and now, for your entertainment... the final battle begins...
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ENDGAME
Part 5
Aloz the Dark
The throne room was no less magnificent than the rest of the castle. It was a circular room, was the same white walls and floor that decorated the rest of the castle, but this one was unique in two ways. The tapestries that lined the walls of the long hallway were all decorated with the same thing: a heart.
The ‘ceiling’ of the throne room was made entirely of glass, so that one could easily see the giant moon shaped heart that was the core of Kingdom Hearts, which dominated the sky.
The throne itself was magnificent. It was a large, white marble chair with a heart engraved on the back, armrests, and seat. The throne reflected the light from the heart moon as if it had just been polished this morning.
Unfortunately, the room was also unique in one other fashion; casually leaning against the wall to the right of the throne was the form of Aloz the Dark. He was now dressed in a dark suit, buttoned up to his neck, which seemed to make him look even more ominous, if that was possible.
“You have arrived,” Aloz said calmly, “And you defeated both Xehanort and Xion, no less.” Aloz chuckled. “As impressive as that is, I can’t say I’m surprised. I always knew it would come to this.”
Sora forced himself to stand still. Charging blindly at Aloz would be tantamount to suicide. Instead, he summoned his Keyblade and readied himself for battle. Behind him, the others did the same. They would let Aloz make the first move.
“This has been quite the game, Sora,” Aloz continued, slowly walking towards them, “but now the sport has ended. Now is the time to see whose philosophy is stronger. Which will prevail, Sora? You and your desire to preserve the light, or me and my wish to eradicate the darkness once and for all? Which one will triumph?”
Aloz chuckled and held out his hands, and his twin swords began to materialize. When they were fully manifested Aloz held them out in front of him, ready for battle. “I guess we’ll find out. En garde!”
Sora barely had time to raise his Keyblade before Aloz charged forward and brought his two blades down. He managed to push Aloz back, and the Morph stepped back to give some warning distance between him and his foe. Riku, Kairi, and Aqua spread out around the room to maneuver better, while Sora charged forward and arched his Keyblade across.
Aloz parried the blow with ease. He feigned a blow to the right, and circled left around Sora’s off side. Aloz dropped the blade in his left hand and grabbed Sora from behind be the collar of his shirt, and flung through the air and into Aqua. Sora was caught in Aqua’s lighting spell in midair, which she had been aiming at Aloz, and they collided and slumped to the floor, dazed.
Sensing movement behind him, Aloz turned and flung his sword through the air. Caught by surprise from the speed of the attack, Riku was unable to duck before the blade impaled his shoulder, and pinned him to the wall behind. Aloz turned to Kairi, the only one standing at the moment. In the time it took a normal person to bend over and tie a shoe, Aloz vaulted through the air and landed behind Kairi. He swirled around and blasted her square in the back of the head with his fist, sending her flying to the floor. Aloz jumped again and landed in the dead center of the room. The battle so far had lasted only a few seconds so far, and everyone was sprawled on the ground (or in Riku’s case, pinned to the wall), and Aloz wasn’t even breathing heavily.
“Is that all?” Aloz said in mock surprise, as Sora and Aqua untangled themselves, Kairi stumbled to her feet, and Riku freed himself from the wall and Aloz’s sword. “Is that the power of Kingdom Heart’s knights?”
“We’re just getting started!” Sora yelled to the Morph.
“Oh, I sincerely hope so,” Aloz said, “This is, after all, the final round of the game. It should be climatic!”
Aloz rematerialized his blades and charged toward Sora and Aqua. Aqua and Sora both threw powerful blasts of lightning toward the charging Morph. Aloz dropped his swords, and ‘caught’ both blasts with his hands. With impossible might, Aloz pushed his arms forward and sent the blast of electricity back upon them. With no time to react, and already committed to the spell, Sora and Aqua could nothing as their own lightning blast shocked them to near death.
But that wasn’t the worst of it. When the lightning hit, they lost all control over their bodies, and no rational thoughts could be processed through their mind. Therefore, there was no signal from the brain to stop casting lightning, so they continued to do so against their will, fueling the blasts that were hitting them.
Mercifully, the battles from earlier had drained their magic. There wasn’t much left to commit to the electricity. When they finally ran out of magic, the electricity lost its juice, and dissipated. The pair collapsed, numbed and battered, but still alive.
