Oh God, this took way too long!
In case anyone was wondering where Buford was last chapter, he was at his post guarding the door. He held up Leo and the others for at least ten minutes. Lightning wanted to chew Cid out for it, but Leo told her not to; he didn't want to be rude.
Anyway, the poll I mentioned last chapter is still up on my profile page, if anyone wants to take a look at it; it'll probably be there for a while.
Incidentally, the Doofenshmirtz Hideout caption should of course be read with the traditional Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated jingle. I'm sure some of you were already doing it.
Incidentally, I had to split Chapter 7 in two. See the end of this chapter for details.
Now then, let's get started!
Chapter 7: Semi-Aquatic, Egg-Laying Mammal of Action
Location: Unknown
Malfria and the Chief Scientist stood in front of the conference room's mirror, which showed the armored face of one of their soldiers staring back at them.
"The mission was a success, sir!" the soldier said to the Scientist. "The Three delivered the prisoner only minutes ago."
"Excellent, Lieutenant!" the Scientist responded. "Prepare him for interrogation. I will be along in a few minutes to…take care of him."
"As you wish, sir." With that, the Lieutenant's face disappeared, leaving only the reflections of the conference room for the mirror to display.
"Once Doofenshmirtz's job is finished," Malfria said to the Scientist, "they'll realize that Even is missing."
"True," said the Scientist, "but there's nothing they can do about it. Where we have him, they cannot reach him."
"Very well. Then I suppose there's only one other task to be completed?"
"That is correct. But to get her, we'll need to get past the rest past the rest of them. How do you propose we do that?"
Suddenly, a high-pitched laugh echoed through the chamber – a laugh that Malfria and the Scientist knew very well.
"KYAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Sounds to me like you need someone to do a bit of sneaking around, huh?"
A winged figure swooped down from the ceiling, circled the conference room, and then landed right in behind Malfria and the Scientist, who turned around to lay their eyes on the new arrival. As she landed, her wings disappeared, as if they had folded into her back. Like the other two, the visitor wore a black cloak with a hood that obscured her face.
"Well then," the figure continued, flashing a grin from under her hood, "I think you'd better leave this one to your good ol' friend the Anarchic Changeling!"
Malfria raised an eyebrow. "The 'Anarchic Changeling'?" she repeated with skepticism. "I think Spymaster's a better title. It is your job, after all."
"Hey, you don't have to be such a stick in the mud," said the Spymaster with a shrug. "People call me that. I hear the troops using it every now and then. I think Xehanort cooked up a bunch of fancy new names for us, to make us sound all mysterious to the new recruits or something; kinda like his old Organization."
"I have heard similarly," said the Chief Scientist. "For instance, I believe that I have been given the moniker 'The Shrewd Puppetmaster' - a title that suits me for obvious reasons."
"The others are the Iron Sentinel, the Three of One Mind, and the Grim Phantom," the Spymaster continued. "And what about you, Mal?"
"She has been bequeathed the title 'The Twilight Valkyrie,'" the Scientist said with a smirk. "Very prestigious."
Malfria merely rolled her eyes. "It's childish, really-" she tried to protest, but the Spymaster cut her off.
"Of course," she said. "I prefer what they called you guys in the old days. What was it again? 'The Fallen Ones'?"
Malfria suddenly stiffened. She looked straight at the Spymaster, her eyes blazing with fury.
"Do not utter that…slanderous filth in front of me," she whispered, turning back towards the mirror. "I did not 'fall', I was…enlightened."
"Well," muttered the Spymaster, "somebody's pretentious."
"Enough!" Malfria shouted. "Why are you here?"
"Well, that depends," said the Spymaster, turning to the Chief Scientist. "What do you need done today?" she asked in a sing-song voice.
"I was thinking a kidnapping," he answered with a smirk.
"Oh goody! Who's our target this time?"
The Scientist turned towards the mirror, which shifted again to display their next target.
"I couldn't have it done it earlier," he explained. "She's always been surrounded by her allies. What I need is an opportunity to separate her from the others. Then, we'll strike."
The Spymaster studied the mirror. "Alright, I think…I have an idea, but I gonna need to know if she's leaving Radiant Garden anytime soon."
"She won't," the Scientist responded. "Trust me; she'll want to stay as long as possible."
"Well, okay then," the Spymaster said cheerfully. "I've got a plan, but it's gonna be trickier than the other abductions we've done there. I'm going to need your help."
The Scientist sighed. "How many?" he asked her.
"I'd say around three to ten or so? Depends on how many people she spends the night with."
"I'll be able to put them to sleep, but that's about it. I'd rather not arouse suspicions, if you know what I mean."
The Spymaster grinned. "Always have to play your cards close to the chest, huh? Don't worry, that'll be all I need. Don't bother with her, though; we might risk waking the others up if we take her right there."
"And how do you plan on addressing that?"
The Spymaster's grin grew even wider. "That'll be my little secret."
"Very well then," Malfria said as she turned back towards them. "If that's all, go see Xehanort for the final approval."
