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Total Kingdom Hearts

Chapter 19: True Cross Academy: Mischief in Mepphyland

Notes:

I kind of feel like I've been a bit mean spirited with the way I've been writing the Total Drama characters who aren't Cody, Gwen, and, uh, maybe not Trent I guess. This was not my intention. I'll try to lighten up on those guys going forward.

Then again, let's be real, Total Drama is kind of a mean spirited show all on its own, so you can't put all the blame on me...

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

All the way back when Yukio divided the groups up, he had mentioned a place called “Mepphyland” as a destination of note. Cody and his gang assumed it was some kind of local park. Something homely and unremarkable, but just the right amount of charm and atmosphere to earn the continued loyalty of the nearby townsfolk and no one else. What they actually got…wasn’t exactly what they were expecting.

“What in the world?” Alakazam gaped.

The park grounds stretched to the size of a nationally recognized football stadium. The buildings, all gaudy and hard to look at with their repeating oversaturated candy colors, were stretched and plentiful enough, one could argue that this space would’ve been better used as an extended housing area rather than a theme park. If the garish colors weren't enough, the same crude mascot with a devilishly sneering grin was plastered on to every attraction, as if the original designer was convinced brainwashing the park goers would be the only way to get them to waste money at the gift shops. To top it all off, a hunking gold statue of none other than the man who scared Cody half to death earlier, Mephisto, looked over everything at the park’s main plaza like he had declared himself king of the world.

“So,” Cody started unevenly “Mepphy is short for Mephisto, right? That guy from earlier?” This whole theme park is his?”

“Yes,” Rin groaned. He and Shiemi, the two who were the most familiar with the man himself and his grounds, stood around in embarrassment. They seemed to be sorry Cody and his crew were unfortunate enough to find out such a place existed at all.

“Pretty big ego, huh?” Loudred mused.

“If you stuffed that ego of his into this place, there still wouldn’t be enough space,” Rin grumbled.

“Rin, don’t say that,” Shiemi lightly pushed back.

“He’s not here,” he shrugged. “I’m not gonna get in trouble.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear you think so highly of me.”

Suddenly, Mephisto popped his pompous being into existence right alongside the lot. Just like earlier, Rin found himself slamming straight on to the ground in alarm, back first, while Cody bounced up in fright. With no one prepared to properly catch the boy, Loudred nabbed him in a tight grip with his one free hand, the other still keeping Duncan and Courtney at bay over his shoulder. With how stick thin Cody was, it looked like Loudred toted around a fragile club.

“M-Mr. Mephisto, sir,” Shiemi rapidly bowed over in panic.

“Are you actually helping this time?” Rin weakly bleated as he continued to rest painfully down below.

“Not at all,” the man replied with the same backhanded veneer as before. He gleaned his eyes over to Cody. The boy already looked pretty pathetic being wielded like a living lollipop, but now, his anxiety was almost too much to contain. “Just wanted to check up on our honored guest, the ‘ Vatican exorcist ’.”

“Y-y-yeah, that’s me,” he quivered on instinct. He was doing a poor job stringing this lie together as is, but now it sounded like he was just at the cusp of caving in. To make matters worse, there were two individuals here who had all the power to end this farce at a moment’s notice.

Duncan lurched his head over towards Cody in confusion. Vatican exorcist? What the literal hell is he talking about? The Keyblade gang all collectively realized the predicament they were in. Al and Mokona were ready to try any boneheaded maneuver they could think of to make sure he didn’t rat them out, but luck may have it, either his partner wasn’t as concerned about that odd detail or she was way too fixated on her own personal goal to give a damn.

“Excuse me,” Courtney spoke up as she attempted to gather up any dignity she could have in her current position. “Are you the highest authority figure here?”

Mephisto tilted his head over to her. He looked like he was just made aware of a disgusting fly that he could no longer ignore. “Yes. And who might you be?”

“Yes, where are my manners?” Courtney smiled. “My name is Courtney Valequez. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Mephisto.”

“Mephisto Pheles.”

