Raid #69 [Disney Castle]

(OOC: I thought to make this interesting, the setting will be in Disney Town, the town outside of Disney Castle as accessed by the Chasers in Birth By Sleep. A lot more space outside than the small confines of most rooms the castle. Let's have fun with this!)

They had done it! They had finally defeated Ferser, the Heartless that had turned Disney Castle into utter darkness, and had restored the Light back to the Cornerstone! But, the battle was far from over yet, as they had to rejoin the other warriors that had joined them to make the final assault on the castle and drive the dark villains out of the castle once and for all. As a result, now making his hurried rush back out to the courtyard and the ramparts of the castle, the Keyblade Master was making his way back to where the King, Queen and the rest of the denizens of Light had been distracting the bad guys. Everything was a frenzy now of adrenline and relief as Sora lead the way back through the Audience Chamber and towards the door leading towards the Gardens, expecting a dark stranger to leap out of the shadows and challenge them, only to strike down weak mobs of Heartless as he charged through them instead. But as he made a detour past a veil of darkness blocking their path that could not be negated by the Light of his keyblade forcing him through another door, he looked up and realized his surroundings, and realized he was now in a new area he had never been in before on his first visit.

Had he wandered into the right place?

A town stretched out before him from the expanse of the castle walls, leading into a colorful place filled with ridiculous-looking mailboxes and buildings that looked very much like the cartoon world the castle itself was set in. At least, it used to look colorful, as the place was now covered in a dark veil as if it were night, except it was day as the light of the sun was blocked out by dark, grey clouds looming overhead. There was no-one around, and the immediate vincinity was barren of anyone else - besides Gilgamesh, his new friend and trusted partner who was only a few steps behind him - the place seemed to have lost it's cheer as if it were a ghost town. Only a eerie howling wind between the buildings greeted the brunette, and Sora could only look at the mirth that had been sucked from the village dry as his only answer. The reason behind the abandonment of the town motivated Sora to keep moving, and pushed towards the only available exit that hadn't been blocked by trash someone looked like they had fun with placing in re-decorating the place, the keyblader followed the trail of Heartless as the battle over the world overflowed and poured out into the final area of confrontation.

It was a much larger area than the plaza than the smaller plaza that Sora had proceeded through that he arrived and came to a stop to, traversing through a zig-zag of a path down from the tall buildings - not exactly high enough to be like the skyscrapers like in The World That Never Was, thank goodness not having the same vibe but being very close to it - crossing over a bridge until he came to in front of what looked like a racetrack the civilians had set up. The bridge had crossed over a small street that ran underneath and to other parts of town, but was a dead end because of more trashed mailboxes, broken street signs and smashed crates the villains looked like they had used as either a barricade or a trash-heap for their target practice. The area still had it's color like the last, but it was murky and drained from the darkness that seeped around the place like a fine mist, easy to see through but still shaded the area like a low-lying cloud of gray fog. The place would have looked a lot brighter and cheerier, maybe, if it had some bright sunlight to clear up the place and some of the broken objects taken out and restored. Some walls had been impacted into, the floors marked with blasts of fire and even magic in some places, even a crater or two in one place as if the streets had become a field of war.

Even the gates that had once looked like they served as vendor booths was trashed, and it was here Sora slowed in his footsteps, hesitantly, as if he could sense something. He wasn't the best person when it came to sensing others, or sniffing out darkness like his best friend Riku was, but... he had a feeling like it was here that there were several dark presences about, the same feeling he would get if he felt like someone was watching him from nearby. Still holding his Kingdom Key fresh out of combat, he looked behind him to where his new companion and estranged warrior friend should have been if he had been accompanying him. "Gilgamesh?" he queried, looking about the haze for any signs of life, but it appeared he was alone at least for now. Maybe he had somehow jumped out through a window into the courtyard, but he had a feeling from the deafening silence - his bearings told him the castle's Garden was not too far away - that the main battle in the courtyard was over but that the war for the world was far, far from it. Unsure what to do at this point, either wait to see if the dark presences in the area would show themselves now he was alone or go back to find the others if they were in trouble crossed his mind, and he silently wished in that moment that Donald and Goofy were accompanying him... or even Riku and Kairi.

