Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. The rights to it belong to Disney and Square Enix. Seriously, don't sue me...
Sora had lead us into a forest after we were sent away after the queen sent us away. Not only was it a forest but it was a big and dark forest. Most of the time big and dark didn't mix. Right after we stepped into it, a pink floating cat head appeared in front of us. Within seconds the head was gone... then back again... then gone. A pink striped cat body appeared out of thin air and stood on top of the head before picking it up and putting it on its neck. The cat climbed onto a tree stump and looked at the four of us wearing a creepy smile.
"Who are you?" Donald snapped, slightly raising his voice. He was trying to pretend like no one had seen him jump; the cat scared the heck out of him. Unfortunately for him, I had and was trying not to laugh.
"Who, indeed?" The cat snickered, twirling around on its paws. This that was just weird with a capital WEIRD. It clapped its hands together and looked at the sky in awe. "Poor Alice. Soon to lose her head, and she's not guilty of a thing!"
"Hey, if you know who the culprit is tell us!" Goofy said, looking hopefully at the pink ball of fur. It laughed again and stopped spinning around. "The Cheshire Cat has all the answers- but doesn't always tell. The answer, the culprit, the cat all lie in darkness." It replied, disappearing once more.
"Wait!" I yelled, running to catch it. I reached out to it but it was gone, leaving nothing but its voice.
"They've already left the forest. I won't tell which exit. There are four pieces of evidence in all. Three are a cinch to find. The fourth is tricky. Big reward if you find them all." It announced, fading away. I turned to the three of them and shrugged my shoulders.
"Should we trust him?" Donald asked, sounding really confused. I wanted to trust the cat but he seemed a little to sketchy for my tastes. Goofy nodded slowly and Sora didn't say anything. Maybe it would be a smart idea if we didn't-
"To trust, or not to trust? I trust you'll decide!" The cat smiled, reappearing by my side out of nowhere. I shrieked and jumped back, crashing into Sora during the process. Goofy and Donald laughed at me while Sora helped me regain my balance. The cat disappeared for the last time. Well, looks like we're trusting it...
We walked around the forest for a while and found absolutely nothing. Pretty much the only thing interesting was a yellow flower that kept asking for a potion. Too bad for it, I had used my last one helping Sora battle that giant Heartless with no chest. Goofy started sniffing the air as if he was looking for a way out of here. He was a blood hound now? Next I'm going to be sprouting wings and flying.
"Look up there." He said, pointing up into the trees. There were some kind of platforms that were shaped like lily pads up there. They lead to a hole in one of the many trees; it was big enough for us to go through. "Maybe we can find a clue in that tree!"
We nodded and jumped onto mushrooms to get high enough to reach the platforms. Using all my strength, I pulled myself up into the trees and waited for Donald and Sora to catch up. They were pushing each other off of the mushrooms every time one of them got farther than the other. Eventually (after about five minutes of arguing) they caught up with Goofy and I. "What if it's a trap?" I asked, waving my hand through the hole in the tree.
"Stop being such a baby." Sora smirked, walking behind me. I turned around to see what he was doing but I wasn't fast enough. He pushed me through the hole and they followed soon after me. I'm SOOOO gonna kill him.
The next thing I knew I was standing on the fireplace in the pink room from before. Donald, Goofy, and Sora fell from the ceiling a few moments later and searched for evidence. While the brunette was distracted I snuck behind him. I quickly smacked him on the back of his head; he clutched it and whipped his head around to look at me. "Don't push me into questionable places..." I smirked, crossing my arms over my chest.
Sora shook his head and turned to the pink box on the edge of the fireplace. He tapped it twice with his keyblade and it opened, revealing evidence. "We found one!" Goofy cheered, watching a the teen stuffed it into his pockets. I jumped off the fireplaces and started going to the archway in the wall. Unlike them, I didn't have any weapons to beat the Heartless with once they showed up. Well... I did but I just didn't know how to call upon it.
Anyway, we walked through the garden and back into the forest of death, as I refered to it as. I split up from them to look on my own. That way it could be faster and we could find more than one at once. Hopping onto the mushrooms again, I pulled myself back up into the trees. It was on an entirely different part of the forest this time so there was no holes in the trees. A small pink box sat on one of the platforms all by itself.
