Fanfiction ► What Lies in a Body of Pixels (KH/Wreck-it Ralph (POST MOVIE) Crossover)

[Animus Origo]

(( Hi! I’m doing a weird crossover again. I recently saw the new movie, Wreck it Ralph and I love it so much. So I decided to make a crossover. Because I can. Remember, I’m always open to critiques, it only makes the story better. BY THE WAY. This is set POST MOVIE for Wreck-it Ralph. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. YOU ARE WARNED.))

What Lies in a Body of Pixels

Chapter One: Closed Circuit Catastrophe

​

I shield my eyes in vain, as the bright sun shines in my path, as I wander aimlessly along the shore. Even my brown hair feels like it burns my skin. I’m mostly wandering because for once, it seems everyone is busy, but me. Kairi is somewhere I can’t find her, and Riku is doing something apparently important with Tidus. I look to the shimmering blue water, the deep blue glittering on the horizon, the color losing saturation as it reaches the shore. My feet sink down into the pale yellow sand as I take each step. I let my thoughts wander as I stare at my surroundings.

It hasn’t been long since Riku, Kairi, and I finally made it home after over a year of adventuring. After Riku and I returned from the Realm of Darkness, after we defeated Xemnas. Since then, we’ve all returned to what we were doing. Things have been quiet, and I like it that way.

I take a look at something glimmering on the shore, and walk towards it. I bend over and pick the bottle up by the neck, the bottom drips as I pop open the cork, and shake the roll of paper out of the bottle. I blink as I see the seal keeping the roll together, one large circle with two smaller circles on top, next to each other. That’s King Mickey’s seal! I break the seal, and unroll the paper, reading through the elegant handwriting.


Dear Sora,

I hope you’re enjoying yourself back home! Things at the castle have been good, as well. Now I know that it has only been six or so months since you’ve returned, and I’m already asking you to go on another adventure. Thought it won’t be as long, or as perilous. I’m not asking you to fight another Organization, but it important nonetheless. There is a seal at the bottom, just point your Keyblade at it, and it’ll transport you to where I am. So if you’re ready, please come see me, soon! Donald and Goofy miss you, anyway.

Sincerely, King Mickey of Disney Castle.


A new adventure, just me? Huh. Well, I’ll definitely go to Disney Castle to see what’s up. Besides, it’s King Mickey. He wouldn’t just call me up, for nothing. I reach out towards nothing, and concentrate my thoughts, and in a flash of light my Keyblade appears. The take the silver handle encased in a squared golden guard. I point the silver blade teeth at the seal. The teeth of my Keyblade start to shimmer, along with the seal. Light begins to envelop me. Everything becomes obscured, I start to become weightless as my own mind starts to cloud, something that always that happens when I teleport.

I’ll fall into that short, short sleep and let the winds whisk me away.

---

​

Everything comes back to me. My senses become clear, my vision no longer cloudy, and I feel planted on the ground. I look around the brightly colored room, wooden bookshelves stretch across the room, painting that look like King Mickey, but older. They seem to be his ancestors, or something. I look to the small desk in front of me, and see King Mickey with a large monitor next to his desk. I walk up closer and rest my arms on the desk to lean on it.

Mickey lets a bright grin light up his face. “Well, I’m glad ya’ came by! Well. I assume you’re here because of the letter.”

I nod. It seems the King wants to get straight to the point. “Heh, yeah. So-“ I’m immediately tackled to the ground, but I look to see Donald and Goofy hugging me. Geez, I guess they really did miss me. “Donald, Goofy!” I squeeze the two, as well. I let go and get back up, patting my clothes free of wrinkles.

Goofy and Donald walk to stand next to the King. “Now. You’re here because we caught somethin’ weird. There’s a trace of darkness that we picked up that’s really odd. It’s some kinda’ closed circuit datascape, that’s infested with Heartless. This is the first time we’ve seen Heartless in machines since Ansem’s Study, in Hollow Bastion. They don’t just appear, so that means someone putting them in there. That’s what I want you to investigate, Sora.”

I nod. “So is it like Tron’s world? What’s it like? Do we know who’s doing this?” I launch my barrage of questions, shifting my weight from foot to foot.

Mickey looks to Donald and Goofy, then back to me. “It’s an arcade. I’m sot sure why anyone would want to invade an arcade, but big things often have small beginnings.”

I smile, and flail my arms excitedly. “An arcade?! I get to go inside an arcade and fight Heartless with my favorite video game characters? Hah! Wait until Riku hears about what I get to do. I bet I can even meet Mario. Or Sonic, or the guys from Street Fighter! Maybe even blast a few things in that shooter game that came out since I got back to Destiny Islands.”

Mickey stares blankly. “…They have an arcade?” Donald scratches his head, as Goofy mutters about liking a… fixing game, or something.

I nod excitedly. “Yeah, it wasn’t at the island where I live, but every once and a while I take a trip with Kairi to the bigger one, and play at the arcade. Though, I usually mooch off Kairi’s quarters.” Donald and Goofy tilt their heads, as Goofy starts to speak.

“Gawrsh. Ya’ sound really excited about this new mission. Don’t do anything dumb, though! The King’ll be watchin’.”

Donald rolls his eyes. “Yeah. This isn’t a field trip. These are still Heartless you have to deal with!”

Mickey nods. “Yeah. You’re still gonna’ have to stay alert. We don’t know who’s up to this. Stay sharp, Sora. We’ll convert you into data, and send you to this arcade. Somehow it’s inter-connected, and in a closed circuit. We’ll be watching from here, on the monitor and speak to ya’ when we find more things out.” He types a few things into a keyboard in front of him, looking to me again. “Stand riiiight there!” He points to a spot on the ground, marked with an ‘X’.

I walk to the spot, looking to the small device on the monitor. It starts to glow softly. “Don’t worry, Sora. We’ll be watching the entire time. Just go in and do what ya’ do best.” Donald and Goofy wave to me. I wave back, giving a bright grin. “See ya’.”

The machine beams its light at me, I feel my mind shut off abruptly, this time, another brief sleep falls and sweeps me away once more.

---

I come back into consciousness once more, and look around. I see a giant room, with lots of people walking about. The entire room is this pristine ivory, everything giving a sleek, modern feel. It’s like I’m at a very fancy train station. I look to my left, there are stairs, and a small ramp next to them leading to all these corridors, all with signs above them. I look to my right, and I see the same thing.

Wait, was that Chun-Li who passed me by? That was Chun-Li and Ryu! I really am inside an arcade! I do an awkward excited dance, and fist pump. I run up to them, only to see a some cylindrical sign, with a video monitor. It has Sonic the Hedgehog standing in a white background talking. I get brushed to the side by… Bowser?!

This is all too much. Do they even notice me, though? It seems like everyone is some kind of rush, or at least they all have some place to be. Of course, seeing as this is some kind of train station, I think that didn’t warrant all those thoughts. Duh. Still, it’s odd. And then I feel someone tap me on the back.


I turn around to see a very large man. He’s twice as tall as I am, or it seems really close to that. Wide, too. He’s wearing an orange shirt, a blue undershirt, and red overalls that seem to be missing a strap. He has no shoes, and geez, his hands and feet are massive! Two head sizes, I’d say. And that’s not exactly small, either. And on top of that head, is spiky brown hair that points upwards. Oh! He’s that wrecking guy, from that retro game. I remember Riku playing it, one time.

Apparently I’ve been staring for a bit, he shook his head and let out a sigh. “Seems new games still seem to get scared of me.” I tilt my head, and laugh.

“New game? I’m not a game, I was actually sent here to help with a little problem. Have you seen monsters that shouldn’t be here? Dark, viscous, and not in any game you’ve seen?” I ask, shifting my weight from foot to foot once more.

The behemoth scratches his chin with a large, blocky finger. “Not a gam--!? ... I’ll ask later. Cy-bugs? Or at least some weird lookin’ ones, that’s for sure.” He asks. Cy-bugs? That sounds sort of familiar.

I shook my head. “No. They’re not bugs. Well. Most of them. They’re all black, and have yellow eyes. They have sigils that look kind of like hearts,”

The wrecking guy nods his head. “Yeah, I’ve heard of those things. At least from a few other games. Now what were you talking about, not being a game?”

