Half-Heartless
Chapter Sixteen
"Where are we going next?" asks Sora, his voice gloomy as he leans against the Gummi Ship. He's visibly depressed by not being able to find Riku, regardless of the fact that the fifteen-year-old had completely and utterly betrayed him.
Donald unrolls the map that his king made of the universe before he disappeared. "We're here," he quacks, pointing to Agrabah, "And we should be heading down THERE." He points at a world completely engulfed in water. The Keyblade master leans over the map and frowns at the sight of it, but says nothing.
"How are we going to survive without oxygen?" I ask.
"I'm going to turn everyone into sea creatures." Donald declares irritably, waving his wand. "We'll have gills and the ability to live underwater. Now, what's your favorite aquatic animal?"
"Shark." (Sora)
"Sea turtle." (Goofy)
"Jelly fish." (Kristina) "What? I LIKE jelly fish..."
"Dolphin." (Maria)
"Same with me." (Me)
"Sea horse." (Mel)
"And I like anything. Well, that takes care of that." Donald scribbles all of our likes on a piece of paper and shoves it in one of his pockets. All of us go inside the Gummi Ship.
As we lift off the ground, everyone except me, Sora, and Donald plasters their faces up against the windows to watch the take-off. I sit in the corner, reminiscing about the life I had before being a Bouncywild. Sadly, the memories are fading, like sand slipping through my fingers. I can really only remember the sunrises - there was a normal sunrise and sunset before the Heartless attacked Traverse Town. The sunrises, they were different than the sunrises on any other world...
The sky would turn a lovely, rosy pink color. The clouds would turn multi- colored - pink, purple, and blue. The stars, each one of them, would slowly vanish as the sunbeams literally lit up the sky. The sun would creep over the horizon, a light orange semicircle, bathing the entire town in its rays... I used to sit on the roof and admire it every morning.
Oh, if I could enjoy one more day...
Kristina looks at me, a curious expression on her face. She flies over to me. "Something wrong, Destiny? You look... unhappy." I shake my head and turn away. "Oh, I get it. You need something to cheer you up, so you can be OPTIMISTIC and HAPPY like me!"
"You mean hyper." I mutter. Looking defeated, the Wyvern flies back to the window.
Suddenly, the Gummi Ship lurches and tilts to the side. I tumble across the cold floor and smack against the wall. It rumbles again, this time more violent. One of the Gummi blocks comes loose and bounces around the ship, then hits Sora, who's driving, right on the head. He falls out of his chair, accidentily tearing off the wheel in the meantime. The ship keeps lurching - Heartless ships are becoming desperate and running straight into us.
At one point a window breaks. A Heartless ship stops by the window and Shadows pile in, brandishing their claws. Mel shrieks. The Keyblade master gets up and makes the Keyblade appear in the palm of his left hand. The Gummi Ship starts running into obstacles. "We need to find a way out of here!" announces Sora, slashing at a group of Shadows.
The ship completely rolls over. Everyone falls onto the ceiling, and the Shadows leap off the floor and pounce on us. Maria notices the broken window with the Heartless ship parked next to it and runs over, avoiding the Shadows. She climbs in and motions for us to follow. Everyone clambers in, except me. A Shadow grabs my leg.
"You're coming with us." hisses the pure black Heartless. More Shadows grab onto him and they start dragging me away. Kristina sees and climbs back thorugh, knocking away the chain of Heartless.
One of the Shadows grabs the Gummi Ship wheel (what's left of it, anyway) and drives away, keeping us from getting away. I cling to Kristina. "Kristina, teleport, now!"
"But I can't control where I teleport!" protests the Wyvern. I lightly punch her and she gets the idea, then disappears in an indigo mist.
***
"Destiny, this place scares me!" whines Kristina. I look around. Everything is dark and oddly-shaped. There is a scary-looking guillotine sitting around, and - I shriek - there are Search Ghosts floating around in the center.
Both of us walk/fly towards them cautiously, but they don't budge. I wave my paw in front of one's face. Nothing happens. Kristina attacks a Search Ghost. It winces, but doesn't move. "No! don't hurt the Heartless!" We turn around and shriek. A skeleton-like man is standing there. He sees us and tilts his head. "I don't remember taming you two..."
"You didn't tame us. I don't even know you." I retort without thinking.
The man bends down, shocked. "How on Earth did you lower your voice?"
"Lower my voice?" I ask, perplexed. The man returns to his full, towering height and strokes his non-existant chin. I look up at him, my arms crossed expectantly. "What do you mean?"
