Taking Back the Crown

by JCMorrigan

Mozenrath. Archibald Snatcher. Roman Torchwick. Mad Madam Mim. Yzma. The Huntsman. Wuya. Ayam Aghoul. Their mission: take over the multiverse, or look fabulous trying. Rated M for swearing, steamy implications and VERY bloody battles. Contains slash and het shipping.

59. Functionally Evil

51. Functionally Evil

As Irmaplotz, Zevon, Hans, and Demyx filtered throughout Kakariko Village and Wuya kept her eyes fixed on the enormous pot lid holding down Eldin, Mozenrath, Roman, and Yzma took a step into the spring's shallows to observe the memento McLeach had left behind.

Mozenrath levitated the crossbow into his hands, turning it to give it a look-over. "This looks like pretty standard-issue Huntsclan technology," he remarked. "A certain Huntsman wouldn't be happy about Maleficent's cronies wielding this. A good friend would bring it back to him."

After sharing a look with Yzma and Roman, Mozenrath simply dropped the crossbow on the ground. Without needing to confirm what to do, the trio stomped on the weapon in unison, breaking it thoroughly. They then turned away with a laugh, abandoning the fragments of the busted weapon.

"Yzma," Wuya snapped. "Get over here."

Yzma veered back in Wuya's direction with a roll of the eyes. "Go on without me," she bade Mozenrath and Roman, who did just that. She sidled up next to Wuya, sighing, "Is this about the fish thing?"

"No," Wuya answered sharply. "I need you to distract me."

"You need me to do what?"

"Distract me," Wuya reiterated. "Holding this lid down is hard work."

"Wouldn't that mean I SHOULDN'T distract you?"

"If I focus too hard on it, all I'll be able to think about is the physical and magical strain," Wuya explained. "If I had a yuan for every time I ran into the downsides of actually having a physical body…anyway, if you talk to me and keep me distracted, I can focus just enough on holding this spell in place and not on how aggravating it is to do so."

Yzma shrugged. "All right. So what do you want me to talk about?"

"Describe your ideal romantic partner," Wuya commanded.

"Wh-wh-WHAT?" Yzma choked.

"It's an easy conversation topic I'm sure will keep us going for some time!" Wuya defended. "Now hurry up and describe someone attractive!"

"Well…you see…" Yzma thought it over. "Now, really, that depends. Are we talking about a man or a woman? Either is viable, but both are measured by vastly different criteria."

"Either/or. Describe them both."

"Well," Yzma mused, "I prefer a man with a good amount of muscle. Great hair, too. Intelligence is where it becomes trickier. Too dumb, and he'll frustrate me too much to be attractive. That's why you don't see me trying to pursue Snipe. And you never will. Too smart, and he won't take orders from me, which is a necessary part of this arrangement. He has to be only mildly intelligent. Now, with a woman, I'm less picky on the brains front. She can be smarter. I still won't go for an idiot, though."

"So you wouldn't feel the need to boss a woman around," Wuya deduced. "Any reason for that?"

"I suppose one could apply arguments of feminist theory and history of patriarchal oppression," Yzma answered, "but when you get right down to it, I don't mind when a female partner talks back to me, but a man has to shut up and listen to me! It's just my thing!" A pause. "I suppose you want to know my physical type for women now."

"Preferably."

"Well," Yzma went on, "I have always preferred women with more of an hourglass shape. Long, luscious hair. You have to look at them and see the word 'glamorous.' No, really, I once invited a woman to a one-night stand because I saw her standing under a street sign that had the word 'glamorous' on it."

"Why was there a street sign that said 'glamorous'?"

Yzma shrugged. "I came from an empire with bizarre city structure. All right, I did mine, so now you have to tell me yours."

"Hmm." Wuya thought it over. "Muscular is good. If I can find it, I prefer men of a more…monstrous nature. Scales, fangs, wings, it's all a bonus. Even beans under the right circumstances. They have to be somewhat rugged. Yes, a burly man with sharp teeth and claws! Of course, like I said, it's just a bonus. On the other hand, I lean more toward humans in women. And they have to be as effeminate as they come. Lean, as well!" She quickly reined in a droplet of saliva that threatened to escape her mouth at the thought.

"So you like skinny, effeminate women," Yzma realized.

"Isn't that what I just said?" Wuya retorted.

"Your type is me and my type is you," Yzma stated dryly.

"Oh," Wuya realized. "Well, this just got awkward."

There was silence for a moment before Yzma said, "It's not that I've ever thought about YOU – "

"No, no," Wuya broke in, "I haven't seen you that way either. Not once. No. Definitely not."

More silence. Then:

"Wait a minute!" Yzma snapped. "Why NOT? Am I not GOOD ENOUGH for you?"

"I never said that!" Wuya retorted sharply. "I'm just not interested in prematurely ending a mutually beneficial partnerhip over that sort of feeling! On the other side of the coin, I know you either feel the same way or are just having a lapse in judgment, because I KNOW I'm good enough for you."

"Of COURSE you're good enough for me!" Yzma insisted. "I'm just trying not to make this awkward!"

"Well, maybe it shouldn't BE awkward!" Wuya hissed.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?" Yzma screamed. "DO YOU WANT ME TO BE ATTRACTED TO YOU OR NOT?"

"JUST KISS ALREADY!" Zevon, Irmaplotz, and Demyx chorused.

Wuya fired a glare over her shoulder at them, snapping, "This is none of your business! Beat it!"

The trio split and scattered.

"Well?" Yzma reiterated. "I'm waiting on an answer!"

"Who doesn't want to be attractive to someone else?" Wuya told her. "By that token, I obviously want you to be attracted to me!"

"Well, then, yes, I've thought about it a few times," Yzma admitted. "But you were never…to me, I mean…"

Wuya could sense the hesitation in Yzma's tone. "I may have thought about it myself," she confessed. "About you, I mean."

"And…have you wanted to…do anything about it?"

"Have YOU?"

"I asked you first!" Yzma insisted.

"In the interest of preserving our mutually beneficial partnership, no," Wuya answered. "Mozenrath and the Huntsman tried that, and look what idiots it made out of both of them!"

"On the other hand, there are Roman and Mr. Snatcher to consider," Yzma brought up. "And Mim and Ayam Aghoul. Their, ah, mutually beneficial partnerships seem to be working out just fine."

"So they are," Wuya said with a nod. "Well, if I change my mind, you'll be the first to know."

"Good," Yzma asserted. "Because if you do change your mind, I'll be ready to – "

Wuya gave Yzma a direct look, brows raised.

"…Hear you out," Yzma finished, substituting her hasty answer for the way she had originally been about to end that sentence. "Maybe we should talk about something else."

"All right," Wuya agreed, sensing Yzma's discomfort with the current topic. "Name every magic power you'd want to have and what you'd do with it."

"Youth regeneration," Yzma said immediately. "For obvious reasons. The ability to time travel so I could stop the crazy straw from ever being invented. And the ability to transfigure people into animals WITHOUT using potions."

"Ah, yes!" Wuya commented. "Very good choices – wait, what was that middle one again?"

In the meantime, Roman had found a very promising building with sides made of sheet metal. Suspecting it to bear fruit, he entered, cursing the darkness that took over with the onset of Twilight over a room with thick walls. He was unable to make out more than silhouettes in the shadows. As he retrieved his cigarette lighter and produced a small flame from it, he was aware of the door behind him opening and closing once more.

"Find anything good?" Hans asked.

"I just have a good feeling about this one," Roman explained as he stepped behind the sales counter, waving the lighter. "Let's see here…what were you selling…?"

The glow from the lighter gave him just enough vision to realize what lined the shelves in the back of the sales floor. "Holy SHIT!" he cried. "Jaaaaackpot!"

"What?" Hans asked.

"Bombs," Roman explained. "Loads and loads of bombs. Oh, I am SO taking these for later. Now, let's get a closer look – "

As he brought the lighter flame nearer to the shelf, Hans practically tackled him en route to blowing said flame out.

"You really are an idiot," Hans said in a breathless tone, the sort that comes about when you believe you were moments away from being blown to smithereens by a shop's entire stock of explosives. "You find bombs, so you just bring a FIRE up close to them?"

"I needed a closer look," Roman said indignantly. "I would've kept it far away enough to not light up the fuses. I know what I'm fucking doing, Sideburns. Explosives and fire are how I make a living." He gave a drawn-out sigh before remarking, "Whatever. I know they're here" and feeling out the shop's wares so he could load as many bombs as he could carry into his arms.

"You know," Hans commented, "it's really interesting. I don't know what kind of bias Mozenrath has toward you, but it's really showing."

"Something tells me I shouldn't bite at this bait," Roman said in suspicion, "but I'm going to anyway. What makes you think Righty has a bias toward me? Besides the obvious fact that I'm one of his best friends."

"Well," Hans went on, "it's just that Demyx has actual useful powers that have helped us out of tight spots, but Mozenrath doesn't have a good word to say about him. Meanwhile, all you've done since I've met you is get trampled by the spirits of Darkness and need us to bail you out, but apparently you 'pull your weight' just fine around here."
"I do not just end up being the damsel in distress – "

"Really? Because first, you got wrapped up by Lanayru and broke your leg on the way out."

"Dishwater was there too – "

"And just now," Hans continued, "you got knocked out in one shot by Eldin and may have been legally dead before Mozenrath brought you back."

"SO DID YOU AND SO WERE YOU!" Roman yelled in frustration.

"Hey, I'm new around here," Hans defended. "I never said I was good at anything but diplomacy and acting. Nobody expects me to be more useful than Demyx. But you have a standard to uphold, and, truth be told, I'm pretty sure you're the most useless person I've observed on this entire team besides me."

"Are we roasting Roman?" That comment came from Demyx, who had also found the metal-walled building of interest and entered the area to check it out. "Because I'm up for that."

"I'm just pointing out how bizarre it is that you take such a verbal beating all the time," Hans recapitulated, "when it's really Roman who keeps setting our team back and being unable to contribute anything besides breaking his own limbs."

"Shut the FUCK up," Roman growled.

"Yeah," Demyx realized, "that is pretty weird! I do way more than that guy!"

