Hey everyone,
Well, as you can all see, I've come back to my posts at the end of the month. However, as I'm sure you've all also noticed, there's a twist. From now on, at the end of the month, I am just going to post whatever I have written. I simply can't abide by my One-Chapter-Per-Story update schedule anymore as I have too many stories that all need/deserve another chapter. Instead, this way I can both focus on finishing stories and just let my muse run away with me.
Hope you enjoy,

Venquine1990

Chapter 54
An Unknown World

31st of January 1996
The Viewing Room
Sora's POV

"You know, we should take a break." I say after I tried and failed to give my dad a fair warning about the next two worlds. "What? Why?" Jessica asks, her voice sounding strangely horrified. I wince and say: "We're going against the whole reason Lady Destiny send us here. It was meant to help us recover from the stress our home worlds were causing us, but we're letting our worries over these movies get the better of us."
Jessica frowns at this and dad wraps a loving arm around her as he says: "I agree with your brother, sweetie. Besides, the more we worry over what we're being shown, the more we pause the movie and the longer this whole thing will take. If we take a break, we can calm down and enjoy the movie a bit more. And you know what they say about time and having fun." Jessica gives him a tentative nod and I can't help but look at her in curiosity.

"It's her Kitsune nature. The anxiety over what you're going through in these movies is working on her need to have her mate close. And the things I just said about time aren't helping either." Riku is this time the one to frown and he growls: "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that Lea might arrive in bed with her tomorrow." And to both our shock, dad laughs and says: "It really wouldn't surprise me, all things considered."
"Why are you okay with that?" Riku almost yells and Dad retorts: "Don't you trust him?" Riku falters and seems to think about this for a moment. But then he smiles and says: "Good point. I'd probably be more against it if it had been someone from Earth or from a world we hadn't visited yet. But – Lea's always been there for us and for those that he's been loyal to. If anyone's trustworthy and who would go above and beyond for his friends, it's definitely him."

"And I miss him soooooooooo much." Jessica whines and I can actually hear some kind of animalistic whine coming from her throat. And of course the girl glares when dad starts to laugh at her. I decide to take pity on my little sister and ask: "Do you want to learn a new Keyblade move, sis?" The girl nods, instantly excited. The two of us head back into the Special Room and stand next to each other as we each summon our Keyblades.
"Okay, for this move you need to reach deep within yourself. It's not so much an elemental attack as more – hey, what do you know? I think I used my Wizarding core to empower this move." I suddenly exclaim as I realize what I was about to tell my sister. The girl's eyes widen before she smiles and says: "If that's the case it shouldn't take me that long to learn this one. Continue, Sora, please." And again I hear that animalistic whine in her voice.

I look at my sister and suddenly I spot it. Her stance isn't half as confident as usual and her grip is actually a little slack. Her shoulders are down and her head is titled down as if she'd rather look down at the floor than at the room around her. "Could her need to have Lea close cause her to get depressed? If so, I need to work twice as hard. If I can keep her happy, time will move faster and she and Lea will be reunited sooner."
And while I am not entirely sure if that's really possible, I don't care either. I focus back on the area in front of me and say: "Right, so for this move, you need to reach deep within. Find a magical power deep within you and let it fill your whole arm, specifically your wand arm. While the both of us might like to hold our blade with both hands, for this one we need to throw it, so we need to put our strength in only one arm. Got me so far?"

Jessica nods and I smile: "Good, now watch. This move is called Strike Raid and is mostly useful when dealing with multiple enemies." Jessica nods in understanding and I move my body as I told her. First I move my arm and move of my upper body back and then swing it all forward, while I reach deep inside for the power I feel within me. I feel it connecting with my throw and the Keyblade and, just like always, the power pulls the blade back after it reached a certain distance.
And all the while, the blade spins on its axis in rapid circles like a boomerang, both as it swings forward and as it comes back. I keep a close eye on the blade and position my hand accordingly. And because the spinning and the speed of the blade's movement slowed down somewhat before it reached me, I hardly feel the hard metal hitting my hand. "So it's basically casting a Depulso and then an Accio summoning spell on your Keyblade while swinging it like a boomerang?"

Jessica asks and I grin at her. "Exactly, now you try." Yet to this dad says: "This might get tricky, though. Unlike you, Sora, Jessica is used to saying the spells out loud. But this Strike Raid seems to be relying more on the intent of the spell than the actual incantation. So if she tries it the way she described, she might fail." I grimace at dad's words, but then Riku says: "On the other hand, if she succeeds, it would make Lea pretty darn proud of her."
And this seems to do the job as Jessica's entire stance changes from before and renewed strength and determination seems to encompass her form now. I grin at both her and at my mate for how brilliantly he just got her motivated. And while Jessica starts trying out the move, I walk back to him and wrap my arms tightly around his neck. Riku wraps his own around my waist and I happily press my lips against his.

And just like every other time since dad got us convinced to get together, I can feel the love that Riku feels for me expressed in the way he kisses me, his emotions and the way he holds me making me feel warm and loved. All of this makes my body feel slightly weak, yet it also makes my heart beat faster and makes my whole body feel a few degrees warmer. I part from his lips and whisper: "You're the best, you know that?" And Riku's dazzling smile is my answer.
Riku looks up from me and I don't need to turn around to know that Jess is doing a great job. Pride and amazement make his crystal colored eyes widen and shine brightly and his smile widens a bit. I still turn my head and see Jessica's Keyblade stopping halfway down the way back to her hand. The girl sighs at this and yet she doesn't pull her wand to summon the blade. Instead, she proves herself a true Wielder as she just holds out her hand.

