Author's Note: I found it! Now that I at last have my flash drive back, I can continue to work on this story! I hope my readers enjoy this!
The gummi ship was pretty spacious inside. We entered into a hybrid of a kitchen and den, and off to the back was a hallway with four bedrooms. Donald said that his and Goofy's rooms were on the right side, so Sora and I got the two on the left.
The rooms were pretty snazzy, too. Each had a large bed, a bureau, a TV, and an adjoining bathroom. I instantly plopped down onto the bed, sinking into the softness of it. Donald said that he would send Goofy to get us when we found a new world. He told us that there were food and drinks in the kitchen, and I decided that I was going to go get a bite to eat.
A few minutes later, I was feasting on sticky beef buns. They were warm and gooey, and the beef inside was the perfect mix of tangy, savory, and sweet. I made them from a little capsule. You just warm the capsule in a microwave, and it expands into whatever food was on the tin.
As I was finishing off the last bun, Goofy came in and told me that Donald found a new world, and he wanted to go over a few things with us. Goofy went in the back to fetch Sora as Donald climbed down the ladder that lead to the cockpit. When Sora and Goofy returned, Donald looked at us with a serious expression.
"Now, you guys need to know that we have to be careful when we're in other worlds," he began. "We can't interfere!"
"Oh, yeah," I said. "Why not?" It was a question I had been saving since we left Traverse Town.
"Well, people aren't supposed to know about other worlds because that's the way it's supposed to be," he said.
"But why?" asked Sora, scratching his head.
"Because if someone tries to go to other worlds without a gummi ship or some other way, they could make the worlds vulnerable to the Heartless," said Donald. "The worlds all used to have barriers that kept them from being accessed by the outside. A person could get in with magic, or other stuff, but nothing could get in from the outside directly. No ships and no Heartless."
"So we can't tell people about other worlds. Gotcha," I said.
"Also, we need to be careful," said Donald, opening the ship's door and walking out. "You never know what you might walk into." We followed Donald, listening to him and not paying much attention to anything else. I looked down.
"Donald, you might want to look down," I said.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because we just stepped out onto a hole," I said. We all gulped, then the falling started.
KHR
We had been falling for hours, or at least it seemed that way. Goofy was fast asleep, laid back as if he were in a hammock. Donald was muttering something about attention. I floated over to Sora.
"So, I think when we stop falling we should split up. You go with Donald, and— "
"Hey, I don't wanna go with him. They're our friends, and we should find them together," said Sora.
"But if we leave, they might leave without us," I argued.
"Well, they can't," he said, summoning his Keyblade. "Not without this."
"We both have one, there are probably a bunch more," I said.
"Who made you the boss, anyway?" said Sora.
"You're too ditzy to be— "
"Hey! At least I can fight!" he said.
"So can I!" I said, my Keyblade appearing in my hand.
"The raft was my idea!" said Sora.
"Yeah, fat lot of good it did us!" I said. "We're all lost and separated because you went back for your precious raft!"
"Well, you went to the island first! Why were you there?" Sora asked.
"I was checking on that door and the creepy guy!" I said.
"Yeah, and he got away with Shadi and Shui!" Sora said. "Some friend you are!"
"Oh, and what about Kairi?" I asked. "Because she's so much better off than the twins!" At that moment, we landed on our butts on the floor. Donald landed on his feet, and Goofy lnded on his face with a thump.
"Break it up!" quacked Donald. "We're on a mission!"
Sora and I both opened our mouths to argue when we heard the quick pattering of feet. A white rabbit in a waistcoat carrying a large clock dashed past us.
"Oh, my fur and whiskers! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" he said, panting heavily. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! I'm here, I should be there." He scurried away.
"I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! The queen, she'll have my head for sure!" we heard faintly.
"Let's follow it," I suggested. I glanced at Sora, but he didn't argue, and we walked down the hall. We soon reached a door, which revealed several smaller doors underneath. After the third, I sighed in exasperation. Seeing the smug look on Sora's face, I kept opening doors until the last one opened into a room.
