Sora and the Corpse Bride Chapter 3: Roxas Comes Upon the Castle

"Hmm. We should've been there by now." Roxas muttered while looking at a map while Rapidash looked nervously around as an owl hooted, "I suppose I should've paid more attention of where I was… hey, wait a minute." Roxas pulled on Rapidash's strap and Rapidash stopped so Roxas could look at a decrepit sign at the point of a fork in the path.

"Well… let's try going this way." Roxas motioned Rapidash, who looked to her right and saw a foggy scary-looking road that disappeared into the forest.

Rapidash then looked left. The road to the left seemed a bit more cheerful than the road to the right. Rapidash then just shrugged and began to walk to the left, but Roxas stopped her.

"No, no, no, no. C'mon, it's a shortcut." Roxas assured and Rapidash hesitantly walked down the right road, "We'll be there in no time."

And so, Rapidash continued down the dark road, still pulling the wagon along. Then, among the trees, the shadow of a Houndoom ran among the horde of the trees. Rain stopped dead in her tracks when she heard the wolves' sadistic growling.

"Wait a sec, this can't be right!" Roxas looked at his map, "Where'd you take us, Rapidash? Maybe we'd better turn around…" Rapidash obeyed but ended up bumping backwards into a tree. Then, a flock of bats flew out of the tree and Rapidash, completely freaked out, ran off, still pulling the wagon that Roxas' machine was in.

Roxas wasn't so lucky, due to the fact that Rapidash got so scared that she accidentally knocked Roxas off. When Rapidash was out of sight, Roxas looked around nervously.

"…Rapidash?" Roxas called, his voice shaking. "She's gone." Then, he heard low growling/purring and he turned his head slowly and saw a pack of Houndoom, slowly approaching him.

Then, Roxas screamed and began running for the sake of his life. The Houndoom chased after him. Then, the next thing he knew, Roxas rolled down a steep hill, tumbling head over heels. When that was over, Roxas looked up and saw an iron gate and fence. Roxas looked behind him and saw that the wolves were in hot pursuit. Roxas ran up to the gate and cried, "Help! Hey, is someone in there! HELP!" then, the gates flew open and Roxas fell in before the Houndoom could get to Roxas, he slammed the gates shut, causing the animals to fall away. Roxas sighed of relief but then yelped as Houndoom grabbed a hold of his foot with his teeth. Pulling his leg loose Roxas turned around and let out a gasp of amazement… what he saw before him across the bridge… was a huge castle.

Then, lightning flashed in the sky and it began to rain. Roxas frowned, but wasted no time in getting up the stairway and knocking on the huge front doors. The doors slowly creaked open and Roxas hesitated a bit. He then went inside and stepped into the foyer. He looked around and saw a huge staircase and a few open doorways. The room was dark and Roxas walked cautiously around.

"Hello?" he called and his voice echoed. No response came, so he tried again. "Hello?"

"Poor kid must've lost his way in the woods." A female voice spoke, concerned.

"Keep it down! Maybe he'll go away." Another female voice said.

Roxas looked around nervously for the source of the two female teenage voices. "Is someone there?"

"Not a word, Katara. I mean it, not ONE word." The second voice hissed.

"Look, I don't mean to intrude or anything, but you see… I've lost my pokemon and I r-really need a place to stay for tonight." Roxas said nervously.

"Aw, come on, Rouge. At least have some heart." The first voice said.

"Shut up!" the second voice growled. The next thing Roxas heard was what sounded like a snapping noise.

"Ow, ow, ow! You bit me!" the second voice yelped.

"Sure, sir! You're welcome here!" the first voice greeted.

"Okay, seriously. Who said that?" Roxas asked, getting annoyed.

"Uh… I'm over here."

"Well, where?" Roxas wondered. Then he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned slowly and came face to face with a teenage girl with brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a blue dress with white lines and a water tribe necklace. This must've been Katara but she can't waterbend due to the spell.

"…Hello." Katara greeted. Roxas totally got startled, jumping backward and landing on his back. He stood back up again. "Incredible."

"Oh way to go, Katara. Now you've done it! Just peachy, nice one." The second voice moaned in annoyance and a female teenage humanoid bat stepped out from the shadows. She had aqua blue eyee, white fur and wore a dark purple jumpsuit with a pink heart shaped breastplate, long white gloves, white boots with pink hearts on the toes, blue eye shadow and pink lipstick. This is Rouge the Bat who can't fly due to the spell.

"Oh, hi there. I was w-w-w-ah-ah-ACHOO!" Roxas sneezed a sneeze, causing Rouge's face to fog up. Roxas wiped his nose with a hanky while Rouge wiped off her own face.

