"...and that led us to meeting Sora and why we're here now." Jimmy finally finished retelling the story to the scarred man. "Man, three times explaining this in one night. Repetition's good, but it can be a tiring experience."
"So, this Syndicate." Leon started, already disliking the name itself. "If they already started taking over your worlds, what are the chances that they'll go after others as well?"
"If by chance they discover that other worlds exist beyond ours, then it's more than likely they'll spread their influence over the rest of the universe. I honestly wouldn't put it past Professor Calamitous. They'd probably figure out some way to manipulate these shadows to be part of their forces as well."
"Making an already bad situation much worse. Great." Leon sighed.
"You know, excess moodiness isn't good for your health, Squall." Yuffie told him.
"That's Leon." he corrected her.
Jimmy was just finishing explaining their situation to their new acquaintances after their prior meeting in the first district. The group, following after Leon and the so-called great ninja Yuffie, had quickly moved into the hotel in the second district, with Sora forced to not pull out his 'Keyblade' in order to keep the monsters from appearing and attacking them. Yuffie explained that the reason monsters were attacking Sora to begin with was because they were after the Keyblade, all because they were truly after his heart since that was why he wielded it in the first place.
"Basically a magic fantasy weapon in the form of a large key that's like catnip for monsters. Sounds legit." Danny Phantom leaned against the wall, just looking about the humble room they were in and taking in the sight of a fancy blue and gold treasure chest with a glowing keyhole just sitting there on the coffee table. Leon was leaning back against the door leading to the red room, right under the green clock set up overhead.
"I wouldn't be so quick to call it magic." Jimmy told the ghost boy. "If anything, this Keyblade that Sora possesses could very well just be a weapon made from nanomachines, able to form at his unconscious command, but whoever originally designed it had installed it with a program that draws the monsters to it like moths to a flame. Pretty clever for a weapon meant to destroy these creatures, but why make it sound mystical is beyond me."
Leon and Yuffie raised brows at Jimmy's odd denial of what the Keyblade was. They then felt Timmy Turner pulling on their clothes, hearing him whisper, "Jimmy doesn't believe in magic or anything that can't be explained. Best to let him think what his logic tells him."
"Woooow! A weapon that chooses its master and defeats evil monsters!" Spongebob, all the while, was in awe as he sat next to Sora. "You're so lucky, Sora! You're practically a fantasy hero now!"
"Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers." Leon didn't share Spongebob's enthusiasm.
"Why don't you start making sense?" Sora didn't appreciate Leon's tone. "What's going on here?"
"Well, as for what you probably know by now," Leon looked over to the group with Sora, "there are many worlds besides your own and this one."
"Thing is, that's kinda supposed to be a secret." Yuffie explained.
"A secret?" Jimmy Neutron asked, with Goddard making an inquisitive whine. "Since when was there a rule saying that?"
"Yeah. Isn't the reason people don't know about other worlds because they haven't discovered them?" Timmy had to agree with Jimmy on that one. "In our experience, sometimes we had to deal with aliens from other planets or even from other dimensions. Heck, Jimmy and I discovered our worlds entirely by accident."
"That reminds me." Jimmy recalled something. "Timmy, whatever happened to your own transporter?"
"Oh yeah, that, uh… it broke?" The average kid tried explaining. He didn't know what happened to it either. Curse his short attention span!
"The reason for the secret is because the worlds have never been connected. At least, not until now." Leon explained, moving the exposition along. "As such, the only way you could probably manage to travel to other worlds before would be through your invention or from space travel."
"Of course, that all changed when the Heartless came." The great ninja mentioned.
"The Heartless?" Sora echoed.
"The ones who attacked you, you remember?" She reminded him.
"Those without hearts." Leon sounded somber.
"The darkness in people's hearts– that's what attracts them." She added.
"And there is darkness within every heart." He finished.
The room had become rather silent after that. Danny looked serious as he could understand just how dangerous these monsters sounded. Timmy felt a shiver crawl up his spine just imagining them appearing at random. Jimmy simply was busy trying to put together a far more logical explanation for the existence of these Heartless and coming up with dozens of theories in his mind. And Spongebob just sat with eyes wide after hearing about how they appeared.
"...Wow… that's deep." Spongebob took that to heart. "And Heartless… oooh, of course they would have a scary name too…"
"So we're dealing with something akin to ghosts here." Danny got off the wall and stood straight. "On top of them probably going to hound Sora every step of the way. I know how that feels."
"Hey, have you heard of someone named Ansem?" Yuffie asked the whole group.
"Ansem?" Timmy asked, confirming he hadn't. "Who's that?"
