Oi… Took long enough, huh? I apologize for the really long wait for this chapter, but I was experiencing an annoying writer's block that just wouldn't leave! …Not to mention my chapter got deleted at least three times thanks to computer problems… We had to redo my computer from around the time I began writing this chapter to today… about seven times! That is not an exaggeration! Stupid computer…

Anyway, here's the chapter you've all been waiting for…! The end of Wonderland! Yes, you've been waiting for it, and I have too! Never liked that world…

I don't own Kingdom Hearts, nor Disney, nor Square-Enix! If I did, I would have had an even happier ending! But then again… There's always my novelization… MWA-HAHAHAHAHA!!! …Wait… You shall know nothing about my ending planned for this story! …After all, I'm way too much in the beginning to even start thinking about it!

So read and review!

Chapter 8: Tricks of the Trade

"She's gone!" Sora cried in frustration. He shook the cage with as much force as he could and felt tears beginning to gather in his eyes. It wasn't fair… so much work, sweat, blood, for nothing! Nothing!

"What do you mean she's—" The Queen was cut off as Sora whirled to face her.

"SHUT UP!" He snarled vehemently. The Queen decided to do so, lest she aggravate the young but dangerous boy any further. Even she knew her limits.

"She was probably kidnapped while we were fighting." Donald said softly, trying to diffuse Sora's anger.

Sora was silenced for a moment. And then he sighed heavily. "So, if we had never fought…?" He looked directly at the Queen as he spoke. "She would still here. Great."

The Queen had enough then. She was going to show the boy who was Queen of this world and show him well! "Go find her! If you hadn't fought back, she would still be here!"

"What are you—?"

"So, it's obviously your fault!"

"Now see here! If you had—"

"Silence! I could have you beheaded right now for your impudence. But I am in a merciful mood! I shall give you one chance to redeem yourself! Find out who did this!"

Sora sighed and nodded slowly, much to his companions' surprise. "Fine, but don't expect us to come back." And with that, he turned around and walked away with Goofy and Donald following closely behind.

"Guards…!" The Queen cried but then sighed heavily, realizing that all of her guards were incapacitated or just gone. Shaking her head, she said quietly, "Impudent child… but a smart one at that…"
***

"Have you seen Alice?" Donald asked.

"Alice, no. Shadow, yes!" The purple cat answered with a grin that said he knew more than he let on.

"Where?" Goofy asked.

"This way? That way? Does it matter? Left, right, up, down. All mixed up, thanks to the Shadows! Step deeper into the forest, to the deserted garden. You might find some shadows in the upside-down room!"

"Well, he was a lot more straight with us that time." Sora said as they ran back in the direction they had come from not too long ago.

Neither of his companions replied. Instead they kept running towards the mushrooms that would take them to the high branches of the forest. Sora hesitated at the first mushroom, but he climbed up the mushrooms soon after, refusing to look down.
***

Joker shivered slightly as Maleficent stepped out of the green portal. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of her disgusting horns. Her pale skin disgusted him and her yellow, cat-like eyes chilled him to the bone.

But regardless of that, he gave her a smirk and a nod in Alice's direction to show her that his mission was a success.

"No, no, please!" Alice cried as Maleficent softly brushed her fingernails over Alice's cheek. Joker nearly retched.

Even though Joker had met her before, her stench, not one to be actually smelled, but a stench that only a truly evil person could have, still disgusted him.

He couldn't meet the witch's eyes as he handed Alice to Maleficent. Her piercing gaze would have seen straight through his smug and lively attitude and would see the fact that he didn't fully want to do this.

He was doing it as payback. The Queen had wronged him. She had wronged Wonderland as a whole! She would die either way when the Heartless reached the world's heart, but he wasn't about to let her off that easy. He wanted to see her struggle. He wanted to see her die. He wanted to outright show her who the strongest was.

It probably meant he'd have to kill a few of his cousins in the process, but it was a worthy sacrifice. And any that did not fight back—and he was sure there would be some—he would take off the world, saving them from their doom. And then they would populate another world, taking over by force if they must, and he'd be the ruler. He was set up a new rule on what they'd call Neo Wonderland. Yes, that's what would happen.

