Thank you all who reviewed! Next chapter, coming right up!
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Ocean or Kingdom Hearts.
Chapter 20: Present Thief
We arrived at the next world. As I expected, it was Halloween Town. We were now dressed in our Halloween Town attire. This time we had landed in the forest with the Entrance to Christmas town. There we noticed something that was rather strange.
"Huh?" Asked Donald. There were Presents on the ground, all wrapped and ready for Christmas. We saw Jack Skellington in his Christmas outfit, picking up the presents. We began to walk towards him. He stopped what he was doing and looked over at us.
"Perfect timing, gentlemen! Lend me a hand, won't you? These presents must belong to Sandy Claws. So I thought I'd better return them," said Jack. Sora folded his arms and looked at Jack suspiciously.
"You just happened to find them?" Asked Sora.
"Of course Sora," said Jack as he poked Sora's forehead. "I'm finished with Christmas fantasies. You know that."
"But... you thought you'd hold on to the suit." Jack looked at the outfit he was wearing.
"What, this? It's just a costume. And Sally worked so very hard making it! Come on, we've got work to do!"
"I wonder why these presents would just be laying around on the ground," I said as I picked up a few of them.
"That's what I was wondering too. Maybe Sandy Claws knows something," said Jack. We followed Jack into the portal that lead to Christmas Town. We walked down the snowy hill and into Christmas Town. We walked into Santa's house with the presents.
"Oh!" He said as he saw us walk in. We placed the presents on the table. "Wherever did you find these?"
"In Halloween Town. You'll be needing them for Christmas, right, Sandy?" Asked Jack.
"Of course. But these are just a few of the Christmas Presents that were stolen."
"Stolen?" Exclaimed Sora. A present thief? I had never even heard of someone who just stole presents. I guess there are all kinds of thieves, robbers, and bandits. We all looked at Jack suspiciously.
"Oh, Sandy... you don't think it was ME?" Asked Jack.
"Still wearing the outfit, I see," said Santa as he looked at Jack's attire.
"I just thought I'd dress for the occasion. But if you don't believe me, then we'll just have to find out who really did it!"
"Very well, I'll leave it to you."
"All right, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Alex! We're off!" Said Jack as he began to walk towards the exit. The four of us sighed.
"How do we get caught up in these situations?" Whispered Donald.
"I am beginning to wonder the same thing," whispered Sora. Suddenly there was the sound of a crash.
"That came from upstairs," said Goofy.
"I think the culprit just exposed themself," I said. We ran up the stairs and into the toy factory's wrapping area. Inside that room was Lock, Shock, and Barrel.
"No!" Said Shock. One of them threw a toy off in another direction. Barrel pulled up a Teddy Bear.
"This looks good," said Barrel.
"No!"
"Boring!" Exclaimed Lock. Barrel chucked the Teddy Bear. They continued doing whatever they were doing.
"Hey!" Exclaimed Donald. The three of them looked up at us and stopped whatever they were doing.
"So YOU three took them!" Said Sora.
"Took what?" Asked Shock.
"You stole the presents, didn't you?" Asked Jack.
"It wasn't us!" Said Lock.
"But..." Started Barrel.
"It really sounds like fun!" Said Shock as she removed her mask and then put it back on. They began to run. We got ready to stop them from leaving. I rushed forward and grabbed a nearby box. I slammed it down on Lock and shut the lid.
"Lemme out of here!" Exclaimed Lock.
"If you didn't try to run this wouldn't have happened," I said.
"Too easy," said Sora as he held a box with one of the kids in it.
"That takes care of that," said Goofy. We opened the boxes and put the three mischief makers in the corner where they couldn't run away.
"Where'd you put the presents?" Asked Sora.
"We told you! We don't have 'em," said Shock.
"Then why are you in here?" Asked Donald.
"We are looking for parts for the Experiment," said Lock.
"Experiment?" Asked Jack.
"Dr. Finkelstein's making us a friend."
"One we get to boss around," said Barrel.
"It's true the doctor's been hard at work making SOMETHING lately..." Said Jack.
"Besides, Christmas presents are boring. Not scary or gross... So what good are they?" Asked Lock.
"Yeah," said Barrel.
"There's nothing fun here. Let's go back to Halloween Town." With that, the three of them got back up and left. We went back downstairs to talk to Santa Claus.
