San Fransokyo Part 3
"So what else are we gonna do to celebrate how totally awesome we are!?" Rainbow asked.
"I think earning some R and R is on my celebratory to-do list," Wasabi said.
"I say we all go out for pizza!" Fred suggested. "I'm buying!"
"You could buy the entire pizza joint if you wanted to," Go Go said.
While everyone discussed what to do next as they wandered around the city, Twilight noticed someone was missing out of the group. "Wait a minute. Where's Sandbar?"
"He said he was gonna take a stroll around the city," Sora said.
Learning their charge was out on his own, Donald, Goofy, Twilight, and even Rainbow Dash turned and gawked at Sora and his nonchalant response. "He's WHAT!?" Twilight exclaimed.
"Sora, you really let him go off on his own after what happened to the others!?" Donald scolded.
"Even if the Organization aren't hunting after them anymore, Sandbar can't protect himself if one of them is roaming around here!" Goofy added.
"Guys, relax. I've got Jiminy watching over him," Sora assured, then pulled out the visor he and his pony companions were given. "And we're able to communicate with these things. We have a way to reach out to him and find him in San Fransokyo."
"Not that reassuring," Twilight grumbled.
"So why's he off on his own anyway?" Rainbow questioned.
"...Well, if it wasn't getting separated from us...I think something's bugging him," Sora said. "Even though we saved the day, he wasn't in a mood to celebrate. Baymax said he was having some self-confidence issues."
"Really?" Twilight and Rainbow Dash glanced at each other. "Sandbar doesn't seem to be that kind of pony."
"Yeah. Not once have I seen that kid doubt himself with anything," Rainbow added.
"He's always helping the others with our friendship lessons. And he's a quick learner when it came to the Keyblade," Twilight pondered.
Sora crossed his arms, wondering what sort of problem Sandbar was having that was dwindling his confidence. "H-Hey! Hello!? Am I reaching anypony!?"
Hearing Sandbar's voice through their visors, Sora quickly put his back on his head. "Sandbar?"
"Sora! There's something in the city!" Sandbar said, hearing the teen panting as he was running. "It's some weird cluster of blocks floating around! I don't know if it's a Heartless, but I have a hunch it's very dangerous! I'm chasing it now!"
"What!? Sandbar, where are you right now!?" Sora asked.
Overhearing the conversation, Hiro tapped his gauntlet, getting Sandbar's location through his own visor. "He's running from the central park and heading north," he said, then linked his visor with Sandbar's to see what he was seeing. While Sandbar was racing after it, Hiro gasped when he saw the mass of blocks Sandbar mentioned, shaped and floating like an ominous jellyfish monster. "What the...?"
"More trouble?" Honey Lemon asked.
"Aww yeah! Time for round two!" Fred cheered, flipping the hood of his outfit back on his head and began to bounce off. "Time to taste fire and ice, creatures of the abyss!"
Ready to stop more heartless, Honey Lemon, Wasabi, and Go Go raced off to where Hiro pinpointed the monster's location. "W-Wait, guys! I don't think it's like the others!" Hiro called out, still baffled by what was about to terrorize San Fransokyo. "Those look just like my microbots...but that's impossible."
"Micro-whats?" Rainbow questioned, her and Twilight watching Sandbar's view from their visors as they eyed the threat he was chasing.
"They're...tiny robots that can be controlled by one's mind, but I thought all of them got sucked away in that portal," Hiro explained. "But...they look different."
"So someone's controlling these microbots?" Twilight asked.
"I need to head back home and figure out what's going on," Hiro said.
"Go ahead. We can handle this," Sora assured.
Sora, Donald, Goofy, Twilight, and Rainbow hurried toward the marker pinpointing Sandbar's location in the distance. "Baymax, you stick with Sora and help them out."
"All right, Hiro," Baymax said, activating his rocket boots and wings and flew after Sora's group to assist them while Hiro sprinted back home to his garage.
Sandbar panted, keeping his eye on the mass of microbots hovering over the city. Being mindful of the streets while not losing sight of the mysterious threat, he avoided other people as they heard it approach and fled from this new monster.
"Where is this thing going?" Sandbar uttered to himself. Reaching a rural section of the city, the bots hovered aimlessly as the tendrils began to curve downward, forming a heart shape as the blocks pulsed with a blue glow from top to bottom through all four connected tendrils. Sandbar prepared himself for a fight, watching several thousand more microbots suddenly appearing and trapping him inside a barrier. "Oh great."
Jiminy hopped out of Sandbar's tail and onto his back and shoulder. "It lured you into a trap," he said, startling Sandbar.
"J-Jiminy? How did you-?" Hearing an ominous sound from the heart-shaped blocks, Sandbar focused on the slowly hovering menace. Jiminy clung onto Sandbar's mane as the stallion leapt up onto a nearby building, giving himself a bit more height as he sprinted off and leapt at the threat. He delivered a powerful swing, but it did nothing as the blocks shifted, barely grazing a single microbot that made up the formation. Dumbfounded, Sandbar landed on the ground, gazing up at the thing in confusion. "How did I miss!? I was going to cleave through that part!"
"Perhaps there's a weakness somewhere among all these blocks!" Jiminy suggested.
Sandbar had no time to figure out where it could possibly be when the microbot threat began attacking him. Shifting over on its side, the bottom connected points of the tendrils detached and aimed at him. Different tendrils began to pulse red and rise out to the ends, launching blocky projectiles at him. Sandbar leapt away from each shot aimed at him, flinging his Keyblade to knock the tendrils apart, but like before, it was like his blade just phased through the shifting blocks.
"Darn it. If physical blows won't work, then I'll try some magic!" Calling back his Keyblade, he took aim and tried to freeze the tendrils with Blizzard spells. Unfortunately, they did nothing to affect the microbots either. Sandbar tried to use Fire, Thunder, Aero, Water, even the recently discovered Ruin spell he and his friends learned, but nothing affected them. "Magic doesn't work either? What are these things?"
Fearing he was trapped with an unbeatable foe forever, the blocks that trapped Sandbar in suddenly vanished. Running up the road, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Twilight, Rainbow, and Baymax finally reached them, but the microbots decided to flee as it shifted back into its jellyfish form and sped off along the highway.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going!?" Rainbow called out, attempting to chase after it, but Twilight held the pegasus back.
