Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light
Nightmare Storm -Chapter 16
Ni-Ne and Pom-Pom had made their way into the woods that surrounded the courtyard where they had the most unfortunate meeting with Queen Kita. Ti-Day was no longer in sight, but he had managed to hold off the guards long enough for Ni-Ne and Pom-Pom to escape. Farther and farther they ran before it seemed the light of the day had disappeared entirely. Ni-Ne stopped to catch her breath. She sat on a stump and hung her head low. Pom-Pom collapsed next to her.
"We barely made it out of there alive," Ni-Ne pointed out as she struggled to catch her breath.
"Yeah, you should be more careful around that witch," said a familiar voice. Ti-Day had appeared in a tree above Ni-Ne. He was calmly wagging his tail looking so relaxed. It was as if he had been sitting there the entire time. "What where you thinking running into the Queen like that? Her voice can be heard from miles away. You could have at least gone around."
"But she's my friend, just like you!" Ni-Ne explained. "Except she doesn't remember me either."
"I still think you're crazy," Ti-Day said jokingly. Ni-Ne shrugged feeling in her heart that Ti-Day would never understand.
"Why did you save me?" Ni-Ne asked curiously knowing that earlier she had seemed to rub him the wrong way.
"Why did I?" Ti-Day asked looking confused and scratching his head. "Perhaps I just felt like it. Or maybe it was because I've been dieing to take on those card guards."
"Oh, so it's not because you've suddenly remember who I am?" Ni-Ne asked.
"How could I forget you? I met you this morning," Ti-Day explained. "Did you think the Cheshire Cat's memory was only three minutes long?"
"Never mind," Ni-Ne said. "I just thought you cared," Ti-Day crawled up next to Ni-Ne and wrapped his tail around her.
"You need some cheering up," Ti-Day suggested. "I know! How bout a party!"
"A party?" Ni-Ne said looking at him like he was two years old. "You honestly think being lost in this creepy place and surrounded by friend who have forgotten me will be fixed with a party?"
"Oh come on, it'll be fun!" Ti-Day said looking like a sad puppy. He jumped up into the tree above Ni-Ne and curled up on a branch. "It's that way."
"Your not even coming?" Ni-Ne asked.
"I can't. It's my birthday today, I'd feel kind of left out," he explained.
Ni-Ne looked at him puzzled thinking to herself that he made absolutely no sense. He pointed off into one direction of the forest where there was a winding path that lead straight into darkness. Ti-Day smiled and slowly his body started to disappear, but his eyes and mouth remained momentarily before disappearing as well.
Ni-Ne merely stared with a puzzled face at the spot where Ti-Day had just been. "He is really starting to creep my out," she said. Pom-Pom squealed in agreement. "Dare we follow his path?" Ni-Ne asked Pom-Pom. Pom-Pom looked unsure, but he inched forward anyway. Ni-Ne slowly walked along the winding path into the darkness.
"A very merry unbirthday to you!" someone sang up ahead.
"And a very merry unbirthday to you!" sang another familiar voice.
"To me?"
"To you!" the voice laughed. Both voices sounded in heavy laughter. Ni-Ne approached with caution. There in front of her was a little hedge garden with a tiny wooden gate leading into it. Inside was a long table surrounded by mismatching chairs. The table was covered with teapots, cups, butter, jam, and sugar jars. And there at the head of the table where Riku and Sora. Sora now looked like a cross between a human and a rabbit while Riku plainly looked insane.
"I don't know if I should even bother…" Ni-Ne said to herself. "Riku? Sora?" Both of them looked towards Ni-Ne at the sound of there names.
"Who are you!" Riku said excitedly making his way towards her. He was followed in hot pursuit by Sora who was just as energetically bouncing behind him.
"Ni-Ne?" she explained taking it they too had no clue who she was.
"Well Ni-Ne, I don't know who this Riku and Sora you speak of are, but I am the Mad Hatter!" he said taking a bow.
"And I am the March Hare!" Sora said bouncing circles around Ni-Ne. "Would you like to join us for some tea?" he asked sticking out a cup.
"Um, ok," Ni-Ne said. The crazy pair grabbed Ni-Ne and forced her into a huge, red velvet chair. Riku and Sora sat very close like little children waiting to hear a story. Pom-Pom was floating around the table wandering through all the steam coming from the teapots.