We entered a really bizarre room, which wouldn't be so bizarre if not for many of the décor items being painted on the wall, as well as the mismatched wallpaper and the random faucets and things sticking out of the wall. We saw the White Rabbit scurrying across the tiled floor.
"Heeeyyyyy," I said. "How'd he get so smaaaalllll?"
As we watched the rabbit run through a small wooden door, the ticking sounds of a multitude of clocks lining the walls fills our ears. The door had a large doorknob, and it was on the edge of the room opposite us. Sora walked over to the door and kneeled down in front of it and Donald, Goofy, and I followed him.
"How did he get so small?" asked Sora, looking at the door.
"Perhaps you're simply too big," said the doorknob. Donald quacked and jumped up in the air.
"It talks!" he said.
"Good, so I'm not the only one freaking out," I said. Sora simply looked at the doorknob as it yawned.
"Must you be so loud? You woke me up," said the doorknob irritably.
"Good morning," Goofy replied cheerfully.
"Good night!" snapped the doorknob. "I need a bit more sleep." It yawned again, and Sora leaned in closer.
"Wait, what do we have to do to grow small?" he asked.
"Why don't you try the bottle...over there?" the doorknob suggested. We turned and saw a table that definitely wasn't there before. There was a chair next to the table, and two bottles on top of the table.
"Which one do we drink from?" I asked the doorknob, but he was asleep.
"I say we drink from the blue one," said Sora. "Unless you think I'm to ditzy to be right."
"Just drink the bottle," I said. "If you're wrong, then you're wrong." Sora glared at me for a moment, then picked up the blue bottle and took a tentative taste. Just as he put the bottle back onto the table, he began to shrink until he was just slightly smaller than the door.
"So you got it right this time," I said. "Big deal." I picked up the bottle and drank from it, and Donald and Goofy did the same. We shrunk down, and when we were all the same size we walked over to the door and both Sora and I moved to open it.
"I've got it," I said.
"No, I'll do it," said Sora.
"No, that's fine," I said.
"Come on!" yelled Sora.
"Ladies first!" I said, shoving him aside. I quickly twisted the knob.
"OW!" shouted the doorknob. "Be quiet, and stop twisting that."
"But we- " I began, but the doorknob was already snoring.
"Waaaakkkk!" Donald quacked, and I turned and saw Heartless appearing all around him and Goofy. There were Shadows, Soldiers, and two red flying Heartless. One of the red Heartless spun around, summoning a fireball at the tip of its hat. When it finished spinning, it launched the fireball at Sora. I quickly summoned my Keyblade and deflected it.
"You're welcome," I said. He grumbled for a moment, then he summoned his own Keyblade. We charged at the Heartless.
One of the red Heartless flew at me, but I slid underneath it and struck it with the Keyblade. I remembered what Leon said about speed, and I quickly swung at the Heartless a second time before it could recover.
As the Heartless burst into darkness, a Shadow's claws flew toward my face. I panicked and froze up, but before the attack connected, Sora knocked the Heartless aside.
"You're welcome," he said. I rolled my eyes and went back to the fight. I decided to test out my new spell, and shot a Fire spell at the nearest Soldier, and it caught on fire and began to run around and flail wildly.
When the last of the Heartless had been dealt with, we looked back at the door, and found it was still fast asleep.
"Well, what can we do?" said Goofy.
"I think I have an idea," I said.
"I have one too!" said Sora.
"Then why don't you share?" I asked. "It's bound to be good. Like the raft."
"Or going out on a boat in the middle of a storm!"
"Wak!" said Donald. "Look." He pointed beneath the giant bed in the corner, where we could just see a small opening. Now that we were small, it was the perfect size.
"Come and help us push," said Goofy.
"Push it where?" asked Sora. "It's in the corner."
"Pull it then," I said. The four of us lined up at the foot of the bed and grabbed it. When Donald counted to three, we all pulled, though the bed didn't budge.
"Yeah, pulling it worked," said Sora sarcastically.
