Part 2.1: A Little Big Adventure
With Donald as pilot, the Gummi Ship soared through space. Throughout the trip, the ship faced large obstacles and fleets of Heartless ships. As he and Goofy took the ships controls, Cyrus sat back while fiddling with his black diamond. "This is strange," he thought to himself. "Where did this diamond come from? I wonder what dwells in this gem... And what who was that dude in Traverse Town? I'm sure it was Ansem, but something's tellin' me that it wasn't. But what matters is, what does this person want with me?"
"What are you thinking about?" Sora asked.
"Me? Oh... nothin'. I be chillin' out, see. As a genius, you can't help but to think about new strategies. You could say I'm a hardcore tactician."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah. Back in the day, me, Jack, and Lude be plannin' for all kinds of stuff. From how to get chicks to how to bring on the pain. And also the origin of humans."
Sora was confused and gave Cyrus a cock-eyed glance. "What?" he said simply.
"He means that he and his friends were thinking of a lot of things," Maria clarified.
"But that changed as soon as the Heartless attacked," Nel explained. "Those things engulfed our world and sent us to another realm: this realm. It seems that some how, we got separated."
"This is the third time I was thrown into a different universe, but I don't really mind," Cyrus said. "It isn't all that bad."
"I see what you mean," Sora said. "But don't worry you guys. I told you that I will help you anyway I can."
"And we will help you guys, too," Cyrus said. "After all, it wouldn't be cool if you did all the work and us just sittin' on our butts. Besides, there's nothin' better we like to do than to put the whoopin' on some narks."
"We're here!" Goofy called. Cyrus and the gang rushed to the windows and saw the world of Wonderland. It appeared to be a large ball with two shades of checkered pink with hearts inside. It had a castle on the top side and a small house on the bottom.
"That has got to be the weirdest blimp I have ever seen," the young shizznit.
"That's not a blimp, silly. That's another world."
"And from what I'm getting on the radar, the Heartless are here," Donald said.
"And what about our friends?" Sora asked.
"Yeah... They could be here, too."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Maria said. "Let's go and take a look around." Donald typed on the control console and the group were transported off the ship. The group of six found themselves floating down a small tunnel. It was so relaxing that Goofy was taking a brief snooze. When they reached the bottom, everyone landed on their feet. All except for Goofy who fell down hard. This made everyone giggle for a second.
"Well, that was fun," Nel said.
"Yeah," Cyrus replied. "It's a little different without wings, but I guess it's nonetheless cool."
Without warning, a small white rabbit hurried past the group. "Oh, my fur and whiskers! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" the lagomorph replied in haste. "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!"
The group stood silent and confused at what had just passed them by. "Well, that was unexpected." Maria said, breaking the silence.
"Did everyone just see a white rabbit with a vest and a pocket watch bust through here?" Cyrus asked.
"I sure did," Sora said.
"That's good. I didn't want to think that I was the only one."
"Let's go see what's wrong with the little guy," Goofy suggested.
The group walked through the hall and opened a door, which also opened two more. They entered the new room called the Bizarre Room. When they were there, they saw the same rabbit opening yet another door in front of them. The party walked to the smaller entrance and knelt down. "How did a three foot tall rabbit shrink to three inches in under a minute?" Cyrus asked.
"It's not the door that's too small, it that you're too large," said the doorknob which shocked the group in the process.
"Now a talking handle?" Maria said in surprise.
"And I thought I saw everything," Nel said to herself.
"Can you please keep it down?" the doorknob asked. "I'm trying to get some sleep."
"Good mornin'," Goofy replied.
"Good night!"
"Wait a minute," Sora said. "Can you tell us how we can shrink?"
"Go to that table..." the doorknob hinted before yawning. "Drink the potion in the smaller bottle." With that said, the knob went to sleep.
"What table?" Donald said. "I don't see a– whoa!" In the center of the room where the duck stood, the table rose beneath him and threw him to a bed on the other side of the room where it was pushed into the wall and revealed another passageway.
"Good job, Donald!" Goofy congratulated. "You found another way through!"
Donald got up and walked unsteadily. "Yeah... It was a piece of... cake..." The dazed mage lost his balance and fell on his back.
Cyrus walked over to the desk and looked at the jar. "'Wonderland Shrink Potion,'" he read. "'Guaranteed to reduce the size of the user by seventy-six percent or your money back. CAUTION: Do not use if you have any health problems, pregnant or live in the presence of rodents, small birds, spiders, insects or reptiles. Also, the developments of schizophrenia have been observed if overused.'"
