Chapter 2
(Space Pirates?)
Scrubbing her sunburned cheek again, she kicked her wet heels against the decking of the Gummi Ship she sat in the pilot's seat of, staring at the controls that were about as familiar as anything else had been so far. The Duck-man and Dog-man had gone into the back, and she supposed they were probably talking about her, but she didn't want to interrupt their important conversations. She was feeling a lot better now that she'd gotten out of the sun. She'd have liked to have had a shower too, but that may have been more than the two she'd been kidnapped by were willing to give her. After the weird teleportation sequence they'd put her through- well... she wasn't going to argue with them. Who knew what other kinds of techno-space gadgetry they had for the express purpose of sucking out people's brains through their noses? And if they wanted to talk about her in the back room, oh well. Hopefully they'd kill her before cooking her in their Giant Soup Pot of Doom.
Eventually, Duck-man entered, carrying a bowl of something that immediately had her stomach throttling her backbone. "Here, Shora," Duck-man said, handing her the bowl.
Eyes shining, she flashed a grateful smile at him, "Thank you!" she said, making sure to remain polite, simply because ...well, it was difficult for her to be impolite in the first place, no matter what she thought of the people personally, but also because she figured that if she was a good prisoner, they'd grant her a last wish. It didn't matter if they were fattening her up before they did what they wanted. Instead, she started slurping the hot substance, not caring what it was called or what it was even made out of.
Dog-man entered then from the door in the back of the room. It wasn't a very large room she currently found herself in, but it had windows on three sides, three chairs in the front and center, the teleport pad was in the back left corner, and a door into another room was straight back from the chair she'd been directed to while she'd been suffering from blinding Blue Dot Special from their teleport in. Dog-man said, "Hey, Donald, you think we should go to the Castle first and ask Queen Minnie what she knows?" this seemed to be part of an ongoing conversation, but she perked her ears, committing the names she heard to memory on the vague hope that she really was who they said she was and they wouldn't be eating her anytime soon.
Donald, as he'd been called, looked towards Dog-man and nodded, "Yeah." They both glanced at her again, as if expecting her to say something- perhaps she really did have a vote in this outfit?
Blinking and hurriedly swallowing her latest mouthful, she nodded, "Sounds good," she agreed, because she had nothing legitimate to object with. It wasn't like she even knew who Queen Minnie was, after all, "Uh- after we can take a look at the last place the king was seen?" It seemed like a good suggestion to make, after all, checking the scene of the crime was what the cops did in the TV shows, and she wanted to remain cooperative and helpful. Just on the off chance that they'd appreciate it.
Donald curled his wing into a fist and hopped, "Let'sh go then!" he said excitedly, raring to get to work on the problem looming ahead.
"Uh- Donald, you forgot. The Paths are closed again," Dog-man pointed out, derailing Donald's enthusiasm.
Suddenly flying into a fit, Donald sputtered, flapping his wings, "I know that!"
Staring between the two, she quickly decided that having her mouth full was a good way to avoid asking questions that would get her stared at. After all, she was just their 'guest'.
The Dog-man backed a step away and asked, "Well, what do we do about it?"
"We've got Shora now," Donald pointed out, as if that made all the difference, and she briefly imagined herself being used as a virgin sacrifice.
'You? A virgin sacrifice? That's a load of giggles,' her sarcastic-side commented. 'You'd look like a ghostly stick in THAT outfit. Better stick with the Lolita Goth style.'
Firmly ignoring that comment from her mental peanut-gallery, and thinking that she'd better say something before Donald and Dog-man got into a fight, she swallowed a mouthful of soup and put in, since this seemed to involve her cooperation, "Can't be hard to open them again, can it?"
The two of them looked towards her and she bit her lower lip. Perhaps she should have kept her mouth shut, on third thought, but Dog-man said, "Hyuck! Wouldn't hurt to give it a try."
After a moment, Donald gave an agreeing nod. "You ready to try, Shora?"
Unfortunately, an immediate agreement hadn't been what she'd been looking for. Hiding her shock behind the bowl, she concentrated on absorbing the rest of her dinner- breakfast, lunch, whatever time of day it was. Her timing was so off. "Um," she said after looking mournfully into the bowl.
Dog-man laughed and held out his hand, "You want more, Sora?"
"Um... if you don't mind. I think I missed a few meals," she admitted with a blush and scratch to the back of her head. Her hair, in its natural state was quite wild, pointing out in all directions in spikes, parts falling into her eyes, and she didn't bother pushing it from her face. In this particularly grimy incarnation, her hair was about as stiff as Gary's three-month-old dirty socks.
