In which Prankster's Paradise reaches its conclusion...
As the four swam out of the cavern, they were faced with what felt like the ocean's equivalent to a thick fog - a blue mist so opaque that it was hard to tell if anything was coming in or out of it, or if it was just a void of endless, stretching water. The group stood upon a small stony platform that broke out from where they had previously come from, extending into what almost looked like a grey stage. As bubbles floated past their ears, they were met only with the faint song of the waves brushing along far above them back on the surface, the only sound accompanying the empty void-like space in front of them.
"It's..." Sora began, clearly having expected there to be more out here than what they had found. Even Morgana glanced up at him, as if requesting an explanation that he didn't have.
"...Quiet?" Nemurin commented, ironically breaking said quiet by talking. "...Too quiet, you might say," she added, uncertainly, looking from left to right as they made their way to the edge of the monochrome outcrop, her hair floating slightly with the movements of the water as she turned towards the sandy ocean floor.
Yet just as that thought came to mind, the observant could notice her hair going from simply floating, to being swept upwards, as if a great force was rushing straight for the two of them - likely because it was. Sora's eyes widened, feeling his clothes bristle back with the sudden rush of water, raising his hands so as not to be forced backwards. Morgana and Sheppy quickly bolted forward against the oceanic push, sticking close to the sides of their respective 'human', so to speak. The first things that broke through the fog like water were two tiny bodies, the faces of their friends, slowly running against the current. But before long, the rush of the waves felt like nothing compared to the colossal silhouette tearing its way forward in pursuit, its head alone the size of an N-City skyscraper, if not larger - neither were in any mood to imagine its length, given what they saw of its size from the front. A giant whale bore its squarelike teeth as it descended from above, sending shockwaves across the ocean floor and into the two of them as they witnessed it.
As they witnessed Monstro.
"Oh...oh no..." Nemurin whispered.
Sora gasped, "Pinocchio! Jiminy!" he called in recognition, trying to drag himself against the force of the current so he could reach the two of them.
Nemurin realised what was coming first, and tugged him back to comparative safety - just as Monstro's massive form began to rise upward, clashing into the stony cavern's exterior walls, sending clamours through the rock and bringing several down against the entrance, blocking any way back. It reminded Nemurin of the earthquakes that would sometimes hit the city, blended together with that awful feeling of not being able to move inside of a dream, their attempts to decidedly slowed and delayed. They floated helplessly through the water as Monstro bolted past them, swimming with far more speed than a creature of his size should ever be allowed to possess, ignoring their presence if only for now, intent on claiming its current prey. All they could do now as hold to each other for dear life, as the whale stopped - its movements enough to suck them backwards through the water, back through the mist and back into its teeth. Jiminy's tiny self had no chance, as he was sent spinning into its pull, Pinocchio tugged along not far behind him. Tiny bubbles exploded off of their limbs as they fought against it, Sora just barely managing to spin themselves to a stop, one harm holding Nemurin and Morgana, the Magical Girl's own free arm holding Sheppy, whose little legs flailed helplessly in an attempt to try and swim as they did.
Unfortunately, their relief was short-lived; for the moment they looked up, they saw it. Monstro's shadow obscured all beneath it, including them, as he steadily advanced on Pinocchio and Jiminy, who desperately tried to flee from him, the gap between them and the monster slowly shortening until they were caught between his massive mouth.
"No!" Sora and Nemurin shouted in vain, for no shout would be enough to stop the hunt of a creature like Monstro. Sure enough, as soon as that word had escaped, his jaws clapped shut, as he began to swim upward again in one large movement.
His expression sharpened into a resolved glare, as Sora began to ascend through the water with the speed of an athlete, pulling Nemurin carefully along with his hand, their speed and steady movement propelling them upward. Just as Nemurin had begun to allow herself to hope they might reach the monstrous whale in time to try and free their two friends, however, that was the moment she heard it. At first, it was a low, guttural rumble from the deep - and then was joined by what sounded like the propellers of a speedboat whirring in a technical drone - before it escalated into a growl that echoed off every ocean wall. Her dull magenta eyes widened as they took the sight in; even without having to stare at it long, she knew it was a Nightmare by the bright surge of colours that almost burned her gaze.
