Chapter 3: Alice in Wonderland
Yumi, Sora, Donald, and Goofy fell thought a long tunnel, floating in the air. Sora, Yumi and Donald landed safely on the ground. Goofy, knowing himself, he's a bit clumsy, fell face flat.
"Oh, my fur and whiskers! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" A white rabbit said running in front of them. It ran over Goofy and said, "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! I'm here, I should be there. I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!! The queen, she'll have my head for sure!"
Yumi and the gang followed the white rabbit. They followed until they stopped at a door about knee high with a golden knob. The rabbit raced through the room going into the door and slamming it behind him.
"How did he get so small?" Yumi asked kneeling down.
"No, you're simply too big." The door said.
"Ahh!!" Yumi said loosing her balance and fell on the floor. The gang joined her and examined the door. "It talks!"
The doorknob yawned. "Must you be so loud? You woke me up." It said.
"Good mornin'" Goofy said with a friendly wave.
"Good night! I need a bit more sleep.
"Wait! What do we need to do to get small?!" Sora said.
"Why don't you try the bottle.... Over there." The door said staring behind them. They turned around and saw a table appear with 2 bottles.
The gang went up to the table. "What is this?" Yumi said picking up the bottle.
"I don't know. Drink it." Sora said.
"What?! You expect me to drink something that doesn't have a label?!? It could be something nasty or who knows what!!" Yumi screamed.
"Forget. Give it to me." Sora said grabbing the bottle from Yumi and drank a sip. Sora puffed into white smoke and stood only 10 inches tall. Yumi picked Sora up and placed him on the table. "Wow! It's like...a shrinking potion. So? How do you feel?" Yumi said to Sora.
"Uh.....kinda woozy but, I'm ok. Heh." Sora said.
"Well, what did it taste like?" Donald asked.
"Hm......chicken lips. Hehe..." Sora joked.
"Eww!! There is no way I'm drinking that!!" Goofy, Donald and Yumi said with a disgusting look on their face.
"HAHAHA!! It was just a joke guys!! You should've seen your faces!! Haha.....anyways, don't just stand there...." Sora said tossing the bottle over to Yumi. "Drink it. It tastes sweet."
They all drank it turning into to size of Sora. They went up to the door and woke it up.
"Humph.....What now?!" the door said with a disturbing look.
"We're small enough. Now we can go through!" Sora told the door and reached for the knob. The knob moved away from Sora's hand and said, "I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you!" he chuckled. "I'm locked!!"
"What?! How...." Sora said running out of ideas.
"You have to push the bed into the wall." The door instructed.
"Ok. Come on guys!" Sora raced across the room and tried to push the bed.
"Haha....silly children. You can't push the bed like that. You need more strength." The door said.
"But how?! How can we change back to normal size?!" Sora asked.
"You have to drink the bottle to reverse your size." The door explained.
"How?! Its too tall get on top!" Yumi said.
"Well, did you try the chair?" he asked. Yumi turned around and saw a chair behind the table.
"I'll go! I want to taste the sweet liquid again." Yumi said moving her tongue licking her lip as the sweetness came back and lingered her throat.
"Fine." The gang said.
Yumi climbed up the chair and onto the table. She picked out the bottle with the blue label figuring out that the one she drank to make her smaller was the orange label. She held the oversized jar and held it to her mouth. She drank a sip and white smoke surrounded her. After the smoke was gone, she was back to her normal size. She had a weird look on her face.
"What's wrong?" Sora said to Yumi. "Eww!! It's sour!! Yuck!"
Everyone laughed. "Hurry. Push the bed in." Sora reminded Yumi. She went up to the bed and pushed it with all of her might. Finally the bed moved into the wall. It now looked like any other decorations on the wall. After the bed moved, they discovered a hole in the wall.
"Hurry up, Yumi. We're gonna go exploring." Sora yelled.
"Ok." Yumi said drinking a sip out of the orange-labeled bottle. "Mmm......." She said while she shrank.
As they went through the opening, they saw a courtroom. They saw the white rabbit climb up a pack of stairs and blew a bugle. "Court is now in session." The white rabbit said catching its breath.
"I'm on trial? But why?" said a girl in a blue and white dress.
"Her Majesty, the queen of hearts, presiding." The rabbit said ignoring the girl's question.
"This girl is the culprit. There's no doubt about it." Said the queen of hearts. She looked quite chubby wearing a back and white coat with her hair tied up in a neat bun. "And the reason is.....because I say so, that's why!"
"That is so unfair." The little girl said.
"Well, have you anything to say in your defense?" the queen asked.
"Of course! I've done absolutely nothing wrong. You may be queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so....so mean!" the girl protested.
"Silence" the queen demanded. "You dare defy me?"
"Hey guys, we should help her out." Sora said.
"Yeah, but the--" Donald said.
"We're outsiders, so wouldn't that be muddling?" Goofy finished.
"Meddling!!" Donald snapped.
"Oh yea. That's against the rules." Goofy said.
"The court first the defense.....guilty as charged. For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart....off with her head!!" the queen exiled.
"No, no. Oh please!" the girl pleaded.
"Hold it right there!" Sora interrupted.
"Who are you? How dare you interfere with my court?" the queen asked in a raging voice.
"Excuse me. But we know who the real culprit is." Sora said.
"Uh-huh. It's the heartle--" Goofy covered his mouth not to reveal the culprit.
"Anyways, she's not the one you're looking for." Sora said pointing to the girl.
