"Take a look at this tiny place."
The chillingly calm voice of Ansem rang out from where Riku stood as Riku's hair and the tattered cloth at his waist billowed in a chillingly nonexistent wind. "To the heart seeking freedom this island is a prison surrounded by water." Ansem paused as Riku raised his hands up in the air with an amused, mocking chuckle in his voice. "And so this boy sought out to escape his prison. He sought a way to cross over into other worlds. And he opened his heart to darkness."
As Ansem finished speaking, Riku looked over his shoulder at the four friends who stood behind him, before turning to face them. But the instant he did, his entire body was consumed in a veil of darkness before being replaced with the form of the wickedly grinning Ansem.
"Riku!" Sora cried out, reaching out fruitlessly for his best friend. Ruby lay a hand on Sora's shoulder, holding him back from doing anything reckless, lest Ansem respond violently before they were prepared to fight.
"Don't bother. Your voice can no longer reach him where he is." Ansem said dismissively. He knew that nothing Sora did could change the fate of the boy who was once Sora's best friend. "His heart belongs again to darkness!"
Ansem's gaze fixed upon the four friends who had defied all odds to reach him. The four who defied him, even at this late juncture. "All worlds, begin in darkness. And all so end." he said, his voice full of chilling certainty. Certainty toward what he knew to be the truth of that which was the fate of all things. "The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts from it. It grows, consumes it. Such is its nature." They had to see that now. The evidence was all around them ever since they came to this shattered world.
"In the end..." Sora, Ruby, Ruby, Donald, and Goofy turned when suddenly, they heard Ansem's voice ring out from behind them. "...every heart returns to the darkness whence it came!" The instant they turned around, they were faced with the sight of Ansem right behind them! The four friends jumped backwards in shock, keeping their focus fixed upon the Seeker of Darkness as he smiled and held out his hand to emphasize his final, decisive, absolute wisdom with the four ignorant fools. "You see, darkness is the hearts true essence."
"That's not true!"
Sora and Ruby's voices both shouted defiantly, drawing a hardened glare from Ansem. The two youths stared right back into those burning orange eyes, their blue and silver orbs full to the brim with a refusal to believe a single thing coming out of the fallen scholar's mouth. "The heart may be weak, and sometimes, it may even give in." Sora began, unable to deny that such a thing was true. Especially with Riku. He was determination to leave Destiny Islands, to be better than Sora, that he willingly gave in. Sora himself nearly was consumed by it himself for the sake of saving Kairi. Yet there was one thing Ansem did not know, or did not understand. "But I've learned...that deep down, there's a light that never goes out!"
Ruby nodded in firm agreement with Sora. "That's right! Even after everything that's happened to us, and to the people dear to us, we've fought through everything that's been thrown our way. Even if there are harder challenges in the future, I won't give up no matter what happens. WE won't give up. We will stop them, and we will stop you! Bet on that!" she said, passionately repeating the last words she said to Roman Torchwick.
Donald and Goofy nodded firmly in agreeance with the two youths. They had stuck with them through thick and thin, and they'd stay together to the end
Ansem however was not impressed. He was insulted as he levitated off the crag-like sand, his arms crossed as he stared down at them with disappointment. "So you have come this far, and still you understand NOTHING." he said, condemning what he viewed as willful ignorance from the two youths. If they refused to accept the cold hard truth of the universe, he would force their eyes open. "Every light must fade. Every heart return to DARKNESS!"
The instant that word left his mouth, a grotesque Heartless materialized behind him in a wicked. It looked similar to the taller, lankier, more muscular Shadows that attacked them previously, but far more of all those things, and with its body ending in a tail without legs. Its yellow eyed face had two bandages latched in an X pattern across its mouth, and its chest had a heart shaped hole in the center. Their final battle had begun.
Ansem hovered right past the group, wasting no time delivering the first strike. If it hadn't been for Goofy raising his shield to block the swiping arm of that Heartless, Ansem might have drawn first blood from Sora. In the moment he was vulnerable, Donald leaped up at head level with the dark man's body. "Firaga!"
