'So this is what it looks like inside one of your corridors of darkness,' Sombra said with a whistle. All around the horn and the girl was a swirling void of blue, with a vortex of darkness at the far end of the corridor. Xion walked towards the exit with Sombra's horn clutched in her hands, giving the dark king a chance to look out at the void. 'Who knew that a whole reality of darkness existed in a place like this? I might have to ask you to bring me back here just so that I can study it.'
"Well if you do want to come back here it will have to be after I've gotten stronger," Xion replied. Her breath sounded heavy and she had sweat falling from her face. "It took a good chunk of my strength to simply open one portal. I'd hate to think what state I'd be in if I had to open multiple ones for you. Probably use up what I have left of my form."
'Which is why, for the time being, we will be avoiding multiple uses of this dark dimension,' Sombra clarified. The horn then slowly turned in Xion's hand, taking in all of the void with interest. 'But there is so much dark power here. enough to balance out...no, to tip the scales in the favor of darkness. If only I could think of a way to channel the power of darkness that is in here and turn it loose upon Equestria.'
"Okay, first, that sounds like a villainous thing to do. Second, letting anything out of this place would most likely end up in the destruction of Equestria," Xion informed Sombra as she summoned her keyblade into her hand. "This is the corridor of darkness, remember? That means this is the place that Heartless use to travel between worlds and places. Meaning..."
'That there are plenty of those Heartless roaming this place. Good to know,' Sombra muttered, but an idea struck him a few moments later. 'But if this is what you and the other Organization members used to travel between worlds, how come you were never attacked by the Heartless here?'
"The Nobodies that we had under our command would generally keep the corridors that we used clean of any and all Heartless. And seeing how clean this corridor is right now, I have a feeling that we'll be running into said Nobodies sooner rather than later," Xion pointed out before she hefted Rumbling Storm onto her shoulder. "So keep your...horn peeled and on the look out for anything that wears silver. Last thing I want is to be ambushed in this place."
The pair walked on in silence for a while after that, with Xion often glancing around for any signs of a threat while Sombra studied the changing symbols that floated around them and would sometimes gaze off into the darkness. Yet after a while of studying the darkness, the dark king glanced up at Xion to see that there was still sweat running down her brow and she was still panting heavily.
'How are you holding up?' he asked her, breaking the eerie silence that surrounded them.
"I'm holding up. I feel tired and a little woozy, but other than that I think I'm fine," Xion replied, but Sombra didn't hear any of her usual fire in her voice. "Besides, we don't have time to worry about me. We've got to find Applejack and Twilight and get the keychains that they have. Then we'll get them to help us against the Heartless."
'And the Maestro?'
"No...the Maestro is my problem to deal with," Xion admitted with a sigh, before she wiped her head with the back of her hand. "He's far too powerful for any of them to deal with. He's probably too powerful for me to deal with. But with the keyblade and my far more powerful magic I should be able to stand up to him now."
'I wonder about that,' Sombra muttered to himself, but loud enough so that Xion could hear.
"If you've got something to say, say it."
'You still can't beat him in the state you're in,' Sombra revealed, getting a sigh out of Xion. 'He made the body you're currently occupying, remember? That means that even if you had all the power in the worlds, he has the upper hand on you. And that's something we cannot afford to let him have.'
"Then what should we do to make sure that he doesn't have that advantage over us?" Xion asked. Before Sombra could answer, eight pillars of nothingness erupted from the ground. Xion let out a curse as she took up her fighting stance, watching as eight samurai Nobodies emerged from within the circles of nothingness.
'I'll tell you after you're done dealing with these guys.'
Xion braced herself and prepared for the samurai to unleash the first attack, but to her surprise all of the Nobodies simply stared at her from a distance. Then all of them lowered on to their two knees and drove their twin swords into the ground beside them. Xion looked around with confusion at the passive positions all of the Nobodies took up, but then her focus was completely grabbed when she turned around to see a figure that stood behind her.
The figure was as tall as her and wore a black Organization cloak, with the hood up so that she couldn't see their face. But she knew that the Organization meant trouble, so she took up a samurai stance of her own and glared down the cloaked being.
"So which member are you?" Xion asked the cloak being, who gave her no reply. "You're way to tall to be any of the higher ups. Zexion, perhaps? Or maybe you're a new member, one that I haven't had the "pleasure" of fighting yet. If you are one that I've never met, then I will warn you only this once. I am not somebody that you want to mess with."
The cloaked beings response was to lift its right hand and open it, filling it a moment later with a fireball a moment later. Xion let out a curse before she rolled out of the way of the ball of fire that was hurled at her a moment later. "Alright, you've made your choice!"