"That's nonsense. Have you any proof?" the queen asked.
"Uh....." Sora said.
Meanwhile, the girl was being put in a cage next to the queen's court stand.
"Bring me evidence of Alice's innocence!" the queen demanded. "Fail, and it's off with all of your heads! Gather as much or little evidence as you please. Report back here once you're ready."
"Hmm...where do we find the evidence?" Sora said.
"Well, let's talk to the girl first. Maybe she'll give us some ideas of where to look or something.
As the approached the girl she said, "Who are you?"
"I'm Sora." He said.
"I'm Yumi" she said.
"I'm Goofy, and that there's Donald." Goofy said pointing to Donald.
"Pleased to meet you, though I do wish it were under better circumstances. I'm sorry mixed up in this nonsense. I'm Alice." She said.
"Why are you on trial in the first place?" Yumi asked.
"I should like to know the very same thing!" Alice said. "Apparently I was guilty from the moment I took the stand."
"That's crazy!" Sora snapped. "So, where are you from?"
"Hmm.....curious. I can't quite remember. You see, I found this mysterious rabbit hole. When I tried to peek inside, I tumbled in head over heels. And I found myself here." She explained.
"So you're from another world!" Sora exclaimed.
"That's funny. Maybe you don't need a ship, then." Goofy said.
"I don't get it." Donald said not laughing.
"What do you mean 'another world' ?" Alice asked. "Uh, anyway. I asked this Cheshire cat how to get home. But instead, I ended up here. You should ask the Cheshire cat for help you'll find him in the Locust forest." Alice said pointing to the opening in the grass.
"Enough! The defendant will now be silent!" the Ace of spades said.
"Well, that was an exciting conversation." Yumi said to Sora, Donald and Goofy.
They headed inside the Locust forest. When they got in, a cat's head with pink and purple stripes popped in front of their faces.
"Ekk!" Yumi said startled, hiding behind Sora. Then the face disappeared. It then later reappeared on a tree stump on Yumi's right side. Body was balancing on its head. The body jumped off the head and placed the head on top of the body.
"Who are you?!" Donald exclaimed.
"Who indeed? Poor Alice. Soon to lost her head, and she's not guilty for a thing!" the Cheshire Cat said.
"Hey, if you know who the culprit is, tell us!" Sora said.
"The Cheshire Cat has all the answers—but doesn't always tell. The answer, the culprit, the cat all lie in the darkness." The Cheshire Cat said disappearing.
"Wait!" Sora exclaimed.
"They've already left the forest. I won't tell which exit. There are 4 pieces of evidence in all. Three are a cinch to find. The fourth is tricky. Big reward if you find them all." The Cheshire Cat explained.
"Should we trust him?" Goofy asked.
"Trust or no trust? I trust, you decide!" the Cheshire Cat said.
Sora, Yumi, Donald and Goofy all entered the bizarre room. They found a pink box. Yumi opened it and saw evidence of what they needed to show the queen.
"Look what u found. Now we can save Alice. She may be innocent, but what about you?" said the Cheshire Cat.
What do you mean?
"I won't tell you." It said disappearing.
They left the room and went to search for more evidence. When they finished collecting all 4 evidences, they reported back to the queen.
"Now, show me what you have found." The queen said. The 4 boxes appeared before her. "Well, that s a lot of evidence, but I'm still not impressed. Cards! Bring forth my evidence."
The cards added an extra pink box that held her evidence. Then they shuffled the boxes together and placed them in one straight row.
"Hmm, checking all 5 boxes would be a waste of time. All right then. Choose the one you wish to present. I decide who's guilty based on that evidence." The queen said.
"What? After all the trouble of collecting it?" Sora snapped.
"You dare object? Then you will lose your head!" She exclaimed. "Now choose! One box!"
Sora stepped up to the middle box feeling confident in himself.
"Are you certain? No second chances!" the queen said.
"Yes I'm sure." Sora said with a confident attitude.
"Now we will see how the real culprit is!" the queen hollered.
As the box opened, a heartless appeared for a couple of seconds, then disappeared.
"What in the world was that?!" the queen shouted.
"There's your evidence. Alice is innocent." Sora said.
"Yea!" Yumi hollered from her court stand.
"Silence! I'm the law here!" the queen snapped. "Article 29: anyone who defies the queen is guilty."
"That's crazy!" Yelled Donald.
"Seize them at once!" the queen demanded.
A mechanical tower appeared in the middle of the courtroom and a card turned one of the wheels causing Alice's cage to rise up the highest tip of the queen's court stand. The cards raged at Sora, Yumi, Donald and Goofy with axes and spears.
"Hurry, Sora! Attack the tower and lower Alice! We'll distract the cards!" Yumi hollered. Yumi, Donald and Goofy distracted the cards while Sora attacked the tower. Finally, the tower broke and Alice's cage lowered down to ground level. Sora and Yumi ran to it finding Alice not even in the cage.
Yumi and Sora's mouths dropped open. "You mean we fought for nothing?" Yumi said.
"You fools!" the queen said in a raging voice slamming her fists on the court stand. "Find the one who's behind this! I don't care how!" All of the cards scattered in different directions looking for Alice and the one's behind this.
Sora, Yumi, Donald and Goofy went to find Alice in the Locust forest. There, a flower spited out a boulder. The Cheshire Cat appeared on it with that silly grin on its face.
"Have you seen Alice?" Yumi asked the Cheshire Cat.
