I hope you guys like this world. It was a pain to write, but I think it turned out alright.

Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!

Sly Cooper © to Sucker Punch, Sanzaru Games, and Sony!


Chapter 8: Terrain of Thieves - Holland


"I still want to know what Xehanort was doing with Hades." Jiminy sat on the dashboard of the gummi ship, finishing up his account of the last world's events. "If he has more vessels, that could spell trouble for us."

"I agree, but there's nothing we can do right now but search around for Xehanort's men," Aqua admitted, "and since we don't know where they went, we'll have to go from world to world, searching for them, or maybe they'll come find us."

Lea nodded. "We just came to a new world and I think it's a good place to start."

"Agreed. Let's go!"


"What the heck is going on!?"

Sora grinned and looked himself over as they stood in an alleyway. "It's like Pride Lands, but different."

"Gawrsh Sora, you guys look so different, while the king, Donald, and I didn't change at all."

Riku looked at himself and the others. "I don't know if I like this, but if the world needs us like this then… I guess we have to…"

"What am I anyway?"

Jiminy leapt upon the boy's shoulder, taking a look at him. "I think you're a raccoon, Sora(1)."

That he was. Sora still wore his clothes and stood on two legs, but he was now a brown raccoon. His striped tail flicked back and forth as he looked himself over more. The others had changed as well, except for Mickey, Donald, and Goofy: Kairi was a rabbit with white fur, Riku was a silver-furred wolf, Ven had turned into a falcon with brown and bronze-colored feathers, Aqua was now a panther with black fur and Lea…

"WHY!? My hair is spikey but it doesn't merit this!"

Everyone laughed as they saw the pyro. Kairi's rabbit ears flopped about as she laughed. "That's not manly looking at all, Lea."

"Shut up!" The pyro was a red dear with reddish-brown fur and two tall antlers sticking up from his head(2). "This is the worst!"

"I wouldn't go through any tall doors, Lea."

"Just leave me alone…"

Before any more teasing could ensue, police sirens filled the air. "What's going on?"

They all ran towards the end of the alleyway only to run into a tall figure. "Watch it!"

The figure in front of them was a gray raccoon dressed in blue with a blue hat, carrying a golden cane. Behind him came a large pink hippo, a purple koala, and a turtle in a wheelchair. The turtle gave the group a glare. "Come on Sly!"

"What's going on?" Sora looked at the three.

Suddenly a female fox, dressed in blue, carrying a pistol. "Freeze!"

"Unless you want to be arrested, come on!"

"But we're not with you," Lea dodged a blast from the fox's pistol. "Never mind! Lead the way!"

The group followed the raccoon, hippo, and turtle down to a van, where they all piled inside and the hippo climbed into the driver's seat and drove off at breakneck speed. As they drove, the turtle pushed past the group, pulling out a computer. "Murray, get us to the hideout, but first we need to drop off these guys."

"Uh, Bentley," the hippo named Murray pointed. "We've got those monsters ahead." Everyone looked through the windshield and saw a line of Large Body Heartless.

"We'll handle them!" Aqua opened the back doors of the van. "Turn the van around." The hippo did as she asked. The off-worlders leapt out, attacking the Heartless. The four in the van stared in awe.

"Bentley, I didn't think weapons worked on those things…"

"They don't."

The koala said something in a strange language only for Murray to nod. "Yeah, you're totally right, Master."

When the Heartless were gone, the raccoon motioned everyone back into the van. "You know, Bentley, I think."

"Sly, no!"

"Aw, come on Bentley. We can't fight those things if they're on Dr. M's island. We could use their help!"

The turtle groaned. "Whatever, fine." He glared at the group. "Let's find a hotel and we'll discuss our situation."


"So, who are you guys and where did Sly go?"

Bentley set up a laptop, sighing. "We're the Cooper Gang, one of Interpol's most wanted. We're thieves."

"Great," Aqua crossed her arms. "Just great."

"Don't worry fair maiden!" Murray came in, carrying a bowl of popcorn for everyone. "We're not bad guys."

"But, you're thieves."

The window opened and Sly slid inside. "Master thieves, actually. That means, we only steal from other thieves. Anyways…" he tossed a statue over to Bentley. "I think that'll sell well on theifnet."

"Is that why the police were chasing you?"

"We robbed a wealthy banker who was cheating non-profit organizations to keep his wealth. And I just dropped off some proof of his activities to the police."

Donald blinked. "You turned them in?"

"We can't stand those who hurt the innocent. We take them down." Murray punched his hand.

Sly perched on a chair. "And, we're planning on doing a big job. A guy named Dr. M is trying to steal my inheritance so we're gathering a group of master thieves to stop him. We were hoping you might help us since he has those weird monsters all over the island where he's set up."

