Kingdom Hearts III Keyblades Of Destiny

by PinkHeartKH

Excited for KH3? This is my version of a KH3 Story based on all the details we know so far. The worlds are in danger by the darkness again. Sora and friends must do all they can to keep the Light safe. But can they put a stop to the cunning Master Xehanort and his Organization, or will the creation of the X-blade trigger the Keyblade Wars yet again? Read on to find out. KH3 in 2019

36. Chapter 36

Hey, guys! Back with the next chapter. The one didn't take me quite as long, but I'm working towards a better working schedule for myself to get them finished quicker when I can. I'm trying... Thank you for all your support and for keeping up to date on the story though, guys. You're all the best and I really appreciate it when you take the time to let me know how the story is going in the comments! Thanks so much for the encouraging words!

So, maybe you've already got this chapter's world figured out or it'll be a surprise, either way I hope you enjoy it. It's been fun to write!

A previous reminder:

Sora and his friends have just finished helping out in the Olympus Coliseum world, along with picking up some pretty neat new abilities while they were there. Now they are on their way to their next designated world in need of saving.

Riku ad Mickey were last seen in Wonderland, where they hope to locate a special dark pathway that can help lead them to where Aqua is. Meanwhile, Kairi and Lea are finishing up on their training, safe on the tower grounds, in the special areas the wizard's have laid out for them.

On the darker side of things, the Organization continues to sow seeds of darkness as their leader commands them to while Master Xehanort waits and oversees what goes on in the balance and our heroes.

Alright, I will let you get to your reading. ^^

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Chapter 36.

Helping Friends In A Hairy Situation

Deep within a hidden glen, far off from the kingdom, stood a tall tower which was used as a secret hideaway, for its location was unknown to anyone outside and it was so far from civilization that no one ever came out that way. However, many secrets were being kept within its brick walls as two individuals resided there, safely hidden from the world beyond it. It seemed like it would remain the same for many years to come, until one day a stranger set foot in that side of the woods...

~Broken Reality plays (KH 3D OST)~

After having been chased relentlessly by one of the palace's patrol horses all morning, a man with short dark brown hair and a scruffy goatee thought he would give his pursuer the slip by sneaking behind some long vines hanging over the entrance of a cave he came across on his way, which he nearly fell through after mistaking it for a wall. His heart was thumping repeatedly in his chest as he breathlessly stood in hiding, waiting to see if he would be found by the steed. The two had kept each other running an extensive ways through the forest ever since the man and his comrades had made their heist at the palace, which immediately caught the attention of the guards. But this well known thief wasn't about to let himself get caught so easily.

He listened for a while as the hoof sounds coming from the other side were getting closer, still trying to catch his breath while he clenched the small brown sack he had around him. When he thought it would be safer to move he slowly crept back away from the vines and headed deeper into the cave, away from the horse trying to snuff him out, hoping it might lead him out to a more unused path through the deep forest. As he stepped out of a small opening in the cave he caught sight of a mysterious tower in a small gorge, where a waterfall could be seen flowing just behind it. He was in awe when he saw it, but soon he heard the horse's hooves again! Still wanting to throw off his pursuers until it was safe he decided he would try hiding up there for a while. Taking out a couple of arrows he found on his way there, more than likely the same ones that had been fired at him while he tried to outrun the law, he used them to quickly scale the tower's steep wall until he reached the top, which looked to be about six stories high from the ground. He anxiously checked behind him to make sure the coast was clear.

He carefully pulled himself up through the tower's window and climbed inside. He took a glance behind him down below to make sure he wasn't followed then breathlessly made his way in. Seeing how it looked like he'd be safe there he pulled his bag up toward him to get a better look at what he had stashed away inside it, but soon everything went black for him as he was suddenly clunked in the head by something round, hard and made of iron. After the thief fell facedown on the tower's floor, unconscious, the frightened girl who had swung the pan at him stepped out from the shadows and kept her distance as she looked down at him, scared about what she would do now that someone outside had discovered her.

~Broken Reality ends~

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The hero and his friends walked through a tunnel, wondering what kind of world they had ended up in this time. In the vast ocean between worlds they managed to find another gate which Sora was able to unlock with his Key, giving them access to the road to fly their Gummi ship through while having no idea where it would take them. They just knew there were many Worlds out there left for them to vanquish the Darkness in. This time they had been dropped off in a forest to wander through.

"Where do ya think we are this time?" Goofy asked the others.

"I don't recognize it so maybe we're in a world we've never been to." Donald answered while looking around him.

"Could be. You know there's gotta be a ton of other worlds out there we haven't seen yet." Sora agreed as they kept going in the direction the light was coming from. "You never know what kind of place we might... Aww!" Sora stopped when he caught glimpse of a crack in the wall where a radiant light shined through, wondering what could be waiting on the other side.

~Peaceful Hearts plays (KH BBS OST)~

While he and his friends were coming out of the cave through the same opening as before, they were surprised to see the breathtaking view of a big tower sitting in a grassy glen where a waterfall flowed out between the cliff walls. The area had a warm glow about it from where the light touched the side of the gorge and shown down on the soft mist where the waterfall ran into the stream. Along the rolling hillside there were vibrant yellow and white flowers growing in tall blades of grass, where at the bottom it was all surrounded by a glistening brook. But Sora and his friends were only given a short amount of time to take in the sights before Heartless showed up on the field!

~Working Together plays (KH II OST)~

The trio quickly got their weapons out and readied themselves to battle the two new species of Heartless resembling plants, with one of them being small and the other larger. The smaller ones looked like a black seed with a big yellow flower on top and leafy wings on the side, and the bigger ones had a similar appearance but with a fluffy white top on their heads, yellow fluff around their middle and green leafy arms and feet. Sora and his friends quickly fought the enemies, while the smaller ones jumped at them in all directions and spun in the wind as they descended to the ground. The larger ones, they soon discovered, were able to spawn more of the Seedlets by releasing the white fluffy seeds on their heads like spores, giving them more targets to deal with! Once they saw that battling the Heartless was pointless as long as the dandelion based enemies could just create more of them they decided to go after the larger ones first. But the Seedlets weren't making it easy for them as they gathered around the bigger ones to protect them.

Donald shot at them with his rocket flares while Goofy threw his shield to make a circle around them. "Here it comes!" Goofy wailed.

While Sora was attacking a group of them his Keyblade started to glow, letting him know it had stored up enough power to transform. He slowed down his attacks to allow it to change. It appeared as though his Key had split as he held the halves in each hand, then magical rockets were loaded into each one, with the finishing transformation giving Sora double shooters to fight with.

"Take this!" He said, then he instinctively locked on to his targets and shot at them with explosive, blue sparkling blasts while he was in the air! "(Yaa!) Fire!" The guns took out a bunch of enemies at once as it fired multiple missiles at a time!

After he'd eliminated most of the Heartless Sora's Key reverted back to its usual form and he gradually landed on the ground again.

"Thunder!" One last spell cast by Donald and the Heartless were gone.

~Working Together ends~

"I guess we know what that means." Sora commented after the Heartless showed up like they did, dismissing his Keyblade before regrouping.

"It looks like the darkness has found this world, too." Goofy pointed out.

Donald nodded, "We must be on the right track then, but who do you think lives h-"

Flynn: You coming, blondie?" The thief from earlier called up the tower as he carefully made his way down with the same two arrows he'd used getting up there. Sora and the others looked toward the tower when they heard his voice and watched from afar as two were climbing down from the tower.

A girl waiting at the top in front of the large window threw her long golden hair down until it met the ground, then she leaped out with her hands gripped around her hair and slid down, making it passed her guide, who was still having trouble making it down the tower's wall. When the girl was at the bottom she stopped and dangled by the end of her hair for a second, feeling a little hesitant about touching the ground for she had never once left her tower until now and she was afraid with it being her first time outside. She carefully felt the prickly grass with her foot then finished making her way down. The grass was much softer than she thought it would be she soon realized. She grinned as a great excitement came over her.

Not long after had she taken a few steps from the tower when an ambush of Heartless appeared to attack. "Aaah! Oh no!" She staggered back frightened as Flynn was just making it down.

~Rowdy Rumble plays (KH II OST)~

"Wha— Stay back!" The man warned her when he saw the strange creatures. He felt nervous about them, too, as he'd never seen their kind before either.

"Ah!" Sora gasped when he saw the two surrounded by Heartless. "C'mon, we've got to help them!" Donald and Goofy followed close behind him as he hurried across the grassy plane.

As Heartless appeared in their path they knocked them away with their weapons to make it passed. They slid down the hillside and splashed into the water at the bottom, quickly making their way right through it to the other side, with Heartless showing up everywhere they turned. In order to help him quickly clear the way Sora transformed his Keyblade back into its Shooting Star form which was better equipped for spewing out magic based attacks. With his Key, he then made a whirlwind with his Aero spell he'd recently recalled how to use and blew the enemies away around them.

