LOST WORLDS
Chapter 7: Scroop
Written by: Lynx and Rebmakash and hosted through the generosity of Organization VI
Rating: G (K)
Summary: After the battle against the thousand Heartless at Hollow Bastion, a whole new ring of worlds appears for Sora, Donald and Goofy to explore.
Disclaimer: We do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of the Disney movies shown here; they are copyright to Disney and Square Enix. Please see the first chapter for the full disclaimer.
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It didn't take too long before the entire group had relocated to B.E.N.'s home, though since it had been late in the day, sunset recolored the greenery.
"Uh, pardon the mess. Y-you'd think in a century I would've DUSTED a little more. But, you know, when you're bachin' it...things tend to get let go a bit, y'know?" He hid a pair of oversized heart-patterned bloomers that could have come from who-knows-where.
Doppler walked in, carefully cradling Amelia in his arms. He had already bandaged her, and one arm was in a sling.
"How is she?" Sora asked.
"Not too good right now," Donald said, hanging his head. "I need just a little bit longer. She'll make it until then, I'm sure, though. You feeling up to casting Cure yet?"
Sora shook his head. "Before the King's court magician?"
The two smiled a little for once at each other's comments.
"Aw, how charming." B.E.N. commented as Doppler brought Amelia over. "I find old-fashioned romance so touching, don't you? How about..."
Sora looked on, and the words faded into generalities. Sitting down on a root that had worked its way inside the dwelling, he noted Doppler's denial that he and Amelia were a couple, but saw the caring look from Amelia. Doppler cleared his throat, but he wondered if there was something there...
And sighing, he looked out at what he could see outside from where he sat. The colors of the sunset reminded him of one that seemed so long ago, a memory turned nostalgic by long roads. It was still so beautiful in his mind...
It was just him and Kairi, sitting on the dock and looking at the sun reflecting off the water. The island winds had been so soothing he could almost feel them. He remembered talking about Riku, and something occurred to him. She had joked about taking the raft and leaving right then without him...
"...Just the two of us!"
He had wondered why she'd want to leave Riku behind then, but that couldn't have been the case. Not with that wording.
And he smiled. She was too nice to leave him behind. With no darkness in her heart, she couldn't. Sora then wondered if she wanted to find something else out from that comment...
If he wanted to be with her.
B.E.N. hopped into the entrance, blocking Sora's view and putting a halt to his reminiscing. "Hey, guys, look! There's more of your buddies." He pointed to the jungle below. "Over here, fellas!"
Sora was the first to get there, pulling B.E.N. down right before Donald launched a few Blizzard spells in retaliation. Or rather, Donald trying to and managing to make a couple of sputters and snowflakes, at his irritation.
"Stop wastin' your fire!" Sora recognized Silver's voice. "Helloooo up there! Jimbo?"
Jim and the trio peeked over the edge of the entrance.
Silver limped over an uprising, having turned his mechanical arm into a cane. Waving a white flag, he called, "If, uh, it's fine with the captain, I'd like a short word wit' ya. No tricks, just a little palaver."
"Come to bargain for the map, most certainly," Amelia scowled, trying to get up. "Pestilential--augh!"
"Captain..." Doppler warned.
"Wait," Sora began. "Doesn't that mean they still think we have it?"
"Which means they think we're that much closer to the treasure." Jim crossed his arms, smiling.
------
"Why couldn't I have gone?" Sora grumbled as he watched the conversation below.
"You know full-well why," Donald said. "Silver asked for him, not you." He gazed out at the quickly-setting sun.
"I guess they were pretty close, once... Hey wait, things are heating up!" Sora pointed. He could only hear the last words at the end, which put the hair on the back of his neck on end.
"...So help me, I'll use the ship's cannons to blast ya all to kingdom come!"
"That can't be good." Sora noted Jim wasn't running, so he wasn't too worried.
Yet.
Instead, the cabin boy turned from the pirates and climbed back into the makeshift tree house. Jim hung his head as he came in.
"What's up?" Sora asked, following as Jim walked toward where Amelia rested.
"He thought I'd trust him again after that..." Jim mumbled. "Okay, here's the deal. If we don't give him the map before dawn, he'll use the Legacy's laser cannons on us. No way to escape, no where to hide, zip."
"Absolutely zip," he sighed.
An awkward silence ensued as darkness took the skies.
