Now we continue with the journey to the lost empire. And we get to know more about this worlds' characters.
Enjoy!
A little while later, all the team's surviving vehicles had been unloaded from the smaller submarines and were now parked along the road that led into the fish's mouth. However, no one was smiling. Instead, they all gathered at the pool of water. Donald and Goofy took off their hats to pay their respects as Daisy rested her head on the mage's shoulder. Kairi, Xion, Naminé, Aqua, Minnie, and Ortensia did the same with Sora, Ven, Roxas, Terra, Mickey, and Oswald, all the boys wrapping their arms around them. The rest of the world-travellers, along with Milo and the surviving members originally part of the expedition, which included Rourke, Helga, Sweet, Vinny, Cookie, Mole, Audrey, Mrs. Packard, and only a handful of soldiers lowered their heads sadly. Even Mrs. Packard looked sad.
Sweet held a bowl and placed a small candle into it before solemnly placing it into the water. Silence fell upon everyone as the candle floated away.
Roukre sighed deeply as he said solemnly, "Seven hours ago, we started this expedition with 200 of the finest men and women I've ever known. We're all that's left."
Sora and his team sighed sadly, knowing that so many lives were lost in a short span of time. Kairi, Aqua, Naminé, Xion, Minnie, Daisy, and Ortensia softly cried into Sora, Terra, Roxas, Ven, Mickey, Donald, and Oswald's shoulders. The boys tried their best to comfort them. Max tried to comfort Goofy. Riku patted Sora's back. Lea did the same with Roxas. Isa and Myde just sighed sadly, the latter trying not to let his emotions get the better of him.
"I won't sugar-coat it ladies and gentlemen. We have a crisis on our hands." Rourke continued as everyone had their heads down. "But we've been up this particular creek before. We've always come through - paddle or no paddle. I see no reason to change that policy now."
Roruke looked at all the remaining survivors as he walked up a set of stairs. "From here on end, everyone pulls double-duty. Everyone drives, everyone works."
"You got it, Commander." nodded Oswald.
Rourke nodded at the lucky rabbit as he turned to Milo, who was holding the Shepherd's journal in his grasp. "Looks like all our chances for survival rest with you, Mr. Thatch - you and that book."
"We're all gonna die." Mrs. Packard muttered as she tossed her cigarette away.
"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence for everyone." Myde said sarcastically.
"My pleasure." Mrs. Packard replied in equal sarcasm.
Sora, Riku, Lea, Isa, and Terra rolled their eyes at that as the girls finally calmed down. The team of 20 looked down the road ahead, seeing nothing but dark shadows.
"Guess that's our path to the lost empire." said Ven.
"At least it's not the Dark World." Aqua said thankfully.
"Ok people, saddle up." Roruke called as everyone went to various vehicles. He turned to Helga. "Lieutenant, I wanted this convoy moving five minutes ago."
"Molière, you're on point!" Helga said to Mole before turning to Vinny who was near an oil truck. "No Vinny! Adurey's taking the oiler! You know the rules! I want you 50 yards behind that truck at all times!"
Vinny shrugged as he walked away as Audrey started up a truck. Helga turned to Packard and said, "Packard, put out that cigarette."
All of a sudden, there was a honking noise that caused most of the worldly-travellers to see Milo playing with the horn on a truck with Goofy chuckling. Sora, Ven, Mickey, Minnie, and Daisy rolled their eyes with exasperated smiles as Donald and Max face-palmed, the duck's hand sliding down and slipping off his bill.
"Well at least they're trying to make the most out of it." Ven said with a weak smile, making Aqua and Xion smile slightly.
Rourke, who was just as irritated as Donald and Max, approached the two alongside the rest of the team and single-handedly snacthed the horn off the truck, much to the disappointment of Milo and Goofy and to the relief of Lea, Isa, and Myde.
"Are any of you checked out on this class of vehicle?" Roukre asked everyone.
"What?" asked Roxas, puzzled.
"Uh…" Milo said hesitantly.
"Can you drive a truck?" Rourke added as he gestured to said vehicles.
"Oh." Roxas nodded, understanding.
"Yeah we all got our licenses." said Sora, showing his license to the commander.
Everyone else showed there's too.
"Though I think some of us are gonna be sitting in the back anyway." said Mickey.
"Why's that Mickey?" asked Donald.
"You me, Minnie, Daisy, Oswald, and Ortensia are too short to drive these trucks. Our feet can't touch the pedals." Mickey replied.
Donald looked at his legs and then the driver's seat of one of the trucks, then back and forth a few times before pouting.
"Aww, phooey." he muttered as Daisy patted his shoulder.
Everyone looked over at Milo, who gave a weak smile.
"Pfft! Of course I can drive a truck!" he answered as he climbed into the driver's seat and began fiddling with the equipment on the dashboard. "I mean, sure, you've got your steering, and your gas, and your brake, and this metal… uh… looking… thing."
"...'Metal looking thing'?" Lea asked skeptically as he raised an eyebrow. In fact, everyone else saturated at Milo in confusion, disbelief, and skepticalness.
"Ok so it was a bumper car at Coney Island.," Milo admitted, before adding. "But it's the same basic principle!"
Rourlkle sighed deeply before walking away, rolling eyes. Sora and most of his teammates looked over at Myde. He immediately got the picture.
"Hey, I'm not even gonna try." Myde said quickly, holding his hands up. "License or not, with something like this in a place like here, knowing my luck, I'll just end up driving it like it is a bumper car."
"Good call." said Lea as he sat in the driver's seat of one truck and Isa sat next to him. Donald and Daisy rode in the back.
Sora took the next driver's seat with Kairi sitting next to him as Mickey and Minnie hopped in the back. Aqua took another driver's seat with Terra sitting next to her as Oswald and Ortensia sat behind them. Riku hopped into one driver's seat with Naminé next to him as Roxas and Ven hopped in the back. Xion took the last car with Max next to her and Goofy and Myde sitting in the back.
