Chapter 9: Wonderland
The anticipation was killing Alex. Getting to see a new world was cool enough, but now the fact that it was a Disney world had been thrown into the equation. Alex often had to pinch himself or shake his head multiple times, but he still found himself in the cockpit of the Gummi Ship. He really needed to get off this ship.
"Almost there guys," Donald announced from the front seat.
"About time," Sora answered from his seat, which was the floor. "I can almost feel my feet so they should be good by the time we get there."
Alex gave Sora a weird look, but a second later turned his head back to the galaxy beyond.
"So any info on this place?" Alex asked.
"Nope," Goofy smiled.
Alex blinked. "Wait a minute, you're telling me that we are about to venture into a world, a Heartless infested world I might add, and you guys don't have any info on this?"
"Pretty much," Goofy was still smiling. "What's wrong with that? That's how Donald and I usually get things done."
Alex was starting to feel sick. "If you want me I'll be on the john." He exited the cockpit silently, but it wasn't too long before Sora started to hear excessive moans, cursing, and the occasional death threat coming from the floor below.
Goofy started to say something, but Donald cut him off," Yes Goofy, the john is another word for toilet."
"Arriving at destination," the computer voice said.
"Here we go," Donald said and got out of his seat.
"Are we going?" Sora asked.
"Yep. We're here," Goofy responded.
Sora couldn't contain the excitement on his face. A brand new world to explore. This time it would be on his terms, not the Heartless.
"Alex we're going!" Sora yelled into the room. He heard the flushing of a toilet and could faintly make out another moan from Alex.
"I'm coming," Alex came out of his room looking better than he had minutes before. Sora didn't dare ask why.
"So, where do we go to get out?" Alex asked.
"Just follow me," Donald said and proceeded to lead the team to the room with the VR pods. This room vaguely reminded Alex of the movie Alien. It was not a good memory.
"Over here," Donald stood in the middle of a raised part of the floor that was nothing but glass.
"What's this?" Sora wondered out loud.
"This is the teleporter. It's how we transport from the ship to the world."
"Cool!"
The four of them stood in a circle on the glass as the computer began to speak.
"Teleportation preparation complete. All personell on the teleporter prepare to exit the ship in 5....4....3....2....1....0!"
Alex closed his eyes and felt gravity leave him. A feeling of weightlessness ran through his body. He didn't want to leave this state. It was just like the dream he had so long ago. He could feel himself moving. Alex started to wonder about where the teleporter would put them. Suddenly, he felt nervous.
Alex's last thought was, Wait, doesn't Alice enter Wonderland through a.......CRAP!!
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The screaming started before gravity began to do its work. The others were wondering what Alex was so scared of, but soon they weren't thinking at all. Unlike his duel with Dark Alex, there was wind as he fell. His hair whipped in his face as he was tossed around in multiple positions. But just as the fall had started going fast, it started to slow down. Sora opened his eyes to see that he was falling down some kind of brick shaft. He looked down to see the floor rising up to meet him and it was brown. Sora, Alex, and Donald were fortunate enough to land on their feet. Goofy wasn't. He landed with a big thud on his stomach and he looked up to see giggles from Sora and Alex and Donald shaking his head. This look was not new to him.
"Sorry," Goofy quickly got up, but saw something dash past his eyes. It was a white rabbit and it was talking.
"Oh my fur and whiskers, I'm late, I'm late, I am so late!!" The rabbit was wearing a red suit, orange shirt, and a red bowtie. He was carrying a big pocketwatch that seemed to synchronize ticks with how often the rabbit's feet touched the gorund. He was panting and heaving as if he had been running a marathon.
"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear," The rabbit continued to say. "I'm here, but I should be there. Oh the queen she'll have my head for sure."
Sora followed the rabbit with his eyes as he continued to run down a hallway connected to the shaft they fell through and round a corner. Then he heard the sound of a door closing.
"Well that was..." Sora began to say.
"Random!" Alex finished.
"Well at least now we know something about this place," Donald said.
"What?" Goofy asked, confused.
"That guy just mentioned a queen. So this world is a monarchy."
"Something we could've known if you guys had done some research," Alex muttered under his breath.
It hadn't been loud enough because Donald whipped around and said,"I do the driving, Goofy does the shooting. What have you done? Slept and pooped. You guys need to start pulling your own weight around the ship."
Alex didn't really expect the outburst. He hated to admit it, but Donald was right.
"Look we can talk about this later," Sora said. "Let's follow that rabbit."
Donald was actually relieved that Sora had taken some kind of charge. He was the Keybearer after all.
They began to run down the hallway, chasing the rabbit. Sora noticed the walls were bending. Alex felt like he was in the fun house at a carnival. They ran until they reached a big white door. Sora reached for the knob and opened it, only to be greeted with another door. Sora opened this door, only to be met by another door. Getting irritated, Sora opened this door, getting ready to slash any others with the Keyblade, but this time opened up to an actual room.
The team entered to a very bright room. The walls were purple and the floor was red and pink. In the middle, was a table with one chair. In the left corner, was a green bed that was neatly made. To the right, was a brick stove that extended to the cieling. A grandfather clock, books, and vases helped to bring the already quirky room to a new peculiar status.
The team looked at their surroundings. Sora was looking at the floor when he saw something dash across the floor. It was the rabbit! Unlike before, the rabbit had somehow shrunk to the size of a rat and proceeded to run across the floor, until it got to a small, red door at the end of the room. He took a deep breath and entered through the door. Sora quickly ran after him until he stopped at the door. He leaned down to get a better look at the door.
"How did he get so small?!" Sora asked, not really expecting an answer.
"No you're simply too big," said the doorknob.
