A/N: recently I haven't been able to get onto Fanfiction, so I'll post up all the chapters I have finished when I can get on again. Sorry about how long it's taking. Disclaimer: I own my character, my character's weapon, and nothing else."
Chapter 6. New Abilities and a New World.
Herzophia, Sora, Donald, and Goofy stood in the First District, in the square that was in front of the Items and Accessories shops.
"Here's a spell you buys should learn." Said Donald as he handed a slip of paper each to Sora, then to Herzophia. "Read those, and the spell will me imprinted into your mind, and you can cast it at any time."
As Herzophia read the slip of paper, which simpy said 'Fire,' she felt an odd tingling sensation in her brain, and the paper she held spontaneously combusted.
"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed. Judging by the pile of ash he now held, the same had happened to his paper.
"Goofy, why don't you give them that other thing you were going to?" Donald asked the knight.
"What thing?" Goofy asked.
"You know..." Donald said.
"Oh! Hyuck!" Goofy exclaimed as he remembered. He took two very small emerald-like jewels from his pocket, and handed them to the two teenagers. "Here ya go!" The jewels had strange markings on them, like runes. "These'll give ya the special ability called dodge roll. Just hold them in your hand and give them a tight squeeze. Then you'll learn it."
Herzophia squeezed the gem as hard as she could, and felt a stinging feeling as the jewel seemed to melt into her hand. She gasped. Suddenly she felt she had the ability to do something that she hadn't been able to do before.
Sora, having had the same thing happen with his hand, decided to test out his new ability. He started to roll all around the area, having fun with it. As soon as he finished enjoying his dodge roll, Donald began to speak again.
"Come on, we'll show you our gummi ship!"
"Gummi ship?" Sora asked, scratching his head in confusion.
"Our space ship," explained Goofy, "we can use it to go to other worlds, like I told you!"
"Other worlds..." breathed Herzophia. Sure, having someone in a game go to other worlds was something fun, but doing it in real life by yourself... that was an entirely new experience.
"Wow!" Sora said excitedly. "Other worlds!"
"Come on, this way!" Goofy said, beckoning and walking towards an especially large pair of double door. "Hu-yuck!" (a/n: I love Goofy's laugh, heheh....)
The group began to walk towards the doors.
"Hey... what's this?" Sora asked, standing over a blue mark on the ground that looked like three hearts, connected by a line in a circular shape.
"That's a trinity mark!" A cricked chirped, seemingly to have appeared from nowhere.
"Who are you?" Asked Sora, as Donald and Goofy walked over, Herzophia trailing a bit behind them.
"Jiminy Cricket's the name!" He took off his hat, put it on his chest and bowed. "I was sent along with Donald and Goofy, to record your journey in my journal."
"What do these Trinity marks do?" Asked Herzophia, catching up to the rest of the group.
"Well, what Sora, Donald, and Goofy have to do for the blue ones is jump in the air and-" He looked back down at the Trinity mark, seeing some movement. "What? The mark changed!" He exclaimed, and the other four looked at it.
The mark had changed from three hearts on a circle to four. "That's certainly not normal!" Jiminy said, still staring at the altered mark. "I wonder what this could mean, and how could it have happened?" He looked from the group to the mark on the ground. "Oh... now I get it." He had figured it out. "Because there are now four of you, Sora, Goofy, Donald, and Herzophia, the Trinity mark has changed to a Quadra mark, meaning it now takes all four of you to get one to work."
"Cool!" Exclaimed Herzophia. "So... what do they do?"
"Oh, yeah, I forgot. Well, all of you, for the blue ones, have to jump in the air and stomp down as hard as you can. Give it a try, why don't you?"
The four of them arranged themselves in a kind of a circle, jumped in the air and stomped down. Munny fell from the sky all around them. "Munny!" Exclaimed Donald, beginning to pick it up.
"Hey, Donald, you can't have it all!" Sora said angrily. "The rest of us will want some, too." Donald stopped picking up Munny, but most of it was gone anyway.
"Hey, I have an idea." Herzophia said, glaring at Donald as he began to put the Munny in his pocket. The duck stopped and glared back. "Why don't we have one of us get all of the Munny-" at this Donald stopped glaring and looked at her, surprised, but she took no notice and continued. "-and whenever someone needs something, we use money from the large amount, instead of having some people be richer than others, making it so some people can't buy anything."
"That's a good idea!" Goofy said cheerfully.
"Yeah!" Sora agreed.
"So... who will it be?" Asked Donald.
"I don't know... I thought we'd take a vote."
"Sora," said Goofy.
"ME !" Donald quacked loudly.
"Herzophia," voted Sora.
