Book I: Serial Dilution
Chapter XIX: The Monster in the Mist
"Okay…another giant beast in the courtyard…and we hadn't even finished fixing things up from the last time one came around," muttered Rapunzel. "What I wouldn't give for a frying pan right now…"
"Hey, at least now the odds are better," Sora chuckled, even as he peered cautiously into the mist.
"Gawrsh…I'm not so sure," Goofy muttered. "It sure took out the guards pretty fast!"
"Whatever it is, we've handled tougher!" Donald Duck quacked encouragingly to his friend.
"Right!" Flynn Rider smirked, drawing his own sword from its scabbard. "And now you'll have my dashing good looks and superior skills to-WHOOOAAA!"
The ex-thief was interrupted as suddenly the huge paw of the Raccoon Monster hooked its claws into the back of his vest. With a jerky yank, the goateed fellow went flying!
"EUGENE!" Rapunzel wailed.
"FLYNN!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy yowled.
"GAH!" exclaimed the former highwayman as he smacked into a wall, then faceplanted into the grass.
For a moment, he lay still…then moaned and slowly began to crawl back up onto his feet.
"Ohhhhh…okay…embrace the pain…it tells you that you're still alive," he groaned.
Sora and Company all sighed with relief, realizing the man was okay…but their relief was short-lived, as the Monster's silhouette could be seen lumbering closer to the downed man.
Maximus let out a neigh and charged forward, then whipped around and launched a raking kick with his hind legs into the Monster's backside. The beast let out a shrill, yiping sort of sound, and whirled about, its hackles rising as it snapped its slavering jaws at the white horse, who bounded out of the way just in time.
With the monster focused on the stallion, Sora charged forward with a fearsome battle cry, and swung the keyblade in a wide, upward slash. The Monster turned to face its attacker…
SCHWING!
The creature snarled and reeled back its head as the Kingdom Key sliced across its face. Sora smirked and stepped back…
…But his smile fell as the beast turned back around…and the cut on its cheek healed itself within the span of two seconds. The creature then lapped up its own blood from its face with its thick, slimy tongue.
Sora gulped nervously.
"Oh, boy," he muttered.
The Monster roared and snapped its jaws at the keybearer; Sora nimbly jumped out of the way. However, he wasn't quite so quick to avoid the animal's bushy, striped tail, which smacked into his chest like a battering ram. Sora was thrown back, and rolled through the dirt, unable to stop his own momentum. The beast then came barreling towards him, faster than he could guard against it, and lifted its claws to strike the killing blow…
SCHLANG!
The Raccoon-Beast hissed its hate as it stepped back. Goofy had jumped in, just in the nick of time, to guard Sora, the claws scratching into his unbreakable shield.
With the fiend distracted by his compatriots, Donald Duck now saw an opportunity to strike. He twirled his staff and pointed it at the ghoulish brute.
"Time for some magic!" he quacked. "BLIZZARD!"
A ball of blue-white light gathered at the end of Donald's wand, and then seemed to solidify, forming what appeared to be a giant snowflake. With a flick of the staff, the snowflake rocketed towards the beast as it slowly advanced on Goofy and Sora, trying to back them into a corner. The ice crystals struck the Monster in the shoulder, and it let out a wolf-like howl before looking to find its left arm had frozen solid, stuck to the ground. The demon snarled and sneered, trying to break away.
Flynn, by now, had gotten to his feet. He heaved his sword over his head and charged at the creature from the opposite side…then slashed at its other shoulder, aiming for the nasty boils that had seemingly formed on its gray furred flesh.
The creature screamed, and tugged with such force that it shattered the ice, then swung around to try and slash Eugene to ribbons. The agile thief ducked and dodged out of the way, and the Monster roared with fury before jumping back into the fog.
Rapunzel had been watching all the while; Pascal, on her shoulder, pumped his fist, cheering the group on. Suddenly, something grabbed hold of her arm, nearly knocking the little lizard off his perch. Both turned fast to find King Frederic holding her by the wrist.
"Rapunzel!" he cried out. "We have to get you to safety! Please…!"
The King tried to drag the Princess back towards the castle, but Rapunzel pulled back hard, gritting her teeth as her emerald eyes hardened.
