Going into a bit more detail for Sora's outfit here. I'd say it was mainly victorian/edwardian inspired with a modern day touch to it. In a way, I think part of it had to do with parodying Steven Moffat's love for the victorian era in Doctor Who. With that said, time to head into the wonderful world of Robin Hood, something that was also in a recent Doctor Who episode.


Chapter 31

Watchers in the Forest

The unexpected and creepily innocent presence of Stephanie aboard the Highwind was enough to change the atmosphere of the cockpit considerably. Asking how Stephanie had even gotten on the Gummi Ship in the first place without anyone noticing, she simply told them that she had snuck aboard before anyone reached the hangar. There was no mistake, she was smart.

"We have to turn back!" Donald yelled. As always he was the one completely against the idea, and this time Sora wasn't so sure he wanted to disagree with him.

"All the way back?" Goofy asked.

"Yes! It's not safe bringing her with us!" Donald reasoned.

"But… all the way back?"

"Goofy!"

"Sorry."

"Goofy does raise a good point though. We've come a pretty long way… maybe she can stay on the Gummi Ship with me and Kupopo while you four are off exploring," Jiminy suggested.

"Well I could but that's really boring," Stephanie chided with a wagging finger.

"You weren't supposed to be here anyway!" Donald shot back.

"Well, let's say it is too late to go back. Would it really be fair to keep her locked up here? When I think about how Astra must have felt when she was locked up, I don't think I'd want Stephanie to feel the same way. Of course it's not exactly the same but you get the point," Sora put forth. While she was in constant danger of the Heartless, it wasn't a full justification for keeping her from seeing other worlds.

"But the Heartless-"

"Darkness will always be around. I think we have to accept that fact. Murphy's law," he reiterated something Shiki Misaki had once told him.

"Excuse me?"

"Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Once we do accept that all we have to realize is that as long as we do our jobs properly, Stephanie won't come to harm," Sora said feeling his voice was a lot stronger this time.

"It will make our jobs harder though," Donald said.

"Who doesn't like a challenge?" Luna chipped in. "For all of us it's a chance to prove to ourselves that we can all keep each other safe. I'd like to think having Stephanie on board means that we just have to go the extra mile to make this work. Of course, before we do anything at all we should make sure Colette knows her daughter is here."

After a few tries of trying to get in contact with someone from Radiant Garden, they finally managed to get Chip and Dale on the speakerphone. After telling them that they wanted to talk to Colette, they had to wait a few more minutes before they heard the incredibly worried and angry mother's voice.

"Stephanie, is that you?"

"Yes mom. I'm-"

"HOW DARE YOU JUST RUN OFF LIKE THAT? DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS? I LOOKED ALL OVER THE TOWN TRYING TO FIND YOU AND NOTHING. INSTEAD I FIND YOU'VE COMPLETELY LEFT THE WORLD. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"

Had it not been for the amount of static on the receiving end, Sora and Luna determined they would have suffered the wrath of Colette's fury far worse. They knew she was only shouting at Stephanie, but it still felt as if she was shouting at all of them too.

"Mom, please please please can I go with them? I promise I'll be good," Stephanie pleaded.

"For the sake of our ears mainly, we will look after Stephanie, if you're okay with it that is. I mean it's not every day that you get to see other worlds and I think it could do a lot for her," Sora helped.

"I… how far are you from here?" Colette asked a lot more calmly.

"Pretty far."

They could almost see Colette nodding through the speakerphone. "Then I guess I can't stop you. I know you'll look after her. Stephanie, I'm not done with you. Do try to enjoy yourself while you can young lady because you'll be getting a scolding as soon as you come back, understood?"

"Yes ma'am." Stephanie saluted playfully.

"We'll make sure she returns safe and sound just in time for you to scold her," Donald said only to receive dangerous glares from Sora and Luna.

"Thank you so much all of you. Well I have to go now. I have a patient that needs my attention but do keep in touch when you can. Have fun kids," Colette said. The communication link soon closed and with that Stephanie was officially a member of the group, for the time being at least.

"That was a close one, eh? Oh look, we're here!" Sora exclaimed glad to finally be off the ship that had caused too much drama for one day.


The leaves of Nottinghamshire crunched underneath the large party's feet as they walked through the Sherwood Forest. Sora couldn't imagine why Kefka of all people would have chosen to come to this place, or as far as he was able to put himself in a villain's shoes, there seemed to be no benefit to coming here.

They soon arrived on a path completely devoid of leaves on the ground and hope filled their hearts that they may yet still find some kind of life not considering the chirping noises above them.

