Chapter 5
“The Badlands”
As the fighting progressed around the podiums, no one paid much attention to the deactivated Monokuma and his large Mega friend. The air between them seemed to shimmer as the two robot bears began to pixellate. They were quickly broken down into indistinguishable pieces, their data beginning to merge together. As if some supernatural force was forming them into something entirely new, a red aura emitted from the fusion of bears.
They grew to twice the size of even MegaKuma, a chilling red energy flowing around them.
It could only be described as Demon Monokuma.
"User lost, searching for trace amounts of... Hope..." The demonic bear lifted its nose, seeming to sniff the air. After a moment, it growled, shaking its head wildly.
"Hope...! Hope found! Too much Hope! Delete... Delete! Delete, Delete, Delete!!"
The bear's mouth dropped open, revealing an unnaturally large maw. The air around the bear seemed to tighten as he roared, releasing the energy into a concentrated blast. Almost too fast to comprehend, the blast slammed into Aoko, her form dissipating on contact. In mere seconds, it was as if the woman ceased to exist.
"Deleeeete!!!" The bear reached out a claw, the energy around him forming a giant claw outside of his reach. It stretched outward, flying out and taking hold of
Sarutobi Hiruzen. Pulling the man into him, the bear giggled loudly, its laughter reverberating through the floor. As the man touched the red energy surrounding the bear, he too seemed to dissipate from existence.
Ludger had been momentarily shocked by this sudden development, and it took the death of another one of his allies to knock him into motion. Summoning his pistols, he fired a volley of bullets into the creature, but they seemed to evaporate upon touching the foul red energy.
"What the--"
"DELETE!" Shock waves emitted from the beast, red energy spreading out from him to form spikes that jutted out of the floor.
Jiriaya was skewered by one of the spikes, his body dissipating before everyone's eyes. The bear then continued to scream out "DELETE", throwing out more blasts of energy from his mouth as he did so.
Belphegor and
Nito were caught by the blasts, though
Cell managed to escape the third shot narrowly. The demon bear wasn't about to let him get away however, as he began to suck in air in Cell's direction. He became like a vacuum, pulling Cell closer to him. The perfect being was powerless to do anything as he was sucked into the bear's gaping maw.
"Ludger!" Makoto yelled to him over the communicator. "What's happening? We've suddenly lost contact with--"
"A-A bear... A bear thing destroyed the final catalyst, and now he's on a rampage!"
"Destroyed the--" Makoto took in a sharp intake of breath. "Ludger, if they're gone, get everyone out of there! Now!"
Realizing Makoto had the right idea, Ludger quickly lifted his spear.
However, someone didn't want him to leave just yet--
"Wait!! You can't just leave me here! Not with this thing! Don't go, don't go!" Junko grabbed hold of Ludger's arm, who couldn't do much to shake her with the transport already starting. The demon Monokuma readied another mouth blast, but he seemed to freeze as the world around everyone broke away into nothing.
After a moment of silence, the world of nothingness then rebuilt from the ground up. Dust clouded the vision of the survivors until a visible surface had finally been recreated around them. Once the new area was entirely visible to the group of Akibahara crusaders, they would see a deserted wasteland.
The ground was hot, dusty and made of rough clay. The sunlight that beat down on their heads from the sky was brutally hot. Lastly, all around them, the group would see miles and miles of weapons stuck into the ground. They weren’t just any weapons either. They were keyblades, the same type of weapon that their comrade Aqua carried with her.
Aqua rushed in front of everyone, stopping them with a motion of her hand.
“I know this place!” she cried.
“This place is a world from my own universe! It's called... The Keyblade Graveyard.”
The keyblade master grinned excitedly.
“Finding the divergent catalyst here shouldn’t be a problem. Out of any of us, I know this world best. I’m sure I can figure out this world’s alternative history and lead us in the right direction.”
After speaking, Aqua’s communicator began to beep. Oddly enough, everyone’s communicators began beeping after hers did. The group looked around, for the divergent catalyst, but saw nothing. Perhaps the communicators were malfunctioning?