"He was studying the Heartless." She answered. "He recorded all of his findings in a very detailed report."
"Oh good, academics and brilliant minds save the day once again!" Jimmy was happy to hear that. "You wouldn't perchance have this report on hand, would you? I'd love to read it myself. Anything that could help us further figure out the workings of these Heartless would be beneficial."
"Sorry, but no." Leon shook his head with his arms crossed. "Its pages are scattered everywhere to many worlds."
"Well drat." the boy genius snapped his fingers in disappointment. "One step forward, one step back…"
"Hey wait a minute." Spongebob scratched his square head. "Now that you mention it, where does Sora's Keyblade fit into all this?"
"The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade." Leon explained. "That's why they'll keep coming after you, no matter what."
"That makes sense." Jimmy Neutron figured. "With it clearly being an anti-Heartless weapon, of course they would want to remove it as a threat."
"Well, I didn't ask for this." Sora said, feeling a bit of pressure on his shoulders now.
"The Keyblade chooses its master. And it chose you." Yuffie told him.
"So, tough luck." Leon leaned back against the door.
"How did all this happen?" The wielder of the Keyblade couldn't help but ask. "I remember being in my room…"
But then Sora's look gained an expression of distress as he shot up from the bed in stark realization.
"Wait a minute! What happened to my home? My island?" he felt himself panic as he suddenly realized the extent of his current situation. "Riku! Kairi…"
The four other heroes, Goddard, Cosmo and Wanda couldn't help but feel sorry for poor Sora. Unlike them, it appeared that perhaps his world had gone through more dire circumstances than him just being warped here to this other world. No villain taking over his world. Just monsters attacking in the midst of a storm, and Sora having no idea what might have happened to it. It was more than likely, out of their whole group planning to fight the Syndicate, it was their newest friend, Sora, who was dealt the worst hand.
"You know what?" Leon answered in a rather harsh tone. "I really don't know."
Spongebob couldn't help but narrow his eyes at Leon for that before seeing Sora look down, stuck in despair. Well, the happiest sponge in all of Bikini Bottom wasn't going to have his new friend stay sad! He hopped on the bed, standing behind Sora and patted him on the shoulders to comfort him.
"Hey, no need to feel down, Sora!" Spongebob assured him. "Like we said, we'll find them no matter what! We're going through our own worlds once we figure out how to get Jimmy's portal thingy fixed, remember? We can just search through them while we're there."
"Thanks, Spongebob…" Sora appreciated his kind words.
"Look, why don't we start by perhaps testing out what your Keyblade can do?" Jimmy figured. "Yuffie, considering its form, it's also possible that the Keyblade could open or shut any lock, correct?"
"That's what I'm thinkin'." Yuffie confirmed. "Why not give it a try on that treasure chest?"
Sora looked over to the blue chest and walked over to the table. He eyed his keyblade before raising it over the chest and… giving it a few taps.
"Uh, sweety," Wanda floated up next to him, "it's a locked chest. It would probably take more than tapping it to unlock it–"
And just like that, the blue chest opened up, revealing some kind of gold and yellow sphere coated in stars and moons. Sora's eyes glittered when he picked the item up. Wanda just blinked in surprise before just shrugging and floating away.
"Oh, sweet, an elixir!" He exclaimed. "This'll come in handy later."
"And more primitive medicine. Great." Jimmy muttered.
"Oooh, what does this thing do?"
Leon looked up to see Cosmo messing with the switch on the side of the clock, hitting it with his wand several times and making the clock's hands move. Wanda of course came up to him and pulled him back.
"Cosmo, stop that!" Wanda lectured her husband. "You break it and we'll probably have to pay what little we have to the hotel to have it fixed."
"But Wanda, that creepy staff guy said to hit the clock if we stayed the night," Cosmo justified himself, "so I'm just hitting the clock."
"It's not like he meant that literally!" his wife rebutted. "Clearly he meant–"
And just like that, a red treasure chest appeared on the small dresser in the back of the room.
"Do you ever get tired of being wrong?" Cosmo asked his wife, making her grumble before poofing back to being Timmy's backpack. "What? It's an honest question."
And then Cosmo became Timmy's Star Flinger again. Leon, after that whole exchange and seeing Sora walk up to the new chest and unlock it for another item, just felt a migraine coming on. Good grief, he figured dealing with the one kid would be something he could manage. But the kid having several weird friends? This was going to be the death of him.
Well, like he said. Beggars can't be choosers. He might as well heed his own words.
"Sooner or later, the Heartless will find you." Leon told Sora. "You'd best prepare yourself."