"Rainbow Dash, we don't know what those microbots could do!" Twilight exclaimed. "They could have seriously hurt Sandbar!"
Losing sight of the microbots, Rainbow growled, dropping back down with a pout. Sora ran over to Sandbar, surprised to see he wasn't injured.
"You ok, Sandbar?" Sora asked. "We lost track of you for a bit before Hiro's mark on your visor came back."
"Y-Yeah. I'm not hurt," Sandbar assured. "But...I don't know if we can stop those things. I tried to fight it, but nothing physical or magical did anything to it."
"They're invincible?" Twilight asked in disbelief.
"Not quite," Hiro said, appearing on the wielders' visors as he tapped away at his computer back in the garage. "I looked back at Sandbar's recorded viewing when I lost the signal on his visor. There has to be a core somewhere inside those microbots. That's what's powering the whole cluster and the only way to really do some damage."
On their visors, Hiro pulled up an image of the rogue microbot cluster, followed by a cube-shaped core that held a bright energy source within. "Ok, so we find the core and just smash it to pieces. No problem!" Rainbow said.
"But I didn't see anything like that when it attacked me," Sandbar said.
The ponies and Sora suddenly heard Wasabi yell through their visors. "Wasabi!? What happened!?"
"We're kinda in a bind here!" Wasabi said.
Hiro brought up the live feed of his friends' cameras in their respective outfits, four different windows popping up and showing everyone getting attacked by multiple versions of the microbots. Wasabi was trying to blast the blocks with his plasma lasers, diving and rolling away as the tendrils stretched out to slam him into the roof of a skyscraper he was on. Go Go was skating down the highway, fleeing from a cluster chasing after her. Honey Lemon used her chem balls to bounce around the buildings, avoiding another cluster trying to slam its mass into her. Fred used his new ice powers to freeze several tendrils in place after avoiding them, though they didn't stay frozen for long.
"I can't shake this thing!" Go Go exclaimed.
"Freddit getting frustrated!" Fred added, bouncing away as the tendrils shot at him after breaking from the ice.
"Hang on, guys! I'll be right there!" Hiro said.
"No, Hiro!" Honey Lemon exclaimed.
"You just analyze the Darkubes, little dude!" Fred said.
"Wait, did you just call them 'Darkubes'?" Wasabi questioned.
"Yeah. They're dark, they're cubes. Fits them perfectly, just like those Heartless things!" Fred stated.
"We'll try to gather as much data on the Darkubes as we can," Honey Lemon said, tossing a chem ball on a purple mass she made as a platform, disintegrating it and dropping to avoid the Darkube cluster chasing after her.
"I can't just leave you guys out there on your own!" Hiro argued.
"Hiro, you gotta stay in the garage and analyze those microbots," Sora interjected, making Hiro pause. "Your team's got this. This isn't a fight your facing alone. We'll help gather as much data as we can, too, and keep them safe. Ok?"
Hiro hesitated for a moment, but he nodded, sitting himself back down in his chair. "...Alright. Just keep that data coming and we'll expose that core in no time." Tapping away on his keyboard, Hiro gave Sora, Twilight, Rainbow, and Sandbar waypoints where the other members of Big Hero 6 were in the city. "It may be a bit tricky to bust the Darkubes open, but as long as you assess the situation the others are in-"
"We improvise," Sora said. "Big Hero 6, Keyblade Hero 6 is on the way!"
"Oh, now you think it's a good name for us?" Donald questioned.
"Poke fun at each other later!" Twilight exclaimed. "We need to help the others now!"
"I think it's better if we split up!" Rainbow said.
"Right. Rainbow, help Go Go," Sora ordered. Rainbow nodded her head, then zipped off to help the genius speed demon. "Twilight, go for Honey Lemon."
"On it!" Twilight said, flapping her wings and soaring into the sky to where Honey Lemon was.
"Baymax, I want you to stick with Sandbar and help out Fred," Sora said to the robot.
"Affirmative," Baymax said while Sandbar nodded his head.
"Donald, Goofy, you're with me to back up Wasabi." Donald and Goofy nodded, following Sora as they ran off toward the skyscraper Wasabi was currently fighting on.
Sandbar glanced at the map in the corner of his visor, gauging his location and where Fred was. "Is that...back at the park?" Sandbar uttered, suddenly growing worried with the families that were there at the time he spotted the Darkubes. "Oh no. Baymax, hurry!"
"Right behind you," Baymax said as he flew after Sandbar, sprinting fast back to the park.
Rainbow hovered over the city, looking around for any sign of the Darkubes. "There's a lot of these things, and I can't find a single one in this big city," she grumbled. Tapping her visor, she managed to bring up the map, finding herself not too far from where Go Go was. Swooping down, she flew down toward the street, and as she was about to veer around a corner to run into Go Go, she instead was met with a giant ball made of Darkubes. Yelping, Rainbow narrowly avoided getting ran over, dashing out of its path and nearly slamming into the side of a nearby building. "Found one. And almost got flattened into a pony pancake." Seeing no sign of Go Go running from this cluster, Rainbow looked at the map, but grew confused when the marker for Go Go's beacon was inside the group of Darkubes. "Huh? She's inside that thing?"
"Rainbow Dash! Is that you!?" Go Go shouted. Rainbow flew after the rolling microbots, hearing the speedster of Big Hero 6 grunting from inside. "I can't get out of here! They caught up and trapped me in this giant sphere! I can't even burn them away with so much friction to break them down!"
"Unless that core's in there, nothing's gonna really do anything to these cube things!" Rainbow tried to slam her Keyblade into the side of the sphere, but despite it being completely solid, she wasn't able to shift its direction and get it to crash into a building or the supports of the overhang highway. Wondering what to do to break Go Go out of there, she spotted a large Daruma sphere in front of a shopping center a quarter mile ahead. It was as big as the cluster, and with enough speed, she could bust Go Go out of there like an egg. "I got an idea! Brace yourself!"
"Not much I can do in here anyway!" Go Go shouted.
Flying off to the Daruma, Rainbow began pushing it, grunting slightly as she managed to get it rolling. Hoping the building didn't mind her borrowing it, she pushed it off down the road, looking back to make sure the cluster was still going straight down the road. Setting it far enough away, Rainbow launched herself in the air, then dipped down and dove, picking up speed with hard flaps of her wings. Swooping and angling herself behind the Daruma, aiming directly toward the Darkubes, she let out a yell and slammed her hooves hard into it, sending it rolling down the street at ten times the speed the cluster was rolling. Both spheres made contact, the force causing the Darkubes to lose their connection with each other and scatter to pieces, freeing Go Go.