It was extremely slow going for a couple of minutes with Milo in the lead. But he was making it difficult for himself and for everyone as he repeatedly pushed the break, stopping the truck, then pushed the gear forward multiple times while trying to correct his driving, and most of the crew were getting pretty impatient.
"Milo!" Lea shouted from his seat as Isa pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.
"Oh for Odin's sake." grunted Riku.
"At this rate, we're getting nowhere." muttered Donald.
"Sorry abou - sorry about that!" Milo apologized sheepishly as Mole honked the horn from his huge drilling machine angrilly.
"Milo needs some driving lessons." said Myde.
"Think you would've done better or worse?" asked Max.
Myde shrugged. "Dunno. Guess I've been outta the game for a while after I lost my heart." he replied.
"We can teach ya." Goofy offered.
"Thanks." Myde replied, a bit taken aback.
Then, Kairi had an idea.
And Kairi's idea worked. A few minutes later, the truck Milo was driving had been tied to the back of Mole's drilling machine and towed along. Milo disappointingly just fiddled with the steering wheel with his finger.
"Oh poor Milo." Minnie said sympathetically.
"Well… at least everyone's having a smoother run, including him." Sora piped up.
"True." nodded Minnie.
During the long journey, Heartless had tried to attack them, but Sora and his team handled them easily. The expedition was impressed with the twenty's fighting skills in different ways in terms of fighting styles and magic.
"They really know how to fight." said Sweet, impressed when some Shadows and Newshadows attacked the expedition and Sora and Co. were dealing with them.
"And who would've guessed they'd be magicafied." added Cookie.
"Wonder where they learned how to fight like that." said Vinny.
"Where did they say they were from again?" Audrey asked Milo.
Milo shrugged. "Dunno. All they said was that they're from different places." he replied.
"We should talk to them when we get the chance." said Sweet.
Rourke and Helga traded glances.
"You think those are the guys we were told about?" Helga asked the commander.
"I think they are." said Rourke. "We'd better watch our backs, Lieutenant."
As soon as all the Heartless were gone, Sora and his friends got back into the trucks. They had all stopped at a fork in the road, which was a gigantic head of a statue with two eye holes leading to a left and right path.
"Alright, which way?" asked Naminé.
"My intuition says that way!" Donald said confidently, pointing left.
Oswald studied the tunnels. He then hopped out of the truck he was in and rubbed his right foot.
"What are you doing?" asked Myde, confused.
"Trusting my rabbit luck." said Oswald as he sat his foot down and hopped back into the truck. "It's the right path."
"I think Oswald's right." said Goofy. "I gotta bad feeling about the left one."
Milo checked the journal before smiling and pointed left.
But as the trucks headed down the left path, a giant millipede had appeared threateningly, forcing everyone back in alarm. Goofy was right.
Because of this, Milo double-checked the journal, only to realize that when he held it sideways to the left side, Goofy and Oswald were both correct and apologetically pointed to the right side. Both Milo and Donald gave sheepish looks as everyone, especially Lea, Isa, Myde, and Mole, gave them glares.
"Well… at least it was a heads up." Daisy said with a nervous smile.
"Took the worlds outta my mouth." said Sora.
As they moved along a path again, Kairi thought she saw something move beside them all several feet away.
"Huh?" she asked in confusion.
Sora, Mickey, and Minnie looked at her in confusion.
"What's wrong Kairi?" asked Minnie.
"I thought I saw some things move." the Princess of Heart replied.
"Was it some rocks?" asked Sora.
"Didn't look like rocks." said Kairi.
"Hmm… better keep our guard up." said Sora.
Later, they all took a break near an underground lake and waterfall of fresh water.
"Who's thirsty?" asked Milo.
"I could use a drink." said Goofy.
"Me too. I'm parched." said Donald.
Milo took a sip from a container and passed it to Donald and then to Goofy, both each taking a sip.
"Now that's good water." said Donald with a content smile.
Then, Vinny appeared next to the three.
"You three didn't just drink that, did you?" he asked.
"Well of course we did. We were parched." Goofy replied, nodding.
"That's not good. That's nitroglycerin!" Vinny said warningly.
Donald, Goofy, and Milo froze in horror, having apparently drunk a poisonous liquid.
"Don't move. Eh, don't breathe. Don't do anything, except pray maybe." Vinny told them calmly.
"BOOM!" came a loud noise from behind the three.
"AH!/WAAAAAAK!/YA-HAHAHAHOOEY!" Milo, Donald, and Goofy screamed as they jumped in fright.
To their relief and annoyance, it was only Mole scaring the hell outta them. They glared at Mole and Vinny who laughed hysterically.
Continuing on their journey as well as fighting more Heartless and a few Nobodies along the way, the world-travelers and the expedition stopped at the edge of a crevice where two enormous stone columns rose high into the air.
"Sheesh, the only light down here now is the ones coming from the truck headlights." Lea remarked.
"We must be very far underground," said Naminé.
"Wonder if that means were getting closer." said Xion.
"In the meantime, look at these columns." said Aqua as she looked at them in awe.
"Good night! Will you look at the size of this? It's gotta be half a mile high at least!" Milo exclaimed when he saw it.
"Maybe taller." said Daisy, awestruck.
"It's just like the ones at the coliseum." Sora whispered to Donald and Goofy, who nodded in agreement.
"This is one for the photo album." said Minnie as she took a picture on her Gummiphone.
Audrey spotted that and turned to Mrs. Packard.
"They have an odd way of taking pictures." she commented.
"They probably have them wherever they're from." Packard replied as she read her magazine.
"How many years did it take for anyone to build this?" asked Ortensia.
"It must've taken hundreds… no thousands of years to carve this thing." said Milo as Vinny dragged him away, the others following suite.
"Thousands of years?!" Roxas, Xion, Ven, and Naminé exclaimed.
"That kinda sounds right." said Riku, only to cringe when he realized that Vinny had placed explosives all around the column's base. He then pushed down a switch, a shockwave striking the ground and the structure tipped towards the crevice before landing on it's opposite side.
Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Max, Oswald, Ortensia, Aqua, Terra, Ven, Roxas, Lea, Naminé, Xion, Isa, Myde, and Milo stepped up to see what was left of the structure in shock and disappointment.
"Hey look! I made a bridge." Vinny said as he stepped up to the twenty-one of them, shrugging, "It only took men like, what ten seconds? Eleven tops."
The expedition then carried on across the makeshift bridge. Then, Aqua thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye move, just like Kairi. Terra, seeing this, looked in her direction, the two spotted an unusual figure with glowing blue eyes who was… staring at them and everyone else from a cliff high-up before running off into the darkness.
"What was that?" Terra whispered.
"I don't know." said Aqua as she continued driving. "But something tells me we'll find out whether we like it or not."
After going through a wintery path, the expedition came to a halt when they found themselves stuck with a giant stone wall of a fallen building right in front of them, blocking their path. Everyone except for Mile got out of their vehicles and gazed up at the wall.
"Well that's just great." grunted Isa.
"Must've fallen when the city went underwater or something." said Sora.
"Can't use our gliders to get over that one." said Aqua.
"Any ideas?" Mickey asked around.
Rourke turned to Vinny. "Vinny, what do you thinK?" he asked.
"I could roadblock that if I had about 200 of these." Vinny said as he held a stick of dynamite. "Problem is, I only got about… ten."
He then looked into his back, adding, "Plus you know, five of my own and…" he then pulled out three smaller green bombs. "... a couple cherry bombs…" he then pulled out a red stick. "...road flare."
At Rourke's look, Vinny then teasingly said to Donald, Goofy, and Milo. "Hey, too bad we don't have some nitroglycerin, eh, you three?"
That made the linguist, mage, and knight glare at Vinny as Mole laughed hysterically at that memory a short time ago.
Roukre ignored that and turned up to Mole at the drilling machine, declaring, "Looks like we're gonna have to dig."
Mole was delighted.
"It will be my pleasure." he said as he started up the driller of the machine.
The drillver moved forward and began to dig through the wall, only for Mole to cry out in alarm when the panel in front of them sparked electricity, causing it to explode a little, and the enteroe machine stopped working all together.
"Oh my!" gasped Minnie.
"That doesn't look or sound good." remarked Myde.
"You ok Mole!" Terra called up to the digger.
Mole, after coughing at the smoke, tried to get it to work in irritation, and only enbed up smacking his face into the horn of the well, cursing loudly, "Stupid! You! Are! STUPID!"
"He's fine." said Max.
Audrey opened up the back of the driller and some smoke came out.
"I don't understand it. I just tuned this thing up this morning." she said in confusion as she examined it.
"Um…" Milo began as he and the 20 Keyblade Masters approached Audrey as she came back out.
"It looks like the rotor's shot!" Audrey called. "I'm gonna have to pull a spare from one of the trucks."
"Hey, can we-" began Sora as he and the others observed the machinery.
"No toques nada!" Audrey said firmly. "I'll be right back."
"I guess we're a bit stuck for a while." shrugged Mickey.
Ven and Milo looked at the machinery.
"Got any ideas?" asked Ven.
"Dunno." Milo replied as he looked at two of the wheel-shaped knobs closely. He then turned them at the same time until the sound of steam filled the air.
Seeing this, Ven quickly grabbed a monkey wrench on the floor of the machine and, with a great thrust of his arm, slammed it onto the engine.
A moment later, the engine jolted back into life as clouds of exhaust flew from the vehcine's pipe-shaped chimneys.
Ven and Milo grinned victoriously.
"It worked!" Ven exclaimed.
"She lives!" Mole cheered.
"Nice job you too!" praised Sora.
"Yeah, you got it working again!" added Kairi.
"No problem at all." Milo said modestly.
"Uh, yeah thanks." Ven said simply with a smile.
Then, Audrye came back and asked when she saw that the driller was up and running, "Hey! What did you do?"
"Well, you know, the boiler in this baby… is a Humac model P54/813." said Milo. "Now we got the 814 back at the museum. The heating cores on the whole Humac line… have always been a little, you know, temperamental… so sometimes you gotta… boom! Persuade 'em a little, like what Ven did with the wrench."
"Just figured it needed a bit of a kick-start or something like that." Ven shrugged.
"Yeah, yeah. Thank you very much, shut up." Audrey said as she strode up to the vehicle, closed, the hatch, and secured it. She then turned to Ven and Milo. Despite that they didn't realize what she was about to do, Audrey instead saud, "Two for flinching!" and socked Milo and then Ven's shoulders twice before walking off.
"Ow." Ven muttered once she was out of earshot, him and Milo rubbing their arms.
"Nice gratitude." Sora remarked sarcastically as everyone nodded in agreement.
"Reminds you of Hope van Dyne?" asked Roxas.
"A little." Sora replied.
As the expedition reached the other end of the tunnel Mole's drilling machine had created, Milo clambered out of the truck's cab and pulled the Shepherd's Journal out of his shoulder bag. Sora and Co. followed him as the linguist gazed at the journal. The only landmarks were a bridge that stretched out towards a cave on the opposite side, a chasm under the bridge which appeared to lead into engulfing darkness, and a cone-shaped stalactite that hung from the ceiling. The stalactite itself had holes and was strangely glowing green on the inside.
"This is it!" Milo remarked as he gazed at the page which had a picture of the exact same thing in the book. "It's gotta be."
"What in the name of Cornelius Coot is that?" asked Daisy, dumbstruck.
"You got me." said Mickey.
"Whatever the heck that thing is, it's giving me the creeps." muttered Myde.
"Me too." Donald admitted, shivering.
"Alright!" Rourke called. "We'll make camp here."
Mickey gazed at the stalactite in awe before asking out loud, "I wonder why it's glowin'."
"Pah!" said Mole, waving it off. "It is a natural phosphorescence."
"That thing is going to keep me up all night. I know it." Vinny grumped as he pointed to the thing on the ceiling.
