Good incorporation of Toy Story 2, that happens to be my favourite of the trilogy. Thumbs up.
Fanfiction ► Kingdom Hearts 4: Connected Worlds
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Chapter 24: You’ve Got A Friend In Me:
World of Toys – Al’s Apartment:
“I thought he’d never leave,” Sora commented with a sigh of relief once Al McWiggin, avid toy collector, full-time Toy Store owner, and occasional thief, left his top floor apartment to drive across the street to fax the photo’s he’d taken of his Woody’s Roundup merchandise set to the Konishi Toy Museum in preparation for the impending sale. Sora and Donald had landed on the window of the apartment during the early hours of the night, when Al was still eating out for dinner. Woody and Jessie had left them inside out of curiosity, and were surprised to learn that they weren’t toys but had been shrunk down to that size.
From there, they’d exchanged information and had gotten caught up on the current situation. Al had been collecting merchandise from an old cartoon called Woody’s Roundup for years, and had recently stolen Woody from a yard sale from which the cowboy doll had attempted to rescue a broken toy. Jessie, Bullseye, and Stinky Pete the prospector were all thrilled that Al was selling them to a toy museum in a place called Tokyo. But because he’d been stolen and his owner, Andy wouldn’t even realize it until he was home from summer camp, Woody had no desire to go. Al had taken a massive amount of photos shortly after a cleaner had come to reattach Woody’s arm, which had been accidentally ripped during playtime with Andy, then fell off completely as a result of Al’s careless handling of the cowboy in preparation for the photo shoot.
“Oh wow!” Woody exclaimed as he examined his newly repaired arm. “Would you look at me? It’s like I’m fresh out of the box! LOOK AT THIS STITCHING! Andy’s gonna have a hard time rippin’ this.” He waved his reattached limb in front of Jessie excitedly, even as she glared at the cowboy with a look of frustration on her face. It was obvious to Sora that she was claustrophobic, and since she’d spent years trapped inside a dark box on her own while Al kept the Woody’s Roundup toys and memorabilia in storage, he couldn’t say that he blamed her. He could also tell that there was a more personal reason that she was upset about Woody leaving, but she didn’t talk to him enough for him to be able to figure out what it was.
“Great!” she snapped. “Now you can go.” With the mood thus killed, Jessie stormed off towards the window. Equally frustrated, Woody decided that now it was finally time to go home, and walked over to the air vent. Bullseye nudged the cowboy doll mournfully, sad that his friend was leaving. Ugh, Sora thought to himself. This is really complicated. On the one hand, he liked Woody and understood his desire to get back to his family. But on the other, if Al’s sale fell through (despite Sora’s wish for the thief/toynapper to face some form of retribution for his crime), then it was back to storage for Jessie and the others. Maybe they could just go back with Woody, he’d suggested to Donald.
His feathered friend agreed, but felt that the trio needed to reach that conclusion on their own instead of being prodded into it. They had suggested as much, but while Bullseye liked the idea, the prospector still wanted to go to the museum, and Jessie was suspiciously cynical on the matter, stating that in a few years “his precious Andy” would give up on them and they’d be drifting in the wind until they ended up in either storage or a landfill.
“Woody,” Stinky Pete began. “Don’t be mad at Jessie. She’s been through more than you know. Why not make amends before you leave, huh? It’s the least you can do.” Woody was skeptical that it would do any good, but he nevertheless agreed to go talk to Jessie. Sora, always having a thing for connecting with people and helping them work out their problems, followed along. Woody tried to explain how important his bond with Andy was, only for the cowgirl to guess what he was trying to say without even saying.
“How did you know that?” Woody asked.
“Because Emily was just the same,” Jessie answered. She then proceeded to sing a song about the times she’d shared with her former owner that nearly drove Sora to tears. Even Donald, who’d waddled over during the song, couldn’t help but get a little teary eyed at the sorrow conveyed in the cowgirl’s singing. As harsh as it was, it was true. Kids outgrew toys all the time. It was a fact of life. But it seemed so much more heartbreaking looking at it from a toy’s point of view.
“You don’t forget kids like Emily or Andy,” she said sadly. “But they forget you.”
“Jessie,” Woody began, trying to be reassuring and comfort her. “I didn’t…”
“Just go,” she cut him off angrily. Seeing that she didn’t want to talk to him anymore, Woody climbed down from the chair and made his way back towards the air vent. Sora and Donald wished the cowboy luck and promised to stay and keep Jessie company, and perhaps even find a way to avoid her having to go back into storage.
“Maybe if she’s so cynical about kids, she could come back to Radiant Garden with us,” Sora whispered to Donald as an idea popped into his head. “She could probably fit right in with Cinderella’s mouse friends, or with Pinnochio even.” Donald was skeptical of the idea, pointing out that they had no idea if it would even work, not to mention the fact that there was no way of knowing if whatever magic in this world allowed toys to come to life would even work outside the book. If they were wrong, Jessie would either still be trapped here or dead, rendered an inert, lifeless doll for eternity. Ultimately, it wasn't worth the risk.
“How long will it last, Woody?” Stinky Pete asked as he shuffled his box up behind the cowboy. “Do you really think Andy is going to take you to college? Or on his honeymoon?” This gave Woody pause. “Andy’s growing up,” the prospector went on. “And there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s your choice, Woody. You can go back, or you can stay with us, and last forever. You’ll be adored by children for generations!”
“Sure, they’ll adore him,” Sora rebutted. “But he’d be spending an eternity looking at the rest of the world through a glass case. And if they’ve got the room under 24-hour surveillance or something, none of you’d ever be able to move again without being seen.” Woody thought long and hard about his options. On the one hand, yes, he could be adored by children for generations. But on the other, play time, the thing he enjoyed the most about being Andy’s toy, the thing that he had always felt made all the chaos he’d gone through with Buzz a year before worth it? That would never happen to him again. Not unless some idiot decided to steal him from the museum, and even then, they’d just sell him on eBay to another collector for more money.
“Sora’s right,” Woody finally decided. “We’re toys. We were made to be played with. And I’d rather get torn apart by a rough but invigorating play time than spend the rest of my existence trapped in a glass box unable to move for fear of being discovered by the humans. I’m going home. You can all come with me if you want to. Jessie, I know you’re upset about Emily, and I know that sooner or later, Andy will grow up, but that’s the great thing about us being long lasting: we get passed on to other kids, and the cycle repeats. I can’t stop him from growing up, but I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” This managed to crack the cowgirl’s cynical shell for a moment as she briefly considered the possibility.
“Besides,” he added. “He’s got a little sister.”
“He does!?” Jessie exclaimed. “Why didn’t you say so? Come on, let’s go!” Her spirits lifted, the cowgirl climbed down from the windowsill. Bullsey practically threw himself under Woody so that the cowboy was riding in his saddle. They all turned around to ask the Prospector to join them only to find to their shock that his unopened box was empty. A violent slamming noise made them whirl around in surprise to find Stinky Pete screwing the air vent shut with his pickaxe. What’s he doing? Sora wondered in bewilderment as he reflexively drew his Keyblade and slipped into a battle stance. He didn’t want to believe that Stinky Pete was trying to stop them out of malice, but he was prepared to fight either way.
“Prospector!?” Jessie gasped incredulously.
“You’re out of your box!” Woody interjected. Way to point out the obvious, Donald mentally commented dryly.
“I tried reasoning with you, Woody,” Stinky Pete replied calmly as he marched back towards the box. “But you keep forcing me to take extreme measures.”
“Wait a minute,” Sora interrupted as things about the incident with the TV after his and Donald’s arrival the previous night finally added up together in his mind. “Jessie never turned on the TV last night. You did.”
“Look,” the rotund prospector answered, his voice never rising above his usual calm yet sad tone. “These three and I have an eternity to spend in a museum so there’s no need to go pointing fingers.”
“You really are a stinky Pete, aren’t you,” Woody retorted angrily.
“Prospector, this isn’t fair,” Jessie snapped.
“FAIR!?” the miner roared angrily, dark smoke swirling around him as his anger rose. Uh oh, Sora thought with a sense of dread. I can see where this is going. I’ve got to nudge him away from that path before it’s too late. “I’LL TELL YOU WHAT’S NOT FAIR,” Stinky Pete went on with seemingly uncharacteristic anger. “SPENDING A LIFETIME ON A DIME STORE SHELF WATCHING EVERY OTHER TOY BE SOLD!!!! WELL NOW FINALLY MY WAITING HAS PAID OFF, AND NO HAND-ME DOWN COWBOY DOLL OR SOME MAGIC SHRUNKEN HUMAN FROM THE STARS IS GOING TO RUIN IT FOR ME NOW!!!!” As if on cue, familiar dark shapes emerged from the shadows cast around the room.
“Heartless!” Sora cried out as his fears were confirmed. The Prospector was sliding into Darkness, and his anger and newly expressed feelings of inferiority were going to cost him his Heart. He didn’t look like he’d have enough positive emotions in his heart to keep him from losing himself like Sora had managed to do. “Stay out of their way,” he called out to Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye. “We’ll cover you!” With that, he and Donald charged into battle as they started casting spells. The Heartless were swarming out of the shadows in large numbers, and because of their reduced size, it took several hours before they were able to clean out the last of them. With Stinky Pete knocked unconscious in his box after a brief duel, the group ran towards the air vent grille only to find it frozen shut, with a powerful barrier spell blocking them from getting within five feet of the vent.
And before they could figure anything out from there, Al returned, forcing Sora and Donald to hide under the table while the greedy store owner packed the quartet of toys into custom foam insulated packaging for the trip to Japan. Once he left to take the boxes of other Woody’s Roundup merch down to his car, Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye leaped back out of the foam blocks and raced over to the vent grille, where Donald was attempting to cast Firaga spells to melt the ice holding the barricade shut. Unfortuantely, the barrier was still in place. Since Stinky Pete was still out cold inside his box, Sora quickly deduced that there was a larger Heartless hiding somewhere in the room.
True enough, a minute later, a breed of Heartless known as the Devil’s Wave, a hive-mind driven mass of Shadows that fought like a single gestalt entity. The larger the swarm, the harder it was to kill, and this one was the size of the whole couch. Calling on his darker powers, Sora launched a blast of Dark Firaga at the head of the swarm before launching himself off the couch to start swinging at the heart of the hive with his Keyblade. It took another half hour to kill the Wave, and by the time he and Donald had managed to finish it off for good, Al had returned. It was too late to get Woody and the others out of there. But maybe we can sneak them out in the elevator if we take the air vent now, Sora realized.
He signaled his plan to Woody before discreetly slicing open the vent cover while Al marched out of his apartment, carrying the green suitcase with the toys inside it behind him. As the duo broke the ice, they were surprised to find Kairi and Goofy accompanied by a group of toys that matched Woody’s description of his friends. After a frantic explanation of what was happening with Woody, the group set off at a run back to the elevator. If they hurried, they could still save the day without much trouble and get everyone back to Andy's house. Sora just hoped that they got there in time.
I figured Sora, being Sora, meant that he’d probably point out some of the arguments Buzz used in the movie to get Woody to realize that the museum wasn’t the path for him, so I had Stinky Pete’s anger and greed be enough to summon the Heartless in order to take the story in a semi-new direction. The plot is still going to the same destination, I just needed to throw in some new wrinkles to account for my changes to canon to keep things on track without handing out Idiot Balls or coming up with excuses for why Sora and Donald didn’t suggest anything.
And Other!Buzz isn’t with the other group, and I will explain what happened in Al’s Toy Barn next chapter. I figured that after focusing on Kairi and Goofy for most of last chapter, this chapter would be mainly Donald and Sora-centric. Devil’s Wave is the official name of the Shadow Heartless swarm seen in the KH3 and 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue trailers and demos, as confirmed by KH team members via interviews with Famitsu and other sources.
World of Toys – Al’s Apartment:
“I thought he’d never leave,” Sora commented with a sigh of relief once Al McWiggin, avid toy collector, full-time Toy Store owner, and occasional thief, left his top floor apartment to drive across the street to fax the photo’s he’d taken of his Woody’s Roundup merchandise set to the Konishi Toy Museum in preparation for the impending sale. Sora and Donald had landed on the window of the apartment during the early hours of the night, when Al was still eating out for dinner. Woody and Jessie had left them inside out of curiosity, and were surprised to learn that they weren’t toys but had been shrunk down to that size.
From there, they’d exchanged information and had gotten caught up on the current situation. Al had been collecting merchandise from an old cartoon called Woody’s Roundup for years, and had recently stolen Woody from a yard sale from which the cowboy doll had attempted to rescue a broken toy. Jessie, Bullseye, and Stinky Pete the prospector were all thrilled that Al was selling them to a toy museum in a place called Tokyo. But because he’d been stolen and his owner, Andy wouldn’t even realize it until he was home from summer camp, Woody had no desire to go. Al had taken a massive amount of photos shortly after a cleaner had come to reattach Woody’s arm, which had been accidentally ripped during playtime with Andy, then fell off completely as a result of Al’s careless handling of the cowboy in preparation for the photo shoot.
“Oh wow!” Woody exclaimed as he examined his newly repaired arm. “Would you look at me? It’s like I’m fresh out of the box! LOOK AT THIS STITCHING! Andy’s gonna have a hard time rippin’ this.” He waved his reattached limb in front of Jessie excitedly, even as she glared at the cowboy with a look of frustration on her face. It was obvious to Sora that she was claustrophobic, and since she’d spent years trapped inside a dark box on her own while Al kept the Woody’s Roundup toys and memorabilia in storage, he couldn’t say that he blamed her. He could also tell that there was a more personal reason that she was upset about Woody leaving, but she didn’t talk to him enough for him to be able to figure out what it was.
“Great!” she snapped. “Now you can go.” With the mood thus killed, Jessie stormed off towards the window. Equally frustrated, Woody decided that now it was finally time to go home, and walked over to the air vent. Bullseye nudged the cowboy doll mournfully, sad that his friend was leaving. Ugh, Sora thought to himself. This is really complicated. On the one hand, he liked Woody and understood his desire to get back to his family. But on the other, if Al’s sale fell through (despite Sora’s wish for the thief/toynapper to face some form of retribution for his crime), then it was back to storage for Jessie and the others. Maybe they could just go back with Woody, he’d suggested to Donald.
His feathered friend agreed, but felt that the trio needed to reach that conclusion on their own instead of being prodded into it. They had suggested as much, but while Bullseye liked the idea, the prospector still wanted to go to the museum, and Jessie was suspiciously cynical on the matter, stating that in a few years “his precious Andy” would give up on them and they’d be drifting in the wind until they ended up in either storage or a landfill.
“Woody,” Stinky Pete began. “Don’t be mad at Jessie. She’s been through more than you know. Why not make amends before you leave, huh? It’s the least you can do.” Woody was skeptical that it would do any good, but he nevertheless agreed to go talk to Jessie. Sora, always having a thing for connecting with people and helping them work out their problems, followed along. Woody tried to explain how important his bond with Andy was, only for the cowgirl to guess what he was trying to say without even saying.
“How did you know that?” Woody asked.
“Because Emily was just the same,” Jessie answered. She then proceeded to sing a song about the times she’d shared with her former owner that nearly drove Sora to tears. Even Donald, who’d waddled over during the song, couldn’t help but get a little teary eyed at the sorrow conveyed in the cowgirl’s singing. As harsh as it was, it was true. Kids outgrew toys all the time. It was a fact of life. But it seemed so much more heartbreaking looking at it from a toy’s point of view.
“You don’t forget kids like Emily or Andy,” she said sadly. “But they forget you.”
“Jessie,” Woody began, trying to be reassuring and comfort her. “I didn’t…”
“Just go,” she cut him off angrily. Seeing that she didn’t want to talk to him anymore, Woody climbed down from the chair and made his way back towards the air vent. Sora and Donald wished the cowboy luck and promised to stay and keep Jessie company, and perhaps even find a way to avoid her having to go back into storage.
“Maybe if she’s so cynical about kids, she could come back to Radiant Garden with us,” Sora whispered to Donald as an idea popped into his head. “She could probably fit right in with Cinderella’s mouse friends, or with Pinnochio even.” Donald was skeptical of the idea, pointing out that they had no idea if it would even work, not to mention the fact that there was no way of knowing if whatever magic in this world allowed toys to come to life would even work outside the book. If they were wrong, Jessie would either still be trapped here or dead, rendered an inert, lifeless doll for eternity. Ultimately, it wasn't worth the risk.
“How long will it last, Woody?” Stinky Pete asked as he shuffled his box up behind the cowboy. “Do you really think Andy is going to take you to college? Or on his honeymoon?” This gave Woody pause. “Andy’s growing up,” the prospector went on. “And there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s your choice, Woody. You can go back, or you can stay with us, and last forever. You’ll be adored by children for generations!”
“Sure, they’ll adore him,” Sora rebutted. “But he’d be spending an eternity looking at the rest of the world through a glass case. And if they’ve got the room under 24-hour surveillance or something, none of you’d ever be able to move again without being seen.” Woody thought long and hard about his options. On the one hand, yes, he could be adored by children for generations. But on the other, play time, the thing he enjoyed the most about being Andy’s toy, the thing that he had always felt made all the chaos he’d gone through with Buzz a year before worth it? That would never happen to him again. Not unless some idiot decided to steal him from the museum, and even then, they’d just sell him on eBay to another collector for more money.
“Sora’s right,” Woody finally decided. “We’re toys. We were made to be played with. And I’d rather get torn apart by a rough but invigorating play time than spend the rest of my existence trapped in a glass box unable to move for fear of being discovered by the humans. I’m going home. You can all come with me if you want to. Jessie, I know you’re upset about Emily, and I know that sooner or later, Andy will grow up, but that’s the great thing about us being long lasting: we get passed on to other kids, and the cycle repeats. I can’t stop him from growing up, but I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” This managed to crack the cowgirl’s cynical shell for a moment as she briefly considered the possibility.
“Besides,” he added. “He’s got a little sister.”
“He does!?” Jessie exclaimed. “Why didn’t you say so? Come on, let’s go!” Her spirits lifted, the cowgirl climbed down from the windowsill. Bullsey practically threw himself under Woody so that the cowboy was riding in his saddle. They all turned around to ask the Prospector to join them only to find to their shock that his unopened box was empty. A violent slamming noise made them whirl around in surprise to find Stinky Pete screwing the air vent shut with his pickaxe. What’s he doing? Sora wondered in bewilderment as he reflexively drew his Keyblade and slipped into a battle stance. He didn’t want to believe that Stinky Pete was trying to stop them out of malice, but he was prepared to fight either way.
“Prospector!?” Jessie gasped incredulously.
“You’re out of your box!” Woody interjected. Way to point out the obvious, Donald mentally commented dryly.
“I tried reasoning with you, Woody,” Stinky Pete replied calmly as he marched back towards the box. “But you keep forcing me to take extreme measures.”
“Wait a minute,” Sora interrupted as things about the incident with the TV after his and Donald’s arrival the previous night finally added up together in his mind. “Jessie never turned on the TV last night. You did.”
“Look,” the rotund prospector answered, his voice never rising above his usual calm yet sad tone. “These three and I have an eternity to spend in a museum so there’s no need to go pointing fingers.”
“You really are a stinky Pete, aren’t you,” Woody retorted angrily.
“Prospector, this isn’t fair,” Jessie snapped.
“FAIR!?” the miner roared angrily, dark smoke swirling around him as his anger rose. Uh oh, Sora thought with a sense of dread. I can see where this is going. I’ve got to nudge him away from that path before it’s too late. “I’LL TELL YOU WHAT’S NOT FAIR,” Stinky Pete went on with seemingly uncharacteristic anger. “SPENDING A LIFETIME ON A DIME STORE SHELF WATCHING EVERY OTHER TOY BE SOLD!!!! WELL NOW FINALLY MY WAITING HAS PAID OFF, AND NO HAND-ME DOWN COWBOY DOLL OR SOME MAGIC SHRUNKEN HUMAN FROM THE STARS IS GOING TO RUIN IT FOR ME NOW!!!!” As if on cue, familiar dark shapes emerged from the shadows cast around the room.
“Heartless!” Sora cried out as his fears were confirmed. The Prospector was sliding into Darkness, and his anger and newly expressed feelings of inferiority were going to cost him his Heart. He didn’t look like he’d have enough positive emotions in his heart to keep him from losing himself like Sora had managed to do. “Stay out of their way,” he called out to Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye. “We’ll cover you!” With that, he and Donald charged into battle as they started casting spells. The Heartless were swarming out of the shadows in large numbers, and because of their reduced size, it took several hours before they were able to clean out the last of them. With Stinky Pete knocked unconscious in his box after a brief duel, the group ran towards the air vent grille only to find it frozen shut, with a powerful barrier spell blocking them from getting within five feet of the vent.
And before they could figure anything out from there, Al returned, forcing Sora and Donald to hide under the table while the greedy store owner packed the quartet of toys into custom foam insulated packaging for the trip to Japan. Once he left to take the boxes of other Woody’s Roundup merch down to his car, Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye leaped back out of the foam blocks and raced over to the vent grille, where Donald was attempting to cast Firaga spells to melt the ice holding the barricade shut. Unfortuantely, the barrier was still in place. Since Stinky Pete was still out cold inside his box, Sora quickly deduced that there was a larger Heartless hiding somewhere in the room.
True enough, a minute later, a breed of Heartless known as the Devil’s Wave, a hive-mind driven mass of Shadows that fought like a single gestalt entity. The larger the swarm, the harder it was to kill, and this one was the size of the whole couch. Calling on his darker powers, Sora launched a blast of Dark Firaga at the head of the swarm before launching himself off the couch to start swinging at the heart of the hive with his Keyblade. It took another half hour to kill the Wave, and by the time he and Donald had managed to finish it off for good, Al had returned. It was too late to get Woody and the others out of there. But maybe we can sneak them out in the elevator if we take the air vent now, Sora realized.
He signaled his plan to Woody before discreetly slicing open the vent cover while Al marched out of his apartment, carrying the green suitcase with the toys inside it behind him. As the duo broke the ice, they were surprised to find Kairi and Goofy accompanied by a group of toys that matched Woody’s description of his friends. After a frantic explanation of what was happening with Woody, the group set off at a run back to the elevator. If they hurried, they could still save the day without much trouble and get everyone back to Andy's house. Sora just hoped that they got there in time.
I figured Sora, being Sora, meant that he’d probably point out some of the arguments Buzz used in the movie to get Woody to realize that the museum wasn’t the path for him, so I had Stinky Pete’s anger and greed be enough to summon the Heartless in order to take the story in a semi-new direction. The plot is still going to the same destination, I just needed to throw in some new wrinkles to account for my changes to canon to keep things on track without handing out Idiot Balls or coming up with excuses for why Sora and Donald didn’t suggest anything.
And Other!Buzz isn’t with the other group, and I will explain what happened in Al’s Toy Barn next chapter. I figured that after focusing on Kairi and Goofy for most of last chapter, this chapter would be mainly Donald and Sora-centric. Devil’s Wave is the official name of the Shadow Heartless swarm seen in the KH3 and 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue trailers and demos, as confirmed by KH team members via interviews with Famitsu and other sources.
Fantastic incorporation of the Toy Story world and story.
Chapter 25: The Claw:
World of Toys – Elevator Shaft:
“Guys, hurry!” Sora called out as he dodged another blow from the massive (from a toy’s perspective anyway) Heartless that had materialized on the roof of the elevator car in response to Al’s greed. He, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy were keeping the demon busy while Buzz and the others attempted to rescue Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye from the suitcase. After entering Al’s Toy Barn, Kairi and the others had managed to find their way to the rotund owner’s office at the back of the store with only minimal trouble. Buzz had almost woken up another Buzz Lightyear toy by accident when he tried to look at the new model which had a light-up utility belt. Thankfully, Goofy kept him on task and averted a potential case of mistaken identity. From there, they’d stowed away in Al’s bag when he returned to his apartment to begin packing the Woody’s Roundup Collection for his flight to Japan.
