Last time Team Sora finally arriving at Neverland. There they met up with Peter Pan and Tinker Bell. Some special Pixy Dust allowed Sora and the gang to understand what Tink was saying, and she had quite a tale to tell. The demons, whom have allied themselves with Captain Hook, sought to destroy Pixy Hollow in order to bring chaos to nature. They also took one of Tink's friends, Terrence, hostage out on Skull Rock, with the placed fortified against any attempts of rescue. But Aiden transmuted a tunnel underneath the water and up into the rock where a furious battle resulted in the demons vanquished and Hook sailing for the horizon with his tail between his legs, with the croc giving chase. With another gold key needed to unseal the Sacred Talisman of Zumakalis found, our heroes set out for Beasts Castle. 'Nuff said, on with the show!
Chapter 2: The Wonders of Wonderland
"I think I'm finally getting the hang of this spell," said Olette as she formed a sphere of orange lightning in her hand. She then threw it at a Heartless-shaped target at the far end of the ship's training room. The target was instantly vaporized.
"It took me almost two weeks for me to do that," said an impressed Renesmee 'Nessie' Cullen, "and I'm not even fully human."
Indeed, Nessie was a human/vampire hybrid, the result of a love between a mortal woman and an immortal. Nessie's story was long and complicated, to say the least. In short, she was hunted by the vile Gideon Graves because he thought she was the one he was looking for, for his diabolical plans.
But when Giden found out that Nessie wasn't the one he was looking for, he rejected her in the worst way possible. He used a curse to blast Nessie, as well as her one true love Jacob Black, a shape shifter who turns into a wolf, as well as her vampire family and his wolf pack, out of their world and into the realms.
While Jacob wound up on Radiant garden, where he teamed up with Sora and his group, while Nessie fell onto Twilight Town and met Hayner, Pence and Olette, whom have been training to fight the darkness and go out into the worlds to find and help Sora and Kairi.
Nessie easily impressed Hayner and the others with her inhuman physical prowess, while still maintaining the secret of her immortality. But when Maleficent and the demons launched their attack on the realms, Nessie wound up revealing her true nature to Hayner and the others.
But they were okay with her being half vampire. They fully accepted her as a friend and asked her to join then aboard their ship, The Voyaging Light, piloted by Vivi no less, and explore the worlds. Since then they fought countless Heartless, Nobodies, demons and other monsters, while also finding strange gold keys.
"I guess it's because I'm more natural at magic," said Olette.
"That's probably right," said Nessie, "on my world, vampires aren't know for actually using magic. We've got a lot of talents, just not magic. Being half human myself kinda helps me with it."
"That makes sense," said Pence as he and Hayner, at the other end of the training room, went through Ki exorcises with one William 'Will' Parry and his daemon Kirjava.
Will's story is just as complicated as Nessie's. Fully human, Will cane from a parallel Earth, from which he went an an incredible journey in which he briefly acquired a knife that had the power to cut through space and time. Ownership of the knife cost Will two of his fingers, and he eventually had to destroy the knife in order to keep the fabric of reality, as well as the souls of everyone in existence, safe.
What sets Will apart from the others on The Voyaging Light, other than his two missing fingers, was Kirjava, a large talking cat that was in fact the physical manifestation of his soul; what one experiences, the other feels as well.
Will volunteered to leave his world and use his learned skills to battle the darkness. He arrived on Twilight Town not too long after Nessie, and he quickly became friends with her, as well as Hayner, Pence and Olette, and becoming another member of the crew.
Since then they've been to three of the worlds and acquired three gold keys. On the third world they fought and defeated one of Gideon's top minions. After which, while in rout to the next world, they all experienced an artificial dream where they met up with Sora's group.
Nessie was reunited with her beloved Jacob, while Will and Kirjava met their soul mates, Lyra Silvertongue and her daemon Pan, whom they were forced to leave eac other long ago.
In the artificial dream, it was explained to all our heroes the diabolical plan of Gideon Graves; to capture Kairi and use her to find and capture the new Princesses of Heart, all so Gideon could open a portal to limbo and release his dark god, who in fact is one Light Yagami, a evil genius who in fact wants to remake all of existence in his own version of good.
Regardless of intention, Light Yagami posses a threat to the realms, to all of existence, and cannot be allowed to escape his limbo prison.
The architects of the artificial dream, Ansem the Wise, Young Watari and L. Lawlett, Ryuzaki to his friends, explained that the gold keys our heroes have been finding are part of a set of thirteen that open a hidden vault on Traverse Town. In that vault is the Sacred Talisman of Zumakalis, the only item capable of forever destroying Maleficent, Gideon and Light Yagami. Ryuzaki told Sora, Hayner and their friends that it was up to them to unseal the talisman, and our heroes willingly accepted this quest, while promising each other to meet up in Traverse Town when they found all the keys and unseal the talisman, and our heroes accepted this quest willingly.
So here was Hayner, Pence, Olette, Will, Kirjava and Nessie, on their way to the next world, not sure exactly what they'll find, but confident in their abilities and in each other.
"You've told us that this next world," said Hayner to Will and Nessie, "Wonderland, it's in a book on your worlds?"
"One that's read by almost every child," said Will.
"And by a lot of adults," said Nessie, "it's a great story, but not really my cup of tea."
"Right," said Pence, "your tea consists of animal blood."
"Hey, I eat plenty of human food," said Nessie as she placed her hands on her hips in an annoyed manner.
"Speaking of blood," said Olette, "are you okay, thirst-wise?"
"I'm alright for now," said Nessie, "I had plenty of leopard blood on Deep Jungle, so I'm okay for a while. I've got a feeling that I won't get a chance to do any hunting while on this world."
"But there's animals everywhere," said Hayner.
"Yeah," said Nessie, "but if this world is what I think it'll be, then the animals there can talk, and to me, hunting talking animals just seems wrong," she looked at Kirjava, "no offense."
"None taken," said Kirjava as she leapt into Will's arms.
Just then Vivi's voice could be heard on the ship's intercom, "we're coming up on Wonderland."
They headed to the bridge, where the visual display showed a world that looked like a red and pink heart with a hedge maze.
"Do you think we'll find a key on this world?" Olette asked as she held up the one she found on Port Royal, while Pence held up the one he found on Halloween Town and Nessie held up the one she found on Deep Jungle.
"I'm more worried that we'll find my family there," said Nessie, "and Jacob's pack." the same curse that blasted Nessie and Jacob out of their universe also afflicted Nessies' immortal parents, aunts and uncles, as well as the members of Jacob's shape shifting pack.
"We won't know if we don't go," said Will, "so, are we going?"
"I've got no reason to not go," said Pence.
"Me neither," said Hayner as he, Olette and Pence gathered their weapons, while Nessie and Will did the same.
"The usual drill, guys," said Vivi as they all walked to the transporter room, "if you get into too much trouble, just give me a call and I'll beam you all back up."
"Do we actually have a definition for too much trouble?" Pence asked, "I'm just asking?"
"If it looks like we're about to die or the world is about to blow up, then it's too much trouble," said Nessie, "then again, anything can happen in this world, or any world for that matter."
"All we can do is be ready for anything," said Hayner.
"Beam us down, Vivi," said Olette.
"Energizing," said Vivi. The next thing they knew, Hayner and the others were in a dark tunnel, falling down that tunnel to be precise.