"Nah, it'll probably go out soon." said Lea.
"Yeah, it'll probably dim later in the evening." Terra said in agreement.
Suddenly, Heartless spawned around the area. There were Shadows, Water Cores, Golden Hook Bats, Satyrs, and Divers.
"More Heartless!" Sora exclaimed as he summoned Kingdom Key.
Riku summoned Braveheart, Kairi summoned Destiny's Embrace, Aqua summoned Stormfall, Terra summoned Ends of the Earth, Ven summoned Wayward Wind, Roxas summoned Two Become One, Lea summoned Flame Liberator, Xion summoned Lost Memory, Naminé summoned Shooting Star, Isa summoned Blue Moon, Myde summoned Mystic Water, Mickey summoned Kingdom Key W, Donald summoned Unbound and Mage's Staff, Goofy summoned Royal Radiance and Knight's Shield, Minnie summoned Starlight, Daisy summoned Spellbinder, Max summoned Fenrir, Oswald summoned Classic Tone, and Ortensia summoned Zero/One.
"Lieutenant, you and the soldiers protect the vehicles! We don't want any explosions!" called Rourke.
Nodding, Helga led the soldiers with their guns to stand in front of the vehicles.
"What about the rest of us?" asked Sweet.
"Either fight or stay in the trucks!" Helga replied.
"Well… they've helped us on our journey! So… s-so I'll help too!" said Milo as he ran up to the 20.
"Are you sure Milo?" asked Sora.
"Y-Yeah." said Milo.
"In that case, you'll need this." said Sora as he summoned End of Pain and said, "Fusegu!" before tossing it to Milo.
"What did he just say?" asked Myde, confused.
"It's a spell that enchants your Keyblade so it won't pass on its power to another person." said Terra.
"In other words, it prevents a bequeathing." added Aqua.
"Let's go!" said Sora.
(Axel First Boss Fight from Kingdom Hearts II plays)
Mission: Defeat all the Heartless
Playable Characters:
Sora
Donald Duck
Goofy
Riku
King Mickey
Kairi
Ventus
Terra
Aqua
Roxas
Lea
Xion
Naminé
Isa
Myde
Queen Minnie
Daisy Duck
Max
Oswald
Ortensia
Party Members:
Milo
Sora jumped forward, slashing away three Shadows before he fired Blizzaga Pursuit at a group of four Shadows. Ven jumped into the air casting Blackout on some Golden Hook Bats before destroying them with Fission Firaga. Roxas slashed three Water Cores in a row before he finished them off with an Exo Spark spell. Kairi casted Bind on some Divers before she finished them off with Flower Shoot. Riku casted Flame Fall on a Satyr to weaken it before he destroyed it with Triple Burst. Mickey dodged some Water Cores flying at him by backflipping away before he destroyed them with a Raging Storm spell. Donald repeatedly slashed a Satyr with his Keyblade before he destroyed it with a Thundaza spell from his staff. Goofy used Aeroga to lift some Shadows into the air and then threw his shield like a Frissbee to slash them all away. Lea used his chakrams to slash four Shadows before he destroyed them all with a Firaga spell. Xion used Tornado to lift some Divers into the air before she destroyed them by casting Dark Firaga.
Isa casted Icicle Mine on a Satyr before he summoned his claymore and conjured a moonbeam to destroy it. Naminé casted Zero Gravity on several Shadows before she finished them off with a Flare Force spell. Myde bashed some Golden Hook Bats with his sitar before he casted Sparkaga from his Keyblade to destroy them. Terra slashed some Divers before he finished them with a Quake spell. Aqua threw some magic blasts from her palms at some Water Cores before finishing them off with a Wateraza spell. Minnie slashed some Shadows before she fired Blizzaga against them. Daisy dodged some Golden Hook Bats coming down at her before she casted Ice Barrage against them. Oswald jumped hush to slash some Water Cores before he held his Keyblade up and casted Thunder Tracer at them. Ortensia slashed some Divers twice each before the toon cat casted Thundaga Shot at them. Max casted Transcendence on some Shadows before he flipped into the air to slash them away. Milo tried to use Sora's version of End of Pain to slash away some Shadows, even trying to stab them, when some Water Cores flew at him, Milo quickly bashed them against the rocky wall with Sora's Keyblade.
The only Heartless left standing was a Satyr.
Mickey turned to Minnie.
"Royal Mice?" Mickey asked.
Minnie grinned. "Royal Mice!" she replied.
They gripped their Keyblades tightly before they leapt to the air and floated back to back, spinning and unleashing a cyclone of red and pink light that struck the Satyr hard before locking arms and raising Kingdom Key W and Starlight. Light emerged from the tips and their weapons combined together to form a blade of light. With a yell the Mouse Couple brought down their blade of light, destroying the giant heartless completely.
(Axel First Boss Fight from Kingdom Hearts II ends)
With the Heartless gone, Sora and his friends dismissed their weapons, the team leader dismissing End of Pain from Milo.
"Wow… that-that was actually fun!" said Milo, catching his breath.
"You were great Milo." said Naminé.
"Yeah, who knew you were a good fighter." said Max.
Milo shrugged dismissively. "Thanks, I just, well, just thought I could help." he said modestly.
"Still ya did great." said Riku clamping Milo's back.
"Kid's got good skills." mused Sweet.
"They all got good skills." added Vinny.
"Yes… very good skills indeed." said Rourke as he and Helga traded glances.
Turns out, Lea and Terra were right about the stalactite. It had indeed dimmed down and the campsite was almost completely set up.
Audrey, Sweet, Mole, Vinny, and Packard sat together while Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Ven, Terra, Aqua, Roxas, Xion, Lea, Naminé, Isa, Myde, Minnie, Daisy, Max, Oswald, and Ortensia sat with Milo.
Now it was dinnertime… if you called Cookie's cooking dinner...
"Come and get it!" he called.
