DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT MY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS!
A/N: HHHHHHHEEEEEEERRRRRRREEEEEEE I AM! ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DOLLAR!
BY THE WAY, THERE'S LESS THAN TWO DAYS BEFORE KINGDOM HEARTS -1.5 HD ReMIX- COMES TO NORTH AMERICA!
I'M SO EXCITED!
Either way, I wanted to acknowledge my gratitude to those of you who have been trying very hard to keep REVIEWING up to this point! I thought you should know, I've projected this story to have around 50 CHAPTERS!
So, I'll need at least 2-3 REVIEWS PER CHAPTER IF THE GOAL OF 100 REVIEWS IS TO BE MET BEFORE THIS STORY ENDS!
Also, keep in mind the first-half of the HINT for the Disney-based world coming up next!
Here it is, just as a reminder; "ONCE UPON THE LAST DAY OF A GOLDEN SUMMER... "
Lastly, someone already figured out who the GIANT in the last Chapter was! IF you want to find out, too... YOU'LL HAVE TO READ ON!
STARTING... NOW!
CHAPTER 23
The Supernatural Surprises
Sora was so perplexed, he was questioning whether or not he was even puzzled in the first place. Not five minutes ago, he had been engaged in a dangerous battle against an enormous monster by the name of Julius. After somehow scaring the villain back into the manhole he had emerged from, the entire marble plaza around them had begun to vibrate. Less than a second after it stopped, the brown, spikey-haired Keyblade wielder took into account of the gigantic figure now towering over the vicinity. The size of the giant was plenty to cause both of Hacker's henchmen to duck behind the large fountain at the center of the area.
For a few moments, Sora had the atypical sensation of dread flowing throughout his body. Based on his own experiences, the sixteen-year-old youth had come to the conclusion that all individuals over ten feet tall were on the side of the Darkness. Despite the awkward thought of possible stereotyping, the teenage Keyblader stuck to his opinion.
However, the giant hadn't bothered to pick any sort of quarrel with Sora or his companions — Riku, Violet, and even the Cybersquad. Even as the figure peered down from above, all he did was inquire if any of them had seen a "teensy-weeny… little mouse." From what he understood, the only person who fit such a description would've been King Mickey. How many other mice had the ability to talk, wear clothing, laugh at random jokes, and… wield a Keyblade? He couldn't come up with a single solid answer to his rhetorical query.
As he uncrossed his arms upon completing his lengthy contemplation, Sora leaned his neck back to meet the giant's eyes. With a calm tone in his voice, the brown-haired Keyblade wielder replied to the giant's question. "Not sure," he spoke up. "Why are you looking for a 'mouse'?"
"He took magical harp from Big Willie," the giant explained, placing his right hand onto his chest. "That's me! I've got to get harp back or Big Willie won't be sleeping tonight."
With this additional information, Sora tried to piece the scattered details together. If the giant — Big Willie he had claimed — was being honest, then he was searching for some unnamed 'mouse' who happened to be a criminal. Apparently, this 'mouse' had swiped Willie's magical harp to prevent the giant from… falling back asleep? Why would a giant need a magical harp to get some sleep? Then again, Willie had said the harp was 'magical'. Therefore, it probably possessed some mystical power with the capability to help Willie catch some "ZZZs".
"Nope," Riku admitted, shaking Sora off from the latter's deep pondering. "Sorry."
"Darn!" Willie frowned in disappointment.
"Perhaps he's somewhere else around here?" Violet suggested with a hint of hopefulness.
Willie paused in consideration for a couple minutes. When he looked back at the trio, a huge smile had formed upon his face. "Good idea!" he agreed. "I search rest of town for teensy-weeny mouse and harp!"
With a series of ground-moving footsteps, Willie headed off into the distance to continue his search for the thieving mouse and his missing 'magical' harp. Once the giant had disappeared from view, Sora placed his right hand over the left side of his chest. Following a deep breath, Sora muttered to no one in particular, "What was that about?"
"Who knows?" Riku shrugged in response to his friend's question. All this gave Sora was more questions and fewer answers. Of course, this outcome had been anticipated as of recent experiences during their journey.
