"Oh, I'm gonna make, a so much a'munny!" PT Flea sings obnoxiously from his perch atop the cookie box circus cart. "So much'a dough, that it won't be funny! Wherever I go, it'll always be a sunny, 'cause I'm gonna make, a so much a'munny!"
The rest of the caravan is not so chipper, everyone still in a bad mood from the previous night's terrible climax. Telary, Slim, Francis, Rosie, Heimlich, Manny, and Gypsy all ride in the cart, a small cube that doesn't allow much leg room and only has two pencils and a thimble to provide seating. Flik is technically in the cart too, though he sits at the very back, his legs dangling off the side as he stares dolefully out into space. The ant hasn't uttered a single word since being ejected from his home.
Azlyn and Sora walk behind the cart, beside Dim and the two pillbugs riding on his back. Sora seems neutral, but Azlyn's scowl is pronounced and grim.
"If that dumb flea doesn't stop his stupid singing," the knight mutters to Sora, her hands clenched so tightly the chitin is nearly cracking, "I am gonna fly up there and give him such a sting, he's gonna…"
"Oh, would you just relax?" Sora chides his partner. He immediately comes to regret it as Azlyn turns a truly terrifying glare upon him. The Keybearer actually stumbles a few steps. He's seen some scary stuff, but for whatever reason it's being subject to Azlyn's vitriol that always messes him up the worst.
"Relax?" she hisses, like the very word is burning her mouth. "How am I supposed to relax when my friends, my girls, might be at the mercy of a bunch of nasty grasshoppers this very minute? Forced to work like slaves to gather more food than they can spare for survival. Does that sound like a situation in which one could relax?"
Sora loses his neutral manner, instead switching to sympathetic. "Okay, you're right," he admits, throwing up his hands and shaking his head weakly. "But we had to go Azlyn. You heard the queen."
"Yeah," the knight admits with only a slight scoff. "Still, we could've taken care of that Hopper jerk and his flunkies. They might as well have not even built that bird."
Sora shakes his head. "No, we needed to let the colony and the circus bugs build the bird. You know the rule."
Azlyn cocks her head at the boy, apparently not as familiar with whatever rule he means as he thinks she is.
"We aren't supposed to meddle," he says simply.
Azlyn actually starts laughing out loud, earning rather disturbed looks from Tuck and Roll. Sora rolls his eyes, but lets his companion carry her amusement to term.
"Sora," she says, like he's a total know-nothing air-head, "we threw that rule out a long, long time ago. Remember what we said after Triton told us off in Atlantica last year?"
Sora nods enigmatically, then smirks at her. "I remember, but did we really throw it out completely, Azlyn?" When a full minute passes without her saying anything, he continues. "Just look back a little bit, to pretty much all of our adventures. We've fought a lot of bad guys on a lot of worlds, right?"
"Right."
"Okay. Now, how many of those bad guys, not counting Heartless, would you say we directly finished off? Not our friends from other worlds, just you, me, or Telary."
Azlyn closes her mouth and thinks, really thinks hard, for a long few minutes. After a while she turns back to Sora and says, "Well, I handled Oogie Boogie in Christmas Town, but other than that you're right, we mostly handle the Heartless or Nobodies. But what does that have to do with anything?"
Sora smiles. If this is what explaining things feels like, he can see why Telary does it so much. "Not very long ago, before this last week, I wouldn't have been able to tell you. I think it all started to come together for me when I fought those Heartless while you and Telary were busy with the bird. The real one, not the fakeout.
"In a way, that fight was a perfect, y'know, metaphor for what I think the Keybearer is supposed to do. I didn't swoop in and save everyone from a threat that's native to their world, I kept the out of this world element, the Heartless, from showing up and taking hearts.
"Now that I think about it, Telary didn't hop in to help with the bird until Heartless showed up and started chasing after us," Azlyn muses, beginning to get Sora's point. "So that's two metaphors."
"Exactly," Sora agrees with a wide grin and a cheerful nod. "I thought about Mulan, and Quasimodo, and even Jack Sparrow. I never really solved their problems for them, I just helped them along and kept the Heartless from messing with them and their worlds. They all defeated their enemies on their own. So, sure, we could have said 'screw building the bird, we'll take care of Hopper', but after we left the ants would just go right back to being afraid again, worried about who's gonna come help them when the next trouble starts up. They've got to know that they're strong enough to stand on their own."
"Wow," Azlyn says after a long moment, shaking her head amusedly before focusing on Sora. "That was a surprisingly mature, well thought out speech for a kid who just last week nearly peed his pants over the thought of meeting Santa Claus."
Sora shrugs. "Hey, I'm a complicated man Azlyn. Get used to it."
She rolls her eyes. "Yeah, complicated. That's the first word that comes to mind when I think about you."
Back in the cart, Slim, Francis, Heimlich, and Telary approach the despondent Flik, weak smiles on all of their faces.
"Hey, Flik," Francis greets the depressed inventor. "Look, I know things might not be ideal right now, but…"
"It von't be so bad, being in ze circus," Heimlich says comfortingly. "It's not a terrible life, once you get used to it. You're never bored, I find."
"And, y'know, lots people actually run away to join the circus," Telary points out. "So, I mean, it's a life that's so fun to live, people actually leave their old lives behind for it. So, in a way, you're just a little bit ahead of the curve."
"You can join our act!" Slim adds, gesturing to Francis and Heimlich. "You'd make a great clown, Flik!" The walkingstick frowns at his last statement. "That may not sound like a compliment, but trust me, it is!"
Flik says nothing, his only response a loose shake of the head. The concerned clowns all let out dejected sighs.
"There's gotta be a way to snap him outta this," Francis says, fists clenched.
Just then, a high-pitched scream keens through the air behind the cart. The performers rush to the back of the cart to look out, and Sora and Azlyn turn towards the source of the sound. Even Flik looks interested.
Princess Dot breaks through the tall grass behind them, her little wings beating as fast as they can. Behind her buzz three Cockroach Heartless, flanking her and closing in.
Sora and Azlyn immediately leap into action. Sora cuts through the creatures with ease, and Azlyn guides Dot into the circus cart, which has not even stuttered since the scream.
"Hey, I'm excited too guys," PT calls down to his minions, er, respected artists, without looking, "but would ya mind keeping it down back there? I gotta concentrate on the road, y'know."