"For the appetizer, Caesar salad… escargot… and your Oriental spring rolls." said Cookie as he placed a scoop of Bacon Grease on Sweet, Audrey, and Mole's trays in that order before giving some to Packard and Vinny. As soon as he was out of sight, they all cringed at the slop on their trays.
"Blegh!" Audrey said in disgust.
"I wanted the escargot." Mole pouted when he saw that Audrey had more on her tay than he did.
"Knock yourself out." Audrey said sarcastically as she handed the delighted Mole her tray, the digger tossing his old one to the side.
Cookie walked over to Sora, Milo, and Co. and placed the slop on their trays.
"There you go lads and lassies. Put some meat on them bones." said Cookie.
The 21 couldn't help but cringe in disgust at the bacon grease on their trays.
"Uh… thanks Cookie." Mickey said with a nervous laugh.
"Yeah, it uh… looks greasier than usual." said Milo.
"You like it?" asked Cookie before dumping a bunch slopmore on Milo's tray, much to his surprise and disgust. "Well, have some more. You're so skinny, if you turned sideways… and stuck out your tongue you'd look like a zipper." he remarked as he walked away.
"Yeesh this stuff stinks." Lea said in disgust.
"I'd rather eat bugs like Timon and Pumbaa do." Roxas grunted before adding, "...well, definitely not Zipper."
"Oh yeah, definitely not that Rescue Ranger." nodded Xion.
"Still, anything is better than… this." said Daisy as she poked the grease with her spoon.
"I couldn't agree more." said Isa, cringing.
Back by the others, Sweet glanced at Milo and the 20 Keyblade Masters. He turned to his fellow expeditioners.
"You know we have been pretty tough on those guys lately." he said. "Milo is the reason why we're getting closer and Sora and his team have protected us from those Heartless things. Why don't we cut them some slack?"
"Yeah, you're right." nodded Audrey, seeing Sweet's point. She turned to the group of 21. "Hey guys! Why don't you come sit with us?"
That took the group aback.
"Really?" Milo asked with a small smile.
"You really don't mind us joining you?" asked Aqua, smiling as did her friends when they picked up their trays and Milo picking up the journal as they walked over to the other group.
"Nah, park it here." Audrey replied.
The group shared glances before shrugging as they sat opposite of Audrey, Sweet, packard, Viunny, and Mole, Milo sitting opposite between the two teams.
"Gee, this is great. I mean, you know… it's an honor to be included in your… " Milo began as he sat down when,
PFFFFTT!
The sound of a spluttering balloon releasing air filled the air as everyone turned to see that Milo had just sat on a whoopee cushion. It was followed by Mole bursting out laughing hysterically while rolling on the ground, holding his stomach.
"Mole!" Sweet, Audrey, and Vinny snapped as Packard rolled her eyes.
"Ah forgive me." Mole said as he caught his breath before adding through giggling, "I could not resist."
"Classic." Myde chuckled, trying hard not to laugh himself. "Brings back some gold old memories."
"Very funny." Lea said dryly as he glared at the mullet-haired man before commenting, "Ya'know, I still haven't figured it it was you or Larxene that did that trick to me 2 years ago."
Flashback, during the events of Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days:
Day 7:
After dealing with Roxas, who was still completely zombie-like, Axel groaned "Phew." in relief while sitting on his own chair.
But as he did…
PFFFT!
Axel nearly jumped out of his skin before feeling something unusual in his seat. Shifting, he saw that it was a whoopee cushion and glared at it. He then demanded, "What is this?!"
"Kya ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Larxene laughed hysterically from the floor in front of Demyx's chair.
"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Demyx laughed hysterically as he laid on his side.
Axel glared at both Demyx and Larxene, realizing that one of them must've been responsible for the prank.
Present:
"Could've been worse." Oswald pointed out.
"True." nodded Lea. "Still, it was totally annoying and embarrassing."
"If it helps, the boys did that to me almost all the time when they were younger." Donald pointed out with a chuckle.
Lea shrugged. "I guess so."
Audrey noticed that Milo was still looking at the journal.
"Hey Milo, do you ever close that book?" she asked.
"It's gotta be hurting your eyes by now." added Terra.
"Surely you've closed that book at least once or twice since we got here." Mickey added.
"Yeah, you must've read it at least a dozen times by now." Sweet indeed after cringing at his "food."
Milo nodded before explaining, "I know, but this - this doesn't make any sense."
"What doesn't make any sense?" asked Ortensia.
"See, in this passage here, the shepherd… seems to be leading up to something. He calls it the heart of Atlantis." Milo said as he pointed to a section of the book. "It could be the power source the legend refers to."
Hearing the paper of "The Heart of Atlantis" made Sora, Kairi, Riku, Aqua, Ven, Terra, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Minnie, Daisy, Max, Lea, Roxas, Naminé, Xion, Isa, Myde, Oswald, and Ortensia trade slightly alarmed glances. While they realized that Milo could be thinking that it might be an item to power a source, the fact that it could very all be the heart of this world didn't slip their minds. To actually get to see the actual heart of the world itself… was unbelievable and if it was real, then it would be an unforgettable experience.
"But then it, it cuts off." Milo added as he flipped through the book. "Almost like there's a missing page."
"Gawrsh, kinda reminds me of Jiminy's journal and the Datascape." Goofy whispered to Mickey, who nodded.
The part about the missing page made Sora and Co. think to themselves. If there was a missing page, that meant someone must've ripped it out before Milo's grandfather gave it to Whitmore. But who had done it? For some reason, they thought that it had to be Rourke. Something about the commander didn't seem right. But if he was responsible, then he must be been after something. The Heart of Atlantis. But why?
"Kid relax." said Vinny, snapping the twenty from their train of thoughts. "We don't get paid overtime." he said to Milo.
Milo smiled. "I know. I know. Sometimes I get carried away." he replied before adding, :But hey, you know, that's what this is all about tight? I mean, discovery, teamwork, adventure!"
After applying emphasis on "adventure", Milo paused before correcting himself, "Unless, maybe, you're just in it for the money."
