Not knowing the best way to get to Hollow Bastion quickly, Sora decided to lead them to Wonderland first. It would be easier to circle around from there to Deep Jungle to Olympus Coliseum, and he'd be strong enough to take out Cloud AND Cerberus by then! If he wasn't already... Still, preparation and everything. The brunet found the descent down the Rabbit Hole quite fun, and the collapse Goofy had once they reached the bottom was definitely funny. Tapping the red chest near the Save Point, Sora looked at the green Trinity Mark on the floor with a light glare. He'd return with that power soon...
Opening the many doors in succession, he put Lost Memory away before seeing a tiny white rabbit enter a door that closed behind him. ...he could just let the Doorknob yawn and lock the world, but that wouldn't help this world with its current Heartless infestation. And supposedly none of them knew the Keyblade could do that yet. So it might be better to just continue acting as clueless as these two seemed to be.
If there was one thing about Wonderland that stuck out as weird, even among all the things that made it Wonderland, he'd have to say the cloud of smoke that he coughed out after drinking the shrinking or growth potions was up there. At least he had the sense to push the bed in BEFORE shrinking. It would just be tedium otherwise. Now if only he could move the... The grandfather clock could totally be moved right now. Sora looked at the red labeled bottle. ...no, no, he'd continue along this path and when the time came to return to the Curious Room, he'd just push it aside and show that other door.
Screw talking doorknobs that were no help! The Keyblade Bearer jumped up and took down another Soldier before dodging a Shadow's attack. The tiny Heartless was taken out with a well placed lightning bolt. Goofy spun like a top into a Large Body, finishing off the fat Heartless, another pink crystalline heart escaping into the air before vanishing. Sora grimaced a bit as he thought about all the hearts he freed that were then stolen, making either new Emblem Heartless or Kingdom Hearts. ...how far did this first journey accelerate Xehanort's plan? Still, he looked to his friends with a grin and shared a high five of victory.
The trio continues exploring the weird forest, grabbing some new gear but mostly potions. At least the tiny bottles had very good tasting contents. And elixirs tasted so much better... though they had to be guarded zealously. Wouldn't do to waste any when he didn't have access to the Synthesis Shop yet. And Sora didn't remember when that particular Trinity became available. It was still a little weird to refer to Trinities as not just an attack combo he, Donald, Goofy, Kairi and Riku could do but as things to activate in worlds because they were marks on the ground. Oh well. Plenty of time to get that downpat.
And then the talking flowers... hoo boy. Definitely not feeding them any items right now, he only had the one Elixir and that was being kept in his pocket until the next big battle with a giant Heartless. He did not trust Donald and Goofy with it, even if they weren't able to do anything on their own without him calling on them or pushing them around. Which was rather creepy actually. Hopefully they'd be normal by the time they got to Hollow Bastion.
For now, it was into the maze an-
"OOOOOOOFFFFF WITH HER HEAD!"
-d into the vocal range of the banshee Queen of Hearts. Yay. "Wait!"
"Shora! No!"
"We're not s'posed ta, ohhhh."
And just like that, he was roped into finding evidence to get Alice out of that cage. Which was not a problem to him. Alice was a good friend back on his third trip, and had become very good with using a flamingo club to drive off Heartless. Speaking of which, that was a box of Heartless evidence... how did foot prints get in a box? Whatever. The Cheshire Cat was freaking weird, man.
Now, how to get around this forest and find the rest...
Sora groans a bit on seeing the Cheshire Cat appear on the opposite side of the shelf. It was nice that he now had access to Blizzard magic, and fighting the next batch of Heartless would be easier for it, but why did they have to be given the run around by this pink striped cat? Whatever. It was time to get Alice out of that cage!
After beating up a bunch of Card Soldiers, the Queen, and a wheelhouse! ...and she's gone. Dammit! "Donald, Goofy, time to go." With that, he lead them back through the Forest and into the Curious Room... where on entering, the Cheshire Cat was sitting next to the bottles. Sora almost made it to the growth drink...
"The shadows should be here soon. Are you prepared for the worst? If not, too bad!"
DAMN YOU CAT!
And then a giant pink and hot pink and black Heartless drops from the ceiling. Landing hard, it comes up and unfolds it arms, long and made of paper it seemed. It had a very long head covered in faces, with a golden little 'crown' that curled in a few places on top. In the two paper hands, it twirled batons that caught fire easily. It was a good thing Donald was currently set to not use his Fire spell, and Goofy never got any elemental attacks during their two world-hopping adventures before the one that failed.
For now, Sora summons his Keyblade to have a fighting chance against this giant jester. He didn't have much in the way of powerful abilities, but maybe they'd come easier this time? Sliding Dash was certainly useful, though he was a little surprised that a lot of these skills came in quick succession after getting to Traverse Town. A lot of them didn't really come to mind until he got to, like, the Coliseum or something. Focus!
Rolling to a side, Sora hops off the table as the Trickmaster bashes it into the floor. The Keyblade bearer runs for a couple seconds before using the chair to hop at the Heartless's chest.
Sora pants as the Trickmaster finally goes down, disappearing into flakes of darkness not unlike ash. He shakes his head a bit, and dismisses the Kingdom Key. He looks to Donald and Goofy, who were walking to the Doorknob after saying that they were worried for the brass face in the purple door. During a large yawn, the Kingdom Key makes its presence known again by shooting a beam into the Keyhole that appeared inside the keyhole. Oh yeah, that was a thing.
With half a new Warp-G in hand, the trio heads out to hit up the next world.
"Come on, Donald, let me land it!"
"No! The Gummi Ship ish a delicate pieshe of equipmeeeeent!"
Woops.
