Chapter 6: Together again
Ventus and Borris enter the place where it is referred to as Bendy HELL with extreme caution; Borris having a bad feeling of the situation all the while Ventus sensed the darkness extraordinarily strong here.
'I don't like this...' All Ventus could think is that it's Vanitas's darkness he's hearing, well at first but upon feeling this darkness a bit further, it's different from Vanitas's.
This darkness he feels is not only deep within the twisted dark carnival but it's growing with each second.
'I wonder...'
As the two were slowly walking down the stairs into the first floor in order to go in, the keyblade wielder observes his surroundings to see that this is a carnival.
A very twisted carnival compared to the one in Disney Town.
While looking around, the two noticed a tape recorder on its own nearby, prompting the two to investigate it.
They approached the tape recorder with Ventas touching it first in case it suddenly summons heartless.
As he does this and notices that nothing had happened, he asks himself,
'What's this doing here?'
He messed with the tape recorder for a bit, curious to see if it holds any information that could help him and Borris.
After messing with it for a moment, the two hear a voice speak from said tape recorder.
"These guys down at the warehouse get to play games all day while I'm stuck cleaning up after 'em!
They kept locking themselves out of their own back room.
So I says to 'em, "look guys", I says, "you're smart, right? Here's an idea!
Why not rig these games up to knock open the door if ya win? It'll be fun for you guys, and it saves me the trip down here every day."
They went for it like a dog to pot roast.
I tell ya! If these guys don't start realizing who the real genius is, I'm outta here!"
Ventus and Borris turned to look at each other for a moment, taking in the information they had received from the person who spoke in the tape recorder.
The two look around with Ventus spotting what seemed to be a couple of levers.
A bit of curiosity prompted the keyblade wielder to go and investigate with Borris right by his side.
As the two went right onto where there were a couple of levers, Ventus learned that these levers are connected to the power since the device is the power control.
Thinking back to what the person in the recording said about games and doors,
'He mentioned that some games open a door. I wonder what games he was talking about?'
He searched his surroundings to find the door the tape mentioned, curious if that's where he needs to head off to.
As he found no door, he turned towards Borris to ask him:
"Do you know about the door he was talking about?"
Borris looked at him for a moment before shaking his head, not knowing of what door the person the tape was speaking about.
Ventus understood this, prompting him to look at the device once again.
He noticed a few cables connecting to the power control, making him think that perhaps if he follows these cables, he might be able to power the games that'll lead him to the door the tape person mentioned.
"Come on Borris, let's follow these cables."
Borris nodded before following Ventus though just as they were about to explore, the two noticed double doors to the right of them.
'This must be the door he mentioned.'
Having a gut feeling that those doors are the path he and Borris need to head towards, he pulled out his keyblade to try and see if this method would work.
He waited a moment as he pointed his keyblade right at the doors though he was surprised when nothing happened.
'That's not right...'
He tilted his head for a moment before darkness surrounded the doors.
'Darkness?!'
He backed up for a moment, with the first thought being that this was the work of Vanitas.
Though he could feel that this darkness was different from the one Vanitas uses, making him think that perhaps the world is trying to tell him something.
'Perhaps a heartless around is preventing this door from opening.'
He was still uncertain...though he knows for sure that if he follows what the tape person said, he could get those doors open.
He and Borris continued to follow the cables until it led them to two carnival type games.
'Oh. I see. The games were right there.'
A bit surprised though not for long. He prepared to play these games only to hear a sudden door open somewhere.
"Hm? What was that?"
Both Ventus and Borris turned towards the direction of the noise of a door opening.
The two went to check it out and saw that a door with the sign above it being Research and Design had been open for some reason.
'I haven't done anything yet. I wonder why this door opened...?'
As he was questioning this, the room suddenly felt a massive darkness that prompted the keyblade wielder to get his guard up.
He looked around quickly until finally noticing a creature that contained an overwhelming amount of darkness.
Borris saw the creature and just immediately started running towards the door to escape the creature.
Ventus sensed the fear in Borris, prompting him to follow his friend since he can tell that this ink creature shouldn't be messed with.
