Chapter Text
It had been quite a long while ever since Sora’s disappearance after he used the power of waking.
Since that time, she had searched for clues, continued training with Aqua and done whatever else she could do to help find him. She had gained a sparkle of hope when Riku went to a place called “Quadratum” , where he had apparently seen Sora in a dream. Before Riku had gone to Quadratum, she had thought about going with him, but she had decided against it in the end so she could continue training with Aqua. So she could get even stronger as a Keyblade wielder.
She somewhat regrets that decision. Sure, her skills were improving day by day, but knowing that she wasn’t further helping with the search for Sora had eaten at her heart. The training helped a bit in relieving the woeful thoughts, but they would always creep back in as soon as it was over. Even then, it intruded upon her training sessions occasionally, incurring a mild scolding from Aqua. Perhaps, she should have just thrown all of the caution to the wind and joined Riku at that time, being stranded in an unknown world be damned.
More months have passed since that day, and Riku still has yet to return. Kairi hasn’t heard a single piece of news about him, and certainly not about Sora. It made her feel even more alone. Even though she had many more people by her side now, they were always the people she was closest to. Her sorrow had not gone unnoticed. Despite her scolding, Aqua would allow her breaks if she noticed that she was too distracted. Lea would allow her to take out her frustration on him, only blocking while she went all out with her emotions. Still, Sora and Riku’s absence was louder than anything else. A thorny vine that wrapped itself around and constantly pricked at her heart.
One day though, the King received reports about the rising of Heartless in different worlds, a break in the routine of training and newsless days. Upon learning about it, she couldn’t really decide whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, the fact they were still around meant that even though Xehanort was gone, their battle was far from over. On the other hand, she thought if they could trace the worlds where the Heartless had invaded, they might have a chance to find Sora.
When the latter thought had come into her mind, she made a choice to set out on her own journey. A journey of her own to find Sora wherever he may be. They had made a promise to keep each other safe before their battle with Xehanort. He had protected her so many times before, so now she wanted to keep her part of the promise by bringing him back. Part of her had sprouted a seed of doubt that this would be fruitless in the end, but she kept telling herself that she would at least be helping out worlds in need. Aqua even encouraged her, telling her that their training couldn’t beat actual experience.
The creaking sound of the umbrella swaying in the wind breaks Kairi out of her trance; she finds herself at the doorsteps to Merlin’s house. She opens the door and steps in, the low humming of the machinery welcoming her.
“Who is it!” Cid unstuck his face from the computer and turned around, his ever-present toothpick sticking out of his mouth. “Kairi! If you’re here about Sora then I’m afraid—”
“No, actually, I’m here hoping you could provide me with a Gummi Ship.”
“Gummi Ship? Whatever do you need one for?”
“I’m done with just training; I need to go out and find Sora.”
“So that’s it, huh? But can’t you just do that glider thing like those three do it?”
Kairi pursed her lips at the statement, she still has some ways to go compared to her fellow guardians. “I wish. It’s not that I can’t do it, but I can never seem to do it most of the time.”
Cid then leaned his upper body towards Kairi and spoke in a quieter voice, “Do the others know?”
Kairi nods and says, “Yes, I’ve said my farewell before coming here.”
“Alright, then. This way to the hangar then.” Cid gets up and walks out of the house, she follows him.
After walking a bit, the two reach the hangar. Beside the door, there was a keypad. Cid walked up to it and entered something that Kairi couldn’t quite see clearly. After he entered the code, the hangar back door slowly opened. As she walks in, Cid turns on the light, and she sees dozens of colourful Gummi Ships of different designs, all of them sitting and waiting to be used.
“Pick any one of 'em you like. All of the ones in this front section are backups for emergency evacuation.” Cid said as he gestured to them.
Kairi looked around for a bit. The hangar had several Gummi ships of different colors and shapes. Some of them were shaped more like what one would expect a ship to look like. But there were also a couple of oddballs that looked like creatures. Her eyes eventually settled on an orange and red Gummi ship that had two cannons sticking out of its back. It reminded her of Sora’s ship, and the spiky tips of the ship gave her the impression that it was fast. She pointed at it and said, “This one.”
“Highwind, huh? Good taste, give me a moment.”
Cid then walks away. A bit later, the main hangar door slowly slid open, revealing the runway platform and the day sky. She opens the cockpit and gets into it, carefully driving to the runway with Cid waving his hands and guiding her around the hangar. With the ship facing the runway probably, Cid began gesturing to her, so Kairi opened the cockpit.
“Good luck, gal.” Cid said, giving her a thumbs up.
She returned his well-wishes with a smile and replied, “Thanks.”
She closes the cockpit, and then, using her Keyblade, Kairi reveals the gate of Radiant Garden in the sky. It shines brightly before fading as quickly as it had appeared. She looks at the world around her one more time before activating the engine. Pushing the ship forwards, she crosses the boundary of the world. Beyond it, she sees a field of stars and asteroids.
It was the usual summer morning. In the driveway of the Flynn-Fletcher home, Candace stood next to her mom as she prepared to get into their station wagon.
“Alright, Candace, your dad and I are going to be out of town for the day to meet an old classmate of mine to get some vintage clothes and toys for our store.”
Candace whined and held onto her mother’s hand, “Do you have to go? The boys are probably going to build some giant, wacky things like they always do today.”
“Well, the trip isn’t just about getting some antiques, it’s also about me visiting an old classmate.” Linda puts her right hand on Candace’s shoulder. “Look after your brothers, okay? And try not to call me about whatever Phineas and Ferb are doing.”
Candace, withholding her displeasure, groaned and replied, “I’ll do my best about it.”
“Honey! We have to go!” Lawrence yelled from the car.