"Oh crap!" shouted Pence as they fell through the tunnel.
"This has got to be the worst mistake we've ever made!" shouted Olette.
"I'm calling Vivi!" shouted Hayner, "hopefully he'll beam us back to the ship before we splatter on the ground.
"Wait!" said Nessie, "I know this part, just hang on!"
"Why?" shouted Olette, "we're having firsthand experience of the effects of gravity!"
"But we're not falling that fast," said Kirjava, "at least I don't think we're falling that fast."
"We're definitely below terminal velocity," said Will, "but if only we could see, then I'd know we were safe."
Just then a light went on and Hayner and the others could see again. That light came from a table lamp that was attacked to a table that was hovering in the tunnel as our heroes slowly fell past.
"I knew it!" said a grinning Nessie.
"We're not falling to our deaths," said Pence in a relieved tone.
"And we're in some weird place," said Olette as she took full stock of their surroundings. The tunnel was full of furniture, some of it attached to the wall, other items were floating in midair as our heroes slowly fell past them.
Eventually they came to a soft landing in a small circular room that had a hallway leading to a door.
"Now what?" Pence asked.
"There's only one way forward," said Will as he pointed to the door at the end of the hallway. He opened it, only to reveal another, smaller door behind it. Will opened it to reveal another smaller door, then another, and another, "oh, I should have seen this coming."
"What is this?" Pence asked as Will finally opened the last door, which was barely large enough for our heroes to fit through, "a fun house?"
"Why?" Will asked, "are we having fun yet?"
They walked through the doorway and found themselves in a room that looked to be a bedroom, a kitchen, dining room and sitting room all in one, with a bed in one corner, a sink in another, a fireplace on one side, a large clock on another, and in the middle was a table with a chair. On the table were two bottles with different colored tops.
"What now?" Olette asked. She then noticed a very small door on the other side of the room, "is that were we're supposed to go next?"
"Not me," said Pence, "like I could fit through that."
"Wait," said Nessie, "do you guys hear that?"
"Hear what?" Hayner asked.
"Someone snoring," said Nessie.
"I think I hear snoring," said Olette, "look!" she pointed to the doorknob of the small door. The knob had a face which was fast asleep, hence the source of the snoring.
"I didn't expect this," Will said as he looked at the sleeping doorknob.
"Me neither," said Nessie.
"What do we do now?" Pence asked, "should we try to talk to the doorknob?"
"You're taking the fact of a doorknob that snores rather well," said Will.
"I guess after all that's happened," said Pence, "I'm kinda desensitized to weirdness." At that Hayner and Olette nodded in agreement.
Just then the doorknob coughed and opened his eyes and looked up at out heroes with a half-asleep expression, "what…who are you strangers?"
"Travelers," said Will.
"Forgive me for being intrusive," said Nessie, "but have you seen any shape shifters or vampires around?"
The doorknob yawned, "vampires and shape shifters? Can't say that I have, but then, I have been resting my eyes a lot," he yawned again, "so I might have missed them."
"So, we'll have to look around for them," said Hayner, he looked around the room, "but where do we go from here?"
"Oh," sighed the doorknob, "there's all sorts of ways to and fro in Wonderland, in you're in the right position to find them," he looked up at the two bottles on the table, "one will make you small, and one will make to tall."
Nessie walked over to the table and sniffed the bottles, "this one is a shrinking potion, the other an enlargement potion, and the bottles are enchanted so they'll never run out." she looked around the room, "there's doorways all over the place; some on the walls, some in the ceiling, and there's one right next to the door down there."
"I'd gladly let you in," said the doorknob, "but a boy locked me a while back, a boy with a strange sword like a key."
"Sora," said Hayner.
"Yes," said the doorknob as he yawned, "but then, just the other day, I felt rather strange for a while, like someone was trying to turn me inside out," he yawned, "and that's when more of those horrible things showed up again, those dark creatures."
"Heartless," said Pence.
"But what are we supposed to do?" Olette asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Nessie asked, "we take the shrinking potion and go exploring. This Wonderland is turning out to be different from the one in the book."
"I agree," said Will, "we've seen 'Drink Me,' but what about 'Eat Me'?"
"I'm sure it'll turn up soon," said Nessie, "so, I'll go first, then the rest of you," she held up the bottle with the shrinking potion, "bottoms up!" she took a swing and quickly handed it to Hayner, before she shrank to the size of a human thumb.
"You're not really gonna drink that," said Pence to Hayner, "are you?"
"Might as well," said Hayner, "it looks like it's the only way to go forward on this world," he took a swig and handed it to Pence, "see you on the other side," he then shrank to the size of a human thumb.
"Oh, well," said Pence, "fortune favors the bold," he took a swig and passed it to Olette. She took a swig and passed it to Will, who also drank form it. The three of them shrank, while Kirjava, being Will's daemon, shrank with him.
"Welcome to the small side," said a grinning Nessie.
"Wait," said Pence, "how are we going to get big again?"
"Where's the growing potion?" Olette asked.
"On the table," said Hayner in defeated tone, "all the way up there."
"We'll just jump onto the chair and then jump into the table," said Will. He then did so, with Kirjava jumping with him.
"Or we could just jump directly onto the table," said Nessie. She then did so without any real effort.
"You know," said Will in an annoyed tone, "just because you're half vampire, doesn't mean you're better than the rest of us."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Nessie in a smug tone.
Just then the area was filled with Heartless, mostly Shadows, Soldiers and Large Bodies, but also Red Nocturnes, Blue Rhapsodies and Yellow Operas.
"Ever have the feeling that someone out there doesn't like you?" Will asked as he and Nessie drew their weapons and swatted at the flying magic users that were zooming around them, blasting them with Fire, Ice and Thunder spells.
Down on the ground, Hayner fought with a group of Shadows, slashing and stabbing with his sword, while Pence bashed a Soldier with his wrist shields and Olette blasted another Soldier with a fireball. She then tried to get behind a Large Body.
"Why can't we ever get a break?" Pence asked as he fought off a pair of Shadows, then helped Olette get behind and destroy the Large Body.
"I actually don't mind the fighting," said Will as he tried to stab a Red Nocturne, but missed, "but these little buggers are really pissing me off!" He then tried to stab a Blue Rhapsody, then a Yellow Opera, but kept missing. He then dodged as the flying magic users shot spells at him.
"You got to be faster them!" said Nessie as she jumped up and stabbed several of the flying magic users in one fluid strike, before landing gracefully on the table.
"Well then," said Will, "you handle the buggers, and I'll take care of the rest!" he jumped down from the table and began attacking and destroying Shadows and Soldiers.
"Hey!" said Hayner, "leave some for us!"
"We're here to, you know?" Pence said as he bashed a Soldier in the head, while Olette blasted a group of Shadows with a Thunder spell.
Eventually the area was free of Heartless, and our heroes had a minute to catch their breath.
"That definitely wasn't in the book," said Will.
"I think the book was returned to the library a long time ago," said Olette, "and we're pretty much on our own."
"Right," said Hayner, "so, which way do we go now?"
At that the doorknob, whom had fallen asleep during the battle, woke up again, "you could try the doorway next to me. It leads directly to the court of the Queen of Hearts, or, it used to. She had half the world done over since this whole mess with the darkness started, so who knows where you'll end up."
"We'll just have to try our best," said Will, "and keep moving forward."
