Just saying ahead of time; for the non-original stuff, I use the playthrough vids by YouTuber "rubhen925" for reference. You'll understand why I'm pointing this out soon enough…
SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR (MOST) DISCLAIMERS
PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES
-CHAPTER START-
Kingdom of Corona
Birds chirped and plants rustled in the breeze as five people strolled through the forest, taking in the atmosphere – Sora, Donald, & Goofy joined by two DDF volunteers.
"It sure is a pretty day" Goofy said, looking up at the clear blue sky and bright sun.
"Yeah," Sora replied, stretching, "the weather is great. It'd be perfect for a picnic."
"The breeze and sunshine feel so nice~," Haruka Haruno said dreamily, "and the air is so fresh and clean!"
"Why do you think we came here?" Donald asked.
"Got me, Donald" Sora replied.
"We'll figure it out as we go" said Link, Hero of Twilight.
"Just what I was thinkin'!" Goofy said. "'Sides, if there's trouble on a world, it tends to find us before we find it."
"I'm sure we were brought to this world for some good reason," Sora said, "but can't we sweat it later?"
"Fine with me," Donald replied, "as long as there's no Heartless."
Just then, they all suddenly heard a man's scream. Looking around, they were startled as a man appeared with a thud several meters behind them, rubbing at his lower back. He looked young, maybe early 20s, with brown hair and a lean-muscled build, wearing dull-brown trousers, brown boots, and a deep-blue vest over a bluish-grey shirt. The man looked back & up, and scrambled to his feet as several Heartless – Bizarre Archers and a new kind of Heartless that looked like rotund dark-brown seed-like things with yellow flowers atop their heads and flower-petal arms – leapt down and resumed chasing him.
As the man ran past the quintet, the "main trio" conjured their weapons while Haruka transformed and Link drew his blade.
"You see?" Sora said to Donald. "Soon as you mention 'em, they show up!"
"There goes our picnic…" Goofy added.
"Don't blame this on me!" the duck snapped.
"Say," the man called out from behind a boulder, "since you five seem to know what you're doing, mind if I leave this one to you?"
"Yup, we'll take care of them" Sora replied. "Go on, skedaddle!"
"You have my thanks! Whew… The horse was enough; don't need any monsters on my trail…"
"The what was enough?" Link called back.
"N-Nothing, nothing! Name's Flynn – Flynn Rider. Thanks, strangers!"
As Flynn turned & fled, the Heartless began their attack, several of the Puffballs charging. Cure Flora rushed forward and nailed one with a punch so hard the little Heartless was sent careening into a tree clear across the clearing with a resounding splat. Link and Sora cut a couple more of them down, and then almost got speared by arrows fired by the Bizarre Archers in back. As Sora kept on attacking the Puffballs, Link drew his own bow & arrows and fired a couple Ice Arrows at the marksman Heartless, freezing them and letting a boomerang shield-throw from Goofy take them both out. Donald deep-fried a couple Puffballs with Fira blasts.
More of the archer Heartless spawned in, along with a handful of green striped bell-shaped "element music" Heartless wreathed in gusts of Wind magic – Malachite Bolero. Sora & Flora synced their magic and attacked together, her Lys Tourbillon being boosted by his focused Aerora to batter and slice through the Bizarre Archers, destroying several. Goofy's shield bash was deflected by a wind barrier surrounding the Malachite Bolero he attacked, but he put more force into his next blow and this time he got through, knocking the little Heartless senseless and letting the Royal Knight finish it off. Donald boosted Link's Gale Boomerang with wind magic as the hero threw it, and it overpowered two more Boleros' wind barriers and cut them down.
Sora and Goofy pulled off a "Goofy Bombardier" that flattened the remaining Bizarre Archers. A couple of Malachite Boleros tried to box Goofy in with their slicing winds, but Cure Flora and Link came in from above with a heel-drop and falling slash that destroyed both. Then, as the remaining Malachite Boleros came together to form a deadly tornado of battering razor wind, Sora and Donald combined their magic for a Firaza blast that was sucked into the deadly whirlwind, resulting in the Heartless inside being roasted to a crisp.
As the freed Hearts floated away, Sora looked around.
"Where'd Flynn go?" he said.
"He skedaddled" Donald replied, using Sora's own words.
"I think I saw him go thataway" Goofy pointed.
"Huh?" Haruka tilted her head as she de-transformed. "But that leads to a dead end…"
"Puzzling…" Link remarked.
"Hmm… I say we investigate" Sora said, beginning to walk in that direction.
The quintet pressed on, not running into any more trouble as they passed the abundant plants and birds and rocks and things (no nameless horse, though). Soon they reached the dead end, where a thick growth of vines seemed to cover the rockface.
"He couldn't have come this way" Donald said.
"Welp," Sora stretched, "at least he got away safe."
He leaned back against the vines… and fell right through, revealing that they were covering the entrance of a cave.
"Whoa, secret passage!" he said from the ground.
They passed through the cave, reaching a spacious hidden area surrounded by tall cliffs, with a small lake fed by a waterfall. At the far end of the area was a tower, painted stone with ivy vines wrapped around it.
"Hmm, this feels kind a familiar" Haruka said. "Like I've read something like this in a story before. I can't quite recall…"
The five heroes headed for the lone tower, with Link & Goofy taking out a trio of Puffballs that tried to ambush the group. As they approached, they caught sight of Flynn using a pair of tools to slowly crawl his way down the tower… and then, from the window at the top, an enormous flowing golden mass was tossed out, reaching to the ground. A girl in a purple dress rappelled down it, and the heroes were stunned to realize that incredibly long golden thing was her hair. Haruka went starry-eyed; she wasn't quite as big a fairytale buff as Cure Happy, but she still realized that she & her comrades were in a Rapunzel-based world!
"That must take forever to wash" Link quipped.
Reaching the bottom, the girl clung to her hair-rope, looking fearfully down at the ground. Slowly, cautiously, she set her bare feet down on the grass.
"It's… so soft!" she said, a smile forming. "I'm free! I'm finally free!"
As she started happily running around, Sora & the gang hurried over to Flynn as he finally reached ground level.
"Flynn!" Good to see you in one piece!"
"Huh?" the man turned to see them, and smiled. "Guys! You're here, and just in time."
They heard the girl laughing happily as she waded in the lake.
"Um, who's she?" Sora asked.
"That would be Rapunzel, apparently" Flynn replied (with Haruka suppressing a squee at her suspicion being confirmed; Miyuki was going to be so jealous!) "Something tells me this could be her first time outdoors. Give her a few minutes to get used to it."
"First time ever?"
For the next hour or so, Rapunzel alternated between frolicking around and delighting in her newfound freedom, and freaking out and attacking herself over disobeying her "mother's" orders to never leave. She seemed to switch between the two at the drop of a hat, sometimes multiple times per minute, and a couple times she did both at once.