"My dear, you must tell us more about yourself," Riku said adding sugar to Ni-Ne's tea. It didn't take long for him to fill it so much that there was sugar pouring out of the cup, and no tea in sight.
"Well, I sorta crash landed here today and now no one remembers me," Ni-Ne explained. "Only Pom-Pom seems to know who I am."
"Is he a rare species of cotton candy?" Riku asked. "I've never seen one quite like him at all."
"Oh I know," Sora added. "He has antennas! It's fascinating!"
"He's a pomu!" Ni-Ne pointed out. "Not cotton candy…"
"Never heard of it," Sora said. "What is that, some kind of fruit? Cause he don't look like fruit."
Ni-Ne gave up the argument seeing as how Riku and Sora had lost their minds and would never understand. "What were you singing earlier?" Ni-Ne asked curiously.
"The UnBirthday Song of course," Riku said making it sound like it should have been obvious.
"Unbirthday?" Ni-Ne questioned. "What the heck is an unbirthday?"
"The holiday you can celebrate 364 days a year of course!" Sora said bouncing again. "And today is the Mad Hatter's Unbirthday!"
"Well then I guess it's my unbirthday too," Ni-Ne said, carefully thinking past the nonsense in an unbirthday.
"It is!" Riku and Sora shouted together. "In that case... A very merry unbirthday to you!" they started to sing. They picked up Ni-Ne's chair with her still sitting in it. Pom-Pom jumped up into her lap and stayed close since he was unsure of what Riku and Sora were up to. They continued carrying Ni-Ne and singing at the top of their lungs making their way to a huge cake at the other end of the table that had been previously hidden by the steam.
"Now blow the candles out my dear and make your wish come true," Riku sang as he and Sora set Ni-Ne down in front of the cake. Ni-Ne thought for a moment what her wish was and then she blew as hard as she could.
"A very merry unbirthday to you!" Riku and Sora sang as the cake then blasted off into the air like a rocket. Ni-Ne watched in shock not expecting the cake to fly off like that. It exploded in the air like a firework. Something was raining down from it, and to everyone's shock, it was heartless.
"Heartless!" Sora shouted bouncing nervously. He began running around in circles helplessly. Riku too seemed freaked out and managed to somehow get his entire body into his top hat to hide in.
Ni-Ne turned out to be the bravest of the bunch as she pulled out her key blade and began crushing the heartless one by one. Pom-Pom helped as best he could. Soon all the heartless where destroyed. Ni-Ne walked over to the hat Riku was hiding in. "You can come out now you big baby."
Riku popped out of the hat quickly. "I wasn't scared," he said, clearly lying. Sora was hiding under the table. Ni-Ne just rolled her eyes.
"Hey, I think I hear something," said a voice in the woods. Ni-Ne knew it was Hercules instantly. "Come on Goofy, let's check it out."
"Uh oh," Ni-Ne said. She remembered her last encounter with him ended up in nearly losing her head. She had to get away, but Hercules and Goofy has shown up before she had the chance. Ni-Ne could only think to hide behind Riku and Sora in hopes they would defend her.
"Good evening gentlemen and hares," Hercules said coming onto the garden. "By order of the Queen, I'm looking for a Ni-Ne Nite who is to return to the Queen's castle immediately."
"Why this is she!" Riku said stepping aside to reveal Ni-Ne.
Ni-Ne's jaw dropped open. "Is this the thanks I get for saving you from those heartless!"
"Ha!" Hercules said as he made his way over to Ni-Ne and grabber her arms. "You're not getting away this time!"
"Sora! Riku! Help me! She's gonna chop off my head!" Ni-Ne shouted.
"Oh dear, this has to be your worst unbithday ever," Riku said sounding truly sympathetic, yet doing nothing to help poor Ni-Ne. "But I do hope that before you lose your head, that you find this Riku and Sora you keep mentioning." And so Ni-Ne was dragged away glaring back at the Mad Hatter and the March Hare who had already continued the tea party as though nothing bad had just happened.
Ni-Ne tried desperately to think of some way to escape. "Goofy! You're not going to let the Queen chop off my head are you?"
"Sorry miss, I need my head so I do what she tells me," Goofy said.
"I think I can see why Kita hate's you so much," Ni-Ne said speaking to Hercules. "You sure have no decency for a lady." Ni-Ne groaned as Hercules's grip continued to squeeze her arm painfully.
