Kingdom Hearts: Pixar

“…and that’s all I know about the Organization,” finished Riku. “So, can you uncuff me now?”
“Judy,” said Elsa, obvious what she wanted. Judy sighed and uncuffed Riku. “So, they need children, right?”
“Yeah,” said Riku. “But they seem to be specific ones. They only appear in Fixed Points. They must have some bearing on the timestream, connect to it somehow.”
“What do we know about the Fixed Points?” asked Rapunzel. “Maybe there’s something in it that we’ve missed.”
“Well, we’re in the year 2007,” said Elsa. “But that last mission you went to 2009…”
“Muntz’s dogs were pretty hostile to anyone that wasn’t Muntz,” said Riku. “Well, Dug wasn’t…”
“Arlo was scared of Spot,” said Sora. “Mor’du attacked Merida. Marlin didn’t like humans. Could there be a war between humans and animals?”
“They were getting intelligent,” agreed Riku. “Perhaps animals eventually evolve to a point where they can fight back against humans who hate them…”
“NO! Animals wouldn’t hurt humans,” interrupted Linguini. Everyone looked at him, confused. “I mean, I don’t think they would. I…think I’ll go.” Linguini turned to go, fixing his hat as he went. Sora thought he saw a thin pink strip, like a rat’s tail, poking out from under his hat, but when he looked again it was gone.
“If I may interject?” said Ace. “There was a war between the humans and animals, though it was a long time before I was born.”
“And when were you born?” asked Riku.
“Me? I’m from the 29th century,” said Ace.
“And when did that war happen?” asked Sora.
“Near the end of the 21st century, a bit at the start of the 22nd,” said Judy. “Animals would have won, but the humans had machines to help them. However, they made too many, and the pollution made it impossible for them to live on Earth, so they left, and didn’t come back until the 29th century. Even then though, there weren’t that many.”
“Wait, the end of the 21st century?” asked Hiro. “I’m from the mid-21st century. We’re gonna destroy the planet soon?”
“That’s what happened,” said Ace. “Sorry buddy. I’m sure you wouldn’t have done anything like that, but that’s what happens.”
“I build robots and machines…” said Hiro. “I might have…”
“Don’t worry about it Hiro,” said Sora. “Maybe it wasn’t yours that did it. And hey, maybe you can make good robots that don’t cause problems.”
Hiro smiled at that. “You’re right,” said Hiro. “In fact, I’ve been working on a good robot. I’ll let you meet him when he’s finished.”
“Yak, yak, yak,” interrupted Edna. “We’re forgetting something much more important here. The boy hero has a new keyblade.”
“Yeah, I was wondering about that,” said Sora. “Do you think it’s any stronger than my last one?”
“We’ll find out soon,” said Lewis, looking up from his computer. “We’ve got a Fixed Point, though this one’s really weird.”
“Being a toy in some kid’s room weird?” asked Sora.
“No, weirder,” said Lewis. “It’s…inside someone’s head.”
“…what?” asked Sora and Riku in unison.
“I don’t get it either,” said Lewis. “But we better get going. Not only is the Organization there, but I think I found Kairi too.”
“Kairi?” asked Sora. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go.”