"You're not playing fair!" The sudden yell caused the pair of Keyblade wielders, the Angel of Dreams, and the entire Cybersquad to turn their attention toward the source of the voice. Before their eyes stood a furious-faced Ledge glaring at them all.
Inez glared back. "You don't either, Ledge," she sneered. "I know because I once trusted you, rat!"
Ledge only snorted in disapproval. "That's why Hacker gave me a second chance," he scoffed as he folded his arms. "And it's no wonder why!"
"Is that so?" Riku struck out, raising his Keyblade. "Well anyone giving into the Darkness doesn't know what they're dealing with!"
"Yeah!" Sora agreed as he positioned his own Keyblade. "You're going down!"
Before Ledge could reply, a deep voice hollered from nearby, "Not so fast!"
Out of the blue, Hacker's odd-looking vehicle drove into to the open square, pulled up to Ledge, and came to a stop facing the Keybladers. In the driver's seat was Hacker, wearing an evil smirk on his lips.
Digit glowered at the villain. "What're you up to, Hacker?"
Hacker's smirk darkened as he raised his right index finger high into the air. "Prepare to be amazed!" he proclaimed.
Acting fast, Hacker's finger flew to a button on the dashboard of his vehicle. The second the button had been pressed, the instant the vehicle began to wobble as it transformed. A gigantic fan with seven blades appeared on the front as a bullet-proof dome sealed up where Hacker was sitting. At the same time, a pair of bluish-colored mechanical arms with attached claws emerged from the sides of the yellow-tinted contraption.
Sora was now astounded. Hacker's vehicle had become a humungous street-cleaning machine with the addition of mechanical arms with claws. Perhaps he had underestimated the evil genius after all? Not a chance! There was nothing anyone could do to prevent the spikey-haired teen from removing them from a seat of power that involved the powers of Darkness. Hacker was no exception.
Repositioning his weapon into his normal battle stance, Sora glowered at both Hacker and Ledge until the latter sped-walked across the plaza to rejoin Wicked, Buzz, Delete, and the vulture.
Noticing what his best friend was doing, Riku placed his own Keyblade into his usual "taunting" style. "We're not done yet!" the seventeen-year-old youth snapped aloud.
Before either of the two Keyblade wielders could make a single movement, Buzz and Delete sprinted over, taking positions around Hacker's vehicle. The very sight of Hacker's henchmen willingly assisting their boss in such circumstances made Sora shake his head. "Yeesh," he retorted. "No doubt he'd need help!"
As the words escaped his mouth, Sora dashed into the square. Both Buzz and Delete ran after him, only to quickly realize the sixteen-year-old teenager had swerved to avoid them. The final result was a duo of robots slamming into one another, before falling over senseless.
Taking into account of how Sora had successfully avoided Hacker's henchmen, Riku charged into the fight. As the silver-haired teen darted past the enormous fan-shaped gizmo at the front of Hacker's vehicle, the blades began spinning in reverse. In less than a minute, Riku found himself getting sucked straight for the sharp, shiny blades.
"Riku!" Sora hollered as his friend was desperately attempting to break free of the suction from the fan. Receiving no response, the brown-haired Keyblade wielder sprinted over to rescue his best friend. Without warning, one of the mechanical arms snatched Sora clear off his feet. The Keyblader tried to break free, but the claws held him firmly in place.
Watching the entire sequence of events unfold before her eyes, Violet gasped with eyes full of terror. Both of the Keyblade wielders were now trapped by Hacker's machine without any hope of breaking free successfully. Perhaps she and the Cybersquad could… No way! If they were to swoop in and retrieve them, the entire group would be captured in a similar way, too. Not even Digit, Slider, or any of the others would have the opportunity to do much — if anything. For all Violet could tell, things seemed completely hopeless.
"Now just a second!"
The shout from the middle of nowhere shook everyone's focus (even Hacker's) from what they were doing. Whirling her eyes around the immediate vicinity, Violet spotted a silhouette perched on the summit of a peaked rooftop overlooking the area. Although it was difficult to make out, the Angel of Dreams did not have to squint her eyes to detect the medium-length, auburn-colored hair flowing from the figure's head. On top of it, they were clearly much thinner in comparison to even Jules. However, there was something that stood out about them.
