Thunder shook the Forbidden Mountain to its foundations. The perpetual storm took on a whole new fury as the mistress of the dark castle fumed in frustration. The throne room was filled with cowering, trembling pig-men. Each horrified at the knowledge that their horned mistress could strike any number of them down at any second. Kneeling atop the bonfire podium was Lady Laide, her face to the ground. Her skin-tight suit clung to every curve, giving her the appearance of a naked woman with leathery, jet-black, skin. But even the most wretched of the filthy pig-men could find no comfort in her figure. Even with her dreaded club lying in front of her, the first any had ever seen of her without it. Laide frightened them almost as much as their mistress. Almost!
"INCREDIBLE!" Maleficent roared amid a clap of thunder. "No intruders! No weapons, other than those he looted off of these IMBECILES!" she paused to glare at her trembling horde. "How could he have gotten out of his chains? His cell? Managed to over power even YOU Laide!" the leather-bound woman trembled in terror, or perhaps fury. Maybe both. "Leapt from the parapet over the very MOUNTAIN SIDE and not a trace of him! HE COULDN'T HAVE VANISHED INTO THIN AIR!"
Maleficent paused to let her words sink in. Her pig-men minions shielded their eyes behind their arms and weapons. All shaking in anticipation of her wrath. This pleased her very much, more so the submission of her pet-project, Lady Laide. The presence of another woman capable of embracing hatred and the power it brought, eased Maleficent's anger almost as much as her dear raven; perched high atop the chamber. She had trained Laide, molded her, ever since that wretched oaf of a man pushed her too far. Certain she had whipped, beaten, and crushed every last ounce of feminine weakness from her, as she had herself long ago, Maleficent was suspicious. Could there yet be some glimmer of light-giving hope inside Laide's blackened heart?
"Laide, are you certain you looked everywhere?" Maleficent growled.
"Yes, my mistress," Laide answered in a harsh, raspy whisper. "We scoured the mountainside and the surrounding foothills. No sign of the prince or his remains. Some patrols were sent out to check the surrounding towns and the forest of thorns. Still nothing."
"You have trained well, dear girl. I have made you strong! Empowered you against wretched deluded men like Prince Philip! Yet somehow he managed to defeat you!"
"There was no defeat!" Laide hissed. She looked up to return her mistress' glare. "It was blind luck and desperation that enabled him to get the better of me! And I had righted myself and was closing in on him when he made that foolish leap of faith! I nearly had him! And I WILL have him!"
"YOU WILL HAVE NOTHING!" Maleficent roared. Laide lowered her head again. "NOT UNLESS I COMMAND IT!"
"Woo! Yesh! And they call ME a petty tyrant!" a sly voice came from behind amid a momentary flash of blue light. Maleficent's mood instantly changed from anger to disgust. Her free hand clasped her face.
"What do you want, Hades?" she grumbled.
"Again with the negativity, there!" the god of death circled around in front of her. His blue-flame hair flickering above menacing eyes. A slight stir rumbled amid the pig-men, but they quickly silenced themselves. Hades' presence was not nearly as rare as Maleficent would have liked. In the fire-pit, Laide kept her head down, but Maleficent saw her muscles tighten with rage as they always did in a man's presence. "Mally, hunny! You've got to keep a lid on that once in a while! You'll blow a gasket up in the attic!"
It was Maleficent's turn to tighten up with rage. "Which are you, the pot or the kettle?" she almost asked. "You came here all the way from the Underworld just to lecture me on the pitfalls of a short temper?" she growled.
"Okay, first off: I'm a god, hunny! Travel isn't exactly a problem for me. Secondly, I am hurt that you don't look happier to see me. Thirdly, you should be. Because this particularly handsome hunk of godly-manliness," he paused to strike a masculine pose. Maleficent's disinterested expression did not move him. "Has managed to solve your little prince problem."
"Out with it, Hades? Was this some trick of yours?"
"I am hurt that you would even ask," Hades deflated glumly. "To be fair, I'd be a liar if I said things like this had never occurred to me before. But I always thought better of it, what with our mutual agreement and/or alliance. That said, I have noticed a certain...anomaly."
Maleficent blinked before narrowing her eyes. "Go on."
