Chapter 21: Ninja's Stars
Agrabah was in the back seat. Now ahead was another world in need to rid Heartless and protect the princess. Pikachu and Iago, their newly acquired companion who joined from Agrabah, kept watch from the bridge. "Anything new?" Iago asked as he came through the door.
"No activity yet," the mouse sighed. "I do regret not asking Genie to remove my voice." Hasn't Pikachu complained about his voice enough?
"Lemme guess and say that this isn't your normal voice?"
"Yeah, it's a pain in the neck to have this voice. I didn't even ask for it, it was just 'here you go, Pikachu, a new voice' from Merlin back in Twilight Town." Iago understood where Pikachu was coming from. He didn't ask for his voice, it was just given to him without his consent.
"I guess I see where you're coming from. You don't feel natural using that borrowed tongue from some magic man." Interesting point. Suddenly, a strange tone. Pikachu remembered a moment from before.
"I guess Leon's contacting us." He got the monitor to surface but what appeared on-screen was Tifa, no Leon. "Oh! Tifa, what's up?" Iago had a chance to see the girl who Pikachu first fell for after she tossed Jessie to the wayside.
"How's the little mouse doing?" she cooed. Pikachu blushed with the flirt from the female brawler.
"Stop! You're embarrassing me!" Soon enough, Tifa got down to business.
"Anyway, we underestimated Team Rocket's tenacity. They broke into Cid's Garage and took a backup Gummi Ship. They're probably heading your way." That's not good news. Team Rocket meant Pikachu was in trouble and now it's worse that they've commandeered a Gummi Ship. "Other than that, I see that you're near Konohagakure, or more known as the Hidden Leaf Village. If I remember right, Yuffie should be there." A friend of Tifa's?
"So you want us to go to the Hidden Leaf Village to find Yuffie?" Iago assumed. Now aware of more company, Tifa turned to Iago from her vantage point.
"Well, not quite. Yuffie reported an increase of Heartless activity there. No doubt another keyhole for Ash to close." Bobbing nods, action was needed. Both animals activated the controls to start guiding the Gummi Ship to the coördinates Tifa offered. Before long, the ship reached the new world and docked itself behind a mountain. The mountain had heads carved out, each of the four looking like adults. Really important to have the four heads on a mountain side. Waking up and wearing new duds, the fully awakened team stood by the mountainside seeing the villagers minding their own business like shopping, eating and talking among others.
"We stopped here because Tifa said so?" Goofy questioned, wearing a green ninja garb.
"I trust Tifa so blame her if she's wrong," Pikachu stammered in defense. Ash, wearing a blue ninja garb, wanted to trust Tifa for Pikachu's sake.
"So Yuffie's somewhere in this area," he grinned. "Can't wait to work with her." Sora's face told Ash that he didn't want her anymore.
"How could you, especially after we agreed back at the palace!" she snapped while wearing a yellow ninja garb. Ash jumped at her yell but wanted to clear up his explanation.
"I mean help her with the situation here and plug the keyhole. I haven't forgotten about what we were talking about before." To Sora, he didn't want to end their relationship so soon.
"Alright but keep in mind..." They made their way down only to be met by Heartless, also donning stunning black ninja garbs. Just because they're the bad guys doesn't mean they don't know how to dress. Ash brought out Hermos and tossed it to Sora before summoning the keyscythe.
"Some welcoming committee!" Donald gawked while wearing a white ninja garb. As they got set to fight, the Heartless chucked black knives and stars at the group. Goofy jumped in front and used the shield to block each attack. A few knives and stars flew past but with the heroes in a single line, no one was hurt. Before they could come out to fight, a giant four-point star flew out of nowhere and sliced the Heartless to release the hearts. The star was more of a boomerang as it started to return from wince it came. It was caught by a young raven-haired woman in a green midriff, tiny yellow shorts, an enormous padding over an arm and a headband over her forehead. The gang turned around to see the new help.