"Strike! Hay yeah!" Rainbow cheered.
Go Go landed on the ground, her hover discs skidding across the asphalt to slow her to a stop, glancing around at the scatter Darkubes around her. "Thanks, Dash. I owe ya one."
"Just doing what I do best: being awesome!" the pegasus gloated.
Twilight found where Honey Lemon's signal was located, dodging anti-air fire from the Pole Cannons on the rooves of the buildings around her. She gasped, spotting a mass of Darkubes hovering over the buildings, tendrils firmly attached to the buildings by some of Honey Lemon's elemental chem balls that managed to trap it, however, her signal was within an orb of the rogue microbots. Shooting down the Pole Cannons with magic spells, she flew down to the spherical mass.
"Honey Lemon!?" Twilight called out.
"Twilight! I'm trapped inside!" Honey Lemon said. "I think I trapped some of the tendrils in my chem balls! Maybe if you cause a chemical reaction with their elements, they might be enough to blow them up!"
"You read my mind. I'll get you out of there!" With both Keyblades hovering at her sides, Twilight tapped into her Generosity H-Link.
Hovering over the sphere, she got a perfect aim on each of the globbed masses melding the tendrils to the building, each one billowing with fiery, icy, or electrical energy. Taking both Keyblades in her hooves, she held them outward at her sides. Taking note of which element to use, she leapt up, and as she twisted and twirled, she thrust her blades in each direction of the chem ball reagents, launching Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder spells at them. Each connected element caused and explosive reaction matching those elements, blowing up the Darkube tendrils, retracting them or scattering the blocks all over the alley below. With the last of them blown up, the sphere of Darkubes trapping Honey Lemon fell apart, making her yell as she suddenly fell. Twilight swooped down, twirling both blades as she twirled and created a swirling vortex of an Aeroa spell, catching Honey Lemon as she landed safely on the ground.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Honey Lemon faced Twilight, who froze in an elegant pose with her blades held at her sides. "Arigato, Twilight," she said.
"If it weren't for your reagents, I don't think I could have gotten you out of there, darling," Twilight said. Honey Lemon was confused by the formal accent the alicorn had. Dismissing her H-Link, Twilight giggled sheepishly at the odd expression on the scientist's face. "Ehh, I forget my Links can make some of my mannerisms and personality match with either of my friends. It's weird to explain."
"I see," Honey Lemon uttered. "Hiro, did you gather enough data?"
"Not yet. The core's still around here somewhere among these clusters," Hiro said. "Just keep breaking them down and it'll reveal itself sooner or later."
"Then let's see if we can find anymore," Twilight said, both of them running out of the alley to search for more Darkubes.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran down the streets, taking out Heartless on the way toward the building where Wasabi's marker was located. Spotting some Darkubes up high on the roof, Wasabi was most likely trapped inside.
"Cover me, guys! I'm going up!" Sora said. Donald and Goofy nodded, handling the Heartless on the ground while Sora leapt onto and ran up the side of the building. Slicing down Pole Cannons appearing and attempting to shoot him down, he reached the top, the Darkube cluster hovering above the center of the rooftop. "Wasabi!?"
"Sora! Get me out of here!" Wasabi pleaded. "My plasma blades can't cut through these things! The last ones I could! What did Hiro make his out of!?"
"Hold on! I'll figure something out!" Sora said. With these Darkubes containing Wasabi, he couldn't find anything that he could use to weaken or debilitate the cluster. There was an air vent nearby that could launch him up higher with a little Aero magic, giving Sora an idea. "Let's try a little dive bomb."
Running toward the vent, Sora cast Aeroga, increasing the air flow from the unit. Leaping onto it, he was sent flying up high into the air, reaching several hundred feet higher over the cluster. After reaching the apex of his ascent, Sora dove down, picking up speed as he reared his Keyblade back. He slammed his blade down onto the Darkubes with incredibly force, unleashing a powerful shockwave that shook the cluster, causing it to shudder and loosen its hold around Wasabi. Finding an opening, Wasabi slashed the Darkubes with his plasma blades, scattering the microbots as they tumbled and rolled off the roof and down to the earth.
Landing on his feet, Wasabi let out a huge sigh of relief. "Thanks, Sora," he said. "I thought I was gonna get claustrophobia if I stayed trapped in there for a second longer." He moved toward the edge of the building, grimacing at the height they were at. "...I think it lured me up here because it didn't want to get jumped from above."
"Not high enough, it seems," Sora said. "But no core yet. There's gotta be more of them hiding it."
"Uhh, yeah. You go on ahead," Wasabi said. "I'll...find an elevator."
"No time. We're taking the fast way." Grabbing Wasabi's arm, Sora leapt off the edge with the overly-nervous hero screaming in a panic ats they free-fell. Aiming at the ground, Sora cast another Aeroga below them, the magical whirlwind slowing their fall and bouncing them up, landing a few feet away from it. "Now to find the rest of them."
"J-Jeeze, man! Are you some kinda daredevil!?" Wasabi exclaimed, trying to control his heart from threatening to explode in his chest.
"Depends on what other kinds of Heartless I've seen that were far more menacing than what rampaged around the city earlier today," Sora said with a cheeky grin.
He ran on ahead to search for more Darkubes, leaving Wasabi bewildered. "...There's WORSE ones than the walking dinosaur volcano!?"
Sandbar made it back to the park. He didn't find any sign of any of the families that were present, which was either a relief knowing they escaped when they saw the Darkubes as well or concern if they were attacked by any Heartless. His ears twitched when he heard Fred grunting nearby. Running toward his location, Sandbar found Darkubes trapping Fred in a sphere with four of the tendrils latched onto four light posts.
"AGH! It's pulling my limbs!" Fred cried out. "I need those for walking and grabbing!"
"Wait, isn't he in an outfit?" Sandbar uttered. Shaking his head, the colt ran over to the sphere with Baymax following behind him, analyzing the Darkubes. Sandbar tried to slash at the microbots to break Fred out, making contact at least, but they were tougher than steel. Getting frustrated, he kept whacking at it harder, even resorting to using his legs to buck them, only to grimace as he was going to eventually break his own legs. "Darn it. Nothing's working!"