After a short pause…
"Money." Adurey shrugged.
"Money." said Packard.
"Money." said Sweet.
"Money." Mole said through a mouthful of bacon grease which made Myde, Donald, Max, and Naminé want to throw up.
"I'm gonna say… money." Vinny concluded.
Sighing, Milo replied, "Well, I guess I set myself up for that one." He then turned to the world-travelers. "What about you guys?" he asked.
"Adventure." Sora smirked.
"Adventure." Kairi giggled.
"Definitely adventure." nodded Riku.
"Adventure." replied Ven.
"I'm more into adventure." said Terra.
"Me too." added Naminé.
"I'm more interested in the adventure than the money." said Aqua.
"Ditto." nodded Roxas.
"Going on adventures is fun." said Lea with a smirk.
"That I can agree on." said Isa.
"You and me both." said Xion.
"I've always been up for adventure." said Mickey, smiling.
"So do I." giggled Minnie.
"I've gone on adventures my whole life with my family." said Donald with a grin. "And I love them."
"Sometimes I accompany them." Daisy said with a smile.
"Yeah I love adventure too!" said Goofy.
"Same here Dad." smiled Max.
"I prefer adventure too." said Osweald.
"You and me both Honey Bunny." giggled Ortenisa.
"I'm a sucker for what the inside of the place looks like if it's safe to get to." said Myde, shrugging.
"That's cool." said Milo as he rubbed his neck.
"Is there something wrong with your neck?" asked Sweet.
"Yeah." Milo affirmed. "I gues I hurt it when - Aah! Ow!"
Sweet didn't give Milo a chance to talk before he placed his hands upon the latter's neck and jerked it to the right then the left.
"Better?" Dr. Sweet asked.
Milo felt his neck before saying as he realized that it was a lot better. "Yeah!"
"That was impressive, Sweet." said Naminé, impressed, as were her friends.
"Where'd you learn that?" asked Kairi.
"An Arapaho medicine man." Sweet replied.
"Get outta here!" said Milo in disbelief.
"Relly." asked Mickey, surprised.
"Born and raised with them." Sweet replied as he pulled out an old photo from his tan shirt pocket. In it was a couple with the man looking like Sweet but with hair, a moiustac,e and a hat. In the girls bag was a baby peeking out. "My father was an army medic. He settled down in the Kansas Territory… after he met my mother."
"You're not kiddin', huh?" asked Myde.
"Nope. I got a sheepskin from Howard U. And a bearskin from old Iron Cloud." Sweet said as he pulled out a necklace wrapped around his neck after pocketing his photo. "Halfway through medical school, I was drafted. One day I'm studying gross anatomy in the classroom… the next I'm sewing up Rough Riders on San Juan Hill."
"Quackers, that's amazing!" said Daisy.
"Pretty cool Doctor." said Isa.
Just then, Cookie arrived, announcing, "Main course!"
Everybody was in shock and dismay, which quickly turned into a range of excuses, sarcasm, kind, and polite delcvimnes so they wouldn't hurt the man's feelings. Luckliky, Cookie bought it, hook, line, and sinker.
"Oh, don't you worry. It'll keep and keep and keep." Cookie chuckled as he marched away.
"Thank god I lost my sense of taste years ago." said Packard as she put out her cigarette in her bacon grease.
Once they made sure that Cookie was out of sight, everyone (except Mole) dumped everything on their trays onto the campfire pit which made the flames go out quickly and also made a small harmless explosion that looked a bit like a nuclear bomb going off.
Lea then used his fire magic to put the fire back up so they could keep warm.
"Hey can I ask you guys something?" asked Milo.
"Sure." said Sora as Cookie came back to join.
"So… you guys say you come from different places, right?" asked Milo.
Sort of suspecting where this was going, Sora and his friends slowly nodded.
"Yeah… why?" asked Naminé.
"Well the thing is…" Milo began. "We were wondering… where do you exactly come from?"
"And how do you have those magic weapons?" asked Audrey.
"Do you battle those weird black creatures with the yellow eyes everywhere you go?" asked Vinny.
"Are you from another world or something like that?" asked Sweet, curious.
"Yeah, we've never met fellas like you before." added Cookie.
"Especially if they got magic." Packard said dryly.
Sora and Co. were all taken aback by all the questions as they traded nervous glances.
"Well…" Sora began.
"It's uh…" Riku trailed off.
"Hard to explain…" said Xion.
Seeing that they were nervous, Milo said camly, "Hey it's ok. You can trust us." with a smile.
"Yeah, we're just curious." said Audrey.
"What is your story?" asked Mole.
The Keyblade Masters traded glances. Finally, Mickey spoke up.
"Well… it's a long story that we're not really supposed to tell." he began. "But given the circumstances… I think we can tell you."
"Sure. Go ahead." said Sweet.
And so until the end of dinnertime, Sora and his friends told Milo, Audrey, Sweet, Vinny, Mole, Cookie, Vinny, and Mrs. Packard the truth. The other worlds, how they had magical key-shaped swords, where they came from, all of it. Not surprisingly, they were taken aback by the truth, but at the same time were in awe and understood why they didn't say anything. Milo was the most amazed out of them all as he was interested in mystical stuff. And although she didn't show it, even Packard was amazed.
Later, they were all pitching up their tents for the night. A few long rows of tents were positioned along the cavern floor rather evenly.
"Man, been a while since we've gone camping." said Sora.
"Last time was when we were in the Land of the Dragons." said Kairi.
"The same world where we confessed our love to everyone else." said Sora with a fond smile.
Kairi giggled as she kissed Sora's cheek, making him blush.
"Gotta say, you five know a lot about camping." Naminé said to Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Minnie, and Daisy.
"We sure do." said Mickey. "Back when we were younger, we would go camping together almost every third weekend."
"Sometimes I would join them." added Max.
"Della too." added Donald. "And sometimes the two of us along with Gladstone and Fethry would go together."
"And of course, Donald, Della, and I were in the Woodchucks." added Daisy.
