Chapter XXVII -Monstro (Part 2)
One thing was for certain, the anatomy of this whale is a complete mess!
The group went through what looked to be the throat cavity only for it to open up into a chamber with fleshy, pulsing, purple walls. That's it, just chamber after chamber that intersect each other. The good thing was that it was pretty well light and more open space then what was expected. The innards of the whale was more like a fun house maze.
The group walked casually through the insides of the whale. The very sticky and moist inside of the whale... "I am definitely gonna need a bath after this." Koga grimaced. He really wished he had gloves with him. Then they finally found Pinocchio at the top of a ledge waving at them, about to enter a tunnel to another chamber.
"Hi guys!" The puppet said cheerfully.
"Pinocchio what were you thinking running off like that!" Jiminy scolded. "Your father is worried sick about you."
"Jiminy is right!" Sora said. "This is no time for games, now lets go back."
"But Sora, I thought you liked games." Said a familiar voice. Stepping out of the shadows next to the boy was none other than Riku. He smirked at them. "Or are you and Koga too cool to play them now that you have the Keyblade."
"Riku?" Sora gaped. "How did you get here?"
"I decided to stop by here and play with Pinocchio." He said putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Did you find Kairi?" Koga asked.
"Maybe." Riku teased. "But you're gonna have to catch us to find out." He said as he grabbed the puppet and ran off.
Koga snapped his head to his brother. "Quick Sora, give me a boost."
Sora realized what he meant and stepped by the ledge and cupped his hands together. Koga ran and put his foot on Sora's hands who gave him enough of a boost to get over the edge. He looked back down at them. "You guys find a way around, I'm going after Riku."
Sora nodded. "Be careful."
"Same with you." Koga said before running in Riku's direction.
Sora Donald and Goofy ran into another chamber when suddenly a bunch of new Heartless appeared. One looked like your average horror movie ghosts with a eye dangling from their right eye while the other looked like the Pot spider but instead it uses a wooden barrel as a body.
Search Ghost
Barrel Spider
"Heartless!?" Sora said blocking a Search Ghost's claw swipe.
"But this isn't a world!" Donald said as he saw a Barrel Spider charge toward him, he used fira on it but it caused it to explode and it's shrapnel hurt not only the Heartless but them as well.
"They must be following the Keyblade." Goofy said before bashing into the group of enemies.
"If they are I hope Koga isn't in trouble."
Koga stomped his foot on the tail of a Search Ghost pinning it. He then put his hands over his head and slammed the Heartless to the ground hard, stunning it. He noticed a Large Body charging towards him and he somersaults high up over it, leaving the Search Ghost to be flattened. He figured out a trick to use magic to make himself jump a few feet higher.
"Freeze!" He said as he summoned his Keyblade and blasted the Heartless with ice, finishing it off.
Chasing Riku, he got cornered by them and now he lost track of him. But he needs to keep going. He needed to know why Riku was acting weird. He knew him long enough to know that smile he gave them was faked and behind it was anger. Question was, why was he angry at them.
Walking through the chambers he stopped when his Keyblade started glowing again, much like how it did back in the Cave of Wonders. He looked and noticed a pile of wooden wreckage at the end of the chamber. He moved the driftwood aside and found another page from Pooh's book, and not only that but another summon gem. It gleamed like water and he touched it he heard the name of who resides in this little thing.
"Dumbo." He muttered. "Don't worry little guy, I'll let you out soon enough, I just have to fin-"
"Why are you wasting your time here?"
Koga's heart jumped at the sinister voice. He peeked into the next chamber and his eyes widened. It was Riku talking with none other than the witch Maleficent.
"You already found the girl and yet you stay and bother your friends who left you for new companions and the Keyblade." She said with a frown.
Riku scoffed. "I'm just messing around with them."
"Really? Cause it seems almost like you still care about them." She smiled.
"I don't. I wouldn't want to be friends with idiots like them anyway."
"Beware the darkness in your heart. The Heartless prey upon it." She said before stepping into a portal.
"Mind your own business!" Riku growled before the portal closed.
"Riku..."
