Sora listened diligently to this and nodded at the instructions. “Got it.”
“Now, pay attention, all of you,” Merlin said, continuing his lecture. “You are heading into a very particular world. Once you discover why, the nature of it may tempt you to do something dark. You must resist that temptation at all costs.”
That made significantly less sense to Sora, who responded with a blank expression. “What’s that mean?”
“You’ll understand soon enough. I have faith in you lads!”
The trio nodded and returned their attention to the door. Beside them, Queen Minnie stood with her hands clasped as if in prayer. “I’m counting on you, Sora.”
“Leave it to us!” he replied, and then he opened the portal.
CHAPTER 6
TIMELESS RIVER
THROUGH THE DOOR, A MYSTERIOUS WORLD LAY before them—all black-and-white, no color at all.
“Huh? Oh, hey, there’s the Cornerstone of Light!” Goofy ran toward the Cornerstone perched atop a small hill.
“What’s going on?” Sora blinked at the colorless landscape. “Everything’s black-and-white.”
There was no color to be seen anywhere—not in the Cornerstone, the grass or the sky, or even the trio themselves.
“Y’know…” Donald crossed his arms, concentrating. “This is…kinda…”
“What?” asked Sora, as Donald and Goofy shared a look.
Goofy cocked his head. “Nostalgic?”
“Yeah! That’s it!” For some reason, Donald sounded excited.
“Really? So you’ve been here before?” Sora didn’t feel an inkling of nostalgia.
Whatever it was about this world, it seemed only Donald and Goofy could feel it.
“Wak!” Donald jumped as someone darted past, and as he gave a startled quack, the figure stopped and turned to them.
It was Pete—but somehow a little different.
“Hey, you!” He swaggered toward the trio. “Seen any bad guys around here?”
In reply, the three of them simply pointed at him.
“Why, I oughta…!” Pete put up his fists, and the trio likewise held their weapons ready. “Bah! I don’t have time for pip-squeaks like you. Guess I’ll go easy on ya!”
He spun and dashed away to the other side of the hill.
“There’s our suspect,” Sora remarked to the others, and they chased after the large cat.
Across the hill, they found a small pier on the bank of a lazily flowing river. Pete was milling around, stomping his feet.
“Hey, Pete!” Sora called, armed with the Keyblade.
“What’s with you squirts? You got some kinda bone to pick with me?” Pete shouted back.
“More than one!”
“I’m likin’ you less and less!” Pete marched toward them, but then they heard a steamboat’s whistle. “Huh?!” He jerked around toward it.
“Not so fast! Fire!” Donald let him have some magic.
“Yeeeow!” Pete screeched as the spell struck, hunching down on the spot. “What kinda beef d’you pip-squeaks have with me, anyway?” Rubbing his lower back, he peered up at them. “…Hey. You new around here?” he said with surprise.
“Cut the act already.” Sora shifted his shoulders and readied the Keyblade again.
Another blast came from the steamboat whistle.
“Gah!” Pete tried to stand up too fast and toppled over back on his behind. “Ooh, ow, ouch!”
Goofy cocked his head at the blunder. “Y’know… Somethin’ doesn’t seem quite right here. Are you sure you’re really Pete?”
“’Course I’m Pete. Captain of the steamboat Willie! So stop botherin’ me, see?” he snapped, rubbing his back again. “Hit the road! I gotta find the little runt what stole my boat!”
“Gawrsh, maybe we made a mistake,” Goofy whispered.
“I’m starting to think so, too. He hasn’t even summoned any Heartless.” said Sora, looking down at the one they’d attacked.
“Sorry we pounced on ya like that, Cap’n Pete.” Goofy helped him up.
“If you’re really sorry, then go find my steamboat!” He plunked himself down on the ground again as if it hurt too much to stand up. “Ooh, my achin’ back…”
“Y-yes, sir!” Sora rushed to Captain Pete and hurriedly tended to him.
First, they went back to the Cornerstone of Light to regroup, sighing.
