Chapter 5: The Keyblade

The battle got fiercer than before. The creatures became restless, even more than before, like if something far greater than them was getting nearer. Helped by the newly awakened Sailor Earth, the Sailor Scouts were giving their best to repel the creatures, using all their attacks to do it.

"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" –Sailor Mercury exclaimed.

"Mars Fire Sniper!" –Sailor Mars exclaimed.

"Jupiter Oak Evolution!" –Sailor Jupiter exclaimed.

"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!" –Sailor Venus exclaimed.

"World Shaking!" –Sailor Uranus exclaimed.

"Deep Submerge!" –Sailor Neptune exclaimed.

"Dead Scream!" –Sailor Pluto exclaimed.

"Silence Glaive Surprise!" –Sailor Saturn exclaimed.

"Freezing Inferno Blast!" –Sailor Pluto FX Destroyer exclaimed.

"Saturn's Toxic Storm!" –Sailor Saturn Net Surfer exclaimed.

"Roots of Fate!" –Sailor Earth exclaimed.

Still, none of these attacks seemed to produce any kind of damage on the creatures that just kept appearing, from everywhere. In a matter of seconds, these creatures became so numerous that all Sailor Scouts started to converge into a small circle, surrounding Sailor Moon, Sailor Chibimoon and Tuxedo Mask. They all were ready to give up their lives, if that meant the survival of their Princess and the others. As they continued to fight, Sailor Moon kept trying to reanimate Chibimoon, who was still too weak. Whatever those creatures had done to her, it had depleted her of most of her energy.

"Chibimoon… Come on, wake up, please!" –Sailor Moon cried out to herself, as her fingers pass through the girl's cheeks. Her skin was as pale as white marble, and her breathing was quite weak.

All of sudden, all creatures stopped and ceased their attack. It was like if time had stopped, and nothing could move… Nothing, except for the Sailor Scouts.

"What just happened?" –Sailor Neptune asked, as she looked around and saw all the creatures standing still, like if they were statues.

"I don't know… It's like someone stopped time flux." –Sailor Mercury stated, as she tapped on her micro-computer, trying to find a logical explanation to what was going on.

When she said that, everyone looked towards Sailor Pluto and Sailor Pluto FX Destroyer with accusing eye looks.

"I have nothing to do with this, believe me." –Sailor Pluto declared with a serene voice.

"The same thing goes for me." –Sailor Pluto FX Destroyer stated with a defensive voice. –"I know that I have enough power to stop time, but I'm not allowed to do it… and I bet all my lucky charms that neither you are allowed to do it, am I right?" –He asked to Sailor Pluto, to which she nodded.

"Well, if it wasn't one of you, then, who stopped these creatures?" –Sailor Jupiter asked.

"IT WAS I WHO STOPPPED THEM!!!"

A deep inner voice was heard by all of them, and then, a sinister and evil laugh filled the entire floor, sending shivers up their spines. They looked around, trying to see from where that voice had come from. All of a sudden, the air became chilly, like if a snow storm had just break in there. Then, what looked like a portal made out of living shadows, which kept on swirling, giving the idea of being some kind of mist, appeared not far from where the Scouts were. They all observed it, waiting for something to happen. They just knew something was about to happen, but they did not have a clue of what it could be. Finally, something did happen. Coming out of that dark mist, a tall, thin, pale green skinned woman with yellow eyes and a horned headdress, presented itself in front them. She was wearing what looked to them like a black and purple robe with bat wing-like edges, wearing a gold ring with a large mysterious circular black stone in it. In her left hand, she was carrying a staff with glowing green crystal orb at the tip. Also, a raven rested on her right shoulder. The woman had a malicious smile in her face, as she looked around. The creatures that were near her, gave a step back, thus creating a small corridor towards the Sailor Scouts. Not taking any chances, the group never let their guard down. Walking towards them, the woman kept staring at them. To the group, it was like if her eyes pierced their bodies with the sharpest of the knives.

"Who are you?!" –Sailor Uranus asked her, snarling at her.

"Are you the one who is controlling these creatures?!" –Sailor Jupiter also asked her.