"Ain't that the truth," said Pence. With that they went through the side doorway next to the doorknob.
The next thing Hayner and the others knew they were in a huge forest with parts of the area partitioned by tall reeds and grasses. Here and there were large flowers growing from the trees; some were red, others were yellow.
"This is…kind of nice," said Olette.
"Yeah, nice," said Pence.
"The flowers are a pretty touch," said Kirjava, "and they smell nice too."
"You think they're nice?" an annoyed Nessie asked, with a mildly disgusted expression on her face, "these flowers smell too good in my book."
"How can a flower smell too good?" Hayner asked.
"They can to this nose," said Nessie as she tapped her nose, "to me, they smell like way too many spices, too much coconut sunscreen and fresh mulch, and a lot of other stuff."
"I can't smell any of that," said Will.
"Well I can," said Nessie, "and those flowers are making it really hard for me to sort out other scents. I can barely smell you guys."
"So you're sense of smell is overwhelmed," said Hayner, "how bad can that be?"
"Trust me, it's bad," said Nessie, "vampires rely a lot on their sense of smell. Without being able to tell what smells what, it's like being numb all over, or for a human, being deprived of sight and hearing. And it's even worse because chances are, I won't be able to smell if there's any trouble coming."
Just then a fresh batch of Heartless appeared around them.
"Case in point!" said Nessie as she and everyone got their weapons out and fought back against the dark creatures.
"Isn't there a limit to these things?" Pence asked as he bashed a Red Nocturne out of the air.
"Your guess is as good as mine!" said Olette as she cast a Gravity spell on several Yellow Operas and Blue Rhapsodies, crushing them.
"Heartless aren't the problem," said Nessie as she stabbed a Large Body in the back, then destroyed a squad of Soldiers, "it's the one controlling them."
"What kind of demon do you think is messing with this world?" Will asked as he and Kirjava destroyed several Shadows.
"Whatever it is," said Hayner as he fought off and destroyed a Large Body, "we'll take care of it and move onto the next world."
"Just as soon as we look for Nessie's family and friends," said Pence.
"And for one of the gold keys," said Olette.
After another minute of fighting the area was free of Heartless.
"Okay," said Hayner, "so, where do we go now?"
"Is it me," said Pence, "or is this forest looking bigger than it was when we came in?"
"I think it has gotten bigger," said Will, "this definitely wasn't in the book."
"So what do we do?" Olette asked.
"I think we should just try to find our way forward," said Nessie, "hopefully we'll get away from all these flowers. They're starting to gross me out."
They walked deeper into the Lotus Forest and within minutes had become completely disoriented.
"Are we lost?" Pence asked, "it feels like we are."
"If I had my two lost fingers," said Will as he looked at his maimed hand, "I'd give them for just one minute with that compass of Jack Sparrow's."
"I'd settle if we didn't have all of these flowers all over the place," said Nessie as she sniffed the air, her face set with annoyance, "I can't get any clear traces of anything, except for the flowers."
"If Nessie's nose is confounded," said Olette, "then we really are in trouble."
Just then a large, dark purple and light purple-stripped cat with a huge smile full of pearly-white teeth, appeared in the trees in front of Nessie, or rather, his head was the only part of himself that could be seen, "well now, more strangers," said the Cheshire Cat, "come in search of that which is lost?"
"How did you know that we're looking for someone?" Nessie asked.
"And how come you're just a head?" Hayner asked.
"And why is that not so disturbing as it should be?" Olette asked.
"We are so desensitized," said Pence.
"Oh," said the head of the Cheshire Cat, "one moment please," the rest of his body, starting with the dark purple stripes, then the light purple stripes, "I do apologize. Sometimes it takes me a while to pull myself together."
"I know what that feels like," said Will, "sometimes I feel like everything I've gone through has just been a dream, and that I'm going to wake up in a boring, normal life."
"That's a distinct possibility," said the Cheshire Cat, "life itself may be a dream, where the dream is reality and real life is the illusion." He then vanished with a wave of his tail, only to reappear in the tree behind Nessie and the others, "then again, can anyone be sure what is real?"
"We'd love to debate philosophy with you," said Nessie, "but what was that about finding someone lost?"
"Ah," said the Cheshire Cat, "that depends," he stood on his folded arms and gestured with his feet, "who you wish to find."
"Well," said Nessie, "it really doesn't matter in which order I find my friends and family, so long as they're found."
"Then," said the Cheshire Cat as he floated down to the ground, "it really doesn't matter who you find, does it?" He vanished again as he landed. His paw prints could be seen walking towards another tree as he laughed while invisible. He walked right up to Pence and the paw prints went right around him.
The Cheshire Cat then reappeared on another tree branch, leaning against the trunk, "oh, by the way," he said in a nonchalant tone, "I recently saw a strange man fall out of the sky, strange, with very pale skin, but very interesting."
"What kind of interesting?" Nessie asked, "did he have gold eyes and bronze hair like mine? Or was he tall with short black hair?"
"Truth be told," said the Cheshire Cat as he leaned down on the tree branch, "I didn't see what color his hair was. But if you want to know where he went," he pointed in one direction but looked in another, "he went that way."
"Who did?" Pence asked.
"The vampire man," said the Cheshire Cat.
'How did you know he was a vampire?" Hayner asked.
"You just told me," said the Cheshire Cat.
"Do we didn't," said the Olette.
"Didn't do what?" the Cheshire Cat asked.
"Tell you that the man who fell from the sky was a vampire," said Pence.
"A vampire is here?" the Cheshire Cat asked as his head turned completely around, "how interesting."
"But you just said…" said an annoyed Hayner, "oh…never mind."
"Can you stand on your head?" the Cheshire Cat asked as he literally took his head off, placed it on the branch and balanced on it with one foot.
"Not like you can," said Olette.
"We are so desensitized," Pence said again.
"If you really want to know," said the Cheshire Cat as he picked his head up and plopped it back onto his shoulders, "if you were really looking for a vampire man, I'd ask The Mad Hatter and The March Hare. Both of them can be found," he then pointed in five different directions, with his legs and tail, while looking in a sixth direction with his eyes, "that way."
"Uh…thanks," said Will hesitantly, "we'll just…"
"Oh, I should warn you,' said the Cheshire Cat, "they're both quite mad," he laughed, "like most people in this world," his dark purple stripes vanished, leaving only the light purple stripes, which began to slowly fade out, "as you can see, I'm not quite all here myself." by now only his head was visible, and that vanished, leaving only his grinning teeth, and that soon vanished as well.
"And I the only one who feels like we're all in the middle of a weird dream?" Pence asked.
"More like a bad trip," said Will.
"One thing's for sure," said Nessie, "if my father isn't here, and neither is my Uncle Emmet, then it's got to be Uncle Jasper," she sniffed the air again and again she had an annoyed look on her face, "but there's too much flower pheromones in the air. I can barely make out the scents of you guys. Hell, I can barely smell myself."
"Maybe you'll get a better scent of the place if you're higher up," said Hayner.
"That's a good idea," said Nessie. She then jumped up onto the highest branch of the highest tree and sniffed the air. She then sniffed in one direction, clearly picking up a scent, a look of eager anticipation on her face. Nessie then began jumping from tree branch to tree branch, following the scent.
"What is it?" Olette shouted from the ground as she and the others followed Nessie, "what do you smell?"
"Not what!" Nessie shouted down to them, "who!"
