DESCENT INTO DARKNESS

[Secondary Characters]

-except that when MeadowSong freed her vision from the bucket, litte miss Possible wouldn't be where she was! Kimmy knew this was a distraction tactic AT BEST, so she made use of the little time she had bought to her full advantage.

While MeadowSong was busy singing her own praises and making a big firey show of getting a bucket off her head, Kimmy had used her acrobatic skills to rebound off one wall and then another to scale the distance from floor to ceiling, where she'd find a handhold on an ornamental sconce. It was a bit hot, yes, but she wore gloves for a reason!

The Dark One would burst just then, and speak something about being better than Kim or some other monolouge. She really didn't listen to these a whole lot any more. They were all basically the same. Taking advantage of her moment of surprise, Kim leapt down, trying to tackle the queen to the ground, where she'd pin her.

"Problem with you fire-throwing types..." Kim said, pulling some flameproof rope from her bag in order to try and bind MeadowSong's arms over her back and wings to keep her grounded. "...You all talk too much."

[Hades]

Meanwhile, above, a losing battle was taking place.

Hades loved losing battles. Someone was always on their way downstairs when one was going on. Of course, making himself present during one was against the rules, but that didn't mean he couldn't still cheat the system...

Though Death could not be seen, its presence could be felt everywhere. For Gabranth, this was not just a pretty metaphor but a stone-cold fact. Within his mind, he could hear the mocking voice of Hades chuckling as attack after attack would land. "Woo... looks like you're losing pretty bad..."

The Blot was a formidable foe, a master of darkness, and now he was assisted by some strange spectre who existed somewhere between... This fight was too much. "Yanno, ya could have avoided this mess. Coulda offed Herc, had your own life, badda-bing, badda-boom, but hey now look at ya..."

Another attack would come, and Hades would keep talking. "Listen, I'm not a bad guy. Heck, I'm even willing to cut you a deal right here right now. You still got a few days left on your time card, yeah? Here's what I'm willing to offer..."

Gabranth would have to be on the move now, or face something nasty. He had to do this with Hades being a distraction in his mind as well. Very annoying.

"I cut your grace period in HALF, okay? And in return for you getting a fire lit under your butt to take down the demigod, I get you out of this jam lickedy-split! Sound good?"

A pause.

"And don't try to jip me like that jerk in the jetpack did."

[Hercules]

The battle was taking a toll on Hercules. Lucky for him that he was glowing when Meg's ... whatever she was... went to snip at the thread. Had he been in his weakened state as he was now just after a blast from the scepter, he'd be a goner.

Breathing hard and just barely holding the Faerie's Wrath, Herc was struggling just to stand at this point. He had made two strikes, and that took a lot out of him as is. Each time it got harder, as he was using his own life force to power these darkness-stripping blasts.

"Come on, Meg..." Herc pleaded as she went through the wall. "Remember the time we played hookie...? How mad that made Phil? You always loved that story..." he muttered, trying hard to stand, only to find she was on the warpath again. She'd smash into him, even get a few slashes off of him before he could get his aura up once more.

He was bleeding now, tired and battered because he refused to just knock her block off (easy, by the way). He loved her too much to give up on her. He'd have to gamble on this next move. He'd get a pretty much guaranteed shot, but she might kill him in the time it takes. He could pour his last remaining power into the blast right now, get her in the mid-section while she grappled with him, but it would put him at the point of near-death, and should she get so much as even ONE more strike on him while he was weakened, or pulled that thread out while his aura was down, it was game over.

It was a stupid, reckless move... but people always do stupid things when they're in love. "MEGAARAAA!!!" he screamed, forcing everything in him to the staff, causing it to glow an amazing golden light before erupting outward while in contact with her gut.

The blast would brighten the entire room, shockwaves peeling back even the shadows on the Heartless which were still bounding about the edges of the battle. Herc would fall backward, too exhausted to make another move.

That's it... all or nothing...

Herc was through.

[MeadowSong]

[glow=Purple,2,300]Perhaps it was because a demigod was present, filled to the core with pure, raidant light, or maybe it was because though a being of darkness being a Heartless was relatively new and she was not completely aware of the extent of her raw power. She may have to seek Atticus and consult, as she could feel something coming in the near future...and the skills of she and her brethren would have to be utilized to the fullest in His name.

