Chapter 7 - Number XV: Xaphire

Sora weakly opened his eyes, his head felt like it was on fire. He steadily got up to his feet, but struggled due to being worn out from the clash with the Twilight Thorn.
"You seriously have a problem with sleeping." A voice echoed.
Sora jumped out of his skin, he turned his head round to the source of the echo, Riku had been standing next to him with crossed arms, and he didn't look at all amused.
“Hehe … it does seem to be a bit of a bad habit with me.” Sora embarrassingly admitted, scratching the back of his head and putting on an awkward smile.
Riku sighed, but then his whole attitude turned serious "Sora... Do you know how you got Anti-Form?" He asked openly, eyes gazing at Sora.
Sora paused, gave it a bit of a thought, and then shrugged, "I don't really know ... it just sort of happened." He answered admittedly.
Riku gazed at him with piercing eyes, causing Sora to feel out of place. This was a first for Sora, seeing Riku so worried about their situation. But … who could blame him?
Riku then took in a deep breath. “Influence.” He stated, looking away.
“Influence?” Sora echoed in confusion, tilting his head sideways.
Riku nodded, “Yeah … do you remember when you turned into a Heartless?” He then asked.
“Parts of it, yeah.” Sora answered truthfully, although he wished he forget about his time spent as a Heartless.
Riku began to explain, “Well, remnants of your Heartless self is still inside you. And so, ever since the incident in Hollow Bastion –“
"Radiant Garden!" Sora corrected in interruption.
"Whatever. Your heart has been affected by it, and so causing you to change into Anti-Form occasionally whenever you change into one of your forms. But by the looks of things, its power seems to be getting stronger."
"How do you know that?" Sora asked him curiously.
"Supposedly, your Final Form should be able to prevent Anti-Form from getting stronger, but somehow Anti-Form was able to overcome it and take control over you. Another reason is that you’re Anti-Form used to only use its hands like claws to attack, but now it's able to wield a Keyblade ... my old Keyblade of Darkness."
"Wait … didn't I destroy that thing!?" Sora yelled out with surprise.
"That's what I thought at first ... but I guess I was wrong. When you released Kairi's heart and yours with that Keyblade back in Hollow- I mean Radiant Garden Castle, it must have affected your own heart and so not destroying it entirely." Riku explained as best as he could.
"I don't understand ... it's never done that before." Sora said, looking confused and worried.
"I don't understand either ... we're going to have to ask King Mickey about this mess and have it sorted out ... once we get out of this place." Riku told him, thinking the situation through thoroughly.
They then locked eyes on the passageway on the other end of the Dome.
“Ready to move on?” Riku asked.
“Yeah.” Sore nodded, tensing up.
They made their journey across the Dome, having a moment to themselves. Everything in this world they were in was an enigma; Riku’s hallucination of Xehanort (Ansem: Seeker of Darkness) and Sora’s battle to keep control of his own body from his Anti-Form were only some of the mysteries running through their minds. They entered through the passage and began to make their way up a flight of stairs, which seemed to be spiralling. They ascended it with caution, feeling the sense that enemies may jump out at any time. But none appeared. They finally reached another, very large set of doors. They took hold of a handle, but Riku stopped Sora from pulling for the moment.
Riku turned to Sora. "Just to be on the safe side, from now on, we must have our Keyblade’s out at the ready at all times. You got it?" He explained cautiously, his Keyblade suddenly appearing in his grasp. “I have a feeling that on the other side of this door is far from pleasant.”
"What, are you’re darkness senses tingling? Heh heh …” Sora joked, resting his head against his hands and showing a cheeky smile.
Riku gazed at him with dagger-like eyes and an eyebrow rose. He wasn’t in any mood for jokes.
“Oh, sorry. I wanted to lift the mood a little.” Sora apologised, blushing with embarrassment.