In three dashes Xion closed the distance between her and the cloaked being, allowing her to thrust at the beings chest with rapid succession. Yet to her amazement the cloaked being managed to leap out of the way of each of her attacks, before it leapt over the final strike and landed on the edge of her keyblade. Xion glared up at the cloaked being, who stared down at her.
"Thunder!" Xion roared, calling down a bolt of lightning onto her keyblade. Right as the bolt was about to strike the blade, the cloaked being backflipped off of the end of the keyblade to avoid the bolt of lightning. Xion didn't hesitate to keep up the pressure, for with a cry of "FREEZE!" she hurled a giant chunk of spiky ice towards the airborne foe.
The cloak being thrust its hand forward and fired a ball of ice equal in size to that of Xion's. Her eyes widened as the two ice balls collided and destroyed each other in a shower of snow. The cloaked being touched down and slowly turned to look at Xion, who narrowed her eyes as she took up her fighting stance once more.
"Any idea what this thing is?" Xion asked Sombra.
'I'm not sure. They move similarly to you, but I can't sense any kind of...intent behind its actions,' Sombra replied in an unsure tone. 'Normally I can tell if a beings intent is malevolent or noble, but from this thing...nothing. Be careful and don't give it the chance to get the upper hand. Also, watch out for the Nobodies.'
"But they're not doing anything," Xion said.
'Not yet. But once you start winning, watch out.'
The cloaked being then lunged forward at the both of them, cutting short their time to plan. She dug her heels in and brought up her guard just in time to stop a kick hurled by the being. The blow was powerful, but not enough to knock Xion off balance or to get through her defense. After delivering its kick the cloaked being kicked off of Xion's keyblade and leapt into the air, but Xion had been expecting it to do that.
"Got you!" Xion declared with a smile before she hurled her keyblade into the air after the cloaked being. The blade spun towards the being and in a moment was right on top of it. Yet with a twirl of its body the cloaked being spun out of the way of the strike, just barely missing the blade of the key by inches. The cloaked being then flipped and started to fall behind Xion, but once again the girl only smiled in response. "Saw that coming!"
Xion then summoned the keyblade into her hand and threw it behind her, aiming it right at the spot where the cloaked being would land. The being landed and spun around just in time to see the keyblade cleaving through the air right towards it. Unable to leap out of the way, the cloak being thrust out its hand once more...and caught Xion's keyblade by the handle.
"Okay, good reflexes. Now give that back," Xion growled before she extended her hand to summon back her keyblade...only for nothing to happen. Her eyes went wide with shock before she tried to summon it again, only for the key to remain in the grasp of her foe. Very slowly Xion began to back away, watching as the cloaked being looked down at her rainbow blade with an unseen expression.
'Xion, what's going on? How is that thing able to hold your blade?' Sombra whispered to Xion.
"It shouldn't be able to! The only beings that can wield keyblades are...other keyblade wielders," Xion realized, her eyes going wide as a look of terror crossed her face. "No...it can't be."
The cloaked being then looked over at Xion, tightening its grip around the keyblade before it slowly began to move towards the girl. Xion raised her hands and began to fire spells out of them, but each of her spells was swatted to the side by her own keyblade. Then the cloaked being lunged into the air with Xion's blade held high, aiming right for the center of Xion's head. Despite having faced numerous dangerous beings, upon seeing her own key coming down towards her Xion froze.
Fortunately for her, Sombra didn't.
'BAD MOVE!' the dark king roared before an explosion of dark energy erupted from his horn, lancing up towards the cloaked being and striking them dead in the chest. The dark being cried out in pain as it was knocked from the sky, dropping Xion's blade before it came crashing to the ground in front of Xion. 'Xion, now's your chance! Strike this thing down before it has the chance to get back up!'
Sombra's words snapped Xion out of her trance and she raced forward towards the stunned being, summoning her keyblade back to her grasp before she slashed down at the being for all she was worthy. A bolt of darkness appeared in the hands of the cloaked being and a moment later it raised something to intercept Xion's blade. Rainbow light clashed with a surge of darkness, but the collision was nothing compare to the terror that Xion held within her.
The being held a keyblade in its hand, a keyblade the likes of which Xion had never seen before. The keyblade was a pitch black blade, with bat wings making up the handle. The teeth were some kind of dark symbol and a chain ran up the center of the blade, a single, long, black chain. A blue diamond rested upon the top of the guard and the keychain held a black crown at the end of it.
'Is that...?' Sombra asked with horror in his voice.
The cloaked being then shoved Xion back with a push and she staggered back, only to regain her balance a moment later. The cloaked being rose to their feet and stared down Xion, who extended her blade and prepared for the fight of her life. For the longest minute the two stared each other down, before the cloaked being banished their keyblade and turned around. A moment later they vanished in a flicker of darkness, only to be followed by the samurai Nobodies a moment later. Only when she was completely alone did Xion banish her own blade and collapse to her knees.