"Look out!" she warned, tugging Sora to the left as a white light gleamed like a bullet's bang from its claws. An icy white beam ripped out of it, aiming straight for Monstro's tail - just barely avoiding Sora's nose, and colliding in a burning blast with Nemurin's back. An unnerving crunch sang ominously below their ears as the area of her pyjamas froze solid against her neck, the girl instinctively wincing at the discomforting sensation.
"Nemu!" Sora gasped in concern, only to pull her further away - this time allowing both of them to avoid the Nightmare's next beam of ice.
However, the same could not be said for Monstro - the beam first touched his tail, causing the air of water surrounding him to solidify, encasing it in ice. At first, it instinctively tried to force itself free through the force that had won it so many battles before. Yet, the more it tried to pull itself free, the more it became imprisoned by the ice, which slowly spread around it like a frosty shell. The beam continued to freeze him over, a sight Nemurin and Sora could only watch as they continued to swim upward, pushing the leviathan higher and higher until the familiar lapse of the sea's ripples indicated it had arisen to the surface above.
"We can't let it be left like that, not when Pinocchio and Jiminy are still in there!" Sora said, urgently.
"No time to waste...let's go...!" Nemurin agreed.
At last, the four were able to rear their heads above the layer of aqua that dominated their current surroundings, their heads naturally dripping wet. Sora glanced at her for permission, and she gave a nod, prompting him to wrap an arm around her waist. With her and their Spirits in tow, that same pink light surrounded the boy as he leapt into the air, allowing him to jump over the wall of ice that encased their soon-to-be arena. The waves that would explode from each soaring movement had been frozen in place, forming a circle of barriers around it that blocked the view from below and from the sides. The ground they stood on now was of ice much more solid than the other, while the prison encasing Monstro was more translucent, but they suspected it would be equally tough to break through.
"You okay, Nemu?" Sora asked, looking at the frost that had stuck itself to the top of her back.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay...~" she assured, breezily, waving a hand in dismissal. "At worst it just feels like someone threw cold water down my back. It'll probably be that if you melt it, so just leave it for now."
Sora's head tilted a little. "...That's still not-"
Before he could finish that particular question, the boy with the Keyblade was cut off by an animalistic roar. And then, by that whistling of the propellers. Now that she could look at the creature properly, she would compare this one to a giant, blue lobster (wasn't that the name of a restaurant overseas, Nemurin couldn't help but think for a second), with hands as big as bears, and sharp enough to be a guillotine.
"Looks like we'll have to claw our way past this guy first," Sora said, readying his weapon.
"Then we can rescue our friends, yeah?" Nemurin continued.
"Yeah!" her companion agreed.
"No fire though - if this thing we're standing on melts then we could end up with the same cold reception Monstro got," Nemurin added, shivering instinctively at the thought.
"You got it," Sora nodded.
With that, the two were forced to jump back into one of the small, sunken-in parts of their arena as the creature's claws began spinning again, a sharp cloud of ice forming as they turned, sending a chill through the air, one that would have been even worse if it touched them, the Nightmare snapping its claws upon seeing they had escaped its initial barrage. With each snap, a blue blast burst forth from it, landing and exploding with a glacial scar randomly across the surface. Sora dodge-rolled past the first three, and Nemurin leapt back to avoid the fourth. Testing the (frozen) waters, Sora threw his Keyblade like a boomerang - it spun in a circle towards the Nightmare's head, and quickly clattered back, hitting a hard boundary. He caught it soon after, ducking under a slice of its claws, as Nemurin took a turn at finding its weak spot. Morgana quickly followed, bouncing her way forward until she briefly stopped near the creature's jaw.
"Ah...classic boss weakness..." Nemurin commented. "We gotta hit underneath it! It's all soft under his shell!"
Just as she had finished calling that key fact out however, she was forced back into movement again as the lobster-like 'boss' swiped at her, hoping to catch her in its pincers. He slashed underneath her, and then just barely over her, slamming it into a wall as she rolled to the side of the raised platform where it stood. By now, Sora had hopped up, using Flowmotion to jump up from below, before coming to a quick and steady landing.
"Over here!" Sora shouted in hope of distracting it.
Its large head turned, one of its propeller-like pincers beginning to turn as it aimed to blast the boy with ice, forcing him to dart across the closed battlefield. Nemurin took the opportunity to slide underneath it, getting as close to the jaw as she could get before beginning to bring out her own eponymous beam - it tore into the soft layer underneath, causing it to rattle from side to side in an attempt to remove her from it. It lifted both its pincers now, turning them like a helicopter did its blades, allowing it to lift into the sky. Once he saw her underneath its shadow, Sora quickly took her hand, pulling them both backwards and into the lowered section of the icy field, just in time to avoid being crushed underneath the creature's weight.
