Sydney: Hello everyone. Andwelcome to the next chapter of Kingdom Hearts: Card Keeper.
Roxas: She feels bad about not posting stuff oftenenough so this is her way of making up for it.
Sydney: Either way, I could go to twilight town yet so we are doing The Book of Lifeinstead.
Sora: She is sorry for the people who haven't seen the movie yet. She has included spoilers in this chapter and the next one.
Sydney: Yeah so go watch the movie and then come back to this chapter.
Roxas: She just got it this morning and has been itchingto work with it for here.
Sora: Anyways, Sydney does not own Kingdom Heartsor The Book of Life. She is only manipulatingthem for the next few chapters.
Roxas: Enjoy reading this chapter.
_
Chapter 32: Can I get a word in?
"I can't believe you crashed the ship again!" I yelled at Sora before coughing on the smoke that was coming out of the gummi ship. It was pretty much a miracle that Donald and Goofy got off the ship before in crashed.
"I thought you were an expect at piloting this thing?" Roxas asked sarcastically. I couldn't remember what Sora had replied with because that was when I realized where we were. There were animal and skull-shaped buildings along with skull-shaped, colourful hot air balloons. There were shining yellow, orange and gold lights that lit up the whole town. Many festive colors could be seen along with the black sky that was filled with floating flowers and flower petals.
"Wow." I quietly stated, taking all this beauty in at once. I didn't know where we landed but I knew that this would be one interesting trip.
"Sydney!" Sora screamed and I turned back towards them. Both of them had white faces, skeleton hands. Everything about them seemed paler then usual. I looked down at my hands to see they have turned to skull as well. I looked up at the two with wide eyes. We were dead, Sora killed us.
"Good job Sora." I told him before turning back to the city in front of us. Might as well take a look around.
"What are we looking for?" Sora asked as we entered the town. I shrugged my shoulders as we walked. There were many people in this town with the same skeleton appearance.
"Who knows what we are looking for when we enter a world? All we really know is that Heartless could appear at any point in time." Roxas said as a person flew in the air above us.
"I say we follow crazy guy." Sora said as he pointed to where the guy went. Roxas an I exchanged a look before shrugging our shoulders.
"Wow." The group in front of us said. We managed to keep track of the guy who was wearing a black Traje de luces that was decorated with hearts, winged hearts, skills with cross bones, etc. The group was heading towards of palace of some kind. Once we entered, that was a floating walkway with a red carpet that seemed to go on for miles. It only took a few minutes to cross the area. At the end was a table filled with all sorts of food, and a giant chair turned backwards.
"Ask her, mijo." The woman at the front of the group told the guy. I could automatically tell that they were mother and son.
"My lady, could you help me find Maria Posada?" The guy said as he stepped forward and bowed to the back of the chair.
"No one here can help you, bullfighter." A deep male voice said as black wings spread out on both sides of the chair. He laughed at his refusal as the guy lifted his head.
"The land of the Remembered has a new ruler!" The man in the chair said as he turned the chair to face us. He had a green face with a black mask covering it. It was easy to tell that this guy was the main villain of our story for the moment, anyways. The moment he turned, you could hear gasping coming from the family.
"Who, you ask Lil' old me." The man said as the group started to mutter to each other.
"You again?" The guy said as he stood up. It seemed like the two have met before but we haven't been part of their story for long.
"But La Muerte would never hand her domain over to you." An older member of the group said as he took his hat off. The evil man burped before saying "She lost a bet."
"Ah. She would do that." He said as he looked over at the younger guy.
"This land is finally mine! All thanks to you, Manolo." The man said as he directed him goblet towards the guy in the middle.
"What?" The guy, Manolo, asked as he looked up at this new ruler.
"La Muerte bet that Maria would marry you. I bet that Maria would marry Joaquin. And since you're not around anymore… Maria is going to marry Joaquin just to, you know, protect her beloved town. So, I win." The evil guy said, stating the first part as if he was bored of the simple fact.
"No, but Maria passed away. I saw her. Oh,no." Manolo said, feeling sad until he realized what had truly happened.
"Oh, yes." The evil man said making Manolo gasp and fall to his knees.
"Mijo, what is it?" The older man said as he put a hand on Manolo to keep him from completely collapsing.
"One snake bit merely put her in a trance. My champion easily woke the sleeping beauty." The man said as he pointed upwards to where I believed Maria and Joaquin were in the land of the living.