"I… notice you seem a little at war with yourself here" Flynn said to her during one of her 'down' periods.
"A little more than a little" Goofy added.
Finally noticing the quintet, Rapunzel gasped and moved back, brandishing her frying pan.
"Relax, relax" Flynn told her. "These are my sidekicks, like I said!"
"Sidekicks?" Link muttered.
"Roll with it, please" Flynn whispered to him. "Ahem! May I introduce, uhh…"
"Oh! My name's Sora!"
"Donald!"
"And I'm Goofy. Pleasure, ma'am."
"I'm Link, and this sword here is home to a spirit named Fi who helps me."
"Greetings, milady" Fi's voice chimed from the Master Sword's hilt.
"And I'm Haruka!"
"It's… nice to meet you, too" the girl slowly relaxed, lowering her, uh, 'weapon'. "I'm Rapunzel. And this" she gestured to a little green lizard sitting on her shoulder and still looking at the newcomers with suspicion "is my friend Pascal."
Sora pulled Flynn close. "So, since when are we 'sidekicks'?" he whispered.
Flynn sighed. "Look, she really wants to see the lantern show tomorrow night. Now, I'm a nice guy, so I've decided to help her. Only problem is those monsters might show up again. I can get her to the Kingdom, but you folks are clearly more cut-out for combat than me."
"That's cause we're heroes!" Donald replied.
"And, we're experts on fightin' Heartless" Goofy added.
"Just leave it to us!" Sora said.
"Alright, great! …Y'know, that emblem they have on their bodies kinda looks like a heart that's crossed out; explains the name, I guess."
The quintet set out, trailing behind Flynn and Rapunzel.
"Rapunzel seems interesting" Donald remarked.
"Yeah," Goofy added, "her heart's pullin' her all kinds'a ways."
"I was kinda nervous about seeing the greater Hyrule the first time I left my village," Link said, "but I… don't think I was this bad…"
"The outside world must seem so big and scary" Sora said. "I know how she feels. Lucky for me you two came along at just the right time – and the rest has been unforgettable."
The group pressed on through the bright forest, letting Rapunzel see and experience more things as they went. As they entered a small clearing full of wildflowers, they saw a huge ball of fluff sitting in the center, like a gigantic dandelion. Grinning, Rapunzel made to investigate, only for Link to hold an arm out to stop her, Master Sword drawn.
"Hold on" he said, eyeing the fluffball suspiciously. "That doesn't look like any plant I've seen before." He pointed the Master Sword at it, and the blade pulsed blue. "Thought so. My sword was forged to fight against demons and creatures of darkness, and it reacts to them. That's no plant."
With its cover blown, the Chief Puff popped out of the earth – a black seedpod-like round body, two large sharp-edged leaf arms, a fluffy orange 'collar', and a huge afro of white dandelion fluff. Several Puffballs sprang up together with it, and Rapunzel took cover behind Flynn.
"All right, I hate to say it," he said to her as the travelers got ready to fight, "but I'm lettin' you outta this deal."
"What?" she let go of him, glaring at him confusedly.
"It's way too scary out here. Let's just turn around and take you home."
"No!" she shoved him back when he tried to guide her away. "I am going to see those lanterns."
She ran forward to join the fray, just as the Puffballs charged. She swung her massive hair, slamming into one of them and knocking it into its fellows, leaving them all disoriented. Several Puffballs got underneath the Chief Puff, forming into a tower of Heartless; the Chief Puff then pointed its fluff-afro at the heroes and fired a barrage of high-velocity seeds at them. Goofy and Link raised their shields to block the barrage, and Sora rushed in and used his Keyblade to start swatting away the Puffballs at the tower's base. The Chief Puff tried to slice him with its leaf-blades, forcing him back, and more Puffballs moved in to replace the losses.
Haruka transformed, using PreCure-powered punches to crush and fling away the Puffballs that went for her & Rapunzel. The local girl flung her hair high as a rope, latching onto a tree branch overhead, and made a wide swing to build momentum for a flying kick that caught a few Heartless off-guard and wounded them for Link & Sora to finish off. One of the Puffballs tried to get Rapunzel from behind, only to be put down by a thrown knife from Flynn.
Donald fired a Firaga blast at the Chief Puff, and the Heartless' cotton-fluff afro was set ablaze. It began to panic, flailing about and hopping in circles, making the 'tower' come apart. While Link dashed in amongst the disordered Puffballs and used a spin-attack to cut them all down, Rapunzel used her hair as a whip to smack the panicking Chief Puff into the nearby rockface, and Sora dashed in and finished it off with a quick combo of blows.
"What were those things?" Rapunzel asked.
"The Heartless" Cure Flora replied. "Creatures of darkness that come into being when somebody's Heart is consumed by darkness. The more darkness in someone's Heart, the bigger and stronger their Heartless is. And if someone deliberately gives themselves to the darkness with the intent on becoming a Heartless, their Heartless will keep their original self's appearance and intelligence."
"That's extremely rare, though" Sora added. "We've seen tens of thousands of Heartless over the years, and that's only happened 3 times – Xehanort, Scar, and Malia."
"Let's keep moving before more of them show up" Donald said
The group pressed on, entering a narrow passage between rocks. In the next small clearing, a small handful of Bizarre Archers spawned in, along with a new kind of Heartless that looked like a parody of a lady in a Victorian dress and wide-brimmed feathered hat, wielding a fancy pink umbrella – a Parasol Beauty. Two more of them warped in, plus a pack of Puffballs for support.
As Link started shooting the Bizarre Archers with his own arrows, the nearest Parasol Beauty opened its parasol, pointed it at the heroes, and fired a concentrated bright-purple beam of energy. Donald dove to the side to dodge, and returned fire with a Blizzara blast that the fancy Heartless blocked with its parasol. Cure Flora rushed in, bashing aside a Puffball that tried to get in her way, and slid around the bigger Heartless' guard and started hammering it with blows, quickly overwhelming and destroying it.
The second Parasol Beauty held its parasol high and began spinning while rushing toward the heroes, its spin attack knocking Goofy and Sora back. Rapunzel threw her hair in and let it wrap around the Heartless, restraining it for Link to charge in and chop its head off. Flynn picked up a big rock and chucked it at a nearby Bizarre Archer that was too focused on trying to shoot Goofy, blindsiding it and crushing its head. While Rapunzel spun her hair around in a whipping strike to smack Puffballs away, the third Parasol Beauty fired a barrage of small energy bolts at her, only for Donald to cast Reflega to protect her. A Strike Raid from Sora stunned the Heartless, letting him close in and slash & bash it until it was destroyed. Link soon finished off the remaining Bizarre Archers, while Goofy took care of the few Puffballs left.
"They're persistent" Flynn remarked.
