Clues
"So, where do you think we'll find the clues?" Sora asked as they walked through the forest.
"They have to be scattered around. We just need to prove that it was the Heartless." Izuku frowned. "I mean, it can't be too hard to find, right? There have to be others around here, right? Eye witness testimonies, I can take pictures of evidence." He pulled out his phone.
"You can't use that here." Donald shook his head. "That's technology from your world, and if you use it here, it might cause confusion. We're supposed to be keeping the World Order, remember?"
Izuku sighed and pocketed the phone. "Yeah, that's true."
"So I guess we just rely on testimonies then? Unless you want to drag back a Heartless?" Sora asked.
All four of them shook their heads at the thought.
"I mean, it might be possible, but…"
"It ain't worth the risk," Goofy said.
They stopped walking as they came into a clearing. Tall grass loomed over them, waving gently in the wind. Even taller trees hung higher, hiding the sky from them. It was quiet save for the occasional noise of what they thought was honking or humming.
"Well, we need to decide where to go. Maybe there's someone who's seen what happened. Since we've got nothing, we kind of need to be open to anything." Izuku looked around at the different paths.
"My my, having a bit of trouble already?"
They all jumped at the sudden appearance of the familiar voice. They looked around for any tell of the wide grin and bright eyes.
"Look, there!" Donald pointed towards one of the paths, where the cat's head was bouncing around and giggling. It slowly came bouncing over to them, about to crash into one of them when the main body appeared, and it stopped the head with its foot.
They all watched in confusion as the body picked up its head and plopped it on its shoulders.
"Now-oh my!" As the cat spoke, the head almost fell off. "Pardon me, just a moment." He put the head straight before twisting it, around and around until it seemed like it couldn't go any further. After a moment, the cat cracked his neck before sighing. "There, much better. One always needs a good head on their shoulders."
"Alright, you weirdo," Donald stepped to the front. "Who are you?"
"Who am I indeed? Are names really important in a place like this?"
"We'd like to know who we're talking to," Sora said.
The cat hummed and twirled his tail for a moment. "I believe my name is the least of your worries at the moment. You all should be more concerned with finding that precious evidence. Poor Alice, poor Tenya, soon to lose their heads when they are not guilty of a thing!"
"You know who the real culprit is, right? Those monsters that have been around?" Sora asked. "Have you seen them attack anybody, even the Queen?"
The cat hummed before tsking at them. "The Cheshire Cat has all the answers- but doesn't always tell."
"So you're not gonna help us?" Donald frowned.
The Cheshire Cat gave a wide grin as he began to face away. "The answer, the culprit, the cat all lie in darkness."
"No, wait, come back!" Izuku shouted.
"They've already left this part of the forest. But I won't say where they went." The Cat's disembodied voice echoed around them. "Good luck."
Before any of them could protest, the Cat was already gone, leaving them alone in the dark woods. They all stared blankly ahead before slowly turning to each other.
"Well...I guess he gave us something." Sora shrugged.
"He said they're not here anymore. So the Heartless have to be somewhere else." Izuku looked around at the diverging paths of the forest.
"Well, if those Heartless ain't here anymore, then that must mean that they mighta left some clues behind." Goofy put his hands on their shoulders. "Let's try to take a look around before we go anywhere else."
"Right, just look around. Don't go anywhere." Donald reminded them. "Remember, we're supposed to stay together."
"Don't worry; we won't go that far." Sora walked in a different direction while Izuku nodded in agreement.
The four split up and began looking around the area for any sign the Heartless had been there. Donald hummed as he looked in the bushes, nearly jumping out of his skin, when he saw tiny, colorful creatures peer up at him and run away.
Izuku looked down at the path. He could see some footprints in the dirt, but none of them looked like Heartless footprints. They looked closer to regular shoes, and there were a lot of them. If he had to guess, they probably belonged to Iida, Alice, and the card soldiers that arrested them.
"Iida said some of the Heartless chased him and Alice, so maybe if we follow where the footprints come from, we can find some trace of the Heartless," Izuku muttered. "Maybe someone saw them get chased?"
Sora wandered around the area, looking at the trees and poking his head through the tall grass that surrounded them—hoping for any trace of the Heartless. As he wandered circled the area, he caught the sound of singing. Sora paused for a moment before backing up and stepping towards the sound. He looked at the others before creeping forward through the grass, getting closer and closer to the singing.
Once he saw who or what was singing, he'd go back to where the others were. He couldn't help the curiosity eating away at him.
Sora slowly peeked his head out of the grass, looking around for the source of the singing until he saw it. He froze, spotting a bunch of flowers gathered in an area. One of them, he was sure it was a rose, was holding a stick and conducting the session.
"Woah…" He grinned and ducked back into the grass, moving a little closer before peeking out again. He could see flowers with faces singing along with each other, harmonizing beautifully. They could hear the high and low notes of each flower. While others trumpeted, drummed, or even chimed along.
"That's so cool!" He whispered to himself as he backed into the grass again and headed back where the others were. He hopped out of the grass with an excited shout and popped up in front of Izuku. He jumped in surprise and backed away before realizing who it was.
"Sora!" Izuku gasped. "What was that for?"
"Izuku, you won't believe what I found." He grabbed Izuku's arm and started pulling him into the grass.
"Sora, wait, hold on! We're not supposed to wander off-"
"We'll be back before Donald and Goofy realize; we're just taking a quick look." He grinned as he pulled Izuku through the grass and towards the singing. "Besides, it's not like we're gonna interrupt them."
"Them?" Izuku asked.
"Yeah, the singing flowers!"
They stumbled around in the grass and followed the singing. They were listening as it got louder and louder until they found the source. The two poked their heads out of the grass to get a look at the flowers.
Sora smiled as he heard Izuku gasp in awe. They stood in silence as the song began to reach a crescendo, hitting an intensity that gave them goosebumps. The flowers held the final note for what seemed like forever before it ended with a sudden crash of cymbals, sending petals scattering everywhere.
A heavy silence hung in the air as the flowers stayed in place, unmoving until the rose tapped the stick against the lectern of leaves in front of her with a smile.
"Well done, ladies, excellent job." The Rose complimented them, getting a chorus of responses.
As soon as she started speaking, the two boys snapped out of their trance.
"That was amazing," Izuku muttered as Sora nodded eagerly.
"I know, right? And that was just the end of the song." He paused for a moment. "You think if we asked, they'd sing again? So we could hear the whole thing?"
"I dunno about that." Izuku shrugged. "I mean, they just got done singing; you think they'd want to start again so soon? Besides, if we're going to ask them anything, it'd be better to ask them about the Heartless, right?"
Sora sighed. "I guess. Maybe we can ask them real quick?"
"Maybe we should get Donald and Goofy first."
"You think?"
"Yeah." Izuku began to back away. "Maybe they've already found some clues."
As they began to walk away, they heard the Rose speak up.
"Perhaps we should ask our audience how they enjoyed our performance. Feedback is always important, ladies."
The two froze in place and gave a nervous glance to each other.
"You can come out." The Rose called. "No need to be shy."
"What do we do?"
"I mean, they already saw us. They seem nice; I don't think they'll do anything. And then maybe we can ask if they've seen anything."