“Mr. Pheles. My apologies.” She seemed to be in her element. “My friend here and I found ourselves in your town a while ago with no real resources to fend for ourselves and, unfortunately, we were left with no choice but to resort to unsavory methods to get by. But we mean no harm, and I kindly ask you to consider granting us a temporary sanctuary. At least until we’re able to get back on our feet on our own of course.”

“No.”

“Thank you very—wait, what do you mean ‘no’?” She flipped, completely taken by surprise that her negotiation skills were so bluntly rejected.

“The two of you are not from here . I have absolutely no obligation to help keep either of you away from harm.”

“Y-you can’t be serious,” her mouth widened. “Whether or not we’re from here, it’s your business if we wind up dead .”

Mephisto rolled his eyes. Apparently, Courtney wasn’t even worthy enough to be met with his smugness at top form. “You’ve got the Vatican exorcist here with you. That’ll be your protection. Now if you’ll excuse me…”

With a quick snap of his fingers, Mephisto was out of sight. Courtney cried out, hoping she could nab his attention at the very last second, while Duncan started to shout off expletives just a bit too late for the man to register them. Cody and the rest didn’t particularly enjoy dealing with Duncan and Courtney, but they could all agree they enjoyed interacting with Mephisto even less.

“What an ass,” Duncan continued on in disbelief.

“He’s got a really punchable face,” Alakazam nodded.

“I’d bite his face,” added Mokona.

“Agree to the punching part,” Rin groaned while he struggled to lift himself back up. “A little help here?”

Shiemi, with the sweetest little smile, laid her arm outstretched towards him. Rin’s energy quickly returned to him alongside the same flushed face he had held earlier. The others could only look on with teasing smiles. By the time he was back up on his feet, Rin, realizing just how obvious his infatuation was, had to swiftly shuffle Shiemi back to leading their way before she even had a chance to notice everyone’s suggestive expressions.

They moved on over by the merry-go-round where Yukio was standing around like a frazzled first time babysitter to the tiny red demon beside him who was leaking endless buckets of tears. He was a guy who was used to being on top of everything, but now, all one could see was a dorky teenager who desperately wanted to be anywhere but there. When he caught sight of the others approaching, the only thing holding back a relieved smile was his pride.

“I see you five have found the thieves.”

“Can it, four eyes,” Duncan shot back. He and Courtney were prepared to launch themselves into another complaint fest, but were deterred by the overwhelming hollers of the toddler-like demon.

“Who’s this?” Rin yelled, his hands clasped tightly over his ears.

“Moriyama and I ran into him earlier. Appears to be a familiar whose lost track of its exorcist. I’ve just been called in for some urgent issue with misfiled paperwork. Would you mind helping her out with finding its master?”

Rin’s face drooped into a disgruntled frown. “Yeah, you would just bail from a crying baby at a moment’s notice.”

Yukio gave a forceful shove against his brother and left the premises with no further explanation.

“Hey!” Rin barked back aggressively. “Don’t you just leave like that.”

The Keyblade crew looked on with equal parts pity and confusion at the small demonic child. One by one, each of them quickly resorted into also shielding their ears, whether it be through simple hand grasps or desperately curled rabbit ears. Loudred was unsurprisingly the only one unaffected, but the same couldn’t be said for the two teens slumped on his shoulder whose defenses were left wide open with their hands and arms tied up and out of commission.

“Hey, we’ll definitely help, but,” Cody faced Shiemi, his voice giving slight squeaks as he attempted to overpower the demon kid. “Why are you guys prioritizing this over investigating the park?”

She responded with an apologetic sigh. “To be honest, we haven’t run into a single one of those ‘Heartless’ things since we got here. This place used to be swarming with them, so we’re not sure why it’s so empty.”

She was right. Aside from the young demon’s endless bawling, the area was as peaceful as could be. Aside from their small little gathering, there was no one and nothing else in sight. The entire park was practically a ghost town.

Just like Yukio before, all the guys were left both uncomfortable and dumbfounded at the presence of the inconsolable infant. Shiemi was the first to make a real effort to calm him down, but her motherly efforts were only able to do so much to quell the tantrum. They were going to have to do more if they wanted to communicate with him.

