Queendom Hearts chapter 40

Later in the night, everyone had gone to sleep, except Sora, who was looking out the window outside the Emerald City. And for Rebecca, who had to return back to Maleficent to not arouse suspicion.
"What a wonderful night," Sora murmured to herself, "I have to admit the food there was lovely. And I didn't know Dr. Dillamond's such a good dancer. I think I'll remember those tips from him." She sighed and looked outside at the pouring rain, not noticing Mordred hiding on the castle roof, waiting to strike.
Sora suddenly saw a silhouette in a lighting flash and thunder crack and was about to investigate when Daniel and Baby Luigi were heard crying. She went over to them and comforted them just long enough for them to fall asleep at ease. Sora then turned to the window, walked over to it, and opened it to investigate.
She went out to the balcony, the rain falling on her. The window suddenly closed behind her causing Sora to whip out her Master Keyblade and turn around to see Mordred standing by the window.
"I heard everything, Keybearer." Mordred said to her, "Surely Theodora would be pleased to hear that."
"You speak in riddles, Mr. Banana Cherry Licorice. Tell me straight." Sora said, holding her Master Keyblade steady.
"I only heard you're off to see the wizard and that your voice is perfect for our takeover plans."
"Nani?"
"Yup, I heard everything, and at the Emerald Lily too. Once we get ahold of you, or one of your buddies, you'll play right into our hands. We won't even need the silver slippers after all; besides, your lady friend Rebecca has just the counterpoint we need."
Sora raised her Master Keyblade to fight him as he conjured up a ball of black fire to strike her but then--BONK! Something hit him on the head causing the ball to disappear. It landed on the floor of the balcony; it looked like a yellow baby rattle!
"Take that, you big bully!" said a voice, that sounded like a little girl's.
Sora looked up and saw 3 little girls; One with blond hair and blue eyes wearing a gold crown with red and blue jewels on them dressed in pink (with pink pacifier), one was in teal with her platinum blond hair over one of her blue eyes, a gold pacifier in her mouth, and wearing a silver crown with pink and turquoise jewels on it, and the last one had brown hair, wore a gold crown with red and green jewels on it (the green ones surrounded by white petals), had a gold pacifier and wore orange and yellow. All 3 of them wore different colored sneakers to match their outfits. 
"What's going on out--" Erik began to say as he ran over only to say, "oh" as he saw the three little girls hold Mordred at bay with their rattles. Baby Luigi toddled over, and saw the three girls fight. Erik looked over at Sora who just stood there and watched. He and Baby Luigi motioned for her to come inside, which she does, a little more confused. The 3 toddlers were done with Mordred, and after the girl in orange and yellow took out her pacifier for a moment to give him a raspberry, they went inside with the group and slammed the window shut. Mordred recovered himself and just disappeared back to the castle.

The moment Mordred returned back inside, Theodora couldn't help but laugh at him.
"This is not funny," he yelled at her.
"Oh hell yeah it is." she laughed, trying hard to not lose her breath.
"You wouldn't be laughing either if you got bested by toddlers."
"Oh my god!" Theodora cried and she burst out laughing again.
"Jokes aside," Ruggedo said from where he was sitting near the fireplace. He took a sip of his tea and then asked, "Did you find anything, Mordred?"
"Well, it turns out they're going to see the Wizard. I know that's not new information, but I did get the date, which will be tomorrow morning at 9 AM. I also managed to get some personal experience of the Keybearer's voice. She'll make the perfect counterpoint to Rebecca Michaelis' voice, which we have been monitoring for some time."
"Voice? Don't you know anything, Mordred? The silver slippers are the only thing we need." Theodora interrupted.
"Not for our takeover of Oz we don't." Mordred pointed out to her. Then turning to Ruggedo he asked, "Ruggedo, do you still have the sound modification software you brought from your world?"
"Yes I do, when the Hyperforce destroyed me, I managed to save it," Ruggedo said, pulling out a small radio from behind his cloak. "This will be easier than we thought."

Moments later, the three little toddler girls toddled into the room where Sora was sleeping earlier from the poppy influence. The Baby Bros. were sleeping in small sleeping bags near her since Baby Luigi got a little scared of thunder.