Aloz turned to face a charging Riku, and easily sidestepped the ill-conceived charge. He stuck his foot out as he moved, and Riku, unable to stop his momentum, tripped over Aloz’s foot and sailed into the wall. Aloz turned his eyes to Kairi. She was doing things smartly, trying to pound him into the ground from a distance with fireballs. Unfortunately, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
Aloz batted the fireballs with noticeable ease, slowly making his way to Kairi. She ceased the fireball idea, realizing it was doomed to failure anyway, and blasted the Morph with ice. Aloz deflected these too, until he saw a good sized chunk heading for him. He dropped his swords to the ground, which dissipated the moment they hit the ground, and caught the chunk of ice with his hands. With titan like strength, he threw the ball back to Kairi.
Seeing the ball of death heading for her, Kairi jumped to the ground, barely missing the ball as it hit the wall behind her and splintered. She rose to her feet again, but Aloz was already on her. He grabbed her right hand, holding her Keyblade, and threw her into the wall. Kairi recovered quickly, but Aloz was simply faster. He ducked down under Kairi’s swipe, and landed a chop on her right leg. Kairi nearly screamed in pain when she heard the crack of bones and fell to the ground.
Aloz reformed a sword in his right hand, pointing it directly at Kairi. With a broken leg and little magic left, there wasn’t much Kairi could do but watch as the blade came down.
At the last second, Aloz flipped the sword around, and instead of impaling her with the blade, he smacked her in the forehead with the pommel. It was by no means a lethal blow, but Kairi would be only semi-conscious for the rest of the fight.
Aloz turned around to see Riku charging up to him again, this time with a more controlled pace.
“Let’s dance!” Aloz said, chuckling.
Aloz brought his sword up to block Riku’s charge attack, and easily parried the follow-up blows. He slowly circled around Riku, putting the latter’s back toward Kairi. Aloz could sense Riku’s attacks were clumsier now; he had switched his Keyblade to his left hand after Aloz impaled his right shoulder. Fighting with his off hand, Riku was at a serious disadvantage, but the pain in his right arm would never allow him to wield a Keyblade properly.
Finally, Aloz grew bored with the ‘dance.’ He deflected Riku’s last blow, and feinted a thrust to the right. Fully expecting a feint, Riku brought his Keyblade up to block the expected attack. Sure enough, Aloz changed the angle of his blade, about to bring it down on Riku’s left side. But this was the real feint. Aloz changed the angle of his blade again, bringing it around behind his right leg and slicing the hamstring.
Riku let out a cry of pain and fell to his knees, caught off balance with the severing of the tendon. Seizing the opportunity, Aloz grabbed Riku’s left wrist with his free hand, tightening his grip until Riku was forced to let go of the Keyblade. With a smile of satisfaction, Aloz brought his right arm up, holding his sword, and brought the pommel down right on Riku’s arm. Riku cringed and gritted his teeth when he heard the sound of bones cracking, and Aloz let go of the injured swordsman.
With a broken arm, a severed hamstring, and a throbbing right shoulder, Riku realized he was probably out of the fight now. It’s up to you two, he thought, Aqua, Sora, go get him.
At that moment, Sora and Aqua were finally able to stand up. They were still shaking violently from the shocking, but at least they could stand up unsupported and, hopefully, fight. However, both of them were intelligent enough to realize the odds against them, especially with both Kairi and Riku effectively taken out of the fight.
“We’re getting killed out here,” Sora said, breathing heavily.
Aqua nodded, but didn’t answer. There was something strange about Aloz’s tactics. He could have easily killed both Kairi and Riku, and yet he had only broken their bones and taken them out of the fight. With the exception of Riku’s leg, he hadn’t even caused any permanent damage.
“Two against one,” Aloz said, laughing, “really not fair odds, you know. You two don’t stand a chance.”
Sora started to retort, but he stopped. It was painful to admit, but he was right. Two weakened fighters stood little chance against the Morph. Aqua was the one who replied for Sora.
“As long as there is any hope, no matter how slim, we’ll take it. Because that’s what we do.”
Aqua charged at Aloz, carefully measuring the distance between them, and making sure to give herself enough time to react to whatever Aloz would do. She covered the length of the room, her Keyblade held high, and yet Aloz did nothing. Then, he charged at her, bringing his blade up as he went. The blades met in midair, forcing both of them to a halt. But Aloz had been running for less distance than Aqua, thus she had more momentum behind her than Aloz. The Morph knew this, and had reacted accordingly.
