Taivas

When Dotty started singing Taivas wished he had stayed on the island to be consumed by the darkness. The next stop would be getting earplugs so he doesn’t have to listen to her talk. “I think we’re in some sort of purgatory, and Dotty is our torturer.” He said, responding to Zen. Ignoring Dotty and trying to have a conversation with the storekeeper.

Cid glared at Taivas, not liking being called old. “Tsk, who are ya callin old man ya little punk.” He leaned over the counter while puffing on the cigarette in his mouth. Blowing some of the smoke in Tavias’ face. The blonde man is increasingly annoyed by Dotty’s singing and the smoke blowing in his face.

“Whatever, look I’m just here looking to buy a ship. I gotta get out of here for some personal business. Do you have one in stock or not?” Taivas let out a sigh of relief when Dotty stopped talking and left the store. “Yeah, I’ll see ya later.” He said waving her off.

“Ya do huh, well it’s gonna cost ya they ain’t cheap ya know.” Cid responded, moving the cigarette away from his mouth.

“How much is it gonna cost?” Taivas asked, having a bad feeling about what he would say next.

“Well, I’d estimate it’ll be around 1000 munny for the cheapest ship I got.” Cid’s answer made Taivas look quite shocked.

“Damn? Maybe I can get a discount or something.” This comment made Cid laugh, shaking his head.

“Mmmm, I might be able to. What is this personal business you were talking about?” Cid said that Taivas then regaled him with his time on Destiny Island and left with Zac. And him trying to find his friends. Mentioning Adian and Xena by name. He even showed them the picture to see if he had seen him.

“Ya meet Zac, eh? Mmm, I saw the guy. He was asking around for someone named Taivas. I guess that person is you? He said he was heading to Olympus to see if you were there.” He said with a slight smile on his face. “I guess you're desperate to find these people. So how about I discount it to 500 since you are so keen on finding em.” Mentioning this still made Taivas annoyed but at least it was somewhat cheaper.

“Alright, I’ll get the munny, and then I’ll be back for the ship.” He sure hoped those dogs could cough up enough for the ship. Leaving the shop and to the dalmaintine’s house. “So we got your kid back, what’s our reward?” He said curtly to the two of them.

Dotty approached the house, Freckles next to her. Looking up at the door, she looked down at herself and realized she was still human. "You don't want to meet them like this?" Zen-Aku asked.

"Not really... Ah well." She shrugged before knocking at the door. Immediately, she would see the large black ears and nose of Pongo look out from behind the curtains before opening the door and looking down.

"Don't mention anything about them being your grandparents. Freckles is young enough to not really think about that sort of thing, but they may be... Less enthusiastic." Zen-Aku said, looking at the big Dalmatian.

"Just like episode 92..." She whispered as her eyes started beaming again. The door flew open and Pongo looked her up and down, before looking down at Freckles.

"FRECKLES, MY DEAR OLD SON!!!" He jumped with joy as Freckles bounded in through the door and straight up to their mother.

"MY DEAR BABY!" Perdita yelled, immediately nuzzling her face against his.

"Mother!" Freckles replied. "Father! This is my friend, Dotty. She's a Dalmatian too!" Pongo turned and looked her up and down.

"Don't be silly, lad, she's a pet." He laughed. Zen-Aku petted her on the shoulder and looked down at her.

"Keep calm... Don't give yourself away." Zen-Aku ordered. Dotty took a deep breath, then took a step forward.

"Hiimdottyandimadalmatianjustlikeyoubutimstuckinhumanformduetoweirdmagicsmakingmeandpoodlewolftheinvisiblespiritthatturnsmeintoagiantwolfmonsterlinkedtogetherimyourgreatgreatgreatlotsmoregreatsgrandaughtermymommyanddaddyaredouganddelilahandmommytoldmelotsoftimesthestoryabouthowyoudefeatedthedevillewomanandimsoreallyreallyreallyexcitedtomeetyou!!!" She splattered out. Pongo and Perdita looked at each other rather concerned.