And after her Keyblade disappears from where it fell and returns to her hand, she retakes the required stance and tries again. "She's really determined to make time go faster." Riku mutters and I nod. "Do you really have that much trouble accepting that she and Lea are meant for each other?" I can't help but ask, thanks to the strange tone I can hear in the back of his voice. Riku shakes his head and says: "No, I just don't want her rushing through this or doing something she'll later regret.
We have this realm, Sora. We have months, maybe even years before we have to return to earth or Destiny Island or wherever. I just feel that, if Jessica and Lea do everything that makes dating special before we finished her Third year, it'll make the other times that they can meet up less special. And that's the last thing I want as her bond with Lea makes her so obviously very, very happy. I guess, in my protective need of her, I just want to protect her from that, from herself, maybe."
I sigh as the strong tone of his voice and the way that he is still holding onto my waist fills me with warmth, love and as if the love and protective feelings he has for my sister are meant for me. And I feel the grin on my face extend as I feel sure that Riku feels these feelings for me just as much as he does for my little sister. Then suddenly dad comes to stand a little closer and he says: "You know, I think Harry did the right thing when he changed into Jessica."
Riku and I turn to him and he grins as he says: "It's because of the bond I can see growing between you two. It reminds me of the bond between Ron and Ginny. To be honest, I think you two would have grown more of a bond similar to Ron and the twins if Harry had stayed Harry. And while the twins do deeply respect Ron, they often turn him into the butt of their jokes. And you are both sons of two Marauders. You two probably would have started a prank war or something."

I can't help but laugh at this and dad turns from me to Riku as he says: "Though I also think that maybe her gender change was a bit detrimental to the development of your bond with her.""Why? Because I am being so instinctively against her and Lea rushing things?" Riku asks, but dad shakes his head and says: "Because it's effecting how overly protective you are of her.""Why is that a bad thing?" I can't help but ask.
"It doesn't have to be, but I can tell that it really annoys both Riku and Jessica. Riku, because he really doesn't like it that he distrusts one of his closest friends like this. And Jessica, because she loves Riku and Lea equally." Dad explains and the two of us nod in understanding as I ask: "Do you know what could be the cause of it?" Dad nods and says: "It's her inner Kitsune. Remember, Potter Kitsunes are more feline like, whereas most Kitsune are more fox-like.
And Jessica has already proven that she is lioness-like when she met Simba. And like all lions and lionesses, she is forming a pack, with Riku as the Alpha. And if the Alpha is one thing, it's protective of the females, especially if their pack only has one or a few or if the numbers of males exceeds the number of females like ours does. Now I do think that the whole thing will lessen if Riku spends more time with the Chasers, Ginny, Hermione and Lily, but – for now."

Dad keeps quiet at this point and Riku and I share a concerned look. "YES! I DID IT!" Jessica suddenly yells and we all look up. And while I hadn't even noticed that I stopped watching her practice, I grin widely as I see her perform a perfect Strike Raid, the Special Room even summoning several discs and letting them float in mid air for her to hit. And her Keyblade strikes each of them perfectly and cuts them clean in half.
The three of us applaud and cheer for her and the girl beams at us. Yet as she runs over, dad says: "Sweetie, I have some bad news for you. When Lea comes over tomorrow, you're going to have to share him for a bit.""I know that. He'll be here when we watch the finale of Sora's first journey, along with the others." Jessica tells him, but the man shakes his head and says: "Last time they were here, you saw Riku and Lea fight, right?

That was because Lea wanted to prove himself to Riku, so Riku's instinctual needs to keep you safe would recognize him as someone worthy of sharing that desire. You're going to have to let them do that again tomorrow.""Why? They fought the other time. Why would I let them fight again? I don't want them to get hurt and I don't want them hurting each other." The girl asks, her voice sounding as if she's on the verge of tears.
Dad hugs Jessica close as he must have heard the same thing I did and he mutters: "Because you and the girls interrupted the fight, sweetie. Lea didn't properly get the chance to prove himself. It's just like when we first got here, when Sora and Riku fought each other for the role of a dominant in their relationship. Lea needs to prove that, while he accepts Riku as the alpha of our pack, he is still a strong and worthy member by his own right; that he deserves to be by your side."

I grimace as I see Jessica shrinking down within dad's hold, the girl obviously not liking this idea one bit. But then she looks at Riku across dad and my shoulder and she says: "You get half an hour after breakfast. After that he's mine again." Riku's eyes widen for a moment, but while dad bursts out laughing, my mate gives my sister a nod that proves he accepts her terms. And personally I can't help but think: "Those two might need a little more than 30 minutes."
But I don't say this and instead, we just head back into the video room. And as we sit down, I perk up and say: "You know, I actually just thought of something that can make watching this part of the movie a lot better." The others turn to me and I happily turn to dad and Jessica as I say: "It represents the actual embodiment behind Halloween. I mean, I know what Halloween has meant for both of you for years, but that's not what Halloween really stands for.
And this world really proves that." My family smiles at this, excitement and curiosity visible on their faces and Riku says: "Well then, let's have a look." And as he says this, the movie restarts. And to my surprise it starts right as the Gummi Ship arrives at Halloween Town. The world itself is a giant pumpkin head with carved out eyes and a wicked grinning mouth. There is a weird shaped house at the bottom of the world and a temple, water hole and another house up top.

