The Prince and the Pauper
(This next chapter is based off the Disney version of course, but I feel has the best passion to describe this next world.)
Alan and Nadia soon found themselves in a crowded snow filled area of that looked like London, England, but four hundred and fifty years in the past. There were the old straw roofed houses to their left and right, and north of their position was a giant red coloured castle. Nadia soon then said, "I recognize this place. Alan, I read about this over five years ago before I went to law school. We're in England." "That explains why we're surrounded by poor beggars and weasel guards in shining armour." Soon enough they also heard some trifling singing coming a nearby well covered in snow and it was also Mickey and Goofy, but they were dressed in old 16th century clothing. Alan and Nadia ran as fast as they could and said "Hey Mickey!! Hi Goofy!!" Mickey and Goofy stopped dead in their tracks as they heard the happy group say what they did and Then Mickey dressed in poor peasant like clothing asked, "Do we know you?" "Don't you remember us? We helped you fight Pete back at the Disney Castle. We're your friends." Goofy scratched his head and looked at his buddy and his dog Pluto and said back to Alan and Nadia, "Sorry fellas, but we really don't know how you are. That doesn't mean though we can't be friends right?" Alan and Nadia and Alan shook their heads saying, "Of course it doesn't."
Alan and Nadia then introduced themselves and Mickey and Goofy did as well. Then Alan and Nadia explained why they traveled to their world and soon enough Mickey said, "Sounds like a grand adventure you guys have been having. I wish Goofy and I had better luck though." Alan then asked, "Why is that?" "It's the king of England. He's sick and dying and what's more there's been attacks under his name. His loyal Captain Pete and those weasels of his keep threatening the townsfolk and stealing all we have." "That's terrible!!", Nadia replied. "It gets worse. There's a new guy in England as well. Folks say the guy's name is Pyraine. He's been causing even more trouble to the townsfolk than even Captain Pete has been able to do." Alan then said, "Well at least you guys have a nice place to go to for warmth, don't you?"
Mickey and Goofy fell silent and then even when Alan and Nadia were at their lowest as well feeling a sense of pity for them, Mickey then bounced back and said, "No matter though. It's only one day." Yet even as they spoke they saw a carriage with weasel guards all around it and also Pete or Captain Pete at the front of the carriage as well as a man next to Pete in blue armor. Then the guy beside him raised his hand and told them to stop. Soon every weasel got off the carriage and meanwhile Pete and the carriage rode on off to the Castle beyond the town of London and Pluto chased after a set of wieners and such that were dangling outside of the back window. As the dog barked Mickey ran after saying, "Oh dear Pluto come back!!" Soon enough they ran inside the castle doors and they shut hard behind Mickey's back as he ran in. Meanwhile, Alan and Nadia were surrounded by shifty weasels and Pyraine was staring them down in the middle of the townsquare covered in snow with Goofy hiding behind the well. Pyraine then took out his rapier as he said, "I'll keep the pleasantries short if you don't mind since we have fought before. This time however I'm ready for your feeble golden transformation." Alan and Nadia said in unison, "What?" "It is the Golden Transformation of Love or as an alias 'The Love Shield'. It is an ancient form of attack that many of our people used when we were at war and our loved ones were vulnerable. It meant that no matter how far away we were we could easily protect each other. I too once had a love of my own. She was brilliant. Beautiful. Elegant. It was a shame that invasions of the Great War led to her village and destroyed it as well as the people who lived in it as well."
