Pain chapter 5 - started on 3/31/2021
"Sorry fellas! There's nothing we can do!" exclaims Dale.
"Yeah! the king had us make these gummiphones in a hurry just before the great battle! We have many great updates by the end of the month that will help you on your journey, including the 'find my friend' locator app!" says Chip.
"Or FMF for short!" Dale adds.
"End of the month!?" both Kairi and Riku say in different surprising tones.
Both anthropomorphic chipmunk brothers nod their little heads vigorously.
"Mmm...Sorry fellas, I hope our friends still have their gummiphones and good WI-FI to download the new updates - Hayak" Says Mickey.
Riku sighs in disappointment and folds his arms.
"It was worth a try Riku," Kairi says sadly as she pats his back in comfort.
"Ok fellas, let me debrief you on the city Jiufen…"
After a long discussion about the city of Jiufen Mickey hands Riku and Kairi both satchels with equipment. A bottle of small black ball pills, Water, Dry food, Potions, Ether, panacea, and single-use personal items like a hairbrush, toothbrush, coffee in a pouch, etc.
"Remember they absolutely cannot find out that you are human! Try to keep a low profile. Ask for Yubaba. Show her my letter and convenience her for work as undercover agents from Disney kingdom for world order purposes!" says mickey.
"Um… Who's Yubaba again?" Kairi asks while laughing awkwardly.
"Kairi... you're just as much as an airhead as sora." He says scoldingly. Kairi just pouts.
"Yubaba is the founder of the bathhouse in the city of Jiufen Kairi! She is a cunning woman and she is pretty tricky… But! Don't let that deter you from your mission!"
"Right…" says Kairi.
Mickey checks his gummiphone after a notification sound.
"Alrighty, fellas! The gummiship is ready!" Mickey says while he waves his arm to 'come on!'
Riku turns to Kairi after checking all his luggage.
"Are you ready Kairi?" he asks.
"Yup! - oh wait!" she replies but then realizes she forgot something and retrieves two small things from her satchel. The item is no bigger than a quarter. She attaches the pin on Rikus' jacket and she does the same to the outside of hers.
"Um?..." Riku says confused.
"They're a replica of our first lucky charms when I had originally made them out of seashells way back when. They're just a lot more updated, smaller, and with the help of queen Minne and Master Aqua I was able to infuse some magic in them too!" - 'Naturally… I made one for sora too…' but decides to keep the last bit to herself.
"Oh uh… Thank you, Kairi. I'll keep it safe." he says while smiling gratefully. Riku heads inside the cabin of the Gummiship and gets himself situated.
"Have a safe trip you two! May your heart be your guiding key!" Mickey says as he waves them off goodbye as they hyper-warped out into space.
-o-
They Land their gummiship in a large grassy clearing nearby some apparently abandoned ruins.
Kairi sets up their save point near the beginning of a string of tiny stone houses down a road.
"Ok, that should do it! Flip the switch Riku!" says Kairi.
Riku gives her a thumbs up and flips a switch in the gummiship. The gummiship disappears as it blends in with the background.
Riku soon joins Kairi at the foot of the path.
"I gotta say, that invisibility cloaking is pretty useful," says Riku.
"Yeah! It totally is!" replies Kairi.
Kairi looks around in awe. The abundant leaves of the trees sweep the floor as the wind rushes by. She coils smell the sweet smell of river water and mossed rock. The humidity of the area sort of makes her scalp itchy but the warmth and lack of dryness makes the place enjoyable.
Kairi picks up a number of leaves to press in her notebook and a handful of river rocks she deemed presentable. Riku looks at his surroundings and notes the much more modern buildings and houses on top of the hill very far from the valley they were currently in.
Riku picks up some ingredients like mint, rosemary, thyme, newt, cricket, and a number of mushrooms.
Kairi makes a disgusted face as Riku picks up the newt and pockets it in his ingredients pouch.
"Tell me you're seriously not gonna eat that?" she says as she bares her teeth in disgust.
Riku smirks as he holds it in her face. "You'll never know if it tastes good until you try."
After teasing Kairi a bit he pockets the newt. "I'm kidding… well a little. Now I am curious of what little chef could make out of these ingredients - originally I thought I would just sell it to the restaurant as it seems to be a rare item." He says.
Kairi visibly pales. Riku worried that she would faint or something starts to ramble to calm her.
"Er… Kairi? Kairi! I was just joking!.. I-"
"No, Riku! Look!" Kari runs into a big empty stone building that looks like it used to be a train station.
