Our heroes began exploring the forest after their little encounter with the Cheshire Cat. It honestly came to no surprise that they would also end up running into the likes of the Heartless in this peculiar wood. More of the same, however. Shadows, Soldiers, Red Nocturnes. By now, the group had gotten their patterns down and they became easy to put down. Even Spongebob started getting the hang of deflecting fireballs with his foam gloves. …Though he did take a moment to stare at his gloves in surprise.
"Huh." He mused. "You'd think that with these being foam, they'd burn easily. I mean, that makes about as much sense as how we could have fires underwater back ho– hey, what's this?"
The square sponge was brought out of his musings when he noticed something colorful in the midst of the greens and browns of the grass. He walked over and pushed some of the plants out of the way, spying a peculiar box just sitting there on the ground. Small and square, just like him, but colored pink and dark pink with orange squares. The lid was tipped with a yellow ribbon with a heart on it. The fry cook picked up the box and opened the lid, checking what was inside. He blinked as he pulled out the item inside.
To Spongebob's confusion, it appeared to be a painting depicting footprints being made in dirt. Though come to think of it, he seemed to find those footprints looked very familiar.
"What's that you got there, Spongebob?" Goofy asked, walking up to him.
"Guess someone left their painting of footprints behind." Spongebob answered him. "But who would do that? And talk about a peculiar topic to paint."
"Hold on, Spongebob." Jiminy Cricket spoke up. "That might not actually be a painting. If anything, this could very well be a clue! Take a good look at the prints. You notice something about them?"
Spongebob and Goofy took a good look at the portrait. Both held their chins and squinted their eyes to get a real good look to figure out what the royal chronicler could be pointing out.
"Hmmm… Well, uh," Goofy started, "not sure how important this is, but the Heartless sure do have smooth feet."
"Yeah." Spongebob agreed. "Even as the toes start to merge in the middle."
At that, the sea sponge realized just what it was. Heartless feet, from what they've seen so far from the Shadows and Soldiers, did merge in the toes to get those pointy curls! This was a clue!
"Wow, finding this WAS a cinch!" Goofy concurred with the Cheshire Cat's words.
"So now we just have three pieces of evidence left to find." Jiminy Cricket recalled. "Perhaps they're deeper in the forest?"
"Oh, I hope not!" Spongebob said. "The last thing we need is to get lost when poor Alice needs us."
"Well since we're only slightly spread looking for these clues, we should have better luck that way." Jiminy assured him. "But let's keep looking. Can't let our friends do all the work getting the other three pieces of evidence."
"Might want to make that two."
They heard Danny's voice as they saw the ghost boy flying over to them with Donald hanging onto him. In his hands was another box much like the one Spongebob found. He seemed to have no issue with the box as he floated down to land near them. However, Donald seemed to be holding the nostrils in his bill closed and his eyes shut out of revulsion. This was enough to get someone curious enough to ask.
"Hey Donald, what's botherin' ya?" Goofy asked the court magician. "Somethin' wrong with the clue?"
"Oh, nothing's wrong." Donald's voice was really nasally due to plugging his nostrils. "That's the problem."
"What could be so bad about it?" Spongebob went towards the box Danny held and made to open the lid.
"Wait, I'd brace myself before you do that!" Danny warned Spongebob.
"How come–?"
But it was too late. Spongebob opened the box, and then his and the others' nostrils were assaulted by the most revolting scent they had ever taken into their noses. The group made gagging sounds and tried covering their mouths just to avoid retching from sheer disgust. Jiminy Cricket slid back into Goofy's hat to avoid taking in the smell. All the while, Spongebob had flashbacks to when he made a sundae without any ice cream. Boy was that ever a day.
"Aw barnacles, Danny!" Spongebob tried waving the fumes from his face. "What did you find?"
"Nothing but this stench." Danny made sure to plug his nose in the nick of time. "That's literally all that is in the box. Ended up finding it through a hole in the large tree that somehow took us back to the room with the Doorknob. Just like in the book, Wonderland makes no sense. If anything, this Wonderland might even make less sense than it does in the book!"
"Gawrsh!" Goofy's voice was muffled behind his hands. "Does this mean the Heartless actually have a smell?"
"Smells like it," Donald said, nostrils still plugged, "and the darkness smells terrible!"
"Let's stop saying 'smells', please." Danny thankfully closed the lid, ceasing the stench's expansion and getting the others to breathe in fresh air with relief.
With that, the group had found two of the clues they needed in order to clear Alice's name. All that was left was to find the other two. One was supposed to be simple, the other was supposed to be difficult. Now, how were they to figure out what would be easy or difficult in this forest? After all, a wood so thick would practically make things harder to find in of itself, would it not?
In the midst of their relief, the group then heard the sound of someone singing a little shanty. Spongebob could definitely recognize it as a shanty due to remembering hearing Mr. Krabs sometimes singing this number himself. The group looked out to the deeper part of the forest, seeing another most peculiar creature walking along his merry way while smoking a pipe. A big-bellied anthropomorphic dodo bird with white feathers, orange bird-legs and feet, a white wig with a ponytail tied with a blue bow, a black sailor's hat, a blue vest, and a purple coat. A rather jolly-looking fellow, all things considered. They heard the dodo sing as he walked along:
"Oh, a sailor's life is a life for me
How I love to sail
On the bounding sea
And I never never ever
Do a thing about the weather
For the weather never ever
Does a thing for me~"
"Hey, that guy's got pretty good pipes!" Spongebob admired his singing.
"You think he might know somethin' about the Heartless around here?" Goofy wondered.
"Well, let's just ask him." Danny waved over to the dodo. "Hey, excuse me! Sir? A moment of your time?"
The dodo cut himself from his own singing as he heard he was being called. He looked over to the group and looked at them with pleasant surprise.
"Why ahoy there, chaps! Pleasant day, isn't it?" He greeted with a raise of his hat as the group came over to him. "What might be your names?"
"Ahoy to you, too!" Spongebob greeted, shaking his hand. "I'm Spongebob Squarepants. These are Danny, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy. Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Dodo, sir!"
"Oh please, no need for that. Just call me Dodo. That or Pat. Either or is good for me, I say." The Dodo chuckled. "But anyway, what can I do for you strapping young boys?"
"Well, Dodo," the halfa started, "we're just looking for anything we can on the Heartless around here. You know, the shadowy things that have been popping up lately?"
"Oh, you mean those dreaded creatures?" Pat blew his beak on a handkerchief with a honk. "Yes, rude things, they are. No proper greetings, just go about attacking anybody they see. Might even be worse than the Jabberwocky."
"The Jabberwocky?" Goofy echoed that.
"Oh yes, the Jabberwocky, with jaws that bite and claws that catch!" The Dodo explained. "Hm. Haven't seen that lately, either. Usually he'd be seen whiffling through the tulgey wood. Now it's all quiet, and not a burble to be heard."
