Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I’ve been having these weird thoughts lately…

Sora opened his eyes, the water surrounding him letting him float by. Despite his situation, he didn’t feel panicked, and had no urgency to get any air.

Like…is any of this for real…or not?

He closed his eyes as he went through the water, and he felt himself sinking slowly. Once more, he felt no panic or sense of danger. Soon, the sinking turned into falling, as though her were plummeting through the air rather than going deeper into the dark depths of the water that cradled him.

With a jolt, he opened his eyes, standing on the shores of Destiny Islands, his home. As he looked to the sea and saw Riku up to his knees in the water, facing the horizon. Sora was about to go out and talk to his best friend when he saw the water receding dramatically. He knew all too well what that meant.

As he looked back to the ocean, he saw a massive wave forming as Riku turned to look at him. The white-haired boy was unusually calm, extending a hand out to his friend. Sora rushed to Riku, wanting to pull him out of there and to some sort of safety. Yet before he could reach his friend, the wave broke and crashed down on him, forcing him under the water.

Sora was barely able to get his bearings as he saw Riku floating off into the water, his hand still outstretched. The brunette struggled to reach his friend, but the tide was too strong and forced him back. He tumbled through the water, his lungs burning as he eventually breached the surface.

Riku was gone, and night was nearly there as the sunset bathed the water orange. Sora looked to the shore to see his other friend Kairi waving him over. As if nothing had just happened, he felt immense relief as he waved back, making his way back to proper land. As he reached her, Kairi’s mouth started to move, but no sound came out as she smiled at him.

Suddenly, the girl looked concerned, looking to the sky. Following her gaze, Sora looked up and saw a meteor shower…but also himself. He saw his own form falling from the sky. Feeling his legs give out, he fell backwards into the water. He saw Kairi reaching down at him, concern on her face.

And then he was in the sky.

He was plummeting down towards the ocean headfirst. As he breached the water, he went down, down, down into the dark depths. The impact was painless, and he didn’t feel the need for air. Sora kept falling through the water as though it itself were air as he slowly turned so he was upright.

The brunette found himself landing gently on a platform, no longer surrounded by water, but he was in an inky black void. Even the platform was black, leaving Sora to look around in confusion. As he took a step forward, doves took off into the air all around him, revealing that he was on some sort of stained glass circle in the midst of the endless void around him. He looked at the pattern on the platform and saw something unfamiliar.

It depicted a young woman in a very fancy pink dress. She had golden blonde hair and her eyes were closed as though she were asleep. Around her were four circles with people’s faces in them. One was of a mustachioed man in a red cap with an M on it, with a second circle of another man with a mustache but with a green cap with an L on it. One circle had a person with a mushroom cap instead of hair, while the final showed a second mushroom person, but older and with a wispy white mustache. She was standing before a castle surrounded by a small, pleasant looking town.

As Sora looked around in the void, trying to work out where he was, he heard a voice.

So much to do, so little time...

The voice sounded like it belonged to a boy, a teenager, though it wasn’t a voice Sora recognized. And yet…it sounded so familiar to him somehow. It wasn’t Riku, Wakka, or Tidus, or anyone he knew from school or his neighborhood. So, who could it be?

Take your time. Don't be afraid.

Despite the situation, Sora actually didn’t feel afraid at all. The voice was gentle, and it seemed like it wanted to guide him. Guide him through what, exactly, he wasn’t sure. The only way to go was forward, though, so the brunette would just have to trust this voice…

The door is still shut. Now, step forward. Can you do it?

Sora could do that much! Though his legs felt oddly weak, as if he had just walked miles and miles to get where he was. Still, as he took a few steps forward, the weakness and pain in his legs lessened with each step until he was halfway across the platform and felt entirely better.

Without warning, three pedestals appeared around Sora, three objects appearing on them. As he looked around he saw that one had a sword, one had a shield, and one had a staff that looked like it was used for magic.

Power sleeps within you.

If you give it form, it will give you strength.

Choose well.

So, he had to choose something? None of this made sense to him, but he found himself walking forward regardless. As he reached the shield, the voice piped up once more.

The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. Is this the power you seek?

Sora did always want to protect his friends, that much was true. Yet this didn’t feel right to him. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to aid his friends, but it was more that he felt he couldn’t. It didn’t feel as though he had earned this shield. Shaking his head silently, he went to the staff. Once more, as he reached it, the voce called to him.

The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. Is this the power you seek?

That didn’t seem right ether. Sora didn’t trust in any sort of inner strength, at least not his own. Once more, he shook his head to himself and went over to the sword. For a third time, the voice spoke to him.

The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. Is this the power you seek?

This didn’t seem correct either. Invincible courage? He heard the voice refer to these as powers that he sought, but shouldn’t he earn these powers through the kindness, inner strength, or invincible courage? He supposed it was less what he had and what he wanted. He wanted to aid his friends, but a shield hardly seemed like it could do much but guard, and that wasn’t enough.

Slowly, Sora reached for the sword and wrapped his hand around the hilt. In an instant, the sword was gone in a flash of light. Had it somehow rejected him? As the brunette pondered, he heard that reassuring voice again.

Your path is set.

Now, what will you give up in exchange?

Oh, so he wasn’t rejected. Sora looked to the shield and staff. He wanted to protect his friends, even if he chose the more offensive sword. So, he went over to the staff and reached out to it. His fingertips barely grazed the object before it too vanished in a sudden flash of light.

You've chosen the power of the warrior. You've given up the power of the mystic. Is this the form you choose?

His form? This was still all so confusing to Sora. He had no idea what this was about. What was he choosing for to begin with? But, again, he felt he had to just move onward. The teen found that his voice just didn’t quite work. His throat didn’t hurt or feel strange, but as he opened his mouth, no sound came out, as if swallowed by the void around him. So, he merely nodded.

The instant Sora did so, the pedestals started to crumble. On top of that, the platform started to break apart. Had he made the wrong decision?! In a panic, he ran to the center as the shards of stained glass erupted around him. Soon, though, the entire platform was gone and he found himself falling once more. For a second, it seemed as though he were simply going to fall endlessly in the void, but before too long, another platform came into view.

This one depicted a teenage girl, a few years older than Sora himself. Like the last platform, this girl had on a pink dress and had long flowing yellow hair. She too had her eyes closed as if in a deep sleep. Around her were only two circles rather than four. One depicted a teenage boy in a green tunic and cap, a blue light near his shoulder. The other showed a cloaked person, possibly another teenage boy, with little more than a single red eye exposed to tell for sure. Behind her, a large castle was depicted that had a large town around it.

As Sora approached the platform, his falling slowed all on its own and he landed gently on it, no worse for wear. Before he could process his new surroundings much more, a flash of light enveloped his hand. To his shock, the sword from earlier appeared in it and to his further surprise, it didn’t weigh as much as he’d expect.

You've gained the power to fight. Use this power to protect yourself and others.

Protect himself? And others? From what? So far, he was entirely alone in this unusual place. Without warning, a shape manifested on the floor in front of him! It was black and flat, as though sinking into the platform. Yet it grew and a small creature was standing there. It had glowing yellow eyes, antennae, and claws. As the Shadow stood there, twitching mildly, Sora felt a bit sick. It was as though the creature exuded some sort of negative energy.

There will be times you have to fight. Keep your light burning strong.

Sora’s eyes widened as the creature lunged at him, swiping at him with its claws. Thankfully, it wasn’t too fast, so he was able to quickly dodge it. And, luckily for him, he practiced with a wooden sword for years! He swung his new sword as the creature and to his surprise, the blade sliced through it with ease, the Shadow disintegrated into a dark mist.

As his happened, a door faded into existence a few feet in front of Sora. It was very fancy looking, as though it were part of some sort of castle. He tried to approach it, but as he did, a spot of inky darkness appeared by his feet. Then another appeared, and then yet another. Soon, the entire platform was covered by it, and Sora found himself sinking into it, no matter how much he struggled.

In an instant, faster than the blink of an eye, Sora was safe.

He was no longer in the void, and he no longer had the sword. In fact, he was back on Destiny Islands! Sora found himself standing on the large wooden structure where he and the others played on since they were kids. Around him were three of his friends; Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka.

Hold on. The door won't open just yet. First, tell me more about yourself.

Who even was ‘Me’ to begin with? Was he meant to talk to his friends, then? This didn’t seem real, but Sora went along with it anyway. Despite all that had happened, he never really felt like he was in danger. Even with that monster that attacked him, he felt oddly safe. So, he went up to Selphie first.

She smiled at him, looking very casual despite all the strangeness going on. “What's most important to you?” Selphie said simply, speaking as if it was a very normal thing to ask someone out of the blue.

Whatever block that was on Sora’s throat was suddenly cleared; he could feel it. Rather than ask Selphie what was going on, he pondered her question. Well, his friends had to be the answer, along with his family. He had all his friends for as long as he could remember. Sometimes…he felt like he didn’t deserve them, but they stuck with him, and he appreciated that and their presence in general.

With a nod, Sora replied. “My friends, they’re the most important thing to me.”

Selphie didn’t really react; her expression didn’t change, and she didn’t nod or anything of the sort. Instead, she simply replied. “Is friendship such a big deal?” She asked. It wasn’t that she was judging him on his answer, but more just giving him something to think about.

Sora was a bit surprised at that. Friendship was a pretty big deal in his eyes, and he assmed most people felt that way. Still, he felt compelled to leave it be and walked over to Wakka.

Like with Selphie, Wakka looked to Sora casually, like he expected all this to happen. And, like Selphie, he simply asked a single question. “What do you want outta life?”

That one was easy. Normally he’d never say this to another person, but Sora started to quickly realize none of this was real, or so he assumed. “I want to be happy.” Sora replied, not even having to think about it. Yes, he wanted to be strong for his friends, but on top of that, he wanted to be happy too. Sometimes, he just felt so…

“To be happy, huh?” Wakka replied simply. He clearly wasn’t judging Sora. If anything, it seemed like he was mulling the answer over.

Like before, Sora felt compelled to let the talk end at that. It was actually embarrassing for him to admit that aloud, but he’d just let it go. He’d just try to pretend like this hadn’t happened. When he surely woke up from this dream, the memory would surely fade.

Finally, Sora went to Tidus. The boy looked to Sora and simply asked his question like the other two. “What are you so afraid of?”

That threw Sora off guard and really made him feel insecure. Afraid? Did he seem afraid? Was it that obvious? He felt his throat close up, but not because of some unknown force. Instead, it was his own emotions that stopped him from replying right away. The teen had to swallow a few times, the lump in his throat eventually fading away. “…I’m afraid of being different.”

Tidus didn’t seem to notice Sora’s discomfort, or at the very least he didn’t show it at all. “Being different? Is that really so scary?” He asked, once more it wasn’t that Tidus was judging Sora. Here, it was as though he was trying to make Sora think his answer over more carefully.

To Sora, at least, it really was scary. It was terrifying for him to feel different. And he feared if the other realized he was too different, they might not like him anymore. Sometimes he felt…off…and wrong. He had no idea if the others noticed, but he was scared of the notion that they would someday.

The day you will open the door is both far off and very near.

The voice interrupted Sora’s thoughts, and a blinding flash of light forced his eyes closed. When this light faded and he opened his eyes again, he saw he was on a third platform.

It depicted a teenager girl with long blue hair who too had closed eyes like the first two and she wore a white and pink dress. Behind her, a vast desert was depicted with large dunes stretching to the horizon. Around her head was five circles. Four of them were men, two with black hair with one of them looking very wise and regal, one that was brunette with purple lines going down his face under each eye. The fourth man had unusual curly hair, and the fifth circle had some sort of large bird in it.

Sora was barely able to take a few steps forward when four more of those Shadows appeared and once more he felt sick to his stomach. At just that moment, his sword came back to him, with one of the creatures leaping at him. With a single swing of the blade, the entity was destroyed. The other three attacked as the first one evaporated into mis. Sora dodged two of them, but the third cut him along his cheek. It stung, but it was akin to a nasty scratch from a cat more than anything.

The brunette swung around and slashed the Shadow that got a hit on him in half. As the remaining two leapt at him, he swiftly acted and sliced the two of them out of the air. Wincing a bit at the pain on his cheek, Sora looked to see if any more would show up. What even were those things?

Rather than more monsters appearing, a staircase made of stained glass materialized instead. It went off into the void, and as Sora squinted he saw there was a fourth platform up ahead. Carefully, he started to ascend up towards the next area, the stairs behind him vanishing one by one as he passed them by. Before long, he reached the fourth platform, and the staircase was gone entirely.

This platform had yet another blonde woman on it, her eyes closed like the others. She wore a glorious white dress and in the background behind her was a large mansion surrounded by a cozy looking community. For her, there was a single circle by her, this one depicting a man. He had black hair and kind blue eyes with a gentle expression, though even without seeing the rest of his body it was clear he was immense in stature.

The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes.

His…shadow? Sora turned to see his shadow was very long, something he had only noticed at that moment. To his horror, his shadow actually peeled off the floor and became solid!

But don’t be afraid.

And don’t forget…

As the voice spoke, Sora’s shadow started to change! It grew larger and larger, towering over him. On top of that, it began dramatically morphing! Soon, it resembled some sort of monster with tentacles covering most of its face, save for its glowing yellow eyes. It even had a large hole in its chest and stomach in the shape of a heart.

The creature, the Darkside, loomed over Sora, who ran to the opposite side of the platform in vain. There was nowhere else for him to run, though and that strange feeling of being sick hit him once more. He could only turn back and look as the monster readied its fist, a dark energy engulfing it. Rather than aiming at Sora, it slammed its fist into the platform.

This caused a well of darkness to spread out, more of those Shadows appeared. They ran at Sora, who panicked as he cut them down, still horrified at the massive creature. Knowing he had no other choice but to fight, he stabbed and slashed at the Darkside’s arm as it lingered in place, its movements slow.

He could tell her was hurting it, but just barely. His sword cut at the creature’s limb, but whatever it was made of, it was stronger than the Shadows, so it still remained mostly intact. After a few moments, it retracted its arm and before Sora could charge at it, an orb of energy appeared in its heart-shaped chest hole.

Sora backpedaled as the orb was launched at him, and he was barely able to dodge. The Darkside fired several more, Sora running around the platform to get away from them. He desperately swiped at one that got uncomfortably close, shocked as it was deflected back at the monster, striking it in the face.

This caused it to collapsed lightly onto its knees, using its arms to prop it up. Letting his body move on its own, Sora ran up one of its arms and reached it shoulder where he started to attack its face, swinging wildly as the Darkside was too stunned to retaliate. With a surge of strength, he stabbed his sword hilt-deep into the monster’s head before pulling it out, noting the lack of any sort of blood that’d normally appear. This caused the monster to lurch back, knocking Sora off of it.

The brunette fell flat on his back, the wind knocked out of him for a second. To his horror, the sword vanished as the Darkside turned to him, staring down at him with those unnerving yellow eyes. Before Sora could properly recover, a pool of darkness opened under him, spreading all across the platform.

But don't be afraid.

You hold the mightiest weapon of all.

Sora struggled to get free, but it was as if he was in some kind of quicksand. He felt cold all over, and once more he found that his voice wouldn’t work no matter how hard he tried to scream. The teen could only sink into the darkness as the monster he failed to defeat loomed over him, as if it were amused by his predicament.

So don't forget…

Looking straight up at the monster, Sora’s body went limp as the darkness continued to swallow him. He was entirely helped, not even able to call for help that most certainly wouldn’t have arrived anyway. The teen could only lie there in horror as darkness swallowed his vision.

You are the one who will open the door.

Chapter Text

Sora’s eyes shot open, the teen expecting to see darkness enveloping his body. Instead, he saw the clear blue skies he had known all his life. The sun was shining warmly as Sora realized he was on the shores of Destiny Islands and not some unusual platform. That’s right, on that platform he was fighting…mmm…fighting…

…What had he been fighting again?

As quickly as Sora had awoken, the images from his dream started to slip away. He had a sword, there was a voice talking to him, and there were some sort of creatures…at least he thought so. Already, trying to recall the details of his nightmare was as easy as grabbing a handful of fog.

Within a minute of staring up at the lovely blue sky, Sora had forgotten most of the dream and the emotions he felt during it. Sitting up, he looked to the calm ocean, the sunlight dancing off of it as it always did. Since he was awake, he should probably help with the raft, but…he was still tired.

It seemed like no matter how much sleep Sora got, he was always tired. His friends called him lazy, but it felt like it was more than that. It was the type of tired that sleep didn’t seem to help at all, and it made him feel like some sort of outsider. Still, his friends did accept him, so he was satisfied with that, for the time being.

Letting out a yawn, Sora lied back down, only to see Kairi smiling down at him.

“Whoah!” The teen exclaimed, abruptly sitting up as his friend laughed good-naturedly. “Gimme a break, Kairi, you really startled me!” Sora complained as he turned around to face his friend, kneeling up.

Kairi shook her head a bit. “Sora, you lazy bum. I knew that I’d find you snoozing here!” The girl teased, hands folding behind her back.

“No, I had this weird dream!” The boy replied, really trying to clutch at the last remnants of what his nightmare had been about. “There was some black thing and I got swallowed into the floor and…” Even as he spoke, the last details were fading away and were soon gone.

“What, are you still dreaming, Sora?” Kairi asked with an amused look. “That’s what you get for slacking!” She teased.

Sora frowned a bit, brows furrowing in thought. It didn’t feel entirely like a dream, but…what else could it be then? “So weird…” He murmured. Deciding to brush it off since it wasn’t like he could remember most of it. Wanting to change the subject, he looked back to Kairi. “Hey, what was your hometown like?”

The young girl looked off at the ocean, far into the horizon ahead. “I’ve told you before, I don’t remember.” She replied patiently. “I only remember being here on the islands.”

“Nothing at all?” Sora lightly pressed. He found it fascinating and maybe even a bit scary to not be able to remember something so important. Honestly he wasn’t sure what he asked Kairi the question, he had asked it many times over the last decade since she arrived.

“Nothing.” Kairi echoed, patience still in her voice. She never seemed to mind it when Sora or anyone else asked about her hometown. Of course, no matter how many times they asked, she insisted she had no memories of it.

Nodding in understanding, Sora sat down properly on the sand. “You ever want to back there? See where you grew up?” Maybe she’d even meet an old friend she had forgotten.

“Well, I’m happy here.” Kairi replied without hesitation. “But I’d love to go and visit one day. I’m curious about it.” She explained, looking back over to Sora.

Smiling a bit, Sora looked off towards the horizon. “I’d like to see it too, and any other worlds out there. I wanna see ‘em all!” He boasted, staring off to the ocean, as though if he squinted, he could see part of one of those worlds.

It wasn’t that he hated Destiny Islands or anything, but he craved to see more! The islands were pretty isolated, the only taste of the outside world came from things he saw on television or heard on the family radio. Aside from that, traders from elsewhere came every so often, but they only stuck around for a bit before leaving again. Sora wanted to experience the outside world, among other worlds, for himself!

Kairi grinned wide, beaming at Sora. “Well, we’ll just have to go and see them, huh?” She replied, excitement in her tone.

“Hey! You two forgetting about me?” A voice called, prompting Sora and Kairi to turn to the source. Strolling up to them, a log under one arm, was Riku. The fifteen year-old strutted towards the pair, tossing the log to Sora who fumbled and fell backwards as it hit his chest. “I guess I’m going to be the only one working on the raft, then?” He asked, speaking in a faux annoyed tone. “And you’re down here lazing about like Sora is.” Riku said to Kairi as he reached her.

Laughing lightly at her friend, Kairi nodded. “Guilty as charged, didn’t think you’d notice!” As she watched Riku sit next to a Sora, who got the log off of him, she grinned. “Come on, we’ll finish it together! Let’s race!” She declared, pointing towards the area where the unfinished raft was.

“What? For real? I just sat down.” Riku replied with a roll of his eyes.

“Ready…” Kairi called, a mischievous look on her face. “…Go!”

She clearly knew that was all she had to do in order to get the boys up and moving. Sora and Riku had been competitive ever since they were four and five. Anything from a meal to getting to class first could be turned into a challenge between them. This clearly was no different, because as soon as Kairi spoke up, they quickly got ready, and when she yelled out, they bolted towards the raft. Kairi herself tried to keep up, but the boys were too fast for her…

Naturally, it was Riku who won the race. In most instances of these small competitions, he came out on top. Every so often, Sora would get in a victory, but he often found himself at the end of some friendly ribbing from his best friend. After that, Riku went off to practice a bit, basically telling Sora and Kairi to pick up on some of the slack.

“I guess that’s fair…” Sora murmured to Kairi as the two watched their older friend head to the mini-island where he liked to practice his swordplay. “So…what needs to be done again?” He asked Kairi, the two hanging by the door leading to the more secluded beach where their raft was.

“You really weren’t paying attention?” Kairi lightly scolded with a roll of the eyes. “We need materials and food too. How about you just get the materials for today. We need…a few logs, some cloth, and a rope…that should be it…”

That all seemed easy enough. Sora was starting to feel a bit bad since Riku had been doing a majority of the work on the raft so far. Then a thought hit him. “What will you be doing then?”

Kairi flashed a mischievous grin. “I’m going to make sure you do your job, of course!” She declared, folding her hands behind her back. “That’s pretty tough on its own!”

Rolling his eyes, Sora couldn’t help but smile back. “Gee, thanks Kairi. Don’t strain yourself, alright?” He joked, getting a small laugh from his friend. With that, he went off to look for supplies, going along the shore of the island to try and find logs. Every so often some driftwood would wash up from somewhere else, some part of the outside world far away.

The three actually had the idea to cut down a tree or two instead, but Riku quickly decided it was a bad choice. If something went wrong and one of them got hurt, the whole plan would be blown. This was meant to be a secret not just from their parents, but other friends too. Yeah, the three got along with Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie…but it just wasn’t the same sort of bond. Besides, trying to fit six people on that raft wasn’t going to happen.

It didn’t take long for Sora to find a piece of good driftwood, carrying it under his arm as he kept going. Recently, the teens’ head was filled with the ideas of what other worlds could be out there. He wanted to see things he had never dreamed of…things that were even beyond the movies he watched, the books he had read, or the radio broadcasts he had heard. And he also wondered just how many worlds were out there…maybe as many as there stars in the sky. It’d be a long journey, that much was clear, but he, Kairi, and Riku agreed to it and there was no turning back.

Before long, Sora found another log washed up on the beach. Hoisting that under his free arm, he carried his haul back to Kairi. She looked them over and flashed Sora a grin. “These will work great! Just get a cloth and rope and we’ll be set!” She lightly ordered.

Sora nodded, but before he went off, he paused. “Hey, Kairi. Will you miss this place? When we head out?” The trip was only a few days away at this point. Not a lot of time for farewells or anything like that. Especially since this was all meant to be a secret trip.

“Of course I will.” Kairi replied, lifting her chin just a bit as the sea breeze blew, the girl closing her eyes as she enjoyed it. “But we’ll be back. We can even make small visits here before leaving again.” The girl suggested, opening her eyes again. “It’ll make our parents feel better, right?”

That was true…Sora felt really bad about leaving his parents without saying anything. He just convinced himself that they’d be fine without him. The boy also felt like there might not be a return trip, in a way…if only because of Riku. The way Riku talked about this expedition made it seem like it was something permanent, that they’d go exploring and never return. Though even when he was a kid, Riku said some odd things, so Sora wasn’t sure how seriously to take it…

“Yeah, we can probably visit whenever we want!” Sora agreed, making himself more chipper. “But alright, I guess I’ll get the last few things.” He said, going off towards the treehouse on the island. All the structures on this ‘play island’ had been there for as long as Sora could remember, probably made his parents and their friends, or maybe their parents and their friends. He never thought to question it, it was always just a part of his life.

Sora supposed he could understand why Riku would feel so antsy to stretch out his legs more than anyone else. Things on the islands hardly ever seemed to change, after all. As he approached the treehouse, Sora came across Wakka. The fifteen year-old was leaning against one of the wooden walls built on the island.

When he saw Sora, he gave an upward nod. “Hey, what’s happening, man?” Wakka asked, his voice casual as always. The guy never seemed to have a care in the world.

“Have you seen a cloth or something around here? I need it for something.” Sora asked, being purposefully vague. It made him feel bad not to include Selphie, Wakka, or Tidus…but he, Kairi, and Riku already agreed to keep it all a secret. Besides, the other trio of friends seemed pretty content on the island, never seeming to want to explore the outside world.

Wakka tilted his head a bit in thought. “A cloth? Uh…” He stopped to think, humming lightly. “…I think I saw one in the treehouse the other day.” The teen informed after a few moments. “Try there.”

“Thanks! Will do!” Sora exclaimed, quickly rushing to the treehouse before Wakka could ask why he wanted one. After climbing up to the treehouse, the teen looed around and quickly saw a cloth in good condition hanging on the wall. Perfect! After dropping it off to Kairi, he went back to the dock to look for some rope. He didn’t see any, but Selphie was siting at the dock’s edge, looking out at the ocean.

The thirteen year-old looked up to Sora, beaming at him. “Hey, Sora. Doesn’t that breeze feel great?” She asked, turning back to the sea with a wide grin on her face.

“It sure does.” Sora said, taking a moment himself to appreciate it. To him, it never got old, the smell of the sea, the feeling of wand, the tumbling of the waves. Still, new experiences would be great too. “Say, Selphie, you seen any rope? I thought there’d be some…”

“Hm? Oh, I think I saw Tidus with some.” The girl informed, pointing to the large wooden structure jutting out from the island itself. “I dunno why, but he needed it for something.”

Nodding, Sora started to run over. “Appreciate it!” He called behind his back as he made his way to the structure. When he got there, he indeed saw Tidus. The thirteen year-old boy was using a rope to set up some sort of practice dummy, his red wooden pole resting nearby.

“Hey, Tidus, what are you doing with that?” Sora asked, though it was pretty obvious what his friend had in mind. Between Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus, it was the latter that liked to roughhouse and fight the most. He also saw Riku as a sort of rival, but not to the extent Sora did.

Turning to Sora, Tidus gave him a little wave. “I’m just setting up a practice dummy. This will help me get stronger. Maybe I’ll be able to beat Riku in a fight soon with its help!”

Well, that wasn’t good, he needed that rope! “Hey, could I use that rope instead? It’s pretty important…” Sora asked, not sure what to do if Tidus refused.

The younger boy pondered for a moment before grinning a bit. “Sora, you feeling lucky today? I’ll give you the rope…but you have to beat me in a fight…along with Selphie and Wakka.”

“At once?!” Sora exclaimed, not expecting that at all. “How am I supposed to do that?” Three on one was pretty unfair…

Tidus shrugged a bit. “Riku did it. We all went at him at once and he wiped he floor with us.” The teen informed. “So, it’s totally possible. Wanna try it? Otherwise, I’m keeping this rope!”

The first point was that Sora didn’t have much choice. They needed that rope, and he wasn’t sure where to find more on such short notice. The second point…the mention of Riku beating all three of them at once made Sora really want to try. He’d be a pretty lousy rival if he couldn’t do the things Riku could!

“Okay, it’s a deal. We’ll do it right now.” Sora agreed, hoping he was ready for this. He hadn’t been practicing as much recently, feeling strangely exhausted more and more without much reason. With a grin, Tidus shook hands on it. The four gathered at the beach, Sora having fetched his wooden sword. Selphie had a jump rope, Wakka his ball, and Tidus his wooden pole.

The trio went after Sora all at once, coming at him from different sides. At the last second, Sora rolled away as Tidus and Selphie struck while Wakka threw his ball with all his might. As Sora got up from his roll, he spun around and swung at Tidus. The younger teen whipped around and blocked the attack as Selphie’s jump rope smacked Sora across the arm.

Yelping a bit, Sora jumped back. That jump rope really hurt! As he did this, Wakka threw his ball which hit the outnumbered fighter square in the face, really making his nose hurt! Staggering back a bit, Sora felt a nasty pain in his stomach as Tidus jabbed him with the end of his staff.

Sora retaliated by swinging at the younger teen with a horizontal swing, Tidus ducking under it and sweeping the brunette’s feet from under him. With a startled noise, Sora found himself on his butt as his three opponents waited for him to get up. At the very least, they didn’t attack him while he was down!

Leaping to his feet, Sora quickly backpedaled from the trio, knocking another long-ranged attack from Wakka out of the air. Selphie sprinted at her opponent, maneuvering her weapon so one end of it came hurdling towards him. Like with Wakka’s attack, Sora knocked it back, but in this instance the deflection worked a lot better.

The end of the jump rope went back to Selphie and nailed her right in the forehead, eliciting a cry from the girl. Seeing his opening, Sora smacked her on the side with his wooden sword, eliciting another exclamation of pain from her. “Ow! I give! I give!” She called, never having been able to handle much roughhousing as everyone else.

While this happened, Wakka stood by the shore and threw his ball at Sora again, who deployed the same strategy a second time. Sora hit the ball right back at him, nailing him in the stomach. While Wakka was stunned, Sora took a move from Tidus’ as he sprinted to his stunned opponent and swept his legs from under him, making him fall flat on his back into the water.

With that, it was just Sora and Tidus, the latter being surprised at how quickly the tide turned. The two rushed at each other, swinging at each other only for their attacks to get blocked or parried by the other. Selphie and Wakka, sitting up from the water, watched on. It seemed that the two were evenly matched for a minute or so, but then Sora got a lucky hit, hitting Tidus on the top of the head.

As he yelped in pain, Tidus tried for a horizontal swing at Sora. The older teen swung back, knocking Tidus’ weapon from his hand, and sending it flying away. Startled, Tidus turned to look at it, then back at Sora. Raising his hands in surrender, he grinned. “Alright, you win! That was a really hard hit there…!” He said in a good natured way, rubbing the top of his head.

Sora, panting a bit, tossed his wooden sword to the side. He was surprised he actually managed to win! And apparently Riku had done it much more easily! Tomorrow, maybe Sora would  challenge Riku to a proper fight. It had been a few months, and this victory made him feel a bit more hopeful. “Yeah, I guess I did…” He said, a bit shocked. “A deal’s a deal though, right? I get that rope!”

Tidus seemed bit disappointed, but quickly shrugged it off. “That’s right! A deal’s a deal. Come on, help me take that dummy down and it’s yours.” The younger teen said, walking with Sora to his prize.

With the rope in hand, that was the last item on the list. Thanking Tidus, Sora went to get the prize to Kairi, knowing that the hard part of working on the raft properly was the next step. Hopefully she’d at least help him with that!

---

Far, far from Destiny Islands, in another world altogether, stood Disney Castle. The day was bright and cheerful, the hallways clean as the enchanted brooms performed their duties. Donald Duck, Royal Magician to the King, walked down one of these hallways as he hummed to himself.

He approached a massive door, one that he had no chance of ever opening. Clearing his throat, he knocked on a section of it a few times, opening up a small section of it as he entered King Mickey’s throne room. The room itself was massive, a red and gold carpet leading towards the throne.

“Good morning, Your Majesty!” Donald greeted, bowing lightly as he made the long walk towards the throne. As he approached however, he noticed something amiss. The throne was…empty! “What?!” He exclaimed, looking about, his eyes drawn back to the throne as he saw something come from behind it. That something was Pluto, a letter in his mouth! Quickly taking it, Donald read over its contents, eyes growing wider with every sentence.

Moments later, the magician was squawking in a wild panic, sprinting from the throne room and towards the gardens. There, as expecting, Goofy was taking a nap. Sure, that wasn’t befitting of the King’s Royal Knight, but with how peaceful the world was…he could afford it. “Turkey…lobster…” Goofy murmured in his sleep. “Sweet potater pie…”

As Donald approached his sleeping friend, he got mad. “Goofy! Wake up! This is serious!” He yelled…but Goofy remained asleep. Frustrated, the magician raised his hand up with a yell, a single bolt of Thunder striking Goofy and jostling him awake.

Not seriously harmed despite the attack, Goofy yawned as he sat up. Looking to Donald, he offered a smile. “Good mornin’ Donald!” He greeted with a small wave as he yawned.

“This isn’t a good morning! Something serious is going on! But you can’t tell anyone!” Donald warned, shaking his head to add to his statement.

Goofy paused. “Queen Minnie?” He asked, looking a bit past Donald as he spoke.

“Not even the Queen! This is very top secret, okay?!” Donald emphasized with a noise of frustration at his friend’s question.

Once more, Goofy paused, again looking a bit passed Donald as though not paying much attention. “Daisy?”

Not noticing where his friend’s eyes were, Donald shook his head viciously. “No! Not the Queen! Not Daisy! Not anyone, you understand?!”

Leaning to properly look behind Donald, Goofy waved again. “Mornin’ ladies!” He greeted, very chipper despite the news he was getting.

Freezing in place for a moment, Donald turned around and saw Queen Minnie and her lady-in-waiting, Daisy Duck. The two were standing there, the former confused with the latter clearing her throat expectantly with her hands on her hips. “Oh, boy…” Donald murmured to himself.

---

The sun was setting on Destiny Islands, the work on the raft was done. All that was needed were previsions, a task that could wait until tomorrow. Kairi had been surprised at the bruises Sora got, but the boy just waved them off. With the day’s work finished, Sora, Kairi, and Riku rested on the miniature island where the Paopu Fruit trees resided. It was a bit of an export from the island, other areas of the world paying good money for the exotic items.

Sora and Kairi sat upon a tree that grew partially sideways, while Riku leaned against it as they watched the gorgeous, orange sunset. “So, Kairi’s home is out there, right?” The brunette asked, looking to the horizon.

“I’m sure it is.” Riku replied, arms crossed casually as he looked to the horizon as well. “We’ll never know if we just stay here, though. We won’t know about anything that other worlds hold if we don’t leave.” He went on, voice full of a steely determination.

Leaning forward to look better at Riku, Sora raised a question. “You really think the raft can take us that far?” It had been something on his mind since Riku first proposed the idea, but he just never spoke up about it until now.

Rather than give the situation more thought, the older teen shrugged it off. “Who knows? If we need to, we’ll find some other way.”

“So, if we can go to another world, what would we do there?” Kairi asked Riku. A lot of the details of their plan past leaving the island hadn’t really been discussed before, as odd as it seemed. The three were just determined to find new places or worlds, and what that would entail had been pretty vague.

This question gave Riku more pause than Sora’s. “I…haven’t really thought about it. It’s just…I’ve always wondered why we’re here on this island. Why not some other world? Why this one? And if there are other worlds, that means this one is just a small piece of something much greater.” Clearly the older teen had given this a lot of thought. “We could’ve easily ended up somewhere else, right?”

“I guess so, I dunno…” Sora said, moving so he was lying on the tree, hands behind his head. He was pretty tired after working all day. Riku was the brains behind all this, he just wanted to see new worlds, new sights, and meet new people. The deeper thinking, he left to his friend.

“Exactly. So, we should go out there and find out.” Riku declared, pushing off the tree. “Sitting here won’t change anything, life will just be the same thing…so that’s why we should go.”

Kairi looked to Riku, a bit surprised. “You’ve really thought a lot about this, huh? More than Sora and I did, that’s for sure.”

“Well, you’re to thank for this.” The white-haired boy said as he looked her. “If you hadn’t come from outside the islands, I probably never would’ve thought about this to begin with. So, thank you, Kari.”

Tittering lightly, Kairi smiled back to Riku. “You’re welcome, I guess!” She said in a chipper tone.

Soon after that, the three decided it was time to go home. Their parents were fine with them being on the play island unsupervised, just as long as they were home by the time the sun fully set. Kairi went off ahead, and as Sora and Riku went across the bridge, the older boy spoke up from behind. “Hey, Sora!”

Turning, Sora was startled as an object was tossed at him. Barely catching it, he looked down to see it was a Paopu Fruit! “What are you…?”

“You wanted one, right? They say if two people share one, their destines are intertwined.” Riku said, walking passed Sora, who was still staring at the fruit. “They’ll be a part of each other’s lives, no matter what.”

Sora had heard that legend, of course. Everyone on Destiny Islands knew about it! He remembered when he was little, the older kids would brag about sharing the fruit with their boyfriend or girlfriend. Of course, none of them actually did it when anyone was watching, so they’d usually get called out on lying. Heck, the brunette even remembered his mom saying she and Sora’s father shared one back when they were teenagers. Being six, Sora just waved off the ‘mushy talk’ with complaint.

“Well, yeah, I know, but…” Sora muttered out, brows raised.

“C’mon, I know you want to try it with Kairi!” Riku teased, running off ahead with a smirk on his face.

Sora let out a light noise of annoyance as he tossed the fruit aside. Riku was always teasing him about Kairi! He ran after his friend, the two of them quickly catching up to Kairi as she went to the docks.

The three only had one full day left on Destiny Islands to go. Once the previsions were gathered, they’d leave first thing the next morning. While excited, all of them were anxious, even Riku. There was no telling how well this plan would work and what they’d find out there if it did.

Yet…it was a risk all three of them were willing to take.

Chapter Text

Despite his excitement for what lied ahead, Sora managed to sleep pretty soundly that night. When he awoke, he immediately got ready and rowed to the play island. It felt weird, one last full day on Destiny Islands! The first thing the next morning, he, Riku, and Kairi would take the raft and head off to worlds unknown!

Arriving at the dock, Sora saw Selphie was already there, the girl offering a smile and a wave, which Sora returned, as he arrived. Tying his boat up tight, he went over to the door leading to the part of the island where the raft was. Instead of Kairi being there like yesterday, Riku was instead.

The older boy nodded at Sora in greeting as he approached. “Oh, there you are. Thought you might sleep in again.” He scolded facetiously.

“Nope, not this time!” Sora shot back, a humored grin on his face. “You’re not practicing?” He knew how much Riku liked to work on his swordplay. No wonder he could beat Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus so easily.

“Well, I will. But first, our raft needs a name.” Riku said, crossing his arms in thought. “I was thinking…Highwind.”

Sora thought for a moment. Yeah, their raft didn’t have a name! Every sailor knew that a vessel without a name was bad luck. “Highwind? I guess that’s good, but how about Excalibur?” He thought it was a pretty good name.

Riku grinned a bit. “Well, I guess we’re at an impasse.” He said, looking to see Kairi approaching. “Just in time! Sora and I are gonna have a race over the ship’s name!”

The girl didn’t look surprised. After all, the two have had contests for much smaller things. “Alright, I’ll be the judge, okay?” She said, stepping off to the side. “First one to the star tree and back wins!” Kairi declared, talking about a tree with a sole star decorating it. No one really remembered who did it, but most of the kids took credit for it at one point or another.

Sora came up with a nice idea, looking coyly at Riku. “Okay, if I win then I’m captain! If you win…you can be cap-”

“Whoever wins can share a Paopu Fruit with Kairi.” Riku interrupted, talking quietly enough so she couldn’t actually hear them. “How about it?”

The brunette felt his face grow a bit warm. Seriously? Wasn’t this about the name of their raft? “Uh…wait a minute…!”

“Okay! On my count!” Kairi called, snapping Sora out of his surprise. She grinned as he and Riku got into their starting positions. “Three…two…one…GO!” The girl yelled.

With that, the two sped forward. Sora was caught by surprise at the sudden change of the prize, but he was still determined to win! Luckily, he had an ace up his sleeve, and it was right near the start. One part of the walkway was all rickety…and one more step on it was sure to make it collapse!

So, when they reached that part of the walkway, Sora leapt right over it. Riku didn’t react in time, apparently unaware of its condition, and stepped right on it. With a cry, he and a chunk of the walkway fell into the shallow water below. With this advantage, Sora sped forward, not looking back to his friend. He knew Riku would be fine, it was a pretty short drop. In fact, when Sora reached the end of the walkway, he already heard his older friend running through the shallow water.

Focusing on moving ahead, Sora ran past the raft and up the small sloped to the star-decorated tree. When he tagged it and turned back, he saw Riku was catching up to him fast! Thinking quick, the brunette hopped along the tops of nearby trees as they were able to carry his weight. Of course, Riku followed suit, starting to slowly catch up to Sora.

The race back was frantic for Sora, who could hear Riku panting right behind him. “Come on…!” He mumbled to himself, not wanting to look back to see just how close his friend was.

As they approached Kairi, she raised her hand up, ready to make the call. Down the walkway they went and then…! “Sora!” The girl announced loudly, swinging her hand down as the brunette passed her, Riku a mere moment behind.

Panting as he came to a stop. Sora smiled to himself. He actually won! He couldn’t believe it! Felt like months since he actually beat Riku at something. Turning, Sora saw that his friend had stopped as well, catching his breath. He didn’t seem too sore about the walkway thing. In fairness, anyone could tell it was on its last legs just by glancing at it! “I won! Excalibur it is!”

“Lighten up, Sora, it’s just a name after all.” Riku retorted with a light role of the eyes.

Sora couldn’t help but feel a bit annoyed at that. Riku gloated all the time when he won, and now when Sora did it, he needed to lighten up? The brunette couldn’t help but look annoyed, but Kairi spoke up before he could say anything.

“Alright, glad that’s settled! Sora, meet me by the raft when you’re ready. I’ll let you know what we still need!” With that, the young girl turned and headed off towards the raft, going through the shallow water since the walkway was busted.

Withholding an annoyed sigh, Sora looked to Riku as his friend went to lean against the nearby wall. “Hey, were you serious about the Paopu Fruit?” He couldn’t help but ask, the last-second condition to the race having thrown him off.

“Huh? Nah, that was just a joke!” Riku replied, grinning a bit. “Should’ve seen the look on your face, though. Hey, wanna race again?”

A joke? That was pretty serious, wasn’t it? Sora wasn’t quite so amused about that. He could handle some friendly ribbing, but he really disliked it when Riku poked fun about his crush on Kairi. Especially since the older teen seemed to be fully aware of it. “Oh, alright. Uh…no. I gotta help Kairi with those provisions.”

Riku seemed to note Sora’s tone and raised a brow. “It was just a joke, Sora. Don’t be so sore about it.”

Nodding absently, Sora turned and went to the raft, going through the shallow water as well. When he arrived, Kairi was leaning against the mast, something in her hand. “Hey, Kairi, what is that?” He asked, looking at the object.

“Oh, this?” She asked, displaying it for Sora. It was almost star shaped, and hung on a chain. “I’m making a necklace out of thalassa shells. Sailors wore them all the time in the old days for good luck. It’s a charm that’ll help us find each other if we somehow get separated.” Kairi declared with a grin.

“At least you’re thinking ahead.” Sora replied, brushing off his annoyance with Riku. Being with Kairi just made him feel a bit better! “Our raft has a name and a good luck charm, we’re sure to have a good voyage!”

Kairi nodded. “Exactly! But first we need provisions. You can handle that while I work on our luck.” She tittered as Sora playfully rolled his eyes. “So…we need some mushrooms, seagull eggs, coconuts, fish, and some water.” The girl picked up a large empty bottle from behind the mast along with a bag. “Bottle for the water, bag for the food. Make sure to get fresh water, okay! Not ocean water!”

Taking the things Sora rolled his eyes again, still playfully. “Yeah, yeah I know. I live on an island; I know you can’t drink salt water!”

“Great! Just bring those back and we’ll be ready!” Kairi declared, starting to work on her good luck charm again.

So, Sora got to work. He whacked some nearby trees until coconuts dropped down, ones that were about ready to be eaten. There were nests all about where seagulls roosted, and he went to ones with the parents away and snagged some eggs. The fish were the hardest part, Sora having to lure them into shallower water before he was able to snag them. And of course, he knew which mushrooms were good to eat, and started looking for those.

He had to go all around the island to find these provisions, and soon he just needed a few more mushrooms and water. As he got back to the area near the shack, he saw the waterfall and filled the bottle with that. Jus some mushrooms and he’d be good! Looking about, he noticed the opening in the stone wall by the small waterfall. A good place for mushrooms to grow, the so-called ‘Secret Place’ which wasn’t much of a secret. It had actually been some time since he went there, come to think of it. Entering the cave, Sora went slowly so he didn’t run into the walls through the narrow space. Soon, though, he entered the sort of main area of the Secret Place, an opening in the ceiling letting in the sunlight.

The cave walls were covered in drawings of all sorts. There was a spooky face on one rock, a strange mythical bird on another, there was also a castle, a pirate, a dog barking at a sleeping boy, among a lot of other scribbles. Massive roots also lined the walls, some covering up drawings that had been made a decade ago. Though that wasn’t the oddest thing about the Secret Place.

On the wall was an unusual wooden door. It was tall and had golden markings on it. But there was no actual handle or any other way to actually open the door. It had been there ever since Sora and Riku had discovered it ten years ago, and the adults didn’t know anything about it. They shrugged it off, but the kids were curious and tried to open it…to no avail. Eventually, everyone just sort of ignored it and pretended it wasn’t there.

Sora looked about at the drawings and the unusual door, taking in the memories of when he, Riku, and Kairi would hang around in the cave. Only for a few minutes, though, as he needed to find some mushrooms! Looking near the walls, the brunette soon found some and put them in his bag, but something then caught his eye…another drawing!

It was of him and Kairi, or at least their heads. He remembered the two of them etching the drawings into the wall years and years ago. Sora’s mind went back to the fake race prize that Riku suggested…and the brunette picked up a rock. It took a few minutes, but he added on a clunky arm coming from his head, offering a Paopu Fruit to Kairi. Honestly, he didn’t even know why he added it on…just wishful thinking, he supposed. He doubted anyone would ever see it anyway.

Without warning, the hairs on the back of Sora’s neck stood on end and he felt like he was being watched. “Who’s there?!” He asked, standing up and looking back. Sora didn’t actually expect to see anyone, thinking maybe it was his imagination. To his horror, though, there was a figure in a dark corner of the Secret Place. It was impossible to make out face, as the stranger was wearing a brown cloak.

The figure looked to Sora, or at least it seemed like it. “I’ve come to see the door to this world.” The cloaked figure said, a man’s voice coming from the seemingly empty hood. It wasn’t a voice that Sora recognized, which put him further on edge. “This world has been connected.”

Sora had no idea what this guy was talking about. World? “What are you talking about? Are…you from another world? Who are you?” The teen found himself rooted to the spot, too scared to run away even though the exit was wide open. Was this guy from another world or what? What door did he mean and how did he get here? There was something so…off about this man. Not just his appearance or what he said, but Sora almost felt like he was talking to thin air.

Despite Sora’s questions, the cloaked man went on, as if he didn’t hear him. “Tied to the darkness...Soon to be completely eclipsed. You do not yet know what lies beyond the door.”

“I don’t get what you mean! Stop talking in riddles!” Sora demanded, starting to get annoyed. The guy was talking nonsense!

“There is so very much to learn. You understand so little.” Was all the figure said in response, sounding almost amused.

Sora glared at the cloaked man, his fear ebbing away into anger. “You’ll see, I’m going to go out and learn what’s out there! I’ll see lots of different places and worlds!”

“A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing.” The cloaked man said in response, seeming to almost scold Sora.

“That’s not true, I-” Sora started, but in the middle of his sentence he blinked. In that split second, the man vanished. “Wh-What?” He sputtered out, shocked. Looking around, he didn’t see the cloaked figure. There wasn’t really anywhere to hide, and there was only one exit. So how did he leave?

Quickly, Sora gathered his bag and the water bottle and ran out of the Secret Place. He glanced over his shoulder, almost expecting to see the cloaked man chasing him, but…nothing. The teen only stopped once he was out in the sunlight, feeling pretty freaked out. Was that even real? Maybe it was just the dark cave playing tricks on him…

Sora decided that that was the proper explanation. It was all just his imagination making him see and hear things. That sort of thing was possible…right? Still, it all seemed to real. And what door did he mean? That one without a handle…?

Shaking the experience off, Sora headed back towards Kairi. When he did so, though, he saw Riku off on the miniature island, practicing his swordplay. The brunette decided to challenge his older friend to one last fight. He was feeling a bit more confident in his chances since be beat Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus alone and then Riku in that race. Besides, a final duel before the voyage seemed appropriate. Going through the shack, Sora crossed the bridge and left the supplies he gathered by the end of it. With just his wooden sword, he approached Riku.

The older teen turned and noticed Sora, smirking lightly. “You want a duel? You already got to be captain and name the ship, what else do you want?” He asked, not entirely serious but clearly just goading Sora on.

“Nothing, I just want one more fight before we set sail!” Sora declared, approaching Riku and getting into a fighting pose.

Riku let out a light chuckle, getting into position as well, his own wooden sword poised above his head. “Well, if that’s what you really want! Come at me!”

Sora dashed forward, swinging his weapon horizontally at his friend. To little shock, Riku blocked it with ease. He was always faster and stronger than Sora was, especially during their fights! Riku took it one step further and parried the attack away, throwing his opponent off balance. He’d jab his weapon at Sora, getting him a few times in the stomach which forced the brunette to stagger back.

Quickly, the younger teen retaliated, swinging down at Riku and getting him in the shoulder. It wasn’t the first time Sora managed to get a hit in, but he could never hit Riku enough to actually beat him! The white-haired boy performed a swift counterattack, swinging his sword at Sora’s side, making him stagger back once more.

It was a very one-sided duel. Riku kept moving forward, giving off quick, yet strong, attacks that Sora was usually unable to dodge or block. Any retaliation from Sora was blocked or parried away, just opening him up to another attack. The brunette managed to get a heavy swing in, knocking Riku onto his back!

Sora was about to gather himself for when Riku got up, but his eyes widened as his friend kicked off the ground, flinging himself feetfirst into the brunette. While Sora used his sword to block it, the impact still sent him stumbling backwards…and off the miniature island. With a cry, he landed in the water, it being just deep enough where he didn’t get hurt, though he was soaked entirely…

Using the ladder on the other side of the miniature island, Sora climbed back up, coughing up a bit of salt water and aching all over. As he caught his breath, he looked up at Riku who was grinning in victory. “Thought I’d…have you that time…!” Sora said, taking a second to let out a last cough as he stood up.

“No such luck! But hey, you can still be Excalibur’s captain.” Riku said with a laugh. “And I saw you got some provisions. Go get those to Kairi and we’ll be set.”

“Shouldn’t you do it since I’m captain?” Sora asked cheekily, disappointed in his loss, but quickly brushing it off.

Riku shrugged. “You lost the fight, though. So go on. Besides, I basically built the thing alone.” The older teen pointed out.

While not actual wager in the fight, Sora still relented with a laugh. Gathering his things, he went and delivered the provisions to the raft, Kairi greatly amused at the soaking wet Sora. Once the previsions were placed on the raft securely, the three rested until the sun started to set. Riku went home early to get some sleep while Sora and Kairi sat on the dock, watching the sunset. The ocean became a brilliant orange as day slowly transitioned to night.

The two sat in a comfortable silence for a while until Kairi spoke up. “Riku’s really changed, hasn’t he?” She mused, looking over at Sora.

“Huh? What do you mean?” The brunette replied, mirroring Kairi’s action. She didn’t really reply, so he pushed a bit. “You okay?” What was with her?

“Sora, let’s just take the raft and go! Just the two of us!” Kairi suddenly exclaimed, seeming very serious as she looked intently at him.

That took Sora by surprise, who felt his face go a tad warm. “Uh, what? And just leave Riku behind?” He never even considered something like that. But…if Kairi wanted to, then maybe…?

Kairi broke out into a laugh, her façade shattering instantly. “Just kidding!”

The brunette let out a heavy breath, shaking his head. “What’s gotten into you? You’re the one that’s changed, Kairi.” He couldn’t believe he even considered Kairi’s offer, even if it was real. Riku was more excited to explore out of three of them by a longshot, and Sora couldn’t just abandon a friend like that!

“Maybe…” The girl replied, sounding a lot more serious. “You know, I was a little afraid at first, but now I'm ready. No matter where I go or what I see, I know I can always come back here. Right?” She asked, almost like Sora somehow held the answer.

Sora nodded his head, grinning wide. “Yeah, of course! We can visit whenever we want!” He had no way of knowing for sure, but there had to be a way to go back, right?

“That’s good…” Kairi said before going quiet for a few moments. “Sora, don’t ever change.” She said suddenly, sounding a lot more serious than before.

Don’t ever change?

But Sora wanted that. He wasn’t happy with himself at all. While he was able to laugh and smile along with his friends, he felt terrible in his heart sometimes. He felt heavy and exhausted just by being awake. It was why he napped so often, to try and shake that exhaustion away, but it never faded entirely. Sora didn’t know what was wrong with him, but he wanted it to go away. Still, he was afraid to let others know how he felt, afraid they’d shove him away for being different.

Though all he said in response was a single word. “Sure.” He replied, just loud enough to be heard as he looked back towards the sunset.

Apparently, that was good enough for Kairi, who turned back to the sun as well. “I just can't wait. Once we set sail, it'll be great.” She almost whispered in a wistful tone…

---

Donald, Sorry to rush off without sayin' goodbye, but there's big trouble brewin'. Not sure why, but the stars have been blinkin' out, one by one. And that means disaster can't be far behind. I hate to leave you all but I've gotta go check into it after getting Master Yen Sid’s blessing. He told me there’s someone with a key; the key to our survival. So I need you and Goofy to find him, and stick with him. Got it? We need that key or we're doomed! So go to Traverse Town and find Leon. He'll point you in the right direction.

P.S. Would ya apologize to Minnie for me? Thanks, pal.

That was what the letter King Mickey left behind had said. Donald had no choice but to relay it to Queen Minnie and Daisy, the three of them alongside Goofy meeting in the library. Off in the corner, Pluto slept soundly in a doggy bed, blissfully unaware of the happenings around him.

“What could this mean? I don’t understand…!” Daisy remarked, brow furrowed in worry.

“Whatever it means, we’ll have to trust the King on it.” Queen Minnie replied, her voice strong and seeming to lack any concern.

“Sure hope he’s okay…wherever he is…” Goofy said to himself, not quite as sure of things as Queen Minnie was.

As Goofy mumbled about the King’s safety, Donald gave a salute. “Your Highness, don’t worry! We’ll find the King and the ‘key’ he mentioned!” The magician promised. He had to wonder if this involved a Keyblade? Donald knew that King Mickey wielded one years ago, but…

“Thank you, both of you.” Queen Minnie said, once more having a good deal of confidence in her voice.

Smiling a bit, Donald look to Daisy. “Don’t worry, we’ll find the King and-”

“I know you will, Donald.” Daisy replied, smiling back at the mage. “Just remember to take care of yourselves too, alright?”

Queen Minnie let out a small noise as she recalled something. “Before you go, I think it’s important to chronicle your travels.” She gestured to the nearby desk. “Please, take her with you.”

Donald and Goofy both looked but didn’t actually see anyone. However, the magician did spot a strange device on the desk. It was white and rectangular, easily able to fit in one’s hand or in a pocket and as thick as a closed wallet. It also had a sort of yellow dot in the middle, a lens like on a camera. “You mean this? She?” Donald asked, picking the object up.

“Of course that’s what she meant.” A woman’s voice, though highly digital, spoke from the device.

“Wak!” Donald exclaimed, almost dropping the device. “What is this thing, Your Highness?”

“This ‘thing’ is very expensive, so don’t you dare drop it.” The device responded. Its lens whirred a bit as it glanced about the room. “My full name is Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System.” She looked over to Goofy, who was trying to mumble the name out. “Since I know you’d have trouble, GLaDOS will do.”  

Queen Minnie cleared her throat lightly. “GLaDOS and I have come to a bit of an agreement. She will travel with you and help you as she can, and she can keep all the information she finds.”

“Not as though I have much of a choice. Still. The chance is…appreciated.” GLaDOS responded, speaking to Queen Minnie, almost a bit begrudgingly.

This didn’t seem to bother the monarch, who looked to Donald. “We’ll pray for your safe return. Please, help the King as best as you can!”

Getting over his shock, Donald looked to Queen Minnie, Daisy, and…Goofy, who was saluting him off. Annoyed, the duck went over and yanked his friend away. “You’re coming too, Goofy!”

Soon after that, the preparations were made, and the journey was about to begin. Donald and Goofy made their way down a large spiral staircase, GLaDOS in the former’s hand and Pluto following behind. “Gawrsh, so…what exactly are ya?” The Royal Knight asked.

A sigh came from the device. “I already tell you, but clearly you won’t get it. Just think of me as a computer.” GLaDOS responded, not even hiding her sarcasm and annoyance.

“And ya came from another world?” Goofy pressed, clearly intrigued with the device. “Did it disappear like the others?”

“Obviously.” The device chimed. “I was able to protect my facility from unusual creatures, but the world itself came to an end. As that happened, I was barely able to back myself onto this device as I launched it into space. Long story short, I ended up in the hands of your Queen. Is that all your questions?” She asked, a bit testy.

Apparently not, as Donald picked things up. “And how are you going to chronicle our journey?” After all, he wasn’t going to just carry her around all the time!

Sighing a bit, GLaDOS went on. Apparently she decided just answering questions would be less painful than ignoring the two. “You wouldn’t understand. This device is filled with several complex sensors. Even in your pocket I can basically see and hear everything.”

“So, I should drop you by accident, right?” Donald asked, a mischievous tone in his voice as he let out a cheeky laugh.

“You’re not amusing.” GLaDOS responded bluntly, not seeming afraid that Donald would actually go through with his threat. “Now, apparently we shouldn’t disclose we’re from other worlds. At least that’s what your Queen said.”

Donald rolled his eyes at GLaDOS’ insult but nodded at the other part. “That’s right! We’ve got to keep things a secret!”

“Gotta protect the world border!” Goofy added on with a chuckle.

Once more, Donald rolled his eyes. “World order!” He squawked back.

“Oh! Right! World order!” The Royal Knight corrected.

GLaDOS sighed again. “I can already tell this is going to be painful.” She groaned.

Goofy ignored the A.I.’s remark. “I guess we’ll need new duds when we get there. Don’t want to stand out too much, huh?” He pondered.

Before long, the quartet reached the bottom of the stairs and into the hangar. Many devices whirred and hummed around, a large orange ship in position and ready to go. Up in their small control room, Chip and Dale fiddled with some controls.

“You have your own ship? I admit I’m surprised.” GLaDOS remarked. “Your Queen already displayed that magic is, in fact, real. So, I assumed we’d use that.”

“Not to travel to other worlds! Not easily, at least.” Donald said with a shake of the head. “We’ll use the Gummi Ship!”

“Gummi…? That’s ridiculous. What kind of name is that?” The A.I. lightly argued, almost seeming annoyed just at the name.

Once more, GLaDOS was ignored as Donald called up to Chip and Dale. “We’re ready whenever you two are!”

Chip looked down at Donald. “Roger that!” He responded, giving a salute as he and Chip messed with more buttons and switches in their control room. Two large, gloved hands on a mechanical arms grabbed at Goofy and Donald, carrying them to the open ship. Pluto, on the other hand, simply leapt into the Gummi Ship, nestling down quickly as he happily panted.

Once Donald and Goofy got situated, the former put GLaDOS in his pocket. As the cockpit closed, he looked down to see Queen Minnie and Daisy arrived to see them off. He gave them a grin and a thumbs up before turning forward as the hangar doors opened. “Blast off!” Donald declared, ready to start this journey!

As the engines came to life…doors beneath the Gummi Ship opened and the vessel dropped like a stone. Donald and Goofy yelled out in shock as they soon wound up in open space. Quickly orienting the ship, the mage shook it off and set off towards Traverse Town, hoping to find Leon and that key quickly…

---

Sora lied in his bed that night, looking up at the ceiling. It was only about six, and time seemed to go by at an agonizing crawl. He felt like, later on, he wouldn’t be able to get any sleep. The teen gazed around the room, knowing that after tonight, he wouldn’t see it again for who knew how long? There were clothes scattered about, a harpoon and trident along a wall, a boat diorama hanging from the ceiling, two plush figures inside it…

It was weird knowing he’d leave everything and everyone behind, save for Riku and Kairi. But, maybe not as much as his older friend, Sora yearned to see what was out there. Their islands were so secluded, after all. Even if you want to the highest point on the islands and looked around in all directions, all you’d be able to see is ocean, no sign of the closest other island. Books, television programs, radio broadcasts, and the tales of traders that came to the islands were the only contact with the outside world. And, frankly, Sora didn’t find that to be enough…

He glanced out the window, hearing a distant rumble. His eyes widened as he saw lightning streaking across the sky. A storm?! On tonight of all nights?! “Oh no, the raft!” Sora exclaimed to himself, quickly opening the window and leaping out of it…

Moments later, a woman’s voice called from elsewhere in the house. “Sora, dinner's ready! Come on down!” His mother paused, not knowing she was calling to a now-empty room. “…Sora?”

The wind had picked up and the sea was a bit rough, but Sora was still able to make it to the other island on his boat. As he arrived to the dock, he saw two others, Riku and Kairi’s names inscribed on them. So, they had the same idea! The three of them could surely prevent anything from happening to the raft! As he looked up, though, he saw something that made him feel sick to his stomach.

Up above the island was some sort of orb! It was black and purple, and crackled with some sort of energy. Just looking at it and being near the phenomenon made him feel sick to his stomach. While he had brough this wooden sword, as he just left it in his boat when he wasn’t using it, he didn’t think it’d be much of a comfort. Still, he snatched it up anyway, not feeling much safter with it in hand. He had no idea what that giant ball was, but he knew that Riku and Kairi were nearby and possibly in danger!

Before he was even able to leave the dock, something strange emerged. Or, rather, several somethings. A few feet away, shadows appeared on the ground. Yet they seemed more…solid. These shadows then emerged from the ground, forming small creatures! They were pitch-black save for their glowing yellow eyes. Antennae twitched as their bodies jerked about. They seemed so familiar somehow…!

Trying not to freak out too much, Sora let out a gasp as one of these Shadows approached him swiftly. He swung his sword at it out of reflex, but the weapon just phased right through! Narrowly dodging a swipe of the monster’s claw, the brunette sprinted away. Whatever those things were, they somehow couldn’t be hurt by Sora’s sword! As he ran down the beach, he spotted a figure on the tiny island where the Paopu Fruits grew. Since it was so dark, Sora hadn’t noticed until he had gotten closer.

Using the shack, he made his way up the bridge, the creatures in pursuit of him all the while. As he crossed the bridge, though, he noticed they stopped chasing after him. At this point, Sora was able to make out that the figure was Riku. He was looking up towards the orb in the sky but seemed to notice Sora’s presence and turned to him.

Sora looked around, not seeing anyone else before he looked back to Riku. “Where's Kairi? I thought she was with you!” Their boats were both there, after all. “What’s going on? Did you see those creatures?”

Despite Sora’s panicked tone, Riku seemed perfectly content. Though he didn’t really acknowledge anything his friend said. “The door has opened, Sora! Now we can go to the outside world!” He declared, sounding excited.

“What?! What are you talking about?!” Sora demanded, vaguely recalling that creepy hooded man talking about a door. Did that mean that encounter was real? Was any of this real? Maybe this was just some nightmare! “Where’s Kairi?! Is she okay?!”

Riku lightly shook his head, dismissing Sora’s concerns. “Kairi's coming with us!” The older teen answered, looking back towards the floating orb. “Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. There's no turning back. But this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!” With that, the white haired teen calmly stretched out his hand, waiting for Sora to take it.

Something about that image was so familiar to Sora, but he quickly shook it off. He jolted, though, when a mass of darkness erupted from the ground around Riku, starting to envelop him. The older teen didn’t seem bothered at all, even as he slowly started to sink into the darkness.

Desperately, Sora went to his friend, wanting to help. Yet mere feet away, darkness opened under the brunette as well, stopping him in his tracks. Getting his feet free was like breaking them out of solid concrete, it was just impossible! He tried to reach Riku’s hand, but he was just too far away! Sora felt himself sinking more and more, and darkness soon filled his vision…

Without warning, a piercing light shot through the darkness!

Sora’s eyes snapped open; the teen not even aware he closed them. The darkness that was swallowing him and Riku up was gone…but so was his friend. He looked around but saw no sign of him! It took him a few seconds to realize there was something in his hand. Looking down, he saw the most peculiar object!

In his right hand was a giant key of sorts! It was fashioned like a weapon of sorts, complete with a golden handle guard. The key itself was silver and long, the empty space in the teeth almost looking like a crown of sorts. There was a chain attached too, ending in a keychain that comprised of three circles, almost looking like a head and ears.

The brunette had no idea what this even was, yet as he gripped it, he felt some sort of power radiating from it. It wasn’t as heavy as it appeared, and Sora noticed it also felt a bit warm, despite its metallic makeup. As he stared at the object, a voice called in his head. It was a teen boy, but not Riku or anyone else he knew. Yet, somehow, it sounded so familiar, like he heard it in a dream.

Keyblade…Keyblade…Keyblade…

“Keyblade…?” Sora echoed as the voice faded, never hearing the word before. As he pondered, more of those Shadows appeared around him! One leapt at the teen, who instinctively swung the new weapon at the lunging creature. Unlike his wooden sword, which seemed to have vanished, the Keyblade worked wonderfully! It sliced right through the creature, reducing it to a quickly-fading black mist. Spurred by this, Sora lashed out at the other Shadows, who fell just as quickly. Whatever this Keyblade thing was, it was effective against these monsters!

That didn’t explain where Riku was, though! Looking around again, Sora spotted something unusual. At the entrance to the Secret Spot was a door! It was beautifully crafted and had two handles to open it with. Since he had no way of finding out where Riku was, Sora decided to investigate this. The brunette rushed towards the Secret Spot, more dark creatures appearing along the way. He’d swing his Keyblade, finding it felt more natural than he’d expect, and it’d cleave right through the Shadows with ease.

Before long, he reached the door and opened it, heading to the Secret Spot. Once there, he saw Kairi, facing the mysterious handle-free door within the cave. As Sora approached, the girl turned to him. Her eyes were half-lidded, and her gaze was almost lifeless. “Sora…” She murmured, her tone flat and emotionless.

“Kairi?!” Sora exclaimed, worried for his friend, especially with what happened to Riku. Before he could act, though, the door behind Kairi swung open. Out poured a gust of wind that nearly made Sora lose his footing, only an empty blackness present in the doorway. To his shock, Kairi went flying towards him! Dropping the Keyblade, he opened his arms to catch her…but when she collided with him, she simply vanished.

As Sora tried to process what just happened, the wind grew more intense, and he was flung away and out of the cave. When the twisting and tumbling stopped, he found himself on a patch of sand with rubble and rocks around him. Somehow, the Keyblade had returned to his hand, and as he stood up he realized he was up in the air as an intense wind blew around him! He was dangerously close to that orb of energy, debris floating around it and sometimes making contact, causing the bits of island and wooden structures to vanish.

Turning around properly, Sora gasped as he saw a massive figure stand over him. Like the other creatures, it had black skin and glowing yellow eyes. With the heart-shaped hole in his torso, the entity looked familiar to the teen, but he couldn’t work out why. The Darkside loomed over the brunette, who readied his Keyblade, unsure of what else he could do!

The giant being reeled its arm back, aiming a punch at Sora. Panicking, the teen ran to the side, dodging the fist as it slammed into the sand. A vortex of darkness opened up, several Shadows appearing which Sora made quick work of, though one managed to cut at his cheek. The pain told him that all of this was real!

With the Darkside’s hand still in the ground, Sora slashed at it, dark mist coming from the places he struck rather than blood or anything like that. This did little to harm the monster as far as Sora could tell, who didn’t even generate noises of pain or anything else like that. In a daring move, he ran up the limb and onto the creature’s shoulder, hitting at its head instead, not even sure what he would do once the monster was defeated…if he could defeat it to begin with.

This got a more immediate reaction from the Darkside, who lifted its other arm and quickly swatted Sora off its shoulder, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to harshly land on the floating piece of island. After that, an orb of dark energy appeared in the heart-shaped hole in the monster’s torso! As Sora stood up, shots of smaller dark energy erupted from the orb, heading right for him!

Once more, Sora ran to the side, barely going fast enough to the attacks hit the ground behind him. At one point he cornered himself by accident, getting too close to the edge as more of the dark energy went straight to him! In an act of desperation, he swung the Keyblade at the incoming attack, which deflected the shots right back at the monster, hitting it in the head.

It kept firing more and more dark energy, which Sora would hit right back, wondering if the monster felt any sort of pain or if any progress was being made in slaying it. After several more attacks were reflected, however, Sora got his answer. The orb in its stomach vanished and it fell still, yet its eyes still glowed with life.

Without warning, the wind that had been rushing around Sora grew far more intense, it trying to suck him up towards the orb. As he was taken off his feet, he grabbed onto a piece of debris in desperation, watching as the Darkside was lifted into the orb, vanishing entirely. Panicking, Sora had no idea what to do, his hand losing strength as the wind got stronger and stronger!

Then, in an instant, Sora let go and flew towards the orb, his vision going dark as he lost consciousness…

Chapter Text

The night sky hung peacefully over the large town, a serene atmosphere present despite the purpose of said town. It was a world all its own, a place that only exists to shelter those whose worlds have been lost. Of course, there were other means of getting there, such as by Gummi Ship.

Donald and Goofy walked through the First District of the town, Traverse Town, now wearing more combat-efficient clothes that blended in better. They knew that Leon had to be somewhere in the area…if only King Mickey had given them some sort of description of what he looked like! As they went on, Goofy stopped in his tracks, pointing to the sky. “Donald, look, a star’s goin’ out!” He exclaimed.

The mage looked up and saw that Goofy was right. One of the stars shone brighter for a second before vanishing entirely. It was a sight that made them feel sick to their stomachs, knowing it meant that a world and its inhabitants were now gone…

“Instead of standing there gawking, we should look for that key.” GLaDOS chimed from inside Donald’s pocket. Even from in there, she was able to tell what was going on around her. Whatever sensors were installed into her were extremely advanced.

Donald scoffed, but he knew GLaDOS was right. “Oh, be quiet! Come on, Goofy. Leon’s gotta be around here somewhere…”

Looking down from the sky, Goofy nodded. The faster they found Leon and the key, the better. Turning around, he saw Pluto sniffing about, tail wagging and heading towards an alley. “Come on, Pluto! Let’s go!” The knight called, following as Donald went ahead, not even making sure Pluto was following.

Indeed, Pluto didn’t heed Goofy’s call, his nose having caught onto an interesting scent. The curious pooch came across a boy slumped against the alley wall, unconscious. Panting and tail wagging harder, Pluto licked at teen’s face.

Sora mumbled something indistinct, opening his eyes to see Pluto panting in his face. “Huh…? Oh, a dream…” The teen murmured, closing his eyes again. Suddenly, he felt the dog’s paws hit his chest, sending his head into the alley wall. A sharp pain shot through his skull! “Ow! Wait…this isn’t a dream!” He exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head. Slowly, he stood up, looking around. Just where was he? Nowhere he had ever seen before, that was for sure. He looked down at the dog, leaning down a bit. “Hey, do you know where we are?” Sora couldn’t help asking, knowing the canine couldn’t answer.

As if on cue, Pluto raised an ear, hearing something Sora couldn’t. Without hesitation, he sprinted off somewhere, quickly going out of sight. Well, so much for that! The brunette took a few stops forward, trying to remember what happened. Wait! His island! What happened to his island?!

Sora rushed out of the alley, taking a look around. He saw he was in a cozy sort of town district, lampposts keeping things lit as people milled about. Some of them looked pretty normal, but some looked odd. The brunette saw a fuzzy, small creature with bat wings and an attentat on its head with a red ball on it. Was this…another world? It must have been, last thing the teen remembered, he was being sucked into that orb! But what happened to his own world? What happened to Riku, Kairi, his friends, and his parents…?

Deciding to try and get some answers, Sora approached the fuzzy thing, clearing his throat as he approached. The creature stopped, looking up at the teen. “You look pretty lost, kupo!” It observed, looking Sora over.

Feeling a bit awkward, and a bit surprised the thing could talk, Sora nodded. “Yeah, I…don’t know where I am at all. What is this place and, uh, what are you?” He sort of blurted the question out, only realizing then how rude that was.

At the very least, the smaller creature didn’t seem offended. “Well, I’m a Moogle, Mog! And you’re in Traverse Town, kupo. It’s a special place where those whose worlds disappear go. It just keeps expanding to accommodate new arrivals!”

So, it was a new world, but…disappear? “My islands, they’re gone?!” Sora asked, face going pale and legs feeling weak. “What happened to my world? Is everyone okay?”

Mog shuffled in place, as if uncomfortable. “No one really knows, kupo…” He admitted, clearly disheartened to admit it. “Not a lot of people make it here when their worlds disappear. If you’re lucky, some friends and loved ones could be here, kupo!” Mog went ton, sounding a bit more enthusiastic at the end.

Even with those encouraging words, Sora was still mortified. “Uh…thanks…” He murmured, his legs moving on his own as he walked to a bench and sat down. Mog apparently decided it was best to leave the teen on his own and went off, giving Sora a few looks over his shoulder as he went.

The brunette was just floored by what he found out. His world, his island, maybe everyone he knew was just…gone. Was it those things he fought off that somehow ended his world? He had no idea what they even were…some sort of demons or monsters? Whatever they were, they were surely connected to what happened.

Of course, sitting there wondering wouldn’t help out. Sora had to at least try to see if anyone he knew made it here to Traverse Town as well. This whole situation dampened the fact he now knew other worlds existed. Sure, he had wanted to see more worlds, but not like this! He did see Riku and Kairi vanish, so…maybe they ended up here too? No telling about anyone else from the island, though…

Sora decided to force himself to get up and search! Slowly, he got up from the bench, looking around the area. There were numerous people about, but they all looked like they wanted to be left alone, no doubt worried about their own homeworlds. He figured he shouldn’t bother them, at least not at the moment. Looking around more, he saw there were stores and even a café, so he assumed anyone working here would be put together enough to answer some questions. He spotted a places with a sign reading ‘Accessories’ over it and decided to start there.

The inside of the store was welcoming. To the immediate right was a brick fireplace, lit up with a soothing flame. There was a counter with some goods on display behind a glass case, and there was a room off to the side. Aside from Sora, there was only one other person, a man behind the counter. He was blonde with goggles on his head and a lit cigarette in his mouth, wearing a white shirt and blue pants.

Instantly, the man noticed Sora entered turned to the teen as he approached. “Well, hey there, how can I…” He trailed off as the brunette go to the counter. “Ah, it’s only a kid…”

Sora frowned a bit at that. “Hey, I’m not a kid!” He retorted, unable to help himself. Just because he had gotten shaken up a bit didn’t mean he’d just take an insult lying down! “And my name’s Sora!”

The man shook his head, waving his hand a bit. “Alright, alright, simmer down.” He said, a bit grouchy. “So, what’s goin’ on, Sora? Ya look kinda lost.”

Was it that obvious? Well, given what this world was for, this guy probably saw lost people all the time. “Well, yeah. A bit. Someone named Mog said this is another world. Is that really true?”

At that, the man’s demeanor changed, very lightly, as he seemed less stern. “Yeah, that’s right. We’re in Traverse Town. It exists to help fugitives from disappeared worlds…so, your own world is gone, then.” When Sora nodded, the man let out a small sigh. “Well, the name’s Cid. Tell you what, Sora, you ever run into trouble, you come to me, okay? I’ll help you out.”

Sora actually felt better at that, appreciating the stranger’s kindness. “Thanks, Cid. Have you seen anyone else new? I’m looking for Riku and Kairi, my friends.” They seemed to disappear like he did, so the brunette assumed that if anyone from the islands came here, it’d be them. And then maybe they’d know what happened to anyone else from their home…

“Well, I admit I’m usually behind the counter, so I don’t meet new folks much unless they come in here.” Cid replied, scratching the back of his neck. “You’re the first new face I’ve seen all day, sorry.” He nodded over to the open door going deeper into the shop. “But maybe Tali in there has seen ‘em. She’s kinda new too, but she’s out and about more.”

At first Sora was a bit disappointed, but then at the mention of someone that could maybe help. “Thanks, gramps!” The teen said, turning around and heading to the door as Cid barked at him to not call him that.

As Sora approached the open door, he started to hear some noises. It was rustling and clinging of metal, like someone was looking around for something. Looking inside, the teen saw a small room with shelves full of metal parts and contraptions, none of which seemed familiar to him at all. There were also blocks of some sort of material Sora didn’t recognize. Not metal, plastic, or even wood, but it still seemed sturdy. In the room was a sole figure, surely Tali. The teen couldn’t get a good look at her, as she wore an outfit that covered every inch of her body, and a hood that covered her head. He only saw her from behind, so couldn’t see her face.

When Sora stepped into the room, the woman spoke up. “That you, Cid? I can’t find what I’m looking for in here at all!” She exclaimed, messing with something that her body was blocking. Her voice sounded unusual, filtered in some way, and sounded almost like robots from cheesy horror movies Sora sometimes watched.

“Uh, no. My name’s Sora. You’re Tali, right?” The teen asked, a bit put off by the voice. Was she wearing a mask or something? That could be it…

“Hm? I’m Tali, yes.” The woman replied, turning around. It was revealed that she did have a sort of mask, more of a helmet or visor that covered her face. Because of this, Sora couldn’t get a good look at what she looked like, just a vague humanoid outline with bright eyes. As he looked closer, he noticed her hands only had three fingers each, and her legs were bowed backwards and she had three toes on her feet! “Does Cid need something?”

Sora was taken aback at Tali’s appearance. Before, with Mog, he was so rattled by what happened, he didn’t question the small, fuzzy creature. But his head was a bit clearer, so he was startled by the woman’s unusual appearance. “No, that’s not it.” The teen replied, looking Tali over again. “Sorry, I just didn’t expect…what exactly are you?” He blurted out, once more realizing how rude it was only after he said it.

If Tali was offended, it was hard to tell. After all, her face was totally hidden. “First time seeing a Quarian too, huh? No one around here seems to know about us.” She replied patiently. “I guess you could call me an alien. Though, really, you humans are the aliens to me.”

Really, Sora shouldn’t have been too shocked. After all, other worlds meant inhabitants that weren’t guaranteed to be human! He had thoughts of that before, but actually seeing it for himself was another story. The teen tried not to stare at her hands or legs and instead at her visor. Of course, that was tough too, it was difficult to hone in on where her eyes were. “I’ve never heard of Quarians. We just have humans where I live…”

“I guess that explains it.” Tali said with a light shrug. “But what did you need? I’m a bit busy here.” She went on, not unkindly.

Sora leaned to the side a bit, trying to get a good look at what Tali was working on. It just seemed like scrap and spare parts to him. Spare parts of what, exactly, he couldn’t place. “What are you working on? Looks pretty complicated…” More than anything he’d know what to do with for sure!

Tali glanced back at it and then back to Sora with a sigh. “I’m trying to get out of here. Cid said he had ship parts, but this isn’t anything like I’ve seen before. I can make a ship out of scrap if I know what that scrap is, but this…” She trailed off, sounding a bit annoyed.

“A ship? Like a spaceship?” No water around here, so Sora assumed someone would have to fly to leave. “So, your homeworld vanished too?”

“Of course I mean a spaceship.” Tali replied, moving her head in a way that made it seem like she was rolling her eyes. “Sorry, that was mean. Since you never met an alien, space travel probably isn’t possible where you are, huh?” After Sora nodded, she went on. “Well, if I can make even a one-person craft I can leave. And no, my homeworld didn’t disappear, but the planet I was on was, Haestrom, did. There were these creatures everywhere…nothing like I had seen before. Then everything went dark, and I woke up here.”

Sora nodded in understanding, leaning against the wall. “That happened to me too. These weird shadow monsters were there on my island and then I got sucked into this orb and…now I’m here.” Just describing it, even so generally, made him feel sick to his stomach.

The Quarian nodded in understanding. “Well, at least you made it out. I haven’t seen a single other of my kind here.” Tali said with a sigh. “I can only guess they just vanished along with Haestrom. I guess on the bright side, no one really seems to know what Quarians are here.”

“What? Why would you like that?” Sora didn’t get that at all. He’d feel pretty out of place if he was the only human around. Not that that was a thought he ever even considered until that specific moment.

“Well…Quarians aren’t exactly well liked.” The alien woman admitted. “We made some mistakes, lost our homeworld, but we accidentally unleashed a danger in our corner of the Universe.” Tali seemed oddly open about the whole thing, as if she was used to everyone knowing. “I’m just surprised there’s dextro-based food here in Traverse Town…but I haven’t seen anyone else that’d need that sort of thing. It’s like the town knows…”

Sora had no idea what ‘dextro’ meant but just assumed it was an alien thing. And what she said about unleashing danger…she didn’t mean those things on his island, right? No…she would’ve mentioned that if she had, right? “Well, I don’t know what the Quarians did, but you’re pretty nice, so…” He didn’t like the idea of blaming an entire race of people over a mistake…

“Well, you’re more open-minded than a lot of people I’ve met.” Tali replied, a smile practically audible in her voice. “Oh, and you…wanted something, right?” She asked, folding her arms casually. “If it’s a way out of here, you’re out of luck.”

Shoot! Sora got so wrapped up in talking to an alien that the reason he went to talk to her totally slipped his mind! “Right! Cid said you went out a lot. Have you seen my friends? Their names are Riku and Kairi…!” The brunette said, describing how the two looked to the Quarian.

Tali hummed in thought for a moment…then shook her head. “Sorry, no. I’ve been in this shop all day, so if they came around then, I wouldn’t have seen.”

Sora’s hopes sank a bit, realizing it was silly to rely on a single person for information like that. “Well, thanks. If you see them, though, could you tell them I’m here too?”

“Of course! But hey, you should take a look around. Traverse Town is pretty big, but that means a lot of other people that might have seen them.” Tali pointed out.

“That’s true…yeah! I’ll go look for myself!” Sora declared, trying to keep his spirits up. “Thanks, Tali, hope you can figure out…whatever all that is.” He said, still unable to make any sense of the pile of metal on the desk.

The Quarian chuckled lightly. “I appreciate that. I’m sure I can do this…just need to figure some things out…” At that, she turned around and started to fiddle with whatever it was on the desk as she murmured something about lack of good parts under her breath.

In higher spirits, Sora returned to the main part of the shop. Cid looked to him with a grunt. “Tali able to help ya out at all?”

“No, but I’m going to just look for them on my own. If they’re here, they shouldn’t be far, right?” Did everyone in Traverse Town end up in the same area when they arrived? Sora had no idea, but he wanted to hope so.

Cid nodded with a light grin. “Alright, just be careful, okay? Not everyone in this place is a good person, but just keep your wits and you’ll be fine.” He paused and then added on. “If you run into trouble, just get back here, okay?”

“I appreciate it, Cid, thanks.” Sora said, dropping the ‘gramps’ thing. With a wave, he walked out of the shop and back into the town proper. He felt a bit more hopeful, but he still worried about his friends and everyone else on the islands. Did any of them make it to Traverse Town too? In fact, how did he make it? Was it because he was sucked into that weird orb? Sora would normally just be grateful, but if he had an idea of how he made it out of that in one piece, he could work out if anyone else did as well…

Deciding to ponder that later, the brunette started to walk through the town and start his search. The problem was that a lot of people Sora saw really looked like they didn’t want to be bothered. They looked sad, or even angry. Not that the teen could blame them. After all, if they were in Traverse Town, it meant their homeworlds had to be gone, as well as their friends and loved ones.

At the very least, Sora was able to marvel a bit at the types of people he saw. A majority of them were human, but a few were some sort of alien or monster. He saw a few more Moogles, as well as other species. One person was reptilian, scales were the skin would be and snake-like eyes. Another had red skin with four yellow eyes and even four arms!

Sora did pluck up the courage to ask a few people he passed by about Riku and Kairi, but none of them were able to help. Most were polite, and wished him luck, while some told him they couldn’t help and to go away. Either way, the teen kept going, sighing as he passed by a man sitting on a bench.

“My, you’re a sad hallucination.” He man spoke up, looking to Sora.

Stopping in place, the teen turned to the man to get a better look. Even while sitting, the stranger was fairly tall. There wasn’t much else Sora could see of him, though. He wore a lab coat that covered most of his body, with black leather gloves covering his hands and arms. Even his face was mostly hidden, the collar of his lab coat turned way up, covering his mouth. What little of his face that remained was covered by a pair of goggles. And on top of his head was black hair, a large amount of it in a standing, wavy pattern.

Looks aside, Sora was bewildered by what the man had said to him. “…Hallucination…?” He echoed back, pretty confused. “What do you mean?”

The heavily dressed man chuckled and shook his head as if Sora had asked a silly question. “Why, none of this is real, of course! I simply hit my head during an experiment and this HORRID TOWN isn’t even real!” He replied, literally screaming in the middle of his sentence, which startled Sora a bit.

The brunette didn’t know what he was talking about! Thinking of it for a moment, Sora realized the poor guy was in denial. Losing one’s homeworld and ending up in a place like this was pretty horrifying. He knew that firsthand, after all. “Look, this is actually real! I’m not a hallucination!”

“That’s exactly what I’d expect a hallucination to say!” The man replied, chuckling again. “But it’ll take more than that to trick PROFESSOR MEMBRANE!” He shouted, practically screaming his own name at the top of his lungs.

Sora took a step back, a bit nervous the professor would lash out. “Listen, uh, Professor Membrane…have you seen my friends? Uh, my hallucination friends?” May as well play along. The teen went on to describe what Riku and Kairi looked like to the seated man of science.

“Sorry, hallucination, but I haven’t seen anyone like that. But I do know a great place for fake tea. It really hits the spot!” Professor Membrane said, sounding pretty chipper with his mindset.

“Uh…no thanks. I’ll pass.” Sora replied, quickly walking away from the delusional man. He kept going, asking anyone that seemed open to conversation about Riku and Kairi…but no one knew anything. Determined not to give up, he went through a large pair of wooden double doors, a sign reading ‘District 2’ above them.

Just as the large doors shut behind Sora, Donald and Goofy came out of a nearby building. “Well, he wasn’t in there…” The mage grumbled. “And we’re not here to shop, Goofy!” He said, scolding his taller friend. “You don’t need a shield made of Celestial Bronze, whatever that is.”

“Gawrsh, Donald, it just looked really neat. Sounded neat too!” Goofy lightly bemoaned. The shops in Traverse Town had all sorts of metals, materials, and even food from other worlds, though it wasn’t really clear how they came to this town…

Sora, meanwhile, entered the second district of Traverse Town and saw it was mostly empty. There were a few shops, though they had their lights off. Off a ways, he could see a hotel that seemed open! Maybe he’d try there!

As the brunette made his way there, though, he passed an alleyway. At that time, a woman’s voice called to him. “Hey, kiddo! New to Traverse Town?”

The teen turned to see a tall woman in an expensive looking black dress. She had long, blonde hair, part of it covering a very gorgeous face. Looking about, Sora saw no one else around and pointed to himself. “Uh…me?”

“Yes, you.” He woman said with a titter, approaching Sora. “How about I show you all around the area? You seem a bit lost…” Her voice became sultrier, and she even caressed his face gently.

Sora’s entire face felt like it was burning as it turned red. His heart was slamming against his ribcage and…even seemed to hurt a bit? Either way, he gulped and took a step back. “N-No, that’s okay! I’m fine!” This lady was acting pretty weird…

At that, the woman chuckled again. “Oh, no need to be shy! Please, don’t hold back!” She insisted, approaching Sora even as he backed away from her.

“I don’t…!” Sora started but was interrupted as something sprang from behind him. It was a creature of sorts, one that was helmeted and wearing some sort of armor! The monster plunged its clawed hand into the woman’s chest, a horrified scream erupting from her throat. Despite the wound she had, she oddly didn’t bleed at all!

Yet, the woman fell to the ground all the same, and when she did, the creature landed on the ground, a crystalline heart in its hand. Within moments, it faded away into darkness. As this happened, the woman’s body faded away as well, a look of terror on her face as she soon disappeared.

Whatever this thing was, it looked like the creatures from Destiny Islands! Sora even noted how it had the same yellow eyes! One other thing he noticed that, on the monster’s chest, was a symbol of sorts. It was a black heat, outlined in red, with an X going through the center. The ones on the island didn’t have that though…! As he gawked at what just happened, the Soldier turned to him, starting to approach. Terrified, Sora fell on his rear, scooting away. What happened on the island was one thing, but he just saw that monster steal someone’s heart! As the Soldier approached, Sora reached out his hand instinctively, and in a flash of light the Keyblade appeared! For a moment, the creature paused…and then it leapt at the teen!

As this happened, a figure sprinted towards the pair. A stout and short one, to be precise. When it reached the Soldier, nearing Sora, the figure pointed a finger at the monster. What happened next was most unusual as a loud ‘DOOOOONNNNN!!!’ and it felt like the world was violently flashing. Whatever that was, it caused the Soldier to be flung away, slamming into a nearby wall and vanishing in a dark mist.

Panting, Sora found himself totally unharmed from what happened. He looked to his savior and got a better look at him. It turned out the figure was a man, shorter than Sora himself, and quite wide. He wore a business suit, even wearing a nice hat to go with it, and he held a bag in one hand. His face was…odd, as his skin was quite pale, and his eyes almost drooped a bit. However, his most defining feature was the massive, toothy grin spread on his face, red lips practically reaching his ears!

“Oh my, that was a close one!” The man said, his voice deep and friendly. “You should’ve ran, or even fought!” He went on, letting out an almost jovial laughter despite what just transpired.

It took Sora a few seconds tot really grasp what just happened. Somehow, this guy saved him! “Uh, thanks. You really helped me out. But…did you see what happened to that woman?” The teen asked, getting onto his feet, still gripping the Keyblade.

“I saw it all, very nasty business. That thing stole her heart!” The man replied, again not seeming all too concerned. “Well, she wasn’t exactly a good woman to begin with. You need to be more careful, Sora.”

At first, the teen was a bit surprised at the man’s attitude, but then he referred to Sora by name! “Hey, how’d you know what my name is?” He asked, stepping back a bit.

The man let out a cheerful laugh. “I’m a salesman, you see! It’s part of my job to quickly figure these things out. Here, my card!” He reached into his pocket, handing a business card to Sora.

Still a bit creeped out, he took the card hesitantly and he read it over.

I will fill your empty heart.

-Moguro Fukuzou

“Fill my empty heart? What kind of salesman are you exactly, Mr. Fukuzou?” Sora had never heard of a salesman like that before. This guy was very off-putting, and the fact he hadn’t dropped his smile for a single moment just made it worse!

“Moguro is fine.” The smiling salesman replied, doffing his hat for a brief moment. “I’m a happiness salesman, I help people for free! I’m a sort of charity worker, you could say.”

Not wanting to be rude to Moguro’s face, Sora pocketed his business card. “Well, I’m not really interested in your services, either way. I do appreciate the help, though. Say, have you-”

Before Sora could ask about Riku or Kairi, Moguro raised his hand and stopped him. “It’s pretty dangerous here. Come on, I know a safe place to talk. It’s a bar nearby!” He noted the teen’s worried expression. “Don’t worry, they have milk you can drink!” Moguro insisted, laughing lightly.

“Well…I guess it wouldn’t hurt…” Sora said, thinking maybe there could be bar patrons he could ask regarding his friends. The next few minutes were somewhat of a blur as the brunette followed Moguro. Either way, before long, he found himself in front of a dingy sort of building, a flickering sign reading ‘Demon's Nest’ above the door.

“Come in, come in!” Moguro insisted, entering the establishment, Sora finally dismissing his Keyblade as he entered. Though the teen wasn’t even sure how he did it.

To Sora’s surprise, the interior of the bar was a lot better than the outside. It was dimly lit, but cozy. Unfortunately, the only person in the building was the bartender, a brunette man with a mustache and beard. He wore glasses and had some oddly sad eyes. The bartender didn’t say anything as Moguro and Sora sat on their bar stools.

“So, why did you want me to come here?” The teen asked, feeling bit uncomfortable in a place like this. Still, it was just for a chat, so it should be okay, right? Moguro saved his life, so Sora couldn’t help but put his trust in the unusual looking man.

“To chat, of course.” The salesman replied as the bartender poured a brown drink for him, and some milk for Sora. Oddly, neither of the two made any sort of order first.

The teen was a bit frustrated. He didn’t have time to sit and chat! Standing up, he looked to Moguro. “Thanks for saving me, but I can’t stay here!”

“Of course you can! Tell me, where are you going?” The smiling man asked, staring ahead at his drink that he softly turned in his hand. “Do you have the faintest idea of where in Traverse Town you wish to go?”

“Uh…no, not really.” Sora admitted, shaking his head. “But that doesn’t matter! I have to keep moving! I have to-”

“Find your friends! Yes, yes.” Moguro said with a nod. “But Traverse Town is much bigger than you think, and with every world lost, it grows even larger. It’s like an organism, changing and growing with each new person that enters its borders.”

Sora was pretty shocked, considering he never actually had a chance to ask Moguro about Riku and Kairi. “Hey, how did you know about that? I never…” He trailed off, getting a strange feeling about Moguro…

“It’s like I said. I’m a salesman. I can figure these things out. A young man who seemed to just arrive here in Traverse Town? If I were in your position, I’d be looking for anyone I knew as well.” The man responded, chuckling to himself. All the while, the bartender just cleaned at a glass silently, not seeming to even be listening to the conversation at hand. “But if you just charge headfirst into a strange new place, you could get in trouble. After all, I did have to save you.” Moguro pointed out, turning in his chair to look at Sora. “So, sit down, calm down, and clear your head! Or else a bad fate could befall you out there!”

He…did have a point. Sora was looking for two people in a town he didn’t even know the size of. Though, assuming Moguro was right, it kept expanding more and more. And, thinking of it, it was confusing and concerning that more of those creatures were around too. Just how many worlds were they in? Nodding slowly, he took a seat again. “You’re right. I should clear my head first.”

Moguro nodded as well, that smile still never clearing his face, yet he seemed more pleased than before somehow. “Good, good.” He lightly praised, taking a sip of his beverage. “One thing you may have to consider is that your friends aren’t here.” Moguro said, his tone grave.

Sora really didn’t want to think that way. After all, he made it here, so why not Riku and Kairi? “Then what will I do? I can’t just wait here and do nothing!” The teen replied, taking a sip of his milk. It tasted pretty good!

“Well, have you made any friends here? Besides me, of course.” The salesman asked, giving another small chuckle. “There’s nothing wrong with relying on others, making connections with our hearts.”

“Well, there’s Cid and Tali, but that’s about it.” The brunette replied, rubbing the back of his neck. The store owner did say to come back if he ran into trouble…

Taking another sip of his drink, Moguro nodded. “Good! It’s like I said, connecting with others is a good thing! And you’ll need that on the road ahead, I feel like. In fact, I’m quite interested in your heart, Sora.”

“My heart? Why?” The teen asked, giving Moguro a confused look.

“As a salesman, I can feel these sorts of things, the way one’s heart is.” Moguro replied, apparently able to do quite a lot due to his career. “And your heart is heavy and sad, Sora.” He went on, turning in his seat so he was facing the teen fully. “Isn’t this true?”

Sora’s eyes widened and he turned to face Moguro properly as well. It was at this point he almost started to fear the man before him. How could he possibly know something like that? Was it just a guess? “…I have no idea what you mean.” The teen lied.

In an instant, Moguro’s finger was pointing right at Sora’s face. “Don’t try to hide the truth!” He declared, his tone more serious, yet that grin of his still present. “You don’t feel fulfilled, even before your world was wiped away. A sad darkness has a grip on your heart, isn’t that right?”

The fear that Sora felt intensified with that, and it was simply because Moguro was entirely correct. It wasn’t just that the teen felt tired and heavy at times, but he felt entirely depressed almost all the time. He was able to hide it pretty well with smiles and fake energy, but in truth he was exhausted at basically any given moment. A lot of the times, he felt numb, and when he felt something, it generally wasn’t positive. He tried to just fake that things were okay, but at times he wondered if Riku, Kairi, or even his parents knew he was pretending. The scary thing was, he had zero idea why he was like this. When he was really young, he just suddenly started feeling very sad…

Sora let out a sigh and slowly nodded. Obviously lying to Moguro was a waste of time. “You’re right. Your card said you can fill empty hearts though, right?” He wasn’t sure he’d call his heart empty exactly, but…

“That’s correct.” Moguro replied, putting his hand down and seeming more content due to Sora’s honesty. “It’s sad to see someone so young with a heat so dark. And yours is a heart that’s very special. One that has numerous connections! As for me helping you…well…normally I’d take you on as a client, but I cannot help you.”

The brunette frowned at that, having actually felt optimistic for a moment. “Why not? Isn’t that your job?” Why give him that card if he couldn’t do what it said…?

“I’m normally very good at my job.” Moguro lightly boasted. “But tell me, what would make you happy? What would fill your heart right now?” He asked, taking up his drink and draining the rest of it.

That was easy! “Finding Riku and Kairi and getting to go home.” Sora replied instantly. He didn’t even need to think about it!

“Exactly. I simply have no way to help you. I greatly think looking around here is fruitless, however.”  Moguro replied and gestured to the door. “Simply wandering around will get you nowhere. But you do have friends you’ve made here, and that very fancy looking weapon.” The salesman said with a chuckle. “I’m afraid you must help your own heart. But hey, I’m rooting for you!” He laughed again, making it unclear if he was being totally sincere…

There was the Keyblade, yeah, and it could destroy those monsters that attacked his island. Could that help somehow? Well, Sora had no idea, but he guessed that Moguro was right in that he had to help himself and wandering around aimlessly wouldn’t do much. Maybe it really was time for him to get back to Cid and Tali. Despite how unsettling Moguro could be, Sora at least appreciated some of what he said.

Downing the rest of his milk, Sora stood up. “Right, I guess I’ll have to. Thanks for everything, Moguro. Um…but you know the shop owned by a guy named Cid? How do I get back there again?”

Getting off of his seat as well, Moguro picked up his bag and gestured Sora to follow as he went to the exit. Oddly, he didn’t pay for their drinks at all, and the bartender didn’t seem to care at all. “Come, come, I’ll help.”

Sora followed Moguro out of the bar and into the alley. After that, the man pointed down the direction he had to go and gave off a series of directions. They weren’t too hard, so Sora was able to memorize them. At the very least, he’d be able to get somewhere familiar. “Thanks, Moguro, I hope you stay safe.”

“Oh, I will, I will. And not a problem! Just get back to your friends.” The salesman said, doffing his hat a bit before turning around and walking in the other direction of the open alleyway. “Quite the heart that boy has…big enough to be two hearts, or even three. That really gets the blood pumping!” He murmured to himself, Sora unable to hear his words. What the teen did hear was the roar of laughter the squat man gave off as he got farther and farther away.

A very, very odd man. Still, Sora was overall grateful to him…even if Moguro had managed to read him like a book. That was pretty unsettling! Quickly, he went the way he was pointed to, following the salesman’s directions. As he went, he thought to himself about what the man said and the situation as a whole.

Moguro was right…wandering around aimlessly wouldn’t help him at all, but he didn’t know what else to really do. He could only hope Cid and Tali had a better plan…maybe all three of them could work something out together! One thing, though, was that Sora was worried about if Riku and Kairi were even in Traverse Town at all! He hated to admit it, but there was no guarantee they were there…

If he found out they weren’t, he had no idea what he’d do. They both vanished before the islands did, so they had to be somewhere, right? He just had to work out where those places were! Maybe they ended up in the same place? Sora sure hoped so, he’d rather the two have each other to rely on than be totally alone…

As Sora thought to himself, he neared where Cid’s shop was. And when he did…he realized something. The area was totally empty! There were people all over before…so where are they now? Just as that thought crossed his mind, three Shadows emerged from the ground in front of him! More of those creatures!

The trio of monsters wasted no time in lunging at Sora, who wasn’t so terrified this time! In a manner he wasn’t even sure of, he summoned his Keyblade again, slashing it through the attacking creatures and reducing them to a dark mist. After that, he broke into a run, making his way towards Cid’s place. He really hoped the shop owner and Tali were okay!

More of the creatures appeared, chasing Sora, but he just kept going rather than staying to fight! Within a few minutes, he reached the shop, but just as he was going to enter, a man’s voice called to him. “They’ll come to you out of nowhere.”

Sora whipped around, seeing a man standing just a few meters away. He was in his mid-twenties with brown hair and blue eyes. A scar ran diagonally across a part of his face, and he wore a white shirt with a black jacket, along with black pants. A necklace was around his neck, a marking of a cross with a lion’s head on it, and he had numerous belts on his pants, and even three on his arm!

“Who are you?” The teen asked, taking a step back. “What do you know about those things?” The man sure sounded like he had some information…

Ignoring Sora’s question, the man went on. “They won’t stop coming for you, not when you have the Keyblade. But why…? Why did it choose a kid like you?” He murmured that last part, mainly to himself.

Eyes widening, Sora took a step forward again, wondering if this man was a friend? “You know what this is? And you said it…chose me?”

“Never mind. Let’s see that Keyblade…” The stranger replied, approaching Sora with an outstretched hand.

In an instant, Sora went from trusting to paranoid. This guy wanted his weapon? The teen had no idea what the Keyblade was or how he got it…but he knew it was the only thing that kept him safe from those monsters. Not really wanting to, Sora got into an attacking stance, glaring at the man. “Stay back! You’re not taking this!”

The man stopped and out of nowhere he materialized a weapon in his hand. It looked like a strange combination between a gun and a blade of sorts. He tapped it against his shoulder a few times, his face entirely calm. “Alright, have it your way, then…” Brandishing his weapon properly, the stranger somehow summon small wisps of fire around him, which formed a ball of flame and shot out right at Sora!

Panicking, the teen dodged to the side, running at the man with his Keyblade at the ready. He could just run to the shop, but he didn’t want this dangerous guy near Cid or Tali! With a cry, Sora swung his weapon at the man, who blocked it with his odd blade. In an almost frustrating detail, the man only wielded his weapon with a single hand, the other in his pocket. He wasn’t taking this seriously at all!

Getting mad at the man’s attitude, Sora pushed back against the block. Either the man didn’t expect it, or he underestimated the teen’s strength. Either way, he stumbled back a bit, and Sora followed this by swinging around, slamming the Keyblade into the man’s ribs.

Grunting, the stranger staggered back, seeming a bit surprised. He still used one hand to fight, though, block Sora’s next attack and parrying it away. At this, the man swung his odd blade down vertically, the teen barely dodging as a few strands of his hair got cut!

Swiftly, the main followed this up with a horizontal swing, an attack that Sora barely managed to block. His legs nearly buckled, but he was able to keep standing, even to his own surprise. Somehow…he felt stronger than he had just a day or two ago! Was it the Keyblade? Did it give some sort of strength to him…? With a cry of effort, Sora parried the man’s attack and jabbed the Keyblade at his stomach. Grunting out, the stranger stepped back, but Sora slammed his weapon into the man’s arm that was still at his side, his hand in his pocket.

The two went about a sort of dance at this point. They’d go back and forth along the empty part of Traverse Town, the clashing of metal ringing through the open air. One thing Sora started to theorize was that his opponent was holding back for some reason. There were times that the teen was wide open from an attack or a parry, but instead of using his blade, the man would kick at him instead.

Whether this was true or not, it let Sora get through the fight with minimal injuries. Some bruises here and there, but that was it. He managed to get some hits in on his opponent as well, who started to show signs of fatigue as the fight went on, but he never seemed to try as had as he could. With a loud cry, Sora slammed the blunt end of the Keyblade at the side of the man’s head, making him stagger a few steps away.

The teen stood there panting as the stranger, gripped at his head, grunting, and wincing a bit. Sora grinned a bit, his legs starting to feel weak. “Alright, now you tell me…you tell me what…” He started to say, but he couldn’t spit the words out.

Sora hadn’t entirely realized it before this point, but he was exhausted! On the night his islands vanished, he hadn’t eaten much since lunch. Then he woke up in Traverse Town, with an unknown amount of time passing. After that he walked around a large area, go ambushed, and only had a glass of milk to drink since arriving. With all that, on top of the great deal of stress all of this caused him, the teen was greatly sapped of his energy.

And, because of this, before Sora could properly finish his thought, he collapsed onto his back. His world went black before he even hit the ground, and yet his hand still clutched onto the Keyblade.

Panting a bit, the stranger shook off his injuries, wincing a bit. He hadn’t taken any serious harm, but Sora had managed to get half a dozen good hits in. As it turned out, the teen was stronger than he looked, and unknown to the stranger, stronger than he had been since before he got the Keyblade…

“Looks like you’re slipping up, Leon!” A woman’s voice called from behind the man, a teasing tone very much present.

The man, Leon, turned around to see a young woman of about sixteen with short black hair and violet eyes. She wore a metal headband, a yellow scarf, and a green top with shorts. Leon lowered his weapon and looked back to the fainted Sora. “I went easy on him.” He claimed, having even done the entire fight with one hand entirely unused. “Looks like things are worse than we thought…a lot worse…” He mused, frowning ever-so-lightly as his gaze honed in on the Keyblade.

Meanwhile, in a distant world far, far from Traverse Town, Riku lied on the ground.

The teenager stirred, his eyes opening slowly as he gained consciousness. He saw a cold stone ground, and water around him…but it seemed to be flowing upward? Slowly, he managed to push himself off the ground, getting to his feet. Yet the second he managed to stand up straight, he staggered a bit as his head spun. He didn’t really remember what had happened before he arrived, how he got there exactly, but he was exhausted!

“Where…am I…?” Riku murmured to himself, looking around more. It seemed his eyes hadn’t been lying to him, and he surrounded by walls of water that seemed to flow upwards to somewhere else. There were chunks of rock that hovered in midair, and he was even standing on one of them. Was he in another world? He had to be, right? This certainly wasn’t Destiny Islands! It was dark out, the sun had set, so he couldn’t see too much of the area around him. “Sora! Kairi!” Riku yelled out, looking for his friends…but he saw he was alone. Feeling dejected and lost, he looked to the ground, thinking over what to do next…

As this happened, a figure stepped onto a nearby platform, half hidden by an arch. He was an adult man, with piercing golden eyes to match his golden hair. Three moles were on his left ear, and he had teeth a bit sharper than what most people had. And he was grinning with those teeth as he gazed down upon Riku.

Dio Brando had found someone he could use…

Chapter Text

“Gawrsh, there’s nobody here. Sure is spooky…” Goofy said nervously as he and Donald walked down one of Trave Town’s many alleyways. The two hadn’t spotted anyone for a while, so it was a bit eerie…at least for Goofy.

Donald scoffed, his head held high. “Aw, phooey! I’m not scared!” The duck declared proudly. Without warning, the magician felt a finger tap at his shoulder. Practically jumping out of his skin, he leapt a bit off the ground and let out a startled yell.

“What was that about not being scared?” GLaDOS’ voice chimed from Donald’s pocket, a bit of smugness and amusement in her robotic tone.

Ignoring GLaDOS, Donald and Goofy whipped around to see who was behind them. As it turned out, it was a woman with brown hair and green eyes wearing a pink dress with a red bow in her hair. “Excuse me, did the King send you…?” She asked, looking between the startled duo.

Come on, lazy bum. Wake up.

Sora’s eyes opened, and he instantly felt pain throbbing through him. He felt like he just ran a marathon! Quickly, he realized he was lying on a bed in an unfamiliar room, his head felt like it was swimming a bit. Sitting up slowly, he turned to see Kairi standing by his bed. Normally he’d be ecstatic, and of course he was relieved, but he was so out of it, he just stayed sitting there.

“Hey, you okay?” Kairi asked, looking Sora over a bit, as if for major injuries. “You were out of it for a while.”

The brunette put on a small smile, glad to have found one of his friends! Now all that was left was Riku. “Yeah, I think so…my head hurts a bit, but…”

“Those creatures that attacked you are after the Keyblade.” The redhead responded, not really acknowledging what Sora said. “It’s your heart they really want, though, because you wield the Keyblade.”

Sora had no idea how Kairi learned about the Keyblade or those creatures, but he didn’t care about that. He just nodded at her words, letting out a sigh of relief. “I’m just glad you’re okay, Kairi.” The brunette said, reaching out towards his friend’s hand. He stopped, however, at her next words.

“Kairi? Who are you talking about?” The redhead asked, her voice then suddenly shifting to an unfamiliar voice. “I’m the great ninja Yuffie!”

His vision swimming a bit, Sora blinked a few times and within moments, Kairi was gone, and in her place was a girl with black hair he hadn’t met before. “What…?” He murmured, feeling crestfallen about his mistake. So, Kairi wasn’t there after all…

“I think you went a bit too hard on him, Squall.” Yuffie said, turning to someone else in the room. The man that Sora had fought was off leaning against the wall near the rooms exit.

At Yuffie’s words, he pushed off the wall and turned to the two. “That’s Leon.” He corrected, glancing between Sora and the ninja.

Sora was still kind of steamed at that guy for freaking him out and attacking him…but the two didn’t seem t have anything nefarious planned for him. After all, he was safe and sound in this small room. His eyes wandered to something by the door after a moment. “The Keyblade…!”

“Yeah, we had to take it from you.” Yuffie said, walking over to join Leon. “Those creatures are attracted to it, so getting it out of your hands kept you safe while you rested!”

“That’s how they track you. With it out of your hands, it conceals your heart.” Leon added on, crossing his arms casually. “It won’t work for long, though. Still…hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one…”

The teenager had sat up more properly, pondering the words of the two strangers. It seemed they really knew what they were talking about and had his safety in mind. Still, he perked up at the mention of him being some ‘chosen one’. He watched as Leon picked up the Keyblade…but after only a few seconds of him holding it, the weapon vanished in a flash of light. A moment later, it appeared in Sora’s grip, much to his shock. “Chosen one…?” He murmured under his breath.

“Well, beggars can’t be choosers.” Leon went on with a light shrug.

At this point, Sora was getting a bit annoyed. He still had no idea what was happening. “Hey, how about you make a bit more sense! What’s going on?”

Meanwhile, in another room, Donald and Goofy stood before the girl they met in the alleyway. She had introduced herself as Aerith and needed to speak with them. As she sat on the bed, she began to explain things. “I’m sure you’re aware, but there are countless worlds out there…not just this town and your castle.”

Goofy nodded but spoke in a hushed and almost worried tone. “Yeah, but those are supposed to be a secret, right?”

“That’s right, because they were never connected.” Aerith replied patiently. “Of course, a number of worlds remained linked to each other, and some worlds found ways to maneuver around each other.” Technology or magic was sometimes just too much to keep the worlds entirely isolated. “But now the barriers around all worlds are gone, thanks to the Heartless.”

As this went on, Sora had also started to get his own explanation from Leon and Yuffie. “The Heartless? So that’s what they’re called?” The brunette asked, remembering how he saw that symbol on the creature that stole that woman’s heart.

“Exactly. They are those without hearts, as the name implies.” Leon responded. “They’re creatures of darkness, and they’re horribly dangerous.”

Yuffie nodded along with Leon’s explanation. “The darkness in everyone’s heart is what attracts them. No matter how small that darkness is, it’s enough.” She turned to Sora, head tilted. “Hey, have you heard of someone called Ansem?”

“Ansem?” Goofy asked, hearing the name from Aerith over in their room. “Nope, can’t say I’ve heard that name…”

Aerith nodded in understanding. “Ansem the Wise, he was studying the Heartless back in our homeworld. “He recorded all of his findings in a detailed report.”

From Donald’s pocket, GLaDOS piped up. “A report on those creatures? I’d be able to handle that more than these two.” Her statement caused Donald to grumble under his breath.

The young woman had already been told about GLaDOS on the way to the room, so she wasn’t shocked at the voice. “Unfortunately, when our world fell to darkness, the report went missing…it was probably destroyed.”

“Bringing it up was useless, then.” GLaDOS remarked with a robotic scoff.

“Oh, be quiet!” Donald scolded, slapping at his pocket as if that would somehow hurt the artificial intelligence. “But maybe the King went to see if he could stop these Heartless, then…”

Aerith nodded in agreement, ignoring GLaDOS’ rudeness. “Those were my thoughts exactly.”

“Then we’d better go find him and quick!” Goofy exclaimed, as if he were about to charge out of that room that very moment to search for his friend.

“Hold on!” Donald interrupted, glaring up at Goofy. “We have to find that ‘key’ first!” What the mage assumed must have been someone with a Keyblade…

Confirming Donald’s thoughts, Aerith gave another nod. “That’s right, the Keyblade…”

“So, what is the Keyblade?” Sora asked, holding said weapon for Yuffie and Leon to see. “It just appeared in my hand…”

Leon shook his head. “I don’t know where it came from, but I know the Heartless have a great fear of it. That’s why they want to take you out, because your weapon can stop them.”

“And the Keyblade chooses its master, and for whatever reason, it chose you.” Yuffie added on, speaking almost casually like it was no big deal.

“So…these Heartless, they made my island disappear? What happened to my friends? I didn’t ask for any of this!” Sora exclaimed, standing up and looking to Leon for answers.

The young man wasn’t fazed by Sora’s outburst and seemed to not hold any pity for his situation. “They did, yes. As for your friends…I just don’t know.” He said, leaning back against the wall.

Sora let out a sigh, feeling dejected. A lot of weight was put on his shoulders, and he still barely understood what was even going on. If the Keyblade could defeat those Heartless, and the Heartless were what destroyed his home…does that mean he was meant to save other worlds? He was chosen, after all, not that he asked for such a thing. “So…what now?” The teen asked.

“We’ll join Aerith. I’m sure she’s with the other visitors by now.” Leon replied, pushing off the wall again. “The Heartless will probably attack us as soon as we go outside, so be prepared to fight. Are you ready?”

Without warning, Yuffie stood up from the bed and pointed to the far side of the room. “Leon! They’re here!”

The two boys whipped their heads to look, a Soldier Heartless appearing out of thin air! Its armor clanked as its body twitched and shook as it looked about the room, its gaze fixating on Sora.

“Yuffie, go to Aerith!” Leon shouted, getting his weapon out and ready as Sora prepared his Keyblade. The older man watched as the ninja run into the next room, unknowingly slamming the door into Donald’s face as the mage was just about to open it. At that, he turned to Sora. “We’ve got to go!”

Within moments, the Soldier Heartless was sent flying out the window at one of Leon’s strikes, showing he was really holding back with Sora. The older brunette was moments behind, hopping off the balcony of the hotel they were in and to the alley below.

Meanwhile, Goofy was helping Donald to his feet, the mage muttering in a light daze as GLaDOS was left unharmed in the duck’s pocket…

“That was a good hit!” Sora praised, following in Leon’s footsteps as he went down into the alley as well. “What do we do now?”

“Don’t bother with the smaller ones.” The young man ordered. “There should be a large Heartless ordering around the small fries! Take it out and we’ll be good. I’ll go back the other way to look for it, and you go on ahead.”

Before Sora could argue at all, Leon ran off down one end of the alleyway, slashing through some Soldier Heartless that appeared in his way. Without much choice, Sora ran in the opposite direction, some Shadows and Soldiers appearing in his way. He took Leon’s advice, going past them as he went to save his energy. At the very least, he was able to move around now thanks to the adrenaline!

Of course, as Sora went, sometimes the Heartless would be too much in his way for him to do anything but fight back. Thankfully, the Shadows went down in one or two blows. The Soldiers were hardier, as expected, but weren’t much harder to defeat. Thankfully, the Heartless didn’t seem too intelligent, all their attacks being mindless lunges towards Sora, allowing him to strike them first with relative ease. Oddly, he noticed that as he defeated the Soldiers, and only the Soldiers, that hearts ascended from the mist they vanished into. These hearts ascended into the air before quickly vanishing. That didn’t happen back with Moguro, and it didn’t happen with him when he defeated the Shadows! So odd…why did the Heartless let out hearts when destroyed? Stolen hearts, maybe? Where did they go…?

Well, that hardly mattered at the moment, so the teen just kept going.

Unfortunately, there was no real way for Sora to know where to go or what to do. Leon just told him to go find a large Heartless, but he had no way of knowing where it might be! It could be anywhere in Traverse Town! Before long, he found himself in the Second District once more, more waves of Heartless appearing out of thin air or emerging from the shadows.

One of the Soldiers tackled into Sora, nearly knocking him to the ground, but he managed to get back on his feet before another attack could land on him as he kept running. He ducked into an alleyway and into a door marking the Third District, feeling like if he just kept running around, some massive Heartless had to show up eventually!

As Sora entered the Third District, an area that was mostly a large square space, he didn’t realize there were others up above him. On a balcony above the entrance, Donald and Goofy were there, two Soldiers on either side of them.

“Gawrsh, uh, think we can handle them?” Goofy asked, standing back-to-back with his friend. “These are the Heartless, right?” He went on, hiding behind his shield.

With his staff in hand, Donald glared at the Soldier before him. “We’ve got this Goofy, let’s go get ‘em!”

A second or two later, a large explosion erupted from the balcony, sending the duo soaring through the air. Just at that moment, Sora was at the center of the small district, his head whipping up to see what that loud noise was. “What the…?!” He exclaimed as he saw two strangers falling towards him. Quickly, he tried to run out of the way…but he was too slow…

With a nasty crash, Donald and Goofy landed on Sora, all three sent to the ground, the two on top of the brunette. As the knight and mage gathered their bearings, their eyes honed in on the Keyblade that Sora still had clutched in his grasp. “The Key!” The two shouted out in unison.

“Hey! Get off!” Sora yelled out, figuring these two weren’t Heartless. They looked odd, but certainly weren’t more of those creatures!

Even as Donald and Goofy stood up, along with Sora, they had little time to converse with each other. Right away, over a dozen Soldiers appeared out of thin air! Not only did the Heartless surround the trio, but they blocked off the exits too, forcing the three to fight their way out of this.

“Let’s take care of these guys real quick!” Donald declared, brandishing his staff while Sora and Goofy readied their weapons as well.

The brunette wasn’t sure what to expect with these two strangers but was surprised to see them fearlessly charge into battle. The one with the shield held his weapon in front of him, sprinting at a trio of Soldiers and knocking them to the side as he went forward. As another Heartless came at the taller fighter from behind, he quickly turned around and swung his shield at the Soldier, slamming his weapon into it and disintegrating it instantly.

While that happened, the shorter fighter fought more at a distance. He shouted out elements, and as he did so, they came to be. A fireball erupted from his staff, burning away a Soldier, quickly followed by a blast of cold air that froze another two Heartless to the ground by their feet as the appendages got frozen over. Most impressively, he squawked out and then bolts of Thunder started to strike around him, taking out more Soldiers.

