Trigger Warning: One of the characters in this chapter uses a racial slur. It is only spoken by the villain, and was used to stay true to the character. While the word was originally used in the movie, by both the villains and heroes, and later in "Dream Drop Distance," I do not condone the word's usage in real life, against real people. It is simply used in this context to demonstrate the character's flaws.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy or any of the Disney/Square Enix characters that appear in this work. Please support the original releases.
Chapter 21: The Dip
Sora discovered two very unfortunate things when woke up. The first was that a pair of heavy, steel manacles were tied around his wrists. There was even a ball and chain connected to the metal cuffs around his ankles. The second was that he was sitting back to back with Valiant, Roger, Donald and Goofy, and all four of them were knocked out.
Sora struggled. "Wake up!"
Valiant, Goofy, and Donald came to, but Roger was still out cold with his tongue sticking out from between his lips.
"Are you guys okay?"
Goofy's eyes rolled. "I see stars."
Donald shook his head. "I think I'm okay. Where are we?"
"This is Acme's factory," Valiant explained.
Sora scanned the brick warehouse. From the large, glass windows along the walls, he could see the storm brewing outside. There were no stars in the sky. Purple lightning flashed in the furious dark clouds. Sora swallowed, wondering how long they had before the heartless found the keyhole and destroyed the world.
To distract himself, Sora looked around the factory. There were mountains of wooden crates, each labeled with black letters that spelled out words like Acme shoes, Acme fireworks, Acme portable holes, and Acme singing swords. There were prop missiles hanging from the ceiling, crates full of dynamite, metal ten-ton blocks that hung precariously from the scaffolding above. The dangerous materials clashed with all the zany props. Buckets of industrial glue, giant balloons, clowns, cacti with ten gallon hates, cartoon mallets, merry go rounds, oversized magnets, inflatable hotdogs, and candy props were stacked under the walls. But what caught Sora's attention the most was a dark blue curtain that covered a big lump in the middle of the room. The lump had with wheels, and for some reason, Sora felt uneasy whenever he stared at it.
He spotted Jessica Rabbit. She was rope-tied to metal beam that came down from the high ceiling.
Donald let out a breathe. "Wow."
Jiminy popped out of Sora's hood and landed on the duck's beak.
"Now Donald, it's impolite to stare at a lady."
"Daisy would be mighty upset if she were here," Goofy mumbled sadly.
Donald shook his head vigorously. "S-sorry."
"Jiminy," Sora tilted his head toward his wrists, "do you think you can get these cuffs off? I can't aim my own keyblade at them when my hands are tied. If you free me, I can use the keyblade to free the others."
"I'll try." Jiminy landed on Sora's hands and used his umbrella to try and pick the lock on the handcuffs.
While he was busy, Sora wriggled and turned to speak to Jessica.
"Excuse me, ma'am, but do you think you can explain what's going on?"
Jessica looked over at Roger. "Oh honey bunny," she cried in a deep, sultry voice.
"He been looking for ya. He was really upset when he heard you were playing patty-cake with Mr. Acme," Goofy added.
Pain crossed Jessica's delicate brows. "I had no choice. Maroon told me that if I didn't pose for those pictures, if I didn't play patty-cake with Acme, then Roger would never get an acting job in this town again. I couldn't let that happen! I would do anything for my husband."
"Why was Maroon setting up Roger?" Valiant asked.
"He wasn't setting up Roger," Jessica explained, "he was trying to use those pictures to blackmail Marvin Acme. But none of that matters now. Doom doesn't care about Maroon or Acme anymore. He's lost his mind. He's turning toons into monsters, corrupting them."
"You mean turning them into heartless?"
"Is that what they're called? Well it doesn't matter. He plans to use them and the dip to destroy Toontown."
"How do you know all that?"
"I've been investigating to try and clear Roger's name. Then I witnessed Doom, and some other toon talking about using 'the power of darkness to clear away the filth from this world.' I wanted to warn Roger, but Doom caught me."
"In your apartment?"
"Yes."
"Hold on." Sora frowned. "Doom said something about another toon helping him. This toon you saw, talking to Doom about the darkness, what did he look like? Was he a tall, witch doctor in a top hat?"
"No," Jessica made a disgusted face, "he was an old man dressed in long, black and purple robes. Even though he was a toon, he looked at the rest of us like we're bugs under a moldy stone."
"Old man?"
"Remember that stuffy, old fool we ran into right outside Roger's house," Valiant said.
"He's the one working with Doom?"
"Makes the most sense."
Sora looked down at the manacles around hands. "Jiminy, how's it going?"
"This is a hard lock to pop, Sora. I need more time."
The door at the end of the factory opened. Oily toon heartless slithered into the room. They pulled Valiant and Roger away from the trio. The movement finally roused Roger.
When he spotted Jessica, he kicked his feet.
"My dearest! Are you all right?"
"Oh darling, I'm more then well now that you're awake!"
"Hey lovebirds, do you really think now is the best time?" Valiant snapped.