With that great shout, it was Donald who drew first blood as he delivered a direct hit at point blank range. Although it made Ansem flinch, he didn't appear very damaged at all. Before anyone could strike again, he suddenly zoomed through the air as Ruby shifted Crescent Rose into sniper form. Yet try as she might as she lined up the shots, she couldn't hit a single one. As if that Heartless was reading the trajectory of her shots. "Argh, he's too fast! I can't get a shot on him!"
Ansem laughed maniacally as the Guardian's hands illuminated, followed by the Heartless throwing large disks of dark energy at them. The four narrowly managed to avoided what they could, with Donald and Sora's Aeroga spells mitigating the damage for themselves, Goofy, and Ruby.
Goofy attempted to use his 'Tornado' move, but Ansem smirked without an ounce of concern as he saw the guard captain spinning in his direction. "Come, Guardian!" he said, right before the Guardian vanished then emerged in front of him, arms out wide as could be. The impact of Goofy's shield did nothing to the unique Heartless protecting its master. In fact, all it did was cause Goofy to tumble backwards from the fruitless impact, much to the Ansem's sadistic amusement.
Ruby took the initiative to switch Crescent Rose to scythe mode, and use her semblance and dash right behind Ansem in midair. As she got behind him, she raked him across the back with her blade. Though she struck true, her blow seemed to do little actual damage to him as he turned toward her with a look of annoyance. "You insolent little-!"
"Hyah!"
Taking advantage of Ruby's distraction, Sora followed suit by rushing the Seeker of Darkness and striking him before he could retaliate against Ruby. Ansem's attention was on him in that moment and started ordering his Guardian to attack but Donald leaped to clobber him right over the head. Ansem seemed to be annoyed and moved to grab Donald by the throat, choking the duck as he struggled in his grip.
Ruby saw another opportunity and used her weapon in gun form, shooting at Ansem's flexor, making him shout in pain as he lost his grip on Donald. Thankfully Goofy caught him before he hit the ground, and stood him back up to continue the fight.
Despite everything they'd been doing to him, Ansem barely seemed to be bothered. The corrupt scientist seemed almost amused by their attempts to harm him as he once again laughed, letting his guardian fling another flurry of those dark disks. Donald barely had time to cast Aeroga on Goofy, saving him from the worst of what his shield couldn't block. Ansem didn't even flinch as Sora struck him again, for the Guardian simply swept down low and tripped Sora, leaving him vulnerable. But before the Guardian could follow up, Ansem flinched as he was shot in the side by Ruby.
The young huntress fired again and again and again at Ansem, making him flinch every time, but with little to no real effect. The young lass's barrage of bullets seemed to be little more than an annoyance to him. A painful one certainly, but not much more than that. "Come, Guardian!" Heeding its master's call, the Guardian rotated to intercept the bullets. Ruby continued to fire, hoping to find some weak point in the protective Heartless's defenses, yet nothing was working. Donald tried a myriad of spells between fire, blizzard, thunder, even gravity. But nothing seemed to work. He even tried to use Stop on Ansem, but he didn't even register the spell being cast on him.
In a flash, Ansem suddenly was right in front of Ruby, his orange eyes staring into silver ones with utmost disdain. Seeing her predicament, Sora and Goofy rushed to help, But their attempts were thwarted as the Guardian shifted behind Ansem and intercepted their blows. Ruby jumped back, switching Crescent Rose to scythe mod. But just as she landed, Ansem's Guardian closed the distance in the blink of an eye again, rearing its hand up to strike.
"SUBMIT!"
Ruby cried out as the Guardian struck her. But to her surprise, the Heartless vanished, and didn't reappear near its master. Seeing him vulnerable, Sora swung his Keyblade, succeeding in making Ansem flinch and giving Ruby time to recover and take her own swing. But just as she tried to swing, Ruby suddenly felt herself stopping in place. The Guardian appeared out of thin air, holding her wrists and preventing her from attacking.
"Ruby!" Sora, Donald and Goofy all exclaimed their captured comrades name as Ansem suddenly began to drift closer to her with that wicked, calm smile on his face. "Come. Open your heart." he urged her ominously as the next moment, his entire body was surrounded by what appeared to be a spherical cage of dark, surging, malignant power.