"As you might have guessed, it was that ugly kook Jafar who tipped me off about your little...err...jailbreak. And then I got to thinking...didn't I notice a few sudden surges of light the night before? Thinking back on it further and checking my sources, I found that those surges were centered around your castle. And that one of them managed to warp across the void between worlds and into a location our Heartless friends were only passingly familiar with. The quaint little hamlet of Traverse Town. So I dug a little deeper, and it turns out to be a haven for various persons who managed to escape our rule. Furthermore, this backwater is just backwards enough to be governed by a certain royal female rodent…" Hades smile turned even more devilish. Maleficent's narrow eyes widened. "So I put two and two together there, hey, and decided to make your day, Mally-girl!" he finished with a wink.
Maleficent gripped the arms of her throne with all her might. So that's how that wretched prince escaped! The Mouse Queen made good her escape after all. No doubt collaborating with Merlin, perhaps even those ever-irksome Good-Fairies! No doubt they used magic to arrange his escape. Maleficent's gaze softened as she realized she had been too harsh on Laide. She stood to brush past Hades, ignored his indignant expression, and cast a darkly playful smirk at Laide. The leather-bound warrioress was already looking up to her in wide-eyed hopefulness.
"Laide, my dear," Maleficent cooed alluringly. "Perhaps you would like the honor of leading the assault on this...Traverse Town?" Laide's eyes narrowed and blazed like a tigress' in the moonlight.
"As you command, my mistress!" she hissed.
…
"DON'T SHOOT!" Riku cried as his mount bound ever closer to the alerted army camp. He held his hands high, his keyblade vanished. But the line of identically white-clad troopers seemed to ignore him. He faintly heard echoed cries in a strange accent before a series of zapping sounds and bursts of circular lighting blazed in their direction. Beast tensed, as if struck by a full-body muscle cramp, and froze mid-stride. The two of them went down in the sand alike a meteor. Riku managed a roll and sprang upright with practiced agility. Then spun around to see his only ally lying motionless in the sand. He scrambled to Beast's side, calling out to him. Pleading him to get up. His friend didn't move. Several footsteps approached behind him and he turned with his pistol drawn to seethe at the encroaching soldiers.
"EASY, LAD!" one trooper with a blue sash around his neck said. One hand held up and his pistol aimed vertically up. The rest of his men kept their weapons trained on Riku. "It's alright! Your mount has just been stunned. All our blasters are set to stun. We called for you to stop, but I take it you couldn't hear us over the sound of that beast's grunting!"
"No kidding! The thing sounded like a Wookie in mating season!" huffed one of the troopers.
"What is it anyway? The love-child of a Wookie and a Rangkor?" chuckled another.
"ENOUGH!" the leader roared. "I'm Captain Kaizer, Zeta Company, 501st Clone Trooper Legion! We were left behind as a contingent force in case the Separatists returned. And given the thrashing you just gave the Clankers and the Genotians, I'd say we're on the same side."
"How do you know about that?" Riku demanded.
"My Scout Troopers saw your little jailbreak. Called it in before getting discovered. Afraid they didn't make it. I've already sent out a distress signal but it'll be a while before it's received. And longer before backup arrives. In the meantime I'll need all the help I can get. Care to join us?" Kaizer holstered his blast pistol and extended a hand. After a moment of silence, Riku softened his expression and accepted the hand and introduced himself. "Pleased to meet you, lad. Now that introductions are over, what exactly is your story? Some how, I doubt you're Republic Intelligence?"
"Nope," Riku shook his head. "I'm actually...not from around here…"
"Couldn't be a merchant's boy," Kaizer said. "Nearest star-port is other side of the planet. You a smuggler?" Riku shook his head.
"Nothing like that. It's...well it's kind of a long story. And I doubt we have the time for it." As if on cue, a shrill roar followed by deafening blasts from above cut the conversation short. Red lightning pelted the sand around them.
"FIGHTERS!" Kaizer bellowed as his men instinctively fired their weapons at the airborne menace. Their blasters no longer fired the circular shots but stabbing blue streaks of lightning. Amid the chaos Riku knelt beside Beast, prodding him. Desperate to wake him up. Still no movement.
