

"Who do you think I reminded him of?" Aladdin wondered out loud.

"I don't know," Jasmine replied. "That was strange, even for Jafar."

They didn't have much time to think on it; Jafar had declared that "Your performance has simply FLOORED me!" just as the stone floor below erupted into columns of rock that threatened to impale Carpet from below.

Only six remained in the chase to get deeper inside the fortress and recover the Book of Prophecies. That number was quickly brought down to five when Mercury Black flew at Stork, slamming a metal foot into the Merb's chest and sending him flying backward over the stone floor.

Stork struggled to get back to his feet as Mercury advanced. "What are you supposed to be, some kind of salamander Faunus?" Mercury asked. "Whatever it is, it's disgusting."

Stork fixed a venomous glare upon Mercury. "You reeeeeaaaaaally don't want to be in my way right about now. Everything I have is at stake, and there's a book I need in order to make sure it doesn't all come to oblivion. If I were you, I'd take a hard pass on this fight, because you're not getting between me and that book."

"You have no idea who I am, do you?" Mercury asked. "Little riding hood never told you? I'm the one who your mama said, 'Don't mess with him, or you'll end up dead.' And the floor is about to be stained the color of your blood in about two seconds."

Without even flinching, Stork told him, "Bring it on."

Mercury zoomed through the air, foot outward. However, by the time he reached his target, Stork had simply disappeared. Dragging himself to a stop, Mercury found Stork standing just to his right, and spun, kicking out in the appropriate direction. He missed. Now Stork was behind him, and Mercury performed a leap that pivoted his whole body, bringing both legs down on where he could have sworn Stork was.

This went on for some time; Mercury's feet flew, but each time he aimed, it seemed Stork was simply no longer there. Frustration boiled within Mercury.

It was brought to a head when he felt a sharp punch to the back of his neck.

Mercury whirled, now firing off a salvo of bullets with his extended leg. Stork darted out of range, spinning a kick of his own into Mercury's lower back followed by a slam of his lower palm between Mercury's shoulder blades.

Stork's low voice in Mercury's ear: "Just give up."

"NOT…TO…YOU!" Mercury raged, twirling once more for another blow but coming up with nothing.

A great column of flame roared up before Sora, Riku, Ruby, Papyrus, and Lea. Hades emerged from it, brilliantly orange in hue. "I HAVE NOT HAD A GOOD DAY!" he roared. "NO MORE GAMES! I'M JUST GOING TO INCINERATE YOU AND GET THIS OVER WITH!"

"So you wanna play with fire, huh?" Lea countered, his Keyblade rushing to hand. "I'm always down. Though really, you just look like you need to cool off."

"NO PUNS!" Hades screamed as he loosed twin fireballs at Lea.

When Lea deflected the two projectiles, the other four took it as their cue to run – though not without a backward glance from one.

Fiery walls lengthened from Hades' arms, and the mad god spun to pivot them toward Lea. Lea simply stood in place, letting the fires wash over him. When Hades realized he was doing nothing, he stopped, giving Lea a bewildered look.

"If anything," Lea said with a casual shrug, "I feel refreshed. I'm guessing this probably isn't gonna work, in that case, but I don't wanna say I didn't try."

He snapped his fingers.

Hades' body was surrounded by flame, serving to do absolutely nothing but make Hades' temperament worse.

"Just like I thought," Lea remarked. "Looks like you and me are at an impasse."

"Am I the god of fire?" Hades asked. "Is that what they call me? Lord Hades, god of fire? No. I am Lord of the DEAD. Not a one-trick Pegasus. And when one trick doesn't work, well, you move on to Plan B."

He sent a massive fireball shooting into the wall to his far left; where it impacted, several large stones were shaken loose. Hades forged a portal below them, collecting them in their fall; another portal opened up just over Lea's head.

Lea flinched.

The stones appeared above him.

And so did a solid wall of snow-white bones.

The stones piled up on the wall, sparing Lea. The wall then tipped, pouring the stones harmlessly between Lea and Hades.

"WHAAAAAAAAAT?" Hades screamed, his fire rocketing sky-high.

Papyrus strolled toward Lea's side. "I HAD A FEELING YOU WOULD HAVE SOME TROUBLE, SEEING AS YOU ARE STILL A TRAINEE," he declared. "OF COURSE, BECAUSE I AM A FULLY-FLEDGED MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD, I AM AN EXPERT IN COMBAT, AND CAN EASILY PROTECT YOU!"

"And boy, am I glad for that," Lea said with a smile.

Hades forced himself to blow off some steam – literally puffing steam out over the battlefield. "Now, what was that thing I remember about monsters?" he taunted. "They're made of magic, yadda yadda, oh, right: if someone strikes them with the intent to kill and lands the hit, KABOOM! Expiration date reached!"

With that, he thrust an arm toward Papyrus, letting forth a barrage of flame.

Lea stepped into its path, absorbing the fire into his own body. "It's just like getting an extra shot of coffee," he remarked. His face tilted toward Papyrus; "I got your back if you got mine."

A host of blue bones appeared around the pair, circling them slowly as a mild defensive shield. "I AGREE TO YOUR TERMS!" Papyrus said energetically.