The one in orange and yellow walked over and bounced up and down on Sora's bed, causing her to look up from her reading her book to the Baby Bros to the toddler.
"Oh, hello there," she said, straightening her glasses as the toddlers in pink and teal joined her. "Look, thanks for helping out you three. But tell me, how'd you get here?"
"Came from Munchkin Land, same place where Mario and Luigi came from." said the one in orange and yellow.
"We heard about a great hero traveling to Emerald City." said the one in pink.
"And we wanted to help her." finished the one in teal.
"I'm not that great of a hero," Sora blushed modestly.
Baby Mario shot up saying, "Big sis, I can't sleep. Could you please read another story when you're done with this one?" But when he saw the 3 toddlers he said, "Peach, Daisy, Rosalina."
"Mawio! Luigi!" the 3 girls said.
The one called Peach hugged Baby Mario while Baby Luigi got hugged by the one called Daisy.
"Do you two know them?" Sora asked, straightening her glasses.
"Of course, big sis. We were just strolling about the kingdoms as always, but then someone knocked us out with a sleeping spell and threw us in here," answered Baby Mario.
"It certainly explains things, Mario."
"The girls, my bro. and I stayed in Munchkinland to be kept safe. But we went into the forest to look for you and the gang because of the ring we found near the house that fell on Evanora and her accomplice."
"And then you got lost and found us quite by accident with your song."
"Yup."
"What are you 3 doing here?" asked Baby Luigi to the girls.
"Like we said to Miss Sora, we heard of a great hero traveling to the Emerald City and wanted to help her, at least we heard it when we woke up." said the one called Rosalina, "We followed along the road the next day to look for them and help out and now here we are."
"It makes sense." Baby Luigi replied. Then turning to Sora and asked her, "Big sis, do you have more sleeping bags in your magic bag?"
"Sure do," answered Sora, smiling.
She then reached over to the end of the bed, grabbed her backpack and pulled out 3 more sleeping bags for the baby princesses.
"Thank you," said Baby Peach after she, Baby Daisy, and Baby Rosalina set up their sleeping bags.
"Anytime," Sora said to her.
She then resumed reading to the little group and started reading another story. They soon fell asleep after she finished the second story.
Sora closed the book, whispered good night to the group and got herself under the covers thinking, "I do hope Alice is all right." She then looked at the rainy night and let herself give into the soft gentle sound of the rain, and fell asleep.

When she opened her eyes, Sora heard a voice, a man's.
"Come now, Heroine of Time," he said, "Am I not to obeyed by your friend like the Queen wanted? Both of you should give yourselves over to that influence. If Alice trades the tentacles for the train, and you join her, you can find out more about why Mordred's desiring to use your singing."
Smoke filled the room and she heard crackling wood, a burning sound. She sat up, putting the red surgeon mask around her nose and mouth just in case.
She didn't breathe it in thankfully. This must be the fire Liddell-san talked about, she thought to herself as she stood up and dusted herself off.
"I will never give in to your demands, whoever you are." Sora said through her surgeon mask, "I won't let you hurt my friend Alice. If you lay a finger on her mentally or physically, then so help me you'll wish you'd never been born." No sooner had she said this than she suddenly saw a dark shadow fall across the burning room; she turned and there stood a giant creature with the Heartless symbol!
"Not another Apocalypse Heartless. No matter. You don't scare me." With these words, she pulled out her Master Keyblade and fought it as best as she could.
Although she defeated it, the smoke was overwhelming even with her surgeon mask on. Blinded by the smoke, Sora barely managed to escape out of the burning room and collapsed on the solid ground, unconscious.

"Oh dear, I do hope my memories haven't killed my true human companion," a voice that sounded familiar to Sora echoed. She opened her eyes, looked around to find herself in a dollhouse of sorts only bigger than her, and groaned.
"Man, this is worse than the poppies," Sora groaned, holding her head after slowly sitting herself up just to be safe.
"Sora, oh thank goodness." Alice said, giving her a hug. Sora turned to look at her and saw she was in a dark purple and red pinstriped top and pink and black tartan skirt with decorative border stitching and a neon green ruffled petticoat that had Ceres and Mars on the pockets of the white apron, teal and white striped gloves on her hands, and a pink bow with angel wings on the back as Alice continued, "I thought he'd gotten to you too."
