Chapter 5: Kingdom of the Mushrooms

John looked around himself. He was floating in darkness. "Welcome," a deep voice boomed out from all around him. "You've finally arrived where you belong."

"What is this place?" John asked. "Who are you? Where are you?"

"You are where you should be," the voice continued. "Here with us in the darkness. We will give you everything you ever wanted. You will be more powerful then anything!"

"The darkness?" John frowned. "I belong in the darkness? What are you talking about?"

"You don't know?" the voice was amused. "Your heart belongs to the darkness. This is what you did to yourself."

"What do you mean?" John shouted. "Why won't you just tell me?" He felt something tug on him and he was yanked back to reality. He opened his eyes. He was surrounded by grassland. He stood up carefully and looked around. There was no one in sight.

"It's about time you woke up," it was the voice in his head.

"Yeah," John replied. "Hey, thanks for helping me out back there. You know, against that girl? Who was she anyways?"

The voice was quiet for a moment as if it was contemplating his question. "She was one of the servants of darkness," it said, carefully. "Well, that was kind of obvious I guess. You've met plenty who serve the darkness. The Heartless are one example. Anyways, I guess it's about time to tell you some things. There is a group who steals memories from people. You already know all about them of course. The girl explained all that, but what she didn't tell you is why specifically they want your memories." The voice gave a sigh. "I should have told you all this from the beginning. Okay, as you know from the world your memories created, you were not always a good person. Your heart was so steeped in darkness that those people, like the girl you met, were very interested in you. When they got their chance at stealing your memories they went all out, but I stopped them. I took you to a safe place, in other words the world that you first woke up in. You know the rest."

John was silent for a moment, and then asked, "Why would they want me now? I don't remember anything. I'm empty, I have no memories that they could steal."

"They don't know that," the voice said simply. "And I would not advise telling them. They would only try harder to remove you."

"But why?" John asked. "Why would they be so interested in someone who doesn't have any memories for them to steal?"

"It's your Keyblade," the voice replied. "They fear it. It is a symbol of the good in you and they have no intention of letting its power grow. And now that you know about them, they're feeling slightly threatened. I'm sorry, but there is no way to just ignore this."

"Fine then," John began to walk across the grassland. "I'll just have to get stronger. When I do I'll take them down, one by one." He walked on in silence. After several minutes of walking he noticed something in the distance. He ran towards it. It turned out to be a brick road stretching off into the distance. He was about to start along the path when he heard a roaring sound coming from somewhere above him. That was when he saw it. Far up in the sky was a ship, or at least that is what it looked like. It flew on past him and as he wondered how someone had managed to make a ship fly he heard a shout.

"Come back here!" it was a small man wearing a red shirt, blue overalls, and a red hat with a letter M on it. The man crashed into John and they both fell to the ground. The man stood up quickly. "Are you all right?" he asked John.

"I'm fine," John replied.

"Good, sorry!" the little man then raced off in the direction the ship had flown in and he soon vanished into the distance.

John sighed and walked on. As he went, he noticed blocks filling the sky above him. Some of the blocks were brick and some others had a question mark on them. John was too focused on the floating objects to watch were he was going. His right foot got caught on one of the loose bricks of the road he was walking on and he tumbled forward and bashed his head into one of the question mark bricks. It exploded and a gold coin fell out of it. John frowned and picked up the golden object. He shrugged and put it in his pocket. Suddenly, several Heartless burst from the ground and surrounded him. John raised an eyebrow at them. "What took you so long?" he asked. The closet Heartless, a soldier, responded with a spin kick. John sidestepped and stabbed it through the middle. He spun and destroyed a shadow, then jumped over the Heartless in front of him and slashed them through their backs. He fought for about twenty more seconds then stopped. There wasn't a Heartless in sight. He grinned. He had fought this battle without taking a single hit. He then stumbled, suddenly overcome by dizziness.

"Hmmm, the old weariness again huh?" the voice sounded sympathetic. "Take a break if you wish. We have all the time in the world."

"No," John gasped. "I will reach whatever this road leads to. I can't stop now. There's no time to take a break." He stumbled on and strangely enough, he seemed to grow stronger, not weaker, as he walked. Soon he was back to his usual self. "See? As long as I keep moving I'll be okay," John said with a grin. Soon a castle came into view and John walked right up to it. There were two guards standing at the doorway. They were holding spears.

"Halt!" one of the guards ordered. John examined to creatures and he chuckled. They looked like walking mushrooms.

"What are you laughing at?" the other guard said.

John grinned at them. "It's just that I've never seen anyone who looks like you two."

The first guard turned to the other and frowned. "Was that a compliment?"

"Hey, can I have your attention?" John said impatiently. "What do you call this place? I've never been anywhere like it."

The guards stood up straight. "You are in the land called the Mushroom Kingdom. We-" They didn't get to finish because of a scream that came from inside the palace. "What's going on?" the second guard asked his partner.

Before he could answer, John ran between them into the palace. "Hey! Come back here!" the first guard called after him. The guards chased him into the palace. They caught up to him where he stood frozen in the entrance hall. "You can't just walk in here…" they stopped in their tracks. It was chaos, the whole hall was wrecked and mushroom people were running away from the center of the hall. Several plant-like Heartless had grown straight from the floor and more Heartless poured from the gap. "What's going on?" one of the guards asked.