I shook my head. “Not much time to explain. I’m sent here because I can get rid of them, because they’re not a part of any game. I’m the only one here who can get rid of them, because they only go away with my weapon.”

He nods again, scratching his head. This seems to be a common reaction to me explaining anything. Especially considering these were concepts that took a while for me to fully understand. Even then, I was thrown head first into them.

I hear a higher pitched voice start shouting in our direction, looking down as a diminutive man in blue overalls, undershirt, and hat starts tugging on the far larger person. “Ralph! Ralph! Those weird Cy-bugs are attacking the apartments! You gotta’ come quick!” Oh, his name’s Ralph! Wreck it Ralph. And I guess that’s… uh. Fix it… Felix. Yeah, him.

I nod. “Show me where this is! This is what I came here for.” Felix and Ralph start running towards their corridor, labeled ‘Fix it Felix Jr.’, We run inside the corridor, and get on the small train. I sat next to Felix, as Ralph took up the entire seat, in front of us. Ralph looks to me and asks. “So, what’s your name, guy?”

I relax in the seat, and grin. “Sora, it’s nice to meet you, Ralph.” I stuck out my hand, as he uncurls his giant ham fist to take a few fingers to shake it. It’s weird, you’d think game villains wouldn’t be this nice, out of character.

Felix nods, and sticks out his hand. “Fix it Felix Jr., nice to meet you!” I took his hand, and shook it as well. The train stops as we reach out destination. I look around, and see that it’s night. The forest around us seems to surround, the only thing that seems to be standing is a lone apartment complex. Odd choice in location, but okay. Everything seemed… square. It’s an odd juxtaposition. Everything seems so real, yet everything has squares like it’s pixelated when it tries to deviate from right angles. We get up from the train and run closer to the building. I look into the windows from afar, to see shadows roaming inside, and on top of the building.

The Heartless are already attacking the people inside. Crap. I reach out towards nothing in particular and summon my Keyblade. The two tilt their head at me, as they start to run inside.

Shadows pour out of the door, as Ralph and Felix near it. They both stop, as Ralph bears his fists, and Felix takes out a golden hammer.

I charge, leaping up and landing between the two, and the group of Shadows, small Heartless that are mostly round in shape. Small antennae, yellow eyes, roly-poly bodies. Very harmless looking, at first glance. But they can still take your heart, all the same.

I raise my Keyblade, and prepare to slam it onto the first Heartless I see.

As it turns out, I’m gonna wreck it…
​

 

[Animus Origo]

What Lies in a Body of Pixels

Chapter Two: I’m Gonna’ Wreck It?

You know, I thought wrecking was my job.
​

Okay, first there are a few games almost going out of order because of rogue coding. I thought it was cy-bugs. Then they’re telling me that these aren’t going away. They don’t even look like bugs! I was on my way to see if Vanellope was okay, and then I see a kid with crazier hair than mine, odd, small black jacket, and poofy pants gawking. I figured to ask if he knew anything. Then Felix comes up and starts panicking all over us, then he told us that our game’s got those bugs.

Heartless, were they? Regardless, we can’t have these happening or the whole arcade’s getting unplugged. So we take the train to see the kid, Sora gawking once more before we see what’s going on. They’re attacking the people of Niceland, and so Felix and I go in to take care of things. Then this kid leaps up and smashes some kind of giant key on top of one of them!

And that’s where we are in the weirdest day ever.

The kid then starts twirling and swinging his giant key to and fro, in these graceful movements as he takes out these Heartless creatures. Sora runs in the complex, as Felix follow. I decide to take the personally quicker route, and start scaling the building in jumps, pieces of the complex crumbling and cracking under my weight, but I’m sure they’d be happy to fix it when they’re not dead. I search each floor’s windows for these Heartless, and find the third room on the second floor to have a shadow thingy, I pound my fist against the window and dive in, immediately start bashing my fists against the creature. It dissipates into smoke. I wipe the dust from my hands, as it reforms and tries to claw me from behind, I turn and swing my fit to backhand the creature, as it just turns to vapor and forms again.

What’s the deal? Seems like the guys at the Bad Anon meeting were right, these things don’t go away. How are we supposed to kill them, then?

The kid bursts through the door, and leaps around me to uppercut the little blot of ink with his key, bursting upon impact. I drop my jaw in disbelief. “How are you doing that? They keep coming back!”

Sora had been turning to leave as I was talking. “My Keyblade can set their hearts free, anything else just incapacitates it for a bit. Keep doing what you’re doing, though! They only get weaker as you keep doing that.” He runs out of the room, as I climb out of the hole that used to be window. I climb up once more, hanging on by the ledges and standing on platforms. The rest of the second floor’s safe, so I climb the third floor, fourth floor, fifth floor, all seemed to be clear of the little cretins.

It wasn’t until the sixth floor that I found a bunch of them in a group, about to attack a bunch of Nicelanders who had been hiding, I smash the wall again and burst through. “Everyone, get to the hallway and let me handle these!” They all seem to comply, shuffling as they do out of the room in a frantic fashion, as the creatures look to me. The group of six or seven start to charge, I smash my fists onto the ground. The ground cracks, and walls shake as the shockwave send the group back. The inky creatures start to spread out to surround me. They all start lunging from different angles, I simple took the one in front of me, grabbing it and squeezing the life out of it as I smash that fist into another one. I grab another that latched on to me as I did this, and started squeezing it as well, I swing my fist and send another slamming against the wall, the creatures in my hand disappearing and reappearing as they escape my grip, I simply start smashing every creature that came to me, starting a cycle of poofing and reemerging.

Sora busts in again, and stands close in front of me, he raises that key thing of his and shouts, “Fire!” as flames begin to circle around us in a shield, the black creatures vaporizing for good.

“Thanks.” I say quickly as I climb out again, checking each floor. But as I climb and climb, it seems the rooms are empty on each floor, I check, and I check twice as I keep climbing. There were a lot more than what we were seeing. I reach the top of the apartment building as I look up to see the shadowy creature forming into something. They’re becoming amorphous and converging into something big. Felix and Sora bust through the door and look up as well.

The Heartless finally manage to pick a form. A gigantic, stout figure drops onto the roof, the building shaking at the weight. It boasted long, powerful arms that are almost as long as it is, not really possessing much when it came to legs. The whole thing seems to take on a red color scheme-…

Wait a minute. Oh that’s not very tactful at all!
​

It’s imitating me! What thing in its right mind would try to imitate me? (Though, what thing in its right mind wouldn’t imitate me?) I raise my fists, ready to fight this cheap knockoff. Felix looks to me. “Is that…?”

I let out a snort. “Yes, yes. That looks like me. Not sure why. That’s stupid.” I shook my head.


Sora took his giant key and got into a fighting stance, like he were wielding a baseball bat. An odd juxtaposition to what I’ve seen him fight like. He leaps up and tries to strike at the thing, as it bats him away, Sora parrying with his key. He hits the ground feet first, raising the key to point the end at the monster. “Blizzard!” He shouts, shards of ice flying towards it. The shards hit the monster as they stuck though its skin. I took the time where it was flinching to jump in, and smash both of my fists into the copycat’s head. Sora weaved his way around to start unleashing slashes and hackings on the guy.

It smashes both of its fists in opposite directions, knocking Sora back to the edge, and me a short distance. I charge again as it leaps up, high, way high into the sky and for some reason staying there. One of his fists starts glowing, from what I can tell. Sora scurries towards me, widening his eyes as he looks up. “Ralph! Think you can get me up there?” I grin. “Yeah.” I grab Sora, and toss him as hard as I can towards the Heartless. Meanwhile, the thing starts to plummet fist first towards us.

I don’t know if Sora can challenge that kind of thing head on, even with momentum from me. Sora raises his key once more and shouts from far away, “Reflera!” I’m able to make out. The beast makes contact with the shield as it shatters, and apparently stuns it. Sora takes the climb the abomination in midair, raising his blade and stabbing the thing’s head, the teeth sticking through its face.

Shadows start to leak from the imitator’s form as it loses its shape, soon Sora falls through the mass of vapor. I think he’s screaming. A frantic, very rushed repeating of “Catch me.” I raise my hand up, and catch the kid. I set him down, and scratched my head. “Heh. Good work with that thing. Thanks, by the way.” Sora reaches and presents his fist sideways. I blink, and stare for a bit. Oh! Right. Fist bumping.