'Xion, what was that? What happened?' Sombra asked Xion, who had to take a few minutes to calm down so that she could speak.
"Sombra. There were only two members in the Organization that could wield keyblades," Xion said in a terrified whisper, unable to believe what she was saying. "And I'm kneeling right here."
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No. XIII
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The sounds of laughter filled the air. The sun was high in the sky and a cool breeze swept across the land, providing both warmth and relief from the heat at the same time. And from where the two beings of darkness emerged from the corridor of darkness, they could both see the giant Ferris Wheel that towered over the rest of the carnival. But Xion and Sombra felt no warmth or joy at the sight of the fair. For the both of them had the same thoughts crossing their minds.
'We are not that far from Ponyville, if I remember anything about the lay of the land,' Sombra said to Xion, who gave no indication that she had heard him. 'If we start moving now, we may be able to reach it in a few days. Come on, let's head out.'
"It had to be him," Xion replied in a whisper.
'You don't know that.'
"But I do! He's the same height as me! The figure had the same moves and magic as me! For the love of god, Sombra, they wielded a keyblade! What more proof do I need?!" Xion yelled at Sombra, who chose to remain silent. "But if it was him, why didn't he recognize me? Why did he attack me? We're supposed to be friends?"
'It attacked you because it wasn't him. It's not him for all the reasons you just gave. This is most likely a trick by the Maestro to try and get you to doubt yourself. Don't let him do that to you,' Sombra said in a stern tone.
"But...if it really is him...how can I fight him?" Xion asked with tears practically in her eyes. Sombra didn't have an answer.
'I had hoped that the Maestro would have waited to play this card, wait until I had gotten Xion into a more stable state, where she would have been able to face this...being, if it is who we think it is. But the way she is now...' Sombra thought, before he felt something not too far from the pair that completely derailed his train of thought. 'We can't worry about that right now, Xion, because we just had a good stroke of luck. Or maybe it's just a stroke of luck, we'll find out.'
"What do you mean?"
'I mean that I just felt the power of one of those cursed Rainbow ponies, so that means that either Twilight or Applejack is close. And since this is a state fair and Applejack, like I said, is a hick, I think you can figure the rest out.'
"So wait...Applejack is down at that fair?" Xion asked, squinting her eyes to se if she could make out the pony Sombra was talking about in the sea of ponies that was at the fair. "But I don't see any Heartless or Nobodies. Every single one of the Ambassadors that we've come across has been battling with either the Nobodies or the Heartless. Shouldn't she be as well?"
'I can't say. Maybe since we're so close to Ponyville that means that the princesses and the Ambassadors are fighting harder to keep this place safe. Figures that the princesses would play favorites. This is why I simply let all the cities and towns burn, so that way the ponies know that I don't think any of them mean less than the others.'
"Think we should go down there?" Xion asked nervously. "I mean, the Ambassadors might be fine with me, but every crowd of ponies that I've come across have either fled from me in terror or whipped out their torches and pitchforks at the sight of me. And a fair full of them is likely to have mixed results between the two."
'We don't have a choice at this point. We need to get into contact with all of the Ambassadors and gather the keychains they have. And since fate was so nice to deal us this hand, we would be foolish not to take what we were given,' Sombra instructed Xion. 'But just to be safe, we should probably either make this quick or have you keep your keyblade out at all times. I wouldn't put it past one of the dumber ponies to try and act like a hero.'
"I'm not striking down an innocent pony."
'Then smack them with the flat side of your blade, I don't care. But we're going to go in there, that's no question. The only question I have is how much opposition will we meet once we get down there?' Sombra asked himself with what sounded like a bit of a chuckle. 'But I can sense Applejack in the center of that mess. So let's go on down an introduce ourselves.'
"We don't have much of a choice, do we?" Xion asked.
'Nay, choice is something that beings of darkness rarely have,' Sombra said with a laugh. Xion shook her head before she started to move towards the fair, but while she walked Sombra lost himself in thought. 'I am still not certain about that foe we faced. Yes, their moves were similar to Xion's and they also wielded a keyblade, but I have been an evil villain practically all of my life and something feels wrong to me. If the Maestro had brought in Roxas, why hide his face? It would be far more emotionally scaring to have her look into his eyes as they fought, not mask them in darkness.'
'What is your game, Maestro? And why, for the first time in my long and meaningful life, can I not figure out my opponents next move? What their next move against Xion will be?' Sombra asked. 'And why does that bother me far more than it should that Xion is so upset?'