D-Rock wrote:The final stretch, but I have a feeling that it won't be a short one.
HellishK9 wrote:It's not going to be easy, is it?
'Fraid not most boss battles aren't known for being short or easy and this isn't going to be an exception
ChekeBello wrote:Nothing bad in giving a chapter for exposition, in fact, I think it was a great idea; like the characters, I(and I suppose others) as reader had a bunch of questions and I liked this chapter very much, wouldn't mind read another like this one.
Well i didn't say i hated doing it, what i meant was i was a little inexperienced in this type of chapter. I may get too long and winded in some parts while other parts might feel rushed. But thanks for the feedback
EDIT: Also forgot to mention that in a previous chapter i stated Fen didn't have his coat and collar on him. Well That isn't the case anymore. I thought i could go somewhere with it but i actually forgot what it was for, so... oops
Alright big boss battle time, and i hope i can write it well enough. This chapter was inspired by the various monster related songs in my library, which i just realized is pretty big...
I'll try to ignore what that says about me, but anyway Specifically
Lusus Naturae by Jeff Williams,
Monster by Skillet Part of the pack, by Adrian Von Ziegler
Chapter 31
Lusus Naturae
For once on this journey, I felt myself wishing that we didn't have a clear cut path to the top of this mountain. My hands shook in their place as fear and doubt began to cloud my mind. I didn't feel like I was ready to fight Fen, whether he was possessed or not by his own shadow, he was still my friend. Fighting him was wrong, every part of my mind was telling me this was all a mistake. These were all lies.
I saw those visions first hand, Fen standing guard at the door, Fen looking hopeless by the hour. Thinking back on those visions helped calmed the lies in my head. I was ready, and this was for Fen's own good. He's just lost his way is all, and its our job as his friends to set him back on track. Thanks to my unintentional peek into his memories, I know we're all he has left.
If I looked around, I knew everyone shared the same sentiment as I did. It was all written on their faces. They were all equally determined to fight, and even though they never saw what I did, they were dealing with the reality that we had to face Fen in battle.
“Alright, gang,” Kitsune kept his voice low as he pointed to one last slope to climb “looks like the final boss is just up ahead. If you need time to prepare you should handle it right now. You've got five minutes for a last minute check.”
I didn't need one last check, I've checked my side pouch a dozen times, I knew where everything is, and I knew I was already running low on shuriken. Grape on the other hand took out a small whetstone and began sharpening her off handed sword while Fido took a moment to readjust the crystals on his shoulder belt. Instead of going over my gear for the Nth time I decided I needed to have one last word with Kitsune.
“So you're sure Fen can still be saved?” I asked as he helped Tarot with drawing a few circles into the ground with chalk
Kitsune put the box of chalk dust down and placed two hand firmly on my shoulders “Fox, I've already told you. Fen's not beyond saving, we still have time to act.” I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment, it wasn't like me to be this paranoid, but it makes sense considering Fen's life is on the line “Now I want you to promise me you won't let this cloud your judgment in battle. Take it from me, even a single millisecond of doubt could spell disaster if you aren't careful out there.”
“S-Sorry,” I gave myself a good shake “its just... all these visions are starting to get to me. That and all the stress of the upcoming battle is wearing down on my nerves. I don't care what precinct says, as soon as I get home, I'm taking a vacation.” I said just to give myself something to look forward to
“I'm sure I could pull a few strings for you and your friends. After all this, I'm sure you guys desperately need a break.” Kitsune laughed as I joined him a little
Once I let Kitsune and Tarot go about their work, as well as Fido and Grape go about their preparations I pulled myself to the side with Fen's keyblade summoned to my hand. Everyday the visions get worse and worse, I appear in Fen's room and he notices me every time. I try to reason with him, but Fen says fewer and fewer words to me, and always ends up attacking me. Eventually it started to feel like the real Fen was slipping away, giving in to his 'master's' whim. The grip I had on Fen's keyblade tightened. I wasn't going to let it come to that not while I still held onto Fen's keyblade as well as my own.