"They fear the power of the Keyblade and the Master Sword" Sora replied. "They single us out because of the threat our weapons pose to them. Plus, they're being commanded and controlled by a group of intelligent bad guys who have it out for us, too."
"What do these leader bad guys look like, so we know to watch out for them?" Rapunzel asked.
"They all wear long black hooded coats with zippers and some jingly bits, and matchin' boots & gloves" Goofy replied. "'Course, a couple of our people do, too – the Organization weren't the first folks to wear the coats, they just got associated with 'em by now."
The gang pressed on, soon reaching a clearing full of (non-Heartless) dandelions that Rapunzel frolicked in for a bit. As they moved on a bit further and encountered some rabbits, however, a small squadron of Malachite Boleros appeared. Goofy and Cure Flora moved back to protect the bunnies while Donald fired Blizzard blasts at the Heartless, forcing them to take evasive maneuvers that left them open to jumping strikes from Sora & Link that destroyed a few of them. The remaining Boleros formed up and tried to combine their wind magic together, but a bomb arrow from Link scattered and wounded them, letting Fira blasts from Sora & Donald finish them off.
As the bunnies went on their merry way, the gang proceeded through the peaceful forest. At one point Sora, Cure Flora (who'd decided to stay transformed until they were out of the Heatless-infested forest), and Rapunzel got caught up playing around in a pond.
"So Sora's an expert splash-fighter, huh?" Flynn remarked, crossing his arms with a mildly amused smirk.
"Well, he was born & raised on a tropical island" Goofy replied. "Lots of water around all the time to play in."
Advancing onward, past a pack of Puffballs that a "Comet Flare" missile barrage from Sora & Donald made short work of, they were ambushed by a troop of Powerwilds from the canopy overhead. Sora threw a Strike Raid that destroyed three of them, while Donald zapped the rest with Thundaga, leaving them stunned long enough for Goofy, Link, & Cure Flora to take out four more. The remaining two tried to flee, but Sora blasted them with Firaga shots that took them out.
The gang moved on, Goofy dealing with a couple of Powerwild stragglers that tried to ambush them, and soon they came upon another clearing with a weird-looking plant in the middle, with a spiraling dark-blue stem topped by a large folded-up flower with white petals.
"…Do they really expect the same trick to work twice?" Link said.
"It didn't even work once" Goofy replied. "Hmm… Ya don't see very many white Heartless, though. Maybe it's just a flower?"
"I don't think so" Cure Flora said. "Something about it feels wrong - unnatural…"
Pulling out his bow, Link fired a single arrow at the strange flower. Immediately the 'flower' began to twist and unravel and float upward, assuming the form of a humanoid head & torso wearing a jacket with oversized, pointed shoulders and a long pointed hood of faded pink, along with white elbow-length mittens that faded from pink to white. Its lower body looked to be like a skirt or lower cloak of silvery-white flower petals, constantly spinning like a propeller, and it was wielding a scythe with a large, pink blade with an upturned tip and multiple spikes. And on its forehead was a familiar symbol, like the top half of a heart upside-down with a spiky white cross jutting up from it. Two more of these entities appeared beside its fellow.
"They're Nobodies!" Goofy cried as he & his friends readied weapons.
"Mother said the outside world would be full of ruffians and thugs" Rapunzel said, backing away slightly at the sight of those huge scythes.
"The good news is there are a lot more decent people than there are people like that" Donald said. "The bad news is that these things are a lot worse than some common thug!"
"When someone with a strong Heart is taken by the Heartless," Link explained, "the empty shell that's left behind, their body and life-force, become a Nobody. Those with particularly strong senses of self retain their original form and intelligence, and can even regrow their Hearts with time and connecting with others. But these lesser Nobodies can't; they just follow the smarter ones' orders, and try to find their lost completeness by trying to eat the Hearts of others!"
"So the 'Heart-less' are nothing but Heart," Flynn said, "and the 'No-bodies' are nothing but body?"
"Yeah, it never made too much sense to me, neither" Goofy replied.
"Flynn, get Rapunzel out of here!" Sora ordered. "Nobodies are more dangerous than Heartless; you can't exactly hurt them with a frying pan!"
"…Please be careful, Sora" Rapunzel said, as she & Flynn turned and fled.
The three Reapers went on the attack, floating at the heroes and swinging their deadly pink blades. Link engaged one in a duel, the two of them blocking and parrying each other's blows, appearing evenly matched. Meanwhile, the other two tried a pincer attack against Sora, but Goofy and Cure Flora barred their paths with a spinning shield bash and a palm-strike to the chest. Donald started zapping one of them with Thundara spells, but after the first hit it raised its scythe high and absorbed the lightning; the Reaper then swung its scythe to release a slicing wave of Lightning magic at the duck mage, who hastily formed a Reflega barrier that just barely held. Cure Flora tried to hit her opponent with a few more blows, but it flew up and over, and she almost lost her head to its retaliatory swing.
The Reaper fighting Link abruptly floated up and started spinning around, lashing out its scythe and the sharp edges of its propeller-like lower body. The Hero of Twilight was knocked back, but rolled out of the way as the Nobody flew at him, pulling out a bomb and chucking it. The explosion knocked the Reaper out of its spin and stunned it, and Link rushed in and started hacking and stabbing with his Master Sword, not giving the Nobody a chance to get its bearings back. Before long, the entity fell, disintegrating into wisps of white.
Cure Flora fired a Lys Tourbillon wave at the two remaining Reapers, but the Nobodies spun their scythes to deflect and slice away the attack's petals. However, this left them open, and Sora took advantage by attacking one of them from the side, delivering several punishing blows with his Keyblade before it smacked him away. The wounded Nobody was then blindsided again as Cure Flora helped 'launch' a Goofy Bombardier strike that finished it off. The last remaining Reaper surrounded itself in slicing petals, flying at the heroes and swinging its scythe madly. Link and Goofy blocked its blows, and Donald bombarded it with Firaga shots from behind, weakening it further. Finally, Sora flashed by in a Sonic Blade strike that finished it off, the Nobody falling and disintegrating.
"So, the Organization's definitely here" Sora said. "I'm surprised we haven't seen 'em. I know you're there! Come out, you has-beens!"
"Now, why would you say that?"
The quintet turned as out of a dark portal stepped a man clad in a familiar black coat. He had long, spiky pink hair, and his eyes bore the golden-yellow of Xehanort's essence.
"Marluxia…" Sora growled.
"Oh? I was under the impression your memories of Castle Oblivion were erased, Sora."
"They were. But in case you hadn't heard, there are other worlds out there where my adventures are a videogame series. Some of our friends from those worlds showed us all about what happened. So I may not personally remember you, or Larxene, or Zexion, or Vexen, but I do know what you did!"
"So I see. Now then, if you'll permit me, I've come to ask a favor."