He was on his own for now, and the King was counting on him... he had to get this world back. Not just for him, or for himself, but for everyone that had once lived in it in peace.

They were so close.

Insane laughter pierced the air of the dark haze smothering the colorful toon world, making Sora turn his head towards the sudden sound. Who the heck made that kind of a creepy laugh? Whoever it was, it definitely wasn't one of the keyblade master's friends, or anyone who had good in their heart. Not with maniacal, malicious laughter like that. Feeling the need to investigate, the blue-eyed boy turned on his heel and large black-and-yellow boots started pacing back the way he had came towards the castle.

Maybe he had made a wrong turn, maybe he was meant to find a way around the dead ends he had passed? Was there something he had missed? Was he... already too late, were his friends in danger? Did Gilgamesh get caught out by the darkness when he left him behind? All these thoughts and doubts of uncertainty raced through the young man's mind like the adrenaline now coursing through his veins, riding on the rush of them, all pulsing through the heart beating in his chest which was now leading him back to where he wanted to be.

If his friends had been lost to the darkness, would he be able to save them?

At that thought, a strange, sudden calm mellowed out through his nerves and softened in his features as he remembered something. Of course he could... their hearts were connected. Even if he was too late, even if the darkness had claimed them, all he had to do was remember them. No, not even that... as Castle Oblivion had taught him, even if he forgot them... all he had to do was follow his heart and reach out for them. Even in the deepest darkness, their lights would never go out. Like the many stars above them in the sky that all worlds shared, they would shine brightly in the darkness, and Sora would remain connected to them.

All he had to do was believe.

His train of thought was interrupted before he could leave the wide area just before the Rumble Racing area when a cluster of black feathers scattered before him, followed by a dark presence which materialized within them, forcing Sora to once again dig into his heals to come to a stop just before them. Out from within the whirlwind of ebony down came a familiar figure he had seen once or twice in his adventures since he had left Destiny Islands to save those that needed him the most; a young man with silver hair and carrying a long sword. Sound familiar? But it was not Sephiroth, as Cloud described to him long ago. No, this male's hair was much shorter than his look-alike and his sword had two shorter blades running parallel to one another from the katana's hilt, and even though he dressed in the same dark, leathery manner it was not the embodiment of Cloud's darkness he had battled what felt like eaons ago.

He felt the other young man was sizing him up as well in those few short seconds the keyblade master had done the very same, before he heard him speak in a provocative, antagonistic tone of voice. Looking up from underneath his furrowed eyebrows as he stared him down, the brunette listened to him, and smirked a little at what he said. Sure he had won the 'inside' of the castle if he meant the Cornerstone, but he wasn't about to confirm that straight away, so it was a moot point for now. So he hadn't forgotten him? That wasn't surprising, since he had seen him before once back on Cloud's home world once before, and of course most people had heard of him from his endeavors in saving the worlds from falling into darkness. Sure the brother of Sephiroth wasn't going to introduce himself, although Sora already had a hunch from when he had first seen him that's exactly who he was as well as the obvious from his appearance, and Sora didn't expect him to. But what had made him smirk was the notion from the silver-haired man that he was arrogantly sure he had heard of him in return.

After that comment, in a manner very typical of himself, he brought his free left hand up to his chin and held it there in a pondering pose as he looked down at the ground in thought, then a second later made a slight shrug with his shoulders. "Hmm... nope, can't say I have ever heard of you before." he shot back condescendingly with a cocky and smug tone of voice, the same defiant way of talking he had given to Sephiroth when he had talked to him the second time he had encountered him before they dueled. The silver-head was probably looking for recognition that he was just as infamous in terms as himself among the worlds, and Sora wasn't going to spare his feelings that he was with his implied insult. It was harsh, but it was the truth, and the spiky-haired teen felt that the other teenager standing some distance across from him needed to be taken down from his self-inflated ego a notch or two. Since obviously being Sephiroth's sibling, and from his attitude, he certainly wasn't one of the good guys.