"W-who's that?" Jules sputtered nervously. The young man swiftly hid behind Slider, his joints shaking in discomfort.
"Could it be a ghost?" Inez suggested.
"Maybe," Jackie pondered out loud. "Like Ivanca was."
"Hey!" Matt shouted towards Hacker. "It's a ghost!"
"Ghost?!" Hacker whimpered the instant the words had registered in his head. If there was anything he was terrified of more than being humiliated frequently by Digit and his friends… it was ghosts. The villain was so horrified from staring at the silhouette up above, his green skin began to turn pale as huge drops of sweat dribbled down his body and dripped from his pointy chin. In an act of fear, Hacker raised his arms in surrender.
All Violet could do was secretly snicker as she watched Hacker become terrified because of a simple silhouette. Based on what Matt, Jackie, Inez, and Digit had just informed her, the villain was horror-stricken whenever it came to real ghosts — especially the time Hacker had tried to swipe a pirate's treasure, only get punished by her ghost. The very concept made the angel only snicker all the more. Hacker wasn't so scary after all. In fact, he seemed to be more and more like a toddler behaving stupid in a daycare center for one reason or another. Still… that did seem a bit too harsh for anyone.
In the meantime, the mystery figure leaped from the rooftop onto the marble-stoned plaza. A flash of Light instantly followed, revealing the figure to be wielding a key-shaped sword with yellow-orange flowers upon the blade, a red handle, and sky-blue-tinted blade. Violet was awestruck; the unknown individual was a Keyblade wielder — just like Sora and Riku were.
As the figure strode out of the shadows, the lamps mounted onto the walls of the buildings revealed their outfit to consist of two red hiking boots, a golden-yellow skirt stretching from their waist down to a just below their knees, a pink-colored jacket above the skirt, and a hand-sized bag strapped over their upper body. Their eyes were the same shade of blue as both Sora and Riku's alike. The figure's skin was paler than anyone else the angel had ever known. Nestled in their hair over their eyes was a pair of bluish-yellow sunglasses. Violet was amazed.
The unforeseen visitor was a teenage girl.
Glaring straight at Hacker, the girl snarled, "You were complaining about not playing fair! Yet, here you're currently cheating in what's supposed to be a fair fight!"
"I confess!" Hacker wept with fear. "I just had to win!"
"Yeah?" The girl shook her head in disbelief. "Then I'll just have to even the odds!"
Almost like instinct, the girl speedily leaped in front of the fan's still-whirling blades. Before a mere moment had flown by, she stabbed her Keyblade directly into the middle. As the blades struck the weapon, they snapped clean off the contraption. In the blink of an eye, the vacuum of suction had vanished; Riku was freed from it.
Immediately following, the girl hopped onto the cockpit of the machine and reached her Keyblade out to the mechanical arm holding Sora in place. With a single slash of her weapon, the girl sliced the arm in half, causing the spikey-haired teenager to fall upon the ground unharmed. When the second mechanical arm moved in to seize her, the girl spun around as she sliced her weapon straight through. The broken arm stopped moving as its claw had been severed entirely.
Seeing all this one girl was doing, both Sora and Riku joined in as the girl leaped down to them. Pointing her weapon at what was left of the machine, she called out, "Let's do this!"
Comprehending everything she had said, both Riku and Sora pointed their Keyblades at the vehicle in turn. Three beams of Light shone out from the tips of the weapons. The beams merged into one before they struck the battle machine. In a flash of Light, the entire vehicle exploded into a flurry of bubbles, which popped soon after. Lying on the marble-stoned ground was a distraught Hacker. The villain was shocked; his entire contraption had been vaporized by a simple teenage girl! Not possible!
As he stood up, Hacker winced at the very sight of seeing the girl standing beside both Sora and Riku. He raised his arms in defeat. "Wait!" he cried. "I'll do anything!"
"Leave!" the girl demanded. "And never come back!"
