Chapter 9: One of Who?

My vision almost went red the second I saw that skunk.

He couldn't get out unless he had assistance. But from who?

That thought continued to rush through my mind as soon as I took one look on that smug face of his.

"Well, well, if it isn't the little band of thieves known as the Cooper Gang! Did you really think you've seen the last of me after so long?" Le Paradox gloated.

"There's no way you could've escaped that prison cell without help, you fleabag!" Carmelita was quick to snap. "Not even your stink could get out!"

"Ha! That cell couldn't hold an infamous thief as myself."

"Yeah, infamous for your idiocy!" I shouted.

"And who are these cubs with you?" His smug look completely dropped and I almost thought his eyes would pop out as he leaned forward in that machine. "What?! How do-?!"

"How did you get through the darkness?" Riku demanded. He seemed to have an idea on how Le Paradox had escaped. But then, the skunk scowled.

"So you're those annoying Keyblade wielders! How did you get here?"

"And how do you know about the Keyblade?" Sora yelled, obviously like everyone shocked to hear the windbag's knowledge on the weapon in question. There was no way he could know about the Keyblade without someone telling him. Could it had been his accomplice?

This situation just keeps getting crazier.

"Well, thankfully for you, I happen to feel a bit generous at the moment," Le Paradox said. "To keep things simple, let's just say a bit of an associate of mine gave me the full details about what you are and what those Keyblades are capable of."

"What are you talking about?! What associate?!" Kairi yelled.

"Ah, not giving anything away this time, redhead. Just need to crush Cooper so I can have full control over our pathetic little world and then the next world!"

"He knows about other worlds...?!" Penelope said with her tone showing horror. The situation felt seeming to get worse.

"But how?" Le Paradox growled, glaring directly at me. "How do you have a Keyblade, Cooper?"

"I'm not telling you anything," I told he weasel.

"You couldn't be...! Not you, Cooper!" Le Paradox jumped into some seat on the machine and he was controlling it somehow. The robot swung its arm down and we on the roof barely dodged.

The mystery of how I have a Keyblade will take some more time to solve.

But that was something that all of us would have to save for later. Instead, our main focus is taking out Le Paradox. There was no way we were going to get anywhere close to the Keyhole as long as he was here.

"You guys distract Le Paradox while me and Penelope try to disable that rust bucket!" Bentley said. I thhought I heard a sadistic tone in his voice. Probably from seeing that contraption. No room to complain.

"Roger, Bentley!" Everyone charged towards the machine. The arms were quick and it a bit of a challenge to avoid getting smacked.

I said, "I don't know how long this will take, but let's try and stay alive."

"You can say that again, Sly!" Sora shouted as he manages to barely dodge one of the robot's arms.

"I'll crush every last one of you like the insignificant little bugs that you are!" Le Paradox shouted from the mechanical beast he was piloting.

"You'll have to catch us first, you putrid-smelling weasel!" Carmelita shouted back in response.

That's my Carmelita. I found an opening to the pilot seat when an arm got stuck in the ground. I jumped on and ran up the metal to confront that skunk.

"Give it up, Le Paradox! Your plot ends here! One step ahead!"

"Damn you, Cooper! You couldn't die that night, could you?!"

"No, because I always have friends I can count on. That's something you don't have."

"Oh no? Then, try this!" Le Paradox jumped out of the pilot seat, the machine now on autopilot, and pulled out his sword. Felt like it wouldn't be much different from our last confrontation. But then something I didn't expect happened. Heartless appeared on the platform as well.

"Wait. You brought the Heartless here?"

"Let's just say my associate lent a few to me."

"You nimrod! Don't you know these will destroy this world?!"

"Exactly why these will help me take over our mudball! Once this planet is under my control, I will travel through the cosmos and take every world into the palm of my hand!"

Time in that jail cell must've made this guy go nuts.

"Not going to happen, windbag!" I charged at Le Paradox.

I didn't think I'd be doing this again. I didn't even think I'd see him again. But here we were.

Especially now that he has a few "friends" assisting him this time around.

"En garde, Cooper!" Le Paradox yelled as he charged in my direction, the assisting Heartless doing the same thing.

And so began a repeat of the duel Le Paradox and I had the night I was sent all the way back in time. My main priority was, unsurprisingly, the maniacal crook himself. However, I also had to be aware of the Heartless that were joining in on the fight.

A few did jump at me and I took a split second to swat them away.