"Hm... how about Sora." Herzophia said.
"Hyuck, that's two votes for Sora, guess he gets the Munny, huh Donald?"
"Here you go, Sora." Herzophia handed the Munny she had collected to the brunette. "Goofy and Donald, hand him your Munny too."
Goofy handed his small stash of Munny to Sora without hesitation. Donald, on the other hand, crossed his arms stubbornly and said, "why should I? I picked it up!"
"But, uh, Donald, this is the only way it's fair. Just give him your Munny." Goofy said.
Donald growled, which sounded very strange, and glared at the rest of them. Sora crossed his arms and looked at him, Goofy just stood there, and Herzophia glared at him very coldly.
"Fine!" He stomped over to Sora and handed him his rather large amount of Munny.
"Okay, now that we have that stupid fight out of the way, let's move on to happier things!" Herzophia suggested. "How about we go look at the gummi ship like we were doing before?" Sora nodded and grinned, Goofy nodded too, and Donald just went "hmph."
"Come on! It's just out this door right here!" Goofy said, walking towards the large pair of double doors again. The other three followed him. It took three of them just to open one of the huge doors. They walked outside, and, in doing so, directly into the gummi ship. Herzophia went to a window and looked out at the outside of the gummi ship. It was mostly red and yellow, with a small gun on the bottom of it, that could just barely be seen if you used a mirror on the side of the ship.
"Wooow..." Sora said, looking out into space. "Look at all the stars out there!" There were, indeed, many stars in space, more than they could see from inside Traverse Town.
"It's beautiful," Herzophia said. She had gone stargazing when she was at home, but this was entirely different. This time she was in the place she had been looking up at. It was utterly amazing. "But, where are the other worlds?" She asked, turning to Donald and Goofy. "Didn't you say there were other worlds out there, too?"
"You're lookin' at them!" Donald quacked. Sora and Herzophia gasped.
"All of those are different worlds?" Asked Sora, not quite believing what he had heard. Goofy nodded enthusiastically. "That's a whole lot of worlds!" Then he thought about something. "Oh no, Riku and Kairi could be on any of them! What if they're on the other side of the universe!" He looked sad. "I may never find them again..."
"Don't be so sad, Sora, remember, Leon told you to come with Donald and Goofy ESPECIALLY if you wanted to find your friends." Herzophia said, trying to reassure him. "You'll see, we'll find Riku, and Kairi. You won't lose them forever."
Sora smiled at her, feeling a bit happier from her words. "Thanks, Zophi. You're a good friend." She smiled back. "Well, let's get going!" He exclaimed, wanting to get out there right away. "If we have to look through a whole bunch of worlds to find Riku, Kairi, and your king, we'd better get going!" He looked at the slightly confusing controls of the gummi ship. "Who's driving? I know I can't."
"I'm driving." Said Donald. "So get outta my way!" Sora and Herzophia jumped aside from the driver's seat, allowing Donald to get to it and sit down. "Now sit down and buckle up. With all the Heartless out there, this could be a bumpy trip.
"Heartless?" Asked Herzophia, puzzled. "Heartless in space? Do they have gummi ships, too, or are they able to stand not being able to breathe?"
"They have gummi ships, too," Goofy said, "and they start shooting at you and trying to run into you when you're flying. It's not very fun when one of them runs into you, nope." He went over and sat in the seat next to Donald. Herzophia went to sit behind Goofy, and Sora behind Donald.
Donald started up the gummi ship, and they were off. Donald, it turned out, was in fact a pretty good driver. There were multiple obstacles all over space, and he dodged them very well. Heartless rarely appeared in the area they were in, and if they did, Donald just pushed a button and the gun on the bottom of the ship shot them down. Actually, the ride turned out to be fun instead of interesting. Herzophia had begun a song with Sora to pass the time. "Seventy-eight bottles of pop on the wall, 78 bottles of pop! Take one down, pass it around, 77 bottles of pop on the wall!" This annoyed Donald immensely, especially when Goofy joined in at sixty-five. At 34 bottles of pop, something appeared ahead of them. It was a very strange world, with pink and red checkers with hears in the middle on it.
"This is Wonderland." Donald said, docking the ship next to a small door. "Come on, let's go." Donald opened the door of the gummi ship, then the one to the world, and walked in. As soon as he stepped off the ship, he began to fall slowly. Goofy saw this and jumped after him. Herzophia and Sora followed suit. Soon enough, they were all floating like feathers down to a checkered floor, Goofy lying on his back with his hands behind his head.
Herzophia, Sora, and Donald all landed softly and painlessly on their feet, but Goofy flopped over in the air and went FWUMP as he hit the floor, painfully.
