Chapter 46: the incredibles
I do not own kingdom hearts or the properties shown in this fanfic. They belong to the respective owners and the original story is based on the works of Darius Almighty. Kingdom hearts and trials of the keyblade is owned by square Enix, Disney, and Tetsuya Nomura. Please support the official release.
Right. Now it's time to meet the incredibles! You know what's funny about the titled family? These guys are like the fantastic four without the human torch or the thing.
With that out of the way, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!
Like all good things, the Keybladers' stay on the island had to come to an end. They had enjoyed the luxury, the entertainment and the free food, but eventually had to admit that it was time to get on with their quest. It took the combined effort of both Beast and Mulan to drag Jack Sparrow away kicking and screaming.
"I trust you all enjoyed your stay?" Mirage asked as she lead the way through the corridors to the exit of the complex.
"Let's just say I've gotten more action here than I have this whole adventure," Jack Sparrow sighed. "Can't we stay for a teensy bit longer?"
"We can't stay here forever," Sora stated, although he also seemed slightly regretful about having to go back to reality. "We have jobs to do."
"You're just saying that cause Jack schooled you in Guitar Hero," Kairi giggled.
"Don't feel bad, Sora," Jack Skellington said good-naturedly. "I played with the corpse of Jimmy himself!"
"Well, I feel like a million bucks!" Mulan announced, stretching her pampered arms out. "I feel like I can take on anything now."
"That's good," Mirage said quietly. They couldn't see the gleam in her eyes.
They continued to walk down the hallway when a door slid silently open to their right as they passed it. Only one Keyblader seemed to notice. Jack Skellington walked backwards like someone had hit the rewind button without anyone noticing until he was at the open door. He stared with child-like curiosity down the hallway it opened on to, breaking into a skeletal grin. He walked through the door without a word and it slid closed behind him.
The other Keybladers had reached the outside and were facing the doorway at which Mirage was bidding them goodbye. "Thank you all again," Mirage smiled kindly. "I wish you all safe travels on your journey."
"No problem at all," Sora assured with a grin. "Thanks for all you've done. We really needed it."
"Please let me stay!" Jack pleaded desperately.
"Some more than others," Beast grumbled.
Mirage smiled again. "Think nothing of it. Good luck!" With one last wave goodbye the Keybladers turned tail and walked off into the clearing between the jungle and the building. Mirage continued waving until they were far enough away. The smile then dropped from her face as she continued to watch their retreating backs, almost regretfully, before going back inside.
"I'll get the Shera to transport us back up," Kairi said pulling out the Kimmunicator.
"Well, it was nice while it lasted, I suppose," Beast sighed. "And if I'm gonna be a beast, at least I'll be a groomed one."
"That's the spirit, Beasty!" Jack Sparrow exclaimed. "Beauty is only skin deep! I'm sure yours is somewhere underneath all that ugly fur." He sighed regretfully. "I wish I could have said goodbye to all those women."
"What were their names?" Mulan asked.
Jack blinked. "Women have names?"
"And I managed to eat my weight in ramen," po sighed blissfully. "Yes sir, it was a good day for all."
"Wait a minute," Sora interrupted, looking around the clearing. "Where's Jack?" The Pumpkin King wasn't with them.
"You mean freaky skeleton guy?" po spat disdainfully. "I didn't even know he was missing." He was lying through his teeth and they all knew it.
"Sooner or later you're gonna have to get over your fear of him," Mulan said.
"I'll do that. As soon as he stops being a skeleton. Which is NEVER!"
Sora sighed. "Tell the Shera to hold on," he told Kairi. "We gotta look for Jack."
"That's weird," Kairi muttered, fiddling around with the Kimmunicator. "I can't get through to them." Every time she tried to contact the airship she was met with nothing but static on the screen.
"What do you mean you can't get through?" sonic asked irritably. "Try harder."
"I am trying harder. Nothing's working!" It was true. All her efforts to get it working was futile, getting more static each time. Everyone crowded around to see what the problem was.
Suddenly the Kimmunicator wasn't the problem any more.
A shadow suddenly descended on the group like the sun had been blotted out above only them. All of them looked up, and immediately their eyes widened.
"Hit the dirt!" Beast hollered. Everyone jumped just in the nick of time when a huge black metal sphere crashed down where they were standing, cracking the earth apart on impact. Five holes instantly opened around the sphere and out of them extended five metal tentacle like arms and out of its top rose a glowing red visor.
"What the...?" Sora gasped. It was the Omnidroid. The same Omnidroid they had defeated upon arriving here. Except now it was at least five times bigger, and its single eye was now red. The Heartless symbol on its plating was still there as well. Sora and the others didn't know why it was back but they knew what they had to do. Sora summoned his Keyblade.
The Omnidroid was on him instantly. One of its arms extended and snatched him up before he could attempt anything and threw him halfway across the clearing. He hadn't even recovered when it grabbed him again by the feet and tossed him into a large rock. sonic charged behind it with hiskeybladebut another arm grabbed the sword and lifted the hedgehog off his feet, slamming him three times into the ground and then tossing his unconscious body away. Before they could mount any kind of defense, one arm grabbed Mulan and another grabbed po and both were slammed painfully into each other. The Omnidroid dropped their limp forms then set its eye on Kairi. She made an attempt to strike one of its arms but it knocked her and her blow away and she was sent sailing into the jungle. Beast jumped to attack with his Keyblade only to have the robot crash another arm down on top of him and plow him into the dirt, then pick him back up by his cloak and whip him across the ground. Jack Sparrow gulped when the Omnidroid turned to him. With everyone else beaten up after going up against the robot, he did the only logical thing; waved a makeshift white flag and smiled nervously. A moment later he was flying into a tree and hanging from the top branch by his feet, dazed and defeated.
