Author's Note: This new world follows the movie almost exactly so it's
rather lengthy. And I don't' think I'm joking about the lengthy part,
either. But do enjoy! Thank you for your support-oh darn, I forgot your
names again. I'm so sorry but thank you! bows continuously Now please
read and review! Thank you!
Secrets of Memories
Chapter 17: The Arm of Darkness
As the procession of the contestants marched pas the royal seat, Robin detached himself from the line and approached Maid Marian. He had a single white flower with him.
"Ah, Your Ladyship. I beg your pardon; it's a great honor to shoot for the favor of a lovely lady like yourself. Hope I win the kiss," he told her, giving her the white flower.
"Oh!" Maid Marian was surprised. "Well, thank you, my thin-legged archer. I wish you luck-" her voice then dropped to a whisper "-with all my heart."
Robin Hood gave a slight wink, then bowed and followed the line. Luckily, not many people noticed the exchange, being distracted by the great, gangly form of a strange-looking knight with a foreign emblem. The guards were watching him with contempt; the Sheriff had a shrewd eye on him. The strange knight did not seem to care; he was waving about to the astonished spectators with a carefree air.
"Now that one, he looks like he's got class," Little John was telling Prince John, pointing in the direction of the knight.
"Indeed, he does," Prince John had a very strange tone in his voice. Little John, however, did not notice.
The crocodile, who had alerted Prince John earlier about the knight, approached the royal box. "Your Highness, with your Royal permission, we're ready to begin."
Prince John nodded. "Proceed, Captain."
The crocodile, apparently a captain, turned to everybody else. "The Tournament of the Golden Arrow will now begin!"
The spectators cheered as the archers stood in rows before targets, loading their bows and taking aim. The onlookers cheered, waving flags and calling out the names of those they knew.
"Yay, Dad!" Toby, a young turtle, cheered as his father fired an arrow.
As the tournament dragged on, however, it became obvious who the standouts were. The Sheriff of Nottingham was particularly good, though everybody knew he was cheating. The stork who claimed he was from Devonshire was exceptionally well. And the strange, foreign knight astounded the crowd. One of the targets had their three arrows all stuck on the bull's-eye.
The Sheriff then aimed, fired, and hit the bull's-eye. The crowd booed him loudly, causing the Sheriff to grit his teeth as he let the stork and the knight step forward to fire.
The stork very lazily aimed and fired; the arrow sailed quite true and hit the target, quivering next to the Sheriff's arrow.
Then the knight came forward. He was rather clumsy in all his actions but his arrows flew true and smooth in a wonderful arch across the sky, again making a three-way tie.
"Yay! Yay! Yay!" the onlookers screamed out their approval.
The Sheriff's day was getting worse by the second. It then fell steeply as he spotted a strange sight; a white duck, dressed in blue and carrying a staff, was seen scurrying off into the tents behind the spectators. He knew he had never seen anyone like that white duck; he suspected the duck came with the strange knight.
He wiggled a finger to a guard and whispered, very briefly, "There is a white duck here; an intruder is upon His Highness' ground. Make sure to get rid of him!"
The guard nodded and quickly marched off.
Meanwhile, Robin Hood was chatting quite happily with the knight. "I'm gonna win that golden arrow and present myself to the lovely Maid Marian!"
"Her?" the knight, who you all know is Goofy, pointed to the fair vixen in the royal box.
"That's her!" Robin Hood was turning all goggle-eyed at this.
"Listen Scissorbill, if you shoot as good as you blabbermouth, you're better than Robin Hood," the Sheriff snapped at him, his mood darkened by the odd turn of events.
Robin Hood was thoroughly pleased, first by the Sheriff's comment, then by the fact that his costume had convinced everyone. "Robin Hood, he says! Wow-wee! I'm tiptop, all right but I'm not as good as he is!"
"Who's Robin Hood?" Goofy asked curiously as he fired an arrow.
The Sheriff and Robin Hood, who was rather deeply hurt, gaped at him. "You don't know Robin Hood?"
When Goofy shook his head, the Sheriff exploded, "Where in God's name have you been?!"
"Places," Goofy answered airily. "Many places."
The Sheriff, to the surprise of Robin Hood and Goofy, had a rather thoughtful look on his face. "I thought so..."
"Now if you'll excuse me..." Robin Hood leaned forward and released his arrow as well. It landed next to the Sheriff's and Goofy's arrows.
"Oh...by the way, I hear you're having a bit trouble getting your hands on that Robin Hood," Robin Hood commented amusingly as Sheriff fired his arrow.
"He's scared of me," the Sheriff snapped with confidence. "Now I told you. He didn't show up here today. I can spot him through them phony disguises."
Robin Hood did not realize Goofy had seen the look of glee in his eyes.
Is he Robin Hood? Goofy wondered.
Aozora wandered through the tournament fields. He was searching hard, throwing out feelers and sensing out any traces of Nobodies. He knew the Nobodies had to be around here, hiding or out in the open-
Aozora froze. Out in the open?
Nobodies were shape-shifters, he knew that, of course. But what can they shift into: animals, inanimate objects, or both?
"Idiot," he cursed himself. "Idiot, idiot, idiot! What was I thinking?!"
He looked around him carefully, watching the movements of the wandering spectators. Was there anybody who was watching him carefully, scrutinizing his every movement? He knew he had gotten odd stares; after all, they were animals and he was a human. Or at least, he thought he was human. Was he? What the hell is he thinking?
"I'm human, I'm human, I'm human," he mumbled as he marched past a pie stand, unaware of the odd, almost glaring stare the vulture hawker gave him. "Yeah, I'm just a human with strange powers. Oh yeah, I'm sooo human..."
One of his 'feelers' suddenly tingled. He froze. The feeler began to vibrate fiercely, as though it was a fishing line with a huge fish in tow.
"Gotcha," he murmured as he began to run.
