AN: Now we getting into the good shit. xD I'm so excited for this one lol. Some long awaited stuff people been commenting about comes to fruition! :D
End of AN!
Between Xion, Sora and Ven, they found a map inside the vehicle - on a screen - and figured out the direction of Thessa Base from where they were.
Xion had begged them to go with her to this place to look for Imra.
Both of the boys had argued against it, saying they "couldn't just go attacking people like that" or "breaking into places". Ven had said that was "what the World Order is meant to protect people from".
Xion had argued back that these people were- making more of Imra. Imra sisters. Sisters who didn't seem...right. And they had called Imra herself all of those things - like corrupt, or "malfunctioning", and that they didn't seem to see her as a...a person. It was like...the Organization and Replicas. And that was wrong, right? Either way, they had to look into it - and stop it!
Sora had finally agreed to that, to Xion's relief.
Ven had still said he didn't like the idea...but that he wasn't going to "leave the two of you to do somethin' stupid like that alone." He had also stressed to Xion that they had to try their best not to actually kill anyone. He said they didn't know "how many of these guys are bad guys or not".
Xion had agreed.
And now they were here.
Xion glided through the air above the rooftops and streets, with Sora beside her. Ven was running and jumping across the roofs, with bursts of wind magic and speed, a light green glow around his whole body.
She looked out ahead of her, past the edge of the city, across snowy fields and a winding road of dirt and ice.
To the huge, domed metal building in the distance, surrounded by high metal walls with weapons sticking out of it. Huge barrels - cannons. "Like for wooden ships, but...probably more dangerous," Sora commented on them.
Xion flew out toward it at top speeds, cutting through the cold airs and winds.
She dipped down low to the ground, across the snow.
The metal walls came closer and closer - and the cannons didn't attack.
Soon Xion was right up to the wall. She curved up and flew straight up into the air, hovering above the base's courtyard.
There were all kinds of metal vehicles everywhere, and lots of people - most of them with weapons.
In a metal tower on the wall, to her left, someone moved, looking out at her.
Xion turned. She raised a hand and cast multiple Blizzard spells; the projectiles flew out, one after another. One hit the half-wall of the tower, the other, the edge of the roof. The third passed straight through it, causing the person inside to duck down out of sight.
"Hey - Xion!" Sora's voice.
She turned. He pointed toward the huge dome - to the large metal doors at the front that had just opened.
Xion turned and flew down for the doors, blowing through them and past a group of shocked warriors.
Sora was right behind her, followed by Ven.
Ven raced out ahead of them and slashed his weapon repeatedly, faster than Xion could track with her eyes, leaving a dozen trails of light in front of him. The light beams shot out together and sliced through another metal door blocking their path; the door fell apart into pieces, burning and clanging on the floor.
Ven leapt through it and raised his Keyblade. "Warp!"
Dark purple orbs flared around a half dozen warriors inside the next room, squeezing around them...and then they all vanished, their voices fading.
"Woah! What was that?! I thought we weren't gonna..." Sora started, gaping.
"That was just the Warp spell," Ven said quickly, laughing. "It just teleports your enemies someplace else, don't worry."
"Where?" Sora pressed.
Ven shrugged, turning and pointing in random directions before giving up. "Some other room here, or maybe somewhere outside? I dunno. It'd put them somewhere safe, though - not like, inside a wall or anythin'."
"Okay!" Sora said, relieved and beaming.
They moved on into the building together.
But Xion found it was a confusing maze of hallways and rooms - and the big, wailing noise everywhere, along with the flashing red lights didn't help at all! It made it really hard to even focus!
Luckily they found a big map on a wall, that Ven and Sora were able to quickly figure out together while Xion guarded them. There was a place on the map, on the lowest level, that said: Engineering And Robotics Floor.
Imra was a robot (but she was also a person!). Xion felt in her Heart that it was the right place to go to find her.
They moved through the hallways, knocking away and knocking out any warriors they came across.
Ven, Xion and Sora even used Blizzaga together to block off a hallway behind them with a huge shiny ice wall.
They came to a large room at the end of a hall, and went into an elevator.
They rode it down, deep underground.
One floor, two floors, three floors...five...six...seven.
The elevator stopped and the metal door slid open.
Xion jumped out, holding her Keyblade in front of her.
Three more warriors stopped in their tracks and attacked.
Sora jumped in front Xion and cast Reflect; the green energy blasts were absorbed into the magic shield.
Ven rolled past Sora and slashed his Keyblade out, sending a blast of wind to hit the warriors. They flew back into the wall, and then fell down to the floor, their weapons falling out of their hands. Unconscious.
