Author's Note: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.
Ch.10 Keyhole
We reached the Bizarre Room, this time walking on the floor, and the Cheshire Cat appeared on the table. "You'll have a better view from higher up," he said. "Why do we need a view? Where are the Heartless?" I asked. "You can see where the are from up here," he replied. Rolling my eyes, I climbed onto the top of the table alone with Sora, Donald, and Goofy. The Cheshire Cat bounced excitedly. "The shadows should be here soon. Are you prepared for the worst? If not, too bad!" he said, and pointed straight up. We looked in that direction and a giant Heartless leaped down from the ceiling, hitting the ground with its hands and leaping over us to stand on the other side of the table.
I recognized the Heartless as a Trickmaster, and I noted that it appearing in Wonderland was oddly befitting. Alternating faces of red and black, all with two yellow eye and zig-zag frowns, were staked on top of each other to form a tower-shaped head. Connected it a stick-like torso were long, paper-thin arms which ended in purple clawed hands. Purple shoes covered a pair of feet, each of which was connected a separate pair of legs. The Trickmaster held two batons, which it juggles as it looked at the four of us. "Good luck," the Cheshire Cat said, before disappearing. I glared at the spot where he had been, before calling to the others "We have to get down! Jump off the table!"
They did as I said and jumped off, just as the Trickmaster swung and almost hit us with its batons. I pointed Stormfell at the Heartless and called "Blizzaga!" hitting it with a giant ice crystal. It took a step back from the force of the hit, shivering in cold before it shot a fireball at me. I rolled to the side and avoided it, and Donald jumped up and cast Blizzard. The spell was weaker than mine but had the same effect, only this time he was in the air and couldn't dodge the fireball. It hit him on the back and ignited, setting his tail feathers on fire. "Ow ow, hot hot hot!" he yelled, dropping his staff and running around. "Donald!" Goofy called, and tried to stop him but ended up getting bowled over. Sora cast Blizzard but missed; Donald was running around just too fast.
The Trickmaster took our distraction as I chance to attack, and swung it's baton at Goofy like a baseball bat. He saw it at the last second and managed to block with his shield. The sheer force of the blow though sent him skidding across the edge, his shield striking sparks and it slid across the tiles. Sora jumped up and called "Come on!" before swinging his Keyblade horizontally and slamming it into the Heartless's chest. It fell back and teetered on one foot, before he hit again and knocked it over. "Oh for the love of Mickey!" I called, casting Magnet to draw Donald to me before I put out the flames. "You're fine. Now, attack!" I called, turning and running at the Trickmaster. Donald and Goofy followed behind, and we each attack a separate part of the monster's body.
Donald kept casting Blizzard over and over to try and freeze its legs, while Sora and I swung at the batons and Goofy repeatedly bashed it on the head with his shield. It stirred but didn't get up, and I called "Wind Raid!" before throwing Stormfell at the baton. The impact creating a delightful smack and thanks to the current of wind around my Keyblade it flew back and hit the baton again and again before returning to my hand. The Trickmaster awoke and flailed around, knocking us away before it jumped to its feet. We tried to attack but it walked away, straight for the stove over the fireplace. I was confused, until it placed one of the batons on it and the baton suddenly lit aflame.
"What?!" I called, and then dove to the side as it fired another fireball at me. Goofy threw his shield and it spun through the air, hitting one of the monster's leg and imbedding itself in there. The Trickmaster faltered and reached down, grasping the shield and trying to pull it out. But then Goofy smiled and shook his finger from side to side, saying "Uh-uh-uh!" I looked at him and he smiled, before the shield glowed bright and exploded, creating that blast that pulled the Heartless's legs out from under it and made it fall face-first onto the floor. The shield flew through the air and Goofy caught it. I looked at him. "How in the world did you do that?" I asked. He smiled. "I may not like weapons, I sure do like that shield, so I asked Donald to put a spell on it for whenever a Heartless tried to touch it," he explained.
I smiled at the brilliance of it and turned back to the Heartless. "You're done!" I called, running forward and bringing my Keyblade down from overhead. It saw me coming and rolled out of the way, my Keyblade biting deep into the ground and staying there. While the Heartless stood I tried to pull Stormfell out of the ground, but it wouldn't budge. I tugged with all my might, arms bulging as my muscles tightened. Slowly it came out, and with a metallic scrape I pulled my Keyblade free. Not a second too late as well, because the Trickmaster shot a fireball at me and I just managed to use Barrier, bouncing back the fireball at the Heartless. The attack didn't faze it, and it swung both of its batons at Sora. One was blocked by his Keyblade while the other hit him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and knocking Sora to the ground.
Goofy tried to help but had to stay put, shielding both Donald and himself from a barrage of fireballs. While the Heartless kept them at by with one baton it placed the other and the stove, setting that one on fire as well. Now that both batons were on fire it kicked one of its feet and Goofy, knocking his shield to the side before hitting him. The fire spread from the batons to his clothes, and just like Donald his fight-or-flight instinct kicked in. In this case, it chose flight. Goofy dropped the shield and began running around like a maniac, batting at the flames only to set his gloves on fire. I tried to draw him in within Magnet but this time he ran too fast for it to affect him.