As they traveled, Aqua explained the history of the world as best she could.
“This place is a graveyard now. Long ago, a war was fought here between keyblade wielders and seekers of darkness over a great, powerful source of light. The blades of the fallen warriors still stand here today, so I don’t think that the keyblade war has anything to do with this world’s alternate history; it looked the same in my version of the world,” Aqua explained.
“I’ll take some time, but I’m sure we’ll be able to figure it out…”
The group traveled for days after arriving, loosing themselves within the massive maze of old keyblades. A week had passed and they still hadn’t found anything to do with the world’s alternate history. They only found more dirt, dust, and broken, rusty keys.
Aqua sighed.
“It doesn’t make any sense. Nothing about this world looks any different. After the Keyblade War happened here, the only thing to happen afterwards was fairly recent. My friends, Terra and Ven, along with myself came to this world, seeking to question a master about the sneaky things he had been up to lately. The master—Xehanort—betrayed us, stole Terra’s body to use for his own, and the dark master’s apprentice—Vanitas—possessed my friend Ven. I fought and defeated the dark master’s apprentice, stopping him. And later, I fought and stopped the dark master himself before I was trapped in the Ream of Darkness--an empty world were lost souls reside--by accident. But I don’t see any sign of either of them—“
A voice suddenly echoed in the heads of everyone in the group, laughing darkly.
“Are you sure about that, Aqua?”
Aqua blinked, looking around.
“That voice… Vanitas?!”
“That’s right. After so long, I’m surprised you haven’t forgotten about me.”
“You should be gone. I stopped you,” Aqua told him, narrowing her eyes.
“You should have? That’s a laugh. You didn’t. I’m still here. YOU failed to stop me. You stopped Master Xehanort, but you were too pathetic to even have the nerve to face me. So with you gone and Master Xehanort gone, do you know what I did? I forged the ultimate keyblade and brought many worlds into darkness.”
Aqua felt her legs tremble.
“No…”
Vanitas chuckled.
“Yes, I did. Would you like a second chance at stopping me? You’ll have to look for me. I broke myself into two pieces and hid them somewhere in this world. Find and destroy both parts and the real me will come back. You’ll have a chance to really stop me this time. Aqua, I’ll be waiting for you at the crossroads once I've returned…”
An image of what the two pieces of Vanitas looked like appeared before the group.
Aqua clenched a fist, her arms shaking.
“We know who the divergent catalyst is. Now we just need to find these two pieces of him so we can destroy them, before finally destroying his real self.”
Just in the nick of time, the Coalition communicators beeped, showing a map of the area on their screens that they had finally managed to compile.
Locations:
Seat of War - A small outcropping of rock overlooking the shattered vista below.
Twister Trench - It appears to be a trench full of vicious looking storms. Tread with caution.
Fissure- A small ravine containing a few tents. They appear to be shopping areas run by moogles—quirky, adorable little creatures who live in Aqua’s universe…
Crossroads - Four crossroads, covered by the keyblades of wielders who fell during the Keyblade War. It was here Aqua and her companions faced Master Xehanort and Vanitas long ago…
Dark Cave - An unknown location. It appears to be fairly new on the map.