Xion continued on, left, then right, then forward, then left again...then another right, and a right, and straight on...
Until they came to a large, wide metal door at the end of a much wider hallway than the others so far. There was a sign above the door that said the same thing as the map had upstairs: Engineering And Robotics.
Xion looked at Sora and Ven.
The three of them raised their hands, casting out explosive Fire magicks, battering at the center of the big door together.
The metal burned, twisted, and melted away into a great big hole, the edges glowing.
It was wide and tall enough for them to walk through.
So they did.
Xion raced through first, her heart beating fast.
As she stepped through it into a dimly lit room of red light, she saw something move in a corner.
She raised her Keyblade and turned-
And a large Nightmare came running at her, with horns on its head!
Xion leapt out of the way and slashed at it, causing it to stumble to the side.
Sora came flying in, slashing down on the Nightmare, then left, then right quickly. Then he did a twirl and kicked it back at Xion with magical strength.
Xion thrust out a hand to hit it with Blizzard, then lunged forward and thrust her Keyblade into its colorful body.
It popped in smoke and crystal pieces, disappearing.
Ven came walking in, his weapon at his side, a frown on his face. "The Nightmares are in here, too?"
"Then that means there are people in here who are sleeping - trapped," Sora said with sympathy and sadness.
"If they did something to Imra, I don't care," Xion said flatly, turning on a heel and striding away.
"Xion..." Sora said after her, worried.
Xion moved through the dim red room, through a doorway into a new one. Then, into a new hallway with three different directions to it - left, right, or forward. She chose forward. She came to the heavy metal door at the far end of it, and blasted it apart with a Firaga and a heaving breath of tiredness.
She strode through it...and stopped. She stared at the sight in front of her.
"Imra...?"
In a large room full of big machines and devices, Imra was in the middle of it all. She was hanging from a big, glowing metal ring device. There were lights flickering around her, on the ends of cables that were...attached to her? Sticking out of her - or into her...? Her arms were spread out from her body. The yellow lines across her body were pulsing, white light beads running down them like waves on an ocean. Her head hung forward, her eyes gazed out with no life in them at all. No glowing red light to them.
There were beeping and booping screens and computers near Imra, with letters and numbers on them. One of them had a weird image of Imra on it, it looked like.
It was her. Xion just knew. She felt it inside of her.
This was her Imra.
Xion wanted to just run to her and free her, to hold her and talk to her and...
But she hesitated.
She was afraid of what Imra would say when she found out what Xion had done to her sister...and she was afraid of messing this up, too. What if she hurt Imra? What if she- pulled a wrong cable, or...?
Sora and Ven came walking in behind her, their shoes echoing on the metal floor.
Xion blinked, as suddenly a high, nasally girl's voice echoed throughout the large room.
"Meddling Keykids...Oh, this SUCKS! You guys are always ruining everything, no matter what the era, aren't you!"
Sora turned this way and that, on guard. "Who's there?!"
Ven gave a sudden gasp, his hand going up to his head.
"Huh? Ven, what's wrong-" Sora started, turning to the boy.
Dark purple smoke and crystal shards exploded in front of them - and something appeared on the floor in front of Xion. A small creature, not even up to her knees, barely. It looked like a cat, but on two stubby legs, with stubby arms? It was fluffy and fuzzy, and had ears and a nose and black markings on a deep purple body. It had round, pure red eyes. There was a small pouch or purse hanging from its neck, on its chest. There was a yellow, five-pointed star symbol on the purse. It wore a long cape behind its back, colored reddish purple (Xion wished she was better with colors)?
"Huh?" Xion blinked down at the creature. "Another Nightmare?"
"Not just any Nightmare, thank you very much!" that high girl voice spoke again - from the little creature? A Nightmare that was talking...? "I'm-"
"A Nightmare..." Ven began. He stopped, opening his eyes wide as he stared at the creature. "...Chirithy."
The little creature crossed its - her? - arms, giving a little hop and a twirl. "There we are! Finally, some respect around here."
"Chirithy...? Those little guys that you guys all partnered up with- back in the day?" Sora said, faltering and cautious. "But how can there be a Chirithy...Nightmare?"
"I...don't know," Ven said, his voice shaking. "I...I just...want..."
"Ven...?" Sora stepped closer to the boy, reaching out to touch his arm. "Hey - are you okay?"
"Chirithy!" Ven suddenly cried out, throwing his fists down at his sides.
