//------------------------------// // A Duel Destined to Fate // Story: Kingdom Hearts: Friends of Harmony // by indigohue //------------------------------// XI A Duel Destined to Fate "You fools, this will be your grave," Vanitas said as the three of them prepared to duel. The battleground was silent as everyone became tense at the sight of the ever looming battle. Everyone could sense the keybladers auras colliding together viciously at one another. They each stood still, as they were waiting for the first attack. The rest of their friends were all as quiet as mice as they waited intently for the battle that was about to ensure. Roxas clenched his keyblade tight in his hand as he started dashing towards Vanitas with the intent to end his life. Vanitas did the same as he rushed right at Roxas as well. The two keybladers collided as sparks started to fly in the air from their keyblades clashing. Roxas overpowered Vanitas and pushed him back a few steps, and as Roxas started to attack with a side swipe from his key blade, Vanitas quickly stabilized himself and deflected Roxas's attack by stopping it with the hilt of his key blade. Vanitas used his magic and propelled himself away from Roxas, but that didn't stop Roxas from quickly dashing towards him and getting back in his face as they started back clashing. Each attack that the keybladers threw at each other had an impact of force that shook the ground with each connecting blow. Their keyblades interlocked and Vanitas and Roxas were at a stalemate as they both struggled to push one another off balance. Vanitas then kicked Roxas in his leg causing it to buckle and made Roxas lose his balance. Vanitas saw his advantage, and he took his chance to strike Roxas down. He raised his key blade in the air and came down at Roxas with a downward strike, aiming for Roxas's head. Roxas couldn't get his balance back quick enough to block the strike, and it started looking grim for the keyblader as Vanitas's attack came closer and closer towards him, but with a flash of light and a clash of swords, Roxas saw himself unharmed as he looked up and saw Sora guarding him from Vanitas as he pushed Oathkeeper towards Vanitas's face. With every second, Sora was launching a flurry of attacks towards Vanitas, not having a single break within each hit. Everyone was able to see the actual power that the Valor form possessed. Especially Twilight, as she saw how this form of Sora focused more on head to head combat while his Wisdom form was a more zone based fighting style, using magic instead of head to head. Sora having this hidden arte inside of him was truly something worth noting for later. As Sora had pushed Vanitas into a state of defending, out of nowhere, Roxas came from behind, and while holding the Oblivion with the back hand fighting style, struck Vanitas to the side with a piercing force of power from the key blade. This caused Vanitas to fall flat on his body as he started to tumble all across the ground but eventually he started to slide, stopping his body from tumbling. As he continued sliding, Vanitas started launching volleys of dark magic towards the two keybladers. Seeing this, Sora and Roxas started running towards Vanitas, deflecting and evading every single volley that came towards them. There was no stopping them from getting close to the enemy Before Vanitas could even get up, Roxas was already in his vicinity, with a key blade dead at his face, stating that if he moved, then it would be all over. Sora was right there with him as he had both of his key blades clenched at his sides waiting for Vanitas to try something else. Vanitas looked down and displayed a very sinister grin. "Hmph, to think, that you would do all of this, over two people that you barely know," Vanitas said. "They're our friends Vanitas, and anyone who tries to hurt our friends has to answer to us," Sora stated to the enemy. "You're 'friends' huh, even the demon girl?" Vanitas sinisterly asked. His wording gave Sora a startled and angry expression all at once. "What are you talking about?" Vanitas looked at Sora with surprised eyes as he started to lose it, "Really, you couldn't tell, HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH, * turns to Roxas* and I'm guessing you couldn't either huh you emotionless freak? Roxas started swinging his key blade to end Vanitas, but Sora stopped him before he could finish the attack. Sora looked at Vanitas, "I'll ask again, what are you talking about?" In the matter of a second, Vanitas had quickly gotten back near to the two trapped girls. "How did he.." Sora said as he was dumbfounded to how he got over there so quickly. Sora then looked back and saw that the Vanitas on the ground was nothing more than an unversed disguised as him. Sora, visibly angry, destroyed the unversed. "What's going on Vanitas?!" "Did you really think that I