"Dot?" Flik asks the tiny princess once she's settled. The inventor no longer seems depressed, just concerned for his young friend. "What are you doing here? Why are you flying?"
"Hopper!" Dot screams, still obviously out of breath. "Him and his gang showed up last night after you left, and they totally took over everything!"
"But you escaped?" Azlyn asks, her and Sora entering the already crowded cart.
Dot nods. "All the Blueberries did. We went to the den."
"That's my girls!" Francis exclaims cheerfully, Azlyn also sounding pleased. "I always told them, 'you gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em'…"
"Please," Azlyn scoffs combatively. "It was obviously my superior martial arts training that gave them the resolve to fight on."
"Oh, please. Like any of your bug-fu knockoff crap actually…"
"Cut it out you two!" Slim and Telary admonish their friends.
"They're all still hiding there, but I knew I had to come and find you," Dot continues. "I overhead a couple of the grasshoppers talking, and they said that once all the food's gone, Hopper is gonna squish my mom!"
The performers, Flik, and the offworld trio all let out gasps of shock and horror.
"Did he send those Heartless after you?" Sora asks. "Did he bring more like them to the colony?"
Dot shakes her head. "No, they started chasing me just a few minutes ago. All of Hopper's gang is grasshoppers."
"We've got to help!" Rosie declares.
"The bird!" Slim says with a grin. Everyone makes noises of agreement. "We just need to get to the bird, and then we can…"
"The bird won't work," Flik interrupts, his voice firm and grim. Surprised, everyone turns to where the inventor is sitting on the pencil bench. "It's hopeless."
"What are you talking about, Flik?" Francis asks incredulously. "The bird was your idea, man!"
Flik scoffs. "Why do you think I said it wouldn't work?"
"Flik?" Dot asks, in complete disbelief that her hero could be laid so low. "What about everything you told me?"
Another scoff from the ex-inventor. "You should forget everything I ever told you Dot. You'll be a lot better off. Trust me, that bird is a guaranteed failure. Just like me."
It's Manny's turn to scoff, the praying mantis pushing through his comrades to stand directly in front of Flik. "That is nonsense talk, my boy. Speaking as someone who's made a living out of being a failure, I can assure you that you are not one!"
"Everybody makes mistakes, Flik," Telary says gently. "But you can't just give up!"
"You've done a lot of good things too!" Rosie points out encouragingly.
The ant looks up at the performers. "Oh yeah? Name one thing I've done right."
For a long moment, there is silence. In spite of their numerous reassurances, Flik does seem to have something of a point. Nothing immediately springs to anyone's mind.
Just when things seem hopeless, Dim of all bugs chimes in with a single word. "Us."
Slowly, everyone comes around to concur with the rhinoceros beetle.
"That's right!" Rosie says with a broadening grin. "You brought us all together, kept us going when we were at our lowest."
"You reignited the spark in our hearts, dear!" Gypsy says, snuggling a little close to her husband.
"You gave us all a purpose when we had none," Manny agrees.
"If it weren't for you, I might have never gotten over my fear of bugs," Azlyn announces. Rosie smiles and gives the hornet a hug, but all she gets for her trouble is a terrified scream and a shove away. Seeing that everyone is looking at her, Azlyn shrugs. "Well, okay, so I'm not quite there yet, but it's better than it was before!"
Telary and Sora both chuckle and place hands on their companion's shoulders.
"The point is, everyone in this cart is ready to follow you into the fight," Sora says plainly, kneeling down to Flik's level. "Just say the word."
Flik looks at everyone for a second, then sighs and turns away. All the hopeful expressions fall off his friends' faces, melancholy reigning once again. In spite of the encouragement, it seems that the ant's spirit is well and truly broken.
Dot, however, refuses to give up on him. She quickly buzzes out of the cart and grabs something off the ground. Hovering back inside, she drops the object at Flik's feet.
"Uh, that's a rock," Azlyn points out to Telary out of the corner of her mouth.
Flik turns back to see Dot, standing before him with her hands on her hips. "Pretend it's a seed, okay?"
For whatever reason, this seems to work. Flik smiles and gathers the tiny princess up in his arms.
"Seriously, it's just a rock," Francis mutters to the other clowns. "What gives?"
"Must be an ant thing," Slim posits.
"Probably it's thematically important," Telary muses.
"Alright everyone," Flik says with confidence, putting Dot down and standing before his friends, the bugs willing to follow him into any situation, no matter the danger. "Let's save ourselves a colony!"
Amidst all the happy cheering, Azlyn leans in towards Sora. "Sounds like there's still no Heartless connection. Should we 'let them help themselves'?"
Sora looks annoyed, but after a moment just shrugs. "Hey, the Heartless still could show up. Best to be prepared, right?"
She smiles at him. "Right."
"Okay then, Flik," Rosie says, her and the rest of the performers looking to their leader. "What do we do first?"
"Well," Flik says thoughtfully, "the first thing we need to do is turn this cart around."
"Good luck convincing PT to go along with that," Francis scoffs, crossing his arms doubtfully.
"Oh, I don't know," Flik says, something mischievous in his voice. "Besides, he'll be a little too busy, heh, wrapped up in something else."
KH-KH-KH
Night has fallen over Ant Island once more, and things look plenty grim. After a full day of forced labor, every single scrap of food once on the island has been gathered and given to Hopper and his gang. Even elderly Cornelius has been forced into laboring, and the queen and Atta haven't been allowed to leave the grasshopper's side since he arrived.
"Hey, c'mon guys, be reasonable," PT pleads to his firefly spotlights. The flea wriggles and squirms against his bonds, but Rosie's webbing has hardened into a cocoon he cannot escape from. Only his head remains uncovered. "Look, I know I haven't been the best boss in the past, but if you let me outta here, I'll consider maybe starting to pay ya. What do ya say?"
The fireflies only shake their heads and close the back flap of the cart, leaving the showman to languish in darkness. Azlyn, who was supervising, snickers to herself before rising into the air and joining her compatriots at their vantage point.
Down below, the banquet table has been set up once more, though this time it is Hopper sitting at its head. A tall, four-armed grasshopper, his light brown chitin seems formidable. One either side of him sit Atta and the queen, and the rest of the table is occupied by other grasshoppers, most of them tan or light green in color.
It seems that only the royalty gets the privilege of seating, as the rest of the colony has been herded together in what can only be described as a pen, trapped between the slope of the anthill on one side and mean-looking grasshopper guards on all others. The council stands at the front of the procession, each member either looking angry or worried. Except Mr. Soil, that is, who just recently once again tried and failed in his "feeling faint, catch me" gambit. He just looks dazed.