"I think we should head this way," Donald announced once they came upon a split path. He was pointing to the left route of the two choices available.

"Eeeh, no way! I say we go right!" Stephanie exclaimed with a jump.

"What? No way! That way looks incredibly shady," Donald protested.

"The way I see it. The grass is greener down that path, so we go right!" Salome insisted.

"LEFT!"

"RIGHT!"

"Donald, are you really arguing with an eight year old girl here?" Sora asked in disbelief. "We go right."
Donald scowled at this but nevertheless sucked up his disagreement and followed Sora and the others down the 'shady' path. It wasn't too long before they came across their first person in the form of an elderly beggar woman. She seemed to have the face of a fox, but that was hardly unusual next to the multitude of strange things that they had seen over many worlds. Of course for Stephanie who had never been to another world before this, Luna had to quickly control her before she could blurt out the fact.

"Say hello there ma'am. Should you really be wonderin' about the forest by yourself at an hour like this?" Goofy asked kindly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry dears. I seem to have lost my way. Oh how tiring it is for a poor old woman like me to have to stress out over such miniscule things, but there you have it," the woman said. Sora wasn't sure what it was but there was something unusual about the woman and it wasn't just because she was a fox. He just couldn't put his finger on it at the moment.

"Well we'd help you but we're rather lost ourselves actually. Maybe if we travel together, things won't seem so bad?" Luna offered.

"Why that sounds like a wonderful idea lass, you truly know how to warm your way into an old woman's heart," she said batting her eyelids. "Oh dearie me, what are they?"

The group followed the woman's confused expression and pointing finger to the group of Heartless that had popped up.

"Uh, stay behind u- huh?" Sora turned back to look at the beggar woman only to find that she was already running away, her and someone else in much the same clothing. Had someone else been nearby? He also felt like he was missing something for some reason. Why did he feel that way? Quickly, he dug into his pockets only to find nothing there. "The puzzle box! It's gone!"

"What do you mean it's gone?" Donald shouted at him.

"What people usually mean by 'gone', as in not there."

"Well it can't have just jumped out of your pocket. Maybe you left it back in the Gummi Ship."

"Don't insult my- Wait a sec… that woman! I bet she was the one who took it!" Sora drove his fist into his open hand at the revelation. "I thought there was something weird about her."

"Sorry to interrupt but we kinda have a few Heartless to take care off. Goofy, you think you can keep Stephanie safe?" Luna asked.

"Ahyuck, of course, they don't call me the Captain of the Royal Knights for nothing!" Goofy walked in front of Stephanie and raised his shield so it aligned just under his nose.

One Heartless, a wyvern, tunnelled forward but Sora sidestepped and ran past it allowing Donald to take it out with Blizzard magic. He warped in front of the remaining Heartless in a wisp of blue smoke before using Lethal Frame. Their movements stopped as if they were frozen in time allowing him to take them all out with multiple quick and seamless blows. But more soon popped out of the ground.

After Sora, Donald and Luna worked to take out this group of Heartless, it became clear that this was an unwinnable battle.

"They just keep coming! Let's make a break for it!" Donald shouted. His webbed feet smacked against the ground as he led the group away from the Heartless. After finding a safe place to stop, they took pleasure in catching their breaths.

"Wow… you are guys were amazing! It's like you were superheroes… no, you ARE superheroes!" Stephanie exclaimed jumping up and down giddily.

"Well, at least someone's a buncha excited, huh?" Goofy chuckled.

"I'm not surprised. It's her first time seeing a completely different world. How is it so far Stephanie? I bet you never would've imagined anything like this back home."
Stephanie nodded at Luna's question exchanging a big smile. "The best!"

"Right, so we need to track down that old lady and her partner. I'm sure I had it in my pocket before they ran off. They can't have gone too far either…" Sora said.

"This might help." Luna pulled out the device that Chip and Dale had given her and held the button while speaking into it. "Jiminy, you there?"

A static noise was heard over the receiving end and eventually it faded away replaced by Jiminy Cricket's voice. "Why hello there Luna. Didn't know we had this function. Took me a while to find the button. Hey, put that down!"

"Kupopo, are you behaving in there?" Luna spoke into the radio with a raised brow.

"Of course kupo. Just doing a bit of spring cleaning." Kupopo's voice seemed to fly farther away as he talked, probably because he was constantly moving.

"Well, you don't have to throw away my journals because of it. Anyway, is there something I can do for you?"

