KINGDOM HEARTS III: Final Mix
Disclaimer: I do not own the story or characters featured in this story. They are the sole creation of the Walt Disney Co., PIXAR, Marvel Comics, Tetsuya Nomura, and Square Enix. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy.
WARNING! Contains story spoilers for Kingdom Hearts III, so read with caution if you haven't played the game yet.
Chapter 10: Mansion Mystery and Meeting Dr. Strange
As the group approached the gate of the old mansion, they noticed a unfamiliar sigil where the blazon mark of the clock tower previously was.
"That wasn't there last time," Sora mused. "Somebody must've renovated the place." He then turned towards a window where the silken curtains fluttered with the wind due to an opening letting in air. Silently, Sora's thoughts drifted to the memories of Roxas seeing the prison-like room where Ansem the Wise- then known as DiZ- kept Namine captive in as they tried to restore Sora's memory.
"They did say the mansion is supposed to be haunted," Goofy mentioned, as Donald felt a shiver run down his feathers. The group was lost deep in thought that they didn't see Hayner, Pence, and Olette approach from behind, as they startled Donald, Vivi, Serah and Goofy.
"Gawrsh, ya nearly gave us a heart attack!" Goofy wheezed in shock.
"Sorry, did we scare you?" Hayner snarked in a friendly way.
"Not a chance!" Donald replied, calling his bluff.
"So, did you guys find any leads around town?" Sora asked.
"Afraid not, nobody in town has any clue about who Roxas is," Pence explained.
"The mansion is the only place left for answers," Olette added. "So are you all ready?"
"Another Twilight Town awaits!" Vivi proclaimed, as the gaggle of friends entered the mansion together, finding the clutter from their past adventure cleared away, with a revised entrance hall greeting them.
"I wonder who lives here," Sora asked out loud before he was stopped by an ethereal whip being snapped at him. The whip belonged to a blue-robed man with a goatee adorned with a red cape and a golden necklace around his neck that had a emerald gemstone in the center.
"Forgive me for being so bold, but I don't recall ever seeing you having an appointment to come here," the man spoke.
"Why don't you introduce yourself first, before this has to escalate into a bad time?" Hayner snapped.
"Hayner, there's no need to be so rude!" Olette scolded her friend.
"My apologies, he's right; I didn't introduce myself. My name is Dr. Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, and I bought this old mansion to retool it into something I call the Sanctum Santorum," the man said as he introduced himself to the gang.
"Sorcerer? So you're some kind of magician, or something?" Sora asked.
"The more technical term I'd use is Master of the Mystic Arts, but yes."
"Your magic doesn't look all that impressive," Donald remarked, before Strange opened a wormhole in the ground that Donald was sent falling through with a scream of surprise.
"Anyway, what brings you all here?" Strange asked.
"We were wanting to use the old laboratory computer in the basement to try and find a way to bring back a friend of ours. His name is Roxas, and he lived in a digital version of this town," Pence told the doctor.
"Well then, under normal circumstances I would use my sling ring to take you to that dimension myself, but my powers seem to be limited in this world."
"I guess operating the computer is our only option," Sora deduced.
"That is precisely why I had the lab reconstructed with my magic. And you don't need to worry about Heartless getting inside the Mansion, I placed a protective spell over the Sanctum in case something like that should ever occur. Now if you'll follow me..." Strange told the group as they made their way downstairs.
"Wait! What about Donald?" Vivi and Goofy asked.
"Ah, right, your friend," Strange replied as he cut the wormhole spell out sending Donald falling out of a opening in the air, as he flopped to the floor beak first.
"I was falling- for thirty minutes!" Donald hissed angrily, as Serah and Goofy tried to stifle a laugh.
Downstairs in the computer room, Pence climbed into the work seat as he got to typing in the password.
"It was... sea salt ice cream, right?" Pence asked before they were logged into the system. "Now, let's see if we can get that transporter working." As the teen typed up the protocol to activate the transporter, they were startled when the screen suddenly flashed red with an error message.
"It's no use! Looks like it's been protected," Serah lamented.
"Protected from what?" Sora questioned Pence.
"If I were to guess, I'd say protected from us," he replied. "One thing's for certain; we can't use it to get to the other Twilight Town."
"Why the hell not?" Hayner grimaced. "We sent Sora there last time!"
"And there's no other way?" Olette wondered out loud.
"Doesn't seem like it," Pence answered sadly, noticing Sora drooping his head down dejectedly. Stephen Strange put his hand on Sora's shoulder and gave him an apologetic look.
"Kid, I'm truly sorry. If there was anything I could do to help, I'd do it, but I'm out of my element in this world." The silence was then broken as Sora answered his ringing Gummiphone and was greeted by Ienzo.
"Hello, Sora. You wouldn't happen to be in front of a computer right now, would you?" he asked the Key Bearer.
"Well, yeah, but how did you know?" Sora replied.
"You see, I was tinkering with the data for Ansem's Code, and I noticed that someone had logged in to the system from another terminal. I figured it probably had been you."
"Oh, the log terminal, right!" Sora said knowingly. "Actually, a friend of mine was the one who logged in." He then directed the face of the phone towards Pence.