“Alright looks like the gang's all set.” Kitsune called everyone to huddle in closer “Fox tells me Fen's been concealing your friends' hearts along with his own, and he isn't going anywhere without a fight. So we'll need to take him down, but not out, before its too late. Now that Tarot's allowed me into your telepathic link, I can communicate with all of you and coordinate our attacks while I support from the rear. As Fido can attest to, I've had previous combat experience, so take it from me, I know best.”
With that short briefing over with Kitsune drew the bow on his back and readied an arrow. The rest of us followed his lead and had all our keyblades and weapons at the ready just in case Fen decided to attack us out of nowhere. After everyone gave a firm nod Fido led the way into the cave followed by me and Grape then by Kitsune. Since Tarot couldn't fight anymore she was told to wait by the circles she and Kitsune drew with the chalk. It was probably for the best, she would've gotten hurt if she joined us.
The moment I stepped into the cave with the rest of them I took note of all the gashes and indents in the walls. These weren't randomly placed by Fen, everyone one of these markings were made in the same spots I manifested in my dreams. Not that I didn't know it before but now I only had more proof that my visions were the real deal. This only meant that we were racing against the clock, and hopefully we could still beat it.
'I see him.' Kitsune pointed to a door that was kept in the light by a pair of torches and sure enough Fen still stood guard 'Be careful, he might attack at any moment, so keep your guards up.'
I strained my eyes to see him in the dark, and sure enough he was still adorned with the same crown and cape I saw in my visions. His eyes kept the same kind of dullness it had when I last saw them in person. It was almost chilling to see the complete change in demeanor, almost as if he's become a different dog altogether.
As we slowly inched closer Fen's ears flicked towards the sound of our footsteps, and before he could I attack I decided I should at least try reasoning with him “F-Fen? Is that you?”
“I stand guard, as the master commands. Leave now, or else.” He said coldly as he lowered his stance and his hand drifted towards his keyblade
“Fen, now's our chance,” I continued “he isn't here to stop you anymore, we can go home. You can see your mom again.”
Fen flinched at the mention of his mom but kept his calm and drew the blade from the ground “This is your final warning. Leave!”
“We didn't come all this way for nothing.” Fido said as he readied a few dust crystals in his hands “One way or another you're coming home with us.”
At this point trying to win Fen over with words was useless. He was firmly placed in the hooded figure's control and would not give an inch. That being said, we weren't going to give in either. Fido was right, we've gone through different worlds, experienced life and death situations, and we've come too far to come home empty handed.
Seeing that we weren't about to back down even the slightest Fen breathed a deep sigh before shifting his grip and his new keyblade. Instead of hanging onto the handle Fen rested both hands on his hand guards and with one heave split the keyblade into three pieces. The two sides of the blade were now separate from the center of the blade which Fen stuck to the ground like an antenna.
Fen's first move was quick, as he rushed for us directly. Right on cue Fido raised his hand and created a shield to intercept the attack, but I instantly felt that something was wrong. As Fen continued his charge, he threw his left blade backwards and hit the protruding blade to create an electrical pulse. Fido's shield, once hit with the pulse began to destabilize.
“OUT OF THE WAY!” I yelled as I tackled Fido to the side while Grape and Kitsune managed to sidestep the attack
With Fido disoriented and confused Fen rushed straight for him instead of picking up his other blade. Seeing this, I rushed to intercept him and readied multiple strikes to slash at him. Fen saw me coming and met me full on, with our any sign of remorse whatsoever.
The moment we were close enough I threw my blade, causing Fen to slide underneath it. I was expecting this and summoned Fen's original keyblade and swung downward to catch him off guard. However Fen was ready for it and caught it with his blade. After my blade rebounded off a cave wall and headed straight for Fen, he summoned the other half of his blade and swatted it away like it was nothing. This made no sense, my keyblade should've picked up an elemental charge like it normally did, but for some reason it failed to activate.
