Prologue
(Philia Speaking) Hi, my name is Philia. A while ago, I ended up getting sent away from my world, and now I have no memory of my past, other than my skills with a dagger and the fact that I was a treasure hunter. I am currently joining alongside my new friends Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy, as we journey to different worlds, and using the power of Sora's Keyblade to stop the dark threat known as the Heartless, and sealing the Keyholes before the Heartless take the hearts of the worlds.
Last time, we ended up in an underwater world known as Atlantica, and in order to breath down there, we all ended up transforming into aquatic beings, including Sora and I turning into merpeople. It was rather uncomfortable for both of us, especially me, since we were wearing so little, and it caused some strife as we ventured through the waters with our new allies, Ariel, Flounder, and Sebastian.
We met King Triton, Ariel's father, as we were clearing out Heartless to find the Keyhole, but he was not only strict with his daughter about not leaving the palace, but also was strict with us for unknown reasons. Ariel tried to help us find the Keyhole, but her father's interference kept her from doing so. Turns out, he also knew of the outside worlds, but thought Sora's Keyblade was a threat to him.
His actions were soon mistaken when Ariel ended up tricked by the sea witch Ursula to gain Triton's trident. Together, Ariel and our group pursued her, and defeated her after a couple of battles with her and her eel flunkies, and gained the trident.
After returning the trident to Ariel's father, he accepted us, and guided us to the Keyhole, allowing us to seal it. We also found another page in Ansem's journal, containing info on him studying Heartless. Unfortunately, I still had no info about my past, and the past couple Keyholes didn't help me in the slightest. Are the Keyholes really the thing that awaken's my memories? What was I like in the past? I hope this next world has the answers I'm looking for.
(Cue 'Digimon Adventure Tri Opening 1 - Butterfly TV Size', music on Youtube)
My wings are full of images of holding back, They are still weak but I'm sure I can fly
(As the viewer zoom in on a grassy field, a red shape passes the viewer, revealing Sora in the distance. A light blue shape passes, revealing Philia, then a green one reveals Goofy, and a dark blue one reveals Donald.)
Oh My Love (guitar intro)
(The viewer zooms in and circles around to see the four of them standing there, looking off into the distance. The image becomes blurry as the title appears in front of them.)
I become a happy butterfly and flying the shimmering wind And I will go to see you right away
(Sora was asleep on the shore of the Destiny Islands, but was awoken by a voice behind him. He turned to see Kairi and Riku standing there by the raft, the latter looking somewhat annoyed by Sora's laziness while Kairi waved him over to help. Sora got to his feet and raced to his friends. The screen fades to white.)
Better you forget about unnecessary things, There's no time to joke anymore.
(The viewer zoom out of the white in Philia's eyes as she practices with her Sword Breaker, with Leon and Yuffie watching her. Her blade glowing yellow-green as she thrusted her blade forward in a Dagger Skill. She holds her position for a moment as Yuffie applauds her, then Philia lowers her weapon, looking up at the sky with a sad expression. The viewer looks into the sky, seeing the stars as they shined for a seconds, before quickly disappearing one by one.)
I wonder, wow wow wow wow wow, what will reach the sky
(The viewer zooms out as Maleficent comes into view, standing at the table with the shadowy silhouettes of her villainous allies, and Riku at her side.)
But, wow wow wow wow wow, don't even have a plan for tomorrow
(The scene changes to six of the seven Princesses of Heart, their eyes closed as if they were asleep. Kairi appears in the middle of it, her arms crossed in front of her as she opens her eyes and her body scatters into lights, replacing her position with Sora as he stood there beside Philia, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy on Donald's head as the viewer shifts the angle to behind them, seeing the hundreds of Heartless in front of them.)
Living in a world of nothing after the infinite dream, My love to you is growing weak
(The four begin to display to the viewers their combat skills against the Heartless one at a time, starting with Sora, then Philia, then Goofy, then finally Donald, who rains down lightning onto the Heartless before the heroes charge in to continue fighting.)
My wings are full of images of holding back, They are still weak but I'm sure I can fly. Oh My Love
(The viewer passes the Heartless to see Riku standing at the end, reaching out to Sora as to invite him to the darkness, with the shadowy image of Heartless Ansem mimicking his movements. Philia clears the path for Sora as he races forward, reaching out to his friend. The view shifts to Sora's view, his hand reaching out to Riku as he and the darkness fade away into the light.)
Guitar solo ending
(The screen shines an image of King Mickey holding the Keyblade as Donald and Goofy looking in from the sides. The view shifts to a dark image of Aincrad as it crumbles away, with Philia's face looking to the viewer. The view zooms out as Sora pats Philia's shoulder, causing her to look and smile at Sora as he grinned back. The view zooms back even further to show quartet and Jiminy standing there, smiling at the viewers as they stood on the same hill as before, before the view shifts back to the sky again, with the flower petals flying by once again.)
Gummi Ship
In her seat, Philia had her eyes closed, thinking hard. Her moans from her frustration as she thought drew the attention of the others. She was not noticing any of them as she was sitting, thinking.
"Shouldn't you ask her what's up?" Donald asked Sora in a hush voice.
"Why me? You're curious about her, aren't you?" Sora argued quietly, "Besides, she looks like she'll tear at the first person who'll disturb her."
"Then why me?!" Donald squawked angrily, causing Sora to clamp his beak shut, shushing him.
"Better you than me." He answered, "I don't know if she still feels angry with me after Atlantica."
The two argued as to who'll speak to Philia first. However, it was the third amigo who spoke up. "Hey, Philia. What'cha thinkin' about?" Donald and Sora stopped as they looked speechless at Goofy's daring.
Philia glared up at him for a second, causing Sora and Donald to look fearfully at her. Finally, she sighed, and answered, "I'm just trying to figure out something."
"Wh-what is it?" Sora asked hesitantly.
"It's just…did you notice something different from the last two Keyholes we sealed, and the ones before that?" Philia asked. The trio tried to think of what she saw, but nothing came to mind. "When we sealed the Keyholes in Agrabah and Atlantica, neither one of them helped me remember anything about my past." She explained, "In fact, I hadn't gained a new memory since I learned that new move when facing Jafar."
The trio suddenly realized why she was concerned. "You're right…" Donald muttered.
"Wait. I thought the Keyholes were the things helping you gain your memories?" Sora asked.
"But I thought ya also get your memories back from us sayin' stuff." Goofy also recalled.
"Yeah. Keyholes, certain phrases… They both seem to have been useful before. But after all this time, nothing has popped into my head." Philia looked depressed at what she wasn't able to gain as she continued, "I wonder…are all the memories I have gained up till now…are they all I have?"
"That isn't true!" Sora barked at her, getting her attention suddenly, "I know you have more memories than that. We just have to focus ourselves harder on getting them back…somehow."
"But how?" She asked, "Do we really know how to help me remember who I was? If the Keyholes aren't the answer, then what?" The team paused, pondering on Philia's question.
Suddenly, the team heard the Gummi Ship make a noise. They were arriving to the next world. They all peered out, and saw the world, which looked ominous. It had a pumpkin and a creepy assortment of buildings on it.
"Well, this is ominous." Sora muttered, looking at the place.
"According to the computer, the place is called Halloween Town." Jiminy Cricket read, "There seems to be a rule to this world, too."
"What kind of rule?" Goofy asked.
"Please don't tell me we have to transform again…" Philia whimpered, not wanting to be revealing again.
"It says we need to be dressed up for the part in this world." Jiminy noticed.
"Nothing a little of the ship's magic can't help!" Donald declared, "Come on! We gotta find the Keyhole!" He hopped onto the transportation pad, ready to descend down.
Philia looked at the world. Halloween Town. She knew that Halloween was a holiday of sorts, but did this place have any clues that'll help her remember something. She was determined to know what her past was.
"Philia, come on!" Sora called out. She turned to see him, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy, who hopped into Sora's clothing, all on the pad. She rushed onto it as the machine activated, and they all descended down to the world below.
When they arrived, they found themselves on a dark path, complete with lampposts with pumpkin-head lights, and dead plants and trees. They looked about the place, and saw that they all transformed into new attire.
Sora's attire made him very vampire-like, with more prominent canine teeth, an orange mask on the right side of his face, shadowed eyes, his usually colorful attire now completely darker, mostly black, feathery white shoulderguards, clawed white gloves, small bat wings on his upper back, pointed shoes.