She'd been thrown to the ground, caught off-guard by the teen hero's bucket toss, and as soon as she was bound the Queen of Darkness threw herself backwards, slithering like a blot of inky darkness through the girl's legs and resurfacing at her back; she took the rope she'd slipped through easily once transfiguring into a puddle and attempted to use it as a noose for poor Kimmy-cup.

"I have come to understand some of the many possible endings for you, as invented by those of your species. Rather useful tips and tricks, I must admit. Now die, for insulting the Mistress of All Darkness!"[/glow]

[Gabranth]

A minute or two had passed after Gabranth had made his stand, and tried to antagonize the Blot into attacking the new comer. This was an attempt at a smooth escape. If the Blot was occupied with another, Gabranth could have made an easy run and vanished. Though, the creature of darkness cared not either way. It was clear he had the upper hand before the castle. Now, escaping was going to be a bit more difficult.

At the moment the Blot yelled execution, an all too familiar voice rang through the mind of the judge. Hades was close. Though he couldn't interfere with any world battles, he could manipulate them. Maybe this was to the Judge's advantage, or maybe a bad omen. Either way, he had to come up with a plan and soon.

As the voice spoke, Gabranth had no time to talk to himself as the Blot had made up his mind. Another strike of the pendulum was coming at him. His swords began to glow with a orange fire. He quickly snapped one sword around as he made a small leap to the air, severing the arm in two. He quickly made a 360 degree spin and threw another wave at the army and Blot. Two more followed behind the one. Now he would put his escape into action.

With the area filled of buildings and towers, he saw an opportunity to make a diversion. This was about the time Gabranth took out a small device from beneath his wrist guard. A control for McDuck's ship. It wasn't to far behind from where the he and the creature were fighting. Pushing a couple buttons, the Money Bin opened two bay doors on the sides, revealing two massive twin cannons. Once active they opened fire between Gabranth and the Blot.

Volley after Volley, the guns created a huge storm of dust and debris. Gabranth used this time to run among the buildings and towers throughout. "Hades!" he muttered to himself. Even though with the events unfolding he heard the deal that lay before him. He decided to make a counter offer while he was running. "Hercules is in the castle ... get me there, and the deal is done." he said, with a dark and menacing tone.

[Sir Tweedbottom]

As the ship opened fire, Arthur merely smirked at his imminent doom. And not a moment too soon, for a split second later, there no longer was a head to smirk with. Ripped clean off by a stray cannon ball. His right arm and leg followed suit, and with a fleshy thud his lifeless corpse hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. With his little army slaughtered and his body broken, he was, for all intents and purposes, dead.

He was dead, and yet he moved. His scattered remains stirred and turned to mist, a black mist which swallowed his entire wrecked being. An evil, hollow laugh echoed through the streets as the mist manifested itself into a new physical body, which, for a reason I cannot fathom, was that of a female. She(?) summoned her(?) cane and tipped her top hat before cackling like a haughty noblewoman.

"So we were playing for real then, ey?" she taunted to no one in particular really, "I have longed for such an opponent! Let the hunt begin!"

As she began her pursuit, Artricia came across the broken form of Talos, his armoured shell ripped to pieces by the artillery barrage. His Heart was now clearly visible in the twirling darkness which made up his true body.

"It was fun while it lasted, dear Talos, but alas, you will now become part of my collection!"

And with those words, her lower body dissolved into a spectral mass of maws and eyes, hungering for the Heart that lay before them. With a snap of her fingers they were upon the poor sod, teeth slicing through dark metal like a hot knife through butter, and after a brief session of infighting, the largest maw of the flock devoured the Heart with sickening glee.

Now, with all obstacles out of the way, the hunt could finally begin.

[Hades]

"Heh..." echoed the voice of the Underworld God. "Pleasure doing business with ya..." he added before a swirling black portal would open before Gabranth, inviting him in, inviting him away from the madness. It was a dirty trick, and a major gamble for the judge minister. Hades said he would get him away, he didn't say how. This way, while effective, also provided a danger of which Gabranth might not as of yet be aware...

His heart could be made darker, making him far more likely to end Hercules when he sees him next. Lucky for Hades, he was taking the judge straight to the already injured demigod. In legal terms, we would call this "manipulation of events toward a preferrable outcome". In Hades terms, he'd call it "stacking the deck in your favor" ...