"Ooooookay," Danny really did not need a repeat of that particular poem, "but what about the shadows? Do you think they might be responsible for attacking the Queen of Hearts?"
"Oh, they attacked the queen, too?" The extinct bird asked, surprised to hear that. "By jove! Rude as they are, that's certainly rather gutsy, now, isn't it? Doesn't sound as though they succeeded if I'm judging your tone right."
"Well, no, Mr. Dodo." Spongebob said, still being formal. "But unfortunately a poor girl named Alice is put on trial for their crime. So we need the evidence to clear her name."
"Hm. Name doesn't ring a bell, unfortunately." Pat shrugged, lighting up his pipe.
"She's a blonde girl with blue eyes and wears a blue dress." The ghost boy explained shortly.
"Oh, her! I recognize who you're talking about!" The Dodo replied in realization. "Good little lady, but not exactly cooperative when it comes to getting dry or burning monsters out of houses. Do tell me, does she have a penchant for changing sizes?"
"Wouldn't know." The captain of the royal knights shrugged. "We just met her. So you wouldn't say Alice would do anythin' bad, right?"
"Why no, can't say I can." Dodo shook his head. "Her manners and patience might need a bit of improvement, but she didn't come off as someone who'd hurt a bread-and-butterfly."
"That's good to hear." Spongebob said. "Just one last thing. You wouldn't perchance have seen any boxes like these, would you?"
Spongebob and Danny held out the pink and dark pink boxes in their hands. The Dodo took a good look at the boxes, stroking his chin and closing an eye for a better look. He hummed as he tapped the boxes with a blue walking cane. Spongebob, Danny, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy (who decided to peek out of Goofy's hat to test for clear air) all looked at each other and wondered if he was really looking into it. After a while, the Dodo finally made a sound of exclamation, apparently recognizing the box.
"Why yes, I do believe I saw a box very similar to these just down where I came from." The Dodo answered. "Just head down that way and you should see it atop one of the lily pads. Of course, you'll have to be careful of those monsters along the way."
"Will do!" The sea sponge waved as the Dodo began going along his way. "You stay safe, Mr. Dodo!"
"Cheerio, chaps!" Pat returned the farewell. "Good luck defending the girl from the Queen! You'll need it!"
"Well fellas," Jiminy Cricket said to his friends, "looks like we'll be grouping with Sora, Timmy and Jimmy ahead. No doubt they'd like to hear about what we found."
"They might have even found the other clues, too!" Spongebob was hopeful about that.
Deeper in the forest… they have not. Sora, alongside Jimmy and Timmy, had been looking for clues themselves. But unfortunately they didn't have as much luck finding anything. After all, what were they supposed to look for? Honestly, the only thing they found this deep in the woods was that a way forward was apparently blocked by a large rock. Even with their combined efforts, they couldn't push it out of the way.
"Jeez, Jimmy." Timmy said to the boy genius. "Can't you just have Goddard blow it up or something?"
"And risk a forest fire or even annoying any talking flowers around here?" Jimmy asked back. "That's a terrible idea."
"Wait, the flowers here can talk?" Sora asked next. "Wait, let me guess. That was in the book too, right?"
"That it is, Sora." Jimmy confirmed. "However, the flowers are very presumptuous and egotistical here. Why, they even accuse Alice of being a weed and shove her off rudely. I'm willing to bet the same thing happened to her in this world's version of Wonderland as well."
"So asking them would be a no-go. Got it." The buck-toothed boy figured. "Anyway, so we can't move forward. Back to searching?"
Sora and Jimmy nodded, basically confirming that was all they could do at the moment. However, as they continued searching, none of them realized a pair of people were watching them from the bushes. The unknown pair moved their way out of the bushes, coming up behind the trio. Sora decided to try looking into a nearby hollow log on the ground to see if anything was hiding in there, while Timmy and Jimmy just went around it to search through more of the fauna. The duo, noting that this wasn't going to get them noticed faster, decided to make their way over the top of the log and stood at attention there. Sora, coming out from the log, did not realize or notice their presence even as he came out.
"Hm… I dunno about you guys," Sora said to Timmy and Jimmy as they turned around, "but I think– woah!"
When they turned, they finally saw the pair. A pair of identical twins with stout, rotund bodies, fair skin, red hair that stuck out between their ears, round noses, and black eyes. They wore red caps with yellow flags protruding on the top, yellow shirts with white collars, prominent cufflinks, big blue bowties, and red pants. They seemed to stand still as statues, their flags blowing in the wind. Jimmy of course knew who these two would be.
"Huh. These guys look funny." Timmy looked them over.
"Not as funny as their pants!" Cosmo, in his Star Flinger form, commented. "Just look at how high those things reach!"
Curious, Sora walked over to the figures. He noted on their cufflinks, embroidered in string, were names. One for both of them. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Names just as peculiar as their owners.
"Think they're brothers or something?" Sora asked, checking out the outfits.
"They are, as a matter of fact." Jimmy answered. "But I wouldn't recommend doing anything that might set events beyond our control in motion."
"Like what?" Sora asked, poking the one known as Tweedle Dum…
And was met with a honk coming out of his mouth, surprising the trio.
"If you think we're waxworks, you ought to pay, you know." Tweedle Dum then told the trio before elbowing his brother, making him honk in a higher voice.
"Contrariwise, if you think we're alive, you ought to speak to us." Tweedle Dee added, elbowing his brother back, making him honk as he ended up bumping his body back, making Dee honk as well.
Then the pair of Tweedles jumped on the log and began a peculiar dance, kicking each other and making each other honk. This was followed by them bumping their bodies against each other, followed next by jumping on each other with their bodies and honking more. Timmy, Sora, Gadget - who poked out of Sora's hair -, Cosmo and Wanda all looked at each other with perplexed expressions while Jimmy just facepalmed in exasperation. The Tweedles finished their routine by jumping off the log and landing on their feet next to each other.
"That's logic." Both stated.
"...That oddly makes sense." Gadget did admit with a shrug.
"Riiiight. Well, it was nice meeting the two of you, but we got business to take care of," Jimmy then quickly had Goddard turn Timmy and Sora around and tried walking in the opposite direction ahead of them, "so see you another time, goodbye–"
But before Jimmy could escape, the Tweedles quickly appeared in his path, standing in slanted angles in front of each other. Judging by the boy genius' exasperation, he should have known there'd be no escaping this particular situation.
"You're beginning backwards." Tweedle Dum told them before the brothers switched positions.
"Aye," Tweedle Dee agreed, "the first thing on a visit is to say…"
That was when they took Jimmy by the hands in a handshake before getting him involved in another little dance, singing all the while as they shook Jimmy up and down with their motions.
"How do you do and shake hands,
Shake hands,
Shake hands,
How do you do and shake hands,
State your name and business~."