As the two entered the door into the hallway, he noticed the door close right behind him.
The moment the door closed, the two heard the ink creature banging on said door. Ventus had himself in his fighting pose, ready for a fight.
Borris remained behind the keyblade wielder, afraid of the ink demon.
The two felt the heavy darkness this ink demon was emitting for a minute more before noticing that the ink demon had left.
He continued to have his keyblade out and ready for battle for only a moment more before putting it away. As he did this, he turned towards his friend to ask:
"Are you okay?"
Borris nodded, starting to slightly calm down from the encounter with the ink demon.
Ventus could see that he was still nervous, prompting him to pat his shoulder to help.
Borris appreciated this as he patted him in the head before the two turned towards the balcony to see that there's some more ink creatures on the bottom floor to where they were at.
'More of those creatures.' Ventus summoned his keyblade once again, seeing that he'll need to be ready for a fight.
"Borris, stay behind me."
Borris nodded and just as the two were making their way towards the stairs to head down, heartless started to pop up and began to attack the ink creatures, sparking a fight between the two.
"They are fighting among each other?"
"What did you expect? They are both darkness."
"Vanitas!" Ventus shouted as he pointed his keyblade right at him. "What do you want?"
"Eagered for a fight already? Are you prepared to lose once again?"
"..." Ventus remained hesitant since he knows that right now, he's not ready to confront Vanitas. That hesitation allowed the dark keyblade wielder to laugh for a moment before saying:
"Man, you are pathetic."
"Shut up! What do you even want?!"
"Hm." Vanitas had a grin underneath his mask before turning towards the battle ensuing between heartless and ink creatures. "Honestly, taking you out right now wouldn't be fun. You aren't strong enough to make things fun."
"Shut up!" He swung his keyblade right at Vanitas only for the dark keyblade wielder to block off the attack.
"Aren't you curious why those two are fighting?"
"..."
Ven didn't respond to the question, prompting his darker half to still answer the question anyway.
"There are two types of darkness here. One filled by the one you are accustomed to and the other filled with a more corrupt type to the heart."
"Corrupt? How?"
"A certain machine has the ability to corrupt the heart with darkness. Think of it as an artificial way of becoming darkness than the one you are familiar with."
"Artificial?"
"Yes. Think of it this way, for one to become an ink creature, they must be put into that machine that creates these monsters. From their movements, they don't look like willing volunteers."
"Wait, are you saying...that these are...?" He didn't want to finish that sentence since that would mean that...
"Now you are catching on. Those are trapped hearts. Unlike the heartless, these hearts are destroyed when struck down."
"...why?" Ventus said as guilt started to sink in. "Why...why would someone do this...?"
"Why else?" Vanitas said as he began to get back up. "Because whoever's heart is truly darkened is messed up."
"Why are you telling me this?!" Ventus questioned, knowing that it makes no sense for Vanitas to be giving him this information without a purpose.
Vanitas smirked underneath his mask before turning towards his light counterpart:
"Because it'll be fun seeing you struggle to harm those ink creatures now that you know the truth. Good luck."
As he said this, he began to disappear, leaving Ventus in shock since now he wants to save all those ink creatures.
He turned and noticed that the ink creatures had the upper hand against the shadow type heartless.
Before he could even think of his next move, the door that had closed behind him and Borris had opened suddenly.
The two were on guard at first since they thought the ink demon had managed to get through.
As the door fully opened, the two noticed that the door just seemingly opened for no reason other than to just let them leave.
Ventus took a moment to think before deciding that they should leave the ink creatures alone.
Seeing that the ink creatures were beating the shadow heartless, the two left the room and returned to the carnival room.
They still had their guards up since they still worry that the ink demon was still around somewhere.
After a minute, Ventus felt that they should be safe now which prompted him to lower his keyblade.
Once he did this, he thought about what Vanitas had said.
'Whoever did this is no better than Xehanort.'
As he thought this, he suddenly felt a darkness close by.
Not one like Vanitas's or the ink demon's darkness but something much different.
He followed this darkness which led to where another cable was leading into.