“Here we are,” said Lewis, floating above a vast labyrinth of shelves full of some kind of orbs. “I’m not sure what’s going on though, so…good luck.”
“We’ll do our best,” said Riku, jumping out of the time machine, Sora right behind him.
“So, where do we start?” asked Sora. Just as he asked, they two boys heard some screaming coming from just outside the maze.
“That sounds like as good a place as any,” said Riku, heading out to see what was happening. The two boys exited the maze to see two odd looking people lying on the ground. One was tall, thin, and seemed to be glowing yellow. The other was shorter, chubby, and blue. Scattered around them were a bunch of the orbs from the shelves.
“Oh, this is bad. This is very, very bad,” said the blue one.
“You could say that,” said the yellow one, gathering up the orbs. “Or…we could think of it as a team building exercise. Or an adventure. Isn’t that great?”
“I guess…” said the blue one. “But those are Riley’s Core Memories. Without them, Riley can’t do anything. We need to get them back to Headquarters.”
“Hey, do you guys need help?” asked Sora, running up to the pair.
“Huh? Who are you?” asked the yellow one.
“I’m Sora, and this is Riku,” said Sora. “And we’re here to…”
“Help us get back to Headquarters,” finished Joy. “That’s perfect. I mean, I’ve never heard of a Sora or a Riku, but that must be your function, right Sadness?”
“I don’t know,” said Sadness. “I don’t remember them from the manuals. Maybe they’re some kind of disease or something.”
“What? No, we’re not a disease,” said Sora. “We’re here because there might be someone very evil around here.”
“So, you’re some kind of white-blood cell?” asked Joy. “Perfect. You can help us get back to Headquarters while you’re looking for the disease. Come on.” Joy then began running towards the entrance to the maze.
“But Joy, that’s long-term memory,” said Sadness. “We’ll never find our way out of there.”
“You read the manuals, right?” asked Joy. “You know your way through, don’t you?”
“Well, yeah,” said the blue one. “But…”
“No buts. Let’s go,” said Joy, disappearing around a corner.
“Is she always like this?” asked Riku, following her with the others.
“She is Riley’s happiness,” explained Sadness. “And we’re meant to be in Headquarters controlling Riley’s actions. Without us, she can only be angry, scared, or disgusted.”
“What about the Core Memories?” asked Sora.
“They’re the main components of Riley’s personality,” replied Sadness. “Without them, Riley has no personality.”
Riku thought about this for a moment. “I need to get up there,” he eventually said.
“What? How?” asked Sadness. “If you try to get over there, you could fall into the Memory Dump, and there’s no getting out of there.”
“But someone needs to guide her,” said Riku. “I’m going.” Riku turned back to the cliff, and ran onto a platform extending out from it. The platform had a large statue of two adults hugging a young girl in the middle of it. Coming off the end was a tube of some kind, linking up to the floating Headquarters.

“Good luck Riku,” said Sora, turning back to Joy and Sadness. Behind them, he noticed something odd. “Guys, there’s some weird pink thing over there.”
Joy looked over to where he was pointing. “Hey, I know him…” she said, before clicking her fingers. “That’s it, it’s Bing Bong.” Joy immediately ran over to him.
“Bing Bong?” asked Sora, following her.
“Riley’s imaginary friend,” said Sadness. “He’s part elephant, part cat, part cotton candy.”
“Bing Bong,” called Joy, catching up to the pink monster.
Bing Bong looked up to see the group approaching. “Oh, hey there,” said the strange creature. “Finally, someone who isn’t a weird shadowy thing.”
Sora stopped in his tracks. “Weird shadowy thing?” he asked. “There are Heartless here?”
“Is that what they’re called?” asked Bing Bong. “I didn’t know they had a name. I just went up to one and touched it, then it died.”
“It died…when you touched it?” asked Sora, confused.
“Yeah, like so,” said Bing Bong, walking past Sora. The group turned around to see a large group of Heartless behind them. Sora drew his keyblade, but before he could do anything Bing Bong patted one of the Heartless on the head, and it disappeared, like when Sora cut them down with his keyblade. “See? Easy.”
“Hey, I wanna try,” said Joy, running forward before Sora could stop her. She began tapping Heartless on the head, killing them.
“Are these things the disease you were looking for?” asked Sadness.
“Part of it,” said Sora, cutting down a Heartless. “But normally they’re tougher than this.”
“So they don’t normally die when someone touches them?” asked Sadness, touching one of the Heartless. The Heartless didn’t die; in fact it actually got bigger.
“No, but they don’t normally do that either,” said Sora, taking on the big Heartless.

