Chapter 5: O'Chunks
Enter Dimentio:
"Heheh… " O'Chunks muttered as I walked up behind him. "Once the Dream Keeper walks through here, I'll ambush 'im!"
I tapped his shoulder, making him scream and jump at least five feet in the air, whirling to face me.
"Dimentio!" he glared. "Would ye stop scarin' me like that?!"
"For a big guy, you sure do startle easily," I noted, leaning against a nearby rock.
"Go away," O'Chunks growled, shrugging me off as he turned back around. "Count Bleck wanted me to fight the Dream Keeper, ya will just be gettin' in me way!"
"I don't really think you'll be doing any fighting here," I said.
"Yea?" O'Chunks turned his head to me. "Why not?"
"For one," I pointed to the spot he was waiting to ambush. "This isn't even a path here, so you have no way of knowing they'd come into this area."
"…well, ya never-" O'Chunks started.
"Secondly," I continued, motioning my hand to the desert, "the Dream Keeper is already on the exact OPPOSITE side of the Desert. There is no possible way he's going to pass by this area."
"Um…" O'Chunks rubbed the back of his head.
"If you want to ambush him," I sighed, covering my forehead with my hand, "head for the path to the ruins. The Keyhole's there, so the Dream Keeper's going to head there."
"Right!" O'Chunks said eagerly. "Glad I thought of it!"
It took my all not to stab him.
"Hey, idiot!" I called after him as he started to march through the desert. "At the rate you're going, the Dream Keeper will be in the ruins before you get to a good ambush spot!"
O'Chunks turned to yell at me, but I cut him short by holding out my hand and opening a portal to Darkness.
"Oh, thanks!" O'Chunks said, running through. I sighed as the portal closed behind him. One minute he's ready to pound me for calling him an idiot, the next he's thanking me like an old friend? I will never understand that oaf…
Enter Pax:
"The heroes go marching three by three hurrah! Hurrah!" I sang as we marched.
"The heroes go marching three by three hurrah! Hurrah!" Goombella sang right with me.
"The heroes go marching three by three…" I started, pointing to Goombella.
"When they need a rest they stop by a tree!" Goombella continued.
"And they all go marching…"
"Down from the tooooooown!" we finished simultaneously.
"Was that really necessary?" Tippi asked as Coron tried to beat his incorporeal self into unconsciousness.
"I thought it was fun," I rebutted, sticking my tongue out at her as Mario silently swayed his fingers to the beat of the song we just sang. "AH! GAH!"
"What's wrong?" Goombella asked as I started coughing.
"I… I swa-*COUGH*-swallowed some s-*COUGH, COUGH*-sand!" I said hoarsely, gripping my throat.
Instant Karma! laughed Coron as I gently rubbed my throat, coughing the sand up.
"I don't think Karma would care about singing…" I muttered, standing back up straight and clearing my throat. "Right. Now, where were we?"
We took a moment to gather our surroundings. The desert was wide and expansive, dotted only by rocks and an occasional palm tree on top of the run of the mill monsters that seemed to dot this entire world.
"Hm…" Goombella turned her head to watch her ponytail sway in the wind. "Based on the wind, we're still going the right way…"
"By that, you mean we've been walking in a straight line," Tippi sighed. "We should have gotten more precise directions from Watchitt…"
"Before or after he listed all the things that were wrong with his body?" Goombella retorted. This silenced Tippi.
If we had access to even a FRAGMENT of the Ruins, Coron thought, I could use its Aura to track down the actual ruins themselves.
Suddenly, a strong burst of wind kicked up another chunk of sand, temporarily blinding us in a sandstorm. We gathered close together and held onto each other to make sure nobody was lost during the storm. Roughly a minute later, the sand finally subsided, leaving us coated in sand.
"That's got to be the FIFTH sand storm in an hour!" Goombella said as Tippi peeked out from under Mario's hat, having hidden under there to protect herself from the sandstorm. "I'll be glad when we get to those ruins, even if it's full to the brim with monsters. Anything's gotta be better than walking with sand in your shoes."
"I'll say," I agreed, reaching for her. "Eyes."
Goombella shut her eyes as I lifted the helmet off her head. Sand poured from it, falling across her face. She gagged and started coughing as I brushed her hair with my hand to get the sand out.
"You inhaled some of the sand, didn't you?" I smirked, plopping the helmet back on her head.
"So I had the moxie to succumb to my body's basic need for oxygen and inhale," Goombella stuck her tongue out at me. "No need to mock me."
"You are so cute when you're frustrated," I said, poking her cheek.
"Pax, that is one of the OLDEST lines in the book," Goombella rolled her eyes, blushing despite herself. "Consider yourself lucky I'm soft enough to fall for it."