But Roger wasn't listening. He slipped his hands and feet out of the manacles and ballerina jumped toward his wife.
"What?" Valiant roared. "You mean to tell me you could have escaped those cuffs at any time?"
"No, not at any time. Only when it was funny."
"Funny? Do you not see the state we're in?"
"Now is the best time to be funny! There's no better time for humor then when faced with life's biggest hardships."
Jessica sighed dreamily. "Oh Roger, that was brilliant!"
Roger busied himself with untying his wife, having completely forgotten about the heartless that had been dragging him away seconds before. Leaving Valiant on the floor, the heartless snuck up on Roger and tried to nab him from behind.
Either Roger had sensed them coming or he was a total dumb dumb, because he jumped up a full twenty feet into the air, screaming. Jessica stoically watched him panic from her spot down below. The heartless jumped up after Roger. In his attempt to escape capture, Roger accidentally knocked over the heavy metal weights, squashing the heartless flat. He also knocked over a giant ax that nearly cut Valiant's head off. Lucky for Valiant, the ax only caught the manacles on his wrists, freeing him from his metal restraints. While the heartless twitched on the floor, Jessica wriggled out of her loose ropes. Roger finally got back on the ground and jumped in Jessica's arms. Their happy reunion was cut short, because, a moment later, a cruel voice called out.
"Enough. Capture those two buffoons and the temptress before they make their escape."
The heartless recovered and it didn't take them long before they restrained Jessica and Roger.
"Come on, Jiminy," Sora whispered.
The toon man from Roger's apartment walked into the factory. His beady, narrowed eyes made Sora chest burn.
"So, you were the guy Jessica was talking about. Why are you working with Doom to attack everyone?"
The man gave a sideways glance at Roger's wife.
"I see the siren has lured you in with her treacherous wiles."
Jessica cast a foul look at the robed man.
Ignoring her, the man returned his attention to Sora. In that moment, Sora had to resist every temptation not to look down at his hands and draw attention to Jiminy. The little cricket was smart. He had stopped picking the lock and hid in Sora's hands mere moments before the old man loomed over the trio.
"You've changed forms as well I see, but no matter what guise you wear, gypsies such as yourselves cannot disguise their hideous true nature."
"We're not-we're toons."
"Hedonists that live outside the world order, partaking in vice and sin. How are you any different then the thieving gypsies that have infested my world?"
"If you really cared about this world, you would stop! The heartless are destroying it!"
"That's of little consequence to me."
"How can you be callous? All these toons, all the people here, they'll lose their home, and their hearts."
"That is the price they will pay for straying from the path of the righteousness."
Sora kicked his feet, wishing he could knock the old man's teeth in. "No wonder you and Judge Doom can work together. Both of you have so much against people who are different. You are the one that brought the heartless and the darkness here, aren't you?"
"Do not twist the truth, boy. These creatures have been gifted to me by our Lord, and they follow my commands. I will use them to purge the world of the common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd. And once I have exercised my judgement upon this world, I shall be allowed to return to my own, where I shall use the gifts given to me to purge all the gypsies from Paris."
Sora glared. "You're own world? You're not from here, which means you came in through the castle door. You're on Doctor Facilier's team. Who are you?"
He looked down at Sora in the same way one looks at filth. There was nothing but utter contempt in his tight frown.
"Very well, I shall grace you with my name. I am known as Judge Claude Frollo. And I am not that so called 'doctor's' ally. He is yet another means to an end. Once I have finished my business here, he will assist me in getting back to my world. Then I shall enact judgement upon him, and that gypsy 'treasure hunter' as well."
Donald and Goofy's eyes widened. "Treasure hunter?"
Sora hissed. "What did you do Locke? Where is he?"
"He's been put in the proper prison. A more merciful act then he deserves. If I had my way, he would have been disposed of long ago."
More heartless popped out of the air. They closed in around the trio, but they did not attack. Frollo raised his hand, signaling the heartless to wait. Across the warehouse, the heartless opened the front door and Judge Doom appeared.
Doom walked over to the blue curtain. "Do you know what this is, my dear toons?"
He pulled on a rope and the curtain fell off the massive mechanical monstrosity underneath it. A demonic bulldozer, with spikes on its blade, glared at the trio. A giant, cauldron of neon green, smoking liquid, bubbled on the back of the machine.
Roger and Jessica instinctively moved away from cauldron but couldn't get far because of the heartless holding them back.
"Oh no! It's dip!"
"That's right," Doom roared triumphantly, pointing at the red turret at the top of the machine. A power hose was attached to it. "Enough to dip Towntown off the face of the earth. A vehicle of my own design. Five thousand gallons of heated dip, pumped at enormous velocity through a pressurized water canon. Toontown will be erased in a matter of minutes!"
"You have to stop!"
Judge Doom whirled as though he were on a conveyor belt. He pointed his cane at Sora.
"There's no stopping it now. The heartless toons have attacked so many regular citizens. At this point, everyone in this city will happy to be rid of all the menaces in Toontown."
Despite his restraints, Valiant stood up.