The two were silent before sighing.
"Donald's gonna be so mad."
"Probably."
They slowly made their way back towards the flowers and peeked out the grass again. The Rose and a few of the other flowers were looking their way, expecting them.
Izuku and Sora looked at each other before fully stepping out and approaching the flowers. They could hear them whisper and mutter to each other as they stared. Izuku felt his face heat up before they stopped in front of the flower beds.
"...Hello." Sora waved.
"Hello." Some smaller flowers echoed his greeting.
"I spotted you some time ago, listening in on us." The Rose smiled. "I take it you enjoyed our performance?"
"Er, yes, ma'am." Izuku nodded. "We didn't mean to uh, disturb you."
"That was amazing!" Sora spoke up. "I've never seen singing flowers before. I wish I had been here for the whole thing, but we just caught the tail end of it."
Izuku nodded before turning his attention to a caterpillar at his feet, hurriedly inching away from what looked like...a caterpillar but with a dog's head. A dogerpillar?
"Hmph, a shame you didn't hear the whole thing." A purple flower huffed. "Perhaps you should have arrived earlier instead of taking your time, from where ever you were."
"Should we sing again?" A Dandelion asked. "Oh, then they could hear us all sing. That would be lovely!"
"Oh, can we, can we?"
A chorus of flowers raised their voices, asking to sing again to show off to their guests. Surely nothing would be better.
"Hush, hush! Quiet down now ladies; there's no need to raise your voices. We can certainly perform again." She tapped the leaf pedestal to get their attention.
"T-That's very kind of you." Izuku cut in before the Rose could begin conducting. "But unfortunately, we can't stay for too long. We're trying to help out some friends of ours."
"Yeah, we need to prove they're innocent. They're on trial, but they didn't do anything wrong. We're sure of it!"
"Oh dear, that sounds unfortunate. Are they wildflowers like yourselves?" The Rose asked.
Wildflowers?!
Izuku and Sora shared a look before shrugging.
"Uh, yeah. Sure." Sora said. "Have you seen someone named Alice and...his name was Iida right?" Once he got a nod from Izuku, he continued. "And Iida, They might look like us? Sort of? Kind of wandering around? We think it's the Heart-"
"Some kind of monster or something is also wandering around." Izuku cut him off. "We can't mention they're Heartless, I don't think the flowers know that's what they're called. The World Order, remember?" He whispered.
"Oh, right. Did you see them by any chance? Maybe getting chased?"
At the mention of Alice, the flowers turned up their noses and huffed.
"You mean the weed?" The purple flower scowled. "That parasitic little creature is on trial? Serves her right for wandering into our flower bed. But that begs the question, what kind of flowers are you two? Especially if you're affiliated with her…"
"You mean Alice?" Sora tilted his head. "She's not a weed, I mean I wouldn't call her that. I don't know too much about flowers in all honesty. But she's not a weed."
"And you didn't see anyone with her?" Izuku asked, ignoring the flower's question. "Was she alone?"
"There was no one else with her, though I pity whoever had the misfortune of being her companion." The purple flower turned away.
"So that means Iida wasn't here," Izuku muttered.
"So uh, did you see anything other than Alice wandering around here?" Sora asked again. "Maybe something that looked like a bug? Was it kind of mean?"
The flowers all looked at each other with unease, glancing at a disrupted patch not too far away from them. A heavy silence filled the air before the Rose cleared her throat.
"What species or genus did you two say you were?"
"Uh…" Izuku glanced at Sora. "We...um. He's Sora, and my name is Midoriya."
"A Sora and a Midoriya, how strange, I've never heard of flowers like that?"
"They must be wildflowers then."
"Their petals are so strange."
"Do you think they can sing?"
"Oh, that'd be wonderful! Can you sing? Perhaps you can join us next time."
The voices of the flowers began overlapping each other as they all tried to speak over the other. Leaning in closer to the boys and forcing them to back up. Some of the flowers prodded at them, making comments about the colors of their petals, and lack of fragrance.
"Now girls, calm down! Please, mind your manners. Is this any way to treat guests?" The Rose tapped her baton against the podium, much louder than last time.
"Oh but it's been so long since we've seen new flowers!"
"If they even are flowers." The purple one huffed.
"I think we're getting off subject here." Izuku cleared his throat. "A-As much as we'd like to stay and all. We really need to know if there's been something around here. We're trying to help Alice and Iida."
"They really want to help the weed?" One of the flowers asked.
"We're sure they're flowers right? And not like that Alice character, the foul weed she is."
"Hey!" Sora spoke up. "Listen, even if you don't like Alice, she shouldn't get in trouble for something she didn't do. I've only met her once and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't do anything to hurt you or anyone else here. So please, if there's been some kind of monster or something around here- can you tell us? If not, then Izuku and I need to go." He crossed his arms and frowned at the flowers.
"And if there has been some kind of brute wandering around here, what exactly do you two little sprouts intend to do about it?" The purple flower sneered.
"We'll get rid of it." Izuku looked up at her, trying to ignore the look she was giving them. "It's not like we're helpless."
The Rose looked at the other flowers as they began to chatter nervously. Casting sideways glances around the grass and at each other.
"Well, I suppose we could tell you," The Rose started, "About the one that's come by once or twice and tore up part of our bed. I suppose he may be a nasty stink bug or beetle, but he has no good will towards us."
"Absolutely not!" The flowers agreed.
"He came this way not too long ago after the weed appeared and we chased her out. He's come back twice now and wreaked havoc on our lovely bed. If you two insist on chasing after the brute, he went that way." She pointed towards a section of the grass that was askew compared to the rest. Some of it was flattened and torn up.
"Well, I guess we have a lead now." Izuku sighed. "Okay, before we go any further maybe we should get Donald and Goofy. We don't know what's down there."
"What if we just took a quick look?" Sora started walking towards the makeshift path. "At least see what we're dealing with. And what if when we leave, it comes back and hurts them?"
Izuku frowned, that was a serious risk. Especially since it's come back just to cause trouble twice already.
"Worst-case scenario, we can probably lead it towards Donald and Goofy if we can't handle it. Best case, we deal with it and get some evidence." He muttered. "But we should still try to keep our distance and find out what kind of Heartless it is."
Izuku glanced at the messed-up part of the flower bed. "I don't think regular Shadow Heartless and Soldiers can do that."
"Yup!" Sora nodded. "So, you in?"
Izuku nodded. "I guess."
"Alright then." Sora started heading towards the ruined grass with Izuku in tow. The further they went in the darker it got. The grass was getting taller and taller, and the voices of the flowers were growing distant.
Before long the two were left in complete silence. Neither of them spoke, only sharing nervous glances at each other and continuing on. The path got wider and eventually connected to what looked like a clearing made of trampled grass and twisted mushrooms.
The pair slowly walked forward, both incredibly wary of the empty space. Something wasn't right, this area wasn't natural. It was forcibly made. Something big had to have done it.
"Izuku, look!" Sora pointed at the ground, where a set of footprints were. They looked too big to actually be a person. They had to belong to a monster, to a Heartless.
"Footprints. I guess that can count as evidence, but how are we supposed to take it back? I can't exactly use my phone."