Mario tugged at my shirt to catch my attention. He pointed in the distance, an odd shape sitting silhouetted against the horizon.
"Huh," I blinked. "Didn't notice that before."
"Maybe it's a fragment of the ruins?" Goombella suggested.
Speak of the devil, Coron blinked.
"C'mon," I said, leading the way to it. "If it is a fragment of the ruins, Coron can use it to track down the actual ruins."
"And if it's not?" Tippi countered.
"We go back to walking," I shrugged. "Really, what do we have to lose?"
"Much needed time…" Tippi said ominously, looking at the Void sitting in the sky. I ignored her pessimism as I continued to walk. As we got closer to the object, we saw something that really did look like a fragment from the ruins… or at least, it was definitely a broken off chunk of an ancient marble pillar, and really, what else would that have come from?
"Alrighty Coron, your turn," I said as I approached the pillar. "Shift!"
Enter Coron:
Pax's body erupted into black flames, and a second later I emerged from them.
Holy crap! Pax said, looking at the spot where we Shifted from. The sand turned into glass! That is SO cool!
"And you are easily amused," I rolled my eyes as I stood next to the pillar, placing a hand on it and concentrating. In my mind's eye, shapes started to take form… archways… marble halls… a Keyhole-
A BLINDING light burst through my mind's eye, physically hurting me as I jumped away from the pillar, like one would jump away from a hot stove.
"Sweet merciful…" I rubbed my eyes with my hands, seeing spots.
"What's wrong?" Goombella asked, standing next to me.
"The Dreamers were smart when they constructed the structure…" I muttered, blinking a few times to get rid of the spots. "They used some sort of spell to prevent a Nightmare from tracing it down."
"So you can't get us to the ruins?" Tippi asked.
"I never said that," I replied. "It's an ancient spell. Powerful, but everything weakens with age. With just a little bit of applied force, I can shatter the enchantment and trace it just like I would anything else. I just need time to concentrate…"
I closed my eyes and got on my knees, pressing both my hands against the pillar and clearing my mind of all thoughts. In my mind's eye, I saw the energies flowing off everything. I could feel the auras of Goombella and Mario and even Tippi's blinding light. I could feel the enchantment surrounding the marble pillar. I was about to try picking that apart when I "saw" a wall of darkness form in a square around us. My eyes shot open as I jumped to my feet.
"Couldn't break the enchantment?" Goombella asked curiously. Ignoring her, I turned and fired an arrow of darkness out of my palm in a random direction. A black wall suddenly appeared a little ways away, the arrow bouncing off and vanishing into shadows.
"What the-" Goombella started.
"It's a trap!" I growled, bending over into battle position.
"Right ye are, laddie!"
A chunk of sand nearby exploded into a pillar, shooting far into the air. Once the sand fell back to the ground and the air cleared, we could see a beefy, unintelligent looking man glaring at us, cracking his oversized fists. I recognized him immediately as O'Chunks from the Organization.
"Feast yer eyes on yer DOOM, Dream Keeper!" he laughed, pointing at us. "Ya will wish ya never crossed paths with… erm…"
He looked between us, scratching his head in confusion.
"None of ya LOOK like the Dream Keeper…" he muttered.
Should we shift? Pax asked.
No, I replied as a thought. He's from the Organization, probably with orders to fight you. If we're lucky, we can get out of this without having to exhort the effort of fighting.
Organization?
I'll explain later!
"Uh… Dream Keeper?" Goombella asked, playing dumb. "What's that supposed to be?"
"Well he's… um…" O'Chunks scratched his beard in thought. "Ya know, I don't really know meself… all I know is that he's gonna ruin everything we worked hard to set into motion, and I'm supposed to crush 'im like a bug."
"Sounds like a real jerk," I nodded, playing along.
"Oh, silly me!" O'Chunks smacked his forehead with his palm. "I hadn't even introduced meself yet! Me name's O'Chunks, Number 4 in the New Organization!"
"Organization?" asked Goombella, looking at me in suspicion. "I've never heard of THAT, before…"
"Most people haven't," O'Chunks shrugged. "The last Organization was a LONG time ago, so people think they're just a legend… say though, I'm a wee bit curious… why are ya two followin' a Nightmare?"
Mario and Goombella looked at each other.
"Um… see, funny story-" Goombella started.
"And why do ya have a heart on yer chest?" O'Chunks pointed at the mark on my torso. "The only Nightmare I know who has that is… is…"
O'Chunks' underused brain worked over time to light the figurative bulb over his head.
"Yer Coron!" he pointed at me. "Yer the little traitor who got a piece of the Dream Keeper's soul!"