Donald's attire had him dressed up from head to flippers in bandages, making him into a mummy. However, the strangest part was the fact that he had gaps in parts of his body, from his midriff, to his right wrist and elbow.
Goofy's attire had him dressed up as a sort of Frankenstein monster. His ears were mangled, and his eyes were different to one another, red for one and spiraled for the other. He had on a silver screw for a hat, a pumpkin-head pointed nose, a tan turtleneck sweater, a tattered and patched yellow jacket, green pants that were just as tattered and patched, black suspenders, and brown shoes that had no toes, making Goofy's own stick out.
Philia's was the cleanest-looking of the group, but dark as the rest, and wearing a sort of female devil attire. She had a dark red hairband with faded white horns on them, a black, dark blue and white-fringed overcoat dress, her upper arms with dark blue filigree armor, and coattails that went down to five tips towards her knees. It was held up with dark red straps and a silver buckle above her chest, wrapping around her neck. She had a black crop top underneath that revealed her midriff, blue and black short shorts with a gray leather belt, long black and red-trimmed boots that went up to her thighs, and dark blue socks underneath. Her accessories included a black and white choker, a devil tail attached to her waist, and blue and black-boned wings on her upper back, with faded claws on top.
"Cool!" Sora gasped, looking at his attire, then touching the mask covering his right eye.
"This isn't as bad as I thought." Philia stated, looking at her attire, and giving a sigh in relief.
"This sure is a spooky place." Goofy muttered, unfazed by his new look, "I'll bet the people here are scary-lookin' too."
"Don't worry. We look spooky, too." Donald pointed out.
"Some more than others." Philia stated, not finding her attire completely scary, but looking to Donald, "Can I ask how you ended up with detached body parts?"
"It's just magic." Donald answered simply, "But if they scare us, we'll scare them right back!"
"You think?" Goofy answered.
"Depends on how scary THEY are…" Philia muttered, looking on ahead, "The town that that direction. Let's see if there's anything to investigate there." Now fully used to their new costumes, they wandered their way towards the town.
They opened up the rotting gate, entering into the very creepy town. The buildings were not straight, or completely repaired. There was green liquid coming from the fountain in the center square, a guillotine standing nearby, and beyond where they stood, an explosion took place from a metal building, causing smoke to rise into the air.
"Cheery…" Philia muttered in a sarcastic tone.
"Look!" Goofy cried out, pointing ahead of them. In front of them were more than about a half-dozen Search Ghost Heartless, surrounding the center of the square.
"Heartless!" Sora cried out, as everyone readied their weapons for combat. However, the Heartless didn't seem too disturbed by their presence. Not even the Keyblade was really making them anxious.
Donald approached the nearest Search Ghost, and prodded it with the end of his wand. It didn't seem to retaliate from it. "They're not moving!" He squawked.
The other three lowered their weapons, looking to one another. "They seem rather peaceful." Goofy noticed.
"A Heartless? Peaceful?" Philia asked.
"I dunno." Sora stated, tilting his head to one side, "They are Heartless, so they should at least fear the Keyblade. But they're…not even moving from their spots."
The four walked around the group of Heartless, who didn't even turn their heads towards them. They walked up to a rickety, but extravagant building. As soon as they arrived it, however, the Heartless began to move. They turned in time to see the Heartless floating upwards.
"Guess we spoke too soon!" Philia barked, and they all got their weapons out. However, instead of coming towards them, they floated down into formation, standing in a two-by-three line in front of the fountain.
"What's goin' on?" Donald asked.
Just then, Sora and Philia saw a very tall and thin hat pass in between them. They looked down, and saw that the hat was owned by a man…a man with two faces on both the front and backside of his cone-shaped head. His front face was the normal skin color, with a smiling face, while the other face was bone-white, with a frown. His figure was short, with stubby legs and small feet. He wore a black suit and white undershirt, along with pinstripe pants that matched. He wore a bowtie shaped like a spider, and a red ribbon with the word 'MAYOR' on his left chest. He also carried a megaphone in one hand.
"Who is that?" Sora asked with confusion.
"I think he might be the mayor of this town." Goofy assumed.
"And…why does he have two heads?" Philia asked, the only one wanting to ask the question.
He didn't pay attention to the heroes, but wandered over near the iron gate the team came through, and turned to the town in general. He spoke through the megaphone as he started, "And now, allow me to introduce the master of terror, the king of nightmares…Jack Skellington!"
The Heartless suddenly became like side-characters in a broadway show, splitting the line from one another, giving full view of the fountain as someone else suddenly surfaced from the waters of the fountain. He was very tall and thin skeleton person, his legs over twice as tall as his torso. He was bald, had no eyes, no nostrils, and had a wide mouth. He wore a black and white pinstripe macabre with a single white button and coattails that reached his knees, a white shirt underneath, a bowtie shaped like a black bat with white veins in its wings and eyes, and black dress shoes. His hands were crossed, like he was still in a coffin, but once he fully resurfaced, striking a pose on the fountain top.
"Did the Heartless…just join in introducing this guy?" Sora asked.
"He could be controlling them!" Donald assumed, "He must be a bad guy."
"I dunno…" Philia muttered, "He doesn't give off the dark aura like most other villains we encountered.
"Bravo, Jack! Bravo!" The mayor congratulated the skeleton, racing up to him,
Those ghosts will be a big hit at this year's Halloween!"
"Thank you! Thank you!" Jack answered, hopping off the fountain and wandering to the mayor, while looking back at the standstill Heartless, "But their movement still needs work. It's not scary enough. I want to strike bone-chilling terror. I'm going to consult the doctor."
Jack wandered away to the metal building, while the mayor finished, "Then I'll go attend to the decorations." He started wandering about, whiles the Heartless stood still in silence.
"You sure he's not bad?" Sora asked Philia, "He sounded pretty serious about scaring people."
"Sora, this place is called HALLOWEEN town." Philia reminded him, "I have no doubt that scaring people is kind of a norm around here."
"But how is he controlling the Heartless?" Donald asked.
"He did say something about a doctor." Goofy recalled, "Let's go ask him."
The team nodded in the decision, and they wandered over to the building Jack went into. They tried to enter in quietly, but it was clear that the door needed oiling. Seeing as no one was there in the discovered entryway, the tension they had from opening such a squeaky door disappeared, and they gave a sigh of relief. They wandered up the stairs, and opened the door.
Inside, the four peered in to discover a Frankenstein-esque laboratory, with Jack Skellington pouring over a research book, while a Search Ghost Heartless laid on motionless on a metal lab bed. Standing right next to it was another character. He was frail-looking, in a black wheelchair, and had a rather large head. His skin was as white as the lab coat he wore, and he had black gloves, shoes, and glasses covering his beady eyes.
"I just don't understand." Jack grimaced, "Maybe the guidance system was damaged in the explosion."
"Nonsense. My devices are always perfect!" The doctor answered.
Jack drew his finger down the book, then gasped, "Oh, I've got it! Why, of course! The Heartless need a heart! Doctor, do you think we can add a heart to that device?"
The man used the controls at his hands to move his electric wheelchair as he answered, "Certainly. A heart's not all that complicated. Let's get to work."
The four watched what they believed to be a miracle in the making, while the other two were oblivious to the four watching them. Jack read through the book, "To make a heart, first take a container with a lock…" The doctor bought over a leathery device that looked like a human heart, sealed in a metal frame with a lock on it, and placed it on the table where the Heartless way laying.
"We need the key to this thing first!" The doctor exclaimed.
The four closed the door, and looked to one another, mostly at their fellow Keyblade wielder. One look at Sora was all the others needed to know what he was thinking. "You're planning to unlock that thing, aren't you?" Philia asked.
"Why not?" Sora replied, "If they succeed, we won't have to fight the Heartless, right? Besides, I want to see the Heartless dance, too. Don't you?"
"Not really." Donald answered.
Sora looked to Philia, who pondered on the idea of assisting. "Come on! Don't you think it's a good idea?" Sora asked her insistently.
"Well…to control the Heartless, it'll take a darkened heart to do that." Philia pointed out, "As we've witnessed before, the only people capable of controlling the Heartless were all evil. But…if we had a controlled heart like what they're making, it might come to our benefit, wouldn't it?"
"I guess…" Donald agreed, with Goofy nodding in agreement.
"And besides…" Philia continued, placing a hand over her heart, "If they could succeed in such feats, then maybe…"
"Maybe what?" Sora questioned, confused.
Philia paused for a second, glaring down at the possibility that came to her mind. "Maybe…they could help with regaining my memories."