Then the movie turns dark and then focuses on a field with myself, Donald and Goofy standing on another safe point. And just like in Atlantica our forms have changed. I now have a pumpkin mask covering my right eye. The mask has a winking face on it and the teeth look razor sharp. Two of my own teeth have also changed into fangs. There is a pair of small wings sticking out of my back and out of the golden crown button on my chest.
My whole outfit is now black, bar the shoulders of my shirt and gloves that I now wear, which reach halfway up my lower arms. Another change is that my lower legs are now covered in red and black ribbons that cover each other in a crisscross pattern. And Donald and Goofy have changed just as much as Donald is now a mummy with a missing torso and Goofy a Frankenstein with a claw and a pumpkin at the tip of his nose.

Jessica and dad look shocked at how much we've changed and dad turns to Riku and asks if he shows up in this world. Riku shakes his head and dad lets out a breath of relief. We all look at him and he explains: "Veela and Vampires are each other's natural enemies. Sora might only be in costume in this world, to fit in, but I have no doubt that this form can really bring out his inner nature. He wouldn't have been able to hold back like he did here."
My eyes widen at this, yet Riku doesn't seem half as shocked or concerned. I know that Riku has always had more endurance than me. Yet I still feel my heart clench at the idea that my inner Veela might do something to hurt my mate. And that I wouldn't be able to stop it. Riku asks dad what might have happened and dad shrugs with a grimace on his face as he says: "Probably a fight for dominance and – a costume change, so to say.
After all, going by that shot, Sora does have real vampire teeth in that movie. So he probably would have fought you like he did when we arrived here, but once the battle was over, he probably would have turned you. Into a Vampire, I mean. And that would have meant trouble for your bond, at least until Sora turned 16. It really is a rare occasion that a Veela and a Vampire mate as their species are, like I said, natural enemies."

I ask my dad whether or not Riku and I can ever visit Halloween Town again. As I try to ignore what he said about the two years our bond would have suffered if things had been different. But dad smiles at me and says: "Not at all. You're seventeen now and your bond with Riku is growing stronger every day. I don't think your Veela will affect your costume change the next time you visit. Don't worry, son." He pulls me in for a comforting hug.
Then Jessica wonders what she would turn into in that world and I can't help but joke that she'll probably be an undead lioness or something. My sister glares at me and I can't help but laugh back at her. Dad shakes his head and Riku tells us how it won't matter as we're meant to stay here a while. We all nod in agreement to this and turn back to the movie. The camera focuses on my front first and my back after that.

"This sure is a spooky place. I'll bet the people here are scary-lookin' too." Goofy mutters and there is a slight hint of panic in his voice. Donald reassures him and says: "Don't worry. We look spooky, too. If they scare us, we'll scare them right back!" Dad and Jessica snort and Jessica mumbles that she might get scared of either me or Goofy, but not of Donald. I grin at this and wish that my friend was here to hear her say that.
"You think so?" Goofy asks Donald and to the amusement of my family, the Duck doesn't answer. Instead the three of us head through the gate. The camera zooms around the courtyard that is behind the fence and shows the two houses, the guillotine, the well in the center of the courtyard and the many pumpkins that decorate the whole courtyard. And every so often a pair of transparent ghosts appear and fly by, cackling menacingly.

Dad mutters how these look nothing like the Hogwarts ghosts and Jessica mutters how they are more a representation of what most Muggles think ghosts look like. She giggles and says: "Besides, it's that they're real or I would think that they're just a bunch of kids hiding under white bedsheets. Muggle kids do that for Halloween. They dress up as something scary or spooky and go around the neighborhood. They collect candy that way."
Dad seems greatly intrigued by this, yet I can tell that something is bothering Jessica. Yet the girl doesn't seem willing to share this and just turns back to the screen. I grin as I'm sure that, if not for her desire to get back with Lea quicker, she probably would have shared her troubles with us. I care for my sister and so I don't want to trouble her more. And so I just turn back to watch the movie myself as well. And just in time too.

An explosion is heard from a house that is partially hidden behind a brick wall on the outer ring of the courtyard. A cloud of black smoke starts to emit from the house. The camera moves down and suddenly the courtyard is full of Heartless ghosts. The Heartless have pumpkins for heads, but one of their eyes dangles from the socket. They wear purple shirts with pink cuffs at the ends of their sleeves and the Heartless symbol on their chests.
Their hands are covered in scar and stitch lines and are a soft purple. They have genie-like tails that come out from underneath their hemlines and the tails are white with a bright blue tip at the end. There are six in total and they all surround the well in the center of the courtyard. Instantly Donald, Goofy and I draw our weapons, yet none of our attacks seem to have any effect. The Heartless also remain stationary and so the three of us try to look around. Yet as we pass the mausoleum like building and look around, something happens.

A man that is standing in the middle layer of the courtyard and who wears the longest and thinnest top hat I have ever seen, puts a black plastic megaphone in front of his face and declares: "And now, allow me to introduce the master of terror, the king of nightmares – Jack Skellington!" Jessica, Riku and dad all look amazed and shocked as they see the six Heartless actually working along. The four of them raise their hands up to the fountain and float out of sight, as if to further emphasize the importance of my dear friend.
And while she's been through and seen a lot, my sister still lets out a soft yelp when a thin white skeleton rise from the acid green water of the fountain. The man wears a nice business suit with three claw like strands sticking out from the button on his chest. And as he rises up, the strands start to stick out like stretched fingers. The man takes a stand on the wall of the fountain and spreads his arms wide with an even larger grin on his face.