"Alice, no. Shadows, yes." The cat replied.
"Where did they go?" Goofy asked.
"This way? That way? Does it matter?" the Cheshire Cat asked.
"Hey! We're not here to answer riddles. We need to find Alice!" Yumi said.
"Left, right, up, down! All mixed up thanks to the shadows." The Cheshire Cat said. "Step deeper into the forest to the deserted garden. You might find shadows in the upside-down room!" It said disappearing out of thin air.
"Where's that?" Yumi asked.
"Who knows. But this place is pretty weird itself." Sora said walking farther into the forest. A couple of seconds later, they heard Sora's voice. "I found it! I found the upside-down room! Come here!" They entered the room and looked around.
"Hey!" Yumi said pointing to the Cheshire Cat.
"They're hiding somewhere. And the momeraths outgrabe. Want to find the shadows? Try turning on the light." Then the Cheshire Cat disappeared.
"Hmm......what light?" Sora asked.
"Is that it?" Yumi asked pointing to a lantern on the table. Sora jumped up and lit it. On the otherside of the room stood another light. The Cheshire Cat appeared. "Its too dim. Make it brighter." The cat said.
"What next?" Donald asked.
"One more lamp you need to light." The cat said and disappeared. Sora jumped onto the next table and lit the lantern.
The cat reappeared on the other table. "All the lights are on. You'll see the shadows soon. They'll arise in this room, but somewhere else. The shadows might go after the doorknob, too" The cat said and disappeared again. Sora and his gang traveled through many bizarre rooms killing heartless. Finally, they reached the last bizarre room. There, on the table stood the Cheshire Cat.
"The shadows should be here soon. Are you prepared for the worst? If not, too bad!" the Cheshire Cat said disappearing. A large Heartless with weird arms and legs appeared in front of the gang. It was an endless match. Finally, after Sora used fire on it, the heartless stopped and collapsed on the floor. A voice came from behind Sora. Everyone whirled around and saw the door.
"What a racket." The door mumbled. "How's a doorknob suppose to get any sleep?" The door yawned revealing a keyhole. It glared with bright light as all 4 of them stared in. All of a sudden, Sora's Keyblade was attracted to the keyhole. A blue beam of light came out of the Keyblade's tip and went into the keyhole sealing it.
"What was that?" Yumi asked.
"You hear that? Sounded like something closed." Sora said.
The Cheshire Cat appeared on the table startling everyone. "Splendid. You're quite the hero. If you're looking for Alice she's not here."
"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Yumi hollered.
"She's gone! Off with the shadows, into the darkness." The Cheshire Cat disappeared.
"No......"Sora's word trailed off.
"Let's go back to our gummi ship. We might find her in a different world." Donald said turning to the exit of this world.
Yumi turned back once more at the world before they warped.
"We'll find you Alice, we will." Yumi mumbled to herself as she faced forward and went into another world...
Traverse Town
"So you found the keyhole, huh?" Leon said.
"Yea. It locked it automatically." Sora said
"Good." Aerith.
"Every world along the stars has a keyhole. And each one leads to the heart of that world. There must be one in this town as well." Leon explained.
"What do you mean?" Sora looked confused.
"It was in Ansems report." Aerith said. "The Heartless enter through the keyhole and do something to the world's core."
"What happens to the world?" Sora asked.
"In the end, it disappears." She said.
"What?!" Sora, Yumi, Donald and Goofy shouted.
That's why your key is so important." Leon said. "So lock them all. You're the only one who can."
"I don't know....."Sora said uneasily.
"Seeing other worlds would probably serve you well." Leon suggested.
"Yeeh!" Donald shouted.
"We gotta find your friends, find King Mickey and help you return to your world, Yumi." Goofy said.
"I guess you're right.....okay. "Sora said.
"Yay! Now lets hop back on the Gummi Ship and lock those keyholes!" shouted Yumi rapping an arm around Sora's neck and giving him a noogie.
"Oww.....stop that!" Sora laughed.
"First, lets look for that keyhole here in traverse town." Donald suggested.
They wander around third district for awhile.
They walked into the empty room and look around.
"There's something about this musty place...." Sora heard a voice and whirled around and saw Kairi walking into the room. "It reminds me of the secret place back home, where we used to scribble on the walls. Remember?" She turned to Sora.
"Kairi?" He said.
"Sora?" he heard Goofy's voice behind him. He turned and saw Goofy, Donald and Yumi behind him. Then He turned forward and saw that Kairi was gone.
"Well, well." A voice behind him said.
Sora whirled around in a happy voice. "Kairi?!"
"I beg your pardon.....You've arrived sooner than I expected." A man said wearing an all blue outfit with a tall blue hat. He had white hair and long white mustache and dorky glasses.
Sora walked up to him. "Uh, forget what I said.....anyways, so you knew we were coming?"
"Of course." The man said.
"Are you a.....heartless?" Sora asked.
"He doesn't look like one." Yumi said.
"Oh my, no!" the man said. "My name is Merlin. As you can see, I'm a sorcerer. I spend much of my time traveling. It's good to be home. Your king requested my help."
"King Mickey?" Goofy asked.
"Yes, indeed." Merlin said. "Donald, Goofy. And who might you be, young man and madam?" he said looking at Sora and Yumi.
"I'm Sora and this is Yumi."
"And so you have the key." Merlin said.
"What did the king ask you to do?" Donald asked.
