Kingdom Hearts: The Next Generation

So, as if anyone here didn't know, only four days until 3D comes out… in Japan. And so are those of us in the West left with a dilemma: to find out as many spoilers as possible, or to not?

I remember when it was first announced, they promised all new Disney worlds, and to prove it, showed off footage of the Notre Dame world, which was nothing but absolute awesomeness! From there, though, it was a bit disappointing. Pinocchio, Tron: Legacy, Fantasia, Three Musketeers, that's an awfully loose definition of "new worlds". But then something hit me, and hit me hard. They're not out of ideas, and they're not holding out on us… they're saving the good stuff for Kingdom Hearts III! How did I not see it before?

Edited for clarity and stuff

Next Adventure

Skye, Max, and Webby landed on a high plateau, with jagged stones and sharp cracks all around. They were standing, they found, on a sheer cliff, and opposite them, miles away, was a waterfall more beautiful than any other they had seen before.

"Wow," Skye breathed. "It's beautiful…"

"Yeah," Max agreed. He turned his head, and found himself staring into a face consisting entirely of an emblem and a huge mouth.

"Yikes!" Webby squeaked. The three of them backed away, further from the cliff.

Several others popped out of thin air; sinuous, white-skinned figures with an odd, floppy method of walking.

"What are these things?" Skye demanded.

Wally B. scribbled something on a sheet of paper and passed it to Skye, who squinted at it while still trying to stay out of reach of the advancing beings. "Ducks?" he said, confused.

"What?" Max demanded. "Let me see that." He took the piece of paper and sighed. "That's Dusks."

"Oh, sorry," Skye said. "It's all scrunched together. How is King André supposed to get any information from—agh!"

One of the Dusks had come forward and scratched him. Skye backhanded it, hurling it off the cliff. Jumping forward with a deft spin, he cut down several others. Behind him, Max charged into melee while Webby kept her distance.

The Dusks danced and flipped, more interested in evasion than in actual combat. But Skye quickly discerned their motivation; they were trying to drive them off the cliff, to join the first Dusk Skye had attacked.

Webby blasted several Dusks who were moving around to flank and herd; Max, being flanked too closely to effectively use his long lance, kicked at a Dusk's face, driving it away, dazed. With an opening in the crowd, Max darted forward and turned around to knife his lance into several Dusks' midsections.

The one he had kicked got to its feet and wrapped an arm around his neck. Seeing Max and the Dusk entangled in a grapple, Skye tossed his Keyblade, and the Dusk quickly dissipated.

When the blade returned to his grasp, Skye performed a simple twirl, and all of the strange white-skinned creatures, all of them having flocked around this seemingly unarmed foe, were defeated.

"Sneaky little things, aren't they?" Skye muttered. "They weren't Heartless. Not even particularly darkness-related."

"Ask the bee," Max suggested. "He knew what they were called, maybe he can tell you more."

Skye nodded and prepared to open his jacket pocket, then did a double-take at something approaching from far away on the plateau. "What in the world?" he muttered.

Max and Webby followed his stunned stare, and joined him in gawking at what appeared to be thousands and thousands of multicolored balloons, a mass of them many times the size of a house—fitting, because dangling from it, and floating, was a quaint and adorable little house.

"Is that a house?" Skye demanded. "I think that's a house."

"A flying house," Webby added.

"No kidding…" Max said, enthralled.

The three of them next noticed the figures walking beneath the house. The first one to catch their eye was the shaggy, golden dog, frolicking and running in circles. The other two were attached to the house with its own green rubber garden hose: a chubby little boy in a scout's uniform, covered head to toe in various bits and pieces of survival gear, hooked up to the hose by a bright orange rope. Then, the stooped, square old man, barely taller than the little boy, wearing the garden hose itself as a harness.

"Let's go talk to them," Skye said. The others nodded in agreement.

The three of them approached, arms wide to show they meant no harm. Just as the old man and the small boy seemed to notice them, however, an enormous multicolored bird appeared out of nowhere and tackled the three of them, hissing and shrieking in their faces.

"Kevin, wait!" the boy yelled. "They're not going to hurt anyone."

The bird, thirteen feet tall, flightless, and magnificently plumed, backed off and stood at attention next to the boy. Skye got to his feet shakily.

"Boy, am I happy to finally see another person here," the old man grumbled. "Are you three from around here?"

"Um, no sir," Skye said. "We're just dropping in. I'm Skye, this is Max and Webby… settle a bet, is that a house?"

The golden dog bounded over to Skye then, and reared up to look him in the eye. The dog wore a collar with various mechanisms and lights stitched into it, and from the collar came a voice with odd inflections and tones: "I am Dug. I have just met you, and I love you. That man there is my new master, and he is taking his house to Paradise Fa—SQUIRREL!"

The dog turned his head, ears raised, and sat motionless for a brief moment before turning back to Skye. "Taking his house to Paradise Falls," the dog's voice finished. "Did I say that already? My new master says that I may take the bird back to camp as my prisoner."

The dog dropped back to all fours and began sniffing at their feet, leaving Skye rather dumbfounded.

"Is that your talking dog?" he said casually.

"Ye—um, no," the old man said, flustered. "No, he's not my dog and I'm not his master. Listen… Skye, was it?"