The smaller man with the huge hat trots over in a hurry and congratulates the skeleton. "Bravo, Jack! Bravo! Those ghosts will be a big hit at this year's Halloween!" I notice that Jessica is still a little tense with fright, but then Jack speaks. And his warm, kind voice seems to put her fears at ease as he says: "Thank you, thank you! But their movement still needs work. It's not scary enough. I want to strike bone-chilling terror. I'm going to consult the doctor."
The camera takes a close shot of Jack as he takes on a terrifying pose with a frown on his face and his arms aimed threateningly at the other guy. But luckily enough this doesn't scare my sister, who just watches as he leaves. "Then I'll go attend to the decorations." The other guy decides for himself and he wants to leave one way, but then suddenly hurries up the other way. And the whole time the two of them ignore my team.

The three of us follow after Jack and enter through a stone garden door on the right of the mausoleum where we were standing earlier. We enter a stone garden with a stone staircase that leads up to a house with a metal door that has a large ring in the center of the door. We enter inside and the camera turns dark. It lights up again and shows us a metallic room with all kinds of lab and experimental equipment.
There is a tank full of green slime and another ghost Heartless lying on a metal table. Jack is standing to the right of the table and mutters: "I don't understand. Maybe the guidance system was damaged in the explosion." The camera had been coming down from the ceiling, but now it changes and shows a small old man in a wheelchair.
The man has a small beak and has pins in his head that go from his brow line to the back of his head. The man seems insulted by Jack's words as he says: "Nonsense. My devices are always perfect!" Jack seems to ignore him and has reached a huge tome that lies on the left of the table. He is reading through it and exclaims: "Oh. I've got it! Why, of course! The Heartless need a heart! Doctor, do you think we can add a heart to that device?"

Jack had turned around while he spoke and the camera had panned out from where he was standing to show the Heartless lying on the table and the doctor in his wheelchair. It turns and focuses on the device in question, which is attached to both the table and the wall behind the table. "Certainly. A heart's not all that complicated. Let's get to work." He moves from the head of the table to the bottom and starts to rummage as Jack quotes:
"To make a heart, first take a container with a lock …" And to the shock of my family, the doctor actually pulls a stuffed but beating heart with a metallic harness out from underneath the table that the heartless is lying on. Riku asks if he wants to know how they got that, but I just shrug and mutter that it's part of their world. The others look a little disturbed at this, but after my three visits to the world, I've grown used to their weirdness.

"We need the key to this thing first!" The doctor exclaims just as my team and I enter the room. Yet we're actually ignored by the other two as Donald asks: "You're really gonna unlock it for them?" And younger-me answers: "Why not? If they succeed, we won't have to fight the Heartless, right? Besides, I want to see the Heartless dance, too. Don't you?" Donald is still hesitant and doubtful as he answers: "Not really."
Yet younger-me just ignores this and the Keyblade makes quick work of unlocking the container. Jessica still seems queasy as she sees and hears the fabricated heart beat just like a normal one and luckily for her, the camera focuses on Jack instead. "My! That was amazing! Uh, and you are …" Younger me introduces himself and Jack continues: "Well done, Sora! I'd like you to be part of this year's Halloween."

Younger me doesn't give a positive or negative answer to this. Instead of this, younger me asks: "What's this Heartless doing here?" And Jack woefully answers: "Oh, the Heartless came to town just recently. What's frustrating is I can't get them to dance with me. So the doctor and I are trying to improve the guidance system. He's quite a genius!" As Jack says this the camera shortly pans over the Heartless before focusing on the Doctor himself.
"Okay, Doctor, let's continue. The ingredients for a heart: Pulse. Emotion." The doctor mutters: "Terror." Jack adds to this and says: "Fear. Hope and despair." And as they say this, the camera shows a living turtle, a tarantula, the doctor rubbing his leather glove over a bit of glass and two snakes, one orange and black striped and the other white and grey, that are biting into each other's tails. Jessica seems really uneasy about seeing all of this.

Jack continues and says: "Mix them all together, and we have a heart!" Dad crosses his arms and a thoughtful look is on his face. His eyebrow is raised and his head tilted slightly. "It might be me, but I'd say that they're missing a few things. Not to mention that that doctor's statement of the heart not being complicated is utter nonsense." Jessica shakes her head and mutters how the heart is so much more than what she just saw.
The tone of her voice and the look on her face worry me and I ask if she's okay. The girl looks up and says: "It's mostly because I've never seen this movie before. Combine that with the fact that these beings aren't just costumes or magically altered like you, Donald and Goofy, and the fact that the villain in this world is an unknown entity." Dad grimaces and mutters about her anxiety to have Lea here soon. The girl nods and shivers.

I grimace and say: "Don't worry. Remember what I said. Jack is the King of Halloween. And the real spirit behind Halloween is to frighten each other in fun and hilarious ways. Jack does want terror, but he wants terror that is followed by laughter. He's not malicious or anything of the sort. He's a real showman. Besides, he's like a little kid sometimes. Just watch." And to my relief, my sister takes a lot of reassurance out of my words.
She smiles at me and we go back to the movie. The Doctor puts the heart on a plug like portion of the device and pulls a huge lever down that is in between the device and the table. Instantly bolts and sparks of electricity and thunder go from the Heartless to the four objects on the left of the table. The Heartless springs upward with most of its body and its arms outstretched and for a moment it looks like the whole thing worked.