"Well, at least they're kind enough to give us a warning," Nel said sarcastically.
"So, do you think we should use it?" Goofy asked. The group looked around the room for any small animals.
"Pass me that bottle, Cyrus," Sora said.
"Bold choices make for a brave warrior," Cyrus said. "Remember that tip, home boy." Cyrus tossed Sora the potion in which he drank. He passed it to the rest of the group members who each took a sip.
As soon as Cyrus put the jar back on the table. The party shrunk drastically. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting the feeling it's only going this world will be stranger as we go along," Maria said.
"You have no idea..." Cyrus thought. Suddenly, strange forms emerged from the shadows and above the group. It was an ambush set by the Heartless. On the ground, they had to face Shadows and Soldiers. In the air, there was a mob of three new types colored in red known as Red Nocturne.
"Dang!" Sora hissed. "We're surrounded!"
"Fine by me," Nel said. "Let see how powerful they really are."
Cyrus, Sora and Nel teamed up against one half of the enemies. With "To Our Surpise" from Kingdom Hearts blaring in Cyrus' ear, the trio climbed up the chair and jumped on top of the table. There, Sora pulled out his Keyblade, Nel drew her Blades of Ryuusen, and Cyrus took out his Abysmal Offender and activated his red lightsaber. On the table, a band of Heartless gathered in front of the group. As Nel took the foes on the left flank and Sora occupied the enemies at the front, Cyrus focused on the right swarm. Cyrus hurled the lightsaber at his enemies and rushed at the others with his Abysmal Offender. Two Soldiers and a couple of Shadows rushed at him and were about to pounce. Before they could lay a claw on him, his lightsaber returned and sliced the airborne enemies as it passed. As soon as he caught the weapon, Cyrus put away the lightsaber, jumped back and charged his Fire Bolt. In front of him, five Red Nocturnes were approaching him while he was in mid-air. With his symbological attack charged, Cyrus launched balls of fire from his hands which made direct hits at two of the enemies, but the attack was absorbed. Cyrus was about to fall off the table, but he grabbed on to the edge with his free hand. The red Heartless had already shot their fireballs, hitting the left and right side. Before the last hit the middle, Cyrus had already threw himself up toward the enemies. A small grin appeared on his face and he delivered a swift spinning slash at the opposition with his Abysmal Offender. Nel was surrounded by five Shadows and a Soldier. She stood still, waiting until one of the enemies made their move. Behind her, the lead Soldier used a powerful headbutt. Nel saw it coming and countered by jumping up in the air, avoiding the attack, and then catapulted herself at the attacker. A Shadow jumped at her. When she bounced off the Soldier, the Aquarian spy rammed into the other enemy. The other four Heartless ganged up on her with slashes and aerial jumps. However, Nel used her speed to escape the attack, and then destroyed them with a powerful slashes. After she was through with the foot soldiers, a rain of flames struck the table; courtesy of the Red Nocturne. Nel hurled herself at the one of the opponents and then slashed it. Thanks to her blades, balls of ice showered upon the other foes and weakened them drastically. With a few swift slashes, the enemies were gone in less than sixty seconds. Sora had his hands full with two Soldiers and four Shadows. One of the Shadow in front of him pounced, but the Keyblade wielder jumped and executed powerful strikes at his enemy. As soon as he landed back to the table, he evaded a headbutt by one of the Soldiers. The group of Heartless were approaching him from the behind. Sora quickly turned around and slashed at his enemies. Only one Soldier remained, and it was going to strike Sora with its claws. Sora rolled out of the monster's way and sliced the enemy with powerful blows until the Heartless was defeated. Suddenly, a ball of fire was launched and landed on the table. He barely dodged the magical strike. When Sora looked up, he saw four Red Nocturnes hovering above him. Sora leapt up and sliced at the floating Heartless. In a short time, the battle was over. Down below, Goofy had already exterminated the last Shadow.
"How are you doing down there?" Cyrus asked.
"We're fine," Maria called. "You?"
"Never better."
"Let's get out of here before more of them show up!" Donald insisted.
"Why not?" Sora said.
Nel, Sora, and Cyrus jumped off the table and, with Donald, Goofy, and Maria, went to the next entrance. When they left the Bizarre Room, the six found themselves in a room filled with guards shaped like playing cards and wielding axes. One variety were black spades that carried axes and the others were red hearts armed with spears. The white rabbit raced passed the cards. As he did, the cards cleared the path which led to an outdoor jury. The time-keeping lagomorph climbed up the left stand and blew his horn. "Court is now in session," he said.