"So, you were making those creatures attack toon and human alike to frame toons as violent? So that people wouldn't complain when Towntown was completely destroyed? You're kidding me!"
"None of that matters now," Sora said.
"Yeah! It's not just Toontown that's going down," Donald added.
"This whole world is going to be destroyed!" Goofy pointed his chin to the window. "Just look outside! The darkness storm is getting worse. There's way too many heartless here!"
"What foolishness," Frollo huffed. "Shall we get rid of these seditious voices and get on with destroying the town?"
"Indeed. Tie the toons together with escape-proof-toon-rope," Judge Doom snapped at the heartless.
Sora held his fists in front of his face. "Jiminy," he whispered to the cricket hiding in his palms. "Get to safety."
"But-"
"Just do it!"
Jiminy sneaked out of Sora's fingers, hopping away, disappearing into the Acme props.
The heartless swarmed the toons, tying them all up and hanging them from a hook. Soon, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Roger and Jessica were hoisted up into the air, hanging in front of the factory's back wall. The heartless began to work Doom's dip machine, pointing the water canon at the hanging toons.
"It's over Mr. Valiant," said Doom. "You'll watch your toon friends get dipped and then the heartless will get rid of you."
The heartless pressed a button and a stream of dip shot through the air at the toons. Sora, Donald, Goofy, Jessica and Roger lifted their legs, barely avoiding the hot liquid. Sora's shoe slipped off his foot and he watched it melt into the puddle of dip below, leaving nothing but a splotch of yellow paint.
Valiant turned toward Frollo. "Creepy old man. How can you just stand there and watch your own kind be destroyed?"
"I'm surprised one such as yourself cares about these unholy creatures. All they do is twist the mind with frivolous laughter."
"What is with it with you judges? Sentencing toons to death based solely on bias? Does judiciary law suddenly not matter anymore? Where's the justice?"
Dark dust rose up from Frollo's robe like smoke from an unholy fire. "Fool. I am the only administrator of true justice."
Up on the hook, Roger clapped his ears. "Come on you guys, 'Shave and a Haircut?' Remember?"
Donald and Goofy bonked heads. The heartless paused for a moment, clapping the last two beats.
"Idiots," Doom roared. "One of these days, your compulsive need to funny will be your undoing! Just dip the toons and get on with it!"
Down below, Valiant's eyes widened. He looked at the heartless that were still trying to clap the last two beats of "Shave and a Haircut." Then he cast his eyes around the entire warehouse before he faced Judge Doom.
"Nothing's funny to you ain't it, Judge Sourpuss?"
Doom pulled a blade out of his cane and pointed the sharp end at Valiant.
"Do you have a problem with that?"
Valiant walked backward, away from the blade. "Naw. I just think you should open up your mind, maybe embrace the laughter. I'm mean, you're on the verge of getting what you want, why not have a little fun in the process?"
Valiant's back hit a merry-go-round. He reached behind him and pressed one of the buttons on the merry-go-round's control panel. The machine's drums, trumpets and xylophones began playing themselves. The merry-go-round lit up, and soon chipper, excited music filled the whole warehouse.
Judge Doom and Frollo glared at Valiant, but were too slow to stop him when he began singing and dancing. From above, the toons watched Valiant's crazy routine.
"He's lost his mind," said Jessica.
Roger smiled. "I don't think so. Look."
Roger's ear pointed at the heartless on top of the dip machine. Try as they might, they were bouncing along with the music. Some of them even started doing pitfalls alongside Eddie.
"Oh! I get it! Ahyuck! They can't resist being funny!"
"Come on, Sora," Donald said, "crack some jokes!"
"Now? How do you expect me to be funny when I'm hanging by a thread here?"
Roger erupted into a giggling fit. "Hah! Word humor! Puns! Hanging by a thread! Hah!"
Straight ahead, the heartless at the turret started twitching, almost as though it were in pain. Roger's began kicking his feet, making the hook above him swing back and forth like a pendulum.
Sora tried not barf. "I mean, I always hoped I'd go down swinging but this is not what I meant."
Donald joined Roger's laughter.
"You guys gotta help me think of something funny here." Sora wriggled in his restraints. "I'm kind of at the end of my rope."
Jessica tried to keep her face straight, but even she couldn't resist snorting. The heartless behind the turret was writhing now. Suddenly, it fell over, bursting into dust.
Down below, Valiant picked up three steel balls. He juggled but his timing was off and he missed catching a ball, allowing the other two to bounce on his head. He lost his balance, slipped on a random banana peel and crashed into some of the Acme boxes.
Roger and Goofy were in hysterics. Jessica and Donald wiggled with laughter.
More heartless fell over, convulsing. One of them even fell into the vat of dip.
"It's working!" Sora brightened. "Of course! Laughter. Light. Mr. Valiant, keeps the jokes coming! We're slaying 'em! Hey Donald, what do you call a clever duck?"
"I don't know."
"A wise quacker!"
Donald, Roger and Goofy screamed with delight. Valiant jumped out of the Acme boxes on a pogo stick. He bounced up and down for a few seconds before his head hit a lamp hanging from the ceiling. Valiant screamed as he took a massive shock.