"Phew...that was close," Nemurin said, tilting her head back to look up at him.
Sora grinned at her a little, though his head was clearly still in the battle, "I'll say...!" he agreed as the two of them got back up to their feet. "Looks like we're gonna have to be careful when we get close to it."
Just as he finished saying that, another glimmer of light shone from atop Monstro's frozen head, an almost blinding one. Nemurin felt something in her tug, before the light dimmed, and was replaced instead by the loud bang of gunfire. Three shots were fired, all making their mark against the creature's underbelly, causing it to roar again.
"Yeah, don't like it, do ya?" the voice of a cowgirl taunted, a certain cowgirl both knew - albeit in entirely different ways.
"That voice..." Sora's blue eyes sparkled in grateful recognition.
Meanwhile, Nemurin's eyes went as wide as the plates that had been smashed not that long ago. "Mary...!?" she said in shock.
"You surprised?" Beautiful Calamity Mary grinned, before leaping down from above, just in time to avoid a pincer to the gut, rolling off the ground and standing upright beside the two of them. "I thought since Top Speed's watchin' the boundary, and Nana's backin' you up, that I'd do my part. Looks like you need some range, and that's just what I'm here for. By the way...a pleasure to meet you, little sir Sora."
Seeing the Magical Girl now, Sora wasn't as thrown off by the Western drawl in how she spoke, now that it was accompanied by her appearance; with the ten-gallon hat and brown colourations, he could tell what her outfit had taken inspiration from. Compared to Nemurin, whose outfit was the epitome of comfort, Mary's seemed to be looking for a certain type of beauty, something Sora...the type of thing he wasn't really connected to. Still, he was glad to have her help - and having her here in person meant he could thank her for what she said earlier.
"Nice to meet you too - Nemu told me about you. Beautiful Calamity Mary, right?" Sora greeted hurriedly, dodging under another icy blast.
Firing another round of her pistol, Mary grinned at him with her red lips. "That's right. Nemu told me about you too." she answered, confidently. "We can talk after we take this guy out,"
"Sounds like a plan to me. Glad to have you here~" Nemurin said.
As they stood together, the monster saw an opportunity; like before it began to fly into the sky - leaving its lower, weaker half open. And as a trio, they acted. Nemurin stood at one side, gritting her teeth as she brought out her beam, allowing it to hit straight for its weak point. In turn, Sora threw his Keyblade as a spinning boomerang, and this time it was able to meet its mark, smashing into it twice before coming back to his hold, all while Calamity Mary shot off several rounds from her gun. Before long, the creature slammed back down against the icy ground, just barely avoiding causing cracks beneath their feet as it landed.
Morgana hopped up and down for a moment, before making use of her small size - she quickly got underneath it, smashing her upper back into its lower jaw. Attempting to open its mouth to hit her back, Sheppy bowled hard into the Nightmare's head - while it didn't seem to damage it much, it did at least stop it from going after the catlike creature attacking it from below.
Seeing a pattern, Beautiful Calamity Mary sprinted forward, her movements agile and elegant as she moved across the battlefield. "You two know what to do!" she called out. She hopped once, landing atop its solid snout as she smacked it across the eyes with her gun, causing it to grunt in growing aggro.
Sora pointed his Keyblade skyward, casting, "Balloonra!"
At his command, several brightly coloured balloons, floaty as those filled with water, appeared in a small circle of four in front of them. Quickly, he struck at them, and they flew straight for the enemy's weak spot, allowing Beautiful Calamity Mary an opening to hop out of the way of its next attack, kneeling and firing in some extra damage for good measure.
"Not bad, kid!" the cowgirl complimented. The Nightmare tore down on them, stabbing its pincers into the ground in an attempt to stick them there. It caught off the girl's sleeve, but otherwise left her unharmed, though she still bore chagrin at the sight of the damage.
Nemurin observed their enemy a little; it was still standing, but she suspected another good shot or two of her beam could finish this fight - or at least this part of it, if it had more tricks up its sleeves - fairly fast. Preparing herself, she took a deep breath, despite the aches that coursed through her as she readied to do so, only to stop as she felt a hand on her shoulder, that of her creation's, Sora standing at the other side of her, leaving Nemurin in the middle of them.
