Herewego.
As usual, point out any mistakes and things that I could add to make it better.
Enjoy.
Chapter 20
------------------------H-I-K-A-R-U---------------------
The beast roared, its arms flailing madly, insanely enough, swatting its own comrades away. I dodged, pulling Woody with me, barely escaping what could’ve been the deciding blow.
“How can we beat that?” Woody shouted.
“Oh, have faith man. Have faith. Hikaru’s here!” I exclaimed, a wide grin spreading on my face. He looked confused, but I’d show him.
I leapt into the air and signalled Woody to throw his pull string up to me. I grabbed the round handle as it flew towards me.
“Hold on tight!” I shouted. Then, with a flipping motion I spun in mid-air, and let go of the string. Woody was sent flying towards the creature, screaming.
“My God! This actually might wor…” I muttered as I began to fall back down.
Smack. He smashed into the helmet of the beast, face pressed tightly against the glass. A voice called out.
“The button! Open the helmet! It’s just like mine!”
Woody turned around, eyes wide. It was Buzz who had called out.
Sure enough, the heroic space ranger was standing on the kitchen bench, standing next to the others.
“Woody, we’re here to help!” The dog, Slinky, jumped into the air and landed on the huge Heartless.
It screamed, trying as hard as it could to hit the two toys off its head, but it only ended up hitting itself. Woody ran over to the small button on the side of the creature’s helmet.
He called for Slinky to go to the other side. “Woody! I can’t do it!” he shouted.
“Hikaru! Buzz! Jessie! We all need your help!” Woody shouted. Jessie was nowhere to be seen. Woody looked at the group in confusion. What could I do? It was only then that I remembered the surrounding Heartless.
Their eyes glowed evilly, watching the battle like spectators at a football match, unmoving like stone. They stared hungrily at the Keyblade in my hand. “You want it? Come and get it!” I shouted, running away. They gave chase.
I didn’t intend to actually run away. I had a plan. It couldn’t fail; if I did, it would surely mean the end. My eyes went wide and I realised I was on the ground. Something had hit my back, sending me on my knees. The Heartless came, jumping on my fallen figure.
I tried to get them off, to no avail. “Get off!” I shouted, furiously swatting the Heartless away with both my legs and Keyblade.
“Hey there cowboy!”
I looked up, peering through what little gaps there were in the huge mass of black. It was Jessie. She ran up to the Heartless and sent a flurry of kicks and punches at the Heartless, making them fly away in all directions and evaporating as their perished. In a matter of seconds it was over.
“Thanks so much!” I called, running over to her.
“Don’t worry about it,” she replied, adjusting her hat which had been knocked to the side during her brief battle.
“C’mon! We have to help Woody!” I shouted. She stood still, unanimated. But then I remembered. She still didn’t know about Bullseye.
“Jessie.” She ignored me. “Jessie. He’s gone.” Tears began welling up in her button eyes. How did toys cry? I wondered momentarily. “Who did this to him?” she muttered, her fist tightening.
“That big Heartless over there,” I replied, pointing to the kitchen. “Let’s go. I’ll help you avenge him… I promise.”
We both ran down the hall towards the kitchen. Ham and Rex were on one side of the Heartless’ helmet while Woody and Slinky combined forces on the other side.
There was a loud whoosh and the creature fell to the ground, gasping, crushing any of its surviving followers. “YES!” Woody shouted, running over to Jessie, doing some kind of comical cowboy dance. “First Zurg, and now, a huge Heartless! Wow, we sure are great!” Rex announced proudly.
“We haven’t gotten rid of Zurg yet, you idiot!” Ham muttered. Mr. Potato was no where to be seen.
“Potato?” Woody shouted. No reply.
Where could he be? Everybody seems to be disappearing… I thought.
---------------M-I-T-S-U-K-O-------------
It was cold. Her breathing quickened. Stay calm, girl. Stay calm. The dripping of water could be heard in the distance. The sound of distant footsteps echoed throughout the tunnel. She took out her staff, ready to shoot anything that came close. The frantic footsteps; the continuous panting. She began to panic. What could it be?
“Hello!” shouted a voice. She whipped her head around. Nothing.