Sora leaped back in surprise and took a better look at the doorknob. It was gold, but as he looked closer he could see a mouth, nose and eyes. Alex slightly remembered a talking doorknob from the movie, but he was still struck with awe.
"Waak! It talks!" Donald quacked.
The doorknob opened his mouth wide and took a big yawn," Must you be so loud. You woke me up, you idiots!"
Alex stared blankly, doing his best to contemplate a doorknob actually sleeping.
"Good mornin'," Goofy waved. He appeared to be the only one of the four who wasn't surprised.
"No, good night," the doorknob yawned. "I need a bit more sleep."
Sora wouldn't be denied. "Wait, what do have to do to grow small?" It wasn't until after he said it that Sora realized the paradox he just said.
The doorknob didn't seem to notice. "Well why don't you try the bottle over there?" He motioned with his head and all four heads turned to the table. Two bottles, one red and one blue, were sitting on it.
"Was that there before?" Alex asked.
"Who cares? Let's just drink it so we can follow that rabbit," Donald said, impatiently.
"Okay. Who wants to take a sip of the untested, possibly poisoned drink? Any takers?" Alex said, sarcastically.
Unsurprisingly, Goofy raised his hand. "I will."
"What a shock," Alex said.
Goofy walked over to the table and asked,"Which one should I drink, red or blue?"
"I suggest the blue bottle," the doorknob took a slight break from his nap. "Unless you want your head to go through the cieling."
Goofy took the blue bottle in his gloved hands and took a drink. The contents began to dribble out of Goofy's mouth.
"Leave some for us you lummox!" Donald yelled.
"Sure thing," Goofy said as he set the bottle back on the table. As soon as Goofy had done that, he began to shrink.
"Wow," Sora said.
"That's something you don't see every day," Alex said.
Goofy continued to get smaller and smaller until he was just the same size as the rabbit had been.
"Gawrsh," Goofy scratched his head. "Donald is it just me or have you been putting on some weight?"
Donald did his best to shut out the excessive laughter of Sora and Alex by growling at Goofy.
"Whoah Donald no!" Goofy yelled.
Sora stopped his laughing long enough to see that Donald was threatening Goofy by hovering his gigantic webbed foot above Goofy's head.
"Aw leave him alone Donald," Alex said. "After all, the truth hurts!"
Alex and Sora continued to laugh some more. Donald just grumbled, went over to the table, and drank some of the liquid. In no time at all, Donald was the same size as Goofy. It also enabled Donald to give Goofy a kick in the shins without killing him.
"My turn," Sora announced.
"Ladies first," Alex muttered.
Sora repeated the process that Donald did and was soon shrunk to the size of a rat.
"How about we get the door open?" Sora suggested.
The three who were shrunk went over to the doorknob.
"Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt your sleep again, but could you open the door for us?" Sora asked, politely.
The doorknob's response was to snore even louder than it had been before.
"You gotta be kidding me," Sora groaned.
"I know how to open it," Donald got out his staff and pointed it at the door.
"No you idiot!" Alex yelled from above, which made everyone else cover their ears. "If you shoot it, it'll either fall off or be so angry it'll never let us in. No-win situation there. We just gotta find another way to get inside. You guys search for an opening somewhere."
The trio looked at the wall and tried tapping it to see if any place was hollow, but were unsuccesful.
"It's no use. We're never getting in," Donald said.
"Wait look up there," Goofy pointed to the bed.
Alex walked over and looked at what Goofy was pointing at. There was a hole in the wall by the bed. He could even hear noises coming from it. Now he just had to move it. He tried pulling the bed out, but it stayed in place. He tried pushing the bed forward, but even that didn't work.
"Man you're out of shape," Sora grinned.
"It's not that," Alex said. "This bed just feels like it's bolted to the floor."
"Why not try pushing it into the wall?" Goofy suggested.
Donald rolled his eyes as soon as he heard the statement. "Yeah that'll work. In your dreams maybe."
But Alex didn't think it was crazy. His proof was in the name of where they were. Wonderland. They didn't know the rules of how this world worked. There was only one way to find out. Alex pushed the bed into the wall with all his might and it slid right in. Alex could picture Donald's jaw just dropping, which is what it did. Alex drank the last of the liquid and soon the whole team was shrunk.
Who makes this stuff? Wayne Salinsky?, Alex thought.
"Y'know, I'm surprised we haven't been attacked by any Heartless yet," Goofy said.
"Great Goofy now you jinxed us," Alex said.
"I did? Oh sorry," Goofy bowed his head.
"I'm just messing with you," Alex smiled. "I'm surprised too. You would think they would register us as a big enough threat that they would send armies to attack us."
"Let's hope that isn't true," Sora said.
"I'm just exaggerating," Alex said. He hoped he was exaggerating.
The team walked through the hole in the wall and suddenly found themselves in a completely different atmosphere. First of all, there was grass that was bright green. They were surrounded by hedges that the tallest person in the world would have a hard time seeing the tops of. In the center, the hedge had been cut in the shape of the heart. In the distance, Alex could make out a white castle. It reminded Donald and Goofy of their own castle, which only made them realize hos far away home really was. Alex and Sora on the other hand were paying attention to the scene unfolding in the garden itself.
"Are those cards?" Sora gasped. Alex gave no reply. Memories were starting to surface.
Six soldiers were lined in formation right in front of them. These soldiers however were cards that were red with hearts and black with spades that had metal helmets to shield their faces. The black cards wielded black axes and the red cards held long, red spears. This was the first time Alex was ever scared of a card. Surprisingly, the cards raised their weapons in the air to allow the white rabbit to pass through without getting shredded. The rabbit went further into the garden to what Alex guessed was a outdoor courtroom. In the middle, there was a podium where a girl was standing. To her left, was a higher podium that had a mini staircase. To her right was the jury box. It wasn't very big. The girl was paying attention to the massive podium that lay right in front of her. It had a yellow tapestry on it with the symbol of hearts, similar to the red soldiers. Sitting in the podium was a very large woman, dressed in red and black, with black hair tied in a bun.
