Daisy: hello everyone! Welcome back, Prism!
PrismRain13: thanks, Daisy. Man, sorry this took so long guys but between finishing up my first semester at college, starting a new one, work, And Christmas I haven't had a lot of time. But I'm back now and I hope you like this new chapter!
Daisy: Prism owns nothing other than the plot and her OCs. Enjoy! Now where did that handsome Donald Duck go?
PrismRain13: Yes! My ship! BTW; like our new cover? Oh, and special thanks to Greymon Leader Baxt Flashpoint for writing me an adorable birthday fic about West and Riku! Go check it out!
Chapter 48: The Forgotten Mirror
Max didn't know where he was going. All he knew was he needed time to think and get away from Goofy. How could his own dad have so little faith in him? Ever since his dad came home, he'd been so excited about journeying with him. Sure, his dad had seemed a little worried, but Max never saw any reason to worry. He knew he was strong thanks to his knight training.
When the teenager looked up, he realized he had wandered all the way to the Castle's courtyard. Fresh green topiaries shaped like some of the citizens and colourful flowers surrounded the peaceful garden. In the centre was a castle-shaped topiary that led to the Gummi Hangar. This was where he knew his dad loved to relax and take naps after a long day of his knightly duties.
But, no matter how peaceful the courtyard was, Max couldn't relax, not after the fight he and his dad just had. The teenager was so distracted, he couldn't see where his feet were stepping. Only three paces and Max soon found himself tripping over something and tumbling to the soft gass face-first, his voice releasing a clumsy yell.
"Oww." Groaned Max, pushing himself back up.
"Geeze, and here I thought I finally found a quiet, peaceful spot!" A voice complained behind him. Max turned around, finding Myde laying on the soft grass with his Sitar next to him. The dirty blonde was rubbing his arm and wincing. It was obviously Myde he had tripped over.
"What are you doing here?" Max questioned the former nobody irritably.
Myde pushed himself up to his feet and stretched his arms. "Well, until five seconds ago I was having a nice nap."
"Good for you." Grumbled Max, turning on his heel and walking towards the castle.
Raising an eyebrow at the teenage dog's behavior, Myde picked up his sitar and rushed to his side. "Hey, what's going on? What's with the attitude?"
"Nothing. I just had a fight with my dad." Said Max as they both wandered through the small door on the side of the castle.
"Really? Your dad doesn't look like the type who'd start a fight." Myde replied. "What was it about?"
"Why do you even care?"
"Well, I was rudely woken up from my nap and there's nothing else to do around here." Said Myde with a smile on his face.
Why is this guy even with us? Max thought. But, after a groan of defeat he decided to tell him, "He said he didn't want me to come for the rest of the trip because it was getting too dangerous and he can't protect me. I just can't believe my own dad doesn't believe in me." Max was unable to hide the pain from his voice.
"Sounds rough. But, you know he cares about you, right?" Myde asked.
Max raised an eyebrow at Myde's statement, but nodded his head. "Yeah, I know." the teenage dog sighed. "I just wish my dad would have a little more faith in me."
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?!" A familiar voice at the end of the hall grumbled.
"Of course I do! Now shut up and let me work!" Another familiar voice exclaimed.
"Who's that?" Myde asked. "Wasn't everybody supposed to be at the festival?"
"Yeah, they are." Replied Max, confused. "Come on, let's go." Myde wasn't even given a chance to protest before the teenage dog grabbed his arm and dragged him down the hall.
Before long, they found a door at the end of the hall that was slightly ajar. Both Max and Myde peered inside to find a small dark room, empty exect for An eerie golden mirror and two figures. They both gasped at who was in there; Pete and Mortimer.
"What are these guys doing here?! I thought that cornerstone thingy protected the castle." Myde exclaimed.
"Shh!" Hissed Max, leaning in closer to listen to Mortimer and Pete's conversation.
"Come on, you've been at this for hours." Mortimer grumbled from his position against the wall as he watched Pete fiddle with the mirror.
"Just shut up! I know what's doin' so stop botherin' me!" Spat Pete. "Trust me; soon as I'm done here, that pipsqueak of a king'll be gone for good!"
Max and Myde gasped in pure shock; they were planning on getting rid of Mickey. They were going beyond their usual meaningless, unthreatening schemes. They were serious about hurting King Mickey!
