Chapter 10: Tailless Forms

The trip back to our hideout was short. Le Paradox's appearance, my mark bearing some kind of importance, my Keyblade, just none of this was making sense.

"I believe in order to understand what the Heartless are controlled by as a whole, we need to go to the source," Bentley analyzed.

"But there's also the concern with this mark," Penelope pointed out as she examined the mark on my hand. I had made sure to show the gang after Le Paradox said how important it was. "I've never seen this kind of design or symbol in any ancient studies."

"And it wasn't there before?" Riku asked. I shook my head to the human-turn-snow leopard.

"Wasn't born with it. But it keeps stinging or slightly burning time to time."

"Stinging or burning?" Penelope muttered, apparently doing an x-ray scan with one of her and Bentley's more complicated devices. "Now that's unusual."

"Maybe Ansem has seen this symbol before," King Mickey suggested.

I said, "Do you think he could tell us something about it? To figure out what it means, we'll need some help."

"I'm sure he'll do the best he can to help us out with this, Sly," King Mickey answered.

"However, the answers that we do get completely depends on if he has any knowledge on what that symbol is," Riku added.

He did make a good point about that. We could be in a bit of a bind if Ansem doesn't actually know what exactly the symbol was.

But it was worth a shot.

"Does that mean we get to see your worlds?" Murray asked, obviously excited.

"If that's alright with Sly here," the king said. My answer's a no brainer.

"I'm not leaving my team here. I definitely want them to come with us."

I said to the rest of the Cooper Gang, "I feel like you are going to love seeing Sora's worlds for the first time, team. When I first arrived, I thought they were beautiful."

"It would be very interesting to see where Sora and his friends come from," Carmelita said.

"I agree," Bentley replied. "I mean, after what just happened here, it did heighten my sense of curiosity about these other worlds in question."

"That was easy to decide, but will everyone fit?" Donald questioned.

"Our current is much larger than ones the three of you used. So space shouldn't be an issue."

"Is there room for a van?" Murray asked. Aw yes, couldn't forget about his prized van.

"A van?" Goofy repeated.

"Our signature van," I explained. "Murray almost never goes anywhere without it."

When the van was floating away on a block of ice in Canada, Murray was very unhappy. He really loves that van.

Thankfully, we did manage to retrieve it much later when we were in China. But considering how long Murray was away from it during that time, I can't be surprised that he asked if we could bring it along with him.

"Well, considering the fact that the Gummi Ship we're currently using is big enough to fit all of us inside of it, it might also be big enough to possibly fit a van," King Mickey said.

"Oh, thank you, your Majesty! Thank you! My van is always open for you!" The king chuckled and gave a smile.

"Guess that settles it," Riku commented. "We better get going." He looked to me and Sora for a moment. For what?

"Sly." Sora held up his Chaos Emerald. Oh, right. The only way to get back to Sora's worlds.

I explained to the rest of the Cooper Gang, "Remember the white jewel? I used the power inside and my Keyblade to get back home. Sora has a similar jewel that we can use to get to his worlds."

"Well, considering what has happened so far, I'm actually not that surprised about that jewel having some sort of importance," Penelope said.

"We don't have any time to waste," Riku then said. "Let's get this show on the road."

I nodded and proceed to take out my Chaos Emerald from my pouch.

Just like before, mine and Sora's Chaos Emeralds reacted and floated. We repeated the duo Chaos Emeralds. It didn't look like anything happened, but I guessed that's a good thing to not attract attention.

"Hang on, everyone!" Donald told everyone as he did his magic.

Just how does everything connect? My Keyblade, the mark, the broken barriers... Hopefully Ansem can help us out.

found ourselves now standing in the Gummi Ship, the van having been transported as well. Unsurprisingly, my gang was the most surprised about their new surroundings and was looking around the interior of the ship with amazed expressions on their faces.

"Can we... maybe have blueprint copies, your Majesty?" Bentley asked, trying to keep his jaw from falling to the ground in his geek moment. "This is just so incredible!"

"Oh wow, these would make amazing additions to the van!" Penelope squealed, looking over the control bay. I couldn't blame either of them.

"You two have tinkered with my van more times than I can count!" Murray somewhat complained.

"I see you two are quite the mechanics," the king mused. "If you would like, you may also learn how to wire the ship should we have a malfunction on our quest."

"May we?!" Bentley looked like he was heading to nerd heaven.

I know these two well, but isn't this reaction a little excessive?

The king didn't seem to mind, however, as he gave a simple chuckle of amusement in response to their reaction.

"Of course," The king said. "After all, seeing how skilled in technology you two are, I'm something like the ship malfunction should be nothing for you."

"You can count on us if that ever happened," Penelope said with a smile on her face.

That's a relief.

"Is that the... wormhole?" Carmelita asked, seeing the vortex.

"Pretty much."

"Here we go!" Sora announced. The Gummi Ship shot forward and in a few seconds, we were already back in... I was positive this was one of Sora's worlds. It showed a large town, maybe built on a mountain with how it curved with a lot of slopes. The largest feature was a clock tower and a gorgeous sunset.

"Whoops, we were a bit off," Donald stated.