"So, were those pranksters responsible for taking the gifts?" Asked Santa.
"It doesn't look like it," said Jack.
"Then that means..." Started Santa.
"I don't think Jack would steal presents. And we don't have any leads, we don't even have a basic description of what the thief looks like," I said in my thoughts. Suddenly the door opened and Sally came running in.
"Sally!" Said Jack, seeming surprised.
"Oh, thank goodness! You're all here," she said.
"Is something wrong?" Asked Sora.
"The Heartless are back in the town square. I thought you should know."
"That's our cue!" Said Sora.
"Back to Halloween Town!" Said Donald.
"Fun time," I said. We began to walk towards the door.
"But wait! What about finding the gift-napper?" Asked Jack.
"Actually..." Started Sally. We looked over at her. "The Heartless were playing with some presents when I saw them." Jack straightened up and pointed his finger up.
"Aha! We have our culprits!" Said Jack. He looked at Sora, Donald, Goofy, and I. "Come on Gentlemen, let's go and get those gifts back!" We rushed back to Halloween town and saw the Heartless in the town square. They were throwing the gifts back and forth like balls. This was the first time I had ever seen Heartless playing instead of attacking people. It was a rather strange sight.
"Sally was right. We've got to get the presents," said Sora. We pulled out our weapons and charged towards the Heartless. I slashed one Heartless in half. I caught the present while it was in the air and then I inspected it for damage. It seemed fine other than having a few rips on the wrapping from the Heartless' claws. I looked over at the others to see they had defeated the other Heartless as well. Jack was holding an empty box while stepping on the doll that was inside of it before the Heartless got it.
"What a shame! It looks like it was such a nice present," said Jack.
"Uh... Jack..." Started Sora as he saw the doll under Jack's foot.
"Oh help!" Exclaimed a voice. We looked over to see Dr. Finkelstein outside of his lab looking around. "Someone help me! My latest experiment is gone... it's been stolen!" We walked over to him. He lead us into his lab. "I was just sitting here brainstorming, when all of a sudden I was attacked! I collapsed! And when I awoke, my experiment was gone!" He explained.
"This thief must be very sneaky," I said.
"Don't worry, Doctor... we know who took it!" Said Jack.
"Who?" Asked Dr. Finkelstein.
"The Heartless," said Sora.
"What, those wretched things? Preposterous! This was nothing like a Heartless."
"Not the Heartless... huh," said Sora as he folded his arms.
"Who else could it be?" Asked Donald.
"Say, I have an idea. The thief must like Christmas present. So... We place irresistible gifts about to draw him into a trap," said Jack.
"And this miscreant is the same one who stole my experiment?" Asked Dr. Finkelstein.
"That's right."
"How will we know for sure?" Asked Sora.
"Well, now, that's easy! We'll scare a confession right out of him!"
"Interrogation then," I said.
"Gawrsh," said Goofy. Sora looked over at Donald, Goofy, and I.
"What do you say we go with Jack's plan...just for now?" He asked.
"I think it will work. Since this thief seems to like presents, they wouldn't mind trying to nab a few more," I said.
"Then we catch him!" Said Donald.
"Let's get to Sandy's house posthaste! We've got to make some Christmas presents, quickly!" Exclaimed Jack. We headed back to Santa's house. He looked over at us as we came in, probably hoping that we had found the presents or the thief.
"Have you found the presents yet?" Asked Santa.
"Almost, Mr. Claws," said Jack.
"We're going to reel in the thief with Christmas presents as bait," said Sora.
"Would you mind if we used your factory to create a few presents?" Santa seemed a bit shocked at our idea.
"Using presents as bait? Goodness... I don't like the sound of that," said Santa. He paused for a second. "Just this once, I suppose. It's for a good cause... All right, use the second floor. And put some heart into it." We walked up the stairs and into the second floor. There was toys, wrapping paper, ribbons, boxes, tape, and various things like that scattered across the room. We all sat down at the large table. Two elves pushed a cart over to us loaded with toys. We reached in and pulled out toys and boxes to put them in.
"Reminds me of the few weeks before Christmas when I would spend a few days wrapping gifts instead of doing work," I said.
