KH The Dark Lord 18 Route A

Edea, Dan, and Will took the path to the Pumpkin Gorge, but to reach it, first, they had to cross a large farm, and soon they got ambushed by living scarecrows, in the very sense of the word.

"Now I've seen everything." Said Edea, preparing her katana.

"Oh, scarecrows ALWAYS freak me out!" Commented Al. "It's the hand-stitched eyes." The three rolled their eyes. "Let's hurry through to Pumpkin Gorge."

"Yeah, let's go," Will added.

After of deal with the scarecrows, they reached a large corn crop, but they saw that something was moving in the middle of the corn crops.

"Better not go inside of it if it's NOT needed." Suggested Edea.

"I swear that better not be a group of murderous kids." Will huffed.

"Taking into account how messed is this world now, that wouldn't surprise me." Said Edea.

They kept walking along the way, avoiding entering into the crops and to the beings inside it, until they were blocked by a large corn crop, having no way to cross without entering the crop.

"We must find another way, or at least cut away." Said Edea.

"Well...I could fly us over." Will suggested. Edea, Dan, and Al looked at him with a raised eyebrow each one but Al, who had only one. Will stepped back a few feet before being enveloped in a bright light, transforming into a bipedal dragon-like creature covered in bright silver scales and had a gem embedded in the center of his chest. This sudden transformation made Edea jump, and Dan fell on his bony butt.

"Now I've SEEN everything," Edea said, looking Will.

"Yeah, I'd imagine so." Will chuckled.

"And are you sure you can hold both of us?" Edea asked

"Well, considering that Dan is literally nothing but bone, I'd imagine he can't be that heavy...No offense."

Dan sighed when he said that.

"In any case, grab on," Will said spreading his wings.

Dan and Edea grabbed his hands tightly before he took flight.

Will then took off flying over the cornfield.

After avoiding that trap, they don't take a lot to reach the access to Pumpkin Gorge, and there was a good reason for that name.

"I never saw so many pumpkins on an only place on my life," Edea said, looking at the large number of pumpkins around.

"Yeah. So where exactly do we need to go?" Will asked.

"We must find the Pumpkin Witch. I hope she still has the fragment of the Anubis Stone," Said Al.

They began to look for the witch, but there was a ‘small' problem: The pumpkins were alive, and were attacking them as a normal monster would.

"Figures," Will said as he flew away from the living pumpkins.

"Err, how long this form of you can still until you turn into a human?" Al asked.

"As long as I want." Will smiled.

"Lucky, because I just don't want to see you turn into a human, and suddenly fall to the ground in the middle of the pumpkins," Edea said, and Dan got nervous thinking on that.

"Relax Dan that's not going to happen," Will assured.

Suddenly he felt that something was grabbing his leg, and soon they spotted that was caught from a creature in the ground, a muscular human-sized creature that walked at four legs with claws in every leg, without eyes and with a large brain and a very large tongue. (Licker)

"This guy again!?" Will huffed in frustration.

Suddenly a second tongue, from a second Licker, grabbed Will's other leg, both pushing him down to the ground.

"If we don't do nothing, they will send us to the ground!" Al Alerted.

"Bastards!" Will shouted before blowing a stream of silver-colored fire at the two creatures, destroying them and releasing his legs.

"The problem isn't over yet." Said Edea, and spotted some kind of Bat flying to them.

"Hold on tight," Will said before quickly dodging the bats, occasionally smacking a few away with his tail.

"We need a place where we can fight them. Here we're a huge dartboard." Edea said.

"Guess that mean's we're landing," Will added before heading towards the ground.

Soon they landed, and soon they got attacked by nearby pumpkins and the chasing bats. The Pumpkins were easily dealt with now that they were on the ground, while Will took off to deal with the remaining bats.

Also, they were ambushed by some Lickers, but being now that they were on the ground, they were easily taken down by Edea and Daniel.

After the cleaning, they began to move again, soon reaching a house on the top of a hill.

"Is it here?" Edea asked.

"Surely. Now we must summon the Witch and ask her for the fragment." Al said.

"And do how we summon her?" Edea replied.

"I heard that  witches usually comes when a magic amulet is used, but  we don't have one here." Said Al.

"Any idea where we can find this amulet?" Will asked.

"Dunno." Al Said. "Unless we make one… but I heard a rumor that in the graveyard lived an aquelarre that left it time ago. Maybe they left one there."

"And you say that NOW?!" Asked Edea, holding herself to thrust her katana into Dan's skull, trying to cut Al.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" Will added.

"Because I didn't think that we needed it at  that moment." Said Al. "But maybe we can use something similar."

"What do you have in mind?"

"We can try to use any magic amulet that we can have and see if works."

"Any magic amulet, huh?" Will said before pulling one out. "Not really sure if it would work, but it's worth a shot."

Will used the amulet on a cauldron, and this began to shake, and soon appeared flying a small ugly witch which stopped the cauldron.

"Whadda you and your friends want, you fleshless freak?" Asked the Pumpkin Witch angrily.