Kids are weird.

Felix scurries up to us, and nods. “Jimminy crimminy, thank you Sora! That thing was bigger than Ralph!”

But not stronger. Anyway, Sora pipes in. “Yeah. But that’s what I’ve been doing for a while. Anyway, I need to go search other games to see what’s going on. I’m pretty sure this isn’t the only one affected.”

From what I hear from Bad Anon, yeah, that’s true. “Hey. I suggest we check Sugar Rush, next. There’s someone I need to check on.”

Sora nods, and hefts his giant key. “Of course. Just lead the way, Ralph. C’mon, Felix!”

Felix shakes his head. “Oh, no. I gotta’ fix the town!” He takes out his trusty golden hammer. “This magic hammer will get this fixed in a flash. You ho, and don’t forget to check on Hero’s Duty, for me!”

That’s right. I don’t think I want these Heartless thing and cy-bugs merging anytime soon. Last thing we need are actual cy-bugs only a kid can kill. I don’t think beacons can ‘set free their heart’ or whatever, either. But who knows what something like the Heartless could do to Sugar Rush.

Sora starts sliding off the building with a gutter that’s connected all the way down the building, as I just jump down. I’m kind of surprised this doesn’t hurt me, as I land still after thirty years. I look to the building as I walk towards the train, just barely standing. It suffered more damage than I can usually dish out. It looks almost corroded by what they did. Seems like they were just trying to take the entire building down at once. Well. Felix always likes a challenge, anyway. Sora and I get on the train, and wait for it to start. I scratch my chin and ask “Hey, what are these Heartless, anyway?”

Sora looks up at me. “Well. They’re the manifestations of the darkness in a person’s heart. If a person gives into the Darkness, or have their heart stolen by one, they can take that form. I’m here because they don’t occur naturally from data. Someone had to have put them in this world. Unfortunately, we don’t’ know who this is.”

I stare blankly. “Wait. These things can make other people Heartless?”

Sora nods. “Yeah. But that’s what the Keyblade does, it sets their heart free so it can find their body.”

“And wait. We? Are you using it like he royal ‘we’?” I tilt my head. Can’t be too sure.

Sora blinks. “Well. There are people watching me, and my progress. There are actually other Keyblade wielders. I’m just one of them.” The train starts, and rolls along the track. The dark tunnel comes closer until we enter it, Sora still gawking and looking around like a lost puppy.

So this is who we’re trusting with the fate of the arcade. Kooky kid, but he’s okay. Just relieved I’m here to nudge him along.

​

 

[Animus Origo]

(( Sorry I left you guys waiting, but I updated. I’ll try not to take as long for the next update. Until then, let me know what you think! ))

What Lies in a Body of Pixels

Chapter Three: Technicolor Sugar Coma

I still can’t believe this is all real.
​

It’s so weird, seeing these characters made by other people express genuine feelings from outside their programming. Ralph and I sat on the train, waiting for it to reach the station. I keep looking around, staring about in wonder as there’s an actual system for this. Trains, stations, self-awareness. I mean, I’ve heard some analogies and metaphors on how computers worked, and stuff. But I never imagined anything this literal.

Ralph finally speaks up. “So. You’re from the outside world?” He leans back against the seat of the very small train, the metal making a creaking noise.

I nod. “Yeah. One of many. “ I lean back, as well, resting my hands behind my head. “There are lots of worlds. All separate, but connected by the same sky. It’s really cool.”

Ralph crosses his arms. “Eh? Seems like you Keybearers see everything. Or at least everything that isn’t this.” He points all around as we pull up to Game Central Station. “You seem to be mesmerized my everything, here.”

…Well. Okay, I’ve been looking at almost everything here. But who can blame me?! “Well, I’ve been playing games like the ones here for a long time. This is really, really cool. I get to meet al the people I played as, all the places I wanted to go. A lot of people just dream of diving into their favorite game, and now I actually get to do it!” I step off of the train, as I finish speaking. Ralph gets up, as well and we head towards the station proper.

I follow Ralph’s lead, looking around at the station once more, seeing more people I wish I could run up to meet right now. Bowser, waddling across the station to the corridor labeled, ‘Super Mario Bros.’, Zangief walking next to… one of the Pac-Man ghosts. I feel something tugging on my right sleeve, to see a couple of blocky fingers pulling me along. “Keep up, you can get distracted later, alright?” I nod, and stay next to Ralph. I really shouldn’t be this distracted, but all these people!

I look up to the corridor we’re heading towards and read the sign. “…Sugar Rush?” Ralph nods. Wait, isn’t that the racing game where everything’s made out of candy? I never paid attention. I always assumed it was one of those games Kairi played.

Wait a second.

Everything’s made out of candy.
​

Yes. This is totally happening. A game where everything’s made out of candy? This is going to be a good game, just because I actually get to be in it. We board the small train, Ralph quirking an eyebrow at me as we sit. “…You okay? Now you look even more excited. Like a puppy who just saw a trea-… Sugar Rush. Right. Everything made out of candy, and you look about twelve.”

Twelve?! That’s not even right. “Hey! I’m fifteen, about to turn sixteen in a few weeks.” I pipe up, crossing my arms.

Ralph laughs. “I’ve been plugged into this thing for twice as long as you’ve been alive. You’re a kid.” He smirks at me.

I roll my eyes and lean back again, but straightening up once more as I see us pulling up to the entrance to the game. Ralph and I get up, and head towards the giant rainbow bridge thing, and then to the world itself. Everything is given some sort of pastel color. Candy cane trees, pink grass that I can only assume is sugar filled. Chocolate rivers and ponds, even the smell of this place is starting to give me a sugar high.

Ralph pulls me along, once more as we head down the ramp-bridge-thing, gazing at the candy-coated landscape as we reach the bottom. I follow the large man as he starts to speak again. “Who we’re checking on is Venellope Von Schweetz, the… uh. President of this place. We’re good friends, you and I are here to check on this place. I’m guessing those Heartless would tear this place apart in no time. Cy-bugs almost did that.”

I finally take my eyes off the volcano, to look back at Ralph, nodding. “Really? Huh. Aren’t those from uh… that one game? Hero’s Duty?”

Ralph nods. “Yeah. Luckily the incident had the Sergeant thinking in terms of code. Apparently she made the Cy-bugs glitch by going into their coding, so they can’t leave the game. Normally glitches aren’t actually able to leave their game.”

I rest my hands behind my head, and continue, soon seeing a tree made out of candy cane. The branches were low, and short enough to veer to my left to break a piece off, and start sucking on it. Ralph looks to me and quirks a brow. “…Having fun?” He asks.

I nod. “Heh. There’s a world made out of candy. You bet I’m gonna’ get something to eat.” We pass by a chocolate pond, I dip the piece of candy I have in it and take a lick. This is surprisingly good. I look to the grass we’ve been walking on and bend over. I take a handful of the grass from the ground and look to Ralph, who’s giving me the weirdest glance. I look back down to the grass, and see that we path we’ve been walking on has been touched by his… bare feet.

I toss the grass behind my shoulder. No telling where those feet have been treading. Yuck. We walk for several more minutes, as a I see a castle across the horizon. Wait, I thought they had a president? Presidents don’t have castles. I think.

Anyway. We step foot into the entrance, walking inside to the pinkest room in existence. Everything’s just so… girly! Blagh. I walk next to Ralph, to the throne. Which appears to be a throne with a tacky, mismatching racing kart shoved in. And on it, is a little girl with a teal sweater, and black hair with candy all in it.

Wait what?! Who keeps candy on her hair? …Disregarding that, the girl looks to me. “Hey, Stinkbrain, who’s the porcupine with legs?”

Porcupine? Is she referring to me? Ralph shook his head. “That’s Sora, he’s here to solve a little problem.”

Vanellope crosses her arms and quirks an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? What kinda’ problem?”

I step up. “There are monsters in the arcade called the Heartless. They’re born from the Darkness in people’s hearts, and not occur naturally in data. Someone planted them in this datascape.”

Vanellope blinks. “Darkness? Well. I sent Wynchell and Duncan to go deal with some ink blot things near the volcano, if that’s what you mean.”