"It looks like they've got all the food gathered up," Telary reports, putting down his dewdrop telescope. "Whatever pageantry they're going to put on before squishing the queen, I think it's about to start."
"Still no Heartless," Sora mumbles, more to himself than the others. In a strange way, the lack of otherworldly, heart-devouring creatures of Darkness is putting the boy on edge.
"Well, then I guess it's now or never," Flik says, taking a deep breath and setting a determined look on his face. He, Dot, and Azlyn stand up, ready to head off on their own mission. "It'll probably take us about fifteen minutes to get in position. Can you all handle stalling until then?" There are various affirmative mutterings from the troupe. "Good. Get the queen safe, we'll be waiting for Gypsy's signal."
Flik and Dot head off, but before Azlyn can join them, Telary grabs her gently by the wrist. She turns to face her counterpart, who looks confident despite the small tremors in his body.
"Good luck," the wizard says sincerely, looking into Azlyn's eyes. "Make sure to be careful, okay?"
Azlyn lets out a little laugh, looking assured. "I will. But you too, alright. After all, you're gonna be the one in the middle of all the action." She takes a step closer, their eyes locked together. "Good luck."
"Ahem, Azlyn!" Dot calls softly. A sheepish look comes over the admonished knight, and she gives Telary one last nod before rushing off with her group.
Telary watches her go until Sora puts a hand on his shoulder. Startled, the redhead turns to look at his younger companion.
"She'll be okay," he assures him. "Like she said, you and I have the really tough part." The Keybearer looks away awkwardly. "I've never really done anything like this before. To tell the truth, I'm kind of scared."
"Don't worry Sora," Telary tells the spiky-haired hero. "I can get pretty bad stage fright too."
"If you're all done with your cutesy little moment fellas," Francis says, touching down on the circus cart's roof, "it's time to give Hopper and his cronies a show they'll never forget."
As the cart rounds the bend, the firefly pair blazing their spotlights into the night sky, Slim steps up to the front of the cart, grass megaphone held to his lips.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, LARVAE OF ALL STAGES," the walkingstick booms, trying his best to emulate PT's confident ringmaster style, "IT IS MY GREAT PLEASURE TO PRESENT TO YOU THE GREATEST SHOW IN THE WORLD! RUB YOUR LEGS TOGETHER FOR THE ONE, THE ONLY, PT'S AMAZING FLEA CIRCUS!"
The grasshoppers watch in utter confusion as the cart makes its way across the field in front of the banquet table, a jaunty, jazzy tune playing off a prerecorded music box. They all even stop stuffing their faces to gawk.
The bully bugs aren't the only shocked audience members either, though obviously the colony ants are confused for an entirely different reason. Princess Atta can suddenly scarcely feel her entire body, she's so shocked. She tenses, hoping that Hopper doesn't take notice.
The cart parades before the grasshoppers for a long minute, music still blaring out into the otherwise silent night. Finally, Francis tugs on the shoestring reins and signals the centipedes below to halt.
Hopper stands up, looking very, very perturbed. "Wait just a minute!" he demands, the command so forceful that it startles Rosie, who stumbles back into the music box, knocking it off the cart and sending it to the rocky ground, where it smashes into several pieces, its music slowly morphing into a scarily deep mess of random noise before dying entirely.
"I sink I'm going to wet myself," Heimlich squeaks out.
"Steady, Heim," Sora assures his fleshy friend. "Just stay calm."
"What is the meaning of this?" Hopper asks, his wings buzzing as he hovers over the banquet table to land in front of the troupe. His expression has not changed. He looks back at Atta. "Is this your doing, Princess?"
Atta opens her mouth, but no words come out. She's too scared to even speak.
"Why yes, in fact, it is!" Telary says quickly, hopping down from the cart and drawing Hopper's focus off of the princess. "When she heard you were coming, she sent for us right away!"
"She wanted it to be a big surprise," Sora adds, stepping up next to Telary. "So, uh, surprise!"
"Only the best for her honored guests!" Slim finishes with a smile.
Hopper's angry look turns thoughtful, glancing around the cart as if he's cataloguing everything he can see. His eyes linger briefly on the eyedropper cannon that currently contains Tuck and Roll, then give Gypsy's wings a borderline lecherous glance.
"I see," he says after a long, agonizing minute of silence. All in all, he seems to have come around. "Squish 'em."
At the word of their leader, every grasshopper at the banquet table takes to the air, their quickly vibrating wings filling the clearing with a disturbing, horrifying buzz. They approach, all of them grinning maliciously. Except one, that is, a rounder grasshopper who seems to be only halfheartedly enjoying the coming mayhem.
The circus bugs all back away, terrified. Only Sora reacts with any aggression, whipping out his hand and summoning the Keyblade. Unfortunately the boy is still too close to Telary, and the smooth silver shaft of his weapon collides with the wizard's stomach.
"Oof!" Telary moans, letting out a surprised gust of air. Startled, Sora turns to check on his friend, only to whack him once more on the chest. This hit has more force to it, and the cricket stumbles back.
The grasshoppers stop midair, entranced by the spectacle before them. Even Hopper looks marginally less murderous.
Dim is also watching events unfold between the offworlders, and in his distracted state he doesn't look where he's going, accidently setting off the cannon. Tuck and Roll, all rolled up in their spherical forms, ricochet off the side of the cart, flying through the air and knocking into Telary's back. With another grunt, the wizard falls on his face.
Adding insult to injury, the pillbugs pop up and immediately go into their rehearsed dance, completely unaware of the fallen Telary. They prance around and sing for a few seconds, then end with a big flourish.
"You fired!" the pill bugs call out, arms stretched wide.
For a long moment there's only more silence, every non-grasshopper in the area filled with anxiety and fear.
Hopper's thoughtful look returns, though this time it doesn't stay long, his mouth stretching into an amused smirk that still somehow seems cruel.
"Now that's funny," he declares, which the rest of his gang take as a cue to start laughing, doubling over. "All right, I guess we could use some entertainment!"
The rest of the gang cheers, taking their seats once again as Hopper returns to the head of the table.
"Hopper," Atta says apologetically, her voice returned but trembling, "about not telling you, I…"
"Relax Princess," Hopper says, patting her on her crowned head patronizingly. "You actually managed to do something correct for once." He gestures to his right. "Look how happy you've made Molt."