Feeling a little amused and confident at his smart comeback - simplistic as it was, just like Sora himself - Sora relaxed his arms and watched as the swordsman thrust out his hand behind him to rest on the hilt of his sword still in it's scabbard. The relaxed muscles suddenly went tense again from the adrenaline still coursing through his veins, as suddenly a memory was triggered. In the young man's place, Sora could envision a man dressed in a black-hooded cloak, and around them the Castle Cathedral of Hollow Bastion back before it had been restored. The mysterious figure - whom Sora now recognized from his previous experience as having been Xemnas - charged a ball of energy in his hand and the next thing Sora knew he had thrust the energy out before him, aiming at Sora and creating a surge of lightning energy Sora had instinctively blocked with his keyblade. The memory triggered in the few breaths of a second and passing just as quickly, Sora already envisioned what was about to happen, and when it did it happened all too rapidly.

The adolescent blocking his path quickly shot out a remark that Sora should give his regards to the mouse king, prompting Sora's lips to form the words his heart was gasping "What did you do to the King!?", before the Remnant leapt forward towards him and unleashed a sudden wave of energy washing through the air to close the already increasingly small gap between them. Reacting on intuition just as he had done to the superior of the Organization, the keyblade master thrust his keyblade out before him and used his Block to protect himself, as the wave of energy smashed into him. The technique was successful in blocking some of the damage that was meant for him, saving him from being cleaved neatly in half and prematurely ending the fight and thus his life, but what he didn't expect was the piercing effect it had as it smacked through him and depleted some of his health. Pushing him backwards slightly from the force of the blast, and backpedaling on one foot as he braced down both in a defensive stance, Sora gritted his teeth in a growl as his azure eyes watched as his new opponent had jumped up above him to try and block off any escape path he might have made from the bisecting wave. The wash of energy coalescing through his form as his body stung in pain from the aftershock, Sora recoiled the momentum from the blast and reversed it back out through the extension of his weapon, unleashing the power back to his foe in the form of a powerful Counterguard as his keyblade clashed violently with the Souba and parried it along with a few instantaneous slashes of his own to bypass his guard.

This new enemy was had a fast and aggressive style of fighting, much like Riku and Roxas, but Sora knew who had prevailed in those battles. If he was patient, stayed on the defensive, and struck when the timing was right he could prevail in this struggle for the right to claim back what rightfully belonged to the royalty of this world. And the civilians... his friends. They all looked to him as their last hope, he was the key of it all, the one who connected everything.

"There are people counting on me... more than just the people of this world... they are my power!"

And it was true... so many people counted on him to restore this world, not only just his friends... but people counted on him to save them from the misery that had been bestowed upon them by the darkness. Out the corner of his eye, he could see Gilgamesh engaging an opponent, and was friendships like his that gave him the strength he needed. But this battle alone, and the battles beyond this one he had to win to save his friends... it was all up to him.

He could not lose. He would have to give it everything he had.

The cold, empty expanses of a now darkened, once-colorful town was not the ideal setting Sora had for a final confrontation with the dark forces which had taken over the castle. The dark haze and the chill of the wind blowing through the town almost made him shudder, if not for the fact he was now locked in battle with a unknown contender who was related to Sephiroth, and he had caught the sight of Gilgamesh in a similar heated duel with another colorful villain he had never seen before. Maybe it was the last of those Horsemen? Either way, he knew Gilgamesh could handle himself well against these powerful Heartless from the last fight, and forced himself to focus attention on the battle at hand.