"Ya think?" Goofy said in a confused tone.
"Think about it. If he can make a heart, maybe he can figure out the source of my memory loss!" Philia reasoned, "He is a doctor, too, according to that Jack guy."
"But I don't think he's THAT kind of doctor." Jiminy stated, popping out of Sora's clothing, "Besides, we need to focus on the bigger picture, right now."
"I was only curious if he was capable of helping me restore my memories!" Philia argued, "It's not like I wasn't thinking about helping them make the heart!" She calmed herself, though the urgency she had in her voice before was pretty strong. Finally, she sighed as she said, "Let's…just take one step at a time, and help them." The others nodded in agreement at this.
"Excuse me!" The doctor voice snapped through the door, causing them all to jump in a panic. They didn't think about how loud they were, and they attracted the attention of both he and Jack Skellington. "If you want an appointment with me, I would much rather not have you arguing in front of my doorstep!" He argued.
"S-Sorry!" Sora apologized.
Jack looked at them all, and noticed, "You guys aren't townsfolk. Are you from another town?"
"Y-Yeah…" Donald stammered, trying to put on a brave face.
After a second, Jack realized, "Oh! Then I bet your here for the yearly Halloween celebration!"
"Something like that." Sora answered, looking to Philia, who nodded in agreement, "We couldn't help but overhear your guys, and that you needed a key. I can help you with that."
"You can?" Jack asked.
The four heroes walked into the lab, with Sora in the lead, and he pointed his Keyblade to the lock. It shot out a beam at it, and the lock clicked, unlocking it.
"My! That was amazing!" Jack gasped, looking at what he just did, "Uh, and you are…"
"Sora."
"Well done, Sora!" Jack told him, "I'd like you to be a part of this year's Halloween."
"Hey, I got a question." Philia intervened, pointing to the Search Ghost, "What's this Heartless doing here?"
"Oh, the Heartless came to town just recently. What's frustrating is I can't get them to dance with me. So the doctor and I are trying to improve the guidance system. He's quite a genius!"
Philia wandered over to the doctor, who was at his large research book, seeing the many bits of information from all of his experiments. If there was anyone who was some sort of mad genius of a scientist, based on these instructions and blueprints, this doctor, which according to the book was named Dr. Finkelstein, was that kind of person. But she didn't see anything about restoring memories, though.
Jack started to instruct, "The ingredients for a heart: Pulse…" They pulled out a chubby frog, which croaked to a beat, placing it on the table next to the Heartless. "Emotion…"
"Terror…" Dr. Finkelstein continued, in which a creepy spider was laid out.
"Fear…" Jack continued, and the doctor pulled out a glass piece with a crack on it, scratching it to make an ear-bleeding sound, "…Hope and despair…" Two snakes of different colors, chomping on each other's tails to form a ring. "Mix them all together, and we have a heart!"
The team watched as Dr. Finkelstein walked over to a machine, connected the heart to it, and flicked the switch. Electricity coursed through his main machine, and came down onto the Heartless and the ingredients. The Search Ghost suddenly rose up like a mummy from his coffin, held his position with his arms out, but then fell backwards, motionless once more.
"It failed!" Dr. Finkelstein exclaimed, while Jack looked dismayed. The heroes all groaned at the failure. The doctor looked at the book once more, studied it for a bit, then assumed, "Maybe we're missing some ingredients. Let's try adding memory." He flipped his cap off of his skull, revealing his bare brain for all to see as he scratched it.
While it disgusted most of the heroes, one was more focused on what he said. "Wait a minute! You can add memory?!" Philia demanded to the doctor, turning him around to face her, "Can you also restore it?!"
The others looked hopefully at the doctor, while Jack was surprised at her insistency. "Young lady, I can do many things with the right tools." The doctor answered nonchalantly, "But first, I need to make sure THIS experiment is a success. So wait your turn!" Philia grimaced, not liking getting rejected an opportunity as rare as this.
"Sally! Sally!" The doctor called about the place, "Good-for-nothing girl! Don't know why I bothered creating her!" He closed his lid, and turned to Jack. "Sally's got the memory we need. See if you can track her down."
"No problem." Jack answered, turning to Sora and the others, "Sora, would you like to come along?"
"Sure." Sora answered almost instantly.
"If it can get this project done soon, then yeah." Philia stated, walking around Jack. She stopped, and noticed something on the ground. It was a familiar torn piece of a page. "Sora, here." She handed him the Torn Page, before racing out the door.
"Wait, Philia!" Donald cried out, but she closed the door, with everyone else standing there.
"She's quite eager to help out, all of a sudden." Jack told Sora.
"Well, she's lost her memories, and REALLY wants them back." Sora explained.
"But can that doctor feller help her gain her memories again?" Goofy asked.
"Oh, I'm sure he can." Jack answered, "Though, I'm not sure if he's ever tried restoring someone's memory. He's definitely tried swapping brains with others, but…"
"Swapping brains?!" Sora echoed in terror.
"That's not what we want!" Donald squawked.
"Maybe we should talk to her about this before she tries!" Goofy told the group.
As Philia charged down the stairs and towards the town square, she heard an outcry. "Jack! Jack! We have a major crisis!" Philia stopped and saw the mayor running by her again, only his white face was speaking this time, which had flipped around to face the front.
Jack, Sora, and the others also joined the scene at the top of the stairs, and the mayor called to him, "The Heartless are completely out of control! We can't stop them!"
The team joined up together around the mayor as Jack muttered, "Hmm… Maybe our experiment triggered something. Everything will be fine, Mayor. You have nothing to worry about."
"Jack, Heartless go after other people's hearts." Sora informed him, "If nothing is done, everyone will be turned into Heartless!"
"Let's take care of the Heartless, and find Sally while we're at it!" Philia told the team, and they raced to the door back out to the square.
The mayor wasn't kidding when they reached outside. There were Heartless all over town like before, but they were not peaceful this time. They were flying about, causing havoc and chaos. The team went to work taking down the Heartless.
As they did so, not only were they able to use their new Thundara spells, now, but Sora finally was able to test out his new Strike Raid technique that he gained from the last tournament in the Olympus Coliseum. It was a simple manner of tossing his blade like a throwing star, slicing through his opponents, and calling his blade back again to do it again a few more times. It was simple, but powerful.
"Well, that was nice…" Goofy muttered, holding a bottle of elixir in his hand, "All I had to do was ring a door three times, and the guy just gave this to me."
"Or maybe they just wanted you to get lost…" Donald muttered.
"Let's check out the graveyard." Jack told the group, "I'm sure there's trouble over there, too!" The team raced along a narrow path, heading to the graveyard.
They entered, and found it swarming with tons of Heartless, too. There was not only Shadows and Search Ghosts, but also Wight Nights, a new kind of Heartless that looked like a skeleton and a mummy of sorts. However, despite the narrow area, they were able to clear all the Heartless out.
As soon as everything was clear, the team noticed something that popped out of a gravestone nearby that had the name 'Zero' written on it. Out of it came a transparent being with a fluttering cloth for a body, but a head that looked like a cloth formed into a dog, with a glowing red nose at the end of his snout.
"A ghost dog?!" Sora and Philia exclaimed, seeing the being before them.
"Oh, that's Zero. He's a faithful companion of mine." Jack explained, walking to the said ghost, "Zero! Have you seen Sally anywhere?"
Zero yipped, before flying passed the group, and flew through another gravestone, where they heard a woman's gasp in shock. Out from behind the gravestone, hiding from the Heartless, was a woman…or rather, a woman that looked like a human-sized ragdoll, with stitches and seams all around her pale-blue skinned body. Compared to Jack, her appearance was more realistic, though her neck was much longer, and her feet were quite smaller than the average human. She had long brown hair, red lipstick, and long eyelashes. She had a patched-up dress made with assorted patterns and clothes. She had black shoes with striped socks, and nail polish on her nails.
"Is something wrong, Jack?" Sally asked.
"No, everything's going great." Jack answered, "We're going to have the best Halloween ever. All we need now is your memory."
"'Memory'? You mean this?" Sally ask, and she pulled out some flowers that were clearly dried up.
"Those…are forget-me-nots, right?" Philia asked, finding the idea of those being memories too ironic to be a coincidence. Jack beamed as he took the flowers off of Sally, though Sally was a different story. "Jack, I have a bad feeling about this. Why don't you try something else? There's still time."