Alan then asked, "I ask you then, would your love approve of what you guys have done? You steal lives away, hearts and so forth all for your selfish needs. Would she approve of you guys trying to take ten or twenty or a hundred innocent lives just for her and a few people to be brought back to life?" Pyraine then said as he saw Nadia hold Alan's hand, "I see your girl is clinging for your very protection now my boy." Alan saw Nadia's eyes light up and she transformed into her golden armour like before. Alan did so as well as he said, "You can say all you like Pyraine. All I know is that I fight to protect the people of many lands and many worlds. If you guys are going to be a thing in the way of that goal, I guess your choice and fate has already been made." Then Alan and Nadia summoned their keyblades as Pyraine took out his rapier like before and then he said, "This shall be my final dance with you 'wielders of the key'. Be warned I shall not hold back." Then a barrier came up all around them blocking off the weasel guards and closing both of them together with Pyraine. The knight rushed forward with great speed as his sword scraped the ground along with him and made a clash with Alan's keyblade, then he backflipped and slashed at Nadia's dress. Then Alan clashed yet again with Pyraine as there were hits high, low, left, right, left, right, high, center, and then Pyraine teleported away in front of Nadia as he caught her by surprise and landed a hit on her dress tearing it. She screamed as Alan sliced his back and then grabbed his face and smeared it across the snow covered townsquare. Then Pyraine slashed at Alan's backside in kind and attempted to pierce through the armour around his tree bark brown suit. Alan tried as he could holding his sword up to repel the attack, but Pyraine shot it away and landed three clean hits on the armour weakening it. Nadia rushed right at Pyraine and then slashed at her armour and gave a clean hit there as well.
Then Pyraine then threw his sword in the air and ran quickly from each corner of the barrier slashing at Alan and Nadia with his own hands and feet kicking and punching and then as Alan and Nadia summoned their keyblades back, Pyraine grabbed his sword and projected himself towards them as Nadia and Alan clashed at his sword that he held in defense and soon enough they pushed Pyraine back indubitably. Then even as Pyraine threw his sword as Alan, it missed him, but scraped Nadia's right hip and she collapsed as she threw her keyblade at his face and broke off a tiny chunk of his helmet. Pyraine's rapier dissolved and Nadia's keyblade disappeared. Alan then yelled, "Nadia as he ran right to Pyraine with his keyblade hanging above his head then Pyraine said, "Go ahead…kill me…just like my brethren. cough I…never thought that you…could even be like us… I guess…hack spit…I was…wron-". Pyraine collapsed as Alan threw down his keyblade and ran to Nadia's side and picked her up and then he asked, "Are you okay Nadia? Please…speak to me!!" Then Nadia awoke from her unconscious state and said, "Alan… look out!!" Pyraine tried to use Alan's own keyblade to stab him through his heart as he ran as fast as he could to Alan and then he summoned his keyblade back and Nadia summoned hers and together (SLASH!!). Pyraine's armour broke into a million pieces revealing his body all, but untouched and safe. Yet then Alan and Nadia looked down to his legs and saw that they were all but bleeding and so were his arms and his chest. Then Alan and Nadia as Alan gently put her on her own two feet headed to Pyraine's position and then Nadia asked him, "We're sorry for all of this Pyraine. I wish there was another way to end all of this."
Then Pyraine coughed a bit and said, "There…may be a way to end it…cough hack…spit yet it won't be easy to do young ones. …You will have to face Tyrannil, …cough…the great sorcerer and proud wielder of magic and the Dark Arts…cough, cough, cough and the leader of the Knights of the Realm himself… hack spit, Tyra, the mightiest, smartest, and most powerful of us all cough, cough, cough." Nadia then said, "If it comes to it then we won't have a choice, but to fight our way up to Obeion." Alan nodded as he asked kneeling on his left knee, "Where is the Knights of the Realm's headquarters located?" "cough, cough I can see I have no choice…cough, cough but to tell you seeing as how I don't have much time. Seek out Castle Darkhand…hack, spit it is a world of great disarray and despair. It is a place so sorrowful, so insidious and crude that I …cough, cough can't even bare to describe it…cough, cough." Then Alan said, "You've been a big help to us Pyraine. It's a shame we can't repay you back." Pyraine then said, "Oh, but you can cough, cough." He gave Alan three items to carry in his backpack: a potion labeled healing potion, a key, and a skull the size of his thumb. "Take these items back to my laboratory…cough, cough…The key can get you into every room in the castle…hack, spit…the skull unlocks a special door at the highest room in the tallest tower of the castle that my key won't get…cough, cough… and that healing potion is to combat against any dangers you may encounter on this world."
