Chapter XII Wonderland (Part 3)

The journey to the deserted garden wasn't a long one. It was thanks to Alice's prior experience in the forest the group managed to find their way to the location. It was the backyard of a small wood cottage. It looked like a tea party was set up here, with a big table covered in teapots and cups. There were two chairs knocked over.

"Excuse me, Mr. Hatter? Mr. March Hare?" Alice called out. No response, the silence was unnerving. "Oh where could they be?"

Goofy and Donald looked around the table. "The tea is cold." Donald said.

"They probably ran off when the Heartless came." Goofy said. "Well I hope they don't mind if we pass by here."

"Pardon me but what are these Heartless exactly?" Alice asked.

"Well..." Koga looked at Donald. He doesn't fully agree about not talking about other worlds but he also doesn't want to make a complete habit of making Donald mad. To be fair, Alice isn't even in this world. Donald rolled his eyes and nodded. "Like I was trying to tell the Queen, Heartless are creatures created from the darkness of people's hearts. They've been going across worlds and attacking people."

"That's where we come in!" Sora butted in pulling out his Keyblade. "Our Keyblades are the only thing that can truly stop them." They looked at Alice who had a neutral expression on her face.

"I see."

"You don't seem that surprised."

"Well it does seem strange and a lot to take in but it's not as ridiculous as this place." She laughed. "I'm sure it will all make sense in time. Though these Heartless do sound dangerous. I would have no means to defend myself."

"Don't worry about it Alice!" Koga said. "I won't let them get to you. That's a promise."

Alice smiled. "You are quite the gentleman Koga." Sora smirked and nudged his cherry-faced brother. He was given a harsh glare in response.

They continued on to the only other way to go. Into the cottage. Though when they went through they found themselves in the Bizarre room again, though now they were upside down on the roof.

"Alright so now wh-"

They were then ambushed by a swarm of Heartless, there were two new types joining the bunch.

One looked exactly like the Red Nocturne but was colored blue instead.

Blue Rhapsody

Another was big and had a large protruding belly taking up most of it's body.

Large Body

"Let's get them!" Donald said. Alice stood back as the rest charged forward. He and Koga took out the flying mages while Sora and Goofy took care of the ground enemies. They quickly learned that the Large Body's stomach was protecting it from all types of damage. Goofy blocked a charge attack from the fat Heartless, while stunned Sora attacked from behind.

Koga was trying to hit a Blue Rhapsody but it was moving around so fast. It didn't help the few times it get's up close and blast him with an ice spell. Frustrated he fired Firaga spells at it. After missing seven times he finally hit it and it was taken out. He breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed that one of his spells hit a ceiling lamp, lighting it up. The illumination brightened the room, making their shadows grow larger.

'If you want to find the Shadow then I would suggest turning on the lights.'

Koga then fired at the other lamps in the room. Soon the entire area was brightly lit.

"Congrats, you figured it out!" Said the Cheshire Cat who appeared suddenly.

"So now what?" Koga asked.

"Well first, you should be right-side up." The gravity then shifted and everyone yelped as they felt themselves floating to the real floor of the room. They got their bearings and looked around the room. The Doorknob was still sound asleep despite the fight that just happened. "The Shadow should be here soon. Are you prepared for the worst? If not, too bad!" He said teasingly as he vanished once again.

The group felt a sudden chill as they slowly looked up. Right then a giant Heartless fell from the ceiling. It's body was skinny and jagged, it had five heads one on top of the other, and held two fiery batons in it's hands.

Trickmaster

"Alice, find someplace to hide!" Koga said. She nodded and ran from the Heartless. The four heroes then charged at the Heartless who was juggling it's batons. They attacked it's legs but despite it's frail appearance it was as hard as rock. Their slashes and magic attacks just simply bounced off of it. The Heartless then swiped at them with it's fiery batons. Goofy blocked the attack but the other's got knocked back hard, the fire burning them. It then lifted it's hands up and launched fireballs at them. Koga used firaga to counter the attack but they just kept coming.

"How do we fight this thing?" Donald cried.

"It has to have a weak point." Sora said.

"Maybe it's head is vulnerable." Goofy said. Koga nodded and fired at the Heartless's head. It seemed to flinch from damage, much to everyone's delight. Goofy turned to Sora. "Sora, attack from the table!" Sora nodded and climbed up the chair. The Trickmaster tried to swipe at Sora but Donald used Blizzard and doused the flames. Finally getting up on the table, Sora slashed at it's head. After doing a side swipe he then pointed his Keyblade at it.

