"Huh. Soooo basically Sora's giant key defeats those Heartless, seals those Keyholes like the one that just popped up, and saves the world from being consumed by them...I don't really get it, but okay!"
After providing Yang with the rundown of their current situation as well as their objective, Ruby, Weiss, and Blake sighed, shook her head, and smile respectively. Their sunny pugilist thrill seeker certainly hadn't changed. They half expected her to be utterly confused, but then there was yet another thing they knew well about Yang. If she didn't get something at first, it never really bothered her. "Like water off a duck's back. I wish I could be that carefree." Jaune said with an envious sigh. To which Pyrrha immediately responded to by clasping his shoulder with a smile. A familiar gesture to him by this point...but one he appreciated every time.
"Bark! Bark!"
The sound of a familiar corgi barking caught everyone's attention. And sure enough, there was the corgi in question, running past the gizmo shop. "Zwei? Were are you going? Zwei!" Ruby called out as she ran after her dog. Everyone else exchanged a confused look before running after the dog as well. They soon came to a small alleyway and a door to a house with a doggy door at the bottom. One which Zwei ran into. "Zwei! No! You can't just go into other people's homes!" Ruby said, rushing to the door but looked through the glass on the door for any sign of him inside. "Zwei! Come on! Hello?"
Everyone caught up, Weiss looking at Ruby with a frown of disappointment. "You let your dog just barge into other people's home? Some responsible pet owner you are, Ruby." she lectured her leader. "Zwei isn't normally like that. I'm sure there's a reason." Yang said in her sister's defense.
"Sora?" Pyrrha said as she noticed him suddenly right in front of the door. "Well then let's go check it out. C'mon, Ruby." he said, earning a nod from the red caped huntress as he walked right in. "Wha-Sora!" Donald yelled out in disbelief. "Uhh, Sora, Ruby, do ya really think that's a good i-...dea?" By the time Goofy finished his question, both youths were already inside.
"Ugh. Now I see where Zwei gets it from. Does nobody have any semblance of manners?" Weiss huffed with arms crossed. "Hello pot, my name's kettle. Have we met?" Blake's sudden, blunt retort made Weiss blanch with shock and annoyance. Did Blake just imply that she was...Weiss scowled at her faunus companion's retort and exclaimed, "How dare you!" But the ever stoic faunus simply blinked and raised a hand toward her, saying, "Case and point."
Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other with uneasy expressions, worried that this was going to turn into another Team RWBY argument. Just as Yang was about to step in and diffuse the situation, something else ended up doing just that.
"AAAHHHH!" At first everyone was concerned when they heard Ruby suddenly scream. But when they ran to the door and practically burst inside, they stopped in their tracks with confused, deadpanned, and surprised expressions from what they saw. And realized then that Ruby wasn't screaming in fear, but cheery delight. Because she was surrounded by...
"Puppies! So many of them! They're all so cute! Hee-hee, stop! That tickles! Hahaha!" Ruby said, at the mercy of their motions to climb all over her and smother her with a storm of licks.
Sure enough, swarming Ruby like a tidal wave of yipping playfulness, were a veritable horde of dalmatian puppies. And those that weren't around her were now gathering around Sora who blinked rapidly with surprise. He'd never seen so many puppies before. None of them had in fact. Especially not Blake who slunk behind the group and toward the door, glaring at the puppies overwhelming Ruby. It seemed for her, a dog was a dog, no matter how old it was.
"Daww, look at those cute little fellers." Goofy said with a cheerful smile as he watched the endearing display.
Donald tried to look serious and disinterested, but Goofy and Sora could see his beak curving upwards into a smile. Even this grumpy duck couldn't help himself.
Weiss stomped over to Ruby, her face a great big bowl of irritation. "You and Zwei barge into someone else's home, you disturb us all with a scream, and when we come to help, you're rolling on the floor..." As she lectured Ruby, the puppies began looking at Weiss one by one. "...playing with..." And immediately, their tails got a-wagging again as they began moving toward her, panting with joy. "...someone's...Adorable, sweet little cuties! Aww, look at you little spotted beans!"