"That's...a pretty good point." Sora frowned and kneeled down. He poked at the ground before sighing. "Honestly I have-" He was cut off by a loud giggling echoing around them. A pair of eyes appeared in front of them before giving a wink and disappearing.
"It's the cat!" Sora looked around. "So he's still around here, you think he's watching us?"
"I guess, maybe we're just entertaining him?" Izuku walked around the area. Something was bothering him, keeping him on edge. He's been trying to ignore the pit of dread that formed in his stomach not too long ago. They followed the makeshift path to where the Heartless made its home, but there was no sign of the Heartless, and there were no other paths connecting to the area, only one.
So where was the Heartless?
"Izuku, the footprints!" Sora shouted and pointed at the ground.
Izuku looked down in surprise to see the prints were disappearing. The evidence was gone!
Before either of them could panic, a pink box appeared out of thin air and plopped down on the ground in front of them. They stared at it, dumbfounded for a moment before Izuku hesitantly picked it up and opened the box. He couldn't help the confused noise that left his mouth.
"What's in it?" Sora leaned over to get a look, his eyes widening. "The footprints? Wait, but...how?"
Izuku looked around and sighed. "I'm guessing the Cheshire Cat has something to do with it. Maybe this is his way of helping us, making sure we can move the evidence around."
"You think?"
"Who else could have done this? Unless the world itself did it. Which is possible, since this place seems to be nothing but nonsense."
"I guess that makes sense. This world is pretty weird but pretty fun at the same time. Hey, your world has powers in it, right? Have you ever seen singing flowers?" Sora asked. "Would anybody be able to make flowers sing?"
Izuku scratched at his face. "Well, I'm not too sure. Animating an object would be an interesting Quirk, but I've only heard of a handful of those. Unless you mean someone 'throwing' their voice and making something sing when it's actually the user." He started tapping the box as he spoke. "Then there are some people with plant-based Quirks, like Kamui Woods but he uses the wood that comes from his body. Though I remember hearing about a villain overseas that was prominent a long time ago, apparently she could control plants. No idea if she ever made them sing."
"You sure do know a lot about this stuff. You're kind of a nerd aren't you?"
Izuku felt his face flush. "Uh, well, yeah. I mean, I've always thought Quirks were interesting. Sorry for rambling there."
"Well, I can see why. I'm not even from your world but the Quirks sound so cool! I think it's neat you know a lot about that stuff."
"Yeah, um, thanks." Izuku stood there awkwardly, trying to process the compliment. If one could even call it that. He wasn't sure.
They didn't get to discuss it any further, as an overbearing presence filled the air. Weighing them down and knocking the air out of their lungs. They looked around in panic before spotting a dark shape taking form behind them. Growing in size and ballooning out as arms with massive manacles appeared.
The two backed up as the rotund Heartless finished its appearance, and stared down at them with yellow, beady eyes.
-.-
"Hey, I think I found something!" Goofy looked up from the bushes where he was looking. "Donald, look at this." He shuffled around for a moment before walking towards the duck with something in his hands.
"Lemme see." Donald hurried over as Goody leaned over. In his hands was a pink box. Donald gave him a look before Goofy opened it, showing off an antenna from a Shadow Heartless.
"Are you sure that's from a Heartless?"
"E-yup!" Goofy nodded. "It looks exactly like one of those antennae things the little Shadow Heartless got. Look at 'em."
"Hmm...I guess." Donald shrugged. "At least we got something, but it's probably not enough. What do you two think?" Donald looked to where he thought Sora and Izuku were, only to see there was no one there. They were alone in the clearing.
"Uh...where'd they go?" Goofy looked around as Donald groaned.
"We told those two to not go wandering off! That was one of the first things we told them, why didn't they listen?"
"Calm down there Donald, I'm sure they're okay. I don't think they could get into too much trouble. They haven't been gone for that long, besides they've got each other, so the Heartless shouldn't be too much trouble." Goofy tried to calm him down.
"It doesn't matter, those two shouldn't have wandered off in the first place. They should have listened to us, they should know better! It's not like they're little kids."
"Well, we can have a chat with them when we find 'em. Give 'em a little slack Donald, this is completely new for 'em. They've never been to another world before. Do ya remember the first time all three of us went to another world?"
The duck sighed and rubbed his eyes. It was like watching over his nephews again, they always found a way to cause trouble and make him worry.
"But the Heartless wasn't a big deal back then," Donald argued. He stomped forward and raised his voice. "Izuku, Sora! Where are you!"
"I don't think calling for 'em will work too well Donald, they might not be able to hear us."
"Then let's pick one of the paths and go, we have to run into them at some point." Donald looked around before choosing a direction and taking it. He grumbled to himself as Goofy trailed behind him, taking in the forest as it changed around them.
The further they went into the forest, the more the trees and grass seemed to shrink. Going to a size that didn't completely tower over them, but instead was somewhat normal. As normal as it could get. The grass was still taller than them but didn't seem as intimidating, and some of the trees had changed shape. Instead of all of them being made of bushy green leaves, some of them appeared to be giant lily pads.
Each one connected to the other and climbed higher and higher. Eventually stopping and connecting to other parts of the trees. Regular branches intertwining with the lily pads and leading to who knows where else in the forest.
For all they knew Sora and Izuku could have found a way up there and were in the trees.
"Say, Donald," Goofy looked down at his friend. "Do ya think maybe that Iida and Alice have seen the King? That he's been through here?"
"No idea. I didn't even think we were gonna find any of their friends, especially so soon." Donald kept moving straight ahead. "But if they have seen the King, then even better."
Goofy nodded along. The sooner they could find their friend, the better. They were sure the King was working to fix this mess too. Just from afar, but now they found the key, or in their case two keys. The more the better right? Those two were needed to help get rid of the Heartless, and now they just had to find the King.
"Say, speaking of missing friends…"
Donald looked up.
"I was pretty sure I heard Izuku mention an Aqua, you heard that too right?"
"A Master Aqua." Donald nodded.
"You don't think…"
"It could just be a coincidence." Donald shook his head. "But at the same time…well it might not be the same person we're thinking about. That seems like too much of a coincidence. Plus, if she's been around for all these years then how come she never came back? Or how did the King never find her?"
"Mick was looking for months. Well, maybe Izuku's world is far away. A lot farther than we think, and maybe Aqua had a reason to not come back. I mean she was training Izuku, and she has Eri. She probably stayed for them."
Donald sighed. "Maybe."
"You know we did something similar Donald." Goofy raised an eyebrow. "We had to put down this lifestyle for a while. I had Maxie, ya had the triplets...and Aqua had Eri and Izuku."
Donald sighed and looked down. He remembered the days and nights Mickey would drag himself through. Looking through every nook and cranny of every world he visited. Asking whoever he could if they've seen a blue-haired woman, and if they did if she was alright. If she was safe. It went on for a few months until he finally hit a burnout, then Donald and Goofy had to make him slow down.
He hadn't looked for her since then, but they all had the same fear.
What if Aqua wasn't okay? What if she hadn't come out alive after that fight with the darkness in the once beautiful Radiant Garden?