"The circus, the circus, I love the circus!" Hopper's brother, the rotund grasshopper, sings happily, all four of his hands clapping delightedly.
Hopper glares over the queen. "That's enough, Molt!"
"Shutting up."
Atta turns away from the brothers, still unsure as to what the purpose of all this is. And where could Flik be, surely he's come back with the performers. Maybe he's just hiding from the grasshopper's sight, but that doesn't explain why Azlyn is also…
Looking up, she finally realizes what's going on. It takes everything she's got just to hold in her shocked gasp, but she manages, not wanting to call any of Hopper's attention to her.
Or to the procession of ants (and one hornet) crawling up the side of the tree, headed for the hollow at the top and the artificial bird contained within. Atta bites her lip, silently praying that Flik can succeed.
Meanwhile, Sora helps Telary back to the cart while Rosie, Dim, and the pillbugs set up for the first act.
"Sorry about all that," the Keybearer apologizes, glancing at the wizard's stomach.
"It's alright," he assures the younger bug, patting his shoulder. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go put all that studying I did about insect healing to work."
The show goes on, Rosie taking the stage first to "battle" against Dim with a shoelace whip, Tuck and Roll riding atop the rhinoceros beetle and playing the role of damsels in distress. Hopper doesn't seem too moved by the piece, until one of Rosie's snaps goes wide, knocking Tuck from atop Dim's back.
Slim comes in next, juggling five berries in his four arms while simultaneously telling jokes.
"So, how many roaches does it take to screw in a lightbulb?" he asks casually, as if he isn't playing catch with himself.
"HOW MANY!" Molt yells out enthusiastically, earning another disgusted glare from his brother.
Atta takes advantage of the moment to check Flik's progress. She looks up just in time to see the procession of Blueberries enter the hollow.
"Can't tell!" Slim finishes, tossing all his berries into the air. "Light goes on, they scatter!"
"Boo!" Sora calls out over the grasshoppers' laughter, emerging from behind the trailer with something obscured behind his back. "You stink!"
"Oh yeah?" Slim demands, mock indignantly. "Well, what are you going to do about it?"
"This!" Sora thrust the object behind his back, a small prop pie made of grass and berries, into Slim's face, knocking the walkingstick over and scattering berry juice and bits everywhere. The grasshoppers laugh twice as hard, and even Hopper allow himself a chuckle.
"Hey, zat's not fair!" Heimlich says, arms crossed. Francis is hovering up to the caterpillar, a pie of his own held in one hand. "How come he gets pie?"
"Oh, you want pie too?" Francis asks, over-the-top as always. He turns to the audience with a smile. "Well, should I give it to him?"
The chorus that emerges from the audience is too loud and jumbled to make out individual words, but it seems overwhelmingly affirmative.
"Okay," Francis concedes with a shrug at Heimlich. "Here ya go!"
The audience nearly shed their carapaces from laughter. Telary looks at the grasshoppers before turning back to the tree. Everything seems to be in place. All that's left now is the grand finale.
"Manny," the wizard calls to the praying mantis, who is already all turbaned up and ready to go, "get the box out. It's time for the showstopper."
KH-KH-KH
Azlyn watches through a telescope from the tree hollow. Behind her, the Blueberry girls are loading themselves into the bird and getting a crash course from Flik in its operation.
All seems to be going well down there, and the knight tries to remain calm. But she can't help how her heart flutters every time she sees Telary anywhere near one of those nasty grasshoppers.
The only thing more terrifying is that she knows what the feeling means. Even in the form of a bug, a disgusting creature that Azlyn would downright relish squishing as a human, Telary can still stir up her feelings like no one else.
She's in love with Telary, and she doesn't think she can hide it any longer.
KH-KH-KH
"From the mystical, uncharted lands of the Far East," Manny's spiel begins as Dim and Sora push a Chinese takeout box to the center of the floor, "I give you, the Box of Metamorphosis!"
A collective "Oooh" of awe rises up from the grasshoppers, with the exception of Hopper. Personally, he liked it better when bugs were getting hit in the face.
"Now," Telary addresses the crowd, stepping up beside the praying mantis, "using his all-powerful psychic senses of, um, selection, Manny the Magnificent will choose a volunteer from the audience. Your Magnificence?"
Manny puts on a big show selecting the volunteer, closing his eyes tight and placing one hand on his forehead. He holds the other out, as if pulling psychic vibes in from the crowd. As an actual wizard, Telary finds all the pageantry somewhat insulting, but he holds his tongue.
"Pick me, pick me!" Molt chants, pressing his upper hands hard against his temples. "I'm asking you with my mind!"
The oafish grasshopper (who to Telary has begun to come off as like a less-threatening Pete) feels hope swell in his heart as the magician approaches him, looking like he's got a particularly strong feeling.
"Yes, I am sensing the one I require." Manny stops and opens his eyes, and Molt keels over in happiness. "Your Majesty?"
The queen's jaw drops, and she presses a hand against her thorax while saying, "Me, really?"
Her other hand reaches out to grasp Manny's, and she looks to Hopper for permission to join in.
"Aw, what the Hell," the grasshopper declares with a dismissive shrug. As the elderly ant follows Manny to the box, he leans over to his cronies. "Who knows, maybe he'll saw her in half."
The grasshoppers snicker, and Atta closes her hand into a fist beneath the table.
KH-KH-KH
Azlyn keeps a steady eye on the trick unfolding below, ticking off mental boxes at every step. The queen gets on Dim, who flies her into the box. Gypsy is waiting in the box, and Dim comes out before the lid closes.
Manny begins his over the top spell, chanting and waving his arms about. Azlyn can almost hear it from all the way up here, and knows that all the showboating must be driving Telary absolutely nuts.
Behind the cover of the takeout box, the queen sticks her head out from under Dim's back carapace, only for Sora to wave her back in, urging caution. So far, so good.
It's grand finale time, and Telary gives the box a quick spin for effect. The grasshoppers seem engaged enough, one of them leaning so far forward he threatens to pitch head-over-feet.
Manny gives one last flourish, and Gypsy bursts forth from the box, magnificently displaying the intricate patterns and colors of her wings. The grasshoppers burst into cheers, laughter, and applause as Gypsy lands and takes her husband's hand for their bow. As she dips down, her wings flutter.
The signal has been sent up.