The woman's smile became even scarier then before. She let out a laugh that would freeze the souls of the bravest of the warriors. Still, none of the Sailor Scouts had intentions of showing her if they were afraid of her. Finally, her laugh ceased and she answered with a voice similar to what they all imagined to be a voice that a snake would have.

"My, my, what an impressive group you are." –She said as she stopped just a few a couple of meters away from where the group was. –"From all of the problems that I had to deal with, you certainly are one of the biggest. But, allow me to introduce myself. I am Maleficent and these are my loyal subjects and warriors, the Heartless."

"Heartless?! So that is the name of these evil creatures." –Sailor Mars said, as she looked to Maleficent.

"What do you want from us?" –Sailor Neptune asked her.

"From you, I don't want anything… It's that girl over there that I want. Her Heart is certainly one of the purest Hearts I've ever felt. It's not as pure as the Hearts of the 7 Princesses of Heart, but still, it will make a splendid acquisition in our attempt to create and open Kingdom Hearts." –Maleficent said.

None of them really understood what was going on. They did not understand what the woman was talking about… Hearts… Princesses of Heart… Kingdom Hearts? To them, they were nothing more than mere words.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but you're not taking Chibimoon away without a fight!" –Sailor Venus exclaimed, as her partner Artemis, who was right beside her, looked at Maleficent with.

"She's right! If you want Small Lady, you'll have to go through me, first!" –Sailor Pluto declared, as she pointed the Garnet Orb.

"You'll have to go through all of us, you witch!" –Sailor Pluto FX Destroyer exclaimed, as he pointed his shotgun, targeting Maleficent. –"If you or any of those creatures want her, you'll have to kill us all first!"

"Very well, then… I'll get rid of you first, and then, I'll extract her Heart, personally! Heartless, kill them!"

Obeying their mistress' orders, the Heartless started to attack the Sailor Scouts. The number of creatures surrounding them grew with each second it passed. Sailor Pluto and Sailor Saturn cast their defensive attacks, the "Garnet Ball" and the "Silence Wall" in order to stop their advance. They all battled against those horrible creatures, while Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask tried to wake up Sailor Chibimoon, who was still unconscious.

Watching the battle that was taking place in front of her eyes, Maleficent saw that her Heartless were not causing them enough damage, so she decided to take the battle to the next level. She ordered them to fuse with the giant octopus-like Heartless, making this one bigger and stronger. The massive creature was now even bigger than before. Spikes appeared all over its body, giving it a more menacing look. Launching an attack, the new giant Heartless used all of its strength to break the force fields created by both Saturn and Pluto. The force fields withstood a couple of strikes from the monster's tentacles, but eventually, they shattered. The two Sailors tried to fight back, but having used most of their energy creating the force fields, had left them pretty weak. They were the first ones to be captured by the tentacles, and soon after, the other Sailor Scouts had also been captured by the horrible and gruesome creature. They all put up a little fight, but the adrenaline in their bodies had run its course, and they were now feeling tired and exhausted. And the worst part was that when the octopus-like Heartless grabbed them with its huge tentacles, they felt even worst, like if their vital energy was being sucked out right out of them. Even Luna and Artemis, who were doing their best to strike the monster, by slashing it with their claws, were caught by the tentacles. Sailor Neptune and Sailor Earth were the last ones standing between Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Mask and Chibimoon, and the gruesome monster. Seeing that if she did not do anything to help her friends they would all perish, Sailor Moon handed Chibimoon to Tuxedo Mask and joined her friends in battle. But when she was about to use her scepter to attack the monster, Neptune put herself in front of her and said:

"No, Sailor Moon… We'll handle this!"

"Yes, she's right! The Prince, you and Small Lady are much more important than us!" –Sailor Earth declared in a tone, which Sailor Moon recognized, whenever Naru told her something that was really important.

The two Sailor Scouts needed to get some maneuver space, so they cast their most powerful attacks on that Heartless.

"Submarine Violin Tide!" –Sailor Neptune exclaimed.

"Earth's Destroyer Rumble!" –Sailor Earth exclaimed.

