A red flash engulfed the room and then quickly faded off as Cody could feel the bristling texture of the wishmaking shop's tatami mats scratch onto his face. He slammed head first to the floor and made a painful skid before finally resting in place. And not long after, he could feel the pressure of what felt like a throttling dodgeball fling onto his poor back as Mokona made his own landing. The white furball cheered in amusement at his thrill ride while his friend painfully moaned beneath him.
"Izzy," he wheezed. "Couldn't you have had pillows out or…" His palms on the floor, Cody very carefully lifted his head up to voice his ails to the other teen, only to notice that she was nowhere to be seen. In fact, rather than the maniacal redhead he expected, his eyes met those of a tall kimono clad woman towering before him.
"My apologies," Yuuko smirked. "It's been a long time since I've transported someone between fact and fiction, so some of the smaller details might have escaped me."
"Master!" Mokona bopped Cody's head and propelled himself into his beloved master's arms.
Cody was left in a stammering state as he quickly got on his feet and attempted to regain what dignity he still had. "M-miss Yuuko," he stuttered. "Sorry, I didn't realize you were here. I, uh, was wondering where…?" He craned his head in all directions and searched for Izzy to no avail.
"Isadora stepped out not too long ago," Yuuko said while she ruffled through Mokona's fur.
"Oh," Cody froze into a more relaxed state in response. "I guess that explains why she went all silent towards the end, huh?"
"Yes, that's right."
Mokona, who had lulled around in peaceful bliss, perked up in confusion as he was handed back over to Cody. Yuuko walked to the desk that the sketchbook had been placed upon with a tired droll that was unlike her usual larger than life demeanor.
"You did a great job fixing this up by the way," she flipped through the book's contents. "Completely spotless. I was starting to wonder if this thing would ever get cleaned up."
Cody shared a look of worry with Mokona before continuing on. "Are you alright?"
"I'll manage," she waved off his concern. "Hopefully."
"Hopefully?"
"It'll all depend on how well Leon and the others can ward things off this time."
"'Ward things off'?" Cody gulped. "Wait, don't tell me the Heartless came back while we were away."
"That would be quite the understatement," she said with hints of weakness in her usual sly smile. "You were lucky enough to miss all the previous attacks, but unlucky enough to make it to this one." Her head tilted to the side, and she continued to look at him with an ominous gaze. "Or perhaps you were lucky enough to be able to save your energy for the moment where it really counted."
"Wh-what do you mean?"
"Use your head," she sighed playfully before switching to an urging glare. "I would suggest you join the others out there immediately. If things get any worse than they already are, I can't even begin to describe what the consequences will be."
Cody and Mokona glanced at each other once more with fearful faces. "We'll do what we can," the boy responded as the two nodded their heads in an almost desperate manner.
"Good. Now if you'll excuse me…" Yuuko trudged off once more to lounge on her signature chaise. She pulled out her pipe with one hand and carefully rested her forehead on the other. "I must concentrate."
When she first introduced herself to him a long while ago, Yuuko had explained that her magic was responsible for whittling down Heartless activity to more manageable levels. It was no wonder she was in such an exhausted state. If things were as bad as she claimed, she must've been near her limit. Cody and Mokona looked at each for a third and final time. Odds were, they would not be prepared for what would greet them out there, but if Yuuko was pushing herself this far to protect the town, they had to as well. They gave firm nods to each other, and another to Yuuko herself, before wordlessly storming out the door and waterway and into the heat of battle.
oOo
They were not prepared for this. Boy, were they not prepared for this.
They fought through the chaos of Trickmaster's rain of infernos. They fought through the chaos of a giant lizard monster tearing through a populated stadium. They fought through the chaos of a Heartless infused mech's close ranged missile circus. They fought through the chaos of a sensory overloaded Heartless theme park. They fought through the chaos of bloodcurdling angels infesting the edge of space. They fought through the chaos of entire throngs of Heartless filling up squares and alleyways upon nightfall. They fought through the chaos of Heartless roaming freely in a defenseless city with no light. And somehow, this was worse than everything that came before.