Lea put his hands out to either side, Keyblade clutched in his right; a ring of flame surrounded himself, Papyrus, and Hades. "Looks like it's game on."

Ruby pealed out ahead of Sora and Riku, searching along the wall for any sort of egress that would lead deeper into the fortress. When a downpour of fire rained into her path, she was barely able to stop in time. Craning her head up, she first gasped in shock, feeling fear flow through her as she beheld the figure that levitated far above. The fear immediately hardened into a cold lump of anger. "Cinder," Ruby growled.

Cinder lowered herself gently into Ruby's path. "The silver-eyed maiden," she said coolly. "I've been looking forward to seeing you again. You humiliated me, and you need to pay for that."

"I…humiliated…you?" Ruby seethed. "YOU KILLED PYRRHA!"

"You can blame destiny for that," Cinder told Ruby. "From the moment she was born, fate decreed that she would die young. Just as fate promised me my power. How can I possibly be to blame for what was decided before we even existed?"

"You chose to kill her," Ruby growled. "That wasn't destiny. That was you being so greedy for power, you didn't care who got hurt! THAT WAS YOU TRYING TO DESTROY EVERYTHING I EVER LOVED, AND EVERYTHING BEACON STOOD FOR!"

"Everything Beacon stood for?" Cinder allowed herself a small laugh. "False promises, blind obedience, and a death warrant for every student? If that's what I destroyed, you should be thanking me."

Crescent Rose was unfolded. "I came here looking for the Book of Prophecies," Ruby informed Cinder. "But now, I only want one thing."

"To kill me?" Cinder asked. "Ozpin really has corrupted your soul."

"No," Ruby insisted. "To capture you and bring you in so you can never hurt anyone else."

"How noble," Cinder teased. "You actually would have been stronger corrupted."

Sora and Riku skidded to either side of Ruby, weapons drawn. "We've got this!" Sora declared.

"No," Ruby said coldly. "You two go get the Book of Prophecies. Cinder is my problem, and I want to fight her alone."

"But – " Sora argued.

"Sora," Riku said sternly. "Let's go."

Cinder let the boys pass. Her eyes became surrounded in flame, winging back from her face. "I'm going to enjoy destroying you," she declared.

Ruby held Crescent Rose at the ready. "This is for Pyrrha," she growled.

The swords that appeared in Cinder's hands were not black this time, but glowing ember-orange. Cinder whirled toward Ruby, whose speed easily allowed her to back away. Ruby spun herself, swiping the back of Crescent Rose toward Cinder. Cinder launched off the ground, glass heels planting down on the scythe as it continued to swing. A blaze erupted from Cinder's feet as she pushed off into the air again, sending Ruby staggering.

Ruby gritted her teeth, quickly switching Crescent Rose into rifle mode and letting off a barrage of ammunition at Cinder. Cinder's aura ignited, a bright sphere of fire surrounding her and blocking off every shot from Ruby. She sped downward, dispelling the sphere as her swords pointed directly at the young huntress.

Crescent Rose was unfolded just in time, spinning to catch Cinder's striking blades as they thrust and sliced. At such proximity, Ruby could see Cinder's wicked smile; the false Fall Maiden was sure her victory was certain.

Ruby stumbled after Cinder's crossed blades hit her weapon just so; she nearly fell back. Cinder's blades disappeared, swapping out for a bow loaded with three arrows. The heads lined up with Ruby's falling stomach, chest, and head.

The bowstring snapped forward. Ruby became a streak of red, rose petals in its wake, surging around Cinder as the arrows struck the bare ground. Ruby assumed human form again directly behind Cinder, Crescent Rose held high and swinging.

Cinder ducked the blow, sliding to the side and turning to face Ruby, noticing in the meantime that Ruby had once again struck out with the back of the scythe. "You really are trying not to kill me," she remarked. "The longer you hold back from using your full potential because of that, the more certain you are to be the one who dies." Her blades reappeared in her grip as she surged.

Crescent Rose spun wildly to parry each blow. This time, Ruby's feet held firm on the ground. Cinder could see the determination in her eyes. The girl really thought she stood a chance.

One of Cinder's swords disappeared. Ruby realized what Cinder was about to do; she jumped back and to the right as a pure inferno poured from Cinder's outstretched hand. Cinder flicked her wrist, changing the trajectory; Ruby blazed away again as a red streak, halting some distance away to get her bearings. Cinder rocketed toward her, feet aflame.

Ruby swung again, hoping to catch Cinder off guard. Cinder was prepared, veering upward at the last moment. The blazing sphere of fire reappeared around her, and burning projectiles rained down upon Ruby, forcing her to dash from here to there and back again to avoid being immolated.

Cinder's remaining sword was transferred to the clutch of both hands; the sphere of orange retracted around her, building into her weapon and extending it. Cinder now held a sword that was twice as long as Ruby herself, and the glow of its blade indicated high heat. If she were hit with that even once, Ruby thought, there was a good chance she wouldn't survive.

Propelled by a burning jet, Cinder careened toward Ruby.

