//------------------------------//
// CH43: Get Up On The Hydra's Back! 
// Story: Kingdom Hearts F.I.M: Rise of The Elements 
// by Spirit Shift 
//------------------------------//

	“Get up on the Hydra’s Back!” yelled Pinkie, jumping and dodging the various balls of fire being spat at her by her chosen head. Sweat trickled down her face as she finally began to tire of jumping around.

Kirito stabbed his black blade down on the beast's tail in an attempt to steady himself on the thrashing appendage. “Yeah, I know! I got it!” he huffed bracing himself.

In the large dome shaped room, an enormous serpent moved about in the centre of the rotunda, its body that of a great red salamander. As the Hydra Supreme, even without being cut, the creature sported an impressive seven heads to begin with. With an odd starting number, one for each enemy, Asuna feared what would have happened if they had brought an army.

Thus the group split up amongst the heads, eager to take them down before more sprouted up. However, the group found it to be much more difficult to fight. Its health never stayed down, the numerous bars replenishing each time a head regenerated. The fight seemed to go on forever, and the girls were growing tired after so long. Finally, after forming a plan, everyone began giving it their all to incapacitate each individual head instead of killing it completely.

Such a task was easier said than done.

Twilight, successfully blocking a gout of acid spit with her magical barrier, cast Blizzaga on her respective head. With a resounding crack the beast’s head froze solid. The unfrozen neck however began using this as an advantage.

With the grace of a morning star, the Hydra began slamming its block of a head around, trying to crush Twilight with her own magic. 

One crash landed next to her, the force throwing her off balance. The beast dragged its head across the ground, sideswiping her knocking her away. Twilight grunted in pain, a sharp stabbing sensation flying up her right side. 

With so much damage the ice around its head began cracking. Seeing this, Twilight stood back up and rose her weapon high. Two mighty flashes of thunder boomed across the room. The ice exploded outward and the head finally fell limp and crashed into the ground. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief before holding on to her side.

After taking a second to catch her breath, Twilight brought her Keyblade out in front of her and held it tightly in both hands. Reaching deep into her soul, Twilight began charging her weapon with every last drop of magic she had left. Once the charging began she glanced up into the sky.

“Mine is weakened!” she announced to the others. “Rachelle, how are you doing?!”

Rachelle sped through the sky, vigorously dodging the hydra head that seemed to be able to elongate enough to fly after her. 

“Working on it,” she called back, looping around one of the other heads. After spending half the battle trying to fly in knots, Dash finally realized that this hydra was too smart to get tangled up in its own heads. 

“Damn,” she cursed. “I was really hoping that would actually work.” Stopping on a dime, Dash spun around and dived down towards the head, her Keyblade crackling with fire magic. Gripping it with both hands she brought it to her side and flew around the head. Now coming up from below she swung her blade and batted the beast in the chin. 

It was dazed for a second, the flames from her blade licking the underside of its head. Before it could shake it off, Dash quickly flew up and smashed her weapon down on its skull, the force of her swing sending it crashing into the ground. 

Not done yet, the Hydra angled its head up and lashed out with a deadly razor-sharp tongue. Dash flew towards it, her Keyblade now crackling with lightning as well as fire. In a feat of impressive aerial dynamic, she dodged the tongue that had lashed out at her and slammed down on the head of the beast in an explosion of lightning and fire.

As the light cleared, Dash stood slumped over, leaning on her weapon, on top of an unconscious hydra head, in the middle of a large crater. Breathing heavily, she weakly gave Twilight a thumbs up.

Nodding, Twilight glanced over at AJ who had more or less crushed her respective head deep into the earth. She was sitting on an upturned rock by the head, her own skull slumped over in rest.  She was also giving her a thumbs up.

Rarity, from her position near the entrance had successfully incapacitated her head as well. Using her power, she had summoned several ethereal weapons which she had used to pierce through the creature’s neck and kept it pinned to the ground. The beast thrashed wildly, constantly breaking the Keyblades keeping it nailed and forcing Rarity to summon new ones.

“Please hurry!” she yelled, brow creased in concentration. 

Pinkie, to Dash’s envy, had somehow tied up both hers and Kirito’s heads in thick knots. “Get up on the Hydra’s back!” she cried gleefully.

“Why are you still yelling that?” shouted Asuna, still trying to fend off her head. As the head dived towards her she did a quick sidestep, spun and used a sword skill to deliver a powerful thrust to the side of its skull. “We all know the plan.”