Riku follows her. She picks up a silver hair clip that has the nobodies sigil.
"Organization 13?" Riku breaths.
"No, Xion was here. This is her hair accessory Riku." She shows the pendant to Riku and pockets it in her satchel.
Riku and Kairi scour the area for more clues and note about particular things about this world.
At the end of the path, they reach a huge white shrine with simple gold detailing. The rail guards around the parameter are red and decorated with freshly painted dragons.
There were less than a handful of people praying and marveling at the beauty of the temple. Most who were travelers like themselves.
A woman with medium-length brown hair and wearing a blue security uniform approaches the shrine with an odd assortment of offerings. She placed dried newt, a bottle of multi-colored candy in a jar, and a tea box in the offering spot and lit her incense and white flower candle. She clasps her hands twice and does a prayer as her eyes are closed.
Kairi and Riku rendezvous at the entrance of the pathway of the shrine.
"Did you find anything?" Asks Kairi.
"No. I'm assuming you haven't either?" is Rikus' reply.
Kairi shakes her head. "That woman… with the brown hair. I feel this strange aura from her although… like-like it's weird."
"Weird how?" Riku replies rigidly.
"Well… how can I explain… I can sense her heart - it's as if something abnormal had touched it but there's a familiarity to it as if a princess of light but it is considerably weaker? Like a heart tampered!" Kairi says.
"Well, that doesn't really sound good. She placed weird offerings, at least I believe are weird or at least weirder than what this world is accustomed to."
"What makes you say that?"
"...The stares of the strangers and their body languages."
"Oh… Well, let's catch her and try to ask her some questions before we never see her again!"
Kairi runs down a steep set of steps. Out of breath, she yells for the woman to 'wait!'
Riku runs after her yelling at her to 'hold on!'
As Riku catches up to her he grabs her shoulder.
"Kairi we can't just-"
"Yes? Uh- were you calling for me?" The woman with medium brown hair and black eyes responds.
"Yeah! Hi, my name is Kairi! I'm from des- er I mean we're from my abnormal des- disturbances club - a paranormal parole club! We came far away from our city in search of some rumors about a project for a club. We noticed that you had placed some strange offering at the shrine and we were wondering if you could tell us a bit more for our project report for our school!"
'Nice save, Kairi' Riku thinks.
"Yes, it is as my classmate said. We are doing some research about this particular landmark and anything you can tell us would be a great help to our project. Your name won't be necessary if you don't want it to be included in our project report." says Riku.
"I see…" She smiles as she looks above at the trees shadowing them from the harsh rays of the heat of the sun. There's a breeze that brushes by. The lady hears a soft jingle of bells and opens her eyes wide as if the wind were whispering in her ear.
'It's been a long time, besides this is a project for some kids' - why not say something to honor the memories of her adventure long past when she had been a child herself the lady thinks to herself.
"I have an interesting story for you related to this particular landmark," the lady says as she smiles.
She offers to purchase snacks from a booth and they all sit down eating their snacks under the umbrella seats outside.
"A ten-year-old girl and her parents are traveling to their new home. Her father, a man who loves to take shortcuts, ends up in front of a tunnel leading to what appears to be an abandoned village, which Chihiro's father insists on exploring despite his daughter's misgivings. While exploring, Chihiro finds an exquisite bathhouse and meets a boy named Haku, who warns her to return across the riverbed before sunset. However, Chihiro discovers too late that her parents have transformed into pigs, and she is unable to cross the now-flooded river.
Haku finds Chihiro and advises her to ask for a job from the bathhouse's boiler-man, Kamaji. Kamaji asks Lin, a bathhouse worker, to send Chihiro to Yubaba, the witch who runs the bathhouse. Yubaba tries to frighten Chihiro away, but Chihiro persists, and Yubaba hires her. Yubaba takes away the second kanji of her name, Chihiro (千尋), renaming her Sen (千). Haku later warns her that if she forgets her name like he has forgotten his, she will not be able to leave the spirit world.
Sen is treated poorly by the other bathhouse workers; only Kamaji and Lin show sympathy for her. While working, she invites a silent creature named No-Face inside, believing him to be a customer. A "stink spirit" arrives as Sen's first customer, and she discovers he is the spirit of a polluted river. In gratitude for cleaning him, he gives Sen a magic emetic dumpling. Meanwhile, No-Face, imitating the gold left behind by the stink spirit, tempts a worker with gold and then swallows him. He demands food and begins tipping expensively. He swallows two more workers when they interfere with his conversation with Sen.