"Just a moment...." Merlin said walking up and placing his bag on the elevation. "Presto!" His bag opened and it began unloading itself with all of his things. In a couple of minutes later, the room was completely furnished with books and more furniture. "Ah, finished. Ahem. Your king asked me to train you in the art of magic. We can start anytime you like. Let me know when you're ready to begin training. Oh and one more thing."
The room glistened with bright blue sparkles and gathered appearing a fairy godmother. "Hello. I'm the Fairy Godmother. Your king also asked me to help, too. I will assist you throughout your journey." She said.
"I do not know how much I can be of help, but do stop by anytime." He said.
Sora, Yumi, Goofy and Donald left the area and arrived to Third District. Heartless appeared in front of them. They got their weapons out and all of a sudden, someone slashed the heartless away. Sora's face turned in amazement. In front of his eyes, he saw his friend, Riku.
"There you are! What's going on?" Riku said.
"Riku!" Sora said in amazement. He went up to Riku and stuck his fingers in Riku's mouth making it look like a silly face.
"Hey, hey. Cut it out!" Riku said moving Sora's hands away from his face.
"I'm not dreaming this time, right?" Sora asked.
"I hope not. Took forever to find you." Riku said.
"Wait a second. Where's Kairi?" Sora asked.
"Isn't she with you?" Riku replied. Sora didn't say anything and looked down. "Well, don't worry." Riku said. "I'm sure she made it off the island, too. We're finally free. Hey, she might even be looking for us now. We'll all be together again soon. Don't worry. Just leave everything to me. I know this--" something interrupted Riku. He turned around and saw Sora killing a heartless. Sora lifted his Keyblade and placed it on his shoulder.
"Leave it to who?" Sora asked.
"Sora, what did you--" Riku said walking up to him.
"I've been looking for you and Kairi too, with their help." Sora pointed to Goofy, Donald and Yumi.
"Who are they?" Riku said, staring at them.
"Ahem. My name is Donald Duck."
"I'm Goofy."
"I'm Yumi! Pleasure to meet ya!" she said holding a peace sign with her fingers and smiled. Riku went up to Yumi and lifted her chin. "Say, you look a lot like Kairi....."
"Get your hands off of me." She said grabbing Riku's arm and throwing it back at him.
"Anyways, we've visited so many places and worlds, looking for you." Sora continued.
"Really? Well, what do you know, I never would've guessed." Riku said.
"Oh, and guess what? Sora's the Keyblade master." Goofy said patting Sora on the shoulders.
"Who would've thought it?" Donald said.
"What's that mean!" Sora said.
"So, this is called a Keyblade?" Riku asked holding out Sora's Keyblade.
"Huh?" Sora said looking in his hands. "Hey, give it back." Sora said reaching for it but tripped and fell.
Riku examined it well and threw it at Sora saying, "Catch."
"Whoa!" Sora said as he caught it.
"Okay, so, you're coming with us right? We've got this awesome rocket. Wait 'til you see it!" Sora said.
"No. He can't come!" Donald yelled.
"What?"
"Forget it!"
"Oh come on! He's my friend!"
"I don't care!"
Yumi looked up and saw that Riku is gone. "Huh, he's gone!"
"Riku?" Sora said looking around.
"Oh well. At least he's okay." Sora said. "And who knows? Maybe we'll run into Kairi soon, too."
They went into a small house where Aerith, Leon, Yuffie and Cid hung out.
"You guys ever hear of Maleficent?" Cid asked.
"Who's she?" Yumi asked.
"A witch, man, she's a witch!" Cid said.
"She's the reason why this town is full of Heartless." Leon said leaning against the wall. "Don't take her lightly."
"She's been using the Heartless for years." Aerith explained.
"We lost our world, thanks to her...." Leon said pissed off.
"One day, a swarm of Heartless took over our world!" Cid said.
"That was nine years ago." Leon said.
"I got out of that mess and came here with these guys." Cid explained.
"Our ruler was a wise man named Ansem." Yuffie said. "He dedicated his life to study Heartless. His report should tell us how to get rid of the Heartless."
"Where's the report?" Yumi asked.
"We don't know." Leon said. "It got scattered when our world was destroyed. I'm sure Maleficent's got most of the pages."
"You know to think of it, I've been thinking about that bell in the Second District." Aerith said.
"Oh! You mean the one that rang a bit ago?" Yumi asked.
"The one above the gizmo shop. There's a legend about it, you know." Yuffie said.
"But its all boarded up. Nobody can get in there." Aerith said.
"Heck, go check it out. Ring it 3 times to see if anything happens." Cid said.
They left the house and headed out to Second District. They all went through the gizmo shop and came out the other side of the door. They climbed up the ladder and broke open the boards. There stood a rope attached to the bell above it. Yumi was too curious, so she just went up with no warning and gave the rope a little tug. The gang rushed out and saw that the fountain the the Second Diststrict had moved the picture to another picture. Then, Sora rang the bell the second time. The picture moved again changing it to something else. Yumi rang it again for the sake of her life the last time. The picture moved again revealing the same picture that was there before. The picture glowed with a bluish tint and revealed the keyhole. The gang approached to the keyhole. Then Sora sealed the keyhole as the picture revealed the keyhole no more.
The gang left on their Gummi Ship and headed for another world.
To be continued in Chapter 4: The Deep Jungle.................
A/N: Yea, this is kind of a long chapter cuz I included the part about Traverse Town and all. Hehe.....I'm soo tired from just doing this chapter.....Imma take a break now!