"Alrighty then," the Spymaster responded. "I'll be ready when you are. Just make sure you leave some of her for me when you're done, m'kay?" She licked her lips with anticipation. "I just love new meat. KYAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!"
With another loud cackle, the Spymaster turned to leave. "Oooh, this is going to be so much fun!" she said, and then merrily skipped out of the conference room.
The Chief Scientist watched her go. "She's getting worse," he said to Malfria.
"Perhaps," Malfria responded. "But Xehanort wishes for her to participate, and I will not question his judgment on the matter."
"Such loyalty," the Chief Scientist muttered. He summoned a Corridor of Darkness. "I'll be heading back to the Inverness, then. Once I've…spoken with our prisoner, I'll see that this operation goes as planned." With a swish of his cloak, he turned and stepped through the Corridor, which closed behind him.
Malfria said nothing, merely turning her gaze back towards the mirror once more.
XXX
Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated – Radiant Garden Hideout
Sora, Mickey, Riku and Perry dodged and weaved their way through the barrage of lasers fired by Doofenshmirtz. Sora watched in amazement as Perry somersaulted through the air, barely missing a particularly deadly looking blast.
"Huh," he said as they took cover behind some nearby machinery. "I never would've guessed platypuses could move like that."
"I thought it was platypi," said Mickey.
"Platypeople?" suggested Riku.
"Whatever. The real question is, how do we stop this thing?"
Meanwhile, Kairi, Donald and Goofy had engaged Norm. While they had managed to evade the robot's missiles, they were not having any more success than the others, as Norm's metal chassis made it difficult for any of them to land a solid hit.
"Why. Won't. This. WORK!" Donald shouted, launched Fire spell after Fire spell with each word, with none of them having any noticeable effect.
Screaming furiously, Donald pointed his staff at Norm again. "THUNDARA!" he cried, and huge bolts of lightning rained down around Norm, causing him to stumble back.
"Yes!" exclaimed Donald. But his victory was short lived, and Norm swiftly righted himself as Donald watched with disbelief.
"This get-together is a lot of fun!" Norm said cheerfully. "Let's invite our wives next time!"
"YOU LEAVE DAISY OUT OF THIS!"
"This guy's tough," Kairi said as she ran over to Donald. "What do you think we should do?"
"I don't know. Maybe we could-"
"Donald! Kairi! LOOK OUT!" Goofy shouted. They both turned around just in time for one of the lasers fired by Doofenshmirtz's Everything-Inator to hit them head-on. There was a flash of light, and when it cleared, the two of them were...
"Um, why are you two dancin'?" Goofy asked them. Kairi and Donald had joined hands and begun what appeared to be an impromptu waltz. Of course, since Donald was a good deal shorter than Kairi, she had to actually lift him off the ground.
"I don't know!" shouted Donald. "It just started happening!"
"Ok, this is strangely involuntary," said a rather perplexed Kairi. "And I'm not sure how we're going to stop."
Everyone else stared.
"Not…exactly what I thought was going to happen," said Riku, obviously rather bewildered by this turn of events. Perry just rolled his eyes again.
Doofenshmirtz looked confused. "Wait, the Dance-Inator? That wasn't supposed to happen!" He quickly pressed some buttons at his control panel. "Okay, let's try this again!" he said as he aimed the Everything-Inator again, this time at Riku.
Oh crap! thought Riku, but just as he attempted to raise a barrier in defense, the laser hit him. There was another flash of light, and suddenly Riku was…
"Uh, Riku, I don't remember you putting on a ballroom dress," Sora said as he tried to stifle a laugh.
Indeed, Riku was now wearing over his normal clothes a magnificent blue dress, decorated with plenty of bows and lace.
Riku glanced down and gave a cry of shock. "What the- how did this get here?"
"Actually, I think it looks kind of good on you," Kairi observed as she threw Donald into the air. He rose six feet up, and then fell screaming back into Kairi's arms.
"Sorry," Kairi said sheepishly, twirling around with Donald desperately trying to hold on to her hands for fear of being sent flying.
"DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!"
"I make no promises."
Riku looked the dress over again. "You know, this isn't that bad," he said to himself. He tried to take a step forward, and promptly tripped, falling flat on his face. "Ow! Nevermind, nevermind, this isn't going to work! Mickey, help get this thing off of me!"
As Mickey ran over to help, Doofenshmirtz inspected the Everything-Inator again. "Okay, first the Dance-Inator, now the Ballgown-Inator! I didn't put either of those into this. What's going on here?!"
"Do you think you could make a dress for me, sir?" Norm asked as he saw Mickey struggling to get Riku's dress off, although it appeared to be stuck.
"Norm, I'm not wasting time to use the Ballgown-Inator on you, and I'm definitely not wasting time to build you a new body for a dress. Honestly!"
"Hey Dad, do you think I could borrow that dress thing sometime later?" Vanessa asked from the sidelines. "I mean, they'd have to come in black, but-"
"Not helping, Vanessa!"
Perry took the opportunity to leap onto the Everything-Inator, but Doofenshmirtz merely laughed.
"You think you can get the drop on me, Perry the Platypus?" he said, before whipping a device that looked like a cross between a fan and a hair dryer out from under his lab coat.