"I'm glad you're alright, Alice. But, who's he? Is it this Bumby you mentioned earlier when we went to Hatter's doman?"
"Yes, but he's in the waking world."
"However," said the Cheshire Cat who appeared beside the two girls along with a man in a black suit with tails, who had black hair and red eyes, "in this world he's known as a horrible monster, the source of the Insidious Ruin here. The servants to the Queen's guard dog were surprised that you escaped his influence."
"Even if I didn't see his eyes and heart, Cheshire, I knew that he was lying." Sora said as she pulled herself up and dusted herself off, still in her OZ outfit. "I've had experience with men's deception as has my older sister Tora; one broke my heart before I met all the people I've encountered." She then looked at the man in the black suit. "The man in black," she whispered to herself.
"It appears my reputation precedes me," the man said with a smile. "Tell me, how do you know me?"
"I don't know your name, monsieur. But Rebecca said to find you. She said you could tell me more about this ring I have on my finger." Sora showed him the black and blue patterned ring on her finger as she said this and then continued, "And she also mentioned you could also help me understand why she's helping me and Maleficent. Surely, after what I've heard her say when I was with her she's probably a double agent."
"Ah yes, the ring you have on. One of the guardians was supposed to give it to you but couldn't make the trip themselves due to complications. Who gave it to you?"
"Rioichi Cooper."
"Ah the ninja from the Sengoku era of Neon City. A reserved and silent person, but definitely knows how to get the job done. I like him, even though I've never met him."
"Indeed."
"I work alongside Rebecca as we both serve our master, and it is not Maleficent whom we serve. However, Rebecca is under orders to keep an eye on you and Maleficent."
"An eye on me? Pourquoi?"
"I daren't say. I do not know the answer I'm afraid. Permit me to introduce myself, Miss Sora. I am Sebastian Michaelis, butler to the Phantomhive household."
"If you're a butler then how come you're here in Wonderland?" Sora asked him suspiciously, "After all, it's not wise to leave your master alone. You should always be there for them even if they don't need you at the moment."
Sebastian just smirked at her and said calmly, "I am not exactly what you call a normal butler. I am simply one hell of a butler."
Sora just raised an eyebrow at him, and after some awkward silence Alice cut in saying, "Come on then. We might as well journey deeper through this dollhouse." They all agreed and set off.
When Sebastian and the Cheshire Cat had gone a bit further ahead, Alice turned to Sora and asked her, "Why didn't you mention Chibiterasu to Sebastian?"
"Naturally I would, as I cannot lie," said Sora, "besides I stink at lying. However, I saw in his eyes and heart that he isn't a big fan of dogs, so I told him part of the truth."
"I see. ....You know, Sora, I'm surprised you weren't freaked out by Sebastian's smile."
"Meh, I've seen scarier, Alice."
"Like who or what if it's an object?"
"Ganondorf." 
"Oh, you mean the evil King of the Desert who turned into a pig?"
"Hai (yes), the very same." Sora answered her.
Alice just snickered, "Then I think he'd better stay away from the Dutchess then."
"Doushite?"
"The last I saw the Duchess, she had a taste for mad women. Now, she's on a strict diet of bacon." The two girls laughed.
Alice continued, "Jokes aside, I'd much rather preferred the Duchess when she had mad women cravings. Her current state reminds me of Pris."
"Pris?" asked Sora.
"One of the people in my home who claims to be my ally, but I think she's just doing it for the gin. Oh yes, I forgot."
Alice then reached into her apron pocket, pulled out the ring of four keys, and handed them back to her saying, "Here, take these back. The keys protected me from being influenced by shadows in the asylum I got trapped in and I thank you for your kind offer of giving them to me. However, I think you will need them more than I do. Besides, they could be useful to find out the culprit who hurt my family."
"Arigato," Sora said, placing the ring of four keys underneath her newsboy hat.

Moments later, they came upon a strange fortress made out of abandoned toys (building blocks and whatnot) just after passing a garden of body parts of dolls that were placed in awkward and possibly lecherous looking positions ("It looked disturbing," Sora would tell later on, "I wasn't scared, but I knew the meaning behind it was horrifying. I felt sorry for those poor children who were forced to do these things under an influence like that.").  Above the door were the words, "Fort Resistance".