"Yeah, I know." Donald frowned. "Well, we can ask him later. Once we find the boys. Still can't believe they ran off, right after we told them not to!"
"Really brings ya back to the old days huh?"
"Oh don't even get me started." Donald huffed as Goofy laughed.
They kept walking through the Lily Pad Forest, looking through some of the grass in hopes of finding some trace of the boys. They could hear the sound of something honking in the distance but paid no attention to it. If it was going to be a problem they could deal with it later.
Aside from the honking, they could hear something else. A loud thumping noise and rustling grass. They strained their ears, trying to figure out which way the noise was coming from. Donald and Goofy didn't have to wonder for long as Sora hurriedly jumped out of the grass.
He looked around before spotting them. "Ah! Donald, Goofy!"
"Sora!" Donald shouted. "There you are, where is-"
A loud yell interrupted him before a body slammed into Sora and knocked him to the ground. Izuku groaned in pain and rolled off of the winded Sora. A pink box in one arm and his Keyblade in the other.
"Oh, there he is. But what-"
"Move!" Sora dragged Izuku out of the way as a large Heartless came from the grass and slammed into a tree. Splintering the wood and knocking the tree down.
"So uh…" Sora panted. "How are you two doing?"
"Really? That's the first thing you want to ask after we broke the rules?" Izuku wheezed and dragged himself to his feet.
Sora shrugged and backed away as the Heartless charged towards them. Goofy jumped in front of them and held his shield up, making the large Heartless stumble back.
"Where did you even find this thing?" Donald asked.
"Well we were looking for clues, and we found some footprints. Then that thing showed up." Izuku explained as lightning sparked around him.
"And you two didn't get rid of it?"
"A little easier said than done Donald!' Sora jumped to the side and ducked below a swinging arm. Nearly getting smacked in the face by the chains.
Goofy charged forward head-on, only to collide with its stomach and get knocked back.
"Don't attack it head-on. You have to attack it from behind. Or…" Izuku coughed as he raised his Keyblade. "You can attack it with magic. Thundara!"
A bolt of lightning came down on the Heartless, making it freeze up and twitch uncontrollably. Sora took the chance to run behind it and strike it as hard as he could. The Heartless stumbled forward, trying to keep its balance. Before he could hit it again the sparks around the Heartless faded, and it took the chance to whirl around and smack him away.
Sora shouted in pain and stumbled back, seeing stars for a moment. Before he could recover the Heartless was about to charge towards him, until Donald sent a fireball barreling towards it.
The Heartless looked over to the new nuisance and was about to turn its aggression on Donald. It charged forward again. Donald tried to run away but the monster was right on top of him. Before it could crush him Izuku held his Keyblade out and summoned a barrier around the duck.
Izuku dropped the box and charged towards the Heartless, taking advantage of its confusion with the barrier. He raised his weapon with a shout and slammed it down on its back, again and again, only to back away when it turned on him again.
The Heartless was much easier to manage with 4 people attacking it, more targets meant more distractions. Which meant more openings.
The Heartless stared at them, looking between each of them before stomping its feet and jumping up in the air. It came down with enough force to shake the ground and make everyone stumble and fall over.
As Izuku tried to get to his feet the Heartless stomped towards him and raised its fists. He gasped and rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the fists that put a crater into the ground. Before it could attack again Izuku gathered up more of his magic energy and aimed at the creature.
"Blizzard!" He strained to shape it into a different shape as his Master had shown him before. Only for it to come out as a messy ball of ice. It slammed into the Heartless, spreading some frost over its body. It groaned loudly as dark wisps began to stream off the wounds the magic caused.
Sora had recovered just in time to see it stumbling around and grasping at the frost spreading over it. He shook the stars from his vision and raised his Keyblade, throwing it as hard as he could. They all watched as his weapon cleaved through the Heartless and frost, sending the monster away with an uneasy moan as it reached for them before fading away.
The darkness lingered for a moment, lingering in the air before swirling around and flowing into a pink box that appeared out of nowhere.
Sora panted, watching the spot where the pink box appeared before groaning and falling over.
"That thing...chased us through...so many places." He panted.
Izuku made a noise in agreement as the two adults got them to their feet again. They checked for any broken bones or bleeding wounds. The worst the two teens had were a couple of nasty bruises and scrapes. Sora held his face where the Heartless smacked him, and Izuku noticeably held his ribs.
Once he was sure they would survive, Donald began shouting, loudly.
"What were you two thinking?" He looked between them. "What was the first thing we told you about when going to new worlds? We stay together! Then what did you two do? You ran off! You're lucky the worst that happened was you two getting a little banged up." Donald steamed in anger and paced around, waving his arms around violently. At least the two had the decency to look embarrassed.
"Do you two have anything to say for yourselves?" Donald glared at them.
"Sorry for running off," Izuku looked to the side.
"Sorry about that." Sora rubbed the back of his neck. "We didn't mean to worry you."
Donald huffed before walking over to the box Izuku had dropped in the fight.
"Did ya two find a clue too?" Goofy walked over with his own box.
"Yeah, we found a set of footprints." Sora nodded. "That big Heartless was bothering a couple of singing flowers earlier, and it tore up their flower bed."
"And then that thing appeared and chased us all the way here. I'm pretty sure we spooked a couple of people. I think I saw a set of twins bouncing around or something. We're lucky the Heartless kept its attention on us."
"Well, now you two know better than to just run off. What if something bad had happened?" Goofy raised an eyebrow.
"Right, sorry about that." Izuku scratched at his face as his face turned red.
"Well, as long as you two understand. Now, we got two clues here and whatever that other Heartless just dropped. Do ya reckon this is gonna be enough to convince the Queen those two are innocent?" Goofy held up the two boxes.
"I don't think so." Izuku shook his head. "Some footprints and whatever you two found probably aren't enough. Then we don't even know what's in that other one."
"Well, we can check that real quick now." Goofy went over to the other box and opened it. The other watched as he gagged and slammed the box shut.
"That...didn't look too good." Sora raised an eyebrow.
"Gawrsh I didn' know Heartless left behind such a stink." goofy shook his head.
"Well, I think the flowers did mistake the Heartless for a stinkbug," Izuku muttered.
"But still, Heartless have a smell?" Sora asked.
"Apparently."
"That's not important, if this isn't enough then let's get going and try to find more clues then. How many more until it's enough?" Donald looked at them.
"Enough to spell out it's a Heartless or a monster. Nobody like Alice or Iida. If we go with what we have now, the Queen might try to spin it into them still being at fault." Izuku muttered.
"Alright then, so we'll get some more evidence. But before we go anywhere we have to patch you two up." Donald looked between them.
Izuku looked through his bag and pulled out a potion. "I think I have enough magic energy to heal Sora and me. And if not, I've still got a few potions."
"Hold on, both of you. I'll fix you up." Donald approached them and held up his staff. "Sit down so I can help you."
The teens glanced at each other before reluctantly sitting back down. Half expecting Donald to smack them over the head with the staff.
They sat down, only for Donald to come over and look over them. After a moment he held the staff over a nasty bruise forming on Sora's face. He hummed as a soft green light appeared. Small petals ghosted over his face and made the bruise fade. Once it left he held the staff over to Izuku, pointing at his ribs.