"DId you ever go camping with your kids Oswald?" asked Lea.
"Almost all the time." said Oswald. "Gus and some of our friends would help me and Ortensia keep them under control, especially when we made s'mores."
"I remember the time Dad showed me the perfect cast." said Max.
"What's the perfect cast?" asked Myde.
"It's a fishing technique my Dad taught me." explained Goofy. "It's been passed down from 12 or 13 Goof generations." (1)
"That's cool." said Oswald.
"You guys sure seemed to live interesting lives before you moved into a castle." said Audrey as she finished setting her tent up."
"We sure have." said Mickey. "But sometimes the seven of us would go back to our hometowns so we can escape the royal life."
"Living in a castle is nice and all, but sometimes it's nice to catch a break and relax." said Minnie.
"Then who looks after the kingdom?" asked Vinny.
"The Royal Council." said Oswald. "For Mickey and Minnie's kingdom, and the one me and Ortensia rule."
Vinny nodded before he looked over at Milo.
"Aren't you gonna pitch up your tent?" he asked.
Everyone saw that Milo's tent wasn't set up right at all. The canvas was wrinkled, the piels were leaning at odd angles, and the string had too much slack.
"Uh… I did." Milo said.
"And I thought my tent was bad when I first set it up." Myde cringed as Vinny began to fix up Milo's tent.
"At least you managed to set it up right for a second before it collapsed." Isa said in agreement.
"Thanks again for fixing it." Myde added.
Isa just nodded with a smile.
"I guess I'm a little rusty at this." Milo apologized as he watched. "I haven't gone camping since… well, since the last time my grandpa took me."
"Some of us haven't really." admitted Lea.
"On Destiny Islands, me, Riku, and Kairi would sometimes camp out on the beach." said Sora fondly. "When the sky was clear, we'd sometimes count the stars, always thinking about the story that those stars are other worlds. It was fun."
"Yeah I remember that." Riku chuckled. "I'd used to pretend to draw lines from the stars to make all kinds of shapes and patterns. It was nice."
"We always did that after I first arrived on the islands over a decade ago." said Kairi.
"Wait, so you're not from the same world as Sora and Riku?" asked Milo, taken aback.
"No, I lived with my grandma until I was 5." said Kairi. "After Radiant Garden fell to darkness, i ended up on Destiny Islands where the mayor of Sora and Riku's town took me in."
"Speaking of grandparents, what was your grandfather like Milo?" asked Audrey. "I never got to meet him."
"Where do you start." Milo smiled. "H-he was like a father to me, really. My parents died when I was a little kid, and, he took me in."
Milo then laughed.
"What?' asked Audrey, curious, as was everyone else.
"Well, I was just thinkin'." said Milo. "One time, when I was eight, we were hiking along this stream… and I saw something shining in the water. It was a genuine arrowhead. Well, you'd think I'd found a lost civilization… the way Grandpa carried on about it. It wasn't until I was older… that I realized that the arrowhead… was just some compressed shale… mixed with zinc pyrite that had fractured… into an isosceletic triangulate."
Everyone smiled at Milo.
"Say Audrey, how did a fellow teenager become part of a multi-million dollar expedition?" asked Riku.
"I took this job when my Dad retired." Audrye began before giggling. "But the funny thing was, he always wanted sons right? One to run his machine shop, the other to be middleweight boxing champion." she added as she punched her sleeping bag. "But he got me and my sister instead."
"So what does your sister do?" asked Minnie.
"She's 24 and oh with a shot at the title next month." Audrey replied. "ANyway, I'm saving up so my Papi and I can open another shop."
"That's cool." said Donald. "I had a sister too. She was my twin and my best friend during my childhood before I met everyone else from our world." Donald tried hard to stay calm as he continued. "Before she became a mom to three boys, there was a… mishap on a last minute adventure where she got lost. I took it upon myself to raise her boys as if they were my own. I was their father figure. I raised them by myself for a little over 10 years."
"That's very generous of you." said Milo with a proud look.
"Yeah… " nodded Donald. "Though, I did have the occasional help. From Daisy, other relatives, and especially from Goofy."
"He's right." nodded Goofy. "My wife Victoria died in a car accident. Being a single father wasn't easy, but I did my best to raise Max on my own for over 15 years."
"And he did great." said Max with a proud smile. "He may be the goofiest dad in the world, but he is one of the greatest. No matter what obstacles we faced, we always managed to pull through in the end. And I couldn't have asked for a better father."
Goofy smiled appreciatively at his son, touched.
"Max is lucky to have a dad like Goofy, as are Donald's nephews for having a father figure like him and Milo with his grandfather." said Lea. "Me and Isa lost our parents over 11 years ago."
"Gosh, sorry to hear that." Mickey said sympathetically.
"Thanks Mick." smiled Lea.
"Do you remember anything about them?" asked Sweet.
"A few." said Lea. "My mom was your average house-wife who was always motherly and kind and patient. Dad was always serious about his job, but he did take the time to hang out with me."
"My mother was similar to Lea's." said Isa. "The only difference was that she liked to live life to the fullest. Dad did too."
Isa then chuckled. "I remember my mom telling me that one time during a New Years Eve party, my dad got so drunk that he made outrageous claims like he invented the question mark and started accusing chestnuts of being lazy. Started the new year with a hangover." (2)
Everyone chuckled a bit as Lea continued.
"After that, a lot of things happened in the past years that weren't really pleasant.
"What about the good stuff you did?" asked Audrey, curious.
"If you call our usual obnoxious teenage antics 'good things' to everyone else, let me know." Isa sorted in amusement.
Lea chuckled. "Yeah, before we met everyone on our team, me and Isa got into trouble all the time like breaking into places we weren't supposed to be in, including Radiant Garden's castle. I'm surprised they haven't even arrested us yet after just throwing us out all the time."
"Just like Lena." Donald said to Daisy, who nodded in agreement.
"We were part of our enemies' schemes by being tricked into serving them." said Isa. "But it was thanks to our friends here that we're back on the right side and helping defend the worlds."