"Freeze!" He said as he unleashed a mass of ice from the Keyblade. The Heartless stumbled back from the Blizzard attack.

"Nice one Sora!" Koga cheered, jumping up on the table to his brother. "I didn't know you can do that."

Sora grinned. "Hey, you're not the only one learning how to do magic." The moment quickly faded when they realized the Heartless was still standing and it wasn't amused. It raised it's arms up and the two keyblade wielders did not have time to guard themselves as it's arms slammed onto the table, shattering it. Everyone got knocked back as splinters littered the room. Koga was quick to get up and he tried firing at the Heartless but only a few sparks sputtered out.

"Oh no, I'm out of magic!" He looked and saw the Trickmaster relight it's batons and approached Sora Donald and Goofy. 'Without that table they can't reach it's only weak point.' He thought.

"Koga, try this!" Alice said, hiding in the Fireplace. She pushed something to him. He looked at Alice with a thankful expression. He then saw the opportunity to get it's attention. "Hey, ugly!" He said throwing his Key-gun at it. It turned and looked at the tiny boy. It marched it's way to him.

"Koga no, get out of there!" Sora said.

Koga looked at him then winked. He then drank from a bottle that fell on the floor. Everyone watched as he grew more and more until he was larger than the Trickmaster. The Heartless was surprised by the sudden change. "You know you should pick on someone your own size." He said reaching and grabbing it with his hands. The Heartless swatted at him with his batons but Koga licked his fingers and snuffed the fire out. It continued swatting at him but it hardly hurt him at all. He then threw it up into the air and let it drop onto the ground hard. Before it could get up Koga pressed his Key-gun at it's center and fired. He had hardly any MP but it was enough to finish the job on a Heartless it's size at point blank range. A Heart left it's defeated body which began to dissipate.

"Good thinking Koga!" Donald cheered. Sora was about to compliment him but was interrupted by a yawn.

"What a racket!" Said the Doorknob. "How's a Doorknob to get any sleep?" It then did a large yawn and something happened. Sora's Key started glowing at the tip and pulling itself to the Doorknob, being held by Sora's grip despite the surprise. Inside the Doorknob's mouth a light glowed in the shape of a keyhole. The light shot from the Keyblade into the keyhole. There was a clicking sound as something popped out of the mouth.

"A Gummi?" Donald said picking it up. "What was it doing in there?"

"What was that?" Sora asked staring at his Keyblade amazed.

"Isn't it obvious?" Koga asked crouching down over them. "Our keyblade can open and lock any kind of lock remember?"

"Yeah but that felt different, like it was something meant for the Keyblade." He wanted to ask the Doorknob but he was already asleep once again.

"We'll figure it out once we get back to the ship." He passed them the growing potion. "Hey Alice, you can come out now!" Koga said turning to the fireplace. He waited but she didn't come out.

"Alice?" He peered into the fireplace and saw nothing. His eyes widened when he realized something was really wrong. "She's... she's not here?" Him and the other's looked around the room for her, under every nook and cranny. The longer it took to find her the more worried they got.

"We've looked everywhere, it's like she vanished." Donald said.

"Yes. It appears she's not here, off with the Shadows into Darkness!" The Cheshire Cat said reappearing once again, just his head was here this time.

"What? Oh no, Alice!" Sora cried out. The cat grinned and vanished once again.

"No..." Koga said, voice shaking. "I promised..."

"Don't worry Koga." Goofy said putting a hand on his shoulder. "If anything then she must be in another world. We'll find her, you're friends, and the King."

"So now we have to do more searching..." Koga muttered.

"I'm sorry guys. It's all my fault." Sora looked down in despair. "We shouldn't have gotten involved in this world."

"Are you kidding?" Koga said. "If we didn't then not only would Alice have gotten her head chopped off then the Heartless would still be attacking this place."

"Yeah, you got to look on the bright side." Goofy said.

"Well we aren't going to find her by staying here." Donald said. "Let's get out of this world."

The other's nodded and followed along. Sora and Koga felt despair over losing Alice but they kept their spirits up. They know that deep down they will find her.

They just worry what could be happening to her right now.

You know when I first played KH I never understood why the Mad Hatter and the March Hare were a painting. I still don't understood, so I thought it would make sense if they ran from the Heartless. I originally wanted to make them turn into Heartless but that just felt a little too dark.

Who know's what the next world will be? You're gonna have to wait for the next chapter to find out.

If you enjoy the story please remember to Favorite, Follow, and leave a Review.

Until then, see you next time...

HAVE FUN!