Monstropolis pt1
Monstropolis pt1
A few hours later, the gummiship landed on the new world, taking shelter in what looked like an abandoned warehouse. It was dark out, most likely nighttime, from the lack of seeing a sun in the sky, so at least they landed without being noticed. Now fully rested, Riku and the others disembarked the ship and left the warehouse to examine where they landed. It seemed like they were in an industrial part of some kind of city, not too far away there was a dome shaped building. Riku turned to his friends as they approached the building.
“Let’s see what’s inside,” he said to them, the others nodding in agreement. They headed towards the building—
Wait a second.
Riku froze and quickly turned back to “Aqua” and “Lea”. They all looked at each other for a second longer before they jumped back with cries of shock, summoning their keyblades in defense. “MONSTERS!” they all screamed in union, ready to fight.
But after a few seconds of staring, Riku realized that the two monsters carrying Aqua’s and Lea’s weapons were, in fact, Aqua and Lea themselves. Except, they didn’t look like themselves, at first glance.
Aqua’s skin had turned completely blue and smooth like that of a dolphin, her bodice and shorts having melded with her body to look like patterns instead of clothes. Her half skirt had turned into fins, along with her hair, and her two blue eyes turned into a singular blue eye with black sclera in the center of her face. Out her back Riku could see a three-pointed tail swish back and forth in agitation and a dorsal fin on her back. Her hands and feet had also grown and the fingers and toes sharpened into claws.
Lea – in a way – reminded Riku of the Beast he saw in Hollow Bastion: tall, covered in fur with two horns, deadly claws, and long sharp fangs that pushed past his lips. The differences between them were that Lea’s fur was a fiery red like his natural hair that faded to a bright yellow at the ends and he had a leaner build. He also had a long fluffy tail coming out the back and black stripes on his arms and legs, most of his clothes gone except for his jacket. And it almost seemed like he was taller, possibly because of his long limbs, his hunched back, and animalistic feet.
“Aqua? Lea?” Riku asked them cautiously. He was almost afraid to approach them from how different they looked. At least in Toy Box, they mostly looked like their original selves.
“Riku?” Aqua gasped as she squinted at him, her eye growing wide in shock. “Is that really you?”
“Huh?” Riku examined himself and saw that he, too, had changed into a monster. His whole body was covered in short, soft, gray fur with darker gray scales plating on his chest and stomach, most of his clothes gone except for his jacket, much like Lea. His toes and fingers had been replaced with black claws, and there were dark blue-gray stripes on his legs. He felt around on his head and noticed that his face was also covered in fur, there was a small, pointed horn on his forehead, and his ears had changed into pointed, cat-like ears. He felt something on his back and looked over his shoulder to see a short tail that ended with a fluff of fur, and a small pair of half-bird half-bat wings, reminding him of his old keyblade Way to Dawn. “What kind of world did we end up in this time?” the teen wondered as he flexed his clawed fingers.
“There’s something written on that building,” Lea said as he pointed at the building they had been approaching. Riku turned to see what he had indicated, and there he saw, in big letters, across the building above the entry, ‘We Scare Because We Care’. “That doesn’t sound very nice.”
“We should be careful, then,” Riku said as they walked towards the building. The teen tested one of the doors and saw that it was unlocked. He looked in and saw that it was a type of reception area with a large domed ceiling made of windows and a large map along one of the back walls. The floor had a design with a large M with an eye at the center. Near the reception desk were two more monsters– a large, blue furred one and a short, round, green one– and, a little girl, no older than 4 years old, between them. The blue monster picked the girl up and she squealed.
“That girl is in danger!” Aqua shouted as the three of them ran forward. The blue monster perked up at their voices and turned to see the newcomers.
“Wonder who those guys are?” he said curiously.
“Sully, hurry, we need to hide the K.I.D!” the green monster yelled, dropping to a loud whisper when he got to spelling ‘kid’. The trio saw that the monster had a single large eye that took up most of its body.
“It’s okay, Mike,” the monster– Sully– said with a smile. “We’ve got nothing to hide.” Mike just groaned as he ran up to the trio, who had stopped just a few feet away from them.
“I-it’s not what you think!” Mike shouted, waving his arms at them. Riku cocked his head in confusion as Aqua summoned Master Keeper. “That kid just showed up out of nowhere! We need to contact the CDA to come and—” But, the monster went silent as Aqua pointed her keyblade at him.
“What are you doing, scaring that little girl?” she demanded with a glare.