"No, dad!" she snapped. "I'm not going through that again! I won't…DAD, LOOK OUT!"
The King turned around quickly…but not quickly enough! The Monster leapt from the fog and pounced toward him. Frederic let out a grunting, coughing cry as the giant beast tackled him and rolled across the grounds, destroying several bushes in its wake.
Once it was done, the foul beast rose…holding the King in its forepaws the way one might hold a soft toy. It licked its fangs and opened its jaws, pulling the King closer and closer to its mouth. Frederic gasped and strained, struggling to escape, but the claws tightened their grip as the fanged maw spread wider and wider before him…
"FIRE!"
A ball of flame suddenly scorched the creature's stomach, and it screeched before dropping Frederic. Rapunzel, thinking fast, lashed out her hair, and tugged her father out of the way with it…JUST before the beast's huge paws SLAMMED back to the ground.
"Right now," the Princess said, seriously, as she untied her father, "I think YOU need more protecting than ME."
She then looked towards her father's savior.
"Nice shot, Sora!"
"Nothing to it," the keybearer called, and then ran at the raccoon-like atrocity once more. He swung his blade around his head six times, but each time, the creature evaded it.
The Monster growled and swatted its massive paw at Sora, but the keybearer dodged it and slashed the back of its paw. The creature hissed, backing away…but once again, the wound healed itself. Eugene Fitzherbert ran over to Sora's side, and grimaced as he realized the strike he'd gotten in had healed as well.
"It keeps regenerating!" Flynn exclaimed.
"GANGWAY!"
The keybearer and the ex-thief jumped to either side as Donald & Goofy came skidding onto the scene. Donald was riding atop Goofy's shoulders, while the knight used his sled to slide forward.
Donald twirled his staff about, and then aimed it at the beast.
"WATER!" he yelled, and a barrage of bubbles, as if fired from a machine gun, blasted forth. The bubbles splashed over the Monster's face, distracting it momentarily. As it tried to shake the water from its eyes, wincing from the bullet-like impact of the blasts, Rapunzel whipped her hair forward once again, wrapping the coils around one of its forepaws. She then pulled as hard as she could.
The beast's bushy tail cracked like a whip, and it responded with a sudden, harsh pull. Rapunzel squealed as her hair was jerked roughly; it was unbreakable, true, but the animal was simply stronger than herself! King Frederic held out a hand impulsively as he daughter was thrown onto her belly. The Monster then began loping towards them, slobbering mouth wide open…
With a shrill neigh, Maximus rode to the rescue, and slammed into the beast's side shoulder-first. The horse stumbled, but the blow did its job, as the giant creature was thrown off balance. It rolled twice, snarled with bristling fur at the horse…then, once again, dove into the shadows of the fog, unseen.
"Okay, physical combat is getting us nowhere," Rapunzel sighed, winding her hair back up. "We need some strategy."
"Yeah, but what?" Goofy agreed. "It moves faster than light!"
"WATCH YOURSELF!" Donald suddenly yelled, and tackled Goofy, who yowled as he was thrown to the ground. The Monster's paw "swooshed" just over their heads, nearly knocking off their hats. Then, it rose up on its hind legs, claws glinting in the scant beams of moonlight that pierced the foul fog.
"FIRE!" Donald cried, pointing his staff at the beast, summoning his firecrackers. They zoomed towards the creature, who dodged out of the way…
…But then, the fireworks exploded into a showers of colored light. The creature screamed, covering its face briefly, then blindly dove back into the shadows.
Sora's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.
"Faster than light," he murmured, then grinned and called out. "ITS EYES! It can't stand the light! We can use that!"
"Good idea!" Rapunzel grinned, then addressed the white horse. "Max? You're on! Try to bait him! Eugene? Goofy? Stay here with dad, in case something goes wrong."
"You've got it, Sunshine," Flynn smiled and took a guarded position beside the King, who was watching the battle with an utterly flabbergasted expression. Goofy nodded and followed suit.