His mouth hung and agape, Cody looked as if he had just walked into a burning building. Even Mokona, who would usually make out of pocket comments in a misguided attempt at levity, was still and silent. The Heartless swarmed like gnats and ants and devoured the buildings that had already struggled to stay intact. The grounds below were only just barely easier to parse through than that of other near world ending infestations solely because of all the infrastructure they took care to chew down. A mix of shouts, screams, blasts, and swings of weaponry crumpled into an indecipherable mess of sounds as citizens scrambled to fight off and flee from the monsters who occupied every corner of town. The two newcomers could only give each other horrified faces as they struggled to fathom that this was indeed Traverse Town that they had walked back into.
"Don't just stand there!" The duo snapped back in place after hearing a familiar yell. The shrill and heated voice was accompanied by the loud blasts of an Uproar that cleared off the path between them and the rest of their crew.
"Lottie! Ally!" Mokona bounced to the two Pokemon and right atop Loudred's shoulder like a child running to his parents after waking up from a bad dream.
"You two alright?" Loudred asked, patting the white rabbit's head. It usually took little effort to hear him over a crowd, but with everything that was going on, even he had to raise his voice.
"Yeah, I guess," Cody continued to twirl his vision around over the sea of insanity.
"Couldn't have gotten here sooner." Alakazam tried to fall into his classic chides, but it was hard to ignore the high pitched shaking that mixed in with his words. It was loud and clear. Despite everything they'd been through so far, this was all too much.
With the tension already high, the four collectively jumped at the sight of two figures who almost seemed to appear spontaneously in front of them. Having long lost her ability to teleport, Izzy instead opted to increase her physical speed, and an obnoxious puff of green magic dust mixed into a pukish hue alongside the black Heartless residue of her road victims from along the way. Not too far from her, Leon followed, having been pulled along into her acceleration spell. A similar trail of fading dead Heartless ash also came with him, but this time, from the distinct source of his Gunblade.
"I-Izzy?" Cody gasped.
Izzy responded in kind by slapping his cheeks over and over again like a ragdoll. "This is bad, this is bad, this is bad!" Even she was starting to break down. "We gotta get out, get out, get out!"
"We gotta get these things away from the hideout, that's what we need to do," Leon sternly pointed to the waterway. Indeed, numerous Heartless had started to inch towards the entrance. Not just the typical Shadows and Soldiers, but a series of merfolk and jellyfish like enemies, Screwdivers and Sea Neons, made their way through the stream. Sure, it was all boarded up, but what good would a bunch of wooden planks do if a whole army rammed into them?
"Yeah, yeah!" Izzy added to Leon's order. The man had already begun to snipe out flames, and she quickly joined him by taking finger guns to a whole new level through the sharp bits of lasers that seeped from her fingertips. "Master goes down, we all go down!"
"Oh, shit, that's right," Cody slapped his head. "Um, uh…"
His next move was stupid, but, dangit, if they weren't desperate.
He summoned out his Keyblade and waved it high in the air like a flag. "Hey, Heartless! You see this?"
His three companions all looked like they were about to topple over in response. Suddenly, nearly every creature in the perimeter had their eyes on that darn key. The trio didn't even have time to call him an idiot. In fact, they should've booked it the moment he opened his mouth. Running from them all was like being at the very cusp of a stampede. One slip, and they were finished.
"…Ha…ha…" Cody wondered if he'd lost his goddamn mind. Mere inches away from doom, and he couldn't help but laugh. "This is…just like…my first time in town…" He turned around, ready to ease his buddies into his insane conversation. "Oh, yeah…you guys…weren't there when that happened…So, let me tell you—-"
The three simultaneously shouted some variation of "JUST SHUT UP AND RUN!" The nerve of the token melee guy to do nothing but banter while they all busted their asses trying to fend things off in the back. This was a situation where just a single trip could end it all, and the fact that they had to constantly face backwards to aim did not help their odds of survival.
"Up ahead!" Loudred hollered out.
Mokona perked up in relief. "Aeri! Yuyu!"
The girls had been handling their own little cluster when the guys tumbled on in to ruin all their progress. Any sense of annoyance was replaced by fear and terror the moment the two laid eyes on what their friends had brought with them.