"Relax." Beautiful Calamity Mary said. "You think you gotta do that attack on your own?"
"Let us help - let all of us put in a shot," Sora suggested, eyeing the lobster-like Dream Eater as it landed on a higher platform just ahead of them.
"Never actually tried that move before...why not now?" Nemurin conceded, blithely. "Let's see what happens~"
"Let's do it, boss," Beautiful Calamity Mary said, her arm extending as she aimed her gun, while Sora's Keyblade pointed outward in the same direction.
Nemurin put both hands at her forehead, aiming in the same general area as her two friends. With the burden eased, the weight not as heavy on her, she called out a bright, powerful, "NEMURINNN...BEAMMM!"
The trio's spells were cast in unison; two official spells, another a spell of bullets. Together they ripped through the air and underneath the Nightmare's exposed underside, a bright explosion of orange and white blending together into a shot of pure damage. The monster roared with enough force to shatter the sky, darkness leaking out of its injury like blood out of an injured animal. But in spite of the splotches of violet that marked the ground, it suddenly moved forward, faster than the three had expected - its pincers opened and thrashed downwards, catching the trio in between its hold, the group crying out in a mix of shock and pain.
Hissing instinctively, Nemurin commented, discomfort rattling through her. "Eeh...there's the ice melting down my back..."
"I think we'll have worse than that in a second...!" Beautiful Calamity Mary pointed out, lifting her comparatively freer arm in order to try and aim for the Nightmare's face as it leered over them. "Take this, ya wretched Nightmare!"
"Oh, it'll have worse in a second, alright!" Sora declared, surprisingly confident; a surprise Nemurin no longer felt once she saw where his Keyblade was pointed, a cleverness she smiled at.
"Fira!" the boy cast - with that, a roar of fire tore from his blade's tip and straight over the ice encasing Monstro.
The effect was slow at first, allowing the pincers to draw closer to their insides, their discomfort beginning to translate into a tight, nearly impaling pain - with a great rumble, the shell of ice imprisoning the whale began to fall away like snowflakes during a blizzard. The monster hesitated, allowing the three of them to move away from its hold; Mary fired downward, leaving a splinter in the ice and a scratch upon its large claws, Nemurin jumping backwards, Morgana and Sheppy running to their sides straight afterwards. Sora stood behind them, his blade still pointed straight at Monstro's freed body, their battleground beginning to crack and crumble all around them.
"We'll cover you!" Nemurin promised. "Ready, Mary?"
"Of course~" Beautiful Calamity Mary answered with a tip of her hat.
In hopes of dropping them into the water and imprisoning them all as he had Monstro, the Nightmare used one large pincer to begin piercing the increasingly fragile ground, while using the other to blast ice up into the air, which exploded upon impact with the ground. Calling all the strength the boost from Sister Nana would allow, Nemurin darted towards it, bringing that strength into her pale hands as she struggled with the stabbing pincer, holding it just above the ice that would reach Sora. Back and forth she warred with it, until she was able to slam it into the side of the wall instead with a rattling thud. All the while, Mary quickly counted the droplets of ice as they began to careen down from above; four projectiles, four shots required.
She aimed, and with a distinctive click, a bullet soared from her weapon. Ice crashed with steel, breaking apart into tinier pieces that at most would give you a shiver for being so minimal. One shot, two shots, three shots. With a final reload, the gun jolted as she fired her final blow, causing the last blow of ice to explode in midair, just above Sora's head. Despite the rippling noise, he didn't falter, his eyes focused solely on the task he was performing - a task the two Magical Girls soon bore pure witness to.
"Grab on!" Sora instructed, reaching out his hands. As soon as Nemurin and Beautiful Calamity Mary had a firm hold, they and their Dream Eaters jumped just as their arena finally broke into two, sinking into the water like a broken ocean liner. But in spite of that, none of them fell into the water - for the ground they stood on...was now like a giant, solid bubble, which buoyantly floated up into the air.
"Woah!" Nemurin gasped in amazement, looking down as the wide expanse of ocean was revealed to them by the height they stood on, her and her fellow Magical Girl's long hair billowing in the open air, Sheppy sticking close to her legs, while Morgana awed at the sight below.