Now, as the warriors from another world fought to keep the Heartless off their backs, the toys raced to free their friend from his suitcase prison before Al reached the ground floor. Between the two Keyblade wielders and Donald’s magic, the Heartless was soon defeated. Unfortunately, they were too late. By the time Slinky managed to get the suitcase open, they had already reached the first level of the building. Stinky Pete yanked Woody back inside as Al exited the elevator and walked briskly towards his car. Thinking quickly, Mr. Potato Head threw his plastic bowler hat like a discus, jamming the front doors before they could swing closed again. With the doors held open for them, the heroes sprinted out the door towards the curb, arriving just in time to watch Al drive away towards the airport.
“How are we gonna get him now?” Rex asked defeatedly. Mr. Potato Head looked around the parking lot.
“Pizza anyone?” the plastic vegetable suggested as the gang looked over to find a vacant pizza delivery truck parked a few spots over.
“Go! Go! Go!” Buzz shouted as he urged everyone into the van. While nobody liked the idea that they were basically committing grand theft auto, in the group’s defense, the toys were only borrowing it and asking the pizza delivery guy for a ride would simply make him panic at the sight of toys coming to life. They were running out of time and it was the only way to make it there in time. So with no other option, they piled into the truck. As soon as he jumped inside, Buzz began barking out orders. “Slinky, Donald, and Goofy, take the pedals. Rex, Kairi, and Sora, you navigate. Hamm and Potato, operate the levers and knobs.” As the group scrambled into their assigned positions, Rex noticed three little green squeeze toy aliens hanging from the roof of the truck by a string, evidently as a toy order with the meal.
“Strangers,” one of them said. “From the outside.” Sora noticed Buzz’s mumbled “Oh no,” and assumed that Buzz had encountered these kinds of toys before and this behavior was probably typical of them. Well every toy’s got their own personality, he thought to himself. Who am I to judge one way or another? Stinky Pete being the obvious and unsaid exception to that idea, given that he was actively opposing Woody’s attempts to go home to Andy. Rex frantically announced that Al was at a red light.
“Maximum power, Slink!” Buzz called out. The springy dog slammed his front paw on the gas pedal as hard as he physically could. When the car refused to move, Kairi jumped down and kicked the gear shift into Drive. And with that, the Pizza Planet Delivery Truck sped out of the parking lot just as the traffic light turned green. The race was on! It was a frantic ride with Rex, Sora, and Kairi frantically calling out directions while the rest of the group bar Slinky and Buzz stumbled and tumbled around as the commandeered truck swerved in between lanes as they hurried to catch up with Al. In all the chaos, the squeeze toy aliens came loose from the roof of the vehicle, and Mr. Potato Head barely managed to haul them back inside through the open window. They were too busy focusing to outright laugh, but Sora and Kairi both giggled when the aliens declared that they were eternally greatful to the plastic potato for saving their lives. Clearly that would be amusing for a while.
They reached the airport right behind Al and swiftly devised a plan to smuggle themselves inside to rescue Woody without attracting attention to themselves. Using a disposable pet carrier left near the curb, they made their way inside as quickly as they could. Despite a near miss at being discovered when a little girl approached their cover, only for Slinky to spontaneously start “barking” to scare her off, they made it inside the baggage check in area. Despite Buzz’s instructions that they just needed to find Als’s suitcase, the amount of bags was staggering to everyone. Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy were all blown away by the amount of baggage inside the labyrinth of conveyor belts going in every direction. Even by the standards of Coalition spaceports, this was unbelievably complex.
Everyone was thrown violently from the pet carrier as they slid down the metal slide and into the maze. But when they got their bearings, they were able to spot two identical green suitcases on conveyor belts going in the opposite directions.
“You take that one,” Buzz instructed the rest of the group as he and Slinky began sprinting off in one direction. “Sora, Slinky, Donald, and I’ll take the other one.” After a quick good luck kiss from Kairi, Sora dashed off to catch up with Buzz while everyone else jumped down to the next level and scrambled over bags in pursuit of the second green case. This is like the world’s biggest obstacle course, Sora thought to himself as he used his darker moves to warp past suitcases while Buzz, Slinky, and Donald scrambled over and around the bags in the hopes of finding Woody. Then disaster struck as Slinky’s slower moving hindquarters got snagged on a handle that was diverted in another direction.
“I’ve got him!” Sora called out before warping across to where the canine was being dragged. “You guys go get Woody!” Meanwhile, Kairi and the others reached their case only to find that it contained nothing but expensive camera equipment. While all of this was happening, Buzz and Donald were leaping from suitcase to suitcase like they were running parkour along the rooftops of Agrabah. They reached the case, only for Stinky Pete to send Buzz flying off the edge of their conveyor belt with a single punch.
“Take that, space toy!” the prospector snapped. He’d possessed a bitter hatred of all things pertaining to astronauts and space ever since the rising popularity of astronaut toys led to Woody’s Roundup getting cancelled.
“Hey!” Woody shouted as he forced his way out of the suitcase. “Nobody does that to my friend!” With that, Woody was quickly locked into a rough and tumble brawl with the rotund miner. Deciding that the most expedient method of ending the fight would be to get everyone else out of the case as quickly as possible, Donald hopped into the case as the two brawlers fell out of it, using a Blizzara spell to hold the lid open. With a quick Zero Graviga spell, the foam insulation blocks on the top layer were lifted out, allowing Jessie and Bullseye to climb free of their spongey prison. As Woody and Stinky Pete continued to brawl, Heartless began dropping down onto the conveyor belt from above.
Since none of the toys had any experience with fighting the dark monsters, the feathered court magician of Disney Castle prepared to jump back out of the travel case to deal with the monsters. But before either he, Jessie or Bullseye could climb out, a barrier spell went up, sending them both bouncing back against the inside of the plastic case. The trio banged their fists (or hooves in Bullseye’s case) helplessly against the enchanted barricade, despite the futility. As the demonic horde closed in around them, Stinky Pete tore Woody’s arm open again with his pickaxe, causing the cowboy to scream.
“It’s your choice, Woody,” the prospector threatened coldly. “You can go to Japan together, or in pieces. If he fixed you once, he can fix you again! Now get in the box!”
“Never!” the cowboy spat. As the human Pete raised his axe in preparation to slide Woody to pieces like a PG-rated axe murderer, he shrieked from the sudden flashing lights as Buzz, Sora, Slinky, and the rest of the group arrived using the flash on the cameras Hamm, Kairi, and Potato Head had uncovered to blind Stinky Pete and drive him backwards. The flash had the added benefit of forcing the Heartless swarms to shrink back in terror, distracting the little terrors long enough for Sora, Kairi, and Goofy to race in and exterminate them all. As Buzz held the prospector in the air, the elderly toy’s angry ranting about how children destroyed toys caused another massive Heartless to appear. This time, it was almost the size of a normal human, with a large belly, a massive pickaxe, and a long, flowing beard. In short, it looked like a life-size Heartless duplicate of Stinky Pete.
While the other toys strapped Stinky Pete to a loose backpack heading out to the baggage claim (Woody deciding that learning the true meaning of “play time” would be a fitting punishment for the toy who had been motivated by never being bought, let alone played with), Sora, Kairi and Goofy set about destroying the Heartless Miner, as Kairi quickly dubbed it. It proved to be relatively easy, and once it was defeated, the barrier went down. But it was too late to get everyone out of the suitcase. Bullseye managed to jump clear just as the green travel box went careening down the trucks that were preparing to deliver the passengers’ luggage to the plane.
“Donald! Jessie! ” Sora and Woody each cried out as the man loading the bags onto the truck tossed Jessie and Donald (who’d been caught dangling out of the box as they reached the bottom) back into the suitcase and threw it onto the truck. Thinking fast, Woody whistled and hopped into Bullseye’s saddle. Buzz was right behind him, while Sora gave a quick kiss to his fiancé before both toys and Keyblade wielder slid down the ramp to rescue their friends. The truck was pulling away as they reached the bottom, and while Buzz and Woody raced after it on horseback, Sora combined the forward momentum of the rollers at the bottom of the ramp with the Glide ability he’d learned from Peter Pan and his Flowmotion techniques he’d learned in the Realm of Sleep to practically fly over to the truck and narrowly land on the back of the rear trailer.
“Hey! High! Hey! Giddyup!” Woody shouted as his trusty steed gained ground against the speeding baggage truck. When they reached the back, the cowboy stood up, and, with a boost from Buzz, grabbed onto the handle of one of the bags and was quickly whisked along as the truck raced across the tarmac towards the plane to Japan that Al was boarding even now. Sora gave him a helping hand as he reached the roof of the rear trailer, and, spotting the green case at the front of the train of bag trailers, the two sprinted forwards to rescue their friends. Unfortunately, the truck slowed to a stop just as they landed in the front trailer. The cowboy and the Key Bearer quickly hid themselves inside someone’s golf bag to avoid detection, and a few minutes later, they were loaded onto the plane. Unzipping the bag, they climbed through the airplane’s cargo hold towards the case with their friends trapped inside.
“Excuse me,” Woody greeted playfully as he opened the case to find Donald soothing Jessie’s clausterphobia. “But I think you’re on the wrong flight. Come on, guys, it’s time to go home.” Jessie and Donald quickly climbed out of the suitcase, but right as they were about to sneak out the loading door of the cargo hold, the baggage loaders slammed it shut. Jessie began to panic before Woody and Sora noticed a bright light coming from what could only be an opening in the bottom of the plane where the wheels were. They climbed over the boxes and towards the opening to find that the plane was already in motion. If they didn’t get off now, they’d be trapped on board until the flight landed in Japan.
“You sure about this!?” Jessie asked, shouting to be heard over the roar of the engines.
“No!” Woody answered bluntly. “Let’s go!” Despite the fear and uncertainty of the situation, Woody began climbing down the landing gear while Sora and Donald slid down with parkour and Flowmotion skills honed by years of practice. As the two toys slowly climbed down to where the magaician and the Keyblade Master were waiting, Woody slipped and fell from the metal beam he’d been standing on. Donald quickly caught him and brought him over to them with a Magnega spell, and Sora repeated the same for Jessie. As Woody fell, his hat was blown off by the gust of the plane’s turbine engines.
“What’s a cowboy without his hat!?” Buzz called out as he rode into view on Bullseye, Woody’s hat in his hand. Wow, that horse is fast! Sora thought to himself with an amazed stare at the fact that a plastic and fabric horse was able to keep pace with a speeding jet liner. As the plane turned onto the runway and began to accelerate, Buzz pulled Bullzeye in between the tires so that he was right between the flat, narrow ledge at the bottom of the thick pole that lead up to the rest of the landing gear. One by one, the group hopped onto the horse’s back, and Bullseye quickly dashed out of the way as the plane flew down the runway and took off into the sky. They all cheered in celebration until they were nearly run over by another plane as it landed.
“Lets… Go home,” Woody remarked once they’d all calmed down. They all agreed to that, and despite the extra load, Bullseye carried them all back to the baggage ramp, where they found the others waiting for them. Kairi tackled Sora in a hug and planted a long, romantic kiss on his lips when they returned. Goofy hugged Donald tightly, much to the duck’s embarrassment (but he secretly enjoyed the attention deep down), while the rest of the toys swarmed around Woody in celebration. Hamm and Potato Head quickly commandeered an empty baggage truck to bring the toys back to Andy’s House, and the off-worlders decided that it was time for them to go home too.
Two more worlds to go and we’re at the halfway point of the story. You all know that next up is the Black Cauldron world. After that will focus on a major 3-way battle between the Legion, the Coalition, and the Hellfire Club, and a certain series protagonist is going to get caught in the middle. You can all guess where the story goes from there. If you’re wondering why the Heartless boss fights tend to go quickly in-universe, it’s mainly because after six years with no Bag Of Spilling (TV Tropes term for when the sequel makes your character restart all their stats and items at Lv. 1), there are very few breeds of Heartless that give our heroes a real challenge in battle.
World of Toys – Elevator Shaft:
“Guys, hurry!” Sora called out as he dodged another blow from the massive (from a toy’s perspective anyway) Heartless that had materialized on the roof of the elevator car in response to Al’s greed. He, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy were keeping the demon busy while Buzz and the others attempted to rescue Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye from the suitcase. After entering Al’s Toy Barn, Kairi and the others had managed to find their way to the rotund owner’s office at the back of the store with only minimal trouble. Buzz had almost woken up another Buzz Lightyear toy by accident when he tried to look at the new model which had a light-up utility belt. Thankfully, Goofy kept him on task and averted a potential case of mistaken identity. From there, they’d stowed away in Al’s bag when he returned to his apartment to begin packing the Woody’s Roundup Collection for his flight to Japan.
Now, as the warriors from another world fought to keep the Heartless off their backs, the toys raced to free their friend from his suitcase prison before Al reached the ground floor. Between the two Keyblade wielders and Donald’s magic, the Heartless was soon defeated. Unfortunately, they were too late. By the time Slinky managed to get the suitcase open, they had already reached the first level of the building. Stinky Pete yanked Woody back inside as Al exited the elevator and walked briskly towards his car. Thinking quickly, Mr. Potato Head threw his plastic bowler hat like a discus, jamming the front doors before they could swing closed again. With the doors held open for them, the heroes sprinted out the door towards the curb, arriving just in time to watch Al drive away towards the airport.
“How are we gonna get him now?” Rex asked defeatedly. Mr. Potato Head looked around the parking lot.
“Pizza anyone?” the plastic vegetable suggested as the gang looked over to find a vacant pizza delivery truck parked a few spots over.
“Go! Go! Go!” Buzz shouted as he urged everyone into the van. While nobody liked the idea that they were basically committing grand theft auto, in the group’s defense, the toys were only borrowing it and asking the pizza delivery guy for a ride would simply make him panic at the sight of toys coming to life. They were running out of time and it was the only way to make it there in time. So with no other option, they piled into the truck. As soon as he jumped inside, Buzz began barking out orders. “Slinky, Donald, and Goofy, take the pedals. Rex, Kairi, and Sora, you navigate. Hamm and Potato, operate the levers and knobs.” As the group scrambled into their assigned positions, Rex noticed three little green squeeze toy aliens hanging from the roof of the truck by a string, evidently as a toy order with the meal.
“Strangers,” one of them said. “From the outside.” Sora noticed Buzz’s mumbled “Oh no,” and assumed that Buzz had encountered these kinds of toys before and this behavior was probably typical of them. Well every toy’s got their own personality, he thought to himself. Who am I to judge one way or another? Stinky Pete being the obvious and unsaid exception to that idea, given that he was actively opposing Woody’s attempts to go home to Andy. Rex frantically announced that Al was at a red light.
“Maximum power, Slink!” Buzz called out. The springy dog slammed his front paw on the gas pedal as hard as he physically could. When the car refused to move, Kairi jumped down and kicked the gear shift into Drive. And with that, the Pizza Planet Delivery Truck sped out of the parking lot just as the traffic light turned green. The race was on! It was a frantic ride with Rex, Sora, and Kairi frantically calling out directions while the rest of the group bar Slinky and Buzz stumbled and tumbled around as the commandeered truck swerved in between lanes as they hurried to catch up with Al. In all the chaos, the squeeze toy aliens came loose from the roof of the vehicle, and Mr. Potato Head barely managed to haul them back inside through the open window. They were too busy focusing to outright laugh, but Sora and Kairi both giggled when the aliens declared that they were eternally greatful to the plastic potato for saving their lives. Clearly that would be amusing for a while.
They reached the airport right behind Al and swiftly devised a plan to smuggle themselves inside to rescue Woody without attracting attention to themselves. Using a disposable pet carrier left near the curb, they made their way inside as quickly as they could. Despite a near miss at being discovered when a little girl approached their cover, only for Slinky to spontaneously start “barking” to scare her off, they made it inside the baggage check in area. Despite Buzz’s instructions that they just needed to find Als’s suitcase, the amount of bags was staggering to everyone. Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy were all blown away by the amount of baggage inside the labyrinth of conveyor belts going in every direction. Even by the standards of Coalition spaceports, this was unbelievably complex.
Everyone was thrown violently from the pet carrier as they slid down the metal slide and into the maze. But when they got their bearings, they were able to spot two identical green suitcases on conveyor belts going in the opposite directions.
“You take that one,” Buzz instructed the rest of the group as he and Slinky began sprinting off in one direction. “Sora, Slinky, Donald, and I’ll take the other one.” After a quick good luck kiss from Kairi, Sora dashed off to catch up with Buzz while everyone else jumped down to the next level and scrambled over bags in pursuit of the second green case. This is like the world’s biggest obstacle course, Sora thought to himself as he used his darker moves to warp past suitcases while Buzz, Slinky, and Donald scrambled over and around the bags in the hopes of finding Woody. Then disaster struck as Slinky’s slower moving hindquarters got snagged on a handle that was diverted in another direction.
“I’ve got him!” Sora called out before warping across to where the canine was being dragged. “You guys go get Woody!” Meanwhile, Kairi and the others reached their case only to find that it contained nothing but expensive camera equipment. While all of this was happening, Buzz and Donald were leaping from suitcase to suitcase like they were running parkour along the rooftops of Agrabah. They reached the case, only for Stinky Pete to send Buzz flying off the edge of their conveyor belt with a single punch.
“Take that, space toy!” the prospector snapped. He’d possessed a bitter hatred of all things pertaining to astronauts and space ever since the rising popularity of astronaut toys led to Woody’s Roundup getting cancelled.
“Hey!” Woody shouted as he forced his way out of the suitcase. “Nobody does that to my friend!” With that, Woody was quickly locked into a rough and tumble brawl with the rotund miner. Deciding that the most expedient method of ending the fight would be to get everyone else out of the case as quickly as possible, Donald hopped into the case as the two brawlers fell out of it, using a Blizzara spell to hold the lid open. With a quick Zero Graviga spell, the foam insulation blocks on the top layer were lifted out, allowing Jessie and Bullseye to climb free of their spongey prison. As Woody and Stinky Pete continued to brawl, Heartless began dropping down onto the conveyor belt from above.
Since none of the toys had any experience with fighting the dark monsters, the feathered court magician of Disney Castle prepared to jump back out of the travel case to deal with the monsters. But before either he, Jessie or Bullseye could climb out, a barrier spell went up, sending them both bouncing back against the inside of the plastic case. The trio banged their fists (or hooves in Bullseye’s case) helplessly against the enchanted barricade, despite the futility. As the demonic horde closed in around them, Stinky Pete tore Woody’s arm open again with his pickaxe, causing the cowboy to scream.
“It’s your choice, Woody,” the prospector threatened coldly. “You can go to Japan together, or in pieces. If he fixed you once, he can fix you again! Now get in the box!”
“Never!” the cowboy spat. As the human Pete raised his axe in preparation to slide Woody to pieces like a PG-rated axe murderer, he shrieked from the sudden flashing lights as Buzz, Sora, Slinky, and the rest of the group arrived using the flash on the cameras Hamm, Kairi, and Potato Head had uncovered to blind Stinky Pete and drive him backwards. The flash had the added benefit of forcing the Heartless swarms to shrink back in terror, distracting the little terrors long enough for Sora, Kairi, and Goofy to race in and exterminate them all. As Buzz held the prospector in the air, the elderly toy’s angry ranting about how children destroyed toys caused another massive Heartless to appear. This time, it was almost the size of a normal human, with a large belly, a massive pickaxe, and a long, flowing beard. In short, it looked like a life-size Heartless duplicate of Stinky Pete.
While the other toys strapped Stinky Pete to a loose backpack heading out to the baggage claim (Woody deciding that learning the true meaning of “play time” would be a fitting punishment for the toy who had been motivated by never being bought, let alone played with), Sora, Kairi and Goofy set about destroying the Heartless Miner, as Kairi quickly dubbed it. It proved to be relatively easy, and once it was defeated, the barrier went down. But it was too late to get everyone out of the suitcase. Bullseye managed to jump clear just as the green travel box went careening down the trucks that were preparing to deliver the passengers’ luggage to the plane.
“Donald! Jessie! ” Sora and Woody each cried out as the man loading the bags onto the truck tossed Jessie and Donald (who’d been caught dangling out of the box as they reached the bottom) back into the suitcase and threw it onto the truck. Thinking fast, Woody whistled and hopped into Bullseye’s saddle. Buzz was right behind him, while Sora gave a quick kiss to his fiancé before both toys and Keyblade wielder slid down the ramp to rescue their friends. The truck was pulling away as they reached the bottom, and while Buzz and Woody raced after it on horseback, Sora combined the forward momentum of the rollers at the bottom of the ramp with the Glide ability he’d learned from Peter Pan and his Flowmotion techniques he’d learned in the Realm of Sleep to practically fly over to the truck and narrowly land on the back of the rear trailer.
“Hey! High! Hey! Giddyup!” Woody shouted as his trusty steed gained ground against the speeding baggage truck. When they reached the back, the cowboy stood up, and, with a boost from Buzz, grabbed onto the handle of one of the bags and was quickly whisked along as the truck raced across the tarmac towards the plane to Japan that Al was boarding even now. Sora gave him a helping hand as he reached the roof of the rear trailer, and, spotting the green case at the front of the train of bag trailers, the two sprinted forwards to rescue their friends. Unfortunately, the truck slowed to a stop just as they landed in the front trailer. The cowboy and the Key Bearer quickly hid themselves inside someone’s golf bag to avoid detection, and a few minutes later, they were loaded onto the plane. Unzipping the bag, they climbed through the airplane’s cargo hold towards the case with their friends trapped inside.
“Excuse me,” Woody greeted playfully as he opened the case to find Donald soothing Jessie’s clausterphobia. “But I think you’re on the wrong flight. Come on, guys, it’s time to go home.” Jessie and Donald quickly climbed out of the suitcase, but right as they were about to sneak out the loading door of the cargo hold, the baggage loaders slammed it shut. Jessie began to panic before Woody and Sora noticed a bright light coming from what could only be an opening in the bottom of the plane where the wheels were. They climbed over the boxes and towards the opening to find that the plane was already in motion. If they didn’t get off now, they’d be trapped on board until the flight landed in Japan.
“You sure about this!?” Jessie asked, shouting to be heard over the roar of the engines.
“No!” Woody answered bluntly. “Let’s go!” Despite the fear and uncertainty of the situation, Woody began climbing down the landing gear while Sora and Donald slid down with parkour and Flowmotion skills honed by years of practice. As the two toys slowly climbed down to where the magaician and the Keyblade Master were waiting, Woody slipped and fell from the metal beam he’d been standing on. Donald quickly caught him and brought him over to them with a Magnega spell, and Sora repeated the same for Jessie. As Woody fell, his hat was blown off by the gust of the plane’s turbine engines.
“What’s a cowboy without his hat!?” Buzz called out as he rode into view on Bullseye, Woody’s hat in his hand. Wow, that horse is fast! Sora thought to himself with an amazed stare at the fact that a plastic and fabric horse was able to keep pace with a speeding jet liner. As the plane turned onto the runway and began to accelerate, Buzz pulled Bullzeye in between the tires so that he was right between the flat, narrow ledge at the bottom of the thick pole that lead up to the rest of the landing gear. One by one, the group hopped onto the horse’s back, and Bullseye quickly dashed out of the way as the plane flew down the runway and took off into the sky. They all cheered in celebration until they were nearly run over by another plane as it landed.
