BTDTL Volume 11: Search for the Keys

by AndrewK9000

Things are heading towards the engame as Sora, Hayner and their respective teams close in on the remaining keys to unlock the Sacred Talisman of Zumakalis. But the enemy have plans of their own, culminating in the worst one Gideon has to offer yet.

4. Ch4: Lost Treasure of Cave of Wonders

Last time found Team Sora arriving at Beast's Castle, which was under Heartless siege. Much to Sora's surprise, Beast had regained his monster form to help fight against the dark creatures. Also to the surprise of Sora and his friends, especially Jacob, Bella Cullen was there as well, hoping to find her daughter. After a brief and heated argument between Bella and Jacob, which Kairi settled, our heroes found their fifth gold key, then went in search of the Keyhole for the world.

Meanwhile, Gideon, who had planned to strip away Beast's humanity in order to make him Gideon's personal monster, dispatched the narcissistic psychic, Todd Ingram. The mad vegan nearly wiped the floor with our heroes and allies, but Bella came back from hunting and turned the tables on Todd. Sidney then saved everyone when Todd's psychic powers threatened to destroy the world, beaming the vile vegan into space before he exploded.

After sealing the Keyhole, Sora and the gang invited Bella to join them, promising to reunite her with Nessie and the rest of her family. 'Nuff said, on with the show!

Chapter 4: The Lost Treasure of The Cave of Wonders

Nessie yawned deeply as she walked into the galley of The Voyaging light, "boy," she said as she stretched, "I slept great."

"You certainly were out of it," said Olette, "after that spell you used in Wonderland, it really left you exhausted."

"But worth it," said Hayner, "that was awesome how you disrupted that corruption curse."

"You saved Wonderland," said Will, "and the story that goes with it, not to mention the minds and hearts of children across countless parallel worlds."

"So what you're saying is that I'm a hero," said Nessie.

"I guess so," said Will, "so, how do you feel?"

"Hungry," said Nessie, "and just a bit thirsty. I can wait to hunt until we get to the next world, so if you'll excuse me for a minute," she then ran around the galley that she was barely more than a blur to Hayner, Pence, Olette, Will and Kirjava could barely see. They watched as Nessie zoomed around the kitchen, briefly stopping at the fridge, stove and microwave. Within bare minutes she had prepared several large plates of eggs, bacon, toast, four large bowls of cut up fruit and a tall glass of orange juice.

"Hope that satisfies you," said Pence as he and the others realized that Nessie had prepared a breakfast big enough for everyone else on the ship.

"It should," said Nessie as she commenced to devour her breakfast.

"Looks like we're going to go shopping soon," said Olette, "at this rate, we'll be completely out of supplies."

"I'll be more than happy to pay for the market bills," said Nessie in between mouthfuls of eggs and toast, "after all the Heartless and Nobodies we've been killing, I've got plenty of Munny."

"We all do," said Hayner.

"Where's Alice and Jasper?" Pence asked.

"Enjoying their alone time," said Nessie, "they were separated for only a short time, but it was awful for them, so they deserve their togetherness."

"Well, I'm glad that they're back together," said Will, "and I'm also glad that the crew quarters are soundproof."

"Same with me," said Nessie, "I may be a heavy sleeper, of which I'm eternally grateful for considering how much my mama and daddy love each other." Her stomach growled loudly, "wait, why am I talking!" she then resumed shoveling her breakfast down.

"You could lose a hand in there," said Olette, "for real."

"Then don't try to touch my food wile I'm eating," said Nessie. It wasn't long before she was finished. She then quickly rinsed her dishes off in the sink and loaded them into the dishwasher, "okay, now I'm satisfied."

They all went to the bridge, where Vivi was piloting the ship into orbit around the next world.

"Is that Agrabah?" Pence asked as he, Hayner, Olette, Will, Kirjava and Nessie all looked at the view screen, which displayed a desert world with a large, elaborate palace.

"Do you know any other worlds in the realms with a climate like that?" Olette asked, "of course it's Agrabah."

"According to the sensor data," said Will, "there's barely any clouds at all, and it rarely rains, as well as high heat and low humidity; typical of a desert climate."

"So we'll bring lots of sun block for the day," said Hayner, "and warm clothes for the night. It does get cold in the desert after dark."

"This is not going to be fun," said a worried Nessie, "a desert world is not the best place for a vampire."

"But you're only half vampire," said Kirjava.

"I know that," said Nessie, "but my aunt and uncle are the genuine article."

"Does that mean they'll burst into flames when we step out into the sun?" a worried Pence asked.

"That's typical horror nonsense," said Jasper as he and Alice walked onto the bridge, "sensationalist fiction created out of barely remembered facts."

"I told you guys that sunlight doesn't burn vampires," said Nessie, "but it does react with our skin."

"We glow and sparkle," said a smiling Alice, "but anyone watching would know that we're not human, so we'll be dressing for the day."

Hayner and the others then noticed that Alice had in her arms two sets of desert robes, much in the Bedouin style, that would keep her skin and Jasper's from reacting with the sunlight.

"Add a pair of gloves each," said Jasper as he held up said gloves, "and we're good to go."

"Any idea where on this world that the next key is?" Pence asked.

"If I knew that," said Hayner, "we'd just beam down, grab it and beam out."

"What do you mean?" Olette asked.

"Let's just say that I want this whole mess with finding these keys to the talisman over with," said Hayner in a slightly annoyed tone, "the sooner we're done, the better."

"Oh come on," said Alice, "where's your sense of adventure?"

"Oh, he's just homesick," said Pence.

"That's not it," said Hayner. He sat down and sighed, "it's my mom's birthday, and with all the crazy stuff that's been happening, I forgot to get her a present."

"Oh, that's a good reason for feeling down," said Olette.

"I forgot to give my mum a present for her birthday once," said Will, "I felt really bad about it, but then, we were on the run from evil men who wanted to know what my dad was up to, and my mum wasn't really herself at the time."

"It's worse," said Hayner, "my mom, she's forty this year."

"So?" Nessie asked, "what's the big deal? My mom never made her birthday a big thin, and I don't make a big deal of it either."

"I always like to make it a big thing," said Alice, "any excuse for a party is a good reason for a party."

"You still don't get it," said Hayner in a serious tone, "my mom, she's forty. Forty!"

"So?" Nessie asked, "my father's over a hundred, and grandpa Carlisle is over 300."

"You have to understand, Nessie," said Jasper, "humans are mortal, and to them life is so precious that they feel the need to celebrate that life on a regular basis."

"And to have as much fun as they can," said Alice, "and give gifts, lots and lots of gifts."

"No, that's Christmas," said Nessie, "giving gifts." she looked at Hayner and the others, "I never liked getting toys, even when I was little. I'm perfectly happy with books, especially books I've never read before."

"If it'll make you feel better, Hayner," said Olette, "from what the computer says about Agrabah, there's a Marketplace that has a tone of shops. I'm sure you can find something for your mom, as well as a card that says you're sorry for being away on her birthday."

"I don't think they'll have an apology card for a disaster of this magnitude," said Hayner.

"You won't know if you don't try," said Pence.

"And if you can't find a good gift," said Will, "there's always plan G."

"Plan G?" Olette asked.

"Gift certificate," said Will.

"That might just work," said a now feeling much better Hayner, "there's a lot of shops back home on Twilight Town. A gift certificate could work, as a backup plan. But I do want to see what's there down on Agrabah."

"You might just be surprised," said an eagerly smiling Alice.

"Are you ever going to tell us about your premonition?" Jasper asked, "it's clearly something good, otherwise you'd have told us about it by now."

"What premonition?" Nessie asked.

"Your aunt had one while you were passed out," said Jasper.

"But she won't tell us what it is," said Kirjava.

"I don't want to spoil the surprise," said an eagerly grinning Alice. "Now, let's go down to that world and do some shopping."

"I think we should be in two groups," said Hayner as they headed for the transporter room, "one group to get the supplies we need and the other half to look for information on the next gold key."

"I'll be on the team looking for information," said Will, "I know how to go around without attracting attention, almost invisible like, and you can pick up a lot of information when those around you don't notice you."

"I might just go with you on that," said Hayner, "but at the same time we should keep our eyes out for something for my mom."

"I'll take care of the supply shopping," said Olette, "but I'll need someone to help me carry all our stuff back to the ship." She looked at Pence and Jasper, "thanks for volunteering, you two."

"I never volunteered for anything," said Pence.

"Neither did I," said Jasper.

"You might as well," said Alice, "what I saw in my vision, it's not going to happen for a while, so you might as well keep busy."

"Any chance you'll tell us anything else about what you saw?" Nessie asked as they got onto the transporter pad, while Alice and Jasper donned their desert robes and gloves.

"Nope," said Alice, "but I can assure you, it's going to make you happy as a clam."

"Coordinates set for the Marketplace," said Vivi as he stood at the transporter control consol.

"We're ready," said Hayner, "beam us down, Vivi."

"Energizing," said Vivi.

The next thing our heroes knew they were in a brightly lit street surrounded by stone buildings.

"Wow," said Pence as he shielded his eyes from the intense sunlight "I should have brought sunglasses."

"A few hours of this light," said Will as he shielded his eyes, while Kirjava was squinting so much she could barely see anything, "and we won't even need glasses."

"Yeah, 'cause we'll be blind," said Hayner.

"Oh come on," said Nessie, "it's not that bright out."