They had finally made it to where the two people were being attacked and with their weapons, Sora, Donald and Goofy took on the plant-like foes. "Just sit tight, we'll take care of them!" Sora told them while going into his battle stance. The two behind him were startled to see the heroes, leading to the girl with long hair getting back behind Flynn.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Flynn said in a panic, worried about getting found again by the guards.

Sora cast another Aero spell to catch the enemies in the air then began swinging at them with the Keyblade. Donald shot at them with Fire, while Goofy twirled into them with his Shield. Soon all the Heartless were dealt with and the area was clear. Sora stood up and dismissed his weapon while his allies did the same, then they turned around to meet their new friends. With the girl still trying to hide behind him Flynn began shaking his head.

~Rowdy Rumble ends~

"This just hasn't been my day..." He admitted with a sigh. "What were those things? And who are you guys?" Flynn questioned frantically.

Sora stepped forward to introduce him and his friends. "I'm Sora, and this is Donald, and he's Goofy." He replied, gesturing to the others as he said their names. "Those monsters you saw are called Heartless."

"And who are you?" Donald asked the man.

Flynn acted surprised to hear they didn't know who he was and a little relieved, too. "You mean you've never heard of me?" The man doning turquoise vest over a white long-sleeved shirt, coupled with dark cream pants and brown bucket-top boots replied, while the others just gave him a blank look. He grinned to himself slyly when he saw they had no idea he was a wanted thief and quickly changed his whole attitude towards them, becoming more suave. "Well then, the name's Flynn Rider. Bold and daring adventurer and best known swashbuckler in all the kingdom."

"Is...it safe?" The girl whispered from behind Flynn. Sora and the others saw the girl hiding from them. Donald tried to get closer but his flat foot got caught in the long hair beside him, causing him to fall over.

"Wak!" He said as his bill smacked the ground. He moved his eyes over to the gold hair laying across the grass in front of him and was astounded by how long it appeared to be.

"I think it's all right to come out now, blondie, they seem like an agreeable bunch to me." Flynn answered back. She slowly made her way around him, holding her frying pan steady in her hands while her small green companion, a chameleon named Pascal, watched them closely where he sat on her shoulder.

Sora and Goofy smiled at the young women with the long blonde hair wearing a purple dress walking towards them. Her light green eyes studied the trio carefully as she was completely new to meeting people after being confined up in the tower with her so-called mother for nearly eighteen years. She saw Donald laying on the ground and felt bad for the duck.

~Peaceful Hearts plays (KH BBS OST)~

"Oops! Sorry...about that." She apologized for her hair. Donald climbed back to his feet.

"Hey. Are you okay?" Sora asked her.

"Y-yes. I'm fine." She answered a little nervously before clearing her throat and standing up straight again. "Ahem... My name's Rapunzel and...I really don't get out much, heheh." She giggled.

"Seriously, I don't think she ever gets out." Flynn remarked to the heroes with his hand near his mouth.

"Ooookay, that's enough about me. Thank you for helping us." Rapunzel said before her attention was caught by the beautiful flowers surrounding them in the grass. Finding herself helplessly drawn to them, she wandered away from them and got down on the ground to have a closer look at them, along with all the wonders around her on her first day outside the tower.

"Er...yeah. So..." Flynn started to say when he and the others took notice of the girl's odd behavior, as she was now sprawled out over the grass, happily laughing to herself. "I guess she just really loves the great outdoors...and fresh air." He tried to speak up for her, just trying to imagine how her actions seemed to the trio.

As Rapunzel started running in the field her long hair started to drag behind her. Sora crouched down to watch the seemingly endless hair get pulled along with her. "Is all that really...hair?" Sora questioned looking surprised.

"Garwsh..." Goofy added while looking down at it, too.

"The girl there does have quite a head of hair, doesn't she?" Flynn smirked. "So those monsters... Uh...Heartless, I think you called them? They won't be, ya know, coming back again, right?"

"That was only a small group of them you just saw, there's usually a lot more of them running around." Sora replied.

"Yeah, that's Heartless for ya." Donald stated.

"Great... That means this little road trip is gonna be even more difficult than I thought." Flynn groaned, making Sora cock his head as he wasn't sure what he meant. Thinking it probably wasn't the best thing for the girl to be out there by herself right now, he lifted his hand to his mouth to call over to her. "Hey, um, Rapunzel! I don't think it's safe enough for you to be running around over there, you might want to come back over and—!"

~Peaceful Hearts ends~

The man stopped when a bunch of even stranger looking enemies appeared when the girl came to the waterfall behind them. "Aaaah!" She shrieked when she saw them.

"Ah!" Sora gasped.

~Tension Rising plays (KH II OST)~

"Perfect!" Flynn rolled his eyes when he saw her in trouble again. He was about to run over to her when Sora stopped him.

"Better if you leave those guys to us. They're too dangerous! We'll go help!" Sora warned him with his Key in his hand before taking off. Flynn watched the boy with the strange sword head off in the other direction, starting to wonder to himself if a shiny and unique item like that could be worth something.

"You just let us take care of them." Goofy put in, holding his Shield ready. He then went charging over to the enemies!

Sora quickly got in front of the stunned Rapunzel before they could attack. "We're here. Go, and wait somewhere safe!" He instructed her.

"Okay!" Rapunzel then ran away to safety, bringing her long hair with her.

Sora turned his attention on the floating enemies above them and glared as he got a good look at them. "Huh! These are those..."

"Nobodies?!" Donald exclaimed.

They were right, these enemies were like the ones they fought while going after the Organization, only these were a different kind. They were white and gray with three long points around their heads and big rufflypetal-like feet that spun around them, while in their hand they all carried a scythe weapon and it appeared they could fly. Countless red cherry blossoms petals fell out around them and flittered through the wind over the water. There looked to be around five of the Nobody enemies.

"(Hngh! Hnh!)" Sora jumped off the bank and into the air while the small petals were being released around him, spinning and trying to dodge them as he moved through them.

"Come on!" Goofy said as he threw his weapon at the Nobodies, managing to hit one.

Donald was going all out with his spells. "Let me at 'em! Thunder! Fire!" With his staff he sent a bunch of flares up at the enemies.

"(Ngh!)" Once Sora had made it back down into the water he tried rolling to miss the falling petals coming at him, he didn't know much about them but he knew they couldn't be good. When he made it beneath one of the Nobodies he ducked and jumped up to attack it. "(Haa! Ahaa!) Take this!" Stars flew as his blade hit the enemy multiple times.

While he was in close range the enemy suddenly spun to create a gust of wind which sent the hero back. "(Gngh.)" As he was knocked back he was hit by some of the petals behind him, finding out the hard way that they were in fact toxic petals. "(Nngh!)"

"Hold on, fellers!" Goofy called out as he lifted one leg up and quickly tossed his shield under it at the enemies.

"FIRE!" Donald cast another big blast of fire at them, seeing how effective it was on them.

Sora spun himself through the air around the petals trying to trap him, all the way up to another Nobody to attack it. "(Haa! Yngh! Rraa!)" He cut straight across it until it vanished back into the nothingness. He turned and after dropping back in the water to go after the next one, doing his best to roll to dodge more of the falling petals. "(Hngh!)"

When one of the Nobodies lowered to Donald's level it swung it scythe blade across him and knocked him into the cliff behind the waterfall. "Waaahk!"

"Hey!" Goofy yelled at the enemy after seeing his friend get attacked. "I'll take ya!" He then threw his shield like a flying disc and sent it spinning straight into the Nobody, eliminating it after his weapon had continued knocking into it. "Yahooo!"

Sora bounced into one with his Key and defeated it, then he kicked off the rock wall to throw himself into the another, striking it with a combo of aerial swings. "(Haa! Yaa!) This is it!" Soon all the Nobodies were defeated. As Rapunzel and Flynn were coming back to them the trio walked over to meet them.

~Tension Rising ends~

"(Brrrrrlgh!)" Donald shook his feathers dry after coming out of the water.

"You did it!" Rapunzel cheered for them excitedly as she approached them, clapping her hands together. "That was amazing!"

Sora dismissed his Key and wiped the edge of his nose playfully when he heard how impressed she was. "Nothing to it!" He returned.

Goofy walked up to the girl with a concerned look on his face. "You should be more careful, Rapunzel. We wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"Yeah! Don't you know? The Heartless are trouble!" Donald added in. Rapunzel had a guilty look after hearing them.

"You sure don't have to convince me of that." Flynn said after getting his point, folding his arms.

"I'm sorry... I guess mother was right about the world being a dangerous place. But how else will I make it in time to see the floating lights if we can't go through the forest?" Rapunzel frowned.

Sora looked confused after hearing her. "Huh? What is it you're trying to do?" He asked.