"Nothing could beat what I've got planned!" Jack retorted insistently, "Once we give the Heartless a heart, they'll dance just as I envisioned it. Trust me. You're going to love it!" Sally didn't look too pleased about this.
"Please, Sally." Philia insisted, coming to her side, "If we can make this work, the Heartless won't hurt innocent people, and I might get help from your doctor on restoring my memories."
"Your memories?" Sally echoed, looking to her curiously. Philia nodded with a serious expression. Sally paused for a second, then sighed as she bowed her head, deciding to let them do things their way. Donald, Goofy and Sora all looked to one another. Was Sally right? Was this really a bad idea? Philia's statement on dealing with the Heartless was not wrong. But at the same time, there might be consequences they didn't think about. Nevertheless, they were gonna figure it out as they all followed Jack back to town again, unaware of the snickering of three devilish children hiding in the graveyard.
The team made their way back to the laboratory once again, and handed over the forget-me-not over to Dr. Finkelstein. "Yes. This is it." He said, looking at the flower, "Now, just one more ingredient."
"One more?!" Philia exclaimed, "Why didn't you tell us before?!"
"Easy, Philia…" Goofy calmed her.
"Science cannot be rushed, girl!" Dr. Finkelstein retorted angrily, "Now, back to what I was saying. We need 'surprise' to complete the heart. The mayor should know where it is."
"Then let's not waste any time." Philia told the team, "Let's fix this heart. Then, we can get to fixing my memory. Is that a deal, doctor?"
"If I have the time…" he answered.
"Please, make that time when we're done with the heart." Philia insisted, "Let's go everyone!" She charged towards the door, ready to retrieve the 'surprise' from the mayor.
"Wait, Philia." Sora stopped her by grabbing her shoulder, "I know you're anxious, but we might not even know if he will solve your problem. Things could get worse off for you."
"But…" Philia started. She knew this was a risk to getting her memory back by letting this quack work on her, but she was willing to take that risk. Though looking at Sora, Donald and Goofy's expressions, they were concerned for what would happen if things went wrong. The sight of her friends looking like this did make her waver in her decision.
"Is everything okay?" Jack asked the group, "We need to get the 'surprise' in order to create the heart. Are you with me, fellas?"
"Sure…" Philia answered half-heartedly, while the others nodded in agreement. With that, they all left the lab, going to find what they need for the heart.
They went back into town, and after talking to someone, learned that he was somewhere in the graveyard area. So they raced over there, taking out more Heartless as they went. So they returned to the graveyard once more, and found the large coffin on the far side of the entrance ajar.
"It's just through there." Jack told the team, and he hopped into the coffin, where he vanished. Looking into it, the team discovered there was a secret passage in the coffin. They hopped into it, and followed Jack.
When they came out the other end, they found themselves in another graveyard. Sure enough, the mayor was there, as well, and Jack was speaking to him. As soon as the team joined them, Jack turned to them. "So according to the mayor, there are ghosts in the tombstones, and doing them in order will make the ghosts appear. But if we get the order wrong, we are in for a surprise."
"By 'surprise', you mean the surprise we're looking for?" Sora asked.
"Exactly!" Jack answered, "So let's go examine those tombstones, and get the 'surprise' for Dr. Finkelstein."
"Hold on!" Philia stopped them, "We'd better do it in the right order first. My treasure hunter's instincts are acting up."
"But what about the surprise?" Donald asked.
"Maybe that's the wrong kind of surprise we're looking for." Philia told them, "Let's do it my way, guys."
The team examined the tombstones, and saw the ghosts that came out in a particular pattern. The team paused, then decided to go Philia's way, and examined them in the right order. There was a shaking, and a large pumpkin nearby broke apart, revealing something inside. A small box, with a crank handle on it.
"What's this?" Donald asked, racing over to it, and picking up the box. He turned the handle, as everyone gathered around it. It started to play a small melody as it was being turned. Philia had a bad feeling about this, and braced herself. Sure enough, after a few cranks while playing a tune, the box top popped open, and out came a creepy doll on a spring, scaring most of the team. Upon closer inspection, the doll had a resemblance to Jack.
"Oh! A Jack-in-the-box!" The pumpkin king realized, "That's the 'surprise' we've been looking for."
"Then we should bring this back to Dr. Finkelstein to complete the heart!" Goofy understood. Saying their thanks to the mayor, they left the scene back the way they came, heading back to the lab.
"Yes. This is it." Dr. Finkelstein noticed, looking at the Jack-in-the-box, then bringing it over to the table where the Heartless still laid. Afterwards, he went back to the table where the heart was at, and picked it up. "There you go. This time it's sure to work."
"After all our troubles, it better…" Philia muttered to the others, who nodded in agreement.
The doctor was moving his electric chair back to place the heart into the machine, when something, or rather someone, barreled out of a hiding spot behind the table, and tripped the doctor's chair. Finkelstein fell over, and the heart went flying, bouncing off of the table, and landing in the arms of one of the two characters at the lab entrance. They were all children. One was a boy dressed as a devil. One was a girl dressed as a witch. The third chubby boy, the one who tripped Dr. Finkelstein, was dressed as a skeleton. Each of them had a full mask on to cover their faces. The devil kid cackled as they all raced out of the lab, with the heart in their hands.
"They stole the heart!" Donald exclaimed.
"Lock! Shock! Barrel!" Jack grimaced.
"Those rotten little brats!" Dr. Finkelstein growled, getting his chair and himself back up again.
"Quick! We gotta go get the heart back!" Sora ordered the team, and they rushed out of the lab after the three troublemaking children.
As soon as they made it back to the town square, the four heroes looked about. There were no signs of the three little kids around there.
"Ugh! We lost them!" Sora grimaced.
"Now what?" Philia questioned.
Jack patted his knee loudly, and the ghost do, Zero, suddenly came from the graveyard, flying over to the heroes. "Zero, after them, quick!" Jack ordered. Zero yipped in response, and took off like a bullet ahead of them.
However, as it flew off, more Heartless appeared in front of them. They were new, and they had the appearance of…
"Gargoyles!" Philia noticed, "I remember reading them in the Heartless book!"
"Let's take 'em out!" Sora declared, and they all charged at the Heartless, who were nimble in the air, unleashing clawing, kicking, and even strikes from their wings. Of course, with the Search Ghosts and Wight Knights also ones they had to fight, following Zero was easier said than done.
When they arrived at the graveyard, the team saw, in the distance, a large hill with a spiraled entrail on one end. It suddenly elongated, forming a path as they could see, as weird as it looked, a walking bathtub, with the three little children in it.
"Get back here!" Donald squawked angrily.
"They're heading off to their treehouse!" Jack realized, "They might be taking the heart to Oogie!"
"Oogie?" Goofy echoed.
"Oogie Boogie was exiled from Halloween Town due to his scares being more dangerous than fun." Jack explained, "I wonder if he set up those kids to get the heart?"
"Let's find out when we get there!" Philia answered, readying her weapon as more Heartless appeared, "First, let's handle these things that are in the way!"
The Heartless were coming in by the swarms, blocking their path forward. However, through their team efforts, along with Sora's techniques & Philia's Dagger Skills, the team cleared the area, going into the next graveyard over again, before finding another secret passage there that led to the hill they saw before, only the end that uncurled itself for the children before reverted back to normal.
"So, how do we get this hill to show us the path?" Sora asked.
"Like this." Jack answered, and he did something to a tombstone on the hill. All of a sudden, the hill uncurled itself, revealing the same path the children took as well. "Onward, my friends." Jack told them, and he led the heroes across the bridge formed by the hill.
When they arrived, they found themselves at another hill with a canal and a bridge. Unfortunately, there were a whole bunch of Heartless in their way, too.
"We don't have time for this!" Sora grimaced, "Time to pull out the big guns!" Sora pulled something from his back pocket, revealing to be Genie's lamp. "Summon: Genie!" He chanted, tapping his Keyblade on the lid of the lamp. All at once, sparks shot out of the lamp, followed by a vapor of smoke. What followed was none other than Genie…sitting in a sofa chair, complete with a nightstand next to him and a lamp, wearing reading glasses, his nose in his book.
"Hold on, hold on…" Genie raised his index finger to the team, "I need to finish reading this page." Sora, Donald, Goofy and Philia were dumbfounded by his entrance.