"The Darkubes are attached to these light poles," Baymax pointed out. "By Fred's complaints of his suit's limbs being pulled in different directions, detaching the connection from the cluster might make it lose its hold and crumble to free him."
"Detach them?" Sandbar noticed the tendrils on the light poles. They looked strained, as if clenching onto them tightly while tugging on Fred within the sphere. Approaching one of them, he gave it a good whack, causing the microbots to break, but they reformed and attached themselves back together on the light pole. "They're reattaching just as fast as I can hack them...Unless..." Seeing how close the light poles were, Sandbar got an idea. "Maybe if I pull this off..."
Taking a few steps back, Sandbar sprinted and leapt onto the pole, swinging himself around and began to pick up speed. With his Keyblade wrapped tightly by his tail, he was able to slice off the tendril off and keep it away. Taking careful aim while trying not to get dizzy, Sandbar launched himself from pole to pole, hacking off each one until none of them were grasping them. After the last one was detached, the Darkubes lost their connection and grew weaker. Fred whooped as he bounced out of his prison, scattering microbots around him as he landed.
"FREEDOM!" Fred cheered. "Appreciate the save, little horse dude!"
"Were you really in any pain in there?" Sandbar questioned.
Fred glanced at his arms, realizing what he complained about. "Oh yeah. It's just a suit. I get so into character, I forget I'm just me under here."
Sandbar just sighed and shook his head. "At least you have enthusiasm."
"Incredible work, Sandbar," Baymax said, approaching the pony, holding out his fist to him.
"...Uhh, what?" Sandbar asked.
"Now, we fist bump," the robot said. "To display excitement. Hiro taught it to me."
"Oh. Uhh, ok." Sandbar bumped his hoof into Baymax's fist for a job well done.
"Bah-la-la-la-la-la-la," Baymax said while raising his arm, fluttering his fingers in an awkwardly comical way to mimic an explosion.
"...Bah-la-la-la-la-la-la?" Sandbar repeated quizzically, waving his hoof slightly as he copied Baymax's motion while he lacked the digits to fully repeat it.
"Guys, the Darkubes are converging to one location!" Hiro said, snapping Sandbar out of his stupor. "They're gathering at the top of the tallest skyscraper in all of San Fransokyo. I'm almost done pinpointing the core, but whatever's happening can't be good."
"Already on my way!" Rainbow said.
"We'll handle the Darkubes," Twilight said. "This might be far too dangerous for Big Hero 6 to handle."
"Well, I'm gonna see about getting a front row seat to see some more awesome fighting!" Fred cheered, bounding off to get himself to one of the nearby buildings to get a good enough view of the confrontation.
"Wait, Fred! Were there people around the park before you wound up here!?" Sandbar called out, but Fred was already long gone.
With a sigh, Sandbar made his way to the tallest skyscraper in the city with Baymax activating his thrusters and followed the beacon where the Darkubes were gathering. He leapt onto the marked building, running up the side, catching Sora racing up at the same pace. Reaching the top, Baymax, Rainbow, and Twilight landed beside Sora and Sandbar, all four wielders watching the Darkubes gathering and forming a much bigger sphere than the others. Many more microbots floated and merged into the cluster, pulsing its ominous blue-green light.
"Jeeze! How many of these things are there!?" Rainbow exclaimed.
"No idea what these things will become next, so be on your guard, guys," Sora advised.
"Sora, I found the core!" Hiro said. "I'm updating the AR software for you guys to pick up where the core's located inside those Darkubes!"
"Finally! Update away!" Rainbow impatiently said.
As their visors showed an upload bar, the screen suddenly grew staticky, making it hard to keep their gaze on the Darkubes. "What's happening?" Twilight questioned as she tapped her visor. Sora, Rainbow, and Sandbar wondered what was happening to their visors as well as the update seemed to glitch slightly. Twilight took off her AR mask, but when she was about to examine it, ahead of them was a portal of darkness appearing beneath the Darkubes. Stepping out, to her shock and anger, was Dark Riku. "You again."
Sora and Rainbow Dash noticed the evil double approach them as they prepared themselves while Sandbar, confused, took off his visor as he stared at Dark Riku. "Master Riku?"
"That's not Riku," Sora said.
Sandbar got a better look at the double, noting how much younger this Riku looked, along with his longer hair and his eyes being yellow instead of blue. "...What the...?"
"Why are you here?" Twilight questioned. "Haven't you caused enough problems for us? Especially me and the real Riku?"
"I don't think it's any of your business, princess," Dark Riku said. Holding out his left hand, a darkness appeared and formed into a computer chip. "Your presence is just more of a hassle for this experiment."
"'Experiment?" Rainbow questioned. "So you are the one behind these Darkubes!"
As the static cleared on the AR devices, Sora could hear Hiro gasp in shock as Dark Riku held up the chip, recognizing the color and the skull and crossbones drawn on it that told what might be on it. "What? That...can't be..."
"Huh? Hiro?" Sora asked.
"That chip...That's the first chip I made for Baymax," Hiro said. "It's full of combat programs. How did he get that?"
The other members of Big Hero 6 overhearing what was happening gasped while Baymax silently stared at the battle chip. "'Programs'?" Sandbar questioned. Remembering how those same chips go into Baymax, he looked back at the medical robot. "Like...it's his heart?"
"In a sense, but that looks like the exact same chip I gave to the first Baymax," Hiro added.
Dark Riku grunted as he stared at the chip. "Not enough," he uttered. "Might as well gather some more."
He then flung the chip into the Darkubes, the microbots absorbing the chip and causing it to react and pulse dangerously. "What does that mean!?" Twilight questioned. Dark Riku just smirked, another portal appearing around him. "Stop being a coward and fight us!"
Twilight shot forward to try to slash at him. She was too late, and as the portal disappeared, she was met with a tendril of microbots smacking her back toward Sora, Rainbow, and Sandbar. She landed on her hooves with a grunt, growling angrily as the wielders watched the Darkubes spin rapidly, forming itself into the same heart shape Sandbar ran into earlier. The microbots consistently flashed green on the formation as many more appeared and trapped them inside of a barrier, sealing them until they defeated the Darkubes.
"The Da...bes a...utting...connec...to t...R dev...! Find...ore an...stroy it!" Hiro's voice was getting cut off on the wielders' visors by the Darkube barrier surrounding them.
