Chapter 4

King Mickey didn't have a moment's rest since he returned two years ago. There was rebuilding to be done, and on top of that, there was another threat. While Heartless and Nobodies had made their share of havoc, there was now a created being that was a combination of the two. At first, it was thought by their creator that since the Heartless wished for bodies and Nobodies wished for hearts, they would be happy if they were combined. But it turned out the opposite was true. The two evil forces joined together to make something even more dreadful, and the rational mind, while still in existence, became twisted and deformed to the point that insanity couldn't even begin to describe it. To add to the mess, they were able to split apart into a sort of clone pair; something neither of the others seemed to be capable of doing. This eliminated host bodies and instead, they grew even faster than their counterparts. The lab in which they had been contained was destroyed, and they had escaped fairly recently, it seemed. They were master to no one, not even each other, but they worked together to overpower their world and others to which they had made paths. Disney Castle was beginning to see signs of them, as well.

On a rare break, the king was pacing the library instead of relaxing in the throne room, something pressing his mind, trying to get sorted out. Presently, there was a knock on the door.

"Enter." he said, not even pausing his stride.

"Good afternoon, Your Majesty," said the knocker after turning the handle. "I thought you might like some lunch." Goofy, captain of the Royal Knights, opened the door the rest of the way, pushing a tray with a covered dish on top. "I brought your favorite." With an awkward sweep that ended up looking rather elegant on the clumsy knight, he revealed a sandwich stacked higher than the cover it was under. "Ham, tomato, tomato, cheese, ham, tomato, cheese, cheese, tomato, ham, ham, and cheese."

The king's smile brightened his worry-creased face. "Thanks, Goofy. You really know how to cheer a guy up."

"Gawrsh, Yer Majesty, it was nothin'." Goofy's nose turned the slightest bit of pink with embarrassment, and he scuffed the floor with one of his giant shoes.

Mickey's smile faded. "I've got something to tell you and Donald. Do you know where he is?"

"Well, Sire, I think he's spendin' the day with Daisy. I don't think he'll be back until this evenin'."

"Gosh. When will that be?" King Mickey asked, looking out of a nearby window. The sun was still high in the sky.

But suddenly, Donald rushed in quickly, scrambling to close the door in time to keep out a very angry-looking Daisy. Bracing himself against it, he breathed out a ragged, "Hello… Your Majesty…" The door trembled at the impact from the duck on the other side, angry words muffled by its thickness. Raising his staff, the Court Magician locked the handle with magic. Finally sliding into a sitting position, he slumped for a second before adjusting his hat, panting heavily all the while.

"Oh, good, you're here," Mickey said, a little surprised, "Would you mind sound-sealing this place?"

"Wak?" Donald managed to gasp, disconcerted.

"Oh. Well, I guess you can do it once you catch your breath."

About a minute later, a slight shimmer decked the perimeter of the room; it was the only sign that the spell had been cast.

"We've got a problem." Mickey was still pacing, in a small circle. "Demons are attacking."

"Demons?" Donald wondered. "Not Heartless?"

"Or Nobodies?" Goofy added.

"No. It's a combination of both. Flesh-and-blood, just like you and me, a heart just like yours and mine, but a mind so twisted and insane that it can only be described as demonic. This is serious." He stopped to wring his hands, looking away pensively.

"You're gonna have to find Sora, Kairi, and Riku. Otherwise, I don't think things are going to be pretty."

"Ooh! Pretty!" Sora exclaimed, his face pressed against a store window. He stared at a giant sword. His bright blue eyes were glazed and a huge, goofy grin was plastered on his face. Kairi was trying desperately to de-plaster him from the glass.

"Need some help?" Riku asked her, smirking.

"It'd be nice," came her cool reply.

He smiled, then jerked around suddenly and pointed at a random spot, shouting, "Sora, look! A Dusk with a gun!"

Quickly turning, Sora whipped out his Keyblade. "Where?!" He immediately glared at Riku with a smile. "Heh. Riku, you're funny." he laughed, "Dusks don't have guns…"

Riku placed a hand on his forehead. Sora hadn't even regarded that there wasn't anything there in the first place.

"Come on, Sora," Kairi grabbed his hand before he had a chance to look in the window again.

Just then, Tenna came out from a bookstore, peeking from behind a tower of books, which were mainly comics. "So, how do you like it so far?"

"There's a lot more variety here than on the islands," Kairi said, a small black purse slung around her shoulder, bags of new clothes in her hands. "Are you sure your parents are alright with letting us use their munny card?"

"'They may spend as much as they like. They're our guests.' is what they said. I'm certainly taking advantage of it." The books she had bought began to wobble. "Meep…" She danced around, trying to steady them.

"Here, let me get some of those." Riku reached out to grab the books that were higher up in the stack.

"N-no, you don't have to…" she stammered. But she knew it was too late.
Riku glanced at the topmost book: a romance-adventure novel. "Hm… Interesting choice of reading…" He grinned as he read the title. "Sharing a Paopu… Sounds corny, like some high school kid's writing it or something." he said, smiling.

"Gah! I'll carry that one!" Tenna blushed, and attempted to take it from him, but he kept it out of her reach, which, given the fact that he was only about an inch taller than her, involved moving it sideways rather than keeping it higher than she could reach. All the while, he laughed at her antics. She was very red now, not really knowing why. "Not fair," she whined, stopping her frenzy of trying to get the book back, now more concerned with hiding her face.

Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a red-and-yellow shape shot by overhead.

"Was that what I think it was…?" Sora asked in wonderment.

"Almost definitely," came Riku's reply. "Let's go."

"Hey, I'm the leader!" Sora complained.

Tenna was confused. "Go where?" she asked.

"Back to the islands," said Riku.

"Oh. Already?" Tenna felt a bit saddened. "Well, I hope you had a good time here, and I'm sorry it wasn't more entertaining other than food and a little shopping."
Riku smiled. "Don't worry. We'll be back before you know it. Of course we'd be obligated to take you back here."

"What?" Before the thought had registered in her brain, he had grabbed her hand and began pulling her along to the jetty. "Wait! What are you doing? Where are you taking me? Hey!"

"You'll see soon enough," he said as he ran after Sora, who was gliding above the ground like an airplane, with Kairi firmly in his grip. Tenna didn't really wanna know where he learned how to do that.