Linda replied, “Coming, dear!” She then turned to Candace, “Alright, we’ll be back at midnight. There’s six separate lunch boxes in the fridge for you and your brothers. Just heat them up in the microwave if you’re hungry for lunch and dinner. Bye, Candace. ” She began moving away, her left hand slipping from Candance’s grasp.
Linda got into the family car and Candace watched as her parents slowly drove away. As soon as their car disappeared from her sight, she immediately bolted up to her room and looked out the window, but there was only the greenery of their backyard and her two young brothers leaning against the tree. She slowly backed up, her eyes squinting at them as she did so. There was nothing in the backyard YET. But she knew in the deepest part of her soul that they were going to build something bustable, as they do every single summer day. And if she could make sure it was still there by midnight…
“Hehehehe…” The thought of it made her giggle incessantly.
Later at 9:30 am, it was time for her hourly busting check, so Candace put down her phone and looked out her bedroom window with her binoculars. She saw a bunch of random items placed in a certain way, taking up half of their backyard. There was a domino section made out of books, the last book had a string tied to it, which was tied to a wedge beneath a cheese wheel at the top of a ramp. She looked at another part of their monstrous contraption and saw that they had loaded raw asparagus into a toy crossbow that was aimed at a target in front of a transparent tube with a ball inside. The more she looked, the more ridiculous their project today felt and the more her busting urges rose.
Opening her window, she yelled, her voice echoing through the neighbourhood, “PHINEAS! FERB! What are you two up to now! Our backyard has turned into a junkyard! Have you two lost your minds? Can’t you guys build something that’s at least coherent!”
The redhead looked up and spoke, holding a box with an assortment of knickknacks he had collected from their house, “Hi, Candace! It might look like a mess, but we’re making the world’s largest and longest Rube Goldberg machine today. It’ll span from our house’s backyard all the way to the downtown park.”
“I don’t know what that is, but it sounds bustable!”
“Well, a Rube Goldberg machine is—“
“Look, I could care less about what it is, just build your machine so I can bust you when Mom comes home at midnight! Now, I’m going to text Stacy about the date Jeremy took me on so keep it down, twerps!
“But we’re cleaning it up after—“
Candace then slammed the bedroom window. Just a second later though, she poked her head out the window again, yelling, “Oh, and remind me to look out again an hour later!” Then, she slammed her window again.
Phineas looked at Ferb and shrugged. He continued walking to the next section of the machine while his brother tested the rolling distances of grapes. They had a lot of stuff to set up today.
Back in her room, Candace was about to text Stacy but stopped herself, her fingers an inch from the screen.
Mom won’t be back until midnight and the boys’ invention will probably have disappeared by then. I need a backup plan for this. Candace thought. She had wanted to be smarter about her busting plans this summer, so that’s just what she’ll do about this situation.
She went through a couple of plans in her mind, like running to chase her parents on foot now to drag them back home. She shot it down though; she will probably end up in the hospital before making it halfway. Or maybe she can just call her and see what happens? Finally, an idea struck. What if I used a camcorder to record everything Phineas and Ferb does! It’s more durable than a phone, right? Their invention will disappear, but I’ll still have the video! Yes, yes! It’s brilliant, brilliant, BRILLIANT! Genius I say!
Giggling quietly to herself, Candace tiptoed her way to her parents’ bedroom. She rummaged through the cabinets and drawers until she found her dad’s camcorder. She checked the battery and to her luck, it was fully charged. She took it alongside a tripod and went downstairs towards the living room, holding both objects tightly in her arms. Once there, she carefully set up the camcorder, hiding the tripod behind an armchair. After making sure that the camcorder was recording properly and that her brothers were too distracted building their machine to notice the camcorder, she began sneaking back to her room.
On the stairway, Candace looked at her setup and then beyond the sliding glass door at her brothers. She smirked and muttered,
“Oh, you two are soooo going down this time.”
She looked around, realising that someone was missing from the house.
“Hey! Where’s Perry?”
Meanwhile in the Ocean Between
Kairi sat in the cockpit of her Gummi ship, going through a zone in the spaces between worlds. She pants and tries to catch her breath, having just shot down a horde of Heartless that pursued and blocked her path as she approached a world. The remaining adrenaline in her blood made her hold on to the ship’s control tightly, her hands still trembling slightly. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, when she opened them, she saw the gate of the unknown world in front of her. Its shine was blinding, enveloping every single bit of her vision. With no more Heartless in her way, her hands pushed forward the ship towards the gate.
This is it then, the first world of this journey.
Beyond the bright light, the monitor of the Gummi Ship showed a vast blue sky with little clouds. Turning the ship’s camera downwards, she saw a large city surrounded by green outskirts on one side, with the blue sea on the other. The buildings below looked like a collage of grey dots. As she inches closer to the ground, she could see different skyscrapers and buildings in the distance, especially one tall purple building that stood out among the others.
She kept flying until she spotted a flat plain somewhere on the outskirts of the city and landed the Gummi Ship at a spot where it was obscured by some trees. A first glance from inside the cockpit told her that there was not much but trees and bushes surrounding her. She exited the ship and was greeted by the soft breeze of summer days. Looking in the reflection of the gummi glass of the ship, she found that her appearance had not changed a bit. Turning her eyes towards her clothes, her mix of pink and black was still there, and so were her wristband and bracelet.
“I guess I already fit in.” Kairi spoke to herself.
She began walking away from the ship in search of anything that could help inform her where she was. It did not take long for her to found a sign near a road that went towards the suburb of the city. She looked at the orange sign, on it was inscribed text that said:
You are now entering Danville, Welcome!
