@mattmanganon

Taivas

Taivas walked into the tent; He looked quite annoyed by her calling him Han again. “How many times do I have to tell you my name isn’t Han.” He enunciated every word, looking more annoyed by her every second.

Taivas’ eyes peer over towards Clayton, and his face grimaces. He feels the man is up to something but doesn’t know what yet. But he doesn’t like the look he is giving off to Dotty. “I’m not his brother…" Taivas says with a growl in his voice. He shook his hand briefly, but his handshake was very aggressive “Taivas.” He said, glancing at him. To Clayton it looked like Taivas was studying him. There was something about Clayton that annoyed Taivas greatly. “And no, she’s not my daughter; she's just a nuisance.” He said, glaring at Dotty.

“I could use a drink.” Taivas was glad to have something to relieve his headache, which Dotty had caused him. He took the glass and took a big swig, somewhat enjoying the burning liquor going down his throat. He made a face of disgust as he drank it. “You're studying these monkeys? Are you some sort of biologist? You don’t look like it.” Taivas said, looking at the gun Clayton had.

A look of horror came over as Dotty was starting to sing. “Ah shit…not again.” Taivas moved back, feeling like he was in some sort of hellscape. He tried to rush towards Dotty to clasp his hand over her mouth. But he was not quick enough as she started her song. Looking horrified as everyone was beginning to sing. Fighting the urge to stab himself with his keyblade.

As the song started to end, Kerchak ripped open the flaps of the tent. He looked pretty annoyed, mainly looking at Turk. Grabbing her by the arm to bring him to his side. He started beating his chest and letting out an ear-piercing roar. This seemed to be mostly directed at Tarzan.

As soon as Lucian saw Levi surrounded by Heartless, he didn’t hesitate. He knew what he had to do. His Keyblade manifested in his hands. “We have to help him!”

He turned to Goofy and Donald.“You said you came to protect me? Then come with me. Because I’m not running away while my friend is in danger.”

He then turned to the Fairy Godmother, and Merlin. “And thank you both. For everything.”

And with that, he rushed out the door.

Donald waited for Lucian to exit before voicing his opinion. “Kid finds out he’s a prince and immediately starts bossing us around.”

“We did come to protect him, Donald, and his friend seems to have a keyblade too.” Goofy said, heading towards the door.

Donald threw his hands in the air in exasperation and followed. “Just how many of these keys are there?”

Lucian exited Merlin’s home to find himself surrounded by water. He looked up to see that there was a way off this island of a home, but it required him hopping along moving rocks in the water.

Donald and Goofy caught up with him.“What are you waiting for?” Donald quacked as he jumped on a rock as it was moving into place. “Your friends are waiting, right?”

Lucian blinked when he saw that Merlin’s house was pretty much on its own island. He hesitated for a minute, until he heard Donald’s voice. He nodded,“Right.”

Without another word, he jumped onto the first rock. He wobbled for a minute before getting his balance. The next rock was already moving. With a grace that surprised even himself, he jumped forward.“Hang on, Levi, I’m coming.”

Goofy followed the two as they made their way across the pond towards the Third District.

---

Donald waddled into the Third District and immediately took in everything that was going on. The Heartless were running rampant and he didn’t like that they were so close to the old man’s house. Were they after the kid? How could they sense him all the way in there? Merlin had to do better with his protection spells.

“AERO!!!” Donald screamed as he pointed his magic staff at the charging Large Body Heartless. The robust figure of darkness was lifted up into the air, its legs and arms running and swinging trying to regain ground. Be careful what you wish for. “GRAVITY!” The Large Body went crashing into the ground faster than it was lifted up, dispersing and releasing its stolen hearts.

Goofy followed Donald’s lead and threw his shield at a shadow Heartless. It dissipated into nothing as the shield passed through before hitting a wall and bouncing off like a pinball and hitting another shadow before his shield bounced off another wall and returned to him.

Lucian ran into the Third District after them. His eyes went wide from all the chaos. He gripped his Keyblade tightly. “Okay,” he muttered to himself. “You’ve trained for this… sorta. You can do this.”

It wasn’t just the Heartless swarming the place that took him by surprise. It was Goofy wielding the shield, like he had done in the dream that had started this mess, only way better. Donald was casting really cool spells he had never seen.

He didn’t have much time to gush about how cool that was. He had to dodge an attack from a shadow Heartless, before whacking it with the Keyblade, causing it to vanish into nothing.

Amidst everything going on, Lucian saw Hoshi jump in too. With a Keyblade of her own no less. Lucian was just relieved everyone managed to survive the Islands. “Hoshi, Levi!” He called out to them.

@Bacon@IAmTheIsland

As Launchpad continued to think of his next daring quip (As all great heroes need a follow up one after their initial, it's in the "Darkwings Do's And Don'ts of Daring Do Vol 3" only $39.99 at all good retailers) suddenly, the waifish girl seemed to twirl around him and blow a bunch of them away, straight into the blaster fire of Leon and the shuriken of the other scantily clad girl. Launchpad listened as the girl told him what to do. Leon simply saluted as he switched to the Plasma Cannon, checking if it worked, before sighing, putting it away and simply drawing the Photon Bazooka and blasting a couple more to clear the path as ordered. "Of course, ma'am. We're on a secret mission from StUGHT-!" He was cut off as Leon jumped up and grabbed his beak, before cartoonishly tying it in a bow to keep him from saying anything else. As he landed, he looked up at Aerith

"Talking should be done by those with brains larger than a grape." He said to her."Whatever needs doing, we will do." He said, letting his Star Command training take over.

"Mubwgawbmuvuveebigwr?" Launchpad asked. Leon grabbed Launchpads shirt and pulled him down so he could untie his lips with a single pull. "But what about Hoshi and her Keyblade?" He asked.

"We can do as you ask, but only if you 2 Clavats can guarentee us her safety. If not, we're going after her." He demanded, staring up at Aerith, but then again, he was only 3ft tall, so he stared up at everyone except Moogles and other Lilties. To illustrate his point, he slung the bazooka over his shoulder and shot at a Knight that had just dived for him without looking, the shreded remains of the knight hit him, letting off an intimidating effect of the shadows pouring off of him for a second as the Knight faded from existance. An intimidation that was slightly muted by the giant Duck man with a big, friendly smile stood next to the short gunner.

"Almost got it!" Zac yelled back at Leon over the din of battle. His stone wall had crumbled in places due to repeated hits, gradually exposing more and more of himself and his ship with each stone that fell away. "Alright, Sigrid," he eventually said after reconnecting the final coupling, "it's time to wake up!" He closed the panel underneath the wing he was under, then leapt up into the cockpit just as the canopy finished swinging open. After doing a quick last minute check inside, he pressed a button and the console in front of him came to life.

"That's right! I'm a genius!" Zac laughed as he input a series of commands before he leapt back out of the ship. The canopy closed on its own as the ship rose into the air and hovered above the surrounding rooftops before it shot off into the sky. It was far too dangerous for him to let loose with the ship's weapons in such a tightly packed town, especially now that she was fully operational, so he had decided to program the autopilot to send the ship into orbit around the world, where it would be able to quickly return when it was time to leave. "Let's do this," he muttered as he summoned Stonecall to his hand and rushed toward an unbroken part of his wall.

With a swing of his Keyblade, Zac burst through the wall as easily as if it were paper, scattering stone into the horde of heartless, dissolving several. Before his feet hit the ground, he quickly assessed the situation and his eyes focused on the Large Body that was giving Leon trouble. An image of a ticking clock appeared behind him as he cast Haste on himself just before dashing forward. As he closed the distance, he ran his hand along the length of his Keyblade, leaving behind shimmering hexagons of light along the blade, then swung the moment he was within reach. Instead of rebounding, Zac's strength caused his weapon to sink into the Heartless' stomach, deforming it like a rubber ball, but even that wouldn't have been enough to do any lasting damage. Due to the Reflect that Zac had cast on his Keyblade, however, the force of the swing combined with the force of the Large Body's stomach trying to deflect the blow was more than enough. Reflect shattered, sending all that force back into the Large Body, but instead of destroying it, all that energy sent the Large Body flying over the rooftops relatively unharmed and now the problem of whomever might be in the direction of the First District's main plaza. It wasn't an immediate problem, though, and Zac was fine with that.

He thrust his Keyblade into the ground and a series of floating stone platforms rose from the ground, creating a path over the Heartless and onto a nearby rooftop. "Get going!" he yelled to Leon. "Try to save as many of the townspeople as you can! I'm gonna see if I can't find the people I came here with!"

@IAmTheIsland

Dotty seemed entirely caught up in Tarzan and Jane's awkward interactions. Luckily for everyone involved, just as she yelled "TARZAN AND JANE ARE GONNA HAVE PUPPIES!!!" was the exact moment that Kerchak ripped the tent a new door in his search of Turk, rendering his outburst rather inaudible.

Kerchak stared at the scene. Men, creatures not of this land, not one of them. Here, within his domain. 2 larger, more dominant looking ones. Possibly an alpha and a beta, a smaller one, possibly female, probably mother to the smaller one and here they were with Turk and Tarzan... Rearing up, he beat his chest and roared loudly to impose his dominance. Turk immediately threw down the fruit. "KERCHAK! IT'S SO..." Her brain went a mile a minute trying to think up a reasonable explanation about why she and Tarzan were here. But Kerchak gave her a look that would turn the bones of anyone to ice, the message was clear, he wanted the truth... Well, the truth actually wasn't the worst thing in the world this time. "Weird evil monkeys tried to eat me and Tarzan and that other weirdo saved me!" She said, pointing to Taivas.

Kerchak continued to look at them, all the while, Jane was currently stuck in a lack of clear direction. On the one hand, a dominant Alpha Gorilla was right here, in front of her, never studied by human eyes before, everyone back in London would be giving their false teeth for this opportunity... On the otherhand, this was a dominant Alpha Gorilla right in front of her and she was on his terf... With any luck Tarzan would be able to talk him down.

Tarzan also was like the veritable deer in the headlights. Technically he had done nothing wrong, but when had little details like "Having done nothing wrong" ever stopped his father from punishing him? Whatever he said, he knew Kerchak would berate him when they returned to the nest. He slowly started to crawl along the ground, head down, moving with Turk as Kerchak stood tall. Right now, the only way he could protect Jane would be to go with him and hope that a show of submissiveness was enough to stay Kerchak's anger.