And with that, the Tweedles ended up letting Jimmy drop to the ground, eyes spinning and dazed, and finished off by telling him, "That's manners."
"Is that what you call it?" Wanda asked, raising a brow at the Tweedles' antics.
"Well, my name is Sora," Sora introduced as he helped Jimmy get back on his feet, "and these are Timmy Turner and Jimmy Neutron. See we're actually looking for some evidence in these woods, but we're kind of having a hard time finding it."
"And it's very important that we continue looking," Jimmy then turned around and tried evading the Tweedles, "so we have no time to–"
But of course, the Tweedles got in his way again, this time holding their hands up to cease him from walking.
"You can't go yet." Tweedle Dee told him.
"No, the visit has just started." Tweedle Dum added.
Jimmy tried to move around the pair, but the two just kept moving in his path, blocking him. The boy genius was starting to get more annoyed by their antics. He knew this was coming. Oh, he knew for sure they were going to have to deal with this. Oh, but why did he have to take the brunt of it, he thought.
"And my apologies for cutting it short, but–"
All explanations fell on deaf ears with the Tweedles already at work trying to get the three of them to play.
"Would you like to play 'Hide-and-Seek'?" They asked. "Or 'Button, Button, Who's Got the Button'?"
"No thanks, we're good." Even Timmy, who had found their bothering Jimmy humorous at first, was starting to get a little less humored by the pair. "We just need to find–"
"If you stay long enough," they also popped up next to each other, putting up their dukes towards each other, "we might have a battle."
And thus they began hitting each other, making one another honk. Okay, now Timmy thought they were a little funny again. Cosmo was just laughing out loud, finding the duo funny from the very start.
"That's really nice and all," Sora told the two of them, gently pushing past them like they were a pair of doors, "but we have to get going."
Yet just like that, the pair suddenly dropped in front of Sora, asking, "Why?"
"Because we're looking for evidence." He answered, trying to move in another direction…
"Why?" Only for the two to pop up again before him and repeat the question.
"Because if we don't, Alice is going to be executed by the Queen of Hearts for a crime she didn't commit!" Jimmy finally had it and just shouted the answer. "Now, if you'll excuse us."
With that, Jimmy quickly pushed Timmy and Sora away from the Tweedles, muttering about annoying pairs under his breath. Sora and Timmy just looked at each other with confused expressions on their faces. Sure, the Tweedles seemed obnoxious, but it wasn't like they meant harm. Yes, they got a little distracted from their search, but still… Did Jimmy not like these characters in the book?
"Oooooh… Sounds serious." Tweedle Dum they could hear saying softly before both brothers clicked their tongues at each other.
That was also when Tweedle Dee whispered to his brother, "They must be looking for that strange box, aren't they?"
The whisper was spoken in a way that the trio trying to avoid them had no choice but to hear it. Jimmy Neutron really didn't want to take them at their word, but what choice did he have when the implications were obvious? Sora and Timmy were just genuinely curious. Could they be talking about potential evidence that they were looking for?
"Aye, and probably without it, they can't save that Alice girl." Tweedle Dum sniffed and, alongside his brother, held his hat in mourning, bemoaning her fate.
"Poor dear…" They both sighed.
"Hey," Sora spoke to them, walking back from Jimmy's pushing, "you guys wouldn't happen to know something, would you?"
"Yeah, what's this about a box?" Timmy did the same, curious.
Jimmy could practically feel the two brothers smirking at each other. Of course curious minds like Sora and Timmy would fall for such an obvious ploy. He could see Gadget shrugging apologetically at him from Sora's hair. Indeed, there truly was no avoiding this. Especially since the brothers were adjusting their bows and strutting along, twirling their caps on their fingers.
"Oh, you wouldn't be interested." Both said, sounding unconcerned.
"C'mon guys, this could be important info!" The buck-toothed child tried to implore them.
"No, no, you're all just in much too much of a hurry." The Tweedles shook their heads.
"Well, yeah, but can't you guys just tell us?" The keybearer asked.
"We wouldn't want to waste your time, don't you know?" The Tweedles replied, still unmoved.
Jimmy Neutron sighed, facepalming and letting his hand drop down slowly. No choice in the matter. Not one at all.
"Alright, alright, we'll stick around for a bit and hang out." Jimmy Neutron said to the two. "But then we have to get back to searching for evidence. Okay?"
And at that, the Tweedles' spirits lifted. Their plan worked like a charm!
"Okay!" Both confirmed. "Now then…!"
With that, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, quick as a flash, sat Sora, Jimmy, and Timmy down on the log. The two brothers stood before them like they were on stage, bumping into each other with another honk. Jimmy already had his chin on the palm of his hand, not holding an ounce of certainty that he was going to enjoy this on his face.
"Old Father William," Tweedle Dum announced, elbowing his brother and making him honk.
"Or," Tweedle Dee continued, "An Overinquisitive Son. Now, first verse!"
"Joy." Jimmy sighed.
"'You are old, father William,' the young man said," Tweedle Dee began, as Tweedle Dum acted old. "'And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head -
Do you think, at your age, it is right, is right?
Do you think, at your age, it is right?'"
"'Well, in me youth,' Father William replied to his son," Tweedle Dum picked up, "'I feared it would injure the brain;
But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I'll do it again and again and again.
Why, I'll do it again and again~.'"
"I hope the others are having better luck than we are." Sora whispered.
"So do I." Timmy, Jimmy and Gadget agreed.
Goddard just woofed. Fortunately, while they were busy sitting through the pair's poem recitation, their friends indeed came along towards the scene. Spongebob and Goofy were just about to call out to them, but Danny and Donald quickly shushed them, pointing out the odd show going on ahead. Their other allies, being audience to a pair of weirdos. Probably normal by this world's standards.
So, quietly, the group snuck up behind their friends and tapped their shoulders to get their attention. They were a bit surprised, but instead of drawing attention to them, they smiled in appreciation and began to try communicating their situation silently. Spongebob and Danny held up the two boxes they found, which gave Jimmy, Sora, Timmy and Gadget the idea that those were what the clues were inside. Sora wanted to look in the boxes, but one shake of the head from Donald, along with the fact he had his nostrils still plugged, implied that he did not want to know. Goofy also pointed up towards a nearby lily pad that was perched high up in the foliage, along with two mushrooms practically acting as platforms for reaching it. And what did they see on that lily pad?
A pink and dark pink box!
"'You are old,' said the youth;" Dee and Dum made it to the last verse, "'one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose -
What made you so awfully clever-ly clever
What made you so awfully clever?'"
"'I have answered three questions, and that is enough,'" Dum went last,
"Said his father; 'don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs, down stairs,
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!'"
And with their recital finished, the Tweedles honked after kicking each other right before announcing, "The end!"
Their audience applauded them, though they didn't notice the applause was more polite rather than anything genuine.
