Max Goof's Story

The Gambler that had been watching traverse town, had just came back to Paintrix telling that two potential targets had been seen destroying heartless a human keyblader and a dog with a shield. It couldn’t be that dog could it he thought he was lost with the keyblade masters, but that wasn’t the main problem for him it was they had gone to the worst place for him they could Xanri had been seen by one of his gamblers at that shop earlier. He would have to put his plan into working as fast as he could. He found black hair dye, after that he opened a door to the darkness and went through.

As he entered the first district heading to an alley close to the shop where the keyblader was and ditched his organization cloak underneath were clothes that made him look like the seventeen year old human he was before he became the Nobody he was today. “Let see if anyone recognizes me without his cloak” he said then got into character, he got in to character, summoned some shadow soldiers and large bodies commanding them to chase him like they someone with a heart, then ran down the street screaming “someone help, there’s some heartless after me, any one help” he stopped at the shop and slammed his fists on the door, and yelled “ help, help you can’t leave me to die, don’t let them get me, don’t let them turn me.”

It was half an hour before Curfew when they heard the flap of their Uncle Scrooge's feet on the pavement and the methodical tapping of the cane he didn't really need. He opened the door and kicked it shut behind him, turning a beaming smile on his nephews.

"Uncle!" They chorused as they dove towards him. They danced around him, all speaking at once.

"That was a close call-"

"You almost didn't make it-"

"Why do you keep leaving-"

"We really wish you would stop and-"

"Enough, enough!" He barked, surprised. "What's all this about then?"

"Nothing!" They all said at more or less the same time, after trading wary glances.

"I'm off to me bed then. Shop's closed, so you should get some sleep too," He said cheerfully as he waddled up the stairs, dismissing their worried greetings. As usual.

"Maybe we should tell him..." This was Huey.

"No!" Dewey shouted, and then he added, "You heard what she said! We have to convince him to stop going... you know. Away."

"Someone's at the door!" Louie said, pointing at the two figures right as they entered the shop. The three ducklings dove behind the counter in a belated attempt to hide... maybe they thought it would discourage them, who knows.

They had a whispered conversation behind the counter that was audible, but not nearly loud enough to be understood, pretty much discussing their options... of which they had very little.

Huey popped his head up from behind the counter and glared at Max and the... stranger. "What are you doing here?!" No doubt this demanding tone would come off as surprising, he was usually happy to see Max. They all thought he was cool.

Dewey jumped onto the counter again. "Yeah! If you keep going out past curfew you're gonna get caught!"

Louie said warily, pointing rather rudely at Eli, "Who's this guy? He's not a stranger is he? You're even worse than our Uncle! You might get caught!"

"You never know what those stupid Org people have up their sleeve!" Dewey swiftly agreed. "They manipulate people into being their spies. I bet they even blackmail them."

"I have to make sure the door is locked," Huey said suddenly, and darted into the small foyer that separated the entrance from the main shop.
Huey would do as they had been forced to do. He would alert the pale creature. But maybe while he was doing that, his brothers could drop a hint or two towards Max and his friend. They didn't want to help the Organization oppress the worlds.

But someone was pounding on the door, begging for help.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Stop!" That commanding, ringing tone would've frozen a stampeding herd of elephants in it's tracks, it was no less effective on the Shadow and Knight Heartless that danced and tottered after a diminutive figure in a black coat.

The Heartless froze and amazingly, the figure threw a hand out and summoned an unmistakable Keyblade.

"You!" Xanri spat at the figure... the King. Then she smiled, flicked her ponytail over her shoulder, and said serenely, "To whom do I owe this honor? Not only are you out past curfew, but you are a fugutive of the Organization... obviously you're trying to get my attention. Silly little mouse."

The "Silly little mouse" tilted his head at her, features concealed by the hood, and then sprang forward faster than she had expected. The small handful of Heartless disappeared with one swift blow from the Keyblade. Then he ran.

"Where are you going?!" She snarled, and raced after him. He rounded a corner with her close on his heels. He stopped when the alley came to an end but she only sped up, her weapon coming to life in her clenched fist in a burst of unearthly blue flames. It made a metallic chink as she extended the blade...

But the King had disappeared.

Expression suddenly wiped clean, she stared coolly at the space where the mouse had disappeared, the tear between worlds already closing up. He'd gone to Beast's Castle. But she was sure he wouldn't be there by the time she followed him. She dismissed her weapon and stalked out of the alley like an angry cat, daring anyone to be out past curfew.

One of her Nobodies, the Desert Knight, was waiting for her on the main street, and when she heard the news he had to offer, her serene, condescending smile returned.

"Maybe my time here hasn't been a total waste after all," She murmurred, stepping into a darkness portal that would lead straight to Scrooge's shop.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"You should be a little more careful, ya know," A high, friendly voice remarked.