"You look troubled," said Ti-Day's voice. Ti-Day had appeared up in the trees once more.
"Ti-Day! Help me please!" Ni-Ne pleaded stumbling as she was dragged backwards through the forest.
"Aww, what fun would that be?" Ti-Day asked.
"Fun? She's gonna kill me!" Ni-Ne shouted starting to lose her temper.
"You just have to fight back," Ti-Day said making it sound easy. All it would really take would be Hercules holding her down while Goofy chopped off her head and it'd be the end. How could she fight the Queen and all her card guards at the same time? "Good luck" Ti-Day said as he tossed a little wafer down to Ni-Ne from the treetops. He winked and slowly disappeared.
Ni-Ne quickly grabbed the wafer with her one free arm before it was out of reach. "Ti-Day, come back!" Ni-Ne cried. He was her last hope. She looked down at the wafer that read 'eat me'. Pom-Pom was squashed under Goofy's arm and he looked at Ni-Ne who was looking sad and hopeless. She had to pocket the wafer as she was suddenly brought into the courtyard where Queen Kita waited for her. Kita sat in her throne fuming. Her face was as red as her clothes and she looked like she was ready to kill. Kita jumped down from the throne and pulled out her key blade. She slowly made her way towards Ni-Ne who was thrown into the middle of the courtyard. Kita snapped her fingers and all the card guards formed an arena around the two girls, closing them in. Ni-Ne looked all around her. Kita was getting closer so she had no choice but to pull out her key blade as well.
Ni-Ne didn't want to fight Kita like this, but Kita didn't really look like she was about to admit that this had all been a big joke. Ni-Ne backed away as Kita continued to move in for the kill. However the card guards were now pointing their weapons inwards so that if Ni-Ne persisted in backing away, she would end up with a spear sticking through her. She gulped in total fear. Kita raised her key blade to attack mode and darted at Ni-Ne.
Ni-Ne stuck her key blade up and blocked Kita's attack. She then scooted away from the card guards to avoid getting stabbed by them. Once a safe distance away from them, she shoved Kita backwards and back flipped away from her.
Kita stumbled a bit, but she charged Ni-Ne again and swung her key blade at Ni-Ne's legs. Ni-Ne jumped and hit Kita over the head with the handle of her key blade. Kita fell forwards into the ground, but while she way there she grabbed Ni-Ne's ankle and pulled her to the ground. Kita got up and climbed on Ni-Ne to hold her down. "No one trespasses in my kingdom and gets away with it!" Kita said threateningly, watching Ni-Ne squirm.
"Oh yeah?" Ni-Ne said grabbing Kita's arm. She bit down on Kita's wrist.
"AHHH!" Kita screamed. She pulled away to retrieve her arm and get out of Ni-Ne's reach. With teeth marks in her arm, she grabbed her key blade and prepared to attack again. Ni-Ne jumped up from the ground and braced herself. This time the two girls attacked at the same time. Their key blades clashed. They continuously swung and blocked each other's attacks. Kita nearly fell over as Ni-Ne's fighting intensity seemed to increase. She was moving like and unstoppable train with the reflexes of a cat and Kita was finding it hard to keep up.
Ni-Ne had a passionate fire burning in her eyes. She had been through enough in Wonderland to make her mad. Kita was now the one backing away. "So you ready to give up yet?" Ni-Ne asked Kita who looked like he could have collapsed.
"Never!" Kita shouted, breathing hard. She foolishly ran towards Ni-Ne who easily deflected her attack and flung her back to the ground. Ni-Ne smirked at Kita. Kita, so determined not to give up actually threw her key blade at Ni-Ne unexpectedly. Because of the sharp points on Kita's blade, Ni-Ne's arm got cut, right across the tattoo of her left arm.
Ni-Ne groaned, but it wasn't her own voice. She closed her eyes, but when they opened, they glowed bright yellow. Kita's stared in shock and horror. Ni-Ne's face grew evil. "You'll pay for that you little which!" the strange Ni-Ne said.
Kita started to back away slowly. The card guards had scattered for their own safety. King Simba joined Queen Kita down in front. He roared seeming fearless, unaware that this heartless Ni-Ne was no force to be reckoned with. "Off with her head!" Simba roared.
