Author's Note: Okay, now here's where you guys get to have some fun. Try to guess who this mysterious woman is in the story. She's the one who tries to help Erica. It's a bit obvious. But, whoever gets it right, will get to have their fav Disney character in the next chapter somewhere. As long as it's a character I know. Well, we actually get some adventure going in this chapter. Hooray for the adventure sequences!! Ahem. Let's get on with the story. Shall we? =^-^=
***
The window in Erica's room flew open and a gust of wind swept over her. Erica opened an eye and rolled her eyes in frustration. She got up and walked over to the window. She closed and locked it tightly. "Stupid window." she muttered. Suddenly, she heard a peculiar noise behind her. She looked from the corner of her eye and caught something black zoom behind her dresser. Hopefully, it wasn't a rat. Not that she was afraid of them. It was just that they were kind of creepy. She picked up a broken old tennis racket and held it in a swinging position. She crept closer to her dresser and was just about to look behind it when suddenly two dark hands wrapped around Erica's ankles.
"What the---?" she looked down at the hands and screamed. She took the racket and whacked the hands as hard as she could. They let go of her and she took off running for her life. She swung open her door ran to her parents' bedroom door. "MOM! DAD!" for the first time in a long time, Erica wanted her parents more than anything. She opened their door. But, when she looked inside, no one was in there. Erica frantically stepped out of her parents' room and darted into the hallway. She stopped and looked behind her. Appearing out from the floorboard, were strange dark figures. Erica's eyes widened and her face went pale. She backed up and, without knowing she was so close to the stairs, toppled down the staircase.
When she stopped at the bottom she felt a sharp pain like a knife piercing her entire arm. She clenched her shoulder and winced. A small stream of blood trickled down her forehead. She tried her best to get up but couldn't. The pain was too much and she was too dizzy from the rip on her head. She lifted her head as high as she could and saw the dark figures closing in on her. She wanted to scream or run or something. The room began spinning and everything went black. Completely black.
***
Erica saw visions. Visions of the dark shadows. Visions of her parents. What happened to them? Were they…? Could they be…? Erica couldn't think of the horrible thought any further. The darkness. The shadows. It was a wave of pain that broke her thoughts. The pain was as bad if not worse than it was earlier. She swore to herself that if the wound didn't kill her, then the pain certainly would. Once the pain slowly faded away, she could feel something cold dabbing her forehead. Erica slowly opened her eyes and saw the face of a woman with long black hair and a flower comb in it. Erica didn't have a clue who this person was or where she herself was at for that matter. Erica had questions and maybe this woman could answer them.
"Wh---Where---Where is my family?" Erica trembled. The woman didn't say anything. Just kept dabbing at Erica's injury with the ice pack. Erica became quite frustrated. "Where are they?!" she yelled.
"Calm down. You took quite a beating. I've been injured before. It was during a war. I just received a slight scratch across my side from a sword." The woman noticed Erica sneering at her. She wanted answers and she wanted them now. The woman shook her head. "Young lady, I'm afraid I don't know what happened to your parents. You were the only one left."
"What do you mean I was the only one left?! How?!
"I don't know."
"Where did the others go?!"
"I don't know."
"You don't know much do ya?"
"Look," the woman started angrily then spoke more calmly, "I think that maybe Bradley could give you the answers you need."
"Who's Bradley?"
"Why, he's the one who saved you." The woman got up and picked up a tea tray. "I'll go poor some more herbal tea. I'll try to keep the cricket out of it this time." She chuckled and left the room.
Outside of the door, Erica could hear voices. Then, in walked a young boy. Well, you couldn't exactly say that he was a *boy*. More like a teenager like her. He had dark brown, slightly messy hair, light blue eyes, and wore a white shirt with a blue vest. He had blue khaki pants that were a bit dirty. He had a bandage wrapped around his wrist and had a little sliver above is brow like something had scratched him. He had a half smile on his face and he seemed pretty nice. In fact, he wasn't a bad looker either. But, Erica was still weary of these strangers.
"I see you're up." He said as he sat down in a chair close to the bed.
"Who are you?" she eyed him closely.
"Bradley. My imaginary friends call me Brad." he said with a sly smile on his face.
Erica gave him a serious look and asked, "Where the heck am I?"
"Kingdom Hearts. I'm afraid your world was sucked up into darkness. Luckily, I was there. I sensed that some one was in danger so I came to your aid. I then transported you here for safety. You're the only survivor."