I didn't get much time to think about it, as Fen pulled back his left hand to deliver a fatal slash with his free blade. Coming to my rescue was Grape who kneed him on the side of his stomach, while Kitsune shot a few arrows to increase the distance between Fen and me.
“Heads up everyone, Fen just put up an anti-magic field!” Kitsune said aloud as he let loose a few arrows to keep Fen at a distance “By constantly releasing a steady flow of energy into the space around him Fen disrupts spells from forming properly. This means Fox's elemental attacks and Fido's shields are out of commission, but enchantments like Fido's aura and Grape's ability to make herself lighter aren't. Take out that antenna! Its the beacon projecting this field in the first place!”
Now that I had a target I took a few steps back and smashed Fen's original keyblade to pieces to summon my other two keyblades. With no time to spare I hurled all three of them before making a beeline towards Fen's darkened blade. My keyblades might not have the added bonus of elemental attacks right now but they make the field harder to traverse especially in a tight space like this.
Since I was already closing in on his keyblade, it made sense that Fen switched his target to me instantly. Kitsune tried to detour him with his arrows, but Fen managed to dodge them as well as Grape and Fido who tried to buy me a few more minutes. It was almost astounding to watch, on top of having to keep track of my three keyblades randomly bouncing around Fen had to contest with Fido and Grape as well as Kitsune unloading a bunch of arrows.
Despite all the obstacles put in his way Fen managed to make it to face me directly, albeit at the cost of running out of breath. Casting my will at one of my blades I called it to my hand and swung it at Fen once more. Like before Fen caught it with one of his blades, but I already knew what to expect and instantly followed through with a leg sweep, knocking him to the ground.
With Fen on the ground I tried to act fast and dislodge the keyblade from its place on the ground but it wouldn't budge. As I continued to struggle Grape came to my rescue and tapped the keyblade with her own, before Fido came in and tackled it out of place.
Now that the beacon was gone my keyblades started to gain their usual elemental charge. It then dawned on me, if it caused so much chaos and destruction when used in an open space, those keyblades inside of a tight space would be a hundred times worse.
“EVERYBODY OUT!” I yelled as the ensuing chaos started to pick up momentum
It didn't take long for everyone to file out of the cave, and for good measure I threw in the keyblade I had in my hand before I stood back to watch the show. That maelstrom was capable of taking out a wooden giant even without the use of a tight space. I was a little curious to see what would happen if it was used in there.
My answer came in the form of a large explosion of lightning, water and wind elemental energy that absolutely decimated anything that was inside the cave. For a while silence ruled the mountain once more, we dared not to move just in case Fen had anything else up his sleeve. However among the smoke that poured out of the cave a small silhouette was seen floating about. From the smoke that poured out of the cave a strange red orb wearing a crown and wielding a scythe emerged. Instinctively I felt myself reaching out for it.
'They're grieving.” my eyes widened in surprise, it was King's voice coming from the orb 'They're in pain. Please... Help them.'
I almost couldn't believe it, this was definitely King I had in my hands “GUYS! Its King!” I yelled, tearing up a little from hearing my best friend for the first time in weeks “He's here!”
Before any one could snap out of their disbelief Kitsune tossed me an arrow “Touch the orb with the spade of that arrow.” He instructed from a distance “I can't get too close, the memories we extracted from Fido are reacting. Once you're done give it to Tarot so she can exorcise the excess darkness.”
With a firm nod I did as I was told and tapped King's orb with the arrow. In less than a second the orb shrank down and was absorbed by the arrow, that now took on a red tint as well as started to bear King's chess piece tag on its shaft.
“I'll take it from here.” Tarot said as she approached me
Once I handed the arrow over to Tarot I heard a slight shift in the rocks. Pebbles were shifting away from the pile and smoke as coughing could be heard from inside the smoke. This only meant that Fen managed to survive the explosion without passing out, and that our fight was far from over.
“Look alive gang!” Kitsune said as he notched another arrow “Fen's not done with us yet.”
