AUTHOR'S NOTE: Merry Christmas everyone. Apologies on the long wait for this chapter.
Now that is out of the way, I hope you enjoy the latest chapter.
CHAPTER 5: WHAT A BEAUTIFUL GARDEN
#GRADUS PROHIBITUS#
The black-cloaked girl that attacked Twilight Town and failed to capture Charlotte walks through a white hallway. At the end of the hallway is a white empty chamber. The pathway continues on a narrow, rail-less bridge with nothing supporting it. It leads to a circular, steel-gray platform at least ten feet thick with nothing supporting it. The bridge is ten yards from the entrance to the platform. The chamber's wall circles around the platform; the distance between is the same as the length of the bridge. On the platform are nine small circles; surrounding the Forgotten emblem, which the bottom is facing the chamber's entrance. Each one of the circles is a different color; starting from the circle above the emblem going clockwise, they are white, black, orange, blue, green, teal, violet, pink, and lavender.
The figure crosses the bridge and follows the edge of the platform to the right. She eventually takes her place on top of the black circle. The girl moans, "I hope she doesn't get too mad with me."
"Well, I did warn you," a female voice echoes throughout the chamber, causing the black-clad figure to give a small shriek. She turns to her right just as the space behind the white circle bursts open like glass with a glow. Walking out of the portal is the white-cloaked figure that lead the attack on Mitakahira. After stepping on the circle matching her color, the gateway she came from disappears.
She turns her head to the black-clad female, who gives a deep bow quickly in her direction. "Forgive me. I didn't mean to-"
"At ease sister," the other interrupts with her left hand raised towards the subordinate. "It is… unfortunate that we do not have Charlotte among us."
The black-cloaked Abandoned flinches before turning away. She looks back at her superior "I-it wasn't my fault, this guy with a Keyblade came in and-"
"That's enough," the leader said in a subtle tone. She looks straight ahead, "If it's any consolation, I also failed in capturing Oswald. No matter though, the defenders of that world have been removed. However, they will still oppose us as they try to make it back to their world. Their plight should prove entertaining."
"How so?" the subordinate asks with a tilt of her head.
"We simply have to wait and see," the white-cloaked figure states as she looks up. "Tell me, are the others here?"
"No one was here when I got back." The black-cloaked figure shrugs, "I guess their busy working their magic turning the other worlds to their personal tastes."
"I see. Well then, let us see how these… Magical Girls fare with the unknown."
In an empty, brick room with a fireplace next to a long, twisting hallway, a light shines above the room. Sora, Madoka, Donald, and Goofy descend and gently land on the floor. They look around and Donald eyes fill with annoyance, "Oh no, not this world again!" Donald exclaims.
"Umm… did we transport into someone's house?" Madoka asks.
"That's one way of putting it," Sora said. "Come on let's go. Oh, one thing Madoka,"
"Yes?"
"Just about anything here can talk. Just giving you a heads up." The pinkette's responds with a tilt her head. The narrow hallway leads to a tall door. "Say Donald, how many doors does it take to keep someone out?" He asks with a cheeky grin.
"This is no time for games, just open them already!" Donald yells with a stomp.
"Them?" Madoka asks in confusion.
"Sheesh you're no fun," Sora said as he opens the door. To Madoka's confusion, there was another door, albeit smaller and a different color from the first. After opening that and seven more doors, each one smaller than the last, the entrance is revealed. Though said entrance goes up to the Keyblade Wielder's neck.
Madoka blinks, "Why were there so many doors?"
"Who knows? Makes you wonder, huh?" Sora replies with a cheeky smile.
Donald sighs as Goofy tries to hold in a small laugh.
They walk into what the original trio remembers as the Bizarre Room. Madoka looks around and can already tell that there's barely room for all four to navigate through, especially with the table in the middle. The room has about everything one would expect in a living quarters, clocks, paintings, a cozy fireplace connected to an old-fashioned stove and a bed on the wall opposite of it. After getting a general idea about the room, she looks to the trio.
Sora is staring at the table before rubbing the back of his head, "I guess they haven't had a lot of visitors in a while." Before turning towards the wall opposite of where they came from. Madoka comes around the table and finds what he was looking at, a small door, the size for a small pet. What was peculiar was that it had a doorknob at that. She walks up to it and bends her knees to get a better look. Immediately she can hear someone snoring. At first she was confused as she didn't see anyone other than her companions inside the room. She turns to the door and notices something very peculiar. The doorknob appeared to have eyelids as the keyhole was shrinking and expanding in tune with the snoring. She blinks at the curious sight.