A white rabbit in a red coat appeared from nowhere. "Oh, my fur and whiskers! I'm late, I'm late I'm late!!" He went scurrying around the room and towards a hallway. "Oh dear, oh dear oh dear! I'm here, I should be there! I'm late, I'm late I'm late! The Queen, she'll have my head for sure!" He rushed down the hallway towards a door. Which opened to another door. And it happened again... each getting smaller. He ran through the last door, totally unaware to the four people who had followed him down the hallway.
"If that's not the most pointless thing someone could do..." Herzophia said, shaking her head. (It rhymes! XP) "Why not just make one small door? It would be much easier."
"This is Wonderland," said Goofy in his weird voice, "it's meant to be pointless! Hyuck!" And he let out a little chuckle.
Sora shrugged. "Well, let's follow him. He must be going to the leader of this world... maybe they know where the Keyhole is?"
Donald nodded. "Yeah, good idea, Sora! Let's go!" And the four of them ducked through the small door, save Donald, who was short enough to go through without ducking to begin with. They looked around the room they were now in, and saw a considerably smaller rabbit go through a tiny door.
"Great, how are we supposed to get through now?" Herzophia asked, annoyed with the rabbit for his 'cleverness.'
"How did he get so small?" Sora said, scratching his head in confusion.
Much to everyone's surprise, the doorknob spoke. "No, you're simply too big." Then it yawned. "You woke me up, you know."
"Hwell, good mornin'!" Goofy greeted it cheerfully.
"Good night!" Said the doorknob irritably.
"Wait!" Exclaimed Sora and Herzophia in unison. Sora kneeled down in front of the doorknob. "How do we get small like him?"
"Try the bottle on the table. Over there." Miraculously, a table rose up from the floor as the doorknob spoke, and two small bottles appeared on it, one red, and one blue. The doorknob yawned and drifted back to sleep.
Herzophia leaned on the bed nearby, trying to get out of the way of the fast appearing table. "Great, he's asleep! Now how will w- AAGH!" She screamed as the bed slipped from where she was leaning and into the wall. She fell hard, hitting her head on the wall. "Ow..." She said in a pain-filled voice. "That really hurt..." She looked at where the bed had been and, lo and behold, there was a small doorway in the wall. "How convenient," Herzophia said dryly as she was helped up by Goofy.
Sora, meanwhile, had walked over to the table and picked up a bottle. He drank it, and suddenly was standing on the table and very small. "WHOA!" He yelled in a tiny, squeaky voice, looking up at his greatly enlarged friends.
Donald gaped. "Well," he said, gesturing towards the ant-sized Sora, "guess it works." He took the bottle and drank some himself, soon appearing next to Sora.
Goofy followed suit, and Herzophia after him, each of them shrinking quite a bit and appearing next to the others. "Eew, Goofy, did you have to slobber all over the bottle?" Herzophia said disgustedly, wiping off the bottle before she drank and shrunk. This day was turning out to be very strange and she was not in a very good mood.
"What's up her butt?" Donald said in a low voice, but not low enough, as he was promptly hit over the head with Herzophia's none-too-soft fist.
"Well, I guess we should get going!" Sora said hastily, trying to break up the fight that was about to start between Herzophia and Donald. Herzophia nodded, glared daggers at Donald, and jumped off the table onto a nearby chair, and onto the floor, well ahead of the others. Sora followed behind her, then Goofy, then Donald, who was still quite angry and wanted to keep his distance, in case he should get close enough to be punched again.
They were halfway across the floor to the small doorway that had been behind the bed, when several floating red-colored Heartless appeared. One of the hovering Heartless began to spin around very quickly, then stopped abruptly, and shot a large fireball at Herzophia and Sora. The pair of teenagers dodge-rolled out of the way, and split up, attacking the Heartless as Donald and Goofy had already begun to do. Herzophia leapt into the air and hacked at a Heartless, destroying it in a mere 3 whacks. Seeing as these were very weak, they were easily and quickly dispatched. The four fighters continued across the floor and through the doorway.
They emerged from the doorway in a very green courtyard, with tall hedges, one in the shape of a heart. Cards were lined up in the center, forming a pathway of sorts to a small pedestal where a girl in a blue dress stood. A very fat, very ugly woman in a red and black dress sat in a throne on a higher pedestal. The rabbit they had seen earlier rushed up some stairs to a high platform, and blew on a trumpet. "Court is now in session!" He called in a high, out-of-breath voice that sounded like he had cotton balls shoved in his cheeks.
"I'm on trial?" Asked the girl in a mildly frightened voice, "but why?"
"Her Majesty the Queen of Hearts, presiding!" Continued the rabbit, taking no notice.