"Doctor Finkelstein's studies show that Heartless can SPEAK English, they're just talking in very high-pitched voices that are too high for any creature except other Heartless to hear." explains the scary-looking man.
I never knew that. "Oh... Well, I dunno. I'm only half-Heartless, if that has anything to do with it. I'm Destiny, this is Kristina."
"Jack."
He bends down to shake hands with me. "Oh, and Destiny, this is Halloween Town. Enjoy yourself. No one will mind you very much because I've tamed some Heartless and they might just figure that you're some of the tamed ones."
"Ask him if there's a candy shop!" Kristina urges, shaking me. I ignore her and say good-bye. "WHY DIDN'T YOU ASK HIM IF THERE WAS A CANDY SHOP?"
"Because we can find out when we get into town." I tell her, running off. Sighing loudly, she flies after me. When we reach Halloween Town, both of us search around. Instead of treating us like monsters, the residents say their hellos to us as we go by. I've never been in a place like this.
Finally, we come across a candy shop. Kristina bugs me until I come out with a few leftover spheres of munny and we go inside. I watch as the Wyvern happily zooms back and forth, picking out tons of candy. She eventually comes back and pours it all in three bags. Rolling my eyes, I get a small bag of jawbreakers.
"That will be approximately 500 munny." declares the cashier. I take out my measly 100 munny and glare at Kristina. The cashier seems to notice us for the first time. "Oh! You're a couple of those Heartless that Jack trained. He trains you so well! Tell you what. I'll give you this for exactly what you have."
I hand over my 100 munny and we go out the door and sit on the porch.
"Wait... I don't have a mouth, how can I eat?" I inquire, poking at some of the jawbreakers. Both of us sit there for a few minutes, pondering. sighing, I set the bag next to me, only to see Kristina pigging out on the jawbreakers.
At my glare, she looks up at me. "You don't have a mouth, so you can't eat. And that means more for me."
"You're going to be SO hyper later on." I grumble. I look up. "Everyone else is probably at Atlantica right now. We'll have to wait." [And I'm stuck with this hyperactive, annoying freak,] I think to myself, watching Kristina swallow without chewing.
We sit there for awhile, me occasionally waving to passersby as my winged friend scarfs down her candy. Hey, at least we aren't being attacked by Heartless bent on retrieving me and killing off Sora. But how long will this peace last? I pause and look around, unnerved by the fact that a Heartless, untamed, could be watching us this very moment. I step back and look onto the roof; my suspicions are confirmed as a figure turns and runs away from the edge of the roof. I hop onto a pile of crates and jump up, just as the figure drops off.
Kristina flies up, face smeared with multiple colors. "Destiny, what are you-"
"Sh!" I command, holding up my figure. I cautiously venture towards the edge. "I think a Heartless has been watching us." I pick up a crowbar (you can find some strange things on roofs) as I get closer. "Kristina, I think I know what it was. What kind of Heartless have wings?"
"I have wings."
"No, I mean the kind that have wings AND hands!"
"Oh. It was probably a Gargoyle, then."
"That's what I thought."
"But you're wrong!" declares a mixture of two familiar voices. I jump back as Xavier-Storm flies at me from nowhere. He turns around and flings his weapon at me, which I block back at him, allowing me to scamper to Kristina's side.
Kristina growls. "Prepare to taste my foot, Air Pirate!"
"No!" I grab her. "That's a friend of mine! He's being controlled!"
"Well, then, how do we beat him?"
"I'm waiting, ladies."
I look from Xavier-Storm to Kristina. "Go ahead and fight him, but just hurt him, don't kill him. It will allow Storm to regain control for a short period of time. He'll be able to fly away in that time, and you and me will go in the opposite direction, to make as much distance between us as possible."
The Wyvern nods and flies at him. She attacks as I make my halberd appear in my paw, and I rush at them, slicing Xavier-Storm. After awhile, he falls onto the ground with fatigue from the both of us attacking him. I lean over the roof, peering at him. Obviously, he's still being controlled as he flings his sword at me. It hits me right in the stomach. I slide off of the sloping part of the roof and land in front of the enraged Air Pirate.
Kristina dives at him and knocks Xavier-Storm away as I get up, then both of us go at him. Finally he falls over, unconscious. "Okay, this isn't going exactly as planned. Kristina, you put him on your back, and I'll try and find somewhere safe."