"Okay, Flik!" Azlyn calls, flying into the bird's mouth and taking the copilot seat behind Flik. "Gypsy just gave us the green light."
Flik nods resolutely. Sticking his head out, he calls to the boys below to unencumber the bird. A large, Y-shaped stick holds the facsimile in place, and further up a short trench two straight twigs keep a rock in place that's heavy enough to knock the bird loose.
Azlyn hangs on to the sides of the cockpit, taking a deep breath to maintain calm. Internally, she wishes that Telary were the one about to take this contraption to wing. She's always felt safe with him at the controls.
Suddenly it occurs to the knight that her anticipatory moment has gone on a little long. They should be moving by now.
"Flik, what's wrong?" she whispers up to the pilot, who looks back at her concernedly.
"The rock got stuck," he announces, terror making his voice go cold. "We can't get out!"
"Well someone had better think of something!" Azlyn hisses at him, wishing she still had a view of events below. "We don't have time for this."
That statement is, unfortunately, much truer than she knows.
KH-KH-KH
Manny and Gypsy soak up the applause from their eager audience, taking a few more bows that, incidentally, give Gypsy another chance to flash the signal.
Slim and Sora pull the box to the side, both tensing themselves for the bird's arrival. Telary stands by Dim, just in case things go wrong and he must protect the queen.
Hopper watches it all without so much as a twitch, his eyes cold and calculating. Atta makes the unfortunate choice of glancing once in his direction, and suddenly she knows that whatever plan Flik has cooked up (for who else could architect such a scheme?) is in serious jeopardy.
"Wait a minute!" the gang leader growls, banging a fist on the table. Everything stops as if some universal pause button has been pressed. The circus bugs and colony ants brace for the worst. "Where is she?"
"Why, uh, she's right here!" Sora declares, waving a hand at Gypsy. "Didn't you hear how many times Manny the Magnificent said the word 'transformation'? I thought you were the brains of this outfit?"
Back by Dim, Telary groans quietly. "C'mon, Sora, don't antagonize the bug who can order us all squished."
Hopper buzzes over the table, his gang tensing in anticipation of an attack order. "Tell me where she is now!"
"A magician never reveals his secrets!" Gypsy states definitively, grasping her husband's upper arm.
"I'm not going to ask again," Hopper declares coldly, stalking forward with his gang hovering behind him. "Where. Is. The queen!"
KH-KH-KH
Azlyn scrambles out of her seat quickly, reaching back to grasp her shield. It seems that she is going to have to forgo her ride.
Beating her wings in a steady buzz, the knight flies out of the bird's mouth, past the bewildered Flik. Alighting in front of the Y-shaped stick, she pulls her arm back and hurls her trusty disk.
The metal shield proves more than forceful enough to knock the wooden twig down, and the bird lands flat on its belly with a loud thump. Azlyn quickly ducks out of the way, watching as it slides out of the hollow and into the air.
The knight hangs back to watch as the bird descends on the unsuspecting enemies below. A loud screech echoes through the air, courtesy of Dot and their shell-amplification trick.
Smiling, Azlyn begins her own descent into the chaos below, fervently hoping she'll get to catch some of the terrified looks on the grasshoppers' faces.
KH-KH-KH
It only takes the first cry from the artificial bird's mouth for Telary to know that Flik's plan can work. Hopper, who had just been about to wrap his hands around Sora's neck, looks up in abject horror at the sound. His eyes widen, and a cry of his own escapes.
The bird buzzes the air above Hopper before swinging back up into the night sky, the long cable keeping it aloft nearly invisible in the darkness. In a glorious display that no one could have planned so perfectly, it silhouettes itself against the moon before diving back down.
"A bird, a bird!" Hopper cries, running about with his hands waving above his head comically. He runs into Molt, ducking behind his brother like a shield. "Don't let it get me! Don't let it get me!"
With their boss's usual cool, in-control demeanor in shambles, the rest of the grasshopper gang have little hope of maintaining any bravado of their own.
Adding to the terror and confusion is the colony, hundreds of ants suddenly surging forward, out of their pen and into the clearing. The performers pick up the hint too, scattering and screaming bloody murder. Even Atta vaults over the banquet table, letting out a whoop of triumph.
Knowing good drama when they see it, the circus fireflies send up their light, sweeping through the sky like spotlights.
The bird makes another low pass, Dot screeching out a warning cry. Deciding that there's still room for a little extra helping of spectacle, Slim passes a berry to Telary.
Hopper is going crazy, keeping low to the ground and literally crawling away from the repeated passes of the predator above. As it swoops up again, Hopper rises to his feet and takes off sprinting, only to run smack dab into another horror.
"Help me!" Slim cries, clutching a hand to his face. Red fluid leaks out between the walkingstick's fingers. Letting out another pitiful moan, he pulls his hand away. "You've got to help me, my eye!"
Hopper gasps at the sight of a bloody mess where Slim's eye once was. Screaming once more, the grasshopper turns tail and flees.
But there is no escape from this horror, Sora and a few ants crawling along the ground in front of Hopper with red staining their bodies. Disemboweled, no doubt, they cry uselessly into the night. Upon seeing them, Hopper lets loose a scream of his own.
Peeking out from beneath Dim's carapace, the queen laughs at the sight of her people's longtime bully being brought so low.
Azlyn touches down next to Telary, who has just frightened off a few more grasshoppers with a feigned arm loss.
"Things are going well," she observes, her casualness standing out amidst the surrounding chaos. "We'll have 'em on the run in no time." Telary grimaces at her. "What?"
"You just had to say that, didn't you?" The wizard sighs, bracing for the inevitable fly in the ointment.
In truth, that fly is in fact a flea, with lighter fluid playing the role of ointment.
On one pass Flik, enjoying the sight of the grasshoppers on the run a bit too much, forgets to pull up in time, and the bird slams into PT's circus cart, busting the cardboard box wide open.
PT, coming quickly unwrapped from Rosie's web cocoon, lands on the rocky ground with a thud, various props and circus matériel dropping around him.
"Aaah, a bird!" the showman cries, bouncing to his feet and observing the attacking avian making pass after pass. Following its flight, PT stumbles upon a sight that settles an ice cold fear in his belly.
"Oh, this is the end!" Manny moans to a grasshopper. His torso is splattered with blood, and even more of it leaks from a head wound. "Woe is me, oh, woe is me!"