As if on cue Fen's inverse blade tore through the smoke only to be shot down by one of Kitsune's arrows. Right about now I could tell Fen didn't care if the inverse blade hit anything or not, he only wanted it to break one way or another, and Kitsune fell for it. Fen emerged from the smoke with a smirk as a second orb was floating in his hands. This one was blue and had a witch's hat and wand equipped onto it while Sabrina's ankh decorated the center. Darkness started to shell Fen and our window started to close.
“NOT THIS TIME YOU DON'T!” Kitsune yelled as he loosed another arrow
The arrow couldn't have cut it any closer as it sailed passed the shadows, absorbed Sabrina's orb and made it out in one piece. The cocoon completely formed and melted away, and this time Fen was wearing a vest that had long sleeves that fell all the way to Fen's wrists as a witch hat rested on his head but instead of a keyblade in his hands Fen was holding a wand and looking visibly confused. When he saw the arrow that absorbed Sabrina's orb he tried to make his way towards it but was intercepted by Fido.
With only a wand as his weapon Fen had no means of fighting at close range, and was forced away by Fido who continued to add on the pressure “TAROT! Get the arrow and run!” he said as he was able to move Fen to a safer distance
Since Fido was busy holding Fen back, I rushed over to Sabrina's arrow, and exactly like King's her voice sounded in my head 'They're grieving, they're in pain... Please Help them.'
Just to make sure that Fen had no leeway to slip past Fido Grape rushed over to provide more cover. I did the same after handing the arrow over to Tarot. However, now that there was three threats approaching him Fen slammed the crystal ball on his wand into the ground. In an instant Fen caused a geyser of fire to erupt from underneath him causing both Grape and I to halt our advances. Despite the fire coming from the ground, thanks to his aura, Fido was unharmed but pushed away.
Determined to keep us at the distance he pushed us to, Fen pointed his wand at us and released multiple bolts of fire that came simultaneously. Once again Fido came to our rescue and intercepted each bolt of fire with a shield that absorbed the energy and took on the appropriate shape.
Using his shields to their fullest Fido rushed over to each and every one of them and batted them towards Fen. Kitsune and I joined Fido in attacking from a distance and unleashed our own long ranged attacks. Soon Fen was swamped with exploding shields, arrows and rebounding keyblades. Somehow like before Fen was able to keep track of each projectile that was being used against him and counter with either a wall of fire or blast it away with his own bolts of fire. However Grape used the chaos of all of our attacks as cover and was able to sneak up behind Fen.
With a firm kick to Fen's face, Grape sent the poor dog flying into the air, and made him an easy target. With his final batch of shields Fido sent them all towards Fen resulting in a massive fiery explosion that sent Fen into a free fall off the nearby cliff.
“OH CARP!” Fido cursed as he rushed over to the cliff,
I would've joined him to look over the edge of the cliff for Fen, but suddenly all my strength left me. I looked to my two other keyblades as they faded into dust, I had already used up all of my energy, and was now useless in battle.
“Fox are you alright?” Kitsune lowered himself to a knee to check on me
My head continued to spin as my vision faded in and out “I'm good, just a little tired.” I lied, there was no way I could fight like this
Kitsune shot me a look that said he didn't believe me as he lowered me to a resting position. All it took for that look on his face to change was a low rumble of thunder in the distance. His ears shifted slightly to judge how far away the rattle was, while his eyes shut to help him concentrate.
Once he was done Kitsune picked up his bow and drew an arrow aimed towards my arm as it adopted a soft blue glow “Don't worry, this isn't going to hurt a bit.” I didn't get a chance to argue as Kitsune loosed the arrow
I could only brace myself for the enormous sting of the arrow that should've overwhelmed my senses. Yet no matter how long I waited the pain never came. Instead a wave of relief washed over me as the arrow turned into light and enveloped me. In an instant I felt all of the fatigue of using up my energy just wash away. It was almost as if I never went into battle in the first place.