Looking to Sora, the cowgirl gave a respectful grin. "Now that's what I call impressive!" she said, giving him a tip of the hat.
At her compliment, her spiky-haired friend could only beam back. "Thanks...!" he said, gratefully, before his gaze grew more severe as they turned their attention towards the Nightmare. Its massive figure tried to distance itself, or rather, tried to fly far away from them, its only other acknowledgements of them being flying, icy rings that bounced in the air towards them.
"Down!" Nemurin guided.
At her instruction, the bubble holding Monstro sunk through the sky, and the rings bolted just above them, now in reach of Calamity Mary's fire - and like before, she made her mark. 'Looks like your flying with Top Speed did ya some good,' she thought to herself, as her eyes fell on her creator.
From there, Nemurin guided them in a rhythm they took on easily; she called the movements, Sora rose, lowered and directed the bubble on which they stood, and Calamity Mary shot down the incoming attacks, forming a gap between them and the Nightmare that was rapidly closing. Before long, they were just in arms reach of the monster, and thus in arms reach of victory. Nemurin put a hand on Sora's shoulder as he extended his weapon out, ready to make quite a bubbly explosion, as Calamity Mary stood at his other side. Another combined attack, another finisher.
"Ready, kid?!" Calamity Mary called.
"You got it!" Sora assured. "Three..."
"Two..."
"One! Go!" Nemurin shouted.
As blinding as the light that brought Beautiful Calamity Mary's arrival, the pop of the bubble was far more dramatic than anyone might have expected. A huge blast of water burst from around Monstro's giant frame, searing hard against the Nightmare, leaving it utterly helpless as Monstro chomped down on it, this time catching it properly between its teeth. The last you could see of it were its pincers, which fidgeted once, twice, and then faltered, exploding into a thick, purple mist that easily was lost to the deep blue of the ocean below. The amazement carried inside of the magical team of three (or five) at their feat was quickly dispersed however with the realisation of what lay below them - i.e. nothing but the whale they thought to be the initial threat. In unison, the three screamed as they were sent plummeting off the back of Monstro's tail and into the water with five splashes, one right after the other, the first three louder than the final two. For a moment, after being pulled under the ocean's tug temporarily, each one of them now bobbed up, their heads rising above the water. Nemurin came up first, breathing heavily as she glanced about for the others, sighing with relief as Sora's spiky head revealed itself soon after. Both looked at the spot where Beautiful Calamity Mary had fallen, and initially felt their hearts tighten as a lone ten-gallon hat floated along the water - only for a perfectly smooth, if slightly paled hand, to pop out from the water and reclaim it. She swam up, shaking the water off the brim, before adjusting it perfectly back on her head, all while Sheppy and Morgana watched in puzzlement, the former bobbing along like a little duck, the latter drifting with relative comfort, like a baby in a floaty.
"Well...that wasn't so bad, was it?" Beautiful Calamity Mary said, spouting out the water that had dove into her system like a water fountain.
A large, guttural grunt interrupted them, all five of them craning their heads around towards it. Monstro's giant mouth hung before them...now slightly ajar. Uh oh.
"Oh, why'd you have to say that...?" a resigned Nemurin said.
"Swim for it!" Sora warned, hastily.
"Oh damn it!" Beautiful Calamity Mary cursed.
Paddling onward as desperately as they could, they could hear the giant whale...oh no...no, no, it wasn't about to sneeze, was it? Soon enough, and unfortunately for them, it became apparent that it was. With that one simple expulsion of air, the waves were shaken as if by deities from above, and those still in its path were sent flying as if it were a typhoon that had hit them.
Really, the only reason Nemurin knew they had stopped screaming after being flailed through the sky was because they eventually, groggily, came to on a lone beach, circled by rocky, towering cliffs. She laid flat on her stomach, wheezing with each breath as she slowly rose - strands of her hair turning darker, and browner, and those that retained their usual colour were growing significantly duller. As Beautiful Calamity Mary trudged herself up off the beach, she looked at her hand, and then down at Sora, who slowly pushed himself up with his palms. Upon hearing the tight, breathless sounds escaping Nemurin's chest, both flocked to her side, helping lift her head up.
"Hey! You okay?" Beautiful Calamity Mary questioned.
"Nemu! It's okay, we've got you!" Sora added, brow slanted in worry.
