Pixelized

The castle they'd landed near wasn't unlike the other castles they'd seen. Of course, it would have been easier to see the castle itself if the hedges, built to make a sort of labyrinth, weren't so high. They were lost in its neverending turns and curves and had long since forgotten the way back to the ship. Their only choice was to find their way out of the maze.

A noise from the other side of one of the tall walls caught their attention. A branch that had been stepped on, then voices. The words were spoken softly so they couldn't hear well enough to know what was being said. The entire time they'd been in the labyrinth, they'd run into nobody. Well, that is if you count heartless and nobodies as nobody, but that was beside the point.

"I want to see who it is," said Sora, finally, looking around for a way to see over the hedge. His spikey brown hair hardly moving at all as his head flew from side to side as he searched.

Before his friends could stop him, he'd spotted a rather large green pipe protruding from the ground and had begun to climb to the top. "This should do," he exclaimed.

Riku shook his head at the shorter boy as Kairi fretted. Donald and Goofy were about to pull the boy down when Mickey spoke up. "We don't know if it's friends or enemies over there, Sora."

Sora responded with a wave of his hand as he stood up on the pipe. "It's okay, Your Highness. I'm sure they're frie-- Ahhh!" Before he'd even finished his sentence, an odd sound came from the pipe below him as it sucked him down.

Donald panicked, yelling profanities. Kairi struggled to hold in her scream, afraid that it would bring too much attention from the people on the other side, though she was sure they had already heard. Goofy stared, wondering out loud what had just happened. Riku slapped his forehead with his right hand, amazed that Sora had just gotten himself into yet another situation somehow.

It was Mickey who first rushed to the pipe and struggled to look down it and hold himself up at the same time. Not an easy feat being the shortest of the rather large group, but the brave King managed. Seeing nothing--it was far too dark to see farther than a few feet, surprisingly, because it was quite bright out still--the mouse dropped back down and turned to his companions. "Looks like we're gonna have to go in after him," he told the others, shaking his head grimly with a hint of amusement.

Everyone nodded--this was their friend, they couldn't leave him-- and they took turns standing on the pipe and letting it suck them down. Mickey first, then Donald, Goofy, Kairi...

Riku was the last down. The force of the wind in the tunnel had forced him to close his eyes. He landed hard on the ground finally and slowly opened his eyes to see a land completely different from any other. A glace up showed him the end of the pipe they'd used to get there. But where was there?

"It's so weird," said a voice to his right. His attention immediately went towards the female voice. It was Kairi, but she looked different to say the least. The girl was shorter than he remembered her being when compared to the landscape, but she looked to be the same height as him, somehow. Had they shrunk in the tunnel? Not only that, but she looked boxier. Made of the same stuff as the world itself. He could only assume that the same could be said of himself. A look at his hands confirmed his suspicions.

"Hey Riku! I'm as tall as you are now!" exclaimed Sora, who had nearly bounced in front of his face, blocking his vision of everything else. His new appearance didn't seem to bother Sora as it did Riku.

Riku laughed at his friend. "Yes, it seems that you are. But don't get too used to it."

"Riku's right. Once we get out of this world, we'll be back to normal again," added the King. His ears now square instead of round.

Sora looked disappointed. Or as dissapointed as a pixelized version of himself could look. He brightened back up almost instantly, though. "That's okay, because I'll catch up to you in no time!" he yelled, pointing his now short arm at his friend.

Kairi laughed. They would never stop being competitive, would they?

----------------------------------------

I in no way own any of the characters and scenes described. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy belong to Disney. Sora, Riku, and Kairi belong to Square Enix. The castle (Hyrule Castle, btw) and the Mario world + pipe belong to Nintendo. :D If I owned them, I'd be rich and this would be a game instead of some short little thing.

I got the idea for this from my friend Sam. :3