"I don't see any reason why not," Lea shrugged, getting a glare from Aqua. "I mean, if what you said is true then you're not a bad guy, and there's the fact that that fox, cop, lady saw us with you."

"Yes, Carmelita will certainly be after you, but she'll have trouble finding you since you're not in any databases." The Guru said something that sounded confused. "Yes, Guru. I have searched every database, these guests of ours have nothing in any database and there is absolutely no information on them."

"That's great!" the raccoon cheered. "They're perfect."

Mickey held up a hand. "Uh, before you tell us any more, would you mind letting us all talk alone for a bit."

"Sure…" Bentley and the others went to the adjoining suite.

"So?"

"I don't like it." Aqua sighed.

Sora smiled. "I actually want to help. They don't seem that bad." Donald and Goofy went to say something, but the boy cut them off. "Guys, we've helped pirates before, thieves who only steal from bad guys is better."

"True."

"I guess we could help them," Kairi averted her eyes. "But I'm not stealing anything(3)."

"Alright."

Riku nodded. "I guess we're helping them, then."

"Yep."


"So, what do you want us to do?"

The turtle pushed his glasses up his nose. "Right now we're trying to recruit people to help us with the Dr. M job. We're in need of an RC specialist, so we're on our way to Holland to try and recruit a girl named Penelope. I've only dabbled in the art myself, so I found someone online. The only thing is, she won't join just unless we beat her boss, The Black Baron, in his yearly dogfighting tournament. That is where we're headed. How many of you know how to fly an aircraft?"

"Well, we all take turns flying a ship we own."

"Great," Bentley turned back to his computer. "That means Sly won't have to fly one against thirty. Would three of you mind flying and four of you act as the tail-gunner for the pilots?" The shook their heads. "Excellent. Murray and I will acquire the planes while Sly finds you pilot licenses."

"Alright…"


Four days later, as the group brought their stuff into the nice hotel in Kinderdijk(4), Holland they spotted the same fox police officer from before.

"Well, that's Carmelita, Sly's crush."

"Yep," Aqua sighed, "We'll just steer clear of her."

That night, before the first day of competition, everyone sat in the hotel room, waiting on what to do. After spending a few days with the thieves, they'd grown accustomed to the company. Even Aqua and Mickey admitted that the Cooper gang was not as bad as they'd originally suspected.

Sly put an arm around Sora and Kairi, grinning under his pilot costume. "You two ready to meet our competition?"

"Sure." Sora was one of the other pilots, with Kairi as his gunner. The three went out into the main area where they could see most of the other pilots.

The comlinks in their ears buzzed(5) and Bentley's nasally voice came through. "If we're going to succeed in this year's ACES competition we'll need to learn who we're flying against."

"Wait," Kairi asked, "they keep the flight roster a secret?"

"Correct, in years past competitors would go out at night and sabotage each other's planes in preparation for the next day's dogfight."

"Makes sense. Keeping it a secret will prevent teams from knowing who to mess with."

"Precisely. Look, guys, you're good pilots but we've only got four planes… and you'll be up there against dozens of bogeys."

"Those are some pretty slim odds," Sora admitted.

Sly nodded. "True, but I'm always up for some sabotage.'

"You can leave me out of that," Kairi quipped.

"Don't worry, Kairi, I'll need some backup here keeping everything flowing smoothly. Now the roster is kept secret from the pilots but not from the event staff."

Sly's ears twitched at that. "Do we have a mole on the inside?"

"Our 'friend' Dimitri has been hired to give color commentary during the dogfights… He'll know where the roster's hidden. Scout him out, but be careful. If you start a fight with the other pilots, we'll be kicked out of the competition."

"Dimitri?"

Sly pointed to a purple lizard behind the bar. Kairi's mouth fell open. "Ew! That is the most disgusting outfit I've ever seen! I mean who buys a mustard-yellow suit?"

"Yes, his suit sucks, but don't tell him that." The thief chuckled. "Last time I did that, he tried to kill me, literally. Now, I'll talk to Dimitri, Kairi would you mind joining me; Sora, why don't you and Riku head out and scout around town?"

"Got it!" The boy turned around and went back into the room as Kairi and Sly went downstairs.

"Sly, why'd you have me come along?"

The raccoon smiled. "Well, for two reasons. One, Bentley says I look shifty by myself, so coming with a girl makes me look less conspicuous, and if you're sticking around the hotel, you'll be seen by everyone, so we want you to make an appearance too."

"Makes sense," the girl admitted but tensed as they approached Dimitri.

Sly stepped in front of her when they reached the purple iguana. "Dimitri, funny seeing you here. Never pegged you as a flyboy."