She jumped down from the trees and ran into a doorway in the forest wall, with the others soon following her.
They found themselves in a small backyard of a thatched cottage. In the middle of the yard was a long table with several chairs around it. The table was filled with tea pots, cups and saucers and plates full of bread and pots full of jam.
At one end of the table was The Mad Hatter and the March Hare, singing about Un-birthdays, while the Dormouse was snoring in one of the tea pots, but Nessie was looking at the man sitting opposite from the two lunatics.
The man had very pale skin and yellow eyes. He was tall, lanky but well muscled and shoulder-length honey blond hair. He wore a gray and white shirt and jacket with black trousers.
"Uncle Jasper!" said Nessie.
The vampire looked up and smiled at Nessie, "I'll be with you in a second, little one," he said in a mild Texan accent. He stood up and spoke to the Mad Hatter and March Hare, "thank you, gentlemen, for an…interesting tea party."
"'twas our pleasure, man," said the March Hare, "not every day you get to have tea with a man who's been around for so long."
"And remember what I said about your watch," said the Mad Hatter as he dunked his own watch in his tea cup, "you'd better get it fixed soon, otherwise it'll be four days slow, rather than just two."
"I'll keep that in mind," said Jasper. He then ran over to Nessie, moving so fast that Hayner and the others barely saw him move. The two immortals embraced like separated family members that they were.
"I was so scared that something bad happened to you, Uncle Jasper," said Nessie, "I thought that you got blasted into a lot of pieces."
"Well I can assure you, little one," said Jasper, "I am completely whole."
"That's wonderful," said Nessie, "oh, these are my friends," she then introduced Hayner, Pence, Olette, Will and the others, "they've been helping me out."
"I'm please to meet the friends of my niece," said Jasper as he introduced himself to Hayner and the others, "Jasper Hale Cullen, born Whitlock, at your service."
"Please to meet you, Mr. Cullen," said Hayner as he, Pence, Olette and Will shook hands with the gentleman vampire.
"I had just had the oddest tea party with two of the oddest people," said Jasper, "a real Mad Hatter and March Hare. And do call me Jasper."
"We're in the middle of a revamped version of the book by Lewis Carroll, Uncle Jasper," said Nessie, "don't ask me how, but that's how it is."
"Oh yes, the book by Mr. Carroll," said Jasper, "anyway, with the Mad Hatter and March Hare, there is a sort of method to their insanity. Apart from constantly changing seats around the table, which didn't give me a chance to have any tea at all, not that I would drink any mind you, and all other nonsense about riddles, the concept of an un-birthday is quite interesting. Basically, it's just an excuse to have a party whenever you want it," he looked at Nessie, "and having spent many happy years with your Aunt Alice, one tends to appreciate any chance for fun when it comes, without attracting attention that is."
"Speaking of Aunt Alice," said Nessie, "where is she? I thought she'd be with you?"
"That is a good question," said Jasper, "I have been looking for her," he sniffed the air, "but all these flowers are leaving me a bit discombobulated. Then again, I have only been looking for Alice for less than an hour, and only stopped because these two lunatics," he indicated the Mad Hatter and March Hare, "invited me, and it would have been rude of me to turn down said invitation."
"Wait, you've only been here for an hour?" Hayner asked.
"Exactly one hour, eleven minutes and seventeen seconds," said Jasper, "I only carry a watch for ornamental purposes."
"Vampires have an excellent sense of time," said Nessie to her friends.
"And just so you know," said Jasper, "I always keep my watch accurate," he looked at the Mad Hatter, "two days slow my eye."
"But how did you get here only an hour ago?" Pence asked, "Nessie fell out of the sky onto our world a few days ago."
"You're right," said Nessie, "just how did you come about getting here only an hour ago, Uncle Jasper?"
"That, I'm not sure," said Jasper, "the curse that vile Gideon Graves used to separate you from the rest of us must have affected us all differently, and I think, and this is only a theory mind you, because the rest of us were at different distances from you and Jacob when the curse activated, it caused us all to be scattered through time and space. Some of us must have arrived on different worlds at different times."
At that Nessie looked rather depressed, "then that means that Aunt Alice could be anywhere, on another world and in a different time. And who knows where Aunt Rosalie and Uncle Emmet are? And what about Jacob's pack? I know Jacob's alright, he's with friends, but what about mother and father?"
"I can honestly say that I have no idea where your parents or anyone else is," said Jasper, "but Alice is here on this world, I can feel it."
"We'll find her," said Will to Nessie, "and the others."
"And in the meanwhile," said Jasper, "you, Renesmee Carlie Cullen, can introduce me to your friends," he then suspiciously eyed Hayner and the others, "and just how much do they know?"
"That's Hayner, Pence, Olette, Will and his soul Kirjava," said Nessie, "and they know, not everything, but a lot; especially the part how we're immortal, about Jacob and his pack, and a lot of other stuff."
"You're taking a large risk here, little one," said Jasper in a stern tone, "if the Volturi ever learn how reckless you've been with our secrets…"
"What the Volturi don't know won't hurt them," said Nessie in a confident manner, "they didn't help us when the demons harassed us back in Forks, and the certainly didn't come to my rescue when Gideon had me kidnapped.
"Besides, Aro and his merry band of slaves have no authority in these worlds, so there's no reason why we shouldn't keep ourselves secret," she looked at Hayner and the others, "my friends have accepted me for who I am, and they'll accept the rest of us."
"We're totally cool with vampires," said Hayner, while Pence and Olette nodded in agreement.
"I've seen many things myself," said Will, "traveled to many worlds and experienced enough to fill a lifetime. I'm sure my life is nothing compared to that of a vampire, but I have nothing against vampires in general, especially if one of them is my friend."
"Well, technically Nessie is only half vampire," said Jasper, "but friends of her are friends of mine." He smiled at Nessie, "now, dear niece, do be kind enough to fill me in on everything that's happened to you."
"That's a long story," said Nessie. She looked at the other side of the are, where a recently made doorway had been cut out of the hedges, "and we could spend long hours talking about it, or I could show you everything," she placed her hand on Jasper's face and 'showed' him her crystal clear memories of everything that happened to her since she arrived in the realms.
"Now that is a story," said Jasper after Nessie finished showing her story, "I'm sorry I did not ask for that explination at first. I was worried about Alice."
"We'll find her," said Nessie in a reassuring manner. She then sniffed the air in a disgusted manner, "as soon as we get away from these horribly sweet flowers."
"They are rather pungent," said Jasper.
"What's in there?" Olette asked as she, Hayner and Pence looked into the doorway.
"Hopefully it's somewhere that doesn't have anything that's out to kill us," said Hayner.
Just then the Cheshire Cat appeared leaning on the balcony of the cottage, "maybe there will be what you want, or maybe not. Maybe you'll get the opposite."
"What do you mean?" Will asked, "Heartless are no Heartless?"
"Or maybe we'll find the next gold key in the next area," said Pence, "or maybe Nessie's aunt Alice."
"Yes," said the Cheshire Cat as he raised all four paws and stood on his tail, "exactly. Or maybe no," he vanished and reappeared in front of the new doorway, "or maybe you'll find something completely unexpected." With that he vanished completely.
"That guy is either totally nuts," said Olette, "or he's the sanest cat in this crazy world."
Just then over at the tea party, the dormouse jumped out of his pot, a terrified look on his face, "Cat? What cat! There's a cat here!" he then ran around the table, making a mess of everything.
