Chapter 18
The next few weeks kept Sora, Donald, and Goofy on their toes. Running from world to world, they fought the Heartless and Nobodies while at the same time trying to locate King Mickey, Riku, and the doorway to the realm of darkness. Some of the worlds they had already visited needed their help yet again; even some members of the Organization showed up in a few of them.
After all of this blitzing was done, the three finally had time to follow the clues' they had found while they were briefly in the realm of darkness. Sora assumed they were clues because he believed they were given to them by Riku. His assumption was further strengthened by the encounter he supposedly had with him in the Land of Dragons. While there, a strange person in black forced his way to see the Emperor and told him of an honored dragon who had been turned into a Heartless. However, he told the Emperor not to worry because "three wise guys" had already arrived to solve the problem. Recognizing Riku's sarcasm, Sora finally knew that his best friend was alive and well.
Following Geni's advice, the three took a trip to Twilight Town. Reasoning that the building in the photograph was a clue to where the door to the darkness lay, they went in search of an old looking mansion. Oddly enough, it did look like the one they had emerged from during their initial awakening several months ago. Finding one on the outskirts of town, the three were shocked to find their three friends unconscious just outside of its gates.
Sora ran up to Hayner. "Hey, are you alright?" he said in a worried tone. "What happened?" Hayner sat up dizzily, and then fell back down onto his bottom.
He looked at Sora, unable to meet his eyes. "We came here looking for Kairi. Then those white things attacked us…"
"You didn't have to go and do that! You all could have gotten hurt." Sora protested.
"Hey! Of course we did! Kairi's our friend too, you know," Hayner said stubbornly. Standing up, he crossed his arms in annoyance.
Sora smiled. "You know, you're right. I never really thanked you all for helping her out and befriending when she came here. Thanks, you guys." Pence and Olette had risen to their feet and rejoined the group with Donald and Goofy in tow.
Hayner turned to face the old mansion. "We've heard that this mansion gets plenty of really strange visitors."
"We thought this place might be a gateway to an alternate Twilight Town of some kind," Olette added.
"What do you mean, an alternate Twilight Town?" Sora said questioningly.
"Goofy, do you still have that crystal of yours?" Pence asked him. Goofy dug his hands through his pockets for a moment and produced the round blue crystal and the bag it came in and held it up for everyone to see.
"You see, I made that munny pouch myself – so there shouldn't be two of them here," Olette said as she held up her own as proof.
"And this is the trophy Seifer gave you; you left it behind, remember?" Hayner said as he held it up.
"It's the only one of its kind; same goes for all four of the crystals. Yet you have a double of the blue one. So, where did you get it?" Pence inquired of Sora.
"The King gave us the pouch with munny in it for the train ride, and the crystal was in it too," Goofy pondered as he scratched his head in thought.
"So where did he get it from?" Olette wondered out loud.
"See? There has to be another town like this one somewhere; that would explain how the King got the bag and the crystal. Everything makes sense…in a strange sort of way," Hayner concluded.
"How so?" Sora asked, just as puzzled as Donald and Goofy.
"The other town must have whatever went missing from this town – like Kairi," Olette implied. As this realization dawned on the trio, several Dusks suddenly appeared behind the group. The party readied themselves for battle, only to see King Mickey destroy the Dusks with his Keyblade.
"Your majesty!" Goofy shouted as he ran to greet him.
"I've got important news!" the King told them happily as he diminished his Keyblade. "I've found out where Ansem is – the real Ansem, Ansem the Wise! He's already snuck into Organization XIII's stronghold."
"And we've figured out where Kairi is!" Sora told him equally as happily, if not more so.
"So why did you all come here?" the King asked.
"Someone sort of gave us a clue," Sora hinted.
"Who?"
"Well, your majesty, Sora thinks it might have been Riku," Goofy said with a hint of doubt in his voice.
"I'm sure of it!" Sora replied indignantly.
"Well, if you think that's who it was, then I'm sure you are probably right."
"Then you mean Riku really is okay!" Sora shouted, practically bursting out of his skin.
"Well, if that is what you think…" King Mickey suddenly became very quiet again, just like the last time Sora tried to ask him about Riku in Hollow Bastion.