Noticing her reaction, Sora gives a smile before giving the wall above the a few raps ending with his closed hand on the wall. "Hey sleepy head! What's new?"
The doorknob, to the pinkette's surprise yawns, before opening its eyes halfway. "Must you be so loud. I'm trying to take a nap."
"Eeep!" Madoka jumps back up with surprise.
The Keyblade Master couldn't help but snicker a bit. "Told ya just about anything here can talk," he says seconds later. Madoka pouts slightly at him before the Keyblade Master looks down at the door knob.
The door knob cranes his eyes towards the Keyblade Master before yawning. "Oh, it's you. What is your business this time?"
The human male shrugs his arm, "Oh you know, tracking monsters, etcetera, etcetera. So, anything new or is everything crazy as always?"
"Why don't you go see for yourself?" it responds with a tired tone.
"Sure, as soon as you can tell us where the bottle is."
"What are you talking about?" the animate door knob responds tiredly, "it's on the table as usual." Madoka looks back at the table and notices what appeared to be stickers near the front end. After a puff of smoke, two bottles spring up from them, one with a blue label and one with a red label. Madoka simply blinks at the bottles.
"Thanks, enjoy the nap!"
"Just try to keep it quiet." The door knob yawns. "Especially with those things around." The doorknob closes it eyes and begins to snore once more.
"Hey Madoka," Sora says in a whisper, getting the Magical Girl's attention. "Check this out." From his position he presses his leg on the side of the bed in the corner. After giving it a little push, the bed becomes flat on the wall, revealing the entrance that the bed hid in the opposite corner.
Madoka blinks before giving a sigh. "I should have known that would happen," she exasperates. She turns to the bottles. "So we're supposed to drink these?"
"Well, only the shrinking one," Goofy states.
"As they say," Sora says with a small smile, "ladies first."
Madoka grabs hold of both bottles. After looking at the bottles, where one shows a small object becoming bigger and the other is vice versa she sets down the former. As for the one in her hand, she stares at it before taking a deep breath. She takes a gulp of the bottle. She looks around but notice that nothing happened. Just as she sets down the bottle, she can feel her body shift as everything around her got a whole lot bigger around her. She looks up and find the other three staring down at her and if she didn't know better thought of them as giants.
After a minute, Donald, Goofy, took turns with the shrinking bottle and Sora just placed the bottle after taking a swallow before he too shrinks down like the others.
Sora turns to the open door. With a forward swing of his arm, he leads the party. Only to be stopped by a swarm of new types of Forgotten. The first type is Happy Camper, which is shaped like a football, the tips on its sides, and is as big as a normal person's head with a red tint to its white body and the emblem has a red color. The other type, Crybaby, has a teardrop shape with a blue tint and the emblem on it is blue. Both types are hovering high above the ground. Among this group there are three of each.
The party of four ready their weapons. Madoka delivers the first attack with a magical arrow, striking through the first of the Happy Campers before the rest of the Forgotten spread out. Sora charges at the closest of the enemies, which is a Crybaby and takes it out in three hits in the air. As the other Forgotten are moving around, they are charging up their spells. Happy Campers cast fire at the two humans and the Crybabies shoot balls of water at the knight and wizard. Sora rolls out of the way as Madoka twirls to the side; avoiding the fireballs. Donald casts a fire spell and negates the water projectile at him. Goofy blocks with his trusty shield before hurling it at the Crybaby that shot at him. The magical girl snipes at it, finishing it off before firing another arrow at another Happy Camper. Her shot grazed it, but enough to knock it off balance. It was then erased by the duck's fire spell. Leaving the last Crybaby for Sora to cut down with ease.
A new swarm surrounds them, this time there are several Amnesia added in to the mix. After they were dealt with a minute later, another group of Amnesia, Happy Campers, and Crybabies enter the fray. After a minute of fighting off the latest group they are down to two of Happy Campers and Crybabies each. Sora swings his Keyblade and knocks one Happy Camper into a Crybaby. The Crybaby that got hit floated around before shaking as a watery veil surrounds it. It starts pounding on the ground towards the heroes, leaving spouts of water wherever it struck. Madoka nearly gets hit by the Forgotten's last pound. She quickly swings her arm out and a bolt of lightning strikes the creature, eliminating it. In the meantime, Donald and Goofy takes out the remaining Crybaby as Sora finishes off a Happy Camper with a shard of Blizzard. The remaining Happy Camper, the one Sora hurt earlier, begins to spin in place before launching fireballs left and right in random directions Goofy and Donald got caught off guard and flinch from the attack. Madoka takes aim with her bow and fires an ice-fused arrow; finishing off the pest.