Donald admitted, "You do look..."
"Underfed," Dog-man finished where Donald couldn't find the word and moved on without another comment when she blushed again, lowering her eyes and picking at some crusted salt on her boy's shorts. Not only did she wear boy's clothes, but she deliberately spoke in a lower voice, kept her hair fairly short and wild, and ran around beating things with sticks, just like the other boys. This, of course, had not just been out of personal inclination, but out of self preservation. She'd found early that girls were perceived as easy targets by the bullies, so she'd gone for the Gangly Loner Boy image, which her body had thankfully cooperated with even after puberty had set in.
The Loner part had come as a consequence of her life, rather than inclination. She'd never managed to get any friends- male or female- but that may have been because she'd never been in the same school for an entire year. Besides, friends always wanted things. 'If you're really my friend, you'll do this for me...' they said. What was the point of making friends if she'd just have the heartbreak of leaving them when her foster-parents sent her off to a new home, or orphanage when they got tired of being disappointed by her refusing to be girly, or when the other children there turned against her in a unified force.
The thought occurred to her that perhaps she should warn this Donald and Dog-man that asking her to help save the universe would only result in her screwing everything up and casting them all into chaos. Just like all her attempts to help people in the past had always backfired. No matter how small her acts of kindness had been- opening a door for a girl with a grin and bow had gotten her slapped. Picking up someone's papers when they dropped them got her called a thief. Helping a foster-mother bring in groceries resulted in her getting yelled at.
Closing her eyes, she tried to squelch the encroaching feeling of uselessness by reaching into her heart for that piece that hurt and snuffed it expertly. Opening her eyes, she looked towards Donald, who'd taken a seat to her left and was doing systems checks or something. The duck looked towards her in return and gave a thumbs-up, which she answered with a fake-confident grin. Dog-man returned, handing her the second bowl, which she ate a bit more slowly this time, starting to feel much better. Certainly more awake mentally than she'd been before.
Dog-man took a seat on her right and looked over his controls with a thoughtful expression. "So- these paths," she asked, unsure of how to phrase her question, "How tangled are they? I mean..." what she meant to ask was whether they would be surprised if they didn't end up at the destination they wanted on the first try. She didn't want to disappoint them and give them a reason to throw her out before she'd filled her empty stomach more than halfway.
"It took us three tries to get to Destiny Islands," Dog-man replied. "The paths closed behind us afterwards. We need your Keyblade to keep them open."
Except that she did not happen to have any keys or blades or any combination of the two on her. Honestly, all she had with her was her cheap digital camera which hung from a strap around her neck and she feared that it too had gotten soaked and would no longer work. Her wallet was in her pocket, and around her neck was a thin silver chain with a diamond-shaped pendant- likely crystal or cubic zirconium, though she didn't really know for sure, she'd had it since forever. Her keys... she'd left them at her foster parent's house for some reason, but that was locked behind her amnesia along with how she'd ended up on the beach.
She smiled, trying not to look too confused. "Sure," she said instead, "But ah... I think I misplaced it."
This got a reaction from the two, and she flinched, expecting to be hit.
Donald squawked and jumped up in his chair, Dog-man spun around to look at her so quickly his long floppy ears hit him across the face, it was amazing he didn't give himself whiplash. Hurriedly, she waved her free hand, laughing nervously, "Haha- sorry, bad joke!" Blushing and hiding behind the bowl, she finished it off and glanced around for somewhere to put it.
That was when Dog-man asked, "So, Sora. Where's Jiminy?"
She stared at her companion, unsure of who or what Jiminy was, so instead, she answered, "Around... Look. We should get going, right? Before the trail gets cold or something happens that needs the king's attention, right?" This finally got them moving, which was a relief and she finally just set the empty bowl in her lap for the time being while she gazed intently at the controls in front of her, watching readouts scroll by. Figuring that they said 'All Clear', she lifted her eyes to look at the front window, brows raising as Donald brought them around, heading past what looked like... not a globe. "I guess Columbus was wrong. The world is decidedly flat," she observed, watching the disk slide past out the side windows and disappear out of view. Thankfully neither Dog-man nor Donald made a comment on that, though they did exchange a look while she wasn't watching.
Turning her attention forward again, her eyes widened at the sight of the large door that was floating out in the middle of the slightly green-purple hued space. "Whoa," she whispered to herself. Now that was just... "Am I on acid?" she had to ask herself and pressed a hand to her forehead. "It would explain a lot." This time, she caught the odd look Donald and Dog-man exchanged and blushed.
Dog-man asked, "Are you sure you're feeling awright, Sora?"