Riku ran across the platform known as Family Island, and jumped onto the tube leading up from it to the Headquarters. Carefully, the silver-haired boy climbed along the tube, moving as fast as he could without falling. It seemed to take an age, but he reached the floating building. Before he could fall, Riku cut a hole in the wall and jumped through. Inside were three figures like Joy and Sadness, except one was solidly built and red, one was skinny and purple, and one was slender and green.
“Oh no, INTRUDER!” yelled the purple one, hiding behind the green one.
“Be quiet Fear,” said the green one. “So, who are you?”
“I’m Riku,” said Riku. “I just met your friends Joy and Sadness, and they think…”
“You saw them?” asked Fear. “Great, they must be on their way back then, right?”
“Well, they’re trying,” said Riku. “In the meantime, I was going to try and keep things in order up here.”
“You?!” demanded the red one. “What makes you think you can handle this?”
“Well, I just thought…” started Riku.
“You think you can just waltz in here and run the show?” the red guy snapped, his head looking like it was going to explode.
“Anger, calm down,” said the green one.
“I can’t calm down Disgust, I’m literally Anger,” said Anger. “Besides, those jerks in long-term have sent that stupid gum commercial up here three times today…” As he was speaking, a memory orb came into the room and started playing a really catchy jingle. Anger’s head suddenly exploded in fames (literally).
“Guys, I need to…” started Riku, when something caught his attention on a screen at the front of the room.
“Oh, it’s that girl we met the other day. What do we do?” asked Fear. The other two emotions looked up at the screen and wondered what to do about the auburn haired girl. Riku could only whisper a single word.
“Kairi…”

“…and that’s the last of them,” said Sora, finishing off the final Heartless. “But I still don’t understand how you two can kill them with a single touch.”
“And why I make them stronger,” moped Sadness.
“You still don’t understand, do you?” came a cocky voice Sora remembered well (and not just because he was asked to). Sora turned around to see Axel jump down from the top of the memory shelves.
“I take it this is the disease you’re after?” said Joy.
“Yep,” said Sora, guarding the others. “Stand back. He won’t go down with a touch.”
“Now that’s just rude,” smirked Axel. “And just when I was about to explain what feeds those Heartless.”
“And why would you want to help me?” asked Sora, not letting his guard down.
“Because why wouldn’t I want to help my little buddy Roxas?” asked Axel.
“Who?” asked Sora, confused. “I’m Sora, not Roxas.”
“Sure, whatever you say kid,” said Axel dismissively. “When you’re ready to accept my help, come find me. Just think what those two have that the other doesn’t, and you’ll have yourself a clue to what Kingdom Hearts is.” A dark portal opened behind Axel, which he disappeared through before Sora could question him further.
“What’s that even mean?” yelled Sora after him, then sighed in defeat.
“What does he mean by that?” asked Joy. “Is Riley in trouble?”
“I don’t know…” said Sora. “That guy is from an evil Organization that’s been kidnapping children…”
“Oh no, Riley’s only eleven,” gasped Sadness. “She’s gonna get kidnapped too.”
“But surely they can’t do that from inside her head,” said Sora. “Unless…you haven’t seen an auburn haired girl recently have you?”
“Oh, you mean Kairi?” asked Joy. “Yeah, Riley met her about a week ago.”
“Met? As in, Kairi was out there?” asked Sora.
“Is that bad?” asked Bing Bong.
“Very bad,” said Sora. “I need to get out there and help her.”
“Quickly, through Imagination Land,” said Bing Bong, running towards what looked like an amusement park. “Put the Core Memories in my bag. We can catch the Train of Thought straight to Headquarters.”