"What?" said a girl with blonde hair and white dress. "How did we get on trial?"
"This is nuts!" exclaimed the taller brunette with a wand and wearing pink clothes. Both stood in a small stand in front of the judge's, which sat a rather massive woman.
"Her majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding," the white rabbit said.
The large woman fanned her self with scowl on her face as she stared at the two girls on trial. "There's no denying it," she huffed. "These two girls are the culprit! Why is that? Because I said so!"
"That's unfair!" the blonde named Alice retorted.
"We didn't do anything!" the brunette said.
"Well, do you have anything to say in your defense?"
"Of course!" Alice said. "We did absolutely nothing wrong! You may be the Queen, but you're so... so mean!"
"She's right! You have no right to act like that!"
"Silence!" the Queen huffed. "You dare defy me?"
"Hey, guys," Sora said. "Don't you think we need to help them?"
"I sure do," Maria said.
"But we can't!" Donald said.
"We're outsiders," Goofy added. "We would be muddling?"
"That's meddling!"
"Right. And that's against the rules!"
"Why is that?" Sora asked.
"When you're dealing with intergalactic business, you don't want to interfere in such matters. It could accidently ruin the history of the world."
"This sounds like the UP3 in our universe," Maria said.
"Yeah," Cyrus said. "I'm sure Fayt would be loving it."
"Say..." Nel said as she stared at the brunette. "Doesn't the girl in pink look familiar to you?" she asked Cyrus.
"Yeah..." Cyrus said scanning her. "Wait! That's Sophia!"
"Who?" Sora said.
"A good friend of ours!"
"This court finds the two defendants... guilty!" ruled the Queen. "For the crimes of assault and theft of my heart... Of with both of their heads!"
"No, please!" Alice pleaded.
"Stop this!" shouted Sophia.
"Yo, yo, yo, time fo' you to step off!" shouted Cyrus with the rest of the group not too far behind. "OGC and his crew are in da hizzouse! You alls be incringin' their rights, know what I'm sayin'!"
"Cyrus! Nel! Maria!" Sophia called in both disbelief and relief. "You're here! I still don't understand what you said, but it's good to see you!"
"Sophia, it's nice to see ya," Cyrus replied nonchalantly. "Don't worry, we'll get ya out."
"Let those two go!" Sora said.
"Who are you?" the Queen demanded. "What gives you the right to interrupt my court?"
"We know who really did it, Your Majesty!" Nel said.
"That's right, it's the Heartl–" before Goofy could say another word, Sora covered his mouth.
"What matters is that they're not responsible for it," Sora said.
"This is preposterous!" the Queen of Hearts boasted. "Do you have any evidence?"
"Er... No..." Was the only response Cyrus made before the Queen gave another order.
"Guards! Confine those two!" Alice was thrown into a cell next to the Queen and Sophia was thrown in another cage on the ground next to the jury stand.
"Don't worry," Maria assured. "We'll get you two out."
"Please hurry," Alice said.
"Bring me some evidence to prove their innocence," the Queen said. "If you fail, then it is off with all of your heads! Return back here after you find it! Understand?"
"Loud and clear," Cyrus said before cleaning the wax out of his ears.
"This is one strange kingdom," Nel replied.
"Tell me about it," Donald said under his breath as they walked out of the palace and into the Lotus Forest, a new area that was going to prove stranger.
Part 2.2: Guilty Until Proven Innocent
When they set foot in the woods, the group took in the sights and sounds. It looked like a normal forest, aside from the fact that they were the size of field mice. They were so small, that the blades of grass were as tall as a small house. "Whoever said it was a small world had no idea of what they were saying," Donald stated.
"Word," Cyrus said.
"So, where do we start first?" Nel questioned.
"Perhaps I can be of help, or perhaps not," a voice said.
"W-Who's out there," Sora said.
Without warning, a feline head was floating around in front of the party. "What the-?" Donald blurted.
"A demon?" Nel said as she pulled out her daggers.
On a stump next to the group was a purple and pink body balancing on the same wide-smiled head. It then reached for its head and attached it back to its body "Who are you?" Donald asked.
"Who indeed," the feline said. "Poor Alice, unfortunate Sophia. Ready to loose their heads for something they didn't do."
"So you know who did it?" Maria asked.
"The Cheshire Cat has all the answers- but will not always tell. The answer, the culprit, the cat lie in darkness." With his hint, the Cheshire Cat disappeared.
