BLP 24:
"What is that thing?" Nami peered closer to the table but the lump of metal on it did not look any clearer to her. It was round on some parts, with valves and discs stuck in it randomly like someone was trying to make the thing work but could not figure it out.
The scientist at the side of the table rolled his wheelchair around. Like everyone else on this crazy world, he had a terrifying appearance with a head too massive that apparently held his larger-than-average brain. "That my dear, is a heart of course."
Sora spun to the doctor in surprise. Their entire group had followed Jack back to his friend the "Doctor" who turned out to be this mad scientist. His lab was dark and spooky, made entirely of metal with an operating table in the center of the room and work areas around it. The Doctor spun to the side of the table and he held up a scalpel and a buzzsaw. "The key to stopping the Heartless has to be with this heart," he muttered to himself. "But although I have all the ingredients I need, the heart still will not work." He put down his tools and scratched his chin, then shouted, "Sally!"
A woman ran around a corner and into the room. Her skin was gray and she looked frail, thin and sickly. "Oh Jack," Sally said upon entering the room, seeing the skeleton there. She looked around, "And who are all these people?" she questioned.
Sora opened his mouth but got cut off by the Doctor. "No time for introductions," the mad scientist snapped. "Have you any luck at finding the children?"
"Children?" Smoker muttered.
Jack turned to the other skeletal-looking figure in the room with white hair and a white toga on. "Lock, Shock, and Barrel. Those kids keep causing us trouble lately."
"They stole the heart!" The Doctor exclaimed.
Luffy pointed at the table, "But, it's right there."
Nami bonked her captain on the head for his stupidity, then realized what he just said and turned to look at the heart too. "Wait, was Luffy right?" She questioned, confused and surprised at the same time.
Luffy jumped up and started yelling at her for hitting him for no reason, while the Doctor turned his chair to face them. "This heart," he began, stopping their fight and making them turn back to him. "It was not the first heart in our possession. Those rotten children nabbed the first heart, not that I could get that one to work either!" He threw his hands up in the air and started rolling his chair around again.
Sally watched the Doctor leave, then turned back to Jack, "Have you had any luck in stopping the Heartless."
"Oh yes!" Jack exclaimed happily. He grabbed Sally by the wrists and threw his arms around for emphasis as he explained quickly how the people in the room with him were very strong and helped stop the Heartless. Jack was oblivious, but most of the others noticed Sally's face go red when he grabbed her wrists and Nami even stole a glance at Robin and they both giggled.
"So about this Oogie Boogie guy," Luffy brought up.
Jack let go of Sally's arms and spun excitedly, nodding his head and saying, "That Oogie, he's the one behind the heart's robbery, and the Heartless too. I'm sure of it!"
"Jack, you can't go after Oogie," Sally warned, sounding worried about him as she did. "You could be hurt."
"Don't you worry Sally," Jack said, waving her off with his hand and not even looking at her. Nami got a tick mark on the side of her forehead as she was expecting some romantic scene only for Jack to push her off like nothing was wrong. Jack started heading for the door though and he looked back in the room, "I'm sure Sora and Luffy and their friends can help me. They already offered."
"Ah! Where are you going?" Donald quacked after the skeleton going back to the door of the lab.
Jack turned to the duck, "After Oogie of course!"
"Already?" Nami wondered, while half the group just started walking towards Jack. She sighed and walked his way as well, "Usually I like to spend more time on the world first. This place is creepy enough that I don't really mind though."
"You got that right," a muscular man on her right said. She turned and saw Usopp with a bead of sweat rolling down the left side of his face. She stared at him in surprise for a second, then had to lift up her hand and laugh into it. Usopp looked down at her and questioned, "What?"
"Nothing," she said, stopping her laughter. "I guess even Captain Lazerblades has his limits."
Usopp went a little red in the face and he flexed his arms, saying that he had no idea what she was talking about. "Captain Lazerblades?" The two of them turned to see Chopper behind them, looking at Usopp confusedly as to why Nami called him that. Nami groaned as the reindeer brought it up, and she moved on ahead once Usopp started spinning the story of his time as the amazing hero back in the Olympus Coliseum.
Behind the group, standing next to the table near her creator, Sally put her hands together in front of her chest. "Be careful Jack, everyone."
"Zero!" Jack exclaimed. Although the lanky skeleton was happy to see his dog, the others with him all had dropped jaws at the sight of it.
"Gh-Gh-Ghost dog!" Nami, Usopp, Chopper, Donald, and Sora shouted at the same time. Robin looked at the dog intrigued, and smiled at the sight of its red nose that lit up when it barked at Jack. Luffy just put his hand through the dog and laughed as it did nothing.
The dog did a few spin and then flew to the right. Jack nodded his head and he turned around, "Zero says he found a way to Oogie's castle. It's this way!" He started running off, Luffy and Sora right behind him.
"More Heartless!" Usopp shouted behind them. The group glanced back, to see five Shadows appearing on the ground on the side of the town and ghost-Heartless appearing in the air above them.
"We need to get to Oogie's!" Sora shouted. For some reason, the boy sounded more worried than before and the others all looked his way. Sora did not know himself, but something gave him a strange feeling. He turned and looked back towards the graveyard that Zero flew into to lead them. The spiky haired kid grabbed the left side of his chest and clenched tight on his shirt. "Come on! Let's go!"
He ran off and let go of his chest, forming a Keyblade instead, the one he received from the previous world. Dragon's Breath formed in his right hand and he swung it to the right at the same moment that a giant tombstone started falling down towards him for some strange reason. His Keyblade smashed through the stone, but out of the rubble appeared several Heartless. Two rubber fists slammed into the Shadows as they dove for Sora, but the boy barely looked like he noticed.