In his wake, several barrels near the pie stand slowly transformed into the armored Shield Nobodies. They, as one, as though they were ordered to at the same time, moved as one in the direction Aozora was moving. The hawker quickly put up a 'Closed' sign and quietly followed the Shield Nobodies.
"What a place," Sora mumbled to himself out loud as he dawdled past two tall, quickly made stone towers. The two elephants on the top of one of the towers, adorned in purple, their trunks sticking into the air like trumpets, watched him curiously as he passed under the banner strung between the two towers. They watched him innocently, unaware of the three silent archers, all weasels, that followed him soundlessly, bouncing behind tents, behind barrels, behind stands, as they watched the Keyblade Master look around.
"This place is huge," Sora told himself. "I wonder if the others found anything..."
As if on cue, he heard insane squabbling. It sounded like Donald.
"Donald?" Sora was surprised. Then it dawned on him. Donald never squalled unless something happened that upset the quick-tempered duck. Something's happened. But what?
Then, he felt a cool presence in his mind. It was there for a few seconds but it was urging him, urging him to come. Quickly, there is danger here. You must come here at once! Your weapon is needed immediately!
Then Sora found himself moving, as though that same presence was now pulling him in the direction of this danger. He recklessly dodged spectators, tents, objects, whatever was in his path. Some spectators screamed in surprise, pieces of barrels went flying, balloons shot up into the air; Sora ignored everything and continued to run, bolting past a barrel of ale with a stopper on it. He didn't notice the rooster with the stringed instrument or the monk with him; he kept running, until he nearly crashed into a group of rhinos. They were surrounding a box of some sort, where there were four seats, a vixen, a white hen, a lion, and a bear. What in the world?
"...Aha," the lion was saying to an oddly patched stork at the stairs to the royal box, holding his 'ceremony sword' out. "And now, I name you the winner, or more appropriately..."
Sora spotted frantic movements out of the corner of his eye. He swiveled his head in that direction and noticed Goofy waving madly from behind the royal box.
' Hurry! Get behind here quickly!' the knight was mouthing to him.
'Why-' Sora was about to mouth back when he suddenly became aware of a presence behind him.
"Your Highness, look what I got me here," a tall, rather rotund wolfish creature in red-pink (Red-pink? Sora crinkled his nose at this. How disgusting!) boomed out and took hold of Sora's left shoulder.
"Hey, what the-" Sora's near-curse died when the rhinos moved away from the royal box to give this ' Your Highness' a good view of him.
'Your Highness' was referring to the lion. He had on a rather huge crown and was looking very snobbishly happy. The bear at his left, who was even more rotund that the wolf holding his shoulder, was dressed in pink (Blegh! Sora gagged) with a glass circle on his right eye was suddenly gone, the hen was clucking like crazy, and the fair vixen was pleading.
And Sora saw who the center of attention was.
Roped up, with an iron collar on his neck, was a tall, very bold-looking red fox, dressed in green. He was obviously a prisoner but why? What had he done wrong? And where was the stork-of course. That oddly patched stork was the fox! He won the contest disguised as a stork! But what in Hades' name had he done?
"Aha! This is wonderful, so wonderful!" the lion clapped eagerly. " Perfect! Now we have more heads to get off with!"
"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" Sora sputtered out. ' More heads to get off with?'. "What is going on around here? Who the hell are you?"
The wolf behind him boxed him on the head. "That is no way for a scruff like you to address His Highness, Prince John!"
"I don't listen to any Prince!" Sora snapped back. "And don't touch my head; it's for me to touch and not you!"
Everybody gasped. He dares to address the Prince in that manner?
"Oh, oh, oh," the vixen was trying not to cry but was doing so. "I can't bear this, I can't bear this...oh Robin, why? Why?"
The fox, apparently named Robin, replied, "Marian, whatever happens to me, just stay strong."
The words echoed in Sora's mind. ' Just stay strong...stay strong...whatever happens...just stay strong.'
Oh how he wished he could've told Kairi that before he left! But all he was able to tell her was that he'll come back. But what if he couldn't come back? Then what?
"You're taking off his head, too, Your Highness?" the wolf was astounded. "Why him?"
"Because, Sheriff," Prince John was beyond smug, "he's a universal criminal."
"Criminal?" Sora, pulled back into reality, yelled. "Criminal? I'm a criminal? Who says?"
"I say so," Prince John snapped back. "As long as this crown sits on my head, I make the decisions!"
"That crown belongs to King Richard!" Robin shouted out at the top of his lungs in bold protest. "Long live King Richard!"
The growing number of spectators reported back, "Long live King Richard!"
"King Richard..." Sora rolled the name on his tongue, then glared at Prince John. What had he done to King Richard to gain that crown?
"Enough! I am King!" Prince John was throwing a terrible fit, stomping on his seat furiously. "King! King! Off with their heads!"
"Wha?" Sora was furious. "As soon as I come here to see what the hell's going on around here, you decide to take me prisoner and chop of my h-"
The Sheriff, the wolf behind him, seemed to have made some movement of some sort because immediately, several rhinos detached themselves and came over with an iron collar and a long piece of rope.
Before Sora could react, the Sheriff had him by both arms and he fought helplessly as he was roped up, his neck was stuck in an iron collar, and the Sheriff finished him off by gagging him.
Goofy was looking horrified now. And Donald was with him, making insane movements but not able to do anything, lest they give themselves away.
And where the hell was Aozora?
"Oh no," Marian, the vixen, wilted.
Sora saw Robin give him a determined stare. Then Robin looked behind him and Sora followed his gaze, finding himself starting at a huge rhino with a black hood, red tunic and trousers, black gloves, fiery red eyes, and, to his horror, a huge axe, newly sharpened and polished. The executioner.
"Stop! Executioner, stop! Hold your axe!" everybody turned their heads to Prince John, stupefied by his statement. What?!
Prince John looked like he was struggling against something that held his neck or head. With a horrified look on his face, he squealed out, "Eeek! Sheriff, release my buddy and that-I mean, release the prisoners."
The Sheriff was beyond stupefied. "Untie the prisoners?!"