"Easy for you to say," said Olette as she also shielded her eyes from the intense sunlight, "you can handle it."

"There should be someplace that has sunglasses here," said Jasper.

"We're about to run into one," said Alice.

Just then a Moogle walked around the corner, "Greetings, travelers, kupo! What can I do for you?"

"Do you have any sunglasses?" Pence asked.

"If you've got the Munny," said the Moogle, "I've got the merchandise, kupo!" He then displayed several pairs of sunglasses from which Hayner, Pence, Olette and Will picked some out, while Will found a small pair for Kirjava.

"I just hope you don't try to cheat us," said Will as he and the others put their sunglasses on, "I've seen plenty of merchants who overprice their wares."

"What? I'd never try to cheat a customer," said the Moogle, "a cheated customer is a lost customer, kupo! I always try to keep my prices fair, unlike some of the other merchants on this world."

"Really?" Olette asked, "then I believe we have a lot of business to discuss," she looked at Nessie, Will, Kirjava, Hayner and Alice, "you guys go look for that gold key, we'll be fine right here."

"Lucky us," muttered Pence, while Jasper crossed his arms in annoyance.

"We'll call if we find anything," said Hayner as he held up his cell phone.

"Right," said Olette as she held up her phone.

"I don't need to see the future to know that you and Olette like each other," said Alice to Hayner as their group headed down the street.

"What do you mean?" Hayner asked, "I…"

"Oh don't deny it," said Nessie, "I've seen how the two of you look eat each other."

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Hayner.

"You know," said Kirjava, "how one of you look at Olette when she's not looking at you, then she looks at you when you're not looking at her."

"So I look at Olette as she looks at me," said Hayner, "what does that have to do with anything?"

"You're serious," said Kirjava in a disbelieving manner.

"He is," said Nessie, "there are ways of telling when someone is lying, and from what I'm seeing, Hayner is telling the truth."

"You really don't know that much about girls, do you," said Alice to Hayner.

"I know what girls are!" said Hayner, "I just don't feel that way about Olette. She's my friend, my very good friend, that's all."

"I know what you're getting at," said Will, "but the ladies here, I think they have other ideas."

Hayner then realized that Nessie, Alice and Kirjava were looking at him in a conspiring manner, as if the three of them were plotting to get him and Olette together.

"Uh…" said a very uncomfortable Hayner, "so, when is this really great thing supposed to happen, Alice?"

"Not much longer," said Alice, "but first we hve to meet two of the local people."

"Who's that supposed to be?" Will asked.

"Those two over there," said Alice as she pointed to a man and a woman who were talking across the street. He had short black hair and wore a purple open vest, white pants with a wide red belt and a red fez on his head. She was exceptionally pretty with long black hair tied in a pony tail and wore a blue top and pants combo.

"That's Aladdin and Jasmine," said Alice.

"Well let's go talk to them," said Hayner.

"We will," said Alice, "just as soon as The Heartless show up."

Two seconds later a large number of Bandits and Fat Bandits appeared in the area.

"Can't we ever get a break! Hayner asked as he, Nessie and Will drew their weapons and dueled with the sword-wielding Bandits, while dodging the flame attacks of the Fat Bandits, all the while Alice was zooming through the area, ripping Heartless apart with her bare hands.

Nessie then saw that several Bandits and Fat Bandits had closed in on Aladdin and Jasmine. He had a large scimitar out and was holding off the Bandits, shielding her from the dark creatures.

"We've got to help them!" shouted Nessie as she stabbed a Bandit, then got behind a Fat Bandit and destroyed it.

"We're a little busy over here!" said Hayner.

"I'm not," said Alice as she tore a Fat Bandit to pieces. She then blinked in surprise, "oh wait, no I'm not!"

Just then a very large demon that was a humanoid made of sand and ten feet tall, appeared and attacked Alice. The sand demon reached down to grab her but Alice ran to the side. The demon then tried to grab her again, moving a lot faster than something that big should have been able to do. This time Alice barely managed to avoid getting crushed.

"Was this in your vision?" Hayner asked.

"My visions change all the time!" said Alice, "it all depends on what decisions are made!"

"I wish we could decide weather or not The Heartless would leave us alone!" said Will.

"Same with us!" shouted Aladdin as he fended off more Bandits, keeping them away from Jasmine.

"Need any help?" Will asked as he dueled and destroyed a pair of Bandits, then dodged a flamethrower attack from a Fat Bandit.

"Oh," said Aladdin, "all we can get!"

"I thought the Heartless wasn't a problem any more!" shouted Jasmine, "not since Sora was last here."

"You know Sora?" Hayner asked.

"We're friends," said Aladdin, "wish he was here now," he then stabbed a Bandit, then pulled Jasmine out of the way of a fireball a Fat Bandit spat at them.

"I wish Sora was here to," said Nessie as she destroyed a bunch of Neo Shadows that had just arrived.

Just then Pence, Olette and Jasper ran into the area and began their share of Heartless fighting, with Jasper soon rushing to help Alice. Jasper jumped up and kicked the sand demon in the head, knocking about a third of its mass from the body.

But the demon pulled itself together, drawing the knocked sand back into its body, as well as drawing in more sand and dust from the streets and buildings, making it a little bigger. The demon then lashed out at Jasper and Alice with tentacles made out of sand.

"Any ideas?" Pence asked as he blocked one of the sand tentacles, then had to fend off several Bandits.

"I've got plenty," said Hayner, "but none of them are any good."

"Makes you wonder where Gideon finds his employees," said Jasper as he and Alice dodged the tentacles. He then ran behind the demon and kicked out one of its legs, while Alice punched out the head of the sand demon.

But then the demon re-gathered its loss mass and added more, making itself significantly larger.

"Okay, this is serious now," said Pence as he deflected a Flamethrower attack, then got behind a Fat Bandit and bashed it in the back, destroying it.

"This definitely counts for a magical emergency!" said Aladdin, "Genie!"

Just then a large blue genie popped into the air above the battle, "Hey, Al, buddy!" shouted Genie, "need a hand? Or two or three? Or more?" about a hundred hands appeared all over genie's body.

"What we need is a way to get rid of that thing!" shouted Jasmine as she pointed at the sand demon.

Genie then realized that the sand demon was there, "oh, that's a tough nut to crack, and I can tell that from right here. Hmm, how to do this…" he floated in the air in a thoughtful manner, "oh! I got it!" he then turned himself into a giant dust buster and started sucking up all the sand and dust that composed the body of the demon.

Within seconds all of the sand demon was gone, contained inside Genie, "boy," he sighed as the vacuum turned off, "am I full."

Just then Nessie saw a very small humanoid demon, barely three inches tall, trying to scurry away, "that's the real demon!" she shouted, "the sand was just a covering!"

"Get it before it brings in more sand!" shouted Aladdin.

"I got it!" shouted Olette as she blasted the demon with a Thunder spell, but the creature dodged the bolts of lightning.

Pence then threw his hand shields at the demon, but it dodged them. It then tried to make a run for it to the next area, but Jasper got to it first and squashed it.

"Disgusting," said Jasper as he wiped the demon goop off of his boot.

The destruction of the demon seemed to end the battle, for no fresh Heartless were arriving.

"Well, that was…different," said Olette.

"I got two questions," said Pence, "one; are there any more of those demons around? And two;" he looked up at Genie, who had resumed his normal semi-ethereal shape, "what's with the big blue guy?"

"Allow me to introduce myself to the new crowd," said Genie. He then teleported behind Pence with a puff of bright smoke, "I happen to the wielder of phenomenal cosmic powers! Well, semi-phenomenal, nearly cosmic powers actually."

"He happens to be my best friend," said Aladdin.

"Genie, formerly of the lamp," said the big blue spirit as he eagerly shook hands with Hayner, Pence, Olette, Will, Nessie, Alice and Jasper.

"That's great," said Hayner. He then looked at Aladdin and Jasmine, "so, you said you know Sora?"

"Do I know Sora!" said Genie as he popped in front of Hayner, "we've had some wild times, me and Sora. We've fought many a battle and slain many a Heartless!"

"Have you seen Sora?" Aladdin asked.

"We're meeting up with him later," said Nessie, "but to go off target for a second, have you seen anything like this on this world?" she held up her gold key, while Olette, Pence and Will held up theirs.

"I don't know," said Aladdin as he looked at the gold keys, "why do you want to know?"

"They unlock a really powerful magic item," said Pence.

"One that'll hopefully save the realms from the darkness," said Will, "hopefully once and for all."

"Then there won't be any more Heartless at all?" Jasmine asked, "that'd be almost too much to ask for."

"We're not really sure how it'll work," said Hayner, "but this talisman is going to take care of the demon problem, and hopefully Maleficent as well."

"Now that would be too much to ask for," said Genie, "even for me, and I used to grant wishes before I was finally set free."

"You were a prisoner?" Nessie asked.

"Story of a genie's life," said Genie, "phenomenal cosmic power, itty bitty living space. Did you know I spent ten thousand years trapped in a lamp?"

"I didn't know that," said Nessie in a stunned tone, "wow, ten thousand years in a confined space. I'm half immortal myself and I can barely imagine what I'm going to do in the next 150 years, let a lone thousand. Well, I know who I'm going to spend them with, but what I'll do with him, I don't know."

"Could we get back on topic," said Pence. He looked at Aladdin, Jasmine and Genie, "so, have any of you seen anything like our gold keys?"

"Oh, and have you seen anyone like my aunt and uncle here?" she indicated Alice and Jasper, "just so you know, we're all vegetarian vampires."