When their swords clashed, Aloz was pushed back by Aqua’s momentum. Instead of applying his own force to her, he slowed down just before they collided. When they did clash, he bent backwards and fell onto his back. With no force to stop her, Aqua was carried by her own momentum over Aloz (who aided with his feet), and into the ground behind him. As she flew overhead, she let out a cry of pain as Aloz smashed the pommel of his sword into her right kneecap. She heard the crack of bones, and then she collided with the ground.
Aloz gave a mock look of pity before turning back to Sora. “Only the two of us left,” he said, walking calmly to the center of the room,”the Master of the Keyblade… and the Morph.”
“That’s how you wanted it, isn’t it?” Sora said suspiciously, also walking to the center of the room. “That’s why you didn’t kill any of them. You wanted this to be simply a battle between the two of us.”
Aloz laughed. “Would you rather I killed them?”
“Of course not!” Sora said, “But I was curious why you didn’t.”
Aloz chuckled. “You are right, of course. This is how I wanted it to be, a battle between the two of us, the strongest of each philosophical point of view. Preservation of the light, or eradication of the darkness? You yourself know how powerful the pull of darkness is.”
“What do you mean?”
“The anger you felt when Axel died at Xion’s hands. That impossible anger, strangling the grief. That is an emotion of darkness, to which you nearly succumbed to and sold your heart to. All that for the power to kill Xion.”
Sora flinched uncomfortably. Aloz was right in that respect.
“I seek to put an end to things like that,” Aloz continued, “But darkness and light are so interwoven together, they cannot exist separately. But they both stem from the heart, which in turn come from Kingdom Hearts. So, in my quest to end all darkness now and forever, I will destroy the heart of Kingdom Hearts!”
“You’re insane!” Sora shouted. “Trying to get rid of the darkness is an honorable enough goal, but doing so by killing hundreds if not thousands of lives? Doing it by destroying the source of all emotions, dark and light? Without a heart, Aloz, we’re nothing more than lifeless beings. What about all the joy, Aloz? All those good emotions out there? Happiness, joy, friendship…” Sora glanced over to Kairi. “…love.”
Aloz followed Sora’s gaze to Kairi, and turned back to him, laughing. “Ah, love,” he said, “a dreadful bond. And yet, so easily severed, leaving the surviving person with nothing but grief and, in the right circumstances, rage. Don’t you see, Sora? Any emotional connection, any form of love, can be turned into a weapon to use against you.”
Aloz smiled, and jumped through the air, landing next to the disoriented Kairi. He lifted her up with his left hand, supporting her weight since her broken leg couldn’t do it. With his right hand, he put his sword to her throat.
“Drop the Keyblade!”
Sora began to charge after him, but stopped himself. He would do it, Sora knew, he would be willing to kill her to make his point. Sora sighed, and dropped the Keyblade.
“Do you see?” Aloz said, “I can take that which you care about, and use it to make you do anything I please.”
Aloz moved the sword away, and pushed Kairi back to the ground. He began walking back toward Sora, saying, “But I won’t kill her, no. I’m not the take hostage type. I simply used her to make my point, Sora. Emotions will drag you down. Humans are amazing creatures, I give you that, but as long as they are entangled by emotions, they can never attain true power.”
Sora picked up his Keyblade and shook his head. “I pity you, Aloz. You can’t understand what emotions are truly like. Humans are weak individually, true enough. But together, they’re the greatest power in the universe.”
Aloz smiled, and began to change form again. “Then let us test that philosophy.” He grew taller, up to 7 feet in height. “Let us test your power!” Armor began to form on his now muscular body. “Let us see, once and for all, which side is stronger!” Aloz held up his sword, and it too began to transform. Its slim figure began broader, and a part of it seemed to spit away from the tip. Sora gasped; the sword had taken a new, disturbing form. Aloz’s sword had turned into a Keyblade.
With his free hand, Aloz snapped his fingers, and a wall of fire encircled them, the borders just 5 feet away from where Aqua, Riku, and Kairi watched.
“Would you here my desire?” Aloz said, “To take this blade, and use it to blot out the darkness FOREVER!”
“At your ready, then,” Sora said.
Sora readied his Keyblade. It was time to end this, one way or another. Aloz held the Keyblade in his battle pose. The two charged toward each other at the same time, and the sound of metal clashing rang through the air.
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next time, we shall see the continuation of this fight. Sora vs. Aloz. compassion vs. madness.
it will be a night to remember...
with all due respect,
Merlin326