Sora was stunned at first but shook out of it as another group of Soldiers spawned, prompting him to attack. The brunette’s fighting style had always been pretty simple when sparring on Destiny Islands, and it was no different here. Large, strong swings of the Keyblade or swift and weaker strikes that sliced through the Heartless that got in his way. He noticed the two strangers fought near each other, leaving him mostly on his own. It made sense, since the two were probably friends. But why did they seem so interested in his Keyblade…?

Those answers had to wait, as even more Soldiers spawned, the fight raging on.

Eventually, though, no more Heartless appeared, the trio stopping to catch their breath as they awaited another wave that never came. “I guess that’s all of them…” Sora murmured as the three converged. “Never saw so many of those Heartless at once!”

“So those were the Heartless!” Goofy exclaimed. “I had a feeling! Ayup!”

“What was your first guess?” GLaDOS chimed in from Donald’s pocket, causing Sora to flinch and look around for the source of the voice.

Before the teen cold ask anything, though, something falling from the sky caught the trio’s eye and they sprinted out of the way. Just in time, too, as some very large and metallic purple objects slammed into the ground, ricocheting up and spinning wildly. They suddenly went still, and it was clear the objects were a pair of gauntlets, metallic boots, and a cylindrical torso with a Heartless symbol on it! The objects shifted until the arms, legs, and torso were in the more proper place, but none of them actually attached to each other as descended, the feet landing on the ground.

In the blink of an eye, a final metal object slammed down onto the torso, a helmet of sorts with spikes and a closed visor. After a few seconds, it started to hover, disconnected from the torso as well. “That must be the Heartless Leon talked about!” Sora exclaimed, gaping at the massive Heartless, Guard Armor.

Without hesitation, the Heartless attacked first as its fists went flying towards the trio. Sora and Donald threw themselves out of the way of one gauntlet while the other one slammed into Goofy. Or rather, it would have if he hadn’t raised his shield just in time. That being said, the impact was still enough to send the knight flying a few feet back and making him land in a tumble. Still, he quickly got up, ready t keep fighting! Whatever his shield was made of specifically must have been extremely durable, as it didn’t have so much as a scuff on it!

Guard Armor walked forward, bots its fists spinning rapidly around it in a tornado of metal and claws which was especially problematic given the snug battlefield the three had to fight in. Goofy started to back away from the Heartless while Donald shot a volley of fireballs at its torso. While all the spells hit, each individual attack didn’t seem to do very much. Scorch marks started to appear, and a bit of the metal melted, but it’d take ages to destroy the Heartless with such a method!

Sora charged at the spinning gauntlets and leapt through them towards the feet. Landing between them, he spun around and slashed at both of the metallic boots, sending them sprawling in opposite directions. This didn’t actually topple over Guard Armor or make it trip up. Apparently it just moved its feet about like it was walking as some sort of spectacle, if Heartless could even think that deeply. Instead, its torso reared upwards before slamming down towards the teen!

Moving quickly, Sora blocked the oncoming assault with his Keyblade, but his legs nearly buckled from the impact and all his limbs erupted in pain from the force of the impact. The Heartless’ torso rose up again to attack again, the brunette’s legs feeling too shaken to run away in time! Before Guard Armor could do anything, though, Goofy dove in and tackled Sora out of the way just in time! The metal cylinder slammed uselessly to the ground, Goofy and Sora landing a few feet away.

“You alright?” The knight asked, helping Sora to his feet. “That was a close one!”

Panting a bit, Sora gave a nod as his limbs stopped feeling quite so fragile. At the very least he could run and fight again. That’s when he noticed a green light surrounding him as Donald approached. “Wait, what is this…?”

“Oh! Donald was just using Cure on ya!” Goofy explained, looking to his companion. “I guess he was worried about ya after that attack!”

“He can’t fight if he’s all banged up!” The mage shot back, quickly getting back into a fighting position as Guard Armor started to close the gap towards the trio.

A magical healing spell? Thinking of it, it was pretty odd how much magic the duck was able to use. Was that normal in his world? With everything that had gone on since that storm back on his island, Sora basically didn’t notice all the spells Donald was unleashing…

Guard Armor threw another punch at the trio, but this time Donald acted first, shouting out once more as he unleashed more magic. This spell was a new one, though, as a strange purple and black orb appeared above the gauntlet hurtling towards the three. When this orb hit the fist, it instantly fell straight downwards, slamming into the ground. Seeming to be expecting that, Goofy charged the fallen limb and spun around rapidly, his shield’s edge basically slicing at the gauntlet and causing it to vanish in a dark mist.

With one of its limbs gone, Guard Armor started to go into a sort of frenzy. Its remaining three limbs started to slam erratically into the ground, flailing in the general direction of the trio and causing them to scatter. Each fighter had one of the limbs chasing after them as they moved about the constricted battlefield.

Donald shot fireballs behind him as the remaining gauntlet pursued him. Like with the main body, the spells hit easily enough, but each separate impact did little damage. As the gauntlet formed a fist and slammed on the ground, nearly hitting its target, the mage got angry. With a furious squawk, Donald summoned a barrage of Thunder around him, several of the bolts hitting the limb. Like with the one Goofy destroyed, this gauntlet too vanished into a dark mist.

Goofy kept blocking the kicks and stomps from the foot that was following him, letting out yelps and cries of efforts as he did so. Yet the limb was relentless, barely pausing for more than a brief second before attacking again. With a grunt of effort, the knight roughly parried one of the attacks, sending the foot clattering to the ground. As the limb laid stunned for a moment, Goofy leapt into the air, tucking into a ball with his shield below him, allowing him to slam down onto the foot. This impact destroyed this limb as well, getting a noise of relief from Goofy.

Sora, with the most conventional weapon, was able to counterattack easier as the last limb stomped around at him. The teen slashed and stabbed at the foot whenever it grew close, clanging metal echoing through the area with each impact. For him, this was a lot simpler than it was for Donald and Goofy, even with his lack of experience in real combat. After one particularly hard strike from the brunette, the foot was stunned on the ground, allowing the teen to rush it and give it a harsh slash, reducing it to mist.

With that, all that was left was the torso and head. Since it had no limbs to utilize, the cylindrical body started to spasm and thrash about in an attempt to attack. Unfortunately for Guard Armor, these attacks were easy to dodge or retreat from, rendering it practically harmless. Within a minute or so of useless attacks, it started to rise up into the air.

“It’s getting away!” Sora called, wondering if the Heartless was really retreating entirely. If he didn’t destroy it, then did that mean more of the monsters would appear endlessly in Traverse Town? Just where did these creatures come from anyway…?

“Here, hop on and I’ll help ya jump!” Goofy exclaimed, crouching down with his shield pointed upward. “Before it gets away!”

Not hesitating for a moment, Sora did as asked and leapt onto the shield. As soon as his feet touched the metal circle, Goofy sprang up and launched the teen at what remained of Guard Armor. It tried to float away, but the brunette was closing in far too fast! As Sora reached the Heartless, he slashed across its torso as hard as he could, flying past the creature and landing on his feet.

For a moment, it was unclear if this did much damage at all…but after a few seconds, Guard Armor started to float downward. Before it reached the ground properly, it shook violently, as if being shaken by a large, invisible hand. As quickly as this started, it stopped, and the head went limp as it fell to the ground with a loud thud. A light appeared from the neck of the torso, and a massive heart came forth before floating up to the sky and vanishing. It was just like when Sora destroyed the Soldier Heartless! Finally, as the heart faded, the remnants of Guard Armor was reduced to a black mist.

The trio stood there, staring at where the Heartless was for a few seconds, panting from their fight. They looked to each other, exchanging expressions of relief as the danger passed. No more lesser Heartless spawned, so apparently Traverse Town was safe…at least for the moment.

“It’s kind of lucky you guys bumped into me when you did.” Sora pointed out, glancing down at his Keyblade. “Doubt I could’ve beaten that by myself.” It was odd, though. Just recently, he got easily beaten by Riku…but now, even with aid, he was able to take down such large monsters! Did the Keyblade somehow make him stronger? For all he knew, that could be the case entirely. “But you two seemed to be interested in this, what gives?” The teen asked, displaying the weapon.

“We were lookin’ for ya, that’s why!” Goofy explained with a friendly tone, dismissing his shield.

“Yeah, and we were looking all over the place for you or Leon! Do you know him?” Donald asked, mirroring his friend’s action as his staff vanished.

Sora wasn’t too surprised to learn that two guys interested in the Keyblade also knew Leon. How many people were part of this group that seemed to know more about Sora’s situation then he did himself? “Yeah, I met him a bit ago…so, you were really looking for me? Do you know anything about the Keyblade?”

Before Goofy or Donald could answer, Leon’s voice rang from behind Sora. “They’ve ben looking for you too, independent from us.” The trio turned to see Leon and Yuffie approaching. “It’s a good thing you ran into them when you did.”

Nodding, Goofy looked from Leon to Sora. “Hey, you should come with us!” He declared, his tone friendly and inviting. “We can go to other worlds on our vessel!”

“What? Really? Is it that easy?” Sora asked, eyes widening as he finally dismissed his Keyblade. There was never a guarantee that the raft he, Riku, and Kairi were going to use would actually work. But now there was a vessel that could just go to other worlds just like that? “But…why would you want me with you? Could I find Riku and Kairi?” If they weren’t in Traverse Town, they could possibly be elsewhere! Moguro had even suggested as such…

“We could find your friends! No problem! It really is that easy to go to other worlds if you’re with us!” Donald replied, noticeably ignoring Sora’s inquiry on why the two wanted him to travel alongside them.

Blinking a few times, Goofy leaned down to Donald and faced away from the teenager. “Uh…is that true?” He asked, quietly enough so Sora couldn’t hear. Seemed a bit unlikely to the knight that they’d be able to find two specific people in all those worlds.

Donald looked to Goofy, facing away from Sora as well. “Who knows?” He replied, also speaking too quiet for Sora to hear him. “But we need to stick with him, he’s got the Keyblade! We’ll need him if we’re going to find the King!”

As the two made their exchange, Leon stepped forward and interrupted. “Sora, you should go with them.” The older man declared with a stoic confidence. “They’re your best chance of finding your friends.”

“Yeah, I guess…” Sora replied, a bit hesitant. He barely knew these two, and as much as he wanted to find Riku and Kairi, he was wondering if it would even be possible. Who knew how many worlds there were, and how large each one was? It’d probably be impossible to search them all, and that was assuming his friends were out there at all!

“Come on, you can’t go with us looking like that!” Donald urged, looking up to Sora. “No frowning…no sad face. Understand?” The mage went on, trying to cheer the teen up. He couldn’t help feeling a bit bad for the kid, even if he barely knew him. Thrown into something as dangerous and confusing as this…

“Yeah, our ship runs on happy faces!” Goofy butted in, letting out a laugh. He caught on to what Donald was doing, wanting to help Sora give a big smile! Compared to his shorter friend, Goofy felt a lot more empathy and sympathy towards the teen, and really wanted to help.

“…Happy…?” Sora asked, wondering how he could feel happy at a time like this. There was a bit of hope for the future, but it was still vague and for all he knew, nothing would get done. Though he guessed that was just him being pessimistic. Still, the teen was good at faking smiles, so he lowered his head, readying himself. Donald and Goofy watched in anticipation…and then Sora suddenly raised his head, the widest grin he could muster as he looked to the two strangers for approval. When they just stared, his smile went away, and he looked a bit concerned.

Alas, the knight and mage started to laugh, Goofy snorting a bit as he did so. “Now that’s a good face right there! A nice smile!” The shield-bearing fighter said.

Well, Sora guessed that was that then. Taking a deep breath, he nodded. “Okay, I’ll go with you guys, then. It’s the only chance I have to find my friends! Uh…what are your names, anyway?” The teen just realized he fought alongside these two but didn’t know what to call them!

“Donald Duck!” The mage said, reaching out his hand with a smile on his bill.

“Name’s Goofy!” The knight added on, placing his hand on top of Donald’s. The two looked to Sora expectantly, clearly wanting him to mirror their actions.

“I’m Sora! Good to meet you!” The teen introduced, placing his hand on top of Goofy’s.

Letting out a chortled, Goofy nodded. “All for one and one for all, right?”

“You made the right choice.” Leon said, walking to the trio as they pulled their hands back. “This town will be safe…at least for now since you three defeated that Heartless. I saw the last bits of the fight as I entered the district.”

“It sure was something!” Yuffie added on with a grin. “You three will be able to stand up to anything, I’m sure of it!”

“I agree, you three just have to work together.” Aerith’s voice called out, the girl in question entering the area. “You just have to make sure you’re prepared before you go.”

Leon nodded, crossing his arms casually. “Aerith’s right. If there’s anything you want to do first, you should go ahead and do it. You never know when you’ll get a chance to come back.”

“Well, we’re all set, what about you, Sora?” Goofy asked, looking to the teen. “If you wanna do anything, just let us know, and then we can be on our way!”

Sora pondered for a moment before a thought hit him. “I should say bye to Cid and Tali. I want to see if they’re okay too…” After all, those Heartless were all over…

“Oh, you met Cid?” Yuffie asked. “He’s a cranky guy, but he can handle himself. Still, he’ll appreciate if you say bye, even if he won’t admit it.”

“If that’s all you need to do, then let’s go!” Donald urged, wanting to get things started. He had the feeling the three had a long, long journey ahead…

Before the three could head off, Leon spoke up again. “Actually, after you talk to Cid, you should head to the Zero District.” He informed, pointing out a sort of small alleyway nearby, a large wooden door tucked away. “Someone we’ve been in contact with should be arriving there pretty soon and he can help you. As for getting back to the First District, that door there will take you there, right by Cid’s place.” He further elaborated, pointing out a set of wooden double doors.

“And tell that old man to visit us more often. He’s always in that shop of his!” Yuffie remarked as she and Aerith started to walk off towards the alley where Sora came from.

“Will do! Thanks for the help, all of you!” Sora declared, waving the two girls off, as well as Leon who started to join them. While his meeting with Leon was…rocky to say the least, Sora was still glad he met him. He and Yuffie really helped him out, and now he understood just a bit more about what was going on.

“Good luck! Hope you find your friends!” Aerith called as the trio went off back towards the Second District, she and Yuffie waving goodbye as Leon looked ahead.

After the three went out of sight, a voice called out from Donald’s pocket. “Am I just scrap metal? You didn’t introduce me.” It said, voice dripping with artificial annoyance.

Sora whipped around to Donald, that female and robotic voice going off again. So, he didn’t just imagine things! “What is that? Is there someone in your pocket…?” Sounded like there was a small woman in there!

“Oh, her.” Donald said with a roll of the eyes, reaching into his pocket and taking out a strange device with a whirring, yellow eye. “This is GLaDOS, we’re sort of stuck with her.”

“I am the one stuck with you.” GLaDOS remarked haughtily. “And you, Clown Shoes, I guess this is a quartet now.”

Clown Shoes? Sora glanced down at his shoes before looking back up at GLaDOS. “The name’s Sora! And what…are you?”

“That would take too long to explain to someone like you. Just call me GLaDOS.” The device responded with little patience. “Let’s just say I’m here to chronicle and compile this journey. With a series of sensors, I can see and hear everything going on, even from in this idiot’s pocket.”

“Oh, be quiet, you palooka! You’re lucky I don’t drop you!” Donald snapped back, glaring at GLaDOS harshly.

Sora swiped GLaDOS from Donald’s hand, looking her over in amazement. “This is so cool! You’re like something from movies I’ve watched! So, you really saw us take down that Heartless?”

“Quit fumbling around with me! I’m not a display!” GLaDOS insisted but was of course powerless to actually do anything. “But yes, I saw you three fight that thing. These creatures are rather interesting, even I have to admit that.”

Interesting was certainly one word for them, just not one Sora would use. Either way, he gave GLaDOS back to Donald. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, either way.” The teen said sincerely, brushing off the A.I.’s insults, more enamored by what she was to begin with.

“If you say so. Just put me away, Loudmouth.” She replied, clearly speaking to Donald who shoved her back in his pocket with a bit of a grumble.

Goofy pointed towards the way to the First District. “Well, we should get goin’ to see that Cid feller, right?” He lightly interrupted.

“Oh! Right, we should…” Sora almost forgot about Cid and Tali when he saw GLaDOS. “Yeah, let’s go!” He started walking towards the doors, Donald and Goofy going alongside him.

“Say, Sora, what are your friends like?” Goofy asked, looking down at his new companion. “If we’re gonna keep a lookout, we gotta know what they look like!”

That’s right! That’d be pretty helpful, huh? Sora was just so wrapped up in things, he kept forgetting such basic things. “Well, the first one is Kairi. She’s a bit shorter than me, and she’s got red hair and really pretty blue eyes…”

At that, Donald snickered. “Pretty, huh? We’ll keep that in mind, Sora!” The mage teased, pretty quickly picking up on Sora’s wording.

“Er…well…hey, it’s just true!” Sora argued with a bit of a huff, feeling his face get a bit warm. He also felt something in his chest…not a pain, exactly, but something warm here too…

Goofy chuckled along with Donald, but in a bit more of a good natured way. Seemed Sora had a bit of a sweetheart! “You said more than one friend, right?” He pushed, deciding to save the teasing for later.

Clearing his throat, Sora recovered from his embarrassment as he opened the double doors, indeed seeing it opened the way to the part of Traverse Town he had woken up in. He even saw a Moogle walking about, though he wasn’t sure if that was Mog or not. “The other’s name is Riku. He’s a year older than me, so a bit taller. Also, he’s got white hair, so he sort of stands out.”

“Sounds like he’ll be easy to spot, then!” Donald declared, glancing at his pocket. “GLaDOS, you can detect this sort of thing, right?”

“Only to a certain range, yes. This is science, not magic, so I can’t just look through an entire world and say if someone matches such a description…it’s so vague anyway.” The A.I. replied, practically rolling her eyes with her voice.

Sora wished he had a picture of Kairi or Riku, but a general description was all he could really do at the moment. “So, what are you two doing going to different worlds, then? Are you looking for your friends too?” The teen asked, wondering if their own world was okay.

“Now that you mention it, we want to find our King!” Donald declared, figuring there was no reason to keep it a secret. “He went off, and we don’t really know why, but he’s got to be out there somewhere!”

“Uh-huh! We’re pretty worried about him, even though he’s pretty capable.” Goofy agreed with a nod. “Gawrsh, I wonder what he’s even up to…”

So, they were looking for someone too…Sora envied them a bit since their King apparently left of his own accord rather than being whisked away. “Sure, I’ll help you find your King! What’s he look like?”

“Oh, you know him when ya see him!” Goofy said with a chortle. “He kind of looks like us a bit!”

Sora was about to ask what that meant when the three reached the Accessory Shop. The door had a few small holes in it and yelling from inside could be heard! Worried, Sora flung the door open and looked inside.

Cid and Tali were at the front desk, the former glaring at the latter as a wrench was clenched in his hand. “…and I told ya, I could’ve handled it! Now my shop’s all damaged!” Cid yelled out.

“So, you wanted that thing to get inside properly and make a bigger mess? You bosh'tet, I saved your life!” Tali argued back, looking at the entrance as Sora, Donald, and Goofy entered. “Oh! Sora, you’re back!”

Looking over as well, Cid calmed down, if only a bit. “Glad to see you’re in one piece, kid. Unlike my shop.” As he said the second thing, he shot a sideways glare at Tali, which was ignored. “So, you find those friends of yours? I see you at least met some new ones.” He went on, looking back and glancing between Donald and Goofy.

“No…not yet.” Sora admitted, unable to help himself from sounding dejected. “But these two are Donald and Goofy. They have a ship, and we’re going to go to other worlds to look for Riku and Kairi!”

“Wait, you two have a ship?” Tali asked, approaching the trio a bit. “How big is it? Is there room for one more?” She asked hopefully. “My fleet is pretty far, but maybe you could…?”

“No! We can’t!” Donald insisted, a bit rudely. “Besides, we’re on an important mission, and we can’t make any specific stops!”

Tali seemed a bit taken aback by Donald’s tone. “Don’t be so nasty! But fine, I understand. If you’re doing something important, I can respect that.” Though she did sound pretty disappointed.

“Uh, sorry about that.” Goofy said, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s pretty important stuff, but when we’re done, we’ll give you a lift!” The knight promised, ignoring how Donald glared up at him.

That lifted the Quarian’s mood. “Thank you, I appreciate that!”

“Hey, what were you two fighting about anyway?” Sora asked, glancing back at the hole-riddled door. “And what happened here?”

“Oh, that? A Heartless entered the shop and attacked us!” Cid exclaimed. “And Tali here thought it was a good idea to shoot off a shotgun indoors! The monster was destroyed, but she ruined my shop!”

Letting out a noise of aggravation, Tali turned back to Cid. “What, and that wrench was going to stop it?! Don’t make me laugh!”

Before another argument could start up, Sora spoke up. “Uh, guys! I just wanted to say bye since we’ll be leaving soon. And I wanted to thank both of you for your help.”

That got Cid and Tali to drop the fighting a second time. The shop owner smirked with a chortle. “Ah, well, I didn’t really do much. Still, I hope you find those friends you’re looking for.”

“I hope so too.” Tali agreed. “I know what it’s like to lose a close friend, so I hope you can find the ones you lost.” The Quarian sighed, sitting down on the counter. “I’ll just stay here and work on getting my own ship made…if only Cid here had any useful parts!”

“What do ya mean?! I get plenty!” Cid started, turning to Tali once again with an annoyed sneer.

“Uh, we’ll just…” Sora started, backing out of the shop, Donald and Goofy quickly following him outside as he shut the door behind them. “They really fight a lot, huh?”

Goofy chuckled a bit. “Reminds me of Donald here and Daisy! That’s his sweetheart back home!” He said the latter part to Sora, who chuckled a bit.

“Shows what you know!” Donald argued as the thread started to head back to the Third District. “Daisy and I aren’t anything like that!”

“What is your home like anyway? Is it okay?” Sora asked, pretty curious about these two. They saved his life and are taking him on an adventure, but he didn’t know much about them…

Donald shrugged. “It’s pretty small, actually. A castle and the town around it. Our King and Queen keep it running well, though! It’s still in one piece, the Queen will make sure no Heartless get there.” The mage explained. Really, their world was more like a large asteroid than anything. Not that it bothered him.

“Yeah, it’s pretty snug, but it’s a good home!” Goofy agreed. “I already kinda miss it!” He exclaimed as the three entered the Third District again. “Say, what’s your home like, Sora?”

His home…being reminded of it made Sora feel melancholy again. “It was small too, or at least our islands were. That’s what Riku, thought, at least. I didn’t really mind them…but yeah, we lived on two tropical islands before those Heartless came…” At the very least, Sora was interested in the castle Donald mentioned. He had always wanted to see one in person along with pirates! Those were two things he wanted to see most when Riku brought up the idea of going to other worlds…

Goofy frowned a bit, regretting asking and making the teen upset. He wondered if Sora’s world was the one he and Donald saw blink out after they arrived in Traverse Town. “Gee, I’m sorry Sora! But hey, once we take care of these Heartless fellers, I bet the worlds will all come back! Lots of worlds have been blinkin’ out, and if we don’t figure out a way to help ‘em, the King will!”

“Really? You think so?” Sora asked, wondering just what this King guy was like. Goofy seemed to have a lot of faith in him, after all.

“Yeah! He’s a real smart feller! He’ll know a way for sure!” Goofy insisted, knowing how wise the King wise. Either he or Master Yen Sid could help out the worlds, he just knew it!

At that point, the three reached the door to the Zero District, pressing a panel beside it to make it slide open. It lead to what was basically a cave right in the middle of the town. Somehow, through unclear means, it was lit up a bit. The area was flooded with water save for a bridge of rock leading to a small island in the middle of the cavern where a single, decrepit building sat.

“Is this really the right place? It’s a dump!” Donald complained, looking to Sora and Goofy as they started to walk forward, the mage quickly joining them at their side.

“Well, Leon pointed right at it. So, this has to be the place.” Sora remarked with a shrug. “Maybe the guy he was talking about isn’t here yet?”

With a shrug, Donald let out a sigh, wishing the three could get started properly! As they got to the small house, they saw the front door was boarded shut, prompting them to try walking around for an alternate entrance. There, they saw a large hole in the wall, a tapestry covering it up a bit. Heading inside, they saw it was all a singular room, and an empty one at that. No signs were present that anyone had been there in quite a while! “A waste of time…” The mage grumbled to himself.

Still, the three entered the room and looked around a bit, not that there was much to see. As Sora went off on the far side of the room alone, a voice called out! “There’s something about this musty place…”

And it was Kairi’s!

“Huh?!” Sora exclaimed, turning to the source. There, standing a few feet from him, was Kairi! It was plain as day, and his head wasn’t all foggy like with Yuffie either! “K-Kairi…?” He whispered, so quietly that even he barely heard himself.

The girl smiled at Sora, looking casual as if nothing had happened to them or their home. “It reminds me a bit of the Secret Place back home…” She walked about slowly, just meandering aimlessly. “I miss scribbling on those walls. Kind of funny, huh?”

“Kairi? What are you…?” Sora asked, reaching out to his friend.

“Sora?” Goofy called, causing Sora to turn around. The knight and Donald were staring at him, looking confused.

Looking back, Sora saw that Kairi was gone, no trace of her to be found. But she was just there! He saw her and he heard her voice! Was he really just seeing things again? “…Nothing. It’s nothing.” He insisted.

At that moment, a new voice called out, one that none of the trio had heard before. “Well, well. Seems you’re right on time!” The voice said, belonging to a man.

The trio turned to the home’s entrance to see a cloaked man. His garb was blue with a raised hood. Aside from that, it was rather sparse save for a green orb with a yellow star decoration at his chest. He had a white mustache that went practically to his feet. His face was hard to make out, shrouded in darkness with yellow eyes. If it wasn’t for the fact he spoke, he could almost be mistaken for a Heartless!

“Who are you?” Donald asked, looking the stranger over. “Are you the one Leon talked about?”

“The very same!” The mustached figure said. “My name is Merlon, a pleasure to meet you! I was told there’d be two, maybe three of you, so I guess everyone is accounted for. If you’ll excuse me, I need to spruce this place up a bit. You may want to cover your eyes…”

“Huh?” Goofy asked as Sora and Donald did as told. The knight wasn’t so lucky, yelping out as a blinding light shone out from Merlon, making the poor dog see spots as he rubbed his eyes.

Sora and Donald opened their eyes to see the room had changed entirely! It was lit by an invisible source, and now had carpeting, shelves with books and beakers, large decorative urns on the floor, a few large and comfy looking chairs, a bed, and a podium with an unusual large, white book on it. “Wow…!” Sora breathed, looking around. “That’s amazing!”

“It’s rather convenient, to be sure.” Merlon said with a nod, taking a seat. “Now, I was able to predict when you’d arrive, but not your names. Please, introduce yourselves!”

“I’m Sora.” The teen said, gesturing to his new companions. “That’s Donald, and that’s Goofy. So, why are you here?”

Merlon nodded at the introductions, taking a crystal ball out from somewhere in his robes. “You see, your King contacted me.” He said, fiddling with the object in his hands. “I was to help you with magic matters, if possible. I actually have an associate who was supposed to get here, but it seems he hasn’t arrived yet.”

“Did your world disappear too?” Goofy saw, blinking the last few spots out of his vision.

The mustachioed man shook his head. “Thankfully, no. I’m from a special place called Flipside, and it’s a bit…out of the way, let’s say. The Heartless have yet to arrive there, thankfully.”

“So how are you going to help?” Donald asked, folding his arms as he tapped his foot. “I’m an expert with magic already!”

“You may be, yes, but he isn’t.” Merlon replied, nodding to Sora. “Young man, please come over here. You have the Keyblade, right? Please, let me see it.”

Sora did as told, going over to Merlon, and summoning the Keyblade, feeling almost a bit nervous. “Uh…what is it? Something with magic? Could I actually use it?” That actually got him a bit excited! Using magic was something he never thought he’d be able to do!

“Yes, very much so! Mmm…” The mystical man replied as he looked Sora and the Keyblade over a bit. “It seems you’re new at wielding this, correct? I can help you begin to unlock your potential. But, you see, magic is delicate and needs experience to utilize it correctly. I could impart knowledge of all the magic I know into you, but that’d be dangerous, even with a mage at your side. So, I will aid you with a single spell, and will help you awaken the potential to learn more.”

Truthfully, Sora was a bit disappointed about only getting to learn one spell, but he understood the reasoning. “That makes sense, I guess. But okay, how are you going to do that?”

“Just hold still…” Merlon said, waving his hands about in front of Sora, going back and forth along his Keyblade. As the mystical man did this, the teen felt a strange tingling sensation in his body for a moment, and it quickly faded. “There! This spell is Fire, and you should practice it when you can! Just…not in here, of course.”

Sora didn’t feel much different, that momentary tingling was all he had noticed. “But…how do I use it?”

“When you try, you’ll get a feel for it. Trust me. And as you use magic and get into combat more and more, numerous spells and other abilities will open up to you.” Merlon explained with a small chuckle. “I’m afraid that’s all I can do for now, but with the three of you working together, I’m sure things will go well!”

“Better than nothing. Come on, let’s get going!” Donald said, a tad annoyed. Sora getting stronger was helpful, but he just wanted to get back to the Gummi Ship!

“Thanks for the help, Merlon.” Sora said as he followed Donald and Goofy outside, looking his Keyblade over. “I should try out that spell, right?” He asked, mostly to Donald since he was a magic user.

Donald nodded. “Yeah, just point that thing away from us, okay?” He said, at least feeling a bit of practice could help, even if the mage was in a rush.

Nodding, Sora gripped the Keyblade with both hands, pointing it at the cave wall. He did feel a bit of a tingle, one that was somehow like a second nature despite it being new to him. Deciding to try what Donald did, he yelled out the element in question. “Fire!” He yelled, a ball of flame shooting out of the tip of the Keyblade and hitting the cave wall! The spell jerked his weapon back a bit, but not too badly. Grinning, Sora tried it a few more times, shooting out fireballs into the water or cavern wall.

“You’re a real natural!” Goofy praised with a chuckle. “But uh…I don’t think you’re supposed to use it too much, right Donald?”

“He’s right! If you use too much magic, you’ll get worn out!” Donald warned as Sora dismissed the Keyblade. “But if you keep practicing, you’ll be able to use more without getting exhausted!”

Nodding, Sora actually did feel a bit more tired out of the blue. “Right…okay, that makes sense. So, now we’re ready to leave, right?”

“Yeah! Let’s get going!” Donald said, leading the trio out of the cave, the three of them quickly making their way to the First District and in front of a large set of double doors. “This is where our Gummi Ship is! Through here, in the hangar!”

Gummi Ship? That was a weird name. Also, there was a hangar? Sora guessed that made sense. Either way, he started to feel extremely nervous all of a sudden, like his legs were made of lead. He had wanted to explore other worlds, and the means to do so was on the other side of that door, but…he was afraid. There was no telling what dangers they’d face and what Heartless types they’d encounter. That aside, he was scared that he wouldn’t be able to find Riku or Kairi anywhere!

“You feelin’ alright Sora?” Goofy asked, placing a hand on Sora’s shoulder.

That nearly made the teen flinch, and he looked up at Goofy. “…No, not really.” He said, deciding to be honest. “I’m scared about what we’ll find out there.” That and his doubts on finding his friends, of course. And there was a lot on his shoulders, all because of some magic weapon he had never asked for.

“Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you’re alright!” Goofy ensured, patting at Sora’s shoulder before taking his hand away. “Donald will keep ya nice and healed, right Donald?”

“Right! We’ll be at your side the whole way! And remember, the ship runs on happy faces! So none of that frowning, okay?” The mage implored, smiling himself to try and get Sora to do the same.

Sora let out a small sigh. One way or the other, he had to get on that ship. Getting it done with was all he could really do. Putting on a fake smile, the teen nodded. “Right. Sorry, let’s get going!” He turned to look at Traverse Town one more time, and was shocked to see Moguro on a bench, waving him off. The teen assumed this was a coincidence, waving back at the smiling salesman. He was lucky he ran into him, or that one Heartless might have gotten him! He wanted to say goodbye properly…but he felt like if he pushed off leaving again, it’d be harder to go, so Sora hoped that Moguro would understand. Turning back around, the brunette watched as Donald and Goofy opened up the double doors, and the pathway to other worlds, surely ones that Sora would be entranced by…

---

In one such world, far from Traverse Town, a dark room was populated by five figures around a table. This table had a green, magical circle that displayed Sora, Donald, and Goofy on it. One of the figures, a man with cold eyes and long blonde hair scoffed. He wore a white outfit, almost militaristic, with red shoulder guards. “So, someone that small and untrained was able to take out such a Heartless? Even with help, that’s quite a feat…”

The second figure, a man with almost green skin and red hair shook his head. He wore black armor and had an orange jewel upon his forehead. “Don’t be a fool. It’s the Keyblade that gives him strength! Without it, he’s just a whelp…”

A third man spoke up, one donned in a purple suit and sporting an unusual sharp, metal nose. He looked almost molelike, and not very strong. “If we just turn him into a Heartless, that’ll fix the situation, won’t it? Ho ho ho!”

Letting out an annoyed noise, the fourth member of the room grumbled towards the previous speaker. He was a tall, imposing man that was over eight feet tall! He wore a fancy suit as well, a fur coat draped over his shoulders. A stitched scar ran across his face, and his left hand was replaced with a massive golden hook. “If you think it’s that easy, why don’t you do it yourself? Those lackeys of the King are idiots, but they’re stronger than they look.”

The final figure, the lone woman, cackled. She was a portly figure with green skin and black clothes, along with a pointed hat upon her head. “Looks like you and them are birds of a father, with that scar on your face you hardly look better!” She insulted, cackling once more.

Turning to the woman, the hook-handed man scowled. “Want to try saying that again, you old hag? I’ll drain you dry in an instant!”

“I don’t know, I think she had a point!” The mole-looking figure said with a chortle of his own.

“If you idiots are going to fight, go do it somewhere else.” The man in the black armor said, tone dripping with annoyance. “I can’t stand your bickering!”

“Our fighting may cause a lot of sound, but that doesn’t mean you can boss me around!” The woman replied, sneering at the armored man.

A sixth voice called out, silencing the other five. “Enough of your bickering.” This last voice belonged to none other than Dio Brando, who entered the room from the shadows. “One way or the other, the Keyblade has chosen this boy, and that makes him unique. But will he be the one to conquer the darkness…or will he just be swallowed by that same darkness? Either way, he may be of use to us, and if not…we have his friend mulling things over in the other room. One of these two will be useful, I’m sure…” The blonde man said, smiling wickedly at the magical hologram of Sora, Donald, and Goofy…

---

Much of my life has been dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. That knowledge has guarded this world well. Not a soul doubts that. I am blessed with people's smiles and respect. But though I am called a sage, there are things I do not understand. I believe darkness sleeps in every heart, no matter how pure. Given the chance, the smallest drop can spread and swallow the heart. I have witnessed it many times. Darkness...Darkness of the heart. How is it born? How does it come to affect us so? As ruler of this world, I must find the answers. I must find them before the world is lost to those taken by the darkness.

Chapter Text

Sora’s eyes widened as the door to Traverse Town’s hangar was opened up and he saw it in all its glory. Granted, there weren’t actually a lot of ships there, apparently most residents of the small world getting there by more forceful means like the teen himself rather than purposefully flying there. Still, there were plenty of spaces for ships to dock themselves, and there were a few rockets and other crafts that looked straight out of space movies that Sora had watched.

“This is really cool!” The brunette exclaimed, following Donald and Goofy as they walked through the hangar. “Which ship is yours?” It had to be really big and impressive, right? After all, they were working for a King!

“We’re almost at it! Wait ‘til ya see!” Goofy responded, happy that Sora was excited to see their vessel. “It’s a Gummi Ship, we call it the Highwind!”

That nearly made Sora stop in his tracks. The Highwind? That’s what Riku had wanted to call their raft! It was some sort of weird coincidence, it had to be…right? “What’s a Gummi Ship?” Was what the teen decided to focus on.

“It’s made of Gummi Blocks, they’re easy to put together. It doesn’t really matter, it’s just like any other rocket ship!” Donald explained, waving away a more proper explanation on what Gummis exactly were.

Really, it wasn’t all that important, so Sora shrugged it off. As much as he hesitated by the gate, he was now feeling anxious to just get going. He was a bit surprised when Donald and Goofy stopped right in front of a pretty small, orange ship. It looked fine and all, but it seemed…snug.

“Is this going to fit all of us?” Sora couldn’t help but ask. Weren’t spaceships supposed to be really big? That’s how they were in the movies, at least.

Donald laughed a bit as he and Goofy lead Sora to the ship. “You’ll see! Just come on!”

“Yeah, it’s really neat inside!” Goofy promised, opening up a hatch to the side and gesturing for the teen to go in first.

Sora stepped into the ship, and instantly he was amazed by what he saw. To put it simply, the Gummi Ship was far larger on the inside than the outside, and by several times easily! He entered a sort of central room, little in it save for doorways into half a dozen other rooms. There were even two hatches, one leading down and one leading up, surely into the cockpit. “Oh, wow…this is cool! How do you do this?” The teen asked, turning to Donald and Goofy as they entered behind him.

“Just a bit of magic is all!” Donald replied with a grin. He pointed to several of the doorways and started to lift things off. “There’s the kitchen. That’s my room, and that one’s Goofy’s. You can take that one there.” The mage rattled off.

“And down below is where the engine stuff is. But just leave that to us. And above there’s the cockpit.” Goofy added on, starting to climb up. “I’ll get things ready for launch!”

Donald let out a small grumble, sounding like a half-prayer that Goofy didn’t break something. “Just come here to your room.” The mage said, opening one of the nearby doors. There was a pretty simple room for Sora to stay in. A bed, a dresser, a wardrobe, a personal bathroom attached, and a window looking outside that mysteriously wasn’t anywhere on the exterior of the ship. Must have been more magic. “Let’s see, uh…” He looked Sora over for a second before summoning his staff and giving it a wave. The dressers opened up, and some casual clothes and pajamas appeared, all Sora’s size. “There!”

Again, Sora was impressed, going over to look at the new clothes. This helped hit that this wasn’t going to be some quick errand…this was going to be a journey that’d take days, maybe even weeks or months to finish. Still, he pushed his doubts down and turned to Donald. “How’d you do that? Can you teach me that?”

“No way, just stick with the battle magic! The kitchen fridge and the pantry have some magic too, you can get whatever you want while the brooms clean up the mess!” Donald explained, clearly bragging a bit. Apparently he was very proud of the magic he used on the ship.

Sora huffed. “Alright, alright. No clothes magic then.” He said, closing the dresser drawers. Also, did Donald mention brooms cleaning up the messes? More magic, it seemed. “So, what now? How long before we get to another world?” The teen was still feeling a bit anxious.

Donald shrugged. “Who knows? Could be hours or a day or two.” The mage guessed. With all the worlds going out, things were a bit more spaced out than they were before. And, frankly, the Gummi Ship wasn’t all too fast. At least not compared to some other methods of transport out there. “Just wait here, okay? Look out the window into space when we launch or something!”

Once again, Sora was kind of annoyed. They offered him to come along, but so far Donald was treating him like an unwanted passenger. “Hey, what gives? I want to drive the ship too!”

“No way! Have you ever driven one before?” Donald asked, knowing full well what the answer was. He didn’t have anything against Sora, but he hardly knew the kid, and he was hoping things would just get wrapped up as quickly as possible…

“At least let me into the cockpit or something!” Sora pressed, crossing his arms in light defiance. “Until we’re done launching, at least?”

Sighing, the mage just gave in, not wanting to argue. “Alright, alright. Fine! Just don’t touch anything!” Donald said, turning around and heading towards the ladder upward, Sora in tow. “Feels like we’re forgetting something…” He murmured, too quiet for Sora to hear, with neither him nor Goofy recalling that a certain pet of the King’s was still missing…

Smiling at his small victory, Sora followed Donald up the ladder and into the cockpit. Inside there was a glass dome showing a nice view of the hangar around them. There was also a number of buttons, switches, screens, and other technological stuff that the teen didn’t quite grasp. There were three chairs, so Sora sat down in one of them, as did Donald.

“Oh, hey fellers! We’re just about to launch! Chip and Dale says everything’s all set!” Goofy remarked, sitting in the seat closest to the controls. On the screen where two chipmunks, one with a black nose and one with a red nose.

“Hey…so, are these two your friends? Are they on the ship too?” Sora asked, looking to the screen.

“Naw, we’re at the castle!” Chip declared with a shake of the head. “I’m Chip, by the way, and this is Dale! Goofy explained everything, Sora! Nice to meetcha!”

“Yeah, nice to meetcha!” Dale echoed. “The ship’s ready to go whenever you are, Goofy!” He went on, speaking to the knight.

Nodding, Goofy turned to Sora and Donald. “Alright, hang on tight!” He said, pressing a few buttons, seeming to know what he was doing. As he did this, a large door opened up in the wall in front of them, leading out into open space! There was a humming noise, and the Gummi Ship started to shake!

Looking around, Sora saw through the glass dome they were rising a bit and moving forward slowly! Before long, they got to the open door and the engines roared to life, and the ship lurched forward, blasting off into space! The sensation wasn’t as extreme as Sora thought. In fact, once they got into space properly, he slowly stood up and found it was just like walking around outside!

Eagerly, he moved to the edge of the cockpit, looking out into space. It was such an amazing sight, all the stars looking so much larger and brighter than he had ever seen them! There seemed to be dozens of times more, too! All sorts of colors in greens, blues, reds, purples…all over the place! It was nothing like looking up at the night sky back at home. Sora had the unusual feeling that he was being watched by some unseen force as he gazed at the stars, but quickly shook it off, his wonderment overriding such sensations…

“This is amazing! You guys get to see this all the time?” Sora asked, turning back to Donald and Goofy, still in their seats.

The pilot chuckled, shaking his head. “Naw, we stay at home most of the time. We only go out on special occasions.” Goofy explained.

“I’m just glad you got the ship going without blowing us up.” Donald said with a light huff.

“Aw, gawrsh, don’t be silly, Donald! I’d never do that!” Goofy said, clearly amused and assuming his friend was just kidding around.

Sora was a bit surprised at the answer. “Really? You don’t go out and just fly around? Seems kind of like a waste with this thing…”

“It’s not a toy, it’s for important missions!” Donald clarified. “Also, you should go back down below. You said you’d just stay here for the launch!”

“Oh, come on, I’m not touching anything!” Sora argued, wondering just what Donald’s deal was. “Can’t I stay?”

Goofy intervened, acting as a mediator between the two. “Say, Sora, you’re probably hungry, right? Have you eaten anything since you arrived at Traverse Town?” He asked, far calmer and nicer than his friend.

Thinking of it…aside from that glass of juice with Moguro, Sora hadn’t had a bite to eat since he was swept from his home. Heck, he didn’t even get to eat dinner before the Heartless attacked! “I guess you’re right…” Was all the teen said, climbing back down the ladder and leaving Donald and Goofy on their own.

As the hatched closed behind Sora, the knight turned back to his companion. “Gawrsh, Donald, aren’t ya bein’ a bit harsh on him?”

“He’ll be fine.” Donald insisted, crossing his arms. “We just need him until we find the King and solve this mess, then we can drop him off back home.” He made it sound simple, but he wasn’t even sure if restoring the worlds was possible! But if anyone would know for sure, it’d be their King.

“I think he’s just jealous there’s a better mage on the ship.” GLaDOS commented from Donald’s pocket. “I may be new to magic, but I detect Clown Shoes is at least twice as skilled.”

“Oh, shut up! You’re just making things up!” The magician squawked back, slapping at the pocket GLaDOS resided in as if it could actually hurt her. It wasn’t even that Donald disliked Sora. If anything, he’d rather not get attached since this was all part of a mission, and he didn’t want a sad, inevitable goodbye. Fat chance he’d ever tell anyone that, though!

Sora, meanwhile, was walking into the kitchen, seeing that it was a medium sized room that was just about spotless. There was a fridge, pantry, a table with some chairs around it, cabinets with glasses and plates, a sink…and some brooms off against the far wall. Were those the ones Donald meant? After all he had seen since encountering the Heartless back on the islands, Sora wouldn’t be too surprised to see magical moving brooms…

Knowing he had to get some food in him, the teen opened the pantry to see, as Donald said, that it was filled up with whatever he wanted! Sora was hardly a picky eater, so the storage was practically bursting with all sorts of food. From healthy things like fruits or vegetables to candy and other sweets to canned foods and bread and cheese and too many other things to name.

The teen decided to stick with a sandwich, grabbing some bread and cheese before going to the fridge. Like with the pantry, it was full of foods Sora liked, just ones that needed to be kept cool. Grabbing some slices of ham from a corner of the fridge, Sora made a quick sandwich for himself, barely waiting to sit at the table before starting to wolf it down. It was odd, he didn’t feel hungry…but at the same time he felt like he was starving in an unusual and paradoxical manner…

Within a minute, the sandwich was gone, and Sora grabbed some milk from the fridge, filling up a glass before gulping it down. As his back was turned on his empty place, he heard some clinking. Turning around, Sora saw that one of the brooms had come to life, sprouting arms, using its bristles as feet as it caried the plate to the sink to start cleaning. He even handed the glass over to the broom, and it wordlessly took it and started to clean that too.

Since he had eaten, and nothing else to do, Sora watched as another broom put the bread and other food containers he took out and put them back in their places. He felt like if he went back up to the cockpit, Donald would just get angry at him again. So, the teen went into his room, sighing as he gazed out the window. The view was still amazing, but he couldn’t help but feel a bit melancholy. Just where were Kairi and Riku? Were they even okay?

He really wished they could be seeing this right now…

But he knew moping would get him nowhere. The ship ran on happy faces, apparently, so he shouldn’t be doing that anyway. It was at this point that Sora started to realize he hadn’t properly rested in a long while too. He woke up that morning when he gathered the final materials for the raft, was knocked out as he was sucked into that orb, then passed out after he fought Leon. None of that was exactly a proper rest…

The teen went over to his dresser and put on some sleeping clothes, some red pajama pants with silver crowns and an oversized black shirt. Flopping onto the bed, he found it was comfortable. He was going to let his mind wander, but before that could even happen, exhaustion took him, and he was asleep.

The Gummi Ship cruised on as Sora slept, the brunette having a dreamless rest as Donald and Goofy handled the flying. They spent a lot of the trip in silence, watching for the nearest world as they went. Unfortunately, they really had no idea where to look, just traveling to any world that they could and hope for the best. Maybe with the Keyblade on their side, it’d help guide them? Neither of them really knew how Keyblades worked, but their King had told them that they had many unusual abilities.

Hours passed, and Sora was awakened by a knock on the door, Goofy’s voice calling through. “Hey, Sora, we’ve reached a world! Come look!” The knight said cheerfully.

Eyes snapping open, the brunette got out of bed quickly, changing into his usual clothes. Barely having his shoes on properly, he opened the door to see Goofy standing there grinning at him. “Already? I didn’t think it’d be so fast!” Normally he’d be groggy first thing after some sleep, but with the prospect of a new world…

“Yeah! Travel can be a bit unpredictable, but we’re here!” Goofy remarked, pointing at the hatch up to the cockpit. “Come on, let’s look!”

Both excited and anxious, Sora climbed up the ladder after Goofy into the cockpit where Donald was waiting. Ignoring the mage, the teen looked up out of the glass dome at the new world! Thinking of it, he never looked at Traverse Town as they flew away from it, so it was his first time seeing a world from space!

The teen’s eyes widened in wonder at the sight…a perfect sphere of gorgeous greens, blues, and even whites, mainly from the clouds. He had to wonder if all worlds looked like that! “It’s amazing…” He breathed, looking to Donald as the mage started fiddling with the controls. “So…where do we land?”

“We don’t!” Donald replied. “No one can know we’re from another world!” He scolded a bit, looking up at Sora. “You’ve got to promise you won’t mention that at all!”

That did make a bit of sense, Sora supposed. If he met someone that said they were from another world, he might be pretty skeptical. Those in Traverse Town not counting, of course. “Alright, alright, I promise! How do we get there, then?”

“Oh, we just get put down there in a big flash of light! Pretty fancy, huh?” Goofy replied with a nod. “I don’t really get how it works, but it’s fast!”

Seemed good enough for Sora! “So, where are we going to end up?” It was a pretty massive looking world, after all. There was so much land and so much sea! Destiny Islands would be just a tiny speck in comparison to the rest of it…

“We’ll see if there are any unusual readings. Just let the ship handle it!” Donald replied, pressing one last button. “Alright, here we go!”

“What? Do we just-” Sora started, but was stopped as a flash of white light overtook his vision! The next thing Sora knew, he wasn’t in the Gummi Ship anymore. He blinked the light out of his eyes a few times, realizing he must be down at that world! His eyesight coming back, the islander took a look around!

As it turned out, he, Donald, and Goofy ended up in a large city of sorts. Sora had seen them on television before, but never dreamed he’d end up in one himself! Massive buildings all around him, people walking past the trio on the sidewalk, apparently not having noticed the three of them popping in from nowhere.

It wasn’t just that they were in a big city, but Sora noticed how odd the technology was. People drove by in cars, but they were far, far different from the ones he had seen pictures or on television. They seemed…sleeker, and more rounded, not as many edges. On top of that, he saw some people talking into devices by their ears…almost like phones! But how could that be possible? They were just small rectangles, and they weren’t plugged in anywhere, not a wire in sight!

“Oh, good, it’s a pretty normal place!” Donald remarked with a sigh of relief.

“Where do we start, though? Could the King and Sora’s friends really be here?” Goofy asked, looking about. Many people, mainly adults, were walking around the trio, paying them very little mind.

That snapped Sora out of his wonderment, looking to Donald and Goofy. “Yeah, that’s right. This world is really huge, right? We can’t search it all, can we?”

“Trust me, things have a way of working out. The Gummi Ship can sense all sorts of things. If we ended up in this part of the world, it must be for good reason.” The mage responded, though truthfully, even he wasn’t entirely aware of how it all worked out. If the King were here, he’d probably say something about how things sometimes just work out for the best.

Sora wasn’t really convinced, not entirely, but that was the best answer he could hope for, he supposed. After all, if Donald and Goofy knew exactly where to go, they’d probably have appeared right near the King, Riku, or Kairi. Before the teen could respond, though, some screams rang through the air.

Heads whipping around, the trio looked to the sidewalk ahead and saw people running away, terror on their faces. As the people dispersed, it became clear what they were running from. There was a small group of Heartless! Shadows, Soldiers, and a new type floating above, a trio of Red Nocturnes!

“They’re here too?!” Sora exclaimed, readying his Keyblade as Donald and Goofy summoned their own weapons. “Is that what your ship picked up?”

“I don’t know, but let’s take them out!” Donald ordered as one of the Red Nocturnes shot a fireball at a fleeing woman, just barely missing her as she retreated.

Without further hesitation, the three charged towards the small group of Heartless. Sora swatted an attacking Shadow away as Goofy threw his shield with precision at one of the Soldiers, knocking it into a second Soldier. Donald cast a Thunder spell, yelling out as bolts rained down at the Heartless, taking out a few Shadows and stunning the Red Nocturnes as the spell hit them.

The floating Heartless quickly recovered, firing off small fireballs at the group. While Sora and Goofy used their weapons to block the spells, Donald was struck by one, squawking as he staggered backwards but seemed little worse for wear. Glaring at the offending Heartless, Sora leapt up and swatted it right out of the air, the Red Nocturne bouncing a bit as it hit the ground. It barely had time to recover as Sora landed in front of it, slamming his Keyblade like a club upon it, turning it into a black mist.

Thankfully, the Heartless group was pretty small, and its members were weak, so within a minute or two, they were all gone. “You okay?! You got hit with fire back there!” Sora exclaimed, turning to Donald.

“I’m fine, these clothes aren’t just for show!” Donald explained, showing he had no burn marks on him anywhere. “Goofy and I are protected by magic. I did the same to you when I made those clothes appear back in the ship!”

Sora was really starting to wonder how many powers Donald even had. Still, he was happy to hear all that. “That’s good and all, but why are the Heartless here? Will this world disappear too?”

“They’re in a whole buncha worlds, remember?” Goofy asked, interjecting. “I reckon they’ll try and make this one disappear too if we don’t do something!”

As Goofy said this, yet another Heartless showed up, this time in the middle of the street. People had abandoned their cars when the previous wave of creatures appeared, so this new type was able to stand in the street unharmed. It was pretty big, but smaller than the Guard Armor, a Large Body that looked about, as if sniffing out prey.

The Large Body’s gaze zeroed in on the trio, starting to walk over to them as it punched one of the abandoned cars to the side. Flinching, Sora aimed his Keyblade at the new Heartless and let out several Fire spells, each one hitting the opponent in its bloated belly…to little effect. It staggered very mildly, but otherwise seemed unharmed!

“I don’t think we’re going to hurt that thing attacking from the front!” Donald exclaimed, stepping back as the Large Body started getting closer and closer.

Just at that moment, a man’s voice rang from behind the trio. “I knew there’d be an evil spirit here! All that panic couldn’t be for nothing! I mean…I sensed it too, of course.”

The three turned to see a man in his late twenties with red hair and a business suit approaching. Unlike the other people, he didn’t seem scared of the Heartless at all! “Hey, what are you doing here? It’s dangerous!” Sora exclaimed as the man walked past them.

“For you, maybe, but I’ve got this handled. I guess you haven’t heard of the famous Reigen Arataka, the Greatest Psychic in Modern History!” The man introduced, gesturing wildly with one hand before pointing a thumb to himself.

A psychic? Magic was one thing, but Sora never expected to meet a psychic! “Wait, really? So, you can defeat that thing?” The teen asked, realizing that he should start expecting the unexpected. With all those worlds out there, anything was possible, surely. Except…were Heartless really qualified as ‘evil spirits’ in the end? He supposed that was as good of a classification as any, but…

“Didn’t you hear me? I don’t get a title like that without reason!” Reigen responded, a bit of haughtiness in his voice as he turned to the Large Body. “Now then…watch and learn as I teach this thing some manners!”

“Gawrsh, should we really let him do this?” Goofy asked, mainly talking to Donald, leaning down to his smaller friend.

The mage shrugged. “If he’s really the strongest psychic in this world, what’s the harm?” Donald replied.

Taking a deep breath, Reigen watched as the Large Body got even closer, now only a few meters away. “Alright…” The man whispered to himself, reaching into his pocket. “…TAKE MY SALT SPLASH, EVIL SPIRIT!” He roared dramatically, throwing a clumsy handful of salt from his pocket right at the Large Body!

Most of it got on the Heartless’ face and stomach, but a lot just got on the sidewalk and road. It certainly stopped the Large Body in its path…but mainly as it reacted to the salt in its eyes, swinging its arms around wildly while in pain. It certainly didn’t do what Reigen had said and destroyed it, though!

“Hey, that didn’t stop it at all!” Donald exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at the redheaded man. “What’s the big idea?!”

Reigen flinched a bit before turning around and laughing at the trio. “Obviously I just used regular salt to confuse and weaken it! I only put in a tiny fraction of my powers into it! Mob, you come finish it off, okay?” He yelled to someone behind the trio.

“Yes, Master.” A young boy’s voice called, startling the three outsiders. They turned to see that there had been someone else there the entire time that they just hadn’t noticed. He was a young teen, surely no older than Sora himself, wearing a school uniform and sporting black hair down in a bowl cut. The boy, Mob, had a pretty lackluster expression on his face, as if the situation wasn’t intriguing at all to him.

As Mob started to walk by the trio, Goofy reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. “Now wait a minute, this is pretty dangerous! You shouldn’t be getting involved!” He said out of concern, not wanting to see someone innocent getting hurt…

The strange teen wasn’t bothered. “Oh, it’s fine. I’ve exorcised a lot of these types of evil spirits before.” Mob replied flatly, walking out of Goofy’s light grip and towards the Large Body. It managed to compose itself enough to see the teen as its new target. Clasping its hands together, it raised them above its head, ready to slam his joined fists down on Mob!

“Are you sure about this?!” Sora exclaimed, about to jump in and help. He couldn’t just watch this when he could be helping!

“Hey, don’t underestimate my student! I wouldn’t let him do this if he couldn’t handle it!” Reigen shot back, a bit annoyed. “Remember, I’m the world’s strongest psychic, so my protégé and take down small fry like this!”

A bit torn, the three watched on, not sure what to do. Anything could happen in different worlds, so maybe Mob was far more powerful than he appeared? Reigen didn’t seem to do much, but maybe he really did somehow weaken the Heartless? Besides, Mob did say he had taken out Heartless before…

As the Large Body slammed its fists down towards Mob, the strange teen lifted up a hand casually to meet the impact. When the attack landed, there was a brilliant, colorful flash of light! This light engulfed the Heartless, its form starting to distort before quickly it burst into a dark mist. The light went out and the mist and remaining salt burst away from Mob.

“Whoa! That was amazing!” Sora exclaimed, staring at where the Large Body was. Whatever it was that Mob did, it was clear the other teen barely even tried!

“Gawrsh, that sure was something! Can you do that too, Donald?” Goofy asked sincerely, looking down at his friend.

Shaking his head, Donald glared up at Goofy. “Of course I can’t! If I could, I would’ve done it!” The mage explained, annoyed at his friend’s stupidity.

“Oh yeah, that’s true…” Goofy murmured to himself.

Mob walked back to the four, looking as if nothing had even happened. “Oh, it’s no big deal. I’ve dealt with spirits a lot stronger than that.” He droned humbly, still not really showing any emotion at all. “Master, why did you have me handle that spirit if it was so weak?”

Reigen scoffed, waving his hand in a dismissive fashion. “It should be obvious, shouldn’t it?” He asked, almost sounding like it was a joke. “If I take care of every little spirit that crosses our path, how are you going to learn anything? You’re half my age, you don’t have nearly the experience I do! You’ve got to use your powers in order to grow, got it?”

At that, the strange teen nodded. “That makes sense. Thank you, Master.” He turned to the trio. “I hope you three didn’t get hurt. You’re not really customers, so you don’t have to pay.”

“Shouldn’t I get to decide that…?” Reigen muttered but did so quietly enough that no one else heard him.

“Pay? Are you guys psychics for hire or something?” Sora asked, calming down. He almost felt silly for worrying about Mob considering how easily he took out the Large Body. If only he had been there with the Guard Armor, that would’ve been pretty helpful!

Reigen stepped in with a scoff. “What, you haven’t heard of the Spirits and Such Consultation Office?” He asked, almost like he was belittling Sora for his lack of knowledge.

“Oh, well, we’re pretty new here, that’s all.” Goofy remarked, coming up with the lie quick. “But we haven’t heard of ya, no.”

“Makes sense. We’re pretty popular, so if you were from Seasoning City, you’d know my name, just like everyone else!” The man replied, again jabbing a thumb at himself as he gave a cocky grin.

“But Master, business has been pretty poor lately. Was there a rise in popularity I didn’t know about?” Mob asked innocently.

Groaning, Reigen turned to his student and shushed him. “Be quiet, Mob! Don’t tell them stuff like that! It’s bad for business!”

Sora wasn’t sure what to make of Reigen, really. He had Mob as a mere student, so he had to be strong, right? So…why wasn’t his business doing well? Mob himself was kind of odd too. He didn’t really emote, and he seemed a bit clueless. “Well, we appreciate the help, either way.” The brunette said, interrupting the light squabble. “I’m Sora, by the way, and this is Donald and Goofy.” He went on, gesturing to his companions in kind.

“I heard Master introduce himself, so my name is Shigeo Kageyama, but a lot of people call me Mob, which I don’t mind.” The other teen introduced, giving a light bow to the trio.

Still trying to determine just how he got a nickname like ‘Mob’, Sora gave a wave as he dismissed his Keyblade. “Nice to meet you guys too. So, you have to deal with the Heartless a lot?”

“Heartless? The evil spirits?” Reigen asked, scratching the side of his head. “I guess they got those weird emblems on them. But who are you three anyway? You seem to know a lot about these things…”

Donald stepped in, needing to retain some manner of anonymity. They couldn’t go around just saying that Heartless invade worlds, or that other worlds even exist! “We made up the names! They have those emblems like you said, so we call them Heartless!”

“That’s pretty weird, but whatever. So, you guys hunt them, right? I hope you’re not trying to take away our business or something!” Reigen replied, annoyed at the three. “Seasoning City’s already got the best duo of espers in the world on the case!”

“What? No! We’re just passing through!” Sora said, shaking his head. This guy seemed a bit paranoid, but apparently since his business was failing…

“Do you know where these evil spirits come from then?” Mob asked, looking between the trio. “These spirits are different from others I’ve encountered, and they started popping up a month ago.” He informed, still speaking in an emotionally lacking tone.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Goofy responded. “We hoped you guys might know. Did something happen a month ago?”

“No, at least not anything I’ve noticed.” Mob said, looking to Reigen. “Do you know anything, Master?”

The older man scoffed, waving his hand in a dismissive manner. “Evil spirits are unpredictable at the best of times. I’m sure in another month or so, they’ll just go away. This is a temporary nuisance, I’m sure!” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, I’ve got to get back to the office. Since this was a sporadic job and not from a client, I can’t pay you today, Mob.”

This didn’t seem to bother the unusual teen at all. “Oh. I see. That makes sense, Master. I’ll see you later, then.”

“And you three, try to stay out of trouble!” Reigen insisted towards the trio, starting to walk off and giving a backwards wave as he went.

Donald rolled his eyes, knowing they could’ve handled that last Heartless even without help! “Let’s get going, we’ve got to look around for why the Heartless are here!” And to see if the King was around too, of course…

“Uh, actually…” Mob piped up, almost doing so too quietly to be heard. “Can I come with you? These spirits are too weak to be dangerous to me, but they’re a lot bolder and more violent than most. I’m worried about my family and classmates, so I’d like to stop them entirely.”

Goofy had the feeling Donald would refuse Mob, so he spoke up first. “Well sure ya can! You just want to help those close to ya, right Donald?”

The mage wasn’t too fond of the idea, but as long as the world order was maintained, he supposed it was fine. Besides, Mob was more than capable of defending himself, clearly. “Alright, fine, I guess he can come!”

“I knew you had a heart, Donald!” Sora joked, grinning a bit. The mage really was a grumpy one, but the brunette wondered if he was really as nasty as he seemed. He did create a lot of clothes for Sora and tried to cheer him up when they first met, after all…

Squawking lightly, Donald glared up at Sora. “Oh, shut up!” He retorted simply, crossing his arms a bit as the teen was unfettered. He looked to Mob, his expression softening a bit. “You live here, so where would we go first to look?”

“Uh, well, no…” Mob admitted, finally showing a bit of emotion as he appeared a bit flustered. “Like I said, I have no idea where this has started from, so…”

“There’s gotta be somewhere, right?” Sora prodded, almost feeling a bit bad for doing so. Mob seemed kind of awkward and out of sorts, not that the brunette judged him for it or anything.

The powerful psychic paused and then raised a finger in thought. “Well, if these are evil spirits, maybe a haunted location would be better. There’s an abandoned building I was at recently that was haunted, so maybe there?”

Not wanting to explain to Mob that the Heartless weren’t ‘evil spirits’ exactly, Sora just nodded along. “Seems as good a place as any, right guys?” He asked to Donald and Goofy.

Donald wasn’t sure how well this logic all worked out, but they had to at least try. “Alright, fine, let’s just move fast, Mob!” There was a reason the Gummi Ship beamed them out to this part of the world, and the mage wanted to know why!

“Right, of course.” Mob said, starting to walk down the sidewalk, the trio following behind. As they went off, some people started to gather where the Heartless initially appeared, seeing that the danger had passed. “How long have you three been in Seasoning City anyway?”

“Not long at all! We dropped in earlier today, actually!” Goofy explained, basically telling the truth, even if he left out some details. “It sure does seem nice, though.”

“Oh, it is. There are some nice people here. Some of them aren’t so nice, but that’s true with any place.” Mob said, seeming almost a bit morose, yet he was still mostly emotionless.

Sora frowned a bit, looking over to Mob as he walked alongside him. “Hey, are you alright? You seem kind of…out of it.” He felt like he had to at least ask…

Mob looked back in light confusion. “What do you mean? I feel fine. Do I look sick or something?” He asked in total sincerity.

“Naw, it’s not that! I think it’s because you’re all quiet and such!” Goofy interjected, though like Sora he wasn’t really judging Mob at all. Some people were just quieter and more reserved than others.

“Oh. Well, that’s just how I am. There’s nothing wrong with me.” The black-haired teen replied. If he was offended at the questions, he hid his annoyance perfectly.

That made Sora feel pretty bad, the brunette rubbing the back of his neck. He had his own problems, in his heart, but he tried to cover it up with false energy or smiles. Maybe Mod had his own problems he hid in a quieter way? “You’re right, that was pretty weird to ask, sorry.”

Before Mob could reply, Donald spoke up. “Have the Heartless been causing a lot of trouble?” The mage asked, wanting to veer the conversation away from the psychic teenager.

“Well, there have been a few disappearances since they came, and I think I overheard a report of a few casualties.” Mob said, still not sounding too concerned. “I don’t watch the news a lot, though, so I’m not really sure. Sometimes they just appear out of nowhere and attack people…”

Sora just had to wonder why this world was still intact. As far as he knew, the Heartless only arrived at his own world the night it disappeared. He still wasn’t sure how the creatures of darkness managed to get rid of worlds in the first place! “Well don’t worry, we’ll find out a way to stop this!” The brunette instead, wanting to get Mob’s hopes up.

“That’s right! With the four of us workin’ together, we’ll be able to do anything we set our minds to!” Goofy agreed, always the optimist. He saw no reason why they couldn’t accomplish their goals if they were working as a team!

“Hey Mob, how did you get your powers anyway?” Sora asked, unable to help his curiosity. “Were you just born with them? They seem really awesome!” He had the feeling he only saw a tiny bit of what Mob was capable of when he destroyed that Large Body so easily.

Mob shook his head. “They’re nothing special. It’s just a talent. Everyone has one, and mine doesn’t make me any better than anyone else. That’s what Master taught me.” The stoic teen replied. “But yes, I’ve just had them since I was a kid. Never found out the reason. Never thought to try and get an answer.”

Honestly, Sora never thought of it that way. After all, Mob clearly had extraordinary powers, and from the way he talked, chances were this wasn’t something super common in this world. The brunette wondered that if him being chosen by the Keyblade wasn’t special…after all it was a sort of talent, or at least something beyond his control. Just another trait of his…

“Oh, alright. I still think they’re pretty cool, I’ve never seen anything like that before.” Sora lightly pressed, not wanting to just pretend that Mob’s powers were somehow underwhelming.

“I guess so.” Was all Mob said in response, making things a bit awkward. Apparently socializing wasn’t really a strong suit of his.

“But hey, I actually wanted to ask, have two strangers passed through here? Their names are Riku and Kairi.” Sora asked, deciding he may as well try.

“No, I’ve never heard of anyone by those names, sorry.” Mob said, not reacting to Sora’s solemn nod. The quartet walked in silence for a few blocks before the esper suddenly stopped and turned to an abandoned looking apartment building of sorts. “This building is haunted. Or at least it was. I did an exorcism here not too long ago, but it could be a start.”

Donald, eager to maybe get some answers, walked ahead without fear. “Let’s get this over with then! I’m not scared!” He wasn’t afraid of spirits! Not with his magic…and Mob…on his side! Besides, the teen said he already cleared out the building…

The other three followed behind, entering the abandoned building slowly. Sora and Goofy looked around, the latter feeling a bit spooked. Unlike Donald, he was pretty nervous at the idea of ghosts. What if Mob had missed one, and it was already watching them? He kept looking over his shoulder as they went through the entrance room and up some stairs, Mob leading the way.

“I guess we should go where I conducted the exorcism. It’s not too high up.” Mob said, clearly not afraid at all as he went upwards. After all, he had nothing to fear from spirits, or even Heartless, clearly…

“You do these exorcisms like you did with that Heartless, right? Are they ever hard?” Sora asked, really very interested in Mob and his powers. Really, he was interested in anything new from these unusual worlds he was going to get to visit.

Mob shook his head. “No, not at all. They are odd, though. These new spirits don’t feel quite like the others. They feel…darker…” He had taken a moment to consider that last word, as if he never had to describe it before. “At least they can still be exorcised.”

With that, the four entered an abandoned room that looked like it might have been an office space of some sort in the past. “So, you defeated a spirit here?”

“Yeah. He was pretty rude, but I got rid of him.” Mob informed like it was no big deal. “I’m not sure if…”

Whatever Mob was going to say, he stopped as several orbs of darkness appeared in the room, Heartless spawning from them! These were another new type for the outsiders, Search Ghosts! They were unusual looking, even by Heartless standards. Instead of black, void-like faces, they had paler heads with a distinct mouth, one of their eyeballs hanging out its socket by a small chain. Gloves hands floated by their wrists, not fully connected, and the Heartless floated along on ghostly tails…

Instantly, Sora, Donald, and Goofy sprang into action. “They don’t waste any time!” The brunette exclaimed, his Keyblade in hand. His companions summoned their weapons as they charged at the Heartless, leaving Mob behind.

“Um…but I can just…” The esper teen tried, but he spoke too quietly, and the others didn’t hear him. “Well, okay then…” He quickly gave up, watching as his new acquaintances charged into battle.

Thankfully, this new type of Heartless moved fairly slowly. They didn’t even have time to attack first, as the trio swarmed to attack! Sora battered one away while Goofy rammed into one with his shield. Maintaining a bit of a distance, Donald shot out a burst of Blizzard, hitting two of them and freezing them in place.

The other Search Ghosts warped around a bit, getting some distance before attacking. Their hands separated from their bodies and spun around rapidly, the Heartless closing in on their opponents as they did this. One of these hands whacked at Donald, causing him to stagger, while Sora and Goofy blocked the incoming attacks.

When blocked, the Search Ghosts staggered back as their hands whipped back into place, leaving the Heartless open. Wielding his Keyblade like a club, Sora smacked the nearest opponent, destroying it as Goofy and an angered Donald finished off the others with a shield bash and a Thunder spell.

As the last Search Ghost vanished, the trio looked to Mob who had awkwardly stood there and watched the fight unfold. “Oh…right, you could’ve just handled all of those, huh?” Sora asked, rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry, Mob, we just sort of acted on our own.”

“It’s okay. I would have helped, but I didn’t want to accidentally hurt one of you.” Mob informed, not seeming too bothered. “I’ve never seen someone take out a spirit without powers like mine before, so it was interesting to watch.”

Oh, right…how would they explain that? Luckily, they wouldn’t have to as another Heartless appeared! This one was like a Search Ghost, but far, far larger! It was a Grand Ghost, and its head nearly brushed against the ceiling.

“This one’s huge! Mob, we’ll handle this one too! We’ve got to get some practice in!” Donald said, shouting to the black-haired teen. The three of them would surely fight a lot of massive Heartless in their journey, so they shouldn’t be using their new companion as a crutch…

“If you’re sure. I’ll be here if you need help, then.” Mob informed, once more not seeming really bothered about things. “I’ll take a look around and see if I can find anything.” Casually, as though a massive Heartless didn’t just appear, he started walking about the room.

Sora acted first, sprinting at the Grand Ghost and leaping at it. Yet, as he swung his Keyblade, it and the rest of the teenager phased right through! He simply passed through the Heartless, landing on the other side in confusion. “Uh…?” Sora belted out, not sure what to even say.

“Nice miss, Sora!” Donald teased, laughing a bit as the Grand Ghost remained stagnant where it initially spawned.

“Give me a break! You saw me go through it! Why could I hit the others, but not this one?” Sora was wondering if this was like the Guard Armor, where it was leading the smaller Heartless. Maybe if this thing was defeated, the other Heartless in the area would go away!

Snickering a bit more, Donald stepped forward. “Let’s try some magic, then!” He declared, shooting out three fireballs from his staff…which too passed through the Grand Ghost without harming it. “Wak?! What’s going on?!”

“Weird, this one’s a ghost like the others, so why can’t we hit it…?” Goofy pondered but stepped back as the new Heartless suddenly sprang to action.

Like with its smaller brethren, the Grand Ghost separated its hands from its body, spinning them rapidly near the ground in a wide circle. Acting quickly, Sora performed a Dodge Roll and got out of the way. Donald ran from the attack while Goofy was knocked off his feet and onto his back.

“Um…Are you three having trouble?” Mob asked, looking around the far side of the room. “It looks like you can’t hit this one…” Somehow, it seemed the teenager’s question got the Grand Ghost’s attention as it stopped its attack and started to float towards him. The esper walked towards the Heartless in turn, not deterred at all. As they met in the middle, Mob casually lifted his hand, and like the Large Body before, this Heartless practically exploded in a flash of light, leaving only a dark mist behind. “There…”

Sora took a deep breath; glad this was taken care of. “So weird…why was that Heartless so hard for us to hit? I’m just glad your powers worked on it…”

“Maybe only my type of powers could affect it. Master would probably know.” Mob replied casually, walking over to the others as Goofy got onto his feet, rubbing the back of his head.

“More importantly, did you find anything helpful?” Donald asked, a bit annoyed at that weird Heartless and how even his own magic did nothing!

Mob shook his head, gazing down at the floor rather than at the trio. “No. No clues or anything. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, to be honest.”

“That’s not helpful! This was pointless then!” Donald snapped, crossing his arms in annoyance. “We just wasted our time!”

“Cut him some slack, Donald! He’s just trying to help!” Sora replied, glaring at the small mage. He could be so cranky! Of course, the teen was disappointed to. Mob didn’t know about Riku or Kairi, and their search for a source of the Heartless hasn’t been too successful. “But I bet you destroying that thing really helped. A friend of mine, Leon, said that large Heatless will lead the smaller ones. I bet there will be a lot less trouble now!” At least he hoped so…

Mob was dejected at Donald’s rudeness but perked up a bit at Sora’s word. “You really think so? It seems like these evil spirits have been never-ending, honestly.”

“Hopefully.” Sora replied, not wanting to make his answer definitive. “Maybe if we go to another haunted location, we’ll find another large Heartless to take out.”

The black-haired teen nodded. “That’s a good idea. Alright, Master and I have been to a lot of places, so we’ll just stop by a few.” He suggested, seeming a bit hopeful as he lead the trio out of the abandoned building.

Donald bit his tongue, wanting to argue. This seemed like a waste of time! The way he saw it, if the King had gone to this world, he probably would have been drawn to the same area and solved this problem already. The fact Heartless were still so rampant probably meant the King hadn’t passed through! Still, the mage decided to hold his beak. It wasn’t like he didn’t care about what happened to this world, but at the same time, they couldn’t stop and help every single person they came across! They still had their mission!

In the end, the mage decided to just keep his thoughts to himself as the quartet left the building. He’d speak up after a few more locations went by. Donald was pretty dejected at the back of the group, sighing quietly with slumped shoulders.

Unbeknownst to the group, they were being watched. Across the street stood a woman who had on an unusual mask. It was attached to a sort of sack that went over her entire head, with the mask depicting a smiling face. This woman laughed to herself, observing the quartet gleefully.

“Oh, this won’t do at all…” She murmured to herself. “Misery spreads to the hearts of others so easily, that small one in the back is dooming his group!” Shaking her head, the woman let out a chuckle. “Master Dimple taught us that, and so he will teach these four how to have hearts of laughter…”

As she mumbled this under her breath, she crossed the street and began to slowly follow after the group…

Chapter Text

Sora couldn’t help but look around at Seasoning City as Mob lead them from location to location. The buildings were all so massive compared to the ones back on Destiny Islands. Some of them were easily a dozen stories tall, while none of the homes Sora knew went past two. Other technological differences caught his eye as well. As the four passed by a store, he saw a number of television displays in the window. But these ones here weren’t all boxy like the ones back home. No, they were oddly flat and wide, all of them displaying very clear and crisp pictures with complete color! Did everyone have televisions like this in this world?

That really was all it took to impress Sora, seeing this technology that, to him, seemed to come from the distant future. Phones that people could carry around, flat and non-bulky televisions, and very sleek and shiny cars! Then, of course, there was Mob and the things he could do. All Sora had seen so far was his ability to take out Heartless without putting forth any real effort, but he was sure there was more that the black haired teen could do!

As Sora gazed at the technology around him, Goofy turned to Mob, head tilted a bit in curiosity. “Say, Mob, how’d ya meet a guy like Reigen anyway? You’re kind of young for a job, ain’t ya?”

“Oh, that’s simple.” Mob mused, looking straight ahead even as he talked back to Goofy. “I actually came to him, seeing the sign for his business. I wanted to know about my powers more, and he taught me that just because I’m an esper, doesn’t mean I’m super special or anything.” Even though his tone was still mostly flat, there was still a clear adoration in the teen’s voice for his Master. “And I’ve worked for him since. He seemed pretty eager when he saw me use my powers for the first time.”

Donald scoffed with a roll of the eyes. “Sounds like he needed a real esper to help him out. Guy sounds like a phony!” The mage didn’t buy Reigen’s act for a second. Apparently someone strong enough to train someone like Mob couldn’t handle a single Heartless by himself! Sure was convenient!

Despite Donald’s harsh words, Mob didn’t seem too bothered. “I’ve heard a lot of people say Master is a phony or a scam artist, but I know he’s the real deal. He’s taught me a lot, and I’ve only been with him a few years.”

That…didn’t convince Donald at all. It felt like Mob was being taken advantage of to the grumpy duck. Even worse was that Mob seemed to almost enjoy being taken advantage of by a phony esper! Whatever floated his boat…

“Excuse me! You four there!” A woman’s voice called from behind the quartet. A bit surprised, the small group turned to see an unusually dressed woman before them. It was the same woman who had spotted them from afar, the one in the odd hood and mask with the smiley face painted on it. “You four…you have sadness in your hearts, don’t you?”

Well, she was right about that. At least that’s what Sora thought. Still, the stranger was pretty unsettling, with the way her face was hidden and the abrupt way she asked such a question. “Who…are you?” The brunette asked, glancing to Mob to try and gauge if this was somehow a normal occurrence here. Yet, the other teen’s expression, or his lack of one, offered no help.

“Who I am doesn’t matter.” She responded, clasping her hands together joyfully. “I noticed your sad little group from afar. The small one here has sadness in his heart, and it’s going to spread to the rest of you if it hasn’t already!” The woman went on, gesturing to Donald.

The mage flinched at that, glaring up at the woman. “What are you talking about? I’m not sad! But you’re annoying us, so go away! We’re busy!” This absolutely reeked of something shady! Donald wasn’t sure what it was all about, but he had a pretty bad feeling about it…

Donald’s words didn’t seem to faze the stranger. If anything, it amused her as she gave off a light laughter in response. “You don’t have to be ashamed! We all have moments of weakness!” The woman insisted with a small shake of the head. “Come with us, and our Master can help you!”

Goofy was as skeptical as Donald but didn’t plan to be as rude. “Who’s ‘us’ though? Something about this doesn’t seem quite right…” The masked woman came across as really suspicious to him. Something about her attitude rubbed him the wrong way..

“Why, the group I’m a part of, of course. We’re called LOL, maybe you’ve heard of us.” The woman responded, and when met with silence from the group, she went on. “Well, I can tell you need us…you aren’t laughing or smiling! Your hearts need help! But why is it you’re so distraught…? Is it the economy? I know it’s troubling for so many…”

Mob shook his head. “No, that’s not what’s troubling us. I don’t think we really need your help, miss. Sorry.” The teen somewhat meekly apologized.

“Nonsense! There has to be a reason! Studies…health…no, no…” She murmured, mainly to herself as the group offered no helpful reaction. “Ah! That’s it! It must be a matter of love! At least for one of you! That’s what’s dragging the rest down! Misery of the heart spreads, you know!”

Sora flinched a bit at that. Wait, did this woman have some sort of ability to read hearts? He wasn’t sure if it was outright love, but when he was with Kairi…well…

The brunette’s thoughts were interrupted as Mob gave out a little noise of surprise. “Wait, how did you know?” He asked, entirely sincere and looking ready to hang onto the stranger’s every word from this point.

“Oh, you can’t be serious…” Donald muttered to himself, crossing his arms as he tapped his foot impatiently. They had no time for this! It seemed like the woman was insistent on sticking around though, even if the mage insulted her…

“It was a lucky guess.” The masked stranger insisted. “Please, come and see Master Dimple. If anyone can help your weary hearts, it’s him! He’s helped so many of us in the month that he’s begun his group, you know…”

Mob hesitated, but then shook his head. “I don’t know. We’re sort of in the middle of something. We can’t just drop everything and-”

“You’ll become popular.” The woman interrupted, speaking pretty bluntly while still having that friendly tone in her voice.

“Okay, we’ll go.” Mob instantly responded, for the first time sounding determined and even a bit forceful. For a moment, at least. He then looked to his three new companions. “That’s…okay, right?”

Before Donald could respond with something rude, Sora spoke up. “I think we should check it out. Maybe this Master Dimple guy can really help with hearts. He might even know about the Heartless here if that’s the case…”

Goofy wasn’t sure how sound that logic was, but it was good enough for him! “Gawrsh, that makes sense! I think.” He added on, scratching the side of his head. “Better than goin’ to a bunch of haunted places, right?”

Donald couldn’t argue there. Not that it changed the fact he was pretty suspicious of this masked woman. She was up to something nefarious, at least that’s what the mage assumed. “Alright, fine. If we don’t get any help, we gotta move on, though!” He insisted, still feeling that the King wasn’t in this world. If he had been, the Heartless problem would’ve surely been taken care of by now…

“I guess we’re all gonna go, then.” Sora said, clasping his hands behind the back of his head. He was a bit unnerved by the stranger, yeah, but not as suspicious of her as Donald was. Honestly, if he could just see her face, he wouldn’t mind her nearly as much. “That’s okay, right?” On a different note, he didn’t like the idea of leaving the world so soon. What about Riku and Kairi? He barely got a chance to look for them!

At this, the woman let out a light laugh, clasping her hands together in clear excitement. “Of course! The more the merrier! Please, come with me to our headquarters! It’s quite close, in fact!” Without waiting for a response, maybe not wanting the quartet to possibly change their minds about the situation, she turned right around and started to walk forward.

As the four followed, a bit behind, Sora turned to Mob. “So…you want to be popular, huh?” For some reason, he didn’t expect that from his new friend. Not that he exactly knew Mob all too well. The esper seemed to just have an air of apathy all around him, so it was surprising to Sora that he’d care about something like popularity.

“Doesn’t everyone?” Mob asked back in a sincere tone. “Everyone likes to have more friends and people to hang out with, don’t they?” Again, his tone was very genuine.

“Friends are nice, yeah, but ya don’t gotta be popular to have good friends!” Goofy remarked, nodding at his own words. “Gotta just have some good friends that are real close to your heart, that’s all! Dontcha got people like that?”

The esper paused before giving a small nod. “Well, there’s Master, and my family of course. I joined the Body Improvement Club recently, but I’m not sure if I’m really friends with any of them yet.”

Body Improvement Club? What was the point of that when he had such strong powers? “Why do you want to be in a club like that?” Donald asked. “Can’t you just use your powers if someone threatens you?”

“No, I can’t. I promised Master I’d never, ever use my powers on a human being.” Mob responded, shaking his head a bit. “Besides, it’s not about fighting. It’s…” He trailed off before looking a bit flustered. “…It’s nothing. It’s just something personal.”

Nothing wrong with that, Donald supposed. The mage shrugged it off and focused on keeping more of an eye on their new, unusual acquaintance that was leading them on. This LOL thing sounded like a cult or a scam or something. To his surprise, though, the masked woman led them into a perfectly ordinary looking office building. He expected them to go somewhere a lot shadier!

Without exchanging words, the quintet entered a nearby elevator, the woman pressing the button to the basement floor. “Master Dimple will be so happy to meet the four of you.” The masked stranger insisted. “The other members will be very glad as well! I just know it!”

“How many others are there anyway?” Goofy asked, confused because the woman was being pretty vague on the numbers. Considering they were in such a large building, that meant there had to be a lot, right?

The woman hummed in thought, shaking her head a bit. “I admit, I’ve lost count. A few hundred, I think. I really should keep track of this better…”

A few hundred members?! Whoever this Dimple guy was, he really knew how to draw people in. Sora had assumed it was maybe a few dozen at most. “Okay…so, what do you guys do? Just be happy?” The brunette asked, still a bit confused on what LOL was really all about.

“It’s not quite so simple. We revel in the joy within our hearts.” The woman explained, still being pretty vague. “Master Dimple can explain it far better. Speaking of which…” She trailed off, looking to the elevator doors as a ding rang out, the quintet reaching the basement.

When the doors opened, the four guests looked on in awe at the sight before them. The basement area was made almost entirely of a single, massive room filled with what had to be a few hundred people. Like the woman that brought the four of them in, all these people wore hoods with the smiling masks on. Though their faces were covered, it was easy to tell that a wide variety of people were in the room and a part of LOL. Men, women, young, old, thin, fat, muscular…it was a real sight to behold! At the back of the room was a large stage, a red curtain at its back, and a smiling face with red dimple marks hung up from above. The woman stood by the elevator, watching as the four wandered into the crowd.

“Gawrsh, this sure is somethin’, huh?” Goofy remarked, though he felt a bit nervous. “Everyone wearin’ those masks kinda makes me uneasy…”

“I know what you mean, it’s kind of creepy…” Sora murmured, not wanting to say it too loud on the chance he’d upset someone.

Mob didn’t seem to mind, even having a small smile on his face. “Maybe everyone here wants to be popular too. Do you guys think so?” He asked the outsiders, turning to them.

“I doubt it. Let’s just meet this Dimple guy and leave!” Donald said, not keeping his voice down at all, not caring if he was overheard.

As they went forward, a tall and heavyset man stood in their way, looking down at them with that unnerving smiling visage of his mask. “Hey, you guys are new, aren’t you? You should get up on the stage!” He informed them cheerfully.

“That’s right! Come along! Onto the stage!” A nearby woman declared, starting to push Sora forward while three other LOL members prodded at Donald, Goofy, and Mob. “Master Dimple will want to meet you!”

“Why do we need to get on stage for that?” Mob asked, but his question fell on deaf ears, as no one from LOL acknowledged he said anything. Before long, the four had been shoved onto the stage, where two more people soon joined them. One was an older man who looked like he slept in his suit, the clothes dirty and crumpled. The other was a girl about Mob’s age, dressed in her school uniform and had short, beige hair.

This girl turned to the group, more specifically the esper. “Mob? Is that you?” She called to the teen, who turned to her. “Hey, you remember me, right? I’m Mezato…you know, from homeroom?” The young girl seemed a bit nervous, no doubt due to being forced on stage in front of hundreds of masked strangers. “Did they lure you in here?”

Mob paused for a moment, as if trying to remember who Mezato even was. Apparently they weren’t friends or anything. “Um, actually, we just…”

“He’s here! Master Dimple’s coming out!” A male LOL member called from the crowd, cutting Mob off. The masked ocean of people cheered as, from offstage, yet another person in a mask stepped forward.

That being said, this new figure, Master Dimple, had a mask with red marks on its cheeks. He also wore an extravagant sort of robe. As he neared the center of the stage, he suddenly stopped and turned to the audience before. “Let me ask you something…” He said, his voice barely a whisper, yet the crowd hushed to hear him speak. “…ARE YOU LAUGHING?!” The man screamed out in pure joy, the smile on his face evident just from his voice.

At this, the crowd cheered, chanting out Master Dimple’s name as he and the audience sporadically laughed as well. The six outsiders on the stage looked at each other in bewilderment and even a bit of concern. “I’m getting a bad feeling about this…” Sora murmured, but his words were drowned out by the crowd.

Master Dimple didn’t look at the newcomers, still addressing his own followers. “How about we take these masks off?! I want to see your smiles!” He declared, he and the rest of the LOL members removing their hoods and masks. The crowd was made up of perfectly normal, average people, all wearing wide grins on their faces. Master Dimple had combed black hair, and red marks on his cheeks as he wore a large grin as well. “Ah, that’s so much better! Such lovely smiles and happy hearts!” The grinning man belted with joy and enthusiasm. “It’s truly a beautiful sight!” Master Dimple went on, clapping happily as the crowd continued to laugh, almost uncontrollably.

The disheveled looking man on the stage scoffed, looking down at the audience. “Creepy bunch, aren’t they…” He muttered to himself, glancing towards the elevator exit.

“I don’t get what’s so funny, do you guys?” Goofy asked, looking between Sora, Donald, and Mob. “They sure seem happy, at least!” What was wrong with some smiles and laughter, at the end of the day?

“And…stop!” Master Dimple commanded, causing the audience to eerily stop cheering in a single instant, every single member of the crowd! Then, as if spurned by the older man’s comment, the leader of LOL turned to the group on the stage. “And look at this, we have a whopping six new smiles to add to our happy family! Isn’t that just wonderful everyone?!” He asked the audience, which started to once more cheer and holler in response as they laughed. “It’s rare we get so many Smilemates in a single swoop!”

“Smilemates? Hey, we didn’t agree to join anything!” Donald argued, glaring up at Master Dimple. This whole situation was just weird! He didn’t know what was going on, but he just felt…uneasy. What frustrated the mage more was his lack of being able to explain, even to himself, what was so wrong with this situation. He supposed it all seemed too perfect and too happy…

Mezato turned to Master Dimple as well, giving him a harsh look. “Yeah, what’s going on here? What do you mean about this Smilemate stuff? Is that what you call the members of your religious order?”

Despite the accusations, the group leader didn’t seem to falter at all, his smile still nice and bright. “You see, if you wish to have happiness, you must let the walls around your heart vanish! Your hearts are locked up, you see, but I can help undo these locks and set the joy and light within free! This is the path to true happiness! It’s plain as day why you’re all unhappy! It’s because you aren’t laughing at all!” Master Dimple announced, speaking as though he was revealing some grand truth that would change the lives of the six before him.

Laughing was all it took to be happy? Sora knew that wasn’t true from personal experience. “It’s not that easy. You can’t just get the happiness from your heart from laughing a lot!” The brunette argued, shaking his head. “Hearts are a lot more complicated than that!” Granted, he was no expert on the subject of hearts, but it seemed fairly obvious to him. If joy came just from laughing, there’d be no sad people anywhere!

“That’s where you’re wrong! You must laugh! Laugh! Even in pain, let the laughter out, and in doing so, the darkness in your heart will vanish as happiness and light replaces it!” Master Dimple boasted, once more not seeming bothered from the resistance he was getting. In response, the large audience clapped and cheered for their leader, having hung onto his every word. “You can’t have a happy heart without a hearty laugh! That is what I teach! That is what your brethren before you have accepted! They’ve done so, so you should do the same!” The joyous man all but ordered, pointing dramatically at the six.

Despite the very heartfelt and bold declarations of Master Dimple, the sextet wasn’t impressed. In fact, the disheveled man let out a scoff. “Get real…you think people can be happy just by laughing? This whole thing is a joke!”

For the first time, Master Dimple seemed a bit annoyed, turning to the audience. “Who is this man?” He asked, his voice lacking a lot of the cheer it normally had. “Where did you find him?”

A heavyset woman raised her hand, a bright smile on her face like everyone else. “We found him sleeping on a park bench! He’s homeless, you see…”

Master Dimple let out a dramatic sigh, as if the whole situation was part of a play or other act. “How tragic!” He declared, his tone just as over the top as his sigh. “A victim of recession! You poor soul!” The religious leader said, directly addressing the homeless man. “It’s no wonder you lost your smile! Worry not, we will draw out the laughter from your heart! Bring out the Smile Masks!” Master Dimple ordered, addressing someone backstage.

A smiling young man brought out three hoods with happy faces on them, just like the other members of LOL wore. “Sorry, Master Dimple, but we only have three!” The young man said as several more members of the group hopped onto the stage.

“It’s no matter. We’ll just have to let three of these miserable folks wait a bit longer!” Master Dimple said, pointing out Mob, Mezato, and the homeless man. “These three first! The poor man from the park bench could use it the most!”

Sora frowned at the masks, and he saw that the rest of the sextet, save for Mob, seemed uneasy. The esper hadn’t reacted or said anything at all since going on the stage. He was content at best or stuck with fear at worst. “What are those things anyway?” The brunette asked, really starting to regret coming to this place. It all seemed too good to be true with Master Dimple’s claims that being happy just meant laughing a lot and how he could unlock their hearts.

“Fear not, young man!” The religious leader said, shaking his head a bit as he beamed at Sora. “I simply wish to help you poor souls! And that is exactly what I will do!” He then paused, looking to Mezato, who was glaring at him openly. “But you look like you have something to say, young lady…Speak up!”

It seemed that the young girl was going to keep quiet, but after a moment of hesitation, she opened her mouth. “This religious order…LOL…it’s only a month old, right?”

“Yes, that’s right!” Master Dimple boasted, his grin widening. “And just look at all the Smilemates we’ve accumulated in such a time! Isn’t it just wonderful?”

“No, it’s not! I’m a reporter for my school, and I came here to investigate the weird rumors surrounding this cult!” Mezato shot back, taking out a camera from her pocket. “I’ve heard you’re using hypnosis to force people to join! How else could you get so many members in just a month?”

Donald glared over at Master Dimple as well, crossing his arms. “Yeah! That makes sense! This is a bunch of phooey! There’s some trick to it! I know it!”

Sora wasn’t sure what to do about this! Should he stop those Smile Masks from being put on anyone? Mezato could easily be wrong, but things were pretty fishy around here! “I think we should just go. This doesn’t feel right…” The brunette added on, wondering if he should summon his Keyblade.

Master Dimple shook his head, quickly speaking up. “Those rumors are baseless! These are masks designed to help, not forcibly coerce! For when these masks are donned…” He paused as two members of LOL fit the Smile Masks onto Mob and the homeless man before anyone could stop them. “…they will help unlock one’s heart and fill them with light and happiness! Just look!” With a dramatic flourish, he gestured to the homeless man, whose mask was removed.

The change was dramatic, to be sure. Once the mask was removed, the once grouchy man wore a massive smile on his face, and he practically looked ten years younger! “Sparkle!” The homeless man yelled out, copying Master Dimple’s catchphrase before breaking out into laughter. An unusual change…but he didn’t seem harmed in any way, that was for sure!

“See?! Isn’t that just a wonderful smile?!” Master Dimple rhetorically asked, giving two thumbs up towards the homeless man, who kept laughing at seemingly nothing. “All smiles are wonderful of course, but one plastered on the face of a man that had been so miserable is something else!” He looked to Mezato as the once miserable man kept laughing as members of LOL congratulated him on his transformation. “Well, what do you think now, girl? Still suspicious?”

Mezato stared at the homeless man, then looked to Master Dimple. She hesitated before answering, seeming to want to pick her words carefully. “Y…You’re right. I jumped the gun a bit. Nothing here seems illegal, so…I’ll just leave.” She seemed nervous, not truly believing what she was saying.

“I’m afraid not!” Master Dimple declared, still retaining his smile, but his tone becoming far more serious, even sinister. “You enter our abode and throw all sorts of accusations around and then think you can just leave? I’m afraid that’s not going to happen so easily!”

That was the last straw! Sora rushed in front of Mezato, glaring up at the leader of LOL as he summoned his Keyblade, prompting numerous cult members to back away in fear. “She can leave if she wants to! You can’t keep her here!” He didn’t know what was going on here, and he had stopped caring. Whatever was happening, it was going too far at keeping an innocent girl there against her will.

Master Dimple seemed very shocked at Sora’s actions, staring at the Keyblade with an expression that was almost awe. “He has one…?” The cult leader murmured to himself. Clearing his throat, he quickly regained his composure. “I’m afraid not. In fact, none of you will be leaving!”

Goofy and Donald ran to Sora’s side, summoning their own weapons as well. Neither of them wanted to fight ordinary people, but if the LOL members were going to keep innocent people captive, they couldn’t just stand there and watch! “Not a chance!” Donald squawked, pointing his wand at Master Dimple.

Grunting in annoyance, the cult leader made a hand motion that confused the trio at first, but then they heard Mezato giving muffled grunts behind them. Turning, they saw that an LOL member had forced the Smile Mask onto the young girl. Brandishing his Keyblade, Sora got the cultist to back away before ripping the hood off of the girl’s head. “Hey, are you okay?!” The brunette asked as he got a look at Mezato.

“Sparkle!” The schoolgirl spouted out, a bright smile on her face as the mask was removed. “I feel great, why wouldn’t I?!” She asked, letting out a bout of joyous laughter.

“What an amazing smile!” One of the cultists shouted out, letting out laughter of her own.

“It’s so dazzling! I’m jealous!” Another member exclaimed, yet his voice was still mirthful and happy.

Sora was baffled at the sudden transformation. Mezato was just desperate to leave, and now suddenly she was smiling and laughing? There had to be some trick to this! This wasn’t normal, it couldn’t be! The Keyblade wielder then turned to Mob, who was suddenly raising his hand after being so passive and silent since being brought onto the stage. “Mob, are you okay?” Sora asked, approaching the esper.

“Me? I’m fine.” Mob replied, his voice muffled through the Smile Mask, but it was clear he was still speaking in his usual monotone voice. He then brought his attention to Master Dimple. “Hey, so this is all about smiling and laughing, right? It’s not about being popular? Can I go home then?” With that, the black-haired teen removed his hood to reveal his typical expressionless face!

With this revelation, Master Dimple recoiled in shock as he saw Mob’s lack of a smile. “This can’t be…! How are you not smiling?!” The cult leader demanded, pointing an accusing finger at Mob as his own smile went away. Several members of LOL murmured in confusion, staring on at the oddity of the esper.

“Well, I don’t really have a reason to, I guess.” Mob replied, not seeming aware of the hostility Master Dimple was feeling towards him. “But I can go, right? This all seems kind of weird, and it doesn’t interest me.”

Sora had to wonder just how closely Mob was paying attention to everything that had happened. Didn’t he see the odd way the homeless man and Mezato had acted? Speaking of which, the two newest Smilemates just watched on, laughing to themselves and grinning ear-to-ear like nothing was wrong. “Of course you can go. We all can!” Sora shouted out, turning back to Master Dimple. “I don’t care what you have to say about it!” He declared towards the cult leader.

“No! I already told you that you can’t leave! You’re staying right here until you smile!” Master Dimple screamed back, looking about as more members of LOL looked more confused than happy. With an annoyed snarl, he waved his hand and all the cult members suddenly roared out with a new wave of joy and laughter. “I don’t care how much I have to force it, you four will smile and join our group!”

“Why do ya want us to smile so badly? It’s not somethin’ ya can just force!” Goofy argued back, scratching the side of his head. “Sometimes ya gotta let the smile come off, or even frown or cry if ya gotta!”

“And what kind of world is that?! Why do you need to feel any other emotion in your heart but happiness?!” Master Dimple demanded, glaring daggers at Goofy and no longer bothering to put a smile on his own face anymore.

Sora shook his head, rejecting the message of the enraged cult leader. “If you’re just happy all the time, you can’t appreciate the good things! When you get sad or angry, it makes all the happy times much more special!” Of course, he had a strong feeling this was about more than just Master Dimple wanting people to smile.

“Something isn’t right here…” Mob murmured, looking around at the members of LOL as they seemed to be almost in pain due to how wide they were smiling and how hard they were laughing. He raised a hand, and a pulse of invisible energy scattered throughout the room.

Instantly, all the members of LOL stopped laughing, their smiles fading as looks of confusion and fear started to form instead. They looked around the large, crowded room, murmuring to themselves and wondering what was going on.

“What was I doing just now…? Laughing?” Mezato murmured, looking to Mob and then Master Dimple. “It’s hazy…”

At this point, all signs of joy and serenity were gone from the cult leader. Instead, he was openly glaring at Mob with a scowl on his face. “What did he just do…? What’s with this boy?!” He grumbled to himself. With a shout, he raised his hands and a pulse of energy spread throughout the room, similar to what Mob had just done. Of course, it had the opposite effect, as every member of LOL started to smile and laugh hysterically once more. As before, even Mezato and the homeless man were affected!

Sora, Donald, and Goofy felt the wave of energy wash over them as well. Their hearts bloomed with what was unmistakably joy and mirth…but it just didn’t feel right. Sure, happiness was obviously a pleasant feeling, but it wasn’t sincere in this case, it wasn’t real! It was something forced upon the three of them, and even though their hearts felt happy, there was a discomfort that couldn’t be ignored. Despite their wishes and desires, their heads started to feel fuzzy as smiles tugged at their lips, no member of the trio able to resist as the happiness within them grew stronger…

“Not them. I won’t allow it.” Mob declared, quiet yet uncharacteristically forceful. Once more, he raised a hand, and a pulse of energy came forth. This time, it only had an effect on Sora, Donald, and Goofy, who instantly felt the oppressive happiness leave their hearts. They were left almost feeling tired as the heavy swing of emotions they had in just a few moments passed over them.

“What was that? A spell? Those weird hoods must be magical too!” Donald exclaimed, shaking off what had just happened to him with a frown.

Once more, Mob’s actions visibly enraged Master Dimple. If looks could kill, the glare he gave the esper would’ve killed him a dozen times over before he hit the floor. “You meddlesome brat! You’re really trying my patience here! Why don’t you just get a clue?!” For the first time, Mob seemed visibly shocked, eyes widening at Master Dimple’s last few words. Whatever this meant for the esper, it made him go quiet, as if he was deep in thought. The cult leader then turned to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “As for you three, you’re lucky you mean more to me alive. Well, at least the one with the Keyblade!”

It was Sora’s turn to be shocked, glancing between Master Dimple and the weapon he held at the ready. “How do you know about the Keyblade?” Weren’t those in other worlds not supposed to know things like this?

Reeling away from his fury, Master Dimple scoffed, amused at Sora’s reaction. “What, you thought you were the only ones that knew about Keyblades or the Heartless? Those creatures of darkness are very handy, you know. The perfect puppets!”

“Wait, so you’re the one settin’ the Heartless out on the city then?” Goofy asked, putting things together. “Why would ya do that?!”

“Isn’t it simple?!” The LOL leader declared, going on before he could get a response. “The Heartless spread misery and woe. Those who become saddened by all the darkness and chaos can find their way here to a happy family!” Even as Master Dimple spoke, confessing to his horrid sins, his cultists never stopped laughing, apparently unable to do so. In fact, it was hard to even tell if the LOL members were even aware of what their leader was saying.

“All of this just so you can spread happiness?! I don’t get it!” Sora exclaimed, confused. He was wielding darkness to unleash Heartless…but then made people laugh? Master Dimple forced it, yes, but it was still such a relatively harmless end goal. “What do you get out of this?!”

At this, Master Dimple let out a mocking, scornful laughter. “You really don’t know? You wield the Keyblade and don’t know about the Keyhole that’s here?” He smirked as Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked shocked at his response. “I’ll take that as a no. With all the strength I gain from my followers, I can expose the Keyhole even without a Keyblade! But if I can just subdue and control you, things will be much easier!”

“Keyhole? What are you talking about? What’s that mean?!” Sora demanded, looking to Donald and Goofy for an explanation, but they both shook their heads in similar confusion.

“You’re really bad at all of this Keyblade business, aren’t you? One really learns a lot after becoming a spirit. So many secrets!” Master Dimple declared, letting out an uproarious laughter, one that was mimicked by his followers.

A spirit? That’s what he was? That explained a lot of things going on around here! His odd knowledge, how he could control so many people…! Sora still had no idea what he meant by a Keyhole, but it seemed pretty important! Before the Keyblade wielder could speak up, Mob’s voice interrupted him from behind.

“You’re a spirit? That’s good.” The esper said, his tone far different than what it usually was. Unlike most cases, he was emoting, and in a strong manner. Anger bled into his tone, and when the trio turned to look, they saw that he was openly glaring at Master Dimple. “I’m glad that someone who said something as awful as ‘Get a clue’ turned out to be a spirit.” As he spoke, an invisible energy hummed around him, to the point where his hair started to lift up and wave about as though he were underwater.

Sora had no idea why such a phrase would upset Mob so much, but it was pretty blatant that the normally awkward teen was furious with the cult leader. “Mob? What’s going on? Are you feeling alright?” Even as he spoke, he backed away from the esper.

“Ya really seem different…” Goofy added on, he and Donald following Sora’s example and giving Mob a bit of space. “Did he really upset ya that badly?”

It was clear Master Dimple felt the energy radiating from Mob as well, as he backed away while his smile faltered. “You’re no ordinary brat, are you?” The spirit murmured. “Very well, I’ll just let my Heartless do the fighting!”

At those words, a group of massive Shadow Heartless, Gigas Shadows, spawned from thin air. The members of LOL started to panic, running to the sides of the large room. The sight of the monstrous creatures overrode Master Dimple’s control over them, sending them into a fearful frenzy.

Luckily, the Heartless ignored the innocent bystanders, charging right for the quartet, who stood their ground to fight. Or, rather, the trio from the outside worlds would fight, except that Mob simply raised a hand and the onslaught of Heartless was evaporated in the blink of an eye. The esper didn’t even flinch as this happened, glaring at Master Dimple with a look of 100% Rage. “Those things aren’t a challenge for me. Summoning them won’t help you.” Mob declared, lowering his hand as he spoke.

The cult leader backed away a bit, grimacing at what just happened. “Brat’s stronger than I thought! Just what kind of kid is he?!” He thought aloud, snarling at the group that was spoiling his plans. Composing himself, the false prophet smirked deviously. “Fine then, I guess I’ll have to get serious!”

Before the quartet could act, Master Dimple threw out his arms, a visible darkness emanating from his form. The man’s mouth opened impossibly wide, and a dark cloud spewed forth and into the air. When the last wisps emerged, the human fell to the floor unconscious.

The dark cloud summoned gusts of wind that blew across the entire room, the members of LOL pressed against the walls, gawking in horror as the four fighters faced the gale that filled the room. “Mob, have ya ever faced something like this?!” Goofy asked, looking back at the esper.

“This is nothing.” The teen replied with full confidence, giving the pulsing cloud a glare as it started to spin about in a tornado of darkness. “He pushed me too far, so I’m not letting him leave here.”

At Mob’s words, a cackle emerged from the tornado as it dissipated, showing Dimple’s true form. The trio from beyond the world took a step back as the titanic figure emerged. Humanoid in nature, Dimple was a muscular, towering entity that even dwarfed the Guard Armor in Traverse Town! He smirked down at the quartet with confidence, keeping the two red circles on his cheeks that his human disguise had.

Before Mob could do anything, waves of more Gigas Shadows appeared, all of them charging and leaping right at the esper. As before, he was able to destroy them with ease, not even having to move as his excess power did all the work for him. However, the Heartless just kept coming in seemingly endless numbers, keeping Mob rooted to the spot as Dimple looked towards the other three fighters.

“I only need one of you, the brat with the Keyblade. You might as well just agree to help me out. If you do, I might just spare your friends!” Dimple bargained, an air of confidence in his voice as if he had already won.

“How do you even know about the Keyblade? And what’s this Keyhole thing anyway?!” Sora demanded, brandishing the mysterious weapon. If he was going to fight Dimple, he might as well try to get some answers first.

At that, Dimple chuckled, continuing to flood Mob with Gigas Shadows to keep the esper occupied. “Let’s just say when you’re a spirit for a long enough time, you pick up on a lot of things. I happened to look in the right places and found that this exact spot is where the Keyhole is, a source of power that could make me the undisputed god of this world!” The spirit sighed, shaking his head. “But things would be easier if I had a Keyblade, only they can so easily reveal Keyholes. That’s why I started LOL, so I could attain enough power to reveal the Keyhole all on my own! Now that you’re here…I can just use you as a puppet!”

While that didn’t answer all of Sora’s questions, he didn’t have time to press for more information. Just as Dimple let out his threat, energy started to build up around the massive spirit. Above the trio, bolts of Thunder shot down, prompting them to run towards Dimple on the offense. Some of these bolts of magic even went for Mob, but they dissipated before they could even come close to him. The other three were less lucky, having to weave around the magical attacks that kept shooting down towards them.

At the very least, they managed to get close enough to Dimple to attack while unscathed. Goofy threw his shield like a frisbee, aiming for the spirit’s head. The opponent simply swatted it back at the knight, the weapon slamming into his chest and knocking him off of his feet. Donald let out bolts of Thunder of his own, while Sora pointed the Keyblade at Dimple and fired off a small barrage of Fire spells. Both attacks hit, the Thunder striking down on Dimple’s head while the spirit raised an arm to block the onslaught of fireballs. Neither attack seemed to really phase him at all, prompting another chuckle from the devious cult leader.

Singling Donald out, Dimple slammed a fist towards the mage, who barely got out of the way in time as he leapt to the side. Sora dashed towards the massive limb, swinging his Keyblade like a club and slashing through the green flesh. Being a spirit, Dimple didn’t bleed even as a nasty gash appeared where Sora attacked. It simply remained an open wound that didn’t seem to affect the spirit much at all. “Did that even hurt him…?” Sora murmured tot himself as he backpedaled away from Dimple.

“That weapon’s more impressive than I thought. A normal sword wouldn’t be able to harm me, no matter who was wielding it! Makes me excited to unlock its full potential!” As Dimple boasted, Goofy’s shield flew towards the side of the spirit’s head, slamming into it! Apparently, it was made of something that could affect even something like Dimple, as the massive spirit flinched, grunting in pain and annoyance.

Letting out a yell of annoyance, Dimple threw his arms open, bolts of Thunder shooting off everywhere as Goofy’s shield returned to the knight. Unfortunately, he was struck by one of Dimple’s spells, with Donald running over to his friend’s aid as Sora ran and rolled about, trying to dodge the magic as best as he could. With Donald and Goofy near each other, Dimple raised his arm, ready to slam his fist down on them!

“I’m not going to let you.” Mob said, his voice filled with a tranquil range, but his words somehow echoing across the room. Raising a hand, he pointed at Dimple’s arm, which instantly disintegrated, leaving a non-bleeding stump at his shoulder.

“What?!” The spirit exclaimed, looking over to Mob, who was slowly walking towards him. The Gigas Shadows had stopped appearing, the esper’s path now fully open. “Where are the Heartless?! Did you seriously destroy them all?!” Fearing Mob more than he put on, Dimple looked to the LOL cult members, still pressing against the wall, and trying to stay out of this. “You! My loyal followers! Get over here and help me!” Not giving the scared humans a chance to refuse, the malicious spirit gripped onto their hearts, controlling their bodies. Instantly, the humans charged at Mob, leaping onto him in a huge pile and burying the teen in their numbers.

“Mob!” Sora yelled out, going towards the pile of controlled humans to try and help his new friend. Before he could get close, Dimple darted between the brunette and his goal. “You’re rotten! Stop controlling their hearts!” He demanded, lunging at the spirit, aiming to slice right down his torso! Dimple was too fast, however, swatting Sora so he careened right into Donald and Goofy, sending the three to the floor.

“So, what if I take control of their hearts?! They’re just humans, so I can do as I please! Maybe if their hearts weren’t so weak, I wouldn’t be able to manipulate them so easily!” Dimple spat back. “Your hearts aren’t so easy to manipulate, so I’ll have to wear you down a bit!” The spirit’s gaze honed in on Sora. “In fact, your heart is so unusual…” He murmured to himself, too quiet to be heard by anyone else.

As Dimple pondered, the human pile behind him lifted into the air, surrounded by the glow of Mob’s power. The esper stood unharmed, waving a hand, and causing the LOL members to harmlessly lose consciousness before he shifted them to the edges of the room. “Stop hiding from me!” The black-haired teen demanded. “Are you really that scared of me?”

Scowling, Dimple turned to face Mob. “Fine! Is that how you want it?! I’ll just erase you, then! I’m sick of you pretending to be angry like you’re actually human!” Reeling his remaining arm back, the spirit gathered energy in his palm and thrust the limb forward. An almost blinding beam of energy shot off towards Mob…yet as the attack careened towards him, it stopped before actually making contact. The beam dissipated, hitting some sort of invisible shield around the esper.

In an instant, Mob closed the gap between him and Dimple as the spirit’s attack failed. The teen stood in midair, so he was parallel to his opponent’s face. “Go away.” The esper said simply, tapping Dimple’s forehead with two fingers. The spirit grunted before he burst like an overfilled balloon. Of course, nothing spilled out of him, and all of his pieces quickly evaporated. As quickly as he had formed, the leader of LOL was destroyed, Mob floating to the floor as Sora, Donald, and Goofy got to their feet.

“Gawrsh, that sure was somethin’!” The knight exclaimed, shaking off his injuries. “Ya really got a lot of energy in ya, huh?”

Donald let out an impressed noise, dismissing his wand. Whether it was psychic powers or whatever, Mob’s abilities were enough to impress the duck. “Where did you learn to do all that?”

As the trio got close, Mob took some deep breaths, his rage-filled glare fading as the energy around him started to vanish. His hair returned to normal, and his expression shifted so it was closer to what it usually was. That, except, he seemed almost a bit uneasy. Despite all that he had done, he didn’t even seem tired, however. “Oh? Uh, that? It’s just how I was born, really. Master’s helped me hone my powers, but that’s about it.”

“Wish I could do stuff like that! It was awesome!” Sora praised, relieved that everything had settled down and everyone was okay. He felt bad for the members of the LOL cult, who had clearly been manipulated by a spirit. The fact that such things existed was something else entirely, but the brunette supposed he’d have to get used to seeing unusual things.

“You really think so? Even though I got so angry?” Mob asked, genuinely surprised. Apparently it didn’t cross his mind that being able to float and destroy powerful foes with a touch might impress someone.

Sora had noticed the odd shift in Mob’s demeanor, especially when Dimple had told him to ‘get a clue’ like that. For whatever reason, that really infuriated the esper! “Why did you hide your anger like that until it exploded? You usually seem so…reserved.” The Keyblade wielder went on, having to pause and think of the right word.

“That’s what I was trying to do.” Mob said, pausing in consideration before he went on. “I keep my emotions locked away in my heart. If I get too emotional, my powers just go haywire.” He explained. “I trust you three enough to tell you that, I think.”

“And we saw it, so no point in keeping it a secret!” Donald pointed out.

“You shouldn’t have to hide all your emotions like that. Nothing wrong with letting people know what you feel!” Sora suggested, knowing he was being a hypocrite. He hid stuff from others a lot, but maybe he could help someone else with the same problem. “Your friends will understand if you’re upset or angry at something!”

Mob sighed through his nose, shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t know…I’d have to talk to Master about this.” The esper said, not sounding too sure. “Hey, do you know what that spirit was talking about? He wanted your weapon for some Keyhole?”

Sora didn’t like how dismissive Mob was with his advice, but it wasn’t like he could force the psychic teen to do something he didn’t want to. So, he just let it go. “I really have no idea. That’s the first I ever heard of something like that, why?”

“It’s just that I feel something here. It’s not a spirit or anything.” Mob explained, looking about. “I thought it was just me being nervous about all the people, but it’s still here…”

“Well, gawrsh, can ya use your powers on it somehow?” Goofy asked as he scratched the side of his head. It seemed like Mob could do all sorts of things, so making a Keyhole appear didn’t seem out of the realm of possibility to the Royal Knight!

Pausing for a moment, Mob nodded. “I can try.” He stated simply, closing his eyes. Clearly concentrated, he made a small humming noise as he raised a hand and an invisible crackle of energy surged through the air. Without warning, a brilliant light erupted from the floor, causing the four to flinch. Taking a few steps from the glow, they watched as it grew larger, up until it was about the size of a car! As quickly as the lights stated, they vanished, and what was left behind was a car-sized Keyhole in the floor. It didn’t seem to have a purpose or lead anywhere, the quartet peeking inside to just see pitch blackness. That being said, an unusual and unexplainable energy seemed to radiate from the hole in the floor.

“Well, if that ain’t the Keyhole, I don’t know what would be!” Goofy exclaimed, looking to Sora and Donald.

“What did that spirit want with it though?” Mob inquired, also looking to the brunette and mage. “It’s just some big hole.”

Donald hummed in thought. “Well, use your Keyblade on it, Sora! Maybe if you lock it, it’ll stop someone else from using it!” How it’d be used was another story, but if someone like Dimple wanted it, it was hardly a stretch to think it could be used for something evil!

Having the same thought process as Donald, Sora summoned the Keyblade. He had no idea what the Keyhole was for or could be molded into by someone like Dimple, but he felt it best that it was locked away. The spirit was pretty convinced that the Keyblade was tied to this mysterious force, and Sora had no reason to doubt that Dimple was right. As everyone took a few steps back, Sora raised the Keyblade, so it was pointing straight up. After a moment, a ball of light forming at its tip and the Keyhole started to glow. Unlike before, the object started to fade away, and once it vanished completely, an audible locking sound, as if coming from a gigantic door, rang out. As the lights faded, Sora dismissed the Keyblade.

“I…think I did it. I locked the Keyhole, whatever it was.” He informed the others. “I dunno what Dimple wanted with it, but no one like him can use it!” At least, he hoped so. Something in his heart told him this was the case, but it was still just a feeling in the end.

“I still don’t know what’s going on, but it seems like things are settled here.” Mob said, looking to the still-unconscious LOL members. “They’ll wake up in a bit. I just put them to sleep while all that chaos was going on. For now, I want to go see my Master and talk to him about a few things.”

Donald spoke up before Sora or Goofy could. “That’s fine, we’ve gotta go too!” He declared. It seemed to him that the King wasn’t in this world. If he was, he surely would’ve been drawn to the Keyhole just like the three of them were. It was no coincidence that they landed in this specific city in the world, after all. The Keyblade and Keyhole were tied together somehow, so maybe this was part of why the King wanted Sora to be found!

“Wait, we do?” Sora asked, looking down at the mage.

“We do!” The duck insisted, giving an aggressive nod towards the brunette.

“You’ll still be around, right? Will we run into each other again?” The esper asked, a bit of hopefulness bleeding into his usual monotone voice.

Sora felt bad about that. As unusual as Mob was, he had grown to like the black haired teen and viewed him as a friend! But the chances of them meeting again seemed slim. After all, once this adventure was over, who knew if he, Riku, and Kairi would just end up on Destiny Islands again? “I’m hoping we will!” Was what the brunette decided on.