If Sora and the rest of the toons were laughing before, it was nothing compared to the breathless screeches they were doing now. The heartless twitched, clutching their bellies, falling over one by one. They began to explode.
"What disrespectful, disgusting frivolity," Frollo growled.
"Stop the comedy routine, you fools!"
Doom and Frollo moved toward Valiant, who by this time had fallen to the floor and was rubbing his forehead. Doom readied his blade, and Frollo raised his hand, a black fire spell glimmering on his fingertips.
"Get those toons dipped right now!"
The last heartless jumped on the machine and moved the turret. A stream of dip shot out of the cannon.
Roger yowled. "Swing for your life!"
Everyone leaned to the right and swung away from the stream, but that didn't stop the heartless. It moved the turret and the dip stream rose higher.
"Eddie! Help!"
Valiant, no longer dizzy, backflipped away from Frollo and Judge Doom. He lost his balance and bonked his head on a steel beam. Roger snickered. "Ah! The old slip and bonk! Classic! What timing!"
One more fit of laughter from Donald and Goofy did it. The last heartless was done for. It burst into nothing but without it, there was no one manning the machine and it was still running! The stream of dip inched closer and closer to the toons. Down below, Valiant was busy ducking under Doom's sword and Frollo's fire spells.
Sora could smell the acidic stink of the dip in his nose. The fumes made his eyes burn with tears.
"This is it my darling," Jessica closed her eyes. "I want you to know how much I love you. I've loved you more then any woman has ever loved a rabbit."
Donald wailed. "Come on, swing!"
But it was impossible to move the hook far enough.
The stream of dip was inches away from burning their legs.
A tiny spec jumped on the machine. It bounced up and down on top of a lever. The lever snapped downward. The stream of dip weakened. The machine turned off.
Sora caught his breathe just in time to see Jiminy land on his hands.
"I'm so glad I made it in time! Are you all right?"
Sora cheered. "Jiminy, you're amazing!"
The cricket blushed. "Shucks. There was no way I was going to let my friends get dipped. Now hold still Sora, I've got to get these manacles off."
Sora looked down at Valiant. He was completely outmatched. He tried to punch Doom, but the judge was surprisingly fast and dodged with ease. There was no time for another attack. Valiant had to duck and cover from each one of Frollo's fire spells.
Picking up one of oversized magnets, Valiant tried to pull Doom's sword out of his hand. Doom simply let the sword go and it flew through the air. Before he could get stabbed, Valiant turned the magnet around. The sword clattered to the ground, but the magnet got caught around Valiant's waist, and he flew back toward a metal beam.
Trapped between the magnet and the beam, Valiant was a sitting duck. Unable to escape, he could only watch as both Frollo and Doom advanced on him, ready to both skewer and char broil him.
Doom pulled his sword back.
Frollo released his fire spell.
Sora felt the locks around him hands pop off, but he was still rope tied to the hook. There was a net full of bricks hanging above Valiant.
Sora called the keyblade to his hand and hurled it at the net holding the bricks.
The keyblade shredded the netting. Frollo jumped back, but Valiant reached out and grabbed Doom's foot, keeping him from escaping. The ton of bricks pummeled Doom and stopped the fire spell from burning Valiant.
A flat hand popped out of the brick pile. Doom rose up out of the bricks, stars circling his head. He was cartoonishly rubbery and flattened.
Valiant's jaw dropped. "Holy smokes! He's a toon!"
"Not just any toon," Doom sang. He re-inflated, his eyeballs popping out of his head.
A look of horror crossed Valiant's face. "I'd know those crazy eyes anywhere! You're the toon that got my brother!"
Doom leaned back and laughed, his voice pitching higher and higher until it was an unearthly shriek that threatened to blow out Sora's eardrums. From above, Roger cowered at the sight of the red, insane, rolling, toon eyes in Doom's three dimensional face.
Frollo seethed. "All this time, you were just the same as these lowly creatures?"
Doom turned around, casting a freakishly wide grin and deranged, piercing gaze at Frollo.
"And what are you going to do about Judge Frollo?" Doom's eyes stretched out his scull, turning into swords. "I swore to destroy all toons. Did you think that didn't include you?"
Although he wasn't a hodgepodge of toon and man, the wrinkles that deepened when Frollo's face stretched into a sinister glower, were just as terrifying.
"I'm much purer then one such as yourself. You deserve to cleansed just like the rest of your kind."
"You're welcome to try," Doom screeched. "I could use a little f-f-fun! Isn't that right, Mr. Valiant?"
Frollo's teeth clenched, his sneer absolutely insane. Fire engulfed his hand. "May you be the first example of how my fires smite the wicked."
Black fire sailed through the air toward Doom's rubbery face. The spell crashed into Doom, and an explosion of flames obscured his body. Frollo watched with an indifferent expression until Doom shot up from the fire. Cartoon springs were attached to Doom's feet. He grasshopper jumped toward Frollo. Removing one of his gloves, revealing a golden, toon anvil underneath, Doom's arm stretched. He tried to smash Frollo with his anvil fist.