would be that weak that I would be taken down by a copy and a failure like you?" Vanitas bragged. "But I do have to give it to you, no one has ever made me have to use that replacement skill in the heat of battle. "But....how?" Sora asked in disbelief. "Well, you see, *looks towards Roxas* when that fake had knocked me down, I used the volleys not to only attack you two, but to cloud their vision from me so that I could call an unverse and mold him to look just like me," Vanitas said. He walked over to the unconscious Sunset and gently caressed her face. This caused Roxas to explode with rage, as he dashed towards Vanitas, leaving a crater in every step he took. Vanitas knew that Roxas was at his limit, and that this girl was something important to him, but what he was going to see, would change all of that. Vanitas launched a wave of dark magic over Sunset just before he was hit by Roxas with full force, causing him to spit up from his mouth, and leaving him unable to move, but Vanitas knew that his plan was already in affect. Roxas turned towards the area where Sunset was, and saw another being there in her place. Her hair was flame like, her body was a shade of red, her clothes in tatters, fangs where her normal teeth should be , and bat like wings jutting from her back. Roxas couldn't believe what he was seeing.....who was this person in front of him? He was at a loss, and as he stared in disbelief, his armor started to fade from his body. "No way," an unfamiliar voice said. the rest of the group turned around and saw that it was that same boy from before that the cmc tried to protect before Sora came and solved the problem, only thing different is that everyone who attended the fair was there with him for some odd reason, but it didn't matter for they all had a terrified expression on their faces as they Sunset in that beastly form. Everyone was at a loss to what was going on, until they were all shot back into reality with Vanitas attacking roxas with his key blade. The sudden attack made Roxas fall to his knees. "You really shouldn't take your eyes off the enemy," Vanitas said as he positioned his key blade onto Roxas's neck. "Because things like this might happen. As Vanitas started raising his key blade in the air, Sora was staring off into space, replaying back how this whole situation had suddenly turned for the worst. Roxas losing his focus, him showing Sunset, everyone's reaction........ "He planned all of this to happen.....we fell in his trap," Sora said. "What kind of heroes are you?" Vanitas said wickedly. "You two are nothing like how the original masters were. You're nothing but runts in the litter." As Vanitas started to raise his key blade, he slowly stopped, quickly having another idea pop in his head. "You know, I wonder would happen to the other girl if I did the exact same thing? Everyone was stunned at his words. Rainbow Dash had raced towards to try and stop him, but a patch of unversed had appeared to block her way. Sora was astonished at his words. His eyes turned into those fueled with hatred and anger, something that no one has ever seen from Sora. "You hurt my friends...." Sora quietly said as pulses of energy started appearing around him. "You trapped them, and put their lives in danger." Dark energy started surrounding Sora. Sora's body started twitching as his energy rose even higher. "Sora......" Roxas said watching the darkness envelope Sora's body. "Hmph, please, you're nothing important, you're just two copies of the same person," Vanitas said as he walked closer to Fluttershy. "Now, my darling, *summons dark magic in his hand* onto business!" As Vanitas made contact with Fluttershy, something on her body started to glow. It was bright enough to blind everyone's eyes. All that could be heard was a loud roar. What was glowing on Fluttershy was the charm of the lion that Sora had given her when they first met. Out of the charm, and in front of Vanitas came a ferocious lion! "You think a lion is going to stop me, you're going to need more than that to-" Vanitas was interrupted as a hard jab to his face came out of nowhere. Everyone turned and saw something that resembled a heartless but immensely bigger with the body type of someone famliar. "Is that, Sora?" Twilight asked. "Sora, what is this?" Roxas thought to himself. Sora saw the downed Roxas and quickly picked him up, and brought him over to where the rest of his friends were. "How is he so much faster?" Twilight asked. "I think I understand. That form he's in, the anger and darkness in his heart has taken over his body," Roxas stated. "His major senses and reflexes have been enhanced, all for the price of the light in his heart. Don't worry he'll revert back, but when, I don't know." Vanitas quickly recovered from that punch, but what surprised him, was that he actually felt blood rolling down his