"Wait-!" Sora replied a little too late.
"They have already left the forest, though I will not say which way," said the cat's voice. "There are four clues you must find. The first three are easy, but the fourth is hard to get. If you can find it, then I will give you a gift."
"Should we believe him?" Donald asked.
"To believe or not to believe," the cat riddled. "I believe you will find the right choice."
"Well, let's get to it."
"Of course," Nel replied. But before they could continue, the group was ambushed by Heartless. Besides the ones they have faced, the new and stronger Heartless was the massive Large Body. Though they were slow, this form proved to be quite powerful and their belly also gave them a good defense. However, they were still no match for speedy attacks behind the back, especially when the blows came from Nel, Sora, and Cyrus. Or rapid shots from Maria's laser gun. Another form was the White Mushrooms. These fungus like forms were nothing compared to their kin. Instead of attacking, these Heartless were gentle and gave gifts to a few members of the party that cast the correct spells. In return, the White Mushrooms handed the gang potions and vanished. As they looked through the forest, they found two boxes: One contained a set of Footprints, the other, a pair of Shadow antennae. "Okay, we have half of the stuff," Donald said. "So where are the other two?"
"It seems we need to go to another room," Cyrus suggested. He looked up at the large tree and saw a large hole in the trunk. "There," the shizznit said simply.
"How do you know?" Nel asked.
"It's called shizznit intuition."
"Then let's go for broke." The group leapt onto a couple of mushrooms and hopped on lily pads. They leapt to the tree and went in the hole. The group found themselves on top of the fire place with the small box in front of them.
Cyrus picked it up and peered into it. But before he could see anything, the smell was the first thing that got the shizznit as he quickly sealed the lid. "Phew... This stuff is carrying some serious B.O.!"
Cyrus let the group take a sniff, and the reactions were pretty much the same as his, if not more. "Hurry up and close that thing!" Maria replied while swishing her hand.
"That's three down, and one to go," Nel said.
"Any ideas of where the next one is?"
"It could be somewhere in this room," Donald said.
"He's right," Sora said. "Let's go back to the forest and try another of them exits."
The group left the room and reentered the forest. With help from a yellow flower, the group was able to take another route by using the same way as they came in. They landed up on thebookshelf of the Bizarre Room, but they found the fourth and last box containing a set of claw marks. As soon as Sora reached for the box, the Cheshire Cat appeared, once again surprising the gang. "Would you stop doing that?" Donald squawked.
"Well done," the feline congratulated. "You found the fourth clue."
"Thank you," Goofy said.
"That means we can save Alice," Sora said.
"And Sophia," Cyrus added.
"Don't be too sure about that," the Cheshire Cat said. "She may be innocent, but are you?"
"What do you mean?" Nel asked.
"I will not say. Now, as promised, for you." the cat handed Sora a small scroll just like the one. Except this one gave him the ability to learn the Ice spell known as Blizzard.
"Thanks," Sora said. However, the cat was nowhere to be seen.
"Well, now that we have the evidence, let's go back to that court," Maria said.
"I'm getting the feeling that even with the proof, the Queen will not give up that easily," Donald said.
The group returned to the court where the Queen of Hearts fanned herself slowly in their presence. "Do you have your evidence?"
"You bet," Cyrus said. "All of it is 100. You can't argue with this."
However, the Queen wasn't won over that easiliy. "Is that so. Just so you know, I have evidence of my own..."
The group was in surprise when they heard this. "Then we all agree that Sophia and Alice are innocent," Maria replied headstrongly.
Her Majesty snickered. "Actually, my evidence shows otherwise."
"What?" they all said in unison, including the imprisoned.
"It's planted!" Cyrus replied. He looked at Sophia who had a worried look on her face. He clenched fists and gave a serious glare at the Queen. "Fine, you want to play like that, we're game."
"Very well," the Queen said. "Your friends will be on the jury bench. You and that kid will take your place on that podium and present the evidence." The group complied with a nod. As Goofy, Donald, Maria, and Nel took their seats on the right side of the court, Cyrus and Sora stood in the booth facing the Queen. They laid their boxes on the rail. "I must say, that is a lot of proof. However, I'm still not affected. Guards, show them my evidence." The Queen's cards brought one box forward. "Going through all the boxes would take too much time. That is why you will use only one piece. I will decide the guiltiness based on that evidence."
"After all that work?" Sora replied.
"That's messed up!" protested Cyrus.
