-Sora53: Yay! I feel like dancing!
-does the super happy dance-
Fans: Why are you dancing?
Sora53: Because I'm finally going to get to make this interesting!
Fans: Ooh, the battle with Larxene is coming up soon -bows to their Larxene shrine- She's mean, cold, and evil! SHE RULES!
Corita: GAH-blasts Larxene shrine into oblivion-
Joe: Such violence...-
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or CoM. I own Corita and this brain which created her.
-pokes brain in Dr. Finkelsteinish manner-
"CORITA!" Someone called. Corita feebly tried to open her eyes, but for some reason, her head ached too much.
"Corita, get up!"
She let out a soft sigh, and for a moment, thought she was back on the Destiny Islands, lying on the sand. That is, until she realized that Donald was hitting her in the head with his staff.
Corita's eyes shot wide open, and Donald stopped hitting her with his staff. He took a few steps back when he saw that she was ticked off.
"Donald! Why did you have to do that?" Corita moaned as she stood up onto the wooden platform where they were.
"We tried everything else: dumping water on you, poking you with sticks..." Sora listed.
"I get the picture. What happened?" Corita asked.
"Well, Pinocchio's plan worked, and ol' Monstro gave one giant sneeze!" Goofy answered.
"Where's Pinocchio and his dad?"
"They're gone. They must've gotten out safely." Jiminy responded, gesturing towards the area where the old ship had once been. There was now nothing there but a pool of water.
"Without you, Jiminy? I thought there was no escaping your conscience!" Corita joked.
"I don't mind being left behind, as long as they're both safe. Maybe Pinocchio doesn't need me after all."
"What do you mean?" Sora asked.
"That little puppet used to have trouble telling right from wrong. But he's come a long way. Maybe he doesn't need Jiminy Cricket anymore. Maybe he's better off without me nagging him all the time."
"Don't you remember what Geppetto said? 'There's nothing better than being reunited with someone you care about.' I bet Pinocchio's counting the days till he can see you again." Sora said.
"Well, what do you know... You might be right." Jiminy said happily.
"Until then, of course, you have your favorite perch back!" Corita cheered as Jiminy hopped back onto the Healer's head.
"Onward, trusty steed!" Jiminy cried joyfully as he sat down and pulled out a tiny new journal. "I've gotta fill this brand new journal up! Go and have journeys for me to write about!"
"Yeah!" Corita cheered as she headed off for the exit.
"Wait for me!" Sora called as he ran after her. Shrugging, Goofy and Donald followed after.
"Hey, Sora!" Donald called in the middle of the bright hallway in between floors. "Did you remember anything else about that girl?"
"Yeah, bits and pieces." Sora said as he halted next to Corita. Corita's expression, which had been a happy one moments before, quickly turned to a frown.
"Tell us about her! Talking about it might help you remember." Goofy suggested.
"Okay. Um..." Sora muttered as he thought for a few moments. Goofy and Donald looked on in anticipation.
"She was quiet...and almost always drawing pictures. While we were all swimming at the beach, she'd draw a picture of it instead. Sometimes she drew us, too! She was really good at it. I think sometimes Riku and I would fight over who would get his picture drawn next.
But one day, she was gone. Just like that. I think our parents knew the reason. They might've even tried to explain it to me. But I was little. I probably didn't understand what was happening. I remember crying a little after she was gone. But that's it. I still can't remember her name."
"Still, up until now you didn't remember any of that! At this rate, you'll think of her name in no time!" Donald told him cheerfully.
"Anyone notice something odd? Sora's remembering things, instead of forgetting them. Hmm... Maybe forgetting things is the only way to reach the memories buried deeper down." Jiminy chirped from his perch.
"You mean you have to forget to remember?" Goofy said.
"So it's like those black-robed guys said. 'Our most precious memories lie deep in our hearts, out of reach.' And all that stuff about finding being losing and losing being finding... I didn't get it at first, but maybe this is what they were talking about."
"Aww, that's no fair! Why aren't the rest of us remembering anything yet? Come on, Goofy! We're not forgetting fast enough! Let's move!" Donald roared as he marched off to the stairs. Goofy followed in his usual gangly fashion, and Sora brushed past Corita without even looking at her.
"What, so I don't matter?" Corita called at their retreating backs. Sora turned around right as he was going up the stairs.
"Oh...sorry, Corita." He said with a grin, and then continued up the stairs.
"It looks like Sora's memories have taken root, just as we planned." Larxene said as she stared into the crystal orb's depths.
"Let's see how far our boy will go, then. Think it's time for another round?" Axel asked.
"Only if it's my turn to play. You had your fun on the first floor." Larxene answered, looking up at Axel.
"Remember, Larxene. Our job is to deliver him in one piece." Axel told her, tossing her a few cards.
"Fine. But who says I can't have my way with him first?" Larxene responded.