Sora was spinning around where he stood after he crushed the tombstone with one swipe. "Something's wrong," he said.
Jack stopped attacking the Heartless in front of them and he looked back at the boy. "What is it Sora?"
Sora spun and looked at Jack with a scared look. "I've felt this before," he whispered. In his mind flashed a vision of a black sky, a sphere of black and purple with an orange core in the middle. Sora was panting hard and he grabbed at his chest again in pain as he closed his eyes. He could see the ground beneath him crumbling and everything falling into a void of darkness.
"Sora!"
The boy's eyes snapped open as someone shouted at him. He looked in front of him and saw them all staring right at him. Everyone, from Luffy, to Jack, to Goofy, to the translucent dog Zero, they were all staring right at him. "This world," Sora began.
RRRrruuummmm CHCH! The ground started shaking so hard that everyone took a step to steady themselves. It happened so hard and so fast that a few of them were knocked off their feet. All of the tall tombstones around them lost their holds on the ground and collapsed, and as soon as they broke open Heartless came pouring out of them.
The group of pirates, animals, a Marine, a skeleton and his ghost dog, and one child, looked around to see themselves surrounded by Heartless in every direction. "This is strange," Smoker growled. "There are never this many Heartless in one place."
Sora turned left and he watched as a crack ripped in the ground like a fissure. The crack shot across the floor through the graveyard from one side to the other. He kept staring at it and the fissure split apart farther, and darkness started seeping out in wisps like the entire planet was filled with darkness and the crack was letting it out. "We need to find the Keyhole," Sora said, his eyes opening wide. He spun and his friends were all glancing at him again, the ones who were not fighting off attacking Heartless at least. "Right now!" Sora shouted.
Luffy turned and he looked the younger boy in the eyes. He stared straight into Sora's blue eyes and saw a fear he had not seen in the boy's eyes before. Sora would know. He's got this whole Keyblade thing down. Saving worlds, I don't care, but… Luffy saw a blurry Sora sinking down to save him from drowning. He saw the boy landing on the Merry with his straw hat in his hands, blood all over his arm after cutting himself from trying to get it. Luffy's mouth curled into a big grin, "Ignore the Heartless!" He shouted. "Let's go find Oogie Boogie!"
"We can't just ignore them!" Usopp shouted, and slammed his broadsword into another Heartless ghost's claws as it swiped at him. He pushed hard and sent the ghost flying back into the Heartless behind it. He started panting as he had to put a lot of strength to send just that one flying, and he tssked under his breath afterwards. They're getting much stronger, and fast! He had to raise his sword to block the next attack, but two more were coming from his sides. His eyes opened wide, but a big furry monster slammed into the one on his left, and a dog with a shield smashed into the one on his right.
"We got your back," Goofy said to the man next to him who grinned back at the dog.
"I'm fighting with the legendary hero!" Chopper exclaimed, still excited from what Usopp told him back in the lab.
RRuummmmbbbrrr The ground shook again and Sora looked back at the fissure in the ground to see smaller cracks coming off of it. The crack was extending back towards the town and his eyes went wide. "We need to go!" Sora shouted. "Lead the way!" He shouted at Zero who barked back affirmatively and flew away. Sora chased after with Jack at his side, but the pirates took a second.
Robin was looking at the fissure as well and watching as the darkness spewed out of it. She suddenly realized why Sora was panicking so much, and she turned to Luffy who was getting ready to run after Sora. "Captain-san," she began, making Luffy turn to her confused at why her voice sounded a little nervous. Nervousness in Robin's voice did not sound natural, and it spooked the others with them too. "I believe some of us should go back to the Going Merry. This world is falling apart. Should it collapse, the ones on the ship would be able to pick the rest up."
The others all stared at her in shock and then started looking around themselves. The ground was not shaking at the moment, and other than the huge fissure in the ground ahead of them, not much looked horribly wrong with the world. Heartless were everywhere, but they were all over the place on other worlds too. Most of them just figured there were more here because they had yet to close the Keyhole. Robin repeated in a serious voice, "I highly suggest we do this."
Nami turned to her older friend, "This planet, you really think it's collapsing?"
Robin nodded her head. Luffy smiled at her though, "We're not going to let that happen!"
He started turning back to chase after Sora, but Chopper called to him, "Maybe we should protect the Merry anyway! In case the Heartless attack!"
Usopp nodded his head and when Luffy was only halfway turned back, he shouted ahead, "Go ahead Luffy. I'll guard the ship!"
Luffy looked at him completely. "Are you sure?" The captain asked, knowing how much Usopp liked these adventures.
Usopp slammed a fist to his chest and the gladiator proclaimed, "I'll guard her with my life!"
Chopper slammed a big furry fist into his chest too, "Our lives!"
Luffy started laughing, "Shishishi, okay! See you later!" He turned and started running off again, Smoker turning his lower body to smoke next to him to follow quickly as well. Donald and Goofy chased after behind, and Nami looked from one group to the other, before chasing after Luffy and the others.
Nami glanced back as she ran and looked into Usopp's eyes. The man nodded at her, and then he turned his gaze to Robin and to Chopper seriously. "We have to be ready to leave at a moment's notice," he said in a deep voice, losing the joking tone from when Luffy was within earshot. The ground started shaking again and they heard screams coming from back near the town. Heartless appeared between them and there, and the three pirates grimaced as they watched the ground behind those Heartless stay black like more Heartless were on their way. The circle of black on the ground they came out of started to spread and it overcame gravestones and fences on the sides of it.
"The darkness is spreading everywhere," Chopper whispered fearfully. He wished the magic of this world did not turn him into a scary beast, because right now he felt like his small point would exemplify his scared emotions a lot better.