It was on the corner of the carnival room, hidden behind a bunch of shelves where one wouldn't find it unless following the cable leading there.
As he and Borris were slowly entering the hallway, they were a bit surprised that they were in a small, contained room that led to a bigger one with what seemed to be an attraction.
The attraction reminded him of Sora when he used one of the attractions in the keyblade graveyard.
'It does look like fun.' He would test it out if he could...though he could sense something sinister in the attraction itself.
Borris tapped him in the shoulder which caught his attention.
"What is it, Borris?" He asked in a kind gesture.
Borris pointed towards the table right in front of them, having noticed another tape recorder.
"Another one?" He was surprised to see another just laying around for anybody to just listen.
The two approached this tape and inspected it first, noticing that it's from someone named Bertrum Piedmont.
"Is that the name of the person leaving these tapes?" He questioned that but the second he played the tape and heard the voice, he realized that perhaps not.
"The biggest park ever built, a centerfold of attractions.
Each one, more grand than the one before it.
It makes my eyes come to tears at the thought.
But then... oh Mister Drew.
For all your talk of dreams, you are the true architect behind so many nightmares.
I built this park. It was to be a masterpiece! My masterpiece!
And now you think you can just throw me out? Trample me to the dust and forget me?
No! This is my park! My glory!"
The room began to shake as those words were said.
"You may think I've gone...
But I'm still here!"
The moment the tape finished speaking, the attraction opened with the inside revealing a head, one that looked angry.
Ven took notice of this and couldn't help but think back to what Vanitas said, how these ink creatures and possibly the attraction could be a person that was forced into this corrupted artificial darkness.
Although he wanted to find a way to save this person, he can tell that doing this would probably lead to him or his friends get hurt.
'For now I need to stop him.'
Having this in mind, he was ready for combat.
Borris stepped back as Ventus pulled out his keyblade, sensing the darkness in this attraction as well as how dangerous this thing is.
"Borris, stay back. I'll handle this."
Borris nodded as he ran for cover all the while the keyblade wielder charged at the attraction.
Although it seemed like it couldn't move, he didn't want to take a chance that this thing could move and possibly harm his friends.
As he closed in on the attraction, one of its arms cranes moved up before swiftly moving down onto the keyblade wielder to try and smash him to pieces.
Ventus was able to quickly move out of the way, avoiding the attack all together and attempted to hit the arm crane to destroy it only for all four arm cranes to move around and knock him out of the way.
He was not expecting the attraction to be moving with such speed though the damage he took wasn't too serious compared to the arm crane smashing down.
'Okay, I can do this.' Ven paid close attention to the movements of the attraction, seeing that the eyes of the head inside said attraction was looking at him, waiting for him to make a move himself.
He waited for the right moment before charging in at the attraction once again, prepared to land a hit on the head.
Not exactly something he wants to do but he believes that he could knock the one controlling the attraction out if he can land his hit.
The attraction noticed this and quickly moved all four cranes to prevent the keyblade wielder from getting too close.
He anticipated this and quickly jumped high enough to avoid all four cranes though he was surprisingly too close to the ceiling.
He was lucky that he didn't push any higher or he would end up hitting his head with the ceiling.
While he was on the air, he pointed his keyblade right towards the attraction, prepared to fire at him with a magic ability.
Before he had the chance, the attraction managed to move its arm cane just right where he's at and moved up to try and land a hit of its own.
Since it was close, Ventus attempted to block this and just barely was able to survive this since it was on the air.
Had he tried to block this attack on the ground, he wouldn't have the necessary force to push it back.
Because he was unable to fire a projectile, gravity began to cause the keyblade wielder to head towards the ground.
The attraction saw a chance to see a possible opening to land a hit, prompting it to move all four of its arms canes.
Right as it seemed like it was about to hit, Borris noticed a ball of light nearby for some reason.
He didn't know what to think but hoped that he could use it to at the very least give aid to his friend.
As he threw the random orb of light that was nearby, it landed onto the attraction right before it had the chance to land its own hit onto Ventus.
This orb exploded which caused the attraction to be disoriented with one of it's arm canes being damaged.
