Living Bone

The Living Bone is an Emblem Heartless that was introduced in Kingdom Hearts II.

Living Bones sometimes have Shamans riding on them. This forms a powerful relationship—the Living Bone's strength and the Shaman's magic make it even more intimidating. If a Living Bone is defeated while a Shaman is riding it, the Shaman is destroyed along with it.

Kingdom Hearts II
In the Elephant Graveyard, two Living Bones chase Nala while she's scavenging for prey. However, Sora, Donald, and Goofy come to Nala's aid and defeat the two Heartless.

Design
The Living Bone resembles a large, blue-skinned dinosaur with two short, navy blue legs, each of which has two large, white claws and a red anklet. Its tail is thin and appears to have decayed, leaving only bone segments. The tip of its tail is a large, spherical shape that is navy blue with a wide, jagged, black "mouth", yellow, spiral "eyes", and two short "arms" on it. The Living Bone's head is also skeletal, sporting horns, glowing, yellow eyes, and large, sharp teeth. Its lower jaw is dark blue, and the rest of its skull is white. It also wears a thick, black collar with teal edges and red bumps lining it. A short, silver chain ending in a red, pyramidal weight hangs from the collar. It is reminiscent of an due to its body structure, particularly its clubbed tail. Its Heartless emblem is on a large hump on its back.

In Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, the Living Bone's body is predominantly tan, its legs are blue, its anklets are gold, and its claws are grey. Its tail bones are brown, and the weight on its tip is navy blue with a red "lower jaw". The Heartless's skull is now brown with an orange lower jaw, and its collar now has red edges and yellow bumps lining it. The small weight at the end of the chain is also yellow.

The Living Bone's name reflects how it is still "living" despite its skeletal appearance.

Strategy
Living Bones are powerful enemies that deal significant damage, so Sora should attempt to fight them while staying in the air; such as by using Magnet, Thunder, and aerial combos. Reflect can also be exploited to use their strength against them. Outside of the Underdrome, Sora, in his Lion Form, can also use the Rodeo and Grand Cross Reaction Commands to decapitate them, weakening them significantly.

The Living Bone behaves differently depending on its status. In its default state, it normally uses its Bite and Jumping Shockwave attacks, as well as countering with Tail Turn when knocked back. If a Shaman is riding it, it normally uses its Blaze and Cursed Fire attacks, as well as countering with a series of attacks in the order of Bite → Tail Turn → Jumping Shockwave. If it is headless, it normally uses Tail Turn and counters with Jumping Shockwave.

If the Living Bone has a Shaman mounting it, wait until it summons its wisps, then use the Dispel Reaction Command to take control of the wisps and continuously ram the Living Bone until it is defeated. Without a Shaman, avoid its continuous bites and wait for the Rodeo Reaction Command to become available in order to remove its head. When headless, the Living Bone will stagger for a long duration and can easily be finished off.

If a Living Bone with a head and Shaman spawn separately, then the Shaman will teleport itself onto the Living Bone and ride it if given the chance.