The white hen got all bossy. "You heard what he said, Bushel Britches."
Sora snorted into his gag. Bushel Britches?
Prince John, still struggling against the unknown force gripping his neck, choked out, "Sheriff, I make the rules, and since I'm the headman-" suddenly he whispered to something behind him, then turned back to the Sheriff "-Let them go! For heaven's sakes, let them go!"
The Sheriff, being extremely hesitant and confused the entire way, sliced the bindings off Robin and Sora, then undid the iron collars. As soon as Robin was released, the vixen rushed to him while the white hen crowed at the top of her lungs, "Yeehee! Love conquers all!"
Robin and Marian were holding hands. "I owe my life to you my darling."
"I couldn't have lived without you, Robin," the fair vixen whispered back as they embraced each other.
Sora pulled out the gag and shook the kinks out of his arms while the Sheriff, muttering, "Something funny's going on here," disappeared behind the royal box.
Within ten seconds, Sora heard the Sheriff growling out, "Why you...", Goofy yelping, "Behind you!", and Donald yelling, "Firaga!"
Everybody froze as a cloud of dark smoke bellowed from behind the royal box and Prince John quickly rose up, bothered no longer by that mysterious restraint, and shouted, "Kill them! Don't just stand there! Kill them!"
Then that massive bear, which you all know is Little John, jumped out with a long stick as the rhino guards jumped forward to fight. Robin Hood quickly flashed out a sword and Lady Kluck, the white hen, ordered Maid Marian, "Run for it, lassie. This is no place for a lady."
Maid Marian backed away as a battle began to ensue. A rooster with a mandolin and a monk came about to do battle while Goofy and Donald surprised everybody with their appearance and joined the fray. Sora called the Keyblade to his hand and maneuvered carefully around the rhino guards, knowing that they did have brute strength.
Prince John used the ceremonial sword to try and stab Robin Hood by the back when the fox backed up. Robin Hood, catching the flash of metal, whirled around and flipped the sword out of Prince John' hand. Prince John cries out in fear, "Don't hurt me! Help! Help!"
While Sora took a quick breather to stare at Prince John in astonishment (he had never seen such a coward before), the lion crawled away frantically, falling out of the royal box unceremoniously, then crying out, "Kill them!"
He pointed at both Sora and Robin Hood.
Lady Kluck dueled the Sheriff. It was a short match. The white hen jabbed the Sheriff with a very interesting golden arrow. When he rushed her, she easily flipped him on his stomach and shouted, "Take that, you scoundrel!" She then rushed off to battle some more.
Sora approved of her actions. He also warned himself not to get the white hen mad at any moment in time.
"Help! Robin, help!" Maid Marian panicked; she was surrounded by the fighting.
Robin, grabbing hold of the end of a banner, swung down from the top of a stand, grabbed her and they swung up into the throne of the royal box. With Maid Marian on his right, he fought off three weasels on his left.
"Marian, madam, will you marry me?" he asked as he tipped the chair over.
"Darling, I thought you'd never ask me," Maid Marian gave him her heartfelt reply. "But you could've chosen a more romantic setting."
"And for our honey-moon...London," Robin added as he fought off more weasels.
Sora was quite amazed to hear this, as he ducked under a rhino's punch and jabbed the guard in the face. They're in the middle of a strange battle and those two are talking about marriage? He kept himself from gagging at this; he was old enough now to handle the 'intimate' issues of love without a problem.
But where was Aozora?
Little John was having the time of his life. He fought a horde of rhinos, eventually shoving them all into a yellow tent. He jumped in, stating, " Oh, what a main event this is. What a beautiful brawl."
From the other end of the long tent, Lady Kluck rushed more rhinos in. She jumped in as well and the capacity limit forced Little John out. Furious that he was missing the brawl, he charged back in. Lady Kluck was kicked out on her face.
Furious, she jumped up, golden arrow in hand, and jabbed at a rhino's butt that stuck out of the tent. There was a huge explosion of pain and the tent rose up on multiple pairs of feet. It charged.
Civilians screamed and ran out of the way as the yellow tent rampaged across the tournament grounds.
"We'll have six children," Robin Hood told Maid Marian as he ducked under a weasel's swipe.
"Six? Oh a dozen at least!" Maid Marian retorted, then spotted the same vulture hawker Aozora ran by earlier, who was about to pull an arrow on Robin Hood. "Take that!"
Snatching up a cherry pie, she slammed it in the vulture's face.
"Duck!" she suddenly heard a foreign voice shout out an order. She obeyed without hesitation; in battles, some cries were immediately heeded lest one wants to die.
Sparks and flashes of color flew above her head as she crouched down low. When she finally peeked up, she found herself staring at the same face of the strange being who Prince John labeled as a ' universal criminal.'
Wait.
She continued to stare. The same face had shiny metallic coppery brown eyes, not sky-blue. The complexion was lighter, the hair was blond, and the face was attached to a long black coat.
The being was holding two very beautiful and very dangerous weapons, one in each hand.
"You must be careful," the being told her. "Tell him he must be careful, too. The arm of darkness has stretched far and wide. They're here."
Before she could say more, he vanished.
"Marian, darling, what's wrong?" Robin Hood had not seen the being.
"He warned us," Maid Marian murmured as he quickly led her away. "Robin, there's another being here, like that being the Sheriff had. He told us to be careful, that an arm of darkness has stretched far and wide..."
"Indeed," Robin Hood was genuinely puzzled.
Meanwhile, Little John found himself sitting atop of a charging tent full of rhinos. He exclaimed, "Hey, who's driving this flying umbrella?"
Then he saw that they were on a collision course with the stone tower with the two elephants. He scrambled off the 'flying umbrella' before the imminent collision brought down the tower.
The crocodile held his arms up calmly, as though he was the Messiah coming down from Heaven to bring peace upon the Earth, and said, "Attention, everyone..."
Sora knocked him out. "Attention, nothing! This guy's not thinking right-"
"Sora!"