“This bow belonged to the best support class user in the game.” Kitsune said almost with a hint of pride “Now on your feet, according to what you've told me, there's one more form we have to deal with.” he held out his free hand to help me stand
A few moments after I was given a breather thunder shook the skies, and judging from the sound, it was definitely close by. From the same ledge where he came from Fen shot skyward from the cliff with a new keyblade in hand as well as wings that sprouted from the vest he wore as a blindfold covered his eyes.
Some how even with the blind fold on Fen managed to tell where all of us were and raised his hand. On his command, streams of lightning shot downward from the sky, Fido's shields took the heat for all of us. However as the flash of lightning faded away Fen was nowhere in sight.
“FIDO LOOK OUT!” Grape yelled, but was too late
Fen took advantage of the lightning's flash and was able to flank Fido without his notice and latch on to him. With Fido trapped in Fen's hold all it took was a few flaps of his newly formed wings and the two were already high in the sky above us. Grape attempted to reach Fido, but was unable to reach their height and fell back down towards us. Kitsune tried to shoot Fen down, but at this distance, hitting Fido was a huge risk.
Once the two were high enough Fen threw him a bit skyward and unleashed a long stringed combo on Fido. At the range Fen was to him Fido had no room to summon shields and was forced to absorb the blunt of the attacks full force. Finishing the combo Fen kicked Fido downward towards us and fired down a combined bolt of of flames and lightning to accelerate Fido's fall.
The force of the attack was so great that when Fido crashed into the ground, a crater was left behind. As the dust cleared Fido was left unconscious as his aura had run its course and evaporated till he woke up again.
Keeping up his relentless barrage Fen continued to swoop down on any of us that remained, but was eventually kept at bay with Kitsune's arrows “FIDO'S DOWN! GRAPE TAKE HIM TO SAFETY, FOX HELP ME KEEP FEN DISTRACTED! WE NEED TO BUY GRAPE THE TIME SHE NEEDS!”
Rather than break Fen's keyblade a second time and effectively shorten my time on the battlefield I instead went for the shuriken and kunai in my pouch. Armed with my projectiles I joined Kitsune as we kept Fen from swooping down on Grape as she hauled Fido to safety. Since Fen was airborne he was incredibly hard to hit, even Kitsune was struggling with hitting a mark.
It eventually reached the point where Kitsune had run out of arrows. Now that his quiver was empty the bow in his hands was enveloped in a bright flash as it shrank back down to its great sword form. With a frustrated grunt Kitsune sheathed the great sword and pulled out his Katina.
Holding his katana firmly Kitsune closed his eyes and concentrated. A few moments passed before Kitsune drove the sword into the ground and a yin-yang symbol appeared on the floor as eight ethereal Kitsune clones materialized, one for each color of the spectrum. With his clones drawing the same katana they all charged towards Fen despite him still being high in the sky.
In order to combat Fen's advantage the Kitsune clones worked in perfect coordination with one another. When one jumped off the ground, a second one used him as a stepping stone to jump even higher, and the process repeated itself until the Kitsune clones were on the same height as Fen. Sadly as impressive as their coordination was Fen easily dodged the slash and was able to dispatch the one that attempted to hit him with one slash of his wing leaving its ethereal sword to fall to the ground.
“He's just too high!” The original Kitsune said as he landed back on the ground and picked up the fallen Kitsune's sword “Now that he knows what we're all capable of he's taking us out one by one while keeping his height advantage.”
“Then let's try it again. This time everyone pitches in.” Grape said as she rejoined the fray
Since there was no other choice left to us Kitsune nodded in affirmation “Fox, cover us. Keep him guessing and confused.”
“Gotcha, but I'm warning you. I don't have much of these left” I said as I pulled my last set of throwing stars
With our plan of attack decided Kitsune led the attack with his seven other clones in tow as well as Grape following not too far behind. As they readied themselves I got into position at the highest point I could reach before they were ready. Again one Kitsune jumped and acted as a stepping stone for the second and so on and so on.