“Lets… Go home,” Woody remarked once they’d all calmed down. They all agreed to that, and despite the extra load, Bullseye carried them all back to the baggage ramp, where they found the others waiting for them. Kairi tackled Sora in a hug and planted a long, romantic kiss on his lips when they returned. Goofy hugged Donald tightly, much to the duck’s embarrassment (but he secretly enjoyed the attention deep down), while the rest of the toys swarmed around Woody in celebration. Hamm and Potato Head quickly commandeered an empty baggage truck to bring the toys back to Andy’s House, and the off-worlders decided that it was time for them to go home too.
Two more worlds to go and we’re at the halfway point of the story. You all know that next up is the Black Cauldron world. After that will focus on a major 3-way battle between the Legion, the Coalition, and the Hellfire Club, and a certain series protagonist is going to get caught in the middle. You can all guess where the story goes from there. If you’re wondering why the Heartless boss fights tend to go quickly in-universe, it’s mainly because after six years with no Bag Of Spilling (TV Tropes term for when the sequel makes your character restart all their stats and items at Lv. 1), there are very few breeds of Heartless that give our heroes a real challenge in battle.
Just a head's up, this is the last new Disney world for this story. From here on out it's Marvel, Earth, and old Disney worlds. These next three chapters are going to be shorter than the last few, but then we're going to get back to longer ones.
Chapter 26: Kingdom of Prydain:
The Land of Departure – Library:
Vanitas shuddered as he closed the book he'd been pouring over and added it to the pile. He'd lived with Xehanort for four years, so he wasn't one to be frightened or repulsed easily. But the information he'd just uncovered had rocked him to his core. The Gauntlet of The First Master was an ancient legend dating back several thousands and thousands of years to the very first Keyblade War. Records of what this was were scarce, but with the advent of the Coalition, enough knowledge had been pooled together that Vanitas was able to collect enough research to paint a complete picture of what it was they were dealing with: an ancient weapon with enough raw power to make its user omnipotent.
According to legend, the Gauntlet had been made from six singularities from a dying galaxy, shaped and refined by the very first Keyblade Master in existence and attached to armor strong enough to channel the ingots' energies to form something that granted its wielder god-like powers. Teleportation to any location in the universe at any time, long range mind reading, long-distance mind control, energy beams powerful enough to destroy the universe, and time travel. What truly frightened – no, terrified Vanitas, was the fact that just one of these so-called "Infinity Stones" had enough power to make whoever used its power an invincible force of destruction. And Maleficent's got one of them already…
The raven-haired Keyblade wielder shivered in fear as he realized the extent of Maleficent's ambitions. She wasn't just going to conquer all worlds, she was trying to achieve godlike power sufficient to ensure that she will have always been the supreme ruler of the universe. The implications were staggering, and Vanitas shuddered to think about what such a universe would be like. I need to pass this on to the Director, he thought to himself as he pulled out his cell phone and speed dialed Director Cassim. After a few tense minutes, the former King of Thieves answered the phone, and the former apprentice of Xehanort frantically explained what he'd discovered.
If the implications of the Infinity Gauntlet as it was otherwise known were enough to terrify Vanitas, then Cassim nearly went catatonic in a horrified stupor as the weight of what Maleficent was after hit him like a freight train. But as the director of C.I.N., he recovered quickly and ordered Vanitas to make contact with his informant find out every scrap of information possible on the progress of Maleficent's hunt for the Stones. How many did she already have? Which ones did she have? Did they know the locations of any of the others? Vanitas nodded before hanging up and firing off a quick text to Loki to set up a time and location for their rendezvous. He needed to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible.
Kingdom of Prydain – Witches' Cottage:
"Are you sure this is the place?" Riku wondered as he and Mickey found themselves facing a small wooden cottage in the middle of the wilderness. A tip from Coalition Intelligence had revealed that there was an artifact in this kingdom called the Black Cauldron that Maleficent wanted for her own plans. From the intel they'd been given before their arrival, the Cauldron had the power to create an army of undead warriors. A local tyrant known only as The Horned King had attempted to use the Cauldron's power to rule this world, only for its power to be undone by the willing sacrifice of a heroic creature named Gurgi. Although the cauldron was now inert, Riku didn't doubt for a moment that Vanitas' sources would indicate the "Mistress of All Evil" wanted it unless she had a reliable method of restoring its powers.
For that reason, he and Mickey had been dispatched to handle the situation to give Terra and Ventus a break and allow Terra some time off to spend with his family. Last Riku heard, Ven and Yuffie were spending the rest weekend at his parents' house on the Destiny Islands while Terra had gone back to the Land of Departure so that he could get ready for his and Aqua's wedding anniversary in next week. As they walked up to the house, Riku mentally reviewed the information Coalition Intelligence had gathered on the three witches who lived here. The Witches of Morva were apparently always looking to make bargains with anyone who sought them out, preferably for something roughly equal to what they were offering.
To that end, he and Mickey had brought a worthless enchanted statue from the Cave of Wonders that could be trained to act as a bodyguard. One magical artifact for another, Riku thought to himself as he knocked on the front door. Should be easy to convince them to trade. To the silver haired young man's surprise, however, the witches didn't even bother trying to make them trade anything for the Cauldron. Prydain had been part of the Coalition for going on three years now, and the three witches were informed enough on Coalition news to know about the resurgence of the Hellfire Club. Evidently, they had reached the same conclusion that Riku and Mickey had, and while all three women could take on Maleficent in a fight, these "Dark Elves" sighted in San Fransokyo and Agrabah outright terrified them.
"That was easier than I thought it would be," Riku commented as he and Mickey walked out of the cottage carrying the Black Cauldron between them. A thundering roar directed their attention skyward as they looked up to see several ships of varying size descending from the sky. The unfamiliar dagger-like shapes matched the descriptions of the Dark Elf spaceships sighted in San Fransokyo, while the two Keyblade Masters instantly recognized the red painted wood of Captain Hook's pirate ship sailing through the skies. I spoke too soon, Riku thought to himself as he sent a quick text to Coalition Intelligence requesting reinforcements. I just hope we can hold them off long enough for back up to get here so we can get the cauldron off world.
The Black Cauldron world is set after the movie, since I didn't really enjoy it all that much, and I don't want to have to force myself to sit through the movie again for the sake of writing, since that'll just make these chapters take more time to write than I want them too. I apologize for those who were anticipating a Horned King boss battle, but that's just how I feel. Anyway, most of the plot details reference the events of the movie in passing, and although the Cauldron was rendered inert at the end of the film, I wouldn't put it past Maleficent, Loki, or Malekith to figure out a way to restore its power again.
Chapter 26: Kingdom of Prydain:
The Land of Departure – Library:
Vanitas shuddered as he closed the book he'd been pouring over and added it to the pile. He'd lived with Xehanort for four years, so he wasn't one to be frightened or repulsed easily. But the information he'd just uncovered had rocked him to his core. The Gauntlet of The First Master was an ancient legend dating back several thousands and thousands of years to the very first Keyblade War. Records of what this was were scarce, but with the advent of the Coalition, enough knowledge had been pooled together that Vanitas was able to collect enough research to paint a complete picture of what it was they were dealing with: an ancient weapon with enough raw power to make its user omnipotent.
According to legend, the Gauntlet had been made from six singularities from a dying galaxy, shaped and refined by the very first Keyblade Master in existence and attached to armor strong enough to channel the ingots' energies to form something that granted its wielder god-like powers. Teleportation to any location in the universe at any time, long range mind reading, long-distance mind control, energy beams powerful enough to destroy the universe, and time travel. What truly frightened – no, terrified Vanitas, was the fact that just one of these so-called "Infinity Stones" had enough power to make whoever used its power an invincible force of destruction. And Maleficent's got one of them already…
The raven-haired Keyblade wielder shivered in fear as he realized the extent of Maleficent's ambitions. She wasn't just going to conquer all worlds, she was trying to achieve godlike power sufficient to ensure that she will have always been the supreme ruler of the universe. The implications were staggering, and Vanitas shuddered to think about what such a universe would be like. I need to pass this on to the Director, he thought to himself as he pulled out his cell phone and speed dialed Director Cassim. After a few tense minutes, the former King of Thieves answered the phone, and the former apprentice of Xehanort frantically explained what he'd discovered.
If the implications of the Infinity Gauntlet as it was otherwise known were enough to terrify Vanitas, then Cassim nearly went catatonic in a horrified stupor as the weight of what Maleficent was after hit him like a freight train. But as the director of C.I.N., he recovered quickly and ordered Vanitas to make contact with his informant find out every scrap of information possible on the progress of Maleficent's hunt for the Stones. How many did she already have? Which ones did she have? Did they know the locations of any of the others? Vanitas nodded before hanging up and firing off a quick text to Loki to set up a time and location for their rendezvous. He needed to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible.
Kingdom of Prydain – Witches' Cottage:
"Are you sure this is the place?" Riku wondered as he and Mickey found themselves facing a small wooden cottage in the middle of the wilderness. A tip from Coalition Intelligence had revealed that there was an artifact in this kingdom called the Black Cauldron that Maleficent wanted for her own plans. From the intel they'd been given before their arrival, the Cauldron had the power to create an army of undead warriors. A local tyrant known only as The Horned King had attempted to use the Cauldron's power to rule this world, only for its power to be undone by the willing sacrifice of a heroic creature named Gurgi. Although the cauldron was now inert, Riku didn't doubt for a moment that Vanitas' sources would indicate the "Mistress of All Evil" wanted it unless she had a reliable method of restoring its powers.
For that reason, he and Mickey had been dispatched to handle the situation to give Terra and Ventus a break and allow Terra some time off to spend with his family. Last Riku heard, Ven and Yuffie were spending the rest weekend at his parents' house on the Destiny Islands while Terra had gone back to the Land of Departure so that he could get ready for his and Aqua's wedding anniversary in next week. As they walked up to the house, Riku mentally reviewed the information Coalition Intelligence had gathered on the three witches who lived here. The Witches of Morva were apparently always looking to make bargains with anyone who sought them out, preferably for something roughly equal to what they were offering.
To that end, he and Mickey had brought a worthless enchanted statue from the Cave of Wonders that could be trained to act as a bodyguard. One magical artifact for another, Riku thought to himself as he knocked on the front door. Should be easy to convince them to trade. To the silver haired young man's surprise, however, the witches didn't even bother trying to make them trade anything for the Cauldron. Prydain had been part of the Coalition for going on three years now, and the three witches were informed enough on Coalition news to know about the resurgence of the Hellfire Club. Evidently, they had reached the same conclusion that Riku and Mickey had, and while all three women could take on Maleficent in a fight, these "Dark Elves" sighted in San Fransokyo and Agrabah outright terrified them.
"That was easier than I thought it would be," Riku commented as he and Mickey walked out of the cottage carrying the Black Cauldron between them. A thundering roar directed their attention skyward as they looked up to see several ships of varying size descending from the sky. The unfamiliar dagger-like shapes matched the descriptions of the Dark Elf spaceships sighted in San Fransokyo, while the two Keyblade Masters instantly recognized the red painted wood of Captain Hook's pirate ship sailing through the skies. I spoke too soon, Riku thought to himself as he sent a quick text to Coalition Intelligence requesting reinforcements. I just hope we can hold them off long enough for back up to get here so we can get the cauldron off world.
The Black Cauldron world is set after the movie, since I didn't really enjoy it all that much, and I don't want to have to force myself to sit through the movie again for the sake of writing, since that'll just make these chapters take more time to write than I want them too. I apologize for those who were anticipating a Horned King boss battle, but that's just how I feel. Anyway, most of the plot details reference the events of the movie in passing, and although the Cauldron was rendered inert at the end of the film, I wouldn't put it past Maleficent, Loki, or Malekith to figure out a way to restore its power again.
Great introduction to the Black Cauldron world, I want to see The Rescuers Down Under sometime soon.
I'm also guessing that Vanitas might double-cross our heroes later in the story (or any story after that), just a feeling.
I'm also guessing that Vanitas might double-cross our heroes later in the story (or any story after that), just a feeling.
Master Exin: while I would love to include a Rescuers world, I didn't feel that it would really fit with the overarching story, so I won't be including it in any fics. Vanitas will not be double-crossing the heroes at any point, as he turned against Xehanort in The Xehanort War and underwent some Character Development in the interquels. This is why I recommend reading the previous stories in this universe first to avoid confusion over plot and continuity.
Chapter 27: Dalben’s Cottage:
Agrabah – Market District:
”I did the research,” Vanitas told his contact as they sat huddled in the corner of a crowded bar in the heart of Agrabah. “You were right about the Infinity Stones.” Loki nodded.
“Now that we’ve established my credibility,” the prince of Asgard replied. “I have some critical information on that subject. Maleficent has decided to make a move for the Mind Stone. It’s in the possession of a wealthy collector by the name of Taneleer Tivan on the decaying planetoid known as Knowhere. It’s a mining colony beyond the borders of Coalition space, out in the greater galaxy. Here are the coordinates.” He paused as he conjured a pen and scribbled the world’s location on Vanitas’ notepad. “Maleficent hopes to either recruit Tivan into her cabal or trade him for the Stone. If that won’t work, she has no problem with killing him and razing the place as an example.”
“Will the Club be arriving by Corridor or by ship?” the deputy director of Coalition Intelligence inquired. If Maleficent was travelling by Dark Corridor, then she could be in and out with the Infinity Stone in less than an hour, requiring a swift and deliberate strike consisting entirely of Coalition Intelligence agents. If she wanted to take the slow path and show up with the Jolly Roger and the Nathalis (Loki was able to properly identify Malekith’ species as Dark Elves and provide the name of their flagship during his last information dorp) as a show of force, then they had time to organize the usual inter-agency strike team and hopefully seize the Stone so that it could be kept out of the wrong hands.
“Both,” Loki answered. “Sort of. She and select members of her inner circle will arrive using the Space Stone to test its range, while her growing fleet will blockade the colony in advance of their arrival.” To keep anyone on the outside from interfering and anyone on the inside from calling for help, Vanitas followed the train out thought to himself. Clever.
“So ideally,” he began, sounding out the strategy that was beginning to take shape inside his head. “Sora and I could use our dark powers to summon up Dark Corridors to get us onto the surface of Knowhere, while a small flotilla of Gummi Ships kept the blockade distracted enough that our arrival will go unnoticed.” Loki nodded his head in agreement.
“I’ll do what I can to add to the chaos to provide you with some cover,” the Jotun wizard added. “But I need to war you that should the protective container we’re using to house the Tesseract be broken, the results will be unpredictable. It won’t teleport anyone who touches it into the heart of a star or anything, as long as the person in question doesn’t secretly harbor suicidal thoughts, but should someone pick it up in the midst of the fighting they could be transported to any planet in the galaxy.”
“And it will potentially take a long time to pick up the trail of where they landed,” Vanitas finished as he put the puzzle pieces together in his mind. “I’ll be sure to include that in the briefing. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a strike team to assemble.” Loki nodded in understanding before placing enough Munny on the table to cover the cost of his beer before his astral form melted away and his consciousness returned to his body. Vanitas paid for his own drink and returned to Twilight Town to prepare for the battle to come. If they were lucky, they could slip in, steal the Mind Stone, and get out with minimal actual combat against the Hellfire Club. While Vanitas wanted the villainous group gone as much as anyone, he was also practical about the need to dismantle the Club systematically in order for their actions to have any lasting impact. Minions like the Leroys or the Heartless were easily replaced, and it would take a miracle to pull off a successful ambush of even just one of the inner circle. He would have to plan this carefully.
Kingdom of Prydain – Forest Clearing:
Figures that they’d leave the Heartless to do the dirty work, Riku thought bitterly as he dodged a blow from an Armored Knight before grabbing a Poison Apple by the head and flinging it at a nearby cluster of the dark monsters. Though the Heartless were much fewer in number now that Xehanort was gone, they were still plentiful enough to be considered a serious threat, which was why local law enforcement officers or their equivalents were given the weapons and equipment to keep them away from innocent bystanders until a Keyblade Wielder could swing by and release the captive Hearts.
Unfortunately, it seemed that with Xehanort out of the way, Maleficent was taking advantage of the power vacuum to reassert control over the Heartless. Thankfully, she’d learned from past experiences and supplemented the demonic minions with flesh and blood troops, so that in the event that some other rival equal to Xehanort in power ever came along and took control of the dark creatures from here, she would still have an army to fight for her. This made stopping the Hellfire Club rather difficult, as at present they had no idea just how many living soldiers the dark fairy had under her employ, and how far her influence spread.
The silver-haired Keyblade Master forced those concerns out of his mind as he focused on the task at hand: keeping Maleficent from getting her hands on the Black Cauldron and reawakening its formidable power. He and Mickey stood side by side as they faced off against a horde of Heartless, Leroys, and Dark Elves that emerged from the Dark Elf spaceships as they landed on the surface of Prydain. They had positioned themselves so that each of them could keep one eye on the Cauldron and one eye on the advancing Hellfire forces, to keep them from just opening up a Dark Corridor underneath the thing and stealing it right then and there.
Now if only we can just hold out until reinforcements arrive, Mickey mentally reminded himself as he fired off a Stopza spell at an approaching Leroy before following up with a Fire Strike. Riku brought up a Reflega shield when one of the Dark Elves tried to get in a cheap shot and retaliated with Thundaga Shot, knocking the enemy’s laser rifle out of his hands. While the two Keyblade Masters had plenty of experience fighting Heartless swarms and Maleficent’s goons, not even they could keep fighting forever. But they were still surprised, however, when a massive fireball shot out of the trees and struck the Cauldron. Mickey and Riku leaped out of the way to avoid being scorched, but the inert mystical artifact was blown to smithereens.
The Hellfire Club troops were just as stunned as the heroes were, and everyone turned to the tree line in concert to find a group dressed entirely in brown robes with chains wrapped around their shoulders and torsos. Interesting outfit choice, Riku noted dryly in the privacy of his own mind. The chains are obviously supposed to signify something, but what? He tabled the question for a later date as the man in the lead spoke, his hood up like his fellow Legionnaires to conceal his face.
“It’s a privilege to meet you at last, King Mickey, Master Riku,” he greeted. “Regardless of my personal feelings about you, I admire and respect the work you did at Castle Oblivion.”
“And how do you know about that?” Riku demanded out loud. While information on Castle Oblivion wasn’t exactly kept secret (it had been a key component of stores told about his and Sora’s exploits after all), the exact details of what had transpired in what used to be and now was the Land of Departure were far from common knowledge.
“Because I was there myself,” the man replied, producing a large, elegantly designed curving blade, with a curved handle to match. “While I cannot say I will particularly mourn your deaths, I can say that your demise will be an improvement upon the universe. Indeed, it will be a blessing that future generations of Keyblade Masters will not have their perceptions skewed by the views of those tainted by Darkness.”
“What the hell are blabbering on about?” Riku demanded, letting a little of Vanitas’ choice of language rub off on him for a moment. “Have you not been paying attention to the last seven years, or are you just one of those zealots who talk about balance but think that darkness is inherently evil? Well guess what, in case you haven’t figured it out by now, light can’t exist without darkness, and darkness can’t exist without light.”
“Oh I’m well aware,” the mysterious figure retorted. “My fellow legionnaires and I simply understand that those who actively use Darkness are inevitably corrupted and consumed by it. Such arrogance in thinking that one can control the primordial forces of chaos is a heretical defiance of the laws of nature. And the day is coming when all such offences will be punished. The mouse king will inevitably receive a Howler, and you, young man, will likely be consigned to the Cleansing process.” Riku glared at the man in defiance. In his arrogance, their foe had revealed enough key details for him to start figuring out the Legion’s plans.
“Zealot it is then,” Riku commented with a resigned sigh before charging into battle against the man, Mickey right behind him. The battle was brief, but like his fight against Vexen in Castle Oblivion all those years ago, he got the distinct sense that his opponent was holding back in order to test him for some as-yet-unknown purpose. When he was defeated, the man vanished into the usual portal of light the Coalition had come to expect of the Legion’s agents. The rest of the Legionnaires followed soon afterwards, leaving a trail of vanquished monsters and dead Hellfire Club minions in their wake. With the cauldron destroyed, Riku and Mickey could do little except report its destruction to the witches before returning to their Gummi Ship. Once they were aboard, they called Cassim to pass along the information they’d discovered.
That’s right Marvel fans, we’re going to Knowhere next chapter. Be ready for surprising revelations, cryptic hints about various plot threads, and a shocking cliffhanger that will set the remainder of the saga in motion. The Siege of Knowhere is going to be the halfway point of this story, the turning point from one part to another. Pieces of the puzzle will begin to fall into place. And the identity of the robed High Praetor the heroes keep running into here and on St. Canard will be revealed. It’s someone you’ll be familiar with. I’m saving the reveal of N.I.’s identity for KH5, but I figured I needed to offer some kind of dramatic reveal in this story. The meaning of the acronym N.I. will be revealed near the end of this story. And the Howlers comment should give a clue as to one part of their plans.
The Poison Apple breed of Heartless is not made up. It comes from the smartphone game Unchained X. And for everyone wondering why the allegedly secret Legion is acting more and more openly despite N.I.’s orders, the mysterious High Praetor discussed it with her and figured that since the Coalition knows about them now, they don’t need to be as violently secretive as before, so he has the authority to conduct strike missions for specific purposes, but not giving him carte blanche to just act in the open.
Loki and Vanitas meeting at a bar is a shout-out to the SHIELD Codex fanfiction series by KhamanV, in which a post-The Dark World Loki attempts to go on a redemption quest and becomes an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. It’s equal parts hilarious and heartwarming, and it basically amounts to a fan-made Marvel Cinematic Universe adaptation of the Loki: Agent of Asgard comic mini-series. The attire of the Legion is a reference to the Sparrows/Faith Militant from Game of Thrones, and also a subtle clue as to their origins. If you've read my previous Acolytes of Chaos fics and The Xehanort War, you'll pick up on the reference. If you haven't read them, then get going and get caught up, otherwise you'll be horribly confused as to previous entries.
Chapter 27: Dalben’s Cottage:
Agrabah – Market District:
”I did the research,” Vanitas told his contact as they sat huddled in the corner of a crowded bar in the heart of Agrabah. “You were right about the Infinity Stones.” Loki nodded.
“Now that we’ve established my credibility,” the prince of Asgard replied. “I have some critical information on that subject. Maleficent has decided to make a move for the Mind Stone. It’s in the possession of a wealthy collector by the name of Taneleer Tivan on the decaying planetoid known as Knowhere. It’s a mining colony beyond the borders of Coalition space, out in the greater galaxy. Here are the coordinates.” He paused as he conjured a pen and scribbled the world’s location on Vanitas’ notepad. “Maleficent hopes to either recruit Tivan into her cabal or trade him for the Stone. If that won’t work, she has no problem with killing him and razing the place as an example.”
“Will the Club be arriving by Corridor or by ship?” the deputy director of Coalition Intelligence inquired. If Maleficent was travelling by Dark Corridor, then she could be in and out with the Infinity Stone in less than an hour, requiring a swift and deliberate strike consisting entirely of Coalition Intelligence agents. If she wanted to take the slow path and show up with the Jolly Roger and the Nathalis (Loki was able to properly identify Malekith’ species as Dark Elves and provide the name of their flagship during his last information dorp) as a show of force, then they had time to organize the usual inter-agency strike team and hopefully seize the Stone so that it could be kept out of the wrong hands.
“Both,” Loki answered. “Sort of. She and select members of her inner circle will arrive using the Space Stone to test its range, while her growing fleet will blockade the colony in advance of their arrival.” To keep anyone on the outside from interfering and anyone on the inside from calling for help, Vanitas followed the train out thought to himself. Clever.