“I thought for sure Pete was the bad guy,” said Sora, stretching his shoulders.
“That’d be too easy.” Donald crossed his arms and tapped his foot anxiously.
“C’mon, fellas, let’s try and find that steamboat,” Goofy urged them.
The other two looked at each other.
“I guess we did sorta say we would,” Sora admitted, not particularly interested in going after a boat.
Apparently, Donald agreed. “Hey, we’ve got that door to find, too!”
“Right, that!” Sora nodded.
Then, after a poof of white fog, a small window was hovering right in front of them.
Curious, Sora stepped closer. Curtains hung over it, so he couldn’t see through. He tried to move them aside, but somehow it seemed like he would fall through the window.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea…?” Donald peered at it suspiciously.
“Let’s find out!” Sora didn’t wait for the others to agree before he jumped in.
Donald and Goofy exchanged a helpless look before following suit.
On the other side, there was still no color. They were inside a small house, and in the middle of the room was some kind of black hole sucking the furniture toward it. And then—they spotted the king—Mickey Mouse.
“Your Majesty?!” Donald called, but King Mickey didn’t seem to hear.
“Gee, he seems kinda different somehow,” Goofy mumbled.
Something about his face and movements suggested this wasn’t the king they knew.
“C’mon, he needs our help!” Sora ran toward him.
Another black hole appeared, but this one spat out Heartless. As the king tried to get away, Sora took his place to battle the Heartless.
“You gotta get out of here, Your Majesty!” Goofy whacked the Heartless with his shield. It didn’t take long before the trio had them under control.
“Whew…” Sora lowered the Keyblade. The king emerged from his hiding spot to grab Sora’s hand and give it a hearty shake in gratitude.
“Say, Your Majesty—,” Sora began, but King Mickey let go and hurried away, as if he hadn’t heard at all. Sora cocked his head. “Huh…? Was that really him?”
Donald shouted from behind Sora. “Hey, look!”
He was pointing to another floating window just like the one that had brought them. Beside it hung a cord to open the curtains.
“Do we just pull on this?” said Donald before yanking the cord with all his might. The curtains parted, and the trio were flung through the window.
“Whoa!”
Bright light surrounded them, and it felt like they were floating. Then they saw two familiar faces. Maleficent was talking to Pete, who now wore his usual outfit with its bulky pockets…
Maleficent examined the door that had materialized in the great hall of Hollow Bastion. “Fascinating. This appears to be a portal to the past!”
She seemed to have some recollection of the scene beyond the door, too.
“Yeah, it was the funniest thing…,” Pete said timidly behind her.
“Stop gawking. And start thinking of a way we can use this to our advantage!”
“Yes’m…,” replied Pete, trying not to hang his head yet again.
“Now, perhaps I could give you one last chance to redeem yourself.”
“Oh! Thank you! You can count on me! So, what do I do?”
“Patience…” Maleficent peered through the door again. “What have we here? If it isn’t the Cornerstone of Light… Hmm, with that I should be able to take the castle from those fools!”
“Castle
…?” said Pete, confused. She already had a castle.
“The castle where that wretched little king lives.” Maleficent turned to Pete with a devious smirk.
When they came to, Sora and the others were standing back on the hill beside the Cornerstone.
Somehow, that window must have given them a peek at what Maleficent was up to—as if it had taken them to a different world. But now the window was nowhere to be seen.
“What was that…?” Sora wondered.
“It was Maleficent!” Donald shook his wand in the air.
“You guys saw it, too?”
“Yup. So, if that door’s connected to the past…,” Goofy pondered.
“No, no! It’s connected to here!” said Donald.
“Huh? How?” Sora crossed his arms.
If the door Maleficent had seen was connected to the past, as well as where they were now…
“That means we’re in the past?!” Goofy blurted.
“And Maleficent was talking to Pete.”
“So he tricked us!” Donald realized furiously.
“Somethin’ still doesn’t seem right, though…,” said Goofy.