Clayton, on the otherhand was thinking how best to take advantage of the situation. Of course, this was a 350kg Silverback. He'd be worth at least £200 if brought in alive... But he doubted any of the cages back on the ship would actually hold it. But stuffed... Yes, he knew a good Taxidermist, could get at least £70 which was more than the living ones. Still not bad for a few weeks work.

As the troop of 3 Gorilla's slowly moved towards the treeline, Tarzan giving a few cautious looks back at his new friends and Jane, suddenly he stopped, as did Kerchak. Their eyes scanned the treeline. Out of the tree's the great Leopard, Sabor leaped straight at Turk, clearly looking to pick off the smallest of the group. With another mighty roar, Kerchak backhanded the leopard straight out of the air and into the tree-line, beating his chest, he gave chase. That leopard had made its last mistake in this jungle. Tarzan immediately gave chase, all the while Turk simply screamed while jumping up and down, clearly calling for more aid.

Clayton grabbed his gun and ran through the treeline after them. This might prove a good time to get rid of the big brute that would give him the most trouble. 'I'm dreadfully sorry, old bean, i tried to save the big one and deal with that evil leopard, but after a tussle, the gun just went off.' He smiled to himself as he ran, seeing the shadows of the tree's slowly fill with those glowing yellow eyes. Oh yes and his new friends would be of invaluable help in this. Maybe distract the monkey man long enough for this to work. As Clayton was alone, a glowing green flame would appear before him.

"Do not think in such small terms, Mr Clayton... That ape is strong and his heart equally so... It would be very useful to us..." The green flame whispered in that distractingly seductive tone.

"But... How? I'm not one for all of this voodoo poppycock." He sighed.

"You will know... When the time is right..." It responded a little more sternly this time.

"But ho-" As he asked again, this time, a continuous bolt of green lightning blasted through the flames and straight into his eyes, the depraved and despicable knowledges of the heartless pouring into his very soul. He dropped the gun as he tried to process this. As the lightning stopped and the portal disappeared, he quickly felt himself over, making sure he wasn't damaged at all... Then smiled a cruel smile.

"Yes, that brute will be useful to us..." He snickered under his breath before picking up the shotgun, it crackled with green energies for a second, before he set off at a run through the underbrush. Finally finding where the showdown was occuring. A large crater created from when one of the largest tree's in the jungle had fallen over due to its excessive weight. In the veritable caldera of dirt, the Leopard and Gorilla King faced off against each other. Tarzan and Turk stood next to Dotty and Taivas who had followed him. Dammit, they'd gotten here first... He looked around for a way to distract them...

Dotty swung the mask around to her hands. "HEROIC SPIRIT OF POODLEWOL-" Tarzan stopped her though. "HEY!" She called at the wildman.

"Kerchak's fight..." Behind them, the spirit of Zen-Aku watched, seeing the 2 warriors facing down.

"That Leopard has killed someone close to him... Someone very special..." The wolf spirit growled. Dotty reslung the mask.

"Just like Canine the Barkbarian's showdown against Colisla Dachshund" She whispered adopting a stoic pose to watch the fight go down.

Sabor leapt through the air, the great fists of Kerchak swung, but the leopard was quicker, twisting in the air out of the way of the almighty mits, before landing its claws straight in Kerchaks chest, rending a great gash in it and spraying a little blood. Kerchak let out a roar of great pain, before bringing his fists into a bear-hug on the leopard, it continued to claw at him, but one great throw and the Leopard smashed into the walls. Kerchak moved to keep up the momentum, grabbing it's hind leg and smashing it into another great root, once, twice, thrice, before the leopard was able to wriggle free. Clayton watched the situation. This wasn't good, it looked like the brute was going to win... Unless he were the one to tip the balance. He looked at one of his Heartless Monkeys and silently ordered it to give Kerchak the assistance he needed. Diving into the ground, the shadow of the Heartless slipped down into the crater.

Meanwhile, Sabor was moving to get distance between itself and the gorilla, using her own speed and the Gorilla's lack thereof as the hopefully deciding factor in this fight. Sabor gave a great hiss at the Gorilla, who roared, before charging, Sabor dived out of the way, hoping to land and using this momentum to flank the gorilla, but instead, it landed paws first into a puddle of the Heartless goop. The goop ran up her legs and covered her, before she stared at Kerchak, her eyes glowing golden as her fur darkened. Kerchak didn't care what colour Sabor was, she killed his only son and today, she was going to pay.Letting out another roar, he ran forward on all fours, but in a flash of literal lightning, the Leopard had rushed behind and dug all of her claws into his back, rending more flesh.

Tarzan looked confused as he looked to Taivas for assistance. He had helped before... But this was still his fathers fight... No, it was his job to protect his family, even if that family didn't like him too much. "Help me!" He called to Taivas, grabbing the spear. At that point a gunshot rang out, Sabor was knocked off of Kerchaks back by the bullet. As they looked to see Clayton stood weapon aimed.

"DON'T YOU DARE HARM THAT MAGNIFICENT BEAST!!!" He called in his most heroic battle cry he could muster.

"Clayton!" Tarzan jumped for joy at his friends assistance. Sabor backed off a few paces, before rushing again, clocking another gunshot and going back a pace. Clayton jumped into the crater and advanced, gun still trained on it. He subtly gave a command to the heartless influencing Sabor and it managed to pull Sabor to run out of the crater and aim its attention at the gang. Dotty grabbed the mask and didn't hesitate this time.

HEROIC SPIRIT OF POODLEWOLF, FILL ME WITH ABSOLUTE POWER!!!" She called, the dark energies swirling around her and Zen-Aku taking form. He struck his wolf-warrior pose at the Leopard.

"Deal with that Feline miscreant!" Clayton called "I'll take care of the Gorilla!!!" Tarzan nodded to Clayton before turning his full attention to Sabor. Clayton turned to look at the wounded gorilla. "Oh yes, i'll take VERY good care indeed of this one..." He whispered as the green energy in his eyes began to glow.

@Eviledd1984

@mattmanganon

Taivas

Taivas watched as the huge gorilla stomped into the tent. He knew that if he tried to intervene, he would get quite a beating. A part of him was pretty glad since he didn’t have to hear Dotty anymore. Taivas was staring back at the Kerchak and then at Tarzan. “Do you know this guy?” He asked. He was surprised when he mentioned that Kerchak was his father. “I can see that; you got his hairyness.” Taivas said, chuckling softly at his joke.

“Come on Tarzan don’t be a pansy. Stand up for yourself.” He stepped forward but backed down when he noticed Kerchak looking back at him. Following the others outside of the tent.

Taivas watched as the leopard from before started attacking the trio. “Son of a bitch.” The blonde summoned his keyblade, getting into a fighting stance. However, it was pretty hard since he didn’t want to hit Kerchak accidentally. Chasing after Sabor with the others, ensuring he didn’t lose sight of them. He jumped around, trying not to slam himself into a tree. He caught his breath as they finally caught up to Kerchak and Sabor.

“Finally, I thought I was never gonna get some payback. That asshole ruined my jacket.” Taivas summoned his keyblade again. He rushed towards Sabor and jumped high, swinging his weapon down to try and hit the leopard. “Take this!!!” He yelled out while coming down.

Max watched as Lucian left with his father and uncle in tow before turning to look at Morgan. He wondered if she had a keyblade as well. He knew of her training in magic, but it seemed like everyone that ended up on that island received one. “Hey,” he said, finally cutting the silence. “Do you want to join in on helping your friends?”

Even with the silence broken, there was a long pause from Morgan, who had gone back to staring at the statue. She had been quiet since she woke up, only asking a few questions, trying to understand all this. It was a lot to take in… that contact had been lost with the world she was from. That this great Wizard that EVERYONE seemed to come to for help was not only just her mentor, but they came from the same world, and she was once his direct apprentice? And the hardest part to believe of all, that she was a Princess of some far off Kingdom, who had Knights protecting her everywhere she went. Looking at herself now… it was hard to imagine any of that. Just trying to remember those things made her head hurt, made the world around her blur, as if filled with static.

“My friends…” She repeated the words, as if trying to understand them, likely due to the fact she was so lost in her own thoughts. Turning her head, looking over her shoulder at Max, she said “I have only known them for a few months now, they are all… different. They all manifested these weapons, those, keyblades.” She held up her hand and looked at it, before adding “I can barely conjure ice, it happens when it wants to, but to hear that I was once some, master Mage capable of powerful magic…” She clenched her first, before continuing… “I suppose, for all they did for me, they deserve my help, even if they may not need it. I’m not sure of what help I can be, I have caused more harm with my magic than good. And with them all wielding those Keyblades… and me not having any such thing…” She stared at the orb, where she could see Lucian soon joining the fight, as she said “How does a Princess come to the aid of heroes…”

It was Merlin who stepped in, as he said “Well, it makes sense. Black Magic was never your specialty, and not something you ever mastered, or even tried to for that matter. You were well versed in White Magic, healing and light magic as it were. Not to mention Astrology, the magic of the stars. However, it would seem that, for whatever reason, as you lost your memory, Black Magic is what you have clung to. I would say it is because Black Magic is itself, an instinctual magic… but it does not matter. So, this is my advice, as your mentor. Let go of what you have been told about how you were once the master of any sort of magic. See yourself as you are, an apprentice mage who has barely begun her journey to learn magic. You must learn the basics, before you try anything too advanced. I’m sure Daisy here can help you along with a few of the basic spells. And though I use words such as ‘basic’, do not misunderstand. Magic, in any form, can be dangerous. Even the beginner spells you will start with, will be more than a match for the heartless you come up against."

“I'd be happy to teach you,” Daisy said, stepping in. “We can train on our Gummi Ship between worlds and on other worlds when we're not fighting.”

“And I think a princess has every right to be a hero. Whoever says she can't be the one doing the saving? And yeah, your friends may have keyblades and you don't really have a handle on your magic, but none of that makes a hero. It's the desire to protect and help others. That's why I became a knight and all I needed was that desire and this lance.” He conjured his lance and hoisted it on his right shoulder. “So I ask again, do you wanna help your friends?” Whether she was convinced they were friends or not, he didn't care. He had the evidence that proved it before he gave it to Lucian.

