For those who demanded it, here is the long awaited second chapter to my Kingdom hearts fanfic: "The Horror in The Hollow. I won't spoil any surprises, so I'll just say this: I don't own any of the characters, and I only own this plot, now onto the fic.
Sora looked on at the schoolteacher in front of him who had just introduced himself as Ichabod Crane, and apparently the truant officer of this strange new town. After backing away from Ichabod some more, he decided to speak again: "Okay, I know you're name now, could you please tell me where we are exactly?" Sora asked.
Ichabod wore a confused expression on his face as he looked down at the boy again. "You really are a strange one aren't you young man? You are in the humble abode of Tarry Town," He said as he stood and gestured all around him with his hand in a sweeping motion.
~*~
"Here we are again, separated from him, this is beginning to become quite a pain" Donald said as he kicked a stone in front of him on the dirt path they now inhabited.
"Don't worry Donald, I'm sure we'll find him, we always do" Goofy said cheerfully. They both were now decked out in a very fashionable type of outfits, much like Sora's, with a few exceptions. Donald wore a short, black waistcoat and a white wig on his head that had been pulled back into a ponytail.
Goofy had on a tattered black coat that extended past his waist and a similar wig that Donald wore, except that the top of his head was adorned with a Triangular colonial hat worn flat end forward.
They walked along a dirt road and came upon a cemetery lined with many a gothic grave filled with many unfortunate souls, Donald was already starting to feel uneasy and was already reminded as to why this place was connected to Halloweentown.
The Feeling in Donald's body continued on until they came upon a covered bridge. "This looks just the one we saw when we arrived here" goofy said aloud. "That's because it is" Donald said with his eyes half closed and his arms folded across his chest.
"Oh yeah, Why didn't I think of that?" Goofy said as he chuckled to himself.
'I could think of a few reasons' Donald thought to himself as he started to waddle across the Covered bridge. Donald looked back as he thought he heard something, something like hoof-beats. Donald waited but the noise did not come, shrugging his shoulders, Donald continued on with his lanky friend. "Probably nothing" Donald said as he waddled on. Had Donald stayed further, he would've heard the sound of laughter from within the dark woods that preceded the cemetery.
~*~
Sora walked along the road with Ichabod to the Town School. Although Sora didn't want to go to the school, he may as well use the opportunity to look around town on the way there in hopes that the king and Riku would be in some place nearby. "So, where are we going exactly?" Sora asked. "Why, to school of course" Ichabod answered to the young man in front of him. "School…" Sora said in a slightly squeaky voice. School was never a favorite of Sora's. Long hours in the classroom listening to the teacher drone on and on about totally boring topics, and to have to put up with that experience when he had his best friend and the king of another world to think about, school just wasn't an option.
"Look I know you mean well but I've really got to find my friends and…" Ichabod looked back at Sora and adopted a stern look on his face. "Young man I most certainly will not have you skipping my classes and hanging around with your hooligan friends, now come along" Ichabod said as he grabbed Sora by his earlobe and proceeded to drag him towards the area of the school.
Sora was about to protest when another voice came about. "Leave the boy alone Crane, let him skip school, I did it all the time and look how I turned out" Ichabod looked back to see a tall, well built man with dark black hair, a white button up shirt with a light brown vest and some red slacks.
"Oh you stay out of this Brom Bones, why don't you go off and amuse your fellow Neanderthals like you always do?" Ichabod said rather angrily to the barrel chested man in front of him.
"Because I feel it's my part to help anyone who has to put up with you for the better part of their lives" Brom said as he folded his arms across his chest. "Oh really Brom, well if it's any consolation, the feeling's mutual" Ichabod said coolly to the muscle bound brute. "Now come along young man…where did he go?" Ichabod said as he looked around for the young truant who tried to escape him not too long ago.