"What did he say!?" Rainbow asked.
Through their visors, even though they lost their connection with Hiro or the rest of Big Hero 6, they were able to see a block within the heart that had yellow eyes glowing among the blue-green lights the microbots flashed. "Our connection with Hiro has been disabled due to the Darkubes containing us on the roof," Baymax said. "AR update to your devices have completed and the core has been revealed."
"We'll deal with the Darkubes, then worry about Dark Riku," Sora said.
The Darkubes began spiraling, changing into the jellyfish form and aimed its tendrils at them. "Look out!" Sandbar warned as he watched the arms flashing red, building up energy to unleash a beam at them. Scattering, they avoided an onslaught of beams that were shot at their feet. Twilight and Rainbow took to the air, weaving around beams aimed at the two mares until it reverted back to its heart shape. With the core out in the open, Twilight and Rainbow dashed into it and took turns slashing at it, causing the Darkubes to react and flinch. It didn't stay that way for long, spinning around and forcing the alicorn and pegasus to fall back before getting smacked back. It picked up speed and suddenly shot up into the air, disappearing beyond the microbot barrier.
"Where'd it go!?" Rainbow exclaimed. "It ran away like that fake Riku did!"
A red light suddenly shined from above, hovering right over Sandbar. "Huh?" He looked up, watching the Darkubes shoot down through the barrier, glowing red and dropping down where he stood. "AHH!"
He quickly dove out of the way as the Darkubes slammed onto the roof. Sandbar was about to retaliate, but seeing the Darkubes were still glowing red, they began spiraling, turning into a discus, then sped off toward him. He ducked, nearly getting smacked as it went through the barrier once more.
"Now where's it gonna wind up?" Sora asked.
They huddled together, keeping their eyes on what they could see and be careful if anyone else spotted the Darkubes. Their AR visors were able to locate the core that was controlling the major cluster, circling around the barrier until it came to a stop and charged forward.
"Head's up!" Rainbow shouted, quickly jumping up while the others quickly leapt aside, avoiding it as it tried to ram Rainbow Dash. It phased through the barrier again and came right back, narrowly striking Baymax, but the robot reacted quickly and flew out of harm's way. Rainbow Dash yelled and dove onto the spinning cluster, hitting the core and stunning the Darkube's attack. "Not so fast with the fastest pegasus in all the worlds knocking you down a peg!"
She leapt off, she and Twilight casting Thunder spells, causing the core to flinch as it regained its original form. The overwhelming amount of electricity caused it to short-circuit, leaving it wide open. Baymax fired his rocket arms, striking the core enough to make the heart-shaped cluster waver, while Sora and Sandbar teamed up to slash at the core repeatedly. Despite how threatening the Heartless may have been with the microbots it controlled, it didn't last long as its control over them grew weaker. The barrier of microbots crumbled away and fell to the ground far below, along with the cluster forming the heart. The core dropped to the ground, twitching slightly, but Sandbar didn't give it a chance to recover as he volunteered to finish it off. With a powerful slam, he destroyed the Darkube core, releasing the heart it contained.
Along with its fading body, the chip Dark Riku flung into it clattered to the ground where the core once was. "Guys! What happened!? The microbots blocked your devices and disconnected our communications with you!"
"Well, we took care of the Darkubes and the core," Sora said. "It wasn't all that bad."
"No thanks necessary for bigshot heroes like us," Rainbow gloated.
"What about that chip that guy in the coat had?" Hiro asked.
Sandbar approached the chip and reached out to grab it, only to get kicked hard in the face and sent flying back toward Sora, Twilight, Rainbow, and Baymax. "That's not yours," he said. Sandbar hit the ground, groaning in pain, his visor busted from Dark Riku's sucker punch. He kneeled down and picked up the chip, grinning as he watched Sora check on Sandbar while Twilight was ready to try to rush him again. "I think this might be just enough data."
"You've got a lot of nerve," Twilight growled.
Sora helped take off Sandbar's now broken AR device, the teen rubbing his face with a grunt. "You ok?" Sora asked.
"Not really," Sandbar groaned. "Why is this happening to me?"
Dark Riku stuffed the chip in his pocket, smirking at the alicorn mockingly. "Even though it's a little too late to really put this into action, it would have been very handy with the Replica Program's success bringing us back."
"What experiment?" Twilight questioned. "What's that chip got to do with causing this much chaos in this world?"
"Doesn't really matter when we have our numbers," Dark Riku said. "Things didn't really go according to plan when we were supposed to have Terra among our ranks."
"Terra?" Rainbow asked.
"I'm sure you're at least aware that Terra was once possessed by Xehanort years ago," he stated. "Most of us are technically 'Xehanort'; Sora knows that very well since our first encounter."
"Sadly, I do," Sora said. "You tricked my best friend, but you underestimated me and I took you down."
"So...how did he come back again?" Rainbow asked. "Is he a Heartless or something?"
"To make it easy for your lack of brains, we had left our bodies behind when we returned," Dark Riku explained. "While we had to play the waiting game, Xehanort's heart left his body in order to voyage back in time, tell his younger self about his master plan, and then wait until Sora and I came along. He possessed me, I became Ansem, while the rest of him became Xemnas, creating the old Organization XIII. And with those Nobodies working on the Replica Program, all of it was the perfect plan for Xehanort to be in contact with the right hearts to form his new Organization, from anywhere, any TIME, with the right vessels to place their hearts in."
"Which explains many of the old Organization had come back, some I could barely remember when I was in Castle Oblivion," Sora added.
"Exactly. It worked perfectly...except there was something that threw a wrench in Xehanort's plans," Dark Riku said.
"And what would that be?" Twilight asked. "Does it involve Terra?"
"Yes. With his heart possessed by Xehanort, he should have been one of the vessels. However, he never returned. Nor did the failed experimental puppet from the Nobody Organization XIII." Dark Riku looked at Sora, ignoring the puzzled looks on Twilight and Rainbow's faces, even Sandbar's as he tried to understand how the Organization came to be. "Do you recall Ansem fighting along with a 'Heartless' shadowing him, Sora?"