I widen my eyes. “The Heartless are already here.” I summon my Keyblade, resting it on my shoulder. “The only person that can deal with these things is me, my weapon can permanently get rid of a Heartless.”

Ralph nods. “Yeah. So stay here, and we’ll make sure-…”

He’s immediately cut off by Vannelope. “What? You don’t think I’m able to handle myself?” She drives her kart from the throne, and tries to rush past us. Ralph grabs onto the kart and sits on the end, as I grab the lone suspender for his overalls on his back. We speed out of the castle as Ralph grabs me and places me on his shoulder.

“Well. Okay, then.” I say, hefting my Keyblade onto my shoulder. “We might as well get there fast.”

Vanellope looks over her shoulder and gives me a devilish grin. “Psh, we’re not just’ gonna’ get there, we’re gonna’ flatten every little monster that gets in front of me.”

I stare blankly at the girl. “What?! My weapon’s the only thing that ca-.”

Vanellope laughs as Ralph takes his gigantic hand and turns her head to face forward. “Eyes on the road, pipsqueak. You’re still driving.”

“You’re just not squishing them hard enough, then! Don’t worry, with Ralph on the kart, we’ll be having more than enough squishing power!” She continued laughing as we headed towards the volcano. I squint, and see an ocean of black surrounding it.

“Uh… guys. Is the land around the v-.”

Ralph cuts me off. “No, that’s not supposed to look like licorice.” We still keep going, Vanellope slamming down on the gas pedal. I raise my Keyblade, as Ralph grabs my arm and lets me hang from the edge of the kart. I hold my Keyblade out as we speed into the ocean of heartless, culling each and every Heartless that connected with my blade in a straight line. Vanellope decides to swerve and turn as many directions as she could. I held my Keyblade upward, as I shout, “Thunder!” as a bolt of lightning strikes down. A fairly decent number of heartless were taken out by the blast, but there’s no way I can keep that up.

“Ralph, get me on your shoulders!” He nods, and pulls my arm up wars and lets me land on his shoulder. I close my eyes and concentrate, I take a deep breath and draw strength from the bonds I have created already, shouting, “Give me strength!” A transparent sphere made of hexagons appears around me, shortly shattering in a flash of light. My clothes turn from variations of black, white, and gray, to blue and black. Sparks of raw magic surrounding me as I levitate slightly over Ralph’s shoulder, pointing my Keyblade at the Heartless mob in front of me. I focus my surge of raw magic into bolts of pure energy, firing from my Keyblade like a machine gun. Bolt after bolt, a fairly weak attack by itself, but against a literal army of weak Heartless…

My job just became a lot easier.

I raise my Keyblade again, shouting “Thundaga!” Multiple bolts of lightning striking several places, sparks splashing down a large radius of each strike, vaporous smoke rising, along with the hearts they’ve stolen. Or at least were programmed with.

Vanellope floors the gas pedal to deal with the remaining group of Heartless, our culling wiping out most of them with help from my Wisdom Drive Form.

The group of heartless seems to look more like a blob, each body starting to lose its own shape to become a part of the mass. I widen my eyes. “Vanellope! Get us closer, we can’t let that thing form!”



She floors the gas once more, as I start letting loose a steam of bolts towards the mass of shadow. The blob starts to gain a definition, a tall, slim body of mismatching sweets. Vanellope grins. “Aw, that’s nothing! Monsters are monsters, and we can take down monsters!” She drives close to it and starts to drift around the monster in circles. I took the opportunity to shout, “Thundaga!” The giant Heartless raises its arm to create a shield of something gelatinous. It absorbs the lightning bolts, as if they were nothing. I start letting loose a barrage of bolts towards the beast. It raises its arm to absorb them, as well.

Ralph stares blankly. “I don’t think what you’re doing is gonna’ work.” I shook my head.

“Well, I gotta’ try something!” I say, as I leap from the drifting kart. “Firaga!” I shout, flying towards the sickeningly sweet monster, with a shield of fire whirling around me. The slim arm meets me in the middle, the gelatin shield absorbing my fire and slamming me away. I slide a few inches above the ground as I ‘land’, bringing my Keyblade up as I shout. “Magnega!” I keep my eye on a focus point as a flash of light occurs. A shiny, almost metallic source of magic appears where I focused my thoughts on, the energies drawing the monster towards the center, whirling and flailing as it became helpless.

“Attack!!” Vanellope yelled, as she speeds towards the flailing monster, Ralph jumps from the kart, fists ready to smash. I rush in, again from behind. “Firaga!” Flames whirl around me once more, as the creatures creates a gelatin shield all round him, an amorphous mass of sugary absorption. Vanellope, Ralph, and I all get knocked back. Vanellope spins out, as Ralph lands on his back. I slide backward once again, as the Magnega spell wears off, while the gelatin shield fades away.

The Heartless lands on its feet as it somehow takes out two cherries. The stems seem to be on fire? Vanellope widens her eyes. “Cherry bombs!” She drives to Ralph, who’s just now getting back up. “C’mon!” Ralph manages to grab on as the monster throws one of the cherries at them. The bomb misses, but the shockwave manages to send them flying, Vanellope and Ralph both landing on their backs, the kart landing upside down.

The monster looks to me and throws the other bomb, I raise my Keyblade again and shout, “Reflega!” The transparent shield orb manages to protect me from the blast, as the creature rushes towards me. Normally, the impact of the reflection would hurt the attacker. But he took on his gelatin shield as he grabs the orb and throws me downward. The impact of the shield shattering and landing dazes me. I feel the power of my Wisdom Form fading away as my clothes revert to its original form.



I look to Ralph and Vanellope, as the monster rushes towards them. I shakily stand as it takes out a cherry bomb, and throws it at the two. Ralph widens his eyes and takes the girl into his arms and exposes his back to the bomb. The cherry explodes, as Ralph slumps over. Vanellope widens her eyes as she slips out of the hulking man’s grip. “Stinkbrain!”

I sprint towards the two, as the heartless smacks me away, I land on my back, looking to the two. My limbs feel like they’re encased in concrete. I have to do something.

I won’t let them down, but my body won’t let me prove it.
​

 

[Animus Origo]

(( Thanks for getting this far into the fic, I’m really glad you’re reading. Here’s chapter four for your enjoyment! Remember to review, if you guys see anything that needs improving on! ))

What Lies in a Body of Pixels

Chapter Four: Heart of the Guardian

Where am I? Why don’t I feel that bomb anymore?
​

I feel like I’m floating, I look around me, and see this odd white fog, with this black nothingness all around me. It’s like I’m trapped in this void, floating without some sort of direction. It’s not until I look down, when I see something below me. It’s some circle, some cylindrical structure in the air. It… it’s a picture of me, like it’s stained glass. The glass around my likeness is dark orange, with symbols in circles around me. The arcade machine itself, the apartment building, …A little piece of candy, in one. It’s representing Sugar Rush, the place where I discovered who I am. I think these are illustrating things I hold dear to me. I start my slow descent downward, it feels like time doesn’t even exist here.

Wait. How am I here? Where are my friends? What happened?

I land, and look around me again. “Where am I? Is anyone there? Where’s Vanellope? Where’s Sora? Where’s that… thing?” I cross my arms. Only silence. No answers.

So much to do… so little time.
​

What? What was that? It’s like some… silent voice, that still expresses itself in words I can understand. I don’t understand.

Take your time, don’t be afraid.
​

“There’s not enough time, you say. Take my time, you say. Pick one!” I grumble to myself. Did I get thrown in some pretentious artsy game that needs you to play it twice for you to get, or something?

Step forward. Can you do it?
​

“What kinda’ question is that? Of course I can.” I step forward, walking as if it weren’t actually the big suggestion it was making. This thing needs to can it with the symbolism and-…

Power sleeps within you.
​

And as soon as I reach the middle, three pedestals rise from the stained glass floor. Each has an object. A sword, a shield, and a staff float above the pedestal. It seems like I thought a little too soon.

If you give it form, it will give you strength. Choose well.
​

I look at each pedestal. I walk right, and pick up the shield.

The power of the guardian.
Kindness to aid friends.
A shield to repel all.

Is this the power you seek?