Both attacks caused the Tower to shake like gelatin, and the floor beneath their feet to become all cracky. Still, none of them was powerful enough to hurt the beast in front of them. With yet another strike, the Heartless grabbed both Sailor Neptune and Sailor Earth. There was no one left to defend Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Chibimoon. Maleficent rejoiced as she saw what just happened; all of the Sailor Scouts had been captured and now she was free to do whatever she wanted with Chibimoon. She teleported herself to where the three of them were, and with a sinister grin in her face, she raised her hand to grab Chibimoon, when she something was pointed out at her face. It was Tuxedo Mask's cane. The cane itself was just a few millimeters from her face, but instead of being surprised or shocked with it, in her face, the sinister grin that she had, became even bigger, to the point that she burst out laughing at it.

"What do you think you are going to do with that?! Kill me?!" –she asked him, still laughing maniacally.

"If I have to, then, yes… I'll not allow you to touch a hair of Chibimoon or Sailor Moon…"

Before he could finish what he was saying, Maleficent used her scepter and cast some kind of force field around him, levitating him up in the air. She looked at him with an intriguing look in her eyes. There was something about him that fascinated her. Then, she felt it; it was his Heart. It was quite powerful and pure; not like Chibimoon's Heart, but it was still very powerful. Then, she also felt that Sailor Moon's Heart was as pure and powerful as Chibimoon's.

"I don't know how I didn't notice this before… The Hearts of the three of you are exceptionally pure and powerful. I thought that the little girl was the only one who had a Heart similar in purity to the Princesses of Heart, but I was wrong. Instead of just taking her Heart with me, I'll take the Hearts of you three." –She stated with her malevolent voice. –"It would be a shame to see such power not to be used."

Walking over to where Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibimoon were, she prepared herself to snatch their Hearts, when Sailor Moon, who was on her knees, grabbed her scepter and yelled:

"You let Tuxedo Mask go, and tell that monster to free my friends, you witch, or I'll…"

"Or you'll what?" –Maleficent scorned of her. –"Girl, I am the one who gives the orders around here, and you aren't in no position to give them to me." –She said, as she slapped Sailor Moon, making her fall on the ground. –"Be a good girl, and I'll take your Heart in last."

With her chest filled with nothing but pain and anger, Sailor Moon quickly stood up and grabbed Maleficent's dress, and pulled the wicked woman towards her.

"I told you to free my friends and to stay away from Chibimoon, witch!" –She yelled at her, this time with a very aggressive voice tone, demanding Maleficent to do what she told her to. This only made the wicked villainess to slap her once again, forcing the girl to let her go.

"You wretched girl! Don't tempt me… You don't know, or understand the true power of darkness, and believe me, when I say that you should thank me for dying without knowing it!"

"You don't know what I and the rest of my friends have faced during our battle against the forces of evil, so don't tell me what I understand or don't understand!" –Sailor Moon replied to her – "I will not allow you to win!"

Fed up of hearing her out, Maleficent decided that it was time to silence her, permanently. Lifting up her scepter, the crystal in it started to glow. She was going to strike her with it. Sailor Moon was able to evade the first blow, by dodging out of the way. Unfortunately, she was not so lucky, when trying to evade the second blow. She knew that when Maleficent's scepter hit her, she would probably be blown into smithereens. The only thing she remembered to do was using her own scepter, in an attempt to block the blow. She waited for the inevitable that was about to happen in a matter of seconds… seconds what looked to her like an eternity. Finally, when both scepters clashed, a light appeared and Sailor Moon's scepter turned itself into what looked like a key-shaped weapon. Its handle was golden, and you could see a small keychain on it. As for the key itself, it was silver, nothing special about it. But all in all, it looked amazingly beautiful.

"A Keyblade?!" –Maleficent yelled, shocked with what she had just saw. –"But that's impossible! After all my hard work to get rid of those pests, and still, that cursed object find a way to oppose me?!"

Still not knowing what was really going on, Sailor Moon felt that with that strange weapon, she could do anything. Strangely enough, she felt her strength coming back. It was like if her body had been immersed in pure energy. She swung the Keyblade left and right, and that just felt natural to her. Not exactly knowing what to do, she let her body move based on instinct. She pointed her new weapon at the evil woman's face, and this time, you could see that she had fear written on it.