“So ideally,” he began, sounding out the strategy that was beginning to take shape inside his head. “Sora and I could use our dark powers to summon up Dark Corridors to get us onto the surface of Knowhere, while a small flotilla of Gummi Ships kept the blockade distracted enough that our arrival will go unnoticed.” Loki nodded his head in agreement.
“I’ll do what I can to add to the chaos to provide you with some cover,” the Jotun wizard added. “But I need to war you that should the protective container we’re using to house the Tesseract be broken, the results will be unpredictable. It won’t teleport anyone who touches it into the heart of a star or anything, as long as the person in question doesn’t secretly harbor suicidal thoughts, but should someone pick it up in the midst of the fighting they could be transported to any planet in the galaxy.”
“And it will potentially take a long time to pick up the trail of where they landed,” Vanitas finished as he put the puzzle pieces together in his mind. “I’ll be sure to include that in the briefing. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a strike team to assemble.” Loki nodded in understanding before placing enough Munny on the table to cover the cost of his beer before his astral form melted away and his consciousness returned to his body. Vanitas paid for his own drink and returned to Twilight Town to prepare for the battle to come. If they were lucky, they could slip in, steal the Mind Stone, and get out with minimal actual combat against the Hellfire Club. While Vanitas wanted the villainous group gone as much as anyone, he was also practical about the need to dismantle the Club systematically in order for their actions to have any lasting impact. Minions like the Leroys or the Heartless were easily replaced, and it would take a miracle to pull off a successful ambush of even just one of the inner circle. He would have to plan this carefully.
Kingdom of Prydain – Forest Clearing:
Figures that they’d leave the Heartless to do the dirty work, Riku thought bitterly as he dodged a blow from an Armored Knight before grabbing a Poison Apple by the head and flinging it at a nearby cluster of the dark monsters. Though the Heartless were much fewer in number now that Xehanort was gone, they were still plentiful enough to be considered a serious threat, which was why local law enforcement officers or their equivalents were given the weapons and equipment to keep them away from innocent bystanders until a Keyblade Wielder could swing by and release the captive Hearts.
Unfortunately, it seemed that with Xehanort out of the way, Maleficent was taking advantage of the power vacuum to reassert control over the Heartless. Thankfully, she’d learned from past experiences and supplemented the demonic minions with flesh and blood troops, so that in the event that some other rival equal to Xehanort in power ever came along and took control of the dark creatures from here, she would still have an army to fight for her. This made stopping the Hellfire Club rather difficult, as at present they had no idea just how many living soldiers the dark fairy had under her employ, and how far her influence spread.
The silver-haired Keyblade Master forced those concerns out of his mind as he focused on the task at hand: keeping Maleficent from getting her hands on the Black Cauldron and reawakening its formidable power. He and Mickey stood side by side as they faced off against a horde of Heartless, Leroys, and Dark Elves that emerged from the Dark Elf spaceships as they landed on the surface of Prydain. They had positioned themselves so that each of them could keep one eye on the Cauldron and one eye on the advancing Hellfire forces, to keep them from just opening up a Dark Corridor underneath the thing and stealing it right then and there.
Now if only we can just hold out until reinforcements arrive, Mickey mentally reminded himself as he fired off a Stopza spell at an approaching Leroy before following up with a Fire Strike. Riku brought up a Reflega shield when one of the Dark Elves tried to get in a cheap shot and retaliated with Thundaga Shot, knocking the enemy’s laser rifle out of his hands. While the two Keyblade Masters had plenty of experience fighting Heartless swarms and Maleficent’s goons, not even they could keep fighting forever. But they were still surprised, however, when a massive fireball shot out of the trees and struck the Cauldron. Mickey and Riku leaped out of the way to avoid being scorched, but the inert mystical artifact was blown to smithereens.
The Hellfire Club troops were just as stunned as the heroes were, and everyone turned to the tree line in concert to find a group dressed entirely in brown robes with chains wrapped around their shoulders and torsos. Interesting outfit choice, Riku noted dryly in the privacy of his own mind. The chains are obviously supposed to signify something, but what? He tabled the question for a later date as the man in the lead spoke, his hood up like his fellow Legionnaires to conceal his face.
“It’s a privilege to meet you at last, King Mickey, Master Riku,” he greeted. “Regardless of my personal feelings about you, I admire and respect the work you did at Castle Oblivion.”
“And how do you know about that?” Riku demanded out loud. While information on Castle Oblivion wasn’t exactly kept secret (it had been a key component of stores told about his and Sora’s exploits after all), the exact details of what had transpired in what used to be and now was the Land of Departure were far from common knowledge.
“Because I was there myself,” the man replied, producing a large, elegantly designed curving blade, with a curved handle to match. “While I cannot say I will particularly mourn your deaths, I can say that your demise will be an improvement upon the universe. Indeed, it will be a blessing that future generations of Keyblade Masters will not have their perceptions skewed by the views of those tainted by Darkness.”
“What the hell are blabbering on about?” Riku demanded, letting a little of Vanitas’ choice of language rub off on him for a moment. “Have you not been paying attention to the last seven years, or are you just one of those zealots who talk about balance but think that darkness is inherently evil? Well guess what, in case you haven’t figured it out by now, light can’t exist without darkness, and darkness can’t exist without light.”
“Oh I’m well aware,” the mysterious figure retorted. “My fellow legionnaires and I simply understand that those who actively use Darkness are inevitably corrupted and consumed by it. Such arrogance in thinking that one can control the primordial forces of chaos is a heretical defiance of the laws of nature. And the day is coming when all such offences will be punished. The mouse king will inevitably receive a Howler, and you, young man, will likely be consigned to the Cleansing process.” Riku glared at the man in defiance. In his arrogance, their foe had revealed enough key details for him to start figuring out the Legion’s plans.
“Zealot it is then,” Riku commented with a resigned sigh before charging into battle against the man, Mickey right behind him. The battle was brief, but like his fight against Vexen in Castle Oblivion all those years ago, he got the distinct sense that his opponent was holding back in order to test him for some as-yet-unknown purpose. When he was defeated, the man vanished into the usual portal of light the Coalition had come to expect of the Legion’s agents. The rest of the Legionnaires followed soon afterwards, leaving a trail of vanquished monsters and dead Hellfire Club minions in their wake. With the cauldron destroyed, Riku and Mickey could do little except report its destruction to the witches before returning to their Gummi Ship. Once they were aboard, they called Cassim to pass along the information they’d discovered.
That’s right Marvel fans, we’re going to Knowhere next chapter. Be ready for surprising revelations, cryptic hints about various plot threads, and a shocking cliffhanger that will set the remainder of the saga in motion. The Siege of Knowhere is going to be the halfway point of this story, the turning point from one part to another. Pieces of the puzzle will begin to fall into place. And the identity of the robed High Praetor the heroes keep running into here and on St. Canard will be revealed. It’s someone you’ll be familiar with. I’m saving the reveal of N.I.’s identity for KH5, but I figured I needed to offer some kind of dramatic reveal in this story. The meaning of the acronym N.I. will be revealed near the end of this story. And the Howlers comment should give a clue as to one part of their plans.
The Poison Apple breed of Heartless is not made up. It comes from the smartphone game Unchained X. And for everyone wondering why the allegedly secret Legion is acting more and more openly despite N.I.’s orders, the mysterious High Praetor discussed it with her and figured that since the Coalition knows about them now, they don’t need to be as violently secretive as before, so he has the authority to conduct strike missions for specific purposes, but not giving him carte blanche to just act in the open.
Loki and Vanitas meeting at a bar is a shout-out to the SHIELD Codex fanfiction series by KhamanV, in which a post-The Dark World Loki attempts to go on a redemption quest and becomes an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. It’s equal parts hilarious and heartwarming, and it basically amounts to a fan-made Marvel Cinematic Universe adaptation of the Loki: Agent of Asgard comic mini-series. The attire of the Legion is a reference to the Sparrows/Faith Militant from Game of Thrones, and also a subtle clue as to their origins. If you've read my previous Acolytes of Chaos fics and The Xehanort War, you'll pick up on the reference. If you haven't read them, then get going and get caught up, otherwise you'll be horribly confused as to previous entries.
This is it folks, almost halfway through the story from here. Let the battle begin!
Chapter 28: Knowhere Mining Station:
Unknwon World – Unknown Location:
"Do we have confirmation that they're getting ready to move?" Madame N.I. asked as she read the report sent by their spies in Galactic Federation territory. They had gotten wind of Maleficent's plan to make a move for the Mind Stone, and as leader of the Legion, she had decided that it was time to take action.
"The report has been confirmed, my lady," the salmon-haired High Praetor answered with a bow. "That witch and her cohorts are on Knowhere now, attempting to bargain with that wretch Tivan for the Mind Stone. Maleficent cannot be allowed to add a second stone to her collection, so I recommend a swift strike to retrieve the stone for ourselves. We were going to take it anyway, she's simply forcing us to accelerate our plans." N.I. nodded, conceding her subordinate's point. That didn't necessarily mean that she was ready for open warfare.
"Be that as it may, High Praetor Aurilam," the raven haired commander in chief of the Legion replied. "But we cannot simply come charging out into the open with each potential target like cockroaches or ants crawling out of the woodwork when the owners of the house drop food on the floor. We need to be cautious. Play it safe." The High Praetor snorted.
"Madame N.I, we've been playing it safe for eight thousand years," Aurilam snapped. "While I understand your reticence towards all-out war, we cannot hide in the shadows any longer now that The Endgame approaches. Now that the Infinity Stones are in play, the game has changed. And if we are going to win, we will need to change our tactics with them." For a moment, N.I. considered her options. On the one hand, she had little doubt that despite the numerical advantage, the Legion would swiftly be crushed in an open conflict. On the other hand…
"Very well," she responded with a sigh of defeat. "We'll begin the use of guerilla tactics to throw our enemies off guard. Take advantage of their ignorance and our secrecy to avoid detection and strike without warning. Take a Cohort to Knowhere and return with the Mind Stone. If Maleficent brings the Tesseract with her, do not attempt to recover it unless you are absolutely certain that you can do so with minimal casualties. I don't want to lost a hundred soldiers over a secondary objective when I can achieve the primary one without casualties."
"As you wish, my Lady," Aurilam replied and withdrew to the mission briefing room of the base to prepare for this strike. N.I. let out a sigh. There was definitely truth to the old saying "Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown." As General of the Legion, she had to juggle a variety of different jobs to make their inner workings run smoothly. Balancing the rivalries of different Legionnaires, keeping their bases and organization a secret, and advancing their goal of achieving a brighter future for humankind was an exhausting job, and a part of her wished that her predecessor was there to offer her advice.
But unfortunately, the nature of her promotion meant that this wasn't possible. But now that she thought about it, there was something she could do to ease her stress. In a whirlwind of black hair and white fabric, N.I. stood up from her desk and left her office behind. She was headed into the very heart of the facility. A public room set aside for silent contemplation and trading news and advice with fellow Legionnaires. The upper echelons of the Legion had not used the shrine built inside the chamber since Xehanort's demise, but while nobody here was particularly religious, now more than ever, N.I. needed the guidance from the one person that the Legion ever looked to for guidance. She would have to pray to the Foreteller.
Knowhere Mining Station – The Collector's Museum:
"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Maleficent," the tall human-looking man with flamboyant white hair remarked in what sounded like a bored monotone as he bowed before the inner circle of the Hellfire Club as they marched inside his archives. "My spies have told me much about you. To what do I owe this occaision?"
"Your Infinity Stone," the green-skinned sorceress demanded bluntly, skipping the formalities and getting right to the point. "I know it's locked away in here somewhere, and I need it for my plans." She didn't bother trying to negotiate. The Black Cauldron was going to be her bargaining chip, but thanks to this insolent "Legion", she didn't have time to come up with something to offer in exchange. So she would have to do things the old fashioned way and either recruit Mr. Taneleer Tivan or else take what she wanted by force. For all the collector's hobby of preserving endangered species in the event of potential cataclysms, Tivan was also a ruthless black market deal broker, and he had not lasted this long by being upfront about what he did and did not have. Which was why his expression did not change at Maleficent's pronouncement.
"The Infinity Stones are incredibly rare. Even I, with all my resources, have never been able to find even one." Loki snorted in mock disgust.
"Oh please," he retorted. "I overheard my brother explicitly telling his companions that he had entrusted the Mind Stone to your care after he and his brothers and sisters in arms seized it from a Midgardian terrorist organization. We all know you have it, Tivan, so there's no point continuing this little bit of half-truth laden politeness judo." The reclusive billionaire and xeno-zoologist, finally deciding that the jig was up, placed his hands behind his back. From there, his entire demeanor changed. Gone was the boredom of the idle rich, replaced by the burning coldness of a master manipulator, a chess master examining the board, a predator deciding the best way to kill their prey.
"What do you have to offer me in exchange for the Stone?" he inquired, no longer bothering with hiding the fact that the object was in his possession. "And why should I give it to you?"
"Because there are countless more species in my corner of the universe for you to add to your collection," the dark fairy answered coyly. "As for what I have to offer in exchange, I thought the prospect of unrestricted access to Terran species to add to your collection might arouse your scientific curiosity." The collector's eyes lit up like fireworks at the thought. The remnants of HYDRA had gone to great lengths to collect information from magical shops and abandoned Huntsclan lairs on the strengths and weaknesses of different magical species for one to theoretically capture them, and Maleficent knew that because of the fact that no similar species existed beyond Earth (and Coalition space, but she wasn't about to tell Tivan that), Taneleer would be salivating at the chance to acquire new and unknown creatures for his collection.
"We have a deal," Tivan nodded his head in agreement and ordered his new assistant to fetch the Mind Stone from its vault. While they waited, some members of Maleficent's party had some questions to ask the reclusive collector.
"We're looking for our brother," Kadaj explained as he paced back and forth across the crowded confines of the museum's main room. "You've probably met him, or at least heard of him. Probably in the company of those Ravager filth. Our father had hired them to bring him home to Maveth but they reneged on their deal and kept him, like he was a commodity to be traded or sold. That was thirty three years ago, and we'd like to know where we can find him." Despite The Collector's outwardly calm appearance, his mind was roiling in shock. Surely these three are not related to that rogue, Tivan wondered incredulously to himself. Unless their physical resemblance is more from their mother's side, or maybe it was the other one who inherited his mother's looks, and these three received their father's? And further speculation on the matter was cut short when a familiar voice rang out.
"So you've finally crawled out of hiding at long last, Maleficent," Riku called from somewhere in the Archives. Behind the Hellfire Club guards, a platoon of Coalition soldiers led by Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and Dilan stormed into the archive, blocking their standard escape route. With a token battle cry, the warriors of light charged into battle. Maleficent quickly took charge of the situation, ordering half the troops (consisting of a few scores of Heartless, and about a dozen Dark Elves brought by Malekith for the visit), while ordering Demona, Helga, Diablo, Nebula, and the Leroys to head to the vault and retrieve the Mind Stone. Maleficent had only recently learned to master the teleportation powers of the Tesseract, and as such was not willing to risk abandoning their position, by Cube or by Corridor, until she had the second Infinity Stone in hand.
Kairi broke off to burn her way through the Heartless while Donald and Goofy dealt with the Dark Elves. Behind her, Maleficent turned, only for her drawn to clench in fury and shock as Riku, Sora, and that wretched ex-pawn of Xehanort's, Vanitas, leap down from the upper levels of the museum, the familiar yellow glow of the Mind Stone tucked under Riku's arm. Deciding to take action herself, Maleficent fired off her "Meteors of Heaven" spell at the silver-haired Keyblade Master, only for Sora to leap in front of it and block while Vanitas launched straight into a scepter-against-Keyblade duel with Loki. When her meteor spell dissipated, Sora lunched straight for Maleficent herself. The green-skinned witch brought up a Barrier spell to block his darkness based attacks before parrying a blow from his Keyblade with the edge of her own staff.
"Foolish boy," she jeered menacingly as she knocked him back with a green-tinged Dark Firaga spell. Behind her, Demona, Helga, Diablo, and Nebula "You may have developed some skill with the Darkness after being steeped in it for a few years, but I have been mastering it for decades!" Whatever witty retort Sora may or may not have made was cut off by shouts of alarm from both Coalition and Hellfire troops alike. She turned to find both factions facing off against the rag-wearing pathetic little "Legionnaires" as they called themselves. Maleficent did not care who those fools were or what their motives were, but one thing was perfectly clear and important: they wanted the stones as well. Well, she thought as she conjured a ball of green spell flame in her hands. If it's a fight for the Infinity Stones they want, I'll be happy to oblige them.
So yeah, every Legion base essentially has a shrine to the Foretellers built in the break room. One Foreteller in particular, but I can't say more or I'll spoil the story. Anyway, Aurilam's identity will be revealed next chapter, but I'm sure that many of you have already figured it out and put the pieces together (or should I say, rearranged the letters? (; ) And there's another clue as to Sephiroth's fourth son. No prizes for guessing who it is, because after this chapter it's almost obvious.
And thus, the Battle of Knowhere has begun. Tune in next chapter for more action, more shocking reveals, and (depending on how much I can cram into the chapter) a shocking cliffhanger that will set the tone for the remainder of the story.
Chapter 28: Knowhere Mining Station:
Unknwon World – Unknown Location:
"Do we have confirmation that they're getting ready to move?" Madame N.I. asked as she read the report sent by their spies in Galactic Federation territory. They had gotten wind of Maleficent's plan to make a move for the Mind Stone, and as leader of the Legion, she had decided that it was time to take action.
"The report has been confirmed, my lady," the salmon-haired High Praetor answered with a bow. "That witch and her cohorts are on Knowhere now, attempting to bargain with that wretch Tivan for the Mind Stone. Maleficent cannot be allowed to add a second stone to her collection, so I recommend a swift strike to retrieve the stone for ourselves. We were going to take it anyway, she's simply forcing us to accelerate our plans." N.I. nodded, conceding her subordinate's point. That didn't necessarily mean that she was ready for open warfare.
"Be that as it may, High Praetor Aurilam," the raven haired commander in chief of the Legion replied. "But we cannot simply come charging out into the open with each potential target like cockroaches or ants crawling out of the woodwork when the owners of the house drop food on the floor. We need to be cautious. Play it safe." The High Praetor snorted.
"Madame N.I, we've been playing it safe for eight thousand years," Aurilam snapped. "While I understand your reticence towards all-out war, we cannot hide in the shadows any longer now that The Endgame approaches. Now that the Infinity Stones are in play, the game has changed. And if we are going to win, we will need to change our tactics with them." For a moment, N.I. considered her options. On the one hand, she had little doubt that despite the numerical advantage, the Legion would swiftly be crushed in an open conflict. On the other hand…
"Very well," she responded with a sigh of defeat. "We'll begin the use of guerilla tactics to throw our enemies off guard. Take advantage of their ignorance and our secrecy to avoid detection and strike without warning. Take a Cohort to Knowhere and return with the Mind Stone. If Maleficent brings the Tesseract with her, do not attempt to recover it unless you are absolutely certain that you can do so with minimal casualties. I don't want to lost a hundred soldiers over a secondary objective when I can achieve the primary one without casualties."
"As you wish, my Lady," Aurilam replied and withdrew to the mission briefing room of the base to prepare for this strike. N.I. let out a sigh. There was definitely truth to the old saying "Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown." As General of the Legion, she had to juggle a variety of different jobs to make their inner workings run smoothly. Balancing the rivalries of different Legionnaires, keeping their bases and organization a secret, and advancing their goal of achieving a brighter future for humankind was an exhausting job, and a part of her wished that her predecessor was there to offer her advice.
But unfortunately, the nature of her promotion meant that this wasn't possible. But now that she thought about it, there was something she could do to ease her stress. In a whirlwind of black hair and white fabric, N.I. stood up from her desk and left her office behind. She was headed into the very heart of the facility. A public room set aside for silent contemplation and trading news and advice with fellow Legionnaires. The upper echelons of the Legion had not used the shrine built inside the chamber since Xehanort's demise, but while nobody here was particularly religious, now more than ever, N.I. needed the guidance from the one person that the Legion ever looked to for guidance. She would have to pray to the Foreteller.
Knowhere Mining Station – The Collector's Museum:
"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Maleficent," the tall human-looking man with flamboyant white hair remarked in what sounded like a bored monotone as he bowed before the inner circle of the Hellfire Club as they marched inside his archives. "My spies have told me much about you. To what do I owe this occaision?"
"Your Infinity Stone," the green-skinned sorceress demanded bluntly, skipping the formalities and getting right to the point. "I know it's locked away in here somewhere, and I need it for my plans." She didn't bother trying to negotiate. The Black Cauldron was going to be her bargaining chip, but thanks to this insolent "Legion", she didn't have time to come up with something to offer in exchange. So she would have to do things the old fashioned way and either recruit Mr. Taneleer Tivan or else take what she wanted by force. For all the collector's hobby of preserving endangered species in the event of potential cataclysms, Tivan was also a ruthless black market deal broker, and he had not lasted this long by being upfront about what he did and did not have. Which was why his expression did not change at Maleficent's pronouncement.
"The Infinity Stones are incredibly rare. Even I, with all my resources, have never been able to find even one." Loki snorted in mock disgust.
"Oh please," he retorted. "I overheard my brother explicitly telling his companions that he had entrusted the Mind Stone to your care after he and his brothers and sisters in arms seized it from a Midgardian terrorist organization. We all know you have it, Tivan, so there's no point continuing this little bit of half-truth laden politeness judo." The reclusive billionaire and xeno-zoologist, finally deciding that the jig was up, placed his hands behind his back. From there, his entire demeanor changed. Gone was the boredom of the idle rich, replaced by the burning coldness of a master manipulator, a chess master examining the board, a predator deciding the best way to kill their prey.
"What do you have to offer me in exchange for the Stone?" he inquired, no longer bothering with hiding the fact that the object was in his possession. "And why should I give it to you?"
"Because there are countless more species in my corner of the universe for you to add to your collection," the dark fairy answered coyly. "As for what I have to offer in exchange, I thought the prospect of unrestricted access to Terran species to add to your collection might arouse your scientific curiosity." The collector's eyes lit up like fireworks at the thought. The remnants of HYDRA had gone to great lengths to collect information from magical shops and abandoned Huntsclan lairs on the strengths and weaknesses of different magical species for one to theoretically capture them, and Maleficent knew that because of the fact that no similar species existed beyond Earth (and Coalition space, but she wasn't about to tell Tivan that), Taneleer would be salivating at the chance to acquire new and unknown creatures for his collection.
"We have a deal," Tivan nodded his head in agreement and ordered his new assistant to fetch the Mind Stone from its vault. While they waited, some members of Maleficent's party had some questions to ask the reclusive collector.
"We're looking for our brother," Kadaj explained as he paced back and forth across the crowded confines of the museum's main room. "You've probably met him, or at least heard of him. Probably in the company of those Ravager filth. Our father had hired them to bring him home to Maveth but they reneged on their deal and kept him, like he was a commodity to be traded or sold. That was thirty three years ago, and we'd like to know where we can find him." Despite The Collector's outwardly calm appearance, his mind was roiling in shock. Surely these three are not related to that rogue, Tivan wondered incredulously to himself. Unless their physical resemblance is more from their mother's side, or maybe it was the other one who inherited his mother's looks, and these three received their father's? And further speculation on the matter was cut short when a familiar voice rang out.
