THE UNTOLD WORLD
CHAPTER 3: ROBOTROPOLIS
The Pezman

"So, Kairi's like a lifeless puppet now, right?" I hated to get emotional in front of the witch, but
she seemed to be understanding. She didn't do much to cheer me up, though.

"Precisely."

"And her heart was...." I knew the answer already, how could it be anything but? But even if
there was a small percentage that...

"Taken by the Heartless, no doubt."

"Tell me!" I suddenly turned on her and pleaded, begged for an answer. I had thought I might
have had one in the form of Sora, but I obviously didn't. Now, this black cloaked woman who,
until very recently, I had secretly despised was my only hope, was HER only hope.

"There are seven maidens of the purest heart. We call them the princesses of heart. Gather them
together, and a door will open to the heart of all worlds. Within lies untold wisdom. There you
will surely find a way to recover Kairi's heart." This took me by surprise. I had never heard of
any of this. But on the other hand, I hadn't heard of other worlds until very recently. I suppose
something like this could exist, but still.... the heart of all worlds? Wouldn't somebody have tried
this already? "Now, I'll grant you a marvelous gift. The power to control the Heartless." If I
had been surprised before, I was speechless now. The wi... Maleficent, granting me a gift? Not
only had she given me an answer to run towards, she was going to give me a very useful ability to
go along with it! This had definitely not been in our contract. A glow surrounded me, I can't
remember what color. It only lasted about five seconds, but when I was done, I felt a small
sensation in my chest. I put my hand to it and scratched it. Maleficent noticed this.

"Controlling the Heartless is not an easy task. This now means they are after your heart. Fall too
deep into the power, and they will surely have it. Use the small trickle of darkness now present to
remind you of that."

I nodded. "Okay. But where's Kairi? I have to find her!"

Maleficent's eyes narrowed. "Kairi has been found in the Mobius Cluster."

In the short time I had been aware of other worlds, I had never heard of a... cluster. "The Mobius
Cluster?"

"Most worlds are stand-alone, that is, they are their own universe and had their own barriers
before the Heartless destroyed them. The Mobius cluster, however, is different. It is a group of
hundreds of small worlds, in close proximity, all orbiting around Mobius, the largest one. No
barriers separate them, and therefore it is of little difficulty to move between them."

"The Mobius cluster..." I echoed. Between this, the gift, and the confrontation with Sora I'd just
had, my head was full of thoughts. "What...." I started, but I was talking to nothing. Maleficent
had vanished on me. It was the first time she had ever done that without my knowledge....

"Where to, sir?" The short little squeaky-voiced man approached me.

My answer was quick and swift. "The Mobius Cluster."

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"These guys are really becoming a nuisance!" Bunnie Rabbot complained. "We can't go out
anymore without runnin' into endless wave after wave of em! And we've fought em for days, but
they don't seem to be dwindlin' at all!"

"Did anyone else noticed that weird mark on most of them?" interjected Sally, certain that her
observation had some importance.

"I deed!" proclaimed Antoine the coyote. "Most of zem had eet. Zee small black ones, zo, zey
were completely plain."

"Okay," muttered Sonic. "So Robo-pants gave em a paint job. What does that have to do with
us?"

"It wasn't a paint job." Saly spoke with conviction. "That symbol didn't have any metal plates
connected behind it..." Realizing she wasn't being clear, she faulted, trying to express her
thoughts in a comprehensible matter. "Usually when we encounter a robot, it has nuts and bolts
holding the different plates together. But that heart symbol... it didn't have anything. It didn't
even seem to be metal! Just this empty black abyss...."

"Sal," interjected the impatient blue speedster, "are you sure this means anything at all?"

"I would stake my life on eet!" Antoine insisted. "Zeez are not your run-of-ze-mill type of
Mobians!"

"I'd say they're not Mobians at all!" Rotor threw in.

"What, you mean that they may have come from another zone?" Tails inquired.

"Exactly!" the walrus answered. "There are hundreds of zones out there that we've visited.
Robotnik could've easily found one which housed these guys and put them to his use."

"I don't think he could've gotten that many from the zone, though. How many of these guys
have we destroyed? Fifty? A hundred? Two hundred? Whatever it is, it's a lot, and Robotnik
should be hurting! If he had this many robots at his disposal, then he would've started this long
ago!"
"This is definitely one mystery that needs solving, and quickly," sighed Sally.