"That means we do not harm humans," said Jasper.

"They don't look like vampires to me," said Aladdin.

"Well," said Nessie, "I'm only half vampire. But again, I don't drink human blood, only animals."

"Speaking of animals," said Alice "there's two over there."

Hayner and the others saw a small monkey wearing a fez and vest matching Aladdin's, as well as a red parrot. The two of them were standing outside the doorway of a shop.

"Abu!" said Aladdin, "Iago! What are you doing?"

The monkey, Abu, scurried to Aladdin and jumped onto his shoulder, while the parrot, Iago, flapped his wings and hovered outside the shop doorway.

"I'll be with you in a second," said Iago, "I just need to convince this guy that the coast is clear."

"That parrot is talking," said a slightly shocked Pence.

"After all we've been through recently," said Olette, "a talking animal should be shocking," she looked at Kirjava, "no offense."

"None taken," said Kirjava. She then looked up at Aladdin, Jasmine and Genie, "before you ask, I'm Will's daemon, or soul if you would, so don't touch me."

"Like I'd want to touch you, toots," said Iago.

At that Kirjava looked like she wanted to claw Iago's eyes out, "Don't call me toots!"

"Whatever," said Iago. He then knocked his beak on the door, "I'm telling you, those things are gone."

Just then The Peddler, stuck his head out of the doorway, "are you sure that those horrible creatures are gone?"

"Hey, would I like to you?" Iago asked.

"Constantly," said The Peddler, "but that's beside the point. I want to hear from Princess Jasmine that it's safe."

Iago then looked at Aladdin and Jasmine, "tell him it's safe already! Believe me, this is important."

"Is this another one of your get rich quick schemes, Iago?" Aladdin asked, "none of those end up well."

"This is the real deal, lover boy," said Iago, "this is as real as it's going to get. Hey would I lie to you and the princess?"

"Constantly," said Aladdin, Jasmine and Genie.

"Well this time I'm serious," said Iago, "believe me, this is gonna make us all so rich…"

"Money isn't everything, Iago," said Jasmine, "it can't buy real happiness."

"I had to learn that being rich and powerful isn't all that it's cracked up to be the hard way," said Aladdin to Hayner and the others.

But then Jasmine sighed in an annoyed manner, "but, we might as well humor you, so we can know what you're doing so we can rescue you when things take a turn for the worse." She looked at the Peddler, "it's alright, there aren't any Heartless around."

"Just vegetarian vampires," said Alice as she smiled eagerly.

At that the Peddler timidly walked out of his shop and up to Aladdin and Jasmine, with Iago flapping his wings above him.

"Now tell them what you just told me," said Igao.

"But I told you that the story is just that," said the Peddler, "a story that's been passed through so many people that by now none of it is truth."

"But it got started somewhere," said Iago, "and that guy was telling the truth. So what if a few facts got muddled along the way; the treasure is still there."

"I knew this was a get rich quick scheme," said Jasmine.

"You sound like he can't be trusted," said Olette to Aladdin and Jasmine.

"He has that effect on people," said Aladdin.

"Just hear me out," said Iago, "humor me, for all the times I actually did good, okay."

"Well," said Aladdin, "we do owe you for a few times."

"Alright, we'll listen," said Jasmine in a reluctant tone.

"You won't regret it," said a eagerly grinning Iago. He looked at the Peddler, "now tell them what you told me."

"Very well," sighed the Peddler, "but don't come back to me when it turns out to be a wild camel chase. The other day I heard from my brother, who heard from his girlfriend, who heard from her uncle, who heard form his cousin, who heard from his accountant, who heard from his mother, who heard from her hairdresser, who heard from her baker, who heard from his best friend, that there's far more to The Cave of Wonders than anyone has seen."

"That's sounds real enough to me," said Aladdin, "when Sora and I went in there, we both felt that there was more to the place."

"Well, good sir," said the peddler, "the best friend of the baker of the hairdresser, who's mother told the accountant, who told his cousin, who told his niece, who told her boyfriend, my brother, said that deep in The Cave of Wonders is a hidden passageway that leads to a room filled with far more treasure than what you saw on your exploits, good sir."

"You see?" Iago asked eagerly as he flew circles around Aladdin, Jasmine and Genie, "there's tones more treasure in The Cave of Wonders, and it's all ours!"

"Aren't you forgetting something, my fine feathered friend?" Genie asked.

"The Guardian of The Cave of Wonders," said Aladdin, "he doesn't like thieves. We can't touch any of the treasure in there."

"But it's in a hidden passage," Iago insisted, "the Cave Guardian might not know about it. We can just walk in, find the hidden treasure and walk out with it. The Cave Guardian will never know."

"This still sounds like a scam to me," said Jasmine.

"Just how dangerous is this Cave of Wonders?" Will asked.

"I'm curious as to that myself," said Jasper.

"Every time Sora and I went in," said Aladdin, "we nearly got buried alive trying to get out. That place has a lot of booby traps, and it's also packed with Heartless."

"But it's also where The Keyhole is," said Jasmine, "and why Jafar was so anxious on getting back in. Who knows what else is in there?"

"Well, I guess it would be alright if we tried to make a fuller map of the place," said Aladdin, "but still, this sounds way too dangerous."

"Wait a second!" said Will, "of course! that's it!"

"What's it?" Aladdin asked.

"Where's the best place to hide treasure?" Will asked.

"You burry it somewhere," said Pence, "and have it guarded by all sorts of monsters and death traps."

"Besides that," said Will, "I mean if you want to hide one specific piece of treasure in the one place it would go unnoticed."

"You hide it among other treasure!" said Nessie eagerly, "if someone were to find the key among the other treasure in The Cave of Wonders, then they'll just think it's just a gold key, nothing really special about it."

"And it really helps since nobody can steal from The Cave of Wonders," said Aladdin, "that's brilliant!"

"This is assuming that the key is in The Cave of Wonders," said Jasper.

"It's the best lead we have," said Hayner, "we have to get all the keys."

"Well," said Aladdin, "if you guys want to go to The Cave of Wonders, you're going to need someone who's been there."

"And you're the guy," said Pence, "alright, let's go."

"Hang on a second!" said Genie, "if you're going across the desert to The Cave of Wonders, you're gonna need a lift!" he then shouted to the air, "Yo! Rug-man!"

Two seconds later an elaborately woven flying carpet arrived in the area.

"A magic carpet," said Alice, "this I did not see."

"Are we anywhere near what you saw in your vision?" Pence asked.

"We're getting there," said Alice, "the next part involves us in this Cave of Wonders."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Nessie asked, "let's go!"

"Uh, Nessie," said Will, "there's one thing holding us back."

"We don't know where it is," said Pence.

"Uh, hello?" Genie asked, "big blue wish granter here! I've been there!"

"We can show the way," said Aladdin, "but, Genie, I think we're going to need another magic carpet."

"This one is a little small for all of us," said Olette. At that Carpet stood on one end and mimed being annoyed at Olette.

"He's rather sensitive," said Jasmine, "but Aladdin's right; Carpet isn't big enough for all of us."

"That's right," said Aladdin. He then looked at Jasmine in a surprised tone, "wait, what do you mean 'all of us?' you're not going."

"Of course I am," said Jasmine, "there's no way I'm staying here with all these Heartless running around while you go off looking for a treasure that may not exist."

"Before we go any further," said Nessie, "I just want to point out that I don't mind walking."

"Neither do I," said Jasper, while Alice nodded in agreement, "in fact, we could probably run faster to this Cave of Wonders faster than you can fly there."

"Just point us in the right direction," said Alice.

"Just straight across the desert," said Genie as he pointed out to the desolate waste outside the city, "you can't miss it."

"I am going with you," said Jasmine, "and there's nothing you can do to change my mind."

Before Aladdin could argue, Alice tense as she had a sudden vision. She then looked up and saw someone wearing a black cloak with the hood up standing on the rooftop of a nearby building, something that was about to throw several shuriken at Aladdin and Jasmine.

"Look out!" shouted Alice as the stranger threw the shuriken. Aladdin barely pulled Jasmine away to avoid two shuriken.

Nessie then ran in front of Aladdin and Jasmine as the cloaked stranger threw more shuriken, throwing them so fast that the movements were little more than a blur. The young half vampire also moved so fast she was barely a blur, catching all of the deadly blades.

The cloaked stranger stood up. Nessie could make out the eyes of the stranger, eyes that glared down at her with unadulterated hate. Nessie glared back at the stranger with righteous fury.

The stranger then vanished in a puff of black smoke.

"What was that all about?" Pence asked.

"Apparently someone out there doesn't like these two," said Nessie as she looked at Aladdin and Jasmine.

"This reeks of Gideon's work," said Jasper, "and I don't mean that in the figurative manner. That assassin's scent was very familiar to me."

"Definitely someone in Gideon's inner circle," said Alice, "but whoever it was masked their scent enough that I don't recognize it."

"Me neither," said Nessie, "but whoever this person is, he or she is dangerous, dangerous enough to take precaution," she looked at Aladdin and Jasmine, "Jasmine's safer with us than she would be staying behind."

"That's reason enough for me," said Jasmine. She looked at Aladdin, "I'm coming with you, whether you like it or not."

"Alright!" said Genie, "we're all off for an adventure together!"

"There's still the matter of how we're all getting to The Cave of Wonders," said Olette.

"I said that I could walk," said Nessie.