Joker turned his attention back to Maleficent and Alice to rid himself of the thoughts. Maleficent blew a pink powder into Alice's face, which caused the girl to cough and sneeze, before bringing a deep sleep upon her. Alice's eyes drooped and her breathing grew steady. She was asleep.

"Good…" Maleficent said in her silky voice. "Very good work. Were there any problems?"

"Well… not much, except these three brats—" Maleficent's eyes opened a little wider at this. "—that showed up today. They went around ruining Alice's trial, although that bought me more time, killing a buncha Heartless, and trying to save Alice. In the end, I used that letter you gave me to them to be used against them in Alice's—"

"You fool!" Maleficent cried, her fist clenching tightly. "Do you realize who those brats are?! They are the Keyblade Master and two of the Rat's lackeys! They are the last people I want to know my plans!"

"Take it easy! They don't know who I am or you for that matter! They don't have the slightest clue of your plans! On that note, neither do—"

Maleficent hushed him and unclenched her fist. "Fine. A job well done then. However, I have one more request of you. After that, you can do whatever you want."

"What's that?"

"Kill them."

Joker gasped in slight surprise but nodded slowly. "I can do that… I still control the Heartless, so—"

"Kill them yourself." Maleficent said plainly, causing Joker's eyes to widen considerably.

"Myself? I can't kill anyone! Why do you think I was booted from the Queen's service? I'm too weak of a card!"

"They've gone through dozens of Heartless as it is. You know that! No, you must do it yourself.'

"How?" Joker said, but he already knew the answer.

"Use the darkness." Maleficent said forebodingly. "Let it in your heart completely and you'll have all the power you need. Let it consume you."

Joker shivered slightly at the tone in her voice. Something was different about it… Like she was hiding something.

"What will it do to me? And will I be able to go back to normal?"

"It depends on the person, my dear playing card. Sometimes it'll change you physically. Sometimes it'll change your mind. Sometimes both! However, it will always do what's needed of it."

"And what about changing back to normal?" Maleficent didn't answer. "Maleficent?"

She looked straight into his eyes. "It also depends… But once you've experienced pure darkness, will you want to?" Joker began shivering even more. He found that he couldn't reply. Mainly because he didn't know what to say…

And before he could think up a reply, Maleficent was stepping back into the portal. "Do it soon, Joker. They're here."
***

Sora poured on the speed, running down the wall with speed only the Keyblade could give. He knew she was in this room. Something inside of him told him plainly that Alice was here. He didn't know what. He didn't know why. And he didn't know where. He just knew.

Donald and Goofy were trailing behind him, neither of them having the speed or endurance of the Keyblade.

Sora slowed and then stopped finally. He was nearing the base of the wall and he could now see three figures in the distance. One was definitely a card, while another was a very tall lady with what looked like horns. And the third…

"Alice!" Sora said quietly, motioning with a wave for Donald and Goofy to hurry up. They reached him in a few seconds and Sora pointed towards the three people.

"Hey, that's—"

"Alice!" Sora said once more and he began moving forward again, ready to charge into battle. But before he could move, Donald tackled him to the floor.

"Not again, you're not! You are not charging into this again without thinking it through! Remember what happened last time?"

Sora struggled some against his grip, but soon calmed down. As much as he hated to admit it, Donald was right.

When Sora calmed down, Donald took his hand off his shoulder. "We'll go slowly for now." He led the way, plodding along with an extremely slow pace that Sora hated.

"No, no, please!" Alice cried from the distance and then Sora watched as the lady did something and Alice went limp.

"Forget this!" He cried before going into a run for the base of the wall and the adjacent floor. Donald yelled something behind him, but Sora tuned his voice out. He would not let something happen to Alice. Not after losing Riku and Kairi!
***

"But once you've experienced pure darkness, will you want to?" Maleficent's words passed through Joker's mind and he shivered. Something about that terrified him. She used that to justify the fact that he may never be able to turn back to normal. But did it justify it?

"Hey, you!" The child who was rapidly approaching cried. He held a large and strange Key that scared Joker slightly. After all, he had seen that very Key tear through hordes of Heartless!

Now or never, he told himself. Live or die. Kill or be killed. The hunted needs to become the hunter. Survival of the—Okay, time to stop stalling.