"Stop saying 'that guy' like I'm not in the room," Roman snarled.

"Okay," Demyx corrected, "I'll say it to your face: I do way more for this team than you, and I don't get why you get more of the respect."

"Bold words," Roman commented, almost at his breaking point, "to say to someone who's holding enough TNT to blow you out of the atmosphere."

"And you realize if you detonate it now, you'd just kill yourself first," Hans pointed out.

"That's it," Roman said through clenched teeth, realizing that if he didn't leave the situation immediately, he would have to explain grievous injuries sustained by Hans and Demyx to Mozenrath, and given the way Mozenrath had been looking at Hans, that didn't seem like the sort of conversation one could have with Mozenrath without suffering some consequences oneself. "I'm outta here. I don't have to take this from you losers."

Stockpile of bombs in hand, he edged out from behind the counter and made his way to the door. Before he could get there, Hans stealthily slipped a foot in his path. Roman stumbled, the bombs spilling forth and rolling across the floor as Roman himself hit the wood.

"Oops," Hans said cheekily as Demyx cackled. "It was an accident, I swear."

Roman wordlessly maneuvered into a sitting position to recollect all of the bombs.

The party reconvened in total around Wuya and Yzma. The pot lid was shaking harder than ever before as Eldin struggled beneath it. "Are we ready to go?" Wuya asked.

There were murmurs of assent; Roman seemed to be the only one who had found anything worth salvaging.

"And does anyone need to make a restroom break before we leave?" Wuya continued. "Because if you do, too bad for you. Eldin is about to break free."

"Shall I return us to the path just outside the village?" Mozenrath asked.

"Farther back," Wuya commanded him, "just to be safe."

A Corridor was cast, and the eight filed into it. Once the portal closed behind them, the lid shattered into countless metal fragments, and Eldin rocketed into the sky only to be met with a town bereft of masters or victims.

...

The moment the ship bearing Lilo, Jumba, and Pleakley touched ground at the edge of town in Radiant Garden, Lilo tore out the door, screaming, "LET'S GO, LET'S GO, LET'S GO!" Her chaperones were left precious little time to affix accessories that would allow them to better blend in among humans. Once suited up, they trailed Lilo into the city limits.

"Is anyone else still worried that this is a trap?" Pleakley brought up as he tried his best to keep up with Lilo. "Because I'm still worried this is a trap!"

"Is nothing we cannot handle," Jumba reassured him. "What is worst that could happen? Outpost of renegade Hämsterviel minions craving revenge?"

"YES!" Pleakley confirmed. "THAT IS EXACTLY THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN!"

"Would be challenge to escape with lives of ourselves and Stitch," Jumba mused. "Actually sounds like rather good time!"

"A GOOD TIME!"

"We have handled many bad things before, no?" Jumba recalled. "Will absolutely be able to navigate this."

Five figures awaited in the distance, gathered in the street. When he saw who was coming, the smallest and bluest of those figures detached from the group, charging his incoming family. "LILO!" Stitch cried.

"STIIIIIITCH!" Lilo yelled back.

Stitch and Lilo collided, wrapping each other in a tight embrace. "I was starting to get worried I'd never see you again," Lilo admitted, voice shaking.

"No worries," Stitch told her. "We together."

Jumba and Pleakley caught up, halting to lean against a nearby wall and catch their breaths while Stitch's companions – Moana, Nora, Yuffie, and Sadira – approached at a reasonable pace. "You made it!" Sadira proclaimed joyously.

Pleakley was the first to regain his bearings. He assumed he appeared to this quartet as a human woman, much like themselves, owing to his particular style of Earth dress and the wig and makeup he donned as much for his own sense of identity as for passing unnoticed among humans. Likewise, he was certain that they looked at Jumba, saw the sunglasses covering his fourfold eyes and the false mustache attached to his nose, and perceived a completely human man. It had to be working, Pleakley thought, or else these four would have run off screaming by now, either in fear or to tattle to the authorities. "Thank you," he said sincerely, "for taking care of Stitch and helping him get back to us."

"It was no big deal!" Yuffie said with a smile.

"We were just lucky your ship was passing by so close," Nora added.

"You hear that?" Lilo said in shock. "We might've passed right by and NEVER found you!"

"But didn't happen!" Stitch assured her. "Thanks to new friends!"

"New friends?" Jumba said with curiosity. "And just who are new friends?"

"Well, that's complicated," Yuffie answered. "I'm from the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee, which is working to put this town back in order after all the Darkness. My friends here all live in the same castle as I do – "

"A CASTLE?" Lilo repeated, eyes lighting up.

"Sure is!" Yuffie confirmed, leaning down to wink at Lilo. "Anyway, they're sort of part of the Committee, but sort of not. We're kind of all part of something bigger right now. They're all heroes who came here to help fight evil that's been showing up on a lot of different worlds, and the Committee is joining in, too."

"We're all from different worlds," Moana clarified.

"Different worlds?" Pleakley repeated. "Fascinating! I didn't know there was that much inter-world interaction!"

"There usually isn't," Yuffie clarified. "We all got brought here by some kinda special cases."

"Is intriguing story to be sure," Jumba broke in, "but I was moreso looking to be putting names to faces."

"Oh, right!" Yuffie replied. Straightening up and posing with her hands balled up at her sides and elbows outward, she proclaimed, "I'm the great ninja Yuffie!"

"YOU'RE A NINJA?" Lilo reiterated in awe. "And you live in a CASTLE? Cooooool!"

"I'm not even the coolest person there!" Yuffie told her. "That's Nora, and she's a super strong warrior who battles monsters and can get hit by lightning without even flinching! Then there's Moana, who's in training to become chief of an entire village and sailed across her world with a demigod to help save a goddess! And Sadira is a witch who controls sand, and saved her home kingdom from all kinds of disasters!"

"Let's be clear," Sadira admitted sheepishly. "I kind of caused at least half those disasters."

"What about you?" Yuffie asked. "Are you all from the same world? No offense, but it looks pretty obviously like you originally weren't."

"Obviously?" Pleakley began to sweat. "What do you mean…what looks obvious?"

"Well, you know," Yuffie said, "Lilo's human, but Stitch is obviously something else, and one of you has only one eye, and the other has four – "

"YUFFIE!" Moana elbowed Yuffie in the side. "You can't just go pointing that out!"

"ONE EYE?" Pleakley was thrown into a sudden panic. "N-nobody here has just one eye! Nobody here has four! I don't know what you're…you're seeing things. Seeing things! There's no need to tell the authorities ANYTHING! We're human!"

"Am not so sure that matters anymore," Jumba said tentatively.

"It really doesn't," Nora said with a shake of her head. "We have met a LOT of people who aren't human. It's no big deal."

"I'm guessing it's a big deal where you come from," Sadira observed.

"Are you kidding?" Pleakley replied. "Our very existence would throw the entire planet into mass panic! But you're the first humans who haven't been fooled by our ingenious disguises!"

"Those are ingenious?" Nora said doubtfully.

"Allow me to explain," Jumba took over. "See, I am having theory. People of Earth, which is to be saying OUR Earth, have expectations and assumptions about what is normal and what is not. They expect to see normal, and so they see normal. Want to see humans, so look at us and see pair of humans. Brains are not wired to accept out of blue existence of intelligent beings with different physical makeup from Earth biological forms. But! Here in THIS town, at least with these specific people, they are USED to all manner of lifeforms! Have seen and understood beings other than humans that communicate with humans! That opens mind to perceive more of truth of what is right in front of eyes!"

"I…guess that makes sense," Pleakley admitted. "So…you're not going to have us turned over to a government research facility?"

"What?" Sadira replied. "No! We just want to help you get your family back together!"

"And this isn't a trap," Pleakley confirmed.

"Am I the only one listening to her and thinking 'Stork' right now?" Nora commented.

"I don't see what birds have to do with any of this!" Pleakley huffed.

"Anyway," Nora went on, "we DO have some questions for you. You know about us, but who are YOU?"

"Who are we?" Pleakley repeated. "I'm afraid that is classified information! Strictly need-to-know! The only way you'll get our names out of us is – "

"I'm Lilo Pelekai," Lilo said as she extended her right hand. "Special agent of the Galactic Council. Stitch and I are primary operatives in evil experiment capture and rehabilitation." After a thought, she added, "That means we turn bad experiments good."

Nora knelt down and shook Lilo's hand. "Nice to meet ya, kid!"

"Oh, all right," Pleakley sighed. "I suppose it's not going to do any harm at this point. I'm Lilo's Aunt Pleakley. Associate in experiment rehabilitation, whether I want to be or NOT, and a pretty excellent cook, if I do say so myself!"

"Excellent cook," Jumba added, "if you have taste for dog food."

"Some people do!" Sadira said quickly, wanting to be polite. "It's just a matter of opinion."

"And I?" Jumba introduced, stripping away his sunglasses and false mustache. "Am Jumba Jookiba, incredibly infamous evil genius."

"EVIL?" Nora, Sadira, Yuffie, and Moana said in shock and unison, all taking a step back and wondering if they had been the ones to be lured into a trap.

"He's not functionally evil!" Lilo said hurriedly. "It's more like a formal title."

Sadira was the first to step forward. "Actually, I can relate to that one," she admitted.

"Of COURSE am evil!" Jumba said defensively. "Am absolutely, incredibly vile! Am creator of over six hundred and twenty-six biological experiments capable of spreading chaos and destruction in various forms! Am engineer of devastating weapons capable of laying entire planets to waste! Am feared master hacker and codebreaker, with ability to shut down network infrastructure of metropolitan technological hubs! Am – "

"Wait, wait, wait," Yuffie interrupted. "Did you say hacker? And codebreaker?"

"Of course!" Jumba confirmed.

"Like the kind of person who can figure out lost passwords from a peripheral computer to where the password needs to be implemented?" Yuffie went on.

"So long as peripheral computer is connected to original, then yes," Jumba confirmed. "This is incredibly specific situation. Is there reason for that?"

"Well," Yuffie admitted, "back at the castle, we're kind of in need of someone who can do that. We're trying to shut down a pretty tough program, but it's locked behind a password we don't know. And as long as it stays up, our friends are in trouble."