"Prepare myself?" Sora asked.
"To fight for your life. Are you ready?" he asked.
Sora took a look at the Keyblade in his hand. A weapon that chose him, and the only weapon he can use against the monsters, these Heartless, that hounded him from his dreams and his island to here in another world. And as far as he knew… one of the only things that will help him find his friends.
So, with a determined expression on his face, Sora declared, "I'm ready!"
"That's the spirit, Sora!" Spongebob gave him a thumbs up for that.
"Yuffie, let's go join Aerith." Leon got up from the door and looked towards the ninja, who got up from the bed. "She should be there by now with the other visitors."
"Other visitors?" Timmy asked.
"Leon!"
"Bark, bark!"
But Yuffie's shout and Goddard's barking got their attention as she pointed at a dark mist suddenly appearing in the room! And from it appeared the very same helmeted creature, a Heartless, that they saw before!
"Yuffie, go!" Leon told her, having Yuffie rush towards the other room and slamming it open. He got out his own weapon, a very interesting sword that looked to be combined with a gun, while telling the rest of the group as they got ready for battle, "Guys, let's go!"
Leon then took one swipe of his gunsword and swatted the Heartless out through the window, breaking the glass as he did. He even ran out and jumped over the balcony on the way. Sora, Spongebob, Timmy, Danny, Jimmy and Goddard followed him out and jumped over to the ground, only to find themselves surrounded by more of those shadows and those helmeted Heartless! They saw Leon taking out a few closest to himself before he looked towards them.
"Don't bother with the small fry." he told them. "Find the leader! Let's go!"
"Wait, where are we supposed to find the–" Danny tried asking Leon, but the man already rushed off, "And there he goes."
"Look sharp, guys!" Jimmy readied his Tornado Blaster. "These 'Soldiers' might look silly, but they'll definitely put up more of a fight!"
This was evident when these new Heartless, the Soldiers, made the first move. One reared one leg and suddenly propelled itself forward with a spinning kick. Sora quickly ran out of the way as the Soldier got back on the ground, leaving itself open for Spongebob to hit it with a karate combo. However, when that didn't prove to be enough, Danny quickly pelted it with ecto blasts before it finally dissipated. Unfortunately, that still left them with four other Soldiers to deal with.
"Guys, I think Leon might be onto something here." Timmy felt a bit nervous as he kept pelting them with stars. "We'll never get through these guys fast enough!"
"Let's go to the one place that we haven't gone into yet!" Sora told them. "The Third District's got to be where we'll find the leader!"
"Right!" the other four nodded in agreement.
From there, Sora slashed two Soldiers out of his way, making his way towards a set of doors leading out back into the second district. The group followed suit, fighting the Heartless with him along the way. Most of those Soldiers tried to impede them, making dynamic flips with power kicks aimed directly at them or slashing at them with their sharp red claws. Joined by the numerous Shadows, they were even difficult to dodge at times. But the five, with their teamwork, were able to persevere and recover quickly with the dropped green balls from the defeated monsters. They eventually made it down an alley towards a door marked with the number three just above it. Going through that door, they finally found the Third District.
A small area in comparison to the other districts, it was a plaza overlooked by an empty house. The most notable thing about it was the fountain as the centerpiece, lit up with neon lights and colored gold, depicting a scene of two dogs romantically brushing their noses together. There also appeared to be a large set of doors just to the side, similar to the boarded-up doors back in the first district. There also appeared to be another alleyway leading somewhere, but that was not their focus at the moment.
The group went downstairs to head into the plaza proper, but so far… no Heartless appeared. It was quiet… too quiet.
"Huh. Figured we'd find it here." Sora looked around. "But this district is empty."
"That's usually just how it starts." Danny told him. "Give it a minute, and they're bound to pop up when you least expect them."
As if right on cue, the group heard an exploding sound and saw two figures flying into the air… right before starting to come down towards Sora!
"Sora, look out!" Spongebob tried to warn him. But unfortunately it was to no avail. Try as Sora would to run out of the landing zone, he was brought to the ground when the two crashed on top of him. Spongebob winced at the impact alongside his three companions. "Ooooh… that's gotta hurt."
"Ok, what are we looking at now?" Timmy asked as they stared at the two newcomers.