Should Gard turn to look, he would find the same tiny, black-coated figure that had advised him in the first place.

"The worlds are crawling with Heartless and Nobodies. The Organization will be here in a heartbeat if one of those creatures see ya with a Keyblade."

King Mickey waved at the boy without waiting for a reply, and broke into a run, disappearing into the forest surrounding the castle.

There was someone waiting on him in a small village nearby, someone who might be able to help him find what he was looking for. He could not afford to walk the Keybearers through their trials... and besides, it was their journey. Their test of strength. He would help them in anyway he could, but he wouldn't interfere directly.

Paintrix looked at this dog, he was too young to be that dog, but he was smarter then he looked. “the names Patrick King, I woke up in some alley earlier, before that I was in the city called Kaua'I in Hawaii, a friend of mine Jimmy had this thing he called a keyblade, then there was this midget in a black cloak that disappeared in a portal of darkness after talking to my friend I didn’t see his face and after I came in then he ran off pretty quick. A few days later those things that were chasing me appeared and my friend called them heartless, he and this blue dog fought them it was weird he had like an extra pair of arms and was tossing cars all over the place, and then finally everything went black and I woke up here. is that enough info for you, now I have a question for you, where did you get that dog mask?” Paintrix smiled. That story was true enough his real name, a real world, a true person from that world; if the mouse had visited this kid then he might let something slip. If this kid led him to this worlds keyhole then so be it he could destroy it.

"I didn't say you were a spy!" Huey looked earnest and absolutely apalled by the thought.

"Y-you have a keyblade?" Dewey squeaked in horror, turning wide eyes on Eli.

And of course, they forgot just about everything when the keyblade came into view. They scrambled over to Eli and began to all talk at once about how cool it was.

"Wait! We can't do this!" Huey whispered to his brothers, as the stranger introduced himself and poured out his story. If anyone happened to glance over, they'd see that the three brothers looked deeply ashamed and troubled.

Dewey heard the last comment and stamped his foot at the newer stranger. "It's not a dog mask!"

"What's a heartless?" Louie asked.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?!" Huey tossed at the guy, less swift to believe him than the other. The guy seemed pretty calm for someone who was screaming for help a couple minutes ago.

"He isn't telling the truth... not that it matters," A sultry-sweet voice intoned from the door of the shop.

Xanri sauntered in, shooting Paintrix a poisonous smile that promised horrible revenge for daring to get in her way. "Really, Paintrix? Is that the best you can do?" She rose an eyebrow, smile widening. " I suppose I don't blame you, these hero types aren't very intelligent. They'll believe anyone who cries hard enough. By the way, black really isn't your color."

All the sudden it seemed as if she'd lost interest in Paintrix completely. Like a hostess at a dinner party, she took inventory of her guests. Her penetrating gaze swung towards Eli first, the one who held the Keyblade. Recognition lit her eyes up with a sly inner light and she graced him with a smile that was blinding in its insincerity and overwhelming in it's arrogance. She settled back against the wall and folded her arms, as if prepared to engage in polite conversation.

"How rude of me, I didn't even introduce myself," She gave a reserved little laugh that held genuine mirth. "My name is Xanri and yes, if you haven't figured it out already, I'm from the Organization. It's so nice to meet you. What is your name, little Keybearer? It won't make a difference in the end, but I'd like to know."

With hardly a pause she turned a little smirk on Max, one eyebrow going up. "And you look so familiar." She narrowed her eyes at him as if that would jostle her memory. "Well, no matter. You should really learn your proper place, dog." Her pleasant, conversational tone gained a razor sharp edge as she uttered the last word.

She paused, then said, as if she couldn't help it, "You really do look familiar. But younger. Perhaps it was another of your type that I ran across... he wasn't very smart. You're certainly following in his footsteps, allying yourself with this abomination."

She paused again, tilting her head as if considering something. And all the sudden she looked bored. "Our little conversation is amusing, but I do have orders. My orders are to erase the lot of you... we can't have you destroying our army of Heartless, you see. However... it would be a waste of my time to deal with you, and there would certainly be poetic justice in allowing you to be destroyed by the very creatures you're waging war against..."

She laughed again and took several steps backward out of the shop as tiny little portals sprang up inside it and Shadows exploded into existence everywhere. They filled the shop and hopped out the windows to surround it, mindlessly retreating, attacking, and circling the area, as if they just didn't know what to do. The two would be forced to leave the shop to have enough room to fight the Shadows off, and Xanri herself would be leaning against the outer wall of the shop to watch the fight. They should be able to take out Shadow heartless easy enough, and it would help her keep track of the Keybearer's progress.