Pinkie chuckled and hopped up to sit on top of her neck knot, ignoring the beast thrashing under her. “Because it’s fun to say!” she giggled. “Get up on the--”

“Pinkie Pie shut up!” groaned Kirito. One sword stabbed into its hide after another, he continued to climb the back of the beast. It proved to be increasingly difficult as he neared the par of the body where the necks divided. “Are you guys ready?”

“One sec’,” Asuna answered. Crouching, she leapt high into the air. Asuna flipped at the apex of her jump and charged her weapon with shining emerald energy. Once she was fully charged, she came down like a falling star on her head, driving her rapier through it’s head and smashing into the ground. The beast quickly lost consciousness.

“Now!” she yelled.

As Kirito found his footing on the semi struggling beast, he jumped into the air and slashed down on the base of the beast’s necks with both of his blades. His blades easily sliced through the huge chunks of digital meat as he brought them to the ground.

As Kirito landed five large trunks fell to the ground, and he came to a startling realization. 

“Damn! I didn’t get them all!” Looking over at the Hydra’s health bar, he watched as the last red bar quickly started increasing, soon changing back into green as the necks he cut off began to regenerate.

“I got it!” Like a bullet, Dash flew in from the side and sliced off the final two heads.

And as the last two fell, a low hum began echoing throughout the room as deep red energies emanated from Twilight’s weapon. Smoke began rising from Twilight’s hands, burning them. he pain made her flinch slightly, causing her to falter. Her magic flared for a second and hot winds began whipping her hair around frantically. With her hands shaking, and the ground cracking around her, it seemed that even Twilight was having trouble holding onto the nuke that she herself had created. 

“Everyone get back!” she yelled.

Seeing the deadly spell ready to be released, everyone immediately retreated back to Rarity’s position by the door. And with everyone safe, Twilight rose the blade above her head and swung it down, releasing the spell. 

“MegaFlare!” As the magic exploded outwards, Twilight was sent flying back from the recoil of her own spell. 

All at once, an enormous ball of fire exploded from tip of Twilight’s blade and blinded everyone present. The room itself began to shake as a burning heat filled the entire room and the magic expanded to encompass the Hydra Supreme. Even though it was angled away from them, the girls everyone couldn’t help but start sweating in response.

In the light of the explosion the beast’s body burned and seared, completely charring its hide and cauterizing the wounds that the girls and Kirito had inflicted. Everything that didn’t char instantly was set ablaze with deep purple flames, the color being the result of Twilight’s magic. The walls of the room behind it also found itself burning. Bits and pieces of the wall burned away to reveal the code hidden under it.

The light and heat soon faded and, one by one, the group opened their eyes and beheld the damage. The only thing left of the Hydra that they had spent so long fighting were the tiny blue crystals floating up into the air.

As silence reigned everyone finally began to relax, all of them slumping down to lean on the wall behind them. Each of them let out their own relieved sigh and chuckle. 

Kirito was one of the few who chuckled at the situation. “I never thought that I’d fight something with higher regeneration abilities than mine,” he muttered, his own skills slowly healing his injuries and restoring his health. With the fight over, he made no attempt to open his inventory to grab a potion.

Dash followed suit, leaning on the wall next to him. “I know right? That thing just wouldn’t freaking die.” She let out a small laugh before flinching in pain. Tenderly, she touched one of the numerous scratches that she had accumulated in the fight. In addition to those, parts of her clothes had been singed from the droplets of acidic spit that hit her.

On the other side of the group, Rarity, despite having only a few injuries, had begun tending to Twilight who lied sprawled out on the ground instead of leaning up against the wall. “Darling, are you alright?” she asked, her tone ever so slightly panicked.

Twilight smiled up at her and nodded weakly. “I’m… I’m alright. T-that spell is pretty much a complete drain. Master Luna -” she took a deep breath, “- is surprised that I can even cast a small version like that. Sorry guys… you’ll have to wait a few minutes before I can cast a cure spell on your injuries.”

Asuna, who was looking over her next to Rarity, reeled back in shock. “A small version?!”

Twilight let out a strained giggle, coughing in the process. “Ye-yeah. MegaFlare is an incredibly powerful spell derived from a similar attack that Eidolons use. Eidolons… being god like spirits that only extremely powerful summoners can use.”

Pinkie popped up and began rubbing Twilight’s head softly. “Well that’s enough exposition, you need some rest so we can move on right?”

Twilight’s expression turned stern as she looked up at her. “Ngh,” she groaned. Stiffly, she struggled to sit up. Rarity and Asuna were quick to help her. They carefully sat her alongside the others with her back against the wall.

