Trouble in the Worlds
Disclaimer: Except for Halb of Parmas and his world, I do not own the Bonkers or Kingdom Hearts franchises. Other crossovers may follow. Any mistakes in the series are from not having seen it in over a decade.
~ ~ ~ ~
The former cartoon star turned policeman Bonkers D. Bobcat, bounded through the halls of the police station. "WAHOO! I LOVE COFFEE!" Bonkers shouted as he held a half full mug in his hands.
"Bonkers, wait!" shouted Miranda Wright, his partner. She was a slim, athletically figured blonde policewoman who was the other half of the best team in the Toon Division.
"How many times have I told you not to drink from the pot of coffee that the Homicide Detectives brew?" Miranda shouted, smiling despite herself. Bonkers certainly made things interesting around here with his antics. Unfortunately there were people like the uptight Sergeant Grating who had absolutely no sense of humor. Unfortunately Bonkers was about to bounce right into Grating.
"BOBCAT!!!!!" Grating shouted when Bonkers collided with him, "Officer Wright, you disappoint me."
"Sorry Sergeant." Miranda replied.
"Aren't you supposed to be working on interrogating that suspect?" Grating shouted.
"We're on our way right now." Miranda replied, catching a fistful of Bonkers' shirt, "Aren't we Bonkers?"
"Yeah." Bonkers replied. Aside from the coffee high, Bonkers had been fairly silent of late. Then again, every toon in the town seemed to be acting that way as well. It was almost like the way dogs act before a major earthquake. It was as if there was something wrong.
Bonkers seemed as silent as a stone when he approached the holding cell where their suspect was being held. Just what was it, Miranda didn't know. But whatever it was it seemed to have Bonkers' fur standing on end. The poor little guy didn't want to be anywhere near that thing, it was like he was dreadfully afraid of it.
The thing didn't speak at all, it didn't even have a mouth so to speak. It was a little shorter than Bonkers, all black, with clawed hands and antennae atop its head. It's only recognizable facial features were the antennae atop its head which started to twitch ever so when Bonkers and Miranda approached.
"Bonkers?" Miranda said, "Are you OK?"
Bonkers' color started to fade to white as he approached the creature. From working extensively with toons Miranda knew that her partner was scared out of his mind about this thing.
"Bonkers, is there something you know about this thing?" Miranda asked.
"All I know, Miranda is that it's evil." Bonkers said.
"How do you know?" Miranda asked.
"Toon intuition." Bonkers replied, with a feeble attempt at humor.
"Look, Bonkers, if you're not up to this you can..." Miranda began.
She never finished that sentence because the wall of the holding cell tore away as though it were only a cheap child's play thing as opposed to the construction of steel and concrete it actually was. The giant black hand that tore it away was connected to a large creature, as large as the building, with a face that radiated pure evil, it's hair and beard were black and flowed like wisps of smoke as the rest of its body did.
Miranda turned to run, but saw Bonkers was paralyzed with fright. She grabbed his arm as Darkside tore through the station. Miranda ran into the main office area only to see several more creatures, like the little one in the holding cell standing all around her.
Then the room started to turn black. It wasn't as if the lights had been turned off, it was more like a large black wave swept through the halls like an evil tide washing away everything and all before it.
"Bonkerrrsss!" Miranda shouted as she went under.
"Miranda!!!" Bonkers shouted from far away.
~ ~ ~ ~
'Where am I?' Miranda thought as she awoke. She saw that she was lying in a ditch beside a dirt road. It was a country road of sorts winding and narrow, meandering through the countryside like a snake. Miranda walked along the road, not sure where the nearest town was.
The moon had just risen like a large sphere in the skies when Miranda encountered the brigands. The first clue she had of any problems was when a tall, somewhat chubby man approached her, saying.
"Don't you know it's not safe for a lady to walk alone at night?"
A short, muscular brigand came from the brush and said, "Hark, a lady alone, without escort? What land doth thou hail from?"
"Does it really and truly matter?" the third brigand asked, he was taller than the second, with scars crisscrossing his face, "She is alone, and we will enjoy her company for tonight."
Miranda reached for her gun at her side, only to find that the first brigand was holding it. "Was thou searching for this curious arquebus?" he said.
The three men had surrounded her, the scar faced one had his weapon to her neck, "A woman should not be toying with firearms."
The three men laughed as the tall one cast her gunbelt a good distance off. Miranda knew hand to hand combat skills, but against three men with three very wicked looking swords, she didn't have a chance.
