Kingdom Hearts: The World's Reluctant Heroes

by Blackdrag-rose

Heartless: Danger of Hollow Bastion

With their time in Neverland complete the group continued on their way to their final destination, Hollow Bastion, though unlike the last times they flew between worlds, most of them relaxing and resting with little training for some of them, the group spent a great deal of time in Sombra's training area. The reason was simple, this was the end of their quest, as this would be them versus the greatest Heartless that were under Maleficent's control, even the witch herself, so there was no telling what sort of danger they might be in when they reached their destination. With that in mind Sombra wanted to make sure everyone was ready, and she meant everyone since even Sora was involved in the training, where she found that the entire team agreed with her, even Donald surprisingly, though she also made sure everyone had enough rest and food as well. Such a thing allowed Sombra to use more of the recipes that were in her cookbooks, though it was something to do to pass some of her rest periods, even though the others appreciated her efforts greatly, plus it gave Fluttershy and Radiant the time to work on their own ends in their private world.

Of course they had to deal with the ships that were attacking them along the way, Heartless gummi ships that likely had orders to keep people away from Hollow Bastion, which was what most of Sora's time was spent dealing with, clearing the way as he outmaneuvered their foes and blasted them out of the way.

As they drew ever closer to their destination, however, Sombra felt a faint dark power getting closer and closer, which she assumed was Hollow Bastion itself, as there was no way Maleficent was strong enough for her to feel the witch from where she stood, before she considered the other option that might be true, a powerful Heartless. The reasoning for that was due to the existence of Kurt Zisa and the Phantom, Heartless created to be assassins for specific targets, so there was a chance that what she was feeling right now might be a third one, one either serving Maleficent or watching her for another dark force they were unaware of. That thought caused another to form in her mind, that it might be Ansem, the one who set all of this in motion as she thought back to what Leon's group told them back when they first started their various quests, and if he had really fallen, like they assumed, then what she could be feeling was Ansem himself. Of course that only raised more questions, because if the dark power was Ansem, or his Heartless, then that meant he likely made one of those white creatures as well from the leftovers of his body, meaning there could very well be another version of him out there.

It was like the situation with Clayton, a Heartless and a white figure created from a single body, something she was sure of as she thought about what she was feeling right now, especially with the information given to her from Leon's group, but it only made her wonder where the zombie-like body could have wandered off to.

Five days eventually passed before they laid eyes on their destination, a world that brimmed with dark energy, far more than any world that the group had seen, which had a colossal castle on top of it and what seemed to be a large sea that just surrounded the entire structure. Sombra frowned for a moment as she stared at it, because this meant that she and the others would be seen the moment they warped down to the world's surface, there was no way they could sneak up on Maleficent or her forces based on what she was feeling. There was also the dark power that was coming from the entire world, it was linked to the Darkness in some manner, that much she could tell by observing the world that was in front of them, meaning it's Keyhole was far more important to all of the others, one vital to saving the whole universe. There was also the chance that this might end up bringing them to a whole new world, a true ending of sorts, but she hoped that this was the last world, so they could focus on other things and not having to deal with Maleficent's schemes.

"So... this is Hollow Bastion?" Sora asked, where he brought the ship to a stop and glanced at the world that was right in front of them as he engaged the shields to keep their vessel safe, though even as he did that he had to wonder if anyone in their group was even remotely ready for this, as it seemed far more intense than the others they had been to, despite the fact that he suspected Sombra was perfectly fine in a place like this.

"Yeah. We had best get down there and see what we have to do to get into the castle." Radiant replied, because she knew that Sombra was planning on heading down there and she agreed with her, it was time to end this adventure, though that was when she and the others found that Sora was determined to stop the dark witch as well.

With that in mind the six of them readied themselves and warped down to the starting point for this world, which seemed to be a dark stone walkway, from part of something that had been there previously, while they were surrounded by walls of water on three sides. The interesting part was what was right in front of them, a path that seemed to be part stone and part bubbles, like the world was falling apart in some manner, though as everyone glanced around Sora felt his heart for a moment, a sensation that passed rather quickly as they heard some sort of creature roar up ahead. With that in mind the group started to make their way forward, jumping on all of the earthen sections that were in front of them, though while they did that Sombra found that there were no Heartless coming to fight them, which just seemed odd to her. At the same time she found that the dark power she had felt previously was waiting ahead of their current position, as in just beyond the stone arch she and the others were making their way towards, meaning something powerful was waiting for them and a fight might be had sooner than they thought.

