Disclaimer - I do not own Kingdom Hearts. This is made by a fan for fans. No money is being made.
Author's Note - ...I have nothing to say here.
"Goofy!"
Sora performed one of his most basic moves: the dodge roll. Beautiful in its simplicity, it was a technique that he had often taken for granted. But now, as countless times before, it helped him out of a sticky situation, puting him out of reach just as a spider's mouth crashed into the rock where he'd just been. A beautiful technique. And he didn't even need magic to use it.
But it paled next to the beauty of teamwork. With a happy, or dare I say, goofy 'ha-yuck!' a shield smashed into the group of spiders just as Sora rolled away, scattering them and doing more than a little damage. The shield, bereft of magical abilities, stayed on the floor where it fell instead of returning to its owners hand. But that didn't matter much because as soon as it was thrown, the owner ran along behind it, scooping it up and throwing it at the spiders again before they could recuperate. It was a perfect shot. One spider fell down.
It didn't get back up.
"Alright, Goofy!" Sora cheered, throwing his fist into the air.
"Sora!" Goofy was beside him in an instant, eveloping him in breath taking hug.
"Goofy," Sora gasped, hugging Goofy back and not caring in the slightest that he had no air in his lungs.
Riku approached with his arms crossed and an all knowing grin on his face. Sure, he didn't know Goofy was around, but they didn't know he didn't know, so why let on that he didn't know...you know? "So Sora's partner in crime returns," Riku teased. Goofy, no Donald, had once said that about him. "How you been?"
Goofy straightened up, still holding Sora whose feet were now dangling a foot off the ground. Upon Sora voicing a muffled protest into his shirt, Goofy dropped him to the ground. "Hiya, Riku! Gawrsh, you're even taller than last time!"
Riku ignored the compliment. "Donald?" It came out twice as loud, because Sora had chosen the exact same time to say it, too.
Grimna, meanwhile, was only moments away. She had seen it all. She glanced over to the dead body of her minion and then back to Goofy. This could be a problem.
And then there they were. Chatting. They were standing around chatting. Grimna felt a surge of almost uncontrolable rage. The loss of a minion was one thing, a nuisance and nothing more, but this was her cave. They should be terrified in this domain. HER domain. She snarled in pure hatred at the trio. They had no idea what was coming.
They would be petrified by the time she was through.
A duck was charging them.
A duck.
Axel didn't know if he should laugh or get the hell outta the way. As the duck made impact and completely bowled him over, Axel realized he should've chosen the later.
Namine fell to the ground and rolled out of the way. She recognized that duck, and was in no hurry to get in front of him once he was angry. And he certainly seemed angry now. Still, it was hard not to laugh seeing a duck twist one of Axel's arms around behind his back and effectively immobilize him.
"What did you do with Sora!" He demanded roughly.
Axel laughed. Not at the question exactly, it's just...who wouldn't?
The duck twisted Axel's arm hard. "That's the wrong answer, buddy!"
"Alright, alright!" Axel gave in, his voice suddenly serious. The duck eased off on the arm twisting. The pain now gone, Axel burst out laughing again.
"You think it's a game, do ya?" The duck twisted the arm twice as hard. "Talk, or I break it!"
Namine sweat dropped. Where was Roxas now anyway?
Not too far away, a death match was put on temporary hiatus as the two combatants watched the strange specticle.
"I haven't seen something like that since I was a young oyster in the Sea of Pearls," Red Cloak commented.
Not taking his eyes off the odd scene, Roxas made a suggestion to Red Cloak. "How about you and I finish this later?"
"Flying machines don't work in the winter," Red Cloak stated, "But if the summer time comes early in the fall of great winter's eve, who's to question such logic?"
Roxas took that as a yes.
"Well, uh, Donald," Goofy rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Donald's, uh, still with the ship..."
Sora looked sceptical. Donald staying with the ship? That didn't sound right. But then, this planet wasn't exactly the best place for wizards...maybe Donald felt he'd be useless without his magic and decided to stay out of harm's way? Somehow, Sora doubted it.
Riku's thoughts took another course. "You have a ship?"
Goofy perked up at this. "Yeah. We're here to rescue you."
Riku's face grew dark. "Gee, thanks," he said, crossing his arms.
"Ah, don't be that way, Riku," Sora pouted. "They're only here to help."
The frown didn't leave Riku's face. Sure, it was nice to have a little help -especially now- but help from the people who are, technically, your enemies, was not his idea of being 'rescued.'
Riku moved right in front of Goofy, staring at him until he looked him in the eye. "I'm not going back."
Goofy scratched the back of his head and said nothing. He looked away, unable to match Riku's stare.
"They're here to help," Sora said again, quietly this time, a low tone to his voice. Was he threatening him? Riku was impressed. Cold gaze not leaving Goofy, Riku walked past them both.
"Hey," Sora said, looking up abruptly, "where'd all the spiders go?"
Riku stopped and turned around. He was right, the spiders had all left, Riku could see the last of them scramble frantically through a hole in the wall. What had frightened them so ba...?
"Sora, look out!"
"I won't say this again! Talk or I break it!"
Axel couldn't have talked even if he wanted to. The searing pain rolling up and down his arm and shoulder kept his voice from him, and Namine knew if Donald ever let up again, Axel would just laugh. It would be like hell freezing over if Axel didn't laugh. Even now his screams of agony were laced with hilarity.
"That's it! I-" the duck stopped what he was saying and gulped. Something sharp and made of metal was resting against the back of his neck.
"I'm sure you won't mind letting go of my friend," Roxas said.
Looking around for other options and finding none, the duck let go. Axel fell to the ground, clutching his arm and, surprise, laughing. It took a full five minutes for him to stop, in which time Roxas, Namine, and the duck all glanced at each other and shared the same thought: I wish he'd just shut up.
"Donald," Namine said when Axel was finally done, "what are you doing here?"
Roxas was looking at Namine as she spoke. When he learned who the duck was, he looked back to him quickly. This was Donald? The Donald?!
"Wait a minute," Axel said, pulling himself out of his sprawled out laughing position on the ground and sitting cross legged. "You're Donald? The Donald?"
Great minds think alike.
"I am," Donald said, glaring at Axel. Then he turned to Roxas, "and I'm here for Riku!"
Roxas narrowed his eyes. "You said you were looking for Sora."
"Of course I am!" Donald quacked. "Wherever Sora is, Riku is!"
"What do you want Riku for?" Roxas said. Not that it mattered, of course. Riku, that damn anoying white head, was long dead by now, buried in at the bottom of a pit of quicksand. A surge of disgust surfaced inside of him as he finally faced the horrible death he'd let them both die. Sora deserved it, hands down. That little shit. But Riku... He didn't know Riku very well. He just knew he was as anoying as hell to fight, and probably the biggest obsticle in the way to defeating Sora. If you wanted Sora you'd have to go through Riku first.
Roxas shook the thoughts from his head. Whether he had respect for Riku or not, he was dead, and that was that.
"He's wanted!" Donald answered, crossing his feathery arms. Or wings. Whatever.
Axel rolled his eyes, "Yeah, we figured that out. What for, small fry?"
A combination of things had added to Donald's wonderful mood that night. Being called 'small fry' was just one more bruise to bear, but it briefly sent the duck over the edge. As a result he blurted, rather indignantly,
"He's wanted for murder!"
Author's Note - Disney characters rock.