“Wha—No, we’re done with scare power!” the monster said, waving his arms animatedly. Riku looked back up at the little girl and saw that she wasn’t scared at all. In fact, it looked like she was enjoying herself, watching the monster freaking out as she giggled behind her small hands.
“I think everything’s okay,” Riku said to the blue haired woman as he placed a hand on her shoulder, indicating to the girl as the blue monster set her down. “She seems happy.” Aqua looked up and saw that the girl was okay, smiling brightly as Sully patted her on the head. After a moment she dismissed her keyblade and knelt down, the girl walking up to her curiously.
“Hello,” Aqua said in a soft voice, smiling almost nervously at her in an attempt to not scare her. “What’s your name?”
“Boo!” the girl said with a giggle as she ran up to her, poking her on the cheek. “Mike Wazowski!” Aqua blinked her one eye in confusion while Riku held back a snicker.
“No, Boo!” the green monster said in a strained voice. “I’m Mike Wazows—”
“Mike Wazowski!” the girl, Boo, squealed happily as she ran around Aqua, tripping over her tail only to jump back up with a smile. Now Riku and Lea were both holding back their laughter as they watched Aqua trying to calm the girl down. That must have been when Boo noticed Lea as she stopped at his feet, staring up at the red furred beast in awe.
“Uh, hey there,” Lea said in confusion with a wave of his hand, his tail swishing around slightly.
“Puppy!” Boo squealed as she pointed at Lea, making his large ears perk up in surprise.
Now Riku was clutching his stomach from how hard he was trying not to laugh. Even Aqua was having a bit of a giggle. The blue monster from before chuckled at the display as he approached them.
“I guess Boo likes you,” he said with a big toothy smile. “Well, my name is Sully.” He then pointed to his friend. “And this is—”
“Oh, we know,” Aqua said with a giggle as she stood up, having to look away from Boo grabbing Lea’s tail, yelling “puppy” over and over again while the taller male tried to shake her off without hurting her. “You’re Mike Wazowski, right? My name is Aqua, and they’re Riku and Lea,” she said, pointing out the boys as they waved at them.
Just then Boo saw something that caused her to run and hide behind Sully, letting out small, scared cries.
“What’s wrong, Boo?” Sully asked her with worry. Aqua looked to her in confusion when she suddenly felt a familiar darkness behind her.
“Look out!” Riku shouted as he summoned Braveheart, taking out the Heartless as it jumped at Aqua. Aqua and Lea turned and summoned their keyblades as more Heartless spawned in the lobby area. But, something about these Heartless was different: normally, Shadows had round, black bodies and circular, yellow eyes and slow movements, but these had sharp, angled features with blue bodies, fast irritated movements, and narrowed red eyes. “What kind of Heartless are these?”
“How…” Aqua stammered when she saw the creatures, drawing Riku’s attention to her, seeing her glare so hard it scared him. “How are they back?!”
As she said that, more of them spawned, but when Riku saw the emblem on the largest one he noticed that it wasn’t the usual Heartless emblem.
“Why do these look familiar?” Lea wondered as he took out three smaller ones that tried to charge him, only to be annihilated seconds later.
“Less talking, more fighting!” Riku said as a medium sized one came at him. Behind them, Mike and Sully ran back to the reception desk where Sully placed Boo.
“Stay here, Kitty will be back,” he said with a smile as the little girl took cover. Once she was safe, the two monsters turned around and charged into the battle.
===
Once all of the enemies were taken out, Mike and Sully went to check on Boo while Riku, Aqua, and Lea huddled up.
“So, you two seemed to recognize them,” Riku said as he looked to Aqua and Lea. “What were they?”
“I’m not sure,” Lea said as he crossed his arms in thought. “I just remember seeing them around a lot when I was still living in Radiant Garden, 10 years ago.”
“They are called Unversed,” Aqua said, still glaring as she looked up at the boys. “Unlike the Heartless that are created when a heart falls to darkness, or Nobodies that are created from the empty husk of someone who lost their heart, Unversed are created from the raw negative emotions of others. While the Heartless did appear occasionally 10 years ago, the Unversed were the most dangerous at the time, so my Master had sent Terra and myself to destroy their source.”
“Oh, yeah, I remember now!” Lea said as he snapped his fingers. “Ventus told me and Isa about them when we first met.”
“So, what is the source of the Unversed?” Riku questioned the older woman. Aqua balled her fists tightly as she snarled, baring two rows of very sharp teeth as she did.