Loudred gently placed their two arrogant prisoners off to the side and began to imitate various silly sounds, blasting them off from his stereo-like ears. As meaningful as his efforts were, the loud noise did nothing but return the demon back to his more miserable state from earlier, earning Loudred disapproving glares from the others. For his Plan B, he resorted to holding Mokona in front of the child like a comforting stuffed animal. This was an even more awful idea. Mokona’s face morphed into a terrifying image, more demonic looking than the demon itself. The new round of whines and weeps was near deafening.

“Will you two knock it off?” Alakazam scolded them. “It’s like you guys are making it worse on purpose.”

“I’m sorry,” Loudred gulped. “I swear, I didn’t mean to.”

“I did!” Mokona hummed, oh so proud of himself.

“You have to be more gentle,” Shiemi urgently suggested. She once again lovingly cradled the creature and whispered calming words. The demon child returned his volume to a more manageable level. “Rin, Cody, how about you two give it a try?” She offered.

Cody shook his head rigorously. “Nuh-uh. I’ve gotten one hospital visit too many from crying babies. This is not my department.”

He expected Rin to follow him in his footsteps, but to his surprise, Rin knelt down earnestly with a confident smile. He waited for the baby demon to recognize his presence before holding out his hands. “Hey, kid. You wanna see a magic trick?”

Behind his tears, the demon sniffled in anticipation.

Rin balled his hands into fists and did the oldest trick in the book; the good ‘ol disappearing thumb. And against all odds, the demon’s tearful stream finally stopped. He looked on at Rin with awe. The teen grinned triumphantly.

“Do you think I’m five or something?” The demon asked accusingly.

Everyone coughed.

“Wh-what?” Rin stammered. “Hey, I’ll have you know it took me a while to figure out how to do that right! Give me some credit!”

“That’s sad. What are you? Five?”

Rin opened his mouth, seemingly ready to get into an argument with this young child. Moments passed by however, and his scowl slowly loosened into an exuberant bout of laughter. Something that was contagious enough to make the young child himself drop his attitude and join in as well.

“I’m glad you’re in better spirits now,” Shiemi beamed kindly. “Would you be alright telling us your name?”

The diminutive demon took a quick look around the motley crew with both curiosity and trepidation. Between Rin’s goofiness and Duncan’s distant death stare, it was impossible to read exactly what kind of weirdo pack he found himself with. Still, there was something about Shiemi’s gentle warmth that wriggled into him, and he carefully slipped into a smile as he answered.

“Red!”

“Hi, Red,” Shiemi giggled. “I’m Shiemi Moriyama and this…” She gestured over to Rin. “...Is my friend, Rin Okumura.” Next she motioned to Cody and company. “And they are…”

“Cody.”

“Loudred!”

“Alakazam.”

“Mokona!”

“You don’t need to know who those two are,” Cody pointed back towards Duncan and Courtney who were, at this point, far too fed up to even throw back insults in response.

“H-hello,” Red waved.

“How did you get here, Red?” Shiemi continued to question him with a soft tone.

His face dropped once more, and he tried his best to hide the crackling in his voice. “I don’t know. I was at home with my master, but these black monsters just suddenly started swarming everywhere. I was so scared. Next thing I knew, I was here, and I couldn’t find my master anywhere.”

Shiemi and Rin continued to listen intently, but off to the side, Cody and the rest looked amongst themselves with raised eyebrows. If it wasn’t enough that Duncan and Courtney were stranded here, this little Red fella was clearly in the same boat. For all they knew, his so-called “master” might've not even been in the same realm as him right now. But after all that crying, how would they just go and tell him that?

“Could you tell us a bit about what your ‘master’ looked like?” Rin asked. “Ya know, so we don’t just go blindly looking around?”

Red bounced around excitedly. “Long, messy hair that looks like a pair of black bushes, stumpy red dress, and she always looks like this. ” He took a deep breath and put out the most exaggerated pout.

“Alright,” Rin started jogging in place, all raring and ready to go. “Let’s go find ourselves a missing exorcist then.”

“A witch,” Red peeped. “She’s a witch!”