"Darkness, come to me…. Engulf me, surround me, consume me…" He said, barely above a whisper. He relaxed and breathed heavily, waiting for anything to happen.

…Nothing. "Come on, do something!" He said a little louder this time. The trio was getting closer every second and he was running out of time! "Come on, you stupid…" He said, but stopped mid-sentence.

Something had changed. He looked around at himself, but frowned. His body hadn't changed in the least bit. Not that he cared. He didn't need a new body! He would kill the brats himself and then move onto the Queen! And then he'd kill, one by one, every single one of his brothers that had achieved status in the Queen's army! They had shattered his dreams and he would shatter theirs!

And somewhere, deep inside of Joker, in a place that was quickly disappearing into the darkness of oblivion, he knew where the change had taken place—his mind.

But soon he realized that it wasn't ending there. He didn't notice it at first, but something told him that something was up with the trio stopped dead in their tracks, each having a look of surprise or even terror in their faces.

The first change was in his legs. The short stubby things that he once called legs suddenly shot out with amazing speed, causing him to grow to the size of the big table! His legs didn't only become longer though. No, they thickened.

And what an amazing feeling it was! He had never felt this before! He had always been a flat card, only a few centimeters in width at his thickest! But his legs were cylinders! And then the most amazing thing happened. His newly made knee joint split. At a quick glance, it would have looked like two legs where there should have been one. However, a closer glance would reveal that he had four legs… and two feet. His two legs on each side split apart, forming an almost diamond shape hole, before coming back together to create a strange, boot-like foot in which instead of having multiple toes, his foot ended in a long cone that curled up into a spiral.

All his legs were a metallic black color, his skin felt like armor. He was sure that it was some kind of armor.

His card body changed as well. While the body stayed about the same size, it changed in shape completely. Instead of the flat rectangle, it soon became almost a egg-like shape, with the sharpest side angling down, where the legs could connect to the body. It contrasted completely from the old white color by becoming the same metallic black, only interrupted by the large, red Heartless symbol where the joker face once was on his card body—right in the middle of his chest.

His two short arms changed as well. First, his right arm grew long and as wide as his old card body. In fact, it'd only be fair to compare it to the body. It was the same black color, but it wasn't as shiny or metallic. It wasn't created to look good. It was a weapon. In fact, it was like a large battle-axe. The elbow joint was at the vary end, jutting up from the axe and ending in five gangly fingers. In that hand, he held a large juggling stick.

His other arm was hardly an arm at all. More like a sword. A long, zigzagged sword. Shaped like a lightning bolt, it looked solid and dangerous, but it was as flexible as a rubber sword. In fact, that's exactly what it felt like… except for the fact it was as sharp as a regular sword. It too was a deadly weapon.

His shoulders became huge red and black teardrops. Each were nearly as large as his body, and were as hard as steel armor. They would keep him protected, just as the rest of his body.

Finally, his head changed. The flat face that used to adorn his body shot skyward, becoming a tall cylinder, causing him to tower over the table at full height. He soon also realized that he could see much more than before… in four different points of views! He had four heads!

Each one was stacked on top of each other, alternating red and black in colors. His faces looked like they were merely painted on, yet they functioned perfectly. And the last weird thing was the fact that each face, each head, could swivel, alone, three hundred and sixty degrees. Each head was separate and could spin by itself, providing him with the ability to look in all directions at once!

Joker had become the ultimate weapon. The perfect killer. And as the last of his bodily changes occurred, Joker as everyone knew him disappeared from all existence. As the lust for death and blood overcame all his senses, a new name appeared in his mind and he tested it out with his mouths, which surprisingly could still speak.

One voice was high-pitched and giggly, one was deep and rumbling, another was gravely and dark, and the last was bore a big resemblance to his old voice. And each one said the same thing: "Trickmaster…"
***

"You idiot!" Donald screamed as the trio ran away from Trickmaster.

"He was a little card! After our first battle with 'em, I thought it'd be easy!" Sora cried in retaliation. "How was I supposed to know he could turn into a big… thing?!"

