@dualshields

“Friends, huh?” Sora itched at his nose distractedly, tilting his head before giving him a smile. “Well, uh, thanks for being here! I guess ya must’ve been worried about me.” he cast a glance over where the others had gone, before looking at Max, and then crossing his eyes and pressing  into his own nose. “Hey, do I look like you, or the others?”

Honestly, Max was just happy that Sora was alive. That had been a seriously close call. But still - how had he come back? Was it another ‘kind of undead thing’?

The question is not one he expected, and it makes him laugh for a moment before he’s shaking his head. “You definitely look like them. I’m---” Well how was he supposed to explain this? Sora had already known of other worlds before, there had been nothing to explain. “I’m from a place called Disney Town. There’s no humans there, just people like me.”

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✻➣ ‵‵Oh no, nothin’ like that” He was quick to assure him with a little wave of his hand. ‵‵We just got a big puzzle on our hands, is all. An’ I’ll need their engineering expertise to help solve it.”

He held out his arms expectantly. ‵‵But that can wait for a bit. Why dontcha come on down an’ give your Uncle Mickey a hug!” 

Well there was some sort of relief that came with the words - at least the king wasn’t in trouble. But, there was nothing stopping trouble from finding the King. And this ‘puzzle’ just screamed trouble for some reason.

There’s a small laugh at the statement - but he wasn’t one to refuse. He’d probably get in trouble for refusing the king anyways. So he leans down and gives his Uncle a hug. It was embarrassing, yes, but he could suck it up for a moment. “Are you shrinking Uncle Mickey?” He jokes as he pulls away.

“Who’s Roxanne?” The question came out before he could stop it, and he could feel the dread dredging up in his chest. He knew Max had lost his mother years ago, but just who else had his friend lost? 

Of all the things Sora thought would  unease him, watching his limp body was not one of them. Even with everything he’d seen, there was something disconcerting about watching his face and his body being lifted like a rag doll. He shook his head briefly. Not important right now. He followed him to the couch, waiting until he moved away before reaching for his own body. Maybe he could dive in or something? He hoped this PJ was a wizard or something. 

Max panics for a moment when he can’t find the communicator he made specifically for these kinds of situations. Why did he have so many pockets anyways-- “Got it.” He grumbles as he pulls the damned thing out and starts calling for his brother. “PJ, PJ I need you to get here right away--” Max said, starting to pace.

“Yes this is an emergency! Sora he---” He couldn’t even bring himself to say it. “Just get over here, you’re better at healing magic than I’ll ever be.” He hated admitting something like that but pride was the last thing on Max’s mind now. “Just follow the coordinates I’m going to send you and get here as fast as you can.” He said before hanging up and typing on the communicator before slamming it shut. Max sighs and sits down on the floor infront of the couch where Sora was laid out. 

“Hurry up PJ--” the teen grumbled, furiously wiping tears out of his eyes. “I can’t lose someone else-- I can’t--”

‘Max?’ He hadn’t expected to see him today. A surprise visit, no doubt. 

…except this was one hell of a surprise.

“I-I don’t know what happened!” He confessed, looking back at his body. “I was fine, I swear! One minute I was warming up, and the next I was-”

And then the dog walked through him to head for the body on the floor. He recoiled, gaping down at himself as his eyes widened in growing horror. “No…” He pat his own chest, but met resistance, proving he was at least real. He turned to watch the other teen, taking a careful step to him, and leaning down. His hand reached out, hesitated, and touched his shoulder. Only for it to go right through it. 

“You…. gotta be kidding…”

“C’mon Sora--” He mutters, pulling Sora up a little more to try to get some kind of reaction from him still - but all that happened is that his head tilted back. Completely limp, completely lifeless. “First mom, then Roxanne, now you?”  Max chokes, squeezing his eyes shut.

This has to be a trick right? Sora was just messing with him.....but this trick was going a little to far.

“I’ll---I’ll call PJ, he’ll know what to do.” Max said, still completely in denial. He picks up the body of his friend. He tries not to pay attention how the limp the other was now and just focused on putting him on the nearest surface that wasn’t on the hard floor. He found a couch nearby and puts Sora down as carefully as he could.

If I am the chosen one, it’s time to prove it!

Of course it was impressive, he made it afterall. There’s a huff as he rubs at the side of his neck. How long was he going to have to entertain this guy. Couldn’t chip and dale get back already?

“Not with that kinda attitude.” He said, picking up a few materials that he would need to finish upgrading the board. Might as well do some sort of work as a distraction from the idiot person who refused to leave. “Lasers, and then my shields pop out of them. See-” He presses down on the board and one of his shields pops out and expands - looking identical to his father’s besides the color scheme. He snatches it out of the air when it flies back down, before putting it back into the board.