“Vanitas,” she spat out with venom in her voice. “That freak is back…”
“Hey, so, who are you guys?” Mike asked as he approached them, drawing their attention to the monster. “And what were those things?” Riku and Lea looked at each other, trying to think of what to say as Aqua was still too pissed to really say anything.
“We came from really far away for a personal mission,” Riku told the monsters. “We normally take out dangerous creatures, such as Heartless and Nobodies, but the Unversed also count. Basically, anything that’s causing trouble that needs special weapons to be dealt with is what we deal with.” He emphasized this by summoning Braveheart again to show them, making the monsters and little girl stare in awe. “As for what they are, you can say they are… creatures, born from negative emotions,” he added, substituting their normal ‘monsters’ explanation for ‘creatures’: calling them by the former would most likely be seen as offensive in this world.
“So, you’re like exterminators?” Sully asked them as he placed Boo back on the ground.
“In simpler terms, yes,” Riku said with a half-smile, relaxing slightly as they accepted his story.
“Well, you did a good job exterminating them,” Sully said with a smile. “They sure gave Boo a scare.” The little girl looked up at Sully with a smile.
“I know it’s been a while since you’ve seen each other, but we need to cancel our play date,” Mike said with a frown to Sully. “It’s just too dangerous for her to be here right now.”
“I know, Mikey,” Sully said with a sad sigh. “Let’s get our girl home.”
“What do you mean?” Aqua asked as she stepped forward. It seemed like she had calmed down enough to talk to the others.
“It’s… kind of a long story, but Boo’s from another world,” Mike said as he looked down at the little girl. “We gotta send her back, to keep her safe.” The three wielders looked to each other before they turned back to the monsters.
“Then, let us help you,” Riku said, Mike and Sully looking at him in surprise. “The Unversed might show up again, so we want to come along to help keep Boo safe.” At the offer the monsters smiled brightly.
“Great!” Mike exclaimed as he held out his hand to the silver haired teen. Riku returned his smile with one of his own as he accepted the handshake, sealing the deal. “We could use a couple of exterminators!”
“Yeah, thanks,” Sully said. Boo also smiled as she giggled up at the monsters. Sully looked down and bared his teeth in a non-threatening way, making the little girl let out a squeal of delight as Sully chased her around the lobby, Mike laughing along. The three wielders chuckled as well as they followed them down a hallway connected to the lobby.
“We also need to find Vanitas,” Aqua said with a glare. “If we want to get rid of the Unversed, we need to deal with him.” Riku looked up at Lea in worry. It was obvious that Aqua would not rest until this Vanitas guy was good and gone.
===
“Gotta send her back home right now, or so help me…” Mike chanted in sing-song as he did a little jig down the hallway, Boo right behind him as she tried to match with his moves with a giggle. Riku, Aqua, and Lea trailed just behind them with Sully, who was telling them about the building they were in.
“So, Monsters Incorporated used to rely on scream power from human kids for energy,” he told the wielders after Riku asked him about the sign outside the building. “But now, we collect their laughter, instead. Turns out, laughs are ten times more powerful than screams.” The blue monster looked down at the little girl in front of him, who smiled up at him before running after Mike as he entered the Laugh Floor. “And we’d have never figured it out without Boo.”
“Huh,” Riku remarked as he watched Sully follow the little girl. “Too bad Sora isn’t here: he could provide you with enough laughs to power the city for years.” Aqua and Lea chuckled in agreement, making Riku smirk slightly.
“Who’s Sora?” Sully asked the teen, with a cocked brow. At the question Riku’s smirk was replaced with a small frown.
“He’s a really close friend of mine… You could say he got into trouble because of some dangerous people, and he ran away, thinking it was the right thing to do. We’ve been traveling around trying to find him.”
“And your travels brought you here?” Sully asked him, Riku replying with a nod. “Well, I haven’t seen anyone new around here besides you guys, but the factory is pretty big. We’ll help keep an eye out for him, as thanks for helping us get Boo back to her room.”
“Thanks,” Riku said, his smile back. “So, how do we go about getting Boo home?”
“To do that, we—“
But, before Sully could explain the process, they heard a loud scream. When they looked up they had entered a large room with desks lining one wall, and contraptions that had doors attached to them along the other, new ones being brought in via hanging rails from above. The cause for the screams were multiple Unversed running in and out of the doors, and to their realization, the screams were that of children being frightened by them.