“N-no,” she continued. “We need to hurry up and regain our strength as fast as possible.” She turned to ace Asuna. “Do you think that whatever Kayaba did to us will let us hold things now?”

Asuna turned to Kirito who simply shrugged. “I don’t know. But I guess it’s worth a try,” he answered.

Nodding, Asuna delved into her inventory and brought out a small vial of bright liquid. “Here.”

Gingerly, Twilight took it into her hands. Her face, with her brow creased and mouth taut, scrunched up in an expression of nervous concentration.

She let out a small yelp of surprise and flinched as the potion exploded in a shower of tiny blue lights in her hands. Twilight sighed forlornly and her head dipped down.

Before she could get too sad, Pinkie popped up next to her and brought her into a hug. “Oh don’t worry Twilight, I still have something for us to drink!”

Twilight, too weak to remove herself from the hug even if she wanted to, leaned into her embrace. Pinkie’s skin was always soft to the touch. Even so, she gave the girl a questioning glance.

“What do you mean? I thought we ran out of the bottled water you had stored?” she asked, brow raised.

Pinkie smiled mischievously and put her hand on her chin, as if contemplation. “We~ll,” she sang. “I do still have my super secret energy drinks that I made myself. We could drink that.”

Dash stared at her, a single drop of sweat rolling down her head. “Um… Pinkie. I feel like if we drink whatever you drink normally, we’d explode.”

“Rachelle,” chided Rarity, “don’t be rude. I’m sure if we drink it in small doses we won’t run the risk of a sugar overdose.” She turned to Pinkie. “Though… you are sure it’s safe to drink, right?”

AJ, whom had been relaxing quietly until now on Kirito’s other side, rolled her eyes and groaned. “Oh for maker’s sake. Pinkie don’t pay them no attention. Ah’ll drink it. Hand it over,” she said, holding her hand out past Kirito.

Pinkie let out a small squee alongside her big grin. Pulling her keyblade out from behind her, she lightly tapped the tip of it onto the ground in front of her. A small sphere of light rose out from it and exploded outwards, revealing a small pink can.

AJ wasted no time in picking the can up and snapping the tab open. As soon as she did, a light glow began radiating from inside of it. AJ was starting to have second thoughts on drinking this. She glanced back to Pinkie, who was looking at her with huge, shining, hopeful eyes and a wide smile.

Taking a pre-emptive gulp, AJ resolved herself and threw her head back, downing the drink. Everyone, even Kirito and Asuna leaned in close, curious as to what exactly their friend was drinking. However, no one seemed to be more excited than Pinkie to be able to share her concoction. 

After a few seconds, AJ removed the empty can and let out a cool sigh. Glancing up, AJ felt around her tongue, licking her lips and savoring the taste. 

To her surprise, her skin began to start glowing brightly. Twilight’s eyes began to widen when she watched all of AJ’s wounds begin to heal rapidly. All of the scratches and burns seemingly floated up off of her skin and clothing. She let out a light gasp when she felt herself begin to float a few inches above the ground. Afterwards, twin ribbons of lights started streaming around her body the glow began to fade and AJ lowered back to the ground. The ribbons then met at the top of her head before popping off in a small firework.

When the effects of the drink fainted entirely, the group had been left speechless. AJ herself had begun frantically looking over her body for any injuries and tears. To her continued surprise, even her clothing had been fully repaired.

Pinkie leapt up to a standing position and let out a loud cheer. “See, isn’t it like the best thing ever?! You get a light show every time you drink one!”

“What the hell was that!” yelled Dash, wildly gesturing towards AJ. “Can I have some?!”

“Pinkie…” muttered Twilight, her eyes glued to AJ. “What in the worlds did you make?”

Pinkie, having already summoned another one, held it out towards Twilight. “You wanna see it?”

Twilight, with a bit of struggle, brought her hand up and looked at the bubblegum colored can. With a flick, she popped the tab and sniffed it. 

“This…” she gasped, her eyes sparkling in recognition. “This smells familiar. Almost like the ether that Yukalai gave me in the first world.”

Pinkie nodded, and looked down at her and began scratching her head in confusion. “Yup, I thought it was really useful so I asked him about it, but he told me that he didn’t have a recipe. So I did a bit of mixing and a bit of throwing stuff together till I got this. It’s like a super energy drink that… apparently heals wounds and restores magic… I actually never noticed that.” Pinkie shrugged. “I just thought it was really good juice.”

Asuna brought a hand to her chin and humm’d in thought. “That sounds kind of like the kind of Elixir that the game uses to completely heal wounds.” She looked up to see Twilight staring at her.