"This is bad." Max whispered to his companion, stepping away from the door. "Come on, we've got to go warn the others-" But, before Max could finish his sentence, the door swung open to reveal Pete and Mortimer glaring down at them.
"Well, lookie here, Morty. Looks like dog boy and the traitor have been spyin' on us!" Pete grinned.
Mortimer released a laugh, drawing his pistol. "Well, we can't have these snoops walking around. Guess we gotta get rid of em'." The tall rat pointed his pistol directly at Myde and fired. But luckily, before the bullet could hit the former nobody, Max knocked them both out of the way.
"Quick! Go warn the others! I'll keep these guys busy!" Ordered Max, pulling out his skateboard.
"No arguments here, Maxie. Later!" Myde replied, jumping to his feet and sprinting back down the castle halls. Leaving Max to fight Pete and Mortimer alone.
At the sight of their opponent, Mortimer burst out laughing. "Go finish up whatever you were doing Petey. I can handle Goofy Junior on my own. He's so weak, we captured him so easy back at the old man's tower."
Pete rushed back to the mirror while Max readied his weapon and glared at the rat. "Don't get too cocky, Mortimer. I've gotten a lot stronger since then."
"Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it." Mortimer laughed as both dog and rat charged at each other.
~*KHIII*~
Meanwhile, back at the Fruitball court, the game had just ended with Kairi and West as the victors.
"Alright! We so rock!" West exclaimed, high-fiving Kairi. "I can't believe we won!"
"Me neither! Great game, guys." Kairi smiled as both teams moved towards each other.
Riku nodded. "It was a pretty close game. I wasn't expecting it to be that hard."
"Maybe if I hadn't tripped on that banana peel, me and Riku could have won." Sora nervously laughed, rubbing the back of his neck.
Kairi giggled and playfully punched the spiky-haired teen in the arm. "You guys up for a rematch in a bit?"
"You bet!" Riku replied. At that moment, both teams realized they had an audience; Mickey, Minnie, Lea, Roxas, Naminé and Xion. Horace, Clarabelle and Clara had left awhile ago to check on the other events.
"You all played so wonderfully!" Minnie applauded.
Mickey nodded in agreement. "Best Fruitball game I've seen in a long time!"
"Hey, Ax-Lea." Roxas turned to his friend, who was eating another Bueno Volcano ice cream. "You wanna try a game?"
"Hey! Let me finish my ice cream first, dude!" Lea replied with a mouthful of the dessert.
Xion giggled. "That's your fifth bowl!"
"Seriously, Lea. You should cut back a bit." Naminé shook her head as the entire group burst out laughing.
The group was so preoccupied, they didn't notice Goofy entering the Fruitball court with a sad look on his face. Sora was the first to see him. But one look at his sulking face and the young keyblade master could immediately tell something was wrong.
"Hey! Goofy!" Sora called out as he rushed to his friend's side. "What's wrong?" The others immediately noticed Goofy's sad expression and grew concerned for the tall dog.
"Oh, Maxie and I had a bit of a fight." Replied Goofy.
"You and Max had a fight?" Sora asked, he and the others having a hard time believing it. "About what?"
"It was about how you've been avoiding him ever since Olympus Coliseum, right?" Questioned West. "Max told me before we left Radiant Garden."
Goofy sadly nodded his head. "Yeah. See, I told Maxie that he shouldn't come with us anymore. It's too dangerous for him! He could have gotten hurt real bad on Olympus Coliseum and I couldn't protect him!"
Silence flooded the Fruitball court after Goofy finished speaking. Until finally, Sora had enough of it and pulled Goofy into a tight hug.
"I agree with you, what we're doing is dangerous." Mickey said, walking up to them. "But, you need to be able to believe in Max. All he wants is to fight beside his dad. And, it's really up to him wether or not he continues the journey or stays behind."
Sora nodded in agreement. "He's right. Max has grown up and gotten a lot stronger since we first started."
Goofy remained silent as he thought about the things Sora and Mickey told him. His mind wandered to the night before he, Donald and the king left for the Destiny Islands. Max had been so persistant, waving his skateboard around and begging to come along not wanting to be left behind. Finally, after hours of Max's begging, Goofy had agreed to let his son meet them at the Mysterious a Tower thinking he was strong enough to protect him.
Goofy was and everyone else were instantly pulled out of their thoughts by the sound of someone screaming. They all turned their heads to find Myde rushing over to them, completely out of breath.
"F-Finally f-found you guys!" Wheezed Myde.