"I hope you've been training up on your Highwind knowledge Jiminy. I need you to perform a scan of the area for any moving signs of life. I think Chip said that I could use my radio as a relay whatever that means," Luna said.

"Hmm, let's see… this? No. This? Nuh-uh. This? AH, DEFINITELY NOT THIS! Ah, here we go! Well… I think it's doing something."

"Thanks genius," Donald muttered sarcastically.

After a few more seconds, Jiminy spoke again. "Oh, it's finished! Let's see, you guys must be the bright red blinking dot and I'm guessing all these other yellow ones are signs of movement around you. Then… gotcha! I see two dots travelling north east of where you currently are."

"Thanks Jiminy. Keep us informed if anything changes," Luna said releasing the button but addressing the group. "Looks like we should cut through the forest if we want to catch them."

With a uniform nod, the party began making their way into green land territory once again. Soon enough they came across what looked like a campsite. In the middle of this clearing were the charred remains of a campfire that had been recently lit if the smell was anything to go by.

"Uh fellas, dontcha you think it's a bit suspicious that no one's here?" Goofy asked after reviewing the evidence however his words were ignored by Stephanie and Donald.

"Is that what I think it is?" Stephanie asked drooling. Also nearby the campfire was a table and on it a plate full of cookies.

"Oh now this is the oldest trick in the book. Who would fall for… that." Sora's mouth was left hanging wide open after Stephanie and Donald raced towards the table and started chowing down.

"Spoke too soon," Luna whispered at him. It was thus inevitable that they would find a bunch of bows and arrows peering out of trees around them and pointing directly at them.

"Now we don't want any trouble here. We just want back what's ours, right everyone?" Goofy preached as they all raised their hands.

"Yeah, we don't mean any trouble," Sora backed up.

"That's not the way we see it. A couple of rich looking folk wondering through the woods usually are trouble," one of them said.

"Rich? You think we're rich? Now I've heard it all. We are anything but that. We're just a bunch of goofballs, hardly worth your time," Sora protested.

"Well it's true that I didn't find much on you, except for this fancy lookin' box here," said the one that looked like a bear. "But maybe it'll sell for a decent price on the market."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Just give it back you no good thieves!" Luna pointed her finger accusingly at them before pausing and then lowering it. "Alright. How about an exchange?"

"Luna, I don't exactly think we're in a position to bargain," Sora said.

"Hmm, okay we're listening," said the fox, who had now discarded his female disguise to reveal himself as a male. They were con artists it seemed.

"In exchange for that box I'll give you this." The Keyblade appeared in Luna's hand and she spun it around a few times in her hand. All bows and arrows quickly fell on Luna in fear of the weapon. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Calm down. Anyway, it is certainly a lot more valuable than that box. Sounds fair no?"

"Well ain't that a thing of beauty. But if it's more valuable than the box then why would you want to exchange it in the first place?" the fox asked. He had gotten her there.

"Well… I-"

"It's subjective value. The thing she has there is objectively more valuable but that box is worth something to me and it's not something you could ever find of any worth," Sora covered for her quickly.

"I see. In that case…" the fox jumped down from the tree and walked towards them while playing with the puzzle box in his hand. He stopped in front of them and inspected it quickly before stretching out his free hand. "Yours first chaps."

Luna gave him her Keyblade before taking the puzzle box from his other hand and passing it onto Sora. "I glad we could sort out this little property dispute. Well, we'll just be going now," she said beckoning Stephanie and Donald back to their side.

"Oh, and to clear something up. We're not thieves darling, or have you never heard the name Robin Hood before?" The fox seemed quite proud of this fact as he held his hand to his chest.

"Clearly not," Sora replied disinterested as they left. As soon as they were within a good distance away from the campsite, Luna let out a loud sigh.

"That was really close. For a second there I thought we wouldn't get out of that one," she said.

"But don't you need your weapon to fight?" Stephanie asked.

"I wouldn't worry about that too much if I were you." Sora gave a knowing and confident expression watching as Luna produced her Keyblade in her hands.

"Huh? How did you do that?"

"Magic," Luna answered. Sora had taught her that little trick so it was little wonder that he hadn't been surprised when she had brought it up in the exchange. "Of course once they realize they were swindled they'll probably come after us so we better hurry on."


Luna gave a relieved laugh as they came across a small town on the outskirts of the forest. There was hope that she could finally rest her feet after all that walking and possibly even gather some information on Kefka's whereabouts, though that was more of an afterthought to her right now. She turned and looked down at Stephanie.