Coughing out the last thickets of seawater, Nemurin's head tilted, looking at both of them. "Don't worry about it..." she reassured, weakly. "Just my chest..." she said. Sheppy nuzzled up to her, nudging her with big eyes like that of a puppy, and Morgana's head tilted in confusion about her condition.
"You sure you're okay?" Sora asked as they helped her to her feet. "I can use Cure for you if that would help!" he offered.
Finally, after a few more breaths, Nemurin felt the tightness in her chest ease enough she was able to straighten up. "No, no, it's all good," she promised. "I'm just fine, see?" she waved her hands.
"If you say so..." Sora said, visibly unsure.
"Still...what are we gonna do about Pinocchio and Jiminy...?" Nemurin wondered.
For a moment or so, she received no answer, not from Mary or from Sora, who gazed out silently at the open sea. "Wait...I think I know what happens next," he said, quietly.
"What does...?" she and Beautiful Calamity Mary asked.
"After this...Pinocchio and Jiminy's world gets dragged into darkness. And they, while inside Monstro end up cast into the sea between worlds...and then they end up in Traverse Town, and then the belly of the whale. That's when we'd meet for real," Sora said.
"Oh...like how you said earlier, that you ended up inside Monstro, and that was how you knew them...!" Nemurin connected the dots. "Man though, your world sounds...confusing sometimes, Sora..."
"I can't argue with you there," Sora admitted, hands resting behind his head. "Oh hey...I didn't actually explain that bit before, did I?"
"Nope~" Nemurin said, stretching a little before letting out a yawn.
"Well, the gist is...this world is from before the point where I met Jiminy and Pinocchio originally. That's why Jiminy didn't recognise me while I remembered him, and that's how I know where they'll have ended up." Sora explained, prompting Nemurin to nod in reasonable understanding.
"Huh...I think I got that...that complicated stuff is really tiring to wrap your head around though, isn't it? Especially when you're not prepared..." the blonde-haired Magical Girl remarked.
"You have no idea..." Sora agreed, sheepishly.
Briefly, Beautiful Calamity Mary was silent, though visibly perturbed. "...Do I wanna know about that part with the inside of the whale?" she questioned.
At that, Sora gave a weak laugh. "Heh...I guess not," he said. "By the way, Mary...! I...I had something I wanted to say to you."
Her brow arched below the brim of her hat, her expression curious. "Yeah? What were you lookin' to say?"
"I...wanted to thank you. For earlier, I mean. When I heard your voice in the darkness, after...well, I think you might have seen." Sora began, slowly, a pang hitting in his and Nemurin's chests at that last part, remembering the image of Tron drifting into the dark abyss, falling just out of his reach.
Though she'd only heard the story through the words of the other Dream Magical Girls, Beautiful Calamity Mary's usually confident expression grew more solemn, a sad smile dawning across her face. "I...know the gist of it, yeah. But you ain't gotta thank me, y'know. I was only tellin' you the truth, and you proved it to me with what I saw ya do today. Or, if you're dreaming...I suppose tonight would be the better word to use," she said.
"Hey, you were really cool too!" Sora replied, cheerily. "The way you shot all that icy stuff down!" he added.
"Well...I only got all that from this girl here," Beautiful Calamity Mary turned towards Nemurin, sweeping an arm towards her in grand recognition. "She's the one who brought me about in the first place."
"Wow...huh, I thought you were gonna say something beside 'found' when you told me about her," Sora remembered.
"Yeah...I didn't wanna risk Pinocchio and Jiminy getting mingled up with all the tiring stuff, so I just left it at that. Hey...we all make a pretty good team, don't we?~" Nemurin said, petting Sheppy and Morgana's heads affectionately as she looked at her two friends.
"Yeah...! We do," Sora agreed, heartily.
"I'll say!" Beautiful Calamity Mary chimed in. "It looks like you two are gonna be just fine," she said, relieved. "I thought I'd come by and check up on you."
"Hey, how did you do that actually...?" Sora asked, curiously. "I know Nemurin's power is dream-hopping, and before she was the one who brought you guys here rather than the other way round. How did you get here?"
"Well, since she made me, I have a lil bit of the same power as she does. But in part because I'd found your dream gate - it was how I talked to ya earlier, in the darkness, as you said." the cowgirl explained. "Took a bit of a push, given a certain someone tryin' to block me out the way he tried to block out miss Nemurin, but I'm not one to beaten by a lil' thing like that."