Notes:
Can you tell that I am a Phineas and Ferb fans first and foremost yet
Can you tell that my Kingdom Hearts knowledge came primarily from wiki and TV Trope yetOn that, do post feedback in comment so I can edit the story and existing chapters according. (Particularly for the Kingdom Heart stuff)
Chapter 2: An Everyday Summer Morning
Chapter Text
She kept on walking around the suburb, looking for anyone that could help her learn about this world. It was awfully quiet most of the time, save for the occasional car rumbling past her and the sound of grass being mowed. There doesn’t seem to be any Heartless running around, though she probably just hasn’t run into them yet. The sun shone above her among the spotless blue and its warmth gently grazed her skin. It reminded her of the sunshine of her own world.
Among the suburb’s silence, Kairi heard a bright and sprightly voice coming from one of the backyards.
“Careful…careful…” In the distance, she could see a rectangular-looking, green-haired boy holding a remote control, seeming to be operating some sort of small machine. She thought it was those RC cars at first, but then saw that it was leaving something where it went. What was going on here?
Moving closer, there was another red-haired boy who was behind the machine and backing up, his arms gesturing toward the machine and beckoning to follow him. It was an odd sight, the two appeared to be barely teens, yet they were operating machines? Or is this just the regular pastime of children in this world? Odder still was the shape of the red-haired one’s head, which was a triangle of sorts. That part she could tell was definitely out of the ordinary even for this world. She also saw that the machine was actually laying dominos on the sidewalk.
Hmm…how should she approach them?
Stepping even closer, Kairi stood to Phineas' side and said, “Um…whatcha doin’?”
Phineas turns his head, it now looking more like a diamond. “Isabella! I—Oh! I’m sorry, Miss. I thought you were a friend of mine.” He began looking up to face Kairi.
“It’s fine. I’m Kairi, by the way. I was just…curious as to what you two were doing.”
“We’re building the world’s biggest and longest Rube Goldberg machine! Although it's not complete yet, if you want to see the whole thing, you’ll have to come back later in the day.”
“What’s a Rube Goldberg machine?”
Ferb suddenly spoke up, still controlling the domino-laying machine, “It is a chain reaction contraption that aims to achieve a simple task in an overcomplicated manner, named after the cartoonist, Rube Goldberg.”
Phineas smiled and asserted, “Well, there you have it!”
Kairi thought they were merely playing around at first, until she leaned a bit to look at the rest of the machine in the backyard. It had already spanned their entire backyard, at least from what she could tell through the gate. She had seen and experienced a lot of shocking things in her lifespan, from being taken for reasons she couldn’t understand then to becoming a Keyblade wielder. This large contraption built by two seemingly normal children was probably right there in the upper echelon.
“Did…did you two do all this?”
“Yeah! Usually it would have taken us a much shorter time, but our project today requires a very high level of precision so we had to do more testing.”
“Usually? You do this every day?”
“Well, during summer vacation, which is right now! We’re going to make every day of summer the best day ever!” Phineas held his arms out widely as he spoke.
“But aren’t you a little young to be building elaborate machines every day for summer?”
Phineas replied, “Yes, yes we are.”
“Uh…alright, sure.”
“But y’know, as long as we put our heart and mind to it, nothing is impossible for us!
Kairi paused for a moment, her mind briefly drifting away. The thought of Sora had flashed in her mind, she snapped back to reality quickly with a blink.
It was her grasping at straws, but the words came out of her mouth regardless: “Maybe this is a weird question, but have you seen a teenager running around? Spiky hair, blue eyes, black and red clothes, wearing a crown necklace. I’m looking for him.”
“No, but we’ll keep an eye out and let you know! Maybe we can help you after—“
Just then, a beeping sound emits from Phineas’ pocket, and he glances at it.
“Hold on, our friend Baljeet is calling us.”
Phineas takes out a strange device, he presses a button on it, and a hologram of another boy forms from the device.
“P-Phineas…you have to come and help us…there are some w-weird shadowy c-c-creatures attacking m-me and Buford in the Tri-State Area Public Library…”
Weird shadowy creature. The moment Baljeet uttered those words, Kairi could feel her own hands tense up a bit.
The hologram looks offscreen, “S-s-shhhh! You are going to draw their a-attention!” It then turns back towards the front. “We have locked ourselves in the janitor's closet near the study rooms, I do not know who else to call…”
Another boy’s hologram suddenly butts in on the message, “You better hurry! I think the panic might get to him first before those weird demons outside!”
Baljeet yelled, irritated, “Buford!”
Baljeet’s hologram clasped his hands over his mouth, and he began whispering again. “Look, just please come and rescue us…”
The message then ends, and the hologram disappears, leaving Phineas somewhat confused. He turns to Ferb and says, “Baljeet said he’s being attacked by some weird shadowy creatures. I wonder what’s going on downtown.”
“Ferb, I know what we’re going to do today instead! We’re going to rescue Baljeet and Buford from monsters!” The brothers then began running towards their garage.
“WAIT!” Kairi yelled as she ran after the brothers. The two of them were just children, she couldn’t let them be caught up in the threats of the Heartless.
In their house’s garage, Phineas began rummaging through the piles of boxes of materials. “Ferb, are you sure we put the baseball launcher in the garage?” Ferb holds up one of the launchers, he pulls the joysticks around to make sure it’s functional. In response, the baseball floated in the air and moved in the direction Ferb made it. As Ferb tested the launcher, Kairi stared at the baseball. Her eyes tracked it as it did circles midair.
Seeing them gear up, Kairi began growing even more concerned. She spread her arms out at the garage entrances and said, “It’s dangerous! You don’t know anything about those shadowy things! You could get seriously hurt!”