"SPEEDERS!" one trooper cried. Riku looked up to see several battle droids cruising in on tall-standing speeder-bikes. They opened fire. Riku rolled away from his unconscious friend and fired back with his pistol. He downed two in as many seconds before the others took evasive action, spraying him with red lightning as he sprang up a nearby dune to fire back. The nearby clone troopers opened up and downed two more. The droids distracted by a more nimble foe.
More troopers swarmed from the camp to spray down the enemy speeders. Another strafing run from the droid fighters sent several flying amid a series of plasma blasts. Louder bursts of blue went up from the base camp as anti-aircraft weapons opened up. One of the fighters went down with an explosion on a distant sand dune. Riku took a concentrated shot at one of the speeder-bikes, struck it's engine and sent it crashing into another bike, wrecking both.
"DROIDIKA!" another trooper cried. Riku turned to see a familiar pair of rolling robots uncoil just a few yards from him, their heavy blasters trained on him. Before he could dive for cover a blur of brown fur tore into them. Claws and fangs ripped metal joints asunder. A mighty roar went up as Beast bashed metallic skulls together. With a triumphant cheer Riku leapt atop Beast's back and shot down the last bike.
"FALL BACK!" Kaizer shouted. "INSIDE THE BASE CAMP!" Beast didn't need to be told twice. He loped past about a dozen troopers and slid to a halt inside the barricade. Another droid fighter crashed into the dunes nearby and the troopers prepared for a droid assault. Captain Kaizer stayed near Riku and Beast, shouting orders and instructions to his men. One trooper approached him to snap of a quick salute.
"Sir, I've reached General Skywalker! He's on his way with the rest of the Legion. General Kenobi is coming with his command as well. The General said they're coming as quickly as possible but they might not be for days. We're to hold as long as we can."
"How long can we hold?" Riku called from atop Beast's back. His answer came in the form of an encroaching wall of clanking metal stomping over the sand dunes. Battledroids, Droidikas, speeder-bikes, hulking tanks floating above the sand. Riku craned his head and gasped in horror as realized they were surrounded! A ring of metal menace closing in on the camp with each second.
"Not long," Kaizer needlessly growled. "OPEN FIRE, BROTHERS! GIVE THE CLANKERS A FIGHT TO REMEMBER!" he roared. Riku gave a knowing smirk and rotated his pistol cylinder to the right.
…
Hayner sighed as he scanned the sewer tunnel with his flashlight. He wondered if the infantrymen who sent them there on patrol were laughing at them. Did they even plan on patrolling the sewers themselves? His hand began to shake as he gripped the flashlight even harder, his anger boiling over. A gentle hand touched his shoulder and he turned to Olette's shimmering green eyes. Even in the dim light of the sewers, she was still a spot of sunlight. Even though her face was tilted and grimacing in concern.
"What's wrong, Hayner?" her voice was almost musical, as always. "Is your fear of the dark getting to you?" The blush that burned his face quickly turned to frustration and he ripped his shoulder away from her delicate fingers with a furious glare.
"I'm not scared!" he hissed in denial.
"You were really never any good at hiding it, buddy," Pence snickered from behind Olette.
"It's okay!" she insisted. "Everyone's afraid of something! You know I don't like bugs," she finished with a sigh as her eyes dropped to the shadowy floor. As if convinced something slimy would creep past her feet at any moment.
"Oh will you both cut it out?! That's got nothing to do with this!" Hayner fumed, almost shouting. "It's those stupid soldiers! They think they're tougher than us! That they're better than us!"
"Um...they kinda are. Like...both of those things," Pence shrugged.
"Hayner!" Olette gasped. "They've been a big help! And they have weapons and training! The town is safer than it's ever been!" Hayner sighed in defeat as he realized how immature he sounded. He thanked whatever power captained the multiverse that Seifer was there.
"I know! But still! What about us? What are WE supposed to do?" his voice echoed in the shadowy tunnels. For months they and the Seifer's gang had been Traverse Town's first line of defense. But even then most of the heavy lifting had been done by Leon and Cloud. Tifa and Yuffie had done more of the fighting than either gang. And even though they were all older and better trained, at least then Hayner felt like he was contributing. Now both gangs were relegated to little more than unofficial spies or errand boys for the Mobile Infantry.