"ME?!" shrieks the Wyvern behind me. "Why me?! What if he wakes up and kills me?" At my glare, she gives in and gets the unconsicous Air Pirate on her back. We walk away from the town, trying to find a place where no innocent people (or whatever the Holloween Town residents are) would get hurt if Storm is still being controlled by Xavier when he wakes up.
[Author's Note]
Maji: *flops on her bean bag chair* Whee! ^^ Everything in this story is working out great! Next chapter Sora shows up again and they beat up Oogie Boogie, then they're going to move on to Hollow Bastion. Wow, the story went by so quick... Oh, and Blue Fox, I'm not gonna be able to put Stephanie in this. It wouldn't be fair for Storm, since he's the only boy and there are so many girls. ^^; Can you say sorry to your friend for me? Thanks.
Gypsy: On a lighter note, Maji's letting Destiny, Maria, and Storm MST their own story. As soon as we establish a website, we'll put it up. (Stupid FF.net...)
Chibi Leon: ...And Another Shine, Another Story, the sequel to Shimmer, climaxes. Maji will put it up when she's done.
Young Sora: Yeah. Here are some spoilers! (If you don't want to read spoilers, I'd advise you to run away screaming and flailing your arms).
/Presenting "Another Shine, Another Story"!\
Unknown Sora rolled his eyes and handed the blindfold back to its owner. "Okay, then. Just... cut holes in it, would you? I really worry about you sometimes, when you run into walls and trip over stuff..."
"Cool!" exclaimed Unknown Riku. "Can I use that cool weapon to cut holes in it?"
"Whatever." replied Unknown Sora, reaching into his pocket (big pocket) and pulling out the Oblivion Keyblade. The Riku imposter went dancing around with the Keyblade, accidentily whacking people with it. The hooded boy watched, eyes wide, then blinked and shook his head. The Mental Hospital workers would be there soon, and Unknown Riku would be in a much better place.
As if on cue, the doors burst open and men ran in, putting Kairi and Shi in straitjackets. Another person tried to put a straitjacket on Unknown Riku, but he hurled the Keyblade at them and knocked them into a wall. Unknown Sora slapped his face. This was frustrating.
Suddenly, to Unknown Sora's surprise, all of the Mental Hospital workers turned into NeoShadows!
/Dun dun dun!\
[Disclaimer]
I don't own Kingdom Hearts. There. I said it.
Chapter Sixteen
"Where are we going next?" asks Sora, his voice gloomy as he leans against the Gummi Ship. He's visibly depressed by not being able to find Riku, regardless of the fact that the fifteen-year-old had completely and utterly betrayed him.
Donald unrolls the map that his king made of the universe before he disappeared. "We're here," he quacks, pointing to Agrabah, "And we should be heading down THERE." He points at a world completely engulfed in water. The Keyblade master leans over the map and frowns at the sight of it, but says nothing.
"How are we going to survive without oxygen?" I ask.
"I'm going to turn everyone into sea creatures." Donald declares irritably, waving his wand. "We'll have gills and the ability to live underwater. Now, what's your favorite aquatic animal?"
"Shark." (Sora)
"Sea turtle." (Goofy)
"Jelly fish." (Kristina) "What? I LIKE jelly fish..."
"Dolphin." (Maria)
"Same with me." (Me)
"Sea horse." (Mel)
"And I like anything. Well, that takes care of that." Donald scribbles all of our likes on a piece of paper and shoves it in one of his pockets. All of us go inside the Gummi Ship.
As we lift off the ground, everyone except me, Sora, and Donald plasters their faces up against the windows to watch the take-off. I sit in the corner, reminiscing about the life I had before being a Bouncywild. Sadly, the memories are fading, like sand slipping through my fingers. I can really only remember the sunrises - there was a normal sunrise and sunset before the Heartless attacked Traverse Town. The sunrises, they were different than the sunrises on any other world...
The sky would turn a lovely, rosy pink color. The clouds would turn multi- colored - pink, purple, and blue. The stars, each one of them, would slowly vanish as the sunbeams literally lit up the sky. The sun would creep over the horizon, a light orange semicircle, bathing the entire town in its rays... I used to sit on the roof and admire it every morning.
Oh, if I could enjoy one more day...
Kristina looks at me, a curious expression on her face. She flies over to me. "Something wrong, Destiny? You look... unhappy." I shake my head and turn away. "Oh, I get it. You need something to cheer you up, so you can be OPTIMISTIC and HAPPY like me!"
"You mean hyper." I mutter. Looking defeated, the Wyvern flies back to the window.