He had done okay so far to protect himself from the sudden attack the youth had surprised him with, he should have seen it coming sooner - the pain etched and fading in his body was a constant reminder of that - but had he been less naive of the extent of the damage that the decapitating Draw Slash would do, he might have well indeed tried to dodge it and be in even more pain that he was now. Sephiroth had pulled off a similar surprise attack at the beginning of his battle with him with a move faster than he could anticipate, once it had hit him the first time, he had learned when to look for it and block it safely. But this man who looked similar to the dark one-winged angel he couldn't block the damage of it entirely, and if it was true that he was Sephiroth's younger brother, could it be possible he was even more powerful than he was? Even from the first blow, it felt like he could be. It looked like Sora was about to find out the hard way, whether he liked it or not, and he was grateful that the only positive thing that had come out of Sephiroth's more bulkier brother attacking Radiant Garden was that Sora could learn to duel with the immense strength and speed the brothers seemed to possess.

The clash of his blade was felt against the katana of his opponent as it's wielder protected himself from the last few slashes of his counter, and Sora was pushed back by the powerful force he landed on the corner of the platform on the raised level just before the entrance to the racetrack, heels sliding slightly as he stood on the corner overlooking the small square of land he and Kadaj had just been standing. His brunette features set into a resentful frown, azure eyes scanned the twisted smirk on the face of his opponent before him, which had returned after the wielder of the key had caught the surprised look in his glowing, aquamarine eyes. He was boasting about his triumph over the king and how he had managed to permernantly scar him, as if it were some kind of mark or brand he had inflicted so both fighters would never forget the incident, but Sora didn't believe him or even care. Not even when Kadaj proclaimed that Mickey was probably waiting for the darkness to take him, and that Kadaj had stolen worlds away from him twice... he just didn't take the bad guy's words for it just yet. "Like I'd believe that!" he stated gruffly back, but the remainder of his sentence was lessened in anger as he mentally calmed himself. If the King was in danger, there was nothing he could do about it right now but defeat the man that was standing in his way for him to verify if it was true or not.

Even if the man was lying and the King was okay, that wasn't any less of a reason to defeat this user of darkness who was messing with the worlds as if it were his own. What did he want with the King's Castle, anyway? Was it revenge against Sora's friends because of something that happened between Cloud and Sephiroth? Or was it something more, or even less, if he was just helping worlds fall because of the sheer thrill of power? Motives could wait for later, Sora couldn't even begin to start letting his thoughts wander that way, and kept his mind in the moment.

The faster he defeated this mysterious figure, if he went all out and showed him just how powerful his friendship with the King could be, then he could save it if the King was actually in dire peril. Sure, he wasn't as close to His Majesty as his friends Donald and Goofy were, and even Riku seemed to have a closer bond to the little mouse, but Mickey had still assisted Sora and cared about him enough to prevent him from fighting so he could go find Kairi and Riku. He would never forget he came and saved the day like a miracle when he had helped him seal the Door To Darkness shut with their keyblades, and even though the King had come and gone throughout their adventures after that epic battle, he was there in the end when Sora needed his help the most. Sora could show his foe that power Mickey had given him. But maybe not just yet... this was the final battle for the castle after all, and the keyblade master not only needed to use force, but know when to use it and battle conservatively. He shouldn't go all out and use all his offensive power to brun out so quickly, until he had a good measure on his opponent first and adjust to when to use his power... right now all he knew that this swordsman liked to torment his opponents.