[Atticus the Fallen]

Not long after he had left, the dark one was once again gracing the top of the tower with his presence. He looked down once more to find that not much had changed... Except that the judge was no longer on the battlefield. Strange. MeadowSong must still be below, and who knows where Kefka was hiding himself.

As for the other Masters of Darkness... Jafar was handling his own affairs, while Jenova and Garland both had disappeared entirely for all Atticus knew as he couldn't even trace either through the darkness any more. He had expected this much from Jenova when he created her, that she would eventually drop off his radar. UnVersed were different creatures than Heartless... they operated on a different spectrum of darkness entirely. It wasn't really all that shocking that she was now staying far away.

But Garland? It didn't make much sense that it would happen so soon, but Atticus could deduce from his readings of the Book of Chaos, which he kept concealed on his person at all times, that he had already made the journey two thousand years prior to become the god of discord. The Seed of Darkness had been planted, apparently... With Chaos' birth came the creation of darkness, and all that was happening even now.

That left only Miiaxra, who shortly after the opening of the gates to Kingdom Hearts had gone missing as well. From what Atticus had observed though, she had taken herself away to the World of Darkness. With the universe now cloaked in forever night, apparently it went against what she wished... and she chose to walk silently into oblivion of her own accord. Sad... She could have been useful.

So, Atticus stood there, staring up into the undulating black gate that lead to the now infected Kingdom Hearts. It symbolized his victory, but it was not yet complete. His new world was not yet secure, threatened by piddling ants still struggling to hold on to the last of the desperate, dying light. Once they were gone... he would see his new world brought to peace at last.

And then, he could rest.

[Secondary Characters]

The Blot was taken by surprise. It wasn't expecting the attack from above, so when the fire rained down from on high, all it could do was shriek and be blasted to little steaming bits which were thrown all about the battlefield in a most unpleasant manner. However, even this was not the end for a monster like the Phantom Blot...

While the BinShip continued to fire on the battlefield, the steaming bits of Blot slithered away to safety, where they would congeal and reform... It coughed nastily, its joints smoking as it took form again. "You insolent-" it roared, eyes blazing angrily. Looking around, it spotted Sir Tweedbottom.... or rather LADY Tweedbottom, and growled.

"YOU!" it demanded, pointing at the... person... "If you're on the side of darkness, then find that intruder! NOW!" it snarled, then took the form of an inky streak which would snake through the streets... but never find Gabranth, if he took the corridor...

[Gabranth]

After the deal had been made with Hades, a black swirling rift opened before him as he run through. He could tell Hades had his own plans, but with any luck those plans would be broken.

The other end of the rift happened to open in a more convenient place. One Gabranth had not expected. from the corner of the dungeon where Hercules had been fighting with Maleficent, came a dark and ominous rift.

Traveling through swirling vortex, Gabranth was able to see the escalation of the battle that had been waged inside. One corner sat Hercules. It seemed from his view point he had given out the last of his strength. Across from him there seemed to be a female laying on the ground. Maybe this was Hercules' doing. In another part of the room stood a tall and dark woman, holding what looked to be rope tied to the neck of another. "This must be Maleficent." he thought.

Shortly before leaving the portal, "Innocence" was echoed through the room. Two orange blades flew out from this portal one to each side of Maleficent. "Enough!" was shouted soon after. From the dark portal stepped the Judge Magistrate, swords ready to his sides.

[MeadowSong]

One more crash into the side wall and Meg was finished; she crumpled to the stone floor with a loud thud and the darkness fell off her like tender meat on bone. It pooled around her and glowing yellow eyes blinked here and there, small hands struggling to reach for her skin, tugging at her clothes and moaning with dark, scratchy cries. She coughed slightly, her consciousness fading in and out. Before she fell completely under, however, she caught a glimpse of her hero.

"Her...cul..--"

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[glow=Purple,2,300]
MeadowSong continued yanking on the man-made noose that held Kim close to her as she tilted her head to witness the arrival of someone new. A smell of death, the familiar brimstone of a former associate who had deemed it irrelevant to join their happy flock, it seemed.

"What have we here?" asked the faerie, tightening her grip on her captive, catching now a momentary glance of Meg's fall from darkness across the wall of fire. Glaring, she backed up, pulling the teen hero with her.