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"Good lord, this place is huge!" exclaimed the captain. Indeed, the sight of over four hundred
tiny worlds orbiting a large center one was nothing to pass by. But I was unperturbed. I would
search through all of them to find her. The lackey scurried over to me. "What shall we do, sir?"
Behind him, I could see the captain gritting his teeth, his knuckles white on his sword hilt. I
contented myself with the fact that he couldn't match me if his life depended on it and focused my
attention on the lackey.

"What will we do?" I repeated. For a moment I didn't even know myself. Then I decided to
perform the hardest task first. "Take me to the big one."

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Walking through what appeared to be one dump of a supercity, I began to think that this may not
have been such a foolproof plan. I had ordered the ship to comb the other planets and come get
me when they were done. Perhaps I should have gone with them. If Kairi wasn't on this world,
then I'd be getting lung cancer for nothing. But even at the thought of her name my lungs were
automatically clean, and I was ready for whatever happened to come my way. I didn't have long
to wait, for a peculiar Heartless suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It was spider-like, possessing
six legs and an small elevated body whose position stood a good half a foot above mine. On its
top was the typical Heartless symbol. But this was not the strangest part about it. It appeared to
have some kind of black metal plating all over its body. I looked, but I couldn't see a patch of
Heartless skin (or whatever it was that I'd normally see) anywhere on it. But it made no
difference to me. I readied my saber and was about to attack it when I recalled the feeling in my
chest. Of course! Maleficent's gift! How could I have forgotten about it so quickly? But how
exactly to control it....

"Stand down!" I commanded in a loud and clear voice. The spider Heartless simply raised a leg
and brought it down toward me. But that was nothing I couldn't dodge. I jumped out of the
way, high enough to bring my sword down on its head. However, this merely resulted in a terrific
clanging sound as the metal on my sword slightly dented its armor. Before I'd fallen a foot
another leg was in the air and had smacked me. I was driven back a few feet, surprised but far
from beaten. Apparently I was going to have to learn some new strategies for this stronger breed.
Perhaps its legs were weaker than its head. I sped toward them and sliced at one. The reward
was another dent, but the Heartless didn't even flinch as it swung another leg at me. I blocked
with the saber, but it sent waves of vibrations through my body. It was all I could do to avoid the
next leg. I ran a short ways back to ponder the next option. I usually didn't let things get to me.
I could either solve the problem, or, if I couldn't, I simply moved on to something else. That's the
way I had always operated, and therefore I rarely lost my cool. However, I didn't have the feeling
I could walk away from this problem. I had one last idea. I ran toward it, as before. The
Heartless brought a leg low to try and trip me, but that was just what I was counting on. I leapt
high, and was able to deliver a kick directly to the body. The Heartless toppled over like a
coconut tree. It didn't appear to move after that, but all the same, I figured I'd move around a bit
more quickly and stealthily.

I almost immediately regretted my decision. I no more enjoyed moving from shadow to shadow
than I had keeping myself underwater to avoid being seen by Sora back in Monstro. But as much
as this wasn't my style, it was probably the best choice. As soon as I had walked along three of
those dirty streets, another one could be seen on what appeared to be patrol. I was going to
move on when the feeling in my chest pulsed a little. I leaned against the wall in the shadows to
consider this. This chest feeling, what did it tell me? Did it remind me of my gift? Was I going
further into darkness? Did it alert me when Heartless were nearby? If that was the case, then
mission accomplished. The spider Heartless was almost out of sight. I would try to control it
again, this time without words in case it didn't work again. I waved my hand in its direction.....
and was immediately struck on the backside. As soon as I was down I flipped over, expecting to
see another spider-Heartless. But I didn't. It was a humanoid machine, gray and white in color,
with what looked like some kind of satellite dish for a head and a red line where its eyes should've
been.