"Sounds like playing of children!" Jumba proclaimed.

"So you'll help us?" Nora said hopefully.

"WHAAAT?" Jumba bristled. "Never said ANYTHING about that! Were you listening? I said I use skill for EVIL! Not to be helping of people!"

"But we seriously can't figure it out with any of the people we have around now," Yuffie pleaded.

"Can't we help them?" Lilo asked, turning a plaintive face up at Jumba. "Please? Pleeeeeease? It would be the right thing to do!"

"New friends help Stitch," Stitch added. "Now Stitch want help new friends!"

"I'm still not sure I trust the situation," Pleakley admitted, "but if they really do need our help, we shouldn't just turn our backs and walk away."

"Hmm," Jumba replied, taking his family's suggestions into account. "Well…am supposing it would be stimulating challenge. And am in debt of Committee and friends as of the return of Stitch." He then gave a shrug and a smile. "Lead me to problem computer. Will have issue resolved in no time."

"GREAT!" Yuffie cried. "Come on, let's go, let's go!"

She turned and nearly bolted toward the castle, but Nora put an arm in front of her. "We might wanna go slow enough for everyone to keep up this time," she suggested with a grin.

Nora, Yuffie, Sadira, Moana, Lilo, Stitch, Jumba, and Pleakley set off at a brisk walk toward the castle. "So," Moana asked, "what IS your world like?"

"Well," Lilo explained, "the reason we all look so different is because we're all from different planets, but the way the Grand Councilwoman explained it, it's still technically the same 'world.' We all live together on Earth, though. In Hawaii. It's a tropical island."

"I come from an island, too!" Moana said excitedly. "Tell me all about yours!"

"Well, it has a lot of tourists…"

Lilo went into the details of Hawaiian life, livening up the walk back to the castle.

...

Why Ravess felt compelled to enter Vexen's laboratory, she wasn't entirely sure. Were she a more immature type, she might attempt to upset his workstation as revenge for the way he had been treating her as of late. As it were, she found herself above such childish gambits. Instead, she stared blankly at the counter where his notes and equipment lay, seeking some sort of answer to a question she didn't even know.

Heaving a sigh, she turned to leave, knowing whatever she sought, she wouldn't find it here. Upon completing her about-face, she found herself staring directly at an all-too-familiar figure.

Ravess cried out, backing up against the table. "You…how did you…WHY are you here?" she sputtered in a panic.

Master Cyclonis gave her a wicked, lopsided smile in response. "You know, your friends put up a good fight," she stated, giving her staff an idle twirl.

Ravess forced her breathing to become more even, expecting her heart rate to slow as a result. "I hope you don't think I'm afraid of you," she said haughtily.

"Then I guess you'll just have to be disappointed," Cyclonis scoffed. The staff came to rest in both of her hands, aimed directly at Ravess; an angry red crystal gleamed at the business end. "I think we both know you fear me."

"You are a CHILD!" Ravess snapped. "You cannot harm me!"

"Oh?" Cyclonis raised an eyebrow. "Are you armed?"

Ravess' bare hands gripped the edge of the table behind her.

"Do you have any sort of defense?" Cyclonis went on.

Ravess made to dart to the right, but Cyclonis was faster, blocking Ravess' path with the staff. Ravess attempted to shoot to the left; the staff, once again, landed in her way. Cyclonis used the staff to gently nudge Ravess back to a centered position before her. "I've got you right where I want you," Cyclonis said smugly. "I may be a child, but I have the upper hand. And you're going to pay for deserting me."

"Is that what this is all about?" Ravess asked, trying so hard to sound irked despite the panic seeping through her. "YOU were the one who banished ME!"

"And I see now that wasn't enough," Cyclonis remarked. "I should've eliminated you on the spot. Banishment was too good for you."

"Surely we can work something out!" Ravess argued, her discomfort in plain view. No, she didn't intend to betray the WHAM ARMY, but if it spared her life, she could spin a little charade for Cyclonis, pretend to be loyal once more until she could get the upper hand again.

"You think you can talk me into letting you back into my good graces," Cyclonis stated. "You think I'll give in and let you have the chance to overtake me when my back is turned."

"No! That wasn't – I wasn't!"

"I think I've heard enough of your voice," Cyclonis hissed.

That was when the rollercoaster cart landed in the entryway of the lab. "HEY!" Snipe barked as soon as his feet found the floor and his eyes beheld the scene before him. "What are YOU doing he – "

Cyclonis didn't let him finish. She whirled on him, firing a beam from her staff's crystal. It burned right through his chest, leaving a hole Ravess could see through where once his heart had beat. Snipe's dead body toppled to the floor.

Ravess' instincts took over; while Cyclonis' back was still turned, Ravess bolted across the laboratory, sure that if she could dive behind Yzma's table, she could buy time –

The crystal's next target was her leg, completely severing her knee from her thigh. With only one foot to stand on, Ravess collapsed, desperately crawling as Cyclonis advanced upon her.

A Corridor of Darkness opened wide behind Cyclonis, and a voice, at once a relief and a new source of fear for Ravess, bellowed, "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?"

"NO!" Ravess screamed. "GET BACK! GET AWAY!"

Vexen strode confidently through the Corridor, glaring daggers at Cyclonis. "I do not recall giving you express permission to be here," he barked as the portal shut behind him.

"No," Ravess repeated, shaking her head at Vexen. "No, no, no – "

"I don't recall giving you permission to speak," Cyclonis snarled. The staff whirled. A bright red beam slashed diagonally across Vexen's upper body.

His corpse hit the ground in stages – one half before the other, creating a dual thud.

"NO!" Ravess screamed.

She curled into a tight ball, hugging her whole leg and what remained of her half-leg into her chest. There was no more fighting. All she could do was wait for the inevitable.

Cyclonis forwent using the crystal's energy this time. She instead gripped the staff at the center, hoisting it upward so that its point aimed directly downward at Ravess. And the moment she brought it down –

...

Ravess woke up screaming in her bed.

It took some time for her to process what had just happened. "A…dream?" she muttered to herself. "It was…a dream?"

Cyclonis was far away. Snipe hadn't been shot. Vexen hadn't been cleaved.

All the same, Ravess was gripped by uncertainty. Her feet – of which she still had two, thankfully – hit the floor, and she scrambled out of her bedroom, out of her entire apartment.

She had to check up on some things.

...

Now it was the band of heroes that stood in a conference circle some distance away from Kakariko Village, pondering their plan of attack.

"We need to do a little more than improvise this time," Stork pointed out. "We need to do something that won't get half of us incapacitated and nearly KILLED, followed by Midna burning herself on the recovered Light spirit."

"It won't be possible to come up with a perfect plan without knowing who Maleficent stationed to wait for us," Jasmine reminded him. "We'll just have to try our best with what knowledge we have."

"Unless there isn't someone stationed to wait for us," Katara brought up. "There wasn't last time. Maybe the whole thing was just to mislead us."

"Or maybe the last one wasn't there to make us think the next one won't be there," Stork countered.

"But if there isn't anyone there," Sora realized, "then we know exactly what we're dealing with! I say we make a plan assuming there isn't, and we fix it if it turns out there is!"

"That is a BAD IDEA," Stork hissed. "You want to leave an entire factor out of the plan, then try to cover it ON THE FLY if it turns out you were wrong?"

"It's the same as doing an entire plan on the fly based on the assumption that there is someone waiting," Midna sighed. "Why don't we just try it his way?"

"HEAR HIM OUT!" Ruby chanted. "HEAR HIM OUT!"

Riku smiled softly. "I would leave it to Sora to come up with the plan that will work," he stated.

"What kind of Light spirit – uh, Darkness spirit – are we dealing with next?" Sora asked. "Are they all snakes?"

"Eldin will be more difficult to capture," Zelda revealed. "He takes the form of an eagle, capable of reaching great heights."

"Well, Lanayru flew too," Katara recalled. "We just need to figure out how to get to Eldin's level."

"IT SOUNDS LIKE WE NEED MORE STAIRCASES, COURTESY OF YOURS TRULY!" Papyrus decided. "THEN WE CAN DESCEND IN AN AERIAL ASSAULT!"

"That's a lot of stairs," Katara pointed out. "Can you make that many?"

"WELL…I ADMIT THIS WOULD BE MY FIRST TIME TRYING," Papyrus replied. "WHICH MEANS IT'S THE PERFECT TIME TO FIND OUT!"

"I don't know about this," Riku broke in. "That would do more than just put a strain on Papyrus. There would be no way to create that many stairways without Eldin seeing us all coming. And if we couldn't catch up to him in the air, he could get away, and we'd have to reposition again."

"The obvious solution here is to have a way to actually fly the sword to Eldin," Stork pointed out. "That being said, unless we backtrack all the way to Castle Town to pick up our ship, we have no way of doing that."

"So here's an idea," Aladdin suggested. "We bring Eldin down to us."

"How do we do that?" Ruby asked quizzically.

"That depends," Aladdin replied. "Hey, Link. How's your acting skill?"

"I…don't know," Link admitted. "I've never really tried acting before. Do we need to put on some kind of charade?"

"That's exactly what we'll be doing," Aladdin confirmed, "if everyone agrees on this plan. Don't worry. It'll just be a simple part. All you have to do is…"

As he explained, Link nodded in understanding. "I'll try," he said with uncertainty once Aladdin was finished speaking, "but I'm not sure I could make it as convincing as you want."

"I could," Jasmine volunteered. "If you don't want to do it – "

"I'll let you handle it, then," Link told her. "You'll just have to have this." He passed her the Master Sword.

"This is still a REALLY bad idea," Stork whimpered. "Sending her in ALONE? What if there IS someone waiting this time? What if she can't handle Eldin? What if – "

"What if she wasn't alone?" Aladdin countered. "Eldin just has to THINK she is."

"And we sneak somebody else onto the battlefield!" Sora cried. "Do you think all of us could make it without getting noticed by Eldin?"

"I doubt it," Link sighed. "Eldin sees far and wide."