"Let's see here… When they arrived, they found themselves at another hill with a canal and a bridge." Genie read, "Unfortunately, there were a whole bunch of Heartless in their way, too. 'We don't have time for this!' Sora grimaced, 'Time to pull out the big guns!' Sora pulled something from his back pocket, revealing to be Genie's lamp…"
He paused, then looked down at the lamp he just came out of, then back at the book, scratching his head. "Well, ain't that redundant! Or may who done it?" He floated down to the heroes, getting in Sora's face, "Did the butler do it? It's always the butler! TELL ME THE TRUTH! I. CAN. HANDLE THE TRUTH!"
Sora paused, wondering how to respond to this. "Uh, Genie…" Philia started, "I kinda think that can wait. We got a bigger problem behind you…"
She pointed behind Genie, who turned and found himself nose to nose with a Gargoyle. After a pregnant pause, he grinned slyly, and poofed away from the Heartless, reappearing behind the team in cowboy attire, with empty holsters around his belt.
"I get'cha partner. It's high noon here in this corral…" he spoke in a western accent, leering at the moon nearby, "Or high midnight, in this case… Draw!" He shaped his hands like guns, and shot magic energy at all the Heartless that were in front of him. More tried to come out to attack, but Sora, Philia, Donald, Goofy and Jack all teamed up to handle the Heartless that Genie couldn't get to.
When the area was clear, everyone turned to Genie, who dressed up as a gameshow host as he announced, "Alrighty folks, the 'Heartless Hustle' is over! Let's see who got the most points!" A game board appeared, with all of the heroes's faces on it, along with their names. It showed Donald and Goofy both had 1 pt, Jack had 2 pt, Sora and Philia had 4 pt, and Genie had 14 pt.
"And by a landslide, the Genie of the lamp is the winner!" Genie declared, "His prize; A week-long vacation in the Bahamas at a luxurious resort, which starts…now! Toodles!" With a poof of smoke, Genie vanished.
"He is one strange character." Jack muttered, "But with powers like his, I bet he would be great at next year's Halloween!"
"I doubt he would make it…" Sora chuckled hesitantly.
"Besides, I'd hate to know how crazy things would get if HE were helping out in the Halloween festival…" Philia added.
"Come on! We gotta get that heart!" Donald exclaimed, racing out towards the bridge.
"Don't leave me behind!" Goofy cried out, racing after him. The trio looked to one another, and followed after the two.
When the team arrived, they discovered where the children were hiding in. It was a treehouse the size of a standard large house, held upon the largest tree any of them had ever seen, even from the trees in Tarzan's world. Like all the houses in Halloween Town, it was formed into something scary, including spear guardrails, some having jack-o-lanterns on it, and iron cages hanging from branches.
"I knew Oogie Boogie was behind all this!" Jack realized.
"Definitely resembles a place where the worst kind of monster would live in." Philia mentioned.
"And look!" Sora pointed out, seeing Heartless guarding the entrance across the rickety wooden bridge ahead.
"I bet anything Oogie's making sure the Heartless keep us out." Philia told Sora, who nodded in agreement.
"He's using them like all those other villains use them." Goofy noticed.
"He must be with Maleficent!" Donald understood.
"Who?" Jack asked.
"Someone we'll deal with later." Philia answered, "Let's take on Oogie Boogie, now!" They charged up ahead, taking out any Heartless that got in their way, before entering the treehouse.
Inside, they found a single room with a platform of sorts in the middle, along with a couple of Ethers. Considering the platform was on top of a lantern, they knew what had to be done. Donald lit up the lantern with a Fire spell, and the platform levitated. It was small, so it had to be split into two different groups to climb it. When they gathered together on the second floor, they went along an outer platform as it spiraled upwards. They raced up it, dealing with Heartless that were either in the air around them, or on the steps that they climbed on occasion. They did find treasure here and there, but the main goal was ahead of them. Sure enough, they reached a door, and entered through it with haste.
As soon as they entered in, they only found themselves in a dimly-lit room, the only lights coming from candles. This made it easy for the team to see the three little kids toss the heart into a chute, which led downwards.
"The heart!" Donald exclaimed.
"It's heading to Oogie!" Jack realized.
The three children cackled, and scattered about the place. "You can't catch us!" The girl named Shock sung.
"Tell us why you did this?!" Sora demanded.
"We'll never tell you!" Lock called out.
Barrel suddenly did a leaping headbutt into Sora, knocking him on his rear.
"Hey!" Philia growled, seeing the children cackle at Sora being knocked over. "Alright, no more miss nice girl!" She growled, "Getting this heart made took so long, and you guys have ruined all our hard work!"
She made her dagger shine, and she raised it high, twisting it as she shouted, "Summon: Dumbo!" The young elephant with the large ears appeared above her, flapping to stay airborne. Philia leapt onto his head, her body miniaturizing as she held onto his hat.
"These dirty little kids need a wash-down!" Philia barked, and her summon unleashed jets of water from his nose, striking the three children, and pushing them into a wall. They couldn't escape, and were spluttering and coughing from the water in their faces.
"Well… Seems like Philia's handling them, just fine." Sora muttered, startled at how she and Dumbo were overwhelming them.
"No fair! I want in!" Donald squawked, going in for his share of punishing the kids. After a moment's pause, the rest of the team joined in on the fight.
The fight didn't even last a minute, and the team surrounded the three kids, who were leaning against a red cloth-covered table with candles on it.
"Now, tell us why you did this?" Jack demanded with a glare that could frighten most normal people.
"We were just following orders!" Shock answered, "Oogie Boogie told us to steal the heart. It was Barrel's fault! It was his idea to tell Oogie Boogie about the heart."
Barrel looked to her in shock at their betrayal, while Lock agreed, "Yeah, that's right!"
"B-But you guys said…" Barrel whimpered.
"You should be ashamed!" Shock snapped, silencing him.
"I almost feel bad for that one kid…" Philia muttered, turning to the others, "Let's go find this Oogie Boogie, and get back the heart."
"The entrance is on the lower part of the treehouse." Jack told them, pulling a lever, "There. That should unlock the door."
"You guys can't beat Oogie Boogie!" Lock scoffed.
"He'll just eat you guys alive!" Shock taunted.
"Like we haven't dealt with tough enemies like him before." Sora retorted, turning to the team, who nodded in agreement, and they left the children's room.
They made their way down to the lower parts of the treehouse, meeting Heartless that tried to stop them all over the place. The team took them out quickly, all the fighting they had been through so far now making them stronger than ever. They arrived at the lower floor where they discovered a green door with a daunting face on it, and they entered within.
Inside, they found themselves in a large room, most of it occupied by a circular machine that looked like a roulette machine from a casino, complete with several pieces of gambling devices, modified to become more lethal than anything. Standing at the other end of the room, above a slot-machine piece, was the person they were looking for. He looked like he was completely made from a burlap sack, with seams on his sides. He was obese, with stubby legs and fingerless arms. He had holes on top to form his eyes and jagged mouth, and the tip of his head looked like the pointed end of a floppy hat. In one of his fingerless hands, he had the heart.
"Welcome, Jack Skellington, to my Torture Chamber!" Oogie Boogie greeted the Pumpkin King.
"Oogie Boogie, give me back the heart!" Jack ordered.
"You want it?" Oogie taunted, "Well, then come on over and get it!" Without warning, he shoved the heart into his mouth, gulping it down before everyone's startling eyes. He guffawed at them, then spoke to himself, "Now, let's see if I can get their attention. Oh, Heartless!" There was a moment's pause, and but two Gargoyles appeared on either side of him. No other Heartless arrived other than them.
"This is it?" Oogie asked, looking at the only Heartless he summoned.
"Well…that was a letdown…" Donald muttered.
"Maybe we took out more Heartless around here than we thought." Sora assumed.
"Or they just can't be gathered by that heart we made." Goofy followed.
"Or they just don't give a darn for that bag man." Philia finished.
Oogie heard this, and growled angrily. "Nobody disrespects me! Nobody!" He roared, and he tossed a pair of dice towards the team. They ducked, and the dice fell behind them. They exploded, causing the team to fly into the oversized roulette machine, the walls around the circular area they were in too tall to climb up, making them feel like they were in a pit.
"Heartless, go!" Oogie shouted, sending the Gargoyles down at the heroes. Unfortunately, the Heartless were sent to their doom, as it didn't take too long for the heroes to defeat them. Oogie started to race around the upper rim of the machine, while the heroes pursued from down below.
"Get down here and fight us!" Sora shouted, only to be responded with cackling from the bag-ó-bugs.
"Oogie likes to play dirty." Jack warned the team, "Let's use his own tricks against him!"