I ran over to it and tried to pry the top off but it wouldn't budge. That wasn't fair! Sora could do it easily but I had to pull a muscle just for it to lift a tiny bit. "Sora, I found one!" I yelled, giving up on it. He, Donald, and Goofy rushed over a few minutes later with another piece of evidence in their hands. "Can you open this? It's being a jerk and won't budge." I asked, kicking the box. To my surprise it didn't move.
He tapped it with the keyblade and the lid popped up with no problem. I picked up the clue before picking up the box and throwing it. "I think that should be enough for that old lady." I smirked, proud of myself for punishing that stupid container. Donald shook his head and pointed to something higher up in the trees. Instead of pink, it was a royal blue chest like the one Leon told Sora to open in Traverse Town.
Said boy climbed up and opened it, growing quiet once he seen what was in there. We exchanged glanced and looked up at him. What could possibly be in there? As if he was answering our questions, he held up a small dalmatian puppy. What was that doing in a treasure chest? He placed the dog down and the three puppies left through a portal, most likely going back to where they came from.
"What was that?" I asked, a shocked expression covering my face. Sora jumped off of the platform and landed next to us. "There are one hundred puppies scattered across the different worlds and I have to find them all for their parents." He answered, hopping onto the ground. I nodded and pretended I knew what he was talking about before following him with Donald and Goofy on my heels.
"Now, show me what you have found." The Queen ordered as Sora stepped up to the podium. Donald, Goofy, and I had to sit at the stands while we watched. I volunteered to go up there but Donald said if the Queen said something I didn't like my temper would get the best of me. I didn't know what he was talking about but I obeyed him. I did not have a temper whatsoever. The cards took the evidence from Sora and placed it on the ground in front of the Queen. "Cards! Bring forth my evidence!"
Two more pink boxes appeared by ours. "Hmm, checking all five would only be a waste of time. All right, then. Choose which one you wish to present. I'll decide who's guilty based on that evidence." She declared, looking sternly at Sora.
"What?! After all the trouble of collecting it!" I snapped, pointing at the boxes. This lady just made me so MAD! I didn't like her one bit. The Queen stomped her foot on the ground and returned the glare.
"You DARE object? Then you will lose your head!"
"No... I'll shut up..."
"Good, now choose one." She replied a bit more calmly, looking down at the brunette to see which one he would pick. He walked around the podium and picked up the one in the middle. "Are you certain? No second chances!" She warned to which he just nodded.
He tapped the box with his key and it started shaking. The Heartless in armor jumped out of it and started twitching awkwardly before dissolving into thin air. The Queen was silent, staring at the empty spot with wide eyes. I smirked and crossed my arms over my chest. "What in the world was that?!" She yelled.
"There's your evidence. Alice is innocent." Sora said, ignoring her question.
"Rrrgggghhh...!" She growled, clutching her staff tightly. She stood up and slammed her fists on her chair. "SILENCE! I'm the law here! Article 29: Anyone who defies the queen in guilty! Seize them at once!"
With those words, all the exits out of the garden disappeared. One of the cards turned a crank inside of a small tower that hoisted Alice's cage into the air. My eyes grew wide, she wasn't serious was she. My question was answered when all the cards jumped into the air and tried to dog-pile Sora. He moved out of the way and they fell on the ground. "Cards! If they touch the tower, you lose your heads!" The Queen snapped.
"Turn the crank, we'll cover you!" Goofy said as him and Donald jumped off the stands to help Sora. I rushed over to the gears and turned them as fast as I could. With each turn Alice's cage was lowered a bit. One of the cards tried to attack me with its spear and I dodged it, bumping into another one. It wrapped its arms around me and pulled me towards a cage.
"Let go of me you stupid ace!" I growled, kicking and wiggling around to get out of its grasp. He opened the golden cage door and attempted to force me inside. I was almost inside when a flash of lightning struck the card and it fell over. Donald gave me a thumbs up before leaving to fight some more.