Ruby struggled, but no matter what she did, she couldn't break the Guardian's grip. In a split second, Sora reacted, calling forth the aid of Mushu, who appeared yet again atop his head, just as excited as before. The instant he saw Ruby captured and how the menacing man was approaching her, the little dragon glared and bravely yelled out, "Oh, I don't think so!"
With a shake of his head, Mushu immediately let out a volley of rapid-fire fireballs at the Guardian. While it didn't seem to do any actual damage, the repeated hits eventually caused it to stagger as its grip on Ruby slipped. Eventually it slipped enough for Ruby to break free. Now freed from the Guardian's grasp, Ruby righted herself with a woozy shake of her head. She didn't know what that Guardian did, but she chose not to question it and dash away from Ansem before he had it do that again.
The next moment, Mushu directed his fireballs at Ansem. As the rapid blasts pelted him, Ansem ordered his Guardian to protect him again, making it take the blows in his stead. Mushu stopped with a huff, smirking as he crossed his arms. "What's wrong? If ya can't handle the heat, then get outta the kitchen!"
Ansem narrowed his eyes at the four defiant fools, before suddenly...floating away from them all. As he seemed to be retreating, Mushu briefly sputtered, thinking that Ansem was running from them. "What?! Hey, come on now! I know what I said, but have a bit of honor and finish a fight you start!" Sadly, Mushu didn't get to fling any more trash talk at him, as the power of the summon gem suddenly wore off.
Before Sora, Ruby, Donald and Goofy could give chase, the ground beneath their feet suddenly quaked. As if that wasn't shocking enough, they looked up to see what remained of the rocky portion of the island was...splitting open. After a moment, the tremors ceased, and the four friends saw the inside of the rocks were covered in this world's strange landscape. Debris much like the area they found in this world before entering the 'prisons of the world' from earlier littered the insides of the rocks.
And there stood Ansem, smirking wickedly at those who had the audacity to challenge him, daring them to cross the threshold and attempt to finish what they started.
Sora glared at Ansem as he wasted no time rushing toward the wicked man with a furious glare on his face. One that clearly stated after everything he'd done to the worlds, and everything he'd done to his friends, Sora wasn't going to let him get away that easily.
"Sora, wait!" Ruby called out, rushing forward with the aid of her Semblance, with Donald and Goofy running after them.
Just as Ruby and Sora crossed the threshold, Donald and Goofy prepared to jump in after them, only for them to cry out in surprise as a barrier was suddenly erected right where the two youths charged in. As Sora and Ruby looked back up, they noticed Ansem was...gone.
Before they could wonder where he went, the ground beneath them suddenly quaked again. But instead of the landscape splitting open again, when the tremors eventually ceased, up from the floor rose a pitch black shape. One that Sora recognized immediately as its form fully materialized. It was the massive Heartless he saw in his dream. And the one that attacked his island. Or at least the same variant. Donald and Goofy stared with worry for the two youths as the Heartless towered over them.
Despite the memories of this monstrosity overwhelming him in his dream, Sora refused to back down now. This time it would be different. This time, he'd make sure to win. Whether this Heartless was like what his dream may have implied, some bizarre dark side of himself that he had to wrestle with, or simply just another large Heartless, he'd take it down. And this time, he had Ruby by his side. The young huntress looked at Sora and soon her face mirrored his firm certainty as she nodded to him. Brandishing scythe and Keyblade, the two of them prepared to overcome this obstacle. This aptly named Darkside.
Towering over them, the Darkside knelt with one hand to the ground. Sora was confused at first before remembering when fighting the last time he fought it on his home when it was consumed. "Ruby, move!" he said, running away from it. Glancing to from Sora to the enemy, Ruby hurried beside him. Right in the nick of time, they avoided the massive free arm of the Heartless plunged into the ground and sent a shockwave that nearly toppled the duo over.
"Thanks Sora." Ruby said to him with a smile.
"Don't thank me just yet," Sora said warily as they looked toward the Darkside again. "That was just the first part of what it's doing."