"You must be pretty tired, huh Steph?" she asked.

But the clearly eager child shook her head quite vehemently. "No way! This is the best! My mom always told me that she used to go camping in the mountains with dad. That was before the Heartless made everything dangerous."

"Of course it was…" Luna said looking off in the distance. She remembered how she had begged her parents to take her hiking in the mountains of Alexander.

"But now I can tell my mom that I've done better than that. Please can we go to more worlds after this?" Stephanie asked.

"Of course Stephanie."

But Donald was not so willing to have a fifth travelling companion. "Waaak! I thought we only agreed to one world. She can't come with us, it's too dangerous!"

"That's not fair. I want to go!"

"You can't!"

"Uh, I don't think we should be having this conversation in the middle of the road. People are starting to stare," Sora said through gritted teeth. In fact, the people of this town were probably staring more so because of how odd these strangers looked and not Donald and Stephanie arguing.

Luna led the way forward not without a sense of wanting to make herself smaller to hide from the stares of the townspeople. They quickly found out exactly where they were. Nottingham, a town brought to its knees in a non-existing everlasting debt thanks to the monarch that ruled the land.

"Prince John's that meanie's name. Didn't do nothing good for us," said Friar Tuck, someone they had the fortunate opportunity of coming across. He greeted them kindly and without suspicion. "Taxes, that's how they get you… and heavy ones at that."

"Taxes?" Sora repeated not quite sure what he meant. He hadn't come across the word before so he assumed it was another one of those things that weren't on his island.

"They're like financial charges paid by the townsfolk to help fund public facilities," Donald explained. "We have them back in our world. But looking at this town I don't think the taxes here do the same thing."

"That's what they should do, but instead they go straight to that slimeball Prince John. He's quite the despicable man," Friar Tuck said with a hint of sadness in his eyes.

Stephanie folded her arms. "I don't get it. If you aren't happy, you should tell it straight to his face."

Friar Tuck looked at her and laughed heartily. "Oh hoh hoh little one, if only it worked like that. Of course some just aren't willing to be reasoned with. I have an example for you," he gestured to the window. Luna and Sora walked closer to it and peered out to see what looked like an incredibly happy individual judging by his dancing down the street. "That's the sheriff of this town. The tax collector. He does not discriminate and as you can probably tell he loves what he does. The poor, the disabled, the homeless, children, you name it, he'll take from it. Take take take and never give, and the worst part? They'll never feel any remorse."

"Even children? That's horrible. But what happens if you're unable to pay the taxes?" Luna asked.

"They lock you up," Friar Tuck answered as if it were obvious.

"Even the children?"

"They don't discriminate."

Luna all of a sudden felt uncomfortable. She was angry. Just like with Celes it was yet again another example of someone taking advantage of someone in a weaker position. To intervene in another world's affairs would be a dangerous thing to do, especially if it involved the rulers of the land, but still, it wasn't as if she hadn't interfered before. She knew there was really only one way she could be justified in interfering anyway.

"You haven't noticed them being in cahoots with someone named Kefka, have you?" Luna asked somewhat hopefully. "I'm sorry, I don't know what he looks like…"
"He kind of looks like a clown. Where's paint on his face," Sora provided.

Friar Tuck scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well I have seen some strange folk wandering about recently. I never really got a good look at them though. Of course, if you want someone who has most likely seen stuff like that, you'd need to talk to the town's very famous Robin Hood."

At the name the group all looked at each other in shock before turning to the friar. "WHAT?"

"That name? What did you just say?" Sora asked in disbelief but the convenient opening of the front door answered his question.

"Did someone call for me?" Robin Hood walked through and closed the door behind him, stretched, and it was only then that he saw Sora and co. and jumped in surprise. "You? Well this is rather convenient actually. You gave me quite the run for my money back in the forest. A true trickster, made me look like an utter fool. But I must ask, how did you do it?"

"Magic!" Stephanie repeated what Luna had told her before anyone else could say anything.

"Aw, well aren't you a little scamp." Robin, immediately swept away by little Stephanie's charms, proceeded to ruff her hair up.

"My name's Stephanie."

"Well Stephanie, you're quite the unusual one, but I'm sure the other kids in town won't mind. In fact, another kid is having his birthday today and I just handed him my bow and arrow. The kids love that stuff so I'm sure you'll love it too," Robin told her.

"Hold up. Did we skip a step or something? Aren't you angry at us for conning you?" Sora asked.