One was an anthropomorphic duck with white plumage, a yellow-orange bill, legs of the same color, light blue eyes, and a short tuft of feathers on his head, visible under his hat. He wore a blue hat, which resembled a beret, had a belt in place of a normal brim, and sported a zipper that spanned the length of the hat. His high-collared jacket was navy blue with sky blue lining and cuffs. There were three pouches, all of which were blue with yellow lining, along the middle of the jacket; the center pouch was secured by a flap, while the other two used silver zippers. The middle pouch was framed by two other silver zippers that spanned the entire length of the jacket, from the top of the collar to the bottom. He had a short, blue cape with yellow lining that he wore draped over his shoulders, kept in place by a silver strap. He also wore a thick, gold bangle on each of his wrists, and had on no pants.
The other was an anthropomorphic dog with black fur and droopy ears. He had two bucked teeth and three short hairs coming out of the top of his head, just in front of his hat. His hat was orange (save for a blue band in the middle) and the top was an odd shape, resembling a teardrop placed on its side. There was a small pair of red goggles around the bottom of the hat as well. He wore a green turtleneck sweater with sleeves that belled out slightly and a blue arrow-shaped strap on each cuff. He wore white gloves with a brown band around each wrist. Over the sweater, he wore a sleeveless, black combat vest with gray lining and four pockets of the same color. His pants were yellow and secured by a thick, black belt. They had rather large pockets and a pouch on each leg with a silver zipper. The legs of his pants had a peculiar style, with the bottom rims (which were dark orange) being pulled upward in the front by a brown strap. He also had very large shoes which were brown with steel toes on the outside.
The two appeared dazed from the fall, but the moment they recovered, they saw Sora's Keyblade and exclaimed, "The key!"
But before more could be said, the entire group felt the ground shaking beneath them. Then, large pillars emerged from the ground, blocking all exits and trapping them inside. And atop the pillars appeared more Soldiers! Finding themselves surrounded once more, the group readied themselves for battle, and Sora and the two strangers did the same. The duck held a staff; the handle was black with a gold pommel and a white ring near the tip and base. The lower half of the staff's head was bent and blue and had a blue "collar" with white edges folded over it. The upper half sported a brown hat with a long, curled tip and a black, silver-buckled belt around it. The dog held a shield in his right hand; circular with thin, gold edges. It was sky blue and had a large, black silhouette of three circles atop each other which were bordered with the golden outline, emblazoned on its face.
"You kids should stay back!" The duck told the other four, a rather raspy voice coming out of his beak. "We'll handle this!"
"We can handle ourselves just fine!" Jimmy replied. "Here they come!"
The fight commenced as it often had before, with Sora and Spongebob dealing the melee blows with their Keyblade and karate gloves and Danny joining in with ecto-charged fists, mixed between ecto-beams. They found themselves joined by the dog, who used his shield to bash at the Heartless before them. Though his movements seemed wobbly and goofy at best, the dog showed he had good skill with his defense weapon and managed to use it offensively too.
"Huh. Who said shields aren't good weapons?" Danny remarked.
"Thanks, pal!" The dog gave him a thumbs up.
Jimmy and Timmy were still relying on long distance attacks, pelting them with stars and blowing them away with wind bursts. While that at least made it easier to stand and fight, their attacks weren't exactly dealing enough damage. That was before the duck assisted them by firing fireballs from his staff, taking out the Soldiers in one hit each time.
"Astounding! A one-handed flamethrower designed to shoot out fireballs to simulate magic!" Jimmy actually was impressed by the duck's weapon of choice. "That's a fantastic invention!"
"Thanks, I– wak?" The talking mallard was about to reply to the boy genius before being confused by what he called his staff.
"We'll talk later!" Timmy told him. "Just keep firing!"
Eventually, thanks to their combined efforts, all of the Soldier Heartless were wiped out, and a mess of green spheres alongside yellow-and-blue spheres were left in the wake. Collecting them to recover their already worn spirits, the entire group gathered together once again, newcomers included.
"Please tell me that we got the leader in all of that." Timmy requested after wiping sweat from his brow.
"Um…" Spongebob was looking up and shaking. "I think the leader just arrived!"
Everyone looked up and gasped in alarm. Falling from the sky were five pieces of large armor pieces that clanged on the ground before floating in the air. The pieces ended up coming together before landing on the ground with a stomp once again. The body was divided into several pieces — a body, two arms, and two legs — none of which were directly connected to each other and all of which could apparently act independently of the other. The torso was vaguely hourglass-shaped and was violet with a lilac, diamond pattern around its waist, and light black additives. The Heartless emblem was emblazoned on the center of the armor. Both of the gauntlets were violet with wide wrists and three lilac, segmented fingers. The legs were short, violet and ended in large, hammer-like, black feet. All of the pieces of the armor seemed to be hollow. Then a helmet landed on the torso, forming a head and completing the menacing dark knight-like appearance. The helmet was violet, spherical, and sported three silver spikes and a silver faceplate with several holes in it.