"Stand back!" John shouted at them. He summoned his Keyblade and dove into battle. He slashed a shadow as it poked its head through the floor and he flung himself at the other Heartless. "Three shadows, two soldiers, and three of these plant things," he thought to himself.

"The 'plant things' are called creeper plants," the voice told him.

"Hey thanks," John muttered back. "Now that I know that, what do I do with it?" He cut through a shadow and a soldier and ducked under an attacking shadow while holding his Keyblade above his head. The shadow was cut in half as it flew over him. He destroyed another shadow and sidestepped the soldier before stabbing it. "Now on to the creepers," John grinned. He charged the three creeper plants, which were all massed together, and he raised his Keyblade up above his head. Suddenly a root burst out of the ground under him and tripped him up, causing him to fall on his back. Then one of the creeper plants lowered its head and launched seeds at John. He raised his arms to protect his face, but he was hit hard and sent flying. John stood weakly and swayed on the spot. "No, I still haven't gotten my power back from my last fight," he thought to himself. "Better end this quickly." He examined the Heartless carefully, and then he ran towards them again. "Wait for it, now!" He jumped into the air above the Heartless as the root came out of the ground underneath him. He swung his Keyblade at the Heartless, as he came back down, and destroyed all three of them. John then hit the ground and collapsed from exhaustion.

A Long While Later

John opened his eyes and looked around. He was lying in a bed inside the palace. Standing all around him were the mushroom people. They stared curiously at him. When they saw he was awake they began asking questions and talking rapidly.

"Who are you?"

"How did you beat the Heartless?"

"You're amazing!"

"Out of the way!" an older mushroom person stepped forward. "Are you all right?" he asked John.

John nodded. "I think so. Who are you?"

The older mushroom puffed himself up proudly. "I'm Toadsworth. I'm Princess Peach's steward. Are you sure you're feeling okay?"

"I'm great," John sighed sadly.

"What's wrong?" Toadsworth asked anxiously.

"It's just that…" John sighed again. "I don't know. Every time I fight a Heartless I feel so weak. I don't know what's wrong with me."

Toadsworth began muttering to himself and he walked a little ways off. "No…it couldn't be…"

"What is it?" John asked. "Do you know what's wrong with me?"

Toadsworth gave John a suspicious glance. "What have you done boy?" he sounded slightly angry. "What evil have you done?"

"I don't remember," John replied nervously. "I really don't. All my memories are gone. But I do know that I have done things…let's just say I know I've done something but I don't remember what it was. But, how does this relate to anything?"

Toadsworth sighed wearily. "This is all a theory of course but lately, since the Heartless arrived, I've been interested in hearts. Not just hearts but emotions. I researched everything I could and I came up with one thing. The only people who can hurt a Heartless are those who have good intentions in their hearts. Those who have evil in their hearts cannot hurt the Heartless. That would lead me to one conclusion in this matter. You have both dark and light in you."

John looked down. "Then it was true. I am a bad person."

"Not completely," Toadsworth said quickly. "If you can hurt the Heartless then you do have good in you. The only question is: how much?"

John shrugged. "I don't know." He got out of the bed. "Thank you for helping me. If there is anything I can do, just ask." He turned to leave.

Toadsworth suddenly looked distracted. "I do have a request."

John turned back to him. "What is it?"

"I would like you to help save our Princess," Toadsworth told him. "She was kidnapped by the evil Bowser, King of the Koopas. Bowser is always trying to steal away the princess but our friend Mario is always around to help. He went after her but I am afraid for him. Could you go and see if he needs any assistance?"

"Yes," John nodded. "I can. Where is it I should go?"

Toadsworth worth beckoned him over to a window. The mushroom pointed straight out the window. "Go in that direction to reach Bowser's lair."

John raised an eyebrow. "Not very secretive is he? Don't worry; I'll see what I can do. Wait, you never told me what Mario looks like."

"Oh, sorry," Toadsworth replied. "Well, he wears a red shirt with blue overalls and he has this red hat with an M on it. He also wears brown shoes."

Joho smiled. "Hey, I met that guy."

Toadsworth was surprised. "You have?"

"Yep," John smiled. "He knocked me down while he was chasing an airship. I didn't catch his name though. So that's Mario. Don't worry, I'll find him." A few minuets later John stepped out of the castle and he started off in the direction Toadsworth had showed him, onward to Bowser's keep.

Meanwhile

The dark man stood at his window in silence. She was coming, he could sense her. What was this? She was scared. That meant she had failed.

The girl stepped into the room cautiously. She spotted him and ran over to him. "Sir, I have something to tell you-"

"You failed," the man spoke with a deadly calm voice. "That what you came to tell me, Celia?"

Celia was surprised but she quickly recovered. "Yes, but that's not all. He had help. It's him. He's back sir."

The man spun around. "No! That can't be…fine. Get me Lucius. He will be needed."

The girl was shocked. "Lucius? Why him? He's crazy! He'll destroy everything!"

The man narrowed his eyes. "Celia, this is very important. We have to destroy this child before he learns too much. We can't let him get any stronger."

The girl nodded. "A-all right, I'll go." She left the room quickly.

The man sighed. "So he has returned…finally, I'll end him for what he did."

EN

I hope everyone likes this chapter. Please Review. I know there were some things in this chapter that may seem to contradict the regular Kingdom Hearts storyline but don't worry. I know what I'm doing.