“But they are our friends! And the fact they called for us means that they believe in us! We can’t just sit around and let them be attacked! Plus, we’ve dealt with alien invasions and pharmacist zombies before, we’ll be fine.” Phineas replied, not even a bit bothered by her warning.
Kairi couldn’t even come up with a response to what Phineas said. Alien invasion? Pharmacist zombies? What are these brothers even doing on a daily basis? Her senses quickly
snapped her out of the confusion. What they talked about and what she saw convinced Kairi that Phineas and Ferb were more capable than she had imagined them to be, from the weird arrangement of items in the backyard to this baseball launcher in front of her eyes. Even so, the thought of them having their hearts taken by the Heartless continued to haunt her in the back of her mind. What sort of Keyblade wielder would she be if she let it happen? What would all the training she had done be for? What would she say to their parents? But the two children were determined to help their friends, that much was clear. Nothing she said would convince them to stay still. Even if they had said “yes” to staying home, she was certain that they would follow her sneakily as soon as she took her eyes off them. If she can’t stop them, then…
She slowly put down her hands. “Then, please, let me go along with you. I’ll help you rescue your friends.”
“Awesome! But we only made two of these launchers. Hmm… Ferb, do we have any other invention that Kairi can—”
“No need, I have my own weapon against the Heartless.” Concentrating, she summoned Destiny’s Embrace into her hand, the metallic handle manifesting in her palm and fingers.
Phineas looked at the golden Keyblade and said, ”Woah, cool.” He then rolled his eyes and he began tapping on his chin with his finger. “Heartless…Is that what those weird shadowy things are?”
“They’re sort of creatures of darkness that steal the hearts of people and invade worlds so they could plunge them into darkness.” As she explained, Kairi dissipated her keyblade.
“That’s awful! We for sure have to go and help stop this invasion then. If they win, the Summer will be gone forever!” Phineas dropped his sunny disposition and looked genuinely upset for a brief moment. It tugged at Kairi’s heartstrings and steeled her resolve even more.
“We have to get to the library quickly. Ferb?”
Ferb shrugged.
“Oh right, both of the Ride from Outer Space self-destructed. Oh! We can have Candace drive us now that she— Wait, no, Mom took the car.” Scanning the garage with his eyes, Phineas spotted his red bicycle leaning in one of the corners. He pointed at it and said, “That’s it! We’ll ride our bikes downtown!”
Kairi spoke up, “But wouldn’t that take too long? I’m not really from around here, but the city looks pretty far. We’re not going to make it in time like this!” The distant downtown seemed far out of reach from here. She was afraid that their friends’ hearts would have been long gone if they went with the speed of a bike.
Phineas looked past Kairi towards their Rube Goldberg machine, sparking an idea in his mind.
“No problem! Nothing a bunch of small rockets and rope can’t solve! We were planning to use them for our machine, but it looks like we won’t be using them today!”
Kairi’s head tilted a bit. “Okay? Wait, but what about me? I don’t have a bike.”
Phineas’s face brightened. “We’ll ask our sister! Her name is Candace, I’m sure she’ll be glad to lend you her bike!”
Knocking and opening the door to Candace's room, Phineas saw his sister by the window and asked, “Candace! Can we borrow your bike to go downtown to rescue Baljeet and Buford from Heartless and save the world?”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever! Just don’t scratch it!” Candace replied, her gaze unshifting from her phone as she continued typing on it.
“Thanks, Candace!” Phineas said, waving at his older sister as he left.
Downstairs, Phineas told Kairi, “She said yes! Just, uh, try not to scratch it, I guess.”
“Um, I’ll try.” Kairi said, with an awkward smile. There was no way they weren’t going to scratch it with their plan.
Returning to their garage, Phineas took out a box of rockets from among the pile. The three then began tying small red rockets to each of the bikes. With the improvised invention finished, Kairi began moving three bikes out onto the sidewalk while Phineas and Ferb went to grab their bike helmets.
Standing on the sidewalk, Kairi looked at the bikes they were planning to use, and she found herself beginning to consider just running her way to the library.
Running towards her, Phineas held out a pink bike helmet for her. They had their own helmet on their head. “Here, for you!”
“Thanks.” Kairi puts it on. It was kind of a tight fit, but it worked for what it is.
“Uh, Phineas, are you sure this is safe?”
Phineas cheerfully replied, “We’ll be fine! According to our calculations, the fuel should run out by the time we reach downtown, then we can pedal the rest of the way there! The worst thing that could happen is that we all get blown to smithereens!”
“That’s not reassuring…” Kairi thought.
“Alright, gang! Let’s go!” Phineas exclaimed. The brothers each took out a matchstick; they struck it and lit the fuse with it. It hisses until the rocket goes off, blasting off toward downtown.
Kairi sighed and, deciding to put her faith in Phineas, summoned her Keyblade. She aims its tip at the fuse while gripping the bike handle tightly with her other hand. Concentrating, she then yelled, “Fire!” A burst of flame erupts from Destiny’s Embrace, igniting the fuse fully in an instant.
Kairi sped off down the roads on the bike, the sound of wind bellowing in her ears.
As soon as they left, a massive horde of Shadow Heartless rushed over their backyard. They leapt over the fence and then left through the front gate, taking away every part of the unfinished Rube Goldberg machine and the domino machine with them.
Hearing sounds of thousands of feet stomping from their backyard, Candace opened the window and yelled. “PHINEAS! FERB! What did I say abooooout…”
In front of her eyes was an empty lawn. No cheese wheel and asparagus crossbow, and no Phineas and Ferb.
“But-but…Oooh! What are those two up to now?! I thought they were building some giant machine or something!”
Candace looked around the house in search of her brothers. She checked everywhere, from the living room to the kitchen and from the attic to the garage. She even checked their panic room, but they were nowhere to be found.