"Yeah, I think that's it." Danny definitely could tell with this giant metallic monster.
"Watch out! Here it comes!" Sora warned as it stomped towards them.
The giant armor took heavy steps forward, and the whole party split up in different directions in order to attack it from all sides. Jimmy, Timmy and the duck were already firing at its legs as Sora, Danny, Spongebob and the dog tried going for the arms. However, it seemed damage was minimal, as the armor didn't show much reaction to getting hit. Instead, its gauntlets began orbiting around the body, spinning fast enough to knock the four melee fighters away, even cutting at them with its sharp fingers. Sadly, not even range seemed to work for the other three as the armor's pieces all suddenly shot into the air before crashing near them to hit them with the impact as well.
"Geez, what's it take to put a dent in this thing's metal hide?" The ghost boy asked.
"We'll need to limit its attacks!" The boy genius had also been observing the giant Heartless the whole time, trying to get a good read on it. "Try aiming for the Guard Armor's hands first!"
"'Guard Armor'?" The duck asked.
"It's a large set of armor based on medieval knights, whose job was to protect their lands. Fits, don't you agree?" Jimmy replied.
"Watch out! They're coming our way!" The dog warned as the armor then pushed its arms forward, 'detaching' them and letting them float after the group.
The gauntlets then clutched its fingers, forming fists as they began punching the ground and making their way towards the ranged heroes. However, the dog fortunately managed to deflect one of the blows and send one of the arms to the ground, stunned. This gave the group an opportunity to whale away at it. After enough blows, the gauntlet was finally destroyed, turning to smoke and leaving behind a mass of green spheres, which the group desperately needed.
"Alright, we know our plan for this!" The boy with the enlarged forehead found this to be a good sign. "Stun one of the limbs, then keep going hard on it until it's destroyed. We do that and take all the green spheres it leaves, we're sure to win!"
Taking care of the other arm turned out to be slightly easier, although the Guard Armor seemed to catch on to their plan and retracted the arm before sending its feet forward to stomp at them. But sadly for the Guard Armor, the method for the gauntlets appeared to work just as well for the legs, as a well timed hit from Sora's Keyblade, knocked one to its side, and the group attacked it all at once, destroying that one as well. By now, the Guard Armor seemed odd to look at, having only one gauntlet and one leg. But seeing as both seemed to move without needing their other half to act in tandem, clearly it wasn't out of the battle yet. And our heroes had yet to actually win.
The Guard Armor didn't seem to learn that much from its mistakes, however, and let its one gauntlet spin to try and claw at the heroes. But one hand did not have as much reach as two, and it ended up getting easily deflected and destroyed in an all-out assault. The same with the other leg, being stunned and ganged up on left it destroyed as well. Soon, it was only the torso and the helmet left, just hovering over the ground. Apparently helpless.
"Alright, now it's got nothing else to fight with!" Timmy cheered. "Let's take it out!"
"Hold on!" The duck held him back. "Why's it spinning like that?"
Indeed, the torso was starting to spin in place, moving faster and faster it began dashing towards them!
"Leaping leptons!" Jimmy exclaimed. "The torso can create a tornado around itself with its spinning!"
"Dodge!"
Everyone avoided the torso as best as they could. However, Danny found himself its apparent target and found himself turning intangible to avoid being hit. Sure enough, it worked… but then he found himself inside the torso proper. He blinked, seeing how hollow it was for himself. He also looked up, seeing the helmet right above him. That's when the ghost boy got an idea.
"Okay, Sir Pain-in-the-Butt," Danny came up with one of his hero quips as he turned tangible and got his hands glowing green, "let's see how you like getting hit from the inside!"
Danny thus began hitting it with ecto-blasts, punches, and kicks, making the torso rumble as the helmet seemed to shake in utter confusion. This actually gave the other heroes all the time they needed to recover and watch their ally at work. Even helping along by shooting and hitting the torso, doing extensive damage! To top it all off, Danny let himself float down to the floor and aim one glowing finger up through the hollow torso at the helmet.
"And now," he went for another quip, "headshot."
And it took one last ecto-blast to finally finish the job, hitting the helmet and piercing right through it. The entire torso and helmet then began to rumble heavily before the helmet just shook itself from the torso and fell to the ground with a clang. A light suddenly appeared from the top hollow end of the torso, and emerging from it in glorious sparkles was a heart that disappeared into the night sky. Its main source of power gone, the Guard Armor, torso and helmet, dissipated into mist and glass. All that was left behind was an accessory. A silver necklace bearing a silver sword with a red jewel on the hilt. Danny thus picked it up and pocketed it.
