Chapter 7: An inky battle

"Fira!"

"Blizzara!"

"Thundara!"

All three keyblade wielders shouted a specific ability as they attacked the heartless ink hybrid in unison, managing to slow it down for now.

The ink heartless monster looked at the three one at a time before turning its attention towards Aqua, viewing her the biggest threat out of the three.

It charged right towards her direction, forcing her to quickly create a barrier around herself to protect herself from one of the attacks directed towards her.

Although this barrier did manage to protect her from any serious damage, the barrier did break which forced her to quickly jump away from a follow up attack.

Terra and Ventus charged at the monster, attempting to attack it while it was distracted attacking Aqua though right as they were about to land a hit, the monster noticed them and just swatted the two away with one of its legs.

The two quickly recovered though they were forced to go back on defense as they saw the monster sending another attack at them.

The two jumped out of the way of the attack before blocking away the following attack.

While they were able to block these attacks, what they didn't expect was that blocking the attack had only caused the legs themselves to explode, sending the two flying onto a wall.

Aqua quickly charged at the monster and attempted to land a hit on the head in the center of it only for the monster itself managing to avoid this by attempting to hit the keyblade master while she was in mid air.

She saw this coming and quickly was able dash forward to avoid the attack all the while closing the gap in order to swing her keyblade.

Just as she was about to land the hit onto the monster, the heartless ink hybrid attraction quickly managed to move where the head was away from the keyblade to avoid being taken out.

As it does this, it quickly attempts to attack Aqua only to be forced to go on defense once she pointed her keyblade right at the weak spot and began to fire an ice projectile.

"Blizzard!"

As the ice projectile was fired off from the tip of the keyblade, the monster was able to cover itself from being hit on its weak point.

This had alerted the Keyblade Master that this attraction monster that was a hybrid of both heartless and ink creature was a lot more dangerous than any other heartless or ink creature they have dealt with.

Since it's awareness and intelligence was above average, she quickly charged towards Terra and Ventus to inform the two on what she's learned.

As she tried to close the gap between herself and her friends, the monster quickly attempted to hit Aqua while she had her back at it.

Right before it could even land a hit on her, Terra and Ventus had managed to recover fast enough to protect her from the attack.

With the two blocking the attack away, the two turn towards her to ask in unison:

"Are you okay?"

"Yes." She said as she assisted her two friends in pushing the monster's leg back before telling the two, "This creature has a mind of its own. It's not like any heartless or those ink creatures."

"It has been acting a bit different from its previous form...almost like it's avoiding something." Terra mentioned, having been the first one to face this attraction creature before it turned into a heartless ink hybrid.

"There's also something I noticed. It's protecting the head in the center."

The two keyblade wielders took note of what she said before giving a nod, showing that they understand what she's trying to tell them. Now armed with this information, they'll have to approach this fight differently.

As the monster went for another attack, the three jumped in different directions to avoid said attack.

While the three were separate, they all once again pointed their keyblades directly towards the monster to make long distance attacks.

"Firaga!"

All three had fired three powerful fireballs towards the monster with Ventus and Terra's being aimed on different parts of the attractions while Aqua aimed right at the weak spot.

The attraction monster avoided Aqua's attack though it didn't account for Ventus's fireball to almost hit its weak spot.

It had luck that it was able to avoid the fireball with just one second before getting hit by moving though a bit of the blast did land onto a portion of the head which caused it to scream in pain.

This gave the three a chance to quickly close the gap they had towards the monster though the second they were closing in, the screams were getting too loud that it nearly knocked the three out.

"JOEY DREW! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!"

As the monster shouted this, it began to attack in all directions, forcing the three keyblade wielders to jump back in order to avoid the attacks being thrown all over the place.

While the three were able to be at a safe distance, they can see that it'll be a lot tougher closing the gap now.

Though what's curious for at least Aqua and Ventus was the monster screaming Joey Drew's name.

Terra had figured from the tape recording that started this entire fight with this monster that said monster has a hatred for him.

'That injury must've caused this monster to be reminded of the hatred he has against this Joey Drew.'

As Terra thought this, he and his friends prepared to go on the offensive only to hear someone approaching them.

The three turned around to see it was Henry though he was bleeding from the right side of his head.

"Henry!" Aqua and Terra said this in unison before they were forced to block the monster's attack directed to them along with Ventus.

As the three were sent flying despite attempting to block away the attack, the monster looked and spotted Henry.

"He...nry...HENRY!"

The monster charged right towards Henry, preparing to kill him in one hit only for Ventus to recover fast enough to get him out of the monster's way.

Right as he does this, Aqua and Terra both pressed against their respective spaulder in order to turn into their Keyblade Armor.

