Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return

Sora would have responded, but at that moment, the Large Body collided with his blade. The Heartless was forced a step back, but Sora slid back more than that, since his form was much smaller. The beast performed the same move again, the results being the same. And then again. "Tougher than I remembered," Sora muttered with a grunt. This time when the Large Body charged, he dodge-rolled out of the way, pulling a reversal as he slashed at the beast from behind.

 

Roxas grunted and let out a battle cry as he swiped at one of the Bandits, but it deflected his blow. He stepped back, dodging one slash from the Heartless before he jumped and flipped over the foe, turning around once he landed and stabbing it in the back. The Heartless faded away, and he tended to the other, destroying it in a combo.

Riku felt a cry leave his throat as he slashed at an enemy, but it never landed. A Red Nocturne sent a fireball at him, making him grunt in pain as he sidestepped from the hit. He gained his composure and jumped at the airborne Heartless, releasing an air combo before it disappeared and he landed on his feet.

 

The Large Body spun around quickly, swiping at Sora in one direction and then the other. One swipe caught onto his blade and sent it flying out of his hand. He was about to summon it back when he saw it land on a shadow, stabbing the Heartless before it faded away. He smirked slightly at the way that had worked out, but then he remembered the problem at hand. He jumped out of the way just as the Large Body attempted to attack him again, the teen acting on instinct now that he was momentarily weaponless.

 

Roxas whirled around, momentarily free of attack. He glanced around, seeing that a Large Body was trying to attack Sora, while Riku was surrounded by lesser Heartless, but they had equal strength to the Large Body in numbers. He knew that when he was talking to Sora earlier that there was something going on around here, and now he knew exactly what it was. "Whoa!" Roxas jumped back suddenly when a pot next to him suddenly grew legs, and he sidestepped out of the way as it charged at him.

Riku pulled back an arm, using Dark Aura against the enemies that surrounded him. Many of them were pushed back by the blue power-orbs, and he jumped out of the middle of the group of Heartless, running forward a few steps before he whirled around, knowing that they would do the same and follow him to where he stood in the middle of the Palace Gates. And they did just as he predicted.

 

Sora summoned his blade back just as the Heartless swiped at him, but he merely leaned to the side to avoid the blow. Something he didn't count on, though was a spider pot charging into him and hitting his legs. He grunted and fell to his knees, but that wasn't the worst of it. The Large Body took a mighty swing at him, impacting him while he was down. It sent him flying into a wall a few yards away, the force of it taking away Sora's breath for a second.

 

Roxas simply threw Oblivion at the thing and it disappeared. Easy enough. But he focused back on the battles again and noticed that a figure was slumped by a wall. His eyes widened when he recognized who it was. Sora. Roxas's eyes narrowed then and he summoned Oblivion to his grasp, but also brought Oathkeeper into the fight. He charged forward, seeing that the Large Body was giving more trouble than it was worth. He jumped up and spun in the air, crashing down on the back of the large Heartless.

Riku swung repeatedly at the Heartless that approached him, finally beginning to see the numbers die down. As much energy and strength he had, this was getting ridiculous. A rough battle cry left his lips as he swung hard at the enemies, wanting them to disappear for good.

 

Sora lifted himself up in a hurry, ignoring the dizzying power behind the Heartless' blow. He grunted softly and chucked his blade at a group of pots, the Keyblade spinning horizontally as it slashed through three pots, destroying them all before it returned to his grasp.

 

Roxas jumped up into the air, his attacks not ceasing against the Large Body. Nothing had really attacked him before, and he saw that his allies were taking on either a difficult Heartless or a lot of them.

Riku brought his Keyblade down on another Pot Spider, killing the enemy and moving onto a few Bandits. They all stared him down, blades at the ready. Riku arched an eyebrow, smirking slightly. Three against one? This is going to be interesting, he thought. "Come and get it!" he cried, running forward as the Bandits did, the teenager engaging in battle with them.

 

Sora took a few steps away from the wall, eyes wandering around the area. He saw a fireball coming in at him and he quickly brought up his blade to deflect it. The ball went back in the direction it came from, impacting a Fat Bandit. "You gotta be kidding me!!" Sora growled in frustration, staring down the foe a few yards away. This guy was going to be even worse than the Large Body he had been fighting before.

 

Roxas heard both the cocky comment of Riku and Sora's agitated cry as he slammed down on the Large Body. This thing just wouldn't die! He slashed at it angrily, taking out his frustration on it--from both the anger he was experiencing now, and the emotions that were deep inside him from earlier that day, covered by adrenaline.

