On Today's Episode: The group returns to Traverse Town to wrap up the Pipo Storybook, and this means it's time to face off with Specter once and for all. But what tricks does mister monkey man have up his non-existent sleeves, and can Nick and Jimmy defeat Specter in time to stop the Lethargy Laser from being fired?
Episode 19: Monkey Madness
When Nick found himself inside the Pipo Storybook again, he noticed that he was standing in front of a floating platform inside the moon base that no doubt belonged to Specter and his trump card, the Lethargy Laser.
"Wow, this thing is gigantic," Nick quipped as he summoned Oathkeeper to his hands. "And I'm willing to bet that Specter isn't too far away. Now where the heck is Jimmy?"
"I'm over here!" Jimmy called out as he ran up to Nick, Stun Club and Monkey Net in hand. "I just had to deal with some more monkeys on the way here."
"Hey, did we ever find out what the Lethargy Laser is supposed to do?" Nick asked.
"The Professor told me that if Specter fires that thing, all of mankind will lose all their motivation, and Specter will be able to swoop in and conquer everything unopposed," Jimmy explained.
"So, basically, we need to get moving and stop Specter before he fires that thing," Nick replied. "I think he's just up ahead, so let's get our butts over there and end this."
After taking down a security door, Nick and Jimmy headed inside and rode a floating elevator out to a platform that rested just in front of the Lethargy Laser's main cannon.
And, just as expected, Specter himself was waiting for them, still sitting smugly in his floating chair.
"What took the two of you so long?" Specter taunted. "Sorry to say that we've already prepared the Lethargy Laser for its firing sequence."
"Don't you dare!" Jimmy exclaimed.
"Oh, I'm not going to fire it just yet," Specter admitted. "First, I will take my revenge for the Freaky Monkey Five. Behold!"
A strange robot in the form of a top hat-wearing monkey with two large cymbals rose up to greet them.
"Ah, the cymbal-crashing monkey," Specter laughed. "For years, it has been mocked by the humans, but now it will be the symbol for the ascendance of monkey-kind, one that will incite fear instead of laughs! So, have fun playing with your new friend."
Specter floated away as the Cymbal Monkey came to life, clashing its cymbals together before opening its top hat to fire a salvo of missiles. Nick swung Oathkeeper to bat some of the missiles back into Cymbal Monkey, but it stood tough against them.
"Okay, so it's got sturdy armor," Nick quipped. "Where should we hit it, then?"
The Cymbal Monkey aimed its cymbals towards Nick and Jimmy, firing green laser blasts from each one that swept across the arena. Nick ducked low to avoid the blasts while Jimmy used his Sky Flyer to ascend over the blasts.
After the blasts subsided, the Cymbal Monkey groaned before slumping down, the large button on its chest turning green.
"There we go!" Nick exclaimed, charging forward to start attacking the button with Oathkeeper, landing four clean hits before the Cymbal Monkey recovered and clashed its cymbals together, forcing Nick to jump away.
The Cymbal Monkey once again fired missiles from its top hat, only this time, the missiles spread out across the arena floor in a fan formation. Jimmy batted down the ones he could with his Stun Club while Nick swatted others away.
After this, the Cymbal Monkey opened its top hat to spew what appeared to be tiny versions of itself that moved on their own and moved towards Nick and Jimmy.
While they were dealing with the tiny robots, though, Cymbal Monkey began charging up for its laser attack again.
Knowing they wouldn't have time to dodge, Nick raised Oathkeeper and cast Reflect on both himself and Jimmy so that when the lasers swept past them, they broke the barriers but didn't damage them.
After the barriers broke, they exploded into a flash of lights all around them that actually did some damage to Cymbal Monkey and forced it to reveal its weak spot. Jimmy did the honors this time, running up to the button and hitting it with a jumping strike that caused the Cymbal Monkey to start exploding from its damage.
However, when the explosions stopped, Cymbal Monkey hadn't actually been destroyed, just shedding its monkey disguise to reveal a much more advanced-looking gorilla robot underneath.
"Did you fools really think that was all it would take?" Specter laughed. "Behold, my machine's true form: the Ultra Goliath!"
"Always with the multiple forms," Nick quipped.
"Behold, its sheer perfection, its exquisite simian symmetry," Specter proclaimed. "My incredible Ultra Goliath will crush the both of you like ants. I hope you're careful, or you might end up becoming part of the floor."
As the Ultra Goliath raised its foot to stomp on and crush Jimmy, the floor underneath it rumbled, and all of a sudden, the Ultra Goliath sank down into the floor and got stuck there, its legs no longer visible.