The door opened and two skeleton children toddled over as human children who looked insane with some body parts missing, eyelids opened, or strange devices on their heads and faces appeared in the doorway. Sora couldn't help but gasp at their plight, and the state they were in.
Poor children, she thought to herself, they must've gone through a lot of suffering. No one noticed the two skeleton children hide behind Sebastian's coat tails. Alice led the group over to the leader of them, a little girl holding a teddy bear.
Before Sora could ask, the girl spoke up, "The unstable are more than merely mad. They have other parts. The Dollmaker will deprive them of what remains in their deranged souls. They need care."
"I know their pain," Alice said, then she turned and saw Sora bury her face in her hands and burst into tears. Turning back to the children Alice added, "And so does my friend Sora. I would assist, but is sanity required for the job?"
Sora raised her face now in tears from her hands and angrily spoke up which surprised everyone, "I don't care about that. Sane or not, we have to help them."
"Your friend is right," said the girl after a moment of silence to Alice. "although you may need a limited quantity of sanity. You're not mad enough to be rejected. You're like them..of them in a way, but not them. I should say not us. For I'm them but you are on your way. The way is clearly marked."
"I believe I know that way," Alice said to her, "And I'd rather not travel further along it."
No sooner had Alice said this, than screams were heard. Everyone turned to the sound to find Heartless, and various Ruin monsters popping up.
"They're here, you nitwits!" the girl said, "Quick, get inside!"
Everyone headed back into the fort except the small group of four (well six, if you count the skeleton twins hiding in Sebastian's coat tails) who turned around to the monsters. Sora and Alice got out their weapons to fight as the Cheshire Cat sharpened his claws, but Sebastian...got out silverware.
Sora just did a facepalm and the Cheshire Cat groaned at this.
"Sebastian, this is no time to set the table for supper. And besides we do not have plates or a real supper to eat," said Alice.
"A hero is not as good as his weapon; a weapon is only as good as the person who wields it." Sebastian said, prepping a knife to aim at the doll that came down towards them with the heartless and ruin monsters.
"In the right hands, even the simple table knife can be--" Sebastian threw the knife straight into the doll's head causing it to fall down and remain motionless. He then reappeared with the knife back in his hand "--quite serviceable." and then he threw the knife at one of the Ruin monsters.
The two girls managed to do away with some Shadow Syringe Heartless and even creepier looking Ruin while Cheshire Cat slashed through some Ruin and Ice Jester Heartless with his claws. Just after the girls delivered the final blows, Sebastian did a showy final blow to the rest of the Ruin.
The Cheshire Cat just rolled his eyes, muttering, "Show-off."
"Indeed," Alice agreed. 
Sora said nothing, she just ignored the move Sebastian did entirely. It was then that they heard a ghostly song.
"I hope it's not those sailors, or worse evil mermaids," groaned Alice.
"There's only one way to find out," Sora said, and before anyone could say anything she ran on ahead of the group, following the sound. The rest had no choice but to follow suit.

Alice and Sebastian looked about a dark forest, but Sora was nowhere to be seen.
The Cheshire Cat however appeared on a tree branch saying, "This part certainly isn't Wonderland."
"You can blame the author later," Alice said, "if we don't find Sora--"
"I think I found something!" Sora called out to them. On hearing this, the Cheshire Cat jumped onto a tree branch to get a better view. And there, standing near a large tower was Sora waving to them.
The group came over quickly to look where she stood.
"Is that....?" the Cat began to say.
"It is," answered Sora, straightening her glasses, "Belladonna's tower." She then walked over to get a better look at the tower.
"I certainly don't remember this monument in my Wonderland. Perhaps it's an outside dream or else Dr. Bumby influenced it to be here," Alice said.
"I hear it was once home to a beautiful lady." said Sebastian, "However, there is more poison to her than meets the eye."
"The tower is unoccupied, Sebastian. But we heard the singing come from here, the question is why?"
"Hmmmm....."
"Let me see," said a voice. Sebastian looked down and saw the two little skeleton boys from earlier, this time holding onto his pants.