"Like a dance floor with many lights, I have many profiles, dig? Don't even try to understand the silky enigma of Dimitri." The iguana grinned.

Kairi turned away, covering her mouth and nose from the scent of the alcohol on the lizard's breath and the secondhand smoke from his cigar. Luckily, he didn't notice her. Sly continued to talk, to keep Dimitri's attention. "Bentley seemed to think you might have a copy of the ACES flight line-up, that true?"

"And why should I talk to a two-bit, rooty-poot, cracker-box like you? Question mark in bold! Why!?" This guy's strange speech was not improving Kairi's opinion of him.

Sly didn't seem phased by his attitude. "We both know you're going to tell me, you wouldn't have bothered talking to me at all if you didn't want to talk. So, spill it."

"I know," the lizard caved in, "but to talk is like sitting on electric chair. The Baron has eyes, eyes and ears, ears and fists! Dimitri will be discovered and the jig is pinched!"

The thief grinned. "Come on now Dimitri, a man like you can deal with this Black Baron. You've got the best fashion sense of anyone I know."

Kairi took another look at the ugly suit before nearly gagging. Dimitri however, became suddenly bold. "Le Fashion- style? Y-you're right! If I can out dress him I can certainly outsmart him. All is told through clothes."

Kairi had enough. As the two worked out their agreement, she moved around the room, going upstairs to look down on everyone. Her eyes caught a glimpse of someone in a long black coat leaving the hotel. Slowly, she slipped along the balcony, towards the stairs.

"Hey, watch it toots!" A giant bulldog pushed past her; the girl continued walking until he grabbed her arm. "What's the hurry? Don't you want to talk to a real man like me?" He turned her around with a hand bigger than his own head. "The name's Muggshot. What's yours, sweetie?"

The girl ducked under his arm and was about to talk when he held up a hand. "Tell me later, gorgeous. The Baron's here."

A dog with an extremely large handlebar mustache lumbered into the room. Kairi took this moment to move further away from Muggshot before the competition owner began speaking. "I bid you all a most flamboyant welcome my esteemed comrades of the skies. Welcome, welcome to another year of the ACES competition. We've got teams here from across the globe. Not the least of which is last year's deadly runner-up, Team Muggshot."

"This time we're gonna drill you jokers fulla holes!"

"Now we all know that in years past," the Baron continued, "some teams have engaged in a little good-natured late night hi-jinx."

"Like when Team Canada stole Ecuador's parachutes!"

"Or when Team Iceland sawed the landing gear off Korea's planes!"

"Or when Portugal put rat poison in Team Muggshot's coffee machine!"

The Baron coughed. "Yes, yes, that was all so VERY funny. But no more! You know the rules, no one, absolutely NO ONE is to leave the hotel after sunset. If my guards catch you outside you will be beaten to within an inch of your life. No exceptions! This WILL be a fair competition!"

"Same as last year and the year before… I've got the scars to prove it!"

All the pilots laughed before the Black Baron continued. "I bid you an exuberant and exaggerated farewell pilots. Tonight, sleep like geese and tomorrow, soar like eagles!" He laughed before lumbering away.

The moment he was gone, Kairi dashed across the lobby and into the hotel room. "Did you guys hear all that?"

"We did." Goofy pointed to the window. "Sora and Riku are already outside, looking around. We told them to be careful."

"Good."


Sora listened through the comlink to everything. He'd seen the guards on the rooftops and the ones with flashlights patrolling below. He'd scouted around and now sat upon a windmill, watching a giant wolf prowl around and attack guards; he'd seen the police officer, Carmelita, attack numerous guards.

"She's crazy…"

Leaning back, Sora listened as Bentley and Kairi organized the sabotage plan. By the sound of things, Riku was still patrolling too. Suddenly, he spotted something moving below, in the shadows. It looked like a person in a black coat. As he watched, a second figure appeared and then a third. He wondered if these three were the same three they'd seen at Olympus.

He climbed down the windmill and moved towards the three. He couldn't see their faces, but one had a slenderer build, like that of a woman. He walked closer to them, ready to summon his Keyblade at any moment. "Who are you?"

The three looked at him, with the two male figures stepping in front of the female. They held out their hands and swords of darkness appeared, ready to fight.

Sora summoned Key to the Kingdom but didn't move to attack. "Wait, I just want to talk."

The female put a hand on the shoulder of one of the men. The other man didn't pause, but charged forward, clashing swords with Sora.

As Sora struggled against the man, he could see under the hood. Due to the world, he saw a black-furred clouded leopard with gray spots. A scar ran across his right cheek(6).

"Why won't you speak to me?"

The leopard hacked at Sora with precise and quick movements. The boy did nothing but block the quick and strong attacks.