Izuku sighed as he felt the pain in his ribs subside, as the bruises faded and the pressure ceased. He eyed how Donald cast the spell, trying to figure out how he did it.
He focused on one area, one injury, and healed it instead of a full-body Cure. That's actually pretty smart, it probably expends less energy and heals the worst of injuries. Which means you can still have enough energy to fight. I should try that next time, maybe I can do it. If not, at least I can practice it…
"Okay, there we go. Better?" Donald stepped away, not looking tired in the least.
"Yeah, much. Thank you." Izuku rubbed where the bruises used to be.
"Good, now come on. Let's see where we can go next."
The two got to their feet again and stretched out.
"Well let's try our luck by going further into the forest. We're bound to run into somethin' or other." Goofy started walking forward. With all three boxes in his arms.
"Or maybe someone." Sora hummed. "It feels like there are people scattered all over this forest. They all just live in different places."
"I guess some of them just found some part of the forest they liked and staked it as their own?" Izuku said. "Actually now that I think about it I don't think I've ever seen a house in this place."
"Yeah, that's true," Sora muttered. "Or maybe they do, and we just haven't run into them yet. Then again, it wouldn't make sense for flowers to have a house in the first place would it?"
"No, probably not. Though in this world who knows?"
Donald and Goofy took the lead this time and glanced over their shoulders to make sure the boys were still there. They didn't want to lose them again.
Goofy would occasionally nudge or pull Donald out of the way of a tree or bush he was about to crash into. Since the duck insisted on watching the two and making sure they stayed on the path. Thankfully they didn't seem too keen on running off as they talked about different aspects of the world.
Through his own glances, Goofy couldn't help but notice Izuku sometimes reaching for his bag. Hand twitching as if he was itching to grab something, but often resorted to doing a strange thing with his hands as he babbled on about something.
Meanwhile, Sora had a habit of talking with his hands. Waving them around as if to emphasize a point or help visualize something. He would occasionally grab Izuku's arm or shoulder and shake him if he got excited about something, which would startle the other boy.
At first glance, those two seemed as different as night and day. One was quieter and more reserved while the other was louder and outgoing. If he had known their temperaments beforehand, he might have been nervous they weren't going to get along. Thankfully that wasn't the case. Sora seemed to do a lot of the talking for them with some input from Izuku, unless he went on to ramble about something himself.
One of them wasn't afraid to take up space and get within the other's personal boundaries. Izuku didn't seem to mind, but he also looked content to make himself a little smaller. To not take so much space and not invade much else.
Still though, Goofy couldn't help the little something bothering him at the back of his mind. There was something a little off in how Izuku carried himself towards him and Donald. A certain wariness. He wasn't sure if it had always been there or just started, but he became aware of it in the Gummi Ship. The way Izuku's smile had faltered when the question about his Quirk came up. How he averted his eyes and stuttered, and the nervous fidgeting.
He hoped it was nothing too serious, just some nerves while he got used to this new environment. After all, he and Donald were still strangers to some degree. It was an adjustment period, he'd be okay.
Goofy hummed and turned around just in time to stop both himself and Donald from crashing into a large boulder.
"Woah, hold on there Donald." He pulled the magician back to keep him from walking forward.
"I don't think I've ever seen a-" Izuku stopped as he bumped into Goofy, then stepping back and apologizing.
"Hey, why'd we stop?" Sora looked at them, then spotted the boulder. "Oh, that's why. What's a big boulder doing here?"
"How should I know?" Donald shot a look at Sora who shrugged in response.
"Whatever, let's try going back. Maybe we can find something useful on the way."
Just as Donald was about to take the lead he spotted something far ahead of them. Making a sweeping noise and coming closer towards them. It looked like a dog, a weird dog, with a broom for a head and a tail. Brushing away the path and leaving them with no clear way to go. Once it reached the group it stopped, then looked them up and down before turning around and hurrying away.
"Did that thing just…" Izuku started.
"I think it brushed away our path." Goofy nodded. "Well, we can still try heading back. We should be able to backtrack right?" He looked down at his feathered companion.
"Aw phooey, let's just see where it takes us. We can find our way back no problem."
Izuku opened his mouth to protest but stopped himself. Donald didn't seem too keen on listening to anyone at the moment. And he didn't feel like making Donald yell or argue. He just wanted to keep going.
"Are ya sure? What if the path changes? This world is pretty wacky."
"Aw, it'll be fine." Donald waved Goofy off.
Sora rolled his eyes and continued following the magician. They were going to get lost, but even so, maybe they'd happen upon another clue. This world seemed to have a weird way of giving them what they needed, whenever it wanted to.
The further they went into the forest the darker it seemed to get. It seemed like they had lost the way immediately. Donald didn't seem to notice, or care, as he kept moving forward. Muttering to himself and looking around the forest. The branches began to weave together and cover the blue sky that was far above them.
Only some of the branches began to sprout leaves clustered together. While others had large lily pads growing from thin stalks that sprouted from the branches.
"I think we only went deeper in the forest." Izuku muttered and reached for his phone. He wanted to snap a quick picture. Eri would probably get a kick out of the Lotus Forest. Or Wonderland in general.
He decided to pocket his phone when he heard Donald make a confused noise. They had reached a dead end. It looked nothing like what they had seen so far, no familiar landmarks. None of the noises they had heard from other parts of the forest.
The humming and honking were gone, it was silent.
"We're lost aren't we?" Sora asked.
"No we're not, we're just looking around." Donald snapped. "So just look around. Look for some evidence or something."
"He's lost." Goofy nodded at the boys.
"I heard that!"
Sora stifled a laugh and looked away. "Alright then. I guess we can look around here. Right Izuku?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah." Izuku looked around the trees. This part of the forest was quieter than the rest. It felt tranquil, yet at the same time, it made him feel uneasy. There should be some kind of noise, some kind of ambiance. But the once distant humming and other random almost musical noises were gone.
He strolled around the area, even if it was a little brighter than the rest of the forest he kept an eye on the few shady spots. Aside from the large Heartless, they dealt with earlier no other Heartless had come by to bother them. They were hiding.
As he kept walking Izuku spotted a large leaf not too far away. As he approached it he noticed there were a few other large leaves. Each one was slightly higher than the other. It was hard to tell where they would lead since the further they went the more vines appeared and covered up the path.
"Hey, guys?" Izuku looked at them. "I think I might have found something."
"Is it a clue?" Donald raised an eyebrow.
"Uh, no but it looks like it leads somewhere else." He stepped on the leaf, wavering a bit as he steadied himself. "It looks like it goes upwards, so maybe we can get a good vantage point."
"That don't look too safe there." Goofy stepped a little closer.
"I think it'll be okay, maybe one leaf can only hold on at a time." Izuku stepped to another leaf and smiled as he didn't stumble.
Sora beamed at that and started making his way up, too, following behind Izuku and being careful to not jump on the same leaf he was on. Slowly making their way up. Donald followed with a groan, and Goofy followed after him. They climbed higher and higher, almost slipping a few times because of the dew lingering on the leaves.
"This place is really pretty." Sora looked around.