"My goodness," Sebastian said, scooping one of them up in his hands, "Clingy thing aren't you?"
Alice scooped up the other little skeleton boy as she said, "I don't seem to remember seeing skeletons in Wonderland unless they're from Deluded Depths."
One of them who looked a bit younger than the other one stuck out his tongue at both the Cheshire Cat and Sebastian. The other one pointed up the tower. They all looked up to see Sora's silver slipper wearing foot disappear over the balcony and heard rummaging through the tower.
"What are you doing up there?" Alice called to Sora.
"There was an inscription on the tower's exterior from King Tchaikovsky," Sora called back. "It says that he's hidden some songs in this tower long before Belladonna came to live in the tower."
"Hey, big bro. I hear that the songs are of great power," said the younger skeleton who was in Alice's arms.
"They're said to banish evil away," conversed the older skeleton in Sebastian's arms. These words from the two of them caused some surprise.
"If they are used right, we can banish the darkness from your mind, Alice." Sora called out. She then returned to the balcony with a red ring binder in her hands and was about to climb down when suddenly they saw a dark ball fly into the tower and dissolve inside the room.
All of a sudden the tower began to move! The stone turned to obsidian, the top of it turned blue, and the tower had yellow eyes!
"I'll go inside to find the source of it," Sora called down to them, "Take care of the outside." And with that, she rushed back inside.

This is weird, Sora thought as she searched the rooms of the tower to find the dark source, keeping her Master Keyblade in hand. Usually I'm afraid of being alone, perhaps spending time in Wonderland with Alice is starting to be an influence on me. Then again, this is Wonderland, anything can happen. She put away the ring binder in her magic backpack as she thought this.
Just then, Sora heard a footfall; turning to the sound, she saw a knight in dark armor having just landed in the tower. She held out her Master Keyblade, and the knight prepped up a dark glob of ooze to fire at her.
Sora quickly hit it back like a baseball bat to a baseball and it hit the knight--KERSPLAT!--in the helmet covered face, giving her time to run into the bedroom. She climbed up onto the bed canopy, preparing to strike.
The knight entered the room, searching for her. As soon as it reached the bed, Sora threw herself on top of it and began knocking it senseless like a taiko drum, using both her hands clenched into fists and her Keyblade.
The knight's dark helmet fell off and reverted back to the dark ball causing the rest of the armor to disappear and the figure and Sora to both collapse onto the ground. Sora struggled a bit with the comatose body on top of her and pushed it off to run after the dark ball. But it was too late, the dark ball had disappeared out the window and into the distance, causing Belladonna's tower to return to normal.
Sora then turned to the comatose body after catching her breath from the battle and walked over to it. She then propped it against one of the bedposts for support and so that she could get a better look at the figure. She could see that he had light green hair and a gold nose ring.
"Sir, are you ok?' she asked him as he groaned into consciousness.
"Kid, I've been hit by cannonballs harder than that, but seriously what hit me?" he asked, holding his head to make sure he was steady.
"I'm sorry, I did that. You were brainwashed by a ball of darkness."
"Was it a cannonball?"
"Worse I fear," Sora said concernedly to him.
"The last thing i remember before waking up...where are we exactly?" he asked, "It sure doesn't look like the coliseum."
"Belladonna's tower."
"Eh?"
"According to legend, a witch gave a queen a special brew. The queen gave birth to a daughter named Belladonna. Unfortunately, she and her half-sister Rapunzel's magic powers were as different as night and day."
"What do you mean?"
"I'll explain later. For now, let's get out of this tower." Sora then stood up and turned to climb out the window, but the man stood up and grabbed her wrist.
"Allow me kid," he said, and he crossed his fingers and said," Bari bari no staircase!" At these words, a flight of stairs that looked like glass appeared which led out the window to where the group was.
"Thanks," Sora said. The two of them then climbed down.

Alice meanwhile had slashed the last of the Heartless to pieces, and she, Sebastian, and the Cheshire Cat saw the dark ball fly away.
"Phew," she said, "That may have saved the tower, but I hope we can defeat it for good."
"Hey guys," Sora called out, and she ran down to where they were, the man right behind them.