"Hey, it's Twilight Town," Goofy pointed out.

I was fine with not going to the right place. It gave me a chance to see even more of Sora's worlds.

Of course, I couldn't help but wonder about this Twilight Town place we accidentally found ourselves at.

"Do you guys think you can tell us more about this Twilight Town, if you don't mind?" I asked with consideration.

"Very important friends of ours live there," Kairi explained. "And Lea and his three friends like going there as well."

I responded with, "I take it you're been there a lot then?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Sora said simply.

"We would tell you all about the countless times we've been there, but right now our main objective is to return to Radiant Garden," Riku reminded.

He does have a point about that. While it would be nice to see Twilight Town in person, we have do have a more important mission that we need to take care of before it's too late.

"Um, excuse me, but is that normal?" Murray called out. He was pointing to some kind of shadow in the distance. I wasn't sure what it was, but from my own experiences, that was not normal.

"No. What is that?" Sora wondered.

I said, "I haven't seen that before, but I have a feeling it isn't harmless."

"You can definitely say that again," Kairi replied. "I have a bad feeling about whatever that thing is."

"What exactly should we do in this situation?" Carmelita asked with a hint of caution in her voice.

"It's heading to Twilight Town from how its direction is," Riku warned. "Looks like we're going there after all."

Looked like we were going to take a detour on our way back to Radiant Garden.

"But won't the Cooper Gang stick out?" Goofy questioned. "I mean, the folks were fine with me, Donald and King Mickey, but what about a whole group of animals?"

"Hmm, you do have a point, Goofy," the king pondered. He then looked to the magician of the group. "Donald, I think your assistance will be needed."

"Sure thing, Your Majesty!" Donald quacked confidently.

Since I met Sora, I hadn't really thought about me becoming a human.

I mean, I'm assuming that Donald's going to turn us into humans like Sora, anyway.

"Alright, everyone, this'll be very quick, so stand still and get ready!" Donald said as he looked in the direction of my gang and I.

Nothing had happened yet, but I was quickly averting my gaze in preparing for a weird transformation. There was a flash of sparkles and light and suddenly, my legs nearly crippled beneath me. I felt a lack of weight on my whole body and my senses had just gone numb for a bit.

"Take it easy there," I heard a muffled voice. My vision cleared a bit to see Sora helping me stay on my feet. "I know how you feel. It's a little funny on the first time."

Skin. My body was... bare of hair except tiny hairs that probably couldn't be seen from far away. I couldn't help but feel over my face in curiosity. My muzzle was flatter, my ears smaller and my mask was starting to sag.

"So this is..."

"What you look like as a human."

"This... is going to take some getting used to. At least I can blend in easier when I'm visiting your worlds, Sora."

"That's true," Sora simply said with a smile on his face.

"If this is what I look like as a human, then I wonder what my gang looks-" I said before pausing in surprise as soon as looked over at the other members of my gang. And needlessly to say, their expressions were just as surprised as mine was.

Bentley looked as nerdy as ever, Murray actually looked just a tinge slimmer than he really was, with a pair of pale blue jeans to my surprise, Penelope was taller by say a centimeter, and Carmelita... My wife was still as gorgeous as she was as a fox. Oh, where do I begin...?

"Not looking bad yourself, rightail," she chuckled, catching my stare. Curse having no face on myface now because I could feel my cheeks warming up.

"I shouldn't be surprised given everything that's happened recently, but I don't know what to say."

"I suppose that's quite understanable," Bentley said as he looked over his new human form that he was given.

"So, this is what it feels like to be a human," the now human Penelope said. She did look very surprised about her new appearance, just like everyone else did. I couldn't really blame them for feeling that way, though.

"Sly and I are even wearing pants!" Murray exclaimed. I couldn't help but feel the dark grey fabric now held up by my belt and tucked into my boots when he said that. Wait, did my shoe size also shrink?

It took a few minutes, but the gang and I were able to get our bearings and stood on our own feet.

"Okay, now that everyone is up to speed in their new forms, we should be going before that shadow causes panic," the king said.

I said, "Then let's go after it. I don't want it to cause too much damage."

"Got it," Sora said. "Off to Twilight Town we go, everyone! You know what to do, Donald?"

"I'm on it, Sora!" Donald said as he then held up his staff before waving it. In a few seconds, everyone's vision were then blinded by a bright light that engulfed the entirety of the Gummi Ship's interior.

Next thing I knew, we were in a town basked in a beautiful twilight orange. Guess that's why the town was called "Twilight Town". Fitting and beautiful name.

"So, who is ready to go after that shadow? You can show me around this place while we're looking, Sora."

"You can bet that we're all ready to hunt down whatever that shadow was!" Sora said enthusiastically as everyone else nodded in agreement. "And this'll be the perfect way to give you and your gang a tour of Twilight Town! I'm sure you guys are gonna love it here!"

"I have to agree," Kairi said. "There are quite a bunch of interesting sights around town and I'm sure you'll get along with the locals here."

"As long as you keep your hands to yourself," Donald said, looking straight at me. Looked like I needed to earn more of this guy's trust. As well as Riku's.

End Chapter