​

That’s what I want to do. I wanna’ be a good person, even thought I’m the ‘Bad Guy’. I want to protect my friends. It’s what I risked my life to do. This is the power for me. “Yeah.” I say, the shield bursts into a small flash of light, and into me.

Your path is set. Now, what will you give up in exchange?
​

Give up? Bah. Alright. I go to the sword, and pick it up.

The power of the warrior.
Invincible courage.
A sword of terrible destruction.
​

Nah, I’m not giving that up. I was gifted with destruction, that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to use what I’ve been given for something good. Strength is a part of me. I put it back on the pedestal. I look to the staff, walking up to it. I take the staff. The voice calls to me again.

The power of the mystic.
Inner strength.
A staff of wonder and ruin.

You give up this power?
​

If I have to give up something, it’ll be this. I don’t need to be mystical. My strength will come from the people that believe in me. The people that need me. I chuck the staff behind me. It disappears in a flash of light. The pedestals sink back down into the glass. I’m not even sure what all of that was even for! That voice, those things, none of those hold any sort of coherence other than sequence of events.

I look around, and it seems like a light is encroaching me. It envelops me and takes me into its warm embrace until feels like… everything’s fuzzy. Everything from there, I can’t even note… until…

What was the point of this…?
​

---

I wake up, and slowly and shakily make my way to my feet, I feel myself clutching something metallic, but warm. I look to my right hand, quirking a brow.

What is that? It’s some sort of sword, like Sora’s. It’s a short, wide blade colored a dull red with large, rounded rectangular shapes that look like the teeth of a key on the end of it, only mine are symmetrical compared to Sora’s. The squared hand guard look like a mass of bricks, with a chain with a version of my face from the arcade machine. Was I given that Keyblade thing Sora has?

I look to Sora, who seems to be barely managing to fend off strikes from the monster. Vanellope seems to be behind Sora, trying to fix her kart. How long was I out? I charge up to the monster. “Stay away from them!” I shout, raising my blade above me and striking downwards as I head closer. The Heartless creates the gelatin shield again. I didn’t care, I struck the shield and manage to cut a sliver of the shield.

Sora piped up. “I got it! I know how to defeat it!” He points his Keyblade and grins. “Blizzara!” He shuts, bolts of ice and snow launched from the teeth of his weapon. The shield forms once more, around the whole body. The ice and snow hit the shield, crystalizing. The monster’s movements stiffen. Sora’s a genius! He leaps up and strikes, part of the gelatin shattering, along with the Heartless inside.

I grin, and charge once more. “I got this, Sora!” I leap, and crash my heavy blade onto the beast, as the entire thing shatters, soon becoming vaporous shadow. I might not have much experience with a weapon, but I know to wreck it.

Vanellope looks to me, and the large key I hold in my hand. “What are you holding, Stinkbrain? It looks like that stupid looking thing the porcupine is using. You pull that outta’ the fat rolls of your gut?” I roll my eyes, as I hear Sora snickering at what Vanellope said. “Besides I could’ve eaten the thing if it stayed still long enough!”

“I dunno’… I had some… dream. After I got hit with that bomb, I passed out and I had the weirdest dream. I was in some dark void. There was this stained glass looking thing, too. It had a picture of me.” I scratch the back of my neck. This sounds even weirder out loud.

Sora blinks. “What?! That’s… that’s your heart. You really were chosen by the Keyblade.”

Chosen? Now this thing has a mind of its own? “Chosen?” I ask.


“Yeah,” Sora says, “It’s a weapon of the heart. If your heart’s deemed worthy, you get chosen to wield the Keyblade. Though, I didn’t know bits of data could even get one. That’s… weird.” He scratches his head.

My heart deemed worthy? “What would I even have to do?”

Sora snapped his fingers. “You risked your life to protect Vanellope. I guess it just thought you needed it. It never appears without a reason. Maybe there’s something more to this than I thought…”

Vanellope pipes in, punching my leg. “Even big ol’ Stinkbrains can have good hearts.”

That’s sweet, mostly. I can tell what she’s saying, though. Sora nods. “Yeah. Strong ones, too. But now that the Heartless problem here is done, we have to go other places. C’mon.”

Vanellope fistpumps. “Yeah! Saving the day once again!”

I quirk a brow. “Oh no you’re not. What can you do, pipsquak? Annoy them to death?”

The little girl rolls her eyes. “I have my Kart-…oh… wait.” She looks to her racing machine, clearly looking broken and battered.

I cross my arms and nod. “Go take it to Felix, and check up on my game, if you feel like helping. But be careful, alright?” A question asked in vain, I realize. But a token effort.

The little girl starts pushing her kart, sticking her tongue out. “I’ll call you two when I need a big door opened.” Sora and I start walking once more, hefting my large key over my shoulder.

I look to Sora. “So, how long have you had this Keyblade? Am I a part of some order, knighthood, organization or something, now?”

Sora shrugs. “About… two years? Maybe? It’s… fuzzy. I was asleep for about a year in some pod, while someone was putting my memories back together.”

What? This kid is full of something, and it seems common sense wasn’t a part of his life. “Memories? Pod? I have a feeling your life is just one confusing event after another.” I say.

Sora shrugs. “Not until recently. I only got the Keyblade two years ago. All these events led up to me saving the worlds from Darkness on more than one occasion.”

Huh. Didn’t know he was that important. “Huh, you’re something of a bigshot, huh? Not sure how you ended up in an arcade, of all things.” I say, rolling my neck, making a few popping noises.

Vanellope scoffs. “Psh. Porcupine head isn’t a big shot, he’s not even president of anything. Besides that town full of people with hair that impales small woodland critters. Actually, you fit in just fine there, Stinkbrain!”

I roll my eyes. “Your hair has candy in it, you’re not one to talk, really.”

The girl flipped her hair. “These are accessories, peasant! You wouldn’t know anything of fashion!”

I look down to my clothes, and glare. “I look fine!”

Much laughing from both people walking was had at my outfit. “Your overalls are missing a strap, genius.”

Sora chimes in. “Your sleeves are also torn, and you don’t have shoes.” He grins from ear to ear. Traitor.

I roll my eyes. “C’mon. Vanellope looks like she cam out of my decade, instead of hers. Sora, I’m not even sure what anything you have on is. The jacket looks way too small for you, and your pants look poofier than the cotton candy, here. And the zippers! On your shoes, really? Besides, I have that vintage, worn look that the teenagers like. The whole ‘I just got out of bed’ thing. That’s why they start ripping up their jeans and fading their shirts.”

We head to the rainbow bridge, soon we walk up the ramp-like structure. We head to corridor at the top, Vanellope pushes her kart onto one car of the train, as we board the train inside. Sora and Vanellope sit on one side of a car, as I sit on the other. I look to the girl. “Head straight to Fix it Felix Jr., got it? Then back to Sugar Rush. We can’t have you getting attacked when neither of us can do anything to help.”

Vanellope sticks out her tongue. “I know, I know. You two go do your saving the world thing.”

Sora nods. “Good. Ralph and I are the only people that can kill these things. We’ll ask around to see which game has Heartless. Wait, are we affecting gameplay, or anything? I remember being taken from my world to here in the middle of the afternoon.”

I shook my head. “The arcade’s closed, for the day. The owner took a day off. We have today, and tonight to figure out what’s happening without affecting the customers. If that happens, people will say the games are broken, they’ll be deemed out of order and unplugged the next day. That means their worlds will be gone.” The train starts rolling, the Sugar Rush landscape getting smaller and smaller as we roll away.

Sora frowns. “Then I guess we’ll need to work fast. If we kill enough of these Heartless, the person who put them here should come out. I’ll also have to teach you some things, Ralph. There are some things a Keyblade wielder should know, and things I wasn’t taught until experience.”

We arrive at Game Central Station, Vanellope pushes her kart out of the other car of the train. The girl waves as she heads in the direction of my game. “See you two losers later!”

I give a wave and a smile. “See ya’, pipsqueak. Tell Felix I said hi, for me.” I look to Sora, and heft my giant Keyblade once more. “Time to find out where the next spot is, porcupine head.”