What they eventually discovered was a brown furred bipedal beast, wearing what appeared to be a purple cape, talking to someone that seemed to be blocking the way, though as they drew closer Sombra noticed who it was, it was Riku, but she could tell something was wrong, the dark energy was coming from him and his eyes were now yellow.

"No vessel, no help from the Heartless... tell me, beast: how did you get here?" Riku asked, where Sombra noticed that he had an echo to his voice, confirming that he must have been possessed by the dark power she had sensed earlier, though at the same time it didn't seem like he even realized they were getting closer to their position.

"I simply believed... there's nothing more to it than that." the beast replied, speaking in a male voice, though at the same time he seemed to hold his clawed hands in front of him for a time, no doubt referring to his heart and the person that he had to be looking for, where he glanced up at the castle for a few seconds before glancing at Riku, "When our world fell to the darkness, Belle was taken from me... I vowed that I would find her again, no matter the cost. I believed that I would fine her, so here I am... she must be here! I will take her back!"

Riku beckoned for him to come at him as he summoned his weapon, jump spinning back as the beast jumped at him, only for him to deliver a powerful attack to the creature's chest that knocked him down, though as he stood straight again he found that Sora, Sombra, and the others had arrived at long last.

"So, you finally made it. About time, I was getting sick of waiting." Riku commented, though in that moment Sombra did see a bit of eye movement in his right eye, an eye twitch that wasn't in anger, like one might assume, rather it seemed like Riku was trying to show them that he was still in there, under the intense dark power that had possessed his body, "We've always been rivals, haven't we, Sora?"

"You can cut the crap and get out of Riku's body, Ansem." Sombra stated, causing the others who had listened to what all of their friends in Traverse Town had said to really focus on the figure that was in front of them, while Fluttershy tended to the beast's wounds, since he seemed like an okay individual.

"I must admit, you are perceptive. How did you know?" Riku, or rather Ansem, inquired, as if he wasn't aware of how he looked or sounded in this state, which was just stupid in Sombra's mind, that if you were going to possess someone the first thing you should know about them is know they talked and how they acted, plus hide any alterations that you may have made to your host's body.

"Really? And here I heard you were smart... Riku's voice is echoing, you aren't acting like him, and you changed his eyes to a yellow color after possessing him." Sombra replied, because it really didn't matter if she told the dark figure what he could improve on, as there was no way for him to improve now that they knew he was in control of Riku's body, though both she and Sora stood beside each other as the rest of the group remained behind them, "Now, get out of his body."

"Not yet. There can only be one master of the Kingdom Key, and I'm here to prove that." Ansem said, where he held Riku's hand out for a moment and something unusual happened, Sora's weapon appeared on it's own and the boy struggled to hold onto it, before the Kingdom Key disappeared and reappeared in Riku's right hand, causing the dark spirit to smile as he studied it, "I was right: Sora, you were merely the delivery boy for the Kingdom Key's true master... a pawn that has now outlived your usefulness. But have no fear, I will not strike you down with the weapon you carried throughout your entire journey, as that would only anger my host somewhat, so here, you can play with this... while I will use the Kingdom Key to unlock the secret door and change the World."

As Sora fell to his knees the group found that the item that Ansem tossed to him was a wooden sword, like what he said that he and Riku had used before their world was taken by Darkness, before he turned to leave, walking up to one of the stone platforms that would allow him to get into the castle, only to pause as he glanced back at them with a smirk.

"Goofy, let's go. We have to complete our mission." Donald stated, causing the others to glance at him in surprise, that after everything they had been through he was willing to abandon Sora after the boy lost the Kingdom Key, while at the same time his older friend didn't seem okay with leaving them.

"Donald, I know the King said to follow the Kingdom Key, but we can't just leave our friends like this." Goofy said, showing Sora and the others why he was the Captain of Mickey's forces, he was incredibly loyal and right now he thought of them as his friends, which was nice to see, something that caused Donald to use his magic to shock his rear hard enough to send him in the direction of Ansem.

"You annoying duck. Make no mistake, you will pay for this." Sombra remarked, as while she understood being loyal to one's ruler, she had been sure that Mickey would have been okay with his friends sticking with Sora, even if he didn't have the Kingdom Key, all while Donald didn't seem to care in the slightest.

Donald glanced back for a moment, like he might be mentally debating his decision, before he forced Goofy to follow him as he rushed after Ansem, eventually causing the trio to disappear as they left Sora, Sombra, Radiant, and Fluttershy alone with the beast, where they stood there for a few moments, digesting what had just happened.