Frollo's robes began to move on their own and soon, he was floating around the room, throwing down molten balls of lava at Doom, who slithered and stretched like a rubber band, avoiding the attacks. The fire spells fell on the Acme props, making the fireworks and dynamite explode. The industrial glue burst into flames, but Doom and Frollo completely ignored it as they raged against each other.
Doom sliced with a cartoon razor blade growing out of his arm. Frollo flew out the way, and the razor blade cut through steel beams and the ropes holding up the scaffolding. The hook holding the toons swung lower. Caught in the chaos, the toons got singed by random fireworks, coughed on the smoke that was filling the factory, and were attacked by the random, flying props.
Down below, Valiant struggled to escape the magnet holding him. By some miracle, he avoided the fire spells and props and somehow grabbed an Acme portable hole. He pressed the hole into the magnet. A piece of the magnet disappeared into the black hole, freeing Valiant, but he wasn't safe yet.
Doom and Frollo's rampage forced him to run and duck. Seeing him from above, Doom swooped down to try and slice Valiant with his razor arm. He only backed off Valiant when one of Frollo's fire spells caught his cape. Flames crept up the hems of Doom's clothes, forcing him to turn his attention back to the other judge.
But Valiant was still running for his life. If it wasn't Doom slashing at him, or Frollo's fire spells threatening to turn him into steak, it was the props trying to fry, flatten, blast, or slice him into pieces.
Sora watched the fight, pulling at the rope around his chest. "This is insane! We have to do something!"
"We can't escape this rope," Roger said. "It's toon proof!"
Sora looked out the window. The storm was no longer visible. Instead, the world outside the factory was inky black. Both Valiant and the world were running out of time!
"We can't stay up here! We have to do something."
"But even if we could get down," Goofy said, "the floor below is covered in dip."
Jessica gasped. "Wait, the dip! Can you throw your weapon again?"
"What do you want me to do?"
"Move the turret so that it aims at Doom and Frollo."
"Oh! I see what she means, Sora."
Jiminy hopped away. Sora saw his little spec jumping toward the dip machine.
"Okay, here goes."
Sora threw the keyblade at the turret. The pressure hose moved slightly to the right. He tried again and again, but the noise drew attention. Doom and Frollo looked up.
"Uh, don't mind us," Roger said. "We're just hanging around."
"Yeah," Sora snapped, "can't you let us off the hook just this once?"
"Hey, Frollo, I heard Doom say you were a lily-livered phony," Donald said.
"Yeah," Goofy added, "he thinks you're the impure one."
That did it. Frollo gathered up all his energy. A sword of fire appeared in his hand. He flew at Doom, intending to melt him with his sword. With one more throw, Sora was able to angle the water canon so that it was right above Doom and Frollo.
"Jiminy. Now!"
Jiminy jumped on the lever and the dip splashed out of the cannon, completely drenching the floor. Doom and Frollo moved away from the stream, but didn't see Valiant pick up a cartoon mallet down below. He aimed and pressed a button the mallet's handle. A boxing glove shot out the mallet, punching Doom into a shower of dip.
Doom's high pitched screams vibrated along the walls and the metal props. The dip melted him into the floor. Frollo flew over the ground, but even he wasn't fast enough to avoid getting splashed with dip once Valiant climbed up the machine and aimed the water canon at him. Furious, Frollo threw a ball of magma at Valiant.
That had been a mistake. The fireball knocked Valient back, away from the turret, but it also broke the water canon. Dip exploded out of the machine, drenching Frollo. He didn't even have time to yelp before he was erased from the world.
With both Doom and Frollo done for, Valiant recovered. He turned off the dip machine by pulling the bulldozer's key out of the ignition. Then he moved toward a set of rep pipes in a corner of the factory and turned a valve.
All the fire hydrants in the factory burst, washing away the dip down the drainage holes on the floor and dousing the remaining fires. With the floor clear, Valiant was able to lower the toons safely to the ground and untie them. Moments after they were free, Benny the Taxi, Dolores and the police burst into the factory.
Benny shined his headlights over the melted yellow paint on the floor. A rubber mask and a black suit lay over the paint.
"Sister Mary Francis! What happened here?" Benny said.
"That's all that's left of Judge Doom," Valiant explained. "Turns out he was a toon all along."
"Wait a minute," said one of the police officers. "That's the same paint that was on the scene where Acme and Maroon vanished."
"Yep," Valiant let out a deep breathe. "This joker was responsible for the loss of Marvin Acme, RK Maroon, and my brother. I think that's enough proof to show that Roger's innocent."
The police officer's face darkened. "Sure, he's innocent."
"Then what's with the look," Valiant said.
"I got bigger fish to fry, Eddie. The storm outside is somehow causing earthquakes and there are still those monsters moving about. Roger may be innocent but what about all those other inky, toon creatures."
Sora came forward. "I can explain all that, but first, I need everyone's help. We need to stop that storm before it destroys everything."