"So you've finally crawled out of hiding at long last, Maleficent," Riku called from somewhere in the Archives. Behind the Hellfire Club guards, a platoon of Coalition soldiers led by Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and Dilan stormed into the archive, blocking their standard escape route. With a token battle cry, the warriors of light charged into battle. Maleficent quickly took charge of the situation, ordering half the troops (consisting of a few scores of Heartless, and about a dozen Dark Elves brought by Malekith for the visit), while ordering Demona, Helga, Diablo, Nebula, and the Leroys to head to the vault and retrieve the Mind Stone. Maleficent had only recently learned to master the teleportation powers of the Tesseract, and as such was not willing to risk abandoning their position, by Cube or by Corridor, until she had the second Infinity Stone in hand.
Kairi broke off to burn her way through the Heartless while Donald and Goofy dealt with the Dark Elves. Behind her, Maleficent turned, only for her drawn to clench in fury and shock as Riku, Sora, and that wretched ex-pawn of Xehanort's, Vanitas, leap down from the upper levels of the museum, the familiar yellow glow of the Mind Stone tucked under Riku's arm. Deciding to take action herself, Maleficent fired off her "Meteors of Heaven" spell at the silver-haired Keyblade Master, only for Sora to leap in front of it and block while Vanitas launched straight into a scepter-against-Keyblade duel with Loki. When her meteor spell dissipated, Sora lunched straight for Maleficent herself. The green-skinned witch brought up a Barrier spell to block his darkness based attacks before parrying a blow from his Keyblade with the edge of her own staff.
"Foolish boy," she jeered menacingly as she knocked him back with a green-tinged Dark Firaga spell. Behind her, Demona, Helga, Diablo, and Nebula "You may have developed some skill with the Darkness after being steeped in it for a few years, but I have been mastering it for decades!" Whatever witty retort Sora may or may not have made was cut off by shouts of alarm from both Coalition and Hellfire troops alike. She turned to find both factions facing off against the rag-wearing pathetic little "Legionnaires" as they called themselves. Maleficent did not care who those fools were or what their motives were, but one thing was perfectly clear and important: they wanted the stones as well. Well, she thought as she conjured a ball of green spell flame in her hands. If it's a fight for the Infinity Stones they want, I'll be happy to oblige them.
So yeah, every Legion base essentially has a shrine to the Foretellers built in the break room. One Foreteller in particular, but I can't say more or I'll spoil the story. Anyway, Aurilam's identity will be revealed next chapter, but I'm sure that many of you have already figured it out and put the pieces together (or should I say, rearranged the letters? (; ) And there's another clue as to Sephiroth's fourth son. No prizes for guessing who it is, because after this chapter it's almost obvious.
And thus, the Battle of Knowhere has begun. Tune in next chapter for more action, more shocking reveals, and (depending on how much I can cram into the chapter) a shocking cliffhanger that will set the tone for the remainder of the story.
Galactic Federation? Is there going to be a Star Wars world as well?
Helga? The character from Atlantis? Cool.
Helga? The character from Atlantis? Cool.
No Star Wars in this saga. Star Wars is Galactic Republic. Galactic Federation is Lilo & Stitch. And yes, Helga from Atlantis, which was a minor plot point in The Xehanort War.
This is it folks, the halfway point of the story as the Battle of Knowhere comes to its dramatic conclusion!
Chapter 29: The Road To Knowhere:
Knowhere Mining Station – Docking Bay:
"PUSH FORWARD!" cried United Coalition Army Captain Squall Leonhart as he fired his Gunblade at the advancing line of Dark Elf forces. So far, the invasion of Knowhere was going fairly well. Despite the lack of information about the Dark Elves' strengths and weaknesses, the Coalition army had yet to take any casualties. Nevertheless, Leon was keenly aware that because of the high concentration of Hellfire Club forces, this stroke of fortune could change at any time. After six years and three months of training and fighting together, the soldiers of the Coalition's armed forces moved and fought like a well-oiled machine. Of course, despite the conflicting personalities involved, so too did the armies of the Hellfire Club, although their camaraderie was almost non-existent, replaced by cold professionalism united towards a common goal.
The Coalition Navy had arrived in orbit of the disembodied, emaciated head known throughout the galaxy as Knowhere at just the right angle to take Maleficent's fleet completely by surprise. All but three enemy spacecraft had been swiftly destroyed in the opening salvo of the battle, while Mindy-class Gummi Ships shuttled troops into the station. While Leon's unit was pinned down by a platoon of Dark Elves, General Shang and his wife, Captain Mulan fought their way through a swarm of Heartless along the eastern perimeter of Knowhere, allowing the rest of the strike team easier access into the station. With the landing zone secured, more Gummi Ships full of Coalition soldiers glided into the empty docking bays, disgorging more warriors to join the fight.
From there, Mulan's unit circled back around to where Leon and his men were pinned down, cutting their way through the Dark Elves with frightening ease. Mulan held a deep grudge against Malekith and his people for their killing of her father, and she was inclined to repay them in kind as she fought her way through the elven warriors like a woman possessed. With his unit free to move about the station once more, Leon thanked Mulan for the assist and offered some advice on dealing with her anger over her father's death before taking his squad deeper into the station. With any luck, Sora, Riku, and the others had already struck at the inner circle in this "Collector's" museum.
This meant that all the army had to do was surround the perimeter of the museum while Maleficent and her advisers were busy fighting off the warriors of the Keyblade, and close the net around the villains as tightly as possible. Leon motioned to his unit to keep moving towards the museum. While they worked their way through the abandoned streets, Cloud announced over the radio that his squad had encountered a large compound of human Hellfire Club soldiers bearing some kind of skull and tentacles emblem and wielding energy weapons of unknown make. Leon grudgingly announced that he was close by and would be there shortly. After checking to make sure his troops had overheard the conversation, they moved out towards Cloud's position.
His frustration wasn't with the fact that Cloud needed backup (although he would have bragging rights to saving his ass per the unspoken rules of their little friendly rivalry), but simply because the longer it took to secure the planetoid, the greater chances of the Hellfire Club's leadership getting away with or without the Infinity Stone. Oh well, Leon thought as he charged into the square where Cloud Strife was dual wielding the different components of his Fusion Sword as he danced between two of the unidentified shock troopers, slicing apart their weapons like a hot knife cutting through butter. Just need to hurry up and get these guys taken care of quickly, then. Because of the fact that the mission had been put together in an hour, there hadn't been time for Coalition Intelligence to give the full briefing on just what these stones were. But right now, all that mattered was that these things were phenomenally powerful and needed to be kept out of the hands of Maleficent and her ilk at all cost.
Knowhere Mining Station – Museum Entrance:
From the moment, the Legion entered the fray, all of Knowhere was thrown into chaos. What few residents who weren't hiding in their homes after the Hellfire Club's occupation of the decomposing Celestial head began were now running frantically for shelter as the fighting spilled out of The Collector's Museum and out into the broad streets and narrow back alleyways of Knowhere. Sora and Maleficent remained locked in combat, with Donald and Goofy jumped in to help their friend. Meanwhile, Kairi had bravely engaged the man clearly in charge of the Legion's troops herself.
The princess of Radiant Garden was beginning to have some suspicions about who the Legion's members were and what it was they wanted. Unfortunately, without solid evidence or a confession from one of their Legionnaires, her theory was little more than idle speculation. So she tabled her thoughts for another time as she dodged a blow from the High Praetor's wicked looking scythe, the pink blade biting deep into the metal of the walkway they stood on. While her opponent pulled his weapon out of the floor by its green handle, she charged forward and caught him with a flying kick to the stomach.
As the man doubled over in pain, Dilan came charging up from behind in an attempt to take out the obviously high-ranking Legionnaire while his guard was down. Unfortunately, the hooded commander wouldn't be that easy to kill, as proven when he whirled around and blocked the former Nobody's lances with the flat edge of his scythe. As he did so, however, the recoil of the block dislodged the High Praetor's hood, sending it tumbling backwards, his pink hair visible for all to see. In a brief respite from his battle with Maleficent while Donald and Goofy kept the witch busy, Sora looked up at the man and felt a surge of recognition as he remembered where he'd met the man before. Castle Oblivion.
"Well, well, well," the former Whirlwind Lancer remarked without a hint of surprise in his voice. "It's been a long time, hasn't it, Marluxia?" Organization XIII's ex-Number eleven smirked in response, not even bothering to hide himself any longer now that the jig was up.
"I haven't gone by that name in a long time, Xaldin," the former Graceful Assassin retorted with a sneer before firing off a wave of energy that sent the Captain of the Radiant Garden Royal Guard sliding backwards along the walkway.
"Oh, I'm well aware of that, traitor," Dilan snapped. "Xemnas may have played us all for fools, but I'm willing to bet that you and Larxene have had ties with this Legion since the very beginning. That your becoming Nobodies was engineered so that you could plant spies in the Organization's ranks and destroy Xehanort's underlings from within."
"Guilty as charged," Aurilam replied smugly. "And the best part is that unlike you, I didn't need to have my Heart consumed by the corrupting filth of Darkness to become a Nobody." Dilan would have asked what that meant, but he knew that there was no way the Organization traitor would be expected to give a straight answer. So he simply lashed out with his lances and called them up into his usual wind shield. While Marlxuia – sorry, Aurilam recoiled from his scythe bouncing off the Aeroga barrier, Kairi went in with a few Firaga spells to keep the former Organization member off balance. While Aurilam was busy fighting Kairi, Dilan came in from behind and forced Aurilam into a corner.
Meanwhile, Sora was facing a bit of a conundrum. Vanitas had broken off from his duel with Loki (ostensibly because he was outmatched, but in reality so he could find a quiet corner from which to relay his informant's latest info-dump to Cassim), while Donald and Goofy had been sidetracked by the intervention of Demona. This left Sora to face Maleficent and Loki alone, and while he knew Maleficent's fighting style well enough (even if she had been training in hand-to-hand combat during her six years off the grid, she still mostly relied on her spell-work), Loki was a complete unknown. Sure, he was aware that the Asgardian prince was Vanitas' mole in the Hellfire Club, but he also knew that Loki needed to put up a decent fight with Coalition forces in order to maintain his position within the organization.
So the Keyblade Master dodged and deflected as the "Mistress of All Evil" and the "God of Lies" backed him into a corner. Sora was only able to get a reprieve when Riku came charging in to lighten his best friend's load, having slipped back to Radiant Garden via Vanitas-summoned Dark Corridor to drop off the package before coming back to help. The Battle of Knowhere continued to rage, even with the additional Coalition troops swarming in after clearing the Hellfire Club forces out of the spaceport. As the number of minions participating in the conflict rapidly dropped, the Club's leadership became more desperate, and the battle itself more chaotic. Friendly fire was happening all around, from hero and villain alike.
The battle clearly lost for them, the Hellfire Club began warping out with Corridors of Darkness, Maleficent, Malekith, and Loki staying behind to cover the retreat of everyone else. Then, as she dove into a corridor of Darkness, Demona inadvertently tripped Maleficent from behind with her tail. The green fairy went down hard on the metal floor, a glass cylinder coming loose from the belt under her robes as she fell. Sora sprinted forwards as the cube bounced off the ground and shattered, sending a small cube sailing through the air. The brunette Keyblade Master dove forward and caught it, oblivious to the consequences that only four in the room fully understood.
In an instant, Sora screamed at the top of his lungs in agony as pain lanced up his arm like fire as a beam of blue energy shot up from the cube in his hand towards the roof of the decaying head. But just before it hit the alien skull's ceiling, it spread outward like water pouring out form a waterfall, revealing what looked like a field of stars, nebulae, and black holes wreathed in electric blue fire. Just when the pain seemed to be dying down, Sora felt the distinct sense of weightlessness as he watched the world whoosh by as he was dragged up along the energy beam. The last thing he heard before consciousness left him was the sound of Kairi frantically screaming his name.
CLIFFHANGER! DUN! DUN! DUN! In all seriousness, no prizes for figuring out where the Tesseract sends Sora. It's already blatantly obvious. From this point on, the story will be switching back and forth between Sora working with The Avengers on Earth while trying to get home, and Kairi and everyone else back in Coalition space juggling organizing a search and rescue mission with the war against both the Legion and the Hellfire Club. Things are going to be moving a lot faster from here on out. And speaking of Earth-based chapters, we're finally heading back to Earth next chapter to see where exactly Sora lands. This is the last we'll be seeing of the Daybreak Coalition for the next six chapters.
And yes. That's right, everybody, Marluxia is back! Those of you who remember some of my cryptic references about his past from The Xehanort War can now start fitting the pieces of the overarching conflict together now. Remember, DO NOT SPOIL FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T FIGURED IT OUT YET! Anyway, Human!Marluxia's name (and backstory which I will add in a few chapters) comes from the Kingdom Hearts fanfic Morning Glory by fall from starss, which casts Marluxia's human self as the boyfriend who Megara sold her soul to Hades for in Hercules only for him to run off with another woman. It's a really good fic. Anyway, rest assured that the loss of at least one Infinity Stone is going to really piss Maleficent off, and the Hellfire Club will start to fracture a little bit more.
Chapter 29: The Road To Knowhere:
Knowhere Mining Station – Docking Bay:
"PUSH FORWARD!" cried United Coalition Army Captain Squall Leonhart as he fired his Gunblade at the advancing line of Dark Elf forces. So far, the invasion of Knowhere was going fairly well. Despite the lack of information about the Dark Elves' strengths and weaknesses, the Coalition army had yet to take any casualties. Nevertheless, Leon was keenly aware that because of the high concentration of Hellfire Club forces, this stroke of fortune could change at any time. After six years and three months of training and fighting together, the soldiers of the Coalition's armed forces moved and fought like a well-oiled machine. Of course, despite the conflicting personalities involved, so too did the armies of the Hellfire Club, although their camaraderie was almost non-existent, replaced by cold professionalism united towards a common goal.
The Coalition Navy had arrived in orbit of the disembodied, emaciated head known throughout the galaxy as Knowhere at just the right angle to take Maleficent's fleet completely by surprise. All but three enemy spacecraft had been swiftly destroyed in the opening salvo of the battle, while Mindy-class Gummi Ships shuttled troops into the station. While Leon's unit was pinned down by a platoon of Dark Elves, General Shang and his wife, Captain Mulan fought their way through a swarm of Heartless along the eastern perimeter of Knowhere, allowing the rest of the strike team easier access into the station. With the landing zone secured, more Gummi Ships full of Coalition soldiers glided into the empty docking bays, disgorging more warriors to join the fight.
From there, Mulan's unit circled back around to where Leon and his men were pinned down, cutting their way through the Dark Elves with frightening ease. Mulan held a deep grudge against Malekith and his people for their killing of her father, and she was inclined to repay them in kind as she fought her way through the elven warriors like a woman possessed. With his unit free to move about the station once more, Leon thanked Mulan for the assist and offered some advice on dealing with her anger over her father's death before taking his squad deeper into the station. With any luck, Sora, Riku, and the others had already struck at the inner circle in this "Collector's" museum.
This meant that all the army had to do was surround the perimeter of the museum while Maleficent and her advisers were busy fighting off the warriors of the Keyblade, and close the net around the villains as tightly as possible. Leon motioned to his unit to keep moving towards the museum. While they worked their way through the abandoned streets, Cloud announced over the radio that his squad had encountered a large compound of human Hellfire Club soldiers bearing some kind of skull and tentacles emblem and wielding energy weapons of unknown make. Leon grudgingly announced that he was close by and would be there shortly. After checking to make sure his troops had overheard the conversation, they moved out towards Cloud's position.
His frustration wasn't with the fact that Cloud needed backup (although he would have bragging rights to saving his ass per the unspoken rules of their little friendly rivalry), but simply because the longer it took to secure the planetoid, the greater chances of the Hellfire Club's leadership getting away with or without the Infinity Stone. Oh well, Leon thought as he charged into the square where Cloud Strife was dual wielding the different components of his Fusion Sword as he danced between two of the unidentified shock troopers, slicing apart their weapons like a hot knife cutting through butter. Just need to hurry up and get these guys taken care of quickly, then. Because of the fact that the mission had been put together in an hour, there hadn't been time for Coalition Intelligence to give the full briefing on just what these stones were. But right now, all that mattered was that these things were phenomenally powerful and needed to be kept out of the hands of Maleficent and her ilk at all cost.
Knowhere Mining Station – Museum Entrance:
From the moment, the Legion entered the fray, all of Knowhere was thrown into chaos. What few residents who weren't hiding in their homes after the Hellfire Club's occupation of the decomposing Celestial head began were now running frantically for shelter as the fighting spilled out of The Collector's Museum and out into the broad streets and narrow back alleyways of Knowhere. Sora and Maleficent remained locked in combat, with Donald and Goofy jumped in to help their friend. Meanwhile, Kairi had bravely engaged the man clearly in charge of the Legion's troops herself.
The princess of Radiant Garden was beginning to have some suspicions about who the Legion's members were and what it was they wanted. Unfortunately, without solid evidence or a confession from one of their Legionnaires, her theory was little more than idle speculation. So she tabled her thoughts for another time as she dodged a blow from the High Praetor's wicked looking scythe, the pink blade biting deep into the metal of the walkway they stood on. While her opponent pulled his weapon out of the floor by its green handle, she charged forward and caught him with a flying kick to the stomach.
As the man doubled over in pain, Dilan came charging up from behind in an attempt to take out the obviously high-ranking Legionnaire while his guard was down. Unfortunately, the hooded commander wouldn't be that easy to kill, as proven when he whirled around and blocked the former Nobody's lances with the flat edge of his scythe. As he did so, however, the recoil of the block dislodged the High Praetor's hood, sending it tumbling backwards, his pink hair visible for all to see. In a brief respite from his battle with Maleficent while Donald and Goofy kept the witch busy, Sora looked up at the man and felt a surge of recognition as he remembered where he'd met the man before. Castle Oblivion.
"Well, well, well," the former Whirlwind Lancer remarked without a hint of surprise in his voice. "It's been a long time, hasn't it, Marluxia?" Organization XIII's ex-Number eleven smirked in response, not even bothering to hide himself any longer now that the jig was up.
"I haven't gone by that name in a long time, Xaldin," the former Graceful Assassin retorted with a sneer before firing off a wave of energy that sent the Captain of the Radiant Garden Royal Guard sliding backwards along the walkway.
"Oh, I'm well aware of that, traitor," Dilan snapped. "Xemnas may have played us all for fools, but I'm willing to bet that you and Larxene have had ties with this Legion since the very beginning. That your becoming Nobodies was engineered so that you could plant spies in the Organization's ranks and destroy Xehanort's underlings from within."
"Guilty as charged," Aurilam replied smugly. "And the best part is that unlike you, I didn't need to have my Heart consumed by the corrupting filth of Darkness to become a Nobody." Dilan would have asked what that meant, but he knew that there was no way the Organization traitor would be expected to give a straight answer. So he simply lashed out with his lances and called them up into his usual wind shield. While Marlxuia – sorry, Aurilam recoiled from his scythe bouncing off the Aeroga barrier, Kairi went in with a few Firaga spells to keep the former Organization member off balance. While Aurilam was busy fighting Kairi, Dilan came in from behind and forced Aurilam into a corner.
Meanwhile, Sora was facing a bit of a conundrum. Vanitas had broken off from his duel with Loki (ostensibly because he was outmatched, but in reality so he could find a quiet corner from which to relay his informant's latest info-dump to Cassim), while Donald and Goofy had been sidetracked by the intervention of Demona. This left Sora to face Maleficent and Loki alone, and while he knew Maleficent's fighting style well enough (even if she had been training in hand-to-hand combat during her six years off the grid, she still mostly relied on her spell-work), Loki was a complete unknown. Sure, he was aware that the Asgardian prince was Vanitas' mole in the Hellfire Club, but he also knew that Loki needed to put up a decent fight with Coalition forces in order to maintain his position within the organization.
So the Keyblade Master dodged and deflected as the "Mistress of All Evil" and the "God of Lies" backed him into a corner. Sora was only able to get a reprieve when Riku came charging in to lighten his best friend's load, having slipped back to Radiant Garden via Vanitas-summoned Dark Corridor to drop off the package before coming back to help. The Battle of Knowhere continued to rage, even with the additional Coalition troops swarming in after clearing the Hellfire Club forces out of the spaceport. As the number of minions participating in the conflict rapidly dropped, the Club's leadership became more desperate, and the battle itself more chaotic. Friendly fire was happening all around, from hero and villain alike.
The battle clearly lost for them, the Hellfire Club began warping out with Corridors of Darkness, Maleficent, Malekith, and Loki staying behind to cover the retreat of everyone else. Then, as she dove into a corridor of Darkness, Demona inadvertently tripped Maleficent from behind with her tail. The green fairy went down hard on the metal floor, a glass cylinder coming loose from the belt under her robes as she fell. Sora sprinted forwards as the cube bounced off the ground and shattered, sending a small cube sailing through the air. The brunette Keyblade Master dove forward and caught it, oblivious to the consequences that only four in the room fully understood.
In an instant, Sora screamed at the top of his lungs in agony as pain lanced up his arm like fire as a beam of blue energy shot up from the cube in his hand towards the roof of the decaying head. But just before it hit the alien skull's ceiling, it spread outward like water pouring out form a waterfall, revealing what looked like a field of stars, nebulae, and black holes wreathed in electric blue fire. Just when the pain seemed to be dying down, Sora felt the distinct sense of weightlessness as he watched the world whoosh by as he was dragged up along the energy beam. The last thing he heard before consciousness left him was the sound of Kairi frantically screaming his name.
CLIFFHANGER! DUN! DUN! DUN! In all seriousness, no prizes for figuring out where the Tesseract sends Sora. It's already blatantly obvious. From this point on, the story will be switching back and forth between Sora working with The Avengers on Earth while trying to get home, and Kairi and everyone else back in Coalition space juggling organizing a search and rescue mission with the war against both the Legion and the Hellfire Club. Things are going to be moving a lot faster from here on out. And speaking of Earth-based chapters, we're finally heading back to Earth next chapter to see where exactly Sora lands. This is the last we'll be seeing of the Daybreak Coalition for the next six chapters.
And yes. That's right, everybody, Marluxia is back! Those of you who remember some of my cryptic references about his past from The Xehanort War can now start fitting the pieces of the overarching conflict together now. Remember, DO NOT SPOIL FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T FIGURED IT OUT YET! Anyway, Human!Marluxia's name (and backstory which I will add in a few chapters) comes from the Kingdom Hearts fanfic Morning Glory by fall from starss, which casts Marluxia's human self as the boyfriend who Megara sold her soul to Hades for in Hercules only for him to run off with another woman. It's a really good fic. Anyway, rest assured that the loss of at least one Infinity Stone is going to really piss Maleficent off, and the Hellfire Club will start to fracture a little bit more.
Oh yeah! Marluxia's back! Can't wait to see Demyx, Luzord and Larxene.
Sorry for mistaking Federation for Republic though.
Sorry for mistaking Federation for Republic though.
No worries. Anyway, Demyx was already in The Xehanort War as a resident of Atlantic and will not play an active role in the story. Meanwhile, Luxord was one of the 13 Seekers of Darkness and was therefore killed off at the end (although he and Saix were given a second chance by way of the Reaper's Game from TWEWY).
Chapter 30: Doors Open From Both Sides:
Earth – New York City:
“I’ve got our lost sheep,” came the familiar voice at the end of the phone as the Warden of the Legion received the phone call from her safe house in Manhattan. “Move in and eliminate all witnesses. Protocol 198.4” Warden Lerena nodded as she gestured to the rest of her hand-picked strike team that it was time to move. “Make sure there are no survivors.”
“As if I ever leave them,” the blonde-haired Legionnaire replied sarcastically. “Don’t worry, Marluxia. The evidence will make it look like a robbery gone wrong. We’ll have to sacrifice a few of our recent initiates so S.H.I.E.L.D. and the other authorities will buy the deception. Anyone who catches us in the act will be killed and added to the cover up. I’ve done missions like these a thousand times now.”