"Yes, sir," Skye said.

"Carl Fredricksen, happy to meet you," he said tersely, clearly not meaning it at all. "Now, would you mind taking this dog and this bird off of my hands? Escort them to wherever it is they're going? I need to get my house to Paradise Falls before the helium leaks out of these balloons, and they're slowing me down!"

"Um, sure, Mr. Fredricksen," Skye said uncertainly. "I suppose I could help you out, but…"

As Skye struggled with words, Max stepped in. "Hey, little guy," he said. "You haven't mentioned what brought you here."

"Oh, yes!" the little boy said. "My name's Russell, and I'm a Wilderness Explorer." He indicated his sash, covered in badges save for one notable spot. "I came to Mr. Fredricksen to earn my Assisting the Elderly badge, and… well, one thing led to another, I guess."

The huge bird, meanwhile, had turned to face the distant horizon of the huge plateau. It screeched, and was greeted by high-pitched calls in return.

"What's Kevin doing?" Russell asked.

"The bird is calling to her babies," Dug explained.

"Her babies!" Russell said excitedly. He frowned. "Kevin's a girl?"

"The bird has been gathering food for her babies," Dug continued. "They live way out there in those twisty-rocks."

Kevin gently nuzzled Russell, screeched in Mr. Fredricksen's face, and strutted away.

"Kevin's leaving?" Russell asked. "Mr. Fredricksen, we have to go with her."

"No," Mr. Fredricksen replied. "We've lost enough time as it is."

"Hey, Russell," Max said. "We can keep an eye on her, if you like."

Before anyone could respond, an enormous ring of Dusks appeared, encircling all of them beneath the floating house.

"Uh-oh," Dug commented, hanging his head.

Two Dusks stepped aside, and an enormous black Doberman entered the ring. It wore a collar just like Dug's, and spoke… in a thin, painfully squeaky voice.

"Well? Where is the bird? You said you had the bird."

Dug shuffled on his feet, embarrassed. "Yes," he replied. "Since I have said that, I can see why you would think that…"

"You lost it?" the other dog snarled. "Why do I not have a surprised feeling? Well, at least you have led us to the small mailman and the one who smells of prunes."

"Dug, who is this guy?" Russell said shakily.

"He is Alpha," Dug replied. "He is leader of my old master's dog pack."

"Master will not tolerate your failure," Alpha sneered. "Nobodies, attack!"

The Dusks shuffled inward for the attack.

"No!" Mr. Fredricksen roared. "Get away from my house!"

Skye brandished his Keyblade. "Stay back!" he warned.

Alpha responded with a snap of his jaws. Skye parried, and Alpha jumped over his head. Skye whirled, and whacked Alpha across the rump with his most basic attack pattern. Alpha darted away. Max attempted to tackle him, but missed, but Mr. Fredricksen slammed Alpha's ribcage with his metal, four-footed cane. Alpha growled and ducked behind a wall of Dusks.

"Blizzard!" Skye shouted, hurling an ice block into the face of the nearest Dusk. "Aero!" he added, conjuring a tiny windstorm that killed some of them and swept the others off their feet.

Mr. Fredricksen used his cane to defeat one of the Dusks, but some larger Nobodies reared up in front of him. These crossbow-wielding creatures stood motionless and fired bolts at the combatants. Skye immediately struck upward, into a larger Nobody's chest. Mr. Fredricksen produced a can from the pocket of his trousers and tossed it at the eyepatch-wearing face of one of the bolters. The creature disintegrated.

"Wow," Skye commented. "What was in that can?"

"Dried prunes, they'll kill anything," Mr. Fredricksen grunted back. "Watch yourself, kid!"

Alpha had leapt back into the fray, straight into Webby's waiting arms. Her magic exploded in his face, and as he tried to evade, Max struck.

Alpha danced around their attacks for a moment, before biting hard into Skye's wrist. Skye cried out, and Mr. Fredricksen's cane cracked across Alpha's skull, knocking him to the ground.

As Mr. Fredricksen clutched his shoulder, having apparently cracked it with his own attack, Skye, Max, and Webby rushed over to Alpha, who bounded to his feet and withdrew from the battle once again, this time hiding behind four enormous Nobodies wielding T-shaped metal clubs.

Skye and Webby used a fire spell in unison, obliterating one of them, while a deft spinning move from Max had two others reeling on their heels. Mr. Fredricksen managed to recover as the fourth passed in front of him, and slammed it in the back.

"Mr. Fredricksen," Skye said urgently, holding out a hand to the elder.

"I'm fine," he said gruffly. "Let me do this!" Skye obliged, stepping back to allow the squat old man to stab upwards into a gigantic Nobody's gut. Cane and Keyblade took down its defenses, and soon this one faded away as well.

From right behind the huge Nobody, Alpha sprang up and knocked Skye back.

"Hold," he said coldly.

Skye narrowed his eyes.

"Your friends have no weapons," Alpha informed him.

Skye looked around frantically, and saw that Max and Webby were being held hostage by several Dusks. One, standing several feet away, held Max's lance and Webby's crystal.

"No fair," Max said weakly.

"I am taking you all back to my camp," Alpha said. "Unless you are to be having any objections, tiny man with key?"

Skye lowered his weapon. "No," he said. "You go right ahead… lead on."