"Jeez, you woke up on the wrong side of the pot huh, anyway we were told that you have a piece of the Anubis Stone," Will said.

"And?" She asked angrily but looked Dan more carefully. "Hang on - it that YOU, Sir Daniel? I didn't recognise you for a moment. Eyebrows make such a difference on a man's look. As, indeed, does the rest of the face. Must be, oooh, be best part of a century since I saw you, and then suddenly, here you are."

Edea calmed down because seemed that the witch has calmed down a little.

"You never WROTE ME!" She suddenly yelled, and Edea jumped on Will's arms who only rolled his eyes.

"Oh, what a terrible time I'm having. I devoted my life to my sweet, sweet babies, suckling them at the tea-, I mean, planting them in good in nutritious soil, ha ha, and this is how I'm rewarded!"

"And how?"

"How? HOW you say? By an EVIL, treacherous ACT of MASSIVE INGRATITUDE, that's…" She yelled but then calm down. "It was only a growth spell for Pumpky Wumpky… He was, special. I wanted the best for him. And now he's gone rogue to me… a RENEGADE PUMPKIN KING. Sucking the life from the land, growing in power at the time… But I just can't bring myself for harvest him… his little pumpkin eyes… used to be so sweet..."

"So one of your pumpkins went AWOl huh? Want us to take care of it for you?" Will offered.

She thought for a moment. "Really, dear boys, you'll do it?"

Edea left Will's ‘embrace'. "Yeah, we'll do it."

"But how could I ever repay such homicidality- I mean, bravery?"

"You could give us that piece of the Anubis stone," Will said.

"My Anubis Stone piece? THE PRECIOUS? Well… I suppose I could give you in return… NO! What I'm saying?" Suddenly slaps herself. "I dare? Oh… pound the orange monster and we'll talk about it." She said and left flying.

"Interesting character." Said Edea.

"No kidding, come on, let's go kill a pumpkin monster."

"Yeah." Babbled Dan.

"Since we're on the topic, where is this thing?" Will asked.

"When coming here we passed a crossroad, maybe is in the other direction." Said Edea.

"Well, it's a start."

They walked part of the way until the crossroads and took the other way, and after of dealing with a lot of pumpkins, they reached to a large area with a really MASSIVE pumpkin, in every sense of the word.

"That's a big pumpkin." Commented Edea. "That must be the said Pumpkin King

"Yeah, and I hate pumpkins." Babbled Dan.

"We need to wake the Pumpkin King somehow." Said Al. "Typical, the one day I didn't bring my trombone."

Will noticed a few large vines sticking out of the ground. "Hmm, I think I got an idea how." He said.

"I'm having too the same idea." Babbled Dan looking at the vines.

Then they began to hack away at the vines. Soon they hacked away all the vines, and when they got near the Pumpkin King, suddenly woke and attacked them.

"Woah SOMEBODY woke up on the wrong side of the patch." Commented Al.

"No kidding," Will said before blasting it with ice.

The giant pumpkin grunted but tried to slap him with his strains.

Will easily jumped out of the way before shooting a Mega Flare, but resisted the explosion and whipped again, but Edea cut the strains with her katana.

Will threw his Keyblade hitting the pumpkin in the face, but with the hit, he replied shooting pumpkins that began to chase them.

"I HATE pumpkins." Babbled Dan and began to slash the small pumpkins.

"I dunno I think they're pretty tasty," Will said.

They soon dispatched the small pumpkins and concentrated again in the Pumpkin King, who replied to their attacks with headbutts and whips with his vines.

Edea blocked the headbutts with her katana and tried to cut the vines that got near of her.

Will transformed and blasted a stream of fire at the vines.

The Pumpkin King got angrier and shoot more pumpkins against them, only to be burnt by Will's fire. And Dan and Edea used that moment to try to chop it with their blades.

Will rip off some of the vines and smacked the pumpkin with it before slashing it with his Keyblade.

After the attacks, he turned his head, showing now an odd face, and began to shot pumpkins that acted as contact bombs.

"Now kamikaze pumpkins? But where are we, in the Country of the Rising Sun?" Asked Al.

One of the smaller pumpkins was about to hit Dan.

"Time Stop!" Will shouted before the pumpkin froze just inches away from the skeleton. Dan was confused, with his eye the only thing moving, trying to get what just happened.

"You going to move out of the way or what?" Will mused.

Dan quickly rushed away from where was the pumpkin.

"When you said that you had time control, you weren't joking." Edea Said.

"It comes in handy from time to time. Ha, get it?"

"Later I will get it."

Will then knocked the frozen pumpkin back at the giant one before time returned to normal. But the explosion doesn't affect so much the Pumpkin King and kept attacking them with his headbutts and vines.

Will managed to shove his keyblade into its mouth before blasting it with another Mega Flare.

The pumpkin began to ‘cough' from the explosion, giving Edea and Dan time to attack it.

And after of attack it continuously, the Pumpkin King soon was dethroned.

"OK! You make fine veggie kebab out of HIM. Horray!" Said Al. "Now, where is chilli sauce?"

Edea panted. "Please, I don't want to hear veggie jokes for a while."