"Now, let's see what the dice have to say!" Oogie Boogie called out, and he tossed three dice down at the group. They backed away to avoid getting hit with an explosion, and saw the dice land on three ones. "Ooh, goody! Time to bring out the buzz saws!" Oogie pulled a nearby lever, and buzzsaws started to come out of the rotating device in the center of the machine, and started spinning around the pit. Jack crouched down on all fours, looking more spider like than ever. Sora started to do leaps and dodge rolls, whereas Philia was just doing plain jumping. Donald and Goofy just flattened themselves on the ground, Donald making sure his tail was out of the line of fire from the buzzsaws.
Goofy's hat came off from one of the saws, miraculously unscathed. However, Goofy didn't reach for it until after the saws were put away.
Philia had just landed from her last jump over the saws, when her foot hit a button. She, along with Jack, were on the same part of the pit when they found pikes blocking off the others from them, and the piece they were on rising up from the pit, forming a platform that reached Oogie, who looked startled. Surprised at first, the pair looked to one another, then glared harshly at Oogie, and went into action. Jack unleashed his icy terror attack onto Oogie, causing him to falter, while Philia unleashed several slashes with her dagger.
"You deserve to be stitched up!" Philia growled, her dagger glowing dark purple, then unleashing her Shadow Stitch Dagger Skill. The living bag was slammed into the wall, injured from the powerful attack.
He saw the two about to continue their assault, but roared, "Back off!". He pulled out another pair of dice, and created an explosion that sent them flying backwards. At this point, the platform that rose up went back down to normal, with the pikes also sinking into the floor.
"You two okay?" Sora asked as Jack and Philia got back up on their feet.
"Yeah. But I think we figured out how to get up and face him…" Philia answered.
"Same here!" Donald answered, getting looks from the others as he pointed his staff at Oogie, "Fire!" Donald's fireball struck Oogie in the rear, causing him to yelp, but glare back down at the team. Donald saw his glare, and awkwardly hid his staff behind his back.
"Why you…!" Oogie growled, and he tossed more explosive dice down at the group, who ran in opposite directions; Sora, Philia and Goofy one way, and Donald and Jack in another.
"He does have a plan." Philia stated, "Sora, use magic spells when you have an open shot!"
"Got it!" Sora answered, and he unleashed a pair of Fira spells at Oogie, who got a face full of it.
"I won't let you get another shot like that!" Oogie growled, readying another set of rolling dice, "Let's see what's in store now…" he tossed the dice down towards Jack and Donald, who stopped and looked to see the dice land, all of them on fives. " Three fives!More Heartless!" Oogie raised his floppy hands up, and two Search Ghosts appeared in front of of the two.
"Is that suppose to scare us?!" Donald squawked angrily, and he and Jack unleashed Thunder spells together, causing the Search Ghosts to be electrocuted hard, before a whack of the staff and a knuckle sandwich from the pair destroyed them.
Oogie looked baffled at how easily they were bested. "Well…that was a dud of a roll…" he muttered. He then heard someone clear their throat, and looked in time to see Sora, Philia and Goofy standing on the same platform as it rose up to meet him.
"Let's get 'em!" Sora declared, and he, Philia and Goofy charged. Oogie panicked, trying to smack them back with his hands, but only met Goofy's protective shield. The other two leapt over the captain of the guard, and unleashed a plethora of slash combos, ending with Sora unleashing a Hurricane Blast, and Philia unleashing her Fad Edge Dagger Skill.
"Get away from me!" Oogie shouted, unleashing more dice that exploded, causing the trio to fall back into the pit again with the sinking platform. "No more mister nice Oogie!" He growled, and he revealed a secret switch, and he pulled down the lever. All of a sudden, a machine with hanging scythe blades fell from the ceiling, and started to rotate and bounce about the pit, chopping down at the team. The five heroes started to dart around the stage, keeping an eye on the bouncing scythes.
Oogie wasn't making it any better, when he started tossing exploding dice down at the team. The dice did strike Donald and Goofy, causing them fall, injured from the attack. A scythe bounced upwards, and nearly fell on top of the pair, but they panicked, and rolled to either side, avoiding the attack. Though it was close, Oogie still laughed at their pain.
"Oogie!" Jack growled, leaping up with Sora, and unleashing a twin ice-elemented spell attack, hitting him hard with the attack. Blinded by the attack, he brushed off the ice chunks that got on his face, only to look up and see Philia standing alone on a rising platform.
"Third time's the charm…" Philia growled, "Only there will be no mercy from me!" She unleashed a Gravity spell on top of Oogie before he got a chance to move, causing him to slam to the floor.
"Now's the time to end this!" Philia shouted, and her dagger started to glow purple…though it was not the dark purple of her Shadow Stitch Dagger Skill. Her eyes were focused, glaring at Oogie, who looked up in time for her to charge forward. She then started unleashing a flurry of slashes from her dagger, with Oogie unable to escape her attacks. After eight sets of slashes, she did a front roll to close the gap onto Oogie, and did a horizontal slash. There was a moment's pause, in which everyone in the pit watched what the results was. Oogie whimpered, and and his burlap sack belly tore open from Philia's last attack, causing bugs to spew out of him as he cried out in agony. With every last bug out of his body, all Oogie was now was a lifeless sack on the ground. The last bug that came out was larger than the rest, and it fell on its' back as it fell into the pit near Sora and Jack's feet.
"What kind of Dagger Skill was that?!" Sora called up to Philia, who looked from Oogie's body to the others.
"I just discovered it when I unleashed it." Philia answered, "It's called Rapid Raid."
She was about to hop down to where the others were, but stopped when she noticed something as a few more bugs around Oogie escaped him. There were two things on the ground; a golden circlet, and a piece of paper with familiar writing on it. "Guys!" She called out, "I found another Ansem Report!"
"Oh, boy!" Donald cheered.
Philia looked at the circlet, and placed it on her head. She felt its' power circulate into her, and she felt like her endurance to elements was stronger. "Oh! I think Aerith told me what this was…" She recalled, "I think it was…a Holy Circlet." She hopped down into the pit, showing them the Ansem Report and her new accessory. Meanwhile, Jack looked up at where Oogie was.
"Was the heart up there?" Jack asked Philia.
"Not that I could see, no." she answered sadly, "But after what we saw, it didn't seem to be useful in controlling the Heartless, even by a guy as villainous as him."
"So, that heart was a failure after all." He understood. He looked down, disappointed in the failure.
"Sorry things didn't go so well…" Sora apologized.
"Oh, it's not your fault." Jack assured him, "It was my fault for insisting such a thing to be made. We might as well go back and tell the doctor about what happened to the heart."
With teamwork, the group got out of the pit, and exited the torture room, unsure of whether this was a victory for them or not. They made their way back up to the entrance once more, and exited down the steps and over the bridge, heading back to Halloween Town.
However, just as they reached the other side of the bridge, the ground began to shake, causing them all to try and remain balanced. "What's going on?!" Donald exclaimed.
"It seems to be coming from the treehouse!" Jack noticed, pointing to the said place they left. They all turned, and saw the treehouse suddenly consumed in smoke. Everyone shielded themselves from the smoke. Then heard a familiar voice wailing in the night. When the treehouse revealed itself, they saw something horrific.
The treehouse was no longer what it used to be. In fact, the whole place now looked like Oogie Boogie. His body now replaced the building and most of the top of the tree, and he was as big as it. In a couple of his hands, he had lanterns with large flames in them. He even had black splotches all over its' giant-sized body. Inside Oogie's body was not the building, but a green glowing ball of light, like a power source for him.
"Whoa! How did he get so big?!" Sora exclaimed.
"Don't tell me…" Philia muttered, "Did that heart do this?!"
"Look! It's brimming with the power of darkness!" Goofy whimpered.
"Oogie Boogie is drawing power from those dark globs!" Jack noticed.
"So we just have to destroy those things, right?" Sora summed up.
Philia readied her weapon, and was about to take the lead when Oogie moved one of his lanterns, shining a red glow onto his massive body and face. The haunting red face made her stop. Something about his size, the look, the haunting feeling. All of that felt…familiar
Suddenly, Philia's head split in pain. She winced, and she crippled to her knees, causing the others to look at her with shock. "Philia!" Donald cried out.
"What's going on with her?" Jack asked.
"Wait! Is this another memory recall?" Goofy assumed, recalling past times when this happened.