"Why walk when you can fly in style," said Genie. With a snap of his fingers (insert finger snapping sound) he sent a bolt of magic at Capet, which increased his size so that everyone could sit on him comfortably.

"Now that's impressive," said Hayner.

"And comfortable," said Pence as he climbed onto and sat on Carpet.

"Everyone going to The Cave of Wonders should begin boarding at once," said Genie.

One by one our heroes and allies, including Iago, got on Carpet, "Next stop, The Cave of Wonders!" said Genie. Carpet rose into the air and flew out into the deep desert.

But while they were flying, Nessie, Hayner and the others were being watched by the cloaked stranger from atop the city walls; the stranger glaring at them with unbridled loathing.

A short flight later found Hayner, Pence, Olette, Will, Kirjava, Nessie, Alice, Jasper, Aladdin, Jasmine, Genie and Carpet had arrived at the Entrance to The Cave of Wonders.

"It sure get's dark quickly around here," said Pence as he looked up at the sudden night sky.

"I know," said Aladdin, "it's kinda weird."

"What is that thing!" Pence asked as he pointed to the giant lion's head that rose out of the sand at the far end of the area.

"That's the way in," said Aladdin.

"Is that sand thing alive?" Olette asked.

"Oh he's alive alright," said Genie, "and bad tempered."

"That's the Cave Guardian," said Aladdin, "and he's going to want to know why we're here, so just tell the truth when he asks."

"This should be freaking me out," said Hayner, "but I'm not really that surprised."

"We are so desensitized," said Pence.

They cautiously walked up to the giant lion's head made of sand. It opened it's glowing eyes and looked down, "Who dares to disturb my slumber?" it asked in a deep, rumbling voice.

"Uh…what do we say?" Pence whispered to Hayner.

"We tell him the truth," said Nessie. She then stepped forward of the group, "we are travelers seeking that which is needed to defeat the darkness!"

"We seek a gold key," said Will, "one that is part of a set that will unseal an item of great power."

The Cave Guardian looked down at Will and Nessie, "and what will you do with this item of great power?"

"We'll use it to destroy a great evil," said Will, "one that seeks to cover all of creation in darkness; nothing more, nothing less."

"Then proceed," said the Cave Guardian, "but know this; you may only retrieve that which you seek, and only that which you seek. Touch anything else, and none of you will ever see the light of day again!" He then opened his mouth, revealing a long set of stairs.

"He's serious," said Aladdin, "we can't touch anything else but that gold key that supposed to be in there," he looked at Abu, "and that means no getting any treasure for ourselves." Abu mimed a pleading gesture, but Aladdin was resolute, "no, Abu, we can't risk it, not with Jasmine here."

"And that means you have to be doubly careful," said Jasmine to Iago, "so don't even think about grabbing any treasure."

"Oh come on," whined Iago, "why would you ever think that I would risk everyone's necks over some lousy treasure?"

"Do you really have to ask?" Aladdin asked in turn.

"Let's just go in there," said Hayner, "the sooner we get that key, the sooner we can leave."

"And not be tempted by treasure," said Jasper, "there's a lot of it down there, I can smell it."

"Same here," said Nessie, "gold maybe shiny, but I'm not that fond of the smell."

"You can smell gold?" Aladdin asked as they all headed down the stairs.

"And silver," said Alice, "and all the precious metals and gems. Like Nessie said, the colors may be attractive, but we can do without the scent."

"Not exactly the most pleasant of scents, gold," said Jasper.

"But you have one of the gold keys that we need," said Pence to Nessie, "if gold smells bad to you, why are you have the key on you?"

"Because this piece of gold," said Nessie as she held up her gold key, "doesn't smell like ordinary gold. It's like…," she sniffed the key, "like…I honestly don't know what this is."

Alice and Jasper sniffed Nessie's key, "It's definitely unique," said Jasper.

"I don't think there's anything like this on our world," said Alice, "and we've been pretty much everywhere on our world."

"You'll have to tell us about it sometime," said Will.

---

"How many steps are there to this thing?" Hayner asked after walking down the stairs for another five minutes.

"We should be almost there," said Aladdin, "and be ready for anything. The first time I went down here was to get Genie's lamp; the second time was to rescue Jasmine, the third time was to borrow a treasure from the Cave Guardian. Each time things were different."

"Like the layout of the cave changes?" Will asked.

"I thought you knew what you were doing when you went down here!" said Pence.

"Well," Aladdin said in a mildly sheepish tone, "things weren't always certain."

"Let's just focus in finding that key and getting out of here," said Nessie, "and now that I think of it," she sniffed her key, "I have an idea on finding it." She looked at Olette, Pence and Will, "I need to sniff your keys."

"I think I know where you're going," said Will as he took out his key and Nessie sampled its scent.

"What is this supposed to accomplish?" Pence asked as she and Olette took out their keys, which Nessie sniffed.

"These keys smell differently than regular gold," said Nessie, "and I had the idea that each key smelled a little different from each other; similar but different at the same time. Now that I've smelled the keys we have, I can sniff out the next key, assuming it is here," she sniffed the air, "I'm not picking up anything, but that doesn't mean it's not here outright."

"Then there's only one thing we can do," said Hayner as they reached the bottom of the stairs, "keep going forward."

They found themselves in a large chamber that was the size of a football field. The walls had carvings in the form of a large grid of squares each 15 ft, while the floor had smaller squares carved into it, each square about 3ft long.

"This definitely wasn't here last time," said Aladdin.

"What is this supposed to be?" Pence asked.

"Normally this would be where we get attacked by Heartless," said Olette.

"I don't see any Heartless," said Hayner.

"And I don't sense any either," said Nessie.

"It's just us in here," said Jasper.

"But what is this?" Kirjava asked.

"I don't know," said Aladdin, "but there's the door," he pointed to across the room to a large door in the far wall.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Pence asked, "let's go!" He took a step onto the grid-like floor.

Just then Alice tensed from a sudden vision, "wait! Don't!"

But Pence took one step too many and his foot brooked through the floor. He nearly fell through the floor, but Nessie and Hayner caught him.

"What the heck just happened?" Pence exclaimed as Nessie and Hayner pulled him up and back onto the edge of the grid where everyone else was.

"I think this room is one big booby trap," said Olette.

"Is it that obvious?" Pence asked in an exasperated tone.

"So there's tiles that we can break through if we step on them," said Nessie, "so we have to be careful about where we step, I so got this."

"What are you going to do?" Hayner asked.

"I can tell the difference between the tiles that are thin enough to break through and the safe ones," said Nessie. She bent down and touched one of the times, "safe," she touched the one in front of it, "safe," she stepped on the first tile and toughed another one, "trap…"

She then touched the tiles around the trap and found one that was safe, "follow my lead and step only where I step," she slowly walked forward onto the tiled floor. After she went forward a few yards Hayner and the others followed.

But then when Nessie was about a third of the way across she stepped on one of the safe tiles and it depressed into the floor by an inch, "oh crap!" she shouted as she jumped back to the previous safe tile, just in time to avoid a dozen poison-tipped darts that few out of one of the wall tiles.

"What the hell!" snapped Hayner, "I thought you could feel out the traps!"

"I did!" snapped Nessie, "that tile wasn't rigged to break!"

"I was about to warn you," said Alice, "there's more than one kind of trap here."

"What are we supposed to do now?" Pence asked, "we can't go forward if we can't avoid the traps, and I'm not sure I remember the way back."

"We can still do this," said Nessie, "but I'm going to need Aunt Alice to help me on this."

"I'll see any traps coming," said Alice as she cautiously walked across the tiles to where Nessie was.

"Be careful," said Jasper, "there's more to this place than just mechanically rigged traps."

"I've had that feeling for a while myself," said Nessie, "but thanks for the warning.

Cautiously, Nessie and Alice lead the rest of the croup across the room, with Alice redirecting them as she foresaw a different trap as they approached it.

"That one releases boulders," said Alice, "and that one is a trap door leading to a vat of acid, and that one leads to punji sticks, and that one leads to a vat full of scorpions and snakes. And that one is full of spiders and snakes, and that one has snakes, spiders and scorpions."

"Whoever designed these traps has a real sick imagination," said Will.

"You won't get any arguments from me," said Olette.

But eventually they all made it across the floor without getting killed and were prepared to go through the next door, "well," said Nessie, "that was exciting."

"I can think of other things to call that," said Pence, "one of them nice."

"Can you smell the key yet?" Kirjava asked.

"Not yet," said Nessie as she sniffed the air, "but I am smelling a lot of regular gold and other kinds of treasure. We're not far from the treasure room."

"Be careful," said Aladdin as they went through the door and entered the next area, a dimly lit corridor, or so it seemed, "we could be attacked by Heartless any time now."

"That is bugging me a bit," said Nessie, "why haven't we seen any Heartless since that one big attack in the city?"

"I've got a bad feeling that the baddies are messing with us," said Hayner, "that they're going to wait until we least expect it, then they'll get us."

"Well let's just hope that we're close to finding that key," said Pence.

"I wouldn't take another step if I were you," Alice warned him.

"Why?" Pence asked.

Just then the are was lit brightly by torches that burst into flame along the distant walls of the room, revealing a single crooked path of platforms that were separated by random widths over a bottomless pit. The gaps between the platforms were filled by all sorts of lethal objects on pendulums; spinning blades, spiked weights and simply large bludgeons.

"Well," said Olette, "this is…"

"Not my idea of fun," said Will.