"Too many uninvited guests today," she mumbled.[/glow]

[Secondary Characters]

Kim Possible gasped when suddenly her own weapon was used against her. She struggled a bit against the stronger individual, luckily getting her left hand up at the last second to avoid her neck being squeezed too harshly. A silent "thank you" was given to her chorus teacher who made them edure Phantom of the Opera last semester. Hand at the level of your eye. Good advice.

She had to do something to free herself! Seeing Hercules charge up his attack gave her only one opportunity she could think of to maybe weaken MeadowSong. She twisted her body hard to one side, using her weight to adjust their stance. When the wave of golden light came, it would be entirely the Black Faerie that would take the force of it, and though she'd feel no immediate effects, hopefully the long-term goal had been preserved.

Kim prayed softly that the light had weakened MeadowSong at least as much as human-to-superhuman in strength. With a deep breath, she forced her heel down hard on MeadowSong's foot just as the woman spoke against the appearance of Gabranth. Without hesitating, she also sent her right elbow backward with as much force as she could muster. With any luck, this would free her from MeadowSong's grasp, and give her enough slack to get away and get the rope off her, simultaneously clearing the woman for attack!

[Hercules]

Hercules coughed a bit, too damaged and in pain to move much. His body was wrecked. He was bruised and sore from that last attack, looking much like someone had run him over with the Neman Lion. However, he'd still chuckle happily when he saw the face of the woman he loved. "Hey..." he said to her, trying to hold a hand up to the woman...

But the battle at large was not yet over. He could see MeadowSong still fighting with Kim Possible and now... Gabranth had joined them! Hercules smiled a bit, knowing with him there they had this wrapped up nicely. "Gabranth!" he called out painfully, forcing volume when he could barely breathe. With a great amount of effort, he forced his arm into motion, throwing MeadowSong's staff over the fire toward the man.

"Destroy it!" he called out, wanting the weapon wrecked before it had a chance to ruin more lives. "Do it now!"

[Gabranth]

Gabranth had finally made his appearance with Maleficent. Using this distraction, the girl she had been holding captive by a noose, made a few quick maneuvers and attacked Maleficent. At this time the girl was of no concern to him. He mainly wanted a word, maybe a deal made with Maleficent.

Gabranth took a small step forward, his eyes still gazed into those of Maleficent. Though this woman might be able to fix his dilemma, he had no idea of her powers other than seeing Hades cower before her. His steps suddenly interrupted by Hercules' voice.

"Gabranth!"

Was shouted. Gabranth knew he was not dead. Though he stopped for just a moment. However he had more pressing matters at hand. After another step a loud bing rang out as something heavy fell and clinked Gabranth's armored foot. Looking down he could see it was a staff of some sort. Followed by the voice of Hercules.

"Destroy it! ... Do it now!"

As it stood, Gabranth would have to wager a favor to this woman or something similar of nature to remove the curse that was put on him by Hades. This staff could be used as his bargaining chip.

Gabranth was still in a stance to fight for anything Maleficent would do. A bright flash flared in the room as the flames surrounding his swords relinquished. He put the blades together, and picked up the staff. "I must apologies friend, this is my ticket to freedom." He stared pondering at the staff. Now he took a glance at the girl Maleficent was holding captive. "Now now..." he pointed the polearm in her direction. "...I wouldn't want you breaking the very thing that is going to help me." He was quiet adamant about her not harming Maleficent. At least until he got what he wanted. "Now then Maleficent, what say you hear my offer?"

[MeadowSong]

[glow=Purple,2,300]As the last of Hercules' power was being forced through the sceptre used so commonly by the Faerie Queen, she saw the next wave before feeling its full wrath; Kim had taken advantage of MeadowSong's fear of the light--and therefore her hesitation--and broke free from the cold-blooded grapple and even managed to kick away a dangling floating foot, throwing her into a semi-spin in the air behind the girl, followed by another hard blast to the ribs.

"Ggaaah!"

Thrown back spinning some, the Mistress of Darkness caught onto a wall-hanging torch and steadied her body, covering her eyes until the light faded, her anger growing now even more.

When given the order to destroy Faeries' Wrath, horror struck her cold, but it soon washed away the moment a dark spark lit and Gabranth spoke out.

"You wish to bargain with me, Magister? Uphold the law...and yet you bribe me with silent threat...a tight hold Hades must have on you, my pet." She chuckled, wreathing herself in a new, vigorous flame as she hovered forward, making distance between her and Kim, as well as Hercules and Meg.

"You wish to be free, no?"[/glow]