Stay calm. Stop hallucinating. No fear. No fear. There’s nothing there!
“Hello!”
The voice; it seemed so familiar. “Mitsuko!”
Oh my God! It knows my name! Mitsuko’s mind screamed.
“Where are you?”
Who could it be? Hikaru? Katsu? No. I was neither of them. Something was coming for her. Something; or was it someone? No fear. Be strong. She felt something cold tap her on the back. She screamed, sending whatever was behind her flying back with fright.
She slowly turned around, tightly holding her staff. There, lying on the ground in pieces, lay Mr. Potato.
“Mr. Potato!” Mitsuko called, running over to him.
He moaned wearily, trying to rub his head before remembering his arms were missing.
“I’m so sorry! I thought you were somebody else!” Mitsuko said, apologising hurriedly and trying to piece back Mr. Potato as quickly as she could.
Mr. Potato sighed heavily. “Don’t worry about it; happens all the time.” After he was finally back into his former self, Mitsuko helped him up.
“So, where exactly are we? I kinda got lost…”
“Well, we’re somewhere in the plumbing system.”
“Where are the others?” she asked. “I hope I didn’t get them too worried,” she mumbled, looking to the ground.
“Well, I’m not sure. We decided to split up, but nobody wanted to come here so, well, yeah,” Mr. Potato explained. Mitsuko turned around, making sure they weren’t being watched.
“C’mon. Let’s get out of here.”
--------------K-Y-L-E--------------
“Door To The Light…” Kyle muttered, gasping.
Larxene walked in and helped him up. “Nice fit?” she giggled. She had a twisted sense of humour, Kyle observed.
“Was that supposed to happen?” Kyle said, still feeling his legs quiver uncontrollably. “You’ve been lying there for about three hours now,” Larxene explained.
“Geez…”
He couldn’t get out of it. He was bound.
“Do you want me to explain?” Larxene asked, sitting down.
“Explain what?” Kyle asked curiously. She tapped the seat next to her, telling him to sit.
“About our organisation. About the 13th Order,” she answered.
“Sure. I guess I could use some info,” Kyle replied, sitting down. He found it funny how casually he was taking all this. Maybe this was just what his soul needed; some adventure.
“Okay, not that much is known, and not much can be told. Well, I’ll just tell you what I was told. How about that?” she suggested, raising her hand to brush her hair back. “Our organisation started with the 1st Order after the world border was first destroyed. The dawning of the rise of the Keyblade masters was at hand. There were about two of them. One was our leader. He is hundreds, thousands even, of years old. We’ve never seen him, but we follow his orders nonetheless,” she explained. Kyle nodded, showing his understanding. “So, I think it was once every few years, ranging from at least ten to up to a hundred, a new Order was chosen, although our leader always stayed in his position. So, yeah, that’s how we started. Our job is to straighten Destiny when it is broken in some way, or is going to be. Our leader is able to predict Destiny, so he tells us a problem and then we fix it.”
Kyle’s arm twitched and he felt blood rush into his arm, making it feel tingly. “So, you guys help keep worlds in order?” Kyle asked.
“Wait a minute…” Larxene muttered. “How do you know about other worlds?”
“Well, it was obvious. I mean, there weren’t many people in Twilight Town, and I always knew that there’d be more worlds with more people out there. And… I’m pretty sure I’m not in Twilight Town either,” Kyle replied.
“Oh, okay then.” She continued with a prophecy. “When we started our leader told his followers of a prophecy which had been told to him when he was young. It was a story of one person who’d free the worlds, free the people. Destroy the Heartless. Rid humanity and all creatures of the Universe of some terrible curse. All he said was: “The 13th of the 13th will free us.” Nobody is sure what he truly meant, but we guessed that it was the thirteenth day of the thirteenth month,” she explained.
“What do you mean thirteenth month?” Kyle asked, once again plunged into a spiral of confusion.
“We thought it was some kind of riddle, but that was proved wrong. But now, we think this ‘13th of the 13th’ is the thirteenth person of the 13th Order,” Larxene continued.
“13th of the 13th…” Kyle whispered to himself. That number… it rung a bell somewhere in Kyle’s mind.
“We have eleven followers now, you being the newest I believe.”