"Oh no!" shouted the Mad Hatter, "not again!"
"Get the jam!" shouted the March Hare, "get the jam!" He and the Mad Hatter chased after the dormouse with the jam jar, eventually catching up with the mouse can slathered a large amount of jam under his nose. The scent of the jam calmed the dormouse and he went back to sleep.
"Thank goodness," said the Mad Hatter.
"More tea?" the March Hare asked.
"Definitely," said the Mad Hatter.
"Let's just get out of here before something crazy happens," said Hayner.
"Right," said Pence. With that they, Olette, Will, Kirjava, Nessie and Jasper walked through the doorway, and found themselves back into the Bizarre Room, but were on the ceiling.
"What the…!" exclaimed Pence, "how did we get up here?"
"I don't even want to know," said Will, "and I'm the one who spent so much time around scientists."
"Even immortals aren't immune to the laws of physics," said Jasper, "our abilities can bend them, but not break them."
"I think we're at the point where we have to believe that nothing is impossible," said Nessie.
Just then more Heartless appeared around them.
"Guess we shouldn't be surprised," said Olette as she and the others pulled out their weapons.
"I'm assuming you younglings know of these things," said Jasper.
"Oh, we sure do," said Pence.
"Then allow me to assist," said Jasper, "Hayner, you attack on the left flank. Will, you and your familiar attack on the right. Renesmee, you go for the center. Pence, Olette, you supply defense and covering fire. I'll take care of the rest."
"What…" said Olette.
"Just do as he says," said Nessie as she, Hayner and Will attacked the dark creatures, with her in the middle, Hayner on the left and Will on the right.
"Just roll with it, Olette," said Pence as he bashed one Shadow that got past Nessie and the others.
"Okay, I guess," said Olette. She then blasted a group of Red Nocturnes with a Thunder spell, then hit a Blue Rhapsody with a fireball, then destroyed a group of Yellow Operas with a Blizzard spell.
At the same time Jasper was busy himself, moving so fast around the battleground that he was little more than a blur. He would either grab a Heartless and rip it apart, or throw it across the room with enough force that it would self destruct on impact.
It wasn't long before the are was free of Heartless, "that was quick," said a surprised Hayner.
"That was my uncle's military background helping us," said Nessie.
"It's true," said Jasper, "I'm sure that my niece as told you all that not all vampires are as 'mellow' as those in our family. Not too long ago our there were those among our kind who fought devastating wars over hunting territory, wars involving a handful of mature immortals who raised armies of newborn vampires. Such wars were outlawed by those in power, but the scars of war, by those fortunate few who survived, remained."
Hayner, Pence, Olette, Will and Kirjava then noticed that Jasper's skin around his neck and wrists, were marred by faint but distinct bite marks.
"Does it hurt for a vampire to get bitten again?" Hayner asked.
"More than you realize," said Jasper, "a human who receives the bite of a vampire, who isn't drained of blood but left to change, experiences the worst pain anyone, mortal and immortal, can imagine. Getting bitten again doesn't hurt as much, but it's still an agony."
"So you fought in vampire wars," said Will.
"I helped create armies of newborns," said Jasper, "I trained them to be walking weapons of destruction. I ordered them to their final deaths, and I destroyed those who were of no longer useful. But that was a long time ago, long before I discovered a new, better way of being immortal, before I joined with the Cullen family, before I met Alice.
"If I hadn't met her, if I hadn't gone with Alice and eventually met Carlisle and his family, I'd still be just another vampire, killing at will, quenching the endless thirst for blood."
"Are you sure you're alright?" Pence asked in a nervous tone, "I mean…"
"You younglings are human," said Jasper, "but I can assure you that I have 'kicked the habit.' After everything that happened with Bella, I have no more desire to drink human blood. The urge is still there, as it is with all us vegetarian vampires, but I am in control. I'm stronger than I was, and I owe a lot to Alice."
"Speaking of Aunt Alice," said Nessie, "we'd better keep looking for her."
"That we shall," said Jasper, "now, what's this about gold keys?"
"It's another long story," said Pence as he walked towards one of the walls and found a portal out of the Bizarre Room, "where does this go?"
"Are you sure you want to know?" said the disembodied voice of the Cheshire Cat. He then appeared in midair above the doorway, "there's still time to turn back and try for adventure another day. Of course, you could go forward and find an even bigger adventure."
"What is your problem?" Pence asked, "either you're helping us or not, so make up your mind already."
"My mind?" the Cheshire Cat asked, "what exactly is the mind? No matter. But then, what is matter? Never mind." With that he vanished.
"I never really did like cats to begin with," said Nessie, "I prefer wolves." With that she walked into the doorway, followed by the others.
They found themselves inside a large hedge maze, "great," said Pence, "another chance to get lost."
"Well I'm in no mood to get lost again," said Will. He then did a ki-powered jump to the top of the hedges, only to find that the hedges magically grew as he jumped, preventing him from seeing over the top. As he came down from the jump, Will was shocked to find that the hedges shrank back to normal.
"Now that's just plain unfair!" said Will.
"It looks like we can't cheat our way out of this," said Hayner.
"I'm not into cheating," said Nessie, "but we're in a hurry." She then started climbing the hedges, only to be outrages that the hedges grew head of her. She climbed as fast as she could, but the hedges grew faster. Disgusted, she fell back to the ground, just as the hedges shrank to normal.
"I think I've had just about enough of this mixed up world!" said Nessie. She tried to pull the hedges apart with her bare hands, only to have them grow back.
"I doubt that will work," said Jasper.
Nessie sighed with annoyed submission, "you're right, some rules can't be broken," she sniffed the air, "at least we're away from those flowers; I can finally breathe again."
"A relief at last," said Jasper as he sniffed the air. He then sniffed again more urgently as he picked up a scent, "it's her!" he shouted as he ran head into the maze.
"Now what?" Pence asked.
"It's Aunt Alice!" shouted Nessie as she ran after Jasper, "she's close!"
"Hayner and the others ran after the two immortals, but they had soon lost night of Jasper and Nessie, but the two running vampires had left a clear track in the maze that they could follow.
Here and there a Heartless appeared that Hayner and the others had to fight before moving on, but was easily dealt with.
"If got the feeling that there should be more of those things," said Pence as they ran through the maze.
"Me too," said Hayner, "and we haven't come to a dead end at all."
"It's Nessie and her uncle," said Olette, "they're following Alice's scent through the maze."
"And they're tearing through any Heartless that's standing in their way," said Will.
A few more turns and they had caught up with Hayner and Nessie, who were finishing off a large group of Heartless at the exit of the maze. Hayner and the others helped end the battle.
"She's just beyond this doorway," said Jasper in a slightly desperate tone, "I can feel it."
"Then let's go!" said Nessie. With that they all ran through the doorway.
They found themselves at the entrance to the Queen's courtroom. A trial was in progress, with The Queen of Hearts angrily glaring down at a girl in her late teens. She had pale skin like Jasper, was short and had dark spiky hair and wore a stylish gray and white shirt and hip hugger jeans. The vampire girl had a pixy-like appearance and an aura of someone who loved life for the sake of living, as well as a highly developed fashion sense. But right now the girl vampire, Alice Cullen, looked like she was having a really aggravating day.
"I've told you again and again, lady," said Alice Cullen in an irate tone, "I'm not that Alice!"