"Doth thou have a quarrel with the lady?" came a fourth voice. It belonged to a fellow with short black hair, brown eyes, and a lean build. On his belt were a sword and a small dagger.
"Our business with the lady is our own." The short brigand said.
"Aye, if it be so. But doth thou need blades to keep her company?"
"Watch thy tongue stranger before I cut it from your mouth." The scarred one said.
"I have no quarrel with you, nor do I wish one. And I do believe the lady has a right to chose if she'd like your company."
"I shall hack thee from sternum to crotch and have thy tongue for my dinner stranger!" The scarred one said.
The short one held Miranda's wrist behind her back, twisting it painfully and had his sword to her neck as the two men charged the stranger standing in front of them.
The stranger didn't move, he stood impassive until the brigands closed to within five feet of him. Suddenly, with deceptive ease, the stranger drew a swept-hilt rapier (a very elegant gentleman's sword of the Renaissance era) from its scabbard and stood ready.
"Hah!" laughed the leader, "That blade is on the wrong side of the sword. Art thou foolish."
The two men stood just outside of the range of a thrust, flanking the swordsman. "The blade is reversed for it makes me your equal."
"You'll be dead equal!" the leader laughed.
The two men charged as one, intending to run the swordsman through. What Miranda saw next was amazing. The swordsman calmly took one small step backward as they reached him and swung his strange blade at the leader, whacking him in the throat with a blow that was enough to send him sprawling. Had the blade been facing the other way it would have hacked open the throat of the first brigand.
The second sneered angrily and stabbed towards his foe. However the swordsman stepped sideways and towards his foe and swung the sword in a swift arc that landed the fast moving metal object on the man's stomach. He then struck the brigand in the face with the hilt.
Moving faster than Miranda had seen a person or toon move, the stranger then face the third brigand who cast Miranda to the ground. Before he could get in position to strike the swordsman struck him four times around the face and a fifth in the temple, knocking him out.
"Are thou alright, milady?" the swordsman said, helping Miranda to her feet.
"I'm fine. That was amazing." Miranda said, "Who are you?"
"I am Halb of Parmas."
"So that sword, why is the edge facing you sharp? I don't know much about swords, but shouldn't the blade be facing the other guy." Miranda asked.
"This blade is constructed by my design, for I have vowed I shall never take a life again." Halb replied.
"Why?" Miranda asked.
"For five decades war has waged our world. One by one the princes dragged their states on the sides of either faction. Acts of brutality and barbarity were commonplace. After the final battle in which the rightful king was brought to power I chose to take no part in the royal court." Halb replied.
"Do you know where the nearest town is?" Miranda asked, "Or what it is? I don't even know where I am."
"So I surmised, milady." Halb replied, "For it seems that by your garb you are not a native of this region. The nearest town is Vasserbunde, to the east, ten kilometers. But if thou would excuse my frankness, the road is dangerous at night; I cannot guarantee your safety."
"What do you suggest then?" Miranda asked.
"I have sufficient provisions to feed an extra person and an extra blanket. If thou would not mind, I shall make camp presently and offer thee a warm fire." Halb replied.
Something about the mysterious swordsman made Miranda trust his motives. Certainly she wasn't about to take him to her apartment after a movie Saturday night, but the man seemed honorable and of his word as he began to make a circle of stones.
Miranda went and collected several bits of wood and Halb set it afire. Soon they had a warm fire going and Halb draped the spare blanket over Miranda's shoulders. "What is your name?" Halb asked.
"Miranda Wright."
"So, Miranda Wright, where doth thou hail from?" Halb asked.
"I'm from Los Angeles." Miranda replied, at Halb's blank stare she said, "California. The United States of America?"
"They must be far off lands, for I've not heard of them." Halb replied.
"What is this place called?" Miranda asked.
"This is the land of Memel." Halb replied, "We are within the border of the city state of Vasserbunde."
'City-state,' Miranda thought, remembering her fifth grade history class, 'Ah, yes, a city that controls a little bit of land, not really a nation but a small principality.'
"Who is the prince of this city-state?" Miranda asked.
"Prince Nupraptor rules from his keep, towering over the city of Vasserbunde." Halb replied.
"So what about this war you fought in?" Miranda asked.
"Twas but eight years ago that the last battle was fought. I left as a young man of twenty-three years and wandered the countryside for that time." Halb replied.
So he was thirty-one years old, not that much older than Miranda's twenty- six years of age. "Why were you fighting?"