“Yeah! Ya never know!” Goofy optimistically added. “Ya take care of yerself, alright?”

Smiling lightly, Mob nodded, accepting those answers. “You three do the same. Are you going to hang around here? Those people will wake up any minute, you know…”

“We’ll stick here, we have something to talk about first!” Donald decided, knowing that staying somewhere secluded was best for that. Especially since going back to the Gummi Ship was a very flashy occurrence that’d draw a lot of attention…

“I still don’t really get what you three are all about, but good luck!” The esper declared, bowing lightly before he walked back to the elevator. He gave a small, somewhat awkward smile as its doors closed and he was whisked away.

Saying goodbye really stunk, but Sora tried to brush it off as best as he could. No need to linger on the negative stuff, right? “So, what are we talking about here, exactly? And why are we leaving? What about Riku, Kairi and your King?”

“Think about it!” Donald exclaimed. “We were drawn to that Keyhole thing, right?” He paused as both Sora and Goofy nodded. “The King, Kairi, and Riku, probably would be too. If they ended up here, it’d have to be in this city, I’m sure of it! And they would’ve come down here by now, but they’re not here!”

Sora wasn’t too sure of that logic, but Donald would know more about these things than he would, and he had no reason to assume the mage was lying. “I guess that makes sense. What was that Keyhole thing, though?”

“It was very unusual; I’ve never seen anything like it.” A voice popped up. It was GLaDOS, speaking up from Donald’s pocket. The mage took her out so she could talk more properly. “I sensed something unusual in this room. Multiple somethings, that is. I guess that ghost was one, and that Keyhole was the other.”

“Why didn’t you say so?!” Donald demanded, glaring at the hardware in his hand.

“You didn’t ask.” GLaDOS smugly replied, causing the mage to sneer at her. “The real reason is because I thought you’d want me to be discreet. You don’t want people to see something out of this world, do you?” She inquired.

Sighing, Donald knew that GLaDOS was right. “That’s true…but we might come across more of those Keyholes! So, speak up if you sense another one, alright?”

GLaDOS made an annoyed ‘Tsk!’ noise. “If it will speed this all along, I guess I will. I’ve memorized the exact readings that Keyhole gave off, so I can sense it in the future easily. Just keep in mind I can only get these readings from certain distances, okay?”

“Thanks, GLaDOS! That’s great!” Sora exclaimed, still having no idea what these Keyholes were about. But if locking them helped people, then the group might as well look for them, right?

The artificial intelligence let out a bemused sound. “If you say so, Clown Shoes.” She remarked before going silent.

Donald rolled his eyes, putting GLaDOS back in his pocket. “Well, now that that’s settled, let’s get out of here!”

“How do we do that? Your ship is all the way in space!” Sora pointed out. He never actually thought of it until this point…

“Easy!” The mage exclaimed, taking a small remote from his pocket. It had an antenna and a big, red button on it. “I just press this, and we’ll all go back. You ready?”

Sora wished the three of them could explore the world a bit more. After all, he wanted to leave Destiny Islands to see what was out there, and he only got a small peek of this world. Finding Riku and Kairi were a lot more important, though. “I’m ready.” He said, standing close to Donald.

“I’m ready too! Let’s get goin’!” Goofy said with some excitement.

With that, Donald pressed the button and the trio vanished in a flash of light. Mere moments later, the first of the LOL cultists started to stir…

---

Elsewhere, in a dark room, the same figures lead by Dio were watching Sora, Donald, and Goofy as they sealed the Keyhole. “I’m surprised they found one already.” The man in dark armor bemused. “It was in such an easy place to reach too, and now it’s out of our grasp!”

The man in the purple suit shook his head. “That ghost was there, though! I wouldn’t want to deal with that!’

Scoffing, the sole woman let out a cackle. “You’re really scared of a single ghost? I guess you’re so weak, you’d end up toast!” She let out another bout of laughter as the man she insulted shot her a glare.

“If he could sense more of those Keyholes, he could’ve been useful to us.” The man with long blonde hair pointed out. “A shame we couldn’t have him join us before that youth erased him.”

The man with the hook shrugged. “Who cares? It’s just one Keyhole. The brat and his goofy sidekicks just got lucky.” He said with confidence.

Dio nodded to this, grinning as the table in the center of the group showed the trio vanishing in a flash of light. “He’s right. It’s just one Keyhole. There are endless worlds out there. And once we get what we want, not even the Keyblade’s lock can keep us from prying open those Keyholes and getting just what we want. I wouldn’t even call this a setback. He’ll end up in one of your worlds sooner or later, I’m sure. When that time comes, you five will have to just do what that spirit wasn’t.”

The five others looked to Dio, a few with disguised nervousness as their leader spoke in a tone that made it clear that failure wouldn’t be tolerated…

---

It is my duty to expose what this darkness really is. I shall conduct the following experiments:

Extract the darkness from a person's heart.

 Cultivate darkness in a pure heart.

Both suppress and amplify the darkness within.

The experiments caused the test subjects' hearts to collapse, including those of the most stalwart. How fragile our hearts are! My treatment produced no signs of recovery. I confined those who had completely lost their hearts beneath the castle. Some time later, I went below and was greeted by the strangest sight. Creatures that seemed born of darkness...What are they? Are they truly sentient beings? Could they be the shadows of those who lost their hearts in my experiments?

Chapter Text

“What was your world like, GLaDOS?” Sora asked, looking at the device in his hand as he lied on his bed.

After leaving Mob’s world, Donald and Goofy quickly steered the Gummi ship back out towards space and carried on with their adventure. The mage told Sora to just go rest in his room, and the teen complied. Not without a few audible grumbles, of course. He at least demanded to bring GLaDOS along with him to talk to, not that the A.I. seemed too pleased.

“Why do you want to know that?” The computerized voice chirped back at him. “It’s gone, so it’s not like you’ll see it.”

“So? Doesn’t mean we can’t talk about it.” Sora replied with a shrug. “I can just take you back to Donald, if you want.”

There was a small pause. “I suppose you’re easier to deal with than the duck, Clown Shoes.” GLaDOS responded, not seeming all too enthused.

“That’s Sora. Not Clown Shoes.” The brunette said with a huff, wondering why GLaDOS was so nasty to everyone. She never even called anyone by their actual names! “But come on, tell me about where you’re from!”

GLaDOS gave off a digital sigh, and Sora practically felt her rolling her eyes despite her lack of them. “Fine. If you must know, I ran the Aperture Science Enrichment Center and performed countless tests.”

Sora had no idea what ‘aperture’ meant, but it sounded pretty fancy! “Well come on, what kinds of tests?” The teen urged, wanting to learn more about other worlds. They didn’t get to stick around with Mob for too long, so he wanted to get all he could from GLaDOS.

“Portal technology mostly. In the past, there was the use of various gels and…mantis DNA.” The A.I. explained, sounding displeased about the last bit. “Anyway, we had developed a Handheld Portal Device and after some…issues with a test subject, the world came to an end. I was only able to get what you see before you on a space capsule at the last moment.”

Mantis DNA didn’t sound very exciting, but a device that opened portals?! That sounded great! “What kind of device was it? Is it like in the movies?” Sora pressed further, quickly realizing that the movies he saw and GLaDOS would know about would be very different.

“Why do you want to know so much? It’s gone forever, you know. Destroyed along with the rest of my world.” GLaDOS sighed again. “Just after I got rid of her…”

Assuming that the ‘her’ meant the test subject, Sora shrugged again. “Can’t I be curious? That’s what scientific tests and stuff are all about, right?”

“There’s a big difference between actual tests and just badgering people for facts.” GLaDOS said with an annoyed tone “I agreed to come along to catalogue this journey, not answer all your questions.”

Sora huffed again, frowning openly at GLaDOS. “I was just trying to talk a bit.” He insisted, surprised that what was essentially a robot from his point of view could be so moody! “How is the cataloguing going, then?”

“You underestimate my abilities.” GLaDOS started, sounding a bit smug. “I can read the entirety of my world’s library within a few seconds. If I wanted, I could write every detail, every step and action anyone around us took, and every word spoken. And it would be very, very easy.”

“I didn’t realize how advanced you were…but uh…I guess that means it’s going good, then?” Sora asked, not having gotten what he considered a clear answer.

Once more, GLaDOS let out a sigh. “Yes, it’s going very well. I had already catalogued all that I thought was important within seconds after we boarded the ship again. It’s not enjoyable, but I suppose it gives me something to do.”

After that, the conversation between the two died down, Sora placing GLaDOS off to the side as he had a nap. The A.I. insisted that staying in the teen’s room was better than being in ‘that loudmouthed duck’s’ pocket. As worried as Sora was for Riku and Kairi, he knew that he was doing about all he could, going about on the Gummi Ship to look for them. That, and going to a new world really just took the wind out of the teen’s sails, allowing him to fall asleep rather easily.

“Sora, get up here!” Donald’s voice rang out urgently via the intercom.

Jostled from his sleep, Sora shot up and looked around. “Huh?! What?” He blurted out, not realizing Donald wasn’t in the room with him for a second due to his daze. Not that he was able to tell, but the teen had been asleep for several hours at that point, a rest that he very much needed…

Once more, Donald’s voice squawked into Sora’s room from the intercom. “Sora! Are you asleep?!”

Rather than replying to someone that couldn’t even hear him, the teen shook his head a bit to try and wake himself up before swiping GLaDOS and carrying her to the cockpit. As he got to the top of the ladder, he saw Donald and Goofy looking out the window at something. Glancing between the two, Sora fought back a yawn. “What is it? Why’d you call me?”

“We kinda thought you’d wanna see this.” Goofy answered, still looking out the window. “I did, at least…”

Getting into the cockpit proper, Sora’s eyes widened as he looked out to space as well. Before them was a world, which wasn’t exactly new, but was still awe inspiring. No, what was odd was that unlike before, this world was very close to what seemed to be dozens more! A number of them looked uninhabitable, one of them being covered in some sort of acidic green material while one seemed to be little more than rocks, volcanos, and ash. Another, very small, world seemed to be made only of dark grey clouds with purple lightning streaking along them. Yet another was covered in water, but still had land with red rocks, sand, and even jungles dotted along it.

Gaping at all the worlds gathered in such a small space, Sora looked between Donald and Goofy. “Why are they all bunched together like that? Mob’s world and Traverse Town were all by themselves!”

“Beats me!” Donald admitted, tapping his foot in thought as he crossed his arms. “Maybe they’re connected somehow?” It was the only thing that made sense to him.

“Ya mean like ya can travel between ‘em easily? I think I heard the King talk about worlds like that before.” Goofy piped up, scratching the side of his head as he searched his brain for the memory in question. The Knight wasn’t quite sure if the King had even said that or if it was something else but misremembered…

As Goofy spoke, a very large world came into view. Frankly speaking, it was a lot more diverse than a lot of the others they passed. It had forests, rolling hills, marshlands, deserts, oceans, mountains along with frozen sections at its north. One very noteworthy section was a part of the world that looked unusually dead and barren, as if someone had set fire to an entire country and left it to rot. When the ship got even closer, it became clear that the world was inhabited, with large towns dotting the landscape.

“Maybe we should go to this one.” Sora suggested. “This one is the biggest, so maybe Kairi, Riku, or your King ended up here over the others?” Not too sound of logic, but it made sense to the brunette.

“I do sense the same energy that came from that Keyhole. I imagine you’d want to go there.” GLaDOS piped up. “Thanks to helping myself to your ship’s own sensors, I can tell that from up here.”

“Hey! Who said you could do that?!” Donald demanded, snatching the A.I. from Sora’s hand. “And how did you anyway?!”

GLaDOS let out an unimpressed noise at the mage’s anger. “I don’t need to be plugged in to your ship to gain access to some of its functions. And if you’re thinking I’d do something nefarious, don’t you suppose I’d have done it by now?”

“Aw, it’s fine, Donald!” Goofy said before Donald could reply. “She’s just tryin’ to help us out! So, uh, where is that energy stuff comin’ from?”

“That’s a problem.” GLaDOS replied. “There are a lot of unusual readings on this world, so I can’t pinpoint where the Keyhole is exactly.”

Scoffing, Donald rolled his eyes at the A.I.. “Some help you are! Can you at least get us close?”

“I’m sorry, would you like to scan the planet for this energy reading?” GLaDOS snarked, pausing as the mage didn’t say anything. “I thought so. I can get us relatively close, but it could still be a way’s away. There really are a lot of strange sources of energy on this world.” She reiterated, sounding both annoyed and yet somehow excited.

“What does that mean, though? Is that bad?” Goofy asked, not knowing what to make of such vague terms as ‘strange sources of energy’ which could mean just about anything.

“I suppose you could say there’s a lot of…magic.” GLaDOS almost spat the last word like it was a nasty swear. “Since that’s apparently a thing that exists. And the Keyhole gives a similar energy. Lots of magical hotspots are on this world, I’d guess it’s far more normal here than where we just came from.”

Sora was getting a bit anxious with all this back-and-forth! With an annoyed groan, he pointed at the world before. “Can’t we just go take a look? We won’t get anywhere by just talking!”

“Yeah, I agree. The quicker we get down there, the quicker we can find the Keyhole!” Goofy agreed, looking to Donald.

“I guess so. Just get us as close as you can, alright?” Donald demanded of GLaDOS.

“Since you asked so nicely.” The A.I. sarcastically replied. Yet, she still did as asked. Utilizing the ship’s controls, she activated its teleporter and in an instant, the quartet was warped down to the world below them!

The four outsiders found themselves in one of the nicer, life-filled parts of the world. Around them were large expanses of grass, trees, and immediate signs of civilization with a stone-laid road stretching to the horizon in either direction. To the northwest, there was a snowy mountain, but aside from that there were no immediate landmarks. The rolling hills that went on in every other direction hid what was beyond the shortened horizon.

It took only a few moments for Sora, Donald, and Goofy to realize that GLaDOS wasn’t kidding about how much odd energy there was in this world. The sensation wasn’t quite like when they were at the revealed Keyhole, exactly. It felt like the world itself was alive and giving off its energy through the plants and even the rocks. Letting out a hum, Donald spoke up. “It does feel really weird around here…”

“Yeah, but not in a bad way exactly…” Sora added on. The energies around them felt unique from each other, like they came from countless sources. It wasn’t overwhelming, and it seemed they only really noticed because they were just standing there and concentrating on it. “Where do we go first?”

Looking to GLaDOS, Donald tapped his foot. “Yeah, where do we go?” He asked the device, not even attempting to sound pleasant as he reached out to her for help.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t understand that. It was too much like brutish squawking.” The A.I. coolly.

Before Donald could blow his top, Goofy gingerly took GLaDOS from his grip. “Aw, come on. Ya can help us out, can’t ya? If there’s a Keyhole nearby, the King oughta be close to it!”

“Or my friends!” Sora interjected, a bit annoyed. Sometimes it felt like Donald and Goofy only remembered their King and not Kairi or Riku!

“That will do, I suppose.” GLaDOS snarked. “Without your ship’s systems, my range is nowhere near as large. You’re on your own.”

Donald snatched GLaDOS back, letting out an annoyed cry. “You mean you couldn’t have helped us outside the ship anyway? Why didn’t you say so?!”

“Why didn’t you ask?” The A.I. smugly remarked. It was clear from her tone she was having a lot of fun messing with Donald.

The mage made a motion like he was going to slam GLaDOS onto the ground…but he stopped himself at the last moment and just stuffed her in his pocket. “Well, we gotta go somewhere!” He squawked at Goofy and Sora.

“Well, maybe we oughta head to that mountain.” Goofy suggested, pointing off to the northwest. “It’s the only thing we can see, so…”

Sora had to wonder if Donald and Goofy’s King got tired of all the bickering that seemed to go on, mainly from the duck, it seemed. “I agree with Goofy. Maybe there’s a village near it or something and we can ask around.” Someone had to know about the Keyhole, right? Dimple sure did! The teen wished he understood what these Keyholes were for, the three of them having discussed the matter when they boarded the ship. They came to the conclusion that more worlds had to have more Keyholes, explaining why Donald and Goofy’s King wanted them to travel about to other worlds. GLaDOS picking up the signal of this world’s Keyhole just solidified their little theory.

“Alright, it’s settled! Come on, let’s hurry!” Donald ordered, starting to walk towards the mountain with Sora and Goofy quickly caught up to stroll on either side of him.

“What do you think all that weird energy is? It wasn’t like that in Mob’s world.” Sora pondered, the sensation still strong, but weaker than before. Maybe it was because the three were now mobile?

“I remember the King mentionin’ once that different worlds got different laws.” Goofy offered. “Maybe some sorta magical stuff is in the air here. It sure does feel funny, huh?”

No one offered an answer to that. As the three walked towards the looming, icy mountain, Sora looked about. While to many, the world didn’t seem too interesting on the ground, it was at least new to Sora. Large expanses of grass and trees like this, with the rolling hills…they just weren’t there on Destiny Islands. Not as much to marvel at than in Seasoning City, but still a new experience for him.

The three went on for about twenty minutes when the sound of a struggle reached their ears. It came from dead ahead, past the roll of one of the countless hills in the area. “Hey, I think someone’s in trouble!” Sora exclaimed, hearing a man’s voice call out in effort from what sounded like combat.

Summoning their respective weapons, the trio dashed over the hill to see what was going on. Before them, in a small clearing, was a man fighting a group of Heartless! The man was certainly equipped for it, wearing unusual blue armor that covered his entire body. Even his face was covered by a visor from the helmet he was wearing. In his right arm was a large sword that was also made of the odd blue metal, and on his right arm was a large shield that too was made of the same material.

There were about thirty Heartless around the stranger of various sizes. Like the pests they were, there were numerous Shadows, with some Soldiers as well and a few Large Bodies. Among them were new types of Heartless, ones that wielded bows and arrows, Bizarre Archers. Some of the Shadows attacked the man, who swiped them away with his large sword. The archer Heartless fired at him, only for him to use his shield to protect himself from the projectiles.

Without hesitation, the three outsiders sprang into action. Sora raised his Keyblade to cast a spell, and when he did so, he felt something odd. Letting this sensation surge through him, he was surprised that ice magic came from his weapon, rather than Fire! The Blizzard spell shot out towards one of the Large Bodies, hitting one of its feet. While this didn’t damage the Heartless much, the resulting ice anchored it to the ground as it struggled to get free. Donald shot out several fireballs, destroying a few of the Soldiers before dodging away from some arrows that came his way. Goofy threw his shield with great precision, the attack bouncing off of the belly of one of the Large Bodies. The ricochet then cleared through three of the Bizarre Archers, destroying them swiftly.

Sora was pretty surprised at the new spell that came seemingly from nowhere, but he then recalled how Merlon mentioned that over time, he’d naturally learn new magic. He just wasn’t expecting it to happen so fast!

Startled by the sudden help, the armored stranger quickly recovered from his surprise and started to fight again. Shockingly, he wasn’t merely a melee fighter. Raising his right arm, a white energy focused on his hand. Thrusting the limb forward, blast of air came forth and scattered the remaining Shadows and Soldiers that were grouped together. This allowed them to be quickly picked off by Sora who dashed to each one, taking them out with a swing of his Keyblade. The man raised his right arm again, and this time a fire spell was used, hitting the partially frozen Large Body in the head, destroying it. The rest of the Heartless went down quickly, Sora and Goofy rushing to the stragglers as the others were destroyed by the spells of Donald and the armored stranger.

Within a few minutes, all the Heartless were cleared out, leaving the quartet panting as they cooled down from the fight. Letting out a chuckle, the armored man looked to the three strangers. “I appreciate the help. Those weird creatures have been popping up all over the place lately!” He declared, placing his sword and shield on his back.

Dismissing his weapon along Donald and Goofy, Sora offered the man a friendly grin. “Hey, no problem. We’re used to that sort of thing. They’re Heartless and we’re kind of experts in dealing with them!” He somewhat bragged, placing his hands behind his head.

Rolling his eyes, Donald butted in. “We’ve only been fighting them a little bit!” He clarified. “How long have they been around?”

“Heartless, huh? Never heard of those before.” The armored man said after a moment of thought. “Experts or not, the help’s appreciated. My name is Zamansis, by the way. What are your names?”

“I’m Sora, and this is Donald and Goofy.” The brunette introduced, gesturing to his companions in turn, the latter giving Zamansis a friendly wave.

Zamansis removed his helmet, revealing his average looking face along with his black hair and brown eyes. “So, do you know where these things come from? Everyone seems to think they’re Zamorak’s doing somehow, but I’m not so sure…”

Sora wasn’t about to pretend like he had any idea who or what Zamorak was. “Actually, they come from the darkness in people’s hearts. They’ve become a big problem all over.” The teen clarified, keeping things vague enough as not to hint about other worlds.

“Really? All over Gielinor? I’ve mostly been around Varrock and Falador lately, only as far as Lumbridge since these things started to crop up.” The armored man explained, concerned. “You guys sure seem to know a lot about them. What else do you know?” If Zamansis was suspicious, he was hiding it pretty well.

“All we know is where they come from, not any permanent way to stop them.” Sora confessed. It really made him think about the exact goal of their journey. At the moment, he was just going from world to world, hoping to find his friends. Even if he found Kairi and Riku…what then? At that thought, he suddenly remembered he had to ask! “Hey, have you seen two kids around my age? Their names are Kairi and Riku.”

“And have ya seen a King? King Mickey?” Goofy added on, only just remembering to ask thanks to Sora. If Zamansis had been to a bunch of places, he seemed like the right guy to ask!

Zamansis thought for a moment, but then shook his head. “I know a few monarchs, like King Roald, but no King Mickey. What kingdom does he rule?”

Sora realized at that moment that this was the first time he had actually heard Mickey’s name. Donald and Goofy just kept calling him ‘The King’ over and over. The teen really wondered what he was like.

“Uh, well, our kingdom is pretty far. He’d have traveled all the way here.” Donald answered, making things up as he went.

The armored warrior paused, as if contemplating something, but gave a nod. “I see. Well, I’ve never heard of a King Mickey. I don’t know about any Riku or Kairi either, sorry.”

“Oh, well, that’s okay.” Sora said, trying not to sound too dejected. He couldn’t help but feel down, even if they only asked a single person in this world. The brunette just worried about his two closest friends so much!

“Say, how about somethin’ called the Keyhole?” Goofy asked. “It’s also somethin’ we’re lookin’ for!”

“A Keyhole? Just one?” Zamansis asked, tilting his head a bit in confusion. “You want me to find you a door something?”

Donald was about to scold Goofy for just talking about something like that…but he then figured if there’s a Keyhole in each world, said world’s residents knowing about it wouldn’t be too bad. Asking around would be easier than relying on GLaDOS, that’s for sure. “A really big Keyhole. It’s special!” The mage clarified.

“Does this Keyhole do something? Lock something special?” Zamansis urged, seeming a bit impatient. “You guys sure speak vaguely a lot. What’s the deal?”

“Well, we don’t know what it does, exactly.” Sora confessed, opting for honesty. “We only found one, and it was underground. Does that help?” If one was underground, maybe others were?

Zamansis paused, looking between the three. “Okay, this is getting weird. Just who are you guys, and what’s going on? There’s a lot you’re not telling me. Where are you even from? Some other world?”

The bluntness and casual nature of the question really took the trio by surprise. They were pretty new to this, so they never really had their stories straight on how to interact with curious people in these foreign worlds. Zamansis saw right through them, and his lack of surprise spoke volumes! He said it like it was an everyday question!

“What do you mean? Other world?” Sora replied, playing dumb. He wasn’t sure if he should’ve just come clean or not, feeling that continuing the charade was what Donald or Goofy would’ve done.

“Oh, come on. I know there are other worlds. I’ve been to a couple! You didn’t think this was a secret, did you?” Zamansis inquired, letting out a laugh. “It’s pretty common knowledge, especially among scholars and wizards, that this world isn’t all that there is out there.”

With that explanation, the trio really calmed down. “So, we were trying to hide that we’re outsiders for nothing?” Donald asked, a bit annoyed he had to do the charade at all. If it were up to him, he wouldn’t bother with it. But he knew that’d just cause trouble in worlds that are totally isolated.

“So, it’s really that easy to go to other worlds here?” Goofy asked, remembering his little theory. It seemed all those other nearby worlds and this one really were connected to each other!

“Well, it depends on the world. A lot of the smaller ones are easier to get to, like the altars used in Runecrafting. Very small, but with a device pretty easy to make, anyone can get there.” Zamansis explained. “I don’t know why you felt the need to hide you’re not from here, but you really don’t have to do that. No offense, but you’re pretty bad at it anyway.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, Sora flashed Zamansis a grin as he nodded. “We’re kind of new to this whole world traveling stuff. I guess it just makes things easier now, right?”

“Yeah, sorry about all that. We were still honest about a couple of things. Heartless really come from the darkness in people’s hearts, and they’re actually in a whole bunch of worlds.” Sora clarified. “And we’re also looking for something called a Keyhole. We dunno what they’re for, but we found one in a basement in another world, so I bet they’re all underground.”

Zamansis grinned, nodding along to Sora’s words. “Well, I still don’t know anything about a Keyhole, but if it’s important, I’m willing to help.” He said, putting on his helmet. “If it’s something underground, then we should go to Keldagrim. That’s where the Dwarves have their kingdom, they’d know better than anyone.”

“You’ll really help us that easily?” Donald asked, a bit surprised. “We just met!”

“Yeah, but you helped me against those Heartless things. Besides, I was heading there anyway.” Zamansis explained with a shrug. “I’ve heard things have gotten tense there, and I’m worried about my friend Veldaban. If you don’t mind, I’d like to check up on him.”

“Well sure, I don’t see why not!” Goofy exclaimed, speaking for the trio. “If someone needs help, we oughta help ‘em, right? Where is this Kelder…Keldaj…uh…”

“Keldagrim.” Zamansis said, coming to Goofy’s aid. “There’s a mining cart we can use underneath Ice Mountain to get there.” As he said this, he pointed to the mountain the group was heading to. “Believe it or not, the trip’s actually free. Pretty convenient, huh?”

“That’s pretty lucky. We were actually headin’ towards there.” Goofy remarked with a hyuck of laughter.

“Great! Let’s go! Never thought I’d actually meet a Dwarf…” Sora remarked, remembering how he read of such creatures in fantasy books as a kid. Or, rather, he mostly looked at the pictures. It made him wonder what things only existed in books or movies back on Destiny Islands truly existed in other worlds…

Zamansis started to lead, with the three walking alongside him. “A good plan, then! So, where are you three from anyway? If you really want to keep things secret, I won’t tell…” He seemed a lot more curious than his words implied, given his tone.

“You never really told us about where you’re from, Sora!” Donald pointed out.

“Well, you never asked.” Sora countered, rolling his eyes a bit. “But I’m from an island, Destiny Islands. Really small, not much going on.” He let out a small sigh, already feeling himself becoming dejected. “It’s why I wanted to go see other worlds with Riku and Kairi.” The teen stopped himself there, thinking about how the Heartless showed up and his world was swallowed by darkness…

The armored man nodded along, letting out a chuckle. “I’d never be able to stay on a single island like that! I need to stretch my legs, you know? That’s why I became an adventurer!”

At that, Sora perked up a bit. That’s right! Zamansis mentioned going to other worlds before. He certainly looked the type to be a bold adventurer, what with his armor and his sword. “Have you been on a lot? Where have you gone?” The teen asked, excitement creeping into his voice.

“Didn’t even ask us about our castle…” Donald grumbled, speaking too quietly for anyone but GLaDOS to hear. The mage scowled as he heard a light tittering from his pocket, one that only he was able to hear.

“All over Gielinor, and to some other worlds like I said.” Zamansis lightly boasted. “The names won’t mean much to you, but I’ve been from Lumbridge to Camelot, and even up to Lunar Isle. From Al Kharid and the desert to its south to the Mort Myre Swamps. I've even went into the Wilderness up north a few times...” He spoke about the Wilderness in a sort of hushed tone, almost like it was bad luck just to say its name.

While Zamansis was right, the names meaning little to Sora, but just listening to those names conjured up dozens of images in the teen’s mind. Scorching hot deserts, dangerous and dark swamps, and even the thoughts of different types of monsters that the warrior may have fought! “Wow, you really go around! What do you do in all those places?”

It was clear from his body language that Sora’s questioning was quite welcome with the armored man, who let out a chuckle. “I go on quests, usually. I’ve fought dragons, helped find ancient treasures, put ghosts to rest, and even became a pirate! Not everything was so fun, though. I remember having to help with ‘one small favor’ which became a huge pain…” He murmured, clearly upset by whatever the resulting mess of such a favor became.

Sora’s eyes practically lit up. “A pirate?! There are pirates here?!” Ever since he was a little kid, he had always wanted to be a pirate, or at least meet some! “You’re not kidding, right?”

“Gawrsh, Sora, ya really get excited about this kinda stuff, huh?” Goofy noted, surprised at Sora’s attitude. It was nice, at least. He remembered how dejected the teen was when he first met him, which made sense given his circumstances. Seeing Sora all chipper and excited was a treat!

“I’ve always wanted to be a pirate! Of  course I’m excited! Besides, Zamansis has been all over, that’s what Riku, Kairi and I were trying to do!” Sora explained, still looking to the armored warrior for answers.

“I’m not making it up! I’ve really met some pirates! Nice to see someone so eager to explore. You kind of remind me of myself when I was a kid…but my hair wasn’t nearly so spiky.” Zamansis joked.

Sora let out a small huff of annoyance. “I’m fourteen, not a kid! But you’ve got to tell me about your adventures!”

“It’ll help the trip go by faster…” Donald pointed out, figuring they had quite a ways to go before reaching Ice Mountain.

Letting out another chuckle, Zamansis nodded. “Okay, sure. I’ll tell you a story or two. Let’s see…how about…”

For the next few hours, Zamansis told numerous tales of his adventures to the trio. He talked of the time he slayed a terrible dragon, how he discovered a place called the Elemental Workshop, and even his times of piracy at Sora’s request. The warrior also spoke of creatures called Void Pests, stopping a powerful warrior-mage called Nomad, a group called H.A.M., about a being called Lucien, and even his defeating of an unusual sounding mage called the Culinaromancer. Most importantly, he gave a brief description of the events that had happened in Keldagrim a group called the Red Axe and its leader, Hreidmar, using corrupted Dwarves called Chaos Dwarves for nefarious purposes.

“So, this Hreidmar guy is changing his own people? That’s so awful…” Sora murmured, feeling a growing desire to stop the nefarious Dwarf. “Still, I had no idea there was so much out there, all in one world!”

“It’s pretty nice, yeah. And honestly, it’s also refreshing getting to tell stories like this. Aside from a friend of mine named Juna, I don’t really have a chance to share most of my tales.” Zamansis said, practically wearing an audible smile underneath his helmet. At this point, the quartet was about twenty minutes from Ice Mountain, and luckily things had been peaceful in terms of Heartless attacks. “Say, any of you hungry?”

Goofy nodded, speaking up before Sora or Donald could. “Yeah, I sure could use some grub! Ya got anythin’ in that bag?” He asked, gesturing to said object.

“You know I do. This bag is actually pretty special.” Zamansis answered, stopping to reach into his bag. Sora, Donald, and Goofy paused as well, shocked to see what appeared to be a white void within the bag.

“Hey, what’s going on? Why’s your bag like that?” Sora asked, watching with mild concern as Zamansis rooted around. It didn’t seem like it was anything dangerous, but it was pretty uncanny to look at.

Zamansis let out a small laugh. “Oh, yeah, you’d never have seen anything like this, huh? A wizard friend of mine used a little magic trickery to essentially make it bottomless. I can store whatever I want in here as long as it can actually fit within the bag’s opening. Best part is that food stays just as fresh or cooked as when I put it in!”

As he said this, he sat on a nearby rock, the other three sitting on the grass as Zamansis pulled out some loaves of freshly baked bread. On top of that, he got out jugs of water, some cooked chicken, and a chocolate bar! Placing them on a blanket he also got from the bag, the man took his helmet off and looked down at the small feast with a pleased expression.

“That all sure looks yummy! Didja cook it yerself?” Goofy asked, ripping the leg off of the chicken and taking a bite into it. Immediately, he let out a pleased “Mmm!” as he chewed noisily.

“You’ve got to show me that trick! This is amazing!” Donald exclaimed, taking some of the bread, biting a huge chunk out of it. The mage knew a lot of spells, but making a bag bottomless was still pretty beyond him.

Taking a chunk of the chocolate and taking a small bite, Zamansis nodded. “Oh yeah, I cook. I’ve gathered a lot of skills over the years. Cooking, fishing, herblore, farming, multiple forms of combat like using ranged weapons and magic, hunting, and even mining and smithing. It’s how I made most of this Runite armor I’ve got on. The platebody was a gift bestowed upon me for defeating the mighty dragon Elvarg.” He explained, speaking in a humble tone. “I can do a bunch of other stuff too, sometimes I like to just spend time honing my skills for days at a time.”

“Runite? Now that sounds familiar…” Goofy murmured to Donald, scratching his head in thought.

Rolling his eyes, the mage turned to his old friend and whispered back. “It’s what your shield’s made of. Uncle Scrooge said he found some when he and King Mickey went on their travels, remember?”

After a moment of thought, with a wide grin, Goofy nodded. “Oh yeah, I remember now!”

Not paying much mind to Donald or Goofy, Sora kept talking with Zamansis. “Is there anything you aren’t good at?” Sora asked in a good-natured manner, sipping at some water before nearly devouring a loaf of bread in a single bite.

“I mean I’m a novice at some of these things.” Zamansis admitted with a light shrug. “Been meaning to take up something new. Maybe sailing? I don’t know if that’s something I want to end up doing or not…” He shook his head a bit, disregarding the subject. “But tell me more about these Heartless. You said they come from the darkness in people’s hearts? I’ve never heard of that before.”

Swallowing a mouthful of bread, Sora shook his head in turn. “We really don’t know a lot about them except…they’re somehow behind worlds disappearing. My own world vanished because of them.” Once more, he felt a sense of melancholy and even guilt, despite having no real way of stopping what befell the islands.

Zamansis nearly choked on his chocolate, eyes widening in alarm. “What?! An entire world just…gone? They’re that dangerous?! They didn’t seem nearly that bad…”

“We don’t know how they do it, but that’s what our friends told us. They know a lot more about this than we do.” Sora explained, nibbling a bit more at his bread and suddenly not feeling so hungry anymore.

The armored man ran a gauntleted hand through his hair, exhaling loudly. “If I knew this was so serious, I’d have insisted we ran to Ice Mountain!” He confessed, stopping to think for a second. “But hey, you think that Keyhole thing might have to do with it? You said you don’t know what it was for, and you don’t know how the Heartless take out worlds. Maybe there’s a link?”

Honestly, none of the trio had thought of that, looking at each other for a moment before looking back to Zamansis. “Well…Sora’s Keyblade can take the Heartless out, and also sealed the Keyhole, so…maybe?” Donald guessed, feeling stupid for never having thought of it.

“I’m surprised it took that long for you to figure it out.” GLaDOS’ voice suddenly rang out, loud and clear so even Zamansis heard her. The man jolted a bit, looking around for the source of the voice.

“What was that? Does one of you have a Commorb or something? I know I heard someone talk…” Zamansis murmured, looking between the three.

Huffing in annoyance, Donald took GLaDOS out of his pocket. “Just a loudmouth, don’t mind her! You’re supposed to keep your mouth shut!” The mage scolded, directing the second sentence to the A.I. herself. “And did you know the Keyhole and Heartless were connected?!”

“What mouth? And I thought it was okay since Blue Armor knows we’re not from here.” GLaDOS said with a blatantly fake innocent tone. “And I didn’t know, but I surmised it. Not like you asked my opinion anyway.”

Zamansis looked in confusion as Donald let out a small, angry noise and shoved GLaDOS back into his pocket. “What a strange thing that was…” The man murmured before shaking it off. “We should hurry, then. We can move and eat, let’s go!”

The four scrambled, picking up the food and water as they started to really hustle towards Ice Mountain. “I dunno if you’re right or not Zamansis, but I sure hope ya figured it out!” Goofy exclaimed, eating more of the chicken as he went.

Eating the rest of their meal as they rushed to Ice Mountain, the quartet of fighters arrived there within ten minutes rather than twenty. When they drew near, the temperature started to drop, and the outsiders saw there were a few buildings partially up the mountain. Zamansis lead them towards the structures, gesturing towards the north as he did so.

From the elevated height, the outsiders saw a large expanse of scorched earth, the same one they were able to see all the way from the Gummi Ship. It really did look like someone set the entire area on fire and just left it to its devices. No plants grew, with only the dead remnants of trees acting as the flora. Aside from that, it was just rocks, dust, ash, and cracks within the earth with ominous orange glows coming from beneath. “That’s the Wilderness, by the way.” Zamansis said in a warning tone. “I don’t know how long you three might stay here, but if we go our separate ways, never go there. Nothing but monsters and death…”

Just the sight was enough to deter any of them from wanting to get close to such a location. They could practically feel darkness emanating from the dead earth itself, but none of the trio was sure if it was their imaginations or not. “Point taken…” Sora murmured, shivering a bit, and not from the cold. “Hey, there was something else I wanted to ask. When we got here, the air felt so…weird. What was with that?” He had been so distracted from meeting Zamansis and hearing the adventurer tell his tales that Sora had nearly forgotten.

“Well, a lot of magic goes around in Gielinor, lots of wizards performing spells all over and spots with power like those Runecrafting Altars I mentioned before. I guess if you’re not used to it, it’d feel weird. Since I was born here, I never really noticed it.” Zamansis explained with a shrug. “Nothing to worry about, though.”

It certainly explained why GLaDOS couldn’t narrow down where the Keyhole was. With all the magic energies in the air, it’d sort of blend in. As much as this new world amazed Sora, he’d rather find that Keyhole and have it be boring instead. The teen wondered if Zamansis’ theory was true, and somehow the Heartless were using Keyholes to end worlds. Dimple seemed to know that utilizing the Keyhole of his world would give him some sort of power, so they were clearly something not meant to be tampered with lightly.

As the quartet climbed, things got colder and colder. Thankfully, the cluster of buildings was below the actual snow and ice of the mountain, so the group was able to get there without much issue. The outsiders stopped to look as short, stout men with beards were milling about the encampment. Carrying boxes, arguing with one another, and one even working on what seemed to be a large cannon! There was no mistaking it, these had to be Dwarves! They didn’t seem to mind the cold, some wearing a bit of warmer clothing, but none were bundled up in large jackets or anything of the sort. It was clear the buildings were workshops of sorts, as the hammering of metal and workman chatter could be heard from several of them.

Sora kept looking around, marveling at the new sights as the Dwarves paid the outsiders little note. Apparently people passing through this area was hardly anything new to them. “So, we can really reach a new kingdom from here?” The brunette asked. He just expected a larger, more impressive area to travel to somewhere so important.

“That’s right, just a bit below ground.” Zamansis said, nodding to a ladder in the ground. “Like I said, the Dwarves of Keldagrim would know about some underground marvel more than anyway. We could see the Oracle at the top of the mountain, but it’s just so cold up there.” He rubbed the back of his neck with a small sigh. “That, and she speaks in riddles, so who knows if her answer would help. Maybe as a last resort…”

“You’d know more than us. I’d rather go in a cave than on some cold mountaintop!” Donald exclaimed, feeling like this feathers would freeze and fall off if they went much higher.

Nodding, Zamansis went down the ladder, with the trio following suit. Despite going into the mountain itself, things felt a lot warmer than out in the open air. The underground was a series of lit, large tunnels that stretched far ahead. These tunnels were clearly manmade, and expertly done. They all seemed very sturdy without risk of collapsing.

After the last of the group made footfall Zamansis looked around with a happy sigh. “Ah, the Dwarven Mines. I remember I learned a lot about mining here. Had a few bad run-ins with some Scorpions, giant ones mind you, but it helped hone my combat skills!”

Looking about, the trio quickly spotted an opening in the wall with a minecart on a track sitting outside of it. Leaning against it was a Dwarf in a cap, arms crossed and seeming to be asleep. Beside him was a lever, presumably to make the cart actually start moving. “That’s where we gotta go, right? Looks a bit snug…” Goofy commented as Zamansis led them towards the cart.

“A bit, but all four of us should be able to fit.” The armored man said. “It’s not too long of a ride, those carts go pretty fast.” As they got close, Zamansis cleared his throat loudly to stir the snoozing Dwarf from his nap.

“Hrngh?! Hm?!” The short man snorted, looking about to see he had company. “Oh! Yes, yes. You four want to go to Keldagrim?  Only stop, so not like you got much choice.”

“That’s right, the four of us. Think we can squeeze into this cart?” Zamansis said, gesturing to the vehicle.

The Cart Conductor looked the quartet over, humming in thought. “Well…the steam engines involved are pretty strong…so it should be okay.” The Dwarf guessed with a nod. “You want to leave now, then?”

“Yeah, right away! We really need to get to Keldagrim!” Sora insisted as the Cart Conductor opened the metal door, allowing the group to pile into the cart. It really was pretty snug, but they were just able to squeeze into it.

“Alright, the trip’ll be pretty quick, so just hang on, alright?” The Cart Conductor instructed, pulling the large lever beside him with a grunt of effort.

Instantly, the cart started to roll, heading towards the opening ahead. Sora, Donald, and Goofy braced themselves, ready for the trip ahead of them, hoping to find some answers within the Dwarven Kingdom of Keldagrim…

---

Deep in the Wilderness, there was another visitor to the world of Gielinor. A blonde man in his early twenties with striking blue eyes and a tattered red cape. His blue outfit was adorned with numerous belt along with a single metal shoulder pad on his left side, a metallic claw covering the same side’s hand.

The outsider wielded a massive, bandaged sword, needing two hands to properly use it. Before him was a large, furious Green Dragon that was eyeing the young man as its next meal. Snarling loudly, the creature swiped at its opponent, who parried its sizable claw away with a single swipe of his sword. Frustrated further, the dragon’s mouth dripped with fire and embers onto the scorched ground beneath its maw.

Anticipating what was coming, the young man swiftly dodged to the side as a pillar of intense flames shot out at where he had just been a moment prior. Untouched by a single bit of the flame, the blonde fighter dashed towards the Green Dragon at a high speed! While the creature tried to bite its foe in half, it wasn’t fast enough. The man swung his hefty sword right across the beast’s neck, dropping it instantly.

Letting out a light sigh, the man stood up straight, looking at the other five identical dragon corpses all around him. “It’s a start…” He murmured to himself, his tone cold and almost emotionless. “Not strong enough, though. Not if I’m going to fight him…”

“Oh, yes, that’s for sure! Green Dragons are just about the weakest dragons out there!” A jovial, male voice called out. It didn’t seem to have any real origin, sounding more like it came from everywhere around the man at once.

Getting his sword ready, the young man looked around, surprised to hear someone else out in the wasteland. All he had seen of the Wilderness was monsters of all swords. “Who is that? Come out and show your face.” He demanded, keeping his composure even in this odd situation. The man suddenly sensed a presence behind him and turned to see a cloaked figure! It was as if he appeared out of the shadows, as there was nowhere to hide in the immediate area.

“If you insist! Hard to talk to someone you can’t see, I suppose.” The cloaked figure said, his hood failing to hide an unusual, skeletal face. “You know, most humans are smart enough to avoid the Wilderness. I guess you aren’t too bright, huh?”

Not deterred by the man’s appearance or insults, the young man simply kept his eyes on him. However, he was poised to dodge or strike if the situation called for it. “Who are you? Why were you watching me?”

The skullfaced man sighed, shaking his head. “Not even paying attention…” He murmured, purposefully just loud enough for the blonde man to hear. “It’s unusual for humans to be out here, so I was curious. And you’re right, you’ll need to grow stronger. Green Dragons are for novice warriors. Did you even try facing the King Black Dragon? I bet not!”

“Okay, so you think I’m too weak still. Is that all?” The man asked, still poised for combat despite the calm, friendly tone of the stranger.

“Of course not! I’m going to help you! I can sense a darkness in your heart, and you want to combat this foe of yours. I can help you with all these things, even help you find the man!” The cloaked figure assured.

“Why should I trust you? What’s your name?” Once more, the blonde man didn’t move from his combative position, clearly not sure what to make of the unusual person before him.

The skullfaced figure let out a noise of annoyance. “You know, you’re supposed to give your name when demanding someone else’s! No manners, but fine. I’m Sliske, and I have a certain…knack for shadows and darkness. Like I said, I can sense there’s quite a bit of it in your heart. Do something for me, and I’ll help you. How’s that sound?”

At that, the man paused to think for a few tense moments. After a bit, he lowered his sword, but kept his distance from Sliske. Apparently the strange man’s offer was just too tempting to blow off entirely. “…Fine. We can talk details. And if you must know my name, it’s Cloud Strife.”

Chapter Text

The wind howled as the tunnel air rushed by the quartet. It was convenient that the way was lit with countless lanterns, as it was the only source of light and the only way to tell any progress was being made. As the minecart went on, the four inside of it remained silent. After all, any conversation would just be drowned out anyway, so why bother?

Sora had to admit, as exciting as the minecart transportation was, he was nervous that it’d just crash at any moment. Yet, even as the vehicle made turns along the tunnel, all its wheels remained firmly on the tracks. Somehow, the dwarves really made this ride safe!

Donald and Goofy both worried about the ride as well. Yet as more turns went on without anything close to an incident, they both calmed down. It was a lot less graceful than their ship, but whatever worked!

It was unclear just how long the trip took. With how little scenery there was to see go by and a lack of the sun, it was anyone’s guess, and they had no frame of reference! They did start to grow weary of standing, so it was a while at the very least. Yet before anyone got too sore to stand, the minecart started to slow down, and the quartet reached the end of the tunnel!

Slowing to a smooth stop, the four arrived at the end of the tracks, another Dwarf manning this end of the trip. They were in a small room that was simply carved out of rock. There was no fancy flooring, walls, or ceiling, just a vaguely square-shaped room carved right into the stone. It was lit by numerous lanterns, and the only other thing of real note was a wooden door leading elsewhere.

“Don’t think I’ve seen four at once!” The Dwarf said with an impressed tone as the quartet got out of the minecart. “We never tested for that many, so good thing it worked!”

“Wait, you’re kidding right?” Zamansis asked, looking down at the Dwarf. “That thing goes so fast for you not to test that stuff!” Alas, the only answer the warrior got was some laughter from the Dwarf, it being unclear if he was joking or not.

“I mean we made it in one piece, that’s all that matters, right?” Sora asked, gesturing to the door. “We just go through there and we’re in Keldagrim?” At Zamansis’ nod, the teen rushed to the door and was the first to get to it. He was just so excited he had to rush! As the other three reached the door too, Sora swung it open, and the newcomers looked at the sight before them.

All of Keldagrim was underground, seemingly built into a mountain of some sort! Because of this, there was of course no sunlight, so the entire area was lit by many, many lanterns. The entire kingdom seemed to be one wide open space as far as Sora, Donald, and Goofy could see, as things got too dark when looking too far ahead. The buildings were made of metal and didn’t look very cozy, like it would be freezing being in there. And, of course, there were Dwarves all over the place! Many of them wore clothing fit for blacksmithing or some sort of construction work. A lot of them were carrying toolboxes or expertly crafted pickaxes. A number of Dwarves also carried large glasses of frothy beer, openly drinking out in the streets, and laughing with each other. The city was abuzz with all sorts of noises such as the laughter, lots of loud conversation, and the sound of metal hitting metal. Finally, the outsider trio noticed a huge building that had the most floors of any around it and was decorated with stone statues of Dwarves.

“It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?” Zamansis asked, looking about the underground civilization. “Outside of here, Dwarves are usually only in small groups or mining companies. It was a real wonder to see so many in one place!”

“It sure is somethin’! Must be kinda sad without any sunlight, though.” Goofy observed, knowing he’d start to feel pretty gloomy in a place without some good old sunshine.

The armored man shook his head. “Dwarves are more at home underground than outside. Like I said, outside of here groups of Dwarves don’t get very big and most of their population is here.” He explained, gesturing to the happy, chatting citizens. “So don’t feel bad, Goofy!”

The Royal Knight nodded, but all four of them felt like something was off. There was no immediate danger, and the citizens seemed happy, but something just didn’t seem right. It was as though the whole thing was some sort of act, like something was lurking beneath the surface. Was it the Heartless or the Red Axe, though?

“You wanted to check in with your friend or something, right?” Donald asked, not mentioning the feeling in the air. None of the four seemed to want to actually speak of it. It could’ve just been in their heads, after all.

“Yeah, Veldaban.” Zamansis confirmed. “I kind of left him to his own devices, and I want to make sure he’s okay. Should only take a few minutes.” The armored man promised.

Before any such action could be taken, some panicked shouting started to spread throughout the crowd a number of Dwarves rushing from the eastern part of the city. Concerned that it may be Heartless, the quarter rushed over to the area as more Dwarves came from a large opening in the rock wall. “Hey! What’s going on?!” Sora asked a passing Dwarf man.

“It’s the Lava Flow Mine!” He answered, panting heavily as he looked to the entrance of the mine and back to Sora. “Weird creatures are attacking people and destroying our equipment! Steer clear!” With that bit of advice, the ran onward, not looking back a second time.

“Come on, we have to go check it out!” Zamansis declared, rushing towards the Lava Flow Mine as Sora, Donald, and Goofy followed. They reached it within minutes, a massive room spread before them. The mines in question seemed to only be a single, cavernous area with, as the name suggests, lava flowing beneath stone walkways and metal railings which produced an intense heat that caused the four to start sweating almost instantly. There were pipes and complex looking machinery all around hissing out steam as some Dwarves looked on in horror as, like the fleeing Dwarf mentioned, were creatures running amok.

As expected, these creatures were Heartless! Shadows, Soldiers, and a new type on wheels with a drill for a nose called Driller Moles that burrowed in from the stone walls! The Heartless were swiping at any Dwarf that tried to stop them, and the Driller Moles used their sharp noses to tear at the machinery all about!

Looking about, Sora wasn’t sure what to do since there were so many Heartless all spread out. “What do we do?! Should we split up?!” The teen asked the others, who paused just as he had.

Before any of the others could respond, though, they noticed something very odd. Amongst the chaos was a single Dwarf in a hood that the Heartless seemed to ignore entirely. He approached an especially large piece of machinery, looking about. After a moment, he reached into his cloak and there was a red, blinking light for a moment before an explosion! The blast consumed the Dwarf and destroyed the machine that triggered an even larger explosion! This made Sora, his friends, and all the Dwarves in the area see nothing but white momentarily! As this happened, there was loud rumblings sounds of falling rocks along with the pained screams of Dwarves.

When everyone was able to see again, it became evident that the nearby area suffered from falling debris, numerous Dwarves trapped beneath rubble! As a bit of a silver lining, many of the Heartless were taken out in the blast…but the ones that remained were going for the vulnerable Dwarves!

A few of the short, bearded men were safe, the ones that were near Sora and his group. One of them shouted to another Dwarf. “You there! Go tell the Consortium what happened!” He ordered, then looked to Zamansis. “That’s you, isn’t it Zamansis? I’ve seen you around here before. Please, take care of those monsters! My men and I will work on rescuing the Dwarves under the rubble!”

Before anyone could reply, numerous Dwarves entered the mines, toolboxes in hand. Zamansis looked at them and let out a sigh. “Oh, thank Saradomin! You’re here to help us, right? There are a couple of-”

“No, we’re just here to repair the machinery. Excuse us.” One of the Dwarves replied flatly. To the astonishment of everyone else, these new Dwarves simply walked past their trapped brethren, steering clear of the Heartless as they went to the damaged machines to get to work. The Heartless mostly ignored these Dwarves, apparently preoccupied with the easier targets.

Sickened, Sora shook his head. “What’s wrong with them?! Why won’t they help?!”

The Dwarf that had asked for help seemed just as shocked. “I…I don’t know. But…please, they still need your help! I’d go myself, but I can’t fight!”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with those other Dwarves, but you can count on us! Alright, we should split up!” Zamansis declared, rushing towards one of the numerous victims that had a trio of Shadows heading at him. With a cry, the armored warrior swung his large sword in a horizonal arc, destroying the three Heartless in an instant.

“Come on, fellers! We gotta help too!” Goofy declared, rushing to fend off some Driller Moles nearing another downed Dwarf. With that, Sora and Donald split away too to provide aid.

Sora found himself faced off against five Soldiers trying to reach yet another trapped Dwarf. Standing between the Heartless and their target, Sora raised his Keyblade and unleashed several Fire blasts, two of which hit and incinerated a duo of Soldiers. The remaining creatures lunged at Sora, who blocked one of their swipes with the Keyblade and slashed at the attacker, destroying it. The remaining Soldiers charged at him from either side, prompting him to Dodge Roll out of the way so they collided. While they were stunned, the teen unleashed a Blizzard spell to eradicate them.

Looking around, Sora noted how the others were doing well on their own. Zamansis was already helping an injured Dwarf get back to the mine’s entrance. The Dwarf engineers didn’t seem to care about what was going on, much to the teen’s disgust. Ignore that, he had to work fast himself, and struggled as he got some of the debris off the Dwarf he had just rescued. “Hey, are you okay?”

Letting out a light groan, the Dwarf managed to just barely help Sora get some of the rubble off of him. “I think so…” He murmured, letting out a wince as he tried to stand up, falling to one knee instead. “I’ll need help moving back to the foreman, though!” He said, jerking his head to the Dwarf that had instructed the group to help out.

Nodding, Sora dismissed his Keyblade and helped the miner onto his feet, slowly escorting him to the entrance of the area. He glanced over and saw Donald and Goofy were doing the same thing as Zamansis went back to make a second trip.

Before too long, all the Heartless were cleared out, and all of the Dwarves were rescued. Some weren’t able to walk at all on their own, but they were all going to be fine eventually. “Oh, thank you for your help! I have no idea what happened!” The foreman declared. “If only those others helped too…” He said with misery and a touch of anger while the engineer Dwarves were still working away.

“Of course. We couldn’t just stand around and do nothing. As for what happened, I thought I saw a cloaked Dwarf just before the explosion, but I’m not sure…” Zamansis said with a sigh. “Either way, we were happy to help.”

“Ya sure you fellers are gonna be alright?” Goofy asked, looking at Donald in an expecting manner. “Some of ya look pretty roughed up.”

The foreman shook his head. “We’ll be fine. Us Dwarves are hardier than you think! Still, you should head out of here, it might still be dangerous.”

“If you’re sure.” Zamansis said, then seemed to realize something. “Actually, a good idea. I think Veldaban will want to hear about this. Maybe he’ll know more about that cloaked Dwarf!”

Sora felt bad for not being able to do more, but he still followed Zamansis out of the Lava Flow Mine, Donald and Goofy walking alongside him. But as soon as they stepped back into the greater Keldagrim area, they heard what seemed like protesting! Angry voices cried into the ceiling of the cave, and the four saw a group of Dwarves outside the Consortium building. Before they could even approach, a Dwarf with a strong build and blonde hair approached.

“Zamansis? Is that you? You came just in time!” The Dwarf declared, sounding both relieved and a bit stressed.

“Oh, Veldaban! We were about to come looking for you!” Zamansis said, also sounding relieved. “Did you hear about what happened in Lava Flow Mine?”

Rather than answering, the Dwarf looked at Sora, Donald, and Goofy with a suspicious expression. “Who are you new friends? Can I trust them?”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!” Donald asked, glaring openly at Veldaban. Though he wasn’t exactly intimidating since he and the Dwarf were roughly the same height.

“Don’t worry, they’re good people.” The armored man quickly promised. “I told them all about the Red Axe and the Chaos Dwarves. Their names are Sora, Donald, and Goofy.” He gestured to the person in question as he said their name.

Sora nodded. “Don’t worry, we’re here to help! If you’re friends with Zamansis, you’re friends with us!” He declared with a grin. The story that he had learned about was pretty wild, thinking of it. Zamansis had given a quick rundown, but even then it seemed crazy.

What was supposed to be a quick boat ride down Keldagrim’s river turned into trouble when Zamansis and the Dwarf ferryman crashed into a large statue of an old Dwarven king. That being said, Keldagrim hadn’t been ruled under an actual monarch in a long time. Instead, it was currently ruled by the Consortium, a group of eight trading companies. In any case, after the statue was broken, the hero was taken to the head of the Dwarven Black Guard, a sort of police or military force. This was Veldaban, and he tasked Zamansis to get a new statue made. This involved the hero with finding clothing to give to a sculptor to make a new body. The Consortium leaders wanted one of them to be the head of the statue, though, and Zamansis helped pick the head of the Green Gemstone group as the new model. The head of the Red Axe, Hreidmar, was so enraged over not being picked, that he took his part of the trading group and left in a huff.

After that, Zamansis returned to Keldagrim, but there was a large gap in his memory. All he could really recall was that he had a sudden urge to drink and eat kebabs for hours on end. This faded away eventually, but his memories never returned. Sora remembered shuddering when hearing about this. The idea that parts of his memory vanishing entirely really freaked him out.

Sometime later, Zamansis came back to Keldagrim, being told by Veldaban that a number of Dwarves were vanishing from the kingdom and no one could figure out what was going on. Before much else could be done or said, entities known as Chaos Dwarves attacked the kingdom. These beings were Dwarves whose hearts were tainted by darkness somehow, who were incredibly violent towards anyone or anything that wasn’t them. Upon defeating them, Zamansis and Veldaban investigated further, eventually finding out that Hreidmar was kidnapping Dwarves to convert to Chaos Dwarves. He was aided by a Dwarven ex-soldier named Colonel Grimsson and an Ogre Shaman named Grunsh that wiped the memories of anyone that got too close to the truth. After discovering this, Zamansis and Veldaban managed to escape.

However, upon reporting the kidnapping of Dwarves and their conversion to Chaos Dwarves, the Consortium and Black Guard thought little of it. It was mostly the poor that were being kidnapped, and they thought that this didn’t make the situation important enough to go to war over. Enraged at this decision, Veldaban gave up his position in the Black Guard and began to investigate more about the Red Axe on his own.

Veldaban looked the three outsiders over once more before letting out a noise of acceptance. More of a grunt, really. “Alright, fine. If Zamansis stands by your word, I’ll trust you too.”

“So, what’s going on? Why are there so many Dwarves outside of the Consortium building? It’s like a mob! Is it because of what happened in the mines?” Zamansis inquired, looking to the group of angry Dwarves. “They didn’t even send in guards to help…”

“It’s blatant corruption is what it is. Do you know why none of the Black Guard was there helping out in the mine?” Veldaban asked, but went on before waiting for an answer. “They were given orders not to! Instead, they just sent in engineers to repair the machinery, ignoring any injured! As you can expect, word of this spread, and people aren’t happy…”

“That’s horrible! Why would they do something like that?!” Sora demanded, furious on behalf of those harmed by the disaster. He heard that businessmen could be greedy and stuff back home, but this seemed really extreme!

Before Veldaban could even reply, several more Dwarves came from seemingly nowhere. They wore black armor and seemed studier than the others of their species. Without a doubt, these were the Black Guard! “You! Veldaban!” One of them shouted, leering at the Dwarf in question. “You’re under arrest on suspicion of involvement of the Lava Flow Mine’s attack!”

“What?! That’s absurd! Where did you get an idea like that?!” The accused Dwarf shouted back, giving the Black Guard an equally nasty glare.

“That wasn’t it at all! We were there!” Zamansis argued, gesturing to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “It was those nasty creatures that’ve been popping up all over the place and what was probably a Chaos Dwarf!”

“Yeah, we saw the whole thing and Veldaban wasn’t there at all!” Sora added on, knowing in his heart that someone Zamansis saw as a friend wouldn’t do something so horrid.

The Black Guard huffed a bit, not seeming to like those responses. “Well, you can all go to the Consortium building and sort it out there, then. That’s the best I can do. For now, he has to come with me.”

With a sigh, Veldaban looked to the massive building where the Consortium awaited. “Guess I have no choice. I know you’ll settle this, Zamansis…and you three too.” He looked at the outsider trio, as if just remembering them. With that, the Black Guards escorted him quietly towards the main building of Keldagrim.

“I can’t believe it. He used to be part f the Black Guard! How could they suspect him?” Zamansis said with a sigh. “Well, come on guys. Sorry about these delays. I think we’ll have to wait for things to settle down before we can ask about the Keyhole.”

“Gawrsh, it’s alright!” Goofy declared, speaking for everyone. “A friend of yours is a friend of ours, so we’re glad to help out!”

Donald rolled his eyes a bit. “Yeah, we’re ecstatic!” He said with clear sarcasm but wasn’t about to suggest any other course of action. It wasn’t that he disliked helping people, but they had a mission!

With things agreed on, the four made their way to the massive building in the middle of Keldagrim. However, as they went towards it, a figure approached them. This one wasn’t a Dwarf, however, but a human man! Wearing a single metal gauntlet and a tattered, red cape, he really stood out even without the height difference. He walked against the tide of the crowd, blue eyes looking straight at Zamansis as the massive, bandaged sword on his back became more evident as he drew near.

When he got close enough, the group stopped. “You’re Zamansis, right?” The man asked, his voice cold and flat. His gaze was intense, though, but he didn’t seem explicitly hostile.

Confused, like with the rest of the group, Zamansis nodded. “Uh, yeah. You need something? Not used to being approached by strangers, you know.”

The man didn’t answer right away, looking to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “Are these three with you?” He asked, ignoring Zamansis’ question entirely.

“We’re with him and we’re busy!” Donald shouted out, tapping his foot impatiently. “If you don’t need something, move out of the way!”

This didn’t get much of a reaction out of the stranger, his gaze simply going back to the man in the Runite armor. “I see. I’ll find you later, then.” Without even waiting for a response, he turned and walked off in a seemingly random direction, leaving a confused quintet behind.

Sora especially was curious about the man. Something about him just seemed really off, and he couldn’t explain what it was. He wasn’t sure if the guy was bad or something, but he still felt a bit unnerved for some reason. One thing he could tell, just a feeling in his gut, was that the man was very strong. That large sword he carried certainly helped cement that…

“Uh, I reckon he wasn’t a friend of yours.” Goofy remarked as he scratched the side of his head. “That seem concernin’ to ya?.”

“I’m used to seeing odd stuff.” Zamansis replied with a shrug. “Remind me to tell you guys about the penguins I had to help deal with a while back.”

Trying to just shrug off what happened, the four went past the crowd of protesting Dwarves and entered the central building of Keldagrim. Granted, that penguin comment made Sora, Donald, and Goofy really interested in hearing another story, but it’d have to wait…

The Consortium building was as busy as expected when the quartet stepped inside. It was abuzz with conversation as numerous Dwarves moved all around the ground floor, many going up and down the staircases on either side of the entrance. Most of them were carrying something such as stacks of papers, ambiguous parcels, and bars of metal such as steel or gold. If they were overtly concerned about the angry citizens outside, they didn’t show it much. Granted, there were Black Guard soldiers on either side of the entrance, both inside and outside the building. Apparently that was enough to set the workers at ease.

“Is it always this busy?” Sora asked, speaking loudly to be heard over the noise. He had never been in anything akin to an office building before, Destiny Islands simply having no such things. And he was sure glad he never had to, he already felt like he was getting a headache from the constant barrage of sound!

“Pretty much, yeah.” Zamansis replied, also talking loudly. “We can just go up to the top floor, especially if you’re with me. I’m still part of the Green Gemstone!”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy followed the adventurer up some stairs, arriving at the second floor which seemed even busier than the ground floor. It was branched into different colored sections such as green, yellow, blue, and white. They moved right along though, heading to the top floor.

To the relief of everyone, it was far quieter at their new destination. There was little in the room itself was large, but rather barren. It had red carpeting, stone pillars holding up the ceiling, a round table, and an empty throne. Aside from that, there were five Dwarves, one of them being Veldaban. Zamansis whispered to the other three that the others were directors of some of the trading organizations, all color coded conveniently.

The Dwarves didn’t seem to really notice they had guests, the directors talking amongst themselves. “We put a lot of people’s lives at risk by not sending in the Black Guard. How do we spin that?” The Green Stone Director asked with heavy frown.

“Not like we had much choice. I mean, that machinery is very delicate and if we didn’t get it repaired right away, it would’ve been a disaster!” The Brown Engine Director replied, sounding more like he was convincing himself more than anyone.

“We shouldn’t have to spin it!” The Blue Opal Director insisted. “The citizens don’t realize how important that machinery is or how it works!”

The Yellow Fortune Director, the sole female Dwarf in the room, huffed. “You wanted this, didn’t you Veldaban? You wanted us to look terrible!”

“What are you talking about?! I wasn’t even there!” The accused Dwarf shot back, clearly shocked before getting angry. “It’s not like any of you even have proof I was involved!”

“That’s right! He wasn’t there! We saw the whole thing!” Sora shouted out, unable to help himself. “It was the Heartless and some other Dwarf that did it!”

All the Dwarves in the room looked to the four guests, the directors seeming rather unhappy. “And just who are you?” The Blue Opal Director asked. “How did you get up here? And what is a Heartless?”

“Ah, it’s Zamansis! He let them up here!” The Green Gemstone Director said with a light sigh. “I appreciate you getting my head on that statue, but this hardly the time. But I am also curious, what is a Heartless?”

“They’re the strange creatures that have been popping up everywhere recently.” Zamansis explained. “Sora and his friends told me about them. They come from the darkness in people’s hearts!”

The Brown Engine Director scoffed at that. “That sounds completely ridiculous. I’ve never heard of such nonsense before!”

“It’s true!” Donald said with a glare. “We know more about them than you! Now let Veldaban go! He’s innocent!”

“He was part of the Black Guard before, right?” Goofy added on, far calmer than his magic friend. “Why would he do somethin’ like mess with the minin’ equipment?”

Zamansis nodded along with this, speaking up himself. “He’s still pretty popular, you know. If the citizens knew you were keeping Veldaban here without any proof, you’ll all look even worse in their eyes.”

That seemed to strike some fear in the eyes of the directors, who looked to each other nervously. “That’s a good point…” The Yellow Fortune Director murmured. “They’re already after our blood…”

“Yeah, and like I said, I didn’t do anything! I spent years helping this kingdom, so why would I turn against it?!” Veldaban demanded, but got no answer from the various directors.

“I think it might be for the best. Honestly, I wasn’t so sure about arresting him.” The Blue Opal Director admitted sheepishly. “It seems pretty unlikely when we stop and think about it…”

“If it was anyone we know, it was the Red Axe!” Veldaban insisted, practically spitting the name of the horrid group. “I can’t imagine any other Dwarves that would do something like this!”

“That again? You still have no proof from last time!” The Brown Engine Director argued, but then shook his head. “Still, there’s no proof of anyone in particular being involved with this. I propose we let Veldaban go and investigate further.” He said the last part to his fellow directors.

There were murmurs of agreement from the other three, Veldaban finally seeming calmer as he gave a deep sigh. “I still say it’s the Red Axe, but letting me go is a start, I suppose.”

Before anyone could reply, a Black Guard entered the room, panting as if he ran all the way there. “Directors! There’s a problem! Chaos Dwarves! An army of them in the Barendir caverns!”

“Oh, Guthix, you can’t be serious!” The Blue Opal Director exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief. “They have entire armies now? In any case, have Colonel Grenda send the First Division take care of things for the moment!”

“That’s not all…” The Black Guard went on. “The crowd outside has grown larger, and someone is making a disturbing speech to them. It’s Hreidmar, and he keeps talking about a king, and the citizens seem to be hanging onto his every word…”

“That scoundrel! Right here in our kingdom!” Veldaban shouted out, pushing past the Black Guard. “Zamansis! Come on, we have to go confront him!”

As Zamansis did as his friend requested, Sora and his two companions followed as well. “Hey, we’re helping too!” The teen exclaimed but was ignored by the Dwarf. When the quintet got outside, they saw that the Black Guard was right. There, in front of the crowd, was an elderly Dwarf with fancy red clothing and supported by a cane. While the other Dwarves were calmer, at the very least no longer screaming, they seemed far angrier than before as Hreidmar shouted out to them.

“The Consortium government is incompetent and full of darkness!” The elderly Dwarf declared with rage in his voice. “The incident in the Lava Flow Mine proves that! Even now, an army of those horrid Chaos Dwarves stands poised to attack the city! Only a strong leader can keep us safe from this menace! Our ancestors knew this would happen. Remember the Azdaran Fragment! The oldest document in our city's history!”

“Oh, so that’s his plan…” Veldaban murmured, he and the other four in the group watching as the Red Axe’s leader gave off his speech.

“What do you mean? What is it?” Sora asked, looking between Veldaban and Hreidmar. He was tempted to just attack the older Dwarf, knowing that he was the cause of so much misery! Even at that moment, he could practically see darkness emanating from his frame. But the teen also knew charging in would be a bad idea. If those other Dwarves saw him attacking someone they trusted, it’d cause a lot more issues…

Unaware of the quintet’s presence, Hreidmar went on. “The document states, and I quote, ‘No band of petty councilors can preserve this city through its darkest days – only a king.’ and I agree with those words! What say you?!”

The crowd of Dwarves cheered, spurred by the man’s words. “Only a king!” They chanted. “Only a king! Only a king!”

Hreidmar signaled for the crowd to quiet down, which they complied with. “The Age of the Consortium has failed us! It is time to go back to the Golden Age! The Age of Kings! We must force them to open the sealed records chamber! The family trees in there will show us who is the most direct descendant of King Alvis! Only that way will Keldagrim truly prosper! Only a king!”

Once more, the crowd chanted Hreidmar’s words right back at him, the Black Guards at the large building’s door looking a bit nervous. Veldaban looked even more worried, looking to the other four in the group. “I think I know his plan! I’d bet anything that somehow that rat has already gotten into the chambers, tampering with the records to make it so he’d be the one to take the throne!”

“Say, he did want his head on that there statue, right?” Goofy pointed out, recalling Zamansis’ story. “I guess that’s all he wanted all along.”

“Looks like a lust for the throne really clouded his heart with darkness.” Zamansis agreed. “But what do we do about it? Do we go to the records first?”

“It may cause trouble, but why don’t we just take him out right here.” Sora suggested. He thought that could cause trouble moments before, but the cause of all this trouble was standing right there undefended! Normally he’d have hang-ups about beating up an old man, but not one like this…

Veldaban shook his head. “That won’t solve anything. If Hreidmar is taken out, Colonel Grimsson will just take his place. If anything, it’d spur him to act sooner. That army of Chaos Dwarves can’t be for show…”

“Well, what do we do then?” Donald asked, having had a similar idea to Sora’s. Just one Thunder spell ought to take that dastardly old Dwarf out for a while…

“I know one person that can help us. Her name is Meike, and she’s the leader of the Monarchist Society.” This got confused looks from the others, or at least a noise of surprise from Zamansis. “Yes, as the name implies, her group thinks that Keldagrim should be a monarchy, but she’d never let a false king sit on the throne. I’m sure we can convince her of Hreidmar’s scheme! She could easily spot fault records, so we’ll need her expertise.”

That made much more sense! Not as direct, but it was worth a shot! “Okay, but where is she?” Sora asked. “This kingdom is huge!”

“Well, the Monarchist Society usually meets at the King’s Axe inn. Better place than any to try.” Veldaban suggested. Without waiting for a response, he started past Hreidmar and the Dwarven mob. The other four followed him, and it seemed the Red Axe’s leader either didn’t notice the presence of Zamansis and Veldaban or simply didn’t care.

As the quintet walked, they kept hearing murmurs from Dwarves they passed by. Some of them mentioned being in favor of a new king while others argued against it. A lot more of them simply discredited the Consortium and thinks they need some sort of overhaul. The small group stayed quiet, just focusing on getting to the inn and not wanting to speak of their plan and accidentally rustle any feathers of nearby Dwarves. After all, the tension in Keldagrim was almost palpable, a severe change from before the incident at Lava Flow Mine…

With all the tension and the presence of Hreidmar, along with the Lava Flow Mine’s attack, the three outsiders were especially surprised at the lack of Heartless within Keldagrim. It was obvious the Red Axe leader was using the creatures of darkness for his own needs, and he was stirring the darkness in the hearts of his fellow Dwarves. Yet the quintet didn’t encounter even a hint that a Heartless was around as they made their way to the inn. Maybe the elderly Dwarf had such control over the Heartless that they wouldn’t even appear unless he desired it.

Before long, Veldaban lead the group to a tall building that, to the others, looked just about the same as the others. It was apparently the right one because the Dwarf took them right in. The interior was pretty typical for an inn, of course. There were some Dwarves in the lobby either talking amongst themselves or to some staff behind a desk. There was a staircase leading up to some rooms and other doors leading elsewhere in the inn.

“So, Meike is somewhere here? Do you see her?” Zamansis asked, looking around as if he’d somehow spot a Dwarf he’s never met before.

“I’ve only seen her on occasion, but I’d know her on sight.” Veldaban explained, scanning the room as well. “I don’t see her, though…but the desk clerk might know…” He gestured for the rest of the group to wait as he went up to the clerk, the two Dwarves speaking too far away to be heard. Still, Veldaban nodded at the end and looked satisfied which was a good sign. As he returned, the ex-guard pointed to one of the closed doors. “He said the Monarchist Society meets in there.”

“Do you think this Meike woman will help? What if she doesn’t?” Sora asked, not too savvy about politics, especially where monarchs are concerned. Still, he knew Hreidmar couldn’t take the throne, the old Dwarf practically reeking of darkness.

“I think she will. There’s no way she’d approve of Hreidmar taking the throne. Way I see it, the only reason that crowd back there did was because that cunning old rat managed to manipulate their feelings. But no time to talk about ‘what-ifs’, right?” Veldaban said, sounding sure of his words as the quintet entered the directed room.

As the clerk said, there was a meeting of sorts going on. The room itself was rather barren, mostly just a small round table with some chairs. There was only a small handful of Dwarves, with a single woman amongst them who had to be Meike. It wasn’t her that spoke up, though, but a gruff looking Dwarf sitting by her. “Hey, we’re holding a meeting here! Go on!”

“Wait, is that you Veldaban?” Meike said, standing up. “Didn’t think I’d see you coming into one of our meetings!”

“We need to talk. It’s about Hreidmar and his plotting. Please, we need your help!” Veldaban said, looking at Meike alone as he spoke.

Meike paused, clearly pondering, before nodding her head. “It’s okay. You can leave us alone. I trust Veldaban and his friends.” She said, the other Dwarves surprised at her words. Still, they did as she said and left the room, the last one closing the door after giving a lingering look.

“So, you’re not fond of Hreidmar either, huh?” Zamansis commented. “You gave into talking things out with us pretty fast.”

“Oh, I certainly am not fond of him. I want a monarch as much as anyone, but I also know he’d be one to fake his records.” Meike said with a disgusted tone.

“It’s worse than that, he has Chaos Dwarves ready to attack! He’s been kidnapping people!” Donald exclaimed, not caring about any sort of subtlety. “We’ve got to see those records!”

Meike only seemed a little shocked, nodding gravely at Donald’s words. “If Veldaban believes he’s behind the Chaos Dwarves, then I believe it too. And that’s a good of a plan as any. I take it you’d know I could spot a forgery with ease, eh?”

“Exactly. So, you’ll help us?” Veldaban prodded. “I don’t know anyone else that could do this as well as you. And I certainly trust no one else either.”

Quickly, Meike nodded as she moved from the table to the group. “I will. I’d rather no king at all than a false one. Or, honestly, I’d rather no king than someone like Hreidmar on the throne. Guthix help us if someone like that has control of Keldagrim!”

“Great! So, where are the records, then? There won’t be guards, will there?” Goofy asked, not wanting to have to fight innocent guys that are just doing their jobs.

“No, the records are in the library. The librarian knows me, so he might let me handle the keys. Duplicates will need to be made of course. Six of them, so some clay and six bars of Mithril will be needed.” Meike explained.

“Really? I have all of that in my bag!” Zamansis spouted, glancing over at his magically enhanced object.

Veldaban scoffed. “Well, that’s very convenient, isn’t it?”

“Yes…very convenient…” Zamansis said back, almost speaking in a sly sort of tone.

At the mention of keys, Sora thought of his Keyblade. There was some feeling he couldn’t explain, one that sprouted from his heart. It was like a soft voice at the back of his mind. Not even a voice, really, more like an intrusive thought. The Keyblade clearly had a lot of powers, and could magically lock things like those Keyholes…so why couldn’t it unlock things? “Wait.” The teen said, causing everyone to look at him. “I think I know a way in without those keys. Can we please try that first?”

Donald quickly determined what Sora was talking about. Thinking of it, he swore that King Mickey talked about how the Keyblade could unlock just about anything! “He’s right, I think he can do it!”

“You should’ve mentioned that sooner! That does seem pretty handy if it’s true, though.” Zamansis said with a shrug. “Is that Keyblade of yours? Since it’s a giant key and all.”

“I only just thought of it now.” Sora replied, summoning the weapon in question. “And I’ve never tried it before, but something’s telling me to give it a shot.”

“I don’t know what that Keyblade thing is, but if it helps get us into the records chamber, I don’t really care.” Veldaban said with gruff approval. “We should hurry, though. Who knows how riled up that crowd is thanks to Hreidmar? If they get to the chamber first…” He trailed off with a disgruntled noise.

Meike seemed totally lost, but still nodded. “I’m willing to give a try. But Veldaban’s right, we should hurry! We’ll just go straight to the records chamber!”

The group quickly left the inn as Sora put the Keyblade away. The Dwarves lead the outsiders towards the records chamber at a fast pace. Unfortunately, the chamber in question was essentially on the other side of Keldagrim. There was no conversation to be had on the way, the sextet simply focusing on getting to their location as fast as possible.

To the surprise of the non-Dwarves, the entrance to the records chamber was somewhat underwhelming for such an important location. The way inside was literally a doorway carved into the cave wall. There weren’t even any guards! The room they found themselves in wasn’t very large and mainly consisted of lit torches and a single, large set of wooden double doors. There was, however, also six keyholes etched in stone along the wall on either side of the door.

Catching his breath, Veldaban looked to the brunette teen expectantly. “Alright, Sora, you use that Keyblade thing to open up that door! We’re lucky we’re the first ones here!”

Resummoning the Keyblade, Sora paused for a moment. Really, he had no idea what to actually do. He gripped the weapon in his hands, trying to remember what it was like when he locked the Keyhole. Surely unlocking something couldn’t be too different, right? With a deep breath through his nose, Sora concentrated his will into the Keyblade, pointing it right at the door. To his surprise, the tip of the weapon soon glowed, as did all the keyholes to the records chamber. A few seconds later, there was an audible clicking from all the keyholes, signifying they were unlocked at the same time.

“Gawrsh! That was pretty impressive, Sora!” Goofy praised as the glowing faded away and Sora dismissed the Keyblade once more. “Guess you’ll never have to keep track of yer house keys ever again, huh?” He lightly joked.

“Something like that would’ve been so helpful in some of my previous quests…” Zamansis commented with a bit of a sigh. “So many keys I had to keep track of…”

“Never mind that!” Veldaban exclaimed, going to the wooden doors, and opening them up. “Let’s look at those records!” The sextet entered the next room, one that was much fancier than the entryway. The floor was actually carpeted, and the walls were lined with shelves full of dusty old tomes and scrolls. It looked like no one had entered the room in years! Yet, somehow, there were lit candles along the walls. Some sort of magic, probably. In any case, if Hreidmar or one of his Chaos Dwarf agents had entered this room previously, it certainly didn’t show!

Meike instantly went to the shelves, her eyes darting about the writing present. “No time to waste, as impressive as that was.” She commented. “The records showing the royal lineage should be around here somewhere…” The female Dwarf murmured, mostly to herself. After a few moments, she let out a noise and pulled an old piece of paper from the shelves. “Here! Let’s see…this is…hmmm…O-Oh…” Her tone went from excited, to curious, to disappointment all within a few seconds.

“Well, what is it?! What’s it say?!” Donald pressed impatiently, the others in the group looking to Meike with bated breath. “It was tampered with, right?!”

Meike turned to face the group, a heavy frown on her face. “According to these records, Hreidmar is the rightful king of Keldagrim. No doubt about it.” She let out a shuddering sigh. “But…there’s no tampering. This is legitimate, as horrible as it sounds.”

Veldaban snatched the paper away, looking it over frantically. “That can’t be! You had to have made a mistake or something!” He insisted, staring at the records as if the answer would pop out of thin air if he looked hard enough.

The female Dwarf’s brows furrowed as she let out an offended noise. “You came to me because you knew I could spot a forgery! And I can! Yet I can see, unfortunately, that there was no tampering! As awful as it is, Hreidmar is the rightful ruler to our kingdom!”

“He didn’t even have to fake his way in…” Zamansis said with unhidden disgust. “In a way, I swear that’s worse. His right to rule is entirely legitimate! He probably knew the whole time, it’s why he wanted his head on the statue way back…”

“What do we do, then?” Sora asked, frowning as the mood got heavy in the room. “We still have to stop him!” But how? Just attacking him was, presumably, still off the table.

Meike opened her mouth, shut it, and then opened it again. Clearly, she was debating whether to bring up whatever was on her mind. “If…Hreidmar really is the true king…there’s only one thing that I can do to help.”

Veldaban instantly realized what the fellow Dwarf meant, his eyes widening. “You can’t be serious! Forging the records yourself?! Meike, there has to be some other way…”

“Unless you can think of something else, I have no choice!” She argued, looking at the other five expectantly, wanting some alternative idea. Yet, after a few slow, almost agonizing seconds, it was clear there was no other way. “You five should go. There are still Chaos Dwarves in the Barendir Caverns. I’m sure you can help out some way.”

“There’s really no need. Colonel Grenda should have things under control.” Veldaban replied, though not sounding too sure.

Meike sighed. “Honestly, I don’t want anyone to see me messing with legitimate records like this. Even if it’s for the greater good, it makes me feel sick to my stomach. So, please, I don’t care what you do. I just want to be alone.”

“I think we should go.” Sora remarked, frowning as Meike looked increasingly depressed. “There could be Heartless there, and it’s our job to look into anything related to them. Pretty much.” As he said this, he gestured to Donald and Goofy.

“Besides, we can’t just sit around while the kingdom’s in danger!” Goofy added on. “We should lend a helpin’ hand!”

Donald tapped his foot impatiently. He hadn’t forgotten they were here to find out about the Keyhole, but it seemed like everyone else had! Still, he knew they wouldn’t get anywhere fast with such danger looming over Keldagrim. “Let’s just make it snappy!”

“I wouldn’t want to sit by either, Veldaban.” Zamansis pointed out. “Come on, let’s at least see what the situation is!”

“Alright, alright! I get the picture!” The male Dwarf gruffly agreed. “Meike, thank you for helping us, even if it’s in a way that clearly upsets you. Just remember this is for the greater good…”

Meike didn’t say anything, just nodding glumly as the other five went out of the record chambers. Once more, Veldaban showed the rest where to go. It was a bit of a ways, the group having to go all the way to the entrance of Keldagrim, using a boat to move past a large stone statue of Dwarven king with the Green Gemstone Director’s head tacked on top. They went by some Dwarves mining some rocky outcrops and came across a standard cavern entrance. Even without going through, the quintet heard the buzz of conversation from the other side.

Passing through the cavern entrance, the quintet saw dozens of Black Guard Dwarves, all armored and armed with sword, axes, and maces. At the moment, they were talking amongst each other, but were clearly ready for war. When they saw the outside group arrived, they were surprised, and a few even moved to perhaps tell the five to leave. Their gazes then honed in and Veldaban and they paused. All save for a female Dwarf who went up to the small group.

“Veldaban? What are you doing here?” She asked, more shocked than anything. “You’re no here to fight, are you?”

“It’s good to see you, Colonel Grenda. As for fighting, I’m hoping not.” Veldaban replied. “I want to talk to Grimsson, see if I can’t get him to see this is all pointless.”

The female Dwarf shook her head. “You don’t think that will work, do you? We’re waiting for the siege now, it should come at any minute.”

“If there’s a chance, we should try, right?” Sora piped up, though he also had his doubts. If this Grimsson guy was working with Hreidmar, he was surely bad news and had a heart steeped with darkness.

“Who are you? You’re too young to be here!” Colonel Grenda announced, only seeming to just notice Sora’s presence. “I do know you by reputation, Zamansis.” She said to the armored man.

“This is Sora, Donald, and Goofy.” Zamansis introduced. “Trust me, they can handle their own. And I agree with Veldaban and Sora. If we can avoid conflict and death, it’s worth a shot.”

Colonel Grenda sighed, once more shaking her head. “I don’t agree, but I’m not in charge of any of you. If you really want to go try using diplomacy, don’t let me stop you. Just try to avoid the offshoot tunnel. There’s a band of Trolls there. They don’t seem to know what’s going on, as long as we’re aware.”

“We’ll be careful, don’t you worry. I know these caverns like the back of my hand.” Veldaban said, yet again leading the other four onward. They passed by numerous Black Guards, all of whom looked at the group in astonishment as they went further into the dimly lit caverns.

“You’ve been here before?” Donald asked Veldaban, getting his wand ready just in case fighting broke out.

“Once. It was years ago, a battle with the Trolls and us Dwarves. More intense than any other.” Veldaban replied after a second, his tone dark and almost fearful. “Long story short, there was a lot of casualties on both sides. Almost all of us walked away with scars, on our bodies or in our hearts. Grimsson had both. He was never the same man after that…”

“Is that why ya think he can be reasoned with? Because he used to be good?” Goofy softly prodded. He liked to think that anyone could be shown the light if someone was there to give a helping hand. How true this notion was, however…

“Something like that.” Veldaban answered simply but gave no further explanation. The mood was greatly soured after that, the five going through the dark cavern in silence. Before too long, they came across an opening with a startling sight. There was indeed an army of Chaos Dwarves, just as was expected. They had ashen grey skin with armored spiked and dangerous looking. More disturbingly was they all had large cracks in their skin, glowing orange as if lava flowed through their veins instead of blood.

On top of this, there were Heartless amongst the ranks of the Chaos Dwarves, but none of them seemed hostile to the warped beings. Shadows, Soldiers, and Large Bodies dotted the small army, entirely docile as if under the control of someone else. That someone was very apparent, as an almost palpable darkness was visible on the sole Dwarf that wasn’t physical corrupted. This Dwarf had a large scar on his face, adorned in red armor with a belt with a Red Axe upon it. Even in his hand, he wielded a red colored axe.

This Dwarf, surely Colonel Grimsson, approached the group with a wicked smile on his face. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Zamansis readied their weapons while the armless Veldaban simply glared the darkness-tainted Dwarf as he got closer.

“Is this the army we’ll be facing?” Grimsson snarked with a nasty grin. “Four outsiders and a Dwarf without a weapon. What are you even doing here, Veldaban? You think you can stop all of us?! I control an army of Chaos Dwarves and these beings of shadow!” He declared, gesturing to his mixed army. “Even those beasts do as I say! You have to hope against me!”

Despite the taunting, Veldaban remained calm. “Just turn back. We don’t have to fight this out. Just take your army and go!” He pleaded, his tone softer than his glaring expression.

“You used to fight for Keldagrim, right?” Sora asked, not having the entire picture, but just enough. “Why do you want to attack innocent people from your own home?!”

Grimsson scoffed, as if Sora asked a completely meaningless question. “It doesn’t matter. My reasons are my own, and I won’t be turning back. You can fight me here, or wait for us to take over Keldagrim!”

“Don’t you remember? You fought so hard to protect Keldagrim? Why throw it away? There has to be a reason!” Zamansis asserted. “Did the Red Axe corrupt you?”

“How dare you?!” Grimsson snarled, practically spitting as he spoke. “The Red Axe is my life! It’s all I have! I’ll do anything for it!”

Veldaban let out a shuddering breath. “Grimsson, you were never like this. We looked up to you! The Red Axe…they had to have done this. Wiped your memory and twisted your heart just like the foot soldiers!”

“Don’t compare me to those empty shells!” Grimsson screamed, lunging at Veldaban, and swinging his axe at the unarmed Dwarf. As Veldaban backed away from the attack, Sora and Zamansis intercepted with their blades. Even with both of them, they struggled against Grimsson’s berserker strength. The corrupted Dwarf had a maddened glare, as if dark rage was all that pushed him to fight.

At this point, the Heartless started to make their move, starting towards the quintet. Oddly, the Chaos Dwarves stayed still as statues. Perhaps they were just so far gone, that they wouldn’t even attack an obvious enemy without order.

“Sora, we’ll keep the Heartless at bay!” Donald exclaimed, shooting off several fireballs at the incoming creatures.

“You and Zamansis take out their leader!” Goofy added in, charging at a nearby Soldier and slamming him away with his shield.

Going with the quick plan, Sora and Zamansis worked together and properly parried Grimsson’s attack, sending him back a few steps. Unable to fight, Veldaban stayed out of the way, standing by a nearby wall.

Darkness practically pouring off of him, Grimsson stabbed at Sora with his weapon, moving with an intense speed for a stocky man. The teen was just barely able to dodge, slamming the Keyblade into the Dwarf’s chest as a counterattack. Despite getting in such a blatant, clean hit, it barely seemed to harm Grimsson at all. Whether he was just that strong or his enraged state let him hide his pain, he didn’t so much as grunt from the attack as Sora backpedaled away.

At this point, Zamansis readied his hand and a blast of wind shot towards Grimsson, which seemed to do little but make him stagger. Still, the hero wasn’t discouraged and leapt surprisingly high in the air, slamming down to the ground so hard it caused cracks to appear on the cavern floor. As he did this, he slashed down across Grimsson’s armored chest, but did little but leave a nasty gash in it.

Roaring out in anger, Grimsson waved his axe, and in doing so, wells of darkness appeared beneath Sora and Zamansis. With only a split second to react, the two moved out of the way as a pillar of darkness shot up from the well, only to vanish a moment later. This repeated over and over, spots of darkness appearing while the duo ran about doing their best to not get caught up in the attack.

As he ran, Sora pointed his Keyblade at Grimsson, shooting a Fire spell at him that struck at the same spot Zamansis’ attack landed. This made Grimsson flinch hard enough for the darkness attacks to stop.

Thinking fast, Sora used his Blizzard magic on Grimsson, aiming for his feet just as he did to one of the Heartless before. Ice encased the Dwarf’s feet, sticking him to the cavern floor. Yes, as the teen rushed to Grimsson to land a strike, the Red Axe soldier ripped his feet out from the ice, shattering it to pieces. Grimsson then lunged at Sora, backhanding him harshly with a gauntlet-covered hand and sending the brunette to the floor.

As Grimsson raised his weapon to finish Sora off, Zamansis came to the rescue, blocking the blow with his shield as the teen recovered. With a grunt of effort, Sora stood up and lunged at Grimsson, aiming a club-like swing of the Keyblade at the Dwarf’s head. Grimsson was only able to move his head enough so the attack struck his helmet, knocking it off and onto the floor. This revealed his shaven head, another scar running across his scalp.

With monstrous strength, Grimsson pushed Zamansis away with his weapon, glaring between the armored man and Sora, who had backpedaled away. The Dwarf didn’t know too many fancy moves, but his strength and durability were pretty severe! Or, in the latter case, his armor was strong at the very least.

Trying a new trick, Grimsson spun his weapon expertly in his hands, grinning fiendishly as the end of it started to light aflame! Somehow, he was using some sort of Fire magic! Grunting, Grimsson drew closer to Zamansis and Sora, swinging his burning axe wildly and forcing them to keep their distance.

Younger, smaller, and spryer, Sora was able to see a clear gap in Grimsson’s wild swings. At least one that he could get through! Performing a Dodge Roll, he got under a wide, horizontal swing of the Dwarf’s, stabbing at his armored chest with his Keyblade. Grimsson wasn’t able to do anything to stop the blow, taking it at full force which made him stagger once more. While he was momentarily stunned, Sora took the chance to unleash further attacks. Wildly, the teen swung his weapon, hitting Grimsson both on his armored body and even dealing some blows to the head!

Each of these swift impacts made Grimsson step backwards more and more, grunting out in angered pain at each blow. Still, it didn’t seem like each attack did too much damage. If anything, it seemed to just increase his rage! Yet even with his unusual speed, he was taken too off guard to properly counter or dodge Sora’s onslaught! Yet, as it turned out, he wouldn’t have to do much of anything. With a roar, Grimsson’s body gave off a wave of darkness that pushed Sora back and prevented Zamansis from getting near!

“I’ll tear you both apart! None of you are leaving these caverns alive! Not even you, Veldaban!” Grimsson roared, glaring at the other Dwarf as he referred to him. But, before the enraged warrior could do anything further, a Thunder spell formed above him, and several bolts rained down on him! The electricity visibly surged across his armor and what little exposed skin there was, the attack doing far more noticeable damage than anything Sora or Zamansis did. Just as Grimsson turned around to see what happened, a round shield went hurtling through the air and slammed into his forehead! The impact nearly knocked Grimsson off of his feet as Donald and Goofy came up to the fight, the knight catching his shield as it came back to him.

“The Heartless are all taken care of, so now it’s four against one!” Donald declared, brandishing his wand and preparing for another spell.

Grimsson scowled, looking as he was surrounded on all sides. “You…! You…!” He sputtered, appearing too angry to even speak. After a moment, he composed himself to utter just a few words. “You bested me, but you won’t best my army! Men! Fall back!” With his surprising speed once more, he sprinted past Donald and Goofy, running through his army of Chaos Dwarves, who all followed the orders given to them.

“You coward! Come back here!” Veldaban screamed, but his words fell on deaf ears as the small army retreated further into the caverns

“Should we chase ‘em?” Goofy asked, unsure. “There are a lot of ‘em, and I bet those Chaos Dwarves fight better than the Heartless…” At least, in terms of actually using more strategy than the lesser Heartless come with.

“No, I’m sure there are more Chaos Dwarves further down these tunnels. Chasing after them would be a death sentence for sure!” Veldaban argued with a shake of the head.

Sora didn’t like that answer, but he had to admit, fighting all those Chaos Dwarves seemed pretty rough! “What do we do, then? We can’t just go back to Keldagrim, right?”

There was a pause within the group, one that was soon broken by Zamansis. “What about the Trolls? I’m on good terms with a few of them, ones that might be in these caverns! We could get them to fight the Chaos Dwarves!”

“You don’t really trust them, do you?” Veldaban asked, practically gawking at Zamansis’ response. “They’re about as dangerous as the Chaos Dwarves!”

“Well, we have to try!” Zamansis argued. “With or without you, I’m going to try and convince the Trolls to help!” He said this to everyone in the group, not just Veldaban.

Sora had never heard of helpful Trolls in any stories he heard…but of course the Trolls he heard in fantasy stories growing up could possibly be very different than the ones in this world. “It’s worth a shot, right…?”

Veldaban sighed, stroking his beard anxiously. “You four can go if you want. I just…can’t face Trolls. Not after the battles I’ve fought…” He let out a shudder, his voice full of an old fear. “I’ll wait back in Keldagrim, see how the situation there is holding up…”

Without another word, the Dwarf went back towards his kingdom.

“I think we should go.” Sora said to Donald and Goofy. “I mean, if things get ugly, Zamansis will need some backup anyway…”

The short magician sighed. “I guess so. Will we get to talk to the Consortium about the Keyhole when this is all done?” They had gotten so sidetracked!

“I promise we will. I’m sorry things got this way.” Zamansis said sincerely. “Sometimes when I pop in somewhere for a visit, things end up…like this.” He made a vague gesture around them.

“It’s settled! Let’s hurry and talk to them there Trolls!” Goofy said with his usual enthusiasm, starting to walk back the way they came.

The way to the Trolls was about halfway between the Black Guards and where the Chaos Dwarves were stationed. In an offshoot tunnel, a nasty odor and distant chatter could be heard! Walking in that direction, the four quickly found themselves at another encampment, this one populated by Trolls! It turned out the Trolls of Gielinor were apparently made of rock, or so it seemed. They were taller than any human Sora had seen, and their skin was grey and brown, looking as if they simply tore themselves from the mountains at birth.

A lot of the Trolls noticed the four outsiders, but none made any movements. One of the larger ones went up to the group, point to Zamansis. “What tall Dwarf doing here?” It asked. “Pretty Flower eat for dinner!”

“Dat not Dwarf! Dat human!” Another Troll piped up, approaching the commotion. “My Arm met dis human before! Hi, human!” My Arm greeted, waving at Zamansis eagerly, prompting the man to gently wave back.

“What’s with these names? Pretty Flower? My Arm?” Donald whispered up to the armored hero.

“Trolls are named after the first thing the eat or try to eat.” Zamansis whispered back. “My Arm tried to eat his dad’s arm, so his dad named him ‘My Arm’ if that makes sense…”

“…Not really…” Donald grumbled. These Trolls sure were weird!

“Look, are you in charge?” Sora interrupted, pointing at Pretty Flower. “We have to talk to you! It’s urgent!” He also found the naming thing very odd…but it was pretty funny too. It was hard to keep a straight face calling a monstrous beast ‘Pretty Flower’ like that.

Pretty Flower guffawed, shaking his head. “You not worthy to talk to me!” The Troll declared, shaking his head a second time. “If you lift Big Rock, you talk to me!” He ordered, pointing to yet another bulky Troll. “Don’t care which one of you do it. One of you gotta do it!”

“Well, gawrsh, I know I can’t lift a Troll…” Goofy remarked, looking Big Rock over. “I know you can’t, Donald. Uh…you probably can’t either, Sora. No offense…”

“None taken. I don’t think any person could lift up something like that!” Sora said with a heavy frown. Turning to Zamansis, he sighed. “What do we do?”

Zamansis paused, putting his sword and shield away. “I’ll lift him. I can do this!” He said, voice heavy with confidence. Without waiting for a response, he went over to Big Rock, the Troll chortling down at him. With an intense strength, the armored man hoisted the monstrous being over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes! Letting out a loud, drawn out grunt of strain, he stood up straight, properly lifting up Big Rock!

“What?! He actually did it!” Donald exclaimed, rubbing his eyes to make sure he was really seeing things right! How was that possible?!

“Hwerp!” Big Rock exclaimed, just as shocked as Donald and the others were. He was quickly put down, staring down at Zamansis in awe before letting out a guffaw. “Human lift me up! Me not think any human is strong enough, but this human lift me up!” He declared, sounding oddly happy about the situation.

The armored man, who was panting a bit, walked over to Pretty Flower. “Now we can talk, right?” He asked, getting his breath back.

Pretty Flower grumbled, but nodded. “Human did as told. Fine. What you want?”

“We want you to help fight off the Chaos Dwarves in the tunnels!” Zamansis declared, getting right to the point.

“Why we do dat?” My Arm piped up, scratching the side of his head. “Other Dwarves real annoying!”

Zamansis paused before coming up with an answer. “Uh…well…you can eat the Chaos Dwarves! No way for them to return to normal, so them dying is surely a better fate…” He said the last part more to Sora, Donald, and Goofy than to the Trolls.

Pretty Flower shook his head and spat on the ground. “No way! Those Dwarves taste like bad eggs!”

“I’m sure that Keldagrim would be awfully thankful. Maybe they’d reward ya!” Goofy suggested, trying for a far less violent reason.

“Naw! Those Dwarves got nothing we want!” Pretty Flower refused with another shake of his head. “We need good reason to help Dwarves!”

Not even thinking, Sora pointed right at Pretty Flower. “Their leader, Colonel Grimsson, said your name was stupid!” The teen lied, feeling that the Troll had to be at least a bit self-conscious about such a soft name.

There was a heavy, long silence after that declaration. My Arm and Big Rock stared at Pretty Flower, jaws hung open and clear fear on their stony faces. After a few moments, Pretty Flower growled and stomped his foot. “He what?!” The Troll bellowed. “No one make fun of Pretty Flower! We kill the freaky Dwarves! Trolls! Get ready to fight!”

“How’d you know what would work?” Zamansis asked, watching as the Trolls roared out and started to follow Pretty Flower into the main caverns.

“If I had a name like that, I’d hate it if I got made fun of too.” Sora replied with a shrug. “I’m just glad he bought that lie…”

Goofy couldn’t help but laugh, wiping a tear that formed at the corner of his eye. “Great thinkin’, Sora! I kinda feel bad that the Trolls are goin’ to fight over a lie, but…if it helps Keldagrim…”

“We can talk morality later. Come on, let’s go tell Veldaban the good news!” Zamansis suggested  as the quartet quickly made their way back to Keldagrim, telling Colonel Grenda the good news on the way. When the four got back to the kingdom, there was a mob still outside the Consortium building with Black Guards keeping them from entering. Along with that, Hreidmar and Veldaban were off to either side of the angry crowd.

“Veldaban! The Trolls are fighting for us!” Sora said when they reached their companion. He quickly noticed he didn’t even smile at the news, just staring up at a balcony of the massive building. “What’s wrong…?’

The Dwarf sighed. “Sorry. That’s great news. It’s just…Meike made her changes. I wish there was another way…”

“Who did she change the name to?” Goofy asked quietly, not wanting anyone in the crowd to overhear.

Before Veldaban could answer, several members of the Consortium made their way to the balcony. The Green Gemstone Director spoke up to the mob. “People of Keldagrim! Please!  Listen!” He shouted out, the crowd’s noise dying down. “The Consortium has guided this city for the past five hundred years. Recent events, however, have made it impossible for the Consortium to stay in power. We know that these are troubled times, and there is truth to the Azdaran Fragment. 'No band of petty councilors can preserve this city through its darkest days – only a king.' as it plainly says.”

The Blue Opal Director took over at this point. “With this in mind we authorized the opening of the records chamber in order to determine who is the rightful heir to the throne. The Consortium will step down and become an advisory body under the new king, no questions asked!”

At this, Hreidmar chuckled to himself, staring up at the balcony. “My time has come at last. My birthright is here…”

The Blue Opal Director went on. “Therefore, we of the Consortium declare Veldaban as the new king of Keldagrim!” At this, the crowd gasped in astonishment, murmuring amongst themselves.

“What?! Veldaban?!” Hreidmar roared, looking about and quickly spotting the Dwarf in question, as if somehow sensing his presence. Growling, the Red Axe leader made his way to the new king. “You…! How did you…?!”

Without hesitation, Veldaban pointed at Hreidmar. “Guards! Arrest this man! Arrest him this instance!” He bellowed to the Black Guard.

The guards in question, though, were just as baffled as everyone else. “S-Sir?! I mean…Your Majesty…?!” One of them sputtered out.

Hreidmar flinched at the order but glared hot daggers at the new king. “My army will overrun the city! You will pay for denying me my throne!” He spat, dodging into the crowd.

“I said arrest him! Arrest Hreidmar!” Veldaban ordered to the guards…but by the time he said this, the older Dwarf had vanished into the mob.

“It’s too late, Veldaban, he’s gone…” Zamansis said with a sigh, placing a hand on the Dwarf’s shoulder.

“But…you’re the new king?” Sora asked, still wrapping his mind around things. He supposed the Dwarf just hated the idea of having the crown thrust upon him…

Sadly, Veldaban nodded. “Yes. But I suppose it’s ‘Your Majesty’ now…” He said with a solemn tone, entering the Consortium building.

What followed was a series of small speeches and ceremonies as Veldaban was crowned the king, an actual crown placed on his head as he took to the throne. The Dwarf was barely able to muster a smile through the ordeal. When all was done, the Consortium, Veldaban, along with Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Zamansis were in the new throne room.

“We were told by the king that you needed our help with something?” The Yellow Fortune Director asked, looking to the quartet at Veldaban sat sadly on his throne.

“That’s right!” Sora declared, knowing Donald would be happy to get to this part. “We’re looking for something called a Keyhole, and we think it’s underground somewhere. It gives off a weird energy, and is literally shaped like a keyhole…”

The various Directors murmured amongst themselves, shaking their heads a bit. The Green Gemstone Director turned to the quartet. “We’ve never heard of something like that. If it existed around here, we’d know about it, trust us. Sorry we couldn’t help more…”

Donald groaned out, shoulders slumped. “You mean all that waiting and hard work for a dead end?!” The magician cried out. “What do we do now…?!”

“Don’t worry Donald, I’m sure we can find it! We’ll just keep looking!” Goofy declared, patting his friend on the back, which didn’t seem to help much.

“Yeah, and maybe there won’t be another quest in the way, right Zamansis?” Sora asked cheekily, trying to make light of a bad situation. In reality, he was pretty disappointed to, but he’d rather play it off with a joke than letting the others know how frustrating the situation was.

The teen felt worse when Donald glared at him…

---

Somewhere to the north, in any icy expanse, there were two figures. A skeletal being in a robe, and a blonde man with a large, bandaged sword. The former was glaring at the latter, though it was a bit hard to tell without skin or eyes. “Do you want to tell me why you didn’t attack Zamansis?!” Sliske demanded of Cloud. “You were right there! I saw you!”

“There were others with him. Even a kid.” Cloud responded, not threatened by Sliske’s anger. “You wanted me to take out Zamansis, not anyone else.”

The Mahjarrat scowled at that. “You couldn’t have just bisected him and run off? Fine! New order! You take out Zamansis and anyone that happens to be near him!”

“You can’t just change the order like that. It wasn’t our deal.” The swordsman replied in a cold tone, his icy blue eyes glaring right back at Sliske. “You just said Zamansis.”

Sliske shook his head. “Fine, I guess you don’t want to get help finding that man you’re after or keeping the darkness in your heart locked up.” His tone took a less hostile, almost uncaring tone.

Cloud hesitated, looking down at the snowy ground as he pondered things. “…Fine. I won’t kill anyone but Zamansis, though. Got it?”

Sighing, Sliske shrugged his shoulders. “So boring! But fine, do what you have to and take out that adventurer!”

With a pause, Cloud looked back up towards the skeletal being. “Why do you want Zamansis taken out so badly anyway?”

At that, Sliske let out a laugh, as if Cloud told a simple joke. “Oh, it’ll cause some fun, that’s all! What other reason do I need?”

Chapter Text

The minecart ride back to Ice Mountain was a bit tense and awkward. Donald was still pretty mad that all their work in Keldagrim amounted to nothing. If the higherups of the kingdom didn’t know where the Keyhole was, no other Dwarf was bound to have any information. The mage kept muttering to himself the whole walk to the minecart ride, and even the whole trip despite barely being audible.

“Aw, gawrsh Donald, we’ll find it!” Goofy exclaimed as the quartet climbed the ladder up to the Dwarven settlement at Ice Mountain’s base. “Don’t be so glum!”

“I’m not glum, I’m mad!” The duck corrected, crossing his arms and grumbling some more. “If the Dwarves don’t know where the Keyhole is, where do we look?” He asked Zamansis, ignoring how some of the Dwarven workers in the area glanced over at the conversation.

“It’s like I said, we could go to the Oracle on top of Ice Mountain.” The armored man said. “Problem is she speaks in riddled…so deciphering what she means could be trouble. Especially since we’re looking for a very specific thing. If we misinterpreted her words, we could go searching in the totally wrong place.”

Sora sighed, also pretty disgruntled about the situation. He just wasn’t as angry as Donald was. “Well, do you know anyone else we can ask? There’s gotta be someone…” With all the adventures Zamansis talked about, there had to be some person he met that could help them out! Maybe someone less cryptic than that Oracle…

For a few moments, Zamansis pondered, letting out a hesitant noise before reply. “Well…there is one group I know. Problem is, they’re pretty secretive. My contact won’t like me introducing you to him or their group. They have a lot of knowledge so maybe they know about the Keyhole.”

That didn’t sound too promising, especially about this contact Zamansis mentioned. “Well, we don’t want to get you in trouble…” Sora said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Especially with some sort of secret organization.” Sounded pretty serious!

“Well what else are we gonna do?!” Donald demanded, shaking his head vigorously. “I don’t want to comb every inch of this world for the Keyhole! We don’t have time! Zamansis, you have to just introduce us!”

“Donald, you can’t just make him do that! He’ll get in trouble!” Sora argued, wishing that the mage had a bit of tact for once. Sure, the brunette wasn’t the most polite guy, but Donald was really just a jerk so often! Why was he so angry all the time…?

Zamansis sighed, shaking his head as well. “No, it’s fine. I mean I’ll get chewed out, but it’s not like they’d kill me or something. Besides, I’ve proven to be pretty valuable, so I doubt they’d cut me off or anything.”

“Gawrsh, are ya sure Zamansis?” Goofy asked, hoping Donald and Sora could start getting along soon. “Who is this group anyway?” IT seemed the adventurer was pretty set on helping, so the knight was pretty curious…

Looking about, Zamansis took the group away from the prying ears of any nearby Dwarves. Once he was sure they were far enough away, the warrior took off his helmet and started to whisper. “They’re called the Temple Knights, a sort of militia that serves the Kingdom of Asgarnia. That’s where we are now, and Falador, the capital, is where we need to go.”

Sora had to admit, the talk of secret organizations was kind of cool. He had a sort of interest in that sort of thing, to be honest. Not as much as his adoration for pirates or adventurers, but still! “Where’s Falador?” The teen asked. “It’s not far away, is it…?”

“It’s not too far, but either way, I can teleport us.” Zamansis replied, stopping his whispering, and put his helmet back on. “It’ll only take a moment.”

“Wait, you can teleport so easily?!” Donald exclaimed, glaring up at Zamansis. “Why didn’t you do that before?!”

Zamansis started to root around in his bag, taking out several odd circular stones. There were three different patterns on them. One was a blue drop of water, one was a blue set of scales, and the last was a lighter blue set of what seemed to be wings. “It’s not that simple. For most magic users, such as myself, we can only teleport to very specific locations around the world. I can’t just warp us wherever I want, sadly. Even then, I need to use runes. It’s how magic is used in our world.”

Those were runes? Sora always imagined runes looking like tablets or something. That’s how they appeared in movies or books. “So we’ll all end up in Falador, thanks to those runes?” Thinking of it, he did feel a sort of…hum when the runes were taken out. Was that the magic energy coming off of them?

“Sort of. I’ll teleport the three of you ahead of me. I can’t teleport an entire group, but I can teleport others one at a time. Then I’ll bring myself over.” Zamansis explained, looking between the three. “You ready?”

“This sounds excitin’! Never got teleported like this before!” Goofy exclaimed, standing perfectly upright as if that’d somehow help the teleporting process.

“How do you think we got here?” Donald asked, rolling his eyes.

“That was different. This is with magic!” The knight corrected. Very different from the technological teleportation from the Gummi Ship to be sure!

Zamansis paused at that. “Teleporting without magic…? How odd…” He murmured, but shrugged it off. “Anyway. Let’s get to it!”

It didn’t seem like Zamansis did anything, but suddenly some of the runes in his hands vanished. A the same time, a cylinder of energy surrounded Goofy and he floated up into the air, quickly fading away. Sora and Donald couldn’t help but feel nervous, the mage about to say something before he too was teleported off. The brunette took a deep breath before he suddenly felt weightless! He floated up in the air, and then the next thing he knew, he was back on the ground again! Donald and Goofy were right next to him, looking a bit out of it from the odd experience.

“Man, my head feels funny…” Sora murmured, but quickly shook it off as he looked around more to see where they were.

The three were at a Y-shaped crossroad, with them facing down South where a massive walled city was standing. They couldn’t see much into the city, but there were some buildings that went up above the walls. This included a grand looking castle with numerous towers and spires!

After just a moment, Zamansis faded into existence right next to them. “There! Not so bad, was it? Just a minute walk from Falador!” He exclaimed, seeming rather proud of himself.

As the quartet made their way into the city, they passed by a few guards in armor, looking around as if expecting danger at any moment. The interior of the city was bustling with citizens going to and fro, in and out of fancy looing buildings. At the very least, things seemed safe, with no signs of Heartless about. In the center of the city was the rest of the castle the group saw earlier, only accessible by a small bridge as the structure was otherwise surrounded by a moat.

“Have the Heartless attacked here a lot?” Goofy asked, noticing the jumpy nature of the city’s protection.

“They have…and we’ve lost some good guards that way. Usually, they die because psychopaths just attack them out of nowhere.” Zamansis explained, almost sounding casual like it was no big deal.

“Wait, what?! Why?!” Sora was baffled both by what he heard and how dull Zamansis made it sound. The idea of people just…killing each other really disturbed him. Back on Destiny Islands, crime was just about nonexistent…

“Who can say? I mean, no place is perfect. There was the Falador Massacre that happened back in Year 169 of this Age. After a house party, the host and a bunch of his guests just…went out and started killing people. No one knows how many actually died, but the perpetrators were put down, and security was tightened.”

That was just such a morbid story! Donald and Goofy exchanged worried glances at such nasty talk. “Uh…so…this contact of yours. He’s close, right?” The mage asked, wanting to change subjects.

Zamansis looked back the three, clearing his throat as he seemed to realize how nasty that story was. “Er, yes. Sorry. He’s usually in the park…”

The rest of the walk was spent in somewhat awkward silence. Sora, Donald, and Goofy trying to ignore the grim stories and focus on the lovely scenery. The park itself was only a few minutes away and a pleasant sight after the talk of killings. There were numerous trees, flowerbeds, and even rabbits and squirrels milling about. Numerous other people were there too, enjoying the scenery. Zamansis took the four to a bench near the park’s entrance. There, an elderly man, most of his hair from his head gone and what remained being stark white along with a long beard. He wore a monocle and a set of white armor with golden trimmings.

This gentleman quickly glanced at Sora, Donald, and Goofy, then over to Zamansis. Lifting a cup of tea he was sipping in greeting, the old man smiled. “Greetings, old boy! Pray tell, you’ve never brought company before? Just who are these three?”

“I’m Sora, and this is Donald and Goofy!” The brunette greeted, gesturing to each of his companions as they waved to the old man.

“Sir Tiffy, I’m here for something important.” Zamansis said bluntly, cutting right to the chase. We need your help. The help of the Temple Knights…”

At that, Sir Tiffy nearly spilled his tea, giving Zamansis a stern look. “Old bean, I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t like little tricks like this, so please get serious!”

“I already told these three about the Temple Knights, Sir Tiffy.” The adventurer explained. “Look, I’m sorry, but these three aren’t actually from this world. But they helped me save Keldagrim from tyranny, and I really trust them! They just need the Temple Knights’ unique resources…”

This caused Sir Tiffy to look between the four before him, clearly contemplating his next words. With a sigh, he shook his head. “This would be cause for expulsion if you weren’t so handy, Zamansis. Fine. Word travels fast with us, so I did hear of Keldagrim’s close call. I suppose the secret’s out anyway, so what do these three need?” He still sounded rather unhappy, but less so than before.

Sora let out a sigh of relief that this Tiffy guy was willing to help! He still felt a bit bad that Zamansis was getting in trouble, but still! “We’re after something called the Keyhole. We don’t know much about it, but it gives off an odd energy, and is literally a giant keyhole in the ground. Zamansis things it’s what the Heartless are after. Those creatures that have been appearing recently…”

Sir Tiffy hummed to himself, once more looking between the group in front of him. “A Keyhole, you say? That…does ring a bell…I don’t know the information myself, but I could have someone look into it. This could take a while, and in the meantime, I could use your help, old boys.”

Donald instantly shook his head. “What?! Last time we did that, we came out empty handed! This is important to stopping the Heartless. Can’t you just help?!”

This didn’t amuse the old man at all, who gave the mage a harsh look. “Considering Zamansis here spilled the beans, I say he owes me! And the three of you can help out!”

“Jeez, don’t pull all the blame on me…” The adventurer grumbled. “I was desperate!”

Sir Tiffy shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. This is important anyway. As it happens, a number of human settlements have been under attack, and not by those Heartless creatures either!” He paused for a moment. “You three outsiders will have to fill me in one those more later…”

“I’m sure they can, but what’s the problem? What’s attacking humans?” Zamansis pressed, sounding a bit impatient.

“Oh! Yes, well, one of our top operatives is on Mos Le'Harmless, gathering information about these attacks. Go to The Other Inn when you arrive at the island and speak to Sir Tendeth. He's undercover, so will probably be dressed as a pirate.”

At that last word, Sora’s eyes lit up. “Pirates?! That’s where the pirates are?!” He remembered Zamansis mentioning them before, but the teen didn’t think he’d actually get to meet them!

“Oh brother…” Donald murmured, rolling his eyes. “You and those pirates!”

The monocled man raised a brow at Sora’s excitement. “Hardly the thing to be exited over, but yes. There will be pirates all over. Now, you four go and investigate, and I’ll send word to look into this ‘Keyhole’ thing.”

“We really appreciate that! We’ll be glad to help in exchange!” Goofy remarked, sort of speaking for his companions. “So, where is this island, Zamansis?”

The armored man lead his three new friends a bit away from Sir Tiffy, digging into his bag. After a few moments, he dug out an odd container filled with what seemed to be an odd green slime. “With this. It’s called the Ectophial, and it will take us to a place called Port Phasmatys. There, my friend Bill Teach can take us to Mos Le’Harmless. Pretty easy, right? Should only take an our or two by boat.”

“Is Bill a pirate?” Sora asked, having ignored Donald’s earlier comment entirely. He was actually going to meet some real pirates! Riku and Kairi…well…he just wished they were here. The boy felt a painful twinge in his heart, missing his two friends dearly…

“He is, but maybe tone the enthusiasm down a bit. Boy, he got so mad when I started talking like a pirate! No idea why…” Zamansis mused, then shook the thought away. “Anyway, the three of you grab on!” Sora, Donald, and Goofy placed a hand each on the armored man, who poured the Ectophial ono the grass in a slimy puddle. Somehow, someway, this activated some sort of magic and the four of them found themselves lifted up into the air and teleported!

The scene the quartet arrived on was…odd. They were in an ancient looking brick building, with a most unusual structure in its center. It was like a sort of fountain, but instead of water pouring out, it was…glowing green slime. The three outsiders watched as Zamansis casually refilled the Ectophial with this odd substance. “What is that thing? And why couldn’t you teleport us all at ones with the runes?” Donald asked.

“This is the Ectofuntus. It’s…sort of a long story. And this method of teleportation is simply different since the Ectophial can only take me to this spot. Nowhere else. Less technical, magical details to worry about.”

Donald wasn’t sure that even made sense, but different worlds, different laws. “Is there really a port here we can use?”