"Oh please, I'm not one to let such petty trifles keep me down. I can admit when I've been had and I'll give credit where credit is due. In fact, if you really aren't with Prince John then how about joining my crew?"

"Join a bunch of thieves? I don't think so," Donald said.

Robin leaned away as if taken aback. "How many times must I tell you? We're not thieves. Well… maybe if you want to get technical but-"

"I think I probably should explain this," Friar Tuck suggested before Robin could dig a hole any deeper for himself.

"Ah, why yes. That would be a good idea."

The friar cleared his throat before talking. He informed them of how Robin and his merry band of men helped the poor citizens of the town by stealing from the undeserving and giving back to the poor to make their lives happier.

"I prefer the word 'repossession' rather than stealing myself," Robin said inspecting his fingernails.

Luna was surprised and admittedly confused. There was nothing but bad connotations that entered her mind where theft or stealing was involved, at least that's what she thought. Morally it was wrong and it was even one of the things she learned very quickly at school, she had experienced it herself quite a few times to resent it. And yet here was the raging tempest to shake her sturdy morals. The idea of a thief actually stealing not for themselves but for those who needed it seemed unlikely, but here was living proof of it.

"You really help the poor?" Luna asked slowly.

"If not us, then who will?" Robin asked back.

Goofy clicked his fingers. "Oh, I get it! You're talking about having good… vi-visuals? Vendue?"

"Virtues!" Donald corrected for him.

"Yeah, that's right! I guess you're a pretty good guy after all!"

Robin smiled proudly before glancing at Stephanie. "So, would you like to see some of the other kids little Stephanie?"

Stephanie nodded at once. After asking Friar Tuck to escort Stephanie there, Robin turned and began inspecting the group as if he were looking for something.

"So, what do you say to becoming a part of my crew? It can be quite exciting at times actually, you'll probably have never experienced anything like it," Robin said.

"We might just have to. Have you seen anyone suspicious lately, apart from us?" Sora asked. "Say, a guy who looks like a clown, or anyone else that looks suspicious."

"Hm, just maybe… what I do know is that the good Prince has been acting quite strange as of late. It's probably better to show than tell in this case actually but ever since this mysterious fog-"

"Wait, fog?" Sora confirmed to make sure he heard correctly.

"Yes, ever since the fog he's been acting quite unusually. Somewhat more aggressively if that were possible," Robin explained.

"Like he's acting completely out of character…" Luna looked at Sora, Donald and Goofy who all nodded in recognition. Similarities were already beginning to pop up between this world and the Pride Lands. If it were true, then that was connection enough to intervene, but how far that intervention would go was another thing entirely.

"And how would we get to him?" Sora asked.

"I'm glad you asked. An archery tournament is being held tomorrow at noon with the prize being a kiss from my childhood sweetheart Maid Marian. Though that need not concern you. What does concern you however, is who will be there."

"The prince," Sora answered.

"Precisely, and maybe even some of those suspicious characters you were asking about. So, what say you join me on what is sure to be a grand journey into the unknown?" Robin asked holding out his hand for Sora to shake.

"Well it's not like we have anything to lose," Sora said accepting the handshake.

With that set aside, the only thing that needed to be done for now was rest. While Sora, Donald and Goofy immediately set off for bed, Luna was rather keen to explore. She set off down the road and scanned the town. Every corner she turned, some sign of poverty awaited her. One particular moment stopped her in her tracks. She peered through a window and watched as a child on crutches walked over to who Luna presumed was his mother and placed a wet cloth on her forehead. She seemed to have come down with a fever.

Luna knocked on their door and waited for the small child to open it up. "Hello, my name is Luna. I was walking by your window and I couldn't help but notice… I'm so sorry. Where's your father?"

"He wasn't able to pay his taxes. We went into debt and he could barely feed us and- and-" The child couldn't finish his sentence. Tears were beginning to leak from his eyes.

"It's okay. You don't have to say anymore if it's too hard for you. What's your name?" Luna asked.

"Tim," he replied.

"Well Tim, how about I come in and help? I'm not sure if I'll be able to help much but it's better than having to do it just by yourself, right? And also I make some mean bread, not as good as my aunt but pretty close. So what do you say?"

Tim looked back at his mother before nodding at Luna and allowing her in.


If you're connecting the dots about said boy on crutches and another character with the same name in a Charles Dickens' story, you'd be absolutely correct to do so. He was based on that boy and it does the same thing that it does for Scrooge there as it does for Luna here. Next chapter will be the archery tournament and more so stay tuned and please review and like.