~*~
Sora looked down at the two men who started arguing with each other after running into one another. Once they started, a simple High-Jump into the tree branches above was all that was necessary to escape the schoolteacher's grasp, he just hoped that they would support his weight. He could've just escaped by moving through the branches and super-gliding out to town and landing on a rooftop till School was out and it looked like he'd be free to move around without Ichabod's interference, but what they were arguing about had caught his attention, so he decided to listen in and be a fly on the wall for awhile.
~*~
Ichabod paced around for a while, trying to find the young man, but not turning up any clues or luck. "Face it Crane, you've lost another one to your boring lectures" Brom said confidently as he watched his lanky adversary look through random areas for his missing pupil. "Oh be quiet Brom, I never asked for your opinion Ichabod said as he continued looking around. Ichabod was about to look further when he heard the local church bells ring, signaling that the time for the young ones in the classroom was done for.
"Oh drat it's too late" Ichabod said disappointed at his luck. "Better luck next time "Icky" Brom said as he strolled past Ichabod chuckling at his hopeless rival's luck with his student. Brom didn't walk far when he came across the most peculiar thing, a tall dog that stood upright and a short and stout duck that also stood upright. "Man I gotta stop drinking so much, I'm starting to see things like ducks and dogs that stand upright"
Brom said muttering to himself.
~*~
Donald walked up to the schoolteacher and spoke: "Excuse me, we're looking for a young man with large brown hair and…" Donald wasn't able to get any other words out when the teacher jumped about four feet in the air at the sight of a talking duck. Donald backed away for a minute and looked back at Goofy and spoke: "What's his problem?" Donald asked while he scratched his head.
Sora dropped down from the tree branches shortly afterwards, and walked over to Donald and Goofy. "So there you are, where'd you wind up?" Sora asked. "We wound up somewhere over in the woods dressed like this" Goofy said as he gestured to Sora about he and Donald's apparel. "Same here, I wound up in the middle of town dressed like this as well" Sora said as he showed off how he looked to his two comrades. Sora looked over and saw that Ichabod was starting to come to. "He's waking up come on" Sora said as he and his friends walked over to the now conscious schoolteacher. Looking on Ichabod became frightened yet again. "I knew I shouldn't have let that black cat cross my path" he said shakily as he rose to his feet, and slowly backing away from the two creatures in front of him.
"No, no wait, they won't hurt you, it's okay" Sora said as he slowly approached the scared schoolteacher. Ichabod stopped and looked at the young man in front of him and considered his words. He was about to speak when a heavenly voice arose to greet his ears. "Oh Ichabod" rang a sweet and sugary voice, a voice that could only belong to Katrina Van Tassel, the most loveliest and sought after maiden in all of Tarry Town. "I was just walking through town and thought I'd drop this off for you" Ichabod was astounded at what he had read, it was an invitation to Katrina's father's annual Halloween party. Old Baltus Van Tassel had decided to throw an old shindig for all who wanted to come and celebrate all Hallows eve. It was not an event Ichabod could afford to miss.
"An invitation, why Katrina I'd love to go, you'll definitely see me there, my fair maiden" Ichabod said as he kissed Katrina's hand. "Oh Ichabod, you're such a charmer" she said as she walked off and walked away glancing back at Ichabod with a coy smile that turned the schoolteacher into a mass of gelatin.
Sora walked up to Ichabod and waved his hand in front of Ichabod's face. "Are you alright?" Sora asked. "Better than alright, oh boy have I got to get ready for that party" Ichabod said as he sped off into the direction of the schoolhouse.
"So, what should we do?" Sora asked. "It's obvious, we need to go and look for the king" Donald said. "Yeah, you're right, let's so look in town" Sora said as they headed off.
While the trio took off, a cackle of laughter was heard coming from the woods behind them. Donald looked back and jumped. He saw no one back there, but still he could've sworn he heard laughter. "I have a bad feeling about all of this" Donald muttered to himself.
Sorry for the long wait with this story, but it took a new game of Kingdom Hearts to rekindle my interest in this series, and I promise to finish this series, and be sure to watch because it's going to lead into a much larger series that I will pour my heart and soul into. Well that's it for now, read and review.