Kingdom Hearts - Fallen Light

Chapter 8 - A Heated Homecoming

Tonitrus meanwhile was actually resting for the first time since they visited Twilight Town a few days ago. That little spark of energy he had while fighting the manipulated skeleton did quite a number on him, so he let his back rest for a change. He was in that position for a while, until he heard Nyx call him.
"Hey... Orange boy...", she said, in an unusually calm tone.
He was taken aback, so he immediately woke up and said:
"Nyx... Usually I'm the one asking you about anything so... It's odd to see you take the initiative!".
"It's just that... What you did back there... I rarely show any positive traits, but despite that, you always try to help me. I don't understand this ideology, but... It wouldn't be fair if I hated it, as without you, who knows what fate I would have gotten. Physically at least, I don't mind what I've become...", replied the blue haired girl.
"You could count this as a way to pay you back for helping me in the Caribbean. So, we're even now!", he said.
This discussion was then interrupted when Riku's phone started ringing. He only rarely was called so it seemed like an emergency, so he picked it up, knowing already that something big had happened.
"Hello?", said Riku.
"It's Donald. I need you here in Toontown. This is very serious.", replied on the other end.
"... Toontown!? We'll start heading there immediately. You'll know when we're there.", replied Riku, before hanging up and speeding up the ship to ensure they could head there as quickly as possible.
Tonitrus was taken aback by all of this at first, but he knew that if the worst had come, he was ready. A lot had happened since the last time the town had gotten under attack, and he not only had gotten much stronger, but he also now had friends that were going to aid him.

Their fears were confirmed when they weren't far off from Toontown, there was a horde of Overwritten that were presumably heading there. Upon seeing the intruder, they all headed towards the heroes' Gummiship, which ignited a battle within the rivaling ships. The weapons were ready, and fire from both parties were used at their fullest. Riku did learn from their first flight, and dodged the barrage of enemy beams while also ensuring his passengers wouldn't get scrambled in the process. Some Gravity-G shots were able to destroy most of the ships, but others were still able to counterattack despite the damage, and continued to aim at the Gummiship.
Tonitrus was starting to get nervous about how long the fight was going and said:
"This is not good... These enemies are taking us so much time... We need to do something quick!".
"Keep it for later, pal. Let me take care of this...", said Nyx. She looked at the window and nodded at the apparent void.
A few seconds later, something pierced the core of the remaining ships, having them explode in their faces.
"Whoever did that, thank you. Now let's head into the atmosphere.", said Riku.
Tonitrus glanced at Nyx, thinking that was one of her many magic tricks, but she just smiled with no response, and turned back.
While they were relieved to be able to venture into Toontown directly, a mysterious human figure with some mechanical parts was observing what just happened, feeling quite intrigued by it all.
"I see even bringers of Darkness are turning against Queen Mizrabel... This is very intriguing...", they said.