The wielder of the twin-bladed katana had leapt forward without warning after he had humorously dusted off his armor, which Sora noticed he had given some battle damage back in turn, bringing his keyblade defensively back up before him to try and parry the blades away from his body. Twisting his wrist and arms, it worked to a degree - Sora caught the single edge of his Kingdom Key between the two blades of the pronged weapon, locking the two blades together and pushing them off to the side, but one of the pieces of metal barely missed the mark off-center from his chest and instead sliced into his side. Grunting his teeth in pain, he pushed the youth off him and watched as he jumped backwards and taunted him. So he wanted him to show him what he had, huh? A matching smirk mirrored that of his antagonist, and Sora figured he would give him something to work with, even though he was impressively as strong and fast as anyone he had battled. Now he was standing at a distance from him, and at a range, Sora immediately switched to holding his key from off the hip and shot fowards a sudden blast of Blizzaga, a glacial orb of magic which shattered into ice shards and blasted towards the young man in leather. Ice-blue frost chilled through the air as the magic twisted and turned, freezing and snapping the ground underneath it as it it trailed a immediate frozen path between the keyblade master and his target, and suddenly before the shards had even made an impact Sora bolted forward as he combined the slippery surface of the frozen ground with a Sliding Dash, increasing his speed as the keyblade was thrusted before him to aim in turn at the villain's abdomen while it was still exposed from either distraction.

This was only the start, soon he would turn up the intensity of this fight, and then when he needed it he would unleash his power and show the bad guys what it meant to mess with his friends... but there was one thing he still wanted to know even if he didn't get an answer.

"Why are you messing with the worlds?"

A chill blasted through the air, and it wasn't just from the freezing ice spell Sora had just cast, but from the cold winds blasting through the residential areas that had been hollowed out by the villains that had taken over the castle. Without lamposts, mailboxes, benches, popcorn vending carts and potted foliage that had been decoratively placed around the serene area to absorb the foul weather now brewing through, the entire town would not only be covered in a darkened haze, but dust and sand until it eventually became a permanent ghost town. The keeper of the Kingdom Key did not want that, as the castle he had seen had become a much livelier and fun place to be since he cleared the keep of darkness - and no person should ever have to be driven out of home in fear for the bad guys to put their feet up. It just wasn't right, and if the wielders of malicious darkness were going to be cold about it, the Keyblade Master was going to meet them with the same reception. The high-level Blizzard spell would suffice, increasing the speed of his quick movement attack, and teach this 'mini-Sephiroth' a thing or two!

Before he had shot off the Blizzaga spell though, the silver-headed youth shot off some smart-alec taunt to try and explain why he would be telling the truth at Sora trying to call his bluff, stating if the King wasn't here and Sora couldn't feel his 'aura' then that must mean his heart had been taken by darkness. The spiky-haired teenager would have responded to that, if it weren't for the fact that he was already racing towards his opponent at a rapid speed, watching as the katana wielder raised his opponent like Sephiroth would have. Which only proved more in his mind that we was in relation to Cloud's antagonist, which the only reaction Sora made was increasing the furrow of his brunette eyebrows and bared his teeth angrily in a disapproving look, and tried to figure out from the gesture which attack he was going to pull out next from the stance. It would be foolish to think the stance he was in would give away what attack he was about to unleash if he relied on what he knew from the one-winged angel, simply because he wouldn't give himself away that easily, and this kid wasn't like his sibling.

As he raced in to deliver his strike, his question was quickly answered as the swordsman plunged his weapon back into his sheath and started charging up an attack, using the power of a terrible stagnant darkness that turned the sheath bright blue. Not this attack again, gimme a break! the teenager thought to himself, able to see the glow of the Draw Slash through the blinding white of the bolt of ice, since it had traveled further from his perspective towards Kadaj and there was more distance between the azure-eyed boy and the spell he had allowed time for before using his keyblade technique to follow up. This attack was piercing, so he wasn't going to try blocking it again... maybe this time he should evade it. Pulling out of his attack at the last moment as the Draw Slash sliced through the glacial trail of magic and cracked the very earth beneath it, sending frost volleys and snowflakes everywhere, Sora pulled into his evasive maneuver and used a Dodge Roll to tumble underneath the vertical arc alongside the border of the 90-degree hole in the ground. In his moment of spinning over the ground granted a small moment of invulnerability as he flipped underneath, but as he came ouf of the combat roll and was vulnerable again for a unlucky split second, he righted himself in a hunched position and got hit by the aftermath of the ethereal blade's rock and rubble and copped another lot of damage washing through his already pained body.