"This girl is the culprit!" Accused the ugly woman who must have been the queen, "There's no doubt about it! And the reason is... because I say so, that's why!" Exclaimed the queen evilly.
"That is so unfair!" Exclaimed the girl in the blue dress truthfully.
"Well, do you have anything to say in your defense?" Asked the queen mockingly.
"Of course! I've done absolutely nothing wrong!" Said the girl, crossing her arms. "You may be queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so... so mean!"
"SILENCE!" Roared the fat woman. "You DARE defy me?!"
"She's in big trouble..." Herzophia said softly, not wanting to be heard by the monstrous ugly woman.
"Hey guys, shouldn't we help her out?" Asked Sora, continuing to watch the unfair trial.
"Yeah, but the-" Donald began.
"We're outsiders, so wouldn't that be muddling?" Questioned Goofy.
"Meddling," corrected Donald.
"H-oh yeah! And that's against the rules!"
Sora cocked his head to one side, wondering exactly why it was that this girl was being put on trial.
"The court finds the defendant... GUILTY AS CHARGED!" Judged the queen, quite unfairly. The girl had gotten almost no chance to defend herself, and cringed at the judgement. "For the crimes of assault, and attempted theft of my heart..."
Herzophia and Sora gasped. "Theft of her heart... Heartless!" Whispered Herzophia.
"OFF WITH HER HEAD!" Roared the queen, and the cards moved in, weapons at the ready.
"No, no! Oh please!" Pleaded the girl.
Herzophia and Sora looked at each other, nodded, and shouted, "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" They rushed through the assembled cards with Donald and Goofy on their tail, disrupting the court.
"Who are you?" Asked the queen in a high voice, annoyed. "How dare you interrupt my court!"
"Excuse me," Sora said angrily, "but we know who the real culprit is."
"Uh-huh," Goofy said helpfully, "it's the Heartle-" But he clapped his hands over his mouth, realizing what he had almost said.
"Anyway," said Herzophia, pointing at the girl, "She is not the one you're looking for!" She glared at the fat and ugly queen, loathing her heartlessness, (no pun intended...) despite the fact that her title was the 'Queen of Hearts.'
"That's nonsense," said the queen, rolling her eyes and putting her hand on her chin, fingers drumming on the arm of her throne. "Have you any proof?" She glanced back at the group.
"Uh..." Sora said dumbly. They didn't have any proof, in fact. Because of that, moments later the girl, who they had learned was named Alice, was shoved into a bronze cage, which looked like a bird cage, and locked inside.
"Bring back the evidence of Alice's innocence!" Shrieked the queen. "If you fail, it's off with all of your heads! Bring as much or as little evidence as you please. Return here when you've gathered it all." She leaned back in her chair to watch the duck, 'dog', and pair of teenagers.
"Well..." Said Herzophia, thinking, "we just walked in from that way-" she pointed at the entrance they had just come from, "and nothing was there, so I think we should head through that door." She pointed to a smaller door off to the side.
"Good idea," said Sora. "Maybe we'll find some evidence in there." He lead the way through the small door, and exited into a forest.
They hadn't taken two steps when all of a sudden, maniacal laughter sounded above them, and what looked like a purple, striped cat's head bounced – or whatever – along in the air in front of them, seeming to taunt them. The head appeared next to them on a very large tree stump, and this time a pink and purple striped cat's body danced on top of it. The body jumped off and grabbed the head in its front paws, placing it in the empty space it should have been in.
"Who are you!" Shouted Donald, jumping up and down crazily.
"Who indeed?" Said the cat mysteriously, "poor Alice, soon to lose her head, and she's not guilty of a thing!"
"If you know who the culprit is," said Herzophia hotly, "then tell us!"
"The Cheshire Cat knows all the answers, but doesn't always tell!" The cat taunted. "The culprit, the answer, the cat- all lie in shadows." The cat slowly faded from sight.
"WAIT!" Screamed all four, Donald, Goofy, Herzophia, and Sora, at once.
"They've already left the forest, I won't tell which exit." Said the cat, the voice seeming to come from where it had been before. "There are four pieces of evidence in all, three are a cinch to find. The fourth is tricky. Big reward if you find them all."
"Should we trust him?" Asked Goofy thoughtfully.
"To trust, or not to trust?" The Cheshire Cat taunted, fading back into sight. "I'll trust you to decide!" And he disappeared again with a malicious cackle.
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Whee, I finished! Took me a while... that note at the beginning of the chapter, you know? Well, it's been 2 days -I wasn't allowed on for one- and now Fanfiction works again! Lucky me and hopefully lucky you, huh? Well... tell me what you think! Later!