"So we hide outside the village," Ruby offered, "and whoever we send in to watch over the plan sends up some kind of signal to the rest of us to let us know if it's all clear or Jasmine needs more help."

"A SIGNAL LIKE THIS?" Papyrus asked; the words "PLEASE HELP!" appeared written in bone in midair at his behest.

"Yeah!" Ruby cried. "Exactly like that!"

"There's just one problem," Stork grunted. "You don't sneak."

"I DO TOO SNEAK!" Papyrus said indignantly, hands on hipbones.

"A toy monkey that bangs cymbals constantly makes less noise than you do," Stork went on.

"HEY!"

"Are you saying you could do better?" Midna provoked.

"At sneaking, yes," Stork told her, "but as far as signaling, I'm fresh out of anything that could work as a flare. Let alone multiple flares to communicate 'all clear' versus 'we're doomed.'"

"WELL, IF YOU'RE SO SNEAKY AND I'M NOT," Papyrus challenged, "THEN WHY DON'T YOU COME WITH ME AND POINT OUT EVERY LITTLE MISTAKE I MAKE? HMMM?" It then struck him: "THOUGH…THAT ACTUALLY MIGHT BE A WAY TO PROCEED, IF I REALLY DO MAKE THAT MUCH NOISE…WHICH I'M SURE I DON'T, BUT JUST TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE…"

"Me, go with you and stop you from blowing your cover?" Stork reiterated. "I could do that. And that way, you'd be able to put up the signal. We'd need a back route into town, of course."

"Which I know," Link informed the group. He backed away to begin drawing in the dust on the ground, which was beginning to turn over to Kakariko's desert climate now that they were in the village's proximity. "All we have to do is send you in here…and the rest of us will wait HERE…"

"AND WE HAVE A PLAN!" Ruby screeched. "NICE JOB, TEAM! NOW, ALL IN!" She put out her hand, palm down.

Sora and Papyrus immediately stacked their hands on top of hers. Riku and Stork added theirs a little more reluctantly. The rest stared in confusion.

"You know," Ruby said softly, "this is the part where everyone puts their hand on, and then we all throw our hands up in the air and yell something like 'Go team' or 'We got this'…no?...Just us?...Okay." The hands went up halfheartedly, as Ruby said "Go team" in a rather deflated tone.

"I think you'll have to teach us some of these gestures in more detail sometime," Katara suggested.

"We still haven't figured out what we're going to do WHEN we run into Maleficent's henchperson," Stork pointed out.

"That's the part we just can't plan for," Aladdin sighed.

"At least this way," Jasmine observed, "even if I end up in over my head, Stork and Papyrus can join in after giving the signal, and we'll be able to hold out until everyone else can catch up."

"ABSOLUTELY!" Papyrus agreed.

Link backed away from his drawing. "And that's the route you'll need to take," he established.

"Let's try that hand thing again," Katara said with vigor.

"Okay," Ruby explained. "So first, everyone puts out their hand like this…"

Ruby had to talk the group through the gesture, but once everyone had thrown up a hand and yelled "GO TEAM!", they realized they felt a lot better about the upcoming situation.

...

Eldin made slow circles over the village, ready to unleash his wrath upon any and all who still lived among the wash of Twilight that had overtaken the land. The woman approaching from the main road looked like nothing short of an opportunity. He gave a warning screech; she didn't flinch.

As soon as she neared the edge of the spring where Eldin had the most room to land, he dove, the wind whistling as he fixated upon his target.

Jasmine tilted her head up, getting a full view of the enormous bird. Not panicking under such circumstances was difficult, but manageable all the same. The scream she let out was false.

She collapsed before Eldin could reach her.

Eldin was struck by confusion; he knew he hadn't yet touched her. Giving a screech of curiosity, he hovered over her, leaning his head downward to poke gently at her prone body. He needed to investigate this; he was sure he'd done no damage, but if a victim was going to be giftwrapped for him, he had to make sure this person was truly defenseless. Then he would finish the job, provided she was alive enough to be finished.

From their vantage point atop a nearby house, Stork and Papyrus watched the scene unfold, their breathing shallow. Something was going to go wrong, Stork knew, and he and Papyrus would need to intervene –

Eldin's beak nudged Jasmine's side.

The spirit hadn't noticed the sword she carried at her waist until the flat of it was pressed against his face.

Once the light started spreading, Eldin was powerless to stop it. He jerked away from the blade, but already, his Darkness was changing in complexion, becoming bright. He backed up into the air, hovering gently over Jasmine, observing his own thoughts turn from destructive into concerned.

A shaft of light broke through the sky, and all around, the dusk faded into bright blue, illuminating Kakariko Village. Blue lights that bobbed in the byways were reconstructed into human beings, who confusedly took in their restored surroundings before locating their nearest loved ones so they could rejoice.

Jasmine sat up, a grin upon her face. "I knew we could save you without going through all that complicated battle," she proclaimed.

Papyrus stood, throwing the words "ALL CLEAR!" into the air for the others to see. He then joined Stork in making way down from the roof.

"That blade," Eldin said. "Where did you acquire it?" His tone was as deliberate as Lanayru's.

"From a friend," Jasmine explained as she stood. The last of the shadows washed away from the basin of Kakariko Village as Stork and Papyrus slid to her sides. "I think you know him."

"I can think of one who wields such a blade," Eldin agreed. "You are his ally?"

"We all are," Jasmine confirmed.

"I can sense that Twilight has spread over much of the land," Eldin observed, "yet the Lanayru province is bathed in light, as it should by day. This was not your first stop."

"We saved Lanayru just before coming to find you," Jasmine confirmed.

"Then you already know of the threat this land faces," Eldin said somberly.

By then, the rest of the group had entered the village by the main road. "It worked!" Sora cried. "You did it!"

Link and Zelda knelt before Eldin. "We are glad to see you have been restored," Zelda stated.

"I knew it was you who were responsible," Eldin stated. "I trust you already know of the dangers that lie ahead of you if you plan to restore Faron and Ordon."

"We're ready," Midna commented from behind the bowing pair.

"Then go with my blessing," Eldin said. "When the time comes, I shall lend whatever aid I can to oust the last of the corruption from this land."

"Thank you," Link said gratefully.

Sensing Eldin was about to depart, Sora cried out, "Hey, wait! Before you go!"

"What is it, young hero?" the Light spirit questioned.

"Was there somebody else here?" Sora asked. "Someone who was supposed to slow us down and make sure we didn't do what we just did?"

"There was," Eldin confirmed. "He acted as my master, directing me. I could not tell exactly what happened in all of the chaos, but I do know there was another party that arrived here before you did and ousted him from this spring."

"Another party?" Sora repeated. "Somebody else who made it through the Twilight?"

"Well, Riku did too," Midna pointed out. "It's not that far-fetched."

"I only recognized two of them," Eldin stated. "One was a visitor to this land long, long ago, in days far past. I no longer know what she seeks, as she was not in her usual company, and I was subdued by her before I could learn what she wanted. The other, Princess Zelda, was your fiancée."

"HANS?" Zelda gasped suddenly. "Was he all right? Was he acting of his own free will?"

"He was not acting under anyone's control but his own," Eldin assured her.

"He is alive," Zelda said softly, heart beating rapidly. "He is fighting the guardians Maleficent has posted."

"But why didn't he do anything to save the spirits?" Ruby asked.

"He couldn't, remember?" Midna brought up. "We're the only ones with the magic sword. And he'd know better than to KILL the Light spirits, even if they are corrupted."

"Do you know which way he has gone?" Zelda asked.

"I do not," Eldin responded. "However, given what we know, he has likely moved on to the spirits who remain corrupted."

"Then we must follow," Zelda insisted. "We must continue to Faron Woods."

"So now it's a quest to meet back up with lover boy!" Midna teased.

"At least we have a plan that we know works now," Link pointed out. "Restoring the other spirits should be – "

"DON'T SAY IT!" Stork cried.

"…Easy?" Link finished, unsure of what Stork was getting at.

Stork hung his head and sighed. "And now that you said that," he groaned, "it's not going to be."

...

Garfield Lynns found out the hard way that taking a nap was a bad idea. His dreams were consumed with flame in an utterly unnerving way; again, Phosphorus haunted him.

He exited his room at the same time Snatcher did his. "Ah, Mr. Lynns!" Snatcher addressed, certain no one was around to hear their natural voices, their true names. "We've much more ground to cover. I've thought it over, and it's ultimately best we begin at – "

He fully beheld Garfield's state. Garfield was attempting to act natural, but Snatcher could perceive his shortness of breath, the small beads of sweat gathering up at the edges of his face. "…Are you quite all right?" he asked with suspicion.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Garfield replied. Yet at the same time, in a moment of weakness, with no one else to turn to and no outlet, he reached out and seized Snatcher's wrist in one hand, gripping hard enough to hurt. He shut his eyes for a good half minute.

"You are NOT all right," Snatcher accused.

"It'll be fine, okay?" Garfield told him, eyes still closed. "I just need…" What could he conceivably ask for in this situation that would alleviate the aftereffects of the dreams? "…Air. I need air."

Snatcher gently tugged his arm away; Garfield had the good sense to let go. "The courtyard it is, then," Snatcher decided. "As fine a starting point as any." He began to walk, keeping his voice low but still in his natural accent: "You do remember our goal."

"Find out why the four chicks were together," Garfield reiterated as he fell into step next to Snatcher, "and get the dirt on why the princess doesn't have her fancy key sword. Piece of cake."

Snatcher didn't pry any further into what had caused Garfield's state of mental distress.

They entered the outdoor courtyard to find it already occupied. Donald Duck waved his staff, conjuring a multitude of fireworks in the air, while Goofy looked on at the lights in awe. The arrival of two visitors was enough to grab Goofy's attention away from the show; he waved at Snatcher and Garfield, giving them a jovial "Hey there!"

"Wak!" Donald doused the fireworks, not wanting to be held responsible if anyone got singed.

"Well, that's new," Garfield said in a low whisper only Snatcher could hear. Snatcher wasn't sure if he was referring to the magical fireworks or the anthropomorphic animals, though in all likelihood, it was both.

