"Hey! This world reminds me of the good old days!" Luigi said. The world they had landed on was fully pixilated, with green grasses and bushes.
"Those days weren't good. I was being beaten up by your stupid brother every other week!" Bowser growled.
"This place does have a nostalgic feel, almost as if it were a throwback to simpler times," Peach said.
"I don't get it," Sora said.
"It's an older generation thing, I don't quite understand the nostalgia either," Tippi said.
Sora nodded in understanding. "If we're done feeling nostalgic, maybe we should look for Riku and Kairi here."
"Well, I do sense an odd presence here, perhaps-" whatever Tippi was about to say was interrupted as a large pink tongue grabbed her. She screamed.
"Tippi!" Sora shouted.
A laugh sounded as a chameleon with a tacky yellow shirt and glasses appeared in front of them. "I finally managed to catch myself a butterfly! All of my friends on will be so jealous!" The chameleon ran away with Tippi before the heroes could do anything to stop him.
"Come on, we have to help her!" Sora said and began to run after the chameleon.
"Sora, wait." Peach reached her hand out to stop him. "We don't know where we're going and-"
"Tippi might be in danger," he said as an explanation.
"Yeah, but…" Bowser looked away. "I don't really want to say this, but Tippi isn't a priority, and the odd presence wasn't the people we are looking for. So we don't really need to stay, right now, unfortunately, that stupid plumber is more important than her."
"No, we've got to help," Sora said. "We can't abandon her, she's our friend."
"If you need help finding Francis's castle, perhaps I can help," a boy said. His blue hair was spiked out in all directions, much like Sora's.
"You know the chameleon?" Luigi asked.
"Yeah, he attacks every tiny thing in the Bitlands. He attacked me for being…I think he said something about me being a bishounen or something…" the boy seemed to mutter at the last part. "You can only get to his castle by crossing the Tile Pool. I wouldn't recommend going, but…your friend will be pretty miserable if you don't go. You could also clear out some of the scary monsters there."
"Scary monsters…how much do you want to bet those are the Heartless," Sora said.
"Do you mind helping us out?" Peach asked.
"I would, but I'm a bit…um…nervous around the crazy guy…good luck though…" the boy disappeared into one of the nearby bushes.
"So it's settled then, we help Tippi to find the Heartless around that area," Sora said.
"Fine," Bowser said. Peach and Luigi just nodded.
-x-
"So this is the Tile Pool, huh?" Sora asked. "Anybody have a boat?"
"I'm afraid not," Peach said and sighed. "We'll have to swim across the entire pool."
"We'll drown then…" Sora said. He put his foot in the water anyways, only to find it was slightly strange. Not quite water, but not quite air. Tentatively, he stepped in another few steps. It was cold around him and felt wet; however, unlike the oceans on his island, he was able to breathe when he inhaled the water. It was a strange sensation, not quite drowning under water, and he popped up above the surface of the water. "Hey guys, you can breathe down here!"
"Really?" Luigi jumped in and didn't reemerge from the water. Bowser just stared while a shocked and worried expression appeared on Peach's face.
"Luigi!"
"Don't worry princess, I'm right here!" the green clad plumber emerged moments later. "Sora's right, you can breathe under water, so it's just a straight walk to the castle on the other side of the pool of water."
"Alright then…" Peach submerged and popped up a few minutes later. "Come on Bowser. We have to keep moving if we don't want to waste too much time on this world."
"Alright…fine!" Bowser said and jumped into the water. A look of shock emerged on his face as he too found that he could breathe under the water. "What are we waiting for, let's get moving all ready!"
"Okay," Sora went to take another step as a giant white tentacle emerged from the ground in front of him. Just beside the area of sea floor, a giant squid like creature emerged from the chasm beside them.
"Bloop! Bloop!" the creature said.
"A Blooper? We must be in an area similar to Mushroom Kingdom," Luigi said. He looked up at the Blooper. "Blooper, we don't wish to fight, we simply wish to pass through your home."
"Bloop?" the Blooper said. It appeared to understand Luigi and was asking why they wanted to enter the Tile Pool in the first place rather than fight.