"Come on let's go back and see if we can't get that stone," Will said.

"Guys?" Dan babbled, signaling the Pumpkin King's corpse, which was being filled with dark smoke.

"I don't like it," Edea commented.

"Me neither," Will added.

Then from it appeared an armored Fallen, carrying a large double edge Axe on his shoulder. (Big Axe Armor)

"Seems we have an idea of how the Fallen are formed." Said Edea.

"Seems like it," Will said getting his Keyblade ready.

The Fallen raised his huge axe and attacked them with it, but they avoided it easily going to a side.

Will threw his Keyblade and shot a stream of electricity at the Fallen. The Fallen got shocked by the hit and the electricity, and Edea used that opportunity of decapitating it, soon disappearing into a heart and soul.

"That wasn't so hard." Said Edea.

"Never sell the bear's skin before you kill it. Look, that odd smoke is still on that pumpkin." Warned Al.

Soon the black smoke began to surround completely the Pumpkin King's corpse, until the pumpkin got destroyed from inside, releasing a big white gorilla-like monster without hair, pure red eyes and a jaw that can divide into two, roaring at them.

"Oh, no! How we can have this much bad luck!" Al yelped.

"Could be explained with the universe hating you, the script or that we all just love to mess with the protagonist." told XSDStitch "Sometimes Protagonist Armor isn't that great of a thing"

"Don't you have your own chapter to work on?" Will asked.

"I have," was the reply "I'm just bored now and mess around to kill time."

"Please, can you stop breaking the fourth wall, please?" Al asked. "We're in a huge mess now!"

Will ran over, slashing the ape with his blades.

"Don't let him grab you!" Warned Al.

Before he could ask why, the monster grabbed him firmly with his hands, and soon bitted his head to the neck, and decapitated it with his own sheer force, sending his head on a side, and the body to another. Dan could have pucked if he EVER had a stomach.

"Well, this sucks." Will's head spoke.

"What the hell is that?" Edea asked.

"That's an Inacors, is the thing that remains when somebody turns into a Fallen. Is like a Nobody, but without soul and more brutal." Explained Al. "But they don't form very often."

"I will ask later what is a Nobody…"

"Well, that's just nice." Will deadpanned as his body placed his head back on.

The Inacors suddenly jumped near Will and hit him with his arm, sending him flying against a wall.

Managing to land on his feet on the wall, he jumped towards the creature, impaling his blades before turning into a dragon and blasting its face with fire. But the monster surprisingly resisted the attacks and grabbed his neck with his hands. But soon Edea and Dan began to attack his back with their weapons.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Will brought his leg up and manage to kick the ape creature across the head, making it drop him. And soon Dan began to cut the Inacors' back with his sword, while Edea tried to cut the beast's mouth for null his ‘One Hit Death' attack.

Will followed up by throwing his blades at the Inacors. The beast roared when the blades impaled his chest but then tried to hit Dan, who quickly ducked, and Edea cut his other arm.

Will ripped his blades out, tearing the ape in half. Before the body fell to the ground, it disappeared, just as could the body of a Nobody disappears.

"These guys really are like Nobodies. Do they really disappear like them?" Will asked Al.

"They're only the remains of a body when a Fallen is generated."

"Does anything happen to them when they do disappear?" Asked Will

"I don't know. Is the first time that I see somebody DEFEAT one." Al responded.

"I see. Well, in any case, I say we get going." Will suggested.

"Yes, we have a witch to visit and a fragment to recover." Said Edea.

With that Will grabbed the two and flew back to the witch's hut. There, Will used the magic amulet to call the witch, who quickly came.

"One pumpkin, ready for the pot!" Babbled Dan, prideful.

"Poor, poor little Pumpky Wunky… squashed." The witch said in a sad tone, making the three swallowed saliva. "HAH! I made a JOKE…" Suddenly she said with a laugh. "… kind of… I suppose you want my Precious, now?" She said, signaling herself, giving some odd idea, and Edea rolled her eyes.

"Actually we just want the Anubis stone," Will said.

"I MEANT the Anubis Stone. Whaddaya think I was talking about? Weirdos." Said the witch.

Edea began to whistle while Dan looked confused.

"Here, take it if is your must." She said, throwing her piece of the Anubis stone to Edea who grabbed it. "And Sir Daniel…? If you see my sister, the Forest Witch, in your travels… Tell her to STOP PLOTTING AGAINST ME or I'll BOIL her HEAD in her stinking hippy KAFTAN for pig-food!"

Now Edea jumped at Will's arms, who this time jumped on Dan's arms, who looked scared at the witch.

"Okay? Bye-bye." She said and left flying.

"Doesn't take much to light her fuse don't it?" Will said getting off Dan.

"Yes, I don't want to see she in her WORST mood." Said Edea getting off of Will.

"Let's get out of here before we find that out," Dan mumbled.

"Good idea," Will said before flying off with the two.

"You think we should have mentioned about what happened to the pumpkin?" Edea asked Dan, but he shook his head. "Yeah, surely the best is say nothing about it."