And to everyone's surprise, just like Zwei, these puppies had melted the ice queen's heart with just a bit of eye contact and happy faces. In fact, Ruby, Blake, and Yang noticed it was uncannily similar to the day Zwei came to Beacon. As if...could he have...no way, he couldn't have.
The sound of a trio of barks, one quite familiar, caught everyone's attention. And sure enough, there was Zwei walking up to the group with two adult dalmatians, supposedly the puppies' mother and father. The father bore a red collar with the name 'Pongo' on the tag up front, while the mother had a blue collar which read 'Perdita'. Both canine parents looked at Zwei with very happy expressions on their faces. They seemed to be speaking to each other from what everyone else could tell.
Pongo suddenly walked around the corner to a bookshelf, grabbing a book from it using his jaws on the spine then carried it to Ruby, from whom the puppies scattered from by the muffled request of their father. She looked curiously at the book Pongo held out for her and reached for it, gently taking it from his mouth. Inside everything seemed normal until she noticed...a loose, stray page that looked torn out compared to the more mint condition ones surrounding it. "Huh...Guys, I don't think this page belongs in this book." Everyone looked at her as she opened the book up to show them. "See? It's torn but I don't see any part inside here that looks like it came from here."
Zwei came over, barking excitedly to her as his little tail wagged faster than normal. He also jumped around in place with a tiny circular pattern, tiny paws tapping the ground. Donald came closer to inspect it and hummed. "Could this be one of the pages torn from Merlin's book?" he theorized. "Well whaddya know?" Goofy said with cheery delight. "Zwei must have caught the scent of the book off of that there page. He's like a junior detective. Ahyuk."
Pyrrha gave a hearty laugh while cuddling one of the puppies in her arms before setting it back down with its siblings. "Well, this has been a fun little change of pace after dealing with so much drama. But I think we need to move on. Let's hold onto that page for now though."
"We may also need to resupply ourselves with potions and stuff. Maybe we can get more ammo at a weapons shop, too-Gack!" Jaune stated, struggling to remove the mouth of the puppy standing on the sofa's back from his hoodie.
Ruby got up, a little sad that they had to go so soon, and nodded. "Yeah. If the Heartless are getting stronger, nevermind the Grimm somehow being involved too, we need to be as prepared as we can be." she said as she smiled to the puppies one last time. "Bye for now, you little cuties. Hope to see you again, soon." And with a bunch of tail wagging barks from the puppies, the group departed, with Ruby waving to them every step of the way.
Blake had been waiting for the group at the door, still with that deep, annoyed frown on her face. "Uhh, Blake? What's wrong? You feeling okay?" Sora asked. She simply turned around and said, "Let's just resupply and NEVER open that door ever again." Sora, Donald, and Goofy all looked at each other as Blake marched off with the rest of her team, and Jaune and Pyrrha. All they could do was shrug in response.
As the group went about purchasing supplies, they were pleased to see that the shops did indeed sell ammunition that they could use with their weapons. They weren't sure how or why, but they weren't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Sora, Ruby, and Donald went to Cid's accessory shop after purchasing clips for Crescent Rose, but they were surprised to see that Cid wasn't behind the counter. In fact, nobody seemed to be in the shop.
Before the three of them could question where he was, they soon saw a different figure behind the counter. It looked like a tiny person, or a child. Except they were made of wood and not flesh. Sora, Ruby, and Donald looked at each other, uncertain about what they were seeing, before they stepped closer to the huddled seemingly wooden person. As they drew closer, Jiminy Cricket emerged from Sora's hood, immediately recognizing that little red feather adorned yellow hat clad head of black hair, red shorts, brown shoes, white gloves, beige shirt, and blue bow tie adorned collar. "Well, well, as I live and breathe! If it isn't Pinocchio!" Jiminy exclaimed with a bright smile on his face as he jumped off of Sora's shoulder.