"Maybe it's the sunburn," she answered quickly, "Heat-stroke. Brain-freeze. Constipation. Whatever." Clearing her throat, she shifted in her seat and curled her chilled toes in her now decidedly cold wet shoes. Right. She needed a change of clothes and soon. "Well, Donald," she turned towards the duck, "Take us in," she assumed that was the right thing to say, for Donald nodded and they started forward at a faster pace, and abruptly shifted gears, slamming her back into the chair to desperately clutch the arms. Ahead, the door opened, and they shot through, emerging into an even more disturbing landscape- if that term even covered what she was seeing. Space-scape? Except it had floating islands with waterfalls cascading over the sides.
"Shora! Take the controlsh quick! We've got incoming!" Donald called and following instructions, she grabbed the joystick in front of her, fingers accidentally hitting the triggers on the back. Looming out of bubbles of darkness in front of them, other spaceships appeared and immediately began firing upon the much smaller ship that had invaded their space. Torpedoes shot out with a boom that rocked the ship, and she watched in horror as her accidentally fired shots hit dead-on the oncoming ships.
"Good shot, Sora!" Dog-man cheered.
Pulling her lips in something that looked like a grin, she hoped those had just been mechanical things and hadn't had people inside. She wasn't so sure hanging out with these weirdoes was such a good idea after all. They were making her do things like... shoot torpedoes at other ships. Maybe she was on acid? Gary had always said she was a druggie.
'No! He was the druggie!' her sarcastic-side corrected, 'He was just using you as a way to cover his own problems.'
Fury flared in her heart at the memory of how, four months ago, he'd beat her, then hauled her back to their current foster parents and said he'd found her buying drugs. He'd told them she'd not paid for what she'd taken and gotten beaten for it. They'd been so... disappointed in her. They'd sent her to rehab after that. Three months of being told things that had no use to her, watched constantly, and yelled at continually when she refused to take the medication she didn't need. She'd tried to help the others there, only to get slapped for trying.
Her fingers clenched on the triggers again, firing another set of torpedoes, which connected with more ships that were now firing on them. Jerking the joystick suddenly, they dodged an attack, spun down again and made a strafing run on a larger ship that they'd suddenly come upon as they rounded the side of a floating island. Firing as fast as her fingers could pull the triggers, she shot down the smaller ships that came towards them at full-ramming speed and spared a moment to look over the other controls on her dashboard. Alarms were screaming throughout the bridge as shots made contact with their small ship and there were red arrows marking spots all over the screen in front of her controls and a large red arrow to the right. Making a choice, she pried a hand loose from the joystick and grabbed something that looked like a throttle and pulled.
Abruptly, the ship spun away from a ship that had been closing in on their right, only to narrowly miss hitting one of the floating islands- causing her companions to shriek. They splashed through a waterfall and came out the other side, darted straight down, barely scratching the side of another giant ship that loomed out of the mist towards them. Spinning around beneath the giant ship, she shot off the cannons that immediately turned to take aim.
Finally, they burst out from beneath the mother-ship.
"Sora!" Dog-man gasped. "There's the Keyhole! Unlock it!"
Shocked and brought back to her surroundings, her hands released the joystick and triggers. Donald had taken over again and honestly unsure of what to do, she looked from Donald to Dog-man. Dog-man gave her an encouraging smile- the warmest expression she had ever seen- and Donald called, "Hurry Shora! They're gaining on ush!"
Looking ahead, she blinked at the large keyhole that had appeared ahead of them, and wondered at it. A keyhole like that would require one big key. The Keyblade? Well, she certainly didn't have one in her pocket!
'Oh- what do I do! I don't HAVE a Keyblade!' she wailed in her mind, sure now that she was about to be killed. Alarms were still ringing in the cabin and Donald was rolling the ship side to side to avoid attacks from behind.
'Call it!' This voice wasn't the usual one she imagined hearing in her head, but he seemed to know what he was talking about and she narrowed her eyes, imagining the Keyblade like a dog, coming to her hand as she called it.
A flash of light sparkled from her right hand, forming into something solid, and eyes widened as she lifted out her hand, in which now rested a giant key with a sharpened side. "Keyblade... right," she whispered. With no better options, she pointed the blade towards the keyhole, watching in wonder as light shot from the end, went through the glass and hit the keyhole outside. A flash of light later and they were through.
Blinking and trembling, she stared at the Keyblade in her hands, wondering if her shorts were still just damp with sea-water or if she'd peed herself. Collapsing back in her seat, she took a breath and then another. Yes, air was very good. And this Trip was seriously getting weird. Maybe someone had mugged her while she was out walking? Maybe this was all happening in her subconscious while she was in a coma in the hospital?