“My friends…” She said it again, as she did the first time, like the concept was a mystery to her. This time though, she was thinking back to before they left the island, the things that were said, about no matter where they go, how they were going to be in each other’s hearts. Who said that? What she remembered most though was how when everybody came in to embrace each other, she didn’t, she didn’t feel like she deserved it. Even though they had helped her, given her a place to stay, dealt with her memory loss, she didn’t feel like she had earned their friendship. Whatever she considered them, she had no idea what they considered her. But, that meant there was only one choice. If she didn’t deserve their friendship, if she hadn’t earned it… well, now was the time to start.

She looked back to Max, and nodded. “I haven’t been a great friend to them so far, so it’s hard for me to think of them as friends, because I don’t feel like I earned that from them. But Lucian came all this way to help me, and without him I wouldn’t be here. So, it’s time to start earning that friendship, and let them decide if I deserve it.”

Merlin gave a little hop and a skip, with a cheery “By jove that’s the spirit! Well, you’re most of the way there anyway. One more thing before you go…” He stepped over to the Fairy Godmother, whispering in her ear.

A smile crept on the Fairy Godmother's face. This was her favorite part. She lifted her wand and said, “Bippity boppity boo, let's make your old clothes like new!” With a flick of the wrist her spell released from her wand and enveloped Morgan.

As magic swirled around Morgan, a wooden staff appeared in her hand, and her more modern clothes glowed and lengthened, leaving her in a white robe, and a tall pointed hat, just like how she looked in the painting on the wall back in Merlin’s shop. She looked like her older self again, at least somewhat.

“There we go, a Witch must look the part, now… on you go, and remember, you always have a place to rest here with me, whenever you need it.”

Morgan gripped the staff, trying to get a feel of familiarity for it… but there was no time for that, as soon she was out the door, running off in the direction all the noise was coming from.

Max smiled, watching Morgan's determination on display. He followed after her with Daisy in tow. If she was going to earn their friendship he was going to earn hers by helping her with this goal.

By time the Trio arrived at the location of the battle, a mass of Lesser Heartless had started to swarm, blocking them from reaching the others. Morgan could see some fighting a much larger Heartless, but they couldn’t get to them from their location. Of course, it only took a few moments for a large portion of them to notice them, and turn ready to attack. Unlike back on the island, these Heartless didn’t hesitate, charging at them.

Morgan thought quickly, and held up her staff. “Max, hold them off as best you can, we need just a minute.” Then looking to Daisy she said “I need your help, let’s create a path to the others, we’ll work better if we can all group up together.” And then, she started channeling an ice spell, having to work through the ‘how’ as it came up, eyes closed to focus. Her intent was to create two walls of ice straight through the Heartless, blocking them off and making a safe path… at least one that would hopefully hold long enough for them to get through. Naturally, she was trying to hurry as she didn’t expect Max to hold off a whole ocean of Heartless on his own for long.

Max nodded and made a dash toward the Heartless, impaling the first one on his lance. Before it could fully dissipate he swung his lance before thrusting it forward on another to make a Heartless kebab. They tried to wriggle free, but that only hastened their defeat. They dissipated around his lance freeing the weapon to face more.

Fortunately he didn’t have to hold them long, before Morgan and Daisy managed a spell that created an explosion of ice that ran in a line straight toward the larger Heartless, a wall of ice rising up on both sides. Almost immediately the Lesser Heartless started to claw at it, trying to break through.

Morgan had to take a moment, not used to actually intentionally using magic, but with no time to waste, she quickly said “I don’t think that will hold them for long…” She ran down the path, and they really didn’t have long as she suspected, as just as soon as they were running through the path, the ice was starting to crack. By the time they came out the other side, finally joining the rest of the group, it shattered behind them, and the Heartless poured in, surrounding them once again.

“Great job, Morgan!” Max shouted in support as they made it through to the other side. He watched as the Heartless started to pour in again, but he wasn't worried. They had three keyblade wielders, three magicians, and two knights. Even if two of the wielders were tired and bruised the odds were still in their favor. He hoped.

Collab with: @mattmanganon

As Zen-Aku, Taivas and Tarzan prepared for the incoming attack. "We'll take her together, I'll-" At that point, Taivas jumped ahead with Tarzan, "Or we wing it-" He rushed to the side as Taivas went high, the Leopard countered Taivas’ attack with an energy bolt lashing from it’s eyes, tearing into Taivas’ shirt “Mother…” Taivas sneered as his attack didn’t connect. Sabor rushed at Tarzan, something deeply ingrained in it's feline brain told him that that one was the most dangerous.

Moving at lightning speed, jumping out of the way of Taivas' attack, it lashed out with all 20 of it's claws, but Tarzan was able to bring his spear up in time to block and throw the Leopard to the side, "MIGHTY SPIRIT OF THE ELEPHANT!!!" Zen-Aku called out, slotting the crystal into his knife and creating the Elephant Flail, before sending the heavy ball racing at the Leopard, who twisted in mid air and ran down the chain, before leaping at Zen-Aku's face, slashing him and sending him reeling, sparks flying out, before he twirled the flail around and tried to bring it crashing down on the Leopard, but it was far too fast for such a clumsy and imprecise weapon.

"It's not clumsy and imprecise if you use it right..." A voice seemed to come to him over the winds as he set off dashing through the jungle after Sabor, Master Phant was in his mind? "Not exactly, but when you hold my weapon i can sense your feelings."

"GET 'EM POODLEWOLF!" the little girl in the void of his mind yelled at him, probably just wanting to be involved in the conversation going on. Zen-Aku and Tarzan catching up to the Heartless Leopard in another treeline that looked more like an arena. Zen-Aku and Tarzan began to slowly circle the cat, Zen-Aku twirling the flail slowly.

"I will need to admit you to my classes some day, little one. Pai Zhuq could teach you many things."

"We need to strike together, wild man." He growled. Tarzan had never seen a creature such as Zen-Aku, before, he appeared more as one of those Heartless than as a man, and as he listened, he could hear no heart-beat from him, and yet he seemed to be a creature who fought for good. It was rather puzzling. He looked at the spinning ball and then up into the canopy of the jungle.

"Attack from tree" He said, standing up, this time his stance was more like a man than a beast. Zen-Aku nodded. As Sabor got impatient and went for the first strike, Zen-Aku jumped high and sent the flail down at the possessed cat, meanwhile, Tarzan rushed forwards, not to attack, but to keep Sabor in line with the flail, blocking his progress with the spear, but still the cat was far too fast for this tactic. Disengaging after getting a quick jab with its claws in at Tarzan, leaving a bleeding, yet superficial wound on the wildmans chest, as it went to the side, Tarzan jumped and grabbed the flail head, before swinging it as if it were one of the vines he had been swinging from since his was a child, bringing the flail in like a wrecking ball at the Leopard, before it could land to change direction, he used the momentum to leap from the flail and swung the spear around to slash at the Leopard, leaving the first major wound on the Leopard. As the 3 landed and looked at Sabor, it hissed at them. Now everyone had at least one lick on them. Zen-Aku looked at the flail.

"Sorry, old man, but I need something a little faster..." He sighed.

"Do not be sorry for doing what you need to do to win." Master Phant chuckled "My ego will not be bruised by you not using the mighty elephant spirit in every fight. Simply honour my teachings." Zen-Aku then pulled the marble from the flail and it transformed back into his knife which he pocketted, both, before reaching his hand out and the Cresent Moon Blade appeared, which he flourished, before adopting a defensive stance.

But Sabor wasn't interested in the Duke Org, it didn't bleed. Manflesh was far more tantalizing a prospect. Rushing tarzan, it jumped at him, with Tarzan once again bringing up the spear to block the ravenous ball of sharp claws and teeth. Zen-Aku rushed behind it and grabbed its tail, Sabor let out a roar of incoherent rage that would shatter the bones of lesser men, as Zen-Aku gave it a firm pull and threw it off of Tarzan, who was quick to follow up by jumping off of the Wolf Org's back and driving the spear directly into the chest of Sabor.

Tarzan panted as the fight seemed to be won, but the heartless within Sabor had other plans. Dark energies began creeping up the spear as Sabor continued to struggle, despite the skewering, Tarzan didn't like the dark energies and so let go of the spear, backing up. as the dark energies seemed to push the spear out which fell to the ground and now a dark tentacle protruded from Sabor, as it seemed to twist and writhe unnaturally pulling itself to its feet and hissing at them again. Zen-Aku on the otherhand wasn't going to simply watch, he flourished the blade again. "CRESENT MOON BLADE!!!" as 3 blades of energy whipped through the air at Sabor, the Leopard made no attempt to dodge this attack as the energy blades made 3 more cuts in its skin, before smashing into the tree's and disipating. The cat hissed again and from the wounds, even more tentacles sprouted. "Persistent thing isn't it?" Tarzan gave a look that said "You have no idea".

Tarzan seemed to know her movements too well and the wolf didn’t bleed… That left one other attack for the target. It’s tentacles tips turning into blades and lashing out at Taivas. That one was also made of meat and may prove to be something of a weak link. A mistake Sabor would come to regret soon enough as Taivas rolled out of the way of Sabor’s attack.

Taivas was glad that he at least got one hit in. “This some of bitch is a heartless. I wonder how you got that?” He thought as he prepared another attack. He raised his hand, throwing a few shadowy spears at the leopard. He hoped at least one of the spears would hit it and not particularly regarding whether the spear struck the others. Running behind the spears and preparing to cut down the jungle cat. The first spear struck at one tentacle, cutting it out of the way, the second would cut it across the tail, more tentacles snaking out of it. The last one went overhead and almost struck Zen-Aku.

"Watch your aim, boy." He growled in response.

But as the tentacles had been knocked out of the way, Taivas jumped into the air, wanting to aim and hit Sabor. Not commenting on Zen’s angry comment. He was focused on killing the leopard. However, the tentacles would be quite a problem. But since they looked like they had multiplied, he would need to focus on attacking Sabor. Sabor could easily attack Taivas with its tentacles while he’s midair. Sabor swung one of its tentacles to Taivas, colliding with the blonde’s body. This attack sent Taivas flying and crashing hard into a nearby tree. Sabor then turned towards Zen ready to attack him.