“What do we do? What do we do?” asked Fear. “Riley can’t feel happy without Joy, and Kairi’s bound to notice something’s up.”
“Well, one of us has to do something,” said Disgust.
“Okay…” started Fear. “You do it.” Fear stepped back and pushed Disgust in front of the control panel.
“What?” said Disgust, before sighing and pushing a random button.
“Oh, hi Kairi,” said Riley, sounding a bit snarky.
“What was that?” demanded Fear. “That wasn’t a happy greeting.”
“Maybe because I’m not Joy,” said Disgust. “Honestly, if you think it’s so easy, you do it.” Disgust stepped away from the console, waving Fear forward.
“Riley, are you okay?” asked Kairi, looking concerned. “You don’t seem yourself.”
Fear covered his eyes, and picked a random button. “I’m fine, I guess,” said Riley, sounding unsure.
“See? Not easy, is it?” said Disgust, smiling smugly.
“Okay, you two had your chance,” said Anger, stepping forward and cracking his knuckles. “Let me show you how it’s done.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” asked Kairi, putting an arm around her friend’s shoulder.
Riley slapped Kairi’s hand away. “I’m fine, okay?” snapped Riley.
Kairi stepped back in shock. “Riley, what’s gotten into you?” she asked. “Your mood is all over the place…” Suddenly Kairi’s face lit up, like she’d gotten an idea. “Oh, I think I know. Are you…becoming a woman?”
“No, that’s not it,” said Riku. “Wait, she isn’t, is she?”
“What are you talking about?” asked Disgust. Riku leaned in next to her and whispered something. “What? Eww. Nonononono. No. That hasn’t happened.”
“What did he…” started Fear.
“Don’t ask,” said Disgust. “Anger, give the kid the controls.”
“Why? I’m doing great, aren’t I?” said Anger. “She’s with her friend. Doesn’t that make her happy?”
“Yeah, when Joy’s at the controls,” said Disgust. “Move over. I have an idea.”

“There’s the train,” called Joy, running to the station. “Sora, what are you doing?”
“If this is Imagination Land…” Sora said to himself. “Does that mean I can imagine anything, and it’ll just…” Suddenly, an eggplant appeared in front of him.
“Of all the things you could have imagined, why that?” asked Bing Bong.
“It’s for a friend of mine,” said Sora, picking up the eggplant.
“Come on guys, the train’s leaving,” said Sadness, jumping onto the train after Joy as it started moving. Bing Bong and Sora ran after it, climbing on as the train picked up speed.
“Here we go,” said Sora, starting to relax, when he shot up again. “HEARTLESS!” Behind them, Heartless had started to appear, and were chasing the train.
“Don’t worry, the tracks of the Train of Thought disappear behind it,” said Bing Bong. “They’ll never catch up.” As he said this, there was a thud from the roof of the train. “Of course, if they get on top of the train, that could be a problem.”
Sora sprung to action immediately. “I’m going up there,” said Sora. “We need to get you to Headquarters.”
“I’m coming too,” said Joy.
“No you’re not,” said Sora sternly. “Riley needs you too much. Stay in the train, get back to Headquarters. Don’t argue.”
“What about me?” asked Bing Bong. “I can get rid of those things with a single touch. Plus, Riley’s so big now. I don’t think she needs an imaginary friend like me anymore.”
“Bing Bong…” started Joy.
“So long Joy,” said Bing Bong, flinging himself onto a ladder on the side of the train. “Take Riley to the moon for me, okay?” Without looking back, Bing Bong climbed on top of the train.
“Guess he’s coming with me,” said Sora. “Sadness, don’t let Joy out of your sight.” Sadness just saluted as Sora disappeared from the two emotion’s view. “Let’s do this,” he said, jumping into action as he saw the large Heartless with a bunch of smaller Heartless atop the train.