"That was a pretty good poem, guys." Sora told them, at least to be kind.
"Aye, and there's a moral to it." The Tweedles nodded.
"There is?" Timmy asked. "And what's that?"
"That certain poems get altered and spoken wrong." Jimmy answered, getting up from his sitting position. "Anyway, we listened to your poem. Now, we really must be going. So goodbye."
But then the Tweedles got in his way, with Dee saying, "Hold it, now! You said you were looking for evidence, weren't you?"
Dum quickly switched positions with Dee, adding, "Something that will exonerate Alice, right?"
"That's correct." The boy genius confirmed. "But no need to trouble yourselves, we can–"
"Oh, but we insist!" The Tweedles cut him off. A pattern he didn't really like, but let happen in this case.
"Just hop on those mushrooms up to the lily pad," Dee told them, with Dum adding, "Then you'll find a box. Maybe even a few chests higher in the trees."
"There's another box up near the faucet." Both Tweedles said next. "But you'll need to be high up to get it, and be very careful when jumping."
"Uhhh… Thanks?" Timmy didn't get it. Were these more riddles?
"And please, be careful when you look around." Tweedle Dum warned them.
"Aye, with all these shadows around, it's not as fun to play games in the woods anymore." Tweedle Dee agreed.
And with that, the Tweedles said their farewells and went off into the woods, leaving the whole group by themselves. Without further ado, Sora went over to the mushrooms, hopped up on them and made his way towards the lily pad. Getting onto it, he walked over to the box, tapped it with his Keyblade, and watched it open. Reaching into the box, he pulled out, much to his disgust, a black antenna he clearly recognized belonging to a Shadow.
"Ugh… Didn't think we'd be using actual body parts for this." The keybearer muttered.
"Probably wouldn't be a serious trial without one." Danny commented, floating up to look at the appendage. "Even in a world as weird as this."
"They said that there were chests up in the trees, right?" Goofy recalled the Tweedles saying. "Why don't we go get those while we're up here?"
So that's what they did. Managing to get a lucky jump towards a large bunch of leaves across from the lily pad, Sora made it to a blue treasure chest and unlocked that as well. Pulling out a peculiar item, he could tell it was a gummi block right away. It looked like a radio tower tipped with a satellite dish. Gadget identified that as a Scan-G, specifically a model which would scan for items ahead of them, which should be helpful for later when she and Jimmy would add more upgrades to the Gummi Ship. The keybearer tossed it over to denizen of Retroville, who caught it with gratitude.
Then Spongebob and Goddard heard the familiar sound of barking and started searching in that direction. Following the sounds, Spongebob hopped on a mushroom and managed to climb up onto another lily pad, seeing another blue treasure chest. The barks were definitely coming from within. He called Sora over just as Goddard flew up to it, inspecting the chest. The holder of the Keyblade of course tapped the chest, letting it open… and three small, furry creatures jumped out and piled on Sora, getting him on his back!
"Woah!" Spongebob exclaimed as he saw the three things on Sora. "You okay there, Sora?"
"THEY'RE EATING MY FAAAACEEEE!" The worried shout alerted everyone.
Jimmy was the first to get there, prepared and willing to save his friend's life. He screeched to a halt, seeing Sora be consumed in a white blur of barking, growling, and small tiny pink tongues and sharp white teeth...
"Dalmatian puppies? Here? Unlikely but not improbable, but why were they in a chest?" He mused to himself, no longer concerned as Sora rolled around, laughing while the adorable trio of puppies licked his face to death, slobbering it up and well lubricating it with spittle. "The Heartless would do something like this. But were they simply causing mischief? Or were they storing away food?"
He continued theorizing, the realm of numbers, probability, and mathematical formulae a worthy escape from the unpleasant connotations that realm of logic took him into.
"Hey, wouldn't these happen to be Pongo and Perdita's puppies?" Goofy figured, coming to see the scene with the others. "You guys did say that they all got scattered to other worlds, right?"
"Hey, yeah!" Timmy recalled. "And 99 of them at that! Can you believe it?"
"So that leaves 96… great." Donald Duck wasn't as enthusiastic about it.
"Oh perfect!" The fry cook, however, was. "Then we're one step in the right direction towards finding them all for Leon. There might be others in chests just like this one. Let's go find them!"
"That's a good idea and all," Jiminy Cricket brought up, "but how exactly will we manage to bring them back? It's not like we can bring them with us on our quest. That would be bringing the poor things in harm's way."
"Good point, and I don't think these little guys have the power to turn into gargantuan guard dogs." Danny agreed, picking up one of the puppies and letting it lick his face with a smile. But the smile ended up dropping as he looked down, "Wow, I miss Cujo…"
"Who's Cujo?" Sora sat up, playing with the other two puppies still on his lap.
"Oh, Cujo is this ghost dog I had some trouble-slash-fun with back home." The ghost boy explained, petting the dalmatian he held. "Used to be a security dog for a tech company called Axiom Industries. But apparently he passed on and became a ghost just looking for the toy he left behind. Long story short, I helped him find it and helped him achieve liberation before he went back to the Ghost Zone."
Danny pointedly left out several other details about it, such as how it led to a classmate's father losing his job, them moving into a run-down apartment, her losing her popular status, and her becoming a ghost hunter who saw him as an enemy. Truly an awkward story.
"G-G-G-G-Ghost Zone?" Spongebob shivered.
"I'll get to you on that later." The halfa told the sponge. "Still, what do we do with the puppies here? Also, totally not going to pick up any… droppings they might have left behind."
"Too much information, Danny." Gadget rolled her eyes. But then she blinked as a light bulb went off in her head. "But we just might invent a way to do the job! Jimmy, you know how we still have those gummi blocks we've yet to use?"
"Ah, I see what you're getting at!" Jimmy understood. "We just have to come up with the proper blueprint…"
Normally, coming up with a new invention on the fly would be difficult for even the most experienced scientist. However, Jimmy Neutron and Gadget Hackwrench weren't experts in their fields for nothing, and in no time at all did they manage to come up with a perfect device meant to solve their Dalmatian dilemma. Drawing up the blueprints in the very dirt, both mouse and boy genius took out the gummi blocks they had stored and went straight away combining them. Thanks to their combined intellect, they didn't even need to use all of their blocks. The invention itself took only mere minutes to be finished.
"Gentlemen," Jimmy announced to his fellows, "we give you… the Spotted Deck."
Jimmy held out the newly created device for them to see. Hovering just over the palm of his hand, the device appeared as a geodesic sphere in shape, colored white with black spots much like the Dalmatian puppies looking at it with curious gazes. The device then floated just a bit away from Jimmy Neutron, stopping above the puppies and emitting a green light that moved over the three. Pulling out a makeshift watch and attaching it to his wrist, he pressed a button and a holographic display of Traverse Town appeared from it. Spongebob scratched his square head in curiosity… and confusion.