The girl apparently on trial was short, with blond hair that held a black headband. She was wearing a bright, blue dress with a white apron running down the front and shiny, black shoes. Alex knew that he couldn't tell the others, but he didn't even have to hazard a guess. He knew he had found Alice.
The white rabbit panted as he ran up the right staircase. As he got to the top, he stopped to take a breath. Then he blew a brief tune on a trumpet.
"Court is now in session!" The rabbit yelled, trying to muster up what little energy he had left.
Alice looked shocked. "I'm on trial, but why?"
The rabbit didn't offer an explanation. "Her Majesty the Queen of Hearts presiding."
He bowed to the woman in the large podium. She had her eyes closed and was cooling herself with a heart-shaped fan. Knowing this woman from the movie, Alex guessed she was doing her best to try and keep her temper under control. But he also guessed that it wouldn't last long. He hoped Alice would be cleared of whatever false charges she had before the queen exploded.
The queen opened her eyes and spoke,"This girl is the culprit. There's no doubt about it." She waved her fan in threatening motions as she spoke.
"And the reason is," the queen said," because I SAY SO THAT'S WHY!"
Alice couldn't believe what was going on. "That is so unfair." She hoped she could reason with this obviously insane woman, but in her heart she doubted it.
"Well, have you anything to say in your defense?" The Queen of Hearts had a smug look on her face. She knew Alice had no defense. Unfortunately, Alice knew it too.
But it wouldn't stop her from trying. "Why yes, I do have something to say. I've done absolutely nothing wrong. These rules of yours, this whole trial in fact, is utterly ludicrous and pointless."
Alex saw the white rabbit making stopping motions with his hand toward Alice, but she wasn't paying attention. He knew Alice was innocent, but her expressing that in such a wild manner would not help her present situation.
She's smart. She won't say anything more, Alex thought.
"You may be queen," Alice said,"but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so..so..mean!"
So it is true what they say about blondes, Alex thought.
The Queen had had enough. "SILENCE! You DARE defy ME!" She slammed her fists on the podium so hard that the rabbit fell where he stood. Mostly out of fear.
"Hey guys," Sora said. "We should help her out." He said it in a little whisper. The card soldiers hadn't seen them yet and they wanted to keep it that way.
Donald frowned," Yeah, but the-."
Goofy interrupted,"We're outsiders so wouldn't that be muddling."
Donald pointed his finger in the air for Goofy to see. "Meddling!"
"Oh yeah," Goofy said,"and that's against the rules."
Sora bowed his head and sighed. There must be something he could do.
"Wait a second,"Alex said, still softly. "What rules? You never told us about any rules."
"We can't meddle in the affairs of other worlds," Donald explained. "It'll upset the natural balance or something like that."
Sora couldn't believe his ears. "I think we're way past that, don't you?"
"Sora, it's part of your duties as the Keybearer," Donald said. "Start acting like one."
"Gimmie a break," Alex said. "You're only saying that to make him do what you say. How would you know anything about what a person with the Keyblade is supposed to do? Sora's the Keybearer, and even he doesn't know."
"Maybe we should listen to them Donald," Goofy suggested.
"All I know is that girl is in trouble," Sora said. "I'm the one with the Keyblade and you're supposed to follow me. You preach to me about doing my duty. Why don't you start doing yours?"
"Guys look," Alex pointed back to the Queen.
"The court finds the defendant," The Queen said smugly, "guilty as charged!"
Alice gasped. Her eyes went wide and small tears began to form in them. Her breathing became struggled.
"For the crimes of assault," The Queen continued, "and attempted theft of MY HEART.."
Alex's eyes widened as he heard the last statement. Attempted theft of a heart. There was only one thing in the world Alex knew would do that, and it didn't involve sweet, innocent girls.
Well, most of the time, Alex thought.
"It's the Heartless, guys," Alex spun around quickly to inform them. "They're here. This is our matter now."
"That's what the Keyblade is for," Sora grinned triumphantly.
Donald grumbled, but realized they had a point. It was time to get involved.
"OFF WITH HER HEAD!!" The Queen screamed at the top of her lungs. All the card soldiers turned towards Alice, weapons raised.
Alice fell to the ground, sobbing. "No! NO! Oh please!"
"Hold it right there Rosie O' Donnell!"
The Queen looked up from the potential decapitation to see four weirdly dressed individuals enter her sight. Sora ran right through the soldiers with his fists clenched. He couldn't believe this woman would actually execute a poor girl.
"Who are you?!" The Queen asked, having a hard time believing that these fools actually had the nerve to interfere. "How dare you interfere with my court!"
Sora took a step forward and cleared his throat. He felt Alex gave him a pat on the back for reassurance, which made him feel better. At least he had backup in case the cards decided to attack.
"Excuse me," Sora began, "but we know who the real culprit is."
Goofy nodded, "Yep, it's the Heart-." He covered his mouth from revealing things that could be disastrous. How could they explain to this queen about the Heartless? She wouldn't believe them and cut off their heads. He noticed Donald giving him an evil look out of the corner of his eye.
Sora continued, "Anyway, she's not the one you're looking for." He pointed to the girl to specify who. The queen didn't strike him as the smartest person around. How she got to be queen was beyond him.
The Queen pounded her fan on the podium in frustration. "That's absolute nonsense! Besides, have you any proof?"
"The question you should be asking is do YOU have any proof?" Donald said. He didn't care if he ticked off this queen or not. No one should be treated in the way this girl had. Donald realized that had they not intervened, this girl would probably be dead. Maybe those rules he preached so much shouldn't matter when a human life is in the equation.