“Ugh! Where in the world are those two!
She turned to her phone and began typing:
C: Chat later, Staces, busting calls
Closing her phone, she recalled that she had set up a camcorder to watch the backyard as a backup plan. She sped over to it and began reviewing the footage on the armchair.
On it, Candace saw Phineas reaching for the cheese wheel with a ladder. He began talking to Ferb while retrieving. However, she realized she couldn’t hear any of what they were saying with the camcorder being indoors. Candace groaned, her plan was not as perfect as she had thought. She began fast-forwarding the footage, not having the time to sit there and review it at normal speed.
At some point, both of her brothers went off-screen for quite a long period of time. Their machine on-screen remained untouched during that period. Nothing taken from it, and nothing was added to it.
The elder sister leaned back as the footage continued on, trying to get herself comfortable as she reviewed the footage. Before she could even get to that point, the footage showed a mass of shadow flooding over their backyard. Her eyes widened at what she saw, and she could feel her hand and fingers growing weaker.
“AHHHHHHH!”
Candace leaned her head as far as she could from the camcorder.
“What the heck are those things!”
Her mind suddenly became a storm that blended anger and confusion together. The mysterious force had wiped away her brother’s invention again, yet she couldn’t even begin to fathom what exactly had taken it away. She immediately went out the front door to look around, but there weren’t any little brothers around.
Another scream climbed its way up her throat at the thought of those things having taken her brothers away, but then Candace recalled that Phineas said they were going downtown. They were probably safe, right? They’re Phineas and Ferb, for God’s sake!
The thought did little to calm her nerves, and she thought it best that she saw her younger brothers with her eyes so she knew they were safe. She darted her head around again, finding three black track marks on the road stretching towards the direction of downtown. She then realized if she wanted to find her brothers, she was going to have to follow these tracks.
She ran to the garage for her bike and kept searching, but to no avail. Then she suddenly remembered something.
“Agh! Phineas and Ferb borrowed it to fight the Harts or something!” Candace exclaimed.
She went through the limited options in her mind and settled on one way of keeping up with her brothers, but she was sure she wasn’t going to like it. But what other options does she have? With a sigh, she went back up to her room and opened the chest beside her bed. From inside, she took out a pair of year-old roller skate shoes.
Chapter 3: Battle at the Library
Chapter Text
Perry enters his lair through the main front door. His watch had blared with the emergency alert. Something seriously dangerous was going on in Danville, there was no time for any silly secret entrance at his home.
In his lair, he sat on the chair before the monitor and pressed a button to receive transmission from the headquarters. The screen came to life and, on it was Major Monogram. His face was stern, which told him things were serious.
“Agent P! I see that you have received our emergency message. As you may know from your emergency alert message, we are currently in the Code Alpha Orange level of the alert system, which is the second highest level. I am currently on a break from the emergency meeting with other division heads to contact you.”
The screen then changed, showing a snapshot of a lanky, shadowy creature in a lab coat attacking a couple.”
“These weird shadow monsters have been spotted all around Danville, reaching into people’s chests and taking out some sort of light before escaping. And what you see on screen right now is only one type of them!”
The current snapshot shrank into a quadrant, the other quadrant then began to showcase different photos. One appeared to be a large vending machine shooting soda cans at people, another showed some sort of black Ducky Momo doll, and the last one looked like a living t-shirt with eyes and sharp teeth? The screen then cuts back to Major Monogram.
“We have no idea what these things are, but what we do know is that they look ridiculous and that they are dangerous.”
Offscreen, Carl spoke up, “Sir, I believe one of them is supposed to be Klimpaloon, the Magical Old-Timey Bathing Suit Who Lives in the Himalayas!”
Major Monogram glanced offscreen and responded, with a hint of annoyance in his voice, “Carl! That’s just a myth, and even if it were real, I don’t recall a myth where Klimpaloon went around biting people!”
“Ahem, getting back on track, Agent P. A traffic camera caught one of these creatures leaping from the balcony of Doofenshmirtz’s building.”
The screen changed again, this time showing an upward shot of a black Ducky Momo creature diving down to the street below from the Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated building.
“This could only mean one thing! That Doofenshmirtz is behind this invasion of shadow monsters. Most of his schemes have been frivolous in the past but this is a level of escalation never before seen from him! So get out there and put a stop to it!”
After a salute, Perry ran out the front door and hopped on his reliable hovercar, he took out his phone and began typing.
AgentP: Danger in Danville, can you check on Candace and the boy for me?
After a short moment, a reply popped up.
Staces: not at home, will go look for them
Worry fogged up the platypus's mind, but he started the hovercar's engine regardless. His family is more than capable, and he trusts Stacy's ability as a Donnie Do-Good. With that, the agent sets off to deal with the trouble at the source.
Kairi pedaled hard on the bike alongside the brothers in front of her, her throat running dry from the terrifying experience. She could still feel her own heartbeat drumming to a rapid rhythm and the cold sweat dripping down her forehead.
The bike she rode had blazed forward at immense speed. It was one of the most terrifying things she had ever experienced, probably right behind facing Xehanort. The only thing she could do was grip on the handle tightly as the momentum petered out, slowing down. As Phineas had said, the fuel had run out by the time they had reached downtown. Luckily before they all slammed into a wall somewhere.
“There we are!” Phineas said, pointing to the building at their left. It had “The Tri-State Area Public Library” written plain and clear on its front side. Kairi followed them and parked her bike at a bike station nearby. The brothers then immediately rushed up the staircase.
Kairi followed them and held out her hand. “Wait! Let me go first.” If it turns out that there were too many Heartless for them to handle, at least she could warn them or get them to run away beforehand.