And the weirdest day ever just gets weirder, and I’m okay with that.
​

 

[Animus Origo]

What Lies in a Body of Pixels

Chapter Five: Double Tapping

Alright, calm down. No big deal, just people like me.
​

People that I’ve played as for my entire childhood. It’s like being in a movie star’s favorite club. But my thought are interrupted by Ralph poking me with a blocky, large finger. “Sora. C’mon, quit spacing out.” The large man said, beckoning me over. We walk through the station, as I look around for more people I recognize. But before I have time to pay attention, Ralph already poked someone on the shoulder. I move around from behind him to see who it is.

It’s Doctor Robotnik! That’s trippy. “Hey, Doc. You hear anything about those weird things running around the arcade?”

Eggman strokes his ridiculous mustache and shrugs. “Last I heard they shut the door in Tapper’s, because of those things.”

Ralph widens his eyes. “Shut the door?! But this this kid and I can take them out!”
The Doctor shrugs. “Well. You’re going to have a hard time getting through that door. Until he deems it safe, no one’s getting in. Now, I have to check on my game, thank you. And try to get Sonic back, will you? Last I heard, he was in there.”

I blink. “That’s… kind of dumb. I guess if you don’t want them getting into other worlds, but I can solve that door problem anyway. Ralph, c’mon! Doors are nothing!” I start running, looking at each name above each tunnel. I finally find the one named ‘Tapper’s’. I push past Dig Dug and head to the closed door. Ralph shook his head.

“You can’t get in. Just… let me try.” He raises his fist, and charges at the door. He strikes the metal door with his fist, a large clang echoes through the station as the crowd gathers grows silent.

I roll me eyes, nudging Ralph aside, grinning. “I got this.” I point my Keyblade towards the door. I concentrate my thought on the lock, and focus my power. A shimmering light forms around the teeth of my blade, and a beam shoots out. The complex mechanisms on the door start to spin, shift and pull away to open the door. Ralph looks to me, and scratches his head. I snicker, and reach up to pat Ralph on the shoulder. “It’s called a Keyblade. KEY blade. It can open any lock.” I laugh, as I step in.

Ralph grumbles, and looks around. “Hey, where’s my Keyblade? It… went away while I wasn’t paying attention.”

I shrug, and hold out my hand in front of me. “You have to hold out your hand. Visualize your Keyblade. You kind of focus your thoughts on it for a brief time and then your Keyblade appears.”

Ralph holds out his gigantic ham hand, and stares. In a flash of light, his thick Keyblade appears in his hand. “Oh.” He says, hefting the heavy looking object over his shoulder. “I’m hoping the train there works, otherwise it’s a long walk.”

We run to the train, seeing it not looking to damaged. It actually starts to roll, Ralph and I jump onto a cart. “Seems like we made it just in time. Tapper’s is that bar game, right?”

Ralph nods. “Yeah, the rest of the arcade uses it as a place to go hang out after hours. I don’t think most people would bear to lose this place.” He leans back on the rushing cart. Ralph smiles, and sets his Keyblade on his lap. “What else can you do with this thing? How can I do that thing where I shoot stuff out?”

I blink. “Uh… you kind of learn from experience. Magic? Or those bolts? Because the last thing is something only I can do, in Wisdom Form. It’s hard to explain.” The train stops, as we head to our destination. We walk out, and head down thr hallway, to see a bar that is just a mess. Stools strewn about, people trying to keep Heartless away, people hiding.

“Well. Looks like we’re diving right in!” Ralph shouts, and he hefts his heavy weapon to smash it down on a Shadow, the weak Heartless puffs into black smoke. I look around, seeing a group of Large Body Heartless ganging up on an obscured person. Their large, rotund bodies encircling the person as they prepare to strike. I raise my Keyblade up and leap. I unload a swift barrage of slices to one of the Large Bodies, facing away from me. As soon as it turns to face me, I slam my Keyblade down to unleash a magical devastation to whirl around me. The large body disappears and evaporates. The rest look to me.

I see the figure they encircled, and it’s Sonic the Hedgehog! He looks to me and grins. “So, you gotta’ hit their backs to do any good, huh? Let me help with that.” He takes off, blinding speed whirling around the heartless, sending them spinning from the amount of wind he picks up. I run up to one, and impale it upon my Keyblade. It twitches and looks to me as it dissolves around the metal object protruding from it. The other gains its composure and looks to me, winding up a punch. Ralph suddenly appears and strikes it right down the center, causing it to destabilize.

Wait, what?! Large Body Heartless are infamous for only being able to hit them in the back. And here Ralph is, killing them with physical attacks from the front with no problem. But then again, Ralph looks like a pretty strong guy. So it might have been he just won is a battle of muscles.
But before I could really delve in the topic in my own mind, Ralph looks to me. “What are you staring at? C’mon, we have more of these things to kill.” I nod, and start searching the rest of the bar.

Sonic tags along with me. “So what is that thing, and what are we killing, exactly?” He asks.

I look to the last group of Heartless, all carrying giant books and hovering above the ground. “We’ll have to brief you, later. We still have a few things to do.” I run up, and charge towards the group of three. All of them throw a ball of fire, each. I retaliate by slicing through two, but misjudging the last one causes me to get hit in the chest with a ball, the singing pain causes me to crouch down and land in front of the group, Keyblade up to guard further attacks. I shout, “Aero!” a gust of wind knocking the three back, as they release another onslaught of fire.

Ralph jumps in front of me, deflecting each surge of fire with his wide Keyblade. Each Heartless writhes at the burns they receive. He charges and swings his Keyblade downward in a slow arcing motion. The target dodges, and smacks Ralph with its giant book. The large wrecker shrugs the attack off and drives his blade through the offending monster.

The third Heartless looks to Sonic, and releases a barrage of ice shard. No surprise, the blue hedgehog dodges each shard with ease. “You’re too slow!” He taunts, locking on to his target and curls up into a ball, rolling at incredibly high speeds to land a direct hit on the Heartless, stunning it. I run and quickly unleash a chain of strikes on the stunned Heartless, finishing it off by pushing through and impaling it, the teeth sticking out of its back before it dissolves like the others.

Ralph seems to have finished the second one by the time I recovered from my barrage of attacks. He grins. “Now that wasn’t too hard. Looks like I can save all the worlds just like you.”

I laugh. “It gets a bit harder than this, in the events where I saved the worlds. Don’t get too big of a head. Well. A bigger one, at this point.”

Ralph rolls his eyes. “Well. Tapper’s no longer hiding under the bar, so. I think we’re done here.” He looks to Sonic. “By the way, Robotnik wants you back at your world. He went to check up on it.”

Sonic nods. “Yeah. I was about to do the same until Tapper closed the bar. I wouldn’t blame him, though. I don’t think those things would be very nice in Game Central Station. So far, they’ve only spawned in games, not in the Station itself.”


I blink. “Why would they only want to spawn them in the worlds, here? The only reason I could see that is if they wanted the games’ heroes to be drawn to their citizens. That way they get the bigger hearts. It’s as if they knew they could be trapped.”

Ralph tilts his head. “That was only introduced recently, after that whole Cy-Bug incident in Sugar Rush. If some rogue, destructive code was deemed harmful to the arcade, the game would be locked on both sides.”

Sonic shook his head. “Whatever’s pulling this, they’re in the know, when it comes to regulations, here. By the way, I’m Sonic the Hedgehog. What’s your name, kid? What game are you from?” He looks to me as he says this.

I nod. “My name’s Sora, and I’m an outsider. I’m here to solve this Heartless problem. The Keyblade is the only thing that can permanently end these Heartless. By the way I’m such a big fan of your games and I’ve played them and you’re really fast and I actually fought side by side with one of my favorite characters this is so trippy!” I do another awkward happy dance with my arms as I spoke.

Ralph quirks a brow and grabs the top of my head with his hand, lifting me up. “Slow down, spazoid. We can barely understand you.” He puts me down, shaking his head. “Anyway, let’s head back. I think the arcade will be pleased enough that you saved Tapper’s.”

I shrug. “I sure hope so. But we’ll have to go double time. C’mon.”

Sonic, Ralph and I head towards the train, and boarded. The train starts to roll, Sonic looks to me and asks. “So, what are these Heartless, anyway?”

Ralph and I explain the events so far, at the end, Sonic blinks. “Eggman sure seemed to be in a hurry back to our world. But then again, he’s got machines he’d rather not have in the hands of monsters like those.”

Ralph quirks a brow. “What kind of machines?” He leans back against the train seat, setting his Keyblade onto the floor of the cab.