More than once Sora heard laser fire during the night. A quick look proved that Heartless were trying to attack the pirates, but they were good enough shots that they were kept at bay.
Heartless act on instinct, so some degree of self-preservation makes sense, even if they have no sense of self.
"Gentlemen." Amelia finally said. "We must stay together and..." Her eyes rolled back a little as they closed, her head falling back against the pillow that was Doppler's coat.
"And do what? What?!" Doppler removed his spectacles as he cried out. "We must stay together and what?!"
"Doctor," Amelia smiled up at him. "You have...magnificent eyes."
"She's completely lost her mind!" Doppler exclaimed.
"Well, you gotta help her! One of you here!" Jim looked to Donald and Sora, who shook their heads.
"Dang it, Jim!" he pointed, beginning a string of lively frustrated gestures. "I'm an astronomer, not a doctor. I mean, yes, I a doctor, but I'm not that sort of doctor. I have a doctorate. It's not the same thing. You can't help anyone with a doctorate. You just sit there, useless!" Doppler held his head, looking hopeless.
"It's okay, Doc. It's all right." Jim put his hands on Doppler's shoulders.
"You can't do as much as we could..." Sora sighed, sitting down.
As the Keyblade master, he had taken on so many duties, each of which Sora was quite aware of. He had to save and help people in each world.
Yet, he felt he had done a poor job at that so far. He was too tired to heal someone and he had spent all of his energy on different spells that, in the end, didn't help much at all.
Even more so, he had to protect the world itself.
Sora had little idea what beings, besides themselves, were on this planet, though the markings within B.E.N.'s old dwelling seemed to denote there were people there at one time at least. And nonetheless, there was no evidence of a Keyhole anywhere nearby, and, being trapped here, there was no way to find it. Even worse, he couldn't slay any Heartless without making things worse somewhere else.
B.E.N. walked up with complete optimism. "Don't worry! Jimmy knows EXACTLY how to get out of this." He backed up, following Jim towards the entrance. "It's just Jimmy has this knowledge of things."
"...And we don't?" Donald grumbled to Sora.
"Jim, any thoughts at all?" B.E.N. asked quietly.
The youth looked up at the sky, watching the distance silhouette of the RLS Legacy against the planet's glowing green ring.
"Well, without the map, we're toast," Sora said, gesturing to Jim.
Looking to the pirate's camp, Jim continued the idea. "If we try to leave, we're dead. If we stay here—"
"We're dead. We're dead, we're dead, we're dead!" Morph babbled happily.
"Hush, you—" Donald then processed to catch the little blob.
Jim turned and lowered his head. Sora went over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll think of something. We just got to..."
"Well, I'll just leave you to that so you can brainstorm. B.E.N. laughed weakly. "I'll be out the back door, if you need me." He motioned behind himself.
"Back door?" Goofy asked as Jim ran over to where B.E.N. was rolling over a huge sphere of sorts.
"Oh, yeah," B.E.N. rolled on his back to push it more. "I get this delightful breeze through here. Which l think is important, because ventilation among friends--
"Whoa!" Sora marveled.
"Where does all this lead?" Donald had shuffled his way over and hopped up to take a peek. "Long way down!" he said with his feet dangling.
"Oh, the miles and miles of machinery running through the entire course of the inside of this planet?" B.E.N. asked. "No clue!"
"Guys!" Sora shouted to the others. "This's gotta be a way out of here!" Donald, Goofy, stay here and protect the doctor and the captain!"
"Just what I was thinking," Jim commented.
"No, no. Wait! The captain ordered us to stay—"
Jim had already jumped down when Sora spoke. "Be right back! Donald, rest up!"
"Sora!" Donald shouted, waving a fist.
B.E.N. jumped in after Sora, shouting, "Cannonball!" almost like how he remembered Wakka doing so back at the islands.
Doppler frowned. "Woof."
"You said it!"
------
Getting onto the ship wasn't too hard. Sora had no clue who it was that was on watch, but it seems hey hadn't picked the brightest star in the nebula. They took the pirates' solar longboat with ease, though Sora noticed something was Jim maneuvered the vessel.
"Wait, I KNOW we crashed there!" he pointed. "RIGHT there!"
"Shh! We're getting close." Jim glanced down. "They probably repaired part of it so they could take it back up to the Legacy."
"Wait, does that make our ship a PIRATE gummi ship?"