"Yeah, it is." Izuku nodded in agreement. He slowed down a bit as they approached the moss that was overtaking the leaves. He parted some of it as he made his way forward, noting the slightly darker area they were being led to.
They continued onward, becoming wary of how the leaves beneath their feet were stiffer and made a cracking noise with each movement. The further they went the less stable the makeshift path seemed.
"How much further are we gonna go?" Donald grumbled.
"I don't know." Izuku brushed away some more of the moss and was about to move forward until he touched something hard. He stared ahead in confusion and pulled away more of the moss, Revealing a door in a tree.
Why did we stop?" Goofy asked.
"I found a door...in a tree." Izuku pressed on it and felt for some kind of handle.
"A door?"
"Yeah." He continued to feel around.
Goofy saw that and began to look around, looking for some way to help open the door. He brushed away some of the moss above him, seeing low-hanging branches with something stuck to them. He brushed away more of the moss along the branch and saw a sign pointing to the door saying 'This Way'
"That's strange."
Meanwhile, Donald huffed in impatience and looked around. There was no real tell of anything helping to open the door. He swatted away a piece of moss that was too close to his face, only for it to come back and slap him in the face. He let out an annoyed quack and smacked it away again. For a moment, it stayed away before coming back and hitting his face. As if on purpose.
Donald let out a loud squawk and pulled on the moss to tear it down. Instead, there was an audible click, and the door opened. Izuku shouted in surprise and fell forward, but not before trying to grab ahold of something to save himself.
Sora yelled when Izuku grabbed his ankle and dragged him down. Goofy acted fast enough and grabbed his hand to try and pull them up. Donald ran over to try to help, grunting in effort as he pulled on Goofy. Despite their best efforts, all four fell into the dark abyss the door led into and heard the door slam shut as they fell.
They were in free fall for what felt like forever. Tumbling through the air and unable to right themselves in the dark. As they fell further, a bright light appeared below them, slowly growing brighter and brighter until it was revealed they were falling into the Pink Room.
Izuku didn't have much time to react before slamming into a water spout. He almost fell off but managed to keep his grip. Across the way, he spotted Sora gripping onto the edge of a spice cabinet for dear life.
"You okay?" Izuku asked.
"Y-Yeah!" Sora grunted as he pulled himself up. "What about you? And Donald and Goofy?"
"Uh…"
They got their answer as the two fell past them and towards the ground. They flinched as they heard a loud thud far below and dared a look down.
"Are you two okay?" Sora called.
He got pained groans in response.
"That doesn't sound good."
"No, it doesn't. Maybe we should-" Sora stopped as he caught sight of what was behind him. Significant scratch marks on the wall beside him.
"What is it?"
"I think I found some more evidence. And I think this might be enough to prove Alice and Iida's innocence!" Sora stepped to the side and pointed at the wall. Izuku leaned forward and caught sight of the scratch marks.
"Yeah, I think that should do it."
Sora lightly touched the marks and watched them disappear. Before long, a pink box appeared in his hands. The last piece of evidence.
Izuku smiled. "Good, now we just have to make our way down to-"
"I see you all stumbled into one of my shortcuts."
Izuku practically shrieked in surprise and made the leap over to the spice cabinet, boosting himself with Aero and nearly missing. Sora stifled a laugh as Izuku steadied himself and whirled around to the water spout where he was a moment ago.
The Cheshire Cat appeared, a mischievous grin on his face.
"Yeah, we did." Sora held up the box. "And look what we found."
"I can see that. Nice going."
"And now we can prove Iida and Alice's innocence."
The Cat laughed and sat up. "Now, don't be so sure! They may be innocent, but what about you two?"
Izuku stared at the Cat. "W-What? What does that mean?"
The Cat chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "I won't tell. But I will give you something."
He took his paws and rubbed them together, the air growing colder around them. The cold air condensed into his paws until he held them out. Sitting there was a snowflake in each paw. He blew on them and watched them float towards the boys.
Sora reached out his hands to catch one and shivered as a cool frost covered his hands and spread to his wrists.
Ice magic.
The second snowflake flew towards Izuku, landing on his head before he could catch it. He withheld a gasp as a harsh chill spread throughout his body, covering him in a light frost. Then just as soon as it came, it was gone. A strange new power settled in him. Strange, yet oddly familiar.
"Now, perhaps you should start making your way back. Best to land on your feet this time." The Cheshire Cat gave a wave before fading away. Only his eyes and teeth linger for a moment.
"What did he mean, you aren't innocent?" Izuku asked.
"I think he was just saying some weird stuff. I don't really think he meant anything by it." Sora focused on his hands, looking over the lingering ice. He held out his hands with a grin.
"Blizzard!"
Instead of the ice crystals he was expecting to see, like Izuku's spell, all he saw was frozen slush.
He said you two...but what are we guilty of? What did we do? We didn't do anything wrong, did we? Unless he means letting our worlds fall to darkness, I guess I'm guilty of that, but I couldn't help that. Could I?
"Aw, what?"
"You need practice." Izuku shook himself back into focus and looked over. "You're not going to get it on your first try. And you're using hand casting. You haven't practiced with that yet. Maybe if you use your Keyblade, it'll be more solid. Magic with a Keyblade is a little easier."
"Hm, I guess I can try that out real quick." Sora summoned his Keyblade and held it out. Just as he was about to cast, Izuku stopped him.
"We should probably get down there. We've got the evidence we need, and we've already kept the Queen waiting long enough. Any longer, and she might get impatient and hurt Iida and Alice."
"Oh, yeah. Good point." Sora let his weapon fade and looked down. "He said we have to land on our feet, right?"
"Yeah, so I guess we just…." Izuku took a deep breath and jumped off the cabinet. He heard Sora jump after him.
His heart leaped into his throat for the first few seconds, feeling himself plummet to the ground. Until gravity let him go, and he was slowing down, slowly floating to the ground.
Izuku took a big sigh of relief. "I don't think I'm ever going to get used to that."
"I dunno. I think it's still pretty cool." Sora landed right beside him, box in hand.
"There you two are. What were ya up to up there?"
"We found the last piece of evidence." Izuku pointed at the box.
"And the Cheshire Cat showed me a new spell!" Sora held up a hand and allowed ice to cover it.
"Ice magic? But you haven't even gotten used to the first spell I showed you." Donald crossed his arms.
"I'll get it. Besides, it can't be too hard, can it?"
Izuku and Donald shot Sora a look.
"Well, fellas, we've got four pieces of evidence now. Do ya reckon it's time to head back?"
"Yeah." Izuku picked up one of the boxes Goofy dropped in the fall. "I think this is all we can get."
"Well then, let's go!" Donald picked up another one as Goofy got the last one.
The four made their way through the Pink Room, eyeing the shadows warily. It had been a while since they had seen the Heartless. It seemed out of character for the creatures to stay hidden and avoid them. Especially since they were supposed to seek out the Keybearers and destroy them.
"Hey, the Queen should accept this evidence, right?" Sora looked over at the others.
"I would think so. I mean, she told us to find the evidence in the first place. All that matters is that we prove their innocence." Izuku sighed.
"You know we weren't even supposed to meddle." Donald reminded them. "We're not supposed to disturb the world's residents on such a scale."