"BEHOLD, THE MINIATURE-TORNADO-INATOR!" He pointed it at Perry, and it generated a large gust of wind that blew Perry off the machine.
Doofenshmirtz quickly pressed some more buttons, then let out a cry of triumph. "AHA! This'll do it! Taste the Destruct-Inator, Perry the Platypus!"
He fired the Everything-Inator right at Perry, who dodged it just in time. The blast left a small charred crater right where he had been standing.
Goofy gulped. "That doesn't look good," he said. Suddenly, a shadow fell over him. Goofy turn around to see Norm towering over him.
"Perhaps we could discuss our differences over coffee!" Norm said cheerfully, as he raised his fist to strike.
"Uh-oh!" Goofy leapt out of the way just as Norm's fist came down right where he had just been.
"Why are you doing this?" Sora shouted at Doofenshmirtz. "What could you possibly have to gain?"
Doofenshmirtz smirked. "Ah, I'm glad you asked! Allow me to give all of you the backstory of my latest scheme – and by backstory, I mean what happened last week."
"You see, Perry the Platypus had only just foiled my latest scheme the day before. My plan to grow giant dung beetles that would destroy city hall ended up backfiring rather…drastically…" Doofenshmirtz paused and shuddered. "…So I needed to start from scratch. I decided that my new evil scheme would be to breed an army of genetically-altered super-hamsters to consume the Danville Nut Farm, thus forcing the new peanut butter factory to leave Danville forever, and allowing me to purchase it in order to produce my own brand of peanut butter, which would in turn allow me to monopolize the peanut butter market. You see, my home country has always been a leading producer of world-class peanut butter, and I am proud to carry on the tradition. My father's insistence that my home-made peanut butter was the worst in all of Drusselstein will no longer hold any water, for I will control the largest peanut butter monopoly in the ENTIRE! TRI! STATE! AREA!"
Doofenshmirtz began cackling like mad at this proclamation. When he was finished, he took a deep breath, and continued his story. "Or at least I would have. It doesn't matter anymore – in fact, it doesn't make much sense, now that I think of it – because when I purchased a copy of Hamster Helper Weekly to help prepare for my scheme, I discovered an even better opportunity! It was an advertisement, directed at evil scientists like me! So I called the number listed, and the next day I was sent the blueprints for a Heartless Creator. Of course, I prefer the personal touch, so it's now the Heartless-Creator-Inator! Anyway, after I turned it on, this huge storm started, and the next day Norm, Vanessa and I ended up here! My employer contacted me again after that and warned me about a bunch of people with giant keys that might show up to stop me, and then told me to build another Heartless-Creator-Inator. I still don't know what exactly what happened, but eh, who cares? I'm just glad that you're here, Perry the Platypus. It gets lonely without your favorite nemesis around trying to thwart your schemes, you know what I mean?"
Everyone just stared at Doofenshmirtz, dumbfounded. After several uncomfortably long moments of silence, somebody spoke up.
"Is he for real?" Riku asked Perry, with Mickey still attempting to remove the dress. Perry slowly placed a hand to his forehead and nodded.
"And didn't you say that thing had all of your deadliest inventions?" Kairi asked as she and Donald extended their arms and wiggled their fingers while their feet rapidly jogged in place. "Granted, I don't leave the islands as much as these guys, but I doubt jazz hands have every killed anyone."
"Umm, yeah," Doofenshmirtz said with an embarrassed look on his face. "Honestly, I don't know how that stuff got in there. Maybe there was mix-up with the blueprints or something? I don't know have that could have happened."
XXX
"The key word was 'distraction'," Malfria muttered to herself as she watched the battle with Doofenshmirtz unfold in the mirror. She smiled, and fingered the blueprints she had tucked under her arm. "Not 'annihilation'. That comes later."
XXX
"Forget it, it doesn't matter!" shouted Doofenshmirtz. "Norm and The Destruct-Inator will be more than enough to defeat all of you!"
He aimed the Everything-Inator at Sora and fired several blasts at him. Sora blocked them with his Keyblade, but the barrage forced him to his knees.
"Sora!" Kairi shouted. She did her best to tap dance her way towards him, having to be light on her feet to avoid Doofenshmirtz's laser blasts while dragging Donald along with her.
"Stay back, it's too dangerous!" Sora shouted back, still blocking energy blasts.
Kairi scowled. She most certainly did not need to hear this from Sora now.
"Sora, please. I can help you."
"While you're dancing?" Sora retorted. At this moment Kairi's feet had suddenly begun a spontaneous river stomp.
"I'll admit, this isn't exactly ideal, but I can still cast magic, if I can just-"
"Ok, look," Doofenshmirtz interrupted, "We're kind of in the middle of something here, so if you could just-"
"You stay out of this!"
"…Sorry."
"Kairi, you can't fight like this," Sora told her. "You and Donald just get somewhere safe. There's no need to be reckless."
Kairi dropped Donald to the ground. The duck let out an "OW!" but nobody noticed.