"But Jimmy," Spongebob said to him, "while I get the spots, it doesn't look anything like a deck. What's it supposed to do?"
"Glad you asked, Spongebob." Gadget answered for Jimmy. "Using the gummi blocks and their respective functions normally meant for the ship, Jimmy and I put our heads together and came up with a handy device that should allow us to easily transport the puppies back to their parents without the hassle of having to keep them on the ship at all times until delivery."
"Combining this with the utilities of my Universe Portal Machine," Jimmy continued, "the Spotted Deck is effectively a miniature warp device that, while similar to my portable UPM, can only transport smaller objects across worlds. I already got the controls set up in the form of a wrist-watch, which I can use to set the coordinates and send the intended 'package' as it were to its destination. For now, it's the perfect way to send these puppies back to their home. Observe."
With that, Jimmy Neutron pressed the button, and suddenly the three puppies looked as though they were being digitized. Bit by bit, pixel by pixel, the puppies vanished into the device. The black and white sphere seemed to blink with a green light a couple times before at last it simply made a dinging sound. And on Jimmy's hologram of Traverse Town, a green check mark appeared, confirming the delivery was a success. With that, the device floated back to Jimmy and he put it in his pocket, with his new watch turning off the hologram.
"And with that, we have our method of returning the puppies to their parents." Gadget stated. "Great work, Jimmy!"
"Hey, without your skills with those blocks, it wouldn't have been possible." Jimmy replied to her. "Not like I can have all the credit for the Spotted Deck's conception."
"Still not getting the 'deck' part of the name…" Spongebob muttered.
"Ok, so we solved the puppy issue," Donald spoke up after tapping his foot throughout the whole exchange, "now why don't we focus on finding that last piece of evidence we need?"
"Well, those two back there said it was near a faucet, right?" Goofy figured. "Wasn't there one back in that bizarre room? We could just head back there."
"Yeah, but it was too high for us to reach with our small size." Sora recalled. "And being big would probably just have us risk crushing the box. So how do we get to it?"
"I could just fly up and get it." Danny suggested, but then he reconsidered. "Although, last time I flew up to get something, Heartless decided to get in the way and run off with something valuable. Who knew something apparently mindless would love being intentionally jerkish?"
"We should really find Mr. Doorknob's key while we're at it too." Spongebob recalled, making Donald groan and facepalm. "Can't just leave the poor guy robbed."
"...Give me…"
The request made the whole group look around. From how soft it was, it had to have come from ground level. So, they jumped off from their perch and began walking until they were just about back at the entrance they came through. Yet there didn't appear to be any sign of anyone in need of help. So since that was the case, where did the voice come from?
"Give me…" The voice requested again.
"Ok, so the voice is close," Timmy looked around, "but where?"
"Wait, I think I got an idea as to who this mystery voice may be." Jimmy Neutron, of course, came up with something. "Follow me!"
With that, Jimmy walked ahead of the group, moving northwest from the large stump. Everyone else followed after him… only to stop when he stopped after a few steps. He was looking towards a golden flower that appeared to have its petals closed. The group mostly looked confused at this. But then, quicker than the others, Sora, Timmy, and Gadget got an idea.
"Ooooh, so this is one of those talking flowers you mentioned?" Sora asked.
"It should be, if I understand this world's logic correctly." The boy genius answered. "The question remaining is, what does it want?"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Donald refused to believe it. "Flowers can't–"
"Give me a potion," the golden flower spoke, though still had its petals closed, "and I'll make you bigger."
"...talk." The royal magician finished with a sigh. "Why do I even bother?"
"So, should we give it what it wants?" The captain of the royal knights asked.
"Hm," Sora pulled out a potion, "well, if being bigger can help us out…"
"Wait, Sora!" Jimmy tried warning Sora when he made his way to the flower. "We're not sure just how much it means by–"
But it was too late. Sora gave the flower the potion. It then opened its petals and Sora found himself engulfed in smoke. Everyone else quickly ran off as the boy suddenly grew to immense heights, towering over them to the point of just barely being shorter than the largest tree in the forest. Surprised by the sudden growth spurt, the keybearer stumbled back before landing on his backside on the stump. Then the resulting impact flattened the stump into the ground, pushing a lily pad upward to become another platform.
"...bigger." Jimmy finished.
"Careful, guys!" Cosmo warned. "Next thing you know, he'll grind your bones for his bread!"
"Again, wrong story, sweetheart." Wanda told her husband.
"Okay… probably should have seen this coming." Sora carefully got back up on his feet. "You guys okay?"
A bunch of positive answers confirmed they were fine. Looking around in his gigantic size, the forest looked smaller and more… cramped than before. He could tell there was no way he was going to get back into the deeper parts of the forest with his size. He could also spot a treasure chest on a higher perch he was face-level with, but with his massive hands being too big to really open the chest, he couldn't risk crushing it and whatever's inside. Yes, this was more of a problem than a solution. How was he to get small again?
Sora's eyes then took note of a large nut just sitting on one of the tree's branches. Since apparently ingesting things changed ones' size in this world, perhaps this nut could do the same? So, the large Keyblade wielder walked towards the tree, being careful not to stomp on his friends, and used his key to fling the nut out of the tree. This also caused the tree to turn and change its position, though the nut just landed on the ground. Picking it up, Sora took a bite out of it, and was again enveloped in smoke, shrinking down to his normal size… or at least, the same size as his friends.
"Well," Sora said as everyone regrouped with him, "that just happened."
"So, Sora, what have we learned from that?" Jimmy Neutron approached him with his arms crossed.
"Ummmm…"
Sora looked for a good way to explain his rash decision. Fortunately for him, he saw the extended lily pad and immediately came up with an idea.
"That we now have a possible route towards our last piece of evidence?" Sora smiled.
"That's not what I… oh, forget it." Jimmy shook his head. "C'mon, everyone. Let's go see the route Sora opened up for us."
With that, everyone started heading up the mushrooms and lily pads, making sure to carefully jump over the gaps towards the other lily pads from the one Sora helped raise. Though as they made their way towards the other entrance high above some branches, Timmy couldn't help but recall something the Tweedles said earlier. Didn't they say the fourth clue was going to be up high and that they had to be careful when jumping? As he entered the door, he figured it probably didn't mean much.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy managed to land on the high faucet back in the bizarre room, but the others… they were falling! Danny quickly started flying and grabbed Spongebob by the seat of his square pants. Jimmy quickly held onto Goddard's leg as he went into propeller mode. And Timmy? His fairy godparents saved him by turning back to normal and holding him up by his arms.
"Huh. So this is what they meant." The average kid whom no one understood said out loud.
"Hey, no pushing!" Donald told the pair with him.
"But we're not, Donald!" Goofy told his friend.
"Hey, look!" Sora pointed ahead.