"I don't need proof. I am the Queen of Hearts," She smiled. "And the Queen is..."
"Always right!" The white rabbit finished the sentance for her.
"Dude, you are so whipped," Alex said to the rabbit.
Sora knew there was no reasoning whatsoever with this woman and she was right. He had no proof, even though he knew she didn't do it.
"Until you have brought me evidence of Alice's innocence," The Queen said, "she will be kept in my custody for the time being."
Two soldiers walked over to Alice and pulled her from the ground. They held her by her arms and brought her over to the left side of the Queen's podium. There was a golden cage there. One of the soldiers opened the door. The other one nearly threw Alice in, but she got her footing. The soldier shut the door and slid the lock into place. All the soldiers proceeded to get out of formation and spread out to different sides of the garden.
"Move it you maggots!" Alex yelled in his best drill seargent voice.
"Hey," Sora said. "Why don't we ask that girl, Alice, where to look for some evidence?"
"How would she know?" Alex asked.
"No idea, but she's the only person around here we can ask and get the truth," Sora pointed out.
"That's true," Alex agreed. "I'm definitely not asking the Queen for advice and it doesn't look like these cards are the most sociable fellows on the block."
They reminded Alex of those guards at Buckingham Palace that had to have their game faces on 24/7. The team made their way over to where Alice was located.
"Hello," Alex decided to start the conversation. Alice didn't look like she was in the best state to want to talk.
"Who are you?" Alice asked in a small voice. Her British accent was something that Alex found strangely attractive, but he quickly thrust those thoughts out of his head.
"I'm Alex," Alex put out his hand for her to shake. "Nice to meet you, Alice."
"I'm Sora," Sora just nodded. "This is Donald and Goofy." Donald smiled proudly, while Goofy waved.
"I'm pleased to meet you of course," Alex started to smile. "Though I do wish it was under better circumstances. I'm very greatful for your help back there. Sorry you had to get dragged into this because of me."
"Don't worry about it," Alex said. "We couldn't let a pretty head like yours get cut off." Alice smiled even more. Sora, Donald, and Goofy just rolled their eyes. Alex couldn't go two seconds without being a womanizer.
Sora got the subject back on track, "Why were you put on trial Alice?"
Alice's expression turned from smiling to very annoyed. "That is a question that I would love to know the answer to. After all, what kind of trial is it when you're guilty from the moment you take the stand?!"
"A very loopy one," Goofy responded.
"So how did you end up getting here? You don't live here do you?" Donald asked the questions back to back.
Alice seemed insulted. "Of course not. I would never associate myself with such a dreadful place. All I can remember is that I saw the white rabbit going down a particularly large rabbit hole. I just wanted to see where it went. I know I'm too curious for my own good."
"You got here by rabbit hole?" Donald seemed perplexed by her answer.
"So you are from another world," Goofy deduced.
"What's "another world"?" Alice asked, slightly puzzled.
Goofy realized that this time he had said too much, but ironically he was saved by a card soldier.
"Enough talking!" It spoke. "The defendant will be silent!"
"Wow, it talks!" Alex laughed.
The soldier just walked away, thinking they were actually going to listen to him.
"Listen carefully," Alice whispered. "When I got here, I was told by the Chesire Cat that I should ask the Queen how I could get home. But it led me straight into that trial. He was in the Lotus Forest. Find him and I believe he can tell you where to find evidence."
Alex remembered the Chesire Cat even from the book. Quite the character if he remembered correctly.
"Don't worry Alice," Alex held her hands. "We will prove you innocent and get you out of here. I promise."
Alice started to cry happy tears. "Oh thank you. You've all been so very kind. I wish you luck."
"Thanks," Alex said. "We'll probably need it."
"You are very welcome, Alex," Alice smiled. "You can enter the Lotus Forest from over there." She pointed with her fingers to the far left to reveal hedges slightly cut away to form a pth to the forest.
"Will do," Sora gave her a thumbs up. With that, Sora led the group through the hedge passage.
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The hedges were indeed cut, but not necessarily that well. Feet were stomped on and branches were pushed aside as the team trudged their way forward through. Soon enough, they made it out and were stunned by their surruondings. The Lotus Forest was a direct contrast to the bright, outdoors they had been in just recently. Alex couldn't help but wonder how the environment changed so quickly in this place.
Just remember. This is Wonderland. Anything can happen here, he said to himself.
They had just walked to an open area with brown dirt replacing the grass. The sky was gone. Little streaks of light shined through a ceiling full of vegetation. Brown and dark green grass towered over the team just like the hedges had. Giant lotus petals rose up from the ground. To their right, was a big tree stump that had been cut perfectly. The sound of birds chirping was the only good thing about this moody atmosphere. The chains on Sora's necklace jingled as he continued to twist his head to view his surroundings.
Suddenly, a head appeared right in front of Sora.
"Whoah!" Sora screamed.
"What?" Alex ran over to his friend. "What did you see?"
"It w-w-was a h-hea-d-d!" Sora stammered.
"What?" Alex said, just before it appeared infront of him.
"Yikes!" Alex yelled. The head was oval shaped with purple and pink stripes. Yellow eyes stared at them. It disappeared again.
"What the hell was that?" Sora asked. Alex had a pretty good idea what it was.
The head appeared for a final time on the tree stump, bobbing in the air. Suddenly, the body appeared on top of the head. It was a cat's body. The feet were bouncing off of the head, while laughter pierced the forest and gave Alex chills down his spine. The arms grabbed the head and place it in its rightful spot. The cat's grin was like a half moon, white and crescent shaped.
"Who the heck are you?!" Donald broke the silence by waving his arms furiously in the air.