"Sora? You there?" Bentley's voice buzzed in his comlink. "We need you to get ready for the competition."

"Kinda… busy…!"

"We need you!"

"Fine!" He shoved his attacker away and ran. The three figured didn't follow.


Riku stood, walking around the top of the Baron's fortress. "Everything looks quiet."

"Yeah, I've kept it that way."

The young man turned suddenly, hearing a voice that nearly mirrored his own. "Huh?"

A figure in a black cloak strode towards him, but the person was small. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?" Throwing off the hood, the figure appeared to be a wolf on this world, and a smaller copy of Riku.

"You!? Even in that form, I know who you are."

"Oh?"

"You're the copy of me from Castle Oblivion," Riku summoned his keyblade as his double summoned Soul Eater. "I always had a feeling you'd return… but I didn't think we'd meet like this again." He could see the boy's golden eyes glowing in the darkness. "Xehanort did this, didn't he?"

"He made me a promise… now, where is Naminé?"

Riku cocked his head. "Naminé? She's inside Kairi. Why do you want her?"

"She's the only one who can bring me from your shadow." The copy looked away. "She can give me new memories so that I can forget what I was. I want to forget you and what I am… even the name Braig gave me shows that I'm nothing more than your replica: Repliku(7). And if Naminé isn't here, the only way to be free of you is to kill you."

Lowering his weapon, the older boy's gaze softened. "You just want a new life… There's no crime in that. If you want, just go. If you don't want to look like me, dye your hair. There are ways without killing me or helping Xehanort. What promise did he make you? That he would bring Naminé back to help you? Or that he would kill me?" The boy looked away. "I guess he did… So, why are you here? Did you just want to talk?"

"I don't have to tell you anything."

"Riku, you there?"

He sighed. "Bentley now's not the time."

"It's nearly time for the competition. We need you!"

"Fine, whatever." Riku shook his head. "Listen, pal. We'll have to finish this later. I've got to go, but if you cause trouble on behalf of Xehanort, I'll take you down." He turned away and headed for the Cooper gang hanger. Repliku didn't follow.


"Kairi, how are the security systems looking?"

The girl looked up from the computer screen. "Not bad. They're almost fully set up."

"Good," Bently wheeled over to the hanger doors where Murray, Goofy, Lea, and Ven were coming inside. "There you are. How'd the sabotage go?"

"Great. Anything else you need?"

The turtle nodded. "Kairi and I have been working to get our hanger security devices online and they're almost operational. Unfortunately, my internet pal Penelope heard a rumor that a rival air team might be stopping by to do mischief to our planes."

"That's just great…"

"If you four could stand watch while Kairi and I finish getting the systems online, that would be great." The turtle turned his wheelchair around and rolled back to the control room.

Murray flexed excitedly. "Fear not brainiac chum, you'll be safe while my fists are on duty!"

They didn't have to wait long. Moments later, two large purple hands pushed the hanger doors apart. Muggshot's ugly mug appeared, bearing a toothy grin. "Greetings Trog-o-lid-ites! Didn't think I forgot about Mesa City did ya? I figure you jerks let me smash up your aero-plane and we're even."

"Murray, you know this guy?"

"Tell ya later, pal." The hippo glared at the giant bulldog. "You and what army, dumb-guy?"

"Army? O-oh yeah. Ok boys, I paid you off good enough, time to crack some skulls." Numerous guards and some Heartless ran inside.

The group began fighting with Lea and Murray focusing on Muggshot himself. Lea could hurt him with fire, and Murry slammed a large metal crane into the bulldog.

The dog soon groaned, gripping his gut. "Oh! Right in the solar plex-E-is! Don't think this is over, meatballs. Ya' not untouchable, this is just the beginning of a really bad day." He lumbered away.

"Yes!"

Kairi clicked the intercom on. "Muggshot wasn't making idle threats. We're reading multiple hostiles moving through the sewers toward us."

Sora, Riku, and the rest of the group came into the hanger. "What's up?"

"Trouble."

"Fortunately," Bentley continued, "My security devices are almost online. I'll just have time for a quick test. If any of those guys get past my traps or some of those Heartless appear, you guys will have to protect our planes."

Kairi took one set of controls for the security while Bentley took the other. As some of the guards began coming towards them, they activated the systems. Heartless appeared inside the hanger, but the others took care of them.

"Kairi, have the others get ready for the competition."

"But there are more guards incoming." The bunny shook her head. "I have to help."

Bentley turned to her. "I'll ask Penelope for help. You guys get ready."

"Alright." The girl headed to the others. "Bentley says we should get ready to fly."