It was over in a matter of seconds.
Sora leaned against the rock he had been hurled against, knees wobbling, trying to stand back up again. Unfortunately, the robot grabbed him yet again in a crushing grip and lifted him up to bring him before its glowing red visor. Sora just couldn't figure it out. Mirage said they had terminated the Omnidroid after they defeated it, and yet it was back faster, stronger and had read their attacks before they could even make them.
Trapped in its grip, Sora was helpless when it brought up two more of its arms so it was only standing on two appendages. The claws on the arms on the left and right of Sora started spinning rapidly like twin circular saws and moved in to either side of Sora's neck. Sora struggled but to no avail and the spinning blade-like claws closed in on his neck. Sora shut his eyes tight, as if that would save him from an inevitable end.
Nothing came.
Sora opened his eyes. The claws had stopped within inches of his throat, still spinning but going no further. He looked back at the Omnidroid, but it had no reaction whatsoever. Why did it stop?
"It's bigger, it's badder and, ladies and gentlemen, it just kicked their beloved keisters!" Sora looked to the sky. The first thing he saw was hair like fire, attached to a freckled-face man in a black mask and a black and white jumpsuit with a large white S tattooed on his chest. He remained airborne using a pair of rocket powered boots spouting blue flame from the soles. A cape flew behind him as he descended from the air, his boots deactivating as he landed on the Omnidroid's head.
"Yeahaha!" the man laughed. "It's finally ready!" He pressed a button on his wrist and the rotating claws of the Omnidroid came to a stop, much to the relief of Sora. "You know, after you guys trashed the last one, I had to make some major modifications. It only took two hours, but that's beside the point. Now, I know what you're thinking... 'How does he build a fully functioning battle robot with the power to beat our brains out in only two hours?'. It's all because of the Heartless, my friend! I combined the powers of darkness with my technological know-how, and the thing practically built itself! I created the perfect blend of Heartless and machine! And I can't stop telling people!"
"Who are you?" Sora growled patiently.
"Oh! Sorry! Getting ahead of myself here!" He pressed another button, and the robot brought Sora closer to the masked man. "I know who you are. Heck, a lot of people know who you are! Sora, saviour of the worlds. I am Syndrome. As you may have already guessed, I am a bad guy. This is my creation, the Omnidroid Heartless. A little project I cooked up with my gal pal, Maleficent."
"Maleficent?" Sora exclaimed. The Omnidroid tossed Sora to the ground at Syndrome's command and he landed with a grunt of pain.
"Bingo! I mean, I've got to have a Heartless supplier, right?" Syndrome chuckled, flying down to the ground to confront Sora. "Maleficent and I have something in common, see? Being the bad guys, we both have a dislike for the good guys. And who are the greatest good guys in existence? The Keybladers of course! She seems to have a great and personal hate on for you, in particular. So we came up with a plan. Build the ultimate Heartless with the sole purpose of hunting down the ultimate good guys. The Keybladers!" Off to the side and behind Syndrome, Beast roused himself painfully. After shaking his head clear, he saw Sora, cornered by some freak in a cape. Beast slowly began creeping up behind the red-headed man. Sora noticed this, and tried not to give him away.
"What do you mean it hunts Keybladers?" Sora asked, stalling while at the same time trying to gain some info.
"What do you think it means, jerkface? It means I built this thing for the sole purpose of beating you and anyone like you! It's not that difficult to understand! I went through a lot of challenges to get this thing up and running but man was it worth it! Because, as you can see, it just made it through its trial run and beat its first Keybladers. Namely, you guys. Now it's ready to be launched-" Beast roared and pounced but Syndrome rounded and fired a laser beam from his gloved finger. The beam struck Beast and enveloped him and he froze in mid-air, still with his teeth and claws still bared to attack. Syndrome laughed, keeping the beam concentrated on Beast. "Wow, this is how you know I'm a villain. I'm monologuing! I swore to myself I'd never do that!" Then he threw Beast, using the laser as a tow line, sending him flying into a rock. Beast went down and didn't get back up. "Cool, huh? Zero-point energy. What? You don't think a super genius keeps a few gizmos for himself?"
He quickly turned again and froze Sora with his laser as he tried to sneak up on him. "Man, you are persistent!" Syndrome laughed, keeping Sora levitated. "Maleficent was right, you are annoying. When you beat my robot the first time I wanted to pluck all your nose hairs out! It did give me an excuse to build another, though. And I'm quite pleased with the end result." He gestured to the unconscious forms of the other Keybladers lying about the clearing. "Because, you see, I...wait a minute." He looked at each knocked out hero one by one. "Two, three, four, five, six. Six? There were seven of you here! Who's missing?" He took each Keyblader into account again, and his eyes widened in realization. He used his zero-point energy to whip the still immobilized Sora into another rock face. Sora grunted and collapsed in a heap, then Syndrome stalked up to his injured form, looking down at him with eyes blazing with anger.
"Now I'm only gonna ask this once," he growled. "Where's the red-head? Where's the girl!?"
It was then that Kairi decided take off into the jungle while she still had the chance. She had heard and seen everything from her vantage point in the trees, right up to the point when Syndrome realized she was gone. She hated leaving Sora and the others behind, but it wouldn't do anyone any good if they all got captured. As long as one of them was free, they still had a chance. With that in mind she sped into the thick jungle away from, or closer to, danger.
KHKHKHKH
Jack Skellington whistled the tune to 'This is Halloween', happy and carefree as he strode through the steel halls of the scientific building. There was no one around but him, so his tune echoed through the corridors. He had no clear direction to where he was going; all he knew was that he was getting there with a smile on his skull. He didn't even seem to mind the fact he was lost. Pumpkin Kings don't get lost, they get scary! He walked through another sliding door, one of many he had gone through, and into another room. It was large and spacious, not much in it. That is if you didn't count the man in binds at the end. Jack raised a nonexistent eyebrow and went forward.