"Come on," Usopp said to the two next to him. "Let's get back to the ship."
"Good! Very good!" Maleficent held up her arms and cackled as more and more darkness seeped out of the Keyhole. She turned her head and said, "Oogie Boogie, my associate, I underestimated you. How did you find this Keyhole? I thought you still had no ideas as to where it was."
"Duuhahaha!" Oogie leaned back and put his pointy hands on the side of his body. The man was made of potato sacks sewn together at the sides, with two black eyes and a black mouth and a pointy top of his head to match his hands and feet. "You wouldn't believe it! This here is my own manor!"
Maleficent's huge grin faltered and the woman sighed, putting her arms back down to her sides. "So what you're telling me is that it was inside your own home?" She looked at him sternly for a second, then shook her head and regained her grin. "No matter. This is a victory. It is only a matter of time until this world falls into the darkness now."
"And I'm gonna rule over it when it does," Oogie claimed and started laughing again.
Maleficent turned and shook her head at the foolish man. "No. Before that happens, you must be off this world-"
"Oi! Don't tell me how to run my business you ol' hag!" Oogie called and he started laughing again.
Maleficent shook and she lifted up her staff a little, until the ground below her trembled and the corners of her lips curled up. "You are right. I will let you get back to it," she told him in a composed manner. A portal of darkness appeared behind her and the woman stepped back into it and faded away.
As she faded, three small figures hiding behind a pillar in Oogie Boogie's manor's highest room came out of hiding. "Hey boss!" A little girl in a purple dress shouted. "I think that mean witch was saying something about getting away from here."
A pudgy little boy took his mask off and said nervously, "I don't like this. This, feeling," he stared at the keyhole that was revealed on the ceiling and at the darkness coming out of it. The ground rumbled and their ceiling shook, dust and even a few small chunks of it coming off.
Lock, Shock, and Barrel huddled together in fear but Oogie just kept laughing. "You just don't get it! This is what we've been going for!"
"But why?" the skinnier of the two small boys shouted.
"Why?" Oogie asked like it was stupid. He smiled wide and said, "Well that's to-" Oogie scratched the side of his head and hummed. "Uhh, what was it again? Well, whatever it is, I'm going to be in charge of it!" He pointed at himself and started cracking up. Oogie Boogie was facing the children in front of him, but if he was looking back at the Keyhole he would have noticed the darkness spilling over the sides had filled up so that the entire keyhole shape was now full of darkness so that it spread out and made the keyhole lose its shape. The roof just covered in a veil of black that seeped through the material of Oogie's roof and let darkness come out of the top of his manor in long wisps.
A mile down from the top of the manor, seven figures stared up at the top of the building and the darkness at the top. Jack clenched his fists at his sides as he saw even more darkness coming out of the roof that out of cracks they passed on their way to the castle. "I knew it! Oogie was responsible for all of this!"
"Let's climb the house!" Luffy shouted and pointed over at a bridge. They followed the bridge with their eyes and saw a tower at the end with a platform that was raising up on its own to the next floor then coming back down for more passengers. At the top of that platform there was a path that wound around and around the giant manor that their enemy lived in. The building looked like a tree with so many branches sticking out, some with cages on them, some with birds perched on them.
Sora looked closer at one of those birds and he ground his teeth as it turned out not to be a bird at all, but a Flying Heartless Soldier. They had aviator hats and purple wings and sharp claws that Sora knew firsthand packed a serious punch. "It's going to be a battle to get to the top," Sora said, and he stepped forward anyway as he said it.
"Heartless are going to appear every step of the way," Smoker agreed.
"We can take them," Luffy claimed and clenched a fist in front of him.
"Oogie," Jack said darkly and lifted up his fists.
Nami connected the three pieces of her Perfect Clima Tact and held it in a ready stance. "I'll get us to the top in no time flat," she said. The orange haired woman stepped forward and sighed in a teasing way, "What would you guys do without me?"
"We need to get to the top," Smoker mumbled. "Not much need for a navigator."
Nami got a tick mark on her forehead and turned her head a little to glare back at the man who looked away like it wasn't him. Nami spun back ahead and took another step, but Sora stepped in front of her. He held out his right arm and she stopped. She was about to ask him what he was doing, when out from the sky dropped a blob of purple taller than a person and ten times as wide. The blob was giving off a horrible feeling of darkness, and monsters started appearing around it.
"This place is a like a fortress," Donald shouted.
"Gee, I hope we can make it in time," Goofy whispered to the duck next to him.
"Of course we will," Sora said, having overheard the big-mouthed dog. He stepped forward and two Shadows dove at him. As they struck, his body burst in white light, and two loud clanks sounded. Sora stepped out of the light in all red clothes, holding up his Dragon's Breath and Three Wishes Keyblades. He pushed hard and parried both Shadows back, and while they were still falling backwards, the boy shot forwards and stopped on the other side of his enemies. The Shadows hit the ground, and then exploded into bubbles of darkness.
Sora did not wait another second, and he started sprinting across the bridge as fast as he could, striking back and forth at every Heartless that appeared. He was taking hits as well, but even though he could not Cure himself in Valor Form, he had stronger defense in the form and was making it despite the hits on his body. Donald used his magic to call down lightning on the enemies they fought as they ran, but when he saw Sora falter after a heavy hit from a flying Heartless that dove down and slashed him, he tossed up a potion, "Sora!"
Green light shimmered down over Sora's body and he felt his strength go back up, though not by much. He kept fighting, while Donald and Goofy caught up to him. Above his head he saw Luffy covered in steam with his fists moving super fast and Gattling Gunning the flying Heartless away, while Smoker did the same thing with dozens of arms made of smoke. Sora and the two animals with him quickly offed the group of Heartless they were fighting on the ground, and when they finished Sora turned to the duck next to him. "Are the potions getting weaker?"