Ventus turned towards Borris, noticing that he had been the one responsible for that.
"Thanks!" As he shouted this, he turned towards the center of the attraction before pointing his keyblade right at it. "Blizzard!"
With a powerful ice projectile being fired from the tip of Ventus's keyblade, it managed to freeze the attraction, prompting it to be stuck.
'Here's my chance!'
He quickly charged at the attraction once again and attempted to hit the head only for it to protect itself by closing itself off from view.
This protected it from being harmed, which prompted Ventus to take a different approach.
He pointed his keyblade at the damaged arm cane and shouted once again,
"Blizzard!"
He fired another ice projectile to freeze the arm before charging that specific arm before managing to cut it off of the attraction.
This caused the attraction to break free of the ice before moving its other three arms canes all around to try and hit the keyblade wielder.
Ventus noticed this and quickly jumped out of the way.
As he managed to avoid the attack, a couple of heartless began to appear as darkness slowly surrounded the attraction.
He spotted this and quickly knew that he needed to stop the attraction quickly before it becomes a heartless.
Right before he charged in once again, he noticed that a couple of shadow heartless were surrounding Borris.
"Borris!"
As he was heading to help his friend, the heartless surrounding Borris were destroyed by a couple of fire-based projectiles.
"Hm?"
He was confused for a second before noticing a familiar person appear from the corner.
"Aqua!"
Aqua turned towards Ventus with a smile, the two finally reuniting since entering the studio world they are currently in.
Ventus couldn't keep this positive emotion for long as he heard the attraction moving once again in an attempt to try and reach him.
He jumped out of the way of the attraction's attack before pointing his keyblade at it once again, casting the same ice projectile.
"Blizzard!"
Another ice projectile lands onto the attraction, causing it to be frozen in place once again.
This gives Ventus time to approach his friend and check up on her.
Once he approaches, he asks her,
"Aqua! Are you okay?"
"I'm okay." Aqua said with a smile, happy to see him once again. She turned towards Borris, seeing that he's standing still. "I'm glad I made it in time."
Ventus smiled before turning towards the attraction, seeing that it managed to break free of the ice.
Aqua noticed this and was able to puzzle together that the current battle her friend's dealing with is this attraction.
"Need some help?" She asked as she prepared herself for combat. Ventus smiled as he confidently turned towards the attraction, responding with a simple nod.
The two keyblade wielders waited for the right moment before charging into battle with Borris remaining in the sidelines, knowing that he should stay out of the fight.
As Aqua and Ventus were close to the attraction, said attraction moved its arm cranes all around in an attempt to land a hit on the pair.
The two avoided this with Aqua aiming for the head in the center of the attraction.
"Don't!" Ventus shouted. This caused Aqua to hesitate for a moment since she can tell that her friend has a reason for telling her not to aim for the head.
She noticed to her right side that one of the arm canes was about to hit her.
Right before this attack could hit her, a new fighter joins the battle with a keyblade in hand.
This new ally not only stops the attack from the attraction but outright manages to push it back with his brute strength.
"Terra!" Both Ventus and Aqua shouted, happy that the three of them have reunited.
Terra looked at the arm cane he pushed back with a serious expression for a moment, before smiling as he was happy to see his friends again.
"Aqua. Ven." He was happy to see them though he immediately turned towards the attraction, noticing that this thing is going to harm his friends if he doesn't attack it.
Seeing that it looks weird with three arm cranes as well as quickly spotting the fourth on the ground, he puzzled together that the arm cranes need to get taken out first.
The same arm cane he pushed back was returning towards him, prompting the keyblade wielder to quickly destroy it with a swing of his keyblade.
As he managed to destroy one of the arm cranes, the attraction made a noise that it was in pain by this before a darkness around the head started to grow.
The three keyblade wielders noticed this before all three jumped away from the attraction as the two remaining arms canes were moving around intensely.
As they were in a safe distance, Aqua noticed Henry being from a distance, being next to Borris.
While the three keyblade wielders were reuniting, Henry had spotted Borris.
"Borris?" He was surprised to see one of his creations right there, in front of him with friendly expression.