Max, meanwhile, cracked his neck in a showy fashion, whickered…then looked to Rapunzel, who pointed towards a back corner of the courtyard. The white horse galloped towards the back corner…and a moment later, the Monster in the Mist bounded out after him, gnashing its teeth with ravenous, rabid rage.
The noble steed skidded to a halt, and then galloped towards his right, and the beast followed suit…but it couldn't halt its momentum, and crashed into the wall, a few new cracks forming in it.
"It can't stop on a dime," Sora observed excitedly. "We can use that, too!"
"I know," Rapunzel smiled, then called out, "Now, follow my lead!"
The Monster, meanwhile, nearly crashed into another wall, but managed to catch itself, and once again lumbered after Max, snorting and puffing like a mad bull through its nostrils. It was halfway to the spot where the skirmish had started when, suddenly, a ball of bright red-orange flame jetted past its face.
The fiend shrieked, and instinctively whipped back the other way. It had only taken a few steps, before firecrackers exploded before its face.
Roaring with aggravation, the animal wheeled around once more. It spotted Flynn, Goofy, and Frederic, and tried to make a beeline for them, talons at the ready…but then, TWO fireballs flew towards it, nearly singing its muzzle.
This was getting to be too much for the Monster; it howled and nearly tripped over its own uneven limbs as it now began to dash towards the castle gates. Perhaps it was time to retreat. However, before it could reach the exit, something golden and thick flashed across its path…
…And the Monster howled, dust flying everywhere as it struck the object and rolled a short ways…then lay still, as more golden ropes were slung about its body, binding its jaws, its limbs, and even its tail.
Slow, the fog began to dissipate…and as it did, all of those present in the courtyard, aside from the downed guards, began to move closer to the creature…and the Princess who had finally captured it.
"Great work, Blondie!" Flynn cheered.
The Monster growled at all of them, writhing as it struggled to break free, but the long, flowing hair – harder than a diamond – would not yield. Donald moved closer curiously, and extended a hand, as if to try and touch the monster.
"What is it?" he murmured…then cried out in fright – "WAAAAK!" – as the Monster tried lunge at him, snapping its teeth. Rapunzel tightened the binding around its snout till the beast let out a short whimper of discomfort…then her expression shifted to one of pity and uncertainty.
"I don't understand," Sora spoke up as he moved closer. "Why would Varian do something like this? Where did this thing come from anyway?"
"I think it's fair to say the kid's not exactly in the most FRIENDLY frame of mind right now," Eugene said grimly. "As to where he got it…"
Before the thief could finish expounding his theory, all were distracted by a bright flash of green light. The Monster let out a roar, which trailed off into a shrill squeal of what sounded almost like despair, as the light grew brighter and brighter…
…Then, finally, the light died down…revealing nothing but a large mound of Rapunzel's hair, loosely knotted in several places. The group moved closer, as they something moving just under a few stray coils of her golden locks…
…Then, with a chitter, the source of the movement became clear, as it poked its round, monochrome head free, and blinked up at the rest of the group.
"That's Ruddiger!" Rapunzel gasped in astonishment.
"Varian's Raccoon!" Sora put in.
Ruddiger shuddered and sighed with what looked like relief, and hurriedly climbed out of the many curly blonde tendrils. He scampered across the castle grounds…then paused, as he noticed a basket of apples near the castle gates. The pudgy raccoon plucked one up in his jaws, and then skittered away, disappearing into the darkness as he scuttled into the shadows towards the city and towns beyond.
The group all watched him go, then began to address each other.
"I can't believe Varian would do something like that to him," Sora murmured. "And why would he send him here? I…I thought he was our friend!"
"I knew he was," Rapunzel said, morosely, and shook her head, taking some of her hair in her own hands and stroking it in a nervous reflex. "I don't…he must be…what could have…?"
She trailed off, looking crestfallen. Eugene placed his hand upon her shoulder, while Pascal nuzzled into her neck.
Sora bit his lip, and looked away.
"We can deal with him later," he said, softly, almost sorrowfully. "Whatever he's up to, there has to be a way to get through to him…but for now…"
He then looked toward King Frederic, who was currently helping some of the guards onto their feet, and gesturing towards the Captain, who lay unconscious on the ground nearby.
"…I think there are other answers we need to get."