Sure enough, hearing his name, the little child-like puppet rose up to reveal his flesh colored, wooden face, curiously pointy nose and sky blue eyes. "Oh! Hi, Jiminy." Pinocchio greeted his old friend and conscience cheerfully. The two dear friends took a moment to joyfully regard one another, happy as could be to be together again.
Of course that begged the question. "What in the world are you doing down here?" Jiminy asked. He didn't see Pinocchio's father or anyone from their world with him, so why was he here, alone?
"Um..." Pinocchio seemed to hesitate and look away from Jiminy before answering, "Plying hide-and-seek." Hide-and-seek? Why would he be playing that in a place like this?
Jiminy began pacing around in a circle, unable to contain his relief at Pinocchio's safety despite the destruction of their world. "I just don't believe it. And here I was, up all night just worried sick about you. Why of all the-" A sudden familiar noise and sight cut off Jiminy's relived musings. "Pinocchio!" he called out in a scolding manner as suddenly...the puppet boy's nose had suddenly gotten longer.
Sora, Ruby, and Donald went wide-eyed at the unusual display. "Did...I imagine things or did his nose just get longer?" Ruby whispered as the two friends continued talking.
"I uhh, think so?" Sora replied, though he certainly sounded uncertain, to put it mildly. Everywhere they went, they discovered more bizarre characters in these worlds.
"I saw it too." Donald told them, equally stunned as Ruby and Sora.
"Pinocchio! Are you telling me the truth?" Jiminy said as if suspecting the boy of something.
To which Pinocchio quickly replied, "Yes!"
Still somewhat uncertain of his honesty, Jiminy asked when gesturing to a small spherical blue chest with golden trim, "Then tell me, what is this?"
"It was a present." the child said, not as hesitant as before.
"No fibbing now. You know you're not supposed to tell lies," Jiminy said, giving him a small lecture. "A lie only grows and grows 'til you get caught. Plain as the nose on your face."
Pinocchio only seemed confused and responded, "But if you want something, why wait? Why not just take it?"
Shocked at his choice of words, Jiminy said to him, "Oh my! Who told you that? You need some advice from your conscience!"
A smile returned to Pinnochio. "That's right. You're my conscience, Jiminy. I'll never tell lies as long as you're around." No sooner had he finished his sentence did Pinocchio's nose tip glow with light as a similar sound to the last go off and made it shrink back to normal.
A little more pleased with the proper behavior, Jiminy said to him, "You need to need to be good so you can be a real boy. You promised Geppetto you would be, right?"
Hope almost beamed off Pinocchio's face as he smiled more. "Oh! Do you know where father is?"
Jiminy was surprised again and a little worried when realizing what that meant. "He's not with you?"
As the two of them conversed, Sora, Ruby, and Donald began to more softly speak amongst themselves."So he has a father." Sora hummed with interest.
Ruby's eyes widened when she realized that the Jiminy and Pinocchio knew each other was because they were from the same world. She couldn't believe she didn't think of that sooner! But as she had that realization, another thing clicked in her mind. One that was...less pleasant. "Oh no. You don't think the world Pinocchio is from is gone, do you?"
Donald stiffened briefly at Ruby's words, realizing that neither he or Goofy ever shared with them the story that Jiminy told them before they left. "I hate to say it, but...it was." Donald whispered reluctantly. The instant he saw Sora and Ruby's shocked expressions, Donald tried his best to keep his voice down. Not so much for Jiminy, but for Pinocchio. The last thing the boy needed to hear was that the Heartless had destroyed his home. "Jiminy told me and goofy before we came to Traverse Town that his was another of the worlds that disappeared when the Heartless showed up."
Ruby and Sora looked back at the wooden boy and his cricket conscience as a wave of sympathy washed over them. "Well...Jiminy and Pinocchio are together again. And we even found Riku. So I'm sure Pinocchio will find his father too." Sora said optimistically.