"RECKLESS? Sora, look, in case you haven't noticed, I'm a big girl now, and I have a Keyblade, so would you please-"
Something began to stir in both of their hearts, but neither of them paid it any mind.
"-let me decide-"
There was burst of light…
"-what I'm capable of!"
Kairi blinked. She had just felt something brush up against one of her dancing legs. She looked down to see a cat colored various shades of blue. It had a bell around its neck with two more on its ears, six legs, and a tail shaped like an eighth note. It looked up at Kairi with yellow eyes that had a mischievous glint in them.
"Um…okay…what's this?" Kairi asked no one in particular.
"That's a Dream Eater," answered Riku. "I think that one's called a Necho Cat."
"This is a Dream Eater?" said Kairi in surprise. "How'd it get here?"
"I don't know," said Sora, looking down at the Dream Eater. "Something similar happened to me in Traverse Town, but I don't know why it would happen to you. You never went to the Sleeping Worlds…"
The Necho Cat nuzzled against Kairi's legs, purring contently. "I think he likes me," said Kairi, suppressing a giggle.
"Okay, that's it!" Doofenshmirtz shouted. "Weird cat-monster-things appearing out of nowhere is too much for me! Eat Destruct-Inator, fools!"
The Everything-Inator fired again, and Sora, Kairi and Donald leapt out of the way to avoid the blasts. Well, Sora leapt; Kairi and Donald did some sort of pirouette.
The Necho Cat hissed at Doofenshmirtz. At that moment, its tail began to vibrate, and a hum started to fill the air. Spheres of energy suddenly appeared in midair and flung themselves at the Everything-Inator. They struck home, causing the machine to spark dangerously.
"Looks like somebody's pissed," said Kairi, as she gave a small grin. "I think I'll give it a hand."
"Are you sure about this?" asked Sora.
"Trust me, I am," Kairi responded. "After all, it takes two..."
She leapt over to the Necho Cat and struck a pose beside it.
"…to tango!"
That…wasn't very good, Naminé said to her.
Enough!
Kairi held her Keyblade out in front of her and closed her eyes. With her feet still tapping to a non-existent beat, she pictured a flame blossoming in heart, then flowing up through her arm and engulfing her Keyblade.
WHOOSH!
Kairi opened her eyes to see the Keyblade ablaze with a bright orange fire. Even though she could feel the heat emanating from the blade, the flames didn't burn her. Rather, they were almost comforting, like the warmth of the sun's rays back on the Islands.
Kairi grinned. "Let's dance!" she shouted.
Kairi began to spin her Keyblade in front of her like a baton, causing the flames to grow larger and larger. Beside her, the Necho Cat began to dance, with its tail starting to vibrate again. Music began to fill the air, getting louder with each passing second. Doofenshmirtz had to cover his ears as it kept growing in volume, and the Everything-Inator began to shudder under the sudden assault of sound waves.
"What's going on?!" Doofenshmirtz shouted as he frantically pressed buttons on his control. "Nothing's working!"
Kairi continued to spin her Keyblade faster and faster. The air around her seemed to crackle with flames, as the Keyblade's fire continued to grow in both size and heat.
Suddenly, Kairi stopped spinning the Keyblade and pointed it at the Everything-Inator.
"Eat this!"
With a mighty roar, the fire surged towards Doofenshmirtz. At the same time, the Necho Cat let loose one final note directed at the Everything-Inator. Far louder than anything that the Cat had used before, a literal explosion of sound erupted from it.
Blazing Crescendo
The combined force of Kairi's fire and the Necho Cat's music tore the Everything-Inator apart. Doofenshmirtz was thrown out of his operating chair by the sudden blast of energy, landing hard on the floor.
Donald looked down at his feet. "Hey, I stopped dancing!" he said in surprise.
Indeed, the destruction of the Everything-Inator seemed to have caused both Donald and Kairi's dancing to cease.
"Wait," said Riku. "If you guys stopped dancing when that thing blew up, then why am I still in this dress."
Mickey shrugged. "I guess because it's a physical object rather than an ongoing effect, or something like that?"
Kairi turned towards Sora, Necho Cat having disappeared. She dismissed her Keyblade and walked over to him.
"Okay. Maybe I am a bit reckless," she admitted. "But when you and Riku left for the Mark of the Mastery, I started thinking; you've been going on these adventures for, what, two years now? And me, I haven't been able do much all those times. I've mostly just sat at home and hoped that you would be alright – that is, when I hadn't nearly forgotten that you existed. Now, I'm finally able to go out and do the fighting for myself. I'll admit I wasn't that sure about it at first, but now…"
Kairi paused, took a deep breath, and continued, though while staring at the ground. "If something happened to you while I was just sitting on the sidelines when I actually do have the power to fight, I…I don't know how I could live with myself."
"Sora…I think Kairi's got a point," Riku said from the floor. "You need to learn to trust her if we're going to get through this."
Sora didn't know what to say at first; for a moment he just stood there silently, taking Kairi's words in. Eventually, he found his voice again. "I'm sorry. To be honest, I hadn't realized you felt that way. I'll keep this in mind, I promise."