"You must be the Pike family!" Goofy said cheerily, approaching Snatcher and Garfield. "King Mickey told us all about ya! Real sorry to hear 'bout what happened to ya."

"Oh, yes, is very tragic," Snatcher confirmed, now back in Nikolai's voice, "but my daughter and I, we move on."

"So who are – " Garfield had a bit more difficulty changing voices on a whim, and the first words came out harsher than he expected. He was able to kick his voice back into gear enough to say "So who are you?"

"Name's Goofy!" Goofy introduced.

"Ah, yes, Goofy," Snatcher said with a nod. "Have heard name from several castle residents. Going by memory, that must make him Donald Duck."

"You betcha!" Donald confirmed, moving closer to join the conversation.

"Didja settle in all right in the castle?" Goofy asked.

"Oh, yes, very settled," Snatcher responded. "Were given quite thorough tour by strong and silent type."

"That's Aeleus for ya!" Goofy laughed, punctuating it with an "A-hyuck!".

"So what were you doing?" Garfield asked, legitimately interested by the show of pyrotechnics. "Blowing stuff up for the heck of it?"

"Daughter is such spirited girl!" Snatcher emphasized. "Has always had strange fascination with fire and fireworks. Would not hurt fly, though."

"Right," Garfield agreed. "No flies hurt here. I'm more angry with the bats that think they can chase fireflies around."

Snatcher gave him a light swat for that one.

"We were just practicin' our fighting skills!" Donald explained. "That was some of my best magic to use against Heartless!"

"And I was gonna do some trainin' with my shield," Goofy added, "but I kinda got distracted by Donald's spell. We were also gonna spar with each other for a bit."

"Spar?" Snatcher repeated, seeing an opportunity to gain a measure of how dangerous these opponents were. "If you are in need of partners…"

"Yeah, I'm in," Garfield said once he saw where Snatcher was going.

"Don't expect us to go easy on ya!" Donald warned.

"Well, I might go a little easy on ya," Goofy admitted. "We only did just meet."

Snatcher and Garfield unhitched their new weapons from their backs and braced them in a battle stance. "Whenever you're ready," Garfield beckoned.

Jaune and Kairi had re-entered the castle by then, having taken a leisurely pace on the route back so they could discuss all manner of things. "…And so I kinda got good at all that stuff," Jaune stated. "If one of my sisters needed her hair braided or her eyeshadow blended, I could step in. Not to brag, but I also give pretty good manicures." A sudden idea struck him. "Do you…like having your nails done?"

"I've actually only ever done them myself," Kairi admitted, "and I don't do them that often. It's not that I don't like them polished. I just don't really have the time, or I forget all about it."

"So you're a princess, and you've never had your nails done by someone else?"

"Nope!" Kairi shook her head playfully.

"Well, maybe…" Jaune couldn't believe he was still shy about suggesting things such as this. "If…you wanted…I could do your nails later."

"Are you sure that wouldn't be too much work?" Kairi asked, wanting to be polite.

"Not one bit," Jaune said, shaking his head.

"Then I'd love that!" Kairi replied, her face simply lighting up.

That was when they heard the twin screams coming from the courtyard. With only a glance to each other to confirm that they needed to investigate, they rushed out just in time to see Snatcher topple to the ground and Garfield, who had been launched into the air by Donald's magic, land solidly on top of him; the sword and the axe lay some feet away from them. Miraculously, neither's disguises were dislodged a bit; the bobby pins holding Garfield's wig to his head had earned their pay.

"Uh, Donald?" Goofy said sheepishly. "Maybe you SHOULDA gone easy on 'em."

"I thought you two were supposed to be some kinda warriors!" Donald commented.

"We are little out of practice," Snatcher said quickly. "Have spent most of recent time escaping, not fighting. Also have injuries from previous fights we neglected to mention until now. Darling daughter Bridgit, please get off of me."

Garfield peeled himself into an upright position, wobbling as he tried to steady his still dizzy head. Snatcher followed suit, dusting himself off.

"Were you sparring?" Kairi asked.

"Eeyup!" Goofy confirmed. "Our new friends the Pikes wanted to practice!"

"Pikes, huh?" Jaune repeated. "You must be REALLY new."

"We only just arrived," Snatcher confirmed.

"The Pikes' homeworld was overtaken by Darkness," Donald explained, "and they just managed to get away! So they're stayin' here!"

"I'm so sorry about what happened," Kairi said sympathetically.

"Eh, don't worry about it," Garfield told her. "We don't."

Snatcher fired him a meaningful look.

"For the sake of our sanity," Garfield corrected. "We have to force ourselves to not think about it."

"I know how that feels," Jaune sighed. "Anyway, it's good to have you on board."

"Let us know if there's anything you need!" Kairi added. "We'll make sure you have it all!"

"We will be sure to come to you with requests," Snatcher confirmed.

Kairi extended her hand to him. "My name's Kairi. What's yours?"

"Nikolai," Snatcher replied, grasping her hand and giving it a firm shake.

"And I'm his daughter, Bridgit," Garfield added, putting out his own hand.

"Jaune Arc," Jaune replied, clasping Garfield's right hand and pumping it lightly a few times. "Nice to meet you."

"By the way, it's okay to be a little rusty on the battlefield," Kairi went on. "Not everyone fights the same way, but we all still get by."

Vexen's orders rang in Snatcher's head. "And what is Kairi's proficiency with weapon?"

"Me?" Kairi reiterated. "I'm getting better. I'm not as good as Jaune – "

"I think you have that the other way around," Jaune told her. "Pretty sure you're better than me."

"Either way, we're not keeping score," Kairi emphasized.

Snatcher hoisted his axe from the ground. "We could put it to test," he suggested. "Rule definitively who has more skill."

"I don't know about that," Kairi told him, "but if you want to spar some more for practice, I'm ready!"

"Shall we?" Snatcher asked as he hefted the axe into the air.

Jaune and Garfield backed off as Kairi's sword shimmered into her hand. "Let's go!" she cried.

The axe whistled down; the sword caught its edge, repelling it. Again and again the blades clashed. Snatcher contemplated cleaving Kairi's head from her shoulders completely and blaming it on an accident, but he ultimately decided not to, on the grounds that she was a valuable source of information and absolutely not because he had any sort of suspicion that her dexteritiy wouldn't even allow him to get close to killing her.

"You are skilled swordswoman," he complimented. That much was true.

"Thanks," Kairi replied. "I have a pretty great teacher."

"Oh? And who is that?"

"You wouldn't have met him yet," Kairi explained. "His name's Riku, and he's been teaching me and Lea to fight. Have you met Lea?"

"Confident redhead. Has power over fire. Makes excellent marshmallows."

"That's the one!" Kairi confirmed with a grin, spinning a full 360 degrees to block the next swing of the axe.

"Is unique sword you wield," Snatcher went on. "Where did you get such beautiful weapon?"

"Actually, it was kind of a collaborative effort," Kairi stated. "It was worked on by Moogles and Boxtrolls."

That made Snatcher cringe to the point of nearly losing his balance with the axe. Parried at every turn by a Boxtroll-forged weapon. Was he never to escape them? "You had forged for your training with Riku?"

"Well, not exactly," Kairi admitted; sparks flew from where the metal of the two weapons met. "Riku was actually teaching us to use something else. The Keyblade. That's what I'm more comfortable with, actually."

"If so, why not use Keyblade?"

Kairi sighed, very nearly – but not completely – letting down her guard and barely blocking the axe's next swing. "I don't have it anymore. Maleficent does."

Snatcher felt he shouldn't have been surprised. If there was one person out to stir the pot more than the residents of Radiant Garden, it was Maleficent. Surely stripping the girl of her Keyblade was part of a larger gambit to upset WHAM ARMY and Radiant Garden alike. "Who is Maleficent?" Snatcher asked. "And why does she have Keyblade of yours?"

"She's an evil faery who just wants to spread Darkness to as many worlds as she can," Kairi explained. "We've been fighting her from the very beginning. A bunch of us went on a rescue mission to save our friends from her, but she ended up severing our connections to the Keyblade and keeping them for herself."

"Our? Who is 'our'?"

"Me and Riku," Kairi explained. "She took the rest of our weapons too, but we were able to reforge some and replace others with less powerful things."

"So she has blade of Lea as well."

"Lea didn't go with us," Kairi corrected. "Jaune, Nora, Ren, and the Mystic Rangers did. They all got their weapons taken. Cadance and Luna were there too, but they didn't have to worry about that."

"But all had their weapons replaced," Snatcher prodded, glad he was able to squirrel out so much information – though his arms were getting quite tired.

"More or less," Kairi replied. "There isn't really anything that CAN replace the Mystic Rangers' wands. They're missing a lot of power without them. Eventually, we're going to have to launch another mission against Maleficent to get those wands back, as well as the Keyblades, but we're not going to do that unless we know everyone can get back safely. Right now, it's too big of a risk. Every time we try and go up against Maleficent, we barely make it back. I don't want to lose anyone that way."

Snatcher decided to end the spar, planting the axe on the ground; Kairi got the signal right away and dismissed her sword. "If you should come up with proper strategy," Snatcher told her, "you have word I will join your mission."

"Yeah, same here," Garfield added from the sidelines.

"I couldn't ask you to do that!" Kairi gasped. "You only just got here! You need time!"

"Believe me," Snatcher told her seriously, "would absolutely love to wipe smug grin off Maleficent's face."

"I hear that," Garfield added, just as seriously.

"It's not like we're gonna attack Maleficent right away anyway," Donald brought up.

"We're just so powerless when it comes to her," Jaune sighed. "It's nothing like when it only takes five of us to scare off Mozenrath's henchpeople."

"Am now curious," Snatcher said, somewhat offended. "Who is this…Mozenrath? Sounds like unique name."

Before anyone could even begin to delve into the subject of the WHAM ARMY, Yuffie bolted into the courtyard; Moana, Nora, Sadira, Lilo, Stitch, Jumba, and Pleakley trailed after her. Snatcher and Garfield saw the latter three for the nonhuman beings they were, just as the four young women had not too long ago, and the sight of such obvious "aliens" momentarily made them both flinch, wide-eyed.