Sora opened his hand as his Keyblade made an appearance, but then Sora found himself bewildered as he noticed the look of his Keyblade. It wasn't the Kingdom Key that appeared ... but it was the Keyblade of Darkness.
"N-no way!" He stuttered in shock, mouth dropped and eyes wide.
Riku examined Sora’s Keyblade, his eyes too suddenly widened.
"How is this even possible!?” Riku asked out, trying to keep himself calm. “Something or someone has to be messing around with us! If it’s a joke, I’ve had enough of it!”
“After what we’ve been through since coming here, I doubt it.” Sora assured him, sighing as he studied his newly formed Keyblade. “We better keep going if we’re to find out what’s been going on.” He then explained.
Riku took another look at the Keyblade and then nodded to Sora. Both of them grasped hold of a handle and pulled, the hinges were stiff and the doors were heavy due to their size. Once open, the room they were about to enter was pitch black. Sora and Riku eyed each other with dismay; both were feeling this room was not a place someone would want to be in. But they had no choice but to push forward, they headed in and closed the set of doors behind them. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a dark voice echoed the room.
"Whenever there is light, there is darkness ... whenever there is a heart, there are emotions. But we Nobodies ... have no emotion, no heart, and no soul. We seek it, we desire it, we hope for it. And so Organization XIII was created with the purpose of gaining their own existence, but failed in reaching their goal. In the end, they were all erased ... because of you ... the Wielders of the Keyblade."
“Organization XIII!?” Sora echoed with shock.
"Show yourself!" Riku bellowed, feeling somewhat uncomfortable by the echoing voice.
Suddenly, a dim light filled the room. It was still dark but Sora and Riku were able to make out the features within the room. Once again this room was large, Sora and Riku was standing on a long bridge heading to a sort of platform. Beside them and around the entire platform was a drop that ... never ended. It was a bottomless pit. On the opposite side of the platform from the bridge were steps that headed up to a large, crystallised throne. Sitting on the throne was a dark figure, but the light in the room was too dim to see his features. Sora and Riku had their eyes locked on him as they strode across the bridge to the platform.
"Who are you?" Sora hesitantly asked to the figure, eyes locked in caution.
The figure was leaning on the palm of his right hand with his elbow on the arm of the throne. From the way he was sitting, Sora and Riku could tell he was rather bored. The light in the room had then finally brightened up, and so the throne and the platform and showed the man’s features in more detail, giving Sora and Riku a sudden shock. The man was wearing the Organization XIII cloak. His hair was brown, spiky and long, with the fringe completely covering the left side of his face and his left eye, the top part of his hair was spiking up and the rest going down to the bottom of his neck. There was a scar embedded on his right cheek shaped like a talon and his green right eye locked at them like an arrow ready to fire its target. The man then sat himself upright and began to speak.
"I am Organization XIII's Number XV: Xaphire." He stated himself, showing no emotion whatsoever.
"You’ve been keeping an eye on us since we came here, haven’t you?" Riku assumed, showing anger in his voice.
"Wait ... number XV!? But there were only 13 members, wasn’t there!?" Sora yelled out, confusing himself.
Suddenly, Xaphire disappeared in a flash, catching Sora out. He then instantly reappeared behind Sora and Riku. But with him, he was holding a Golden-bladed Great-sword in his right hand, the edge of the blade close to Sora’s neck. The hilt was shaped like a pair of wings, the right part of the hilt showing a black dragon wing and the right side showing a white eagle wing. The handle of the Great-sword had been carefully wrapped with a leather coating. The sword itself was large and seemed to be heavy, but somehow Xaphire was able to hold it in one hand with ease. Xaphire was around about as tall as Xemnas was.
"Wouldn't you like to know, Master of the Keyblade." He answered in a deep, eerie voice.
Noticing Xaphire behind him, Sora swiftly span round and swiped horizontally with the Keyblade of Darkness, but Xaphire jumped back with no effort. Both Sora and Riku readied themselves, holding their Keyblades towards Xaphires direction. That was when they noticed that Xaphire had not one ... but two Golden-bladed Great-swords. He was Dual Wielding.