"Who indeed?" The Chesire Cat asked playfully. "Poor Alice soon to lose her head and she's not guilty of a thing."
"If you know she's not guilty," Alex demanded, "then tell us where the real culprits are."
''The Chesire Cat has all the answers," he said. "But doesn't always tell. The answers, the culprit, and the cat all lie in darkness."
Well it doesn't take a genius to know that he's talking about the Heartless, Sora thought.
"Where are they?" Donald asked, losing his patience.
"Oh most of them have already left the forest," the cat said. "I won't tell you which exit. But that doesn't mean all have left." The Chesire Cat disappeared.
"What did he mean by not all of them have left?" Goofy asked.
"Obviously, some are still in this forest," Alex said. "We just have to find one and bring it to the queen."
"Bring?" Sora said. "As in grab it and drag to court? How are we supposed to do that without getting our hearts sucked out?"
"We lure it to the courtyard," Alex suggested. "If it sees us, it sees fresh hearts."
"Good idea Alex," Goofy said.
"First we have to find one," Sora pointed out. "Why don't we spread out and look for some."
The team branched out in different directions of the forest. Alex went near a small pond on the left side. Donald ventured into a little clearing up ahead that had been cut through to lay a path. The clearing was still surrounded by grass and it was circular. Flowers bloomed from the ground. Donald held his staff ready in case something jumped out at him.
Sora and Goofy continued further past a big tree in the center. They came to a path which branched off in two directions. Sora took right and Goofy took left. Sora was holding out his Keyblade because he knew the Heartless were attracted to it. Goofy was clutching his shield tightly to his body. His knees were shaking a little bit, mostly due to fright.
Crack!
Goofy quickly spun around to the sound. No one was there. Or so it seemed. Goofy remembered something from knight school about tracking. His instructor's voice still was drilled into his memory.
"Don't just pay attention to your position. Listen to the sounds elsewhere. Anyone can hear the crack of a branch or the heavy breathing of an individual, but what if your opponent is too smart for that. You must listen to nature around you. Birds were chirping before, but now they aren't. A squirrel scurries past you. It's not afraid of you, but something else."
Goofy stopped and listened. The birds were chirping and he didn't see any animals running away. But he knew in his gut that something was out there. Suddenly, Goofy noticed something. A whole colony of spiders was running the opposite direction away from him. He realized he couldn't hear the birds chirping. Goofy started to sweat. He saw a lizard scurrying away. It was here, this moment. Goofy yelled in fright.
And that was when the Soldier struck. Goofy put his shield up just in time to intercept metal claws tearing him apart. Goofy knew he couldn't kill it, so he started to run the other way. He was relieved to see Donald, Sora, and eventually Alex come running towards him.
"Goofy you did it," Donald said, looking proud of his partner.
"I kinda wish I didn't," Goofy said quickly before he started running again.
The others followed him. Alex looked back to see the Heartless right on his tail.
"Gotcha now ya little heart sucking freak," Alex muttered under his breath.
It didn't take long before the team sprinted into the courtyard. All the soldiers looked at them with interest. Sora saw Alice leaning against the bars to see what was happening. He gave her a wink for reassurance.
The Queen of Hearts looked down at them, "Well, have you brought me my evidence?"
At that moment, the Heartless burst into the courtyard, alarming even the soldiers.
"What is that thing?!" The Queen asked, frightened.
"That is your evidence missy," Donald pointed to Alice. "Now let her go free."
"This is the thing that tried to take your heart," Alex said.
Sora took out the Heartless with one brutal swipe with the Keyblade. "A deal is a deal. Let Alice go."
What happened next was not what any of the team expected. The Queen had a certain expression on her face. Not of gratitude or fright. It was pure anger. Alex realized that the Queen had never wanted Alice to be proved innocent. She had been playing with them. But Alex and the others had done the exact opposite. Not only did they find proof of Alice's innocence, but they were declaring the Queen was wrong. Alex saw in her face that she wasn't taking it well at all.
"Silence!" The Queen shreiked. "I am the law here! Article 29 states that anyone who defies the Queen is guilty!"
"That's bullcrap!" Alex yelled.
"Cards!" The Queen pointed to the team with fiery eyes. "Seize them at once!"
One of the black cards ran over to the cage and showed off a crank tower. The card started to turn the wheel until Alice's cage was all the way at the top of the Queen's podium.
"Oh! Gotta do this the hard way I see," Alex said, whipping out his sword. "That's fine with me. Any takers?!"
The response he got was every card in the courtyard pulled out their spears and axes.
"Damn! That's a lot of takers," Alex said.
"You guys keep them busy down here!" Sora yelled. "I'm going for the tower."
"You got it!" Donald and Goofy said in unison and drew their weapons.
The cards charged the trio on the ground and the brawl began.
A black card swung its axe at Alex, but missed. Alex took this opportunity to swipe his sword at a card to his left, but his blade was blocked by the shaft of the axe. These cards weren't going to be pushovers.
Donald shot the ace of spades, who was trying to attack Alex, with a fire spell. Alex ran towards Donald with the cards right behind him.
"Duck!" Alex slid on the grass just in time to dodge Donald's fire spell, which blasted the soldiers. The cards who weren't knocked out were tackled by Goofy. He slammed one in the face with his shield. A red card thrust his spear outward, but Goofy knocked it aside and kicked the soldier.
Alex swung his sword wildly, not even caring if it hit the soldiers. It just freaked them out. He blocked an obvious spear thrust and grabbed it with his right hand. He pulled the spear which brought the red card with it to the ground. Alex dodged an axe strike and sliced his sword horizontally, which cut the soldier. One black card swung his axe so hard that Alex had to block with his other hand, gripping the flat part of the sword. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a spear coming right for him, but before it reached him, it was blocked aside by Donald's staff. Donald thrust his staff right in the card's face and knocked him out.