"This has to be the same length as the last room," said Pence, "and…yes! There's some kind of switch at the other end, near the door."

"I'll bet that switch turns off the blades and stuff," said Hayner, "but how are we going to get across?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Nessie asked as she stretched, as if preparing for a grueling task, "I'm gonna run across this and get to the other side."

"No you're not!" Alice insisted.

"Why not?" Nessie asked, "I'm perfectly capable of dodging those blades, spikes and weights, unless…"

"Unless you make a mistake and fall," said Alice, "yes, I saw what happens, believe me it's not pretty."

"But you can get across without getting hurt," said Nessie, "or worse."

"Exactly," said Alice, "in fact," she looked at the far end of the room towards the switch that would deactivate the death machines, "I'm going to do it right now!" she ran across the crooked patch, stepping to the side to avoid one swinging blade after another, dodging the spikes and weights and easily leaping across the gaps in the platforms.

Within seconds she was on the other side of the room and had pressed the switch. The pendulums retracted into the ceiling and additional platforms rose out of the bottomless pit. "It's safe now!" said Alice.

"Are you sure?" Pence asked as he looked down into the bottomless pit, "'cause this would seem like the perfect opportunity for a surprise trap."

"I don't think so," said Alice, "just walk over, I'll warn you of any danger."

"You're awesome, Aunt Alice!" said Nessie as she leisurely walked across the path to the other side, followed by Jasper, Hayner and everyone else.

"That was way too easy," said Aladdin, "it's like whoever made that trap wasn't even trying."

"I don't think so," said Jasper, "these traps were most likely meant as a deterrent against humans."

"They weren't expecting vampires," said Olette.

"Which means that the next room should also be a breeze," said Hayner.

They all made it across the path and went into the next room. This are was a lot smaller, like a small movie theater. The door was clearly marked, but there was no switch to press.

Right in the middle of the room was a large table with eight stone items, each the size of a bowling ball, but had flat sides.

"They're dodecahedrons," said Jasper as he stepped closer to the table, "regular dodecahedrons to be exact; each face is a pentagon, and there are twelve faces all together."

"Eight, twelve-sided objects," said Will, "seems like a puzzle to me."

"It's looking like that to me too," said Nessie as she examined the door to the next area, "I can't find a way to open it," she tried forcing it open, but to no avail despite her vampire strength, "so if it's a puzzle, we'll have to solve it."

"But what is the object of the puzzle?" Olette asked.

Jasper then indicated a pentagon-shaped indentation in the middle of the table, "one of the dodecahedrons must fit in that. Not only that, the right face of the object, and the right position of the face, must be placed in the indentation. I'm sure that'll unlock the door."

"If my math is right," said Nessie, "eight objects, times twelve faces times five sides to each face…that's 480 possible combinations…it can't be that easy."

"I agree," said Will, "even a human could eventually figure the answer out."

"There's more to this," said Jasper as he looked down at the eight dodecahedrons. Cautiously, as if expecting a booby trap, or at least a warning from Alice, he picked one of the dodecahedrons up, but nothing happened.

"It seems harmless to me," said Jasper as he looked at all the faces and sides of the dodecahedron, "it hardly weighs a thing, only a few ounces." He then was about to place it in the indentation to experiment on which face and side was the right one.

"NO!" shouted Alice, stopping Jasper when he was less than an inch from placing the dodecahedron on the table.

"Now what?" Pence asked.

"The puzzle is the trap," said Alice, "the second you put the item back on the table, either in the dent or anywhere else on the table, it'll set off the trap."

"What kind of trap is it this time?" Hayner asked as he walked towards Jasper and Alice. But then he tripped over his shoe lace and collided with the table, his arm knocking one of the dodecahedrons off of the table.

"I got it," said Pence as he picked up the fallen dodecahedron and placed it back on the table.

"What did I just tell you!" snapped Alice.

"Well, why didn't you warn me not to walk over the table?" Hayner asked as he stood up.

"My power doesn't work on random accidents," said Alice, "great, now it's going to get warm in here."

Suddenly the walls began glowing red as they heated up.

"Okay," said a slight nervous and sweating Olette asked, "the walls are heading up. It's not the end of the world."

"It'll get worse if we don't solve the puzzel and get that door open," said Alice, "in a few seconds the walls are going to be on fire."

"And how long does it take to go through 480 different configurations without losing your place?" Will asked.

Just then the side walls ignited.

"Not quick enough!" said Jasper as he picked up more of the dodecahedrons and looked at them more closely.

"Better find the configurations soon," said Alice, "it's going to get a bit confining in here."

Just then the flaming walls began closing in, moving very slowly, like an inch every few seconds, but moving nonetheless.

"Okay, we're officially screwed!" said Pence.

"We're not dead yet!" said Jasper as he rapidly looked at the dodecahedrons one after the other, "I can do this!"

"Well whatever you're going to do," said Hayner as the walls began to move faster, much faster, "do it quick!"

"Wait!" said Nessie as she looked at the indentation in the middle of the table, "there's a slight defect in one of the sides of the configuration! No, it's a specific set of defects! Find the face that's not perfect and you've got it!"

"I have it!" said Jasper as he placed the right dodecahedron in the indentation. The flaming walls stopped and the fires were extinguished. Our heroes then realized that the walls had stopped with less than six feet to go before they were crushed.

The walls then retreated to their original position and the door to the next area opened.

"That was the worst," said a still frightened Olette, "for a second there I thought we were finished."

"Are you kidding?" Pence said, "I wasn't scared at all."

"Yeah right," said Nessie, "but we had nothing to worry about. Aunt Alice would have said something if we really were in trouble," she looked at Alice, "Right?"

"Of course," said Alice, "then again, it all depended on whether or not someone figured the configuration in time, which I for one am glad you did, Nessie."

"Can we just get this whole mess over with?" Hayner asked.

"I agree," said Will, "let's get this over with."

"Well we're almost at the end," said Jasper, "in a way, I can truly sense a huge amount of gold."

"And other forms of treasure," said Alice, "and we're right next to it."

They all went through the door and found themselves inside the Treasure Chamber. Pilled in heaps, some of them reaching almost to the ceiling, was gold, gold and more gold in coins, bars, ingots, various pieces ranging from spoons to plates, from statues to unidentifiable shapes like modern art.

There were other types of treasure; silver and platinum pieces, gems, jewelry in all shapes and sizes; all of it glinting brightly in the torchlight and all of it seemingly unprotected.

"The mother load!" shouted an overjoyed Iago as he giddily flew in circles above our heroes, "I'm rich! Rich! I'm wealthy! I'm financially independent!" He then dove headfirst for a pile of gold coins.

"NO!" shouted Alice, while Nessie caught Iago before he could touch the coins, "the Cave Guardian said not to touch anything but the key!"

"Do you have a death wish or something?" Nessie asked, "are you so greedy that you're willing to throw away for treasure?" she then saw a large stature of a monkey holding a huge ruby, "for…treasure…" a slightly glazed look came over her eyes, "for pretty…shiny…treasure," she dropped Iago, who landed on his tail feathers on the floor, "pretty-pretty shiny-shiny," she reached out for the monkey-holding-a-ruby stature.

"I don't think so," said Jasper as he gently but firmly grabbed Nessie's shoulder, "just keep your hands to yourself, little one, and your wits about yourself."

"What?" a confused Nessie asked. She blinked in surprise, "oh, I…I kinda lost it for a second there."

"Vampires can be easily distracted sometimes," said Alice to Hayner and the others.

"So we've been told," said Hayner, "So, Nessie, can you smell the key?"

Nessie sniffed the air of the treasure room, "just gold, gold and more gold," she sniffed again, "wait…I think…" she sniffed, "yes! I can smell the next key!" she then ran across the patch through the treasure room, with the others following her, all of them making sure that they never touched a single piece of the forbidden loot.

Nessie then came to a seemingly empty area of the room, with part of the wall exposed, "the scent leads here! I can feel a draft coming from the wall!"

"Looks like a solid wall to me," said Olette.

"I doubt it," said Jasper, while Nessie felt along the blank part of the wall.

A second later Nessie found and pressed a hidden switch in the wall and a secret door opened up, "we're almost there!" She ran into the now revealed passageway, with the others shortly behind her.

They caught up with her in another large room that had another table in the middle, and on the table was what appeared to be a large brainteaser. It was a huge set of twisting wires wrapped randomly around several standing poles, with the wires crisscrossing each other wildly with no clear start or end to the wirers. And right in the middle of this chaotic nest of wires was the gold key, with a wire runing through the loop.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," said an exasperated Olette, "another death trap?"

"This doesn't seem to be a death trap," said Jasper, "not on the surface at least."

"Well what is the point of the puzzle if it's not a death trap?" Will asked, "are we supposed to get the key out inside a time limit? Or are we supposed to solve the puzzle without breaking the wire?"

"It seems that way to me," said Nessie as she walked around the puzzle, "this is all one big wire with no visible ending anywhere; it's a loop, so the only way to get the key is to break the wire."

"It's got to be a trap," said Pence.

"The only way to win is to lose," said Will in a thoughtful manner as he walked around the table, "unless…"

"Unless what?" Hayner asked.

"Unless it's not really a trap," said Will, "but only the illusion of a trap to make us give up."

"That doesn't make sense," said Olette.