Sora whirled around and saw Aozora, who had a terrible, rather indescribable expression on his face.
"What? What's wrong, Aozora?" Sora demanded worriedly as the duel-wielding teenager quickly approached. His mind also thought, Where the hell have you been?
Without another word, Aozora took Sora aside, dodged a diving weasel, then hissed, "Nobodies. They're here!"
Sora stared at him. "What?!"
"The arm of darkness has grown long," Aozora answered. "They were already here, stationed, merely waiting for us to arrive. They were supposed to be back-up if Prince John couldn't chop off our head but I distracted them. We have to get out of here; they're going to expose themselves if we don't and the results would be disastrous."
"Where are we going then?" Sora insisted as Donald and Goofy, scuffed up from the battle, quickly approached with shocked looks on their faces.
"Friar Tuck, a friend of that fox called Robin Hood, says we can go with him," Aozora quickly explained, before his usually dark face darkened. "He told me he knows, or is aware of, what's going on around here."
"Who's what?" Donald squalled.
"A friar knows something about the Nobodies here," Sora summarized. " Aozora, you know where to go?"
Aozora nodded. "No arguments, Donald. We have to move."
Donald clamped his beak shut and glared but said nothing as they followed the blond teenager out of the tournament grounds into the dense woods.
Not many yards away, several broken barrels materialized into two Nobodies and three Shield Nobodies. They did not follow the four but instead spread out around the tournament grounds, scaring off any remaining civilians.
Prince John tried to scramble for the safety of a certain barrel of ale when he saw Robin Hood and Maid Marian making their escape.
"Stop the girl!" he shouted in hopes that someone would hear him.
To his bad luck, Lady Kluck heard him. She turned and walloped the Prince on the head with the golden arrow. "Take that, you scurvy knave!"
"Seize the fat one!" Prince John, infuriated, ordered in a furious voice.
Several rhinos advanced on Lady Kluck. The white hen did not waste any time and kicked up her engines into high gear. If Prince John wants me, his men had better catch me first!
She then bolted through a huge stretch of open land, making way to the dark cool depths of Sherwood Forest. The guards tried to jump her, snatching her, charging her, etc.
They all failed. She easily evaded them, then ducked as two guards went for her at the same time but hit each other instead. She then sped faster, as the last of the spectators cheered her from the edge of Sherwood Forest. She pumped her fist up into the air, then managed to evade a rhino that had dived for her and nearly got her. Lady Kluck got away and the rhino slide across the grass, only to smash head-first into a boulder.
Lady Kluck was victorious! Standing at the very edge of Sherwood Forest, she cried out, "Long live King Richard! Yahoo!"
At that moment, Little John, who had escaped the rampaging yellow 'flying umbrella' unharmed, appeared, snatched Lady Kluck, and pulled her away to safety as several arrows hit the trees, missing their mark.
Prince John was frustrated, furious, embarrassed, and humiliated. He sniffed back tears, then wailed out furiously, "Hiss, you're never around when I need you!"
He had the incredible luck of being near a barrel of ale stopped with a cork. For inside the barrel, he heard a bubbly, inebriated voice saying, " Coming, coming..."
Prince John whipped out the cork and a very woozy Sir Hiss appeared, his eyes cross-eyed and unfocused "Ha, ha. For I'm jolly good fellow. Hoo, hoo, hoo. Oh there you are, old boy. P,J., you won't believe this but the stork is really Robin Hood."
Prince John glared at him, then reached out with both hands and choked the green snake. "Robin Hood! Ah! And that bastard Keyblade master, too!"
He yanked out Sir Hiss and knotted him on a pole. He then stomped away, snapping, "Get out of that if you can!"
Prince John stomped off, only to greeted by several Nobodies and Shield Nobodies.
"If you make miserable hell for the people around here, you'll draw out Robin Hood," Prince John told the attentive Nobodies and Shield Nobodies. " And now, most likely the Keyblade master will be with him. Destroy them both."
One of the Nobodies hissed.
"I'm king! King!" Prince John threw a fit. "And he gave me the authority! I tell you what to do now, get it?"
The Nobodies and Shield Nobodies bowed and hastily retreated.
Robin Hood and Maid Marian strode through a very ethereal scenery. Fireflies flew all around them in the dusk sky and pink blossoms from the trees fell softly. They passed by a lake with lily pads, smiling, devouring each other with their eyes, in love with each other, now and forever.
Love...
It seems only like yesterday...
You were just a child at play... Now you're all grown up inside of me... Oh, how fast those moments flee...
Under a single tree near the lake, the lovers stopped. Robin very gently placed a ring of flowers on Marian's ring finger on her left hand. They smiled to one another and drifted onward, towards a waterfall. There, they disappeared underneath the waterfall and went down the passageway of rock to the other side.
"Quickly!" Friar Tuck beckoned Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Aozora forward frantically. "We cannot stay out here any longer! The Nobodies are on the move-"
"You know of the Nobodies?" Goofy was astonished, as he nearly went sprawling over a tree root.
"I am part of the Order," Friar Tuck responded as they quickly walked by, on the other side of the lake. "Order of the Hearts and Souls. Quickly now; you must talk to Robin Hood about this matter. Unless you do, you may make a very serious mistake on this world and who knows what might happen then!"
Sora nearly had to run to keep up with the stout friar. He had never seen anybody so rotund who could move so fast. Besides that bear...
The shimmer on the lake water distracted him. Sora slowed, letting everybody by him. He had seen a strange, unusual shimmer in the water, flashes of red and strange blue. And the lake was a calm, clear dark blue.
He approached the lake, started to feel his senses fire. There as something about that lake, something strange. He didn't know what it was but it was the same feeling he had when they flew over a large blue body of water-this WAS that large blue body of water.
"But its just water," Sora told himself as he peered into the deep depths of the lake.
Before his eyes, the water began to swirl. It began to toss back and forth in ripples, though the wind was blowing softly and in only one direction. Sora had never seen water behave by itself before.