"Friends of yours?" the man asked her.
"Yes. Well, Alice and the cat are anyway."
"Man, I wish I was back with my friends right now. My king needs me."
Alice looked at the man carefully to make sure he wasn't an enemy and then said to him, "Judging by your attire, and the tattoo on your chest, I assume your king is a pirate, much like yourself.'
"And judging by your attire, I assume you are a doll." the man countered.
Cheshire Cat snickered, while Alice and Sebastian both rolled their eyes.
"She's no doll, Uncle Barto." said the skeleton boys, "She's Alice."
Sora turned to the skeleton boys holding onto Sebastian's shoulders, "Oh hello there you two. I didn't see you there. Who are you? And how do you know this man?"
"Well, ma'am." said the older skeleton boy, "I'm Jack and this is my little brother Zack."
"Since when does the Pumpkin King have a baby brother?" Alice joked, "If I remember right, the Pumpkin King is an only child."
"No silly," said the younger skeleton boy named Zack, "I'm Zackary P. Skelington, and he's my big brother James Skelington Junior. We're his twin sons, James Skelington Junior being the older twin."
"We know Uncle Barto because he's a friend of our Uncle Brook's." Jack Jr. replied.
"Uncle Brook?" asked Sebastian, then he thought about it and said, "I'm assuming he's a friend of the Skelington/Finkelstein family."
"Yup."
"I think we can explain everything while we set up camp tonight," Alice said, "It would be better that way since we could use a rest before finding the last memory of the fire and perhaps clear up the confusion."
Everyone agreed, including Stitch who had arrived from the woods while everyone was talking away.

When everyone settled down in the camp, everyone explained everything.
Zackary and James Skelington explained how they got trapped in Wonderland and turned into little skeleton children by an evil witch. They were dumped into Fort Resistance where there they waited with the insane children for someone to come find them while being protected, and they found the group.
The man explained his name was Bartolomeo and that he was thrown into Wonderland by the witch as well when he tried to protect the twins.
Alice then explained to everyone how her memories are shattered, the real world and the people she mentioned, and how she's trying to solve the mystery of the fire with help of course from Sora.
Sebastian explained that he only fell asleep for a while because he had finished something and was taking a break from it ("I thought you said you were simply one hell of a butler," Alice said to him, "A butler never slacks off, demon or not." "And you know I'm a demon how?" Sebastian asked her. "Your behavior reminded me of the Cheshire Cat, in terms of word delivery and appearance, Sebastian." Sebastian then continued on that he was the very demon who made the Faustian deal with the queen's guard dog; vengeance in exchange for his soul).
Stitch also explained that he got lost in Wonderland, and searched for the group and found them near the tower.
Sora remained respectfully silent as she listened politely to everyone.
Stitch nudged her politely saying, "Princess Shan?"
"Oh yes, I did." Sora said straightening her glasses, "And I also promised to tell about the tower too. I'll start with Princess Shan since Stitch asked first." She then looked at Zack who was about to reach into her backpack. "Are you looking for something?"
"Yes, do you have any snacks?" Zack asked.
"Check the front pocket, Zack. I give you permission to do that." With her consent, Zack rummaged through it and pulled out some paopu fruit and pumpkin juice. He handed some of the snack to his big brother and the two of them, after thanking Sora, began to chow down on the snack.
"A long time ago, long before Fa Mulan was born," Sora began, after bringing out a tea set bedecked with cherry blossoms out of her backpack and setting up chamomile tea for everyone else including herself to have to drink, "there was a princess named Shan Mao who lived in the Land of Dragons with her father as Emperor of that world. Like her widowed black-haired father, the black-haired Shan Mao was kind and generous to all the people she met. One day however, the widowed emperor soon married a woman who had a daughter too, the daughter's name was Chi. Everyone loved the Emperor and his daughter Shan because of their kindness and generosity, but they despised Chi and her mother. For what the Emperor didn't know was that the woman he married was an evil and potent witch who loved spiders. Using spiders as her familiars, she had gained knowledge to create venom and shape-shift into a spider. This witch also desired immortality which she heard rumors of it being in a neighboring kingdom, hidden deep in scriptures written by a very powerful monk known as the Tang monk. Even though the witch was evil and like mother like daughter, Shan was kind to her stepsister and stepmother, no matter how cruel they were to her or what tricks they played on her. During this hard time for Shan, she met a kind woman named Amelia who would look after her and help her with magic however she'd need it. Whenever she wanted to escape her stepsister and stepmother's bullying, Shan would go to see the woman, and be safe and loved there. But then..."