"Favor? You've gotta be kidding me."
"Please, hear what I have to say. I'm sure you've noticed… Well, perhaps not. But you should know that maiden with you, Rapunzel, is the very Light of this world. I would see you guard her from its dark horrors."
"Huh?!" the heroes were stunned; a Seeker of Darkness asking them to protect someone of the Light?
"Starting with you, right?" Link remarked.
"All the Organization seeks is balance" Marluxia replied. "You must understand, our ultimate objective is not to clash with the light. We seek to complement it. Use that Keyblade… to keep Rapunzel safe."
With that, he vanished through a Dark Corridor.
"Rapunzel's light…" Sora muttered.
Suddenly, Fi popped out. "The girl known as Rapunzel…" she spoke. "Her Heart does not have any darkness in it, not the slightest bit. She appears to be an 'extra' Princess of Heart, separate from the seven bearers of that title whom you are already acquainted with, Sora. The probability is high that, like Maleficent before them, the Organization seeks to use the hidden powers of Princesses of Heart for their own ends. Therefore, they would have a vested interest in keeping those pure-hearted individuals alive and in one piece."
"If that's the case," Sora replied, "we're gonna have to keep them out of the Organization's clutches and safe from the Heartless… Where'd she & Flynn go, anyway?"
"I guess they musta ran on ahead" Goofy replied.
"Then we'd better go find them."
The quintet hurried on through the forest, searching for the two locals. In the next clearing, another troop of Powerwilds attacked, and a "Flare Force" barrage by Sora & Donald cut their numbers in half and left the survivors stunned and wounded, easy prey for Link and Cure Flora. Advancing through rock-lined passages, they started passing through a marsh.
"I wonder where they went…" Sora murmured.
"Don't worry" Goofy replied. "They couldn't have gotten too far."
"We just had to stop and talk" Donald remarked.
"Hey!" Sora turned to him. "Blame Marluxia, not me!"
"Let's just focus on finding Rapunzel and Flynn before Mr. Tall, Dark, & Pink does first" Link said.
"Excuse me, good travelers" a woman's voice was heard. "Do you know Rapunzel?"
A middle-aged woman walked out from the shadows, wearing a dark-grey cloak over a red dress, lowering her hood to reveal curly black hair.
The quintet looked to each other. "Uh, yeah…" Sora replied. "Sort of."
"Who's asking?" Donald asked her.
"My apologies" the woman bowed. "I am Lady Gothel, Rapunzel's mother. The poor child left home without a word, and I've just been worried sick. Please, tell me: Where is my dear girl?"
"We'd tell ya," Goofy replied, "but we lost her."
"We were attacked by some of the evil creatures skulking about around here" Cure Flora explained. "We told her & her friend to run on ahead rather than risk them getting seriously hurt. But by the time we dealt with the creatures, Rapunzel and Flynn had gotten far enough ahead that we've lost track of them."
"We could look together" Sora suggested.
The woman shook her head, scowling. "And if those creatures appear again, you'll get caught up in fighting them, and she'll get even farther away. I'll find her myself…"
With that, the woman stalked away.
"She ran away from home?" Donald said.
"What if Marluxia was onto something back there?" Sora wondered.
"You'd trust Organization XIII?"
"No, of course not! But… what if?"
"I agree" Goofy said. "If Rapunzel's so important to the Organization's plan, why is she in danger, and what sort of darkness is after her?"
"I think we just met it" Link replied, glaring at where Gothel had disappeared. "I felt the Master Sword react when she was near; I think there could be great wickedness in that woman's heart…"
"In that case," Cure Flora said, "maybe getting Rapunzel back 'home' might not be the smartest idea…"
"But how could there be evil in the heart of the mother of someone pure-hearted like Rapunzel?" Donald asked.
"Not the first time something like that has happened…"
"We'll have to find her before we decide anything" Sora cut in. "Let's keep moving."
As they started making their way through the marsh, a force of Dusks led by a Reaper appeared. The scythe-wielding Nobody lunged at Cure Flora, who bent over backward to dodge its weapon swing and countered with a kick that launched the Reaper up into the canopy. The high-ranking Nobody skulked about overhead, waiting for an opening. Meanwhile, Link charged power into his Master Sword and swung to release a slicing wave of energy that killed one Dusk and wounded another, which was promptly finished off by a Blizzaga from Donald. Goofy launched Sora high, and the youth then zapped Dusks with Thundaga spells, letting Cure Flora and Link finish them off. The Reaper suddenly blitzed out from cover, flying at Sora while he was still airborne, but Sora cast an Aeroga barrier that stopped the Nobody's charge and flung it around. Disoriented, it was set upon by Link, who hacked it apart before it could regain its bearings.
Further into the marsh, the 'bats' hanging from creepy old trees revealed themselves to be Flutterings, bat-like Pureblood Heartless that went on the attack. Donald started zapping them with Thunder spells, only to be tackled aside by Goofy, barely avoiding a deadly energy beam fired by a Parasol Beauty hiding in the shadows. Cure Flora went for the big Heartless, dodging its energy bolts and getting in close to pound it with magic-charged blows until it was vanquished. Link used his Gale Boomerang to snatch up several Flutterings in a vortex, letting Sora slice them apart quickly. The few remaining bat-like Heartless turned and fled, abandoning the attack.
"This place is a maze" Sora remarked. "How are we even gonna get through here, much less find Rapunzel."
"Master," Fi chimed in, "I believe I can track the signature of Rapunzel's pure Heart to serve as a beacon for us."
"Excellent" Link replied. "Please do."
After a few seconds, the Master Sword began to glow, the glow brightening whenever Link pointed it in a certain direction. He led the way, the quintet making their way through the dark and spooky marsh. Soon they reached a cave, climbing up the walls to progress, and finally they got out of the marsh and back into the sunshine. A few Powerwilds clinging to the cliff walls tried chucking things at them, but Link used his arrows to shoot the monkeys down, letting his friends take them out.
Finally, as they exited the cliff passage and got back into the forest, they heard Rapunzel's voice. Hurrying, they found her standing between a downed Flynn and a large white horse that was glaring at the man. Thankfully, Rapunzel and Pascal somehow got the horse to stand down, and right away she started petting him.
"Such a good boy" she cooed to the horse. "Are you all tired from chasing this bad man all over the place?"
"Excuse me?!" Flynn cried indignantly as the horse nodded.
"Nobody appreciates you, do they?" she kept talking to the horse.
"Oh, come on! He was trying to kill me!"
"Oh, no he wasn't; he's just a big sweetheart! Isn't that right…" she looked at the medallion on the horse's saddle "Maximus?"
"You've got to be kidding me" Flynn groaned.
In response, Maximus glared at him again, taking an angry posture.
