The Key That the Jailer Threw Away
My normal update rate when writing a multi-chapter book is about one new chapter a month. This of course may change and if I'm especially happy I'll write more. Conversely if I'm down in the dumps I may write less often. Also with the holidays coming up I'm swamped with catering work so I probably won't have as much time as I'd like. I hope that you my fans can be patient and remember that I will never leave a story unfinished. Now onto the next chapter
Chapter: 2
Sora was still shaking his head as he began walking along the bridge into the heart of the city. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had been here before but nothing about the place seemed familiar. He took the lead guiding his companions towards the right of the city. Again it was almost like instinct but he really wished he could remember what it was about this place. It was almost as if some unknown force was guiding him and it knew where he needed to go, this unsettled him but he trusted the feelings.
"Hey Sora, do you remember anything else about this place?" asked Goofy
"That's just the thing," responded Sora, "I almost certain I've never been here before, but I feel like I know this place. I can't explain it. I don't even know if going to the greenhouse is the right thing to do."
"Well Garsh I guess all we can do is trust in ourselves," advised Goofy, "you've got the key-blade so I think we should trust you, and you should trust your feelings."
"Thanks Goofy, I sure hope your right," said Sora.
The trio continued their journey through the city and after awhile they arrived at a large greenhouse.
"Is this the place you saw in your vision Sora?" questioned Donald
Sora looked at the large building in front of him and starred hard at it for a long time before answering.
"Yeah this is the place, I'm sure of it," he said. "I feel we should be careful inside here."
Sora, Donald, and Goofy carefully entered the greenhouse and were surprised by what they saw. There were hundreds of different kinds of plants inside. The plants were unlike any they had ever seen before, and some of them looked like unique plants that weren't found anywhere else and were likely new species of undiscovered plants. As Sora was looking around he eventually began to hear approaching voices and quickly found cover behind some foliage.
"Hurry it up lettuce head," said a voice, "how long is this gonna take you?"
"Settle down Sparky," said another voice, "you can't rush science. And this species is proving exceptionally difficult."
Sora risked glancing through a gap in his leafy hiding place and saw yet another strange sight. A weird plant-like thing was standing next to something even stranger a rat-like thing in one of the strangest costumes he had ever seen. He was wearing a strange yellow suit and what looked like a plug on his head. The plant-like thing next to him looked like a cross between a duck and a vegetable. It was standing over what was clearly a heartless and examining it using a magnifying glass.
"I must say this is a strange species to say the least," said the plant-like thing, "I can't determine what exactly they're made of. But it seems as though they like dark places. Little sunlight and such, Also it seems that they're real good at ambushing things. They have a tendency to hide in the shadows and then suddenly pop out and surprise victims."
"Yeah that's all fascinating and everything," said the rat-like thing, "but how do we make more of them, and more importantly can anything destroy them. Remember we want to be able to use these things against Dark wing Duck."
"Well don't rush me," snapped the plant-like thing, "I'm a botanist not a zoologist, and this is a different kind of science. Maybe I need a second opinion, Spike come here real quick."
Sora looked around and saw a third figure entering the room. The best way to describe it was a walking Venus fly trap it acted a lot like a dog of some kind. The thing came into the room and started dancing around the plant-like thing again very much like a dog; it was even slobbering and panting. Then suddenly it became quite stiff and, much to Sora's horror, turned to face the exact spot where he was hiding. It began to growl and in the next instant it jumped into the bushed where Sora was hiding. There was a brief struggle and the sound of scraping then finally with a resounding thud Sora was ejected from his hiding place and thrown out into the open with the two strange creatures staring at him.
"Well it looks like we have an eavesdropper on our hands," began the plant-like thing, "once again Spike proves why he's a mutant plants best friend. Now let's see who we-" he stopped speaking as he looked closer at Sora.
"It's you!" he shouted accusingly, "Wait….what….how…..what are you doing here again?"
"Again?" asked Sora, "I've never been here before."
"Don't lie to me," said the plant like thing, "your hair looks different but I know it's you. Well this time you'll feel the wrath of Bushroot." Finally identifying himself by name.
"Hang on Bushroot," said the rat-like thing, "Are you sure it's the same guy he looks different."