"But your name is Alice," said The Queen of Hearts, "therefore you must be the Alice who has been causing so much trouble on my world. And you will refer to me as 'your majesty,' or, 'my queen,' or else, young lady."
"You're not my queen," said Alice as she stubbornly crossed her arms, "I'm not from this world. You have no authority over me."
"But you are here," said The Queen of Hearts, "and I rule over all that exists on this world."
"That still doesn't give you the right to tell me what to do!" snapped Alice defiantly.
"I can because I say so!" snapped the Queen of Hearts, "and you, Alice, you will pay the ultimate price for leading those Heartless to my world. Yes, I know that they were after you all along, and therefore you are responsible!"
"Lady, you're crazy," said Alice, "first of all, I'm just trying to get back to my family. I had nothing to do with The Heartless messing around in this toppsy turvy world. Second, I only just got here like an hour ago, so I had nothing to do with The Heartless trying to steal your heart, even though I have no idea why anyone would want it, rotten as it is. And third, and most importantly, I'm not that Alice! Just because we have the same name doesn't mean we're the same person."
"Silence!" snapped the Queen of Hearts, "you are that Alice because I say you are! And I say you are guilty! And I say off with her head!"
Several card soldiers then closed in on Alice with their pikes raised. She then sighed with annoyance, "I don't need to see the future to know where this is going. You want me dead? Fine, I'll save you the trouble." Her face then froze and she collapsed to the ground and remained perfectly still.
"What?" The Queen of Hearts asked, "what is this?"
The White Rabbit cautiously hopped over to the unmoving Alice, tentatively felt for a pulse and found none, "my queen, she's dead."
"Dead?" The Queen of Hearts asked in a dumbfounded tone, "But how? Her head is still on!"
"I wish I had an answer for you, your majesty," said the White Rabbit, "but I have none. Oh dear, this is not good."
"But how can she be dead if her head is still on?" The Queen of Hearts asked, "better take it off, just to be sure."
"Yes, my queen," said the White Rabbit. He then signaled to two Card Soldiers, "get to it."
"No!" shouted Nessie as she ran into the room and threw the two Card Soldiers to the other side of the room as if they were merely nothing. She then glared up at The Queen of Hearts, "you stay away from my Aunt Alice, you stupid, fat lady!"
At that all the Card Soldiers and The White Rabbit gasped in shock and terror.
"What!" exclaimed the Queen of Hearts, "What did you call me?"
"You heard me, you bloated, pompous, bad tempered old tyrant!" snapped Nessie, "I won't let you hurt my Aunt Alice."
"Just because you're in a position of authority," said Jasper as he walked forward and stood next to Nessie, "doesn't mean you can recklessly use it. Power should be used for the benefit of those who don't have it; to protect the innocent and defend the helpless."
"What he said," said Hayner as he, Pence, Olette, Will and Kirjava walked forward and stood next to Nessie and Jasper.
"Who are all of you miscreants!" snapped The Queen of Hearts. "And what are you doing on my world! I'll have your heads for this outrage!"
At that Alice stood up and glared up at the Queen of Hearts, "over my undead body."
At that all the card soldiers screamed in terror and ran for their lives, while The White Rabbit ran towards the Lotus Forest, shouting, "Zombie! She's a zombie come to take our souls!"
"Oh for crying out loud," said Alice, "it's like they've never seen a vampire before."
"They probably never have," said Jasper as he and Alice embraced, "I'm just glad that you're alright."
"I'm glad you're both alright," said Nessie as she hugged them both.
"I was wondering when you'd decide to come in," said a smiling Alice. She then looked at Hayner, Pence, Olette, Will and Kirjava, "and you guys, nice to meet my niece's friends. I can imagine how you're feeling to be in the presence of real vampires."
"I'm not exactly sure how I should be feeling right now," said Hayner.
"Well you can relax," said Alice, "we're vegetarian vampires."
"I already told them that we only hunt animals," said Nessie, "they're totally cool with it," she looked at Hayner and the others, "right, guys?"
"Would we be here if we weren't?" Pence asked.
"Even if we were freaked out by vampires," said Olette, "we'd still be here, because Nessie is our friend."
"And you're our friends too," said Will to Alice and Jasper.
"I knew you'd say that," said a smiling Alice, "in fact, I've already seen that we're all going to get along."
"Have you seen where Aunt Rosalie, Uncle Emmet, mother, father and Jacob's pack are?" Nessie asked.
"I wish I did know where Bella, Edward and the others are," said Alice, "and you know I can't see anything concerning shape shifters."
"I thought you could see the future," said Pence.
"The future based on people's decisions," said Alice, "it's great when you're play chess, not so good when the one you're playing against can read minds though."
"That's right," said Nessie, "when my father and Aunt Alice play chess, they would sit there for hours, him reading her mind and she seeing his moves before he made them, it's hilarious."
"But what I can't see are shape shifters like Jacob," said Alice, "my power works best on vampires because I am a vampire, and it works pretty well with humans because I used to be a human. But wolves like Jacob and his pack aren't either human or vampires, so I cannot see them in my mind. Any vision of the future involving those shape shifting mutts, no offense, Nessie, I just can't see them, like a blind spot in my mind."
"Well, nobody's perfect," said Olette.
"Excuse me!" snapped the Queen of Hearts, "but we're in the middle of a trial here!"
"Oh go suck an egg, you twit," said Alice, "I don't have to put up with this kangaroo court any more."
"I'll call Vivi and we can all beam up to the ship," said Hayner as he pulled out his cell phone.
"Wait," said Nessie, "just hold it a second, Hayner." she looked at Aunt Alice, "have you seen any gold keys while you were here?"
"Keys like this," said Pence as he, Olette and Nessie held up the ones they've found.
"Oh, those things," said Alice, "I haven't seen here yet, not in the real world, but…" she paused as if lost in thought.
"She's seeing the future," said Nessie.
"What is it?" Jasper asked, "what do you see?"
At that the Queen of Hearts screamed in rage, "I'll have all of your heads if you keep ignoring me!"
"I'd listen to her," said the White Rabbit, "she means business."
"So do we," said Alice as she blinked, "but right now we have to get ready for the demon battle."
"What demon battle?" Hayner asked.
"We're going to meet the boss demon soon," said Alice, "he'll be here in about ten seconds."
"That's not exactly enough time to get ready," said an exasperated Pence as he, Hayner, Olette, Nessie and Will got their weapons ready.
"I never said it would be easy," said Alice.
Just then a Dark Corridor opened up. From it emerged a tall cat demon that walked on two legs. It had red fur, yellow eyes, a triangular head and whose tail waived back and forth like a snake, "well now," said the cat demon in a refined British accent, "isn't this a warm welcome. I step out to pick up a package from Mr. Graves and look and behold," he waived at Nessie and the others, "I get a welcoming committee for my return."
"What is this!" spat the Queen of Hearts, "where did that cat come from? Somebody better give me an answer or else!"
The cat demon looked at the mad queen, "hmmm, I wasn't supposed to arrive here. I had the Dark Corridor set for the forest, so how in the darkness did I arrive in the presence of the target?"
"What are you talking about?" Will asked, "there aren't any demons in the book."
At that the cat demon laughed viciously, "you stupid humans. You rely so much on your imaginations, yet when someone tries to challenge an ideal that so many believe in, that challenge is fought against with so much energy."