"So how many do we need?" Asked Donald. Jack looked over at the bin of toys and back at us.
"Hmm... I think 100 would do," said Jack.
"Wak! 100?" Exclaimed Donald as he almost jumped out of his chair.
"Gawrsh, that's quite a lot," said Goofy as he scratched his head.
"Then we had better get busy," said Sora.
"Oh boy," I said.
For the next hour or so we wrapped presents. Present, after present, after present, after present. It seemed endless. But there were some moments that made it a rather enjoyable time, like when Donald got a small bit of tape stuck on him and soon ended up with the entire roll of table all over him after he exploded in a burst of shouts filled with undecipherable words. We looked at our hard work that was now a large pile of presents.
"All done," said Donald.
"Not quite," said Jack.
"There's more?" Asked Goofy.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of the rest," said Jack. Jack walked off in another direction.
"I wonder what he's plannin'," said Goofy.
"We'll find out soon enough..." Said Sora. We went back downstairs to let Santa know that we had finished the presents.
"Did you finish making the presents?" Asked Santa.
"Yup, just waiting for Jack," said Sora.
"So uh... where do you think we oughta leave them?" Asked Goofy.
"Oh, I know a good spot. Whenever you're ready, just say the word," said Santa.
"I'm back," said Jack as he walked over to us.
"Alright, let's go," said Santa as he opened the door and led us outside. He opened a large gate to the left of his house. "This plaza should work well for your plan. Now, Jack...what IS your plan?"
"I've got it all figured out," said Jack.
"You do?" Jack nodded.
"Of course! And I also have a wonderful idea. If we catch the thief for you, I would be honored to deliver the..." Sora covered Jack's mouth.
"And on that note, we'll be going," said Sora. We began to lead Jack to the plaza.
"What are you doing? Let me go!" Said Jack as we dragged him along. I wondered what Jack's plan was. But when I finally found out what he was planning, I really regretted not asking him about it in the first place. We covered the area around the large Christmas Tree with the presents. And behind all the presents was a REALLY big present. Want to know what was inside of it? All five of us, that's what. Jack's plan was to stuff all of us into a present, even himself.
"Stop kicking!" Exclaimed Donald.
"It's not me, Donald," said Goofy.
"Patience friends," said Jack.
"Now I know what it feels like to be trapped in a box," I said.
"I said cut it out!" Exclaimed Donald.
"Gawrsh, was that you?" Asked Goofy.
"I think that was me," said Jack.
"How come we have to be the bait?" Asked Sora.
"Great plan, eh?" Asked Jack.
"Why aren't there air holes?" Asked Donald.
"Because Christmas Present's don't have holes in them."
"Realism at the expense of suffocation, I love it," I said sarcastically.
"With your dark powers, you can sense what is going on outside right?" Asked Sora.
"Yeah, nothing has come yet," I said. "But..."
"But what?" Asked Jack.
"I sense that someone forgot to put on deodorant, it REEKS in here!" I complained.
"Not to mention really hot and stuffy," said Sora.
"Wait, something is coming!" I whispered. "On my word..." I waited for the presence of this being to come closer. "Now!" We jumped out of the present.
"Gotcha!" Exclaimed Sora.
"What in the...?" I asked as I saw the culprit.
"Doctor Finkelstein's experiment did it!" Exclaimed Jack. The experiment swung it's arm down at us.
"Wak!" Exclaimed Donald as we quickly jumped out of the box and out of harm's way. I rolled across the ground, flipped back up, and summoned the Dark Horizon. Donald opened fire with magic spells to hold back the Experiment while everyone else charged in and attacked. The Experiment started spinning it's arms around like a large helicopter blade, forcing us to move back. The three parts of the Experiment divided into smaller sections. They started spinning around in opposite directions. Goofy blocked the lower section's attack as it began to spin towards us. Jack pelted the experiment with a fire spell. Donald helped with magic as well. Sora dodged the laser coming from the head and struck the body several times. I jumped into the air, spun around, and hit the head with several flare spells. Then I hit it with the Dark Horizon several times.
"Isn't this thing supposed to be a friend for those three kids? Why does it have combat capabilities?" I asked.
"Good question, let's just hope those three don't find out about this," said Jack. We continued to fight the experiment and eventually we defeated it. It collapsed in several pieces and didn't get back up. "We did it! The mystery is solved!" Exclaimed Jack.
