Hand in Hand
Disclaimer: N-e-v-e-r never never squeal!... nor own KH. Go figger.
Pre-story note: This story better get back to the point soon!
Chapter VIII: The Sidekicks
"Don't bother with the small fry. Find their leader!"
"But—hey, don't leave me here! Aw, shoot," Sora grumbled as Leon ran away, randomly hacking at Heartless blocking his way. "Why leave a job like that to a kid like me?... Oh yeah, this stupid thing," he said as he swung the Keyblade at the Shadow gashing at him.
Swatting at more of the small fry and ignoring Leon's command, Sora made his way to the Third District, where he assumed the Leader was.
More Shadows later, he found himself standing at the middle of the Third District, staring at the pretty lights. "Well, nothing's happening so far… Wonder why…" he mumbled to himself, sighing.
"Gawrsh, are these the Heartless guys?"
"Let's go get 'em, Goofy!"
Holy…
A desperately squawking duck and a yelling dog-thing fell from above before Sora could finish his sentiments. They fell on a pile before Sora.
"YAH!" He yelled in surprise. For a while there, he thought that the Disney cartoons suddenly decided to just walk out of the TV and attack him. But then, his brain went back to the story at hand.
The duck and the dog-thing looked up happily at the object in Sora's grasp. "The Key!" they yelled in unison.
That instant, a dismantled purple robot formed itself in front of the trio.
Looking at each other, the three of them made up their minds to work together for a moment to dismantle once again the robot. Which was apparently full of candy.
"Gawrsh! We look for the Key bearer, and the Heartless throw us right in front'a him! A-hyuck!" Goofy said. Donald quacked happily.
Sora rubbed his eyes. Man! They told me that they were just gonna draw these two next to me… but… He looked at the two characters again. They're real! They're not cartoons… THEY'RE REAL! Wow! If only I was a kid, I'd really be much more thrilled than I am right now…
"So… you were lookin' for me?" he asked uneasily, swallowing up the little kid inside of him's excitement.
Leon, who, with Yuffie, had just found them at that time, nodded. "They too had been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade."
Goofy nodded. "Hey, why dontcha come with us? We can go ta other worlds in our vessel."
Sora bowed down. "I wonder if I can go back home… or find Riku and Kairi."
"Of course!" Donald quacked. Sora could still hear the two when they whispered to one another. Leon shook his head, as if to say, 'Don't take them so seriously.'
"Sora, go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends."
He nodded sadly. Actually, I just wanna go back to my real world. My real friends are still there, safe and sound, right? Still, something inside him felt like abandoning them in this world is still abandoning them. "Yeah, I guess…" he mumbled.
His previous feeling of 'I-can-die-happily-now-that-I've-seen-cartoons-come-to-life' was replaced with a more cheerless feeling.
"But ya can't come looking like that! No frowning, no sad faces! Okay?" Donald asked with his big cartoony eyes.
Goofy laughed again. "Yeah, ya gotta look funny, like us!"
"This boat runs on happy faces!"
"… Happy," Sora mumbled. Closing his eyes and breathing deeply as if he's going to do something drastic, he counted 1-3 and gave his goofiest and most forced smile. If this would make them happy.
Donald and Goofy gave him a 'we're proud of you' look. Leon narrowed his eyes and frowned at the ridiculousness. Yuffie just giggled.
"Uh… okay, why not? I'll go with you guys."
Donald gave out a wing. "Donald Duck!"
"Name's Goofy!" he held out his gloved four-fingered hand.
"Well, I'm Sora." he said, placing his hand over theirs.
"All for one and one for all!"
And so the unstoppable trio was formed, Sora mumbled to himself.
He couldn't help but feel that Conspirators are watching him as his back was turned.
They walked towards the First District. "We're gonna board the Gummi Ship from there."
They stopped first at the Accessory Shop. Aerith and Cid were in there, waiting for them. As soon as they've rested for a few moments, Leon started his 'pre-journey' speech.
"Make sure you're prepared for the journey ahead of you. We don't know how far the Heartless had spread."
"Hey, check out Cid's shop and the ducks from across the street's item shop! You'll need their stuff," Yuffie advised. Cid rubbed his palms together.
"Ducks from across the street?" Donald asked.
Yuffie shrugged. "Ducklings, actually. I think… you're Unca Donald, right?"
Aerith shook her head and laughed. Then she approached Sora. "Here. This is from all of us," then she handed Sora 100 munny and a bottle of glowing Elixir.
Sora stared up at her. Mom! You can't recognize me? "Thanks… M… Aerith." He mumbled.
Aerith tilted her head. "Is there something wrong?" she asked.
Sora looked down. "N-nothing! Just that… you remind me of someone I'm close with at home," he said quickly.
She smiled. "Well… you remind me of someone I knew… before…" she trailed off. "Just, someone I knew. Especially your eyes. You have the same eyes as he."
Sora swallowed. If only you knew.
"Ahyuck! Well, we better get goin'!"
"Yeah! Ya'd better! My cannon wouldn't last so long with all those Heartless parading in town!" Cid said.
Yuffie giggled. "Yeah! Good luck!"
"I hope you find your friends."
"Look out for each other. Keep your spirits up." With Leon's last words, the Trio walked out of the shop and out to the World Gates.
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Yagh! Goofy and Donald are in the story! WhatavIdone?! Oh well. It was a nightmare typing Goofy's name. I keep misspelling his name as "Goody" or "Foogy"… Really weird phenomenon. Oh well.
Next up. 2 worlds in one! If you're wondering, Sora's still bound to come back to his real world… you know, where Donald and Goofy are still cartoons. Ahee, so watch out for that.
I'll be at home, waiting for my rocket and review alerts to come. Kyahahah! Bye!
05-27-04: I'm so sorry. I've finished this since April, but I keep putting off posting it. Xx I wish the few of you who were reading this before are still interested!