Yumi, Sora, Donald, and Goofy fell thought a long tunnel, floating in the air. Sora, Yumi and Donald landed safely on the ground. Goofy, knowing himself, he's a bit clumsy, fell face flat.
"Oh, my fur and whiskers! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" A white rabbit said running in front of them. It ran over Goofy and said, "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! I'm here, I should be there. I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!! The queen, she'll have my head for sure!"
Yumi and the gang followed the white rabbit. They followed until they stopped at a door about knee high with a golden knob. The rabbit raced through the room going into the door and slamming it behind him.
"How did he get so small?" Yumi asked kneeling down.
"No, you're simply too big." The door said.
"Ahh!!" Yumi said loosing her balance and fell on the floor. The gang joined her and examined the door. "It talks!"
The doorknob yawned. "Must you be so loud? You woke me up." It said.
"Good mornin'" Goofy said with a friendly wave.
"Good night! I need a bit more sleep.
"Wait! What do we need to do to get small?!" Sora said.
"Why don't you try the bottle.... Over there." The door said staring behind them. They turned around and saw a table appear with 2 bottles.
The gang went up to the table. "What is this?" Yumi said picking up the bottle.
"I don't know. Drink it." Sora said.
"What?! You expect me to drink something that doesn't have a label?!? It could be something nasty or who knows what!!" Yumi screamed.
"Forget. Give it to me." Sora said grabbing the bottle from Yumi and drank a sip. Sora puffed into white smoke and stood only 10 inches tall. Yumi picked Sora up and placed him on the table. "Wow! It's like...a shrinking potion. So? How do you feel?" Yumi said to Sora.
"Uh.....kinda woozy but, I'm ok. Heh." Sora said.
"Well, what did it taste like?" Donald asked.
"Hm......chicken lips. Hehe..." Sora joked.
"Eww!! There is no way I'm drinking that!!" Goofy, Donald and Yumi said with a disgusting look on their face.
"HAHAHA!! It was just a joke guys!! You should've seen your faces!! Haha.....anyways, don't just stand there...." Sora said tossing the bottle over to Yumi. "Drink it. It tastes sweet."
They all drank it turning into to size of Sora. They went up to the door and woke it up.
"Humph.....What now?!" the door said with a disturbing look.
"We're small enough. Now we can go through!" Sora told the door and reached for the knob. The knob moved away from Sora's hand and said, "I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you!" he chuckled. "I'm locked!!"
"What?! How...." Sora said running out of ideas.
"You have to push the bed into the wall." The door instructed.
"Ok. Come on guys!" Sora raced across the room and tried to push the bed.
"Haha....silly children. You can't push the bed like that. You need more strength." The door said.
"But how?! How can we change back to normal size?!" Sora asked.
"You have to drink the bottle to reverse your size." The door explained.
"How?! Its too tall get on top!" Yumi said.
"Well, did you try the chair?" he asked. Yumi turned around and saw a chair behind the table.
"I'll go! I want to taste the sweet liquid again." Yumi said moving her tongue licking her lip as the sweetness came back and lingered her throat.
"Fine." The gang said.
Yumi climbed up the chair and onto the table. She picked out the bottle with the blue label figuring out that the one she drank to make her smaller was the orange label. She held the oversized jar and held it to her mouth. She drank a sip and white smoke surrounded her. After the smoke was gone, she was back to her normal size. She had a weird look on her face.
"What's wrong?" Sora said to Yumi. "Eww!! It's sour!! Yuck!"
Everyone laughed. "Hurry. Push the bed in." Sora reminded Yumi. She went up to the bed and pushed it with all of her might. Finally the bed moved into the wall. It now looked like any other decorations on the wall. After the bed moved, they discovered a hole in the wall.
"Hurry up, Yumi. We're gonna go exploring." Sora yelled.
"Ok." Yumi said drinking a sip out of the orange-labeled bottle. "Mmm......." She said while she shrank.
As they went through the opening, they saw a courtroom. They saw the white rabbit climb up a pack of stairs and blew a bugle. "Court is now in session." The white rabbit said catching its breath.
"I'm on trial? But why?" said a girl in a blue and white dress.
"Her Majesty, the queen of hearts, presiding." The rabbit said ignoring the girl's question.
"This girl is the culprit. There's no doubt about it." Said the queen of hearts. She looked quite chubby wearing a back and white coat with her hair tied up in a neat bun. "And the reason is.....because I say so, that's why!"
"That is so unfair." The little girl said.
"Well, have you anything to say in your defense?" the queen asked.
"Of course! I've done absolutely nothing wrong. You may be queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so....so mean!" the girl protested.
"Silence" the queen demanded. "You dare defy me?"
"Hey guys, we should help her out." Sora said.
"Yeah, but the--" Donald said.
"We're outsiders, so wouldn't that be muddling?" Goofy finished.
"Meddling!!" Donald snapped.
"Oh yea. That's against the rules." Goofy said.
"The court first the defense.....guilty as charged. For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart....off with her head!!" the queen exiled.
"No, no. Oh please!" the girl pleaded.
"Hold it right there!" Sora interrupted.
"Who are you? How dare you interfere with my court?" the queen asked in a raging voice.
"Excuse me. But we know who the real culprit is." Sora said.
"Uh-huh. It's the heartle--" Goofy covered his mouth not to reveal the culprit.
"Anyways, she's not the one you're looking for." Sora said pointing to the girl.
