Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light
Separation- Chapter 4
"Uggg, I don't think I was cut out for space travel," Simba said staggering out of the Gummi Ship the warrior trio had been traveling in.
"Just remember this is technically my house, so please, no hair balls," Kita said looking at Simba who now seemed to be a shade of green.
"Wow. This is your house?" Hercules asked in awe as he gazed up at the castle of Hallow Bastion. "Nice pipes," he added commenting the countless copper pipes sticking out at strange angles, weaving in and out of windows and bursting through the originally burnt-pink bricks.
"Hey," Kita said in defense. "Those aren't supposed to be there. I told you this place was falling apart. It's even worse than when I left. Must be some kind of strong magic cause I can't even figure out where they're coming from."
"Oh," Hercules said feeling embarrassed he had assumed Hallow Bastion was suppose to look so desolate. "I'm sorry."
"Whatever," Kita said looking at the monstrosity of the castle she once lived in. "We've got to find whatever we can to take back to King Mickey so we can figure out what's going on." Kita lead the way in a frantic sprint towards the castle. What she hadn't expected was the fleet of heartless that appeared out of thin air right in front of her. She stopped so suddenly that Simba nearly slid into her and Hercules, who couldn't stop himself, tripped right over Simba.
"No!" Kita said as she clearly hadn't counted on the heartless so soon. She drew out her key blade like a knight would draw his sword. "Bring it on," she said wearing a death glare on her face. Kita stepped forward and took a tremendous swing at the heartless. Her key blade moved so swiftly as though it weighed nothing at all. Only a few strikes and every heartless from the circle was gone.
"Nice," Simba said with his jaw still hanging open. Hercules had only just gotten himself up from the ground.
"What'd I miss!" Hercules said drawing his sword and sticking it up ready to fight. His headband was covering his eyes and he was unable to see that the heartless had been taken care of.
"Come on, we're wasting time!" Kita said charging forward again. Hercules fixed his headband and he and Simba took off after Kita. She led them into the castle and down many corridors. Only a few times had they encountered heartless again. They reached a lift that followed an invisible track. "Get in," Kita said taking such a huge leap the lift platform swayed back and forth. She hastily put the lift in motion with an impatient look on her face.
"Know where you're going?" Hercules asked.
"Yeah," Kita said still looking out for a destination. "I've been this way before and this stupid lift doesn't go any faster!" Both Hercules and Simba looked shocked at how angry Kita was getting. They looked at each other wondering what they had gotten themselves into.
"Finally," Kita said as the lift stopped. She was the first to jump off and make her way down the hallway. It was a long hall with many doors that all looked so similar. Running around corners, in and out on balconies and up and down stairs, Hercules and Simba started to feel like rats in a maze. They were hoping with all hope Kita really knew where she was going or surely they would all be spending the rest of their lives lost in the Hallow Bastion castle.
After what seemed like hours they finally came to a huge set of metal doors. Kita pushed them open. Inside were more and more of the pipes that were seen from the outside. All around bubbling pots and multicolored steam rising into the air. It was fairly dark apart from the burning torches that looked as though they were at the end of their life. Kita stood there taking a few moments to absorb everything in the room.
"Um, you look lost," Hercules mentioned noticing her vague expression.
"It's just that I've never been able to get in here before," Kita explained. "My father was so careful. He never wanted me to find out what was in here. This is where he did his experimenting. Look at these charts and all his notes about heartless." Kita picked up a booklet that was packed with ingredients and directions. On the tattered cover was the word Heartless. "He's the one who made them," Kita said. "All he needed was a little sample from Ni-Ne Nite, and he could make as many as he wanted.
"Who's Ni-Ne Nite?" Simba asked.
"Some half heartless. I don't know much about her. Just that my father wanted her here so he could figure out how to create and breed heartless. But why?" Kita asked herself.
"Hey does this name mean anything to you?" Hercules asked pointing to a brass plate hanging over the door. It read 'Lollahec.'
"Low-la-heck," Kita said sounding it out. "No, I've never seen or heard it before."
"Hey look at this!" Simba said uncovering a scrapbook with pictures in it. "Who are they?"
"Aurora?" Kita started to read through them. "Pocahontas, Jasmine, Ariel, Snow White, Kidagakash? They look like princesses, but I've never heard of any of them."