Busted… Pax muttered.
"So what if I am?" I asked, cracking my fists. "I'm happier with a Soul. You should really try it sometime."
Agony flashed across O'Chunks' face as I smirked… for about a second before that damn conscience kicked in and I felt bad for hurting him like that.
"Ya… ya little… YER GONNA PAY FOR THAT!" O'Chunks screamed, slamming his fists against the ground. The sand exploded under his fists, but rather than scattering, they stopped mid-air for a minute before flying to his fists, making spiked gloves of sand.
"Smooth move, Einstein!" Goombella shouted at me as Mario brought out his hammer.
"I'm sorry, geeze!" I groaned, clenching my fists and turning them into clubs. O'Chunks made the first move, running at us with his fists held high. Goombella dove to the left, Mario to the right, and I ran at him head on. Once we were close enough to trade blows, he swung his left fist at me. I turned to the left, still moving, missing his arm by mere inches. Once in this position, I jabbed my right club into his left elbow joint. Not wasting any time, I spun on the spot and slammed my left elbow back, hitting the oaf dead in the face. O'Chunks was launched back a bit, but the sand moved around him to cushion his blow and stand him straight up.
His left arm hanging limp by his side, O'Chunks swung his right arm down and hit the sand, sending a wave of sand after me with the speed and force of a freight train. The force and angle of this sand wave launched me high into the air.
Mario ran forward, jumping high with his hammer over his head. O'Chunks managed to turn in time to see him, however, and manipulated his sand gauntlet to become a giant hand, which he used to grab Mario. O'Chunks spun him around once before tossing him straight at Goombella, who was charging toward O'Chunks.
This seemed to be their plan, however, as Goombella jumped and flipped through the air. Mario hugged his arms to his chest and spun his leg, kicking Goombella and launching her at O'Chunks. With the momentum caused by this making him spin in the air, he tossed the Hammer into the air toward me and somersaulted to land back on his feet a few yards away.
I managed to catch the hammer and correct myself in mid-air as Goombella smacked into O'Chunks, the force of the collision launching Goombella back a bit and making O'Chunks stumble. I took advantage of him being momentarily stunned to toss the Hammer straight at him, smacking him right in the face and knocking him on his back. I landed on my feet and stretched out my arm to catch the hammer before it flew off somewhere in the sand.
"I believe this is yours," I said, turning and handing it to Mario as he and Goombella ran to my side. Mario smiled and nodded as he took his hammer back.
"Uh, GUYS!" Goombella warned. Mario and I spun our heads back to see the sand engulf O'Chunks and drag him under.
"Stay on your toes!" I warned, holding out my arms defensively as I kept my eyes on the ground.
"Tippi, you can see things that we can't," Goombella said, her eyes peeled on the sand as well. "Can you pinpoint O'Chunks' location?"
"I can try," Tippi said uncertainly, flying higher to get a better look at our surroundings.
"Everyone, scatter," I ordered, slowly backing up. "If we put space in between ourselves, he won't be able to get all of us at once."
"We also can't get to each other as quickly to help when he DOES pop up," Goombella retorted, moving herself. Mario whistled, drawing our attention to him as he jumped onto the pillar.
"Smart!" Goombella said, running over to the pillar herself. "If we're not on the sand, he can't grab us as easily!"
I followed behind, keeping my eyes on the sand.
"HE'S SURFACING NEAR CORON!" Tippi shouted from up above. Not wanting to give the guy any more of an opportunity than he already had to attack me, I jumped as far as I could. This proved to be inconsequential, as O'Chunks launched himself out of the sand and grabbed me in the air, turning around and slamming me down to the ground. The sand under me hardened during the impact, making it feel like my skull was slammed against concrete. As if that wasn't bad enough, O'Chunks started to pound on my skull with his fists, delivering rapid-fire punches. I THINK it was roughly ten hits per second, but it was happening so fast that it was difficult to keep up.
That and, you know, HE WAS POUNDING MY SKULL INTO SLUDGE. That tends to impair someone's cognitive abilities.
Lucky for me, Goombella slammed herself into O'Chunks' back, staggering him long enough for Mario to run up and jump-kick his side, knocking him away from me.
"Sh… shift…" I managed, head light.
Enter Pax:
Coron's body erupted into light, leaving me laying in his spot. I rolled to my feet, summoning the Sword of Dreams.
"Take a breather, buddy," I told Coron. "You earned it."
Thanks… Coron managed before disappearing from view. I could feel him retreat into the back of my mind to recuperate.
"What the…?" O'Chunks stood himself up as Mario and Goombella stood defensively at my side. "Oh, so NOW ye show up, Dream Keeper?! Ye know, it's a mite rude to leave an ambusher a-waitin'!"