Memories returned. The thirteenth. Freedom. “Well, enough of that prophecy for now. Okay, still wondering why you were chosen?” Larxene asked, adjusting her legs.
“Well, yeah,” Kyle replied, rubbing his numb arm.
“Everyone who’s been chosen has lost something or someone, and with it our destinies. I lost my brother, who was killed by the Heartless; and with that, my husband too,” she muttered.
Kyle, expecting her to be upset recalling the memories of loved ones, patted her on the back. “Don’t worry about it… I’ve gotten over it. So, do you know what you lost?” she asked. “Well, I don’t really know,” Kyle answered, thinking back.
“Our leader said you would’ve grown up to be a boat salesman, but now, only he knows what will happen next,” Larxene explained.
“The Door To The Light. I have to help!” Kyle shouted, jumping out of his seat, knocking the table over. He didn’t know where that sudden burst of yearning came from, but he knew he had to follow his thoughts, however spontaneous they seemed to be.
“Well, I guess you might have a vague idea of what your destiny could bring you to,” Larxene said, smiling.
“One question though.”
Larxene looked at him, awaiting the question.
“What the hell do I actually do?” he asked.
Larxene laughed. “Well… as one of us now, you’ll help us fix ‘cracks’ in destiny and take down any Heartless when necessary.”
Kyle was getting curious. “What happens if somebody in well, any Order meddled with destiny?” Kyle asked.
“Good question. It’s happened…”
-------------R-I-K-U-------------
“...before. Two of our people in, I think the, uh…” Axel thought for a moment, scratching his head. The last few hours were full of heated discussion about Sora and the history of the 13th Order.
“Oh yeah! The 11th Order! They had a secret relationship, and well, since none of us are supposed to have any, they were killed,” Axel finished.
“Killed? For being in love?” Riku shouted in disbelief.
“Yep. Our leader did it personally. Sometimes, I think he’s a tight-ass, but, hey, we have to live with it. It’s better to live with the Order than without.”
Riku looked like he had been struck by a bullet. His life was gone. He had dreamed long ago of growing up on the Destiny Archipelago with Sora and Kairi. He hoped one day he’d find true love and settle down with a family, grow old, and finally, pass away on the Islands. It was all gone now. “So, we can’t ever experience love?” Riku asked.
“Well… technically, nothing can stop you from falling in love, but you won’t really ever be able to talk with that person, unless that person was in the Order.”
“Wait a minute… Then what was wrong about that couple who was in the Order?” Riku asked.
“Uh… I heard,” he stressed the ‘heard’, “that they actually had children. Or the woman was pregnant anyway. If two people without destinies had a kid… who knows what kind of trouble that would cause?”
“So Axel… I hope you don’t mind me asking, but… what made you lose your destiny?” Riku asked.
Axel looked down at his shoes and put his hand over his face. “I lost my…radio,” Axel replied.
Riku tried to roll his eyes, but he remembered they were dead.
“Nah; I’m just messin’ with you!” Axel shouted, rustling Riku’s hair. “My parents were killed by the Heartless. It happened when I was a little shit like you!” Axel explained, ending with a burst of insane laughter.
How can he laugh about it like that…? Riku wondered.
“What’d you lose?” Axel asked, wiping the tears out of his eyes. Anything was funny to him. It was amazing how he could laugh about his parents’ deaths.
“I’m not entirely sure. I was the Keyblade Master, but Sora took my place,” Riku replied. “Keyblade Master, eh? Tough luck mate,” Axel said. “Well, I think you should get yourself cleaned up. Want me to lead you to the showers?” Axel asked.
“I guess; it’s been a while since I’ve had a nice shower,” said Riku, sounding relieved. Things weren’t that bad.
Axel held his arm and led him forward. He’s a pretty nice guy, Riku thought.
SLAM. There was an explosion of laughter and then he knew that Axel had led him into a wall. “Sorry kid; couldn’t resist…”
Riku rubbed his forehead, cringing. “Not funny.”
More laughter. Well, at least he wasn’t Ansem.
_O: ....but hey it was kinda confuzzling. It sucks that your trash-topic got more attention than this...it really isnt fair because this is really great.....of great...now im confuzing even myself.