"Then what?" Bartolomeo interrupted, having Zack and James sit on his lap.
"A terrible thing happened," Sora continued, after sipping a bit of her chamomile tea, "To celebrate the New Year, the prince from the neighboring kingdom hosted a grand ball. Using her best magic charms, wearing her best finery, and with help from her mother, Chi went to the ball to charm the prince. Shan wanted to go the ball, so Amelia provided a beautiful silk gown with silk slippers for her to wear at the ball. Shan immediately set off to the ball, and when she arrived at the ball, she had unwittingly ruined Chi's plans; Shan had caught the prince's attention. He too also ruined Chi's plans unknowingly because he fell in love with Shan and never took his eyes off of her the whole night at the ball."
"She felt the same right?"
"Exactly, Bartolomeo."
"Oh, how romantic."
"Will you please let me finish?"
"Sorry, please continue."
"Thank you. Where was I? Oh yes. When Chi saw that the prince had fallen in love with Shan, she was as steamed as a pork bun. Even after the ball, the prince and Shan corresponded with each other through letters. Finally, after some time, they planned to get married. This was too much for Chi to take who had defaced a photo of Shan in her room, so in her anger, she turned her beautiful stepsister into a nine-tailed fox and locked her up in the Burning Temple to have her die. With this task done, Chi, now queen of the spiders, also planned to kill the prince for slighting her, for on the day she locked up Shan in the Burning Temple, the Prince was coming to visit her. If she sent her spider lackeys to kill the prince before he could rescue Shan, Chi would be satisfied. However, she failed to notice that Shan sent warnings about her to the prince through the correspondence they did before the marriage proposal. The prince soon wasted no time in finding the kind Amelia who helped Shan, all while cleverly evading Chi who searched for him. He soon found Amelia, who lived near the Blazing Temple and she explained Shan's predicament. On the way up to the Blazing Temple, which resided on top of a mountain, the two of them met a woodcarver named Geppetto who helped them find a way up to the temple after the prince saved him from being trapped by spider webs from large spiders. And also, Ameila and Geppetto fell in love, but that's another story. Anyway, they soon got to the temple after using a magical fan they found after scaring Chi away to her secret hideout to put out the mountain's fires so they can climb the mountain safely. The prince soon found Shan trapped in an altar at the temple, that is said to worship a fire god. Before Shan could suffocate and succumb to death, the prince broke the altar she was trapped in, and rescued her just in time."
"Shan princess again? Naga fox?" Stitch asked.
"Not quite, they still had Chi to deal with," interjected Alice.
"Quite right, Alice." Sora said, straightening her glasses, "Shan was still in the form of a nine-tailed fox. In order for the spell to be broken, the prince had to defeat the source of the curse. But to defeat Chi was going to be difficult, so Amelia and Geppetto suggested that they make a legendary Fire Sword so that the prince can defeat Chi for good. With help from the two of them, the prince forged the legendary Fire Sword and set off to find Chi. He soon found her in her Spider Queen state hidden in a cave behind a waterfall. She tried everything in her power to bring him into her grasp as one last chance, but he refused to give in. So Chi rushed over to kill him and the fight commenced!"
At this, Stitch suddenly jumped up and swiped Alice's Vorpal Blade.
"What is he doing?" Sebastian asked.
"You do realize that there are no monsters or Ruin around," Alice said to him, crossing her arms.
"Naga," Stitch said, shaking his head. "Me, Shan's prince. Pretending to fight Spider Queen."
"Oh," everyone said.