"Wh-what? It won't move!" Specter shouted. "You tricked me again, didn't you, you little punks?!"
"Hey, you have no one to blame but yourself, Specter," Nick taunted, switching his keyblade to Oblivion. "You should've double-checked the weight limit on that thing."
"Whatever, I don't need its legs to defeat you anyways," Specter retorted. "This time, you're both dead for sure!"
The Ultra Goliath started by firing missiles from the ports on its shoulders, and these missiles came out a lot faster than they had against the Cymbal Monkey.
While Nick and Jimmy were dodging the missiles, the Ultra Goliath raised its arms and sent them out to start punching downward, breaking a piece of the arena platform off with each punch.
Nick knew this meant they'd have to beat the Ultra Goliath quickly, before they ran out of room to work.
After the Ultra Goliath retracted its hands, it then brought them up to charge a large sphere of blue light between them before eventually throwing it down to the ground, where it exploded and created a large shockwave that swept the arena, forcing Jimmy to glide over it with the Sky Flyer, whereas Nick just ducked and crawled underneath it.
The attack spent, the Ultra Goliath collapsed for a brief moment. Nick realized that it was probably going to be harder to expose a weak point, given that the Ultra Goliath looked much sturdier than the Cymbal Monkey. (And yes, Nick knew that he could probably cut it down pretty easily with his keyblade if he wanted to, but he did realize he was technically still a rookie wielder and therefore not at that level of skill yet.)
However, Jimmy seemed to know what to do, running up to the Ultra Goliath and aiming his Electro Magnet at the chest plate, magnetically pulling it off to expose Specter in the cockpit.
Nick moved in to strike, hitting the cockpit with four clean hits before the chest plate returned to protect Specter and the Ultra Goliath picked itself back up.
The Ultra Goliath resumed its attack pattern of missiles, then smashing the arena floor, and then the plasma blast that left it vulnerable to attack. Jimmy quickly pulled off the chest plate with the Electro Magnet, and this time Nick used an Ars Arcanum on the cockpit, intending to do as much damage as he could.
However, just before Nick could finish his attack, the Ultra Goliath swung its hand out and knocked Jimmy's Electro Magnet away and off the platform.
"Try and stop me now," Specter taunted.
"Okay then," Nick retorted as he switched his keyblade to Reverberating Abyss and raised it to cast a spell that Maylin had taught him recently.
A sphere of energy appeared in front of the Ultra Goliath and started rotating violently, the magnetic force created by it pulling off the chest plate.
"Finish that thing off, Jimmy!" Nick shouted.
Jimmy just nodded, running up to the Ultra Goliath and hitting its cockpit with the Stun Club one last time.
This seemed to be enough, as the Ultra Goliath started exploding violently, and its pieces scattered all over when it finally destroyed itself.
However, Specter was still intact, and he floated down on his chair, laughing maniacally. He floated away down a nearby access tunnel, but Nick and Jimmy chased him down into another arena further into the facility.
"And all that's left is you, Specter," Nick proclaimed. "You might as well give it up. You're out of toys and out of options."
"Yeah, you don't stand a chance all by yourself!" Jimmy exclaimed.
"'All by myself'?" Specter taunted. "That definitely sounds like something you weak humans would dream up."
"But it's true," Jimmy responded. "We all depend on others to help us from time to time. We can't survive all on our own. And the same goes for monkeys, too!"
"Don't you dare try and compare us to humans!" Specter shouted. "We are different! We are superior! And even if I have to do it all on my own, I won't give up until this entire wretched world is under my control!"
"You really should do something good with your life, Specter," Nick stated. "This whole 'evil dictator' thing can't be good for your reputation."
"Really?" Specter quipped. "Oh, I'll give up my evil ways... if you two are strong enough to defeat me."
"All right, then, let's settle this!" Jimmy exclaimed.
"WE'RE GONNA SPANK YOU, MONKEY!" Nick and Jimmy shouted as they charged for Specter together.
Specter simply floated high out of reach before raising his right hand.
"Fools," Specter laughed as he fired an orange energy sphere into the ground, whereupon it exploded into a rain of tiny fireballs. Nick cast a Water spell around himself before firing it towards Specter, knocking him out of his chair and to the floor.
Jimmy wasted no time in getting close to Specter, but he started running around the arena, surprisingly fast for someone so small, and started lobbing plasma balls towards Jimmy.
Nick went into a Strike Raid, tossing his spinning keyblade for the plasma balls with each throw so Jimmy could concentrate on chasing Specter, and he eventually succeeded in hitting Specter with his Stun Club, at which point he jumped back into his chair.