Sen sees paper Shikigami attacking a Japanese dragon and recognizes the dragon as Haku. When a grievously injured Haku crashes into Yubaba's penthouse, Sen follows him upstairs. A shikigami that stowed away on her back shapeshifts into Zeniba, Yubaba's twin sister. She transforms Yubaba's son, Boh, into a mouse and mutates Yubaba's harpy into a tiny bird. Zeniba tells Sen that Haku has stolen a magic golden seal from her, and warns Sen that it carries a deadly curse. Haku destroys the shikigami, eliminating Zeniba's manifestation. He falls into the boiler room with Sen, Boh, and the harpy, where Sen feeds him part of the dumpling, causing him to vomit both the seal and a black slug, which Sen crushes with her foot.
With Haku unconscious, Sen resolves to return the seal and apologize to Zeniba. Sen confronts No-Face, who is now massive and feeds him the rest of the dumpling. No-Face follows Sen out of the bathhouse, regurgitating everything and everyone he has eaten. Sen, No-Face, Boh, and the harpy travel by train to meet Zeniba. Yubaba orders that Sen's parents be slaughtered, but Haku reveals that Boh is missing and offers to retrieve him if Yubaba releases Sen and her parents.
Zeniba reveals that Sen's love for Haku broke her curse and that Yubaba used the black slug to take control over Haku. Haku appears at Zeniba's home in his dragon form and flies Sen, Boh, and the harpy to the bathhouse. No-Face decides to remain with Zeniba. In mid-flight, Sen recalls falling years ago into the Kohaku River and being washed safely ashore, correctly guessing Haku's real identity as the spirit of the river and freeing him from Yubaba's spell in the process.
When they arrive at the bathhouse, Yubaba forces Sen to identify her parents from among a group of pigs in order to break their curse. After Sen answers correctly that none of the pigs are her parents, she is free to go. Haku takes her to the now-dry riverbed and vows to meet her again. Chihiro returns through the tunnel with her parents, who do not remember anything after eating at the restaurant stall. Chihiro looks back at the tunnel, unsure if her adventure really happened. When they reach their car, they find it covered in dust and leaves, but drive off toward their new home.
"Do you think the legend is true, Chihiro?" Kairi says with piercing eyes.
Chihiro, taken aback by the question, blinks the surprise out of her face and pulls back her hair into a ponytail with her hands.
She smiles and says "the eye is the believer MS. Kairi. now I best be on my way to work! Good luck on that essay!"
Chihiro puts on her helmet and drives off into the urban part of the city on her moped.
"She sounds like she had witnessed what Mickey had said first hand Riku. Her story sounded far bazaar than any of the other residents we had asked"
"I get a feeling that there is more to the story than she had told but that doesn't matter. Now we have a lead. It's almost sundown let's meet back in the abandoned clock tower."
Kairi nods and she walks towards the abandoned clock tower with Riku, as she moves through it the sun dips into the valley.
Kairi feels a wet sensation on her boots and is startled by the shallow amount of water.
"Riku?... is that? Water…?" Kairi asks.
Riku looks at her questioningly.
"Water?" He looks at the large body of water springing from the earth and they both jump away from it.
A large torrent of water springs out of the ground out of nowhere and sweeps them both in varying directions.
They yell out for each other as they become separated.
Riku coughs up the water from his lungs harshly as he pulls himself up onto the shore. He yells for Kairi while wringing out the water from his clothes.
"Let me try calling her through my gummi phone, she might be near"
He pulls out his soaked wet gummiphone. He tries to open the screen but the gummi phone was completely turned off due to water damage.
"Dammit! Stupid advanced technology! Not so advanced!"
He almost throws the phone in anger on the shore but takes a moment to close his eyes and practice his breathing exercise instead.
"Ok… ok… everything is fine. My main priority is to find Kairi and the trio of idiots."
He rubs his hair backward.
He walks along the shores looking for Kairi.
"Ugh- my head. Riku?"
Kairi rubs her head as she looks around for Riku.
"Oh darn it. Why do these things always happen to me? I can't have one normal mission where I'm not the damsel in distress can I?" she grumbles as she casts a fire spell to warm herself up.
She checks her gummi phone to see if it was still usable. She finds her uselessly black screen showing her reflection.
"You would think they'd make this thing waterproof wouldn't you?" she sighs.
