Well, I bought Kingdom Hearts 2 yesterday. Let me put it this way: It. Rocks. My. Socks. And... Hehe... Leon looks SO hot in this game.

crystalfeathers: Wow. You're the only one who's reviewing this story now. (cries) No fair! Where the HECK is Rike-sama? And I can't believe that you didn't think of a Bouncywild either.

Just for the record, I didn't start on this until I got another review.

By the way, I wrote this chapter while listening to Speed Over Beethoven and real Emotion.

Chapter 8 - A Few Twists

"What do you mean Midnight's alive!" I gasped, leaning forward.

"Well, I saw him walking around the courtyard today," Mauve explained. "He looked a bit... confused."

"I bet that fall did some damage to his brain," Coral pointed out. "I thought it would be enough to kill him, but... I guess not."

"How could he have survived a fall from that height?" Cherry asked.

"Rumor has it that a Wyvern caught him just before he slammed into the ground, but the shock was so intense that it wiped a part of his memory," the Search Ghost replied, floating next to my White Mushroom friend.

"But it's just a rumor," Cherry sighed. "You know how those are. They always –" Suddenly, her whole body went stiff. Her eyes grew more intense, and a dark aura seemed to surround her.

"Oh, no!" I whispered. "Guys, run! She's gone evil!"

"Say what now?" Coral inquired, jumping backwards. Mauve flew for the door, grabbing Coral's hand.

"I'll explain later!" The Imperfect Search Ghost rushed out of the room. "Let's go!"

I nodded in affirmation and made a dash for the door. Suddenly, I was face down on the floor, and not because of my damned lack of balance. Cherry was sitting on top of me, forcing one hand behind my back.

"Ch-Cherry!" I shouted, wiggling my body to break free. "Let me up!"

"Imperfect alert!" Cherry shouted in a monotone voice. "Imperfect alert!"

"Cherry, it's me, Lilac! You're best friend, remember?"

"Subject's name is Lilac! Repeat, subject's name is Lilac!"

Oh, crap, I thought, trying to release my arm from her grip.

And who else but my Black Fungus mystery man was the first to enter the crime scene? "So, you've captured the most wanted Imperfect," Midnight laughed. "Excellent." He clapped his hands together, and two Air Soldiers appeared behind him. Cherry got off me and held both of my hands behind my back.

"Take her to Maleficent," she commanded, shoving me over to them.

"Oh, no you don't!" I shouted, fanning myself. I stood up and cast Blizzard on the posse before me, freezing them in place.

"Red Alert!" Cherry shouted, her voice still monotone. "The Imperfect has resisted arrest! Seize her at once! Repeat, seize her at once!"

That was my cue to run. I sprinted to the door and made my way down the hallway. When I rounded the corner, a certain Search Ghost grabbed my arm and started flying as fast as the air would allow.

"You okay?" Coral asked, running up next to me.

"I'm fine," I replied as Mauve let my arm go. "But a Red Alert has been sent out, which means we'll have every Heartless on our asses if we don't get out of here. Excuse my language." I managed to say both of those sentences without pausing.

"Yeah, thanks for that image," Mauve groaned, turning his head.

"Less joking, more running!" Coral shrieked as a group of Wyverns swarmed behind us. "They're gaining!"

"You don't think I didn't notice that?" I shouted, picking up the pace and hoping that my lack of balance wouldn't interfere.

"Lilac, use your magic!" the Bouncywild suggested. "I'll distract them with my slingshot. Mauve, you just... attack with whatever it is you Search Ghosts attack us with."

"But there are at least fifteen of them back there!" Mauve protested. "There are only three of us!"

Coral reminded us about a certain Heartless-fighting trio: "Hey! Sora, Donald, and Goofy were only a group of three, and they've taken down hundreds, no, thousands of Heartless on their journey!"

"Yeah, but they had a Keyblade, and..." Coral interrupted me with a glare from her yellow eyes. "Okay I'll try. Mauve?" The Search Ghost hesitated, then nodded as we turned a corner. The amount of Wyverns had doubled during our little debate.

"Let's do this!" Coral spun around, still running, and fired a rock at the group, causing them to spin around in confusion. They bumped into each other in the panic. A few of them fell to the ground, but most of the Heartless were still after us. Mauve floated toward them and shot his hands at the swarm. Several of them were knocked back into the wall. Mauve retreated before anyone could grab him, and I took that as my cue to strike. My entire body left the ground, and an orb of gravity-altering energy appeared around the remainder, crushing them where they flew.