"I don't think so!" the possessed Ni-Ne said. She was simply fearless. She snapped her fingers and her little pink dress changed into Ni-Ne's Halloween outfit. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the wafer Ti-Day had tossed to her. She ate it and within seconds started to grow taller and taller. "If I'm not mistaken, you once promised that you would never betray me? Well it looks like you are all a bunch of lying scum! And now you will pay…"
"I rule Wonderland!" Kita said. "And according to my law, you must leave at once! Anyone over a mile high must have their head removed!"
"You think I'm scared of you little windbag?" heartless Ni-Ne taunted. "Let me show you what fear is… the true powers of the heartless. NIGHTMARE STORM!" Dark clouds started to form, surrounded the now abnormally tall Ni-Ne. "Let your fears flash before your eyes!" Ghostly figures began raining out of the clouds and flying around the courtyard. Everyone ran screaming in fear. Even Pom-Pom was now scared as he resorted to hiding under the throne and the watching the frightening sight.
Kita didn't seem to get it. She persisted in getting her authority back. "Who are you!"
"No matter to you Kita, just call me your worst nightmare!" The giant heartless Ni-Ne grabbed Kita in her hands and Kita began to scream in a shrill, painful scream. She watched her nightmares flash before her eyes and it was too much for her mind and heart to bear.
Almost super naturally Kita was transported to a dark room. It was cold and musty. The floor was titled and filthy. The walls were covered in blood red wallpaper that was tearing off. The only light seemed to come from a little fire burning in one of the corners. Kita was curled up on floor, shivering and crying. She covered her face as though trying to keep herself from seeing anything that might be in the room with her. "Help…" Kita cried quietly. She was scared out of her mind unable to tear her hands away from her face.
"Aww, crying for your mommy?" the heartless Ni-Ne's voice asked. Kita peaked out between her fingers. It was no longer Ni-Ne. There stood a woman in a long, torn black dress that had a rather revealing V-shaped cut down the breast. Her hair was long and black, reaching all the way to the floor. She was boney with pale skin, and of course glowing yellow eyes. She slowly made her way towards Kita leaving a trail of black goop on the floor behind her.
Kita tired to roll away, but she felt too weak and truthfully had nowhere to go. "W-who are you?" she asked, the fear shaking in her voice.
"Again? I cannot tell you who I am. However, I was the one who saved your friend Ti-Day from that bastard Clayton." Kita remembered Ti-Day's story of the battle in the jungle.
"But Ti-Day said that Ni-Ne saved him…" Kita said. "You're not Ni-Ne."
The woman chuckled and leaned down into Kita's face. "I am she. Her heartless self… however, my name shall remain unknown to you sweetie. Now go back to the place from which you came." Kita's was frozen in horror as her body slowly began to disappear and the sight of the woman faded away. "I'll be back…" the woman whispered.
Ni-Ne snapped back to consciousness. "Huh?" She said looking around. Everything was so small. She had mysteriously grown so much taller everyone else who she noticed where now smaller than her shoes. Everyone was running around on the ground looking like a bunch of wondering fools. Though they looked normal now, they were screaming in horror. "What's wrong? What happened?" Ni-Ne asked them.
"It's talking to us!" Donald shouted. "We have to kill it!"
"What? It's me, Ni-Ne!" Ni-Ne shouted.
Sora and Riku had made their way to the scene at some point. Sora attached his jungle keychain to his Key Blade and it changed into a stronger one. "Lets go Riku, Donald, Goofy! We can take this giant heartless!"
"Wait a minute…" Ni-Ne thought to herself. "He just used their real names. They're normal again. They should know who I am. SORA STOP! It's me, Ni-Ne!" Sora struck Ni-Ne's ankle, which with the size difference barely felt like a scratch, but the thought that her friends were attacking her was too much to stand. Ni-Ne flattened her skirt to check and see if Sora had done any damage. Her entire body was black as night. "What's going on?" she gasped. "What's happening to me!"
Riku was climbing her skirt and started to stab Ni-Ne in the arm. "Owe!" she shouted. Goofy was hitting her with his shield and Donald began casting spells that seemed the most painful of all. "Hey, stop! That hurts!" Ni-Ne cried. Hercules and Simba were up and ready to join the fight as well. Hercules uprooted a tree and started whacking Ni-Ne's knee with it. "Hey! Cut it out!" Simba scratched Ni-Ne's ankles. "Ouch! Stop it you guys! IT'S ME!"