Taivas, meanwhile, was slowly getting back up on his feet. His hand was on his head, and he felt dazed from hitting the tree. But Sabor was already locked onto her next target. Jumping straight at the Wolf, Zen-Aku jumped backwards, trading several blows with his sword against the bladed tentacles and her claws, before seeing that Tarzan was going high for his next attack, planting himself down, he brought the knee up into Sabor’s chest, stunning the cat, before extending the leg to send her flying into Tarzan who jumped down to drive the spear through her back as he put all of his weight on her and then kicked off, grabbing ahold of a vine as the spear went straight through, as the cat let out a scream of pain, the tentacles wrapped around the spear from both ends, before snapping off the ends so that the host could continue to work while they forced her to exert herself. It may have made Sabor pitiful if the creature had not been so sadistic in its methods before her enslavement to the creatures. Zen-Aku looked at the sight of the Leopard desperately being forced to carry on her assault when all she wanted to do was give up and die. A little part of him felt that pain, but then he looked at the tentacles, before looking to Taivas.

"Boy, your keyblade. We need to exorcise the Heartless in order to put it down for good." He looked at Tarzan in the canopy. "Grab and hold her down." He said, before drawing the knife again. "MIGHTY SPIRIT OF THE ELEPHANT!!!" He summoned the elephant flail again, rushing at Sabor, dancing around her, the tentacles lashing out at him, as they all slashed at him, he slid under them and used the flail as a whip, wrapping it around the many tentacles, before jumping back and wrapping the rest of the flail around his arm as he grabbed ahold of a tree with his legs, the tentacles desperately attempting to flail free within his grasp. "WILDMAN! NOW!!!" He yelled as Tarzan jumped down, grabbing Sabor and pulling her into a headlock, its claws desperately scrambling for purchase.

"Taivas now!" Zen-Aku yelled.

"NOW!!!" Tarzan yelled.

"I can't hold them, strike now, exorcise the heartless!!!"

Taivas could feel the pain running up his whole body. The satisfaction of killing the leopard would be great. “Son of a bitch.” He muttered under his breath while trying to get his bearings. As he slowly recovered, he could only catch the hazy image of Tarzan getting Sabor in a chokehold. Zen's voice seemed to be ringing in his ear. Slowly making out the words “Strike it.” Summoning up his keyblade again, he focused on Sabor and ran at it. Feeling the anger building up inside of his body. He would personally turn the big cat into a rug for the ship. “DIE!” The blonde yelled out while going in to stab Sabor in the chest with the end of his keyblade, white energies shooting through the Leopard, before finally, in a flash, the Monkey Heartless was forced out, Sabors own heart ascending to the heavens. It fell limp and slammed to the ground.

As the monkey landed. It shook itself off, before it heard the boots behind it. It looked up to see Zen-Aku. They stared at each other for a second "Oh buddy did you bet on the wrong... Cat..." the Spirit of Dotty said to it. Zen-Aku twirled the Cresent-Moon Blade and pointed it straight down. The Heartless waved goodbye before the blade drove down and extinguished it. Dotty laughed hysterically at this, but then turned to Tarzan who picked up the corpse of the beast who slew his real parents, raising the limp body aloft, he let out A bellow that would challenge the gods themselves. As he finished, he dropped the corpse.

"Thank you..." Tarzan said, turning to Taivas. Now he would be able to tell Kerchak that his so- "KERCHAK!!!" He then set off at a run through the jungle. Zen-Aku followed closely after him.

****

As the ape sat breathing heavily, desperately trying to claw his way to his haunches to defend himself from this human. He may have fooled the boy, but this one did not fool him. The darkness within his heart was radiating off him... Literally now, as the green energies began to gather in his gun. Suddenly, more of those smaller monkeys gathered around, holding down the wounded ape "Don't worry, old boy. You'll be feeling much better soon." He jammed the gun into one of the wounds in Kerchaks chest. The Alpha let out a cry of pain. Green energies flowed through the gun and straight into Kerchacks chest. As he did so, Kerchak would slowly lose consciousness, the glowing red heart leaving his chest and floating upwards. "That's it, you dull beast." As he did so, several monkey-heartless dived upon the heart as it ascended into the heavens. A number of the others beginning to claw their way in through the many wounds. Clayton watching with a perverse delight.

****

As the others arrived back at the clearing, they would find it empty. Zen-Aku stopped as he felt cold all of a sudden. "Something... Something dark... Something vile is here..." As he said so, an almighty thud would shake the ground. The group turned around to see Kerchak stood there, his eyes glowing yellow, his wounds glowing the same yellow. It let out a snort through its nostrils, green flames. Tarzan began almost hyperventilating in fear.

"K... Kerchak?" He asked.

"Not anymore dear boy." The response came. They saw Clayton walking out of the jungle.

"Clayton!" Tarzan whooped excitedly, but Zen-Aku stepped between the two.

"YOU DID THIS?!?!?" He roared.

"NO!" Tarzan jumped ahead of Zen-Aku and stood in front of him. "NOT CLAYTON!" He replied. He let out a few gorilla hoops. "NOT CLAYTON!"

"Absolutely, my friend." Clayton replied, continuing to advance. A flash of green flowed through his eyes. "And you can be just as useful as him." He said, reassuringly. Kerchak lashed out and grabbed the Wild Man and Wolf Org, holding them in his gigantic mits.

Taking a moment to breathe, he was hunched over panting loudly. “Shit…” Muttering these words as he tried recovering. “No problem…” His hand raised before gently falling onto his side. He sighed as he noticed Tarzan running to find his adoptive father. “Oh, come on.” He ran after him, stopping as Tarzan found Kerchek. Taivas was catching his breath again holding onto a nearby tree. “Clayton….you…rat….bastard…” Taivas said in between his heavy breathing. Holding onto his back from the sudden pain that shot up his backside.

The blonde summoned his keyblade again, rushing at the now heartless Kerchek. Using his power of darkness to quicken his step. “Hold on, I gotcha.” He aimed his attack at the gorilla’s arm so he would let go of both Tarzan and Zen. As the blade sliced straight through Kerchak’s arm, the heartless creature roared in pain as Zen-Aku and Tarzan used the opportunity to escape its grasp. Regrouping together, they would see tentacles sprouting out of the stump of both Kerchaks arm and his severed hand, before wrapping together and then pulling themselves back together, as if the wound had never happened.

"Ewwwww..." Dotty's spirit grimaced. Although Tarzan wasn't looking at Kerchak, he let out a yell, before charging Clayton, dodging a blast from the empowered shotgun, before tackling Clayton into the underbrush. The Gorilla Heartless beat it's chest, before letting out a roar and charging the 2 remaining warriors. Zen-Aku dived out of the way of the charge before sending 3 Cresent-Moon-Energy blades at the Heartless, but they all shattered against the possessed Silverback's hide, leaving no discernible damage.

"Alright, this one will call for Brute-Strength." Zen-Aku grunted, before drawing the dagger and marble once again. "MIGHTY SPIRIT OF THE ELEPHANT!!!" He called. As the flail appeared, the first pits of rain would fall around them, before increasing in rate until the drowning cocophony surrounded them entirely. Spinning the Flail up to speed, he rushed forwards, jumping in the air and bringing the head smashing down into Kerchak, who's immense hand rose up to grab the head, before pulling the Wolf Org straight into his other open hand and smashing the wolf into the mud, he then raised his fists in a double-axehandle strike pose.

Quickening his pace, Taivas started closing the distance between himself and the gorilla. He tried to slash at the gorilla’s chest, but his attack did nothing. “Shit.” He muttered as Kerchek slammed Taivas into the ground with his strike. The blonde’s body leaves a comically shaped human sized hole. A few moments later, Taivas got back up again using the pain in his body to fuel his hatred for the heartless Kerchek. “You're gonna pay for that…” He said while biting his lower lip. His eyes glowing yellow as he rushed at Kerchek again. This time summoning some shadowy pools that would move towards Kerchek’s feet to try and slow him down. Maybe this would tip the battle in their favor. Although a perfectly natural move against a faster foe, Kerchak wasn’t really moving all that much, so when the slimy pools engulfed his feet, he seemed confused for a second, but then stood upright and smashed his hands together, sending a shockwave out that would stumble Taivas in his charge, before Kerchaks hands flew apart, backhanding him across the clearing.

This did however accomplish giving Zen-Aku the time to get back up, covered in mud, as he rolled under the big ape, the arena was illuminated by lightning, followed a few seconds later by the crash of thunder, the wolf jumped and ran up the apes back, before wrapping the chain of the elephant-flail around its neck, planting both feet on its shoulder and beginning to pull backwards. Due to the black muck around his feet, Kerchack wasn’t able to maintain balance, groping desperately at the chain, but it was too thin for his enormous fingers to get purchase upon. A giant plume of green fire erupted from the apes lips as it roared. With Kerchek lailing his arms around, trying to pull Zen off his back. Trying to move towards nearby trees, trying to slam Zen into them. But his footing slipped as he fell backward thanks to Taivas' pools, Zen-Aku twisted his body to move both feet to the chest of the gorilla. looked straight into Zen-Aku's face and growled before breathing fire at him from his laying position, Zen-Aku then jumped and twisted in the air, landing behind the ape, on the ground, wrapping the chains around his arm to get more leverage as he continued to try and choke the beast out. He moved again to get back up on his feet, but the mud made it hard to stand up. The chain was wrapped tightly around his neck. Kerchek thrashed around, grabbing the chain and flinging Zen-Aku into a tree, but Zen-Aku once again twisted his body in the air, grabbing the tree and wrapping the chain around it to get purchase once again, planting both feet into the tree, there was a crash of thunder that illuminated the proud Wolf Org.

Taivas, meanwhile, was slowly approaching them, albeit slowly. He held onto his side as he came closer towards the pair. He summoned his keyblade as he stood a few feet away from them. “Keep him down!” Taivas called loudly enough for Zen to hear him through the din of rain and crashing of thunder. Kercheck finding his strength leap onto his feet grabbing the chain and pulling Zen-Aku away from the tree and using him as the flail to throw into Taivas. Roaring loudly while beating hard on his chest while breathing green fire from his mouth. He began charging at the heroes. As he did so, dark energies swirled in front of the pair of warriors. Each looked at each other as if to ask if the other was doing this. But a dark portal appeared and Kerchak disappeared into it. An evil cackle sounded with the next crash of lightning. Zen-Aku looked up into the rain.

“Mmmm, are you okay?” Taivas asked Zen-Aku, himself looking worse for wear. Zen-Aku shook his head a little as he fell to one knee.