The difference this time was I wasn't going to let Fen anticipate them coming. As accurate as I could I threw my stars at him to keep him strafing so that he could avoid them. Eventually Kitsune managed to get to Fen's height and the two clashed blades mid air. Grape took advantage of this and was able to jump up behind Fen and slash down on his wings while his blade was occupied. With his wings disintegrated away Fen was at the mercy of gravity and was left to plummet into the ground. Fen came in for a messy landing and skidded to a stop just a few inches away from the cliff.
When Grape and Kitsune came down for a landing, I joined them as we checked up on Fen as darkness cocooned him once more and melted to reveal Fen back in his regular coat with a yellow orb wearing a blindfold floating not too far from his head.
“It's over right?” I asked as Grape cradled the ball
“It... should be.” Kitsune said as he tried to catch his breath “We've done all we can to correct Fen's balance. Now its all up to him.”
“Peanut?” Grape stared at the floating orb in confusion “Is that you?”
“Its normal Grape, I heard King's voice too.” I said moving in a little closer to study Peanut's orb while Kitsune kept his distance
“Peanut,” she continued, ignoring me and my attempts to approach “you're all here. who's... they?”
Before we could question what she meant by that Fen pulled his head back and released a loud reverberating howl. We wouldn't have paid it much attention but much to our utter horror. Fen's howl was answered by another howl coming from the cave.
“This is bad, this is very, very bad.” Panic seemed to posses Kitsune as he started to move back
“What is that?” Grape asked as we followed Kitsune with Fen in tow “Kitsune, what's wrong.”
“There's no time to explain!” Kitsune said as his great sword shifted back into being a bow allowing him to draw it “Take an arrow, put Peanut's heart in it and go!” he tossed Grape an arrow and made his way towards Tarot and a passed out Fido
Before he could take another step a quick blur slammed into Kitsune's face, knocking him off his feet. When I traced the trajectory back to where the blur came from I saw the mysterious figure holding his hand up as a the blur was revealed to be a hammer.
“See what I've been telling you Fenrir.” he said in a scolding manner “You may be ferocious, but you are nothing compared to the original. Speaking of which... brother, please remove these from my hands. I've long since gotten tired of having them on. They were useful for only a brief moment, but ultimately a complete burden.”
From the cave a large silhouette moved forward. Once he stepped into the light the brother he was talking about was a large muscular wolf bound in broken chains. His presence just made all of my instincts scream at me to run in the other direction, even if all he really did was stand there. His fur was the messiest I've ever seen, it even covered his eyes, but I didn't need to see his eyes to see that his eyes were absolutely terrifying.
The large wolf did as he was told and held his hand over his brother's. A few seconds later and the red unraveled itself off of his hands and joined the broken chains on the large wolf's.
“Finally, I will never understand how you can deal with those accursed ribbons around your wrists.” he said rubbing his wrists “And isn't this a surprise... Brother fetch him for me.”
Instinctively Grape and I motioned to guard Kitsune as he recovered from the blow to the head “WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE!?” he said pushing us away “RUN!”
The large wolf was soon on top of us and pushed Grape and I away easily. We didn't even get a chance to do anything. The wolf was just too powerful and was easily able to choke Kitsune with just one hand as he brought him back to his brother.
“Long time no see, Chief.” The mysterious figure said completely amused
Kitsune struggled to say anything from being choked but managed to squeeze out one name “... Jormungand.”
End of Chapter 31
NEXT TIME ON HEARTS OF THE SELFLESS
"Kitsune, Chief, Its been quite some time. brings back the nostalgia doesn't it?"
"The feeling's not mutual."
"Fox, what do we do?"
"Take us to him, we know what to do."
"I say go for it."
"WAKE UP!"
(No image this time since i have no access to my scanner and didn't have the time to sketch something out.
)
Sidenote: If this was an actualy kingdomhearts game When Kitsune says they have five minutes to prepare for the fight against Fen i would've actually went back a few worlds to grind until i had all the best spells and abilities.