"Great idea," Sora said with a smile and then she resumed the tale as Stitch mimicked the moves she mentions for the battle. "The two of them fought like a passionate fire burning from deep within. Chi almost wounded the prince, but he quickly dodged and managed to cut her cheek a bit, causing blood to trickle down her pretty face. Then suddenly, Chi stepped back, and turned into a giant spider right before the prince's eyes. Shan and Amelia arrived just in time to see Chi rise up to strike the prince. But before she could do so, Shan stepped in front of her and distracted her. Using the opportunity, the prince raised the Fire Sword high, tossed it into the air, and stabbed Chi right in the back, literally. Chi soon collapsed on the ground, back in human form, and exhausted. Shan soon returned back into human form and Amelia even changed her clothes back into the attire she wore for the ball so that she'd be better after the ordeal she'd been through. Though Shan was a bit shaken from the ordeal and the battle, she was relieved that she and her prince were meant for each other. Amelia gave the prince her blessing to marry Princess Shan, and traveled onward to help other Cinderellas like Shan Mao. The two of them then made plans for the wedding and were soon married some days later, with Shan's father, who had returned from business for the kingdom in attendance."
"And they lived happily ever after," Zack finished.
Sora smiled and nodded, "Yes, Zack. They lived happily ever after."
"Hey, what about Chi and the evil stepmother?" asked James and Bartolomeo.
"Oh, yes. Thanks you two," Sora said. "As for Chi and her mother, the Emperor found out what they did to his daughter, and wanted to execute them. But with some compromising on Shan's part, he banished them both, never to be seen again."
Everyone applauded and praised Sora for the story who rose from her mushroom cap seat and bowed to them.
She then went to the river to get a drink. Suddenly, Sora gasped at what she saw; there staring back at her with sapphire-colored eyes in sapphire framed glasses, and dark chocolate colored hair was her reflection. But it was a little different; Sora straightened her glasses and examined it.
"Hmmm, it's only my own reflection." she said to herself, "My hair must've gotten a bit longer over the course of my adventures so far."
She then got a drink from the river, and returned back to the group. She told them about Violante a fragile and ill-of health queen who gave birth to a princess named Rapunzel but died in the process, then about how the widowed king married a new queen named Melanie who had a mysterious advisor named Mother Gothel. She also mentioned that while Queen Melanie was with child, Gothel gave her a potion made of deadly nightbloom; this in turn resulted in Melanie giving birth to a daughter named Belladonna who had the power to kill everyone she touched.
"However," Sora continued, "Rapunzel who was Belladonna's half-sister, had the power to heal and restore which could counteract Belladonna's deadly touch so therefore although their powers were different, the two were inseparable."
"So they were friends as well as sisters?" asked Zack.
"Yes."
"Did they get along?"
"Of course, until Gothel convinced Belladonna into believing that Rapunzel would leave her alone."
"What happened?"
"A fairytale detective came and saved the day by using one of the 3 magic artifacts; a sword. The detective collected the flowerstones throughout her adventure in order to unlock the sword, and destroyed the giant plant that was one part of the source of deadly pollen in the kingdom of Floralia."
"And the other source?"
"Belladonna. Rapunzel, like the sword, is also a source of power to stop the deadly pollen. However, because she was influenced by a magic flower crown, she couldn't help. Anyway, after the detective destroyed the giant Nightbloom flower, Belladonna broke free from Rapunzel's fiancé's grip--"
"Ross Red!" interrupted James.
"How'd you know?" Sora asked him.
"My big brother and I heard of him. He's Snow White's twin brother." James answered her.
"I see. Anyway, Ross tried to reason with Rapunzel, but he got scratched by Belladonna's deadly nails. Before falling to the ground, he burned away the magic flower crown that kept Rapunzel under Belladonna's control. Rapunzel returned to herself and cried out to Ross. She started to cry, lamenting the years she'd spent watching people die without being able to help them, and now she was going to lose Ross Red. She confronted Belladonna about what she had done, and the girl admitted she was only afraid of being alone. Rapunzel told her, 'Dear sister, I love you and I promise that I will always be with you,' and with that she gave her beloved half-sister a hug. Ross began to awaken, as he had been revived by one of Rapunzel's tears that fell on him. The rest of the flowers were dealt with, and Ross and Rapunzel thanked the Detective for her hard work. They said the prince will recover from the poison with Rapunzel's help, and that the two of them will bring Belladonna somewhere safe until she can learn to control her powers. Even the pouting Belladonna thanked the Detective...albeit reluctantly."