"She's alive." Manolo said which made everyone behind him gasp.
"Cheers." The man said as he raised his glass.
"One bite? Your snake! It bit me twice! You cheated!" Manolo said as the two headed snake revealed itself and Manolo slammed his fist against the table. "You will pay for this!" Manolo stated the last part which man the evil man stand up and move towards us.
"In all my years, no one, in any realm has ever talked to me like that and survived. So I ask you, are you threatening me, boy?" The man said as he leaned towards Manolo.
"He'll expose you to La Muerte!" I shouted from the back of the pack. Everyone turned to look at the three of us.
"After he does that, then the two of you can settle things!" Sora shouted as we moved towards the front to stand next to Manolo. Manolo nodded his had as he glared at the man. Everyone around us gasped.
"You'll never reach her in her new realm. I should know. I rotted there for eons." The man said as he lifted his hand to push Manolo away.
"Now, if you'd all excuse me, I have a wedding to plan. Ciao!" He said before flying upwards. His laughter echo throughout the room.
"Thanks for the back-up." Manolo said as he turned towards us.
"Don't mention it. We make it a habit of ours to run into trouble." Roxas said as I shrugged my shoulders.
"I'm Sydney Jackson, they are Sora and Roxas." I said as I pointed to the boys.
"And I am Manolo Sanchez." He said as he held his hand out for one of us to shake it. Sora grabbed his hand and shook it.
"Now, we have to find La Muerte! Please. Please, help me." Manolo said as he turned towards his family.
"Mijo, stay here with us." His mother said as she moved to his side.
"No more worries." His grandfather said as he moved to the other side. The rest of the family started pitching ideas that could possible entice Manolo to stay with them.
"Thank you, guys. But, no. I need to be with Maria." Manolo said which made them gasp again. "It's all I ever wanted."
"If La Muerte is where Xibalba rotted away.." Manolo's mother started saying.
"Then she's in the Land of the Forgotten." The twins said with scared looks on their faces.
"Manolo, there's only one way to get to the Land of the Forgotten. Through the Cave of Souls." One of Manolo's relatives stated.
"Going there would be certain doom!" His grandfather said.
"Well, it's a good day for doom." Manolo said and I couldn't help but nod my head. The three of us, Manolo, his mother and grandfather rode off towards the edge of the land of the remembered. As we climbed the tower, all you could hear was Manolo's grandfather complaining about the workout.
"We made it Mijo." His grandfather said once we reached the top.
"Come on! What are you guys waiting for?" His grandfather asked as a wall popped up and smashed him into pieces.
"You are not worthy!" A voice rang out. Cracks started appearing everywhere with walls popping out. Manolo managed to push his mother and his grandfather's head out of the way of a crack but was trapped on the other side.
"Face the labyrinth and earn the right to be judged." The guardian's voice rang out as more walls started appearing, creating a labyrinth with three large balls rolling around. If we were caught by any of the balls, we would be dead meat. I looked at Sora and Roxas before we all took off in different directions. Every turn I made looked just the same but I couldn't stop to see where I came from. The maze would rock back and forth, sending the balls all different ways. It was a few minutes before the four of us arrived at a dead end. The balls were closing in on us and there was no way out. Manolo dodge one of the balls as Roxas threw me over top of another. Sora just remained at the far end of the area, holding his char as tightly as he could. It was then that the balls stopped moving and collided with each other. Manolo being caught in the middle. Once the dust settled, Manolo stood up, showing that he was okay. I could finally let out the breath that I was holding. The four of us had just climbed up onto the balls when the labyrinth started to rise into a flat landscape.
"You have earned the right to be judged. But be warned, no mortal has ever passed." The guardian said as he rose from his position. I looked over at Sora as I felt Roxas' arms wrap around my waist.
"For Maria." Manolo said before the guardian slammed his sword down, onto of Manolo. The sword broke around him, causing the rest of it to crumble.
"Manolo Sanchez, your heart is pure and courageous. You and yours may enter." The guardian said as he lowered down to reveal a staircase.
"Ay mijo. Don't do that again!" His mother said as he hugged then slapped him. With one last hug, the six of us, well five of us and a head, headed into the cave of souls.
"This is the Cave of Souls?" Luis asked as we waked through the thin smog that had appeared.