Nami was catching up to them after finally finishing off the first Heartless she started fighting back on the bridge. She slowed down as she heard Sora ask the question, but she had given herself a potion on the way to the manor and she did not notice at all. Goofy did not either, but he understood why Sora was asking and he laughed. "Hyuck, Sora, you're just getting stronger." Sora's eyes widened and the dog laughed again before continuing, "Potions only bring up a certain amount of health. The stronger you are, the less they do."
"We'll have to try to find more hi-potions," Donald said. "Potions already barely do anything for this palooka," he shoved a finger at Goofy who laughed at that. Sora nodded his head as he realized it always did take him more Cure magic to heal Goofy than it did for Donald, or even for himself.
"Sora come on!" The four down below looked up to see Luffy and Smoker already on the next tier of platforms, running around the tower to get to Oogie's top room. Jack was the one who shouted, and a previously-invisible dog on his right became visible and barked down at them. Jack turned to see his dog and shouted, "Zero! What are you doing- Sally? She's what?" The skeleton kept running while Sora and the others sped up to catch up to them.
Luffy ran side by side with Smoker and he flashed the Marine a big grin as they ran. Smoker grumbled to himself and kept his gaze straight ahead despite being able to see the smiling pirate in his peripheral vision. No more fighting with them. Fates of entire worlds rest in their hands, and I have the ability to help them. Even now, he felt the entire world shake below him, harder than it had the previous times. He heard a loud crack and both he and the pirate on his left came to a stop and turned to stare at the branch sticking off the path. The start of the branch, not far from them, had cracked from one side all the way to the other.
The crack got louder and louder as it went through the entire branch's thickness. And then it snapped. The sound of the snap was much louder than any of the cracks, and Luffy and Smoker watched it fall for a second. They would have followed it down farther, if something in the distance did not catch their attentions as they watched the branch drop. A crack similar to the one they saw in the graveyard had appeared, only since they could see it from such a far distance they understood how huge the fissure must actually be. Every shake of the planet made the fissure spread farther apart, and darkness shot up from the crack like flames raging as high as Oogie's manor.
Sora turned his head right as he ran to catch up with the others and his blue eyes turned huge. "That's not good!" Donald quacked loudly.
Nami stared at the flames in fear and she spun her head the other way, looking out into the distance where she could see the tops of a few buildings. Robin, Chopper, Usopp, get the ship ready. I don't want to think it, but, the ground shook again and Nami stumbled towards the ledge of the path. Parts of the pathway up Oogie Boogie's mansion were ripping off, and when she stumbled to the ledge it had just started crumbling. She let out a yelp and reached back for the path, and a strong arm grabbed her by the wrist and pulled back.
Nami fell forward right on top of the figure who pulled her in. She shook her head and looked down to see a tall dog smiling goofily up at her. "Thanks Goofy," she said, and got back up to her feet.
"Gawrsh, you're welcome Nami," the knight replied. They both heard rumbling and looked down the path they were running on. Pieces of it were falling off more lower down, and the two of them gulped and turned around to sprint up the path faster.
At the top of the tower, Oogie Boogie stared out over the world with a mad grin on his face. "Duuhahaha! This darkness thing's really working out! Who knew the Keyholes were so dang powerful?" Oogie laughed some more as another crack ripped through the landscape and crossed over one that was already there. The point where the cracks crossed dipped in for a second, and then exploded out so chunks of earth rose up in the air and got torn up by a black pillar of darkness shooting out of the planet. "Whooo!" Oogie Boogie shouted in excitement.
"Oogie!"
The fat sack spun around and looked towards the door of his tower in surprise. Standing there right in the doorway was his arch-enemy Jack, but the skeleton was not alone. Oogie saw all these people gathering in his door and he turned left, "Take care of them." The intruders turned as well and saw three children nod furiously at their boos and then sprint towards them. All three kids were wearing masks, and they were swinging their arms or spinning around to attack the new people who entered the room.
Before Shock, Lock, or Barrel could reach them, one of the figures in the doorway simply pointed his right arm at them and his arm exploded into a cloud of smoke. Smoker's arm got wider, surrounded all three kids, and smothered them into the ground. "Ah! He got us!" Barrel shouted.
Oogie started shaking angrily as the three of them were no use whatsoever. "Hey Oogie!" Sora shouted, stepping into the room and raising up his Keyblade. His red clothes had just vanished on the last group of Heartless he was fighting outside, and now all he had was his Kingdom Key in his hands. "What did you do? What happened to this world?"
Jack turned and looked at Sora confusedly, and Donald quacked and facepalmed at Sora's releasing of top secret information. Before Jack could ask what Sora meant by that though, Oogie started laughing like mad and he held up his arms at his sides. Out from the floor on either side of him appeared five Shadows and two Flying Soldier Heartless above them. "With the Keyhole all mine, the Heartless come out easier than ever! Duuhahaha!"
"I knew it!" Jack shouted and pointed at Oogie. "I knew you had something to do with the Heartless going wild."
"The Keyhole?" Sora whispered.
Nami had just caught up with Goofy and she heard what Oogie said as well. That's what Jafar was so eager to find. Is this what happens when one of them gets their hands on it?
"That's right!" Oogie shouted down at Sora. "Found it just this morning! Now this world's all mine!"
Sora took a step back and his face paled. This morning? But… No! There's still time! "Where is it?!"