“Just be careful, Larxene,” High Praetor Aurilam remarked teasingly. “Since the invention of the security camera it’s been getting harder and harder to manage cover-ups of this scale. Don’t do anything too risky. Good luck.” With that, the former Graceful Assassin hung up the phone leaving the Savage Nymph to prepare for her strike mission. Lerena smiled an insidious grin. As the Warden of the High Council, she fulfilled the role of a professional hit-man (or hit-woman in her case) for the Legion, doing the dirty work and handling assassinations and cover ups. After doing it for so long, she took a great deal of pleasure in her work. Today was a momentous occasion, but as far as she was concerned it was just another day at the office.
New York City – Longs’ Apartment:
“Whew,” Jake remarked at he landed on the balcony of his apartment. It was ten o’clock at night and he was looking forward to some long-awaited sleep. “That was exhausting. I’m just glad those Hobgoblins were in numbers just small enough for the three of us to deal with.” Rose voiced her agreement as she climbed down off his back before he morphed back into human form. It had been a rough night. Jake’s sister Haley had been overwhelmed during a skirmish with a group of Hobgoblins at the Magus Bazaar and called Jake for back-up. Needless to say, it had been several hours before he and Rose were able to head home. I guess it’s back to the dream charms tonight, Jake thought as he and Rose walked into the apartment.
“I guess we’re eating leftovers tonight,” Rose commented longingly. Between her job as a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent and his job as a mythology teacher, they hadn’t had a chance to have a real home-cooked meal in a week. They both loved their jobs, but sometimes the hours could be a bit tiring at times. Thankfully, Director Hill had given Rose leave for a few weeks, and he’d managed to earn some time off from his teaching job. So for the next two weeks, the Longs were looking forward to sleeping in all day, staying at home all day binge watching their favorite shows on Netflix, and maybe a little extra time in bed.
“I can go heat up dinner while you change out of your combat gear,” Jake offered. While a dragon’s scales were as hard as diamonds, humans weren’t that durable. That was why Rose always went into supernatural battles like this in her own custom outfit. She wore a black leather jacket and gloves over her old Huntsclan uniform, which was lined with Kevlar and gave her better protection in a fight against magical creatures. That and her old Huntstaff.
“Sure,” Rose replied as she gave her husband a quick kiss. “I’ll get the dream charms ready while I’m at it.” With that, she headed towards the bedroom. Jake smiled as he watched her go, thinking of how much she meant to him. He walked into the kitchen and promptly began digging around in the refrigerator to see what they had that they could eat for dinner. After rummaging through some week-old Chinese food, a half-eaten basket of Shwarma, and nearly a dozen unfinished pasta dishes, Jake finally withdrew from the fridge with a Tupperware container full of turkey from the last time they’d had the time to cook dinner. Satisfied with his find, he shoveled the meat out of the container and pulled out one of the less-full pasta dishes. He put a serving of both on each plate and put them in the microwave one at a time.
Meanwhile, Rose walked into the bedroom and moved to take their dream charms out of the night table on her side of the bed. She left one on the table and one on Jake’s pillow, then want to put away her Huntstaff. As she opened the closet where she kept her combat gear, her eyes were drawn downward towards the small duffel bag lying on the ground next to the door. Rose sighed. She didn’t want to be paranoid, but one of her old friends from her Huntsclan days had called her warning her that she needed to have a travel bag ready to go in case someone came after her. Despite her relationship with Jake and all the good she’d done for the magical community in the last fourteen years, she still had plenty of enemies in the supernatural world.
Her wish with the Aztec skulls to destroy the Huntsclan back in middle school had only ended up killing the adult members with the dragon birthmark. The younger members, who weren’t born with the Mark of the Hunstclan and weren’t experienced enough to be considered true members, had been spared. Apparently because of their age, not knowing any better, and not being considered full members by the rest of the clan meant that the magic of the Aztec skulls overlooked them. Once she’d regained her memories in Hong Kong, she and Jake had gone around finding everyone to see where they stood on the clan’s destruction. A few of them were true believers in the clan’s cause, and had gone on to become mercenaries who’d harassed the magical community before being caught and thrown in prison either in a major city or on Draco itself.
The rest however, had joined out of curiosity, peer pressure, or simply out of a desire to seem “cool”, and had sworn off harming magical creatures, as she had done. A few even congratulated her on her relationship with Jake. Rose o her head to clear her thoughts and focus back on the present. She was just being paranoid. The bag would be helpful in case of emergencies, but she was confident that she and Jake could handle anyone who came after her. As long as they didn’t get involved, they were fine. A flicker of light behind her attracted her attention, and she turned in time to see a wreath of blue fire spread across ceiling of the bedroom, framing a field of stars. Most would be in awe of the sight, but between her position as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Jake’s access to the supernatural community, and her past in the Huntsclan, she recognized the power of the Space Stone when she saw it.
Rose kept her stance and demeanor neutral, but inwardly prepared for a fight. She had no idea if whatever would come out of that portal would be friend or foe. Her eyes narrowed as two masses of blue light, people attempting to pass transport themselves across the universe by harnessing the energy of that cosmic cube descended out of the portal and into her room. One of them hit the ground in a burst of blue fire, setting the bed sheets on fire, singing the carpet, and generally scorching just about everything in the room. Thankfully the furniture was replaceable and everything that held sentimental value to both her and her husband was either protected by something else or simply spared from the destruction. Rose herself barely brought up a Reflega spell in time.
The other figure, however, landed in a crouch with the grace of a cat. The light faded from the man’s body without leaving a scratch on his environment, save for leaving a small patch of burnt fabric beneath the soles of his boots. All the marks of someone who had experience with the Tesseract’s power and how to use it properly. While the brown robes were a new addition, her eyes widened in horror as she recognized the man’s flamboyant pink scythe and lighter pink hair. Knowing that she had no chance of acting against the intruder’s infamously fast reflexes, Rose did the only thing she had time to do before High Praetor Aurilam lurched forward and forced her mouth closed. She screamed.
“ROSE!!!!” Jake shouted in panic as he heard his wife scream. Without even bothering to close the refrigerator, he sprinted for the bedroom. As he raced towards his wife, his mind cycled through all the things that could possibly make her react like that. She didn’t have any fears of snakes, spiders, cockroaches, or anything like that. And if a magical creature or entity had dropped by his house, they would have come through the door. That left only one option: there was an intruder in their apartment. Jake’s horror only increased when the screaming stopped before he’d even made it to the bedroom, and by the time he made it through the door, the bed was on fire and everything else was scorched, while Rose was nowhere to be seen. Lying at the foot of the bed, however, was a young man in his early twenties, wearing a black and red jacket and matching pants.
Jake was freaking out about Rose’s disappearance, but reason quickly reasserted itself. One, the guy at the foot of the bed was unlikely to have anything to do with Rose’s abduction (for that was what it obviously was), or the intruders wouldn’t have left him behind. Two, even if the man was involved somehow, Jake wouldn’t get any answers out of him while he was unconscious. So he moved his unexpected new house guest and laid him on the couch in the living room before going back and extinguishing the flaming bed. Once the fires had been put out and the smoke detectors turned off, he went back into the living room and dug out some old sheets, lashing them to the couch to keep his guest contained in the event that his intentions were hostile. An hour later, the brunette stirred.
“Where am I?” he wondered aloud as he took in his surroundings.
“Manhattan,” Jake answered bluntly as he walked around the couch. “Before I let you go, I have some questions for you.” The young man, only about five years younger than Jake himself, looked at him in both confusion and curiosity, with a layer of caution and concern buried underneath. Clearly he knew as much of what was going on as Jake did, but the former American Dragon decided to ask some of the questions he wanted to ask anyway, just to be on the safe side. “An hour ago, my wife went into our bedroom to get changed. I hear her scream, and come running in to find you unconscious on the floor and the rest of the room on fire. Did you have anything to do with that?” The man looked contemplative for a moment, as if thinking through the last thing he remembered to see if he did indeed know anything about what was going on.
“Not that I know of,” the guy answered. “The last thing I remember is grabbing this blue cube and being in excruciating pain. The cube opened up this portal on the roof of Knowhere, I start getting dragged up towards it, and the next thing I know, I wake up tied to your couch.” Jake sat down on the kitchen chair he’d dragged in for the impromptu interrogation, thinking over what he’d been told. Because dragon senses were sharper than a human’s, he could tell when someone was lying from their heart-rate and perspiration, and this young man didn’t appear to be lying. With an exhausted sigh, he stood up and untied the makeshift ropes, releasing his guest.
“I still have questions,” he explained tensely. “But since you’re not a threat, how about we continue this discussion over some food.” As much as he was panicking about Rose’s disappearance, Jake knew that the guy who’d been left behind in her place was probably hungry if the sound of his growling stomach was any indication.
“Thanks,” the young man replied cheerfully, putting on a brave face despite his worries. “My name’s Sora.”
So Sora is now on Earth, ladies and gents. You all know he’s going to be hanging out with the Avengers, helping fight HYDRA. As for what shape that fight will take, the plot of Captain America: Civil War may not have happened in this universe, but that doesn’t mean that some elements (more than one Winter Soldier for example
) won’t be thrown in to add to the conflict. Sora’s not going to just go around advertising that he’s from another world, and the Avengers’ reactions to the truth about Sora, the Keyblade, etc. will be both varied and surprising.
And where Marluxia pops up, his co-conspirator Larxene is sure to follow. Her human self’s title as Warden of the High Council is a reference to the Wardens of the White Council from the Dresden Files novel series, who are basically wizard cops, like Aurors from Harry Potter for wandless magic users. This chapter title is a quote made by Hawkeye's from the Avengers about the Tesseract being a doorway to the other end of space. Anyway, coming up next: Jake and Sora discuss their situations and figure out what to do to get Sora home and Rose back to Earth.
Earth – New York City:
“I’ve got our lost sheep,” came the familiar voice at the end of the phone as the Warden of the Legion received the phone call from her safe house in Manhattan. “Move in and eliminate all witnesses. Protocol 198.4” Warden Lerena nodded as she gestured to the rest of her hand-picked strike team that it was time to move. “Make sure there are no survivors.”
“As if I ever leave them,” the blonde-haired Legionnaire replied sarcastically. “Don’t worry, Marluxia. The evidence will make it look like a robbery gone wrong. We’ll have to sacrifice a few of our recent initiates so S.H.I.E.L.D. and the other authorities will buy the deception. Anyone who catches us in the act will be killed and added to the cover up. I’ve done missions like these a thousand times now.”
“Just be careful, Larxene,” High Praetor Aurilam remarked teasingly. “Since the invention of the security camera it’s been getting harder and harder to manage cover-ups of this scale. Don’t do anything too risky. Good luck.” With that, the former Graceful Assassin hung up the phone leaving the Savage Nymph to prepare for her strike mission. Lerena smiled an insidious grin. As the Warden of the High Council, she fulfilled the role of a professional hit-man (or hit-woman in her case) for the Legion, doing the dirty work and handling assassinations and cover ups. After doing it for so long, she took a great deal of pleasure in her work. Today was a momentous occasion, but as far as she was concerned it was just another day at the office.
New York City – Longs’ Apartment:
“Whew,” Jake remarked at he landed on the balcony of his apartment. It was ten o’clock at night and he was looking forward to some long-awaited sleep. “That was exhausting. I’m just glad those Hobgoblins were in numbers just small enough for the three of us to deal with.” Rose voiced her agreement as she climbed down off his back before he morphed back into human form. It had been a rough night. Jake’s sister Haley had been overwhelmed during a skirmish with a group of Hobgoblins at the Magus Bazaar and called Jake for back-up. Needless to say, it had been several hours before he and Rose were able to head home. I guess it’s back to the dream charms tonight, Jake thought as he and Rose walked into the apartment.
“I guess we’re eating leftovers tonight,” Rose commented longingly. Between her job as a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent and his job as a mythology teacher, they hadn’t had a chance to have a real home-cooked meal in a week. They both loved their jobs, but sometimes the hours could be a bit tiring at times. Thankfully, Director Hill had given Rose leave for a few weeks, and he’d managed to earn some time off from his teaching job. So for the next two weeks, the Longs were looking forward to sleeping in all day, staying at home all day binge watching their favorite shows on Netflix, and maybe a little extra time in bed.
“I can go heat up dinner while you change out of your combat gear,” Jake offered. While a dragon’s scales were as hard as diamonds, humans weren’t that durable. That was why Rose always went into supernatural battles like this in her own custom outfit. She wore a black leather jacket and gloves over her old Huntsclan uniform, which was lined with Kevlar and gave her better protection in a fight against magical creatures. That and her old Huntstaff.
“Sure,” Rose replied as she gave her husband a quick kiss. “I’ll get the dream charms ready while I’m at it.” With that, she headed towards the bedroom. Jake smiled as he watched her go, thinking of how much she meant to him. He walked into the kitchen and promptly began digging around in the refrigerator to see what they had that they could eat for dinner. After rummaging through some week-old Chinese food, a half-eaten basket of Shwarma, and nearly a dozen unfinished pasta dishes, Jake finally withdrew from the fridge with a Tupperware container full of turkey from the last time they’d had the time to cook dinner. Satisfied with his find, he shoveled the meat out of the container and pulled out one of the less-full pasta dishes. He put a serving of both on each plate and put them in the microwave one at a time.
Meanwhile, Rose walked into the bedroom and moved to take their dream charms out of the night table on her side of the bed. She left one on the table and one on Jake’s pillow, then want to put away her Huntstaff. As she opened the closet where she kept her combat gear, her eyes were drawn downward towards the small duffel bag lying on the ground next to the door. Rose sighed. She didn’t want to be paranoid, but one of her old friends from her Huntsclan days had called her warning her that she needed to have a travel bag ready to go in case someone came after her. Despite her relationship with Jake and all the good she’d done for the magical community in the last fourteen years, she still had plenty of enemies in the supernatural world.
Her wish with the Aztec skulls to destroy the Huntsclan back in middle school had only ended up killing the adult members with the dragon birthmark. The younger members, who weren’t born with the Mark of the Hunstclan and weren’t experienced enough to be considered true members, had been spared. Apparently because of their age, not knowing any better, and not being considered full members by the rest of the clan meant that the magic of the Aztec skulls overlooked them. Once she’d regained her memories in Hong Kong, she and Jake had gone around finding everyone to see where they stood on the clan’s destruction. A few of them were true believers in the clan’s cause, and had gone on to become mercenaries who’d harassed the magical community before being caught and thrown in prison either in a major city or on Draco itself.
The rest however, had joined out of curiosity, peer pressure, or simply out of a desire to seem “cool”, and had sworn off harming magical creatures, as she had done. A few even congratulated her on her relationship with Jake. Rose o her head to clear her thoughts and focus back on the present. She was just being paranoid. The bag would be helpful in case of emergencies, but she was confident that she and Jake could handle anyone who came after her. As long as they didn’t get involved, they were fine. A flicker of light behind her attracted her attention, and she turned in time to see a wreath of blue fire spread across ceiling of the bedroom, framing a field of stars. Most would be in awe of the sight, but between her position as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Jake’s access to the supernatural community, and her past in the Huntsclan, she recognized the power of the Space Stone when she saw it.
Rose kept her stance and demeanor neutral, but inwardly prepared for a fight. She had no idea if whatever would come out of that portal would be friend or foe. Her eyes narrowed as two masses of blue light, people attempting to pass transport themselves across the universe by harnessing the energy of that cosmic cube descended out of the portal and into her room. One of them hit the ground in a burst of blue fire, setting the bed sheets on fire, singing the carpet, and generally scorching just about everything in the room. Thankfully the furniture was replaceable and everything that held sentimental value to both her and her husband was either protected by something else or simply spared from the destruction. Rose herself barely brought up a Reflega spell in time.
The other figure, however, landed in a crouch with the grace of a cat. The light faded from the man’s body without leaving a scratch on his environment, save for leaving a small patch of burnt fabric beneath the soles of his boots. All the marks of someone who had experience with the Tesseract’s power and how to use it properly. While the brown robes were a new addition, her eyes widened in horror as she recognized the man’s flamboyant pink scythe and lighter pink hair. Knowing that she had no chance of acting against the intruder’s infamously fast reflexes, Rose did the only thing she had time to do before High Praetor Aurilam lurched forward and forced her mouth closed. She screamed.
“ROSE!!!!” Jake shouted in panic as he heard his wife scream. Without even bothering to close the refrigerator, he sprinted for the bedroom. As he raced towards his wife, his mind cycled through all the things that could possibly make her react like that. She didn’t have any fears of snakes, spiders, cockroaches, or anything like that. And if a magical creature or entity had dropped by his house, they would have come through the door. That left only one option: there was an intruder in their apartment. Jake’s horror only increased when the screaming stopped before he’d even made it to the bedroom, and by the time he made it through the door, the bed was on fire and everything else was scorched, while Rose was nowhere to be seen. Lying at the foot of the bed, however, was a young man in his early twenties, wearing a black and red jacket and matching pants.
Jake was freaking out about Rose’s disappearance, but reason quickly reasserted itself. One, the guy at the foot of the bed was unlikely to have anything to do with Rose’s abduction (for that was what it obviously was), or the intruders wouldn’t have left him behind. Two, even if the man was involved somehow, Jake wouldn’t get any answers out of him while he was unconscious. So he moved his unexpected new house guest and laid him on the couch in the living room before going back and extinguishing the flaming bed. Once the fires had been put out and the smoke detectors turned off, he went back into the living room and dug out some old sheets, lashing them to the couch to keep his guest contained in the event that his intentions were hostile. An hour later, the brunette stirred.
“Where am I?” he wondered aloud as he took in his surroundings.
“Manhattan,” Jake answered bluntly as he walked around the couch. “Before I let you go, I have some questions for you.” The young man, only about five years younger than Jake himself, looked at him in both confusion and curiosity, with a layer of caution and concern buried underneath. Clearly he knew as much of what was going on as Jake did, but the former American Dragon decided to ask some of the questions he wanted to ask anyway, just to be on the safe side. “An hour ago, my wife went into our bedroom to get changed. I hear her scream, and come running in to find you unconscious on the floor and the rest of the room on fire. Did you have anything to do with that?” The man looked contemplative for a moment, as if thinking through the last thing he remembered to see if he did indeed know anything about what was going on.
“Not that I know of,” the guy answered. “The last thing I remember is grabbing this blue cube and being in excruciating pain. The cube opened up this portal on the roof of Knowhere, I start getting dragged up towards it, and the next thing I know, I wake up tied to your couch.” Jake sat down on the kitchen chair he’d dragged in for the impromptu interrogation, thinking over what he’d been told. Because dragon senses were sharper than a human’s, he could tell when someone was lying from their heart-rate and perspiration, and this young man didn’t appear to be lying. With an exhausted sigh, he stood up and untied the makeshift ropes, releasing his guest.
“I still have questions,” he explained tensely. “But since you’re not a threat, how about we continue this discussion over some food.” As much as he was panicking about Rose’s disappearance, Jake knew that the guy who’d been left behind in her place was probably hungry if the sound of his growling stomach was any indication.
“Thanks,” the young man replied cheerfully, putting on a brave face despite his worries. “My name’s Sora.”
So Sora is now on Earth, ladies and gents. You all know he’s going to be hanging out with the Avengers, helping fight HYDRA. As for what shape that fight will take, the plot of Captain America: Civil War may not have happened in this universe, but that doesn’t mean that some elements (more than one Winter Soldier for example
) won’t be thrown in to add to the conflict. Sora’s not going to just go around advertising that he’s from another world, and the Avengers’ reactions to the truth about Sora, the Keyblade, etc. will be both varied and surprising. And where Marluxia pops up, his co-conspirator Larxene is sure to follow. Her human self’s title as Warden of the High Council is a reference to the Wardens of the White Council from the Dresden Files novel series, who are basically wizard cops, like Aurors from Harry Potter for wandless magic users. This chapter title is a quote made by Hawkeye's from the Avengers about the Tesseract being a doorway to the other end of space. Anyway, coming up next: Jake and Sora discuss their situations and figure out what to do to get Sora home and Rose back to Earth.
Did anybody catch the 1984 reference last chapter? Gives a hint as to the Legion’s MO when it comes to eliminating witnesses.
Chapter 31: Trapped:
New York City – The Longs’ Apartment:
For a few minutes, the two young men simply ate their meal in tense, awkward silence. Both were burning with questions but too nervous and shaken by recent events to work up the courage to actually say anything.
“So,” Jake began nervously, hoping to break the ice. “Where exactly is Knowhere?”
“In relation to home, it was a few hours at warp speed past the edge of Coalition space,” Sora answered, cheering up a bit as he did. “In relation to this world… I have no idea.” He slumped back in his chair. “The cube thing was supposed to be some kind of powerful artifact called an Infinity Stone, but I have no idea where home is in relation to Earth.” Jake’s eyebrow quirked up in confusion. He was skeptical of the idea of humans living out in space, but he’d heard enough Huntsclan secrets from his wife to have a few theories as to how that was possible. Then something Sora said popped out in his mind.
“Wait,” the former American Dragon interjected. “Did you just say Infinity Stone?”
“Yeah,” the Keyblade Master answered. “They’re supposed to be immensely powerful magical artifacts…”
“That together with the other five grant the use god-like power,” Jake finished. “I’ve heard of them. Myths and legends about them are scarce even here on Earth, but my wife has a few secret sources for information that the general public has forgotten about. Even the magical community doesn’t remember the Stones.” While the supernatural forces of Earth strictly enforced their secrecy, Jake felt that since Sora a) wasn’t from Earth, and b) knew about magic if his comments about the Infinity Stones were any indication, it was safe to discuss Earth’s magical population with his guest as long as Sora agreed to keep the secret.
“Magical community?” Sora inquired with a puzzled look on his face. Jake went on to explain how the supernatural creatures of Earth like centaurs, fairies, etc., had gone into hiding to avoid persecution. He explained how the magical community relied on shapeshifting, misdirection, and memory potions to maintain their secrecy. He even shapeshifted into his dragon form to demonstrate that he was being serious. Not that he really needed to. As his guest later explained, Sora had already seen several different varieties of magic and already believed his host. In retrospect, Jake felt that he just wanted a chance to show off. The moment was ruined, however, when Sora said that Jake’s draconic form reminded him of a dragon he knew named Mushu who was about the size of a small serpent.
That broke the tension and kicked off a round of friendly banter that went on for several more minutes. Both young men laughed uproariously as they traded verbal jabs about magic and combat experience. As the laughter died down, the conversation turned to more serious matters. Sora proposed the idea that Rose may have been sucked up into the Tesseract’s portal and ended up back on Knowhere. If that was the case, then there were three possibilities as to her fate. She could escape the mining colony alongside the rest of the Coalition army, in which case she had nothing to worry about. She might be captured by the Hellfire Club and either forced to serve them or held hostage to see if they could ransom her. Or she may have ended up in the clutches of the Legion, and nobody knew what could happen to her.
Sora had no idea how to get home, and he was basically stranded on Earth for the forseeable future. Jake sympathized with the younger man’s separation from his fiancé, and promised to check with his contacts in the magical community to see if he could get any leads. He refrained from mentioning Asgard for the time being because he was unsure of how to explain the whole “Nine realms” deal to someone who was already used to space travel. So he decided to table that discussion for a later date and see if he could discreetly pop by the Avengers compound upstate to visit Thor and ask for his help in finding Rose and getting Sora home. Their conversation was derailed when the phone began to ring at 1:00 in the morning. Jake looked at the caller ID, and, realizing that the caller in question would only call at this hour if it was an emergency, hesitantly answered the phone.