"Organic material," it droned. "Non-Heartless. Bring to Dr. Robotnik." I had no idea who or
what Dr. Robotnik was, but I had the feeling this place was getting increasingly hostile. Between
these Heartless who didn't seem to listen to me and this new robot who apparently wanted me
somewhere, I was having second thoughts about coming here.... at least without Tentacle and his
lackeys. But as far as this immediate concern, I assumed its armor was like that of the Heartless -
too strong for my sword. I found the fact that armor could render my sword so useless to be
more than a little unlikely and suspicious, as Maleficent had given it to me to assist me in finding
Kairi. Unlike her more recent present, I hadn't thought it very special at the time; it seemed to be
a metal version of the sword I used at Destiny Islands. But the sword had served me well and,
until now, had never been stopped. So I decided on the same strategy as I used on the spider
Heartless: I jumped and landed a kick on its satellite head. At least, that was my plan. The
machination saw it coming and grabbed me by the leg. I swung my hands around, still clutching
my sword, in what I knew would be a vain attempt to free myself. But it didn't turn out to be
vain at all. My sword went through its arm as easily as Kairi had slipped through my fingers,
freeing me from the iron grip. I was puzzled. My sword had had no effect on the plating of the
spider Heartless but had no trouble with the metal here. But that was all the thinking time I had,
as I hit the ground and ran, not bothering to dislodge the arm from my leg. The robot, apparently
unfazed, ran after me. Its satellite head was blaring and flashing red lights. As I ran away from
the robot, I could see more of them, as well as spider Heartless. And down every street I passed I
saw more coming. Even my determination to rescue Kairi couldn't save me from all of them, as
much as I hated to admit it, and it was becoming more apparent that they would soon surround
me. I didn't have to wait long. Soon enough, my back was to one of the doorways of a very
large building, satellite robots and spider Heartless abounding. I didn't want to think of this as my
end. I'd barely landed on a world and already I was going to perish? No. Kairi still needed me.
It can't end here! I decided I'd make one last play, for time more than anything else. I extended
my arm, holding my palm out as if to ward off the horde. I cleared my throat, and shouted....

"Stand down!" And they listened. Every last one of the robots and spider Heartless stepped back
five feet. But I wasn't impressed, or even surprised. I was curious, for the voice that had
commanded my adversaries hadn't been mine. "Hello, boy." The voice was coming from.....
directly behind me! I whirled around, sword at the ready, only to face one of the most curious
people I had ever seen.

He was not human-animal, like Sora's duck and dog friends. He was completely human. But if
you were to see him from any distance farther than mine, you would have to consider other
possibilities. His most prominent feature was his girth. This guy must have weighed 275, 300
pounds easily. His red and yellow jumpsuit and his flowing yellow cape made him difficult to miss
in the otherwise gray city which he seemed to have some authority in, and his enormous red
moustache added a flair to an otherwise hairless head. A smile was inhabiting his large face.

"What have we here, sir?" Another human stepped out from behind the first man. This one was
twenty times less imposing. He was short, shorter than Hand's lackey, and although he was
grinning malevolently, he looked to possess about just as much spine. There were a few long
hairs on his head, but otherwise he was as bald as his apparent master. He was dressed in a plan
blue sweater, and had a nose large enough to poke somebody's eye out.

"Come Snively, no need to be rude to our guest." the first man stated. The grin of the man who
was called Snively vanished instantly and was replaced by a look of confusion that probably
resembled my own. "Boy, you're here looking for a girl, correct?"

Instantly my sword was at the ready. "How do you know about Kairi?"

"I know lots of things. I know about the Heartless. I know about the Keyblade. I even know
your name, Riku."

I couldn't hide my shock on this one. This guy evidently had some answers, and I wanted them.
I remasked my face with the confident air it usually had and put him on the defensive. "Fine. If
you know my name, I want to know yours."

He didn't seem to have a problem with that. "My name is Julian Kintobor of the house of Ivo, but
you can call me Dr. Robotnik." He gestured to his comparatively tiny companion. "This is my
nephew, Snively Kintobor. Please, come inside. We have much to discuss." He raised his head
and addressed his robots. "Continue on patrol! If those accursed Freedom Fighters make even
one move into Robotropolis, exterminate them!" Robotnik put one of his meaty arms across my
back, and guided me inside, as the crowd of robots and metal Heartless dispersed behind us.

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Well, I finally got it out. Go me. Unfortunately, to those few who have been following this, I
can't promise when the next one's coming. I work on this very infrequently, as I've much else to
do. I think the next part will come out before the end of most people's school year.