cheek. "You.......hurt me." Magic started to surge around his body "I"LL END YOU!" As he said this, he immediately rushed towards Sora with key blade in head, and Sora ferociously charged at him on all fours, like an animal from the wild. When they were close enough, they started to exchange blow after blow. Every attack was bombarded with another series, as they were both fighting with anger induced souls in their bodies. As this was going one, the lion was next to Fluttershy, trying to figure out how to get her out of this trap. He paced back and forth and finally came up with an idea. He then stood proudly and unleashed an ear deafening roar, and from this roar came beams of lights that went straight towards the trap that was holding Fluttershy. As Fluttershy became free from the trap, she immediately started to fall to the ground from the extreme exhaustion that her body endured from being surrounded by that much darkness, but before she made contact with the ground, the lion had caught her on his back. Fluttershy briefly and slowly opened her eyes to see nothing but the back of the head of some animal. Then she realized that she was on the back of this animal but before she could make anymore realizations, she slowly slipped out of consciousness. As the lion looked back to make sure that Fluttershy was okay, he started to turn around and help Sunset out of her trap as well, but when he saw her, he immediately stopped in his tracks seeing nothing but what looks like a monster to his eyes. He slowly started to back away from Sunset as he put Fluttershy under the shade of a tree while he stood in front of her just in case any thing came out at them, and just like the rest, he stood there watching the battle between Sora and Vanitas rage on in front of him. As the fight went on, all of the bystanders were having problems keeping up with the two fighters as they were moving too fast for the naked eye to see, all except for the split second where they would both collide with their attacks. Every attack Vanitas would throw, Sora would dodge, and every attack Sora threw, Vanitas would block. Vanitas's anger slowly started to show as he started to struggle keeping up with Sora's attacks. "This is getting ridiculous," Vanitas said. Twilight and the rest of the girls watched the fight from afar in interest and in fear. The fear of what would happen if this fight continued, and the fear of what Sora had become. From his body becoming completely enveloped. To the beady yellow eyes that replaced his blue ocean eyes. "He looks just like a heartless," Twilight thought. " "I hope he knows what he's doing." As Sora ran towards Vanitas, Vanitas saw this and immediately got into a defensive position, but this was Sora's plan as he stopped his oncoming attack, faking him out and leaving his guard open for an attack, which sent Vanitas rocketing towards the ground. Vanitas wasn't getting back up after that last attack, and all he could do was look up in anger at the predicament that he put himself in. As Sora's anti form starting to show its embedding within Sora as he got onto all fours and rushed after Vanitas, trying to end it all with a single pounce. But, as soon as he tried this, Sora was knocked back by an unseen force. Everyone looked around and saw nothing, except a dark and eerie black smoke coming from in front of Vanitas. What made the whole situation stranger was that it seemed that Vanitas could here the smoke talking to him but no one else could. "I thought I said to get the element," "I did, but I had just had to tie up some loose ends," Vanitas said towards the towering smoke. "You have failed the task.......report back to the blizzard of where my remains are located for it is time to regain what was taken from me," "Yes, my King," Vanitas said as he kneeled towards the smoke. The dark smoke started creeping upon Vanitas as it took his body into a pool of darkness going to a place that no one knew of. The last thing that people saw of Vanitas was a very evil grin stating that this wasn't the end of him. As this happened, Sora started to revert back to his normal self. Everything was at a dead silence, for the only thing that they all payed attention to was the girl with the face of a demon. The trap that had confined Sunset was starting to dissipate, and with it the spell that forced the dark side of her heart to flourish over her body was gone, changing her back to her normal self. But be it as it may, the bystanders all looked at her with a different faces than before. Faces of deception and disgust were present on their faces. Everyone besides her friends, did not think of her as a person, they thought of her as a monster. As she started to collapse just like Fluttershy, none of them had seem to be worried about her hurting herself at all, no one but her friends did at least, since Roxas ran over