Philia couldn't hear. She couldn't move. She could barely hold onto consciousness. Her head was hurting so badly, it was like an explosion took place in her mind, and it just wouldn't stop. Her eyes were snapped shut, and she couldn't tell what was going on. Then, without warning…she found herself somewhere else.
She was standing in the middle of a large town, with thousands of people standing in the town square with her. They were staring up at a sky, which was consumed by red hexagons that connected with one another, some saying 'WARNING', others saying 'System Announcement'. Red liquid came out of the cracks of these hexagons, forming a massive, red and yellow-fringed robe figure, his face hidden in shadows, though dark smoke came out from within, along with his hands from his sleeves.
"Attention, Players." The robed figure announced, spreading his hands out, "I welcome you to my world."
Her mind flashed, like the moment skipped forward several seconds, and she heard the figure above say, "You cannot log out of…no one from the outside world will be able to…" His voice was warbling at certain moments, so there were things that Philia couldn't hear clearly. However, she could feel the fear growing in her heart. What he was saying was scaring her.
Her mind flashed again. "…It is important to remember the following; There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game." The figure spoke up, his body surrounded by screens showing news announcements, "When your…zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system…forever. And the…simultaneously destroy your brain."
Terror grew in Philia's heart. She started to hyperventilate, unable to bare the news that was reaching her ears. She could die? In a game? But why?! Why was she submitted to such a life-or-death situation?! She didn't ask for this! She didn't wanna die! She wanted to return home! She wasn't good in games before, and now…
The robed figure was descending towards her, his body glitching as the red liquid that formed in its' body started to return to the hexagons. It was as if she was gonna be consumed by it. Her eyes dilated.
Philia let out the most fearful scream she had ever made, scaring Sora, Jack and the others. Her head was raised towards the sky, her pupils were shrunk, and her heart had nothing but absolute fear and hopelessness.
"Philia!" Sora cried out to her, racing to her side. He crouched down next to her, shaking her, screaming, "Philia, what's wrong?! Is it a memory?! Tell us!"
Philia stopped screaming, but she was still hyperventilating. Her face was pouring sweat. The memories. The fear she felt that day. The hopelessness to escape such a terror. The robed figure had just sentenced her, and thousands of other people, to a fate no one asked for.
Philia suddenly fell backwards, and Sora caught her. "PHILIA!" All four called out to her. Her eyes were closed, her body limp.
"Is she…?" Goofy started, fearing the worse.
"No. She's just unconscious." Sora answered, laying her on her back.
"That fear seemed a little too much." Jack noticed, "Was she that terrified of Oogie?"
"No. I think it might've been something she remembered." Sora explained, standing up, looking down at her, "I would like to know what it was, but for now…" They all turned to the massive Oogie Boogie, who didn't seem to respond to Philia's anguish outcry.
"We gotta defeat Oogie!" Donald declared.
"But what about Philia?" Goofy asked.
"She'll be fine, right here." Sora assured them, looking to Goofy, "Why don't you stay here and take care of her. Donald, Jack and I can handle this!"
"Right!" Goofy answered with a salute. He crouched next to Philia, while the remaining trio jumped down to the base of the tree far below where they stood. They landed together, and they made their charge.
The lantern in Oogie's hand began to shoot fireballs down at the trio, but they evaded getting hit by them. Sora found the first glob of darkness, and whacked it several times, with the other two either whacking or casting magic on it. After a few seconds, they destroyed it. "Onto the next one!" Sora shouted, and they leapt up to the nearest platform, and started their climb up the giant Oogie.
The next two they encountered were on narrow platforms, so they had to be precarious when trying to destroy them, while evading fireballs that were coming from the lantern Oogie wielded. Fortunately, they all could use magic. Unfortunately, the magic wasn't completely strong against the dark globs. But despite all the difficulties, the trio were able to handle the two globs of darkness.
The next glob was on a wooden platform, and there was plenty of room to move about. However, there were also Gargoyle Heartless waiting for the team, meaning they had to not only deal with fireballs, but also them. Defeating the Gargoyles was a simple task, leaving taking out the glob of darkness simple enough.
The lantern that the fireballs were coming out of was close to them, and it was giving them a hard time as they were approaching the next glob. "We can freeze those flames!" Jack told Sora, "Leave it to Donald and I."
"You got it!" Sora answered, and he went to the next blob, while they went and started unleashing Blizzard-elemented spells at the lantern. The fire was the least of their problems, though, when Oogie suddenly whipped his arm out at the pair, and they almost fell over the side of the platform. Fortunately, Jack held onto the side, and Donald clung onto Jack's long leg. The Pumpkin King got the two of them back up, and they unleashed one last Blizzard spell together, diminishing the flames within. At this point, Sora got the next glob of darkness destroyed, despite the Heartless in the way.
"Keep going! Y're almost done!" Goofy cheered from the sidelines, watching his colleagues make their way up Oogie, all the while, Philia was unconscious to the world.
Oogie was starting to get angrier, and unleashed black smoke spores from his mouth, which homed in on Sora, striking him when he was unable to dodge it. The smoke, unfortunately, was poisonous, and it was draining him of his stamina. What was worse, he was starting to move the wooden platforms, meaning if Sora did not jump in time, he would fall to the base of the tree once more. And to add more insult to injury. the spider-shaped cage hanging off of him started to gain a flame from within, becoming the next latter not spew out flames.
"Ooh…can't we get a break?!" Donald exclaimed as he and Jack joined Sora, distracting the Heartless long enough for Sora to drink down a potion, and take out the glob.
"Just one more to go!" Goofy shouted, as the trio started making their way up to the platforms above. However, as Sora leapt up to reach it, Donald and Jack were about to jump when Oogie made the wooden platforms slant, and they fell off to the ground below.
"Guys!" Sora shouted, seeing them fall.
"Go, Sora!" Jack called back.
Sora grimaced, but looked towards where the last glob was at; Right by the spider-shaped cage with the flame in it, with Gargoyles by the swarm surrounding it. He looked back at Goofy, while Philia was still unconscious. He had to settle this now. Philia did so much to help them against Oogie Boogie in their last battle. Now he had to step it up and finish THIS job.
The Gargoyles, fireballs, and poisonous spores were coming at Sora as he readied his power, and unleashed his Strike Raid technique, sending his Keyblade flying like a buzzsaw, slashing through all that got in between him and the last glob. He did this several times, clearing the way, and striking the glob a few times while he was at it. Then when the path was clear, he roared as he charged forward, and did one final jumping slash, destroying the final glob.
Sora felt the place shake and start to fall apart. Oogie Boogie, along with the tree, were starting to smoke and collapse, now that they had no dark resource to sustain them. He leapt off as bits and pieces started to collapse to the ground below. Donald and Jack dispersed to avoid getting hit by the collapsing pieces. Goofy struggled to stay upright, but all the shaking caused part of the cliff he was standing on to collapse, bringing him and Philia down towards the ground. He reacted quickly after seeing Philia, and used his own body to cushion her fall, rolling together to one side as the cliff pieces fell about them.
After a while, the collapse was over. The tree, Oogie Boogie, and the treehouse, were no more. Rubble, wood and house pieces littered about the place, yet the majority of it vanished into nothingness. Everyone, apart from Philia, were recovering from evading the collapse. Goofy picked up Philia on his back, and carried her over as Sora rejoined Donald and Jack after they discovered another set of Dalmatian puppies in one part of the ruins.
"You guys okay?" Sora asked the two.
"Somehow…" Donald grumbled.
"We're fine." Jack answered, looking to Goofy and Philia, "What about them?"
"Oh, we're okay." Goofy answered, "Though Philia's still…" As he started to say 'unconscious', the reverse was starting to take place. Philia was coming around. Everyone grouped around Goofy as they watched Philia slowly open her eyes, looking about at her friends.
"You're okay!" Sora and Donald cheered.
"Guys…" Philia muttered, looking like she could collapse again, "What's…going on?"
"We just defeated Oogie once again!" Jack declared, "He's no longer here to scare you, Philia."
"You did?" Philia asked, looking about the place. She didn't see any signs of the oversized burlap sack, so she smiled as she stated, "Great job, you guys." She slowly descended her feet to the ground, and pulled herself off of Goofy. She stumbled a bit, but held her footing.
"You gonna be okay?" Sora asked, worried for his friend.
"I'll be fine…" she answered, shaking her head. She still had a major headache from regaining such a terrifying memory. She looked to the ground, and her eyes awoke as she snapped, "Look!" Everyone turned, and saw something replace the ground where the tree stood before. A line of light that shaped into a keyhole. The Keyhole. The interior of the Keyhole started to glow brightly as Sora approached it.