"Oh, hello! My name's Pence. I'm the one who logged in."
"As long as it's being run by a person we can trust," Ienzo responded, as Pence proceeded to explain that the programming for the transporter was locked out to them, so they couldn't access the way to the other Twilight Town. "I see, another Twilight Town, huh?"
"So it's like a Datascape!" Jiminy exclaimed.
"A what now?" everyone except for Donald and Goofy asked at once.
"We've seen one before," Goofy told Sora. "That's what we used to investigate Jiminy's Journal."
"Very well, now then, Pence, let's get a network connection set up." Ienzo instructed, and then after some time had passed, sharing between the two computers was enabled. "Listen, Sora, now that the networks have been linked together, I can alter the privileges setting to allow access to the transporter, but it'll take some time."
"And what about Roxas?" Sora asked.
"Well, for the virtual world to be completely realized, it stands to reason Ansem would've included Roxas's full data in the construction. In layman's terms, we'll be able to decipher the Code more quickly and analyze the virtual Twilight Town for Roxas's presence in its history."
"Great! I'm no computer expert, so just do that!" Sora said gratefully.
"The two of us, along with Cid, Chip and Dale will take care of things for now, and we'll contact you if anything comes up."
"I'll provide assistance as well, if I may, Ienzo," Strange offered. "My name is Stephen Strange, and as the current owner of Ansem's Old Mansion, I'll assist Pence in cracking the code."
"Understood; now good luck, Sora." Ienzo told the boy before he hung up.
"Oh no, I just remembered! Me and Olette both have work to do! After all, we'll need the cash if we want to go down to the beach!" Hayner remarked as he and Olette bid the others farewell and went on their way.
Outside of the Mansion, Sora and the others began their walk back to town with Strange accompanying them outside. They made it through the gate when they were stopped by hearing a familiar voice.
"So, you truly think you can bring back Roxas?" Sora knew that condescending venomous voice from anywhere as Ansem's, or rather, Xehanort's Heartless.
"Ansem!" Sora and the others responded, as they went on the defensive.
"And he's not alone," another voice added, revealing himself as Xehanort's Nobody, Xemnas.
"What matter of foul dark beings are you two?" Dr. Strange questioned.
Ignoring the hero's question Xemnas explained "Roxas was never meant to exist at all. That fleeting hope you seek in finding him is impossible."
"You're wrong!" Vivi shouted, as he pointed his stave in Xemnas's face. "I may not remember him, but somehow I can feel his heart's memories inside each of our own!"
"Perhaps you are correct, and in the event you managed to separate his heart from yours, where do you propose putting it?"
"Roxas used to live in the other Twilight Town, right?" Sora asked. "So we'll just put it there."
"You truly are dense! The other Twilight Town is just data," Ansem responded coldly.
"But a heart can live anywhere, even inside data!" Sora rebuked. "If you two can exist separately, there's no reason why me and Roxas can't!"
"Well, if you are that devoted to finding him, nothing would please us more than Roxas's return, of course," Xemnas told Sora, as Neoshadows and Dusks slowly started to rise from the ground. "Just know there is only way to do so. Now..."
As the Heartless and Nobodies pounced on the group, Ansem and Xemnas spoke together before vanishing. "...Set your heart free!"
Strange reacted quickly, as he summoned forth a clear glass-like barrier and slammed it into the direction of the Dusks before they could hit the heroes.
"What was that?!" Donald and Goofy asked.
"I sent those monsters into a pocket space called the Mirror Dimension. They won't bother us now, but it won't fool the rest of them now!"
"They're all going down!" Sora exclaimed as the heroes prepared for battle. To begin the fight, Sora focused his hopes and power into the Heartbinder, and summoned forth Meow Wow, who happily jumped on top of him, licking his face.
"I know, I missed you too! But we've got some bad company here," Sora told the Dream Eater as he had the Dream Eater puff up like a balloon and stomp on the floor with the force of a falling sack of hammers. He then finished the attack as Meow Wow rose in the air and its illusion popped, sending a drove of Dream Eaters on the assault to take most of the opponents out. As Donald and Goofy returned, Sora joined forces with Donald and Strange to unleash an ultimate attack.
"By the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, I banish you from this realm!" Strange proclaimed as he summoned restraining ropes that trapped the remaining Heartless and Nobodies as Sora and Donald cast a meteor shower attack, destroying the creatures. After the battle, Sora was left deep in thought.
"Hercules said he wanted to save Meg with all of his heart last time... so it's settled. I'm going to get Roxas out with all of my heart, no matter what it takes! Are you with me, Donald, Goofy?"
"You betcha!" Sora's friends replied, as Vivi and Serah also echoed the same sentiment.
"I don't know what the Organization wants, but we better tell the others to watch out. So, I guess this is goodbye for now, Strange." Sora told the Sorcerer.
"It seems that way, but I'm certain that our paths will cross again someday. Until then, farewell, Sora, Donald, Goofy," Strange told the group as he returned inside the Mansion.
And that finishes this another chapter, and we now have the first Marvel character in Kingdom Hearts: Doctor Stephen Strange! I hope you enjoyed this little update, and please remember to leave a review! See you all next time, true believers, and may your heart be your guiding key.