Rapunzel looked over at him. "Well...There's these floating lights that gets set off once every year, on my birthday. I've watched them from my window for as long as I can remember, without ever knowing what they are or what they're for. And sometimes...I just can't help feeling like they were meant for me." Rapunzel turned around and stared out ahead at the world she's been kept away from for all her life. "It's been my dream to one day go out and see the floating lights up close for myself, to find out what they are. And now, I've finally found someone to take me! You see, Flynn here and I have made a deal..."

"Actually, it's more like dragged into it." Flynn spoke up, not seeming very happy over their little agreement.

"Anyway..." Rapunzel went on after turning to face them, ignoring Flynn. "I have promised to give something back to him if he takes me to see the lights. We were just on our way to but that's when..."

"The Heartless showed up?" Goofy asked after listening.

"Yes," the girl answered.

"I see..." Sora said after everything was explained to them. He had compassion for the girl's dream and wanted to see her get there.

After thinking it over Flynn turned and appeared to be about ready to head to the tower. "Well, I guess that's that." He said, deciding he'd take advantage of the situation and play it cool.

"What?" Rapunzel looked his way confused.

"You heard them, didn't you? It's too dangerous out there with those things running around! There's just nothing we can do about it." He pointed out to her. "I hate to tell ya this, blondie, but looks like we're just gonna have to call the whole thing off. Now, I'll help you get back to your tower, you give me back my satchel and I'll be on my—"

"No!" Rapunzel interrupted, refusing to give up.

"Hm?" Flynn stopped and looked back surprised.

"I am going to see those lights!" She insisted. Sora, Donald and Goofy could tell how determined she was.

"Oh, come on! You expect me to get you there with those monsters in the way?! You're out of your mind if you think we can make it passed those things!" The man told her excitedly.

Rapunzel bit her lip, then she looked back at Sora and the others, remembering how they were able to get rid of the strange creatures. "Hmm... Maybe you and I can't... But they can!" She said smiling.

"What?!" Flynn couldn't believe his ears. Sora and his friends looked at each other.

"Please! Would the three of you come with us? It will only be for a little while, just until we make it out of the forest... It'll be much safer having you guys along. What do you say?" Rapunzel asked.

"Oh, I'm sure these guys must have other things to do! You can't expect them to just drop everything and come with us." Flynn Rider said shaking his head. Rapunzel made a face at him.

Sora had already thought about offering to come with them after seeing the Heartless, so he was fine with going. He casually looked at Donald to see if he approved of the idea, then over at Goofy. After receiving a nod from each of them he turned to the girl. "Alright! We'll go with you."

"Really?" She beamed at them.

"Sure, that way you'll be able to get to that light show, just like you wanted!" Goofy assured her.

"And you can just leave the fighting to us!" Donald winked at the girl, bringing his trusty staff up to his face.

"Oh, thank you!" Rapunzel smiled. "I'll help out too!"

After hearing this Flynn smacked his face with his hand, seeing how he'd lost. "Ugh! Fine! It looks like all five of us will be going..." After he said that Pascal glared at him from where he sat on the girl's shoulder, not liking to be left out, going as far to making a little growling noise at him. The man looked nervously at the chameleon. "Oh, eheheh. Er...I mean the six of us!"

With a bit of an annoyed Flynn, the heroes and Rapunzel made their way over to the crack in the wall they'd come through and then made it passed the vines out of the cave. Rapunzel stopped in her tracks when she saw how big the world she'd never seen before really was. To the others it just looked like a forest full of trees and winding paths, but to her it seemed like the beginning of a new life for her.

~The Dream plays (KH 3D OST)~

"Wow! Have you ever seen anything so amazing!?" Rapunzel exclaimed happily. Sora and his friends could only stand by and smile to themselves when they saw how thrilled she was to be there, even though they didn't quite understand her whole story.

"Alright then, it's this way to the kingdom. Just follow my lead and we should get there in no time!" Flynn told them, stepping up to the front.

"Right!" Rapunzel replied excitedly. "I can't believe I'm actually doing this! Oh, I can't wait 'til we get there! I've been dreaming what it would be like my whole life and now I'm finally going to see for myself! Let's go! Hurry, Sora!" She called back to the others as she broke into a run.

"Hey! Slow down!" Sora yelled to her. "C'mon, guys!"

~The Dream ends~

They all walked deeper into the woods and the excitement was still bubbling in the girl as she took in the sights around her. Flynn, Sora, Donald and Goofy all knew they would have to keep a close eye on her to keep her out of the danger along the way. Sora was walking up by Flynn, feeling a little curious about the deal Rapunzel mentioned he and she had made. Though the man did seem a little different from others they'd met on their travels Sora still hoped they could be friends, too. The boy casually glanced over at him.

"So, is it very far where we're going?" Sora asked.

"What, to the kingdom? No, it shouldn't take us that long. Heh, I almost ran all the way here as a matter of fact!" Flynn joked.

"How come?" Sora laughed, being curious. "It wasn't the Heartless, was it?"

"Huh? Oh..." Flynn took a minute to think, not wanting to give out too much about himself. "No, no... I was just wanting to get out for a while. I'm the kind of guy who just likes to see places and get a little adventure out of life. Always on the move, ya know?"

"Yeah! That's just like me and my friends! It seems like we're always traveling from one world to the next. It never ends, aheh!"

"Well, it beats the boring life, anyway. I decided a long time ago that I was going to get out, see the world and make something out of life. Like get rich! Make up for what I never had..."

"Huh?" Sora cocked his head at him confused.

"Aw, don't you worry about that! That's all in the past now, soon I'll be able to surround myself with all the riches in the world! Just have to see this thing through first, then I'll be on my way!" Flynn said with wide hand gestures.

"So this thing about taking Rapunzel to see the lights... "

"Oh that. Well, we have this thing worked out you see... She's got something of mine and said she'll return it to me only if I guide her all the way through the forest to see some lights. It all started when I climbed her tower without knowing who it belonged to. I guess she freaked out when she saw me or something, because she knocked me out with her pan and when I woke up I was tied to a chair! That's when she made up this whole agreement I've now got myself into."

Sora looked surprised. "You mean you aren't just helping her out as a friend?"

"Not exactly. I barely ever know her! I'm only helping her so she'll give me back my satchel. I'll take her back to her tower and then we'll all split ways. Sound good?"

"You mean she's going back? But she seems so much happier out here, don't you think?"

"Good point. Uh... Actually, I have no idea. See, I'm not supposed to ask about her life in the tower... All I've gathered so far is she's been living up in that tower with an overprotective mother...and I think something's up with her hair, too, but she won't tell me that, either. All I've noticed is that she can get really touchy about her hair. I have no clue what that's about." Flynn expalined, then he gave the boy a funny look. "So, what about you?"

"Huh?"

"What's with that spiky hair of yours? I mean I'm just saying, that is a lot of spikes you got there!" Flynn teased.

"Er... Aheh heheheh..." Sora laughed awkwardly while tugging on the hair hanging out over his head.

Rapunzel suddenly ran ahead of them. "Look at that!" She pointed out to a big tree with a wide spread of roots around it goin into the ground.

"It's a big tree, isn't it?" Donald said as he and Goofy stood next to her.

"It's like nothing I could ever imagine out here..." The girl replied, staring in awe. But suddenly the calm silence was broken as an ambush of Heartless came out from the darkness. "(Gasp!)"

~Working Together plays (KH II OST)~

"Watch out, Rapunzel!" Goofy warned her with his shield in front of him.

"Sora!" Donald called to the boy for help, bringing out his staff.

Sora looked toward his friends when he heard the duck. "Uh-oh! Sounds like trouble!" His Keyblade flashed into his hands as he went charging in to aid them.

Rapunzel held her frying pan tightly while the other two had already jumped in to battle. "I... I want to help this time. I know I can do something..." She was considering when Sora made it right passed her to help his friends. She looked ahead at the enemies with a determined look on her face, then she glanced down at her hair laying on the ground beside her... This gave her an idea!

While Flynn was happy to just stand by and watch the trio handle it, Donald fired at the various types of Nocturnes with thunder spells. "Take that!" He exclaimed.

"So long!" Goofy said while bashing up against the Heartless on the ground with his shield.

Since more of the enemies from before that could spawn more Heartless were there Sora went after them first. "(Ahaa!) Back off!" He hit two of them with an uppercut swing and flipped them into the air, then he went all out on them with a series of attacks.

While a group of Shadows were crawling up out of the darkness behind him something gold suddenly whipped across them, knocking them off their feet. "Ooh heh!" Rapunzel giggled to herself. Sora looked back to see what had got them and was surprised to see the girl's long blonde hair whip into the Shadows again, leaving them to disappear in smoke.

"Whoa! Nice one!" Sora grinned at her. Rapunzel nodded back at him when he looked her way, feeling pretty good about herself while she stood there a little out of breathe from after what she just did.