Everyone nodded and prepared for the contest. Riku looked over at the others. "Guys, we need to keep a close eye out. Xehanort has sent some people here; I don't know what their exact purpose is. One of the guys here is a copy of myself, just younger."

"Wait," Lea cocked his head. "You don't mean that replica that Vexen created in Castle Oblivion?"

"Yep. Xehanort brought him back and promised him he could have a life of his own if he helps."

Sora sighed. "I met three people working for him too. I think they're the three we saw at Olympus; two are guys and one's a girl."

"We can worry about that later," Mickey went over to his plane.

"Yeah…"


Sora flew his plane around. "Kairi, you ok back there?"

"Scared of getting shot down, but other than that, good."

The other planes got into the air: Mickey piloting with Ven as the gunner, Riku piloting with Donald as a gunner, and Sly flying with Aqua as a gunner.

The night before, Bentley got a hold of the flight roster and knew that their team was fighting against teams Iceland and Belgium. He'd had the others break Belgium's prize plane and frame Iceland for it, and they stole Iceland's prized ice sculpture and framed Belgium. This was so the two teams would be after each other and not after the four Cooper planes.

Once they were in the air, the fight began. They all shot at their opponents. With the other two teams at each other's throats, the four planes only had to pick off the leftover pilots which made it easy to claim victory.


They all sat in the hanger, celebrating their victory as Bentley sat up an overhead projector.

He turned the lights off and began to speak, cycling through photographs as he did so. "Thanks to your flying guys, we're officially in the ACES finals! Our opponents: Team Muggshot and Team Black Baron. The rules in the finals are a bit different than normal. Whoever takes out the defending champ gets the title. You hear that? It's all about taking down the Baron. Our only real competition will be Muggshot himself. We need to remove him from the competition. Here's the plan: one of us will challenge him to a fist fight out in the town square; Sly and Sora, you find and lure Inspector Fox to the same place. When the two meet the sparks are sure to fly! With some luck, the big guy will get carted off to jail and we'll have clear skies for the finals. However, the Baron won't be so easy to deal with. He commands an enormous team of fliers and has been known to bring in a squad of blimp gunships when things look grim…"

"That's totally cheating!" Donald squawked.

"Yes, it is," the turtle continued, "But the answer to our problem isn't obvious, but it is potent. Behold…"

"Yeah, yeah!" Lea stood up. "Let's do this. You always give us the rundown when we do the mission, so we don't need this now. Let's get going!"

Bentley stared at the pyro, eyebrow twitching out of annoyance. "Fine… then we'll start with your job. Sly, Sora you two go find Inspector Fox. Lea, since you're so obviously obnoxious, you get to go start a fight with Muggshot."

"Dang it…"

"That's what you get," Kairi laughed.

"You're going too, Kairi."

The girl paused. "What? Why do I have to go with him?"

"Actually," the turtle rolled over behind his laptop, "You're going in first. Muggshot, despite your alliance, seems to like you. And since he doesn't know Lea well enough to hate him, we'll have to make him hate Lea… which shouldn't be too hard. You'll go downstairs and Muggshot is sure to come over to you. Now, I know you could take him in a fight, but we want Lea to make him mad, so you'll just have to play the damsel in distress. After he comes to you, Lea just has to butt in; that should work well."

"I don't like this," Sora looked at Kairi. "If you don't want to do it…"

"I'll do it. I'll be fine." She gave a smile before heading for the lobby.

Bentley looked over at the two raccoons. "I'll make this quick. You two get her to chase you, Sly shouldn't have a problem, so Sora should pose as Sly's cousin and the newest member of the Cooper Gang. She'll chase after you then. But don't get her to chase you until I tell you to."

"Sounds like a plan," the master thief grinned. "Let's go, Sora. Time to play tag with a cop." The two jumped out the window.


Kairi sat at a table, staring at the tablecloth as Muggshot sat next to her. "Heya toots!"

"Go away…"

"Aw, that's no way to talk to a gentleman."

She gave him a glare out of the corner of her eye. "A 'gentleman' wouldn't try and destroy my team's airplanes."

"Aw, you're going to let that get in the way of…"

"Excuse me." There stood Lea, looking… not very intimidating since he was a deer. "Leave her alone."

Muggshot obviously recognized him from the night before. "Aww… Beat it, antlers. The Black Baron's been giving me the grill since that 'event' in yer hanger."

"I don't care about that, but that girl happens to be a good friend of mine, and she obviously doesn't want you around. And if you don't leave, I'll have to make you. Maybe a good, old-fashioned fist-fight will help you get out that frustration and make you listen better since your ears don't seem to be working." Lea grinned. "What'dya say? Out in the square in five minutes?"

