Chapter 11
Sora finally put me down when we got out of the Underworld. I'm guessing this is -WAS- the colisseum he mentioned earlier... Now it's just a big pile of rubble... And THERE'S SOME BIGTHREE HEADED SNAKE THING STANDING OVER US!
"Look out!" I yelled and pushed Sora out of the way as a head came down. I managed to get out of the way too. I looked over to the side and saw a young man with red hair and bronze armor sitting to the side, looking pathetic. I'm guessing this is Hercules... Funny. I imagined him to be more, y'know, heroic.
"What's up with him?" I asked. Sora struck one of the heads when it had come up from underneath the ground.
"Hades sent this thing to fight him, and before he came down to help Meg, he fought it," he paused to strike again. "But he didn't, and everytime we cut off one of the heads, another grows back!" I guess this happened while I was fighting Demyx.
"Why isn't he helping?" I asked. We could really use some more help!
"He thinks it's his fault!" he yelled.
"So, what's the plan then?" I asked, firing a thunder spell at the head nearest to me. Sora shrugged.
"Cut off the heads until they stop growing, I guess," he suggested. I sighed. And if the heads DON'T stop growing back...? The head Sora was fighting became crooked and he finished it off with a vertical slice. I ran at the one on my side and smacked it until it got several dents in the neck. I finished it off with another thunder spell. Donald and Goofy took care of the last one by just hitting it until it fell limp. The heads disappeared underground and six more surfaced.
"Nice plan," I said sarcastically.
"Shut up!" Sora growled. I smirked and looked up. A white horse with wings and a blue mane swooped down and landed beside Sora. He hopped onto the horse and looked at us. "You guys attack from down here!" We nodded and ran in different directions. Donald and I used all the spells we knew and Goofy threw his shieled at it and struck three of the heads. I looked up at Sora, who was striking the heads. One of the serpents snapped out and bit onto the horse's tail, nearly knocking Sora off. I gasped and threw a fireball at it. It let go and turned its attentionm to me.
"Uh oh..." This ain't good. it hissed something tothree other heads beside it and all four came at me. Without thinking, I put the staff in front of my eyes and yelled: "Earthquake!" The ground underneath it caved in, similar to the spell I used on Seifer, only this time, half of its body was underground. The heads pulled back and frantically began trying to get out. Heh, points for me! Sora took advantage of this and threw the keyblade at the four who attacked me. It hit the bases of their necks and caused two to fall off. This time around, they didn't grow back. Alright! Now we're getting somewhere! Well, we were. One of the remaining heads struck Sora and he fell off the horse.
"Sora!" Goofy yelled and threw his shield at the head that hit Sora, causing it to go limp. I ran foward and waved the staff around. Three large icicles dropped from the air and pierced the neck. It fell off and didn't grow back. I ran over to Sora.
"Are you okay?" I asked. He smiled and nodded. I sighed in relief and counted the remaining heads. Three to go. No problem, we can handle this! We fought it until the last three heads fell off. We ran over to the man on the side, who still looked pretty pathetic. He stared at the ground and sighed.
"I let you down. I'm just... no use," he mumbled. Meg frowned and put her hand on his shoulder.
"It's not your fault. Hey, even a god would be exhausted," she said, trying to cheer him up. It didn't help. I stepped up.
"Yeah, and it's not like you're the one who sent the snake-thing here anyway," I said. I'm not much help. He still didn't look up. I tried.
"They're right. You need to take a break anyway," Sora said, crossing his arms. Goofy looked at the ruins sadly.
"Gawrsh, I guess there won't be any games for awhile," he said. Hercules sighed and got up. Meg grabbed his arm and smiled at us.
"Don't worry about Wonderboy here. I'll look after him. Sora, Donald, Goofy, Fuu,I owe you big time," she said gratefully. I smiled and bowed.
"Don't mention it!" Sora and I said in unison. We looked at each other and smiled.
"Give us a call if Hades gives you any more problems," Sora said. Donald stepped up.
"Yeah! That's what hearoes are for!" Donald yelled.
"When did you three make hero?" Meg asked.
"Let's save that for another time. We have to go," Sora said, walking back to the ship.
"It was very nice meeting you," I said, bowing and running off after him.