"Yeah..." Ruby said with a smiling nod as her head turned back to Pinocchio. As she looked at him, she found herself feeling oddly...wistful and regretful. Something about Pinocchio...reminded her of something. No, of someone. She wasn't sure if she was imagining things, but something about this boy reminded her a bit about...Ruby tore herself out of her thoughts. It hurt too much to think about her right now.
"Jiminy, let's go find my father!" Pinocchio said, about to hop to his feet.
"Now hold on!" Jiminy called out, stopping Pinocchio in his tracks and flump back onto the floor, allowing Jiminy to hop onto his shoulder. "There are all sorts of dangers and temptations out there! I'll find Geppetto, so you just wait here." he said, giving Pinocchio a reassuring pat on the cheek before hopping over to Sora, Ruby, and Donald. "These fellows here and our other friends will be helping me."
Jiminy's last statement made Sora blink with confused surprise. "We will?" he said, as if not expecting to be drafted into this search for Pinocchio's father.
"Well, shall we go, Sora?" Jiminy said with a big smile before making a huge leap up onto Sora's shoulder then back into his hoodie.
Sora had a raised eyebrow and confused curled frown at one corner of his lip when looking over his shoulder toward his hood and muttered, "You could have asked us first..." before turning back to the wide eyes and innocent smile of the child below him. The hope on his happy expression made Sora sigh before smiling back. "Okay. We'll find your father. Don't worry."
"Heh. Maybe Jaune was right. We really are opening our own little lost and found." Ruby snickered. Donald looked to her with annoyance as they left the shop, grumpily stating, "That's still not funny."
As the three waited at the staircase, everyone else gradually reconvened with them. Now they'd resupplied with a hefty amount of potions and ethers. Of course, as Jaune pointed out with a sigh, "We don't have much munnie left from this shopping spree."
"Neither do we, so we'd better make sure it was worth the cost." Weiss said as she, Blake and Yang came to join them. She handed Pyrrha some small cartridges filled with ammunition then handed another couple to Ruby. "I bought some ammunition for you two, Blake and Yang. Interestingly, they have items similar to dust. They're called 'fangs', which I'd assume is because of their curved shape. But they only had fire, ice or 'thunder'. Curiously, it's also not sound based. It's electrical. I don't understand that logic but at least those little duckling triplets confirmed they could work with Myrtenaster."
"Duckling triplets?" Donald said, his eyes widening with great interest. "Were they wearing the same set of clothes and hats but colored red, blue and green, respectively named Huey, Duey and Louie?"
"Yes. Why?" Weiss asked. She, and everyone else were surprised to see Donald show this much interest in something other than the mission. Not just interest, but also...with a smile of relief and pride. "Those boys, trying to earn munnie to travel the worlds, like they said." Smiling was something the group hadn't seen from Donald very often, especially a smile like the one he had now. Goofy however, chuckled knowing just the reason why. "Huey, Duey, and Louie are Donald's nephews." he explained cheerfully.
"Nephews?!" was the collective exclamation with a myriad of emotions ranging from surprise, to disbelief, to curiosity, and adoration from a certain red haired huntress.
Donald looked at the others with a shift in his brow that contained confusion toward their reaction and mild irritation as to why they reacted so vocally. "What?" he asked. His answer was an awkward silence as nobody said anything in response. With a quacking sigh, Donald made his way to the Gummi Ship. Despite their surprise, Sora and Ruby couldn't help smiling. Donald may have been...rough around the edges to say the least, but deep down, he really was a good person...duck.
"Heh. Well what do you know." Yang said, putting her hands on her hips. "I like this side of Donald much better. You could say it's really...ducky. Don't ya think? Eh, guys?" An instant later, there was a collective facepalm accompanied groan from her teammates and friends, joined by a blink of confusion from Sora, a HIGHLY unamused glare from Donald, and another laugh from Goofy.
"A-hyuck! Oh, I get it! Cause Donald's a duck, but it's also cause he's a nice guy under that rough exterior." Goofy chortled, drawing a proud grin to Yang's lips. Finally, someone who actually appreciated the unsung art of puns!