"Look," Rapunzel said to the white stallion, "today is kind of the biggest day of my life. And the thing is, I need you not to get him arrested. Just for 24 hours, and then you can chase each other to your hearts' content. Okay?"
Flynn, still grumpy, offered his hand, but Maximus huffed and turned away.
"And it's also my birthday, just so you know" Rapunzel added.
Sighing, the horse shook hands with Flynn.
"Rapunzel!"
As Sora & the gang came running up, Rapunzel smiled. "You're here! And you're okay!"
There was an "oof!" behind her as Maximus 'gently' jabbed Flynn in the gut while Rapunzel wasn't looking.
"We're glad to see you guys are okay, too" Sora said.
"And look!" she said. "I made a friend. Meet Maximus. You could say Flynn introduced us. And where one goes, the other follows. Maximus, this is Sora, Goofy, Donald, Haruka, and Link. They've been helping me."
Looking the quintet over for a few seconds, Maximus gave an accepting nod.
Link smiled. "Kinda reminds me of Epona, my horse back home. Though, she's got a reddish-brown coat, and she's a little bit bigger than Maximus is…"
"Come on," Flynn groaned, "the kingdom's not far."
The gang pressed onward, taking it slow for a bit to enjoy the beautiful scenery around them. Soon, they reached some cliffs that would need to be scaled in order to reach the kingdom. They gradually made their way up, Rapunzel using her hair as a rope to swing by in order to cross the gaps. A small pack of Shadows tried to attack them all, but Link's blade and Maximus' mighty hooves made short work of the little Heartless.
Soon, they made their way into an old mine, occupied by a pack of Flutterings led by an Earth Core. As Donald, Goofy, & Rapunzel started handling the small bat-like Heartless, the Earth Core lunged at Sora & Link, trying to skewer them with its stone spines. They dodged and struck back, but its rocky hide withstood their blows. Cure Flora came in from the front with a flying kick to the face, and this attack did more damage, knocking the Earth Core back. Sora blasted it with Blizzaga, freezing it, and Link then shattered it with a bomb arrow.
Moving onwards & upwards through the mine, they reached another wide-open area, crossing a gap and arriving at another clearing surrounded by the cliffs. In the center of the clearing was an odd tower-like object with a pair of big wheels at the bottom. As they approached, the construct lurched, and several little cannons unfolded from it. Atop it, a Powerwild hooted at and taunted them.
As several more Powerwilds spawned, the one on top of the wheeled tower jumped up & down, triggering it to fire cannonballs in all directions. Quickly, Link used a Fire Arrow to dispose of that one, while Donald's Thundaga, Rapunzel's spinning hair-whip strikes, and Cure Flora's attacks made short work of the other monkeys. But then, the tower's upper two portions leapt off, and from the bottom wheeled portion emerged the front half of a horse-themed Heartless. The other two sections sprouted wheels of their own and attached themselves to the back of the lead one, forming a train.
The 'Chaos Carriage' began charging around, threatening to trample the heroes. As they scattered to evade, Sora and Donald fired Firaga shots at the Heartless, chipping away at it. The horse-like Heartless neighed and stomped its two hooves, releasing a dark shockwave that blasted Goofy & Link back when they tried to close in and attack. As Donald healed those two, Sora & Flora went on the offensive, bashing and slashing and trying not to get crushed & trampled by the Chaos Carriage's reprisals. A supercharged heel-drop from Cure Flora finished the job, and the Chaos Carriage collapsed.
But then, the lead of the two remaining carriages sprouted its own horse-half, resuming the attack with a spinning strike that knocked the two 'lead' heroes away. It tried to charge at them, but an Ice Arrow from Link froze one of its wheels, leaving it helpless to pummeling attacks from Goofy and Rapunzel until the ice was broken. Donald hit the Chaos Carriage with Waterga, a sledgehammer of conjured water smashing the monster aside, and when it glared at him, Flynn swept in and knifed it in the face. Half-blinded, the Heartless started thrashing around wildly, until Sora ran in and finished it off.
The lone remaining Chaos Carriage began dashing around, trying to trample everyone, but Maximus timed a kick that knocked it for a loop as it ran past him. Donald and Sora bombarded the Heartless with magic attacks, and Cure Flora blasted it with Rose Tourbillon. Dazed and wounded, the Chaos Carriage was finished off when Link walked up and stabbed his sword through its head.
"Enough horsing around" Donald said. "Let's keep going."
After catching their breath for a moment, the gang scaled another little cliff and passed through a rocky passage, soon reaching a clearing full of wildflowers. After Rapunzel played with some birds for a little while, they found a slope covered in flowers that left Rapunzel and Haruka starry-eyed. After a long slide down the slope, they reached the shore of a large lake, and on the other side of the lake was a magnificent castle with a surrounding town.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Flynn said, "behold the Kingdom of Corona."
"I just knew the outside world would be full of amazing things!" Rapunzel said happily. She turned to the group. "And you, all of you, helped me find them. Thank you!"
They all headed across the bridge into the castle town, with Rapunzel bubbling with excitement as she lead the way.
"She sure looks happy" Sora remarked.
"Well," Goofy replied, "her dream's gonna come true. They're sendin' the lanterns up after dark."
"Oh, I can't wait to see that!" Haruka (de-transforming) said.
They entered the castle town, following the path where Flynn & Rapunzel had gone ahead. People were mulling about, buying and selling wares, and decorations for the upcoming festival were strewn about. After exploring around the town for a little while, the quintet made their way to a plaza near the town center. There, they found Rapunzel with her hair now in a complex braid that made it "only" reach her ankles, with multiple flowers woven into it. Suddenly, the girl found herself drawn to a mural on a wall showing the kingdom's king & queen, the latter holding a blonde infant in her arms. Her gaze was fixed to the baby girl in the picture, the "lost princess"…
But then, before anything more could come of her pondering, Rapunzel's attention was drawn away by Team Sora's arrival and by the beginnings of festive music playing. Flowing to the center of the plaza, she began to dance, quickly gathering an audience. Before long, she had other people joining in, and soon the entire plaza was enjoying a festive dance with her. Haruka giggled happily as she and Rapunzel danced together, while Sora added some breakdancing moves using a nearby barrel that really wowed the crowd. And at the end of the dance, she ended up together with Flynn…
-Scene Break-
That night, the quintet sat by the lakeside and watched as countless lanterns were sent floating into the air, while Flynn & Rapunzel were in a rowboat amongst them all. Suddenly, they heard an odd sound several meters behind them. Getting to their feet, they turned to see a quintet of Reaper Nobodies spawning in.
"Could you guys have possibly picked a worse time?" Sora griped.
"I don't think they appreciate the moment, Sora" Goofy said.
"Not one bit!" Donald added.