"Take this!" Le Paradox thrusted forward and I barely dodged.

The Heartless made it harder than last time though.

"What's wrong, Cooper? Is there too much for you to handle already?" Le Paradox mocked with a smug smirk.

You have no idea how badly I wanted to wipe that overconfident expression off of his face.

I quickly swung the Heartless away and blocked his attack. At the corner of my eye, a Heartless came from the side. My hand holding my Keyblade jerked when it almost made contact. Its claws got caught on my glove and it ripped, leaving that strange mark bare.

"Too close for comfort..."

"Cooper-!" Le Paradox caught me off guard and his sword slid into the guard and knocked it away. Not good!

The Heartless jumped me from behind and I was pinned to the metal floor.

"Le Paradox, you coward!"

"Sly!" I heard Sora call. The weasel approached me with a glare on his face. He knelt down and gripped my wrist tightly.

"How can this be...?! How can you be one of them?!" he yelled in total fury. I would've replied in some snarky joke, but his question confused me. 'One of them?' One of who?

I don't know what's going on with the mark, but it must be important.

"What exactly are you even talking about?! In fact, WHO are you even talking about?!" I yelled. This was just getting more and more confusing as time went on. And needless to say, Le Paradox did not take that question lightly.

All he did was growl in anger and back off. Suddenly, the Heartless vanished into thin air. "Huh?"

"You are SUPER lucky, Cooper," he snarled. "As long as you bear that mark upon your hand, I am not permitted to lay a hair on you myself."

"I may not know what's going on here, but OK."

"Don't act so casually about me sparing you this time," he said with a scowl. "You have no idea how important that mark on your hand is."

"How do you know what exactly this thing is? And why is it so important to the point where you can't kill me?" I asked. This was definitely something I wouldn't expect Le Paradox of all people to do.

"Like I have time wasting my breath having to explain every last detail to you," Le Paradox replied.

Suddenly, the robot began to spark and shake.

"Jump, Sly! That thing's going to collapse at any second!" Penelope called. Looked like they took off enough bolts on this bucket of bolts.

"See you on the ground!" And with that, I quickly jumped off before the collapse. That battle created more questions than answers, and the answers feel like they're a ways off.

"Don't think you've escaped me that easily, Cooper!" Le Paradox shouted from the collapsing robot. "Mark my words, this isn't the last you'll be seeing of me! I'll get you and your pathetic friends soon enough!"

A dark vortex suddenly opened and I saw his pungent odored tail flick before disappearing. The last of the robot came apart and crashed to the streets.

"Sly, let's go get that Keyole!" Sora called, heading to the tower. I quickly followed along with the other Keyblade wielders. I was impressed by their jumping abilities as I climbed after them. Before we knew it, we were at the top of the tower. Right there at the tip was a hole in the sky.

"Is that it?" I asked to make sure.

"That's the Keyhole," King Mickey confirmed. He seemed to nod to Sora and he in return nodded back before pointing his Keyblade at the hole.

"Hmm?" He lowered his weapon with confusion. "I don't feel anything."

"You mean you can't close it?" My heart nearly dropped to the pit of my stomach.

"Nothing is happening," Kairi said.

"Everything okay up there, Sly?" Bentley called on the earpiece.

"Not really. The Keyblades aren't-"

"Sly, you try," Riku suggested. I stopped in surprise.

"Me?"

I was unsure if I could do it, but I decided to at least give it a try. "I'm not sure if this will work, but since I don't see many other options, I'll give it a go. Could you show me how you usually do this, Sora?"

"Sure thing, Sly!" Sora said with an optomistic smile. "It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it. First, you just need to summon your Keyblade and then point it directly at the Keyhole."

I did as Sora instructed me to do and proceeded to summon my Keyblade, making sure to point it right in the Keyhole's direction afterwards.

I felt some kind of spark in my hand, like an electronic being plugged in. I focused on that spark and it grew into this tingle of power. In a laser, a beam of white light shot out of the tip of my Keyblade and into the Keyhole. The sound of a lock rang softly in my ears before the Keyhole disappeared.

"It worked."

"It may be because we're not from this set of worlds," the king theorized. "That's why only Sly's Keyblade reacted."

I asked, "So, what now? Is my home safe now?"

"Well, just because the Keyhole's been locked doesn't necessarily mean the Heartless won't stop coming here," Sora explained. "But don't worry. Now that the Keyhole for your world's been locked, that'll prevent the Heartless from destroying it."