Sora slowly stood and looked at Goofy, than at Donald who had also been set afire again, and finally at me. "This guy and his fire and too strong. What do we do?" I tried to think of a way, until it flashed in my head and I smiled. "Tell me Sora: What is the exact opposite of hot?" His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but he replied "Cold." I looked at him and smiled, until the penny dropped and he gasped. "You... you don't mean... I don't have that kind of power!" he exclaimed. "But that the thing: You do have that much power. You just need to concentrate in order to let it out come forth," I said.
He still looked unsure, but nodded and stood beside me. The Trickmaster was slowly walking towards us, savoring our imminent defeat. We both pointed our Keyblades at it and concentrated, focusing our powers so intensely it was as if our lives depended on it. Which it did. The metal of our Keyblade turned reflective, covered by a fine coating of ice as the air temperature around us abruptly plummeted, falling by the second until Sora's teeth chattered. I thought of all of my most power ice-type spells- Deep Freeze, Glacier, Ice Barrage, Triple Blizzaga- and combined them all into one ultimate attack. Both Sora I pulled out Keyblades back, until as one we thrust them forward and called "Snowstorm!"
Twin beams of blue-white energy shot from our Keyblades, hitting the Trickmaster in the chest and exploding. The world turned white as they energy created a blistering flurry of ice, snow, sleet, hail and tornado-level winds. The fires on Donald and Goofy were snuffed out like candles, while the Heartless kept swinging, shooting fireballs and slamming the batons into the ground to create waves of fire. But it was no match for the cold, and eventually it stopped moving as its body was frozen in ice. The winds faded and the snow vanished, revealing a frozen ice sculpture of the Trickmaster. Goofy walked it to the frozen monster and tapped it gently, and suddenly a crack formed in the ice.
The crack swiftly grew and spread, creating a fine spiderweb of them all over the Trickmaster's body in seconds. Then with the sound of breaking glass it shattered, and the Heartless dropped its batons as it fell to the ground. Its chest glowed and a heart shot out of it, rising into the air as the Trickmaster vanished. We all stood there for a second, until we heard a yawn and looked at the talking doorknob. "What a racket. How's a doorknob to get any sleep?" he asked, before yawning hugely. I saw the shape of a keyhole in its mouth, and suddenly a beam of light shot from Sora's Keyblade. It hit the keyhole and there was a loud click, before the keyhole disappeared and the doorknob closed its mouth. "Let me sleep in peace..." he said, before falling asleep.
"What was that?" Donald asked. "You hear that? It sounded like something closed," he said. A navigation Gummi popped out and they talked about it, but I was too frozen in shock to hear them. I knew exactly what that was: Wonderland's Keyhole. The doorway through which lied the heart of the entire world. I looked down at Sora's Keyblade. I knew the Keyblade had the power to seal the Keyholes, but I had never actually seen it happen. And if the Keyholes of the worlds actually were open now, then the fate of the worlds was dire indeed. The Cheshire Cat appeared in front of us, his smile wider than ever.
"Splendid. You're quite the hero. If you're looking for Alice, she's not here. She's gone! Gone with the shadows, into darkness," he said, before vanishing. "No..." Sora said, and I agreed. I don't know why the Heartless would want to kidnap Alice, but whatever the reason was I knew that it wasn't good. "Let's go back to our Gummi ship. We might find her in another world," Donald suggested. I sighed; and the Sora and Goofy reluctantly agreed. We all knew the truth: If Alice had been taken by the Heartless, then there was little chance of finding her.
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Once we had transported from the save point to the Gummi Ship, we handed the controls over to Donald and sat down. I could see Sora staring out through the window, his chin propped up on his hand while his expression was filled with sadness. I knew what he was thinking; he had accomplished nothing in this world. No Alice, no King, and no Riku or Kairi. "Where are you...?" I heard him mutter. Standing, I walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, We will find them," I promised. He smiled and nodded, turning back to the window and gazing outside. "Hey Donald, how much father have we got?" I asked. "Not very far. See, there's the next world right there," he replied, pointing.
I peered out the window to see, and the moment I saw the next world I gasped. "No way!" I exclaimed, and they others looked at me. "What? Do you recognize this world?" Goofy asked. I smiled. "Know it? I went to this world as part of my last journey!" I called, smiling. They looked at it and then at me, but I was too focused on the route ahead. The next world was Olympus Coliseum.
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Wonderland is now complete, and soon to come is Olympus Coliseum! How will Dexal and the others fare in the games? And can they beat both Cloud and Cerberus?
Please review! If you flame me Liam Neeson will look for you, he will ind you, and he will kill you. (I'm just kidding... or am I?)