Yuffie balked at the sight. "Oh, for crying out loud!"
"No time for complaints," Aerith slapped the younger girl's back forwards. "These things aren't going to take themselves out."
Armed with ninja gear and a staff, Yuffie and Aerith charged forward and mixed their stars and enchantments along the cramped mesh of magic and Pokemon moves that already bounced around. With them up front, the hurdling Heartless army had finally been contained into a stationary mass. This meant Cody was free to actually join in the fray. He had just sliced up a bumbling Large Body when his rhythm was interrupted by the sting of a Psybeam that just barely burned the edge of his soles.
"Watch it!"
"I'm trying!" Al angrily yelled back, a slight scratch in his throat from all the stress. "I'm not exactly in a good spot to aim, y'know."
He was right. The sea of black was so dense, one could easily find themselves facing off a dozen Heartless at once the very moment they were done with half of that. There was no sense to plot careful tactics or precision with a mob like this. The most sensible technique would be to just keep aiming wildly in all directions in hopes that any incoming enemy would drop dead before they could even touch them. And that's exactly what all of the long range fighters did. At that point, Cody wasn't just slinking around the swipe of Heartless claws. He was ducking and leaping away from his own allies' friendly fire.
"We," Cody managed to huff out after rolling away from the combined efforts of a Yellow Opera's streaks of lightning, Mokona's thin red laser line, and an entire trail of kunai knives. "We've gotta get out of here."
"That's wishful thinking, kid," he could hear Loudred laugh nervously nearby, his voice being the most barely audible one out of any of theirs at that point.
"Cid's shop is nearby," Aerith heaved, right as she managed to swing two particularly grabby bugs off her staff. "If we can make a small dent on these guys, we might be able to slip out."
"Really?" Cody gulped and tumbled away to the ground from the miniature storm the mage and a stray Blue Rhapsody had just conjured up. "These things just keep coming and coming. How're we going to find an opening in this?"
"You can start by putting that damn key away."
Cody swung his leg upward and squeaked in fright. As he laid on the ground, a half circle of fireballs flung onto the Heartless that had begun to approach his body. It was like a sauna down there with the circlet burning to a crisp before him. He sprung back to his feet to see Leon's face just inches away from his, having shown up to assist after getting the waterway under control.
"First thing I taught you and you've already forgotten."
"I mean, I'm not gonna be unarmed in the middle of all this. Are you nuts?" Cody frantically swung his arm around to emphasize just how big of a death wish that suggestion was. Leon clicked his tongue in response before doing the unthinkable. He handed his Gunblade to Cody. "I, wh, what?" The small teen blubbered out in confusion as his arms lowered from the sword's weight.
"You're armed now, so put that thing away already," Leon made one last order before squeezing his way to Yuffie to stock up on knives in his sword-gun's stead.
He was so floored over the fact that Leon of all people had entrusted him with his signature weapon, he could barely focus on fending the fiends off himself. The Gunblade wasn't particularly heavy, but it was certainly a huge step up from the more toy-like Keyblade he was used to. He attempted to find the proper balance and swung the sword around drunkenly. With how tightly packed the battlefield was, even a sloppy slash easily landed a hit. At some point, he'd accidentally set off whatever mechanism it was that shot out the flame projectiles, and an entire pack of Heartless were incinerated on the spot. He couldn't turn around to see, but he just knew Leon was facepalming in response. He was lucky he didn't accidentally hit one of his allies, but it got the job done. As frustrating as it was, getting the Keyblade out of the equation was exactly what they needed. With that catnip out of sight, the enemy assembly line slowed down just enough for them to make out small seams of openings. It was practically a miracle itself that they finally made their escape.
"OWEN, I'M COMING, BABBBYYYYY!"
Izzy crashed right through with her hedgehog-like speed spell, and just like before, entire dust clouds of green and black sprinkled all throughout the sky. She was headed for the same exact spot as they were, and they took advantage of the confusion her road rage caused to flee alongside her.