With that taken care of, all that was left was taking care of a few matters to resolve.
"So, you were looking for me?" Sora asked the new pair, who nodded in response.
"They, too, have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade." Leon, who had arrived along with Yuffie once the pillars were gone, explained.
"Gosh, everybody's interested in that Keyblade, huh?" Spongebob remarked on that. "I did tell you that you're a fantasy hero in the making, Sora!"
"Hey, why don't you guys come with us?" The dog asked the gang, not noticing the annoyed look that the duck was giving him. "We can go to other worlds on our vessel."
"Well, I would admit that seeing your spaceship would be interesting…" Jimmy admitted, considering the options. "And we need some form of transportation since my Portable UPM is being repaired… or attempted to be."
"I wonder if I could find Riku and Kairi…" Sora actually looked down, again feeling depressed for not finding them even after beating that large Heartless.
"Of course." The duck told him, making Sora look up.
"See, what did I tell you, Sora?" Spongebob was happy to hear someone else agreed with the idea. "If someone you just met said you can find your friends, it's gotta be obvious you can!"
Though Spongebob didn't notice it, Danny, Timmy, and Jimmy did notice the duck and dog huddling towards each other and whispering so they, or perhaps more specifically Sora, didn't hear. As such, the three had raised brows above their eyes.
"Are you sure?" The dog whispered to the duck.
"Who knows?" The duck answered honestly, gesturing to Sora with a feathered thumb. "But we need him to come with us to help us find the king. Also, what have I told you about the world order? We can't bring those other guys with us."
"But they helped out and they know him better than we do. It's not like we can just leave them here. They don't even look like they live here either."
"Nobody really lives here either, remember? They have no business with us."
"Sora, go with them." Leon told Sora. "Especially if you want to find your friends."
"Yeah, I guess." Even so, the Keyblade wielder didn't sound all that convinced.
"Up up up!" And with that, Timmy finally had enough. "That's enough moping out of you, Sora. You're not gonna get anywhere if you keep doing that."
"Huh?" Sora looked at the boy in surprise.
"He's right. You can't come along looking like that. Understand?" The duck also told him, shaking a feathered finger. "No frowning. No sad face. Okay?"
"Yeah, you gotta look funny. Like us!" The dog laughed right next to his friend's face before the duck pushed him out of the way.
"This boat runs on happy faces." The duck added, encouraging Sora to buck up.
"Ooooh! I know how to help that along!" Spongebob then saw an opportunity and decided to take it. "You see, Sora, the best way to be happy is just to have fun."
"Fun?" Sora asked. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I'm glad you asked!" Spongebob cleared his throat. "Now, let me spell it for you."
"Wait, is he going to–" Timmy could swear music suddenly started out of nowhere.
"F is for Friends who do stuff together,
U is for you and me~..." Spongebob sang, somehow forming the letters out of thin air.
"He is." Danny confirmed, Jimmy just blinking in confusion.
"N is for anywhere at any time at all," he then formed his head into the shape of an N before flipping and posing in front of the fountain.
"In all of the worlds you'll see~!" an unseen chorus suddenly sang out as the F and U dropped right next to Spongebob.
"Um, uh…" The mallard wasn't sure how to work with this. How could he? This came right out of nowhere.
"Don't worry, you can do it!" The dog encouraged him with a chuckle.
"Okay, um… F is for Fire, the most basic magic used,
U is for Ultima, the strongest spell," oh, he tried. He definitely tried,
"N is for non-elemental, which Ultima is–"
"Woah there, mister." Spongebob gently cut him off. "Glad you're trying, but that's not what fun is all about. Now, do it like this."
Doing a dance while tapping his feet and waving his arms, he sang, "F is for friends who do stuff to–"
"Nuh-uh!" The duck shook his head with a glare. "I am NOT dancing like that."
But not being bothered, Spongebob got behind the wizard, telling him, "Here, let me help you."
"F is for friends who do stuff together,
U is for you and me," he sang as he helped him dance before letting him go. "Try it!"
"N is for anywhere at any time at all?" Donald sang, yet also asked as he found himself doing a flip and a pose.
"In all of the worlds you'll see~!" the unseen chorus sang once more.
"Hey, you know something?" Sora finally said with a smile after watching this with fascination. "I actually can't help but feel even better than I had before. That's good, right?"
"Of course! That's how you're supposed to feel!" Spongebob told Sora with a smile, glad to see it working.