Suddenly, the Gummi Ship lurches and tilts to the side. I tumble across the cold floor and smack against the wall. It rumbles again, this time more violent. One of the Gummi blocks comes loose and bounces around the ship, then hits Sora, who's driving, right on the head. He falls out of his chair, accidentily tearing off the wheel in the meantime. The ship keeps lurching - Heartless ships are becoming desperate and running straight into us.
At one point a window breaks. A Heartless ship stops by the window and Shadows pile in, brandishing their claws. Mel shrieks. The Keyblade master gets up and makes the Keyblade appear in the palm of his left hand. The Gummi Ship starts running into obstacles. "We need to find a way out of here!" announces Sora, slashing at a group of Shadows.
The ship completely rolls over. Everyone falls onto the ceiling, and the Shadows leap off the floor and pounce on us. Maria notices the broken window with the Heartless ship parked next to it and runs over, avoiding the Shadows. She climbs in and motions for us to follow. Everyone clambers in, except me. A Shadow grabs my leg.
"You're coming with us." hisses the pure black Heartless. More Shadows grab onto him and they start dragging me away. Kristina sees and climbs back thorugh, knocking away the chain of Heartless.
One of the Shadows grabs the Gummi Ship wheel (what's left of it, anyway) and drives away, keeping us from getting away. I cling to Kristina. "Kristina, teleport, now!"
"But I can't control where I teleport!" protests the Wyvern. I lightly punch her and she gets the idea, then disappears in an indigo mist.
***
"Destiny, this place scares me!" whines Kristina. I look around. Everything is dark and oddly-shaped. There is a scary-looking guillotine sitting around, and - I shriek - there are Search Ghosts floating around in the center.
Both of us walk/fly towards them cautiously, but they don't budge. I wave my paw in front of one's face. Nothing happens. Kristina attacks a Search Ghost. It winces, but doesn't move. "No! don't hurt the Heartless!" We turn around and shriek. A skeleton-like man is standing there. He sees us and tilts his head. "I don't remember taming you two..."
"You didn't tame us. I don't even know you." I retort without thinking.
The man bends down, shocked. "How on Earth did you lower your voice?"
"Lower my voice?" I ask, perplexed. The man returns to his full, towering height and strokes his non-existant chin. I look up at him, my arms crossed expectantly. "What do you mean?"
"Doctor Finkelstein's studies show that Heartless can SPEAK English, they're just talking in very high-pitched voices that are too high for any creature except other Heartless to hear." explains the scary-looking man.
I never knew that. "Oh... Well, I dunno. I'm only half-Heartless, if that has anything to do with it. I'm Destiny, this is Kristina."
"Jack."
He bends down to shake hands with me. "Oh, and Destiny, this is Halloween Town. Enjoy yourself. No one will mind you very much because I've tamed some Heartless and they might just figure that you're some of the tamed ones."
"Ask him if there's a candy shop!" Kristina urges, shaking me. I ignore her and say good-bye. "WHY DIDN'T YOU ASK HIM IF THERE WAS A CANDY SHOP?"
"Because we can find out when we get into town." I tell her, running off. Sighing loudly, she flies after me. When we reach Halloween Town, both of us search around. Instead of treating us like monsters, the residents say their hellos to us as we go by. I've never been in a place like this.
Finally, we come across a candy shop. Kristina bugs me until I come out with a few leftover spheres of munny and we go inside. I watch as the Wyvern happily zooms back and forth, picking out tons of candy. She eventually comes back and pours it all in three bags. Rolling my eyes, I get a small bag of jawbreakers.
"That will be approximately 500 munny." declares the cashier. I take out my measly 100 munny and glare at Kristina. The cashier seems to notice us for the first time. "Oh! You're a couple of those Heartless that Jack trained. He trains you so well! Tell you what. I'll give you this for exactly what you have."
I hand over my 100 munny and we go out the door and sit on the porch.
"Wait... I don't have a mouth, how can I eat?" I inquire, poking at some of the jawbreakers. Both of us sit there for a few minutes, pondering. sighing, I set the bag next to me, only to see Kristina pigging out on the jawbreakers.
At my glare, she looks up at me. "You don't have a mouth, so you can't eat. And that means more for me."
"You're going to be SO hyper later on." I grumble. I look up. "Everyone else is probably at Atlantica right now. We'll have to wait." [And I'm stuck with this hyperactive, annoying freak,] I think to myself, watching Kristina swallow without chewing.