Kairi slipped to Lea's side as the bulldog growled. "No way, I'm being watched here…"

Lea's grin fell for a second before it morphed into a sinister smirk. "Yeah, probably best. You couldn't beat me anyways. I mean, I'm a member of the Cooper Gang, and they told me that you used to be an enemy of theirs… and man, they kicked your butt so badly. No way you could beat any member of the Cooper Gang."

"I could whip your whole gang with one arm if you jerks would sit still!" Muggshot flexed his huge arms. "Look at these arms. I'm unstoppable!"

Kairi looked at Lea and saw him take on a sassier expression. "Oh reeeeeaally? I mean, there's no way you could beat us if you can't even understand what I'm saying. You're too stupid."

"Listen punk! If ya don't have nothing nice to say, shut up!" Lea grinned and kept quiet. "Oh… I get it! Ya don't have nothin' nice to say, so you're keeping quiet. Real cute!" Again, Lea kept quiet; the dog's face fell a little and he sounded hurt. "You really got nothin' nice to say…? That's cold…"

Now, Lea glanced over at Kairi. The girl shook her head; she knew that look. This was going to end badly… The pyro looked Muggshot square in the eyes. "Oh, and by the way… your mother was a broken-down tub of junk with more gentlemen callers than the operator."

"NOBODY TALKS THAT WAY ABOUT MY MOTHER! NOBODY! Ok, antler-sproutin' twig, looks like I'm gonna snap you in half!"

"Wanna make good on that threat, tubby? Town square… five minutes. Don't be late." The pyro threw an arm around Kairi's shoulders and swaggered away to the hotel room.

"You enjoyed that waaaaay too much, Lea."

"Oh, you know it!"


"Time to go, Sora." Sly rubbed his hands together. "This is going to be great!"

"Says you!" The boy ran ahead, knowing right where Inspector Fox was. He dropped down in front of her, much to Carmelita's surprise. "Uh, hi. We've never met… well, you saw me in that alley not long ago, but I never got to introduce myself. I'm Sora Coop…"

"Cooper!"

"Yeah, hi. I'm new."

She raised an eyebrow, leveling her shock pistol at his chest. "Well then, Sora. Why don't you and I get to know each other in an interrogation cell?"

"Uhhh, no thanks."

Sly dropped down beside Sora. "Hey, Carmelita! Still looking for a date to the prom? My cousin and I are available!"

The two turned and ran as she spat. "Hold still and I'll pin the corsage on you!"

"She's ticked!"

"Yep! What a sweetheart!"

The two raccoons ran, with the fox on their tails, into the town square, right as Muggshot came in. Sora and Sly jumped onto a roof and down the other side, out of sight. They slipped back to the hotel and stood on the balcony, watching with the others.

"Here it comes!"

Muggshot quickly spotted Inspector Fox. "HEY! You're that cop hag that busted me back in Mesa City!"

"Muggshot, alias "Two-Gun Tony", also known as "Meat-Head" Muggshot. Seven-foot-three inches, three hundred and twenty-four pounds, wanted in seven countries with thirteen outstanding warrants for your arrest. And yes, I'm that 'cop hag' that put you away back in Mesa."

From there on, there was nothing but sparks. Soon the giant bulldog lay on the ground. "Alright, show's over. Let's get back to work."


"Bentley's nuts." Aqua shook her head. She, Mickey, and Riku watched as the turtle snuck up on a giant wolf to try and drug it so that the Guru could hypnotize it and ride it to kill some of the guards.

"Yes, he is. He's a genius, but he's nuts."

The mouse king looked around. "Huh! Look!" He pointed to where four cloaked figures stood.

"The shortest one is my double," Riku's eyes focused on said double. "He goes by the name, Repliku. Let me talk to him."

The other nodded before they went towards the four. Instantly Repliku looked over at them. "You again…"

"Yes, us."

"Go, take them out," the Xehanort-controlled boy waved his hand. The other three charged forward; Riku slipped past, facing off with his double

"You don't have to do this. We can help you."

"I disobeyed before… I spoke to you. No more…."

Riku could see the boy's eyes were glowing the deep gold color. "You had some sort of free will before. Xehanort took it from you."

The boy merely stared into the eyes of his older copy. "Xemanak, Irxim, Omaxaty kill them.(8)" The female figure turned around, casting a barrier spell between Repliku and the others.

Aqua and Mickey were clashing with the two swordsmen, while the woman was casting spells at the two, distracting them from their fight. Riku grabbed the woman's arms. "If you're going to fight, fight fair."

Suddenly, the smaller of the two men shoved Aqua away and turned on Riku. He knocked the older boy away from the woman. Riku and Aqua watched as the man put the woman behind him.

"He's protecting her…"

The man quickly grabbed his fellow warrior before the three vanished into a dark corridor.