"No... 2 big fights in a row... Dotty can't..." He fell to his other knee, before pulling his mask off, Dotty stood there. She shook herself off like a puppy, before yawning loudly.

"I'm a bit tired, Han..." She rubbed her eyes. She walked over to him.

“Let’s go find Tarzan.” He said, slowly limping in the direction where he saw Tarzan run off to chase Clayton. The pair of them found Tarzan looking quite tired, and his face was filled with shock. A bolt of lightning illuminated the outline of Clayton's swinging fate “Nice of you and Clayton to be hanging out together.” He said, chuckling at his rather tasteless joke. Dotty simply Yawned. As Tarzan looked around, the rest of the Gorilla's had arrived, watching Tarzan, hooping solumnly as Tarzan looked at Taivas, they shared a look that explained everything. Tarzan nodded, Kerchak has never been a good father to him... But he was his father... A strong, powerful and yet wise leader who never hesitated to put himself in danger to rescue the others. Replacing him would be impossible. But looking around into the eyes of the other Gorilla's, he reared up, pushing himself up with his knuckles high. He beat his chest quickly and let out a snort. The other Apes bowed a little, before Tarzan began leading them home.

Meanwhile, Leon and Launchpad watched the brown haired girl blow the heartless out of the way, literally, before running towards the First District. Leon casually blasted a few shots from his cannon to help her clear the way before turning to his ally "Alright, we need to head over to Third District to get to Gizmo's Launchpad tapped him on the shoulder in response.

"What do you mean? It's back that way." He asked.

"No, Gizmo's is in the Third District." He sighed, before hobbling off that way. Launchpad could swear that it was in the second, but Leon tended to be the smarter one. As more of the shadows slowly raised around them, Leon this time willingly climbed up on Launchpad's shoulder. The enormous duck raised his Trident high before the magic encased him once again in the Thunderquack armour and they rocketed into the sky, before beginning to tumble straight down towards Gizmo's. "You lunkhead!" He called at Launchpad

"That was a rotten thing ya did!" He scolded the Lilty. "You told that nice lady we'd do what we can to help and you were gonna hang her out to dry." He pouted. At that point, the shadows around them began to lengthen as well.

"She's not our boss, Launchpad." He growled, before drawing the gun again as one of the Heartless just as it took up it's menacing form, immediately shoving the barrel in its mouth, the imp stared at the gun in mild shock before shaking its hands, begging for its unlife, before a shot deleted its head and it fell backwards into oblivion. "We were told to find the Keyblader and help her however we can. He yelled at the duck. Launchpad immediately struck his most heroic pose.

"But as Space Rangers, we were told that it's our eternal duty to help anyone in need, no matter who, what, where or even why!" He twirled the Trident, accidentally decapitating an approaching imp. He turned around. "Ooooh, that's my bad, i'm sorry little guy." He cooed reassuringly as the imps body stumbled around looking for the head for a few seconds, before shrugging and poofing into dust.

"Don't comfort them." Leon growled at him. "Just get to blasting!" He then fired a couple of more shots into the crowd of growing shadows.

"Hey, i used to know a guy called Gismo, you think they're related?" He asked.

"FOR THE LAST TIME! NO!!!" Leon yelled, before jumping up on Launchpads shoulder once again and then serving as a turret as the shadows began growing into Knights and Wizards, before approaching.

"STAR COMMAND!!! He yelled, a wave of energy sweeping from him, causing the Heartless to slow down as he cast his Battle Cry, charging at the horde.

@mattmanganon

Taivas

Taivas walked over to Tarzan, patting him on the shoulder. “Sorry for your loss, bud.” He said, feeling awkward, as he comforted Tarzan. A part of him wondered who created the portal to let Kerchek escape. But whatever business they had in this world was completed. He would need to go to another world to try to find his friends. There was the defiant possibility of Kerchek coming back, so perhaps he could finally put him down for good. “But before we go, we should make sure those heartless don’t come back.” An idea he didn’t know how to execute. His eyes focused on a colourful and glowing butterfly fluttering past him. He had seen this butterfly before, after he had first arrived in the world. “Take care of her, I've got some business to attend to.” He said to Jane as he started following the butterfly.

Taivas didn’t know why, but he felt compelled to follow the butterfly. A memory came to him, following a similar butterfly in a world he couldn’t remember much about. Following the butterfly to a small alcove further into the jungle. The butterfly landed on a giant tree with something glowing brightly, blinding Taivas for a brief moment. Taivas had covered his eyes, and when he lowered his hand, he saw a giant glowing keyhole. He held his hand out as his keyblade appeared in his hand.

There was a hesitation on what he should do next. Apart from him, he wondered if he should either lock the keyhole or corrupt the heart with his darkness. He pointed his keyblade to the keyhole as the end of it glowed brightly. A sudden blast of light shot out of his keyblade and into the keyhole. He could hear something locking as the door soon disappeared. “Was that it? I guess there’ll be no more heartless wandering around anymore.” Taivas sighed while going back to the camp.

“Hi, thanks for taking care of Dotty, I’ll take her back to the ship.” He said, gently taking Dotty into his arms. Walking away to the ship. And once inside, he started it up as the ship flew off into space.

As Tarzan continued to walk away, Dotty let out a loud yawn, before collapsing face first into the mud.

"Oh my..." Jane sighed. Taivas asked her to look after the child and Jane nodded. "I'm not exactly the most... Well qualified nanny, but yes i don't suppose i mind." As she picked Dotty up and began walking back to the tent. Getting inside, she quickly cleaned herself and the half-conscious child before putting her into one of the hammocks. Meanwhile, the professor was already fast asleep and Jane, exhausted from the whole ordeal collapsed into her hammock, straight into unconsciousness. Dotty, half asleep looked at her ghostly protector stood there.

"Poodlewolf... Can you sing a lullaby? Like you did for Strudel Prince in Episode 28?" She asked. Zen-Aku sighed, before pulling the knife flute from its sheeth.



As the song ended, Dotty sat staring at Zen-Aku, eyes wide open, clearly terrified by this song, before her eyes drooped and unconsciousness finally took her. Zen-Aku sat down as a flood of memories washed him away, he remembered... So much, but it was a blur... Fighting the knights, working with those red, green and blue monsters, fighting those same monsters. What the hell was happening? He rushed out into the rain and looked up into the clouds, the rain passed straight through him as he was just a spectral force.

"WHO ARE YOU!!! WHY DO YOU KEEP SENDING ME THESE MEMORIES!?!?!?!" He roared to the heavens, demanding answers. But he knew the only place to get them.

Booting the front door to Master Phant's house down, the Org took a few angry steps inside and looked around to see the master meditating. "ENOUGH OF THE RIDDLES AND GAMES, OLD MAN! ANSWERS! NOW, BEFORE I STOP ACTING POLITELY!!!" He roared. The master sighed, before getting up out of his meditative position and walking over to grab the door and put it back on its hinges.

"You know, you were far more amicable last time. The old man replied.

"That's because last time, i wasn't having visions of me assisting monsters in destroying the world!" He growled. Master Phant walked past him again towards his kitchen to put the kettle on to boil

"So you learned that you may have been in league with monsters in your past life and your first response was to abandon all your manners and come and attempt to threaten me into giving you more information about how you were in league with monsters?" He asked, while cracking flint against tinder to start the fire to boil the water.

"I..." As the Wolf stood there, he did realize that he was essentially fulfilling his own nightmares by doing this.

"Sit." The old man ordered. Zen-Aku stared at him.

"Is that some kind of dog joke?" He asked. The old man laughed, before walking to sit in his own chair. Zen-Aku sat down across from him.

"What if i were to tell you that i was a world conquering monster and i am here only because of banishment?" He asked. Zen-Aku was taken aback by this, that came a little out of left field. "Well?" He asked.

"I... Are you an Org as well?" He asked. The old man looked at him, before motioning to his forehead. No horn, that meant he wasn't an Org. "Then what are...?"

"Call me a demon." He smiled. "Now, i have invited you into my home, i have given you the power to help protect your friends, i have helped you to understand your existance. Does it really matter that i am a demon who once tried to enslave billions? Will you now stop using the power to save others that i have given you?" He asked. Zen-Aku shook his head.

"Ok, i get it, you are no demon." He replied. "And if you were, it wouldn't matter what you had done in the past because you helped me save Taivas and Tarzan.

"So i ask you. Does it matter if you were once a demon who enslaved billions? Does it matter to Tarzan? Does it matter to Taivas? No. Because right here, right now, you chose to save their lives." He replied.

"But what if i don't deserve this? What if i am beyond redemption?" He asked. "What if i did something so unspeakably evil against Princess Shayla that i can never be forgiven?"

"Then she will never forgive you. But the others will..." He replied, the kettle started whistling and he got up to see to it. "I once lived in a savannah, and i met a pair who taught me a saying. They were wise words... Hakuna Matata. It means that sometimes in life, bad things have happened and we can't change them." He poured 2 cups of green tea, before blowing out the flame and putting the kettle to one side. "There is nothing you can do, so there is no point in dwelling. Focus on what you can do going forward."

"But... It's one thing to accept responsibility for a past injustice, but i don't even know if i even made an injustice or not." He took the tea and looked into it, for a moment, seeing that face again staring back at him, the black bangs, the goatee, the silver shirt, he looked up at Master Phant.

"Alright, let's try it this way." He took a sip, before placing the cup down. "Can you see the future?"

"No."

"Can I see the future?"

"I don't think so."

"No i can't. Can you see the past clearly?"

"No."

"Can i see the past clearly?"

"Maybe?"

"No i can't. So, there's no way of us knowing the future."

"I suppose."

"And there's no way of us knowing your past?"

"Not at the moment, no."

"So, all we know is what is happening right now."

"Yes."

"So, the only reasonable course of action is to act on what information we have right now. Right now, there are peoeple in trouble that you want to help. And so there's no point in worrying about the rest. Hakuna Matata." He smiled, before going back to drinking his tea. The Wolf cocked his head to the side, slightly confused by the logic, but understanding the spirit of it. "Let me put it another way. Will bad things happen because you learn of your past?" Zen-Aku hung his head contemplating. "Will what is happening right this very second with the Heartless be effected if you learn? Will their actions change in any way, shape or form?"

"I suppose not..." He replied in quiet understanding.

"And will you continue to fight their evil if you learn that you once were a demon who enslaved billions?" He asked.