Without warning, an unusual man approached. He was green in color…as in, all of him was green! His skin, his eyes and irises, his hair, his clothes…everything! On top of that, he was partially see through! “Wooo! Wooo?” The man sputtered out.

“What the?! What’s with that guy?!” Donald asked, pointing out the odd man, who kept making odd noises in response.

“Oh, yeah, I never told you!” Zamansis said with a chuckle. “Port Phasmatys is just about entirely comprised of ghosts! Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you. You just won’t be able to understand them without a ghostspeak amulet. They can understand you though, so…watch what you say.”

Sora watched as the ghost sighed, making more wooing sounds before walking off. Didn’t need to understand him to know what that meant. “Bill Teach isn’t a ghost, right?” It’d be a real shame if the first pirate he met just spoke in weird noises.

“No, no. He’s one of the few humans at the port, don’t worry. Come on, just hold onto me and we can all pass this barrier.” The armored man instructed, leading the other three to the other end of the odd building. They passed by some ghosts, most ignoring the quarter while a few stopped to watch. Like Zamansis said, there was a barrier outside the building, one with an eerie green glow. Doing as the man said, the trio of outsiders held onto him, and they all walked through the barrier together!

Port Phasmatys looked like one expected of a place of the unliving. The buildings were in disrepair, some looking oddly like they were never completely built to begin with! And, as Zamansis said, all the three could see were ghosts wandering about, no living people! The green specters still milled about like people, though. Some stood by each other, wooing some sort of conversation that the living couldn’t understand. Some walked around, apparently on some sort of errand. Other still simply stood off on their own, silently observing the world around them, most of this third group staring intently on the quartet. None of these ghosts went up to the four living outsiders though, letting them go on with their business. Despite the lack of danger, Sora, Donald, and Goofy still felt unnerved as they went, each one expecting something terrifying to happen at any moment.

Thankfully, nothing of that sort happened, and before too long, the group made it to the docks. As Zamansis said, there was a pirate’s ship docked there, a flesh-and-blood human standing by the plank on the dock, looking rather bored. When Sora spotted this man, his eyes widened again, and he rushed to be the first to approach. The man had a sheathed sword on his hip, and wore a pirate’s garb with boots and a coat. Surprisingly, his hair and beard were very neatly trimmed!

Still, Sora didn’t care about the unusual tidiness! As he got close, he called out. “Hey, you’re Bill Teach, right?!” He called out, stopping a few yards away as the startled man stared at the teenager.

The pirate looked at Sora, then over at Donald and Goofy…then finally on Zamansis. “It be him again…” He murmured before looking back to Sora. “Aye, I be Bill Teach. Since when did Zamansis travel with wee lads like yerself?”

He even talked like a pirate! Sora felt an overwhelming excitement fill him, looking Bill over and drinking in every last detail! “I’m Sora, and that’s Donald and Goofy!” The teen introduced, only vaguely pointing out the pair. “I’ve never gotten to see a pirate before!”

Clearly, Sora’s enthusiasm was wasted on Bill, who wasn’t too happy at being gawked at in such a manner. “Just tell me what ye be wanting! Zamansis, tell me what be going on!”

“It’s not much Bill, really.” The armored man said as he, Donald, and Goofy caught up to Sora. “We just need a ride to Mos Le’Harmless, that’s all. We need to talk to someone there, that’s all.”

“That be all? Really?” Bill seemed a bit skeptical for a moment before sighing with a shrug. “Well, alright. I be heading there soon anyway, so ye four can travel along. It’ll take a few hours, though.”

Sora barely heard the confirmation before he dashed onto the ship, looking around the vessel with a beaming grin. He was on an actual pirate ship now! It was cooler than the Gummi Ship, at least to him. The sails, the deck, the mast…! It was all like he thought it’d be like. “I can’t wait until Riku and Kairi hear about this…!” He murmured to himself.

“Aye! What ye be doing, going on a captain’s ship before the captain?!” Bill demanded, sneering at Sora as he, Zamansis, Donald, and Goofy boarded the ship. “Well, whatever. While yer here, help me prepare to sail!”

Feeling a bit embarrassed at being scolded, Sora agreed eagerly to help prepare the ship. As it happened, despite not ever being on an actual ship before, he was an expert! He had read every book he could get his hands on about sailing, so he knew everything from how to get the sails ready to the difference between port and starboard. Before too long, the group set off to Mos Le’Harmless. Bill wasn’t much in a conversational mood, opting to steer the ship. So, Zamansis told Sora, Donald, and Goofy about some of his pirate-related adventures.

They were tales of oddities the outsider trio wasn’t expecting. Undead pirates on Braindeath Island, which produced odd ‘rum’ in its distillery were picketing the place and stopping the production, an issue that Zamansis had to help. He did mention he got a few headaches during this quest, and he really had no idea why, but they always happened when a man named Pirate Pete pointed off at something behind the adventurer’s back…

It was after this that Zamansis ran into Bill Teach for the first time, the pirate captain’s men abandoning him before he could make a trip to Mos Le'Harmless. The adventurer volunteered for the voyage, and ended up having to help Bill take down an attacking pirate ship. Only once the enemy vessel sank did the two make it to Mos Le'Harmless. For some reason, Bill really hated it when Zamansis tried talking like a pirate…

After that, zombie pirates returned, but this time to a small island with peaceful monks. Despite their pacifist ways, the pirates had little mercy, and were even stealing the brains of the monks to create zombie monk slaves! Thankfully, Zamansis was able to confront Mi-Gor, the zombie scientist responsible for the experiments, and even his giant zombie-pirate-robot Barrelchest. Sadly, Mi-Gor managed to slip away, but the monks were all saved!

Things got more serious after that, as rumors of a horrid, infamous pirate named Rabid Jack swirled. He was thought to be dead for years, but it really started to seem like he was coming back to inflict terror upon the seas. In fact, it was apparently him that was behind all of the unusual zombie pirates! Zamansis had to learn more about this information by purposefully going into a prison on a remote, small island. It was there that the adventurer managed to find a pirate willing to shed more details about the infamous pirate.

The latest run-in with zombie pirates occurred id Zamansis’ own home! A mysterious, large great was delivered and contained Barrelchest Mk II, which the adventurer struggled to defeat. Thankfully, the head of the zombie-pirate-robot remained. Now harmless, Zamansis managed to get information out of him, thanks to Bill’s later assistance. In a nutshell, the zombies on Braindeath Island were using the ‘rum’ on a separate island to create more Barrelchest Mk IIs! Of course, Zamansis managed to stop this plot and destroy the operation.

Yet, still, Rabid Jack was out there…

The stories helped pass the time greatly, and by the time Zamansis was finished, the small crew had arrived at Mos Le'Harmless! The island itself was moderately sized and tropical in nature, but a small port town was carved out, so the pirates had a place to stay. It was a sight Sora could hardly imagine! Pirates were just milling about, unafraid of their status as scourges of the sea. It really was a secret paradise for their kind! As Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Zamansis got off the ship, Bill mentioned having to stay behind to check on something, leaving the four alone.

“So, we’re supposed to find this Sir Tendeth feller at an inn, right?” Goofy piped up as the quartet got into the port town proper. The buildings were small, wooden, and had straw roofs to keep the elements out. “You know this place better, Zamansis, where were we supposed to go again?”

“I remember Sir Tiffy said he was at The Other Inn. That’s actually what the inn is called since, well, this place only has two.” Zamansis explained, leading the others into a pretty nondescript building. The inside looked to be more of a bar than an inn, but that was expected of pirates, really. In fact if it wasn’t for the stairs going to a second floor, it could’ve easily passed as just a pub.

Pretty quickly, the four spotted someone who was a bit out of place. He had pirate’s garb like everyone else at the inn…but he was just far too clean to be a real pirate. “That’s gotta be Sir Tendeth, no doubt about it…” Donald murmured as the for approached.

Zamansis leaned towards the obvious informant, whispering so as not to be overheard. “You are Sir Tendeth, right? Sir Tiffy sent us…” The man in the pirate garb glanced around and subtly nodded. “Good, so…you’re worried about pirates attacking Falador, right? That’s what I assume the problem is…”

At that, Sir Tendeth whipped his head around in confusion. “What? No! The pirates aren’t the problem at all! This is a much bigger threat, and not just to Falador!”

“Well, what do you mean? Who could be doing this then?” Sora asked, remembering Sir Tiffy explicitly mentioned it wasn’t the Heartless.

Before Sir Tendeth could answer, a horrific, deafening screech filled the air, causing all the pirates to stop and look around in confusion and fear. “What was that?!” Zamansis blurted out, readying his sword and shield. “Never heard a cry like that before…”

Sir Tendeth took things worse than everyone else, starting to cower as what sounded like massive flapping wings filled the air. At this point, several pirates outside exclaimed in horror as another screech rang out. This time, though, it was quieter than before, whatever causing it slowly moving away. “You…uh, should go see what that was!” The undercover man suggested.

“Not even going to help? Phooey on you, then!” Donald exclaimed, his wand out. Along with him, Sora and Goofy had their own weapons ready. The four went out to see several pirates gaping and pointing at the jungle. Whatever was out there was gone at this point…

“What happened?! What was out here?!” Sora asked the nearest pirate, keeping his Keyblade ready in case whatever it was came back.

Not even questioning the presence of a kid, the pirate looked at Sora. “I-I don’t know! Some sort of…dragon-like thing spitting fireballs! It went into the jungle!”

The quartet quickly rushed out to the jungle outside the wooden wall, but they all quickly jumped back as a massive fireball rushed passed them! “What was that?!” Goofy exclaimed, carefully peering around the corner. All he could see was trees and a far off beach…

“I don’t know, but that pirate mentioned a dragon of some kind! It’s gotta be what just attacked us.” Zamansis answered. “If it can make fire that big so easily, it must be what Sir Tendeth was talking about…”

Preparing themselves, the four leapt out into the jungle, narrowly dodging as another ball of crackling flames rushed past them! At the same time, no less than a dozen Shadows sprang out of the ground. “Heartless? I thought Sir Tiffy said they weren’t involved!” Sora pointed out, slamming his Keyblade into a Shadow as it pounced at him.

“I guess his information was wrong! Come on, we’ll rush passed the small fry and find out what’s making that fire!” Zamansis suggested, rushing off towards whatever was attacking them.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy followed after Zamansis, only attacking Shadows when they drew too close, the Heartless appearing in seemingly endless numbers! All the while, more fireballs came at the group, all of them managing to dodge out of the way each time. It almost seemed like the Heartless’ appearance was being triggered by the attack, Mos Le’Harmless being rather peaceful before then! Trees and bushes were destroyed along the way, the fireballs causing some drastic destruction to the jungle, but there was little the quartet could do about it.

Before too long, the quartet arrived at a beach, where an usual sight met them. There, in the sand, were three of what the pirate earlier must have described. Dragon-like was certainly right, but they were actually humanoid dragons of some sort. They had wings upon their backs, and stood on two feet, even wearing clothes! What was even more startling about these things was the darkness that practically bled off of them. Even from a distance, the quartet was able to feel it. No wonder Heartless just popped in out of nowhere!

Surprising still was when one of the three creatures opened its jaws and began to speak. “Gah…The rage subsides now…destruction always eases the pain…” It said in a distinctively male voice. The tone, despite the talk of rage subsiding, still sounded absolutely furious at who even knew what.

A second of the creatures snorted, practically growling, as it sneered. “Yet the rage continues to build. Someone must still be using it.” It said, also in a male voice.

The third, also a male, spoke up as well. “Then we should attack an area of greater population. Mass destruction will ease the pain further. This darkness that chases us can only be ebbed for so long.”

The first creature nodded. “Yes! But we must also find the False User. Can’t let the worm get away with this…” With those words, the creature and his two companions readied their wings and flew away, never seeming aware of the quartet’s presence. At the same time, the Shadows that lurked in the jungle also vanished, apparently following along with whatever those draconic things were.

“That’s…awful!” Sora exclaimed once the creatures were out of earshot. “What were those things, Zamansis?!”

“I have no idea…they look like dragons, but none that I’ve eve seen. All the ones I’ve come across are quadrupedal. Not to mention the whole clothes and talking thing…” The adventurer replied as he rooted through his bag. “We have to report this to Sir Tiffy immediately! Sir Tendeth can make his own way back!” Not like he had been much help anyway!

Quickly, the group was teleported to Falador one at a time once more and they rushed towards Sir Tiffy. When they drew near, the elderly man was still sipping tea on the park bench, likely not having moved in the hours they were gone. “Ah, back already? How are things on Mos Le’Harmless?” He asked, rather casual despite the importance of the mission.

“It was attacked by these strange dragon fellers!” Goofy explained. “They shot fire and they talked about attackin’ bigger settlements!”

“Eh?! Talking dragons is certainly new!” Sir Tiffy responded, a brow raised. “This is something beyond me and needs further research!” At that, he paused and looked to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “I know Zamansis trusts you, but you’ll have to wait here as he and I go to our library to look into this.”

Donald, as always, was the first to speak up in anger. “But we’ve been helping you! Why do we have to stay behind?!”

“Like I said, I know Zamansis trusts you, but I don’t. Not fully. I’m not going to make you Temple Knights, and only members of our group could come with us.” Sir Tiffy responded, not intimidated by Donald’s outburst.

Zamansis sighed, shaking his head apologetically. “Sorry guys. Just wait here, okay? We shouldn’t be too long. Just relax in the park while we’re gone!”  With that decided, the adventurer and Sir Tiffy walked off out of the park and soon vanished amongst the crowd.

Sighing as well, Sora sat on the park bench in a bit of a huff, Donald and Goofy sitting on either side of him. “Well, at least we don’t have to do research and stuff. Sounds boring.” The teen pointed out, finding a silver lining in staying behind.

“And they’ll be back! It’ll just be a bit!” Goofy commented, also looking to the brighter side. “We get to relax and rest, which is nice, right?”

“Yeah, but being left behind is a pain!” Donald argued, crossing his arms. “And we did what that Tiffy guy asked, so he should tell us about the Keyhole!”

For the first time in a while, GLaDOS’ voice chimed from Donald’s pocket. “I could use my sensors to read all their research in moments if I were there. They’re just wasting their time.” At that, the group fell silent, watching the day go by as they sat on the bench.

With all the quiet, Sora started to think. Getting to see some real life pirates was a real treat, it was just a shame they had to leave so quickly. It was still something he could tell Riku and Kairi if he was ever able to find them. It had only been a few worlds, sure, but he had this feeling in his gut that it was hopeless, and he’d never reunite with them! Sighing, the teen wallowed in his pessimism as time ticked by.

After about an hour, Zamansis and Sir Tiffy returned to the group. “Well, the research was a success.” The adventurer relayed. “In a nutshell, those creatures may be Dragonkin, but not much is known about them. What we do know is they may be tied to a powerful relic I came in contact with before called the Stone of Jas. Anyway, we need to talk to the reincarnation of a man named Robert the Strong. He’s Bob the Cat, and we have to find him.”

Stone of Jas. Dragonkin. Bob the Cat. A lot of odd information all at once! Sora blinked a few times. “So…we need to talk to a cat?”

“I know it sounds odd, but I have an amulet that can help with this.” Zamansis replied, taking the object out of his pocket. The pendant, to little shock, was shaped like a cat’s head.

“So…we’re really trying to find a cat? Why?” Sora asked, starting to wonder if this is a joke of some kind.

“There was a note left behind by Robert the Strong.” Sir Tiffy explained, shooing the trio off the bench so he could sit down once more. “It was about the Dragonkin, and we need more information on what we’re dealing with. It also pointed us to somewhere called Kethsi.”

Donald glared up at Sir Tiffy. “What about the Keyhole? Are you looking into it?” The mage asked expectantly.

“Oh, yes. That.” The old man said, taking out a cup of tea from seemingly nowhere. “We’ll start on it as soon as you four head off. By the time this is over, you’ll have all our information on it. Of that, you have my word.”

During this time, Zamansis opened up the catspeak amulet, a compass of sorts hidden inside. Looking at it, he nodded. “Looks like it’s pointing northwest. Bob hangs around Burthorpe a lot, so that’s a good place to start.” The situation still odd, the trio watched as Zamansis made a circle of salt, which he told them to step into. Once they did so, he got out a book of sorts and read out of it under his breath. In an instant, the four were teleported once more!

They arrived at a settlement of sorts. Not a place full of citizens like Falador, but some kind of military outpost. There were soldiers going about, and the buildings were clearly more for sturdiness rather than comfort. In any case, the outsider trio followed Zamansis as he used his compass to steer them in the right direction. It didn’t take long before they found a black cat with a red collar snoozing in a particularly soft looking patch of grass.

“So, you can talk to him with that amulet, right?” Donald asked as the cat slowly woke up at the quartet’s presence. After all, it was the catspeak amulet…

“Yeah, just hold on. This should only take a minute.” Zamansis replied, putting the amulet on properly. What followed was a conversation between him and Bob the Cat…which the other three couldn’t understand. Zamansis and Bob, from the perspective of the others, just kept talking in meows. They went back and forth, and sometimes the adventurer would make a gesture of sorts, but aside from that, the other three were stumped. After a few moments, Zamansis checked Bob’s collar and nodded before taking the collar off.

“Did that help? Do we go to that there Kethsi place now?” Goofy asked as Zamansis put the catspeak amulet away properly.

The adventurer nodded. “That’s right. Bob’s collar had a code we can use to get there. We’ll have to go to Zanaris. If you’re with me, you should be able to come along.”

Sora sighed, looking to Zamansis with an exhausted expression. “I’m just getting confused now. We’re going all over the place and have to go to a bunch of other places to find out about these Dragonkin, right?”

“Sometimes adventuring is like that, running around all over the place.” Zamansis confessed, hardly seeming happy about it himself. “But if we don’t know more about the Dragonkin, we can’t stop them. We don’t even know where they reside or how many there are!”

The teen nodded, feeling a little silly about his outburst. “I know. I guess I just wasn’t expecting this.” They kept jumping to different areas so fast since leaving Keldagrim that they barely had a chance to really take these locations in. Except the waiting in Falador Park, that is.

“Don’t worry Sora, I’m sure we’ll help out with those Dragonkin fellers and find that Keyhole!” Goofy exclaimed, ever the optimist.

“Exactly what Goofy said.” Zamansis echoed, once more drawing a circle with salt. “Now, we’ll have to go to a fairy ring, and there’s one by Edgeville.” He explained, getting that spell book out again. “That’s how we get to Zanaris.”

Once more, the four used the circle of salt and the spell to teleport. This time, they arrived at a decently sized village. It was no Falador, that was for sure. A couple dozen buildings that included residential homes, a blacksmith, and even a bank among other things. To the East was a river not too far off, with some sort of massive walled structure beyond it. To the North was what had to be that stretch of barren, destroyed land the outsider trio saw earlier, the Wilderness. In front of it was a pretty small wall that could easily be leapt over.

“Is it really safe for everyone to live so close to the Wilderness like that?” Donald asked, looking to the wall as Zamansis started to lead the group again.

“It’s magically fortified.” The adventurer explained casually. “We can go in if we want, but things that call the Wilderness home can’t get out.”

Why anyone would want to go to such a horrid looking place was beyond Sora. Even with his desire to explore, he felt it a terrible idea to even step foot in the Wilderness. Zamansis hadn’t gone into too much detail about its horrors, but the way he sounded as he spoke of it was enough to convince the teen it was to be avoided at all costs.

“Doesn’t seem practical…” Donald replied, but nevertheless accepted the answer. The mage looked off into the Wilderness and swore he saw something skulking not far from the wall. At a glance, it looked like a walking skeleton…but that couldn’t be, could it?

The walk to the fairy ring was pretty short, the citizens of Edgeville hardly giving the quartet a second glance. When living so close to a place like the Wilderness, most things would surely just not register with them. After crossing a bridge over a river, the four came to some grass where several circles of mushrooms were present, sort of in the shape of a bullseye. “This is the fairy ring? It doesn’t look magic or anything…” Sora pointed out.

“Oh, trust me, it is. Most people can’t use it at all, but I helped the fairies out of a few jams, so I have special privileges.” Zamansis explained. “All I have to do is step inside…so just hold onto me, and hopefully you’ll come too.”

It worked for the other teleportation and that barrier from earlier, so the three had confidence this would work too. They did as Zamansis said and placed their hands on him, and the four walked into the middle of the fairy ring. In an instant, they all felt light as a feather as the world around them faded before a brand new one appeared before their eyes.

Zanaris opened up before the quartet as they appeared in a different fairy ring in the middle of the separate world. It was gorgeous to be sure, dense trees off the way, with sparser trees decorating the grassy ground. Some of these trees small houses in them, fit only for someone the size of a child, or even smaller. There were large glowing mushrooms on the ground, and a few sheep were walking around, grazing on the bountiful grass.

Near one of these sheep was what was unmistakably a fairy, a female one! She wore a simple, one-piece garment and had gorgeous, bug-like wings. Out of her head were two antennae, and she had rather wide eyes. What Sora found odd was her size, as it happened. In the books and stories he grew up with, fairies were tiny, enough to easily fit in the palm of even a child’s hand. The fairy he saw was the size of a human, albeit a rather short one. Roughly the size of a Dwarf if he had to be more specific. This fairy didn’t seem bothered by the presence of the outsiders, probably because they were with Zamansis. The adventurer did mention he helped the fairies out, so being seen with him surely put her mind at ease.

“It’s really somethin’!” Goofy exclaimed, looking around. “A perfect place to take a nap…” He commented, letting out a small yawn.

“No time for a nap, I’m afraid. We’ll be using this same fairy ring to leave.” Zamansis explained, taking out a small box from his bag. The box had three circles on it, each with a letter. “I couldn’t do this from the other fairy ring, that’s just how things work. If I put the code in from Bob’s collar, it should take us to Kethsi…” At that, Zamansis put the code in and the group was whisked away once more, barely able to appreciate Zanaris’ beauty!

When they reappeared, things were far less appealing.

The world they emerged into, Kethsi…was clearly a dead world. Above them, the sky was green and grey, and the landscape itself shared that same shade of ugly, dead coloring. There was soil, but it seemed to be lacking any nutrients, not even weeds growing about. One or two trees were visible, but were long dead and it was a wonder how they hadn’t simply crumbled by this point. There was water too, but just from a glance, it was clearly dirty, and it seemed that nothing could actually survive in it. Yet, despite all this, there was clearly a civilization here at some point as the quartet stood before the barely-present ruins of some sort. There were barely any walls standing, let alone any actual complete structure, so little could be gleaned from the ruins.

“This place is a real dump…” Donald commented, feeling uneasy just being in Kethsi. “Is this really the right place?”

“It has to be. I put the coordinated in right.” Zamansis said, frowning as he looked about the area. “It’s such a shame…I bet this world was beautiful once.”

Sora had a nasty realization and turned to the others. “What if the Dragonkin attacked here? Maybe this is something they can do to your world, Zamansis!” It made sense to him, they reached this place by trying to find out more about the Dragonkin. That meant those creatures and what happened to Kethsi could be linked, right?  

That was a nasty thought, but there was no reason to doubt it. “Well, whatever happened here, maybe we can find clues among the rubble.” The adventurer noted.

“At least there shouldn’t be Heartless here.” Goofy said, once more finding a silver lining. “No people means no hearts. And them Heartless go after hearts. So, I bet they won’t be here at all!” A small comfort, but a comfort to be sure.

On that mildly uplifting note, the four started to poke about the ruins. At first, there didn’t seem to be too much. Destroyed statues, scraps from old books far too faded to read, and miscellaneous objects hard to identify. There weren’t even skeletons of whoever lived in this world left behind…

At one point, however, Zamansis spoke up after the group split up a bit. “Hey! I found a box!” He yelled out, causing the others to converge on him. They watched as he opened it up to reveal two intact pieces of paper and a necklace along with an odd stone piece and the arm of a statue. “These are the first bits of legible writing I’ve seen. I’ll read them out…”

Dear Robert,

I know none of this makes sense to you now, but I have seen the alternative, and this information is very important and should not be forgotten, nor idly revealed.

The code to what you seek is DIRAKS.

You must preserve the secret at all costs and make sure only the right people learn it. This will not be the only time the enemy will rise. The stonetoucher must also know what to do. The Temple Knights will be the start of the stonetoucher's trial.

The animal is a cat.

The time is plus 2139.

Put the key to the secrets on your collar.

Good luck.

-Robert the Strong

“A letter…to himself? I guess he knew he’d be a cat one day…” Donald mused, tapping his foot in thought. “What’s 2139?”

“That I don’t know. And the stonetoucher may be me. Like I said, I touched a relic called the Stone of Jas in a previous adventure.” Zamansis answered. “This necklace must be Robert’s too. I should hang onto it. But first, the other letter…”

Dear Zamansis,

Welcome to Kethsi. I'm sorry that I have no means of knowing your name. I don't have much time before the magic takes hold and my reincarnation takes place.

I also enclose a note to myself, which you must give me when you see me, but NOT as a cat.

I enclose a necklace crafted by my sweetheart, Ilsinor. There is no other like it. You will need this to convince me that the note I've sent myself is worth remembering.

There is information on this island that will be needed if the enemy is not to overtake us all. It's protected by an ancient Kethsian puzzle. I enclose vital items to help you complete that puzzle. I hid them here many years ago to keep them from getting into the wrong hands.

Good luck.

-Robert the Strong

P.S. DKQ is a code which could become useful to you at some point.

“Wow, this Robert guy sure knew what he was doin’!” Goofy praised, scratching the side of his head. “But he wants to meet ya as a human? And I wonder if the ‘enemy’ are them Dragonkin fellers…”

“I just want to know how these objects will help us. Where do we use them?” Sora asked, glancing at the odd stone piece, the arm, and the necklace.

Zamansis put all the contents of the box in his bag and shrugged. “Not a clue. We’ll have to keep looking around for something that’d hold information. A library, maybe…”

With a bit of help from Robert the Strong, the four started to search around again. Fanning out more, they soon came across a staircase that went under the dead earth. Going down, they entered a small, gloomy stone chamber with four indents in the walls that looked like the odd stone piece from the box along with a locked door ahead. “This must be the puzzle. But hey, you can just open it with your Keyblade, right Sora?” Donald suggested.

Summoning the useful weapon, the teen nodded. “Almost feel bad for Robert, he didn’t know Zamansis would have help like this.” Sora murmured, but raised the Keyblade so it was pointing at the door. It was almost a bit guilt-inducing since the now-feline man had even tried to help them out too! Either way, Sora once more used the Keyblade’s power and a beam of light hit the door ahead and an audible unlocking sound rang out in the chamber.

Zamansis opened the door, and the four ended up in a library! Unlike the books and parchments from up above, the ones down in the secret chamber were in far better condition. They were, at the very least, able to be read. What caught the quartet’s eye was a journal that seemed newer than anything else on a table in the center of the room next to a scroll. It was as though whoever placed it there wanted it to be seen. Once more, it was the adventurer that did the reading, opening up the book and spoke aloud for the others.

My name is Dathana. I may now be the last member of the Mage Conclave of Kethsi. I tell this story in the hope that it may help others who come under threat from the terrible force that is the Dragonkin.

In the late summer of the Year of Babbootang, Elder Mage Etheron returned to Kethsi from a six-year expedition to the outer planes.

As Etheron passed through the worldgate, we beheld a beautiful sight. Behind him floated a great stone, patterned as if it were a great terratoise shell. 'Good tidings, my friends,' said Etheron. 'I bring with me an artefact so powerful, it shall bring great prosperity to our people.'

The stone was taken to the Mage Conclave at Mount Firewake. The first few months were a wondrous time for all Kethsians. We managed to use the great stone to work many spells. Spells to make our crops more bountiful; spells to restore our cities to the height of their splendor; spells to drive back our enemies.

Our people were happy for a time, but trouble was not far behind. A strange and vicious race appeared from the east and began to attack our settlements there. Survivors of the attacks reported a race of reptilian creatures that called themselves the Dragonkin.

So, we set in motion a plan to use the power of the great stone to vanquish this new enemy. The fifty-two Grand High Mages of the Conclave stood surrounding the fortress of the enemy and began the casting of a spell that would show the many worlds the might of Kethsi.

Things did not go as desired. Enraged Dragonkin flew from their fortress as the great spell was cast, but they did not crumble and die as expected, and instead grew in anger and strength. We found ourselves under attack and running for our lives. Only nine of the Conclave survived.

More attempts were made to combat the Dragonkin, but it became apparent that every time we used the great stone, the Dragonkin grew more powerful, more enraged, more violent. Our foremost philosophers noted that the Dragonkin only appeared on Kethsi after Etheron had brought the great stone here, and we had made use of it. They posited that, perhaps, they were some sort of defense mechanism, to bar the unworthy from using the stone's power.

We have now stopped using the stone, but I fear it is too late; the Dragonkin are now incredibly powerful, and they continue to decimate our cities.

The Conclave headquarters were destroyed two months ago, and I have retreated here to the Isle of Sann. I fear it is only a matter of time before all life on this world is eradicated.

We have one final hope - a weapon crafted from a material from the outer planes. Banite ore can be used to smith a unique metal, which can be magically 'tuned' to especially harmful to certain creatures. We then use a tempered anvil located here on the Isle of Sann to turn it into arrows and bolts.

We turned these arrows against the Dragonkin, and, for the first time, managed to kill some, but the ore is rare and our supplies run low. Hedrick and Felli left Kethsi in search of more, but they may not return soon enough.

If so, our fate is sealed; but, if by some miracle someone finds this book, perhaps there is hope for other worlds to learn from our folly and survive the rage of the Dragonkin. There should be a Tune Banite Ore scroll in this room to teach the necessary spell. Cast it on parts of certain deceased creatures to tune the Banite ore against those creatures. Whether you can find a source of Banite ore or one of the special anvils used to create bane bolts and arrows is another matter. May the spirits of Kethsi guide you.

When Zamansis finished, the four looked at each other, Zamansis taking the scroll and glancing over its contents silently before putting it in his bag. “That stone they mentioned, it sounds just like the Stone of Jas. Like I said, I touched it once, and when I did, I gained more power than I ever had or have had since.” The man explained, also pocketing the journal. “And you were right Sora, the Dragonkin had a hand in the destruction of this world…”

Sora was really wishing he was wrong. Things were so…grim out in other worlds. At least, they had the potential to be. This wasn’t the sort of stuff he looked for in an adventure! He wanted to see new places, talk to new people, experience new things…not learn about the death of entire worlds…

“It looks like them Dragonkin fellers are always pretty mad too.” Goofy pointed out. “Remember when the Heartless appeared back on the island? Those Dragonkin seemed overflowin’ with anger and darkness. They must make Heartless pop up wherever they go!” It probably wasn’t the source of all the Heartless on Gielinor, but it sure was a problem!

“I think you’re right. And the use of the Stone of Jas just makes them stronger.” Zamansis pointed out. “And this raises a nasty problem…the relic is being used by a horrid being, a Mahjarrat named Lucien has it and has probably been absorbing its power over and over again. If he keeps doing that…”

Donald nodded glumly as Zamansis trailed off. “This all might happen to Gielinor too…” He didn’t expect to be saving any of these worlds from anything but Heartless. How could they stop the Dragonkin? Some weapons made of that Banite stuff?

“Sir Tiffy will want to know this, right?” Sora piped up. “We should go back to him!” Though the old man didn’t quite trust him, Donald, and Goofy, the teen knew he had to be of some help.

Zamansis nodded, once more taking some runes from his bag. “You’re right, Sora. Thankfully, teleporting works between worlds, so we can go straight back to Falador. We have to hurry!” Without a moment’s hesitation, the four were soon teleported out of the basement and towards Falador.

Once more, the dead world of Kethsi fell completely silent…

Chapter Text

Sir Tiffy let out a noise of unease as he read over the material the quartet collected from Kethsi’s ruins. Naturally, the second the four arrived back near Falador, they rushed to the elderly man and let him know everything that happened. He read the letter from Robert the Strong first, then the journal detailing how the Dragonkin destroyed Kethsi.

“It’s far worse than I thought…” The old man bemoaned as he closed the old journal. “They had the Stone of Jas on their side, and they still lost! If they couldn’t beat back the Dragonkin, what hope do we have?”

As hopeless as the situation seemed, Sora had recalled something important from the journal and what the Dragonkin said back on the beach. “It looks like they just get mad if someone uses that Stone of Jas thing. So, we just have to stop this Lucien guy from doing that, right? He’s a…what did you say he was, Zamansis?”

“A Mahjarrat. They’re a species of skeletal humans that need to perform a ritual to keep their power. Only problem is each time, they have to sacrifice one of their own.” Zamansis explained. “I’ve met a few of them, some nice and some I’ve had to fight off like Lucien.”

“This is very troubling indeed…” Sir Tiffy emphasized. “I think you should go talk to Akrisae, Thaerisk and Idria in Falador Castle for help. They’ll know how to aid you more than I.”

Zamansis nodded, turning to the trio. “They’re all allies of mine.” He quickly explained, starting to lead the group towards the massive castle in the middle of Falador.

“How are they gonna help us? These Dragonkin can destroy entire worlds!” Donald exclaimed, wondering if this had to do with the stars going out. Except…while destroyed, Kethsi was still intact. Was that an exception to the rule or totally unrelated?

“Well, Sora was sayin’ that if we get that Stone thingamajig away from that Lucien feller, those Dragonkin will settle down. That sound right, Zamansis?” Goofy asked.

Once more, the adventurer nodded. “That’s right. It’s our only hope, at least. If the Dragonkin just destroyed worlds on a whim, why would they wait until now to start attacking Gielinor? It’s too convenient to be a coincidence. I think if the Stone stops getting used, they’ll calm down and leave us alone!”  

“So, we either find it or take down Lucien…” Sora commented, crossing his arms as they walked. Given how he kept using some sort of extremely powerful artifact, that sounded far easier said than done. It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was all they had!

With that, the group made their way to Falador Castle, crossing a stone bridge to get there. Up close, it seemed bigger than life, like the tops of the tallest towers were about to kiss the clouds! Somehow, being so close to a castle seemed…familiar to Sora…but he couldn’t pinpoint why. In his heart, there was a sense of a mysterious déjà vu…

The knights and soldiers of the castle, all clad in brilliant white armor, didn’t impede the quartet as they answered. Clearly, Zamansis was known on sight and was trusted enough to bring outsiders. The adventurer led his companions through numerous rooms and up a few staircases until they reached a room with a circular table with a map of what seemed to be Gielinor along with numerous old looking books. On top of that there were three people there, all clad in robes. One of them was a woman while the other two were men, one relatively young while the other was elderly. Notably, the young man seemed to have a sort of religious symbol, a golden star, on his robes.

“These are who Sir Tiffy was talking about. Akrisae, Thaerisk and Idria.” Zamansis said, gesturing to the young man, the elderly man, and the young woman in order. “Guys, these three are Sora,  Donald, and Goofy.” He further introduced, gesturing in turn.

“It’s not every day you bring company like this.” Idria pointed out, giving a polite nod of greeting to the trio. “Is there something you need, Zamansis?”

The adventurer sighed, letting his stress really show. “It’s pretty bad…Lucien is abusing the Stone of Jas for his selfish, dark needs. What we just found out concerning that is it’s triggering a race known as the Dragonkin to go berserk and attack human settlements! At this rate, the entire world will be wiped out!”

“Saradomin help us! First the Lucien problem and now this? Are they behind those odd dark creatures that keep attacking too?” Akrisae asked, a look of defeat already on his face.

“Ah, I can perhaps help with this!” A new voice rang out. Startled, the seven in the room looked to see that a newcomer was standing off to the side as if he just appeared from thin air! He was a bearded man that was dressed more for a desert than a place like Falador.

“What?! Who are you?! Someone get the guards!” Thaerisk called, taking a step back from the stranger.

Before anyone could draw their weapons or get the guards, Zamansis spoke up. “Hold on! This is a friend of mine!” He assured, looking at the stranger as he introduced the other six to him. “…And this is Ali the Wise and he knows a lot about the Mahjarrat. I’m surprised you’re here, Ali, you usually hang around in Nardah.”

Ali didn’t seem worried about the treatment he got, standing in place casually as everyone calmed down. “Yes, it’s good to see you Zamansis, even if the circumstances aren’t ideal. I've been consulting my research and looking at the stars, and I believe the Mahjarrat Ritual is sooner than we thought. I've not quite pinned it down exactly, but it will likely happen any time now.”

“So that means Lucien would be there, right?” Sora asked. “He’d need to, right? Or does he not need to because of that Stone of Jas thing?”

“I’m sure he’ll be there, this rejuvenation is…let’s say it’s special. He’ll need it to return to his complete form, so even with the Stone of Jas, Lucien will show up.” Ali the Wise said confidently. “In any case, we should use this to our advantage. Other Mahjarrat will be there, obviously, and I’m sure a number of them will want to pick a fight with Lucien…”

Akrisae let out a startled noise, shaking his head with a glare. “No! Not a chance! I’d never fight on the same side as the Mahjarrat! Wicked beings with hearts full of darkness!”

Zamansis shook his head at that. “Hey, I’ve met a couple of Mahjarrat and they’re not all  bad! They’re just like humans are! Some are good and some are bad. You can’t just toss them all in the same group!”

“You’re a fool to think that. Just because they don’t openly perform dark actions doesn’t mean they have good hearts!” Akrisae argued, going steadily red in the face as his anger increased. “They can be sneaky too!”

“Hey, that’s not fair!” Sora snapped, glaring at Akrisae. “It’s like Zamansis said, you can’t just group them all together like that! It’s not fair!”

Goofy nodded along with Sora, but as typical of his more passive nature, he wasn’t so angry. “Besides, Zamansis is trustworthy, so wouldn’t ya think anyone he trusts is good too?”

“We don’t have a choice anyway!” Donald exclaimed, joining Sora in his glaring. “Do you have a better idea?! The whole world’s at stake, so don’t be so petty!”

Being ganged up on like that clearly wasn’t what Akrisae expected, the red in his face becoming more like a blush of embarrassment. “W…Well…I…um…” He stammered before clearing his throat and composing himself. “I’m…afraid not. I suppose if there’s really no other option…”

“So, we’re all in agreement. I’m not so fond of it either, but I too see little choice.” Idria said, Thaerisk nodding along with her. “But we don’t know where the ritual site is…”

Ali the Wise, who had remained calm during the argument, spoke back up. “I’ve recently come across some ancient writings that suggests there’s a tunnel leading to the site underneath Ghorrock Fortress. It’s at a snowy plateau you could drop a rope from so more troops can sneak there to aid you.”

“The one north-west of the Wilderness?” Zamansis asked, humming in thought. “I’ve been there before, but never saw a tunnel. I guess my new friends and I could check again…”

Akrisae piped up again. “The Stone of Jas might be near there too, Lucien hiding it near such an important place for him. You should look for it, and use these teleorbs to move it away from him.” He looked through his cloak and pulled out what looked like several crystal balls which he handed over to Zamansis, the latter putting them in his bottomless bag.

“And we might be able to make use of Arrav’s heart in this situation. Zemouregal will probably bring him as backup for the ritual.” Ali said, taking an unusually ominous looking container from a pocket in his robes. It looked like a burial urn of sorts, very plain in design, but it just resonated an unusual energy…

“His…heart?!” Sora exclaimed, staring at the urn. “What does that mean?!” Arrav had to be a person, right? If his heart was in that urn…did that make him a sort of Heartless?

“Arrav is a long-dead hero, with Zemouregal being a Mahjarrat using his corpse to fight for him.” Zamansis explained, taking the urn. “What exactly would we need this for, Ali?”

“I’ve been studying organ magic, and there’s a spell that can be used to free Arrav, but his heart will have to be close to his reanimated corpse.” Ali the Wise said as Zamansis put the urn in his bag. “Hide it somewhere near the site, and try to draw Arrav to it if he indeed shows up.”

Idria looked at the interaction, pale in the face. “You just…had the heart of Varrock’s greatest hero in your pocket?!”

“Only so I could one day aid him.” Ali the Wise insisted, dismissing Idria’s concerns. “I will say I’m not entirely sure of the nature of the spell that Zemouregal has cast on Arrav. He might have ways of strengthening his control, which may mean I can't free him. You should snoop around that horrid Mahjarrat’s fortress for clues.”

Donald huffed, tapping his foot impatiently. “Any other errands you want us to run?” He asked sarcastically. This was turning into a lot of steps!

“Just one.” Ali the Wise said, ignoring Donald’s attitude. “You should talk to our mutual friend, Azzanadra. He’s the most likely to be our ally in this battle.”

“That is a lot.” Zamansis agreed, but nodded along with Ali the Wise’s suggestion. “We’ll go talk to Azzanadra first.” He turned to Sora, Donald, and Goofy, taking a golden necklace with a shining ruby in it out of his bag. “Hold onto me, we’ll be teleporting again.” When the three did as told, he rubbed the ruby and the quartet were whisked away.

They reappeared at a dig site of sorts near the coast, the ocean to their east and the four of them appearing in front of some official looking building. To their north, there were numerous areas where archeologists were slowly, carefully going through areas with their specialized tools.

“Your friend is here? Is he one of them arky…archea…digger fellers?” Goofy asked, looking around at the area.

“Not exactly. He’s another Mahjarrat.” Zamansis explained, once more leading the group. He started to head towards one of the dig sites, one with a large hole with a winch and rope leading down into it. “There’s a temple to a god that a number of the Mahjarrat worship and follow named Zaros underneath the earth here where he resides.”

“Do these gods actually exist?” Sora asked, wondering if such powerful beings really existed in other worlds. He had read about gods, both good and bad, in stories growing up and seeing them in movies or shows.

“Oh, they exist. That’s undeniable.” Zamansis said with complete confidence. “The reason why the Wilderness is the way it is resulted from a war between numerous gods. They can’t enter our realm anymore, not directly, so they have followers do their bidding.”

So, what’s why the Wilderness was so torn apart! The power of those gods must have been something else to cause such damage! Sora shuddered at the thought, following Zamansis as he went down the rope into the hole.

The four soon found themselves in a dimly lit cave system, a very simple one with a single path. Walking along it, they quickly came across a large room that certainly looked like a temple! Pillars, a circle with a cross on it on the floor, a religious altar to the far wall, and oddly there was lava flowing through waterways in the floor, helping light the area up well. Standing in the center, looking at the visitors, was an ordinary looking man with red hair and beard wearing clothes fit for an explorer or archeologist.

“Hm? Zamansis?” The man asked, looking at the adventurer curiously. “What brings you here? And who are these three?”

“They’re friends, Azzanadra, I trust them. And they know you’re a Mahjarrat.” Zamansis explained, giving a quick introduction to Sora, Donald, and Goofy as the four approached. “I’m sure your human disguise threw them off.”

Sora was actually sort of eager to see what one of these Mahjarrat people actually looked like, so he was a tad disappointed. “Yeah, we’re here because that ritual you guys do is about to happen!”

Azzanadra seemed a bit taken aback, but then quickly got over it. “I see. Well, if Zamansis trusts you, I do as well. He’s been quite some help to me. And you all know of the ritual? Very well informed you are…”

“It was his friend Ali the Wise that tipped us off.” Goofy explained, looking about the temple. It was awfully spooky, and the knight, along with Sora and Donald, felt like something unseen was watching them…

“He must have good reason, then. He’s not one to make foolish choices or give out information unnecessarily.” Azzanadra mused, looking the three newcomers over as if studying them.

“A very good reason. Lucien has the Stone of Jas, an artifact that gives great power to its user. Its abuse is putting all of Gielinor in danger!” Zamansis declared.

“I knew he had another powerful artifact, the Staff of Armadyl, but I’ve not heard of this Stone of Jas.” Azzanadra admitted. “It seems my imprisonment really made me miss out on a lot…” He said, speaking of his sealing away in a pyramid during the God Wars. Thousands of years he spent in there until Zamansis himself freed him.

Zamansis sighed. “I don’t know much of it, except apparently it helped Zamorak ascend more than the Staff of Armadyl did. Touching it gives a lot of knowledge and strength to the user. I myself touched it once and it was…something else…” He shook his head, clearing away what seemed to be an uneasy memory. “In any case, I have more allies that will help take down Lucien during the ritual, and we were hoping for your aid.”

“I can see the strategy in that. Of course I’ll aid you, I just need a favor.” Azzanadra informed, ignoring a grunt of annoyance from Donald. The disguised Mahjarrat took four odd objects out of his pack. Stone objects with crystals embedded in them. “My Lord grants me power within this temple, but not far outside it. I’ve stored some divine energy in these beacons. Just hide them around the site so I can properly aid  you.”

Taking yet more objects to aid with, Zamansis placed them in his bag. “I’ll do it, don’t worry. We’ll see you at the ritual site! Come on guys, we have to teleport again.” He said to the trio.

“All this teleportin’ sure does make a guy dizzy…” Goofy murmured as Zamansis started another salt circle. Still, he stepped in it along with Sora and Donald as the quartet were teleported again. They arrived in a cold, sparse area near another coast. Nearby was a canoe that Zamansis seemed to know would be there, probably leaving it there himself for occasions such as this.

The four got in it and rowed along the coast, ending up in a snowy, mountainous area. “S-Sure is c-cold up here!” Donald exclaimed, rubbing his arms as he sputtered from the low temperatures.

Sora was doing way worse, having grown up on a tropical island. His teeth were chattering, and he felt goosebumps all over his body! “S-So the ritual site is up here in the cold?”

Zamansis didn’t seem nearly as bothered, but still shivered a bit. “Sorry guys, but it’s not so cold that you’ll be in danger. Come on, we’re right near Ghorrock Fortress.” Once more, he walked at the front of the group, leading them uphill towards a large, abandoned stone fortress. It was covered in ice and snow, and looked as though it hadn’t been entered in decades. The foundation was crumbling, and it gave off an air of loneliness. Around it, to the shock of Sora, Donald, and Goofy, were dragons! Not Dragonkin, but dragons as they appeared in old fairytales! They were quadrupedal with large wings…and they seemed to be made of metal! Some were iron, and some steel. “Don’t worry, these Iron and Steel Dragons won’t bother you unless you strike first.” Zamansis quickly explained.

The outsiders seemed hesitant to believe him, the massive creatures roaming about, stopping to look at the four visitors…but did little else. Maybe they didn’t see the four as worth any effort, or maybe they were just peaceful to some degree? “Still pretty freaky…” Sora murmured.

“Hold on!” GLaDOS’ voice chirped, Donald taking her out of his pocket. “I sense the same energy as a Keyhole! I know it!”

“Wait, really?” Sora asked, leaning in to listen closely to the A.I.. “You’re not messing with us, are you?”

“Trust me, I want to get away from this world as much as the loudmouth that carries me around.” She responded, ignoring Donald’s glare. “All these magical properties are exhausting on my sensors. But I sense what must be the Keyhole to our south!”

“South…?” Zamansis muttered, looking to some ruined pillars and stone in that direction. As he looked closer, he saw there was a tunnel in the nearby ice wall. “Hey, there’s an opening! I guess I never noticed it last time I was here. I was more focused on the main fortress!”

Goofy hummed, looking at the tunnel. “Maybe that ritual site is where that there Keyhole is? Or near it? It’d be a pretty big coincidence otherwise…”

“Remember Dimple? He knew he’d get some sort of power from the Keyhole, so maybe the Mahjarrat use a power like that?” Sora suggested.

“That’s actually logical of you, Clown Shoes.” GLaDOS sarcastically praised. “You should all investigate it then.”

As Donald stuffed GLaDOS back in his pocket, the group went through the short tunnel, finding themselves on a large, snowy plain. Off to the west were some pine trees with another, less abandoned-looking fort standing in the cold. But the four were more intrigued by what was in the center of the plain. There, standing on its own, was a disturbing looking stone structure. It seemed unbelievably ancient and had the visage of a screaming face with an extremely long, gaping mouth. It gave off a disturbing and very noticeable energy.

“That’s probably the ritual marker…” Zamansis remarked. “Once we stop Lucien, we’ll look around here for the Keyhole, okay? Let’s get things ready first!” The group went about the area, performing the tasks asked of them. Four beacons were hidden around rocks and dead trees about the site. Zamansis hid the urn containing Arrav’s heart by some rocks near the disturbing marker. Then, finally, the adventurer tied a rope by a dead tree leading to the area where the canoe dropped them off. “So now we go to Zemouregal's Fort and-”

“I knew you’d show up here.” A familiar voice called from behind the quartet. They whipped around to see that unusual blonde man with the massive sword they briefly encountered in Keldagrim. “With what Sliske told me, he and I were sure you’d come here by the end of today.”

“What? Who are you?!” Zamansis asked, quickly getting his sword and shield ready. He had a bad feeling about this guy. “And Sliske? I swear I read that name somewhere, but where…?” He wasn’t able to recall it, but Sliske was mentioned in a list of Mahjarrat that Zemouregal had written down that the adventurer had come across in a previous quest of his.

“It doesn’t matter who I am.” Cloud replied, taking his sword off his back and wielding it with shocking ease given its size. “I’m only after you, Zamansis.” His cold blue eyes scanned Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “If you three leave, I won’t chase you. If you get in my way, I’ll cut you down.”

The three summoned their respective weapons, all getting ready to fight. “Are you nuts?! Zamansis is our friend! What do you get out of killing him anyway?!” Sora demanded, ready for when the stranger would assuredly strike.

Cloud shook his head. “It’s not your business. I’ll give you one last chance to move away.”

“Like that’ll happen! How about you beat it?!” Donald exclaimed, aiming his wand at Cloud and shooting off a ball of Fire at the blonde man.

Moving quickly, Cloud slashed his sword at the oncoming projectile, destroying it before it had any chance to deal damage. The man then charged the group, aiming for Zamansis and letting out a cry of effort as he swung vertically at the armored warrior.

Zamansis, Sora, and Goofy all worked together to block the attack, using their blades and shield to stop Cloud’s strike from doing any damage. Even with all three of them working together, they still struggled under the surprising strength of their opponent. “We don’t have time for this…!” Zamansis groaned out. “We’re trying to-”

The adventurer’s words were interrupted as Donald shot another ball of Fire at Cloud, aiming for the man’s side. Jumping backwards, the blonde swordsman swung his massive blade in a horizontal arc to keep Sora, Goofy, or Zamansis from charging him. After he leapt back several more times, he lunged at his main target once more! This time, he held his sword ready for a stab, but was intercepted as Sora jumped at him and aimed a swing of the Keyblade at his head.

As Cloud dodged Sora’s attack, Goofy’s shield came hurtling, thrown like a discus. The projectile hit the blonde man on the forehead, causing him to stagger as the shield bounced away. Zamansis took this time to run forward and swing his own blade at Cloud. Recovering just in time, the assassin blocked the attack, and was held in place as the armored adventurer held his ground and tried to push his blade forward more.

Seeing a chance to help, Sora lunged at Cloud and swung his Keyblade at the attacker. To his surprise, the blonde man actually let go of his sword’s hilt with one hand, catching Sora’s weapon with his gauntlet-clad hand. This stopped Sora in his tracks, and he was able to swing the teen into Zamansis, swiftly knocking both to the ground.

Not wasting time, Cloud raised his sword, ready to stab down at Zamansis when Sora raised his Keyblade and pointed it right at the opponent. Remembering some of the spells Donald used, he tried to call upon a new one in the heat of the moment. “Thunder!” The brunette cried, causing a bolt of magic to strike Cloud from above, causing him to grunt in pain and freeze in place from the electricity for a brief moment.

This was all Zamansis needed to recover, rolling around to Cloud’s rear with surprising agility. “We don’t have time for this!” The armored man called, pointing his blade at the assassin. As he did this, he conjured up an Air Surge spell, a massive gust of wind shooting forth at Cloud. It was so powerful that it actually lifted the blonde man right off his feet and sent him flying all the way off the snowy plain and into the freezing water off the shore. Standing up, Zamansis pointed to the fort partially hidden by the trees. “While he’s recovering! Let’s get inside! We’ll need your Keyblade, Sora!”

With the assassin temporarily disposed of, the four ran through the trees and came across the second fort. It was, of course, far more intact than Ghorrock Fortress and a great deal more sinister. This second building had dark spires, pillars with large, menacing flames on top at either side of the entrance, and a massive stone skull built into the wall above the front door. Darkness was practically pouring off the stone itself!

“A bit on the nose…” Sora muttered as he used his Keyblade to unlock the fort’s front door. Normally, they would have had to use number strips and solve an annoying puzzle to open it, but the Keyblade thankfully overrode that! After the quartet entered, the door was slammed shut. Automatically, it audibly locked behind them.

They took a second to catch their breath, the main foyer of the fort thankfully empty. It was very fancy, lit by torches on the wall and decorated with empty suits of armor with a very fancy rug. There were several doorways along the walls and staircases leading upwards. “Who was that guy? You sure you don’t know him?” Donald asked.

“I really don’t recognize him. But that name, Sliske, is just so familiar…but I can’t remember where I heard it…” Zamansis answered. “Either way, he probably didn’t see where we went. Even if he did, he’d have to break that door down to get to us. For now, let’s quietly look around for clues about the specific spell used to keep Arrav under Zemouregal’s control.”

Remaining silent, the four went into several rooms on the bottom floor and searched for any clues. They looked on desks, in crates, on shelves…but found nothing. Thankfully, the fort didn’t seem exactly guarded. Apparently being in such a remote, dangerous area was enough to keep Zemouregal at ease.

While they searched, a deep and hostile voice rang out from the next room over. “Who goes there? I can sense your presence!” It called, causing the quartet to freeze in place. After a moment, the voice went on. “No, no, that's no good. Too clichéd. How about…? I know you're there! Face me and my minions of darkness” The voice was clearly talking to himself, Zamansis mouthing the name ‘Zemouregal’ to the others.

After a moment, a second voice called. “Master? Who are you talking to?”

Zemouregal was heard clearing his throat. “What? Nobody! I'm just…practicing for the ritual. Those new minions I discovered will really strike fear in the others!”

The quartet let out a collective, silent breath of relief. “I thought he had sensed us.” Donald whispered, feeling his heart slam away at his chest.

“Me too.” Sora confessed, frowning a bit. “It sounds like Zemouregal can summon Heartless. That’s not good…”

The four left it at that, not wanting to risk being overheard. They went to a different room and saw a note on the desk there. Zamansis took it and read aloud.

Matters of the Heart

The soul of Arrav is more troublesome than I'd originally thought. If I move him too far from my base, I can feel him fighting against my will. I must find a way to strengthen my hold over him to subjugate him further, else it would be better to destroy him and be done with it.

I had been working on an enhancement prism, but the results with ordinary glass weren't enough - I needed a better material.

Thankfully, I believe I have found what I need in a volcano on Karamja - a rare black mineral called obsidian. I'll construct a new prism from this.

The prism works and my spell is enhanced! Now, I can make better use of Arrav against Varrock. In life he was its protector, in death its destroyer... an example to all of the fates of 'heroes'. The prism is very fragile though, so I'll need to lock it away from those clumsy zombies.

“I bet that prism is somewhere nearby!” Goofy exclaimed. “I feel bad for that Arrav feller. Under control of someone else like that…”

“We’ll have to smash that prism, going by these notes.” Zamansis informed. “We’ll do that, then quickly get out of here…”

And that’s just what the group did. Going through the mostly empty fort, they searched more of the rooms, most locked and needing Sora’s Keyblade to open. They didn’t talk too much, afraid that Zemouregal or his unseen minion may overhear them. Eventually, they found one tucked away in the basement that held a pedestal with a shiny black stone on it. Wasting no time, Sora smashed at it with his weapon, cracking the object in two with a single blow!

“I hope this really helps Arrav.” Sora said, feeling really bad for the guy despite not knowing him. Forced into being a heartless entity and under the thumb of someone like Zemouregal…! The teen’s empathy made his own heart ache a bit out of pity.

With their mission done, the four swiftly left the fort out the main entrance, looking about as they closed the door behind them. “I don’t see that assassin anywhere. I wonder if he gave up or something?” Zamansis asked as the group went back towards the ritual site.

“I don’t know, he seemed pretty strong and determined…” Donald argued, keeping his staff out just in case.

At just that moment, as the four reached the snowy plain again, a voice called from behind. “Ah! Zamansis!” It was a male’s voice, but distinctly older than Cloud’s.

Still, the four whipped around, weapons drawn! Before them, however, was a rather harmless looking old man in a black, hooded cloak. Zamansis eased up, but only lightly. Not poised to strike, but hardly happy to see the man that had appeared. “Movario? Still working for Lucien, huh?”

The man, Movario, scoffed and shook his head. “Not a chance! After helping him find the Stone of Jas and all the research I did for him, he left me behind! He thinks I only want it for myself!”

“Well, do you?” Donald asked, not trusting the cloaked man. First that assassin and now this guy? This location sure drew a lot of weirdos!

“Yes…er…but only to research!” Movario insisted. “Lucien just uses it to grow in strength, not understand the artifact!”

“What are you even doing here? This is pretty out of the way.” Zamansis asked, calming down further at Movario’s admittance of working alone.

Movario scoffed again. “What else? I’m here to find the Stone of Jas, and I’ve come so very close…”

“And what if I find it for you? We’re here to take out Lucien, as it happens.” Zamansis suggested.

“As if that worked so well last time!” Movario all but barked…but then sighed. “I suppose two heads are better than one. Or five, I guess.” He glanced at Sora, Donald, and Goofy, but hardly seemed interested in them. “I have detected some shadow magic nearby, but aside from that, I’m stumped.”

Zamansis nodded, turning away from Movario. “That’s helpful. You keep doing whatever, and we’ll be on our way.”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy followed suit, all of them keeping an eye out for Cloud as they walked, but so far he seemed to not be around. “So, you trust that guy?” The teen asked, glancing back at Movario who had started to wander in a different direction, murmuring to himself.

“Trust is a strong word. He’s pretty harmless, though.” Zamansis answered with a shrug. “Besides, he gave us a fantastic hint!” Fishing through his bag once more, he took out a simple gold ring. It had no decorations or markings of any kind, yet something seemed off about it. Just looking at it gave the other three a nasty feeling. “This ring will help us out. It helps me see things normally invisible.” With that, he slipped it on and he started to look about.

The three others looked at each other, then back at Zamansis as he started to wander around. “So, did it work? Do ya see somethin’?” Goofy asked, looking about as well as though he could somehow help.

At first, Zamansis didn’t respond, then he suddenly pointed to an icy wall nearby. To the others, it just looked like a wall. “I never saw that cave before! Do you guys see it?” To that, they shook their heads. “Good. That means it’s hidden by shadow magic. You guys can’t see it, but you can follow me.”

To the astonishment of the trio, Zamansis walked to the ice wall and just passed on through a part of it! Quickly, they walked through the same spot and found it was like going through empty air. In an instant, the quartet was in an icy cavern, and before them stood a massive object.

It sat on an ancient pedestal and was a large white stone with hexagon patterns on it. Just looking at the object filled the quartet with a sense of awe and wonderment, as if they were gazing upon something twenty times as large as what it truly was. A faint hum seemed to fill the air, an invisible power that they all felt in their bones.

“What is that?!” GLaDOS piped from Donald’s pocket. For once, she seemed truly astonished. “I can sense so much energy from that stone! It could power my facility for thousands of years by itself!”

“That’s the Stone of Jas.” Zamansis replied simply, approaching the object as the other three trailed behind him. “It’s a good thing Lucien isn’t here…” As he reached the object he, as if compelled, placed his hand on it. When he did this, he froze in place and his eyes went unfocused. At the same time, however, a surge of visible energy surged from the stone and into Zamansis. It was unusual and almost impossible to describe, but the adventurer became more…solid as the energy surged. Like somehow he had been transparent before, but now he was becoming more real and tangible.

With a gasp, the armored man took his hand off the Stone of Jas, looking around like he didn’t know where he was. “Are you okay, Zamansis?” Donald asked, looking between his friend and the ancient artifact in worry.

“I…I think so.” Zamansis replied, looking at the hand that had touched the Stone of Jas. “I saw a vision of…the past, I think. I saw Saradomin, and-” Before he could go on, a voice rang out in the icy cavern.

Intruder detected!

Intruder detected!

Initiating emergency extraction spell!

Dumping intruder on the plateau.

Thinking quickly, Sora reached out and placed his palm on the Stone of Jas! His line of thinking was that if they were to beat Lucien, they’d need every advantage! He thought it had been odd that the Dragonkin were after those that used the artifact…but they ignored Zamansis when he was mere feet from them! Just one touch couldn’t be bad, then, right?

This contact only lasted for a second, and less energy was transferred to Sora, but he still felt a surge go through him. Somehow, he felt like it should’ve hurt, but it didn’t. If anything, it gave him energy unlike he had ever felt before! As Donald and Goofy called his name in worry, the teen saw a vision for the briefest moment.

A massive, slumbering figure in the dark, green skin with large horns that connected behind its head.

Just as quickly as the vision came, it went, and the quartet was teleported back to the ritual site. When they arrived, they saw they weren’t alone. Sir Tiffy and a number of knights clad in white armor were there. Alongside them were Akrisae and Ali the Wise. When the four appeared, Sir Tiffy jumped a bit and exclaimed. “Ah! Old beans! How did you all get here?!”

“We’re not sure ourselves. It’s good that you’re all here, though.” Zamansis replied, looking at the allies that had arrived. He also saw that there were other figures off in the distance in the plains, ones that seemed to be fighting…

“And we got everything set up like you wanted!” Sora added on, getting his Keyblade ready for the trouble that was about to come their way. He felt so in the moment, so…focused! It was hard to explain, but it was like he had been sleeping before suddenly waking up!

“Hey, you okay, Sora?” Donald asked quietly. “Why did you touch that thing?”

Sora replied just as softly. “I thought it’d help us against Lucien. I actually feel really good…!”

“It’s a good thing you’ve got things prepared. The ritual is to start at any moment.” Ali the Wise asked. “We have the Temple Knights here along with some druids and Guardians of Armadyl. Some Mahjarrat troops have arrived, and they’re holding them back in parts of the plain.”

“Yes, so we’ve no time to lose!” Sir Tiffy exclaimed. “We’re going to the marker, so let’s hurry!”

Before the large group could move much, a figure appeared between them and the ritual marker. It was Sora, Donald, and Goofy’s first look at a Mahjarrat. His name was General Khazard, a hulking figure in armor adorned with a large skull on his chest. This seemed appropriate as his face was also skeletal with glowing red pupils in the eye sockets. “Ah, so the vermin are all gathered together! Makes the slaughter far easier…” The Mahjarrat commented, waving a hand as a dozen Soldier Heartless appeared.

At that, everyone in the group readied their weapons as the Heartless awaited a command to attack. “I already beat you once, so you might as well just let us by!” Zamansis warned. “This is one of the Mahjarrat, and one of the worst ones I’ve encountered…” He explained to Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

“Don’t you have a ritual to get ready for anyway? Why waste energy on us, General Khazard?” Ali the Wise asked, the only one in the group without an actual weapon.

General Khazard ignored Zamansis and sneered at Ali the Wise. “Wahisietel? Didn’t think I’d see you with Saradominists!”

“Wahi…who?” Goofy asked, looking about. “That’s Ali the Wise!”

Without responding to Goofy, the Mahjarrat summoned a dark blade and pointed it at Ali the Wise. At this, a surge of energy shot at the man and he transformed! Standing in the human’s place was another Mahjarrat, one that was wearing a set of green robes. Like General Khazard, this one also had a skeletal face. By that point it was clear to the trio of outsiders that all of the members of that species simply looked like that.

“Ali?! What’s going on?!” Zamansis asked, gawking at the towering figure that took the place of his friend.

“An abomination like that has been at our side this whole time?!” Akrisae exclaimed, looking at Wahisietel with open disgust.

Wahisietel didn’t seem perturbed by the outburst. “Save your holy crusade for later. Yes, Ali the Wise was just a disguise I wore, but I’m still on your side!”

“Something had always seemed off about him, but I never expected this specifically…” Zamansis murmured. “Either way, he’s still my ally and friend!”

General Khazard was clearly joyous at the revelation, cackling as more Heartless appeared, this time being squads of Shadows, Large Bodies, and Red Nocturnes. “You’ll make the perfect sacrifice, Wahisietel! Just as soon as these vermin are taken care of!” With that, the dastardly Mahjarrat thrust his sword forward, ordering the Heartless to attack!

What followed was a large skirmish on both sides. The Temple Knights, Sir Tiffy, Akrisae, and Wahisietel fought off the Heartless as they came with the latter two using magic to dispel the beings of darkness. Of course, even when most of the Heartless were gone, more simply took their place.

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Zamansis focused on General Khazard. Several Large Bodies stayed by the nasty Mahjarrat, serving as a buffer to reaching him. Donald and Goofy took these on, the sturdy Heartless serving their purpose well. Sora and Zamansis broke through, the former even slashing right through one of the Large Bodies in a single swipe! The energy he got from the Stone of Jas wasn’t as much as Zamansis got, but it made a notable difference!

As the two reached General Khazard, he sneered and swiped at them, forcing them to keep their distance as he launched orbs of darkness at them. Using their shield and Keyblade to block the attacks, Sora and Zamansis closed the gap and both swung at the Mahjarrat, who barely managed to block the attacks. Snarling, the otherworldly being’s frame shook as two stonetouchers struggled against him.

“It’s two against one! Just let us pass!” Zamansis urged, glaring daggers at the Mahjarrat. “Like I said, I already beat you once!”

The Mahjarrat scowled at that, pushing back against his two opponents. Despite their enhanced strength, he was still able to at least hold them off. “That was sheer luck!” General Khazard insisted. “And as for two against one…Bouncer would state otherwise!” As he said this, his eyes glowed red and the spectral figure of a demonic dog appeared at his side. “Bouncer! Attack this pest!” He ordered, glaring at Zamansis.

Obeying his master, the ghostly canine lunged at the armored man, biting at his leg. Zamansis yelped, the specter’s teeth phasing through his armor, but hitting his skin perfectly fine! “Get off! Seriously?! A ghost hellhound?!” Zamansis exclaimed, backing away from Bouncer and slashing at him with his sword to little effect as the creature kept snapping at the warrior.

This just left Sora and General Khazard with their clash. Without Zamansis’ help, things were far more even between the two. Though the teen had a boost from the Stone of Jas, it was a lot less than what Zamansis got, and he was still a novice when it came to fighting anyone that weren’t some kids with wooden swords. The Mahjarrat seemed to realize things wouldn’t quite go Sora’s way and cackled. “Stronger than you look, brat! An unusual weapon too! But I can already feel you getting weaker!”

General Khazard was right! Sora already felt the energy he got from the Stone of Jas leaking out, like a balloon slowly letting out its air. It’d still be some time before he lost it all, but the teen was still getting weaker with every passing moment! Gritting his teeth in effort, Sora leapt back and pointed his Keyblade right at the Mahjarrat and let out a cry as a blast of flames shot out! It was larger than his usual Fire spell, the spell given extra power from the Stone of Jas.

Letting out a cry of pain, General Khazard backed away from the onslaught of fire as he readied his blade for a strike. He was too slow, though, as Sora closed the gap as soon as the flames died down and slashed the Mahjarrat across the chest. The Mahjarrat retaliated with a blast of darkness that sent Sora staggering backwards. It would’ve normally sent him flying, but clearly the Stone of Jas boosted his resistance to damage as well!

By this time, Zamansis had gotten rid of Bouncer, luring the ghostly beast over to Wahisietel who used his magic to dispel the nuisance. The Heartless were starting to wane as well, Donald and Goofy approached with their weapons draw. “Sora, ya okay? That was a pretty nasty hit!” Goofy called out.

“I’m fine! It didn’t do a lot!” Sora replied, readying to attack General Khazard again. Before he could, the Mahjarrat started to walk backwards, sword at the ready, but eyeing the quartet closing in on him. Even the Temple Knights and Wahisietel were about done with their own Heartless…

“Bah!” General Khazard spat. “I don’t have time for this anyway! I’ll see you at the ritual, Wahisietel!” The dark Mahjarrat exclaimed, fading away before everyone’s eyes as he fled.

With the last of the Heartless defeated, the Temple Knights and Wahisietel rejoined the quartet. The kindlier Mahjarrat shook his head. “Ignore that pitiful Mahjarrat’s cowardice. I’m not surprised he turned tail once the numbers weren’t in his favor.”

“His cowardice aside, at least the path’s open. Come on, everyone!” Zamansis urged, the group approaching the ritual marker. On other parts of the snowy plain, there was still combat between the forces of light and groups of Heartless called in by other Mahjarrat. Leaving the capable fighters to their skirmishes, the main group reached the eerie marker in no time. The problem was, though, that there was no one around it. No Mahjarrat or anyone!

“Wait, shouldn’t Lucien be here?” Sora asked, looking about. “Shouldn’t a bunch of the Mahjarrat be here?” He at least assumed they’d have to gather at the blatantly important marker for their ritual.

The others spread out, weapons at the ready as they cautiously surveyed the immediate area. “I sense a Mahjarrat here…” Wahisietel mentioned, picking up on something that no one else could. “Khazard, are you hiding away?!”

From thin air, a deep voice let out a harsh laugh. “Khazard? I’m afraid not.” The voice said, not seeming to come from any particular source. Without warning, a new Mahjarrat appeared. This one was taller than both Khazard and Wahisietel, this new one wearing a hooded cloak and wielding a dangerous looking staff. Off of his body, a visible aura of darkness emanated, sending a shiver throughout all the non-Mahjarrat in the area. He had that same, solid look that Zamansis had after touching the Stone of Jas, yet the new Mahjarrat seemed even more solid.

“Lucien…!” Wahisietel gasped out, taking a small step back from his kin. It was clear from the good Mahjarrat’s reaction that Lucien’s strength had grown a great deal since the two had last met, whenever that was. Truly the Stone of Jas was working well for the dark being.

Stepping forward rather than back, Zamansis snarled at the staff-wielding Mahjarrat. “Lucien, you murderer! I’m going to get you back for what you’ve done!” He yelled, recalling how the creature had slaughtered several of his friends and companions with ease.

Lucien glanced over at Zamansis, looking more amused than anything. “And you’re going to take me down? You even brought help! A weak Mahjarrat, a faltering priest, an old man, a half-pint magician, a lanky shield-wielder and…” His gaze fell onto Sora, or rather his Keyblade. “…well, that’s interesting…but no matter…” At that last part, he was mostly speaking to himself. The dark Mahjarrat was far more knowledgeable of such matters than others of his kind, with the exception of a certain user of shadows…

“We’re more than enough for you! We’ll stop you right here!” Sora exclaimed, glaring daggers at Lucien. Just his abuse of the Stone of Jas and endangering the world was more than enough to make the teen want to beat him senseless. But he murdered Zamansis’ friends too, and that was unforgivable! The warrior hadn’t mentioned too many details about Lucien when he spoke of his past adventurers earlier, and given how painful the memories must be, who could blame him?

The dark Mahjarrat scoffed at that, shaking his head. “You dare speak to a god like that?! That alone will seal your fate, human! It seals all your fates!”

Wahisietel scoffed right back, getting over his initial fear. “It’s laughable to call yourself a god. You’re just a petty thief.”

Off to the side, Sir Tiffy was murmuring into an orb. “Tiffy to base, Tiffy to base…” He murmured into it.

“Are you summoning reinforcements?” Akrisae asked as Lucien raised an arm and summoned a multitude of Heartless. It was an onslaught of bulky Large Bodies, dozens in number! The group of dark creatures thumped their chests, ready for a battle. And right at that moment, Idria with half a dozen Guardians of Armadyl showed up, ready to fight.

Before the clash could start, however, a new voice rang out. “Ah, looks like a big brawl is breaking out!” Everyone turned to look to see that a new Mahjarrat had joined in, yet it seemed like he had just blinked into existence while no one was looking. He was about the size of Wahisietel and a bit slimmer. Everyone froze at his arrival, even Lucien and his forces pausing to see what happened.

“Gah! Where did you come from?!” Zamansis exclaimed, jumping in place at the spontaneous arrival. Everyone else was shocked too, even the other two Mahjarrats were mildly startled.

“Oh, Sliske! You always show up at just the right time! Praise Zaros!” Wahisietel said with a breath of relief.

That name made the main quartet’s blood go cold, instantly thinking of that assassin from earlier. “Wait, Sliske? You’re another Mahjarrat?!” Sora exclaimed, brandishing his Keyblade.

Sliske eyed the weapon, the user of shadows having grown much more familiar with the weapon since he met Aqua. Some digging here, some world-hopping there and he learned a lot more than he expected. “Ah, another one of your kind.” He said to Sora, but didn’t take his gaze from the Keyblade. “A shame she won’t be here too.”

Sora blinked in confusion. His kind? A human, he meant? And who is she? “She…? You mean Kairi?!” No, that couldn’t be, could it…?

“Kairi? No idea what you mean! But since Zamansis is also here…” Sliske said, looking to the armored adventurer. “There’s some unfinished business!” As he said this, the assassin from earlier simply stepped out from behind him, despite such a thing seeming impossible. It was as if the blonde man just stepped out from some pocket space. “Cloud, Zamansis is right here for you!”

Cloud didn’t seem much worse for wear considering what had happened to him before, the assassin brandishing his sword. “This time, he won’t get away. Just remember what you promised.”

Wahisietel was now confused, looking between Cloud and Sliske. “Hey, what’s going on? Zamansis is my friend, you know. Whatever grudge you have with him will have to wait! This is hardly the time!”

This didn’t stop Cloud, however. He dashed, remarkably fast, past Wahisietel and towards Zamansis. The adventurer raised his shield and blocked the swing of Cloud’s massive blade, the Stone of Jas’ power making the clash easier on Zamansis. “It’s okay! I’ll deal with him! You all take down Lucien!”

“Hey, we’re going to help you too!” Sora said, charging at Cloud along with Donald and Goofy. The assassin leapt away, slashing horizontally at all four of them, forcing them back and away from all the other fighters by the ritual marker.

Lucien scoffed, and even seemed mad at the interruption. “Sliske won’t be any help. He alone won’t tip the scales in your favor!”

“Who said anything about being alone?” Sliske casually asked, almost seeming uninterested in the entire situation which apparently included setting an assassin onto Zamansis. Taking a few steps back, the shady Mahjarrat focused his energy, and before him appeared six warriors, wights in ghastly, rotten looking, yet oddly powerful armor and weapons. They were the Barrows Brothers, six wights of immense strength wielding a unique weapon each. A warspear for Guthan, a magical staff for Ahrim, a greataxe for Dharok, a crossbow for Karil, a set of two warhammers for Torag, and a mace for Verac. The wights said nothing, their free will gone and only puppets for whatever Sliske desires.

It was at this point that Lucien set his Heartless upon his foes, the Large Bodies charging as the opposing army fought back. Sliske simply stood where he was, allowing the Barrows Brothers to do all the battling for him. Trying to shake off the actions of Sliske unleashing Cloud, Wahisietel focused on Lucien, the two engaging in a duel of magic as they set spells back and forth at each other.

Off a ways, Cloud and the main quartet were still fighting. Donald and Goofy were more off to the side as support, using spells and well timed shield throws in aid. With the power of the Stone of Jas, Sora and Zamansis were a lot better handled against the blonde assassin. Though the artifact’s power grew weaker with each moment, the two stonetouchers still had enough of the extra strength to make Cloud really struggle. The mysterious blonde man kept getting parried and blocked, no matter how hard he swung that massive blade of his. If it frustrated him, he didn’t show it as he continued to try and take his opponents down. Still, he remained mostly unharmed, dodging or blocking the attacks from Donald and Goofy while keeping out of Sora and Zamansis’ reach when they counterattacked.

“Why are you doing this?! What’s in it for you?!” Zamansis demanded, blasting a fire spell at Cloud, who used his blade to block the attack entirely.

“He’ll help me in a way no one else can.” Cloud answered cryptically. With that, he used a new technique. With a cry, he slid forward, stabbing out his sword in a forward thrust. Sora and Zamansis barely dodged, but the assassin cried out as he repeated the move, this time sliding right for his main target. Zamansis used his shield to block, but with the Stone of Jas’ power fading, Cloud was strong enough to knock him to the side.

The Sonic Blade technique unleashed, Cloud repeated his sliding stabs at the quartet numerous times. Luckily, the attacks were either dodged or blocked, though the latter resulted in whoever the attack was aimed at being knocked away. The technique only ended when he aimed for Goofy, who leapt above the stabbing and slammed his shield into Cloud’s face, causing him to stagger.

At last, this seemed to truly frustrate Cloud, leaping away from the quartet as darkness started to visually rise off of him. The man himself even started to rise off the ground, a single black wing appearing out of his left shoulder. Immediately, he flew towards Zamansis, darkness radiating off of his body as he went on the offensive.

With a battle cry, Cloud swung hard at Zamansis, the warrior dodging as he shot a flame spell at the assassin. The magic attack hit, but it barely seemed to damage Cloud at all despite the man not even blocking! Like before, the assassin started to attack at random, soaring at Donald, who unleashed a Thunder attack that struck Cloud as he swung at the mage. While Donald’s attack hit, Cloud barely missed as the duck leapt out of the way. Like before, though, the spell didn’t seem to do much to the assassin. When Cloud went for Goofy, the knight got his shield at the ready, the massive sword slamming into it. Without damaging the shield at all, Cloud sent his target flying, landing in the snow.

Sora sprinted at Cloud as he went for the downed Goofy, who was mostly uninjured save for being a bit dazed. With heightened strength from the Stone of Jas, the teen kicked off the ground at a high speed, intercepting Cloud by striking him in the head with his Keyblade. Unlike all the other attacks, the brunette’s weapon pierced through Cloud’s defenses of darkness and knocked him right out of the air, his single wing vanishing.

After landing harshly on the ground, Cloud stood up, but Sora was at the ready. Not giving the assassin time to breathe, the teen slashed his opponent across the chest, causing the blonde to fall to one knee, using his sword as a support. Panting, Sora looked to Cloud as he felt the last of the Stone of Jas’ strength ebbing away. “Whatever Sliske promised you, it’s not worth it! Just…let us be, okay?” He was ready to strike again if Cloud made him, but he didn’t want to. There was never any malice to the mysterious man’s words or actions. If anything, he seemed almost desperate to take out Zamansis, not because he was actually evil or anything.

“I…I’m not done yet…” Cloud said between pants of his own. Despite his words, he remained on one knee, using darkness the way he did draining him.

“You look done to me!” Sliske’s voice called, the Mahjarrat fading into existence off to the side. The quartet and Cloud looked at him as Donald helped Goofy to his feet. “Three chances, and you blew them all! Yes, I’m counting that time you didn’t even bother to fight!” The unusual figure scolded, shaking his head like he was talking to a disobedient child.

“Just one more chance…! I said I’m not done!” Cloud insisted, managing to stand up straight, but his legs were shaky and weak. He hadn’t eaten or slept since Sliske gave him his mission, the assassin foolishly going into battle in a weakened state in his obsessive pursuit…

The Mahjarrat scoffed, shaking his head again. “Too bad! The deal’s off!” He coldly declared, looking at Cloud like he was mud on the bottom of his shoe. In anger, the would-be assassin managed to get up and swing his blade at Sliske, who faded away before the blow was struck, the mysterious being appearing a few feet away, causing Cloud to fall to the ground. “Now, now. No need to be sore…”

“Why do you want me dead anyway? What did I ever do to you? We never even met!” Zamansis asked, at that point remembering he read Sliske’s name in some of Zemouregal’s notes.

“Oh, for the fun of it. To see what would happen.” Sliske answered in such a casual manner that it was hard to tell if such a petty nothing of a reason was truthful or not.

While this all went down, the battle against Lucien and his Heartless raged on. The Heartless were far more numerous than with General Khazard, Lucien showing just how much more powerful he was. Still, the amount of Large Bodies had dwindled, the Barrows Brothers cutting through their foes with great ease. As for Lucien himself, he and Wahisietel were continuing their dule, with the latter Mahjarrat looking worn out. If their battle had damaged Lucien in the slightest, he wasn’t showing it.

By the time Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Zamansis arrived at the scene as they decided going for Lucien was of better importance than whatever Sliske wanted, the last of the Large Bodies had fallen. The four left Cloud behind, who was recovering and watching things unfold from a distance. Donald could have healed him, but he wasn’t about to waste his magic on someone that just tried to kill them! Lucien snarled at the forces against him, glancing back at the ritual marker as Wahisietel stopped his spell-flinging and Sliske teleported closer to the marker. Everyone else stood ready, waiting to see what the empowered Mahjarrat would do. “Enough of this!” Lucien spat. “There’s nothing you can do to stop me! We have more pressing matters like the ritual! It is time for me to choose a sacrifice!”

As if waiting for such a statement, a new Mahjarrat appeared, a female one in a dark red cloak named Enakhra. She glared at Lucien, ignoring all others present. “Just because you’re the strongest doesn’t mean you get to decide on your own, Lucien!”

Lucien let out a harsh, barking laugh at that. “Of course it does! Who will stop me? Do you wish to, Enakhra?”

That quickly changed Enakhra’s demeanor as she quickly shook her head and took a step back. “N…No! I was just thinking we should think this through. This affects us all, remember?”

Once more, as if waiting on a cue, another Mahjarrat appeared. A male in an orange cloak and eternal rival of Enakhra named Akthanakos. “You just want the choice to be me. You’re too weak to defeat me, so you want everyone to just sacrifice me!”

Zemouregal then appeared, a hulking figure of Mahjarrat about as large as Lucien himself. “Getting rid of a Zarosian like yourself would be a good thing, Akthanakos. Wouldn’t you say, Lucien?”

Yet another Mahjarrat appeared, Azzanadra, now in his normal form. He wore a horned headpiece, not acknowledging Sora or his friends. “You’re that scared of those who follow Zaros? Pathetic…”

General Khazard teleported in next, seeming a bit weary after his battle from earlier. “Why not make it Wahisietel? No one cares about your rivalry, Enakhra and Akthanakos!”

“It needs to be her! I demand it!” Akthanakos snarled, shooting daggers at General Khazard.

Yet another Mahjarrat seemed to pop into existence, one with unusual horns that the others all lacked. Hazeel, awoken by his cult despite Zamasis’ efforts to stop his revival from a state of topor he had been put in ages ago. “I agree with Khazard. Make it Wahisietel.”

Roaring, Lucien raised his staff and slammed it to the ground, shutting everyone up as they looked at him. “Be silent!” He demanded, looking ready to strike down the next one to speak up. “I will decide and it will be a Zarosian! The weakling to be sacrificed is not before us…but beneath us!”

“Oh, no…” Zamansis murmured, knowing exactly who Lucien meant. But how had he known…?

Lucien waved his hand, and out of the snowy ground erupted a frozen Mahjarrat, Jhallan! He wore a gold circlet, and with another wave of Lucien’s hand, the top half Jhallan unfroze, which instantly made him regain consciousness. It was clear from his body language that he was all but drained of his strength. If it weren’t for the ice on his lower half, he’d surely collapse. In fact, Jhallan didn’t even speak, simply looking to Zamansis with pleading eyes. After all, Zamansis had aided Jhallan in the past, agreeing to freeze the heavily weakened Mahjarrat underneath the ritual marker in hopes he’d get rejuvenated without hassle.

So much for that plan…

Zemouregal cackled with a nod. “A fine choice! Such a worthless Mahjarrat that I didn’t even notice he wasn’t here!”

“I see nothing wrong with this choice either.” Sliske chimed in, speaking for the first time since the ritual began.

“No, it should be Enakhra!” Akthanakos screamed, jabbing a finger at the other Mahjarrat.

Enakhra scowled at her rival, smacking his hand away. “No! You’re the worthless one here, Akthanakos! It should be you!”

Sora watched, baffled as the Mahjarrat started to squabble, pointing at each other and demanding that someone else be the one to die. All the while poor Jhallan panted, barely able to stay conscious as others decided his fate. It was so…horrid…the way the Mahjarrat acted.

“Hey!” The brunette screamed, causing the Mahjarrat to stop bickering and look at Sora in shock, as if they just realized he was even there. “Why does one of you have to die? You’re all a group, right? Why does one of you have to die? Isn’t there another way?!”

Most of the Mahjarrat grew angry at Sora’s outburst while most of the others looked at him in a sort of tired disappointment. “Don’t talk about what you don’t understand, human!” Hazeel hissed.

“This is the eighteenth time we’ve done this. Do you think we’d do it if there was another way?” Akthanakos added on. “You know nothing of our race, do you?”

“Just be silent, human, or I’ll make sure you can never speak again!” Zemouregal barked, really looking like he was going to wring Sora’s neck at any moment.

“That’s how our species survives.” Azzanadra said, mellower than the other Mahjarrat. “If we don’t pick a sacrifice, we’ll simply grow weak and fade. It’s one of us or all of us.”

Was there really no other option? Why did they have to do this in the first place? It was just such an awful situation and it made Sora’s heart ache seeing the Mahjarrat bicker along with Jhallan’s pitiful nature. “What about the Stone of Jas? Can’t that give you enough power?”

“And you think I’d share?!” Lucien demanded, very nearly sounding amused beneath his rage. “It is mine and mine alone! I will ascend to godhood myself! Even then, I still need the ritual to be properly rejuvenated.”

Not even that stone could help? Sora felt at a loss, wanting to help the Mahjarrat, even though some of them were so steeped in darkness. It was a pitiable situation no matter how some of them acted. “But…” Was all Sora was able to mutter before Lucien slammed his staff into the ground.

“Enough bickering! I will choose! Don’t let the worthless human distract you!” Lucien snarled, pointing his staff at Jhallan, who reached out to Sora as if the teen could help.

“No! It must be you, Lucien!” Wahisietel demanded, shooting off a fire spell at Lucien, who literally smacked the offensive magic away.

This triggered an intense fight to break out amongst the Mahjarrat and allied forces! Lucien roared, summoning more Large Bodies to fight. Wahisietel and Azzanadra started to cast spells at the dark Mahjarrat, none of which seemed to do much, if any, damage. Hazeel went for Sir Tiffy, the elderly man getting aid from Akrisae as they held the horned being back. The other soldiers fought the Large Bodies that Lucien had summoned. Meanwhile, Akthanakos and Enakhra started to fight each other, using fire and ice magic as they summoned Heartless of their own, Bandits, to fight one another. Wight Knights and Search Ghosts were summoned by Zemouregal as General Khazard brought forth more Shadows and Soldiers. It seemed that most of the Mahjarrat chose to control the Heartless, really making Sora wonder how many of them had good hearts…

While this happened, the quartet watched as the Barrow Brothers quickly carved their way through the Heartless protecting Zemouregal, who glared at Sliske. “You fool!” The brutish Mahjarrat spat. “You think your undead warriors are a match for mine?! Come, Arrav!”

Yet another new figure was brought forth to the ritual sight! A human, a man, but one that was clearly not normal. Arrav was mountainous, taller than just about everyone there by a good head. He was donned in powerful looking armor on his lower half, notably mostly exposed on his upper half, save for a gauntlet on one arm and a horned helmet covering his face. On top of that, there was a bit of armor over his heart where a ghastly green hole resided, no doubt a side effect from when Zemouregal removed his heart. In one hand he wielded a blade so massive that it’d take anyone else there two hands to wield, yet he lifted it like it was nothing. His skin was an unnatural, unhealthy grey color, really showing that he was a man that had long since passed on.

“That’s Arrav?!” Akrisae asked, going pale in the face at the sight.

“It…must be…” Idria responded, equally as horrified at the figure that had appeared.

“Remember the plan. We have to get him close to the heart…” Zamansis said to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Thankfully, its hiding place was pretty close.

Sora looked at the heartless man, feeling horror and pity over his situation. He was a true Heartless, yet he was still lacking something so crucial. “We won’t have to hurt him, will we?”

“Uh, I don’t think that’ll be a problem…” Goofy pointed out as the Barrows Brothers rushed Arrav. The mighty, ancient warrior swung his mighty blade at the wights, knocking Guthan and Dharok off their feet and onto their backs. Arrav then stuck his sword into the ground, grabbing Verac and Karil by the heads and slamming them into each other with great ease before tossing the wights away like they weighed nothing at all. Torag tried to slam one of his warhammers into Arrav, but the warrior caught the weapon with his bare hand before tearing it from Torag’s grip. Arrav then slammed the warhammer into Torag’s face, before doing the same to Ahrim, sending both of them flying.

And it all happened in just a few seconds.

Donald raised his staff, aiming it at Arrav. “As long as we keep our distance, we’ll be fine!” He assured, shooting a fireball at the heartless warrior. The attack hit Arrav on the right shoulder, but he didn’t flinch. Yet the attack still got his attention, grabbing his sword and started to walk towards Donald and the others.

“Come on! To his heart!” Zamansis ordered, he and the other three running from Arrav as he gave chase. He only moved at a quick walk, but his long strides made him start to catch up quickly!

Thankfully, this didn’t present a problem. By the time Arrav caught up with the quartet, they had reached his heart. All of a sudden, the ancient warrior froze in place. “My…” He murmured, looking at the heart’s hiding place. “My…heart…?”

Wahisietel looked over at the scene, magic pouring from him and towards Arrav, the curse breaking! “That’s right! You’re free now! Become Varrock’s hero once more!”

“You can get revenge on the Mahjarrat responsible! He’s here with us!” Zamansis added on, pointing Zemouregal out, the dark being unaware of what was going on as he sent out more Heartless.

Arrav groaned, but then he unfroze and turned to glare at the Mahjarrat that had controlled him in the first place. “ZEMOUREGAL!” Arrav roared, running to the one who had previously controlled him. With mighty swings of his sword, he effortlessly sliced through any Heartless in his path as he reached Zemouregal, who started to back away and try to fight back with little results.

Zemouregal looked to Lucien, who was still mostly unharmed by his duel with Wahisietel and Azzanadra. “Lucien! Help me! We’re on the same side, remember?!” As he spoke, Arrav sliced him down the chest, causing him to stagger. “You traitorous rat!” He roared, looking about the area. “Wahisietel was right! It has to be Lucien! Everyone! Attack him! Attack!”

Miraculously, all the Mahjarrat seemed to agree with Zemouregal, and their attention turned to Lucien. Zemouregal himself had to dodge around Arrav’s furious blows, but the rest all started firing their magic at the lone, powerful Mahjarrat. Even Donald let loose some fireballs, all of them hitting Lucien, but to little, if any, damage.

Lucien snarled, once more slamming his staff into the ground again, knocking all but the Mahjarrat away from the ritual stone and destroying all remaining Heartless. Sora, Donald, Goofy, Zamansis, Arrav, the wights, Sir Tiffy and those he brought with him were all forced back. “That’s enough!” Lucien roared. “Jhallan will face the void and we shall be rejuvenated!” With one hand, he sent an unusual spell at all the Mahjarrat in the form of what seemed to be a dark skulls, one for each of them. They all then repelled these skulls back onto Jhallan, who was only able to let out a cry before a flash of light enveloped the area! By the time it faded, the sacrificed Mahjarrat had disappeared entirely. At this time, all the humans were briefly lifted off the ground, a strange power running over them as an eerie red mist appeared over them. This levitation only lasted a moment before they touched back down on the ground, the mist vanishing too.

“What…was that? How odd!” Sir Tiffy remarked, mostly to himself.

Meanwhile, the Mahjarrat were being affected far more than the humans. They gripped at their chests, purple mist emanating from their faces! After a few moments of this, each Mahjarrat, one by one, started to change! Their faces started to morph from their skull-like appearance changing to flesh and muscle. Still, their faces were clearly inhuman, some having ridges and most having odd jewel in their foreheads. Each one changed into these new forms, their power noticeable to all the humans present, with Lucien being the last to change.

Letting out a relieved sigh through his nose, Lucien looked down at his free hand and clenched it into a fist. “That’s morel like it! Much better!”

“What do you mean by that?! You just killed one of your own!” Sora cried, remembering the words of the Mahjarrat earlier, but unable to contain himself. “You don’t even care!”

“Why would we? He was worthless! Barely worth giving a second thought to!” Lucien snapped in return, showing no remorse at all for Jhallan’s demise.

Glaring intensely at Lucien, Sora raised his Keyblade and brought down a Thunder spell which hit the Mahjarrat directly! However, the attack did nothing. He didn’t even flinch! “He’s too strong…” The teen murmured.

Azzanadra stepped between Sora and Lucien, the latter looking like he was going to strike back. “Morality aside, we all have our new strength, Lucien! With mine, I’ll strike you down with the power of Zaros!” Gathering the energy from the beacons he had the quartet place, Azzanadra raised both hands and shot forward a powerful spell at Lucien! Its very presence made the hairs of the humans stand on end, the spell itself a black mist filled with purple, crackling lightning.

It hit Lucien dead center in the chest, but all it did was make him take a step back and grunt in pain. However, it wasn’t nearly enough to stop him. “I actually felt that!” He admitted, smirking at Azzanadra. “I didn’t want to take the lives of more than one Mahjarrat, but you’ve forced my hand…!” With that, he waved his staff, and before him, the Stone of Jas appeared! He placed his hand on the relic, energy flowing into him. “I am the only one that can use it! It’s mine in its entirety! I am a god, and you are all mere insects compared to me!” Lucien gloated, removing his hand, having grown even more powerful in that brief amount of time. No one could stand up to him, Sora and Zamansis even having used up all the energy that the Stone of Jas gave to them…

Right at that moment, three figures flew in from the sky. Dragonkin! The same from the beach! Sithaph in a red cloak, Strisath in purple, and Sakirth in green. The reptilian beings radiated fury as Shadow Heartless started to melt from the snowy ground, the Temple Knights rushing to hold them off.

“Those must be the Dragonkin…!” Sir Tiffy observed, gasping at the sight.

Idria stood by Sir Tiffy, nodding. “They must be. They surely want to dispose of Lucien, so we should be on the same side!”

Sithaph hissed at Lucien, his awful gaze honing in on Lucien. “A god? No, False User, you are just a fool like all the others that abused the Stone’s power!”

“Is the False User aware he called us?” Sakirth asked, speaking of Lucien like he was a worm, unaware of that he was being talked about.

Stepping forward, much to the horror of everyone else, Idria bowed politely to the Dragonkin. “Excuse me, guardians of the Stone…?”

Strisath shook his head, ignoring Idria entirely. “No, he seems entirely oblivious. Just as all False Users are…” He replied, speaking in that same dismissive tone as Sakirth.

Sithaph growled, darkness coming off of him in a mist. “My anger grows…he still uses the Stone! We must destroy him here and now!”

Once more, Idria bowed. “Excuse me! Guardians of the Stone, we seem to be after the same thing. We could join forces…” She tried again, speaking louder.

“Idria, get back here! You don’t know what you’re doing!” Zamansis called, but stayed where he was.

At this point, Sithaph looked to Idria, as if just noticing her existence. “The creatures addresses us. That angers me. Her too?”

Strisath nodded. “Yes. All should know what their fates shall be!” Without hesitation, the Dragonkin opened its maw and shot a fireball at Idria, striking her! She didn’t even have time to scream before her body was reduced to ash!

Sora stared at the pile of soot where Idria once stood, clenching his Keyblade as a cold, nasty shock shot through him. That creature just destroyed her like it was nothing! Every fiber of his being called for him to retaliate…but he remembered that the Dragonkin destroyed an entire world that had the Stone of Jas in its use while Sora couldn’t even harm Lucien. What would he accomplish by attacking…?

Lucien let out a cruel bark of laughter. “An interesting display of power! None to match my own, of course.” He bragged, looking at the Dragonkin with mild interest.

Strisath snarled at the Mahjarrat. “False User, your power is taken from the Stone. Our power IS the Stone! Your destruction is at hand!”

That was the final straw for the Mahjarrat, clearly. “I’ve had enough of those lower than me thinking they can mock me! I’ll crush the three of you with ease!” He roared, readying his spear and charging the Dragonkin.

Sithaph charged right back, but was quickly knocked aside by Lucien, falling to the ground. The Mahjarrat turned, his back to the other two Dragonkin, as he prepared to stab the fallen one through with his spear. A terrible mistake, as Strisath unleashed a fireball at Lucien, striking him in the back. Unlike literally everything else thrown at him that day, that attack clearly hurt! He yelled out in pain, back scorched and smoking as he fell to his knees. Taking the opportunity, Sakirth swooped in front of Lucien, backhanding him across the face. This forced the Mahjarrat onto his back, letting go of the staff. Before he could do anything, Sakirth grabbed the weapon and stabbed it through Lucien’s chest, right where his heart was! The Mahjarrat’s jaw opened in a choked, almost silent scream before he went limp.

The other Mahjarrat stared in horror at how easily Lucien was taken out. Enakhra gulped, shaking her head. “We were just rejuvenated, I’m not about to share Lucien’s fate!” Without another word, she teleported away, Akthanakos following suit.

General Khazard took a step back, clear fear on his face despite himself. “I have…matters to attend to.” He quickly said, vanishing along with Hazeel and Zemouregal.

Azzanadra let out a breath of relief. “Not how I expected things to turn out, but…” Trailing off, he quickly teleported away as well, leaving Wahisietel and Sliske as the only remaining Mahjarrat.

Strisath sighed, as if calming down…though he still sounded angry. “The False User is defeated.”

Getting up, Sithaph nodded. “Yes. The pain subsides a little.” As he said this, the visible darkness on all the Dragonkin faded, the Heartless no longer appearing. He turned to those that remained. “Know this, watchers, we only answer to the Stone. All will pay for its misuse!” With that, the three Dragonkin flew away, Sakirth taking the Staff of Armadyl with him.

All the humans let out a breath they didn’t realize they were holding in. However, Akrisae quickly began to fret. “All is lost! Lucien is defeated, but a more powerful enemy has threatened us! And…Idria…” He bemoaned, looking to the ashes that remained of his friend.

“It’s not over yet! Don’t lose your cool!” Donald snapped, looking as the Barrow Brothers rose from the ground and rejoined Sliske. Arrav remained in place, looking weakened. Cloud was still where off to the side where he was left. An assassin, his boss, and six wights. Things still seemed so dangerous…

“Donald’s right.” Zamansis agreed. “We have to do something about the Stone. We can’t let someone else abuse it!”

“Good luck with that.” Sliske said, smirking at the others. He ignored how Sora, Donald, and Goofy readied their weapons and glared at him.

Wahisietel raised a brow at Sliske. “Didn’t expect you to stick around, Sliske. You usually slink off to the shadows after these rituals.”

“Ah, but I have a reason to stay.” Sliske insisted, gesturing to the Barrows Brothers who all obediently stood in line. “I’ve been watching Zamansis’ progress for some time now. I even sent an assassin to test him, and be passed with flying colors. So…I want to add him to my collection. A Keyblade wielder also sounds delightful!”

Sora flinched. How did this guy know about the Keyblade? And those wights…is that what he meant by adding them to his collection? “Who are you?! What did you mean that you knew someone like me?! Is it Kairi? Riku?”

Sliske shook his head. “I told you I have no idea what you meant! Now hold still!” He readied a spell, firing it at Zamansis and Sora so it’d hit them both at the same time. Quickly, Goofy got in front of them, raising his shield. However, as Goofy did that, Akrisae acted as well, diving into the spell to prevent it. Instantly, he fell to the ground, his cloak turned a sickly green. Slowly, he rose up, his face obscured by his hood, glowing green eyes all that was visible of his face. “Drat! I didn’t expect someone to get in the way! Oh well, you’ll do just as well for now…” With that, Sliske, along with the seven wights of his, vanished into shadow.

“Wait! Hold on!” Sora called fruitlessly, leaping at where Sliske was and slashing his Keyblade…which of course only hit open air. “We have to do something, Zamansis!” First Jhallan, then, Idria, and now Akrisae…

“I don’t think we can do anything…” Zamansis replied, voice heavy. “The Barrow Brothers have been wights for years and years, yet no one’s broken their spell. Who knows where Sliske went?”

Wahisietel sighed, shaking his head. “Sliske’s actions make sense only to him. He should never be trusted, and I apologize for what he did. As for me, I must go back to Nardah. You all must take care of the Stone, as I won’t let you think I may betray your trust by watching what you do with it.” Without another word, the last Mahjarrat teleported off.

Sora felt so disappointed in himself, wishing there was something he could do! One day, he’d try and come back to help…but who knew if there was even a way? “So, what do we do?”

As it turned out, Sir Tiffy had a good idea. Using that communication orb again, he called Thaerisk to the site. Through some complex magic, the three used a combined teleport spell, each thinking of coordinates to ensure the Stone wound up somewhere out of the way and obscure so no one could find it. And so, the relic faded. Thaerisk took his leave while Sora informed Sir Tiffy that they knew where the Keyhole was, much to the man’s delight as the Temple Knights hadn’t been able to get much research done in such a short time. He then departed with his soldiers, leaving only the main quartet, Arrav, and Cloud on the snowy plains.

Speaking of Cloud, the would-be assassin walked over to the group, now able to at least walk. “I know there’s no excuse for what I did. I regret it, though. He lied to me, and I lost sight of my light and fell into darkness in my desperation.”

“What did he promise you anyway? What did you want so badly?” Sora asked, feeling a bit sorry for Cloud. Despite his actions, at least he didn’t seriously injure anyone…

“Let’s just say I’m looking for a certain man. He promised to help, but I figure even I killed Zamansis, he wouldn’t have helped.” Cloud replied, looking at his ex-target. “Sorry it had to end up like that.”

Zamansis sighed, shrugging at Cloud’s words. “It was foolish to trust someone like him, but no one got hurt…not because of you, anyway.” Two deaths and a corruption still occurred, along with Lucien’s demise, but that was a positive. “No hard feelings.”

“Yeah, and maybe we can have a real spar sometime!” Sora insisted, remembering the fun he had fighting against Riku, Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie.

Cloud turned away from the others. “I think I’ll pass.” He said simply before walking away. His voice had no malice, acting more aloof than anything else.

Donald huffed, crossing his arms. “He just walks off like he didn’t try to kill us!” The mage grumbled.

“Aw, but he didn’t want to!” Goofy argued lightly, not nearly as mad as Donald. “And he apologized…a bit...” It was hardly an apology considering his actions, but…

As the four conversed, Arrav walked to them, the only one there aside from the group. Zamansis looked over at him, surprised. “Arrav? You’re still here?”

“Yes…but not…for long…” The mighty warrior said, sounding weakened and exhausted. “My body is thousands of years old…soon…I’ll be dust.”

Sora’s eyes widened, and he stepped forward. “There has to be a way to save you!” Three innocent people died or were corrupted! He couldn’t let a fourth die too!

Arrav shook his head. “But you already did. My time has long passed. With the spell broken, I can rest easy. I just wanted to say…thank you…” With that, he collapsed, his body and armor disintegrating into dust, his body, heart, and soul freed…

“Rest easy, Arrav…” Zamansis said with a light sigh. It was both such a sad, yet happy occasion. Turning to Sora, Donald, and Goofy, he quickly remembered something. “So, that Keyhole is nearby, right? The one you wanted?”

“That’s right!” Sora exclaimed, getting his Keyblade ready. With the Stone gone, the familiar energy of the Keyhole was noticeable, and it seemed right under their feet. Trying something, Sora walked in front of the ritual marker and raised his Keyblade high above his head. In an instant, a massive keyhole formed in the ground, the Keyhole they had been looking for! Doing the same thing as last time, the Keyblade glowed as the Keyhole vanished, locking up tight.

Donald cheered, hopping up in celebration. “Finally! It’s sealed! We can get moving now!”

Zamansis looked down at the mage. “What, you want to get away from me that badly?” He asked, heavy sarcasm in his voice.

“We just have a mission to do, that’s all!” Donald explained, clearing his throat.

Sora was about to agree, but he thought of something first. “…Zamansis, can you take us to that Oracle first. She might be able to help us. Just one last favor, that’s all.”

“You think that’s a good idea? She speaks in cryptic ways…” The armored warrior replied.

Donald sighed, but actually agreed with Sora. “If it helps us even a little…I guess it’s worth it. Let’s just make it quick, okay?” Better to have some idea of where to go than wander around worlds blindly…

Zamansis nodded and teleported the group to Falador as a starting point before helping them reach the Oracle. It was a long trip, the group having to climb up Ice Mountain. There was a simple tent and a dead, leafless tree. In front of the tent stood an odd looking woman. She wore tattered brown clothes, and had skin as white as the snow around her as well as red paint on her face. “Oracle, these three need your help.” Zamansis said, gesturing to Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

“That’s right! We’re looking for Kairi and Riku! My friends!” Sora announced, shivering from the cold, but willing to put up with it for the sake of some help.

“We’re looking for King Mickey too! We don’t know where he is!” Donald added on. “You can help us, right?”

The Oracle looked between the three, her gaze seeming to pierce their bodies and hearts. With little hesitation, she began to speak, first to Sora. “One is close, in your heart, but her form is elsewhere. Another with a man with golden hair.” She then turned to Donald. “Your King is in the darkness, his journey not at an end. In due time, he will meet an old friend.”

The four paused, blinking at the Oracle’s words. “That’s…all? But that didn’t help!” Sora retorted. Kairi was in his heart, of course, he always thought of her. And Riku was with a blonde man? Cid? Or someone else?

“Aw, phooey! That wasn’t helpful!” Donald agreed, crossing his arms. At the darkness? Like a place that was literally dark? A dangerous place? Who was this old friend?

“Don’t be rude!” Zamansis exclaimed, yet the Oracle herself didn’t seem to even notice the harsh words. “I said it wouldn’t be a guaranteed help. Thank you, Oracle.” He said the last part to the odd woman before turning back to his friends.  “Now come on…” Not wanting to stay in the cold much longer, he teleported them to Falador once more. “Sorry that wasn’t too helpful, guys.”

Sora sighed, but shrugged. “It was worth a shot. Thanks for everything you’ve done, Zamansis. I wish we could help with all the stuff that happened…”

“It’s not your world, remember? You don’t need to worry about us.” Zamansis assured kindly. “And you sealed that Keyhole, which could be linked to those Heartless if my theory was true. I take it this means you’re all heading out, right?”

“Yeah, we gotta keep looking for our friends!” Donald exclaimed with an eager nod. “We’ve been in this world too long!”

Goofy nodded, letting out a short guffaw. “It sure was nice meetin’ ya, though! I hope your adventures go well, Zamansis!”

Zamansis took off his helmet, nodding at the trio with a smile. “I hope you all find what you’re looking for as well. Good luck out there…!”

So, trying not to seem too eager, Donald took the remote from his pocket and pressed the button, teleporting the group out of Gielinor, Zamansis watching them go with a wave…

---

“So, they locked another Keyhole. They’re making quick progress.” The man with red hair and black armor noted. He and the others in Dio’s group watched the progress with their magical table.

“He still has plenty to go. He’ll never get them all!” The man in the purple suit casually tossed out. “That world was of no use to us anyway.”

The woman of the group harumphed. “We could have used that skeletal man. He looked like was cooking up some plan!”

“Dio already approached him, but Sliske wasn’t interested. I wouldn’t trust him for a second, so no loss.” The man with the long blonde hair said with a scoff.

Grunting, the man with the hook hand looked to the blonde man. “Speaking of trust. Can we trust you to take care of these whelps? They’re getting close to your world.”

Dio let out a small laugh, looking between the five before him. “I trust each one of you is capable of taking care of Sora if need be. But it does seem he’s getting close to your world.” He said to the long-haired man.

“I’d never fall to a group like that. Don’t worry.” The blonde man assured with a confident smirk.

“Hey, how abouts I just take care of ‘em?” A new voice called. In strolled Pete, still working with Dio after all these years. He wore a sort of red and blue battle suit, ditching his disguises ages ago.

Dio shook his head. “No, Pete. I still need you to gather more Heartless for my army. And did you get Riku to his room?”

Pete sighed, but still nodded. “Yeah, I did. But fine, I’ll go get more of them there Heartless for ya.”

“Excellent. And don’t return until I call for you. Just keep amassing them, okay?” Dio said, getting a nod from Pete before the large cat slinked away. He then turned his attention to the blonde man again. “And you should be getting ready for their arrival.”

The man with the long hair held back a scowl, not liking being ordered around by Dio…but was still willing to work with him. “You’re right. And you can all watch me take down that brat and his two friends…” With a nasty smirk, the man left the room as well, preparing for his journey for home…

---

The shadows that crawl beneath the castle...Are they the people who lost their hearts, or incarnations of darkness? Or something entirely beyond my imagination? All my knowledge has provided no answer. One thing I am sure of is that they are entirely devoid of emotion. Perhaps further study will unlock the mysteries of the heart. Fortunately, there is no shortage of test samples. They are multiplying underground even as I write this report. They still need a name. Those who lack hearts...I will call them the Heartless.

Chapter Text

The Gummi Ship soared through space, the crew of the vessel partially separated, just like last time. Donald and Goofy were in the cockpit while Sora took GLaDOS to his room. The mage still insisted that the cockpit was no place for Sora, which the teen disliked. But he wasn’t in the mood for an argument, and simply took the A.I. back with him. After all, it was hardly a secret that she and Donald didn’t get along, so he gave them a break from each other.

“If you want to get me away from that idiot, you can just put me in a box somewhere.” GLaDOS insisted, watching as Sora trained. Was leaned against the wall on his bed, so she hardly had anywhere else to look…

Back on Destiny Islands, Sora swung his wooden sword about to train himself. But with the heavier Keyblade, he realized he could do some more efficient training between world visits! And he knew he had to train more if their adventure was going to be a success. Lucien had been so overwhelmingly powerful that if those Dragonkin hadn’t arrived, there was no telling how the group would’ve won!

“That’d be pretty boring, wouldn’t it?” Sora asked as he swung his weapon in a horizontal arc. “And we can just talk like this, isn’t that better?” Did she really hate being with him that much?

“You overestimate my desire to talk with any of you.” GLaDOS informed Sora. “I am merely here to chronicle what happens, not make friends with you or the mage.”

Sora noticed that GLaDOS never actually referred to any of them by name. It was always a descriptor or an insult of some sort, usually when aimed at Donald. It was almost a bit sad, in a way. Didn’t he want to make new friends? “Doesn’t mean we can’t be friendly…” Sora said with a small huff as he continued to train with his Keyblade.

“Doesn’t mean we need to be.” The A.I. responded, little patience in her tone.

Trying to brush off the rude response, the teen kept swinging his weapon as he let his mind wander. They weren’t any closer to finding Kairi, Riku, or even King Mickey. It was a real shame the Oracle couldn’t help at all. All they really got from it was that Riku was found by a blonde man…but that could be anyone in any world. It could be Cid, sure, but what were the chances? At the very least, the Oracle confirmed they were okay out there, but the teen had already convinced himself as such.

Sora also thought about how desperate Cloud was to get something he desired. So much so he allowed Sliske to corrupt him and convince him to assassinate someone. And while Sora would do many, many things to help find his friends, killing someone innocent wasn’t on that list! He would find his friends the right way, following his heart and helping anyone he met along the way.

He just hoped he could get stronger before they faced someone like Lucien again. It was lucky that the Dragonkin appeared, but what if they come across someone as strong but no one swoops in to take care of things? At least he grew a bit, able to use several spells to help out in battle. Maybe he could learn some new techniques with his Keyblade too. That stabbing, sliding move that Cloud used sure seemed like it could be helpful in a fight…

Hours passed, and Sora eventually stopped his training, eating a snack before taking a nap as time went by. GLaDOS just remained quiet, put into Sora’s pocket as he slept. When he awoke, he stretched a bit and looked out the window, spotting a world nearby! It was a pretty grim looking one, all the landmasses looking worse for wear with little visible greenery. But…one thing he noticed was that they were flying right by it!

Quickly dashing up to the cockpit, Sora yelled out. “Hey! We’re passing right by a world! Kairi and Riku could be down there!”

Donald and Goofy let out startled noises as the teen butted in so suddenly and so loudly. The mage huffed, shaking his head. “No way the King would be in such a dump!” He haughtily explained. “So we’re going right by it!”

“I’m not sure anyone would be down there…” Goofy added, sounding more unsure rather than rude like Donald. “I think the King would just go somewhere else…”

“Actually…” GLaDOS started, prompting Sora to take her out of his pocket. “With your ship’s sensors, I do detect life. Human life. There is also another Keyhole on this planet, it’s located at-”

“Who asked you?!” Donald snapped, swiping GLaDOS away from Sora. “We’re not going, and that’s final!”

Sora glared at Donald, his hands clenching into fists. “Hey, that’s not fair! Your King might not be down there, but my friends might be! We’ve got to check it out first!”

Donald just sped up, shaking his head at Sora’s demand. “No! It’d be a waste of time! Why bother?!” The mage said with a tone of finality.

Having had enough of Donald’s nasty attitude, the brunette lunged for the controls, wrestling them out of the mage’s hands. “We’re landing!” He yelled out, grunting as the duck tried to take the controls back, which made the ship start to move erratically. “We’ll just check it out really quick, okay?!”

“Stop it! You don’t know what you’re doing!” Donald screamed, the two of them taking turns grabbing and snatching the controls as they fought for dominance of the ship’s course.

Goofy stood up but didn’t actually participate in the struggle. “Come on, fellers! This isn’t helping! Donald, maybe we should just check real quick just to make sure!”

However, the knight’s words were ignored as the scuffle continued, the teen and mage starting to more wrestle with each other than with the controls. Eventually, however, things went from bad to worse. Somehow, one of the two hit the button that worked the teleportation. In an instant, the quartet vanished from the ship and down to the desolate world below…

Sora was falling, yelling out as the ship teleported above the ground! He had no time to take in his surroundings, only able t see he was falling towards a ruined building of sorts. The teen slammed into the roof, which gave way and let him fall two stories to the ground floor. This impact left him dazed, but by some miracle he wasn’t seriously hurt!

Slowly, he managed to get up and looked to see where he was. The building he was in had seen better days for sure. Actually…it seemed totally abandoned! There had been no upkeep in years, with dust and sand everywhere. There was no furniture, and the walls and ceiling had cracks in it, the latter having holes and cracks aside from where Sora fell through. The teen also quickly noticed just how hot it was, and not the pleasant sort of heat like on Destiny Islands. It was a biting, dry heat that felt sticky and made Sora break into a sweat within moments.

After this, Sora then noticed that Donald and Goofy weren’t with him! He looked around more but didn’t see them anywhere. “Uh…guy?! You here?!” The brunette called, but he got no answer. For a second, he actually felt pretty scared, dropped into an unknown, dead looking world and wound up all by himself. If he didn’t find Donald and Goofy, he would be totally stranded!

Before Sora had much time to think, a Heartless suddenly spawned in the room with him, assuredly drawn to the Keyblade, just as Leon said they would be. There was only one creature of darkness, but it was nearly twice Sora’s size and looked pretty intimidating! It was a Gold Hammer Frame, essentially a massive hammer on legs, looking like it could crush him flat with a single blow!

Without having a chance to cast and magic, the Heartless ran at Sora, stopping only to swing its entire body down on him, which the teen barely dodged. This blow caused a massive crack and the floor and seemed to shake the entire building! Despite its somewhat clunky appearance, the Gold Hammer Frame got up in an instant, rushing Sora again. The teen swiped at it with his Keyblade, but the blow barely made it flinch as it swung down on him again. With no time to dodge, he tried to block the attack with his Keyblade…and while he remained on his feet, he felt like his arms were going to snap from the pressure! If he couldn’t even damage a Heartless with the Keyblade, he was way too weak to take on one this strong!

The Gold Hammer Frame pressed down harder, causing Sora’s legs to shake, his chest tightening as he tried to stand his ground! Just barely, he managed to Dodge Roll away as the Heartless slammed into the floor again. While it was down, Sora tried stabbing it with his weapon, but it didn’t seem to do any damage. Instead, the Heartless swung its body, nailing Sora in the chest and sent him flying into a wall. With the wind knocked out of him, he didn’t have the energy to stand as the Heartless approached! Yet, just as it was about to reach him, the door to the outside was knocked off its hinges!

“And what’s going on in here?” A deep, menacing voice called. Standing in the doorway as a tall, muscular man who didn’t seem at all intimidated by the Gold Hammer Frame. He had brown hair with remarkably thick eyebrows and donned in a leather shirt and pants along with shoulder guards. His expression was cold and serious, again showing zero fear in regards to the Heartless. “Another one of you? Never seen one like this.” He stated, almost casually, as he approached.

Unable to get to his feet properly, Sora called from the floor. “Hey! It’s dangerous! Run away!” The guy seemed strong, sure, but this was a Heartless, not something that just anyone could take out! And that was disregarding how abnormally strong the Gold Hammer Frame was compared to other Heartless Sora had fought.

The man didn’t reply, and indeed barely seemed to register Sora said anything. Either way, he got the Gold Hammer Frame’s attention who marched towards the stranger, who stopped in his tracks. Swiftly, the Heartless swung at the man just as it did with Sora, except it stopped midway! No, that wasn’t right…! It had happened so fast that the teen took a second to register it.

In the split second that it took for the Gold Hammer Frame to swing, the man raised a hand up to stop the blow and did so with ease! The Heartless had struck the man’s palm, but it was clearly trying to carry out its attack more properly, yet the stranger was holding it back effortlessly! He didn’t even break a sweat, just standing there like the Gold Hammer Frame wasn’t even there! “That’s it? All that flashiness is just for show, huh?” With his free hand, the man punched the Heartless right at the flat of the hammer, sending it flying to the opposite side of the room! Again, the man seemed to put no real effort into this, the punch seeming rather halfhearted.

“No way…” Sora murmured, jaw practically dropping at the scene. Just how strong was this guy? He just needed his bare hands to make a joke out of that Heartless!

At once, the Heartless leapt up and charged the man, leaping in the air as it came down on its new opponent once more. Taking a deep breath, the man glared up at the Gold Hammer Frame. When it came into range, he unleashed an onslaught of swift, powerful strikes as he belted out a “AHTATATATATA!" as all the blows hit the Heartless in a flurry of blows. Within a few seconds, the Gold Hammer Frame took all it could and was destroyed into a dark mist.

It was only at this point that Sora gathered the strength to stand up, in awe of what he had just seen. “That was…how did you do that?” The teen sputtered out, wincing a bit from the pain as he ached all over. “You came just in time!”