"I'm sorry, Perdita my love, but i did not get a word of that." He responded. Perdita put a paw on Dottys chest.

"Darling, take a deep breath and try again." She said, reassuringly. Dotty teared up at this, a small trail of snot running down her face, as the paw on her stomach almost immediately took her flashing back to her own mother doing that. "Oh no, dear, don't cry." She cooed softly, her tongue licking up the tear and the snot. A mild look of disgust went across Zen-Aku's face.

"Sorry, you just... Look a lot like my mommy." She replied. Pongo looked rather perplexed by this.

"Well... I'm no judge of pet standards of beauty but i think that's a compliment?" He replied. His head cocked to the side as he looked at the child. "Well, if you're missing your mother, i'm sure that we wouldn't mind having you stay here for a while. We have been talking about getting a new pet after..." A look of sadness crossed his face as he remembered his dear pet, Roger. Perdita seemed to be the one putting on the brave face as she also remembered the happy times with her pet Anita. "Well, as i said, we're in the market for something." Dotty seemed to perk up at this suggestion.

"Nah, me and Poodlewolf have got places to be, bad guys to fight and more U... Puppy's to rescue." She smiled.

"Yes, i'd normally have no problems going out and looking for them, but there's nobody else here in case they do come back. and it'll take both of us to do it." He rubbed his face against Perdita's affectionately.

"Yeah, i know the story about your battle with the devilwoman."

"Oh, you know about the devilwoman?" Pongo asked.

"Of course, we have the song on greatgruncle Freckles' old music horn." She said, just as Taivas opened the door to find himself being, unwittingly sentancing himself, again, to the pergatory that he had found himself in twice already and was about to be sent to again as music began to waft in from no-where.



As Taivas asked for the payment, Pongo nodded, before walking over to the corner and began pushing a pink box with a bow tied around it towards Taivas. Freckles walked over, sniffed the box and barked at it. "Indeed, i did promise a reward. I believe this would be fitting." He sat down. Dotty immediately attacked the box like... Well, the hyperactive child she was. Inside was 500 munny.

"THAT'S ENOUGH MUNNY FOR A BUNCH OF ICE-CREAM!!!" She yelled. "OR 500 MUNNYCHEWS, WE COULD BUY THEM AND SEE IF WE CAN FIT ALL OF THEM IN OUR MOUTHS AT THE EXACT SAME TIME!!!"

Taivas

As the song was starting, Tavias plugged his ears with his fingers. Humming loudly, trying to drown out her little song. Again, the thought of leaving her here came up. And it was pretty tempting to do this so he didn’t have to hear her sing again. Tavias was staring up at the ceiling, hoping the song would be over. Occasionally, he would remove his fingers, and if she were still singing, he would plug them back up again. He removed his fingers, sighing relief when she stopped singing. “Thank god.” Taivas opened the bag, being glad there was enough for the ship.

“If we find more of your kids, I’ll return them to you.” He said, hoping the rewards would be as good as this one. Pocketing the money before heading out of the door, waiting for a moment for Dotty to follow him. Opening the door, he was met by Cid glaring at him behind the counter. Taivas slammed down the money on the counter with a smile. “Here ya go. 500 munny.”

Cid took the money and got Taivas and Dotty to follow him to a nearby garage. Cid uncovered a dirty and somewhat rustic looking ship. “What the hell is this?” Tavias’ face seemed quite angry and frustrated.

“It’s the cheapest ship I got. It’s not much of a looker, but it’ll get you where you need to go.” Cid took a drag on his cigarette.

Taivas begrudgingly pushed the ship out of the garage. Getting into the spaceship, waiting for Dotty to get inside. Starting up the ship and flying into the starry sky of the world. Luckily, he had also “bought” some earplugs and would use them so he wouldn’t listen to Dotty. Seemingly being deep in thought, he followed the directions to Deep Jungle that Merlin had provided.

Taivas hoped that he would be able to find some more clues on his friend’s whereabouts. His eyes stared at the stars and other worlds that were covered in some sort of strange mist. He was annoyed when he would have to avoid the occasional obstacle in the way. But they finally arrived on the world, with Taivas landing the ship.

