Master Exin: in my previous story in this universe, The Xehanort War (posted here on KHInsider and on Fan Fiction.net), I've already featured Kuzco and Milo. Braig got killed off permanently at the end. Oswald and Ortensia were introduced in the interquels posted on fanfiction.net and will be recurring characters in this saga I'm working on. Darkwing and Launchpad will most certainly be guest party members next chapter. Never heard of Andre, Jose and Panchito will probably show up evenetually as cameos in Disney Castle/Town Scenes, and as much as I love Dinosaur, I will not be featuring that movie in the Acolytes of Chaos saga at all. I just feel that a world of talking dinosaurs doesn't really offer much in the way of contributing to the overall plot of the story.
Chapter 18: The Man In The Mask:
San Fransokyo – Akuma Island:
Ventus and Terra dismissed their Gliders and reverted them back into Keyblades as they leaped down to the ruins of the Intelligence base on Akuma Island. All around them, injured C.I.N. Agents were dragging themselves to their feet and either helping out the other wounded or passing out Hi-Potions so that at least some of the island’s staff would be prepared to face whatever enemy was still inside the ebon spacecraft. As the two Keyblade Masters stood in the burning wreckage of the compound, a creaking sound echoed across the islands as a ramp lowered from what was clearly the front of the ship. Everyone braced themselves, preparing for a fight.
But they weren’t prepared for what came next, as several strange looking figures who looked like elves wearing porcelain masks came charging out of the ship, firing off plasma rifles left and right. While Ven, Terra, and a handful of C.I.N. Agents were able to get Reflega spells up in time, several more fell from the relentless assault. Ven boiled with anger as he and the others began moving to cover the wounded agents and shield them from enemy fire. Especially when some of the dark elves broke away from the rest of their formation and headed towards the staircase to pick off the wounded in the lower levels of the facility.
While Ven charged after the splinter group, Terra stayed to cover the retreat as Gummi Ships providing air support arrived to evacuate the wounded to San Fransokyo General Hospital. He was shocked when one of them tossed a grenade that caused one of the Gummi Ships providing cover fire to collapse in on itself in what looked like a miniature black hole.
Hurry up, Ven, he urged his surrogate brother as he waded his way through the elven troops, hoping to eliminate or incapacitate them before they could start using those grenades on the evacuees. He had no intention of dying and leaving his son to grow up without a father.
As the last of the elves collapsed to the ground, Terra looked up and saw through the visor of his armor three more of the attacks walking calmly down the ramp of the ship. But the thing about this group is that while the third elf trailing in the back was no different than the rest, the two in the front were not wearing any masks whatsoever. The one on Terra’s right had pale skin and carried himself with an authority that clearly marked him as the leader. Which meant that the one on Terra’s left was the leader’s second-in-command.
“I am Malekith, ruler of Svartalfheim,” the pale one spoke first. “I have come on behalf of Maleficent and her Hellfire Club. But my first and only loyalty is to my people, so this once I shall offer you mercy. Provide me with information on where to find the Reality Stone and I will spare your lives.”
“As if we’d ever accept a deal from someone who’s already slaughtered hundreds of people in this attack alone,” Terra retorted angrily, the beginnings of a Dark Firaga spell swirling silently around his clenched fist. “We’ll pass.” Malekith only grinned malevolently in response.
“Very well,” the Dark Elf leader replied. “As you humans enjoy saying, ‘have it your way’.” With that, he gestured to the foot soldier standing behind him. As Malekith and his lieutenant turned on their heels and marched back to their ship, the unarmed Dark Elf stepped forward and pulled a small, glowing stone from his belt. As the elf crushed the stone in his fist, Terra’s stomach twisted in knots as the elven warrior writhed and shrieked in pain while the glow of the stone spread all over his body. Seconds later, the glow faded, and where once an unarmed and defenseless foot soldier was now stood a large, bulked up behemoth. Realizing what the stone did, Terra took charge and raced forward, swinging his Keyblade at the enemy.
The battle to contain the bestial warrior raged on for the next hour as Ventus, Baymax, and the rest of Big Hero Six joined in. The enhanced elf proved to be a formidable opponent, but between the combined skill of five superheroes, a crime-fighting robot, and two full-fledged Keyblade Masters, the monstrous soldier finally fell. The fact that they had been able to pilfer the berseker’s black hole grenade certainly helped. But during the chaos, Malekith had flown the crashed vessel back to his command ship and departed, vanishing into thin air as if the entire ship had flown through a Corridor of Darkness.