"Wait, block you out?" Sora's eyes widened. "You mean like how that portal blocked me out when I tried to get to Riku?"
"That's right..." Nemurin sighed, folding her arms, causing her sleeves to droop, as if they too were dismayed by their present subject of conversation. "It actually took a push for me to get here too...Sister Nana helped me with that part - her magic lets her boost the powers of others," she added in explanation. "Usually she uses it on Winterprison, like you saw back when we dealt with Frollo, but to make sure I got to you she's been using it on me,"
"Right..." Sora nodded as he took in the information. "So in other words, that guy in the black coat's still giving you trouble."
"Actually, Sora - I was wanting to ask a little about that..." Nemurin started, looking at her spiky-haired friend, her expression holding a faint hint of severity. "I know you said that you don't know who the guy is, and that the guys in the black coats regardless are bad news. I know he's the one causing me to be weaker than normal, but I told you that already, so don't worry about it...and obviously, there's what I told you when I overheard his little 'chat' with Frollo a while back..."
"But...?" Sora waited, eyes widening in uncertainty.
"But...there's something else we all found, after we got tossed out into the boundary after the Grid." Nemurin stated. "We found this engravement on your gate, and it was covered in like this...black stuff."
"What did it say?" Sora questioned, decisively avoiding the latter part of that.
"It said somethin' about sigils and recusants...we think those guys in the black coats have marked you for somethin', but we don't know what. Would you know anythin' about them that could give us any clue?" Beautiful Calamity Mary probed slowly.
Sora folded his arms, mulling their words over - he knew from the fact he had just been captured instead of left at death's hands by any enemy he worked with that he was after something, and deep down, he was pretty sure he'd known from the moment Neku revealed to them that the guy had tricked him into bringing Sora to him. Obviously, if he just wanted him gone so the Nightmares could wreak havoc, then that part wouldn't have mattered, and it was only more apparent given how in those same situations, his companions would face the opposite, the risk of outright death. But...why?
"...The people in the black coats that I dealt with before I entered the Sleeping Worlds were called the Organisation XIII, and they had their own creatures - Nobodies, they were called. People who lost their heart but managed to keep a physical form, and the Organisation were people who looked human, who looked like people with hearts...but they weren't. Not having a heart means you can't feel things, and that's what they were after. And they were willing to do anything if it meant getting them." Sora recounted, memories of his ordeals with them flashing inside his mind, hoping he could keep it simple enough for it to make sense to the two of them.
"But the thing is...me, my friends, we all beat them." Sora said. "I don't know what happened to some of the other ones, but they were gone by the time I started dealing with them myself. Xemnas was the guy leading them - he was the one we saw in the Grid along with the other guy who's been following us, before we got separated, remember?"
"Oh yeah, that guy...!" Nemurin gasped. "The taller one, right? I was wondering what his deal was..." she admitted.
"We took him out last. But that's what I don't get...I don't get how he can be back, when I already took him down before along with my friends," Sora confessed, his expression sharing in their puzzlement. "And I don't know what it is they'd be after, even if Xehanort's working with them, anything that wouldn't involve just trying to kill me, anyway...unless..."
"Unless...what?" Beautiful Calamity Mary prompted. "And Xehanort?"
"Who's that?" Nemurin joined, her expression paling a little at the name - for reasons she couldn't explain...she had a bad feeling about it.
Sora thought again - his hand resting on his heart, his thoughts finding Roxas. He knew his Nobody had returned to him, and was present within him now...could it be him they were after instead? Taking a deep breath, he started, "Well...that's a bit of a story. I only just started to find out about him myself - Xehanort's another Keyblade wielder, a Master. He's hurt a lot of people, in more forms than one. The reason me and Riku are taking this test was so we'd be as ready to stop him as we can be,"
"And there is one more thing. It's gonna sound weird, probably, even for you two being magical girls, but...there's someone inside my heart. Someone who used to be with the Organisation. A Nobody. His name...his name was Roxas. He freed himself from them, and ended up coming back to me."
The two girls considered his words; sure, they were...strange, crazy even. But...everything about this journey so far had been crazy. And Nemurin knew Sora now, and she knew the look in his eyes wasn't him lying. The hand that rested on his heart, the hesitancy in telling them in case it sounded too abstract...all of that lent her towards believing him.