With no more enemies appearing, everyone relaxes their stances. Sora turns to the others, resting the Keyblade on his shoulders. "Now where can we find the rest of the Forgotten?"
"Forgotten something, have we?" a breathy, mysterious voice echoes. Fading in right next to the pinkette is the Chesire Cat; with his headless body standing on top of its head on one foot. Madoka gives a small shriek when she noticed and takes a few steps back.
"Hey there," Sora responds with a casual wave, "you wouldn't happen to know of any monsters around?"
"There are no more here," the cat responds before his body jumps off the head, which bounce off the floor before plopping on top of his shoulders after the rest of the body lands, "but there are more elsewhere."
"Tell us where they are with a straight answer for once!" Donald yells, stomping his foot several times.
"To go straight is definitely one road to lose your way, perhaps being lost will help you find your quarry." it responds while twirling its fingers as it disappears only to reappear on top of the giant table in the room, lying on his stomach with his hand on his front paws.
Madoka tilts her head as she lowers her brows, "That doesn't really make much sense."
"Ah, but I do make sense. Do I sense another question about? If not, then I shall go and be forgotten again." Chesire cat disappears.
"Welp, there he goes," says the Royal Captain.
"And again we don't have a clue as to where to go!" Donald exclaims, crossing his arms.
"I don't know, he gave us some vague clues." Sora says with a smile. "Let's go on ahead." The party continues on into the open doorway.
After going through the open doorway, they came across a garden-like plaza with an archway blocked off directing them to a detour to an entrance on the left. To her surprise they come back to the previous room, except they were walking along the wall with the blue, grandfather clock. After defeating the Forgotten barring their way; she was flabbergasted how the other three just dove into a painting on the 'floor' and disappeared. She takes in a deep breath to clear her mind before following them. She pops out of a painting on a grassy floor behind the others and after walking through the woods they came with giant, talking flowers with very animate personalities. After about ten minutes of pointless conversations with the animative flora, the party pressed on. Madoka begins to think how insane this world is; despite Sora's warning from before.
"Is there anything else I should be aware of, Sora?" the pinkette asks.
Sora responds, his hands behind his head, "Well, it would be nice if we can run into that rabbit that's always seem to be running late for one thing or another. There's also the Mad Hatter and his buddy, the March Hare. Probably having one of their usual tea party celebrations."
"What are they celebrating?" she asks with a curious tone.
"Considering what today is," Sora states before pausing for dramatic effect, "their unbirthday."
"Their unbirthday?" she asks slowly, hoping one them would respond.
Goofy in turn answers, "Basically it's a day that isn't your birthday. Which is practically everyday that's not your birthday."
"And what if it is their birthday?" the pinkette asks with a tilt of her head.
Goofy hums at that as he looks up before answering, "Probably, just have a bigger party than usual."
"They won't be of help either way," Donald follows up. "They'll just blabber about in circles and we'll be given the boot right after they invite us."
"And I don't think the Forgotten we're looking for is here." Sora says out loud. He makes a turn around some tall foliage before jumping back and brings a finger to his lips and points to the other side. The others nod before all four stick their heads out. What the pinkette sees is something else she didn't expect, but is starting to get used to the feeling. In front of them a good distance away are two card-like beings; a Spade Soldier wielding a spade-themed axe and a Heart Soldier with a heart-themed spear.
The Spade Soldier speaks out, "Heard another ten got the axe."
The Heart soldier responds, "Well that's what happens when…when…," he turns to his fellow soldier, "I forgot, what did they do?"
"You know the…thing… you know the thing in the garden," the Spade card responds while scratching his head.
"Don't know what you're talking about," the Heart soldier responds, "Any case, I hope I don't get stationed there anytime soon." The soldier sighs before looking straight ahead. "Sometimes I wonder why I chose this job."
"It's our duty to serve the Queen," the other says stoically. "No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Now let's go, I don't want to be caught being late again."
"I hear that," the Heart soldier agrees and the two continued on their way.
"Gosh, sounds like the Queen is in a sour mood as always," Goofy states as the party walks around the foliage they were hiding behind.
The wizard of the group responds, "As long as we stay away from her, we should be fine."
"Is the Queen that dangerous?" Madoka asks with a hint of hesitation.
Sora raises his arms behind his head, "Well, she has bit of a temper but we can trounce her into next year. But its best to stay on her good side if you want to move around in this world." He lowers his arms before turning to her, "Speaking of moving around we need to get moving and find the Forgotten."
"Well do you have any ideas?" Donald responds; crossing his arms.
