In the Belly of the Beast

Sora and the others quickly returned to the main boat, liking there wounds and hoping to regroup. Dipper paced back and forth in a panic while Riku leaned around looking in the distance contemplating what his dark alley had in store. He looked at Sora carefully making sure that he wasn't given any sign of suspicion, his next steps would have been delicate. He also kept an eye on Donald and Goofy, though thankfully both were exhausted and too tired to notice really anything.

"This is bad ...This is bad!" Dipper paced back and forth in a panic.

"It's okay Dipper, we'll find your sister." Sora said, he turned to Gepetto. "And Pinocchio too Mr. Gepetto sir."

Jiminy hopped onto his shoulder worried as well. He had just found Pinocchio as well, he didn't want to lose him too, especially to the likes of the Heartless.

"It's okay, we just need to follow them and think of a plan." Jiminy said.

Sora nodded and took a moment to think. The Heartless took Pinocchio for a reason, though why he didn't know. Mabel was with them, and she seemed like someone who could hold her own. Whatever the case, they needed to follow it and take it down old school style, with a Keyblade. Though internally, Sora sighed knowing that once again it was going to be just him jumping in without little thought put into it. But with people by his side he couldn't lose, he looked back at Riku and smiled. However, he noticed that Riku seemed a bit distant.

Stan cracked his knuckles interrupting Sora's thought. "Well I'm coming too, I ain't letting some squishy parasite take my pumpkin!"

"Hold on!" Dipper stopped them all before they moved out. "The thing was only after Pinocchio. But why? Normally when I see Heartless in Traverse Town they just randomly attack people and turn them into Heartless. Except for the few people you said they kidnapped."

Sora paused to think, could Pinocchio be one of the people that the Heartless were trying to kidnap? He didn't think so, but then again he did not know why the Heartless were kidnapping people in the first place. So it made sense that he could be one of the people, still there had to be a pattern. Something had to connect Pinocchio to whatever was going on, maybe he was someone Maleficent wanted to capture like Jasmine and Alice. Maybe Maleficent herself was here, if that was the case then he needed to be ready.

"Well, Pinocchio is a wooden puppet come to life. The other two were people." Sora deduced thinking back. "Mr. Gepetto, Jiminy said the Blue Fairy gave him a heart right?"

"No, she merely brought him to life, he would not gain a Heart until he became a real boy."

"So, puppets don't have hearts?" Sora asked curiously.

Gepetto paused to think. "Well...As far as I'm concerned he does, he's a sweet kind, sure sometimes mischievous lad. But he's my son, and I know he's as kind and curious as any lad at his age."

"Still, kinda strange if you ask me." Goofy commented.

"Maybe they want that Blue Fairy's magic and Pinocchio is the way to get it?" Sora thought trying to think of a connect. "Like maybe Maleficent can't use whatever magic it has?"

"Or maybe they wanna know why Pinocchio is alive without a heart?" Goofy suggested.

Sora thought about it for a while, trying to think if there was any more connection between Pinocchio and Maleficent's plan. A puppet without a heart was strange, especially for the Heartless who, according to everything he knew, entire goal in life were to collect Hearts. So if Pinocchio didn't have a heart, why go to him in the first place? None of it made real sense!"

"Riku what do you-" Sora turned, yet there was no sign of his friend.

Everything went silent as they realized he was gone

Donald looked around. "Where did you run off to earlier?" He looked at Dipper with suspicion. "Don't think I wasn't watching, Riku left too when you were dancing I just didn't say anything because I didn't want to cause trouble."

"What?!" Sora asked looking at Dipper suspiciously now.

Dipper bit his lip, his eyes shifting back and forth as he started to sweat, his breathing becoming a bit heavier. "Nowhere….Nowhere at all I wasn't sneaking off to follow anyone...Nope, nope, nope...not me. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH"

Sora leans forward now hovering over Dipper leaning in to get put on the pressure. "Dipper, why were you following Riku?"

"I...I…." Dipper took a deep breath. "I saw him with a black lamp in his hand. It was Jafar's lamp, he's been using it to help you find Kairi and I wasn't supposed to say anything but I can't hold in anymore, please don't be mad at meeeeee!."