"Huh?" Sora thought back to his clash with Ansem back at The End of the World. While battling Ansem with Donald and Goofy, he noticed a Heartless-like entity that appeared behind him, attacking at his command and even guarding him from attacks. Sora couldn't injure it, even with the Keyblade's power. But as Dark Riku kept mentioning Terra and Ansem and Xemnas's resemblance came from Terra, it slowly began to dawn on him as he gawked at the evil double of his best friend in bewilderment. "...Wait...You mean...that Guardian Ansem had...There's no way that was-!"
"Terra?" Dark Riku chuckled in response. "Yes. That Guardian was Terra, his heart trapped in the confines of Xehanort's possession." Sora couldn't believe it. He could just imagine the Guardian hovering behind Ansem being none other than Terra, being controlled as a puppet even when he was thought to be forever lost in the darkness. Dark Riku's amusement was quickly wiped as he scowled, letting out a sigh and shook his head. "Unfortunately, when assembling the new Organization, his heart didn't arrive. He's back in his own body, perfectly reformed like Xehanort. That left us with one important piece of the puzzle that went missing.
"And then there was the lack of another, which just so happened to be that failed puppet as part of the experiments in the Replica Program. Even though she was destroyed, we couldn't find any remnants of her memory anywhere for her own vessel. So in the end, we were left with two of our seeds that we've lost." Despite the Organization's big losses, Dark Riku regained his smirk and shrugged his shoulders. "Luckily, there's always a backup. And we have two new candidates to take their place. Even though Sombra was a potential candidate, knowing that the equine vessel was stolen and someone else brought him back, it's probably for the best if he wasn't one of our thirteen seeds of darkness for the X-blade."
"So explain why're you're here with whatever this 'experiment' is and what's so important with that chip that belonged to Hiro," Twilight demanded.
"Hmph. It was to see if we can recreate a heart from data," Dark Riku explained, then pointed to Baymax. "That walking balloon in that ridiculous suit of armor has a 'heart'. We could have used these results to make another Sora, or perhaps Roxas or the failure puppet, but it's no longer necessary."
"Then why do you still have that chip if you don't care about recreating hearts in that way?" Sora questioned.
"Why, I'll put it back right where I found it," he answered vaguely.
"No. You're going to give that back to its rightful owner!" Twilight exclaimed, thrusting both her Keyblades forward and fired two Firaga spells from each blade. Dark Riku disappeared through another portal of darkness, missing him yet again, frustrating the alicorn more as she wound up going into a magical surge with a yell. Sandbar and Rainbow winced when they saw the alicorn's fur turning a shade of white and her mane and tail igniting in flames similar to Lea. "AGH! I swear, I will find a way to counteract those stupid portals and drag him by his feet if he keeps fleeing from me!"
"Twilight seems to have combusted into flames, but I do not sense any burn injuries from the points of contact on her head and rear," Baymax said. Seeing she wasn't in any danger from her explosive outburst as she let out a snort, calming down with a bitter scowl, the medic bot focused on Sandbar. "Sandbar's cheek requires ice to reduce the swelling. No further injuries from his broken augmented reality device."
"...So...you guys know who that kid is?" Sora, Twilight, and Rainbow heard Wasabi question, forgetting Big Hero 6 was able to hear and see what they had.
"...It's a long story," Sora mumbled.
Once everyone returned to Hiro's garage, Big Hero 6 was given an explanation to why they knew Dark Riku. They couldn't hide too many details, not after Baymax revealed that Sandbar, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash were actual living beings and not animatronics like Hiro guessed. While Sora told the group, Sandbar held an ice pack to his cheek, feeling a lot more useless after being blindsided. Their conflict was a lot for the heroic group of this world to take in as they sat in silence, staring at Sora and his companions.
"...Whoa...An evil clone of your best friend, and a massive group of people who want to take over the entire world with dark powers," Fred said, breaking the silence as he was in awe.
"More like they want to destroy the world," Twilight corrected, leaving out the existence of several other worlds beyond theirs.
"...Even more brutal," Fred added.
"So your friend's evil twin was the one responsible for having those Darkubes appear and almost kill us," Go Go said. "What the heck was he talking about with your conversation up there?"
"As much as we want to tell you everything, we can't," Sora said. They were understandably concerned and worried about the safety of their own city, but why they had to be left in the dark stunned them. "The Heartless weren't supposed to be known, but that couldn't be helped if they've been attacking San Fransokyo. This goes far beyond taking down petty thieves or a crazy villain with an insane motive for taking over the world. The Organization is far more dangerous than that. This fight is something that's far too much for either of you to try to handle."
"But we did so well the last few days," Honey Lemon said. "And thanks to you, we've improved our inventions to help stop the Heartless."
"We can't just stand down and watch without doing anything," Hiro said. "And what did that guy mean when he said he was going to put that chip back where he found it? That was definitely my combat chip I made for the first Baymax. Can he reach that dimensional void with those portals he's able to make at will?" Sora didn't know if it was possible for portals of darkness to reach that same void Hiro and Tadashi's Baymax went into to save Callahagn's daughter. Hiro was desperate for answers, a small sliver of hope knowing that the first Baymax had survived and was somehow brought back to their world by Dark Riku's transportational methods. "...Did he bring Baymax back?"
"...Possibly," Sora guessed, though hesitant. "If that dimension is what I think it may have been, I think that Baymax was ok surviving in there. But what Dark Riku plans to do with that chip of yours, if he did bring your brother's Baymax back...it's definitely not gonna be good." Hiro lowered his head, clenching his fists as so many emotions were going through him. He had lost his brother's creation once, and to know he was back and could possibly lose him all over again was too much for him to bear. Sora gently grasped Hiro's shoulders, getting the teen's attention. "If anything does happen, we'll do all we can to get him back to you safe and sound. I know you want to help everyone just like Tadashi, but this is far from anything you or the others can handle."
As much as Hiro wanted to argue and insist on them helping, when he looked at his friends, even they agreed that they were biting off more than they could chew with the news of this much bigger threat. The Darkubes could have badly hurt his friends when they were attacked and caught by them. Even the Heartless were much more than they could take and they were killing machines, taking the hearts of their victims in order to make more. They were more prepared now, but if they weren't careful, they could leave the city defenseless as they get turned into Heartless.
"...You're right," Hiro mumbled. "...I trust you, Sora."
Sora grinned and gave Hiro a nod. "While we're out there, you give us a bird's-eye view of the city of anything comes up. We'll stop him." Glancing back at his friends, Twilight and Rainbow were more than ready to get back out there. "Once we rest up, we're gonna search every single alley for that faker."