"How will we lock up something that big?!" Donald questioned.
"I got it." Sora answered, walking forward to it. He then pointed his Keyblade not at the Keyhole, but at the full moon high above them. The tip of the Keyblade shined, and shot a beam straight up at the moon, which only took a second to arrive all the way there. It bounced off the moon, and the light scattered, becoming a multitude as it all struck the Keyhole. There was a locking noise, and the Keyhole vanished, sealed from the Heartless.
Magic orbs sprung up as the Keyhole vanished, diving into Sora, Donald and Philia's bodies. It was the same feeling they got from gaining the Gravity spell before, meaning the spell had evolved into Gravira.
With the task done, the team grouped up together as Jack said, "We should head back to the lab and find Sally and the doctor. I need to apologize to her for all the trouble I caused."
"Yeah… I should apologize, too." Philia added, "I got too hasty on wanting the doc to get my memories back, and I pushed too hard to make that heart."
"You're not at fault, Philia." Donald assured her.
"We hoped it would work on the Heartless, too." Goofy stated.
"Speaking of your memories…" Sora started, "What…were the memories you got?" He spoke hesitantly, realizing that he might be forcing her to recall the fearful thing she recalled.
Philia paused, thinking on the memories, then she answered, "I can't say for sure. It was jumbled up here and there, and there were pieces that weren't clear to me…But there was this large, robed figure. There were also thousands of other people besides me. We were in HIS world. We were trapped there. And…we were forced to partake in a life-or-death game. There was no escape. If we died, our brains would be fried. I was so scared. I just wanted to return home. I just…" She hugged herself, her fears resurfacing strongly.
"Okay, okay! You don't have to tell us more!" Sora assured her, raising his hands to stop her. He didn't want her to collapse from the memories once again. However, one thing was clear to all them; These new memories terrified her.
"Well, I can't say for sure what you were talking about…" Jack started, "However, I bet you can get the rest of your memories back with the doctor's help-."
"No!" Philia snapped, silencing Jack. She tried to calm herself, but it was a fruitless effort. So instead, she responded, "Sorry, but I changed my mind. Those memories…I don't know if I wanna know them anymore, now. Let's just…get back to town again."
Sora, Donald and Goofy looked at one another, worried for Philia. Before coming to this world, she was anxious to want to know more about her past. Now, her new memories were so terrifying, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know anything more. However, they decided to drop it at the moment, and they all walked towards the waterways nearby to return back to town again.
After a while, they made it back to Halloween Town, where they discovered that the kids, Shock, Lock, and Barrel, were under the care of the mayor now, who was making sure they will not cause trouble again for anyone. They returned to the lab, where they found Sally and the doctor there. There, Jack and Philia both apologized for not heeding her warning.
"Sally, why didn't I listen to you?" Jack asked in a guilty manner.
"Don't feel bad, Jack." Sally assured him, "We'll come up with another plan for Halloween. Next time, we'll do it together." They held each other's hands, sharing a romantic moment in front of the heroes. Philia wasn't fully conscious of the moment to react to it, though.
"I guess we have no choice. We'll have to cancel the Heartless Halloween festival for now." Jack sighed, looking to Sora, "Thank you for all your help, friends. Here, I want you to have this." He handed Sora a new Keyblade keychain, which had a silver chain-link, ending with a jack-ó-lantern token. "I heard it's called the 'Pumpkinhead'." Jack explained, "I hope you can use it well."
"Trust me, I will." Sora answered, taking his Keyblade out, and replacing the Crabclaw keychain with it. The Keyblade transformed into its' new form, which fit Halloween Town's theme well. It was almost all black, with a simple handle, a guard that looked like Jack's bowtie, and a hilt that had Jack's face on it. The shaft was long and thin, and the teeth resembled a bat.
"Visit us any time, Sora." Jack told him, then to Philia, "And I do hope you return for some fun-loving scares than the one you got. Next year's Halloween will be the scariest ever!"
"Yeah. Thanks, Jack." Philia answered, forcing a grin on her face, "I'll be sure to drop by to see it."
"Emotions, memory…" Dr. Finkelstein was muttering as he looked at his large book, "We put in all the necessary ingredients. What else do you need to make a heart? What is a heart, anyway? I can't figure it out."
"That's…a really complex question, there, sir." Sora answered.
"Let's go before he questions us any further." Donald muttered, and the four heroes left the lab, waving goodbye to Jack and Sally as they left.
Moment's later, they returned to the Gummi ship, all back in their regular attire once more. They all settled down, though Philia was in silence as Jiminy popped out of Sora's pocket, while they placed in the next piece of Ansem's Report into the computer. With it in, they started to read the info out-loud:
"I am studying material from the meteors that rained down that fateful night. What a find! The material is foreign to our world. It is elastic to the touch, and when two pieces are combined, they bond easily. None of the records even mention such a substance."
"Was it introduced to this world when I opened the door? I wonder how many other such materials drift through the atmosphere of this tiny world... I wish I could soar off and find out! Could there be uncharted worlds up there? My curiosity never ceases to grow."
"But I should stop speaking of such unrealistic dreams. For now, there is no way to venture outside this world. My people and I are all but prisoners of this tiny place."
"He's talking about Gummi pieces!" Donald realized.
"Yeah. King Mickey also found out about them, too. And he, along with Chip and Dale, were the ones who helped create this ship." Goofy added.
"So Ansem didn't realize the Gummi pieces could actually MAKE a ship." Sora understood, "He just felt trapped in his own home world. Kinda reminds me of how I was when I felt stuck on the Destiny Islands…"
"Trapped, huh?" Philia mentioned, getting the attention of the others, "How ironic, seeing as my new memories had me just like that; trapped."
There was a moment of silence, in which they were unsure of whether to tread into dangerous territory, that being what Philia now gained from that last world. However, it was Jiminy who spoke up first.
"You know, a thought occurred to me based on what you said about those new memories." He started, "You said that this cloaked figure trapped you and many others in HIS world. Could that mean that the world you were in before Traverse Town might not actually have been the world you were originally from?"
"I don't know. Maybe there is something true to that…" Philia admitted.
"So, you're saying you had already traveled to another world before coming to Traverse Town?" Goofy realized, "If that's true, then what was your original world like?"
"I don't know…" Philia answered, clutching her hands together tightly, "But honestly…now I'm afraid to know the truth about my past. If something that scary was part of it, then who's to say the rest of my past is just as scary, if not worse? And was the world I originally came from any better than the one I got trapped in? I don't know, and I'm afraid to find out."
The three heroes, along with Jiminy, looked to one another, then Sora answered, "Well, we won't know unless we find out, right? And it wouldn't matter anyway." Philia looked at him, puzzled by this.
"We all have scary moments in our past, but that doesn't mean it's all bad. You did have a friend in the past, and you are a skilled fighter, and a treasure hunter. I'm sure you had some great memories back then. And if there are a lot of bad memories before, then we'll just have to make sure you get some happy ones to overcome the bad ones." Philia looked amazed at Sora's speech, and felt his confidence radiating off of him to her. He was that determined to make sure she had happy and joyful memories.
"Sora's right." Jiminy agreed, "It doesn't matter what your past was like. The memories you have up till now are still great ones, right?"
Philia paused, thinking on many memories since arriving in Traverse Town. There were a lot of great memories, amongst beating up bad guys and trying to save young ladies from dangerous villains.
"Remember, this ship runs on smiles." Donald told her.
"So we'll make sure y're always smilin', Philia." Goofy finished.
She looked to all of her friends and, after a few seconds, giggled a bit, giving off a smile. "You're right. I'm still afraid to find out about my past. But for now, I'm glad to have memories filled with friends like you to keep me smiling." The boys all smiled and giggled in agreement.
"Let's go! We still gotta find the King!" Donald declared, steering the Gummi ship onto the next world.
"And Kairi!" Sora added, giving a determined glare, ready to take on the next challenge.
Philia watched as the Gummi ship flew on ahead, smiling for a while. However, as the memories of what she gained resurfaced, she grasped her right arm tightly. The fear that grew from that memory still lingered in her. She wanted to hold onto the good memories, but if there were ones that caused her this much fear, would she really be better off not knowing what she was like before? She wasn't completely sure, but she prayed for strength as the Gummi ship flew on ahead, heading to the next destination.
Next time on Sword Art Kingdom: Heart's Origin
Neverland! Flight and Fall of Friends!