CHAPTER 8
Piri's POV
We entered the Lotus Forest looking for the cat and looked but didn't find him. That's was, until a grinning, floating cat head appeared in front of my face. I screamed and fell on my butt. The cat's head appeared on a tree stump, along with its body standing on it. The body jumped off the head and placed it on its neck. My eye twitched at this.
"Who are you?" Donald asked.
"Who indeed? Poor Alice. Soon to lose her head and isn't guilty of a thing."
"Hey, if you know who the culprit is, tell us!" Sora exclaimed.
"You said it yourself, she isn't guilty of a thing." I pointed out.
"The Cheshire cat has all the answers but doesn't always tell. The answer, the culprit, the cat all lie in darkness." he said.
"What the hell does that mean?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Before he could answer, he vanished.
"Wait!" Sora yelled.
"They've already left the forest. I won't say which exit," we looked around but didn't see a purple cat, "There are four pieces of evidence in all. The first three are easy to find. But the fourth is tricky. There's a big reward if you find them all."
"Should we trust them?" Donald asked. The cat reappeared briefly.
"To trust, or not to trust? I trust you to decide."
I sighed, "Is everyone in this place crazy?"
"Fortunately, they've gone mad," it said, "And so have I." the cat disappeared.
"Maybe we shouldn't trust him." Sora said, as soon as he was sure the cat disappeared.
"Well, Alice trusts him. So... I trust him." I confidently said, "Let's go find that evidence."
We looked throughout the entire world and found footprints, the scent of darkness, and an antennae- all of them belong to heartless, as we suspected. Now we just needed to find one more. That involved going back to the bizarre room, but a different angle. We went through a different passage and ended up on top of a faucet. That's when we saw the last piece of evidence; Claw marks of a heartless.
"Well, look what you've found! Nice going." The cat reappeared.
"Now we can save Alice!" Sora said.
"Don't be so sure. She may be innocent, but what about you?" the cat asked.
"What do you mean?" I asked, wondering what he meant.
"I won't tell you," of course... "but I'll give you something," he said, pointing at Sora's keyblade. He was curious on what he did to it. "I give you the blizzard spell."
khkhkh
"Now, show me what you found." the queen demanded and we placed the four boxes in front of her. "Well, that's certainly a lot of evidence, but I'm still not impressed. Cards! Bring forth my evidence!" she demanded and I growled under my breath. An ace of diamonds card placed one box next to ours. The boxes shuffled. ""Hmm, checking all five would be a waste of my time. Choose one you wish to present. I'll decide who's guilty based on that evidence."
"What? After the collecting we did?" Sora complained.
"You dare defy me? Then you will lose your head!" I growled at her.
"Then let me!" I stomped my foot.
"Oh, who do you think you are?" the queen asked.
"My name is Piri, Princess of Memory, if you please," her eyes widened.
"You're a princess?" the queen and the court laughed. I was getting annoyed and my eyebrow twitched.
I shouted, "I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" everyone shut up and I rubbed my temples while sighing, "Alright, just forget I said anything... I'll pick out the evidence to provide."
I walked up to them and looked at each of them. This one on the far right made my necklace glisten with a dim light, so I picked that one. A soldier heartless appeared and then disappeared.
"What in the world was that?" the queen asked.
"That's the real culprit, your majesty, Alice is innocent!" Sora said.
"Silence! I'm the law here! Article 29: anyone who defies the queen is guilty!" the fat hippo angrily proclaimed.
"That's crazy!" Donald yelled.
"Seize them at once!"
I swung my arm and summoned the keyblade, "Come and die!"
The whole area changed. A small tower was the only thing that stood out and it was connected to the cage Alice was being held in. The cards flew everywhere and began attacking us. At one time, We attacked the tower until it was destroyed, bringing the cage down. The curtain rolled around and Alice was gone.
"She must have been kidnapped while we were fighting." Donald said.
"You fools! Find the one who's responsible for this! I don't care how!" The queen yelled and the cards scrambled into different directions. We went back to the forest to look for her but only found the Cheshire Cat.
"Have you seen Alice?" I asked.
"Alice, no. Shadows, yes!" said the cat.
"Where'd they go?" Goofy asked.
"This way, that way? Does it matter? Left, Right, up, down! All mixed up thanks to the shadows." it said.
"Sorry, riddles were never my fancy. Try again." I put a hand on my hip.
"Step deeper into the forest to the deserted garden. You may find shadows in the upside down soon!" he told us.
the cat told us to light the lanterns in both versions of the bizarre room. We did just that and soon the entire room was lit, cat appeared on the table.
"You'd have a better view from up here," he said. We climbed up on the table. "The shadows should be here soon. Are you prepared for the worst? If not, then that's to bad!" He exclaimed and I gasped, looking around.
When I looked up a giant heartless landed on the ground. It was red and black and its hands sounded like paper cracking when it moved them. It also was able to use fire.
"We can take it!" I yelled and they nodded.
We were mere ants compared to this one, but we seem to manage quite well. That's when I remember Sora can use that Ice magic. It wasn't like my Blizzaga, but it will do. I only glanced at him and we were thinking the same thing. We raised our keyblades up.
"Deep freeze!" we use what we had and it froze solid.
"We gotta smash it!" I said, waiting for a new crack. The moment there was one, we all yelled, 'now' and attacked it. It shattered all over the room. The tiny pieces of ice particles fluttered in the air, glistening in the lanterns' light. It was so beautiful. The dust of ice came to gather to form a crown. The boys stared in awe.
"Whoa!" they slurred.
"Riku would faint if he saw you right now!" Sora commented and I blushed.
"Oooooh, who's Riku?" Donald teased.
Sora opened his mouth to answer, but I stopped him, "He's the one!"
"The one?" Goofy asked and I nodded, "Oh, so like a boyfriend! Well, if you love him, he did something right." I blushed a brighter red, as I played with my over-the-shoulder French braid.
"I knew it!" Sora suddenly shouted and jumped me into the heebie-jeebies.
I was about to smack him, But the doorknob yawned, "Must you be so loud? You wake me up." he yawned and we saw a silhouette of a keyhole. The tips of our keyblades glowed and a beam of light shot from them. Something sounded like closed.
"What was that?" Sora and I said in unison. He looked at me.
"You hear that? Sounds like something locked up." Goofy pointed out. A strange colored block fell from the doorknob. Goofy picked it up and examined it.
"This gummi ain't like the others. No, sir."
"Okay. I'll hold on to it." Donald said.
"Splendid. You're quite the heroes." we turned to that cat. "If you're looking for Alice, she's not here. She's gone! Off with the shadows, into darkness." he said, disappearing once more.
"Crap!" I felt like we failed to help someone when they really needed it.
"Let's get back to the ship!" Donald said, "We might find her in another world!"
"We gotta go to the entry point to return to our ship." Goofy explained.