"How dare you object!" snapped the Queen. "I am the Queen of Hearts. Everything I say is right and true! I am the law! Defy me once more, and it will be off your heads. Now choose!"
"Dang!" Sora hissed. He turned back to Cyrus and asked "Well, what should we choose?"
As Cyrus thought, a strange but familiar smell got his attention. "I think I know. Don't you smell that?"
Sora sniffed and caught the strange odor. "I get it now..."
"What is your decision?" the Queen asked.
"We choose the second from the right."
"Are you sure? There are no second chances."
"Yes, that's our final answer," Cyrus sneered.
The Queen signaled one of her guards to open the lid. The two blade wielders watched intently while the rest of the party and the prisoners anxiously awaited the result. After the lid was removed, the stench became more apparent and a Soldier had emerged. When it landed on the ground, the Heartless disappeared. "What in good heavens was that thing?" the Queen asked.
"That's the get-out-of-jail-free card."
"Alice and Sophia didn't do anything."
The Queen of Hearts was swelling up with so much anger, that her face was boiling red. She slammed her fan down and bent over the rail in front of her. "Enough!" she shouted. "Article 29 clearly states whoever defies the Queen is guilty!"
"That's nuts!" Donald shouted.
"You have to be kidding me?" Nel said.
"I have made my ruling!" the Queen shouted. "Guards, seize them! Off with all of their heads!" The podium Cyrus and Sora stood on and the jury bench Donald, Goofy, Nel, and Maria stood in disappeared. In the middle of the court, a small tower with gears appeared and a soldier hastily ran to the structure, pulling at the gears. This caused Alice's cage to raise and a curtain had covered it. The cards pulled out their axes as the rest of the group pulled out their weapons. Cyrus was about to use his swords, but put them back and took a fighting stance instead. "If any of them touch that tower, then it's off with your heads!" threatened the Queen.
"Then I guess that means a lot of you guys are going to be decapitated," Maria said.
"So, you wanna play like that, huh?" Cyrus sneered. "Fine by me! The dark one's playin' to win, chumps! Maria, you, Goofy and I will try and free Sophia," Cyrus planned.
"Alright," Goofy said.
"Okay," Maria said.
"We'll take care of the tower," Donald said.
Cyrus turned his MP3 Player to "Rollout" Ludicris and with Goofy and Maria behind him, went to Sophia's cage. As they traveled, the group was intercepted by a few card soldiers. As Goofy rushed at them head on with his shield and Maria fired her laser at the enemies, Cyrus used a bit of his martial arts. One soldier tried to slash him with the axe on his left side, but the shizznit blocked the hit with his arm just behind the double blade. Another strike came from behind on his right side through an overhead slice, but Cyrus got out of the path and grabbed the pole. He tightened his grip and pulled the axes ahead of each other, until he held them both at the middle. He spun the weapons around and blocked the many hits that came at him. He did this until he was near Sophia's prison. "Cyrus!" she called out.
"Don't worry," he assured. Cyrus then held out the weapons at the end of their poles and spun around quickly. The cards that were in the path of the spinning blades fell hard.
Using this opportunity, Cyrus tossed one of the axes away and slashed the lock off Sophia's cage before discarding the other. "My staff!" Sophia replied. Cyrus looked around and saw that the Queen had it in her seat. He went through the deck of cards that were in his way. The shizznit blocked many of the strikes and punched and kicked some of the guards in his way. Before Cyrus got to the stand, Cyrus slid past the last three guards. When he arrived at the Queen's podium, he leapt into the air, barely missing a wack from her fan, and snagged the staff before landing on the other side. He raced back to Sophia with the staff in hand, but not before facing the three soldiers. Cyrus leapt up into the air and catapulted himself at the middle enemy. He landed in the middle of the trio. Seeing he was surrounded, Cyrus used a break dancing move known as the windmill. He kicked his legs around in a circle over the ground. He did this by flipping his body over and shifting from one hand to the other. The cards were knocked down by the powerful kicks of the stylish attack. He kicked back up and handed Sophia her wand. They both hurried to the tower. With team's skill, they were able successfully destroy the tower.
The cage was lowered and Sora ran to it. He pulled the curtain to the side, but found nothing. "Where's Alice?" he asked in concern.
"Maybe she escaped during the battle," Donald said.
Nel walked toward the cage and investigated it. "I don't think so," she said with a stern look. On the bottom, there were a few scratch marks.
"I don't think those are from nails," Cyrus replied.