"Hehehe! Beats me!" Oogie lied and started laughing madly like he really did know. The madman turned and started running farther into his room. As he ran, he slammed his hand down on a red button he was running past. "I'll tell you if you can survive the torture room!" He leapt up in the air and metal gates dropped from the ceiling with spikes on top of them. The floor started shifting and assembly-line-like machines rose out of the ground with bombs on them. The assembly lines led into dark holes underneath the raised section Oogie was standing on, and there were flashing green and red lights under the holes.
Luffy punched a fist up towards Oogie, but a pink barrier formed in front of him that stopped Luffy's fist. Sora pointed at the bombs on the lines and shouted, "I think we need to hit those at him to take down his forcefield!"
Sora looked panicked, and Luffy turned to the younger boy and looked at him oddly. "We're going to beat him Sora."
The spiky haired boy nodded, and he tried to smile as well, "Yeah, of course we will!" He felt the floor beneath his feet shake and he grimaced. I just hope we're in time.
"Please! We need your help!"
Usopp, Chopper, and Robin all looked off the side of the Going Merry to the path in between their ship and the gates of Halloween Town. The Mayor was standing there with his panicked, pale-white face looking at them. "The Heartless are going wild in town, Jack's missing, and-" BBBRRRRR! The ground shook so hard that the pirate ship tilted to its right side and looked like it was going to fall for a second.
The Mayor screamed and the pirates looked past him into Halloween Town where the citizens were running around in a panic. One of the gate's posts lost its hold in the ground and crumbled, and the gate itself creaked before bending in and collapsing. "We have to help them!" Chopper exclaimed.
The furry creature reached for the railing, but Usopp stuck out a muscular arm in front of him. The monster covered in stitches looked down at Chopper, "Get the ship ready to leave. At a moment's notice." He said it as seriously as he could and Chopper gulped but nodded at this new Usopp who was much different from the man he remembered back on Destiny Islands and the Grand Line before that.
"Robin," Usopp continued softer while Chopper ran off. The older woman turned to him and they both ignored the Mayor who kept shouting at them from below. "How long do you think this world has?"
Robin hummed to herself for a second and had to steady as the ground shook once more. "Truthfully, I do not remember much of our world's destruction. I do not know how long such things should take, however," she looked around and saw dark flames shooting up from cracks all around them. The cracks were still pretty far apart, but they were much closer now than they were when the first tremors started. "With the exponential increase of cracks continuing at its current pace, I would say ten minutes at most."
"Ten minutes?" Usopp whispered. He looked towards the town and heard screams, "Alright, guard the ship." He stepped up on the railing and Robin looked at him in surprise, "I'll be back in nine!" He leapt off the side and drew his broadsword as he did. He slammed down on one foot and a knee next to the Mayor who looked at him in shock and asked if he was going to help. "Yes, I will stop the Heartless as long as it takes."
He sprinted towards the town and leapt over the bent gate into the town square. The fountain in the middle of town was broken and green acid was seeping all over the place, melting away at the sides of the square and even some of the Heartless. The ones that looked like ghosts were able to fly over the acid though, and they turned their attention on Usopp who held up his sword facing them. The man slashed across the first attackers and then had to block a slash of his own that pushed him backwards. "Ugh," he grunted as his back slammed into a building behind him.
The long-nosed hero turned his head a little and looked into the distance towards a hill that curled at the top like a witch's hat. Just past that he was led to believe Oogie's manor lay, and inside he knew his friends were doing their best to stop the madness going on around the world. A crack split right through the middle of the town square as Usopp was staring out though, snapping his attention back to the chaos around him. He rose up his sword as a wave of Heartless poured out of the crack in the town, and as he charged them he thought, Sora, Luffy, win!
"Oooh!" Oogie got hit by a bomb Sora smacked at him with his Keyblade and the sack-man fell off his raised platform. He hit the ground and one of his opponents shouted, 'Charge!' When he lifted up his head, his black eyes turned huge at the sight of seven people charging at him.
"You won't get away with this Oogie!" Jack yelled as he punched the bag man in the face. Sora slashed him twice in the back with his Keyblade, but when Oogie spun and tried hitting him back, a bolt of lightning came out of the sky and slammed straight into his chest.
"Thunder Lance!" Nami yelled as the lightning bolt collided with the top of her Clima Tact. Smoker looked over at the orange haired woman in surprise that she was more than just the navigator and could actually fight too. He turned back to the bag man and watched as Luffy and Goofy beat the crap out of Oogie, and he himself walked forward and punched his right hand forward.
"White Blow!" His fist broke off of his arm and a trail of smoke followed it as it flew across the room and slammed into Oogie Boogie's face. A cluster of lightning bolts dropped from the sky at the same time as Donald attacked, and Oogie was stumbling backwards when Smoker's fist wrapped around the front of his body. Smoker pulled his arm back in and in doing so dragged Oogie across the floor as well. He grabbed the sack man and lifted him up off the ground, "Where is it? Where's the Keyhole?"
"Ahh! Ah, stop! Alright you win," Oogie held up his hands in defeat, but Smoker saw the bag man grin at the last second. "Or not!" He was looking behind Smoker towards the doorway and the Marine turned around himself.
Sora, Nami, and Jack gasped at the sight in the doorway. Two Heartless creatures, the same powerful demon ones that Jafar summoned once he allowed the darkness to take over, stepped into the doorway with a woman in between them. Her skin was gray and she had a bruise on her right cheek. "Sally!" Jack yelled at the sight of her being held by the Heartless.
Smoker glared up at Oogie, but Oogie shook one of his pointy hands and said, "Uh uh uh, I wouldn't." Smoker spun back and saw one of the demons lift up its long thick sword and hold it in front of Sally's neck. Smoker growled, but he lowered the sack of bugs down to the ground and Oogie Boogie burst out laughing.