She picks herself up and looks at her surroundings. She sees that she is on a beach with a vast lake. she could see the abandoned amusement park lit up way far from her. She sees a ferry boat coming from that island towards the docks a bit off where she is. She decides to go to the docs to see if maybe someone had seen Riku possibly as they both were dragged via random lake current.
She sees a black transparent blob appear at the dock as the ship had come in.
Seeing as no one was paying her any attention she walked towards the docs as the passengers were unloading.
White spirits danced down off the ship and turned into masked monks.
Kairi attempted to speak to the masked monks about a silvertte but they had ignored her. When Kairi tried to grab their garments her hand passed through the figure.
Kairi yelps as she jerks her hand back. She sees her skin looking translucent and faded.
"What is happening!? Riku! S-Sora!" She exclaims in panic.
"Kairi!?" A familiar voice calls.
"Xion?" Kairi sniffles.
Kairi is enveloped in a hug by a tearful Xion.
"Kairi! I can't believe you here!" She says as she clings to Kairi.
"Xion! You found me" she wipes away her tears. "Where's Lea - I mean axel and Roxas?"
Xion's eyes well up with tears again as she starts balling into Kairi's vest. Xion hugs Kairi so hard her rib cage starts to hurt.
"X-Xion! My ribs!"
Xion steps back immediately.
"Oh gosh! I'm so sorry Kairi! I'm just so excited and relieved to see you. Oh god - oh gosh. Axel and Roxas are in danger Kairi! This evil witch at this bathhouse she has me working there now stole Roxas and axels pills from King Mickey! Now they are in the danger of permanent erasure!"
She tries to hold Kairi's hands but they pass through her.
Both in alarm but Xion in high distress starts to panic.
"Oh my Gosh! Kairi! No-no-no! Quickly! Take your pills! The black ones from King Mickey! You have some right? Oh gosh! Oh god!" She sobs in a panic.
"Woah, Xion. Take deep breaths. That's it… count to five…in…. and let it out. One, two, three…four…five.
Good job.
Ok, now let's do it again."
Kairi brings her satchel to her hands and rummages in her satchel for the bottle of pills. Once she finds them she swallows one black pill.
"Ok, Xion if you want me to help you I'm going to need your help. Remember the exercises your psychologist thought us? Keep those in mind if you wanna get us out of this place. Ok?"
Xion nods and wipes off her tears.
"Right… king Mickey sent us on a truce alliance with the Bathhouse lady. Roxas and axel were messing around as usual and she saw that as disrespectful. She became so mad Kairi. So, so mad.
She threatened to turn us into ducks. Of course, the dummies had to say something smart and she became enraged and is now holding them both prisoners. She's feeding them the pills minimally just before they disappear. Throwing them mentally and physically to the edge!"
She says with tears.
"She promises to turn them into ducks just after their last pill to keep them as livestock"
"We won't let that happen Xion"
Riku says as he trudges down the pathway near the docks where Xion and Kairi were.
"We were sent on the same quest to Xion, and to save you guys too of course."
"The best set of action is for Xion to give us an inset of the building inside and where we can locate yubaba. While we go consul yubaba you stay and do what you have been doing to avoid suspicion. We will save Roxas and Axel, Xion."
Xion wells in tears as she clings to both Kairi and Riku. "There's yubabas servant… his name is Haku. Well, forced to be her servant because he was in the same predicament as me. He had forgotten his name and yubaba kept it and now he's a permanent servant of yubaba. Please don't forget my name- Riku! Kairi!"
Kairi holds xions hand.
"On our honor, Xion. We would never forget you. Ever"
She says furiously her magenta eyes gleaming.
"Besides, we have quite the history together Xion. How can we forget each other?" Says Riku as he puts his hand on his hip.
Xion grimly smiles. "R-right… I'm going back now to the bathhouse. This is the busiest time of the night"
"We will come along too, we still need to speak with yubaba!"
Says Kairi.
"Right, let's go"
Hello my friends, thank you for waiting for my new chapters. for those new welcome to the world where I torture Sora and Riku to pieces.
I keep forgetting to put this at the end of the notes but I want to say that whenever I'm done with writing this series I hope to rewrite this in the future.
for those wondering where I have been, my grandma has been in the hospital for six months fighting pneumonia.
She passed away in May.
She was an educator and a woman of peace. she was the first woman to educate women and become the first woman to work in the ministry of education in yemen.
I hope that God may rest her soul after so long of suffering and that she is living the best in heaven.
allah yerhemic, ya mama.
I'll see you guys soon with a new chapter I guess.