"But it kinda does," said Hayner, "we nearly got killed three times along the way here, then we were all tempted by the forbidden treasure. I think that the Cave Guardian set this all up to keep everyone away from the key. I think that anyone who's gotten this far would be so tired that the sight of another death trap would make them give up."

"That sounds crazy and stupid," said Pence.

"I don't think so," said Will, "I think that the key is there for the taking."

"And I think it's a death wish to just try and take it," said Olette.

"I'm willing to take that chance," said Hayner.

"Then by all means," said Jasper, "reach in and take the key."

"I'll do that," said Hayner. He then looked at the nest of wires, but didn't try to get the key.

"What are you waiting for?" Nessie asked.

"For Alice to shout out a warning," said Hayner.

"I can't see anything coming unless you actually decide to do it," said Alice.

"Okay," said Hayner hesitantly, "umm…"

"Well, go on," said Pence, "go and get us all killed."

"I'm nervous enough as it is!" said Hayner. He then took several deep breaths and reached into the nest of wires. But the second his fingers touched the wires, they vanished, leaving only the key hovering a few inches above the table. Without any further hesitation, Hayner grabbed the key and stepped back from the table. To everyone's relief, nothing happened.

"So it was an illusion," said a surprised Olette.

"And there isn't anything terrible coming at us," said Alice.

"Then we've done it," said Hayner as he pocketed the key, "we've got it."

"So now what?" Pence asked as they all exited the chamber and walked back to the main treasure room.

"I think we've got time before we need to head out for the next world," said Will.

"Great!" said Genie as he zoomed around our heroes, "I know this perfect curry restaurant that'll send your taste buds into a conga line!"

"Curry sounds great right about now," said a smiling Nessie, "I happen to really like curry."

"I don't actually need to eat," said Alice, "but right now, I could go for some."

"Same with me," said Jasper.

"But you don't eat," said Pence.

"I know," said Jasper, "but that doesn't mean we can't indulge ourselves every now and then."

"Exactly," said Alice as they walked through the piles of forbidden treasure towards the exit, "sure we can't digest food like humans, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy the taste, and I also happen to like the taste of curry, so…"

But Alice didn't get to finish what she was saying, for a sudden vision caused her to pull Aladdin and Jasmine out of the way of a furry of black shuriken thrown at the two of them.

"Look!" shouted Will as he pointed to the top of one of the piles of gold, where the cloaked assassin stood with several more shuriken in hand.

"Guess who's back for round 2!" said Nessie as she glared up at the assassin, who glared back at her. The assassin then threw his shuriken at her, who easily dodged them.

But then the assassin threw another handful of shuriken at Pence, who instinctively rolled out of the way, only to land face down in a nearby pile of forbidden treasure.

"Oh no!" shouted Pence as he scrambled to get away from the gold, "I touched it! I touched the forbidden treasure!"

"That's it!" said Olette, "we're finished now!"

But nothing happened; no warning of certain doom from the cave guardian, no sudden earthquake or anything.

"I think the Cave Guardian will only kill us if we actually intend to take the treasure," said Nessie as she picked up a gold brick, "and that it's okay if we put it back," she then threw the brick at the assassin with enough force to shatter a cinderblock wall, "not necessarily in the same place, mind you."

The assassin dodged the brick and vanished in a large puff of black smoke, only to reappear atop another treasure pile to throw more shuriken at our heroes.

"Just how many of those blades does this guy have?" Hayner asked as he picked up a gold-plated shield and used it to block the shuriken.

"Too many if you ask me!" said Will as he blocked the shuriken with his sword.

The assassin then jumped down from the treasure pile and rushed at Aladdin and Jasmine, moving so fast he was little more than a black blur. Alice barely pulled the two out of the way in time.

"This person has abilities comparable with a vampire," said Jasper, "but he's no vampire!"

The assassin tried to attack Aladdin and Jasmine again and again, each time Alice barely saving them.

Then Jasper stepped in front of the path of the oncoming assassin and threw a hard punch at the assassins' torso, knocking him hard into a treasure pile.

The force of the punch knocked the cloak off of the assassin, revealing him to be a her; a girl in her early 20's with blond hair in two forward pigtails, with black marks under her eyes, wearing a gothic ninja outfit and a very irate expression on her face. Crossing one shoulder down her side was a metal sash that was in fact a long, flexable sword with razors on the edges.

"You stupid vampire!" snapped the girl as she clutched her chest where Jasper threw his punch, "you hit me in the boob!"

"My most sincere apologies, ma'am," said Jasper, "but I had to stop you from harassing my niece and her friends."

"Well you're still a jerk for hitting me where you did," said the irate blond assassin as she stood up.

"Wait a second," said Nessie as she looked at the blond girl, "I know you! You're Roxie Richter, fourth of the League of Evil Exes."

"Check out the brain on the half-breed," said the blond assassin, Roxie Richter, in a mocking manner, "how nice to see you again, you little reject freak."

At that Hayner, Pence, Olette, Will and Kirjava could hear Nessie grind her steel-like teethn in outrage.

"What's she talking about?" Aladdin asked.

"I mean that the mutant here," said Roxie as she pointed at Nessie, "was targeted by my boss, Gideon, but he rejected her because while the vampire bitch is a Princess of Heart, she's not a Keyblade Wielder, and not suited for his purposes. So he threw her out like the garbage she is."

"That's still not reason for me to be targeted in the first place!" snapped Nessie, "Gideon made my life a living hell, and he sure didn't make things easy for my friends and family. Then Gideon had the balls to blast me, Jacob and the others out of our world and into this universe. If I ever get the chance I'll rip that bastard Gideon apart and burn the pieces, but that would be an insult to vampires.

"Either way, what Gideon did to me was monstrous and unforgivable, and I wouldn't wish what I went through on anyone."

"Well too bad," said Roxie in a mocking tone, "Gideon already has found the one he needs, a Keyblade Wielder who's also a Princess of Heart. As we speak, my chauvinistic asshole of a comrade, Todd Ingram, is capturing Kairi."

"You leave Kairi alone!" snapped Olette.

"Oh, so you know her?" Roxie asked in a sinister tone as she smiled viciously, "well, it seems your friend is in for a rude awakening."

Just then came the sound of a cell phone ringing, and it came from Roxie's pocket.

"Damn it, Gideon!" snapped Roxie as she irately pulled out her phone, "never a moment's peace with you, isn't it!" she answered the call, "What!" she snapped, "what is it, Gideon? What is so important that you have to call me every five minutes? Well…what is it, damn it?"

---

...New Hollow Bastion...

In Maleficent's dark throne room, Gideon, who looked like he was on the verge of losing his temper at being snapped at by his subbordinate, still remained calm as he answered Roxie's abrupt question, "I was about to tell you, before you got all in my face, Roxie, that Todd's dead, killed by The Keyblade Brats and their allies."

"What? Todd's dead again?" Roxie exclaimed, "how'd that happen?"

"Never mind that," said Gideon, "I can resurect him later. What matters is that with Todd dead, as well as Matthew and Lucas, I need you…"

"Those two are also dead?" Roxie exclaimed, "Why the hell didn't you let me know? You could have at least texted it to me."

"I've been trying to contact you for ages now!" said a highly irate Gideon, 'what the hell have you been doing all this time? Hooking up with strangers and having wild orgies?"

"I've been doing what you sent me to do on this god-forsaken world," said Roxie, "creating chaos. I've been studying the Princess of Heart Jasmine and her street rat of a beau, as well as learning the layout of Agrabah, all so I can assassinate those two and plunge the world into chaos."

---

"You've been spying on us?" Jasmine asked, "all so you can kill Aladdin and me?"

"Shut up, bitch!" snapped Roxie, "I'm on the phone here!" she then spoke to Gideon, "sorry, this isn't the best time to talk, I'm really close to finishing the job here."

"I'm afraid you're going to have to take a rain check on this little project of yours," said Gideon, "with Matthew, Lucas and Todd severely indisposed, and with the twins still AWAL, it's going to have to be you, Roxie, to capture Kairi. Oh, you're going to have to capture Aiden as well."

"And just who the hell is Aiden?" Roxie asked, "no, wait, never mind. I don't need to know, because I'm not doing that."

"Excuse me!" exclaimed Gideon, "what did you say? No, I know what you said, but I won't accept it! I didn't resurect you from the time that Scott and Ramona killed you just so you can go do whatever the hell you want. You will come back here so you can receive instructions on how to capture the girl I need, and the boy that Maleficent needs. You will do this, or else I'll leave you do die again!"

"I can take care of myself, thank you very much," said Roxie, "and Maleficent can kiss my lesbian ass for all I care."

"You're a lesbian?" Olette asked in a shocked tone.

"It's not that obvious," said Alice.

"You would have figured it out eventually," said Roxie. She then spoke into her phone, "I'd love to keep arguing with you, Gideon, but I have a princess and a street rat to kill, and there's a bunch of vampires and wannabe heroes in my way."

At that Gideon tensed in shock, "what was that? Did you say vampires?"

"Yeah," said Roxie, "and one of them is that half breed that you were so hung up about."

"Well don't just stand there like an idiot!" said Gideon, "put her on the phone!"

"Why should I?" Roxie asked.

"Because I'll kill you here and now if you don't!" said Gideon as he gave a signal to The Negotiator, who pulled out his PDA and activated a feature that would have made the battery in Roxie's phone explode, killing her.

"Oh whatever," said Roxie, "I'll do it because I want to, not because you tell me to," she held out her phone to Nessie, "Gideon wants to talk to you."

