Inside the laboratory of Disney Castle, the research team was working really hard on their new creation. One figure was looking over them all with a patient yet tense expression. "How is the work going?" he asked his assistant.
"Pretty well, Sir Hamelyn," he responded. "We have gathered more than half of the required synthesis elements. The genie essence was hard to obtain, but the hardest part of the work is now done. We should have completed the process sometime after the next Heartless Wave."
The figure known as Sir Hamelyn smiled. "Perfect. Soon, our work will be done and Disney World will be changed forever..."
"Where are we again?" Donald Duck asked Aura who still had a hard time understanding him.
"This place is called 'Pure Heart Valley'," the blue-haired boy responded. "I heard rumors saying that there are lots of monsters to fight here, so I thought it would be a good idea to come."
The country of Pure Heart Valley was a heavily-forested region with a hill plateau surrounded by mountains. As they walked across the city, Aura and Donald came across various creatures called 'Sweetypies' who were like anthro animals... but with more odd and weird appearances such as a pink rhinoceros with a heart on his abdomen and a muscled yellow horse girl.
At one point, the duo came across a little orange farmer-looking rabbit. "Hello there, folks," he greeted them with a smile. "I'm Farmer Bun, the best farmer of Pure Heart Valley."
"Hello, Farmer Bun. My name's Aura and this is Donald Duck."
"Nice to meet you both. What brings you folks to Pure Heart Valley?"
"My friend and I were looking to see if you had any trouble and for monsters to fight. Got any of that?" Aura asked.
The little bunny let out a chuckle. "If you're looking for monsters to fight, you're at the right place, my friend. Ever since the Ruby Pure Heart has been fractured, our kingdom has been attacked by monsters nonstop. Luckily for us, our troubles are always taken care of by Sheriff Mao Mao and his team."
"That's great. Can you tell us where we can find this sheriff?" Aura asked.
"COME BACK HEEEEEERE!"
"... I'd say right here, right now," Farmer Bun replied as he hopped away.
Looking toward where the scream came from, Aura and Donald saw two figures running in their direction. One of them was a black green-eyed cat dressed in some sort of red ninja costume. Running away from him was a pinkish red-furred tanuki with turquoise eyes. It seemed like she was getting chased by the black cat for some reason. Upon getting close enough, she leapt and landed right beside Aura, giving him a curious look. But then, her expression switched to a grin.
"There you are, partner!" she said with putting her black paw on the boy's shoulder.
"Huh?" Aura asked with a confused expression.
"I got the treasure now; you take care of the rest. Bye!" she said with running away.
"Come back here!" the black cat once again yelled before stopping to glare at Aura. "What does she mean? You're her thief partner?"
"What? No, no, you don't understand. I don't have a clue what she's talking about," Aura tried to explain. "My name's Aura and-"
"DON'T TAKE ME FOR A FOOL!" the cat yelled, unsheathing a golden katana and jumping toward the blue-haired boy. This last one mumbled a swear before summoning his Keyblade and blocking the sword with a loud CLANG! "... What's that thing?"
"It's a Keyblade, a legendary weapon bestowed upon me by destiny!" Aura replied as he pushed the black cat back.
This last one blinked his green eyes a few times. "... That's the most ridiculous weapon I've ever seen."
"Hey! Don't say this; it's a very powerful weapon!" Aura shouted with an annoyed look. "I'm one of the only four people to possess it!"
The Keyblade Hero engaged a sword duel with the black cat, their weapons creating sparkles every time they clashed. It was clear that the black cat was more experienced in sword combat as he overpowered the less experienced boy, knocking him to the ground. However, before he could do anything else, the feline was suddenly struck by a thunder strike that shocked him and made him fall to the ground.
"I hate it when people ignore me," Donald remarked as he helped Aura back up. "What was that all about anyway?"
"That was very impressive!" The duo looked up to see the tanuki girl from before standing on a rooftop. She leapt down and gracefully landed beside them. "You're not very good with your ridiculous weapon, but that was a pretty nice trick your avian friend did there," she complimented, receiving a glare from Aura.
"Who are you anyway?" Aura asked.
"My name's Tanya Keys, professional bounty hunter. I catch bad people for rewards. And who are you?"
"I'm Aura, Keyblade Hero charged by King Mickey to protect all the worlds from Heartless. And this is Donald Duck; Royal Magician of King Mickey's court who accepted to help me on my quest. We are here to defeat monsters in order to become stronger."