"For starters, we could track down that thief whose been ripping off the markets for weeks now!" Pence huffed, reminding Hayner of the reason they were there to begin with. The two roving infantrymen they had passed the vendor's report on to, had only shrugged the report off with a promise to run it up the chain of command. They had patrolled the sewers earlier, but would appreciate some brave young volunteers to run a second patrol. Hayner was still suspicious of whether they were being honest or not. "The vendor said he saw the thief run down here with a bag of apples!"
"He also said the thief was a monkey!" Hayner sighed. "We're a long way from the jungle! How do we know it wasn't his idea of a joke! Now that those soldiers are here nobody takes us seriously!" Again Olette gently grasped his shoulder, this time from the front. Instantly, Hayner's anger and jealousy vanished.
"We could just, find a new place to hang out," she said hesitantly. "Like old times, back in Twilight Town," she paused as old memories and tragic loss brought her hopeful eyes to the brink of tears. "We could just spend time together, maybe get ice cream or something," her voice trailed off hopefully. Her eyes locked with his. Hayner suddenly realized he wanted to put his arms around her. An identical light shinned in both their eyes for several seconds of silence. Then another light stabbed at Hayner's eyes, that of another flashlight.
"Ah-hum!" Pence pretended to clear his throat. An annoyed face frowned behind the light-beam. Hayner and Olette winced and gasped in unison before jerking in opposite directions.
"I meant all of us!" Olette insisted.
"Yeah! You're right!" Hayner urgently agreed. "Just what I was thinking!"
"Right," Pence huffed a vote of no confidence in their word. "Maybe we should call it quits, the Infantry will find the thief eventually." The patter of tinny paws bounding down the tunnel was barely audible before the sudden impact. Hayner yelped in shock as his flashlight was snatched from his grasp. Olette shrieked in horror and the small, springing figure and threw her arms around Hayner. "What the?" Pence gasped as his own flashlight was jerked from his hand. Animal chirps and chitters echoed in the tunnel as both lights were switched off, plunging them into blackness.
Hayner shuffled towards Pence's last seen position. Olette still clung to him like a limpet. A sudden collision and tumble to the damp floor of the tunnel proved Pence had thought of the same thing. "The light!" Olette whimpered.
"Don't worry, Olette!" Hayner whispered firmly. "Just wait, our eyes will adjust in a moment." Her arms tightened around his torso.
"I'm scared," she sniffled.
"Never mind me," Pence grumbled. His voice mumbled urgently, as if someone's hand was clamped over his mouth.
"Wha-?" Hayner began before a tiny hand clamped his own mouth. Olette's squeal was also cut off similarly. None of the trio moved for fear of reprisal from their yet unseen captor. Seconds later their eyes began to adjust and they found themselves gazing in surprise at a small monkey with a tiny fez on his head. The little primate's feet and left hand clamped their mouths. With his left, the monkey pressed a finger to his mouth and made a faint shooshing sound.
The trampling and clattering of feet echoed through the tunnels with increased volume. Once all three pairs of eyes blinked with understanding, the monkey released their mouths, perched atop Hayner's shoe and pointed down the corridor to the adjacent tunnel. A faint tunnel light on the wall beyond the opening cast a dim glow, which silhouetted a graceful but horrifying figure. The shadowy creature was tall and had the curves of a woman, but the feral energy of an animal. She barely noted the corridor containing the monkey and three children, instead gazed on down the tunnel. She turned to wave what looked like a baton forward then lurched ahead. A horde of heartless trampled behind her. Again Olette's grip tightened on Hayner. Whatever urge he felt to spring forward and fight the attackers, though hopelessly outnumbered, he knew better. Instead returned her embrace and offered a knowing nod of gratitude to the little monkey, who tipped his hat and softly chirped something that couldn't be heard over the trampling horde of darkness.