"Hahah," She laughed. Then as the enemies crept in closer she went back to focusing on their opponents with a glare in her big green eyes. When Flynn saw the way she'd taken out the dark creatures he was beside himself with astoundment. He couldn't believe what he'd just seen while his eyes blinked at the girl. He grinned to himself, unable to help feeling impressed.

"Fire!" Burning flames flew out around Sora's Keyblade and at his enemies. "Alright!" He said after seeing how effective it was on the ground type enemies as they turned black and faded away.

"Gotcha!" Goofy exclaimed when he threw his weapon at the Heartless.

Rapunzel flicked her long hair like a lasso at a small group of the Seedlets and pulled them toward her after her hair wrapped around them. "Hah!" Using her iron skillet she knocked into them as her hair flung them to her, managing to defeat a couple while the last one was knocked away. "I did it!"

"C'mon!" Sora said as he sliced through the last three enemies. After the battle was over Donald and Goofy walked up to the girl.

~Working Together ends~

"Rapunzel, that was amazing!" Donald said.

"It sure was! Where'd you learn to fight like that?" Goofy joined in.

"I...never knew I could." Rapunzel returned, still completely too stunned for words after helping them fight off the Heartless. She stood breathlessly with her pan in her hands and a strand of her long golden hair draped over her arm, staring out ahead with a big open grin frozen on her face.

Sora was just coming in to join the others. He looked at the awe stricken girl and smiled. "Thank you! You sure were a lot of help out there!" Flynn was starting to head over to them.

~Missing You plays (KH II OST)~

Rapunzel took a few big breaths as she looked at them, then her smile slowly turned into a look of fear as she thought about it. As she began to feel more worried she looked down with her lips quivering. "If my mother knew what I just did...she would... (Sigh...)"

"Hey, what's wrong?" Sora asked her concerned.

"Mm..." Rapunzel was silent for a moment while she was feeling the guilt of leaving eating away at her. "It's...n-nothing."

"You sure?" Sora asked again.

"You look kinda sad..." Goofy thought.

Rapunzel tried to straighten herself up. "Yeah. It's okay, really. Don't worry." As she gave it some more thought she realized that the kind hearted trio were someone she could trust with her story and decided to open up to them. "It's just that...I kind of ran away from home." The trio looked surprised when they heard her say ran away.

"Aw..." Sora sighed sadly.

"We had no idea..." Donald frowned.

"My mother... She forbid me from ever leaving the tower. She said it was too dangerous, and maybe she was right, but...when I met Flynn, I knew this might be my only chance. I guess I am a horrible daughter... But...I just have to see those lights! And I'm not going back until I do." Rapunzel stated. When Flynn heard he slumped with disappointment behind the others, as he'd hoped there would still be a way to persuade her into giving up and turning back. He wasn't sure that would be possible now.

"We'll make sure you make it to see the lights then." Sora reassured her.

"You will?" Rapunzel managed a smile when she looked up at him.

"Promise!" The boy said.

"Ah hahah... Okay! Thank you." She returned, feeling a lot better now.

"Mph!" Sora nodded.

~Missing You ends~

"Okay! Sorry to break this up, but we should probably get moving again, don't ya think?" Flynn reminded them as he walked in. "You all sure showed those monsters, huh? Great work! With that kind of help I know we'll get there in time! Let's go this way." He pointed to them. Everybody started following him while staying close together. It had been a while since they had some extra help in a World, but Sora was glad to have a new friend added to their party to help them in battles.

XxxxxxxxxxX

~Hesitation play (KH II OST)~

While she was just coming back to check the girl she'd left up in the tower, a middle aged women doning a red dress and deep blue hooded cape walked up to the tower and looked, "Rapunzel? Let down your hair!" She called. After waiting for a while and nothing happened she began to panic! "Rapunzel?! RAPUNZEL!" When still nothing happened she ran around the tower to go through a hidden entrance where some stairs led up into the tower chambers.

When she moved a stone on the floor she climbed inside and immediately began her search through the place, calling out the name of the girl frantically! After checking the whole main floor and the upstairs she grabbed her head of long black curls with her hands. "Where is she?!" While she was worrying over the loss of the girl with magic hair she looked back...

(Flashback)

...

The lady known as Gothel, who appeared to have aged a lot more, sat in a chair by the fire burning warmly on the hearth, while the girl she had kidnapped as a baby sat on the floor next to her. She was stroking the girl's long golden hair with a brush while the girl was singing for her softly. As her special hair responded to the words it began a brilliant glow in the women's hands. When it did this Gothel's aged face, hands and hair magically transformed into a much younger appearance. Rapunzel's fake mother smiled to herself with satisfactory, thrilled to look like her younger self once again.

Gothel was happy with the way things were, for as long as she kept the girl with magic hair in the tower, away from the world outside, she would forever be able to keep the secret to her everlasting life and no one would ever find out about Rapunzel. She would continue pretending she was the girl's true mother and selfishly keep the gifted child locked up in the tower a secret from the world, retain her young age and favored beauty and live happily ever after.

...

As things came back to her, Gothel began to fear the worst! She brought her hand up to her eyes, already seeing the aged lines that were returning. She realized the spell had already begun to wear off and if she didn't find and bring back Rapunzel soon she would back into an ugly old lady, her greatest fear! As more of her selfish fears of growing old again came over her darkness started to emit around her where she stood, feeding off the fears she was carrying inside her blackened heartache began breathing harder in her anxiety, "(Aah...Agh...sigh...)" Then she noticed something shiny coming from beneath the staircase through a small crack in the wood. She went over to inspect it.

After lifting the step up she found a brown satchel inside which she quickly grabbed to see what was inside. She nearly dropped the bag when she found a glittering crown under the flap as her heart nearly stopped! For she was the only one who knew the truth about Rapunzel, and how she had come from the royal family of Corona. What could this mean? As she calmed herself and looked further into the bag she found a piece of paper with the picture of a wanted thief on it. As she began putting two and two together she felt pretty sure about what happened to Rapunzel. With fury in her grayish blue eyes, she ran over to a drawer where a dagger laid hidden inside and wanting to have her revenge, she prepared to head out to find the girl with the healing hair and put an end to whoever was responsible in helping her escape.

~Hesitation ends~

XxxxxxxxxX

As they were coming out of the grown up part of the forest they came out on a dirt road. While they were walking along it they did run into some more Heartless but we're easily able to take care of them by working together. As they made their way they happened upon a little stop called the Snuggly Duckling. It was a small shack off the road with a sign hanging in front of it with a picture of a duck on it. Donald stared at the sign when he noticed the duck that was painted on it, recalling all the businesses his uncle and nephews owned and wondering if they had anything to do with it. They all found themselves a little curious about it when they saw it.

"What's that?" The girl asked when she saw the hut.

"Oh. that? Nothing you'd be interested in I'm sure, it's just a..." That was when Flynn had an idea, with hopes it would give Rapunzel enough of a reason to give up and turn back he came up with a something fast. "You know what, on second thought I think we should check it out. You'll love it in there! Just about anybody is welcome." When she heard the man Rapunzel looked over at Sora and the others.

"Sure, why not?" Sora shrugged at her.

"Well... Okay!" Rapunzel agreed with a carefree look in her eyes. "I do like ducklings."

"Yay! Come right along this way then." Flynn pretended to be excited for her as he walked her towards it. When he saw the trio who were behind them he stopped them. "Say, boys? Why don't you three wait out here, ya know, be on the look out? I'm sure we won't be long."

Sora looked up at him disappointed, then after thinking about it he agreed it might be a good idea if someone did stay behind to watch for danger. With a sigh he complied, "Yeah. Okay..."

"We'll wait..." Donald agreed, also feeling left out.

"Awww!" Rapunzel adored them when she saw their faces, feeling bad for them. "Hahaha, we'll be back, don't worry! There's no one braver than you three so I'm sure everything's in good hands."

When the trio heard her they straightened themselves and stood in an assembly row and saluted at her with serious faces. "You can count on us!" They all three said together.

"Ah heehee." Rapunzel giggled when she saw them, then she followed Flynn inside.

~Hesitation plays (KH II OST)~

As they entered in Rapunzel soon discovered that the Snuggly Duckling was nothing Ike she imagined it would be. It was like a nighmare! As far as her eyes could see she the room was full of rough looking men, carrying swords, axes, and there was one who even had a silver hook for a hand who she found sitting near a piano up on a little stage. It was like being in a den or the worst kind of ruffians and thugs! The men were all staring at the girl with the longest hair they had ever seen! But their faces were not very welcoming the girl thought and she held up her frying pan for defense as she looked around them. After seeing the frightened look on the girl's face Flynn thought this had for sure done the trick and Rapunzel would soon be begging him to take her back to her tower after this.