"Black…." Sora gasped. "Jafar's lamp ...But-I told him not…..I uh…..We need to go!"

"YEAH! Enough talk, more punching!" Stan replied. "Plus if I don't get Mabel, your parents will kill me."

"But our worlds destroyed?" Dipper commented.

"Knowing my luck, they'd probably find a way to come back just to kill me-now come on!"

Sora began to head off in the direction of the Heartless, taking a deep sigh of exasperation. How could he take Jafar's lamp after he explicitly told him not too?! He had only hope the evil Vizier had not tricked him any way. Yet right now the time for questions would be later, right now they had a Heartless to catch, and a girl and wooden boy to save.

-000-

The search for the missing Heartless was a hard one. They had to go through what seemed like several tunnels and other areas of what had to be the whales intestinal system. Dipper tried to explain to them what was going on but they didn't have time to listen. What they did notice was that several more Heartless had emerged during the time they had lost the trail. Dozens of them now infested the inner workings of this whale. Sora, Donald and Goofy knocked as many as they could out.

Yet as Sora fought Heartless, all he could think about was Riku. Was he ok? Did the Heartless hurt him? He prayed that he had not been taken to another world. He wouldn't lose someone else, not again!

"Come on!" Sora yelled climbing up pads of what he didn't know.

Heartless appeared and tried to knock him down, or that of his companions who had followed him. Donald and Goofy had to help Gepetto and Stan climb up, Dipper too had trouble, still being small.

"Wish I had the grappling hook, now I know why Mabel liked them." Dipper said, his expression saddening.

Sora used his Key to lift Dipper up.

"There we go." Sora muttered trying to hold him steady.

The two boys stood on the edge of the pad for a moment, thankfully the Heartless were not there. They took this moment to have a reprieve.

"Dipper….What did….What did Riku say?" Sora asked, not quite sure himself if he wanted to know the actual answer.

"Huh?"

"W-What did he say, when you saw him with the lamp?" Sora asked, again his voice sounding hesitant. "Was he upset, angry….Um…."

Dipper blinked looking surprised. "Oh huh he uh….well, he wasn't sure how'd you take it."

"He said more." Sora replied looking at Dipper closely. "I can tell."

Dipper sighed. "He said he didn't trust you….Said he didn't trust how you'd take it, said you were ….morally absolute."

Those two words alone made Sora's heart crack. Moral absolute, or in layman terms, a goody goody. Did Riku resent this about him? Sure, when they were younger Riku tended to get into trouble more, while Sora wanted to follow the rules set up by his mother yet he wasn't beyond risk. After all, what he's as doing now, was a risk in to itself. But going out in the middle of night and having a evil genie are two very different things. Of course, Sora would never approve to it. Just the idea of having a genie serve them was something that caused him to shiver, even using the genie he had met in Agrabah made him a bit uneasy. But this was Jafar, a villain, someone who tried to kill him. If this was Riku's way of getting even, then he would need to put a an end to it and soon.

"He said he was doing this to find Kairi." Dipper continued.

Again Sora paused. "Oh….Well…." No, this still didn't make it right. "Come on, we need to keep going. Donald! Goofy! We need to hurry!"

Sora was glad that he wanted to still find Kairi, yet still something felt a bit out of place. Riku knew his objections to using the lamp but this couldn't have just been about the lamp. Deep in his gut Sora knew that something bigger was going on, perhaps a darker secret that Riku was not telling him and that he needed to find out no matter what the consequences were.

Sora picked up the pace of his speed as he looked behind. "Come on, hurry!"

"We're trying!" Goofy yelled.

"Yeesh kid, I'm not as young as I used to be." Stan grumbled taking a deep breath.

"This guy is too big!" Donald said trying to get Stan up the pad.

"Oh, come on! I only had like what, a couple burgers before I came here, hardly any fish here."

Gepetto however was having better luck. "Don't worry Pinocchio, we're coming."

"Right…." Sora started to climb. "Riku, what are you doing?"