"Shh, Grandpa! Show some respect." Manolo said as he pulled his swords out.
"That was awesome, man!" A man said as a gold light appeared on the floor.
"Look, the giant boulders were like boom, boom, boom! And then, you guys were, like swish, swish, swish. And then, the Cave Guardian came in, and he was like I'm going to judge you with this giant sword." A man made out of golden wax with a white beard said which made us all look at each other.
"Excuse me? Sir!" Manolo said, confused about who this guy was.
"And then, you… you got through." The man said, realizing that we managed to get through the guardian.
"We have to find La Muerte." I said.
"La Muerte? Sorry, you missed her, Manolo." The man said, looking at the book that was flying next to him.
"Wait! You know me?" Manolo asked, surprised by this fact.
"Yeah, man. We know everybody. We know Luis, Carmen, and puddle. How you doing puddle?" The man said, his last comment directed to the puddle next to us.
"Hello puddle." Manolo said as he waved to the puddle slowly.
"It's all here in the Book of Life." The man said as he gestured towards the book. "But I'm afraid I don't know you three." He said, looking at Sora, Roxas and I.
"Oh, we're nothing to be concerned about. Continue." I said as we received funny looks from everybody.
"Wait, where are my manners? Come on in." The man said as the floor underneath us started to rise.
"Welcome to the Cave of Souls! Mi casa es su casa." The man said as we took in the area around us.
"You see all these candles? Each one is a life. And I'm your humble, yet strikingly handsome Candle Maker!" The Candle Maker said. Manolo and Carmen looked at the Candle Maker like he was an idiot. The book was clapping once his echo died down
"I don't get it." Luis stated.
"Wait! I didn't do the thing. I got to do the thing. Watch this." He said as he clapped his hands and candles started to fly down towards us.
"This is our work! This is what we do!" The candle makers said as we watched the candles.
"Look! That group, that's you town. And there, That's Maria." The candle makers said as he pulled one candle of out the group. "And next to her, Manolo." He said as he pulled another candle out. "One aflame with life, the other kaput. You see, as long as someone alive remembers you, you get to live in the land of the Remembered." The candle maker said.
"Santa Gordita!" The candle maker said as he looked at the book.
"What is it?" Manolo and Roxas asked.
"Chakal is on the march. With him come the end of your town. And there will be no one lift to remember you." The candle maker said.
"We would all be forgotten." Carmen said.
"Please, Candle Maker. Come on, help me go back." Manolo asked.
"I can't do that, Manolo." The candle maker said as the book tapped his arm. Once the candle maker was looing at it, the book flipped to a page.
"Hmm? Santa Chihuahua! Okay, okay. Look, guys, the Book of Life holds everyone's story. But the pages on Manolo's life… they're blank! You didn't live the life that was written for you. You are writing your own story!" The candle maker said as he mimicked an explosion.
"So this mean you'll help me find La Muerte?" Manolo asked.
"Well, I'm not supposed to interfere, but I may be able to bend the rules. Just a little. After all, it is the Day of the Dead. Right book?" the Candle maker said as he nudged the book a bit. He lifted his hands in the air and brought the platform towards one of the waterfalls.
"Come on, let's do this. I'll take you to La Muerte." The Candle maker said as he snapped his fingers.
"I'm going alone." Manolo said.
"Alone?" Luis said as he jumped out of Carmen's hands and into Manolo's.
"Hold on, now." The Candle maker said, the family members not listening to a word he was say.
"Fine. I'm going alone, too." Luis said as the Candle Maker tried to warn them about something. "Right next to you."
"We should go." Carmen said as she started to run towards the waterfall. Luis was protesting Carmen going but she jumped in with Manolo following after her.
"I tried to warn them." The Candle maker said as the four of us and the book, looked over the edge. The book floated downwards to catch the Sanchezs from death.
"Shall we go?" The candle maker asked us.
"Yeah, let's go." I said said before we jumped off the ledge.
_
Sydney: Hello again, it is us. We thank you for reading this chapter.
Roxas: if possible, hit the review button down below and tell us what you thought about this chapter or any chapter if possible.
Sora: Sydney swears that the next chapter will have more fight scenes in it, along with us actually finishing a world. maybe not in the next chapter but certainly soon.
Sydney: Anyways, favourite, follow, review (we really like the reviews, and not about the source code stuff), and we will see you next time.