But then the whole thing seems to shut down on itself and the Heartless falls back down again. It lies motionless as the Doctor exclaims: "It failed!" Jack puts one hand on his chest and the other on his head as he looks up to the ceiling horrified. The doctor is back to sitting behind the huge tome and mutters: "Maybe we're missing some ingredients. Let's try adding memory." To the horror of my father he actually lifts up the upper half of his head.
His brain becomes visible and he even rubs a part of it. Jessica also turns green at this and the Doctor calls out: "Sally! Sally! Good-for-nothing girl! Don't know why I bothered creating her." Jessica mutters how she just doesn't want to know, but she's obviously relieved when the Doctor closes the lid on his brain again. "Sally's got the memory we need. See if you can track her down."

"No problem. Sora, would you like to come along?" Jack asks of my younger self and Jessica mutters how she'll feel better the less she sees of the Doctor. "Sure." Younger me answers Jack and Donald responds to his cheerful tone. The duck puts his mummified hands in his non-existent torso and mutters how he's going to stay behind instead. Younger me stares him down for a moment, but then he just shrugs and accepts.
Goofy, Jack and younger-me leave the house. But as soon as we leave, trouble is afoot. "Jack! Jack! We have a major crisis! The Heartless are completely out of control! We can't stop them!" The smaller man from before is the one to scream this from his megaphone, yet his face has changed. Instead of jolly and with a blue right eye and yellow swirly left eye, his face is now bone white, both his eyes yellow with black pupils and he has white fangs and sea-green lips.

The team heads down the stairs that lead up to the house and Jack rubs the back of his skull as he says: "Hmm … maybe our experiment triggered something. Everything will be fine, Mayor. You have nothing to worry about." Jessica grimaces at this and dad mumbles his dislike at the fact that this mayor is quite literally two-faced. I snicker and tell him how that's just a jolly and frightened version of the case and this reassures him again.
As soon as we leave the garden, all six ghost Heartless are upon us. Yet my training at the Coliseum as well as the power of the Crabclaw Keyblade make quick work of at least three of them. And Goofy and Jack finish of the other three before Jack leads us to a small alleyway that is hidden behind a broken down part of the garden wall. This alleyway has a few Shadow Heartless, but only a single strike of the Keyblade knocks them all out.

The alleyway is only a few dozen steps long and leads to a metal fence that is on top of a small set of steps. The team goes through this and enters a cemetery. Instantly Jessica is tense again and dad quickly pulls her close against his side to comfort and reassure her. "All part of this world, honey. Nothing to worry about." Dad reassures her while younger-me tells the team to check the place out once the Heartless are gone.
This time there are three waves of Heartless. First a couple of shadows that fall to only a few strikes. Then a couple of the ghost Heartless and finally a few mummies. The latter group proves a little difficult to the team, but that is only because of how agile the mummies are as they jump around wildly. Younger-me quickly responds to this with Gravity and Blizzard spells and the mummy Heartless are felled.

Then the camera pans around the graveyard and focuses on a small grave that is almost structured like a doggy house. And to my dad's amusement an actual ghost dog with a glowing red nose floats out of the grave and over to Jack. The ghost doggy also seems to cheer up Jessica and I smile at how she looks at the ghost-like being with an adoring look on her face. "Zero! Have you seen Sally anywhere?" Jack asks as he approaches the ghost-canine.
The dog floats over to a few of the gravestones in the right back of the graveyard and a soft gasp is heard before a female Frankenstein like being appears from behind the tallest of the gravestones. The woman has long and stringy brown hair and wears a patchwork like dress. "Is something wrong, Jack?" She asks with her soft, caring voice. "No, everything's going great. We're going to have the best Halloween ever. All we need now is your memory."

"Memory? You mean this?" Sally asks him as she holds up a pair of dead Forget-Me-Nots. She hands the dead flowers to Jack, yet as he examines them, she says: "Jack, I have a bad feeling about this. Why don't you try something else? There's still time." This, naturally, worries my sister, but Jack ignores her tone of concern and argues: "Nothing could beat what I've got planned! Once we give the Heartless a heart, they'll dance just as I envision it."
Yet just like Jack ignores Sally's words of caution, Sally's face proves that she disagrees with his enthusiasm. Jack again tries to reassure her and says: "Trust me. You're going to love it!" Sally doesn't reply back and so the team just heads back to the Doctor's lab room. Then Jessica mumbles how she thinks she is starting to get used to the theme of this world. I smile at her in proud relief and we continue watching the movie.

Zero returns to his grave and after a moment Sally follows after us. But the camera ignores this and turns its attention to the grave that is standing at the far end of the graveyard and of which the lid is slightly ajar. To my annoyance and the shock and horror of my family, giggles and laughter come from the grave before three kids jump from it. Each of them scream their names which are Shock, Lock and Barrel!
The three kids are all in costume. Shock looks like a little devil, Lock like a witch and Barrel like a mummy. The three of them even have masks on and Lock also has a purple witch's hat on her head. "Did you hear that?" Barrel asks his friends. "Yeah, I sure did! A heart! What should we do?" Shock asks and Lock angrily retorts: "Gosh, you really are stupid! Isn't it obvious?"