He suddenly felt a surge of anger towards the mouse. "I've waited long enough, your majesty! Tell me what you know!" he said, crossing his arms in annoyance.
King Mickey turned, avoiding Sora's earnest gaze. "I can't tell you; otherwise…I would be breaking my promise," he finished quietly.
"You made a promise to Riku?!" Sora suddenly shouted. King Mickey's eyes widened in surprise, but he covered his mouth a little too late. "So he is okay! I can see him again!"
"Who's Riku?" three voices suddenly popped up. Hayner, Pence, and Olette had been eavesdropping in on their conversation with interest.
"My best friend," Sora said with a large grin.
"That's IT!" Pence said, slamming his fist into his hand.
"Your majesty? You got the pouch and the crystal from Riku, didn't you? And you promised not to tell, right?" Olette asked sweetly, her gaze resting on King Mickey. She was smiling, but her stare could have burnt holes through his head.
"Oh…okay, fine! I did! But I promised…" King Mickey was beginning to look very nervous, a drop of sweat dripping down the side of his face.
"Alright then! Time to go!" Sora said, turning towards the mansion. "Kairi! Riku! We're coming!" And with that, the seven of them ran into the mansion to search for the doorway.
On another world, someone else was also preparing to enter into the realm of darkness. Geni was in her room at the Disney Castle, carefully packing supplies.
"Bandages, medicine, potion, ether, some snacks, what else am I forgetting?" she mumbled to herself as she packed a small knapsack. Unbeknownst to the seven in Twilight Town and the rest of the castle, Geni had been carefully monitoring Sora's whereabouts using the crystal she had given him. He didn't know it was also a tracking crystal, but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him, right? It was the main reason she had known where to find him when he had gotten hurt in Hollow Bastion. Nodding to herself that she had everything she needed, she slung her backpack over her shoulder and once more studied herself in the mirror.
She was wearing her black boots, but sported a shorter skirt that was much more fitting for battle. Underneath the dark grey skirt she wore a pair of shorts-length leggings, and a light grey t-shirt was covered by a short-sleeved black bolero jacket with a hood on it. She was also wearing her arm braces, and at her waist was a belt with several loops on the side that held her staff snugly.
Nodding to her reflection, she began to place protective spells around her bedroom. Most were for being undetected while casting spells, a spell for keeping people out, a spell for silencing all noise within the room, and several others. She had to cast them so they would last only for an hour or two, leaving plenty of room before she would be found missing. Lastly, she walked over to her desk where a small piece of paper lay. Reading through it once more, she smiled sadly and hoped Queen Minnie would not be too angry with her. She had been having a strange feeling lately, like she was needed somewhere urgently. Assuming it probably had something to do with Sora, she had geared up in secret and waited until he had found his final destination to finally leave.
At last she was ready. She walked over to a wall that had an archway drawn in chalk on it, a picture of half a sun and half a moon connected on it as well as indecipherable writing. Placing her hands upon it, Geni was about to recite the incantation when she heard a knock at her door. She spun quickly, throwing her knapsack under her bed and using an invisibility spell to hide the chalk on the wall. Lastly, she jumped into her bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. "Come in," she called and added a loud cough for good measure. Wait! The note! Geni quickly added an invisibility spell to it and it vanished just as her door opened and in came Lady Daisy.
"How are you feeling Geni? Any better?" Lady Daisy came and sat on the side of her bed.
"A little," Geni said meekly, hoping she wasn't putting on too much of an act. In order to leave, she had decided to act sick and stay in her room all day. She hoped the body warming spell she had cast on herself earlier was still in effect. This theory was about to be tested because Lady Daisy had just reached forward to place her wing on Geni's forehead.
"Hmm, still a little warm, but less than before. It was probably a twenty-four hour flu like we thought. Still, Queen Minnie insisted that you rest and sleep for the remainder of the day. Do you need anything right now?" she asked as she stood up.
"No, but thank you," Geni said with a polite cough. "I think I'll go back to sleep now," she said as she rolled over. However, as she did, her staff straightened against the mattress and pointed up slightly through the comforter. Geni held her breath, hoping Lady Daisy wouldn't notice and see through her plan. Thankfully, she was already walking through the door.