"You could also say it's rude to wait for someone in ambush," I rebutted, giving my sword a few practice swings.
"You are SUCH a hypocrite," Goombella rolled her eyes.
"Hey, what do you mean?" I asked, turning to her.
"Remember when Doopliss stole your-sorry, Mario's body?" she asked. "You and Vivian waited in ambush for us to take the Crystal Star and head back to the Creepy Steeple."
"Oh yeah, I remember that!" I said with a nod. "…okay, in our defense, that was the only way we could think of getting you guys back to the Steeple."
"That doesn't change the fact that you did it," Goombella smirked.
"Okay, alright," I admitted. "Sometimes it's alright to ambush-"
"Oi!" O'Chunks waved his arms around. "Remember me?!"
"Oh, right," I blinked, turning back to him. "We were about to defeat you."
"Defeat… TRY THIS ON FER SIZE!" shouted O'Chunks, slamming his fists against the ground rapidly. With each punch he delivered, a boulder of sand launched up, floating in the air. An idea struck me.
"Get behind me!" I said to Mario and Goombella, pulling Thoreau's Keychain out of my pocket and attaching it to the Sword's hilt. Once O'Chunks had about a dozen boulders floating around him, he screamed and punched the air, commanding the boulders to fly toward us. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, focusing. I could feel a spark in my heart as the Keyblade began to glow. My eyes jolted open as I took a single step forward and swung the Keyblade horizontally. The boulders froze on the spot, now under my telekinetic control.
"What the…?" O'Chunks asked in shock as I spun the Keyblade over my head, causing the boulders to spin around us. I jumped onto one, prompting Mario and Goombella to do the same. Conducting the bounders with my Keyblade, we rose into the air, making a circle above O'Chunks.
Finally getting a clue, O'Chunks smashed his fists down to create a barrier of sand around him. I started swinging my Keyblade down, shooting boulder after boulder at him. After five hits, the shield broke, and I didn't give him any chance to create another. One after the other the boulders slammed into him, exploding into sand afterwards, but leaving him badly injured. Finally, it came to our three boulders. I made them fire consecutively, and once each of our boulders hit, we jumped off into the air. Hooking my feet under Mario's hammer, I grabbed Goombella in my left arm, keeping my right arm extended with Keyblade in hand.
Mario tossed us further upwards before turning down and tossing his Hammer at O'Chunks, too dazed from the bounder attacks to put up a good defense. I turned in the air and kicked Goombella further upwards, making a short flip to right myself before using the Keyblade to "grab" Goombella and slam her down toward O'Chunks, head first. As she made her mark, I turned myself down and folded my arms inward, like a bullet. With a final slash, I landed on my hands and knees right next to O'Chunks. He stood still for a moment before physics caught up with me, making a long slash mark in his torso.
"GAH!" O'Chunks stumbled backwards, gripping the mark on his torso. Some kind of ethereal substance slowly started to flow from it. "I… ye… this isn't over… I…"
O'Chunks fell to his knees, panting heavily. Before we had a chance to make a comment, a dome of darkness swallowed O'Chunks up. When it dissipated, he was gone.
"…well then!" I removed the Keychain from my sword. "That was… different!"
"I'll say," Goombella nodded. "Is Coron healed enough to open a Portal?"
"I'll check," I replied, closing my eyes. "Hm… no, he still needs some rest."
"Great," Tippi sighed. "I knew this was a waste of time…"
"Alright Miss Negative, I wouldn't be go as far as to say that," Goombella said, looking over my shoulder. I turned to see what she was staring at, finding myself looking once again at the marble pillar. Apparently during the fight, a chunk of one of the boulders hit the pillar, smacking a chunk of it off and revealing some sort of message.
"Hello, what's this?" I asked aloud, approaching the message to read. "Uh… it's written in some kind of ancient language…"
"It's ancient Dreamer text," Tippi said, landing on my shoulder. "I'll read it… *Ahem* 'Stab your blade into the pillar to be taken to the fortress.'"
"Seriously?" I asked. "THIS is the pillar Watchitt was talking about? It looks like just a fragment of the ruins, not the actual entrance."
"Maybe… the structure is built on a teleportation system," Goombella said. "That enchantment Coron felt, maybe it wasn't a defense at all, but rather a method to link anyone Dreamer who approaches a fragment to the main Hub."
"Only one way to find out," I reasoned, offering an arm to Goombella. "Grab on, guys."
Mario gripped my shoulder as Goombella jumped into my arm. I stabbed the Sword of Dreams right into the pillar, causing the blade to faze through.
There was a flash of light, and just like that, we were re-located.