-000-

Sora and the others had arrived. The Heartless though as if by instinct had vanished, perhaps hiding somewhere in the whale until it was ready. Good, that would give Riku time to lie and think of a way out of this mess. Quickly, his mind began to run through various scenarios as to how he got here, hoping to find the one that would be the most believable, though remembering Sora he would by almost anything.

"Sora!" Riku said calmly as he 'limped' his way forward. "You ok?"

Sora however just seemed stoic, his usual happy demeanor to see him was gone. Instead he gave Riku the same glare that an angry parent would give him. He had to say it was quite unsettling.

"I know, Riku!" Sora blurted out.

Riku blinked a few times. "What?"

"I know, I know you have Jafar's lamp, now come on, hand it over." Sora held out a hand, expecting him to give it to him.

He didn't really think that would work. "What are you talking about?"

"I know, Riku!" Sora eyes winced. "Dipper told me, he saw you with that lamp."

Suddenly Sora moved forward and tried to go through Riku's pocket and vest. Riku trying to hold back and stop him, pushing him aside and stepping back.

"Hey...Hey….."

Sora caught the lamp and tried to pull it away, Riku quickly grabbed it back as the two boys began what mounted to a tug of war the lamp being in the center.

"Give it!"

"No it's mine!"

"Come on Riku stop!"

"You're being childish!"

"I'm not the one with a evil genie!"

"Oh sure, bring that up! Now stop being stupid!"

"You're stupid….!"

"Me? Says you!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"Grunkle Stan, you aren't helping!"

"My money's on the spiky haired one!"

"They both have spiky hair!"

Riku and Sora continued to go up against the other, trying to loosen the others grip. Riku was stronger and was able to keep the lamp in grasp. Yet Sora was stronger now because of his battles with the Keyblade.

The sight was embarrassing ehough to watch, both teens acted like little children fighting over the last piece of candy. Both boys refusing to let go as they scrambled with one another to get control of the lamp. Sora hadn't done anything like this with Riku in years, yet both knew that they needed that lamp for various reasons. Sora wanted nothing more than to be rid of it once and for all and Riku needed it to keep whatever leverage he had left.

The more Sora shrugged, the angrier Riku got. Why couldn't he see that what he was doing was just practical? That this was for the greater good to find Kairi. Sora's overreaction just proved how weak his heart was when it came to the darkness!

Donald leaned over to Goofy embarrassed. "Uh, should we do something?"

"I'm not sure." Goofy said, taking a moment he looked at the situation.

Riku was ready to punch Sora in the nose to let go. "Stop being a idiot Sora, I'm doing this all for you!"

"Using a genie isn't going to help Kairi out!"

"Yeah, but her not having a heart isn't going to help either!"

"What?"

Sora let go instantly falling onto his back he was about to go up again before Goofy got in between both of them, his fatherly instincts kicking in.

"Alright fellas, that's enough to the corners both of you!" Goofy said in the most stern voice he could muster.

"But-"

Goofy gave him a stern look, Sora flinched not having a fatherly figure in a long time do that to him, but already memories of some of his more troublesome childhood moments came rushing back to him.

"You can't tell me what to do!" Riku shouted glaring at him and Sora. "You aren't our parents!"

"Yeah, well, I'm not about to let ya kill each other over a stupid lamp!" Goofy argued back.

"That lamp is important I could-"

Both boys paused at the sound of a loud shriek. Above them the jugular Heartless screeched as it had on high. Riku looked closer to see in shock, Mabel fighting him off using her grappling hook, and her ingenuity. Everyone watched in shock to see just how fast she could be when she concentrated, even the Heartless itself couldn't grasp her in it's tentacle grip, instead spraying and missing with its toxic acid breath. She aimed mostly for the mouth in it's stomach, getting it to open up releasing Pinocchio from it's grip. Quickly, she turned on Riku, knocking him out with the grappling hook, before landing in front of the group, tired yet determined.

"What was that for?!" Dipper yelled, looking at Riku, making sure he wasn't bleeding.

"Dipper get back from him, he's bad!" Mabel yelled taking a defensive stance.