Fingers clenching on the Keyblade in her hands, she peeked over at Dog-man as he said, "Hyuck! Way to go Sora! We knew you could do it!"
'They knew I could do it...?' she repeated silently. So much different than what she'd usually been told: 'I knew you'd screw it up...'
Lifting her eyes fully, she turned an unguarded smile on Dog-man, knocked off the defensive briefly by his enthusiasm. It was rather contagious. Or maybe it was just what he'd said? 'We knew you could do it' he'd said! So what if they had her killing people in spaceships? She was good at it. 'We knew you could do it!' Perhaps there really was a first time for everything? 'My calling maybe? If this is an acid trip, or a coma, I hope I stay here forever, killing space pirates. Unless we're the space pirates, in which case, that's cool too. I always wanted to be a pirate.'
Donald sighed, though, "Aww, thish ishn't Dishney Cashtle."
Shocked out of her elation, she turned to look at the world they were coming up to- another flat disk with a large sprawling town in the center, graced by the light of a setting sun.
"Gawrsh, this looks like Twilight Town," Dog-man pointed out. It was a good thing he knew where they were, but his confirmation drained her of all confidence. After all, they'd wanted her to get them to Disney Castle and she'd failed them. What would they do to her now?
"We should shee how Hayner, Penche, and Olette are doing anyway," Donald added. In unison, Dog-man and Donald looked towards her, as if asking for her approval, startling her out of her spiral towards depression.
Was this team a trio of space pirates or a syndicate? Who knew? Either way, it seemed like an idea that the two of them weren't disinclined to, so she nodded, looking to each of them, "Sure," she agreed, hopefully these people they were going to see weren't dangerous. Licking her lips, she lowered her eyes and added, "Sorry about... not getting us to the-" Dog-man reached over and dropped a hand on her shoulder, stopping her in mid-sentence.
"Gawrsh, Sora, it's not your fault. We're close! Closer in one try than we got in two trying to get to Destiny Islands without you!"
"Yeah! Cheer up, Shora!" Donald agreed, hopping down from his seat.
Lifting her eyes again, she felt immensely relieved. She'd not messed up their plans getting distracted with the space pirate shooting. Accepting the praise, she drank it in like a flower gone too long without water, and smiled at the two again. "Alright," she agreed softly, then looked down at her Keyblade. It was rather big, she observed, and she had nothing to sheathe it in. It was also more than a little oddly shaped, with a large ring around the hilt, a crown-shaped projection off the end, and a short jingly keychain hanging off the pommel. She frowned at it briefly, wondering what to do with the thing when suddenly it disappeared.
'Right. A self-sheathing sword,' her sarcastic-side muttered.
Picking up the bowl from her lap, she slid to her feet and looked around. "Uh, what do I do with this?" she asked, blinking up at Dog-man, since he was closest and had been the source of her recent praise, perhaps he would be inclined to answer a simple question like that.
Thankfully, he took the bowl with a smile and headed off while Donald headed over to the back of the bridge- to what had to be the most Star Trek-ish teleport pad she'd ever seen in real life. Unsure, she followed him and stepped onto the pad, taking a stand beside the short duck. Dog-man hurried back from the other room- wherever that door led to, and hopped up onto the pad beside the other two.
Unprepared, she gasped as light briefly blinded her- lifting her hands, she scrubbed the blue-dot special from her eyes. "Ouch," she muttered.
"Hyuck, gotta close your eyes, Sora," Dog-man pointed out, though he sounded amused rather than disapproving.
"Didn't blink in time," she replied, recalling that she never seemed to blink in time. It was amazing how all the pictures ever taken of her had her with her eyes wide open, wearing a dazed dear-in-the-headlights expression with a pinned on smile. She hated her pictures. Especially her school pictures. She always blacked them out with a sharpie in people's yearbooks while they weren't watching. She had to admit that her actions really weren't that nice, but better that no one remembered her. Unfortunately, though she hated her picture, she had to keep her school ID with her at all times. She had her current one in her wallet, which was probably quite soggy now. Straightening, she dropped a hand into her pocket and checked it. Yep. Soggy as a day-old diaper.
That probably meant her money would need drying out too- what little she had left. She'd been trying to save it and make it last as long as she could, though the Why of that was also locked behind her amnesia. The money could wait, however. For now, she was in a strange room- standing in the corner of a building that was decorated by various pieces of junk, a dartboard, and ratty fourth-hand couch. There was no one in the room, which was just as well, because she figured that if the situation were switched and she'd just witnessed three strangers teleport into her hideout-base, she'd probably pee her pants. Admittedly, Dog-man and Donald hardly looked dangerous, but looks could be deceiving, Gary was quite handsome for a thug, after all. He and his whole gang of butt-heads were too good-looking for their own good. She always hated the years she ended up in the same foster family as him. This was what, the third time? There had to be a conspiracy.