"I’ve got to say, you did pretty well fighting against the Twilight Thorn earlier, but will that Anti-Form of yours help you against me?" Xaphire taunted, grasping his Swords tightly.
Sora didn’t hesitate at all and began to charge towards the idle Xaphire.
"Wait, Sora!" Riku shouted out, but Sora didn't stop.
Sora leaped towards Xaphire and cut across with his Keyblade, Xaphire parried it with his left hand sword and span into a counterattack, hitting Sora squarely on the back and throwing him across the platform. Sora leapt back to his feet swung in for another strike, but every attack Sora threw at Xaphire was easily parried back by him with no effort at all. Riku took this chance of Xaphire being distracted by Sora and went in for the opening. But as he swung the Keyblade for Xaphire’s side, Xaphire instantly parried with his other sword without even looking. Riku quickly leapt back in case Xaphire went for another counter.
Riku swiftly shouted out, "Dark Firaga!"
He cut the air in front of him with his Keyblade as a ball of Dark blue flame shot out, heading straight towards Xaphire. Xaphire somehow knew it was coming and so instantly blocked the incoming attack with left sword, repelling it with the flick of the wrist back at Riku.
Riku quickly noticed it incoming, "Dark Shield!" He bellowed out.
A transparent shield formed like a, preventing the counterattack from colliding into him. The strength of the attack caused Riku to slide backwards across the platform on his feet. Riku swiftly placed his free hand on the floor in order to prevent himself from going off the edge of the platform. Sora continued to strike a flurry of blows at Xaphire, putting all his strength into the attacks. But all the attacks were just being parried by Xaphire like it was nothing. Riku watched in disbelief, Xaphire wasn’t even making an effort to fight. He then swiftly raced in for another strike, hoping to confuse him. Sora knew what to do; he swiftly dipped his body low and struck an uppercut at the right of Xaphire, with Riku at the same time striking down with a vertical swing at his left. But Xaphire swiftly collided both his swords against the two Keyblades. Sora and Riku took no time to think and continued to strike from every direction with a flurry of attacks. But this was no use; Xaphire was fast enough to parry and evade all of their own attacks. Xaphire then produced dark grey energy auras in his blades and swung at exactly the point of where Sora and Riku were to strike next. The energy flows in his blades were released; creating large, thin but sharp energy waves that had collided into both Sora and Riku. The two flew different directions across the platform; Sora colliding into the steps, and Riku almost falling off the edge of the platform. Luckily, Riku was able to grab onto the edge of the platform and hung for dear life to prevent himself from falling. Sora weakly got to his feet, feeling the pain from the last attack throb throughout his body. Riku leapt up from his hanging position and landed safely on the platform.
“(Sigh) … and here I was thinking I would actually have a proper challenge when facing you two, but all I get are pathetic, weak, low life children thinking their cool swinging around their Keyblades.” Xaphire moaned, rolling his eyes.
"Well … you certainly are a tough one, aren’t you?” Riku joked, gasping for air. “We were just testing you; we weren’t really trying at all.”
“Oh, is that so?” Xaphire questioned curiously, showing the slight sign of interest.
“What are you talking abou – Oh, right! Yeah, we wanted to see what you were made of.” Sora confirmed, only just realising what Riku was saying.
Riku’s eyes glared at him with irritation, it looked as though he was close to face-palming.
“… Anyway, I guess it’s time we step up the game a bit.” Riku sighed, flexing his shoulders.
“I’m looking forward to it.” Xaphire muttered, smiling slightly yet darkly.
Riku began to charge swiftly towards the idle Xaphire, holding his Keyblade in the usual position. Sora knew straight away what Riku was about to do, and he was needed for this attack to work. He clenched his own Keyblade tightly and charged towards Xaphire. Both Riku and Sora were now close enough for Riku to release his attack.