"What are you talking about Megavolt?" asked Bushroot, "It's clearly him."
Sora stood up on his feet and materialized his key-blade in his hand. "I don't know what you two are talking about but I've never seen either of you before."
"Now who's the one lying," accused Bushroot, "You were spying on me not to long ago, except I think you were wearing different clothes."
"I'm telling you bushy, it ain't him," countered Megavolt, "Something about him seems off."
"I bet he's just trying to fool us," said Bushroot, "But it doesn't matter this time we'll get him."
"You'll have to deal with us too," exclaimed Donald jumping out of the plants. Goofy joined him as well.
"Oh that's it," screamed Bushroot, "Spike get them now!"
[A fight with Spike occurs here. He's not too tough he's got a good bit of health and mainly tries to bite you a lot. All boss fights will be detailed in the Appendix section]
The dog-like Venus flytrap thing charged at Sora and he was barely able to get his key-blade up in time. The thing had large jaws and sharp teeth and tried it's best to bite Sora. But Sora managed to ward off most of it's blows and forced the creature back. Goofy aimed his shield perfectly and was able to throw it into the creatures mouth wedging it's jaws open as the thing struggled to spit out the shield.
"My spike!" cried Bushroot, "what have you done to my poor pet you fiend!"
"Hey you're the one who set him on us," retorted Sora, "I was just defending myself."
"Well you were the one spying on me again," countered Bushroot.
"What are you talking about?" asked Sora, "I've never been here before."
"What? Yes you have," said Bushroot, "the last time you were here you were wearing a black cloak but I'm certain you're the same person."
"Black cloak?" chimed in Donald
"But a black cloak means Organization XIII," added Goofy
"Enough," yelled Megavolt waving his arms and interrupting everyone, "Let's get a few things straight here." He turned to look at Sora, "first of all were you the one who Bushroot caught spying on him a few weeks ago?"
"No I wasn't," said Sora defensively.
"Yeah I thought not," added Megavolt, "I only glimpsed you for a bit but even I'm sure you're not the same person. You look like him but not quite I can't describe it but there is something different about you. Okay then next question if you're not that same person who are you and what are you doing here?"
"I'm Sora," said Sora.
"Donald Duck," said Donald.
"And I'm Goofy," finished Goofy.
"We're here to stop the heartless," continued Sora
"The what?" asked Megavolt
"The heartless," said Sora, "that thing you were examining over there." He pointed to where Bushroot was keeping the new heatless specimen.
"So," said Bushroot in an oily voice, "You know about these things."
"Yes I do," said Sora, now taking a more confrontational tone, "So what are you guys doing with this one."
"Well if you already know a bit about them," said Megavolt, "maybe you could save us the trouble. We're trying to learn more about them and we want to able to control them as minions."
"That's a very bad idea." Said Sora, "the heartless are uncontrollable. A lot of different people have tried and failed to get them to do their bidding. You should stop this idea right now."
"You wanna stop us?" taunted Megavolt, "It's not happening I know that I've managed to get these things to follow my orders on at least one occasion and I think that's only the beginning of what I can do with them."
"Please listen to me," said Sora, "If you intend to keep doing this then it's our duty to stop you. You're messing with forces you could never understand. The heartless may follow your orders in the beginning but after awhile they'll devour your heart and turn you into one of them."
"You do seem to know a lot about these heartless," said Megavolt. It could not be clearer that the tone had changed and Sora and Co, were almost certain that a confrontation was inevitable. "In that case if you won't tell us willingly we'll make you tell us." He charged up his hands with electricity in a threatening manner.
"I'm not afraid of you," bellowed Sora confidently as he got his key-blade ready. Donald and Goofy came to his side to show their support too.
"Yeah," said Donald, "he's the key-blade master and we're here to back him up."
"You betcha," agreed Goofy, "Sora can always count on us."
Megavolt was about to say something else when suddenly the heartless Bushroot had been examining suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of him. Not only that but several more heartless had appeared and begun to surround Sora. It was almost as if they sensed Megavolt's intentions and knew what he wanted to do.
"Well this is a nice surprise," wheezed Megavolt, "I think I'm finally beginning to see how this works. Alright then heartless beasts get the kid!"