"We're trying to save a friend," Sora explained. "Our friend Tippi was taken from us and the person who took her lives on the other side of the Tile Pool. His name is Francis and-"
The Blooper got mad as it turned a slightly red color and raised a tentacle to block the path behind them. "Bloop!" it said and used one of its blue tentacles to slash at the four. They all tried to frantically swim away from the tentacle, but Bowser, being the slowest, was hit by the massive blue suctioned cup tentacle. In return, he blasted it with fire that magically worked under water causing the Blooper to recall its tentacle, however it hardly seemed to react or was even fazed by the attack, simply lifting up another tentacle to replace the first one and swiping at Sora, knocking the Keyblade Wielder back and barely giving him time to retaliate before the tentacle went below. Peach and Luigi underwent the same treatment, and Bowser even tried to attack the yellow ones blocking them in, but nothing seemed to harm the Blooper at all.
"How is this thing beating me?" Bowser growled before slashing at another tentacle with his claws before ducking into his shell to avoid taking damage from the hit. Peach slashed the new tentacle with her parasol before Bowser could emerge, however when the parasol made contact with the tentacle, the Blooper cried out in pain.
"How did you do that?" Sora asked.
Peach looked at the retreating tentacle to notice something different. It had red suction cups rather than blue or yellow. "Aim for the red tentacle! It's the vulnerable one!"
Sora slashed through another tentacle before nodding. He didn't realize until now how much he missed Tippi and her scans. They made most fights against any creature a whole lot easier. He slashed through another tentacle before lowering his Keyblade to protect from an attack from below. He lifted up his Keyblade and threw it at an oncoming tentacle. When the Keyblade made contact, another scream of pain emerged from the Blooper. He launched another attack at the Blooper, but this one caused the Blooper to not feel any pain. Bowser meanwhile seemed lucky enough to get the red tentacle as his claws ripped into the tentacle in front of him, the Blooper let out another shriek of pain. As the tentacle retreated, Sora landed another blow by striking at the tentacle for a second time as it reseeded. Luigi charged at the tentacle nearby him for it to disappear below and the red one to appear thirty seconds later. He punched it with his fist before the Blooper could cry out in pain again, it fled.
"Great job, now we need to finish getting through this place so we can leave," Bowser said and shook his head in disgust.
"What's Bowser's problem?" Sora asked.
"It's this world. It brings back a nostalgic feel for Luigi, Bowser, and me, and Bowser always lost," Peach said. "Not to mention he really doesn't like water that much since he fights with fire. You know, Bowser must really care and respect you if he's willing to endure the equivalent of torturous memories in order to save a friend who you've become especially close to."
"So he doesn't show that he cares well?" Sora asked.
"He thinks kidnapping me every other week is going to make me his friend and fall in love with him." Peach sighed. "He does know it won't work I think, he just can't express it any other way."
-x-
"Dry land! Finally!" Bowser emerged from the Tile Pool and stared at the large white castle in front of their eyes. "Oh come on! Why does the giant nerd get such a nice big white castle?"
"Don't worry Bowser, your castle is still nicer," Peach said and smiled. "Now come on, we should enter, shouldn't we?"
"Yeah, Tippi's in-Kairi?" Sora asked as he locked eyes on the red haired girl walk around the side of the castle. "Kairi!"
"Kairi, isn't that one of your friends?" Luigi asked. Sora
"She's right over there!" He ran around the side of the castle to see Kairi missing. He sighed in frustration and picked up a sheet of paper lying on the ground. On it was a picture of a strange castle. He looked at it in confusion. He swore he'd seen it before. "Hey, guys, have you seen this?" he asked the others.
"I haven't," Peach said.
"I haven't either," Luigi said.
"Nope," Bowser said.
Sora sighed. "I guess it's just a weird feeling. We should go inside."
"What about Kairi? Didn't you say she was here?"
"It was probably just my imagination," Sora said. He faked a smile before walking back to the main gate of the castle and pushing it open. When they entered, they were greeted with a horrifying sight. Cat robots in maid outfits were all over the place, among various other merchandise for animes, mangas, and comic books.