"What do you mean sucked up into darkness?! Where are my parents?!" she asked frantically.
Brad slowly lowered his head. "I'm sorry."
Erica's chest tightened and her face went pale. She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. She wanted to reach out and grab that boy by the neck and choke him to death to relieve her anger. Erica would too. But, her wounds were the only things holding her back. She was struck by more pain that started at her shoulder and traveled down her spine. Brad placed his hand upon her good shoulder. His hands were soft and warm.
"You have to take it easy for awhile." He told her softly, "You're shoulder is a bit twisted and you took one heck of a smack to your head." Erica's heart rate had slowed down and she was breathing right again. She glanced at him and looked him up and down studying the bandage and his scratch. "Oh, these?" he asked looking himself over noticing what she was looking at. "Just some temporary bruising. I'll live to see tomorrow. Now, you need to be getting some rest. I'll explain more to you in the morning." he smiled, got up, and left the room before Erica could say anything else. Erica was still scared and a bit confused. But, she was tired and still a bit dizzy. She laid her head back on the pillow and closed her eyes. "This day has been really---" before she could finish she was sleeping like a, well not a baby do to her extremely loud snoring. More like an elephant with a cold.
"I swear that girl can be really pushy when she tries." the woman said as she sipped her tea by the fire downstairs.
"Give her a break. She's been through a lot today." Brad looked down at his cup and sighed. "And she'll be in for a lot more tomorrow. Let's just pray she's in a good mood when she wakes up."
***
Erica awoke to some noise going on outside the door. She looked the room up and down. From the ceiling to the floor. "So, I wasn't dreaming." she said to herself. She slowly lifted herself up into a sitting position. Surprisingly enough, her shoulder pain was barely a sting and she wasn't dizzy. She thought that she should get up and go speak to her rescuers. She threw back the sheets and stepped onto the hardwood floor that creaked with each step. She walked over to a mirror hanging on the wall and saw that she looked worse than ever. Her pony tail was hardly staying up and she had dirt covering her left cheek. Her shirt had a spot of blood on it that must have come from the wound on her head and her hands had scratches. Probably from trying to catch herself as she fell down the stairs. But, Erica could care less. She just pulled some strands of hair behind her ears and walked out of the bedroom. After her past experience with stairs, Erica *carefully* went down the steps to the bottom floor. There he was. The teenager from the other night who helped her. Without him she wouldn't be there. She wouldn't even be alive. He looked up from talking with the tea woman and smiled at Erica.
"So, how are you feeling this morning?"
"Somewhat better." She said looking at the floor.
"Good. Because there is so much more I have to tell you."
Brad explained how the Disney villains were after the crystal and that they planned to use it to take over. He told how her world disappeared and that there was no way to bring it back. Unless, they use the crystal's power to reverse the damage. Erica seemed a bit reluctant to believe such a tale. But, the more serious he became about the matter, the more closely she listened. After he was finished with his story, it left Erica with a stupefied expression on her face.
"So," he said with a bit of uneasiness, "I have this mission to go find the crystal before the bad guys do. You'll have to come with me for safety reasons. You can't go off on your own."
"You're really serious about this. Aren't you?"
"I wouldn't have told you if I wasn't."
"S---So, We are right now in a world that is in a different dimension? SHUT UP!!!"
"Hey, I am not going to shut up!"
The woman spoke up. "Brad, in her world, it could mean 'My gosh', 'Gee Wiz', 'Holy Cow'..."
"Thank you. I think I get the point. Erica, for the next few days, you're going to be handling with dangerous situations and things that could change your life forever."
"Okay, first of all, I can not take that kind of responsibility! I---I---I haven't even received all my normal body parts yet! And second, I can't do this!" she turned to leave the room but Brad jumped in front of her.
"Look, you may be here for a long time. So, just do what I say and you'll be fine."
Erica suddenly had the urge to reach out and choke Brad again. She didn't enjoy being bossed around by anyone. Especially not some mop top hair boy like this one. But, she had no other choice. She sighed and threw hands up into the air in defeat. "Fine." she said rather gruffly.
"Great. Now, I do highly suggest that you wear something less…" he gestured at Erica's tattered clothes. "Torn." He said after finding the words. Even though he could have said worse than that.