Sora eyes widened. "What?!"

Instantly Riku got up and scowled as he headed straight for Mabel, a look of murder in his eyes. "Why you little b-"

"Stay back!" Mabel held out her grappling hook. "Or I'll hit you where the sun don't shine, and don't think I'll miss, I've hit Dipper there MANY TIMES!"

"It's true…" Dipper sighed looking down in his nether regions. "I don't know if I'll ever have children with Wendy now."

"Yeah, yeah, pity party later Dipper. Fight evil ex-husband now!" Mabel yelled.

Riku stayed back and scowled. Quickly Mabel got out the camera she had managed to sneak in with her and showed him what she had recorded. His eye widened in fear, how on earth did she get that let alone manage to record his conversation earlier?!

Sora looked closely, and began to feel every bone and muscle in his body began to twitch and weaken. There on screen, Sora could see Riku standing in front of a tall woman in black cloak with horns. The two talked to one another, and how he had captured Alice in Wonderland, the last words Riku spoke were.

"Mind your own business, Maleficent!" Mabel closed the camera after that, turning to glare at Riku with all the fury she could muster.

Sora looked up at Riku in shock. He felt hurt, betrayed. Why? Why would Riku do this to him, of all people? Weren't they friends? Didn't they always stick on the same side? Clearly there must have been a reason for him to be doing this! Sora never knew Riku to be evil, he never knew him to be bad. So really, why?

Riku just looked at Sora with a pleading expression. "Look...Sora….I did what I had to do okay?"

"Do what you had to?!" Sora yelled sounding angrier than he meant to. "Riku! Don't you know what Maleficent is doing?!

"Sora! Look at it this way, she raising those Heartless, destroyed everything, our home, our friends, your mother." Something about the way Riku mentioned his mother made Sora even angrier. She was not a bargaining chip! Yet he continued anyway. "I'm trying to make sure we survive in this new world. It's not gonna be pretty but at least we'll all be alive! And once we find Kairi, we can go and explore the worlds while we can!"

"And what, let the Heartless destroy everything?! Riku, I know the Heartless took our world! Ours isn't the only one, they took the Pines world too! Those families are gone! But I'm the one with the Keyblade and so I..."

"Oh, please!" Riku said, snarling now his patient running thing. "So what, you get a Key and all of a sudden you are a special superhero? Well, let me tell you, you aren't! I've known you Sora, seen you run from fights, seen you not being able to hold a wooden sword, let alone that. Just because you have that doesn't make you special! If anything life has been to easy on you! With your parents and your loved ones and all the pathetic friends you make without even knowing them for more than ten seconds! Maybe you need a little suffering, then you'll finally understand how life works!"

It was then that Riku realized he had gone too far. Sora could see it in his eyes, but it didn't matter. His true feelings had come out. Everyone else just looked awkwardly away as the two boys just stared at one another. Even Stan took a moment to step back, a tinge of pain on his face as he slowly put down the camera.

"You know, I don't think I'm gonna sell this." He muttered as he turned off the camera. "Kids, is it wrong for a man twice his age to punch a child in the face?"

"Technically Grunkle Stan, he's a teenager." Dipper added.

"Even better I can be more violent."

Sora felt his eyes water. "Riku….Do you...Do you really think that?"

"What I…." Riku took a deep breath to calm himself. "Look Sora...Let's join forces, Darkness is going win. I want you on the winning side."

Sora felt his body shake. "Do you really mean that?!"

"Who cares! Join me and be on the winning team otherwise you WILL suffer and so will they!" Any sympathy Riku had was slowly fading.

"This isn't about the winning side….." Sora sighed glaring back him.

"Oh really?" Riku snickered, "Look Sora, I know we're Kairi is…."

Sora eyes widened for a brief second. "Y-You did...Where?!"

"In another world? We can go get her. Only problem is...Her heart is missing"

"M-Missing?!"

Riku nooded, actually smiling. "That's right, but this puppet….A puppet who's alive, even though he doesn't have a heart, might be the key to saving her. See Sora, this is what I'm talking about...needing darkness, using it….something that your light or luck won't give you."