"It should have. It must be nailed down or something," I said. I wiped my brow and leaned against the bed. Suddenly, the bad magically sank into the wall, and I fell on my butt.
"There we go," I said, standing up and dusting off my shorts. We walked through the door and into a garden with walls made of rose hedges; some of the roses were red, but some were white. Several living card soldiers stood guard.
A small blond girl in a blue pinafore dress was standing at a defendant's table. She looked up to the bench, where a large woman in a red and black dress and a crown sat. The White Rabbit ran up a podium and caught his breath before sounding a note with a trumpet.
"Court is now in session!" said the rabbit.
"I'm on trial? But why?" said the blonde girl
"Her Majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding!" said the White Rabbit, ignoring the girl like everyone else had.
I assumed that the Queen of Hearts was the woman in the crown. She was holding a heart-shaped fan, and her face was slightly red.
"This girl is the culprit. There's no doubt about it. And the reason is...because, I say so, that's why!" she said.
"That is so unfair!" said the girl. The Queen banged her fan down like a gavel.
"Well, have you anything to say in your defense?" asked the Queen of Hearts.
"Of course! I've done absolutely nothing wrong!" said Alice, folding her arms. The White Rabbit gasped. "You may be queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so...so mean!" The Queen scowled.
"Silence! You dare defy me?" the Queen yelled, slamming down her fist this time instead of the fan.
"Hey, guys, we should help her out," asked Sora.
"Yeah, but the- " began Donald.
"We're outsiders, so wouldn't that be muddling?" asked Goofy.
"'Meddling'!" Donald corrected.
"Oh, yeah. A-hyuck! And that's against the rules," said Goofy.
"Yeah, Sora. We don't want to shatter their fragile perception of reality!" I said. "Another bad idea for you."
"Stop- "
"Silence back there!" said the Queen of Hearts. "Now. The court finds the defendant," she said, raising her fan, "guilty as charged! For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart..." Everyone in the garden seemed to gasp.
"Off with her head!"
She pointed to the girl and the Card Soldiers gathered around her.
"No! No! Oh, please!" said Alice.
"Oh, screw fragile perceptions of reality," I said. The four of us ran into the main garden.
"Hold it right there!" said Sora before I could speak. I glowered at him.
"Who are you? How dare you interfere with my court?" asked the Queen.
"Excuse me. But we know who the real culprit is!" I said. It was Sora's turn to glower.
"Uh-huh. It's the Heartle- " All four of us covered his mouth.
"Anyway, she's not the one you're looking for," Sora said. The Queen didn't look very impressed with our assertion.
"That's nonsense. Have you any proof?" she asked. She smirked at us and nodded to her cards. They seized Alice and threw her into a large birdcage.
"Bring me evidence of Alice's innocence! Fail, and it's off with all of your heads! Gather as much or little evidence as you please. Report back here once you're ready," said the Queen.
"Um, excuse me, Your Highness, may we at least speak to her first?" I asked.
"Very well. Make haste," said the Queen. We ran over to the cage as two card soldiers edged closer to it.
"Who are you?" asked the girl.
"I'm Sora," Sora said.
"I'm Feng," I said, pushing against Sora.
"I'm Goofy, and that there's Donald," said Goofy.
"I'm Alice. Pleased to meet you, though I do wish it were under better circumstances. I'm sorry you got mixed up in this nonsense," said Alice.
"Why are you on trial in the first place?" Sora and I asked at the same time.
"I should like to know the very same thing! Apparently I was guilty from the moment I took the stand!" she said.
"That's crazy! So, where are you from?" asked Sora.
"Hmm, curious. I can't quite remember. You see, I found this mysterious rabbit hole. When I tried to peek inside, I tumbled in head over heels... And I found myself here," said Alice forlornly.
"So you're from another world!" I asserted.
"That's funny. Maybe you don't need a ship, then," said Goofy.
"I don't get it," said Donald.
"What do you mean 'another world'?" Alice asked.