He knelt down at the lake's edge, to get a better picture of what's going on. He just wasn't prepared for what he was going to see.
Secrets of Memories
Chapter 17: The Arm of Darkness
As the procession of the contestants marched pas the royal seat, Robin detached himself from the line and approached Maid Marian. He had a single white flower with him.
"Ah, Your Ladyship. I beg your pardon; it's a great honor to shoot for the favor of a lovely lady like yourself. Hope I win the kiss," he told her, giving her the white flower.
"Oh!" Maid Marian was surprised. "Well, thank you, my thin-legged archer. I wish you luck-" her voice then dropped to a whisper "-with all my heart."
Robin Hood gave a slight wink, then bowed and followed the line. Luckily, not many people noticed the exchange, being distracted by the great, gangly form of a strange-looking knight with a foreign emblem. The guards were watching him with contempt; the Sheriff had a shrewd eye on him. The strange knight did not seem to care; he was waving about to the astonished spectators with a carefree air.
"Now that one, he looks like he's got class," Little John was telling Prince John, pointing in the direction of the knight.
"Indeed, he does," Prince John had a very strange tone in his voice. Little John, however, did not notice.
The crocodile, who had alerted Prince John earlier about the knight, approached the royal box. "Your Highness, with your Royal permission, we're ready to begin."
Prince John nodded. "Proceed, Captain."
The crocodile, apparently a captain, turned to everybody else. "The Tournament of the Golden Arrow will now begin!"
The spectators cheered as the archers stood in rows before targets, loading their bows and taking aim. The onlookers cheered, waving flags and calling out the names of those they knew.
"Yay, Dad!" Toby, a young turtle, cheered as his father fired an arrow.
As the tournament dragged on, however, it became obvious who the standouts were. The Sheriff of Nottingham was particularly good, though everybody knew he was cheating. The stork who claimed he was from Devonshire was exceptionally well. And the strange, foreign knight astounded the crowd. One of the targets had their three arrows all stuck on the bull's-eye.
The Sheriff then aimed, fired, and hit the bull's-eye. The crowd booed him loudly, causing the Sheriff to grit his teeth as he let the stork and the knight step forward to fire.
The stork very lazily aimed and fired; the arrow sailed quite true and hit the target, quivering next to the Sheriff's arrow.
Then the knight came forward. He was rather clumsy in all his actions but his arrows flew true and smooth in a wonderful arch across the sky, again making a three-way tie.
"Yay! Yay! Yay!" the onlookers screamed out their approval.
The Sheriff's day was getting worse by the second. It then fell steeply as he spotted a strange sight; a white duck, dressed in blue and carrying a staff, was seen scurrying off into the tents behind the spectators. He knew he had never seen anyone like that white duck; he suspected the duck came with the strange knight.
He wiggled a finger to a guard and whispered, very briefly, "There is a white duck here; an intruder is upon His Highness' ground. Make sure to get rid of him!"
The guard nodded and quickly marched off.
Meanwhile, Robin Hood was chatting quite happily with the knight. "I'm gonna win that golden arrow and present myself to the lovely Maid Marian!"
"Her?" the knight, who you all know is Goofy, pointed to the fair vixen in the royal box.
"That's her!" Robin Hood was turning all goggle-eyed at this.
"Listen Scissorbill, if you shoot as good as you blabbermouth, you're better than Robin Hood," the Sheriff snapped at him, his mood darkened by the odd turn of events.
Robin Hood was thoroughly pleased, first by the Sheriff's comment, then by the fact that his costume had convinced everyone. "Robin Hood, he says! Wow-wee! I'm tiptop, all right but I'm not as good as he is!"
"Who's Robin Hood?" Goofy asked curiously as he fired an arrow.
The Sheriff and Robin Hood, who was rather deeply hurt, gaped at him. "You don't know Robin Hood?"
When Goofy shook his head, the Sheriff exploded, "Where in God's name have you been?!"
"Places," Goofy answered airily. "Many places."
The Sheriff, to the surprise of Robin Hood and Goofy, had a rather thoughtful look on his face. "I thought so..."
"Now if you'll excuse me..." Robin Hood leaned forward and released his arrow as well. It landed next to the Sheriff's and Goofy's arrows.
"Oh...by the way, I hear you're having a bit trouble getting your hands on that Robin Hood," Robin Hood commented amusingly as Sheriff fired his arrow.
"He's scared of me," the Sheriff snapped with confidence. "Now I told you. He didn't show up here today. I can spot him through them phony disguises."
Robin Hood did not realize Goofy had seen the look of glee in his eyes.
Is he Robin Hood? Goofy wondered.
Aozora wandered through the tournament fields. He was searching hard, throwing out feelers and sensing out any traces of Nobodies. He knew the Nobodies had to be around here, hiding or out in the open-
Aozora froze. Out in the open?
Nobodies were shape-shifters, he knew that, of course. But what can they shift into: animals, inanimate objects, or both?
"Idiot," he cursed himself. "Idiot, idiot, idiot! What was I thinking?!"
He looked around him carefully, watching the movements of the wandering spectators. Was there anybody who was watching him carefully, scrutinizing his every movement? He knew he had gotten odd stares; after all, they were animals and he was a human. Or at least, he thought he was human. Was he? What the hell is he thinking?
"I'm human, I'm human, I'm human," he mumbled as he marched past a pie stand, unaware of the odd, almost glaring stare the vulture hawker gave him. "Yeah, I'm just a human with strange powers. Oh yeah, I'm sooo human..."
One of his 'feelers' suddenly tingled. He froze. The feeler began to vibrate fiercely, as though it was a fishing line with a huge fish in tow.
"Gotcha," he murmured as he began to run.
In his wake, several barrels near the pie stand slowly transformed into the armored Shield Nobodies. They, as one, as though they were ordered to at the same time, moved as one in the direction Aozora was moving. The hawker quickly put up a 'Closed' sign and quietly followed the Shield Nobodies.
