"Whats going on?" Spike asked. Amethyst pointed up. The drake looked up to see two blurry figures in the sky slamming into each other and chasing after one another. As he watched he realized one figure held a keyblade while the other carried a hoofblade, but something was off about it.
Meanwhile in the air, a pegasus with bright yellow eyes roared as he charged the Keyblade master, the darkness within him surrounding his blade and bouncing off the keyblade as it tried to strike at him.
"Piper! You need to calm down, I don't want to hurt you!" Sora yelled.
"Yea right! If that's true then put away your keyblade!" the colt yelled back, the darkness seeming to grow around him.
"I can't do that Piper. I need to seal..."
"NO! You even think of touching me with that thing and it'll be the last thing you do. I know you've killed plenty of heartless, but have you ever killed a living, thinking creature? I have and I won't hesitate to do it again."
"That's my point Piper. The darkness is going to completely consume you. You have to let me help you." Sora said softly, trying to convince him before it was too late.
"I'll be fine on my own, I don't need your help and I don't need you swinging that keyblade in my face."
"I just want to make sure the Organization can't use you to get to Kingdom Hearts."
"Its not him you should be worried about Keyblade Master." both of them spun to find an orange pegasus wearing a black cloak, shards of ice floating around him, his eyes a dull grey and a grey stripe in his hair.
"Xipper." Piper growled, charging towards the pegasus. The Nobody grinned, throwing his hoof forward, shards of ice just barely missing Piper as he roared, slamming his blade forward, only to have it collide with a blade of ice attached to the Nobody's hoof.
"Come on, you gotta do better than that. I know all your moves. After all, we're the same."
"I'm not like you!" Piper blinked and flared his wings, throwing himself backwards as Sora's keyblade flew across where he had been moments ago, the edge of the keyblade clipping the black cloaked figures ice blade.
"This is what I was afraid of. Piper you've got to run!" Sora said, putting himself between Piper and the Nobody.
"This is my fight!" Piper argued.
"Look, you don't like me and I'm having a hard time liking you, but this is your Nobody, you can't kill it and it can't kill you. You two fighting won't get anyone anywhere. All he is going to do is wear you out so the others can take you."
"Heh, so you aren't a total idiot. It doesn't matter, its not like he's got much energy left. And I doubt you'll risk killing me Keyblade Master. Not while you might accidentally open the door." the figure grinned.
"Sora, he's right. If he really is Piper's Nobody then the two of them are exactly the same." Riku said, appearing out of the shadows behind the Nobody.
"I'M NOT LIKE HIM!" Piper yelled, growling loudly.
"Come on, they both know it, just admit it and quit fighting. Aren't you tired of fighting? We can stop the fighting and just let it all happen." The Nobody held out a hoof toward Piper, though the pegasus refused to accept it, thin bits of darkness drifting around him and slowly forming around him as he growled.
"Well that's interesting, I can't do that yet." the Nobody mumbled, watching as the darkness surrounded Piper, his eyes replaced with two massive yellow orbs, a split formed in the darkness, shaping into a mouth filled with jagged teeth, dripping with dark ooze, smoke drifting from it.
"STOP IT!" Strawberry screamed from the ground below. The darkness shattered around Piper, leaving him staring at the air in shock as the mare's voice echoed in his mind. The Nobody grinned and rushed toward Piper, quickly knocked back by Riku and then by Sora.
"Riku, get him out of here, I'll handle this guy." Sora said, a massive gust of wind surrounding him for a moment. When it vanished, Sora stood there in mid-air in his human form, gripping his keyblade tightly.
In place of his old clothes he now wore a long flowing white trenchcoat, but had chosen to keep his signature gloves, underneath he wore a black tunic with the Kingdom Crown etched into it in shining silver, his shorts matching the outfit, being pitch black with silver lines down the side. His hair had grown out and now stretched down below his neck and shoulders as he shifted his position, keyblade held at the ready.
"Alright Sora, but be careful, we don't know what he can do."
"NO! THIS IS MY FIGHT!" Piper yelled. Riku swung his hoof, catching Piper off guard and knocking him out cold.
"Sorry kid" Riku said, catching the pegasus before he could hit the ground.
"He's all yours Sora!" Riku called out, running off with Piper on his back, Strawberry chasing after him. The Nobody rushed after them, Sora cutting him off.
"I don't think so. You aren't going anywhere until I get some answers."
"Well ask away keyblade Master, I've got all the time in the world, well the next ten years it has left that is."
"Riku, please tell me whats going on. Is Piper going to be ok? what was that..thing that attacked him?" Strawberry asked quietly, her mane flat against her body.
"Its his Nobody, Piper had a powerful heart and when he became a heartless that Nobody was created."
"No not that, that dark stuff."
"Berry that wasn't attacking him." Riku said, stopping and looking around to make sure they hadn't been followed.
"That was the Darkness within him trying to take over. He got angry and was about to use that power on His Nobody." Riku explained quietly. He pushed a door open and walked inside, keeping the door open long enough for Strawberry to follow.
"What is this place?" She asked, looking around at the massive room.
"Its a special chamber Celestia and the Doctor built for me. Its complicated to explain, but the easy explanation is this place hurts the darkness and keeps it from hurting us. Me and Piper that is." he quickly said.
"Can those meanies still get in here?" She asked as lights began to slowly flicker into life around them, illuminating the massive domed chamber. Riku gently sat Piper down, stretching out his wings for a moment before turning his attention back to the Zebra.
"They can, but they'll be weaker if they do manage to get in and it'll be easier for us to take them on. I'm a bit worried how it will affect Piper though. That's why I need you to watch him and be ready to grab him."
"How long are we gonna be here?"
"Well...as long as it takes. Your friends should be on the way any minute with Nyx." The ground began to shake, Piper's eyes slowly opening. The pegasus weakly pushed to his hooves, his entire body shaking as he stumbled forward, lurching and choking as he vomited on the floor.
"Sorry Piper, it'll fade in a while but you have to stay here." Riku said. Piper turned to him, his eyes tinged yellow at the edges.
"Why can't you all get it through your heads? I don't need you to fight my fight. I can take that punk on, I've beaten him before and I'll do it again" He said weakly, wiping his mouth clean with a hoof.
"Piper, the last time you fought your Nobody, did he have any of the powers he has now?" Riku asked. Piper blinked and looked at his hoof, a small cut on it from the ice shard that had flown at him.
"No...he had a few abilities...but nothin like that."
"He's getting stronger, just like you are. The only way you can beat him now is if you can unlock your Keyblade."
"Well how the buck am I gonna do that!?" Piper yelled. Riku chuckled, a sound that sent a chill down Pipers battle hardened spine. A massive wind surrounded Riku for a moment, as it vanished he stood in his human form, a long black cloak covering his bulky muscled form, his hair cut short and a pair of ethereal glowing wings on his back, a black dot sitting in the middle of his forehead where his horn had been.
"The old fashioned way."