By the time they made it to Cid's place, he was already out, waving around a spear against any Heartless who came near, tensely urging everyone in the vicinity to hurry up and get the hell into his shop. They were the last to pass on in, and the very second they and Cid all stepped on to the floorboards, Dejiko, Puchiko, and Gema rushed over, furniture abound, to barricade the door from the ground up.
Cody collapsed to the creaky wooden floor, his arms and legs all flailed out, and his lungs pumping off to the point of hyperventilation. He finally had some semblance of a break. "H-here," his voice cracked. He numbly dragged the Gunblade upwards in a weak attempt to lift it over to Leon's grasp.
Compared to him, Leon barely looked fazed, only small drips of sweat on him next to Cody who was more or less drenched. The guy was clearly sleep deprived and exhausted, yet he still looked ready to jump back in at a moment's notice. It probably spoke more about the years of experience the man had dealing with these kinds of nightmares than anything else. "Thanks," he mumbled, the Gunblade back in his hand. "You did good out there."
Cody's trembling palm turned into a crooked thumbs up.
"Here, kid." Cid placed a bottle of water right next to head. "Don't worry," he let out a soft chuckle. "Won't make you fall asleep this time."
Despite how exhausted he was, Cody laughed heartily in response. He carefully lifted himself up just enough so he could prop on to the wall. The current situation was awful, but there was still a nostalgic feeling to it that reminded him of the very beginning of his journey. He couldn't help but smile just thinking about it. With his heart warm and worn, he slowly brought the tip of the bottle to his lips…
…And immediately choked as soon as the shakes and vibrations hit.
The Heartless they had assumed they escaped from banged and prodded on to the door and walls. Dejiko, Puchiko, and Gema started to panic and threw whatever scrap of crap they could find in a desperate attempt to further strengthen the shield.
"I swear," Cody looked up to Leon with frightened eyes. "I don't have it out!"
Leon grit his teeth in frustration as he assessed the situation. "Great. Just great."
With each passing second, the slam, thumps, and quivers grew more violent in their persistence. The crowd gathered within started to shriek and stammer, and it was only then that Cody realized just how packed tight the shop was. There were familiar faces in there and then some. It was like being trapped in a toybox. It was easy to see what would happen next. Murmurs turned into screams, and peace turned into madness.
"Take us back!" He overheard Tyler tearfully shout as the jock started to shake Alakazam's shoulders. "Take us back to MidiCity right the freak now!" Justin had to pry the teen off of the guy himself, and at that point, Tyler was in enough hysterics that he started to claw back at his supposed buddy instead. Izzy was about to take her turn to break things up, but knowing there was a high probability she would make things worse, Owen lifted the two boys off the ground in her place.
"Heeeeeey there," he squinted and gave off a faux smile. "Let's just calm down. Everything's gonna be alright. We're…we're not gonna just die here." The last thing Cody wanted to happen happened. Owen spotted him on the ground and looked over to him with pleading eyes of earnest. "We're not gonna die, right?
"Right?"
Don't…don't ask me that, holy shit.
Of course we're not gonna…
We're doomed.
Oh my God, we're doomed.
We're gonna die. We're gonna freaking die. We're gonna—
"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE, NYO!" Dejiko had finally given up on her barricade duty and started to burst out into tears. Her shrill cry was enough to pierce through all the panic that had filled the room. "Why is this happening, nyo? I, I…" She kicked the floor. "I can't die before I even come close to being a star, nyo! This shouldn't be happening to me.
"I'm a princess, dangit, nyo!"
…
…Wait.
…Oh.
…Oh!
…Oh no.
It seemed Cody and Leon had landed on the same conclusion at the same exact moment in time because the two of them both looked at each other like deer in headlights.
Cid had said the Heartless attacks started to get worse shortly after Dejiko and the other two made it to town, but…that was just a joke. Wasn't it?
Wasn't it?
Leon said it himself. Every world had one.
And what if one of them managed to survive her world's destruction and landed herself elsewhere?
Everything happened all at once. Cody and Leon both smacked themselves in the forehead and filled the room with expletives, junk and splinters flew everywhere as the door and barricade were broken through, and Dejiko's screams echoed in the air as she was dragged off and away to who knows where. As engulfing and suffocating as the hordes of surrounding Heartless were, it was near silent as soon as both they and she were gone with nothing but the ambience of far off destruction in the background in their stead.