“Hmm…,” Sora thought aloud. “The Pete we met here was a little rough around the edges, but he didn’t seem like a bad guy…”
Then a cackle from Pete echoed across the Cornerstone hill. “Now that castle’s as good as ours!”
But it wasn’t Captain Pete—it was a more familiar Pete.
“The culprit!” Donald pointed straight at him as Pete took off toward the river.
“Oh no! The Cornerstone’s gone!” cried Goofy.
Sora whirled around, and it was true. The Cornerstone of Light had disappeared. He gripped the Keyblade. “Pete must’ve stolen it!”
Donald stamped his feet in aggravation. “That means… The castle…”
“They’re gonna fill it with darkness!” Goofy finished.
Just then, they caught sight of Pete again.
Sora held the Keyblade menacingly. “Hold it right there!”
“No way, small fry! I finally found the chump what stole my boat!”
This time it was Captain Pete, with his odd hat and his pants held up by a single suspender.
“Yeah! It was you!” Donald retorted.
“Right, me!” Captain Pete paused. “Wait—no, it wasn’t me! Just somebody who looks like me!”
“Sheesh, this is confusing…” Sora scratched his head.
“Just hurry up and get my steamboat back!” Pete practically begged them.
“Okay! We will!” Sora dashed toward the river with the others.
There was a small steamboat moored at the pier.
“There she is!” Captain Pete ran toward the boat. A wooden cage sat on it—and inside was the Cornerstone of Light. “Hey, wait!”
“Shut up!” The other Pete stood at the helm, about to cast off. “Your future’s on the line here, pal, so back off and lemme have this boat!”
The steam whistle blew. The trio followed Captain Pete as he tried to run after his boat.
“We have to get the Cornerstone!” Sora leaped from the riverbank onto the deck.
“What—you again?!” the bad Pete shouted without taking his hands from the wheel.
“That boat’s mine, and you’re gonna give it back!” Captain Pete managed to jump aboard, rocking the boat with his weight.
“Whoa!” The bad Pete stumbled.
Goofy lost his balance, too, but he didn’t recover and crashed into the boat thief.
“Goofy!” As Pete tumbled overboard, Sora grabbed his friend by the belt before he met the same fate.
“Wh-whooooa!” Pete hit the water with a tremendous splash.
“Ha! We did it!” Sora punched the air as their enemy, thwarted, made it to the riverbank and scrambled away.
“Gee, that wasn’t too hard,” Goofy murmured, watching him run off.
“You’re gonna pay for that!” Captain Pete jumped off the boat again and chased after his double.
“Pete from this world is right. Let’s get him!” said Sora. The trio followed suit.
On the wharf facing the hill, they found the two Petes in a fistfight.
“Which one’s which…?” Donald muttered, circling the pair.
“C’mere!”
“Wanna piece of me?!”
Captain Pete took a punch and went reeling. “Ouuuch!”
“Heh. You’re still wet behind the ears!” the bad Pete taunted him, preparing to make another break for it.
“Why, you!” Captain Pete stuck out his leg to trip his opponent.
“Oof!” It worked. Pete tumbled into the dirt—but he didn’t stay down. “Hmph!”
Except Sora, Donald, and Goofy were now in his way.
“Our turn!” Sora rushed him with the Keyblade.
“Guh!” the bad Pete grunted, stumbling dizzily.
Donald was waiting with a spell. “Take this! Thunder!”
“Here goes!” Goofy charged and knocked Pete flat on his behind.
Captain Pete scowled down at his unpleasant double. “Serves ya right!”
“So, the Pete here wasn’t doin’ anything wrong,” Goofy whispered to Sora.
“Well, that’s good, isn’t it?” Sora grinned.
“I’ll get you twerps! Just you wait!” Pete stood up again and waved his arms around. With a flash of light, a great door appeared in front of him.
“There it is!” Donald exclaimed as the bad Pete wasted no time jumping through it.
“And stay out!” Captain Pete hollered after him.
“Sora!” Donald prompted.