Then Nadia asked as Pyraine was in his last moments, "But why give us all of this information and stuff if I may ask?" "Obeion…cough…he has gone mad with power…cough, cough…he has lost sight of our cause…spit…If defeating my brethren will put an end to all this chaos…hack, cough…I want to see it done. There's one more thing I must say before you leave me…" "We're listening Pyraine. What is it?", Alan asked from curiosity and surprising grief. "The code for the castle drawbridge is…cough, three, four, eight, two, and nine…uahauhhaggh…cough." Pyraine then dissolved away like his sword did and Ryansk as well as Grogonopse. "May his soul rest in peace now." Then the barrier disappeared and Alan and Nadia noticed the rats were gone and goofy was talking to Mickey. Yet as they ran closer to speak to him, Mickey's speech seemed different and sophisticated. Indeed as Alan and Nadia listened to him talk to Goofy it was very different.
"Who prey tell are these fine looking knights Goofy?", the Mickey look-a-like asked. "Ah-hyuck, don't you remember Mickey? This is Alan and Nadia. They were here because of those Knights of the Realm." Then the Mickey look-a-like told Goofy to wait as he had a private word with Alan and Nadia "Ah yes. That man came like a breeze in the wind, subtly and stealthily. He was hired by my father's captain to look after the townsfolk and to collect the taxes, but he has overdone it in so many ways. That hooligan Pyraine has been devastating London for more than week now without delay and commanding my guardsmen like they were dogs on leashes. So then Alan, Nadia…I hope I haven't startled you or anything." Alan then said, "Oh no it's alright. But wait…if you said your guardsmen are being commanded, then that means…" The Mickey look-a-like smiled and closed his eyes as Alan and Nadia bowed and said in unison, "Your majesty, please forgive us." "Think nothing of it. Now please stand. You are knights. Knights are royalty in the eyes of a noble prince and a king. Now first may I ask, has Pyraine been around in the area. The last thing I heard was my father's trusted captain and the bloke left town a few hours ago to steal the food off of the peasantry to the 'North'."
Alan then said, "Let's just say his days of provoking the townsfolk are over. Now the only business left to deal with is that captain of yours." "What do you mean?", The Prince asked. "We saw him riding with your Captain as well as the weasel guards that were on board the carriage inside the castle. They have something planed I know it. I also know that he's…" Then Goofy appeared from out of nowhere and asked, "So what's your hurry fellas, Ah-hyuck!!" "Well Goofy look at the time I must be off!!", The Prince said and pretty soon Alan and Nadia followed suit right behind him as did Goofy chasing after them.
Meanwhile, back at Castle Darkhand, Tyrannil was alone in the meeting area where the Knights of the Realm and Obeion first met all together to talk about Alan and Nadia working on the last finishing touches on their secret weapon which was labeled 'Heart Extractobeam 10power3.' Tyra appeared from a portal instead of the door that was right next to him as Tyrannil asked, "I guess doors aren't what they used to be hm?" "You know why I am here Tyrannil. Those pesky kids have killed off Grogonopse, Ryansk, and Pyraine. What's more that traitor of a knight Pyraine gave them the skull, key and healing potion we entrusted him with.", Tyra explained. "It's hard to find good help these days in this universe isn't it?", Tyrannil asked. "Exactly. You and I are the last of our fellow knights now that haven't neither died nor even lost Obeion's trust.", Tyra continued. "Remembering how the six of us were together I take it in harmony and happiness. Remembering before we found out who Oben was and later Obeion when he found us once again.", Tyrannil said. Tyra shook his head violently as he said, "Keep it down. Obeion could be listening at this very moment. We are not to talk nor even think about you-know-who or 'the Bronze Traitor' as he calls him." Then as they both looked out at the dim skies of their world in Castle Darkhand, Tyrannil said in a daydream of his, "It's already too late I think…"
(Very confusing I know. Yet this is also a clue as to one of my next stories to come…after I finish the Eternal Beyond and the Legend Begins as well as the GoldConoton Tournament of course. I plan on making three new stories after this: one that will deal with Valadain's story in more depth (if you guys do remember the short subplot I did on him in the Eternal Beyond and Legend of the White Knight), another adventure of Alan and Nadia just a couple to three years before they have their first born child together and one last story that will deal with the Knights of the Realm. Each of these stories I guarantee won't surpass fifty chapters, but I will postpone until further notice. Either way, Nadia and Alan's adventures have just begun. More to come yet so stay tuned.)
(Next Time: A Danger and a Foreshadowing.)
(Review.)