"The principalities of Nachtholm and Stahlberg disagreed over a stretch of border. Count Ottomar of Willendorf, the chancellor of the Council of Princes was killed in his sleep by an unknown assassin. Stahlberg blamed Nachtholm and thus Nachtholm blamed Stahlberg. One by one the princes of the various city states began to side with Nachtholm or Stahlberg. The fighting consumed all of the land. Great clashes of arms resounded through the fields. Towns were burned and sacked, peasants put to the sword alongside the soldiers of the defeated garrisons that failed to defend them. My own city of Parmas only involved itself against Stahlberg when an assassin, supposedly from Stahlberg, slew our young queen in her bed." Halb replied.
As Halb spoke Miranda could imagine the vast marching armies, the thunder of many footsteps and horses, the thunder of cannons and musketry, the clash of swords, the screams of wounded and dying men. Despite herself, Miranda yawned sleepily and curled up beside the fire and fell asleep.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Hmm, Vasserbunde, sounds Swedish." Bonkers said as he read the sign.
Bonkers walked along the path towards the city, unaware that the peasants that he had been passing by all day had been suspicious, if not terrified, of him. "There he is!" shouted a voice.
A mob of peasants came running from the woodwork with clubs, knives, torches and nets. "It is one of the creatures. Seize him!"
Bonkers ran with the mob on his tail. He reached the gates of Vasserbunde and saw a guard standing there. He wore britches, an armored breastplate, and carried a bladed six foot pike.
"Hi, I'm Officer Bonkers D. Bobcat, LAPD, you've gotta help me, there are these people after me....." Bonkers said, hoping that the common ground of both being cops would pull some leverage.
The pikeman leveled the pike on his chest, "State your business in the city of Vasserbunde."
"What business, I don't have any...." Bonkers began.
The guard laughed harshly, "There have been strange creatures afoot here. Entire villages have been wiped out. How doth I know that thou art not associated with the Black Army that marches upon us?"
Bonkers said, "I think I'll be going now."
He tiptoed backwards away from the guard only to run into the back of an arquebus (primitive firearm). "Stay there. You are in the company of the Vasserbunde night watchmen."
"Take him to the stockade." A man mounted atop a horse said, "Then we shall discover what this thing is in the morning."
~ ~ ~ ~
TBC (AN: The Heartless are the Black Army the sentry speaks of. Don't worry more of this will be explained as things go on.)
Disclaimer: Except for Halb of Parmas and his world, I do not own the Bonkers or Kingdom Hearts franchises. Other crossovers may follow. Any mistakes in the series are from not having seen it in over a decade.
~ ~ ~ ~
The former cartoon star turned policeman Bonkers D. Bobcat, bounded through the halls of the police station. "WAHOO! I LOVE COFFEE!" Bonkers shouted as he held a half full mug in his hands.
"Bonkers, wait!" shouted Miranda Wright, his partner. She was a slim, athletically figured blonde policewoman who was the other half of the best team in the Toon Division.
"How many times have I told you not to drink from the pot of coffee that the Homicide Detectives brew?" Miranda shouted, smiling despite herself. Bonkers certainly made things interesting around here with his antics. Unfortunately there were people like the uptight Sergeant Grating who had absolutely no sense of humor. Unfortunately Bonkers was about to bounce right into Grating.
"BOBCAT!!!!!" Grating shouted when Bonkers collided with him, "Officer Wright, you disappoint me."
"Sorry Sergeant." Miranda replied.
"Aren't you supposed to be working on interrogating that suspect?" Grating shouted.
"We're on our way right now." Miranda replied, catching a fistful of Bonkers' shirt, "Aren't we Bonkers?"
"Yeah." Bonkers replied. Aside from the coffee high, Bonkers had been fairly silent of late. Then again, every toon in the town seemed to be acting that way as well. It was almost like the way dogs act before a major earthquake. It was as if there was something wrong.
Bonkers seemed as silent as a stone when he approached the holding cell where their suspect was being held. Just what was it, Miranda didn't know. But whatever it was it seemed to have Bonkers' fur standing on end. The poor little guy didn't want to be anywhere near that thing, it was like he was dreadfully afraid of it.
The thing didn't speak at all, it didn't even have a mouth so to speak. It was a little shorter than Bonkers, all black, with clawed hands and antennae atop its head. It's only recognizable facial features were the antennae atop its head which started to twitch ever so when Bonkers and Miranda approached.
"Bonkers?" Miranda said, "Are you OK?"
Bonkers' color started to fade to white as he approached the creature. From working extensively with toons Miranda knew that her partner was scared out of his mind about this thing.