The keyblade master grunted and staggered for another split second, flailing even further over in his stance leaning over, but with his feet stretched far apart in this defensive body pose prevented him from loosing his balance and teetering over altogether. He had accumulated some damage now from all of his opponent's strikes made against him, pushing his endurance and his emotional state to it's breaking point, and with the comment Kadaj made to jeer in contempt at his bond with the King only intensified the build-up of energy he was now feeling coursing through his very being. As the tail of the wave of Draw Slash wiped through him, suddenly there was a clear orb of energy formed around the Keyblade Master's body that was shattered and exploded in all directions, as he spread his limbs out to float above the ground while his entire body pulsed with a white light. Feet falling back on the ground another few split seconds later, the Draw Slash had sliced part of the building behind him at an angle which caused it to crash down on top of the Keyblade Master, but the boy with different-colored clothes of white, black, red and yellow only looked up as the shadow cast over him of the immense weight of bricks and mortar that was about to crush him. Within the blink of an eye, a light had shone before Sora as he zipped all over the piece of titanic rubble before zipping above it on the other side, stopping in place with his keyblade arm crossed over his chest as the building beneath him slowly slid apart into fractured pieces.

It was his turn to look down condescendingly in return to Kadaj as he finished his own matter-slicing move, a cocky grin plastered on his smug face. "Ha! Is that one-trick pony the best you can do?"

The building pieces already collapsed to the ground, Sora now in his Limit Form wasted no time on using them against his opponent, instead continuing his momentum upwards to land on the side of the building behind him and running along the wall to his left towards his foe. "No, you're wrong! A friendship isn't something you use on your friends to see if they're alive! Even in the deepest darkness, a light shines within, and the light of friendship that comes from the heart never goes out! But I wouldn't expect you to ever understand that!" the keyblader yelled as he blitzed along the wall, then pushed off with his feet from the wall just before his momentum ran out, about the same time dust was thrown up off the ground from the collapsed building piece impacting the ground below. Kadaj looked like he was already preoccupied with the aftermath of the Blizzaga attack, which Sora was relieved had hit instead of the Sliding Dash ability of his, and had successfully frozen the swordman's wielding arm. But not for long... holding it behind him and using his right arm, Sora saw a small green glow cast under the ice, which could have only meant a healing spell. This was good for two reasons... not only did this mean his sword arm was out of use for the moment, but it also meant he was distracted during that time while he cured his impairment.

What better time to attack?

The keyblade wielder was glad he hadn't used the power of having Gilgamesh in his party to burst into Valor Form, as if this glowing-eyed adolescent had melee and magic, it would have put him at a severe disadvantage even with two blades. And from this angle as he glanced at the fight, Gilgamesh looked at a disadvantage, so burrowing any amount of power using their bond of comadre wasn't ideal. Leaping through the air above his target, Sora decided to let the leather-clad villain have it... it would be hard but possible for him to stop healing and block with the frozen arm, but even harder for him to block both from the front... and back. Unleashing a move he remembered once before using from his first adventure, Sora threw the Kingdom Key at a rapid speed into a spin down on his opponent while he still had some distance again, continuing his earlier intended combo with Strike Raid five times in a row in succession. Sometimes he would summon the keyblade back to him in a flash of instantaneous light after a throw, other times he let it run back through the frozen young man to return like a boomerang back to his hand, randomizing it each time to keep him guessing and unable to predict what was coming next. And he hadn't finished his assaulting string of combos, not by far. He had told himself he was going to up the pace of this intense battle and not give his enemy any slack... he was not here to test him nor play with him, just like anyone else that messed with the worlds or his friends, he had to defeat him and get Disney Castle back for the King and his friendly citizens.

He had to. Loosing was not an option. Not when the King could be in danger, which was more important than any kingdom he had to save.