The next moment, the giant Heartless pushed itself up from the ground. As it freed its arm from the ground, it resurfaced with what appeared to be a massive ball of pulsating darkness in its palm. Ruby balked warily, unsure what was happening.
Fortunately, Sora had a plan of attack for them. "Listen! You gotta attack its face! That seems to be a weak spot!" he called out, cautiously watching the Heartless's attack.
Just as Ruby nodded in understanding, the Darkside stood and the sphere it held suddenly burst, dispersing into several dark purple orbs in the sky. Nothing seemed to happen until suddenly, those orbs began to rain down from above onto where Sora and Ruby stood.
Fortunately for Ruby, her semblance made it easy to dodge, followed by dashing up onto one of the Darkside's shoulders for her to swipe away at its face. Yet the repeated strikes, there strangely weren't any lasting signs of damage. On top of that, the Darkside wasn't reacting to anything they were doing. As if it didn't CARE how much they were hurting it.
Sora was forced to roll out of the way of the raining balls of dark energy as they pelted the distorted ground around them. The familiar and sluggish moves of this thing gave them a much needed advantage. Assuming it even WAS the same sort of Heartless from his dream and it didn't have some other tricks up its sleeve. But now wasn't the time to get caught up in details. They had to slay this thing and find some way to reach Ansem.
As if on cue, the Darkside reared its left fist up and slammed it onto the ground. A familiar pool of darkness surged around where its fist impacted. Out from it poured several Shadows which immediately made a beeline for the two youths. This tactic, Sora remembered, but sure enough these Shadows seemed sturdier than he expected. It must have been because of how much darkness there was in this world. How many worlds and hearts the Heartless had consumed here that was empowering them.
Performing a great leap, Ruby swung Crescent Rose at what would have been the jugular of the Heartless, yet no matter what they did, it didn't even flinch. But they at least knew they were striking it. As the Shadows began lunging at her, Sora did his best to keep them off her. "Ruby, fire at its face! I'll keep the little ones off you!"
Ruby nodded, switching Crescent Rose to rifle mode and unleashed a volley of bullets at the Heartless. Every shot struck true as Sora managed to destroy the small fries. As the magazine ran dry, Ruby quickly swapped it out for a new one. She realized with a troubled grimace that she was down to her last one. She would have to make it count.
As if realizing what Ruby had been doing, the Heartless suddenly knelt down on its knees and bent its upper body back, pulling its head out of her line of sight. She didn't have time to reposition as suddenly, the heart-shaped hole in its chest light up, and with a lurch of its chest, two spheres of energy suddenly emerged and homed in on her and Sora's position, forcing them to dodge.
Despite their initial success, Sora knew that he couldn't keep it up forever. So he chose instead to stand his ground as he held his Keyblade up to to swing and not only block the projectile descending upon him, but also send it right back at the Darkside. Just as he hoped, it flew right into its face, causing it to burst upon impact.
The orbs around them fortunately seemed to stop as well, but both Ruby and Sora realized what the Heartless was doing as it got up on its knees again. In seconds they saw it kneeling again and plunged another hand into the ground. It was going to hit the with another dark shower. Sora and Ruby wasted no time rushed in, slicing away at the Heartless's face as it gathered power in its hand.
Sora leaped up, spinning backward with his Keyblade out like a buzzaw. Ruby did the same thing with her Crescent Rose at the same time while using her semblance. The pair cleaved through the head of the Heartless, yet still it prepared to unleash its 'rain of pain' for lack of a better name. Sora refused to let this continue any longer. And just as it began to rise up from the ground, he unleashed one of his newest techniques. The Ripple Drive, as he dubbed it, striking the Heartless twice, and summoning the large dome of light that detonated around him. As the dome exploded, the burst of light seemed to finally fell the Heartless as it fall backwards helplessly and slowly faded away.
But before they could celebrate, Donald and Goofy's eyes widened with shock as they saw something most shocking appear behind the two youths. "Sora! Ruby!" "Behind ya!" they called out respectively, as they saw their ultimate foe had returned for more.