Gema and Puchiko looked at one another with haunted eyes. Gema, her supposed guardian, looked like he was ready to throw up from distress. Puchiko, meanwhile, looked to be the closest she'd ever been to breaking her stoic state and shedding tears. Cid had become the three's designated caretaker, and seeing them like that boiled him with rage. With the doorway now wide open,he was the first to storm outside to figure out just what had transpired. And he was the first to see who was to blame for the young girl's kidnapping. "There's something there by the clock tower."
Cody and his usual crew peeked out behind him, and up in the distant sky, the slim dragon-like entrails of the Heartless clot that dragged Dejiko's distinct lime green head off and away had spiraled around in front of the tower. And right beside it all, a tiny red blot oversaw everything like a bloodied star. The four frowned in response. Even from just as a single far off dot, they could make out that pesky red witch anywhere.
"Again?" Al whispered to himself in frustration.
Loudred blinked in sudden realization. "Is Dejiko one of the Seven Lights?"
"Is she?" Cody held his forehead in disbelief. It had already been an awful feeling losing Amy and Shiemi from under their thumb. They couldn't lose her too.
"What are you talking about?" Leon marched over urgently.
"Witchy witch," Mokona pointed to the floating red dot. "She's bad news."
"One of that Maleficent woman's lackeys?" Leon frowned.
"What?!"
Aerith and Yuffie, who already had their hands full trying to comfort Gema and Puchiko, flung themselves past the boys and right out the doorway to see for themselves.
"This is just…" Yuffie struggled to find words. All she could do was pull her hair like she was trying to tear it out and let out a snarling scream. "RRRAAAAAGGGHHHH!"
Aerith turned back towards the others and waved them over with a serious face. She looked like she was using everything within her to stave off her anger. "Come on," she continued to gesture them over. "We gotta go rescue her." She pointed to the green mage in training who had started to join the others up front out of curiosity. "Izzy! You stay behind and protect the shop."
"No way, nuh uh," she shook her head with her hands on her hips. "I'm not missing out on the fun."
"Oh, oh, oh, I can keep watch," Owen piped up from behind. "Izzy's been passing down some of her magic lessons to me in her spare time."
Aerith's mouth was hung open with a skeptical look on her face. She was about to voice her objection, but was stopped by the disgruntled muttering of Cid who reassured he'd have everything under control. They both wanted to help the team's bratty little surrogate sister as soon as possible, and neither wanted to argue this further. With that, Aerith and Yuffie took off with Izzy, Leon, Al, Loudred, Mokona, and Cody trailing behind in one long chain.
"Hey, Cody." Right as he was making his way out of there, he was startled by the sudden nab of his arm from Tyler of all people. "Sorry about that freak out earlier, brah."
"Uh, no, that's alright," he sideyed to the others who quickly headed out of sight.
"We'll make it up to you," Tyler continued with bright candor. "We'll help out too."
Justin joined his side and nodded with an overconfident grin.
Cody had been distracted by his own attempt to keep track of the group, but the sheer audacity of the offer caused him to bounce into a pause. "I, wh-what?"
"We've defeated tons of Heartless," Tyler let out a cocky laugh. "We're experts, just like you guys."
Justin flexed his muscles.
They couldn't be serious. "You were just playing instruments though! That's not gonna work here."
"Pshaw," Tyler waved it off. "Don't worry, we've got this."
If only he had the time to argue. He could barely make out the others at all now, and he just plain sped off and away before he could lose them entirely. As much as he would've loved for those two to take a hint, they had taken his silence for wordless approval and followed his lead. Making it back into the deep thicket of the town's Heartless invasion, he was right to have been skeptical of Tyler and Justin's intrusion because the two ran off screaming the moment the crowds grew just a single level above average.
"Wait! Come back!" He felt like he was ready to have a panic attack. He twisted and turned, and struggled to decide whether to parse for his allies in the loud sea, or for the two bozos who ran off. It was like going back in time to the days of getting separated from his parents at the mall, only now, the civilians were replaced with heart thirsty monsters out for his head. As his vision spiraled around and around, he could feel himself slowly getting surrounded, but his mind was too scrambled to retaliate.