"I'd rather eat the rotten asshole of a road kill skunk than talk to that bastard," said Nessie as she, nevertheless, took Roxie's phone and put it to her hear, "Gideon."

"Hello, Renesmee," said Gideon, "how lovely to hear from you again."

"You're the one who wanted to talk," snapped Nessie, "what do you want?"

"I just wanted to say hello," said Gideon, "that's all, and also to see how you're doing."

"I'm royally pissed, Gideon," said Nessie as she gripped the phone tighter, causing the plastic casing to start to crack, "I'm pissed that you stalked me, that you harassed my friends and family, and that you blasted me and my loved ones out of our world. I'm pissed, and I'm gonna make you pay for it, big time."

---

"Oh really?" Gideon asked, "well, just how are you going to do that?"

"That's my dirty little secret," said Nessie, "but I'll say this; as soon as I'm done with what I'm doing right now, and take care of a few more things, I'm coming for you, Gideon Graves. I'm coming to kill you. If I get the chance I'll destroy Maleficent as well, but my main target is you, Gideon."

"I can't wait to see how you do that, little half vampire," said Gideon as he gave the signal to The Negotiator to blow up the phone. The pinstriped demon pressed the button, sending the signal to Roxie's phone and the battery began to overload.

"Get rid of the phone!" shouted Alice.

Nessie, who had already felt the phone heat up, threw it as hard as she could and it exploded at the ceiling.

"Hey!" snapped Roxie, "that was my phone! I had to pay for that!"

"You'd think that Gideon would pay for your cellular coverage," said Nessie.

"He does," said Roxie, "but he made me buy the actual phone, and that was a multi-dimensional phone. Those don't come cheep!"

---

"I don't think that did any actual harm," said Gideon, "but at least I had the last word."

"Shall I send Roxie another phone?" The Negotiator asked, "charged to her account?"

"No," said Gideon, "not now anyway. She's good as dead, so prepare to resurrect Roxie as well. There's only one thing left now. Find the twins and get the, over here now, I mean it. If I don't see Ken and Kyle Katayanagi here in New Hollow Bastion in 24 hours, or else!"

---

"You stupid little half breed bitch!" snapped Roxie as she glared at Nessie, "you and your friends are so dead!"

"That'd be kinda hard to do," said Nessie, "since my aunt and uncle are already dead."

"Guilty as charged," said Alice.

"Well then," said Roxie, "why don't we make this between me and the freak here."

"I've had just about enough of you making fun of me," said Nessie, "okay, I'm half human half vampire, but that doesn't give you the right to keep insulting me."

"I'm just getting started," said Roxie, "oh, and your friends suck too."

"Don't you dare bring my friends into this!" said Nessie as she placed her hand on the handle of her sword, "I'll slice you up the middle!"

"Then do it!" said Roxie as she untapped her whip-like sword from her shoulder and snapped it against the ground, sneding a small shower of rocks into the air, "come and get me, bitch!"

"Gladly!" snapped Nessie. With that she and Roxie rushed at each other so fast that the two of them were little more than blurs. They met in midair, their blades clashing at each other hard enough to create sparks. The two blurs then broke away from each other, only to smash together on another part of the room, making more sparks. The two of them then zoomed around the room, fighting so fast that not even Alice and Jasper could see what was really going on.

"How can that evil girl be so fast?" a shocked Pence asked, "she's human for crying out loud!"

"She's part of Gideon's inner conclave," said Jasper, "The League of Evil Exes all have their unique diabolic powers. Roxie happens to be part ninja, and that gives her enough strength and speed to keep up with vampires, or at least with Renesmee."

"But Nessie's way better than any part-ninja Villain," said Olette, "she can totally take this evil woman!"

"I hope so," said Hayner, "but can't we do anything to help?"

"We could definitely take that bimbo down," said Alice, "but I doubt that Nessie would appreaciate us stepping in on this."

Just then Nessie delivered a strike powerful enough to knock Roxie out of the air. The blond villainess fell to the floor and landed hard on a gold statue, catching her leg and twisting her ankle.

Nessie landed gracefully on the head of another gold statue, "is that all you've got, ninja-girl?" she asked.

"Not bad," said Roxie as she got back up and felt her ankle, realizing that she hadn't hurt it as seriously as she did, "I'm ready for another round. But that's not gonna happen."

"You're giving up so quickly?" a disappointed Nessie asked. She then blinked several times, as if clearing her vision of blurs, "I'm shocked that you would do that," she blinked again, then suddenly lost her balance and fell to the ground.

"Nessie!" shouted Hayner, Pence, Olette, Will, Kirjava, Alice and Jasper as they ran to her.

"I…I don't feel so good," Nessie gasped as her face paled even further and sweat broke out on her face, "what…what's happening to me?"

"You!" snapped Jasper at Roxie, "what did you do to her?"

At that Roxie grinned viciously, "Did you honestly think that I would fight vampires and not be prepared? I had a plan already in place, one that I really didn't count on, but it worked nonetheless."

"What is she talking about?" Pence asked, "she didn't pull a fast one, at least I didn't see her pull a fast one."

"And she didn't make any decisions that I saw," said Alice.

"But if what she did relied on an accident," said Jasper, "then…"

Just then Nessie looked at the back of her left hand and saw a small scratch on it, "you cut me during our fight. I…I was so intent on wining that…I didn't notice…one little…scratch."

"And that one scratch was all that I needed to infect you with poison," said Roxie, "poison specifically designed to target the human half of you. It's super effective against humans, but just what it'll do to half breeds like you even I couldn't guess."

At that Alice ran over and grabbed Roxie by the neck and held her up, forcing the blond ninja to drop her poisoned whip sword, "where's the antidote? Tell me or I'll rip you apart!"

"I'd be worth dieing," gasped Roxie, "just to take the little reject with me."

"It'd be my pleasure to kill you," said Alice. She raised her other hand to start tearing off Roxie's limbs, but then she gasped in surprise, "oh, this is the part of my big vision that I was waiting for! The really good thing is about to happen." She then tossed Roxie over her shoulder, the blond ninja landing hard on a pile of gold coins like a sack of potatoes.

"What good thing?" Will asked, "Nessie's about to die, so how can any good thing happen right now?"

Just then a man who looked like a very pale 17 year old with short, bronze hair and gold eyes, wearing a blue jacket and jeans, ran into the chamber and carrying a large shoulder bag, "She means me," said the vampire.

"Edward!" said a surprised Jasper. He then looked at Alice, "you couldn't have at least told me that our own brother would be coming here instead of us finding him? I thought you trusted me!"

"I do," said Alice, "but I didn't want to spoil the surprise."

"You're Nessie's father?" Pence asked the vampire, Edward Cullen.

"I am indeed," said Edward, "and it pleases me to meet my daughter's friends," he walked over Nessie.

"Papa?" Nessie asked, "is…is that you? Something's wrong…with my eyes…I can't …see very well right now."

"You're not at all well, my dear Renesmee," said Edward, "the poison won't kill you, but you're going to be very sick for a quite while, unless we get some fresh blood into you within the next ten minutes."

"It'll thae us at least that long to get us out of here," said Alice.

"She's not in any condition to hunt," said Jasper, "unless…"

"Unless it's human blood," said Alice as she looked at Hayner, Pence, Olette and Will.

"Yes, human blood," said Edward, "I wish to god almighty that it didn't come to this, but there's no other way."

He looked at Hayner, Pence, Olette and Will, "One of you needs to donate a pint of blood," he said as he took out from his shoulder bad the items needed for a blood transfusion; a large-gauge needle, plastic tubing and a blood donation bag.

"What?" the humans asked all at the same time.

"One of you needs to give some of your blood," said Edward as he held up the transfusion bag and needle, "just one should be enough."

"NO!" shouted Nessie, "no…human…blood! I won't…do it! I won't…drink it!"

"You have to," said Alice, "I've seen what's going to happen to you if you don't get some fresh blood into your system soon. The poison won't kill you but it'll seriously damage your human half enough that you'll be crippled. You'll lose all your strength and speed. And don't get me started on what it'll do to your mind."

"In that case," said Will as he rolled up his sleeve, "you can take as much blood as you want from me."

"No, take mine!" said Pence as he held out his arm, "I've got more than enough blood."

"If anyone's gonna have their blood drunken by their friend it'll be mine!" said Olette as she held up her arm.

"No, mine!" said Hayner as he held up his arm.

"No!" Nessie insisted, "I won't…drink human blood! I won't be…a monster!"

"You won't become a monster by taking one unit of human blood," said Edward, "you've had it before and it didn't harm you in the slightest."

"But…but the smell," said Nessie, "you, and Alice…and Jasper."

"We'll hold our breath," said Jasper, "don't worry about us."

"The only bad thing that'll happen," said Alice, "is if you don't take the blood."

"I'm not going to argue with you, Renesmee Carlie Cullen," said Edward in a serious tone, "you will have this blood, even if I have to force it down your throat. And if your mother were here she'd agree with me whole heartily."

"I hate it…when you put your…foot down, papa," said Nessie in a conceding tone, "alright…just give me…the damn stuff."

"Right," said Edward. He then pulled out some alcohol swipes and looked at Olette, "just sit down and relax, this won't hurt a bit."

"I've had blood samples taken before," said Olette as she sat down and let Edward sterilize her arm, then the needle and hooked it up to the blood bag, "it hurts. But this is for Nessie, it'll be worth it."