The tanuki girl blinked her eyes at this. "Keyblade Hero? Royal Magician? King Mickey? What are you talking about?"
"Well, you know, King Mickey, the ruler and protector of Disney World," Donald Duck said, receiving a shrug from Tanya. "The mouse who fought monsters like Chernabog with his magic paint brush."
"Never heard of it."
"You at least know who the Keyblade Heroes are," Aura said. "We're all carrying weapons like this," he explained with showing his Keyblade.
"Nope, sorry." The tanuki rubbed her chin, thinking about something, and then smiled. "Say, you said that you wanted to fight monsters and get stronger, right?"
"Yeah, why?" Donald asked.
"Well, I just so happen to know a place where a group of powerful villains are living. Would you be interested in accepting this quest? For the sake of this kingdom?"
"Of course, we're here for that," Aura said with a smile. Donald suddenly pulled him closer and mumbled in his ear.
"Aura, something's suspicious about this tanuki girl. I don't know if we should trust her."
"Come on, Donald, she has no reason to lie to us. And besides, we don't know anything about this world, so we need a guide." After saying this, Aura turned back to Tanya Keys. "Alright, Tanya, led the way."
"With pleasure," she said with walking away, the duo following her. Unknown to them, the tanuki girls twisted her face into a little grin...
"Where the duck are we?!" Donald, with covering his beak with one hand.
Tanya Keys led the duo outside Pure Heart Valley and to some sort of dump filled with hills of trash and a terrible smell. "This is the place where the criminals I told you about live," Tanya responded, walking forward. "They're pretty strong, so you'll need these to win."
She handed them one leaf each. "What are these?" Aura asked with taking his.
"You'll understand. Now go," she said with pointing at some sort of giant ship. "They're all in there."
Aura nodded and stepped forward. Donald gave her a doubtful look before following his friend. The two approached the ship and carefully entered it through a hangar door on the side. The place was large and metallic with many machines and boards all around. All in all, it looked like the typical headquarters of a cartoon villain.
"Halt!" a loud voice called, causing the duo to freeze and look around.
"Where are you?" Aura asked, summoning his Keyblade.
"Right here!" Suddenly, a spotlight came out of nowhere and revealed a group of weird animals in the middle of the place. There was some sort of cobra standing on top of an Orangutan with a purple metallic armor, a giraffe with a metallic armor, some sort of ostrich dressed like a cowboy, and a little rat. "Welcome to the lair of the Sky Pirates!" the cobra guy said.
"Pirates, eh?" Aura asked, narrowing his eyes and pointing his Keyblade at them while Donald rose his magical staff. "Sorry, but as a Keyblade Hero, it is my duty to put you under arrest."
The pirates blinked their eyes at this. "I know what a hero is, but what is a Keyblade?" the giraffe asked with a weird accent.
"No idea," the cowboy ostrich answered with a shrug. "If I were to guess, I'd say it's this strange weapon he's holding because it looks like a key."
"I think that might be the most ridiculous-looking weapon I've ever seen," the little rat remarked.
"STOP SAYING THAT!" Aura angrily exclaimed with a glare. He then took out the leaf Tanya gave him. "Time to see what she wanted us to use these for."
Suddenly, the two leaves held by the duo exploded in smoke before changing form. They became some sort of metallic globes that released electric discharges, sending jolts throughout both friends' bodies, and making them collapse on the floor. They were paralyzed. "What the...?!" Aura mumbled.
"Surprised?" They turned their heads as far as they could to see Tanya Keys entering the room with a grin. "Those are paralyzing punches. They will restrain you for a few minutes."
"T-Tanya... Why did you do this?" Aura weakly asked.
"Because these pirates promised a good reward in exchange for any heroes they can be brought. And, considering I've never met any heroes outside of Mao Mao and his friends around here, I saw a good opportunity to make easy money," Tanya explained.
"I knew we shouldn't have trusted you!" Donald declared with a glare.
"Yeah. Sorry to tell you this, but I think you were the easiest guys I ever fooled in my career." Tanya then shrugged. "Don't take this personally; it's just business."
"So these two are heroes, eh?" the cobra-ape guy asked with a grin. "Why, thank you, Keys. I really do appreciate your help. Here's your reward." He pressed a button on a remote and goons came out of nowhere, filling the room.
"W-What's this?" Tanya asked in surprise. "You promised a reward in exchange for any hero delivered to you!"
"I sure did. And I wish I could give you a proper reward, but my crew and I are a bit short on money these days." The cobra-ape guy shrugged. "Seems the work of pirate doesn't really pay that much. Especially when you remain in the same place all the time. Get her, boys!"