"You idiots!" the Queen shouted to her cards. "I don't care what you twits do, but find whoever was behind this! Now!" The card guards scattered throughout the court.
"Let's go," Cyrus said. "There's no time to waste."
With Sophia in toe, the group rushed into the Lotus Forest. When they arrived, one of the red flowers spat out a large boulder toward the small lake. Appearing on top of it in a handstand was the Cheshire Cat. "Have you seen Alice?" Maria asked.
"Alice, no," the cat said. " But Shadows, yes."
"Which way did they go?" Goofy asked.
"This way? Perhaps that way? Left, right, up, down, center! It's all confusing thanks to those shadows. Maybe they're in the upside-down room. Go forward through the forest, where you will find another passage." As soon as the cat left, the group was ambushed by Heartless. "What are these things?" Sophia yelped.
"Heartless," Cyrus said. "The same things that attacked Elicoor II."
"That's terrible! We have to stop them before they do the same thing here!"
"Our thoughts exactly," Sora said.
The group combated against the Heartless throughout the forest trail. As they came closer to the destination, the number of Heartless increased. However, the sheer odds didn't affect the party of seven and they soon reached a large table with dishes and chairs. "I wonder what this is?" Sophia asked.
Nel saw a small portrait near the dinner table. She looked at the picture which also had a note near it. "'Wow, that's a lot of stuff! Have fun! And a very merry un-birthday to you!'" she read.
"What does that mean?" Goofy asked.
"It means this place is stranger than we thought," Donald answered. "Well, let's forget about that and get in that house."
"Fine by me," Maria said. The group entered the house. They walked past the walls and found themselves near two tables.
"I wonder," Goofy said. "Why is this place called the Upside Down Room?"
"Look up, and you'll see why," Nel replied as he stared at the "ceiling". The group was stunned.
"Are we where I think we are?" Sora said.
"That's right," Maria replied. "It appears that we're dangling from the ceiling."
"But how's this possible?" Donald asked.
"This is enigmatic," Cyrus said. "Such a phenomenon is unheard of. This is truly testing every known law of physics. Even insects that crawl on surfaces like these or bats that roost upside down still need to cope with the Earth's gravity that pulls objects to the ground."
"There are some laws that are meant to be broken," a voice said. They looked at the closest table and saw the Cheshire Cat leaning against the lamp. The group jumped on top to meet the feline.
"Okay, so where are all the Heartless?" Sora asked.
"They're hiding here. Try turning on this lamp," said the cat before it disappeared.
"Okay." Sora walked toward the lamp and touched the candle's glass with his Keyblade. As soon as he did, the wick of the candle was burning and a light appeared above them. Half of the room was lit. "We did it, but I still don't see anything."
"It's still too dim," the Cheshire Cat said when it reappeared. "Try making it brighter."
"How do we do that?" Sophia asked.
"Just one more lamp to light."
"Leave it to me," Cyrus said. He leapt to the other table and walked toward the lamp. Using his power, the shizznit created a small flame on the tip of his finger and placed it in the container. Afterwards, the entire room lit up. "All set."
"The lights are now lit. You will see the shadows soon. However, they'll arise elsewhere in this room. Perhaps they'll go after that doorknob."
"Then we must hurry," Nel replied.
"Uh-oh," Sophia said looking down from the table.
"What do you mean by 'uh-oh', Sophia?" Sora asked.
"After talking about how we'll find the Heartless, I think it's the Heartless that found us."
The group looked down and saw a small army converging to the table and a few aerial enemies flocking toward them. From the number of enemies, it appeared that they were trying to keep the group away from something. After pulling out their weapons, the team went into battle. Cyrus, Goofy, and Nel fought the ground troops while the others focused their attacks on the flying foes. Goofy paved through the smaller Soldiers and Shadows as he charged with his shield. Cyrus charging energy, as he did, a black aura was engulfing his body. He pulled out his Abysmal Offender and used his Shadow Slash. A few of the smaller foes leapt at the dark shizznit. However, before they could touch him, Cyrus had already slashed at the enemies in a straight line. Many of the Heartless were destroyed, including a Large Body that was in his path with a swift and fatal slash. Nel was able to destroy a large group of enemies with her Shockwave. A large wave sliced through a swarm of Heartless, weakening a few and destroying others. The ones that survived were dealt with by powerful slashes from her daggers. After the three defeated a the last Large Body, the ground battle was over. On the table, Sora hacked and slashed at a few Red Nocturnes. Behind him, one of them was preparing to attack from behind. However, it's cover was blown as a stream of Ice Needles from Sophia had stopped it from charging up energy and critically weakening it. Maria used her Scatter Beam. By using a beam to pinpoint at the head of the Heartless, the enemy was shot with a strong laser shot and destroyed. In front of her, a swarm of Red Nocturnes fired upon her. Maria dodged a few of the shots. When she leapt back, the Quark captain fired her Scatter Beam. An array of lasers were shot from her gun and hit a few of the heartless. When she landed, a couple more circled her. At the same time, the previous ones that were weakened also joining the fray. Both groups were charging their powers while sizing up Maria. At the last moment, a rain of lightning from Donald's Thunder attack exterminated them all. The battle was over and the Heartless in the room were gone, or so they thought. Cyrus knelt down on his knee from his Shadow Slash. "Strange..." he thought to himself. "The last time I was worn out from Shadow Slash was when I first used it."