"Oogie," a dark, deep voice growled and made most of the room spin to it. Shock, Lock, and Barrel were hiding in the corner, but they curled up even more at the sight in the middle of the room and even started crying. Oogie turned and he stumbled backwards at the sight of Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King. His face was tilted down but being such a tall figure he was still looking down on Oogie Boogie. "I will not forgive you!" Jack's mouth was twisted into a horrific frown and he truly was the scariest thing in Halloween Town with the expression he was giving Oogie at the moment.
"Hold on there, Jack," Oogie spat out at him. "You wouldn't dare attack me when-"
"Thundara!" Sora held up his Keyblade and lightning bolts dropped down on the demon-Heartless in the back of the room. They took damage and dropped their swords, turning their entire demonic bodies into black wisps that spun around that side of the room. The Invisibles flew across the room and started circling around Sora who had no idea what was going on until they appeared again right on top of him and slammed him with powerful attacks.
Sora got tossed across the room and he rolled across the floor. Luffy and Smoker turned and each charged one of the Heartless each, while Nami, Donald, and Goofy took on the other Shadows that appeared around the room. Jack ran across the room though, charging straight at the white sack whose face took a terrified expression for a second before Jack slammed a kick up between his legs and knocked him in the air. Oogie grunted a high-pitched grunt and put his pointy hands down between his legs, but as he was falling his eyes went wide at the sight of Jack winding up a punch. Jack waited until Oogie was just about to fall on him, and then he slammed up his fist and pressed Boogie's face in so much his fist was visible on the bag man's other side.
Oogie flew backwards and tumbled across the floor until he came to a stop and groaned face-down. The others finished off their enemies as well, with Luffy taking some more time to take down the Invisible than Smoker. The room was empty of Heartless, and the heroes finally relaxed and cheered. Donald held up his wand, "Heal!" Sora's eyes opened up as green light shimmered over him and he hopped up to his feet.
"We did it?" Sora wondered. He looked around and saw the remaining enemies were down and he grinned. He marched across the room towards Oogie and called out, "Hey fatty!" The sack on the floor lifted up his head a little and looked at Sora. He had a rip on the side of his head and bugs were leaking out of him like blood, freaking out Nami who pressed herself against the opposite wall to make as much distance between them as possible. "Tell us where the Keyhole is!"
Oogie smirked at Sora and started laughing and saying he would never tell, but Sora's Keyblade started reacting to something in the same moment anyway. The Keyblade lifted up on its own and Sora looked up at the ceiling, seeing for the first time that the black on it was not a paint job, but was actual darkness spread out around the roof so that he could not see it. "Up there?" Sora wondered and looked up, the others all looking up as well.
Something shimmered in the middle of all that darkness and Sora grinned at the sight of a Keyhole shape. He rose up his Keyblade and the tip of it started to glow.
"We made it," Nami said in relief.
Jack walked over to Sally as Sora pointed his Keyblade up. She was in the doorway and Zero flew up next to her and started barking at Jack that he told him Sally was coming. "Why did you come here, Sally?" Jack asked her.
"Oh Jack," she began, and reached out her hand to touch his own. "I was just-"
Luffy picked up one of the bugs that crawled out of Oogie's sack and he looked at it confusedly before the bug bit him. "Ah!" Luffy spun to Nami and held up the bug, "I think this is Oogie!"
"Ew, get that away from-"
A beam of light shot off of Sora's Keyblade towards the ceiling. It shot up, and a cracking sound was heard while the beam was mid-flight. Sora's victorious grin flattened, and then dropped into a horrified look as the ceiling he shot his beam of light at started to crumble. The roof ripped off and behind the dark veil he was previously looking at, he could see the sky high above. It always seemed to be dark in Halloween Town, but the sky he saw now gave darkness a new meaning.
"No," Sora whispered, as his beam faded away for there was nothing for it to fly into. The Keyhole above his head got ripped apart with the rest of the roof, right up towards the massive sphere of darkness in the sky. The sky was black and full of purple wisps, but that sphere in the middle of it reminded Sora, Luffy, Nami, and even Smoker who saw it from afar, of the end of their own world. It had an orange core that was growing larger, showing it was not yet at the point that their world reached, but it was already there. The end of the world had begun. "We're too late," Sora whispered, tears coming out of the corners of his eyes.
"Huh?" Luffy turned and looked over at Sora. He dropped the bug in his hand and shifted his gaze to the sky. He heard Nami gasp behind him and his own eyes widened at the sight of the huge dark void above them. The sphere of darkness felt so evil, and he watched as the rest of the ceiling ripped apart and flew up into the sky. He could feel a tug on his own body and behind him, Nami grabbed onto anything around her to keep herself down.
"What- what do we do now?" Nami whispered. She spun her head and closed her eyes, Usopp! Usopp please!
Sora snapped his head up and he looked over towards the door where Sally was standing close to Jack who put an arm around her to make sure she stayed down as the gravitational pull was getting stronger. "Jack! We have a ship!"
Jack Skellington turned towards Sora, but a figure ran in between them and crossed his arms. "Sora! We can't!" Donald yelled.
"What do you mean 'we can't'? Sora shouted back. "They're all going to…" The boy shook his head and shouted, "The Going Merry is big enough! If we-" the wall on Sora's right cracked down the middle and a huge chunk of it ripped off. They all turned that way and could see past the wall, other branches of Oogie's manor lifting up in the air, along with chunks of earth behind it that were ripping right off of the planet.
"Whatever we do, we have to get away from here!" Nami yelled. She started running for the door to the manor's top floor and everyone else ran with her.