…
Prince Philip was glad to have earned the respect of Queen Minnie and Major Dubois. The major seemed highly intelligent but far from condescending. The queen was eager to hear his story. Dubois had even suggested they go out on a walk for their discussion. They had been chatting up through the entire town. Occasionally Dubois stopped them to check in with patrolling pairs of troopers. Once or twice an entire squad on patrol saluted as they passed. Each time Dubois remembered exactly where the conversation at left off and offered a humble apology for the interruption.
Dubois and Minnie were both fascinated to hear about Philip's world. Likewise he was amazed to hear about their worlds. Places so drastically different, Dubois' was gifted with technology far beyond anything his people would have imagined possible. And Philip had thought life in the 14th century had seen great changes! Or perhaps that was just wishful thinking on his part. Even that world's politics were unthinkable! A limited democracy, with mandatory voting only for citizens who had performed two years of service. Usually that service was military, but there were other options available. Some minor strictures were put on civilians, but none abrasive enough to inspire rebellion. Philip couldn't help but laugh at the thought, Dubois people already had far more freedom and opportunity than most peasants!
Minnie's kingdom was one of talking animal-like people, with a grasp on magic that was greater even than the three good fairies! Their own technologies were only slightly behind Dubois' Federation, though theirs was a less militant society. Philip was careful not to comment on that being a potential reason for them being in this predicament. Minnie's husband, King Mickey, had gone off alone to stave off the coming of darkness. But alas it was all for naught. The queen was overjoyed to hear that Mickey was alright, but her happiness soon fell away knowing he had used the last of his magic to help Philip escape.
The three of them had just crossed into the first district of the town. The awkward silence ensued as they approached Gepetto's shop and down the walkway toward the town's main gate. "I understand from your story, that you've had training in hand-to-hand combat?" Dubois asked, thankfully breaking the bleak silence. Philip brightened up immediately and acknowledged. "Good. We'll have a sparing match later on and see how good you are," Dubois nodded. Philip paused.
"With the enlisted men?" he asked. Dubois paused and turned to him in question. Another awkward silence ensued for a moment before he huffed a friendly laugh.
"Don't underestimate me, young prince," Dubois' smile turned carnivorous. "I may be getting old but I'm not rusty yet. But if my experience and know-how intimidates you, I'm sure one of our rookies fresh from Camp Curry will be willing to face you. Wouldn't want to start you off with more than you can handle," he leered menacingly.
"Oh goodness!" Minnie gasped with a playful chuckle. "Maybe I should step back?"
Philip could only laugh at himself. Not all older men were blowhards about their past exploits, like his father was. "My apologies, Major! I didn't mean it like that," he lied.
"Yes you did," Dubois laughed. "But it's no worry, later on I'll demonstrate just how misplaced your fears really are." Philip swallowed hard at the older man's confidence. He sensed he would reap a whirlwind.
The trio came to a halt outside the town hall, theoretically once a place of leadership for the community. The townspeople were made up entirely of displaced persons from worlds fallen to darkness. Who exactly built the town or occupied it before was anyone's guess. One of many questions about magic that even most wizards dared not delve into. Out of the third district came a squad of Infantrymen, who marched up with a song of cadence before snapping to a halt. The whole column turned on their heels towards Dubois and Minnie to snap off a salute.
"Sir! My Queen! The area is secure! All conditions normal, Sir!" the sergeant barked off the words like a court herald. Philip couldn't help but be impressed. He eyed Dubois to blink in confusion at a stern and tense face. He quickly followed the major's glance and quickly went stiff at the sight of a swarm of heartless surging from the gateway to the sewer passage, adjacent some kind of cafe to the right of the main gate. In a split second, Dubois drew his pistol.
"Son, you and I have very different understandings of the word 'secure'!" he snapped before unloading his weapon into the oncoming horde. Minnie shrieked. The infantrymen spun around and opened fire.
"CONTACT!" multiple troopers needlessly screamed in unison.
"CODE RED!" Dubois barked into his personal radio as his pistol clicked dry. "OVERWHELMING ENEMY CONTACTS AT THE MAIN GATE! EXPEDITE REINFORCEMENTS!" He paused to reload. "PHILIP! GET THE QUEEN TO SAFETY!" he roared at the prince before sending another hail of hot lead at the foe. Philip didn't need to be told twice. He scooped the horrified queen up in his arms and broke for the second district at a dead run!