"I don't get it," said Pence.
"He's trying to change the story," said Nessie, "this world, it's somehow connected to the story from my world."
"Precisely," said the cat demon, "I'm here to implant a curse on this world. Said curse will infect the story that's told in so many human worlds. Every time a child reads that story, their minds will be infected with dark magic. Their concepts of right and wrong, their sense of morality, will be ripped apart and their imaginations will ruel their actions. Every violent fantasy, however innocent it may seem in the mind, weather it be playing 'Cowboys and Indians' or a pirate fantasy, or a war fantasy, anything involving violence, will come to life. The children will think they're living the fantasy, and they will act out that fantasy in the real world."
"No!" said Will, "you can't do that! A child's imagination can be so powerful that they can be lost in it without dark magic. But if you make the children think their imaginations are real, then they can cause chaos in the real world."
"You catch on quickly, young man," said the cat demon, "yes, every child will be able to commit acts of violence, but they will believe it only a fantasy, unaware that they'll be committing acts of wonton destruction and murder on their peers and elders."
"That's horrible!" said a shocked Olette.
"That's demon ideology for you," said an angry Jasper, "there's nothing more dangerous than a child with an out of control imagination."
"Which is why we need to stop it before it starts," said Alice, "I've seen what happens if we don't; believe me, it's not a pretty sight."
"That's enough!" snapped the Queen of Hearts, "I've had just enough of all of you!" she glared at the card soldiers, "off with all of their heads!"
"But, my queen," said the White Rabbit timidly, "the trial…"
"Forget the trial!" said the Queen of Hearts, "it's time these wretched peons learned to respect my authority!" she glared at the card soldiers, "off with their heads! All of them! NOW!"
The card soldiers advanced on our heroes and the cat demon.
"How tedious," said the cat demon. It then blasted the card soldiers with green bolts of dark magic from his eyes, scattering the card soldiers across the room.
"I'll start the corruption of this world by removing the biggest annoyance," said the cat demon as he looked at the Queen of Hearts, "with the pompous cow."
"What?" exclaimed the Queen of Hearts.
"You can't do that!" said the White Rabbit, "the law says that anyone who threatens the queen is to immediately lose his head."
"As if you could do anything to stop me," said the cat demon.
"But we can," said Nessie as she and the others stood between the demon and the Queen of Hearts, "we'll stop you from ruining the story and corrupting the minds of children across the universe."
"And if we have to save the head and heart of this decapitation-obsessed maniac," said Will as he indicated the Queen of Hearts, "then so be it."
"She's an essential part of the story," said Kirjava, "we don't have to like it, but that's how it is."
At that the cat demon laughed viciously, "and just what can children do to stop me?"
"Children?" Jasper asked, "for your information, I'm over 160 years old."
"I'm not as old," said Alice, "but I'm definitely not a child."
"I happen to be a lot younger than I look," said Nessie, "but I'm definitely no kid, not like the kind you're thinking of."
"And we're more than kids," said Hayner, "not after all that we've been through."
"But we're young at heart," said Olette, "and as long as you're young at heart, you're never really old."
"What she said," said Pence.
"So you might as well take your curse and shove it!" said Will.
"And shove your plans of corrupting the minds of children as well," said Kirjava.
"Well then," said the cat demon, "I'll just have to ensure that you're destroyed," he then summoned a box made of black wood that was carved with demonic symbols, "this contains the curse that will bring about so much chaos. Once I open it, there'll be no stopping the dark magic."
"Well then," said Alice, "I've got one thing to say to you, kitty cat," he then looked like she had just seen something horrible. She pointed to something behind the cat demon, "What the hell is that!"
"What?" the cat demon asked as he turned around, only to see the Queen of Hearts, sitting at the judges' seat, looking like she was both really confused and really angry, "that old thing?"
"Accio box!" shouted Olette as she aimed her staff at the cursed box. It flew out of its hands and landed in hers.
The demon looked back at our heroes, "yes, the Queen of Hearts, she's hideous, yes, but…"
"But what?" a grinning Alice asked as Olette held up the black wooden box.
"What?" the cat demon asked as he looked down at his empty hands, then glared at Alice and the others, "how did you do that? I was only distracted for an instant!"
"And instant is all that's needed," said a grinning Olette, "when you've got magic."
"And we're way smarter than you," said Alice.
"Villains are so stupid sometimes," said Will, "it's astounding."
"You should write a paper about it," said Pence, "like for a medial journal or something."
"I might just do that," said Will.
"Oh really?" the demon asked, "well then, I'll bet that you can't figure out how to remove the curse on it."
"Oh yes we can!" said Nessie, "I studied with magic users, so I'm sure I can figure out how to dispel a curse."
"Or we can just break the box," said Pence as he grabbed the box from Olette.
At that Alice tensed as she had another vision of the future, "wait, don't!"
Pence heard her warning too late. He threw the box to the ground, and it smashed into hundreds of pieces.
"Oh no," said Alice, "That exactly what I was trying to avoid."
"What?" Pence asked, "all I did was break the curse."
"The curse wasn't on the box, you stupid human!" shouted the cat demon, "it was in the box, and now the curse has been released!"
A cloud of black smoke rose from the box that pulsed with dark magic.
"What do we do?" Will asked, "what can we do to stop this?"
"There's nothing you can do!" said the cat demon as he laughed viciously, "this world will be corrupted! As will be the minds of children everywhere!"
"I don't think so!" said Nessie, "everyone! I'm going to try and contain the curse!"
"What can we do to help?" Hayner asked.
"Just keep the fur ball busy," said Nessie, indicating the cat demon, "if this is going to work, I'll need complete concentration."
"We'll keep the demon busy," said Alice, "but are you sure you can do this?"
"I won't know if I don't try," said Nessie.
"Wait," said Pence, "have you actually done anything like this before?"
"Not for real," said Nessie, "I've seen it done and read the writings on how it's done, but have I ever contained an active curse? No, but that doesn't mean I can't."
"Well, just be careful," said Olette.
"She knows what she's doing," said Jasper, "right now she needs us to do what we have to do."
"As if you can stop what's happening," said the cat demon as he summoned several Neo Shadows and other types of Heartless.
"We certainly can!" said Jasper, "Hayner, you and your friends are to defend Nessie! I want Hayner, Will, Kirjava and Pence on a box formation, with one of you at each corner, with Olette providing magical support!"
"We'll take care of the rest," said Alice.
"You fools!" said the cat demon, "you're only delaying the inevitable!" he ordered the Heartless to attack.
Hayner, Pence, Will and Kirjava formed a defensive perimeter in the form of a square around Nessie, each of them striking out with their weapons at any Heartless that threatened them, while Olette shot out spell after spell. At the same time, Jasper and Alice ran among the throngs of dark creatures, moving so fast that when they delivered damage to the attacking Heartless, it took a second or two for the damage to take effect and the creatures were destroyed after they were attacked.
All the while, Nessie stood with her eyes closed and hands held at her sides, chanting a counter spell. Blue flashes of magic began forming around her body like static electricity.
"It's useless to persist!" said the cat demon as it summoned more and more Heartless, "you cannot win!" More and more Heartless got past Jasper and Alice and attacked Hayner and the others in waves.
"Oh yes we can!" said Hayner as he, Pence, Olette, Will and Kirjava fought even harder to keep Nessie safe against the attacking Heartless.