Shaking those thoughts away, she stepped forward, "So, uh, where's the guys we were meeting?" she asked, unsure of where to go from here.
Dog-man scratched the side of his head and said, "Well, I dunno, Sora. They're usually here. This is their Usual Place, after all."
Turning to face the other two, she looked them over for a long moment, then turned back around. There were two scenarios she could see, judging by the place. One was that the gang they'd come to see was a bunch of forty-year-old thugs that ran the streets, looting and stealing. The other half of her thought enviously, 'This is such a cool hangout-spot. I wish I had friends who'd invite me here.'
Wandering around the room, she paused at a cupboard with a drawer partially open. Cautiously pulling it open further, she picked out the pictures that had caught her attention.
Well, that answered the question. This place was lorded over by a bunch of kids. A tall blonde boy, a chubby dark-haired boy, and a brunet girl... Flipping through the pictures, she stopped, nearly dropping them as she discovered, of all things, a picture of herself wielding a Nerf Sword against the blonde boy, both of them grinning foolishly. The next picture was of herself and the blonde standing side by side, holding up the most ridiculous trophy. Who had won didn't seem to matter, judging by the smiles.
Brows lowering, she stared at her clone, her other... or whatever he or she was. She just could not remember ever meeting these people, and yet she was apparently very good friends with them. Pain rattled in her heart instead of the happiness that should have been there- recalled upon seeing the photos. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her wallet and opened it after setting down the photos.
"Shomething wrong, Shora?" Donald asked as she flipped through her various soggy cards, trying to find her school ID as a hunch came to her. Maybe the sharpie had washed off her picture- since she didn't really have a mirror handy at the moment.
Before she could find her ID, however, a clattering of feet was prelude to the rag covering over the door bursting forward. Gasping and stumbling, three kids shot through and staggered to a stop. "Sora! Donald, Goofy! We're so glad to see you!" the brunet girl of the trio gasped. The other two were the tall blonde boy and the pudgy black-haired boy.
"Olette! What'sh wrong?" Donald asked immediately, quite concerned- obvious by the way he was jumping up and down. She looked from Donald to Dog-man and decided that since she was Sora that left Goofy to be Dog-man's name by elimination.
Closing her wallet and stuffing it away again, she turned to face the other kids and put on a smile. "Hiya. Something the matter?" After all, if it was space pirates, she was good at killing space pirates- Goofy had said so! Though not in so many words, but still, she was good at it. The only thing she was good at so far, but she was beginning to have hopes that she could be good at other things.
Olette swallowed, but it was the taller blonde that spoke up, "It's those weird things again- the ones that had attacked before! I tried to fight them but I just can't hit them!"
Licking her lips when the group of five looked towards her, she nodded firmly and lifted a hand to clench into a fist as she grinned, "Right! Weird things are my specialty," she boldly claimed, "Just leave them to us!" though a voice in the back of her mind- that same one that always told her to not bother trying, whispered that she'd probably regret saying anything, and likely very soon. After all, weird things attacking the town didn't sound all that reassuring or conductive towards continued health. 'You don't even know if Donald and Goofy will assist you in dealing with the Weird Things. YOU just volunteered them.'
'Shut up!' she ordered her sarcastic-side, smiled at the group, and headed past them, towards the curtained door, outside of which was an alley. There didn't seem to be a thing out of the ordinary- it was about like any old alley, after all. There was junk piled in corners, but the place was eerily silent.
A brief flash of light and weight settling into her palm brought her attention down to her right hand, finding that the Keyblade had appeared once more. She'd not called it this time, so what did that mean? Was it like her new Spider-senses? Ha. Either way, Donald and Goofy had stepped out behind her, carrying a staff and a shield, respectively. Where they'd gotten those from, she didn't know. Maybe the same place her Keyblade came from? Either way, it hardly mattered.
Stepping out further, she came out fully into the alley, looking up and down the cobblestone paved street. "I don't see anything," she said, about to scoff 'Weird Things. I think they were pulling our legs.'
Choking on her words, she scrambled back as a ball of pure darkness bubbled into being over her head, and like a pustule, popped, dropping a featureless black creature to the ground. "It's kind of cute," she couldn't help but point out when it stood. Unfortunately, more such pustules burst, dropping their strange fruit to the pavement. Donald and Goofy didn't waste a moment in getting into action, and fascinated nearly to the point of fatal distraction, she watched the two fling spells and themselves at the creatures that swarmed across the pavement towards her.