"Tell Oogie Boogie!" Barrel answers and the three of them laugh as the camera turns dark. I grimace at the fact that this is how the damned fiend found out about our plans. Jessica mumbles in thought about the being and his name. While my sister ponders over this, the team return to the lab and hand the dead flowers to the Doctor. "Yes. This is it. Now, just one more ingredient. We need "surprise" to complete the heart. The mayor should know where it is."
My family looks pretty befuddled at the Doctor's statements, but then the camera turns dark again. And when the screen returns, it shows a being made of a grey burlap sack with a clear seam visibly running along the side of his body. The being has the three kids cowering in front of it in a corner of a new room and is laughing maniacally. The camera focuses on the face of the being, which is just three black holes to function for eyes and a mouth.

"A heart? That bonehead Jack is really making a heart? I'll be jiggered! That works for me! Ohh, when I get my hands on that … Well, I've got no hands, but I'm still gonna nab that heart and control the Heartless." The being, which indeed just has no hands as the ends of its arms are like the corners of a burlap sack. And at the end of his speech, he again laughs maniacally while the kids are still trembling in the corner of the room.
The movie focuses back on the team as Jack leads out of the lab and through both the courtyard and the graveyard. Dad and Jessica look horrified when the three of them jump into the grave that the kids opened earlier. But their eyes widen when they see that this grave only serves as the entrance of a small tunnelway. And the team exits the door of what looks to be a garden shed on the other side, with a smiling pumpkin head on top of the shed.

The mayor is standing next to a whole set of tombstones that are all in various shades, colors and sizes. Younger me addresses him and he explains: "Ghosts rise from those tombstones. Check the tombstones in the order the ghosts appear. If you get it wrong, you're in for a surprise!" But younger me manages to get it right on the first try. The pumpkin that is set in the middle of the graveyard explodes and the mayor says:
"Splendid!" Now go look at the pumpkin." Most of the large orange fruit is gone, yet there is also a chest that is visible now that the pumpkin is destroyed. Younger me opens the chest and dad snorts as a Jack-in-the-box appears from within. Younger me puts the box in his pocket and the three of them return back to the lab where Goofy and the Doctor are waiting. They encounter Heartless along the way, but all this does is serve as training.

"Yes. This is it." The doctor says once again. This time the Doctor makes sure to add all of the things into the heart itself. And while Jessica turns slightly green again at how the heart pulses, the doctor raises it up and says: "There you go. This time it's sure to work." He wants to roll his wheelchair across the back and left of the table. But Barrel, who has hidden himself under the table, throws himself in front of one of the wheels.
The wheelchair falls over and the Doctor throws the heart up in shock as he falls. The heart bounces off of the table and Shock stands at the doorway to catch it. The Doctor lets out an angry growl and raises his fist as the three of them make a run for it, Shock snickering as they disappear. Goofy quickly makes sure to help the Doctor back in his chair and then waves as the team runs out the door, after the three kids. But it's already too late.

As they enter the courtyard, there is no sign of the kids and younger me exclaims: "We lost them!" Jack slaps his bone-hand against his striped pants-clad upper leg and Zero the dog flies out of the alleyway that leads to the graveyard. "Zero, after them, quick!" Jack instructs his fateful apparition of a pet and the doggy ghost nods and disappears back down the way he came. But before the team can follow, they're again attacked by heartless.
This time the Heartless look like Gargoyles that are made of patchwork like materials. Younger me and the team battle just enough of them that they look to gain another level and then they follow after Zero. But as younger me passes through the gate to the graveyard, the movie apparently decides to show how it was that the kids got away so quickly. At first the movie shows Zero flying over the left wall of the graveyard.

Behind this a large mountain with a curled ending is shown. The mountain unfurls itself and forms a bridge. Jessica's eyes widen when she sees Shock, Lock and Barrel seated in a bathtub with feet and that the bathtub is the one walking across the mountain bridge. The four of us watch as the team passes through the two graveyards, continuously taking on more and more Heartless that appear and how they get stronger as they fight.
Jessica sighs in relief as she sees this and mutters: "I might not know who Oogie Boogie is and what his powers are, but – I'm pretty confident that you can take him, Sora. Though I'm also glad that you have Jack by your side as he knows the fiend." I smile at my sister and feel glad that she is starting to stop worrying about me every time we face another Final Boss. We watch the team go through another shed and end up at the third graveyard.

This is the graveyard with the furled up mountain, but there are also three Heartless that have black heads, wear purple turbans and grey robes. The Heartless jump around from place to place and a few times when they land, they exclude a strange gas. Dad and Jessica gasp in shock when they see younger me get poisoned by the gas. But younger me casts Cure and the poison gets healed alongside my slight loss of health.
The three Heartless are slain, even though the third takes a bit longer as it turns its body into steel. This actually deflects all strikes of the Keyblade, but the form is temporary and the Heartless is slain as soon as its back to normal. Then it takes younger me and the others a few tries to find the tombstone that makes the mountain unfurl again. They cross the mountain and reach the other side of another stone wall. Behind this is a field, a trench and another metal gate.