Luckily, our heroes arrived to Toontown early compared to Mizrabel's henchmen. The only thing of note in the town was that it was raining. Riku took this moment of calm to call PK and tell him that they had arrived. He was then told to enter the hospital and head the very last floor.
"I know where the hospital is. Follow me.", said Tonitrus, taking charge to optimize time.
With the dark blonde boy's guidance and many corner cuts, they arrived at the hospital only one minute after landing.
They were walking their way to the room Riku had mentioned, and as they expected, there was PK waiting for them.
"Sorry we're late. Some Overwritten caught on to us on our way here.", said Riku to the masked duck.
"So they have started heading here. I'll have you speak with someone who witnessed the oppressing force of Mizrabel's strongest men, and just barely survived to tell. Use this as a preparation for what's to come.", replied the superhero, before he opened the door for them.
Upon entering, they saw a damaged Smokey Silvers who was talking and laughing with a group of technicians who were repairing his broken systems.
"When I saw her... It was glove at first sight!", said the robot journalist to the pseudo surgeons. Despite his damage, be it that he still had an active conscience or couldn't feel the pain of the fall, but he was still joyful and could crack jokes at the technicians. Even upon seeing the people PK called, he cheerfully greeted them.
"Hey, it's the Wielders! Please, don't mind this operation I'm having, and make yourselves comfortable.", he said.
"Thank you.", said Riku, letting the others sit by the nearby chairs first, getting himself one of the remaining free ones.
"It's an honor, Mr. Silvers. They did quite a number on you, didn't they? I'm just impressed you're acting as if it's just a small scratch.", said Tonitrus, looking at the technicians reattaching his power supply and welding back the remaining holes in his chest.
"It's just a bunch of zeros and ones for me. If that happened to any of you, I doubt you would have been able to live long enough to tell.", he replied.
"You seem very clear minded right now so I'm going to ask you just in case, if you still have data about the incident, that is. Do you remember the looks of the person who did this to you?", asked Xion.
"Ew! He was a disgusting rat that had a smug attitude from the beginning until I heard the blimp go kaboom! He wanted me to fakely announce the end of all of you, but I would have preferred to die as courageously as I did rather than smashing all the remaining hope of Toontown. I'm certain the dark blonde boy knows what I'm talking about.", he replied.
Roxas looked at Riku and said:
"This confirms everything, then. Mortimer is after this place."
"We're ready for whatever will happen now. Thank you for your time, Mr Silvers.", said Riku.
"You're welcome! Once I'm fully operational again, I can invite you to Goofy's night club if you want!", he said.
"I'm happy to visit it once all this is done! Please take care.", said Tonitrus, before they all left the room.
But before fully leaving the hospital, Tonitrus saw a figure standing in the distance. He could recognize that turquoise hair from a kilometer away. It was Gaia. But more impressive to him was the fact that she was actually standing. Not fully back to normal, as she had what looked to be patient clothes, with a white nightgown, long black socks and white slippers. But he still rushed towards her and the two had a strong hug full of joy.
"I've missed you, Tonitrus.", said Gaia.
"Same goes for me. Does it still hurt?", said Tonitrus, relieved to see the healing progress his friend was taking.
"I still have a device in me that backs up my heart if ever so needed, but it's much more pleasant than what I had before.", replied the turquoise girl.
"So... You still can't be with Krile and the others, right?", asked Tonitrus.
"Yeah. My mom isn't pleased at all, but frankly she's always angry about something, so it's not much of a difference. Even when it comes to Krile, she doesn't want me to reach my limit, and they'll patiently wait until I fully recover to return to the Galuf Bards.", replied Gaia.
"I trust you'll do well when you return.",said Tonitrus.
Their talk was sadly interrupted however when they heard something close to an explosion. They quickly saluted Gaia and ventured into the point from which the supposed explosion took place. But before they could do that out of nowhere, an enormous horde of enemies was flooding the streets, wreaking havoc all across Toontown.
Surprisingly, Nyx volunteered to be the one to defend the hospital from potential monsters getting inside, saying:
"Feel free to go to town with them. I'll make sure they don't get inside.", said Nyx.
"Are you sure you can take them?", asked Xion.
"Don't overthink it! I can do two things at once after all. I'll have my shadow guardian help you just to prove it.", she said, summoning him.
This was the first time the others had a good look at this afterimage Nyx had created. It really was a shadow, as his whole body was a complete pitch black, with the only source of light being his red eyes. It then looked them and impatiently said:
"What are we waiting for? Let's make some darkness marmalade!". They abided by what the entity said, and they all dived into the streets and took on the seemingly endless monsters. This time, everyone put their absolute best in that battle. Tonitrus and Riku in particular were like one brain simultaneously controlling two people due to how synchronized they were. They were continuously piercing enemies at full speed, incinerating many enemies to dust, and that was just via regular attacks. One thunder attack was enough to take down a hundred of the beasts. Not like they were the only ones there however, as Nyx's shadow was also putting the enemies to shame. Unlike Nyx, who was mostly a ranged fighter, melee was the name of the game for him. He introduced himself to the enemies by punching the ground, and the resulting shockwave threw many of the small beats to the sky, where he proceeded to use his more advanced techniques. One of them was lengthening his arms and somewhat transforming them into long swords. All the enemies in the sky were sliced to pieces with all of his swings, but he still had some energy to blow, and a giant armored enemy was the perfect opportunity for him to rush towards it and pierce towards its armor, slicing and freeing its heart.
Riku was absolutely fascinated by this power Nyx could bring. He thought to himself:
"A shadow to freely summon and use as an offense double... Ansem, you know how to haunt someone even after you've disappeared from reality, do you. Wow Nyx, you really are..."
"... STUPID! Why didn't you do all of this when we were in Easter town? You could have saved us from having to save Jack, you know!", interrupted Tonitrus. This time, Nyx actually managed to make him angry.
"Huh? Maybe you should tell her about this, not me.", said the shadow.
Upon hearing that, she reached the streets the others and came up with something as to not make the blonde boy even angrier:
"I could not do it at that very time... This darkness doesn't always comply with me, and back then, it just didn't want to cooperate with me.".
"Oh. Ooooh. Hope I wasn't too harsh then...", said Tonitrus, falling on her trap.
"Please. It's gonna take a lot to hurt me. Anyways, let's get to the core of this. Who knows what lies there...", she said.
The team made its way to where the explosion was heard. Luckily, they did remember the direction from which the sound originated, and the revelation of what was there had absolutely shocked most of the team.