"What's the matter with you?" Riku asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's Pete and Mortimer!" The Melodious Nocturne exclaimed. "They're in the castle! Max is fighting them off right now!"
"What?!" Minnie gasped. "But, that's impossible! The Cornerstone should be protecting the castle!"
Just then, the entire Fruitball court became swarmed with many breeds of heartless including Bolt Towers and Shadows. Mickey didn't waste any time in summoning Star Seeker to his hand and jumping protectively in front of Minnie. The others all followed his lead and unsheathed their own weapons and started fighting the heartless.
All except for Goofy, who was paralyzed with shock. Was Max really fighting against Pete and Mortimer alone? What in the world was he thinking?! The knight was snapped out of his worried trance as a shadow leaped towards him, but was destroyed by Sora's keyblade.
"Hey! Dog-boy! You wanna help us out here?!" Lea called, throwing his fire-coated chackrams towards a bolt tower.
"We gotta go help Maxie!" Goofy exclaimed, standing beside Sora. "He's fighting all alone! He needs help!"
By that time, King Mickey had destroyed the last heartless in the Fruitball court. "I agree, Goofy. But, there could be more heartless roaming around the town! And the others don't know what's happening!"
"We'll have to split up then." Stated Riku. "Me, West, Lea, Naminé, Xion and Myde will go warn the others while you guys go to the castle and find out what's going on."
Sora nodded his head in approval. "Sounds like a plan to me."
"Okay, then let's get going!" Goofy exclaimed in a worry-filled voice. "Who knows how long Maxie can hold 'em off?!"
Right after Riku's team left, Sora was just about to take of with his, when Minne's voice stopped them in their tracks.
"Wait! I'm coming too!" The Queen said. "I need to protect this world!"
"Minnie-" Mickey started to say, but she raised her hand in front of him.
"Mickey Mouse! I am not about to run away and hide when someone I banished is threatening our kingdom!" Snapped Minnie
Knowing they didn't have time to spare, the group only took a second to decide. "Okay, but we better hurry!" Mickey said while Minnie nodded her head. Without another word, Sora, Kairi, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Roxas rushed out of the Fruitball court and ran all the way to the castle
~*KHIII*~
Back at the castle, while Pete was trying to finish up with the mirror, Max was loosing against Mortimer. True, the teenager had gained a little more strength, but Mortimer was still the stronger one.
With an attack from his pistol, Mortimer sent Max flying across the room and slamming into a nearby wall. Mortimer rushed in for another attack, but Max luckily jumped out of the way at the last second.
The teenage dog held his skateboard out in front of him. "This isn't over!" He exclaimed as the skateboard began to glow bright yellow. Taking a running start, Max jumped on to his board and rushed toward Mortimer, moving at lightning speed, a blur of colourful light. Mortimer never saw it coming as Max moved all around the room, hitting him in every direction.
Finally, Max stopped, moving standing right in front of his target as a colourful rocket booster appeared and started to charge underneath the skateboard. "Can you handle my moves?" Once the rocket had gathered enough power, Max charged at Mortimer, dealing a finishing blow as the rocket vanished. (1)
Mortimer collapsed to his knees and dropped his pistol, defeated. Max himself bent over in exhaustion, forgetting about Pete until the large cat was standing right in front of him.
"You little punk! I'll deal with you myself!" Pete raised a first as Max closed his eyes, waiting for the blow. But it never came. Instead, a blur of red and black jumped in between the two and attacked Pete with a powerful strike from a blurred weapon.
Max opened his eyes, gasping to find Mickey standing in front of him with his keyblade in had.
"Your Majesty?" Max asked in astonishment. A split second later, Goofy rushed up beside his son and pulled him into a tight embrace.
"Maxie! I was so worried! Are ya hurt?!" Exclaimed the knight as Sora, Kairi, Roxas and Minnie ran into the room.
"Dad! I'm fine!" Said Max, trying to wriggle out of his father's hug.
"Well, isn't this a touching moment?" Mortimer grumbled, pushing himself back up to his feet.
"What are you guys doing here?!" Demanded Sora. "And how'd you get in?!"
"Yes," Minnie glared at the two intruders. "The Cornerstone of Light should have kept you and your horrible heartless out!"
"Same way I got in ta spy on yous guys when you was fiddlin' with that there journal and data!" Pete exclaimed proudly. "Just walked in!"