He could hear something swing off right next to him. His brain screamed at him that he was about to get mauled by a Neo Shadow, but as he saw all the Heartless around him fall one-by-one, he wasn't so sure. His breathing leveled off, and he finally returned to his senses when he saw the blade of a naginata rest on the ground.
"Oh, man," Bridgette blurted out. "Almost lost you there for a second. You alright?"
"Bridgette! Thank goodness," he breathed. "I just… Watch out!"
Just like she had saved his butt, Cody summoned out his Keyblade and slashed out a lingering Soldier that had snuck up on her from behind.
"Geez," she gasped. "Thanks a… To your right!"
Perhaps it was because of the Keyblade's entrance, but the duo became unexpectedly locked into a closed off flurry of incoming Heartless creatures. With barely even a free moment to think, the two stood by each other, back-to-back, and fended it all off with complete silence and cadence. The two were almost hypnotically in sync like a single unit, and they constantly moved, spun, and twirled their respective weapons around like a pair of walking forcefields. The two managed to clear the cluster off, but the damage was done. As he sent the Keyblade away once more, he was back to the state of a frazzled lost child. He'd lost the others completely.
"They were all headed for the clock tower, right?" Bridgette said after she noticed his fidgeting stance. "If you just keep going, you'll run into them in no time."
"Yeah, but what about—-"
"Tyler and Justin?" She had already started to head off in their direction before even finishing off her thoughts. "I'll go get them. You focus on the clock tower and go." With a quick wave to the sky, she was off and gone. Cody had no one else but the air around him to shout out his thanks. He'd have to do it properly much later.
Now back on his feet, he sped and leapt all throughout the infested streets like he were running through an obstacle course. His eyes were glued to the tower like it was a personal compass. Off in the distance, streaks of red shot out wildly from the tip of the Heartless' Demon Tower clot. Dejiko was trying with all her might to break free. He could make out dozens of Shadows topple off the tower pathetically from the effects of her eye beams. She could've very well escaped on her own if it weren't for the red witch's constant replenishments. His eyes narrowed at the sight. Things had gone on far enough with that girl. Her pent up rage and hostility all those times before had built up to this moment, and like hell he would let her continue.
A sudden spray of green specs clouded past his vision. As the green gusts intensified, he breathed out a huge sigh of relief. "Izzy!" He called out in between pants, finally stumbling to a stop. "Thank…goodness you're…"
"What the hecking heck are you doing back here?" She said to a halt with green powdery residue of her magic still lingering around them. "Everyone was freaking out like…" She grabbed her cheeks and shifted to a theatrically high pitched tone. "''Oh no! Where's Cody?'"
"Yeah, sorry about that," he moved his eyes around, noticing the Heartless that slowly started to creep over to them. "Can we hurry up here?"
"At your service, little lady!" She forcefully clasped her hand to his wrist like half of a handcuff and instantly zoomed away. His entire vision had morphed into a green glow with the occasional streams of black every time she presumably ran over Heartless mounds. He hadn't felt a sensation quite like this since Green Hill Zone, and he wanted to say his stomach had come prepared this time, but that didn't seem to be the case as their speedrun came crashing to a halt.
He wished he'd kept his eyes shut as soon as he opened them. It wasn't just the nausea convincing himself the world was spinning. He could feel the very ground below him shift in place. No doubt, this was what caused Izzy to lose her balance. He frantically searched around for some semblance of an explanation, and it didn't take long to find it.
The clock tower…
…It was no longer six o'clock.
The hands…were turning.
And, boy, did they not stop turning.
"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!"
He was brought back to reality upon hearing Izzy's disgruntled moans. She had landed herself just a little up ahead after the tumble, on the ground and hands on her knee. She was much too distracted to notice the small circle of Shadows that began to form around, and Cody had to immediately send out his Keyblade to jump to her rescue.