There, just across a gap and placed on a shelf, was one more box just like the other three. The final clue was finally right before them.
"Alright guys, I got this! Give me a second!" Sora readied himself for a run.
"Sora, we just talked about this–!" Jimmy tried calling out to him, but then Sora already ran, leaving him to finish, "and there he goes again. Danny, get ready to catch him!"
"On it!" Danny was already flying forward.
Fortunately, as Sora made his running jump towards that shelf, it appeared Danny's help was not necessary. Through sheer skill, or perhaps incredible luck, the spiky-haired boy managed to land perfectly on the shelf without any issue or potential tumble. He looked back to his friends and gave a thumbs up with a smile. Timmy, Gadget and Goofy gave him a thumbs up as Donald and Jimmy rolled their eyes. Spongebob and Jiminy just applauded while Danny whistled, quite impressed by the feat. Goddard simply played a sound clip of applause and cheers while Jimmy gave his pet a look.
With that, Sora walked over to the box, took out his Keyblade, and tapped it. The box opened, and from it Sora took out an interesting clue. A slab of stone, with claw marks embedded into it. Managing to join him on that shelf, his companions also looked at the slab, intrigued and somewhat nervous about it.
"That's supposed to be a legitimate stone, right?" Danny Phantom asked. "What could be strong enough to leave claw marks in solid stone? …Well, I'd answer my own question, but I don't think I've seen anything like them here."
"You don't suppose the Heartless did this too?" Spongebob shivered. "Is there anything that isn't scary about them?"
"No need to fret, Spongebob. We can take care of them." Jimmy told him. "What matters is that we got all the evidence we need, and we even have a quick method of reaching the court. Our case is as good as gold."
And with that, the Cheshire Cat appeared right on the faucet handle, smiling as ever.
"Well, look what you've found." The Cheshire Cat congratulated the lot. "Nice going."
"Yep, sure did!" Timmy nodded. "Now we can save Alice."
"Don't be so sure!" The feline's warning threw them off. "She may be innocent, but what about you?"
"What do you mean?" Sora asked, confused.
"I won't tell. But I'll give you something."
The Cheshire Cat waved a single paw, and suddenly Sora felt a bit colder inside. A freezing sensation, but at the same time Sora felt rather cool. Just in time as well, for once the Cheshire Cat disappeared, a Red Nocturne took his place! It got ready to send a fireball at them, but Sora moved to deflect it. But instead of deflecting it, the tip of the Keyblade instead turned blue and fired a blast of cold ice in the Red Nocturne's direction, killing it instantly and freeing the heart within it. They all looked at the Keyblade in surprise after that.
"I got ice powers now?" Sora blinked.
"You just learned the spell Blizzard." Donald explained. "Now you have more magic to use."
"So basically your Keyblade unlocked a new elemental function?" Jimmy figured. "Fascinating…"
"Wait, guys!" The Krusty Krab employee remembered. "We have something more important to attend to, remember? Let's go get this evidence back to the court and prove Alice is innocent!"
"That's right!" Sora nodded. "C'mon! Let's go!"
Without further ado, and after some careful floating down to the ground, our heroes went on again through the Queen's hedge maze, managing to make their way back towards the courtroom. So far, nothing had changed… save for the fact the Queen looked like she was waiting rather impatiently, tapping her throne's arm with her fingers. Poor Alice looked miserable in her cage, but she seemed to brighten when she saw Sora and the others coming back. Sora gave her a thumbs up, while his friends held up the four boxes for her to see. This gave the girl more hope that she would indeed be cleared. And that this cute boy would save her from peril, like in some of her sister's more interesting stories…
"It's about time you made it back here!" The Queen of Hearts voiced her abrasiveness when she saw the whole group come in. Then sounding like a sweet woman, she asked, "I trust you lot have come back with evidence as you claimed?"
"That we have, your majesties," Jimmy greeted both royals, making the King again feel proud to be acknowledged, "all thanks to your generous benevolence."
"O-Oh, yes, why, but of course, my good child." She chuckled good naturedly, also humoring his flattery. "Now, are you ready to present your evidence?"
"That we are, your highness." Sora nodded.
A grumble did escape her lips. Seemed that she would have to go along with this after all.
"Oh very well." She muttered, then speaking in a dignified manner, "Counsel, step up to the podium."
With Donald and Goofy being escorted to a stand far across from the jury, Sora, Spongebob, Danny, Timmy, and Jimmy walked up to the podium as the Queen ordered. Of course, they all had smiles on their faces, knowing full well they had a solid case in Alice's defense.
"Now," the Queen fanned herself, "show me what you have found."
"With pleasure, your honor." Spongebob replied, holding out the box he found as his friends held the others. "Now, if you'll allow us, we'd like to present Exhibit A. You see, out in the forest, not only were we attacked by the Heartless, they have also left–"
"Well," but the Queen cut him off, "that's certainly a lot of evidence, but I'm still not impressed."
"Uh, wh-huh?" Spongebob blinked.
"Cards!" The Queen shouted. "Bring forth my evidence!"
At her command, an Ace of Hearts and Two of Hearts brought forth a box that was exactly like the others, much to the boys' confusion. And to make matters more incomprehensible, the boxes all just merged into one box! Then they all split apart into five once more and dropped on the floor before them. The group looked towards Jimmy Neutron, hoping he might have some idea about what had just happened. All he could do was shrug back in response. This was odd even by Wonderland standards.
"Hmm, checking all five would only be a waste of time." The Queen of Hearts decided. "All right, then. Choose the one you wish to present. I'll decide who's guilty based on that evidence."
"What?" Sora asked, exasperated by this. "After all the trouble of collecting it?"
"Yeah, we clearly had more than enough evidence!" Danny pointed out. "Why drag this out?"
"YOU DARE OBJECT TO ME?!" The Queen of Hearts roared, pointing at the two of them, "OOOOOFFF WITH THEIR–"
"N-Now now, dear," the King of Hearts stopped her before she could belt her favorite catchphrase, "let's not get too hasty. We still have yet to see what's in one of the boxes. Can't we just see one? Hm?"
"Ohhh… very well." His wife could never say no when he begged like that. She then pointed to Sora and ordered, "Now, choose! One box!"
Sora looked to his friends for assistance. Unfortunately, his friends with him on the podium and the pair in the defense stand could only shrug. He was sadly on his own with this one. With this fact in mind, Sora took a good look at the boxes. Four of the boxes were the ones they found proving the Heartless were involved. However, one of the boxes was evidence the Queen had that would implicate Alice in some manner.
He had good odds, but what if he could end up getting the wrong choice on the first and only try he had? And what's more, what would happen to Alice? He looked at the girl in the cage. Poor Alice. This chain of events no doubt had her looking incredibly nervous. She was already looking at him, pleading for him to help her. Well, Sora didn't intend on failing her at this point. So, making his way towards the boxes, Sora went up to the first one he could focus on. The one in the very middle.