"What a place," Sora mumbled to himself out loud as he dawdled past two tall, quickly made stone towers. The two elephants on the top of one of the towers, adorned in purple, their trunks sticking into the air like trumpets, watched him curiously as he passed under the banner strung between the two towers. They watched him innocently, unaware of the three silent archers, all weasels, that followed him soundlessly, bouncing behind tents, behind barrels, behind stands, as they watched the Keyblade Master look around.
"This place is huge," Sora told himself. "I wonder if the others found anything..."
As if on cue, he heard insane squabbling. It sounded like Donald.
"Donald?" Sora was surprised. Then it dawned on him. Donald never squalled unless something happened that upset the quick-tempered duck. Something's happened. But what?
Then, he felt a cool presence in his mind. It was there for a few seconds but it was urging him, urging him to come. Quickly, there is danger here. You must come here at once! Your weapon is needed immediately!
Then Sora found himself moving, as though that same presence was now pulling him in the direction of this danger. He recklessly dodged spectators, tents, objects, whatever was in his path. Some spectators screamed in surprise, pieces of barrels went flying, balloons shot up into the air; Sora ignored everything and continued to run, bolting past a barrel of ale with a stopper on it. He didn't notice the rooster with the stringed instrument or the monk with him; he kept running, until he nearly crashed into a group of rhinos. They were surrounding a box of some sort, where there were four seats, a vixen, a white hen, a lion, and a bear. What in the world?
"...Aha," the lion was saying to an oddly patched stork at the stairs to the royal box, holding his 'ceremony sword' out. "And now, I name you the winner, or more appropriately..."
Sora spotted frantic movements out of the corner of his eye. He swiveled his head in that direction and noticed Goofy waving madly from behind the royal box.
' Hurry! Get behind here quickly!' the knight was mouthing to him.
'Why-' Sora was about to mouth back when he suddenly became aware of a presence behind him.
"Your Highness, look what I got me here," a tall, rather rotund wolfish creature in red-pink (Red-pink? Sora crinkled his nose at this. How disgusting!) boomed out and took hold of Sora's left shoulder.
"Hey, what the-" Sora's near-curse died when the rhinos moved away from the royal box to give this ' Your Highness' a good view of him.
'Your Highness' was referring to the lion. He had on a rather huge crown and was looking very snobbishly happy. The bear at his left, who was even more rotund that the wolf holding his shoulder, was dressed in pink (Blegh! Sora gagged) with a glass circle on his right eye was suddenly gone, the hen was clucking like crazy, and the fair vixen was pleading.
And Sora saw who the center of attention was.
Roped up, with an iron collar on his neck, was a tall, very bold-looking red fox, dressed in green. He was obviously a prisoner but why? What had he done wrong? And where was the stork-of course. That oddly patched stork was the fox! He won the contest disguised as a stork! But what in Hades' name had he done?
"Aha! This is wonderful, so wonderful!" the lion clapped eagerly. " Perfect! Now we have more heads to get off with!"
"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" Sora sputtered out. ' More heads to get off with?'. "What is going on around here? Who the hell are you?"
The wolf behind him boxed him on the head. "That is no way for a scruff like you to address His Highness, Prince John!"
"I don't listen to any Prince!" Sora snapped back. "And don't touch my head; it's for me to touch and not you!"
Everybody gasped. He dares to address the Prince in that manner?
"Oh, oh, oh," the vixen was trying not to cry but was doing so. "I can't bear this, I can't bear this...oh Robin, why? Why?"
The fox, apparently named Robin, replied, "Marian, whatever happens to me, just stay strong."
The words echoed in Sora's mind. ' Just stay strong...stay strong...whatever happens...just stay strong.'
Oh how he wished he could've told Kairi that before he left! But all he was able to tell her was that he'll come back. But what if he couldn't come back? Then what?
"You're taking off his head, too, Your Highness?" the wolf was astounded. "Why him?"
"Because, Sheriff," Prince John was beyond smug, "he's a universal criminal."
"Criminal?" Sora, pulled back into reality, yelled. "Criminal? I'm a criminal? Who says?"
"I say so," Prince John snapped back. "As long as this crown sits on my head, I make the decisions!"
"That crown belongs to King Richard!" Robin shouted out at the top of his lungs in bold protest. "Long live King Richard!"
The growing number of spectators reported back, "Long live King Richard!"
"King Richard..." Sora rolled the name on his tongue, then glared at Prince John. What had he done to King Richard to gain that crown?
"Enough! I am King!" Prince John was throwing a terrible fit, stomping on his seat furiously. "King! King! Off with their heads!"
"Wha?" Sora was furious. "As soon as I come here to see what the hell's going on around here, you decide to take me prisoner and chop of my h-"
The Sheriff, the wolf behind him, seemed to have made some movement of some sort because immediately, several rhinos detached themselves and came over with an iron collar and a long piece of rope.
Before Sora could react, the Sheriff had him by both arms and he fought helplessly as he was roped up, his neck was stuck in an iron collar, and the Sheriff finished him off by gagging him.
Goofy was looking horrified now. And Donald was with him, making insane movements but not able to do anything, lest they give themselves away.
And where the hell was Aozora?
"Oh no," Marian, the vixen, wilted.
Sora saw Robin give him a determined stare. Then Robin looked behind him and Sora followed his gaze, finding himself starting at a huge rhino with a black hood, red tunic and trousers, black gloves, fiery red eyes, and, to his horror, a huge axe, newly sharpened and polished. The executioner.
"Stop! Executioner, stop! Hold your axe!" everybody turned their heads to Prince John, stupefied by his statement. What?!
Prince John looked like he was struggling against something that held his neck or head. With a horrified look on his face, he squealed out, "Eeek! Sheriff, release my buddy and that-I mean, release the prisoners."
The Sheriff was beyond stupefied. "Untie the prisoners?!"
The white hen got all bossy. "You heard what he said, Bushel Britches."
Sora snorted into his gag. Bushel Britches?