"Oh my…" Peach said. She was unsure of how to react in this geek's home. Thankfully, various Heartless appeared to distract them. Most of them were of the Shadow and Soldier variety, but a few were vaguely reminiscent of the cat robots and would fire smaller exploding Heartless out of its mouth. Sora was able to slice through most of the Shadows while Peach took out the Soldiers. Luigi's and Bowser's fire set the little bombs on fire as they left the cat Heartless's mouth, causing them to explode and take out the Heartless and with little effort.
"Alright, let's find what's bringing in these Heartless," Luigi said. "I bet it's that chameleon." He tried to pull open the door. The moment he did, the eyes on the large cat like door opened up.
"Meow! Only Master Francis and totally hot babes allowed in, activating Kitty Lasers." Two red beams emerged from the eyes of the door, chasing them back outside before they could continue their search.
"This stinks! How do we get in?" Bowser growled.
"We don't get in…" Luigi said and looked to Peach and Sora. "Not when we have a beautiful princess and a kid who looks like he walked out of an anime."
"No way!" Both Sora and Peach shouted at the same time.
"Then I guess you won't be saving Tippi then," Luigi said. Peach sighed.
"Fine, I'll go in, but if something happens, send Sora in after me," she walked into the castle's entrance chamber and up to the cat door, Sora hiding behind a column and watching her every move.
" Meow! Totally hot babe detected! Must check compatibility with Master Francis. Answer the following questions. Video games and hot babes are totally hi-technicaaaaal!"
"Uhh, True?" Peach guessed. She had no idea what the point of the question was, but she figured if she answered true to everything, she would have to get it right at some point.
"If it's limited edition, buy it!"
"Yes?"
"I have bought games that I have never played."
"True…"
"If it's got fierce giant robot on giant robot combat, it's an insta-buy!"
"True?"
"They're not dolls. They're action figures. With real fire punching action."
"True?"
"I have dumped a friend over an argument about 'Starship X-Naut' propulson technology."
"Why would you-it's for Tippi, true."
"A schweet cover illustration is way more important than the story line."
"True."
"Never pull the top copy from a pile of comics! Find the mint-condition one!"
"True."
"My first love was an anime character!"
"True." This guy is a lunatic, she thought.
"I love going on message boards and complaining about games I've never played!"
"True." The moment she answered that last question, the door opened, revealing the chameleon with a camera held in his hand.
"Who are you?" the chameleon asked. "How did you get in my room, haven't you ever heard of privacy?"
"You, there you are! Tell me-"
"Wait a second, were you actually looking for me?" the chameleon asked. "You were? Oh my Grambi! A totally hot babe wants to talk to me!"
"I didn't-"
"Ahh! Must activate Nerr2babe right away!" the chameleon pulled out his laptop computer and started to run some form of program.
"But I-"
"So, my name is Francis, what's yours?" Francis asked.
"I'm not answering anything you ask," Peach said.
"What, ah, such sass! You're fantastic!" Francis said. Peach could only stare. Had the nerdy chameleon ever even met a real girl before? "Tell me, what animes do you watch?"
"Um…I don't-"
"I know, it's so hard to decide between animes," Francis said. "They're all so-"
"Will you shut up?" Peach asked. "I am not an otaku who spends their life locked inside their home on their computer. All I want is for you to tell me where Tippi is.
"Tippi, what's a Tippi?"
"You-ugh," Peach tried to hold in her groan.
"Peach? Is that you?" a voice asked. Peach looked behind Francis to see Tippi trapped in a cage. "You guys came for me?"
"You came for her?" Francis growled. "Well you can't take my Francine!"
"Francine," Peach said. Her face fell into a narrow line. "Sora, now!"
"Peach," Sora ran in with his Keyblade out and Francis gained a starstruck look on his face.
"It's an anime hero!" The chameleon exclaimed.
"Uh, no! Now let go of Peach and Tippi," Sora said.
"No way!" Francis stuck his tongue out in an attempt to grab Peach and Sora in it, however a single strike of the Keyblade on his tongue seemed to shock Francis. "How about you face my Heartless friend then!" No Heartless appeared to fight them. Francis seemed to wait in anticipation for something to happen.
"Um…okay?" Sora ran over to the cage and lifted it up while the chameleon was distracted. Tippi fluttered up.