"But whatever plans they've got next, I'm not gonna let them have him. Roxas fought hard enough to get away from them, I'm not gonna let them force him back, no matter what plans they have in mind for him, even if Xehanort's helping them." Sora declared, looking up at them now, his determination ablaze.
"And neither will we," Nemurin smiled, walking over to him and placing her hands on his shoulders. "Whatever it is they're up to...Keyblade Wielder Sora and Magical Girl Nemurin will stop them. We're gonna see this through to the end...~ No matter..." she stopped, finding a wave of tiredness that nearly made her yawn again, but she held it back. At that, Sora couldn't help but feel his severity fall away from him, a warm smile gracing his face.
Once she was sure the yawn was back out of her system, the sleepy Magical Girl continued again; "No matter what tiring stuff comes our way...I'm gonna see you to the end of this dream, until you wake up and pass your test, okay...?~ I'll protect you."
"And I'll protect you too," Sora promised, taking her hand into his with an assured smile. "Whatever plans the Organisation has, I'm not gonna let you get tangled up in them. No matter what."
At the display, Beautiful Calamity Mary felt her lips curve up, a warm feeling washing over her heart like the tides against the beach they now stood on. "You two really are quite the team, aren't ya?" she acknowledged, gently.
Before any more could be said between them, however, a bright light shimmered from high above in the star-filled sky, the glowing silhouette of a keyhole. Hands at her waist, she gave a small wave; "I'm gonna tell the others you two are okay. And if you need any more help, one of us will be there, got it?"
"Thanks, Calamity Mary~" Nemurin said fondly. "Don't know what I'd do without you~"
"Yeah...! Thank you...!" Sora added, gratefully. "Let's see each other again once this is all over, okay?"
"I'd be more than happy to do that~" the cowgirl confirmed with a wink. With that, a gate's white silhouette appeared behind her, and through it, she disappeared, watching as the boy's Keyblade sent out a line of light that reached the image in the sky.
Yet, as soon as she returned to the temporary isolation of the dream boundary, she could only give a sad smile, looking at the slightly faded, translucent tips of her fingers.
"Let's hope for both of us that you get through your journey sooner than later, miss Nemurin..." she reflected, wistfully, watching the light creep along her hands - rendering her like a dimming ghost.
A/N: Hurray, I got a chapter out before my next batch of assessments hit! I don't really know where this surge of inspiration came from, aside from me feeling inclined to read some fanfic the other night, though it very well could have been that just slightly delayed. Ah well, I won't complain! Especially since it means I'm finished with Prankster's Paradise, which has taken way longer than it had any right to! It's probably not as long as I think it is, but damn if it doesn't feel like it. On the upside, this chapter was probably my favourite of this arc to write, along with Sora and Nemurin's reunion back in Chapter 26. I really did have a blast doing this chapter though - a special thanks to Tsuuji for the video you sent of Sora's fighting, it helped me a lot when doing this chapter! With that said, let's get onto the reviews now, namely Tsuuji's!
I'll admit I'm not really sure what prompted me to do Snow White's chapter last time, I think it just felt a bit more natural for it to be there, just going off my gut instinct. Thinking of what you said about the whole strength, you do have a point; I definitely agree that it's namely a person's strength influencing how strong they are with a Keyblade, same goes for a Magical Girl, and I probably could have adjusted the wording to better reflect that, so I'll try to remember that for the future. Thanks once again for sending in your inspiration, it's helped me a lot this chapter, and several words you've said in previous reviews have also given me ideas for the future too. But obviously you'll see more of that later! As for the theories you posed, they're most definitely interesting to consider, and I'll definitely have to give a think about them - that first one in particularly would be fascinating, all things considered. I plan on going through the series as a whole soon again, just as a refresher, likely once my uni finishes for the summer, so I'll likely have more to say once I've refreshed with all the stuff to do with Union X and the like! ^^ I actually think you made a good point about the Scrap and Build ability being what was used there - it definitely sounds like what was going on there! As for when Cosmogyral is set, I imagined it to be around 1 year after the first arc, but before Restart happens! ^^ I plan on doing more with future arcs as we go along though, so look forward to that~
Lastly, I hope you and all of my readers enjoyed this chapter! I intend on going through my outline for this again, namely going ahead, thanks to some changes I've made to a part later thanks to an idea in this very reviews section, and just so I can get an idea of how far we are through this! Anyways, I'll see you all in the next chapter, and thanks as always for reading! ^^