"Don't break him." Axel warned.
"Do I detect a soft spot?" Larxene asked in a sickly sweet voice.
"He's partly one of us."
"I'm not going to break the toy, Axel...just play with it. I'm not dumb."
"Then you won't mind the warning. Remember, Sora is the key. We need him if we're going to take the Organization."
For a moment, she looked back into the crystal orb's depths. "However, we do seem to have a bit of a problem with the girl."
"Yes, the Princess." Axel said, looking into the orb himself. "I'm sure Marluxia knows what's occuring. He's come up with a solution. Don't break her, either."
"And I so wanted to..." Larxene said with a touch of disappointment. "I won't hurt her, either. At least until I have to."
Larxene's eyes flashed dangerously as she watched the tiny figures of Sora, Corita, Donald and Goofy walking through the castle. They stopped to talk for a short time, and Larxene turned away from the crystal.
"Anyway, you're in on it too, right? Well, keep it under your hood until the time is right." With that final warning, Larxene vanished.
"You would have been wise to do the same, Larxene." hissed Axel as he turned his attention back to the crystal.
"So, Sora, have you remembered your friend's name yet?" Goofy asked kindly as they approached the next stairway.
Sora sighed sadly. "Nope. For whatever reason, her name's the only thing that isn't coming back."
"That must be driving you crazy. You have the memories, but no name to go with them." Donald said.
"Heh...yeah."
"Hello!" Corita cried from behind them. "Aren't you forgetting someone?"
"Oh...sorry, Corita." Sora said as he turned to her. "I forgot you were there...I got so caught up in thinking..."
"Don't worry about it." Corita sighed. "Just...use the last card."
"Okay!" Sora said brightly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the last World Card that Axel had given him.
"Gawrsh! Don't like the looks of this place." Goofy said as they entered the new world in their traditional method. "I bet it's crawlin' with ghosts."
"Well, then. What's there to worry about?" Donald asked as he pulled himself off the ground. "You won't be spooked if you already know what's coming."
"You really think so?" Goofy asked.
"Trust me!" Donald said confidently. He took a few steps forward, when a disembodied voice stopped him.
"Welcome to Halloween Town!" The voice called out. The area around them suddenly went pitch black. About 10 feet in front of Donald, a head popped out of thin air. The group fell backwards, screaming.
"Wak! A ghost!" Donald cried. The figure began to laugh as the rest of his body appeared.
"Wow, that was the best shriek I've heard in ages! If you're THAT easy to scare, I'm gonna have a great time!"
"Why'd you have to scare us?" Corita asked as she stood up.
"Sorry, I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Jack Skellington! Halloween Town is my town. I'm the king of nightmares and the master of terror! If you want chills and horror, you've come to the right place!"
"Well, we don't!" Donald roared.
"At the moment, we've got a little problem in Halloween Town." Jack said sadly.
"What kind of problem?" Sora asked.
"Well...a problem like this!" Jack said as he pointed to the ground. From where he was pointing, several Shadows had appeared, wriggling their antenna and creeping towards the group.
"Gyaaa!" Sora cried as he ran towards them with the Keyblade.
Jack watched as Donald lept up and down in a rage after Sora had defeated the Heartless. He flinched as Donald yelled, "What's the big idea! Why'd you go and call the Heartless?"
"I didn't call them. In fact, I'd love to get rid of them. The Heartless go around attacking people, instead of just scaring them." Jack explained calmly.
"Why are they here?" Sora asked as Donald stopped leaping up and down.
"I was just going to go ask Dr. Finkelstein the same question. I'm heading to his laboratory right now. Follow me!" Jack said cheerfully. He turned around and walked away from the group as Donald watched him with little trust.
"Sora, what should we do?" Corita asked.
"I guess we'd better go."
"I don't like this. What if he's leading us right to the Heartless?" Donald asked. The surrounding area once again went dark, and Jack's voice rang out through the darkness. "Bingo! You saw right through me!"
Jack's floating head appeared once again before them, and Donald let out a shriek. He ran behind Goofy, cowering.
"Ha ha ha, just a joke! Now let's get going!" Jack said lightly. Donald groaned as he crawled out from behind Goofy and followed the tall skeleton-like man.
"Sora, I'm surprised." Corita remarked as they walked through the spooky town.
"How so?" Sora asked.
"You don't have your cape. I thought you'd be upset..."
Sora blinked a few times and looked at Corita again. "My cape? What are you talking about?"
"Don't tell me you've forgotten about your cape!"
"When did I have a cape?"
"When we were here in real life! It was tiny, and you loved it so much...then we went back to Traverse Town and I was still wearing my werewolf ears, remember? You, Donald and Goofy laughed so much...but then I got us our own hotel, Hotel Corita! Don't you...remember?" Corita asked in vain as Sora continued to look at her like she was crazy.