Both youths turned on their heels at Goofy's call, and sure enough...there he was. Ansem, smirking haughtily at the two youths with his Guardian ever at his back. Both Ruby and Sora glared at him, readying their weapons just in time as with a shout, Ansem and his Guardian went right back into the fight. The Guardian swung at them both, forcing them to leap backwards. Ruby switched Crescent Rose to rifle mode and quickly aimed to shoot Ansem. But he saw it coming and quickly hovered to the left. Sora tried to take advantage of it, but Ansem simply dashed backwards out of his reach. It was as if he was toying with them.
And the laugh he let out afterwards as his Guardian unleashed a flurry of those dark disks at them further emphasized this. Sora raised his Keyblade and with a great swing and flurry of motions, did his best to deflect the projectiles. Many of which scattered around him, but the last one managed to hit him square in the chest. Ruby quickly tried to take advantage of the mad researcher's vulnerability, but Ansem turned toward her, grinning wickedly as if he'd caught her doing just what he'd hoped she'd do. For in an instant, Ansem's Guardian appeared in front of him and an aura of azure dark energy and sparking bolts surged around them.
A moment later, Ansem charged right at Ruby with a furious shout of, "Take this!" Ruby didn't even have time to dodge as the cumbersome rifle mode of Crescent Rose prevented decent mobility when aiming. Just as she was about to leap, Ansem charged into her, sending her reeling and knocking the wind out of her, only to suddenly rebound and hit her again!
"Ruby!" Sora cried out, attempting to intercept Ansem, only for him to rebound and charge right into him next. And as he reached the far end of the arena, Ansem and the Guardian paused, lining themselves up perfectly as Ruby tried to push herself up and Sora was recovering from the first strike, and charged at them with furious speed.
Sora and Ruby moved any way they could, avoiding the charges Ansem made to them though always barely. When it ended, Ruby was at one end of the chasm they were trapped in with Sora at the other. Ansem stood in the middle of them as they recovered and noticed Sora using a potion on himself. A smirk creased his face as a nearly unseen wave of his hand was aimed at the boy. The Guardian vanished from behind him, taking the form of a shadow sphere that zipped across the ground at Sora. With his strength recovered, Sora charged at Ansem but felt himself lifted as half his limbs were carried up into the air. The Guardian was holding him midair without any effort as Sora struggled.
Ruby, finally having caught her breath, saw Sora in the same predicament as she was earlier. Ansem's sphere cage shaped attack was slowly coming towards Sora and she was already running low on stamina with the repetitive use of her semblance. At this point it was better to use one of her bullets. One shot left but she still had at least one more cartridge. If this fight didn't end soon, Ruby would be all out of bullets. For now, she'd just use this last shot with her current round to at least save Sora. With a single shot, Ansem was hit in his back and the Guardian was brought back to his aid, leaving Sora free to safely land on the ground.
As Ansem turned around, he was less than happy and emerged in front of Ruby quicker than she realized it, seeing the Guardian swipe at her as it also emerged between her and Ansem. "SUBMIT!"
The force of impact was strong enough to topple Ruby over and send her tumbling to a wall. Ansem's maniacal laugh sent chills down her spine as she felt the Guardian restrain her again.
Sora refused to stand by and let him attack her. Without a moment's hesitation, he hurled his Keyblade at Ansem over and over with a Strike Raid. As he lurched and staggered at every blow of the thrown Keyblade, he delivered one final throw, flinging the Keyblade with both his hands. As Ansem reeled from the intense blow, Sora attempted to capitalize by charging him.
Ruby however remembered what happened the last time Ansem was without his guardian and someone tried to strike him at close range. "No, Sora! Get away from him!"
Her warning came too late however. as Sora prepared a leaping strike upon Ansem's head, the Seeker of Darkness merely held out his arms. "Come, open your heart." Just as Ruby feared, the field of dark energy formed around him. The instant Sora realized his blunder, it was too late. He gasped and hissed in pain as the energy cut along his body almost like a hot iron. The pain caused him to crumple to the ground.
"No!" Ruby tried to dash forward to help, only for her to be held back by the Guardian. She struggled in vain to escape from its hold, only to eventually get struck by it herself. Ansem's wicked grin widened as he reached toward Sora. But he let his guard down, thinking Sora was beaten.