Each of the five heroes picked a target. Link fired a slicing wave of energy from his Master Sword, catching a Reaper off-guard, and then closed in and started slashing away at it. The wounded Nobody turned itself upside-down and planted itself into the ground, its skirt-like portion opening up like a flower, and thorny tendrils of Nothingness sprouted and began lashing out at Link with slashing, stabbing strikes. Blocking hits with his shield, Link pulled out his bow and fired a Bomb Arrow that blew some 'petals' off, and then made a leaping strike and a downward stab that killed the Nobody.
Donald formed an Aerora barrier around himself to deflect a Reaper's scythe, and when the Nobody was knocked back he channeled the wind magic into a focused column of slicing wind that slashed and battered the monster. Two Firaga balls stunned the wounded Nobody and knocked its scythe out of its grasp, and a third hit it dead-on in the face, finishing it off. Cure Flora, meanwhile, hammered a Reaper with blows until she had to backflip to avoid its retaliatory scythe swing, and then she drew her 'Princess Rod', charged a Lys Tourbillon, and got in close. Jabbing the head of her artifact against the Reaper's chest, she fired, the floral Light magic tearing a hole through the Nobody.
Goofy used his shield to protect himself from the shimmering reddish-pink flower petals that the Reaper had scattered, having almost found out the hard way that they were explosive. As soon as he had an opening, he threw his shield, knocking the Reaper back. The Nobody planted itself upside-down and began lashing out with its thorns, but Goofy leapt high and then came down on the Nobody-plant dead-center with his shield, crushing and destroying the monster. Sora parried his opponent's slashing swings, stunned the Reaper with a Strike Raid, blasted it with Blizzaga to freeze it, and then used a smashing strike to shatter the frozen Nobody.
A pack of Dusks emerged, accompanied by three more Reapers. Goofy willed his strength to Sora, who was engulfed in crimson as he assumed his Valor Form. Using his enhanced strength & speed and dual Keyblades, he quickly vanquished a few Dusks and then turned his power against the closest Reaper, overwhelming its attempts to counterattack and taking it apart with little trouble. Link and Cure Flora went 2-on-2 with the remaining Reapers, while Donald & Goofy went after the Dusks. The duck mage's Thundaga stunned several of the Dusks, letting Goofy's thrown shield bounce around between them, finishing them off. Link's shield protected Cure Flora from a Reaper's scythe, and the magical girl then snapped the offending Nobody's neck with a kick. Sora, still in Valor Form, finished off the remaining Dusks and then went after the last Reaper. He charged power into his Keyblades and swung to release a slicing 'X' of energy that tore through the Nobody's guard and cut it down.
Elsewhere on the lake shore, Rapunzel watched in confused distress as 'Flynn' seemingly sailed off into the night, the stolen crown in his hands.
"Oh dear…" Marluxia said as he emerged behind her. "He's run off with the crown and forgotten you."
"No!" she snapped. "He wouldn't! …Who are you?"
"I am Marluxia, a member of the Seekers of Darkness, the organization opposed to Sora and his friends. …Forget 'Flynn Rider', Rapunzel. You know where you belong, and it's not with him. Now…"
Rubhen925: [Thanks to Disney, this scene is blocked. Sorry for the inconvenience, but take your concerns to Disney!]
As Team Sora walked along the lakeshore, they caught sight of a robed figure carrying a green lantern, seemingly leading another figure with a familiar head of braided blonde hair.
"Isn't that Rapunzel?" Sora asked. "Wait! Rapun-"
Suddenly, a Corridor of Darkness formed in front of them, Marluxia stepping out.
"Show some decorum" he said to them. "The girl has found her dear mother. You should let them be."
"And why is that?" Sora asked.
"Because Rapunzel is far too important. Atop her tower, she must remain out of sight, and live out her days with Mother Gothel."
"And never see anyone else?" Goofy asked.
"But that's like locking her in some prison!" Cure Flora snapped.
"That is exactly what it's like" Marluxia replied. "Rapunzel's hair holds the powerful magic of healing. And yes, Mother Gothel wants that for herself, to maintain her immortality. And others desire it, as well. And if Mother Gothel's actions will protect Rapunzel, preserve her, then she is doing the Organization a favor."
"What 'favor'?" Sora asked.
"Let's say she's keeping Rapunzel on the shelf for us – an extra pawn in case you fail to find the remaining Guardians of Light, and we have occasion to call on other Hearts of Light instead. A 'New Seven Hearts' to fill out the ranks."
"New Seven Hearts?"
"Yes. Seven who inherited the princesses' Light after their role was fulfilled."
"So you don't care about her. You guys just want Rapunzel for your own purposes! Well, you're done here!" He summoned his Keyblade.
"Hmph" Marluxia adjusted his bangs. "I just knew you would go and make a scene. Very well, then. I can't have you lot interfering…" He conjured sparkling pink magic in his palm while cocking his arm back. "So, it's lights out."
He swung his arm, releasing a wave of sparkling pink mist that passed over the hero quintet. At once, they all were struck by overpowering drowsiness. Despite attempts to fight it, all five of them soon collapsed, out cold.
"You always were such a sound sleeper, Sora…"
-Scene Break-
Rubhen925: [Thanks to Disney, this scene is blocked. Sorry for the inconvenience, but take your concerns to Disney!]
-Scene Break-
As morning came, Flynn rode Maximus at top speed across the bridge over the lake, leaving Corona behind and heading for the forest. Suddenly, they both slid to a half as they came upon Team Sora sprawled out in the path.
"The hell?" Flynn hurried over to them. "Sora! What happened? Wake up!"
With a little help from Maximus, Sora was the first to come to, and he quickly roused the others.
"What happened, Sora?" Flynn asked.
"Flynn? …Oh no! Marluxia, a member of the organization we're fighting, used some kind of sleeping pollen to knock us all out so we couldn't interfere in Mother Gothel taking Rapunzel away! Rapunzel's being held prisoner there!"
"I've gathered that so far. Although, from things I've seen, I'm not sure Gothel is actually her mother… Now then! Sidekicks, are you ready to take part in a dramatic rescue mission?"
Grinning, Sora took Flynn's offered hand, getting up aboard Maximus. Goofy settled in behind him. Then, Link focused his power and called upon the Summoning Spell he'd learned. With a flash of light and magic 'smoke', Epona appeared, the faithful mare ready to ride with her master once more. Link, Cure Flora, and Donald hopped aboard, and the two horses then sped off into the forest.
-X-
As the heroes neared the stretch of forest leading to Rapunzel's tower, a horde of Nobodies emerged to bar their path. Sora, Donald, & Goofy leapt off their mounts, but as Flynn & Maximus went on ahead, more Nobodies stopped Link, Cure Flora, & Epona from following. The heroes went on the attack, using slashes, magic blasts, and Epona's bone-crushing kicks to start clearing a path. Donald & Goofy both willed their strength to Sora, whose outfit gained a golden-yellow pattern as he assumed his Master Form, a second Keyblade floating behind him.