"Sorry, I don't remember anything like that..."
Corita sighed sadly. She ran up to where Donald and Goofy were walking, and asked them about Hotel Corita. Neither of them remembered anything.
"ARRGH! I HATE THIS CASTLE!" Corita roared as she kicked a fake tombstone, set up to scare those who passed by. Her problems were only made worse by the fact that her foot now hurt, and a ghost had flown out at her.
"AH!" She cried as she ran behind Goofy, trembling. Jack turned to give a hearty laugh.
"Don't worry, my dear. They aren't real ghosts...though that scream was almost as good as Donald's." Jack commented. Donald's cheeks grew a bright red color.
"How much farther until we get to Dr. Finkelstein's?" Sora asked as Corita emerged from behind Goofy, glowing as red as Donald.
"Not too much farther." Jack replied.
"Allow me to introduce Dr. Finkelstein, the world-famous genius!" Jack boomed as they stood in the laboratory.
"Yes! Maybe I'm TOO smart. I'm afraid I've created something horrible!" the doctor cried after Jack had introduced him. The doctor was a short man dressed all in white, sitting in a wheelchair with a distressed look on his face.
"Gawrsh! What's that?" Goofy asked.
"Well..." Dr. Finkelstein said slowly. "Have you ever stopped to think about 'true memories'?" "True memories?" Corita asked.
The doctor nodded. "Our hearts are full of memories...but not all of them reflect the truth. The heart isn't a recording device. Even important memories change with time. They warp or fade, leaving us with but a shadow of what we hoped to remember."
"Could that be happening to me?" Sora wondered.
"It happens to everyone. Some memories grow ugly, and some become more beautiful. If we could recover our true memories, the world would seem completely different. So, I devised a potion from forget-me-nots that brings our true memories back."
"Did it work?" asked Corita.
"Well, that's the problem..."
"As soon as the doctor got a whiff of the potion, Heartless started popping up!" Jack explained.
"Sounds to me like the experiment failed." Donald said, tapping his foot impatiently.
"No! My research is flawless!" Dr. Finkelstein cried. "I just need another look at the potion to find out what went wrong! Unfortunately...it's vanished."
"Maybe someone swiped it?" Sora suggested.
"It must've been Sally! Jack, you've got to find her and get my potion back." the doctor said.
"Leave it to me!" Jack cheered.
"Can I tag along?" Sora asked.
"What for?"
"I want to know more about these 'true memories' the doctor keeps mentioning."
"Excellent! Let's go find Sally, then!"
"There you are Sally! I thought I'd find you here." Jack said in relief as he ran up to Sally. Sally was a tall, slender girl, who would be considered perfectly normal had she not been made of patches and various body parts stitched together.
"Who are your friends?" Sally asked politely. She was standing in the graveyard, illuminated by the light of the bright moon.
"They're interested in true memories. You have the potion, don't you?"
"Well...yes."
"Could you give it back?" Sora asked.
"I guess so, if you insist." Sally muttered, pulling out a small bottle with a bright green potion inside. "But...I'm afraid. All the Doctor did was smell it, and the Heartlesss appeared. What if someone drinks it?"
"Are you kidding? What could be more exciting?" Jack asked excitedly.
Sally sighed. "I'm worried, Jack. Isn't there another way?"
"Any ideas, Jack?" Sora asked.
"I can't think of a thing."
"I can! Give it here!" called out a loud obnoxious voice. A large coffin near them burst open, and in a flash the potion in Sally's hands had been grabbed and taken away. The group was too stunned to do anything for a moment, but once they recovered they ran to the large sack of bugs that held the potion in his greedy hands.
"Oh, no! The potion!" Corita cried as she watched the sack look down at it in glee.
"Oogie! You again!" Jack roared.
"Jack, where are your manners?" Oogie Boogie asked lazily. "I'm just helping you put the potion to good use! You should thank me! Well, well. Just one sniff, and the Heartless appeared. What would happen if I chugged the whole thing? THAT would be scary!" With that, Oogie Boogie turned away from them. "Poor Jack! You can't hold a candle to Oogie Boogie. Halloween Town is going to taste pain and despair beyond any nightmare!"
With those final parting words, Oogie Boogie ran away as fast as his chubby legs could carry him.
"Pain and despair? Oogie, you monster!" Jack cried.
"C'mon, Jack! We've gotta go after him!" Sora said. Jack nodded, and the group ran off to follow the evil Oogie Boogie. Behind them, Sally watched in terror as they ran away.
"Ohhhhhhhhhhh...I've got an awesome cape...yes I do, la la la...It's about 15 sizes too small and has little tiny wings..." Corita sung to herself. Sora overheard her and looked at her like she was crazy.
"What are you singing?"
Corita looked up at him in surprise. "Oh, nothing..."