"What's wrong, blondie? You don't look so good... Maybe we should get you back now, huh?" He told the startled girl. He slowly started to show her out when one of the men closed the door in front of them. Flynn looked up where the strong looking man was pointing to a poster of him nailed to the door, where the drawing had once again mocked his nose with an outrageous design.

"Is this you?" The gruff man asked in a demanding tone. Flynn looked worried as all the men started to gather around him, all hoping to collect the reward for turning the thief in.

Rapunzel was worried she would lose her only guide and even though she was scared she fought back to try and stop them! "Leave him alone!" She demanded after using her hair to catch a thick branch over the man with a hook and cause it to fling down hard over his head! After getting all their attention she began explaining her situation the best she could. "Okay! I don't know where I am and I need him to take me to see the lanterns because I've been dreaming about them my entire life! Find your humanity! Haven't any of you ever had a dream?" She pleaded bravely. All the men stared at her and the one man with a hook walked her way.

~Hesitation ends~

Meanwhile, outside the little Inn, Sora, Donald and Goofy were still hanging around on the premises, watching for danger. So far things had been quiet out there though, not a Heartless on sight. "How long are we supposed to wait like this?" Donald asked the others, looking bored.

"I guess until they come back out, Donald. They did say they wouldn't stay in there too long." Goofy reminded him.

Sora went into a thinking pose. "I wonder what's going on in there..."

Marluxia: "I suppose a meddler is unable to help himself from getting involved in another's affairs." They heard a man's voice suddenly say. They began looking around for who had said that and were startled to see man hooded figure leaning outside against the side of the Snuggly Duckling!

"Ah!" Sora jumped at the sight of him, then he gave the intruder an angry glare.

"Organization XIII!" Donald and Goofy wailed.

~Thirteenth Discretion plays (KH CoM OST)~

Marluxia: "Now that is a name with a familiar sound..." The man in the black coat admitted, sounding a little absent minded.

"Alright! Who are you?" Sora demanded the mysterious guy.

Marluxia: Let's see now... I believe I was once a ruler, but the memory is a little bit of a blur. But, even still, I know well who the three of you are... I could never forget the Keyblade bearer."

"Does he mean Sora?" Goofy questioned. Sora and Donald looked at him.

Marluxia: Yes... Sora." The man said as if remembering something.

"Okay, so you know who I am. It's no surprise if you're working for Xehanort! But who are you?" Sora returned, going into a defensive stance while he made sure to keep his guard up.

Marluxia: "Do you really want to know? Well then..." The man said as he swept his hood back. His pinkish colored hair brushed out as petals flittered out around his face. Instead of just coming out and saying his name he stared at the heroes with mischievous look in his blue eyes.

"Huh?" Sora looked confused when he saw him, along with Donald and Goofy.

"Who's that?" Donald wondered.

"Hmhmhmhm" Marluxia laughed. "So, you have no memory of me I see. How interesting..." While the other's still looked confused Marluxia suddenly went towards them and after taking a few steps a gust of wind was created as he rushed over to Sora!

"Agh!" Sora gasped as the ghost-like man flew straight through him, leaving a trail of red petals to flourish behind him! Sora leaned back with a stunned look on his face.

"SORAAAA!" Donald and Goofy cried.

Marluxia felt a lot on tension rush into him as he passed through the hero, he winced as he made it out, feeling a lot of after affects his action had left for him. "Mmph..." He grunted.

Sora stood in shock after what the man had just did and looked around confused. "W-what?!" He watched as a single petal left behind fluttered through the wind in front of him and land on the ground and disappear. He felt so confused as he held the side of his head. "What was—"

"So it's true then. You really don't know who I am." Marluxia said.

Sora quickly turned around to face him, feeling angry. "What did you do?"

"I was just merely sampling through your memories. But the evidence I was looking for could not be found. That's a little unnerving..." The man thought.

"What are you talking about? Who sent you here you to find us?" Sora returned.

"I'll bet it was the leader of the organization!" Donald put in.

"That's not the case. I came here with no orders, this is strictly on personal matters. I do not work for anyone." Marluxia told them, looking a bit irritated.

"You don't?" Goofy asked while scratching the top of his brow.

"Awww... Well, that's too bad if Xehanort's members are deciding to just drop out after all that! Not like I can blame them though." Sora added.

~Thirteenth Discretion ends~

"I think you three are letting yourselves get way off track." Marluxia said, walking down the road a little. "We'll then, perhaps this will help answer all your questions!" At that, the pink haired man lifted his hand for a falling petal, which after he caught turned into a tall elegant looking Scythe called the Graceful Dahlia, with a long green stem for its handle and a rose pink colored blade which bore the organization's symbol. At his command the same Nobodies they'd fought earlier with similar weapons to his took form to aid him.

~Scythe of Petals plays (KH CoM OST or 1.5 remix OST)~

Sora and his friends quickly summoned their weapons and got ready to fight the graceful assassin, but before they could get in an attack first Marluxia came at them with his scythe! "(Gnnnngh!)" Sora grunted as he was pushed back after getting the blade slammed right into him!

"Waahaaak!" Donald cried as he thrown back, too.

"(Yaahaaaa)" Goofy fell backwards right behind them as their opponent's blade went into him last. One swift cut with his weapon was all it took to knock the trio off their feet!

"Hahahahahah" Marluxia laughed evil while backing up in the road after his brutal attack. "And they call the three of you heroes." He mocked them with a shaking head. Angry at his remark, Sora quickly got up and charged for him on his own, with his weapon pointed straight out in attack position.

When he saw the Nobodies hovering towards him Sora jumped at them and with some quick hard strikes he defeated the two near him. "(Yyyygh)" Sora thrust his arm forward and swung down over the man as he made it to him, to which his opponent swiftly moved out of the way to the side. Sora then swung across at him, managing to land a hit that time! ("Yaah!)"

"Mmph!" Marluxia held his arms in front of him to shield himself while getting pushed back. "Away!" He yelled as he slashed back into the boy with the Key!

"Nngh!" Sora quickly regained his balance and went in with another attack, the one known as Aerial Strike. "(Haa! Yaah!) It's over!" He had the man up in midair while he attacked him relentlessly.

"(Mmmph!)" Marluxia was thrown back after Sora's final swing made contact with him. The guy in the coat stood with his legs apart while his weapon was held out behind him to taunt the heroes, ready to strike.

Donald and Goofy had gone up to join Sora now and Donald was ready to cast his magic. "Freeze!" The duck called out as a chunk of ice flew towards Marluxia, but their opponent thrust his scythe in front of him to block it. "Wak!" Donald became frustrated.

"Here I go!" Goofy said as he went into his tornado attack, twirling closer and closer to the enemy as he also managed to bash into some more of the Nobodies hovering close to the surface. But when he finally made it over to Marluxia he deflected his attacks with his long weapon again. However, this was not done in vain as it gave Sora and Donald the perfect chance to attack him while he was distracted.

"How about this!" Sora said as he leaped for Marluxia while dodging through some of the descending petals left behind after the weaker enemies had been eliminated, then he struck across his arms with the Keyblade! Marluxia was unable to block after getting knocked into and a little of Goofy's attacks made contact as well.

"Oooh! Grrrr..." Marluxia was getting angrier after getting teamed up on and decided it was time for him to stop holding back! Bringing his scythe out up front he began making it spin like a pinwheel, the pink blade appearing like a saw as it spun faster! "You'll now know real fear."

Before Sora and his friends could get out of the way Marluxia came rushing into them again while a trail of cherry blossoms petals followed, catching all of them off guard as they were knocked into the air! "Gngh!" Sora grunted.

"Waaaaaak!" Donald cried.

"Aah-wahaaaa!" Goofy wailed as he hit the ground facedown.

Marluxia didn't stop there though. While they were all open he began doing multiple slashes at them! "Prepare! Hmhmhm" He evily laughed.

Donald was thrown off his feet again after taking the hard blow! "Whaaaaak!"

"Look out! (Ummph!)" Goofy was also hit back a second time.

Sora was on his feet when Marluxia came charging for him, holding his Keyblade out for defense. "(Ngh!)" He blocked in time to hold some of his heavy swings back but as his enemy pushed harder he was left open. "(Gnaaaagh! Hngh...)" Sora slid back after enduring a few hits but then got right back to blocking. "What... What do you want?!"

Marluxia had a mischievous look on his face while he was parrying his weapon with Sora's. "You couldn't know what it is I'm after, you're memory's like an empty hole."

"What?!" Sora gasped after their weapons were pushed off each other's.

"I remember... It was because of you and that Key I was annihilated! That's one thing I'll never forget... Or the fact that you and that power were so close to being mine! You were almost my servant, as you came close to shattering your own heart!" Marluxia taunted him with his lingering memory of Castle Oblivion.