"It's Yuffie!" Goofy recognized. Yuffie strapped that star to her back and made her way to the gang.
"Goofy, Donald," she named. "It's been awhile!" That's when she took stock of Ash and Sora, along with the keyblades. "Wait a second...where's Sora? And why do we have two keyblade masters?" To her, something didn't fit. Sora realized that she was holding one of Ash's keyblades and was quick to apologize.
"He loaned me a keyblade," she explained. "Sorry for the mix-up." Now cleared of the confusion, Yuffie met Ash with a laugh.
"So, you're the one substituting for Sora, is that it?"
"Yep, that's me," Ash replied as they shook hands. "Ash Ketchum, Pikachu and the rest." Yuffie extended a hand to let Pikachu sniff it, telling him that she's friendly.
"Tifa and Aerith were right, you are adorable for a mouse! Even more adorable than the Moogles." The blushing mouse was tickled by Yuffie that he couldn't say anything. "Anyway, the Hokage told me to bring you to her office when you arrived. Guess that's what happens when your mouth spits out more than just spit." In other words, she let out information to this Hokage.
"Still the happy-go-lucky ninja we remember," Donald flustered. If the Hokage was listening to Yuffie, she could know who the princess is. To Ash, it's worth a shot.
"Well, Yuffie," he called. "Lead the way." Yuffie did, having everyone follow her to the town. Information was crucial and Ash wanted to know everything necessary if he wanted to keep everyone safe. The Digimon were perched with Sora and Ash had Pikachu and Iago on him as the villagers looked strangely toward the group. Well, seeing a walking set of animals would make people do double-takes. Before long in the village full of some unusually structures, they reached a green building. Was this where the Hokage lived? "Here?" Instead of answering, Yuffie entered the building. There, a young raven-haired woman wearing a midnight blue robe spotted the group entering.
"You're back, Yuffie," she noticed. "And you've brought along a party. I'll let Tsunade know that you've brought him." She left while the rest sat on couches by the front. Yuffie had a question for Ash.
"While we wait for Tsunade to see us, why not tell us about how you got the keyblade?" she asked. Why not, there wasn't too much of a hurry to close of the keyhole.
"Sure, why not," Ash huffed. Everyone got comfortable, ready to hear how Sora chose Ash as the new carrier. "Let's start at the end of the Silver Conference where I finished in the Top Eight. I was in a fierce Quarterfinal battle with a trainer from the Hoenn Region who had a Blaziken. My Charizard and his Blaziken fought fiercely but Charizard fell and my run at the Silver Conference stopped there while he won out. When we returned to Kanto, Misty and Brock told me that they were needed back home: Misty in Cerulean City and Brock in Pewter City. So that left me alone with Pikachu when we saw Ho-oh flying toward the Hoenn Region. I knew that I wasn't going to rest until I was a Pokémon Master and made plans for Hoenn. It was during that ride that I started to realize I wasn't making it to Hoenn. I had a dream where Sora told me about the darkness and I had to save the universes. Before I made out what he was talking about, Heartless attacked my ride. Pikachu did all he could and he was all I could rely on since he's the only Pokémon I brought with me. But when the Heartless continued, I was in a beating for my life when Sora told me to swing." The moment had Goofy figuring out when he acquired the weapon.
"That's when you inherited the keyblade!" he guessed.
"Right. Knowing what the keyblade could do to the Heartless, I attack the pool they came out of, only to have it blow up in my face. I was out for a while when Pikachu and I woke up in Twilight Town, completely clueless about Team Rocket trailing me. Before they could strike, Tifa knocked them out. Once I was introduced to Goofy and Donald, we began a journey that took us to the Monster World helping Genki and his monsters, Gaming Central Station with Wreck-It Ralph, the DigiWorld with that Sora, Port Royal with Captain Jack Sparrow, Domino City with Yugi, Corona Kingdom with Rapunzel, the Soul Society with Ichigo and Agrabah with Aladdin." Some journey Ash had been on. "Honestly, no adventure throughout my home world will ever match this experience." Even Donald understood that assessment.