More mummy Heartless appear as soon as the team arrives, but they only serve to boost Jack's strength up. The patchwork gargoyle Heartless try to block the team's entrance to the gate, but they are quickly destroyed with help of Goofy's shield and Jack's skeletal fingers raking across their forms like claws. They pass through the gate and the eyes of my family all widen at the sight of the house that is set behind it.
The pathway that leads to the gate that the team just passed is actually situated a few floors higher than the ground floor of the building. And yet a rope bridge leads to a pair of stone steps that are in front of the front door. There are two rows of spikes with pumpkin heads on top of them on either side of the stone pathway. The rest of the house looks to be made out of a huge tree, wooden boards, stone walls and other kinds of structures.
There is even a cage dangling from one point and a garden shed set on top of a tree branch at another. Jessica makes an exclamation of the building being one big mess and dad mutters: "And I thought London looked horrible." Riku even shakes his head and blinks his eyes a few times as she stares at the screen while Jack exclaims: "I knew Oogie Boogie was behind this!"

Jessica turns from the movie to me and whimpers for me to be careful. I smile to reassure her and dad pulls her close against his side again. The team passes the rope bridge and rushes through the house to the top floor. Several Heartless appear as they cross the crazy path, but Younger me ignores most of them. Only a few that stand directly in his way, he strikes down. Yet he also constantly makes sure to stay on the path.
Finally they reach the attic room. But just as they enter the room, the three kids throw the heart through the opening of a mask's mouth hanging on the back wall. They turn around at the sound of the door closing. They start to dash and run around the room like mad and even throw smoke bombs at Jack, Goofy and younger me. But the three of us fight back and we knock each of them out.

The team moves the three kids to the wall with the candles and the mask with the open mouth. After a moment or so the kids regain consciousness. They seem to realize that they lost as Lock instantly starts talking. "We were just following orders! Oogie Boogie told us to steal the heart. It's all Barrel's fault. It was his idea to tell Oogie Boogie about the heart." Jessica looks up shocked at this and asks if the girl is even serious.
"Yeah, that's right!" Shock joins in on Lock's statements and while Barrel is as shocked as my sister, he tries to whimper: "B-But you guys said -" Yet the girl, who unlike the boys still has her head up high, interrupts him and says: "You should be ashamed!" Jessica and my dad shake their heads at the behavior of the girl. Then Barrel reveals more secrets as he tells younger me that he wasn't allowed to talk about Oogie's secret or a lever.
Younger me instantly spots the lever next to the wall with the mask and he quickly slams it down with a firm hit of the Keyblade. The wheels that are attached to the machine and the lever start turning at a crazy high speed, but otherwise nothing happens. The team looks around and Lock sneers at them that they'll never find the green room. The team leaves the attic and head back downstairs to the stone pathway that they started at.

There Goofy and Jack start to bend over the walls on either side of the stone pathway and look around. Goofy spots something and the team jumps even further down. More Heartless appear, but yet again they are slain and just used by the team to grind and get stronger. Jessica seems to draw confidence from the fact that younger me is just callously slaying the Heartless without much effort and then they reach a room that has a huge green face on the door.
The interior, to the shock of my dad, is a huge roulette room, with the floor actually consisting out of two levels and the bottom level being designed exactly like a roulette table with different patterns all over the floor. Jack yells at Oogie to give him back the heart and yet Oogie challenges him and snaps: "You want it? Well, then come on over here and get it!" But before Jack can comply, Oogie actually swallows the heart whole.

Jack looks both shocked and intrigued by this. Oogie laughs his signature laugh after he is done swallowing and says: "Now, let's see if I can get their attention. Oh, Heartless!" Jessica whimpers in concern, but then she sighs in relief when only two Gargoyle Heartless appear, one on each side of the Boogie man. "This is it? Nobody disrespects me! Nobody!" And because of everything I've learned, I can't help but snort at his choice of words.
Riku grins at me and then we watch the fight. Small explosions cause for Goofy, Jack and younger me to end up on the roulette floor and for the most part Oogie tries to hit us by throwing huge dice onto our level. He also tries to dodge us from time to time and when he tries this, the buttons that are in the near center of the floor to light up. And after two failed attempts Younger me realizes that he needs to step up onto the button closest to Oogie Boogie.
This because the bit of floor that is connected to the button raises up to the level of Oogie Boogie, but metal fences with spikes at the top also come to stick out of the edges of the platform and these prevent younger me from reaching Oogie the first few times. The rest of the time younger me manages to reach the right button and platform each time. And it takes my younger self four turns of this before he knocks Oogie Boogie out.

Jessica sighs in utter relief as a few times when Oogie threw his dice, different mechanics would come down onto the roulette floor, such as a scythe or a disc with razor sharp blades on the edges. She turns green again when she sees the seam of Oogie's body rip at the feet and thousands of bugs escape his form, even forming a waterfall of cascading bugs that flow down to the floor where younger me, Goofy and Jack are watching.
"Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but – this isn't over yet." I mutter as a warning and my father and sister wince. Yet I smile at them and say: "But the hardest part of the battle is done. The next part is more of a – platform challenge." The two sigh in relief and Riku grins and compliments me. He lovingly tells me that platforms really are my specialty and I grin at him. We turn back to the movie and see that the heart has appeared on top of Oogie Boogie.

"So, that heart was a failure after all." Yet then, alongside one of the last bugs, a small trinket falls down and gets dropped on the foot of my younger self. Younger me picks it up and Goofy tells him that it's a Holy Circlet. Younger me equips it and I tell my family how it will raise my resistance against fire, ice and lightning damage. The team turns around, but then Goofy turns his head again and spots a bit of paper floating down.
He claims it to be another one of Ansem's reports and quickly stuffs it in his pocket as the team heads out. Yet just as they pass the wooden rope bridge, a massive earthquake rocks the ground and causes for smoke to rise up from the bottom of where the house is set. Goofy and I have trouble standing up right and afterwards Jack looks up shocked. And my family looks shocked and astounded at what they see when the smoke clears.