We sit there for awhile, me occasionally waving to passersby as my winged friend scarfs down her candy. Hey, at least we aren't being attacked by Heartless bent on retrieving me and killing off Sora. But how long will this peace last? I pause and look around, unnerved by the fact that a Heartless, untamed, could be watching us this very moment. I step back and look onto the roof; my suspicions are confirmed as a figure turns and runs away from the edge of the roof. I hop onto a pile of crates and jump up, just as the figure drops off.
Kristina flies up, face smeared with multiple colors. "Destiny, what are you-"
"Sh!" I command, holding up my figure. I cautiously venture towards the edge. "I think a Heartless has been watching us." I pick up a crowbar (you can find some strange things on roofs) as I get closer. "Kristina, I think I know what it was. What kind of Heartless have wings?"
"I have wings."
"No, I mean the kind that have wings AND hands!"
"Oh. It was probably a Gargoyle, then."
"That's what I thought."
"But you're wrong!" declares a mixture of two familiar voices. I jump back as Xavier-Storm flies at me from nowhere. He turns around and flings his weapon at me, which I block back at him, allowing me to scamper to Kristina's side.
Kristina growls. "Prepare to taste my foot, Air Pirate!"
"No!" I grab her. "That's a friend of mine! He's being controlled!"
"Well, then, how do we beat him?"
"I'm waiting, ladies."
I look from Xavier-Storm to Kristina. "Go ahead and fight him, but just hurt him, don't kill him. It will allow Storm to regain control for a short period of time. He'll be able to fly away in that time, and you and me will go in the opposite direction, to make as much distance between us as possible."
The Wyvern nods and flies at him. She attacks as I make my halberd appear in my paw, and I rush at them, slicing Xavier-Storm. After awhile, he falls onto the ground with fatigue from the both of us attacking him. I lean over the roof, peering at him. Obviously, he's still being controlled as he flings his sword at me. It hits me right in the stomach. I slide off of the sloping part of the roof and land in front of the enraged Air Pirate.
Kristina dives at him and knocks Xavier-Storm away as I get up, then both of us go at him. Finally he falls over, unconscious. "Okay, this isn't going exactly as planned. Kristina, you put him on your back, and I'll try and find somewhere safe."
"ME?!" shrieks the Wyvern behind me. "Why me?! What if he wakes up and kills me?" At my glare, she gives in and gets the unconsicous Air Pirate on her back. We walk away from the town, trying to find a place where no innocent people (or whatever the Holloween Town residents are) would get hurt if Storm is still being controlled by Xavier when he wakes up.
[Author's Note]
Maji: *flops on her bean bag chair* Whee! ^^ Everything in this story is working out great! Next chapter Sora shows up again and they beat up Oogie Boogie, then they're going to move on to Hollow Bastion. Wow, the story went by so quick... Oh, and Blue Fox, I'm not gonna be able to put Stephanie in this. It wouldn't be fair for Storm, since he's the only boy and there are so many girls. ^^; Can you say sorry to your friend for me? Thanks.
Gypsy: On a lighter note, Maji's letting Destiny, Maria, and Storm MST their own story. As soon as we establish a website, we'll put it up. (Stupid FF.net...)
Chibi Leon: ...And Another Shine, Another Story, the sequel to Shimmer, climaxes. Maji will put it up when she's done.
Young Sora: Yeah. Here are some spoilers! (If you don't want to read spoilers, I'd advise you to run away screaming and flailing your arms).
/Presenting "Another Shine, Another Story"!\
Unknown Sora rolled his eyes and handed the blindfold back to its owner. "Okay, then. Just... cut holes in it, would you? I really worry about you sometimes, when you run into walls and trip over stuff..."
"Cool!" exclaimed Unknown Riku. "Can I use that cool weapon to cut holes in it?"
"Whatever." replied Unknown Sora, reaching into his pocket (big pocket) and pulling out the Oblivion Keyblade. The Riku imposter went dancing around with the Keyblade, accidentily whacking people with it. The hooded boy watched, eyes wide, then blinked and shook his head. The Mental Hospital workers would be there soon, and Unknown Riku would be in a much better place.
As if on cue, the doors burst open and men ran in, putting Kairi and Shi in straitjackets. Another person tried to put a straitjacket on Unknown Riku, but he hurled the Keyblade at them and knocked them into a wall. Unknown Sora slapped his face. This was frustrating.
Suddenly, to Unknown Sora's surprise, all of the Mental Hospital workers turned into NeoShadows!
/Dun dun dun!\
[Disclaimer]
I don't own Kingdom Hearts. There. I said it.