The man had short blond hair and was incredibly buff under the red and black spandex suit he wore, in the middle of which was the insignia of a single, and flashy, letter I. He wore a black mask which concealed his eyes, which were closed, suggesting that he was sleeping. His hands and feet were wrapped in metal bindings, held in place by electrical couplings and keeping him spreadeagled, his head bowed as he slept.
"Excuse me!" Jack called boisterously. At his shout the man began to rouse, raising his head and blinking wearily. "I seemed to have gotten myself lost. Could you point me to the exit?"
"Who are you?" he mumbled. He blinked a couple of times until his vision came into focus, then got a good look at Jack. "Are you a super hero?"
"Me? Oh, heavens no! I..." Jack's eyes twinkled mischievously. "Why yes! Yes, I am a super hero!" He pulled out of his pocket a black mask which he had taken from the costume closet and tied it around his eye sockets.
"So, what's your name?" the man asked. "Skeleton Man?"
"Please," Jack scoffed, now in full masked costume. "I'm Jack Skellington! Skeleton Man is my cousin!"
"Right... Anyway, you gotta get me out of here! This guy, Syndrome, he's holding me here against my will! I have to stop him before he destroys the world!"
"Are you a super hero, too?" Jack asked, having heard nothing the man had just said.
"Yes! What do you think the mask and outfit is for?"
"That's great! You can be my sidekick!" The man glared at him. "I knew I was getting into the hero business, I never thought I'd be promoted to super hero so quickly! Sit tight now. I can't have my new sidekick hanging out to dry!" He walked to the control panel hooked up to the buff man's containment bindings and cracked his fingers. "This level of technology requires a delicate touch." Jack's Keyblade glowed in his hand and started wailing on the control panel, with a delicate touch. The electrical bindings holding the super hero in place short-circuited, Jack turning its controls into scrap metal; the man was now released, and able to stand up to his full height.
"By the way," Jack said as he finished up. "I never caught your name." The man in the red outfit rubbed his sore wrists slightly, flexed his hand into a fist and grinned.
"Call me Mr. Incredible."
KHKHKHKH
"Alright, listen up, hired goons," Syndrome announced to a team of black uniformed men standing before him. He paced before them, hands behind his back while he gave out orders. "I want you to comb every inch of this island until you find that girl. I don't care what you do or how you do it, just find her and bring her back alive. I cannot stress that enough! Take the Heartless if you have too! She is worth more alive to me than all of you rent-a-goons put together! If you come back without her, you'd better be sure it's because you don't value your legs anymore!" All the men gulped and nodded. "Why are you still standing around!? Go! Go! Go!" They all ran out of the room as fast as they could, bumping into each other as they did so.
"Syndrome!" Mirage stood at the other end of the room at the keyboard of a giant computer "It's her."
"Oh perfect," Syndrome groaned, running a hand across his face. "This is all I need. Patch her through." Mirage nodded and typed away at the computer, then stepped back to allow Syndrome to talk to the witch that appeared on the screen. "Maleficent!" Syndrome exclaimed with fake enthusiasm. "What's crack-a-lackin', baby? You know, I was just about to call you."
"Spare me your incessant babbling, Syndrome," Maleficent scolded with a frown. "I am merely contacting you to check up on your progress. How goes the Omnidroid project?"
"It is up and running to full capacity, your witchiness," Syndrome declared, sucking up big time. "It smashes, it crashes, my best work yet if I do say so myself."
"I still have my doubts that a machine could ever defeat those meddlesome Keybearers." Maleficent spat out the name like a bug. "Powered by the Heartless or not."
Syndrome could not have been smiling any more smugly. "Well, funny you should mention that actually. Cause it just so happens that a few Keyblade bearing heroes arrived on the island no less than a couple of hours ago. They ran into the Omnidroid and..." He cut off for dramatic effect. It worked, since Maleficent's eyes widened in shock.
"You mean...?"
"Sora and his merry band of Keyblader pals are now unwilling residents of my home sweet home! That's right! I rock!" Maleficent threw back her head and laughed on the screen.
"Excellent! This is brilliant! I commend you, Syndrome, you have greatly surpassed my expectations. You have done what many others have failed to do. Underneath that idiotic exterior is the mind of a genius. I shall send Pete and Gantu to retrieve Kairi immediately." It was here Syndrome's smug grin fell.
"Yeah, here's the thing," he said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "We beat the Keybladers and have every one of them captured, except for her." Maleficent's eyes turned to a glare so intense that a small green flame sprouted on the top of Syndrome's hair. He hastily patted it out. "Hey, hey! Watch the hair!"
"You incompetent worm!" Maleficent roared, green flames filling up the area of the screen, Syndrome cringing in fear. "Just when I think you might be useful for something! Kairi is the most powerful of the Princesses of Heart, therefore she is the cornerstone on which all of our plans are based! And you are telling me you don't have her?!"
"Relax! She's still on the island! All I gotta do is find her! It's not like she's going anywhere, I scrambled all communications. She'll be locked up with the others in no time."
"For your sake, I hope you're right," Maleficent growled. She switched off with those chilling words and the screen was blank once again. Syndrome sniffed disdainfully.
"Bitch," he said under his breath. For a few seconds he waited silently, then typed away at the keys on the supercomputer. When he was done, another face appeared on the screen, one not much better than the first. "Horned King! What's up, buddy!"
"Oh, it's you," the sinister Horned King sighed, his red eyes narrowing. "I hope you're here to tell me the Omnidroid is now functional. Need I remind you I invested quite a large amount in its creation."