"Thanks," Kairi looked up, and Sora was glad to see that she was smiling again. "But hey, you're probably right that I need to be a little more cautious."
"Maybe, but then, I'm not exactly the poster boy for exercising caution," Sora said with a grin.
"No kidding! I don't know many other guys back on the Islands who would stab themselves in the heart to save their friend!"
"Well, I don't know many other girls back on the Islands who would leap off balconies to save their friend!"
Kairi started to laugh at this, and Sora quickly found himself laughing too. However, they were soon interrupted.
Okay, this is great and all, Naminé said to Kairi, but aren't you forgetting something?
Forgetting what? Asked Kairi.
Suddenly, an explosion rocked the room, sending Mickey, Donald and Goofy flying. A shadow fell over Kairi and Sora. They looked up to see Norm towering over them.
"Oh, right. Him."
"Wait a minute," Sora asked Norm. "Why didn't you attack us when we were talking?"
"Oh, I was just trying to be polite," answered Norm. "It's rude to interrupt a couple who are in the minute of an argument!"
"We're not a couple!" both Sora and Kairi protested. They looked at each other in surprise, then both turned away, blushed furiously.
Norm raised his arms, and Sora and Kairi quickly found themselves looking down the barrels of two missile launchers.
"Oh, not good," Sora muttered.
"Gee, ya think?" retorted Kairi.
The two of them braced themselves for a fight, but before Norm could open fire, and two Keyblades flew out of nowhere and hit Norm from behind.
"It was nice meeting you all!" Norm said cheerfully, and then he fell flat on his face.
The Keyblades that had brought down Norm flew back to the entrance of the building, where Roxas, Lea and Aerith stood framed in the doorway. Roxas caught his Keyblades swiftly and dismissed them.
"So, are we just in time to save the day?" asked Roxas.
"Actually," said Riku, who had finally managed to stand up, "You're a little late."
"Well, in that case, would it be impolite to ask why you're wearing a dress?" asked Lea, flashing a grin as he did so.
Riku was about to tell him exactly where he could stuff it, but at that moment, Doofenshmirtz got to his feet.
"AHAHAHAHA! You may have destroyed my Everything-Inator, but the Heartless-Creator-Inator is still functioning. Soon, Radiant Garden will be mine!" He pointed the Miniature-Tornado-Inator at them. "Now taste the power of F5 level winds unleashed!"
Suddenly, Perry, who had been lying in wait until this moment, leapt out at Doofenshmirtz. With a quick swat of his tail, he knocked the Miniature-Tornado-Inator out of Doofenshmirtz's hands.
"That the bad guy?" Lea asked Perry.
"Ctrtrtrtrtr," Perry responded.
"Okay, cool." With that, Lea snapped his fingers, and the Miniature-Tornado-Inator exploded, bringing its very short career as a weapon of mad science to an end.
Perry delivered several rapid-fire kicks to Doofenshmirtz's face, before flooring him with a solid right-hook.
"Well, that takes care of him," said Mickey. He turned to the Heartless-Creator-Inator. "Now how do we stop this thing?"
Doofenshmirtz, rubbing his new black eye, started to laugh.
"You fools, it's too late to stop it now! Soon, I will be the new ruler of the RADIANT! GADREN! AR-"
"Um, okay, that's just great," interrupted Kairi. "Just one question: what do you think the Heartless do?"
"Ummmm… do they establish a totalitarian government with me as the head of state?" Doofenshmirtz asked hopefully.
"Uh, not quite," said Sora. "You see…"
XXX
One Minute Later
"Wait, Dad did what?!" shouted Vanessa.
"Caused the Heartless to consume your world," answered Riku. "And now he's going to do the same to Radiant Garden."
"Oh," said Doofenshmirtz, stunned by this information. "That's not good. In fact, that's actually pretty horrible. I mean, there's 'take-over-the-world' evil, and then there's 'unleash-world-destroying-forces-of-darkness' evil. Given the choice, I think prefer the former."
"There's still time," Kairi told him. "If we destroy that machine now, then we should be able to stop the Heartless from overrunning this world."
"But how do we do that?" asked Goofy.
"Not to worry!" said Doofenshmirtz, who pulled out his remote. "When I was building the Heartless-Creator-Inator, I installed a self-destruct mechanism. We can use that to destroy it!"
"What kind of idiot puts a self-destruction mechanism on their doomsday machine?" Donald asked incredulously.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," said Doofenshmirtz. "Now then, here…we…go!"
He pressed a button on his remote. Alarms began to screech as the entire room started to shake.
"Um…shouldn't we have waited until we were outside first?" asked Goofy.
For a moment Doofenshmirtz didn't say anything. "Um…yeah, that might have been a good idea."
A computerized voice filled the room. "SELF-DESTRUCT IN 30 SECONDS… 29… 28… 27…"
"Okay, we are leaving now!" Kairi shouted. Everyone rushed to the door, but as Riku tried to get to his feet, he promptly tripped over the dress again.
"23…23…21…"
"OH COME ON!" Riku shouted. Suddenly, he found himself being lifted off the floor. He looked up to see Norm picking him up.