"That's nonsense. Have you any proof?" the queen asked.
"Uh....." Sora said.
Meanwhile, the girl was being put in a cage next to the queen's court stand.
"Bring me evidence of Alice's innocence!" the queen demanded. "Fail, and it's off with all of your heads! Gather as much or little evidence as you please. Report back here once you're ready."
"Hmm...where do we find the evidence?" Sora said.
"Well, let's talk to the girl first. Maybe she'll give us some ideas of where to look or something.
As the approached the girl she said, "Who are you?"
"I'm Sora." He said.
"I'm Yumi" she said.
"I'm Goofy, and that there's Donald." Goofy said pointing to Donald.
"Pleased to meet you, though I do wish it were under better circumstances. I'm sorry mixed up in this nonsense. I'm Alice." She said.
"Why are you on trial in the first place?" Yumi asked.
"I should like to know the very same thing!" Alice said. "Apparently I was guilty from the moment I took the stand."
"That's crazy!" Sora snapped. "So, where are you from?"
"Hmm.....curious. I can't quite remember. You see, I found this mysterious rabbit hole. When I tried to peek inside, I tumbled in head over heels. And I found myself here." She explained.
"So you're from another world!" Sora exclaimed.
"That's funny. Maybe you don't need a ship, then." Goofy said.
"I don't get it." Donald said not laughing.
"What do you mean 'another world' ?" Alice asked. "Uh, anyway. I asked this Cheshire cat how to get home. But instead, I ended up here. You should ask the Cheshire cat for help you'll find him in the Locust forest." Alice said pointing to the opening in the grass.
"Enough! The defendant will now be silent!" the Ace of spades said.
"Well, that was an exciting conversation." Yumi said to Sora, Donald and Goofy.
They headed inside the Locust forest. When they got in, a cat's head with pink and purple stripes popped in front of their faces.
"Ekk!" Yumi said startled, hiding behind Sora. Then the face disappeared. It then later reappeared on a tree stump on Yumi's right side. Body was balancing on its head. The body jumped off the head and placed the head on top of the body.
"Who are you?!" Donald exclaimed.
"Who indeed? Poor Alice. Soon to lost her head, and she's not guilty for a thing!" the Cheshire Cat said.
"Hey, if you know who the culprit is, tell us!" Sora said.
"The Cheshire Cat has all the answers—but doesn't always tell. The answer, the culprit, the cat all lie in the darkness." The Cheshire Cat said disappearing.
"Wait!" Sora exclaimed.
"They've already left the forest. I won't tell which exit. There are 4 pieces of evidence in all. Three are a cinch to find. The fourth is tricky. Big reward if you find them all." The Cheshire Cat explained.
"Should we trust him?" Goofy asked.
"Trust or no trust? I trust, you decide!" the Cheshire Cat said.
Sora, Yumi, Donald and Goofy all entered the bizarre room. They found a pink box. Yumi opened it and saw evidence of what they needed to show the queen.
"Look what u found. Now we can save Alice. She may be innocent, but what about you?" said the Cheshire Cat.
What do you mean?
"I won't tell you." It said disappearing.
They left the room and went to search for more evidence. When they finished collecting all 4 evidences, they reported back to the queen.
"Now, show me what you have found." The queen said. The 4 boxes appeared before her. "Well, that s a lot of evidence, but I'm still not impressed. Cards! Bring forth my evidence."
The cards added an extra pink box that held her evidence. Then they shuffled the boxes together and placed them in one straight row.
"Hmm, checking all 5 boxes would be a waste of time. All right then. Choose the one you wish to present. I decide who's guilty based on that evidence." The queen said.
"What? After all the trouble of collecting it?" Sora snapped.
"You dare object? Then you will lose your head!" She exclaimed. "Now choose! One box!"
Sora stepped up to the middle box feeling confident in himself.
"Are you certain? No second chances!" the queen said.
"Yes I'm sure." Sora said with a confident attitude.
"Now we will see how the real culprit is!" the queen hollered.
As the box opened, a heartless appeared for a couple of seconds, then disappeared.
"What in the world was that?!" the queen shouted.
"There's your evidence. Alice is innocent." Sora said.
"Yea!" Yumi hollered from her court stand.
"Silence! I'm the law here!" the queen snapped. "Article 29: anyone who defies the queen is guilty."
"That's crazy!" Yelled Donald.
"Seize them at once!" the queen demanded.
A mechanical tower appeared in the middle of the courtroom and a card turned one of the wheels causing Alice's cage to rise up the highest tip of the queen's court stand. The cards raged at Sora, Yumi, Donald and Goofy with axes and spears.
"Hurry, Sora! Attack the tower and lower Alice! We'll distract the cards!" Yumi hollered. Yumi, Donald and Goofy distracted the cards while Sora attacked the tower. Finally, the tower broke and Alice's cage lowered down to ground level. Sora and Yumi ran to it finding Alice not even in the cage.
Yumi and Sora's mouths dropped open. "You mean we fought for nothing?" Yumi said.
"You fools!" the queen said in a raging voice slamming her fists on the court stand. "Find the one who's behind this! I don't care how!" All of the cards scattered in different directions looking for Alice and the one's behind this.
Sora, Yumi, Donald and Goofy went to find Alice in the Locust forest. There, a flower spited out a boulder. The Cheshire Cat appeared on it with that silly grin on its face.
"Have you seen Alice?" Yumi asked the Cheshire Cat.