Terror welled up in her as she realized that while one was cute, hundreds looked like a sea of spiders. Stifling her girly shriek, she slapped at the first to come towards her with the only thing handy- her Keyblade. Surprisingly, the monster burst in a puff of black smoke and something sparkling burst out from it. She was unable to stand and watch, unfortunately, for more were surrounding her even as she gaped stupidly at them.
'Yeah, okay, stupid Voice, you were right. I AM regretting this!' she howled in her mind as she hacked at the black monsters. At least they were easy to defeat, but there were so many of them!
"Sora! Behind you!" someone behind her shouted. It sounded like the tall blonde boy.
Spinning around, she staggered back desperately as something much larger took a swipe at her head. This creature, however, was tall, gray, and moved with a rubbery grace, slinking away from her retaliating strike. Annoyed that the thing wouldn't hold still and let her hit it, she chased the creature, managing to dart around behind it, landing a solid blow on its back that staggered the humanoid creature forward several paces. Again, she chased it, having to dispatch two little black-things that got in her path before finally leaping over three more in her pursuit of the rubber-man. Reaching her chosen opponent again, she slid around behind it once more and slammed another hard blow into its back. It slid away then darted back in, landing a solid slap that knocked her rolling.
Staggering to her feet, she smashed a foot into the face of one of the small black monsters that were surrounding her again, falling back on the street-fighting skills she'd had to learn just to keep herself out of trouble. "Oh what I wouldn't give for a big area-blasting spell or something," she panted as she fought them back. After all, Donald could shoot lightning, why couldn't she? Something heavy hit her back, knocking her forward and more black-creatures climbed atop her, pinning her down, clawing at her hair and back, anything they could catch hold of. Terrified of their resemblance to spiders, she shoved back to her feet and picked up her fallen Keyblade, swinging it around to knock the black-things backwards again.
Rubber-man slammed into her side.
"Stop it you darn bugs!" she shouted, finally losing her temper, which resulted in a fit of slashes that hit the rubber-man dead on, making it disappear into grey smoke. Her triumph was immediately stolen by a surge of the black-things that rolled towards her like spiders, or crickets, which she also did not like, and giving into her adrenaline-powered fury, she lashed out at them too, swinging her blade wildly in arcs that caught as many of the things as she could before she had to defend herself.
Blinded by her focus, she swung her blade one final time and staggered forward when it encountered nothing.
With no strength left, she fell to her knees and sat there, panting for a long moment before finally lifting her eyes to look around for some other source of trouble. Instead, she found the three kids, Donald and Goofy standing nearby. "Shora!" Donald called and threw something at her. Flinching, thinking it was some sort of weapon, she tried to bat it away, but the thing exploded on impact with her hand, dusting her with a green flash. Watching in fascination as the scratches and cuts on her arms healed, she looked up at Donald and gasped for air before saying, "Thanks." Of course. This was an Acid Dream, why not have healing potions? Donald and Goofy seemed quite familiar with them, after all, so why shouldn't she? She was Sora, who was their friend... 'Right?' she pleaded of her sarcastic-self.
The tall blonde kid walked over and offered his hand down, which she took and gladly let him assist her to her feet. "Still tough as ever, eh Sora?" the boy asked and grinned, punching her shoulder lightly.
Smiling in return, warmed by the expression of welcome on his face and the open honesty in his eyes, she flipped her hair back from her face briefly, "Of course. I'm a regular space pirate blasting, weird-thing slaughterer!" The boy laughed, lightening her heart still further. Why had no one ever laughed at her jokes before? Were they just not funny till now? "Ah." She added, lifting a finger, "You mentioned those things were attacking the town," it was just something she had to point out, since everyone seemed so relieved that the ones in the alley were gone, and if that was only a fraction of the problem... well, she wanted to make them happy by taking care of the whole problem. They seemed to expect her to be able to. 'Stay out of it. You'd just get in the way,' they'd used to say back at school.
Olette, the girl with the pigtail braids, said, "Yes, though the group here was the biggest batch we saw while we were running. They were coming from the Haunted Mansion."
"Sounds like a suitable place for them to have come from," she admitted, wondering where she might find this haunted mansion, but then again, it was probably a matter of elimination. Haunted Mansions were notorious for looking quite haunted, after all. "We'll have to check the whole town though, and see how far those things have gotten."
The three kids nodded, and she looked towards Donald and Goofy for confirmation of this plan. "We'd better hurry, before the Heartless hurt anyone," Goofy pointed out.