Prince John, still struggling against the unknown force gripping his neck, choked out, "Sheriff, I make the rules, and since I'm the headman-" suddenly he whispered to something behind him, then turned back to the Sheriff "-Let them go! For heaven's sakes, let them go!"
The Sheriff, being extremely hesitant and confused the entire way, sliced the bindings off Robin and Sora, then undid the iron collars. As soon as Robin was released, the vixen rushed to him while the white hen crowed at the top of her lungs, "Yeehee! Love conquers all!"
Robin and Marian were holding hands. "I owe my life to you my darling."
"I couldn't have lived without you, Robin," the fair vixen whispered back as they embraced each other.
Sora pulled out the gag and shook the kinks out of his arms while the Sheriff, muttering, "Something funny's going on here," disappeared behind the royal box.
Within ten seconds, Sora heard the Sheriff growling out, "Why you...", Goofy yelping, "Behind you!", and Donald yelling, "Firaga!"
Everybody froze as a cloud of dark smoke bellowed from behind the royal box and Prince John quickly rose up, bothered no longer by that mysterious restraint, and shouted, "Kill them! Don't just stand there! Kill them!"
Then that massive bear, which you all know is Little John, jumped out with a long stick as the rhino guards jumped forward to fight. Robin Hood quickly flashed out a sword and Lady Kluck, the white hen, ordered Maid Marian, "Run for it, lassie. This is no place for a lady."
Maid Marian backed away as a battle began to ensue. A rooster with a mandolin and a monk came about to do battle while Goofy and Donald surprised everybody with their appearance and joined the fray. Sora called the Keyblade to his hand and maneuvered carefully around the rhino guards, knowing that they did have brute strength.
Prince John used the ceremonial sword to try and stab Robin Hood by the back when the fox backed up. Robin Hood, catching the flash of metal, whirled around and flipped the sword out of Prince John' hand. Prince John cries out in fear, "Don't hurt me! Help! Help!"
While Sora took a quick breather to stare at Prince John in astonishment (he had never seen such a coward before), the lion crawled away frantically, falling out of the royal box unceremoniously, then crying out, "Kill them!"
He pointed at both Sora and Robin Hood.
Lady Kluck dueled the Sheriff. It was a short match. The white hen jabbed the Sheriff with a very interesting golden arrow. When he rushed her, she easily flipped him on his stomach and shouted, "Take that, you scoundrel!" She then rushed off to battle some more.
Sora approved of her actions. He also warned himself not to get the white hen mad at any moment in time.
"Help! Robin, help!" Maid Marian panicked; she was surrounded by the fighting.
Robin, grabbing hold of the end of a banner, swung down from the top of a stand, grabbed her and they swung up into the throne of the royal box. With Maid Marian on his right, he fought off three weasels on his left.
"Marian, madam, will you marry me?" he asked as he tipped the chair over.
"Darling, I thought you'd never ask me," Maid Marian gave him her heartfelt reply. "But you could've chosen a more romantic setting."
"And for our honey-moon...London," Robin added as he fought off more weasels.
Sora was quite amazed to hear this, as he ducked under a rhino's punch and jabbed the guard in the face. They're in the middle of a strange battle and those two are talking about marriage? He kept himself from gagging at this; he was old enough now to handle the 'intimate' issues of love without a problem.
But where was Aozora?
Little John was having the time of his life. He fought a horde of rhinos, eventually shoving them all into a yellow tent. He jumped in, stating, " Oh, what a main event this is. What a beautiful brawl."
From the other end of the long tent, Lady Kluck rushed more rhinos in. She jumped in as well and the capacity limit forced Little John out. Furious that he was missing the brawl, he charged back in. Lady Kluck was kicked out on her face.
Furious, she jumped up, golden arrow in hand, and jabbed at a rhino's butt that stuck out of the tent. There was a huge explosion of pain and the tent rose up on multiple pairs of feet. It charged.
Civilians screamed and ran out of the way as the yellow tent rampaged across the tournament grounds.
"We'll have six children," Robin Hood told Maid Marian as he ducked under a weasel's swipe.
"Six? Oh a dozen at least!" Maid Marian retorted, then spotted the same vulture hawker Aozora ran by earlier, who was about to pull an arrow on Robin Hood. "Take that!"
Snatching up a cherry pie, she slammed it in the vulture's face.
"Duck!" she suddenly heard a foreign voice shout out an order. She obeyed without hesitation; in battles, some cries were immediately heeded lest one wants to die.
Sparks and flashes of color flew above her head as she crouched down low. When she finally peeked up, she found herself staring at the same face of the strange being who Prince John labeled as a ' universal criminal.'
Wait.
She continued to stare. The same face had shiny metallic coppery brown eyes, not sky-blue. The complexion was lighter, the hair was blond, and the face was attached to a long black coat.
The being was holding two very beautiful and very dangerous weapons, one in each hand.
"You must be careful," the being told her. "Tell him he must be careful, too. The arm of darkness has stretched far and wide. They're here."
Before she could say more, he vanished.
"Marian, darling, what's wrong?" Robin Hood had not seen the being.
"He warned us," Maid Marian murmured as he quickly led her away. "Robin, there's another being here, like that being the Sheriff had. He told us to be careful, that an arm of darkness has stretched far and wide..."
"Indeed," Robin Hood was genuinely puzzled.
Meanwhile, Little John found himself sitting atop of a charging tent full of rhinos. He exclaimed, "Hey, who's driving this flying umbrella?"
Then he saw that they were on a collision course with the stone tower with the two elephants. He scrambled off the 'flying umbrella' before the imminent collision brought down the tower.
The crocodile held his arms up calmly, as though he was the Messiah coming down from Heaven to bring peace upon the Earth, and said, "Attention, everyone..."
Sora knocked him out. "Attention, nothing! This guy's not thinking right-"
"Sora!"
Sora whirled around and saw Aozora, who had a terrible, rather indescribable expression on his face.