"You bet it is, your spiky-headedness! In fact, you might want to know that it just kicked the butts of some very happy-go-lucky Keybladers." The Horned King raised a brow, interested now. "And I couldn't have done it without the Omega Heartless you sent me! Really gave the robot a kick! Sora and his pals are now happy residents here! They never stood a chance against it!"
"Excellent. And the Princess of Heart?" Once again, Syndrome's smile fell.
"Well...no." The top of his hair was lit on fire yet again and he pat it out just as fast as before. "Why? Why always the hair!?"
"Your victory is meaningless if do not have that girl," the Horned King rasped. "The very universe might as well balance on her. Why don't you have her?"
"Chill! My men are scouring the jungle as we speak. She'll be on your doorstep before you know it."
"See that she is." Like Maleficent, he switched off and left behind an empty screen. Syndrome sighed, hiding the singed part of his hair from sight.
"Are you sure you should be doing this?" Mirage asked from behind him, having been present for the whole conversation. "Those two will rip you to shreds if they find out your playing both of them."
"And that's why I'm being so careful about it, babe. Those evil overlords will pay through the nose to have that girl, and once I do have her, I'll sell her to the highest bidder." Mirage frowned slightly. "Not to mention the huge amount they gave me to get the Omnidroid going. I'm rollin' in it, I tell ya! Now, gotta make sure I wrangle that girl up to get ready for selling. I wonder which one will get her?"
"You're treating her like an object," Mirage tried to get across. "She's only a child."
"Well, that's her fault," Syndrome said stupidly. "She should've grown a couple of years more before she got herself involved in such dangerous matters." Mirage's frown deepened. "Now, I think it's time to check up on our other guest. Don't want him to feel unloved." He typed again at the computer and brought up one of the many security cameras spread throughout the complex. When he brought this one up, however, he didn't expect it to show him an empty room. "What! Where did he go!? That's impossible, he couldn't have escaped!"
"He is Mr. Incredible," Mirage pointed out. Syndrome growled and his fingers moved across the keyboard again. The security footage rewound, bringing up the footage from ten minutes ago. Mr. Incredible was still there then, locked up tight, but what looked like a tall skeleton in a mask was also there. To Syndrome's chagrin, the skeleton summoned a Keyblade and smashed the containment machine and set Mr. Incredible free. Both of them then ran off.
"Who the heck was that?!" the mad genius exclaimed.
"He's one of the Keybladers," Mirage replied, equally confused.
"What! I thought there were only seven of them! He wasn't in our data bank!" More keys were typed for another security camera to show another part of the facility, also from ten minutes ago, catching Mr. Incredible and the skeleton man running down a hallway together and out the door, leaving the building. Not long after they went through the door, the masked skeleton poked his head back inside it, looking directly at the camera. Then for some reason he broke out into a dance routine before the camera, a jig just for Syndrome. Mr. Incredible came back and yanked him out of there.
"So he's a new guy, huh?" Syndrome growled. "Now he and that tights-wearing jerk are running around free on my island! I hate that guy!" Syndrome rounded and stormed out of the room to deal with this new development, his cape swishing behind him. "At least things can't get any worse."
KHKHKHKH
Deep in the jungle quite far from the central complex lurked three of Syndrome's men, searching through the trees and bushes as ordered. They kept their machine guns at the ready, prepared to use them at a moments notice. Though considering the mission, they probably wouldn't end up using them. The capture of one teenage girl seemed like an easy task at the most, but Syndrome had made it abundantly clear what would happen if they failed, so they searched with utmost seriousness in their task.
One of the soldiers stopped walking. "What was that?" he asked nervously, pointing his gun around aimlessly.
"What was what?" another one asked.
"There was a noise. I'm sure of it! Someone's here."
"Unless it's that girl I'm not interested. There are tons of animals inhabiting this island, there's bound to be some running around here." While the two were talking, their third party member ignored them and continued searching the area behind their backs. Unbeknownst to him or the others, a rope was slowly being lowered from above, tied into a noose, right down to where the man he was standing. The rope quickly went around the soldier's neck before he knew it. He couldn't scream as the noose tightened around his throat, and something pulled him off the ground and into the treetops. "Now I don't know about you, but I just want to find that girl. So let's get... Hey, where'd he go?" The two of them turned around and saw their partner was gone. "Hey! Where are you? Quit fooling around!"
"Ah, he couldn't have gotten far," the other soldier chided. "You look over there, I'll look over here." They split apart to search for their wayward alley, searching through the bushes to see where he'd went. One soldier pushed aside another patch of bushes, then met an excruciating pain shove through his stomach. Two jagged blades stuck through his body, blood pouring from the wound. The man could only let out a inaudible gurgle as he was dragged into the bushes by his assailant. "I don't see him anywhere. You?"
"..."
"Hello?" He turned around. There was no one there. He was completely alone. The soldier rushed over to the area where his partner was. It wasn't long before he discovered a small puddle of blood on the ground. Seeing this, the soldier immediately panicked.
"W-who's there?" He backed away, hands trembling as he kept his weapon up. "C-c-come out! Show yourself!" His breathing increased heavily, eyes darting back and forth behind his visor at the trees that seemed to close in around him. His heart was like a drum against chest and swallowed a huge lump in his throat. It was so quiet, and he was so vulnerable. He turned around...
And said hello to a literal monster. It towered above him, broad, skin green like a reptile's, looking down at him with a helmet so terrifying that it screamed not of this world. If the man didn't know the meaning of fear before, he was certainly experiencing it now. Shaking and spluttering, the soldier raised his machine gun as fast as he could, and the creature was on him in an instant.
A blood curdling scream split the jungle.