I let out a sigh of relief. Thank the stars that my world is for the most part safe. Only problem was that the Heartless would still be around.

"I'm still not sure how I can use a Keyblade at all. Do any of you have ideas about how I can use one?"

"Don't worry, Sly," Sora told me with a reassuring smile on his face. "If you have any questions on how to use a Keyblade properly, we'll all be happy to help you out."

"Sora's right," Kairi said. "Don't hesitate to ask any of us for advice. We'll try our best to teach you as much as we can."

All I could do was nod in thanks. They did know what they're doing.

"Sly, what's this mark?" King Mickey asked. I again looked at the white mark on my hand.

"I don't know what it is. I never saw it before in my life and I definitely wasn't born with it."

"It's an interesting design," Kairi commented.

"Le Paradox did say as I was fighting him that wasn't permitted to hurt me as long as I have that mark, and when he first saw it he just backed off, which isn't like him."

"We don't really know your backstory with that guy, but judging on you said, that does actually sound pretty weird," Sora commented.

The others nodded in agreement. They didn't have to say anything to make it clear that none of them knew what exactly the mark was or what its importance was. The real question was: how did Le Paradox out of everyone we've encountered possibly know what the thing was.

"Let's check in with your friends," Riki said. We all silently agreed and slide down the side of the tower.

"Sly, you wouldn't believe how high tech this mech is!" Bentley exclaimed, almost sounding like a child with the latest smartphone. "I've never seen anything like it!"

If this is something Bentley's never delt with before, then I wouldn't be surprised after everything that's happened with Sora."You're sure that this something neither you or Penelope have ever seen before, Bentley?" I asked.

"I'm positive, Sly! We both worked with high technology in the past, but we've never seen anything like this!" Bentley said excitedly.

"What exactly makes it so much more different?"

"Well, the power supply is impressive," Penelope stated, looking at what appeared to be an engine. "It runs on a form of energy we've never seen before."

"The programming on this was definitely made by a professional and the alloy the bot is made of is a near indestructible metal not found on Earth!" Bentley added.

Who could have made this? I said, "I don't think anybody I've faced would know how to make this if the metal wasn't found on Earth. "What do you think, Sora? Are any of your foes smart enough to make this?"

Sora thought for a little bit. Although, I think I might've already came to a conclusion almost immediately I asked him that question.

"Nope, none that I can think of," Sora said.

Somehow, I knew he was going to say that. And that only brings up more questions rather than answers.

"Damn, that skunk. He's just made things more confusing. Just more questions than answers."

"If Le Paradox could control those Heartless things, what does that mean?" Murray asked.

"It means that it isn't just Earth that is in trouble," Mickey said, putting it together.

"But how will we know where they will strike next? From the sounds of it Le Paradox seems to be tracking me and some other people, but we don't know who those people are."

"That is actually a very good question, now that you mention it, Sly."

That was definitely not good to hear. If we couldn't find out who these other people that Le Paradox mentioned were and where they're currently located, then who knows how long we have until the Heartless use the opportunity to locate the Keyhole and destroy those worlds.

"Sounds like another adventure," Sora stated, crossing his arms behind his head with a casual aura. I had a tingle in my tail that said that I agreed.

"And another theft to plan then."

"Hmm... you two may be on to something," the king said. "I say we ally with each other for as long as Le Paradox and his associates threaten the worlds."

"Align ourselves with a king?" Bentley asked. "Almost sounds like mercenary work."

"Bentley, after everything that happened, we can trust them and, besides, how else will we get to other worlds?" I reminded.

"I suppose I can't argue with that," Bentley said in response.

"So we know what we have to do, but does anybody have an idea of where to start the search?"

"That's a very good point," Riku commented.

"I agree," King Mickey added. "Unless we can get a clear image on where we're supposed to go to next, we'll all just end up getting lost in the process."

A dead end already. That never set well in my stomach. My finger tapped impatiently in the hold on my cane.

"Maybe we should think this over at the hideout," Penelope suggested. "It's almost dawn." Shoot! The time! People will be coming out very soon!

"Right, a gang of thieves isn't very welcomed at daytime." I could only deadpan at Riku because he just had to say that.

"Then let's get going so we can have some time to figure out our next move."

"That definitely sounds like a good idea, especially at this time," Carmelita commented.

"Well, we don't have much time, you guys. Let's hurry."

And so, we proceeded to start making our way back to the hideout.

End Chapter