"Hope ya' feel better soon, Hercules!" Goofy said, waving. Sora stopped suddenly and pulled a small stone out of his pocket.
"What's that?" I asked. He didn't answer and ran back to Hercules.
"I almost forgot! Here's the Olympus Stone!" he said, handing it to Hercules. Hercules reached out to grab it, but it sudeenly started glowing. Keyhole time! I ran back over as soon as the light began to emit from it. We sealed the keyhole and I looked down at the mark. Hm? Nothing happened this time? I'm not sure whether to be relieved or worried...
"Come on! Why does she get to drive?" Sora whined. It was my turn at the wheel, and to tell you the truth, I was afraid I'd be worse than Soraat this! Haha! But I'm doing pretty well, Donald's standing over my shoulder, though.
"Because she doesn't hit anything that comes within a two foot radius of the ship!" Donald yelled. Goofy jumped out of his seat and pointed to a large white castle in front of us.
"What's that?" Sora and I asked.
"DISNEY CASTLE!" Goofy and Donald yelled happily. Is this their home? Goofy seemed to have read my mind.
"This is our world!" he said happily.
"Take us down, Fuu!" Donald yelled. I nodded and pulled the handle up. We soared down into a hangar and exited the ship.
"It must be nice to be home, huh?" Sora asked, grinning. Donald and Goofy frowned.
"Ya know, somethin' just don't feel right," Goofy said. I noticed two small creatures resembling chipmunks running towards us. one of them stopped, but the other kept running. The one that was running cashed into the one who had stopped and knocked him over.
"You're back!" one of them yelled.
"Move it! Let's go!" the other one yelled, jumping up and down.
"Queen Minnie needs to see you!" the first one said, running up the stairs.
"The castle's in danger! Hurry!" the second one followed. We ran after them and took care of any heartless on the way. I frowned when I noticed grave expressions on Donald's and Goofy's faces. I hope the castle isn't in too much danger. We entered through a door at the end of the long hallway. A small, mouse resembling girl stood in front of a bookcase. She had on a long, pink dress and a small tiara rested on top of her head. She turned around and smiled when she saw us.
"Your Majesty! We're back!" Donald said, saluting.
"You're here!" the girl- Queen Minnie, I presume - cried happily. Goofy saluted as well.
"Your Royal Majesty, did ya happen to summon us?" he asked. Queen Minnie nodded.
"Where's the King?" Sora asked. The queen looked at the floor sadly. I clonked him over the back of the head with my staff.
"Pardon him," I said.
"This is Sora," Donlad said, pointing to him, "And this is Fuu," he pointed to me. Sora waved and I bowed.
"Oh! Sora! The king told me all about you in his letters! He said you're a very brave young man," she said, fluttering her eyelashes. She turned to me. "And no doubt, you're MasterYen Sid's granddaughter! You look just like him, only you have your mother's eyes," she laughed. Everyone tells me I look like Grandpa... I guess it's a compliment...
"Thank you, Your Majesty," I said.
"Your, Majesty, what are all those heartless doing in the castle?" Donald asked. The queen gasped.
"Oh my! So those are the heartless!" she said, surprised.
"Don't worry! We'll take care of them!" Sora said, smiling. Queen Minnie nodded and began making her way towards the door.
"But first, could you all escort me to the audience chamber?" she asked. We nodded. She stopped and gasped when she was about to open the door. "Oh no! I forgot to warn everyone about the danger!"
"We can tell them," I suggested.
"The WHOLE castle?" Donald quacked.
"We just gotta split up, donald," Goofy said.
"Yeah, I'll make sure everyone knows what's going on!" Sora announced. Pfft, showoff.
"No, Sora! You'll just get lost! You too, Fuu!" Donald yelled. Got a point there. This place isn't as big as Beast's castle, but I could still get lost easily, and with my luck, an Organization member could show up!
"Okay, then we'll stay with the queen," I said. Sora looked at me and nodded. The queen giggled and Donald and Goofy saluted.
"Good!" Donald said before taking off.
"Alrighty, we'll see ya later!" Goofy said before running after Donald.
"Okay! Audience chamber, right, ma'am?" Sora asked. She nodded and let us exit first. We ran towards the large doors in the middle of the hall. Queen Minnie held her hands in front of the door.