"Enough! The defendant will be silent!" said the cards, pushing us away from the cage. They wordlessly pointing us to an entryway. We walked through it, and soon we ended up in a forest.
"Okay, so I think that gathering evidence would be easier if- " I began.
"We should split up," said Sora.
"No, be quiet. I was gonna say that!" I said.
"Bickering and snickering is not good for these pursuits," said a soft voice. We looked around and saw the head of a purple cat pop up out of nowhere, smiling like a maniac. The head floated around for a moment before coming to rest just above a log, where the cat's body appeared. The body reached up and grabbed the head, reattaching it.
"Who are you?" asked Donald loudly.
"Who, indeed? Poor Alice. Soon to lose her head, and she's not guilty of a thing!" said the cat.
"Hey, if you know who the culprit is, tell us!"
"The Cheshire Cat has all the answers—but doesn't always tell. The answer, the culprit, the cat all lie in darkness," said the cat.
"Okay, then can we get you to tell somehow?" I asked.
"Hints for the bickerers and the snickerers. They've already left the forest. I won't tell which exit. There are four pieces of evidence in all. Three are a cinch to find. The fourth is tricky. Big reward if you find them all," said the cat, beginning to fade.
"Should we trust him?" asked Donald. The cat came back into focus.
"To trust, or not to trust? I trust you'll decide!" said the cat, completely vanishing.
"What should we do?" asked Goofy.
"Well, we should obviously trust him," said Sora.
"I don't know. A self-decapitating cat might not be the best person, err, animal, to put your trust in." I said.
"Come on, he didn't even really tell us anything aside from how much evidence there is," retorted Sora.
As much as I didn't want to agree with Sora, he was right. "Fine, we'll look for the evidence." The four of us set out into the forest to find the evidence.
KHR
I'll spare you the details, but we basically found antenna, footprints, claw marks, and stink. When we re-entered the Lotus Forest, we were greeted by the cat.
"Well, look what you've found. Nice going," said the cat. "And the bickerers?"
"Still bickerering," said Goofy.
"That doesn't matter now. We can save Alice," said Sora, and I was once again forced to agree.
"Don't be so sure! She may be innocent, but what about you?" asked the cat.
"What do you mean?" I asked him.
"I won't tell. But I'll give you something," said the cat, grinning unnervingly. Two blue orbs appeared in the air, then floated down into me and Sora's hands. As the orb began to glow, I shivered as if a chill ran down my spine. The orbs vanished from our hands.
"I'm guessing we just got an ice spell," said Sora.
"Gee, what tipped you off?" I asked. He glared at me and I returned the glare.
"Come on!" said Donald. "We've already meddled, we might as well finish what we started."
When we reentered the garden, a card soldier came up to us.
"Are you ready to present evidence before the queen?" he asked.
"Yes," Sora and I both said.
"Very well. Counsel, step up to the podium," the card said. Sora and I fought our way up to the podium.
"Now, show me what you have found," demanded the Queen. Sora and I held up our evidence, which came in neat little gift boxes.
"Well, that's certainly a lot of evidence, but I'm still not impressed. Cards! Bring forth my evidence!" shouted the Queen. The cards added another identical box to our four and the cards shuffled the boxes so fast we couldn't even tell which was which.
"Hmm, checking all five would only be a waste of time. All right, then. Choose the one you wish to present. I'll decide who's guilty based on that evidence," said the Queen.
"What? After all the trouble of collecting it?" asked Sora.
"Yeah, that's totally ridiculous!" I added.
"You dare object?" the Queen shouted. "Then you will lose your heads! Now, choose! One box!"
Sora and I each left the podium and picked a box.
"One box!" the Queen reiterated.
"We need to pick this one, Sora," I said. "It's light enough to be the stench."
"No, this one's definitely the one," said Sora, shaking the box. "It's the antenna."
"No, this one!" I said.
"This one."
"This one!"
"This one!"
"THIS ONE!" we both shouted.
"CHOOSE!" bellowed the Queen of Hearts.