[Information: Defeat all the Heartless]
The battle began and Sora was soon up to his ears in heartless. The new moth type heartless buzzed overhead just out of reach so he had to leap up to attack them. As if that weren't enough they also began shooting out electric beams at him. Goofy stepped in and raised his shield to block a few of the shots from hitting Sora. Donald at first tried fighting fire with fire by summoning up some thunder. Unfortunately the targets were not affected by the attack.
"Wak it's not working," cried out Donald, "Those things are immune to lighting."
"Dually noted," said Sora, "so I guess that means it's down to brute force."
The brawl went on for a bit longer. Sora had become so used to this by now that it was not long before he had finally knocked the last flying heartless out of the sky.
"Well that takes care of that," he remarked, but he noticed something was wrong. In the confusion of the fighting Bushroot and Megavolt had gotten away.
"Wak where did those two go to?" queried Donald.
"Garsh they musta slipped away during the fighting," replied Goofy
"We gotta find them," said Sora, "no telling what those two could do with the heartless under their command."
"Let's get going then," snapped Goofy.
The trio rushed outside the greenhouse, in search of the escaped villains, but were quickly overwhelmed when they encountered yet more heartless.
"Looks like we're not done yet," said Sora flashing his key-blade into life again.
Once again the heroes charged into battle and began an assault on the new wave of heartless. This time the flying bugs had been joined by some familiar flower shaped heartless that grew out of the ground and began shooting seeds at the gang. Donald was quick to deal with these threats by summoning fire to burn them up.
"There sure are a lot," mussed Sora, "I hope we can handle them all."
As if in answer to his mussing he suddenly heard a voice call out as if from nowhere. The voice was loud and theatric. Sora looked around but was unable to find a source for the voice anywhere, that's when he heard it speak.
"I am the terror, that flaps in the night, I am the broken heart that you can't fix."
That was when Sora noticed something else. A large puff of smoke had appeared in the middle of him and all the heartless they were fighting. It started as no more than a cloud and without warning began to grow larger. It was from the depths of this smoke cloud that emerged the source of the voice. It was a duck similar in size and shape to Donald, however this duck was clad in contrasting shades of purple with a cape on his back. It was apparent that he was the voice Sora had heard earlier.
"I am Darkwing Duck," said the Duck introducing himself as the smoke cleared.
"Who are you?" asked Sora.
"Didn't you hear me 5 seconds ago?" asked the Duck, "I'm Darkwing Duck, fearsome crime fighter extordinare, caped crusader of justice, daring denizen of the dark. Haven't you heard of me citizen?"
"Uh can't say I have," responded Sora,
"WHAT?" yelled Darkwing incensed, "I really need to hire a publicist."
"Yeah well worry about that later," said Donald running to join the two.
"We still have heartless to take care," continued Goofy.
Aided by their new ally the combatants redoubled their efforts against the enemy. The key-blade danced through the air as it struck down heartless after heartless. Banishing it's enemies to the void. Their new friend seemed quite adept at physical combat, he easily used his hands and feet to dispatch foes. Occasionally Sora also thought he saw him pull out some type of gun and dispatch the heartless with that. With the help of their new comrade it wasn't long before the area had been cleared of heartless.
"So you said your name is Darkwing Duck?" asked Sora
"That's right," said Darkwing, "I am the terror that flaps in the night and protector of the city of St. Canard. So who are you three?"
"I'm Sora," he answered, "And this is Donald and Goofy" he indicated his companions.
"Those creatures," began Darkwing, "You called them heartless? So that's what they're called?"
"Yes," said Sora, "We're here to take care of them. Not only that but we saw these other two guys trying to learn more about them. I think they were called Megavolt and Bushroot."
Darkwing's eye's light up at the sound of those names but it also seemed as though he knew this meant even more trouble. "Bushroot and Megavolt are two of the most notorious crooks in St. Canard. I've tangled with both of them on several occasions but this is the first time they've ever teamed up. And now they're trying to develop some new minions to follow their orders. This is big! A bust like this could finally give me the notoriety I deserve."
Suddenly he puffed his chest out importantly and stood as though he were posing for a statue. "The good citizens of St. Canard need not fear as I…Darkwing Duck!...cunningly conspire to capture and incarcerate these colossal criminals quickly and confidently.