As they charge directly towards the monster, Aqua asks Ventus:

"Ven, protect Henry."

Ventus nods before quickly assisting Henry in leaving the area while also preparing to block away any attacks from the monster directed towards them.

While he was taking Henry to safety, he turned towards him to ask:

"What happened? Who did this to you?"

"I...I don't know...Someone just attacked me."

"Where's Borris?"

"...I'm not sure..." Henry answered with some hesitance, trying to think back on what had happened. "All I can remember before losing consciousness was someone approaching Borris. I think they did something to him..."

Hearing this had prompted Ventus to not only get Henry to safety quickly but also wants to start searching for his friend.

As the two were able to leave the area, Terra and Aqua noticed this which calmed the two before prompting them to try and finish this fight as fast as possible.

The two run towards the monster all the while dodging the attacks thrown towards them by said monster.

Once they managed to close the gap, Terra managed to land a hit on the monster's body with enough strength to slightly push it back.

As the pair were able to land a few hits onto the monster, the weak spot was opened again for an attack.

Not wanting to take any chances, Terra charges at it in order to attempt to strike it down in close range while Aqua pointed her keyblade directly at it and fired a powerful ice projectile to try and land a hit on long range.

The monster was able to block Terra's attack though it wasn't able to block away Aqua's ice projectile as it managed to graze a portion of the weak spot's face.

This caused the monster to be in pain once again, prompting Terra to try once again to land a fatal hit onto said monster.

Right as he was about to land the hit, the monster managed to block the attack though it wasn't strong enough to push it all the way back since Terra's strength had suddenly started to overwhelm it.

Eventually the arm had been destroyed by Terra's brute force strength, causing it to turn to ink all the while the Keyblade Wielder continued his swing directly at the head still sitting in the middle of the attraction itself.

The exact moment the keyblade was about to connect, a darkness had appeared in between the two which protected the head from being taken out.

Terra was taken aback from this as well as this darkness saying:

"Too early."

"?"

Terra was a bit confused by this though he couldn't think more on what the darkness was meaning by this since he was pushed away by said darkness.

Right as he did this, the attraction monster took the chance to land a hit on the Keyblade Wielder while he was distracted.

"Terra!" Aqua shouted as she just noticed the small darkness that seems to be protecting the head in the middle of the attraction.

This prompted Aqua to try and close the gap herself though as she managed to get close to the darkness, she was shocked when suddenly this darkness turned into Vanitas.

"What?!"

"..."

Vanitas swings his keyblade directly towards her, prompting her to block said attack. Despite her being able to block the attack, Vanitas's strength was strong enough to send her flying back.

Aqua quickly recovers and prepares to charge at him only to see that Vanitas disappeared.

'Where did he go?'

As she was focused on looking for him, she would immediately be knocked to the side by one of the monster's legs.

This had caused her to crash into a wall all the while Terra got back up from the attack he was hit with before looking around for the darkness that prevented him from ending this fight.

He only looked for a second before noticing a few attacks heading towards him. He stood still for a moment before being able to knock away the legs charging towards him with all of his strength before charging towards the weak spot once again.

The monster noticed him and quickly tried to stop him, knowing that Terra will take it out if it doesn't stop him right then and there.

As it throws everything it has right at the keyblade wielder, Terra is able to move quickly towards it all the while being able to block away and dodge many of the attacks thrown towards him.

Right as it seemed like Terra was about to close in again, the attraction heartless ink hybrid began to shout with anger once again, allowing its frustration to come out through powerful sound waves as a way to delay Terra long enough to stun him.

Despite its efforts, Terra continued to move directly towards it with each step being a bit of a struggle due to the sound waves pushing him back.

Right as it seemed like nothing was going to stop Terra, it forced the monster to try and run away as it wanted to survive.

The second it did this, Terra had the chance to run with everything he had towards the monster's direction.

As it was running away from the keyblade wielder, Aqua appeared on its path and started to swiftly move towards it.

The monster stopped on its tracks and attempted to attack both at the same time however the two keyblade wielders were fast enough to dodge all of the attacks in order to make sure that the next attack they throw can eliminate the monster with one hit.

"JOEY...JOEY DREW!"

It once again shouted Joey Drew's name all the while the darkness around him began to increase which allowed a barrier of darkness to be created.

The two keyblade wielders were caught off guard by this for the briefest of moments before they swung in unison to try and break said darkness barrier.

Their swing with every ounce of strength they had in them was enough to break the barrier though the second that this happened, a couple of strong heartless and ink creatures began to appear all around the center of the attraction monster.

Terra and Aqua took note of this before beginning to clash with those ink creatures and heartless in an attempt to get through them to reach the weak spot.