"Duuhahaha!" Oogie Boogie got up to his feet and laughed as the others ran out of the room. "Run Jack, run!" He called after them, cupping his hands to his mouth. "You won't make- huh?" Oogie looked down and saw his feet lifting off the floor. "Whoa, whoaaaa!"
Luffy looked over his shoulder as he ran and his eyes widened at the sight of Oogie flying up into the sky. He was the last one out of the top room and he followed Oogie's path into the sky as he kept spinning and spinning. The sack of bugs finally flew into the sphere of darkness in the sky and his mad screams cut off.
"Luffy let's go!" Sora called back at the pirate in a straw hat. Luffy spun back around right as the room behind him started crumbling completely. The group sprinted away from the top of the castle, though they hugged the wall as they ran down the manor to avoid being thrown up into the sky.
Sora looked to his left as he ran down the spiral path with the foundation of the manor on his right side. He looked at the crumbling edge of the path that got closer to them every second. He saw past the crumbling ledge and watched as branches and smaller buildings that Oogie had all over his manor ripped apart and up into the sky. Sora heard screams behind him and he spun around. Luffy stopped too as did Nami and Donald who were back here still. They saw three children running down the path behind them, and all three kids lifted up in the air as the ground beneath them tore off and shot up into the sky.
"Luffy, get them!" Nami shouted at him.
Luffy got ready to throw an arm up, but Donald yelled first, "Don't!" The others looked at the duck who clenched his eyes shut and started running down the path again. "This world is doomed! We have to run!"
Luffy looked at the duck, and he spun back and got ready to throw a fist into the sky. As he got ready though, the ground beneath his own feet cracked and his gaze snapped down to Nami who was only a few feet away from him. His eyes darted back and forth in that second, but the choice was not a hard one to make. He threw an arm out and it stretched around Nami right as the floor came out from beneath her. He already started running down the path again but he still stumbled as cracks appeared beneath his feet.
"Help ussss!" Barrel screamed. Everyone running down the path had to look up, and they all became horrified at the sight of the children vanishing into the darkness in the sky.
"It's all over," Nami said as Luffy ran down the path with her in his arm again. She held onto him tight and whispered, "Please, this time when we get sucked into the darkness, don't let go. I, I don't want to be alone out there. Not again."
"That's not going to happen," Luffy yelled. "We're going to save Halloween Town!"
He kept running and Sora spun left and screamed at the pirate going by him, "What Halloween Town?!" Luffy looked confused for a second, then Sora pointed out past him and into the distance and Luffy followed the point. He and Nami turned and their eyes popped open wide at the sight of dozens of buildings lifting over the horizon past the hill oddly shaped like a witch's hat. As they watched the buildings rise over it, they watched as the hill itself ripped off the ground, and a giant black hand shot out of the planet's crust instead. The fist that smashed the hill into the sky opened up and gripped the cracked ground near it, pulling out a massive body with a head covered in tentacles and two deep glowing yellow eyes.
This was not the only Darkside to appear in the distance. All over the world falling apart in front of them, giant Heartless were spawning and wreaking havoc. Nami, Luffy, and Sora were not the only ones to see Halloween Town falling apart in the distance. Sally and Jack stopped running down Oogie's manor's path and stared towards their homes as well. "Doctor," Sally whispered and brought her hands up to her mouth.
"The Mayor, and everyone else too," Jack said. He scratched the back of his head, "I guess, I don't have to worry about Halloween this year after all." He laughed darkly a couple of times, and then he heard a bark on his left and looked at the ghost dog to see what it wanted. Zero was looking up into the sky and Jack thought he knew why the dog was staring that way. The sky was sucking up their entire world after all, but when Jack looked up he realized Zero barked for a different reason.
Smoker felt something above him and he snapped his head up. "Just in time," the Marine said, his voice grim despite the stroke of luck.
Luffy and Sora were sprinting down the path with each other and they caught up to Donald and Goofy who kept running as fast as they could. Everyone was panting, but the path was falling as fast as they were running, and if they slowed down for a second they would get taken away with it. "LUUU-FFFYYYY!" A voice screamed that sounded distant, yet getting closer the longer the person shouted Luffy's name for.
The four running, and the orange haired woman on Luffy's back, snapped their heads up in the sky and their eyes opened wide at the sight of a pirate ship sailing towards them. The Going Merry's sail was buffeting in the wind and the ship was wobbly as it looked like it was fighting the force of gravity trying to pull it into the darkness. Chopper yelled out of the cabin, "Usopp, Robin, hold on to something!" The two pirates grabbed on tighter to the railings they were already grabbing so as not to get thrown up into the dark sphere above. Chopper slammed the rudder forward and yelled, "Thrusters engaged!"
The Going Merry raced forward and Usopp leaned off the side of the ship. "Luffy! Throw me your hand!" The Merry was dipping low towards the manor, almost directly above Luffy and the others considering everything higher had already been ripped away into the darkness. Luffy, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were finding it hard to keep their footings, and the ground beneath them came apart as they stood there awaiting the approaching ship.
"Do it now Luffy!" Nami yelled at the rubberman carrying her.
"We're falling!" Donald shouted.
"Uhh, I don't think so," Goofy said. The duck who closed his eyes in panic as the floor broke opened them back up and yelped as the ground that collapsed rose up instead of falling down. They only dropped for a second too, before flying up in the air after the rest of the debris.
"Everyone hold on!" Luffy yelled, and he let go of Nami with the arm he was currently carrying her with. He threw that arm up towards the Merry, while at the same time stretching his other arm around to catch Donald, Goofy, Sora, and re-catch Nami all at once. Luffy's arm flew towards the ship, but he did not take the gravity into effect and his hand rose higher than the railing. Usopp kept one hand down on the rail and he stretched up as high as he could, and caught Luffy's hand with his free one. "Nice!" Luffy yelled. "Gum Gum, Rocket!" His arm un-stretched and he and all his passengers went flying towards the Going Merry.