She ran ahead of them and slowly pushed open the large library door, hoping to not alert any Heartless that might be dwelling beyond it. To their luck, there wasn't anything in the entrance hallway, but she didn’t let her guard down. The teen walked further in, the musty smell of the books hitting her nose. She then gestured for the two brothers to follow her.
As soon as she took a step into the lounge, a group of Heartless appeared from among the bookshelves in front of her, and one jumped out from the reception desk. The bathing suit Heartless let out a loud “NANG!” and threw themselves at Kairi. She stepped back to create distance and then swung her Keyblade at them. It knocks one of them to the side, and she follows up with strikes and shots on the others. They quickly fade into black mist that scatters into the air. She turns around to check on Phineas and Ferb, only to see them being pursued by a pair of Heartless.
One of the Heartless opens its mouth and jumps at Ferb, only to get caught midair when he fires the baseball into it. Seizing the chance, Ferb began jerking the launcher’s joystick rapidly, causing the baseball inside to tear the trapped Heartless into a bunch of loose black threads that faded. Meanwhile, Phineas shoots his baseball and hammers it down on the other Heartless until it falls to the ground and fades as well. A lab coat wearing Heartless then appears and run at them. Thinking quickly, the two rams a nearby book trolley into the Heartless, and Kairi finishes it off from afar with Flower Shoot. With the threat in front of them gone, they high-five each other before turning to Kairi and giving her a thumbs up.
The sight made the worry in Kairi’s heart ease a little, and she gave them a thumbs up in return.
Phineas ran up to her and pointed. “Come on, they should be over here!”
The trio moves on toward the study rooms section of the library, getting the jump on some Heartless between the bookshelves in the process. Finally reaching there, they eventually come face-to-face with a vending machine Heartless.
“It’s huge! ...and is a vending machine?” Phineas said.
“Some of the Heartless come in weird shapes… I don’t know either…” Kairi replied, she thought about some of the ones she had faced and others she learnt about.
The giant Heartless raises its claw arms and shoots out a chips bag from its compartment. Realising what was about to happen, Kairi yelled for the brothers to run. The three of them immediately skitter backward as the bag explodes.
Phineas turned his head toward the Heartless marching towards them and said, “Okay, this might be more dangerous than I thought.”
The Heartless fires another pack at them, but Kairi blows it away with Aerora, keeping the explosion in the air instead. She instantly warped to its front and swung her Keyblade hard at the glass. However, it only cracked a bit, and the Heartless didn't budge from its spot. It tries to grab her with its claw arms, but she sidesteps its attempts and blocks its grabs with her Keyblade. Suddenly, two baseballs darted towards the Heartless’s eyes and beat down on them, causing the machine to change its target and attempt to grab them instead. It blindly fires out another chip bag only for Kairi to knock it away with a quick swipe. With it distracted, she steps back and gathers her magic energy. As soon as the baseballs flew away, she cast Thundaga. A blinding bolt of lightning struck the Heartless, and it toppled backward, the remaining darkness scattering into the air.
Kairi looked at Phineas and Ferb standing their ground with the launcher in their hand. With a smile, she uttered, “Thanks.”
She looked all around her and saw no further signs of darkness haunting them.
“We should be in the clear. Go quick!”
Phineas runs up to and knocks on the door to the janitor’s closet. “Baljeet? Are you there? It’s Phineas!”
An older man’s voice came from the other side, “Alright, who in here is named Baljeet?” Which was then followed by the sound of clamoring. The sound stops, and before long the door slowly opens, showing Baljeet behind it.
“Baljeet! You’re okay!” Phineas exclaimed. He tilted his head to look past his friend and see a group of random civilians who squeezed themselves inside the closet.
From the crowd, Buford walked out, followed by a few others. He said, his voice a bit gruffier than usual, “Took ya long enough, Dinnerbell! Do you know how claustrophobic it is to be stuck inside a small space with a dozen people?”
Kairi gazed at the crowd and spoke up, confused, “Were you all just in there?”
A woman replied, “People just started coming in here for safety, it was desperate times, young lady!”
“Actually, I was just playing Sardines!” said a brown-suited man who raised his hand.
“Me too!” said another person.
Phineas said, “Anyway, you should all probably go home, there are shadow monsters running around outside.”
The brown-suited man turned to the crowd and said, “You heard him, folks! Let’s panic, run, and scream at the same time!” The crowd then screamed and flailed their arms in the air as they ran towards the library entrance, leaving behind Baljeet and Buford.
Baljeet ran towards Phineas and exclaimed, holding out his hands, “Oh, thank you, Phineas and Ferb! I would not have known what to do if you guys were not here!”
Phineas shook his head and gestured to the Keyblade wielder to his side. “You should thank Kairi, our new friend! We would have been in a lot more trouble getting through those things if it weren’t for her.”
Kairi was somewhat shocked at what Phineas said. She wasn’t sure if she could really call herself their friend, but the idea that he had seen her that way warmed her heart. She held her hand up a bit and waved towards Baljeet. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you.”
Buford crossed his hands and looked at Kairi, “Y’know, I would become your slave for saving my life, but you don’t look like a nerd to me!”
Before Kairi could respond, Phineas interrupted her, “That’s nice, Buford. But we should probably all get out as well before more of those things come.”
The five of them then hurried their way towards the library entrance and trotted down the staircase, with Kairi trailing behind and watching over them. Phineas came to a halt on the sidewalk and asked, “Anyway, what were you guys doing at the library? I thought you were coming over later to help.”
“Oh, y’know! This guy here forgot to return the chemistry book that he borrowed!” Buford said, patting his hands on Baljeet’s shoulder.
Baljeet glared at Buford, causing everyone else to in turn stare at him.