'It's doing all it can to prevent us from ending this...we will need to move quickly before it summons something worse.' Aqua thought to herself as she began to worry that if they don't stop this monster, it'll get stronger and eventually overpower both Terra and herself.

The two continue to destroy these heartless and ink creatures one swing at a time however the two acknowledge that this won't be in their favor for very long if they continue to focus on the ink creatures and heartless rather than the main threat itself.

"Terra, I'll hold them off."

"Are you sure? I can buy you time to finish this."

Both weren't willing to allow the other to fight all the ink creatures and heartless on their own which prompted the two to quickly think on a plan that could allow the two to work together in eliminating all enemies in one to two combined attacks.

Aqua acted first in the attack by starting to glow while preparing to swing her keyblade towards the ink creature in front of her before pointing her keyblade towards the sky direction.

As she did this, she began to spin with her keyblade, the light around her began to harm and eliminate any of the heartless or ink creatures being nearby her.

On Terra's side, he also began to glow has well in a more rock color and the moment he was surrounded by both heartless and ink creatures, he smiled underneath his helmet as he had his keyblade pointed on his back east side of him for only a moment before three rocks appeared around him.

The second this happened, he moved his keyblade and spinned once around which caused the rocks surrounding him to attack all of the heartless and ink creatures that were close enough to be caught in the attack, being eliminated in one hit.

He spinned once with the three rocks going around for a few seconds before disappearing with the three rocks managing to destroy a majority of enemies.

Aqua's ability and her being able to move around to eliminate a good chunk of heartless and ink creatures nearby which gave her the opening to go and strike the attraction's weak spot.

As she closes the gap, she doesn't hesitate to swing her keyblade directly towards the head, knowing that this'll end it.

Just as it seemed like something was about to interrupt Aqua, Terra steps in and manages to block away all of the monster's last ditch efforts to save itself.

"You can do it!"

As Terra shouted this, Aqua with every ounce of strength managed to land a fatal blow onto the monster's weak spot. This one hit had caused an explosion which send the two keyblade wielders flying.

After the first explosion, multiple explosions started to set off for a few seconds before finally the attraction itself fell apart.

The two keyblade wielders started to get back up after the explosions had happened, with the two still being on guard in case the fight is still not over.

After a few seconds of keeping their guards up before seeing that the attraction had finally be defeated.

The two had reverted to their regular attires after tapping their respective spaulder before approaching each other.

"Terra."

"Aqua. Are you okay?"

"Yes." She took a moment to hug Terra, having been worried for his sake since they had all separated before asking him, "What about you? Are you okay?"

"I'm okay. Though I do feel bad for him." When Terra said this, he had turned towards the remains of the attraction, seeing it starting to fade away. "There was a recording nearby, with the head of whoever it was originally expressing his frustration with this Joey Drew person. He let that darkness overtake him..."

There was some hesitation when saying this, being reminded of what he had gone through that led him to be the guardian of Terra-Xehanort, trapped in darkness for a very long time.

He turned back towards the direction where he and Henry had heard the tape.

("Master Eraqus, you see, is so afraid of darkness, that he too, has succumbed-not to darkness, but to light. It shines so bright, he forgets that light begets darkness. And Aqua and Ventus, their lights shine too bright. It is only natural that they cast shadows on your heart. Eraqus... He is such a fool! Light and darkness, they are a balance-one that must always be maintained. Terra...you are the one who shows the true Mark of Mastery, but he refuses to see it. And I know why. It is because he fears you. Join me. You and I can do the worlds much greater good, by wielding light and darkness in equal shares.")

These words were brought back to his mind, unhappy that he recalled how he was tricked and manipulated by Master Xehanort. Aqua tapped his arm, noticing that her friend was unhappy and filled with guilt.

"It wasn't your fault. Xehanort tricked us all."

"..." He remained silent as he turned towards the direction Ventus had taken Henry before saying, "We should check on Henry and Ven."

Aqua nodded, understanding that Terra doesn't want to speak on the matter for now. Right before leaving, they heard a sudden door open in the area they are at with a switch. They were a bit on guard at first before deciding to move the switch.

Once this happened, the two looked around to see what had happened.

After a few seconds of silence, the two decided to just return back to the main room to meet up with Henry and Ventus.

The two head right towards the main room though they look back for a second before heading into the other room where Henry and Ventus are supposed to be at.

Once arriving, the two immediately can sense that something was off. The first thing that tipped them off was the suspicious amount of ink on the ground, almost looking like someone was attacked.

The two looked at each other for a moment before heading towards different directions with their keyblades out.

As they were exploring the large room, the two noticed a door that was originally closed open. On top of this door was called maintenance with the two keyblade wielders remaining on guard.

"Could Ven have gone through here?"

"Perhaps, but we should be careful."