The man took another breath as the short battle ended, approaching Sora. “You’re not hurt too bad are you? What are you doing here alone anyway? This city’s abandoned.” His expression remained serious, but it was still noticeably softer than when he was staring down the enemy.

“What? No, I’m fine. But what about all that stuff you just did? That was incredible!” Sora gushed before realizing something. “And…if this city’s abandoned, then why are you here?”

“I’m just passing through, that’s all. Is it really just you?” The man asked, glancing about but of course seeing no one else.

Well, that was a stroke of good luck! “Actually, I got separated from my friends, have you seen them? The loud one’s name is Dona-” Sora stopped, looking behind the stranger as he saw Kairi standing there smiling at him. Unlike when he saw her in Merlon’s home, she didn’t say anything this time, and he quickly realized she still wasn’t real. After a moment, she walked behind the man and simply vanished. “…I mean…their names are Riku and Kairi. You seen them?”

As grateful as he was to Donald and Goofy, Sora was still pretty mad at the former for his attitude on the ship. Though, to be honest, he was tired of Donald’s attitude in general. The teen wasn’t happy about the Heartless or their missing friends and all that either, but Donald was just so…unpleasant. Constantly. Sora could only take so much! Maybe it was best if he tried to find a way to go on by himself from this point. And sure, he’d feel bad for Goofy, he actually liked him, but if Donald wasn’t willing to even land on a world potentially holding their friends…Sora felt he had no other choice.

The man raised a brow at Sora’s drastic change in direction, but didn’t comment on it and just shook his head. “I haven’t. You’re sure they’re around here?”

Trying not to seem too disappointed, Sora gave a solemn nod, dismissing his Keyblade at last. “I’m not sure, actually. I was hoping they were…” He couldn’t help himself and let out a sigh.

After a pause, the man jerked his head to the exit. “Bat and I are on our way to another city. You can come with us; your friends could be there.”

Bat? What kind of name was that? Either way, Sora felt a sense of relief and gratitude at the offer. “Thanks! My name’s Sora, by the way. What’s yours?”

“Name’s Kenshiro.” The man introduced, not seeming one for more words than necessary. “Bat should be close by, come on.” Without waiting for confirmation, the man turned and walked out the door, Sora following close behind.

Donald and Goofy sat on the concrete slab in the shade, wondering what to do next. They found themselves in a large, ruined city, one that was clearly long since abandoned. Most of the buildings were in pieces or half-buried in the sandy, dusty ground. There was almost no vegetation save for some pathetic, dried up weeds in the cracked earth. The sky was cloudless, and the sun was harsh, prompting the two to seek some shelter on some concrete nestled under a leaning and half-buried building.

Fuming silently, the mage glared off ahead of himself, looking at nothing in particular as Goofy sat back-to-back with him. “So, uh, what do we do, Donald? Look for Sora?” He was getting pretty worried about their friend, not having expected things to go so sour. “I sure hope he’s okay…”

Scoffing, Donald shook his head. “Who needs him?! We can find the King without him!” He declared, momentarily forgetting his instructions to stay with the Keyblade. The annoyance he felt at Sora simply clouded his judgement. It was because of him that they were in this dead world!

“Way to go you two. Or rather, Loud Mouth and Clown Shoes. You really messed things up.” GLaDOS commented. “You’re lucky I attached myself to the teleporter at the last second, so you three aren’t that far-”

“Oh, shut up!” Donald scolded, slapping his pocket that was holding GLaDOS. He of course knew she couldn’t feel pain, but it was still cathartic.

“Uh, are you two okay?” A young man’s voice called, startling the pair as they looked to see a person who was standing a few yards away. He seemed confused, but also cautious, ready to spring away at a moment’s notice. “You know no one lives here anymore, right?” The person talking was a young boy, in his early teens at the latest. He sported messy red hair, it being so unkempt that it even covered one of his eyes. Over his mess of a hairdo he had a pair of goggles, and the clothes he wore looked beaten-up and thrown together from whatever he could find. A jacket that was too big for him, a shirt with tears in it, and he looked like he hadn’t showered in weeks. Apparently, he hadn’t heard GLaDOS’ voice, only seeming to acknowledge the magician and knight.

Donald and Goofy were initially surprised by the kid showing up, but quickly shook it off. “If no one lives here, then what are you doing here?” Donald asked, giving the boy a suspicious look. Honestly, he was just surprised that people even lived in this world at all.

The kid scoffed, offering a cocky grin to the duo. “I’m here with my student, actually. He’s strong enough to beat you up with one finger, so don’t try anything!” For whatever reason, he seemed paranoid about the two he just met…

“We don’t want any trouble like that!” Goofy assured, shaking his head. “We’re just a bit lost, that’s all! Hey, have you seen a boy with spiky brown hair?” Maybe this kid had seen Sora?

“That’s more like it! But uh, can’t help you there. It’s just Ken and me here as far as I know. You can ask him for help, he kind of seems obsessed with helping people.” The youth said with a casual shrug.

The two outsiders reckoned they had nowhere else to turn and gave the stranger a nod. “Alright, take us to him!” Donald said as he and Goofy got off from the concrete slab.

Sora and Kenshiro walked through the empty streets of a destroyed city. The intense heat from the sun was already making Sora feel drained. Even though he was an islander, the way the sun just slammed down on everything wasn’t something he was used to! He was so curious as to what happened to the city, especially since he saw only desert and ash when he saw past one of its buildings. Was the whole world like this? Sora would just ask, but of course that’d compromise his position as an outsider…

Instead, he asked about something else. “How did you get so strong anyway? You took down that Heartless like it was nothing!” The teen asked, still a bit in awe about how Kenshiro manhandled the Golden Hammer Frame with zero effort.

“Heartless? Is that what you call them?” The man asked, looking down at Sora as they went. “Those creatures have been showing up all over. What do you know about them?”

Oh. Yeah. Sora just kept calling Heartless by their names so casually! “I know they’re born from the darkness in people’s hearts.” There was also their possible connections to the Keyholes, but no need to bring that up, not yet.

This seemed to surprise Kenshiro little, though he seemed to emote very little in the short time Sora knew him. “Demons from the evil in a dying world. Almost as bad as the scum I’ve come across on a daily basis.” The man mused, speaking casually about such unusual things.

A dying world? So, the entire world was like this city! That was one question answered, at least. “So, how did you fight like that anyway?” The teen pressed. “And do you just travel alone?”

“That’s the Hokuto Shinken, an ancient martial art more than two thousand years old.” Kenshiro explained. “I’m the sole heir to its secrets, and I use it to clean up this world bit by bit. I usually travel alone, but a boy named Bat has-”

“Hey! Ken!” A boy’s voice called, interrupting the man’s sentence. Sora and Kenshiro turned to see a boy with red hair and raggedy clothes with Donald and Goofy in front of him!

Without thinking, Sora rushed to the pair, momentarily forgetting his anger and annoyance toward Donald. “Donald! Goofy! You’re okay!”

“Sora! Are we glad to see ya!” Goofy exclaimed, relief evident on his face. He was sure Sora had to be in the same world, but who knew how close by he’d be?

Donald even felt happy to see the teen, also forgetting how annoyed he was with him because of that fight. He dumped them onto this world, after all! The duck wanted to go past it!

When Sora and Donald reached each other, they both paused. Quickly, they remembered their minor grudges and huffed, looking away from each other as Goofy glanced between them with a sigh.

“Another straggler? What are you people doing in an abandoned place like this?” Bats asked, hands behind his head. “I guess we both picked up some strays, huh Ken?”

“It seems so.” Kenshiro agreed as he caught up to Sora. “Donald and Goofy…so you’re the loud one, right?” He asked, looking to the mage and apparently having caught on to what Sora nearly said before.

“What?! Is that how you described me?!” Donald yelled loudly, turning back to Sora. “You palooka! What’s the big idea?!”

Sora scoffed, turning towards Donald. “Well, it’s true! You are the loud one! And the angry one. And the bossy one…”

Goofy looked between the two. “Now, now, fellers. No need for that!” He insisted, turning to Kenshiro. “They just had a bit of a disagreement. Thanks for helpin’ our Sora Mr. Kenshiro!”

“It’s nothing. I stumbled across him anyway. Also told me about a Riku and Kairi he’s looking for. Already said he could come with me to the next town, and you guys can too.” Kenshiro said, already starting off towards the city’s limits.

“Hey, did he mention King Mickey too?” Donald asked, purposefully shouldering Sora as he walked by him and getting a glare from the teen.

Bat scoffed, staying in the back of the group as the rest went in front of him. “A king? Not a lot of good guys are calling themselves that these days. Never heard of a Mickey.”

“I haven’t either. You don’t seem like bad people, so I’ll assume this King Mickey is good too.” Kenshiro concluded.

“Oh, yeah! He’s a real swell guy! And uh, how did you become Bat’s student, Kenshiro?” Goofy asked, disappointed but not all too surprised to learn their King was elsewhere.

Donald rolled his eyes. “I knew the King wouldn’t be here…” He murmured, ignoring the fact that two people hardly meant much. King Mickey could be in a hundred other places in this world, but the mage doubted it!

“Hey! That was just a joke! It really was, Ken!” Bat insisted, but Kenshiro didn’t seem to care as he kept walking up ahead. “You guys didn’t really buy that, did you? Ken’s the strongest guy there is!”

Donald doubted that too, but didn’t speak it. “That’s nice and all, but we’ve got to get going!” He said, confident King Mickey was far, far away from this world.

“No way! We have to at least look around a bit! Our friends could all be in the next city for all we know!” Sora argued. “You two can go wherever you want, but I’m sticking with Kenshiro and Bat!”

“Come on, Donald, let’s just stick around a bit.” Goofy insisted, really wishing the two would stop bickering. “We’re already here, so we might as well try!” He still doubted any of them would be in a place like this…but it wasn’t like Riku or Kairi would’ve had any choice. If they weren’t in Traverse Town, they could’ve easily been flung to any world, including this one.

The mage huffed, crossing his arms. “Two on one, huh? Fine! We’ll look around a bit…” He was caring less and less about Sora’s opinions, but he’d at least listen to Goofy…even though the knight wasn’t known for his wisdom.

“Jeez, you sure you three are friends?” Bat asked with a laugh, not seeming to be taking the fight seriously. “Gotta make a few buddies if you wanna survive out here!”

“Aw, we’re friends. Just in a bit of a disagreement, that’s all!” Goofy assured, hoping things would cool down after some time. Granted, it would be pretty hard to cool down in the nasty heat the world gave off. It seemed to grow worse as the group left the city limits. Ahead of them was just sand and dust, essentially a desert. “Uh, hey Kenshiro, how long before we reach that other city you were talkin’ about?”

Kenshiro didn’t even turn to look back at Goofy as he answered. “Early tomorrow. We’ll find somewhere to camp.” He insisted, sounding sure.

The outsider trio had to hold back sighs of disappointment. That long?! The sun was about directly above their heads, so it was somewhere around noon. Knowing an afternoon and evening of walking was ahead of them made the three already feel exhausted.

“Say, Sora, is that guy okay?” Goofy whispered to the brunette, feeling he might as well ask some questions or chat to pass the time. The knight only asked because Kenshiro seemed kind of curt and standoffish.

“Oh, yeah, don’t worry about him. He’s really tough and saved me from this really strong Heartless.” Sora whispered back with an assuring nod. Hopefully not all the Heartless in this world were that strong…but if Kenshiro could take care of that one, they should be fine…

Almost as if on cue, a number of Heartless spawned in front of the group. No less than a dozen Soldiers and even a Large Body appeared, charging at the quintet. As Sora, Donald, and Goofy readied their weapons, Bat piped up. “Hey, don’t bother! Ken’s got this!” The young man insisted.

The outsider trio decided to trust Bat, especially Sora, and watched what happened. As the Heartless grew near, Kenshiro sprang like he was somehow expecting this to occur. When the Soldiers leapt at the large man, dealing out swift yet immensely powerful punches and kicks which destroyed the Heartless in a single blow each! Even when the Large Body charged forward, Kenshiro reeled back his arm and gave a good solid punch, hitting the large Heartless in its stomach. Rather than the blow bouncing off as the outsider trio expected, it sent the Large Body flying, the Heartless evaporating on impact with the ground.

“See? I told you he was really strong!” Sora said to Goofy. Managing to take Heartless out with his bare hands was just something else! It was amazing!

“Ken’s probably the strongest guy here in the wastes! There’s a reason everyone knows about The Man with the Seven Scars.” Bat boasted, Kenshiro himself paying little mind to his companion’s bragging.

“Well, we never actually heard of him! Is he really the strongest?” Donald asked, his anger towards Sora momentarily fading in his curiosity.

Bat scoffed as if Donald just asked something very stupid. “You never heard of him? He uses Hokuto Shinken, so he can use pressure points to make people explode!”

“That sounds made up! He didn’t do that to the Heartless!” Donald pointed out, looking over to Kenshiro. “Is this kid just making stuff up?”

“It’s more complicated than that, but Bat isn’t making it up.” Kenshiro clarified. “These creatures, the Heartless that Sora called them, aren’t human. If they have pressure points at all, I haven’t found them. Not that I need them anyway.”

That was for sure. Kenshiro was clearly freakishly strong and Sora had to wonder if there was a Heartless he couldn’t defeat with his bare hands. “Never heard of anything like that before. The martials arts I…heard about are a lot simpler…” He was about to say he saw them in movies or on T.V. but he had no idea if those things even existed this world, especially anymore. With how destroyed things were, he had to wonder if electricity in general even existed. The teen also wondered about that ‘Seven Scars’ thing Bat mentioned. He hadn’t seen any scars on Kenshiro…

“Man, how haven’t you heard of these sorts of things? People talk about them all the time!” Bat asked, shaking his head almost like he was disappointed in the trio.

“We’re just from very far away. It took us a long time to get this far.” Sora quickly lied, wishing he could just tell everyone what was really going on. At least with Zamansis they were allowed to come clean.

That seemed to satisfy Bat, and after that conversation mostly died down. The walk was grueling enough without having long conversations, and the outside trio was absolutely exhausted as time went on. The heat was all but unbearable, and there never seemed to be any clouds to provide even the most minimal of shade. One of the only saving graces was that it wasn’t windy, the breeze assuredly being a nasty hot one rather than a pleasant cool one. It also meant no sand blowing in their faces. Sora especially felt his lips chapping from the dry heat…practically in real time! It was almost to the point that they just opened up and started to bleed!

Of course, the sun eventually set, and the searing heat was replaced by a welcomed coolness. By that point, the quintet had found a rock formation to camp at, Kenshiro starting a fire as the five rested their weary bodies. At the very least, the image of a city was relatively close by, but they were all too tired to make the end of the trip. Kenshiro and Bat had little in the ways of food, mostly just bread, but it was shared among the group.

“So, why are ya just wandering around? Don’t ya have homes Bat, Kenshiro?” Goofy asked, looking between the two.

“A home? Who needs one? I get by just fine!” Bat insisted, clearly thinking highly of himself and his skills out in the wasteland. “I had a place but I ditched it!”

Kenshiro was a lot less boisterous as he shook his head. “I’m using my abilities to help right the wrongs of our world…and there’s someone I’m looking for.”

Someone he was looking for? He hadn’t mentioned that when Sora asked! “You lost a friend too?” The teen pressed, feeling bad for Kenshiro and able to relate to him.

“A special person to me. I don’t know where she is, but if I keep going, I’m bound to find her.” Kenshiro somewhat vaguely explained. There was a melancholy tone to his voice, the situation clearly not as simple as separated friends.

“Well, if ya need help, we’ll lend a hand! We can help fight off the Heartless too! We’re sort of pros!” Goofy declared, giving Kenshiro a friendly look.

Donald grumbled, talking low so no one could hear. “He loves to volunteer us for stuff…” Despite his attitude, the magician knew they couldn’t leave without offering a helping hand. Even with the grumpy nature he displayed, Donald did want to help people…even if it was a pain at times.

Kenshiro gave a small grin, nodding at Goofy. “I appreciate that. If you three can really fight, I won’t turn you away.”

“It’s a deal! So, uh, do you have any idea of where to look first? Like at all?” Even if Kenshiro didn’t know where his friend was, surely he had at least a hint of what to do first…right?

“In a way. I know who she’d be with, but I don’t know where he would be.” Kenshiro replied, once more in a rather vague manner.

That made the outsider trio feel uneasy. “Wait, so was she kidnapped? It sounds like this other guy is keeping her from you…” Sora pointed out with a heavy frown.

“She was taken before my eyes, but I’m not going to let that happen again.” Kenshiro said, voice quiet and steady, yet bleeding out an intense, sad anger.

“Well now we’ve gotta find her! Don’t worry Kenshiro, we’ll help ya however we can!” Goofy exclaimed with confidence. He had no idea it was so serious! Poor guy really went through a lot…

“You guys are really going to stick out your necks for a stranger? What’s in it for you?” Bat asked, almost seeming suspicious.

Sora stared at Bat for a second, a confused expression on his face. “Well, we’re friends, right? What other reason do we need?” At least he thought they were friends. They were travelling together, after all. Of course, the same could be said for Donald and Sora wasn’t so sure about that friendship.

Bat rolled his eyes. “Man, you sound just like Ken. But hey, whatever, no skin off my back if you wanna tag along!”

Shrugging off Bat’s comments, Sora focused on the more mature of the pair. “I know how you feel, Kenshiro. My friends…well…let’s just say I couldn’t do anything to stop us from getting separated.” He wasn’t sure how to describe how Riku and Kairi disappeared without giving too much away.

Kenshiro nodded at this, like he somehow expected that response. “I had a feeling something like that happened to you.” The solemn man replied. “You have a great sadness in your heart. I can see it in your eyes.”

For a second, Sora was caught off guard so strongly that all he could do was stare at Kenshiro. The man that he just met seemed to just…see right through him. The teen wasn’t entirely aware of just how much of this burdening sadness inside of him that his friends or family could see. Were they blissfully ignorant? Did they have a small idea? Or did they know exactly what was wrong with him and were just pretending not too notice? Either way, he felt like Kenshiro just peered into the deepest reaches of his heart…and it really unnerved Sora…

“Well, of course I’m a bit sad! I miss my friends!” Sora lightly argued, trying to wave off Kenshiro’s comment and minimalize it. “Anyone would be sad over that!”

The man paused, as if studying Sora further and contemplating how he answered. After a second, he seemed to reach the conclusion he desired and nodded. “That’s true, yes. It’s unfortunate, but that’s how our world is now.”

Sora had to stop himself from sighing in relief, glad that was over! He did notice Kenshiro said ‘now’ so whatever happened in this world was relatively recent. With all the destroyed buildings in mind, maybe it was a war? Or some huge natural disaster? Again, he had to keep up the guise that he was from this world, so he couldn’t just ask.

“Don’t worry you two! We’ll all find who we’re lookin’ for and things’ll turn out alright!” Goofy exclaimed, his optimism knowing no bounds.

“We’ll just have to see what tomorrow brings.” Kenshiro said simply, leaning against the rock and closing his eyes. “We’re leaving at the break of dawn, so get some sleep.” At that, Bat grumbled something but lied on the sand, facing away from the flames.

Sadly, there were no sleeping bags or anything, so everyone had to sleep on the ground. Sora took naps in the sand all the time, but a full night’s sleep was something else. Still, he mirrored Bat’s actions and turned from the fire as he shut his eyes. Even with how uncomfortable the ground was to sleep on, the teen’s exhaustion overwhelmed him and he was fast asleep in minutes.

What seemed like only a moment later, Sora was shaken awake. The first thing he noticed was the sunlight hitting him and the warmth it brought. It wasn’t high in the sky, so the intensity wasn’t so bad. The second thing he noticed was that Goofy was talking to him. In fact, he was half-yelling…

“Sora! Hey! There’s somethin’ wrong! Wake up!” The knight called, shaking Sora again before the teen slowly sat up with a yawn.

“Gooy? What is it…? What’s wrong? Heartless?” As Sora realized they could be under attack, his eyes snapped open as he looked around…but there were no Heartless. What he did see was Kenshiro rushing to the city, Bat not far behind him.

“There’s something going on in the city! Get off your butt!” Donald scolded, his wand already at the ready.

Goofy nodded, helping Sora to his feet. “Yeah, Kenshiro rushed off! You hear that, don’t you?” He asked, pointing at the city.

For a second, Sora had no idea what Goofy was talking about…but then he heard it. The sound was faint, but as the teen strained his ears, he heard what was unmistakably distant screaming. “A Heartless attack?! Come on, we have to help!” The brunette yelled out, summoning his Keyblade as he shook his tiredness off and ran after Kenshiro and Bat. Donald, rolling his eyes, and Goofy followed the teen as the Royal Knight summoned his shield.

Thankfully, even running, the desert wasn’t nearly as intense to trek in the early morning. The sun was only just peeking over the horizon, so it hadn’t gotten a chance to be so unbearably warm and gross yet. The quintet ran as fast as they could, the city and the screams coming from it inching ever closer.

When the five arrived, they paused to see what was unfolding before them.

Unlike the other city, this one was populated. The buildings were in relatively better shape, with unprofessional repairs being done to many of them. It was these citizens where the screaming was coming from! All around, they were running about or trying to fight off the invaders that took two forms. The first were, as Sora guessed, Heartless. There were two new types of them, Powerwilds and Bouncywilds. The former type was running about, leaping at people and scratching at them in a wild frenzy. The latter type used large slingshots to fire rocks and other trash on the ground at fleeing citizens, hitting them in the head usually.

The second form of invader was shocking for the outsider trio. Running amok along with the Heartless were humans, regular people that just reveled in the chaos and destruction! Though some weren’t quite so regular, inexplicably being eight, nine, even ten feet tall! They were all wearing leather armor to some degree, and most had dyed hair in mohawks with seemingly random facepaint on. These people were pillaging, randomly destroying property, and even just assaulting people with their bare hands or weapons like bats or knives!

Without a moment’s hesitation, Kenshiro rushed in, going to a group of three men that were cornering a mother and her infant son. The martial artist slammed his fist onto the side of one of the goon’s heads, sending him flying several meters back where he simply laid where he landed, apparently knocked out cold!

One of the other two men, one with a green mohawk, turned to Kenshiro. “Hey! Who the hell are you?!” He demanded, grabbing him by the front of his shirt. “Do you know who our boss is?!”

Without flinching, and with that same stoic look on his face, Kenshiro grabbed the man’s arm. “No. And I don’t care.” He said simply, and with that he twisted his hand to the side and a sickening SNAP rang out as the mohawked man’s arm was broken! Without hesitation, Kenshiro punched the man in the face, sending him to the ground as he roundhouse kicked the third bandit, causing him to fly into the side of a nearby house.

“He really is strong! You were right, Sora!” Goofy exclaimed in light awe. Pretty brutal, yes, but those raiders were up to no good! “Now come on, let’s help!”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy charged forward into the fight while Bat remained behind and hid in an alleyway. The outsider trio focused more on the Heartless while Kenshiro took down the humans. The Powerwilds charged at Sora and Goofy, who used their melee weapons to drive off the monkey-like Heartless and take them down. Donald used his magic on the Bouncywilds, able to keep his distance and making it easier to dodge their projectile attacks. He even used a new spell that Sora hadn’t seen thus far.

The magician aimed his staff at a Bouncywild who was using its tail to hang from a streetlamp. A large black and purple orb appeared above the Heartless and descended upon it. When it struck the Bouncywild, it seemed to struggle to carry its own weight, barely keeping itself hanging. After a moment, it gave in and slammed down into the ground, far faster and harder than it should have. There it remained laying, unable to get up as its body was minutely flattened by the Gravity spell that Donald used on it. At this point, the mage put it out of its misery with a Thunder spell.

Kenshiro showed that whether it was Heartless or humans, he was merciless in battle. His strikes were swift and powerful, knocking out his foes and breaking their bones. Soon, though, something terrifying started to happen. Kenshiro started to strike some of his foes with just his fingers, causing them to stop in their tracks. Then their heads and faces started to swell and contort and before the outsider trio’s eyes…well…

Lots of rupturing sounds rang out in the street.

Goofy, ever looking for Sora, rushed to the teen and slapped a hand over is eyes. Of course, the knight was too slow, and the brunette already saw a small taste of what Hokuto Shinken could do. Bat wasn’t lying, it really could make people explode! Thankfully, the Heartless were nearly wiped out, so Donald handled the rest of the cleanup while Kenshiro eliminated the remaining bandits. This allowed Goofy to keep a hand slapped over Sora’s eyes rather than fight.

The teen stood there stunned, simply allowing Goofy to cover his eyes without struggle. Sora wasn’t stupid, he knew not everything was smiles and rainbows even in his own world. People died and blood was shed…but witnessing it firsthand in such a gruesome way shook him to his core! Even with Goofy covering his eyes, Sora could hear the screams of the men Kenshiro killed as their heads deformed and…

Sora shuddered.

Before too long, the sound of fighting stopped, and Goofy lifted his hand from Sora’s eyes. The Heartless were all gone and the humans were…dealt with. Kenshiro approached the trio, seeming unphased about what he just did. “You’re all okay? Those were some strange moves you used there, Donald.” The man noted.

“I was using strange moves?!” The magician asked, flabbergasted. “Bat was right! You do make people explode! Some warning would be nice!” He and Goofy could handle that, sure, but Sora was another story. Yes, he was still mad at the kid, but that didn’t mean he should have to see heads bursting!

“Those scum have done more horrid things to people who couldn’t fight back. Trust me, I know their kind.” Kenshiro responded as the woman he saved approached him. Off on the sides of the road, other citizens looked on in awe, horror, and gratitude.

The woman looked up to Kenshiro, relief on her face. “Oh, thank you! Those men and those creatures…they just came out of nowhere! But please, they weren’t the only ones! Their leaders-”

“What’s going on over here?!” A loud shout from down the road rang out, cutting the woman off. She and the other citizens of the city backed away, and they all quickly ducked into the nearby buildings.

The quartet turned to the source of the shout and saw two massive men standing there. They were easily ten feet tall and extremely muscular and had on leather armor. One of the men had a leather strap covering his right eye, with a tattoo of a ‘K’ above a playing card spade on his forehead. The second man had long purple hair and warpaint over his mouth like a smile as well as a similar tattoo as the first man. It was a ‘K’ above a playing card diamond above his left eye. It was the man with the spade that had yelled, and both the men walked to the quartet, scowls on their faces.

“What did you do?! You did do this, right?! Can you believe this, Spade?” The diamond-tattooed man sneered. “There had to be some other help…”

“Couldn’t be these four scrawny morsels! One’s just a kid, Diamond!” The man with the leather strap, Spade, declared. “Who helped you four?! If you tell us, we might just make your deaths quick!”

Sora brandished his Keyblade, glaring at the massive men. They were big, but he had dealt with bigger! That Heartless he fought before Destiny Islands was swallowed along with Dimple. He wasn’t scared! “We can take you on! Come on!”

Spade and Diamond looked at each other before breaking out into laughter, which only increased in volume as Donald and Goofy stood by Sora’s side. It was Diamond who spoke up, grinning maniacally at the trio. “I’ll take the three of you by myself! Spade, you can take that other guy when I’m through with these punks!”

That got a scoff from the other giant bandit. “You want more to kill than me? So damn selfish! But I guess all three of ‘em is like fighting one of this guy.” He said, jabbing a thumb at Kenshiro, who simply stared back at Spade.

Simply giving his partner in crime a quick, smug look, Diamond looked back to the trio and charged forward. His movements were brutish and without planning, making it clear he had always relied on brute strength to get by. Using this simple fighting style to their advantage, Sora, Donald, and Goofy split up, Diamond stomping down hard on where they were a moment ago.

The massive thug let out a cry as Donald shot a fireball at the back of his head. Yet when Diamond turned to look, Goofy pelted him on the back on the side of his head using his ricocheting shield. And this time when Diamond turned, Sora was already jumping at him, using a willing Goofy’s shoulders to leap off of. With a cry, the teen slammed his Keyblade on the side of Diamond’s head, then followed it up with two quick slices to complete his air combo. Sora let out a gasp as Diamond wasn’t too hurt from the attack, snarling at the brunette before one of his massive fists slammed into the Keyblade wielder’s side, sending him off to the side of the road.

Donald and Goofy looked over to Sora in worry, who landed harshly on the ground, but managed to at least get on his hands and knees. Glaring daggers at Diamond, the two standing fighters went in for another combo attack. With an angry quack, Donald cast a strong Thunder spell on Diamond, the electricity running over his body and soon making him drop to one knee. Once the Thunder wore off, Goofy took the chance to slam his shield into Diamond’s face, making him grab at his surely broken nose as Donald hit him with a second Thunder spell. This time, the electric shock was too much, and Diamond keeled over, knocked out cold.

“You okay?!” Donald exclaimed, rushing to Sora along with Goofy. Without waiting for a response, the magician cast a Cure spell on the teen, as at that point he still hadn’t gotten up.

The blow felt like it broke something, so Sora was a bit paralyzed from the pain. With the Cure, though, all the pain went away, and he stood up with a sigh of relief. “That was a pretty nasty punch, so…uh…thanks. I guess.” Midway through, the teen remembered he was supposed to be mad at Donald.

And this reminded the mage that he was supposed to be annoyed with Sora. Huffing, the duck crossed his arms. “Yeah, well, you’re no good to us hurt, so…”

Goofy sighed and managed not to roll his eyes. It was clear the two didn’t hate each other as they were acting. But he felt like trying to force them to make amends wouldn’t do much, so he kept his mouth shut.

Meanwhile, Spade sneered at Diamond’s defeated form. “You’ve gotta be kidding me…” He growled before turning to Kenshiro, who hadn’t moved an inch since the fight started. “I’ll take care of you, then finish what the weakling couldn’t!” As he said this, he jabbed Kenshiro in the chest with one finger, the appendage practically the size of one of Sora’s arms. “Or, if you beg, maybe I’ll spare your life!” At that, he started to cackle, not noticing that the smaller man grabbed hold of the finger.

Without hesitation, Kenshiro shook his head. “Don’t think so!” He declared, snapping his hand to the side and breaking Spade’s finger.

This caused Spade to retrace his hand, howling in pain as Kenshiro stood there calmly. After getting his bearings, the massive bandit glared down at the smaller man. “You bastard! You’re going to pay for that!” Snarling, Spade lunged at Kenshiro with all his might!

Yelling out in effort, Kenshiro’s body swelled until his shirt tore apart! There it was revealed why he had the name of ‘The Man with the Seven Scars!’ as he had seven circular scars across his chest and stomach! Leaping at Spade, Kenshiro gave an onslaught of blows not unlike the one he performed on the Golden Hammer Frame, belting out a “AHTATATATATA!" as he struck the larger opponent dozens of times within a few seconds.

While swift, each strike was filled with immense power, and Spade was knocked clean off his feet, slamming hard onto the road. All he was able to do was grunt in pain as Kenshiro stomped onto his chest and kept his foot there. “Hey…! I…can’t move…!” No matter how much Spade tried, he couldn’t so much as clench his hand into a fist!

“That’s because I struck your pressure points.” Kenshiro calmly explained. “You won’t be able to move until I let you. Now tell me who you work for. He’s going to pay for sending pieces of filth like you to torment the innocent.”

Spade snarled, but it was about all he could do in retaliation. “Bastard…! KING won’t let this pass! He’ll kill you and everyone you love! He’s a master of Nanto Seiken! Ever hear of it?”

At those words, Kenshiro’s eyes widened in surprise and he stomped on Spade’s chest again, causing him to cry out in pain. “Tell me his real name! Who is KING?!” He demanded harshly. “Tell me and I’ll let you go!”

“Really…?! Fine! His name is Shin! He’s the lord of Southern Cross, over to the east! Now go on and let me go!” Spade demanded, it clear on his face that the second he was able to move, he would strike.

Kenshiro nodded, seeming a bit shaken by the news. “I see.” Was all he said, taking his foot off of Spade and started to walk towards Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

Spade blinked in surprise, still struggling to move. “Hey! You said you’d let me go! Hey! I-I don’t feel so good! What did you do?! H-Help me!”

“I am letting you go. Right into the grave!” Kenshiro taunted, not even looking back at Spade as his heard started to swell. Goofy managed to once more cover Sora’s eyes just in time before a bursting sound rang out.

Taking a few deep breaths, Sora shoved Goofy’s hand away and looked up at Kenshiro when he approached. “He wasn’t a threat anymore! You said you’d let him go! What was that?!” As much as he appreciated Kenshiro saving his life earlier, but this was too much!

The man wasn’t visibly startled by Sora’s outburst. “People like him don’t change. If I showed him mercy, he’d use it to try and kill me. I’ve seen more than enough of people like him to know this.” He calmly explained. “This destroyed world of ours tainted the hearts of many men with darkness. Some of them can reform and get back some of their lost light, but many of them are too steeped in darkness to be saved.”

Sora supposed that Kenshiro would know more about how the people of his world are. It still just didn’t sit right with the teen, not entirely. But maybe he was right, maybe those who had hearts of full of darkness, mostly, couldn’t be pulled back into the light. Cloud was a bit astray, but even then he clearly didn’t have any personal pleasure in trying to kill Zamansis, he was just desperate to get what he wanted. Sighing, the brunette nodded. “I don’t like it, but I can understand your reasoning.”

“Still pretty harsh…” Goofy mumbled, glancing over at Diamond, who still hadn’t moved. He didn’t seem dead, and it made the knight wonder if he’d just start swinging again if he awoke.

“Did that guy say Southern Cross?!” Bat exclaimed, seemingly popping out of nowhere. “I’ve heard of that place! It’s way dangerous!”

Donald scoffed at Bat. “And where were you while we were fighting?” The mage demanded, tapping his foot impatiently at the young man.

Bat shook his head and crossed his arms. “Did I ever say I’d fight? I’m more about cheering people on! Just quietly, that’s all. But yeah, Ken, are you really going to Southern Cross?”

“If that’s where Shin is, I have to. And this is where we part ways.” Kenshiro bluntly stated, not only saying this to Bat, but also to the outsider trio. “It’s too dangerous.”

“What?! Why?! Who is this Shin person?” Sora demanded, pointing at Diamond. “Is it because I got hit by him? That was a lucky shot! I was fine!” That was a lie, the teen was actually humiliated that he was so affected by a single blow. He was supposed to be strong so he could help his friends!

“It’s not because of that.” Kenshiro insisted with a shake of the head. “Shin is the one that kidnapped the most precious woman in the world to me. He scarred me with his own hands and took Yuria from me.”

If this Shin guy could scar Kenshiro, he had to be insanely strong! Still, that didn’t deter Sora. “I don’t care. You’re my friend, and you’ll have to physically stop me from following you, got it?” He didn’t agree with some of Kenshiro’s methods, but it wasn’t like anyone could be perfect anyway…

“Yeah, we said we’d help out!” Goofy insisted, smiling at the scarred man. “We’ll give that Shin feller a piece of our mind and reunite ya with Yuria!”

Even Donald shook his head at Kenshiro’s words. “You really think we’d just stand by and let someone go try and rescue their friend alone?” The magician could be testy at times, but it wasn’t like he had no conscience!

Brat chuckled, beaming at Kenshiro. “And you’re stuck with me. I’m going to see how this all turns out! I’m coming too!”

Kenshiro paused, looking between the four before giving a small smile. “I can’t change your minds. That much is clear. Come on, then, we’ll go east!” He turned to the citizens of the city, who were slowly coming out of the buildings. “There are weapons all around, and the only living bandits are knocked out. Do as you will.” He told them, watching as some of them slowly started to pick up the bandits’ weapons…

The quintet made their way to the eastern part of the city as its residents got revenge on the bandits and Diamond, a sight that the outsider trio was glad not to witness. If those thugs were able to utilize the Heartless, then their leader was surely able to do the same! Quickly, the five came across a number of desert vehicles owned by the bandits, all the keys still in the ignitions.

Getting into one to accommodate them all, Kenshiro put the vehicle into drive and started off east…

---

Within a dark room, two blonde men stood. The curtains were drawn tight, so no sunlight could enter with only lit torches on the wall providing any illumination. It was a gorgeous room, one fit for royalty. Dio Brando stood before the other blonde of his inner council, a man with long hair and an almost militaristic outfit with red shoulder guards. Dio grinned at this man, glancing at the door out to the balcony, the shades drawn tight over that as well. “So, Shin, you think this Yuria is one of the Seven?”

Shin, the ruler of Southern Cross, and a master of Nanto Seiken, nodded with a confident smile. “Oh, I know she is. Not a purer heart in all this world…but for the time being, she is mine and mine alone. Especially since she’ll draw Kenshiro here!”

“And it’s truly that important? If you let thoughts of killing this man cloud your heart, the darkness will take you.” Dio informed Shin, seeming rather sure of his words. “If Yuria is one of the Princesses of Heart, she will be taken back to Hollow Bastion sooner or later. Don’t think you can keep her forever.”

The martial artist shook his head. “I’m aware, but until Kenshiro is gone, I won’t give her up to you or anyone else! I’m too strong to let my own heart be my undoing, don’t you forget that!”

Unmoved by Shin’s harsh tone, Dio let out a light chuckle as he smirked. “If you truly mean that. I’ll be watching to see how things unfold. Don’t let me down, alright? That brat with the Keyblade is on his way here too, so make sure he’s killed as well!”

“I already beat Kenshiro once, so a few more flies to swat are nothing. Don’t underestimate me!” Shin assured, watching as Dio silently faded away, vanishing from the world and returning to Hollow Bastion.

Outside, a gorgeous woman in a silk dress made for a queen stood upon the balcony. She was bathed in the sun’s rays, the light protecting her from Dio, even if he wanted to take her away that instant. Her hands clasped together in prayer, she looked to the west, somehow aware that that’s where her beloved was.

“Oh, Kenshiro…” Was all she murmured to herself…

Chapter Text

The second trip through the desert was far more pleasant than the first. While the sun still beat down on the travelers, the breeze from driving through the dead, sandy terrain helped balance things out. Letting their legs get some rest was of course a huge bonus as well. Really, the only problem was that there wasn’t any food or water in the vehicle, so the outsider trio remained quiet to save their strength. The three especially fantasized about the enchanted kitchen on the Gummi Ship which could produce any food desired!

Sora, on top of food, thought about Riku and Kairi. He never asked the citizens of the city about his friends, but he at least assumed they weren’t there. After all, Riku wasn’t the type that’d just sit around and watch those bandits do whatever they wanted. Even Kairi would have tried to do something despite her never really practicing with wooden sword. Still, the people there might have at least seen his friends and knew where they went off to…if they were even in this world to begin with. The teen really tried not to think about how tiny the chances were that Riku and Kairi were in any given world, especially them being in the same world together!

He looked over at Kenshiro, who somehow managed to find a replacement for his self-torn clothes while Sora wasn’t looking. The exact same outfit, even! As much as Sora was impressed by the man’s strength, his methods and ethics were…questionable at best. He understood the logic that some people were beyond redemption…but was it really every single man that Kenshiro had killed back there? But Sora supposed someone living in this world would know best.

With the roar of the engine, conversation was a bit tough, so no one spoke much during the ride. As silly as it might have sounded, it even started to get a bit boring for Sora. Seeing new worlds was something he wanted a lot, yes, but this one was very dead and flat. Most of it was just ugly desert everywhere one looked. No chatting and nothing to look at made for a very dull ride that seemed to go by at a snail’s pace.

In fact, the quintet didn’t see anything new until late afternoon where a city started to peek over the horizon. Unlike the last two, this one was in far better shape as most of its buildings were damaged, yet actually standing upright. It had to be Southern Cross! A foreboding sensation went through the men’s bodies as they saw it, the very location itself seeming to generate a nasty darkness.

And speaking of darkness, the sun dipped down below the horizon just as the five arrived, Kenshiro parking their vehicle a short five minute walk away. “Bat, you should stay out here at least.” The man instructed, glaring at Southern Cross. Despite it being a large and reasonably intact city, there was no sound of nightlife. No citizens about or anything of the sort that the five could see…

“No way! I’m with you to the end!” Bat remarked with a cocky grin. “I’ve come with you this far, you think I’ll just wait behind now?”

“Hey, this is a populated city, right? Where is everyone?” Sora asked, trying to adjust his eyes to the dark and see if he could spot anyone.

Bat sighed, shaking his head. “Southern Cross is a city of slaves! The only people with any freedom are the bandits and goons like you guys fought off. Everyone else is just treated like cattle! I guess the assholes with any power are off getting drunk somewhere or-” His words were interrupted as a pained cry echoed through the air, putting the five on alert.

“Hey, that’s someone in trouble! We’ve got to see!” Sora exclaimed, getting his Keyblade ready and charging towards the source of the sound. With little choice, the other four followed him as they entered the city proper. At first, they didn’t run into anyone or anything of much interest. Within a few minutes, though, they came across a sort of pit in the street where some building used to stand but was totally gone save for a concrete-floored basement.

In said basement was a tall man with a mohawk and leather armor armed with massive clawed weapons. On his forehead was a Club symbol with a ‘K’ above it, just like Spade and Diamond, though this new thug wasn’t quite as tall or as buff as they were. Splayed out before this man was a presumably hapless victim, or what was left of him, being taken away by two thugs. “That was a great show, Club sir!” One of the two thugs praised with a nasty snicker.

The boss, Club, cackled in a pleased, sadistic manner. “Bring out the next one! I’m going to go all night!” He cried, shouting out to an invisible audience.

“See? The slaves here aren’t even treated like people!” Bat harshly whispered. “I’m not surprised they just get killed for sport!”

Spade, Diamond, and now Club. This guy was surely one of the higher ups like the first two! Sora remembered how swiftly he was knocked onto the ground before and still felt embarrassed over it. “I’ll take care of this…just let me fight him alone!” The teen declared.

“Wak?! What are you talking about?!” Donald demanded, bringing forth his staff and using it to point down at Club. “You’re not strong enough to take him on alone!”

Goofy nodded along with his friend. “Yeah! If we’re gonna fight him, all of us should go do it together!” What was Sora thinking?

He just wanted to prove himself! Sora desperately wanted to go and find his friends and help people against the Heartless, but how could he do that if he didn’t get any stronger?! “I have to prove myself! Kenshiro, you don’t mind if I try, do you?” The teen asked, looking to the older man.

Kenshiro had been glaring daggers at Club before turning to Sora. “If you want to try alone, I won’t stop you. It’s unfortunate, but everyone needs to learn to be strong in this world, so if this will help you with that, I support it.”

“Donald, Goofy, just let me try! If I’m having trouble, you can just jump in!” Sora all but pleaded. Really, nothing was stopping him from just jumping down anyway, but he just wanted their vocal support. He wanted them to believe it was something he could actually do!

The two friends shared a glance, as if they were silently debating amongst themselves on how to approach this. After a tense moment, they both sighed, and Donald gave a nod. “Alright, but at the first sign that you’re losing, we’re helping you!” The magician clarified, wondering just what was going on in Sora’s head! Was he just trying to show off?

Sora breathed in relief as he gave a nod at Donald’s condition. “Okay! I’ll take care of him, you’ll see!” This Club guy was way smaller than Spade or Diamond, so surely it wouldn’t be too bad!

Club, not noticing his small audience, shouted out after his two thugs, who had yet to return. “Hurry up! I want to play with someone else!” The manic bandit demanded.

Glaring at Club, Sora leapt from up above and landed in front of the deranged man, pointing his Keyblade at him. “Fine! I’ll fight you!” Better him than some poor slave that wouldn’t stand any sort of a chance.

Sora’s sudden appearance startled Club, who looked up at where the teen came from, spotting the rest of the group. Grinning, he looked back to his opponent. “Oh? Intruders? You really want to fight me by yourself, pipsqueak?!” Even as he spoke, he brandished his claws, making it clear that even if Sora tried to take it back, Club would show no mercy.

Getting into his fighting position, Sora nodded. “I’ll take you on! Come on!” He was pumping himself up, preparing himself for a tough fight, but one he felt he had to do alone!

Club belted out a manic laughter and wasted no further time. He lunged at Sora, slashing down at the teen with one of his claws, a blow that the smaller opponent managed to block. Sora grunted out in effort, Club’s immense size not being just for show, as he was pretty strong! Still, no matter how hard the bandit pushed, the Keyblade held strong, thus far not getting so much as a nick or a dent through the adventure! Whatever it was made of it was plenty sturdy!

Legs shaking a bit, Sora let out a cry as he swung the Keyblade in a parry, managing to knock Club’s hand away before swinging at his opponent’s torso. Before the blow could connect, the massive man raised a leg and kicked Sora in the stomach, knocking him clear off his feet. Unlike before with Diamond, the teen managed to roll with the landing and ended up back on his feet!

This was lucky, as Club was already running at Sora before he had even recovered. Clearly, he was going to offer zero mercy or breathing room! Thinking quickly, Sora beamed the Keyblade at his opponent, managing to do so in a way that the weapon stayed stiff and straight as it flew through the air. Apparently not expecting this, Club was only able to let out a startled noise as the head of the Keyblade slammed into his face. Despite its name, the weapon wasn’t exactly sharp, so all that happened was Club’s nose was flattened and bloody as the Keyblade fell to the ground.

“What the hell even is this thing?!” Club demanded, momentarily stunned from the impact as he glared down at the Keyblade. “You just threw away your only weapon you stupid brat!” Quickly forgetting his rage and smirking, he bent down to pick the Keyblade up…and that’s just what Sora was planning on!

Rushing at Club, Sora extended his hand and summoned the Keyblade back to him, catching the man off guard. With a loud cry and using his opponent’s surprise to his advantage, the teen slammed the Keyblade into Club’s side, knocking the wind out of him. Not letting up, Sora continued with a quick combo and slashed across his opponent’s torso multiple times. Unlike the more experienced Keyblade wielders of the past, Sora wielded his Keyblade more like a metal club, and this lack of proper use made it hard for him to truly use it as a blade. So despite the slashing attacks, Club didn’t actually bleed from the blows, just getting bruised instead.

With one last cry, Sora jammed the Keyblade forward, slamming its blunt tip into Club’s stomach and sent him onto his back. Taking a few steps back, Sora panted as he awaited his opponent to get back up…which didn’t happen. Club let out a few groans but didn’t stir. Grinning, the teen looked up to his friends. “Hey! I think I won!”

“Oh boy! Ya did it, Sora!” Goofy called as the four climbed down to meet up with Sora. “Ya took him down all alone!”

“And you didn’t even use magic! Er…I guess it was impressive…” Donald corrected, quickly remembering he was supposed to still be mad at Sora.

Kenshiro gave Sora a small, approving grin. “I had a feeling you’d come out on top. You’re stronger than you think you are. That’s true for just about everyone, especially those with righteous hearts and a reason to fight!”

“You even took down one of the higher-ups too! You’re not bad…!” Bat praised, but with that sort of snarky, not-so-serious tone.

At that moment, the two goons that took away Club’s victim came back out, wide-eyed at the sight. “C-Club?!” One of them exclaimed. “Oh no, this isn’t good!” Without waiting for the quintet to retaliate at all, the two turned tail and sprinted away.

“Hey! We can’t let them get away, right?!” Bat yelled out, looking to Kenshiro. “They’ll tell everyone!”

Kenshiro shook his head. “Let them. I don’t care. I’ll take down anyone that stands between me and my goal!” And his voice was filled with a deadly confidence!

With everyone’s back turned to him, Club slowly and quietly got up, glaring daggers at the five. Standing upright entirely, he lunged at them with his weapons at the ready. “You brat! I’ll slice you and your friends to shreds!” He shrieked, causing the five to all turn around.

Moving faster than anyone else, Kenshiro stepped forward and, before anyone could blink, placed a hand on Club’s forehead. He didn’t seem to be putting forth any effort, yet the taller man stopped in his track. “That’s enough of that. Tell me where Shin is!”

Staying still, Club barked out an ugly laugh. “You know KING’s name? Then you must know how deadly he is! Of course he’s in the tallest tower, but that won’t matter when I kill you!”

Nodding calmly, Kenshiro removed his finger, yet Club remained in place. “Right. Come on, let’s go.” He ushered the other four to move, the outsider trio hesitant for a moment, but doing what Kenshiro said and turned their back on Club.

At this, the bandit sneered at Kenshiro. “Turning your back on me a second time?! You’re dumber than I thought!” He cried out, taking a step forward and ready to swing his claw!

Kenshiro turned to look over his shoulder, shooting Club an icy glare. “Too bad. You are already dead.” He stated, turning back to face forward. The quintet didn’t see what happened next, but Club let out a shriek of agony before a bursting sound rang out and the sound of a body hitting the floor soon followed…

“You satisfied now, Sora?” Donald asked with a roll of the eyes. “Why did you want to fight that guy so bad?”

“I didn’t want to, I just felt like I needed to.” Sora confessed as he rubbed the back of his neck. He felt he had to prove himself, and this was just the first chance to do it! And it wasn’t like Club didn’t need to be taken down anyway. Though the teen wondered if he could actually go through with killing someone like that, a person that was devoid of any humanity and saw other people as playthings like Club did. Obviously his methods wouldn’t be as brutal as Kenshiro’s! He was fully willing to kill Lucien, for instance, feeling it had to be done to stop Gielinor from being destroyed. It was just Lucien’s immense strength that prevented Sora from doing so.

“I think I get ya. Ya wanted to just see if ya got stronger, right? Ya don’t gotta go it alone, though! Donald and I are with ya all the way!” Goofy explained in a kindhearted manner. Of course he’d help Sora out in any way he could! The two were buddies, after all!

“Yeah, I guess so.” Donald grumbled, remembering to be mad at Sora. At this point, even the magician was aware he was just being stubborn at this point. It was still awful they ended up being forced into this world, but it was still an accident that Sora teleported them in like that.

“Goofy’s right. It’s perfectly fine to rely on your friends. That’s what they’re there for.” Kenshiro agreed as the group went up some stairs and back to ground level. They headed further into Southern Cross, off towards a building that towered over all the others.

Bat scoffed. “Well what about you? You’re a freakish one man army, Ken!” He insisted with a roll of the eyes. “Doesn’t mean much when you never need help!”

Sora sort of felt annoyed at Bat’s constant attitude, but he guessed living in a world like this would make most people cynical. “I bet Ken wouldn’t mind if we helped him in a fight though, right?” The brunette asked, adopting Bat’s nickname towards the man.

“That’s correct. It’s why I’m letting you all tag along. I can do this on my own, but I won’t stop my friends from helping.” The man clarified, quite confident in his boast…not that such bravado wasn’t deserved. No one amongst the group had any doubt Kenshiro could take the city on all by himself if he felt like it!

Such a thing was proven as the quintet made their way forward. The two goons that got away spread the word as Bat had worried about, as numerous other bandits zeroed in on the group’s location and attacked! They were all normal sized, not like the titanic Diamond, Spade, or Club. Though they were backed up by Heartless, though it seemed these weaker underlings could only order about the lesser ones like Shadows and Soldiers. This meant that taking these reinforcements out made for quick work. Kenshiro tended to focus on the bandits themselves while leaving the Heartless to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Bat, of course, stayed out of the way whenever things got dangerous. The other four did fine and Kenshiro got through unscathed as the outsider trio only got small scratches and bruises from some cheap shots the Heartless dished out.

Before too long, a string of corpses went from Club’s private arena to the tallest building in Southern Cross. It loomed over the surrounding area, as if suppressing those that were enslaved there just by its mere presence, as though it were watching for signs of rebellion. On top of that, it seemed to emanate a sort of odd power, perhaps Shin’s darkness being so great that it could be felt on the outside.

As the group reached the front doors, they saw that two men with metallic helmets were keeping guard, both armed with massive knives. One of them saw the group approached and glared at them. “I don’t know who you are, but none may enter!” He said, brandishing his weapon.

The second guard followed suit as Kenshiro walked a bit faster and quickly closed the gap between him and the two men. “Hey! That’s close enough! Get lost or we’ll cut off your-” His words were cut off as Kenshiro grabbed both their heads and slammed them into each other, doing so quickly enough that the other four barely saw it happen.

Surely dead, the two guards went limp and Kenshiro simply let them drop. “Come on. I can feel Shin’s presence. It’s unnatural…” The man remarked, taking the lead into the building as the others followed.

Inside, the tower was cold and empty, darkness seeming to radiate from the very concrete that made up the building. As the quintet went up the various flights of stairs, they encountered no guards, and no Heartless appeared. Granted, they had no idea if there were usually guards inside the tower or not, but the near-silence was eerie. Still, everyone but Bat was ready for a fight, it just seemed like one wasn’t going to come!

After what felt like hours, the group reached the top and there they finally saw another person! The room they entered had little to see, mainly some pillars, a stone staircase leading to a throne with a door leading elsewhere behind it. In that throne was a menacing looking man draped in a cloak fit for a king. Long blonde hair curtained either side of his face as he smirked down at the group, not intimidated in the slightest. “So, Kenshiro, you finally arrived. It’s been a while…” Like the building around him, it seemed like darkness itself came from his body, the unusual power felt outside the tower stronger than ever.

In fact, it felt just like Dimple’s basement and the ritual site…

Almost instantly, Kenshiro’s entire demeanor changed. His body tensed, as though he were about to sprint at the man and had to hold himself back. A deep, hateful glare came across the martial artist’s usual stoic face. “Shin…! I’ve come back from Hell just for you!” His voice was heavy and full of a homicidal rage, one unlike any he spoke in before.

“What? Just to die? If that’s really what you want.” Shin boasted, not at all bothered by Kenshiro’s demeanor. His gaze shifted to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. By this point, Bat had ducked away, hiding behind the very stairs the group come up. “You even have some friends. Not that it will matter.”

Sora’s eyes widened as he quickly realized something about the man, and it was his hair! The Oracle mentioned a man with blonde hair, and Shin’s prominence in this part of this world made the teen wonder…! “Hey! Have you seen someone named Riku?! Or Kairi?!” The Oracle didn’t say Kairi was with the same man as Riku, but he had to at least try!

Shin scoffed, as if Sora was an obnoxious pest that was completely beneath him. “Never heard those names in my life. As for you, Kenshiro. Before you face me, I want to see what you can do! Heart! Come out here!”

Behind one of the pillars, a massive man emerged! Unlike Diamond, Spade, or Club, this man wasn’t as muscular. In fact, he was very fat, lacking any hair aside from a wispy mustache. Like the other three card-themed men, Heart had a tattoo of, naturally, a heart with a ‘K’ above it on his forehead.

The blob of a man chuckled as he glared down at Kenshiro. “You’re Kenshiro, right? You use Hokuto Shinken or whatever it’s called, huh? That’s useless against me!”

Shin grinned at Heart’s boasting. “He’s right. If you fight him, you’ll see just how weak Hokuto Shinken and realize it isn’t as perfect as you think it is! Now fight him, Kenshiro! If you can’t beat Heart, you have no chance against me!”

“Who? This pig? You’re kidding me, right?” Kenshiro asked, pointing up at Heart. “This shouldn’t take more than a few seconds!”

Heart snarled at Kenshiro, glaring at the smaller man with an intense hatred. “You punk! You think it’s that easy?! Go ahead! Hit me! I won’t dodge or anything!” Hi anger was replaced by a smug confidence as he lifted his arms, giving Kenshiro an easy hit.

“This sounds like a trick! Be careful!” Donald exclaimed, his staff at the ready just in case. He was tempted to cast a spell at Shin, but who knew how strong the guy was? It could be pretty bad news if both him and Heart attacked at the same time…

Kenshiro paid little mind to Donald’s warning, letting out a battle cry as he punched Heart right in the stomach! As the larger man promised, he made no attempts to dodge, block, or counterattack…yet it didn’t matter. Kenshiro hit Heart just fine, but his fist and even part f his arm sank into his opponent’s bodyfat! “What?!” Was all Kenshiro could exclaim before Heart let out a grunt and the smaller man’s limb was shot out of his opponent’s stomach.

While Kenshiro was momentarily stunned from the surprise ability, Heart raised a meaty hand and swung it down at his foe. While Kenshiro managed to lift an arm to block, it helped little as the impact sent him to the floor anyway! “Ha! What was that?! It barely tickled!”

The outsider trio was stunned, this being the first time they saw Kenshiro take any sort of damage! Instantly, they sprang into action without even thinking! Sora and Goofy charged at Heart, the teen stabbing as the knight swung his shield at the large man’s torso. Donald stayed back as usual, casting a Fire spell at Heart, aiming for his big bald head!

Like with Kenshiro, Sora and Goofy’s attacks did nothing. The Keyblade and Goofy’s shield sank into Heart’s fat while the unusual man swatted at Donald’s Fire spell, rendering it useless as it sputtered out from the impact. Smirking, Heart grunted again as Sora and Goofy were launched away from Heart, joining Kenshiro on the ground.

Shin let out a sadistic laugh, eyeing the quartet as they failed to even harm Heart. “You see, this man as a rather unique body.” The blonde man explained. “The softness makes it so any attacks stop before they can reach anything vital. So that means Hokuto Shinken is completely useless on him!” His cockiness melted away into anger as he glared at Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “And who said you three could help?! This is all between me and that pitiful excuse of a martial artist down there!” He pointed Kenshiro out, his expression twisted with malice and obsession.

Getting to his feet, Sora glared right back at Shin. “Ken’s our friend! We’ll help him whether you like it or not!” As if he was really going to just listen to this horrible man!

That didn’t amuse Shin at all, who drew a knife from his pocket. “Kenshiro is far weaker than me. I made that clear when the two of us last met. As for you three? You’re just insects! How dare you stand between me and the man I truly wish to face?!”

With that, Shin threw his knife…but not at Sora. Nor did he throw it at Donald, Goofy, or even Kenshiro. Instead, the knife grazed by Heart’s face, very lightly cutting his cheek. The massive man let out a startled gasp, bringing a fat hand to his face and looking at his now bloodstained palm. “Oh…?! It hurts! It hurts!” He bellowed out, practically hyperventilating as his eyes nearly bulged out of his head! “Blood?! It’s my blood! It hurts! It huuurts!” He screamed out, starting to swing his arms wildly!

Shin let out an amused chuckle, calming down from his rage. “Heart here has a condition as unique as his body. Whenever he sees his own blood, he loses all control! He won’t stop rampaging until all of you are stains on the floor!”

Indeed, Heart didn’t even seem aware of what was going on anymore, his face showing just how much of a maddened frenzy he was in! “It hurts! It hurts!” The man kept screaming, his gaze zeroing in on Kenshiro, who was closest. “I’m going to crush you to paste!” Heart roared, charging at the martial artist.

Glaring up at the charging man, Kenshiro let out a battle cry as he gathered his strength! Once more, his shirt tore open as his muscles seemed to bulge as he rapidly attacked Heart! This time, his blows were shallow and aimed more carefully. Rather than striking straight forward, the attacks sort of shifted to the side. And, in a sight that was disturbing, unreal, and actually pretty impressive, Kenshiro used these strikes to push the fat away! Each blow moved the blubber to the side, his fists moving so fast they a sort of crater started to form in Heart’s stomach.

Once the crater of flesh opened wide enough, Kenshiro let out a sharp cry as he thrust his fist forward, hitting deep into Heart as struck at a pressure point, the attack leaving no actual wound. “It’s over! Now you’ll just pop like a balloon!” The martial artist announced. Even as he spoke, blood started to leak out of where he struck, even as the fat settled back into place.

His face scrunched up in pain, Heart glared down at Kenshiro. “Wh-What?! What did you…?!” He grunted as a wound opened up at his chest, and then another at his shoulder. In desperation, Heart charged at Kenshiro, who moved out of the way. The massive man stumbled past him, past Bat, and then started to fall down the stairs. Just as he fell out of sight, Heart screamed as a fleshy explosion rang out, the sound of blood splashing onto the staircase…

Shin didn’t seem upset by this at all. In fact, he was simply amused. “This isn’t the same Kenshiro that I left the seven scars on.” He murmured to himself, darkness seeping off of him as his obsession grew.

“That was some quick thinkin’!” Goofy praised, trying to ignore how gruesome Heart’s end was. “Ya thought of it so fast, too!”

“Despite what Shin said, Hokuto Shinken has no weakness. I simply exploited that fact.” Kenshiro replied, downplaying his own feat a bit. He then turned towards Shin, pointing up at the blonde man. “Now tell me where Yuria is! I know you have her still!” His face was that of a stoic rage, giving his old rival that would have made the blood of any lesser man run cold.

Shin grimaced, glaring at Kenshiro as if he had personally insulted him. He then looked crestfallen, gesturing to the door behind the throne. “She threw herself from my balcony months ago! You’re too late!”

There was a cold, empty pause in the room as the others stared at Shin in disbelief. It was Kenshiro that broke this silence. “What are you talking about?! There’s no way that’s true! Tell me where she is, or I’ll just beat it out of you!”

“This is some kind of a trick, isn’t it?!” Sora demanded, brandishing his Keyblade. He was about ready to just charge Shin right at that moment!

“It’s no trick! And this doesn’t concern you still, you feeble child!” Shin hissed at Sora before turning back to Kenshiro. “Yuria was miserable with you. No matter what I gave her whether it be jewels, the finest dresses, or even Southern Cross itself, she wasn’t satisfied! I couldn’t win her heart, no matter what I gave her! Seeing herself trapped her forever…she took her own life…”

Once more, there was a nasty pause at Shin’s confession, no one sure how to act right away. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Bat all looked at Kenshiro and were shocked as he openly let streams of tears fall down his face. “So, that’s truly how it is…this was for nothing…” He said, his voice soft and defeated.

Shin snarled at this as he pointed Kenshiro out. “No! This isn’t the new you at all! I took Yuria from you, and it was my fault she died! Are you going to just cry like that?! You sniveling fool, if you had come faster, your precious love would be waiting for you!”

Without a word, Donald pointed his staff at Shin and shot out a volley of three Fire spells, glaring daggers at the blonde man. Shin was quick to act, sidestepping all the attacks and coming out unharmed. The magician let out an enraged quack at this and readied another spell. “You don’t get to mock one of our friends like that! I’ll kick your butt myself!”

“Don’t leave me out of this!” Sora yelled, too enraged to think about how Kenshiro would want to attack Shin. All he could think about was defending his friend who was so clearly emotionally crushed by what happened to Yuria! Without further hesitation, he sprinted up the stairs and charged Shin!

“How many times must I tell you, this isn’t your concern?!” Shin screamed in a harsh rage, thrusting his hand at Sora, keeping his palm open and fingers together. Quickly, the teen blocked, Shin’s fingers striking the metal, but it didn’t seem to actually hurt him! “What?! What is this made of…?!” He growled, apparently expecting to be able to destroy the Keyblade with the martial arts he used.

What his style of martial arts entailed was quickly revealed as he readied his other hand, prompting Sora to dodge out of the way. Shin was mid strike at that point and struck the empty air, slash marks appeared in the stone floor where teen had stood a moment before! Goofy yelped out at this and charged forward as well, Donald right on his tail. The magician cast a Gravity spell on Shin which caused his body to tense as it struck him. It kept the martial artist rooted to the spot as Goofy charged him and slammed his shield into the blonde man’s face, causing him to stumble backwards as he fell out of Donald’s spell range.

Shin lunged at Goofy who, like Sora, blocked the attack. And once more, Shin’s strike wasn’t able to actually cut through, much to his annoyance. In its place, he stepped back and roughly kicked at Goofy, who once more blocked, but was knocked flat on his back.

As this happened, Sora was focusing on his next attack. Having watched how Cloud fought, the teen thought one of his moves would come in handy. Taking a deep breath, Sora readied his weapon and pointed it right at Shin, who was still distracted with Donald who was casting Blizzard spells at him. The teen waited until the magician managed to hit Shin in the leg with a spell, freezing it to the floor, and that’s when Sora struck!

Letting out a cry, Sora unleashed his Sonic Blade attack, thrusting forward and quickly sliding towards Shin! His attack struck the off guard martial artist on the side, stabbing him with the blunt weapon. The force was enough to force Shin to take several steps to the side, breaking the ice in the process. Not letting up, Sora slid again, stricken Shin a second time, this time in the abdomen. This made the blonde man stagger back, but it also made him more aware of what was going on!

The third strike missed, Shin barely managing to dodge as he readied a counterattack. Yet before he could, Sora slid again, forcing Shin to try and parry, but the force of the strike was too much and made Shin’s arm reel back! The martial artist backed away, but Sora quickly closed the gap and struck three more times in such a quick succession, knocking Shin about each time, and not letting the blonde man dodge! After the seventh strike, Sora was a bit spent, panting as he watched Shin take a few steps back, also panting from the onslaught he just received.

“You can’t beat the three of us, so what makes you think you can beat Ken?” Sora asked, readying himself for whatever counterattack Shin might throw his way.

But the blonde man didn’t do anything, not right away at least. If looks could kill, the glare he gave to Sora would’ve killed the teen a dozen times over before he hit the ground. “This isn’t something you’re involved it! Once I kill Kenshiro, I’ll swat you away!”

“Why are ya so focused on that? Why do ya wanna fight Kenshiro so much anyway?” Goofy asked, also readied in case Shin tried something.

“You don’t understand my obsession!” Shin cried, placing a hand over his heart. “The obsession that filled my heart and fed on my hatred for that man! He had the only woman I ever loved, and after I stole her away, she refused to love me back! I couldn’t sway her heart! With Kenshiro here now, I can end my obsession and rid my life of him, but you three keep getting in my way!”

Sora was in disbelief at how petty this man seemed! He just hated Kenshiro that much over unrequited love? The teen wasn’t exactly an expert on love himself, but this just seemed so foolish and it really seemed that Shin let his heart grow tainted by darkness. “That’s stupid! You can’t hate someone for that! And you can’t change someone’s heart with gifts and treasures!”

“Don’t talk like you know anything! As for Kenshiro, my hate for him is eternal, the dark emotions stoked in my heart every time Yuria denied me!” Shin cried, not noticing at first as Kenshiro finally made his move and climbed the steps. It was only when the scarred man reached the top that Shin noticed, turning to him with a smirk. “There now, I see you’re done crying, Kenshiro! Are you ready to face me now?!”

That he was done crying was a severe understatement as Kenshiro gave Shin a glare that even made Sora, Donald, and Goofy take a step away. “You drove the only woman I loved to her death.” The martial artist stated, hatred and fury dripping off his every word. “Shin…I’m going to kill you right here!”

Rather than be intimidated, Shin let out a cruel laugh as he prepared an attack. “Kenshiro, you may have changed since we last met, but it isn’t enough! You can’t get past my attacks!” With a cry, he shot his hand at his opponent’s face…only for Kenshiro to easily grab his wrist, making Shin gasp out in shock. “Wh…What? What is this? How did you…?”

Kenshiro didn’t say anything at first, only squeezing Shin’s hand as he sound of bones slowly cracking filled the room. “It’s just like what happened with you. A dark obsession grew in my heart! The kind you taught me!” He revealed, squeezing at his opponent’s wrist harder. “Clearly, my own obsession outgrew yours!”

“You’ve…really changed more than I expected!” Shin remarked, clearly having anticipated a quick and easy victory over the man he hated so much. “You…! How…dare you?!” He growled, quickly getting over his fear as he threw another blow at Kenshiro with his free hand.

In the blink of an eye, Kenshiro counterattacked, using his own free hand as he punched at Shin’s oncoming strike. As the attacks collided, there was a sickening snap as Shin’s fingers and hand bones were obliterated, blood shooting out of his now-worthless appendage. Kenshiro carried through the attack, his fist slamming into Shin’s face and breaking his nose with a single strike!

Shin let out a cry as Kenshiro let go of his hand, the blonde man staggering back from the blow he was just dealt. Before he could retaliate any further, his opponent rushed him and unleashed a volley of punches so fast it seemed as though Kenshiro sprouted numerous extra arms! Shin wasn’t able to dodge, only exclaiming in pain as he was punched too many times to count before Kenshiro delivered one final blow directly in the center of his chest and sent him flying!

Sora, Donald, and Goofy watched as Shin slammed into his worthless throne, the back of it nearly breaking away as the blonde man slumped down in it, too injured to move. “Ken…that was amazing!” Sora couldn’t help but praise, looking between his friend and the felled opponent.

Kenshiro wasn’t quite so happy, though. Despite achieving victory over his old rival and getting his revenge, he seemed more solemn than anything else. “The battle is over.” He declared to the room in general. “There’s nothing left you can do, Shin.” The man continued to his rival.

The blonde man remained still, apparently too injured to move. That, or he truly realized how pointless it was to bother. “I see…you really used your obsession to beat my own…your darkness conquered mine…” Shin replied, his voice calm, as though he had accepted his fate.

“It was my obsession that made me grow stronger.” Kenshiro corrected, that solemn expression still on his face. It was clear that despite what happened with the two in the past, this wasn’t the outcome he wanted! “I used my rage, the darkness nestled in my heart, to defeat you.”

Sora had to wonder about that, given the two kept repeating it. Kenshiro kept mentioning the darkness in his heart…yet the man himself was so blatantly a force of good! Yes, his methods were violent…but at the end of the day, he seemed to only use his powers on those that were horrid. Was it really possible to use darkness to combat darkness? The teen didn’t know so much about light and darkness, but he just associated darkness with terrible things like the Heartless. But maybe darkness to aid the light was actually possible…?

“Is that so? Either way…your heart won in the end.” Shin weakly praised, coughing up specks of blood onto his heart. “How much longer do I have?” It seemed in his defeat, Shin’s own darkness started to fade as he accepted his inevitable death.

“I punched the shape of your own cross onto you. At this point, you only have one minute.” Kenshiro informed, again not sounding happy about it at all.

Shin nodded, trying to sit up, but failing. “In that case, I have to make this quick…! The truth is…I lied.” He gave out a raspy gasp but kept going. “Yuria is alive!” Despite how painful it seemed, he raised an arm and pointed towards the door behind the throne. “Out there is a balcony. The door was…locked…so she couldn’t show herself…”

“Wait, is that really true?!” Donald exclaimed, looking towards the door. “Why did you say she was dead, then?!” The magician didn’t fully buy Shin’s story, but…why would he lie?

“I wanted to push Kenshiro.” Shin stated simply. “I wanted to beat you…at your strongest. I hated you so much…I wanted to prove how much better than you I was!” His voice started to become strained before bleeding wounds started to open along his torso! “I wanted Yuria’s heart…and maybe if I could beat you…I could have it! But you were the stronger man…! Go to her Kenshiro…!” At that, his body spasmed and he coughed up a worrying amount of blood before he simply went limp, eyes staring vacantly into nothingness…

“Did he really mean that?” Goofy wondered, looking over to the door in question. It would have been a pretty cruel trick, but it’d at least have a good outcome!

Kenshiro didn’t bother to stop and ponder, walking right over to the door. By this point, Bat came out of hiding and climbed the stairs to join the rest, giving Shin’s corpse a dirty look. When the martial artist reached the door, he roped it right off it hinges with ease! Tossing the door to the side, the group saw…an empty balcony.

The balcony was relatively small and simple, with no way for a normal person to escape it except through its only door. All the quintet saw as they gathered at the exit was the nightly view of Southern Cross, a city of bandits that didn’t know their leader was defeated. There was no signs that anyone was there at all, and Bat even rushed over to the edge and looked over it, just in case…

“…He was lying…” Sora stated, not really sure what else to say. He was so stunned by the horrid revelation that he felt a bit numb and all he could do was just state the obvious.

Bat sneered at Shin’s corpse again, reeling his leg back like he’d kick it before stopping himself. “Bastard lied to us! Why did he do that?!”

“I guess he couldn’t let a bit of that darkness go.” Sora suggested but was simply guessing. Maybe Shin wasn’t as brought to his senses as the group thought as he gave his final words. Was that lie really just a last twist of the knife to get back at a man he hated? “Ken, are you okay?” The teen asked, looking over to the martial artist.

Unlike before, Kenshiro wasn’t crying, instead wearing a look of quiet misery. “I should have known. If Yuria was here, surely she would have knocked on the door or let me know she was here. I guess she truly died…”

“I wish I had gotten another hit in on him!” Donald said, doing as Bat did and glaring at Shin’s body. “What was wrong with that guy?!”

“Shin wasn’t always like this.” Kenshiro said, walking over to the dead man. Unlike Bat and Donald, he had an expression of pity on his face. “We were close friends. Rivals. I suppose darkness took over and twisted him, even in his final moments. Knowing what he used to be…I pity him.” As he said this, Kenshiro carefully picked up Shin’s corpse, carrying it in both his arms.

Bat took a few steps back, as if nervous about what Kenshiro might do. “But uh, what are you doing with his corpse?”

“I’m going to give him a proper burial.” Kenshiro stated simply. “Because we used to be friends and we loved the same woman, I can’t simply leave him here.”

“Well, if you’re sure about that…” Sora murmured to himself, not being able to stop himself from being mad at Shin. He did such awful things, so it was tough for the teen to just partially forgive him as Kenshiro did.

While this was going on, Donald, a bit farther off to the side than everyone else, flinched as he heard a voice from his pocket. It was GLaDOS, who was speaking softly. “Hey. Loud Mouth.” She whispered.

Grumbling, Donald glanced down at his pocket and whispered back. “What do you want? We’re in the middle of something!”

“The Keyhole is in this room.” GLaDOS responded simply. “I was trying to tell you earlier, but in the split second before you and Clown Shoes hit the teleportation button, I got us as close to the Keyhole as possible. Another second preparation and we probably would have been right outside this city…”

For a second, Donald was about to scold GLaDOS for not speaking up…but she never got much of a chance and probably didn’t want to talk in front of natives to this world. On Gielinor, at least the people there knew of other worlds and oddities they could bring. Of course, Donald wasn’t about to give GLaDOS even the faintest of praise for keeping her mouth shut. “Okay, so where is it?”

“It’s in this room. You’re welcome, Big Mouth.” The A.I. replied in a snide tone before going quiet. Even when he was being helpful she had to get a jab in.

Donald grumbled to himself about how annoying GLaDOS was. At least the Keyhole was nearby, so that saved them time! He recalled feeling that odd energy when the group approached the tower, but chalked it up to Shin’s darkness. He was so preoccupied by Yuria’s absence that he didn’t even notice that the energy lingered.

Clearing his throat, Donald approached and spoke up as he saw Kenshiro say he was going to bury Shin. “If that’s what you wanna do! We need to stay behind here for a bit and then we have to part ways!”

“Uh, we do?” Goofy asked, scratching the side of his head. “What for? We’re gonna head off already?” Did he miss something?

“I’ll explain in a minute!” Donald insisted, not wanting to mention the Keyhole in front of Kenshiro or Bat.

Kenshiro didn’t seem surprised, giving a small nod. “You need to find your friends. I understand. Everyone has something they’re looking for here in the wastes, and I wish you luck.”

Sora was wondering what Donald was talking about too, and he just assumed they were going to just teleport back up to the Gummi Ship without finding the Keyhole. “I’m glad we ran into each other, Ken, I’m just sorry about what happened with Yuria…”

“She would have liked you, all three of you.” Kenshiro assured with a small, sad smile. “I can’t let this distract me, though. There are more people that need my help in this harsh world of ours.”

“Always so generous, huh?” Bat said with some sarcasm before glancing at the trio. “Well, it was nice knowing you guys, I guess! Try not to get into too much trouble, huh?”

“We could say the same thing!” Donald retorted with a roll of the eyes.

“You two just stay safe out there, alright? But I guess ya don’t really need any help with that, huh Kenshiro?” Goofy asked with a light laugh, trying to keep things positive.

Sora did his best to remain cheerful too, giving a grin at Kenshiro and Bat. “Yeah, glad we could at least help you settle this! I hope we can see each other again soon!” As dead and dreadful as this world was, there were at least some good people in it…

“Just remember you’re all stronger than you think you are. I’d warn you about ending up like Shin, but I can’t imagine that could ever happen to you three.” Kenshiro praised before he and Bat made their way down the small set of stone steps and down the nearby staircase, their footsteps soon fading as they got farther and farther down.

At that point, Sora and Goofy turned to Donald. “So, what’s goin’ on? Why did ya want us lingerin’?” There was nothing up there as far as he could tell!

“You don’t feel that energy?” Donald asked rhetorically. “GLaDOS told me the Keyhole’s right in this room! Try to use your Keyblade, Sora!”

It was really here?! Thinking of it, Sora did still feel that unusual energy from before! Following Donald’s suggestion, he got the Keyblade ready and focused. Raising the weapon into the air, the end of it glowed as the Keyhole revealed itself in a flash of light! It was in front of the throne the entire time, shining as the glow of the Keyblade intensified. After a moment, there was the sound of something locking a the Keyhole and the light of the Keyblade slowly vanished.

“Well, that was pretty helpful!” Goofy exclaimed with a guffaw. “We ended up right where we needed to be! Seems like that’s happened a lot…”

Sora nodded as he dismissed the Keyblade. First they just so happened to end up running into that cult member who took them right to where the first Keyhole was. Then they ran into Zamansis, and in agreeing to help him, they came across the second Keyhole. Now they found the third because they decided to keep going with Kenshiro. Seemed like whenever they made a new friend, they found these Keyholes…not that the trio had any idea what they were for, of course.

“I just wish I knew what these things were.” Sora said in an annoyed tone. It sure felt like they were accomplishing…something…but what that something it was anyone’s guess.

“Ya know, maybe Leon and the others’ll know!” Goofy suggested. “Maybe we should head back to Traverse Town and ask!”

Donald nodded in agreement. “Yeah, and maybe the King showed up there too! Just going around blindly isn’t working out…”

“Riku and Kairi could be there too!” Sora added on, still thinking about how the Oracle mentioned a blonde man. That could very well be Cid and Riku just met up with him some time after Sora left with Donald and Goofy. “Yeah, I agree. Let’s go there again next…but do you guys know the way?” How did one keep track of something like that in space?

“The Gummi Ship can go back there on autopilot since we were there before!” Donald explained. “It’ll take some time, but it’ll be easy!”

Sora felt a bit frustrated at how little they had actually accomplished in their main goals. Finding their friends was just the first step! They still had to find out how the worlds were ending and if there was any way to restore them!

“Before we go, I think there’s somethin’ ya need to talk about!” Goofy insisted, looking between his two pals. When they gave him a look of confusion, he just cleared his throat loudly.

“About that fight?! Oh, come on…!” Donald groaned. Did they have to do this now? The duck was stubborn and was hoping they could just ignore it. “It wasn’t my fault!”

Sora huffed, trying not to get angry again. “I just wanted to find my friend! At least you had that letter from your King, all I have to go on is what the Oracle said!” The teen pointed out.

Donald hadn’t quite thought of it that much. Of course, he knew those facts, but hearing them said out loud was something else! Sighing, he crossed his arms as he realized that Sora was just a scared kid getting dragged onto a much rougher adventure than he had initially wanted. “…Yeah…you’re right. I’m sorry, okay?” The mage said sincerely.

The brunette was a little surprised that Donald actually apologized! Rubbing the back of his neck, Sora nodded. “I’m sorry too…I shouldn’t have tried to take over the ship…”

Goofy let out a “Hyuck!” and pulled the two in close. “Great! All for one, right? Now let’s get back to the ship, I’m starvin’!” He was trying to lighten things up further, the news that Yuria had died hitting him, along with Sora and Donald, kind of hard. It was a shame to leave the world on a sad note, but what could they do?

“I’m hungry too!” Donald agreed as he fished out his remote. The three barely had anything to eat since yesterday. “We’ll have a feast!”

“And then we’ll go to Traverse Town!” Sora agreed, his stomach growling at the mention of food. At that, Donald pressed the teleportation button and the outsiders vanished from the world in a flash of light…

---

Once more, the group was being watched by a group that wanted their quest to fail. Even with one of their own killed, they didn’t seem worried. “And he seemed so sure too. Guy really was all talk! Pathetic!” The short man in the suit remarked with a scoff.

“I doubt you’d have done any better.” The man in the black armor pointed out, ignoring the glare he got. “But did he truly not know he was on top of the Keyhole the entire time? It’s to convenient…”

“Why would he even hide it? What would he gain from it?” Asked the man with the golden hook. “He even tried to keep the Princess of Heart for himself, the damned fool!”

The witch shook her head and grunted in annoyance. “Couldn’t even handle that brat with the key! That Shin was pretty disappointing to me!”

Dio shook his head. “It hardly matters now. It was only one other Keyhole, just a mere three in total. Though it’s really quite obvious. Shin’s heart was just consumed by too much darkness and he was too weak to handle it! It fed his obsession in so much he wanted to keep his precious Yuria and fulfill his rivalry! He let that blind him rather than helping more to obtain our much loftier goal!”

“I certainly won’t fail on my end there.” The hooked man promised. “My plan is perfect and can’t fail!”

“I’m sure you four won’t disappoint me.” Dio said, with the tone of voice that made it clear that such failure wouldn’t be tolerated. “At the very least, we have our fourth Princess. Just three more…!”

With a gesture, Dio spawned a portal of darkness, out stepping Yuria, alive and well. She was so startled at the unusual sight before her after her kidnapping at the vampire’s hands that all she could do was stare in fear…

---

The Heartless appear in groups, and are multiplying rapidly. I've provided them both living and nonliving samples. They've responded only to the living. They seem to multiply after absorbing something from the living creatures. Their prey vanishes without a trace.

I believe the Heartless are taking hearts. They are born from those who've lost their hearts, and thrive on hearts seized from others. The hearts taken by the Heartless become Heartless themselves.

Though I lack proof, I am confident in this hypothesis. I must also study their behavioral principles. Though they lack emotions, they do seem to have some intelligence. How to communicate with them?

It's just occurred to me: Could they be the darkness in people's hearts?

Chapter Text

As it turned out, the Realm of Darkness was able to play tricks on one’s mind, but not in the way Aqua hoped. Sadly, spotting Peach’s Castle off in the distance wasn’t an illusion, as she could still see it as she walked forward. No, the trick was just how close the castle truly was. Somehow it appeared so large that it seemed she was right near it, but after an hour of walking, that wasn’t the truth at all. It was as though the castle was floating away from her. Not only that, but she had another obstacle.

Before her, towering high up into the black sky, was Mt. Itoi.

Aqua was stunned when she saw it, just as much as she had been when she had seen Peach’s Castle. What was it doing in the Realm of Darkness? What horrors were going on in the Realm of Light that could even cause such a thing?

It seemed to be a recent development too, not that time really meant much in the Realm of Darkness. Aqua had no idea how long she had even been there. Sometimes it felt like it was only a few days, sometimes it felt like a few years, then it’d fluctuate back to a matter of days. The inconsistency was incredibly stressful to say the least…

By the base of Mt. Itoi was a city she was familiar with, even if its location wasn’t exactly how she remembered. It was no longer by the ocean, and all the area surrounding it was missing. It simply stood right at the base of the imposing mountain. Even that wasn’t entirely accurate, as Ellay was at least a bit of a ways away from Mt. Itoi’s base, but now it was right up against it!

She knew she had to investigate, wondering if she would encounter anyone. Unfortunately, the Keyblade Master saw no signs of life from where she was…though if anyone was there, they would probably be inside to avoid the-

Aqua’s thoughts were interrupted as more of those unusual dark creatures formed around her! They were the small variety with the antennae that just melt out of the ground, the Shadows! Summoning The Master’s Defender, the mage quickly cast a Thundara spell all around her, destroying most of the monsters in an instant. The few that survived lunged at her, but she made quick work of them with a few slashes of her Keyblade. As far as she could tell, these were the weakest of the odd creatures that plagued the Realm of Darkness. She wished she knew what they even were, as she had never seen them in the Realm of Light or even heard Master Eraqus speak of them!

In a way, their existence was a bit of a plus. Being in the Realm of Darkness for an extended period of time acted as a drain on her body. She didn’t need to eat, drink, or sleep, but it seemed the realm itself weakened her. As she fought, though, the experience of battle kept her strong. It was as Master Eraqus said, entering combative situations helped one grow fast through the experience gained. So, she was in a nasty cycle of growing weaker, but then fighting off the unknown monsters got her the experience needed to keep her strong. If there was a lull in their appearance, she even found herself unable to use her most powerful spells!

With a light sigh, she kept her Keyblade ready and reached Ellay in a matter of minutes. She felt defeated as she walked the empty streets of the once-bustling city that she had only known for a brief period. Not only that, but she felt so…alone. Not that this was anything new, but the alien geometry of the Realm of Darkness had for the first time given way to a place that should be full of life. Yet…there was nothing.

Did anyone manage to escape? What exactly was it that happened? Was the rest of Ninten’s world in the darkness to? Was Ninten himself safe? Ana? Lloyd? Teddy? She could only wish for that, and the thought of he friends and companions made her heart stir for the first time since she witnessed Ventus’ and Terra’s Keyblades that single, solitary time.

Her footsteps echoed as she walked along the poorly paved roads of Ellay, the buildings around her serving as massive stone husks that somehow seemed to be watching her. Once or twice, she swore she saw a shape, a fragment of what once was, shifting in the windows. Yet whenever she looked closer, there was nothing. Aqua didn’t even bother to call out, she knew it was useless to even try.

Ellay wasn’t a pleasant place from the brief time she had spent there, but she felt like its citizens, and that of the rest of Ninten’s world, had a sense of safety. At least, not worrying that something so awful as losing their world to an encompassing darkness was even possible! The working man, the children at play, even the pets awaiting the return of their masters as they went out to the store…they were all gone. Was there any chance of them returning? Was it possible for their world too escape the clutches of the Realm of Darkness?

As she got lost in her thoughts, Aqua started to think about Terra and Ventus again. She had saved Terra, she knew he had to be in the Realm of Light, but was he okay? Was he back to being himself? If so, she was sure he’d fight tooth and nail to protect the worlds from whatever was attacking them. Did it involve the dark creatures she had been encountering? They weren’t Unversed, that was for sure. The glowing yellow orbs they had for eyes lacked any of the emotion that the monsters spawned by Vanitas had. It seemed they ran entirely on instinct and felt nothing…

Then there was Ventus. She had left him in that castle, and she was sure he was safe…but was there any chance he could wake up without her? Only she knew how to reach him, so unless he woke up on his own, Aqua felt there was little hope. She wanted to protect him so bad, to tell him how she felt…

At this point, Aqua left the empty city and reached the proper base of Mt. Itoi. There was a sudden rumbling, putting the Keyblade Master on edge. Before her eyes, she saw huge chunks of the mountain tear away and lift off into the sky! With the chasms left behind, she had no way to move forward! She could jump pretty far, but the gaps she would have to get through were simply too much for her to handle…

Really, there wasn’t any actual reason for Aqua to progress anyway. Walking forward would surely accomplish nothing…but it wasn’t as if she had anything else she could do except putting one foot in front of the other and hoping for a miracle. Nothing akin to Terra and Ventus’ Keyblades appearing happened since that event, it was just journeying through the twisting Realm of Darkness and fending off the odd shadow creatures with those primordial, yellow eyes…

While she thought to herself, the young woman spotted something on the ground. Going over to it, she saw it was a simple doll. It was lying in the dirt of the mountain, blankly staring up at the alien sky of its new home. The little girl that owned it…what became of her? What became of everyone in this world? Did the residents of the dark get them, or did they not even make it to the Realm of Darkness to begin with?

Not even thinking, Aqua bent down and carefully picked the toy up off the dirty ground. As soon as she did this, a music box within the doll played, startling the woman enough to drop it. The music box only let out five notes which sounded remarkably familiar to Aqua, but she couldn’t put her finger on its source…

Her thoughts were quickly interrupted as the ground started to shake again, startling her as she readied to fight or run! To her surprise, though, this rumbling was a good thing! A number of chunks that had broken off of Mt. Itoi went back down and fit themselves back into place! This created a short path forward that was cut off by the rest of the chasm that stretched to the peak.

Astonished, Aqua took a few steps forward, waiting for some more rumbling to occur…but things remained calm. Somehow, hearing that song helped her move forward! Or rather, a part of a song. Why did it seem so familiar to her? As she thought about this, the woman kept her eyes peeled for some object that didn’t belong as she slowly made her way up the mountain path. One positive was that the creatures that lurked on Mt. Itoi were no longer around. She did expect another onslaught of dark creatures to appear at any moment, though.

Alas, that didn’t happen as she went forward, instead spotting something else that didn’t belong! Instead of a doll, it was a statue depicting a canary with its head thrown back and its beak aimed toward the sky as if it were about to cry out. For a moment, Aqua simply stared at it before realizing she had to touch it. When she gently brushed her fingers against it, five more notes erupted from its petrified beak, startling her a bit.

Once more, the ground shook and more chunks of mountain descended and fit back into place, allowing her to continue just a bit more to her destination. Not that she had any idea what to expect at the top of Mt. Itoi if there was even anything there at all. There was something in her heart that simply told her to keep going, despite lacking an actual reason.

Going further up the mountain, Aqua kept her eye peeled once more for anything out of the ordinary, and quickly stumbled upon such a thing. For the second time, it was a statue, but this one was of a monkey perched on a rock. Like the canary, though, it had it head thrown back, mouth open as if it were singing. Picking up on the pattern, Aqua brushed her hand against the monkey statue and wasn’t surprised when five more notes came out from the object. As expected, this quickly triggered more of Mt. Itoi to reform, allowing Aqua to move forward.

That song was just so familiar, though. It was in fragments, and she swore there were words to go along with it…but what were they? For whatever reason, she just couldn’t think of a single part! Not a word! At this point, she was starting to become more engaged in learning the entire song than seeing what could be on top of the mountain. After all, she expected the peak to be empty anyway.

Rushing forward, Aqua didn’t have to walk long before the fourth object appeared before her. It was a bit different this time, taking the form of an old piano with dusty, ivory keys. Instantly, she walked towards it and reached towards the keys, but quickly found her hand practically moving on its own. As if she had practiced for hours, she perfectly played four sorrowful, haunting notes from the large instrument. And when she did, she sang under her breath.

“Sweet harmony…”

Eyes widening, Aqua raised a hand to her lips as she spoke for the first time in what seemed like months. For a while after entering the Realm of Darkness, she spoke to herself frequently, just desperate to hear a voice, even if it was her own. After a while, though, being the only one she could talk to started to depress her, and she all but gave up on making any noise save for grunts in battle. But that wasn’t important! She remembered the song!

How could she forget? She had been listening to fragments of the song that she sang along with Ninten, Ana, Lloyd, and Teddy to stop Giygas! It was such a sad, gorgeous melody and she had no idea how it managed to slip out of her head. For all she knew, it had been years since that moment, but even so, it felt like something too important to forget. Was it the Realm of Darkness getting to her, maybe? What other things could she possibly be forgetting?

At the very least, she remembered her promise to come back for Ventus, and she knew she had to get back both for him and to make sure Terra was okay. Even if she forgot everything else, she had to hold onto those two in her heart! It made her wonder what else she could’ve forgotten during her imprisonment in this realm. It wasn’t like she could realize she forgot something until she remembered it.

All the people she met along her journey amongst the worlds were still in her mind at the very least. As far as she knew, anyway. Before seeing Princess Peach’s Castle and Mt. Itoi, Aqua thought about how her friends were doing in their world. She worried about Bowser trying to take over the Mushroom Kingdom, Link’s ongoing quest, or if Wirt and Greg ever made it home. Now she was just hoping there weren’t more worlds that had been consumed, ones belonging to more of her friends or otherwise!

While Aqua stood there in her thoughts, a small swarm of creatures appeared! The usual small ones with the antennae but also larger ones that flew in the air and had batlike wings, the Flutterings! Readying her Keyblade, she charged them with little worry, casting off another Thundara spell to act as quick cleanup, taking half of the monsters out in an instant. The flying Heartless proved harder to hit, making Aqua have to close the distance and take them out with a few swings of the Keyblade.

And before she knew it, she was alone once more.

At this point, destroying these shadow creatures was second nature to Aqua, the young woman able to take them out with great ease. It didn’t help that so many of them were weak. Once or twice she faced ones larger than herself like the one on all fours that was like some sort of savage beast!

Composing herself, Aqua continued her trek up Mt. Itoi. Each time she made some progress, she naturally ran into something else that formed the complete melody that she had forgotten. A petrified cactus, statue of a mighty dragon, and then EVE in an area similar to where she shut off. With each part of the song, more of Mt. Itoi reformed.

Quite close to the peak, Aqua spotted the XX Stone in the exact same kind of area that it appeared in initially, just like with EVE. Though as she approached, there was a rumbling. It wasn’t the mountain-shaking kind like she had felt a dozen times since reaching Mt. Itoi’s base, though! It seemed to have an actual source from under the ground that was approaching fast!

Keyblade at the ready, Aqua’s eyes widened as a massive dark shape erupted from the ground between her and the XX Stone! At first it was abstract and moving around so much she couldn’t quite make it out as it spiraled up into the air. After a few moments, though, she realized it was a horde of those small black creatures, those Shadows she had been fighting all this time. But they were acting in a way she had never seen before as a countless number of them were stuck together as if they were part of one mass, forming a column that shifted and moved like it was one being! In just a few seconds, the Demon Tower had formed, the mass of creatures moving about in an erratic, hostile manner.

Aqua had to wonder if this was tied into the worlds falling into the Realm of Darkness somehow, as the dark creatures had never done anything like this before! Pushing the thought aside, the mage attacked first by shooting several fireballs at the mass of creatures. Acting as one, the Demon Tower spiraled at Aqua, weaving between the first few fireballs with only the last one hitting it. On impact, a few of the creatures making up the mass were destroyed, but it made no noticeable difference with the rest of the formation!

The Demon Tower continued to charge Aqua, prompting her to put up a barrier just in time! When the entity struck the barrier, it spilled off around it like it was a stream of water. It seemed to quickly realize it wasn’t going to breath through so easily and reformed, the individual parts of the structure sprinting back to the rest. Knowing she couldn’t wind by just defending, Aqua lowered the shield and cast a Blizzara spell at the Demon Tower, hoping she could freeze most of the creatures in place!

Unfortunately, the Demon Tower dodged around the icy blast entirely, spiraling at Aqua once more. She wasn’t able to put up a barrier this time but managed to at least block with her Keyblade. This didn’t do much, however, as the heavy impact from the living column sent her off her feet and knocked the wind out of her! She was airborne for a good few seconds before slamming into the ground and rolling a bit down the mountainside.

Recovering, she got onto her feet as the Demon Tower came in for another attack! Frustrated, Aqua raised her Keyblade and cast Thundara once more, the random bolts of magic proving too difficult for her opponent to entirely dodge. It tried to weave between them, but several strikes managed to hit it, each one evaporating a handful of the creatures…but this sadly made no noticeable difference. Aqua couldn’t tell if the numbers just got instantly replenished or if there were so many that she just couldn’t tell the difference.

As the Demon Tower drew near, Aqua prepared to dodge but then it suddenly threw in a new strategy! The mass of creatures came apart, the numerous monsters scattering in every direction, guaranteeing that she had nowhere to dodge! Summoning up her magic, a pink glow surrounded her as the mage threw The Master’s Defender forward, the Keyblade spinning wildly as it let off magic that destroyed the monsters that it touched. She did this to clear the path forward of the onslaught of mindless creatures that just ran at her.

As the Keyblade came back to her, Aqua threw it again, the weapon still spinning as it went in a large circle around her, wiping out even more of the monstrosities of the Realm of Darkness. Leaping up, she caught the Keyblade and aimed it at a mass of her opponents and unleashed a ball of magic that exploded upon contact with the ground, scattering a number of the creatures and evaporating many more.

Yet this seemed to do little, as the Shadows reformed the Demon Tower once more, her spells having no real effect on its numbers! As she landed on her feet, the yellow eyes of the entities glowed a nasty orange as it spiraled at her yet again. With a cry of effort Aqua spun about, her Keyblade scraping against the ground as she started out low. Magic came out of The Master’s Defender, forming a cone around her as she slowly stood up, spinning faster until she was on one foot, a spiked mass of ice above her as her Spell Weaver technique finished!

Spinning about like a top, Aqua darted towards the Demon Tower as it rushed her, the magic cone around her acting as a shield and a means of attack. As the mass of creatures hit her, they were destroyed by the magic surrounding her, Aqua’s technique slicing through the onslaught like a knife through hot butter. Yet no matter how many she destroyed, more seemed to take their place!

Aqua started to run out of energy, her Spell Weaver attack stopped as she stopped spinning and the magic faded away. However, it seemed the Demon Tower had enough at this point. Even though it reformed and seemed as good as new, the countless eyes returning back to their normal yellow, the entity spiraled up into the air and flew into the ground, a dark, liquidy portal of sorts swallowing the creatures up! The gateway closed instantly after, and all was quiet.

Panting a bit, Aqua had to wonder just what that thing even was and why it was only appearing now. Was it really tied to the worlds being swallowed up somehow? It seemed like a reach, but all she knew was she never encountered anything like that until she saw Princess Peach’s Castle and Mt. Itoi…

But there was no real way for her to find out.

With the fight finished, the young woman approached the XX Stone and placed her hand on it. As expected, it played the lats few notes of Maria’s lullaby as Mt. Itoi became entirely complete once more. In her head, Aqua couldn’t help but sing the song to herself.

Take a melody

Simple as can be

Give it some words and

Sweet harmony

Raise your voices

All day long now

Love grows strong now

Sing a melody of

Love, oh love

As the last bits of Mt. Itoi slid into place, Aqua made the rest of the trip to the peak, feeling almost a bit soothed just imagining the lullaby in her mind. It was the most comfort she had felt since she saw Terra and Ventus’ Keyblades. When she got to the top…it was empty. The massive hole was there as usual, and she almost expected Giygas’ ship to fly out from it. Thankfully, no such thing happened. The entire trip felt worthless, but…she also had no idea what she even expected.

While the trip up Mt. Itoi was horribly dangerous, with the most powerful being she had ever encountered at the top, she’d rather be there than on this swallowed up version in the Realm of Darkness. Bowser had granted himself invincibility, but he still managed to get beaten into submission. Giygas fled because of the aches in his heart entirely unharmed…for that, Aqua feared the alien far more than the King of the Koopas, even when he had the Star Rod.

Of course, more than anything, Aqua wanted to be with her friends, even if it was just one last night with them under the stars. At this point, she’d give just about anything for even that much.

“Aqua.” A voice called.

After not having been talked to in what felt like years, Aqua felt her heart skip a beat and her blood run cold. Eyes widening, the young woman spun around and brandished her Keyblade before he realized who the voice belonged to! Walking towards her was…Terra! Her jaw dropped, but she quickly closed it as she looked her friend over. Unlike the last time they met, he had his normal hair and eye color back…he had to be back to normal! But…even so…

“Terra?! What…are you doing here…?!” She asked, words a bit stilted as she wasn’t used to speaking to another actual person. “What’s happening to the Realm of Light? Why are segments of the worlds here?! Is Ven okay?!” Aqua put away her Keyblade, both worried and also relieved to see a familiar face. Yet, as Terra stopped mere feet from her, he said nothing. “Terra, why won’t you say anything?”

Reaching out to grab his hand, Aqua gasped as her own went right through. An…illusion? A memory amongst the shadows? Was this fake Terra just a way of the Realm of Darkness to mock her, or was the real Terra somehow sending the image to try and not let her lose heart? Whatever the explanation, the young woman felt a deep misery as she watched the false Terra fade away until he was gone.

Once more, Aqua had to wonder where the people who lost their worlds went. Not to the Realm of Darkness…so maybe they were somewhere safe? Maybe they somehow managed to get to a haven? She had no idea how that was possible, but it was the only hope she could cling to. More than ever, she wanted to get to the Realm of Light. Not just for the sake of her and her friends, but for everyone whose world was in danger!

With a determined breath, Aqua summoned her Keyblade once more and went around the large hole at the top of Mt. Itoi. Once on the other side, she saw that Princess Peach’s Castle was a lot larger and closer than before, where earlier it seemed to stay the same distance somehow.  Looking closely, she was able to see the remnants of Toad Town by the castle as well as…snow? Yes, she remembered Shiver City and the surrounding areas. That must have been it. Aqua could only hope it wasn’t as cold when it was in the Realm of Darkness as she slowly made her way down the opposite side of Mt. Itoi…

Chapter Text

As soon as Sora arrived at the Gummi Ship’s cockpit, he felt his hunger intensify. Stomach growling, he saw Donald tap some buttons on the main controls before he and Goofy went down the ladder and into the main part of the vessel. He knew they had to be heading towards the kitchen! Yet instead of following, he looked down at the world they just left behind, the ship moving as Donald apparently activated some sort of autopilot. He felt so bad for Kenshiro, and wished he could’ve helped him reunite with Yuria! There was nothing to be done, though, and he had to tell himself that. Still…pangs of illogical guilt pricked his heart and made the teen sigh.

Trying to shove the thoughts away, he followed after his companions and went towards the kitchen. As he approached, he saw his hunch was correct and heard a commotion going on from inside the room. From what he could hear, they were preparing a feast! Or, rather, just pulling a feast from the magical containers in the room.

Opening the door, the brunette saw that the table in the room was covered in more food than the boy had seen at once! Fruits, vegetables, meats, desserts, pastas, and more! Donald and Goofy were looking over all the food and beamed at Sora when he came in.

“What took you so long?!” Donald demanded in a good-natured way. “We were about to dig in without you!”

Rubbing his stomach, Goofy laughed. “Hey! Look!” He gestured to the food as he began to sing, pointing out something on the table as he did so. “Turkey! Lobster! Sweet potater pie! Pancakes piled up ‘til they reach the sky!” Donald vocalized, sounding more like a series of quacks as he joined in the music while Goofy went on. “I wanna eat and eat and eat and eat and eat until I die!”

Sora couldn’t help but let out a laugh as Donald and Goofy started to sing together, clearly more focused on their song than actually eating. “Turkey! Lobster! Sweet potater pie! Pancakes piled up ‘til they reach the sky!”

Goofy calmed down into a solo, pointing out more of the food with a big grin on his face. “Lots of starches, lots of greens. Fancy chocolate covered-”

“That’s enough! If I had ears, they’d be hurting about now!” GLaDOS interrupted from Donald’s pocket. “If you’re going to eat, then just do it!”

“Aw, come on, that was fun!” Sora lightly argued as he took a seat. “How can a program get annoyed by noise anyway?” Not like she had ears or anything, like she just pointed out. To that, GLaDOS gave no response.

Donald scoffed. “Forget her! Let’s just eat! I already set the ship to fly us back to Traverse Town. It’ll take a while, though.” It already took them numerous days to get this far, after all. As the magician said this, he managed to pick up an entire pancake with his fork and essentially devoured it in a single bite. At the same time, Goofy started to dig into the potato pie with enthusiasm.

The teen shrugged off GLaDOS’ attitude and followed suit. All in all, the meal was a blur with very little conversation as the three ate until their stomachs started to ache. Their time in Kenshiro’s world really made them realize how quickly one could get hungry. When the three of them finished, more than half the food was gone while the broomsticks came to life and began to clean the rest of the mess.

“Gawrsh, I really needed that!” Goofy exclaimed happily as he let out a content sigh. “Kinda wish we could bring some to Kenshiro and Bat…”

“Having so much fresh food in a world like that wouldn’t make sense…but I agree…” Donald replied with a shake of the head. He could be harsh at times, but it wasn’t like he was heartless!

Sora was a bit more distracted, thinking about their future trip to Traverse Town. “You think Leon and the others can help us out? What if they can’t?”

The mood swiftly went from jovial to serious at Sora’s words, Donald and Goofy frowning as they exchanged glances. “We don’t have a better plan. It’s the only thing we can think of!” Donald explained.

“Besides, the more brains we got tickin’ away at the problem, the better! Maybe someone came to Traverse Town that can help us like tellin’ us what the Keyholes are for!” Goofy added on, trying to be his normal optimistic self.

It was just hard for Sora to be so optimistic. Heck, he didn’t even expect to see Riku or Kairi there anymore. For a bit, he thought maybe the blonde man the Oracle had mentioned could be Cid…but what were the chances? Riku wasn’t there before, why would he be now? If only the Oracle had been more precise…

“What about your King? And my friends? We have no idea how to find any of them!” Sora pressed, almost a bit annoyed at how nonchalant Donald and Goofy seemed. Weren’t they worried at all?

“Hey, it’s alright! We’ll find ‘em, Sora!” Goofy said, giving a concerned look. “Worryin’ about it won’t help none. We might as well try to stay positive!”

“Besides, remember what we said before? No sad faces! Try and cheer up, Sora!” Donald recalled, even if he and Goofy exaggerated how important happy faces were to the Gummi Ship.

Sora almost snapped back at Donald that he of all people shouldn’t be telling someone else to cheer up. He had been a complete grump almost the entire trip! But the teen bit his tongue and let out a sigh. “…Fine. Alright. I’m going to just get some sleep.” After traversing Kenshiro’s world and having a huge meal, Sora felt pretty beat.

Even though he relented, it was clear to Donald and Goofy that Sora was still plagued by doubt, but they just let it go. “Sure, alright! Go on and get some rest! It’ll be a while before we get back to Traverse Town.” Goofy explained. “A couple of days, maybe…”

“Yeah…Okay.” Was all Sora said as he excused himself and walked back to his room. He couldn’t help his mood swing and felt bad for ruining the fun they were having. The teen just couldn’t stop worrying about his friends! Then there was the Heartless and these Keyholes and…it all seemed to rest on his shoulders just because he had the Keyblade! With a sigh, the brunette flopped onto his bed, tired and full. Even with the stresses he felt, sleep soon took him…

The next few days were rather uneventful.

For Sora, a lot of it was spent working out and training in his room. He swung the Keyblade more times than he could count. Over and over he practiced with the mysterious weapon, going until his arms felt like noodles. He also performed basic exercises with pushups, sit-ups, and using weights that Donald was able to conjure at his request as well as other workouts.

Not to say Sora just spent all his time in his room. He of course went out for food and spent more time with Donald and Goofy than he had previously. Nothing substantial went on, the pessimism Sora showed before being dulled down for the sake of his newest friends. Donald even let the teen stay in the cockpit more as they looked at the stars outside.

One thing he did notice during one of these stargazing sessions made him feel sick to his stomach. It was hard to tell explicitly for sure…but looking out at the worlds, Sora felt like there were less of them than before. Whatever was making the stars go out was still going on…

He chose not to mention it to Donald or Goofy.

After several days, the ship neared Traverse Town, much to everyone’s delight. As unusually spacious the Gummi Ship was inside, the trio still wanted to stretch their legs a bit more and walk around somewhere new. At their approach, Sora looked out the cockpit along with Donald and Goofy and they all felt a bit uneasy.

“Gawrsh, Traverse Town looks…bigger…” The Royal Knight pointed out. Indeed, the floating town of a world practically doubled in size since they were last there. Clearly, more refugees from destroyed worlds found themselves there, making the town grow to accommodate them.

Sora especially recalled what Moguro said about Traverse Town practically being like an organism. “Yeah…but at least some people are finding a safe place, right?” The teen asked, trying to be the optimistic one for a change…but it didn’t really work. The fact that so many people needed a safe haven was bad no matter how one looked at it.

“Well, we can’t do much now.” Donald said, trying to downplay things…which also didn’t really work. “Let’s just go see Cid. He’s right by the hangar, after all.” As he said this, the mage turned the autopilot off and directed the Gummi Ship where it had been the last time the group was there.

As soon as the three departed their ship, they all stretched as if they had been somewhere cramped for days rather than the magically spacious vessel. Just being outside of it made them feel the need to loosen up a bit!

“Hey, how about we go see Cid first? His shop’s right near here anyway.” Goofy suggested as the three entered Traverse Town proper. The First District was a bit more crowded than last time, more people milling about with most of them looking stressed or miserable. Given the reason they wound up in the town, it was hardly a surprise.

“Good idea. He’d know if any of our friends passed through.” Sora agreed, trying not to get his hopes up. Though he still kept an eye open at the people they passed by, just in case…but when they arrived at Cid’s shop, he didn’t see Riku or Kairi. He noticed there weren’t any Heartless in the area, and he wondered if they stopped showing up in Traverse Town or if Leon’s group, or some other newcomers, were able to keep them at bay. Another thing he noted when their destination came into view was that the door was replaced from last time.

As soon as the trio stepped into the shop, they almost regretted it.

Like the last time they entered, Tali and Cid were at the front desk, glaring daggers at each other. At least Tali’s glare was assumed given her visor. “You only have worthless parts here! Not even an engine!” The Quarian hissed. “If I had one, I could’ve been out of here ages ago! What kind of shop is this anyway?”

“Do you have any idea how hard Gummi Blocks are to come by? They don’t grow on trees, you know!” Cid shot back, blowing smoke in Tali’s face…not that it bothered her due to her protection.

“You know my filters won’t even allow me to smell smoke, right?” She said in a taunting tone. “And if I didn’t know any better, I’d think these ‘Gummi Blocks’ were just toys you made up!”

“They are not toys! Just because you don’t know something doesn’t mean it’s dumb or fake!” Cid shouted, apparently not getting the memo and puffing more smoke in Tali’s face.

“Uh, we actually have a ship made of Gummi Blocks!” Sora piped up, just wanting the arguing to stop! It was nearly giving him a headache…

Donald snickered as Cid and Tali jumped in place and turned to the trio. “Have you two just been arguing since we left? Nothing’s changed!”

His mood instantly improving, Cid waved at the three as they stepped further into his shop. “Well hey, guys! Didn’t think I’d see you back so soon! And hey, I replaced the door that someone shot up so that’s new!”

Ignoring Cid’s dig at her, Tali also seemed happier at the trio’s arrival. “Good to see you three are staying safe. And is your ship really made of this Gummi stuff?”

“It is! But uh, if ya don’t got an engine here, it won’t really matter much…” Goofy replied apologetically. He didn’t know too much about the Gummi Ship’s inner workings, but he at least knew it had to have an engine!

“Mmm, true…and I’m guessing your errand isn’t done yet either?” The Quarian asked, seeming to already know the answer.

“That’s actually why we’re here. We wanted to talk to Leon about something. And, uh, have Riku or Kairi passed through yet?” Sora asked, mirroring Tali in that his tone gave away he already knew the answer.

“Or the King?!” Donald butted in.

Cid and Tali both shook their heads, the latter seeming disappointed about the trio still being on their quest. “Haven’t seen ‘em.” The shop owner replied. “I’ve been keeping an eye out though, so have Leon and the rest.”

“I’ve been asking around when I’m out of the shop too.” Tali added. “But there’s actually a place you should go. Since you left, a detective agency appeared in this district. There’s only two detectives at the moment, but they do their best to find people here in Traverse Town. I never met either, but I hear they’re good at their jobs.”

Sora remembered how Tali mentioned that there was food for her kind when they met. Now some detectives appeared and a place for them to work popped up. Really seemed like Traverse Town itself tried to help those in need the best it was able, like it was actually alive. Maybe that organism comparison was closer to reality than expected…

“We should go there, then! It’s worth a shot! Then we can go find Leon!” Goofy suggested. “Do you two know where he is right now?”

Again, Cid shook his head. “No clue. Yuffie’s around here somewhere, helping keep the First District safe. She’ll know.”

“And the detective agency is behind this shop a bit. It’s hard to miss.” Tali explained. “No idea if the two guys running it will be in or not.”

“We’ll check anyway. We appreciate the help, you two.” Sora said, feeling just a bit of optimism. At the very least, even if they don’t find Riku or Kairi, maybe the detectives will. They can pass on a message letting his friends know that he’s okay. Who knew when the three would return to Traverse Town again, so the detectives can be looking the entire time!

With some waves and farewells, the three left the shop and followed Tali’s directions. They kept their eyes peeled for any familiar faces, whether it be their lost friends or anyone else from Leon’s group, but no luck in either case. Before long, they came across a building with a neon sign on it. Granted, a lot of the buildings did, but this one stood out for two reasons.

One was because the sign was red while most of the others were yellow or green. The other was the heart with an arrow through it. “Valentine Detective Agency…” Donald read. “Is this the right place? Sounds weird…”

“It’s gotta be! We followed Tali’s directions!” Goofy pointed out. “Come on, let’s take a look inside…”

With a shrug, Sora and Donald followed the knight into the building. It wasn’t lit well inside, and the smell of cigar smoke stung their nostrils. There wasn’t much to see initially, as the entrance went right into an office area with a desk and a number of filing cabinets along the walls. Even the desk had a lot of files and papers that seemed to just be tossed onto it randomly. Behind the desk was a closed door leading to the rest of the building.

At the desk sat an unusual looking man that perplexed the trio. He wore a hat and a large, worn coat with a loose tie which was normal enough. It was the rest of him that was odd, though. The stranger seemed…off somehow, the way he looked, but with the lack of light, it was hard to tell why exactly. His skin nearly seemed grey, but it could have just been a trick of the light. One thing that couldn’t be was the chunk missing from the left side of his face, but it was hard to tell what lied underneath. His eyes were stranger still, only two lit yellow circles peering at the three.

The man took out a cigarette pack from inside his coat and lit one up, revealing his right hand was metallic and almost skeletal. His face was illuminated by his lighter, but it was too fast for the three to get a proper look. As he savored the cigarette for a moment, he looked his three guests over. “You three looking for someone? Pretty backed up here, but we’re still taking cases.” He informed them casually, as if it was the hundredth time he had said it that day. “Name’s Nick, by the way. Nick Valentine.”

Well, he seemed nice enough. And his name explained the Valentine’s Day imagery on the sign outside. Sora was the one to speak up, ignoring how Nick’ odd yellow eyes almost reminded him of a Heartless. “Uh, how much does this cost? We don’t really have much…” Honestly, he had no idea if Donald and Goofy had any money, he never stopped to think about it.

“It’s free, of course.” Nick replied, the small red dot of his cigarette bobbing a bit as it rested between his lips. “Even back in my world I never charged anything. Wouldn’t dream of starting now. My partner feels the same way. We’re all in a mess of trouble, so we’ve gotta stick together the best we can!”

Before anyone could reply, the backdoor of the room opened and out came another man, who paused before taking more than two steps into the room. Like Nick, he also wore a disheveled, rumpled raincoat that seemed even worse than the unusual man’s. In the light, not much else stood out. “Ah, geez, Nick, you know I can’t see half as well as you do. Let me just turn on another light here…”

With that, the second man flipped a switch by the door and the room was suddenly bathed with light. It was at this point that the trio got to see Nick properly, and they were quite taken aback! Quickly, it became obvious why he seemed uncanny to them, as his grey skin seemed like it was made of rubber! It was fake for sure! Worse was that huge chunks of it were missing from his neck and the left side of his face, revealing metallic workings underneath. Whatever he was, Nick wasn’t human…

Nick looked over to the second man, who was blinking rapidly to adjust to the light. This man was very normal in comparison. His hair was disheveled, and he looked like he rolled out of bed, but he was otherwise an average guy in a messy raincoat and work clothes. “Sorry, Columbo. I just kinda forget sometimes. Ellie always got on my case about that too.”

“Don’t worry about it.” The other man, Columbo, commented. After a moment, he finally noticed the trio and looked towards them, showing that his right eye was glass, as it didn’t move at all. “Oh, I didn’t realize you were talking to, ah, some new folks!”  He spoke a tad awkwardly, like he had dozens of thoughts swirling in his mind at once. It wasn’t that he was slow or dimwitted, more like he was just distracted.

“That’s right, yeah. I was just telling them we don’t charge for our services. By the way, this is Lieutenant Columbo, my partner.” Nick explained before noticing that the trio were staring at him. “Oh, right. You’re probably wondering about my looks. No one told you?”

Donald was the one to speak up this time around as he shook his head. “Uh-uh! What are you? Some kind of robot?” He asked rather rudely.

However, Nick didn’t seem offended, not reacting much at all as if he heard that question a million times. “Sorta. Long story short, I’m a Synth. A synthetic human. Not as fancy as the others back in my world, though. All you need to know is I’m on your side, alright?”

“That’s right. Nick here’s a real standup kinda guy.” Columbo praised, leaning against a nearby cabinet as he took out a green cigar that was somehow as rumpled as his raincoat, like he accidentally sat on it or something. As he lit it up, he shook his head. “As for me, I admit this is out of my jurisdiction. I’m on homicide back in my world…phew…my ‘world’ is still a heck of a sentence to say…”

“I appreciate it, Columbo. But don’t you go all humble on me now. You’ve done an excellent job so far.” Nick complimented right back before turning back to the trio. “But anyway, me not being human isn’t a problem for you, is it?”

Goofy shook his head like Donald, his ears flapping around a bit. “Gawrsh, it’s not that, Nick! We were just kinda surprised, that’s all! All we knew was you were a detective.”

Sora couldn’t help but grin a bit. “Besides, we’ve seen stranger things than a synthetic man.” The Mahjarrat mostly coming to mind…

At those words, Nick let out a genuine, shocked sort of laugh. “You know, I’ve been around for about a century and no one’s said anything like that to me!” Whatever went on with his life, Sora somehow tickled his funny bone. As the trio glanced at each other, the Synth calmed down and took out a notepad and a pen. “Alright, so how about you tell me who you’re looking for. Name, appearance, age, that sort of thing. I’ll need your name too, it’ll help things out.”

Oh, they never had introduced themselves! “I’m Sora, and this is Donald and Goofy.” The teen introduced, gesturing to his friends. “I’m looking for two friends named Riku and Kairi.” He explained before describing the two.

“And we’re looking for King Mickey!” Donald exclaimed as Nick wrote down Sora’s information before also describing his friend.

“Alright, so three people.” Columbo noted as Nick jotted things down. “Just to be clear, we’ve got a lot of folks looking for friends and family, so it could be a bit of time before we get to ya.”

Well, that was to be expected. Everyone in Traverse Town was surely looking for at least one person. And with only two detectives, searching the entire, continuously expanding world would be difficult. “Aw, we understand. We just appreciate ya helpin’ at all!” Goofy said.

Columbo smiled at that with a light nod. “Appreciate it, Goofy. I feel for everyone coming in here, I really do. Wish I had such good memory like Nick. He doesn’t even need his notes. And you know, Sora, you remind me a bit of my nephew, he-”

“How about we leave the family talk for later, eh Columbo?” Nick interrupted, apparently stopping some sort of ramble or long story. “But yeah, anything we should tell your friends if we can find them? Like my partner said, it could be some time before we even get to start looking for these three.”