An assumption that would proven a mistake as a moment later, Sora heaved the Keyblade back and thrust it forward, striking Ansem in the stomach, before rebounding to hit him in the side, then at the flank, then in the arm. As he dashed past him, he grabbed Ruby's hand, placing it on the Keyblade. Her surprise turned to understanding as she nodded. Before the Guardian could restrain them, both youths broke away from its reach, yelling in unison as they dashed forward for one final blasting strike.
As the rose petals billowed behind them, Ansem was left on one knee, gasping from the expected strike. But just as they felt they had won, Sora, Ruby, Donald, and Goofy were treated to a most shocking sight. Ansem suddenly began chuckling as if nothing happened, and rose back up. "A valiant effort, but ultimately futile." he said as the Guardian reappeared behind him "My strength returns!"
To Sora and Ruby's worry, Ansem's body glowed with dark power before the Guardian sank into the ground as if it were a softer, less dense substance. Everywhere around them, they tried keeping their eyes peeled for any sign of it. Unfortunately for Sora, it emerged from the ground beneath him and burst out the ground with a fist landing against him with great speed and strength that sent him to the side before it vanished.
Ruby was worried but as she took a step to him, she saw the ground under her change as well then retracted back. She avoided the same attack but saw it emerge from Sora again and with her semblance, grabbed Sora away.
"What do you hope to accomplish?" Ansem asked in a challenging manner as his guardian continued its pursuit of the youths. Surely they could see the folly of their ways by now. How wrong they were to believe in such petty fantasies as a light that never goes out. "Do not deny your fear!" Ansem taunted wickedly, sensing that despite Ruby's current success avoiding him, she was wearing herself down trying to help Sora as well.
Ten whole times the Guardian arose to strike, with Ruby barely avoiding it with the aid of her semblance. But by now, its downside from constant use was taking effect. She couldn't take it anymore and stumbled to her knees, trying to catch her breath as Sora quickly scrambled to help her up.
As if pleased about pushing them to their limits, Ansem's glowing body shined even more powerfully as the Guardian returned to him. As it did, Ansem proudly displayed to the weakened youth, the sheer power that they were up against. "The final darkness is near." In that instance, a cross section eruption of darkness came out from Ansem. One of the waves was in the general direction of the two youths and struck them dead on, making them cry out in pain as they fell to the ground.
"Sora!" "Ruby!" Goofy and Donald cried out as they saw their friends were now helpless before their foe, no matter how much they pounded on the wall. They just couldn't get to them!
Ansem stood over the two, injured youths with a victorious smile. "Pitiful children. What do you hope to accomplish?" he repeated the question, looking into their defiant eyes with a most amused expression. How could they hope to accomplish ANYTHING with such lacking power?
Sora pushed himself to his feet, trying to ignore the wobbliness he felt from the sheer pain of Ansem's intense attack. A pain that wracked Ruby as he struggled to help her stand while getting himself up as well. "Ngh...To restore all the worlds you destroyed...and all the people with them!" Sora said defiantly, raising the Keyblade again.
With Sora's help, Ruby pushed herself to her feet, trying to shake off whatever weakness threatened to bog her down as she raised her weapon. "Hngh...That's...right!" she said, hefting Crescent Rose up with a weakened yet ever brave look in her eye. "We're going to bring our worlds back, we're going to go home, and set things right. No matter what you do!"
In response to the passionate words of the weakened youths, his coy grin gave way to a smile of pure malevolence. "Such simplicity. Such innocence. Such misplaced purity." The instant he ceased speaking, the fragmented Destiny Islands began to quake more violently than before. The area where they were fighting began to tremble as suddenly, the gaping hole they were within contorted and twisted. Donald and Goofy screamed as suddenly the ground seemed to fall out from underneath them. Sora and Ruby barely had time to call out to them before they were falling into the dark below as well. As they did, Ansem dismissed his Guardian, smiling as he descended after them.
"If you want to unlock the heart of all worlds, then yours must be pure. Pure as the seven princesses of heart. With that...the door shall be unlocked."
Now...it was time for them to stop fighting and accept the truth. The truth that, after this nuisance was finally removed, all the worlds would know. It was time...to open the door.