"Hey, mind if I join in too?" The dog asked with a smile. "Let's do it again!"
"Okay~!" Spongebob couldn't agree more.
"F is for Frolic, through all the flowers," Spongebob, Sora, and the dog began singing together,
"U is for Ukelele,
N is for Nose-picking, sharing gum and sand-licking,
here with my best buddies~!"
With that, Sora, Spongebob, and the dog all laughed together as they danced together in silly ways, with the duck unable to help himself either and joined in the laughter. So did Yuffie, just finding the whole thing hilarious. Cosmo too. The only ones who didn't join in the laughter were Jimmy, Goddard, Timmy, Wanda, Danny, and Leon, the latter of whom just shook his head as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
Oh, how he and a certain squid would get along.
Finally, after they all had their laughter, Sora said, "Okay, why not? I'll go with you guys. We'll all look for them together."
"Donald Duck." The duck put one feathered hand forward.
"Name's Goofy." The dog put a gloved hand forward as well.
"I'm Sora." Sora put his hand forth as well.
Donald appeared to say something after that, but then another hand placed itself over Sora's, having them look towards…
"Danny Phantom. Ghostly superhero." Danny said.
Before Donald could say anything about it, other hands put themselves forward as well.
"Timmy Turner." The buck-toothed boy introduced.
"Spongebob Squarepants!" The sponge happily called.
"And Jimmy Neutron, boy genius." Jimmy finished the roll call.
"All for one, one for all." Goofy had no problems with this.
"Hey, wait a minute–" Donald, on the other hand… would get cut off again.
"Now with all of us together, the Syndicate won't stand a chance!" Spongebob cheered.
"Uh… what's a Syndicate?" Goofy asked.
Everyone thus looked to Jimmy Neutron at that, Goddard included. The boy genius couldn't help but sigh at this.
"I really hope I don't have to do this every single time." He muttered. "Okay. Here's how it all started on our end…"
—-
Sadly, how were they to know that they were being watched? Not by the Syndicate, but by another party entirely? In the darkness of a foreboding room in another world, this mysterious group talked about what they had witnessed.
"That little squirt took down that Heartless! Who'd have thought it?" A figure with flames dancing atop his head wondered.
"Such is the power of the Keyblade." A man holding a snake staff said. "The child's strength is not his own."
"Why don't we turn him into a Heartless?" A rotund woman chortled as tentacles moved by her side. "That'll settle things quick enough."
"And the brat's friends are the King's lackeys." A man with a hook for a hand observed Donald and Goofy. "Swoggle me eyes, they're all bilge rats by the look of them."
"You're no prize yourself." A walking, talking sack taunted the hook-handed man with a laugh.
"Shut up!" The man was about to take out his sword in retaliation.
"Enough."
A dignified voice stopped the potential conflict, and all their gazes turned towards their apparent leader.
Fair and green-skinned, the woman's shining, yellow eyes were heavily shadowed with violet make-up and her lips were painted red. This dark witch's head was topped with a black-horned headdress and she wore a long, tattered black robe with a purple trim and maroon flare edges, and fin-like spikes on the sides of her neck. The spikes along with the collar of her robe created an upside-down pentagram. She carried a staff with a glowing green orb at the tip. And on one finger, she wore a golden ring with a circular black stone embedded in it.
"The Keyblade has chosen him. Will it be he who conquers the darkness? Or will the darkness swallow him?" She wondered, smirking. "Either way, he could be quite useful…"
"If you say so… but what about those other four?" The man holding his staff stroked his twisted beard in thought. "They may appear to be a band of misfits, but they had helped aid in that Heartless's temporary destruction. Not to mention the one who landed the final blow was not the holder of the Keyblade, but the boy with the spirit powers."
"Yeah, now that you mention it. He's certainly got that familiar aura about it." The figure with flaming hair admitted. "Dead, and yet…"
"Please, like that's anything to worry about." The rounder woman dismissed. "Have you seen the sponge? He wouldn't last a minute under my oceans! And that song. Ugh… Should have HIM turned into a Heartless just on principle."
"That's nothin'!" The living bag looked over at Jimmy's image. "Just check out that big head! How does the brat not fall over with all that weight he's got in his skull?"
"And those large buck teeth on the boy with the pink hat." The hook-handed man commented. "I've seen better smiles coming from the queen's court! Just what is this band of fools?"
"I believe I can answer that."
And then, to the entire party's surprise, a green portal appeared at the end of the hall, and out came Professor Calamitous, walking with a purpose with a smirk on his face. Not disturbed in the slightest as they all seemed to brace themselves for something to happen.