While both Key bearers were relieved that whatever Maleficent was searching for was not in San Fransokyo, the high casualties of the battle laid heavy on their hearts. They spend the rest of the night gathering up the bodies of the fallen and preparing to transport them back to their home worlds for burial. Not even the elderly Fa Zhou had been spared from the Dark Elves’ massacre. As Terra and Ven boarded the Gummi Ship escorting the agents who were citizens of Radiant Garden back home for their respective funerals, Terra couldn’t help but think of what would happen to his family if he had been caught up in one of those miniature black holes. He just prayed that he’d never have to find out.
Unknown World – Unknown Location:
“YOU IDIOTS!!!” N.I. roared in fury as she slammed her fist down on her desk. In front of her, the three Legionnaires sent to Zootopia flinched at the anger in her words. “One of the core philosophies of the Legion is that we operate
IN SECRET! And what do you do when cornered by the enemy? Announce your identity and start blabbing about the Endgame like it’s your first day. Could you be any more incompetent?” Ordinarily, disciplinary hearings would be held at another base with the entire council presiding over the hearing as judges. But considering the scope of what these three imbeciles had done, N.I. felt that it wasn’t worth the effort for a trial and she needed to skip straight to the sentencing.”
“Please forgive us, Madame N.I.,” the woman in command of the strike team begged, shaking in fear. “We meant no disrespect. We only wished to strike fear into the heart of our foes through the use of psychological warfare.” Unfortunately for the ashamed Legionnaires, this did nothing to temper their commander in chief’s foul mood. N.I.’s light brown eyes burned with a fiery passion as she glared at the legionnaires standing before her.
“Your intentions may have been in the right place,” she countered. “But that doesn’t excuse the stupidity of your execution. I’m hear by suspending you all from active field missions for the next six months. Until then, you’ll be scrubbing all the toilets on
each of our bases. Perhaps that will teach you all to keep your mouths shut when facing those false guardians.” Glumly, the three soldiers bowed submissively before shuffling out of the room. Once the door had been shut behind then, the leader of the Legion groaned in frustration as she laid her head in her hands. Honestly. Most of the Legion’s operatives had been alive for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. They should all know better than to let critical information slip like that.
And the worst part was that they had told it directly to
Sora. Madame N.I.’s eyes burned with anger as she thought of the man whose crimes were well known. After Xehanort’s attempt to corrupt him, he had inadvertently become immersed in Darkness, and yet he dared to wield the sacred power of the X – Blade. Such blasphemy could not be allowed to go unpunished. And now those three imbeciles had telegraphed their future moves. Her one consolation was that what little the idiots had revealed to the Coalition forces had been vague enough that nothing too damaging had gotten out. The Endgame could still proceed on schedule. Soon, the world would be whole, darkness and all who wielded it would be cleansed from the universe, and The Legion would guide mankind towards a bright, glorious future.
Another cryptic hint towards the Legion’s goals. Because even a simple statement like that fails to reveal the totality of what N.I. and her followers are planning to do. But I think you all get the idea that they see anyone who uses darkness as evil, whether it's someone like Xehanort who gives Darkness a bad reputation, or someone like Riku who uses it for good.
Malekith’s machinations won’t take shape until later chapters, but I think it’s obvious to all of you at this point that he’s going to pull a “Dragon With An Agenda” on Maleficent later on. His one and only loyalty is to his people, and Maleficent is simply a means to an end for him, and vice versa. The bad guy civil war won’t be starting until Malekith and Maleficent each decide that the other has outlived their usefulness. 
Tragedy strikes the Fa family. Mulan seeking to avenge her father’s murder will be a recurring plot point throughout the saga as the heroes and other warriors of the Daybreak Coalition come into conflict with Maleficent and her cabal.
Alright folks, next chapter is when we move over to the Darkwing Duck world. After that world is concluded, we’ll pop over to a world that’s been around since KH1, and one that Square has been trying to put in since KH1 but has never been able to (hint: the only Pixar film to have 2 (soon to be 3) sequels )