"Well, if you'd have just listened to me and watched—"

BOOM! A huge juggling stick slammed down onto the ground in front of them, causing all three of them to come to a screeching halt. Goofy tripped and fell flat on his face, and Donald helped him up.

"Other way!" Sora screamed before turning tail and running the other direction. His two comrades followed.

"Use your magic, Donald!" He cried as they ran. Donald quacked in agreement, but before he could turn around to blast Trickmaster, the creature leapt over their heads, using his legs as huge springs and landed back in front of them.

Before any of the three could react, Trickmaster swept his juggling stick across the floor, knocking all of them back quite a bit.

"Nuh-uh-uh!" The Trickmaster cackled in his four voices. "Stay!"

Sora quickly got to his feet and helped Donald, who was beside him, up. "Now!" He cried, pointing at Trickmaster. "Magic!"

Donald nodded and unleashed a powerful Thunder spell on Trickmaster. In turn, Trickmaster let loose a loud screech of pain and waved around wildly with his juggling stick.

One swing was heading right towards Sora and his feathered companion, but at the last second, Goofy tackled them to the ground from behind. Trickmaster just barely missed them.

"Again!" Sora yelled again, getting up. "Both of you distract him! I'm going to make a run for the growth potion! See how well he can fight someone his size!" Donald quacked in agreement and quickly got up, letting loose a Blizzard spell this time.

The ice encompassed his feet, freezing them to the ground. This caused him to trip and crash to the floor in a heap, giving Sora a chance to run for the potions.

"Now, Goofy! Get him!" Sora heard Donald yell as he took off, using the power of the Keyblade to give him speed. He ran past Trickmaster's prone body, marveling the entire time at how crazy the creature seemed. At how unreal it was.

Trickmaster tried to swing at him with his sword-arm, but Sora leaped over it with a flip, landing gracefully on the other side, and kept running. Other than that, Goofy and his razor-edged shield were distracting Trickmaster. And Donald was freezing Trickmaster to the floor again and again to buy Sora more time…

But it wouldn't last. Every second that passed, Trickmaster broke free of more of the ice and Donald was becoming exhausted. He wouldn't last much longer.
***

The boy, he's making a run for it… What a coward! He can't escape the great Trickmaster!

HAHAHAHAHA! As soon as I break free of this stuff, I'll grab him! I'll squeeze the very life out of him and once he's dead, I'll crush him! And then I'll cut him up into little pieces!

But wait, he's running for that table… Something about that table… What is it?! I know this! Ahh, forget it! Whatever he's doing, I'll kill 'em! And then I'll kill these other brats! And then I'll take out the Queen and those stupid cards! And then I'll rule this world Trickmaster's way! That's what I'll do!

And yes! I'm breaking free! That stupid duck's about to die! Right after I kill the running twerp, of course!

Too bad I can't split up into three parts! Then I could take them all out at once! But there's no problem! I'll kill them all anyway! Kill! Death! Maim! Mutilate! It's music to my ears!

But wait! He's doing something! He's jumping—how can he jump so high—up onto those chairs! The table! Now he's running across it! What are those bottles there…?

Wait, no! He can't be going for those! I won't let him! No way! I'll kill him now! Right now!
***

Sora scrambled up the bottle that had the growth potion in it and dipped his cupped hands into it. When he lifted them out, they were filled with the magical liquid.

He lifted his hands to his lips, and opened his mouth…

CRASH! Suddenly, the bottle flew out from underneath him, crashing against the far wall. Sora fell to the ground with an "Oof!" and the liquid splashed everywhere.

"No!" Sora cried as he scrambled about the table, terrified when he realized that the precious liquid had been taken from him.

Trickmaster's laughed echoed throughout the room and he retracted his sword arm, bringing it back to his side. He had used that to knock away the bottle.

"It can't be…" Sora whispered as he scrambled around the table, looking for the tiniest amount of the liquid. But it had all disappeared. Even the small amount that was in his hands had seemingly evaporated into thin air. The remaining shards of the glass bottle were completely dry…

…And all hope was lost.
***

HAHAHAHA!!! Look at that look of hopelessness on his face! Pitiful! Too bad it won't last! I'll just have to kill him now!