Everything was off. The cobbled grounds just would not stop moving, and even dashing up a few feet over proved to be a struggle. He just kept sliding over to the left, to the right, he nearly fell over Izzy herself. And don't get him started on how much worse his stomach was feeling. A battle that should've taken him seconds dragged out longer than it should have. By the time it was over, he was already a panting mess as he reached down to help Izzy back up. "Are you okay?" He groaned.
"As good as can be," she gave a wide, fake grin as she winced on her way back up. "Don't think I should run for a while though…But enough about me!"
Without even a hint of a warning, against her own injury, Izzy grabbed ahold of the smaller boy's body and raised him up like a trophy.
"Hey, hey, HEY, HEY!" Cody flailed around in terror. "Put me down!"
"No can do, bucko." Her face switched to a mischievous gleam. Right across from them, an open alleyway slowly shrunk and cascaded into itself as the ground below the two buildings shifted inwardly. She squinted like she was looking through a pair of binoculars, and very carefully and forcefully, with all her might despite her still sore leg, javelin tossed Cody right through the opening. He could hear her crazed laughter over his own screams, and he continued to hear her all the up to the buildings' collision. As they finally slammed shut, he heard her yelp and yell and throw out a beam of magic until her voice had faded out as she ventured off to her own separate fight.
It was obvious why Izzy had done what she did. She had successfully landed him right back into the group, and, unfortunately, right back into the madness. He let out a nasty hiccup as Loudred quickly ran up to flip him off the ground, over the shoulder, and back on his feet, lest the surrounding Heartless that crowded about got to him. The warping world had evolved in a way that their particular section of town had turned into something of a closed off cage with buildings circling and turning around them like a barrier.
"He's back!" He heard Mokona shriek as he flew smack into his face. He held on to his cheeks to avoid the possibility of his head snapping off before letting his little friend land gently into them. "Keyblade! Keyblade!"
"Huh?" He blinked. A combination of stress, moving tectonics, the throw, the smack, and, boy, the STRESS, had left him struggling to follow what was happening.
"Take it out!" Yuffie ran up to him, tears threatening to leak from her eyes as she yanked a mangy Shadow from its attempts to rip off her hair.
"Absolutely not," He overheard Leon in the near distance, likely way too preoccupied to come over on his own. "Do you want even more Heartless to find us?"
"What do you expect us to do then?!" It was now Yuffie herself who was in the process of tearing apart her hair.
"Leon, I really think we might be in trouble," Aerith, who had been fighting alongside him, could no longer keep her mind collected. Rather than any kind of response or order, Leon remained silent, his face scowling and his hands practically glued to the Gunblade's hilt.
It all hit back at Cody once more. The sheer size and scope of it all, the vertigo of how much had escalated, the pressure and confusion of what he was or wasn't supposed to do, the constant high pitched begs from Mokona who just wouldn't stop hopping on his palms, his own freaking stomach. Cody found himself once again struggling to breath while his heart pulsated back and forth. There was no time for anyone to even notice how frozen in place he was with his mouth agape and eyes bulging. He felt utterly helpless in this scene of assured demise. And it all came crashing down on him when his two large Pokemon buddies came toppling over him after getting thrashed around. He agonized at the very bottom, wondering if getting crushed to death down there would be a much more merciful end than what was promised above. Mokona had plopped off his hands as a result of his fall. The roundish creature bounced like a ball across the street in this unfortunate domino effect until he finally ran smack into a building, face first. He sighed in squeamish defeat before falling back down on his back.
And then there was a glow.
His forehead gem glistened like a newly unearthed ruby. A bizarre light show floated about and formed a thick mass of red energy in a near indecipherable shape. Everyone was too busy with their own battles and failings to notice just what had begun to transpire, but the moment the glow disappeared, everyone knew.
Eva's screeches could probably be heard all throughout the city. Her voice was so mangled from the incalculable fury she had built up, her words seemed more animalistic than human. Everyone stopped in their tracks with whitened faces. Cody and his crew had decided to hide her away in Mokona's inner hammer space after she'd been knocked out back at Death City. They had promised themselves they would figure out what exactly they'd say to her once she was finally released, but the reluctance to even entertain the thought of meeting her face-to-face again kept delaying it until they had purposely shoved her memory in the corner of their minds, praying that they would forget. Now, she was back, she was there, and she was angry.