“Riley, I know you’re going through a tough time right now,” said Kairi. “You’ve just moved to a new city, you don’t know anyone, and now you’re having these mood swings. Believe me, I wasn’t much better when it happened to me.”
“That’s not what’s happening Kairi, I swear,” said Riley, blushing a little in embarrassment.
“Oh?” said Kairi, a hint of relief in her voice. “Then what’s bothering you? You’re not your usual cheerful self today.”
“I don’t know,” admitted Riley. “It’s like, I don’t know, my joy is gone, I guess. But I don’t really feel sad either. I don’t know, it’s weird.”
“I get it, you’re stressed,” said Kairi. “Look, you know you can talk to me about anything. If there’s anything I can do, you know I’ll keep a secret.”
“You better,” said Riley, giggling a little. “Remember how I first found you? On the beach, wearing nothing…”
“Hey, I told you, I’d been lost at sea for a while,” said Kairi, punching the younger girl in the arm before pulling her into a hug.
Up in Headquarters, Disgust, Anger, and Fear were watching as Riku managed to get Riley to show a bit of happiness. “How is he doing that?” demanded Anger.
“Because he hasn’t lost his Joy,” explained Disgust. “I took a gamble that maybe he could project some level of happiness until Joy got back.”
“Speaking of which, I think she’s nearly here,” said Fear, looking out the window. “It looks like she’s on the Train of Thought. Except…does anyone know what those shadowy creatures are?”
“Shadowy creatures?” said Riku, joining him at the window. Following Fear’s gaze, he saw Sora and Bing Bong fighting a large Heartless on top of the incoming train. “Oh no…” Riku quickly ran back to the controls to see Kairi looking alarmed.
“What is it?” Riley asked.
“Trouble,” said Kairi, pushing her friend behind her to face a man with blue hair wearing a long black robe.

“Take this, and this, and some of this,” said Bing Bong, grabbing the giant Heartless, which seemed to be hurting it. However, that didn’t stop it from grabbing Bing Bong around the neck and slamming him into the ground, before kicking him across the roof of the train. The smaller Heartless, seeing he was down, took the opportunity to attack the cat-elephant.
“BING BONG!” yelled Sora, blocking a blow from the large Heartless, before slicing off its arm. Sora ran to his wounded friend’s aid, clearing away Heartless as he went.
“Sora,” wheezed Bing Bong. “Will you…do everything to help Riley?”
“Of course,” said Sora.
“Good,” coughed Bing Bong. “Because I’m not giving up that easy.” As he spoke, a glowing ball floated out of him and into Sora’s hand. “Take it. Call me…if you need a hand.” Sora took the ball, and Bing Bong disappeared.
Sora wiped away a tear, then turned his attention back to the Heartless. “Joy! Sadness! Get ready to jump,” called Sora. The Heartless began to make his way towards the edge of the train, so Sora pointed his keyblade at him. “BLIZZAGA!” A powerful blast of ice froze the Heartless in place as Joy and Sadness jumped across to Headquarters. As the train went past, Sora walked up to the Heartless and shattered it with a swing from his keyblade.

“Back off Zexion,” said Kairi. “Riley, run.” Riley looked between her friend and the strange man she was facing. “DO IT!” This got Riley’s attention, and she began to run away. Zexion smirked, and summoned a bunch of Heartless to block her path. Riley screamed in fear and fell backwards, crawling back to Kairi.
“Don’t bother trying to save her,” said Zexion, opening a dark portal. “She’s coming with me.” Zexion clicked his fingers, and the Heartless grabbed Riley. Riley tried to fight against the monsters, but she was no match for the Heartless.
“Hang on Riley,” said Kairi, summoning her keyblade and swiping at the monsters. As she did, the monsters and Riley disappeared, like they were never there. “What the…” Kairi looked around, only to see Riley disappearing through the dark portal, carried by the Heartless. “NOOO!”
“I told you not to try and save her,” said Zexion. “And now, we have another…” Before he could finish that sentence, something red shot out of the portal and embedded itself in Zexion’s back. Zexion gasped in shock, but that was it. He was dead before he could hit the ground.
Kairi looked at the object that had struck the fatal blow to Zexion: a red Chakram. “Wait a sec…” she said, remembering where she’d seen one of them before. She looked up to see someone she didn’t expect grinning at her.

Inside Riley’s head, things had gotten a bit shaky. “What’s going on out there?” asked Sora, trying to hang on to the Train of Thought.
“Riley’s been captured,” came a voice above him. Sora looked up to see Lewis flying up to him in the time machine. “Quick, get in.”
“What about Riku?” asked Sora, holding out his hand for Lewis to take.
“There’s no time,” said Lewis, grabbing Sora’s hand and pulling him up. “This place is freezing up. They’re putting Riley into some kind of stasis. We have to go now.”
As the two boys left, Sora’s only thoughts were on the boy they were leaving behind. Where was Riku? And would he be okay?