Sora looked at Pinocchio who kept close to Mabel and then back at Riku who held out his hand smiling. Yet, for the first time ever, he didn't want to take it. Not this time.

"No."

"What?!" Riku stepped back.

"No! This is wrong Riku! I'm not gonna let you do this."

"But what about Kairi?!" Riku yelled.

"It….." Sora bit his lip. "Kairi wouldn't want this. I'll find a way to bring back her heart but not like this! And I am not gonna surrender and work with the Heartless! You Riku, you're on the losing side!"

He was starting to see Sora's weakness first hand now, he still sided with people he barely even knew over his own friend! Riku had gotten the power they could have to make them free and instead Sora decided to choose to side with, in Riku's mind, a team that was destined to lose. Anger boiled inside him now, anger that was slowly turning into hate. Hatred for Sora's weakness, hatred for always having so many loved ones around him while he had nothing!

It was then that he lowered his hand.

Something in Riku snapped. His face became stone cold as he glared at Sora now, his cyan eyes looking quite dark and emotionless as a black portal emerged behind him.

"Very well Sora, then enjoy your time in the darkness with the rest of these pathetic losers."

Slowly Riku walked backwards taking one more look at Sora before disappearing into the darkness.

"Riku...Riku, wait!" Too late, he was gone, Sora had the look of something kicking him in the nuts.

Sora felt empty inside, his best friend had betrayed them, all this time he thought he found him but instead he was just being used, lied too and manipulated. All he wanted to do right now was just lie down on the ground and cry.

"S-Sora?" Goofy said about to reach out.

But too late, the giant tentacle jugular Heartless was still their, sucking into the acid and began to attack by spraying it all over the stomach.

Without hesitation, the beast landed on the ground and began to attack Sora and the others, its tentacles in full swing causing the others to dodge and perry as quickly as possible. This time it was not holding back, this time it was there to take all of them down. But this time, Sora was ready, like a dragon breathing fire, he felt all the anger and shock come towards as he aimed right at the Heartless, leaping into the air and fighting it with every fiber of his being even unleashing power of the Keyblade against them, causing the whale's stomach to bulge and twist.

"Sora!" Donald yelled, looking in horror as Sora whaled on the creature.

This beast, this creature of darkness, it was it's fault that this had happened! The Heartless have taken his home, his friend, and his family, and just when he thought he was getting it back, they took it away from him again! So he would take everything away from this one Heartless until there was nothing but dust, not even bothering to stop once the creature was gone. It wasn't until Donald and Goofy had to grab him by the arms did he finally stop.

"Sora...Sora….Stop!" Donald yelled snapping him out of it. "It's over...It's gone….He's gone."

Anger, pure rage, it's icy presence pouring all over him. No logic was coming through to him, even when the acid from the whale's intestines began to spread near him did he not care, it only took Donald and Goofy holding him down to get him to realize what had happened.

"He's gone…" Sora said taking several deep breath on the verge of tears. "He's gone…"

Sora froze as he realized what happened. Once the adrenaline had left, he felt nothing but a cold pain in his chest. He hated this feeling, wanting to get on his knees and just die. Suddenly the ground began to rumble as the acid of the whale's stomach began to rise however, the adrenaline returning. All he wanted to do now was take down each and every single Heartless that was still here. Yet his constant attacks only made the stomach fluid arise worse more.

"She's gonna blow!" Mabel yelled causing everyone to go into a panic.

"Quick to the Gummi Ship!" Goofy yelled.

Everyone ran off, all but Sora who looked for Riku one more time hoping he'd show up just to say goodbye. But once he realized it was too late he did leave them, he had sided with the Heartless. He had betrayed them.

"Come on, Sora!" Dipper yelled grabbing onto his hand and trying to get him as fast away. "You'll have time to grieve later, right now your friends need you!"

"Friends…." Sora looked up as the young boy urged him forward. "I know….I know."

With haste he followed them, turning back once more hoping beyond hope that Riku would come back once more, but to no avail. Riku was gone, this time perhaps for good.