Riku turned his head and saw Koga staring at him with a hurt expression.
"Koga? What are you doing here, shouldn't you be with Sora?"
"Why are you working with the Maleficent?" Koga croaked out, ignoring Riku's question.
"Pfft, I don't know what you are talking abo-"
"Don't talk to me like I'm stupid!" Koga snapped angrily, surprising Riku seeing this side of Koga. "I heard everything so just tell me the truth."
Riku sighed. "I'm not with her, I'm just using her to get to Kairi. She's helped more than you two."
"Where'd you get that idea?" Koga said, getting angrier at him.
Riku scowled. "Well Sora seemed more interested in saving worlds than looking for us, and you just like tagging along. Don't you even want to save Kairi?"
"Of course I do! But I also have a responsibility to the Keyblade."
Riku rolled his eyes and smirked. "Oh look at you, acting all high and mighty."
"Stop that, this isn't a joke! Lives are on the line!"
"Why don't you drop the act?" Riku said giving a challenging push to him. "You think you get a flashy sword and you become some sort of hero? I know you. I've seen you fight, how much you suck at holding a simple wooden sword let alone a Keyblade. You're a pathetic, lovestruck, klutz. I only let you hang out with us just to make Sora and Kairi happy. You don't deserve the Keyblade, you don't deserve your friends, and you don't deserve Kairi!"
There was stunned silence between them. Truth or lie, Riku realized he went too far.
Koga's eyes started watering as he kept an angry glare at him. "All those years of friendship, was that all a lie? Is that how you really feel about me? I was there when you're father died, you were there when Selphie broke up with me and I tried to hide my tears so Sora couldn't see. We were best friends and now you tell me I was a joke?" Koga's chest felt very constricted as he started feeling intense hatred. "You f-... m-..., you are a idiot, what do you know about about me! I'm not useless And don't you dare bring Kairi into this!"
Suddenly a scream rang out from the other chamber. Koga snapped out of his rant and turned to the source of the cry.
"Pinocchio." He said worried. He turned his head back to Riku who had a shocked and almost fearful expression on him. He noticed that his Keyblade was out and he was pointing it at him, he doesn't know why. Putting it away he narrowed his eyes at the silver haired teen, taking a deep breath to calm himself.
"This conversation isn't over." He said simply as he ran off to the sound of Pinocchio, leaving his friend behind. On the way he pondered what that feeling was. 'That anger, that power... that was darkness isn't it?' he questioned. 'Am I... No, I'm not evil, I would never fall to darkness. I just gotta be more careful or I'll...' He shook his head trying to not think of that.
He arrived into a massive chamber that looked different from the rest of the whale. It was like being in a large bowl. In the center was a large blob like Heartless. It had two long writhing tentacles sprout from it's head and in it's center was a cage like orifice. Trapped inside was a unconscious Pinocchio.
Parasite Cage
He noticed that Sora, Donald, and Goofy were also here, currently fighting the Heartless.
"Guys!" Koga said joining the fight. He shot a thunder spell at it and the Heartless's body jiggled.
"Koga, there you are! What happened?" Donald said launching a fireball.
"Yeah, weren't you supposed to find Pinocchio?" Goofy asked.
"...I ran into Riku. We'll talk about this later." Koga said curtly. He and Sora slammed their Keyblades against it at the same time. The Parasite Cage shrieked a threw it's head back so much that the cage bars opened. Pinocchio spilled out and fell into a opening on the floor. The Heartless put it's tentacles on the ceiling and crawled it's way up the hole in the ceiling.
Suddenly Riku ran past them and dived headfirst into the hole Pinocchio fell into.
"Riku, wait!" Sora said, jumping after him. Koga and the other's followed as well.
So yeah, that happened.
Koga is a precious cinnamon roll but he's not Sora, he isn't as forgiving or take insults lightly. When hit with such raw emotional turmoil, your mind tends to go to a dark place and if not controlled you get lost in it and lose yourself.
What could this possibly mean for him? Who knows. What is apparent is that he has a lot of struggle to face in the future.
See you guys later,
HAVE FUN!