Riku blocked the first Bandit's blow, but didn't deflect another's. It struck him in the side, ripping at his vest. He pushed the first Bandit off of him before he did a spin move, slashing the one that struck him, forcing it back and making it collide with one of its own.

 

The Fat Bandit suddenly bounced up into the air, hovering for a second before it came crashing down, heading toward Sora's current location. His eyes widened as he jumped to the side, landing on a box just as the Heartless landed. He let out a harsh battle cry as he jumped at the Fat Bandit, landing several blows to its back through aerial attacks.

 

Roxas grunted as he swung aerial combos at the back of the Large Body's head. He remembered encountering them when he was in Organization XIII, and he was just learning to use his Keyblade back then. But they seemed harder now--either because he hadn't been involved in this kind of battle in a long time or the foes had gained some strength.

While the other two Bandits were struggling to get up, Riku dealt with the one who had attacked him first. He whirled around in time to block its tumbling attack, and he proceeded to slash at the thing until it was taken care of. Once that one was finished, the other two approached him, and he dealt with them with the best of his ability.

 

Sora grunted when the Fat Bandit rose to its feet, swinging at him with his arms. He jumped up and landed on the foe's arm, using it as he launched himself up into the air. He looked down at the enemy and couldn't help but smirk at the perfect position he was in. He cried out as he attacked the beast from above, his blade stabbing the Heartless in the center of its round back.

 

The Large Body started swinging its arms around as Roxas attacked it and he kept himself steady on the thing's back, striking Oathkeeper into its back to balance himself as he let his feet step onto its back. He continued to slash at the back of the beast's head with Oblivion, and after a few seconds the Heartless disappeared, Roxas landing gracefully on his feet.

Riku did a spin move on one of the Bandits and sent it flying across the sandy street, the Heartless colliding into the wall and a heart floating into the air as it was defeated. He turned to tend to the other, simply swinging at it a few times before it too disappeared.

 

Sora set his feet against the Fat Bandit's back and then propelled himself forward, doing a few flips before he landed on the ground with his back to the beast, who screamed and exploded into a few shards of light as the heart floated up into the sky.

 

Roxas straightened up, turning around to catch a huge heart float up into the air. When he looked down, he saw that Sora was the one who had defeated the Heartless. He turned his head when he saw something silver move out of the corner of his eye, noticing that Riku too had finished with his part of the battle. The area in front of the palace was quiet now, the Heartless gone.

Riku panted heavily, his adrenaline still pumping through his body as silence greeted his ears. He turned around to see that his best friend and his Nobody were through with their own enemies. "Hmph." He looked at them skeptically, still not believing they were there.

 

Sora stood himself up, aware that things had gotten strangely quiet around them. His eyes scanned the area, but he didn't see a single thing. That would explain why things had fallen so silent. His Keyblade went to his side, the teen not prepared to summon it away until a few minutes of no Heartless.

 

Roxas's eyes darted around the area, taking it in for the first time. The wall behind him was very tall, a door about the same size obviously leading to the Palace. No doubt the gates were locked, due to the Heartless invasion. But as he looked around he noticed that this place had higher levels, and he got a sudden flashback, where he was jumping across them himself, in his Organization cloak. The picture made his head spin slightly, the blonde bringing a hand to the side of his head and blinking hard to clear his vision.

Riku arched an eyebrow at Roxas, remembering the time they had battled themselves. The blond had put up a tough fight, and the teen recalled that he had to turn to darkness to conquer him, that way Sora could wake up. He never would have thought they would be fighting alongside each other, and that he would be his own being. But of course, Riku was aware that he and Namine were different than most Nobodies, which was probably why they existed on their own. Plus, Riku hadn't been expecting him to show up with Sora anyway--he didn't expect either of them.

 

Sora didn't notice Roxas holding his head. Instead, he noticed the skeptical look Riku was giving the two of them. Not only that, but Sora noticed that Riku looked a bit battle worn. He felt the hand he had gripping the blade get warmer as he cast cure on his friend, hoping that the magic would be as effective as he remembered it to be.

 

Roxas shook his head, the haze finally clearing. Well, that was weird, he thought to himself. He figured it was part of his past that he was remembering, triggered by his presence on this world. He heard a small tinkling nearby and turned his head, seeing green leaves above Riku's head. Cure spell.

Riku closed his eyes, feeling his energy and strength suddenly come back to him as a cool-yet-warm sensation washed over him. He sighed when the spell was completed, and he looked up at Sora. "Thanks," he said, nodding toward his best friend.