"Get him you fools!" The Queen continued to scream, as she saw Sora heading for the crank tower.
Sora summoned the Keyblade and chopped a card that charged him. His momentum helped his blows to even tear the enemies' weapons out of their hands. Two red cards rushed him with their spears. Sora ducked and pushed the spears up with the blade. Then, he shot the cards with fireballs. One skilled red card tried to stab Sora, but it turned out to be a fake. He whipped the spear to whack Sora's legs. Sora twisted the Keyblade to the right and blocked low. The spear got stuck between the teeth of the Keyblade. This allowed Sora to push up and swing the spear to the ground, leaving the card open for a bash to the head.
Sora got a running start and leaped onto the Queen's podium. He saw the Queen staring angrily at him. Then, she swiped at him with her fan. Sora jumped over the fan, missing his legs, and landed. The Queen tried to strike again, but Sora blocked the blow. The Queen went for a straight thrust, but Sora had enough and grabbed the fan, throwing it aside.
"Cards, come to my aid!" She shrieked.
All of the red cards stopped what they were doing and charged for Sora. They began to climb on top of one another and formed a small staircase. A spade card climbed up and was soon on the edge of the podium with Sora. Sora ducked a swipe from the axe. He countered with a straight chop which was parried by the axe. The card struck horizontally, missed Sora, and got his axe stuck in the wooden podium. Sora shot the card with a fireball. The other cards attempted to get up, but were thwarted by a full bum rush by Alex, Donald, and Goofy.
"Sora go for it," Alex said.
Sora nodded and finally reached the tower. Instead of pulling the wheel the other way, Sora just started chopping it up with the Keyblade. In no time at all, the tower was destroyed. The others ran over to where the cage was coming down. They could finally get Alice out of here. The cage turned to its front. But there was noone inside. Alice wasn't there.
"What the-," Alex stammered.
"How is she gone?" Sora wondered.
The two looked back at Donald and Goofy who appeared just as puzzled as they were. How could someone just vanish like that? From a cage even?
"You fools!" The Queen screamed. "Find the one who's behind all this. I don't care how you do it."
"Guys, let's get out of here," Alex suggested. The others nodded and followed Alex back into the Lotus Forest.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
"What the heck is going on around here?!" Donald complained.
The team trudged its way through the forest, pushing away large blades of grass. The loss of Alice stung, but even more so because they had a good idea what could have happened to her.
"It was the Heartless," Sora said. "They must have sneaked into her cage while we were fighting with the guards. Some keybearer I am."
Alex looked over at Sora."Don't beat yourself up man. There was nothing you could have done."
"Oh no! Did you lose something? Or rather someone?" The Chesire Cat appeared in full form in front of the team.
"Alice is gone," Goofy explained. "Have you seen her?"
"Alice, no," he said. "But shadows, yes."
"Where did they go?" Sora asked. "Tell me now!"
"Oh, that way, this way, it doesn't really matter," the cat purred. "Everything is mixed up thanks to the shadows. But if you require a hint, then why don't you step deeper into the forest. Find the garden and go from there." The Chesire Cat gave a small giggle and disappeared.
Sora turned to his friends. "Well, you heard him. Let's keep going."
"Sir, yes, sir!" Goofy stood up straight and saluted his leader, earning strange looks from Donald and Alex.
They kept going until they started to see light coming up ahead. They ran faster, eager to see what it was, even if it was Heartless. It turned out to be a tea party. A deserted one. There was a straight table that seemed fit to feed a whole family. Chairs of different shapes and sizes were set along the table. There was a small house to the left. At the head of the table, was a picture of a man in a huge hat and a hare. Alex knew what this place was. This was where the Mad Hatter resided. He really hoped they didn't have to deal with him too. The Queen had been enough.
"What is this?" Sora asked. He walked over to the table and touched a chair.
"Is this a tea party?" Donald wondered.
"Yep it is," Goofy said, after he had taken a drink out of a teacup.
"Then where's the party?" Sora asked. "This is kinda creepy."
"Maybe the Heartless scared them off," Alex suggested.
"Looks like it," Goofy said. "They didn't even finish their cake." He reached down to take a piece.
"Goofy don't!" Donald quacked.
Right as Goofy took a bite, the entire table vanished along with the chairs. The light shining through the trees dimmed and a Heartless appeared. But they hadn't encountered this one before. This Heartless was fat, with a big belly. Its yellow eyes shined through a small helmet on its head. It was wearing a purple jumpsuit that was tied by yellow ropes at the front. It had purple chains on its arms that had been broken apart.
"That's a biggun'!" Alex yelled and pulled out his sword. The others did the same.
The Heartless charged at Sora, who quickly rolled out of the way. It turned around slowly and Sora attacked with the Keyblade, but the blade just bounced off the belly. Sora had a second to wonder why, before the Heartless punched him in the gut, sending him flying into a tree. Goofy charged and slammed his shield into the stomach. The Heartless was pushed back, but it didn't faze him. Goofy dodged an overhead slam and cleared the way for Alex to attack. Alex jumped up and swung the sword at the head. The sword clanged against metal, but Alex still held on to the head. The Heartless shook its head from side to side, trying to buck Alex off. Donald took this opportunity to shoot the creature with a fire spell. The monster groaned as the flames burst over its body, narrowly missing Alex. Fire spells hurt it, so Donald unleashed some more. Finally, Sora jumped from the trees, getting behind the Heartless and stabbed it in the back.
"Jeez!" Alex moaned. "These guys just keep getting bigger."
"And stronger," Sora added. "Knocked the wind out of me."