“Yeah, witch, sure, whatever.”

“Maybe we should move out of the park then?” Shiemi suggested. “I don’t think there’s anyone here aside from us.”

“Y-you never know though!” Cody slid between the three with a thinly stressed face. “She could be snoozing in a small corner and you’d never even notice!” He and his companions all knew that an earnest search for whoever this was would most likely prove fruitless, but none of them were willing to say it out loud.

“True,” Rin nodded. Boy, he was stupid.

“Can’t really get out of investigating, huh?” Shiemi smiled.

She gestured to Red to hop on to her shoulder and soon took off. The clatter of her geta sandals clicked fervently as she continued on her way. But even with her head start, almost immediately, she started to trail behind the others, preferring to spend her energy conversing with the tiny demon instead. Soon, the group had left the scene as their trek around Mepphyland began.

There were two, however, who were left to involuntarily linger.

For the past few minutes, Courtney had kept quiet. But now, her flooding frustrations were at their absolute limit.

“Are you serious?!” She bellowed out. Her screams were almost as ear splitting as Red’s sorrowful cries just earlier, but no such attention was spared for her. They had to be doing this on purpose.

“Babe, give it a rest,” Duncan sighed in defeat. “Look, we can just break free on our ow—”

“How dare you just leave us behind like that?! First we’re chased around town, then we’re tossed around in the middle of battle, then you go and tie us up? So help me, the moment I get out of here, I am taking every one of you to court!!”

“Please, just shut up…”

 

oOo

 

“She’s the absolute coolest! She’s the scariest person I know. The best kind of witch there is!”

“I see. I’d love to meet her!”

“Yeah, yeah! I bet she can teach you all sorts of cool spells.”

“She really must be something if she has a familiar as great as you. Oh, I have a familiar too! Do you want to meet him?”

“Oh, heck yeah!”

Cody took a peek behind him. Shiemi had found herself at the very back of the pack and gave more care and attention to befriending Red than putting a real effort into their largely unstructured recon mission. She had just summoned a creature of her own, an adorably grassy fellow around Red’s size named Nee, and looked like the protagonist of a magical girl anime with two plush-like friends palling around on her shoulders.

“Sooo…” Cody turned back around and nudged Rin playfully. “Saccharine sweet’s your kinda thing, huh?”

The black haired boy erupted into a boiling red hue. Redder than Red himself. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re a worse liar than Cody,” Al shook his head.

Rin’s face simmered. “S-so what if I like her? Got a problem with that?”

“What? I’m just trying to make smalltalk, dude,” Cody shrugged. Perhaps he enjoyed the act of distressing the guy he mistook for a bully a little too much. “I mean, personally, I’m more into sexy badass types. Like, cartoon princess girls are fine, but I don’t really get the hype.”

Alakazam was situated right next to Cody and was forced to endure this embarrassment of a conversation. For now, all he could really do was react to each further development with an unimpressed face.

“What?!” Rin coughed, probably taking too much offense by that statement than he should have. “What’s not to get? She’s pretty and really, really, really nice, and she, uh, she’s got surprisingly really, uh…” His face cycled through 20 different shades of crimson, and this time, he had no one to blame but himself.

“...Oh… Oh!

Alakazam wanted out. Now.

“Really? That kimono hides ‘em good.”

“Right?” Rin’s tone of voice switched from nervous shakes to a raunchy snickering.

“Butts are better though.”

If Alakazam could launch himself straight out of this world’s stratosphere, he would do it.

“Would you two quit acting so gross?” The psychic found the strength to blurt out.

“You’ll understand when you’re older ,” Cody responded condescendingly.

“Excuse me?!”

“You know,” Loudred began. He started it off with his typical jolly tone, but it was easy to tell even he was pretty annoyed by this immature exchange. “I can turn around right now and let her join in on this little chat you two are having.”

“Don’t you dare,” Rin’s eyes dilated.

Cody was genuinely weary. “Come on. You’d get it if we were talking about girls from your species.”

Mokona, who was riding snugly atop of Loudred’s head, turned around with an almost wicked smirk, and opened himself up like a megaphone. “Hey, Shiemi!”