"I'd like to think so." Phant sighed and shook his head at that answer.

"Stop dealing with maybe's, what if's and i wishes." He scolded sarcastically. "Will you fight for what is right, even if you once murdered entire planets in a life you cannot remember?" He asked. Zen-Aku looked back into the tea and into the face again.

"Yes..." He growled.

"Then?" Master Phant quizzed him.

"Hakuna Matata." He replied.

"Good, now drink up, your friend has just locked the heart of this world. He will want to leave soon." He then got up and walked over to take his empty cup to the sink "Now, who are you looking for on the other worlds?"

"Masters Rilla, Gwin, Lope, Swoop, Finn and RJ." He replied. Zen-Aku finished his cup of tea and handed it back to Master Phant, before bowing and going on his way. As Master Phant watched him jump down the mountain, he sighed. "Oh, Animus preserve us..." He shook his head before walking back inside.

****

As Taivas got back to the camp just as the rain stopped, Zen-Aku arriving as well, shortly afterwards. Dotty was already awake, running outside. "HAN! POODLEWOLF! YOU'RE BOTH BACK!!!" She ran up to Taivas' leg and gave it a hug. Taivas actually picking her up, thanking Jane, who bowed.

"Well, me and Daddy have some packing to do, but if you ever require more help, just pop in to London and we will be more than happy to help." She smiled. As they got back to the ship, Dotty sat down and giggled.

"Alright, Han, which way we going this time? What poor maidens in distress can we rescue?" She asked him.

@mattmanganon

Taivas

Taivas carried Dotty back to the ship. He wasn’t sure where they would go next. He guessed that they would be able to land on any other world. “I don’t know, just any place we can go to.” He said. He sat at the pilot’s seat and started up the ship. As they started flying through the starry space, Taivas wondered if he would ever see his friends. A part of him thought he would never find his friends. This thought made Taivas quite depressed.

“Shit…” He placed a hand over his face, feeling an immense sadness. Slamming his hand into the wheel out of anger. His eyes were closed and opened after taking several deep breaths. Of course, as soon as he opened his eyes, he noticed a lot of heartless approaching them. "Hold on tight, it's gonna get bumpy." Taivas was now focused on their ship not being blown up.

Doing his best to maneuver around the obstacles and the incoming attacks. At one point, he made the ship spin upside down. It took a moment for him to find the button that fired the ship's weapons. Firing back at the enemy, but he was struggling to protect them. The ship jutted back and forth as the ship was being pelted by the heartless. “Damn it we're going have to land this thing...Hold on I'll try to lose em." Taivas maneuvered the ship around the heartless and projectiles as best he could. The ship making a bumping landing in a clearing on some unknown planet.

Alias and Alice stumbled upon another house in the woods. As they approached the abode they could hear the sound of both crying and singing. They couldn't quite make out the words, but if someone was crying maybe their doppelgangers were here causing trouble. They followed the solemn sound of music and entered through the door of a fence leading to the backyard. There they saw a long table adorned with what looked like the remains of shattered teapots. At the end of the table was a short, gray-haired man wearing a hat that was almost as tall as he was. Next to him was a brown hare with blonde hair. If this world didn't have a pocket-watch, tuxedo wearing talking rabbit and card soldiers this would've been the strangest thing he saw today. They were crying while singing a such a strange song. "A Very Unmerry Unbirthday to Us..."

"Excuse me, are you alright?" Alice stepped forward and asked, alerting them to their presence.

The Green Hat man opened his eyes wider than he initially intended at the sight of the two before him. "You! You monsters returned! Give us back Dormouse!"

"Dormouse?" Alice asked. "Oh, Alias. Our fakes have been here after all."

Alias sighed. "I'm sorry, but we're not who you think we are. Something is pretending to be us. We think it's a Heartless."

"It sure is heartless!" The hare exclaimed jumping up from his chair. "How could they take poor little, Dormouse and smash all his teapots?"

"They smashed his teapots and kidnapped him? How dreadful."

"We'll get your friend, Dormouse, back. What does he look like?"

"Like a dormouse in a purple suit." The green hat man answered.

"Like that?" Alice asked, pointing up to a balcony on the second floor of the house.

Everyone turned to see what looked to be Alias and Alice, but they were surrounded by shadows and their skin was paler, almost gray. In Shadow Alice's hand was Dormouse. "Help!" The small rodent squeaked in a raspy voice.

Alias started thinking of how to attack the moment he saw them. He didn't know who or what they were, but they caused nothing but trouble and made his whole job here a lot harder. He wasn't sure that he could jump that high without being attacked on the way. They seriously had the high ground. He thought about using Thunder, but didn't want to risk striking Dormouse. He only had one option. Alias threw his right arm up, summoning and releasing his keyblade at the same time. It launched towards Alice and cut straight through right her arm causing her to drop Dormouse.

Alice ran up and caught the little guy in her smock. "Are you okay?"

"Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat. How I wonder what you're at. Up above the world you fly like a tea tray in the sky." The small rodent sung with a high-pitched lisp before falling asleep from the stress and excitement.

Meanwhile, Shadow Alice's arm reformed and Alias' keyblade re-appeared in his hand. He couldn't tell if his eyes were playing tricks on him, but it looked like Shadow Alice's right arm was shorter. He'd have to test that. Now that Dormouse was free he didn't have any reservations about using Thunder against them and if he was lucky he'd be able to test his theory in the process. Alias lifted his keyblade into the air and conjured the lightning he was starting to grow accustom to. It struck both shadow doppelgangers causing them to dissipate and reform in the tea garden below. The shadowy entrails that surrounded them were now gone and so were their smiles. What replaced them were faces of anger and rage.

Shadow Alice launched herself at Alice, who prepared herself by placing Dormouse into the collar of her dress. Alias tried to defend her, but was intercepted by his Shadow Doppelganger. "Get out of my way!" He yelled while slashing down, but before he could bisect his clone his keyblade was met with the now bladed arm of Shadow Alias. If he wasn't focused on getting to Alice and protecting her seeing his doppel's arm turn into a makeshift sword would've undoubtedly been cool. He was glad to know that they couldn't copy weapons like a keyblade, but now that he knew they could become weapons he was even more worried for Alice.

Alias pushed away Shadow Alias and turned to see something completely unexpected. Alice's shadow wasn't able to reach her. He witnessed Alice holding her hand out and a barrier of light projecting from it. Shadow Alice couldn't and wouldn't try and touch that barrier. Alice seemed to notice this as well and pushed forward causing her shadow to step back. They were scared of the light. Alice didn't know how to project the light like a beam or blast, but she wondered... Alice quickly reached out to grab the hand of her shadow doppel. She noticed them wince in pain before Alice jerked her arm back to pull Shadow Alice into a hug. She didn't know whether or not the light from her destroyed Shadow Alice or merely absorbed her, but that was one Shadow down and one to go.

Alias turned back to see Shadow Alias completely gone. No, he wasn't gone. There was a shadow scurrying across the ground and out of the fenced door they came from. "Hey, wait! We need to bring you to the Queen for evidence! Come on, Alice!" He yelled, chasing after his shadow.

Alice nodded and was about to run off when she remembered the little friend in her dress. She walked back over to the short man and his hare friend and handed them Dormouse. "I'm so terribly sorry for our shadows. I'm Alice and that was Sir Alias. A Very Merry Unbirthday to you!"

"A Very Merry Unbirthday to you as well, Alice! I'm the Mad Hatter."

"Though he's pretty happy right now." The hare said as he twisted his ears. "And I'm the March Hare. Do come join us for tea soon!"

"Nice to meet you, gentlemen. And I certainly will." She ran off to follow Alias, hoping he didn't run off too far ahead.

Click... Clack... Boom. Click... Clack... Boom. The sound echoed on repeat as a Soldier and Large Body Duo walked across the roof of the Gizmo shop. Their target was blocked off but they had planned for that, hence the larger of the two. Someone knew how dangerous this bell was and tried to seal it off from either people or the Heartless. There was a red symbol on it, three connected hearts. They seemed to underestimate the Heartless. As if you needed the power of three hearts to get through here. The soldier turned its head to its robust compatriot and nodded. The large heartless danced in place, waving its head and arms. This strange dance seemed to have a purpose as after a few waves the Heartless began to burst with power. Feeling that this was enough it charged forward smashing through boards. Whether due to the impact or by the magic of the Trinity Seal the Large Body evaporated, returning somewhere to who they once were.

The Soldier acted as if a sacrifice hadn't just been made and continued forward to the now unhampered bath to the tower's bell. It approached the bell cautiously, making sure there was no further trap, but there wasn't. It grabbed the rope dangling down and pulled. The bell rung echoing throughout all of Traverse Town. The mural behind the fountain in the Second District turned revealing a completely different one. The Soldier pulled once again without hesitation, determined to get this done as quickly as possible. The bell rung and the mural turned once more. The rope was pulled once more completing the requirements to get what they had been seeking. The bell rung again revealing that someone had pulled it three times and their world was now more vulnerable than ever.

The mural turned yet again but this time art didn't replace it, not exactly. A large bright keyhole appeared behind the fountain with an almost invisible barrier in front of it. Through the keyhole all you could see was darkness. Suddenly a large figure came crashing down in front of the fountain and keyhole. It was the dark boss of this world. The powerful Guard Armor was here to claim its prize after distracting the keyblade warriors with its underling.

@IAmTheIsland@mattmanganon@Sadu@Daxam@Crimson Flame@Bacon

Zac wiped the sweat from his forehead and exhaled. "Whoo," he said as he examined the empty lot. It took him longer than he expected, but he had just finished taking out the last Heartless for the time being. However, having been in this situation more than a few times, he knew that it was only a brief respite. More were bound to show up sooner or later. "I'd better take a look around the town," he said as he rested Stormcall on his shoulder. "Maybe I can meet up with whoever else made it here."

He was about to take a step forward when he heard the bell sound out. Bong...bong...bong... At the sound of the third ring, he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Over the years, he had heard rumors about the bell in the Second District, on top of the Gizmo Shop, that something would happen should it ever be rung three times in a row. That "something" varied depending on whoever told the story, but there was one thing everyone was in agreement on: it wasn't anything good. As he cast Haste on himself once more, Zac chuckled. "A hero's work is never done," he muttered as he leapt from the ground to the rooftops above.