"We've got something you demons can never understand!" said Olette as she blasted the waves of Heartless with every spell she knew, "friendship and love!"
"And that makes us strong!" said Pence as he bashed harder against the attacking Heartless.
"And if you can't understand that," said Hayner as he stabbed faster against the attacking Heartless, "then you're just an idiot with no real heart."
"And we'll just have to take you down!" said Will as he stabbed and slashed at the attacking Heartless, while Kirjava bit and clawed at them.
"Darn right!" said Kirjava.
By now Nessies' whole body was crackling with magic. She raised her hands as they glowed blue. She opened her eyes, which were also glowing blue with magic. She then shouted the finishing word to her spell and a pulse of magic shot out from her body. The blue magic slammed into the black cloud of the curse and the dark magic began to break up, eventually fading out of existence.
"And that's that," said Nessie as she collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, with Will and Olette catching her. The young half vampire was out cold and snoring loudly in their arms.
"She used up so much energy," said Will, "she's completely out to lunch."
"The power required to dispell that curse must have been incredible," said Olette.
"Well, she's earned it," said Hayner, "if anyone deserves to sleep after saving a world, it's Nessie."
"Ain't that right," said Pence.
Just then the cat demon roared with rage, "you impudent humans and vampires! I'll swallow your souls for this!"
"There are some to say that vampires have no souls," said Jasper, "my brother Edward used to argue that."
"But then Bella came along and changed everything," said a smiling Alice.
"Too pad you're about to lose your souls!" said the cat demon, "I'm going to destroy you all!" he then created a sphere of dark magic above his head, "this will create a black hole that'll rip you all apart! I just need to throw it at you! Don't bother trying to catch it, you'll just get sucked in faster!"
"I think not!" said Alice. She ran at the demon and bit it on the neck. The cat demon screeched with agony and collapsed to the ground, it's curse dissipating as his concentration broke.
"Demon blood," said a disgusted Alice as she spat said vile liquid out from her mouth, "revolting."
"That's not exactly how I would have ended that," said Jasper.
"Well it's the only way I could see that could save everyone," said Alice, "if that demon threw that mini-black hole at us, we wouldn't be here right now."
"You could have run away from it," said Olette.
"That curse was a black hole," said Will, "not even light can escape from one, so what makes you think a vampire can run away from it?"
"Oh, right," said Olette.
Meanwhile, the demon was writhing on the ground in agony, screaming it's vocal cords out.
"What's happening to him?" Pence asked.
"Vampire venom," said Jasper, "one bite is enough to change a human, but while it won't change a demon, the venom is still extremely painful. A while ago I would have let it suffer," he ran over to the demon and ripped its head off, followed by its arms and legs, "but that was before I regained my humanity, all thanks to my darling Alice."
"It's true," said Alice as she and Jasper stacked the demon body parts. She pulled out a lighter and ignited the demon parts. It burned to ashes within seconds, "Jasper and I complete each other."
"That's nice," said Olette.
"Can someone kindly tell me what in my world is going on?" the Queen of Hearts asked.
"We just saved your sorry behind, lady," said Alice, "and don't you forget it."
"I think we've done all we can do here," said Hayner as he looked around and was satisfied that no more Heartless were around, "so I think we can call Vivi and we can go."
"Wait!" said the White Rabbit as he hopped over, "wait, I hope I'm not too late!"
"What is it?" Pence asked.
"You were looking for a gold key," said the White Rabbit as he pulled something out from his pocket, first his watch, then he pulled out something else, something that turned out to be a gold key with seven gems inlaid in it.
"Where did you find that?" Will asked.
"It was in the hedge maze," said the White Rabbit, "the queen has been so eager to renovate the world, someone had to makre sure that no one got hurt. I was walking the maze and there it was, in one of the rose bushes." He handed the key to Will, "it doesn't open any lock on this world, so you might as well have it."
"Well, thanks," said Will as he took the key, placed it on a string and then placed it around his neck.
"I demand that someone explain things to me!" snapped the Queen of Hearts.
Just then the Cheshire Cat appeared in mid air above the White Rabbit, "I believe that now would be a good time for you heroes to make your departure, unless you prefer to stay and risk losing your heads."
"I'm partial to agree with him," said Jasper.
"Yeah, good idea," said Hayner as he pulled out his cell phone and called the ship in orbit, "Vivi, standby to transport."
"Six to beam up," said Olette into the phone, "plus two guests."
"Rodger!" said Vivi over the phone, "transport when ready."
Jasper picked up Nessie, who was still sound asleep, "we're ready here," he said, while Alice nodded in agreement.
"And so are we," said Olette, while Hayner, Pence, Will and Kirjava nodded in agreement.
"Vivi," said Hayner, "beam us up."
A few seconds later they were all aboard The Voyaging Light.
"Vivi," said Hayner, "this us Alice and Jasper, Nessie's aunt and uncle."
"They're coming with us," said Will, "and they'll help us find the rest of Nessie's friends and family."
"Welcome aboard," said Vivi to Jasper and Alice.
"We're glad to be hear," said Jasper.
"Wow," said Alice as they exited the transporter room, "nice ship."
"It is cool," said Hayner, "Nessie's room is that way."
"I'll just deposit the sleeping beauty in her room," said Jasper as he carried Nessie to her room.
"So where to now?" Pence asked as he, Hayner, Olette, Will, Kirjava and Alice went to the bridge.
"Well," said Hayner, "we've got four keys now and found two of Nessie's family."
"We've got our choice of where to go," said Olette.
Pence looked at the holographic map of the worlds and saw one that looked like a desert world, one with a huge Arabian palace, "that place looks promising."
"Agrabah," said Olette as she read the data on the world, "sounds promising."
"Then what are we waiting for," said Hayner, "Vivi, set course for Agrabah."
"Setting course," said Vivi.
At that Alice gasped in surprise as she had a vision of the future, smiling with eager anticipation.
"What is it?" Jasper asked as he walked onto the bridge, "what did you see?"
"That would ruin the surprise," said Alice, "just wait until we get to where we're going next. How's Nessie doing?"
"Sleeping like a baby," said Jasper, "she'll be ravenously hungry when she wakes up, and thirsty as well."
"Speaking of thirsty," said Pence cautiously, "are you two…alright….blood wise?"
"We hunted just before the travesty on our world that resulted in Nessie being kidnapped by Gideon's minions," said Jasper, "from our point of view, that was only a few hours ago, so Alice and I will be alright for a few days or so."
"Hopefully this desert world will have enough animals for you guys to hunt," said Olette.
"There's always plenty to hunt," said Alice, "if you know where to look."
"That's comforting, I guess," said Hayner.
"Oh," said Jasper, "just out of curiosity, has anyone the answer to The Hatter's Riddle? I'm just curious."
"You mean 'why is a raven like a writing desk?'" Will asked, "I think it's one of those riddles that just don't have an answer."
"Oh yes it does," said a grinning Alice, "the answer is 'Because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front!'"
"'Nevar?'" Pence asked.
"Raven spelled backwards," said Alice.
"Oh," said Pence. The ship then jumped into hyperspace, destination; Agrabah.
The end of chapter 2.
Next chapter switches us back to Team Sora as they arrive at Beasts' Castle and meet someone of incredible importance to Jacob, while facing another of the insidious League of Evil Exes. Reviews will be rewarded with cake and pie. See you next time!