"Alright. I'll wake you later with some soup for dinner. Good night Geni, and feel better."
"I'll try, thank you," she replied. Hearing the door click, Geni began to feel extremely guilty for – in the near future – causing them all more worry and grief, yet again. As soon as she heard a second click from the outer door, she threw off the covers and jumped out of her bead. Quickly remaking it, she undid the invisibility spells and retrieved her backpack. Hoping for no more interruptions, she walked over to the chalk filled wall.
Placing her hands upon the drawing, Geni said confidently, "Velas soluna Twilight Town gateila domindi." The doorway began to glow until it turned into a shimmering pool of silver light. Looking around her room wistfully, she readjusted her backpack and headed into the light, disappearing from sight. Moments later the doorway disappeared along with her, faint outlines of the chalk still visible on the wall.
Sora, Donald, Goofy, King Mickey, Hayner, Pence, and Olette had just searched the old mansion from top to bottom until they remembered the strange basement they had woken up in. Finding the hidden stairs in the library, they made their way down into the metal encased corridors. After a few minutes, they found what seemed to be a control room with a large computer in it. "Hey, this must be it!" Sora said excitedly. "But, how does it work?"
"Let me handle this," Pence said as he cracked his fingers. Sitting down at the station, he began typing on one of the keyboards. "Okay…here we go…uh-oh."
"What?" Sora asked.
"It's asking for a password – do you have any idea as to what it might be?"
"Well," Goofy said, "We have the photograph that was in the box…"
"And the ice cream!" Donald added, rubbing his stomach.
"That's right!" King Mickey said with a laugh. "Ansem the Wise loved ice cream! I bet that's the password!"
"What is, ice cream?" Pence asked, ready to type it in.
"No, that would be too easy. I betcha it was his favorite flavor: Salty-Sweet!"
Pence quickly began to type, and soon the computer whirred to life. "It worked!" A machine next to the computer with a long needle shaped object above it began to glow brightly.
"Let's go!" Sora said, heading for the machine.
"We'll hold down the fort for you," Hayner said.
"Say hi to Kairi for us!" Olette added.
"You guys had better come back to tell us an amazing story!" Pence said, giving them a thumbs up.
"Of course – take care guys," Sora said. King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Sora stepped onto the platform under the machine. The needle began to glow with white hot electricity. It sent an electrical shock down the edge of the platform's invisible walls, creating a cylindrical chamber within it. The group disappeared in a flash of numbers and calculations.
Moments later, the four materialized in what appeared to be the same place. "Are we back in the same place? Maybe the machine malfunctioned…" Sora thought as he took a look around.
"No, look!" shouted King Mickey. Donald, Sora, and Goofy followed King Mickey's voice to see the same computer they had just been using in shambles. It looked like someone had smashed it with a vengeance.
"This must be the other Twilight Town…Roxas's Twilight Town…" Sora mused. He could imagine Roxas there; maybe he was the one who had smashed the computer.
"Well, there has to be an entrance into the dark realm somewhere around here," King Mickey surmised. "We had better start looking – it doesn't seem like this will be our way back…" as he eyed the broken machinery. And with that, the four of them began searching through the basement of the old mansion in the twin Twilight Town.
As Sora, King Mickey, Goofy, and Donald were searching for the doorway, Geni arrived in the sandlot of Twilight Town in a cyclone of magic and wind. The corridor she had used to arrive there hadn't been used in quite some time, so forcing the magic through it had taken much longer than she had anticipated. Coughing, she waved away some of the magic to see three people watching her. "Hello!" she called to them. "Does this happen to be Twilight Town?"
A young man in a white coat, a large muscular man next to him, and a girl with silver hair were watching her with cautious looks. The man in the white coat was the first to reply, stepping forward haughtily. "Yeah, this is Twilight Town, and you're in the sandlot. What's it to you?" he said, eying her.
"Well, at least I'm in the right place," she said with a smile. "Can you tell me if there is an old mansion around here somewhere? I'm hoping to meet up with some friends of mine."
"So what if there is? It's not like –" Geni cut his tough guy speech short.
"I asked if there was or wasn't one. I didn't ask your opinion on it," she said brusquely.