Sora looked shocked when he heard him! "My...heart?! But that's... Ah!" Suddenly the boy's memory showed him a glimpse on the white walls to a mysterious castle, which disappeared as red petals fell over the whole image and a light flashed! "Gnaaah!" The hero was then physically knocked out of the flashback when he felt a hard strike, sending him to fall back!

~Scythe of Petals ends~

"Hmhmhmhm." Marluxia chuckled to himself. Sora quickly got back up to face his opponent, glaring steadily at him after the exhausting battle.

"I don't know who you are, but there's no way I would've ever belonged to YOU! Nothing you say can be true!" Sora returned.

"No! I can't be wrong!" Marluxia returned. "It's your memories that are nothing but lies, not mine! And I will avenge everything I lost because of you! (Yngh-haa!)"

Marluxia's sneak attack caught Sora while he was open, but as he slid back the hero ignored the heavy slash and and ran towards the enemy for a counter! "(Hnngh...rrrah!)" He smacked his Keyblade straight into Marluxia and then followed with multiple aerial strikes, sending the man flying backwards!

While Donald and Goofy had just made it to Sora's side Marluxia landed on his back, wincing in pain. "(Rrmm...)" He slowly got up and face the trio. "This isn't over... I won't lose again! The next time you will all meet your defeat in an ever-blooming darkness!"

"Oh yeah?" Donald returned, giving him a funny look. Marluxia snarled at them as he got to his feet, then he disappeared into the Darkness after creating a portal, leaving the heroes to catch their breath after the tiring battle.

"Gawrsh... What was that about?" Goofy wondered, slumping over exhausted.

"He acted like we knew him, but I'm sure I've never seen him before." Donald replied.

"(Sigh...)" Sora gave a big sigh.

"You okay, Sora?" Donald asked out of concern.

Sora scratched the side of his head, looking confused. "Yeah... I guess so. But that was really weird!"

"It sure was..." Goofy agreed. "He sure seemed angry at us, didn't he?"

"Yeah, but what'd we ever do to him?" Donald started trying to figure out.

"Who was that, anyway?" Sora said, dismissing his Key.

"Well, I'm not sure...but did ya happen to notice the way he could control those nobodies?" Goofy asked them.

"Weren't those the same as the ones we battled when we first got here?" Donald pointed out.

"You're right! I'll bet that guy had something to do with it." Sora replied. "Man! What that guy said..."

"Do ya think he was just trying to confuse ya?" Goofy said after thinking about it.

"I don't know... For a minute, I thought I saw—" Sora stopped when they heard yelling coming from the Snuggly Duckling! "(Gasp!)"

As they looked toward the building they heard a man's voice yelling, "Don't let him get away, men!"

"Uh-oh... That doesn't sound good!" Donald said.

"What do ya think is goin' on?" Goofy wondered.

"We'd better go find out! Come on!" Sora waved for the others to follow him.

When they got to the door they threw it open and we're surprised to see a bunch of men dressed like guards wearing shiny gold armor plates and helmets with their uniforms checking through the place. A couple of them turned and looked their way when they heard them enter. "Who are those three?" One of them asked.

Sora looked around the Inn, around all the tough looking men and guards in the room. "Where are they...?" He said when he couldn't find Rapunzel and Flynn.

~Rowdy Rumble plays (KH II OST)~

That's when Goofy suddenly pointed out, "There they are over there!" When he found them about to escape through an opening in the wall behind the counter.

"After him!" The head guard in charge with a brown mustache directed his men when he saw the two were about to leave.

"What is going on?" Sora wondered after he saw how the guards were appearing to be going after their friends. He and the other's knew they had to help them get away so they ran ahead to stop the guards from getting to them. "Hurry, guys!"

"Stop, in the name of the kingdom!" The captain ordered when he saw the trio going towards the passage.

"Waak!" Donald jumped when a guard came running at him and quickly used his staff to clunk him on the head. "Get back!"

Goofy rammed into the guards trying to go after Rapunzel and Flynn and made them fall back. "Hhmph!"

"Oh no you don't!" Sora said as he tripped a few more guards over with his Keyblade. When he saw most of the guards had been knocked down he motioned for his friends to go. "Let's go, guys!"

When one of the guards started to get up Donald jumped on his head as he passed by him, knocking him back down on the floor. "Oops! Sorry!" The duck said as he went with the others.

"This way!" Sora pointed to the passage and the three of them were soon on their way.

~Rowdy Rumble ends~

Not long after they'd left, some more guards walked into the place, and with them were two rough looking me they'd caught and taken as their prisoners. The men bound in shackles were twins and known as the Stabbington Brothers, once in cohort with Flynn Rider, before he double crossed them and ran off with the crown they'd helped him heist the minute he got the chance. They were still angry at Flynn and wanted their revenge. Shadows on the wall of the two men standing with the guards showed a slight struggle as one of them knocked down a guard with his head and then unchaining each other to go after the traitor.

While Flynn and Rapunzel made it deeper into the cave they became startled when they heard someone coming in behind them. They looked back, waiting to see who it was and as they came into the light which was created by the small lantern Flynn was carrying they saw it was the three heroes who had been helping them. "Sora! Donald! And Goofy!" Rapunzel exclaimed, happy to see them.

"Hiya!" Sora waved as they made it over to them. "Were you two just going to leave us behind?" He asked, raising an eye brow at them.

"Sorry..." Rapunzel replied apologetically.

"Some thing's happened...so we had to get out of there fast!" Flynn explained with some hand gestures.

"Do you mean the guards?" Donald asked, looking skeptical at the man.

Sora was getting more curious now. "What was that about? Why were all those—"

"There they are!" They heard a guard's voice yelled out behind them all of a sudden, cutting Sora off. They looked back only for a second to see that the guards were after them inside the cave now!

~Apprehension plays (KH II OST)~

"RIDER!" Came another guard, sounding like the captain's.

"Oh!" Sora gasped.

"I think it's time for us to go!" Goofy suggested.

"Flynn?" Rapunzel said while backing towards him, hoping he had a plan of getting them out of this.

Flynn's Brown eyes widened at the sight of the angry guards running towards, being accompanied by the same white horse that caused him trouble earlier. "Run... RUN!" He told them with a scared look on his face.

After he and the girl had started heading down the cave Sora looked back to see how close the guards were getting then quickly made a run for it too! "Whoooooah!"

"Hurry, fellers!" Goofy said while running.

The way the whole cave was tremoring inside, pieces of the walls started to crumble down over them while they ran, making them have to dodge it and watch out for more falling rocks on the way! While they were getting near the end they could see light up ahead. With the guards gaining on them they ran faster to get out before them!

"Almost there!" Flynn called back to the others while the girl stayed right on his heels.

They made it out at last and now found themselves trapped on a ledge hanging over a steep canyon. They looked over the edge trying to find a way to escape. "Flynn! Now what do we do?!" Rapunzel asked him nervously when it sounded like the guards would make it out any second.

"Working on it...!" Flynn returned, looking around with the others. It was then they caught sight of another opening, right between some rocks. "There looks good!"

As he pointed to the hole below their attention was brought to a couple of mean looking men coming out around the corner on the other side of their way out. "Huh?!" Sora acted surprised.

"Who's that?" The girl asked, sounding nervous again.

Flynn pointed toward the twin brothers who were once his partners. "They don't like me." Then the angry and exhausted guards came rushing out from the cave, standing behind in front of the opening with stern looks on their faces.

"Who's that?" Rapunzel asked while staring at the armored men blocking their way.

"Yeah! And how come they're chasing us?" Donald added.

"They don't like me, either!" Flynn answered. As he said this some flying Heartless appeared around the cliff, too!

"Ah!" Sora gasped, then he watched as a big white horse suddenly leaped out of the cave.

"Gawrsh!" Goofy looked startled.

"Who's THAT?!" Rapunzel started to ask again.

"Let's just assume for the moment that everyone in here doesn't like me!" Flynn said to help settle the matter.

Sora and his friends were confused with everything that was going on, but one thing they could tell for sure they were going to have to fight their way out of here—and soon! Sora looked back at the girl, "Rapunzel, go! We'll hold these guys off!" He went into his battle stance as his Key flashed into his hand.

"Just leave it to us!" Donald said.

~Apprehension ends~

Rapunzel nodded at them, then she crept toward the edge, but before she jumped she quickly handed Flynn her pan, remembering he had nothing to fight back with, throwing it into him so hard it made him lose his breath for a second. "Here!" She said, then holding her hair like a lasso she threw it up toward a mining cart track over head, since where they were appeared to be some kind of old rundown mining site, and once her hair caught around it she held on tight to it like a rope and jumped off, swinging over the gorge to safely make it to the other side.

~Courage plays (KH II OST)~

"We've got you now, Rider." The head guard said confidently as he and the other guards moved in on him.