“Okay, we’re here. Stay close to me and dont do anything stupid.” He got out of the ship and headed out hoping to find someone who could help him.

Dotty frowned as Taivas handed over the money to Cid for the ship. "Awww, i wanted the munnychews..." She groaned. She got into the cockpit next to him as the ship blasted off through The Space Between. Watching the weird and wonderful things that had fallen through the cracks of the worlds. During the trip, she sat back in her chair and looked at the control panel that Taivas had specifically activated the child lock on. Zen-Aku being rather glad of this. He wasn't sure how much damage she could do with it, but he had the feeling it was a lot. As the spiritual wolf monster looked out of the window, he saw a glowing, spectral, yellow, mechanical eagle fly past the window. He looked at the large eagle and heard it screech.

"Magestic..." He grunted.

"I try my best." Dotty smiled.

"No, that eagle." Dotty looked out of the window the way he was pointing.

"What Eagle?" She asked, staring directly at the eagle Zen-Aku was looking at. He looked confused at her. She clearly saw nothing.

"Nothing, never mind..." He simply continued to stand. Dotty slowly moved over to Taivas in the control seat.

"This thing got an MP3 player?" She asked... Taivas clearly ignored her. She frowned. "Alright, i can solve this one." As music began slowly creeping into the cabin from seemingly no-where again. "IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFT-" Instantly the music was cut off as Zen-Aku's spectral hand grabbed her mouth.

"ANYTHING... But that one..." Zen-Aku growled in a far more sinister tone than she had ever heard out of him before.

"OoOoOoOh" She sarcastically called to him. "Alright, mr Grumpy-bumpy pants." She sat down and huffed. Finally they closed in on the world that they were going to. A strange world that looked entirely made of jungle. As they arrived in the mists. Dotty walked out and into what looked like a giant tree canopy. Walking along a large branch, Taivas told her to ignore her base instincts. "Of course i'm gonna stay close, i'm not a complete idi-IIIIIIIIIIIIII" She screamed as she slipped on the slicked branch, falling out of the tree and straight down, screaming the whole way. Zen-Aku's spirit jumped off with her.

"PUT ON THE MASK!!!" He yelled, she grabbed the mask and pulled it to her face, but she was screaming too much to say the sacred incantations. Zen-Aku managed to grab her and put himself in front of her to cushion the blow as she fell straight through a wooden roof and into a house bellow her. Zen-Aku slowly got up and pushed her off of him. "You alright?"

"I'm good." She chirped. They looked around the house. An old, dilapidated looking house, completely devoid of any sort of life. She found an old photo of a regal looking man, woman and baby. "Think it's their house?" She asked. She then looked over at something in the corner. "Cool, leopard-skin rug." Dotty pointed at the Jaguar with enormous teeth that was staring at her like she was the last donut in the cop shop.

"Dotty... Put on the mask..." Zen-Aku replied as he stared at the angry jaguar. In one swift bound, it jumped straight at Dotty and with a single swipe of its mighty paw, sent her sprawling across the room, landing upside down. "THE MASK!!!" He roared at her, but Dotty had hit her head and seemed a little punch-drunk. Hitting the mask against her face.

"Ummm... I... Poodlewolf... Need to take a little nap now... You take him..." The Jaguar approached her licking his lips. Zen-Aku grabbed Dotty's arms and forced her to bring the mask to her face.

"SAY THE WORDS, SAY THE WORDS OR YOU'RE DEAD!!!" He yelled. As it jumped at her for the killing blow, a gust of wind blew through the house heralded by the sound of a Trumpeting Elephant. Zen-Aku turned around to see the Jaguar having been sent flying across the room and into the boxes and it struggled and writhed around in the boxes. Meanwhile the man who did it simply stood and looked at the Jaguar. It was an old man who stood, flourishing his arms and standing in a pose. He had long white hair and a stern face, he seemed to wear a strange martial artists outfit with a strange symbol on the back.