"Hey, you can't talk to Seifer like that, y'know!" the big guy interjected.
"Oh? So you're Seifer. I've heard plenty from Sora about you – you're the resident bully, are you not? I don't particularly like bullies, you know." Geni grabbed her staff and flipped it out to its full length, spinning it dangerously.
Seifer stepped back a little at the mention of Sora's name – he had given him the trophy, he was the strongest in Twilight Town, after him of course. He was also just realizing that whoever this girl was, she looked a lot like him. Resuming his tough guy image, he turned to her and said, "Hey, I'm no lowlife. I run the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee; I get rid of bullies, not become them. If you're looking for the old mansion, follow this road to an opening in the wall. It's just outside of the forest."
Geni spun her staff around a few more times, before deciding to slide it back in on itself and put it into its holster on her hip. "Thank you Seifer, and you too, Rai and Fuu. Say hello to Vivi for me, okay?" With a short bow and a smile she began to follow Seifer's directions down the road. The three of them looked at each other with incredulous looks, even Fuu.
"Who was that?" Seifer muttered to himself.
"Friend?" Fuu said with a shrug.
Walking down the road, Geni easily came upon the opening in a large wall. Stepping through it, she suddenly appeared in a large and very old forest. A worn path meandered through the trees to an opening some distance away. Following it, Geni was awed by the tall trees around her. These must be hundreds of years old, judging by their size, she thought to herself. She admired the beauty of the woods, the sound of bird calls all around her, saddened at the prospect she might not be able to visit it again. She had already felt Sora's presence leave this world as she was in the gateway, and wherever he was now was trying to block the signal she was receiving from his crystal. This meant that wherever he was, she had to go there as well to find him.
She was torn out of her musings when she came upon an opening in the trees. Directly in front of her was a rusty gate leading up to an old mansion. "Well, this must be the place," she muttered. Looking around, she didn't notice one Nobody or Heartless. "I wonder why no one is guarding this place…?" she speculated. Pushing open the corroded gate, she walked up the overgrown main path and into the building. She noticed that people had been there just recently; the dust on the floor was unsettled and some of the objects had dusty fingerprints on them. She walked around the first floor until she came to the library and saw the more modern basement. Not only that, but she could hear voices drifting up from one of the corridors below her.
Walking down the steps, she wandered around the basement, wondering to what its purpose might be. Of course the crystal was able to track Sora, but it didn't have the capability to read his mind or listen to what he was saying. As she turned down yet another hallway, she caught sight of three people standing in front of a large computer.
"I told you, they weren't disintegrated," a larger boy was telling the taller boy next to him. "They were just transported somewhere."
"How can you be so sure?" the taller boy accused. "All we saw was them disappear in a huge flash of light!"
"Don't be silly. If this machine was meant to hurt someone, I doubt Riku would have given them those clues leading them here."
"Really?" Geni asked. The three teens whipped around to see Geni leaning on the doorway to the computer room. The taller boy instinctively went in front of his two friends, shielding them from a possible enemy.
"Who're you?" he asked warily.
"A friend," she replied. The girl in the orange shirt was looking at her strangely, her eyes furrowed. Stepping out from behind her friend, she walked up to Geni and inspected her closely, walking around her once. "Hey, uh, what are you doing?" Geni asked, feeling slightly self-conscious as she watched her.
The girl came to her front, looking at her face-to-face. "You're related to Sora, aren't you?" she asked with a smile.
"No way!" the larger boy said. He jumped up from the computer and walked over to them. "Hey, you're right! Same spiky hair, same blue eyes…"
"Calm down you two. How do you know it's not some trick?" he said, still watching Geni with his hands raised.
"Because I came here to follow Sora, not stop him, Hayner," Geni replied. Hayner let out a not so tough cough of surprise when he heard his name. "And you're Pence and Olette, right?"
"Well, that's three for three. So what's your name?" Olette asked, sticking out her hand.
Geni grasped it into a tight handshake. "The name is Geni; I'm Sora's twin sister."
"Nice to meet you Geni," Pence added. Hayner slowly walked up and mumbled a "hello" as well, his ego slightly deflated. "So you're here to help Sora, or something like that?"