Terra nodded before him and Aqua walked through the opened door, the first thing noticeable being the writing on the wall. The wall saying Choo Choo Choo Choo.

"?"

Both looked confused at the wall, uncertain on the purpose of this writing though they moved focus on the hallway leading to the next room.

The two continue to cautiously walk towards the next room, which eventually leads to a hallway that has stairs that lead towards the bottom floor.

"There's a lot of ink on the lower level."

"Yes...and there appears to be someone down there." Terra says this as he notices a light appearing for a moment before disappearing.

The two turned towards each other for a moment before turning back towards the stairs leading to ink.

Both returned to have armor around them as they went down the stairs and slowly had their keyblades ready for a fight.

Once on the lower floor, the two walked towards the next room with a bit of discomfort by the amount of ink on the entire ground from the hallway they are coming from all the way towards the room they are at.

Once in the room, the two keyblade wielders noticed an ink creature with a projector as a head walking around, almost like inspecting the area.

Not really wanting to deal with this ink creature, the pair slowly move around the room with caution.

The two split up to avoid being spotted easily with Aqua being the one to spot a lever with the words on top of it saying Lift Control.

'Hm. Lift Control...I wonder...'

Having a feeling that this could be important, she pushed the lever down which made a noise that attracted the ink creature's attention.

Aqua turned towards said ink creature and prepared herself for a fight, seeing that it was rapidly moving right towards her position.

Right as the two were about to fight, Terra quickly comes in between the two and manages to land a surprise attack onto the ink creature by swinging his keyblade right onto the side of the projector.

This sends the ink creature flying towards the wall, slamming into said wall with enough force to not take it out, however it was enough to stun the projector ink creature.

While it was stunned, Terra and Aqua took this opportunity to run towards the new path they spotted, leading towards a floor above the one they were in.

The moment the two had reached this floor, Terra spotted a lever that had a power symbol on it.

This made him think that perhaps Ventus and Henry had gone through a different way since there doesn't seem to be any other place to go from here.

Aqua a few seconds later picked up on this same thought process though the two didn't have much time to dwell on it since the projector ink creature managed to catch up to them.

"Go! I'll hold him off!" Aqua shouted as she proceeded to start combat with the ink creature. Terra nodded and quickly ran towards the lever in order to pull it down, having a strange feeling that this would assist in them finding where Ventus and Henry ended up.

As he reached the lever within a few seconds, he pushed it down which caused the area to suddenly go dark.

Right when Aqua was jumping back to avoid the attack from the ink creature she was facing off against, the entire place went dark which prompted her to create a barrier around herself just in case.

The two were on guard for the few seconds the room was dark though once the lights had returned, they noticed the ink creature had suddenly disappeared.

'Where did it go?' Both Aqua and Terra had the same thought when realizing that the ink creature was just gone.

The two remained holding their guard up for a minute before starting to move back towards the bottom floor where the floor is covered with ink.

Once on that floor, the two approached the stairs and left the room filled with ink in order to return to the main large room only to have a feeling that something's right behind them.

The two turned around with their guard up to see the ink creature with the projector head charging right at them.

The two were ready for a fight only for the ink demon itself to appear from the darkness and start fighting against the projector ink creature.

This caught both off guard for a moment before realizing that this is the best chance to gain some distance from this ink demon.

As the two start to make a run for it, the ink demon easily eliminates the ink creature it was facing before turning towards the keyblade wielders' direction.

It looked at the two for a moment before charging right at the pair, wanting to consume the two.

As the chase started, both keyblade wielders stopped on their tracks right as they were about to re-entering the large room, they pointed their keyblades right at the door leading towards them and quickly casted Blizzaga.

Their combined power was enough to not only freeze the hallway they came from but also create a block of ice that blocked the path for the ink demon.

The two know that the ice won't hold the ink demon for long, prompting the two to start running to the carnival-like room.

Once there, the two notice a door suddenly beginning to open. The two looked at each other for a second before turning towards the door again.

Not wanting to deal with the ink demon, the pair go into this new area though as they pass through, the doors begin to close.

A few seconds later, the doors completely close which causes both keyblade wielders to be on guard for a moment before finally lowering them.

"What was...quite the experience."

"Yes. Hopefully that'll hold."

As the two spoke only one sentence each, the two inspected the room they were in, noticing that there seems to be one vehicle in the back for what seems to be an attraction of sorts with the wall in front of them saying, Turn Back.

The two understood that whatever's ahead will be a challenge, though one that the two are confident they along with Ventus can handle.

They look at the closed double doors and can tell that their friend had gone through there.

The two nod at each other before easily pushing those doors open in order to follow Ventus and Henry's trail.

'Don't worry Ven, we are coming.'