“You need to get out of there, now!” a woman’s voice snapped as the call connected. “They’re coming for you, Jake. If you want to find Rose you need to stay alive. Now go!” Jake didn’t bother to ask how the woman calling him knew about Rose’s abduction. She had her sources and doubtlessly would have known within minutes of the event occurring. He hung up the phone and told Sora that they had to go before running into the bedroom to grab the travel bag Rose had left in the closet. He promised to explain what was happening on the way before ushering his house guest over to the window. The duo quickly clambered out onto the fire escape, where Jake shifted into dragon form and took off into the sky with Sora on his back.
Five minutes later:
“Damn dragons,” Lerena spat with disgust as she surveyed the empty apartment. “That animal got away.” The Legion had been close allies with the Huntsclan since the latter’s inception, and most Legionnaires shared the hunters’ views towards magical creatures. If only the clan hadn’t been wiped out by the Aztec Skulls back in 2007. It would have been good to have more soldiers on their side. Fuming, she stormed out of the apartment while the rest of her strike team searched the place for any indication of where their prey had gone. In anger, she slammed the door behind her as she stepped out into the hallway to think about her next course of action. Unfortunately, the act of slamming the door shut attracted the attention of the Longs’ neighbor across the hall.
“No need to be knock so violently, young lady,” the middle-aged man commented. Mr. Roberts had served in the air force for years before retiring, and had made firm friends with the young couple when they moved in across the hall. He was also one of the few people outside Jake and Rose’s immediate family and friends to know about the supernatural world, having encountered several griffins and dragons while flying during his years of service. “Mr. and Mrs. Long don’t have a consistent time frame for their shifts at work, so they may not be getting home for at least another hour. I can tell them you stopped by if you like.” Lerena’s eyes narrowed as she readjusted her calculations to account for the fact that the man had seen her face.
Before the old pilot could do or say anything, the former Number twelve of Organization XIII charged across the hall and drove her hand into his chest. She yanked back holding a small glowing pink heart in her gloved hands. It wasn’t the physical organ that pumped his blood, but the source of his emotions, his memories, his life force. One of the things the Legion had discovered since its inception was that there was more than one way for someone to lose their heart. This was how she and Aurilam had become Larxene and Marluxia after all. But she wasn’t interested in creating more Nobodies.
With a sadistic grin she squeezed the man’s heart, chuckling softly as he doubled over in pain, clutching his chest. But no amount of mortal medicine could save him now. Her smile widened as the pressure of her hands ground the small pink heart down into fine, charred powder, and the old man tumbled to the floor while the light faded form his eyes. He was dead. Acting quickly, Lerena marched back into the other apartment and informed the rest of her unit of the change in plans. The Longs’ place would be left untouched, making it look like they’d simply gone out on a long break. Meanwhile, they’d ransack the old geezer’s apartment and put a few bullet holes in him to make it look like a robbery gone wrong. It was simple really. All they had to do now was plant the evidence.
The plot thickens. What does the Legion want with Jake and Rose? Who was the woman at the other end of the phone? How does she know about the Legion? All these questions and more will be answered over the course of the Acolytes of Chaos saga. So yeah, the Legion has a similar ideology to the Huntsclan from American Dragon: Jake Long, and that connection will be a major plot point. Some of you may have recognized that Human!Larxene’s heart removal trick was taken straight out of the ABC fantasy series Once Upon A Time. Expect that to happen multiple times over the course of the series, always at the most dramatic moments (and I can tell you that there will be tears some of those times).
Chapter 31: Trapped:
New York City – The Longs’ Apartment:
For a few minutes, the two young men simply ate their meal in tense, awkward silence. Both were burning with questions but too nervous and shaken by recent events to work up the courage to actually say anything.
“So,” Jake began nervously, hoping to break the ice. “Where exactly is Knowhere?”
“In relation to home, it was a few hours at warp speed past the edge of Coalition space,” Sora answered, cheering up a bit as he did. “In relation to this world… I have no idea.” He slumped back in his chair. “The cube thing was supposed to be some kind of powerful artifact called an Infinity Stone, but I have no idea where home is in relation to Earth.” Jake’s eyebrow quirked up in confusion. He was skeptical of the idea of humans living out in space, but he’d heard enough Huntsclan secrets from his wife to have a few theories as to how that was possible. Then something Sora said popped out in his mind.
“Wait,” the former American Dragon interjected. “Did you just say Infinity Stone?”
“Yeah,” the Keyblade Master answered. “They’re supposed to be immensely powerful magical artifacts…”
“That together with the other five grant the use god-like power,” Jake finished. “I’ve heard of them. Myths and legends about them are scarce even here on Earth, but my wife has a few secret sources for information that the general public has forgotten about. Even the magical community doesn’t remember the Stones.” While the supernatural forces of Earth strictly enforced their secrecy, Jake felt that since Sora a) wasn’t from Earth, and b) knew about magic if his comments about the Infinity Stones were any indication, it was safe to discuss Earth’s magical population with his guest as long as Sora agreed to keep the secret.
“Magical community?” Sora inquired with a puzzled look on his face. Jake went on to explain how the supernatural creatures of Earth like centaurs, fairies, etc., had gone into hiding to avoid persecution. He explained how the magical community relied on shapeshifting, misdirection, and memory potions to maintain their secrecy. He even shapeshifted into his dragon form to demonstrate that he was being serious. Not that he really needed to. As his guest later explained, Sora had already seen several different varieties of magic and already believed his host. In retrospect, Jake felt that he just wanted a chance to show off. The moment was ruined, however, when Sora said that Jake’s draconic form reminded him of a dragon he knew named Mushu who was about the size of a small serpent.
That broke the tension and kicked off a round of friendly banter that went on for several more minutes. Both young men laughed uproariously as they traded verbal jabs about magic and combat experience. As the laughter died down, the conversation turned to more serious matters. Sora proposed the idea that Rose may have been sucked up into the Tesseract’s portal and ended up back on Knowhere. If that was the case, then there were three possibilities as to her fate. She could escape the mining colony alongside the rest of the Coalition army, in which case she had nothing to worry about. She might be captured by the Hellfire Club and either forced to serve them or held hostage to see if they could ransom her. Or she may have ended up in the clutches of the Legion, and nobody knew what could happen to her.
Sora had no idea how to get home, and he was basically stranded on Earth for the forseeable future. Jake sympathized with the younger man’s separation from his fiancé, and promised to check with his contacts in the magical community to see if he could get any leads. He refrained from mentioning Asgard for the time being because he was unsure of how to explain the whole “Nine realms” deal to someone who was already used to space travel. So he decided to table that discussion for a later date and see if he could discreetly pop by the Avengers compound upstate to visit Thor and ask for his help in finding Rose and getting Sora home. Their conversation was derailed when the phone began to ring at 1:00 in the morning. Jake looked at the caller ID, and, realizing that the caller in question would only call at this hour if it was an emergency, hesitantly answered the phone.
“You need to get out of there, now!” a woman’s voice snapped as the call connected. “They’re coming for you, Jake. If you want to find Rose you need to stay alive. Now go!” Jake didn’t bother to ask how the woman calling him knew about Rose’s abduction. She had her sources and doubtlessly would have known within minutes of the event occurring. He hung up the phone and told Sora that they had to go before running into the bedroom to grab the travel bag Rose had left in the closet. He promised to explain what was happening on the way before ushering his house guest over to the window. The duo quickly clambered out onto the fire escape, where Jake shifted into dragon form and took off into the sky with Sora on his back.
Five minutes later:
“Damn dragons,” Lerena spat with disgust as she surveyed the empty apartment. “That animal got away.” The Legion had been close allies with the Huntsclan since the latter’s inception, and most Legionnaires shared the hunters’ views towards magical creatures. If only the clan hadn’t been wiped out by the Aztec Skulls back in 2007. It would have been good to have more soldiers on their side. Fuming, she stormed out of the apartment while the rest of her strike team searched the place for any indication of where their prey had gone. In anger, she slammed the door behind her as she stepped out into the hallway to think about her next course of action. Unfortunately, the act of slamming the door shut attracted the attention of the Longs’ neighbor across the hall.
“No need to be knock so violently, young lady,” the middle-aged man commented. Mr. Roberts had served in the air force for years before retiring, and had made firm friends with the young couple when they moved in across the hall. He was also one of the few people outside Jake and Rose’s immediate family and friends to know about the supernatural world, having encountered several griffins and dragons while flying during his years of service. “Mr. and Mrs. Long don’t have a consistent time frame for their shifts at work, so they may not be getting home for at least another hour. I can tell them you stopped by if you like.” Lerena’s eyes narrowed as she readjusted her calculations to account for the fact that the man had seen her face.
Before the old pilot could do or say anything, the former Number twelve of Organization XIII charged across the hall and drove her hand into his chest. She yanked back holding a small glowing pink heart in her gloved hands. It wasn’t the physical organ that pumped his blood, but the source of his emotions, his memories, his life force. One of the things the Legion had discovered since its inception was that there was more than one way for someone to lose their heart. This was how she and Aurilam had become Larxene and Marluxia after all. But she wasn’t interested in creating more Nobodies.
With a sadistic grin she squeezed the man’s heart, chuckling softly as he doubled over in pain, clutching his chest. But no amount of mortal medicine could save him now. Her smile widened as the pressure of her hands ground the small pink heart down into fine, charred powder, and the old man tumbled to the floor while the light faded form his eyes. He was dead. Acting quickly, Lerena marched back into the other apartment and informed the rest of her unit of the change in plans. The Longs’ place would be left untouched, making it look like they’d simply gone out on a long break. Meanwhile, they’d ransack the old geezer’s apartment and put a few bullet holes in him to make it look like a robbery gone wrong. It was simple really. All they had to do now was plant the evidence.
The plot thickens. What does the Legion want with Jake and Rose? Who was the woman at the other end of the phone? How does she know about the Legion? All these questions and more will be answered over the course of the Acolytes of Chaos saga. So yeah, the Legion has a similar ideology to the Huntsclan from American Dragon: Jake Long, and that connection will be a major plot point. Some of you may have recognized that Human!Larxene’s heart removal trick was taken straight out of the ABC fantasy series Once Upon A Time. Expect that to happen multiple times over the course of the series, always at the most dramatic moments (and I can tell you that there will be tears some of those times).
Immediately spotted the Nineteen Eighty-Four shout out there.
Now that we’ve reached the halfway point of the story, there’s going to be fewer extra scenes from here on out to avoid giving away too information. Now that the conflict of the story has been establish, things are going to be more straightforward. From this point on, you’ll mostly be finding out at the same time the characters do.
Chapter 32: The Avengers:
Earth – Albany, New York:
Jake couldn’t help but chuckle as Sora looked around the restaurant examining his first interaction with Earth society with all the energy of a curious puppy. While an IHOP just outside of Albany wouldn’t have been his first choice for showing a Keyblade Wielder the sights of Earth, but Sora appeared to enjoy just taking it all in. Legends of the Keyblade were rare in the magical community, but Jake knew enough to believe his guest when the brunette claimed he was a Keyblade Master. The fact that he summoned his blade as proof had simply been a formality to prove it. They’d spent the night at a safe house Rose had set up in Albany for emergencies, and IHOP was the only breakfast joint in walking distance of the safe house.
“So,” Sora began as he looked over the menu. “What do you think is good here?”
“This place is pure corn syrup and combo heaven,” Jake commented. “I’ve never left the place without feeling disgusted with myself.”
“Gee,” Sora retorted jokingly. “Well with that ringing endorsement I’m not sure if I’ve lost my appetite or not.”
“Well I haven’t,” Jake fired back with a laugh. “I’m hungry, I’m tried, I’m worried about my wife, you look like crap, and it’s a fifteen minute drive to the nearest car rental agency. I want to stop real quick and eat my emotions.”
“Fair enough,” Sora replied with a laugh of his own. So the dragon and the Keyblade Master both discussed the menu items that were least likely to leave them feeling like fat sloths afterwards before placing their order. While Sora would have offered to pay for the meal, Earth didn’t operate on the same currency as the Daybreak Coalition, so all his Munny was worthless here. He might as well have been broke as far as his situation was concerned. Fortunately, Jake had some ideas for how to get him home. The first plan was to visit this “Avengers” group that had a base nearby. Apparently their scientists were good at figuring out things like this. The other option was Asgard. Apparently, Earth wasn’t entirely cut off from other worlds.
Sora still didn’t quite grasp what made the Nine Realms different from any other world in the universe, but he at least understood that they had a method of travel that could get him wherever he wanted to go in a matter of minutes. The only drawback was that there was a possibility that Heimdall, the gatekeeper of Asgard who could supposedly see everywhere, might be limited to just the nine realms. Sora was skeptical either solution would work, but it wouldn’t hurt to try. While Asgard was designated as Plan B, the young Keyblade Master was excited to meet the Avengers. He was hesitant to reveal the fact that he was from another world to complete strangers, but he was thrilled to be meeting an actual superhero team!
Sure, the Coalition had Big Hero 6 in San Fransokyo, but they still mostly focused on dealing with crises on their home world. They still went out and helped people whenever they could, but the transit times between worlds in Coalition space meant that travelling to help out on other worlds was more time-consuming and as a result happened less often than in San Fransokyo, especially since the advent of the Coalition Army lead to increased patrols to stamp out crime in other worlds and protect people from the Heartless. The Avengers, though, operated on a truly international level, flying all over the planet in pursuit of the forces of evil. As the waitress delivered their pancakes, Sora couldn’t help but feel a rush of anticipation. Whether they could actually help him get home or not, meeting the Avengers was going to be awesome.
The Lanes Between – U.W.S. Vulpeus:
As she was lead back to her prison cell, Rose Long was making plans. The Legion had never seen fit to prevent her from knowing the ship’s layout as they lead her to her interrogation and “court martial,” and as a consequence of their overconfidence, she had a detailed map of the spaceship locked in the back of her mind. The Legion had been the Huntsclan’s primary financial backer and technology supplier, so she knew the basic layout of every one of their interstellar craft. All she had to do now was wait for the right opportunity to escape. And when they reached the elevators, she did exactly that. She waited until the doors had fully closed but before her guards could press the button for the ship’s brig. Then she struck.
In the blink of an eye she lashed out and kicked the man on her left in the knee. As he slammed against the wall of the elevator car crying out in pain, she jumped up and contorted her legs through the handcuffs so that her arms were in front of her instead of pinned behind her back. From there, she quickly wrapped the other guard in a choke hold until they slipped into unconsciousness. With one guard out, she incapacitated the injured one with a swift double-handed punch to the face before leaning over and pressing the button for the ship’s top deck. It was a risky gamble, she reminded herself as she pick-pocketed the guards for the keys to her handcuffs. But everything worth doing was.
When the elevator doors slid open on the ship’s highest level, she sprinted forward with a Reflega barrier in front of her to deflect the spells being fired at her from the platoon of Legionnaires summoned to block her escape the minute she dispatched her escort. She did a flying somersault over the heads of the blockade of soldiers before taking off at a run towards the ship’s bridge. As more guards came pouring out of the entrance to the warship’s command center, she took a hard left and veered towards the escape pods. She dove into the nearest open pod and slammed on the “Launch” button before any of her pursuers could climb in after her.
The escape pod shuddered violently as it raced way from the ship. Rose quickly strapped herself into the pilot’s seat while the pod rocked with the impact of cannon fire from the ship behind her. She poured on the accelerator to get her craft moving faster until she was well out of the larger ship’s firing range. When she noticed the radar beeping in alarm to warn of incoming Starfighters, she checked the pod’s star charts for the nearest space-faring civilization and plotted a course for Montressor before engaging the escape pod’s warp drive with the push of a button. Rose slumped back in her chair with relief as the stars stretched out into streaks of red, orange, blue, white, and yellow outside. She did it. Now she just needed to find a way to get back to Earth.
Jake’s comments about IHOP are a reference to a hilarious running gag between Loki and Coulson from The SHIELD Codex. I even quoted the original conversation between the two in some parts. The reason I’m going to be cutting down on the side scenes from here on out is because now that the overarching plot threads have been established, I want to keep the story more streamlined, the way I feel any Kingdom Hearts games after the Xehanort saga should be. A sort of back to basics approach, like in Kingdom Hearts 1. We focus on the heroes, and then every few worlds/chapters, we get a glimpse into the bad guys’ plots. Anyway, coming up next, Sora finally gets to meet the Avengers for the first time.
For those wondering why Rose can use magic despite being an ordinary human in American Dragon: Jake Long, if you’ve read my other Acolytes of Chaos story, “Ripple Effects”, then you already know the answer to that question. If you haven’t read them yet, what are you waiting for? The mystery of the Hunstclan’s knowledge of space travel and their ties to the Legion are part of the ongoing mystery of the saga, so I’m not going to answer a question like that in the Author’s Notes before we’ve even halfway through the saga. This chapter and the next one are a bit of a complete the quote chapter title, using the “Avengers assemble” tag line. So next chapter will naturally be called Assemble.
Chapter 32: The Avengers:
Earth – Albany, New York:
Jake couldn’t help but chuckle as Sora looked around the restaurant examining his first interaction with Earth society with all the energy of a curious puppy. While an IHOP just outside of Albany wouldn’t have been his first choice for showing a Keyblade Wielder the sights of Earth, but Sora appeared to enjoy just taking it all in. Legends of the Keyblade were rare in the magical community, but Jake knew enough to believe his guest when the brunette claimed he was a Keyblade Master. The fact that he summoned his blade as proof had simply been a formality to prove it. They’d spent the night at a safe house Rose had set up in Albany for emergencies, and IHOP was the only breakfast joint in walking distance of the safe house.
“So,” Sora began as he looked over the menu. “What do you think is good here?”
“This place is pure corn syrup and combo heaven,” Jake commented. “I’ve never left the place without feeling disgusted with myself.”
“Gee,” Sora retorted jokingly. “Well with that ringing endorsement I’m not sure if I’ve lost my appetite or not.”
“Well I haven’t,” Jake fired back with a laugh. “I’m hungry, I’m tried, I’m worried about my wife, you look like crap, and it’s a fifteen minute drive to the nearest car rental agency. I want to stop real quick and eat my emotions.”
“Fair enough,” Sora replied with a laugh of his own. So the dragon and the Keyblade Master both discussed the menu items that were least likely to leave them feeling like fat sloths afterwards before placing their order. While Sora would have offered to pay for the meal, Earth didn’t operate on the same currency as the Daybreak Coalition, so all his Munny was worthless here. He might as well have been broke as far as his situation was concerned. Fortunately, Jake had some ideas for how to get him home. The first plan was to visit this “Avengers” group that had a base nearby. Apparently their scientists were good at figuring out things like this. The other option was Asgard. Apparently, Earth wasn’t entirely cut off from other worlds.
Sora still didn’t quite grasp what made the Nine Realms different from any other world in the universe, but he at least understood that they had a method of travel that could get him wherever he wanted to go in a matter of minutes. The only drawback was that there was a possibility that Heimdall, the gatekeeper of Asgard who could supposedly see everywhere, might be limited to just the nine realms. Sora was skeptical either solution would work, but it wouldn’t hurt to try. While Asgard was designated as Plan B, the young Keyblade Master was excited to meet the Avengers. He was hesitant to reveal the fact that he was from another world to complete strangers, but he was thrilled to be meeting an actual superhero team!
Sure, the Coalition had Big Hero 6 in San Fransokyo, but they still mostly focused on dealing with crises on their home world. They still went out and helped people whenever they could, but the transit times between worlds in Coalition space meant that travelling to help out on other worlds was more time-consuming and as a result happened less often than in San Fransokyo, especially since the advent of the Coalition Army lead to increased patrols to stamp out crime in other worlds and protect people from the Heartless. The Avengers, though, operated on a truly international level, flying all over the planet in pursuit of the forces of evil. As the waitress delivered their pancakes, Sora couldn’t help but feel a rush of anticipation. Whether they could actually help him get home or not, meeting the Avengers was going to be awesome.
The Lanes Between – U.W.S. Vulpeus:
As she was lead back to her prison cell, Rose Long was making plans. The Legion had never seen fit to prevent her from knowing the ship’s layout as they lead her to her interrogation and “court martial,” and as a consequence of their overconfidence, she had a detailed map of the spaceship locked in the back of her mind. The Legion had been the Huntsclan’s primary financial backer and technology supplier, so she knew the basic layout of every one of their interstellar craft. All she had to do now was wait for the right opportunity to escape. And when they reached the elevators, she did exactly that. She waited until the doors had fully closed but before her guards could press the button for the ship’s brig. Then she struck.
In the blink of an eye she lashed out and kicked the man on her left in the knee. As he slammed against the wall of the elevator car crying out in pain, she jumped up and contorted her legs through the handcuffs so that her arms were in front of her instead of pinned behind her back. From there, she quickly wrapped the other guard in a choke hold until they slipped into unconsciousness. With one guard out, she incapacitated the injured one with a swift double-handed punch to the face before leaning over and pressing the button for the ship’s top deck. It was a risky gamble, she reminded herself as she pick-pocketed the guards for the keys to her handcuffs. But everything worth doing was.
When the elevator doors slid open on the ship’s highest level, she sprinted forward with a Reflega barrier in front of her to deflect the spells being fired at her from the platoon of Legionnaires summoned to block her escape the minute she dispatched her escort. She did a flying somersault over the heads of the blockade of soldiers before taking off at a run towards the ship’s bridge. As more guards came pouring out of the entrance to the warship’s command center, she took a hard left and veered towards the escape pods. She dove into the nearest open pod and slammed on the “Launch” button before any of her pursuers could climb in after her.
The escape pod shuddered violently as it raced way from the ship. Rose quickly strapped herself into the pilot’s seat while the pod rocked with the impact of cannon fire from the ship behind her. She poured on the accelerator to get her craft moving faster until she was well out of the larger ship’s firing range. When she noticed the radar beeping in alarm to warn of incoming Starfighters, she checked the pod’s star charts for the nearest space-faring civilization and plotted a course for Montressor before engaging the escape pod’s warp drive with the push of a button. Rose slumped back in her chair with relief as the stars stretched out into streaks of red, orange, blue, white, and yellow outside. She did it. Now she just needed to find a way to get back to Earth.
Jake’s comments about IHOP are a reference to a hilarious running gag between Loki and Coulson from The SHIELD Codex. I even quoted the original conversation between the two in some parts. The reason I’m going to be cutting down on the side scenes from here on out is because now that the overarching plot threads have been established, I want to keep the story more streamlined, the way I feel any Kingdom Hearts games after the Xehanort saga should be. A sort of back to basics approach, like in Kingdom Hearts 1. We focus on the heroes, and then every few worlds/chapters, we get a glimpse into the bad guys’ plots. Anyway, coming up next, Sora finally gets to meet the Avengers for the first time.
For those wondering why Rose can use magic despite being an ordinary human in American Dragon: Jake Long, if you’ve read my other Acolytes of Chaos story, “Ripple Effects”, then you already know the answer to that question. If you haven’t read them yet, what are you waiting for? The mystery of the Hunstclan’s knowledge of space travel and their ties to the Legion are part of the ongoing mystery of the saga, so I’m not going to answer a question like that in the Author’s Notes before we’ve even halfway through the saga. This chapter and the next one are a bit of a complete the quote chapter title, using the “Avengers assemble” tag line. So next chapter will naturally be called Assemble.
TBH, I haven't seen all the MCU films, but can you blame me? There's so many to keep on track. :tongue:
Master Exin: No worries. Knowledge of the plot of the films isn't really essential to understanding the story, only knowing who the characters are. Seeing the films just helps fill in background info for the purposes of world-building.