“They’re back!” Aqua shouted as she summoned her keyblade, running ahead before Riku and Lea had time to react. Sully ran forward and picked up Boo, who was hiding behind Mike in fear while the smaller monster protected her.
“There’s Boo’s door!” Mike shouted as he pointed up at a white door covered in flower decals being carried away on the rail. Mike ran ahead to help the wielders fight the Unversed while Sully took Boo to a far away desk, away from the battle.
“You need to stay here and hide,” he told the little girl calmly as she hid under the desk. Once she was out of sight the blue monster let out a growl as he charged into the fight.
===
When the Unversed were defeated, Sully ran to check up on Boo, Mike shuffling around the desks looking for something, and the wielders huddled up again to check for damages. Mike then ran to three of the contraptions and swiped the card readers on each one with different cards, tossing them to the side when he was done. A moment later, three doors came down the rail and were brought down onto the contraptions with long, metal arms from the floor.
“We can use the doors to reach the vault,” Mike said with a smile as Sully joined them, Boo in his arms. “Just grab on when you’re ready.” Riku looked back at Aqua and Lea curiously before he approached the door.
“Like this?” he said as he jumped up and grabbed the edge of the door, feet holding him up.
“Yup!” Mike then pressed a button and the arm from before pushed the door up, attaching it to the railing. Aqua and Lea followed his example and held onto the second door tightly as Mike sent it up before running to grab onto Sully’s tail, his door already going up. Once they were on the railing, the doors were pulled along and they disappeared into a hole in the wall.
As they were taken away towards the vault, they missed a purple lizard monster watching them from the shadows of the Laugh Floor.
===
After going through a long tunnel, they ended up in a massive chamber filled with thousands of doors, the wielders staring in awe as the rail pulled them along. There were multiple railings pulling along doors everywhere, on and off the walls on both sides of them, where the walls of doors reached up multiple stories.
“There it is!” Mike shouted, pointing out Boo’s door again. However, the door was switched over to another rail while the monsters went the opposite direction, the wielders shouting as they ended up flying through the air when the railing took them down. They quickly jumped off the doors and landed on one of multiple platforms scattered around the massive chamber. When everyone was on the platform, Mike looked around and saw a door propped against a nearby wall. He ran up to it and opened it, but there was nothing on the other side except the wall. He groaned when he saw that the light on top of the door frame was off. “It’s offline,” he said as he closed the door. “We need laughter to turn it on, then we can use it and other similar doors to get around the factory quicker.”
“Interesting,” Aqua said as she rubbed her chin, looking around the vast chamber of doors. “So, you just need laughs to make it work?”
“Yup, but Boo’s specifically,” Sully said as he approached them, Boo still in his arms. “While any form of laughter can get a few doors up and running, the laughter of a human child would be able to run the whole factory easily for a few hours.” Aqua nodded as she smiled at Boo, making her giggle slightly.
Suddenly, several Unversed spawned at the other end of the platform. When Boo saw them she cried in fear, holding onto Sully tightly as he backed away from the creatures. Mike and the three wielders got in front of them, weapons in hand. They needed to keep her- and her guardian- safe from the Unversed.
“Once we take these guys out, we need to find a way to make Boo laugh!” Mike stated as they charged forward and attacked the Unversed.
While fighting the Unversed they were thankful none of the larger ones spawned, but, they were at least smart enough to realize that Sully was the most vulnerable, as he was trying to protect Boo. Because of this, he was constantly surrounded by them and the others kept having to take them out and force them back. Due to their help, Boo seemed to lighten up and did not seem as scared as when they first appeared.
They were now reduced to only a couple smaller Unversed which were huddled up together at one side of the platform while the three wielders and monsters were on the opposite.
“We just have a few left!” Mike exclaimed with a pump of his fists. Lea looked down at the monster when he suddenly had an idea, making him smirk in a way that showed off his large canines.
“I have an idea,” he said as he reached down and grabbed Mike, the green monster looking around in confusion. The others looked over curiously as Lea lifted him up in the air with one hand, holding him like a large ball.
“W-wait, what are you—“ Mike shouted before he let out a scream as Lea bowled him, causing the monster to roll into the Unversed, sending them over the edge of the platform to their demise while Mike came to a stop. His eye rolled around in his head, dizzy from rolling around without warning. Everyone stared in disbelief while Lea smirked and Boo let out a loud squeal of laughter, clapping her hands.
Her laughter was enough to activate the door right behind them, and around a hundred other doors lining the walls as the little lights on the frames glowed red.