"But if we didn't, then someone would have gotten hurt for something they didn't do," Sora argued. "It's not fair; besides, if we're going around from world to world looking for our friends and keeping those Heartless guys from hurting people, doesn't this count?"
"No, because this was an affair between the world's residents."
"That the Heartless caused."
"And if we didn't butt in, my friend could have gotten hurt." Izuku frowned. "He's not from this world, so does that logic still count here? He doesn't know about the World Order or other worlds in the first place! H-He's completely in the dark about all this. He probably just woke up here and saw all the weird stuff and did what he could with what he had."
Donald stared at him and sighed. "Fine, I guess meddling was okay in this case. But just this once."
Sora was glad Donald was in front of him, so the duck couldn't see him rolling his eyes.
Izuku looked to the side as they passed through the tunnel and into the hedge maze. He knew the World Order had to be respected, but it seemed like the rules could be bent in some instances. Master Aqua had implied that was the case sometimes.
"Generally, we're not supposed to interfere or meddle, but…."
"You can't help it?"
"Sometimes, you just have to jump in."
Jumping in was necessary sometimes, especially when it meant saving a life. Nobody deserved to die being wrongly accused. A child didn't deserve to die because they fell asleep in the forest. A world didn't deserve to perish because they had no real means of defense against the Darkness.
By all means, Master Aqua broke the World Order. She meddled in Izuku's world. She caused ripples and waves. But she didn't tell anyone about the other worlds; that was the point of the World Order, right? To not let worlds know about other worlds existing.
"I mean, if you really want to get technical, we haven't broken the World Order at all," Izuku mumbled.
"What was that?" Donald turned around.
"N-Nothing!"
"Uh-huh…"
Izuku kept his gaze down until Donald turned around again and marched forward. They were in the maze now and had chosen a random path. They made sure to not pick the one Donald had chosen before.
The path they took zig-zagged and would cross into other paths through the hedge maze. As they walked through they caught glimpses of red card soldiers wandering through the maze there and there. One of them peered over one of the hedges to sneer at them.
"Hey so, Izuku."
"Yeah?"
"What's Iida like? I mean when I first saw him he looked kinda strict, and loud."
"Yeah he can come off like that can he?" Izuku smiled. "But he's a good person, and I will admit he's a stickler for rules. I can only imagine that this place is driving him up the walls."
"Well we'll get him out of there soon, but what about Alice?" Sora looked up. "She's from this world, and what if the Queen causes her trouble even after we prove her innocence?"
"Then we can't do anything about that." Donald shook his head.
Sora frowned and sighed. "But still…"
"Maybe she's not from these parts, maybe she can run to another part of the world where the Queen has no influence." Izuku tried to ease his worries.
"How far do ya think she'd hafta go?" Goofy asked.
"Who knows."
"Well, either way, I guess we'll have to deal with it sooner rather than later." Sora stopped as they approached the Queen's court. The two bird cages were covered up and hung high above the ground.
"Alright, let's get our friends back."
They all steeled their nerves and walked into the court. They could feel the eyes of everyone on them. Before they could go any further one of the card soldiers approached them.
"Are you ready to present your evidence to the Queen?" He asked.
"Yes we are!" Sora held up his box.
"Hmph, very well. Put down the boxes and approach the podium." He pointed at Donald and Goofy. "You two may enter the witness stand."
The four of them glanced at each other before doing what they were told. The cages were lowered and the prisoners were no longer hidden. They were kept by the Queen's podium with lances pointed at them. The threat of what would happen to them if any of them did anything wrong loomed over them all.
"So, I see you all have come back with evidence. It's quite a lot, but I'm not impressed. Cards, bring forth my evidence!"
One card came running out and placed an identical box next to the other four. But instead of backing away the card rearranged some of the boxes and put them out of order.
Izuku spotted Iida glaring at the now mixed up boxes, then looking over to him. He got the message. Hopefully things would go well.
"Hmm, checking all five would be a waste of time." The Queen glanced down at the boys. "Alright then, choose the one you wish to present. Based on which one you choose, I'll decide who's guilty."
"Wait, what?" Sora spoke up. "After all that trouble of finding the evidence?"
"Madam, that is not how a court works! Each piece of evidence should be presented and inspected carefully!" Iida spoke up, only stopping when a lance got too close for comfort.
"I must say, the way you run your court is nothing but...it's simply nonsensical!" Alice objected.
"You dare to object to my methods? Then you will lose your heads!" she yelled at them.
"Okay, okay we'll choose one!" Izuku kept her from giving the order. "Just don't hurt them."
"Well you two will be deciding that now won't you?"
Izuku and Sora glanced at each other with fear. There was a chance they could choose wrong, but still the odds were in their favor.
"Ok, so at least four of those five are ours, which means we've got a solid 80% chance of getting this right." Izuku began to mutter. "But on the chance we get this wrong, it could be disastrous."
Sora looked over each of the boxes from where he stood. The cards behind them weren't allowing him to get off the stand and look at each of the boxes individually. So they were going to have to choose from where they were.
"I wish I was paying attention to when they were moving the boxes around." Izuku looked at the boxes, feeling the impatient gaze of the Queen on them.
"What about that one?" Sora pointed at a box to the end. "I don't think that card soldier touched that one."
"Are you sure?"
"As sure as I can really be." Sora shrugged.
Izuku sighed as Sora pointed out the box to the Queen. "We want to show that one."
The Queen sneered. "Very well." She snapped her fingers.
One of the card soldiers walked over to the box and flipped it open with his lance. At first nothing happened, then a dark mist slowly rose out of it. Three of the other boxes began to shake and opened by themselves, accompanied with more dark mist.
The dark mist converged together and swirled around until a Heartless formed.
The Queen stared in shock as a Soldier Heartless appeared and looked around. Without a moment's hesitation it leapt towards her, claws outstretched.
"Fira!" Izuku sent a wave of fire to engulf the Heartless, listening to its shriek as it fell to the ground and burned away.
"What in the world was that?" The Queen demanded.
"There, that's your proof! Iida and Alice didn't do anything wrong, they're innocent! It was one of those monsters!"
The Queen sputtered before turning red. "Silence! I am the law here! Article 29: Anyone who defies the Queen is guilty!"
"That's crazy!" Iida shouted.
"Seize them at once, and those two," She glared at Alice and Iida. "Off with their heads!"
"No, please!" Alice shouted as one of the card soldiers reached for her.
"No, you can't!" Iida fought against the card soldier near him.
"No, don't!"
Neither Izuku or Sora had the chance to make a move, as the soldiers behind them grabbed him and began to drag them away from the podium.
"No, s-stop! Get off me!" Izuku struggled against the many hands grasping him,
"No, this isn't fair!" Sora shouted and tried to pry the card soldiers off of him. "They're innocent!"
"Boys!" Donald and Goofy were about to jump off the podium, but had many lances pointed at them.
Sora yelled and fought against the cards that held him down. He summoned his Keyblade but couldn't swing it like he wanted to. He couldn't get a good angle. He watched in horror as some of the card soldiers raised their weapons at Iida and Alice. Their friends were going to die and there was nothing they could do about it. All that work to try and save them was for nothing.