Twilight, mouth agape, stared at the pinkie haired girl in front of her. “You had real Elixirs… and never told me?” In a fit of energy, unbecoming of someone as wiped out as her, Twilight stood up and grabbed Pinkie by her shoulders. “You made one of the most sought after alchemical concoctions... completely by accident?!”

Pinkie just tilted her head, an oblivious smile innocently stuck on her face. “By accident? But I was trying to make an energy drink. I call it a success.” Pinkie gave her a thumbs up.

Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly lost feeling in her legs. Luckily, Pinkie reacted in time to catch her as she fell. Gently, Pinkie placed the panting girl back against the wall.

“Twilight,” she said, worried. “Here. Hurry up and drink.” Holding the can for her, Pinkie helped Twilight drink the potion. As the last drop fell into her mouth, Twilight completely exploded in light, easily dwarfing AJ’s meager glow. Pinkie was forced to take a step back and, along with the others, had to cover their eyes for the second time.

Nearly a dozen ribbons of light began rushing around her body as she was lifted into the air, her form completely healing along with her magic. After a time, the light faded and Twilight fell back to the ground. After fading completely, Twilight’s head drooped and her body went limp for a few seconds, both actions elicited a worried glance from her friends.

Before anyone could do anything, Twilight’s eyes sprang open, her violet eyes growing brightly for a second. With a blink, that too faded and she eagerly looked around her body, her movements for far more fluid and easy than before and her clothes and skin were spotless.

Twilight stared at the can in Pinkie’s hand before looking up at her with a stern expression. “How many of those do you have?”

Pinkie nervously glanced around, her grin slightly forced. “I… uh, drank a few of these while training so I only have three. But… I guess only one now.”

Each of the girls gave each other a nervous glance. With Twilight and AJ already healed, the group silently wondered who should get the last one. Their maker, their aerial fighter, or their secondary spellcaster.

Dash was the first to pipe up. “I… I think Rarity should get it,” she stuttered, a small blush on her face. “She looks almost as drained as Twilight and she didn’t even knock out her head.”

Rarity flinched back, surprised by the humility but also slightly hurt by the unintentional poke at her fighting ability. “Rachelle, darling. I’m flattered, really, but I really think that Pinkie should have it. She did make it afterall.” Rarity looked her up and down examining her friends many, albeit mostly minor, scratches.

Pinkie was quick to wave her hands frantically. “Me, no I’m alright. I still have plenty of energy. It’s between you two.”

Dash waved it off. “Nah, I bet she drinks like three of them a day. Plus, I’m fine, barely broke a sweat in that fight.”

Twilight moved over and starting looking over Dash’s body as well. “Are you sure. I can heal your wounds with a cure spell, but I can’t restore your magic. I don’t want you falling out of the sky during the next fight.”

“Pfft,” she scoffed, waving Twilight away. “Please, Twilight. I can fly in my sleep if I wanted to. I barely need any magic to fly around.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes at her. “What about your Keyblade’s powers? Aside from me you’re the only one who can exploit the game's weakness of magic.”

Kirito cleared his throat to bring attention to himself. “From a strategic standpoint, both Rarity and Dash are equally important. Rarity has range while Dash has mobility and the aerial advantage. However, Twilight is right, you’re magic is really important in fighting the enemy. Either way, depending on what it is, I propose that whomever does not get healed take it easy next round,” he said, providing his opinion.

Dash looked between the group, her eyes wide in surprise. Her blush deepened and she groaned. “Ugh! Fine. This is what I get for trying to be generous. Guess that’s your thing, huh?” she said, leaning up against Rarity.

Rarity hesitated for a second, before bringing the shorter girl into a quick hug while Pinkie summoned the final drink. She watched Dash drink it, her smile slowly turning into a sad frown as she did.

When Dash drank the Elixir her magical burst had nearly been on Twilight’s level with how intense it was. a few rainbow lights streamed around her body and her wings instinctively flared from her back. The normally blue luminescent wings shone brightly with multicolored hues while the Elixir was effect, returning to normal when the light faded.

Immediately, the girl rocketed into the air and flew around, energy coming off of her in waves. “Hell yeah!” she cheered.

Meanwhile, Twilight was working her magic on Rarity’s wounds. “Are you feeling better. Sorry, I’m not as good as… well… you know,” she muttered, her words small and reluctant.

Rarity shook her head slowly, basking in the soothing green glow. The faint sound of bells and the relaxing smell of mint served to heal her mind as well as her body. "That’s perfectly fine, darling. As Master Luna once told us, ‘once our bodies are healed, our magic will recover faster.”