"Bonkers, is there something you know about this thing?" Miranda asked.
"All I know, Miranda is that it's evil." Bonkers said.
"How do you know?" Miranda asked.
"Toon intuition." Bonkers replied, with a feeble attempt at humor.
"Look, Bonkers, if you're not up to this you can..." Miranda began.
She never finished that sentence because the wall of the holding cell tore away as though it were only a cheap child's play thing as opposed to the construction of steel and concrete it actually was. The giant black hand that tore it away was connected to a large creature, as large as the building, with a face that radiated pure evil, it's hair and beard were black and flowed like wisps of smoke as the rest of its body did.
Miranda turned to run, but saw Bonkers was paralyzed with fright. She grabbed his arm as Darkside tore through the station. Miranda ran into the main office area only to see several more creatures, like the little one in the holding cell standing all around her.
Then the room started to turn black. It wasn't as if the lights had been turned off, it was more like a large black wave swept through the halls like an evil tide washing away everything and all before it.
"Bonkerrrsss!" Miranda shouted as she went under.
"Miranda!!!" Bonkers shouted from far away.
~ ~ ~ ~
'Where am I?' Miranda thought as she awoke. She saw that she was lying in a ditch beside a dirt road. It was a country road of sorts winding and narrow, meandering through the countryside like a snake. Miranda walked along the road, not sure where the nearest town was.
The moon had just risen like a large sphere in the skies when Miranda encountered the brigands. The first clue she had of any problems was when a tall, somewhat chubby man approached her, saying.
"Don't you know it's not safe for a lady to walk alone at night?"
A short, muscular brigand came from the brush and said, "Hark, a lady alone, without escort? What land doth thou hail from?"
"Does it really and truly matter?" the third brigand asked, he was taller than the second, with scars crisscrossing his face, "She is alone, and we will enjoy her company for tonight."
Miranda reached for her gun at her side, only to find that the first brigand was holding it. "Was thou searching for this curious arquebus?" he said.
The three men had surrounded her, the scar faced one had his weapon to her neck, "A woman should not be toying with firearms."
The three men laughed as the tall one cast her gunbelt a good distance off. Miranda knew hand to hand combat skills, but against three men with three very wicked looking swords, she didn't have a chance.
"Doth thou have a quarrel with the lady?" came a fourth voice. It belonged to a fellow with short black hair, brown eyes, and a lean build. On his belt were a sword and a small dagger.
"Our business with the lady is our own." The short brigand said.
"Aye, if it be so. But doth thou need blades to keep her company?"
"Watch thy tongue stranger before I cut it from your mouth." The scarred one said.
"I have no quarrel with you, nor do I wish one. And I do believe the lady has a right to chose if she'd like your company."
"I shall hack thee from sternum to crotch and have thy tongue for my dinner stranger!" The scarred one said.
The short one held Miranda's wrist behind her back, twisting it painfully and had his sword to her neck as the two men charged the stranger standing in front of them.
The stranger didn't move, he stood impassive until the brigands closed to within five feet of him. Suddenly, with deceptive ease, the stranger drew a swept-hilt rapier (a very elegant gentleman's sword of the Renaissance era) from its scabbard and stood ready.
"Hah!" laughed the leader, "That blade is on the wrong side of the sword. Art thou foolish."
The two men stood just outside of the range of a thrust, flanking the swordsman. "The blade is reversed for it makes me your equal."
"You'll be dead equal!" the leader laughed.
The two men charged as one, intending to run the swordsman through. What Miranda saw next was amazing. The swordsman calmly took one small step backward as they reached him and swung his strange blade at the leader, whacking him in the throat with a blow that was enough to send him sprawling. Had the blade been facing the other way it would have hacked open the throat of the first brigand.
The second sneered angrily and stabbed towards his foe. However the swordsman stepped sideways and towards his foe and swung the sword in a swift arc that landed the fast moving metal object on the man's stomach. He then struck the brigand in the face with the hilt.
Moving faster than Miranda had seen a person or toon move, the stranger then face the third brigand who cast Miranda to the ground. Before he could get in position to strike the swordsman struck him four times around the face and a fifth in the temple, knocking him out.
"Are thou alright, milady?" the swordsman said, helping Miranda to her feet.
"I'm fine. That was amazing." Miranda said, "Who are you?"
"I am Halb of Parmas."
"So that sword, why is the edge facing you sharp? I don't know much about swords, but shouldn't the blade be facing the other guy." Miranda asked.
"This blade is constructed by my design, for I have vowed I shall never take a life again." Halb replied.
