PrismRain13: hey guys! Long time no see!
Pence: great to have you back, Prism!
PrismRain13: glad to be back! I still own nothing other than the plot and my OCs West and Lydia. Kyra and Rusty belong to Mystery Girl and everything else belongs to Disney and/or Square.
Pence: enjoy the new chapter!
Chapter 41: Distress Signal
West wandered around the castle, waiting for her team to fly off again. The perky thief was having a hard time keeping her all excitement contained, so she had decided to check on the progress on the realm of darkness portal machine.
She found Lewis, Phineas, Ferb, Gretchen, Wade and Ienzo in the room where Xehanort's computer was, knowing from Sora that was where Tron lived. Blueprints littered every visible floor space and failed prototypes were in pieces. Wade was on the computer talking with Tron, Phineas and Ferb were sorting through the old blueprints, Gretchen was gathering parts together and Lewis was drawing up some new plans. Ienzo stood against the wall, acting as a supervisor and didn't look too happy about it.
"Hey guys!" West smiled and waved cheerfully. "How's it going?"
"Not so great." Ienzo stated in a bored tone. "All the prototypes I've seen failed; at this rate no one's going to the realm of darkness."
"Hey! Quit being so negative; you're not a nobody anymore." Lewis exclaimed, looking up from his plans. "We need to stop focusing on what we did wrong and keep moving. We are getting closer."
West stared at Lewis in a mixture of shock and confusion. The Lewis she knew would have been devastated if one of his inventions failed. Now, he didn't even look upset because of all the failed prototypes. And, in his eyes she noticed not a trace of disappointment, but so much more hope than before.
Lewis noticed her staring, a little confused. "What?" He asked. The thief smiled and shrugged.
"What happened to you, Lewis?" West stated. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see you smiling. But still, you're so different now. What changed."
Smiling up at his sister-figure, Lewis explained. "Well, after I got my world back, I met a friend. He and his family showed me helped me understand that I needed to get out of the past. They really changed my life. Then, with them in mind, I got to show off my first real invention and get a family of my own."
"Are you saying you got adopted?!" West exclaimed excitedly. Lewis nodded happily. "Oh my god, Lewis! I'm so happy for you!" Before the young inventor knew it, West had bent down and pulled him into a sisterly hug which Lewis gladly returned. When the hug ended, West reached into the pouch around her waist. She pulled out a handful of stolen items from their enemies and handing it to Lewis.
"Almost forgot." West smiled sheepishly as Wade, Phineas, Ferb, Gretchen and Ienzo gathered around them. "I don't know how much of this stuff will be useful to you guys."
Wade peered into the handful, eyes widening at the sight of a large, aqua, snowflake-shaped gem with white sparkles in the centre. "Where did you get an Orichalcum+?" He asked. "The moogles in town said they're extremely rare!"
"I nicked it off Yzma while we were fighting her." West replied proudly.
"All this should really help move things along." Gretchen smiled. "TJ was right when he said you knew what you were doing."
"What can I say, this is what a thief does." She said with a smile. "Anyway, are there any other items I should keep an eye out for?"
"The Orichalcum+ will help a lot." Phineas stated, holding up . "If it's not too much trouble, a key item we need is a Yami crystal. They're extremely rare and are filled with dark energy. With our machine we should be able to amplify its power to create a stable dark corridor."
"Any other items you can find will help too." Ferb added.
Ienzo huffed. "That is, if you children can create one to work."
"I know you guys can do it! And I'll keep my eyes peeled." Smiled West. "Well, I gotta go; we're heading out again, I just wanted to see you guys before we left."
"Good luck West!" Lewis waved. "See you soon!" After waving back, West walked out of the room and strode down the halls. It wasn't long before she found another member of her team. Max was sitting on the staircase in a slouch while his skateboard rested on his lap.
"Hey Max." She greeted, standing beside him. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." He mumbled. Though, West wasn't buying it as she crouched down to his level.
"Max, come on. Something's bothering you. We're friends, right? You know you can talk to us about anything."