"I won't ask you again! Let my friends go, as well as Tuxedo Mask, and go back to where you came from!" –Sailor Moon demanded.

"I think I have a better idea… Heartless, destroy her." –Maleficent ordered the giant Heartless, as she teleported to a safe distance. –"I'll enjoy watching this." –she thought.

The giant Heartless obeyed Maleficent's order, and started to swing his tentacles around, trying to pound Sailor Moon. The vibrations caused by this, made the tower shake even more than before… Sailor Moon, who tried to avoid being squashed like a pancake, started to jump around. Curiously enough, at first, she did not notice that she was leaping higher and longer than humanly possible. Even her Sailor powers did not grant her any kind of physical ability, such as that one. But she did not care. She was too busy trying to stay alive to care about it. Moving as fast as she could, the girl avoided every single strike by the giant Heartless, until, the floor beneath them finally collapsed. As they fell into the ground, chinks of concrete from what used to be the ground of the Main Observatory; were used by Sailor Moon to decrease her fall. Sailor Chibimoon and Tuxedo Mask, who were also falling, were captured by the Sailor Moon in mid-air. Holding them as hard as she could, she used the chunks of concrete as support points; she leapt from chunk to chunk as fast as she could, and in a matter of seconds, avoided a very nasty fall. The spheres where the people that had been trapped earlier also fell, but when they reached the ground, they just bounced a little. It looked like those spheres acted as some kind of protection to those encased in them. Finally, when the three of them reached the ground, the giant Heartless was already smashing more things as it moved towards one of the tower's feet. The smaller Heartless who were covering the rest of the tower, were now quickly descending it, running towards them. After being sure that both Chibimoon and Tuxedo Mask were safe, she ran towards the Heartless, holding the Keyblade with both her hands. As she got near them, one of the smaller Heartless tried to jump on her. Swinging the Keyblade, she hit it, and as soon as the Keyblade touched it, the Heartless blew up... Whatever that Keyblade was, it had the power not only to repel those creatures, but also to destroy them, permanently.

"Hang on, everyone! I'm taking you out of there… And then, then I'm going to get of all these creatures, with your help." –She said, as she ran towards the giant Heartless, wielding the Keyblade.

As she got nearer and nearer the giant creature, the other Heartless jumped on her, trying to block her path. But she did not mind, because inside her it was like something was burning as hot as the Sun, telling her to keep going, eliminating everything that got in her way. Each Heartless that put itself in her way was destroyed by the Keyblade's power. The creatures' eyes looked even more menacing than before to Sailor Moon, as they tried to shred her into pieces, but that did not stop the warrior of justice. Finally, she got close enough to the creature that was holding hostage in its tentacles, the rest of the Sailor Scouts. She used the Keyblade to strike it, and each time the Keyblade hit it, a howl was heard from the creature. Sailor Moon knew she was hurting the Heartless, so she kept hitting it successfully, over and over. After a few powerful blows to it, the creature let go one of the Sailor Scouts, who fell on the ground… It was Sailor Jupiter. She was amazingly pale, even paler than Chibimoon was when Sailor Earth broke the chains that were holding her. Seeing her friend like that, so fragile, so weak, just made the blonde girl even angrier than she was. She attacked the monster, giving everything she had in her, each time she swung the Keyblade. The smaller Heartlesses kept on crawling towards her, trying to hurt her, but she just gave them the same treatment she had given the others before them. One by one all of the Sailor Scouts were let go by the horrible creature, falling on the ground in the same state as Sailor Jupiter was. Powered by the adrenaline flow, she concentrated her energies on one last attack, which could be described as a single ray of light, which came out of the Keyblade and hit the giant-Heartless, making it roar in pain, before it dissipated itself into nothingness. The other Heartlesses also blew up, to her surprise. As this went on, the same ray of light kept on getting brighter, until the point that Sailor Moon had to let go the Keyblade and cover her eyes, to protect them from the intense light. As let go the Keyblade, she felt her strength fading away, and her body feeling wobbly and tired. The last thing she saw before passing out was her friends being engulfed by a strange light, which also engulfed her, and everything that was near.