"Why?" Miranda asked.
"For five decades war has waged our world. One by one the princes dragged their states on the sides of either faction. Acts of brutality and barbarity were commonplace. After the final battle in which the rightful king was brought to power I chose to take no part in the royal court." Halb replied.
"Do you know where the nearest town is?" Miranda asked, "Or what it is? I don't even know where I am."
"So I surmised, milady." Halb replied, "For it seems that by your garb you are not a native of this region. The nearest town is Vasserbunde, to the east, ten kilometers. But if thou would excuse my frankness, the road is dangerous at night; I cannot guarantee your safety."
"What do you suggest then?" Miranda asked.
"I have sufficient provisions to feed an extra person and an extra blanket. If thou would not mind, I shall make camp presently and offer thee a warm fire." Halb replied.
Something about the mysterious swordsman made Miranda trust his motives. Certainly she wasn't about to take him to her apartment after a movie Saturday night, but the man seemed honorable and of his word as he began to make a circle of stones.
Miranda went and collected several bits of wood and Halb set it afire. Soon they had a warm fire going and Halb draped the spare blanket over Miranda's shoulders. "What is your name?" Halb asked.
"Miranda Wright."
"So, Miranda Wright, where doth thou hail from?" Halb asked.
"I'm from Los Angeles." Miranda replied, at Halb's blank stare she said, "California. The United States of America?"
"They must be far off lands, for I've not heard of them." Halb replied.
"What is this place called?" Miranda asked.
"This is the land of Memel." Halb replied, "We are within the border of the city state of Vasserbunde."
'City-state,' Miranda thought, remembering her fifth grade history class, 'Ah, yes, a city that controls a little bit of land, not really a nation but a small principality.'
"Who is the prince of this city-state?" Miranda asked.
"Prince Nupraptor rules from his keep, towering over the city of Vasserbunde." Halb replied.
"So what about this war you fought in?" Miranda asked.
"Twas but eight years ago that the last battle was fought. I left as a young man of twenty-three years and wandered the countryside for that time." Halb replied.
So he was thirty-one years old, not that much older than Miranda's twenty- six years of age. "Why were you fighting?"
"The principalities of Nachtholm and Stahlberg disagreed over a stretch of border. Count Ottomar of Willendorf, the chancellor of the Council of Princes was killed in his sleep by an unknown assassin. Stahlberg blamed Nachtholm and thus Nachtholm blamed Stahlberg. One by one the princes of the various city states began to side with Nachtholm or Stahlberg. The fighting consumed all of the land. Great clashes of arms resounded through the fields. Towns were burned and sacked, peasants put to the sword alongside the soldiers of the defeated garrisons that failed to defend them. My own city of Parmas only involved itself against Stahlberg when an assassin, supposedly from Stahlberg, slew our young queen in her bed." Halb replied.
As Halb spoke Miranda could imagine the vast marching armies, the thunder of many footsteps and horses, the thunder of cannons and musketry, the clash of swords, the screams of wounded and dying men. Despite herself, Miranda yawned sleepily and curled up beside the fire and fell asleep.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Hmm, Vasserbunde, sounds Swedish." Bonkers said as he read the sign.
Bonkers walked along the path towards the city, unaware that the peasants that he had been passing by all day had been suspicious, if not terrified, of him. "There he is!" shouted a voice.
A mob of peasants came running from the woodwork with clubs, knives, torches and nets. "It is one of the creatures. Seize him!"
Bonkers ran with the mob on his tail. He reached the gates of Vasserbunde and saw a guard standing there. He wore britches, an armored breastplate, and carried a bladed six foot pike.
"Hi, I'm Officer Bonkers D. Bobcat, LAPD, you've gotta help me, there are these people after me....." Bonkers said, hoping that the common ground of both being cops would pull some leverage.
The pikeman leveled the pike on his chest, "State your business in the city of Vasserbunde."
"What business, I don't have any...." Bonkers began.
The guard laughed harshly, "There have been strange creatures afoot here. Entire villages have been wiped out. How doth I know that thou art not associated with the Black Army that marches upon us?"
Bonkers said, "I think I'll be going now."
He tiptoed backwards away from the guard only to run into the back of an arquebus (primitive firearm). "Stay there. You are in the company of the Vasserbunde night watchmen."
"Take him to the stockade." A man mounted atop a horse said, "Then we shall discover what this thing is in the morning."
~ ~ ~ ~
TBC (AN: The Heartless are the Black Army the sentry speaks of. Don't worry more of this will be explained as things go on.)