"What are you talking about, kid?"
"Just hear him out," said Valiant. "He's a good kid. He really saved my hide back there."
The police officer nodded at Sora. "Okay."
"I need everyone to look for a shiny, glowing keyhole. And if you want to take down those toon monsters, do something funny and laugh. They can't stand laughter."
Roger stood straight and saluted. "I'm on it Sora! I'll get the word out to the toons! They'll find this keyhole before you can say door to darkness!"
Sora blinked. "Wait a minute, how do you know about that? I never-"
But Roger had already left.
Jessica blew a kiss at Sora. The toon kiss fluttered in the air like a butterfly and smacked Sora on the face. "Thank you for saving my husband."
Sora whipped the kiss off his cheek, blushing. "Uh, sure. No problem."
She turned to leave.
"Wait!" Donald jumped in front of her. "I have to ask. You and Roger?" Donald held up his palms. "How?"
Jessica winked. "He makes me laugh."
It took the combined efforts of all the toons, Valiant, Dolores, and the police to clear the heartless from the world. Even some of the patrons from Dolores' saloon helped. Sora couldn't remember the last time he had laughed so hard. Roger had pulled no punches, bringing in some of the greatest physical comedy Sora had ever seen. Normally, he would have been terrified of someone getting stabbed, squashed, set on fire, stung by bees, electrocuted, and even cut into a million pieces, but Roger made it all look so comical, and it absolutely devastated the heartless.
By the time Benny and Roger located the keyhole in Toontown's city hall, Sora's stomach and cheeks were killing him. With the keyhole locked tight, the darkness storm cleared away from the world. Toontown came back to life, as zany as ever.
What was once a deserted city was now full of nonstop movement and gags. Donald got squashed under a falling anvil. Goofy got a pie to the face after a circus truck full of monkeys raced by. The colors brightened. The cartoons came out into the streets to sing and dance.
Valiant turned toward Sora and put out his hand. "Thanks for helping me bring that Judge Doom to justice."
The moment Sora touched the detective's hand, he felt a zing go up his arm and tingle all over his body. His entire body zapped so hard that his hair actually went from spiky to smooth for one second. Sora yelped and let go.
Valiant, laughing, held up his hand, revealing a buzzer hidden in his palm.
"Gotcha kid."
"Do my eyes deceive me?" Roger blinked. "Eddie Valiant? Laughing? Making a practical joke? You've regained your sense of humor?"
"I know. Shocking isn't it?"
Roger, Sora, Donald and Goofy stared with their mouths handing open. "Did you just make a pun?"
"Well," Valiant spread his arms wide, "it is Toontown."
Darkness cocooned Riku, squeezing him tight like a fly caught in a web. It pulled him down, deeper into a black sea of nothing. Fear chewed at his heart. The darkness seeped into his lungs. His body begged for air, for light, for home, for his friends, for relief from his regrets.
Don't fight. You belong here.
It couldn't be true. Not after trying so hard to escape.
You can't control the darkness, can't fight it. You should just accept it. Accept me. Ansem's voice echoed from within. Riku felt something thick and slimy spreading in his chest and abdomen. It wasn't cold, it wasn't hot, it was liquid fear and despair and it was making him forget. Who he was, why he was there, what it felt like to laugh, or cry.
Something burned his eye. A sphere of light floated down from above.
"Riku! Fight! Don't let the darkness win."
King Mickey?
Memories rushed inside his skull. Images of boy on the beach, a boy he was constantly competing with, filled his mind and heart. There were also memories of a girl, one that bossed her two friends around, one that was easy going, even with her friends' competitive antics. Another memory showed images of King Mickey, and reminded him of the joy of fighting at his side.
He wasn't alone. Not anymore. And even if he were, he wouldn't forget. But the voice kept screaming from within his heart.
No matter how hard you run, how hard you fight, the darkness will always be there! You will lose to it, again and again.
King Mickey's voice was slipping further away, but Riku was still able to make out the words.
"You're more then your mistakes! Even if you mess up, as long as you keep trying to be better, the darkness can never win."
Just accept it. There will always be darkness in your heart.
"You're right," Riku said.
Yes.
"The darkness will always be there. There is darkness in every heart."
You finally see the truth.
"But that doesn't mean I have to give in to it."
There was anger in the voice now.
You already have, fool.
Riku struggled against the dark web he was tangled in, freeing his leg.
"There was darkness in my heart back in Destiny Islands. There was darkness in my heart when I let Maleficent manipulate me, when I stole the keyblade from Sora in Hollow Bastion. Even now, this darkness, this place, this is my heart, but I haven't completely disappeared in the darkness yet. I will fight. I control this darkness, not the other way around!"
A tiny star appeared above Riku's eye. He reached out and grabbed it.
Destiny Islands. The sound of the beach, the laughter of all the children playing on the shore, the stupid grin on Sora's face whenever they raced, Kairi's cheeky, sneaky giggle. He may never see them again. Not with his eyes. But, no matter what, he will be reunited with his friends.