---

Moving across the rooftops, it took Zac no time at all to reach the Second District, an tiered plaza lined with shops. On one end was the Gizmo Shop, which sat on top of what appeared to be a mansion of some kind. On the roof of the shop was the bell, the wooden barricade that had blocked off the bell nowhere to be seen. On the other end was a fountain, which usually depicted a mural. However, the mural was nowhere to be seen. In it's place, to Zac's surprise, was a keyhole and approaching it was a large Heartless. Armored appendages floated around a central torso, upon which a helmet floated and spun. As it reached out toward the Keyhole, Zac smirked. "So, that's your game, huh?"

He reached the edge of the rooftop of the clothing shop he was on and dropped straight down before reorienting himself so his feet were against the wall. He launched himself off of the building, cracking the wall under his feet as he shot toward the Heartless, flipping so he crashed into the gauntlet feet-first. He rode the gauntlet like a skateboard before it crashed into the nearby wall, kicking up a cloud of dust as the brick facade crumbled. "Sorry about that," he said as he aimed his Keyblade at the main body, "but I already lost one world to you monsters. I'm not about to lose another."

The gauntlet under his feet twitched before it suddenly lurched, throwing him off. Zac landed on his feet, skidding to a stop, and lifted his head just in time to see the Guard Armor swing a backhand at him with its other gauntlet. Zac held out his hand and caught the strike, stopping it dead in its tracks. Despite the heavy blow, he remained unbudging. "I'm not gonna go down that easily," he said with a smirk as he swung Stonecall with his free hand, deflecting the gauntlet. He let out a breath and made ready to destroy the Heartless, but stopped. Then, he smiled.

"Today's your lucky day," he told the monster, though he was about 80% sure it couldn't understand him. "I'm gonna play pure defense, so you're gonna live a bit longer. I'm sure my new friends heard that bell, so they'll be here soon. I gotta see if they can handle themselves before they're turned loose on the other worlds." With that, he raised a wall of stone around the Keyhole and planted the tip of his Keyblade into the ground, resting his hands on the pommel with a confident smirk on his face as he watched the Guard Armor approach.

As Dotty woke up next to the crashed ship in the middle of the forest, she'd see Zen-Aku bent down in front of her. "Dotty!" He growled.

"I'm up, i'm up!" She rubbed her eyes. She then looked around. They seemed to be in a strange forest. The sounds of animals could be heard everywhere. Birds, insects, a breeze flowing through the leaves. She looked around to see Taivas having also been catapulted through the windshield of the ship as it crashed. Although he didn't seem to be terribly damaged. Gummi ships were custom designed to protect their occupants, using various magics, it meant dying in a crash was practically impossible. Of course, Dotty didn't know this, nor did she much care. She looked at the damaged Gummi Ship in the tree. "Ah." She sighed, before putting her fists on her hips "Han, i think we're gonna need to call Churchill." Han looked at her and shook his head, before he began looking around, he sniffed the air.

"We're not alone..." He growled. He looked around. Dotty ran over to Taivas and gave him a few pokes to the back of the head as he got to his feet

"Hey, H- Taivas. Poodlewolf says we're not alone." She parrotted.

He checked on Dotty for a moment to see if she was okay. And thankfully, she didn’t seem too badly hurt from the crash. And he was also thankful he didn’t go through the ship's windshield. “Are you okay?” He asked.

"A-OK, boss!" She saluted back to him. As the pair got out of the ship. Taivas was glad to be finally on some solid ground. As he stepped out, he noticed they landed in some sort of clearing in a forest. But where exactly they were, he didn’t know.

“Just stay close to me, there might be heartless around.” Summoning his keyblade while walking further into the forest. A gust of wind rushed past Taivas from behind. Dotty wasn’t paying terribly much attention, and Zen-Aku didn’t turn to see in time.

"Something is toying with us." Zen-Aku growled. As he looked around, he would see a trio of small lights in the tree’s above them. Jumping up high, he would see the 3 lights were, in fact, 3 fairies hiding above them. He perched on the branches for a second staring at them, before the 3 fairies looked back at him. One had brown hair with a white and blue outfit. The second had blond hair and a yellow outfit. The last one seemed to be some kind of goth with black outfit and gray hair. The spirit and the fairies looked back and forth with each other for a few more seconds.

"GET HIM!!!" The yellow one yelled, before jumping at him with a flying-kick, but simply passed straight through him. Dotty looked up as she heard the tiny voice scream.

"What was that?" She asked, seeing the 3 small lights.

“Tsk, I don’t know. But it’s probably nothing. Just some pesky flies…” Taivas grumbled while walking further into the forest. He just assumed it was some sort of annoying spirit. If that were the case, then they could just continue walking. But he didn’t want to waste time trying to find his friends. He looked back at the three lights glaring at him, wondering if they were some kind of heartless. But they didn’t seem to make sense to him. Dotty looked up to contemplate putting the mask on. She knew Taivas could only hear half of what was going on up there. But if Taivas wasn’t worried, she shouldn’t be either.

"So, you can see me." Zen-Aku growled.

"Crud, he's a Spirit." The yellow one sighed.

"Who are you and why are you stalking us?" He growled at them. The grey haired one jumped in front of the Yellow one.

"We don't need to answer to some heartless." She grunted in response.

"Yeah and we'll never tell you a thing about Briar Rose!" The yellow one retorted, leaning past the grey one. The other two fairies immediately facepalmed.

As Taiva and Dotty moved further into the forest, leaving Zen-Aku behind to deal with the fairies, Taivas heard something or someone singing. “Hold on, do you hear that…singing?” He asked Dotty while looking around for the source of the singing. Dotty stood bolt upright and looked around, before getting down onto her hands and knee's and sniffing around. She then stood back up again, a little bit of dirt on the tip of her nose.

"Stupid human nose doesn't work." She sighed "But i think he's going that way." As the pair of them continued to walk, that sinking feeling of being watched quickly seemed to leave them. Quietly making their way into the bushes, they peaked their heads out to see a fairly tall, handsome man in a red hunting cloak dancing in the middle of the forest with his own cape, his horse tied up to a nearby tree watching with disinterest.

"I don't know, Samson..." The man sighed as he stopped, hanging his cape up on a nearby branch, before walking towards the horse "I feel like a man who has missed... Well, everything. Something tells me that i have to be right here, right now, something deep down in my heart. And that song... Why can't i get it out of my head?" He looked to see an owl had worked its way into his cloak, along with a pair of sparrows holding it. He smiled, before bowing to them. "You know, my father really doesn't appreciate me speaking with strange girls." He laughed "But we have met before, haven't we? I know you, you walked with me once upon a dream!" He began, putting his arm at the edge of the cloak and holding it around the waist with the other hand. "I know you, that gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam." As he did so, Dotty's nose suddenly poofed back into that of her puppy form. As the man danced, Taivas would suddenly see a set of fair, perfectly golden locks of hair descend through the branches of the tree, shortly followed by the head of a stunningly beautiful woman, her face seemed shocked, as if drawn hypnotically to the song.

"Yet I know it's true that visions are seldom all they seem. But if I know you, I know what you'll do. You'll love me at once, The way you did once upon a dream" As he continued to dance with the animals, the woman dropped down, she seemed to be dressed in some strange, scantily clad outfit which covered her arms and upper torso well enough, but left her midrift and upper legs rather exposed. Dancing around, exactly behind him and keeping out of his way. As Taivas looked down at Dotty, she had now fully transformed into her puppy form as she seemed hypnotically drawn into the dance as well, As Philip sashayed, leaving the cape for a second, the Owl spotted the girl and left, leaving Dotty perfectly in place to jump straight into the cloak and take its place, with the sparrows now holding up the cape.

"La-dum, la-dum, la-dum, ahh-ah-ahh-ah-aah..." He sauntered around, his eyes closed, not seeing either the puppy now in the cloak, nor the woman who danced in front of him for a second, before darting behind another tree, before his eyes opened. He once again grabbed the cloak as a dance partner

"But if I know you, I know what you'll do. You'll love me at once" After a flash of light from behind the tree, the girl came out again, this time wearing A new, blue dress with frilly accents and skirt. Dancing up behind him, she began to also sing.

"the way you did once, The man immediately turned around, startled to see the girl, looking shocked. "Upon a dream!" As she finished, Taivas managed to sneak in and grab Dotty, dragging her back into the brush before she turned back into her human form. As they got back to the bushes, Dotty looked slightly drunken.

"Oh yes, my prince in shining armour, i will marry you!" She slurred out.

"I'm awfully sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you." The woman smiled. The man laughed to himself as he looked upon her stunning beauty.

Oh, it wasn't that, it's just that you're, um... uh...

"A stranger?" She asked. He hummed in confirmation. "But don't you remember? We've met before."

"We... We have?"

"Well, of course. You said so yourself, once upon a dream." She batted her long eyelashes at him. Meanwhile, in the brush, Taivas was holding onto the girl for dear grim life as she struggled and writhed, throwing fists each way, his hand clasped across her mouth.

"MMLEMMEATMFFFUSSYFHESFHEALINGMFYMFAN!" She screamed in outrage through the hand.

“Shut up will you, you're gonna give our position away.” Taivas hissed and kept his hand on Dotty’s mouth. She was still spitting and fighting him, covering his hand in slobber. Watching the two people striking up a conversation with each other. He assumed the two of them had no associations with the heartless. But he still didn’t trust them. There was some rustling near the two strangers when suddenly a few heartless jumped out of a nearby bush.

Four were wearing armour and armed with swords and shields; others were dressed in wizard robes and wands. The knights started charging at the woman while the wizards floated behind them. A few of them were firing at the man with various elemental magic. Briar Rose switched to a black mage sphere. Starting to shoot fireballs at the heartless to help support Philip. Philip, meanwhile, was charging at the warrior heartless with his sword, which was now unsheathed. He is focused on the warrior who is heartless while Briar is concentrated on the wizards. Philip’s sword clashed with the heartless. His battle with the warriors was causing him to jump and move around, similar to his previous dancing. The fireballs that Briar fired hit some of her targets, with some hitting the nearby trees, setting them on fire. Taivas was inclined to help them, but he stopped when he noticed a weapon hitting one of the heartless.

A large shuriken hits a few of the wizards, heartless. Someone comes out behind some trees, a man armed with a Halberd, cutting down a few more of the warriors, heartless. “Sorry for barging in; I just thought we’d lend a hand, " the man says with a smile. The shuriken comes back and is grabbed by a woman who appears beside the man.