Oogie Boogie has actually merged himself with his own home and now bits of him are covering the huge mansion-like building. The cage that was hanging from one section is now dangling from his arm and has been turned into a lantern. And there are small globes of dark energy situated at random points all over his body and the house. "Whoa! How did he get so big?" Younger me asks and then the camera focuses on each globe of Darkness.
"Look! It's brimming with the power of Darkness! Oogie Boogie is drawing power from those dark globs!" Jack exclaims and younger me asks: "So we just have to destroy those things, right?" Younger me asks and instantly after all three of them jump down. Jessica screams out at this, but younger me slashes the Keyblade in mid air and this actually slows down the descent and makes me land softly on the ground.

I send my sister a guilty look as I realize I should have told her about this. Luckily enough she seems to calm down as she sees younger me expertly handle the crazy building, the platforming from one glob to another and the Heartless that try to prevent younger me from destroying them. Goofy also blocks all fireballs that Oogie Boogie tries to launch from the lantern. And yet I can't help but wince as I suddenly realize something.
"Yuck, one of those globs was underneath his armpit." I mutter and Jessica snaps that that was my just desserts for scaring her like that. I humbly accept this. Then Jack slashes at the last of the globs. Smoke starts to erupt all over the mansion and the whole thing falls apart. Oogie makes a few last weak moves with his arm which holds the lantern, but it does nothing. The whole structure falls down and when the smoke clears, the whole thing is just gone.

And where the house once stood, the shape of a Keyhole lights up on the ground. Younger me focuses all his power and actually aims the Keyblade at the moon instead of the huge shape lighting up the ground. The beam hits the huge orb in the sky and the moon reflects the beam back a dozen times over. Each beam of light hits a point of the Keyhole and the sound of a lock closing up is heard as the light fades from the ground.
"Garwsh Sora, you sure used that Gravity spell a lot while we were heading for the mansion." Goofy mutters and younger me smiles as he says: "Yeah, I even think the spell got stronger. Here, let me try." And while he aims at nothing, he exclaims the word Gravira. And the dome of energy that appears in front of him and seems to press down onto nothing indeed looks a nice bit stronger than the domes younger me cast before now.

"Alright fellahs, let's head back. We can use the waterway over there. It leads straight to the courtyard." Jack tells Goofy and my younger self. But as we pass through the gate, Goofy mumbles to me that they should take Donald here as he has spotted some Trinity Marks. Younger me nods in agreement and a few minutes later the team has returned to the lab and explained everything to the Doctor and Sally.
"Sally, why didn't I listen to you?" Jack asks as he hangs his whole upper body down in shame. "Don't feel bad, Jack. We'll come up with another plan for Halloween. Next time, we'll do it together." And as Sally says this, she takes Jack's hands and the two lovingly stare at each other. THis makes me sigh and turn to look at Riku with a huge loving smile on my face. Riku smiles back and even kisses me softly on the lips.

Then Jessica lets out of mewling whimper and dad laughs as he says: "We really need to hurry this thing up. Our little kitten over here is getting needy for her mate." Riku and I smile at my pouting younger sibling and we turn back to the movie. "I guess we have no choice. We'll have to cancel the Heartless Halloween festival for now. Here, I want you to have this." Jack tells my younger self and his friends. He hands Younger me a keychain.
Jack then tells my younger self: "Visit us any time, Sora. Next year's Halloween will be the scariest ever!" Yet the Doctor seems completely oblivious to this all as he has been staring at the pages of the tome the whole time Jack and Sally were talking. Finally he speaks up as well and mutters: "Emotion, memory … We put in all the necessary ingredients. What else do you need to make a heart? What is a heart, anyway? I can't figure it out."

"You shouldn't want to." Dad mutters as my younger self turns around and makes a sound of confusion. "Hey Doctor, I recognize this page. It's from a book that I lost some time ago. Mind if I take it?" Younger me asks and the Doctor answers that he doesn't and that he doesn't even recognize the paper anyway. Younger me puts the paper away and the team leaves. And with that the movie pauses to prove that this part is over.
Jessica slumps down in her seat as she moans: "I am so glad that that world is done. Though that's mostly because I just didn't know what you'd be up against. I really wonder what movie was made based on this whole world." Dad pulls her close against his side to help comfort and reassure her and I tell her that we'll probably be able to find out soon as we might be able to ask one of her friends one of these days. Jessica smiles and nods.

Easy, Jessie.
And some of you might think that Jessie is overreacting, but I disagree. She already feels slightly out of her element at the fact that her brother is space traveling and is trying to gather confidence out of her knowledge of the Disney worlds and the fact that she can see her brother get stronger. But the unknown is always terrifying, especially when you worry about those you care for. Combine that with Jess' inner Kitsune coming out and you've got trouble.
Also, what did you guys think of my new writing style? Like I said, I can't really use it all the time when it comes to describing the movies, but I am trying my hardest. Personally, I've grown to like it as it gives me more chances to describe actions and locations rather that statements. Though I'm not going to apologize for the lack of description I gave Oogie's Manor.
That was just a mess,

Venquine1990