The Keyblade Master looks at the questioner, "I think that they are in a maze somewhere." Sora looks up; crossing his arms. "Question is, which maze? I thought for sure we would find them in this maze of a forest."
"Well I may have an a-maze-ing answer," echoes the voice of the Chesire Cat causing the others to look around before he fades in on top of a large mushroom nearby.
Donald taps his foot as he glares at the grinning cat, "You better get to the point this time!"
"I'm afraid I forgotten the point," the purple-striped being responds. "I just hope that you can point to where I forgotten it." Donald grumbles in response with narrowed eyes.
Madoka walks up to the Chesire Cat before looking at him with a smile, "Maybe you can tell us the best place to forget all of our troubles."
"The best place is the queen's treasure of course. But I forgot if you can get there free of charge or not." The cat responds with his ever-present smile.
Sora smiles as he brings his hands behind his head, "Gee, I wonder if its someplace only someone royal as the Queen can enter."
The Chesire Cat answers quickly, "The Queen rules all. Lest she forgets the garden where she can forget her troubles."
The pinkette smiles before bowing, "Thank you, Mr. Chesire Cat."
The cat bows with an arm across its chest for a few seconds, "No, thank you, for helping me to forget how to forget. Until next time, farewell." The cat fades away.
"So, the royal garden, huh. By the way, nice move Madoka" Sora says with a big smile as Madoka turns to the others with a beaming smile.
Donald sighs heavily at the implications of what needs to be done next. "Please tell me we're not going to see the Queen."
Sora drops his smile slightly, "Well, if we want to make progress that's our only move at this point."
"Let's just hope she isn't in the middle of something," Goofy responds.
Madoka frowns slightly, "Would she really see us?" Madoka asks with trepidation.
"Eh, I'd give it fifty-fifty," the Keyblade Master responds with dismissal wave. "But I'm certain she'll hear our story. Come on, let's go."
After navigating their way further through the woods, the party finds themselves in a plaza with cut, green grass and tall hedges; a sight most familiar to the original trio. In front is a Spade Soldier standing guard in front of a passage and to their left is another passage behind a heart-shaped hedge archway. Standing on the sides of the arch passageway are two Heart Soldiers. Sora leads the team towards that direction and the two guards in front stop them. Sora claims that he and his companions have business the queen; adding in the urgency that there is a threat that would threaten her. The guards whisper to each other. The party could all hear them muttering about them and speaking if they should let them in. The two nod to each other and grants the party passage to the chamber behind them.
Sora and the others find themselves on the court of none other than the Queen of Hearts herself. Sora looks back at the others, "Leave this to me. Just follow my lead," as they continue walking to the middle of the court. The queen is behind what appears to be a judge's podium. The queen takes a look at the Keyblade Master with her usual frown.
"And just who are you," she states. "What is your business here?"
While Donald and Goofy look at each other, Sora smiles; convinced that she may have already have fallen victim to the Forgotten and does not remember them. And he plans to use this to his full advantage. "Oh, your glorious majesty!" Sora states in a loud, sarcastic tone with exaggerated waves of his arms before kneeling down on two knees. Donald and Goofy also go down to their knees. Madoka is just simply shocked of Sora's strange behavior, prompting Donald and Goofy to pull on her arms so she too is kneeling. "We have come to rid your kingdom of a foul evil! With your blessing, oh beautiful and wise queen of Wonderland. We wish to venture into your royal gardens so we can complete this task for your glory!"
The Queen smirks at the Keyblade Master's words. "Very well. You have my permission to enter the royal gardens. However!" she states with a sharp tone. "If I find even one petal or leaf missing… OFFFFFF WITH YOUR HEADS!" Madoka freezes at those words.
"Thank you, your majesty!" Sora states with the same sarcastic tone. "We shall not fail you!" Sora stands up before turning to the others. Donald and Goofy stand up with Madoka soon after. "Come friends let us be off!" he says as he points to the sky with a fist on his side. He leads the others back the way they came.
As soon as they leave, Madoka speaks with a confused look. "Um Sora, did you mean all that?"
"Pfft. Yeah right," Sora says with a smirk. "That woman doesn't know sarcasm when its right in front of her face. I just said all that to stroke her ego." Sora frowns slightly, "I feel a bit bad that I took advantage of her slight case of amnesia." He looks back with a smile though, "On the bright side, we don't have to sneak around the place so we can take out the Forgotten. Besides, I have a feeling the next gate will be right where the big bad boss is at. So even if we were to do a little damage, we'll be out of there in a jiffy."
"That's IF the gate is there!" Donald exclaims.