"What? What's wrong, Aozora?" Sora demanded worriedly as the duel-wielding teenager quickly approached. His mind also thought, Where the hell have you been?
Without another word, Aozora took Sora aside, dodged a diving weasel, then hissed, "Nobodies. They're here!"
Sora stared at him. "What?!"
"The arm of darkness has grown long," Aozora answered. "They were already here, stationed, merely waiting for us to arrive. They were supposed to be back-up if Prince John couldn't chop off our head but I distracted them. We have to get out of here; they're going to expose themselves if we don't and the results would be disastrous."
"Where are we going then?" Sora insisted as Donald and Goofy, scuffed up from the battle, quickly approached with shocked looks on their faces.
"Friar Tuck, a friend of that fox called Robin Hood, says we can go with him," Aozora quickly explained, before his usually dark face darkened. "He told me he knows, or is aware of, what's going on around here."
"Who's what?" Donald squalled.
"A friar knows something about the Nobodies here," Sora summarized. " Aozora, you know where to go?"
Aozora nodded. "No arguments, Donald. We have to move."
Donald clamped his beak shut and glared but said nothing as they followed the blond teenager out of the tournament grounds into the dense woods.
Not many yards away, several broken barrels materialized into two Nobodies and three Shield Nobodies. They did not follow the four but instead spread out around the tournament grounds, scaring off any remaining civilians.
Prince John tried to scramble for the safety of a certain barrel of ale when he saw Robin Hood and Maid Marian making their escape.
"Stop the girl!" he shouted in hopes that someone would hear him.
To his bad luck, Lady Kluck heard him. She turned and walloped the Prince on the head with the golden arrow. "Take that, you scurvy knave!"
"Seize the fat one!" Prince John, infuriated, ordered in a furious voice.
Several rhinos advanced on Lady Kluck. The white hen did not waste any time and kicked up her engines into high gear. If Prince John wants me, his men had better catch me first!
She then bolted through a huge stretch of open land, making way to the dark cool depths of Sherwood Forest. The guards tried to jump her, snatching her, charging her, etc.
They all failed. She easily evaded them, then ducked as two guards went for her at the same time but hit each other instead. She then sped faster, as the last of the spectators cheered her from the edge of Sherwood Forest. She pumped her fist up into the air, then managed to evade a rhino that had dived for her and nearly got her. Lady Kluck got away and the rhino slide across the grass, only to smash head-first into a boulder.
Lady Kluck was victorious! Standing at the very edge of Sherwood Forest, she cried out, "Long live King Richard! Yahoo!"
At that moment, Little John, who had escaped the rampaging yellow 'flying umbrella' unharmed, appeared, snatched Lady Kluck, and pulled her away to safety as several arrows hit the trees, missing their mark.
Prince John was frustrated, furious, embarrassed, and humiliated. He sniffed back tears, then wailed out furiously, "Hiss, you're never around when I need you!"
He had the incredible luck of being near a barrel of ale stopped with a cork. For inside the barrel, he heard a bubbly, inebriated voice saying, " Coming, coming..."
Prince John whipped out the cork and a very woozy Sir Hiss appeared, his eyes cross-eyed and unfocused "Ha, ha. For I'm jolly good fellow. Hoo, hoo, hoo. Oh there you are, old boy. P,J., you won't believe this but the stork is really Robin Hood."
Prince John glared at him, then reached out with both hands and choked the green snake. "Robin Hood! Ah! And that bastard Keyblade master, too!"
He yanked out Sir Hiss and knotted him on a pole. He then stomped away, snapping, "Get out of that if you can!"
Prince John stomped off, only to greeted by several Nobodies and Shield Nobodies.
"If you make miserable hell for the people around here, you'll draw out Robin Hood," Prince John told the attentive Nobodies and Shield Nobodies. " And now, most likely the Keyblade master will be with him. Destroy them both."
One of the Nobodies hissed.
"I'm king! King!" Prince John threw a fit. "And he gave me the authority! I tell you what to do now, get it?"
The Nobodies and Shield Nobodies bowed and hastily retreated.
Robin Hood and Maid Marian strode through a very ethereal scenery. Fireflies flew all around them in the dusk sky and pink blossoms from the trees fell softly. They passed by a lake with lily pads, smiling, devouring each other with their eyes, in love with each other, now and forever.
Love...
It seems only like yesterday...
You were just a child at play... Now you're all grown up inside of me... Oh, how fast those moments flee...
Under a single tree near the lake, the lovers stopped. Robin very gently placed a ring of flowers on Marian's ring finger on her left hand. They smiled to one another and drifted onward, towards a waterfall. There, they disappeared underneath the waterfall and went down the passageway of rock to the other side.
"Quickly!" Friar Tuck beckoned Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Aozora forward frantically. "We cannot stay out here any longer! The Nobodies are on the move-"
"You know of the Nobodies?" Goofy was astonished, as he nearly went sprawling over a tree root.
"I am part of the Order," Friar Tuck responded as they quickly walked by, on the other side of the lake. "Order of the Hearts and Souls. Quickly now; you must talk to Robin Hood about this matter. Unless you do, you may make a very serious mistake on this world and who knows what might happen then!"
Sora nearly had to run to keep up with the stout friar. He had never seen anybody so rotund who could move so fast. Besides that bear...
The shimmer on the lake water distracted him. Sora slowed, letting everybody by him. He had seen a strange, unusual shimmer in the water, flashes of red and strange blue. And the lake was a calm, clear dark blue.
He approached the lake, started to feel his senses fire. There as something about that lake, something strange. He didn't know what it was but it was the same feeling he had when they flew over a large blue body of water-this WAS that large blue body of water.
"But its just water," Sora told himself as he peered into the deep depths of the lake.
Before his eyes, the water began to swirl. It began to toss back and forth in ripples, though the wind was blowing softly and in only one direction. Sora had never seen water behave by itself before.
He knelt down at the lake's edge, to get a better picture of what's going on. He just wasn't prepared for what he was going to see.