“I’m on it!” Sora held out the Keyblade and locked the door up tight. “That should do it.”
“Yeah!” Goofy gave him a high five.
“I don’t get a lick of what’s goin’ on here. Who was that creep, anyway?” Captain Pete grumbled and stretched, cracking his back, then gave the trio a grin and a thumbs-up. “Aw, never mind. Sorry to put you kids to all that trouble.”
“Well, you’re gonna make more trouble for us later!” Donald retorted with a hop.
“What’re you talkin’ about? I’m tryin’ to thank ya. How about a ride on my steamboat?” Pete swaggered toward the pier in high spirits. “I’ll even let ya pilot. My deckhand Mickey’s late, anyway.”
“Mickey… Wait, the king?” Sora cocked his head.
“No, the Mickey in this world!” said Donald.
So this world’s Mickey was a different person from King Mickey? Just like the Pete they were talking to now and the Pete they already knew were different?
“What’re you standing there jabbering for? C’mon, get aboard!” Captain Pete told them.
The trio hurried after him.
The steamboat Willie floated through the black-and-white world of Timeless River.
Naturally, Sora was piloting, while Donald occupied himself with sounding the big whistle.
On the deck behind them, the Cornerstone of Light glowed. Behind that, Mickey lazed against the stern, whistling softly, unnoticed.
“Whew!”
They had returned the Cornerstone to its spot on the hill.
Goofy gazed up at its brightness. “Now the castle’s gotta be safe, right?”
“Yeah,” Sora agreed. “Guess we should head back.”
Donald snuck a few glances around. “Aw, c’mon, as long as we’re here in the past—”
“Donald!” the other two said at once. Before he could run off to cause mischief, each grabbed a feathery arm and tossed him through the door.
“Wak!” he protested. Sora and Goofy only left once they saw him hit the floor on the other side.
“Oh, the thorns are gone!” Queen Minnie exclaimed in wonder as the thorny vines glowed and faded away and Disney Castle returned to its usual bright splendor.
“The lads must have accomplished their mission,” said Merlin, stroking his beard.
“Hooray!”
“Time for a party! An acor
n feast!”
Chip and Dale danced around in celebration.
Then Donald came tumbling through the door, landing on his behind in front of everyone. A moment later, Goofy and Sora arrived.
“Welcome back!” Queen Minnie nodded to them. “With your bravery, the castle is safe again. Thank you so much for all you’ve done.”
“Good work, guys!” Chip and Dale chorused.
“Now, lads, I hope you didn’t do anything reckless while you were there?” Merlin said, but his eyes fixed squarely on Donald.
“Of course not!”
He sprang to his feet, and Sora and Goofy could hardly contain their laughter.
“Hey! What’s so funny, you two?!” Donald protested—and then a lady, another duck like him, entered the Hall of the Cornerstone. He jumped. “Daisy!”
She batted her long eyelashes and smiled at him. “Donald!”
“Wak!”
Her tone sounded less than pleased, and he took a step back.
“You forgot about our date again!” Daisy scolded. “I hope you have a good excuse!”
“But, Daisy, I…” Donald kept nervously backpedaling, and she kept closing the distance.
“I know you’re on an important mission, but you could at least check in every once in a while.”
Donald silently pleaded for help, but Sora and Goofy pretended not to notice.
“Well, Donald?” Daisy stalked up right in front of him.
“Er…” His gaze landed on the door. If he could just get back through…
Merlin knew what he was thinking. “Donald!”
“I’m sorry!” Donald tried to sprint for the door.
Daisy just barely managed to catch him by the tail. “Going somewhere?”
“Sorry!” He pulled himself out of her grasp and ran.
“Donald!”
He scampered all over the hall with Daisy hot on his heels.
“He’s gonna be fine, right?” said Sora.
As everyone else giggled, the Cornerstone of Light began to shine even more brightly. The brilliance focused into a single beam and formed a keyhole in the air.
Kingdom Hearts II Vol 2 Page 8