Ruby panicked, taking off as a streak of red once more. Cinder planted down on the ground and spun the massive sword over her head, keeping Ruby streaking over the field for her own survival. Wherever the sword cut through the air, it left a fiery trail in its wake.

Ruby was unsure, now, of how she was supposed to do anything but run. She had underestimated the power of the Fall Maiden. Perhaps it was best she give up on her crusade and escape while she still had her life. She veered off course, attempting to follow Sora and Riku.

Cinder blasted off, keeping pace with the streak. The sword was drawn up high, ready to come down on Ruby. Ruby's heart thudded rapidly; was this the end?

Her human shape became visible as she readied Crescent Rose for one last strike. Instinct took over her, drawing Crescent Rose into position. No longer was Ruby concerned with Cinder's life; she was merely trying to protect her own.

Before Cinder could strike, Ruby brought Crescent Rose across her body, throwing all her muscle into it.

An agonized scream. Cinder's body thudded onto the stone. The massive sword shattered into fragments that littered the floor.

Ruby skidded to a halt, suddenly filled with revulsion. She had done exactly what Papyrus and Katara had made her vow not to do: she had killed Cinder.

Though this turned out to be inaccurate; Cinder shifted, pushing herself up with an arm.

Ruby was frozen in place, terrified both of Cinder and of what she had done.

"You…" Cinder twisted to look at Ruby, revealing a horrendous sight. Only one of her eyes still functioned; the socket of the other, now a mess of red, wept blood. The arm that held Cinder's torso up was the only one she had left; the other lay on the ground some distance behind. "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE! IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED?"

"No," Ruby said meekly. "This isn't what I wanted at all…"

"Do you feel better now?" Cinder growled. "Have you avenged your friend?"

Ruby's brow furrowed. "No," she said coldly. "Not until I've locked you up where you can't get free." She took a single step in Cinder's direction.

Cinder blasted upward, and Ruby could see that her left leg, much like her left eye and arm socket, was leaking blood over the stone. Cinder gave Ruby a fierce glare with her remaining eye before taking off, away from Ruby and across the courtyard.

"Hey…" Ruby said softly, before growing her cry to a roar: "GET BACK HERE!" She lifted off, rose petals littering the floor behind her.

But her chase was to no avail. Cinder had gotten herself lost in the crowd.

Sora and Riku could see the door to the fortress' interior; they pushed onward, as fast as they could go, sure they could close the distance.

It occurred to Riku that he hadn't yet seen the ringleader of the entire show.

A black, spiny tail slammed into the ground before Sora and Riku, knocking them both off balance. Maleficent's rear claw scraped the wall, filling the doorway almost to the top with large stones. The immense dragon positioned herself before Sora and Riku, smoke pouring from her nostrils.

The two boys regained their footing, weapons at the ready. "Just give up already!" Sora called up to Maleficent. "We've already beaten you a bunch of times before! What makes you think this will be any different?"

Riku's quick reflexes saved Sora; he grabbed the back of the brunette's shirt and yanked him to safety as Maleficent spat a stream of emerald flames down onto the stone floor. Her head dipped low, jaws snapping at the pair, sharp teeth threatening to rend them.

Sora launched his Keyblade at Maleficent's head, striking it and causing her to regard him with surprise. Riku launched himself into the air, striking Maleficent's head from above.

She flicked her neck, smacking Riku with the side of her face and sending him flying across the courtyard.

"RIKU!" Sora cried. "Okay, you're gonna PAY for that!" He cast Blizzara at each of Maleficent's feet, hoping to root her to the ground. She was easily able to wrench her claws up through their encasements, shattering them in the process, but during the time she spent freeing herself, Sora had grabbed onto her tail and used it to ascend onto her back. From there, he cast a Graviga that made Maleficent's body heavy, bringing it to the ground.

Maleficent'ss head pivoted to look back upon Sora, her jaws snapping again. Sora parried the sharp teeth with his blade. As he kept her busy, Riku surged back into the battle, entering a Dark Splicer and rushing Maleficent from all angles. His final blow was spent ramming into her head to push it away from Sora.

Together, Sora and Riku took off from her shoulders, somersaulting in the air before they landed in synchrony on the ground. They spun, Sora clockwise and Riku counterclockwise; as a bolt of Firaga was loosed from Sora's blade, a blast of Dark Firaga emitted from Riku's.

Maleficent caught both attacks in her mouth and simply swallowed them before breathing a new inferno down onto the ground, swiping her head back and forth to cover more territory. Sora and Riku rushed away from the ever-increasing flames, blades extending toward her claws only for her to kick both boys to opposite sides of her.

As pandemonium reigned in the courtyard and its adjacent ground, Huey, Dewey, and Louie crept through the empty halls of the fortress.

"What are we lookin' for?" Dewey asked.

"Well, the Book of Prophecies is gonna be kept somewhere real fancy and real secret," Huey explained. "So if we find a big fancy-lookin' door that looks like we shouldn't go through it, that's the one!"

"Hey!" Louie rushed to an ornately carved double door, embossed with the insignia of a black dragon, and rapped it with his fist. "Kinda like this door?"

"EXACTLY like that door!" Huey cried. "Open it up! I bet the Book of Prophecies is in there!"