"Yeah," she agreed, then looked towards the blonde boy, judging him to be the leader of the little gang.
On cue, he replied, "Seifer and his gang are in the Sandlot right now, they were having a recruitment drive for the Disciplinary Committee. It's really Seifer's excuse to beat up on people, but there were more screams than usual coming from that direction. We'll stay here. You get things done and come back to visit before you go again."
Flashing a smile and honestly warmed in her heart that they would want her to come visit their incredibly awesome hangout spot, she replied, "Of course!" It was the first time she'd been invited into someone's club and she wasn't going to miss it for the world- even if she had to fight another sea of Heartless Crickets and Rubber-men. Turning, she headed off at a run, going down-slope- the direction the blonde boy had glanced when he'd mentioned the Sandlot.
Even just jogging, she found that Donald and Goofy could hardly keep up, so at the top of the stairs leading down the hill and out of sight, she paused, waiting for them, listening to the screams that were coming from below. "Come on you guys!" she called at the two, turning to bounce on her toes impatiently. "Oh- just meet me there! They need help!" Turning away before her companions could catch the breath to speak, she dashed off down the stairs, taking them three at a time in leaping bounds. She'd had to learn how to run without tiring herself out long ago- a skill that had been learned shortly before her introduction to street-fighting when her harassers had figured out that to torment her they had to pin her before she could run.
The thought made her pause at the bottom of the steps.
'What am I doing? Running TO danger? That last fight hurt... a lot. Yet...'
'You're doing the right thing,' the new Voice in her head said kindly and she decided she liked this Voice. The other was always so negative. 'You're wasting time though,' the male Voice continued, 'people are getting hurt!'
Startled from her thoughts, she looked around, finding that most of the people in the square were down on the ground, trying to defend themselves from the attacking Heartless Crickets. Only four were still on their feet: a tall blonde, a tall dark-haired brown-skinned guy, a young woman with silver hair, and a little kid with a large hat. Calling her Keyblade to her hand, she darted out into the chaos, heading towards the closest person that was on the ground. Not knowing or caring who he was, she stood over him, knocking the Heartless back with sure, quick strikes, and finally, the young man behind her got to his feet.
"Thanks!" he gasped and ran for it, heading up the alley to get away.
Donald and Goofy passed him, and she turned towards them briefly, "Clear the way to get people out of here!" she told her companions and dashed on to find the next person who was down.
Focusing on her task, she hardly recognized when there were no Heartless left, and blinked as she staggered to a stop. "Shora!" Donald shouted and she turned just in time to watch the duck throw something at her. Again, she caught it and it exploded in her hand, healing her wounds with green warmth. She smiled, proud that she'd not flinched this time.
"So, Sora," the tall blonde man with the long coat and black hat stated sarcastically, "You're back. Odd how you and trouble always seem to show up hand in hand..."
Goofy stepped between them before the blonde could get to her and said, "That wasn't nice at all, Seifer. Gawrsh, and after we just helped you!"
Looking away, she shifted nervously, disliking Seifer's tone of voice. He sounded like Gary.
A startling touch to her arm had her jumping away, heart hammering as she fell into a defensive crouch- only to discover that it was the little kid with the tall floppy hat. "Um..." the kid said softly, barely audible, "You dropped this," he said, holding up her wallet.
Blushing, she straightened, "Oh... thanks," reaching out, she took it, meeting the strange little boy's eyes for a long moment. 'Kindred spirits, we are, hmm?' she thought to herself and knelt, smiling fully for the boy. She wasn't going to throw an act of kindness back at him the way everyone else did to her- that was for sure. "Thank you," she said with more surety this time, "That was very nice of you."
The boy looked down, clasping his hands together shyly.
"Vivi, come," Seifer ordered and turned, starting off across the Sandlot, his other two friends following behind.
Vivi lifted his head and looked towards Seifer, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Smiling again, she lowered her voice and told the strange little boy, "You can make friends just by being yourself, you know?"
The boy's large yellow eyes widened, then he seemed to smile and gave a nod. "Thank you." With that, she released him and he tottered off after Seifer. Whether what she'd said helped him or not, she wasn't sure, but he seemed to appreciate the encouragement and she stood, looking down at her pocket to find that it was ripped, which was probably why her wallet had fallen out. Sighing, she put it in her other pocket and turned towards Donald and Goofy.
"What'd you say to him, Sora?" Goofy asked.
"Maybe... something that will help him figure out how to be himself? I don't know," she just hoped he had better luck at it than she did. "We'd better get moving, though."
They exchanged nods and turned, homing in on the sounds of screaming.