"Did you see that, Mickey?"

"Yeah," the king nodded. "When you went after the woman, that one guy went after you and then left, to make sure that she wasn't attacked."

"I get the feeling, they're possessed, like Repliku, Terra, and Isa are. They have some semblance of their old selves; I guess the man and woman knew one another."

"Guess so…"

Aqua dismissed her Keyblade. "We better go tell the oth..." A loud crash filled the air as the blades of one windmill went flying like a shuriken, across the land. "Bentley!"

"He's going to kill us…"


Sora and the others stood in the hanger, suiting up for the final round of the competition. They could hear the planes of Iceland and Belgium fighting it out in the loser bracket.

"You guys ready for this?" Sly wrapped a scarf around his neck, grinning excitedly.

"Sure…" They were ready, but after what Riku, Mickey, and Aqua told them about Repliku and the other three, their minds were distracted.

"Look, guys, you can focus on this Xehanort guy after the finals. You need to focus."

"You're right…"

Everyone got into their planes as the match for the loser bracket ended. They all got into the air and the final round began.

Most of the others focused on the other pilots while Sora and Sly focused on the Baron himself. When the Baron's plane was ready to fall, he called in the gunship blimps, but Bentley used the "windmill shurikens" to bring them down.

Just when it seemed like they would win, the Baron summoned a jumbo plane to him. He jumped off and onto the wing of said plane.

"Aqua, take the controls!" Sly leapt out of the plane as Aqua climbed up to the controls.

"We have to hel…" A roar shook the skies as a giant Heartless, which looked like a much larger version of an Aeroplane Heartless(9).

"Well, that's just great…"

Down below, Donald and Goofy leapt up on a roof below, with Bentley, Guru, and Murray. The Heartless began dropping other Heartless out of the plane.

"Crap!" Sora turned his plane around. "Kairi, can you stand up and hit it with your Keyblade?"

She nodded. "I think so." The girl wrapped her seatbelt around her left arm as she stood up. They flew by the Heartless and she leaned off the side, slashing at it. The others took her idea and copied it, with those in the pilot's seat, casting spells at the Heartless. Ven took to his Glider and got even closer.

The Jumbo Jet Heartless fired bullets of darkness at them, making it harder to get in close. From the ground, Goofy was able to launch the Guru into the air, where he used his Aboriginal magic to slow the monster down my manipulating its empty mind. Bentley threw bombs at it while Donald cast spell after spell.

Just as Sly knocked the Black Baron down the Heartless screeched and dissipated into the air, with a heart floating away. "We did it!"

Everyone landed the ship to see Sly standing with the Black Baron… who didn't have a head, but they could see someone else's head. Now they could see, as the person shed their Black Baron costume. It was a female mouse with glasses, wearing overalls.

"Is that, Penelope?"

"The chick we came here for?"

Sly waved them all over. "Guess what guys! Penelope was the Black Baron the whole time!"

The mouse shyly rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah… I was."

Suddenly, her Black Baron costume lit up. "Whoa! What's going on?"

"I'll handle it." Sora held out his Keyblade, unlocking the Keyhole before them. "Looks like we have to go…"

Sly's face fell. "You do?"

"We'll come back! When you're ready to take down Dr. M, we'll be here!"

The raccoon smiled again, as did the others in the gang. "We'll be waiting."

"Here take this," Bentley handed them one of their binocular communication devices, called a binocucom. "I hope it works wherever you go."

"Thank you."


"I'M SO HAPPY! I DON'T HAVE ANTLERS ANYMORE!" Lea laid back in a chair, grinning wildly.

Kairi laughed. "You really hated those things, didn't you?"

"Absolutely!"

Sora laughed as he sat in the pilot seat. "So, working with master thieves wasn't that bad, was it?"

"I guess not," Aqua shrugged.

"Let's just go to another world. Maybe we can find some more of Xehanort's men… and we need to find out who those three with Repliku were. He called them Xemanak, Irxim, and Omaxaty."

"It saddens me that people are suffering at Xehanort's hands like that." Kairi wrapped her arms around herself. "Riku's double, Isa, and those three… we have to do something."

"We will!"

"Huh…" Donald squawked. "What's that!?" The computer screen at the front of the ship buzzed and turned yellow. A single eye appeared.

"Wholly cow!"

"Well, well, well… what do we have here? Please, why don't you come JOIN US!" The ship shuddered and the computer began to go haywire.

"What's going on!?"

Light filled the ship as the computer teleported each one of them to separate places on the world below.


Kairi woke up in the middle of a forest under the orange twilit sky. "Where am I?" She looked around and found herself completely alone. Nearby, she could hear the sounds of sobbing. Slowly, the princess stood up and moved towards the crying.