Max released a sigh, running his fingers through his hair. "It's my dad." He started to say. "Ever since we finished at Olympus Coliseum he's been avoiding me. He doesn't seem as happy or as... Goofy as he usually is."
"Did you try talking to him?" Asked West.
"Not really; like I said, he's been avoiding me. What's going on with him?" West pulled the young dog into a hug as she tried to offer words of comfort.
"I don't know, Max. We'll just have to corner Goofy about this." she said, standing up and holding out her hand. "Come on, we'll get answers. Together." Smiling up at her and giving small nod, Max took her hand as they walked down the stairs.
It wasn't long before they reached the Gummi Garage. They spotted Goofy quietly playing with Rusty. It was so strange for him to be quiet it was scary. Kyra was talking with Lydia, who gave Lea dirty looks every chance she got.
Speaking of Lea, he and Donald were working on their magic together with Merlin. They could see Cid doing some last-minute tuning and oil change on their ship, Mickey helping him however he could. Lulu stood apart from Kim, Irvine, Zell and TJ, glaring at Riku as he walked inside with Sora and Kairi, talking and laughing together.
West rolled her eyes at Lulu's behaviour. She hadn't really changed. It seemed like the rest of the members of her family forgave and accepted Riku as part of their team except Lulu. What the heck was her problem. Before either West or Max could confront Lulu or Goofy, Mickey cleared his throat.
"Okay team! There are a lot of worlds out there that still need our help!" The mouse king announced. "It's going to be a lot of work to stop both Xehanort and Maleficent. So that's why Lydia, Kyra and Rusty agreed to come with us!"
"WHAT?!" Lea exclaimed, accidentally lighting Merlin's beard and Donald's tail on fire. Both mages panicked and screamed, until Lulu hit them both with a water spell. "You can't be serious!" He continued, turning to Lydia.
"Believe me, Axel," she spat. "I'm not happy about it either. But if it means you'll quit hanging around Radiant Garden, I'll help."
"Her advanced time and cursing magic and gambling combat style could prove useful." Merlin explained. "From what I've heard, her abilities rival Luxord himself."
"Don't talk about my father." Hissed Lydia.
"Wait, he was your dad?!" Sora exclaimed, Donald and Goofy looking equally shocked. All three thinking about how big of a challenge the Organization's number ten had been. Surprised that they were related.
"Yeah, yeah, moving on!" She waved them off.
"How come you and Rusty are coming, Kyra?" West asked as Rusty jumped into Kyra's arms.
"Cid said my ship's in horrible condition after that hijacking." Explained Kyra. "I don't want to waste a minute of searching the worlds. And if I find Xehanort, he'll be sorry his lackey messed with me." Rusty barked and growled in agreement.
Sora didn't waste any time in climbing up the ramp to the Gummi Ship, pounding his fist in the air. "Well, what are we waiting for?! Come on, guys, the worlds don't save themselves!"
~*KHIII*~
Soon, the old team of nine, plus their three new members were all gathered back inside the Gummi Ship. With Sora at the controls, they were once again, flying through space. Riku sat down, thinking about the bone-chilling glare Lulu had given him just before they left when he and West were talking.
He still didn't get why the Mage still disliked him so much. Sure, he made some stupid mistakes back then, but things were different now. And, he and West were just long-lost friends. It wasn't like they were in love or anything, right? He just really missed her. Her laugh, her enthusiasm, the way she always supported him. Wait. Did he really think about her that way?
Max had tried to corner Goofy and talk to him on the ship, but the older dog still managed to avoid his son. He always slipped away down to the engine room, the cupboards or to the weapons controls. Eventually, Max had decided to leave it for awhile and resorted to staring out the window. West and Mickey had tried to offer support, but Max had become really grumpy and wanted to be alone, so they eventually decided to give him his space.
Lea was sprawled across a couch, snoring. As soon as he got on board, he had collapsed into slumber. Lydia spent the whole ride so far glaring at him and filing her nails. Donald was just relieved he couldn't set anything else on fire while Kairi cured his tail. Then, she moved on to read more of her Grandmother's journal.