Jim moaned and directed his attention to the controls, and a soft whine issued from the nearby Grav-Anchor as they floated by.
The longboat approached silently, and Jim, B.E.N., Sora and Morph peered over the railing. When they stepped over, however, B.E.N.'s bumbling took Sora down with him.
"HEY!"
"Shhh!"
"Sorry, Sora, sorry sorry!"
"Okay, here's the plan," Jim whispered as he began to go down the stairs. "I'll get the map. Sora, neutralize—"
"Um, Jim, I just got here last night, remember? I have no—"
"Heard you loud and clear!" B.E.N. spontaneously piped up. "I'll neutralize laser cannons, sir!" At that he wheeled off.
"B.E.N.!" Jim whispered loudly.
But the robot just rolled away, singing. "Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirate's life for me! A-RUM-da-dum, a-RUM-da-dum...!
"And really bad eggs..." Sora sighed, remembering when he had last heard that song. "If I could just cast Magnet..." With time of the essence, going after him was a moot point.
Jim rubbed his face. "Never mind, you just follow me, then." He motioned, leading the way through another short maze of corridors until they reached the hold.
Sora looked over at the sound of machinery. The Highwind was still at work repairing itself, but it still was in terrible condition. He sighed, trying to take comfort in the fact that it had made some progress, at least.
Gingerly Jim approached a bundle of rope on the planks, his breath suddenly falling silent.
Moving some of the rope aside, he found the golden orb.
Jim breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes," he said, looking to Sora and Morph. "We got it."
As if they had touched some piece of artwork at a museum, alarms began to blare.
"Huh?"
Looking around, Sora knew he had to move, and looked to Jim to find out where to move. He followed Jim up a set of stairs leading to the deck.
"That stupid robot's gonna get us all--" Jim stopped, surprised by something, and Sora had to reel to keep from running into him. "--Killed."
At the top of the steps was the crew member that had given Sora goosebumps earlier. Opening a sharp, crab-like claw, he growled, "Cabin boy. And the new welp."
"Scroop!"
Sora grabbed Jim's arm, who made no hesitation to follow him for once. He summoned the Keyblade immediately.
Jim pulled his arm away, tumbling some barrels as the three raced down the corridor. The alien pursuer proved his spider-like qualities by running onto the wall before traversing the ceiling.
Sora, in turn, hung back slightly and reached up to slash the pipes on the ceiling. Steam sprayed from them with a hiss, and the insectoid creature slowed down briefly to cover his face.
"Take that you oversized lobster!" Sora cried triumphantly.
But it was a bit too soon, as he emerged from the cloud to try take a slash at him. As Sora yelled in surprise, Morph squealed, turning himself into a pie to smash into Scroop's face.
It was enough to make the pirate stop, but just briefly. Sora didn't dare look back, but judging by Morphs muffled peeps bouncing around in the pipes above them, he knew the shape-shifter was safe.
Regardless of the gained distance, Sora knew Scroop was faster than they were. His four arachnid legs were longer than theirs, creating a distinct advantage. Each of their footsteps was but a tick of a clock counting down to being overtaken.
A split came up ahead with a path to the right; a forced decision in a maze with a game of cat and mouse. Sora's eyes widened. "Jim!" he huffed. "Save yourself! If I don't come back, tell the captain I found the map but—"
"Sora?!"
"He wants the map, not you!"
Jim didn't skip a beat. "I'll come back!"
"Just GO!" Sora yelled, taking the opposite turn.
A gruff growl issued from behind him, a sound of frustration from the alien. As the Key-bearer scrambled, the short sounds of heavy, skittering footsteps behind him was a relief to hear. But only slightly.
He glanced around, hoping for anything to use as a place to stand his ground. The sight of stairs would have been wonderful.
That is, if he'd been able to see them. Blackness enveloped him as something vital powered down quite audibly. He tumbled, but got back to his feet in a flash.
A tense couple seconds followed, and he assessed himself, realizing his magic reserves had finally replenished themselves. He knew casting Fire would light up the area, though for all he knew it would also light it ablaze.
Soft, meager noises seemed to come from all around. The standard creaking of wood, the shift of some cargo below...or possibly the sharp but muted footsteps of his opponent.
"Light in the darkness," Sora thought silently, "Light in the darkness..." He took hold of his necklace, mentally chanting it, and concentrating with closed eyes. There was light even in the deepest darkness, something he had learned long ago.