"Let's just do it for Alice," I said. "Let's both pick one." Sora and I both walked over to one box and picked it up.
"Are you certain? No second chances!" asked the Queen.
"I'm sure," Sora and I said in unison.
"Now we shall see who the real culprit is," said the Queen. The cards came forward and opened the box. Out popped a picture of the Queen of Hearts with speech bubble that read "I'm stupid".
"THAT IS IT!" the Queen exploded. "OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!"
"No, that isn't fair!" I said.
"Article 29: Anyone who defies the queen is guilty!" the Queen read from a parchment.
"That's crazy!" Donald shouted.
"Seize them at once!" the Queen shouted.
The podiums and hedges disappeared as a large tower rose from the ground. The Ten of Spades rans over to the tower's gear and turned it, raising Alice's cage. The queen lifted her fan, and the cards leapt into battle.
"Cards! If they touch the tower, you lose your heads!" said the Queen. The cards rushed at us, but we batted them aside as if they were, well, cards.
"Get them, you fools! Quit joking around!" said the Queen. As she shouted, she waved her fan, and magic flew from it. As Sora blocked the spells, I flung my Keyblade at the Queen. The fan flew from her hand and she keeled over, showing her heart-covered bloomers. The cards stopped charging and began to shiver out of fear. We all took the opportunity to attack the tower until the cage was lowered back to the ground.
"Why, you!" shouted the Queen. We all ran over to the cage, and Sora pulled back the curtains to reveal that Alice was gone.
"She must've gotten kidnapped while we were fighting," deduced Donald.
"You fools!" said the Queen of Hearts, slamming her fist down. The cards stood at attention. "Find the one who's behind this! I don't care how!"
As the cards began running around wildly, we ran into the forest in search of Alice. When we entered, the cat appeared once again.
"Have you seen Alice?" asked Sora.
"Alice, no. Shadows, yes!" said the cat.
"Shadows? Then where did they go?" I asked.
"This way? That way? Does it matter? Left, right, up, down! All mixed up thanks to the shadows! Step deeper into the forest to the deserted garden. You might find shadows in the upside-down room!" said the cat. He vanished, and we all turned to each other.
"This is your fault!" said Sora. "If you would have just let me present my evidence, then we wouldn't be here!"
"My fault? The Queen was obviously crazy! She probably would have betrayed us anyway!" I said.
"Stop fighting!" said Donald. "If you keep fighting, we're gonna leave you here!"
"Oh, please!" I said. "You need this!" I summoned my Keyblade, waving it around. "You need the key to help your king."
"Yeah, but it isn't worth this fighting. If we need, we'll only take one of you," said Donald.
"Fine, but I'm not talking to her until she apologizes for calling me ditzy," Sora said.
"And I'm not talking to him until he apologizes for calling me a bad friend," I replied.
"Aw, can't we all be friends?" asked Goofy, pulling us into a hug.
"No!" Sora and I said. We both pulled away from him.
"Well, let's go find the upside-down room," said Donald. "Any ideas?"
"Yeah. The room with the doorknob," I said. "When we went in it was upside down."
"Then let's go," said Goofy, and we began to head back to the room.
KHR
We made it back to the room, and the cat reappeared.
"They're hiding somewhere. And the momeraths outgrabe. Want to find the shadows? Try turning on the light," he said before vanishing again. We noticed that there were two lamps on the wall. Sora and I each used Fire on one without speaking.
"It's too dim. Make it brighter," said the cat. "One more lamp that you need to light." We looked up and saw the last lamp on the ceiling, hanging upside down. Before Sora and I could argue about who would light it, Donald shot the lamp, lighting it himself.
The cat reappeared on the table. "All the lights are on. You'll see the shadows soon. They might go after that doorknob, too," said the cat. "You'll have a better view from higher up." We all jumped up onto the table where the cat was.
"The shadows should be here soon," he said, grinning wider. "Are you prepared for the worst? If not, too bad!"