“Alright, fine! I was late for the return of the Sarah Howe poetry collection that I borrowed!” Buford crossed his arms and huffed.
Baljeet slowly turned his eyes back towards the group. “Annnyway… I’m going home to hide the panic bunker.” He then began to walk away.
Phineas stared at Baljeet walking away and then looked at Buford, his eyes then widened. He yelled, “WAIT! I have to go find Isabella! The Heartless are dangerous, even she could be in trouble with them!” He sped towards the bike stop and got on to his own bicycle as the others looked on. The boy then began pedaling his way down the streets towards the Fireside Girl Lodge.
Seeing what just happened, Buford commented, “Man, I’m getting some serious feelings of deja vu.”
“From Phineas yelling about Isabella possibly being in danger?” Baljeet asked.
“What? No! From Danville being invaded!”
Notes:
This was my first time writing a fight scene and boy, it was difficult.
Chapter 4: Falling Sky
Notes:
This took forever to write with all the procrastination, wiki reading and getting ready for a job. Especially the Sora stuff.
Chapter Text
Sora laid his head on the pillow, only staring at the ceiling. He tried closing his eyes again, but his mind was too awake to fall into slumber. How long had it been since he escaped Quadratum? A couple of weeks? Or had it already been a month? He couldn’t really tell, it felt like he had lost all sense of time when he jumped from world to world.
He stuck his hand in his pocket, greeting the smooth Star Shard he stashed inside.
It had been given to him by Yozora as a reward for helping with the giant Darkside before he and his troop could arrive to launch an assault on it themselves. It was rather a shock when a bolt flew past him and he turned to see him there. He still doesn't know what his deal was, and he went away in a car before he could ask him anything. He did say that he was tasked to save him in that dream, but that was a dream, right?
Sora took out the Star Shard and stared at it for a moment, the soft cyan glow painting the room with the same colour. He wasn't sure how such a thing made its way into Quadratum, though Strelitzia speculated that it might have been the result of disruption to the boundary of the world of fiction.
Strelitzia…
What was she doing now? He couldn’t stop wondering why she refused to escape from Quadratum with him. She had seemed distressed by the thought of him asking further, so he stopped dwelling on it. He didn’t want to leave Quadratum with their friendship on a sour note. But it didn’t mean he stopped thinking about it. Maybe it was because of some other person? Before he left though, he made a promise to help her escape from Quadratum as well once he found a way to traverse between there and the realm of light. She was there at one of the loneliest points of his life, hopefully he would be able to keep to his word to repay her.
With his farewell to Strelitzia, he thought of Destiny Island in hopes that the Star Shard would bring him back home. But he couldn’t control it, and it ended up bringing him to different worlds. Time and time again it brought him elsewhere. One time, it took him to a world of superheroes where giant robots were attacking. Another time, it brought him to a town near a bayou. No matter how much he thought of his home, the Star Shard refused to take him there.
Unable to fall asleep, Sora decided to take his leave. He couldn’t sit still while moments went by; the sooner he could go back home, the better. The teen took off from the inn and dashed into the forest, where only the deep blue wisp was there to see him warping out of this world.
Standing in the dark forest of the Scottish highlands, Sora held the gummi in his hands and tried again. Closing his eyes, he allowed his mind to paint a picture of his home. He thought of the ivory white sands of Destiny Island, how they leaked through the gap between his fingers when he tried scooping them. He thought of the azure ocean that stretched infinitely and of the swooshing sound of the waves as they brushed against the shore. He thought about the bent paopu fruit tree and the three of them sitting on it, watching the sun dipping past the horizon. As he thought to himself silently, the Star Shard began to glow. He opened and immediately squinted his eyes as the light surrounded him, eventually pulling him into it.
When the bright starlight that enveloped him faded, Sora opened his eyes and found himself in the blue midday sky. Gravity pulled on his body, and he quickly found himself plunging towards the ground, the clouds above him rapidly shrinking.
Sora turned his body around and spread his arms and legs wide, the bellowing wind blowing past him. He sees a city in the distant ground. Disappointment struck at his heart again, he had learnt to tone down his expectations, but it was still frustrating. Still, he has to get transported back home eventually. He’ll never lose sight of that hope.
As the ground inches closer, he leaned and honed in on landing on the strangely empty street. It was convenient since he wouldn’t be seen landing at least. He materialised his Keyblade in his hand and concentrated. Sora began slowing his descent with Glide to hopefully land unscathed on the roof. However, out of nowhere, a flying vehicle appeared beneath him. He ended up crashing into it on his front before he could slow himself down and avoid it, landing on his front on the back of the hovercar. The teen could see it plummeting down a bit before the vehicle stabilized in the air.
Holding on to the underside of the hovercar, Sora watched the city below scroll by before the ground grew closer and closer. His head was fortunately fine, but the same couldn’t be said for his entire upper body, which was aching all over. Soon, the sound of the engine fades, and the white hovercar comes to a halt, stopping on the asphalt. When Sora pushed himself back up, he found a duckbill and a pair of angry eyes glaring at him. It was clearly the driver, and it was some sort of duck? But it didn’t look anything like Donald or any other kind of duck he knew. There was also that brown fedora on its head, which did look pretty fashionable, he supposed. In the corner of his eye, he could see that it had a beaver tail. It was like some sort of weird mishmash of animal. Not knowing what to do in the face of the clearly upset stare, Sora decided to just painfully raise up his hand and wave, saying,
“Uh, hi!”
He took a step off the car as the platypus continued to look at him. When Sora fully stood up, he found himself looking down on it and towering over it, not that it made him less on edge.
“I’m sorry for landing on your…uh — ” He looked over at the white vehicle. “-flying car?”