It wasn't just the Keyblade and Traverse Town teams who her appearance tranced. The Heartless themselves were utterly disturbed at her being. She felt like one of them, but there was a specific sense of hostility none of them should've had. Their confusion carried all the way to their demise. Eva thrashed and zipped around the closed off square in her partial Heartless form. The pitiful bugs failed to fully see her as another opponent, and they became sitting ducks to her temper tantrum.
"Holy…" Cody breathed in fear and awe. The slaughter was equal parts terrifying and hypnotizing.
"Come on," Aerith pulled his shoulder. She pointed up ahead where two buildings had begun to separate. An exit was opening up, but who knew how long it would last. Even then, as she pulled the young teen boy out with her, she couldn't help but keep the one woman army at the corner of her eye.
"Wow," Aerith mouthed. The two had left alongside the others right as the opening closed off once more. "Why didn't you tell us you had a friend as strong as that?"
"Friend?!" Cody choked out. "No, no, no, you've got the wrong idea. She is most definitely not—"
"Yo," Yuffie forcefully swatted him ahead towards the direction she was pointing towards. "Your friends up there are gonna get themselves killed."
They were at the very cusp of an epic battle, and right at the entryway between the rows of buildings and the square, Courtney and Duncan were squabbling ahead with Leon and the rest of the guys. No doubt, the four of them were trying their best to get the two out of harm's way. But what exactly was their issue? Someone like Courntey would've been more than happy to follow orders and drag Duncan with her.
"What's going on?" He gasped out between huffs as he, Yuffie, and Aerith all met the rest over.
"That stupid demon baby," Duncan grumbled and smacked his head. "He flew off on his own."
Cody blinked wildly. While the punk teen was talking, he had tried his best not to linger over towards the clock tower battlefield right in front of them, but it wasn't hard to guess what was going on with Red involved. "Oh crap."
"Let's, uh," Loudred shifted his eyes nervously as beads of sweat began to fall through. His wide smile stiffened into a false curve. It seemed like all three of Cody's normal party members got the hint immediately. "Let's get you two out of here first, alright?"
"Oh no, you don't!" Courtney shoved him off, adamant to enter the upcoming arena herself. "You put us in charge of him. This is our job."
"Do you see what's up ahead?" Al barked back. "You're gonna get killed!"
"No we won't. We've lasted this long—"
One of Dejiko's laser eye beams ran straight across the two buildings between them. Courtney's stride and confidence fell just like that, and Leon fervently pulled her back. The stage had been set. The commotion alerted both the Heartless and Ashley to their presence, and even without even a single movement, they all knew things would be going down.
"Ashley!" A small cry of a demon flew by. "I've found you!"
Having hidden within the buildings in the surrounding area, Red zipped right under their noses and right into the square. Duncan and Courtney responded in utter horror. Despite the looming threats beyond they had just been front row witnesses to, the duo tried to escape the gang's clutches in an attempt to reach their impish companion. Aerith and Yuffie held them back with Cody and the three creatures pushing up front, yet they still persisted. Leon's quick wits meant he was the sole demon catcher on board. He ran right into the square before Red had a chance to get himself into dangerous heights. The moment he snatched him out of the sky like a fly though, something started to happen.
A ring.
A loud ring, thicker than the darkness of the night sky.
A bold and brash ring that echoed throughout the world, as if every inch of chaos took pause specifically to hear its song.
And it rang and rang.
The ground shook even harder than it ever did before like it was making one final reach to the goal before the end. The two buildings that stood as entrance markers to the battlefield beyond began to shake and slide into one another, and all the folks caught in between frantically scattered about to avoid getting crushed in between. Aerith and Yuffie finally succeeded in dragging Duncan and Courtney off while Cody, Al, Loudred, Mokona, Leon, and Red were stuck within.
The ringing stopped, and so did the world itself. There were no more shaking grounds or shifting buildings. Everything was quiet and still.
The hands on the clock tower teetered to a halt.
It was just seconds before midnight.