"Let's heal ourselves up," Donald suggested.
Each of them reached into their pockets and pulled out small bottles of potion. They each took a drink and instantly felt better.
"Only one way to go from here guys," Sora motioned to the house. It had a door.
"Let's do it," Alex said. Sora led the way and opened the door.
They never did enter a house. What they did enter was the exact same room they had started out in. The bizarre room with its bright colors.
"How about that?" Alex crossed his arms. "We just walked in one huge circle."
"So where do we go from here?" Goofy asked. Nobody answered.
"How about up?!"
The group followed the voice up to the table. The Chesire Cat appeared before them once more.
"You're a regular Houdini y'know that," Alex said, not paying attention to the strange looks from Sora.
"Oh I've been called many things," the cat grinned. "But if you want to see a real show, the view is far better from up here."
Sora assumed the cat wanted them to get on the table, so he and the group climbed onto the chair and jumped to the table. The Chesire Cat was grinning even more than usual. Suddenly, he started dancing.
"The shadows shall be here soon," The Chesire Cat laughed. "Are you prepared for the worst, boys? If not, then too bad. Ha-ha-ha!"
Sora and the others wondered what the heck this crazy cat was talking about. The room began to rumble. Goofy fell lost his balance, but still managed to stay on the table. Alex summoned his sword and pointed it at the cat.
"What did you do?!" Alex yelled.
"Nothing," The cat responded. "Consider this your first test. You wanted to find Alice, correct. Well you can't find her if you're dead, right?"
A huge monster dropped from the ceiling and slammed into the ground. It was the wierdest thing Sora had seen yet. It had two legs that split down the middle to make it seem like four. The thighs were red, and the knee down was black. Both parts of the leg came together at the feet, which were curved and appeared to be sharp. The arms were long strips of black paper that were zig-zagged. The fingers were holding large purple clubs. Its head or "heads", were five square-shaped red and black heads put on top of one another. All the eyes were yellow and had pointy teeth. The creature stared at the team, with all ten eyes. Alex's jaw dropped at the sight of this malevolent creature.
"Behold, the Trickmaster!" The Chesire Cat thrust his arms in the air for dramatic effect. Then, he disappeared.
"Look out!" Goofy yelled, as the Trickmaster swung his clubs at the table. All four of them leaped from the table and landed not so gracefully on the ground.
"Everyone," Sora said. "Go for its heads!" The others nodded and summoned their weapons. The Trickmaster circled the table and saw them.
"Trickmaster huh?" Alex said. "Well, we got some tricks of our own."
He gripped his sword and charged at the massive Heartless. The Trickmaster picked up his leg and tried to stomp on the small boy. Alex narrowly rolled out of the way as the feet cracked the ground. Donald turned its attention away from Alex by shooting fireballs. Some of them hit its armored body, which had no effect. But some of them did hit the heads, which groaned in agony. The Trickmaster swung its clubs at Donald. The duck jumped as high as he could, but the Trickmaster just whipped the club upwards to smack Donald.
Alex came from behind and grabbed the Heatless' leg. He put his whole body on it, which caused the Trickmaster to lose some balance, lowering its head. Goofy took off in a sprint and leaped into the air, bashing one of the faces. Goofy hit the ground, looking up just in time to see a purple club speeding towards him. He thrust his shield up just in time to block the club, but the Trickmaster expected that and kicked out its leg, which hit Goofy head on.
Sora had been taking this time to climb back onto the table. This way he could be the same height as the monster. As soon as he got up there, he started to barrage the monster with fire spells. The heads recoiled from the blasts. Sora fired one last fireball, but this time the Trickmaster blocked it with its club. Then, the club itself caught on fire. Sora narrowed his eyes. This couldn't be good. The Trickmaster didn't seem afraid of this. It brought its other club over and put the two of them together. Now it had two flaming clubs.
"Weeell, that's not good at all," Sora mumbled.
The Trickmaster swung its feiry clubs at the Keybearer. Sora narrowly dodged the fire. He started to sweat because of the heat. The Trickmaster raised its hands to the heavens and brought them down. The table disappeared and Sora screamed as he fell to the ground. He landed on his butt. Sora quickly popped open another potion and got back to his feet.
"Sora, watch out!" Alex yelled.
Sora turned back to the Trickmaster to see it shoot its own fireballs at the team. Alex pushed Sora and himself out of the way as a fireball missed them and hit the grandfather clock, causing an explosion.
"This is getting way to hot for my tastes," Alex said. "We gotta take this guy out now."
The Trickmaster rushed over to them and kicked at them. Alex backed out of a kick, falling to the ground. Adreniline coursed through his veins, which helped him get up fast enough to dodge another fire strike. The Trickmaster attempted another fire attack, but was hit by a Blizzard spell, courtesy of Donald Duck. The fire on the clubs went out.
"That's how we gotta beat this thing," Sora realized. "With cold."
Donald passed Goofy a potion, which he drank. Then, Goofy changed his grip on the shield and threw it like a discus. The shield cut into one of the faces, but the others weren't affected. Donald ran in between club strikes and shot some blizzard spells right at the body. The Trickmaster slowed down long enough for Alex and Sora to bash it with their blades. Alex went even further and cut off one of the monsters arms. The moster quickly got back up and continued to swing at them with its one arm.
"Having problems?"
Sora turned to see the Chesire Cat. "It looks like you're in need of assistance."
"No more gifts from you," Sora growled. "How would you know how to kill this thing?"
"I don't," The cat shrugged its shoulders. "But I can give you something that might help."
"Like, what?" Sora asked.
"Magic," The Chesire Cat smiled.
Suddenly, the tip of the Keyblade glowed a bright blue. Sora realized that the cat had given him magic. Magic that Donald had used earlier. He just needed to use it.