"Try this on for size," Specter chuckled as he raised his left hand, which caused a series of blue energy rings to surround Nick and Jimmy. Jimmy decided to jump over them when they closed in on him, but Nick actually jumped towards Specter as a ring closed around him and cast Reflect, so that the ring hit the barrier and reflected that damage right back into Specter, knocking him off of his chair again.
When Specter picked himself back up, his body glowed blue before clones of Specter surrounded Nick and Jimmy.
"Aw, man, which one's the real one?" Jimmy gasped.
Nick simply smirked and cast Thundaga, causing a rain of lightning bolts to fall all around him, disintegrating the clones and shocking the real Specter so that Jimmy could whack him again.
After returning to his chair, Specter once again tossed an exploding fireball but this time, Nick actually swung Reverberating Abyss to send it right back at Specter, though he stayed on his chair this time.
Specter began flying around the arena before pivoting back to the center and slamming his chair into the ground, sending out a dome-shaped explosion around him that Nick and Jimmy just barely dodged by hopping onto the ledges at the very edge of the arena.
"Whew, that was close," Jimmy quipped.
"Tell me about it," Nick replied, knocking Specter off of his chair with another Strike Raid.
This time, though, Specter jumped right back into his chair and charged up his power, surrounding himself with a sphere of light before charging towards Jimmy at super speeds.
Nick quickly raised Reverberating Abyss to parry the charge before returning the favor with a Zantetsuken that destroyed the floating chair and sent Specter sailing down a nearby hallway, towards a large double door with his insignia on it.
"Ugh... where did I go wrong?" Specter gasped as he retreated through the doorway with Nick and Jimmy in hot pursuit.
Though the doorway closed before Nick and Jimmy could get there, Nick noticed a lock on the door and simply dispelled it with his keyblade so they could keep up the chase.
They eventually caught up with Specter in a small control room, where he was in front of a large green button, clutching his wounded shoulder.
"You made it a lot further than I would have expected," Specter admitted. "Not bad for mere humans."
"Not bad yourself, for a monkey," Nick taunted back.
"You are tough little cookies, aren't you?" Specter proclaimed. "I respect that. But this is the end of the line for both of you."
Specter gestured to the big green button behind him. "This is the trigger for the Lethargy Laser," Specter stated. "Once I press it, that's game over for you humans. Come now, surely you wouldn't refuse the chance to be ruled by obviously superior beings?"
Surprisingly, that actually seemed to make Jimmy mad.
"You don't know anything about us, do you?" Jimmy proclaimed. "Humans never stop trying! That's what gives us a future! We'll never give in to the likes of you!"
"Just give it up," Specter retorted, the button opening to reveal the actual switch for the Lethargy Laser. "You don't stand a chance."
Nick raised Reverberating Abyss to cast Stop on Specter, surrounding him with a glowing clock that froze him in place.
"Now's your chance, Jimmy!" Nick shouted. "Catch him before the spell wears off!"
Jimmy just nodded, equipping his Monkey Net and rushing towards the prone Specter before jumping through the air and swinging the net to finally catch Specter with a loud "GOTCHA!"
All Specter could do as he was sent away was shout "I was so close!" before disappearing.
"And that's how this story ends, Specter," Nick taunted.
All of a sudden, explosions began to rock the surrounding area, which could only mean the Lethargy Laser was self-destructing. Nick and Jimmy quickly made their escape down the connecting hallway as the explosions chased them down, eventually finding a UFO-shaped escape pod that they used to hightail it off the moon as Specter's base exploded with much pageantry.
Once the escape pod made it back down to Earth, disembarking outside the Professor's laboratory, sparkles began to gather in the sky above the lab until it formed into the shape of a gigantic glowing keyhole.
Nick re-summoned Oathkeeper and aimed it for the keyhole, light shining around its teeth before firing a beam of light into the keyhole, sealing it off with a loud CLICK.
"And with that, my work here is done," Nick quipped.
"You're not gonna stick around?" Jimmy wondered.
"You should go and celebrate with your friends," Nick stated. "After all, I have friends of my own to go and find."
"Then, hey, take this with you," Jimmy quipped, handing a keychain token to Nick. "I think it'll help you out."
Nick attached the token to his keyblade and swung it horizontally, the keyblade transforming mid-swing. This new weapon had a handle guard that resembled the blades of the Sky Flyer, the hilt was a medallion engraved with a Pipo Monkey on it, the blade resembled Jimmy's Stun Club, the teeth resembled a cut-open copy of the netting from the Monkey Net, and the keychain token resembled a Monkey Helmet. The words Gotcha Gadget ran through Nick's mind as he studied the weapon.