to her as fast as he could to catch her in his arms. "Sunset, Sunset," Roxas worriedly said as he started trying to shake her awake. "R-Roxas," Sunset said as she placed her hand on his arm. As Sunset was fading in and out of consciousness, the only person that she could see was Roxas, and as soon as she saw him, tears started to roll down her face. "I'm....sorry," Sunset whispered to Roxas before she lost consciousness. Roxas's face showed of surprise, confusion, and worry all wrapped in one. As the rest of group ran over to see to Sunset, Roxas got up with Sunset in his arms as she rested. "She's fine....go check on Sora," Roxas said with no emotion as he turned to the other keyblader who was struggling to get up from the ground as his body was strained from being in those two forms for such a long time, especially after going into it from already being in another form. Twilight went to help him, and as she did, Sora asked, "Is * breathes heavily* Fluttershy okay?" to which Twilight replied, "Yes, as crazy as it sounds, she was saved by a lion." "Heheheh, so Simba's here?" Sora asked as he let out a chuckle. Simba then let out a loud roar showing how he was here to help. "That's awesome Simba, I knew I made the right decision." *Looks around* "Where's Vanitas?" "He vanished," Twilight said. "Dark smoke just appeared and took him away, and he started mumbling to himself." "Well, that's weird," Sora said. "So what happens now?" "We need to go back to Ponyville, get the people who were injured help, and figure out what to do from there," Twilight said. "Yeah, I gotta feeling that this isn't going to be the last time we see Vanitas," Sora said. "Sora, Sora dear, are you okay?!" Rarity worriedly said as she ran towards him. "Yeah, I'm okay, just a little tired," Sora said. "Well don't worry dear,we'll get you back to Ponyville soon, and I'll have Aloe and Lotus Blossom give you an amazing spa treatment as soon as we get back," Rarity said as she grabbed Sora's hand. "Really it's not that necessary," Sora said with a chuckle. "Nonsense, I'll have them set up the usual and it will be magnificent," Rarity exclaimed. As Twilight saw this, her genuine smile appeared back on her face, knowing that things would be normal for a little while, but at the same time, she knew it would be different as she looked at Sunset and kept replaying the events that had just occurred back in her mind. No words could be said about how she felt right now. All she could think about now was what was coming next? Somwhere in a far off distance There stood a castle in the midst of a high class land, where it was the norm to show off your wealth and spend your time attending galas and soirees, and the ones who lived in this castle were the two Rulers of Equestria, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. The two princesses are known for many things: being extremely beautiful, powerful, and their celestial and luminescent flowing hair, but the one thing that they cherished the most was that they were the beings who raised the sun and moon every day and night. As Celestia sat on her throne, she could feel that there was something off about today. "Do you feel it too sister?" Luna asked. "Yes, but what could it mean?" Celestia asked. All silence was broken as a royal guard had busted through the throne doors running in towards the two princesses. He started speaking with heavy fatigue in his breath. "Your highness......I come with urgent news!" "Well what could it be?" Celestia asked. "We have......just gotten intel that Ponyville and Rainbow Falls were attacked by invading monsters powered by the forces of darkness," the royal guard said. "Our intel stated that the monsters in Rainbow Falls were being controlled by someone with a giant 'key'. Luna looked at him questionably. "A giant key? That can't be right." "It is true your highness," the royal guard spoke. "It was also said that two boys with powers beyond that of the elements of harmony were the ones who faced against this threat with overwhelming odds stacked against them." "I see," was all that Celestia could say at the moment for this entire story was too much to take in. The guard started to kneel and take his helmet off. "One more thing, we have received news from Northern Equestria. I am to tell you that IT has returned." The princesses eyes turned wide as to what the guard had told them. Celestia calmed herself as she looked back at the guard. "Find Princess Cadence and Shining Armor and tell them about this at once!" The guard bowed as he ran out and told the other royal guards about the new mission. Celestia sighed at the fact that all this was happening at once. a golden aura started to envelop around a quill, ink, and parchment, as Celestia was using her magic to levitate it over to her. She then began writing a letter to her most faithful student.