As the goons approached her, Tanya narrowed her eyes. She took out some leaves and tossed them toward her enemies, making them turn into bombs that exploded and knocked them back. "Guys, I think we should work together if we want to survive now!" Taking two more leaves, she turned them into needles and stung Aura and Donald with them. In a few seconds, they were able to move again and got back up.
"Alright, but this conversation's far from over!" Aura declared as he grabbed his Keyblade and got ready to fight.
Orangusnake took out some sort of pink energy axe and swung it at Aura who ducked and blocked it with his Keyblade. The giraffe stretched her metal neck and chased Donald Duck who started running around while panicking. Finally, the ostrich used his legs to run really fast after Tanya.
"Why don't you leaf me alone?" the tanuki jokingly asked, grabbing a leaf and launching it at her chaser. It turned into a net that caught the ostrich, trapping him down.
"Come back here! I'm gonna catch you!" the giraffe yelled at Donald Duck, eventually managing to bite his butt.
"WAAAAH!" the poor avian exclaimed and jumped up in pain. He then narrowed his ice-blue eyes into a glare and pointed his staff at his opponent. "TAKE THAT! FIRE!" An unusually powerful fire blast came out of his staff, hitting the giraffe directly in the face, sending her flying back and crash into the command board of the room.
Refusing to go down without a fight, Orangusnake grabbed his little rate that suddenly turned into a boomerang shape. "Don't think you can defeat us, the Sky Pirates, so easily!" He launched his boomerang friend at Aura who easily deflected him with his Keyblade.
"I'm a Keyblade Hero; low-class criminals like you can never defeat me!" The blue-haired boy rose his Keyblade, ready to use his new technique. "AURA BLAST!" A blue energy ball formed on the tip of Aura's Keyblade, and he sent it hitting Orangusnake. This created a big explosion.
"DON'T WORRY I'M OKAY!" the criminal screamed as he was ejected out of the ship and far in the sky.
"BOOOOOSS!" the three others shouted in panic and ran after their leader.
"... That seems familiar for some reason...," Donald remarked with scratching the side of his head.
Aura checked the alert window that appeared before him. He scoffed a bit at seeing what little EXP he and his friend received from defeating the Sky Pirates. "These guys weren't really worth the trouble." He then turned toward Tanya with a serious glare. "I cannot believe that you actually betrayed us like this, Tanya. We trusted you!"
"As I said, sorry about this, kiddo. It wasn't anything personal; just business," the tanuki girl said with a shrug and a roll of her eyes. "If it means anything, I wouldn't have done this if I had known that the pirates would have turned on me like this."
"You think we care?! That was nothing short of backstabbing! If you had done this at Disney Castle, you would have been locked away forever or banished! I don't know what's retaining me from hitting you with a good thunder spell!" Donald angrily rambled.
Tanya just blinked her turquoise eyes. "... Sorry, birdy, but I haven't understood anything you just said." She then looked back at Aura. "Look, if it can make things cool between us, I know the best places to find REALLY dangerous monsters. You still wanna find some?"
Aura gave a hesitant look. He gave his answer after a few seconds. "Alright, I'm willing to give you a second chance." He then pointed his Keyblade at her face. "However, don't EVER try to stab us in the back again, or I will arrest and lock you away in the deepest dungeon of Disney Castle forever! Understood?"
"Whatever you say, Blueberry Head," the tanuki mused with a grin.
Donald, meanwhile, desperately rubbed his eyes. "You're not careful enough, Aura..."
Author's note: I haven't updated this story in a very long time, didn't I? Yeah, whenever you think you have all the time in the world, life throws something at you so that you stay busy. *sigh*
You must think Aura's crazy for giving another chance to Tanya Keys after what she just did, right? Honestly, Aura has a good heart, but he isn't the smartest guy in the room, y'know.
The world explored in this chapter was of "Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart" which belongs to Cartoon Network. I saw this show for the first time a few months ago, when the pandemic started. It quickly became one of my most favorite CN shows because of its anime-like art style, humor, interesting world, and just for being a generally fun show. Tanya Keys is the second character I got the most attached to (after Adorabat), and I thought she would be good to go with Aura's team since she's a trickster unlike Aura and Donald who are more serious guys.
School should start again for me next week (if nothing changes)! I must admit I was pretty excited to start studying again.
Constructive reviews are welcome and, as always, may the gods watch over you all!