"Who are you?" The man holding the snake staff demanded as the red eyes in it began to glow. "How could you have possibly gotten here without a vessel?"
"Through the use of warp technology, my friend." He answered. "But allow me to introduce myself. I am Professor Finbarr Calamitous. Leader of the villainous Syndicate, evil genius extraordinaire, and an… you know… interested party to what is happening in a world I have only just discovered beyond our own."
"A Sin-dicate, you say?" The sorceress looked at this peculiar, short man with interest. "And what, pray tell, has caught your interest, Calamitous, to have traveled so far and appear unannounced?"
"Why, I wouldn't want to assume, my fair lady," he flattered her first, walking past the other dark individuals to approach her, "but I believe the two of us have similar goals. The complete and total subjugation of the… um… erm…"
"Universe?" The flame-headed man finished for him.
"Yes, universe!" Calamitous confirmed, "The complete and total subjugation of the universe under our rule. You see, through the use of an invention known as the Universe Portal Machine, I have gathered three-like minded villains to form an alliance in order to take over our four worlds. And judging by the number of people you have gathered for your own alliance, I gathered you had the same idea, and so I desired to meet you as soon as possible."
Calamitous then took the woman's hand in his, his glasses coming off his eyes.
"And might I say, you are quite the, oh… remarkable woman in both beauty and intelligence~." He then kissed her ring for added effect.
Reactions to that were mixed. The man with fire on his head actually whistled, the man with the twisted beard rolled his eyes, the octopus woman looked intrigued by this, the hook-handed one just blinked in confusion, while the sack just chuckled. Their leader simply smiled at the flattery and clear attempt to charm her before gently pulling her hand away.
"While I appreciate it, I'm afraid flattery's hardly going to get you anywhere here, Professor." She told him, walking forward. "Now tell me, if you claim that we both share similar goals, as you say, just what is it that you have to offer us besides mere compliments?"
Calamitous chuckled at this as his glasses came again over his eyes. He then pulled out a remote device from his pocket and pressed a button, replacing the hologram on their table with that of four worlds connected by a set of green-portal pathways, all connected together. Pressing another button, he had screens showing images from those worlds shown in full view.
"Much more than you might think, my dear." Calamitous went on to walk around the taller villains as they looked at the holograms with interest. "For starters, energy of all kinds to power your, shall we say… nefarious plots. Ghost energy from the Ghost Zone, with plenty of ectoplasmic powerhouses potentially at your beck and call…"
The flame-headed man and the living sack both made sounds of interest as they looked into the screen showing a realm of black and green, with specters roaming freely.
"Or perhaps the likes of jellyfish electricity from an undersea world," the evil scientist continued, this part getting into the rounder woman's head, "on top of it being completely ill-prepared for the likes of a powerful, ohhh… 'sea witch'..."
"Oooooh…~" She liked that part, maliciously smirking at a city filled with unwitting fishpeople.
"Or even more, a world supposedly filled with the likes of, erm… magic beyond that of anyone's comprehension…" Calamitous gestured to a third world, with a screen showing a land above clouds connected to a rainbow bridge.
This got the ambitious smirk of the snake-staff holder. The hook-handed man, however, didn't seem as impressed. If anything, he got a suspicion he didn't like what he was looking at.
"And of course, the energy I take from my own world with the power of science." Calamitous then came back up to the woman leading this group. "This, the Syndicate and I can offer if this catches your interest, madam."
The horned mistress pondered on this sudden offer. It seemed this newcomer had definitely planned this out ahead of time. Quite impressive. And this energy from other worlds could prove useful as well. Perhaps if they tried the same with the worlds they were from… but all the same, she still had something else to ask.
"And just what is it that you would desire in return?" She asked, getting to the point.
"Quite simple really." He chuckled. "Your cooperation in our endeavors, and… um… ah, yes…"
He pressed the button again, changing the hologram to that… of a Shadow Heartless.
"Tell me, how can we use these?" He finished, a truly sinister chuckle coming out of his lips.
With this, the dark fairy smirked back and turned to directly face him. Seems the darkness indeed attracted all.
"Very well, Professor Calamitous. We accept this union of our alliances." She decided, shaking his hand. "I believe this will be a most… interesting relationship."
"I couldn't agree more…" he replied.
And this was the beginning of things going from bad to worse in the known universe. Of worlds going into further turmoil than they had before. Of worse being yet to come. One could only hope that our heroes would be prepared for it as their adventure is sure to begin.
"Now," Calamitous then faced his newfound allies with an eager grin, "who's up for spaghetti and tater tots?"