Under a tree sat a little girl, with brown hair, pulled back by a pink headband. She wore a pink sweater with a shooting star on it. In front of her was a man in a gray suit. The girl was about to hand the man what looked like a snow globe filled with a strange gooey-looking substance.

Kairi felt an uneasiness in her heart about this man, so she went over just as the girl handed it to him. "Hey!"

"Huh? Who are you?" Asked the girl.

"My name's Kairi."

"Hi… I'm Mable." The girl cocked her head. "What are you doing here?"

Kairi turned to the man. "I'll explain later. Who are you and what do you want?"

"He said he could make summer last forever."

The man merely smirked before dropping the object Mable gave to him. "Oops!"

"What!?"

The man's voice changed to one, much higher in pitch and more psychotic and began to laugh. He removed the goggles from over his eyes to reveal yellow eyes with slit pupils. Mable shook her head. "No! Oh no!"

"WHO ARE YOU!?" The Princess of Heart summoned her Keyblade and moved to attack.

The man snapped his finger and both girls suddenly felt a heaviness cloud their minds as they both fell to the ground, in a deep slumber. The last thing Kairi heard was the same voice from the ship. "Welcome to my world, Keybearer…"


I think that set up the next world quite nicely…

I hope you enjoyed it!

Please Review!


If you are interested in following my other writings (fanfictions, short stories, and upcoming novel) and/or my art, you can look for me on Deviantart (KristenKHVerne), Tumblr (Kristen Verne), Facebook (Kristen Verne, or Twitter (Kristen Verne).


Footnotes:

(1) Being from an island world, I don't think he would've seen a raccoon before.

(2) I love giving Lea stupid/funny forms… be prepared for many more to come.

(3) Princess of Heart. She can't really do anything bad.

(4) The game put this as the city where this all takes place.

(5) I know the comlinks were introduced in game 4, but it works better for this situation.

(6) If you've figured out who this is… DON'T SAY ANYTHING.

(7) I chose to use this because the fan-name for him is perfect.

(8) Again, if you know, say nothing.

(9) Think the plane Heartless from KH2, introduced in Timeless River.


The Bible Doesn't Say That: Do not Judge Others

We've noticed that there are numerous things that people think the Bible says when it doesn't. This particular saying is one we hear ALL THE TIME.

People, Christians, and non-Christians, have said: "Don't Judge". We're going to look into what the Bible really says about that.

Matthew 7:1-6, "Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure, you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

6 "Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you."

Again, we hear this all the time. People often will say that Christians are too judgmental. They use the verse I quoted above. So, we shouldn't be judging anyone?

That's not what Jesus means. He means the attitude in how you treat other people.

Did you know that you can judge something without being judgmental? It's all in your attitude. You can disagree with something and say that it's not right, without being mean. You will have to make judgments somewhere: stealing is wrong and if you steal, you did wrong. That is a judgment.

Sometimes people are so quick to judge others but not themselves. If someone says, "don't judge" in the way we hear it, isn't that person being judgmental too? Being intolerant of the ones they say should be tolerant.

That is what Jesus is talking about. In laymen's terms "if you're acting like a mean jerk, people will treat you like a mean jerk". This goes for Christians and non-Christians.

But is Jesus saying we shouldn't make any sort of judgments? That would be ridiculous. We can make judgments about what's right or wrong, but our attitude needs to be in the right place. And we need to show these judgments with love.

When you get disciplined by your parents, are your parents making judgments about what's right and wrong? Yes. You've got to make judgments about certain things; things are wrong and we are supposed to make judgments about them, but again, in love.

Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5, "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife.2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus,5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord."

In this situation, a family in the church is doing something bad: a man is sleeping with his mother. That's just wrong. And this church has been permitting this action and basically saying it's ok. Guess what they're doing… NOT JUDGING. Paul basically says that it's not ok. Isn't Paul just sooo judgmental?

Those people were not going in the right direction. They were not going towards God and the church wasn't doing anything to help them. That's why Paul said this.

When people are doing wrong and a Christian addresses this, it's not to be mean. It's to steer people in the right direction, away from destruction! This is in and out of the church.

The key to judgment is not to have malice, evil deeds, or be cruel. Walking around screaming "turn or burn" and protesting funerals is the WRONG attitude. This is what Jesus meant by the "plank in your own eye". How many people are actually going to listen to the name-calling and the cruel speech and take it seriously as advice? No one!

Now, there are things that in biblical law is illegal, but it is legal by the law of the land. Yelling at people about it isn't going to work. Now if you love on someone, regardless of what they do you may get the opportunity to respectfully and lovingly tell them that they probably shouldn't do certain things.

Judgments still have to be made, but watch your attitude.