"I understand that their mission is important, given what the Kingdom Key is, but... did they really have to do that to all of us, especially Sora?" Radiant inquired, though as she said that she tended to Sora, who was saddened by the fact that two of their friends had left them like it was nothing, while also being happy that they were there, that the three of them hadn't gone with the pair.

"No... that was just mean of Donald." Fluttershy stated, where she nodded her head as the beast stood up, looking at his body for a time while being surprised by the fact that he had been healed so easily, though it was easy to tell that even the shy one was greatly annoyed by this discovery.

Beast, as he claimed that such a thing was his name, asked them why they were here and the group informed him of the fact that they were here to find their friends, though they now knew that one was possessed by some dark figure, who likely needed to be beaten up to save him. Upon hearing about Kairi, on the other hand, Beast understood them far better than before, as he mentioned he was looking for 'Belle', someone of importance to him that had been stolen after their world fell to Darkness, and though he did not have a weapon to permanently deal with the Heartless he would use his claws to defend himself. With that in mind Sombra raised a hand to the wooden sword and engraved a bit of power into it, something that would allow Sora to beat back the Heartless, much like the people of the worlds they went to, while at the same time making sure he wasn't totally defenseless, causing him to nod his head in thanks once that was done. Once she was done doing that the group followed the path that Ansem had taken, finding that it brought them to a shattered arch that seemed to go nowhere, but when they approached it a golden lift with black designs appeared for everyone to get on, one that sped off towards the dark castle.

Sombra noticed that the lift seemed to be attached to a purple bit of energy, and when they reached the front gates, that happened to be locked, she found a spiked crystal nearby that seemed to be connected to the lift, though since the main entrance was closed they headed down to the right, towards a barred gate that opened for them.

There were two more crystals there for the group to interact with, one pulsing with energy that dissipated when Radiant tried to touch it, though Sombra pointed out a lift some distance above them that started to move after that, meaning to progress they would have to find things like this to activate other sections of the massive castle. The second summoned a lift that took them down into a watery section, a dead end by the looks of it, though the enemies this time happened to be pure Heartless, the ones that didn't produce hearts, namely the Shadows and a spherical foe that had three tendrils that ended in pink tips, a 'Darkball' she guessed. While they tore through the Heartless, however, Sora understood what sort of power he still had access to, as the markings on his wooden blade allowed him to channel his magical powers, so he could launch fireballs and shards of ice like normal, meaning he could help the others out. Fluttershy found the way forward as she accidentally touched one of the bubbles and disappeared in a stream that seemed to head through an opening that was under the water, causing Sombra and the others to follow after her, only to discover that they were now inside part of the castle.

Sombra found that the way to move forward was to have Beast take down a few breakable walls so they could move even deeper into the castle, though after using a second bubble to reach another area she also found what appeared to be a few switches on the walls, one that, when activated, moved the walls around them to form brand new paths. With such a thing in mind Sombra had the rest of the group stand back for a few moments as she tested out each switch that was in the area, eventually forming a plan in her mind that, as Radiant watched her, allowed her to form a path for them to move forward. Once she knew the path it was only a matter of time until she opened the way for the others to catch up with her and remake the path she had created, allowing them to progress without wasting time as they used a lift to get up onto an upper area that seemed to be heading forward. In addition to that there was another type of enemy, a large armored one that stood as tall as Beast, though it's weapon seemed to be a large shield that had a vicious dog head in the center of it, a 'Defender' as Fluttershy decided to call it, where the key to defeating it seemed to be just like the Large Bodies, just behind them and beat them down.

While the path seemed to end in a new dead end Sombra found a switch that seemed to power the main gate, so after she activated it they returned to the area that had brought them here and quickly headed back up to the path that would allow them to enter the castle, allowing them to see that the door was definitely open. Of course the first thing they had to do was cut through all of the enemies that were in front of them, where Sombra was slightly annoyed that there weren't more emblem Heartless since she wanted their hearts, but she was fine with tearing through the Defenders and taking all of their hearts, which would no doubt empower her defenses when she absorbed one of their hearts. After clearing out the rest of the enemies that were in front of them the group stepped forward and entered the castle, where they quickly found that it seemed to bring them to a circular chamber with a fountain across from the entrance, with a set of stairs on either side of it, plus a second floor and a couple of doors. One stood out to Sombra, one that looked like it needed them to find a few fragments of the Heartless emblem to unlock so they could progress even deeper, making her wonder where the pieces might be located, something they might figure out in due time.