"As soon as the trouble started, I made sure to seal this room," she explained. The pink barrier faded away, and the queen turned to us. "Now then, shall we?" she asked. We nodded and entered the chamber. I whistled when I looked at the size of the room. All there was in there was a long rug and a throne at the end.
"Come on!" Sora yelled. We began to make our way to the throne, but stopped when a large number of heartless appeared in front of us.
"Not here too!" the queen gasped. Sora turned to me.
"Fuu, get the queen to the throne! I'll hold them off!" he ordered. I hesitated at first, but I nodded and grabbed the queen by the hand and began pulling her down the walkway.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty! He'll be okay!" I said when I saw a worried expression cross her face. We ran to the throne, dodging heartless that came our way. The queen ran over to the throne and began looking it over. I shot spells at the heartless that came near us. After the fifteenth heartless or something, I groaned and began relying on physical attacks. "Come on! Give us a break here!" I muttered. sora was still far off, but I could see he was doing alright.
"Fujin! Get Sora to come over here!" the queen squeaked.
"Sora! Come on!" I yelled, hitting another heartless that came close to the queen. It took him awhile, but he made it! The queen pressed a button underneath the armrest, and the platform under us started to move.
"Whoah!" Sora yelled. A bright light flashed and the heartless disappeared.
"Amazing!" I gasped. It took care of all of them! And no more tried to get in afterwards! The queen began to walk down the stairs.
"The room below is called the 'Hall of the Cornerstone.' Our castle has always been safe from worlds that are evil...thanks to the Cornerstone of Light which we keep down there," the queen explained. Hm, sounds kinda familiar. Maybe I read about it somewhere before?
"Cornerstone... of Light?" Sora asked. Oh! Now I remember!
"They're very rare," I began to explain, "Only five are known to exist. They repel darkness throughout the world and grant the keepers incredible powers!"
"That's correct," the queen said, smiling. We continued to walk down until we entered a small room. It was dark and there were large throns everywhere. The Cornerstone sat in the middle of the room. It shone brightly, but not as brightly as the one Grandpa showed me.
"What happened?" I asked, poking one of the thorns.
"I'm not sure... but it must be the work of someone very evil," she sighed. A mass of green flames erupted in front of the stone and a woman in a long black robe stood there. She had green skin and a big pair of goat horns on her head.
"Maleficent!" Donald quacked. I turned around to see them running in.
"No way!" Sora yelled.
"Well, well, well. What have we here...? If it isn't the wretched Keyblade holder, and his pitiful lackeys!" she said. She looked at me and smirked, but didn't say anything.
"Hey! I'm nobody's lackey!" I growled and pulled out my staff.
"My, my, I didn't think you'd tire of Kairi that quickly," Maleficant laughed. Sora glared fiercely. The queen stepped in front of us.
"Just what are you doing here, Maleficent?" she said bitterly. Maleficent bowed mockingly.
"Ah, Queen Minnie. Radiant, as always. I'm here on a property venture. I want this castle for my own. However, it's a bit too 'bright' for what I have in mind. I suppose I'll just have to fill every room with my personal touch of darkness," Maleficent sighed, turning to the Cornerstone. She tried to reach out and touch it, but it rejected her hand.
"You'd better stop right now if you know what's good for you!" the queen threatened. Maleficent smiled.
"Ooh, how frightening. Very well. I'll stop... Just as soon as the castle belongs to me!" she said and vanished.
"What a hag," I mumbled. The queen looked at the Cornerstone with a worried expression on her face.
"Nothing like this has ever happened before. I looked through all the records in the library, but I couldn't find a single clue," she said. Goofy looked like he was in deep thought for a minute and then raised his hand.
"Ohhh! We should go ask somebody who knows lotsa stuff that ain't in any book!" he said.
"Merlin the Wizard!" Donald quacked.
"You mean the old guy in that castle place with the pointy hat?" I asked.
"Castle...?" Sora asked.
"Yeah! The one with that Leon guy!"
"Hollow Bastion!" Donald corrected.
"Right, sorry!" I said.
"Okay, so let's go get him!" Sora said. We all nodded and left for the gummi ship.