"Alright..." Sora said as he got ready to fight, glaring at the guardsman with swords. Before long he was parrying his Keyblade up against one of the guard's swords. He fought until he had knocked him back then had to deal with some of the Heartless flying around them as they swooped toward him, with some of them being a new species with wings and the rest being Red Nocturnes.

"You won't get passed me!" Goofy exclaimed while ramming into the two guards surrounding him.

"Thunder!" As Donald's magic fell on the men you could hear their armor rattling.

When three guards teamed up on Flynn, the man they were really after, he kept the frying pan Rapunzel had lent him ready and as one swung at him he blocked him with the unlikely weapon and knocked the bottom of it into the guard's head, knocking him down flat! Next came another and Flynn dodged to the side to miss his attack then countered with a couple swings with the pan, knocking that man down over where the other had fallen. With the one guard left being the captain he got ready for him.

"You're mine, Rider!" The guard said, then he swung his sword at him.

Flynn waited for his chance then striked back with the iron pan, managing to knock him out with the rest as they all piled on top of each other. "Oh, mama! I have got to get me one of these!" When he got ready for more he saw his next opponent was Maximus the horse!

Sora, Donald, and Goofy watched in total amazement as Flynn and the horse went at it, having trouble deciding if they should jump in and help or let the fight go between the two of them. "Uh..." Sora sounded unsure what to do with a confused expression on him and his friends faces.

However, soon the horse had turned the tables on Flynn which left him defenseless. That's when, before the others could help, Rapunzel's hair was tossed over to Flynn which he quickly took hold of and with the help from the girl jumped and swung down to the surface. "Flynn! Look out!" Rapunzel yelled to warn him as he nearly swung into the Stabbington twins looking for revenge below.

When Sora and the others saw their friend in trouble they quickly got ready to jump down and help. The boy with the key turned to look back at the speechless horse and waved to him, "Er...bye!" Then he and the others leapt off the cliff edge, leaving the horse to stand with his mouth hanging open.

While the trio were still falling they managed to catch themselves on a water running drain system, which went over the Canyon like a giant water slide! Sora quickly got into position to slide down and picked up a lot of speed as they made their way down the wooden track. "(Aah-hoo-hoo-weeee!" Goofy screamed while he and Donald followed closely behind Sora.

"Yeah!" Sora said as he gained even more speed through the water pulling them along. While they slid down more of the air Heartless flew in on them, leaving Sora to use his strike raid ability to keep them off. "Take this!"

Because the structure was built so long ago the track began to fall apart as they went across, leaving it to crash down in pieces behind them. The Red Nocturnes weren't helping matters, either with their fire blasts they sent at the heroes! Goofy helped deal with some of them, too, but tossing his shield at them, while Donald hit them with his magic, even though it was a little difficult to aim while he was treading through the water at breakneck speed!

"Waaak!" Donald gasped when he looked back.

As they neared the ground they got ready to jump. "Now!" Sora told his friends to jump and they all leapt off to the surface together as the drain system finished tearing down! While their feet were still a little wet Sora pointed out to the two men running after Flynn and Rapunzel. "There they go!"

While they weren't far from where they were, Sora and Goofy threw their weapons at the Stabbington brothers to slow them down. "Ummph!" One of them grunted after getting clunked in the head. "Huh?" The other said confused.

"Don't mind us!" Donald said as he and the other two were running by them to catch up with Rapunzel and Flynn.

After they were ahead of them the brother looked over at his twin with an angry look. "Hey, who are these clowns?"

"Who cares! They must be helping Rider... After 'em!" The other brother said, sounding as angry as the other guy.

~Courage ends~

~Shaded Truths plays (KH BBS OST)~

While Flynn was running close behind Rapunzel he hurried while trying his best to help her pick up her hair as they came near the opening in the cliff wall. He looked back to see Sora, Donald and Goofy catching up behind them, along with some unwanted company right behind them! But what he didn't know was that their problem was about to get much worse as Maximus the horse had just kicked down the beam holding up the dam to go after them, making all the water behind the dam to flow out!

The water came rushing down towards the heroes and their enemies, faster than they could outrun as it filled the whole gorge and washed everything out in its path! Sora looked back to see if the men were still chasing them when he saw the large body of water rapidly running towards them! "Whoooa!" He exclaimed.

Lucky for them, the two men chasing them got washed away first, but the water was gaining on the heroes now, too! As the water roughly washed into a big rock in the Canyon it caused it to fall over, bringing it down right over the others while they ran for their lives! While Sora and his friends were still too far behind Rapunzel to catch up to them in time they made a quick maneuver to the left and climbed up on a high enough ledge. They looked ahead and watched as Rapunzel and Flynn made a narrow escape into the hole in the rocks and made it in just before the big rock fell behind them outside with a big splash! The only trouble was now they were trapped inside as the rock had sealed the opening shut! They watched in horror as the water finished lapping over the Boulder and washed up against the cliff!

"Nooo!" Sora yelled when he saw it.

Rapunzel and Flynn were now stuck together in a dark cave, which was already filling up with water as it leaked through. "Oh no!" Rapunzel cried when she saw they were trapped inside the flooding cave. Flynn desperately started looking for a way out, even while it was too dark to see anything!

~Shaded Truths ends~

"They'll drown!" Donald pointed out, worried for their friends.

"We've gotta help them, fellers!" Goofy said, determined.

"Right! Come on, let's see if we can get around there!" Sora said, looking towards a dry area behind the cave where he hoped to find a place to help them escape through.

~Vim and Vigor plays (KH II OST)~

After making it around the water onto dry land Sora and his friends noticed some stacked rocks up against the outside of the cave wall. "Look!" Goofy exclaimed.

"Over there looks good. Let's try to smash through it!" Sora prompted, already running to start hitting it with his Keyblade. "(Haa! Hyaa! Yngh!)"

While Sora continued pounding it with his Key Goofy tried knocking into the rocks with his shield over and over. "Hmph!"

"I'll help, too!" Donald said, climbing in between them and taking a whack at it with his staff. His body shook after he hit the solid rock. "Did...that...do it?" He asked while still feeling the jolt.

"Hurry, guys! They don't have much time! We've gotta get them out of there! (Hngh! Yaa!)" Sora urged his friends while striking the rocks as fast as his arms could swing.

"Just keep going! Don't give up!" Goofy called out. Already some of the rocks had started to get weaker as they broke apart.

"Come on! Just a little more...!" Sora kept on smashing through the rocks, starting to feel tired.

"Look! I can almost see the inside!" Donald cried excitedly.

"Just a little more...!" Sora said as he flipped back away from the small hole. "Stand back!" He warned his friends, then he shot at the rocks with a big radiant beam to finish blowing them out of the way. "Light!"

~Vim and Vigor ends~

As the light hit the rocks it burnt a bigger hole through it, causing the piled rocks to tumble down. When this happened water spouted and sprayed out between the cracks, then the hole busted open and through it washed out Rapunzel and Flynn! They both were laying on the ground, coughing and gasping for air after their life threatening experience.

"We did it!" Goofy exclaimed relieved.

"(Ack! Ack...)" Rapunzel choked on the water a little. "We made it!"

"(Coughing)" Flynn looked completely startled by something when he came out.

"Are you two okay?" Sora asked them with concern as he knelt down to help the girl on her feet.

"We're fine, thanks to all your help!" Rapunzel returned after realizing they were the ones hitting the rocks from the outside they had heard.

"That was a close one!" Donald said, looking worried.

"Yes..." The girl nodded. "Flynn was trying to find a way out but it was so dark in there, so—"

"Her hair glows!" Flynn bursted out before she could finish. The heroes looked at him dumbfounded.

"Huh?" Sora cocked his head to the side. Rapunzel realized this wasn't making any sense to the three of them.

"Eugene..." Rapunzel called out to calm him. "Maybe we should just tell them what happened." The man looked at her, still too speechless to say anything while he held the hand he had injured while trying to escape.

(Flashback)

Rapunzel and Flynn were trapped in the dark cave filling up with water from outside and Flynn went all around the walls of the cave looking for a way out, moving through the darkness, while she was hitting the walls with her pan she had got back. As he slid his hand up against the wall though he ran across a sharp place in the rocks and slit his hand a little. While they didn't slow him down though, he drove into the water flooding inside and tried to find a gap they could crawl through but came up with nothing as it was way too dark to see anything.

"It's no use, I can't see anything!" Flynn told her after coming up. When he saw her about to go under to help he stopped her. "Hey, there's no point, it's pitch black down there!"

Rapunzel gave up then looked down feeling sad while he stood beside her. "This is all my fault... She was right, I never should've done this. I...I'm so sorry Flynn." Rapunzel covered her eyes to try to hold back her tears but the guilt she felt for putting their lives in danger was more than she could stand.

The man looked at her blue illuminated face from the water shimmering in the dark cave, then made a small smile. "Eugene."

"What?" The girl looked up at him confused.