The star's light washed over Riku, freeing him from the dark binding. He floated, his soul eater in his hand, ready for battle.
The bitter smell of greed and rage filled the air. A man materialized in the darkness in front of Riku. He was a tall, handsome man with silver hair and a muscular build. One look at his menacing, yellow eyes easily revealed the hollow, emptiness of his soul.
Riku pointed his soul eater at the man.
"I know now. You're not the real Ansem. Sora defeated Ansem when he restored the worlds. You are what I fear. My fear of the darkness. Me, running away from all my mistakes instead of facing them. Me, being afraid of forgiveness."
The man's smile was mocking. "Is that what you believe? Foolish boy."
"No, that's just the darkness in my heart talking. All my worries and doubts. Before I let my jealousy, my pride, lead me to use the darkness, to let it grow. I forgot what hope, what faith and connection felt like."
Riku looked up, toward the surface of the darkness. Just beyond, he smelled something sweet. It was faint, but he could feel King Mickey's light in the distance. He felt the honey smell of it tingling his nose.
"I've run away from the light, and I've feared the darkness. Now I have a choice. I can give in to you here, or I can face my darkness and accept it all." Riku raised his weapon, and spread his feet. "I will accept my darkness, but I will never let it consume me again!"
The man's shoulders tightened. A heartless guardian appeared behind him. Though the guardian's muscular, black body, blended into the darkness, its sharp, tightly-clenched teeth floated menacingly in the void.
"Go ahead then. Overtaking you will be simple if you rely on the darkness to defeat me."
"You can't use my darkness against me. It's mine to use."
"Don't delude yourself. I can see the fear in you."
"Even if I'm afraid, I will face it."
"Then are you ready to pay the price?"
Riku closed his good eye. He could smell the stink, taste the bitter acid of darkness in the air. Yet, if he concentrated hard enough, he felt the slight, sweet tingle of light. It was still in him.
King Mickey's voice echoed in his heart. "Light and darkness are both a part of who you are. Both will make you stronger."
Riku turned his soul eater toward his chest. He used the sharp side of the blade to slice off a piece of fabric from his shirt. He tied the black strip around his eyes.
"I'm ready."
"Then submit!"
Riku stilled. The itch of the darkness rushed toward him, its bitter taste getting closer. He breathed in deep, trying to calm his terrified heart. A memory rushed to the surface of his thoughts. A memory of his best friend standing up to him.
I know now I don't need the keyblade. I've got a better weapon. My heart.
To think Riku had scoffed at what Sora had said. To think he had called Sora's heart weak. He was no different.
I don't need a weapon. My friends are my power.
And so were Riku's friends. And so was his darkness.
The smell and taste of darkness were on him.
He attacked.
His first strike slashed the guardian across the face. The false Ansem fell back, and sent saw-blades of darkness hurtling toward Riku.
With his eyes closed, he heard the meat grinder sound of the blades approaching. With his nose he felt the sting of darkness nearing from the left and right. Riku ducked, and from his position below, he gathered dark energy in his hand.
All of his regrets and pain, all of the hardships he had endured in the realm of darkness, gathered from his mind and heart. The spell sparked and grew in his hand. Riku transferred its dark energy to the soul eater.
Ansem was near, and his darkness was growing, but Riku was no longer felt fear. The darkness made him faster, his acceptance of himself made it easy to channel the negative feelings he had been suppressing for so long.
"Firaga!"
The fire spell zoomed toward Ansem. He dodged, but that was what Riku had been hoping for. Once Ansem had moved out of the way, Riku flashed through the darkness. He appeared behind Ansem, and with the darkness gathered on his blade he slashed the heartless guardian in half.
Ansem staggered back, surprised, which gave Riku just enough time to gather more dark energy.
The dark power gathered in his hand, burning his fingers. It sizzled up his arm, neck and face. It blazed into his right eye, but he didn't feel any pain. Instead, he felt the release of letting go of all his anger, jealousy, fear, pride, and regret. The emotions only made his dark fire spell stronger. He released the darkness.
The spell tore through Ansem, or the darkness, or the manifestation of Riku's fears. Whatever it was, it vanished, never to be seen again.
Riku could feel the darkness crumbling around him. Sweet scented, warm light broke through the gloom. The black void was weakening. It was time to slice his way out of the beast.
And with the darkness gathering in one spot, with the scent of the beast's power getting stronger, it was easy for Riku to slice through the monster he was trapped inside. He felt the rush of flying through the creature. Then he landed back on his feet, in the same platform in the realm of darkness he had been on before the dark hide had swallowed him.
There was nothing in front of his eyes, no shapes or colors, but his nose and ears sensed the darkness coming. Riku jumped back just before the creature's teeth could clamp down on him.
"Riku! You're okay!"
King Mickey's voice.
The darkness was sneaking closer to his back. Riku ducked when he felt the air shift above him. He felt the bitter, angry energy near his legs and he jumped before he could be tripped by the giant heartless' tail.
"You can see again!" Mickey said excitedly.