"Manny!" PT feels numb, so utterly devastated by the loss confronting him. How is he supposed to find another magic act before the rainy season starts?
Looking around, PT finds only more horror surrounding him. Rosie's thorax has been cut open, Slim is effectively blind, and Heimlich's head is just plain gone!
"I'm bleeding munny here!" PT laments. "Literally!" Looking around for something, anything, that can stop this massacre before he has to find and hire, not to mention negotiate the contracts of, a completely new set of incompetent idiots, the ringmaster's eyes settle on two containers that hold just what he needs.
Flaming Death, one night only.
Sora and Francis have just finished playing dead for a trio of traumatized grasshoppers when they spot PT grab a match and bounce over to a large tube.
The ladybug lets out a gasp, activating his wings and charging forward. Sora takes the hint and sprints alongside him.
"What's going on?" the Keybearer asks as he and the clown make their way to the cackling flea.
"Flaming Death!" PT inadvertently answers, his eyes fixed on the bird as it dives down towards him. With a mighty leap, he lands atop the lighter fluid tube, releasing a thick, steady torrent that reeks of gasoline. A flick of his wrist lights the match in his hands, sticking the flame into the stream of accelerant and setting it ablaze.
Despite Flik's best efforts, the bird slams right into the blaze, the dry, dry leaves of its tail catching on fire. The flames beginning to spread immediately. In the light of the inferno, the contraption's guiding strand is clearly illuminated.
Hopper stops and watches the now-obviously fake bird careen through the air, the fire still spreading along its body. Realizing that he's been played, the grasshopper scowls darkly.
Azlyn and Telary watch in horror. The knight activates her wings, only for Telary to firmly grasp her wrist in both hands, holding her back.
"Telary, let me go!" she demands tugging away to no avail. "My girls are all in there, I have to help!"
"No!" Telary declares, giving one last firm tug on his counterpart that sets her feet back on the ground. The look in his eyes is pure sadness. "It's too dangerous. You can't risk it."
"But Flik…"
Screams from the colony interrupt Azlyn's protest, and the Disney Castle pair turn just in time to see the bird, now disconnecting from its guide, fall through the air and impact against the anthill, sending pebbles flying up in the air. She finally manages to break Telary's grip as it goes slack in terror.
The entire colony converges at a safe distance from the burning bird, but Atta rushes further in, ready to greet the Blueberries as the emerge, coughing and choking on the smoke.
"Where's Dot?" the princess asks as she looks over the girls, panic and fear shaking her voice like a leaf in the wind.
A scream pierces the air, and Atta turns to see that Hopper has her little sister by the head, lifting the terrified young ant high into the air.
Azlyn touches down and hurls her shield, but all it takes is a negligent flick from Hopper to send it away. She grunts frustratedly and charges forward, but Atta stops her.
Hopper stands before the assembled colony, his hostage held high for all to see. He looks even more terrifying than before, the flickering firelight reflecting in his eyes. Even Sora has to pause, the Keyblade remaining unsummoned.
"Whose idea was this?" Hopper demands, his usually smooth voice roughened with rage. He casts his glare about the colony, staring them all down with a fierce snarl. Finally, he rests his gaze on Atta. "Was it yours, Princess?"
As the grasshopper stalks forward, Azlyn herds the Blueberries behind her. "Just stay behind me girls, everything's gonna be okay."
"Leave them alone!"
Hopper whirls around just in time to see Flik emerge from the bird's mouth. The inventor takes a step forward, hard and determined.
"Just leave them alone," he repeats, suddenly not sounding so brave. "It was my idea, I'm the one you want."
Every instinct in Sora is telling him to charge, summon the Keyblade and save the day. But intellectually, he knows he can't. This is Flik's moment, and he has no right to meddle.
"Aren't you the same ant who stood up to me the last time I came for my food?" Hopper asks almost conversationally, striding towards the defiant ant. He drops Dot on his way, and the young princess rushes immediately to her sister. "You are, aren't you?"
Tutting, the grasshopper shakes his head like Flik is a child that refuses to learn his lesson. Stopping his casual stroll, he reaches out and slaps Flik across the face.
The colony and performers all let out a gasp as the ant flies through the air, landing in a heap.
Sora can't fight his instincts anymore, and charges forward. He barely breaks the ring of the colony before two grasshoppers block his way.
"You little piece of dirt," Hopper growls at the fallen Flik. "No, wait, you're worse than dirt, lower than that. You're an ant!" He lets loose another kick, sending Flik rolling across the ground.
Sora charges one grasshopper, but the other takes advantage of his distraction. The Keybearer suddenly feels a chitinous fist against his head, and he falls to his knees, disoriented.
Telary marches forward, but Manny and Slim grab him before he can break the circle. Azlyn winces as Sora goes down, but refuses to leave Atta and the Blueberries undefended.
"Let this be a lesson to all of you ants!" Hopper declares, turning back to the colony. "You are nothing! You live worthless lives, mindlessly shoving soil because it's all you know how to do. Your only purpose is to serve us. That is why you exist!"
"You're wrong." Flik struggles to his feet, wincing at every movement but pushing on in spite of it all.
Hopper whirls on him, eyes blazing. Telary gasps as he realizes that it isn't simply the fire's reflection that is responsible. It's something much darker.
"Ants aren't weaker than grasshoppers," Flik continues, defiant in the face of danger. Of Darkness. "I've seen this colony do great things." He gesture to the still smoldering bird. "They built that, and it was good enough to fool you! Good enough to scare you. Year after year, we not only collect enough food for ourselves, but for your gang too! So tell me Hopper, who needs who in this equation, huh?"
All around, the colony begins to realize the truth of Flik's words. Without them, the grasshoppers would most likely starve, too lazy to gather their own sustenance. The cycle relies on the ants, not the grasshoppers!
Hopper looks around, realizing that his hold on the situation is slipping. Inside, his Darkness only grows.
"We ants are a lot stronger than you've made us think we are," Flik says defiantly. "And you know that, don't you Hopper?"
Almost out of options, Hopper knocks Flik down again, then raises his foot into the air above the ant's cranium. He's going to shut that loud mouth permanently, even if he has to take out the rest of the head to do it!
Before he gets the chance, Princess Atta, no longer nervous or unsure, finally confident in her abilities as a leader, steps in front of him, shielding Flik with her body.