“If you find them, can you tell them we’re safe and to talk to Cid at his shop? Or Leon, Yuffie, or Aerith if you know who they are.” In a way, it practically seemed like that group was in charge of Traverse Town, or at least the unfortunate people that wound up there.

Nodding, Nick handed his notebook to Columbo, who started to study it himself. “Oh, we know them. Great folks! Especially the ones keeping those Heartless things at bay. Thought my world had enough problems, but then those things showed up…but yeah, we’ll pass the message along.”

Despite his earlier pessimism and the general cloud that was over his head a lot of the time, Sora couldn’t help but feel a bit of hope. It was something that seemed so rare to him, he usually just felt upset, angry, or just nothing at all. He still felt like that, those emotions, or a lack of them, hitting him hard on their way back to Traverse Town. Sometimes the adventures he had in the worlds he visited were able to distract him, but…

“We appreciate it.” Sora responded, giving Nick and Columbo a small grin. “We’ll get out of your hair. Other people will want to see you too.”

The detectives waved the trio out as Donald and Goofy shared their thanks as well. Stopping a bit near the entrance, Donald sighed. “It’s nice having some help, but who knows if they can do it? Or if those three are even here…” If the King was in Traverse Town, he surely would’ve talked to Leon or his group! Still, every little bit helped…

“Shucks, don’t talk like that, Donald!” Goofy admonished in a friendly tone. “We just gotta stay positive! Yuffie should be nearby, and we can ask her where Leon is!”

Just at that moment, a female voice rang out. “Oh, you want to find Leon?”

A bit startled, the group turned to see a familiar young woman with black hair. “Yuffie!” The three exclaimed at the same time.

“The one and only!” Yuffie exclaimed with a bright smile. “Didn’t expect you guys to be back so soon!”

“Ya sure snuck up on us!” Goofy exclaimed, having been a bit startled at Yuffie’s appearance, but he was sure glad to see her!

Yuffie laughed and looked quite pleased with herself. “Well, I am a ninja! So, what are you guys doing back? You need Leon?”

“We’re kind of stuck.” Sora outright admitted. “We’re not really getting anywhere and were hoping Leon, you, or Aerith could help…”

“Leon’ll know better than me. He won’t admit it, but he’s basically the leader of our group.” Yuffie said as she glanced at where he three came out of. “Giving Nick and the Lieutenant a visit, huh?”

“Just in case! You never know when one of our friends might turn up!” Donald explained. “So, where is Leon anyway?”

“Oh, right. He’s in the underground cavern. That’s where he goes to train, but sometimes Heartless spawn in there, so he’s keeping watch too.” The ninja explained. “I can step away from my post for a bit to lead you there.”

With a word of thanks, the trio followed Yuffie as she took them into the Second District, into the alleyway where Aerith met Donald and Goofy for the first time. There was a sort of waterway with a large opening. “I didn’t even notice this when we were here before!” Goofy exclaimed as they approached.

“From what I heard, you were too busy being scared by Aerith, so I don’t blame you.” Yuffie ribbed with a cheeky grin.

Donald quacked at that, glaring at Yuffie. “She did not scare me!” He insisted as he crossed his arms. Right at that moment, a hand went onto his shoulder and he let out a startled yell.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” Aerith’s voice called sincerely. The group turned to see the young woman with an apologetic look on her face. “I just saw you were coming this way and wanted to say hello.”

Huffing, the magician grumbled to himself before speaking up. “Didn’t have to be so quiet about it…” He said, just loud enough to be heard.

“Good to see ya, Aerith! We were just gonna talk to Leon!” Goofy greeted, chuckling a bit at Donald’s strong reaction.

“We just need a bit of advice.” Sora added, openly grinning as Donald calmed himself down. “We heard you guys were keeping the First District safe.”

Aerith smiled with a nod. “We’re doing what we can. A lot of people pitch in, so it’s not just us. When you talk to Leon, tell him to rest up a bit too, okay?”

The three agreed as Yuffie and Aerith went back to the First District. Entering the cavern, the trio found a spacious area with a lot of water. Leon was there, swinging his blade, the gunblade, as he stared to a tunnel area with a mural of a crescent moon on it.

Upon being approached, Leon stopped swinging and rested his gunblade on his shoulder. “Didn’t expect you three back so soon. How are things going out there?” He was his usual stoic self, not seeming explicitly happy to see the trio.

“Not great.” Sora confessed. “Can’t find our friends anywhere. We’re sort of at a dead end, and we wanted to ask you some questions.”

“Can’t promise I can help, but shoot.” The man replied, looking the three over as if studying them for something.

“Well, we keep finding these Keyholes in the worlds we visit.” Sora explained as he summoned his Keyblade. “The Keyblade reacts to them and locks them, but we don’t know what’s going on with that…”

Leon nodded, not seeming shocked at all. “So, you’ve found some Keyholes. Every world among the stars has one, even Traverse Town. They lead to the hearts of each world, and the Heartless enter these portals to get to the core of each world. That’s how the stars keep going out.”

“What?! Why didn’t you tell us that before?!” Donald yelled out, remembering Zamansis’ theory. Turned out he was entirely right. The Heartless did want to find the Keyholes!

“I figured the Keyblade would lead you in the right direction. And from what you’re telling me, I was right. You three have all gotten stronger, I can tell.” Leon mused, apparently that being why he was studying them. “Especially you, Sora. You’ve got to get stronger so that Keyblade can save more worlds.”

If it was the Keyblade that could stop worlds from vanishing, did that mean he could’ve saved his island? A wave of guilt washed over the teen, wishing he could’ve stopped the Heartless right at the start! But…if he did that…then he wouldn’t be on this journey, and he couldn’t save other worlds! “Is there a way to restore them at all…?”

Leon shook his head. “If there is, I don’t know it. But don’t let that get you down. There’s sure to be a way.” Watching Sora sigh and drop his gaze to the cavern floor, he reached into his pocket and pulled something out. “Here. I want to give this to you, Sora. I found it here in Traverse Town. I can feel a strange power in it, but I think you should hold onto it.”

Sora looked back up and dismissed his Keyblade as he took the object. It was a small orange stone, no bigger than his thumb. There was a power in it, but…it also felt weird. It felt oddly sticky, like it was covered in something, but nothing actually got onto his skin or gloves. “But what is it? How do I use it?”

It seemed like Leon had no answer, not saying a word at first. “…You should see Merlon. He’d know. Besides, he told me he wanted to see you anyway.”

“Why does he want to see us?” The teen asked as he pocketed the orange stone. “Is something wrong?”

Leon shrugged. “He didn’t say. He just told me the next time I saw you that you should go see him. Maybe he saw that you’d be stopping by soon in that crystal ball of his or something.”

“Guess we better see him, then. It could be important! Maybe he saw somethin’ that could help us in that there crystal ball of his!” Goofy theorized.

“Maybe he’s seen the King! Or your friends!” Donald added on, hopeful.

Sora wasn’t about to get his hopes up for another seer like he did with The Oracle. “We’ll go right now. Thanks, Leon.”

The trip to Merlon’s abode was swift, the three rushing through the Districts and leaving little time for conversation. Heartless appeared in their way, mainly the likes of Shadows, Soldiers, and Large Bodies which were quickly dealt with. By this point, those types of Heartless were easy to dispose of for the trio.

As they got to Merlon’s house, they entered to see the elderly man sitting in one of his chairs, sipping at some tea from a fancy cup. “Ah! You arrived! Just as I expected you to!” He exclaimed, placing his cup down on the table next to him. “I take it Leon sent you.”

“You sure do expect a lot.” Donald said with a snide tone. “How come you can’t use that crystal ball to tell us where our friends are?”

Ignoring Donald’s rudeness, Merlon shook his head and stood up. “It’s not that simple, I’m afraid. The visions come to me, I don’t choose what I see. Even then, the details can be vague. If I could tell you exactly how to proceed in your adventure, I’d do so in a heartbeat.”

Sora wasn’t expecting anything, but even then he was a bit let down. Of course, he should’ve seen it coming. If Merlon had such abilities, he’d have used them when they first met. “Okay, so why did you want to see us?”

“As it happens, my colleague I mentioned before should be here within a few minutes. It’s more what he can provide than anything.” Merlon explained as he approached Sora. “I did want to see how your magic has progressed. Might as well, as we wait.” When the teen lifted his hand to summon his Keyblade, the old wizard shook his head. “Not necessary, I can feel your power just as you are.”

“He’s learned a couple of new spells already!” Goofy praised as Merlon looked Sora over. “Sora sure is a natural, huh?”

Merlon nodded with a light chuckle. “Yes, it seems so! Three spells already! Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder. Sora, I advise you try to Cure someone when you get a chance. It tends to be the next spell learned when the three basic ones are unlocked, so to speak.”

“It’s a bit tricky!” Donald intervened, a little annoyed at all the magic talk without his input. “Cure spells are the only kind that don’t do damage, so they use a different type of magic energy. You can’t just use them over and over like the others, okay?”

That sort of made sense to Sora. It was a shame he couldn’t just use a spell to heal him or his friends at a whim, though. So far none of them had gotten too seriously injured, but who knew what they’d face up ahead? They could fight opponents stronger than Dimple or Shin, but without the likes of Mob or Kenshiro to help them. Or even worse, someone like Lucien, but without the Dragonkin to step in and put an end to things…

Just at that moment, the door to the house swung open, slamming into the wall! “I apologize for my tardiness! Taking the long way was more difficult than I assumed!” A man’s voice doomed into the small abode.

Everyone but Merlon was startled, and they all turned to see who intruded. There in the doorframe was a man in a black cloak with a red robe underneath with black pants and shoes. He was a bit of an older man, his hair starting to go grey, and he also sported a goatee.

As the man walked…no…levitated into the home, the door closed behind him with a literal flick of the wrist. “Ah, glad you’ve arrived!” Merlon exclaimed. “Sora, Donald, Goofy, this is Dr. Orpheus, that colleague I mentioned a few times. While I am versed in visions and a few other odd spells, my friend here has a wider array of abilities.”

The stranger, Dr. Orpheus, studied the trio, his expression hard to read. Without warning, he pointed at Sora. “YOU!” He boomed, causing the teen to flinch. “You must be Sora! Wielder of the Keyblade, are you not?! King Mickey told me of you! Then the other two are his trusted allies!”

“Uh…yeah, that’s us…” Sora replied, taken aback by Dr. Orpheus’ unusual behavior and boisterous presence. “Who exactly are you, though? Merlon said you had special powers?”

“Correct!” The older man screamed, throwing his cloak back in a dramatic fashion. “A master of necromancy, I am Dr. Orpheus!” He introduced…despite already having been introduced before swiftly calming down. “Don’t take that the wrong way, it’s just a habit. In my world terms like wizard or sorcerer are…a bit cliché. No offense, Merlon.”

The wizard shook his head. “None taken.”

“So, what are you here for? You didn’t answer our question!” Donald exclaimed, wondering if they should really trust this guy…especially when he said he was a necromancer! Bringing back the dead was pretty nasty business…

Out of nowhere, Dr. Orpheus got his energy back as he placed a hand forward and the other on his temple. “I have a gift I must bestow upon you! But before that! I sense something…unusual on your person, Sora! Show it to me at once!”

It couldn’t have been the Keyblade, that wasn’t really ‘on his person’ which raised the question of where it went when he dismissed it. After a few seconds, Sora had an idea and pulled the odd orange object he got from Leon out of his pocket. “You mean this?”

Gasping, the necromancer pointed at the orange stone. “YES! I can sense one’s heart coming from this object! Someone’s life essence is present within! Tell me, where did you get it?!”

Sora wasn’t really able to tell of Dr. Orpheus was just being his seemingly usual loud self or if he was accusing the teen of something. Either way, he just told the truth. “Leon found it here in Traverse Town, but he didn’t say where.”

“Aha! That makes sense!” The older man exclaimed. “When a world ends, three things happen to the residence! Either they vanish, end up here…or they become a form like this!” He yelled out, pointing to the orange stone. “You could very well say this is the HEART of one with a strong will to survive! Her very essence is trapped within! A horrid fate to befall anyone!”

Her? Dr. Orpheus knew this was a girl? It couldn’t…possibly be Kairi, could it? No, that didn’t seem right at all. “What can we do? Can we free her?”

But the necromancer didn’t really reply to Sora, waving his hands in front of the orange object as they began to glow. “BY THE STRENGTH OF MY MYSTICISM! I COMMAND YOU…OPEEEEEEE-” Dr. Orpheus bellowed, holding the last word as some sort of magic seemed to project his voice! The home seemed to shake as Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Merlon covered their ears, poor Sora only using one hand as he held the orange stone in place.

The large white book Merlon had swung open to the middle as the door outside slammed open! In Donald’s pocket, GLaDOS began rapidly sputtering gibberish, unnoticed by everyone else. Down the Second and First Districts, doors and windows slid open and numerous neon signs rapidly shut on and off. In the detectives’ office, the filing cabinets slammed open as papers flew all over the place, and Nick’s eyes started to flash on and off as he remained still as a statue. In Cid’s shop, as he and Tali fought, the Quarian’s suit started rapidly beeping as numerous functions were activated and deactivated, seemingly at random. “What the heck is going on?!” Cid yelled out as the shop door swung open.

“-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!” Dr. Orpheus finally finished, the orange stone sparking and forcing Sora to drop it. Wincing, he felt dizzy as he shook his hand from the mild burning sensation that came from the spark.

Donald, Goofy, and Merlon uncovered their ears, the magician glaring at Dr. Orpheus. “What was that about?! Did you have to yell like that?!” The duck demanded.

“My aching circuits…” GLaDOS complained quietly from the mage’s pocket. “I really, really hate magic…” At the very least, nothing permanent happened to her.

Not even seeming winded after that loud scream, the necromancer picked the orange stone off the floor. “I admit, it was my first time performing such a spell, so I gave it my all.” He explained, surprisingly, calmly.

“But it didn’t do anything.” Sora pointed out as he took the object. “Whoever this used to be is still trapped…”

“Ah! But you can aid her!” Dr. Orpheus explained, pointing at Sora. “Your Keyblade can be used to bring her forth from her imprisonment! Alas, it is only for a limited time, but she can aid you in battle as a summon!”

A summon? Just drawing out someone to help fight the Heartless? That sounded sort of harsh to make someone that went through such an ordeal start to fight on a whim. Yet even as he thought this, Sora felt a pulse in his hand. A sort of tug. It blatantly came from the stone, and yet there were no words, the teen sensed the intent behind it deep in his heart. Whoever was in the stone was agreeing with Dr. Orpheus and urging Sora to do as he said.

Placing the stone in his pocket, Sora gave a nod. “Got it. Even if it’s for a little bit, helping someone trapped sounds nice…”

“I just wish we could help her out more. Whoever she is…” Goofy lightly lamented in a rare pessimistic moment. “Must be awful scary to be trapped like that…”

“Hey, you said you had some other gift for us, right? What was it?” Donald asked, still a bit miffed at the loud spell from earlier.

Either not picking up Donald’s annoyed tone or just not caring, Dr. Orpheus clapped his hands together. “Yes! I almost forgot! I have a protective spell to place upon you. Such kinds aren’t my specialty, so it isn’t as though you’ll be invincible. However, the damage will be greatly reduced! Now, hold still…” Once more, the man’s hands began to glow as he waved them in circles, chanting in some unusual language.

Thankfully, the spell was far more subtle than the first. So much so that the trio didn’t really feel a difference. “It sure is a relief knowing we’ve got a bit of extra protection!” Goofy exclaimed, though he had no idea how effective the spell actually was.

“Thanks! We were just fighting a guy that could’ve really done some damage…” Sora said, thinking about Shin. If one of his martial arts attacks had actually landed…well, he didn’t want to think about it.

“At least there was no yelling…” Donald grumbled, but he was ignored.

“It is my pleasure! Blunt combat is not my forte, and my own world already fell with me unable to help! But aiding you in the help of other worlds is the least I could do!” Dr. Orpheus announced.

Merlon chuckled, sitting down in his seat. “And it’s all appreciated, Dr. Orpheus. I think it’s safe to say if you find any more of those gems, you should bring them back here.”

“Yes! I will help unlock them for you so you can use your Keyblade with them!” The necromancer agreed. “And I’m sure the next time it will be less…chaotic…”

Everyone else silently hoped so…

“Thanks again, but we really should be going. We just stopped for a little bit.” Sora announced. “You’ve both been such a big help.”

“Think nothing of it, young man! Now go! With a strong heart, you must right the wrongs of the wicked Heartless!” Dr. Orpheus announced loudly, shaking his fist in dramatic fashion.

Saying their goodbyes and thanks, the trio left the home and made their way back to the Third District. Right as they entered, Goofy spoke up. “Hey, how about we summon that girl ya got in that stone there, Sora? Even if we ain’t fightin’, it’d be nice to let her out.”

“Good idea! It’s probably cramped in there!” Donald agreed, mildly joking.

Sora summoned his Keyblade, not sure of  what to do exactly. Before he could work it out, though, a horde of Heartless appeared around them! At least a dozen Shadows, Soldiers, and a new type of winged Heartless, Air Soldiers, appeared! “Well, if she can really help us in battle, now’s the time!” He declared while Donald and Goofy spawned their weapons.

Still not sure what to do exactly, Sora acted as though he were using a spell, but focused on the gem in his pocket. Raising the Keyblade straight up, the teen reached into his heart and the tip of the weapon glowed. Swiftly, he slammed it into the ground, and an orange liquid started to pool around him! It took him a moment to realize it was ink of all things!

The ink wasn’t even an inch deep, but it spread out a few meters around Sora. As he pulled the Keyblade out, something else erupted from the liquid! He swore for a second that it was, bafflingly, a large orange squid! Yet as it landed, ink practically exploded from its form and there instead was a teenage girl!

She wore black shorts and a white t-shirt, but it was from the neck up that was bizarre about her. First was her mouth, where there were three fangs, two on top and one on the bottom. Then there were her eyes which were orange and there were black marks around them like a raccoon. Her hair was the most unusual, which was orange and seemed normal at first, but ended in large tentacles! On her back was a glass tank full of orange ink, and it had a tube going to the weapon in her hands, a gun with its own container full of the substance!

Standing up straight, the odd girl let out a whooping sound, her voice having a strange quality to it. It sounded garbled, almost like she was gargling water as she vocalized. Turning to Sora, she gave him a peace sign before turning to the Heartless with a glare.

Stunned by the unusual stranger, Sora, Donald, and Goofy shrugged it off for the moment as their opponents started to close in. To their surprise, it was the tentacled girl that reacted first. As if she had been waiting ages for this, she charged forward and shot ink at her opponents! Shockingly, the ink seemed to actually damage the Heartless, destroying several Shadows and staggering the others her attack hit.

Not wanting to make her fight alone, Sora, Donald, and Goofy joined the fight too. The battle was swift, of course, with four of them fighting numerous yet weak Heartless. Sora and Donald cast Fire and Blizzard spells while Goofy charged at one of the diving Air Soldiers with his shield, knocking it to the ground where he swiftly bashed it and finished it off.

Surrounded by Soldiers, the mysterious girl didn’t seem scared at all. To further surprise, she blatantly transformed into a large orange squid and dug into the ink at her feet despite how shallow it was. In a moment, she launched into the air and turned back into a girl midair and took a glass pyramid full of ink out from seemingly nowhere. She spiked it to the ground below, and it exploded violently into ink, destroying the Soldier Heartless.

Within a minute or two, all the dark creatures were gone…and there was ink everywhere, even on Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “What a mess…!” The magician complained, looking himself over with a sigh. “Why’d you have to do all that?!” He demanded of the girl, who walked over to the group with a beaming grin. “And what are you anyway…?”

The teenage girl opened her mouth and…well, it sounded like she was speaking. Yet all that came out were odd gurgling sounds. Again, it sounded like she was gargling water at the same time. Needless to say, the three had no idea what she was saying in the slightest.

“Uh, we can’t…understand you.” Sora interrupted, making the girl stop talking and look at him in surprise. “Sorry. But it seems like you can understand us somehow.” To that, the girl nodded in confirmation. “That’s weird…”

“She’s an Inkling, that’s what she was saying, amongst some thanks.” GLaDOS piped up from Donald’s pocket.

Goofy looked at his friend’s shirt, tilting his head. “How do ya understand her, GLaDOS?”

There was a scoffing sound from Donald’s pocket. “Just hearing a few words let me decipher the structure of her language. It’s easy, really. Don’t ask me what an Inkling is, though.”

Well, the ink part of her species name made sense. She was a squid, at least some of the time, and fought with ink. “So, you can just translate for us, right?” Sora asked, glad the language barrier wasn’t an issue.

“Oh, I can.” GLaDOS responded. “I just don’t want to. Have fun trying to understand her on your own.”

Stomping a foot, Donald slapped his own pocket. He knew it didn’t do anything to GLaDOS, but it felt cathartic. “You’re awful!” The mage cried out, wishing he could just leave the A.I. in a trash can or something. The Inkling didn’t seem amused either, huffing and saying something under her breath.

Sora really wished GLaDOS could just play nice for once. With a sigh, he shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry. I guess we won’t be able to talk much. But since we have a chance, I’m Sora. And this is Donald and Goofy.” He said, gesturing to his friends. “What’s your name? Uh…I guess just say it and nothing else so we don’t get confused…”

The Inkling didn’t seem to mind Sora’s request and understood it. She pointed at herself and said a single word. It was hard to decipher, and she repeated it again.

“W…Woomy? Is that what ya said?” Goofy asked, straining his ears to listen in closely.

To that, the teenage girl paused and seemed to contemplate. She shrugged and gave a nod. Apparently, it wasn’t exactly right, but she deemed it close enough.

“Alright, Woomy it is! Thanks for helping us out back there. Don’t worry, we won’t just summon you to battle.” Sora promised. “I can let you out to just enjoy being out of that weird stone.”

Grinning wide, Woomy gave Sora a thumbs up. After that, she did something odd. She walked around Sora and looked him over from his shoes to his face. The Inkling hummed to herself in thought as she did so, even grabbing his necklace a bit to get a closer look. After that, she gave him another thumbs up.

“Huh…I think she likes your clothes, Sora!” Goofy observed, not even sure if he was right. As he spoke, Woomy did the same thing to him and gave him a thumbs up as well. “Huh! She likes mine too! Well thank ya, Woomy!”

Finally, she looked Donald over, flicking the zipper at the end of his hat, which bothered him. After she was done, she shook her head and gave him a thumbs down. “Hey! What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?!” He demanded, but Woomy only laughed in response.

Without warning, Woomy seemed tired, hunching a bit as if drained of energy. “Oh…Dr. Orpheus said you could only come out for a little bit. I think it’s time for you to go back to your stone.” Sora said with an apologetic tone. Even though there was nothing he could do about it, he still felt guilty. “It was nice to meet you, and like I said, I’ll summon you out to just relax later, okay?”

Despite her tiredness, Woomy gave Sora a beaming grin and reached out a hand to shake. Smiling back, the brunette gave her a firm handshake, and in an instant, she vanished in a flash of light. To everyone’s relief, she somehow took all her ink with her.

“Thank goodness! That would’ve taken forever to get out!” Donald exclaimed. “Stupid Inkling…nothing wrong with my clothes…”

“Aw, I liked her! She seemed nice! Shame GLaDOS won’t let us talk properly, though…” Goofy bemoaned. He didn’t hate the A.I. like Donald did, but he sure wished she’d behave herself more…

“I did too. On the way to the next world, we can let her see the ship!” Sora suggested as the three made their way to the Second District, keeping their weapons handy just in case. It didn’t seem like there was much else to do there, so they might as well leave.

As they went to the center of the Second District, three Soldiers appeared in front of them. More Heartless so soon? The three prepared for a quick fight when a figure appeared and in the single slash of some sort of sword, the three creatures were destroyed! The person stood up straight, smirking at the trio as a familiar voice rang out. “There you are! How’s it going, Sora?”

The brunette didn’t believe his eyes at first. Standing right there with his usual cocky grin was…

“Riku?!” Sora exclaimed, approaching his friend, and ignoring the unusual, sinister sword he was wielding. It was sharper than the Keyblade and even had reptilian eyes on either side of its hilt. “Is it really you? You’re real, right?!” He blurted out, recalling how he kept seeing visions of Kairi. Granted, he never saw hallucinations of Riku. Without waiting for a response, he dropped the Keyblade and grabbed at Riku’s cheeks, tugging at them to see if he was really real.

Sputtering in confusion, Riku shoved Sora’s hands away. “Of course I’m real, what kind of question is that? Butt seriously, it took forever to find you, you know.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, Sora felt like a massive weight was lifted from his shoulders. All this time he had been so worried and Riku and Kairi, but now they…wait…! Looking around, the younger teen quickly realized something. “Hey…where’s Kairi…?” He just assumed if Riku was here, Kairi had to be as well.

“She’s not with you?” Riku asked back, seeming concerned, his frown deepening as Sora hung his head and stared at the ground. “Well, it’s fine. I’m sure she’s somewhere safe too. We’re finally free now, and I’m sure she’s looking for us right now!” He exclaimed, gesturing to the town around them and turning his back to the group. “Just leave everything to me, I-”

Riku was interrupted at the sound of a blade striking. Turning around, he saw Sora destroying a Shadow Heartless, Keyblade practically shining in the town’s light. Grinning a bit, Sora stood up straight and slung his weapon over his shoulder. “Everything to you, huh?” He asked coyly. Riku had always been the stronger of the two, but with the Keyblade and the spells he now knew, he was sure he was tougher than his rival! “I’ve been looking for you and Kairi all this time, with their help.” At long last he gestured to his two new companions. “That’s Donald and Goofy, we’ve been going to different worlds looking for you!”

Goofy waved to Riku, giving the teen a friendly smile. “Heya, Riku, nice to finally met ya! Sora’s been awful worried about ya, ya know!”

“So worried he just now remembered we’re here!” Donald said with a light scoff, but he was mostly joking. He could hardly blame Sora and Riku being so wrapped up in their reunion.

“Donald. Goofy. I guess that’s how Sora’s made it this far, huh?” Riku asked, his tone making it hard to tell if he was kidding or not.

“Naw! He’s got the Keyblade! It chose him, ya know!” Goofy said, placing his hands on Sora’s shoulders, almost like a proud father.

With a small laugh, Donald looked up at Sora. “Who would’ve guessed. It sure surprised me!”

Sora glared down at Donald, leaning down to get more at his level. “And what’s that supposed to mean?!”

“So, this is a Keyblade?” Riku asked, causing Sora to turn back to him.

The older teen was casually holding the weapon in his hand, much to the shock of Sora. When Leon tried that, it just jumped back into his hand. Even at this moment, Sora tried to summon his Keyblade, but…?! Nothing happened! “Hey! Give that back!” He exclaimed, reaching for the weapon, but Riku held it out of his reach for a moment before relenting and tossing it back to him. Just what the heck was that all about?! “Hey, Riku, how-”

Before Sora could ask his question, a loud slam rang from behind them, like something huge hitting the ground. The small group turned to see that a massive Heartless appeared! Now just any Heartless, but another Guard Armor! “How about we take care of this guy first?” Riku asked, brandishing his blade as the other three got their weapons ready.

Before anyone could charge the Heartless, though, the creature did something odd. It slammed its hands onto the ground and leaned forward until it was ding a hand stand. Its feet clamped and became unusual claws as its head floated at the bottom of its normal body and its visor opened to reveal a black face with yellow eyes. So, it became Reverse Armor!

Making the first move, Reverse Armor floated in the air and charged the group, its four limbs spiraling wildly as a way to attack and defend itself. Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran out of the way, but Riku stood his ground. With a yell of effort, the white-haired teen used his sword to parry one of the arms that flew at him and sent it flying into the air! The arm flew off to the top of a tall building, hitting a large bell placed there. When the bell rang from the impact, a nearby mural spun around, though no one noticed this.

Except for GLaDOS, that was, whose sensors let her pick up everything going on in the immediate vicinity.

Reverse Armor stopped and turned around as the four regrouped. Going on the offensive again, the Heartless stuck the fingers of its old hands out, the pointed spikes a clear danger. It made the hands slam up and down into the ground, the sharp ends making holes in the concrete. At the same time, its old feet-turned-hands clamped open and shut as they homed in on the group.

Sora and Donald used magic together, sending a volley of Fire spells at the clamping hands, though little damage was being done. Riku charged at the spiky feet and slashed at them with his sword, shockingly destroying each of them in a single blow! Goofy hurled his shield at Reverse Armor’s head like a discus, but the attack missed and happened to hit the bell, the ringing of which caused the mural to spin once more. Luckily, the shield bounced off the bell and hit the massive Heartless on the back of the head, stunning it for a moment.

This allowed Donald to get a god Gravity spell in on the remaining two limbs, sending them down to the ground. Sora followed this up with two Blizzard spells to freeze the limbs solid before he smashed them to pieces with the Keyblade.

With only its head and torso left, Reverse Armor floated up into the air, its body turning to face the group wide-end first. Energy started to glow as it prepared for a new attack! The four scattered as it launched a large ball of darkness that exploded when it hit the ground. Unfortunately, Donald was a bit too slow and got hit by the blast, sending him flying into the nearby wall where he went limp upon hitting the ground, moaning out in pain. Normally, that explosion would’ve done far more damage to the duck, but apparently Dr. Orpheus’ partial protection truly worked!

Sora and Riku looked at each other and silently game up with their next move. As the energy attack charged up again, the teens ran towards the Heartless and leapt at it, slashing across its torso in an ‘X’ pattern! Turning around in midair, Sora slammed his Keyblade against the Heartless’ head, sending it flying. As its torso fell apart, its head happened to hit the bell a third time, causing the mural to spin around yet again. This impact with the bell caused the head to fall to the ground where it vanished in a dark mist along with the remnants of the rest of its body.

Landing on the ground, Sora panted as he looked up at the bell. “We really made quick work of him, huh Ri-” He turned to his friend to see he was gone. “Riku…?” Looking around, he saw no signs of the older teen, only Donald and Goofy, the latter kneeling by the former. “Goofy, where did Riku go?”

“What? He disappeared?” Goofy asked, looking around to with no avail. “Well, sorry Sora, I was a bit preoccupied with Donald here…”

“Oh! Wait, what Merlon said…” Sora approached Donald and pointed his Keyblade at the duck. Taking a deep breath, he focused on helping his friend, and a warm sensation went through the brunette as Donald was enveloped in a green light! A Cure spell!

Getting to his feet, Donald let out a breath of relief. “Didn’t think you’d get that working so fast!” He exclaimed, looking around. “Hey, where did Riku go…?” In his injured state, he hadn’t noticed what Sora and Goofy had just said.

“I don’t know, he just vanished, but…I think it’s okay. I know he’s safe now, and he’s probably just looking for Kairi!” Sora had seen Riku was more than capable of taking care of himself, after all. As happy as that made him, a bit of jealousy was there too. Riku was older than him, and was always stronger, faster, smarter, and even taller than Sora was. He just wanted to be the better one for once, but it seemed Riku was still stronger than him! Heck, Riku got by on his own, but Sora had to rely on Donald, Goofy, and even GLaDOS at times…

Sora’s thoughts were interrupted as GLaDOS spoke up. “I think you’d like to know I now sense a Keyhole here.” She said from Donald’s pocket. “Odd. I only just now was able to do so…it’s at that mural, which kept spinning during the fight.”

“Mural…?” Sora murmured, but then saw she was right! There was a mural nearby, and as if prompted by the A.I., a Keyhole suddenly appeared on it! “Leon did say even this world had a Keyhole…” Wasting no time, the brunette approached and once more used his Keyblade to lock it. Maybe with the Keyhole sealed, Heartless wouldn’t bother much with this world anymore…?

As he pondered this, Sora saw Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, and even Cid approaching. “What was all that commotion?” The blonde man asked. “And was that a Keyhole I just saw?”

“It sure was! It’s all sealed away! Had to fight a big ol’ Heartless first.” Goofy explained as he and Donald joined Sora. “We even found one of Sora’s friends, Riku! He kinda ran off, but he’s tough!”

“Hey! Glad to hear! Not everyone is lucky enough to have friends or family show up here.” Yuffie said, crossing her arms. “Cid’s the one that got the four of us here like this…”

“That reminds me!” Cid exclaimed. “You guys ever hear of Dio Brando? I heard he’s in town.” When the three shook their heads, he huffed. “Man’s dangerous. Believe it or not, he’s a vampire! Can’t go out in the sun or anything!” As he said this, he glanced up at the night sky, which seemed permanent within Traverse Town. “If you’re thinking about going after him…don’t. Like I said, he’s dangerous, and chances are he’ll slip away at the first sign of trouble…”

Aerith sighed. “He’s been using the Heartless for years. It’s because of him that they keep spreading, even to here, and it’s why our world vanished.”

“Nine years ago, that’s when it happened.” Leon added, sounding unusually guilty, as if it were somehow his fault as well.

“He sounds like really bad news…which we could’ve warned Riku about him…” Sora murmured. He never did learn who the blonde man that Riku met was that The Oracle mentioned. At this point it really didn’t matter, and the teen just assumed it was someone from Traverse Town aside from Cid. Despite the man’s warning, he wanted to go after this Dio guy, but this place was huge, and it wasn’t like he knew where to start looking or what Dio even looked like!

“If we had the reports of Ansem, that’d really help. He was the one that ruled over our world, benevolently.” Leon explained.

“They were probably destroyed when our world was. He studied Heartless for a long time, so if anyone knew how to stop them, it’d be him.” Aerith elaborated further.

As the conversation took place, two figures watched from a rooftop. They were far enough away that even GLaDOS had no idea they were there. One was a tall, blonde man with three moles on his left ear. The other was a teenager with white hair. Dio Brando made a tsking noise as he watched the group. “See that, Riku? All the new friends he’s made? He’s all but forgotten you. The first thing he did was jump in a rocket ship and explore the stars. I’m sure he knew full well that most of those whose worlds vanish end up here, but he didn’t stick around. What does that tell you?”

Riku stared at Sora, hands clenching into fists at his sides. “It tells me enough.” The teenager answered simply yet saying everything he needed to.

“He won’t even take the risks you have to get what you want.” Dio added on, grinning wickedly while Riku was looking away. “I promise I’ll help you get what you want! I see a great deal of potential in you, and you even remind me of myself at your age…”

“…By the way…” Cid said, seeming to have just remembered something. “..I know you wouldn’t mind, but I installed a new gummi onto your ship. It’s a Warp Gummi, and it lets you instantly jump from world to world. Unfortunately, this type can only go to ones you’ve visited, so you can’t just beam around the Universe as you want.”

“Still sounds helpful!” Donald pointed out. “If we ever need to come back here, we can do it a loot easier!” Not that going back here did too much to help them on their journey…

Cid chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Also, the weirdest thing happened. Tali’s suit started to mess up, almost turned off entirely. She can’t even leave that thing, you know? Can’t handle germs. Apparently doors and windows all across town slammed open and shut while lights malfunctioned. You guys know what happened?”

“Oh, that was Merlon’s friend, Dr. Orpheus. It was just a spell he was casting…uh…he sort of promised it wouldn’t happen again…” Sora said, feeling bad. It wasn’t his fault, but he was still sort of involved, so…

“Anyway, we’ve got to get back to our posts. Sorry we couldn’t help more, but if you keep sealing Keyholes and helping people, you should find the answers to all our problems.” Leon all but promised. “Good luck to you guys.”

With that, the two groups said their goodbyes as the quartet went off back to their posts and shop. Sora, Donald, and Goofy went back to the First District as well. “Guess we should tell Nick about Riku. Won’t want him to waste his time.” Sora suggested, still feeling bummed that Kairi wasn’t with him. If she were anywhere in Traverse Town, Riku should’ve found her! He remembered how Moguro suggested both his friends were elsewhere, but that had just been a guess on his part…

“Good idea! Then we should get goin’! With Cid’s warp thingy, we can just jump back to Kenshiro’s world and be on our way!”

With their route planned, the three made their way to Nick’s detective building and saw the Synth leaning against the wall near the door. He looked out of sorts, like he was ready to fall over. “Nick, you feeling okay?” Sora asked, feeling like it’d be best not to explain what happened. After all, he still sort of felt guilty over Dr. Orpheus’ actions.

“Huh? Oh, hey, Sora.” Nick greeted, standing up a bit straighter. “Just feeling a bit off. Something weird happened earlier, lots of doors and windows flying open and a bunch of electronics acting out of sorts…including yours truly…”

“Sorry to hear that, but I do have some good news, at least.” The brunette replied, glad that Donald and Goofy were keeping their mouths shut too. “I ran into Riku just a bit ago and he’s okay, so you don’t need to worry about finding him.”

Smiling a bit, Nick seemed to quickly be improving as he even stopped using the wall for support. “Hey, that’s great! I’ll let the Lieutenant know when he gets back. Since I wasn’t feeling well, he went off on his own. If you’ll excuse me, I have some paperwork to clean up. I was only out here asking people what went on earlier, but no one seems to know. I guess it’s over now, at least…” With that, he ducked back into his building, leaving the trio to head towards the hangar.

Yet as they got near, a voice familiar only to Sora rang out. “Ah! Young man! Sora! Fancy seeing you again!”

Stopping, the three saw an unusual man that the teen instantly recognized. His squat stature, his business suit, and most notably the massive, seemingly permanent grin on his face. “Moguro? I didn’t see you there!” Sora exclaimed before turning to his friends. “Donald, Goofy, this is Moguro. He helped me out of some trouble when I first got here.”

The salesman got up and approached Donald and Goofy, handing each of them his card. “I am Moguro Fukuzou, and I aid with people’s hearts. You can just call me Moguro, though.”

Donald and Goofy eyed the cards, both sort of weirded out by the writing, but pocketed them to be polite. “Well, a friend of Sora’s is a friend of ours!” Goofy exclaimed. “We appreciate ya helpin’ Sora out before!”

“How could you help out anyway? Did you save him from a Heartless or something?” Donald asked, squinting at the salesman who was only about as tall as he was.

Moguro didn’t seem to mind Donald’s rudeness, even letting out a small chuckle. “Oh, just a single, tiny one.” He humbly clarified. “It was really no big deal. It’s good to know he made new friends, however. But what about those other friends? Riku and Kairi?”

“Oh, I actually just ran into Riku. And the detectives here are going to look for Kairi. Donald and Goofy are taking me to other worlds to look there.” Sora explained.

“Excellent! At least you’ve accomplished part of your goals! And don’t worry about Kairi, she’s right there in your heart!” Moguro stated, tapping Sora’s chest for a brief moment.

It was hard not to worry, but Moguro was right. She was right there in his heart, just like all his friends were. As hard as it was sometimes, he had to keep hoping he’d find her. “Thanks, Moguro. I hate to cut this short, but we really have to be going! Hope to see you again if we drop by here again!” He was happy to catch up more, but after finding Riku, he was more determined than ever to find Kairi and wanted to leave right away!

Moguro watched as Sora, Donald, and Goofy went into the hangar, the teen waving the salesman off as the door closed. Humming to himself, the smiling salesman walked off into the district. “I told him exactly where to find his friend, but he just didn’t listen to me. Oh well, I’m sure he’ll find the answer sooner or later!” With that, he belted out a hearty laughter into the night…

---

Once more, Dio and his allies watched Sora’s actions in a far off world. “Even a world like that had a Keyhole? Why didn’t you do anything when you were right there, Dio?” The man in the black armor asked.

“I don’t see him as a threat.” Dio replied simply, not seeming to care much for Shin’s death. Kenshiro did a lot of the heavy lifting there anyway. “That, and I feel Riku isn’t quite at the stage where he’s ready to watch his friend die. He’s too useful to drive off in such a way.” The teenager in question was off in his own room, far away from the meeting.

“How? He doesn’t have the Keyblade…but he does seem about as strong as the brat.” The man with the golden hook pointed out.

“Probably because he’ll use the darkness like us. The kid with the Keyblade would never do such a thing!” Guessed the man in the purple suit.

The green, stout woman of the group cackled. “How quickly he turned on his friend! Their bond looks too broken to mend!”

Dio shrugged lightly. “I sense a great deal of potential in Riku. Trust me, he’ll be a valuable ally down the road. I don’t allow those that are worthless to aid in this plan. He’ll do absolutely anything to aid his poor friend Kairi, trust me…”

---

To study the Heartless behavior, I picked one out for observation. It wiggled its antennae and, as if sensing a target, headed deep into the castle. In the deepest part of the castle, its antennae began vibrating, as if searching for something. Suddenly, a strange door appeared. I'd never known of its existence.

It had a large Keyhole but didn't seem to be locked. So, I opened the door. What I saw on the other side mystified me. What was that powerful mass of energy? That night I observed a great meteor shower in the sky. Could it be related to the door that I have opened?

Chapter Text

It wasn’t long after the ship departed from Traverse Town that Sora decided to fulfill his promise to Woomy. He wasn’t sure how, but he sensed that he was able to Summon her again as the Gummi Ship flew through space. Donald and Goofy were at work trying to figure out the new warp feature, with GLaDOS cheekily suggesting she was as stumped as they were.

When Summoned, the Inkling seemed in awe at her surroundings, looking out the window at the sea of stars and gurgling something under her breath. Sora couldn’t help but be reminded of himself when he first boarded the vessel. He just followed Woomy around as she gawked at the ship’s various rooms, and she kept staring out the window. It wasn’t like the two could talk much given the language barrier. When the two reached the kitchen, Sora explained how she could eat whatever she wanted. To his surprise, she picked out a lot of seafood. She seemed to be part squid, so he wasn’t sure how to feel about the situation as she downed a lot of fried fish and even some sushi.

He chose not to ask any questions.

Eventually, despite there being no battling, Woomy’s energy ran out. Apparently lounging around and eating was still enough to drain her power. The two had just finished eating as she sighed and slumped a bit.

Sora gave Woomy an assuring grin. “Hey, don’t worry. You’ll be out of that gem again in no time.” He assured, though he did wish Dr. Orpheus was able to permanently free her. When the Inkling gave a small smile back, the two gave each other a thumbs up as she vanished once more.

As if on cue, Donald’s voice came over the loudspeaker at that moment. “Sora! Come up to the cockpit! We have the warp drive figured out!”

Wasting no time, Sora rushed up the ladder and to the cockpit where Donald, Goofy, and GLaDOS were waiting. “You worked it out? I was with Woomy for a while…” Thinking of it, Cid never did actually tell them how to work the warp drive.

“We would’ve gotten it done sooner if GLaDOS helped out!” Donald complained, holding the A.I. in his hand.

“It was good for you to work something out on your own.” She replied, dropping the act that she had no idea how to help. “I’m only here to chronicle all of this, after all.”

As always, Goofy was far less annoyed than Donald from GLaDOS’ shenanigans. “At least it’s done, right? Come on, let’s hop on over to Kenshiro’s world and continue on!”

Donald mumbled something under his breath as he put GLaDOS in his pocket, pushing some buttons on the ship’s console. Sora didn’t understand at all what Donald was doing, but the magician clearly did as he grinned and pressed one final button.

There was a roar of the engine as the ship flew forward faster than the three anticipated. And yet, somehow, they weren’t thrown back from the sheer velocity of their vessel. Space around them distorted as a blinding light surrounded them, the Gummi Ship shaking as the group hurtled past worlds too fast to see them even if the light was gone.

Then, as quickly as it started, it came to an end. The ship rapidly slowed down, the crew once more surprisingly was not jostled about at the sudden shift in speed. As the blinding white light faded, the three saw a familiar world, one that was dried and dead. It was Kenshiro’s world without a doubt!

“It really worked! That took no time at all” Sora exclaimed, placing his hands on the window and taking a closer look. “I wish we could just go to every world like this!” It’d really cut their time searching down for sure!

“Gawrsh, I never thought the Highwind could go that fast!” Goofy exclaimed with a wide grin. “That Cid sure did help us out!”

Donald let out a sigh of relief as he took the controls, the ship now flying away at its normal speed. “We’ve still got to travel to the next world at our usual pace. And who knows how long that’ll take?” He reminded the others.

Oh, yeah. That was true. Sora was ready to visit a new world, but it could be another few hours! He quickly left the cockpit and returned to his room, figuring he could get some more training in. As nice as it was to see Riku again, Sora noticed that his friend seemed to outpace him without much effort. If the older teen had gone against Reverse Armor by himself, Sora figured he would’ve won without breaking a sweat!

Sora knew he had gotten a lot stronger too, but he never expected Riku to do the same so fast. But he guessed it wasn’t that much of a shocker. Riku had always trained hard, and now more than ever he’d need to be strong! Sora just hoped that maybe if he kept training hard, he could outpace his old rival…

The hours ticked by as Sora kept his training up, taking breaks as needed. He wished he could practice his magic, but it was too destructive to perform inside the ship! One wrong move and a hole could be torn through the hull or a window could be smashed. Maybe if they had some downtime in the next world, he could practice some spells. Heck, maybe Donald could actively try to teach him...

After about four or five hours of flying, Sora was once again called to the cockpit by Donald. Rushing up, he saw Goofy was already there as a new world was in front of them! This one was far lusher and livelier than Kenshiro’s to be sure. The part of the world directly in front of them was diverse as well. Vast green fields, a mountain range, a desert, a forest that seemed to go on forever, and then villages and a town as well. Certainly a step up!

“This place sure seems nice! You can sense a Keyhole, right GLaDOS?” Goofy asked as Donald plugged her into the console.

“Of course, I can.” She haughtily replied. “There is some interference though. The world appears normal, but there’s an immense darkness covering the area around the Keyhole, so I can’t pinpoint its exact location…”

That much darkness? Really? The world seemed so peaceful, though! This was also the first time that GLaDOS mentioned a large amount of darkness messing with her sensors. Even with Gielinor, it was the magic that interfered with her sensors, not actual darkness.

“I guess it’s a lot more dangerous than it looks! But the King might be down there somewhere!” Donald exclaimed, not ready to try and skip over a world again. He was sure it’d really upset Sora if he were to try and pull that a second time, not that he had planned on it.

“Kairi could be there too!” Sora pointed out as Donald started to prepare for teleportation.

Goofy nodded. “And we gotta find the Keyhole too!”

Donald finished preparations. “Alright, let’s get going!” He declared, pressing one final button as the group was teleported to the world below.

In an instant, they appeared in the vast, grassy field that they observed from their ship. There was little to observe, just greenery and slightly rolling hills in all directions. To the north they were able to make out a town on the horizon as well as some sort of stone rocky wall closer to the trio. To the east was a volcano rising high in the sky, a cloud ring at its peak.

Right away, the group felt an oppressive atmosphere wash over them. At first it was like a strong humidity, but it came with the smell of something awful, almost like rot. There was also a sort of weighted sensation, like some force was pressing down on them. Was this the darkness that GLaDOS mentioned? None of the other worlds had anything like this! There was clearly something very wrong with this world, but it was impossible to tell what it was.

The atmosphere was especially unusual because of how the area around them looked. It was a bright, sunny day that seemed perfect for a nap or a picnic. Things were so peaceful as well…though on closer observation, things seemed too peaceful. Despite being in the middle of a field, there was no sound of nature around them, or signs of any animals. No birds singing or flying up in the sky, no calls of insects, no rabbits or other creatures milling about…it was like the oppressive atmosphere drove them all away.

“Hey, why are we in this field? Why didn’t you teleport us to the town?” Sora asked, pointing out the structure in the distance. “Someone there has to know what’s wrong in this world.”

“I tried to, but I guess the darkness interfered somehow.” Donald suggested with a huff. “Guess we’ll have to walk…” Between Gielinor’s magic and this world’s odd darkness, they were having pretty bad luck with getting close to the Keyhole off the bat!

Goofy sighed a bit, the oppressive atmosphere even making him not so optimistic. “I was afraid of that. It’s a pretty day, but I ain’t feelin’ so good…” He complained, his entire body feeling a bit heavy.

“I don’t feel good either. There’s just something wrong with this world.” Donald added on, feeling like it was pretty bad luck they ended up in a place like this.

“It means it really needs our help more than the others, right? Let’s try and focus on that!” Sora exclaimed, sounding more optimistic than he felt. He felt sick and heavy too, and that things could possibly go horribly for them. It was like the darkness in the air was drawing out his inner depression…

Without a word to each other, the trio summoned their weapons and headed towards the town. With all the darkness around them, Heartless were bound to appear. On top of that, though none of them vocalized it, there was the feeling that things other than Heartless could suddenly attack…

Yet, as the trio went on, nothing popped out at them. Despite this, it felt like their every move was being watched by someone, somewhere, but no matter where they looked, they saw nothing.

“Hey, GLaDOS, do ya sense anything nearby us? I keep getting’ this feelin’ we’re not alone out here?” Goofy asked nervously. It was almost a bit surreal how anxious he felt despite the bright and sunny scenery. From a strictly visual sense, there was nothing at all wrong, but the heavy sensation in the air just screamed that something wasn’t quite right…

“I don’t sense anyone within my range.” GLaDOS confirmed. “However, the darkness around us could be giving me false readings. Really, you’re all on your own.” She confessed, not sounding the least bit sorry.

“Lot of good you are!” Donald complained, trying not to show how nervous that he too felt. He kept looking over his shoulder, expecting someone to be following them, yet each time he took a peek, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Sora kept looking around as well, sensing an ambush would happen any second, but…nothing. What was going on? Why did it feel like they were being watched? What was wrong with this world? They hadn’t seen a single living creature since they arrived, not even a bug! But they saw a town, so there had to be people somewhere, and they had silently decided they’d ask about their friends at said settlement.

The three kept quiet for a good hour or so, neither one of them wanting to break the silence. During this time, they went by the stone wall from before and found it was a big circle of sorts, and when they reached the front, they saw there was an opening carved into it! Apparently, at some point, someone used a natural rock formation to make some sort of home for themselves! There were turns along the path, so from the entrance, the three couldn’t see what it was like inside. Before any of them could suggest an investigation, a cry from over a nearby hill grabbed their attention.

“Link, watch out! There’s one right behind you!” It was a woman’s voice, a grown woman, but it still sounded…small somehow in a way the three couldn’t describe. Following this exclamation, there was the sound of a young man yelling out in effort, clearly fighting something off.

“Heartless! It’s gotta be! Come on, let’s go!” Sora shouted, sprinting off towards the sounds of conflict with his Keyblade at the ready as Donald and Goofy followed his lead.

When they went over the hill, they saw that a lone swordsman was facing off against a group of Heartless! It was only Shadows and Soldier, but there were at least a dozen of each! The swordsman was young, seeming only a few years older than Sora was, and he was sporting a green tunic and a hat that sat upon yellow hair. On his right arm was a metal shield and in his left hand he was wielding a very impressive looking blade.

“Come on, Link, you can do this!” The female voice called once more. It seemed like it came from nowhere, but after a moment the trio saw there was a blue orb of light hovering around near the young man named Link. Looking closer, they saw the orb had wings, and the trio’s immediate thought was that of a fairy. But there was no time to linger on this!

“Let’s help him!” Sora exclaimed, rushing at Heartless as he then shouted at the swordsman. “Hey! We’ll give you a hand!”

Link was startled at first, turning to see Sora as his gaze fixated on the Keyblade. He then saw Donald and Goofy rushing in and gave a grateful nod. “Thanks!” Was all the swordsman said, concentrating more on the Soldier that lunged at him. He effortlessly sliced it in half at the waist, and it seemed as if the sword he was carrying harmed the Heartless before it even made contact, like the blade itself was toxic to its existence.

Thankfully, with four fighters, the group made quick work of the Heartless. Link’s blade cut through the Heartless without issue while Sora backed him up with the Keyblade. Donald fought from afar with Fire and Blizzard spells as Goofy charged into a group of Shadows and bowled them over. Surprisingly, at one point, Link spun quickly and from his blade came a very small cyclone that knocked some of the Heartless away. Donald saw it and recognized it as being similar to an Aero spell!

Within just a few minutes, all the Heartless were gone, leaving an empty field that still felt disturbing just to be in.

The ball of light hovered around Sora, Donald, and Goofy, the trio getting the sensation she was studying them. “I didn’t think there’d be anyone else wandering around Hyrule Field like this, but we appreciate the help.” She said before going back over to Link.

"Thanks again. Those creatures keep popping in and out of nowhere," the blonde teen said, appearing to be a man of few words. He kept his sword unsheathed and his shield on his arm. The blue orb by his side cleared her throat in a rather expectant manner, causing the stoic man to suddenly appear embarrassed, like a chastised child. "Oh, uh, right. I'm Link, and this is Navi. What are your names?"

“I’m Sora, and this is Donald and Goofy. Hey, you’re a fairy, is that right?” Sora just couldn’t help but ask. He had seen fairies in books or cartoons, but never thought he’d encounter one. Though he supposed he already met a ghost and Dwarves, so it seemed any sort of fictional creature in his world was just commonplace in another.

“You don’t have fairies where you’re from, huh? But yeah, I am.” Navi replied. “Your ears gave it away, your clothes too.” She went on, reacting to Sora’s surprise.

His…ears? Sora looked at Link again and noticed he had long, pointed ears! He noticed a few other things like the bag the young man was wearing along with a bow and a quiver of arrows on his back. He also had a blue instrument strapped to his belt that Sora didn’t recognize. Speaking of blue, the older teen’s eyes were a pretty dim shade of blue, almost looking a bit lifeless and was actually somewhat unnerving. There was another thing that Sora noticed, and it was hard to put into words. It seemed like Link carried himself oddly…like he wasn’t used to the body he was in. Describing it was difficult, but it almost seemed that Link stood like someone younger than he really was. Maybe it was just the brunette’s imagination…

But there was something else, too. Somehow, Link seemed…familiar to Sora. He couldn’t shake the sensation the two had met, but he knew that wasn’t possible. It was the same feeling he got when he was at Falador Castle, this sense of déjà vu that didn’t make any sense to him. In his heart, he felt the tiniest of pulls, like something in him was stirring…but he just didn’t know what. Sora did his best to just ignore it, thinking maybe the darkness in the air was somehow affecting him.

“We’re from somewhere far away, yeah. So, we don’t know what’s going on around here. What’s this ugly feeling in the air?” Sora asked, sort of glad he was outed as a foreigner so he could be openly confused about the world around him.

“It feels like we’re bein’ watched, and the air is all heavy…” Goofy added on, looking around a bit and almost expecting to see some far-off figure watching them…but like before, he saw nothing of the sort.

Link actually seemed relieved at the question. “Are things okay where you’re from? Is it only Hyrule that’s like this?”

The question sort of threw Sora off, especially since he couldn’t answer honestly. “Uh, well, yeah.” He didn’t do a good job of lying, but Link at least didn’t seem to notice. Navi’s face, anything aside from a vague outline of her entire body, was hidden by her glow so he couldn’t tell with her. At the very least, it seemed as if she were a normal human in terms of shape, just very small and sporting some wings. “But what’s going on here?”

“It can’t just be the Heartless, right? Those are those dark creatures we fought!” Donald explained. None of the other worlds were like this, so he figured it had to take more than Heartless running around to make the air feel so unsettling and unsafe…

Link glanced over to Navi, and she seemed to take this as a bit of a silent hint. Apparently she was the one that did more of the talking between the two. “It’s because of someone named Ganondorf.” She explained, pointing to the town to the south, a gesture barely visible from her light. “He’s a wicked man that took over the entirety of Hyrule. That darkness you feel is his energy, it’s all over the land…at least the parts we haven’t cleaned up.” Before anyone could ask what that meant, she went on. “Now tell us about these Heartless…we’ve had to fight a lot of them, but no one knows where they come from.”

One man was doing all this? It wasn’t clear how much of the world Hyrule covered, but even if it was just this field and the town, that was a huge area! This made the trio wonder if the sensation of being watched wasn’t Ganondorf peering at them from somewhere far away.

“That’s so awful…” Sora bemoaned, knowing they had to take Ganondorf down. No way was he going to leave this world until that happened! “As for the Heartless, they’re creatures born from the darkness in people’s hearts. I guess with everything going on, they’d be everywhere, huh?”

“I was thinking they were Ganondorf’s handiwork, but they must be in other places if you know about them…” Navi observed, once more doing more of the talking between her and Link. “But yes, it really is terrible. Ganondorf has ruled over this kingdom as a usurper for seven years, and he’s torn it apart in all sorts of horrid ways. If I were you, I’d go back to where you came from, you won’t find anything pleasant here…”

Goofy shook his head at that. “We couldn’t do that! If there’s trouble here, we gotta help! Especially if there are Heartless. It’s sorta our job!”

For whatever reason, that seemed to especially upset Link. “You can’t!” He half-yelled before catching himself. The older teen quickly calmed down and became more composed. “It’s too dangerous here. You should leave and let someone else handle it.”

The outburst was a bit startling, but it seemed like Link just had their safety in mind, so the outsiders mostly shrugged it off. He was so quiet before, so it was still an odd contrast…

“Like who? You?” Donald asked rhetorically, tapping his foot in annoyance. “If we wanna stay here, we’re going to! We’re not going to just walk away, you know!” Before, the mage would’ve bemoaned staying to help from all the time it took, but he had grown more used to helping people and was starting to enjoy it more.

Link’s face paled, like he had said something he shouldn’t have. Once more, he looked over at Navi, silently asking for her help.

“Link just doesn’t want you getting hurt, that’s all. But…” Navi started, but trailed off and let out a small sigh. “Link, maybe we should just tell them. They look like they can handle themselves, and there’s nothing wrong with getting some help. This wouldn’t be the first time we had some outside aid, remember?”

“What if something bad happens to them? You really think we should tell them?” Link asked, frowning a bit. It was an odd sight seeing him follow the lead of someone so much smaller than him. From the way he spoke to Navi, it was like the teenager was talking to his mom or something.

“Hey, we just want to help. Even if you tell us to leave, we’re going to try and find Ganondorf anyway.” Sora insisted. “If you don’t want us traveling with you, that’s fine, but we’re staying here until our business is settled no matter what you say.” He was pretty curious what it was the two were talking about so secretively, though…

Link and Navi paused, sharing a glance with each other. Once more, it was the fairy that took charge. “This isn’t something we normally share, but we know how to stop Ganondorf. It’s not as easy as just storming his castle, though. There are Temples that must be cleansed in order to stop his influence. We’re on our way to the third one now.”

That was definitely not what any of the trio expected. Cleansing Temples? They supposed if it was like clearing out a lot of Heartless, it made sense. It was just a wonder why something like that would be a secret…but Goofy seemed to quickly come up with an explanation. “Oh, I think I see! Ya just don’t wanna tell nobody so people don’t go to these places and get hurt, right?”

“That’s it exactly!” Navi chirped. “If you three are refusing to leave, I thought it best to know how to take Ganondorf down more effectively. Just charging him right now wouldn’t work out…”

“It’s nice you were trying to protect us, but we can handle a lot. But we’ll help you out cleaning up these Temples! We’d be glad to!” Sora announced. “I mean we’re already friends, right? Why wouldn’t we help out?”

“You really declare people are your friends fast, you know.” Donald cynically pointed out. He swore Sora would make friends with a bug that landed on his food or something.

The swordsman seemed perplexed at Sora’s words, as if the idea that the two could even be friends was something unusual. “We’re friends? Really?” The older teen asked, almost cautious as he asked, as if expecting Sora to take it back.

“Well, yeah. I don’t see why not. You’re both trying to save a kingdom, so you’re clearly good people.” Sora explained, always wanting to make more friends. It always surprised him when people actually agreed, he didn’t feel like he deserved any of the friends he managed to make…

“I guess that’s settled, then. We appreciate the help! And come on, Link, they’re pretty sincere about the friendship thing.” Navi said to her companion.

“One more thing…” Sora chimed in. “We’re looking for some friends of ours. Have you seen a girl my age with red hair? Her name’s Kairi. And these two are looking for a King Mickey.” He added the last bit on since Donald always did anyway. “We were going to go there to look.” The teen pointed out the town off on the horizon.

“Never heard of either of them, especially not a foreign king.” Navi explained. “And I’m glad you came across us first because the castle town is in ruins. Monsters walk the streets, and it’s where Ganondorf’s castle is!”

That was disappointing to say the least. At this point Sora was wondering if going anywhere but Traverse Town was helpful in finding anyone. Riku showed up there, which was a lot more than could be said about any other world the trio visited. Either way, he was disturbed to hear about the town. “It’s really that bad? One man really did all this?”

“You really shouldn’t underestimate Ganondorf. You can feel it in the air, he has almost the entire kingdom corrupted, or at least he used to. Link at least managed to cleanse two parts of it.” Navi explained. “And sorry about your friends, but honestly it’s best they’re far from here.”

Honestly, Sora wasn’t sure if he preferred Kairi be somewhere safe, or somewhere dangerous yet close by. As long as he managed to get to her while she was still unharmed, of course. “Thanks. But could you tell us more about these Temples? How do you cleanse them?” The brunette asked.

At this point, Navi prodded at Link and he started to walk west, the outsiders walking alongside him. It was still a bit odd to them that the swordsman just allowed his companion to do most of the talking. Was he just shy or what? It didn’t really matter, it was just sort of surprising.

“There are five Temples scattered around Hyrule, all places that hold a great power. Ganondorf’s influence filled them with darkness, making them corrupt the areas around them. There’s a creature in each Temple that acts as the source of its dark curse. We destroy the beast, the curse ends.” Navi explained.

“Gawrsh, that’s pretty straightforward, even it’s dangerous.” Goofy said, looking on the brighter side of things again. Even though the air was still filled with an oppressive sensation, knowing what caused it actually made him feel a bit better. “We’ve beaten up lots of monsters, so we can help ya out!”

“I really want you to know I’m grateful.” Link piped up, his face having grown more serious and stoic since his earlier outburst. “If it becomes too much, I won’t blame you for deciding to stop helping.”

“Cut it out! We’re helping, even if you tell us to go home!” Donald exclaimed, wondering why Link was so fixated on them keeping out of this. There was being concerned for others, but the blonde was so insistent on it!

Link flinched a bit at that. “Sorry. I was just saying.” His head hung slightly, almost like a child being scolded by one of his parents.

“Don’t yell at him like that!” The fairy suddenly snapped, flying right in front of Donald’s face and bringing him to a halt. “He’s just trying to look out for you, you know!”

The sudden shift in attitude threw the trio off guard, especially Donald who blinked a few times in surprise. “Don’t boss me around!” The mage replied, his shock turning into a glare. “What are you, his mother?” Once more, Link flinched a bit, and his walking increased in pace, like he wanted to get away from Donald.

Navi kept hovering around the mage’s face. “You’re just being so rude! You know he’s trying to be nice, right? Don’t snap at him again, got it?!”

“Hey, hey, let’s just calm down!” Goofy intervened, hoping they could enter one world where Donald didn’t get in a fight with someone. “We get Link’s just tryin’ to look out for us. No need to take it so seriously, right Donald?”

Donald had a short fuse on a good day, but the stress of everything that’s been going on recently seemed to just cut that fuse in half! He did realize he shouldn’t get so angry so easily, but it was hard for him to stay composed sometimes. Sighing, the duck’s glare lessened. “I’m sorry, okay?”

“Don’t tell that to me. Tell that to Link.” Navi insisted, calming down enough that she simply spoke sternly rather than yelling.

If he could, Donald would be visibly blushing at how embarrassing it was to be bossed around by someone the size of his thumb. Still, he caught up with Link and walked alongside him. “I’m sorry, okay?” He repeated, at least sounding more sincere than the first time. “You’re just not going to get rid of us so easily, okay?”

Link looked back at Navi and then down at Donald and gave a small nod. “I understand. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

“Wow, you got Donald to apologize to someone. That’s pretty impressive, Navi.” Sora remarked with an amused grin on his face. “Are all fairies that magical?”

“Oh, shut up!” Donald snapped back, feeling he was at least able to squabble with his friends. “Let’s just hurry to this Temple, okay?”

Navi tittered, planting herself on Link’s shoulder as the group all went on once more. “I’m not actually magic, not really.” She explained to Sora. “And it’s still a few hours to the Temple. As long as we get there by nightfall, we’ll be okay.”

The way she said that sent a mild shiver down the trio’s spine. Things felt bad enough already, but Navi’s talk about nightfall felt…ominous. “What happens when the sun goes down?” Goofy couldn’t help but ask.

“That’s when things come out when the sun goes down, but only in the field itself. If we reach Lake Hylia, we’ll be okay.” Navi said, saying ‘things’ as if she had no other way to describe what she was talking about. It sure didn’t seem to be Heartless…

“Uh, right. That sounds good, then.” Sora wasn’t sure how else to respond. All he knew was he didn’t want to see what lurked these fields at night. It was an entirely different world, after all, so it could really be anything!

“Maybe we should walk a bit faster…” Donald suggested, certainly doing so himself, the others soon following suit.

There wasn’t much to see in Hyrule Field as the small group went on and not much conversation was had. It was mostly subtly rolling hills with trees here and there. Every so often they’d come across a house or a very small group of homes that had clearly been abandoned for years. No doubt is inhabitants wanting to get out of the dangerous field.

Heartless attacks happened every so often, and it became clearer that there was something unique about Link’s sword. A group of Large Bodies attacked, and the swordsman lunged right at the front of one of them. Thrusting his arm forward, to the shock of the trio, the blade pierced right through the blubbery armor of the large Heartless and destroyed it in an instant!

Once the creatures were all slain, Sora glanced at Link’s sword. “Hey, is your sword magic? The Heartless just melt away whenever it touches them!” Even his Keyblade couldn’t do some of the things Link’s blade could, like how easily it dispatches Large Bodies.

Link glanced down at his sword, its stainless form practically glowing in the sunlight. It really was an excellent piece of craftsmanship, not a single nick or mark on it as if it had never seen combat. “It’s made to destroy evil and darkness. I don’t know how, but that’s how it works.” The older teen replied.

“It’s sort of special.” Navi added on. “I guess being made out of the darkness in someone’s heart is as dark as a creature can get. I’m not surprised it reacts so strongly to the Heartless.” After a moment, she hovered near Sora. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask, what brought you three to Hyrule anyway? Was it just looking for your friends?”

Since there was nothing implying these two knew of other worlds, Sora decided it was best to keep talk of the Keyhole to himself. “That’s right. We’ve just been going all over looking for them, and this was our next stop.” Basically the truth, after all. “Why?”

“I’m just curious. I don’t know what it’s like outside of Hyrule, but with our old King dead, I know other countries had to have noticed. You must be from pretty far away, huh?” The fairy almost sounded accusatory. Not quite suspicious, but it seemed she really wanted to know the outsiders’ story.

“We’re from pretty far away. We don’t really know anything about Hyrule!” Donald insisted. It was easier to lie when it was still mostly true. “We’ve been looking all over for our friends, so now we’re here next!”

“And since we’re here, we oughta help out since things don’t look so good.” Goofy added on. “We’ve helped out folks along the way, so we wouldn’t be stoppin’ now!”

This seemed to settle Navi’s curiosity, who gave a small nod. “I see. I guess we’re lucky you came across us. Pretty good timing, huh?”

“I guess so.” Sora said, not sure how else too respond. “So, tell us more about the Temples and these monsters.” He wanted to know what they’d be up against!

“It’s hard to say.” The fairy responded with a hum. “We’ve fought a lot of things. Two giant parasites, a massive Dodongo, a phantom, and a dragon. At least we had some help with two of those, though…”

Of course, the outsiders had no idea what a Dodongo was. It was surely something imposing, though. Either way, with varied creatures like that, it was anyone’s guess what else they might end up facing. Sora had to wonder if the dragon was anything like the ones they saw at Gielinor.

Without warning, Link spoke up. “Can we talk about something else?” He asked, seeming uncomfortable for some reason. Talking about monsters he had to face apparently made him uneasy.

“Oh, uh, sorry.” Sora replied, though he wasn’t positive what he was apologizing for. “Okay, how about that rock thing we found you near? What’s in there?”

“That’s Lon Lon Ranch, one of the only places totally untouched by Ganondorf’s influence.” Navi replied, yet again acting as her and Link’s voice. “The worker there, Ingo, agreed to raise a horse for Ganondorf in exchange for safety. We liberated the ranch the other day. Malon sure was thankful, huh Link?” She asked in a way that her cheeky smile was practically audible. “She even tried to give us her favorite horse, but Link thought it was too dangerous for her.”

“What? Oh. Yeah, she was. And she did.” It was hard to see because he was walking in front of everyone else, but Link’s cheeks were dusted red in a faint blush. As time went on, it was becoming more evident how socially awkward he was. It seemed pretty out of place given how old he was, instead he acted like a kid who let his mom do his talking for him…

But Sora wasn’t going to judge, he still liked Link and could tell he was a nice guy. He was clearly going through a lot to save his home, so there was almost no way he wouldn’t see the older teen as a friend! “Glad things are better there, now. We almost went in, but then we heard you guys fighting those Heartless. I guess it’s lucky for us too, we almost walked right towards where Ganondorf is!” If he was anything like, say, Lucien, they would’ve been in huge trouble…

Things settled down in terms of conversation once more after that. As the day went by, the sun peaked at noon and slowly made its descent. The lower it got, the more nervous the entire group felt. Yet Navi kept insisting that they could make it to Lake Hylia by nightfall.

“We should be seeing a friend of ours at the lake. It should be coming up soon.” Navi piped up, there being only two hours or so of sunlight left. “Another friend of ours told us so, at least.”

“So, these friends of yours are helping you too? Why isn’t the second one with you?” Sora asked, having had the feeling Link and Navi had been totally on their own.

“He’s not exactly a fighter.” Navi explained. “We actually don’t know much about him, but he’s been guiding us for a while. His name is Sheik, and he only ever appears to tell us what to do next. The friend waiting for us…well, we haven’t seen her for a long while. We don’t know how she could help. Sheik just told us she went on ahead.”

At these mentions, Link walked even faster, clearly anxious to get to Lake Hylia and meet up with his lady friend and the others followed his lead.

It was about an hour until nightfall when the group came across stone columns and an open iron fence leading out of the field and into another area. “Just made it!” Navi exclaimed, though she sounded tired as well as excited.

This was understandable, as the darkness in the air had grown thicker as the journey went on. It was subtle at first, but as they arrived at their destination, the group truly felt the pressure of darkness on them. It was as if a heavy tarp had been draped over all of them, their moves growing slower and each step taking just a bit more energy than it had any right to.

Up above, the sky grew grey, as if to match the mood. Rain fell sparsely from these clouds, seeming entirely confined to this new area. Although Navi called it Lake Hylia, it seemed to be a pretty generous name. The land went slowly downhill until it reached a large hole in the ground, one that wasn’t even a quarter filled with water. It was clear that, at one point, the area had more water as dead underwater plants, and the skeletons of fish littered the hole.

The only other things to see were a lone building that seemed abandoned as well as a very small island near the center of the lake. On it stood a lone, barren tree and nothing else. A rickety looking bridge connected the mainland to this small island. It didn’t look like there was any sort of Temple, or anything of importance, anywhere.

“This is awful…I bet this place was awful pretty once…” Goofy observed, imagining the hole in the ground full of sparkling, clear water. “But wasn’t there some sorta Temple around here? It’s not that, is it?” He asked, pointing to the lone building.

“Of course that isn’t it! That’s clearly someone’s house! Or it used to be…” Donald corrected, looking around as well but seeing no sign of any sort of Temple.

“Navi? You said you had an idea where it was, right?” Link asked, his grip on his blade, which he had never sheathed, tightening. “Where’s the Water Temple?”

The fairy seemed a bit out of it, the darkness in the air seeming to bring her down more than anyone else. Sora noticed this, and he wasn’t sure if this was because of her size or something else. In the stories he heard from home, fairies were tied with nature, so if something dark and evil was effecting nature, it’d make sense for a fairy to be worse off than anyone else. But he had no idea if that was the case for fairies of this world…

“Mmm…I had a hunch, and I’m not sure if it’s true…” The fairy replied, standing on Link’s shoulder rather than hovering. “I think it might be in that island in the center. There’s nowhere else it could really be. The Water Temple was always hidden off from prying eyes, or so I’ve heard in the past…”

“Gawrsh, ya really know yer stuff, Navi!” Goofy praised, not really knowing is this was obscure knowledge or not. “So, we just swim down there…?” There was still enough water that the bottom of the miniature island was obscured, after all.

“What about that friend of yours? I don’t see her anywhere!” Donald exclaimed, looking around. It was dark and rainy, but he still felt someone there all alone would stick out like a sore thumb.

Link took a few steps forward, looking around as well as a frown slowly formed on his face. “Navi, do you think Ruto went in on her own? Sheik told us she said she’d wait for us! We shouldn’t have spent that night at the ranch…”

“You can’t beat yourself over it. I’m sure Ruto’s fine, and you needed that rest.” Navi insisted. “She could be right in the entrance for all we know.”

“Yeah, don’t worry, Link! We’ll help you find your friend! She’ll be okay!” Sora insisted, noticing how much the swordsman worried about others. He worried about him, Donald, and Goofy, he worried about all of Hyrule, he worried about the horse he was offered from the ranch, now he was worrying about this Ruto friend of his. It made him wonder what’s been going on to warrant so much worry…

Navi slowly took off to the air, pointing at the island, not that anyone could tell. “Come on! The quicker we get in there, the better!” She insisted, diving under Link’s hat. It turned out she had to do this, as when the group made their way down to the bottom of the island, they saw there was an entrance built into it underwater! Apparently she couldn’t swim, so ducked into Link’s hat as a transportation method.

They stood there, staring at the perfectly carved square opening in the rock for a second. It seemed like a dark energy was seeping out of there, and it made everyone feel sick to their stomachs. No doubt about it, this was the entrance to the Water Temple alright!

Taking a deep breath, each member of the group dove into the warm, almost slimy feeling water and swam into the Temple’s entrance, not sure what to expect up ahead…

---

At the heart of the world’s darkness stood an intimidating black tower. It rested upon a slab of earth hovering over a crater filled with lava. With no bridge connecting it, the structure was cut off from the rest of the world, a nasty bruise left upon the Kingdom of Hyrule. The castle stretched far into the heavens, nearly scraping the dark grey clouds that blotted out the sky. Even if it was the middle of the day, no sunlight could penetrate the layer of gloom.

On one of the balconies of this castle stood two men. One was Dio Brando, aware that no matter what time it was in Hyrule, he was safe where he was. The harmful rays of the sun had no place at the castle and the vampire felt an odd sense of satisfaction at that. He gave a small smirk as he gazed upon the ruined town before him, reduced to little more than an ugly squalor of decayed buildings and near-empty streets. The things that shambled amongst the walkways weren’t even remotely human…

“I won’t pretend I’m not impressed.” Dio praised as he glanced to the man standing next to him. “You did this all on your own…no one else in our little group could say that, Ganondorf.”

The second man gave a smug grin of his own, the redheaded man in the black armor that had watched Sora and his group as they went from world to world. “Just one piece of the Triforce was all I needed.” Ganondorf boasted. “Even without it, this land would have been mine sooner or later. The Power I gained just sped up the process.”

“And I’m sure you can sense the Keyblade wielder and his cohorts within your domain. Why not take them out now? It should be easy for you, shouldn’t it?” Dio’s tone wasn’t one of accusation, but instead of amusement. It was clear he still didn’t view Sora as any sort of threat. And why should he? Because he helped take down Shin? Even then it was someone else that did the most damage to the deceased member of the group.

“Why would I do that? Even with that brat with the sword working with them, they’ll never cleanse all the Temples. The last time I sat back and let things unfold, it allowed me to conquer Hyrule with ease.” Ganondorf explained, gesturing vaguely across the kingdom of darkness he resided over. “I’ll get the rest of the Triforce, and become more powerful than anything related to that door you keep going on about.”

Despite the clear indications of a future betrayal, Dio didn’t worry in the slightest. “If you think the trinket of the creators of your kingdom are greater than what lies beyond the door, you’re very mistaken. If you follow through with my plan, you’ll see that for yourself. I take it this means you won’t pursue this Zelda you mentioned? You seemed so sure she’s a Princess of Heart, after all.”

Ganondorf’s smirk melted into a light sneer. “I’m not going to lie. She’s eluded me these past seven years. The second she shows herself, however…I’ll take her in an instant. I know she’s a Princess of Heart that you keep mentioning. She’s no ordinary girl…”

“I’ll leave you to it, then. But if you keep me waiting, I won’t have a choice but to step in personally. If she were the last one we were looking for, I’d have already done so.” Dio’s tone didn’t grow any more serious, yet it was clear he meant every word he said. “I’ve chosen to respect the boundaries of your world, but that won’t last forever. Just keep that in mind.”

The armored man scowled at Dio, looking ready to throw a punch at the vampiric figure…but he did nothing. “We’ll see about that. Saying it is one thing, doing it is another. I recall you mentioning you were bested in your own world, so I have no fear for you like some of the others.” And he meant every word, only holding back on his lashing out because working with Dio was mildly more beneficial than going against him.

At those words, the already tense air grew increasingly tense, practically palpable as the two powerful men stared each other down. For a moment it was as if they were silently daring each other to make a strike…but neither of them made any such motion.

“I see.” Was all Dio said at first, the tension practically deflating with just those two words. “Either way, I’ll leave it to you for now. Just remember my words, and there won’t be any problems.” With that, the blonde man was enveloped by a cocoon of darkness. When it vanished, the vampire was gone from the world, leaving the dark king to scowl at the empty air.

Chapter Text

The cursed water was thoroughly unpleasant to swim through.

It felt like the small group was wading through some sort of slime or mild sludge rather than simple water. Despite how it felt, it still visually looked like regular lake water, to the point they could see ahead of them with ease. Speaking of which, the quartet saw there was only one path ahead, going diagonally upward into the small island at the center of Lake Hylia.

Luckily, the trip was short, taking less than a minute, but with how disgusting it felt, it seemed almost twice as long as it truly was. Either way, the group surfaced, sputtering lightly and spitting out any water that got in their mouths. Climbing the nearby ledge, Link let Navi out of the bottle as they all gained their bearings.

For a Temple that was cursed with a powerful darkness, the surroundings didn’t look nefarious at all. If anything, the room they found themselves in was very serene. Beautiful, tiled flooring, walls, and ceilings were a wonder for the eyes, with there being three doors to other rooms, each one having two statues of dragon-like beings on either side. A last thing of note was that each corner of the room lacked a tile, allowing the group to see that water run under the floor to some other part of the Temple.

Despite the gorgeous looks of the Temple’s interior, though, the stench and oppressive feeling of darkness was heavier than it had ever been. “Everything looks nice, but hardly like a Temple!” Donald commented, looking at each of the three doors. “Which way are we supposed to even go?”

“That’s part of Ganondorf’s magic.” Navi explained, seeming a bit tired from the dark energy in the air. “He corrupts these Temples so much that they twist and change. Chances were the Water Temple didn’t look like this in the past…I wouldn’t know the correct path either way.”

“Where do we go, then? Just wander around until we find the monster we have to kill?” Sora asked, wondering what the dragon statues were about. He supposed it was a Temple, so something had to be worshiped. Destiny Islands wasn’t a very religious community, but he knew about things like religion…

Goofy scratched his head, also looking at the very identical exits. “Gawrsh, I guess we just gotta pick a random door, huh? It’s kind of weird to think we’ll be hopin’ to run into a monster!”

“Don’t forget Ruto.” Link interjected. “She’s in here somewhere, and we have to make sure she’s okay.” His tone was more determined than he had sounded before, showing just how much this meant to him. “That’s our first priority, finding her and keeping her safe.” For once, he was taking over as the group’s leader, no longer relying on Navi to speak for him.

“We’ll find her, don’t worry!” Sora assured, a bit surprised at Link’s sudden new attitude, not that he minded it at all. “Goofy’s right though, we have to just go in a random door and hope for the best.”

Wordlessly, that’s exactly what Link did as he moved to the head of the group. He went in the door on the left, the others following behind. To their surprise, the next room was exactly the same! The tiles, the statues, the three new doors, and even the missing corners. They were all the same!

“This place is gonna turn into a maze, isn’t it?” Donald bemoaned. “How will we know where we’ve been?!”

Before such a question could be answered, the room grew colder as a group of Heartless appeared! A new type that looked like fish men wielding spears made of bone, Spear Lizards, were part of the attacking monsters. There were half a dozen of them along with a number of Soldiers and Shadows.

Link attacked first, holding his sword behind him as he crouched down. As the Heartless closed in on him, an energy built around his sword. When the assaulting pawns of darkness got too close, the swordsman let out a cry and spun around at a high speed, a circle of energy surrounding him! This energy, and the blade itself, sliced the Heartless near Link clean in half without effort!

This prompted the other three fighters to charge in, Goofy and Donald taking out the heaps of Shadows that kept appearing while Sora went for the Spear Lizards. As he fought them spear-to-Keyblade, their numbers quickly proved a nuisance. When he defeated one of them, another rammed its weapon into the teen’s side, eliciting a gasp of pain. However, the barrier Dr. Orpheus provided still proved useful. The attack should’ve pierced his clothes and flesh but cut through neither. It still hurt, and was sure to leave a nasty bruise, but that was it.

Gritting his teeth, Sora called upon a Thunder spell and zapped the stabbing Spear Lizard into a dark mist before destroying the last one with a Fire attack. He then rushed over to help Donald and Goofy while Link fought a number of Soldiers on his own. Like before, the older teen’s sword seemed to be pure poison to the Heartless, cutting through them like a knife with hot butter. In a sense, it seemed more effective than the Keyblade!

Before long, the room was cleared, and the group moved forward. No use lingering about and discussing the repeating room, after all. Yet as they went on, they saw the rooms would continue to repeat. They went through five doors, periodically being jumped by new waves of Heartless, yet the rooms themselves never changed.

One thing worth noting was that the small island that housed the Water Temple wasn’t particularly large. If they had gone on top of it, it would’ve taken them only a few seconds to walk from one end of the island to the other. Yet each of the rooms they found themselves in were seemingly larger than the island itself, and there were apparently dozens of them! It seemed Ganondorf’s warping of the structure was more severe than the group thought at first. This was also worrying because, for all they knew, the Temple could go on forever! Just endless copies of the same room over and over again!

Something else that Sora noticed was how Link fought. He moved in such an expert manner, but the brunette could just feel that the older teen disliked having to do it at all. Just a look in the blonde’s eyes and a sort of feeling that Sora got. During combat, Link didn’t seem like the unusually immature older teen that Sora saw him as. It was as if Link was in his element during battle, yet hated it at the same time…

As Sora was pondering this, there was a drastic change in the Temple. Entering yet another random door, the group entered one that was actually different. The tiles were the same, but there were no other doors than the one they entered. Instead, there was just one square of space missing from the floor, water running beneath it. Standing in front of that water was a creature unlike what Sora, Donald, and Goofy had seen before.

She looked like a hybrid between a human and a fish, but not in a grotesque way like the Spear Lizards. Instead, she was more human than fish. Most of her body, though covered in blue-white scales than flesh, was remarkably humanlike. There were fins coming from her elbows and hips along with an unusually wide, hairless head with fins at the sides of her face. Aside from that, she was mostly human. It was to the point that it was very obvious she was a human due to her…proportions. A figure that left no doubt of her being a woman, even with a large chest that Sora and Link both took a double take at.

“Ruto…? Is that you?” Navi asked, flying between Link and the fishlike woman. “Weren’t you supposed to wait outside for us? Why are you in here?”

The woman, Ruto, smiled as she looked Link over. She did glance at Sora, Donald, and Goofy, but the Hylian was much more important to her. “I did wait outside, but I grew so restless that I had to come inside and try to cleanse the Temple myself! It’s so good to see you, Link! You even made new friends!”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy weren’t sure what to expect, but a fish woman wasn’t on the list. The brunette took it upon himself to step up and give introductions. He just focused on staring at her face, of course. “I’m Sora, and this is Donald and Goofy. We just sort of ran into Link on the way here and decided to help him.”

“How very selfless.” Ruto praised with a small grin before looking back at Link, whose cheeks were a bit red. “I am a bit annoyed you left me waiting seven years, though! Is that any way to treat your fiancé?”

The outsider trio nearly choked on their breath on that. “Fiancé?!” Donald exclaimed, looking between Ruto and Link. “You’re gonna marry her, Link?!”

Link seemed startled at the reaction, but gave a slow nod, almost like he was unsure. “I told her I would.” He answered, notably not seeming exactly excited for it, nor did he seem to dislike the idea.

“Well anyway, you should wait outside!” Navi interjected, getting back to business. “There are those monsters, the Heartless, all over the place! You should head back!”

“I can’t do that.” Ruto said with a shake of the head. “I realized I can’t just wait and do nothing while Zora’s Domain is frozen over and my people are in peril! So, I decided to hunt down Morpha myself, she’s a dark water spirit that our people spoke of in myths. I thought it was only a legend, but Sheik told me it was truly real, and Ganondorf brought it back from wherever he found it.”

“Wait, Ruto, we can handle it, so you can just wait!” Link argued, gesturing to the door the group had just entered from. “You don’t have to put yourself in danger too!”

That got a small, appreciative laugh from Ruto. “You’re just as kind as you were back then. It’s no wonder you have more friends helping you. But I can’t listen. My heart tells me I have to try and save my own people. But once this is all over, we can relax, get married, and everything will be okay, Link.”

Without waiting for any sort of argument, Ruto dove into the water. In the blink of an eye, she shot off past where the tiles covered the water and out of sight. The group just stared at the water for a second, the outsiders glancing over at Link.

“Well, gawrsh, I guess her mind was made up…” Goofy remarked. “But uh, congrats on the engagement! That seems so sweet!” The knight praised, but had to stop and wonder how old Link was. He didn’t seem like he was even twenty yet, and Ruto mentioned they haven’t met in seven years, so…

“Oh. Thank you.” Link replied, again not seeming exactly happy about it. Though, again, he didn’t seem like he disliked it either. In fact, he just seemed…confused, like he had no idea what to think about something like marriage. “I think she just let her heart be her guiding key, she’d have gone ahead no matter what…”

That phrase seemed so familiar to Goofy. Where had he heard it before, though…? As he pondered that, Donald spoke up. “Where’d you hear that?”

“A friend that helped me before.” Link replied. “He told me it meant to do what your heart tells you, not what other people tell you. I guess Ruto was doing that here.”

“We should still go after her, she might need our help!” Sora exclaimed, looking at where Ruto darted off to. “But uh…hey Link, how old are you?” He didn’t mean to change the subject, he was just so curious, and he was thinking the same thing Goofy was. The swordsman didn’t look like he was past his teens yet but got engaged seven years ago. Didn’t seem to add up.

“I’m…seventeen.” Link replied, having to pause, as though needing to think about it. “I’m seventeen.” He repeated, with a bit more confidence. “Why?”

“Wait, you got engaged at ten?!” Donald blurted out, unable to help himself. Different worlds had different rules, but that still seemed pretty crazy!

Link blinked a few times in confusion, even tilting his head very slightly. “Is that bad?” He bluntly asked, not seeming sure of much himself, it seemed. At least not when it came to marriage.

“Hey, we can talk about this later!” Navi interjected. “We have to go after Ruto! Zoras swim too fast for us to catch, but if we go in her general direction…”

Getting serious again, the outsider trio waited as Link bottled Navi up again and they all leapt into the water. To little surprise, the water within the Temple had the same slimy texture that the water outside did. The current wasn’t as strong as it may have seemed, and it took little effort to swim against it as they went after Ruto. There wasn’t much to the underbelly of the Temple, lovely tiled submerged hallways that snaked through the rest of the structure like veins in some slumbering giant.

The quartet held their breath as they went, unsure of how far to go or when they should surface. As they went on, however, they saw nowhere to surface, though pale blue light somehow reached through the underwater corridors from some unknown source. After a minute, they all started to panic, each silently wondering if they should turn back to the room where they met up with Ruto.

Yet just as things seemed bleak, a hole in the ceiling appeared just up ahead, the swimmers scrambling over to it. They each breached the surface, taking in a deep lungful of air as they climbed out onto the floor. It took only a moment to realize the room was exactly the same as the one they were just in with a large hole in the middle of the floor and a single door leading elsewhere.

“I can’t tell if we were just here or not!” Donald exclaimed, looking around and trying to find any sort of difference to let him know they were somewhere new.

“We swam in one direction, so we have to be somewhere else, right?” Link asked, letting Navi out of her bottle. “Should we go through the door, Navi?”

As the fairy hovered out of the bottle, she let out a small wince. “It feels so much worse in here…” She complained, a sensation going through her the others couldn’t feel. Being a fairy made the Temple’s condition a lot harder on her. “Morpha has to be nearby. That door has to be the right way!” Trusting the fairy, the group went through the door, their weapons at the ready. They instantly stopped as soon as they entered the next room, however.

Rather than the gorgeous tiles that they had grown used to, the group found themselves outside! Not at Lake Hylia, though, but somewhere else. As far as the eye could see was water, only puddle-deep, stretching to the horizons. Not that they could see that far, as a strange fog hid what was truly out there. In the center of the room, if it could be called that, was a small island that was little more than a mound of sand. Out of this sand grew a single, dead tree with a blackened bark and a lack of leaves. Looking past this, they saw a door and the frame around it just sitting in the middle of the shallow water, no walls or ceiling present.

“Gawrsh, I don’t like the look of this place…” Goofy bemoaned. “I feel like we’re bein’ watched. Anyone else feel that?”

Everyone else had the same sensation that unseen eyes were upon them. Yet there was nowhere for some sort of prowler or watcher to hide. “Let’s just get out of here fast. This place is too creepy!” Sora blurted out, being the first to briskly walk across the strange room. The shallow water splashed with each footfall and was the only sound in the room.

The others swiftly followed suit, each looking around for danger, yet saw nothing. When they all moved past the tree, they started to think they were just being paranoid and marched towards the exit.

Navi, however, felt something sinister and turned around. “Hey! Guys, behind you!” She screamed, flying high up to avoid the incoming battle.

“What?!” Link exclaimed, startled at how frantic Navi sounded. He and the others whipped around and saw a bizarre sight. Standing by the tree were four figures, each one almost entirely black, as dark as the spaces between the stars at night. The only exception to this darkness were the eyes, each one having round, glowing yellow eyes that stared blankly ahead, the eyes of Heartless. That wasn’t the disturbing part, though.

All the figures looked just like a member of the group! Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Link were all looking at doppelgangers of themselves! Aside from the coloration and the eyes, the imposters looked exactly like them down to the weapons they wielded! If they were to look down, the group would see that their reflections in the water had vanished as well, but they were too focused on the eerie Heartless to do so.

Before anyone could comment on how strange the situation was, the Heartless sprang forward. Each one of the copies went towards the person they were copying. Link and Dark Link clashed swords, the teen’s blade not being nearly as effective as it usually was. Sora leapt over Dark Sora, trying to attack it from the back, but it turned around and blocked the attack. Donald and Dark Donald stayed at a distance, circling each other as they cast spells at each other. However, whatever spell Donald used, his mirror image silently used the exact same one, and the attacks cancelled each other out! Finally, Goofy and Dark Goofy charged each other, slamming their shields into a clash with no clear winner, both fighters pushing for some sort of dominance.

Navi watched as the quartet fought opponents that were exactly as powerful as they were. The melee fighters constantly getting into clashes, their speed and strength so equal that neither party could get the upper hand over the other. The sound of clashing blades and slamming shields filled the normally quiet area, as Donald shouted spell after spell which his doppelganger cast at the exact same time. It didn’t look like there was much that could be done! For Link and Sora, their doubles seemed to love copying the moves of the real selves, as though the two were fighting mirrors. Goofy just kept slamming his shield into that of his foe, as if in hopes of wearing it out.

But then the fairy realized something, and it seemed so obvious! “Guys! Hurry and switch opponents!” She yelled out, loud enough to be heard over the battle, but just barely. “They won’t be able to mimic you so easily!”

In that moment, however brief, the four fighters felt foolish! Quickly, they switched opponents without a word to each other. Sora and Link swapped foes, the former lunging at Dark Link as the latter shot an arrow at Dark Sora from afar. Donald and Goofy did the same thing and changed who they fought. The mage shot a small barrage of fireballs at Dark Goofy as the knight threw his shield like a discus at Dark Donald.

Things became a lot easier for the group at this point. Although they were still fighting opponents as strong as their friends, the Heartless didn’t seem equipped to fight those that they couldn’t easily mirror. The fighting styles between Sora and Link were drastically different, so the Dark versions of their companions seemed almost confused as the attacks came and were only able to block at the last moment, but only barely. Meanwhile, Dark Goofy didn’t seem to know what to do when Donald kept his distance and just lobbied spells. Dark Donald likewise almost appeared to be in a panic whenever Goofy closed the distance.

Before long, one by one, the shadowy figures all fell. When Dark Sora swung at Link, the swordsman slammed his shield forward, which threw the Heartless off guard. Taking that chance, the older teen slashed Dark Sora across the chest, destroying it instantly. Sora used some magic to mix things up, sending a flurry of fireballs at Dark Link, who tried to block, but couldn’t cover his whole body, and one of the fireballs hit its legs. This caused the Heartless to quickly smolder and get destroyed.

Dark Goofy was better at blocking projectile attacks than Dark Link, so Donald tried something different. With a boastful cry, the mage raised his staff and a bolt of Thunder struck Dark Goofy on its unprotected head, destroying it. Goofy sprinted at Dark Donald, leaping over a Blizzard spell it unleashed. Curling up, Goofy placed his shield underneath him, landing right on top of Dark Donald and reducing it to a dark mist.

Catching their breath, the fighters watched as the outside area around them started to fade away. It was revealed in a few moments that they were standing in yet another one of those tiled rooms, the same size as all the others despite how vast it had seemed just seconds ago. “So, it was just an illusion?” Donald asked, rubbing his eyes as if to make sure, yet the room really was like just about all the others they came across. The only thing that stayed from the mirage were the two doors.

“What’s a loosion?” Link asked, butchering the word entirely. The way he phrased it was like a small child asking his mom something, and even looked at Navi as he spoke, rather than at Donald who said the word to begin with.

“An illusion.” Navi clarified. “Something…fake. We were seeing something that wasn’t here. So, it was an illusion.” The way she so casually explained the term showed it was hardly the first time she had to answer Link’s questions. “Anyway, are you four okay?”

Trying to put aside Link’s unusual behavior, Sora nodded. “Yeah, I think we’re all fine. Never thought all those things would go down in just one hit!” Apparently they were all tactic but with no durability…

“Anyway, we have to keep going. Ruto might have gone this way!” Link exclaimed, making his way to the door ahead. He hadn’t even fully caught his breath yet but was desperate to keep going.

“I feel a nasty energy from that room…it could be Morpha’s!” Navi warned, yet still flew by her companion as the outsider trio followed. This did nothing to slow Link down at all. If anything, he sped up until he got to the door and quickly opened it.

Right away, the non-fairies of the group felt a change. The oppressive atmosphere that had followed them throughout the Temple was at its strongest, all of them breaking into a cold sweat. Yet, as they looked around the room, they didn’t see anything! The room itself was different, but there was no actual danger to be seen. As usual, gorgeous tiles lined the room, but this one was a lot larger than the others. In the center of the room was a large pit with four pillars in it, the pit filled with a sludgy, gross looking water. Aside from that, though, there was nothing of note. No other doors, no evil spirit, and no Ruto.

“Are ya sure ya felt things out right?” Goofy asked, not unkindly. “I sure don’t see nothin’ in here that’d be dangerous…” There weren’t even any Heartless that spawned to greet the group. It was just them and the water. Goofy even started to walk around the room, looking to see if anything was lurking in the water…but there was nothing.

“I know I feel a dark presence here!” Navi insisted, looking around as well. “This has to be where Morpha is, or at least something particularly nasty! Don’t let your guard down!”

Keyblade at the ready, Sora glanced around too, but there was just nothing there! As he walked around the room in the opposite direction as Goofy, he spotted something in the water! “Hey! There’s something in there!” The brunette yelled out, pointing to what he saw.

It was understandable that Goofy had missed it, as the object wasn’t too large, and the water’s visibility wasn’t too great. The thing was only about the size of Sora’s head and was partially transparent as well. It looked like some sort of eye, or a fleshy nucleus of some sort, not that anyone in the group knew what one looked like. It shifted around the water, going towards the surface. When this happened, a segment of the water rose up, forming a tentacle that the nucleus nestled into. Several more liquid appendages formed around the main one, curling in on themselves as if in anticipation for a fight.

“That has to be Morpha! There’s nothing else in here!” Navi exclaimed as the group spread out. Unfortunately, there were half a dozen tentacles, so even when separated, the creature could attack them all at once.

“But where’s Ruto?!” Link practically demanded, there having been zero sign of the Zora anywhere in the room. “Did she make it here?!”

Before anyone could answer, Morpha began is attack. With its numerous tentacles, it targeted everyone at the same time, lunging each appendage at the four fighters. Thinking that water couldn’t be that strong, Goofy stood his ground and raised his shield, but the impact was stronger than he anticipated and sent him slamming into the wall behind him. Donald took a different approach in the form of a counterattack, raising his staff and casting a powerful Blizzard spell, freezing the watery tentacle as it approached. The ice from this magic went all the way to the main body of water, allowing Donald to move to a better vantage point.

Not sure if the water was actually part of Morpha’s body or not, Sora decided to attack it anyway. As the tentacle drew near, he swung at it with the Keyblade, sending a bucketful of water off the appendage. However, the tentacle kept coming, new water reforming so the injury, if it could even be called that, meant nothing. Too late to dodge, Sora was grabbed by the tentacle, which somehow seemed far more solid when it wrapped around his torso and lifted him up in the air. Despite the appendage being made of water, it still somehow managed to squeeze at him, making it difficult for the brunette to breath as he tried to hit at the tentacle with his Keyblade. However, the angle was just too awkward, and he couldn’t get a good hit in!

Link instantly noticed Sora’s peril and rolled out of the way as the tentacle going after him slammed into the wall and was reduced to a puddle. With a cry of effort, the swordsman swiftly spun in a circle as a miniature tornado sprang forth and went towards the tentacle grabbing Sora. When the wind spell hit, the appendage was scattered about, and Sora was able to drop to the floor, mostly unharmed.

“Thanks for the save, but how do we fight this thing?!” Sora exclaimed as more tentacles rose from the main body of water. The nucleus had to be the weak spot, but reaching it was an entirely different issue. There were the pillars, but Morpha could probably just make as many tentacles as it needed. Even the Blizzard spell didn’t prove very effective, as the frozen tentacle shattered and the ice just fell into the water, ready to melt and be reabsorbed into the main body.

“I’ve got an idea! Stand back, everyone!” Donald yelled out, everyone following his instructions as he raised his staff. “How about some Thunder?!” Water was a good conductor of electricity, right? The mage let loose his spell, aiming at the main body with the attacking hitting easily! Sparks of electricity spread a bit throughout the liquid, but Morpha didn’t seem injured in any way! “What?! That didn’t do anything?!”

Sora knew better than Donald. He remembered asking his dad about a time where lightning struck the ocean and killed a lot of fish. His dad explained how water didn’t conduct electricity that well on its own, but minerals like salt, which helped the currents flow. Clearly, Morpha was lacking salt or anything else to help the Thunder spell go through! So, the brunette opted for a Blizzard spell, aiming at the tentacle that housed Morpha itself.

To everyone’s dismay, Morpha shifted to dodge the attack! The tentacle itself got hit and was frozen solid, but the nucleus moved to the main body of water and remained unharmed. As if in retaliation, the dark spirit spouted several more tentacles, thrashing them all about and trying to grab its opponents.

The quartet ran, jumped, and rolled about what little parts of the room were safe. Jumping on the pillars would’ve just gotten them closer to the assaulting limbs while falling in the water itself was blatantly a horrible mistake to make. As she watched her companions struggling, Navi flew over to Link, yelling to be heard over the commotion. “Your Hookshot! Link, try using that!” She insisted, especially as Morpha moved to another tentacle.

Eyes widening like he had an epiphany, Link nodded and put his sword away. He took out an unusual item, a blue cylinder with a handle and a large hook at the opposite end. After dodging another tentacle, the older teen aimed the Hookshot at Morpha’s true body and squeezed the handle. To the shock of Sora, Donald, and Goofy, the hook shot out, attached by a chain, at Morpha! They quickly realized just how descriptive the Hookshot’s name really was!

Through a mixture of luck and skill, the hook hit the nucleus. It seemed for a moment that Morpha struggled against the device, but ultimately lost out in the end. The chain retracted, pulling the spirit out of the tentacle it was hiding in, causing all the appendages to fall to the floor and becoming ordinary water! With a cry, Link slashed at Morpha as it drew near, slicing it horribly and sending it flying!

However, it wasn’t quite destroyed, and it was soaring back towards the water! Thinking quickly, Sora leapt onto the nearest platform and jumped up at Morpha. He sliced at the creature, cutting it cleanly in half as he landed onto another one of the pillars and destroying the horrid monster!

The group watched as Morpha’s remnants simply disintegrated after they landed in the water. It was as if a small army of invisible insects was eating the pieces! Once the last scrap of the dark spirit vanished, the water in the room started to seemingly drain away, despite there being no place for it to drain to. This had an immediate effect, as the air became cleaner the second all the water was gone. Despite being inside, everyone felt like they were now taking in lungful of fresh air from outside after being stuck in a stuffy building.

“That was some good teamwork!” Goofy praised, beaming at both Link and Sora. “It sure was a tricky thing, that Morpha, huh?”

Link didn’t seem as happy, looking around the room yet again despite the lack of any hiding places. “But where’s Ruto? She came this way, right? There weren’t any alternate paths, were there?!” As he spoke, he sounded increasingly desperate, clearly fearing the worse.

“If something happened to her, she’d be here, right?” Donald asked, not sure how a monster made of water could get rid of a dead body.

As the group pondered, they were all met with a blinding flash of white light! Instantly, they found themselves in a far different environment. To Link and Navi, it was very familiar. The quintet was now on a large blue platform in the middle of a mostly empty black void, with the only other things to see were other platforms with a mysterious blue liquid falling down on them from some unknown source.

At the platform’s edges were smaller platforms, each with an assorted color. Yellow, green, red, blue, purple, and orange. Each of these spaces had patterns on them such as a sort of spiral etching with another one holding a flame design. They were all facing the blue platform, which started to glow.

“Oh no, no, no…” Link murmured, face going pale. “Not again…” He spoke so quietly that the rest of the group barely heard him, but the panic was more than evident.

“What’s going on, Link? Where are we?” Sora asked, noting how distressed his new friend was. “Are we in danger? What’s wrong?!” Yet despite his attempts to get the older teen’s attention, Sora was ignored.

On the blue platform, a figure appeared as its glow started to fade. To the shock of everyone, especially Sora, Donald, and Goofy, the figure was none other than Ruto! She looked at the small group before her, a small smile on her face, but a sad, regretful look in her eyes. “It looks like I got carried away.” The Zora said, trying to sound happy, but still having a melancholy tone.

“Ruto, I’m sorry, I should’ve been faster!” Link exclaimed, taking a hesitant step towards his friend. “If I had beaten Morpha quicker…”

“We were helping too! It’d be out fault, not just yours!” Sora interrupted, not wanting Link to feel solely responsible. He had no idea what was going on or where they were, but this seemed to have been something that happened to the older teen before…

“It’s none of your faults.” Ruto corrected kindly, yet sternly. “I followed my heart, and that unfortunately took me to my end. But I’ve awakened as the Sage of Water, so I can still aid you, Link.” Her smile faded, just barely present. “But it means we can’t meet again, and we can never be married.”

Link closed the gap, and he hugged Ruto tight, his frame shaking as if he were about to cry. “I’m so sorry…” He insisted, clearly feeling obligated to blame himself for what happened.

“No need for that, Link. I don’t blame you for anything and I still love you! No matter what, I would have ended up here anyway. Now please, go and keep fighting against Ganondorf.” She looked over Link’s shoulder at Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “I can tell you three are from far away, and I’m sorry you’ve ended up in our affairs. I have to ask you still help Link with his quest.”

“We promised we would! But uh…what exactly’s goin’ on? Sage of Water…?” Goofy scratched the side of his head as he asked. Things were getting more complicated, it seemed…

At this point, Link let go, taking a step away from Ruto. “It means she has to stay here.” Navi said in the swordsman’s place. “We have to find six Sages to help us reach Ganondorf. Ruto here is the fourth.”

“Two of the others were also my friends…” Link miserably added. “And thanks for wanting to still help me.” He said to Sora, Donald, and Goofy before turning back to Ruto.

“Everything will be okay! Now, go, and remember I’ll be thinking of you the entire time, and my heart goes out to you, Link!” Ruto said, her smile coming back just as the bright white light did. Everyone else was blinded as they were whisked away from the unusual location…

When their eyes adjusted, the quintet found they were on the island in the middle of Lake Hylia. And it truly was a lake this time, as the water had swiftly and miraculously came back, the near-empty hole now filled with glittering, clear water! Another thing of note was that it was the break of dawn, the sun just starting to peek over the horizon. This was odd, as it was just becoming nightfall when the group entered the Temple. It didn’t feel nearly so long…but maybe time had been distorted along with space…? The air smelled crisp and clean too, the oppressive atmosphere only as intense as it was in Hyrule Field.

There was a moment where everyone just looked at the lake, astonished at the difference. Then Link broke the peace as he started to practically march to the bridge leading to the mainland, Navi at his side like usual.

“Hey, are you okay? I’m sorry about Ruto…” Sora said as he, Donald, and Goofy went after Link. “But you remember what she said, you shouldn’t blame yourself!” He just felt that was what was going through the older teen’s mind. Something in his own heart just said so…

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Link bluntly replied, not even looking back at the others. Instead, he glanced up at Navi, who was floating right by his head. “Where do we go next, Navi?”

The fairy hesitated, clearly concerned for Link too, but chose not to voice it. “Sheik told us the last two Temples are in the house of the dead and a goddess of the sand. I think I know where the second one is, but the first one has me stumped…”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy decided it was best to just leave Link alone when it came to Ruto, needing to focus on the quest ahead. “House of the dead sounds pretty serious. Where would you find something like that?” Donald asked.

“Only thing I can think to do is ask around Kakariko Village. We’ve been just about everywhere else in Hyrule…” Navi pondered, letting out a mildly aggravated sigh. “Sheik’s been helpful to us, but I wish he could be more direct sometimes…”

“Well, gawrsh, what if that one Temple is in Kakariko Village. Maybe it’s hidden like the Water one was.”  Goofy suggested as the group approached the mainland. “What would a house of the dead even be anyway?”

“No idea.” Navi admitted. “You might be right, though. Maybe it’s hidden somewhere in Kakariko Village…maybe connected to its graveyard somehow! It’s the largest one in Hyrule, after all. That’s gotta be our best bet!” The fairy let out a hum. “We’ll have to stop for the night on the way, though. The village is too far away from here…and I don’t know if our usual mode of transportation would work with us all…”

They had some other way of getting around? “What do you mean by that? What wouldn’t work?” Sora asked, not seeing anything on Link’s person that could be used to travel faster.

“Sheik’s been helping us by teaching us songs.” Navi explained, starting to be the sole voice between her and Link, the swordsman seeming too upset to say much. “They have a strange power that lets us travel to very specific places in Hyrule. I can travel along with Link when he plays them on his Ocarina, but three additional people…I just don’t know. Wait, hey! We could try it out now! One of these songs was meant to take us here! How about it, Link?”

Stopping in his tracks, Link unclipped the blue instrument from his belt. “I guess we could try.” He said, his tone entirely flat, and his face lacking any real expression. “Just place a hand on me, I guess.” Once Sora, Donald, and Goofy did as asked, and Navi on his shoulder, Link played a song. It was a short, beautiful tune that was calming and smooth like the flow of water itself.

In an instant, Link and Navi vanished in a flash of blue light! Sora, Donald, and Goofy remained where they were, letting out startled noises. Another flash of blue light appeared atop the small island housing the Water Temple, with the older teen and his fairy companion appearing in it. Even from a distance, it seemed Link let out a sigh as he and Navi made their way back to the others.

“Why didn’t that work? Is it because we’re from another world?” Sora asked, crossing his arms in thought. “But Zamansis was able to teleport us around no problem…”

“Maybe Navi can do it because she’s a fairy!” Goofy blindly suggested.

Donald squinted up at his friend. “What does that have to do with anything?” She was still traveling along with Link while the rest of them couldn’t!

“Um…well, I dunno, fairies are magical creatures, right?” Goofy said after a moment of thought. “Maybe that lets her zip around with Link!”

Sora and Donald just shrugged, figuring they’d never know the answer. A few seconds later, Link and Navi caught back up. “Well, that’s weird!” The fairy said, a bit annoyed. “I don’t know why that wouldn’t work! I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t suggest it when we were traveling here. I was thinking then it may not work…”

“That means we’ll take the long way.” Link commented, starting to move towards Hyrule Field once more.

“Yeah…but at least we can see Malon again. Lon Lon Ranch is right around the halfway point between here and Kakariko Village.” Navi explained. “I know she’ll be very happy to see you!” She went on with a teasing tone, and Sora swore he saw Link’s cheeks go a bit red…

“Uh…but hey, Link was engaged, right?” Goofy couldn’t help but ask. Seemed a bit odd to tease the teen about what sounded like some sort of crush if he had a wife-to-be.

The blonde teen sighed. “I don’t even know what that means. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Huh?! You were engaged and didn’t even know what it meant?!” Donald exclaimed, stopping to ponder how much that actually made sense.

Link finally turned to look at the others, confusion, and a bit of annoyance on his face. “No one told me. It seemed important, though.”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy glanced at each other, struggling to hold back laughter despite how tense things were just a minute ago. Things made way more sense now! It was some sort of one-sided crush that Ruto held onto for seven years with Link being totally clueless. It was tragic how things ended up, but the situation’s beginning was pretty amusing!

Navi cleared her throat, getting everyone’s attention. She had a certain way of getting all eyes on her despite her size. “We can talk about that sort of thing later! For now, we need to rush to the ranch, okay? Every second counts!”

Leaving the subject of Link’s obliviousness to marriage, everyone did as Navi said and moved to Hyrule Field. Their pace was faster that yesterday’s, everyone eager to tackle the next Temple, especially with Ruto’s sacrifice present in all their minds. The outsiders still didn’t fully understand the business with the Sages, but that hardly mattered at the end of the day.

Heartless spawned at a few points during the journey, quickly disposed of by the group. Once more, Sora couldn’t help but notice Link seeming almost miserable as he fought, the unusual sword of his slicing through the creatures of darkness with almost zero effort on the older teen’s part…

As the sun was nearing the horizon, the quintet arrived at the large stone formation that opened into the ranch. When they entered, the outsiders saw that there wasn’t much to the ranch, just a house, a small barn, and an area for the horses to roam. This center area had a large fence where the horses were able to roam, and as they all laid eyes on it this part of the ranch, they stared to hear singing!

It was a young woman’s voice, the song a mere melody with no words. Looking closer, the group saw that the source was a redheaded woman around Link’s age, singing to a mare about as red as the singer’s own hair. Link made a beeline toward her, so Sora, Donald, and Goofy did the same.

When he group got close, the redhead stopped singing, looking at Link with wide, excited blue eyes. She was very pretty and wore an outfit befitting a rancher girl. “Fairy Boy!” She exclaimed, beaming at Link and Navi before her gaze wandered to the others. “You brought friends, too!”

Sora understood pretty quickly why Link seemed flustered being teased about Malon, who he assumed this person was. She was beautiful! He always was pretty partial to red hair on girls, and it was no different on the ranch girl. As he though about this, he couldn’t help but think about Kairi, and there was a soft pain in his heart…

“I’m Sora, and this is Donald and Goofy.” The brunette introduced as per usual, trying to shake off the ache in his chest. “We just met Link yesterday. You’re Malon, right?” He couldn’t help but be amused by the nickname she gave…

“New friends, huh? Well, any friend of his is a friend of mine! And I’m Malon, I’m guessing Fairy Boy mentioned me?” She asked, grinning at Link who seemed to have some trouble making eye contact.

Goofy did his best not to chuckle at Link’s expense. “It was somethin’ like that! Good to meet another friend of his!”

“I see! I didn’t expect you back so soon, Fairy Boy. Epona still missed you, you know.” Malon said, gesturing to the horse she was singing to, who indeed went over to nuzzle affectionately at Link. “Did everything go okay at the lake?” She pressed and, like Ruto, had eyes for the swordsman more than anyone else, it seemed.

That snapped Link out of his flustered silence and cleared his throat, patting Epona gently. “I don’t want to talk about it.” He replied bluntly. “We’re going to Kakariko Village. Can we stay the night, please?”

This put a small damper on Malon’s mood at what was clearly sad news being suppressed. “You know you’re always welcome, Link.” She said, both in a friendly way and also sternly, like she was trying to press he thought into the blonde’s head. Malon even used his actual name for the firs time, which surely meant something. “And your friends too, of course.”

“Is there even a place for us all to sleep?” Donald asked, looking around the ranch again. There was no way that house had enough space for all the adults and teenagers, Navi of course taking up next to no room.

“Talon’s back, so there wouldn’t be a lot of space, huh?” Navi asked before looking to the outsider trio. “That’s her father, he owns the ranch.”

Malon hummed, looking between the group. “Well, if you don’t mind it, Fairy Boy, you can take Ingo’s old bed. That traitor won’t be needing it. Dad’s got his own bed and I’ve got mine. One of you can take the couch, and the others will have to take the barn.”

“I’ll take the couch!” Donald immediately called out with a satisfied tone in his voice.

“What?! But I’m the youngest, I should take the couch, right?” Didn’t seem fair to Sora that one of the adults got a couch over him.

“So? What does that have to do with anything?” The mage shot back, crossing his arms in defiance. “You can sleep in some hay just fine!”

Goofy once more had to act as the tiebreaker between the two. Sora and Donald were getting along better than before, but they still squabbled over unimportant things! “He’s right, Donald, we can bunker in the barn! It’ll be fun!”

“He’s right! Sora’s the youngest, so he gets the couch.” Malon insisted. By that logic, it’d mean he’d get the bed over Link, but the redhead was perhaps a bit biased. She did, however, place a hand on Sora’s head, almost like protecting him from Donald’s greed.

When Sora gave the mage a cheeky smile that Malon couldn’t see, Donald gave a glare in response. “Fine! You can have the couch!” He harrumphed.

And so, it was settled. Even though it wasn’t late, the journeying group was exhausted, and insisted on going to bed, even without dinner. Talon was already in bed, which prompted Malon to mention how much he slept during the day, so the group didn’t encounter him. Donald and Goofy went into the barn, which was a bit warm and stuffy, and they only had hay to lie on with the cows keeping them company. Link and Navi went into Ingo’s room, whoever he was, as Malon went to her own room.

So, Sora took the couch, a thin blanket and a pillow being the only things Malon had to offer him. The inside of the house was pretty nice, with a family room, a kitchen, and an upstairs area. Small, yet cozy. Despite this, he had a rough time getting to sleep, thinking about the world they found themselves in.

The entire land was covered in darkness, and Heartless could pop up just about anywhere, though the ranch seemed oddly safe. Surely this Ganondorf couldn’t be as strong as Lucien was, but Sora was still concerned. On top of that, he couldn’t help but feel worried about Link. There was just something up with him. He seemed to be bottling his emotions up, even pressing forward and seeming to do his best to ignore losing all contact with Ruto. It was clear he was hurting, at least to Sora, but apparently the swordsman felt it best not to blatantly show such feelings. Sora decided he was going to pry, just a bit, and try to figure out what Link’s deal was tomorrow…

For the time being, exhaustion caught up with the brunette, and he slowly drifted into a dreamless sleep…

Chapter Text

Sora felt something wet across his face, and a bad smell intruded his senses. He let out a small noise, but that just prompted the wet sensation to return. Groaning a bit, his eyes creaked open, and he saw a mess of grey hair and a tongue taking up his vision. It took him a second to realize he was looking at the face of a dog, the loud panting he quickly became aware of confirming it. Not even the first time he woke up to a dog’s kisses since the incident at Destiny Islands!

Slowly, Sora sat up, letting out a yawn as he saw the dog was a tiny thing, a small scruffy canine who had to stand on his hind legs to even reach the teen, his small paws resting on the couch cushion. “Hey, boy…” The brunette groggily greeted, patting the dog on the head, who hyperactively sniffed at his hand as his tail wagged.

“Scamp! You woke up our guest!” Malon’s voice rang out, Sora turning to see the redhead entering the room. The dog, Scamp, took his paws off the couch and sauntered off, not seeming too upset at being scolded. “Sorry about that, Sora. Before Link came the other day, it had been a while since we had guests…friendly ones, that is. He’s just excited.”

Letting out another yawn, Sora shook his head. “It’s alright! We should be going pretty soon, probably. Is anyone else awake, Malon?” He didn’t want to leave the comfort of the ranch so soon, but he was sure the others would be eager to get to Kakariko Village!

“I heard Link moving around upstairs. Haven’t seen your friends, though! I guess they’re still in the barn.” Malon replied. “You should wake them up, I’ll have some breakfast ready in just a few minutes!”

It had been masked by the smell of dog breath before, but now that Scamp was away, the scent of bacon and eggs became apparent to Sora. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was, not having eaten since arriving in Hyrule! “Yeah, okay, I’ll see if they’re up yet!” He got off the couch, wanting to get at that delicious smelling food!

Going outside, he saw it wasn’t far past dawn, the sun not even fully off the horizon yet. Still, he saw a portly man with a large mustache off near the horses, this stranger not noticing Sora. Must have been Talon, and the teen was surprised he was up so early given Malon’s earlier description of him. He just ignored the man and went into the barn.

Inside, Donald and Goofy were sprawled out on the hay, both of them slowly craning their necks to look at Sora as he entered.”Mornin’ already…?” The knight asked, letting out a loud, drawn out yawn.

“What do you mean ‘already’?!” Donald exclaimed, slowly sitting up and rubbing his back. “That was the longest night I’ve ever had! Barely slept a wink…!”

“I slept like a log!” Sora cheekily bragged, placing his hands on the back of his head. “But more importantly, Malon almost has breakfast ready! Come on, it smells great!”

Donald was about to chew Sora out, but the mention of food shifted his focus. “Why didn’t you say so?! Come on, Goofy!” The mage demanded, forcing his friend to his feet as they rushed past Sora and into the house.