"17…16…15…"
"Hey, thanks," Riku said to the robot as he bounded to the door with the Keyblade master in his arms.
"You're welcome, ma'am!"
"I'm not a-" Riku started to protest, then simply sighed. "Whatever."
"11…10…9…"
XXX
A bead of sweat rolled down Lightning's face as her sword met an Armored Knight's blade. The Defense Corps' forces had managed to push towards the point of origin of the Heartless, but the Heartless had stepped up their game, halting their advance about thirty yards from Doofenshmirtz's lab (though no one knew that's what it was). To make matters worse, the Black Fog had almost fully reformed. If it succeeded in doing so with the Defense Corps so close to it, then the battle would be lost. Their only hope was that the Keybearers would be able to destroy whatever was causing the Heartless to spawn, but Lightning's hopes were not high. Lea and Aerith had arrived only a few minutes ago with some blond kid Lightning hadn't seen before but introduced himself as Roxas, and when she told them that Sora and the others were inside the abandoned building, they had run straight in, despite her protests. They hadn't come out yet, so Lightning had begun to assume the worst.
Suddenly, a nearby Defense Corps solider called out to her. "Sergeant! The Heartless are disappearing!"
Lightning managed to parry another of the Armored Knight's strikes. As the Heartless stumbled back, she took advantage of the opening and plunged her sword into its chest. As the Knight dissolved into darkness, she looked around to see that the rest of the Heartless were indeed starting to vanish into shadows. It was clear, however, that they were not destroyed, as no hearts erupted from their bodies. They instead appeared pause briefly, and then disappear.
"It's a retreat," Lightning muttered. "Almost like something's…calling them."
She turned to General Leo. "Do you think those kids you sent in have anything to do with this?"
Leo shrugged. "I suppose we'll find out in a-"
At that moment, Sora, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Lea, Aerith, Roxas came barreling out of the building along with a platypus wearing a fedora, a teenage girl dressed entirely in black, a giant robot man holding (Lightning did a double-take with this) Riku wearing a ballroom dress, and a pointy-nosed man dress in a lab coat who Leo thought resembled a pharmacist.
"What the hell?" asked Lightning.
"EVERYBODY GET DOWN, IT'S GONNA BLOW!" Donald screamed at the top of his lungs.
Leo looked stunned for about half a second, but quickly covered his composure. "DUCK AND COVER, PEOPLE!" he shouted.
The Defense Corps didn't even need to hear it the second time. They all scrambled for cover, taking shelter in nearby buildings, behind walls, or just by flinging themselves to the ground with their hands over their heads.
There was precisely one second of absolute silence; you could have heard a pin drop. Then, Doofenshmirtz's hideout exploded with tremendous force, blowing back those who were too close and scattering debris all across the street. The Black Fog gave a final wail and disintegrated, this time for good. All that remained of the hideout now was flaming wreckage.
As the dust settled, everyone started to get to their feet. Leo brushed himself off and looked around.
"Is everyone alright?" he asked. "Did we lose anyone?"
It took a few minute before a full tally could be given. Miraculously, no one had been seriously hurt by the explosion, though the Heartless had inflicted several casualties beforehand. It was only thanks to the arrival of the Keybearers that so many made it through unscathed.
"Well, looks like your gamble with those kids paid off, General," Lightning admitted somewhat hesitantly.
"I never doubted them for a moment," Leo responded.
"I'm glad we could help, sir," said Riku. "I just wished we could have protected your troops from harm."
"Everyone who signs on with us is made well aware of the risks," Leo told him. "You still have my thanks."
"Now then," he said as he turned to Doofenshmirtz. "Who is this?"
"I AM DOCTOR HEINZ DOOFENSHMIRTZ, AND I-"
"Hang on. Is the guy who started this whole mess?" Leo asked Mickey.
"Yep."
"Okay, cuff 'em Lightning."
"Yes sir," said Lightning. She took a pair of handcuffs from her belt and snapped them on Doofenshmirtz's wrist.
"Oh," said Doofenshmirtz with a sigh. "Yeah, I guess I should have expected that."
"Some people from the O.W.C.A. showed up in town about a week ago," explained Leo. "They told me to be on the lookout for a Doofenshmirtz, but I never expected that you'd be capable of this."
"Wait, is he the reason that this one's wearing a dress?" Irvine asked as he and Fang walked up to them, while pointing to Riku with a smirk on his face.
Fang gave him a light smack on the head. "Be nice," she hissed at him.
"Sorry."
Riku sighed. "Mickey?" he said as he turned to the King.
"Yeah?"
"…Just burn it off."
XXX
Leo turned to Fang. "Get some people on that hideout and put out those flames, and try to see what we can salvage. We'll also be needing medics for our wounded."
"Right away, sir."
"As for him," Leo said to Lightning while indicating Doofenshmirtz."We're taking him back to headquarters. The robot too. I have a feeling they'll be sharing a cell for a long time."
"Aw, come on, really?" complained Doofenshmirtz.
"At least we'll have each other, sir!" said Norm.