“Session!” Riku bellowed, launching himself at Xaphire.
Sora simultaneously launched himself towards Xaphire from the opposite direction, causing the three of them to collide. Both Sora and Riku began to strike from every direction at Xaphire, conbining various moves as they strike. Xaphire swiftly dodged with ease as they struck, as though it was nothing to him. Riku and Sora knew what to do next. In sync with each other, they backed off from Xaphire and threw their arms in his direction. Suddenly, streaks of Dark Energy shot out continuously from the palms of their hands. Xaphire automatically swiped with his Blades continuously as the streams of Dark energy came into reach, causing them to explode. This was their chance.
“XIII Blades!!!” Both Riku and Sora roared within the incoming smoke.
Xaphire patiently waited for the attack to come at him, but what he did not expect was to size and ferocity of the Blades that span towards him. Sora and Riku flew around Xaphire as every Blade of Energy collided into Xaphire. Xaphire was able to just about parry the Blades with his own but the number was in the duo’s favour. Xaphire instantly changed tactics and swiftly dodged the incoming Blades. But that was what Riku and Sora wanted him to do.
“It’s ends now, Xaphire!!!” Riku roared, preparing for the final strike.
Simultaneously, Sora and Riku threw their own Keyblades at Xaphire’s direction as they leaped out of the way, the Keyblades automatically placed themselves on opposite sides of the Nobody. Within the next second, auras formed around the Keyblades, causing the whole arena to light up. Suddenly, a bright flash blinded the whole room and streams of energy collided straight into Xaphire from opposite sides. Riku and Sora quickly braced themselves as the explosion caused them to fly back. As the light and smoke cleared, Sora and Riku saw nothing left. Xaphire was gone.
“Wow … I knew that attack was strong, but not THAT strong.” Riku joked, amazed.
“And yet … all it inflicted was a scratch.” A voice then echoed the room.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, Sora felt something kick him directly in the face, sending him flying into the distance. Sora swiftly recovered in mid-air, just in time as two large Blades sliced downwards from above him. Sora parried the Blades and attempted to counter with a sharp uppercut at the cloaked figure … but was dodged. The cloaked figure was then properly in sight of Sora’s gaze, Xaphire was unscathed, apart from his chest in which showed a small, diagonal cut.
“I must say, you two are the first to actually inflict damage upon me … even though it is something so petty.” Xaphire sneered.
Riku suddenly appeared above Xaphire and lunged his Keyblade from behind. Xaphire turned and instantly parried with his left Blade. But, just as he did that, Sora span with his Keyblade of Darkness and collided it into Xaphire. But this was pointless. Xaphire again parried with the attack his right Blade. He then counter-span and sent Sora and Riku falling to the platform, Xaphire swiftly reappeared, looming over the wounded Sora; He put away his left sword and grabbed Sora by the throat, Sora's feet lifted off of the ground. Sora struggled to get out of Xaphire's clutches, but it was no use. Xaphire’s grip was like a rock. Xaphire strode over to the edge of the platform, dangling Sora over the edge.
"SORA!!!" Riku bellowed as he struggled to his feet.
He swiftly gripped his Keyblade charged towards Xaphire. But Xaphire, with the Blade he was holding, cut Riku without even looking at him. Riku collided into the sudden attack and was sent flying back across the platform. He tried to get up again with the strength of his arms, but it gave way due to the lack of energy left within him.
"Pathetic." Xaphire spat out, eyes piecing into Sora.
"Shut ... Up." Sora wheezed, still struggling to get out of Xaphire’s grip.
Xaphire then gave out the slightest chuckle. He then lifted slowly into the air and threw Sora above him. He swiftly span sideways as his other Blade appeared on his left hand. Sora fell back and collided with the Blades. Within one fell swoop, Sora was sent hurtling down the bottomless pit, unconscious and helpless.

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