As Louie and Dewey each grabbed one of the doors and pried them apart, Dewey sighed, "Man, the look that's gonna be on Unca Donald's face when he sees that we managed to get the book and save the day while everyone else was fightin'!"

However, once the doors were pried open, revealing the chamber beyond, there was no Book of Prophecies to be found. There were only green-lit torches lighting up a mostly empty room; a polished wooden table ran along the back, and a pair of weapons was mounted to the stone wall.

"Aw, man," Huey sighed. "We struck out."

Louie was curious anyway. He approached the long table, picking up one of five objects that lay upon it. "What's this?" He examined it in the dim light. "It's a cell phone!"

"Why would Maleficent keep a cell phone all the way down here?" Dewey wondered out loud.

"I dunno," Louie replied, "but it looks like she has five of 'em!"

"Forget the cell phones!" Huey cried. "Look at these!" He pointed to the pair of weapons on the wall. "Don't they look familiar?"

"I've seen those before!" Dewey realized.

"Me too!" Louie cried. "Oh, man, we gotta get them back where they belong!"

"But what about the Book of Prophecies?" Dewey asked.

"Forget about that!" Huey cried. "We can come back for those later! Right now, we need to fix this!" He hefted one of the two weapons off the wall. "Take this one!" He passed the blade on to Dewey.

"How come we can even pick 'em up?" Dewey asked. "I thought they didn't work like that."

"I think I remember hearing that they got put under some spell!" Huey recalled. "They must still be enchanted! But I bet once we give 'em back, it'll all turn right again!" He lifted the second weapon off the wall. "Now let's go!"

Huey and Dewey pealed out of the room. Louie hesitated, then scooped up all five cell phones. "If Maleficent kept 'em in the same room as those," he figured, "they gotta be important!"

By then, the door had been blocked by Maleficent's cascade of stones, but the gap near the top of the arch was just big enough for three tiny ducks to slip through, one at a time. As they reached the ground, Riku was knocked into the wall beside them. Maleficent's back was turned to them all as Sora challenged her from the front. This, as far as Huey was concerned, was perfect timing.

"Hey, Riku!" he cried.

Riku looked at Huey in horror. "Huey! We told you to stay home! You're not safe!"

"Yeah, well, neither are you!" Huey hefted the item in his hands high. "At least not without THIS!"

Riku's eyes widened even further as he recognized the item. "Wha – "

"You're welcome," Huey said cheerfully.

Riku's gaze traced the familiar outline of the bat-winged shaft, the tines fashioned in the shape of feathers, the handle an ouroborous of bat and bird wings. Reaching out, his hand clasped over the hilt of the Way to Dawn Keyblade. He feared it might still be under Ursula's enchantment, designed to attack him the moment he touched it. However, when his fingers wrapped around it, he felt the Keyblade's connection snap back into place in his soul; the blade was once more truly his. He lifted it into the air experimentally, giving it a few swipes.

"We also found Kairi's!" Dewey proclaimed, displaying Destiny's Embrace. "We're gonna go give it to her!"

"All right." Riku nodded. "But stay safe."

"You got it!" Dewey nodded as he and Huey took off.

Louie approached Riku rather sheepishly. "I thought you might wanna look at these," he said as he held out the array of cell phones he had swiped from the same room. "I know they're not as important as the Keyblades, but…"

Riku had thought he was done being surprised. Apparently that was not the case. "Louie!" he cried. "Those are the Mystic Morphers! They're just as important as the Keyblades!"

"Really?" Louie was quite proud that he had thought to bring them.

"You have to get them to Nick, Vida, Madison, Chip, and Xander," Riku said, "and hurry. Can you do that?"

"Right away!" Louie affirmed as he bolted away.

Riku wondered if he should be more worried for their safety than he was. They had, however, made it this far. He trusted them to finish the job.

Just as he had his own job to finish.

"All right," he growled, power surging through his body, "it's over!" He raced back to Sora's side.

Kairi fell back, hitting the stone hard. Cyclonis had put up a hard fight and was quickly gaining ground. There was no time to rest; Kairi tilted to the left as a blaze of red-orange blasted into the ground where she had lay.

"Exactly what I would expect from a mere princess," Cyclonis said proudly.

A high-pitched cry of "KAIIIIIRIIIIIIII!" reached across the field. Kairi sat up and twisted around, eager to see who was calling her name.

Dewey rushed toward her, Destiny's Embrace balanced upon his hands. As he neared Kairi, he suddenly tripped on a loose stone. The Keyblade was launched into the air.

Kairi sprang, diving to catch it in her hands. As the hilt settled into its familiar grip, she felt herself bonding with the blade once more. It spread like a warm light throughout her innards.

Knowing she had no time to enjoy the sensation, she spun, blocking the next strike from Cyclonis completely. Though her face sported a red scrape, her limbs were bruised, and her clothing lightly ripped, Kairi's eyes were now filled with determination.

"You think that silly little sword will save you?" Cyclonis mocked.

"I do," Kairi informed her.