Sonic shrugs. “Ships, vehicles, robots. You know, stuff the enemy really doesn’t need to be having at any point.”

The train pulls back into Game Central station. We get up and step off the cars, exiting the tunnel and into the pristine looking Station once more. Ralph pokes a large man only dressed in a bright red… underpants thing. He turns, revealing him self to be Zangief. From Street Fighter? Ralph seems to be friends with just about everyone, here. “Hey, you hear anything about those weird monsters?” Ralph asks.


Zangief strokes his beard, and nods. “Yes! Robotnik will not stop screaming at his entrance, like Ryu when his back collides with my thigh.” Sonic and I stare blankly, Ralph seems to be taking that far too normally. The wrecker nods and motions us towards Sonic’s game.

“He’s an odd guy. Pretty nice, if you get past his uh… eccentricity.” Ralph shrugs, as we walk thorugh the station. We pass by Mario. I give a frantic wave towards him, as he stares back at me. He gives an awkward wave as he continues his path.

Okay. I seemed like a creepy fanboy when I did that. But I disregard that as I start to hear Robotnik whining and pounding at the locked door to his tunnel. “Let me in! Let me in my game so they aren’t taking my inventions!”

Ralph pushes the doctor aside, as I raise my Keyblade and point it towards the door. The beam shoots out once more as it unlocks the door to Sonic’s game, complex mechanisms turning and pushing. The door opens, the group of us walk in the tunnel. We board the train, as it starts to roll towards Sonic’s game.

“So, what is it the Heartless shouldn’t be getting into, Robotnik?” Ralph asks.

The doctor shakes his head. “Many things. From my ships, weapons, Robotocizer…”

I blink. “Roboto-what?”

Sonic pipes in. “The things he uses to turn animals to robots. Another thing that we need to protect at all costs are the Chaos Emeralds. I’m pretty sure whoever’s up to this would like the power they get from those very much.”

Ralph blinks. “Then we better get to that base, real quick. I’m sure they aren’t going to waste time with the rest of the game if what they want is an arsenal and a lot of power.”

The train gently rolls to a stop, as we reach our destination. We get off the train, as we enter the Green Hill Zone. Sonic looks to the Doctor. “You still got that thing that can take us to your base?”

Robotnik nods. “Of course. He takes out a small device with a button, pushing it with a finger. The grass around us recedes, revealing a small circle of metal below us. It starts to lower, like an elevator, down a shiny tube. “If anyone is trying to take my things, we’ll find out as soon as we reach the end of this elevator.” Ralph hefts his Keyblade over his shoulder once more. He seems to favor that stance to support the Keyblade, a lot. But then, I wouldn’t blame him. That thing looks unbelievably heavy.

We reach the bottom of the lift, I look around and see a sleek, grey lab full of monitors, screens, buttons. And to my left I see a glass pod, with… Maleficent at the other side of it?! Yeah, her! I’d recognize the green skin and black gown any day. With her is a small, grey man with yellow eyes. “Maleficent!” I shout.

Ralph widens his eyes, and grips his blade tightly. “Turbo. You aren’t supposed to be alive. How are you here?”

Maleficent rolls her eyes. “Come now, brute. You hold a Keyblade and yet not know my manipulation of the Heart. I simply gave him new form, with the Heart and Darkness he gladly showed to me. But then, you seem as intelligent as you look.” He have a short laugh, covering her mouth with her hand.

The short man known as Turbo grins. “Yes, and with my new power, no one will steal the spotlight anymore. But why one game? With my newfound power, every game will be Turbo-tastic!”

I raise my Keyblade once more. “I can’t let you do that, Maleficent. I’m not sure how you survived those Heartless at The World That Never Was, but I won’t let you survive this time!”

Maleficent grins. “Now. I have access to powers, worlds, and Hearts from several sources, it’s time I hold up my end of the bargain for Turbo. A pristine body.” She motions to me, as Turbo start to emit a shadowy aura.

Ralph grits his teeth. “Keep Turbo away from Sora, and let me deal with him!”

Turbo charges, as Ralph bats him away with his Keyblade, leaving me room to deal with Maleficent. I charge up to her and swing my Keyblade in an arc towards her, as she leaps back, unleashing a barrage of green flames. I point my Keyblade up, “Magnera!” I shout, the flames being drawn to a flashing focal point. I rush up to it and swing the mass of green fire back at Maleficent, who only reabsorbs the energy back into herself.

I charge, as Maleficent shields herself with a cloak of shadow. I slice rapidly at the cloak. Sonic and Ralph, however keep swatting Turbo away from me at every chance. The small man quirks a brow. “Oh, I see you have one of those Keyblades, too. What a happy little coincidence. The woman promised me a Keyblade wielder. She didn’t say it had to be the kid, though!”

Ralph widens his eyes, and back away. “Stay away from me, you freak. This body’s mine!” Sonic whirls around the gray man, summoning a far stronger rotational gust. “Sonic Wind!” He shouts, Turbo incapacitated as Ralph looks to me.


“Sora! We have to get out of here!” He shouts, as I’m still trying to break this shield Maleficent has.

Sonic looks to me. “Eggman’s getting his machines online, we’ll cover your escape. Just get out, we can’t let any of you get possessed!” He stood ready, but Turbo had already broken out, and unleashed a shadowy wave, knocking us all back. Maleficent surrounds Sonic and Eggman with green flames. Turbo rushes in and grabs Ralph’s forehead, as Ralph swats him away. The diminutive man grins, and fires a ball of light from his torso.

That’s his heart! I can’t let him take Ralph!

I charge, and dive in front of Ralph, the heart entering me. I… I’m the one who can fight this. I won’t let him win, and I won’t let him take anyone else. I won’t lose… Everything feels black… I don’t know what’s going on…

I won’t give in. My Heart is my own.

​

 

[Animus Origo]

(( Thank you for getting this far, and remember to review if there’s anything that strikes you! I’m glad you’re here, and stuff! ))

What Lies in a Body of Pixels

Chapter Six: A Little Property Dispute

This body is mine. Power will be known. Turbo will be known!
​

This is it. A new start. My chance to start over, not as the forgotten Turbo of the past, but as the person everyone loves. This vessel will be the clean slate.

This really is Turbo-tastic.

I look around, black nothingness surrounds me. White mist scarcely scattered around. I look at what I stand on, a stained glass floor. Looking at the bigger picture, it’s a mural of the kid I’m taking over. This woman really is putting up her end of the bargain! Now how to take it over, because I’m pretty sure this is only step one. I walk around, observing the nothingness around me until I see a boy, sitting at the end of the circle. He has blonde hair spiked and tussled up, with a silver jacket, baggy pants, and blue eyes. They seem to be staring at me intently, a cold gaze watching everything I do, everything I am. It’s the stare of a predator.

What does he want? Why is he even here? He looks nothing like the kid I’m taking over.

I stare right back, and shout…

---

“Who are you?!”
​

There’s a weird looking short guy staring at me, shouting in my direction. I quirk a brow at him, slowly getting up. “You’re not the person to be asking that. In fact, that’s what I’m supposed to be asking you.” First he barges into this heart, and now he demands to know who I am?

The grey man rolls his eyes. “Just tell me what you’re doing here. I called dibs on this body!” Dibs? There’s a guy here trying to take Sora’s body? What did he get himself into, this time?

”Dibs? I’m not here to take over. I’ve been in here for a while. I’m a part of Sora, and I know you don’t belong.” I walk closer, my arms crossed.

The man grits his teeth. “Just tell me who you are!” He shouts. He seems to be out of patience, I can see the shadow rippling from his form.



“My name is Roxas. I’m Sora’s nobody.” I hold my hands out from my sides, my Keyblades appear in my hands. Oblivion and Oathkeeper. A Keyblade of Light, and a Keyblade of Darkness. I get into my battle stance. “You’re about to be shown the door, shorty. It’s cramped enough, anyways.”

The short man shoots a blast of Darkness from his hand, the misty bolt travels to me as I swat it away with Oblivion. “You’re going to have to try a bit harder than that. You’re not at the point of advantage.”