Ti-Day and Kita had been knocked out. Ti-Day was the first to wake. He could hear the commotion behind him and turned to see the heartless Ni-Ne being beaten. His jaw dropped in horror. "Kita wake up! Ni-Ne's in trouble! We have to help her!" Ti-Day shook Kita continuously until she opened her eyes at last. "Come on Kita, Ni-Ne's in trouble."
Kita shook her head to wake herself up and looked over to see the others attacking Ni-Ne. "STOP IT!" She screamed suddenly, nearly causing Ti-Day to go deaf. "IT'S NI-NE. STOP!" She dashed over with Ti-Day to attempt to stop the others. Kita ran over and pulled Simba away by grabbing his mane.
Ti-Day ran in front of Hercules and the tree trying to get his attention. "Stop Hercules! The heartless is Ni-Ne, don't hurt her!"
"Are you sure?" Hercules asked.
"Yes, please stop!" Ti-Day pleaded. He persisted on his way by chasing down Sora next. "Sora, stop! It's not a heartless. That's Ni-Ne! Please stop!" Sora looked at Ti-Day like he was absolutely crazy. "Please believe me."
"Goofy! Donald! Stop attacking!" Sora shouted. "He says this is Ni-Ne." Donald and Goofy were obedient despite the fact they had disbelief as well. Riku however, was too far away to shout to. Ti-Day would have to climb up after him to get him to stop.
Ti-Day started climbing a nearby tree and then grabbed onto the hem of Ni-Ne's skirt. "Riku! Riku!" Ti-Day shouted. He continued climbing up until he was right under Riku. He grabbed his foot and caused him to slip. "Riku! Stop! That's Ni-Ne you're attacking!" Riku looked down to see that everyone on the ground was staring at him. He looked up at the yellow eyes that were looking down at him. He was entirely unconvinced that the heartless was Ni-Ne, but he felt stupid to continue attacking if everyone else had given up. And so Riku jumped off of Ni-Ne into the treetops. Ti-Day however remained.
"Ti-Day, I'm scared," the heartless Ni-Ne said covering her face. Her voice was hard to understand, but Ti-Day could interpret. She began raining black tears, covering her face.
"Calm down Ni-Ne, I'm not going anywhere," Ti-Day said, staying close. "Just remember who you really are." Ni-Ne's glowing eyes looked sad. Slowly the tattoo on her left arm reappeared glowing bright purple. She began to shrink back to her normal size. Ti-Day caught her and pulled her up into a tree with him. He wrapped his arms around her to show her that she was safe now. Ni-Ne embraced him tightly and refused to let go. Ti-Day kissed her on the forehead. "It's ok now," Ti-Day said. Ni-Ne was cut up in several places and her clothes were a bit torn. The couple made their way down from the trees and joined everyone on the ground. Everyone looked sorry for attacking her.
"You're forgiven," she said before anyone could say anything. "I wasn't myself. I may have hurt some of you. I was scared. I don't remember becoming so big. I couldn't even remember who I was."
"None of use have been ourselves," Donald said. "King Mickey warned us about this world and it's absolutely insane. We've been under a mind spell that's caused by the darkness in this world."
"Thank goodness," Ni-Ne said. "I thought you had all seriously lost your minds in that crash." Pom-Pom nodded in agreement.
"Well, we're back to normal now, so I say that's a good thing and we should get out of this strange place as soon as possible," Sora said. "Now where's that keyhole?"
Ni-Ne could feel something behind her. It wasn't a physical feeling at all, but a sense of magic. She turned to see a keyhole glowing inside of the throne Kita had been sitting in earlier. She slowly walked towards it and made it half way there before the others seemed to notice she had left. She instinctively stuck her key blade up towards the keyhole. There was a gust of wind as a beam of light bust from the end of Ni-Ne's key blade and shot straight into the keyhole. There was a little locking noise and the beam was broken. A little keychain shot out at Ni-Ne. It was a little black rose. Ni-Ne picked it up and held it in her hand. The others gathered around her to look at it.
"Hey, I thought only my Key Blade could do that," Sora said, looking confused.
"I didn't know I could," Ni-Ne said dreamily. She was just as confused as he was, but it meant something as she, like Kita and Sora had gained a keychain.
"Well, all in favor of ditching Wonderland say I," Simba said.
"I!" everyone shouted together. And so the Warriors of Light headed off to search for their Gummi Ships.