Cyclonis was upon her in three steps, staff spinning. Now wielding the weapon she was more naturally accustomed to, Kairi countered expertly, parrying five times before locking the shaft of the Keyblade against the crystal staff and pushing aside to force Cyclonis back. With a twirl of the blade, Kairi cast a Blizzard spell that rose up from the ground around Cyclonis' lower half, requiring Cyclonis to waste time blasting herself free.

"No," the young master seethed. "How is this POSSIBLE?"

Thinking of what Sora would say, Kairi smiled. "That's the power of the Keyblade!" She pointed it at Cyclonis once more. "AERO!"

A fierce gust of wind blew Cyclonis back and off balance.

Louie raced among pairs of duelists who were oblivious to his presence. "HEY, NICK!" he called out, readying the first phone. "CATCH!"

Nick spun, his hand reflexively shooting out to grasp the morpher. His face lit up once he realized what it was. He barely thought to duck the next blow from Zhao – but thankfully remembered in time.

"VIDA!" Louie cried. "HEADS UP!"

The next morpher landed neatly in Vida's hands; she gave Ozai a proud smirk. "Ready to see some REAL airbending?" she asked.

"MADISON!" Louie yelled. "THINK FAST!"

Madison briefly fumbled her morpher before steadying it in her hands. "You're in trouble now," she told Sykes.

"CHIP!" Louie cried. "COMIN' AT YA!"

As Chip caught his morpher, he cried, "IS THIS WHAT I THINK IT IS?" He slipped to the side as McLeach charged him, stabbing down with a knife; the knife bit air as Chip squeaked a bit in joy.

"XANDER!" Louie yelled. "LOOK ALIVE!"

As Xander's morpher landed in his hands, Demyx groaned. "I'm really not gonna like this, am I?"

In unison, though they could not see each other, the Mystic Rangers raised their morphers high, then crossed them over their bodies, chanting, "LEGENDARY SOURCE! MYSTIC FORCE!"

The air echoed with the incantation "GALWIT MYSTO NERMAX!" Each of the Rangers was clothed in their Legend Armor, the morphers having become staffs in their hands.

Five fingers reached for the dials on their staffs, turning them to Code 1.

Demyx yelped as he was overtaken by a sudden rockslide. McLeach was stunned by a heavy bolt of lightning, collapsing to shudder on the ground. A wave of water washed over Sykes, throwing him several yards down the path. Ozai was blown away by a fierce gust of wind. Zhao was repelled by a burst of fire bigger than even he could produce.

Now free of their opponents, the five Rangers rushed toward the fortress, meeting up with each other along the way. "Hey!" Madison cried. "We all got our powers back!"

"Maybe we shouldn't use them just to get the book," Chip realized. "All our friends are in some pretty tough fights. If we go Megazord now, we can turn the tide while they go find the book!"

"All right," Nick agreed, "it's a plan. Everyone ready?"

"Let's do this!" Vida cried.

"All or nothing!" Xander affirmed.

Nick stopped in place, raising his staff high. "LEGEND OF THE SKY," he called out, "MYSTIC FIREBIRD!" Wings erupted from his arms, taking him higher.

Vida, Madison, Chip, and Xander arranged below him, raising their own staffs and declaring, "LEGEND OF THE JUNGLE, MYSTIC LION!" They became encapsulated in a Zord shaped like the maned feline.

Nick, now in true bird form, descended over the lion, and the combination of the two transformed into the enormous armored behemoth that the five named "MANTICORE MEGAZORD!" as they found themselves seated in the cockpit.

Kairi smiled up at the Megazord as it towered over the entire battlefield. "It's up to you now," she said softly as she turned and ran toward the fortress.

Cyclonis attempted to pursue. "WHERE ARE YOU GOING, YOU COWARD?" She levitated up into the air, crystal energy surrounding her entire body as she propelled after Kairi.

The flat of the Manticore Megazord's Legend Striker blade swatted her easily aside.

One by one, the warriors on the field realized the tide had turned in their favor. Genie zipped into the skies, abandoning Qilby. The Megazord's shadow fell over Qilby, who looked up at it with horror. The arrival of the behemoth startled Clayton into letting go of Luna; she sped away. Jaune and Leon heaved Tyrian down the path – Jaune swinging his wrists and Leon swinging his ankles – before both abandoned the field.

With the heroes rushing to assemble at the fortress, the Mystic Rangers were left with Maleficent's lower-ranking forces all lined up nicely in a crowd. The Manticore Megazord twirled its weapon. "LEGEND STRIKER!" the quintet cried. "SPIN ATTACK!"

The villainous bunch was engulfed in an inferno spun by the Legend Striker, killing none but weakening all. Even Ganon was released from his Divine Beast form, collapsing down to humanoid size and shape.

Backup now came to the courtyard in droves; Grimhilde, Watts (whose Paladin had fallen apart anyway), Ursula, Jafar, Mercury, Hades, and Cinder were overwhelmed.

As all this took place, Sora and Riku faced down Maleficent, back-to-back. "You know what we gotta do, right?" Sora told Riku.

"Yeah," Riku replied. "Let's finish this."

They went back-to-back before splitting to either side of Maleficent, pummeling her with their blades in rapid succession. Dark Cannons of burning magic emitted from them, surrounding Maleficent's body.