The two horndogs were sent into silent hysteria. While Shiemi skipped over to them without a single clue, the other three observed the incoming trainwreck with looks of both pity and satisfaction.

“Is everything alright?” She looked at the two quizzically.

The duo kept eyeing one another, desperate to throw away all the blame like a sad game of Hot Potato. He had yet to put up a flight, but Cody was already reduced to mangled stutters. “I, uh, we, see, um, y’know, uh, you, eh—”

“Look over there!!”

Jaw clenched and his fist in a firm ball, Rin flung his other arm forward and pointed at nothing in particular with full conviction. It would’ve almost felt like an heroic moment if the situation wasn’t so sad.

Still woefully clueless, Shiemi stepped forward. They’d just made their way to a large mock temple, and with no other major landmark nearby, she could only assume Rin was referring to it. She squinted her evergreen eyes and attempted to parse anything through the darkened windows. Just like one would expect from a local theme park, the shrine existed purely for aesthetic purposes. The structure and material seemed to be made in the most cost cutting way possible and more closely resembled an oversized playground house than an actual shrine. Ironically, there was no way to actually waltz in and play make believe in the glorified play fort outside of climbing up into the child sized windows. Too cheap to even be a solid mass of prettied up plastic and plaster, it now laid waste as an empty hollow.

Poor naive Shiemi continued on her little detective stint. The boys had just enough time to continue on their juvenile spat right behind her back in muted shouts. By the time her investigation was over, their fumes had run loose. They were more than willing to just leave this dumb little event behind them and move on. But believe it or not, Shiemi actually came back with results.

“There’s something in there!” Her sudden exclamation nearly caused the others to jump. Her tiny little familiar kept repeating livened “Nee nee”s just in case they didn’t get how serious she was.

“Yeah, yeah,” Red scooted forward past the side of her head. “Something just walked on by past the window!”

“In there?” Al raised his eyebrow. Could anything even get in there?

“You sure it wasn’t just a bird?” Cody asked.

“It was too big to be a bird,” Shiemi responded. She pressed her fists into her chest and puffed out her cheeks, ready to defend her find further.

Red bounced excitedly. “It’s my master. It’s gotta be her!”

“Could she even fit in there though?” Al continued to look on doubtfully.

“Oh, heck yeah. You wouldn’t believe how tiny my master is!”

“What are we waiting for then?” Rin said, probably more desperate to leave their past conversation behind than actually convinced. “Let’s go check it out!”

Of the remaining four, Mokona and Loudred kept to their nature and went along with the idea more out of amusement than anything else. It was just Al and Cody who were left behind as the lone skeptics. They glanced at one another, almost taking in how ironic that they of all beings seemed to be the ones on the most common ground. The duo silently laughed it off with resigned shrugs and lingered alongside the rest.

Rin scrunched his face and craned his neck upwards at the crummy play building. Even he had begun to put two and two together over the proportional issues.

“So, uh,” he started timidly. “We’re not all gonna cram ourselves in there, right?”

“One giant mesh of flesh,” Mokona cackled, much to everyone else’s discomfort.

“I think some of us can still fit through,” Loudred stated after closely examining the puny windows some more. “Mokona, Red, and that little green thing, definitely. Shiemi and Cody can probably cram in too.”

Cody balked at his own name drop. “Hey, I’m not that small!”

“Dude,” Rin looked down on him almost pitifully. “I could probably snap you like a twig.”

They were cool now, but that still sent shivers down the little nerd’s spine. Because he knew Rin was right.

“Well, I don’t want to have the little ones all on their own in there,” Shiemi perked up. “I can go in first if that’s okay.”

No complaints there.

Red and Nee clung on the hems of her kimono tightly while Al and Loudred struggled in their task as a makeshift ladder. Her traditional sandals unfortunately kept her balance all messy and wavy, and the shape of her dress made most leg movement difficult. Alakazam was ready to just telekinetically lift her in himself and was only deterred by the disapproving looks of his peers.