“Then the lasers come out here.” He presses another part of the board and four small circles pop out of the board, hovering just above it.Then he presses that same spot and they go back into the board. 

“There’s still some problems with it, like how long I can stay in the air. I’m workin’ on gettin’ a better power source- but so far I can only stay up for about three hours total then I gotta turn it off and let it charge up again. That sounds like alot but it’s not really, considering it takes longer to charge up than I actually get to use it.”

To be honest, Sora never would’ve thought of turning a Gummi Ship into a skateboard. Well, rather, using Gummi ship parts in a skateboard. You get the drift. Sora wouldn’t deny that though. His interest only increased when Max pressed down on the board and a shield appeared. Sora’s mouth opened in awe, half tempted to touch the board for himself. He’ll just let his hands hover above it and– that’s when he noticed the shield really did look just like Goofy’s. Well, it wasn’t that surprising considering they came from the same World and all.

Maybe he was just used to only seeing Goofy use shields as a weapon. Not many people really were in the shield department when it came to weapons. Though the show off of different gadgets just has Sora ‘ooh’ing and ‘aah’ing. He really put a lot of work into it!

“Wow! That’s soooo cool!” Sora’s hands balled into fists, holding them up excitedly, “So you can ride this thing whenever? Man, that’s gotta be a ton of fun!” He wouldn’t deny the urge to try it for himself but– part of him was getting that feeling that wouldn’t happen any time soon.

“A power source, huh?” He clicked his tongue against his cheek in thought though, “I’m guessin’ the normal Gummi ship engines are too big for somethin’ like this. Didja try askin’ the Moogles? I’m sure there musta been one or two that’ve come around here before.” Sora did have a little knowledge about Gummis, though that was mostly with some help from Chip and Dale. Moogles could make all sorts of items; so why not power sources?

Well, at least this brat knew where to put compliments. Stroking his ego was definitely a step in the right direction - but it would be a long walk for Sora to get on his good side. “I ride it all around town, my friends have one too. The people are kinda used ta seein’ us fly around.” He said with a shrug, patting the board once more before pulling his hand away. PJ was helping him make modifications - and he would normally be here now if it wasn’t for his little sister pulling him away. Hopefully he’d be back soon - he didn’t know how much more of Sora he could handle.

“I like to make my own stuff.” He said with another shrug, stepping away from the board. “Maybe if I get stuck I’ll ask ‘em but I’m working on a solution now so...---” He trails off, looking over at the drafting table where he has different sketches of parts laid out. 

“I’m not exactly on a time limit so whenever I find a solution, I’ll find it. No use rushin’ genius.” 

“Ya totally are! Ya look like a waterfall.” Max said with a laugh. He was tempted to poke at Sora, but with those facial features still up— he decided it best to pull his hand away. It was still a little hard to look Sora in the eye. He’s sure he’ll get over it sooner or later. Hopefully.

But thankfully, Sora went back to normal and he was able to relax. His shoulders slumped and he let out a soft sigh of relief. Then it was back to the conversation at hand. “Yeah, probably not.” Max said, rubbing at the back of his head. Now if Sora was giving him permission to ask questions– where should he start?

“Well, if ya don’t mind me askin’ stuff—” He started, bringing his hand down. “Do ya mind explaining? At least the whole, why you said you weren’t alive n’ stuff?” 

“Oh that? That one’s easy.” He waved that one off, shrugged, forced a little casualness back into the situation. Hey, still friends, no big deal, right? “You’ve heard of vampires, before, right? I’m basically like them. ya know, “alive” but not really.”

He would have left the question at that, but given how fresh the situation really was, a part of him panicked. “B-But I don’t drink blood!” he assured quickly, hands up. “At least not- ya know, randomly,” he winced, his gut churning at the outright lie. “I wouldn’t do it from you, honest! Only from people who let me!”

Who hasn’t heard of vampires? Even if different worlds, some themes were common. So he simply nods, waiting for a little more to be explained before he opens his mouth. Might as well have all the facts right?

The blood thing was a question on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t help but laugh at how Sora seemed to handle explaining it. “I dunno if you’d like dog blood anyways Sora.” Though the idea was incredibly creepy. He doesn’t know if he’d ever want Sora to drink from him, permission or not. It was just---weird. But maybe that’s just because he’s not really used to what Sora was. There wasn’t a lot of horror in a colorful place like Disney Town.

“Calm down dude, I get it.” He said, with a wave of his hand. “Good ta know you won’t be drinkin’ from me though.”