"Jeez, you're completely soaked to the bone and skin. C'mon, why don't you rest by the fireplace?" Katara said, guiding Roxas to the parlor.

"Thank you…" Roxas said sickly. Unknown to any of the three, a shadowed figure with pitch-dark eyes watched them and rushed off.

"No, Katara, NO! No, no! You KNOW what the Mistress will do if she finds this guy here!" Rouge protested, but Katara ignored her. "I demand that you- ow! Stop- ow! Right there-ow!" Rouge yelped as he tumbled down the staircase three times on every 'ow!' He then saw that Katara was letting Roxas sit in a soft red armchair in front of the fireplace.

"No, no, no! Anything but the Mistress's chair!" Rouge exclaimed in panic and at that moment, a blue wolf like creature with horns named Tiger of the Wind ran past her.

"I'm not seeing this!" Rouge placed her hands over her eyes. "I' am SO not seeing this!"

"Well, hey there, boy." Roxas chuckled, patting Tiger on his head. Tiger then made a footstool by putting his body underneath his shoes.

Then Penelope Pitstop came up and placed a blanket around Roxas. "Here." She spoke.

"Hmm, now this is service." Roxas smiled.

"All right, that's gone far enough. Look, I'm in charge around here and-" Rouge got almost run over by a teacart with a woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a golden dress. She's Cosmos but she can't use magic because of the spell.

Next to her is a man with blonde hair, a moustache and beard and blue eyes, wearing a suit under a white coat, brown trousers, black shoes and a long red scarf. His name is Ansem the Wise but he can't use his powers because of the spell.

With them was a young Galalunian girl named Ilana but she was Corus due to the spell.

"Would you like some nice hot tea, sir?" Cosmos offered as she poured a cup of tea.

"It'll have you warmed up in no time as well." Ansem added.

"No, no tea…" Rouge muttered with her face in the carpet and stood up, exclaiming angrily. "NO tea!" Cosmos gave Ilana the tea and the Galalunian girl put in two sugar lumps and gave it to Roxas. "Here you go, mister."

"Thanks, kiddo." Rocas smiled as he drank the tea. Suddenly, the door to the den slams open and a strong gust of wind blew into the room, making the fireplace go out. Ansem and Cosmos were shaking while Ilana hid behind them.

"Uh-oh…" Ilana said nervously.

Roxas shook nervously and in a terrified manner. In the open doorway was a corpse woman with blue skin, blue hair and dark eyes, wearing a torn up wedding dress, veil and white shoes.

As the corpse bride came furiously into the room while growling, Roxas continued to shake nervously.

"There's a strange in here…" the corpse bride growled in a tough, gruff mean-like voice as her eyes turn even darker.

"Uh, Mistress. Just let me explain." Katara began nervously, "You see, this poor guy was lost in the woods, he was cold so I-" she was cut short when the corpse bride shrieked so loudly, her voice was like a strong wind. Katara shook nervously now.

Rouge got out of hiding from under the carpet and stepped next to Katara, saying, "Mistress, I'd like to take this moment to say… I was against this from the start! It was all HER fault, I was trying to stop them!" he pointed accusingly at Katara. "But did they listen to me? Nooooooo, they-" the corpse bride shrieked loudly again and Rouge yelped, ducking behind Katara.

Roxas looked to his right and then when he looked to his left, he found himself face to face with a corpse bride, who sneered at him. Sora then screamed and backed away.

"Who are you? What are YOU doing here?" the corpse bride growled viciously.

"W-well, I was l-lost in the woods, and then…"

"You're not WELCOME here!" the corpse bride snapped.

"I-I'm sorry." Roxas stuttered nervously, his eyes focused only on the corpse bride and the corpse bride noticed this.

"Who are you staring at?" the corpse bride hissed.

"N-nothing!" Roxas lied.

"So… you've come to stare at the CORPSE BRIDE, is THAT it!" the corpse bride accused. With that, Roxas raced for the door on 'CORPSE BRIDE', but the corpse bride blocked his way on 'is THAT it'.

"Please, wait! I meant no harm here! I only wanted a place to stay in, that's all!" Roxas exclaimed in a scared tone.

The corpse bride paused. "I'll GIVE you a place to stay!" the corpse bride growling and grabbed Roxas by the arms with her hands.

"N-no! Please! No, wait! I didn't- NOOOO!" Roxas shouted as the corpse bride dragged him away. Roxas started to kick and scream before the corpse bride slammed the door shut.

Katara, Rouge, Cosmos, Ansem and Ilana only sighed sadly, unable to do anything else...