Sora led the charge, the heroes never stopping moving forward as they fought, bashing & blasting Nobodies out of their way while hurrying through the forest. Link slashed his blade at a Reaper that tried to attack him & his horse from the side, and Cure Flora mounted behind him blasted it with a flower-shaped energy blast, finishing it off. Dusks fell as Sora carved through them with furious melee barrages and enhanced Firaga & Waterga attacks, with Donald & Goofy running close behind and adding their own attacks to the mix.
As soon as the gang got past the Nobodies and moved through a narrower passage, a horde of Heartless materialized in their way, led by a Chaos Carriage. Link sniped the Bizarre Archers as Epona thundered past them, and when the Chaos Carriage ran alongside the steed and tried to attack, Sora leapt onto its back and used both Keyblades to hack & slash at its head and neck until it collapsed and disintegrated.
They hurried along, passing a team of Parasol Beauties that shot at them as they passed, with Epona trampling one and Sora blasting another with a Firaza shot that burnt the Heartless to a crisp. One tried to pursue, but Cure Flora fired a Rose Tourbillon back at it to knock it away while they hurried onward. A squad of Puffballs got roasted by Sora's Firaga blasts and trampled by Epona, and Link's Gale Boomerang flung a few offending Powerwilds into a pond, the soaking-wet monkey Heartless screeching angrily at the heroes as they sped on by.
Finally, they reached the entrance to the cave leading to Rapunzel's tower. Sora dispelled his Master Form as the heroes ran in.
"We're almost there!" Goofy said.
"Alert!" Fi suddenly chimed in as the heroes ran. "Flynn Rider's vital signs have begun a sudden and rapid decline. It appears that Mother Gothel has fatally wounded him."
"Oh no!" Sora sped up. "Come on, guys!"
"I have devised a hypothesis," the ancient spirit continued, "based on data we have gathered. It is my belief that Rapunzel is, in fact, the lost princess of Corona, kidnapped in her infancy by Gothel, in order to use the healing magic imbued in Rapunzel's hair to maintain her immortal life."
Hearing that, Sora got even angrier; Gothel was just some kidnapping witch who wanted to lock an innocent girl up just to cheat death?
As the gang finally entered the hidden valley where Rapunzel's tower stood, running toward the tower, they saw as the long 'rope' of Rapunzel's golden hair hanging out the window and reaching to the ground suddenly changed color, darkening to a brunette hue.
"It's changing colors?" Cure Flora said. "But that means… it's been cut off!"
"And that means…" Donald added.
"Look!" Goofy pointed.
A human figure clad in a dark cloak tumbled out of the open window, and as she fell, the figure seemed to disintegrate.
"Without Rapunzel's magic sustaining her," Link observed grimly, "Gothel has lost her immortality and is returning to her natural age…"
"She's… aged away into dust and ashes…" Sora whispered, shocked.
Suddenly, a mass of Darkness engulfed the cloak and dust that were once Mother Gothel, growing into a huge, swirling orb of purple & black. Then, a figure in an elaborate robe-like uniform with pointed boots, long sleeves, and a menacing silver helmet appeared standing atop the orb.
"Zant!" Link drew his blade.
"Now that the Darkness has consumed this witch," the Usurper King proclaimed, "she is too dangerous to be allowed near our backup plan. Of course, she will still be useful; this monster should do nicely for disposing of you all. And perhaps, to tip the odds further, I'll give her a little… boost."
With that, he plunged a hand glowing with black & golden light into the mass of Darkness. As Zant then warped away, the orb grew a little larger, as dark bronze runes raced across its surface, the corrupted power of Twilight infusing into the beast within.
(BOSS MUSIC: Kingdom Hearts III – [Vs. Grim Guardianess / Skӧll / Dark Inferno])
A massive arm burst out of the sphere of darkness, made of dark wood and ending in black-wood claws. Three more such limbs followed, and then a long, thick, snake-like tail. Finally, the mass crashed to the ground with a thud as the darkness receded to reveal the powerful Heartless within, looking like a cross between a tree and a gorgon. A face made of dark wood with intricate and unnerving carvings, with a mouth of jagged wooden 'teeth' beneath two huge glowing yellow & red eyes, with a mane of red leaves. The Grim Guardianess reared back and let out an earth-rumbling echoing roar. As the sky overhead darkened and gained a reddish hue, the grass and shrubs and trees in the area began to turn brown and wither.
"It's killing all the plants?" Goofy looked around.
"If left unchecked," Fi announced, "this enhanced Heartless could sap the life-force out of every plant in the entire kingdom!"
"Then we need to take this abomination out!" Sora replied. "Get ready to go all-out, you guys! This is gonna be a tough one!"
The Grim Guardianess fired a wave of deadly-sharp leaves that forced the heroes to scatter, and then swung one of its huge claws at Link, who was knocked back as he blocked with his shield. Sora and Donald started firing Firaga shots at it, but the beast wove around to dodge most of them and spat out a cloud of toxic pollen, forcing the duo to form Aeroga barriers to protect themselves as they got clear.
Cure Flora rushed in and started bashing the Grim Guardianess with magic-charged blows, until the Heartless flailed its four huge arms and flung her away. The monster then spat out a flock of large crows made of solid Darkness, the bird-shaped summons attacking the five heroes. Link managed to slash away the few coming for him and charged at the G.G., sliding under a swing of its limb and starting to hack and slash, the Master Sword's divine power adding some extra kick against the creature of darkness. The Heartless thrashed around, forcing Link back, and then slammed its head down at the ground, trying to crush the youth. Link barely got out of the way in time, and had to bring his shield up to block the barrage of razor leaves the monster immediately launched at him from its mane.
Sora fired a wave of Ragnarok mana bolts and charged in right behind them, battering the Grim Guardianess with his Keyblade. He then leapt back while firing a Blizzaga shot, while a Goofy Bombardier from above (courtesy of Flora's help) nailed the Heartless in the face, stunning it. Link and Cure Flora, protected by Donald's Aerora barriers, moved in next to land some blows of their own. The G.G. flung its massive tail at them, bashing them away and knocking the Master Sword out of Link's grip. Running in, Sora grabbed the legendary blade, dual-wielding it and his Keyblade as he slashed and stabbed at the monster.
The Grim Guardianess managed to swat Sora away and then rapidly slithered up the tower, coiling its snakelike lower body around the top spire and conjuring a continuous rain of big red spherical explosives (literal cherry bombs). The gang started charging for the tower, aiming to scale it and resume the attack, only for a cage of thorny brambles to shoot up from the earth, trapping the heroes and letting the bombs rain down on them. Donald quickly blasted a hole with Firaga, and Sora hurried through and used magic to run up the side of the tower, dodging falling bombs and closing in on the Grim Guardianess. Leaping high, he struck with a barrage of blows to its face and limbs that made it lose its grip, plummeting down toward the earth. Sora dove down after it, hitting with a slamming strike that left the monster reeling as it crashed down.