"You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law," Lightning recited in a bored voice.
Something tugged on Sora's pant leg. He looked down to see Perry looked up at him with a concerned look on his face. For a moment, Sora didn't know what he meant, but then Perry pointed at the burning wreckage of Doofenshmirtz's hideout and shot Doofenshmirtz a meaningful look, and Sora understood.
"Excuse me," he interrupted. "I don't want to get in the way, but while Doofenshmirtz was responsible for unleashing the Heartless, he didn't know that they would attempt to consume this world.
"In fact," said Riku, who realized what Sora was up to, "From what I understand, he was recruited by a third party, who did not inform him of what the Heartless were capable of."
Sora grinned. "Not to mention, he's the one who set his machine to self-destruct when we explained it to him," he continued.
"To be honest, while he's definitely guilty of trying to take over Radiant Garden…" added Riku.
"That's all he's really guilty of, at least knowingly."
"So might it be possible to at least give him a lighter sentence, at the very least?"
Lightning scowled. "I don't think it's any of your business."
"Hold on," said Leo. He appeared to be thinking about the proposal for a moment, then turned to Doofenshmirtz. "If I turn you over to the O.W.C.A., they'll probably treat you better than the Defense Corps will. But if I'm going to do that, then I'll need your cooperation for anything else we might ask of you. Deal?"
Doofenshmirtz paused to consider this, then nodded. "Deal."
"Excellent bargaining skills, sir!"
"Be quiet, Norm."
"Um, what about her?" Kairi asked while pointing at Vanessa, who had been trying her best to look inconspicuous.
Leo looked at Vanessa for a moment, then shook his head. "I'll have people keep an eye on her, but I don't think she's done anything that merits putting her behind bars." Vanessa gave a small sigh of relief.
"Sir, are you really going to let these kids interfere with Defense Corps business?" Lightning whispered to Leo.
"I'm willing to listen to what they have to say," he replied steadily. "And I'll make my judgments based on the facts that are presented to us. That's all. Now, I believe we have some prisoners to transfer."
"Of course sir," responded Lightning. She turned to Fang and Irvine. "Get these two back to headquarters for the O.W.C.A. to pick up," she told them while indicating Doofenshmirtz and Norm.
"You got it," said Irvine. He and Fang started to lead the two prisoners down the street.
"Vanessa, don't forget to pay my bail!" Doofenshmirtz shouted back at them. Vanessa sighed and left the scene as well.
Leo turned to Sora and the others. "Well, I suppose that raps things up h-"
"SERGEANT LIGHTNING! SERGEANT LIGHTNING!"
Lightning sighed. Rushing down the street was Phineas and Ferb's sister Candace, with her friend Stacy reluctantly trailing behind her.
"Yes, what is it, Miss Flynn?" Lightning asked exasperatedly.
"Phineas and Ferb! They – they…."
Candace stopped short, out of breath from running so far at such high speed.
"Hold on, what is these girls doing here?" asked Leo. "Shouldn't they be at the evacuation points with the other civilians?"
"This is Candace Flynn, sir," answered Lightning with more than a hint of annoyance. "You know, Phineas and Ferb's older sister?"
Leo nodded. "Ah yes, now I remember. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised then. But how in the world did you get past the guards?" he asked Candace.
Candace tried to answer, but all that came out was a small wheeze.
"She just ran right past them," Stacy cut in. "And she dragged me along with her, literally."
"She ran?" asked Kairi in disbelief.
"You'd be surprised what she can do when her brothers are involved," Stacy replied sheepishly. "She could probably move mountains if she set her mind to it."
"A trait of hers that I've become far too familiar with," Lightning muttered.
"PHINEAS AND FERB HAVE BUILT SOME GIANT LASER CANNON THING!" Candace shouted suddenly.
"I know," Leo said with infinite patience. "I asked them to."
Candace was speechless. Her mouth was moving, but no sound was coming out. After a few seconds, she managed to find her voice.
"You asked them too? But- but- but they're just kids!"
"True," Leo admitted, "But they came highly recommended, and I highly doubt that we could have succeeded without them."
At that moment, Phineas and Ferb walked over to the assembled group, dragging the light cannon alongside them.
"Good to see everything worked out!" Phineas exclaimed. "I heard that whoever was causing all this had a lot of machinery lying around. Do you think we could salvage any? We might be to find some cooling units for the gun batteries in all that wreckage."
"Be my guest," said Leo. He started to say more, but was interrupted by Candace rushing forward and grabbing her brothers into a hug.
"You're alright! I was so worried about what might happen to you!" Candace sobbed.
"Ack! Candace…it's good to… see you too… but you're…crushing…me!" Phineas protested from under her rock-hard grip.
"To be honest, she's doing better than I expected," said Ferb, speaking for the first time since Sora and the others had met him.
"Sir, aren't you going to do anything about Miss Flynn?" Lightning asked Leo. "She did run into a disaster area before we gave the all clear."
"I'm in a good mood today, so I'll cut her some slack, as long as it doesn't happen again," the General replied. "She only did it because she was afraid of what might happen to her brothers."