Hacker gulped as he nodded. Instantly afterwards, the villain made a hasty run for where Buzz and Delete were located. Both of the robots fled with their boss as he sped past. They all came to a halt on a specific area with the same vulture from before, Wicked, and Ledge. In the blink of an eye, a green-colored light shone down from above. As it faded, the whole gathering of villains had disappeared — teleported entirely out of Traverse Town.
As he put his Keyblade away, Sora smiled. Despite the odds, Riku, Violet, and he had successfully thwarted Hacker's evil scheme before it was too late. The Cybersquad wouldn't have to worry about the villains for a long time.
Turning to face the strange girl, Sora said, "Thanks for saving us!"
The girl shrugged. "It… was nothing!"
"We did it!" Digit yelled with joy as the entire Cybersquad and Violet joined Sora, Riku, and the girl.
"Way to go!" Jackie shouted with glee.
"Nice one!" Slider stated as he High-Fived the strange girl.
"So," Sora placed his hands behind his head. "What's next?"
The reply came in less than an instant. "Let's go to the Manor," the girl recommended. "There's something I'd like all of you to see awaiting there."
Though confused about what the girl was referring to, the others had no objections. The whole group followed the girl as she led them all through the plaza until they reached an open doorway on the other side.
One look at the Manor, and Sora was speechless. The building consisted of four floors with blue-colored walls on the outside. An orange-colored roof peaked at the top while a miniature staircase led up to a large, green-colored doorway at the front. Two lamps were mounted on the wall on each side of the doorway.
As they all stepped across a wooden bridge over a tiny creek, Violet pulled her arms in close as they all stepped through an iron gate with stone walls on either side of it. One look at the walls was all Riku needed to arrive at the conclusion they resembled the Mansion from Twilight Town. The only notable difference was a series of barbed wire on top instead of sharp spokes.
Upon reached the white-stone steps out front, Sora asked, "So, what'd you want to show us?"
The girl turned to him. "You'll know in a moment."
After having the whole group stop, the girl stepped up a couple of steps. She turned to face the others before asking for Violet to come forward. Instantly, the Angel of Dreams stepped up as the girl re-summoned her Keyblade. She handed it to the angel before letting go. The weapon disappeared from the angel's hands a mere instant later.
"Huh?" a mystified Matt asked.
"What just happened?" Digit added.
"Who knows?" Fluff shrugged in puzzlement.
As the girl opened the door of the building, Sora's voice stopped her. "Just… who are you?"
The girl smiled at the brown-haired Keyblader. "My name is Sandora Hikari. I'll see you later, Sora — the Keyblader!"
With that, Sandora stepped through the doorway, closing the door behind her. Once she had departed, Violet stepped up, opened the door and peered inside. "Funny," she remarked. "She's not here."
"Maybe she was a ghost." Slider offered.
No one else could tell what had just taken place before them, even as Sora was wondering what Sandora had meant by "I'll see you later, Sora… " Neither of them had met before now. Perhaps there was another reason entirely?
A bright flash of Light knocked the spikey-haired youth from his thought process. Everyone in the area was speechless. In Violet's hands was a key-like weapon with a violet-colored blade and neon-tinted handle. The handle was a perfect circle while the blade had three points instead of the typical two from Sora's weapon.
"A… Keyblade?!" Riku and Sora both exclaimed in realization.
Violet was astounded. "You mean," she stammered, barely able to bring out the words. "I'm… a… Keyblade… wielder… too?!"
"Yeah!" Sora acknowledged with a goofy-looking grin. Riku shook his head and smiled.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The sounds of beeping filled their eyes. Digit excused himself for a moment before pulling out a small gadget. He exclaimed, "Motherboard!"
Before anyone could answer, a humungous projection formed on the side of the Manor's walls. In the projection was the face of a bluish-tinted woman with sky-blue, ruffled hair, curved eyebrows, pyramid-shaped nose, and red lips. Her left eye was shaped like a circle; her right eye was rectangular. The screen flashed occasionally as the woman spoke in a computer-sounding voice. "Well done, Cybermates!"
"Yup!" Matt agreed as everyone else nodded.
Spotting Sora, Riku, and Violet, the woman asked, "And who might these three be?"
"I'm Sora," Sora introduced them. "He's Riku and she's Violet."