As they entered the chamber, however, Beast seemed to hear something and pounced at something that was resting in the doorway they had just walked through, causing Sombra to sigh as the door closed behind him, though their focus was on the rest of their friends as Riku, still possessed by Ansem, appeared with Donald and Goofy behind him.

"I admire your persistence, but you should quit while you still can." Ansem remarked, like he was concerned for them or something, though Sombra knew that he was trying to get rid of them so he could focus on his own mission, which just so happened to involve Kairi, hence his desire to get Sora out of here, though at the same time he allowed Riku's clothes to turn into some dark suit with the Heartless symbol on the front, "If you don't, the Darkness will destroy you."

"No. I'm not leaving without Riku and Kairi... it doesn't matter if the Darkness destroys my body, for it will never be able to touch my heart." Sora replied, where he stepped forward a little and put himself in between his remaining friends and the possessed body of his best friend, showing them that he was determined to show the dark figure his resolve, even if that meant sacrificing his body to somehow get his missing friends back, "My heart will stay with my friends, just like theirs would stay with me if something happened to them!"

Ansem accepted the challenge and launched a sphere of dark energy at Sora, fully intending on blasting him to bits and seeing if his heart would actually remain safe, though before it could hit it's mark Goofy, out of nowhere, got between Sora and the attack, allowing him to tank it before Fluttershy even had a chance to react. Donald, of course, was surprised that his friend would betray their King all of a sudden, but Goofy was fine with this, as he believed that Sora was the rightful wielder of the Kingdom Key and nothing was going to change his mind, though when he told the duck to apologize to the King on his behalf Donald rushed down to join them. Ansem, surprised by this turn of events, watched as everyone, and that included Beast when he tore through the door and joined them, caused something interesting to happen, the sudden renewal of Sora's faith in all of his friends, even those that betrayed him since Goofy had defended him, allowed him to call the Kingdom Key back to his side. Without the Keyblade in question, the very item he was interested in taking, Ansem did the only thing available to him, he fled from the area and disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, allowing Donald and Goofy to bow their heads in shame to Sora, though it was unclear how much Donald meant it since he was the one who caused the pair to defect originally.

While Sora was willing to forgive them for leaving the group like that, especially since he didn't want to think about what might have happened if it was just him left alone on this world, Sombra wanted the pair to make sure they were punished in some manner, just to understand that betrayal wasn't a good thing.

"Goofy, since you were forced against your will to join Donald, I'll go easy on you: two weeks, no dessert, starting once we complete our quest." Sombra remarked, because while she could have punished them similar to how she dealt with those in the Crystal Empire, something she really couldn't do these days, she had a far better idea and that was to target what everyone in the group seemed to enjoy, her food, or, to be more exact, her delicious desserts, though while Goofy bowed his head, accepting his punishment, she turned towards the now terrified duck, "Donald... one year, no dessert, starting immediately!"

Donald immediately fell to the floor, pounding it with his fists and crying like he was a young child throwing a fit over losing his toy, like that would force her to change her mind, though Radiant chuckled as she watched this, joined by Sora and the others, because it was good to have a brief respite before facing the rest of the dangers that Hollow Bastion, Ansem, and Maleficent could throw at them.

Comments

[Xalok]

Yeah Ansem's possessing game is weak, there is far to many ways to spot it's not the person you think. When looking at him and hearing him speak.

[Black--Soul]

One great last update for 2023, thanks for your efforts. Happy new year soon to come ♡

No desserts? Sombra has truly found a way to be malicious without turning evil... more evil...

[Xarmar13]

I can imagine Mickey not being too happy with Donald if he finds out he abandoned friends for the sake of the mission. Donald is supposed to be a court wizard, not a perfect soldier who follows orders to the letter without worry of consequences.

Of course, given what happens at the end of CoM, is a year without dessert really as punishing if you spend nearly the entire year unaware that it had passed?

[Blackdrag-rose]

11786851 Yeah, I'd imagine Mickey would be unhappy with Donald if he learned what the duck did. Fortunately for Donald, Sora is very forgiving, even after everything Donald did in the first game.

Of course to us, the readers and author that know the lore, a year without dessert isn't much of a punishment since the trio end up sleeping through it before the events of KH2 start. To Sombra, who is unaware of future events, this seems like a fitting thing to punish Donald with.

[Hexan Tronic]

This was nice and quick. I wonder what else Sombra will find in this place?

[Moonlight_Mist]

11786604
It's even more obvious here than in canon, and in canon the game was up the moment Ansem opened Riku's mouth.

[Xalok]

11788270
Fully agree there.