"There you are!" Yuffie proclaimed, her eyes flicking from Donald to Goofy. "Wait. Where's King Mickey?"

"He's still in the lab, workin' on the computer!" Goofy explained.

"I TOLD you!" Nora huffed.

"Okay, that makes sense," Yuffie admitted. "We gotta go see him right now! We just figured out the answer to all his problems!"

"What's the answer to all his problems?" Goofy wondered out loud.

"It seems I am answer to all of king's problems," Jumba explained. "Would be best to explain when we see him, so as not to be telling same story multiple times."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Nora proclaimed. "Let's go see him!"

"I'll come, too," Kairi stated.

"And you know I'm there," Jaune added.

Kairi looked to Snatcher once more. "You and Bridgit can do whatever you want," she suggested. "Make yourselves at home."

"If we are now to be allied with king," Snatcher told her, "we must learn of his problems and offer what help we can. We will come with."

"Lead on," Garfield encouraged.

The group set out for the laboratory, making their way first to the lifts at the castle's heart. Aboard the lift, Jaune and Kairi walked hand in hand; this did not go unnoticed.

"Hey, are you two OFFICIAL?" Nora asked.

"We had one date," Kairi answered. "And…" She turned her head to look to Jaune. "If you want, I'd like to go on more."

"Well, you're in luck," Jaune replied, "because I REALLY want to go on more dates with you."

"Aww, you're so lucky!" Sadira gushed. "I'm a little jealous, actu – no, no, this isn't about me. Seriously, congratulations. Being in love like that is great."

"I don't know if it's 'love' like that quite yet," Jaune said sheepishly. "I mean, I definitely love Kairi as a person, but I think we need more time to figure out if it's the other sense."

"I think so too," Kairi agreed. "It's too soon to say just now. Though I do love Jaune in a lot of ways already, too."

"You're even on the same page about if it's love," Sadira pointed out. "That's chemistry." She then gave a slight sigh; she truly did harbor envy stirred up by the situation. She was trying her best to stuff it away in favor of happiness for her friends, but that was proving difficult.

Pleakley was the first to pick up on this. "Hey, you'll find someone," he told Sadira. "All my Earth research plus personal experience has led me to the conclusion that you only really find love when you're not expecting it. Like maybe you get assigned to chaperone a dangerous criminal on a life-threatening mission and you figure out you actually get along."

"Or, alternatively," Jumba offered, "you are dangerous criminal who is given chance at redemption through exciting adventure, but only on condition that you are accompanied by annoying government official. But then, after some time, turns out official is not so annoying after all."

"I'm just saying it's gonna happen," Pleakley reaffirmed.

"Well, just for reference, I'm probably going to be the 'dangerous criminal' in that situation if anything," Sadira pointed out with a playful smile. "It's a long story."

The lift halted, and the group spilled out into a labyrinth of hallways. "Anyway," Sadira asked, now looking at Snatcher and Garfield, "who are you?"

"Am Nikolai Pike," Snatcher reiterated. "This is daughter Bridgit."

"Hey," Garfield punctuated.

"We will be staying in castle indefinitely," Snatcher stated.

"This is the first time I'm hearing about this," Yuffie broke in.

"Well, our homeworld kinda went to the dogs," Garfield chipped in, "soooooooo we live here now."

"What happened?" Moana asked, wide-eyed with concern.

"I don't think they want to talk about it," Kairi said sympathetically.

"Well…could give short rendition," Snatcher relented, hoping the recollection of the tale would get everyone on his good side.

So he and Garfield took turns explaining how they came from the Abarat, which was a world they loved so much, it was too painful to describe any notable features of as far as topography or culture were concerned. They loosely described how Darkness had overtaken their homeland, and how Snatcher's "wife" was tragically lost. That brought them to their grand escape, which brought them to Radiant Garden.

As Snatcher spoke, Jumba felt there was something about the man that didn't quite sit well with him. And by the time he'd finished the story, Jumba figured out what it was. But it didn't seem prudent to bring up. There was, after all, the possibility that Jumba had misjudged it, and he had only just met the man. It didn't necessarily mean anything, either.

By then, the group reached the laboratory, entering the room where Mickey stared blankly at the computer screen from his perch atop a chair he'd borrowed to attain the proper height to match the computer. "Hiya, fellas," Mickey said absent-mindedly, hoping that if he looked at the device long enough, a solution would appear to him.

"Your Majesty!" Yuffie greeted, and she, Moana, Nora, Sadira, Kairi, and Jaune bowed briefly. "We can solve all your problems!"

"Huh?" Mickey looked up at the group, noticing Jumba, Pleakley, Lilo, and Stitch. "Hey! Looks like ya made some more new friends!"

"Don't worry, Your Majesty!" Lilo said confidently with a salute. "We're here to help you take your castle back! Because we're an official problem-solving squad!"

"We are not official problem-solving squad," Jumba said flatly, arms folded. "This is one-time offer before returning to activities of moral dubiousness or outright evil."

"He's really all talk about the evil thing," Lilo punctuated.

"Am understanding you have elusive password that needs recovering," Jumba told Mickey.

"Well, yeah," Mickey confirmed. "That's the gist of it. Are you some kinda hacker?"

"SOME KIND OF HACKER!" Jumba repeated, quite amused. "HA! He thinks I am merely SOME KIND OF HACKER! I have disrupted government security systems of mind-boggling complexity! I have breached completely hacker-proof networks! I am exact solution you need!"

"Well, that sounds great!" Mickey replied. "But, uh…who are ya?"

"Maybe we should start from the beginning," Lilo suggested. "Like how we ended up here in the first place."

"Umm…" Stitch looked around, then pointed to Sadira, Moana, Nora, and Yuffie. "Them. They started it."

"Well, it sounds like it started a longer time ago, when you got lost," Moana pointed out.

After some faltering, the group finally got into position to tell the story in as coherent of an order as they could. When Sadira mentioned that she had brought the others out on a shopping trip as a "girls' day" but the other three had been less than impressed, Pleakley commented, "Well, that's just ridiculous! Color-coordinating Earth garments and accessories is inherently enjoyable! Unless it's done differently here in Radiant Garden."

"No, shopping's the same everywhere you go," Nora sighed, "and it's still boring."

"Let's just get back to the story," Moana went on. "All of a sudden, Cid came chasing Stitch down the street, and he was yelling – well, a lot of things we can't really repeat."

"Kinda want to, though," Nora commented.

Moana cleared her throat loudly and nodded her head in Lilo's direction.

"Right," Nora realized. "We can get into specifics later."

As the story continued, Garfield discreetly slipped his scroll out of his pocket and began to snap pictures. He now knew why the four young women had isolated themselves, though he still wasn't sure how exactly this was supposed to help the Huntsman. He did suspect that the Huntsman would find pictures of what Garfield could only describe as real-life aliens (without thinking too hard about the fact that on this world, technically, Yuffie was the only one in the room who wasn't an alien) intriguing.

"Which leads us to present moment," Jumba concluded when the story was all said and done.

"Well, I'm happy to let ya help!" Mickey asserted, leaping down from the chair. "Though this really is a finicky system. I was told the trash bin doesn't even work for throwin' out trash, and that's no exaggeration!"

"Let me take look." Jumba took over the abandoned seat, his fingers experimentally testing out the keyboard so he could get a general sense of this computer's basic operating system. "Describe to me again exact situation for which we seek password."

"While you do that," Garfield said, "I gotta use the can. I haven't seen a toilet since we got here, and I bet you haven't either, right, Dad?" He nudged Snatcher.

Snatcher picked up the cue immediately. "Was doing all right until you mentioned subject of toilet," he pretended to complain. "We will return."

"Need someone to go with you so you don't get lost?" Yuffie offered.

"NO!" Garfield and Snatcher said at the same time. Then, more calmly, Snatcher explained, "Have very good sense of direction. Will find room again easily."

He and Garfield slipped out the door, jogging a good distance out of earshot before Garfield said, "Skullface is gonna wanna know about this."

"My thoughts exactly, Mr. Lynns," Snatcher concurred.

Meanwhile, once the pair had left, Jumba admitted, "This Nikolai Pike. You are sure he is friend?"

"Well, we just met him," Goofy pointed out, "but we've got no reason NOT to think he's a friend!"

"The Pikes have the same story as most of us here," Kairi reminded the others. "They need someplace to call home as much as we do."

"Did you have some kind of problem with them?" Jaune asked.

"With daughter? No," Jumba stated. "As for Nikolai, is probably nothing to worry about. But...accent sounds fake."

The group took it under consideration and ultimately shrugged it off.

...

Terra Tropica was absolutely gorgeous. The sun hung high in the topaz sky and sparkled off the surface of the water in a thousand tiny diamonds of light. The sand of the beach was perfectly warm to the touch, inviting visitors to lie down in it and fall asleep beneath the sun.

Snipe wanted that sand to know that he wasn't about to fall for that trap; he'd already been sunburned crimson in the past and did not intend to do so again. So he headed inland, taking a stroll among the tall, swaying trees.

After a peaceful stint of walking, Snipe came upon a clearing occupied by a very tiny person. He recognized her immediately. "HEY!" Snipe yelled. "YOU'RE THAT STORM HAWK!"

She had her back to him; once he addressed her, she did an about-face and looked up into his eyes. She was just as he remembered her: tall blue hair, bright amber eyes –

But something was different about the girl. Piper, he suddenly remembered. Her name was Piper. Snipe was pretty sure that last time he saw her, she hadn't been so…small. As she waddled up closer to him, he suddenly realized the big difference, wondering how it hadn't occurred to him earlier.

She was only five years old.

Without saying a word, small Piper looked curiously up at Snipe. Snipe, figuring this was his big chance to rid himself of a persistent enemy, reached for his mace. He realized he hadn't even remembered his mace being on his person, but the moment he needed it to be in his hand, it was there. He raised it high, then brought it down swiftly.

Small Piper caught the falling weapon's brunt in one hand, repelling it from crushing her.

"WHAT?" Snipe yelled in confusion.