"I am Motherboard," the woman explained. "I am the protector of all Cyberspace. Thanks to your help, the Cybersquad is safe and sound — and Hacker's scheme has been foiled once again!"
"All in a day's work!" Sora beamed. Riku and Violet secretly giggled at the irony in the sixteen-year-old teen's words.
"Good job!" Motherboard congratulated them. She turned her attention back to Matt, Jackie, Inez, Digit, Widget, Slider, Fluff, and Jules. "It's time to come home, Cybermates!"
In the blink of an eye, a pinkish-colored portal spontaneously came to be in the middle of the projection. The Cybersquad turned back to the now-three Keyblade wielders.
"If you're ever in Cyberspace," Inez smiled. "Look us up!"
"You know it!" Sora nodded. "We're friends after all!"
"Yeah!" Riku approved.
"Good bye!" Violet waved.
Slider shook his head. "Not 'good bye'. Just… 'So long'! We'll see you guys soon."
As he stepped forwards, Slider added, "Until then… "
A series of handshakes followed. After one final round of waves, Matt, Jackie, Inez, Digit, Widget, Slider, Fluff, and Jules all dove into the portal leading back into Cyberspace.
After the portal disappeared from view, a bright Light seized the focus of Sora, Riku, and Violet alike. Up above where the portal had been was the all-too-familiar form of another keyhole shape giving off a brilliant glow.
"You ready for this?" Riku inquired to Violet as both he and Sora pointed their weapons upward.
Pointing her new Keyblade towards the keyhole shape, the Angel of Dreams smiled. "Yes!"
Sora gave a nod. "In that case, here we go!"
Three balls of Light formed on the tips of the weapons, which shone out as three beams of Light. The beams merged a few inches from the keyhole shape before striking it directly. As the Sleeping Keyhole unlocked, the familiar image of the tunnel of Light formed before the group's very eyes. With their hands at their sides, Sora, Riku, and Violet all leaped straight into the tunnel of Light before it sealed up behind them.
Traverse Town was no longer trapped within the Realm of Sleep.
"Pete! You big thug!" Donald snapped across the Library in Disney Castle. It hadn't taken three minutes upon arrival for Launchpad to lead King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy straight to where Maleficent and Pete were awaiting their presence. At the moment, Pete had Queen Minnie wrapped tightly in his arms.
From where he stood in front of the curved bookshelf, Pete laughed evilly. "'Thug' works for me!"
"Yeah?" Launchpad snarled. "So does 'brainless idiot'!"
Donald rolled his eyes in disbelief as he shook his head. Last he recalled, his Uncle Scrooge had referred to the pilot as a 'brainless idiot' for forgetting to bring a single map on an international flight to the middle of nowhere.
"Gawrsh," Goofy contemplated aloud. "I thought Pete was a 'simple-minded coward', right?"
"That is enough!" Maleficent snapped, forcing Pete to cover his mouth in shame. "No lackey of mine shall be humiliated so!"
With his hand still clamped over his lips, Pete nodded. He gave a sigh of relief. For a few seconds, it appeared the evil witch was about to lecture him for bringing up such a "ridiculous conversation in the middle of an important deal" — as she would have said.
"I have 'special' plans for dear Pete-y," Maleficent went on to say. "Not to mention, a few others I've recently joined sides with as well."
Mickey continued to glare all the while. "What do you want, Maleficent?"
With one swift glance around the room, the witch spoke. "Shall I begin with this world?"
"You're lying!" Mickey accused, indicating the fallacy in the villainess's claim. "Even you wouldn't have gone through this much trouble for that, Maleficent! As it is, the Cornerstone of Light would stop you!"
Both Donald and Goofy stared at each other in surprise. Had they completely forgotten to tell the King about how Maleficent had attempted to conquer their world by sending Pete into the past to steal the Cornerstone from before the castle would've been built? Perhaps Queen Minnie had mentioned it at some point? Perhaps… not.
With a deep sigh, Maleficent gave an evil grin. "Do you recall the name 'Xehanort'?"
Mickey gasped. "You know him?!"
"Yes," Maleficent answered with a snicker; everything was going according to her plan. "I spoke with him once about the heart of all worlds and the Princesses of Heart. He said to gather them together and Kingdom Hearts would be mine."