"Don't worry it's under control," Sora states confidently with the wizard behind him.
Madoka ups her pace before she whispers to Goofy, "Am I the only one that's a little worried?"
"Nope, I'm in the same boat as you," the knight captain whispers back. He quickly dons a smile, "But don't you worry too much, I'm sure we'll get through somehow." Madoka couldn't help but smile from the knight's words.
"What a beautiful garden," Madoka says out loud as the party enters the royal garden. Unlike everywhere else they've been, it looks like there is an actual sky based on how high the walls of the room are. The entrance consists of a water fountain; raining water to a small platform before it empties out into the main pool. Behind the fountain is an arch of green hedges; the entrance to the maze of a garden.
"Let's get this over with," Donald exclaims as he heads to the maze's entrance. Madoka understands the wizard's impatience. She would also do not want to deal with the queen as well. Not in annoyance but in trepidation. She follows the duck as the others follow her.
Throughout their time in the maze they get lost several times over; mainly through dead ends and walking in circles. With the lack of landmarks or noticeable aspects within the maze it was arduous until they managed to reach a square clearing which leads to three different paths; one in the middle of each side. As the party makes their way to the clearing, a new Forgotten appears in the middle. This Forgotten reminds Sora of the Dream Eater, Necho Cat, in terms of size and shape. However, it's face consists of the usual emblem, the color scheme is mainly gray with black stripes along the body and its legs and tail end with a black stripe before turning into a point. Before the party can attack, it glows for a few seconds and out of puffs of smoke, two more appear. The summoned Forgotten charge. Donald and Goofy takes the front line. They swung their respective weapons and the charging enemies disappear in a puff of smoke. Madoka aims her bow and strikes the remaining one. Instead of disappearing; it flinches from the attack. This confirms to the party that this Forgotten does not summon but makes copies of itself. The Copycat glows, this time it creates nineteen more copies of itself. The path in front of them gets sealed off by a translucent barrier. Ten of the copies surround the party while the other ten, including the original, split off in two groups of five and go down the two remaining paths at the sides of the clearing. Madoka glances to the Keyblade Master with a smile. The latter nods and the pinkette raises an open hand with a flick of the wrist. Small bolts of lightning descend around the party in a circle; eliminating the copies.
After a quick discussion Donald and Goofy takes one path while Sora and Madoka take the other in hopes of eliminating the original Copycat. As soon as they step on the path, another barrier props up; preventing them from turning back. About thirty minutes later, the human duo came across an opening after chasing down four of the copies that tried to derail them through loops and dead ends in the garden's maze. In said opening was another Copycat. After it glows and creates more copies, they conclude they have found the original. However, they get surrounded by Amnesia, Happy Campers, and Crybabies.
After defeating the first wave of enemies, including the Copycat, within minutes, another wave comes in with three Copycats and three Amnesia. Along with them are more Happy Campers and Crybabies, two of each. The second wave is in between the two fighters; Madoka near the entrance and Sora towards the back of the clearing. As the Copycats begin to make copies of themselves, the Crybabies fly towards the Magical Girl and the Happy Campers drift towards the Keyblade Master. The magical archer shoots arrows infused with lightning; eliminating the water-based Forgotten. Meanwhile the young man eliminates the fiery duo with a charge; spinning his Keyblade like a windmill as its enveloped in ice. Sora blocks an Amenesia's attack but jumps back before several Copycats could pounce on him. After landing he casts Thunder; eliminating the two copies and damages the Amnesia. He quickly finishes it off in two slashes before continuing his combo to an adjacent Amnesia and sends it back with a strong finish following two slashes. The knocked back foe disappears after getting pierced with a magical arrow from Madoka; who already defeated the other two remaining Amnesia. She notices the Copycats are ready to create more copies. In response she launches an Aero-fused arrow. After hitting the enemy in the middle; all three get caught in the miniature tornado. Sora raises his Keyblade and eliminates them with Thundara. Seeing no more enemies in the clearing they make their exit back into the maze.
The human pair eventually arrive back at the square clearing with Donald and Goofy waiting for them.
"Did you get the original?" Goofy asks.
"Yep," the Keyblade master responds with a thumbs up and a smile that the pinkette matches.
Madoka follows up, "It wasn't that difficult to be honest."
"Now that's taken care of let's get going," the duck responds before walking to the entrance that was sealed off. "I'm tired of this maze." The anthropomorphic dog follows him.
Before the other two follow, Madoka speaks up, "Is it always like this between you three?"