"My real name is Eugene Fitzherbert. Someone might as well know."

Rapunzel smiled at him, then decided to share something no one else knew about her. "I have magic hair that glows when I sing."

"What?!"

"I have...magic hair that glows when I sing!" She remembered, then she quickly began singing the incantation before the cave finished filling up with water. "Flower gleam and glow, let you power shine..." At that moment her long gold hair started to light up and soon they were able to see while they were under the water! While they looked around they heard a thumping sound near some rocks beneath them and knew that could be there way out!

...

"And...that's what happened." After Rapunzel finished telling them what happened Sora and his friends looked surprised, too.

Donald looked down to think. "Your hair glows when—"

"Her hair actually glows!" Flynn cried out over the duck, still seeming shocked after what happened. "Why does her Hair glow?!" He looked at the others for help but they didn't know, either.

After that, Sora looked up the man with an inquisitive stare. "Your name is really Eugene?" He asked him with folded arms after thinking over what Rapunzel had told them. The man looked at him with a funny look.

"Er...yeah, about that..." He said while still looking a little freaked out while he held his hand close to him.

"Eugene! It doesn't just glow." The girl spoke up, smiling at them. The others all looked at each other confused, then turned back to the girl with extremely long blonde hair.

The others watched as Rapunzel walked up to Eugene and took his injured hand, which the other's noticed had a cut on it. Eugene and the trio watched closely as the girl began gently wrapping some of her hair around his hand. "Alright. Everyone, try not to freak out. Just watch..." She asked them, then she began singing a little of her incantation again, which the heroes thought sounded really nice out first but we're soon amazed when they saw the girl's hair start to glow brightly. Their mouths fell open at the sight, but they tried the best they could to stay quiet like she asked.

After she finished with her healing song, the others gathered round as she unwound her hair from the man's hand to reveal there wasn't a scratch left on Eugene's hand. Eugene's jaw hit the ground as he was about to let out a scream when he saw but was stopped by the look Rapunzel gave him.

"Wow..." Donald awed.

"How'd you do that?" Goofy thought it would be okay to ask. The other's were curious to find out, too.

"I've had the ability to heal like that for as long as I can remember." The girl answered, running her fingers through a strand of her hair. "Forever, I guess."

"How come you kept it a secret?" Sora asked her, wondering why she didn't tell them about it before.

~Missing You plays (KH II OST)~

Rapunzel looked down.. "Well... My mother says when I was a baby people tried to cut it, they wanted to take it for themselves. But once it's cut it turns brown and loses its power. A gift like that...it has to be protected." Sora and his friends felt sorry for her after hearing her story. "That's why mother never let me...(sigh...) that's why I never left..." Rapunzel became quiet as a sad look came over her.

"You never left that tower." Eugene said when he realized it. "And you're still gonna go back?"

"No!" The girl quickly answered, then she gave into some more thought. "Yes? ...(sigh) It's complicated..." Eugene gave her an understanding look as he began to, for the first time, really feel for the girl with a sad and lonely life.

~Missing You ends~

Sora let out a sigh after hearing everything, wishing there was something he and his friends could do to help Rapunzel, but he really didn't see any way to. He, Donald and Goofy felt really confused, but there was one thing that was really bothering them that he just had to ask about, since nothing had made any sense to them why they were running away before. "So, uh... Would someone please tell us what was going on back there? Why were those guards going after you?" He looked at Eugene for some answers.

"Oh... That." Eugene replied, feeling a little hesitant. "I guess I might as well tell you the truth...seeing how you're all mixed up in it, too. You see the thing is...I'm actually a wanted thief. That whole thing I told you about being an adventurer—a hero... None of it was true."

"Uh!" Sora acted surprised when he heard this, along with Donald and Goofy. "A thief?"

"Oh boy..." Donald let out with a sigh.

"Well that makes sense now! So that's why those guards were chasing us. " Goofy commented.

"It's true. I have built quite the reputation for myself." Eugene remarked with a sarcastic grin. "That's actually how I came to finding her." He said looking at Rapunzel. "I was trying to find a safe place to hide...and that's why I was running before, too."

"Man... What did you do?" Sora asked with a slight laugh, curious about what he could've done to have made everyone so mad.

"I just er...stole a priceless royal heirloom." Eugene said in a joking manner.

"You WHAT?!" Donald shrieked. Then he began taping his flat foot while looking crossly at the man who had been fooling them all this time.

"Did you have to take something like that?" Sora gave him a funny look with a shaking head. "Why go for something that's worth so much?"

"Hey, that little item is gonna make me the richest guy out there! I mean how else would get those things? An orphan like me, who had nothing when he started out. " Eugene returned. The girl frowned when she heard him.

"Does that mean you're not sorry about stealing it at all?" Goofy asked in disbelief.

"Well, uh..." Eugene wasn't sure what to say as the heroes were starting to make him feel guilty. He decided he would try to change the subject. "So, Sora? You know that Key of yours..." He began.

"Yeah... What about it?" Sora returned confused.

"Have you ever wondered how much a shiny thing like that could be worth? You know, ever thought about selling it?"

"No! Of course not!" Sora replied, looking disgusted after the man had suggested something like that.

"I'm just saying... It could be worth a lot of money." He went on,

"No thanks, I wouldn't even consider it!" Sora refused. "I'm never gonna give this thing up." At that he dismissed the Keyblade he caught the man staring at.

"Aw... Come on!" Eugene persisted, but Sora shook his head as he gave him an annoyed look. "Fine..." He gave up with a sigh. "So...anyway... I'm sorry."

~Destiny's Union plays (KH BBS OST)~

"Huh?" Donald said, while he, Sora and Goofy were also surprised to hear him say this.

"You know... For lying to you three all this time." Eugene went on, then he smiled at them. "But my real name really is Eugene Fitzherbert, yes."

"Oh, that." Sora replied. "It's okay... Eugene."

"Hahaha," Rapunzel giggled when she heard them. "And hey, for the record, I like Eugene Fitzherbert much better than Flynn Rider."

Eugene looked at her, showing a smile. "Then you'd be the first. But thank you." He smiled at everyone as they all looked at him, glad for once they finally understood him... Well, for as well as they could understand a thief. "Well, I guess we'd better get going."

~Destiny's Union ends~

Rapunzel looked over at the tiny chameleon on her shoulder and smiled. "Yeah, it's just a little further until we get there, right? I just can't wait, I'm finally going to live my dream!"

"You will, because we're all going to be there to make sure that you do." Eugene replied, looking at the trio to see that they all agreed. "Let's go." And on that, they all started to head back on their way to the kingdom.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Thanks for reading! ^^

So, were you guys right about this World being our next one? Was it what you were expecting?

I went from the interview from Nomura when he states that even though Rapunzel's tower looks amazing in the new shader Sora and friends are not aloud to go inside. So I made it appear on the outside in the beginning, the way it appears to be doing in the trailer. Boy do we need a new trailer!

It actually took a lot of deciding on how I would have the heroes meet and interact with the film's beloved characters, I just knew I wanted them on their side and not to get mixed up with the guards, (laughs.)

Another thing I remember Nomura mentioning in an interview was how the previous members from the Organization would return as whole people again, and how he hinted that concerning the return of the field Nobodies, depending on which ones you see in the worlds will hint which one of the Organization members, be they current or former, have been to that world. So, after watching the most recent of the KH III trailers, where it shows Sora, Donald and Goofy fighting near the waterfall with a bunch of hovering Nobodies with scythe weapons and cherry blossoms petals around them, I thought that this could hint Marluxia possibly being present there, leading into his run in with the heroes, who he hasn't seen since his demise back in CoM Castle Oblivion. Hope fans of his enjoyed that!

And yeah, I did try to add in as much as the trailers so far from that world has shown us, like Sora's Keyblade transforming into dual guns. But I'm still taking it with a grain of salt, as Nomura said that Sora will not be able to use the most powerful moves right from the start, so I left out the part where they turn into a bazooka, (laughs.)

Knowing me, you know I sometimes like to just add the KH universe into the movie's original story, but sometimes I may change it into something more KH original, too. Though in this world I think I chose to go with the plot that's already laid out as good as a plot can be. I really love the movie Tangled, including its characters, story and music! It's a great film and I'm really happy about it being one of the chosen worlds for the actual KH III. Yeah though, I'm having fun with this world! But it's really hard to make up my mind about some things... (laughs)

I also noticed in one of the interviews where Nomura talks about how the staff really wants to utilize Tangled's/Rapunzel's hair in the game and really show off its unique design in the battlefields. So this is something I'm trying to feature as well.

Thank you for reading, guys. I hope you liked it. If you did PLEASE tell me all about it in the comments! I can't wait to hear from you.

I'll see you again in the 37th chapter, woo-hoo! Getting up there. You guys have a great day! See you! ^o^