"Are you certain?" The Queen asked sweetly. "No second chances!"
"I'm sure." Sora nodded, pointing at the box. "This one, right here."
"Very well." The Queen understood, then she got serious when she said, "NOW, we shall see who the real culprit is. Cards! Open it."
The air had suddenly become tense as the Ace and Two of Hearts cautiously made their way towards the box Sora presented. They slowly reached toward the lid. They raised it up, opening the box… and a Soldier Heartless popped out, making everyone jump in surprise! Alice even gasped in her cage while the Cards quickly prepared their weapons to take the monster out! But the Soldier jumped over them and gripped on the Judge's stand's banner, climbing up it with its claws! The King of Hearts tried shooing it away with the judge's gavel, but it appeared there was nothing that could stop the Heartless from attacking the Queen!
…Well, except for an ecto-blast from Danny Phantom. The shot easily destroyed the Soldier. Everyone took a breath of relief while the halfa simply blew the smoke from his finger. Like there was ever any doubt.
"What in the world was that?" The Queen demanded to know.
"That, your Majesty, was a Heartless." Jimmy Neutron answered. "The very culprit who just tried to steal your heart as it attempted to before."
"There's your evidence." Sora told her. "Alice is innocent."
"I trust this case is closed now, your honor?" Spongebob asked with a satisfied smile.
Indeed, our heroes felt pretty good about themselves, having indeed proven Alice was clear of any wrongdoing. Alice also smiled with gratitude, happy they pulled through in the end. Even Donald was pretty impressed by this while Goofy just smiled. However, no one else seemed to share the same mindset. The Card Guards, the jury, the white rabbit, and the King of Hearts seemed to sweat nervously as they all looked towards their Queen. The Queen of Hearts, who looked ready to blow a gasket.
"Rrrrrrrgh…" The Queen growled. Then at last, she could no longer hold her temper back, shouting in fury, "SILENCE! I'm the law here!"
"But… But we proved it wasn't Alice who tried to attack you!" Spongebob didn't understand why she was still on about this. "And by your own rules!"
"I will not hear any more of this!" The Queen dictated. "Article 29: Anyone who defies the queen is GUILTY!"
"That's crazy!" Donald couldn't help but exclaim at the insanity of the decision.
"But we never defied you to begin with!" Jimmy tried to rationalize through Wonderland logic. "You just gave us none of the time we did not need–"
"I was never fooled by your words, boy!" But it was no use. She was done. "Seize them at once! OFFFFFFFFFFFFF WITH THEIR HEADS!"
With that, the courtroom suddenly shrunk down into nonexistence and the guards quickly began to mobilize. A small tower with wheel cranks attached appeared in the center of the room as a Ten of Spades quickly ran over to it and turned the wheel, making Alice's cage raise high into the air and a curtain covering it, with her shouting in fear as it all happened. Grouping together, our heroes readied themselves as the cards charged at them with their lances and axes!
"Well, we were expecting a brawl earlier. Let's give 'em one now!" Danny cracked his knuckles before his fists glowed green.
"We gotta get through them to save Alice!" Timmy readied the Star Flinger.
"Sora, you think you can unlock the cage from here?" Jimmy asked while blasting some approaching guards away with his Tornado Blaster. "Perhaps we can use your Keyblade's abilities to help Alice out of that cage, then Danny could retrieve Alice when it's open!"
"I can't right now!" Sora replied, beating an Eight of Hearts back with the Keyblade. "I need to concentrate in order to unlock something! That can't happen when a fight's going on!"
"Look out!" Goofy warned, managing to save Sora from being beheaded by a charging Five of Spades by blocking his weapon with his shield.
"Thanks!" Sora appreciated the save.
"Ahyuck! No problem!" Goofy gave him a thumbs up.
"Get them, you fools!" The Queen of Hearts ordered her men. "If they touch the tower, you lose your heads!"
"Hey, thanks for the tip!" Donald said as he and the others heard that.
With their actual target in mind, Sora went straight towards the tower, already knocking at it with his Keyblade. The card guards panicked, trying to get to Sora before he could do lasting damage. However, they found themselves being blocked by his friends at each turn. Spongebob, at one point, got cut in half by one of the Ace of Spades, surprising even the card, but he quickly put his halves back together with a laugh before returning the favor with a chop to the head. Timmy, Jimmy, and Donald easily kept the Five of Spades and Eight of Hearts back with their long-ranged attacks, pelting them with stars, blowing them away with wind gusts, and damaging them further with fire and ice spells. Goofy was consistently blocking attacks, while Danny made use of his punches and his ecto-blasts… but then the ghost boy felt a blue breath escape his lips.
"No… It couldn't be…" He whispered.
It was as if the fight slowed to an entire crawl. Danny saw his friends all fighting against the cards, with Sora whacking away at the tower. He could see the Queen giving orders while the King, meekly, also tried to do so. The rabbit was busy blowing his trumpet to rally the soldiers. The jury was currently hiding up in the corner of the room, trying to be as far from the conflict as possible. But none of them were what he was looking for. Just what could–
"Wait… where's–" The halfa then noticed something missing.
And just in the nick of time, Sora destroyed the tower. With it destroyed, the cage was lowered back down as everyone turned towards it. Sora and his friends quickly rushed off towards the cage as the curtain covering it turned. But when it turned around fully to reveal what was inside… There was nothing there. No one. Alice was missing. Practically everyone in the area gasped. Where did she go? And how?
"She must've gotten kidnapped while we were fighting." The duck assumed as they inspected the empty cage.
"But how? And by who?" Spongebob asked.
"You fools!" The Queen directed her temper towards her cards who quickly assumed position. "Find the one who's behind this! I don't care how!"
"There's no need."
Everyone looked towards Danny. The ghost boy had a serious expression on his face.
"What's the problem, Danny?" Timmy asked.
"Yes, speak up, boy!" The Queen of Hearts demanded. "You're not hiding anything from me, are you?"
"The culprit is still here." Danny's eyes narrowed.
"What?!" The Queen of Hearts looked around. "Where?! There's no one else here!"
"No one you can see." Danny then brought up one open palm glowing green with ghost energy. "Now get down!"
No time to ask why, Danny's allies along with everyone else in the area got down as Danny fired an ecto-blast… right towards the cage. And just in time to avoid being incinerated, the red curtain actually flew off of the cage and into the air, while the cage got destroyed. Everyone looked up in shock as the cage's curtain just flew about in the air… at least, before it began extending into a red cloak. A hooded red cloak with a skull at the chest.