After saying this, he saw the expression on Lightning's face. "Sergeant, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
Lightning sighed. "It's fine, sir, I know you didn't. I suppose I do know the feeling, after all."
At that moment, Perry walked over to Phineas, Ferb and Candace. He had put away his fedora and was walking on all fours again, his earlier vacant expression having returned.
"Oh, there you are, Perry," said Phineas.
"Ctrtrtrtrtr..." responded Perry.
Riku (his dress having since been removed, although Kairi convinced him to spare the remains) raised an eyebrow at Perry's sudden drop in intelligence, but as Phineas turned away, Perry shot him and the others a meaningful look; Riku understood immediately.
"I think that we'd best keep Perry's involvement in all this between us," Riku whispered to the others, who all nodded.
"Well, I guess that takes care of just about everything," said Kairi.
Suddenly, there came a shout from down the street. "SORA! KING MICKEY! EVERYONE!"
Yuffie ran up to them, accompanied by Cyan. Though neither of them looked any worse for wear after the Heartless attack, both wore expressions of worry on their faces. One look was all it took to tell the others that something was very wrong.
"What is it, Yuffie?" asked Mickey. "What happened?"
"It's Even!" Yuffie replied hurriedly. "He's gone!"
XXX
Location: Unknown
Even awoke to find himself chained to a chair. For a moment he was confused, his last memory having been working back in his lab. Then he felt a throbbing pain in the back of his head, and the memories returned: the Heartless attack, the mysterious woman (women?) who had threatened him, and then knock him unconscious.
All in all, this hasn't been the best of days, he thought groggily.
As his faculties began to return to him, he took a moment to inspect his surroundings. The chair he was sitting in was fixed to the floor, and the chains bound him tightly; he would not be able to struggle free. For a moment he tried to summon his shield and attempt to use ice magic, both abilities that he retained from his time as a Nobody. However, this quickly proved futile; his shield didn't not appear, and any spell that he tried to cast did not produce even the tiniest snowflake.
Perhaps it's the chains, he thought. They could have been designed to prevent their captives from using magic.
His efforts foiled, Even turned his attention to the room he was in. The walls, floor and ceiling were all stark white, with no windows nor any decorations adorning them. The only noticeable feature was an indented panel in the wall directly in front of him, also white. Even took this to be a door, as there were no other parts of the wall like it, though it possessed no locks or handles.
His suspicions were confirmed when the panel slid away, revealing a man in a hooded black coat. He was somewhat thin, and Even estimated that if he was currently standing, they'd be at about equal height. For a wild moment, he thought that this new arrival was some sort of specter from his past; his Nobody, come back to haunt him. This notion died as soon as the mysterious man spoke, however, for he and Even sounded nothing alike; the man sounded younger, and smoother, if such a thing could be said.
"A pleasure to meet you, Even," the man said, his voice seemingly pleasant, though with an unmistakable note of satisfaction. "I trust you are comfortable."
Even scowled. Captured or not, he was not in the mood for mockery.
"I hope you're not keeping me here just so you can practice your comedy routine," he said with no small amount of disgust.
A chuckle escaped from under the man's hood. "Don't worry, I have much more important matters to discuss with you."
The man began to circle around Even's chair, and Even was uncomfortably reminded of a snake tightening its coils around its prey. As the man drew closer, Even saw that the man's hands, covered in black leather gloves, had begun to twitch.
"I have brought you here," the man continued. "To learn more about a certain project of yours. I'm a big fan of your work, you know."
"Which project?" Even retorted. "I've had several. You can't really expect to know which one you're talking about."
But despite his apparent ignorance, Even was beginning to feel an acute feeling of dread.
"Oh, I think you'll remember this one," the man whispered in his ear, while calmly taking off his gloves to reveal two pale hands. "You know, your – or perhaps, Vexen's - little pet project for the Organization."
Even's face went pale. "I won't talk!" he protested.
"You misunderstand me," said the man, and suddenly all traces of affability were gone from his voice. Before Even could react, the man's hands shot forward and grabbed Even's head by the temples, forcing it back. As Even attempted to struggle, the man forced him to look under his hood. All that Even could see were two yellow eyes, gleaming so bright that the whole room seemed to grow darker by comparison.
"I do not require you to speak."
Even's screaming did not cease for a long time.
To Be Continued
Next Time: "Pleasant Dreams…"
Okay, I know that last chapter I said that I would be concluding our stay in Radiant Garden this chapter. However, I have since realized that I still have a fair bit to go before we can do that, and this chapter has taken long enough, I think. Therefore, I'll be splitting my intended Chapter 7 into two halves: the new Chapter 7, which you now see before you, and Chapter 8, which I'll try to have out soon (emphasis on "try").
Incidentally, this means that last chapter's "Next Time" teaser won't pay off until Chapter 8, as I had planned for that to be in the back half of the original Chapter 7. Sorry about that.
Edit: Apparently, the Radiant Garden Defense Corps uses the U.S.'s Miranda Rights when conducting an arrest. Who would have guessed? ;)
Anyway, that's all I have right now! Feel free to review!