Hello, readers new and old, and welcome to Kingdom Hearts V: Balance of Power, the sixth installment in my eight part Acolytes of Chaos fanfiction saga. Those of you who have read my previous works in this series, welcome back. For those of you who haven't I highly suggest you go to my page under the username DragonKey27 to get caught up, because I'm not stopping to recap everything that's happened before this. Now go on, go, go.
All caught up? Good. Let's get started. As usual, I own nothing, all preexisting properties used or mentioned in this story belong to their respective owners. And a quick reminder of my font style for those who've forgotten:
"Talking"
Thinking
"Written Text"
"Speaking in a language other than English"
"Singing"
Alright, now that everyone's on the same page, on with the show.
Prologue: Phase Two:
Titan's Refuge – Maleficent's Throne:
The space above was silent as asteroids tumbled through the cosmos overhead. The only sound within a hundred feet of the large, hovering throne was the sound of Maleficent and her cabal discussing their next move. The loss of most of HYDRA, the Mind Stone, and the Infinity Stone was a critical blow to their cause. But thankfully, Gideon Malick and his staff had managed to retrieve their valuable research data and escape with their lives and their freedom, returning to the Nathalis for transport to the Hellfire Club's new headquarters. Now that the information they'd uncovered about the Time Stone had been analyzed, it was time for Maleficent and her inner circle to discuss their next move.
"We know that the Time Stone is hidden on Earth," Loki commented as he lounged on the steps leading up to the throne that once held the bulky weight of Thanos but now belonged to Maleficent. "Within the device known as the Uchrono Hourglass. The question now is how are we going to retrieve it?"
"Precisely," Captain Hook chimed in. "Even with access to Malekith's resources, the Coalition's attack on the Kiln has dealt us a critical blow. We barely have enough resources to protect our new base of operations, let alone launch an invasion of Coalition space. And then there's that blasted Legion to consider. It's clear from their actions at Radiant Garden that we are not the only ones in pursuit of the Infinity Gauntlet."
"Meaning that we have competition for our goals," Cruella de Vil added. "Meaning we have to divide our resources dealing with enemies on two sides while also searching for our prize."
"Exactly," Maleficent finished from atop her throne. "Which is why for the time being we will leave that wretched Coalition alone. We will focus our efforts on rebuilding our resources and destroying our newest rival. Once the Legion has been extinguished, we will resume our search for the stones and put our energy back into achieving our shared goal of universal domination."
"But then there's another problem to consider," Diablo observed. "What to do about Malekith. He's already built himself a considerable power base and may instigate a coup if given the opportunity to do so. He's already swayed Seymour and Demona to his side, and I fear that if we do not deliver on our bargain, Sephiroth's bastards will soon join them."
"We'll send those boys off on a wild goose chase for the time being, then," Maleficent answered. "We'll use Malekith's vessel as the flagship of our armada for now. That way we can keep an eye on him and his conspirators. In the meantime, Captain Hook will lead our remaining ships and the Heartless in raids on Galactic Federation shipyards to rebuild our armada. Once we've built our fleet back up, we're taking the fight to this "Legion" and burning them to the ground." Everyone nodded their heads as the inner circle dispersed. Each had their responsibilities to attend to, and though they were all friends, none of them stuck around to chat. They had work to do.
The Uchrono Hourglass is from American Dragon: Jake Long. I figured that since nobody knows what the Time Stone will look like in the actual MCU, that it would be best to avoid confusion by having the Time Stone be a pre-existing time travel device in existing Disney properties. With five of the six Infinity Stones now identified, I bet you're all probably wondering about the nature and location of the Soul Stone. All I will say on the matter is that it's hidden in plain sight both in the MCU and here. Or at least, I'm convinced it is in the MCU.
Just a head's up, I'll be at a beach house with no wi-fi all day Friday and Saturday, so I won't be able to post the next chapter until Sunday evening. The good news is that I'll be posting three chapters at once to make up for lost time, and then I'll resume my whole "one chapter a day" pattern.
All caught up? Good. Let's get started. As usual, I own nothing, all preexisting properties used or mentioned in this story belong to their respective owners. And a quick reminder of my font style for those who've forgotten:
"Talking"
Thinking
"Written Text"
"Speaking in a language other than English"
"Singing"
Alright, now that everyone's on the same page, on with the show.
Prologue: Phase Two:
Titan's Refuge – Maleficent's Throne:
The space above was silent as asteroids tumbled through the cosmos overhead. The only sound within a hundred feet of the large, hovering throne was the sound of Maleficent and her cabal discussing their next move. The loss of most of HYDRA, the Mind Stone, and the Infinity Stone was a critical blow to their cause. But thankfully, Gideon Malick and his staff had managed to retrieve their valuable research data and escape with their lives and their freedom, returning to the Nathalis for transport to the Hellfire Club's new headquarters. Now that the information they'd uncovered about the Time Stone had been analyzed, it was time for Maleficent and her inner circle to discuss their next move.
"We know that the Time Stone is hidden on Earth," Loki commented as he lounged on the steps leading up to the throne that once held the bulky weight of Thanos but now belonged to Maleficent. "Within the device known as the Uchrono Hourglass. The question now is how are we going to retrieve it?"
"Precisely," Captain Hook chimed in. "Even with access to Malekith's resources, the Coalition's attack on the Kiln has dealt us a critical blow. We barely have enough resources to protect our new base of operations, let alone launch an invasion of Coalition space. And then there's that blasted Legion to consider. It's clear from their actions at Radiant Garden that we are not the only ones in pursuit of the Infinity Gauntlet."
"Meaning that we have competition for our goals," Cruella de Vil added. "Meaning we have to divide our resources dealing with enemies on two sides while also searching for our prize."
"Exactly," Maleficent finished from atop her throne. "Which is why for the time being we will leave that wretched Coalition alone. We will focus our efforts on rebuilding our resources and destroying our newest rival. Once the Legion has been extinguished, we will resume our search for the stones and put our energy back into achieving our shared goal of universal domination."
"But then there's another problem to consider," Diablo observed. "What to do about Malekith. He's already built himself a considerable power base and may instigate a coup if given the opportunity to do so. He's already swayed Seymour and Demona to his side, and I fear that if we do not deliver on our bargain, Sephiroth's bastards will soon join them."
"We'll send those boys off on a wild goose chase for the time being, then," Maleficent answered. "We'll use Malekith's vessel as the flagship of our armada for now. That way we can keep an eye on him and his conspirators. In the meantime, Captain Hook will lead our remaining ships and the Heartless in raids on Galactic Federation shipyards to rebuild our armada. Once we've built our fleet back up, we're taking the fight to this "Legion" and burning them to the ground." Everyone nodded their heads as the inner circle dispersed. Each had their responsibilities to attend to, and though they were all friends, none of them stuck around to chat. They had work to do.
The Uchrono Hourglass is from American Dragon: Jake Long. I figured that since nobody knows what the Time Stone will look like in the actual MCU, that it would be best to avoid confusion by having the Time Stone be a pre-existing time travel device in existing Disney properties. With five of the six Infinity Stones now identified, I bet you're all probably wondering about the nature and location of the Soul Stone. All I will say on the matter is that it's hidden in plain sight both in the MCU and here. Or at least, I'm convinced it is in the MCU.
Just a head's up, I'll be at a beach house with no wi-fi all day Friday and Saturday, so I won't be able to post the next chapter until Sunday evening. The good news is that I'll be posting three chapters at once to make up for lost time, and then I'll resume my whole "one chapter a day" pattern.