Chapter 33: Assemble:
Earth – New Avengers Compound; Living Room:
“Any idea what this is all about?” Steve asked as he and the rest of the Avengers, both current and retired, were gathered in the common room of Avengers HQ. Thor had called an unofficial team meeting and requested that everyone be there. All the Asgardian would say about the subject of the meeting was that he had an announcement to make. True to form, Tony Stark had already started up a betting pool on the topic. The leading bet was that his wife Jane was finally pregnant. But because of the secrecy, Steve had a completely different theory on what he was. And besides, he wasn’t a betting man.
“Nobody knows.” And speak of the devil, Iron Man himself sauntered over and plopped himself down in his favorite chair, Pepper Stark joining him in her own seat by his side. “All Point Break said was that he had something important to tell us and he wanted the whole team to be there so he won’t have to explain this once. A hundred bucks says Jane’s pregnant.” If Steve were a betting man, he’d say the odds were favorable that Tony was right, but something in his gut told him that there was something else going on. Not that he wouldn’t be happy if Jane and Thor were having a baby. His instincts were simply telling him something different. At last, the rest of the Avengers trickled in and sat according to their own personal preferences.
For all the good they’d done in the last few years, the team’s growth had been in relatively small increments. Bucky, Wanda, and Pietro had joined after the battle in Sokovia back in 2015. Former thief Scott Land joined three months after that, and Prince T’Challa of Wakanda signed up a year later. And then in 2017, they were joined by an illegal genetic experiment from outer space who’d been living in Hawaii since 2002. Hope Pym was recruited the following year under the moniker of “The Wasp,” leading to the current Avengers roster arrayed before him. Each member of the team had been visiting the compound (along with their significant others in some cases) for the day and were all on hand for Thor’s meeting.
Tony and Pepper were naturally seated together. Steve sat opposite them, Sam and Stitch seated on his left hand side, with Bucky and Natasha on his right. Bruce, Betty, T’Challa, and Rhodey sat next to Tony, with Kim and Ron seated in the middle of the lopsided circle opposite Hope and Scott. Wanda sat between Kim and Stitch, while Pietro was couched between Hope and Natasha. Jane sat wedged between T’Challa and Scott opposite the vacant seat usually claimed by Sora. After a few more minutes of waiting, the god of thunder himself walked into the room trailed by two people most of the team had never seen before. One was an Asian-american man with black hair streaked with green, who Clint, T’Challa, and Natasha recognized as Jake Long, husband of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Rose Long.
The other, however, was a complete and utter mystery to just about everyone. The man’s short brown hair spiked out in every direction. His outfit consisted of a black t-shirt with a short-sleeved black and red jacket draped over it, the hood fluttering behind him in the morning breeze coming through the open window. He wore baggy black pants that went down to his ankles and a layer of what looked like armor wrapped around the side of his legs. Red and grey gloves went up to his elbows, while his feet were covered by black and yellow shoes that looked like a cross between a sneaker and a boot. None of the Avengers could ever say that they’d seen him before. All except for one, that is.
“SORA!!!” Stitch cried as the little blue alien bolted out of his seat and tackled the brunette to the floor, licking him like a dog as his way of a greeting. Everyone else present wore confused looks on their faces at the fact that Stitch apparently knew who this man was. But before either Tony or Steve could ask who this guy was, Thor put his hand up.
“My friends,” the prince of Asgard began. “I understand that you all have questions about who our guests are and why Stitch knows them. I cannot answer the latter, but I have a story to tell you all by way of explanation for the former.” Once he had everyone’s attention, the warrior prince continued. “Eons ago, at the very beginning of Earth’s history, mankind lived in peace. In those days, people believed that an unseen land known as Kingdom Hearts was the source of all Light in the world. I am not referring to light as in sunlight, but as the universal force of peace, order, and creation. Kingdom Hearts was said to be protected by a mystical weapon known as the X – Blade, a sword of phenomenal power, greater than anything in the nine realms can ever hope to match.”
“But like beings everywhere,” Thor went on. “Humankind began to get greedy. Different factions began coveting the light of Kingdom Hearts for themselves. Over time, war broke out between those who sought to defend the light from those who would misuse it, those who actively cultivated the Light’s opposite, Darkness, those who sought to end the conflict and achieve a peaceful solution, and those who desired power for its own sake. The conflict came to be known as the Keyblade War, for those who fought in the battles did so wielding man-made facsimiles of the legendary weapon. The war was long and bloody, and eventually, it tore the planet apart, sending fragments of the world hurtling off into space.”
“But the light in the hearts of seven maidens who would become known as the Princesses of Heart allowed mankind to survive on the scattered fragments of the planet, of which Midgard is merely the largest. The surviving warriors, as a means of atonement for their actions, turned their Keyblades towards defending the fragments.” Thor finished the tale and gave the rest of his teammates time to process the truly massive info-dump he’d just dropped in their laps. Most of the team had looks of awe and curiosity on their faces. Clint and Natasha kept their faces carefully neutral. Steve and Bucky appeared like they were stoically attempting to take everything in. Only Stitch displayed an expression that wasn’t analytical or shocked.
“Heimdal cannot see the fragments of Earth that have drifted beyond the nine realms,” the alien prince explained. “But he can sense the actions and locations of Keyblade Masters across the galaxy.” At this point, the brunette stepped formward. “The reason I called this meeting is because a young Key Bearer named Sora was stranded on Earth last night. I wished to bring him under the protection of the Avengers before HYDRA or any other nefarious groups learned of his presence on Earth.” For a moment, everybody sat and stood in silence as they grappled with the ultimate question of whether to accept someone they’d never met.
While it would be the right thing to do, they only had Thor’s word that Keyblade Wielders were guardians. Every group had its bad apple, and for all they knew, this guy could be one of them. On the other hand, Stitch clearly knew him and liked him. While Stitch was as bad as Tony when it came to behavior towards the rest of the team, the little blue alien was still a good judge of character. So one by one, they each cast their vote. Tony, Rhodey, Sam, Clint, Kim, Hope, and Pietro all voiced their concerns, but ultimately went along with the majority decision to let Sora stay with them at the compound.
With that decision made, Stitch skittered over to the kitchen and dragged over an extra chair so that Sora could sit down while Thor introduced the rest of the group to Jake Long and explained the abduction of the man’s wife by the same faction that orchestrated the attack on Asgard. Once the meeting had concluded, everyone split off to do their own thing. Pepper and Hope stepped out for Stark Industries and Pym Tech conference calls respectively. T’Challa, Bucky, and Natasha went to speak to Jake about figuring out what happened to Rose. Clint, Sam, Rhodey, and Scott walked over to the bar, in need of a strong drink after everything that Thor had just told them. Pietro, Wanda, Betty, and Bruce just decided to deal with the impending mental freak outs later and went to grab something for dinner.
Meanwhile, Tony, Jane, Stitch, Kim, and Ron crowded around the brunette Keyblade Master asking him about the lore and mechanics of the Keyblade. While Sora wasn’t sure how much to tell everyone right off the bat, he decided to start with the basics to satisfy everyone for now. Everyone had agreed to let him settle in before they asked him to spill his whole life story, so he stuck with things like the Keyblade’s powers, the existence of the Daybreak Coalition, and what little he knew about the lore of Kingdom Hearts. Steve sat alone in the now empty circle of chairs, looking like he wanted to ask Sora a question or two he didn’t want to talk about in front of the other Avengers.
Sora was relieved to see Stitch there at the Avengers’ headquarters, glad to have another friend so that he and Jake didn’t have to deal with everything on his own. Sora’s natural charisma and optimism proved to be infectious, if the rest of the team’s rapidly warming attitudes towards him were any indication. Sure, almost of half of them still seemed suspicious of him, but that was understandable. Nevertheless, everyone was quickly coming around, and nobody on the team, not even those who still didn’t trust him, could honestly say that they disliked him. And so later that night, the twenty-three year old Keyblade Master went to bed feeling slightly better about his situation. His heart still ached to get back to Kairi, but now he had a stable place to stay and more people willing to help him find his way home.
The Land of Departure – Forecourt:
“I’m glad you’re okay,” Ventus greeted as he wrapped his girlfriend in a tight hug once she stepped off the Gummi Ship. “I’ve missed you.” Yuffie responded by planting a long, romantic kiss right on his lips.
“I missed you too, Ven,” she replied with a smile. She'd been assigned to gather intelligence leading up to the Battle of Knowhere, and had only gotten three days off for her trouble. She'd spent the first day in Radiant Garden with her friends from the Restoration Committee, and the second day was spent aboard a commercial Gummi Ship here. “Did you…”
“Buy you coffee?” The blonde Keyblade Master finished as he pulled a steam-emitting paper cup from the bag at his feet. “Why yes, I did.” It had been a running joke between them even before they’d started dating. Since their educations had been stalled by his coma and The Fall, respectively, they’d both been enrolled (largely at the behest of Leon and Aqua, who insisted on the two of them getting a proper education) in the Radiant Garden Academy once the building had been restored. Yuffie grew so bored of the routine on the first day that she had taken to falling asleep in class. One day, she talked Ven into buying her coffee. Some sarcastic banter, a few more months of coffee later, and the rest was history. Yuffie squealed in delight as she reached down to pick up the coffee, only for the blonde Keyblade Master to pull it back at the last second.
“What do you say?” he asked sarcastically.
“Caffeine me up, pretty boy,” she retorted teasingly before reaching over and snatching the steaming hot cup right out of her boyfriend’s hand. “I thought you learned by now never to keep me from my coffee, Ven.”
“Must have slipped my mind,” Ven joked back in a tone that clearly suggested that it hadn’t. “Although I will say that you without caffeine doesn’t even compare to Terra’s cooking.”
“So I’ve heard,” Yuffie laughed as they sat on the low stone wall that ringed the courtyard of the Land of Departure’s castle, headquarters of the Order of the Keyblade. The past six years, while far from perfect, had practically been a golden age compared to the chaos of The Xehanort War. But now, with the resurgence of the Hellfire Club and the emergence of the Legion, Ven thought that it was time that he and the others went out and finally started training apprentices. While he and the others expected to live for years longer, Ven felt that it was better to start selecting their apprentices now so that if one or more of them were killed in action in the wars to come, the survivors could begin training the next generation of Keyblade Wielders.
But right now, he was simply content to enjoy spending time with his girlfriend on her last day off from her career as a C.I.N. agent before she was sent out to scout for Hellfire Club activity or possible leads on the origins and location of the Legion. So once Yuffie finished her coffee, they walked up to the old training ground on the mountaintop. They’d both spend some time on the practice targets for fun later tonight as a little competition, but for the time being, they were simply content to just sit back and watch the sunset together.
Okay, I take back what I said last chapter about the little extra scenes. At least partially. I’m cutting back on the villain scenes, but the chapters set on the Kingdom Hearts side of the galaxy will have some fluff scenes of Sora interacting with the rest of the Avengers outside of all the action. Just so I can show some the way the team reacts to the Kingdom Hearts elements of the story. I threw one in this chapter so that I could have some scenes of Ven and Yuffie before the next big action sequence gets started. In terms of the scale, it’s going to be comparable to the Battle of Hollow Bastion in Kingdom Hearts 2, or the Siege of Cable Town from The Xehanort War.
In retrospect, my decision to pair Ventus with Yuffie was inspired by the friendship between them in the second Remember The Tides sequel, On the Way to A Smile. So I threw in the coffee jokes as a shout out to that influence. Speaking of shout-outs, Terra being a terrible cook is a reference to this really cute/hilarious piece of fan-art I discovered on DeviantArt showing Remmy from Ratatouille doing his whole “hair-puppeteer cooking” thing from the movie on Terra instead of Linguini. The image stuck with me and Terra being a horrible cook is now in my head canon until the games mention otherwise.
I was debating whether or not to include Black Panther in this since Civil War doesn't happen, but I decided to include him anyway. I felt that given what happened at the end of Civil War, he'll probably be an Avenger when Infinity War comes out.
Chapter 33: Assemble:
Earth – New Avengers Compound; Living Room:
“Any idea what this is all about?” Steve asked as he and the rest of the Avengers, both current and retired, were gathered in the common room of Avengers HQ. Thor had called an unofficial team meeting and requested that everyone be there. All the Asgardian would say about the subject of the meeting was that he had an announcement to make. True to form, Tony Stark had already started up a betting pool on the topic. The leading bet was that his wife Jane was finally pregnant. But because of the secrecy, Steve had a completely different theory on what he was. And besides, he wasn’t a betting man.
“Nobody knows.” And speak of the devil, Iron Man himself sauntered over and plopped himself down in his favorite chair, Pepper Stark joining him in her own seat by his side. “All Point Break said was that he had something important to tell us and he wanted the whole team to be there so he won’t have to explain this once. A hundred bucks says Jane’s pregnant.” If Steve were a betting man, he’d say the odds were favorable that Tony was right, but something in his gut told him that there was something else going on. Not that he wouldn’t be happy if Jane and Thor were having a baby. His instincts were simply telling him something different. At last, the rest of the Avengers trickled in and sat according to their own personal preferences.
For all the good they’d done in the last few years, the team’s growth had been in relatively small increments. Bucky, Wanda, and Pietro had joined after the battle in Sokovia back in 2015. Former thief Scott Land joined three months after that, and Prince T’Challa of Wakanda signed up a year later. And then in 2017, they were joined by an illegal genetic experiment from outer space who’d been living in Hawaii since 2002. Hope Pym was recruited the following year under the moniker of “The Wasp,” leading to the current Avengers roster arrayed before him. Each member of the team had been visiting the compound (along with their significant others in some cases) for the day and were all on hand for Thor’s meeting.
Tony and Pepper were naturally seated together. Steve sat opposite them, Sam and Stitch seated on his left hand side, with Bucky and Natasha on his right. Bruce, Betty, T’Challa, and Rhodey sat next to Tony, with Kim and Ron seated in the middle of the lopsided circle opposite Hope and Scott. Wanda sat between Kim and Stitch, while Pietro was couched between Hope and Natasha. Jane sat wedged between T’Challa and Scott opposite the vacant seat usually claimed by Sora. After a few more minutes of waiting, the god of thunder himself walked into the room trailed by two people most of the team had never seen before. One was an Asian-american man with black hair streaked with green, who Clint, T’Challa, and Natasha recognized as Jake Long, husband of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Rose Long.
The other, however, was a complete and utter mystery to just about everyone. The man’s short brown hair spiked out in every direction. His outfit consisted of a black t-shirt with a short-sleeved black and red jacket draped over it, the hood fluttering behind him in the morning breeze coming through the open window. He wore baggy black pants that went down to his ankles and a layer of what looked like armor wrapped around the side of his legs. Red and grey gloves went up to his elbows, while his feet were covered by black and yellow shoes that looked like a cross between a sneaker and a boot. None of the Avengers could ever say that they’d seen him before. All except for one, that is.
“SORA!!!” Stitch cried as the little blue alien bolted out of his seat and tackled the brunette to the floor, licking him like a dog as his way of a greeting. Everyone else present wore confused looks on their faces at the fact that Stitch apparently knew who this man was. But before either Tony or Steve could ask who this guy was, Thor put his hand up.
“My friends,” the prince of Asgard began. “I understand that you all have questions about who our guests are and why Stitch knows them. I cannot answer the latter, but I have a story to tell you all by way of explanation for the former.” Once he had everyone’s attention, the warrior prince continued. “Eons ago, at the very beginning of Earth’s history, mankind lived in peace. In those days, people believed that an unseen land known as Kingdom Hearts was the source of all Light in the world. I am not referring to light as in sunlight, but as the universal force of peace, order, and creation. Kingdom Hearts was said to be protected by a mystical weapon known as the X – Blade, a sword of phenomenal power, greater than anything in the nine realms can ever hope to match.”
“But like beings everywhere,” Thor went on. “Humankind began to get greedy. Different factions began coveting the light of Kingdom Hearts for themselves. Over time, war broke out between those who sought to defend the light from those who would misuse it, those who actively cultivated the Light’s opposite, Darkness, those who sought to end the conflict and achieve a peaceful solution, and those who desired power for its own sake. The conflict came to be known as the Keyblade War, for those who fought in the battles did so wielding man-made facsimiles of the legendary weapon. The war was long and bloody, and eventually, it tore the planet apart, sending fragments of the world hurtling off into space.”
“But the light in the hearts of seven maidens who would become known as the Princesses of Heart allowed mankind to survive on the scattered fragments of the planet, of which Midgard is merely the largest. The surviving warriors, as a means of atonement for their actions, turned their Keyblades towards defending the fragments.” Thor finished the tale and gave the rest of his teammates time to process the truly massive info-dump he’d just dropped in their laps. Most of the team had looks of awe and curiosity on their faces. Clint and Natasha kept their faces carefully neutral. Steve and Bucky appeared like they were stoically attempting to take everything in. Only Stitch displayed an expression that wasn’t analytical or shocked.
“Heimdal cannot see the fragments of Earth that have drifted beyond the nine realms,” the alien prince explained. “But he can sense the actions and locations of Keyblade Masters across the galaxy.” At this point, the brunette stepped formward. “The reason I called this meeting is because a young Key Bearer named Sora was stranded on Earth last night. I wished to bring him under the protection of the Avengers before HYDRA or any other nefarious groups learned of his presence on Earth.” For a moment, everybody sat and stood in silence as they grappled with the ultimate question of whether to accept someone they’d never met.
While it would be the right thing to do, they only had Thor’s word that Keyblade Wielders were guardians. Every group had its bad apple, and for all they knew, this guy could be one of them. On the other hand, Stitch clearly knew him and liked him. While Stitch was as bad as Tony when it came to behavior towards the rest of the team, the little blue alien was still a good judge of character. So one by one, they each cast their vote. Tony, Rhodey, Sam, Clint, Kim, Hope, and Pietro all voiced their concerns, but ultimately went along with the majority decision to let Sora stay with them at the compound.
With that decision made, Stitch skittered over to the kitchen and dragged over an extra chair so that Sora could sit down while Thor introduced the rest of the group to Jake Long and explained the abduction of the man’s wife by the same faction that orchestrated the attack on Asgard. Once the meeting had concluded, everyone split off to do their own thing. Pepper and Hope stepped out for Stark Industries and Pym Tech conference calls respectively. T’Challa, Bucky, and Natasha went to speak to Jake about figuring out what happened to Rose. Clint, Sam, Rhodey, and Scott walked over to the bar, in need of a strong drink after everything that Thor had just told them. Pietro, Wanda, Betty, and Bruce just decided to deal with the impending mental freak outs later and went to grab something for dinner.
Meanwhile, Tony, Jane, Stitch, Kim, and Ron crowded around the brunette Keyblade Master asking him about the lore and mechanics of the Keyblade. While Sora wasn’t sure how much to tell everyone right off the bat, he decided to start with the basics to satisfy everyone for now. Everyone had agreed to let him settle in before they asked him to spill his whole life story, so he stuck with things like the Keyblade’s powers, the existence of the Daybreak Coalition, and what little he knew about the lore of Kingdom Hearts. Steve sat alone in the now empty circle of chairs, looking like he wanted to ask Sora a question or two he didn’t want to talk about in front of the other Avengers.
Sora was relieved to see Stitch there at the Avengers’ headquarters, glad to have another friend so that he and Jake didn’t have to deal with everything on his own. Sora’s natural charisma and optimism proved to be infectious, if the rest of the team’s rapidly warming attitudes towards him were any indication. Sure, almost of half of them still seemed suspicious of him, but that was understandable. Nevertheless, everyone was quickly coming around, and nobody on the team, not even those who still didn’t trust him, could honestly say that they disliked him. And so later that night, the twenty-three year old Keyblade Master went to bed feeling slightly better about his situation. His heart still ached to get back to Kairi, but now he had a stable place to stay and more people willing to help him find his way home.
The Land of Departure – Forecourt:
“I’m glad you’re okay,” Ventus greeted as he wrapped his girlfriend in a tight hug once she stepped off the Gummi Ship. “I’ve missed you.” Yuffie responded by planting a long, romantic kiss right on his lips.
“I missed you too, Ven,” she replied with a smile. She'd been assigned to gather intelligence leading up to the Battle of Knowhere, and had only gotten three days off for her trouble. She'd spent the first day in Radiant Garden with her friends from the Restoration Committee, and the second day was spent aboard a commercial Gummi Ship here. “Did you…”
“Buy you coffee?” The blonde Keyblade Master finished as he pulled a steam-emitting paper cup from the bag at his feet. “Why yes, I did.” It had been a running joke between them even before they’d started dating. Since their educations had been stalled by his coma and The Fall, respectively, they’d both been enrolled (largely at the behest of Leon and Aqua, who insisted on the two of them getting a proper education) in the Radiant Garden Academy once the building had been restored. Yuffie grew so bored of the routine on the first day that she had taken to falling asleep in class. One day, she talked Ven into buying her coffee. Some sarcastic banter, a few more months of coffee later, and the rest was history. Yuffie squealed in delight as she reached down to pick up the coffee, only for the blonde Keyblade Master to pull it back at the last second.
“What do you say?” he asked sarcastically.
“Caffeine me up, pretty boy,” she retorted teasingly before reaching over and snatching the steaming hot cup right out of her boyfriend’s hand. “I thought you learned by now never to keep me from my coffee, Ven.”
“Must have slipped my mind,” Ven joked back in a tone that clearly suggested that it hadn’t. “Although I will say that you without caffeine doesn’t even compare to Terra’s cooking.”
“So I’ve heard,” Yuffie laughed as they sat on the low stone wall that ringed the courtyard of the Land of Departure’s castle, headquarters of the Order of the Keyblade. The past six years, while far from perfect, had practically been a golden age compared to the chaos of The Xehanort War. But now, with the resurgence of the Hellfire Club and the emergence of the Legion, Ven thought that it was time that he and the others went out and finally started training apprentices. While he and the others expected to live for years longer, Ven felt that it was better to start selecting their apprentices now so that if one or more of them were killed in action in the wars to come, the survivors could begin training the next generation of Keyblade Wielders.
But right now, he was simply content to enjoy spending time with his girlfriend on her last day off from her career as a C.I.N. agent before she was sent out to scout for Hellfire Club activity or possible leads on the origins and location of the Legion. So once Yuffie finished her coffee, they walked up to the old training ground on the mountaintop. They’d both spend some time on the practice targets for fun later tonight as a little competition, but for the time being, they were simply content to just sit back and watch the sunset together.
Okay, I take back what I said last chapter about the little extra scenes. At least partially. I’m cutting back on the villain scenes, but the chapters set on the Kingdom Hearts side of the galaxy will have some fluff scenes of Sora interacting with the rest of the Avengers outside of all the action. Just so I can show some the way the team reacts to the Kingdom Hearts elements of the story. I threw one in this chapter so that I could have some scenes of Ven and Yuffie before the next big action sequence gets started. In terms of the scale, it’s going to be comparable to the Battle of Hollow Bastion in Kingdom Hearts 2, or the Siege of Cable Town from The Xehanort War.
In retrospect, my decision to pair Ventus with Yuffie was inspired by the friendship between them in the second Remember The Tides sequel, On the Way to A Smile. So I threw in the coffee jokes as a shout out to that influence. Speaking of shout-outs, Terra being a terrible cook is a reference to this really cute/hilarious piece of fan-art I discovered on DeviantArt showing Remmy from Ratatouille doing his whole “hair-puppeteer cooking” thing from the movie on Terra instead of Linguini. The image stuck with me and Terra being a horrible cook is now in my head canon until the games mention otherwise.
I was debating whether or not to include Black Panther in this since Civil War doesn't happen, but I decided to include him anyway. I felt that given what happened at the end of Civil War, he'll probably be an Avenger when Infinity War comes out.
Now I've got to find that image of Remmy pulling Terra's hair. XD
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