Soon after it was followed by an inhuman victory roar.
KHKHKHKH
Sora struggled as hard as he could against the unique containment machine that had his arms and legs spread and trapped, but realized it was a useless exercise. For one thing it was Keyblade-proof; they couldn't summon them with their hands cocooned in metal. Strength wasn't even a factor since it didn't make a difference in the electrical currents attached to their trapped limbs.
"I told you we shouldn't have stayed here," Jack Sparrow lectured. He, like the rest of them, was trapped in binds.
"Oh, shut up! You did not!" Beast barked beside him. "And I bet those girls you were with were robots as well!" The horrified look on Jack's face showed he'd never even considered that.
"So this was a fix from the start?" sonic stated with irritation, struggling against his own restraints. "I guess there's no one out there who can be nice to us without having a secret agenda to kill us as well."
"I knew there was something about that woman," Mulan muttered. "No one has hair colour like that."
"She may be the most beautiful woman I've ever hated," Jack admitted.
"Forget that, guys!" Sora exclaimed, futilely fighting against the machine. "We need to get out of here fast! Kairi's out there alone and Syndrome's probably looking for her! She needs our help!"
"Oh stow it, Sora, I'm not in the mood for your melodramatics," Jack sighed. "Take a look around you, mate, the roles are reversed here. You're the damsel in distress now!" Jack chuckled at his own joke, then stopped and frowned. "Wait a minute. That means I am too." He hung his head. "Bugger..."
"Kairi's not completely alone," Mulan said helpfully. "The other Jack is out there too. He'll be able to help her."
"You're joking, right?" sonic asked.
Mulan sighed. "Yeah, I just heard myself say it."
Just then sora noticed someone's missing. It was po.
Sora gasped. "po's still out there! With him and Jack out there, they'll help Kairi and get us out of here!"
"So let me make sure I understand this," sonic said, with a twitching eye. "All our fates lay on the shoulders of Jack Skellington and po?"
"Um, yeah," Sora answered, a little unsurely. It sounded like a much better idea when he had said it. It suddenly was uncomfortably quiet in the containment room, reality coming down hard and heavy.
"Think someone can reach my rum for me?" Jack asked out of the blue.
KHKHKHKH
"Come on! Work already!" Kairi was alone in some part of the jungle, sitting on a rock and trying to get the Kimmunicator working to reach the Shera for help. She had run what she thought was a good enough distance, deep into the unknown forest, before finally deciding to stop and try to contact the airship in orbit. Her efforts were met with static every time. She sighed in defeat. "No use." Syndrome must have been scrambling all communications on the island. She was on her own.
It's not like Kairi hadn't been on her own before, it's just that now she was really on her own. Stranded alone on an island in the middle of a jungle with her friends captured by a maniac. And no doubt Syndrome was already searching for her. Once she'd heard he was working with Maleficent, she knew right away that she was his prime target. Now it was up to her to save the others. She was in quite the pickle.
"How am I gonna pull this off?" Kairi asked herself dismally.
"Let's check over here." Kairi blinked. She quickly hid behind a tree as voices approached her position. Cautiously peeking out, she saw two of Syndrome's visored soldiers armed with machine guns, accompanied by a Large Body Heartless and several Soldier Heartless. Kairi frowned , trying to go unnoticed.
"Does it have anything yet?" one soldier asked his partner.
"Its definitely got something," the man answered, and Kairi noticed that he was holding a leash, the other end of which was a snarling and clawing Omega Heartless. It was sniffing the area like a bloodhound. "She must be around here somewhere." Kairi was startled at the red-eyed monster sniffing her out, since Omega Heartless meant Horned King. But she thought Syndrome was working with Maleficent?
She had to push her thoughts aside, when the Omega Heartless looked straight at her.
"There she is!" Kairi cursed in her head that it had found her so quickly before she could take off to escape. Unfortunately, before she could get anywhere three Powerwild Heartless appeared from portals before her getaway route. She turned around but her pursuers had already blocked her off. Surrounded on all sides, Kairi was trapped.
The two human soldiers cocked their guns. "Give it up, kid. You're not going anywhere," said the soldier holding the Omega Heartless' leash, the creature fighting against him to try and get to Kairi, or more specifically her heart. "Just come along peacefully, and no one gets hurt." Kairi's Keyblade appearing was her answer.
"Good thing I'm not afraid of getting hurt," she shot back. The man scowled.
"Suit yourself." He let go of the leash and the Omega Heartless charged at her unrestrained, leaping for the auburn-haired girl, claws at the ready...
It exploded into tiny particles and its heart floated off. Kairi gawked and so did the soldiers. She hadn't done that. Suddenly a Soldier Heartless exploded, then a Powerwild, then another Soldier. Something or someone was destroying the Heartless one after the other. Whatever it was was moving so incredibly fast that to all of them it was only a red blur streaking around them and obliterating any Heartless in its path. Soon, only the Large Body Heartless and the two soldiers were left. They couldn't keep up with the blur at all and by the time they saw it, it was too late. The thing ran straight for the Large Body and hit it head on, knocking it backward and on top of the two humans, flattening them. The Heartless disappeared with its defeat, leaving two soldiers imprinted in the earth, both unconscious.
Kairi just stood there, Keyblade now slack in her grasp, trying to figure out what had just happened. She got her answer, when the blur came to a screeching stop in front of her.
"Wow, that really smarts!" A young boy, maybe ten years old, stood before her clutching his head. He was wearing a strange suit made of red and black spandex and a black mask covered his eyes. His hair was blond and slicked back. "Those things are a lot harder than they look." Giving his head one last shake, he turned to the flabbergasted Kairi. "Hi there!"
Kairi managed to snap out of it enough to wave. "Hi..."
