Chapter 27

Showdown at Hollow Bastion

As Molly and the others woke up the next morning, they were all rested enough to have their final battle with Maleficent. With everyone ready to head to Hollow Bastion, Yen Sid wished them all luck on their upcoming fight.

Molly, Libby, and Xehanort flew the gummiship to meet up with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy at Hollow Bastion. As they guided their gummiship through space, Molly and Libby mentally prepared themselves for their fight with Maleficent. Even though they had Xehanort, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy on their side, they weren't sure how they would be able to take on a witch as powerful as Maleficent.

Neither of them had too much time to think about it as they saw Hollow Bastion in the distance. After landing the gummi ship, Molly and her friends stepped out, where they met up with Mickey and the others.

Everyone stood at the edge of a cliff, where they could see a castle in the distance. It was a dark and twisted castle with no signs of life except for the countless Heartless guarding the front gate.

"So, Maleficent is inside that castle?" Molly asked.

Mickey nodded. "That's right! We'd better be careful. Maleficent isn't just going to let us waltz right in. She has countless Heartless at her command."

"Ah, I'm not scared! The Heartless don't stand a chance against my magic!" Donald bragged, taking out his wand.

"We shouldn't get overconfident." Xehanort cautioned. "Who knows what kind of Heartless we would face?"

"Xehanort is right." Libby agreed before giving a sigh. "This isn't going to be easy."

"Don't worry about it too much, Libby! Once we defeat Maleficent, you and Molly would be able to go back home like you wanted!" Goofy assured.

Soon, Chirithy appeared as they said, "I know that you can all do this! Just one more fight, and we can all go home!"

Once they were ready, Molly and the others made their way towards the castle. As they approached the castle, countless Heartless stood in their way to guard the front gates. There were wizard Heartless, knight Heartless, and wyvern Heartless everywhere. To combat this, Molly and her friends split up as they all took a few Heartless at a time.

Molly and Libby leaped in the air and swung their keyblades at the wyvern Heartless while Mickey and Xehanort took on the knight Heartless as Mickey distracted them so Xehanort could take them out from behind. As for Donald and Goofy, they fought against the wizard Heartless. Donald attacked the Heartless with his most powerful magic spells while Goofy blocked incoming attacks with his shield. With the combined efforts of Molly and her friends, they were all able to defeat the Heartless before they proceeded through the castle.

As they traversed deeper in the castle, Molly and her friends fought their way through more Heartless while activating lifts to carry them higher into the castle. It wasn't long before they found themselves on a high up balcony. It was at that moment when Libby looked down and immediately regretted it. Upon realizing how high up they were, Libby began to visibly tremble. Molly started to notice this, so she held her hand with a reassuring smile. Feeling safe with Molly, Libby started to calm down as she and her friends stepped deeper in the castle.

Once they reached the very top, Molly and her friends found themselves walking through a nearby hallway. They all got their weapons ready in case a Heartless decided to attack them. However, nothing appeared, which only make Molly and the others even more suspicious. Suddenly, Mickey came to a complete stop as he looked around.

"Mickey, what's wrong?" Molly asked.

"We are not alone! Don't let your guard down!" Mickey cautioned.

At that moment, Mickey let out a gasp before leaping out of the way of a powerful fire spell. Everyone held up their weapons as Maleficent appeared in front of them.

"So, you finally made it. And I see that you brought some allies with you as well." Maleficent noticed.

"Maleficent, you have gone too far this time!" Mickey said. "Do you have any idea how much damage you caused to countless worlds?"

Maleficent chuckled. "Oh, it's going to be so much worse! Once all of you meddlesome fools are out of the way, I won't stop until all worlds are consumed by darkness!"

"We won't let that happen!" Molly yelled. "There is so much good in all worlds and we are not going to let you take it all away!"

"Molly is right!" Libby added. "Don't think it would be like the last time we fought each other!"

"Simple fools! Do you have any idea who you are dealing with? I am the mistress of all evil, and it is time your journey came to an end!"

With that, Maleficent fired another spell from her staff, only for Goofy to block it with his shield. Molly and her friends then charged forward as Molly, Libby, Xehanort, and Mickey swung their keyblades at Maleficent, only for Maleficent to teleport out of the way.

As everyone searched for the witch, Maleficent appeared above them and fired blasts of lightning from her staff. Thinking fast, everyone dodged the onslaught of lightning that fell from above.