Hey, now he looks angry! He's pointing that little sword-thing of his at me! …It's glowing red…

Whoa! Fire! He's shooting fire at me! Too bad I'm too fast! Dodge left… Dodge right… Whoops! Too close there! Getting closer to him now… Dodge! ACK! It hit my stick!

Wait… Oh… HAHA! He's really dead now!
***

Sora blasted his last fireball off in Trickmaster's direction and fell to one knee from exhaustion. "At least…" He wheezed slightly. "At least I got his stupid stick…" A loud FWOOSH interrupted his moment of slight gloating and he barely reacted in time to jump backwards.

He rolled some on the ground and ended up on his back, staring up at the large creature that was leaning over the table and him. A soft crackling sound filled Sora's ears and he stared up at the creature in terror. The juggling stick was now burning brightly, but it wasn't being destroyed. If anything, it was even worse than before.

The right sides of Trickmaster's faces glowed an eerie orange while the other sides were in darkness, making Trickmaster look even more evil than before. His multiple voices didn't help much.

"Time to die, brat!" He screamed as he raised his arms to slam the flaming stick down onto Sora. Sora brought his hands up in reaction and clenched his eyes shut. Good-bye… Kairi… He thought to himself as he prepared to die.

Suddenly, a loud bang echoed in his ears and he pulled his arms away, seeing and hearing the strange shield made completely out of wind that protected him.

"Donald!" He yelled, grinning. "You rock!"

Sora shot to his feet, the Keyblade appearing once more in his hands. Part of him wondered why it always disappeared when he got in supposedly hopeless moments like that—moments in which Sora utterly gave up and accepted his fate.

The other part of him told him to fight. And as he felt the power of the Keyblade coursing through his body again, fight he did.

He ran forward and leaped through the air, for once ignoring the height of the leap, and swung his Keyblade at Trickmaster's face… at one of them, anyway. And it hit with a crackle of lightning.

Trickmaster screamed in pain and stumbled back, holding his face with his long-fingered hand. He dropped the juggling stick and Sora quickly put it out with a Blizzard spell.

Sora grinned at the newfound strength that he figured came from the Keyblade. His grin didn't last as he had to jump out of the way from Trickmaster's feet.

"Die, die, die, die!" Trickmaster screamed as he kept stomping, trying to crush Sora. "I'll get you good! Die!"

The teenager began running across the room, calling for Donald and Goofy. While doing so, he began developing a plan in his mind.
***

"I need you two to distract him for me again." Sora said from inside the group's hiding place inside a large and dark fireplace. They had managed to get away from Trickmaster with the help of a few well-placed Thunder spells and had hid in the fireplace.

"Gwarsh, Sora, how ya gonna get him? I tried attacking his legs, it doesn't do anything!" Goofy said, scratching his head.

"Goofy, you moron! Don't you get it? He's going to use magic!" Donald said, poking Goofy with his staff.

"Nope. Goofy had the right idea. I'm going to attack with the Keyblade. However, I'm also going to do something else. I'm going to use magic at the same time!" And then Sora told them of how he had used the Thunder spell when he hit Trickmaster's head earlier.

"How will you get up to his head?" Goofy asked after Sora was finished.

Sora looked at them both with an evil glint in his eyes. "That's where you two come in…"
***

"I'm gonna kill Sora after this!" Donald quacked as he and Goofy exited the fireplace and slinked along the walls until they got closer to Trickmaster. "Live bait, he says! Well, he's going to be some dead—"

Goofy shushed him and stepped out into the open. "Yoo-hoo, Mr. Trickmaster!" One of Trickmaster's faces turned to face them. It sneered. "One… Two… Three…" Goofy counted quietly. When he reached the number 'three', both he and Donald whipped around and bent down, shoving their butts into the air and wiggling them around.

All four of Trickmaster's faces looked at them now and he began making his way over to them.

"Yeah, we're talking to you, ya big robot! Come and get us if you can!" Donald yelled while waving his staff around. For good measure, a lightning bolt slammed into the ground with a flash, hoping to seem even more intimidating. However, only Donald knew that the lightning bolt wasn't strong in the least bit. The battle had zapped him of his magical energy and although his magic still looked strong, it would hardly even affect the strong Trickmaster if he had to use it.