"Say, you don't live here, do you?" the boy asked. Kairi shook her head, no. "Didn't think so. What with the way those guys were attacking you and all."
"Yeah," Kairi said absentmindedly. She shook her head clear of her stupor. "Who are you? And how did you do that?"
"Do what?" the boy asked coyly. "Oh, you mean this?" In a flash he was on her right. "Or this?" Then he was on her left. "Or this? Or this? Or this?" He was zipping all over the place, faster than Kairi's eyes could keep up with, using nothing but his own two feet to carry him. He was behind her one second, up a tree another second, and in front of her another.
"Yes, yes! That!" Kairi laughed at his antics before he came to a stop again. "How are you doing that?"
"That's an easy one. I'm a super hero!"
"A...super hero?" Kairi heard him clearly, she just couldn't believe it. Of course, the tights, the mask, how could she not have figured it out on her own? Memories of her childhood all came flooding back to Kairi. All the comic books she read, all the cartoons she watched and the super heroes in them. She used to look up to many of those heroes, her favourite being Elastigirl; the woman made of rubber. Those were good times. "Aren't' you a little young to be a super hero?" Kairi asked playfully.
"Hey, I'm ten and a half!" the boy shouted. "And my name's Dash."
'Fitting,' Kairi thought. "I'm Kairi. Nice to meet you, Dash." Dash grinned in response. "But are you here by herself? It's really dangerous here." Dash's grin faded.
"I'm not really here by myself," he said quietly. "I came here with my family, to rescue my dad. He was kidnapped." Kairi's thoughts immediately went to Syndrome. "But we all got separated when we landed here. I don't know where my sister, my mom or my little brother is. I was running through the jungle looking for them when I saw you in trouble. And being the hero I am, I decided to help the damsel in distress." Kairi frowned. Even when she wasn't the one captured she was still the damsel in distress. It wasn't fair! "You haven't seen them, have you?" he asked hopefully.
"No, sorry," Kairi answered truthfully. Kairi came up with an idea then. "Wait a minute," she said, earning Dash's attention. "Your family, are they like you? Are they super heroes?"
"Yeah," Dash answered.
"If I help you find your family, do you think they'll help me rescue my friends? They were kidnapped too." It would be extremely difficult trying to save Sora and the others by herself, but with a family of super heros on her side she just might have a chance. "Please, I could really use your help."
Dash seemed to think it over a bit. Kairi really hoped his answer would be yes. "Sure! You need help and I'm sure mom will give it. It's like the hero code or something like that." Kairi sighed inwardly in relief.
"Thanks, Dash. You have no idea how much this means to me. Guess we'd better start searching then."
"No offence, but my way's faster!" Before Kairi knew what was happening she was suddenly swept off her feet and into Dash's arms. He was pretty strong for a little guy. Dash grinned excitedly. "Hold on, it's about to get bumpy!"
"Dash, wait IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" The fastest boy in the world took off with his passenger at a fantastic speed before Kairi could object. Kairi had never moved so fast in her life. Trees were flying past her at an incredible rate, G-forces pushing the skin on her face backwards, the wind causing her eyes to water. It was both terrifying, and exhilarating at the same time. Wherever they were going, they were going there fast.
KHKHKHKH
"Kairi! Are you out here? It's me! po!" The fat panda was doing what he was good at as he leapt from tree to tree in the jungle: screaming at the top of his lungs. "Come on, Kairi! Quit hiding! We gotta save the others! Cause we're the good guys! It's in the job description!"
"There she is! After her!" po acute ears picked up the call, his head swiveling in the direction it came. Without another word he jumped between branches in that direction. He was there in no time, creeping from the treetops with kung fu stealth to look down below. Three of Syndrome's soldiers, along with Shadow and Knight Heartless, and what looked like Omega Heartless were scouring the area, searching for something or someone.
"I think she went this way," a soldier said, keeping his machine gun at the ready.
"But which way?" another asked. "It's like she completely disappeared without a trace." The Omega Heartless at his feet started sniffing around. "Wait. It's got something." He watched as it sniffed, then to his confusion, looked above him. He turned around a second too late when a sandaled foot connected with his face, cracking his visor in half and knocking him out cold. po pushed off the man's head and back flipped into the center of the fray, summoning his Keyblade in a near blinding flash, mischievously grinning.
"Get him!" one of the soldiers hollered and the Heartless closed in around po. The Omega Heartless was the fastest to reach him and he cut through it like butter, then cut off a Knight's sword-arm when it tried to sneak up on him. He reached into his weapons pouch then swiftly threw three shuriken between the eyes of three Shadows, blowing them apart. He heard the click of a rifle behind him and barely had enough time to pull a Heartless Knight to shield him from the barrage of bullets that one of Syndrome's soldiers fired from his machine gun. As the Heartless vanished with many holes in its armour, po charged through its fading form at the startled soldier delivering a powerful blow to the side of his head. He went down and didn't get back up. The last soldier decided not to waste anymore time and immediately opened fire when po's back was turned, bullets pounding into the panda's back mercilessly, unloading a full clip before he ceased fire. Just when he thought things were going his way, The man had time to gawk before an airborne po came down from above and crashed an axe-kick to the top of the man's head, slamming him to the earth and into unconsciousness. All three men were out cold and all the Heartless were defeated, po finally releasing the breath he had been holding.
"Kairi! It's okay, you can come out now!" po shouted. "I took care of them! It's safe! Kairi?" Someone tapped his shoulder.
"Excuse me..."