They all tumbled on top of the ship, a few of them right on top of each other. Nami landed on top of Usopp who she immediately wrapped her arms around, and he wrapped her right back. "It's okay," he told her, "you made it."
Sora snapped up at the sound of Usopp saying that, and he ran back to the railing. He spun his head towards the cabin and yelled, "Chopper! Keep us headed down towards Oogie's manor! Jack's still down there!"
"Sora!" Donald quacked loudly. Sora spun and saw the duck standing only a foot away from him, a dejected but serious look on his face. "We can't take him with us! We can't take anyone!"
"Why not?!" Sora roared into the duck's face. Donald looked taken aback and Sora's lip was quivering while he shouted. "Why can so many of us come on the ship, but just a few more can't? Halloween Town's already gone!" Sora yelled, and everyone who landed on the deck looked over to the boy whose eyes were watering up. "The only ones left, are Jack, and Sally, and Zero!" Sora looked back over the ledge and he yelled, "See, even Smoker's still down-"
The man who at the Plume Plume Fruit was midway through flying up towards the ship, and he landed on the side of it before Sora finished yelling. The kid looked at Smoker with bags under his eyes and a distressed expression for a few seconds, before spinning back and looking towards the manor. His eyes darted around, and then he pointed an arm and yelled, "There!"
Chopper was still heading towards the manor mostly, though they were headed a little to the side so they would go past it. "Jack!" Sora yelled as they got close. The others on the deck all ran up to the railing and looked off to see Jack with an arm around Sally's shoulders, holding her close. They stood on the side of a platform sticking out of the lower part of Oogie's manor, and Zero floated on Jack's right side. All three of them looked up at the smiling boy who leaned out over the ledge as they dipped down closer to the platform. They were still moving fast thanks to the thrusters, but Sora reached out his hand and he yelled, "When we pass, grab on!"
"Sora!" Goofy yelled. The fact that it was Goofy yelling this time actually got Sora to glance back for a second. The dog knight was shaking his head and Goofy said in a sad voice, "We aren't supposed to meddle."
"Then what am I supposed to do?!" Sora yelled back at him. "I came here to save them, then let me save them!" He looked back out and desperately reached his hand farther, almost falling off the ledge himself he was so far extended.
Luffy held up his arm and he said, "I got this." He got ready to throw his arm out because he could reach them no matter how close they got.
As they got near the three though, Sora's heart dropped at the sight of their faces. Jack gave Sora a small shake of his head, and the Pumpkin King called out, "It's okay Sora."
"We know you tried," Sally added. The resigned looks on their faces was too much to bear and Sora almost dove off the railing trying to reach for them as they were sailing by. Donald and Goofy grabbed a leg each to stop him, and his hands that he reached out for Jack and Sally passed in front of them by only a few feet. He curled in his fingers like it would give him just that extra amount of reach, but to no avail.
Sora's eyes turned to saucers and his head turned right as he watched the platform get behind him. Their entire world was falling apart in front of their eyes, and they could not do anything about it. Jack turned towards Sora and the others and he lifted up his right hand. Jack Skellington waved, "Goodbye everyone. Come back next Halloween." Zero barked in agreement and Sally hugged Jack, surprising the skeleton who looked down at her. "Sally," he said quietly.
Luffy could not watch them give up like that, and he threw his right hand out towards the platform. His arm stretched, and he curled in his hand just like Sora did before him, and missed the same as Sora did too. His hand curled in underneath the three who lifted off the ground suddenly and shot up into the sky. Everyone on the deck of the Merry could hear Chopper shouting about the Heartless below them, and the pull of the darkness which meant they had to leave immediately, but none of them looked back towards him. They all stared into the sky and watched as Jack, and Sally, and Zero, flew into the dark sphere above. The darkness got even more massive in that second and the orange core on the inside shrank down for a second, before expanding exponentially along with all the darkness around it.
"Go go go!" Nami shouted, snapping back to her senses as waves of darkness shot at them. The Going Merry sped up even more while aiming up and away from the growing sphere in the sky. They looked back and many of them moved towards the stern to watch as the darkness from the sky connected with the rising flames of black coming out of cracks all over the planet. Dark wisps covered everything that was not already black and the rest of the ground lost its gravity, crumbling and floating around a mass of debris in the middle of space.
They could not see the entire planet fall apart, but while they were still close enough they saw the ground beneath Oogie's manor collapse. It was like the planet was hollow and the crust was caving in. It moved like a wave across the planet, and the horror of it was only topped by the awe of the dark void taking the world's place. They got farther and farther away from the planet, Chopper firing lasers the whole time as Heartless ships were more densely packed here than anywhere they had been before. Explosions occurred all around them, but those looking off the stern only focused on one point. They looked into the distance and watched a star, a star blinking slower, and slower, until all at once, it went out.
A/N ;( ... Halloween Town, no more. Although it was sad, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Chapter 25 will be out later this week, so look forward to it! Leave me a review telling me what you thought, predictions about the story, or questions you may have.
Vanessa Masters chapter 10 . Dec 31, 2016
Oh wow, Clayton gets corrupted!
And wise Nami, pulling Usopp over to the health balls :)
Only going to put one response in here despite your many reviews (which I thank you for XD). Thanks for all the reviews, and I am glad you were really enjoying the story! Hope you enjoy the newest update!
-Thanks again to everyone who fav/followed/ and reviewed this story! 'Till next time!