Sora and Riku rejoined each other, back-to-back once more before joining their blades together to form a massive sword that slashed out through the air, whacking Maleficent from all angles. Thirteen smaller blades materialized around the pair, spinning like a saw; they rushed beneath Maleficent, attacking her feet with the blades.

Then they sprang to either side of the dragon once more, rising into the air. Sora's blade spewed a thick beam of light while Riku's matched it with Darkness. A blinding glow filled the courtyard as Maleficent gave a roar of agony.

When it cleared, she stood doubled over in humanoid form, clutching her topless staff.

Maleficent craned her eyes up to look at the battlefield, observing the havoc that had been wrought upon her forces. The Manticore Megazord was laying her warriors to waste. Her elites were becoming overwhelmed by teams of steadfast warriors at a time. She herself could barely stand.

"It…cannot end this way," she choked. "I will…not allow you to win. You…will be written…into oblivion!"

The Book of Prophecies appeared in her hands with a flash of fiery green. She transferred its spine to her left hand as she conjured a quill dripping with ink in her shaking right.

"GIMME THAT!" Sora lunged, seizing the book. Maleficent's hand slid down the spine and clasped hard onto the lower edge of the tome, tugging it back as hard as she could. Sora pulled with two hands at first, then, getting a sudden idea, let go with one to reach for the quill as well.

Riku took the opportunity to slide behind Maleficent. Raising his Keyblade high, he chanted, "Aram kaza butabus!" before slamming its tip into the floor.

The blast of Darkness that ensued jolted Maleficent into losing her grip on both book and quill. "NO!"

Sora stumbled backward, hardly daring to believe that he held the all-important items in his hands. He had admittedly not given much thought to what he would do with the Book of Prophecies once he had seized it, but it seemed obvious to him what he must do.

He flipped to a blank page, holding the book as steady as he could while scrawling in it with the quill. He dictated out loud what he was writing: "Maleficent – never – found – the – Book – of – Prophecies!"

"NO!" Maleficent cried. "YOU FOOL! THE BOOK OF PROPHECIES CAN ONLY CHANGE THE FUTURE AND NEVER THE PAST! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

It soon became very clear what Sora had done. The Book, unable to process the task of changing the past, came apart at the bindings, spilling its pages out over the stone floor. As they scattered, they changed from ethereal blue to ordinary parchment brown, their cosmic designs fading into still images etched in bleeding black ink. The bindings of the book crumbled to dust in Sora's hands. He dropped the quill as well, leaving a splatter of ink on the stone.

The Book of Prophecies was no more. All that was left was stray papers dictating what those who had used it once wished.

Most of the alterations made to fate with the book remained firmly in place. However, Maleficent's work was so recent, it was still unstable. A shaft of natural light broke through the black above; the dark rolled back to reveal a blue-gray sky whose thick cloud cover only filtered precious few beams of light through.

As the sky turned above the Forbidden World, Sora and his friends knew the same was happening over every world. The sun shone. The moon glimmered. The stars sparkled.

Heartless ceased to spawn. Thorny vines disentangled. Grimm turned and retreated for the wastelands. Monsters stopped evaporating. The climate over Equestria balanced out. The time-pulse started up again. The Ivory Tower stood tall. The Tree of Life regained its health. Benders found their abilities restored. Floods receded as snow melted. The Light Spirits of Hyrule bloomed back to their giant forms as the Twili regained their shape. Black rocks receded into the earth. The Guardian Saplings' leaves bloomed.

All of Maleficent's hard work had been undone; she had been humiliated twice over. There was now only one route left to take.

"TO ME!" she cried, striking her staff on the ground.

Jafar, Hades, Grimhilde, and Ursula heard the call, rushing to surround Maleficent and ward off Sora and Riku with protective glares that suggested they would fight tooth and nail to protect their commander. Cruella had made it back to the courtyard by this time, and when she saw the other five gather, she joined their ranks.

"Take us above," Maleficent demanded.

"The failsafe?" Jafar said in surprise.

"We're toast!" Ursula reminded him. "Of COURSE she means the failsafe!"

"There is…no choice remaining," Maleficent choked out.

The six vanished, courtesy of Jafar.

Sora cocked his head at where they had been. "Where'd they go?"

Far above the Forbidden World, a plateau waited in case of this exact circumstance. Maleficent and her five elites appeared upon it, though it had been built to hold far more than just them.

"Now bring the others," Maleficent commanded.

"As you wish," Jafar told her.

One by one, they vanished from below and reappeared on the plateau, bruised, bleeding, and exhausted: Edgar. Horace and Jasper Badun. Salem. Madame Medusa. Snoops. The Joker. Dr. Facilier. Hazel. Demyx. Scar. Qilby. McLeach. Ozai. Sykes. Cyclonis. Tyrian. Clayton. Zhao. Hans. Ganondorf. The Dark Ace. Dr. Watts. Mercury. Cinder. Diablo, who fluttered to rest atop Maleficent's staff where once there had been a Dragon's Eye.

"Shall I recover the rest of our forces?" Jafar asked. "Or have they proven themselves unworthy?"

"We cannot afford to lose them," Maleficent coughed.