"WAHHH!" po screamed and leapt back in surprise and so did the person that addressed him. The person he was looking at was not Kairi, but some other girl. She was dressed in a red and black spandex suit that covered her slim fifteen year-old figure with the insignia of a yellow letter I. Her face was fair but her dark eyes were covered by the black mask she wore, and she had long dark flowing hair. po tried to stifle his surprise. She had somehow snuck up on him without him seeing her at all, and he was a dragon warrior! It was kind of embarrassing.
"Uh, who are you?" he finally asked.
"I'm, uh, Violet," the girl answered shyly. po nodded slowly.
"I'm po." After that there was a rather awkward silence.
"Thanks for saving me," Violet said after awhile.
"Huh?"
"You beat up those guys," she explained, gesturing to the three knocked out soldiers. "They were chasing me and you took care of them. Thank you." po grinned back. In truth he didn't mean to save her. The soldiers said they were looking for a 'she' whom he thought was Kairi, he didn't know there were others on this island. "It was incredible! You beat them like they were nothing! Are you a super hero?"
"A super hero?" po repeated, perplexed by the question. That's when he got a good look at her. The tights, the mask... "Are you a super hero?" he asked excitedly.
"Well, not really..."
"Wow! I've never met a super hero before!" po exclaimed, totally oblivious to her answer. "Does that mean you have super powers?"
"Um, yeah."
"Wow! What are your powers? Are you super strong?"
"No, that's my dad."
"Are you super fast?"
"No, that's my brother."
"Are you super stretchy?"
"That's my mom."
"So what can you do? Oh! Can you, like, shoot fire out of your hands? Or ice? Or something out of your eyes? Huh?!"
"I can turn invisible," Violet answered meekly. Then she suddenly disappeared completely, not a trace left of her except empty air. She had really turned invisible. She reappeared again after a short while.
po blinked. "Oh," he said, none too excitedly. That explained how she had been able to sneak up on him so easily. "Well, that's cool too. I guess..."
"I-I can also make force fields," Violet added quickly. She closed her eyes and wore a look of concentration. She raised one of her hands and produced a floating transparent shield out of thin air. It hovered before them, not very big, before it vanished away. "I'm not very good at making them though."
po shrugged. "Better than nothing I guess." Violet's shoulders slumped as she sighed dejectedly. "By the way, have you seen another girl around here? Red hair, pink dress, kind of a hottie? I'm trying to find her."
"You're the only other person I've met here. I'm looking for my family myself. Hey! We can look together. Four eyes are better than two!" po apparently forgot how many eyes he had and started counting off his fingers to come to the correct equation.
"Makes sense to me," he lied. "Does this mean I'm a super hero too?"
"Um, sure," Violet answered reluctantly.
"Alright! Let's get a move on then!" They started off into the unknown jungle together, each of them with a mission to find someone. "Are you sure knives can't extend out of your knuckles or something?"
"No!"
KHKHKHKH
"So let's sum up," Jack Skellington said, pushing aside another large leaf in his way as he and the super hero Mr. Incredible made their way through the luscious trees. "This bad guy, Syndrome was it? He used to be your biggest fan ever when he was a kid, but fifteen years ago you blew him off, crushing his fragile spirit and driving him to a life of evil. Meanwhile, you spent those years building a family; a super family! A couple of days ago you were lured to this island with tricks and lies, then Syndrome used his robot to toss you around and lock you up, thus fulfilling his long-time desire for revenge."
"I hope you understand, I was wrong back then," Mr. Incredible explained regretfully. "If I could take back the past I could."
"Are you kidding? This hero stuff is even better than I thought it'd be! You created your own arch-nemesis! It's like Batman in reverse! I love it!"
"Are you sure you're a super hero?" Mr. Incredible asked.
"I'm a Jack of all trades!"
Mr. Incredible stopped walking. "Someone's coming." His super ears picked up the sound of rapid footfalls heading straight for them. That person broke through the trees and bushes, stunning Mr. Incredible.
"Helen?"
It was a middle-aged woman with shoulder-length brown hair wearing the same outfit as Mr. Incredible, down to the mask and insignia on the chest. She was startled as well. "Bob?" she gasped.
"Jack!" Jack exclaimed.
"Look out!" the woman named Helen shouted just before her pursuers crashed through the trees. All of them ducked as three flying saucers the size of cars flew over their heads, narrowly avoiding decapitation by the rapidly spinning saws lining their rims. Syndrome's soldiers piloted them in open cockpits, bringing them around for another pass. Their buzzsaw-like transports cut completely through the trees that stood between them and the heroes, planning to do the same to their heads.
Mr. Incredible quickly ran to a tree and wrapped his thick arms around it. His muscles bulged and with a grunt he completely uprooted the tree from the ground in an incredible display of super strength. He hefted the tree with relative ease, then swung it to collide with one of the saucers, destroying it in a fiery explosion.
Jack rolled under the saucer that made another attempt at him and watched carefully as it came around for another try. Jack summoned his Keyblade and ran forward to meet it. Just as the spinning blades were about to reach him, the skeleton jumped high and did a quadruple flip over the vehicle, his Keyblade slicing through its middle. He landed perfectly and the saucer split in half, both pieces exploding behind him.
The last flying disk headed straight for Helen but she didn't budge. Suddenly, her arm extended to an impossible length, like it was made of rubber, shooting towards the saucer like a bullet. The extended punch she threw nailed the vehicle's pilot and knocked him right off his seat, leaving the saucer to veer off course and crash into a tree. The pilot, meanwhile, fell to the earth painfully in a state of unconsciousness. All of the attackers were gone and the area was quiet once again.
"Bob!" Helen rushed over to Mr. Incredible who, in turn, ran to her, picking her up to pull her into a hug and planting a long, passionate kiss on her lips. Jack whistled shrilly from the sidelines at the PDA. After quite a long while they broke apart.
"What are you doing here?" was the first thing Mr. Incredible asked.