The girl shoved the mace with both hands, and Snipe went toppling over backward. Landing on his rear, he growled at small Piper. He wasn't going to let a five-year-old girl best him. He hoisted up the mace –

And was immediately overcome by its weight, causing him to drop it to the sand. He scrambled to his feet, gripping the mace by its staff. Why had it suddenly become so much heavier? It must have been a literal ton.

Letting out a scream – the first noise she'd made since Snipe had come upon her – small Piper leapt high into the air and punched Snipe in the face.

It hit like a bag of bricks. Snipe was blown backward, landing on his back and staring up at the blue sky. His mace was too heavy, and a toddler version of one of the Storm Hawks had just bested him in one blow. Perhaps these things weren't unrelated.

Perhaps Snipe had simply lost all of his strength.

And as terror set in about that fact, small Piper wrenched an entire tree out of the earth, swinging it down hard onto Snipe's chest. The impact left him winded. Satisfied, small Piper skipped happily away.

Snipe tried in vain to pry the tree trunk off his body, but it lay solidly across him, pinning him down. He knew that normally, something like this would be no sweat to remove. But he had lost his strength, somehow, and as he struggled, he grew more and more afraid, down to the very core. If someone didn't come along to help him – which he didn't want anyway, but in this case, accepting help was better than the alternative – he would be pinned beneath this tree until he died.

...

In his bed, Snipe tossed and turned, scraping at an imaginary pinion with his hands. His consciousness was roused by the sound of sharp rapping on wood. One eye pried open. Then the other.

Snipe slowly sat up in bed. "That was a nightmare?" he said to himself. Then, angrily as he punched the mattress to either side of him, "I got psyched out by a NIGHTMARE?"

The rapping, the noise that had awoken him, came again. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" Snipe growled as he stormed out of bed and into the main room of his apartment.

He traced the knocking sound to the door, and opened it to find Ravess there. "Ravess!" Snipe barked. "What do you want?"

"I…uh…" Ravess seemed displaced, somehow: completely out of her element. "I just…wanted to visit you."

"VISIT me?" Snipe repeated.

"Well, yes!" Ravess retorted sharply. "Can't a sister want to visit her brother?" She sighed, covering up her shiftiness with forced disdain. She'd confirmed Snipe was alive, and could move on from her primary goal. "I'm going to the laboratories. Come with me if you wish."

"Why are you going to the labs?" Snipe asked.

Ravess didn't have a good answer to that; she eventually came up with "Because I just want to!"

"You're acting weird," Snipe called out.

"Am I not allowed to act weird if I please?" Ravess countered.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Snipe snapped. "And I'M the one who usually doesn't make sense around here! According to you, anyway!"

"Are you coming to the labs or not?" Ravess asked.

"Yeah," Snipe told her, "I'm coming. Because I'm gonna figure out why you're being so WEIRD!"

"I'm touched that you care so much," Ravess said flippantly as she left the room.

"I DON'T CARE!" Snipe yelled as he followed her, not remembering to shut the door behind him. "I JUST WANNA FIGURE OUT WHY EVERYTHING'S SO WEIRD!"

Though, come to think of it, Ravess wasn't the only oddity in Snipe's world. For even upon waking, he still had the feeling that he was weakened, that the tree still pinned him down. And it refused to fade from his mind.

...

The general assigned to Faron Woods heard the approaching party from a good distance away. He smiled to himself, glad there was opposition approaching after all. Standing at his post was becoming very boring; when he'd been assigned this gig, he had hoped for intruders to gun down. Finally, some real entertainment was on its way.

When Mozenrath, Hans, Roman, Wuya, Yzma, Zevon, Irmaplotz, and Demyx found their way through the trees to the clearing where the sacred spring lay, the general grinned, adjusting the position of the Huntsclan-issue cannon over his shoulder. "Well, isn't this a laugh," Clayton remarked. "I should really have suspected! Of course it would be you."

"Am I supposed to know you?" Mozenrath replied, coming to a halt to face Clayton head-on, one eyebrow cocked.

"I think he was there when we were attacked in the Goab Desert," Yzma reminded him.

"No," Mozenrath said, "that was the last guy."

"Pretty sure they were both there," Yzma corrected.

Mozenrath shook his head. "They all look alike. I'm losing track."

Clayton supposed they had just dealt with McLeach; he was rather miffed at being physically compared to the poacher, as he felt he was the far more handsome one of the two, but he wasn't about to throw a tantrum over it. Instead, he visually sized up Mozenrath's traveling companions. "This is what you brought to protect you, Mozenrath?" Clayton taunted. "It's a wonder you've lasted as long as you have! Where, pray tell, is your helmeted champion?"

"He doesn't need him," Wuya said through gritted teeth, stepping out in front of Mozenrath. "He has me."

Clayton aimed the barrel of the cannon directly at Wuya. "Shall we make this brief?" he proposed.

"That would be preferable," Wuya confirmed.

As the eight of the WHAM ARMY struck defensive stances, Clayton gave a whistle. The spring bubbled, then erupted. The spirit Faron took on the appearance of a monkey with a long tail that curled around his sphere of Darkness. "For once, a primate that actually does me some good," Clayton remarked.

Before he or Faron could make a move, their eight opponents scattered to distant corners of the field. Clayton's finger tightened on the trigger of the cannon, letting loose the first blast at Wuya's trail; she launched herself high into the air, sailing over the volley of ammunition. The green blast collided with the ground, leaving a sizeable pockmark.

As Wuya fell back down to earth, she gathered up a lime-colored ball of flame in each hand. She drew them back, ready to launch at Clayton –

Faron's whiplike tail caught her in the stomach, flinging her back until she hit a tree. She collapsed to the ground, gritting her teeth with anger at the momentary setback.

Faron spun in a half-circle, his tail forcing the others to backtrack hastily in order to not be smacked by the flexbile appendage. Clayton knew Wuya was the one to target; by calling herself out, she had betrayed her value to him. He kept his weapon trained on her, loosing blast after blast. Wuya slammed her hands together, and a wall of the earth itself jutted up out of the ground to absorb the blasts; it was worn through after three, and Wuya was cartwheeling on her way to find a new hiding place.

Leaping over Faron's tail like a jump rope, Roman quickly drew the Cudgel and fired off a quick volley. "WHO'S USELESS NOW?" he yelled as the impact of his ammunition exploded against Faron's skin. "WHO IS USELESS NOW?"

It had no effect against Faron, whose attention was now turned to the mild annoyance with the gun.

"Okay, so you're invincible," Roman muttered. "But YOU'RE not." His aim shifted to Clayton, who was still focused on Wuya. He pulled the trigger again.

Faron planted himself in front of Clayton, completely swallowing Roman's ammunition. He then bowled an orb of Darkness toward Roman, whose reflexes did not kick in in time for him to dodge the incoming projectile. He did, however, have enough clarity of mind to yell "NOT ME! NOT FIRST! NOT AGAI – "

When the orb hit, Roman was thrown to the ground. He attempted to stand, thankful that he still had his consciousness, but was quickly deterred. "Okay, so trying to move literally anything hurts like hell," he muttered. "Good to know."

"Stay back!" Hans called to Mozenrath, drawing his sword. "We'll let the ones with magic get in close!"

"And if I don't want to stay back?" Mozenrath countered, drawing his own sword.

"Then it's your funeral," Hans reminded him, "which means all of our funerals."

Demyx strummed a chord on his sitar, crying out, "DANCE, WATER, DANCE!" A hundred watery formations sprang from the ground, charging Clayton.

Faron pounced on a cluster of them, breaking them down into droplets. His tail wiped out almost all of the rest. As for the few that remained, Clayton took a moment to stop firing his cannon, holding it in place with one hand, while his other hand drew a machete that easily cut through the rest of the water forms in one blow. "Was that supposed to intimidate me?" Clayton taunted.

"NO!" Zevon yelled. "IT WAS SUPPOSED TO DISTRACTIFY YOU!" He had taken advantage of Clayton's preoccupation to get close to him, drawing a flask from his belt. Tossing the glass, he yelled, "BA-BLAM – "

Clayton quickly dropped the machete, raising his hand. He deftly caught the flask, chucking it right back at Zevon; the glass shattered against Zevon's chest, a few shards piercing through his shirt into his skin. That was the least of Zevon's worries, however, as the potion he'd thrown had been labeled "petrificate." His entire body was transfigured into hard and unmoving granite, as though he had been sculpted into place.

Clayton then turned the cannon toward Zevon, knowing one well-placed shot would shatter the man.

"NO!" Wuya dove at Zevon, grabbing him around the upper body and pulling him into a short teleportation that brought them both to the far side of the field.

"ZEVON!" Yzma cried in dismay. As her gaze followed Wuya and Zevon, it did not fixate upon Faron, whose tail had come swinging around again. Yzma was struck in the stomach, thrown against the side of a tall stone wall. She slid down it into a sitting position, dazed from the impact her head had made against the hard rock.

Faron, seeing a chance to finish Yzma off, bowled another orb of Darkness directly toward her.

"NO!" Irmaplotz landed hard in front of Yzma, both hands glowing. "NOT THIS TIME!" She slammed her illuminated palms into the orb, shoving back with all her might. The fabric of her gloves sizzled away, exposing her bare skin to the pure Darkness, which was painful to the touch. But with one last shove, she had sent the orb rolling toward Clayton.

The cannon's fire obliterated the orb entirely. Clayton now turned his fire to Irmaplotz. A green volley boomed through the air.

Irmaplotz put a deflection shield around herself and Yzma. The cannon fire, having been designed by the Huntsclan to cut through that exact sort of magic, burst into the defensive sphere, exploding. Irmaplotz was thrown to the ground; she and Yzma were both knocked out.

"We're just about out of magic wielders," Mozenrath reminded Hans.

"Okay," Hans told him, "I just need time to think – "

"No," Mozenrath insisted.

Before Hans could pry, Mozenrath had taken off like a shot bullet, sword swinging.

"DEMYX!" Hans screamed, taking after Mozenrath. "COVER US!"

Demyx fell into step alongside Hans and Mozenrath, playing furiously on his sitar. A dome of water encased the trio. Faron whipped it with his tail; the appendage bounced off, but at the dome's expense, water raining down upon the three runners from the ruined shield. Faron planted himself directly in front of Hans, Demyx, and Mozenrath, gathering up another orb.