"No, stop it." Sora shook his head. Time was slowing down again, just like it did with the Armor. His mind was racing for some kind of solution, a quick decision. Something he could do.
He looked to the side as Izuku continued to struggle, before his head was slammed into the stand. Leaving him stunned.
Sora grit his teeth and fought harder. "Stop it!" He managed to get his arms free and grasped the Keyblade with both hands.
"I said stop!" He shouted as he slammed the blade into the ground, letting off a shockwave of power that knocked the cards down. He panted as he looked around, seeing everyone's eyes on him. The cards beside the cages had stopped to stare at his display.
Izuku was the first out of everyone to recover and summoned his Keyblade.
"Aerora!" He sent a harsh gust of wind to blow the cards away and give them some room. As soon as they were gone Sora vaulted over the stand and knocked down the cards around Donald and Goofy.
The Queen snapped out of her confusion and roared in anger. "Guards, raise the cages and take these buffoons' heads!"
Izuku looked over to see one of the cards run over to a nearby tower and spin the wheels. The cages beside the Queen's podium raised high above to the ground.
Izuku jumped over the stand and raced after the card. Izuku was quick to knock him out and turn his attention to the tower. He grabbed the wheel and pulled on it as hard as he could, but found that it wouldn't budge.
He kept pulling and pushing, but no matter what he did the wheels wouldn't move. While trying to use the tower he hadn't noticed the card getting up again on unsteady feet.
"You little-"
Izuku turned around to see the card about to run him through with a lance, until a shield came flying and smacked into the card. Knocking him down again.
"Izuku!" Goofy ran over. "Are ya okay?"
"I'm okay! I just have to…" Izuku pulled on it with all his might, but got no results. "This thing won't- oh screw it." He summoned his Keyblade and smacked the tower as hard as he could. The wheel moved down, as did the cages.
"You take out the tower, I'll watch yer back." Goofy held up his shield.
"Thank you."
As Izuku got to work, Sora and Donald fought against the cards near the cages. Some of them had tried to throw their lances at the two, only for their weapons to be deflected by ice crystals.
Sora grinned, Izuku was right, magic was much easier with a Keyblade.
"Don't you go celebrating yet, we still have to get them down."
"Yeah, I know." Sora held up his weapon. "But I have to admit, that spell is pretty cool."
"Look out!" Iida shouted and pointed at more soldiers approaching them.
Sora held up his Keyblade and blocked a strike from an halberd. Donald knocked down the soldier with a lightning strike.
"You think you can teach me how to use lightning too?" Sora asked.
"Maybe when you learn how to use the first two spells properly." Donald dodged to avoid another lance thrown his way.
"Alright, it sounds like a deal." Sora knocked the weapon out of the card soldier's hands and knocked him out.
"Oh dear, behind you!"
They looked up to see Alice shouting a warning at Izuku and Goofy. The tower was missing one of its wheels and the wall was starting to crumble on one side. Izuku turned around from the tower and held up his Keyblade. A barrier appeared around them, leading to all the cards and their weapons bouncing off.
Izuku panted as he looked at the cards gathering around the barrier.
"Are ya okay?"
"I'm fine but…" Izuku looked at the tower then at his Keyblade. "I'm not doing as much damage as I need to. I've barely made a dent in this thing." He hit it again. He frowned and looked away from the tower and towards the others. Sora and Donald were doing their best to protect Alice and Iida from the cards, but it was clear they were struggling and kept running from one side to another to cover for each other.
Izuku took a deep breath and approached the barrier. "Alright, we need to switch out."
"Huh?" Goofy glanced down at him.
"Compared to Sora, I don't pack much of a punch. And it's brute strength that's going to take the tower down, but I can cover Alice and Iida."
"Are ya sure?"
Izuku nodded and reached into his bag to crunch on an Ether, before holding his Keyblade out. "Sora!" He shouted.
"Huh?"
Izuku lowered the barrier and swiped his Keyblade in a wide ark, sending violent winds towards the cards.
"Take the tower!" He raced towards Sora and Donald. "Switch with me!"
Sora only took a moment to process his words before nodding. "Right!"
As they passed each other Izuku nodded at Sora. "Hit it with everything you've got."
Sora grinned. "You got it!"
Izuku didn't waste any time once he was near the cages. Like last time, Izuku used a wind spell to keep the cards back. With some distance between them and the seemingly never ending soldiers, Izuku placed a barrier around each cage.
"Those barriers are kinda weak." He admitted to Donald. "They're going to break with enough force, but it should at least buy us some time if they overwhelm us." Izuku didn't want to admit it, but he was starting to get tired. He was burning through his magic at such a fast rate with no real recovery time, and now he was going to try his hand at dual casting.
Funny, that's what we were going to practice next. Well, I guess there's no better place to try it out than here.
"We won't let them past us!"
Izuku held up his Keyblade and nodded. He spared a glance to Sora and Goofy, watching the Keybearer breaking apart the tower with every hit.
"Midoriya, pay attention!" Iida yelled at him.
Izuku looked up in time to block a halberd from slicing him in half. Before the card could recover he closed the distance and smacked him across the head as hard as he could. Then he moved onto the next card, and the one after that. Taking care to only use enough force to stun them or knock them unconscious.
From behind him, Izuku could hear one of the cages rattling. He looked behind him to see Iida kicking the door to it as hard as he could. He and Alice were almost to the ground. They were almost free.
Sora looked over in their direction while he caught his breath. The cages were almost down, and it looked like Izuku's friend was trying to break out. Sora stared at the tower before raising his Keyblade and slamming it down on the crumbling wall. It wasn't that hard to break down, for him at least.
Goofy bashed his shield into a group of cards and backed up to keep himself close to Sora. "How are ya doing back there?"
"I'm okay, I'm almost done with this thing. Then we have to grab those two and go right?"
"I'm thinkin' that's the plan." Goofy nodded. He then threw himself at another card soldier and knocked him down.
"Alright." Sora wiped the sweat off his face and stared at the tower. "Another good hit, just one more."
He shouted as he ran towards the mechanism and smashed the Keyblade as hard as he could against the remaining wall. He backed up as he heard it crack and begin to crumble. Slowly spreading across the wall and letting the last wheel fall out.
Sora backed up into Goofy as the tower finally collapsed with a loud crash, falling onto some of the nearby rose bushes.
"No!" The Queen roared.
The prisoners exclaimed loudly as the cages suddenly slammed to the ground. Iida didn't waste any time and gave one last kick to the cage. Much to his delight the cage door snapped off.
"No! Get them! Recapture the prisoners!"
"Iida!"
"Come on, we need to get Alice!" He zoomed over to the other side of the Queen's stand and pried the cage open. "We need to go!"
"Of course!" Alice hopped out of the cage and began running towards the forest.
"Sora, Goofy, they're out!" Donald chased after the running pair.
"We've gotta go!" Izuku raced to catch up to them. "To the forest, let's go!"
Sora and Goofy scrambled to get away from the ruins of the tower and rejoin with the group.
The six ran as fast as they could into the strange forest as the Queen screamed in anger and ordered her guards to chase after them. Despite the army of cards chasing after them through the overgrown flora they couldn't help but feel somewhat triumphant.
They were free.