"Well, hello Princess," Hopper greets the winged ant condescendingly. "It's nice of you to want to help out your boyfriend, but…"
"Um, Hopper," Molt suddenly interrupts, his voice shaking. "I hate to interrupt, but I think you're gonna want to see this."
The gang leader whirls around to face the sea of ants, all of them scowling at the bug who has bullied them for years, and whose kind has been doing the same even longer than any of them can remember.
It's payback time.
"Here's the thing, Hopper," Atta says, zipping up to the grasshopper's face. "Nature has a certain order. The ants pick the food, the ants keep the food… And the grasshoppers leave."
The colony and circus bugs charge forward as one, a massive mob of blue attacking like a wave breaking against the shore.
Sora rise and summons the Keyblade, then spins around to knock down the pair of grasshoppers that had been looming over him. They cry out in alarm and retreat to the skies.
"This was such a bad idea," Molt informs the remaining grasshoppers, a bit too late. "I told ya we should've just stayed back at the sombrero, but did anybody listen to me? No, no they did not!"
As soon as the last word has left Molt's mouth, the mob is on him. The cowardly bug screams like a child, running away so fast he leaves his shed skin behind.
"No, come back!" Hopper calls to his fleeing minions. "You can't be scared of them, they're just ants! I said get back here, you…"
The rest of Hopper's words are quickly crushed beneath a massive flood of "just ants".
Sora rushes up to Atta, helping her pick Flik up off the ground.
"I am so proud of you!" the princess congratulates the inventor, yelling over the activity all around.
"Me too, Flik!" Sora agrees, thumping his friend on the back. Unfortunately said friend is still rather sore from his beating. "Oh, uh, sorry."
"C'mon guys!" Azlyn calls out. She hovers in the air while below a crowd of ants hold the struggling Hopper above their heads. They're carrying him over to the eyedropper cannon, all set up to launch the gang leader away. Permanently.
As Hopper gets stuffed in the cannon, struggling and screaming all the while, Sora, Azlyn, and Telary regroup.
"It's just like I told ya, Azlyn," Sora says to the knight. "People need to find their own courage. All we can do is give them a little push."
She rolls her eyes. "Yeah, yeah." Turning to Telary, she notices that her counterpart is silent, his face twisted contemplatively. She still thinks it's cute, though. "What is it Tel?"
The wizard looks a bit startled at the interruption of his thoughts. "Oh, it's nothing," he replies with a shrug. Hopper's in the cannon now, and Flik seems to be giving him some parting words. "It's just that, well, Hopper got pretty mad there near the end, and I saw something with his eyes that…"
"Made you nervous?" Sora finishes, already summoning the Keyblade. "Come on guys, let's get up there. I think the colony is about to need some interference."
Beaten, humiliated, and about to be launched into oblivion, Hopper has finally had enough. All he wants to do is crush these stupid, rebellious little weaklings like the insects they are. It consumes him, the desire for it burning cold in his heart.
Sora pushes through another clump of ants, noting that Hopper's eyes have completed their transition to Heartless yellow. The colony notices that something seems amiss as well, their newfound confidence suddenly faltering.
The offworld trio just barely reach the cannon in time for Hopper to unleash a blast of crackling purple and black energy from his body. The nearest ants cry out and rush back several steps as the eyedropper cannon explodes into scrap.
Momentarily stunned by the Darkness, Sora finds himself too late to stop the inevitable escalation. Hopper's Heartless, nothing more than a nigh-mindless mass of Darkness, vengeance, and anger, bursts through the air to grab Flik. The inventor lets out a helpless cry as the pair take off into the sky.
"Flik!" Atta yells, taking off right after the creature formerly known as Hopper, hot on its tail.
Azlyn rises as well, grabbing Sora under his arms and lifting him into the air.
"What about me?" Telary asks, miffed in spite of the dire situation around him.
"I can only carry one," Azlyn explains. "Keep an eye out, more Heartless might show up!"
"C'mon, Azlyn, we're losing them!" Sora calls up to his ride.
With a last meaningful glance at her old friend, Azlyn takes to the skies in pursuit of one of her new ones.
Azlyn pushes it hard, and in no time the pair are matched with Atta, Flik and the Heartless carrying him only a few inches ahead. By then they've left Ant Island, the chase now hovering over the cracked dry riverbed.
"Pull up a little, Azlyn!" Sora commands, Keyblade in hand. "I need a good shot, or this won't work."
Azlyn complies, and Sora wriggles his right arm free, rearing it back in preparation for his throw. Azlyn jukes to the left, aligning him a little better, and he lets loose.
The mystical key spins end over end as it charges through the open air towards Hopper's Heartless, naturally seeking out its great enemy. Moving so fast it looks like a solid silver disc, the blade hits home, scoring a direct hit where Hopper's wings meet his body.
A great cloud of loose Darkness kicks up, and the Heartless falters, dropping its cargo and falling like a meteor towards the edge of the riverbed.
Atta quickly gets under Flik, grabbing him around the waist to save him from plummeting as well. Azlyn and Sora only get a quick glance at them as they follow the fallen Heartless, intent on finishing it off once and for all.
"Follow them!" Flik calls to Atta. The princess momentarily hesitates, then nods and begins her descent.
Azlyn drops Sora to the ground while still a few inches up, and he drops and rolls twice before settling into a standing position, the Keyblade appearing in his hand.
Hopper's Heartless stands inches away, in front of some kind of woven twig structure that is impossible to identify in the dark of the night. The former grasshopper's tan chitin has turned pitch black, and tiny spots of Darkness hover around it. Once again Sora is reminded of the hunter Clayton, the first man he'd seen give into the Darkness of the Heartless. This, however, actually seems a worse example.
They stand off against one another until Azlyn sets down on Sora's right. On his left, Atta and Flik take positions.
"Flik!" Sora exclaims, looking to the inventor with horror in his eyes. "What are you doing here? That Heartless is gonna…"
"Squish," the Heartless chokes out, eyes blazing yellow as they focus on Flik and Atta. "Squish. You!"
Sora and Azlyn brace for battle, wondering what terrible form the creature's attacks will take…
They don't get to find out, as it happens, because right as Hopper's Heartless prepares its charge, the finch that had terrorized the circus bugs only days ago lands in its nest, lets out a curious tweet, and scoops the creature formerly known as Hopper into its mouth.
"Uh…" Sora can't even begin to find the words, only wincing as the flesh-and-blood bird swallows the Heartless without even bothering to chew. "Well, okay then."