Sora shrugs, "Eh, its par for the course. Donald may be impatient but he knows how to restrain himself. Goofy takes things slow but is quick to come up with solutions when we get in a jam. As for me," he turns to her before pointing at his chest with a smug look, "I'm the mature, optimist, level-headed leader of the group."
The Magical Girl laughs, "Somehow I doubt that."
"Ouch," the male responds with a smile, "that's a blow to my pride, you know." His smile becomes cheekier as Madoka giggles. "So what to do you think of this world," Sora asks.
Madoka looks up, "In one word, whacky," she answers; bringing her hands behind her. "But it seems a lot of fun as long as you know what you are doing."
"Yeah, this place can drive anyone mad," Sora responds with a cheeky smile.
"What are you two still doing standing over there!?" Donald yells out with an irritated glare from the next path's entrance with Goofy behind him.
"See what I mean," he says while pointing at the duck.
Madoka shakes her head with an amused smile. "We better get going," she says before walking towards the magician and knight with the Keyblade Master behind her.
After clearing the maze, they find themselves in a garden full of rose bushes. In the center however was a large flower facing away from them and clearly out of place. Sora summons his Keyblade and signals the others to stay put. He slowly approaches on his toes; with his Keyblade in front of him the whole time. He reaches the point that he can barely touch it with his weapon. He extends his arm slowly until he gently touches it with the Kingdom Key.
* UNTAMABLE*
"Whoa!" the Keyblade Master yells out; being launched into the air from the flower instantly rising to its full height and form. Sora regains control of his momentum and lands on the ground with the other three coming to his aid. They brandish their weapons as the giant Forgotten turns to face them.
The Daisy Pusher's head consists of yellow petals. Its silver face consists of three, black circles representing its eyes and mouth. The stalk holding up the head is five feet tall; connected to its main body. The body is as long as the stalk with the Forgotten emblem embedded on its chest. Below that are the three rotating cylinders. The middle one colored purple while the others are green with each one having an arm attached; the arms match the same colors as to the cylinders they are attached to with gold accents. The arm on top holds onto one half of pair of giant garden shears. The other half is held by the arm attached to the bottom cylinder. Both of the mentioned arms are on the monster's left side; while the arm on the middle portion holds a large, silver watering can on its right side. The base of the creature has four thin vine-shaped legs that curve at the 'heels.'
Sora and Goofy charge ahead as Madoka and Donald cast fire at the giant Forgotten. Their spells connect before the other two get in several hits. The Daisy Pusher bends backwards; its blades getting behind it. It steps forward; swinging its swords upwards and carving the ground as it did. Goofy blocks with his shield and gets pushed back. Sora twists his body; barely avoiding the attack before he continues his assault. Meanwhile the two spellcasters at the rear of their formation kept launching Fire-based spells.
The Daisy Pusher jumps back. It shakes its watering can; purple ooze and bubbles emanating from it. It then starts lobbing gunks of poison at the party. This forced Donald and Madoka to split up before the poison hits the ground; changing it into purplish pools of ooze. Sora jumps back and runs away from the incoming blobs. Unfortunately, one of the blobs hits him square in the face as he tried to turn around and already he can feel the adverse effects coursing through his body. He grits his teeth and bears it; knowing the effects will pass eventually.
Madoka yells out in concern before she gets pushed by Goofy; saving her from a stray lob of poison. Unfortunately, the knight captain, also gets hit and afflicted shares the same ailment as the Keyblade Master. Still this is not the first time he was magically poisoned and he presses onward. Madoka bites the inside of her cheek; reminding herself to stay focused. The original trio of the group have went through worse battles and came out alright. Despite her most recent battles at home, which were relatively tame except for the invading force before they got banished to Radiant Garden, it is clear that she has less experience than the seasoned fighters she is travelling with. Regardless, she knows that she can keep up with the three males. With those thoughts in mind she launches arrows laced with Fira, intent on defeating their foe.
However, the monster jumps at the last second and her shots hits the foliage behind it. It lands back in the center of the battlefield. The two top gears on the Forgotten's body turn clockwise. After they stop, the arm holding the poison-filled watering can is now protruding from its back as the arm holding on one half of the shears is now on its right side. It slams the two halves; combining them. With the shears now complete it extends the shears outwards before snapping them open and close as it walks towards the pinkette.
Madoka makes a break for it as the Daisy Pusher pursues her. As she tries to run away, she launches a Fire spell with her free hand towards the monster every now and then. Though some of the spells hit the monster that wishes to cut her in half with its shears; it still kept its pursuit. Even with Donald and Sora attempts to distract it with their spells don't make the monster deter from its course. When the pinkette is between the blades of the shears, she jumps high at the last second with a back flip. As she is about eye level with the monster; her bow is already primed with a magical force and is facing the Forgotten as she's upside-down in the air. She lets go; firing a volley of magical arrows right at its face. The monster flinches from the direct attack. The Magical Girl lands on the ground and moves away from the giant Forgotten.