[Try saying that 5 times fast. Took me awhile to come up with it]
"Uhh but they escaped," noted Sora.
The wind seemed to have fallen out of Darkwing's sail as he instantly snapped back to reality.
"I know they escaped," he whined, "in fact I was prepared for that option but don't worry my sidekick is busy tracking them down as we speak."
It was just at that moment when a purple motorcycle matching the color of Darkwing's costume pulled up to where they were standing. Another duck got off it and approached the group. He was much taller than Darkwing and a bit more muscular too, yet he had a very weird look on his face that suggested he was a simple person.
"Hey bad news DW," said the duck, "I lost Bushroot and Megavolt they got away and I don't know where they went." He paused a bit as he noticed Sora and Co. "Who are your new friends?"
"Oh uh this is Sara," said Darkwing
"Sora!" corrected Sora
"Whatever," said Darkwing, "look Sora was it? Thanks for your help with those monsters but I think I can take it from here. You see Lauchpad and I have been taking care of this city for awhile now we handle what the police can't. So you can just return to your normal life and leave the crime fighting to us."
"But wait a bit," said Sora, "We can help you, these heartless aren't like normal enemies you need my help. The key-blade is especially good against them."
"The what?" asked Darkwing
"The key-blade," responded Sora, holding up his hand and summoning the weapon.
"Oh that's the thing you were using to fight," observed Darkwing, "it looks like a giant key. But it's not like it can actually open doors right?"
"Actually it can," supplied Sora, "It can open any locked door and also seal a door so it can never be opened."
"What?" exclaimed Darkwing slightly concerned, "You mean that thing can open any locked door? That sounds like the tool of a thief!"
"Hey come on now," interjected Donald, "we just helped you defeat the heartless."
"Yeah I'm no thief!" said Sora
"Well thief or not," finished Darkwing, "I'll be watching you so don't think you can try anything funny when Darkwing Duck is around! Now like I said thanks for your information so far but LP and I can handle this fine from here on out."
With that Darkwing mounted his motorcycle and motioned for the other duck to join him.
"My name's Launchpad, by the way," said the other duck, "Don't worry to much about DW I'm sure he means well. He just doesn't want you to get hurt. But we'll do our best to take care of those villains." With that he seated himself in the side-car and the engine roared to life. Darkwing vanished into the night leaving the key-blade heroes to wonder at what to do next.
Meanwhile in another part of town, Megavolt and Bushroot had retreated to a secret location, They began discussing the next phase of their plan.
"We sure were lucky to get away from that spy," began Bushroot, "and even luckier that Darkwing Duck didn't catch us."
"Aww it won't matter in awhile anyway," wheezed Megavolt, "I think I'm starting to see how we can use these heartless to our advantage. It seems that they feed off negative emotions. The more anger and hate you have the better you can control them. Also they require only simple commands and can read your thoughts so all you have to do is think about what you want them to do and they'll do it. And finally the best thing is that you can control what form they'll take."
"How'd you figure out all that so quickly?" asked Bushroot.
"I don't know it just came to me," replied Megavolt, "It happened when I was able to involuntary summon those heartless to help us get away and attack that Sora guy."
"What you suddenly came to a great realization?" asked Bushroot
"If you don't believe me," began Megavolt, "watch I'll show you. Now close your eyes and concentrate. Just imagine that the heartless you want are right there in front of you."
Bushroot closed his eyes and imagined for a few minutes. Suddenly when he opened his eyes he saw several small black insect like creatures standing before him. They had small antenna on their heads and large bulbous yellow eyes.
"Well that's interesting," observed Bushroot, "now what?"
"Give them an order with your mind," demanded Megavolt.
Bushroot asked them in his head to run in a circle around him, then jump in place. It seemed that they did indeed obey all his orders.
"Well that's not bad," he said, "but it sure would be nice if they looked like plants."
No sooner had he said it then suddenly, the small black creatures vanished and were replaced by large flower. The flowers were large and intimidating, they spat seeds and could shoot vines through the ground to hit far targets.
"Oh now this I really like," said Bushroot. "I could get used to this. I see what you mean Megavolt. Now that we have a new army of minions it's time to turn the tables on Darkwing."