~CAST LIST~
@Atomyk as
Claire Redfield [Resident Evil]
@FireDrake150 as
Izana [Original Character] and
Ace [Final Fantasy]
@Gummi Bunnies as
Red [Pokemon] and
Rinato Dormi [Original Character]
@BarrenThin as
Lisa Castle and
Frank Castle [Marvel Comics]
@The Tactician as
Kazuya 'Abel' Mineshigi and
Naoya 'Cain' Mineshigi [Devil Survivor]
@Verite as
Shiki Tohno [Type-Moon]
@Krieg as
Jon Snow [Game of Thrones]
@Bomb as
Plutia [Hyperdimension Neptunia] and
Gnar [League of Legends]
@Emperor Palpachu as
R2-D2 [Star Wars] and
The Doctor [Doctor Who]
@Klutzy Ninja Kitty as
Aqua [Kingdom Hearts]
@Hospes as
Teresa Agnes [Maze Runner]
@york as
Sophie [Cry of Fear] and
Ruby Rose [RWBY]
@TheColourlessRainbow as
The Charmed Ones [Charmed]
@DapperDogman as
Soul 'Eater' Evans [Soul Eater] and
Ulysses[Fallout]
@Proxymoron as
Nicki Minaj [Real Life]
@Thuro Pendragon as
Ezio Auditore and
Desmond Miles [Assassin's Creed]
@Ryu Keiko as
Ryu Keiko [Original Character]
@Josh M as
Travis Touchdown [No More Heroes]
@Raven as
Jake Long [American Dragon] and
Stitch [Lilo and Stitch]
@TheBlueBurch as
Chloe Price [Life is Strange]
@Jeremi as
Storm and
Crusader [Marvel Comics]
@Wedge Antilles as
Legolas Greenleaf [The Lord of the Rings]
@ShadowPrime as
Felix [Red vs Blue]
@Unlimited RP Works as
Archer [Type-Moon]
@Meira as
Revya [Soul Nomad & The World Eaters]
@The Silver Paladin as
The Lone Wanderer/Riley [Fallout]
@Mtntopview as
Frenzy [Transformers]
@Nater Taters as
Booker DeWitt [Bioshock]
@ResistingTheEnlightened as
Joshua Graham [Fallout]
@Lizzy as
Link and
Fi [Legend of Zelda]
@Ivazel as
Albert Wesker [Resident Evil]
The Dead
@Emperor Palpachu as
Darth Vader - DIED! INNOCENT!
GUNNED DOWN!
@Chris Lang as
Kalifa and
Kaku - MURDERED! INNOCENT!
CRUSHED!
@Maddeline as
Emily "Hunter" Grimes - DIED! INNOCENT!
VAPORIZED!
@Mighty Roman as
Joseph Aniphage - MURDERED! INNOCENT!
SNAPPED NECK!
@Infinatis as
Grail Trigadon and
Specter Knight - DIED! INNOCENT!
SQUASHED LIKE A BUG!
@M a r s as
Lucy Heartfilia - DIED! INNOCENT!
GUNNED DOWN!
@Banana Soiree as
Harry Hart/Galahad - DIED! INNOCENT!
GUNNED DOWN!
@Schnee Corp Lawyer as
Alice Margatroid - MURDERED! INNOCENT!
BRAIN EXPLODED AND BEATEN TO DEATH!
@OrlandoBloomers as
Maxine Caulfield - MURDERED! INNOCENT!
IMPALED!
@Mari as
Bayonetta - MURDERED!
AGENT! ARROW TO THE BACK OF THE HEAD!
@Hospes as
Ridley Duchannes - EXECUTED!
TRAITOR! BEGGED FOR DEATH!
@FancyForrest as
Wander - DIED! INNOCENT!
CONSUMED BY BLACK FIRE!
@Librarian Cat as
Corvo Attano - DIED! INNOCENT!
SHATTERED!
@MrDubWubs as
Vi - DIED! INNOCENT!
CRUSHED BY A METEOR!
@Korra as
Dante - DIED! INNOCENT!
PUNCHED THROUGH THE HEART!
@Jenny as
Margaery Tyrell and
Loras Tyrell - DIED! INNOCENT!
HEADS SMASHED IN!
@Sandra as
Sylveon and
Umbreon - DIED! INNOCENT!
IMMOLATED!
@Black Cat as
Sarutobi Hiruzen and
Toad Sage Jiriaya - DIED! INNOCENT!
DELETED!
@OrionsHammer as
Belphegor - DIED! INNOCENT!
DELETED!
@SirDerpingtonIV as
Nito - DIED! INNOCENT!
DELETED!
@Dinoteen as
Cell - DIED! INNOCENT!
DELETED!