Heading beneath the arch on the other side of the Sandlot, the three of them dashed up a ramp and came to a stop. "Look there, Sora!" Goofy gasped, pointing towards a crack in the wall where Heartless were pouring out.
"That must be where they're coming from," she replied, "We should probably stop them at the source before finishing clearing out the rest of town. Otherwise they'll just come back in behind us," despite the fact that they were now leaving the town defenseless. But no... Seifer and Vivi and the other two were out fighting, and they'd survived against the Heartless well enough in that first battle. She clenched her fist. "I'll just have to hope they'll be enough till we finish here," she muttered to herself and slashed her Keyblade downwards in emphasis before dashing forward, swinging her weapon in wide arks to slap the Heartless Crickets out of her path. Donald and Goofy pulled up the rear as they forged through the army of darkness that blocked their way. "Don't bother destroying them all," she shouted at her companions, "Have to stop them at the source! Kill their commander!" all sorts of army movies and TV shows floated through her head, but too fast for her to make a good strategy based off any of them. Giving up on that distraction, she turned her attention back to the fight, putting her weight behind a thrust with her Keyblade to stab through four Heartless that had been standing in a line.
They weren't to bright, she figured, 'They just keep walking right into my swings, actually.' Not that she was complaining, but her arm was getting tired.
"Shora!" Donald shouted and the explosion of green revitalized her once more.
"Thanks!" she shouted back over the boom and crackle of Donald's fire and Goofy's silly battle-cry as he threw himself into a crowd of Heartless, making them burst into black smoke.
Before she realized it, they'd fought their way through the crack in the wall and out into a forest. Still, just following the direction the Heartless were coming from, she forged onwards. Even though she'd told the other two not to try and defeat all of them, she figured the more she killed now, the less would actually get into town.
The battle carried them through the forest, and she dashed forward through a break in the press of Heartless, bursting out from beneath the trees into a sunlit clearing. Goofy and Donald staggered up behind her in the suddenly empty area, taking positions at her back.
"Gawrsh! There's no one here!" Goofy observed.
"The Heartlessh dishappeared behind ush too!" Donald added.
Drawing a breath, she was about to answer when a soft laugh interrupted her. Her companions partially turned, looking towards the open gates of what was unmistakably a Haunted Mansion, gaping as reality split open right between the wrought iron posts of the gate, and from it stepped a tall hooded figure. "So we meet again, Sora," the man beneath the hood said. All she could see was his chin and lips as they smirked. "You may have thought you'd beaten us last time, but we found a way to come back. You see... A soul can continue to exist, even without the heart or body. It is only a matter of time before the heart, released from Kingdom Hearts becomes a Heartless again, and a Soul released from the body becomes a Nobody again. Your fight is futile, and Darkness will win. One way or another."
"Organization Thirteen!" Goofy gasped, putting a general name to the being that stood before them, framed by his portal of darkness.
Straightening, she lifted her Keyblade, pointing it at the man, "Are you the one summoning the Heartless here?" she demanded to know.
He smirked again, "Of course. Maleficent and the Organization have struck a deal- one satisfactory to us all. Unfortunately, you're still useful to us, as are Riku and Kairi. For now... we'll let them, and the king live." Donald and Goofy gasped, but the hooded man continued before they could say anything further, "But only if you do what we want. The moment you become inconvenient... well. Riku is less powerful now that he's given up the Darkness, but he's still good enough for our purposes."
Turning away, the man in the hood started to step back into his darkness portal when he looked over his shoulder and said sarcastically, "Go then. Save the town. Just know that it will eventually belong to us no matter what you do now."
With that, he disappeared, leaving her to stand there gaping and wondering, 'I think I should know who that man was... but I have no clue and not even a hint of Déjà vu.' Closing her eyes, she pressed her left arm across her face, grinding her teeth as she tried to recall.
"Sora- it'll be awright," Goofy tried to comfort her. "We'll go after him later."
Opening her eyes and looking up at him, she answered, "I'm fine. The town is in trouble though." Before either Donald or Goofy could make further comment, she dashed off, heading back into the forest to catch the stragglers that were lurking there. What a mess this was turning out to be. At least the army had stopped coming, but it looked like it would take a long time to get rid of this infestation of Heartless Crickets and Rubber-men. With little choice left to them, Donald and Goofy dashed after her, trying to catch up.
AN: If any paragraphs or sentences look odd, please tell me and they will be fixed ASAP.
Next Chapter:The short moments of happiness in a life shrouded by dark fog should be cherished... You never know when they may be ripped away. Donald and Goofy take our Hero to see Yen Sid and get some disturbing news.