Sora rushes in as his Keyblade glows. After a flash, his Keyblade is replaced with a pink lance ending with an upside-down heart takes its place. Attached to it is a giant, black spade-shaped shield which detaches and flies around the Keyblade Master before he grabs hold with his freed hand. He jumps at the monster; thrusting his weapon several times before spinning around the monster and attacks again. After doing this once more, he is attacking the face before he propels forward with a spin. The Forgotten moves its head; leaving the Keyblade Master to only graze it. The Daisy Pusher turns around and is ready to cut him in half with its shears. After chasing him and failing to cut him down for half a minute it gives up before separating the shears and its top two arms shift back to their original positions.
Sora closes in. At the same time, Goofy is also running at the monster from the opposite direction. The Forgotten shakes its watering can before pouring out a rain of poison around itself. Both human and dog quickly stop their tracks and backed off. The Forgotten stops poisoning the ground around itself before stepping towards the Keyblade Master. The monster brings both of its shear arms back. Sora raises his shield protecting himself from the Daisy Pusher's upward slash. It brings the shears down; hitting Sora's shield once again. Sora steps backs before flinging his lance at the Forgotten.
His weapon makes contact; sticking out of the Forgotten for a few seconds before it disappears in a flash. The weapon reappears in Sora's freed hand. He raises his weapon before several lights appear around it and fly around as it grows larger. Sora spins counter-clockwise; his shield detaching the shield transfigures itself into another spear and attaches it to the butt of the original spear. Sora grabs hold of his weapon; spinning it around before holding the dual-sided weapon behind him. The young man dances around the monster; spinning and cutting into the Daisy Pusher. At this time everyone else is doing what they can to bring down the Forgotten. Sora throws his weapon, which circles around him several times; cutting into the enemy at each pass. The weapon comes back to his hand before he jumps high above the Forgotten. He throws his weapon towards the monster's feet. The dual-sided lance sinks into the ground. Moments later, two gigantic, ephemeral slates appear to the side of the Daisy Pusher; one with a red heart, the other a black spade. The two slates circle around the Forgotten before stopping. They suddenly crash into each other; creating an explosion of light.
The Keyblade Master lands in front of the dazed Forgotten and his Keyblade reappears in his hand in its original state. The Daisy Pusher shakes off the stars around its head and swings its arms wildly; slashing and poisoning anything in its path. Sora charges in as the monster bring its lowest, left arm for an upward slash. He holds in place with his Keyblade in a strength-locked battle. The Forgotten brings its other sword arm towards him from the opposite direction. Its follow-up attack however also gets stopped by Goofy's shield. The monster's watering can swings around. Donald freezes the can; rendering it useless. With all of the Forgotten's arsenals disposed; Madoka gathers magical power in her free hand before knocking her bow. She releases her magical payload of eight arrows that arc in different directions before striking the face at the same time. Sparks fly from the giant Forgotten as it lurches back. It staggers backwards falling into the ground with a crash. Its body disperses a white mist surrounding before disappearing.
Everyone lets out a sigh of relief as they dismiss their weapons. "That takes care of the boss," says Sora; smiling with his hands behind his head.
Goofy pipes in, "Why don't we go report to the Queen?"
"You really want to do that?!" Donals exclaims before spreading his arms out "Look around!"
They look around and see several scorch marks and branches strewn about. Several roses on the hedges have also fallen with their petals scattered. Not to mention the carved grooves and dead grass in the ground.
Madoka brings a hand to her chest, her face etched with worry. "Maybe we should take our leave before she comes here."
Sora gives off a dismissive wave, "If we do run into her, let's just say it was already like this when we got here."
"You think she will buy that?" the knight counters as he scratches his head.
Sora sighs in resignation, "Not really… She is always looking for a reason to chop someone's head off."
"So where's the gate!?" the wizard yells impatiently.
"It should be…" the Keyblade Master trails off before randomly pointing somewhere towards the sky, "over there!" Everyone else looks at where is pointing at. However, nothing happens for the next few seconds before he turns back to them with a nervous smile, "Umm anyone else have any other guesses."
Donald sighs. "Let's just get out of here before the Queen finds us."
"Agreed," says Madoka before the party makes their way out of the garden.