But Trickmaster fell for the ruse and even though somewhere in his twisted mind, he knew that Sora was missing, he kept walking in their direction, now swinging the recently defused juggling stick vehemently. All four faces were set in stone, staring at Donald and Goofy with hatred. Not a single one looked around to see Sora climbing onto the table until it was too late…
***

Sora swallowed his fear and tried to let his adrenaline guide his actions.

No such luck. Before, he had been fighting with anger and passion, giving way to releasing his fears for a moment. But now, when he actually planned out a battle, he was left with his fears. His terrible fears. And the height of the table was the most prominent at the moment. Or maybe it was the fact that if he missed or Trickmaster dodged, he'd be a Sora pancake in mere seconds.

Yeah, it was definitely the latter.

Trying to push the fears out of his head, he gripped his Keyblade and clutched his silver crown necklace before running forward, hit shoes echoing on the table, and leaping through the air, heading straight for Trickmaster.

His footsteps caused Trickmaster to turn a head and look at Sora with surprise. "Hey!" He screamed. "No fair!" And then, sealing Sora's fate, he moved every so slightly, pulling just out of Sora's range.

"No!" Sora cried and he tried desperately to reach out to Trickmaster, but there was visibly too much distance. Sora would never make it. Even if he used to the Keyblade to extend his reach, he'd be just out of range.

"No!" He cried again and clenched his eyes, still straining against the ultimate foe—gravity. And then he hit something metallic. His feet hit something metallic anyway. Immediately, he opened his eyes and found himself standing on one of Trickmaster's shoulders.

He had made it! Sora nearly leaped into the air with a shout of victory, but all four pairs of Trickmaster's beady eyes now stared at him with fury. Trickmaster's hand rose to swat Sora like a bug, but Sora leaped forward, grabbing one of Trickmaster's faces, and used it to swing around, landing on the beast's other shoulder.

Trickmaster ended up swatting himself and yelled with frustration.

Sora wasted no time in gloating. He quickly slammed his Keyblade into one of Trickmaster's faces, a bolt of lightning emitting from the Keyblade as it hit.

Trickmaster stumbled slightly, causing Sora nearly to lose his balance, but he regained it quickly and hit again. A large portion of one of Trickmaster's faces ended up frozen because of it.

Now Trickmaster was batting at Sora wildly, trying to throw the dangerous 'brat' off, but Sora was in control of the moment now. As the power of the Keyblade coursed through him, nothing could touch him. Nothing.

Another hit, a blast of fire. Another one with lightning and then fire. And then another with ice, which froze an entire two heads solid.

To the onlookers, Donald and Goofy, all they could see where flashes of red, blue, and yellow, but that was all they needed to see. They knew the menace of Trickmaster was defeated.

More flashes and an ear-piercing scream sounded. Trickmaster's entire body seemed to shudder and his knees buckled, causing the towering monster to crash onto the ground. Sora leaped off at the last minute, hitting the ground with a roll, and ended up near Donald and Goofy's feet.

And then, in silence, all three of them watched as Trickmaster's body twitched violently, a dark mist seeping from its body as a time went past. It didn't take long before it became apparent that the mist was what gave Trickmaster his power, for as more and more was lost to him, he changed.

His legs became short and stubby again. His body was flat. His four faces became one. Black and red turned to white. Weapon-like arms became harmless. Trickmaster had been utterly destroyed and he was replaced with Joker. The weak, harmless Joker.
***

Sora, Donald, and Goofy stood over Joker. It was obvious that although his body was back, his mind was not.

"You—you—you'll ne—never defeat the—dar…" And then his voice was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream. "You—you—you'll ne—never defeat the—dar…" Another scream. It was a cycle. It kept going on and on, never stopping. He just kept talking. His eyes remained wide and unblinking. He was sitting up at the moment, but his body was constantly twitching.

Sora sighed heavily, shaking his head. This victory wasn't one to make him feel good. In fact, he felt sorrow for Joker. And hatred for that dark mist. And anger at losing Alice again. But he'd keep looking until he found her. She would still be on the world right?

And there was another thing he was worried about. He and his friends were still tiny! And with the potion destroyed, they had no way to get back!