Shiemi crouched into the opening and basked in a bit of gleeful satisfaction over this tiny achievement. The instant she started to settle in however, she was shot with a fit of coughs. The soot covered air thrived in this eerily secluded space. It was difficult for her and her tiny friends to keep their stinging eyes open let alone keep their bodies fed with what tiny gasps of air they could find. Shiemi took a careful sniff just to make sure they weren’t accidentally poisoning themselves with moldy fumes. Luckily, or unluckily, all it was was a room that hadn’t faced maintenance since the day it was erected into this horrid park.

She and her two tiny pals slowly looked over the tight artificial attic. It was just as someone would expect from a room that felt like a newly discovered ancient burial ground. The dust that threatened to cloud their lungs piled the creaky wooden flooring, and the pots and vases that filled the corners, probably props long forgotten in storage, were in decrepit states, like newly unearthed artifacts. It was because of the predictable setting that made its one peculiar trait all the more glaring.

A lone shining trail lay in the center of the room, the dust neatly swept and lined off like a fancy fence along the road. At the very end of this guided path was a chunky burlap sack that slumped against the wall. Shiemi gingerly unraveled the knotting and held her breath in case she was accidentally unleashing some kind of horror. Perhaps what actually sat within confused her even more. Inside were piles upon piles of junk food, all unopened like they were freshly snatched off a grocery shelf, alongside the odd piece of jewelry, and other valuable trinkets.

The rosy eyed trio all blinked in confused unison. Someone had clearly been here recently. Nothing in the sack felt at home in this near ancient tomb of a playhouse. Who was it though? Was it really Red’s master?

“Hey! We found something!” Shiemi chirped.

She returned to the windowside and pushed the sack straight out. Cody, who was currently taking his turn climbing up the living ladder, was hit square on the head by the boulder-like bag and sent crashing right back down onto the ground.

Shiemi winced and squeaked out a shy “sorry” before nervously resuming her search. There was one other thing that caught her eye when she inspected the strange treasure bag.

Stamped on to the wall where the bag previously was was an indent. It was tiny enough that the average person would just easily brush it aside and pay it no mind. In fact, it was a miracle she could even spot it in this shadowy hideaway. But when she knelt down to pick at the sack, a warm almost alluring feeling kept nudging her to look upward. Red and Nee were completely oblivious to what she was trying to accomplish and poked and pulled her cheeks to prompt an explanation. She stayed silent however, keenly intent on figuring out the mystery behind this mark.

She gently glided the edge of her fingertips over the small keyhole shaped notch…

…And pulled herself away frightfully when the wall blemish responded with a soft flicker of light; igniting like a sparkler, and fading away just as soon as it appeared.

…She realized she made a grave mistake.

Shiemi, Red, and Nee froze at the first clatter. And the next, and the next, and the next. The once inconsequential gathering of ceramics jutted around like newly possessed poltergeist props. It was as if that spark of light had set off a powder keg. By the time the spider legs crackled out from under the dusty shades below, Shiemi had long gotten the hint and quickly made her way back out the window..

“Watch out!” She cried while she traced the shape of a mystical seal onto the dust covered ridges of the entrance railing. “Those Heartless things are here!”

It was a good thing she already had her familiar out and in the open. With the seal just barely shaped out in the messy building dirt, a magical glow resonated from it. Nee sprouted out a massive growth of bushes and vines right out the opening in response which ripped the ends of the brittle structure and tore out the entire wall.

Right as this was all going down, Cody was in the middle of round two of his attempted ladder climb. He was once again knocked off by the newly formed topiaries punching him dead in the face. Luckily, the semi-sentient leaves and branches had enough grace to catch him before he cracked his cracked back. He landed comfortably back down to the ground alongside Shiemi, Red, and Nee who had just successfully escaped.

The spontaneous greenhouse proved to be a decent shield against the Pot Spiders, but it wasn’t long before their brute force effort set them free. By the time the creepy crawlers tore through the thicket, they were no longer the arachnids they once were. Sprouting out of the shrubbery was a ghastly blue insect head with a gnashing jaw and mandible. The pots all trailed behind, completing the unit’s transformation into a Pot Centipede.