Things only got even more chaotic when Maleficent summoned Heartless to attack the group of friends. To help their friends, Donald and Goofy worked together to keep the Heartless distracted as Donald blasted the Heartless with fire, ice, and thunder spells while Goofy defended him with his shield.

As the battle continued, Maleficent shot a fire spell at Molly from her staff. Thankfully, Libby protected Molly by summoning a reflect spell at her, deflecting the spell right back at Maleficent. With a glare, Maleficent was about to summon a curse to get rid of Molly's shield. Unlike last time, Xehanort was able to stop the curse by hitting Maleficent with his keyblade. This staggered Maleficent, allowing Mickey to swing his keyblade at her as well. Seeing their chance, Molly and Libby ran towards Maleficent and slashed her with both of their keyblades at the same time.

With no more Heartless around and Maleficent now weakened, Molly and the others surrounded Maleficent as she was on her knees, unable to fight back. Maleficent panted in exhaustion before looking up at Molly and her friends.

"I-I see that your strength has improved since we last fought each other." Maleficent noticed.

"Strength has nothing to do with it, Maleficent. We have friends and the power of light on our side, and light is more powerful than darkness!" Molly explained.

Despite the state she was in, Maleficent still managed a weak laugh. "How touching. However, I believe that not all of you are on the side of light." Maleficent brought her attention over to Xehanort. "Xehanort, we both know that you still have the power of darkness, so why are you fighting on Molly and Libby's side?"

"Because they are my friends." Xehanort answered without a second thought.

"Friends?" Maleficent repeated. "Don't put so much trust in them! They would betray you before you know it. They expect you to stay on the path of light and will never accept you or your darkness!"

"That's enough!" Mickey yelled. "It's over, Maleficent! Just give up!"

"I take orders from no one, you meddlesome king!" Maleficent slowly stood back up. "It's time you have all seen my true power! See for yourselves, all the powers of hell!"

Suddenly, Maleficent was consumed in green flames as the flames got bigger and bigger until Maleficent was towering above them. Once the flames disappeared, Molly and her friends were horrified to see that Maleficent turned into a giant dark purple dragon with green eyes. Just like Maleficent's normal sorceress form, her dragon form had a pair of horns on her head, along with a pair of wings.

With a mighty roar, Maleficent stomped towards Molly and her friends before breathing green flames at them. Everyone dodged out of the way as they stared up at the enormous dragon in front of them. Despite Maleficent's terrifying appearance, Molly and Libby were not ready to give up, especially after making it this far.

Molly and her friends dodged all of Maleficent's claw swipes while Goofy blocked the flames with his shield. It was hard for any of them to attack Maleficent, especially when she would knock them back with her tail if they got anywhere near her. As the flames started to spread, Donald tried to put them out with his water spells. Just when Donald thought he got all of the flames, Goofy noticed something.

"Uh, Donald? You might want to look behind you." Goofy pointed out.

"Wha- Aaah!" Donald screamed when he noticed that his tail was on fire, so he desperately tried to douse it out with his magic.

Even with the combined efforts of everyone casting water spells, the flames only spread more and more.

"This isn't good, Molly! I think we might need some help!" Libby said, taking out all of the summon gems.

"Libby, you're a genius! Let's call our friends for help!" Molly said.

With that, Molly and Libby raised one summon gem in the air, summoning Sprig Plantar to help them in their battle. The pink frog looked up and was horrified to see the evil dragon in front of him.

"What the heck is that?!" Sprig stumbled back in fear.

"Sorry, Sprig." Molly apologized as she continued to fight Maleficent. "We really did want to leave you out of this tough fight, but one thing led to another and we really need help."

"We know that we haven't summoned you in awhile, but do you think you can help us?" Libby asked.

After getting over his surprise, Sprig picked up his slingshot, along with a couple of rocks. "Just leave it to me!",

With that, Sprig hopped around the room until he leaped in the air right in front of Maleficent's face. He then fired the rocks straight at Maleficent's eyes. This caused her to roar in pain as she stumbled aimlessly.

"Thanks, Sprig!" Molly and Libby thanked as the energy from Sprig's summon gem wore off before he returned to his gem.

While Maleficent was distracted, Molly and Libby took out Stan and Ford's summon gems. As they summoned the Pines brothers, appeared in the room, dazed and confused.