"Alice, no. Shadows, yes." The cat replied.
"Where did they go?" Goofy asked.
"This way? That way? Does it matter?" the Cheshire Cat asked.
"Hey! We're not here to answer riddles. We need to find Alice!" Yumi said.
"Left, right, up, down! All mixed up thanks to the shadows." The Cheshire Cat said. "Step deeper into the forest to the deserted garden. You might find shadows in the upside-down room!" It said disappearing out of thin air.
"Where's that?" Yumi asked.
"Who knows. But this place is pretty weird itself." Sora said walking farther into the forest. A couple of seconds later, they heard Sora's voice. "I found it! I found the upside-down room! Come here!" They entered the room and looked around.
"Hey!" Yumi said pointing to the Cheshire Cat.
"They're hiding somewhere. And the momeraths outgrabe. Want to find the shadows? Try turning on the light." Then the Cheshire Cat disappeared.
"Hmm......what light?" Sora asked.
"Is that it?" Yumi asked pointing to a lantern on the table. Sora jumped up and lit it. On the otherside of the room stood another light. The Cheshire Cat appeared. "Its too dim. Make it brighter." The cat said.
"What next?" Donald asked.
"One more lamp you need to light." The cat said and disappeared. Sora jumped onto the next table and lit the lantern.
The cat reappeared on the other table. "All the lights are on. You'll see the shadows soon. They'll arise in this room, but somewhere else. The shadows might go after the doorknob, too" The cat said and disappeared again. Sora and his gang traveled through many bizarre rooms killing heartless. Finally, they reached the last bizarre room. There, on the table stood the Cheshire Cat.
"The shadows should be here soon. Are you prepared for the worst? If not, too bad!" the Cheshire Cat said disappearing. A large Heartless with weird arms and legs appeared in front of the gang. It was an endless match. Finally, after Sora used fire on it, the heartless stopped and collapsed on the floor. A voice came from behind Sora. Everyone whirled around and saw the door.
"What a racket." The door mumbled. "How's a doorknob suppose to get any sleep?" The door yawned revealing a keyhole. It glared with bright light as all 4 of them stared in. All of a sudden, Sora's Keyblade was attracted to the keyhole. A blue beam of light came out of the Keyblade's tip and went into the keyhole sealing it.
"What was that?" Yumi asked.
"You hear that? Sounded like something closed." Sora said.
The Cheshire Cat appeared on the table startling everyone. "Splendid. You're quite the hero. If you're looking for Alice she's not here."
"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Yumi hollered.
"She's gone! Off with the shadows, into the darkness." The Cheshire Cat disappeared.
"No......"Sora's word trailed off.
"Let's go back to our gummi ship. We might find her in a different world." Donald said turning to the exit of this world.
Yumi turned back once more at the world before they warped.
"We'll find you Alice, we will." Yumi mumbled to herself as she faced forward and went into another world...
Traverse Town
"So you found the keyhole, huh?" Leon said.
"Yea. It locked it automatically." Sora said
"Good." Aerith.
"Every world along the stars has a keyhole. And each one leads to the heart of that world. There must be one in this town as well." Leon explained.
"What do you mean?" Sora looked confused.
"It was in Ansems report." Aerith said. "The Heartless enter through the keyhole and do something to the world's core."
"What happens to the world?" Sora asked.
"In the end, it disappears." She said.
"What?!" Sora, Yumi, Donald and Goofy shouted.
That's why your key is so important." Leon said. "So lock them all. You're the only one who can."
"I don't know....."Sora said uneasily.
"Seeing other worlds would probably serve you well." Leon suggested.
"Yeeh!" Donald shouted.
"We gotta find your friends, find King Mickey and help you return to your world, Yumi." Goofy said.
"I guess you're right.....okay. "Sora said.
"Yay! Now lets hop back on the Gummi Ship and lock those keyholes!" shouted Yumi rapping an arm around Sora's neck and giving him a noogie.
"Oww.....stop that!" Sora laughed.
"First, lets look for that keyhole here in traverse town." Donald suggested.
They wander around third district for awhile.
They walked into the empty room and look around.
"There's something about this musty place...." Sora heard a voice and whirled around and saw Kairi walking into the room. "It reminds me of the secret place back home, where we used to scribble on the walls. Remember?" She turned to Sora.
"Kairi?" He said.
"Sora?" he heard Goofy's voice behind him. He turned and saw Goofy, Donald and Yumi behind him. Then He turned forward and saw that Kairi was gone.
"Well, well." A voice behind him said.
Sora whirled around in a happy voice. "Kairi?!"
"I beg your pardon.....You've arrived sooner than I expected." A man said wearing an all blue outfit with a tall blue hat. He had white hair and long white mustache and dorky glasses.
Sora walked up to him. "Uh, forget what I said.....anyways, so you knew we were coming?"
"Of course." The man said.
"Are you a.....heartless?" Sora asked.
"He doesn't look like one." Yumi said.
"Oh my, no!" the man said. "My name is Merlin. As you can see, I'm a sorcerer. I spend much of my time traveling. It's good to be home. Your king requested my help."
"King Mickey?" Goofy asked.
"Yes, indeed." Merlin said. "Donald, Goofy. And who might you be, young man and madam?" he said looking at Sora and Yumi.
"I'm Sora and this is Yumi."
"And so you have the key." Merlin said.
"What did the king ask you to do?" Donald asked.