Another card reached to grab me but a kicked it, making it fall over. I ran over to the crank and started turning it again. "How do I use this dang key? Sora just makes it appear out of nowhere when I can't even use it for ten seconds..." I huffed, turning one more time. The gear broke off and Alice's cage slid halfway down. Something's wrong, how come it didn't go all of the way down?
"Sora, break the tower!" I shouted, making him turn to look at me. He ran over and stuck it with his keyblade while I watched his back. A big crack spread throughout it and, in a couple of seconds, it broke into tiny pieces.
The cage lowered onto the ground after that. The red curtains that was keeping Alice hidden were pulled back to reveal... nothing. That cage was completely empty, no one was inside. We walked over to it and looked around for any clues to how she got out. Sadly there weren't any.
"She must've gotten kidnapped while we were fighting." Donald sighed, crossing his feather cover arms over his chest. The Queen growled angrily and pointed her staff to the cards. She just didn't know when to calm down did she? "Cards! Find the one who's behind this! I don't care how!" She yelled. The cards scattered and ran around like a bunch of idiots after she made her command.
"We should go look too." Sora suggested as we walked to the forest of death. I nodded in agreement, something bad must have happened to Alice. She disappeared without a trace! We fought those guys for no reason!
When we went to the forest the Cheshire Cat appeared in front of us with the same disturbing grin on his pink face. He stood upside down and snickered. "Do you know where Alice is?" I asked, knowing he wouldn't tell us a thing. He laughed even louder and looked at me, "Alice, no. Shadows, yes!"
"Where did they go?" Sora asked, huffing and crossing is arms over his shoulders. The Cat stood up the right way and waved its paw around lazily.
"This way, that way. It doesn't matter. Left, right, up, down! All mixed up thanks to the shadows." The cat replied, making me face-palm. That information didn't tell us ANYTHING. I growled out of frustration and the cat chuckled. "Step further into the forest into the deserted garden. You might find shadows in the upside down room!"
It disappeared again, leaving us to solve his confusing riddles. Something back appeared in the back of the forest and we went over there. It might have been a dumb thing to do but hey, you never know. It was some kind of opening to another part of the forest I'm guessing. I stepped through it before Sora had a chance to push me once again. It lead to a clearing with a long white table set up with colorful tea sets. In the far corner of the clearing was a painting of a scared looking man and a rabbit. Sora just ignored it and walked into a small cottage than was behind the table. The inside was pink... and looked oddly familiar.
"They're hiding somewhere. And the momeraths outgrabe." The cat said, floating above us. Was he gonna keep popping out of nowhere like this? And what the heck was he saying?! A momer- what? "Want to find the shadows? Try turning on the light."
The cat left after saying those words. I looked around the room to find a light. Wait, this was the pink room from earlier! The only difference was that we were standing on the ceiling. Two chandeliers hung upwards from the floor/ceiling. I crawled onto one of them and touched it, making it light on fire. A pot of flowers grew out of the ground on the floor/ ceiling. This has to be the most confusing world I have ever been to...
The Cheshire Cat appeared on the second chandelier laying down. He slowly moved his tail around in the air as he stared at us. "It's too dim. Make it brighter." He grinned. " One more lamp that you need to light."
Sora jumped from the chandelier that we were on and onto the one that the cat was laying on. He touched it and it lit up exactly like the other one did. "All the lights are on. You'll see the shadows soon. They'll arise in this room but somewhere else. The shadows might go after that doorknob, too." He snickered, disappearing.
I groaned and started for the door again. Did this mean we had to go all the way back? "Wait, Sasuke, there's a way out over here." Sora said, unhooking a latch on the wall. I smiled in relief; good because I didn't want to go through the forest of death again. We jumped through it and landed back in the Queen's garden. That was way faster if you asked me. I ran to the archway back into the right-side up pink room.
The Cheshire Cat was laying on the white table when we walked in. "You'll have a better view from higher up." He told us, motioning for us to come up where he was. We quickly did so and waited for him to tell us what to do next. I swear if he was sending us on a wild goose chase I'm gonna- "The shadows should be here soon. Are you prepared for the worst? If not, too bad!" He laughed, pointing to the ceiling.