When going back himself, he noticed the man who was assuredly Talon was gone. Probably called in for breakfast. He paused near the home’s door, looking off at the area with the horses. In all the worlds he went to so far, Heartless were a near-constant issue. Even Traverse Town needed people to volunteer as guards to keep certain sections safe. Yet this ranch…it was peaceful all by itself…but how? Why? Was there just not enough darkness here? Too much of it elsewhere in Hyrule for the Heartless to even notice this place?

Sora eventually realized he had been standing in place for several minutes, having spaced out entirely. After catching himself, he quickly went inside and saw he was the last to arrive. Link (Navi on his shoulder), Donald, Goofy, and Talon were sitting around the kitchen table, Malon providing them with two plates stacked with bacon and eggs!

“You’re that Sora feller, right?” Talon asked, already piling food onto his plate. “Ya came just in time, get some food while it lasts!”

“Dad! You shouldn’t serve yourself before the guests!” Malon scolded, hands on her hips. It was clear from her tone that she never had issues reprimanding her father in the past.

“Aw, Malon…” He mumbled, but didn’t return the food, just stopping as Link, Donald, and Goofy got their own portions. “But say, Malon tells me you three are friends of Link here. That makes you friends of this ranch!” The mustachioed man said with a chortle.

Sora sat down, quickly getting a helping of bacon and eggs as Malon sat across from him. Only after he got his food did she serve herself, Talon putting more food on his plate. “Yeah, we’ve been traveling with him for a bit.” The brunette said between bites of food, watching as Link handed a bit of bacon to Navi, which was the size of her head. “But how does he know you?”

“We met when we were kids, only being with each other for a bit before things went…bad…” Malon replied, her voice becoming sad at the last few words. “But a few days ago, he came back and chased off my Uncle Ingo. He was working for Ganondorf, trying to pawn off my favorite horse for that horrid man’s favor! Can you believe it?!”

“I didn’t really do much.” Link quietly insisted. “I just beat him in a race, and he fled. Talon actually made him run.”

“Wait, really? Your own brother?” Donald asked, disgusted by what this Ingo guy had done, but still surprised at Talon’s actions. He seemed so nice…and also unlikely to get in a fight.

Talon sighed. “Sadly, I had to. Link here couldn’t use his gear in the race, and my brother drew a knife on him since he was unarmed. I had gotten back just in time from Kakariko Village and…well, I did what had to be done.” He didn’t exactly sound proud of his actions either.

 Navi cleared her throat. “Speaking of the village, we should be getting to it soon. After breakfast, we need to head out.”

“So soon? You just arrived!” Malon protested, frowning a bit and giving Link pleading eyes. “Come on, Fairy Boy, you were gone for seven years!”

Link didn’t seem able to look the redhead in the face anymore, his cheeks tinted a bit red. “Navi is always right about these things…but we’ll visit again when we can, okay?”

“We got some important stuff to do!” Goofy insisted between bites of his eggs, keeping his tone friendly.

“I understand. I can tell Fairy Boy is up to some big things with all that gear he has.” Malon said, a smile returning to her face. “You five just take care of yourselves is all I ask!”

The rest of the breakfast went by in relative silence, Talon asking Sora, Donald, and Goofy some personal questions which they just gave vague answers to. When it was all done, Talon went to take a nap as Malon saw the group off at the ranch’s entrance.

“Don’t worry, we’ll take care of Link and get him back to you safe and sound!” Donald promised Malon in a teasing tone, feeling there was something going on between the two.

“I think Fairy Boy will be taking care of you guys!” Malon insisted with a grin. “Anyway, just stay safe, that goes to all of you.”

“Don’t worry, we can handle ourselves!” Sora said with an assuring smile. “We’re pros at this kind of thing!”

Donald rolled his eyes. “Oh, please…!” He murmured, just loud enough for everyone to hear, but was ignored.

With a few exchanged farewells and words of gratitude, the quintet left the ranch as Malon waved them off. It was around eight in the morning at that point, and Navi insisted they had plenty of time to reach the village before nightfall.

“What do we do if we can’t find anything else out at Kaka…Kookoo…uh, the village?” Goofy asked, already forgetting the place’s name.

“Kakariko Village.” Navi corrected. “Well, we’ll have to just stay there until we find an answer! Like I said before, there’s really nowhere else to go. The only other option would be Death Mountain where the Gorons live, but I don’t know if they’d have any information of Temples outside of their own.”

Death Mountain? That was a pretty foreboding name! Looking into the distance, a mountain was very visible. Looking at it closer, Sora realized it was a volcano and even had a ring of smoke around its peak. He had to assume that was Death Mountain, a suiting name for a massive volcano like that! It seemed Kakariko Village was built into the rock near the volcano’s base, as only the tallest building, a windmill, was visible from where they were, peeking over a wall of natural rock.

The trip to the village had little room for conversation given the Heartless that attacked the group. This wasn’t unusual, of course, but everyone quickly noticed a pattern. As the quintet got closer to Kakariko Village, the groups of Heartless grew larger and the individual ones were stronger. What started out as some Shadows appearing eventually transitioned to a dozen Large Bodies appearing at once.

“This didn’t happen last time! What’s going on?!” Donald demanded as he finished off the last of the Large Bodies with a Thunder spell. “The Heartless just keep getting stronger!”

“I think there’s something going on at Kakariko Village…” Navi suggested, looking towards their destination, which was only about twenty minutes away at that point. “Wait…is that smoke?!”

The rest of the group looked and saw that dark smoke and an orange glow emanating from the top of the rock wall. “A fire?! Come on, we have to get there fast!” Sora exclaimed, breaking out into a sprint towards the village, the others following his lead. They all moved so fast that the last bit of the trip was less than half of what it should’ve been. The entrance to the village was carved into the rock, a staircase leading to their destination.

At the top of the stairs was Kakariko Village, what looked to be a decently sized, quaint, cozy place under normal circumstances. But right then, several of the homes were on fire, people running away towards a path leading up to Death Mountain as a way of seeking shelter. Surprisingly, though, there wasn’t any actual source of the mayhem! No Heartless, no monsters or minions of Ganondorf that seemed present. The group all wanted to help with the fire, but also felt they had to find the source of the attack first and take care of it!

Rushing ahead, the quintet reached a well in the middle of the village, a lone figure standing there. To the outsiders, he seemed suspicious, donning a blue bodysuit with an usual eye-like symbol along a white wrap around his head that hid most of his features. However, he wasn’t even looking at them, instead facing the well.

“Sheik?! What’s going on here?!” Navi exclaimed, floating between the man and Link. “Where did this fire come from?!”

The man, Sheik, turned to look at the group. It was revealed he had blonde hair, and almost his entire face was concealed save for a single, piercing red eye. His gaze lingered on Sora, Donald, and Goofy before focusing on Link. “You! Get back, now! It’s dangerous here!” He ordered, his voice giving him away as not being much older than Link.

Before anyone could ask for context, the wooden structure on the well that held its bucket tore from the stone circle, flying off and crashing onto the ground. Yet, there was no sign of whatever tore the piece of the well off. The group looked around and saw nothing, with Sheik turning back towards the well.

Without warning, the quintet felt a sense of dread in the air, like something massive was barreling towards them, but there was nothing around! They were startled as Sheik suddenly yelled out, the five of them turning to see he was floating in the air, being waved about as if by an invisible hand! He was then thrown off, landing near the wooden structure and hitting the ground with a harsh thud.

At this moment, something emerged from the well, but it wasn’t easy to describe. It was flat, but didn’t have any sort of defined shape. It was purple and black, a speckles mess that reminded Sora of static on his television set back at home. This unusual mass crawled from the well, oozing down its sides before shooting off towards the rock wall surrounding the village. It moved around too fast for the fighters to do much as it sped towards the ground again and right at them. Desperately, both Sora and Donald unleashed magic, a Fire and Thunder spell respectively, but the odd entity’s form simply opened up and the spells hit the ground harmlessly. Then, within the blink of an eye, it was upon them.

Their worlds went dark.

For the second time that day, Sora found himself stirring back into consciousness. He was on his back, and his entire body ached. It took him a few moments to be aware of rainfall hitting his face, the crackling of fire no longer audible. Slowly, he opened his eyes, seeing grey skies and steady precipitation, but no orange glow or smoke. The village was okay! Or at least…not on fire. What was that thing that attacked them…? And more importantly, where was it?

The brunette sat up, seeing Donald and Goofy coming to as well. Meanwhile, Link was still on his back, being lightly shaken by Sheik as Navi hovered overhead. “Hey…! What happened?” Sora asked, seeing that the mysterious man with red eyes almost seemed like a ninja in his attire. “Link and Navi told us about you, you’re a friend, right?”

Sheik glanced at Sora with that unusual eye of his and nodded. “I’m an ally to Link, yes. Navi told me that you three are outsiders aiding them in their quest. Tell me, why are you in Hyrule at all?”

“We’re looking for two people.” Sora explained as he stood up, Donald and Goofy still getting their bearings. “I’m looking for a girl named Kairi. Red hair, blue eyes, the same age as me. And they’re looking for a King named Mickey!” He gestured to his two companions.

“None of those names are familiar to me.” Sheik bluntly stated, not sounding at all sympathetic. Not mean, necessarily, just a lack of care in his tone. “You might ask around the village if you wish.”

Sora couldn’t help but be disappointed, and looked over as Donald shook himself awake in an animated fashion. “My head…!” The mage complained. “What was that?!”

“I’ll tell you all what just happened once Link is awake. I used some magic to heal your wounds. It was lucky for you all that I was here and that that thing had little interest in you.” Sheik replied, continuing to try and get Link to open his eyes.

“Don’t worry guys, I vouched for you!” Navi exclaimed. “Sheik knows that you’re all trustworthy!”

“Aw, shucks! Thanks, Navi!” Goofy said, trying to sound cheerful but still seemed a bit sore as he and Donald got to their feet. “That thing that attacked us sure was spooky…”

It was at that moment that Link finally stirred, blinking his eyes open and groaning as he sat up. “Sheik…?” He murmured, looking to the unusually dressed man as he leaned away from the green-clad teen. “What just happened?”

“Something terrible, I’m afraid.” Sheik replied, helping Link to his feet. “What attacked us was a dark entity that was sealed beneath the well long ago by Impa, the mayor of this village.” He glanced at Sora, Donald, and Goofy at that last part, clearly directing it mostly to them. “But that seal just broke, and that thing, Bongo Bongo, is now free and went to the Shadow Temple to gather more power.”

“Wait, so the Shadow Temple is near here? Where is it?! That’s what we came here for!” Sora exclaimed, also wondering if Sheik was the one to put out the fires. They seemed too intense for some simple rain to do the trick. Just how long were they out for? The cloudy sky made it hard to tell what time it was.

“It is. It’s hidden by the graveyard, and Impa went there to try to seal it before your arrival. However, I worry for her, and you should go and aid her.” Sheik informed, then turning all his attention on Link. “I will teach you a song to reach its entrance more easily. However, you will need to get an important object first.” He paused, glancing back at Sora, Donald, and Goofy for a moment before looking back at Link. “Remember what I told you about your sword. Discover what you need to find, and then use it.”

Link didn’t seem to understand what Sheik meant at first, but then gave her a nod. “I understand. I’m ready for the song.”

The outsiders were confused, but was sure Link would explain. First, though, the mysterious youth pulled out a harp as Link got his Ocarina ready. The two played a melody that was sad and even sounded a bit haunting. Their notes weaved through the raindrops and into the overcast sky…

“Go now, and make haste.” Sheik instructed, putting his harp away. “Impa is strong, but Bongo Bongo is a monstrosity, so I still worry. That thing can never be allowed to gather all its strength!” With those foreboding words, the young man pulled something from his pocket and threw it on the ground, summoning a brief, blinding light, causing everyone else to cover their eyes. By the time they recovered, Sheik was gone…

“What was that all about?! That hurt my eyes!” Donald exclaimed, rubbing at them and grumbling something else under his breath.

“He does that sometimes…” Navi said, blinking a few times to help her see well again. “We don’t really know much about him. Looks like he put out the fires, though, and I can see people coming down from the path to Death Mountain.” The fairy informed, flying a bit higher to get a better view. Indeed, there was a large crowd of people slowly coming back into the village.

Rubbing his eyes too, Sora was at least glad the village was okay. However, he started to notice this feeling in the air that reminded him of the oppressed sensation in Hyrule Field. It also, once more, seemed like he was being watched by something, but instead of it being far away, it seemed like the watcher was right behind him. He even couldn’t help but glance over his shoulder, but there was of course nothing there. That’s when he realized something else…

“Hey, where are the Heartless?” He asked, realizing just how strange this situation was. “There are people here, and there’s a cursed Temple filled with darkness nearby…but no Heartless.” As much as he hated to think about it, this village was the perfect place for the creatures to swarm and attack. Yet there wasn’t one in sight. Sora figured that the ranch was safe because other places attracted the Heartless more, but what better spot for them to go to than a village in a country that was overthrown by a diabolical man that’s near a cursed location?

“Huh…I hadn’t noticed, but he’s right! There were a lot of Heartless on the way, but it’s safe in the village!” Goofy remarked, scratching the side of his head. “Where would they all go?”

Link looked off past the windmill, towards the graveyard. “Maybe they’re all in the Temple. If they’re like Gold Skulltulas, they’d be attracted to curses…”

“Gold Skulltulas are the physical manifestation of a curse we’ve been hunting.” Navi explained. “We got a lot of them on the way. That house over there is somewhere you should avoid. The people are half-spider, and we wouldn’t want you to think they were monsters to fight or something…” The fairy pointed to a rundown home that looked like it hadn’t been entered, let alone lived in, in decades.

That was a pretty disturbing thought, half-spider people…but the outsiders had no reason to doubt her. “Okay, got it…but what about what Sheik said. Something about getting an item and using your sword?” Sora asked, noting that Link looked up at Navi, clearly wanting her to answer. He really relied on the fairy for so much talking…

“That’s a bit hard to explain…” The fairy admitted. “We’ll need to split up for a bit. There’s some information we’ll have to gather, and the two of us may need to leave the village. In the meantime, you guys can ask around for your friends. We promise we won’t go on without you, so…let’s make the well our meeting place, okay?”

That seemed unusually specific and yet vague. Donald crossed his arms, squinting at Navi. “What’s with all the secrecy?” He asked, realizing it was a bit hypocritical given how Link and Navi had no idea of where the outsiders came from.

“It’s just a lot to go over! Trust us, it’s easier this way.” Navi insisted. “But like I said, you can go ask for your friends while we split up, so it’s fine, right?”

Sora found it odd too, but wasn’t as annoyed by it as Donald. “It’s not that big of a deal, Donald! Link and Navi can take care of themselves, and I’m sure they’ll tell us sooner or later!”

“Yeah! We can trust ‘em to keep their word!” Goofy chimed in with a grin. “My legs a bit of a rest after goin’ across that field anyway! Goin’ around the village won’t be as bad!”

“Aw, fine! Let’s just split up, then!” Donald relented, grumpily stomping off in a random direction. Giving Link and Navi apologetic looks, Sora and Goofy followed him.

The outsiders went around the village, asking everyone that saw about Kairi and Mickey, but they sadly had no luck. An old man in a blue cloak, a beggar, a redheaded woman near a chicken (or Cuccos as she called them) coop, among many other citizens of the village simply had no idea who Kairi and Mickey were. Strangely, during this search, the rain grew more intense as lightning blasted across the sky, the windmill spinning rapidly for a few minutes. Going around in that rain was miserable, so after realizing the search was pointless, the trio took shelter under the straw canopy of a nearby house. The well was within view of their location, so that seemed the best place to wait.

“Where do you think Link went?” Sora asked, noticing they hadn’t seen him or Navi since they split up. “Do you think they found what they were looking for?”

“They better have, I don’t want to wait here for long!” Donald exclaimed, peering out at the continuous rainfall. “…You think that Sheik guy is taking care of the Heartless? He seems capable…”

“Maybe! Link and Navi said he was a good guy, so maybe he’s helpin’ out the village by keepin’ the Heartless at bay!” Goofy agreed. “Maybe they really did just go to the Shadow Temple, though…” Just that name made it seem like an absolute magnet for Heartless. He didn’t want to say it out loud, but it made him nervous to go in there…

Unfortunately for Donald, the group ended up having to wait for well over an hour since sitting under the canopy before Link and Navi came back. The rain was still falling, and the three were nearly ready to fall asleep before they saw the teen and fairy approach the well. “Hey, they’re back!” Sora exclaimed, nudging Donald and Goofy to fully wake them up. The three got up, approaching the well. Sora was alone in noticing that Link stood an oddly large distance from the well, glancing at it as though he was weary of it…

“Hey, sorry about that, I hope you guys weren’t waiting for too long!” Navi apologized. “We got what we needed, now we just have to get to the Temple!”

“But wait, what did you get?” Sora asked, looking Link over. It took him a second, but the brunette noticed a strange object on the swordsman’s belt. It looked like a large magnifying glass, but purple both in the handle and lens. The object also had three red points coming from the top that didn’t seem to serve much of a purpose. “Is that it?”

Link took the object from his belt and turned it around in one hand. “It’s called the Lens of Truth. Navi thinks it’s what Sheik was talking about. It lets people see hidden things…”

“What sorta things? Invisible stuff?” Goofy asked, looking the object over. It just seemed like a fancy magnifying glass to him!

“I don’t exactly know.” Link admitted, putting the lens back in his belt. “Navi just thinks it will help us, and I trust her.” He said it so factually, like the fairy was incapable of being wrong.

“Works for me, I guess.” Donald said with a shrug. “Can we just go? We’re supposed to head to the graveyard, right?”

Navi started to float towards the right of the windmill. “That’s right! Come on, let’s hurry! Impa could be in danger!” She said, starting to fly ahead. The other four followed closely behind, passing the Cucco Lady and down a path that led away from the village. This pathway opened up to an ancient looking graveyard, little else of note aside from the worn tombstones and an abandoned looking shack.

“Sheik said the Temple was near here…so Navi suggested I play the Nocturne of Shadow and call out to you guys.” Link said. With the others nodding in agreement, he played the haunting melody before vanishing in a purple light along with Navi.

The outsiders walked amongst the graves, the sensation of being watched growing exceedingly stronger. “This place is sure spooky…” Goofy commented. “Where do ya think Link and Navi ended up…?”

“Up here!” Navi’s voice called, startling the trio. They looked up to see that, at the back of the graveyard, was a raised area with a fence, Link standing behind the barrier and waving at the group, Navi at his shoulder. “There’s no other way up here!” She informed, indeed there being no way to scale the wall easily. “Link, use your Hookshot!”

Link nodded, taking the device out and firing it a the ground, the hook embedding into the soft dirt. “Grab on! I think one at a time, the Hookshot can’t pull all of you up.”

Donald went first, being the smallest, to test the Hookshot method. As the chain retraced, the mage was pulled up with relative ease! Then went Goofy, the chain going noticeably slower with him, but he just managed to make it. In the middle in terms of height and weight, Sora wasn’t so bad as Goofy, and was soon up with Link.

The quintet found themselves at the top of a staircase leading into the earth, torches lighting the way down. Once more, the feeling of being watched became intense, making everyone nervous to move on. Yet Link was the one to press onward, drawing his sword and readying his shield, Navi right at his side as they went down the stairs.

Summoning their own weapons, the outsiders followed, feeling like something was going to jump out at them from the darkness at any moment…yet nothing happened. If anything, that just made them increasingly anxious! Before long, they reached the bottom of the stairs and entered a large chamber, the center lit by a group of torches, a pedestal in the middle of them that served some sort of purpose in the past. The only other thing of note was the opening at the other end, a perfectly square whole that led into a yawning darkness!

Sora swore, just for a second, he saw a perfectly round orb peering out of the darkness like a single bloody eye! He was about to yell out to the others, to warn them, but when he blinked, it was gone. No one else reacted, so he had to wonder if it was just his imagination…

“Come on, I’ll try and light the way.” Navi said, taking her position at the front of the group as they slowly marched into the inky blackness. The inside of the Shadow Temple was hardly any more appealing inside than it was outside. It opened up into a stone hallway, one shorter than the entrance to the area to the point that it felt claustrophobic. That oppressive sensation that was inside the Water Temple was back, but twice as horrible to deal with!

There were no more torches to light the way, so it was only Navi’s light guiding them. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to pierce through the darkness very well on her own, the hallway mere feet ahead of the group being pitch black. It was better than nothing, though. At this point, things were quiet. No Heartless or any other creatures appeared, but the quintet constantly felt like something was going to rush out of the shadows to attack!

“This isn’t enough…I’m gonna help too!” Donald said, moving to the head of the group along with Navi. He raised his staff and focused for a moment until it let out a glow that helped illuminate things just a bit more. There was still plenty of darkness ahead, but it aided them a little. Thankfully, their trek through the hallway went without incident, and no one in the group dared to utter a word after Donald offered to help light the way. Despite him speaking and nothing happening, everyone still had the thought that any noise might alert something wicked to their presence…

Before too long, the quintet entered an actual room, and they all released a breath they didn’t even realize they were holding in. The chamber wasn’t very big, and it had little to see. In the center was a pillar with a large statue of a raven perched on top of it, its stony eyes seeming to follow the group as they went into the room. Aside from that, though…there was nothing. No other hallways, no doors, no clear way of moving forward!

“Gawrsh…was there some other way to go that we missed…?” Goofy asked, breaking the silence. “I didn’t see any…”

“I was keeping an eye out for that and didn’t see anything.” Navi insisted. “It might be worth it go back and check, though. You never know when one of these old Temples might have a hidden passage…”

Whether a coincidence now that conversation was going on or not, Heartless quickly spawned in all around the room! There were some familiar faces, the Wight Knights and Search Ghosts, but also a new type of Heartless, Gargoyles that flew through the air!

Sora, Goofy, and Link surrounded Donald and Navi as they prepared for a fight. The mage was staying with the fairy because he couldn’t use his staff as a light and for combat at the same time! The room was dark enough as it was, and the others needed to be able to see their opponents!

One thing that surprised the fighters was that the Heartless seemed unusually strong! The Wight Knights and Search Ghosts had been fought by Sora and Goofy in the past, but they found those types of Heartless faster, and their attacks took more effort to block! Was it the power of the Shadow Temple? That was the only thing that made sense to them! On top of their speed and strength, their durability seemed buffed as well, taking multiple bashed from Goofy’s shield or swings of the Keyblade to take them down. The only exception was with Link’s sword, which seemed to almost faintly glow in the darkness and still evaporated the Heartless in a single slash!

The fighting wasn’t helped as the three had to guard Donald and Navi, Sora using Thunder spells when needed to cover a wide area of Heartless to keep them at bay. It was especially useful to use Thunder on the Gargoyles, which were generally out of reach from melee attacks, and the Thunder spells tended to knock them out of the air by damaging their wings! While taking a few hits, the three fighters managed to eventually clear the Heartless out with minor injuries with both Donald and Navi remaining entirely unharmed!

Panting a bit, Sora wiped some sweat from his brow. “Something was real different about those Heartless…” He murmured, just glad that wave of them was over. “I think it’s pretty clear that they’re just drawn to this place, that’s why they weren’t in the village! And the darkness here just makes them stronger…”

“That makes sense. I did notice the lack of these monsters in Kakariko Village. In any case, we still need to work out a path forward, and I just realized something!” Navi informed. “Link, use the Lens of Truth! The path forward could be hidden to our eyes!”

Nodding, Link took the object from his belt. “Good idea, Navi. It must be why Sheik wanted us to get it.” Taking a deep breath, as if scared of what the may see, he held the object up to his face, peering through the lens.

“What do you see? Anything weird or hidden?” Sora asked, not sure what to expect. Something ‘hidden’ was such a vague term! It could mean just about anything.

“Not yet.” Link said, who was slowly scanning around the room, making sure not to miss anything. “Everything looks normal and…” Without warning he stopped, staring at a seemingly random wall. “I see a way through. Right there…” He pointed at the segment of solid, stone wall. It didn’t look any different than the structure around it.

Donald squinted at the wall, even holding up his glowing staff as if it’d help. Yet the wall just looked like, well, a wall! “What is it?! What are you seeing?!”

Link apparently decided that simply showing what he saw was easier than trying to explain it. He put the Lens of Truth back in his belt and approached the wall, reaching out to touch it. Except, when he should have placed his hand on the stone, it simply phased through! He kept reaching until his entire arm was inside the wall! “It’s not real. The wall is just an illusion.” The swordsman explained, stepping into it.

“Hey! Don’t go too far ahead!” Navi yelled out, dashing into the wall and after Link, looking like she simply vanished into thin air.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy seemed kind of nervous to just walk through a wall despite Link and Navi having no problems with it. Walking side-by-side, they approached the fake wall. Donald went in first, stepping through slowly, but of course making it through okay. Sora held his breath, somehow feeling like it’d help, and just stepped on through. His confidence bolstered by his friends’ success, Goofy took a fast step forward…into solid wall, stood too far to the side and missing the fake wall.

“Oh, come on!” Donald exclaimed, reaching through to grab Goofy’s arm and yank him through the fake wall. The quintet found themselves in another hallway, but this one was a bit wider. One difference, though, were the torches along the wall, as if the true Temple began here. Something that really stood out wasn’t the light, but what the light revealed. Along the walls were openings where ancient skeletal remains of people were laid out.

“I thought this was a Temple, not a crypt…” Navi murmured uneasily. “I guess it could be both…I really don’t know anything about this place or what they worshipped here…”

“I don’t want to think about that!” Donald exclaimed, his staff alight and held above his head. “Let’s just move forward!” He didn’t want to admit it, but he was getting kind of freaked out!

The group did as Donald asked, following him as he took the lead. Not that his staff’s light was very necessary anymore. Thankfully, the torches were enough to at least see more than a few feet down the hall, but the extra visibility was always welcome.

One thing that became apparent as the group walked down the hall was an odd noise. For a second, none of them quite knew what it was! Yet with each step, it became slowly louder and more apparent as to what it was. It was the sound of slow, rhythmic drumming! The source wasn’t clear, just that it was coming from somewhere deep within the Shadow Temple.

“Is that Bongo Bongo?” Sora asked out loud, feeling a nasty chill in his bones at the repeated drumming. Something about it just unnerved him in a way he couldn’t explain! “Bongo. Like a drum…right?”

“It might be. If it is, it’ll be helpful for us to follow the noise.” Navi asked before looking over at Link. “A bongo is a type of drum.” She told him, the older teen nodding in understanding.

With a way to track down their target, the group marched onward at a quick pace. As much as they felt an instinctual dread in meeting Bongo Bongo, they needed to help Impa in any way possible, assuming she was still okay, of course. As the quintet went down the hallway, they eventually heard a shuffling noise behind them. Quickly, all of them turned around and saw one of the wall openings held a mummified corpse rather than a skeleton…and the body was moving!

It was little more than dried flesh wrapped in protruding bone, its face a red mask with empty sockets and rotted, grit teeth. On the opposite side of the wall, a second one of the grotesque creatures emerged, both of them emptily staring at the group as they shuffled closer.

Link’s face went white as a sheet, barely able to even take a step back, his fear very evident. “Th…Those are…!” Was all he was able to muster before the was interrupted by the ghastly creatures.

The two shambling corpses opened their dried maws and let out an unearthly shriek that bounced off the walls and could be felt down to the bone of the entire group. It was a horrid sound unlike any of them had ever heard, and so loud it was as if the creatures, the ReDeads, were screeching right into their ears! It wasn’t just that it was loud and horrifying, but it quite literally froze everyone in place! Their feet felt rooted to the ground, with Navi nearly falling out of the air because her wings barely moved, and none of the fighters could even move their arms to attack or defend!

Using the paralyzed group to their advantage, the two ReDeads closed the gap, moving slowly yet somehow seeming to get to their victims shockingly quick! One of the corpse-like creatures leapt onto Link, curling its limbs around him to hold itself in place as it dug its rotted teeth into his neck! The older teen yelled out in horror and pain, his body still unable to move. The other ReDead went for Sora, mirroring the actions of its comrade as it clung to the Keyblade user and bit at his neck! Dr. Orpheus’ protection made it so the monster’s teeth didn’t penetrate his skin, but it was still nauseating and painful!

Luckily for the quintet, the monsters didn’t exactly think ahead, if they were even able to. While Sora and Link were incapacitated, Donald and Goofy were unharmed, and their paralysis quickly wore off! Their bodies moving again, the two older fighters swiftly came into action!

Goofy went for Sora, slamming his shield onto the ReDead’s back, causing its grip on the teen to loosen. He repeated the attack, but harder, causing Sora to stagger and for the creature to let go, landing on its feet. The knight spun around, using the edge of his shield to slice the ReDead across the chest, causing it to drop to the floor defeated!

With Donald, it was a bit tough. He couldn’t use any big spells without risking harming Link. He felt the best thing was a basic Fire spell due to how small it was. With a cry, he unleashed a fireball at the ReDead, striking it in the back. The creature was lit on fire, but it didn’t seem to harm it at all, as it didn’t react! Panicking, Donald yanked on one of the thing’s limbs, managing to pry it off of Link, who was able to move enough to shove the burning ReDead off of him and onto its back. Thinking fast, the mage cast a Blizzard spell, freezing he monster’s torso and head to the floor. With its face encased in ice, it couldn’t shriek at them anymore.

“Link, I’m sorry!” Donald quickly exclaimed, looking the teen over. Link was staring at the ReDead, a look of open terror on his face as he rubbed at his sore neck. “Are you okay?! I thought it’d let go! Are you burnt?!”

“Couldn’t you have done anything but that?!” Navi cried out, flying between Donald and Link as if to protect her friend from the mage. “Don’t you have some other kind of magic that could’ve done the job better?!”

“I said I was sorry!” The duck snapped, glaring at Navi. “I didn’t want to hurt him or anything! I just wanted to help!”

“It’s fine, Navi.” Link interrupted, having composed himself remarkably fast. “He was just trying to help. I didn’t get burned.”

Sora felt pretty freaked out too from his attack, but not as bad as Link had. He, too, had recovered by this point. “We don’t have time to fight anyway! Don’t we still need to save Impa?!”

Navi sighed, shaking her head. “You’re both right. I’m sorry, Donald. I just got so worried over Link, and…” She trailed off with another sigh, seeming more disappointed in herself than anything.

“Well…I can understand that…” Donald relented. “Let’s just keep going. I wanna get out of here!” Once more, he took the lead as the group went onward, lighting the way with his staff.

As the quintet went down into the Shadow Temple, the structure seemingly to actually, subtly, slant downward, they encountered numerous dead-ends and paths that Link needed to use the Lens of Truth for. It’d always reveal a hidden pathway to them or showing that an optional path actually lead into a seemingly bottomless pit. Every so often they’d enter a room with chains and wooden Xs in them that had a disturbing red stain on them, some even with skeletal remains nearby…

The Heartless became more restless on top of everything, appearing in larger numbers and seeming to grow more powerful the further they went on. Sora, Donald, and Goofy increasingly had troubles during their fights, yet Link’s sword always managed to slice through the attacking creatures with ease.

“We’re pretty lucky you have that sword…” Sora pointed out as Link took out a Large Body with a single swipe of his blade. “The Heartless don’t stand a chance against it!”

“Where’d ya get it anyway? What’s it called? In all the stories I’ve heard, super strong swords always got fancy names!” Goofy added on, genuinely interested in the unusual blade Link had.

For a moment Link hesitated, like he wasn’t sure he was allowed to answer that. Navi floated to his ear and whispered something the other three couldn’t hear. The older teen cleared his throat. “It’s called the Master Sword. I got it from a Temple…but like I said before, I don’t know why it’s like this. I just know how effective it can be.”

That was enough to satisfy the trio, especially since this was hardly the time for Link to go on a story about the unique blade. After taking a few minutes to rest, the group pressed onward. Much like the Water Temple, the Shadow Temple was mazelike in design, and they were sure it was due to Ganondorf’s influence. There would simply be long stretches of hallway that didn’t seem to have much purpose being such a long walk. And these massive pathways simply lead to rooms that seemed mostly empty save for a pile of bones or an ambush of Heartless. A statue of the raven was seen now and again, but if it was something to be worshipped, it certainly had no altars of any kind…

At the very least, the group knew they were making progress due to the pounding of the drums, which never ceased for a moment. The more they walked forward, the louder these beats got. It was he only way for the group to know they were making any progress, as the Temple started to seem repetitive as time went on.

That was, however, until the quintet reached something entirely new. They entered a room without any hallways or other paths to go by, save for an unconventional one. Sitting, or rather floating, before them was a massive, ancient looking ship with a raven as a figurehead with two large bells on either side of it. Yet this boat wasn’t floating in water, it was simply situated in a foggy void, the only bits visible through the mist being pitch black and seemingly endless. There was a small stone staircase leading towards the deck of the ship, and there was no sail or paddles or anything on the structure to actually make it move.

“What is that…?” Sora asked, having a really bad feeling about the vessel. He was an islander, so he was around boats all the time, he felt comfortable with them. But the one in front of him made him want to just turn and run in the other direction. “Why is there a boat here?”

“I have no idea.” Navi answered, looking towards Link. “Hey, can you see any other paths with the Lens of Truth? Anything noteworthy at all?”

Link took out the odd item and looked around with it. He searched slowly and thoroughly…yet after a minute he shook his head. “I can’t see anything different at all with the Lens of Truth. No other paths or anything we couldn’t already see.”

“That there drummin’ noise is getting’ pretty loud.” Goofy pointed out. “Maybe we gotta take this boat to get to it. We’re goin’ the right way, right?”

“But if we have to take the boat, and Impa went ahead of us…why is it still here?” Donald brought up. “Unless something happened to her…”

“If we’re going to help her, we can’t hesitate.” Link decided, though he didn’t exactly seem eager to keep going. “We’ll just have to be careful, I don’t think we have a choice.”

Following Link’s lead, the entire group boarded the vessel, the footfalls of the four fighters making no sound when stepping on the deck despite its age. A sense of unease befell them all, and without warning, the bells of the boat’s bow rang out! The ship jolted and started to bob forward, as if on the open sea! There was no visible force that kept it going, it was as though a giant, unseen hand was moving it like a child playing with a toy! Within seconds, the boat moved past where the group came in and was now in a hallway just big enough to fit the vessel, so there was no going back…

“Be careful!” Navi warned as she looked around. “No telling what’ll happen on this thing or where it’s even going…”

The way the ship moved without any sort of resistance was unnerving to Sora. Even on the calmest seas, the water still resisting the boat’s movements, the natural currents, no matter how tiny, pushing against your vessel. But there was none of that in this case, and he knew it was because there was nothing to push back against the ghostly boat, but it still felt so wrong to him that it made him feel sick…

As if summoned by Navi’s warnings, three foes appeared before the group, materializing out of the fog! Not Heartless, and not the ReDead either. It was a trio of tall skeletons, each with armor, a sword, and a shield! They were Stalfos, their eye sockets glowing with small red orbs, showing just a bit of life in something that should be entirely dead! They marched towards the four fighters, their skulls in a scowl as though offended by the presence of the living upon the ship.

Sora wasted no time and darted forward, feeling none of his spells would do much. Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder didn’t seem like they’d be effective against something without skin or muscle! The Stalfos he went for swung at him, Sora blocking the blow but being held in place. Despite having no muscle, the Stalfos was still strong, and he grit his teeth as he pushed back.

Link went for a second Stalfos, or rather he attempted to fight from a distance, using his bow and arrows as he backed away, firing them off at the skeleton. However, it kept blocking most of the projectiles, and the few that hit it simply dug into the bone, but that didn’t seem to actually hinder the Stalfos in any way.

Donald and Goofy had an easier battle, fighting one Stalfos at the same time. Like Sora, Donald knew that the basic element spells wouldn’t do much against a skeleton, so he opted for a Gravity spell instead. When the black and purple orb descended onto the Stalfos, its movements were halted, and it grunted in clear effort as it tried to take a step forward. Goofy charged in, using his shield to slash at the Stalfos’ own shield and knocking it out of the creature’s hand and sent it hurdling over the edge of the boat and into the abyss below.

Meanwhile, Sora had no access to Gravity, having to rely solely on direct attacks in his fight. He managed to push the Stalfos’ attack back, slipping in and slashing the skeleton across the chest…or rather, its ribcage. The bones were hardier than Sora expected, so the attack didn’t crumble it like he had hoped. In retaliation, the Stalfos stabbed the brunette in the stomach, but his magical protection stopped a more grievous injury. The attack hurt a lot, and most assuredly left a bruise, but it didn’t penetrate his skin or even his clothes as he was sent staggering back.

Link’s Stalfos had closed the gap with only a few arrow wounds to show for the blonde’s efforts. With the Master Sword in hand, Link clashed with the Stalfos, blades clanging as each one tried to push the other back. The older teen’s raw strength was greater than Sora’s, able to parry the skeleton’s blade with relative ease, swiftly slashing its skull in half horizontally! The red embers of its sockets vanished, and the monster collapsed into a heap on the floor!

Casting another Gravity spell, Donald and Goofy had their fight about wrapped up. The Stalfos, even without proper eyes, seemed to be glaring right at the knight as he charged forward, shield at the ready. With a cry, Goofy slammed his shield into the side of the Stalfos’ head, popping it off its neck and sending it into the abyss just like its shield! Same with Link’s, the creature soon fell apart and was nothing but dead bones, armor, and a useless sword.

Sora was the only one left, and as he noticed the other two Stalfos being defeated, something surged within him. He recalled how Link used his sword to create a miniature tornado earlier on, and something deep down in the brunette started to stir, though he couldn’t say what. As the final Stalfos readied to slash down at Sora, the teen raised his Keyblade as magic welled in him. “Aero!” He yelled, a shield of wind surrounding his body! Sora had no idea where he got the word ‘Aero’ from, it seemed to just come from his heart, somehow…

As the Stalfos swung its sword, the Aero spell knocked the attack away and put the creature off-balance. Using this to his advantage, Sora mirrored Goofy’s tactic and used his Keyblade to knock the Stalfos’ skull right off its head! It, too, fell into the void below, causing the rest of its body to fall apart.

With all the foes gone, the fighters had a chance to catch their breath, Navi fluttering by Link. “Sorry I couldn’t help more.” She said to the swordsman. “I’d have dived into its eyes, but…”

“It’s fine. We all got out okay.” Link assured Navi before turning his attention to Sora. “You can do a lot of magic with that weapon of yours. What is it?”

Deciding just naming it was okay, Sora held it out in front of him. “It’s the Keyblade. Really helps against the Heartless, but the Master Sword is in a league of its own against them!”

Link’s eyes widened, as though Sora just revealed something he had been expecting. “A Keyblade…?” He murmured, seeming to be thinking before he said anything else.

As the Aero spell started to disappear, Sora was about to ask if Link was okay, but Navi interrupted him.

“A wall! Dead ahead!” She yelled, the boat never having stopped moving, and indeed approaching a wall! Luckily, though, a place to get off also revealed itself, this clearly being the end of their trip on the eerie vessel.

Once the ship neared the landing, the group quickly leapt for their lives, landing hard on the ground, but without any serious harm while Navi simply flew with them. Looking back, they saw the boat stop right before it would’ve hit the wall. Without warning, the vessel simply fell. It didn’t tumble, just dropped straight down like a massive invisible hand simply let it go. Unable to fight their curiosity, the quintet waited silently, knowing there had to be a thud or a splash of water or something. Yet an entire minute passed, and there wasn’t any noise.

“What was that?!” Donald all but demanded as the group got their bearings. “It was creepy!”

“No clue…let’s just forget about it, it’s easier that way.” Navi said as the five saw where they were. They were in an area like where they first saw the boat, except there was what appeared to be a cave’s entrance as the only path forward. Link even used the Lens of Truth once more and saw no alternatives.

Unlike the hallways, the entrance before them didn’t seem manmade. It was as though something massive burrowed in, or out, of the stone wall. And they also noticed the drums were louder than ever. Slowly, Donald once more leading the group with his lit staff, the five of them entered. They quickly saw there wasn’t much to the cave save for a hole in the floor, once more looking like some sort of creature made it…and it seemed the drumming was coming from it.

“Bongo Bongo’s gotta be down there…” Goofy suggested, feeling pretty nervous. “But just how deep is it?” Even when Donald lowered his staff into the opening, the bottom wasn’t visible.

“We don’t have any choice. Not like we can go back.” Sora pointed out. “The boat’s gone and I don’t think we’re gonna see it again…”

Silently, everyone agreed with Sora, knowing they had no way to go but down. Taking a deep breath, the four fighters leapt in one at a time, Navi flying down with Link as he jumped. As they plummeted through the darkness, they failed to realize the ever-present drums stopped without warning…

After a few seconds, the quintet descended into a massive cave-like area, its walls swallowed by the darkness. They landed on a circular platform, one that bounced the fighters up a bit when they hit it, protecting them from harm. It only took them a moment to realize it was a gigantic drum, one the size of an entire room! Around them was a glowing green liquid with countless bones along its shallow bottom.

“Hey…if we’re on a drum…that means…” Link murmured, looking around along with everyone else, weapons at the ready!

Then, there was a thump.

Turning around, the quintet bore witness to a grizzly sight. Floating above the drum’s edge was a horrific creature that shook the group to the core. Its skin was purple and grey like a corpse, humanoid in shape, yet its bottom half was going upwards, off into the void so its entire body wasn’t even visible. Its arms ended in stumps at the wrist, its massive hands detached, yet floating by the stumps and clearly still usable in some manner. Most eerie of all, though, was its head. Or rather, its lack of a head. Coming out of the neck was some sort of odd, fleshy flower, and in is center was a single, piercing red eye.

The two hands of the beast, of Bongo Bongo, started to smack the drum, playing a haunting tune, the same that had been following the quintet all through the Temple! Each time one of the gnarled hands struck the instrument, it sent a shockwave that bounced the fighters of the group, none of them having any way to stay grounded. The rhythm got faster, jostling the group as they readied for some sort of attack. Instead of attacking, though, the main body of Bongo Bongo simply vanished, fading until there was nothing there as its dead hands beat is drum.

“It’s up to something! I can’t see it anywhere!” Navi cried out, looking all over the place along with the others, but Bongo Bongo’s main body was simply gone! “Link, try using-”

The fairy was cut off as the hands stopped playing and curled into fists! They shot forward, one heading towards Link, and the other towards Sora, Donald, and Goofy, who were grouped together. Acting fast, the older teen dived out of the way, and at the same time got his bow and some arrows ready, firing several projectiles at the hand as it passed. Two of the arrows hit the hand, sinking into its rotting flesh, but this didn’t seem to harm the hand, not even drawing blood!

Sora and Donald shot Fire spells at the hand, the fireballs hitting and the fist and scorching the flesh, but it didn’t slow down! While they leapt out of the way, Goofy stood his ground and tried to use his shield to stop the attack! At the same time, though, the other hand slammed onto the drum, knocking the knight into the air. This distracted him enough that he couldn’t even block the fist as it collided with him, making him yelp out in pain as he bounced towards the edge of the drum, thankfully managing to come to a stop just before he fell into the green liquid.

“Hey! That was cheap!” Donald yelled out, firing off Fire and Blizzard spells near the space between the hands, trying to land a blow on Bongo Bongo’s body even if it was invisible! Yet his attacks just went off into the void, not hitting anything. “What…?!” It seemed the phantom didn’t even need to be close to its hands! That just frustrated the mage more, thinking of it like the monster was cheating!

“Link! The Lens of Truth!” Navi cried out o her companion, managing to get the full thought out. “It’s our only shot!”

Doing as suggested, Link got the object from his belt, having his sword in the other hand as a method of defense and attack. Goofy, who had recovered from his attack, rushed to Link’s side to provide extra assistance. The blonde gazed through the lens, scanning the entire area before stopping and pointing with the Master Sword. “There! Its body is there!” He yelled out.

Instantly, Sora and Donald went on the offense. Wanting to keep their distance from the monstrosity, they fired off Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder spells at where Link was pointing. To their astonishment, the spells stopped in midair, hitting something that only the swordsman could see. In response, Bongo Bongo’s hands started to thrash about, swinging wildly around the drum as its body started to fade back into existence again. Apparently, if it took damage, Bongo Bongo couldn’t remain invisible.

The fighters ducked under the appendages as they flew about the area, Sora and Link slashing at them as they went by and got some lucky hits in! Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to stop the hands from targeting Link. They flew to the sides of he drum and opened up wide before coming in towards Link in a large, deadly clap!

Knowing there was little he could do to actually stop the attack, Goofy leapt out of the way, hoping Link would do the same. But the swordsman stood his ground! Rather than run, he waited for when the hands drew near and swung his sword in a spin attack! The powerful blade made deep gashes in the dead palms of Bongo Bongo, stopping them in their tracks!

While both hands were occupied, Sora sprinted for the phantom’s main body, leaping at it and slashing across its single, piercing red eye! This elicited a disturbing, pained groan from Bongo Bongo despite its lack of a mouth. Not slowing down, Sora unleashed a barrage of blows and slashes onto the weak spot of the monster, letting out a cry each time and finishing the onslaught with a Fire spell to the eye!

Surely enraged, Bongo Bongo sent one of its hands at Sora, grabbing him before he could dodge! The hand was large enough that it circled just about his entire body with ease, leaving only his head and his feet exposed. With the Keyblade pinned to his side, there was nothing he could do!

“Sora! Hold on!” Goofy yelled, charging at the hand to save his friend. Yet, as he drew close, the other hand slammed on the drum, sending the remaining fighters in the air. When this happened, the free hand scooped Donald and Goofy up, holding onto them as well! At his point, only Link and Navi were free, only able to watch as the hands went up in the air, squeezing at its captives.

Saving Link for last, and apparently blaming him for its misfortune due to the Lens of Truth, Bongo Bongo lowered its body to the drum and surged itself forward in an attack towards the older teen! Like before, he stood his ground, teeth grit at the sight of his new friends entrapped by the monstrous being. Readying the Master Sword, he waited until Bong Bongo was right in front of him and thrust the weapon forward! The blade pierced the single red eye of the phantom, getting push right to the hilt!

With that, Bongo Bongo grew still, stopping dead in its tracks.

Link let out a cry of effort and sliced the sword in an upwards arc, nearly cutting the creature’s eye in half! With this, the phantom thrashed in clear agony, letting go of Sora, Donald, and Goofy as it started to slam the drum mindlessly, its body retreating near the end of the drum as the hand spasms slowed down, as did its thrashing. Frozen in place, Bongo Bongo’s body changed into that familiar static form it held when coming out of the well earlier before simply falling apart. The remnants of the phantom quickly shrank away until there was no trace of it left.

Panting, Sora winced as he felt his entire body ache. If it wasn’t for Dr. Orpheus, he was sure he would’ve had some broken bones at least! “Is everyone alright?” He was going to use Cure if needed, but he recalled how their wounds were healed after the last Temple…

“I think we’re all okay…but where’s Impa?” Navi wondered. “We didn’t see her at all!” As if waiting for such a question, everyone was blinded by a white light, just like with the Water Temple.

When the light faded, the group found themselves in the unusual spacious area again, their wounds all healed like before. This time, they were facing the purple platform, and on it a woman faded into existence. She was tall and looked strong, wearing some light armor with a symbol of an eye on it, the same symbol as Sheik’s. Though she didn’t exactly seem old, she sported white hair which was almost as unusual as her red eyes.

“I knew I’d see you here, Link. I didn’t realize you’d have outside help, though.” The woman observed, her voice steady, yet kind.

“Impa! What happened to you? Did Bongo Bongo…?” Navi asked, trailing off and unwilling to finish her question. “But yes, this is Sora, Donald, and Goofy. They’ve been helping us a lot!”

With her unusual red eyes, Impa looked Sora, Donald, and Goofy over, almost like she was studying them. After a moment, she gave the very smallest of smiles. “You three have good hearts, just like Link. I’m happy to know you’re with him.”

“We’re just trying to help. This kingdom needs us, after all!” Sora was glad he could help, even if it seemed Kairi wasn’t in this area…

“But what about you, Impa? You went into the Shadow Temple, right?” Link asked as he approached the woman, a heavy frown on his face. “I let you die too, didn’t I?”

Impa placed her hands on Link’s shoulders, holding him in place. “No.” She answered sternly. “I am the only one here at fault for my death. You can’t go and blame yourself!” Her voice and facial expression then became just a bit softer. “You have a strong heart. Stronger than you believe. You saved my village, after all. The Shadow Temple was a horrid place, channeling the darkness of Hyrule’s past, and it drew in those beings of evil. But you perceived and cleansed it! You must be proud of that!”

The older teen didn’t say anything at first, his hands clenching into fists. Then, he took the Lens of Truth from his belt and held it out to Impa. “Here. I want you to have this. It belongs to the Sheikah, right? You should keep it.” He completely ignored the praise he got, silently rejecting it.

The woman looked solemn for a moment, then took the object. “I thank you, Link. I thank all of you. There’s just one more thing. The Princess is safe, Link. I cannot tell you her exact location, just know that she’s alive.”

“Really?! Oh, thank Farore!” Navi exclaimed. “We were worried about her!”

“They were lookin’ for a Princess?” Goofy whispered to Donald. He felt a tad awkward standing by these talks, especially since, unlike Ruto, he never got to meet Impa.

Donald shrugged. “I guess so.” He whispered back. “I’ve got some questions for them when we get back…”

“Now, go. You only have one Temple left to cleanse. As the Sage of Shadows, I wish I could aid you more. All I can do is pray for your safety.” Impa said, offering a more genuine smile to the group.

Then, at that moment, there was another blinding flash of light as the quintet was whisked away…

Chapter Text

When the quintet reappeared, they found themselves at the entrance of the graveyard. Two things were quickly noticed by the group. First was the lack of that horrid sensation of being watched, the oppressive atmosphere of the village in general having been lifted with the cleansing of the Shadow Temple! The second thing they noticed was the time. From the position of the sun, it couldn’t be later than seven or eight in the morning! Their time in the Temple didn’t feel like it took more than maybe an hour, yet they were apparently in it overnight!

“Morning already?! How’s that possible?!” Donald exclaimed, rubbing his eyes and checking the sun again to make sure it was really that early.

“Didn’t that happen when we beat that monster in the Water Temple?” Goofy pondered, looking at Link and Navi for explanation.

“We’re not sure either.” The fairy confessed. “We’ve found that time doesn’t seem to flow normally in those cursed places…”

Sora stared at the back of the graveyard for a moment, feeling uneasy at how displaced things were. “That’s pretty creepy if that Ganondorf guy’s magic can mess with time like that…” How that even worked was beyond him, but he realized how strange it was.

“Well, since it’s morning, we might as well head out, right Navi?” Link asked, seeming like he was asking for her guidance or permission rather than just an opinion.

The fairy nodded, floating towards the pathway back to the village. “Yeah, we should! We can stop by the ranch on the way.”

Due to the healing the group got after beating Bongo Bongo, they supposed they had the strength to start journeying again right away. “We should get going, yeah. There’s just the one Temple left, right?” Sora asked as the others started back towards Kakariko Village.

“That’s right! In the desert is the last Temple. It may be a bit difficult to reach but…well, I’ll explain more when we get close.” Navi insisted, getting an obedient nod from Link.

Entering Kakariko proper, the group saw a pretty immediate change. While the people were still down on their luck and not exactly thriving, they seemed a lot more content than before. They seemed relieved, as if they had all woken up from a particularly nasty nightmare. Notably, there were still no Heartless about. Maybe they were so strongly drawn to the Temples that they left normal settlements alone…

Through the village and into Hyrule Field, the group went on without incident. Even in the field, it seemed Heartless activity died down. The Shadow Temple apparently drew in far more of the darkness than the five of them realized. Of course, the four fighters kept their weapons at the ready, just in case.

Speaking of weapons, Link kept glancing at Sora’s Keyblade as they went, the two of them walking a bit ahead of Donald and Goofy, with Navi hovering nearby of course. After looking at the brunette’s weapon a few times, Link cleared his throat. “Do you have a name for that?” He asked, pointing at the Keyblade.

That took Sora by surprise a bit. In the short time he knew Link, he assumed the older teen wasn’t the talkative type. He certainly didn’t exactly engage in a lot of small talk thus far. As for the question…Sora never thought of it. He read numerous stories and watched movies about sword wielders, and most of them had some sort of name for their weapon. He just kept thinking of the Keyblade as, well, ‘The Keyblade’ and little more. But he guessed it wasn’t exactly a name, like how calling a rapier a rapier wasn’t exactly naming it.

He supposed there was no reason not to name it…but he had no idea what to pick. “No, I don’t.” The younger teen replied after a few moments. “I guess I never stopped to think about it. Why?” Sora was curious why something like that caught Link’s attention enough to make him speak up.

Link looked dead ahead, almost seeming embarrassed at being asked for an explanation. “It’s nothing. I was just reminded of someone.” He answered vaguely.

Sora had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but he shrugged it off. “Well, okay, I guess…” Was all he thought to say in response. It was probably someone else Link knew that had some named weapon or something like that.

As the trip went on, the group noticed the Heartless continued to be weaker than before. It really seemed like the cleansing of the Temples was starting to slowly make the darkness blanketing the kingdom go away. In fact, the oppressive atmosphere that was present in the field was considerably weaker than when Sora, Donald, and Goofy arrived. That feeling of being watched, though, remained.

Once more, the group stopped at the ranch and stayed for the night. Malon was incredibly happy to have them, though mostly Link, back again. Talon was asleep most of the time, but the visit was still otherwise pleasant. Malon actually brought up the idea of taking horses, but Navi determined it’d probably be slower for all the time it’d take Sora, Donald, and Goofy to learn to ride. Just going straight to the desert would probably end up just as fast if not faster.

So, the visit went by with little incident, and Malon all but demanded that Link come back one day.

“That Malon really likes you!” Donald teased Link the following morning as they left the ranch. The group decided to hit the hay early and leave at the very crack of dawn. “How’d you two meet anyway?”

Link seemed a bit flustered, clearing his throat, but still answered. “Her dad fell asleep on the job, and I found him for her. Then I visited the ranch later and we just…became friends.”

“Aw, well that was sweet of ya.” Goofy commented, totally seeing that Link and Malon had crushes on each other. “She seems like a real swell gal, Link.”

“Swell…?” Link murmured before Navi whispered in his ear. “Oh, yeah. She’s pretty swell alright…” The poor guy still seemed flustered, clearly pretty bad at hiding how he actually felt about the redhead. This prompted Donald and Goofy chuckled a bit, but the two said no more on the subject.

The trip went on without any major issues. Though the further west they went, the more the Heartless appeared and the stronger they got. Shadows became Soldiers, and the Soldiers were soon joined by Large Bodies and Red Nocturnes. But with the four working together and the Heartless-destroying abilities of the Master Sword, they were of little consequence.

“So, where are we going again? You mentioned a sand goddess before, right?” Sora asked Navi as the trip went on. He started to notice the air around them was getting a bit warmer, and on the horizon, he saw the field ended and hard, dry, dirt ground began.

“Oh, I never mentioned it!” Navi exclaimed with a sigh. “It slipped my mind! We’re going to a desert. A pretty dangerous one with warrior women called the Gerudo. Ganondorf is their king, so this is enemy territory…”

“What?! You couldn’t have warned us earlier?!” Donald demanded. “How are we supposed to get to the Temple with a bunch of people chasing us?!”

Navi crossed her arms in thought, letting out a second sigh. “I’ve been thinking about that. I’ve never been to the Gerudo’s land before, so I don’t know what to expect except for what I’ve heard. I’m hoping we can just sneak past…”

“I don’t want to fight people.” Link said with a frown. “Monsters and Heartless are one thing, but a person…” He glanced down at his sword, his frown deepening.

Sora, on the other hand, had no such qualms. He didn’t want to kill anyone, that was for sure, but if these Gerudo were going to get in their way, then…! “I’ll fight them off, Link! And so will Donald and Goofy, right guys?”

“Well…if they’re gonna try and stop us from helpin’ people…” Goofy murmured. Like Sora, as long as he didn’t kill anyone, he supposed he was okay with it.

“I guess it’s settled. If they’re working for Ganondorf, they probably have Heartless at their beck and call.” Navi pointed out. “Link, you take care of them and Sora, Donald, and Goofy will fight off the Gerudo if we can’t sneak by. I’d still rather have a stealthy approach, of course…”

With things agreed to, the group started to walk a bit faster, and by the time they approached the end of Hyrule Field, it was a bit after noon. Malon had packed food for their journey, so they had some sandwiches to eat and milk to drink along the way. The end of the field ended almost abruptly and led into the dry, hard ground that was visible earlier. This ground sloped up a bit before it evened out again. Ahead of that was the entrance to a valley, red rock and a humid heat seeming to emanate from the earth itself. Along with this heat, of course, came a feeling of darkness, but not as strong as in Kakariko Village.

“Are the Gerudo nearby? Are they out here?” Sora asked, looking around, but seeing no signs of anyone. There weren’t even weeds growing out of the cracks in the ground, as if all life suddenly stopped when transitioning from the field to the valley.

“No, they’re further in, past a bridge. I never crossed it and to their territory before, I only ever looked around the bridge area.” Navi explained as the group kept going. “The Gerudo have a strong disdain for fairies based off old superstitions, so I didn’t press my luck…”

Entering the valley proper, the atmosphere got more intense, and the air grew hotter and dryer. The feeling of darkness wasn’t as intense as it was in Kakariko Village, but still far from pleasant. Strangely, though, as the group went further into the valley, the Heartless became less common. Maybe they were drawn to the Temple like before? Or maybe the Gerudo managed to control the Heartless, using the darkness in their hearts…

Alas, an obstacle soon presented itself to the travelers. When they reached the bridge that Navi mentioned, they saw it was entirely ruined! The bridge had been a rope bridge with planks going along it, and it was in fact dangling down below, one half of the ropes cut and ruining the structure!

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Donald exclaimed, looking back and forth for an alternate path…but there wasn’t any. Both directions went straight into sheer cliff face, and the way down went straight into a rapidly running river powered by a nearby waterfall. It was either the bridge or nothing, it seemed. “Now what do we do?!”

“There’s no other way around, is there?” Goofy asked, trying to look for an alternate path as well.

Navi hummed in thought, but then shook her head. “I really don’t think so. There are mountain ranges around the north of the castle. We could theoretically go through them, but I’ve never been to those areas and have no idea how to get from there to the desert. It’d take ages, and we probably would be in far more danger…”

Link was silent, taking a step forward as he observed the ruined bridge. “What about that? My Hookshot can latch onto it.” He said, pointing to a wooden post on the other side, one of two where the ropes had been tied.

“Wait, yeah!” Sora exclaimed. “And then whoever goes across can toss it back over the gap, right?” He remembered how Link’s Hookshot was enough to pull him, Donald, and Goofy up towards the Shadow Temple’s entrance. Going across the gap shouldn’t be too much more difficult!

“Good idea, Link!” Navi praised. “You go first, then we’ll just take turns going across the gap! Just…be careful tossing the Hookshot back, okay?” She said the last part to the entire group.

Link’s plan was put in motion, the swordsman going first as he told the others how to work the Hookshot before latching onto the wooden post. The device pulled him clear across the gap in mere seconds as Navi followed alongside him, showing the others how to do it. Tossing the Hookshot to Sora, the process continued. Sora, then Donald, and finally Goofy used the device to get across the gap. Goofy nearly dropped it when Donald tossed it over, but it went smoothly aside from that.

“Goofy, you gotta be more careful!” Donald scolded as the group moved away from the bridge. “If you had dropped that thing, we would’ve been stuck!”

“Sorry! But it all worked out, so it’s okay, right?” The knight pointed out with a chuckle. He then stopped, pointing at something nearby. It was a tent! A somewhat large one, enough for about half a dozen people. “Say, would some of them Gerudo ladies be in there?”

“That wouldn’t be a lot of them…” Sora pointed out, but still got his Keyblade ready, just in case. “Maybe it’s a small group of them working as lookouts!” But that didn’t make much sense given no one was actually outside the tent doing any guarding…

Just as Sora said this, a figure emerged from the tent! Not a Gerudo warrior to be sure, not even a woman! This person was an older man, his head shiny and bald with a grey mustache under his nose. He was short and stout, wearing an open shirt and having a grumpy expression on his face as he spotted the group. “Hey! Who are you people?!” The man demanded, starting to approach the five.

“Mutoh?!” Navi exclaimed before quieting down to talk to the outsider trio. “He’s a carpenter boss, but we last saw him in Kakariko Village!”

“Hm?! Who said my name?!” Mutoh exclaimed, squinting at Navi before his eyes widened. “A fairy?! Haven’t seen one of them in ages…” He mumbled, mainly to himself. “But what the heck are you doing here anyway?! How did you get past the destroyed bridge?!”

“Not very pleasant, is he…?” Sora murmured. The guy was so demanding and angry! What was his deal?! “Uh…our friend here found a way. It’s pretty difficult to use, though.” He made up on the spot. “What happened to that bridge anyway?”

Mutoh scoffed, as if the answer was dead obvious. “The Gerudo did it! My stupid, lazy workers decided they wanted to join the group of thieves! They only allow women, so my men are either imprisoned or dead!” He ranted, harshly spitting on the ground. “Then those Gerudo destroyed the bridge in the middle of the night! If I go further into their territory, they’ll get me, and I can’t leave!”

“That’s awful! I heard they lock up any men they see in their territory, but I didn’t think they’d waste their time on some carpenters!” Navi mused, sighing as she glanced over to Link. “We should help those men…it wouldn’t be right to leave them…”

“I think so too, we have to help them.” Link agreed, looking over at Sora, Donald, and Goofy before looking back at Mutoh. “We’ll go and look for your men. How many are there?”

This got a noise of surprise from the carpenter boss, giving a small smirk, which was the closest thing he did to not looking furious thus far. “You’ll really do it?! You’re all either brave, stupid, or actually strong enough. Goddesses hope it’s the last one. There’s four of those idiots in there. And if you bring them back, we’ll repair the bridge so we can all leave! Too much of a task for just me…”

“Don’t worry, we’ve got this!” Sora assured, wanting to make the man feel better despite how grumpy he was. “We’ve handled worse than a bunch of desert warriors!”

“Oh, brother…a rescue mission…” Donald said quietly with a sigh. Just one Temple left, and they get stuck with a side mission! Those stupid carpenters just had to get themselves kidnapped, huh?

Again, Mutoh smirked. “Hah! Well, you’re a bold kid!” He said to Sora, apparently not hearing Donald. “Like I said, get me my carpenters back, and we’ll get the bridge up again. Though I guess you had no trouble with that…”

“Got it! Come on, we have to proceed quietly.” Navi warned as the group moved further into the valley, leaving Mutoh to go back in his tent. “The Gerudo are thieves, and it’s said they’re hard to get the drop on. I don’t think we can sneak into their fortress, but we can least attack them by surprise…”

Sora had to wonder just how many of these Gerudo warriors there were or how powerful they happened to be. Were they like normal people, or stronger beings like the Mahjarrat? Navi never actually said they were human, after all. There were already the Zora, so the idea of the Gerudo being some other species was worth considering! He wanted to ask, but he didn’t want to make too much noise…

The group traveled for a good ten minutes, the valley path that laid ahead was without any obstacles, thankfully. No one said a word, nervous that any unnecessary sound could alert some hidden Gerudo lookout. They looked out for such things, but as far as they knew, none of the desert women were watching them. After ten minutes, a change in scenery occurred.

Ahead of the group was a wider area, the heat of the nearby desert stronger than ever, as was the oppressive atmosphere born of a foul darkness. In the rockface was a set of stairs leading upwards to a raised section of earth. As quietly as possible, the group approached it, Navi going ahead to peek beyond the stairs and flying back to the others.

“That’s where the Gerudo are, isn’t it?” Sora whispered, trying to talk as quietly as he could. Who knew how honed the senses of the Gerudo thieves were? “Are there a lot of them?”

“They have an entire fortress, I can only see about a dozen of them.” Navi quietly replied. “Be really careful and take a peek.” She urged, floating towards the wall again.

As silently as possible, the other four crept up to the wall and peered around to see that Navi was right. The stairs went up to a flat area that seemed carved into the greater valley wall. Within the area was indeed a fortress, one that was several stories high and made of carved rocks. Or, looking closer, it seemed the fortress was carved from the valley wall itself, into square segments that had doorways and windows carved in as well.

Milling about the fortress were the Gerudo, and Sora was thankful they weren’t as bad as he feared. The women were indeed human, with dark brown skin, golden eyes, and red hair. Those last two details weren’t exactly odd, except every single Gerudo had them! Aside from their eerie similarities, they were pretty normal. Each one was as big as an average woman, dressed for the desert, and wielding either a spear or a scimitar as they patrolled the area.

It seemed that stealth was truly out of the question. Every entrance to the fortress had a guard standing right next to it, and that wasn’t taking the other Gerudo guards patrolling about into account. Even if it was nighttime, it wouldn’t make a difference, the area simply had too many eyes on it to make sneaking possible.

“There’s a lot…we’ll have to fight them, won’t we?” Link asked, clearly not liking the idea. “I’ll still just fight the Heartless. You three can fight the Gerudo themselves.” He seemed pretty insistent on that.

“Should we just charge in? Sneaking’s not gonna happen.” Sora pointed out, feeling pretty confident. The Gerudo had numbers, but they seemed like pretty normal people. A few spells was probably all it’d take to get to the carpenters!

“You’re right. It won’t happen!” A woman’s voice, smug and bragging, rang from behind the group. They all turned, weapons at the ready, to see two Gerudo warriors standing there! Somehow, the women snuck up on them without making a sound! The pair each had spears, the weapons pointed at the quintet. “You really thought you could get this far without us noticing?” One of them asked.

The second one scoffed, rolling her golden eyes. “If you give up without a fight, we just might have mercy on you. Your items look rather valuable, especially that unusual sword…” She mused, gesturing to the Keyblade.

“Now we really have no choice but to go all in!” Donald cried out as he raised his staff, Sora and Goofy getting ready to attack as well.

Before the three of them could move, however, one of the Gerudo guards screamed. “Intruders! Intruders by the stairs! Everyone assemble here!” Her voice traveled far, no doubt the entire fortress hearing her words.

At the same moment, Donald let out a shout of “Thunder!” as the spell unleashed itself onto the two women. Clearly, they weren’t prepared, as the attack hit them easily, the Gerudo yelling out in pain as the electricity coursed through their bodies and collapsed them.

The group was given no time to plan any further or even to get into a more favorable position. At least a dozen Gerudo warriors streamed from the main fortress area, spears and scimitars at the ready. “There’s only four of them!” One of the guards yelled, either not noticing or not counting Navi.

Despite their numbers, the Gerudo apparently did much better when their opponents were helpless, as they stood little chance against the four fighters. Sora was able to block and parry the attacks that came at him with relative ease using the Keyblade. He opted to use Blizzard spells to freeze guards in place, otherwise he bashed them with his weapon to try and knock them out.

Donald wasn’t quite as nice as Sora, implementing more violent and painful Thunder spells in his attacks against the Gerudo. The scimitars, being all metal, didn’t help the female warriors at all. Those fighters got taken out quicker, their weapons attracting the Thunder spells.

Goofy had a bit more trouble than his companions, only able to really fight up close. He could throw his shield, but with the amount of opponents, it left him just a bit too wide open for comfort. Instead, he charged through the Gerudo, or slammed into them with his shield when the opportunity arose. Thankfully, their attacks weren’t able to get by his shield, the knight blocking them with general ease.

Link, naturally, had the most trouble due to his refusal to actually fight back. He guarded and parried attacks, but he didn’t actually attack back in any way. At the very least, none of the Gerudo’s attacks were able to reach him, and he was able to keep the warriors off of Sora, Donald, and Goofy’s backs for the most part. Navi aided Link, flying into the eyes of some of the Gerudo, momentarily blinding them and disrupting them in the middle of their attacks.

Though taking a Gerudo down wasn’t too tough, the issue was keeping them down, as they generally got back up before too long, and more kept coming! Dozens of the thieves were around the group, being more of a battle of stamina than anything!

“Unleash the Heartless! They’re stronger than we realized!” One of the Gerudo yelled, a number of them backing away at the order. A number of Heartless appeared, brand new types to the group. Half a dozen Bandits and four Fat Bandits materialized, looking ready to fight! This was Link’s turn to shine, the swordsman rushing in with his blade at the ready.

The Bandits charged as a group, their scimitars slashing back and forth as the Hylian drew close. While they were distracted, the Fat Bandits turned their gazes on Sora, Donald, and Goofy. They were massive, and had stomachs like Large Bodies, so frontal attacks were guaranteed to fail! As the tree got ready to attack, they paused as two of the Fat Bandits breathed in heavily, like they were preparing for something.

Without warning, the two large Heartless unleashed pillars of flames from their mouths at the outsider trio! The range of the fire attacks was longer than expected, and while this happened, the other two Fat Bandits charged at the scattered group. Sora blocked as one of the opponents threw a heavy punch at him, the blow causing the teen to slide back. Faster than he expected, it closed the gap and threw another punch, catching Sora in the stomach! The attack nearly knocked the wind out of him and sent him flying off his feet! He managed to roll as he landed, wincing at the pain in his stomach.

Donald and Goofy dealt with the other Fat Bandit, with the last two of the larger Heartless deciding to attack Link. “How about some Fire right back!” The mage yelled, shooting a Fire spell at the Heartless. It hit the enemy in the face…but it did nothing! The Fat Bandit didn’t even flinch! Goofy acted quickly, hurling his shield so it bashed the Heartless in the head, stunning it long enough for Donald to use a Blizzard spell, destroying the monster.

Link was doing rather well considering how outnumbered he was. The Bandits had the advantage in numbers, but they weren’t as strong as the Gerudo is brute strength. This allowed the swordsman to block and parry their attacks with ease, and all it took was a single swipe of the Master Sword to render them to empty air. Even when the Fat Bandits approached, they did little to slow the teen down. Like with the Large Bodies, their fronts stood no chance against Link’s blade, and with a few stabs, they were gone.

At around that time, Sora managed to finish off his own Fat Bandit with a Thunder spell, leaving all the Heartless eliminated. The Gerudo seemed shocked, but quickly raised their weapons again. “We should summon more Heartless, right?!” One of them asked, not seeming too sure.

“No. It’s disgraceful!” A voice rang out from outside the group. The Gerudo and the outsiders looked to see a new Gerudo approach from the fortress. This new arrival looked stronger than her fellow warriors, and she had two scimitars instead of just one. “Using these demons to fight our battles…have you no shame?!” She barked at the other women, who didn’t seem willing to talk back.

“We just want the carpenters back!” Sora exclaimed, giving a nonviolent outcome a chance in the lull in the fighting. He doubted it’d work, but trying was the least he could do. “If you give them to us, we’ll leave!” Leave towards the desert, but hey, that counted, right?

“He’s right! It’s just the prisoners we wanted, that’s it!” Navi shouted out, keeping her distance from the Gerudo she was speaking to.

The Gerudo’s leader scoffed and spat on the ground underneath Navi, almost like it was some sort of ritualistic action. “I deny your evil, fairy!” She hissed, apparently spitting to ward off the ‘evil’ that Navi possessed. “And I would never listen to you, even if you spoke sense! We won’t release the prisoners, and all five of you are going to die here!”

Sora thought quickly, stepping forward and pointed his Keyblade at the Gerudo leader, which made her flinch. “I have an idea! What if we duel?” From the way she spoke so far, she seemed rather prideful. “Just you and me. The winner gets to take the prisoners back.”

Once more, the leader scoffed. “Do you know who I am? My name is Buliara, the second in command of the Gerudo since the disappearance of that traitor Nabooru! It is a name you should fear! I won’t waste my time making deals with some teenage boy!”

The brunette was tempted to point out he was a foreigner and had no idea who she was, but he didn’t want to make her mad…at least not in that specific way. With a shrug, he lowered his weapon. “Okay, I get it. If you don’t think you can win, then…” He trailed off purposefully, like he couldn’t care to finish his statement.

And, thankfully, poking at Buliara’s pride worked. She took a step forward with a sneer, drawing her scimitars. “How dare you insult me in such a way! I will not be taunted by someone as low as you! Fine! We will duel, just the two of us! Whoever wins gets the prisoners!”

“Gawrsh, Sora, are ya sure about this…?” Goofy asked, looking around as the other Gerudo backed away and allowed the two fighters some space. He was glad the other warriors were at least allowing this to happen. Of course, he felt the four of them could take the Gerudo on, but less fighting was always preferable!

“I should be doing this fight, not you.” Link insisted, placing a hand on Sora’s shoulder. “This isn’t your quest, so a one-on-one fight like this should be on me!”

Sora shook his head, giving a confident smile to Link. “You don’t like fighting people, remember? I don’t feel bad at all about beating up this lady!” It was a shame, though, he found her very gorgeous. All the Gerudo, really, that striking red hair…! Yet as that thought crossed his mind, he felt a small pain in his chest. It only lasted for a moment…

Navi flew by Link’s ear. “Hey, it’s okay! Sora is strong, remember? It’s not like he can’t handle it! And you wouldn’t be willing to fight at full strength either, Link…”

Link sighed through his nose and backed away, looking at his fairy companion. “You’re right. I wouldn’t be able to go all out.” He then turned to Sora. “I know you can do it. Thank you for taking my place.”

While he was sincerely doing it for Link’s sake, Sora also wanted to test himself. He thought back to his fight with Club and how he wanted to face the man alone. Sora saw this as an opportunity to see how much he’s grown since then! “Don’t mention it!” Was all the brunette said in response, getting into a fighting position as he stared the Gerudo down.

Buliara scoffed, spinning her scimitars expertly in her hands before positioning them in a fighting stance. “If you wish to throw your life away, it’s none of my concern!” She mocked, clearly not intimidated by Sora in the slightest. “Let’s see what you can do!”

Sora took that as an invitation to charge forward, deciding he wanted to see how he fared without the use of magic, at least at first. It wasn’t like he could use countless spells in any given battle, so he felt he should be able to get by without them! Buliara stood her ground, not moving an inch as the teen quickly closed the gap between the two, not even as Sora began a mighty swing of his Keyblade!

A clash of metal, and Sora nearly lost his grip of his weapon! He underestimated the Gerudo, and she swung her sword with ferocity and the Keyblade was forced up and above Sora’s head! Luckily, he managed to keep hold of it, swinging it back down to block Buliara’s second attack, which was just a swipe with one blade. The Gerudo attacked with her other sword, slamming it into the Keyblade and making the teen’s arms shake.

Crying out in effort, Buliara unleashed a barrage of blows against the Keyblade, striking it with one of her swords at a time in a whirlwind of metal! With each strike, Sora felt pain shoot up his arms, the limbs growing weaker with each impact. Dr. Orpheus’ barrier had proven very helpful so far, but the brunette wasn’t exactly hoping to find out what would happen if Buliara sliced at him with the scimitars! The Stalfos’ stab didn’t do too much, but what about a big, powerful slice? It seemed different enough to make him worry!

In-between one of the attacks, Sora swiftly performed a Dodge Roll to the side, Buliara striking the ground when the teen got out of the way. She performed a horizontal slash at Sora as he got up, but he jumped out of range before immediately dashing forward and swinging at the Gerudo. To Sora’s dismay, she merely blocked the attack with her other sword and she stabbed at him with her free blade!

Unable to dodge, the blade hit Sora right in the stomach, in the same exact spot the Fat Bandit hit him earlier! Thanks to Dr. Orpheus’ magic, the blade didn’t pierce his clothes or his skin, but it hurt horribly, it being akin to being stabbed at with a metal pole. It didn’t cut him, but it was sure to leave a bruise, and the impact made him stagger backwards.

“He was stabbed, but he’s unharmed?!” One of the Gerudos belted out. “What sort of magical trickery is this?! Is the fairy helping?!” She yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Navi.

“Me?! I’m not doing anything!” Navi insisted, her light going a bit red in her anger. “Fairies can’t even do things like that! Well, not us normal fairies. Great Fairies, though…”

Sora shook his head and glared at the Gerudo that spoke up. “Navi doesn’t have anything to do with this! A wizard helped me with this protection. This doesn’t mean our duel is over, does it?” He directed the question at Buliara, who was sneering at him.

“It matters not what protection you have! I will still slice you in two!” The Gerudo leader bragged, charging Sora with her scimitars at the ready. Just as she was approaching the now on-guard Sora, she leapt above and over the brunette, landing directly behind him and stabbing forward with both blades!

Not fast enough to counter or dodge, Sora was hit in the back, nasty pain shooting into his back as he stumbled forward, kicked onto the ground mid step by his opponent. Knowing a blow was coming, he rolled out of the way and scrambled to his feet, staring down Buliara as she slowly circled around him.

He knew that a Thunder spell could end this fight in a flash, but he didn’t want to use magic! Sora had seen what Donald’s spells did to the other Gerudo, how their weapons drew in the Thunder magic. As a last resort, perhaps, but he didn’t want to use the easy way out unless he truly had to!

As Sora pondered, Buliara made the next move, dashing at him and unleashing a series of swift slashes with both scimitars. It took all his effort just to dodge the blows, a block or a parry being out of the question! His heart began to race as he let his body move around the Gerudo’s onslaught, his breathing becoming erratic as panic began to set in!

Without warning, a jolt went through him, and Sora leapt out of Buliara’s range! He didn’t even think, just raising his Keyblade over his head and throwing it forward! Sora felt a light magic in his fingers and palm as he let go, his weapon enveloped in light as it spun forward rapidly, going straight towards Buliara at a high speed! The Gerudo was caught off guard, not having time to dodge or block the Strike Raid before it slammed into her, knocking her off her feet!

Yet the Keyblade kept going, almost reaching Sora’s friends before it slowed and started to fly back to him! In a stroke of bad timing, Buliara rose to her feet, facing Sora as she did so. This allowed the Keyblade, which was still spinning, to harshly strike her in the back, once more knocking her to the ground! Catching the Keyblade, Sora didn’t hesitate, charging forward as Buliara once more tried to stand up. Just as she got to her feet, he reached the Gerudo and slashed down her body.

For a second, everything seemed frozen.

Buliara groaned and fell to one knee, panting heavily from her injuries as she glared up at Sora. The brunette sighed and slung the Keyblade on his shoulder. “Okay, that’s the duel, right? You give up?” He asked, since the Gerudo didn’t seem like she had any fight left in her.

“What?! No, it isn’t over as long as I still breathe!” Buliara hissed. “I can’t fight anymore, so you must finish me off!”

“No way! That wasn’t part of the deal!” Sora countered, even dismissing his Keyblade to show he was serious. “I said we’d have a duel. I never said I’d kill you if I won!”

“If you just let the prisoners out, then we’ll leave you alone!” Donald insisted, having been somewhat impressed with the fight. Not that he was going to stroke Sora’s ego and admit that. “Hold up your end of the bargain!”

The fallen Gerudo huffed and scowled at Sora but didn’t say anything for a moment. She then let out a sigh as she managed to properly stand up. “It’s true. We only agreed the winner gets the prisoners.” Buliara sounded almost disappointed, as if she preferred to be finished off than spared on a technicality. She then turned and pointed at one of the Gerudo in the crowd. “You! Go free the prisoners! We will uphold our end of the bargain!” At the order, the other Gerudo scurried into the fortress.

Sora frowned a bit as he pondered the situation. Of course he was happy to get the prisoners out, but something just bugged him. Even though they worked for Ganondorf, and as evil as he was, the other Gerudo didn’t seem nearly as bad comparatively. They didn’t kill their prisoners, they allowed the duel to happen, and then kept their end of the deal. While Sora never met Ganondorf, he couldn’t imagine him doing any of those things!

“…You’re not a bad person. Not really. I can tell.” Sora pointed out, Buliara’s eyes widening lightly in surprise. “I’ve seen the things Ganondorf has done and what he’s used to get his way…” And he doubted it was the worst of it! “But you’ve got a good heart, but I doubt you’ll admit it to me.”

Buliara smirked, clearly amused by Sora’s observation. “Ganondorf is our leader!” She announced, the entire group of Gerudo glancing down at the ground in shame. “No matter what he does, whether we agree with him or not…we must follow him.” The Gerudo leader spoke as though she was saying some sort of open secret aloud. “…He did not order us, explicitly, to kill you five. For that, we will let you go without any further struggle.”

“We appreciate that, but we still need to go into the desert. Will you let us?” Link spoke up, approaching Buliara. “We need to get to the Temple in the desert.”

Navi followed along with Link, keeping her distance between herself and the Gerudo leader, though. “It’s the reason we came here in the first place. Surely the Temple is cursed now.”

For a second, it seemed like Buliara wanted to say something nasty to Navi, but bit her tongue and spoke to Link instead. “What? You want to clear that place of sin out? The Spirit Temple used to be sacred to us, but now…it just creates monsters and darkness within the desert.”

“That’s right! We need to get there and clear it out!” Sora exclaimed as Donald and Goofy joined him by his side. “You’ll let us go, right?” Well, even if she said no, it wasn’t like they had a choice. Better to have it done in a peaceful way, though…

“You really think you can just go there and cleanse our old Temple?” Buliara asked with a smirk, more amused than mean. “Even we never tried to clear out the darkness that drapes over it. If you want to try, we will not stop you.”

At that moment, four men rushed through the crowd, each one unkempt and looking like they barely ate in days. They were dressed the same as Mutoh, so it was clear they were his carpenters. “You! You saved us!” One said, going to Link and clapping him hard on the back.

“Well, it wasn’t exactly just me…” Link tried to explain, but the carpenters weren’t about to wait around and chat. The other three hollered words of thanks, and the quartet of prisoners went through the Gerudo crowd and back towards the valley entrance.

“I guess they were too eager to get out of here…” Navi murmured. “They must have been treated pretty poorly…”

Buliara let out a disgusted scoff. “They act as though we tortured them! We fed them and kept them out of the elements. Honestly, we probably would have let them go eventually.” She insisted with a roll of the eyes. “Now, as for the Spirit Temple…you’re really insistent on going?”

“We are! We have to go!” Navi declared. “How far away is it from here?” She hovered a bit closer to Buliara, the Gerudo dispersing around them and going back to their posts. It seemed the fairy was a bit more comfortable getting near one of the desert thieves.

“By foot? I doubt you’d survive.” Buliara bluntly declared. “By Sand Seal, however…that’s another story. It would only take a few hours, the seals are faster than you would initially think! They can outrun all the dangers of the desert!”

“That’s great! Uh, but do ya reckon we can borrow some, then?” Goofy asked in a hopeful tone. He was surprised how much kinder the Gerudo had been! It seemed like they were mostly only Ganondorf’s followers out of fear or obligation, not by an evil in their hearts…

“You certainly ask for a lot.” Buliara pointed out. By this point, most of the other Gerudo were gone, only a few lingering behind. A lot of them were looking Link over, apparently pleased with what they saw, not that the swordsman seemed to notice. “But…you’d die out there, and none of us are willing to openly defy our king. That Temple is a horrid place now, and we cannot allow it to remain that way.”

Donald huffed and crossed his arms. “So, you just want us to do your dirty work for you!” Not like they had any other choice, it was just the Gerudo’s attitude that bothered him!

“You think we didn’t try to cleanse the Temple ourselves?!” The Gerudo spat. “Defectors have tried, venturing out into the wastes, and none ever came back!” Buliara calmed down a bit, more forlorn than angry. “No one is brave enough to keep trying. Even the old second-in-command, Nabooru, vanished from there seven years ago! Before the curse truly manifested!”

“Hey, don’t worry, we’ve done this before.” Sora assured, jamming a thumb into his chest. “We’re experts at this!” He just wanted to cheer Buliara up, even after what she did with the carpenters and attacking them. She really wasn’t so bad, deep down, and he started to consider her a friend!

Buliara’s eyes widened. “I don’t know if you’re kidding, but if you’re serious…we need to get you on your way right now! Come! I will show you how to use the Sand Seals!” She urged, walking past the group.

The quintet glanced at each other and did as Buliara asked. They were taken past the fortress and deeper into the valley. In silence, they walked, Sora sometimes wincing a bit from his injuries, but felt they were too minimal to use Cure on. The air grew heavier and hotter, seemingly with each step onward, and it became apparent why after rounding what seemed like the fiftieth corner.

Before them, the valley stopped suddenly, as if someone drew a line from where it ended, and the next area began. This next area, of course, being the desert. It looked just as expected, of course, a vast sea of seemingly endless sand and dunes. Aside from a few rocks and cacti, it was just sand all the way to the horizon. Buliara took them to the side, where a set of pens was built into the rockface of the valley.

In these pens were unusual seals, ones that didn’t seem to mind the heat, dryness, and the sand they milled around in. They were furry, and various shades of brown and grey. They were lucky the heat didn’t bother them, as the outsiders were already starting to pant and sweat from the intense sun overheard!

Wiping some sweat from his brow, Goofy looked the Sand Seals over. “They seem kinda small, how are we supposed to ride ‘em?” Donald and Sora could probably ride one, but him and Link…? He wasn’t so sure!

“How do they get anywhere anyway? They just have flippers!” Donald pointed out, trying to stand in Goofy’s shadow to cool down a bit…which didn’t make much of a difference.

The Gerudo smirked, like the question was somehow funny. By the stables were round shields leaning against the stone. They were worn out and looked of low quality, like they weren’t made for battle. “With these.” Buliara declared, picking a shield up. “Attached with a rope and harness, you stand on one of these and let the Sand Seal drag you across the desert! They move through sand like we swim through water!”

“Really?! That’s cool!” Sora declared, grabbing one of the shields. He never thought something like that was even possible! “Do they go fast?”

“Like I said, the trip to the Spirit Temple will only take mere hours with them!” Buliara reminded the brunette. “They know the way there and will do most of the work. All you have to do is hold on and dodge around any obstacles or monsters. Even novices like yourselves could do this!”

“Any shield will do, right?” Link asked, glancing back at his own. Apparently he didn’t trust the worn, beaten shields that Buliara showed to the group. “The shield wouldn’t get damaged with one trip, would it?”

Buliara shook her head. “These shields here have been used for generations and have had great use. Just one trip will do nothing!” She promised. “You will be moving so fast, the air moving past you will cool you down, so you’ll be fine until you reach your destination. Now come! Let’s get started…”

Over the next hour, Buliara taught the group how to hook up the harnesses to the Sand Seals and how to ride them. The animals were very friendly, Donald’s even constantly nudging the mage for pats on the head, which he gave reluctantly.

The training itself went well…enough. Link was able to pick it up pretty easy, he and Goofy using their own shields for the lessons. Sora, Donald, and Goofy had a bit more trouble, riding about on the Sand Seals and falling into the hot sand numerous times. Eventually, though, everyone got used to how to handle the seals, and Buliara felt that they were ready. During this time, water for the journey was prepared in flasks for the group.

“Gawrsh, I never thought falling in sand could hurt so much!” Goofy demeaned, rubbing the back of his head, a sore spot throbbing lightly. He fell more than anyone else and was the last to master Sand Seals enough to satisfy the Gerudo.

Buliara eyed the group, everyone on their shields and the harnesses in hand with the Sand Seals ready. Navi, of course, stood on Link’s shoulder. “I don’t know if you five are brave, or just crazy.” The Gerudo mused. “If you succeed in this, we will be in your debt. And you there…blonde one…please, come and visit us again sometime…” She said in a teasing tone, winking at Link.

The young man in green cocked his head ever-so-slightly in confusion. “Why did she wink at me?” He whispered to Navi, at a volume so everyone but the Gerudo warrior heard him.

“I’ll…uh…explain later.” Navi whispered back, letting out a sigh of dread.

“The Sand Seals will go straight to the Spirit Temple, and will outrun the dangers along the way.” Buliara reminded the group. “I wish luck upon you all!” Without waiting for a response, the Gerudo yelled out a few words in her language. The Sand Seals were clearly trained, as with the utterance of those words, they sprang into action!

Diving down into the sand, the seals sped forward, taking the quartet with them, Navi ducking into Link’s tunic to go along with him easier. The training paid off, and the four riders managed to hold on as the animals went further into the desert. Sora turned back and saw Buliara quickly shrink and become a dot as his Sand Seal went onward. It was crazy to think that, even at this speed, the trip would take hours!

Yet, that’s exactly what happened. The Sand Seals barreled forward, never seeming to tire, as the riders held on tightly to their ropes. Buliara was correct about the dangers of the desert and how easy that would be to avoid. Heartless appeared often, Bandits, Fat Bandits, and more Shadows one could count, but they were hopelessly outpaced by the Sand Seals and offered no real threat. Sora and Link swiped at them with their weapons if they got in range, Donald sometimes firing off a spell or two.

It was the desert-dwelling creatures that were a bit harder to avoid. Green creatures emerged from the sand that looked like an odd mix between plant and animal, Leevers. They spun as they pursued the group, faster than any of the Heartless, but not quite as fast as the Sand Seals. There were a few close calls with them, but Sora and Donald used magic to keep them at bay when necessary.

Halfway through the trip was when a Molduga emerged. It was Goofy who spotted it first, but it was hard to speak with the wind blowing in everyone’s ears. A shout and a point was enough to grab their attention, seeing a large fin sailing through the dunes! They all urged their Sand Seals to go faster, the fit alone being larger than anyone in the group, and the monster it belonged to was fast! About as fast as the Leevers, despite its great size! As it drew close, a massive beast burst from the sand, a scaly abomination with a mouth large enough to swallow the riders and maybe even the Sand Seals whole! It swam through the sands, pursuing the group as its beady eyes looked on at them in hunger!

Sora and Donald helped hold the beast back, letting loose Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder spells at the Molduga. It wasn’t hard to hit the monster, but the magic attacks didn’t do much damage to it, its tough hide protecting it from severe harm. Thankfully, though, the Sand Seals were too fast for it to catch up with the group, though it tried for a good while before giving up and turning back.

Things never got as eventful as that, the group just focusing on staying on their shields, taking sips of water periodically throughout. While the fast speed and the resulting winds kept them cool, they were still in a desert and wanted to stay hydrated!

Hours passed and as was told, the group neared a structure in the desert, sticking out even at a far distance. The atmosphere had grown increasingly oppressive during the trip, more Heartless appearing the longer the group went deeper into the desert. The structure was a massive rock, in it carved the top half of a woman, surely a deity that the Gerudo worshipped, marking this as the Spirit Temple!

When they got close, the Sand Seals slowed down, and the group got off. The seals were exhausted and seemed extremely nervous, but were obedient and stayed put. As the group approached, they eyed the giant woman, whose massive stone eyes seemed to follow their every step. An entrance was carved in below her, and the five could practically see a miasma of darkness pouring out! On top of that, the heat and dryness was far worse, the group almost eager to go inside and get out of the sun! A large stone archway was between them and the entrance that they passed underneath, but when they did…

“You arrived sooner than I thought.” A familiar voice called from the top of the archway, prompting the group to spin around and look. Standing on the rock, seeming unbothered by the heat, was Sheik. The mysterious youth was wearing his usual clothes, there seeming to be no further precautions to deal with the desert. Yet he still seemed like he was in a more typical environment. He leapt from the archway, landing gracefully on the sands below. “Befriending the Gerudo and getting use of their Sand Seals. As expected from you, Link.”

“How did you know we befriended them? We might have just stolen them!” Donald pointed out as he looked around. “And where’s your Sand Seal…?” There didn’t seem to be a fifth anywhere, so…

Sheik kept his single red eye on Link, clearly having the most interest in the young swordsman. “I have my ways.” He answered simply. “As for you, Link. You remember what I told you before, do you not? Past…present…future…the Master Sword is the ship that allows you to sail up and down the river of time. You won’t be able to cleanse this Temple without first going back to the Temple of Time. For that, I will teach you a song to return you here…” His words were cryptic, like he didn’t want to say exactly what needed to be done, though a lot could be figured out. Like before, he took out a harp as Link readied his Ocarina. “This is the Requiem of Spirit…”

And, again like before, he played a song for Link. It was beautiful, yet slow and sad, like it was played for someone that had already passed on. When the two put their instruments away, Sora stepped forward. “Hey, wait, what’s going on?! What’s this about…time?” What did his sword have to do with a ship? The brunette was trying to make sense of it.

“Link knows what I mean.” Sheik said, like that settled the entire matter. “Go back to how you were.” He went on, turning his attention back to the blonde. “Now make haste. After you cleanse this place, meet me back at the Temple of Time.”

Before any further questions could be asked, Sheik started to back away. “Wait, I can’t just go back and-” Link started, but the unusual youth threw something on the ground, producing a flash of light that blinded the quintet. When they blinked the light away, Sheik was gone.

“Mmm…Go back…” Navi murmured as she rubbed her sore eyes. “I guess we have no choice, but we can’t take them with us.” She said to Link.

“Take us where? What was Sheik talkin’ about with the Master Sword and time?” Goofy asked as he scratched the side of his head. “You’re not gonna leave us here…are ya?”

Link glanced at Navi, gulping a bit. Instead of waiting her to speak up like usual, he started it off. “We can’t tell you. But we have to leave you again, but we’ll be back soon.”

“What?! No way!” Donald exclaimed. “You’re not gonna just leave us here in the desert! What’s going on here?!”

“We’re your friends, aren’t we? Can’t you tell us what’s going on?” Sora asked, though he felt pretty scummy in saying that. After all, the three of them were keeping it a secret about coming from other worlds. On the other hand, their secret didn’t involve abandoning Link somewhere dangerous…

The swordsman frowned, looking to his fairy companion again. “Navi, I think we should tell them. It doesn’t feel right…”

Navi hummed in thought, then let out a small sigh. “…It’d be pretty wrong not to. If we have to leave you here, you deserve to know why.” She said, still sounding reluctant.

“We don’t mind the waiting, we just want to know why.” Sora said, though even as those words left his mouth, he wiped his brow of sweat that formed. He needed to get into some shade…

“Thank you. Just…please, this isn’t something you can tell people.” The fairy insisted. “It's a secret to everybody...”

Chapter Text

“Where do I start…?” Navi murmured with a small sigh as she looked between Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “I guess…the best place is that Link and I are from the past. We traveled here instantly, thanks to the Master Sword.”

That was quite a lot out of the gate! The three outsiders glanced at each other, their eyes widening a bit in disbelief. “Time travel? You can actually do that?!” Sora exclaimed, eyeing the Master Sword. “But how?”

“Basically, if it’s returned to the pedestal, we go back seven years. When it’s taken out again, we travel to where we are now. Or when we are, I guess.” The fairy replied.

“You can’t be serious! Going through time with a sword?!” Donald exclaimed, finding it hard to believe. He had been around for quite a while, and he never heard of anyone being able to time travel!

Navi huffed at Donald, shooting him a glare. “Look, if you don’t believe us, then fine, but I’m trying to tell the truth here! If you’re not willing to listen…”

“No, it’s not that!” Goofy butted in, having to cover for Donald once more. The duck was a dear friend of his, but he sometimes wished he didn’t say exactly what he thought so much. “It’s not somethin’ we’ve come across before, that’s all!”

“Yeah, Donald’s just like that.” Sora added on, ignoring Donald’s annoyed exclamation. “Goofy and I believe you. I’m just wondering where you got that sword to start with. How did you get into this mess?”

Link gulped, eyes cast to the sand. It really seemed like he had a lot of issues speaking for himself. He glanced over at Navi, clearly wanting her to keep going in her stead.

The fairy went on as soon as Link looked over to her, like it was second nature. “Well…” She glanced back at Link, almost seeming to prompt him to talk about this, yet he remained silent. “…Well…it’s about a prophecy the Princess of Hyrule had. To make it brief, Link was meant to help save this kingdom from Ganondorf. We gathered three Spiritual Stones to keep him from a powerful artifact, but he tricked us, sneaking into the place where the artifact was hidden just after we opened the way.”

“That’s how he got all his power, right? So, what did you guys do?” Sora asked, finding himself rather engaged with the story, as unfortunate as its circumstances were.

“Well, the place where the artifact was held, the Sacred Realm, was unlocked when Link pulled the Master Sword from its pedestal. We believed it would help but, but Link wasn’t ready yet. He was destined to wield it, but he was too young.” Navi explained, Link lifting the sword and staring at it, almost seeming angry. “He was put to sleep for seven years, his body aging, but his mind remaining the same.”

This snapped Link out of his silence, turning fully to look at Navi. “You want to tell them that part too?” He didn’t seem mad, just a bit surprised at the fairy’s words.

“You wouldn’t want them to know that? It’d help them understand.” Navi argued, through her tone was calm and light.

Link hesitated before sighing through his nose. “It’s too late now.” He murmured, seeming more disappointed than anything, and he then turned to the outsiders. “I’m ten years old. This body is wrong…I’m not really seventeen.”

That explained a few things, really. Link didn’t act like someone about to become a full adult. He was quiet, and he socially hid behind Navi at most times. It was almost like a child letting his mother do the talking! “Gawrsh…thinkin’ of it, ya do act a bit like a kid at times.” Goofy remarked. “But that means you’re doin’ all this when you’re only ten?!”

“That’s right. But he’s a Child of Destiny, so he has to do this.” Navi explained, seeming agitated. “I hate that it’s like this, but we have no choice. Link has to be the one to put a stop to Ganondorf’s reign…”

Sora felt pity towards Link, the whole situation being completely unfair! In a way, he even knew what the teen…the boy…was going through. The brunette never asked for the Keyblade or the responsibilities it brought, but at least he was fourteen and not ten! “You don’t have to do it alone, Link, we’ll be with you every step of the way until Hyrule’s safe, okay?”

Donald was starting to believe in this story, as unusual was it was, and nodded along. He felt pretty bad for Link too, even the cranky duck feeling awful that a child had to go through these things! “After this Temple is all cleaned up, we’ll take that palooka Ganondorf down together!”

Goofy beamed at Link, also giving a firm nod. “That’s right! Now, ya gotta leave and go back in time right now, is that it?”

“We do.” Navi confirmed, sounding guilty. “It’s what happened back in Kakariko Village. We went back in time to get the Lens of Truth. At least now we can warp right back to where we have to leave you guys.”

“Sorry we have to do this.” Link said, seeming a bit calmer since the trio were so understanding of his position. “We’ll try and be fast.”

“Hey, it’s fine, we can hang around inside the Temple.” Sora declared. While it was corrupted by darkness, surely the entrance wouldn’t be too bad. Besides, fighting some Heartless sure beat waiting out in the desert sun. He had been so distracted by the conversation that he somewhat forgot just how drenched in sweat he was.

Navi let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks…we appreciate how understanding you are. Like Link said, we’ll try and be back as soon as we can, okay?” Getting confirmation from the trio, she landed on her companion’s shoulder as he played a song on his ocarina, the two vanishing in a golden light.

The three outsiders watched as the pair vanished, glancing at each other. “I really wasn’t expecting that.” Sora said, starting to walk to the Temple entrance, summoning his Keyblade. “Link’s just a kid, and a time traveler too!”

Donald was so hot, he didn’t mind fighting Heartless if it meant going inside, and he summoned his staff. “I didn’t even think that was possible! Let’s hope they get back here soon…”

Goofy nodded, getting his shield ready. “I feel back for Link. It’s gotta be tough bein’ all young, but havin’ that there grown-up body.” It sure sounded like it’d be a drastic change for the poor boy!

The three entered the Spirit Temple, the stench of darkness filling the air. Once more, they felt a nasty, oppressive sensation, like a heavy tarp was draped over them. At the very least, it got them out of that miserable sun! There wasn’t much to see in the Temple, two large cobra statues on either side of a short staircase, leading to another small area with a massive door and a hole in the wall. This wall was pretty small, so much so that not even Donald could squeeze through it! At the very least, no Heartless showed up, at least not yet.

Keeping his Keyblade out anyway, Sora let out a small sigh. “All we can do is help him beat Ganondorf. I kind of feel bad, though. He and Navi told us all that personal stuff, but they don’t know our secret.”

“I know how ya feel, Sora, but we gotta protect the world border. We can’t go tellin’ ‘em there are other worlds out there!” Goofy insisted, placing a hand on Sora’s shoulder.

“That’s world order!” Donald corrected with a roll of the eyes. “It doesn’t help those two to know, so we gotta keep it a secret!”

Sora sighed again, but gave a nod. “Yeah, I know. I won’t say anything. I just feel bad, that’s all.” He hated keeping secrets from friends like this. Maybe, one day, he could come back to this world and tell Link and Navi everything…

About a minute later, there was a flash of orange from outside, alerting the trio. They turned and, to their surprise, saw Link and Navi enter! “Did ya forget somethin’? Why’d ya come back so soon?” Goofy asked.

“It’s only been a few minutes!” Donald added on.

“What? Has it been that short of a wait for you guys?” Navi asked with a hum of thought. “We already did what we had to. I guess when Link puts the Master Sword in its pedestal and goes back, he arrives at the exact time when he pulls it back out. Just a guess, though.”

“I…think that makes sense.” Sora murmured. Time travel seemed kind of confusing to him. “But you did what you wanted like you said. What did you do, exactly?”

Link held up his arms, showing his leather gauntlets were replaced with a new pair. These new gauntlets had a silver back and looked very sturdy. “These are the Silver Gauntlets. I had to crawl through the hole over there to get them.” He explained, pointing to the tiny opening in the wall. “They give me extra strength.”

“What do you need more strength for?” Donald asked as Link walked past the trio and towards the massive door. The thing looked like it weighed a literal ton!

Link didn’t answer right away, leaning down and placing his hands underneath the door. “It’s for this.” He replied, hoisting the door up in a single motion! The young man, the child, didn’t even make a sound of effort! “This doesn’t feel like I’m lifting anything at all.” The swordsman declared, pushing the door all the way up, letting it slide up where it caught on some mechanism and stayed open. “They really work…!”

“We had to go through a lot to get these.” Navi informed. “Also be careful, guys. Back seven years ago, there was a pair of witches. No idea if they’re still around now, but they were pretty powerful back then…”

Witches? In the desert? Seemed odd to Sora, he imagined them living in the woods or a swamp or something. “We’ll keep our eyes out. I mean there’s gotta be some monster for us to fight…” The last two Temples had targets to defeat in order to cleanse them, no reason to think this place was any different!

The doorway opened up to a long hallway, a red carpet along the floor, and torches lining both walls. They weren’t able to see too far into the passage, as if the light was swallowed up by darkness. Before the group had a chance to even step foot in the hallway, a group of Heartless appeared, and a lot of them! Twenty Bandits, and three Fat Bandits poured from the hallway, charging the group!

Instantly, the four fighters sprang into action! Sora and Goofy utilized melee, slashing and charging at Bandits, swatting away their sword swings with relative ease. Donald, of course, used his magic, casting Blizzard spells on the Heartless The Bandits that weren’t destroyed were frozen to the floor so Sora and Goofy could take them out easier. Link, meanwhile, dealt with the Fat Bandits. One unleashed a torrent of flame at the child, which was blocked with his shield. At this time, another one threw a punch at him, but he once more blocked it. With a noise of effort, he thrust the shield forward, the Silver Gauntlets providing him with so much strength that he sent the Heartless flying down the hallway! Using this momentum, he did a Spin Attack, slicing the other Fat Bandits open and destroying them!

The Heartless were cleared quickly, despite their numbers, with the third Fat Bandit charging out from the darkness only to be stabbed through the guy with the darkness-resistant Master Sword! When the last of the creatures were slain, Donald let out a noise of frustration. “Barely a step into the real Temple, and so many blasted Heartless came at us!”

“I wonder if Ganondorf can reinforce one of his Temples with darkness.” Navi mused. “This is the last one standing, so it makes sense he’d want to protect it.”

“Makes sense. But with the Keyblade and the Master Sword, we’ll be okay!” Sora declared, walking into the darkness ahead without fear, the other four following behind. The hallway was straight, with little else to see as they went through. While torches lined the walls the entire way, the darkness swallowed the light after a few yards, keeping the group mostly in the blackness. Oddly, while Heartless still appeared, they weren’t as strong or as numerous, mostly being Shadows. It seemed the opposite of what Navi theorized, unless it just meant the more dangerous Heartless were further in, or something more powerful than them…

Before too long, the hallway ended, and the group entered a large room. In it was the statue of a massive woman, looking similar to the one built into the Temple itself outside. She was wearing similar clothes, and she had her arms outstretched with open palms as well, just like outside. Looking closer, the statue was sitting on a large stone pedestal of sorts which held another door. There didn’t seem to be any other pathways, so the group went into it, entering a small room.

“Ain’t it a bit strange how easy this has been so far?” Goofy mused, but shield still at the ready despite his words. “Not a lotta Heartless since that first batch…”

Almost like his words were a trigger, three creatures fell from somewhere up above! They weren’t Heartless, though, and were reptilian in nature. These beasts stood on their hind legs, wielding swords and even wearing chest plate armor! “Watch out, you guys! Those are Dinolfos!” Navi warned, hovering higher in the air to avoid combat. “They’re smart and good with a blade, and can breathe fire too!”

Just as Navi said that, one of the Dinolfos charged the group, opening its mouth wide and letting out a torrent of flames! Thinking fast, Donald raised his staff and shot out a burst of Blizzard magic at the monster, extinguishing the fire and sending the reptilian warrior scampering back. The other two snarled at the four fighters, glaring between them, as if to determine which one they wanted to attack.

One of the Dinolfos sprinted at Link, stabbing at him with its blade. While it was remarkably fast, the swordsman was able to block with his shield at the last moment. The other Dinolfos went for Sora, who used a Thunder spell on his opponent, one of the bolts striking the creature and causing it to spasm in place. The last Dinolfos recovered from the Blizzard scare and went for Donald again, Goofy intercepting the monster and slamming into it with his shield, getting an annoyed hiss from the Dinolfos.

Sora lunged at his opponent while it was stunned, slashing at its arm that held the blade. The attack hit, sending the weapon clattering as the Dinolfos’ arm took damage. By this point, it was able to move again, sending a surge of fire at Sora rather than going for its weapon! Like Donald, he utilized Blizzard magic to ward off the flames, the Dinolfos seeming startled that Sora was able to use magic too. It rapidly circled around him and then lunged in for a bite! The brunette blocked with his Keyblade, the weapon more than durable enough to prevent the reptilian foe from breaking through. It tried, of course, snarling and grinding its fangs against the unknown metal of the Keyblade to no avail. The brunette pushed the Dinolfos away and cast a quick Thunder spell, paralyzing it again. With it stunned, he slashed it across the chest, felling the beast!

Goofy and Donald fared well against their Dinolfos, tag-teaming the lizard-like monster. It went for Goofy, slashing at him with its sword, which wasn’t able to pierce through his shield. The knight kept blocking the blows, eventually parrying one which threw the Dinolfos off-balance. At this moment, Donald cast Gravity on it, sending it to the floor as it hissed loudly in defiance. While it was stunned, Goofy finished it off with a few blows from his shield.

Link was having a rather easy time despite fighting on his own. The Silver Gauntlets helped immensely as they gave him extra strength. The Dinolfos’ blows were easily parried by Link, the swordsman knocking his foe’s weapon out of its hand without much effort. When it lunged at him, he slammed his shield forward, sending the Dinolfos tumbling backwards, a nasty cracking sound ringing out with the impact. Before the reptilian monster could recover, Link rushed it and stabbed it through the chest, piercing its armor with the Master Sword without issue.

“Where did these even come from? It’s like they were waiting for us!” Donald exclaimed, glaring at the fallen Dinolfos he and Goofy took care of. “I guess Ganondorf just puts monsters like this in our way, huh?”

Before anyone could respond, two silent figures emerged from the shadows, floating towards the group. They were unusual beings, wrapped in bandages and adorned with golden masks that looked like dogs. Their limbs were bound in the wrappings, so it didn’t seem like they had any way of attacking. Yet, as they glided towards the quintet, there was an eerie feeling in the air. “Those are Anubis! Don’t let them get close! Use fire!” Navi yelled out, looking to Sora and Donald.

The two wasted no time utilizing their magic, casting a quick Fire spell at the incoming figures. Instantly, the old bandages lit up, and the two Anubis were engulfed in flames within moments. This didn’t stop their approach, and the monsters gave no indication that they were in any pain at all. It was clear they were going to use their own burning bodies as an attack! Thinking quick, Donald and Goofy sprang into action. The former used a Gravity spell to slam one of the weakened Anubis into the floor, reducing it to a pile of burnt ash. Goofy threw his shield like a discus at the other, slicing it in half, the other parts falling harmlessly to the floor in a flaming heap.

“What were those things going to do to us?” Sora asked, letting out a sigh of relief as the two monsters were vanquished. He had a nasty mental image of something horrific emerging from the wrapping and viciously attacking them…

“I’ll be honest, I have no idea.” Navi admitted, landing on Link’s shoulder. “I heard about Anubis and curses they put on people, but I never thought they were actually real. Let’s just be glad we got rid of them before they could do anything.”

Link stared at the flaming heaps, then glanced at the fallen Dinolfos. His hand holding the Master Sword gripped the hilt tightly, to the point it almost seemed painful. “Can we just leave this room?” He asked, and went on forward without waiting for a response.

“What’s his deal?” Donald asked, having the rare insight to ask quietly enough so the person he was talking about couldn’t hear him.

“Well, remember Donald, he’s just a little kid. I reckon all this violence is scary to him.” Goofy responded, speaking just as quietly.

The two adults and Sora followed Link as he went further into the Spirit Temple. As they traversed the area, they felt the oppressive atmosphere grow heavier, and the air started to feel thick with darkness, making movement get somewhat harder the further they delved into the Temple. More Heartless appeared periodically, mostly Bandits and Fat Bandits, but also swarms of Shadows. As far as the group was aware, there was only one path forward, with no hidden doorways they missed, and the interior of the building seemed far larger than even the massive rock it was encased in. This was especially true as they went up numerous sets of stairs, going so high that they surely went beyond the roof of the Temple, yet there was more above them anyway.

It never stopped being eerie to the group how massive these Temples were thanks to Ganondorf’s dark influence, though there was no telling what the horrific Shadow Temple was like before it became corrupted. If the man was able to warp structures from so far away, what would he be like in person? What sort of power did he wield that they’d have to face? There was little doubt to any of the five that Ganondorf was stronger than any of the creatures they faced so far.

As this thought crossed the quintet’s minds, they entered a large chamber. It didn’t seem out of the ordinary at first, but then they spotted a piece of furniture on the far side of it, a throne. In that throne was a massive, armored figure! It was massive, at least seven feet tall, and the armor itself looked so incredibly thick that Sora was wondering if even the Keyblade could pierce it. The armored figure didn’t move at all, its face hidden behind a visor, so whoever or whatever was in the armor had its expression hidden.

“Another Iron Knuckle?!” Navi exclaimed, turning to Sora, Donald, and Goofy as they gave her a quizzical look. “Link had to fight one of these when we went back in time. They’re bad news, and I honestly have no idea what’s under that armor…”

“It doesn’t matter what’s under it, you won’t live to see it anyway!” A screechy female voice called out. As the quintet looked around, confused, two figures appeared in the air. They were horrid looking hags, elderly women with green skin, long noses, and riding upon broomsticks in their black cloaks. They were twins in every way save for the fact one had a blue jewel in her head, and the other had red. The one with the red was the one that had spoken, giving a cackle. “These gives must be foolish to go in this far, wouldn’t you say, Kotake?” She asked the other witch.

Kotake gave a cackle as well as she nodded. “Very much so, Koume! Dear sister, should we let our pet here have the honors?”

Koume sneered at the five as she raised a gnarled hand. “I think so! Let’s see how fast it can chop them up to bits!” With that, she snapped her fingers, and the Iron Knuckle stirred on its throne.

The armored warrior stood up, towering high above the others in the room. With a snap of its own fingers, a massive, double-sided axe appeared in its hands as it started to walk towards the quintet. With a final cackle, Koume and Kotake vanished into thin air as suddenly as they appeared.

“It’s those witches! The ones we told you about!” Navi exclaimed, flying out of harm’s way as the Iron Knuckle drew closer. “Sora, Donald, Goofy, be careful! That thing can swing its axe faster than you’d think!”

Shield at the ready, Goofy cautiously approached the Iron Knuckle, going in for an attack. “I think it’ll be okay! It doesn’t seem too-” Whatever he was going to say next was interrupted as the hulking, armored foe swung its axe at him. Despite the creature’s size and the heavy armor, the move was horribly fast, Goofy only having the time to raise his shield to block the blow! Though he blocked it, the knight wasn’t able to keep his footing, getting sent flying back and landing harshly on his back on the far side of the room!

“Hey! Goofy, are you okay?!” Donald exclaimed, watching as Goofy slowly raised an arm and waved to his friend, showing he wasn’t too hurt. Turning back to the Iron Knuckle, which began its approach again, the mage snarled at it. Raising his staff, he let loose a Thunder spell, striking the armored opponent with ease! While the electricity coursed over its entire body, it didn’t seem to actually harm it at all, at least not enough to make any actual impact.

Sora backed Donald up by firing several balls of Fire at the Iron Knuckle, and while each ball hit, it also didn’t seem to actually harm whatever was in the armor. Trying another tactic, the brunette aimed a Blizzard spell at the Iron Knuckle’s feet, a hunk of ice enveloping one of its feet and sticking it to the floor. The armored being looked down at the ice and with a grunt, ripped itself free from the ice, which shattered with ease.

“None of our magic is working! Link, how did you take it out?!” Sora asked, glancing over to see Goofy getting onto his feet.

“I couldn’t use my Master Sword back then, so I had to use bombs.” He explained, mentioning explosives like it was a casual thing. “With the gauntlets and the Master Sword, I think I have a better chance.” Link displayed this by charging forward, preemptively raising his shield as the Iron Knuckle swung at him. Thanks to the strength of the Silver Gauntlets, he was able to block the attack and stay on his feet. With a cry, he swung his blade at the Iron Knuckle’s armor, slicing a piece of it off!

Sora stepped in to help, running around behind the Iron Knuckle and slashing down its back, a large gash appearing in the armor! Donald cast a Gravity spell on the armored warrior, trying to hold it down, as Goofy charged in and slammed his shield on the Iron Knuckle’s helmeted head. Even while weighed down and being attacked on all sides, it apparently wasn’t enough to keep the armored opponent down for long. With a rumbling cry, it swung its arms around, slamming its axe into Link’s shield again as Sora and Goofy were thrown away.

The Iron Knuckle seemed fixated on Link, whether it was because it saw him as the biggest threat or if the two witches were controlling it, that wasn’t clear. It raised its axe over its head and swung down at Link, who dodges out of the way, slashing across the warrior’s chest as he did so. At the same time, Sora stabbed the Iron Knuckle in the back, managing to penetrate the armor slightly, but not enough to hit whatever was underneath.

Donald wasn’t sure what to do. His spells didn’t seem to be doing any damage! Even Gravity barely slowed the thing down! But at least it was something, he supposed, and cast the spell on it once more, the Iron Knuckle grunting as its movements slightly slowed down. Goofy charged back in as Sora attacked its back more, the knight slamming into the Iron Knuckle hard enough to mildly throw it off balance. This was enough, however, as Link performed a powerful Spin Attack, removing a majority of the opponent’s remaining armor!

With the armor removed, it was shown the Iron Knuckle wasn’t quite as massive as it first appeared. In fact, it was around Link’s height and build, with some of the remaining armor hiding its true form. Grunting in annoyance, the warrior swung its axe faster, and stronger, than ever, causing the quartet to all flee backwards out of the way! It sprinted after Link, swinging its weapon back and forth wildly as it closed the gap. With most of its armor gone, Sora and Donald attempted to use Fire magic again, launching several fireballs at the slimmer opponent. The attacks all hit its torso, causing it to flinch and jerk about from the impacts as more of its armor melted a bit from the heat.

Once more, Goofy threw his shield like a discus, the projectile slamming into the side of the Iron Knuckle’s head, making it stumble. Donald tried Gravity another time, focusing it easier since he could see where the armor stopped and the warrior began. This worked a lot better on the Iron Knuckle, who struggled to even take a step forward or swing its axe. While it was stuck in place, Sora and Link attacked it at the same time. The brunette slashed at its back, diagonally and downward, while the blonde slashes it upwards, the two forming an ‘X’ on the enemy.

This got a final cry from the Iron Knuckle as it dropped its axe, its armor coming apart and falling to the floor. To the shock of everyone, the warrior wasn’t some sort of monster…it was a woman! A Gerudo! She had the same brown skin and red hair as the others. She wore white clothing similar to the uniforms the others wore, and she collapsed onto her hands and knees. “Nabooru?!” Navi exclaimed, coming down from the ceiling as the redheaded woman panted heavily, not seeming fully aware of her surroundings.

“Who’s this? Someone you know?” Goofy asked, unsure if the group was still in danger. The Gerudo woman didn’t seem like she was going to keep fighting. “Wait, where did we hear that name before…?”

“Wait, she vanished seven years ago, right?” Sora asked, remembering what Goofy couldn’t. “She was here the entire time?!”

Link lowered his sword, staring at Nabooru like he saw a ghost. “I met her when I went back to get the gauntlets. I saw the witches take her away…”

As if reacting to being talked about, Koume and Kotake appeared out of thin air once more. “Oh! Such a worthless minion she was! Wouldn’t you say so, Koume?” Kotake spouted out, glaring at Nabooru.

“I agree, Kotake!” Koume snarled, also staring harshly at the fatigued Gerudo. “Perhaps we should just get rid of her…”

At this point, Nabooru seemed to gain her senses, looking around at the seven around her. “W…Wait, what happened?! Hey, kid, is that you?!” She asked Link, apparently not hearing what the two crones just said about her.

“Nabooru, get out of here! The witches are gonna attack!” Navi yelled out as Koume and Kotake raised their gnarled hands, orbs of energy appearing in them. Nabooru took Navi’s advice, standing up and sprinting towards the way back, but it was too late. The energy orbs shot from the witches right at the Gerudo! Link and Goofy moved to black with their shields, but they were too slow! The spells hit Nabooru, who was only able to let out a cry before her body turned into a shimmering light, which broke apart and vanished.

Sora was appalled and bewildered at what had just happened! Just like that, Nabooru was gone! He didn’t even know her, but seeing someone innocent, especially one that Link and Navi cared about just getting wiped out was too much for him! Teeth grit, he launched the Keyblade at Koume, the weapon spinning in a Raid Strike as it sped towards her!