He pointed upward and an enormous Heartless began to fall from the roof. It landed on the floor with a thud. Its arms and legs were like paper, and it was holding two juggling batons. It had five heads stacked on top of each other, red and black in a pattern.
Sora got a running start, leaping off the table and striking at the Heartless, which I decided to call the Trickmaster. It slammed the batons down onto the chair, sending it flattened into the floor. I jumped up and dealt a series of quick blows to the Trickmaster's faces. It swatted me aside with a baton and I hit the giant brick stove nearby.
"Feng!" shouted Donald. He cast a Cure spell on me, and I instantly felt better. I jumped from the stove and ran over to the Trickmaster's legs. I threw my Keyblade, and it hit both legs, knocking the Heartless over.
"Gotcha!" I shouted. "Fire!" A ball of Fire shot from the tip of my Keyblade and toward the Trickmaster. At the last moment, however, the Trickmaster lifted the batons, and the fireball hit them, lighting them on fire.
"Wow, great job, Feng!" shouted Sora.
"At least I tried something!" I replied. Suddenly, the Trickmaster flung a ball of fire at me. Goffy jumped in front of me, blocking the fireball with his shield.
"Goofy," I said as the Trickmaster rose from the floor. "Can you throw your shield at its faces?"
"I can try," said Goofy. He lifted his arm, the flung the shield. It flew toward the Trickmaster like a discus, and it hit it square in the middle face. The Trickmaster slumped over, and I saw my chance.
"Donald, use Blizzard on the left baton! Now!" I said. As the duck used his spell, I used my own, and as the ice hit the batons, the went out.
"Ha, fixed it!" I said.
"Well, you also started it, so…," said Steven.
"Shut up and fight!" I said. We dove back into it, but we found that is wasn't so easy. We saw that the Trickmaster could light its own batons using the big brick stove. Each time we knocked it out and put them out, we got more exhausted.
"We need to finish it off," said Donald.
"I've got it!" I said. "But I need Sora's help."
Sora was panting. "Why, I thought you were good on your own?"
"No!" I said. "That's just it. I think this has been so hard because we haven't been working with each other, but against each other. We need to work together if this is going to be an effective team," I said, thinking of what the cat said. "Bickering won't work. We have to been one if we're going to get anything done."
"Okay," said Sora. "What do you need?"
"Gimme a boost. I need to get up onto the table," I said.
"Got it." Sora locked his fingers together and got onto one knee. I got a running start, and when I stepped into Sora's hands, he flung me up onto the table.
"Keep it away!" I shouted. As the others continued fighting the Trickmaster, I went over to the red bottle and tipped it over. I was just able to get a small handful, but I drank it all. I felt myself grow bigger until I was back to normal size.
I was now a good bit taller than the Trickmaster. I summoned my Keyblade and swatted at it once, and it keeled over, releasing a rather large heart. I turned around and drank from the blue bottle, shrinking back down.
The doorknob woke up with a loud yawn. "What a racket. How's a doorknob to get any sleep?" It yawned again, and, as it did, the keyhole that was its mouth began to shine in the shape of a regular keyhole.
"What's it doing?" asked Donald.
"I'm not sure, but I think we should use the Keyblade," I said. I summoned mine and pointed it at the keyhole. It released a beam of light, and we heard a clicking noise like a tumbler in a lock.
"What was that?" asked Goofy.
"You hear that? Sounded like something closed," said Sora. Suddenly, a small green object, similar in texture to the ship, fell from the doorknob's mouth.
"This gummi ain't like the others. No, sir," said Goofy.
"Okay, I'll hold on to it," said Donald, picking up the gummi. The cat reappeared on the table.
"Splendid. You solved the riddles, and now you're quite the heroes. If you're looking for Alice, she's not here. She's gone! Off with the shadows, into darkness," said the cat. He vanished, with his grin lingering for just a moment.
"No...," said Sora, discouraged.
"We'll find her if we work together," I said. I held out my hand to Sora. He nodded, then shook my hand.
"Let's get goin'," Goofy said. He began walking toward the table, and the three of us followed, ready for the next adventure.