"Cyrus," Sophia said as she walked over to Cyrus. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah... Just need to catch my breath."
"Here, let me help you." With Sophia's Healing ability, Cyrus regained his strength and the affects of his fatigue were gone.
"Thanks for the aid."
"Don't mention it."
"So where do we go now?" Nel said.
"Didn't the cat say the Heartless were after the doorknob?" Donald asked.
"That's right!" Sora replied. "Maybe we'll be able to stop the Heartless before they can get to it."
"Well then what are we waiting for?" Cyrus said with a smirk on his face. "Let's take get out of here!"
The group left the room by opening and entering a latch. This led them back to the Queen's court where several of the cards were still on the search for Alice. They left the garden and arrived back in the Bizarre Room, right-side up once more. "Hey look!" Donald shouted. The group spied the table and saw the Cheshire Cat sitting on its surface.
"Come," the cat said. "You'll have a better view up here." The group walked to the destination. The jumped on the chair and hopped to the table. The cat leaned on the size manipulating jars. "The shadows will be here soon. I hope you're ready for the worst. If you aren't, too bad."
"What do you mean?" Maria asked.
"Look!" Goofy yelped. Hanging from the ceiling, a large, bizarre-looking Heartless ambushed the party. It dropped from its hiding place and cartwheeled backward, leaping over the table. The creature stood on two long legs, each held by four bars. As it rose, its tapering arms unfolded. It barely had a body, which housed five heads that were colored in a red and black pattern. Once it rose, the foe pulled out two paddles and began juggling them.
"A Trickmaster," Cyrus warned. "Stay on your guard."
"We can take that thing on," Sora said. "Let's just go back and–" as soon as Sora turned around he gasped.
"What's wrong?" Nel asked.
"The potion's gone!"
"Where did it go?" Sophia said.
"I don't know!"
"It looks like we're in big trouble," Goofy said.
"Luckily, we at some vantage," Maria explained.
"That's right," Cyrus said. "As long as this table's here, a few of us should be able to land some blows on it."
"Goofy, Cyrus, and I will go down and grab its attention," Sora said.
The group nodded and got into battle positions. Before Cyrus pulled out his red lightsaber and Abysmal Offender, he turned his MP3 Player to "Let Me Rock" from the X-Ecutioners. The Trickmaster stomped toward the group, twirling the paddles in its hands. Cyrus, Goofy, and Sora jumped to the ground and began attacking it. As they did, the rest of the party on the table used their long ranged attacks on the foe. The Trickmaster appeared to be weakening. That was until the Heartless used its paddles. Each time it lowered, the foe swung its massive weapons, wacking the group with swift strikes despite its massive size. The Heartless did this several times before it knelt to the ground from a stream of ice from Sophia's Ice Needles struck the foe directly in on of the faces. The trio on the floor went saw this as a chance to attack. Powerful slashes from Cyrus' swords and Sora's Keyblade, along with strong tackles from Goofy's shield, were sending damage to the Heartless. However, the raid didn't last for long as the Trickmaster shot back up quickly. The first thing it did was sweeping the ground group away. Then it turned its attention to the four other members on the table. Raising it's paddles, the Trickmaster slammed its weapon on the furniture, smashing it flat and causing Maria, Nel, Donald and Sophia to fall onto the floor. Goofy, Sora, and Cyrus saw what had transpired and raced to help their comrades. "Are you guys alright?" Goofy asked.
"What do you think, genius?" Donald replied in a snide tone.
"Look out!" Sophia warned as she saw one of the Trickmaster's batons speeding towards them. The group barely survived when the weapon slammed to the floor.