Suddenly, a loud yawn interrupted his thoughts and caused him to jump. "What a racket." He heard and walked towards the talking Doorknob that had apparently just woken up. "How's a doorknob to get any sleep?"

Sora was about to apologize but the Doorknob yawned again, his mouth stretching wide. At first, Sora didn't see anything special, but he felt something different. A pull of some sort originating from his heart. There was something inside that mouth.

Suddenly there was a flash and a line of light appeared, outlining a shape in the darkness. The line of light was shaped like a keyhole.

"A key—" Suddenly Sora was cut off as the Keyblade reappeared in his hand. The pull on his heart multiplied in strength and he found himself—almost against his will—lifting the Keyblade to point at the outlined keyhole.

"Hey, what's…" Sora trailed off as the Keyblade's tip began glow bright white. A thin beam of light shot off from it and struck the dark keyhole in the center, causing another flash.

There was a loud clicking sound, one that sounded like a lock being locked, and a bright flash of light. When the light faded, the keyhole was completely gone.

"What was that?" Donald exclaimed from beside Sora. Sora himself couldn't help but to wonder that as well, but before he could reply, a colorful block of some sort fell from the Doorknob's mouth.

Goofy bent down to pick it up and examined it. "It's a Gummi piece, but… no, sirree, it ain't like the others!"

Donald frowned and grabbed it from Goofy's hand. "I'll hold onto it. You'll lose it!" He pocketed it. Goofy stared at him blankly and then a look of surprise appeared on his face. He pointed to something behind them, and both Donald and Sora turned around.

"Oh no…" Donald said quietly, slapping his forehead.

"Splendid! You're quite the hero!" The aggravating Cheshire Cat said with the same silly grin on his face. "But if you're looking for Alice, you're too late. She's not here. She's gone! Off with the shadows, into darkness!"

"No…" Sora whispered, his head bowing in shame. I failed again… He thought to himself.

"Maybe we should go back to the Gummi Ship. Maybe we'll find her in another world!" Donald said, putting a hand on Sora's shoulder. Sora doubted it, but nodded.

That's when terror struck him. "W-we can't! We're tiny!" He cried and Donald quacked loudly in equal terror.

"Gee, why don't we just drink that growth potion?" Goofy asked, scratching his head.

"Trickmaster destroyed it. All the potion is gone." Sora said quietly, his head bowing even farther.

"Huh? Then why are there two bottles up there?" Goofy asked, pointing at the table. Sora's head shot up and he looked up at the tall table. He could just barely make out two bottles, one blue and the other… red.

"That's it!" He yelled, grinning wildly. And immediately, he began running as fast as he could towards the table, leaving all thoughts on the mysterious keyhole, the Gummi piece, and the reappearance of the potion behind.
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You know the huge hiatus in this chapter? The next one hopefully won't be as long, but it may just be. I'm no longer writing two stories, but three. One of them is a Chrono Cross—Chrono Trigger crossover created by myself and about three other people. Although it doesn't take up very much time at all, leaving me plenty to spare for writing Kingdom Hearts and Prophesy of Chaos (Sonic-fic, go read it on my other Pen Name that I've said about… a lot of times!).

However, that's not the reason it'll take a long time. First of all, one reason is that Sunday (August 3rd, baby!) is my 16th birthday! WHOO! And because of this, a very close friend of mine is visiting for a week… or two. I won't get much if any writing done during that time. And then, there's a slight possibility that I'll end up going to Memphis, Tennessee for the last two weeks of August as well, which, of course, means no writing!

Now, I know you're all wondering how I'd be going so late in August when school's starting so soon! My big secret to it is… I'm home schooled! And I don't usually start until late August, or even early September! Quite a blessing, really. I usually finish later though… I wonder why…

Anyway, don't worry, I'm not dead. I won't be dead! And unless God takes me from the life before I'm finished… I will finish my stories!

And another note to address. My next world is going to be Coliseum. Sorry to all those Deep Jungle wanters (All… three or four of you…), but it's going that way.

And now I'm going to post this quite large chapter…

And on a side note, I know that I said this chapter would feature the next world, but I lied… Sorry! Next chapter will for sure! …Hopefully!

--Ben