Now the plateau was filled out with first the small contingent of goblins that had acted as servants in the fortress, then the larger army of Mamluks.

Maleficent reached out with a hand only to find that she no longer had the strength to trigger the failsafe. "Ursula," she said weakly, "Hades. Grimhilde. Lend me your power."

This was not something Jafar could help with. After all, Jafar, by the rules of being a genie, could not kill.

Ursula, Hades, and Grimhilde each conjured a tiny pilot light in their hands. They handed the small flames to Maleficent, who took hold of them and forged them into a larger pyre in the palm of her hand. It whooshed up into the air, evaporating.

A green-tinted shield surrounded the Forbidden World; the plateau was outside of its reach. From far below, the army could hear the sounds of massive cracking.

"Where to, my liege?" Jafar inquired.

"The Enchanted Dominion," Maleficent replied. "To the true Forbidden Mountains. We will recover there."

The plateau took off, hurtling through interspace.

As the journey began, Hans staggered to Maleficent's side. "You know we're still in trouble," he reminded her. "Mozenrath has everything he needs for his spell now."

"I cannot intervene," Maleficent informed Hans. "I have been weakened, and my powers diminished with the theft of the Dragon's Eye. We are in no state to invade. Let him conquer the worlds, if that be his will. We shall tear down his empire once it has been erected. Letting him taste victory will make his defeat all the sweeter."

"Can't argue with that," Hans replied.

"For your work," Maleficent promised, "you shall be rewarded…in time."

The plateau left the Forbidden World far behind; its passengers reveled as much as one can in a Pyrrhic victory.

Down below, the heroes left standing felt the very earth rumble and quake beneath their feet.

"What's happening?" Sora cried.

An enormous crack rent the courtyard in two.

"She's tearing the world apart with us on it!" Riku realized. "She's trying to destroy us all at once!"

"EVERYONE BACK TO THE SHIP!" Cid bellowed.

All hurried down the path, Genie creating a bridge for those stranded on one side of the chasm to be able to cross to the other. As soon as the last had made it over, the chasm grew wider, breaking the bridge down. The Manticore Megazord was disbanded, the Mystic Rangers now hurrying toward the ship while armored up.

The Gummi ship had thankfully ended up on one side of the chasm rather than falling through it. As everyone piled aboard, Scrooge and Donald couldn't help but notice the three tiny stowaways. "BOYS!" Scrooge growled.

"WE TOLD YOU TO STAY HOME!" Donald insisted.

"But Unca Scrooge!" Louie protested. "Unca Donald! If we didn't come, then Riku an' Kairi woulda never gotten their Keyblades back, an' the Rangers would never have turned into that huge armor thing that scared all the villains away!"

"They do have a point," Scrooge observed as he settled into his seat.

"You were just lucky you weren't killed!" Donald snapped. "Don't you EVER do anything like that again!"

He then reached out to pull all three boys into a hug.

"You're my nephews," he insisted, "so I always gotta look out for ya."

"We love you too," Dewey replied.

When the last had come onboard, Cid closed up the Gummi ship door and pulled the craft into liftoff. "It's gonna be a bumpy ride!" he announced.

Kazuichi, Jaune, and Yuffie let out resigned sighs at this.

The ship pealed away from the ground, surged into the air –

And collided hard with the barrier Maleficent had created around the world.

"What the – " Cid cried, panic infusing him. "She fuckin' closed us in!"

"WHAT?" Sora yelled, hurrying to the dashboard to get a better look out the front window.

Cid was now skimming beneath the barrier, seeking any means of egress. "She covered the whole fuckin' world!"

"I knew it," Stork babbled. "I knew it as soon as we left Radiant Garden. We were never getting out of this alive. We're all going to die here. I'm just glad I made peace with that fact a long time ago. And yet I STILL SOMEHOW DON'T FEEL ANY BETTER ABOUT IT!"

"It's going to be okay," Rapunzel assured him. "The world is collapsing below us, but as long as we stay in the air, we'll be safe."

"Knowing Maleficent, we won't," Riku interjected. "This whole thing is going to turn into a mass destruction. The world will probably explode when it falls apart, and take us with it."

"You guys," Kazuichi sniffled, eyes already leaking water at a rapid pace, "I just want you to know that I'm super fucking happy I met all of you, and you're all really good fucking friends, and – " With a squeak, he went silent.

"I'm glad we all met, too," Moana added. "If…we have to go…I'm glad it was like this. Saving the rest of the worlds."

"We CAN'T give up!" Sora slammed his hands on the dashboard. "We just CAN'T! It isn't over!"

"Sora's right!" Kairi insisted, standing up. If Leon was going to insist she take a leadership role, she was going to utilize it. "So long as there's even a chance we could make it out of this, we have to believe!"

"How are we getting out of this?" Nick asked in disbelief. "We're locked in!"

"I don't know," Mickey mourned as he hung his head.

A sudden glimmer out the front window caught Sora's eye. "Wait!" he cried. "What's that light?"

An expanse of shining luminescence had appeared on the inside of the green barrier, seemingly beckoning the ship to come closer.

"I don't trust it," Cid grunted. "That's another one of Maleficent's damn tricks."