"MIGHTY SPIRIT OF THE ELEPHANT!!!" He roared, stamping his feet and the Jaguar fell over again. Zen-Aku sat and watched as the old man threw several powerful punches as the Jaguar charged him again, before grabbing it by the scruff and throwing it away again. At that point, Taivas made his entrance. The old man nodded to Taivas, but Taivas would be unable to see him. "I'll leave this to you, young one." He said, before fading away back into the aether.

"OLD MAN, WAIT!!!" Zen-Aku yelled running towards the man as he faded away. He then looked outside and saw a large cloud shaped like an elephant "OLD MAN!!! WHO ARE YOU!?!?!? TELL ME!!!" Zen-Aku bayed at the cloud. He saw flashes in his mind of a mighty, great mechanical elephant that made the same sound... Was it fighting him or was he fighting alongside it. He then turned around and watched Taivas fight the Jaguar.

@mattmanganon

Taivas

Taivas slapped his forehead as he watched Dotty fall out of the tree. Slowly, he followed behind her, hoping she would not get hurt too much. He started jumping from tree branch to tree branch, cutting down the branches in his way. “I told you to stay close to me." he said when he finally met Dotty. He scanned the area they were inside. It looked like an abandoned house, and he noticed a large portrait of a man and woman holding a baby. He wondered who was living here before it became abandoned.

His eyes peered over towards the figure in the corner of the room. “Shit.” Taivas got in front of Dotty, summoning his keyblade. “Get behind me.” He stood his ground as the jaguar was coming closer towards them. But, of course, she had gotten a hit in before it could pounce on them. “Useless.” He muttered while charging at the jaguar. The jaguar came running at him; its claws extended as it pounced at Taivas.

The jaguar’s claws dug into Taivas’ shoulder, making him be flung backwards. But his keyblade slammed into the jaguar’s body. “Son of a bitch.” He held his bloody shoulder. He held his hand out, firing some shadowy spears at the jaguar. “Eat this!” He screamed, but the spears were evaded as the jaguar dodged the attack. The jaguar again started running towards Taivas. But as it got closer to Taivas, a spear was thrown at the jaguar. A large shirtless man jumped down armed with a stone knife, screaming as loud as he could. The man jumped on the jaguar’s back, stabbing it once in the jaguar’s clawing arm. The beast fled the house with Taivas holding his wound.

“Tsk, I almost had em. Who are you?” He said, making the man turn towards them.

“Me Tarzan…” He stood upright, walking over to pick up his spear.

“My name is Taivas…and this Id. This is Dotty.” Taivas said before continuing to speak. I am looking for two people, and i was told they were here before.” Taivas showed the image of his friends, hoping he had seen him.

“Yes…saw them speaking to Jane…I take you to Jane.” Tarzan said and motioned for them to follow him.

PJ, Max, and Daisy's trip was pretty uneventful so far. They managed to avoid the chaos in-between worlds via some "shortcuts" PJ knew. They were currently flying in the space near Traverse Town when Max finally asked, "Hey, PJ. How do you know how to get to Wonderland?"

"Oh, I don't." PJ replied confidently while keeping his eyes forward.

"Wait, you don't? Then where are we going?" Max asked.

PJ shrugged. "I thought I'd just fly until I found it. It's not that hard a world to spot."

Daisy's eyes widened. She couldn't believe she was trusting a teenager to actually take things seriously. "I rather not be lost in the Space Between Worlds. We're near Traverse Town. Let's stop there and get directions from Merlin."

"Merlin?" Max asked, sitting up in his chair. "I haven't seen him since my trip to Camelot with my dad and King Mickey. What's he doing there?"

"It's his home away from home as he travels between worlds. Go on, PJ. Straight to Traverse Town."

"Yes, ma'am." PJ nodded before making his direction to the world for marooned souls.

---

PJ stayed on the Gummi Ship while Max and Daisy entered the First District of Traverse Town and were met with another trio holding a sign that read, "ITEM SHOP: GRAND OPENING". This was a group of young ducklings Daisy was all too familiar with.

"Huey, Dewey, and Louie, what on Mickey's Magic Kingdom are you doing here?"