"I'm burning up now!" Cyrus shouted at the foe. "It's time to turn up the heat with the hotness!" As Maria shot her laser up at the head with rapid shots, Cyrus activated Blazing Sword. His red lightsaber was shrouded in a raging inferno. He leapt up and catapulted himself like a disk, slashing at the Heartless with his burning energy weapon as he spun like a wheel. Goofy was catapulting himself straight up, making impact at the enemy. Nel also joined the aerial barrage as she catapulted herself at the head. All three made a direct hit, but were thrown back before they could make anymore damage. However, with the fireball from Donald, the monster was again knelt down. The group attacked the monster with powerful combos, weakening it greatly. On it's last reserves of energy, the Trickmaster got back up and walked over to the stove. In a few seconds, the Heartless' paddles were on fire. As the group approached, the Heartless jumped in the air and swung its burning weapons, hurling embers at the group. When they were in short range, the party started their assault on the enemy. As they attacked, they made sure to watch for the swinging attacks the giant was making. After a well aimed stream of ice chunks from Nel's Ice Daggers hit the Trickmaster's head, the enemy knelt down. The team attacked the enemy with everything they had. With the finishing slashes from Cyrus and Sora, the Heartless rose up quicker than before. The team watched their enemy carefully. However, before the enemy could attack once more, the Trickmaster fell backward, slamming hard on the ground. The battle was over as they watched a glowing heart float from the foe's dispersing body.
"That was fun," Maria said.
The group then heard a yawn from behind them. They turned and saw that the doorknob woke up from his sleep. "What is with all the racket...?" it asked wearily.
"Sorry about that," Cyrus said. "We were just in a middle of a life-or-death battle, you know?"
"Well next time, keep it down. If you haven't noticed, I'm trying to get some sleep." As the doorknob yawned, the team saw a small keyhole glowed in its mouth. Then, without warning, Sora's Keyblade went out of control.
"What going on?" Nel asked.
Before Sora could respond, a beam of light shot at the end of the weapon and through the keyhole. A strange click was heard before the doorknob closed its mouth and fell back asleep. "What was that?" Donald asked.
"Who knows," Sora answered. "But it sounded like something locked." If that wasn't weird enough, a mysterious object dropped to the floor in front of the doorknob.
"Is that one of the gummi pieces?" Maria asked.
"It is," Goofy said. "But it ain't like the others."
"I guess I'll hold on to it," Donald said. He bent down and picked the new piece up.
"Splendid," said the Cheshire Cat's voice from the now risen table. "You truly are a hero. However, if you're still searching for Alice, she's left. Of with the shadows and into the darkness."
"Oh no..." Sophia said.
"No way..." Sora said.
"Yo playas, we did all we could," Cyrus said.
"He's correct," Nel said. "Just because we missed Alice, doesn't mean we won't run into her again."
Maria nodded in agreement. "There maybe a chance that we'll run into her again."
"In the meantime, let's get back to the gummi ship," Donald said. "Perhaps she's on another world."
"Then we have no time to loose," Sora replied. The group went to the table and drank the growth serum. The team grew to their original size and left the room.
However, before Cyrus joined them, he sensed a presence in the room standing behind him. He turned around and it was the same hooded figure he met in Traverse Town. "What do you want, now?" the shizznit asked.
"You really have grown from when I last saw you," the deep voice said. Except this time, he could tell that it was female. "Your powers have matured quite a bit, Mr. Splicer. However, your use of the gifts is quite disappointing."
"I think I want to take back what I said before. You do know something, don't you? About my past?"
"Perhaps I do. But there is no point in sharing such data if you cannot understand. Especially when you're using such abilities improperly."
"Try me," Cyrus said sternly. "Now spill it. What is it you know?"
The figure chuckled. "Not now, Mr. Splicer. Perhaps another time."
"Cyrus," Maria's voice called. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah," he said calling back through the hall. "I'll be there in a second." When he turned back to where the mysterious figure stood, she was gone. There was no trace of her. "I will learn about my past," Cyrus thought to himself. "I will not rest until I uncover it." With that decided, Cyrus left the room and joined with his comrades. They left Wonderland and transported the gummi ship, ready to visit another world.
Author's Note 1: "This hooded woman does knows me somehow. But what does she mean by not using my skills correctly? And what does she know about my past?" Will the group survive the perilous journey of Kingdom Hearts? Who will Cyrus and co. run into next? More to come, everyone. Read and review to find out more.