"What does that have to do with this?" Mickey asked.
Pete grinned evilly at the scowling faces of Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Launchpad as Maleficent finished, "To that end, I want the 'data' so I can recreate my Heartless military to accomplish my goal. You do still have it? Right?"
Mickey, Donald, and Goofy all jumped in astonishment; Launchpad was perplexed. "What 'data' do you mean?" the pilot questioned out loud.
Pete growled in disapproval. "Don't play stupid with us! Maleficent and I were trapped right in there with you, see? So hand it over!"
"What do you want with the data-scape?" Mickey asked.
Maleficent snorted. "That is no concern of yours!"
Mickey only glared as he summoned his Keyblade. "Forget it! You're not getting anything!"
"Un-uh!" Pete warned, clutching Minnie tighter. "We wouldn't want Her Majesty getting hurt! Now would we?"
Mickey's glare intensified greatly. However, before anyone could do anything, a dark portal appeared in one corner of the room — directly to Donald's right. A flame-engulfed chakram came flying into the room and headed towards Pete. It missed by a few centimeters, only to get stuck into the bookshelf instead. A moment later, a second fiery chakram flew into view and barely slit Pete's neck (the villain had barely dodged it).
Taking advantage of her captor's hands no longer keeping her imprisoned, Minnie hollered, "Light!"
A pillar of blue Light magically formed above Pete before smashing down onto his head. Without wasting a single moment more, Minnie darted up to Mickey. The two embraced for a quick second before turning back to scowl at Maleficent with Donald, Goofy, and Launchpad. "Y'know Maleficent," Mickey snarled. "You lose!"
Maleficent growled in anger. Her fists clenched tightly around her staff. "Very well," she scoffed. "The rest of my Council is waiting! But know this! In the end, I shall have the final victory instead!"
With an evil laugh, Maleficent opened her own dark portal before proceeding inside. As the passageway began to close, Pete ran inside. "Wait for me, Maleficent!"
Once the duo of evildoers had departed, all eyes whirled to where a tall man with spiked, fiery-red hair stepped into the room wearing the cloak of the former Organization XIII. He was followed by a teenage girl with reddish-hair spiking downwards. She was wearing a yellow shirt, blue mini-skirt, orange boots, and sea-green jacket. Tied around her waist was a blue scarf, while a blue bracelet was on her left wrist.
"So," the man smirked. "Looks like I missed both times."
The girl crossed her arms. "You're always missing!"
"Right… and who was the one challenging the beast in that torn-up room?"
"Hey! If you hadn't gotten lost trying to get here, we wouldn't have been there! He thought you were some weirdo named 'Xaldin'!"
"Ha! That's a laugh!"
Mickey shook his head in dissatisfaction. "You both used the Darkness to get here? That was reckless!"
All at once, the mouse king realized who the pair were. "Welp," he muttered. "I didn't expect you two to save us, Axel and Niccole."
Niccole nodded while the man shook his head. "Axel didn't," he stated. "My name is Lea!"
With his finger pointing at his forehead, Lea added one final statement. "Got it memorized?"
A/N: THUS DID THE CYBERCHASE SECTIONS COME TO A CLOSE... {GIVES SEVERAL LONG MINUTES OF SILENCE}
Yet, it was GREAT TO SEE - READ IT NEVERTHELESS!
As it is, you've probably figured it out by now. The Giant was WILLIE THE GIANT from FUN AND FANCY FREE (1947).
By the way, here's the second-half of the HINT from before!
HINT: " ...THERE WAS A BOY AND A BEAR!"
Altogether, it reads; "ONCE UPON THE LAST DAY OF A GOLDEN SUMMER... ...THERE WAS A BOY AND A BEAR!"
IF you believe you might know what Disney Movie this HINT is referring to, PLEASE POST your answers in the REVIEWS for THIS Chapter!
As I've SAID and CLARIFIED on multiple occasions, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE WITHOUT REVIEWING! THE FATE OF THIS STORY DEPENDS ON IT!
This is SoraLego278 saying, "See Ya Later, Keybladers!"