"Aunt Daisy!?" The duck trio yelled out in unison as they dropped their sign on their webbed feet. They jumped in shock in pain before falling back down to land crisscross applesauce to rub their injured feet. "First Uncle Donald and now Aunt Daisy. Who's next, Uncle Scrooge? We're just here trying to make money."

"Wait. Donald's here? They haven't found the Prince, yet?"

Huey shook his head and spoke. "Last we saw, he and Mr. Goofy were still looking for him."

"The last thing I need to hear is my dad telling me I should be home. Let's get to Merlin's." Max said, preparing to head to the next district.

"Or Donald worrying about me. Let's go." Daisy agreed.

"Before you go." Huey said, stopping them. "You should talk to Cid. He has a book of Merlin's that both are too lazy to cross districts to exchange. They call it being busy, but they're not the ones opening a new shop."

Daisy laughed to herself, forgetting that she wasn't in the court and didn't have to be a proper lady. "Just be careful, okay?" She said to her nephews before heading to Cid's shop with Max.

---

Meanwhile Donald and Goofy finished searching the Third District and there were still no signs of the keyblade wielding prince. Donald was beyond annoyed by this point. "WHERE IS HE!?" He yelled out to no one in particular with a bright red and searing face.

"Why don't we cool off and think? Aha! What if we asked Merlin to help us find him?"

"As if that old quack knows anything." Donald responded, his face now returned to normal.

"Well, we couldn't find him on our own so it doesn't hurt to try. And you know what they say. If you've searched everywhere, it's the one place you haven't looked." Goofy said confidently.

"It's always the last place that you look." Donald corrected.

"You sure? This is the last place we looked and he wasn't here."

"... Fine. We'll ask him." Donald said in defeat, heading to the otherworldly magician's home.

---

---

Someone didn't like how easy of a time Alias and Alice were having on their journey through Wonderland. Alias' presence alone was already providing a better experience for Alice than she was supposed to have, but Alice being here and happy kept Alias from falling into despair or thinking too deeply about not knowing where his friends were. He was able to compartmentalize and focus on keeping Alice safe and getting her answers from the White Rabbit and hopefully staying off the Queen's Radar. If it only it could be that simple.

The downside to having a carefree life back on Destiny Islands was the inability to discern when things have been going a little too well. Now he was about to learn just what it meant to wait for the other shoe to drop. It dropped hard when they arrived to the Queen's Court to see it and everyone in a state of distress. Flowers that were painted red were destroyed, card soldiers and their weapons laid flat across the yard. The Queen of Hearts was furiously yelling in the distance.

"My word. What could've happened here?" Alice asked. She had never seen anything like it. Things started off weird here, but they hadn't been this bad. "Could it be the heartless again?"

"I don't know," Alias replied while conjuring his keyblade. "But stay close to me." He walked forward to fully enter the Court with Alice following closely behind them.

The White Rabbit was frantically pacing back and forth until he noticed Alias and Alice. "It's them! It's them! The monsters have returned!"

"Monsters?" Alice asked, looking behind her and Alias. No one else was there besides them. "You can't possibly mean us."

"Only monsters could do this. You've upset the poor Queen!"

The Queen of Hearts turned into a fury to spy Alias and Alice. "The nerve. To return to the scene of the crime! Off with your heads!" A silence followed as she had no readily available soldiers to deal with these threats.

"But we just got here!" Alias pointed out. "We couldn't have done this. Give us a chance to find the real monsters."

"They looked like you! But... since my other soldiers won't be here for a while I'll spare your life for now and give you one chance to find the true culprits and bring them or evidence back. But if you come back to attack we'll be ready to take those heads of yours!"

Alias gulped and nodded to show that he understood. Alice nodded nonstop like a bobblehead until Alias grabbed the back of her hair to get her to stop. "Yes, your majesty." He finally said, rubbing his neck. He grabbed Alice's hand to run them out of there so they could find these monstrous doppelgangers.

"Alias, how can heartless look like us?" Alice asked inquisitively as they disappeared into another dense forest.