Something clicked, and through his eyelids Sora could see a slight illumination.
The emergency lighting had come on, red light dusting the corridors.
"Hey, it worked!"
A blow to the head greeted his exclamation, and he was sent rolling across the grated floor.
"Welp! You think splitting up will save the cabin boy!" Scroop pounced, and Sora found himself pinned. Only by catching the creature's claws with the Keyblade was he able to ward off the attack.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" he grunted, finding that though he had avoided being sliced, he now found the teeth of his own weapon being forced towards his face.
"I found the longboat. Disabling it was far too easy." He grinned with his strange mandibles, opening and closing his pincers upon the Keyblade in demonstration.
Sora struggled, his arms shaking from the strain. "You—"
But something powered down again, and butterflies ran through his stomach. It felt almost as if he were falling.
He glanced over his shoulder as he felt the pressure of Scroop's strength fade from his back. The floor was moving away.
"What I'd give for a Gravity spell right now," he grumbled as he tore the Keyblade from the befuddled Scroop's claws. With one swing he smashed him against the wall.
Sora smiled in relief, but all too soon. The pirate's long reach returned the favor, and he found himself thrown against the ceiling and through a grating, losing hold of the Keyblade. He opened his eyes to find himself floating into the open air above the deck, and with Scroop floating behind.
The youth flailed, trying to catch hold of anything. Scroop himself grabbed hold of a rope, watching the Key-bearer float towards the riggings.
As he tumbled, Sora saw the approach of the still-open masts, and raked the air with his fingers to catch hold of the edge. He thrust an arm towards the safety of a handhold, finding his grasp inches short. "RAAAUUGH!!" he cried in frustration, watching Scroop scurry up the mast toward him.
The billowing solar sails wafted toward him, and he pawed fruitlessly at them in the vain hope of grasping a fold. Instead he received mild but painful shocks from the energy rippling though the sails, causing him to grimace as he kept trying. Finally a thrashing hand brushed against rope, and he latched on, pulling himself in and wrapping his limbs around it.
Below Scroop was inching his way up the mast seemingly with ease, as nimbly as a spider in its own web. He stared up at Sora with his crosshair pupils. A slight gleam caught Sora's attention, and he glanced to the side to see his Keyblade drifting well out of reach.
Scroop chuckled malevolently as he saw, and he reached the pulley that incorporated Sora's rope. "Do give Mr. Arrow my best."
The Key-bearer paused just briefly. "Wait—then you—" His heart swelled with anger at the realization; the pirate having so much said with so few words. Fire in his veins, he leapt for one of the crosstrees and caught a confident hold on solid wood.
"Your friend will join you soon, Welp!" Enraged, Scroop lunged for Sora, claws ready to cut through him.
Sora leapt forward, ready to meet him. "I don't think so!" Summoning the Keyblade, he defended himself, redirecting his foe's attack to the side and sending him spinning away. Watching for a brief moment, Sora saw Scroop cry out as he tumbled into the void.
But he had a similar problem.
Ropes and sails drifted by, all out of the reach of his fingers. As a final attempt, Sora tried to grab hold with the teeth of his Keyblade, swinging in an effort to snag a rope.
The line slid past.
"No no no no NOOO! MAGNET!" Rope tendrils reached for him, but with Sora drifting away from even the casting point, it wouldn't have mattered if they had been long enough. "AUUUGH!"
Sora had little idea how far the wall of the world was, but he hated to think what it would be like to come in contact with it. Even if he did, would he pass through, and would Interspace be breathable there, he wondered.
He would never find out what happened to Riku.
And he would never fulfill his promise to Kairi...
"Promise?" There was something...
A blast of sound and hot air made Sora recoil as something rushed past. Daring to look, he saw that whatever it was turned around fast.
A longboat.
It pulled up beneath him and he dropped painfully onto the planks. "Jim!" Sora got up, a little bruised, but still took him by the shoulders. "How'd you get it working?!"
Jim gave him a look that communicated, 'Don't touch me,' but replied, "What, the cut wires? How did you—"
Sora sat back, stroking a very relieved Morph. "But Scroop said—"
"Oh, Bright Eyes, figured." Jim rolled his eyes. "I repair my own Solar Surfer on Montressor all the time. Cut the power. Peel back the coating. Tie the wire together. Temporary fix, big deal."
"Wow..."
Jim manipulated the controls. "C'mon, let's get B.E.N."