The transformation was unexpected, but nothing they couldn’t handle. Or at least that was their thought up until much smaller and punier Heartlesses started to creep out from under the lids like an infestation following along its matriarch. The group was forced to fend off the mob creatures that just kept pouring and pouring out. In their distracted state, they failed to realize the centipede was still on the prowl, and rather than making a massive offensive stance, it targeted one of them in particular.

Shiemi held her breath. She wasn’t a fighter like the others were, but she did her best to hold down her fort regardless. She focused her energy into operating Nee and forced more and more plants and shrubs to form around her. With the unrelenting volume of Heartless that came at her, the strength and concentration that allowed her to form the mini forest wall earlier just wasn’t there anymore, and her attacks were nothing more than thin thorns that slowly prickled through one-by-one. Red gripped on to her for his dear life, and she couldn’t even find it in herself to try to offer him comforting words with all the madness that was going on.

Rin was the first to realize Shiemi’s struggle. He wasn’t all charged up in his blue demonic get up like he was earlier—the secret Cody and the others had learned was likely beyond Shiemi’s knowledge—but he set up his priorities and made quick work of the enemies around him in an effort to reach her. What he didn’t notice however was the mob’s real intent.

The Pot Centipede slunk stealthily towards Shiemi. It hid itself within the Shadow fortress it’d unleashed, and nabbed her and her two tiny tots right into one of the pots themselves. The bug made a startling cry as it alerted its kin that the mission was done. The Shadow mass no longer acted as pesky distractions, but now as a floating torrent that allowed the centipede to be whisked away into the sky.

Rin was aghast. He was almost right next to her and they still managed to take her away. Cody was about to snap him out of his funk, but his quick fury got him out much faster. The five of them followed along like magnets. Loudred, Al, and Mokona occasionally shot out Pokemon attacks and magic blasts to try to knock a bit of the Heartless platform down, but they obviously needed a much bigger game plan than running and shooting to stop this thing without harming their friends.

They nearly arrived right at the park plaza when they began to hear gunshots. Looking on ahead, Yukio had apparently been freed from his desk duties and was quick on the draw with trying to take the Pot Centipede and its colony down. He probably didn't expect his brother and the others to be desperately shouting at him to stop. In this situation, there was a decent chance he’d be doing more harm than good.

“Stop shooting, idiot!” Rin snarled.

“Huh?” Yukio gaped.

“Like, anything but a gun!” Cody added.

“Yeah, use exorcist magic mumbo jumbo or something,” Loudred suggested.

“We’re all using magic and swords and stuff. Why do you just have a straight up gun?” Mokona, now’s not the time.

“Yuki!!”

Yukio craned his neck upwards and gasped at the sight of Shiemi struggling to sneak her head out of one of the pots.

“What in the world?”

“Shoot at it again.”

Huh?!

Everyone darted their eyes over at Alakazam. What was he thinking?!

“Avoid aiming at the pots of course,” he rolled his eyes in annoyance. “We just need a few shots. Just do it already!”

Yukio returned his eyes back at the floating centipede. It wasn’t obvious at first, but he understood what was going on. They were in a part of the park that was tightly knit with several premiere attractions, including a ferris wheel and roller coaster. The platform’s path faltered significantly in order to carefully navigate through all the annoying obstacles.

With bated breath and a focused aim, Yukio returned fire, just barely missing the front of the centipede’s head. Everyone thought Al had gone crazy with this plan, but something happened. The echo of each bullet set off a shuddering reaction that a simple energy blast just couldn’t do. The Heartless shook in place in fear. This was the opening they needed. Al shot off a string of Psybeams and quickly whittled down the darkened nimbus. The Pot Centipede lowered its altitude with each new death.

Now only a few feet above ground, Cody decided it was his turn to make a move. He flung his Keyblade behind his back, wound it up like a dodgeball, and swung it back into a spiral towards the insect head. Having been through a ton of stress dealing with the sound of flying bullets and left with literally nowhere to run, its head wound was as good as a finishing blow. The bug was completely conked out. Shiemi was able to produce a vine slide straight out of her potted cage and away to safety with no intervention. For as much trouble as the creature had given them, it met a pitiful end being beaten when it was already down for the count. Its essence evaporated into the sky, and the Potted Centipede and its hive were no more.