"Look," said Goofy as he pointed up at the sky. We all looked up to see Santa in his sleigh, riding down towards us. The bells on the harnesses sung their song as Santa brought the sleigh down to the ground.
"Did you catch the thief?" He asked as he got off the sleigh and walked over towards us.
"Naturally!" Said Jack.
"I just can't figure out why the doctor's experiment would go around and steal Christmas presents," said Sora.
"His experiment?" Asked Santa.
"The thief! It was a moving puppet made by Doctor Finkelstein," said Jack.
"Hmm... The doctor's made a moving puppet? I see... He is always tinkering with things. Now listen, Jack. I'd like to thank you, and while delivering presents is something only I can do, I can give you an idea of what it's like." Jack looked excited... no not just excited, more like REALLY excited.
"Sandy Claws!" He leaped into the sleigh and flew off into the sky. Santa looked over at the remains of the experiment.
"Yes, all that poor puppet wanted was a heart." We returned to Halloween Town to tell the Doctor who the culprit is. He seemed quite interested in how things turned out.
"Interesting! So the puppet wasn't stolen after all! It ran away on its own! In other words, my experiment was an overwhelming success!" He said.
"You could say that I guess," I said.
"Santa Claus thinks maybe it left because it was trying to find a heart," said Sora.
"Hmm... that's quite possible. Unlike my Sally, it wasn't equipped with a Heart," said the Doctor. With that, the Doctor spun around and went back into his lab.
"But if it wanted a heart, why was it going around stealing all those Christmas presents?" Asked Sora.
"Maybe because...presents are a way to give your heart to someone special," said Sally.
"Hmm...when you put it that way, I feel sort of bad for it." We looked up as we heard the sound of bells in the air. Jack landed on the ground after jumping out of the sleigh. He looked up as Santa flew off into the distance.
"Happy Halloween!" Called Santa as he flew off. My eyes widened as I saw a little speck of white fall to the ground.
"This is..." I said as I looked up and held out my hand. There were snow flakes falling out of the sky and down to the ground "Snow."
"What a nice present," said Sally.
"I don't understand. There's no box! No ribbon tied in a bow!" Said Jack.
"Jack, it's not about the box or the ribbons. It's about what's inside the box!" Said Sora.
"No, Sora. What really counts, what's really special, is the act of giving the gift. To wish deep in your heart to make someone else happy," said Sally.
"Right...of course! Thank you, Sally, you're absolutely right. Wait! What's this? I feel so strange...so very happy!" Said Jack.
"Jack, that must be Sally's present," said Goofy.
"Really? This wonderful feeling?" Asked Jack. He held Sally's hands. "Oh, Sally! You've given me the nicest present in the world! And I've nothing to give you in return. What would you like? Just name it. Absolutely anything."
"The nicest present I could ever ask for, Jack, is just to be with you," said Sally.
"You don't even have to ask for that," said Jack. He picked Sally up and jumped over to the plaza. Then they began to dance, hand in hand. Sora looked down at the ground.
"Maybe I never gave her a real present after all," said Sora.
"Who?" Asked Donald.
"Aw, I bet Kairi would like most anything you gave her," said Goofy.
"I know. That's what made it so hard to decide," said Sora.
"It's not the gift, it's what's in your heart," said Donald.
"Yeah, that's the most important part of giving a gift," I said.
"My heart..." Said Sora.
"You bet, Kairi's like Sally," said Donald.
"How?"
"Well, as long as she can be with you, what else does she need?" I looked down at the ground.
"To want to be with someone you truly care for and nothing else... what does that feel like?" I asked in my thoughts. We got back onboard our Gummi Ship.
"So where to now?" Asked Sora.
"Maybe we should go check on Leon and the others, to see how they're doin'," said Goofy.
"Good idea, I wonder if they have been able to recover after the Heartless War," I said.
"Alright Sora, set a course for Hallow Bastion," said Donald.
"Okay," said Sora. There was the jolt of the ship's engine starting up and we were on our way to Hollow Bastion.
So how are things over at Hollow Bastion? Find out in the next chapter. Sorry this took so long, I just got kind of busy since school started last week. And I didn't have much time last weekend. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long. Anyway, please review.