Taivas removed his hand from Dotty’s face to look at the picture inside his locket. The two newcomers seemed to match the two people in the picture. “It’s them.” He muttered before slowly coming out of the bush.

"MY FUTURE HUSBAND IS IN DANGER!!!" Dotty yelled now that her mouth was free. Upon this outburst, several Heartless turned to them. A wizard heartless, shooting some lightning at them.

“Hi, watch out.” The woman yelled out while the man jumped in to block the lightning. “You always did have your head in the clouds. It’s nice to see you again Taivas.” The man said, winking at Taivas. As they said this, Dotty raised an eyebrow in confusion and then looked up at Taivas

"Han? Why do they know you’re Taivas?" She looked at the 2 new entrants. "OHMIGOSHAREYOUTWOINVENTICUSANDCATPRINCESSOMIGOSHINEEDTOGETPOODLEWOLFHEDLOVETOGETTHEENTIREGANGBACKTOGETHERPOODLEWOLFISSUCHAGRUMPYSOURPUSSCANYOUTWOTELLMEWHATHESLIKEWHENHESACTUALLYHAVINGFUNBECAUSEILETHIMTAKEOVERMYBODYTOUSEWHENHEFIGHTSAND-!" The hand once again crossed across her mouth, despite it continuing to flap and try to continue her unbroken hyperactive tyrade.

“I think it’s….my friends.” Taivas said, feeling total awe at seeing his friends in person.

”MPPHHS PHAT U MPHS TSUYUN!!!" Dotty replied through the hand over her mouth. Taivas could feel the man’s hand on his body pushing him down onto the floor. Blocking an incoming attack from one of the heartless. The woman threw her shuriken at one of the wizard heartless, making it dissipate.

“Come on, I thought you were some badass with your weapon. Let’s see if you still got the mojo." the man said, smiling before focusing on the other heartless. He charged at them, leaving Taivas alone.

Taivas quickly realized he was in the middle of a fight and stood up, gripping harder on the handle of his keyblade. Focusing on the wizards since they would be quite a problem if left alone. Charging at the wizard heartless, moving in a zig-zag pattern, trying to avoid their attacks. Slicing down the few heartless that were in front of him. But he was so focused on them that he overlooked one of the wizard heartless throwing a fireball at him. The fireball hit him in the side, sending him tumbling onto the ground, shielding the pup with his body. But luckily, Taivas quickly recovered, rolling away from the heartless. The man swung his massive weapon at the armoured heartless coming towards him. The heartless was taken by surprise and dissipated in a puff of smoke.

The woman followed suit and threw her shuriken to destroy two of the wizard heartless. “Easy as pie, " the woman said after catching her weapon. Taivas got back up on his feet, not wanting to feel useless to the two of them. Throwing a shadowy black hole that seemed to suck in and destory the rest of the warrior heartless that were left. “A few more left, I got this.” The man said, but Taivas worked quickly to beat him to the punch. Running towards them to slice the warriors in half. The rest of the heartless was dealt with. And for now, they could rest before moving on. Taivas took a few deep breaths and was now worried there would be more heartless on the way.

“Not bad Taivy. We knew this place was crawling with heartless. Just didn’t know it would be this bad.” The man said while the woman walked over to give Taivas a potion.

”Phivy?" Dotty asked through the hand over her mouth, looking up at Taivas, immensely confused by these new people.

“You're always so reckless. Here, take this; it’ll help with the pain.” She said as Taivas chugged the contents of the healing potion. His wounds healed quickly, and the pain from before seemed to subside.

“You two look familiar, are you…Adian and Xera?” He said, looking up at them. The man nodded with a smile.

”Phur muh lapht tphim, itph Inphenphicis uny Caff Phrinfeff!" She gestured to the pair.

“Last time I checked, that was my name.” He looked over at Dotty, extending his hand for her to shake. “Nice to meet ya, kid. So, are you here to lock the keyhole of this world? Or are you just here to sightsee?” He let his arm slip to his side after shaking Dotty’s hand. Dotty looked down at the hand with awe, Poodlewolf was one of her favourites, but she also loved Inventicus.

”OHMIPHOGOMIPHOGOMIPHOGYUGHWPHULGNCHBVILIEVEPHOWMU-" She continued rambling through Taivas’s hand over her mouth, his hand slowly getting more covered in the childs slobber.

“Yeah, something like that. He interrupted her, slinging her under one arm, her continuing to ramble as if nothing had changed. He suddenly stopped talking and stared at them for a moment, feeling something new. It was a feeling of hope and joy that he had finally found his friends. He gave them a big hug instantly, surprising Adian and Xera. “I thought I lost you guys…” He whispered to his two friends. Both of them were wrapping their arms in one big embrace. After a moment, Taivas let go, feeling kind of awkward.

“It’s nice to see you again, Taivas. Come on, let’s go and find that keyhole.” Xera said with another warm smile. Taivas followed, wiping the slobber off.

As the duo fought their way through the district towards Gizmo's, they heard the clanging of those terrible bells. "What the heck was that?" Launchpad asked, a Heartless squirming on the end of his Trident before Leon finished it off with a shot from his laser cannon. THE Heartless around them seemed to scurry away as the fountain began glowing. "Ooooh, that cant be good..." Launchpad looked around at them. Leon was continuing to focus on finishing off the stragglers, before he looked up at the creatures on the roof of Gizmo's.

"Take them down!!!" Leon ordered firing off a few shots, but then the sounds of whirring and clicking like the devil himself was crawling through to the material realm. He then felt the feeling of Launchpads finger on his shoulder.

"Ugh... Buddy... We may have bigger problems..." He then turned to scold Launchpad before seeing the giant. He then scrunched up his lips...

"... Right..." Leon tutted, before the creature let out a metallic screech. Leon immediately jumped to the side, sending blasts at it from his laser, meanwhile, Launchpad went the other way, before launching his Trident high in the air.

"I AM THE TERROR THAT FLAPS IN THE NIGHT!!!" The wave of Battle Cry energy radiated around him, but the Guard Armour didn't seem to care. The modular menace simply backhanded Launchpad across the square. Launchpad tumbled and landed against the wall with his it was at that point that he saw Zac appear in the fight. He took out the crude drawing he made earlier and looked at it. "ZAC!!!" He called. "HEY, ZAC, HOSHI IS LOOKING FOR YOU!!!" He waved, forgetting about the metallic abomination for second. As the gunshot from Squall rang out, he turned to him. "Hey, Leon, we got back-up!"

Leon, on the otherhand, didn't seem to be paying attention. The battle-haze had descended. Running towards the armour, he pulled out the Plasma Cannon and slid between it's legs, pointing up and firing an explosive round straight up into the hollow bell of its body, before landing another shot straight to the back of its head. It turned its head 180 degrees and shook it's head at Leon. Leon, in response planted another shot right between the... Helmet holes... It didn't really have eyes. It once again didn't seem to care, but then that fist raised up and smashing it down on the Lilty, who rolled to the side out of the way, planting 3 more shots in its other arm, but it didn't seem to be terribly bothered by this. But at least Leon was keeping its attention for the others.

@Eviledd1984

"- and now me and Taivas are travelling around looking for our pasts. He is looking for some friends of his. I'm trying to... Figure out my past, but also put a stop to these Heartless. And also figure out how to separate myself from Dotty. So, you're not from this plane either, you don't smell like the rest of this plane." The 3 fairies looked at each other.

"Well..." Yuna scratched her head.

"Uhh..." Rikku continued, Paine shook her head.

"We came here following Maleficent. She controls the Heartless. She's taken over this place and we're trying to break her hold on it." She replied. Clearly sick of the others beating about the bush.

"Maleficent... I have heard that name before..." He shook his head. Not on this adventure, but somewhere deep in his mind that name resonated with something...

"She's the wickedest of the wicked." Rikku replied.

"We came here to stop her..." Yuna looked down. "She destroyed our world... Her heartless ate out world from the inside out... So we followed her back here. When we arrived... We watched..." Yuna looked close to tears.

"We looked upon this world and saw her gloating over the bodies of 2 slain. A boy and a girl... That's when she used her Time magics..."

"She rewound the clock. Pushed time back 16 years across this whole realm. We saw her attend Briar Rose's royal christening."

"Briar Rose is the girl you look after?" Zen-Aku asked.

"Yup. She attended the birthday and placed a curse on her." "The princess shall indeed grow in grace and beauty, beloved by all who adore her. But, before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she shall prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel! But a ray of hope there still may be in this, the gift I give at thee. Not in death, but just in sleep the fateful prophecy you’ll keep, and from this slumber you shall wake when true love’s kiss the spell shall break."

"That last part... She understands that hope only makes the despair of failure that much greater..." Paine continued. "She planned to give them just enough hope to keep them hanging for the next 16 years and then snuffed out that hope. To make her victory absolute..."

"Well, we weren't going to stand for that..." Rikku huffed.


"We told King Steffan. He asked us to train her in the use of our magics, he hoped that they would protect her. Also, to keep her with us so that on her 16th birthday, she will be unable to find that spinning wheel."

"We needed to make sure you weren't one of Maleficents minions."

"I would hope to never serve one so despicable to take her anger out on a baby." Zen-Aku replied... But once again, unsure about his past. "How long do you have left?"

"Her birthday is today..." Yuna replied. "It'll be at Sunset that she'll find that spinning wheel. Maleficent is a sadist, she want to get us at the last possible second." Zen-Aku slowly got down to one knee.

"Alright, i will pledge my honour to make sure Briar Rose survives this day. Come, we need to watch her at once." The trio made their way through the tree's to see Philip, Rose, Taivas and his friends taking out the Heartless.

"OH NO!!!" Rikku screamed.

"Maleficent knows where she is." Immediately, Zen-Aku jumped down from the tree's and landed next to Dotty.

"PHHDDLEVLF!!!" She yelled in excitement.

"Dotty, you need to listen to me for a minute" He growled. "Those Heartless are after the girl. We need to protect her at all costs. Be ready with the mask. I don't want you to put it on until you need to though, we can't afford to waste a second with me in the body draining your energy. She gave him a thumbs up. Now to size up these two. He looked back up to the fairies. "Follow Rose, i'll bring my body if she gets into trouble."