"Just a moment...." Merlin said walking up and placing his bag on the elevation. "Presto!" His bag opened and it began unloading itself with all of his things. In a couple of minutes later, the room was completely furnished with books and more furniture. "Ah, finished. Ahem. Your king asked me to train you in the art of magic. We can start anytime you like. Let me know when you're ready to begin training. Oh and one more thing."
The room glistened with bright blue sparkles and gathered appearing a fairy godmother. "Hello. I'm the Fairy Godmother. Your king also asked me to help, too. I will assist you throughout your journey." She said.
"I do not know how much I can be of help, but do stop by anytime." He said.
Sora, Yumi, Goofy and Donald left the area and arrived to Third District. Heartless appeared in front of them. They got their weapons out and all of a sudden, someone slashed the heartless away. Sora's face turned in amazement. In front of his eyes, he saw his friend, Riku.
"There you are! What's going on?" Riku said.
"Riku!" Sora said in amazement. He went up to Riku and stuck his fingers in Riku's mouth making it look like a silly face.
"Hey, hey. Cut it out!" Riku said moving Sora's hands away from his face.
"I'm not dreaming this time, right?" Sora asked.
"I hope not. Took forever to find you." Riku said.
"Wait a second. Where's Kairi?" Sora asked.
"Isn't she with you?" Riku replied. Sora didn't say anything and looked down. "Well, don't worry." Riku said. "I'm sure she made it off the island, too. We're finally free. Hey, she might even be looking for us now. We'll all be together again soon. Don't worry. Just leave everything to me. I know this--" something interrupted Riku. He turned around and saw Sora killing a heartless. Sora lifted his Keyblade and placed it on his shoulder.
"Leave it to who?" Sora asked.
"Sora, what did you--" Riku said walking up to him.
"I've been looking for you and Kairi too, with their help." Sora pointed to Goofy, Donald and Yumi.
"Who are they?" Riku said, staring at them.
"Ahem. My name is Donald Duck."
"I'm Goofy."
"I'm Yumi! Pleasure to meet ya!" she said holding a peace sign with her fingers and smiled. Riku went up to Yumi and lifted her chin. "Say, you look a lot like Kairi....."
"Get your hands off of me." She said grabbing Riku's arm and throwing it back at him.
"Anyways, we've visited so many places and worlds, looking for you." Sora continued.
"Really? Well, what do you know, I never would've guessed." Riku said.
"Oh, and guess what? Sora's the Keyblade master." Goofy said patting Sora on the shoulders.
"Who would've thought it?" Donald said.
"What's that mean!" Sora said.
"So, this is called a Keyblade?" Riku asked holding out Sora's Keyblade.
"Huh?" Sora said looking in his hands. "Hey, give it back." Sora said reaching for it but tripped and fell.
Riku examined it well and threw it at Sora saying, "Catch."
"Whoa!" Sora said as he caught it.
"Okay, so, you're coming with us right? We've got this awesome rocket. Wait 'til you see it!" Sora said.
"No. He can't come!" Donald yelled.
"What?"
"Forget it!"
"Oh come on! He's my friend!"
"I don't care!"
Yumi looked up and saw that Riku is gone. "Huh, he's gone!"
"Riku?" Sora said looking around.
"Oh well. At least he's okay." Sora said. "And who knows? Maybe we'll run into Kairi soon, too."
They went into a small house where Aerith, Leon, Yuffie and Cid hung out.
"You guys ever hear of Maleficent?" Cid asked.
"Who's she?" Yumi asked.
"A witch, man, she's a witch!" Cid said.
"She's the reason why this town is full of Heartless." Leon said leaning against the wall. "Don't take her lightly."
"She's been using the Heartless for years." Aerith explained.
"We lost our world, thanks to her...." Leon said pissed off.
"One day, a swarm of Heartless took over our world!" Cid said.
"That was nine years ago." Leon said.
"I got out of that mess and came here with these guys." Cid explained.
"Our ruler was a wise man named Ansem." Yuffie said. "He dedicated his life to study Heartless. His report should tell us how to get rid of the Heartless."
"Where's the report?" Yumi asked.
"We don't know." Leon said. "It got scattered when our world was destroyed. I'm sure Maleficent's got most of the pages."
"You know to think of it, I've been thinking about that bell in the Second District." Aerith said.
"Oh! You mean the one that rang a bit ago?" Yumi asked.
"The one above the gizmo shop. There's a legend about it, you know." Yuffie said.
"But its all boarded up. Nobody can get in there." Aerith said.
"Heck, go check it out. Ring it 3 times to see if anything happens." Cid said.
They left the house and headed out to Second District. They all went through the gizmo shop and came out the other side of the door. They climbed up the ladder and broke open the boards. There stood a rope attached to the bell above it. Yumi was too curious, so she just went up with no warning and gave the rope a little tug. The gang rushed out and saw that the fountain the the Second Diststrict had moved the picture to another picture. Then, Sora rang the bell the second time. The picture moved again changing it to something else. Yumi rang it again for the sake of her life the last time. The picture moved again revealing the same picture that was there before. The picture glowed with a bluish tint and revealed the keyhole. The gang approached to the keyhole. Then Sora sealed the keyhole as the picture revealed the keyhole no more.
The gang left on their Gummi Ship and headed for another world.
To be continued in Chapter 4: The Deep Jungle.................
A/N: Yea, this is kind of a long chapter cuz I included the part about Traverse Town and all. Hehe.....I'm soo tired from just doing this chapter.....Imma take a break now!