"I don't get it," Flik declares, turning to the offworlders. "What happened to Hopper? Why did he transform like he did? What was that strange energy blast he used to escape the cannon?"
Sora chuckles good-naturedly. "Tell you what, Flik, I'll explain everything once we're back at the colony." He turns away. "Let's go."
"Uh, Sora," Azlyn nudges the Keybearer. "I think you might want to hold off on that for just a quick minute."
"What?" Turning around, Sora suddenly grasps the knight's concern all too well.
The bird that ate Hopper lets out a screech of pain, throwing its head back as black tendrils cover it from head to toe. The shadows reach out to engulf it, squeezing the finch like an encroaching net. With a last throe of pain, the entire upper half of the bird explodes into black Darkness, the rest of the body disappearing in violet light.
A Heartless steps out of the remains of the avian, and one Sora knows well. The pitch black monstrosity looms over the ants and Azlyn, staring down at the quartet with yellow eyes. Thick tendrils like unruly hair covers its face, and a heart-shaped chunk is missing from its torso.
The Darkside flexes its claws. Sora and Azlyn drop into fighting stances, while the colony ants just step back, unsure of what else to do. Still gazing down at them impassively, the Heartless raises a massive arm.
It unexpectedly throws its arm back, sweeping away the bird's nest. Something shines from the ground underneath, casting light into the air in a shape that is all too familiar to Sora and Azlyn.
"A Keyhole?" the Keybearer mutters to himself.
The Darkside turns and once again lifts its arm, this time intending to plunge it into the Keyhole, and thus the world's heart. Realizing what is about to happen, Sora charges forward, hoping he can get to the Keyhole in time to stop what is about to happen…
He needn't worry, as suddenly Gypsy dives in front of the massive Heartless's eyes, deploying her dizzying wing patterns once again. For a brief, important moment, the Darkside is distracted.
The distraction continues as Francis flies in, Slim held in his hands like a struggle bat. With a loud grunt of exertion, the ladybug slams his fellow clown into the creature's noggin before quickly rising out of its reach.
That alone would probably not be enough it wasn't for Telary, riding atop Dim's back and casting fire spells as quickly as he can.
Darkside backs up a step, and Sora rushes forward to slam the Keyblade into its shadowy leg.
It turns to sweep the boy away, but a blizzard spell coats the tendrils covering its face, once again delaying a fatal attack.
Azlyn picks up Sora once again, guiding him up to the Heartless's face. With a mighty grunt of effort, the Keybearer slams into the creature's countenance full force. That seems to be all it takes, and the Darkside that once was Hopper explodes out of existence, leaving behind only a quickly fading crystalline heart to show for itself.
Azlyn and Sora now hover above the Keyhole, set into the ground that was once below the finch's nest. Without any prompting from its wielder, the Keyblade gathers light at its tip, coalescing into a beam that plunges into it.
There's a loud click, and then the path to A Bug's World's heart fades, sealed forever.
Everyone regroups on the ground near the Keyhole once shown, all of them plenty confused.
"Well, I'm really glad we could help you guys out," Francis says. "But what was that all about?"
"Y'know," Sora replies with a frown, "I really don't know."
KH-KH-KH
The next morning, Sora, Azlyn, and Telary prepare to take their leave. They have some questions they need answered, and those answers won't be found here, gate or no gate.
"Thank you for everything you did for the colony," Atta tells Sora formally. Flik stands beside her, grinning at the Keybearer. "In some cases I'm not actually sure what it is you did, but thank you all the same."
Sora smiles right back at the princess and the inventor. "Well, thank you for being so welcoming towards us."
Azlyn is standing a ways away, surrounded by crying Blueberries. She looks down at the ant children knowing that her skin should be crawling, but only feeling the sadness that comes from leaving good friends.
"Now, don't let all your combat skills go to waste," the knight manages to instruct through tears of her own. "Just because those grasshoppers are gone doesn't mean this place won't need protecting again. It'll be all up to you then."
"We promise!" the scouts chorus, each of them giving their denmother a salute.
Francis approaches Azlyn and gives her a friendly pat on the back. "Me and the rest of the clowns are staying, and I'll keep denmothering, but it just won't be the same without ya, Az."
"No," Azlyn agrees. "It probably won't."
Francis herds the kids away, and Telary approaches his counterpart. "I know I already said it, but you make a surprisingly great mother."
She turns to look at him, a smile on her face. As they hold the gaze, her expression turns serious.
"I think we have something we need to talk about," she says after a moment of courage-gathering.
"What?" the wizard asks with a concerned look.
Azlyn shakes her head. "No, not while we're still all buggy." She gives him a half-grin. "This is definitely a conversation I want to be human for."
"Uh, okay," Telary replies, confused but also nervous for some reason. It feels like his heart is beating at twice its normal speed.
Shoving their weirdness aside for a moment, the Disney Castle pair rejoin Sora, Flik, and Atta.
"Well, Flik," Sora says to the inventor, one hand on his shoulder, "thanks for getting us all mixed up in this." He smirks. "You really messed up, my friend."
At that moment, a familiar sensation washes over Sora. Looking up, he sees that Atta's crown has risen from her head, hovering in the air with a halo of light surrounding it.
Sora's Keyblade opens the path, and it's finally really time to move on.
And so the first visit Disney Worlds (minus Space Paranoids, which has kind of a unique situation) come to an end. As per usual, this was some of the most fun work to adapt, especially since I got to add in my own worlds, and do some expanding of the ones in the game. I apologize once again for lack of Pride Lands, but overall I don't think the work suffers for it.
I decided pretty last minute that I'd throw the Keyholes back into the mix for the heck of it, and to give a bit more of an explanation as to why SAT will be visiting the worlds again. Except for A Bug's World, which is officially dunzo. (Since I have sweet FA of an idea what I'd do with it)
And oh, Azlyn has come to terms with the romantic feelings she has for Telary, and the wizard has accepted his own emotions as well. Nothing could possibly keep them apart any longer, right? Maybe. ;)
Twilight Town's 2nd visit will probably be pretty short, and thus most likely out more quickly. After mapping a few more things out, I think I can be done with KttK2 by the end of the year. Though once again, that's a maybe.
Thanks to Crescent Sunrise for last chapter's review, and I once again ecourage more people to leave their comments. To wit, I've decided to pose a question here that I hope you'll answer in your reviews: Favorite world visit so far (and why, of course). I'd really like to know.
Anyway, until next time!