Someone is opening their eyes with a flutter. The blur in the person's vision slowly recede. The person groans, indicating the voice of a young male. He begins to realize that he is laying on some type of bed. The male slowly takes in his settings. He finds himself what appears to be a hospital room, bringing back feelings of confinement and sorrow. The figure shakes his head, wondering why he is feeling like that.
"Oh you're awake," A joyful, female voice breaks through his thoughts. He turns to his right and notices a nurse walking towards him with clipboard in hand. "I'd like to say good to see you again, but I was hoping it was in better circumstances." The male remains silent. The woman frowns at him, "You don't remember me, do you?" She looks to the side, bringing her free hand to her lips. She turns back to him seconds later, "Do you remember your name?" The male turns to the side, thinking about it. He could get an inkling but it is not entirely clear. He looks up to her and shakes his in the negative. The woman sighs in disappointment. "I should have known better. There have been a lot of cases of amnesia, ever since those monsters appeared."
"Monsters…" the male asks groggily.
"Yeah, the streets are filled with them. Apparently, they don't attack anyone that has already been afflicted." She shakes her head before looking at him with a smile. "Don't worry, I'll do my best to help you remember. Do you remember anything at all?"
The male looks away before closing his eyes. Deep in the depths of his consciousness there is only one phrase coming to him.
…with key in hand…
OSWALD'S REPORT 11
An unfortunate accident occurred here in the lab. But truth be told, I don't remember what happened exactly. I could only piece it together by the two girls who stumbled into the lab. Wilda and Astraia are more adventurous than the others based on my observations. Perhaps they too are looking for clues to their hidden pasts. They decided to check out this building and have accidentally stumbled into the lab.
I did not consider setting up a security system since the lab is far from the main settlement. Yet I'm impressed with the courage the two have of venturing all the way into this lab. I was not made aware of their intrusion until I felt something. Something dark. I raced to the source only to find a gap in my memory.
The following is based on their accounts. While exploring the lab, they apparently found my cache of developed Force Gems. Wilda touched one of them and the crystal responded. She was amazed by the glow emanating from the gem. Staring into it, she unconsciously given it power because she wants to know more about their new discovery.
Alas, according to Astraia, the gem suddenly turned dark and a black aura surrounded Wilda. Wilda then writhed in pain as the aura grows stronger. Wilda too recalls this episode and says that something from her head was trying to burst itself free. She wanted to free whatever was trying to come forth from her mind. The dark aura turned misty white and gave birth to a ghost-like entity. That is when I arrived on the scene. They said I was in shock and was directly looking at them. I was probably so concerned with Wilda that I did not notice the newly born creature which attacked me.
Astraia then reported that Wilda lost consciousness and the creature turned to them. Astraia, fearing for her life, took a gamble with another of the Force Gems. She wished for someone or something to help them. She too then felt a surge of energy as her head felt like it would explode. Like Wilda, she too conjured the same ghost-like entity. As her focus was on Wilda's creation; her apparition responded by attacking the other. After seeing the threat was over; she was hoping her creation doesn't attack them and goes away. Ironically enough, the creature did disappear and Astraia felt a powerful headache at that time.
Based on these accounts, as well as my experience, I have drawn these conclusions. The creatures are probably memory-based, considering that I do not recall seeing them nor the creature that attacked me. Not only that, my own memory felt a little hazy. The creatures that Wilda and Astraia conjured have the ability to either seal away or rewrite people's memories. The two came to a conclusion themselves. The feeling of power surrounding them felt so familiar to them. They tried to grasp this power in hopes of understanding more about their forgotten histories. The apparitions summoned by them; appeared as they try to grasp the memories. But their attempt failed, the memories somehow vanished.
The creatures the two have called forth must have been fragments of their forgotten memories; taken form by the power unleashed by the Force Gems. These forgotten memories gone rogue are able to affect the memories of those whom they attacked. Though my memory is perfectly fine right now except for the recent encounter with the girls and their creations, I wonder if those with weak hearts would find more debilitating effects to their memories. Based on their ability to alter the memory of their victims and that they are born from the forgotten memories from these two girls; I have decided to call these creatures the "Forgotten."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well that's another chapter down. I originally planned on having Madoka and the others meet the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, but I don't think I could flesh it out properly since there's not much to go on based from the original animated movie this world is based on.
Speaking of Madoka, I hopefully made her reactions to this world believable.
Please let me know what you think of the story so far.
For me, any critique is good critique.
Don't know when I'll get the next chapter up. Hopefully I can get it up before the end of April.
Until next time.
Preview
We're not done yet
Why's he here
TOURNAMENT
Got it memorized
You didn't even let me ask
Next Chapter
LET'S MAKE A DEAL.