Mortimer stepped forward, trying to put a charming smile on his ugly face. "See, that's the problem with your security system, doll. It only keeps out scary people like Maleficent. Me and Petey over here are from this world, so we can walk around as we please."
The rat slowly inched closer and closer to the group, that flirty grin still plastered on his mug as he gazed at Minnie. "So, how 'bout it, Minnie? Why don'tcha ditch the tiny king For a real guy like me?"
"Is he hitting on the Queen?" Kairi whispered to Sora.
"Either that or he's trying to win the 'Creep of the Year' award." Sora said while he, Roxas and Kairi snickered in amusement.
Mortimer glared up at the three who were laughing. "You makin' fun of me?!" The rat growled. That momentary distraction was all Minnie needed to summon a ball of white light to her hands and fire it at Mortimer. Sending the rat tumbling backwards beside Pete.
"I said it a thousand times and I'll say it again, Mortimer. I love Mickey and I'll never leave him!" The Queen shouted as she held Mickey's hand.
"This is exactly why you were banished, Mortimer." Said Mickey. "Because of your constant attempt to steal both Minnie and the throne! Now you two better leave before things get ugly!" Mickey snarled, pointing Star Seeker at them.
But, neither Pete or Mortimer appeared to be threatened by the King. Instead, they both smirked, remembering their plan.
"Sorry, there Kingy. But we ain't goin' nowhere! Not when we got the perfect plan to get rid of ya!" Pete laughed and stepped to the side, revealing the old mirror. "This bad boy'll do all the work for us!"
Mickey and Minnie gasped at the sight of the mirror. "You can't be serious!" Mickey exclaimed.
"Wait, what are they talking about?" Asked Roxas.
"Just that Mickey's gonna face a blast from his past!" Mortimer smirked, twirling his pistol between his fingers. Then, pointing it at the mirror, Mortimer fired a dark bullet, hitting the mirror directly in the centre.
Instantly, the glass in the mirror began to turn dark and cloudy as black ink started dripping out of it.
Then, out of nowhere, a giant arm made out of black ink burst out of the mirror. Ink splattering all over the room and hallway.
Minnie gasped as the arm reached out towards the King and Queen. Mickey was so paralyzed, he only had time to push Minnie out of the way before the hand grabbed him in a tight hold and lifted him off the floor.
"Mickey! No!" Minnie exclaimed as Mickey squirmed and struggled, trying to get out of the monster's grasp. He couldn't even get his hand free to summon his keyblade.
"Hang on, your majesty!" Sora roared, rushing up to the arm, Kingdom Key in his hand. The brunette was about to attack the inky arm and free Mickey, but before he could, another arm burst out of the mirror and grabbed him too. "Hey! Let me go!"
Pete and Mortimer started laughing. "Look at that, Pete, buddy. Now we can get rid of both of 'me at once! This is perfect!" Mortimer smirked as both inky arms started retracting back into the mirror.
Roxas snarled as he ran forward. "Oh no you don't!" The former nobody exclaimed, latching on to the slimy arm that was holding Sora. Kairi followed him and reached out her hand to help, but she was too late. her fingertips barely touched Sora's pant leg before they were pulled into the mirror. The glass reappearing and solidifying, preventing anyone else from going in.
Minnie, Kairi, Goofy and Max were all speechless as they gazed at the mirror their friends vanished through. They were helpless to stop that...thing from taking them. They were brought back to the present by the sound of Pete and Mortimer's laughter
"Well, I'd have ta say our mission here was a big success!" Pete smiled.
"You got that right!" Replied Mortimer. "This is sure to make Maleficent and that Xehanort guy appreciate us better!"
"What did you do to them?!" Demanded Kairi worriedly.
"Oh, don't worry, princess. The tiny king's just gonna meet up with a long lost friend!" Pete laughed. "Besides, you guys got the heartless to worry about!" And with more laughter erupting from both of their throats, Mortimer and Pete both vanished through a corridor of darkness.
Daisy: oh no! What happened? Where'd they go?
PrismRain13: you'll find out :) hopefully it won't take me ages to update again. If anybody can guess where Roxas, Sora and Mickey've been taken then you guys are awesome!
Daisy: We'll see you next time! Thank you in advance for your reviews and support!
PrismRain13: oh, and about the cover; yes I did originally want to draw one but I just didn't have the time or patience to come up with a good composition.
(1): Max's Limit: Rocket Blast