"Not everyone has a chance to go through what you and Sora have," he quacked.
"Guess not." Suddenly, Ash's senses started telling him something. Summoning the DigiWorld's keyblade, he pointed it right at a blond boy in a moderate-size orange jumpsuit. Seeing the keyblade in his face as he hung upside-down, he freaked out and put his hands up...or down...whatever.
"Whoa, don't hurt me!" he shouted. The rest was surprised that Ash managed to detect the blond even though he didn't make a sound or move to give away. Yuffie groaned at the blond's mischief.
"Naruto, you're better than that," she scorned. The blond's face looked like someone gave him away.
"But how?! I couldn't be anymore quiet if you forced me!" Sometimes even the best of stealth can suffer detection when you least expect it.
"I just picked it up. Don't get upset over it." Too late to acknowledge that to Naruto.
"I guess that's what happens when you get too curious." Ash made his keyblade vanish but Naruto wasn't out of the woods yet. Grabbing the collar, a tall and busty blond woman in a green robe yanked him to the ground...hard. All turned away from the bone-crunching thud. They knew it had to hurt.
"Was that really necessary?" Iago asked. The woman turned to the rest while Naruto lied in a heap.
"He's been a nuisance with the rest of the chunin," she murmured. "Ninjas are the quintessential of stealth so for you to pick up Naruto is impressive." The compliment got Ash to scoff.
"This keyblade wielder has more to his arsenal than just his collection, Tsunade," Yuffie shrugged. So she's Tsunade. Ash was anxious to get down to business now that the Hokage appeared.
"What can you tell us about the situation?" he wondered.
"Other than the situation has taken an ugly turn?" Tsunade began. "We've been in scrums with the Sound Ninjas. Now that Heartless have shown up along with Yuffie, we have a fighting chance. However, we won't sleep well if we don't know where the keyhole is. I've sent a scout to search for it. When he returns, then the duty is yours." Satisfying enough but the matter of who the princess was never came up.
"What about a princess? You have any clues?"
"Unfortunately, since the Heartless haven't reached the village, we can't specify who the princess may be." Well, Ash can't really blame the village for not protecting those who live. Just then, a young Afro-style raven-haired man in a trench coat entered. He wore sunglasses.
"Shino?" Naruto recognized as he got back on his feet. The new young man turned to Tsunade for an update.
"My insects have found a suspicious hole around the Forest of Death," he informed. "I believe that's what Yuffie told some of us to look out for." Shino found the keyhole.
"Thank you, Shino," Tsunade praised. To the group, this was their cue to go after it and seal before Maleficent has a chance to take the girl. Ash formulated a plan.
"Yuffie, Donald, Naruto, you're my team," he instructed. "Iago, Biyomon keep an overhead view of the village for any activity. The rest keep a low profile and attack any Heartless that make it in the village." While the plans were set, the mystery with who the princess was had no clue to work with. Sora had to ask Naruto if anyone is a good candidate since he'll be with Ash and Yuffie.
"Say, Naruto," she opened. "Maybe you know someone that you'd be close to that took care of you." This was a puzzle Naruto started having some problems with.
"This is a brain teaser I hate to be part of," he groaned. Shino had a guess with who Sora could be referring to.
"I believe it's either Hinata or Sakura," he suggested. "Those are the only two I can think of." That narrowed the choices from too many to just two. This gave Ash some good odds.
"Thanks, Shino," he praised as he handed the keyblade to Sora again.
"Be careful, okay?" Sora wished. Ash bobbed a nod while Pikachu, ignoring orders to stay with Sora, ran behind Ash while Naruto led him, Donald and Yuffie to the Forest of Death. Could one of the two named be the princess which Maleficent is after? And what awaits the heroes entering the Forest of Death?
TO BE CONTINUED...