“Crap, Shiemi, are you okay?!” Rin ran over to her.

She nodded. Her and Red were still a bit shaky, but their smiles were genuine. “Thank you all so much.”

“Yo, all that plant stuff you were doing was so cool!” Cody cooed.

Shiemi’s face brightened significantly. “Really?”

“Heck yeah! The way you just burst out of the window like an action hero, that was so freaking badass!”

“Can you grow veggies?” Mokona pondered. “I’m hungry.”

“That’s enough.”

Ever a killjoy, Yukio halted any celebration to be had and sternly marched over. Cody had looked with simple curiosity, but fear crept into him with each step once he realized Yukio and his grimace were marching at him specifically.

“Alright,” he huffed with an accusatory tenor. “You can stop with the charade.”

“...W-what?” He could piss his pants right now.

“The paperwork I went back for was my backup request. It was rejected. You… none of you,” he menacingly pointed one-by-one at Al, Loudred, and Mokona. His ire was at all four of them now. “Not one of you is from the Vatican. Who the hell are you people?”

“W-what are you talking about?” Cody laughed hazily. “I…I love Jesus.”

“...Yeah, I…” His shoulders slumped and he looked down shamefully. “I space out during church. I’m sorry.”

Yukio’s mood seemed to have grown fouler. “You better have a good explanation as to what you’re doing here.”

“Hey, would you cool it?” Rin harshly grabbed his brother’s shoulder. “They haven’t done anything wrong.”

“We just had to rescue Moriyama and you say they’ve done nothing wrong? ” Yukio hissed. “Do you understand just how reckless this all was?”

“They’ve done way more to fight off against those Heartless things than literally anyone else has. I don’t wanna hear about your whole ‘by the books’ bullshit.”

“We don’t know who these people are or why they’re here! They could’ve been misleading us for all you know.”

“No, I can assure you they’ve been doing everything I’d hoped they would do.”

Everyone jumped before searching high and low for the source of a familiar voice. Mephisto sat laxly on an almost throne-like chair, floating just a couple of feet in the air behind them.

“This guy again?” Cody mouthed.

“Mr. Okumura,” he wagged his finger in a circular motion at Yukio. “If you must know, I was the one who rejected that request.”

“What,” he stammered. “Wh-why? You of all people should know we desperately need help.”

“You’re not going to like this response, but…” The man shrugged nonchalantly. “There is nothing even the highest ranking exorcist could do to fix this mess we’re in. I was honestly ready to pull off some more, ahem, drastic measures. But…”

Cody felt like he was being mentally targeted with that coy smile Mephisto tossed over at him. “Just my luck, the fabled Keybearer came to save the day right at the nick of time.”

“The Keybearer …?” Yukio’s thoughts were being pulled in all different directions. For as well learned as he was, he struggled to think of even a single instance he’d ever encountered that term.

“A wielder of the Keyblade of course,” Mephisto continued, acting like he was getting a high off of knowing he had more knowledge than anyone else there. “Traveler of worlds, savior of hearts, warrior of light…”

“So…” Yukio turned back towards Cody. His face was completely whitened compared to how burning it was earlier. “He’s really going to be fixing all this?”

“You’re finally understanding. Bravo!” He made a quick round of applause before shifting his expression into a darkened tone. “And once again, he couldn’t have gotten here at a better time.

“Would our uninvited guest care to show us some manners and properly introduce herself?”

!!

Someone else was here.

Just at the very corner of their eyes, a cloaked figure of black, purple, and jade levitated several feet behind Mephisto.

Cody wasn’t sure how to describe it, but the moment he saw her, something clicked in him. He wasn’t sure what and he wasn’t sure why, but whoever she was, she was connected to everything.

She was their enemy.

“I would say it’s a pleasure to meet you all, but I don’t waste lies on common peons.

“If you must know, my name is Maleficent.”

Notes:

I'm not convinced anyone in the world of Blue Exorcist is an actual practicing Christian.

Fun Fact: Yukio Okumura is my discomfort character.