Edward then inserted the needle into Olette's arm. She winced against the pain as her blood flowed into the bag. A few minutes later it was full and Edward gently pulled the needle out and bandaged the wound.

"Just keep it clean and you will be healed soon enough," said Edward. He then took the donated blood over to Nessie, "here, little one, you must drink it."

"If I do…" said Nessie as she looked at the blood as if it were the most desirable thing in existence, yet also the most repulsive thing at the same time, "if I drink that blood…I don't know if I'll be able to stop. I'm not strong enough."

"You are," said Edward, "you have so much of both myself and your mother in you, and your mother has always been stronger than I am, both before and after she became immortal. You are strong, Nessie, strong enough to walk through fire."

"Actually she was burned a bit a while back," said Pence.

"Yes, I know," said Edward, "and it pleases me not that my own daughter was forced to hurt herself at the hands of one of Gideon's maniacs."

"It wasn't that bad," said Nessie, "and we paid Lucas back double what he did to me," she took the bag of blood from her father, hesitated for a second, then bit into it and sucked it dry in a manner of seconds. It wasn't long before her normal color returned to her face and she looked like she was in perfect health again.

"Are you alright?" Olette asked in a slightly woozy tone.

"I'm perfectly fine," said a smiling Nessie as she stood up, "never better. But you don't look so good yourself."

"I'm a little dizzy from the loss of blood volume," said Olette, "so I'm just gonna sit here for a while until I feel better."

Just then Roxie got back up, glaring at everyone with unadulterated loathing in her eyes, "too bad you won't feel anything again when I'm done with all of you!"

"You're one of Gideon's dogs," said Edward in a calm but still angry tone as he faced Roxie. "You do know that he's manipulating you, that he has been using you since you first joined with him. In fact, you do know it, you've known all along."

At that Roxie blinked in shock, "What are you taking about?" she shouted, "he's not using me! I only joined with Gideon so that I could kill that punk-ass loser Scott Pilgrim."

"I know," said Edward, "you hated Scott Pilgrim, and Ramona Flowers. You hated him because he dared to love the one you loved, and you hated her because she abandoned you. But in truth, Roxanne Ritchers, the one you hate the most is yourself."

"What?" a shocked Roxie asked.

"You hate yourself for being only half ninja," said Edward, "you hate that your family disowned you for stealing their secrets and selling them to the highest bidder. You hate yourself for being a lesbian. You hate that you cannot truly feel love, only lust. And there's so much more, so much hate and rage rattling around in your mind and heart."

"You're in my head!" snapped Roxie, "Get out of my head! Get out!"

"I'm only hearing what you're thinking," said Edward, "I can't help it if you're negative memories are constantly screaming inside your mind."

"Get out!" shouted Roxie as she pulled out a double handful of shuriken and threw them at Edward. He easily caught the throwing stars with one hand and crunched them into one solid, harmless lump.

Roxie then dropped a smoke bomb that obscured her for a few seconds. When the smoke cleared she was gone, only to reappear behind him with a pair of knives in her hands. But Edward blocked her knives, then took them from her faster than anyone could blink.

"You think you're better than me?" snapped Roxie, "you think you can get the better of me?"

"You're the one who with the inferiority complex," said Edward, "and paranoid to boot."

"Shut up!" shouted Roxie, "shut the hell up!" she backed away and unzipped her jacket, revealing a bomb vest loaded with several blocks of C4 connected to a remote controled detonator, "I'll bring this whole freaking place down!" She held up a detonator switch.

"You're not going kill yourself," said Edward, "you're not that desperate to commit suicide."

"Even if you could you're not going to do it," said Alice, "I don't see any possible future where you consciously blow yourself up."

"You don't know what I'm capable of," said Roxie, "I'll do it! I mean it! I'll kill you all!"

"No you won't," said Edward, "you're hoping that something's going to happen that'll stop you from doing it. But the only one who can stop you from destroying yourself is you."

"I…I…" said Roxie. She looked like she didn't know what to do, like she was unable to choose what to do. But finally she lowered the detonator switch.

But then there was the sound of something beeping, something that came from the back of Roxie's head. Her eyes completely dilated as she stood straight, as if something was controlling her. Her face was completely emotionless as she slowly raised the detonator switch again.

"What's happening to her?" Nessie asked.

"Her mind has been taken over!" said Edward, "it's Gideon, he's planted one of his control chips into her head and it's making her kill herself!"

"I did not see this coming!" said Alice, "everyone run for it!"

"We'll never get away in time!" said Edward.

"Stop!" shouted Olette as she raised her staff, casting a spell that froze Roxie in time, with her thumb barely above the button.

"That won't last for long," said Olette as she, already weakened from the blood loss, collapsed to the ground.

"Now would be a good time for running," said Hayner as he and Pence helped Olette up.

"No chance," said Edward, "that bomb has enough destructive power in it to destroy everything in thirty miles."

"It'll destroy Agrabah as well," said Aladdin.

"Can we disarm the bomb?" Alice asked, "if we just pull the right wire…"

"It's been rigged against disarming," said Edward, "any attempt at disarming the bomb would set it off."

"If we can't stop the explosion," said Nessie, "then we can contain it!" she closed her eyes in concentration, her hands began glowing with blue magic. She then shot the magic at Roxie and put an energy barrier around the suicidal Roxie.

"It's not strong enough!" said Alice, "the bomb will break through!"

"Can't we just rush her and take the detonator before the spell wears off?" Hayner asked, "why the hell are we just standing around here for?"

"If we move any closer she'll still kill us," said Alice, "her reflexes have been amplified by the control chip. If we try to get closer, even at vampire speed, even with the spell keeping her frozen, she'll press the button quicker."

"Genie!" shouted Aladdin.

At that Genie popped in, "you shouted, Al? what semi-phenomenal, nearly cosmic miracle can I do for you?"

"Can you make Nessie's magic stronger?" Aladdin asked.

"You got it, pal!" said Genie, "one magic boosting jolt coming right up!" he then zapped a bolt of magic at Nessie.

"Whoa!" shouted Nessie as Genie's bolt coursed through her body, "major head rush!" her own magic then pulsed brightly and the shield around Roxie intensified.

Just then the Stop spell wore off. Roxie pressed the button and the bomb went off. The contained explosion nearly blinded Hayner, Pence, Will, Kirjava, Aladdin and Jasmine, while the vampires and Genie were unaffected.

Seconds later the intense light faded and there was nothing left of Roxie but smoke.

"That's not fair," said Nessie, "she was about to give up, maybe even see reason, but Gideon made her kill herself. It's not right." she then shouted as loud as she could, "IT'S NOT RIGHT!"

"My what incredible lung capacity do you have," said Kirjava.

"I guess I overreacted," said Nessie, "but I don't regret it. I'm not gonna forget this, seriously." she looked at Edward, "you can lecture me all you want about how revenge is never the answer, that I shouldn't give in to my own inner darkness, but I'm not going to let this go, daddy. I won't be satisfied until I put Gideon in his grave."

"I won't deny that I'm not happy you feel this way," said Edward, "but I won't stand in your way either. Gideon wronged you more than he wronged the rest of us. I'd be a poor father to deny you your justic., and it's not revenge, it's justice. Now," he walked over and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "let's go find your mother."

---

A short time later found Aladdin, Jasmine and Genie safely back in Agrabah, while Nessie, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Will, Kirjava,, Jasper, Alice and Edward were all onboard The Voyaging Light.

"And that's it for the grand tour," said Hayner as he finished showing Edward around the ship, "'course, you probably already know everything we know about the ship from our heads."

"I can keep out peoples thoughts if I choose to," said Edward, "I'm from a time period where good manners were more valued than they are now, so I know how to respect people's privacy. I only heard your thoughts on what wild escapades you and Nessie have been on, and how much she means to you as a friend."

"That means a lot to us," said Olette, "and it's so nice to finally meet Nessie's dad. She just won't stop talking about you."

"And just what have you been telling your friends about me?" Edward asked Nessie.

"Only that you're the most wonderful man in the world," said Nessie as she affectionately held onto his arm, "except for Jacob of course."

"You've spoken with him," said Edward, "and he's with another group of heroes, whom are also collecting gold keys needed to unseal the means to destroy Gideon and so much more evil."

"You got all that from our heads?" Pence asked.

"Just my head," said Nessie, "we have five keys, daddy, and by now Jacob, Sora and the others must have five as well and only three more to go, we hope."

"So there's not time to waste," said Edward. He looked at the holographic map of the worlds, "you've been to five so far," he indicated Port Royal, Halloween Town, Deep Jungle, Wonderland and Agrabah, "now where to go next?" he looked at Hayner, "that's a good idea, checking your homeworld."

"Homeworld," said Pence, "Hayner, are you thinking…"

"About going back to Twilight Town and checking for a key," said Hayner, "yes. There could have been a key on our world the whole time and we never knew about it. So let's go back and see if it's there."

"I've got nothing against checking back home," said Pence, while Olette nodded in agreement.

"We have no objections," said Alice, while Jasper nodded in agreement.

"No objections here," said Will, while Kirjava nodded in agreement.

"Then let's go," said Hayner, "Vivi, set course for home."

"Course laid in," said Vivi, "entering hyperspace, now!" with that the Voyaging Light jumped into hyperspace.

The end of chapter 4.

Next time we switch back to Team Sora as they arrive at Disney Castle and meet with Yen Sid and Merlin to discuss matters of grave importance. Reviews will be rewarded with cake and pie. See you next time!