Red eyes glowed in the shadow of the hood before the cloak opened in full, revealing its wearer. A green-skinned woman with red eyes, she was mostly bald except for the five black prominent hair spikes forming her Mohawk. Her most notable characteristic was that her body was covered in tattoos depicting several animals like bats and snakes as well as fiery skulls. To complete the punk look, she wore purple lipstick, her nose and ears were pierced, and she wore a metallic black cuff on each arm. Her outfit, without the cloak covering her curvy body, consisted of a black cleavage-exposing corset and matching underwear, along with black boots. And struggling in her grasp, mouth covered by one of the woman's hands, fear in her eyes, was Alice!
"Alice!" Sora exclaimed.
"Lydia?!" Danny Phantom recognized the figure.
"You know her?" Goofy asked.
"Of course I do. She's from my world!" Danny answered.
"What's she doing here?!" Donald demanded from him.
"How should I know?" The ghost boy answered back before glaring at the woman holding Alice. "But one thing's for sure. She's not here for anything good."
"Rule 47:" The King of Hearts read from a book he had apparently pulled out when Lydia revealed herself, "All kidnappers must release their kidnapees and leave the court immediately!"
Lydia only smirked in response, but grew agitated when Alice managed to pull her hand down from her mouth.
"Please! Help me!" Alice pleaded, only for Lydia to gag her once again.
Lydia then flew off through the entrance towards the lotus forest, leaving the card guards to scramble after her as the Queen was heard telling them to seize her, with her usual cry of, "OFFFFFFFF WITH HER HEAD!".
"We gotta get after her, guys! Quick!" Danny told his friends.
The group all nodded and followed suit after the card guards. Not only did they have to rescue Alice from another problem that suddenly appeared, it made the original four realize that something far more dangerous was happening. Somehow, someone from one of their worlds appeared in a world beyond their own. Which could only mean one thing.
The Syndicate was bigger than they thought, and they had already started getting the rest of the universe involved in their plans.
—-
Selphie was having the strangest dream. After getting home with Tidus and Wakka, she had a nice dinner with her family before heading to bed. Then she dreamt that she was older and was a student in some military academy trying to bring some brooding loner out of his shell. Then next thing she knew, her bed felt hard and cold, and the dream took longer than she figured it would. When she opened her eyes, she knew she definitely had to still be dreaming. But not any dream she had before.
After all, what dream would she have that involved her being in some kind of cell? Damp and cold. Made her think of the kind of dungeons she'd imagine being in old castles. What kind of dream was she having now? Perhaps she was a damsel in distress?
"So Plasmius has taken a boy under his wing?" She then heard voices coming from close by.
"Partly, yes. He had met this boy when he and the other members of the Syndicate were getting acquainted with their new allies." She heard them having a conversation with each other, the steps implicating they were walking as they talked. "Though his skills with the darkness are rather lackluster at best, Plasmius believes he can refine the boy's skills in other ways."
Selphie went up to the bars to look out and see who was talking. She saw two… very ominous figures walking together. One looked very much like a heinous knight. He had extremely long purple hair and green eyes. His body was unseen due to his attire, which consisted of black full-body armor with a black helmet that obscured his face and a mohawk of spikes on top, along with gray shoulder guards and a white skull at the center of his waist. He also wore a purple flaming cape like his hair, a hood of fire, gray flaming gauntlets, and flaming boots.
The other looked pretty metallic. He had electric green eyes, electric green flaming hair and goatee, and jagged teeth. The "skin" was an off-white and his arms had metal seams. He wore a black tank top and pants, a dark gray shoulder guard on his left shoulder, and a dark gray belt that slings across his chest. He also wore dark gray gauntlets that had technological features in the wrists, along with a gray utility belt that had a blue "S" on the buckle. He wore gray boots with blue laces and a necklace with a white skull on it.
"At the moment," the knight, the one who spoke second, continued, "Plasmius is planning on having him trained in the use of anti-ghost weaponry alongside this other human."
"Ahhhhh," the metallic one, the first voice from earlier, understood, "so in other words the boy will be working with one of Plasmius's pawns so he'll slowly come to trust him. That's clever."
"In a manner of speaking." The knight confirmed. "Now, how is progress with the Heartless coming along?"
"The Circus Gothica seems to have a handle at keeping them under control. How that is, their leader has yet to disclose." The hunter looked annoyed. "But I can't complain about that because it's apparently to the Syndicate's benefit. Now, as for our guest, she's–"
It was then Selphie felt their attention on her, and she immediately began getting chills up her spine. The hunter looked surprised to see her awake, but that melted away into a smirk.
"Seems that she's awake." He finished.
"I'll go inform Plasmius about this at once." With that, the knight walked off in the direction he came.
The hunter, on the other hand, walked over to the cell. His very presence caused Selphie to step back from the bars and back up against the wall. If this was a dream, Selphie was really hoping she'd wake up by now. But she found herself in the taller man's shadow, his electric green eyes bearing down upon her. And then…
"Boo." He said with a smirk.
"...Huh?" Selphie blinked at that. Did he seriously just say 'boo' to her? Like, some kiddie-scare? That definitely brought down some of the tension.
"Hm." He appeared to expect a different reaction. "Well, that checks out. You're definitely from another world."
"W… What are you talking about?" She asked.
"Oh, you'll find out once the lord of the castle comes to see you." He told her. "For now, enjoy your stay. After all, you're basically an 'honored guest'."
With that, the being walked off, chuckling as he did. Selphie didn't feel all that 'honored', personally. Locked in a cell, scary people talking about things she didn't know about, no idea why or how she got here. Selphie was starting to get the feeling this wasn't a dream. If anything, this was close to being a living nightmare.
"E-Excuse me, who are you?" A female voice asked her.
It was then Selphie found that she actually wasn't alone in this cell. Apparently imprisoned with her, the girl who spoke to her was a lovely vision, albeit otherworldly. Light green skin, red eyes and long blonde hair that was gathered in a French braid. She wore purple lipstick and a blue headband. Her outfit consisted of a two-toned light blue princess-style dress with long sleeves and a green band around the waist. She also wore light blue flats. Selphie also noticed she was technically floating a bit off of the ground.
"U-Um…" Selphie couldn't help but feel cold in this place, and more than just the low temperature in this dungeon. "My name is Selphie. Selphie Tilmitt. Who are you? Also, where are we?"
"Dorathea," the floating woman replied, "Princess Dorathea. And you do not know? This is the castle of Vlad Plasmius, the ruler of Amity Park."
"Amity Park…?" The islander girl didn't recognize that name. "I've never heard of it before… Is it close to Destiny Islands?"
"Pardon, but, what are these 'Destiny Islands' of which you speak?" Dorathea asked back. "I have never heard of a place like that."
Oh, this was definitely of major concern to Selphie. This nightmare was only getting worse. Trapped in a place she did not know of, with someone who did not know where she came from. Could all that Sora, Riku, and Kairi have been making that raft for really have been true? Could she be in… another world?
Oh, she hoped this dream would have someone save her soon…