Demyx strummed a quick chord; several fountains of water blasted Faron backward. Clayton fumbled the cannon, dropping it momentarily as he leapt out of the way of the monkey's trajectory. As Faron flew, his tail whipped around again, catching Demyx this time and throwing him against a tree. The tree cracked, its trunk snapping and falling over backward. Demyx was certain a few things in his own body had cracked as well; as he attempted to stand, his legs wouldn't hold his weight. On top of that, one of his arms sent shooting pains through his body every time he tried to move it; playing the sitar anymore was right out of the question.

Faron launched an orb high into the air; it plummeted like a meteor toward Hans and Mozenrath. Instantly, Wuya was there, catching the orb in her bare hands; she, unlike Irmaplotz, felt no burn. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" she yelled at Hans and Mozenrath.

"ASK HIM!" Hans cried.

Mozenrath was in no position to answer. "YOU!" he growled at Clayton, sword swinging.

Clayton abandoned the cannon, which was too heavy to pick up for quick combat. He instead found his fallen machete, taking it up into hand as he regained his standing position. "Come now," he beckoned. "Fight me like a man."

Mozenrath was ready to begin the duel, but Hans was faster, throwing himself between Mozenrath and Clayton; Clayton's blade crashed into Hans'. "You can hurt him over my dead body," Hans seethed.

Faron had leapt back to his feet; Wuya put all her energy into summoning chains to hold him down, locking in shackles around his neck, each of his limbs, and his tail. Faron struggled; the chain holding back his rear left leg snapped and dissolved. The rest held firm.

Clayton humored Hans only a short while, parrying all of the prince's blows, before thrusting a foot into Hans' stomach and shoving him back hard. As Hans was caught off guard, the machete bit into his chest. It was far away enough from his heart not to kill him, though Clayton has certainly not intended to miss the mark in such a way. Clayton gave the blade a hard twist; Hans screamed out in pain and went limp, only held up in the air by Clayton's weapon.

"How pitiful," Clayton remarked.

That was when the searing pain cut through his right shoulder. Hans fell away, taking the sword – and Clayton's whole severed arm – with him.

Through his own screams, Clayton gathered enough of his mental process together to figure out that Mozenrath had managed to sneak up on him from behind and slice off one of his arms. "I kind of liked that guy," Mozenrath said casually.

Clayton spun to face down Mozenrath, hardly caring that he now bore no weapon to do so, or that he was bleeding so heavily from one side of his body, he could potentially die in a matter of minutes.

Wuya slammed down into the spring waters beside Mozenrath, the pair of them framed only by the struggling Faron. She then sped around toward Clayton, seizing his remaining hand and grasping it hard; the Triforce of Power flowed from him to her. Clayton struggled to break his arm of her grip, but jerked his hand free only after Wuya had taken what she wanted. "I WILL KILL YOU!" he roared.

Dealing a cartwheel kick to Clayton's chin to disorient him, Wuya then leapt back to stand beside Mozenrath once more. She snapped her fingers, and a multitude of weapons hung in the air around Mozenrath and herself, axes and pikes and swords, all pointed at Clayton. "Just you try it," she challenged.

Clayton was suddenly aware of the sound of a Corridor of Darkness opening up behind him, between his back and Hans. "Just admit you've failed," a posh male voice echoed from the portal.

"NO!" Clayton roared. "I WILL HAVE HIS HEAD!"

"You're not even going to die with honor that way," the voice went on. "As it is, you'll look completely moronic."

"Finish him," Mozenrath growled.

"Not yet," Wuya replied. "I want to see if his friend comes out to make this a two-for-one special."

The voice's owner stepped into view, the Corridor framing him. All could see he was a tall man, bearing short, dark hair and a prominent mustache; he was clothed in a suit with a burgundy waistcoat over a mustard-yellow shirt. "Just come with me before you make a bigger fool of yourself," the man beckoned. "It's worth noting that Maleficent won't bother with you if you do die here. Meanwhile, I can repair what you've just lost. Goodness knows I've been put to work on worse."

"All right, now," Wuya relented.

As the man with the mustache retreated into the portal, Clayton, fuming, had the good sense to chase after him; the Corridor dissipated just before the weapons flew to where it had been. Wuya let them all drop to the ground in a clang of metal.

A loud CRACK let her know Faron had broken another one of his chains.

"We have to get everyone out of here," she said in a voice that only betrayed the slightest panic. A portal of her own appeared in the clearing, and she gave Mozenrath's back a hard shove toward it as she hissed, "Go! GO!"

Mozenrath didn't need to be told twice. He rushed through, finding himself in a part of the woods the group had passed through earlier. It only then occurred to him that perhaps he shouldn't have left Hans behind after the prince had taken a blade for him.

Hans was next to stumble through the portal, bleeding but alive. He wrenched the machete out of his chest, throwing it to the ground before falling before Mozenrath's feet.

"You didn't have to do that," Mozenrath told him.

"But we won," Hans panted, "didn't we?" He managed a coy smile upward at Mozenrath.

Wuya ushered the rest through, one by one: Irmaplotz, Yzma, the petrified Zevon, Demyx, Roman, and finally Wuya herself. Then the portal closed, leaving the melee behind them.

No one spoke. No one wanted to. All anyone desired at that moment in time was to catch their breath.

...

Snatcher and Garfield hurried into the bedroom Snatcher had claimed as his own; Garfield was already dialing the number to connect with the other half of the party as Snatcher made sure the door was shut and locked.

"Report," the Huntsman greeted.

"Okay, so we don't have a lot of time," Garfield began, "but we found out a lot of stuff, and we figured you should know sooner rather than later."

He plopped down onto the side of the bed, and Snatcher joined him there. "Mr. Vexen?" Snatcher asked the scroll. "Are you present?"

"I've nowhere better to be," Vexen answered.

"I now know the reason behind the missing Keyblade," Snatcher said smugly. "Seems Her Majesty had a bit of a run-in with Maleficent. Now she's missing her blade, master Riku has lost his, and all five Mystic Rangers are stranded without their wands."

"Combining that with the information you provided earlier," the Huntsman realized, "that means the Mystic Rangers are unable to use the vast majority of their power against us."

"Perhaps a full-scale attack would not be as difficult as originally perceived," Vexen mused.

"And you wanna launch one?" Garfield asked.

"The Huntsman and I have been discussing an endgame for this mission," Vexen admitted, "and we've been putting together a plan. There are still some key pieces missing from the formula, but the information you provide should help us settle them into place. With Lea as the only Keybearer present and assuming no help from the Mystic Rangers' powers, there is an incredible disadvantage in our enemies' ranks."

"Did that plan still involve figuring out what those four chicks were doing together?" Garfield asked. "'Cause we found that out, too. Turns out one of 'em's real into shopping, and tried to drag the other three out on a girls' day. The other three weren't impressed."

"I'm not certain how that information is of any use," Snatcher admitted.

"It may yet be," the Huntsman said cryptically.

"But that's not even the icing on the cake," Garfield went on. "Heck, it's barely the cake. Turns out when they went out, they ran into a couple of new guys. Took 'em in just like they took us in. It started with this little blue thing. I'm sending you the pic now."

In the room he and Vexen had chosen as their stronghold, the Huntsman opened the file Garfield had texted him as soon as it had transferred. "So the chicks find this thing," Garfield began, "and, I dunno, it was lost, so they…"

His words were drowned out of the Huntsman's brain. When those crimson eyes beheld the first picture of Stitch, a connection was forged. An opportunity suddenly bloomed.

"What is it?" Vexen groaned, interrupting Garfield.

"Is something amiss?" Snatcher asked.

"The Huntsman appears completely lost in thought," Vexen informed Garfield and Snatcher.

"How can you tell through that helmet?" Garfield wondered out loud.

"Would you care to enlighten us as to what you are thinking?" Snatcher asked.

"This creature," the Huntsman said in a near-whisper. "All this time, it was real."

"It is familiar?" Snatcher asked. "I can hardly see how that's possible."

"Against all odds, it is," the Huntsman explained. "When one is a hunter of magical creatures, one takes more stock in tabloid magazines than the average citizen. Much of what they print is fiction, made up to sell headlines. But every now and again, they catch sight of something true, and figure it so unbelievable, it must sell. A great many photographs are undoctored images of unicorns, dragons, kelpies, and other such creatures. There was a moment, however, at which I failed to differentiate fact from fiction. Seeing a photograph of this very creature on the front page, reportedly spotted in Hawaii, I wrote it off as mere nonsense. An extraterrestrial from another planet, the author said. But all this time…it was true…"

"Hang on," Garfield broke in. "That thing came with a family, and the little girl MENTIONED Hawaii. You don't think this is the same alien, do you?"

"Most likely another specimen from the same distant world," Vexen figured.

"No!" the Huntsman insisted. "This is the same creature! It was reported to be the pet of a small girl. And I did not pursue it because of my own doubts!" His voice became lower and more gravelly than Vexen or Garfield had yet heard it: "I must slay it."

"I'm not certain it has any magical worth," Snatcher told him.

"It comes from my world," the Huntsman asserted. "Fate aligned it with me. I was meant to destroy it and take the spoils for my own. Quickly, tell me all you have learned of it."

After Snatcher and Garfield relayed the information they had collected about Lilo and Stitch's family, the Huntsman stated sternly, "I now know what you must do."

"Are we to simply abandon all of our plans so that you may capture an alien creature?" Vexen asked in disbelief. "You no longer rank high enough to give such a command! You relinquished that honor yourself!"

"That is not what happened," the Huntsman stated coldly, "but if it eases your mind, I will let Mr. Snatcher take the helm. Mr. Snatcher, hear my proposal. If it should suit your tastes, you can approve or deny it. But I believe there is a way we may all get what we want. This creature is the missing piece of our plan. Help me obtain it, and we can destroy all of our enemies on their own ground."

"I like the sounds of it thus far," Snatcher admitted. "Go on."

"Here is what I propose," the Huntsman began. "The information you have delivered about the four girls shall come into play after all."