"Sora…Peach…thank you," Tippi said.
"No problem, what are friends for?" Sora smiled.
"Friends, we're friends," she said. "We should go now before that Heartless shows up."
"I agree," Peach said. As they went to exit, Bowser and Luigi ran in. "What are you two-"
"Run!" Luigi shouted. None of them could see what was attacking them.
"There's a Heartless there," Tippi said. "Allow me to make it visible." A gray chameleon appeared not moments later. "That's a Void Lizard. They tend to run and hide rather than actually fight, however they can be a reasonable challenge, so it's best to be prepared. You'll have to defeat both Francis and it in order to leave I bet."
"In that case, Peach and I now have a reason to fight Francis," Sora said. "Luigi, Bowser, you take the Void Lizard."
"Gotcha!" Luigi said.
Sora now turned towards the green geeky chameleon. He summoned his Keyblade in a flash of light and lifted it up to block an attack from his tongue that tried to grab Sora. His Keyblade was stuck to Francis's tongue; however he quickly summoned it back to his hand and managed to slash at Francis once before he disappeared. Peach backed up to Sora. "Look for disturbances," she said. "I bet that's where he'll be hiding." She rushed forward at what appeared to be nothing to Sora and attacked at the air with her frying pan. Francis appeared moments later and stuck his tongue out at Peach. She leaped over the tongue before landing on his head and holding onto him. Sora stabbed at Francis toward the top of his head with the Keyblade, unfortunately nearly knocking Peach off in the process. She lost her grip on his head and fell off, but not before pulling out a golf club and hitting him once more. Sora threw his Keyblade just before Francis disappeared, dealing slightly more damage. The two once more found themselves meeting with their backs to each other. This time, when she noticed the disturbance, Peach pushed Sora in the direction of Francis. His Keyblade pointed out in front of him managed to cause further damage Francis, knocking him unconscious.
Luigi turned toward the Void Lizard and watched as it vanished once more from their sight. The battle had barely started, but already the foe had turned itself invisible to avoid any attacks. Two large beams of light fired at Luigi and Bowser from the eyes. Luigi ran out of the way while Bowser ducked into his shell. When the shell was hit, it bounced into a wall before bouncing back and managing to hit the Heartless. The Heartless charged at the two with its tongue, but Luigi and Bowser both managed to avoid the tongue by rushing to either side before they both got in close to punch and claw. Before they could hit it again, a bright light flashed and Sora's Keyblade stabbed through the lizard, causing it to leave behind a pink crystal heart.
"We should get going before he wakes up," Peach said. The other three nodded.
"I definitely don't want to deal with him," Sora said in agreement.
"What about the Keyhole to this world. You have to seal it before we go so we'll never have to return," Tippi said.
"If you know where it is then show us," Bowser said.
"It's more of a feeling…but…" Tippi pointed at the area where her cage had sat on the table. A small green heart was imprinted on it. As Sora approached, a bright ray of light appeared from the tip of his Keyblade and the Keyhole appeared. This time however, a small golden star appeared from beneath it.
"A power star…" Peach gasped. "Mario was here!"
"Well not anymore," Luigi said. "But we should take this to Traverse Town. Maybe somebody there can install it in the Starshroom."
"Yeah, let's go!" Sora said.
-x-
"Yeah, um, Count? The Keyblade Wielder has managed to seal three Keyholes," the woman said.
"Interesting, mused Count Bleck," the creature said.
"So tell me, what's the plan?" the woman asked.
"Yeah, do we finally get to fight those icky heroes?" the girl asked.
"Yes. When Count Bleck goes to Traverse Town with the boy, O'Chunks will accompany him."
"Really Count? I get ta fight the 'eroes firs'?" the man asked. "I'll make sure they be cryin' for their Maddy when I'm through with 'em."
"That would be Mommy O'Chunks," the jester corrected. "You have brains like that of the dinosaurs that went extinct thousands of years ago. Perhaps you are dumber than Mimi."
"Hey! I completed the Count's mission," the girl said.
"Speaking of the girl, Nastasia, when I return have her ready."
"Yes Count," the woman said. The creature and man vanished, probably to get the one they were taking to Traverse Town.