Unfortunately, the powerful Heartless wasn't down & out yet. As the others caught up to Sora, the Grim Guardianess conjured several huge flowers with deadly sharp thorny vines. The vines lashed out, trying to ensnare the heroes; Link and Goofy used spinning attacks to bat them away, Sora & Donald protected themselves with Aeroga, and Cure Flora leapt clear and closed in on the enemy, hammering the G.G. with mighty blows. She then leapt back while using the technique that her fellow Cure had taught her, firing a Pink Forte Wave blast at the monster. The flower-shaped blast of Light exploded on impact, blasting the Grim Guardianess back.
Sora and Goofy moved in, swatting their way through the summoned crows that the powerful Heartless set after them. Suddenly, a swing of the Grim Guardianess' arm knocked Sora back, his Keyblade flying out of his grip. However, Link caught it, and – recognizing a chosen hero of a goddess of Light – it did not immediately teleport itself out of his grip and back to its prime owner. Wielding the Kingdom Key in one hand and the Master Sword in the other, he rushed in and started beating the Grim Guardianess around, finishing by hacking off one of its four arms. The beast screeched in fury and tried to crush Link in its jaws, but Donald blasted the monster back with a jet of wind magic, letting Link get distance and return Sora's Keyblade to him.
The Grim Guardianess reared up and roared, holding its remaining limbs forward and opening its massive maw. Black, purple, & bronze energy started sucking in, rapidly building into a steadily-growing orb of dark power that seemed to suck the color out of the light immediately surrounding it. Cure Flora was enveloped in pink light as she transitioned to Elegant Mode, now clad in an elaborate flower-themed ballgown and hurriedly charging magical power in her hands pointed forward. The G.G. fired first, but Cure Flora's counterattack – a tightly focused bright-pink beam of magical power – pushed against the incoming orb of darkness and then burned through it, striking the Heartless in the chest and blasting it backward, doing considerable damage. Then, Cure Flora transferred her remaining Elegant Mode power to Sora & Link; the Master Sword was engulfed in a bright pink glow, while the Kingdom Key assumed a pink-hued variant of its mighty Ultima Form. The two youths charged, letting out matching war-cries as they swung with all their might.
(MUSIC END)
Twin flashes of pink light slashed across the Grim Guardianess' form. The Heartless let out echoing roars as it thrashed and twitched, wisps of Darkness already coming away from it as it tried to hold itself together. Finally, it seized and fell backwards, exploding with enough force to leave a crater as Mother Gothel's tainted Heart floated up and away.
As soon as the gang had recovered, they hurried to scale the tower. As they reached the window, however, they saw a now short-haired and brunette Rapunzel kneeling over Flynn. And it was clear that he was on death's door, already pale with a pool of blood beneath him.
"No…" Cure Flora whispered.
Desperate, Rapunzel placed Flynn's limp hand atop her head, reciting the song meant to activate her healing power. But with her hair cut short, that power was gone.
"Rapunzel…" Flynn whispered weakly. "You were my new dream…"
She sobbed. "And you were mine."
The man smiled, and then he slipped away. Her body shuddering with sobs, Rapunzel cradled the body of the man she'd loved.
"Heal what has been hurt…" she whispered. "Change the Fates' design… Save what has been… lost…" She choked on a sob. "Bring back what once… was mine…"
A tear from her eye landed on the cold, pale cheek… and then glowed with a spark of golden light as it seeped in. After a few seconds, a flower of golden light sprang up over Flynn's fatal stab wound, and tendrils of light curled out to fill the room. Team Sora and Rapunzel watched in awe as a shimmering flower of magic formed over the wound, which rapidly mended, flesh and organs being knitted back together. As the light faded, there was no trace of injury other than the blood staining Flynn's top, and color had returned to him. After a moment, he began to breathe, and his eyes opened to the sight of the girl kneeling over him, tears in her eyes as a wonderful smile began to form.
"Did I ever tell you…" he whispered "I've got a thing for brunettes?"
-Break-
At the foot of the tower, they all gathered.
"Wow, Rapunzel!" Sora said. "You're finally gonna get to see your real home."
The young woman smiled, despite looking a little nervous. "I know! I mean… I can't believe it. I can finally be with my real family! I couldn't have done it without your help."
"You're welcome!" Donald replied.
"Well," Flynn spoke up, "from where I'm standing, the Kingdom couldn't ask for a better princess. And I couldn't have asked for better sidekicks! Thanks, all of you."
"Yes!" Rapunzel added. "Thank you all, so much!"
"Now, Flynn," Goofy said, "your and Maximus play nice."
The man and the horse looked at each other in confusion, and then Max grinned while Flynn sighed.
"Fine…" he said.
Rapunzel came up, grabbing his hands in hers.
"You're gonna be great" Sora said with a grin. "We haven't seen the guy controlling the monsters in a while, so that's one less worry."
"But there's still a slight chance that he might still be lurking around" Link added.
"Well, if he comes back and tries to bother Rapunzel again, then Flynn will keep her safe. And we won't be far behind."
"Oh, come on" Donald replied. "Rapunzel's the tough one, if you ask me."
"True" Flynn admitted. "But nevertheless, I won't let her out of my sight."
Rapunzel giggled. "Oh, Eugene…"
"Wait, 'Eugene'?" Sora asked.
"Oh!" the man laughed nervously. "Actually, 'Flynn Rider' is a pseudonym I picked up from a book. My real name's Eugene Fitzherbert. I guess I forgot to tell you guys."
"I think it's a great name!" Goofy said.
"Me too" Sora added. "Nice to re-meet you, Eugene."
"Hey!" Rapunzel piped up. "I thought I was the only one you were going to tell."
"Don't worry" Eugene replied, whispering to her. "I've saved plenty of Fitzherbert-y secrets just for you."
"Hey, what are you two lovebirds talkin' about?" Sora said in an accusatory tone.
"N-Nothing!" they both replied.
"Come on, now" Goofy said. "It's not nice to keep secrets."
"This one is none of your business!" Eugene replied.
Sora grinned. "Maximus, get 'im!"
Flynn turned just as the white stallion 'glared' at him… and while he was distracted, Pascal leapt off Rapunzel's shoulder and wet-willed him. As Eugene flailed around, laughter filled the canyon.
-CHAPTER END-
The reason I made the Grim Guardianess get a power-up in this fic is the same reason that Skӧll will also be a tougher fight than canon: the music. The battle music shared by these two bosses is so foreboding and climactic and epic that it deserves to go with fights that are emotionally/storeline-ily climactic and epic and challenging, with the heroes going all-out to vanquish the awesome-music Heartless they're up against.