"Probably from other worlds," Hercules suggested. "I wonder what he wants pictures of them for."
"No, look," Kita pointed to the book. "He's labeled them. 'Princesses of Heart.'" Kita flipped through the pages noticing Ansem had a lot of information on each of them. He knew where they lived and their families. After viewing the six Kita came to a page with a question mark on it. Many scribbles and cuts were all over the page like someone had taken their anger out on it. "Hmm, wonder what this one's for," Kita said looking at it.
"Are we taking all these notebooks?" Simba asked looking up at a huge mound that towered over him.
"We have to," Kita said. "It's all important information. We'd better just grab them all and head back to the ship before the-," Kita was caught off guard by a few heartless standing right in the doorway. She dropped the scrapbook and drew her key blade once more. This time Hercules was ready and he dashed forward at the heartless before Kita could take even one step. In an instant they were gone.
"Wow! Phil will never believe I have a sword like this one," Hercules said talking to his sword. "The handling is amazing! Better than anything he ever gave me."
"Phil?" Kita said, still frozen on the spot.
"Yeah, he trained me you know," Hercules said with pride in his voice.
"For?" Kita asked, still not getting what he was talking about.
"Oh I'm a hero in training," Hercules said striking a pose putting a smile on his face. "Phil's my trainer." Kita and Simba dropped to the ground laughing. They had never heard of such a thing as a hero in training and to them it sounded just plain silly.
"Hey, it's true!" Hercules said starting to feel awkward. "Here, I'll show you." Hercules walked over to Kita who was still curled up in a ball of laughter. He reached down and lifted Kita up above his head without her even noticing.
"Hey! What's the deal?" Kita said caught off guard now that she was 8 feet in the air. Hercules had a serious look on his face. He was making it clear he was offended by her ridicule. Kita reached down and slapped Hercules on the face.
"You're not supposed to look up girl's skirts!" Kita said. Hercules dropped her not realizing what he had done. Kita sat on the floor looking up at Hercules rubbing her butt from the fall. "Listen, why don't you just use that strength to carry some notebooks so we can get out of here." So the three of them gathered up as much as they could. Kita tied some scrolls to Simba's back since he had no hands. Hercules could lift almost all of the notebooks present. Whatever he didn't have, Kita had stashed in a backpack on her back. She pulled out her key blade ready to destroy any heartless who got in their way on the journey back to the Gummi Ship.
After the long trip through the maze, the three boarded the lift once more. This time Kita didn't seem to be as impatient. She opened the scrapbook with the princesses in it again, turning to the page with the question mark wondering what it meant. The trip almost seemed shorter the second time. In no time they were back to the Gummi Ship without interruption of the heartless. "Almost there!" Kita shouted out in front. Kita reached the Gummi Ship first jumping on before the others. She looked out the cockpit window to see Hercules and Simba still running her way. In the blink of an eye a dark vortex appeared and it was trying to swallow Simba.
"No!" Kita said darting back out of the ship. Hercules threw all the notebooks he was carrying into the ship and turned on a dime to head back toward Simba.
"Get on the ship Kita, I'll get him!" Hercules said sounding very serious. He kept running toward Simba and Kita stopped in her tracks. She couldn't just get on the ship and watch Simba get swallowed up. She couldn't just sit there watching another one of her friends get sucked into darkness. But behind her she could here a funny squeaking noise. A heartless was jumping around the door to the ship and Kita knew she couldn't let it get in. She ran towards the heartless that leapt on through the door and started bouncing around on the notebooks Hercules had tossed inside. She swung her key blade hard wanting to destroy it with all the anger built up inside her. The heartless was gone. Kita turned and looked out the cockpit window again and saw that Hercules had been caught by the Dark vortex too. He was walking her way fighting the grip the swirling black mist had on his ankle. Kita looked towards the door and heard Hercules's voice.
"Go back to King Mickey!" Hercules said. "We'll be alright!" And then Hercules slammed the door of the Gummi Ship shut.
"No!" Kita said starting to move towards the door to open it again. But she tripped as the ship suddenly shook. Hercules had picked up the ship and was preparing to through it into the air. "Stop!" Kita said shaking all around inside. But suddenly she was hurled into one of the walls as the ship was released and she was flying back out into space. Kita found herself all alone back out in space headed back to the Magic Kingdom.