He lifted up his head and suddenly saw a small horde of bathing suit Heartless running towards them.
“Look out!” Sora yelled as he summoned his Keyblade. To his surprise, the platypus in front of him turned around immediately before running towards the Heartless and jump-kicking one of them. He swings around, smacking another with his tail. Getting over the initial shock, Sora hurriedly joined in, thrusting his Keyblade at one of the Heartless. Another Heartless opens its mouth attempting to bite him but Sora knocks it away. As the two dealt with the surrounding Heartless, one of them unraveled its own body and extended a long string towards Sora.
“Huh?”
The Keyblade wielder took a quick glance at his own feet and saw a black string wrapping his right foot. He quickly swiped at the Heartless in front of him before slashing at the string. It severed, but the string continued its attempt at tripping him. Seeing the strand, Perry took off his fedora and threw it at the distant Heartless, it cut into the dark creature and boomeranged into the platypus’s hand a moment later. The Heartless then collapsed, and the long string faded as well.
Sora turned to the platypus and said, “Thanks.”, receiving a chattering sound in return. He couldn’t tell what it meant though, but he liked to think it was probably “No problem!” or something like that.
After a while, the two finally cleared the coast of Heartless. Sora approached the platypus, hoping that the battle that just happened would make for a better first impression.
“Hi, the name’s Sora.”
The platypus tipped his cap in response, and as he put his hands down, the alarm on his watch rang out loudly.
Candace pushed her legs against the floor as she propelled herself forward around downtown. Although admittedly, she was pushing her legs and hoping she went forward. To her annoyance, the black track stopped abruptly at some point, so she had no choice but to patrol the streets for her little brother.
As she went from street to street, the teen began to notice something odd. The city seemed oddly empty save for the occasional people she saw indoors at a cafe or some other person walking. Some people were even running in her opposite direction. Was there some big event in Danville today that she wasn’t aware of? Maybe Googleplex Mall was having its annual sales? That usually was a people magnet. Or, perhaps, they’re all going to whatever big event Phineas and Ferb are hosting!
Candace turns her mind back on to the road ahead of her, only to see a tree in front of her. She attempts to stop in time but ends up slipping, slamming her body into dirt and bark. She lifts her back up carefully, trying to not slip again. She pressed her hand on the tree while brushing off whatever detritus stuck to her clothes and helmet with the other.
Irritated, she yells out, “Agh! Stupid beneficial city greening plans!”
Taking a brief moment for rest, she prepared to continue her search when she heard an abrupt rustling sound from above her. When she looked up, a large, black Ducky Momo doll fell into her hands. Candace stared blankly at it for a moment. It looked like some sort of one-of-a-kind collector’s design, having a heart symbol on its chest and yellow eyes that glowed slightly.
“Aw, poor thing! Who would leave a treasure like you in a tree like that?”
As soon as she finished talking, the doll Heartless sprang to life and began thrashing wildly. It bared its dark fang at her and grabbed her arms with its stubby hands.
“AHHHHHH! WHAT THE HECK!”
She immediately extended her hands to keep it away before throwing it at the tree. It bounced off of it unscathed and began waddling rapidly toward Candace. She tries to step back only to stumble to the floor when she slips. It inches quickly towards her so she pushes at the floor to crawl her way backwards. She tries standing up only to fail when she panics and loses her balance.
“Get away, get away! Help me!”
Candace braces herself to strain her hands some more. Suddenly, a flying golf ball jets past her, hitting the Heartless dead center on its head and knocking it away. The teenage girl turns her head to see her best friend standing far away with a golf club raised.
“Hole in one, baby!” Stacy exclaimed as she pumped her arms. She then immediately rushed forward and held out a hand for Candace to help her get back on her feet. Candace steadied herself with her friend’s help before wrapping her hands around Stacy.
“Thank you, Stacy! You saved me!” Candace feels a hand patting her back.
“Oh, you know, you can always count on me. And maybe praise me in front of my Mom a bit more?”
Just a moment later though, a question popped into Candace's head.
“Wait a minute, what are you even doing here? And why do you have a golf club?” Candace asked, pointing to it in Stacy’s hand.
“I was just at Little Duffer, and then I thought I’d go do some shopping. Then I saw you being attacked by some weird shadowy thing.”
“But Little Duffer is so far away! How did you get here so quickly?”
“Err…I just took the bus?”
Hearing what Stacy had said, Candace immediately facepalmed herself, it would have saved her a lot of terrifying moments of her face meeting the ground and a lot of energy getting all the way to the downtown street.
Stacy then asked in return, “Well what are you doing here? I thought you were busting your brothers.”
“I was going to, but they abandoned their plan or something! And then there was this whole bunch of shadowy things! I was just hot on their trail when this thing—”
The doll Heartless suddenly got back up and jumped at the two. Candace snatched the golf club out of Stacy’s hand quickly and swung it down on Heartless in midair, she then continued bringing the club down on the Heartless relentlessly. Meanwhile, Stacy stood to her side and stared at the beating. With its soft body caved in and it lying still on the floor, the darkness eventually vanished into thin air.
“Ha…ha…phew.” The teen girl swiped some sweat off her forehead.
Stacy took back her golf club and pointed at it, the head was slightly dented. “Wow, you had a lot of pent-up stress, huh?”
Candace winced and replied, “Sorry…”
“Nah. It's fine.”
Candace grabbed Stacy’s left arm and began scraping the skating wheels against the floor, her determination burning brightly in her eyes. “Come on! Phineas and Ferb have got to be around here!” Stacy stumbles a bit before stabilizing and running after Candace as she gets dragged along down the streets.
Kateglitter on Chapter 2 Mon 21 Jul 2025 01:22AM UTC
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