"I was created when Sora temporarily sacrificed his life to save Kairi." said Roxas. "I was brought into the wrong side as well. I never really knew who I was until after befriending Lea and Xion. I became my own person after that. It's complicated, we'll tell you another time."
"I was also created when Sora saved Kairi." said Naminé. "I was used against my will by two of our enemies to harm Sora, Donald, and Goofy. But it was thanks to them and Riku that I was freed from their control and I was able to redeem myself."
"I was created to serve our enemies." sighed Xion. "I had no identity of my own until I met Roxas and Lea. Our enemies wanted me disposed of and I almost was. But it was thanks to Sora I was saved. I'll tell you more about it another time."
"I don't really know much about my childhood." said Myde as he laid on his back. "Most of my memories are kind of a blur. I'm not usually one for fighting unless we get dragged into it. I was also duped into working for our enemies until Sora told me the truth. Joining these guys was the best decision I ever made. In the end, I just wanna be a famous musician, maybe even start a band."
Ven sighed sadly. "Like Myde, I don't remember much about my childhood either," he explained. "I don't remember my parents or where I even came from. My only good memories are when I was brought in to train alongside Terra and Aqua with our Keyblades. Then four years later when our enemies struck, I was in a comatose for 12 years. I woke up 7 months ago from another world thanks to Sora."
"I was possessed by our enemy." Terra admitted. "He took advantage of my dreams and used me, which in the end got everyone else on our team dragged into his master plan through different circumstances. But it was thanks to the combined efforts of Sora, Ven, and Aqua that I was freed from being used."
"I was trapped in a dark realm trying to save Terra's life." said Aqua. "I was there for 12 years, trying really hard to hold onto hope of being rescued one day. It was Hell down there. But Sora and his friends freed me from that dreadful prison and I was able to help save Ven and Terra from their horrible fates."
"Me and Ortensia lived in our own kingdom after Mickey became king." said Oswald. He then sighed. "But then one day, Mickey accidentally created a monster out of magical artifacts from our master's workshop. It invaded our home. And Ortensia… I thought I lost her for good that day…"
Mole, who was wearing red and blue striped pajamas and hugging a stuffed teddy bear, walked by and saud, "That's so sad." looking like it was gonna cry before walking off.
Mickey couldn't help but look guilty for the Shadow Blot wrecking Oswald's home and life, as it was his fault it was created. But seeing Oswald's comforting face, showing that he didn't blame him for what happened anymore, Mickey felt better.
"But Mickey, along with Sora, Donald, Goofy, Roxas, and our friend Gus, helped Oswald defeat that monster for good. And I was freed." said Ortensia.
"In the end, we all make mistakes." said Oswald as he smiled at Mickey. "And half or not, Mickey is the best little brother a guy like me could ask for."
"Aw shucks! Thanks Oswald." Mickey said with a touched smile.
Then, Packard walked by dressed in her green trench coat, wearing a face mask, her hair in pink curlers, and carrying a pillow and magazine.
"Forgot your pajamas Mrs. Packard?" asked Minnie.
"I sleep in the nude." Packard replied as she went over to her tent.
Sweet then tossed sleeping masks to Sora, Milo, and Co.
"You're all gonna want a pair of these. She sleepwalks." he informed them, to the twenty-one's slight horror when they heard that.
"Thanks for the heads up." said Riku, cringing.
At that time, Vinny laid down on his mattress and pulled his eyecap over his eyes.
"Well as far as me goes, I just like to blow things up." he said to them.
"No really?" Lea said sarcastically, ignoring the glares Kairi, Aqua, Xion, Naminé, Minnie, Daisy, and Ortensia gave him.
Sweet walked over to Vinny and pulled the eyecap saying, "C'mon Vinny, tell them the truth." letting hot and letting the cap slap the demoltionsist's face before heading back to his tent.
Seeing that he wasn't gonna get out of this, Bunny pulled down his eyecap and admitted, "My family owned a flower shop. We would sell roses… carnations, baby's breath, you name it."
"Really?" Sora asked in surprise.
"Ooh! Did you sell daisies?" Daisy eagerly asked, much to the amusement of Donald, Mickey, and Minnie
"Yep." Vinny replied.
"So what made you become a demolition expert?" asked Max.
"One day, I'm making… about three dozen corsages for this prom. You know, the one they put on their wrist." Vinny continued. "And everybody, they come. 'Where is it?' 'When is it?' 'Does it match my dress?' It's a nightmare."he groaned as he slammed his hand over his eyes.
"Ouch." Oswald said in sympathy.
"Sorry to hear that." said Goofy.
Vinny shrugged as he added, "Anyway, I guess there was this leak next door… of gas or what. BOOM! No more Chinese laundry."
"Your shop was next to a Chinese laundromat?" asked Ven.
"Yep." nodded Vinny. "Blew me right through the front window. It was like a sign from God. I found myself that boom." he finished as he lit up a match that went out three seconds later.
"That explains everything." commented Roxas.
Then, a few specks of dirt came flying through the air. Everyone turned and saw that Mole was digging himself a large hole into the ground close by before switching off his headlamp, giving a happy sound of satisfaction.
"What's Mole's story?" asked Milo with unease, and the Keyblade Masters shared that unease.
"Trust me on this one. You don't wanna know." Sweet immediately answered before pointing an accusing finger at Audrey. "Audrey, don't tell them. You shouldn't have told me, but you did." before saying to the other 21, "And I'm telling you, you don't wanna know."
"Sounds good." Myde said uneasily. "It'd probably give us nightmares."
"You sia dit." said Sora.
No one argued with that as Sweet blew out the flame in the lamp and everyone went to sleep, unaware of what was going to happen the next time they woke up.
To be continued…
Now we're getting somewhere in this world! And we're getting to know some of Atlantis' character some more.
Rate and review and I'll see you all soon!
(1) A Goofy Movie
(2) Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery: Dr. Evil's therapy speech