Kingdom Hearts: The Dalmatian Bodyguard
Chapter 29: Belly of the Beast
As Dolly lay unconscious on the ground with Sora, her memories drifted towards the day she met Roxy. She was about the same age as most of her siblings and remembered seeing the dog catcher nabbing a young Rottweiler. Anyone else would've turned a blind eye, not wanting to cause trouble. But something in Dolly's heart told her to help her. Waiting for the dog catcher to get in, Dolly climbed up to the lock and managed to unlock it. The Rottweiler looked at Dolly and gave a grateful smile. Neither puppy knew it at the time but they'd have a strong friendship. Dolly started coming to and heard an angry Donald.
Donald: Knock it off!
Stone: (Seeing the duo wake up) General, Colonel!
Goofy: (Using his shield as an umbrella) Hey fellas, You two okay?
Dolly: I think so.
Sora: What are you guys doing? (Looking around) Where are we anyway?
Sora dodged an object as it fell.
Goofy: I think that big ol' whale Monstro just swallowed us.
Stone: (Pointing) And we weren't the only starship he swallowed.
Sora and Dolly saw Monstro's mouth littered with ship wreckage. Everything from normal wooden ships to starships. Sora saw M5-BZ working on repairing the Ebon Hawk with salvaged parts. Close to it was a ship that looked like it was turned into a campsite. Sparky looked nervous from all the moisture.
Goofy: (Kept getting hit by junk) And for today's weather: Expect showers.
Donald: Hey! Who's there?
To everyone's surprise, it was Pinocchio.
Pinocchio: Hey, guys.
Donald: Pinocchio!
Stone brought out an accension gun, fired a line to pull himself to Pinocchio, and brought him down safely.
Dolly: We were worried about you.
Pinocchio: Sorry, guys. All I know is I was waiting for you guys to come back then a flash of light appeared I ended up here.
Everyone saw Pinocchio's nose wasn't growing, so he was telling the truth. Pinocchio lead everyone to the campsite where a kind clockmaker was resting.
Jiminy: Geppetto!
Geppetto: Jiminy! Thank goodness you're okay.
Sora: Hello, sir. I'm Sora and these are my friends.
Geppetto: (As Pinocchio brought Stone his original helmet) Good to meet you all.
Pinocchio: I kept my promise, sir.
Stone swapped his helmets out and gave Pinocchio the Phase II helmet. Then Pinocchio saw someone go deeper into Monstro.
Dolly: Sir, our droid is fixing up our ship. We'll look around from someway to get Monstro to open his mouth. Please gather what belongings you have and just wait for us aboard there.
Geppetto: That's very generous of you, lass.
As Geppetto began doing that, everyone else saw Pinocchio going in deeper and decides to follow him. They found Pinocchio holding a piece of paper.
Sora: Pinocchio, come back with us.
Dolly: We'll handle getting Monstro to open his mouth.
Goofy: It's dangerous in here. Ya best get to the Ebon Hawk and wait.
Sora: My friends are right. This is no time for fun and games.
Riku: (Coming around the corner) But Sora, I thought you liked fun and games. Or are you too cool to play now that your General Keyblade?
Sora: Riku? What are you doing here?
Dolly didn't know why but she felt something was wrong with Riku.
Riku: Just playing with Pinocchio.
Sora: (A little frustrated) You know what I mean! What about Kairi? Did you find her? Was Roxy with her?
Riku: Maybe. Catch us and maybe I'll tell you what I know.
Before anyone could protest, Riku grabbed Pinocchio and ran off. As everyone ran after them, Shadow Heartless appeared and attacked them like they were Monstro's White Blood Cells.
Dolly: (Rolling away and drawing her Laser Lamp) At least I can try this out.
Dolly fired and used the Fire spell to destroy the Shadows.
Sora: (Destroying a Shadow) Looks like you got an additional weapon, Dolly.
Dolly: (Still blasting) Bow-Whacka-Wow!
Dolly inadvertently nailed Monstro's inners and the whale groaned loudly in pain from the hit. Everyone fell to their knees, covering their ears as the Shadow were destroyed by the sound itself. Sparky said that he didn't want to hear that again.
Stone: (Holstering his X-8 Night Sniper pistol) Monstro must be more sensitive on the inside. Best we hold off doing any damage until we're sure it might get us out.
Everyone agreed Stone was right on that as Goofy gave him the Archan blade to use. As everyone pressed on the search, Maleficent appeared to speak with Riku.
Maleficent: Why do you still care about that boy? He has all but deserted you for the Keyblade and his new companions, after all.
Riku struggled to keep the good part of his heart away from Maleficent, so he spoke a lie to her.
Riku: I don't care about him. I was just messing with him a little.
Maleficent believed him, thinking he was too useful as both a warrior and living shield.
Maleficent: Oh, yes. Of course you were. A small warning: Beware the darkness in your heart. The Heartless prey upon it.
Riku: (As Maleficent left) Mind your own business.
Riku could feel his heart in a war between light and darkness. With Maleficent's evil words echoing in his mind like a bad song, he struggled to stay in the light.