A new puff of smoke poofed in the air in front of Ven - and then, from down out of the air came a new...Chirithy? Except this one...was gray with black stripes, and had...blue eyes? It - she? - landed in front of Ven, flat on her butt. She looked up at him, tilting her head and putting a stubby hand to her chin. "Huh?! Ven...? You- you called me...? I didn't think you were ever going to...I thought you didn't n-need me anymore-"
A high voice sighed loudly, annoyed.
Chirithy...Ven's Chirithy? turned to look at the other one - the purple Nightmare one - along with the rest of them.
"What a baby!" the Nightmare Chirithy exclaimed, pointing an arm out. "You really had to go and call that weak little thing here? All its going to be good for is getting the stuffing knocked out of it."
"Oh no..." Chirithy - the grey one - said, in a high voice of alarm. She jumped up to her feet and spun around, hobbling forward past Ven, Sora and Xion. She raised her arm to point right back at the purple Chirithy. "How is one of you still here?"
The Nightmare Chirithy giggled loudly into her hand. "How is one of you still here? That's the real question."
Chirithy looked back at Ven. "My partner never disappeared - his Heart was still here...it was just moving really fast, all on its own. So I didn't disappear. I just went to a place where I could wait for him to ever become whole again..."
"I wouldn't have bothered," Nightmare Chirithy said, waving an arm. "He doesn't seem worth the wait, does he? Him and the others - and my partner - they didn't survive because they were special or something. They just got lucky the Master had plans for them..."
"Who was your Partner?" Chirithy asked, quiet and curious. "Are they still here, too?"
Nightmare Chirithy laughed again. She turned away with a hop - and went hopping and skipping up to Imra! "That's just what I'm here to try and find out," she spoke, quiet and serious, now.
"Stay away from my friend!" Xion shouted, starting forward.
Ven lunged after her, grabbing her arm tightly and yanking her back with surprising strength. "Xion, don't!"
"Let go - I'm not letting that Chirithy thing hurt Imra!" Xion yelled.
"Xion-"
"Okay, so he's not completely stupid," came Nightmare Chirithy's voice. "You should listen to him, kiddo. If you try and get in my way, well...I've got a few friends who might have something to say about it."
Nightmare Chirithy raised an arm, looking back at them over a tiny shoulder.
Smoke puffed and darkness swirled on either side of her, and two black-coated figures appeared to flank her! Their coats' hems and sleeves had reddish purple patterns on them. Inside their hoods, it was pure darkness, with glowing red eyes staring out.
"Woah..." Sora gasped, staring at them in fear and wariness. "What kind of Nightmares are those?"
"The very strong, very dangerous kind!" Nightmare Chirithy said, in a voice of high glee.
"Is that why you're doing all of this? All of these worlds, all of these Nightmares? Just to draw out your partner?" Chirithy said loudly, in a voice of anger now. "What if they're not even here anymore?!"
Nightmare Chirithy looked back at her fellow Chirithy. Then, at Ven. The little purple cat creature gave a shrug of her shoulders. "Then they're not here anymore?"
"What about everyone else?!" Sora exclaimed, stepping forward. "You don't even care?"
Nightmare Chirithy gave another shrug. "Not really, no."
Sora's Keyblade shook at his side, as he gritted his teeth at the Nightmare Chirithy. "Grrr..."
"Now be good little boys and girls and stay put. This little toy has some awful dreams in her head, and I want to bring them out for you all to play with..." Nightmare Chirithy said, turning back to Imra and raising a stubby arm to her...
A dark aura surrounded Imra, tendrils flowing out of her, up into the air, like snakes...
"NO!" Xion cried, ripping her arm free of Ven, racing forward and raising her weapon.
"Xion, don't!" Ven yelled after her, trying to grab her again.
One of the cloaked Nightmares was shrouded in swirling red and orange energy, its eyes flashing. Then, a line of red and black energy shot out across the floor toward Xion!
Xion stopped, staring down at her feet, where a circle of black and red energy was swirling.
Then the energy suddenly exploded upward into a pillar, carrying her up into the air along itself!
A burning orange energy surrounded Xion's body, holding her in the air - and then red and purple tendrils and balls of light exploded and tore their way in and out of her body like worms and apples, and the aura burned around her and she couldn't move-
And then suddenly it let her go.
She dropped to the floor, landing on her face, her weapon clattering away from her.
Xion's whole body burned...she could barely move...her eyes blinked at darkness on the edges...sound faded in and out... Flashes of light and voices around her...
Xion tried to raise her trembling head, moving a hand a few inches forward...for...
Imra...
The girl's eyes suddenly flashed to life in the dark, bright and red.