"And he's not running away this time," Twilight said.
Everyone agreed, Big Hero 6 getting themselves some well-deserved R for their hard work these last few days. While Hiro went inside the house to set up for everyone to sleep over, Sandbar moved the ice pack from his face, wincing slightly as he touched his bruised cheek. He felt like he hadn't made any progress, getting knocked down or held back with no improvement to his own skills. He wondered if there was anything special or useful about him as a Key Bearer.
Out in the city late at night, Maleficent and Pete walked on the empty highway overpass. "You sure what we're looking for is around here?" Pete questioned. "We've been going world to world with no luck on this special box. Maybe we should try to take over a world or somethin'."
"Quite your bellyaching. If we are to take over all the worlds, we must find that box," Maleficent scolded.
"Then maybe you should quit snooping around before you let the darkness consume you again." The duo stopped, turning around to find Dark Riku tailing them.
Maleficent sneered, recognizing the dark power that came from the body of the teen she had tricked so long ago. "I will do whatever I please," she said. "Though I should get my revenge for 'gifting' me such power that almost took complete control, you are not worth my time, 'boy'."
Dark Riku just smirked in response. "Same to you," he said before he disappeared through a portal of darkness.
Confused, Pete looked at his boss. "Wait a minute. Wasn't that the twerp's friend?" he asked. "How do you know him?"
"That was not Sora's friend stalking us," Maleficent said, turning around and continuing her stroll to find what they were searching for. "A former adversary, only to wrest control over my plans years ago back in Hollow Bastion."
As curious as Pete was, he didn't continue pressing for details. It was clear Maleficent despised Dark Riku, ignoring the random encounter and continued following her down the road.
Early the next morning, before the sun was even up, Sandbar had laid awake while everyone else had fallen asleep. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop thinking about how terribly he's failed everyone with his lackluster performance. Giving up on trying to get any rest, Sandbar sat up, blowing some of his bangs out of his face. Needing some air, he got up, carefully navigating around the others spread out around the garage and reached the door without alerting anyone. Once he stepped outside, he let out a heavy sigh, rubbing his sore face. Getting hit twice in around the same spot frustrated Sandbar, feeling disappointed in himself for getting struck so easily.
"How am I screwing up so much?" Sandbar questioned himself. "What good am I as a Key Bearer if I just keep getting hit and can't do anything to stop a threat? Why didn't I just kill the Heartless that had me instead of just standing there watching what could have been a disaster!?"
"You were overwhelmed and in a panic during our liberation of the Heartless." Yelping, Sandbar turned around to find Baymax at the door standing behind him. "Viewing the footage of the Catastrochorus getting knocked off of the skycraper, you feel an immense weight of guilt for not making it in time despite the family being unharmed thanks to Rainbow Dash's interference."
"B-Baymax? How did you-?" Trying to figure out how the inflatable medic bot managed to sneak around everyone from his recharge platform, Baymax closed the door behind him.
"The disappointment and self-loathing shows more signs of insecurities about yourself as a hero," Baymax continued. "Some events that may cause you to second guess who you are can effect your mental state. The best method to relieve the tension from your self conflictions is to explain your problems to better find the solution to bring back your self-confidence."
"My problems?" Sandbar questioned. "...I don't know what you're talking about."
"You feel as if you lack the same prowess as Sora, Twilight Sparkle, and Rainbow Dash," Baymax stated. "During the augmented reality training course Hiro applied to your devices, you were eager to show us what you could do. However, when the others took their turns, they completed their courses much faster with more outstanding results compared to yours. Your score was well above average and taken into account for our research along with your mentors." Sandbar was stunned that a robot was able to read his emotions far better than anyone else could. "There must be more that is plaguing your thoughts, hindering your performance. This does not include the battle on the Golden Gate Bridge and eradicating the Darkubes that left injuries to your face."
Sandbar groaned, being called out by statistics from a robot built to help cure medical ailments for patients, including psychological issues. He didn't want to feel like a burden to his teachers, or his friends, but after the last couple days, he didn't want them to be disappointed in him. Subconsciously rubbing his cheek, he let out a heavy sigh.
"...It's not just them," Sandbar admitted. "I have other friends who are busy training like I am. They've been to other places before I have, and they pulled off so many powerful spells or skills that showed off how much potential they had...I feel like I've fallen behind, and I don't stand out like they do."
"Your data resulted in much potential, but in need of improvements as a pupil to Sora, Twilight Sparkle, and Rainbow Dash," Baymax pointed out.
"But what!? I've learned the basics in both combat and magic, but what can I do that shows off how unique I am as a Keyblade wielder!?" Sandbar exclaimed. "The others can do something so much better! Gallus can cast a powerful version of a Cure spell, Smolder can breathe different magic elements with her dragon breath, Ocellus can transform into any one of us and perfectly mimic how we fight, and her Keyblade changes to match ours where they perfect copies and not fake duplicates, Yona can shift the earth with the stomp of her hooves and unleash an aura around her when she charges at enemies, and Silverstream can manipulate the elements of the environment to use as magic spells and also discovered a new kind of spell no one's ever seen in centuries! I haven't figured out what I could do, and if I can't, I'm just dragging everyone around me down while being just somepony who only stands in the background and can't do anything special!"
Sandbar breathed heavily after finally letting out what had been troubling him since he got back from winter break. Baymax silently took in everything with his emotionless gaze, analyzing the best response to help the stallion feel better.
"I am uncertain whom your other friends are, however, if they are similar in kind to you, Twilight Sparkle, and Rainbow Dash, the hidden potential inside of you just has not yet been discovered," Baymax said. "Has there been a traumatic experience your friends witnessed or a revelation that came to them that sparked their own potential?"
"...W-Well...Yeah. They did," Sandbar muttered.