The king's light tickled his side. Mickey was standing next to him.
"No, I can't see at all."
But he could sense it. The dark, the light, it was all around him, pressing on his skin, tingling his nose, seeping into his ears, exerting pockets of pressure in the air. He knew exactly where the heartless was, and that it was crouching down low to attack. Riku pushed Mickey's shoulder.
"Look out!"
Mickey went prone. The giant heartless swiped the air above him with its claw. Rolling over, Mickey blasted the heartless with a well timed blizzaga spell. It hit the heartless' underbelly. Roaring in pain, the heartless retreated into the void in an attempt to stalk and ambush its prey.
"Where did it go?" Mickey turned in circle, searching.
"Don't panic," Riku said, "just wait for my signal."
"Okay."
There was a vibration under his feet. The scent of the creature's breathe tingled in the air from behind. The power of its raw, animalistic energy shocked the back of Riku's ears as its electrical currents moved through the air.
"Your Majesty, three o' clock!"
Mickey took a sharp right and fired an orb of searing, hot light into the darkness. It hit the heartless right between the eyes. The creature roared, rolling over, clawing at its face. Riku dashed toward it, jumped up on its underbelly, and raised his soul eater.
Calling on the darkness was easy when he was surrounded by it. It gathered around him from the atmosphere, responded from deep in his heart but he wouldn't let the it take control of him. It was his dark strength to channel. He forced the burning energy into his blade and sliced into the heartless.
The creature's limbs flopped onto the ground, its breathe came out in a small gasp. Riku felt the darkness beneath him dissolving. The creature vanished. Defeated.
Then Mickey footsteps came closer.
"That was amazing! How did you do that?"
Riku unbound the black blindfold around his eyes. Even without it, he could see nothing.
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty."
"What for?
"I used the power of darkness."
Riku turned his back on Mickey.
"I-if you don't want to travel with me anymore, I understand, but I promise, I never plan to use the power of darkness selfishly again so," Riku swallowed, "so please don't think of me as your enemy."
The light inside King Mickey burned brightly behind Riku. He felt the soft breeze of it on his shoulders. Riku waited for a scolding, an attack, anything.
"Now, you've experienced both," Mickey said.
"What?"
"In the past, you used the darkness with no fear and you became overconfident because of it, abusing it without thought to others."
Riku cringed.
"By using it recklessly, you let it take you over. But then you tried fighting against it, rejecting it completely, to the point that you let your fear of it control you."
Riku turned around. "And now?"
"I think, everything we do is a choice, even if we don't think we're making it. And it seems to me that you have chosen to balance the darkness with the light that's inside you. There's darkness in every heart, so I think it's only normal for you to accept that side of yourself."
"But what if I make a mistake one day?"
"Then learn from your mistakes. It impossible to never mess up. Know that over-reliance on the darkness corrupts, but don't let fear hold you back. Trust in your light so that you know when it's time to stop abusing the darkness."
"So, you're saying-"
"There's a keyblade in both the realm of light and the realm of darkness. We needed both to close the door and you needed both to feel whole again, right?"
Riku knelt down and reached out to touch King Mickey's face. He felt the mouse's soft cheeks and round nose.
"That tickles!"
"Your Majesty, I'm really flattered! Thank you!"
"You don't have to call me that anymore! We're pals."
"Oh." Riku let him go. "Okay, Mickey."
He stood and tied the black ribbon around his eyes.
"Does it hurt, not being able to see," came Mickey's sorrowful voice.
"No." Riku said. "And I don't regret it. I'll stick with the choices I've made. I won't run away anymore."
"I'm proud of ya."
Riku laughed, and when he did, he felt the light inside of him shine.
Jiminy's Journal
Jessica Rabbit (First Appeared in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, 1988): A lovely toon with a mysterious allure to her, but her real beauty lies in her rather compassionate, loyal, and selfless nature. Although she seems distant at first glance, she is hopelessly in love with Roger and will do whatever she can to make sure he is happy. Even though they don't seem alike, Roger is just as supportive and caring as she is. So maybe they're a match made in toon heaven after all.
Judge Claude Frollo (First Appeared in Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1996): Intolerant and prejudiced against anyone he deems unholy and sinful, Frollo ruthlessly punishes without compassion or mercy. He plotted with Doctor Facilier so that he can go back to his own world and pass judgement on the Romani people, who he cruelly, and incorrectly, discriminates against. His inflexibility and cruelty allow him to use the darkness to purge those he deems wicked. But even his advanced use of darkness couldn't protect him from Sora, the toons and Valiant's teamwork.
Ansem (First Appeared in Kingdom Hearts, 2002): Once a great, old, wise man that led Hollow Bastion, Ansem eventually let his research of the heart and curiosity of the darkness consume him, leading him to destroy many worlds. Sora and his friends eventually defeated him, yet his apparition still appeared in Riku's heart, taunting the boy. Once Riku accepted the darkness in himself, Ansem completely vanished. It is unknown whether the Ansem that appeared before Riku is the true Ansem or a manifestation of Riku's fears.