"Look! We're almost there!" Jack told them, pointing a bony finger at a green door not too far away. They'd been climbing the manor for a while now, and it looked like they'd found the door Jack had been looking for.
"Let's go in, then." Goofy said merrily as he shoved the door open. The room was just as they remembered it. Giant wheel, various buzzsaws and other large machines scattered around. On the opposite side of the room, Oogie Boogie was watching them with delight in his empty eyes.
"Oogie! Hand over the potion!" Jack called as he entered the room.
"You fools don't know when to quit!" Oogie roared. "Say...all this runnin' around is making me thirsty!"
"Oogie! No!" Sora cried.
"Yes!" Oogie roared gleefully. He pulled off the top of the small container, and emptied the contents of the bottle down his throat.
"Oh, no..." Corita muttered as Oogie finished draining the potion.
"Ahh! Lip-smacking good!" Oogie taunted as he pulled the bottle away from his mouth. "Now I can awaken my true memories! Agh! What's this? What... Something's welling up deep inside me - something...scary!"
"Oogie! What's going on?" Jack called out. Oogie looked at them in fear.
"No! Get back! Stay away from me! Get away! You're s-s-scaring me!"
"We have no choice!" Sora called to the group. He whisked out his Keyblade and ran towards Oogie, who wastremblingwith fear.
"Confound that Oogie Boogie! He drank nearly all of my precious potion! There are only a few drops left!" Dr. Finkelstein cried as he held up the nearly empty bottle of green liquid that the group had brought back from Oogie's manor.
"Sora, why don't you ask the doc if you can drink the rest?" Goofy suggested.
Sora hung his head and thought for a moment with the whole group watching. He lifted his head after a few seconds. "No. I'd better not."
"What, don't you want it? Too bad. It would've been a great experiment." Dr. Finkelstein said.
"Hear that, Sora? You could've been an experiment." Corita said, hitting him lightly with her elbow. Sora looked up at her.
"Please. You'd make a better experiment than I would."
"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?" Corita cried as Donald and Goofy burst out laughing.
"Now, Doctor..." Sally said softly.
"Don't you want to find out about your true memories?" Jack asked.
Sora nodded. "Of course...now more than ever. But there's this guy - Axel. I promised him I'd find the truth on my own."
"Oh yeah..." Corita said after she'd hit Donald on the beak. "Axel..."
"I just don't understand." the doctor said softly. "When I inhaled the potion, Heartless appeared...and when Oogie drank it, he was overcome with fear. What could it mean?"
"It means the potion was a failure." Sally told him kindly.
"No! I can't be wrong! Oogie MUST have found his true memories! Hm... True memories must unbalance the heart and cause unpredictable changes within!"
"Then...what about me? What happens when my true memories awaken?" Sora asked.
"Perhaps something even more terrifying... But this is all just a hypothesis. I can't be sure without further research." Dr. Finkelstein said. With that, he left the room, still muttering to himself about the potion.
"Hear that, Sora? He wants to research you." Corita said.
"You'd make a more fascinating research subject." Sora told her.
"Wait a second...HEY! STOP BEING MEAN!" Corita cried as Donald and Goofy once again broke out in torrents of laughter.
As Corita turned around to try to stop their, laughter, Jack said to Sora softly, "What's wrong, Sora? Does the doctor's theory scare you?"
"Well, yeah...a little."
"That's good to hear! Fear and insecurity are signs of a strong heart. Without that strength, your zest for life would fade...as would your taste for fear. And believe me, that would really ruin my fun." Jack whispered, winking.
"Thanks, Jack. I'll remember that." Sora said, nodding. Behind them, Donald and Corita had gotten into yet another fight.
"Haha! Corita the experiment!"
"SHUT UP OR I'LL BLAST YOU INTO OBLIVION!"
"GO AHEAD AND TRY!"
Jack and Sora had joined in with the laughter, and within minutes, Corita and Donald's shouting had ceased. "Good luck, lady and gentlemen!" Jack said as the group prepared to leave. "May you always keep the desire to scream!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Donald muttered as they closed the door to the laboratory behind them. "If I scream one more time here, I'll...WAK!"
Jack's floating head had appeared once more, scaring Donald and causing him to fall backwards into the rest of the group. Their laughter continued all the way up to the world's exit, with Donald's very feathers glowing pink.
-Sora53: YAY! I can't wait to write the next part!
Fans: That means the next chappie might liven things up.
Sora53: Hopefully I'll be able to write it all before Saturday...that's the day I'm leaving. If not, you get left behind in the suspense.
Sora Fangirls: SORA FORGOT HIS CAPE! AND HOTEL CORITA!
Joe: Corita didn't.
Corita: SHUT UP! There is nothing strange going on... -eye twitch-
Axel: I WILL RULE YOU ALL!
Everyone-strange stare-
Axel: I'm going now...-