"Ugh! My head!" Stan rubbed his head before noticing Maleficent towering above him. "Oh, boy. Looks like we're in for a tough fight."

"Molly. Libby. Are we in a fight with a dragon?" Ford asked.

"Sorry. We wouldn't have summoned you if it wasn't important." Libby said, dodging Maleficent, who tried to bite her with her sharp fangs.

"You're the genius here, Ford! What's the plan?" Stan asked his brother.

Ford gazed around the room to see green flames surrounding the area. "We're obviously not going to get anywhere with the whole place on fire. This calls for one of my gadgets!"

With that, Ford took out his freeze ray and blasted all the flames with ice. Once all of the flames were extinguished, Ford brought his attention to Maleficent before freezing her front legs, causing her to trip.

"Stanley, now!"

Realizing what his brother was planning, Stan ran towards Maleficent and punched her in the face with incredible strength. With the energy of the two stones depleted, Stan and Ford returned to their gems, leaving just one gem left. Maleficent soon broke free of the ice before she charged forward.

Dodging out of the way, Molly and Libby used one last gem to summon Jake Long. Confused, Jake looked around before taking notice of Maleficent. Unlike the last few summons, Jake didn't seem intimidated in the least.

"Alright! Looks like it's dragon versus dragon!" Jake exclaimed before transforming in his dragon form.

He then flew in the air and breathed fired on Maleficent while dodging her claw swipes and bites. Before long Jake slashed Maleficent with a claw swipe of his own. As the energy of his summon gem began to deplete, Jake gave one last encouraging smile to Molly and Libby.

"Molly. Libby. Good luck! I know you can do it!"

With no more summon gems left, Maleficent was now furious, so she flew in the air and breathed fired until it consumed the entire room.

"Everyone quick! Get to higher ground!" Mickey yelled as he led everyone to a nearby staircase.

As everyone climbed the staircase, Maleficent slashed at everyone with her claws, destroying more of the staircase in the process. Everyone continued to dodge the dragon's ferocious attacks as they ran up the stairs as fast as they could.

Once they were nearly at the top, Maleficent slashed her claws at Molly, who leaped out of the way at the last moment. However, the slash destroyed a large chunk of the stairs, separating Molly from her friends.

"Molly!" Libby reached out in desperation, unable to get to her.

It was at this point when Molly realized that she was trapped with Maleficent staring down at her. She soon started to panic when Maleficent opened her mouth to breath fire on her. Thinking fast, Molly leaped into the air straight towards Maleficent before plunging her keyblade right in Maleficent's forehead. That was when Maleficent gave a high pitched screech of pain before her body became consumed in green flames.

The flames died down until everyone was able to safely walk back down the stairs. Libby rushed down to see Molly laying on the floor. Worried for her girlfriend, Libby kneeled down to shake her awake.

"Molly! Molly!"

A groan escaped from Molly as she slowly opened her eyes. "L-Libby?"

"Molly, you're okay!" Libby tearfully hugged Molly. "Please don't scare me like that again!"

"Sorry I worried you, Libby. I promise I'm okay!" Molly stood up before taking a look around. "But what about Maleficent?"

Everyone looked around to see that there was no sign of Maleficent, apart from her burnt cloak on the ground. Upon realizing that they finally put an end to the evil witch, Molly and the others sighed in relief, knowing that they don't have to worry about Maleficent again.

"I-Is it over?" Libby asked.

Mickey nodded. "Yes, Libby. Now that Maleficent is gone. We don't have to worry about the Heartless anymore!"

"That's great! I'm so happy that the worlds are safe once again!" Molly smiled.

Mickey smiled. "Me too, Molly! Now what do you say we go back to Master Yen Sid's tower so he can send you and Libby back home? I'm sure you two have a lot of friends and family waiting for you!"

As everyone celebrated their victory over Maleficent, Xehanort stood in the center of the room, gazing at Maleficent's cloak in silence. The last words that Maleficent said to him echoed in his head. He began to wonder if Molly and Libby would still be his friends if he continued his path to darkness.

"Xehanort?" Molly's voice snapped Xehanort back to reality. "We're all ready to leave! are you coming?"

"Y-Yes. I'll be right there." Xehanort replied before following Molly and the others.

With Maleficent now defeated, Molly and her friends returned to the gummiship before taking off in the air back to Yen Sid's tower.