"Guys, distract it!" Sora yelled. Alex didn't know what Sora was up too, but he nodded.
Alex blocked a club swing, which felt like his arm had been broken. He shot a fire spell back up at the heads, which hit home. The Trickmaster retaliated with an uppercut that sent Alex flying across the room onto the stove. Donald and Goofy charged it together, with Donald whacking the legs with his staff, while Goofy climbed onto the chair that hadn't been destroyed, and leaped onto the shoulder of the monster. Goofy gripped the monster with all his might. He leaped over to the heads and punched all of them. The Trickmaster fell to the ground.
"Sora now!" Alex yelled.
Sora concentrated as deeply as he could. He pointed the Keyblade at the Trickmaster, which was starting to get up. Sora yelled with all his heart, "DEEP FREEZE!"
Icicles shot out from the Keyblade and began to pierce the Trickmaster. The monster roared in pain. The cold spread from its legs to the heads until the monster was finally frozen. The team had defeated the Heartless.
"Yeah!" Alex hollered. "Go Sora!"
"What a racket!"
Alex saw the doorknob yawn and open its eyes. "How's a doorknob to get any sleep around here?" It yawned once more.
Sora saw something glimmer in the doorknob's mouth. The others came over and peered inside. The object shimmered once more. It was a keyhole. The Keyblade began to rattle in Sora's arms. Sora gasped in wonder as the Keyblade forcefully pointed itself at the keyhole. A beam of light shot out of the Keyblade and entered the keyhole. The keyhole shined and shimmered away with a locking sound.
"What was that?" Donald whispered.
"It sounded like it closed," Goofy said.
Sora looked more closely at the Keyblade. He thought its main purpose was to kill Heartless. But now there was this strange development. Maybe the Keyblade was meant for more than just killing creatures of darkness.
Something fell out of the doorknob's mouth as it was closing. It was a small block that looked flexible. It shined brightly with its orange color.
"It's a Gummi block," Goofy pracitcally shrieked with delight. "But this one's not like the others. No sir."
"Ok," Donald grabbed the Gummi from Goofy. "I'll hold on to it. You have a tendancy to lose things."
"Splendid! You're quite the hero!" The Chesire Cat said.
Alex looked at the cat and started to ask a question, but the cat cut him off.
"If you're looking for Alice, she's not here," The cat said.
"Then where did she go?" Alex said through gritted teeth.
"She's gone!" The cat said. "Off with the shadows, into the darkness." That Chesire Cat gave a final bow and disappeared.
Sora breathed hard and bowed his head. He had failed.
Donald looked at Sora sympathetically and said, "Look, let's go back to the Gummi Ship. Who knows? We might find her in another world."
Sora gave a half-smile to Donald and shrugged his shoulders, wondering if the duck himself actuall believed it.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
The stars were a welcoming sight from all the chaos that was Wonderland. Alex stared into space as he felt the Gummi Ship flying away from the planet. He took a big sigh and realized he needed some sleep. Sora was doing the same thing, but his thoughts weren't on sleep. He had failed to save Alice and he didn't even find Riku or Kairi. He saw Alex about to head to the lower level when he turned around.
"So now that we don't have a live card deck on our throats," Alex said. "Why don't you inform Sora and I about this little rule you conjured up?"
Donald stamped his foot. "I didn't make it up. Which you would have known if you hadn't gone sprinting into a trial."
"I had to do something," Sora said.
"Look," Donald explained. "You can't just go around getting involved in every damsel in distress you see. In case you've forgotten, the Heartless are after you. What do you think people are going to start doing when they find out about them? It won't be good."
"Why not?" Sora asked.
"People believe what they want to believe," Donald continued. "And they don't want to be believin' that there are creatures out there that can take their hearts. If they found out, the whole world would go into chaos. And what thrives on chaos?"
"The Heartless," Goofy finished.
Alex stopped whatever complaint he was going to make to think about that. The duck kind of had a point. But there was just one thing wrong with it.
"Not telling people is even worse," Sora exclaimed. "If you did tell them, they could better prepare themselves."
"Actually," Goofy said. "That girl at Traverse Town, Aerith, told us that Heartless tend to go after the people who actually know about them."
"Why is that?" Alex asked.
"I guess the Heartless would want to stop those people from tellin' other folks about them," Goofy explained.
"It would make it easier for them," Donald agreed.
"Well we're screwed," Alex threw up his arms in frustration. "We don't tell them, they might get attacked. We do tell them and they will get attacked. I'm not liking these odds."
"But Alex," Sora turned toward him. "That's why I have this." Sora summoned the Keyblade in his hand. The blade seemed to give more light through the forest.
"I guess it's all just of a matter of believing," Sora said as he held the Keyblade. "Believing that we can stop them."
"I don't know," Alex said. He was still unsure about this.
"Gawrsh guys," Goofy said. "You can't save everyone."
"That's not true!" Alex yelled. A brief memory flashed to the night his parents died.
The others hadn't expected the outburst from Alex.
"Sora, if you beleive in the Keyblade so much," Alex said, "then why couldn't it save Alice from the Heartless?"
"Alex, now that's not fair," Goofy protested.
Alex turned to see Sora take a few muffled breaths and turn away. He realized what he just said.
"Sora I-I-I'm sorry," Alex apologized. "I didn't mean that. I don't know why I said it. I guess I'm still just shook up about the whole thing."
"It's okay," Sora said. "I know you're upset."
"I'm gonna get some sleep," Alex said. He climbed down the ladder and went to his room.
Donald didn't say anything, but it sounded like there was more pain behind Alex's words than Sora thought. It almost sounded like Alex was talking about someone else. He wasn't completely sure, but that was the first time that Donald had ever questioned the true identity of Alex Bane.