When his friends returned, he did learn what brought them all to unleash their greatest skill. Gallus had issues trying to cast Cure during training, and he went through an internal conflict with his greedy griffon heritage and tried to break that mold, finally managing to cast his own curative healing spell that was far more potent than any average spell. Smolder was always aggressive and always got defensive showing off her feminine side as a sign of weakness as a dragon, but she opened up to being a lot nicer and some of her interests, her Keyblade magic mixing with her dragon breath to unleash new and unique elemental breaths on her opponents or on her Keyblade. Ocellus didn't seem to have what it took to be a wielder with how timid and scared she was, and almost wanted to quit when she was turned back to her more menacing form and couldn't change back, but she bounced right back when wanted to protect others who couldn't protect themselves like the little girl, Boo. Yona may have mastered her powerful strength to shift the earth and cause quakes with a single stomp, but she had felt insecure about her intelligence and naivety after encountering Larxene and believing she needed to change who she was for Sandbar to win an award during the school dance. And Silverstream, the hippogriff who had such an optimistic outlook on everything around her, had some trouble contemplating her feelings for Gallus when he's had a crush on her since they had first known each other and their first kiss that came completely out of nowhere when Eraqus gathered them to tell them about the Tree of Harmony's fate.
"I suggest not to have the same experience if it is what you believe is a viable option to help you unlock your potential," Baymax advised. "Hiro had gone through such emotional trauma with Tadashi being gone, but Tadashi will always be here." He then pointed to his access port, where both Hiro and Tadashi's chips were to give Baymax the programs he was given. "He believed using me to harm Professor Callaghan would make him feel better, an act I did not enjoy as I had caused harm to the others. I was built to help people, not hurt. It...conflicted with my programming."
Hearing Baymax hesitate, Sandbar was surprised by the slight pause. Even though Baymax was a robot, he was built with a heart from his experiences with Hiro as his "patient". He was more than a puppet with thousands of bits of information downloaded into him. Of course, Sandbar wasn't going to try to put himself in peril just to unlock what he was trying to discover within his power as a bearer. His friends found themselves in danger and made it out ok, but not without getting chased by someone from the Organization or taunted to the point of them being toyed with. Hearing what Larxene said to Yona got under his skin when she told him what she went through in Arendelle. Even before he became friends with all of them, he wanted them all to get along, and if they were struggling, help them and try to mediate with them as chosen individuals to represent their kingdoms. He became a Keyblade wielder to protect other ponies and be just like Sora, but so far, he didn't accomplish much after yesterday. He still hated how he almost failed protecting Mako and Sakura and their parents.
"...I just don't want to let anyone down," Sandbar said. "I want to get stronger...but I don't know how."
Baymax looked up, but before he could find a response to Sandbar's statement, his eyes flashed blue as he scanned something out of the ordinary across the street. "My scanners are picking up life readings similar to yours, Twilight Sparkle's, and Rainbow Dash's."
"Huh?" Sandbar uttered.
"They are hiding in the shadows of the house across the-" Baymax lifted his arm and pointed in the direction of the mysterious spy, only to be suddenly encased in a block of ice. Startled, Sandbar leapt back, summoning his Keyblade and faced whoever attacked Baymax. "Oh no."
"Jeeze. The giant talking marshmallow can still function under all that ice." Slowly making their way onto the street and into the streetlight was the Equestrian member of the Organization XIII. Even with the warning about one of the new members from Sora's encounter with her, Sandbar was worried he wouldn't stand a chance against this pony if she was able to beat him with such powerful magic and insane speed. "Makes sense if it's just a construct."
"Stay back!" Sandbar warned, which made the pony laugh.
"And what are you going to do?" she questioned. "You don't stand a chance against me."
"Try me!" Sandbar exclaimed.
She scoffed, then suddenly zipped forward faster than Sandbar could blink, ramming her hoof straight into his chest. He gagged, the wind knocked out of him as he crumbled to the ground, dropping his Keyblade.
"Too slow," she mocked, kicking aside Lazy Turtle. "You still need to work on your reaction time. And your strength. Magic...Practically everything."
Sandbar managed to catch his breath, glancing up at the mare. He couldn't see her face beneath her hood, barely getting much of a glance when she grabbed him by his mane and flung him onto the street. Tumbling across the asphalt, Sandbar got back to his hooves, calling his Keyblade back in his mouth.
"W-What...do you want with me?" Sandbar uttered.
"Obviously nothing," she stated. "I grew bored and needed some exercise. You're not who I want, anyway." She smirked, bringing a hoof to her coat's pocket, pulling out a photograph. "Doesn't mean I can't have a little fun toying with a weakling like you."
Flinging the picture, it spun and floated to the ground, landing in front of Sandbar. Confused, he looked down at the photo, letting out a startled gasp when he saw two familiar kids he met and tried, and failed, to rescue yesterday afternoon. The picture was taken while the two were busy playing at the park where he bumped into them. Growing concerned, he glanced back at the mare.
"What did you do to them?" Sandbar questioned.
"Relax. They're not hurt...Yet," the mare snidely remarked. Sandbar growled and cast a Thunder spell on her, but she swiftly raised her hoof, absorbed the magical lightning bolt, then shot it back at him. Caught off guard, Sandbar was struck by his own spell increased tenfold, his legs buckling from the volts of electricity shooting up and down his nerves. "Now, now, don't tucker yourself out just yet if you want to 'save' them."
Sandbar grunted, trying to get back control of his limbs. "W-Where...are they!?" Sandbar exclaimed.
"If you want to find out, I suggest you make your way to the building where you guys trashed those Darkubes before the sun rises," the mare said. "They've got a really close view from the edge right at the top. And if you so much as call for help or have any of them join you, then the slightest nudge might make them fall to a very messy end." Sandbar's heart dropped to his stomach, even as she mimed out her threat to emphasize her point, dropping her hoof with a lingering whistle before ending it with a squish as she touched the ground. "I suggest you get going. Not much time before the sun rises."
She disappeared through a portal of darkness, leaving Sandbar dumbfounded. He glanced out at the skyline in the distance, watching it begin to slowly brighten as the sun was going to rise at any moment. He panicked, looking over at Baymax, who was still frozen solid, but still conscious as his puffy body structure shielded his internal mechanics from freezing up as well.
"Sandbar, it is not a good idea to go alone," Baymax advised. "We must wake the others. It may be a trap."
Sandbar hesitated, knowing he was way out of his league with this pony, glancing out at the city at the tallest skyscraper, then back to Baymax. "...I'm not letting those kids get hurt," he said. "Somepony has to help."
Leaving Baymax, Sandbar sprinted off down the road toward the city on his own. He wasn't going to let their lives be taken, even if it was a trap leading him to an ambush or another brutal beatdown. Baymax's eyes blinked, watching the pony disappear up the road.
"I must wake the others," Baymax said to himself, his body glowing red as he warmed his internal body heat and began to slowly melt the ice around him.