"All right!" I cheered, throwing my arms into the air.

"We did it!" Coral laughed, jumping on top of me. Mauve smiled and spun around in joy.

"Okay, that's enough, Imperfects." I gasped and spun around, causing Coral to fall backwards onto Mauve, sending them both to the ground.

"Midnight!" I gasped. "I thought I had you frozen!"

The Black Fungus snickered and shook his head. "Did you really think you had me defeated that easily? I'm not Maleficent's best for nothing. Now, that's enough of a show. You're all under arrest." He clapped his "hands" together, and Coral, Mauve, and I were suddenly in the air. Orbs of violet energy surrounded us.

"What in the name of Walt!" I shouted, pounding on the sides of the orb. Two Wizards rounded the corner, both of their staffs glowing. Of course.

"You've given us a lot of trouble, Lilac," Midnight said, pacing over to me. "But it all ends here. You and your little friends are through. Prepare to be destroyed!"

"I don't think so, Gassy!"

A blue and yellow figure bounced from behind the wall and on top of one of the Wizards. "Truff?" I inquired, watching the Rare Truffle bounce back and forth from Wizard to Wizard. The orb trapping my friends and I began to flicker and eventually faded, dropping us onto the ground.

"That's what you get for messing with my best friend!" my best friend called as she, too, rounded the corner.

"What in the name of Ansem!" Midnight growled. "You were the one who turned them in, you wench!"

"Ooh, 'wench,'" Cherry taunted, smacking the only conscious Wizard across the face. "How modern."

"What in the name of Walt Disney is going on here!" Coral groaned, resting her hand on her orange noggin. "First you almost get us arrested, and now you're trying to help us?"

"I'll be happy to explain after we get out of this," Cherry stated, throwing the Wizard that she had previously slapped over to Truff, who squashed it with his bouncing body.

"You... You stupid Imperfects!" Midnight shouted, stomping the ground with a part of his lower body.

"I wouldn't be saying that if I were you," I sang, putting my bow onto my head for the first time in forever. "You're outnumbered five to one, it would seem."

Midnight was silent for a moment. Finally, small chuckles were heard emerging from his throat. "No, I'm not outnumbered." I could sense a smile forming on his face. "Because I'm on your side."


"Gah!" Coral shrieked, throwing a rock across the lawn. "This is more confusing then Cherry's case!"

"I can understand that," Midnight sighed, checking his surroundings for anybody who might have been listening. "I mean, I must be one heck of an actor if I've managed to fool you all this much."

"So, let me see if I can comprehend this," I muttered. "All this time, you've been pretending to be this big Imperfect Hunter, but you're really an Imperfect yourself. And when you 'execute' an Imperfect, you really send them to a place so that they can plot against Maleficent under the cover of fake death."

"You're the only one who understands this, aren't you?" Midnight asked, looking me over.

"Apparently," Cherry mumbled. "I don't get it. If you were an Imperfect all this time, why didn't you tell us?"

"And," Coral piped up, "if this whole 'execution' thing is just a fake, where's Cobalt? I mean, he must be alive, right?"

The Black Fungus sighed and hung his head. "Well, I didn't tell anyone about my Imperfect status... because I about knew that you were capable of handling anything I threw at you." He seemed to be directing that statement at me. "And... about your boyfriend, Coral... I wasn't the one who turned him in. It was Cherry, remember?"

"What difference does that make?" Cherry asked.

Midnight was quiet for a few moments. Finally, he explained, "I didn't get to tinker with the system moments before the execution like I normally do. So, since I didn't turn him in or be the one to destroy him..."

"He... He's gone, isn't he?" Coral whimpered.

"I'm afraid so."

The Bouncywild's eyes swelled up with tears. "I... I can't believe this. Since the day I woke up in that tree, I was holding on to this tiny hope that he was still alive. But..."

"I'm sorry you had to hear this, Coral."

"No, don't be." She looked up, tears still falling to the ground. "It's a good thing that I found out. Now I can stop searching and get on to what's important..." Her yellow eyes illuminated with a fierce glow. "Destroying Maleficent was my goal when I joined the rebellion, and it always will be! Who's with me?" She held out her hand.

Without any hesitation, my hand joined the group. Mauve was second, then Cherry, and finally Midnight. "For freedom!" the Black Fungus whispered.

"For freedom!" we all echoed, throwing our joined hands up toward the sky.

To be continued...