Blue Skies

Preliminary Author's Notes: I have just been hit with inspiration, so I'm posting this before the end of Silver Linings.

"Blue Skies" is a collection of one-shots in the general universe of Dark Clouds and Silver Linings. If you have an awesome idea, but don't think you could write it yourself, tell me about it via reviews or PMs! We'll chat for a bit to add some clarity, and so you'll know what to expect when I place your idea here!

Help Me, Professor Kokonoe!

A/N: The lucky winner of the first one-shot in this collection is "That Mysterious Reader!" The premise is that Sora gets p-wn'd by Demyx in their encounter at Olympus Coliseum. So, let us Observe: one of the many possibilities...of the Continuum Shift.

The curtain rose on a darkened stage in a pop-up book. A spotlight shined down on center stage, illuminating Professor Kokonoe in all her pink, poofy, kitty-cat Mad Scientist glory. She begins to recite a prepared speech...

"Greetings, lost children. I am Professor Kokonoe, genius scientist and ruler of the Sector Seven laboratory. ...Well, OK, we aren't in the lab at the moment. This place can sort of be temporarily moved into the Boundary. Well, simply put, it's a mysterious room. A room where you can do anything you want. To be honest, it's a paradise for all those sad, little lost children who couldn't make it to the True Ending. A sort of Avalon. If you're one of those nutbars who's all 'I don't need help' or 'I only want to unlock hidden stuff' or 'I'll just look for a flowchart online,' then you can piss off... Very well. Lost child of the day, you may enter."

From stage right, a boy with absurdly spiky brown hair wanders in, his giant yellow clown shoes squeaking on the tiled floor. "Aw, come on! I only had twenty to go! Hey, isn't this normally the part where I'm floating on my back in a black space?"

"Wait a minute... Who the hell are you? I've never seen you before, kiddo."

"How do you not know? I'm the main character! I've been all over the place! And who are you, anyway?"

"No. I am not going to recite that whole speech twice an episode ever again. I'm Kokonoe. You come in, you get advice on how to get to the True Ending, you leave. So, since you're not going anywhere without following this process, I suggest you confess. What sort of obstacle stopped you from doing whatever it was you were trying to do?"

"Um... He didn't really offer a name. He was one of those freaks in Organization XIII, and he summoned a bunch of water things to fight me. I had to beat all 80 of them in one minute, and when I didn't... Well, here I am. Got any tips?"

"Organization What? Let me consult my notes... You're kidding me! Lambda, I'm going to upgrade you over this bullsnot! And who changed my swear word just now?"

"I hear there's a profanity filter in place, or something. Why would this 'Lambda' see getting an upgrade as a punishment?"

"You don't know me very well, kid. Anyway, Sora, you forgot your Reaction Commands when you were fighting."

A question mark appeared over Sora's head. "My what?"

"You know! You hit the enemy a few times, or block their attack, or something, and then you can press the Triangle Button and wreck them in one hit! Sounds overpowered, in my opinion. If I had something like that, I'd use it every chance I got! I should work on that next..." Kokonoe began scheming. "I'll call it Armament Infinity Version 0.8: Reaction Command..."

Sora was still confused. "...Is the Triangle Button one of those buttons on your doohickey?" He tried to get past Kokonoe and push random buttons, but was pushed back by the sheer force of the Professor's boundless rage.

"DOOHICKEY?! This is a state of the art computer console capable of phenomena intervention and teleportation! It can run sixteen copies of Skyrim at once on the highest graphics settings, and still have RAM left over to browse fanfiction while they load! And you DARE call it a doohickey?"

"Sorry! I don't get computer stuff!"

"Who let you out of the cave without basic knowledge of computer use...?" Kokonoe fumed, but tried to rein herself in to get this idiot out of her show faster. "Ugh. You don't need to worry about the Triangle Button yourself. Trust me, the people who need to know are listening right now. So try not to make such a fool of yourself again!"

"So what should I do?"

"You whack one of the clones with your Keyblade once, then grab it and swing it around. It'll draw in the rest and be much faster than going after them one by one. For the benefit of the audience, that particular Reaction Command is called Wild Dance. Now, go on! GET!" Kokonoe pressed a button on her state of the art computer console, and a door opened offscreen. Sora wandered out, stage right.

Kokonoe growled in frustration. "I'm sick of this crab. And that profanity filter. I have way too many lost children to deal with as it is! Maybe I can contact someone else to deal with the Heart Timeline kids." She produced a walkie-talkie from the magic space behind anime characters' backs. "Yes, Mr. Sid? This is Professor Kokonoe of the Azure Timeline..."

The curtain fell.