"No…" Rapunzel rose from her seat, approaching the dashboard. "It's something else. It wants to help us. I know it. I can FEEL it."

"Me too," Ruby said as she joined Sora and Rapunzel.

"It's…like it's calling out to us," Jasmine added, walking to the front as well.

They were joined by Papyrus. "IT CERTAINLY SEEMS TRUSTWORTHY," he remarked.

Then Katara. "It's weird. I can feel it in me, too."

Kazuichi next. "Is…anyone else freaked out by this? Because I'm getting a feeling off that thing too."

Stork was the last to approach. "I think we should fly toward it," he stated. "I have this…instinct that it's safe. And I think you all know that COMING FROM ME, THAT MEANS SOMETHING."

"Wait!" Katara realized, looking at the group that had assembled up front. "It's just us eight? Then that means…"

"This has to do with something that happened on a mission we've been on together," Rapunzel hypothesized.

Cid sighed raspily. "All right. You think that light's there to help us? I'll buy it."

"I think we should fly straight into it," Sora emphasized, and the others nodded assent.

Cid angled the ship toward the light, gunning the engine. "Ain't nothin' else left to try anyway," he grunted.

As the ship soared toward the glow, the Forbidden World gasped its last, its core blooming into a massive conflagration of fire and magma. Its reach brushed the rear of the ship, but before the vessel could be entirely annihilated in one blow, the light had swallowed it and promptly winked out, leaving the dregs of the Forbidden World to consume emptiness before dissolving into ash. The barrier dispelled, scattering the last of it throughout interspace.

The Gummi ship soared through an expanse Cid had never seen the likes of before. All around them was bright white as opposed to the usual miasma of color. At first, there was no visual indication the ship was moving at all, but then glittering silver dust finely poured across the front window, proving that they were still on a forward course.

"The hell is this…?" Cid asked in awe.

"It's pure light," Jasmine realized. "Enough to surround the entire ship and transport it away from that world."

Cid's attention was suddenly caught by an entity visible on the ship's hood, standing before the right edge of the window. At first, he thought it a mirage of some sort, as it was not a solid object but rather a compilation of faint outlines. The more he looked, however, the more he realized it had a definite shape, one that was moving – wagging its tail exuberantly, in fact. "WHY IS THERE A FUCKIN' DOG ON THE HOOD?"

"That's not a dog!" Sora realized as the transparent figure looked over her shoulder to give a positively smug look at the passengers gathered at the dashboard. "THAT'S AMATERASU!"

She let out a bark to confirm her identity.

"She's not dead!" Kazuichi cried joyfully.

To that, Amaterasu closed her eyes, shaking her head regretfully.

"You…are dead," Rapunzel said somberly, now knowing Amaterasu could hear them through the thick glass. "Then…how are you…"

She gave them a look that implored them to figure it out for themselves.

"This is the last of you, isn't it?" Jasmine realized. "You came to save us from dying on that world."

Amaterasu nodded.

"No," Ruby said meekly. "I know how this kind of thing works. If this is the last of you, and you're using power, then that means after this ship gets where it's going, you'll…"

Another somber nod.

"WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU THEN?" Papyrus asked.

Amaterasu tossed her head, indicating the space all around her.

"Gods don't go to any of the afterlives when they die," Mickey broke in, approaching the eight from behind. "No one knows exactly what happens to 'em, but legend says they join the forces of nature that hold the worlds together. Amaterasu's always gonna be part of the multiverse."

"Amaterasu?" Sora addressed. "Before you go…my friends and I never got a good chance to say goodbye to you. I think I speak for all of us when I say…thank you. For everything."

"For sure," Kazuichi agreed.

"We'll miss you!" Ruby chirped.

"GOOD LUCK BECOMING ONE WITH THE MULTIVERSE!" Papyrus cheered.

"We'll NEVER forget you," Rapunzel insisted.

"You'll always be here in our hearts," Jasmine said as she pressed her hand over her chest.

"And we'll always be grateful for what you did for us," Katara added.

"Heh…" Stork gave a salute. "Thanks."

"Once our friend…" Sora pressed a closed fist to his heart. "Always our friend."

Amaterasu gave a bark in response. That single bark carried with it a complex sentiment, understood by all eight: I accept your praise, and I will remember you too. Carry on doing good for the worlds. It's what I would do. Now let's get you home; you have a lot of work ahead of you.

She turned her head to face forward; a flash of color was visible in the distance, growing rapidly closer. As it approached – or, rather, as the ship approached it – Amaterasu dissolved, fading away for the final time.

The ship emerged from a patch of light similar to the one they had entered; it closed up behind them as they entered the atmosphere over Radiant Garden. "No fuckin' way," Cid breathed. "It took us a goddamn hour to fly to that godforsaken world. That was five minutes."

"We have a good friend to thank for that," Sora said with a nod.

The ship came down for a landing at the edge of the city, beneath a bright blue sky studded with a glowing sun. The brilliant colors and temperate weather seemed to promise that everything was going to be all right after all.

"And now," Stork declared, "if you'll excuse me, I'm going to pass out now."

Which he promptly did.