Kyra was vigilant, holding her bow and arrows ready in case of another attack. Rusty was by her side, but had curled up for a nap.
A small beeb on the dashboard brought everyone out of their thoughts. It was coming from a small, flashing red button. Sora, who was piloting, pressed it and Twilight Town appeared on the video screen. Mickey walked up to him, and took one look at the world on the screen.
"Whelp. Looks like the folks back at Twilight Town need our help." The king stated. "We should get over there."
"What the heck is going on?" Lea asked with a yawn as he stretched. "Can't you see some of us are trying to get some beauty sleep?!"
"Believe me, sleeping's not going to help you any." Scoffed Lydia while Lea pouted.
"Cut it out, Lyd!" Snapped Kyra. "So, what is this, your majesty?"
"Before we left Twilight Town, I gave Pence a remote Chip and Dale designed. I told him to send out a signal to our Gummi ship if the heartless and nobodies became too big of a problem for them." Mickey explained.
"And, you didn't think to tell us about that?" Lea asked.
Mickey shrugged. "I didn't think it was that important. Plus, if Seifer or Hayner had it, they probably would never have used it, claiming they could handle anything on their own."
"Sounds like Twilight Town's our next stop." Kairi stated with a smile. "Awesome! Let's go, Sora!"
"Okay, fasten your seat belts, everyone!" Exclaimed Sora, the Gummi ship light speeding away back to Twilight Town.
~*KHIII*~
Myde stumbled out of his corridor of darkness, a massive amount of strain being lifted off his heart. It seemed the second he decided to leave Maleficent and Xehanort, his ability to create dark corridors suddenly started to grow weaker. It was a struggle to even create this one. He held out his hand to try and make another, but nothing happened.
The former nobody looked around the space he ended up, recognizing it as Twilight Town's woods. So, he managed to get away at least. Hopefully, it'll take them a few days to find him. Unfortunately, luck wasn't on Myde's side.
Before he knew it, he was surrounded by a giant army of Neoshadow heartless. Quickly, Myde summoned his Sitar as soon as the heartless started to attack him. A strum on the chords sent a blast of water towards a heartless, knocking it into a tree. He just barely recovered when another jumped out of the shadows towards him.
Grabbing the neck of his weapon, he slammed the Sitar into the heartless. It collided with two more, knocking them all off their feet as they disappeared. The rest of the heartless jumped towards him, one scratching his bare shoulder. He summoned his water clones to attack the remaining heartless, but were quickly destroyed. Myde jumped out of the way of another attack, finishing off the remaining heartless with another burst of water.
Myde managed to take the rest of the heartless out, panting from exhaustion."Man, I'm outta shape." He wheezed. He hadn't even taken a single step when he became surrounded again. The Neoshadow heartless charged towards him, Myde trying to shield himself with his Sitar.
A second later, every heartless was destroyed by sharp, deadly icicles appearing out of nowhere. Myde slowly emerged from behind his Sitar, eyes wide at the now empty but slightly colder woods.
"Honestly, how do you still manage to get into these situations, Demyx." A voice spoke from behind him. Myde turned around, to find a tall, familiar-looking older man with long blond hair and green eyes. He was dressed in a white lab coat with a blue handkerchief sticking out of the pocket, black pants and boots, a white high-collar shirt and a dark blue ruffled tie with a snowflake emblem on it. Strapped to his arm was a spiky, metallic blue shield.
"Vexen?!"
Pence: Yes! I knew we'd see Twilight Town again!
PrismRain13: I told ya ;)
Pence: Yeah, but we didn't really believe you. Plus, I'm really glad Mickey trusted me enough to send out the Distress Signal.
PrismRain13: stay tuned for the next chapter! What's Vexen doing in Twilight Town? What's the threat that our heroes will need to face? And how will everyone react, seeing Myde?
Pence: Don't forget to review! Want to get some ice cream, Prism?
PrismRain13: heck yeah!