Okay, this guy was pushing it. Within Erica a flame of aggravation began growing. But, she declined her hatred for the sake of having to be polite. Which wasn't Erica's strong point.
"Oh, I have something that she could wear. It will make traveling easier and will make her blend in." the woman suggested as she walked over to her closet. She opened it up and an army suit fell to the ground. "That's not it." She chuckled nervously. She began throwing things behind her as searched the mess in the closet. A shoe hit Erica in the head right where she was already injured. "Here we are!" she announced. She held up an outfit that hung from a hanger. It was a blue tank top, with brown baggy pants that went with a pair of dusty brown boots. Erica walked over and inspected the baggy pants.
"You making me wear a sheet?" she asked as she ran her fingers up and down the pant leg.
"I know it's not that glamorous. But, it will be a lot more comfortable."
Erica snatched the hanger from her and charged up the stairs while muttering a thank you over her shoulder. She quickly got dressed and looked at herself in the mirror. The pants were about two sizes too big and the shoes smelled funny. But, all in all, she didn't mind wearing them. She had taken her pony tail down and had let her hair fall around her face. She went back downstairs where Brad was standing with his travel bag. A look of amazement streaked across his face. Erica didn't even look like how she did a few minutes ago. She actually looked nice. If only she would smile once in awhile. "Well, are we leaving or not?"
"Oh, yes, of course. Thank you for your help, miss." Brad addressed the lady.
"No problem, Bradley. Good luck."
Erica and Brad walked out the door of the house and stepped out into the bright sunlight. The town had small houses made of stone and wood. Like a peasant town. The streets had cobblestone and the people wore bright colors that didn't match very well.
"Where do we go first?" she asked Brad looking around her.
"First, we go to Mr. Whitmore. He's this billionaire guy who could help us out a bit." Brad laughed. "Be warned. He has this thing for yoga." Erica just blinked at his statement. She followed close behind as Brad led the way to Mr. Whitmore's.
***
When they arrived at his house Brad rang the doorbell. A blonde woman in a black dress answered the door.
"Yes?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
"Hey, Helga. We need to see Mr. Whitmore. It's extremely important." Brad told her.
"This way." She led them through the big entrance of the mansion to an elevator. The whole time that they were on the elevator, Helga kept giving Erica an evil look. In response to this, Erica stuck out her tongue which made the woman give her a strange look. The elevator came to a stop and the door creaked open. Erica and Brad stepped out into the biggest room that she had ever seen. Art, statues, ancient relics filled the room from top to bottom. Suddenly, they heard a voice from behind.
"Bradley Nicholson." Mr. Whitmore walked up to the two youths. "Haven't seen you in quite a while. Meeting new friends?" He pointed his cane at Erica.
"This girl here is Erica she's from the real world."
"How did she get here?"
"Well, it's a long story and we don't have much time. I came here because we need help and a lot of it so that we can go retrieve the crystal."
"Aw, yes. The shield of Kingdom Hearts."
"Yeah. We need an upstanding group of explorers. I thought that maybe you would know someone who can help."
"Indeed I do." Something about his smile made Brad fell a bit uneasy.
"N-No. You don't mean…Not them!"
"That's right." Mr. Whitmore pulled out two pictures from his white coat and laid them on the table. One picture showed an image of a Duck and the other showed a picture of a tall dog.
"Not Donald and Goofy!!!" Brad pleaded.
"They are the only ones that are brave enough to go on such a treacherous journey."
"I can not work with Dumb and Dumber." Brad spat back. "Why can't you give me someone better? I mean, you helped that dorky Milo guy. You gave him a great experienced crew."
"You'll have Erica there to help you."
Brad turned around and saw Erica messing with a vase sitting on a stand. She nudged it a bit and before she could grab it, it fell and shattered on the floor. Brad turned back around to the billionaire and snared at him. "Oh, lucky me. I get stuck with the three stooges." He said sarcastically.
Mr. W laughed and patted Brad on the back. "Ah, everything will work out fine. You'll see, lad."
"That's easy for you to say. You're not going to be babysitting a girl, a duck, and a goofy dog."
Author's Note: Donald and Goofy? This ought to be good. (Snickers) Hey, did any one catch the little Princess Diaries joke in there? I love that movie. Oh, it belongs to Disney, too. Man, Disney owns a lot of things. Well, I guess they would. I mean, they practically own Haley Joel Osment. (More snickers) Well, I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible. =^-^=