"Yes. He left where I lived a while ago to search for a doorway, and it seems he found it here in this basement, if I'm not mistaken?"
"You just missed them," Hayner finally said. "They disappeared about a half an hour ago on that platform." He pointed to the platform with the needle above it next to the computer station.
"Really? How interesting." Geni walked up to the computer station and inspected the readouts from numerous screens. "An identical Twilight Town created inside of a computer, down to the very last brick. Quite a feat, I would imagine."
"You can read all of that?" Pence asked excitedly as he joined her. "I was only able to figure out a few of the algorithmic cycles belonging to the basic programming of the system so far."
Geni pointed to one of the screens that displayed several wavelengths and continuous patterns of numbers. "These sequences were last modified about…six months ago or so…"
"Wasn't that when we first met Sora you guys?" Olette wondered out loud.
"That's right! We found him, Donald, and Goofy wandering around town just after the annual Struggle tournament," Hayner added.
"Hmm. Sora said he 'woke up' here in Twilight Town, and he had mentioned a laboratory with some white pods. I wonder if this was that place? And if so, why was he sleeping here? And why didn't Riku tell me about it?" Geni carried on a conversation with herself, oblivious to the strange looks the others were giving her.
"Hey, Geni? You know Riku?" Olette asked.
"Hmm?" Geni looked at them. "Oh! Sorry! Mumbling out loud, I suppose," she said sheepishly. "Anyway," she said as she turned toward the platform and diverting the course of the conversation, "I need to follow them to wherever they went. Can you send me there?" she asked Pence.
"Sure!" he said. Hopping back onto the chair, he began typing in the sequence to start the machine. "Step onto the platform, and the machine will do the rest." Geni nodded, and stepped onto the platform to face the three.
"Hey, Geni?" She turned, seeing Hayner and Olette approach the platform.
"What's up guys?"
"Could you do us a favor?" Olette asked with a smile.
"Anything, you name it."
"Make sure that all of you come back and visit, okay?" Hayner told her with one of his rare, serious faces. "I want to win that Struggle trophy back from Sora fair and square."
"And so we can talk some more. Our visit with Kairi was…cut short, to say the least," Olette put in.
"Of course," Geni replied. "We'll be back before you know it!" she said as the needle above her began to glow like before. "Goodbye, see you soon!" Hayner, Pence, and Olette waved and called farewell as the platform was once again engulfed with electricity, surrounding her with numbers and calculations. In seconds, she was gone.
As Geni vanished, Queen Minnie was bringing up some soup to her room for her. Poor thing, she just doesn't seem to stay well lately, she mused to herself. Opening her front door while balancing the tray of food in the other, she walked across the main room and knocked on the door to Geni's bedroom. "Geni? I've brought some soup for you." Hearing nothing, Queen Minnie assumed she was still sleeping. Opening the door, she said, "Geni? Here you –" The tray of food crashed to the floor, spilling its contents everywhere. Queen Minnie quickly searched the room with her eyes again, her hand still stifling a shout from her mouth. Geni wasn't there.
"Geni?" she called hesitantly, expecting her to jump out from behind her armoire and shout "Boo!" like she used to when she was little. As no one appeared, Queen Minnie stepped into the room, right through the spilled soup. She looked around slowly, unbelievingly. As her eyes came to rest upon a small piece of paper on Geni's desk, her heart sank. She dashed over and picked it up, reading it as fast as she could as though her life depended on it. Queen Minnie sank to her knees, the piece of paper falling gently from her hands.
Queen Minnie,
Before you do or say anything, please don't worry. I've gone to help Sora and the others at the stronghold of Organization XIII. Besides needing to settle some personal scores, Kairi has been kidnapped by them and Sora might need help with rescuing her. I'll be fine with them; King Mickey, Sora, Donald, and Goofy I know will make sure that I come back fine.
I am truly sorry that I tricked you into thinking I was sick, but I knew that you would not have let me go if I had told you my true intentions anyway. I've taken emergency rations of potion and ether as well, and knowing those four they probably haven't prepared as well as they should have.
So please, don't worry about me. I'll be home before you know it with King Mickey in tow. Then you can shout, yell, ground, and punish me all you want. See you soon!
Geni
P.S. Love you mom.