"What am I doing here?" Helen repeated angrily. "You were missing for days! What did you expect me to do, freshen myself up for your triumphant return?"
"Well, I..." Mr. Incredible sighed. He really didn't have an answer to that. He then noticed Jack was still there, waiting patiently with a smile. He put an arm around Helen's shoulders. "Jack, I'd like you to meet my beautiful wife, Helen."
"Bob!" Helen hissed, eyes darting to Jack nervously. "Secret identity!"
"Oh right! I mean, Elastigirl! I mean, don't call me Bob than!" Helen slapped her hand over her mouth when she realized that she had slipped up, too.
Jack just laughed heartily. "Not to worry, new friends. I'm a super hero as well! I'll tell you my secret identity to even it up. I'm Jack Skellington!" He slipped his mask up and leaned in to whisper. "My secret identity is Jack Skellington." Helen/Elastigirl stared at him blankly. She looked to her husband for help but he just shrugged. "Your husband has told me so much about you. You and your wonderful children!"
"Children?" Mr. Incredible repeated. He turned to his wife. "Where are the kids?"
Helen looked away bashfully. "I brought them."
"You brought them here!?" the super hero exclaimed. "What were you thinking!?"
"I didn't know, Bob! They stowed aboard the plane I used to get here! They were as worried about you as I was!" Bob sighed. He couldn't blame her for that after all.
"So where are they?"
Helen's expression suddenly dropped sadly. "Our plane was shot down when we reached the island. We all got separated when it crashed. They could be anywhere!" Mr. Incredible's eyes widened in horror. Losing his family was the worst fear he ever had to face.
"This is bad, Helen. Really bad. This place is dangerous. They're just kids, they haven't even mastered their powers yet!"
"Da-da!"
Everyone heard the small voice but didn't know where it came from. "What was that?" Jack asked.
"Nothing!" Helen immediately replied. Mr. Incredible frowned. He grabbed his wife's shoulders and spun her around to look at her back.
"Da-da!" It was a baby. A baby strapped to Helen's back for easy carrying. Strangely, he was dressed in the same outfit as his parents, even the mask, only mini-sized. He only had a small patch of red hair on his head.
"You brought our baby?!" Bob shouted in disbelief.
Helen unstrapped the toddler from her back and cradled him gently in her arms. The baby giggled in comfort. "Well, I couldn't find a babysitter at the last minute, and I wasn't about to leave him home alone. So I brought him with us on the incredibly dangerous adventure."
"Awww. Isn't he precious?" Jack Skellington gushed, tickling the baby's stomach with his finger. It giggled happily, not finding Jack's scary face uneasy at all. "What's his name?"
"It's Jack-Jack," Helen answered proudly.
"Hey! That's like my name said twice!" Jack realized cheerfully. As he kept tickling Jack-Jack's tummy the boy suddenly gripped his bony finger and snapped it off his hand. He then placed it in his mouth and happily sucked on it like a pacifier. "Feisty little fellow, isn't he? So what are his powers?"
"Jack-Jack doesn't have any powers," Mr. Incredible replied.
"He's the normal one of the family," Helen joked.
"By the way, why is he in a costume?" Bob asked curiously.
"To protect his secret identity of course!" Jack answered.
"So people won't know he's a baby?" Bob exasperated, plucking Jack's finger out of his son's mouth and handing it back to the Pumpkin King.
"At least he's trying," Jack muttered, screwing his finger back on. Mr. Incredible sighed. This day was getting worse and worse.
KHKHKHKH
"Kids? On my island?" Syndrome asked one of his men in the field over the comlink.
"Yes sir," the man answered on the other end. For the weariness in his voice it sounded like he just had a good thrashing. "They weren't ordinary kids either. They had these powers! They were super heroes!"
"Supers?" Syndrome growled. The bane of his existence. "So Incredijerk has friends here? Oh that's just peachy! My money-making Princess of Heart is running around free, my arch-nemesis is somewhere plotting my downfall, and now there are super powered squirts hopping around! I dare ask what else could go wrong?!"
The door to the room slid open. "Syndrome!" Mirage gasped, out of breath from running. "One of the Keybladers! He's gone!" Syndrome was ready to tear his own hair out. In fact, that's what he started doing.
"Does the whole universe feel like picking on me today?! Which one is it!?"
"The ninja," Mirage answered. Syndrome relinquished the grip he had on his hair and sighed.
"Could be worse. Could be a lot better too!" He turned back to the computer, switching frequencies so he could address every soldier he had out there. "Alright, listen up and listen good. If you see anyone other than the Princess of Heart roaming around the island or building, kill them on sight." Mirage gasped behind him. "Supers or Keybladers, I don't care! You bring down anything that gets in your way. I want this island do-gooder free and that girl here!"
"You want to kill children?" Mirage asked in disgust as Syndrome finished off the message.
"No, I want to get my plans underway. And I can't rightly do that when I'm worrying about these freaks! Maleficent and the Horned King's goons will be arriving soon, and I gotta make sure I'm ready. That means getting rid of all annoyances." Mirage scowled. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"You're sick."
Syndrome shrugged. "I'm a villain. Now if you excuse me, I'll be prepping the Omnidroid for takeoff. Call me if anything comes up, babe." He swished past her and out the sliding door to make the final touches to his project, leaving Mirage alone in the room with her new found realization. Syndrome truly was insane. He didn't care who got in his way, he'd do anything to get what he wanted. How long would it be before he decided she was in his way?
Something had to be done, Mirage decided. Before it was too late.
And that concludes another chapter. Be sure to write nice reviews, adapt the original story (Darius Almighty's work) on DeviantArt, turn it into a webcomic or post the story on TV tropes or follow and favorite it. And remember may your heart be your guiding key!