(I was a little uncertain about this post guys. If you find anything wrong with it or anything you don't like, do let me know and I'll fix it.)

Paintrix’s plan fell though as soon as he heard that voice, he guessed he deserved it, but this idea she had was like sacrificing a queen for a pawn, he would of had their trust in five more minutes, he could of done so much as a member of their group. Well they weren’t the only keyblader and companion in the worlds, but like any good gamer he one more card to play. “Well the jig is up yes I’m a member of the organization, blah blah blah, my master plans are ruined. But I have some offers for you Shield-Dog, I’m holding these heartless back right now, but as soon as I leave, they will attack and this offer will be off the table. I know the place an older Shield-Dog is protecting, come with me I’ll tell you everything I know I’ll even help you free him from his prison; and you keyblader join us there is much we could do with your help, you wouldn’t have to run; even you small ducks I’ll save you from these heartless just give me all the info you know about the king, rebellious factions, and other keybladers to me. But this offer is only good till I count to three hundred in my head, then I leave and I’ll leave some of my heartless to play with you.”

Xanri smirked as Paintrix went on sarcastically about how his plans had been ruined. She would've enjoyed anger more, since that's what she'd been going for by blowing his cover, but she had to give him points for taking it all in stride.

"Honestly Paintrix," She sighed, absolutely disdainful as he started to bargain with the two. She knew it wouldn't last long... and she was right. Her little Shadows were in just large enough numbers to be slightly overwhelming, and they'd forced the two warriors outside and surrounded them.

She stood on the outside of the ring of Shadows, arms folded, her probably irritating, self-satisfied smirk planted on her features as Max refused Paintrix's offer.

"Good call, Max!" She approved. The fact that she knew his name was a world of meaning... at least to him anyway. It implied she knew a lot more about him -or possibly his family- than either he or Paintrix had realized.

"He's obviously lying. I may be manipulative, but at least I'm honest about it. Remember that." She flashed them a vampiric smile and waited for the telltale puffs of smoke and floating hearts that indicated destroyed Heartless. She'd take her leave at that point and watch from a distance.
However, Eli didn't seem to be fighting. She frowned as a clearly magical orange glow emanated from him, wondering what he was playing at. She didn't recognize the spell, if it in fact it was one. Her startled gaze belatedly followed the blurry trail of the two warriors as they disappeared into a tear in the worlds.

Why hadn't he even attempted to destroy the Heartless? Did he know something? Was he simply a coward? Or perhaps he had simply been impulsive. There was a lot of that going around lately. Speaking of which...

She turned to glance at Paintrix, ponytail swinging and a surprisingly ugly look on her face. It smoothed into a Cheshire Cat grin and she said lazily, and a little too sweetly, "Well, I'm going to go write my report. What are you going to write, Paintrix? We technically didn't fail, but we certainly didn't accomplish anything beyond what we were ordered to do."

Her pleasant, mildly sultry tone gained an acidic undercurrent as she turned a mock-curious look on him. "Of course, I was only going for an introduction. I really have no idea what you were trying to do." She pretended to think for a minute. "Unless you were being predictable and mindless to make them lower their guard. How very clever of you!" Her smile was brilliant despite the sarcasm.

She laughed. She knew that if the Organization members had any real emotions at all, she would've been lynched by the lot of them a long time ago for being so obnoxious. But antagonizing people was the closest link she had to any kind of emotion and it was hard not to antagonize people who were less ruthless, less clever. If ever she found an equal, she would certainly give them the respect they deserved. So far, she hadn't been impressed.

"Oh, that reminds me," She said suddenly, all business. A couple Desert Knights poofed into existence before her and she pointed at them, then waved in the vague direction that the Tear had appeared in. "Go find the keyblade warrior and the shield dog. One of you report back to me, the other should follow them discreetly, without being seen. Go." They scattered as she finished giving orders, both disappearing into a portal near where the Tear had appeared.

Paintrix was planning his next move outside The Superior’s room waiting to give his report. He could try the befriending plan again but if he ran into those two then it would be ruined. Most of his other plans he could pull off right now relied on releasing heartless, well mainly the two that hated each other, but it would be funny to release them from their cages, what was once the beast and his enemy Gasgon, no, Gaspon, closer, Gaston that was his name. Well it would be funny to release them and watch anyone they meet become heartless, but it was time to give his report.

“Sir, I found a young shield dog and a keyblader, but I lost them when No. III broke my cover, I was in the process of trying to join their group, I believe that she was vindictive because I encroached on her territory; her blunder has cost us a valuable chance for info on world hearts, the king, and potential to turn a keyblader to our side. I was wondering if you have an item that will allow me to disguise myself so that I might try again. I’ll stand outside while you think this info over, if you don’t believe I should have such an item I’ll probably go on a rampage creating more heartless.”