A tall Heartless fell from it and landed by the table. It was red, gold, and black and seemed to have paper arms. It pulled purpled sticks out of nowhere was started juggling them while rocking back and forth on its heels.
Just our luck...
Sora instantly jumped off of the table and started attacking it. Donald shot some fire at it and the sticks it was juggling caught on fire. So now it had fire weapons, huh. "HACKS, YOU CHEATER!" I yelled, trying to distract it so they could hit it. It walked over to me and swung at the table, making it disappear into the ground. I jumped onto the floor and ran into the fireplace so that I wouldn't get in the way. "That's not fair!"
The Heartless swung its flaming sticks at Goofy and he blocked it with his shield. Sora jumped into the air and repeatedly attacked its arms while it was focused on taking down Donald and Goofy. I clenched my fists and released them, hoping the keyblade would just come out of nowhere. But, like the other times, nothing happened. Goofy had gotten injured and Donald was using his magic to heal him. I had to help them somehow; just sitting here while they did all the work wasn't going to solve anything.
"Sora, how do you use your keyblade?!" I asked, peeking our from the fireplace. He swung at the giant Heartless one more time before looking over at me.
"Huh? I just swing it!"
"Not that! I mean how do you get it to appear?"
"I don't know. Just focus on it and it'll come I guess!" He answered, going back to swing at the monster. I stared at my hands and closed my eyes. I had to concentrate or I would end up dead weight to these guys. After two minutes of pure focus I started to feel something in my hands. Though, as soon as I opened my eyes it was gone.
I tried again and again but each time it did the same thing. I finally gave up momentarily to watch the battle. It seemed like the Heartless was guarding his head the most... that's it! The head was its weak point. "Jump off the table and hit it on the head!" I shouted to Sora, cupping my hands around my mouth to make my voice louder.
He climbed up the chair and onto the table without hesitation. When it was close enough he jumped high in the air and slammed his key down on its head. Since when could he do that?, I thought as it came tumbling to the ground. It attempted to stand back up but it couldn't. The monster faded away leaving a crystal-like heart left behind. I stepped from out of the fireplace to look at it, however, when I got close to it the heart started shaking. I stepped back and it dissolved away.
"What a racket." A voice said from behind us. We turned around to see the doorknob waking up from his sleep. He yawned and looked at us tiredly. "How's a doorknob to get any sleep."
He yawned rather loudly and opened his mouth, revealing a glowing keyhole. Sora's key began glowing as well and pointed straight towards it. A blue beam of light shot out of it and went into the keyhole causing it to light up and make a locking sound. The doorknob closed its mouth and fell back asleep in a matter of seconds.
"What was that?" Donald asked, scratching his head. I just stared at the keyblade with wide eyes. That was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.
"You hear that? Sounded like something closed." I said, turning to look at the doorknob. I stepped closer and bent down to get a better look at it. A green piece shot out from under the door, making me jump back a bit. "Enough with the jumpscares already!"
Goofy picked up the small piece and examined it in his gloved hands. "This gummi ain't like the others. No, sir." He explained, looking at Donald. "Okay, well hold on to it." The duck replied, watching as he put it in his pocket.
"Splendid. You're quite the hero." The cat laughed, appearing on the table yet again. If he did this one more time I was going to hit him. It was starting to grow annoying. We turned around to face him while he calmed down his laughter. "But there's something you're missing."
"What?" Sora asked, smiling slightly because he called him a hero. At least I'm guessing the Cheshire Cat was a boy. Chances are it was though.
"I won't tell but I'll give you something." He smiled, tossing two sphere's at Sora and I. I caught mine but his hit him on his forehead. It looked a lot like the one Donald gave us back in Traverse Town but this one was white. It reminded me a lot of ice. "If you're looking for Alice, she's not here. She's gone! Off with the shadows, into the darkness."
"Oh..." Sora simply replied.
"Let's go back to our gummi ship. We might find her in another world." Donald suggested, looking towards the exit. Wherever she is... I hope that she's okay...
Wow 3,759 words, huh?! That's awesome considering that usually the chapters have around 2,400 (except the first one which was around 3,500). Did you like this chapter? Hate it? Have any ideas or comments? Review!