"I hope you can find your friends," Jimmy quipped.
"Me, too, Jimmy," Nick sighed. "...me, too. And hey, if I'm ever in the neighborhood and Specter's causing trouble, just give me a holler, 'kay?"
Jimmy nodded as he dashed back to the laboratory. When Jimmy was out of sight, Nick raised Gotcha Gadget to warp out of the storybook.
When Nick returned to the Mystic House in Traverse Town, the Pipo Storybook's front cover shined with a bright light and changed from its original picture to a new picture, one of Jimmy jumping towards a Pipo Monkey with Nick right behind him.
"The storybook is complete," Julius proclaimed. "Nicely done, Nick."
"Hey, like I've said before, it's all in a day's work," Nick quipped, just now noticing that the others weren't around. "Hey, where'd everybody go?"
"Oh, they're hitting up the shops to prepare for where you guys are going," Dorothy stated. "It sounds like most of the darkness that leaked out of the Final Keyhole before you sealed it up is concentrating in that place. It sounds really scary, honestly."
"Be extra careful there," Julius proclaimed. "If Yaldabaoth is indeed waiting there, you will most likely be in for the fight of your lives."
"That's never stopped us before, to be fair," Nick responded.
"Promise you'll make it back alive, 'kay?" Dorothy quipped as she ran up to hug Nick, unsure if she'd see him again, considering what was most likely going to happen once Yaldabaoth was defeated. "I wanna see you come to my world one of these days. Ooh, I bet we'd have so much fun!"
"I'll hold you to that," Nick responded as he exited the Mystic House and made his way back to the First District to wait for the rest of his friends.
As Nick waited, he reminisced on everything that had gotten him to this point, the most important of which was the gifting of his Gummiphone, which had inadvertently set everything into motion.
Aside from the surprise of having essentially a sentient A.I. inhabiting his phone, the assault of the Heartless that had destroyed his world, him gaining the weapon that could fight them off...
Nick realized he'd been through a lot, so much more than anyone his own age should really have to, if he was being honest.
But, as he also realized, he'd gained a lot during this adventure as well. So many new friends, the experience of seeing many different worlds he'd never known existed until now, and most importantly, in his eyes, the chance to help people with the power he'd gained from becoming a keyblade wielder.
That made it all worth it, in his honest opinion.
"Hey, there, buddy," Maylin quipped once she, Haruka, Marie and Sophia were all finished with their final preparations. "Did you have a good time in the storybook?"
"It's all finished," Nick answered. "If you're all ready, we can head out whenever."
"It seems like something is still bugging you, Nick," Sophia stated.
"...I guess I'm just worried that I'll never see you all again," Nick admitted. "After all, if the walls that divide the worlds do return when we defeat Yaldabaoth, then that means..."
"Hey, we're resourceful," Maylin responded. "Always have been. "If that does happen, we'll find another way to get back to you. That's a promise, right?"
"And we learned from someone very special to us that promises are intended to be kept, no matter how long it takes," Haruka proclaimed.
"We'll worry about all of that after the worlds are safe," Marie stated. "Right now, let's go find Yaldabaoth and... well, teach him a lesson."
"He won't terrorize the worlds any longer if we have something to say about it, right?" Sophia proclaimed.
"...you're right," Nick responded. "Now let's go and put an end to this madness."
Everyone summoned their keyblades and walked through the door to return to their Gummi Ship, ready to face whatever waited for them in the world where Yaldabaoth waited.
To be concluded...
New keyblade acquired!
Gotcha Gadget
Strength: 12
MP: +1
Recoil: 30
Critical Rate: x1
Critical Bonus: 0
Ability: Cure Boost
Description: A keyblade representing a brave soul who fought an army of monkeys to save his world. Raises max MP by 1 and enhances magic and summon power, and increases effect done with healing items and spells on the field by 50%. Equip more to increase the effect.
On the next episode...
Nick: Holy crapbaskets, it's really the finale, isn't it?
Maylin: We're sorry the author took so long to get here, you guys. Lots of different issues and all that.
Haruka: But we're here, ready to finally bring this story to its conclusion!
Marie: But we've got a very trippy world to get through first, and all of the dangers that lie in wait.
Sophia: We've come too far to be stopped now, Yaldabaoth! In the name of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, prepare to be curb-stomped!
Nick: Couldn't have said it better myself, Sophia. We'll see you all for the grand finale, next time on the final episode of Kingdom Hearts: Key to Her Heart re:Verse, "Journey's End"!
Nick, Maylin, Haruka, Marie and Sophia: May your hearts be your guiding key!