Borris turned towards him and just tilted his head before he and Henry turned their attention back to the fight between the attraction and the three keyblade wielders.
Aqua and Henry spotted each other, prompting the two to feel some relief since they were worried for the other.
Aqua turned back towards the attraction and quickly pointed her keyblade up in the air while shouting:
"Firaga Burst!"
A large fire sphere was created within a few seconds before fireballs came out of the large fire sphere and made its way towards the attraction.
It had no real way of defending itself from this attack, making it easy for the fireballs to land and do some damage to one of the two remaining arm canes.
This damage was enough for her to throw her keyblade right at the arm cane and knock it out of the attraction.
This caused ink to start leaking from the three areas it had the arm canes before the three keyblade wielders had knocked them off.
Without hesitation it attempted to attack Aqua while she was attempting to land safely only for both Ventus's and Terra's strengths combined were able to push the attack back.
Although it was easy for Terra to do this alone the first time, this time the two noted that it was a lot stronger.
The only explanation is the darkness that surrounded the source of the attraction since its darkness was increasing within each second that passes.
Seeing this as a problem, all three quickly waited a moment before the opportunity brought itself so they can all together slice off the remaining arm cane.
This caused the attraction to start freaking out, a bunch of ink spilling out as well as looking like it's about to explode.
Just as it seemed like it was done for, the head in the attraction noticed Henry while at the same time Henry slightly recalled who he was.
The man inside of the attraction, Bertrum, seeing Henry only prompting him to be angry since Henry only reminded him of Joey Drew.
"I won't stop! It's my idea, MY IDEA!"
This anger allowed the darkness to completely take it over.
As the darkness surrounded it before the entire attraction was covered in darkness.
After a few seconds, it started to grow legs and arms before revealing the head on top now with a heartless symbol in its head.
It's three arms was the same arms canes however it seems like it can stretch longer, and he had five legs to help it crawl.
"Get to safety!" Ventus, Terra, and Aqua all-in unison said to both Henry and Borris due to how dangerous this situation has become.
The two understood and quickly went to the other room in order to avoid being caught in the battle.
"Be careful you three." Henry spoke before leading the way for him and Borris to get to safety.
Once the two were gone, the three keyblade wielders didn't hesitate to charge at the large heartless.
"Remember, the heartless are a lot stronger here in the realm of darkness. Be on guard." Aqua said, wanting to make sure all three of them remember that this isn't the realm of light.
Even with the three of them, they still need to be cautious.
Terra and Ventus nodded before quickly all three went into their keyblade armor to buff up their defenses.
Once they did this, the three attacked in unison, landing a hit of their own onto the heartless's body.
The heartless didn't seem fazed by this before moving one of its arm canes to knock Ventus to the side.
"Ven!" Both Aqua and Terra shouted before they were also knocked to the side as well.
The three slowly got back up, seeing that this opponent is going to be tough even with the three of them fighting together.
Wanting to be away from the fight, both Borris and Henry go into the carnival room to be somewhere safe.
While they were away from the fight, Henry took the chance to look at Borris, still surprised that one of his creations was in the flesh...of sorts.
'This is all so...unreal. What exactly was Joey doing with that machine? How did he make all of this possible?'
These questions did plague his mind, at least for a bit before he returned to focusing his attention on Borris.
Although he still had questions, he did notice that Borris's expression right now is one of fear.
He was looking at his direction in fear which prompted him to ask:
"What's wrong, Borris?"
The only thing Henry could think of is that perhaps the Ink Demon had arrived though he would also have felt death itself if he were there.
He thought perhaps it's a random ink creature or perhaps a heartless, making it not too scary for him since he knows how to fight with the axe he wields.
He turned around only to feel a sudden hit to the side of his head which had nearly knocked him out.
As he collapsed to the ground, the last thing he saw was someone approaching Borris, a female from the looks of it.
'Who...?What...? Borris...?'
He lost consciousness.
Author's note:
Yes, it has been quite a long while since I posted a chapter on this story, which I'm really sorry about. I got sidetracked with the other stories but because of well a few horror games I've recently played with friends, I got some ideas back into this story. This story will continue.