The man charges and tries to claw me with a shadowy hand, I parry with Oathkeeper and strike down with Oblivion, he dodges and rolls away, shooting a barrage of shadow bolts at me. I run, and leap to dodge each blast, swinging my blades to send pillars of Light at the man. He takes the blows, but shrugs them off as he slams two palms on the ground, a large wave of shadow heading towards me, too big to dodge.

I raise both Keyblades up and slam them down, pillars of Light spinning around me, shredding the shadow that was sent. The grey man snarls, and starts running towards me. I swivel around the grey man to start striking him from behind, Oblivion and Oathkeeper cutting into his back as he starts to scream, pushing me away with a backlash ripple of Darkness. He starts firing more bolts of Darkness at me with both hands. I dash along the outer edge of the Heart’s station, the bolts soon stopping for him to recover. I rush to the middle, pillars of light swirling around me to knock the person aside.

I slowly rise up, into the air as the pillars grow taller. I raise both Keyblades up, bursts of light spouting from my Keyblades like a fountain in a circle. They all reach past the outer edges of the station. The light enshrouds the station, looking almost like a golden, cloudy sunset, obscuring the nothingness from sight. “C’mon!” I yell, the power rushes through me as large blasts of blue Light rush to the small person. He skitters across the station as he tries to dodge the blasts as they follow him. He’s hit by every single blast, writhing and sent into the air. I stop my barrage, the veil dissolving as I charge the grey man. My light pillars following me in a horizontal line to prevent escape.

“That’s enough!” He yells, another wave of shadows knocking me backward. “I’m gonna’ have to use this, then!” He takes out a blue orb, and crushes it. “Now Sora’s heart will come to me! All I have to do is touch it and this body is mine!”

“What?! I already told you, I’m not letting you do that!” I yell, blue Light starting to radiate from my form. There’s no way he’s taking Sora, not if I’m here.

The grey man grins. “All I need to do is touch it. I can’t kill you, but I can move you. I was never the one with the disadvantage. It was you, and now I will give you the boot!” A sparkling light rises from the station, I run towards it with my pillars of Light surrounding me, Keyblades raised to defend.
“You’re not getting this, you freak!” I yell, but it was too late. I was knocked back by another wave of shadow.

“Everyone shall know Turbo!” He shouts, as he dashes towards the Heart.

But before he could reach it, a flash of Light occurs, as Turbo is knocked back. When I can see again, it looks like the heart’s encased in some sort of armor. Wait, why is it in armor?! It looks to be my height, with a Keyblade. It wields the blade backhandedly, too. That’s nowhere near Sora’s style, nor is it anything like mine.

The armor charges towards the grey man, swinging his curved Keyblade and striking the man several times at blinding speeds. I take this opening to unload my own strength on Turbo, rushing up to him and knocking him into the air. I glide effortlessly in the air as I juggle the man with each acrobatic Keyblade strike. I finish my chain of attacks by throwing them and controlling each blade’s journey in the air. Each spinning blade hits Turbo several times. I land as I catch my blades, the armor moving to chain his slicing attacks at the obviously weakened Turbo.

I dash to the middle to leap up, and summon my power for my strongest attack. “Get out!” I yell, as my Keyblades start to shimmer with Light. I raise my Keyblades up once more, “Magic Hour!” I shout, large beams of Light shot down from the sky, hitting everywhere on the station. The armor moves into the middle swiftly, as Turbo is hit with multiple beams of Light energy. I then slam my arms downward, my blades facing outward as I shout again, “GET OUT!” The blasts start hitting double time. Turbo is hit with the last blast, the biggest so far. He shrieks, as he’s finally sent back outside of the body. The scream fading away, as the Light fades, his body is no longer left within Sora’s heart.

The armor looks to me, and nods. It breaks apart and shimmers away, the Heart itself sinking back below. I look around, everything’s back to normal. I smile, and let my Keyblades disappear. “Finally. It’s getting a bit cramped as it is.”

Sora better be thanking me if he knew what happened.
​

---

What’s going on? Am I me?


​

I slowly come back into consciousness, I see Ralph looking over me. “Hey, hey! He’s waking up.” Ralph looks to me, after motioning to everyone. “You still you, Sora?” He asks.

“Yeah… where am I…?” I ask, moving Ralph’s face and sitting up. I see those eight bit looking trees, again.

Ralph turns and sits next to me. “We’re back in Fix-it Felix Jr. Sonic and I drove Maleficent away. Turbo skittered off after he popped out of your body, before I could smack him around. But from what I saw, he looked to have taken a few beatings already.” He grin, and punches my shoulder. “What’d you do to him?”

I don’t remember anything. I don’t even know if I actually did anything to him, I remember diving in front of Ralph and then waking back up, here.

By the way, you’re welcome, Sora.

What? I don’t think anyone else heard that. I think that was Roxas! Hah, he kicked Turbo’s butt! I grin, and shake my head. “I think I had a little help from someone very close to me.” I tap my chest, and grin.

Ralph quirks a brow, and grins. “Whoever that was, tell him thanks.” He elbows me. Felix and Vanellope sit in front of us.

The little girl grins. “You’re back? Because you looked reaaaal grey, for a little bit. Then Turbo just popped out like he took a beating. Then he just ran away before we could catch him.”

Ralph nods. “Yeah, but Sora’s still Sora. That’s a plus.”

Felix stands. “Yeah! I don’t know what we’d have to do if Sora was all… Turbo-fied!”

I shrug. “Well, we won’t have to worry about that. Turbo knows not to do that again. But, yeah. I feel fine, now. If anything, we should be heading back to find out where Maleficent and Turbo will strike next.

Felix frowns. “I heard that Hero’s Duty’s already closed their doors.”

Ralph widens his eyes. “We can’t let the Heartless merge with those Cy-bugs. Sora, c’mon!” Felix gets up to follow.

I shake my head. “Nuh-uh, stay here, Felix! Keyblade wielders, only!” Ralph and I board the train, and let it roll out of Fix-it Felix Jr.

The wrecker crosses his arms and leans back against the train seat. “By the way, Sora. Thanks for taking that hit, for me. I don’t know if I could do what you did with Turbo.” He grins, and pats me on the shoulder.

“It’s fine, Ralph. Besides, I did it because I would have a little help. Someone watching over me.” I shrug, and return the smile.

Ralph shrugs. “Whatever you say. Took more guts than I had, at the moment.”

We reach Game Central Station, and step off the train. Ralph looks to me, and nods. “Now we get to go to Hero’s Duty. Just beware. Calhoun’s a bit cold to strangers. You’re gonna’ have to prove yourself to her. But I don’t think it’ll be that hard for you.” He winks.

I nod. “I’ve met a few people who were kind of hard to impress. Sooner or later they cave.” I give a small laugh as we exit the tunnel of Fix-it Felix jr.

Ralph nods, and beckons me over. “C’mon.” We head into the station once more, as I look around. I see a few of the ghosts from Pac-Man, and Robotnik. The Doctor gives a passing wave and nods to me. Ralph drags me once more, it seems like my feet stopped moving again when I was looking around. “Hey. Hey. You keep not moving.”

I shrug, as we head towards the tunnel labeled ‘Hero’s Duty’. Ralph motions to the locked door. I nod and summon my Keyblade, pointing it as I focus my thoughts once more. The teeth shimmer, as a beam shoots out to unlock the door. The mechanisms move and spin again as the door opens. Ralph and I walk into the tunnel, going into the hallway. We see a train far more advanced than the other games, it seems more like a subway. The door opens, and we enter. Ralph sits on a seat that actually looks like something he could fit on, crossing his arms. “One day, you’ll teach me how to do that. It’s a better alternative to smashing, at least.”

The doors close, as the train starts rolling. I lean back into the more comfortable seats, setting my Keyblade beside me. “Huh. This really must be a more advanced game. The train itself is way better.”

Ralph shrugs. “…It’s kind of a scary game to be in. I should know. I was in it, once. It’s pretty violent. And scary. And… bug filled.” He shudders. “But I think we’ll do a bit better than I did the first time. You’re pretty good at dispatching monsters.”

I laugh. “A bit. Besides, I have backup plans and aces up my sleeve if something crazy were to happen.” The train stops, and the doors open. It looks like it’s night time, probably always will, it seems. There are men shooting things, and a woman barking out orders. Looks like there’s something here, alright.

This is gonna’ be intense.
​