The witch shrieked and managed to float out of the way just in time, even when the Keyblade came back the same way. “Nasty brat! We’ll take you out too, won’t we, Kotake? Especially you!” She hissed, pointing a crooked finger at Link. “You’ve caused too much trouble for Ganondorf!”

Link glared up at the duo of witches, getting his bow out and firing an arrow at each of the hags, ignoring their words! Koume and Kotake, however, swept their hands at the projectiles and knocked them harmlessly to the floor. The swordsman grit his teeth, putting his bow away and readying his sword again. “Why would you do that?! She didn’t do anything to you!” He screamed out, showing off an anger that Sora, Donald, and Goofy hadn’t seen.

This simply amused the crones, who cackled in delight at Link’s fury. Kotake sneered at the spot where Nabooru once was. “She was a traitor, good and simple! That was all the reason needed!” She spat. “Now, it’s time for you five to join her! Are you ready, Koume?”

Koume grinned wickedly, a rather disgusting sight. “I am, Kotake! With my power, I will burn you into ash!” With this announcement, the red gem in her forehead glowed, and her hair turned into a pillar of flame!

Kotake’s gem glowed blue as she too gathered her strength. “And with my power, I will freeze you to the bone!” Her hair changed as well, turning into ice.

Upon the transformation of the hags, a strong darkness radiated from them, the same type of oppressive energy that Morpha and Bongo Bongo gave off. It was more than clear that the witches were the source of the curse within the Spirit Temple! The room was filled with both a nasty heat and a biting cold, the two forces practically fighting for dominance as the quintet switched from sweating to trying not to shiver.

Trying to end the fight before it started, Donald raised his staff, calling upon a bolt of Thunder upon Koume. Alas, the crone raised her hand, and the Thunder spell bounced off of her palm. “You think your magic can overpower ours?!” Koume mocked, charging a spell of her own, a ball of fire that appeared in her hand. With a cackle, she launched the spell at Donald, forcing the mage to retreat, dodging the attack.

Clearly not satisfied, Koume started to shoot Fire spells every which way, the entire quintet having to scatter to dodge the attacks. Kotake joined in soon after, biting winds coming from her open palm, frost building on the fighters as the cold magic filled the room. Navi managed to escape this fate by diving under Link’s hat, the only real safe haven in the area!

Once more, Donald tried to use magic against magic, casting a Gravity spell against Kotake, whose Blizzard magic was actually halted as she struggled just to stay in the air. “You…runt…! What sort of spell is this…?!”

Kotake struggled against the Gravity spell, but Donald kept her in place, gritting his teeth in rage as he refused to let the witch go. “Goofy! Sora! Someone! Attack her already!” The mage demanded. With the most basic version of the spell, he couldn’t hold someone so magically inclined in place for long! If he used higher tiered spells, he’d get too tired too fast…

Sora and Goofy both went in for the attack. With no other long-ranged attacks he can use, Goofy once more threw his shield like a discus, aiming for Kotake. The brunette sprinted at Kotake as Koume screeched at him and hurled fireballs in his direction, Link running over and blocking the spells with his shield. Goofy’s shield slammed into Kotake’s face, nearly knocking her off of her broom, as Sora leapt into the air and slashed at the witch with the Keyblade, getting a long cry of pain from the ice-wielding crone. It wasn’t enough to knock her off her broom, however.

As the brunette landed on the ground, Kotake send large shards of ice at him, striking Sora as soon as his feet hit the floor, knocking him onto his back. Goofy rushed in to protect Sora, but Kotake was faster, and soon the knight’s feet were encased in ice, preventing him from moving. At this time, Koume was still targeting Link, shooting a pillar of fire at him. As he raised his shield to block it, he slipped on some ice on the floor, the spell hitting his arm! Yet, instead of being hurt, the Silver Gauntlet absorbed the spell!

Navi, who was peeking out at this moment, flew to the air and looked at the gauntlet in astonishment. It was entirely unharmed, and was glowing red from the fire based magic. “Hey, Nabooru said something about these gauntlets maybe having other powers, right? This must be what she’s talking about! Link, try shooting the magic back!”

Link nodded and did as Navi said, but he didn’t aim the spell back at Koume. Instead, he waved his arm at Kotake, a burst of flame erupting forth and enveloping the icy witch! Kotake shrieked as the magic covered her, and she flew away, freeing herself from Donald’s Gravity spell as she nearly backed right up into the far wall! With a wave of her hand, she extinguished the flames, but they clearly did some damage to her. “You blasted brat…! How dare you use my own sister’s magic against me!”

“Wait, that’s it! They’re weak to each other’s spells!” Navi yelled, looking at Sora and Donald. “Use ice and fire against them! That will take them out!”

The witches grouped back up, glaring at the fairy, which just made her idea hold all the more weight. “Little pest…it won’t do you any good!” Kotake hissed. “Let’s use the Heartless, Koume!”

The fire wielding witch nodded in agreement. “Yes, they’ll help us squash these nuisances, Kotake!” With that, the two raised their hands and two brands of Heartless appeared. Red Nocturnes and their blue, Blizzard using cousin, the Blue Rhapsodies. There were about a dozen of each, and the Heartless, who wasted no time firing off their spells at the group.

As Goofy blocked a cold spell, he peeked over at Link. “Hey! Let’s let Sora and Donald handle the witches! We’ll take care of the Heartless!” He suggested, given he and Link couldn’t use magic the same way the other two could.

Link nodded in agreement, charging a trio of Blue Rhapsodies and cutting them down in an instant, only for another three to appear elsewhere in the room. He and Goofy worked on the onslaught of Heartless, which kept appearing as fast as they were being taken out. At the very least, it gave Sora and Donald enough room to properly fight.

“I’ll go for the fire one!” Donald exclaimed, preparing some Blizzard magic as Koume sneered at him, a Fire spell forming in her hand.

“Got it, I’ll handle the other one!” Sora called, quickly shooting out a small volley of Fire spells at Kotake, who was barely able to dodge the small onslaught.

The two mages and the pair of witches broke out into a magical fight. Sora and Donald stuck to their targets, who were desperately trying to fight back, but their magic simply shorted out when hit by the opposite element. The brunette and duck were faster, though, and were able to launch their spells during any sort of cooldown the witches went through. Kotake kept getting struck by flames as Koume was doused in ice magic, the hags shrieking out with each landed spell. While this went on, Goofy and Link successfully kept the Heartless at bay, though the numbers kept replenishing themselves.

As Koume and Kotake kept getting blasted with magic, their rage grew. Their spells become more powerful, and a few even hit Sora and Donald, but the barrier that Dr. Orpheus enchanted them with prevented them from getting seriously injured. Eventually, the two witches cried out, their screams practically shaking the room as the Heartless vanished and further darkness poured off of the crones.

“That’s it! I’ve had enough of this!” Koume screeched, eyes practically bulging out of her head as she pointed at Sora and Donald. “You two have pushed us too far! It’s time for us to go all out, Kotake!”

Shaking with rage, the other witch nodded. “Right you are, Koume! We’ll show these brats what happens when they bite off more than they can chew! We’ll show them the power of Twinrova!”

A bright light surrounded each sister, red for Koume and blue for Kotake. The two orbs merged together, a dark miasma emanating from them as a single being burst forth from the magic, floating in the air and twice as tall as Goofy! The crones had fused into Twinrova, a remarkably beautiful woman, strangely so given her two halves. She had two long portions of her hair that matched the large gem on her forehead which was half red and half blue, the right half of her hair was aflame while the left was a chunk of ice. In her hands, she held the two broomsticks the witches rode on, the bristles of one now made of flames while the other a bitterly cold ice! The darkness was stronger than ever, the tall woman smirking with confidence and winking at the group as she raised both broomsticks, a heavy magic charging in each of them!

“Go! Get out of the way!” Navi yelled as the quintet scattered, the fairy diving into Link’s tunic for protection as Twinrova unleashed her magic. Flame and ice shot forth from her broom-wands, a pillar of fire hitting Donald and sending him into a wall, shards of ice hitting Goofy and knocking him onto his back. Sora tried letting loose a few fireballs at Twinrova, which hit her, but didn’t seem to do any true damage! As for Donald and Goofy, they thankfully had Dr. Orpheus’ protection and were only moderately damaged, but still stunned a bit.

Link charged in, sword at the ready, one of his gauntlets glowing red from some stray fire magic that hit it. Like before, he swung his arm and unleashed the magic onto Twinrova. While she was enveloped in flames, she only gave a flinch in response, blocking the following sword swing with one of her brooms. Before Link could retaliate, she kicked him square in the chest, sending him onto his back.

Sora was beginning to realize that the magic the group was using just wasn’t enough for Twinrova. If it was damaging her at all, it was so minimal that they’d never win this way. Surrounded by crackling flames and chilling mini-icebergs, the brunette dug deep into himself. Gathering his strength, he tried to calm himself and focus on the magic inside of him, moving it to the Keyblade as he pointed it at Twinrova. Feeling an intense desire to defeat the witch, he yelled out as he unleashed a fireball at her. Yet, it wasn’t Fire, but Fira, the orb of flaming magic larger and more focused than the usual Fire spell he was used to!

Twinrova didn’t seem to notice this increase in strength, letting go of one of her broomsticks to block the fireball with an open palm. Clearly, she thought that was all she needed! Yet as the Fira spell hit her hand, the flames burst and engulfed her hand and upper arm, eliciting a screech from the fused witch as her flesh was singed from the spell. “You…! Your magic is stronger than it just was! How is this possible?!”

The brunette found he was growing in strength again, the use of his magic so much in this fight surely being a part of this leap in strength! Feeling a cold magic run through him, he charged Twinrova and unleashed a more powerful Blizzard spell, Blizzara, from his Keyblade at her! The icy magic shotgun blasted at her, striking her and eliciting another cry of pain from the fused witch. To top it off, he threw his Keyblade at her as she was stunned in a Strike Raid, the Keyblade slashing across her stomach, then hitting her in the back as it returned to him!

While Sora was turning things around, Donald, Goofy, and Link got up from their attacks. Donald especially realized he also had to up his magic to help. Before going on this adventure, it had been a while since he really had to use his better spells, so he was feeling a bit rusty! If Sora could get to Fira and Blizzara, though, the duck could return to that stage of spells himself! “Goofy! Come on, let’s get her!” Donald yelled out, sprinting at Twinrova as Goofy followed.

Twinrova scowled at the two that approached her, shooting a beam of flames at Donald, which Goofy intercepted with his shield. The duck weaved past his friend, sending a scorching hot Fira spell at the sorceress, hitting her in the chest with the spell and dodging away as she swiped at him with her broom.

Link was running along the wall of flame still present in the room, sticking an arm into the flames, the Silver Gauntlet protecting him while also absorbing the fire magic as he went! Distracted by Donald’s attack, Twinrova didn’t see Link coming until he was right on top of her, his arm glowing brightly with magic! She only had time to raise her brooms in defense as he swung his arm, a torrent of blue flames bursting forth from his arm, engulfing the fused witch!

This elicited yet another shriek from Twinrova, and when the flames died down, she was panting heavily, covered in burns as she let out a harsh bellow, kicking Link away once more, hitting him so hard he flew into a nearby wall! She then started to fire out large orbs of fire and ice in seemingly random directions, everyone scattering and dodging the attacks as she seemed to be trying to destroy the room itself!

Sora weaved between the attacks, closing in on Twinrova as she brought forth a torrent of icy winds to try and slow him down. Leaping over the attack, the brunette let out a cry as he swung the Keyblade down and sliced her down the front, following with a horizontal slash as he landed on the ground! With this, the spells stopped, and Twinrova was frozen in place for a moment before falling to her knees.

The quintet stood in place, Link recovering from his last blow and Navi peeking out from his tunic. They weren’t sure she was really defeated! Twinrova then burst into flames, a frosty wind also blowing from her burning form! Sora leapt back, but saw this wasn’t an attack, but the witch starting to die. She scowled at everyone, unable to attack anymore. “You…fools…! Don’t think you’re done just because you beat me!” The witch hissed. “Ganondorf is far more powerful than our combined might! He’ll kill all of you once you enter his castle, we promise you this!” Without a chance for a response, the flames burned more intensely for a moment and then cleared, showing that Twinrova was gone entirely, having been reduced to ash on the floor.

With her disappearance, the oppressive darkness in the Temple started to fade until it was gone entirely. As the fighters recovered from their ordeal, they were once more enveloped in a blinding white light, finding themselves in the same chamber on the blue platform, their wounds all healed. Standing before them was Nabooru! The Gerudo woman smirking, arms crossed and seeming pleased.

“I knew you guys could do it.” The Gerudo declared, then gestured to the area around them. “And to think, I was the Sage of Spirit all along. Even I never thought I was that important!”

Link didn’t seem so happy about this, if anything, he looked downright miserable. “You shouldn’t have died back there, though, I should’ve done something to protect you.”

Nabooru shook her head, that smile not leaving her face. “Don’t think like that. My heart was an empty void for seven years. This is a far more welcoming fate than what those hags had done to me.

“She’d have to come here even if she didn’t get hit, would she? Ya shouldn’t feel responsible.” Goofy added on, patting Link on the shoulder.

Donald nodded. “Goofy’s right, blame those two witches, they’re the ones that fired off that spell anyway!”

“Besides, we took down the two responsible, that has to count for something.” Sora said, feeling bad himself, but this was where Nabooru was meant to stay.

“It’s a shame I never met your three friends until the end. I was watching the four of you fight.” The Gerudo went on, glancing between Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “Very impressive, I think working together, you can all handle Ganondorf. Just don’t underestimate him, he’s one man, but he’s more of a demon.”

Navi nodded. “I think we’ve all gathered that much.” She answered sincerely. “We won’t take him lightly!

The Gerudo nodded back at the very. “Good. I figured as much.” She let out a chuckle. “As for you, kid…” Nabooru said, looking back at Link. “…I’d have kept my promise to you if I knew how handsome you’d be when you grew up.”

Before anyone could respond to that, the five non-Sages were enveloped in a bright white light once more. As it faded, they found themselves in front of the Spirit Temple. It was very early in the morning, the sun just barely peeking out from the horizon. Once more, it seemed traversing the cursed Temple took far longer than it felt to the quintet. The air outside was clean, and the Sand Seals, that had stayed put, seemed far calmer.

Link still seemed unhappy with what happened, but also seemed to decide not to speak any more of it, as he simply went over to his Sand Seal and started to get it ready. Navi sighed through her nose. “Well, we know where to go next, at least. The Temple of Time, and then to Ganondorf!”

Sora recalled how this Temple was mentioned a few other times before. “Where is this Temple of Time anyway?” He hoped it wasn’t too far away. As for the Nabooru situation, she seemed content with her fate, but he still wished he could’ve helped…

“Oh, it’s right by Ganondorf’s Castle, in Hyrule’s capital. So, it’s right on the way!” Navi explained, flying over to Link and entering his tunic as he prepared to depart with the other three starting to do the same. The trip back was far easier. Whether it was a direct result of the Temple’s cleansing or not, it was unclear, but no desert monsters attacked them on their way. Far less Heartless appeared as well and weren’t able to impede the group.

Things were rather quiet for a good stretch of time. The Sand Seals were dropped off where they were found, no Gerudo there to welcome the group back, and the quintet merely went past the fortress. The carpenters were in their tent, but the bridge was fixed, so the group was able to get back to Hyrule Field without issue. The sun had of course long since risen by this point, and the group was rushing to get back to Lon Lon Ranch before dark, which they did.

The next morning, the group left the ranch toward Castle Town, fully rested, but nervous about facing Ganondorf, though no one admitted it. The darkness that encompassed the field seemed more intense than before, as if the cleansing of the Temples infuriated Ganondorf and only made his power grow.

About halfway there, Sora and Link lagged behind Donald and Goofy a bit, and the brunette noticed Link staring down at the Master Sword. Sensing his new friend was troubled, Sora spoke up. “I never asked for mine either.” The brunette said, gesturing to his Keyblade. “It was kind of forced on me, kind of a long story.”

“Really? It was like that for you too?” Link asked, seeming to respect the ‘long story’ part as something not to pry about.

“Yeah. I was just saying, I kind of know how you feel.” Sora responded, not sure why he even brought the subject up. He just sort of thought it’d make Link feel a bit better. “I don’t know if that helps, I just wanted you to know you’re not alone with this.” As great as it was to meet Donald and Goofy, amongst others across the various worlds he had been too, Sora felt he’d rather be safe and bored at home with his friends and family without all this Heartless business.

At first, Link didn’t say anything, then he gave a small nod. “…Thanks, Sora.” Was all he replied with, glancing over as Navi landed on his shoulder.

The rest of the trip was quiet, not even any Heartless showing up, oddly enough. It just made the group wonder if Ganondorf was keeping the creatures at bay so he could take them out himself. As they neared the remnants of Castle Town, the darkness they felt got heavier and thicker, like it was something they had to wade through. The drawbridge to the town was in shambles, just intact enough to cross.

“Okay, let’s be careful. Who knows what Ganondorf might be planning. This trip back was a little too easy.” Navi warned as the quintet entered Castle Town, almost feeling like they were being swallowed by darkness…

Chapter Text

It only took the quintet a few moments to start feeling ill as they properly entered Castle Town. The darkness was so thick, it was practically something they could feel rolling off of them as they moved forward. Around them was a collection of ruined buildings; walls crumbling, windows shattered, doors ripped right off the hinges. It was as if a hurricane tore through the town and brought a veil of darkness along with it.

Only a few feet from the drawbridge, a swarm of Shadows appeared, at least twenty of them! Even with their numbers, though, they were still terribly weak, with the fighters of the group taking them all down with ease. Yet even after their defeat, there was the sound of scuttling in the dark spaces between homes, not helped by the clouds hanging overhead that managed to block any and all sunlight. Sora swore he saw the flicker of yellow eyes moving in these shadowy alleyways, but nothing emerged to attack them.

Without warning, Link stopped in his tracks. Being in front, his stopping caused the others to do the same. “I have to warn you. The marketplace is filled with strange monsters. They’re not Heartless…they’re like people, but they bite and scratch at you…”

“But they aren’t actually people, right?” Sora asked, having conflicted feelings on battling people that might be warped by darkness, not mentally capable of telling right from wrong anymore.

“Doubtful.” Navi answered for Link. “They reek of being some kind of monster, but I have no idea what they are.”

That didn’t really make Sora feel much better, but at least it wasn’t people fighting against their will. And his stomach dropped once the quintet reached the marketplace and saw these creatures firsthand. At first, Sora, Donald, and Goofy didn’t even notice the monsters until one shifted. They were indeed humanoid, and had brown, almost coal black, skin that blended into the dark environment and the dreary background. Speaking of their skin, it was taught around their tendons and bones, their rib cages entirely visible. Their faces were even more unusual, hidden behind masks of what seemed to be red clays, empty black holes instead of eyes, and rotting flat teeth that were grit.

All of them stood in place, still as statues, save for one that was a dozen feet away or so, who turned its head to look at the intruders of the dark, miserable domain. The creature, the ReDead, was disturbing enough that the group stopped in place, seeing what it would do, hoping it’d ignore their presence. Unfortunately, that’s not what happened, the monster opening its maw and letting out an unearthly screech that reverberated across the otherwise silent marketplace.

The group found themselves frozen in place, actually held in place by something unseen. It was like something wormed into their hearts and grabbed hold, preventing the five from moving an inch. Taking advantage of this, the ReDead started to move closer at a slow pace, as if it knew it didn’t need to rush. The other ReDead looked from their positions, but didn’t intrude. Perhaps the quintet was simply out of their range.

Unfortunately, Sora was the closest to the ReDead, so it honed in on him. Every fiber of the brunette’s body was screaming at him to move, but aside from moving his eyes around, he couldn’t do anything! As if timing things perfectly, Sora’s body was able to move the very second the monster leapt at him, tackling him to the ground. Hitting his head on the stone ground, the teen was momentarily stunned, allowing the ReDead to sink its rotten teeth into Sora’s neck. Thankfully, the magical barrier around his body prevented the teeth from penetrating his flesh too much. Still, Sora felt like the ReDead was draining the life from his body, and he was unable to even lift his Keyblade to fight back!

“Hey! That’s enough!” Donald screamed, rushing the ReDead and throwing his entire body into the monster, which knocked it off of Sora and onto its back. Goofy charged after the creature, slamming its head into the ground with his shield. This didn’t finish it off, though, prompting Link to jump in and stab it in the neck with his blade, getting the ReDead to stop moving. Disturbingly, it didn’t bleed at all, not a single drop.

Sora, still woozy, got to his feet as he winced and rubbed at his sore neck. “Thanks, guys. I just couldn’t move…I think we need to take these things out from a distance.” Perhaps stirred by the violence, or the fact that the first ReDead was gone, the other creatures started to slowly approach the group. “Donald, let’s do it!”

Still with enough energy to use magic, Sora started to cast Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder spells at the ReDeads, with Donald doing the same thing. It didn’t seem the creatures felt pain or had any sort of self-preservation instincts, merely marching towards the onslaught of magic with no attempts to dodge, retreat, or do anything to actually stop their demise. While each spell didn’t seem to do anything individually, ReDeads set aflame still walking, ones stuck to the ground via Blizzard still trying to move forward, Thunder spells seeming to not do anything…it all added up. Within a few minutes, the two mages had worn down the oncoming mob of ReDeads, leaving charred remains behind.

“They really are awful, aren’t they?” Navi said with a light shudder. “Those Heartless things are preferable, honestly. Now come on, the Temple of Time’s not too far, we should go in case more of these things show up.”

With no argument from the other four, the group rushed to the other side of the marketplace towards a large church-like building. It really looked more like a Temple than the three that the outsiders had encountered to be sure. The building was also the most intact one they had seen so far, seeming mostly unphased by the destruction around it. Unlike the other Temples that gave off an aura of darkness, the Temple of Time seemed to have an almost soothing effect, a pocket of light in a mass bubble of darkness.

The inside of the Temple of Time was beyond what the three outsiders imagined in that it actually looked good! Most of it was made up of one room with clean marble flooring going from one grey stone wall to the other. There were pews for worship, and a long, clean, red carpet went from the entrance to a stone altar with a green, red, and blue stone. Beyond that was a large, open doorway, but it was too dark to see what was beyond it.

“Gawrsh, looks like someone was takin’ care of this place…” Goofy murmured as the group walked further in. “Looks downright purty in here.”

“Who’d be taking care of a Temple in the middle of this place?” Donald asked, looking around for any potential danger, but naturally there wasn’t any.

“This is merely a safe haven from the darkness.” A familiar voice called. The quintet turned to see Sheik standing behind them, having snuck into the Temple without a word. That, or he was already there, but was somehow hiding. His red eye bored intensely into the group, focusing more on Link as usual. “And you five helped create other pockets of safety from that wicked man’s darkness. For that, I commend you.”

“It wasn’t easy. Why did you tell us to come here?” Link asked, gulping and suddenly seeming upset. “I couldn’t save Nabooru. I couldn’t save any of the Sages.”

Sheik shook his head. “As unfortunate as that is, it doesn’t make your accomplishments diminished in any way. And it doesn’t change that you only have to face that cursed man, Ganondorf Dragmire, and your quest will be complete.”

“Is that all you called us here to say? We knew that!” Donald snipped, wanting to fight the guy responsible for all the trouble in this world!

“Of course not.” The mysterious youth replied, his tone still rather monotone, but a bit sharp in response to Donald’s sass. “There is an important tale I must tell you. I had only planned to tell Link and his fairy companion, but you three have more than earned the right to hear it.”

Sora was surprised that’s all Sheik wanted out of them, but he figured it really had to be that important if the youth really wanted to talk about it that badly. “Is it something about Ganondorf? A weakness of his?”

“It’s about him…to an extent.” Sheik answered vaguely. “I doubt those not from Hyrule know this story, so I feel the need to briefly explain its background. Long ago, at the beginning of time, Hyrule was created by the Golden Goddesses, Nayru, Din, and Farore. They created the laws of the world, the earth we walk on, and breathed life into their creation. When their job was finished, they went back to their realm, and where they departed, a golden relic called the Triforce was made. It was sealed within the Sacred Realm, and it had the power to grant any wish. Unfortunately, it was Ganondorf that managed to reach it.”

“Right…Link and I know that much…” Navi said, mostly talking to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “So, what else did you need to tell us, Sheik?”

The strange man’s red eye gave off an intense gaze, as if Sheik was holding back anger, yet his voice remained neutral. “While Ganondorf crept into the Sacred Realm and touched the Triforce, the relic had one last safeguard. It could only be used by one whose heart was in perfect balance, and as you can imagine, that man only had darkness in his. Thus, the Triforce split into three pieces representing Power, Wisdom, and Courage. The Triforce of Power went to Ganondorf while the Triforce of Courage went to you, Link.” As he spoke to the swordsman, Sheik pointed to the blonde’s left hand.

Confused, the quintet looked to Link’s hand as he raised it up, and a glowing symbol appeared on its back. It was three connected golden triangles, the lower right one brighter than the other two. “Wait, that can’t be right…” The blonde murmured, staring at the Triforce. “I’m not Courageous. I always felt so scared throughout the journey, there has to be a mistake!”

“It doesn’t matter how you feel.” Sheik replied, a bit coldly. “The Goddesses deemed you worthy of that mark and so you earned it.”

“You were plenty brave!” Sora said, feeling Sheik was being a bit harsh. “That’s what Courage is all about, doing stuff you’re afraid to do!”

Navi glanced from Link’s hand over to Sheik. “Wait...so, that’s Power and Courage. Who has the Triforce of Wisdom?”

Sheik took a step back from the group. “Isn’t it obvious? It’s me.” With that, he raised his left hand, showing a Triforce embedded there as well, the lower left portion glowing brightly. Within moments, there was a flash of brilliant golden light that caused the quintet to cover their eyes. It quickly faded, and the group looked to see that Sheik was no longer there. In his place, there was a beautiful young woman with golden hair and blue eyes, wearing a long dress that could only belong to someone of royalty. Most notably, there was a Triforce on the lower half of her dress.

Link’s eyes widened, taking a single step forward as his jaw dropped open for a moment. “You…It’s…”

The woman gave a small, almost sad smile. “Yes. I am Princess Zelda. I’m sorry I had to deceive you, but there was no other way to move about unnoticed. If Ganondorf knew who and where I was, he’d get his hands on a second piece of the Triforce…”

Needless to say, the other five were shocked, Link especially seeming almost frozen in place. Sora had a strange sensation as well, feeling something radiating off from the woman in front of him. A sort of light, but one that was especially powerful.

“Ya know, Link was real worried about ya! Couldn’t ya have told him who you were before?” Goofy asked, his words more confused than accusatory.

“I’m afraid not. Ganondorf could have been listening in, or he may have had one of his servants nearby, spying on Link and I. For the sake of keeping the Triforce out of his hands, I had to lie. Link, I’m sorry, I wish there had been another way.”

Link didn’t seem upset at all, still just shocked. Then he let out a long breath, like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulder. “It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“This is nice and all, but was this the only reason you called us here? We gotta stop Ganondorf!” Donald exclaimed, feeling increasingly impatient.

Zelda didn’t seem bothered, and shook her head. “There was one more thing I needed to say. Then I had gifts to bestow that will aid you. Link, I apologize for all of this. It was my own plan that got us into this. And you were forced into this as a Child of Destiny, chosen by the Golden Goddesses…”

“Did he really have no other choice? Did it really have to be him?” Navi asked, opposite of Goofy as she was more accusatory than curious.

“I’m afraid so. You were there as I spoke about my visions. But there’s more than that. Throughout the ages of Hyrule, there has been the tale of the Spirit of the Hero, starting from the first hero of our kingdom that was said to have descended from the skies.” Zelda explained, vaguely gesturing up above. “That spirit, the heart of that hero, has been said to be carried on through various other heroes. And surely, you also hold that spirit, Link. As I said, the Golden Goddesses chose you specifically.”

Link blinked in confusion several times. “What? Me? But…” He didn’t seem to want to accept what Zelda said was fact. “That’s not right at all. I’m not a hero. Please, you said there was something you wanted to give us that would help. We need them and we need to go stop Ganondorf.”

Sora felt bad for Link, having his own conflicted feelings about being chosen by the Keyblade. It allowed him to help people and was the main reason he could go to other worlds…but it was a burden forced on him, and sometimes he felt weighed down by it. These Golden Goddesses decided that Link was going to have to be a hero, without any input from him, and he was still a kid, at least mentally! The brunette couldn’t help but feel a bit of disdain towards the deities…

“Believe it or not, you are a hero, Link.” The Princess lightly pushed, but soon moved on. “I do have a gift for both you and Sora here. Link, you first. Hand me your bow.”

“Wait, you had something for me?” Sora asked as he snapped out of his thoughts, wondering what she could even give to him. He already had his Keyblade, after all. What more did he need?

As Link handed the bow over to Zelda, she glanced over to Sora. “It isn’t something I fully understand, I can only hope it will aid you. As for you, Link…” She closed her eyes, and the bow began to lightly glow in a yellow aura! After a moment, it was transformed to a brilliant yellow golden form, even down to the string. “This is the Bow of Light. Any arrow you use with it will be enchanted with light magic as Light Arrows. Use it to penetrate Ganondorf’s darkness and weaken him!”

The swordsman took the bow back, looking over its new form in slight awe. “Thank you, Zelda. I’ll try to make the best of it.”

Zelda nodded before turning to look at Sora. “For you, I believe I have-” Yet, whatever Zelda was about to say was interrupted as a pink crystal suddenly surrounded her! She was trapped, hands against the crystal wall as she let out a gasp. “What?! Is this…?!”

A cruel, deep laughter filled the Temple, the soothing atmosphere vanishing in an instant, an unnatural chill filling the air. “To think, the biggest thorns in my side would help me this much! You may as well have delivered the Princess right to my chambers! I knew if I kept biding my time, she’d appear, but I didn’t think it’d be right here in my domain!”

“Ganondorf! Stop it! Let her go!” Link screamed out, swinging his sword into the crystal, only to have it bounce off, leaving no marks behind. He tried slashing the pink prison again, only to have the same result.

As Ganondorf harshly laughed, Zelda started to get lifted into the air. In an act of desperation, Donald tried to use Gravity on the crystal, but it didn’t help! Sora leapt up, just as the prism was about out of his reach, and slammed the Keyblade into it…but sadly, he had the same result as Link, the brunette looking helplessly up at the Princess as he landed on his feet. Before anyone else could do anything, there was a flash of pink light and Zelda disappeared!

Navi was quick to react to this, fluttering towards the door outside. “Come on, we can’t hesitate! If he’s going to extract the piece of the Triforce from Zelda, it may kill her!”

Sora had the feeling Navi was theorizing, but it made enough sense to be true! “Right behind you! You and Link lead us to Ganondorf’s castle!”

Link sprinted out of the Temple before anyone else had a chance to move, Navi flying right after him. Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran after the duo, following them back into the oppressing darkness and into the marketplace. Disturbingly, more ReDeads had appeared since the group entered the Temple of Time, but the monsters were too far away to be much of a threat. Link and Navi turned and headed north, and as the outsider trio followed, it was only then they saw Ganondorf’s lair.

The darkness and the fog had hidden it before, but as the group grew closer to it, they saw a massive castle in the distance! It had to be at least a dozen stories high, made of black stone and was fitted with spiked towers. This castle was in the middle of a dead region, with no buildings or any sign of life in the immediate area. As the group got even closer, the true nature of the dark structure became apparent. It was sitting upon a slab of earth that floated above a pool of lava! There was no bridge connecting to this chunk of ground and it was too far to jump…

“What are we supposed to do? We can’t make that leap!” Goofy inquired, looking around as if another option might present itself.

“Sheik…well, Zelda…she never told us how to actually get inside the castle…” Navi murmured. “I can get across, and Link might be able to Hookshot his way over, but for the rest of you…I just don’t know…” As if on cue, a voice called inside the minds of the group. To Link and Navi, it was familiar. It was strong, but gentle.

Link, it is I, Rauru. You have done well to reach this far. And to those from outside of Hyrule, I am forever grateful for your aid in this endeavor. Along with the other five Sages, I will open a path for you!

Five more voices spoke to the group. A girl’s voice that seemed to belong to a child, a boisterous voice, and then Ruto, Impa, and Nabooru.

Link, Navi, Sora, Donald, Goofy! Our hearts are all with you!

You’ve got this, Brother! You and the others give Ganondorf a black eye from me!

The man I chose to be my husband can’t lose here! All of you, fight hard!

The Princess is relying on you all, as is the rest of Hyrule!

You better take Ganondorf down after he bent his own people to his whim!

In the gap between the castle and the mainland, a glow began to appear. It became increasingly brighter and extended, forming a bridge! Its sides glowed yellow, green, red, blue, purple, and orange, shimmering even in the darkness of the area. Link was the first to test the bridge out, placing a foot on it and showing just how solid it was. Without a word, he charged into the maw of the castle, the others right on his heels.

As soon as the five entered the structure, they stopped in place. It became clear that the castle was the nexus of all the darkness in Hyrule, and the pressure they all felt made this apparent. They instantly felt heavier, and the darkness was practically visible as a faint miasma. Ahead of them was a simple hallway, barely lit by torches that led into a larger chamber. This chamber was also fairly barren, there only being one opening on the other side leading to a large, winding staircase upward.

“We just have to get to the top, and we’ll find Ganondorf for sure! Just one more push, guys!” Sora declared, taking the lead this time as he charged the staircase, everyone following his lead. What followed was a gauntlet of battle as they slowly made their way upward, frequently entering chambers full of Heartless, Stalfos, and even a few Iron Knuckles. The four fighters gave it their all, not willing to let the mere underlings impede their progress!

As the quintet made their ascent, at the castle’s top, Ganondorf was standing within a large chamber, the walls covered in stained glass, with little more than a large organ as furniture. He was staring up above him as Princess Zelda, still encased within her crystal prison. She remained silent, aware that nothing she could say would change the mind of the horrid man below her.

In an instant, two people became three as Dio once more entered the world, glancing up at Zelda and smirking. “You were a man of your word, Ganondorf. The second the Princess revealed yourself, you snatched her. I can feel the pure light in her heart from here, another to the collection!”

Ganondorf turned to his guest, his eyes intense. “Her role here isn’t finished yet. You’ll have to wait to take her.”

Dio locked eyes with the Gerudo, seeming more amused than anything. “Oh, really? Last I recall, I informed you that getting that golden trinket from this world wasn’t worth the effort. The prize we’re chasing is far grander!”

“We only have your word on that.” Ganondorf pointed out. “Maybe I simply don’t believe it. Or maybe I want it and the Triforce. What could you do to stop me?!”

For a moment, the vampire simply stared at Ganondorf, that amused expression affixed to his face. “I see. So that’s truly how you wish to proceed.” Without warning, he closed the gap between the two in a mere second, a roundhouse kick aimed towards the Gerudo’s head!

As fast as Dio was, it wasn’t enough. The Gerudo raised his arm and blocked the attack, a grunt of effort escaping his lips as he stopped the kick in its tracks. Any normal person’s arm and skull would have been destroyed by just that kick. Even Ganondorf had no chance of blocking it before he acquired the Triforce of Power. With another grunt, he pushed Dio’s leg away and leaped backwards to get some distance. “You underestimated me, whelp!” The Gerudo sneered. “I have the power of the Goddesses on my side, your vampiric powers mean nothing!”

This time, it was Ganondorf that closed the gap, his right arm bathed in a dark, purple magic as he threw a mighty warlock’s punch. Dio mirrored his actions, throwing a punch of his own, the fists colliding! A shockwave was generated, the windows of the chamber rattling and threatening to shatter. Even Zelda’s crystal prison strained from the force but managed to stay intact as the two men glared at each other.

At just that moment, the room’s sole door opened. Sora, Donald, Goofy, Link, and Navi emerged, tired from battle but still able to keep going. They stopped in place, confused at the scene in front of them. “Who the heck is that blonde man…? I never saw him before!” The fairy asked.

The quarreling men jumped back from each other, the vampire turning to stare intently at Sora. Eyes widening, the brunette stepped forward, noticing the man had rounded ears, so he wasn’t from Hyrule. “Hey…! Are you…Dio?!” Alas, he didn’t get an answer, the blonde man vanishing in a wisps of darkness and leaving the world behind.

“You arrived sooner than I expected.” Ganondorf mused, staring down the five. “Though it’d have been disappointing if the ones that caused me so much trouble were stopped by mere pawns of the darkness.”

“Ganondorf, why are you doing this?!” Link demanded, taking a step towards the King of Evil. “Why did you ruin so many lives and corrupt Hyrule?!” He glanced up, noticing Zelda hanging from above, then put his gaze back on the Gerudo.

The man in the black armored belted out laughing, like Link had told a joke. “It’s not obvious? I crave Power and I crave Hyrule! If it means crushing the insects underneath me, then so be it. Maybe I’ll even open the door that Dio had mentioned, but we’ll see how far my ambitions go…”

Sora’s eyes widened at that last sentence. So that man was Dio! He had no idea what door Ganondorf was talking about, but maybe he could get some answers once the Gerudo was defeated. For the moment, the brunette was just so sickened by the man’s total disregard for others! “If you keep surrounding yourself by all its darkness, it’ll pick away at your heart!” The brunette exclaimed. “Your heart will be swallowed up entirely, is that really worth it?!”

“The darkness can’t touch my heart. Especially not with the Triforce of Power in my hand. Once I have all three pieces, I’ll become invincible!” As he said this, he raised his left fist in the air, showing its back had a Triforce mark on it, the top portion glowing brightly.

“Like we’ll just let you get your hands on it!” Donald yelled, pointing his wand at Ganondorf. He was tempted to fire a spell, but he doubted it’d be of any use from such a distance.

Goofy stepped forward as well, shield at the ready. “That’s right, and Hyrule will go back to the way it was!” Whether that was actually possible, he had no idea, but he wanted to believe it was true!

Once more, Ganondorf laughed. “This isn’t something that can be stopped. Link. Zelda. Do you both feel it? The Triforce parts are resonating…” As he spoke, Link and Zelda’s hands began to glow, the mark on Ganondorf’s hand increasing in luminescence. “You have no use for your pieces, so surrender them to me!”

The Gerudo let out a harsh yell, a vortex of darkness erupting from his hand and enveloping the quintet. It took all their might to stay upright, except poor Navi who was overwhelmed by the dark power. With a pained gasp, she fell right onto Link’s shoulder, her entire body quaking from Ganondorf’s magic. The other four held strong, though, the vortex not actually harming them, but Sora, Donald, and Goofy figured it was solely meant to try and wretch the Triforce of Courage from Link.

However, the swordsman held strong, the piece of the golden relic staying within him as the dark vortex vanished. The fighters remained on their feet as Navi remained weakened on Link’s shoulder. “Tricks like that aren’t going to work!” Donald exclaimed, looking for a good opening to unleash his magic.

This didn’t deter Ganondorf much, flourishing his cape as he took to the air. “Fine then. I’ll have to simply beat the Triforce of Courage out of you, boy! And the rest can join you!” With these words, he floated up to the ceiling before swiftly shooting down to the floor, punching it and causing a shockwave to encompass the room. The four fighters felt their legs shake, unable to move from their positions. Taking advantage of this, Ganondorf shot forward, fist glowing purple as he readied a punch against Link!

Thankfully, the swordsman was able to raise his shield in time, the Gerudo’s fist slamming into the piece of metal. This impact sent Link flying backwards, slamming into the wall behind him as Navi weakly took to the air to avoid being harmed.

Without stopping his momentum, Ganondorf turned his attention to Donald, who blasted the Gerudo with a Fire spell. Though the flames hit the man square in the chest, the flames didn’t do any actual damage, and a swift kick sent the mage tumbling backwards. In the same motion, he lifted that leg high into an axe kick and brought it down towards Goofy. While the knight blocked the attack with his shield, the force of the impact rattled him and left him in a mild stun.

As this second kick occurred, Sora slashed at the King of Evil with his Keyblade, an attack that Ganondorf blocked using his arm with startling ease. Before Sora could back off, the Gerudo lifted his leg and kicked the brunette square in the chest, sending him slamming into the nearby wall, right next to Link.

Wincing, Sora got up with Link, Ganondorf busying himself with Goofy, who had recovered from his attack. The brunette looked over to Link, or more specifically his bow. “I’ll distract Ganondorf, and you hit him with one of those Light Arrows. I don’t think we’ll get far without them…”

Panting a bit, Link nodded as he put his sword away and readied the Bow of Light. “Right. Just be careful.”

Navi, who still seemed out of sorts, landed back onto Link’s shoulder. “You be careful too, Link. Not a lot of spots to hit him. If you miss, he’ll know what we’re up to and focus on you!”

With the plan set, Sora shook off his soreness and rushed at Ganondorf. By this time, the Gerudo had knocked Goofy away, but Donald had gotten back into the fight. The magician had cast Gravity on Ganondorf, and while it seemed to slow him down a bit, it wasn’t enough to stop his movements. The armored man threw a powerful punch at Donald, who managed to leap out of the way.

Sora grit his teeth and mirrored Donald’s movements, pointing the Keyblade above Ganondorf’s head and focusing his magic. He imagined a powerful force slamming down onto the Gerudo, something to slow him down and allow Link to get in a clear shot! As Sora put more effort in, he summoned a Gravity spell that fell upon Ganondorf! It wasn’t as strong as Donald’s, but the two spells stacked on top of each other, slowing the Gerudo down further!

As Ganondorf turned to face Sora, the brunette charged at him, Keyblade ready to swing! The King of Evil’s movements were slowed, raising a fist to attack Sora as the teen closed the distance, slamming his weapon into the Gerudo’s side…but it wasn’t effective! The man grunted in pain, but it didn’t seem to do any real harm! Yet, as Ganondorf fully raised his fist to attack Sora, a golden arrow shot forth, hitting the Gerudo in a gap in his armor!

There was an explosion of light as golden lightning scattered across Ganondorf’s body, the Gerudo outright yelling out in pain as his darkness was pierced through and some true damage was finally done to him! Ganondorf sent a withering glare at Link, seeing the swordsman lower his bow and draw his Master Sword. “You…brat…!” He hissed through clenched teeth.

Snarling, the Gerudo ripped the arrow from his body, then crying out as he dropped it, the light magic embedded in it stinging his hand. Notably, the arrow was gold in color, its entire form changed from the Bow of Light! With Ganondorf temporarily weakened, the four fighters took advantage.

Sora actually moved away from the Gerudo, feeling the need to add one more to the fight. As he focused his magic, the other three moved in. Goofy sprinted at Ganondorf, slamming his shield into the man’s head. While the man in black armor was weakened, he wasn’t powerless, allowing him to punch Goofy away. At the same time, Donald hit him with a Thunder spell, paralyzing Ganondorf for a moment as Link swing his sword at his neck! The Gerudo was able to dodge at the last second, but received a cut along his cheek which oozed blood.

After the cheek cutting, Sora had his magic ready and slammed the Keyblade point-first into the floor, a pool of orange ink spewing from the spot. Out of the ink came Woomy, going from squid to kid as she launched herself at Ganondorf, delivering a harsh kick to his face, hitting the wound Link just gave. It seemed she had some form of observance when in her gem, able to know exactly what was going on as soon as she was summoned. In her hands was her ink gun, blasting Ganondorf with it which seemed to do some form of damage.

Letting out a yell of rage, Ganondorf began to levitate into the air, starting to recover a bit from the Light Arrow. This prompted Link to quickly fire off another, but the King of Evil hovered out of the way, going even higher up. Sora and Donald launched a Fira and Thunder spell at Ganondorf, the flames blocked by one of the Gerudo’s hands, turning the skin a raw red but doing little else. The Thunder coursed across the wicked man’s body, but only halted his ascent for a moment.

Raising his uninjured hand into the air, Ganondorf summoned an orb of darkness and launched it at Link, who rolled out of the way. This prompted the Gerudo to begin an onslaught of magical attacks, summoning more dark spheres and hurling them at everyone in the group. Woomy was hit by one such orb and was knocked backwards, Goofy rushing to block a second projectile with his shield. Sora and Donald got struck, both being flung backwards from the impact and landing harshly on their backs.

Another orb was flung at Link, who took a chance and swiped it with his Master Sword, the mystical blade deflecting the dark magic right back at Ganondorf! The Gerudo wasn’t expecting the counterattack and was hit with his own power, causing him to temporarily freeze in place. Taking this chance, the swordsman fired off a Light Arrow, this one aimed at his neck. The armored man recovered in time to dodge, but not entirely as the light-imbued projectile scraped his skin, the magic encompassing it once more entering his body.

Ganondorf let out a cry, dropping to the floor as light magic coursed over his entire body. Taking advantage of this, the other four fighters attacked at once. Sora and Woomy charged in first, the former slamming his Keyblade on the back of Ganondorf’s head as the Inkling launched herself into the air as a squad, falling harshly onto the Gerudo’s back. Once this happened, Goofy followed Woomy’s plan, leaping up and turning his shield upside down, standing on top of it and holding onto the rim with one hand as he too slammed down onto Ganondorf’s back. Keeping his distance, Donald launched a Blizzard spell at Ganondorf, aiming for his legs, which froze onto the floor in a hope to keep him in place.

In a rage, Ganondorf stood up straight, instantly breaking free from the ice. His arms were shrouded in a purple energy as he gave a swift counterattack. The Gerudo backhanded Donald across the face, sending the magician sprawling. Woomy leapt at the man and performed a flying axe kick right onto his face, but Ganondorf barely flinched, grabbing the Inkling by the ankle and flinging her against a nearby wall. With a cry, he gave a devastating punch to Goofy’s stomach, knocking the wind out of the knight and also sending him into a wall.

Ganondorf tried to elbow Sora in the face, but the brunette ducked just in time, stabbing the Gerudo in the side, anger at seeing his friends harmed fueling the teen’s strength. This was enough to stun Ganondorf long enough for Link to leap in, slashing him down the front. Working in harmony, the two swordsmen then slashed the King of Evil across his torso in an X formation, causing the Gerudo to stop in place for a moment before falling to one knee.

It seemed the Master Sword’s nature as a bane to evil was more effective against Ganondorf than initially thought as the man started to wheeze, his breath labored by his injuries. “Cursed…brats…!” He snarled, glaring daggers at Link. “All my work…undone by some…fools of light!” Startlingly, he coughed up some blood, it almost being a shock it was red like a normal human’s. With an intense cry of rage, he shot to his feet, body glowing with power as energy radiated from him, coming in the form of a blinding light as everyone’s vision went totally white.

While they were blinded, everyone was cast to the floor, the energy itself an attack, Navi hanging onto Link in her weakened state. As everyone’s vision came to, they saw the walls and ceiling were destroyed, Ganondorf’s own cape and armor heavily damaged, as if his own attack damaged him as well. Without a word, he collapsed onto his knees, then fell flat on his face, unmoving.

Groaning out in pain, everyone got to their feet. Donald rubbing his jaw while Goofy and Woomy winced at their aching backs. Down from above, Zelda’s crystal descended, miraculously in one piece with the Princess unharmed.

Ignoring his injuries, Link rushed to Zelda as the crystal reached the ground and faded away. “Zelda, are you okay?!” The boy in a man’s body asked, looking the Princess over for injuries.

Zelda took a deep breath before giving a nod. “I’m fine, thanks to all of you.” She said with a small, almost side smile. This turned into a frown as she gazed upon Ganondorf’s broken form. “It seemed his last effort to take us all out drained whatever power he had left. His heart was entirely consumed by darkness, and it was his own downfall…”

“We should get out of here. There’s so much darkness here, the Heartless could come after us at any time.” Sora suggested, confident that more would spawn as they made their descent.  

Just as Sora said this, the entire castle started to shake, startling everyone. “He must have used that last attack to bring the place down!” Donald yelled out, pointing to a ramp leading downward. “Come on, we’ve got to hurry!”

Everyone, Woomy still staying summoned, started to rush down the ramp, Navi riding along on Link’s shoulder and remaining frightfully still. The ramp went down only part of the way down the castle, the group having to duck into rooms every so often before continuing their flight downward. Many Heartless sprang up as they made their way down, but notably they were only Shadows. Sora and Link dealt with them for the most part as Donald, Goofy, and Woomy were focusing on keeping Zelda safe. Every so often, chunks of the ceiling fell down, but everyone managed to avoid the rubble.

Just as the septet ran out of the front door of the castle, the structure collapsed behind them in a roar of crashing stone and shattering glass. The entire area seemed to rumble from the chaos, not just the floating island the group was on. They stood there, panting as Ganondorf’s lair fell along with him, the air quiet and heavy. Zelda let out a sigh of relief, looking at everyone else. “We just made it! All of you, I don’t know how to thank you for what you’ve done. And I don’t believe we met, have we?” She said to Woomy, who gave the Princess a toothy grin.

“That there’s Woomy. Uh, she doesn’t really talk like we do.” Goofy informed with a light chuckle.

“So, it’s over? Is it really, actually over?” Link asked, not seeming able to believe it. It was like he expected something else terrible to happen. Considering all he had to go through, it was little surprise he was baffled that it was potentially finished.

Yet, something didn’t seem right. Sora’s brows furrowed and he held his Keyblade tight. “Guys…you feel it too, right? The dark, heavy atmosphere…? It’s not going away.” Ganondorf’s defeat surely meant the dark feeling should be gone…but it lingered.

As if responding to the teen’s words, something in the rubble shifted, causing everyone to freeze and stare, looking for its source. Things were still for a few lingering moments before Link took a few steps forward, Master Sword at the ready.

Without warning, a shape burst out of the rubble, floating a few feet off the ground! It was Ganondorf, his eyes glowing orange and his body beaten and bruised. His breathing was heavy, raspy, and full of a dark fury. Without a word, he raised his fist to show off his piece of the Triforce as darkness encompassed him as he began to change. His form grew larger and larger, his size tripling, then quadrupling! He became less human, and into something horrid, its true form hard to see in the darkness, but it was something bipedal, something that wielded two swords.

He had become Ganon.

The monstrosity roared as the fighters got in front of Zelda, who backed away from the danger. Navi managed to stand up, glaring at Ganon. “Link…I wasn’t able to help you before, but this time is different…!” She said, voice exhausted, but still full of determination as she took to the air. Ganon let out a ferocious bellow, stomping towards the group as it brandished its swords. The way the darkness hid its features and its yellow, glowing eyes, it nearly resembled a Heartless!

Sora and Link acted first, charging at Ganon with their weapons drawn. The beast swiped at them, prompting them to duck as they kept moving forward, slashing across Ganon’s front with their blades. While it let out a roar of pain, the attack didn’t seem to do much else but annoy it. Woomy ran along to Ganon’s side, tossing prisms full of orange ink, Splat Bombs, at it. While the bombs hit and exploded into ink, this too didn’t seem to do very much. Finally, Donald started to shoot off several balls of fire at Ganon while Goofy charged at it with his shield at the ready. The fireballs all hit and Goofy rammed into the monster’s stomach with his shield, but the magic seemed ineffective, and the knight just bounced off of Ganon.

Snarling, Ganon waved its hands around, orbs of darkness forming in the sky and raining down on the fighters. They came down so fast that none of the fighters were able to dodge them entirely. Sora and Donald were struck and sent sprawling from the impact while Goofy and Link had to use their shield. Woomy was struck by one and collapsed, and as she tried to get up, she faded into light as she was taken back to her orange stone.

Navi flew to Link’s ear, whispering to him. “I’ll distract it. Remember that the Light Arrows can pierce through the darkness!” With all her strength, she flew up to Ganon, starting to flutter about in its face, startling it a bit. While it swung its blades at the fairy, she was too fast and weaved around the weapons. Taking this chance, Link readied an arrow and fired it, the projectile transforming into a Light Arrow as it struck Ganon directly in the forehead! It didn’t seem to penetrate its flesh much, but it still had the desired effect as light magic spread all across Ganon’s body as it became weakened.

“Go! Attack it now!” Donald cried as he got back to his feet, casting a Thunder spell on Ganon, the electricity striking it dead in the face. Roaring out, Ganon swiped its swords around, slices of darkness firing off at the group. Sora and Link parried them with their blades while Donald leapt over one coming at him. Goofy ran in front of Zelda, blocking a projectile coming right towards her!

Moving shocking fast, Ganon went on a rampage! It sprinted at Sora, lifting a massive leg and kicking him square in the chest! Even with Dr. Orpheus’ protection, the impact was severe, and an intense pain shot through his entire body as one of his ribs outright cracked! Goofy rushed to Sora’s aid, blocking one of Ganon’s sword swings as it tried to finish Sora off. The blow was too strong, though, and knocked the shield away, backhanding Goofy and him sprawling, nearly knocking him off the ledge of the floating platform! Donald distracted Ganon with some Fire spells, drawing its attention to him as it sprinted at the mage, giving him a good kick as well and making him lose consciousness for a split second as he struck the ground. Ganon wasn’t messing around, stunning the three outsiders in a single blow each! However, as the beast focused on Donald, Sora cast a Cure on himself, healing his rib, but ensuring it’d be his only heal until Ganon was defeated…

Link prepared another Light Arrow, Ganon’s attention drawn to him in response. It raised up an arm to slice at Link, but Sora sprinted in the way. He felt that Woomy was okay, back in her stone, but he couldn’t help feeling furious at what seemed like a death caused by this monster! Without even thinking, the brunette held his Keyblade out, copying Link’s stance he had taken before. As the sword approached, Sora unleashed a Spin Attack, able to knock the attack away in Ganon’s weakened state combined with his rage. Navi rammed right into the beast’s eye, distracting it further so when Link fired a second Light Arrow, it managed to strike Ganon right in the neck! Again, it didn’t quite pierce its flesh, but it weakened the monster even more.

Donald and Goofy managed to recover, Donald also having to use a Cure on himself, and they rushed to Sora, having a combination attack in mind. “Sora! Jump on, we’ve got an idea!” The knight yelled, squatting down and holding his shield facing up. Sora did as told, jumping onto the shield. Goofy then thrust it upwards, sending Sora high into the air, even up above Ganon’s head! He prepared to slam the Keyblade down on the monster, but Donald had a way of helping. The mage cast a Gravity spell, not towards Ganon, but to Sora! This naturally caused him to become heavier, making the Keyblade hitting Ganon’s head far more powerful than it normally would’ve been!

This attack struck Ganon directly in the head, throwing the creature off a bit from the impact. It was stunned long enough for Link to rush Ganon, stabbing it in the stomach with the Master Sword, this attack actually allowing the blade to pierce through the monster’s flesh up to the blade’s hilt! With a cry, he pulled the sword out in one motion, starting to ferociously slash at Ganon’s stomach area as Sora joined in.

Donald cast more Fire spells at Ganon, aiming for its face to distract and blind it while Goofy parried incoming attacks from its swords. Navi even kept helping, ramming into Ganon’s eyes between spells from Donald. As the onslaught went on, Ganon’s movements became weaker and slower, but it still managed to knock Goofy away in a lucky hit, with Donald being too far for it to hit. At one point, it even knocked Link off of his feet with a backhand, but the swordsman was too determined to let that stop him. Then, it all finished with Sora and Link stabbing Ganon at the same time, bringing the monster to its knees. In an act of desperation, it roared out, a shockwave of darkness pushing everyone away, Navi crumpling on the ground next to Link! Not only that, but it was very damaging to them, nearly knocking them unconscious as the wave kept pulsing out over and over! Before the fighters could be knocked out entirely, a massive beam of light struck it in the chest, stopping the attack and saving them from an assured defeat!

Everyone turned to see that Zelda was the one firing the beam, having been out of the dark shockwave’s range, but her attack was already fading. “Hurry! Finish it off while it’s stunned!” She cried out. It was Link that acted as he struggled to his feet, wasting no time sprinting at Ganon. With a cry of fury and anguish, he leapt in the air and stabbed the monster right in the heart, once more plunging the Master Sword into Ganon down to the hilt! As he pulled the blade out, Ganon let out a cry of pain as it writhed and thrashed. “Sages! Hear me! Banish this creature from this world for all time!”

At the Princess’ cry, a white vortex opened in the sky. It lifted Ganon into the air, the shadow peeling off of it like a miasma, revealing Ganondorf underneath it. He let out a cry, somehow still alive from his ordeal. “No…! Even with the power of the Triforce…?!” The man cried out as he was lifted into the vortex. “Curse you, Link…Curse you outsiders! Curse you Zelda and the Sages! I swear…I swear I’ll return! This banishment won’t last forever!”

With those words, he entered the light, the portal closing in an instant and taking Ganondorf out of Hyrule once and for all. Wincing in pain, the rest of the fighters not to their feet, Navi barely managing to land on Link’s shoulder. Sora, Donald, and Goofy felt like they were one hit away from passing out entirely, and Sora was sure another bone somewhere was cracked. If it wasn’t Zelda…well…it would’ve ended right there for sure.

“It’s really over this time…right? No way he can come back from that…” Sora murmured, wincing in pain. He almost regretted using his Cure, knowing the healing magic wouldn’t recharge for a while. Even as he spoke, he felt that it truly was over, the dark atmosphere slowly starting to lift away. It was gradual, not all at once, and the dark clouds remained, but surely those would also fade eventually.

Donald and Goofy got to their feet as well, Donald also regretting using his Cure so willy-nilly. He was still a tad rusty with his magic, so it’d be some time before he could use more advanced healing spells. Goofy rubbed his head, a nasty headache starting to form. “Gawrsh, thanks, Princess…! Without your help, I dunno what would’ve happened…”

Zelda nodded, a look of relief on her face. “It should be me thanking all of you. Without you all, Hyrule would have fallen to that horrible man. Here, let me aid you…” She raised her hands as Sora, Donald, and Goofy were bathed in a white light, their wounds healing! “I’m sorry I couldn’t help more, it was just too dangerous for me to approach…and I must be close for my healing to work.”

Link approached, still with his sword and shield out. “It’s really over? Really, this time? It’s not like last time, is it?” He asked, in clear disbelief.

“It’s really over, Link. I know It seemed all done with after you gathered the Spiritual Stones, but Ganondorf is truly sealed this time.” The Princess assured.

“Aha!” A voice suddenly chirped. It was GLaDOS! She had been so silent since the group met up with Link, her voice startled Sora, Donald, and Goofy and especially Link, Navi, and Zelda. Donald pulled the A.I. out of his pocket. “The darkness is gone! I can sense the Keyhole nearby!”

“Wait, what is that?” Link asked, observing GLaDOS with curiosity. He still seemed a bit out of it, but the sudden appearance of the A.I. was a good distraction.

“You haven’t spoken up in ages!” Donald noted, almost sort of forgetting that GLaDOS had been in his pocket the whole time.

“I don’t exactly fit in here, so I kept quiet.” GLaDOS explained. “But the Keyhole is right nearby, I couldn’t let us leave without sealing it!”

Sora looked around, but he saw nothing. Walking around, he stopped. From the rubble that Ganondorf burst out of, he saw a Keyhole in the ground! It was there the whole time! “I see it! Thanks, GLaDOS!” He pointed his Keyblade at the Keyhole, his weapon’s tip glowing along with the hole, a loud locking sound brought forth as the Keyhole vanished entirely.

“Wait…what happened…?” Navi asked, still sounding weak as she stood up and rested against Link’s face.

“It’s something that will keep the world safe from the Heartless, don’t worry!” Donald piped up, keeping things vague as he put GLaDOS back in his pocket. “We do have to leave, though.”

Link put his sword and shield away, frowning. “Back out of Hyrule? You have to leave already?” He seemed a bit curious about GLaDOS, but the news of his new friends leaving apparently took precedence.

“They’re not the only ones who must go.” Zelda informed, seeming less surprised about the Keyhole than Link and Navi. “Link, you need to make a decision. You can stay here, in this ragged future, or you can go back in time and become a child once more. A one way trip.”

“…What? How? If I went back, wouldn’t all of this be undone?” Link asked with a shake of the head. “I couldn’t do that!”

Zelda shook her head as well. “No, it wouldn’t be like that. Think of a river splitting into two. If I sent you back, that’s what would happen. One branch would be everything here, but if I send you back, a second branch is created. One where you can warn me that our initial plan will fail, and Ganondorf can be stopped before gaining access to the Sacred Realm. The choice is yours. I want to give you your childhood back, but it’s ultimately in your hands.”

Link stood there, mouth agape, clearly processing this massive choice dropped onto him. He looked around to everyone else, feeling helpless. “What do I do…?”

Navi patted Link’s cheek. “You should do it. You deserve a normal childhood…You deserve to be happy…” She still seemed exhausted…

“It’s not really my business, but I agree.” Sora said, having noticed how out of sorts Link was. He kept forgetting that the supposed adult was really only ten, at least mentally. “You deserve a chance to grow up without all of this.”

“I think so too. I know Malon would understand.” Goofy added on. “She’d probably want ya to do the same thing.”

This sort of thing wasn’t one of Donald’s strong suits, but he piped up as well. “Everything’s safe here now, you don’t need to feel like you have to stay!”

Link nodded, a bit numbly. “…I’ll miss you. All of you. I won’t forget you.” He turned back to Zelda. “What do I have to do?”

“Give me the Ocarina of Time.” Zelda responded, holding out her hand. “You’ll be sent back before you pulled out the Master Sword. You’ll remember everything. The only thing you must do is find me again and warn me of what will come if we go through our initial plan.”

As Link put the blue instrument in the Princess’ hand, Sora put a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll miss you too, Link and you too, Navi. You both have strong hearts, so we know you can prevent all this and create a better world!”

“That’s right! We won’t be forgettin’ ya both either, alright?” Goofy said, feeling a bit teary-eyed at this goodbye.

“Ganondorf won’t see it coming!” Donald added on, giving the boy and fairy a thumbs-up.

“You all…thank you…” Navi whispered, sitting down on Link’s shoulder. “I think we’re ready, Zelda.”

The Princess put the Ocarina of Time to her lips, prompting the outsiders to step away from Link. She played a beautiful, slow song, and as she did so, a blue beam formed around Link and Navi. The two were gently lifted into the air. Higher and higher…and soon, they were simply gone. “…I believe this was the right thing. I have faith in them.” Zelda remarked, her tone solemn. “As for you three…you have to leave this world, don’t you?”

“World? Wait…how did you…?!” Sora exclaimed, taken off-guard. “You knew we weren’t from this world?!” He was still a bit shaken after Link’s departure. Even if they came back to this world, they’d never see him again. Their hearts would stay connected, but…it didn’t feel like enough at that moment.

“Only that detail, yes. Since I was a child, I have had prophecies. Ones that come to me without any warning. In one such dream, I saw three figures come from the sky to aid our kingdom along with Link…one of them held a large key.” The Princess explained, gesturing to the Keyblade. “My Father spoke of a sacred treasure underneath the castle, a rumor older than Hyrule itself…I can only imagine it was the Keyhole you sealed.”

Seeing no reason to deny things, Sora nodded. “You’re right. We came from another world to help with the Heartless. Sealing the Keyhole keep the heart of the world safe from the Heartless. They won’t be able to get to it.”

“That’s a relief. I wish you three could stay a bit longer, but something tells me you have to leave right away.” The Princess said. “You don’t need to worry about us, we’ll be okay. We can rebuild!”

“Of course! The kingdom has you to lead it!” Sora declared. “By the way…you never saw anyone named Kairi here, have you? She’s a friend I’m looking for…” He had to ask, and he gave Zelda a description of his childhood friend.

“I’m afraid the name isn’t familiar, and I haven’t seen anyone like that. While not a prophecy mind you…I feel like you’ll find her.” Zelda responded, digging into her pocket. “By the way, I meant to give this to you before Ganondorf captured me. I found it shortly before we first encountered each other, and I feel in my heart it will aid you.” Out of her pocket, she pulled a bright yellow stone, one that was remarkably like Woomy’s.

Sora reached for the stone, but as he touched it, it gave him a painful shock! “Ow! What the…?” Cautiously, he tried again, and managed to pick the stone up. “We’ll have to take this to Dr. Orpheus, I can feel this is another summoning gem…”

“I’m not sure what that means, but I’m hoping it will aid you. Once more, I have to declare how much this kingdom owes you, and I hope we can meet again one day.” The Princess declared.

Pocketing the new stone, Sora nodded. “I hope so too. Even if we don’t, our hearts will remain connected, right?” The Princess nodded in response with a smile.

“I’m sure we’ll see each other again somehow, I just know we will!” Goofy remarked, preferring to remain optimistic.

“Just wish we could stay a bit longer…” Donald remarked, not feeling the need to ask about King Mickey. If he had been here, he would’ve taken down Ganondorf by himself. “Come on, guys…” Hating these sort of goodbyes, he took the returning device out of his pocket. With the push of a button, the outsiders left Hyrule behind in a flash of light.

Zelda looked at where the trio had stood with a sad gaze. Sighing a bit, she turned back to the bridge that led to the mainland. Then she heard a noise behind her. Turning around, her eyes widened as a figure darted at her…

---

In a dark room, in a far away world, Dio and his remaining allies were in their usual meeting place. However, there was a new person amongst them…Riku. The witch and the purple-suited man were off to the side as the man with the hook, Dio, and Riku were around the table.

“You know he didn’t even like you, right? You’ve gotta get a grip!” The purple-suited man declared to a somber witch.

“You don’t know what you say, it was only a matter of time before our wedding day!” She screeched back. “If those twerps come up to me, I’ll tear them apart, that you’ll see!”

Ignoring the bickering, the hook handed man spoke to Dio. “You know, I think Ganondorf could’ve had them with just a bit of extra help.” He said this as he open glanced at Riku. “Could’ve solved our problems in one blow.”

Riku shrugged off the man’s comments. “He was a traitor; did you forget that? Besides, I got the Princess of Heart and brought her here. I did my part.”

“Ganondorf was a fool.” Dio declared, not seeming too bothered by his traitorous ways. “He let his desires cloud his heart, and it was his downfall. Letting one’s emotions burn too fiercely can be very dangerous…”

“You’re not trying to imply anything there, are you? I’ve got my emotions in check just fine.” The hook handed man replied. “You won’t have to worry about that!”

Dio ignored the other man’s words and turned his attention to Riku. “That aside, we had a deal, didn’t we? You helped us, and you get your wish…” He waved his hand, and above the table a vision of Kairi appeared, lying comatose.

“Kairi?!” Riku exclaimed, dropping his guarded visage as he uselessly reached for the hologram.

“Our associate here will take you to her. Using the darkness to travel too much at your level is dangerous, after all.” Dio declared, gesturing to the hook handed man.

“…Why are you doing this for me? What’s the catch?” Riku asked, eyeing Dio with open suspicion.

Dio chuckled at this, not seeming upset at all. “What catch? You’re far too suspicious. You remind me of myself when I was younger. The determination in your heart and your willingness to do anything to get your way is admirable, to say the least. Besides, I promised you aid in exchange for cooperation, and I hold up my promises…”

Riku didn’t reply, staring intently at Dio for a moment before walking off with the hook handed man…

---

A massive core of energy lay beyond the door sought by the Heartless. It may be the ultimate goal of the Heartless. But what is that energy? I have devised a hypothesis, based upon my observations of the Heartless.

The Heartless feed on other's hearts, and they yearn for that energy core. That thing beyond the door must be a heart, too--the heart of this world. There is no proof, but, having felt that immense energy, I am certain. That was the heart of the world.

The Heartless are trying to take hearts not only from all living creatures, but from the planet itself. But what do they mean to do with the heart of the world?

Chapter Text

Sora stared at Hyrule as the Gummi Ship flew away. He, Donald, and Goofy were in the cockpit of the vessel, the two adults talking amongst themselves as the teenager looked on. The brunette couldn’t stop thinking about Link and his predicament, how the child in an adult’s body didn’t want to fight monsters or be a hero…and Sora pitied him. Sora had wanted to go out on adventures and see different worlds, but not under the circumstances he was in. He didn’t want the Keyblade or to fight Heartless, he just wanted to be with Riku and Kairi, having fun and seeing what all the worlds had to offer! Sora hoped that Link could find some peace and that Princess Zelda’s call was the right one.

“Alright, so where do we go next?” Donald asked, mostly to himself, as he readied the controls. “We spent a lot of time in Hyrule, so we’ve gotta get moving!”

That perked Sora up, who looked at the mage with a frown. “Well, we have to go back to Traverse Town. Dr. Orpheus needs to help whoever is trapped in this gem, remember?” As he spoke, he took the yellow object from his pocket. He could practically feel the heart stuck inside of it struggling against its prison. “We can’t just leave him like this!” He was surprised Donald already seemed to forget they had to help their potential new ally.

“I agree! Remember, we got that warp thingamajig!” Goofy pointed out, gesturing to the control panel. “We can hop on over to Traverse Town and be back here in a jiff!”

“Oh yeah, that’s right! We’ll make the trip for that, but we can’t stick around!” Donald exclaimed. He really felt like he was in charge of the entire adventure. Goofy was, well…he was Goofy and Sora was too young! To the mage, the responsibility clearly had to rest on his shoulders.

“You’ll get us all killed if we let you use it.” GLaDOS pointed out. “Put me in the control panel and I’ll run it for you.” While Donald grumbled angrily in response…he did as asked, putting the A.I. in like before.

After some beeps and boops, the Gummi Ship began to slow down, oddly enough. It then began to glow and rocketed forward, faster than ever before! This jolted the passengers as space around them began to vanish in a blank whiteness as the ship kept flying onward. Then, just as quickly as it began, it ended. The ship slowed down, everything around them came back into view, and the group was at Traverse Town! They all couldn’t help but notice the world was bigger than before, more buildings and districts added on, with the stars around them seeming a bit less numerous…

Everyone chose not to acknowledge this.

Since the group knew where Dr. Orpheus’ abode was, they simply had the Gummi Ship hovering above the area as they beamed down and visited the magical man. After some words of greeting, they had him awaken the new summon gem, while Dr. Orpheus was still very dramatic as he did it, he managed to use the spell without causing chaos around Traverse Town. The three decided it was best to first summon whoever was sealed in the gem on the ship and with any future summons from then on. It was a calm environment with no risk of being attacked by Heartless so whoever they summoned for the first time could ease into what was going on.

Quickly, the group also stopped by Nick Valentine and Columbo’s detective service. Columbo was out, but Valentine was around, and the trio asked about Kairi and King Mickey, but there hadn’t been any updates. Sora was tempted to ask if the synth had seen Riku lately, but he decided that his friend was able to handle himself. A part of him was still paranoid that the blonde man that the Oracle spoke of in Gielinor was talking about Dio, especially since he had seen himself that Dio was blonde. Another part of him argued that it was surely a coincidence and that Riku was smarter than to engage with someone as horrible as that vampire.

Sora couldn’t help but think about the ever-increasing survivors that kept finding their way to Traverse Town. How many were in the world at this point? Hundreds? Thousands? And they were small slivers of entire worlds that had gone out leaving untold numbers that were simply gone…or whatever became of them when their worlds vanished. While this wasn’t something he had asked for, this quest was still Sora’s responsibility, and he felt the increasing burden with every star that went out. He could only hope there was some way to restore the lost worlds, but if there was, it was still a mystery to him, Donald, and Goofy…

Though the trio wanted to check in on Leon and the others, the group decided it was best to move on quickly and they went back up to the Gummi Ship.

“See, Donald? That trip didn’t take so long! Even had time to check in on Valentine! It was easy as pie!” Goofy exclaimed as they warped back into their vessel’s cockpit. “Speakin’ of which, I could use a slice…” He had been so focused on getting back to Traverse Town, he didn’t realize how hungry he was.

“”Yeah, it wasn’t that bad. Who knows if we’ll find more of those gems, though. And I’m pretty hungry too…” Donald said, rubbing his grumbling stomach. “Sora, how about you summon that new person and let him eat with us?”

“Good idea! Let’s do it where there’s some more room.” The brunette suggested, having no idea how large their new friend was going to be. Somehow, he just felt that the heart within the gem was a good one, that the person inside would be friendly! With that, the three took GLaDOs down to the main hold of the ship, the largest room available.

Sora got out the yellow gem and focused, raising his Keyblade skyward as he did so. Gathering his magic, a spark quickly shot off from the tip of the weapon. Then another. And another. A series of electric sparks danced from the point of the Keyblade, soon forming a ball of thunder which quickly struck the ground in front of him, causing a large flash! When this flash subsided, there was a young boy of about six years old with bright blonde hair, orange eyes, lines going down his face, and was wearing an odd black cloak with a large bow on it. With him appeared a red book with unusual symbols on either side of it.

The boy stood up, being about as tall as Donald, blinking in confusion. He looked over to the three staring at him, then glanced at his book, which he snatched up and hid behind him. “Hey! Who are you three?! What am I doing here?!” The boy asked, apparently not having awareness of what happened outside of his gem until his first summon.

“Hey now, no need to be skittish! We’re friends, alright?” Goofy declared, giving the blonde child a small wave. “My name’s Goofy, and this is Donald and Sora.” He introduced, gesturing to his two companions in turn. “What’s your name…?”

Goofy’s kind demeanor and gentle tone worked wonders, as the boy quickly lightened up, but still kept his book hidden. “My name is Gash! Gash Bell!” He looked around, seeming to expect someone or something to be there in the room. When he didn’t see it, he looked back at the trio. “Where’s Kiyomaro? Isn’t he here?!”

Sora quickly realized that Kiyomaro was a friend of some kind to Gash, and the brunette shook his head in response. “It’s just us. Don’t you remember what happened before you were in the gem? What happened to your world?”

Gash paused, thinking things over before he made a startled noise. “Ahhh! That’s right! Those monsters appeared! Did they hurt Kiyomaro?! We have to go save him! Where is he?!” He frantically demanded, running around the room as if it was going to solve anything.

“Hey! Calm down! He’s probably fine!” Donald exclaimed, annoyed. He had no idea if Kiyomaro was really okay, but he wanted to settle the kid down. “Your world is gone now, but Kiyomaro is probably okay if you made it out!”

This made Gash halt in his tracks, not seeming all too happy with what Donald said. “That’s right…the world, it just vanished, and I saw Kiyomaro go flying…”

“There’s a place called Traverse Town where people who’s worlds vanished end up.” Sora explained. “It’s those monsters, the Heartless, that are doing this. Kiyomaro may have ended up there, or in some other world. We’re on a ship, going to different worlds to stop the Heartless, and we could use your help.”

“Well, we should go to that town and look for Kiyomaro!” Gash insisted frantically. “We work best together, he’s my partner!”

Donald crossed his arms, confused. “Partner? Partner for what?”

Gash paused, as if deciding if it was okay to even answer that question. But he apparently decided it was okay. “He’s my human partner, and I’m a Demon. We have to go against other Demons to decide who will run the world for another hundred years! I wonder if the Demon World is okay too…”

Goofy looked Gash over, humming in thought. “Ya don’t look like a demon. Ya look like a regular kid to me!” The lines on his face were kind of odd, but aside from that…

With an impish grin, Gash dropped his book as he bent forward a bit and parted his hair. Barely visible were two tiny horns protruding from his scalp. “Oh yeah? How about these?”

Donald and Goofy were a bit surprised, but after everything they had seen on their journey, two small horns weren’t too shocking. As this happened, Sora picked up the book out of curiosity and opened it. “What’s with this book? It appeared with you…”

“Ah! Hey! Give that back!” Gash said, trying to reach up to snatch it back, but he was just too short. “Us Demons need the books to do magic, and if they get burned, we’re out of the competition! Only Kiyomaro can read it anyway…!”

As Gash spoke, Sora opened the book to the first page and frowned. The text on the pages weren’t like anything the brunette had seen, and yet…! “What? I can read these. This one here says ‘Zakeru’ right?”

The second Sora uttered the word, Gash’s eyes went blank as his mouth snapped open. Without warning, a bolt of lightning erupted from his mouth, Sora was just barely able to duck under it as the attack hit the far wall, scorching it badly. Once the spell was done, Gash’s eyes returned to normal, and he was just as startled as everyone else! “Wh…What…?! You shouldn’t be able to do that!”

“Sora, are ya alright?!” Goofy exclaimed, having been so surprised by what happened that he hadn’t been able to even move to help his friend.

Getting his composure back, Sora stood up straight, looking at the scorch mark and then back at Gash. “I don’t know…but the words here, I can understand them! Maybe it’s because I summoned you…?” Was it the Keyblade’s doing somehow? That was the only explanation he could even think of.

“If you can read it, what about Kiyomaro?!” Gash exclaimed, more worried than apologetic about the attack. “We have to go find him!”

“Ya know, I think this might mean somethin’.” Goofy butted in. “That there Keyblade can do a lot…maybe it’s what’s lettin’ this happen.” He went on, thinking the same way as Sora. “I think this means she gotta be workin’ together! Your friend might be in Traverse Town or somewhere else…but we’re workin’ to get the worlds all back together.” Kairi wasn’t in Traverse Town, after all, so it was possible Kiyomaro wasn’t either, if he was okay at all…

Donald butted in. “We just don’t have time! Your partner could be anywhere! It’ll be faster if you help us. We’ll restore the worlds and you can meet up with your friend again!” How they’d restore the worlds, if it was even possible, was up in the air. But Gash didn’t need to know that…

Gash was clearly conflicted, even as Sora handed his book back to him. After about a minute, he put on a very serious, determined face. “Okay. I’ll do it! I’ll help fight against those Heartless guys! Just…if we’re going to fight together, when you use my spells, I have to face where I’m doing them, and I sort of black out when I do it…”

Sora grinned, reaching out a hand that Gash took in a handshake. “Glad you’ll help us out!” He declared. “We’ll learn how to fight together just fine! Now let’s get something to eat, huh?”

With that, the group went into the kitchen to have a miniature feast. Gash, shockingly, had a massive appetite. Apparently, his favorite food was yellowtail fish, which he pulled from the magical pantry whole…along with about half a dozen others, which he ate raw. And remarkably fast!

The quartet talked heartily, swapping some tales of their adventures. Gash was awed by some of the things they talked about, enthusiastically urging them to tell him more. Likewise, Gash told of some of the other Demons he and Kiyomaro had faced against such as one that can control plants and an especially powerful one that utilized gravity. But he had also made friends such as Tio, who liked to strangle Gash a lot, and Umagon, a horse that no one could really understand. Those were pretty unusual to the other three, but they took the stories in stride. At one point, Sora tried to summon Woomy so she could meet Gash, but wasn’t able to, strangely enough. Being a magical expert, Donald surmised Sora could only have one summon active at once given the current strength of his magic.

Eventually, Gash started to slow down, and his movement became sluggish. “I’m feeling real tired all of a sudden…” He complained, yawning loudly and looking like he was about to pass out.

“Oh, we forgot to mention that, sorry.” Sora said with a slight frown. “You can only be out for a bit, then you have to go back in your gem. But when we need you, we’ll take you back out!” He felt bad having to break the news to Gash, wishing that him and Woomy could just remain outside of their gems permanently.

Gash didn’t seem to be paying much attention, resting his head in his arms as he closed his eyes. “Oh, alright…” He said flippantly before simply falling asleep. A few moments later, he was enveloped in light and vanished, going back into his gem along with his book.

“I kinda feel bad for him.” Sora declared, understanding Gash’s plight of being separated from a dear friend. “I also kind of wish we knew about his spells more…” He mused, not having had time to see the others spells or try them out…

“Not in this ship! That first one was dangerous enough!” Donald exclaimed, also feeling bad for Gash, but he decided to keep that to himself. “Now let’s get going!”

With that, the journey went on! Donald and Goofy went up to the cockpit, Sora opting to go to his room and rest. With GLaDOS’ help, the ship warped back to Hyrule before Donald steered the vessel onward to the next world. For Sora, the trip was rather short, as he slept through the entire thing. Normally he would have reflected more on how the situation was, but he had just been so tired! In any case, he was awoke feeling rested as it took a good eight hours before the Gummi Ship came across another world. With the stars going out continuously, the trip between worlds would only grow longer…

After being called to the cockpit by Donald, Sora made his ascent as the next world came more properly into view. It looked fairly normal, nothing especially notable about it, the world being more ocean than land, but having numerous landmasses. The Gummi Ship approached an island that was separated from a lot of the other parts of the world with GLaDOS speaking up.

“That island there…I’m picking up the same energy as a Keyhole. You’ll find one there for sure.” The A.I. announced.

“Great, so you’ll send us there, right? Kairi might be there too…and your King.” Sora said, adding on the last bit as he glanced at Donald and Goofy. As much as he wanted to help his new friends, his main concern was Kairi. It was probably really foolish to just assume she could be there, but he had to keep hoping…

“Of course I will, Clown Shoes.” GLaDOS said, a roll of the eyes present in her voice. “There is some…I can’t believe I keep having to say this…magic interfering, but I can get you pretty close from here.”

Donald nodded, pointing at the island. “Alright, then let’s go! We gotta get searching!” The mage declared, just wanting to order GLaDOS around a bit.

“It looks mighty peaceful from here, I hope it’s in better shape than Hyrule…” Goofy mused, remembering how pleasant that world looked from above. With that, GLaDOS warped herself and the others down to the new world.

The area they arrived in was as peaceful as it looked, residing in a closed off area surrounded by natural rockfaces. Behind them was a comfortable looking single-story blue house and in front of them was a tall but narrow mountain with a spiraled footpath leading to its top. Something that really stood out, however, was a structure attached to the mountain via bridge. It was a large castle of sorts shaped like a witch’s head! A long pointed chin, a crooked nose, even missing teeth in the open mouth of the structure and it had ominous green, glowing eyes! The stone witch’s hat even resembled that of a castle’s tower!

“Well that’s not exactly welcoming…” Donald said as he looked at the freaky witch-shaped castle. “I can feel darkness coming out of there from over here!”

Indeed, though it wasn’t nearly as strong as in Hyrule, the familiar feeling of oppressing darkness lingered in the air. It was clearly emanating from the disturbing looking castle, its green eyes seeming to stare right at the group despite the distance.

“Funny you should mention that place. The Keyhole’s signal is coming right from it.” GLaDOS said, almost seeming happy to share the bad news. “Isn’t that just great, loudmouth?”

“Oh, be quiet!” The mage snapped, shoving the A.I. into his pocket. “At least we know where to go right away.”

Sora felt a bit of relief at that. Rather than scouring an entire kingdom, they only had to look inside one building. “I doubt it’s going to be so easy. The witch living there has to be the source of all this darkness in the air.” At least they knew what she looked like, no way the castle was modeled so specifically if its owner didn’t look that way…though it was still very odd.

“No! No, no…!” A voice suddenly called out. As the trio looked to see its source, they spotted a bipedal, human-sized mole man running around the corner and into view. Or rather, he was waddling at a somewhat decent pace. The mole man had a red and orange vest on and glasses so thick they were more like goggles than anything.

Behind the mole man was a group of Heartless giving chase! About ten Shadows, a few Soldiers, and a yellow version of the Red Nocturne, the Yellow Opera Heartless, which were casting weak Thunder spells that the mole was barely able to outpace.

“Come on, fellers! We gotta help!” Goofy declared right away, charging past the mole man and bowling over the Shadow Heartless with ease, Sora and Donald joining in as they summoned their weapons. Thankfully, the Heartless were rather weak ones, though the Yellow Operas gave the trio a few good zaps before being taken down, Dr. Orpheus’ magic preventing serious harm from the Thunder spells. Goofy mainly took down the Shadows and Soldiers with shield batches while Sora and Donald picked off the floating Yellow Operas with Fire and Blizzard spells.

As the last of the Heartless was slain, the trio turned to see the mole man was nowhere to be seen! However, after a moment, his head burst out of some loose soil that the three hadn’t noticed. “They’re gone…? Oh, thank goodness!” He declared, coming out fully from the ground and shaking some dirt off of his fur. “Those creatures have been appearing all over lately, last time I make the mistake of wandering from some loose soil…”

“It’s just good you’re okay. I’m Sora, by the way, and this is Donald and Goofy.” The brunette gestured to his companions in kind. “Also, where are we? We’re not exactly from around here…”

“Oh, I’m Bottles, good to meet you all!” The mole declared, looking around in nervousness, clearly expecting more Heartless to appear. “And you’re at Spiral Mountain, but this isn’t exactly a good time to visit. That horrid witch, Gruntilda, has been summoning those nasty monsters to cause havoc! She even kidnapped the little sister of some friends of mine…”

Donald pointed to the castle in the shape of a witch’s head. “I take it that’s her home? Who the heck lives in a castle shaped like their head?” Granted, King Mickey had his emblem shaped like his head, but at least Disney Castle wasn’t in that shape!

Bottles huffed, burying his body half into the ground, like he was ready to flee at any moment. “Gruntilda’s a piece of work and ugly to boot! She’s been a thorn in our side for years, but she went too far this time! Like I said, she kidnapped an innocent girl, and now her brother is trying to help…”

Sora nodded, brandishing his Keyblade. “We’ll help! It’s sort of our job to take down those monsters anyway, they’re called Heartless. By the way…has anyone else come through here? A girl with red hair and blue eyes? Her name’s Kairi…”

“And also King Mickey might’ve been here!” Goofy added on hopefully. “He’s pretty short and has big ol’ round ears!”

The mole shook his head. “Afraid not. Aside from you three, it’s just been those monsters. But if you’re sure you want to help, Banjo and that loudmouth on his back will be glad to see you.”

Banjo? What kind of name was that? About as normal as ‘Bottles’ Sora supposed. In any case, he was disappointed to hear Kairi hadn’t been in the area, and Spiral Mountain didn’t seem too populated, so if Bottles hadn’t seen her, Sora was out of luck! Honestly, the news that Kairi wasn’t in this world either was eating away at the teen. Or more accurately, it was the continued bad news about her whereabouts that had been gnawing at him ever since they first got separated. She wasn’t in Traverse Town, she wasn’t in any world they visited…so where was she? Was she trapped in one of those gems? What if she was on another world that got swallowed by the darkness? What then?

Sora had to try and remain positive, and he knew that! As hard as it was, of course. The numbness that came with the disappointment was hard to ignore, though. “Thanks anyway. Well, we’ll be going. You sure you’ll be okay?” The brunette asked. It didn’t seem like Bottles had any means of actually defending himself, though he also didn’t seem too worried.

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I can dig a lot faster than I can run. Those Heartless things can’t catch me underground!” Bottles declared with surprising boastfulness given his usual soft nature. “By the way…I help give moves out. It’s sort of my specialty. I’ll try and think of something for you guys for helping me out.” Without waiting for a response, the mole man burrowed entirely underground and the sound of digging signaled his further departure.

“Wait! What do you mean you give out moves?!” Donald called…but Bottles apparently didn’t hear and didn’t come back to explain.

Goofy scratched the side of his head. “Maybe he’s some sorta trainer or somethin’. Like he can figure out stuff for us to do with our weapons!”

Donald scoffed. “If that guy’s a trainer, I’ll eat my hat. You saw how he ran from the Heartless!” Not like it really mattered all that much…

“Anyway, we’ve got to find that Banjo guy and his friend. Helping them out should get us to the Keyhole faster.” Sora pointed out. It was a shame it didn’t seem like Kairi was in the area, but at least they could get another world secured from the Heartless…

Without further hesitation, the three went off towards Spiral Mountain, noting there wasn’t much else of interest to see in the area. A moat surrounded the small mountain with a waterfall and a farming field in another direction…but aside from that one blue house, presumably Banjo’s, there were no signs of other residents of the area. It really was a small, peaceful looking, isolated area from the rest of the larger island it was attached to. A shame such a nice place had an evil witch and the Heartless causing trouble!

At the top of the mountain, the three stopped at the bridge and faced the unusual castle before them, its mouth open like it was ready to devour them. “Hey, GLaDOS, can ya tell where the Keyhole is from here?” Goofy asked, glancing at Donald’s pocket. He was glad they at least managed to narrow it down to a single building right away, unlike with Hyrule…

The mage pulled the A.I. out as she did some quick computing. “The radiating darkness is interfering with my sensors. It seems to be near or at the top. So glad I don’t have to do any of the climbing myself.”

Donald rolled his eyes and stuffed GLaDOS back in his pocket. Weapons at the ready, the three approached the castle, the bridge creaking with every footfall. The darkness that emanated from the lair was heavy, but a cakewalk in comparison to Ganondorf’s own castle. As they entered, they all practically expected the mouth to snap shut on them…

The entrance room took them by surprise. Right in front of them on the wall was a massive portrait of a fat, ugly green witch in black clothes and a purple scarf. The massive chin, crooked nose, and just general ugliness was like the castle’s shape. “Well, that’s gotta be Gruntilda.” Sora commented, wincing at the painting, she was just so ugly he couldn’t help it! To the right was a tunnel leading to an oddly grassy area, and to the left a slope going further up.

“Guess we go left. GLaDOS said the Keyhole was near the top!” Goofy declared, the three going up the ramp to see an area with an opening further into the castle. The next room was massive, another painting of Gruntilda on the floor. In the room were two unusual creatures, monsters of some sort with red cloaks. As soon as they saw the three, they yelled out and rushed at them. Thankfully, they were easy to dispose of. A few whacks of Sora’s Keyblade and a single Thunder spell from Donald knocked them out.

“No sign of that Banjo guy. I guess he’s just really far up. We should’ve asked what he looked like.” Donald murmured as the three went further into the castle and up another ramp.

For a while, things went by rather easily. They’d enter a large room, with some sort of structure or painting resembling Gruntilda, and a few branching ways to go, with the group always taking whatever way went upward. More of those cloaked creatures tried to impede them but had no luck of even getting a hit in. Heartless sometimes spawned, usually weaker ones like Shadows and Soldiers. Really, the whole situation wasn’t much of a hassle!

“I think Bottles might have given that Gruntilda witch a bit too much credit.” Goofy thought aloud. “This isn’t anything like with Ganondorf!”

“Yeah, I’m starting to think that Banjo guy is already kicking her butt or something at this rate.” Sora agreed as they entered another area after climbing some annoying platforms. Not that he wasn’t grateful. The sooner they sealed the Keyhole, the sooner they could go to the next world and continue looking for Kairi and King Mickey!

Quickly, Sora was proven wrong. The next area had some sort of desert theming, a large urn in the middle of the room with a massive sarcophagus at the far wall. There were some Soldier Heartless about, but they weren’t alone! The Heartless were already fighting someone, or rather, a duo!

The more prominent member of this duo was a top-heavy brown bear in yellow shorts and a blue backpack. As the Soldiers charged him, he dodged their swipes, reacting with some of his own, using his heavy bear paws and sharp claws to slice through the Heartless. However, a few Shadows melted from the floor behind him and were posed to strike. Before they could, a bird popped out of the backpack! A lanky one with red and yellow feathers with a bright yellow beak. The bird struck out at the Shadows, rapidly stabbing its beak forward to skewer the Heartless and take them out.

“Those things don’t know when to quit!” The bird exclaimed, scoffing as the bear took out the last of the Heartless. “That old witch was a pain before, but those things are too much, Banjo!” Notably, the feathered fighter spoke in a feminine voice.

The bear, Banjo, let out a sigh of relief that the monsters were gone. “Aw, it’s not too bad, Kazooie! We’ve taken them all out so far!”

Ah, so that was Banjo! And the female bird, Kazooie, must have been the supposed loudmouth that Bottles had mentioned. The two of them hadn’t seen the other three yet, so Sora cleared his throat from a distance. “Uh…hey! Banjo? Kazooie?”

The bear and bird jumped a bit and swiftly turned to see the other three. Kazooie glared at the trio, very openly not trusting them at all. “Who the heck are you guys? That ugly witch sent you, huh?!”

“I think if they were gonna attack us, they’d have done it when our backs were turned.” Banjo pointed out. “Never saw any enemies like them in the lair…”

“That’s right! We’re here to help! We ran into Bottles and helped him out, and he told us about you. Trying to save your sister, right?” Sora asked, glad that Banjo quickly began to diffuse the situation.

Kazooie rolled her eyes. “Oh, so Beetle Breath got in trouble again? We had to save his butt from those weird monsters once or twice. That mole’s a real pain in my-”

“Okay, Kazooie!” Banjo interrupted. “We’re trying to rescue my sister, Tooty. You already know our names, but what are yours?”

“I’m Sora, and this is Donald and Goofy.” The brunette introduced. “It was pretty easy to get up this far, so why are you guys still so low in the castle? Did you just start trying to rescue Tooty?” That’d be some amazing timing!

“We opened all the doors up here ourselves! It wasn’t easy, Key Boy!” Kazooie snapped. “Having to go to all those different areas and collect Jiggies is real annoying!”

Donald huff, shooting Kazooie a dirty look. “Not like we had any way of knowing that!” What an obnoxious bird she was! And why was she hanging out in a backpack anyway? That was so weird!

“Who asked you, Loudbeak?” Kazooie shot back, returning the dirty look in kind. “This hasn’t exactly been a picnic for us, it’s been a real pain in the tailfeathers!”

“Who are you calling Loudbeak?! You’re the loud one around here!” Donald huffed, having half a mind to use some magic on the nasty red feathered bird! She wouldn’t be so high and mighty if some of those feathers got burned off…

Goofy placed a hand on Donald’s shoulder, like he knew that his friend was tempted to get violent. “Come on, Donald! We’re here to help these two out, remember?”

Banjo sighed, looking back at his own companion. “Come on, Kazooie, they seem like they’re nice! The more help we get, the sooner we’ll find Tooty!”

“How about we back up a bit? What different areas are you talking about anyway?” Sora asked, recalling a couple of the branching paths in the castle. Was that what Kazooie meant? All he, Donald, and Goofy did was keep going upwards whenever possible, but that clearly wasn’t what the bear and bird had to go through.

“Gruntilda’s got all these portals to other parts of the world.” Banjo explained, putting a hand over Kazooie’s mouth to stop whatever rude thing she was about to say. “We collect Jiggies, and they help us move forward. They’re like little puzzle pieces!”

That didn’t make much sense to Sora, but different worlds meant different rules, after all. Was hardly the strangest thing he encountered on his journey so far. “Okay, I guess that makes sense. We’ll help you get those Jiggies, then!” He didn’t really get how puzzle pieces were needed to go through a castle, but he was sure he’d understand soon.

“Where do ya find ‘em anyway? Just lying on the ground? In treasure chests?” Goofy asked, having the mental image of building a door out of jigsaw pieces and then opening it to proceed. As little sense as that made.

Banjo scratched the side of his head, seeming just as confused as Goofy is. “They’re just kind of lying around most of the time. Sometimes if we beat a really strong enemy, they’ll give us one to leave them alone. Doesn’t happen like that too often, though.”

“Okay, but where are we even going? There’s really a magic portal around here?” Donald asked, looking around. The area was weird looking with the pot and sarcophagus, but no sign of some sort of magical portal.

Kazooie gestured behind her and Banjo with a wing. “Some sort of desert-y place. Gobi’s Something-or-Other. Does it really matter?” The bird answered, an exaggerated annoyance to her tone as if she was just trying to annoy Donald for no particular reason.

“Gobi’s Valley, Kazooie. Come on, I’ll show you guys!” Banjo said, leading the group to another room nearby. It was a rather massive room with a great deal of sand instead of a proper floor. There was a wide walkway that led to a sandy platform with a large tree on it. On the tree was an empty doorway with ‘Gobi’s Valley’ written on a plaque above it.

“Wait, that’s the portal? Just a tree with an opening in it?” Sora asked, finding that harder to believe than almost anything he had encountered on his journey. When he thought of a magical portal, he expected something…well…magical. Flashy.

Banjo shrugged, clearly unbothered. “That’s just how they are. We should be careful, though, the entrances are usually guarded by those weird monsters.”

“Oh yeah, those are Heartless. They’re after hearts, any they can get pretty dangerous.” Sora explained. “It’s sort of our job to take care of them, which I guess just means beating up that witch.”

“Stealing hearts?! What the heck, that’s creepy!” Kazooie bemoaned. “I thought there was something weird about those things. My Breegull instincts told me something was off…”

Banjo looked back at Kazooie. “You have Breegull instincts? Since when?” He sounded more surprised than anything.

“Nah. They did feel weird, though. Really unnatural and freaky.” Kazooie said with what could only be described as a shrug despite her lack of real arms.

As though they were aware they were being talked about, a hoard of Heartless appeared in front of the group! Bandits and Fat Bandits blocked the path to Gobi’s Valley, especially the latter Heartless which made the walkway inaccessible. Right away, every got tense and readied themselves as the Bandits charged forward, scimitars swinging wildly!

Kazooie was quick to act, shooting large blue eggs out of her mouth at the approaching creatures! Surprisingly, they managed to actually make the Heartless flinch, but weren’t enough to actually defeat them. Banjo rushed forward, reaching into his backpack and grabbing Kazooie by the ankles. In a stunning display, he swung the Breegull forward and slammed her onto one of the Bandits, destroying it in one blow! This didn’t seem to bother Kazooie much, shaking the impact off.

Some of the Bandits rushed the outsider trio, Sora and Goofy charging forward as Donald hung back to use his spells. The Fat Bandits used this strategy as well, staying where they were summoned and shooting out pillars of flame at the group. While Sora and Goofy clashed with the Bandits, Donald shot Blizzard spells at them, freezing them in place or destroying them outright. Banjo tried charging at one of the Fat Bandits, swiping at its stomach with one of his mighty paws…but it wasn’t mighty enough. His attack bounced right off the belly, with the Fat Bandit responding by slamming one of its large fists on top of Banjo’s head, knocking him right to the ground! Kazooie, back in the backpack, tried to retaliate with shooting eggs at the Fat Bandit, but the projectiles just shattered against it without doing any damage.

Sora leapt back and threw his Keyblade at the Fat Bandit that slammed Banjo down, the weapon spinning rapidly in a Strike Raid attack! The Keyblade slammed into its face, causing it to stagger. Goofy followed through this as he knocked a Bandit to the side, charging the off balanced Heartless and slamming his shield into its gut. While he was knocked backwards a bit, so was the Fat Bandit, causing it to fall into the sand. There was practically a sizzling sound, the sand far hotter than it appeared, and after a moment of struggle, the Fat Bandit vanished.

At this point, Banjo recovered from the attack and looked up at one of the other Fat Bandits with a determined glare. With surprising agility, Banjo leapt up and above the Fat Bandit, Kazooie emerging from his backpack. Shockingly, the two stopped right in midair, somehow putting their momentum to a sudden halt. The pair flipped so Kazooie was beak-down, the two then slamming down onto the Fat Bandit’s head, the Breegull’s beak piercing the Heartless and destroying it in one move! Sora couldn’t help but observe this, wondering just how they managed to stop so suddenly.

Unfortunately, more of the Bandits and Fat Bandits appeared, as if Gruntilda was watching everything that happened and didn’t want the group to go to Gobi’s Valley! The five weren’t deterred, however, and charged towards the creatures of darkness, determined to break through! The regular Bandits weren’t too difficult to deal with, Sora and Goofy clashing with them and easily overpowering them while Donald supported with spells. Kazooie shot her eggs at the sword-wielding Heartless to get at them from a distance.

The Fat Bandits proved more troublesome in a group, starting to bulldoze their way forward in a sprint ones the Bandits were taken out. Being a wave of bulk, the larger Heartless were practically unstoppable as they rammed into the quintet, knocking them clear into the air as they slammed back down onto the floor. One of the Fat Bandits raised up a large fist and slammed down on Sora’s chest and stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

Donald hopped up and let out a battle cry, raising his staff as a strong Thundara spell was released, the Heartless each getting zapped, and a few of them being destroyed from the dangerous magic. This allowed the others enough time to recover and stand, Sora even managing to get his breath back. The brunette unleashed a Blizzara spell, destroying another of the Fat Bandits as Goofy flung his shield at the head of another, taking it out. The last of the massive Heartless got taken out by Banjo and Kazooie once more utilizing that downward beak attack.

Thankfully, once the last of the Fat Bandits was taken care of, no other Heartless took their place. Wincing, Sora rubbed at his chest, a pulsing pain emanating it and his stomach. He didn’t want to waste a Cure on a relatively minor injury like that, remembering how Donald told him how that type of magic took so long to charge back up again. “Man, that really stings…” The teen complained.

“You alright, Sora? I’m surprised you could get up after that!” Banjo asked, looking over Sora worryingly.

“I’ll be okay. The three of us have got a bit of protection from a friend.” Sora explained and being continuously thankful for Dr. Orpheus’ barrier. Without it, he was sure that Fat Bandit would’ve snapped one of his ribs or something. Really, there were several times he probably would’ve died if it wasn’t for that spell. He made a mental note to thank the necromancer about it the next time they saw each other…

Kazooie gestured to the portal with one wing and cleared her throat loudly. “Okay, that’s nice and all, but can we get going?! More of those things are probably gonna show up!”

Donald scoffed. “Oh, quit bossing us around! Give us a second to catch our breath!” The mage was tempted to give the loudbeaked bird a good whack with his wand.

“Say, Banjo, how big are these places ya go to?” Goofy asked, mainly as a way to break up the fighting as the group slowly made their way to the portal. “Think it’ll be tough to find enough Jiggies to move on?”

“They’re not too big, just little slices of the world.” Banjo replied after a moment of thought. “No idea why she has access to these places…maybe Gruntilda just likes to send monsters there or something.”

“Is she really that bad? You lived right near her for a while, right?” Sora asked, having to wonder who moved into their own place first. He couldn’t imagine building a house in the shadow of such a creepy castle in the shape of someone’s head. A place like that just screamed trouble and probably was long before the Heartless started to crop up.

Banjo shook his head. “She didn’t do that much, honestly! Some weird creatures popped up sometimes, but that was about it…” He scratched the side of his head, pondering. “Then a few days ago, those Heartless things showed up, really creepy stuff. If only Tooty stayed inside like I told her…”

Kazooie, in a surprisingly kind fashion, placed a wing on Banjo’s shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry, Banjo! We’ll get her back safe!” She then seemed to remember it wasn’t just the two of them and gave the other three a side-glance. “Even with these three bumbling along with us, I’m sure it won’t be too painful.”

“Aw, come on Kazooie, they’re helping us, don’t be so rude!” Banjo chastised, but clearly appreciated the kind words. It was a little surprising to Sora, Donald, and Goofy how Banjo seemed to be the only one Kazooie didn’t act rude towards. Given she literally rode around in his backpack, it was clear the two were quite close.

As the quintet approached the portal, they began to feel a strange sensation in the air, a light warm breeze emanating from the opening, a taste of what lied upon the other side. The hair, and feathers, of the group stood on end, the magic stronger than it appeared.

There was no more need to say anything, and the five entered the hollowed out tree and off to wherever it’d take them.

---

High up in Gruntilda’s Lair, near the top of the intimidating tower, was a laboratory of sorts. The room held two machines and a control panel of sorts connected to them. These machines had portholes in them, one of which revealed a terrified bear girl who resembled Banjo, only smaller and with blonde hair. Standing before these machines was Dio Brando, the lack of windows in the room ensuring his safety from the sun. With him was the ugly green witch that was part of his counsel, Gruntilda, or Grunty as she’s also known. In front of her was a bubbling cauldron with a face, the green liquid inside showing a faint image of Sora and his group entering the tree. The diabolical woman cackled as she stared at the frightened captive. “Just have to wait for the machine to finish calibrating so there’s no room for error! If all goes well, I’ll be a beauty, and Tooty a true terror!”

Dio wasn’t very amused, frowning as a green monstrosity in a lab coat entered the room, silently fiddling with the control panel. “If this girl was a Princess of Heart, I wouldn’t mind this so much, but she’s useless to us. Do you really have time to waste on this? You realize the Keyblade’s Chosen is helping that bear you ramble on about.” He gestured to the cauldron, having been watching the quintet fight their way to the portal. The blonde man wasn’t impressed with the brat’s fighting prowess, but he didn’t feel the need to dirty his hands on the teen. If all his subordinates were to fail, of course, he’d have no choice but to step in himself…

Grunty scoffed and waved a hand. “My magic is enough to destroy that brat! I’ll get my revenge for Ganondorf, and that is that!” She declared, shooting a nasty look at the creature in the lab coat. “Klungo, you’d better get this finished quick! If you don’t, you’ll get a beating from my broomstick!”

Klungo turned to the witch, nodding fervently. “Yesss my Missstresss! Klungo will work asss fassst asss he can!” As he said this, he pressed numerous buttons and turned a few knobs on the panel. His movements seemed almost random, but the machine was humming contently, so apparently, he was doing something right.

“Please, sir! You don’t seem to approve of this! Please let me out, I just want to go home!” Tooty begged, her voice barely audible through the machine’s window.

Dio ignored Tooty entirely, not even offering her a glance, instead turning back to Gruntilda. “Fine. I’ll leave you to your devices. Just know if you don’t stop those three, you won’t be getting any of the spoils. And don’t forget to find the Keyhole, it’s somewhere in this castle, I can just feel it…”

“If blonde man wantsss it done ssso badly, he can do it himssself!” Klungo huffed, coming to his mistress’ aid. However, all Dio had to do was shoot him a glare, and the green creature shuddered and huddled away.

“My plan is foolproof, don’t you see? They’ll wear themselves out by the time they reach me!” Grunty said with a harsh laugh. “My minions will scratch, stab, and bite! I’ll just need one spell to end our fight!”

The vampire gave a tiny shrug. “Well, then, just you hope it works.” Was all he said before he was enveloped in darkness and left the world behind.

Gruntilda shook her head, looking back into the pot, waving her hands as she focused her magic. “That blasted Dio, he has no faith at all! In one of my portals, I swear these wimps will fall!” The witch let out a delighted cackle as she continued to watch the pot, Klungo focusing on the machine as Tooty cowered in terror. “Then I’ll find the Keyhole, quick as can be! That’ll teach that Dio to underestimate me!” 

“Oh, Banjo! Please hurry, I don’t think I have much time left…” The smaller bear whimpered, covering her eyes as she tried to ignore the machine warming up.

Chapter Text

Much to the surprise of Sora, Donald, and Goofy, the portal worked just as described. In an instant, they found themselves in a whole new area, Gruntilda’s Castle left behind! Heat instantly hit them along with Banjo and Kazooie, a piercing sun assaulting them from above. Looking around, the group found themselves in a desert area, though the group was in the midst of an oasis. Didn’t stop the heat entirely, though. Further on, past the dot of green and blue, was a field of sand, valley walls off in the distance, pyramids and what seemed to be ancient tombs between the oasis and the towering stone walls.

Even in the oasis, the sun was still ruthless, and the group found themselves craving a drink almost instantly. Sora in particular wiping away some sweat already forming on his brow. “Tell me we don’t have to find too many of those Jiggies…”

“We should only need to get a few.” Banjo confirmed after a moment of thought. “We got a bunch in the last few places we got, so three or so should do.”

“Um…excuse me…do you five have a moment?” A male voice called, startling the quintet. They looked to see there was a palm tree rooted near them. Strangely enough, it had eyes and a mouth in its trunk! The poor thing seemed dried out, a weathered bark with crumpled looking leaves. “My name is Trunker, and I’m just so thirsty…! You wouldn’t happen to have anything to get me a drunk with, do you? I can’t quite reach the water…”

Sora supposed a talking tree really wasn’t that unusual at this point, he just hadn’t noticed it there. He couldn’t help but feel for the guy, being thirsty in the middle of an oasis with all that clean fresh water just out of reach! He wondered if his Blizzard magic might suffice, but he wasn’t sure if that’d hurt Trunker or not…

“You can’t just drink the water? Isn’t that what roots are for?!” Donald asked, gesturing to the nearby water. “Why can’t you just get some of that?” They had just entered this desert area and already someone was asking for help. Why was there a talking tree in the desert anyway…?

“It’s been so dry, even my roots have started to shrivel!” Trunker explained, sounding exhausted just from speaking. “I have a Jiggy I can give you, just help me get a drink!”

Kazooie perked up at that, leaning closer to the poor tree. “Why didn’t you just say that before, bark breath?! I’ll just spit some water in your mouth or something.”

“What?! No way, that’s disgusting!” Trunker argued. “How about that backpack, can’t you use that?”

“Not a chance, leaf-for-brains!” Kazooie shot back. “I live in here, you know! I don’t want it all soggy!”

Goofy tried to defuse the situation as he always felt inclined to. “I’m sure we can find somethin’ or other in one of those buildings. Let’s just take a look and see what we can find!”

“Okay…but please, hurry back!” Trunker called as the group walked off into the heated sand.

“Do people usually offer you Jiggies in exchange for favors?” Sora asked Banjo, it seeming to be rather convenient. Then again, different worlds had different ways of going about life. Maybe giving rewards for small favors was just common in this one?

Banjo nodded and gave a shrug. “More than you’d think! But uh, I don’t know if we’ll find a bucket or anything in these buildings, they look pretty old…I guess I might have to use my backpack after all…”

“You better not! Come on, Banjo, that’s not funny!” Kazooie yelled out, flapping her wings in protest. This got a good-natured laugh from Banjo and a grunt of annoyance from the bird.

Sora couldn’t help but notice Kazooie never had a mean thing to say to Banjo. She and Donald sure got into it, and she was pretty mean to Trunker. It made him think about how he was with Donald and Goofy, he got along with the latter well enough, but Donald…well…! He could be a bit of a pain, but Sora felt like he was nicer than he put on, and wanted to help others despite acting like he hates it. He still missed being with Riku and Kairi, but the two new friends he made sure helped fill that void in his heart…

A band of Heartless appeared at that moment, putting Sora out of his thoughts. It was a bunch of Bandits and Fat Bandits again, five of each spawning in front of the group. By what seemed like a coincidence, it was as the quintet was approaching one of the pyramids, almost like the Heartless were guarding it.

Still, the creatures of darkness weren’t enough to stop the would-be intruders. As usual, Sora and Donald hung back and used spells as Goofy charged in. Banjo and Kazooie used egg attacks at first to attack from a distance before rushing in, paws swinging and beak pecking away. The Fat Bandits gave the group a bit of trouble, smacking some of them around, but they were dispatched before too long.

Already, Sora felt a bit drained. Fighting in the desert heat was a pain! Without the coolness of the oasis, felt like he was going to pass out! “H…Hey…I don’t know if the pyramid has anything good in it…but let’s go in anyway to cool down…” Even though they had only be in the desert for a good five minutes or so, he was already in need of a break! “It’s gotta be better in there…right?”

Banjo was suffering even more, poor guy covered in fur. “I could use a quick breather. There might be a Jiggy in there anyway, so it’s worth a look!”

Thankfully, the pyramid’s entrance was wide open, so the quintet was able to walk in without issue. The inside was a bit stuffy, but way better than being out in the searing sun! As expected, the interior wasn’t entirely welcoming, it seeming like the five had been the first to enter the structure in hundreds of years. Cobwebs littered the corners and dust was on about every surface. Yet, strangely, there were lit torches to light the room up.

“You think the pharaoh guy in here had any treasure?” Kazooie immediately asked. “He’s gotta have something cool buried in here!”

“That’s about the smartest thing you’ve said all day.” Donald found himself agreeing. Lining his pockets with a bit of gold wouldn’t hurt anyone, right?

“Shame the same can’t be said for you.” GLaDOS suddenly piped up from Donald’s pocket, getting a confused look from Banjo and Kazooie.

Donald scowled, taking the A.I. out. “Oh, be quiet! No one asked!” He then noted the questioning looks GLaDOS was getting. “Don’t pay attention to her, she just helps us find where to go sometimes.”

“I don’t know, she seems pretty smart to me.” Kazooie said with a laugh. “Though I guess anyone can see how stupid you are.”

“I assure you I’m quite the genius. But you’re right, his idiocy is rather evidence.” GLaDOS responded, sounding more amused than she ever had with the group.

“And that hat of his is so ridiculous! What are all those zippers for anyway? Do they even do anything?” Kazooie asked, clearly enjoying teaming up on Donald.

Banjo broke things up though, waving a hand in front of Kazooie’s face. “Hey, come on! We gotta look for Jiggies, not get into fights!”

Before GLaDOS could even respond, Donald tossed her at Sora, who fumbled to catch the A.I., but managed to do so. “You take her!” The mage declared. “I’m not carrying her around anymore!”

“Uh, sorry GLaDOS. Guess you’re going to be with me from now on.” Sora said to the device. While he did see Goofy and Donald as friends, he wasn’t so sure about GLaDOS. It seemed like she hated everyone she met…except Kazooie, apparently.

“If the little mage wants to throw a tantrum, that’s fine with me.” GLaDOS responded, a shrug practically evident in her voice. “Better to be with you, Clown Shoes.”

That was probably the nicest thing Sora ever heard her say, but he’d take it. Not wanting to risk spoiling the moment, he simply gave her a nod and put her in his pocket, safe and sound.

“Uh, fellers. I think we attracted some attention…” Goofy interrupted, pointing further into the room, causing the other four to take a look.

Indeed, a Heartless had spawned in the room. It looked like a Bandit, but was different in a few ways. For one, it was a bit larger as was the scimitar in its hand, but it also had gleaming jewelry such as rings, bracelets, shiny belts, and some bits wrapped around its head. All made of pure gold and having gems embedded in them! Most notably, there was an entire treasure chest placed on top of its head, somehow managing to stay perched on the Heartless, even as it started to approach the group. The Wily Bandit was ready to fight!

“Well hey, look at that guy! He’s got all the treasure in here! Let’s get him!” Kazooie declared, lifting her wing as if to point with it, urging Banjo to charge forward. “Come on, Banjo, we could buy a mansion with all that!”

“If that’s really from the pyramid, it sure doesn’t seem like it’d be right…” Banjo confessed, yet kept staring at the sparkling treasure chest.

As if in response to their greed, the Wily Bandit charged at the bear and bird first, his scimitar raised and ready. Notably, this larger Heartless was faster than the usual Bandits, and assuredly stronger. So fast, in fact, Banjo barely had time to roll away as the Heartless gave a nasty horizontal swing. It wasn’t done, though, as when Banjo stood upright again, he found the creature’s foot in his stomach, sending him flat on his back, meaning Kazooie getting squished underneath the bear.

Sora responded with a quick Gravity spell to keep the Wily Bandit in place. Though the Heartless struggled against the force, it wasn’t able to break through, only able to turn around as Goofy charged it. The knight leapt up, slamming his shield in the creature’s face, Sora keeping up the Gravity so when the Wily Bandit fell, it fell fast and hard.

Unfortunately, the teen couldn’t keep the spell up forever and had to let it go. Just at that moment, Donald unleashed a Blizzard spell, aiming for the Wily Bandit’s torso. The Heartless wasn’t able to get up in enough time to dodge, a block of ice encasing the body, leaving its head and torsos free. Another stroke of bad luck as the Wily Bandit was able to get out almost instantly!

It shot up from the ground, ice shards shooting all over! Just as Banjo was getting up, one such chunk nailed him between the eyes, knocking him on his back again…right onto poor Kazooie. “Banjo…! Get off of me…!” The bird weakly choked out.

The Wildy Bandit went on the offense once again. It went for Goofy first, who wasn’t able to put up his shield in time before the Heartless gave another horizontal slash! This attack hit Goofy right in the chest, the magic barrier Dr. Orpheus gave him making it so he was sent flying back from the attack instead of cut. It was enough to send him flying into a nearby wall, the air knocked out of him as he slammed into it.

Donald let out a cry of anger, unleashing a Thunder strike on the Wily Bandit, hitting the Heartless. It was stunned for a moment, just enough time for Sora to go on the offensive right back! He unleashed a Sonic Blade, sliding forward at a high speed, Keyblade stabbing out and slashing the Heartless across the chest as he went past. By this point, the Wily Bandit recovered from Donald’s thunder just as Sora went back for a second pass!

As Sora shot towards the Heartless, the Wily Bandit raised its sword to block, managing to do so just as the teen made contact. The blow was too strong for the Heartless, the sword jolted out of the way as Sora went by again. In an instant, Sora went back for a third pass, the Heartless momentarily stunned so the Keyblade went right into its chest! This knocked the Wily Bandit backwards, falling onto its back once again.

Recovered from before, Banjo and Kazooie were back in the fight! Shockingly, it was Kazooie carrying Banjo, swiftly running at the Heartless, Banjo on her back as she trotted onward. As the duo reached the Wily Bandit, Kazooie leapt in the air, the two suddenly stopping above the Heartless. Like with the Fat Bandit in the castle, Kazooie shot down beak-first, slamming right into the Heartless’ chest. The impact stunned it, prompting the duo to repeat the move. This time, the blow was enough to finish off the Wily Bandit!

The good news was that the Heartless was defeated and vanished in a puff of dark smoke. The bad news was that all the treasure went with it! The gold, the jewels, even the treasure chest simply disappeared! Except, however, for one piece of it. A large puzzle piece made of gold came seemingly out of thin air, or perhaps it was hidden deep in the treasure chest. Either way, it clattered to the ground and seemed to practically glow, even in the torchlight.

“Hey! What happened to the gold?!” Donald exclaimed, he and Goofy having managed to recover by this point. “All that’s left is one piece!” So close to being filthy rich, and it was gone!

“Wait a second, that’s not just any gold! It’s a Jiggy!” Banjo exclaimed as he and Kazooie went back to how they normally were. Kazooie seemed a bit worn out after being crushed twice and then running like that. Excitedly, the bear grabbed the puzzle piece, stuffing it into his backpack alongside his feathered friend. “I’d say two more and we can go back!”

“Kinda weird a Heartless would hold onto somethin’ like that.” Goofy pointed out. “Ya reckon Gruntilda was controlling it? Like a guard!”

Banjo nodded. “We’ve gotten Jiggies from big Heartless like that before, so I wouldn’t be surprised…”

“If it’s that easy, we should get the rest in no time! That wasn’t so bad!” Sora declared, granted, he had been the only one that escaped harm.

This fact seemed to annoy Kazooie, who shot Sora a dirty look. “Easy for you to say, Clown Shoes!” She scolded, borrowing GLaDOS’ name for the teen. “Banjo is heavier than he looks, you know!”

“I know we didn’t get much of a rest, but how about we go back out and look for more of those Jiggies?” Goofy suggested, a bit winded from being hit, but was overall alright.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Kazooie scoffed. “Let’s just find them fast so we can get out of the heat. Adventure is one thing, but dying from the desert sun is another!”

As much as they didn’t want to, the quintet left the relatively cooler interior of the pyramid and back into the scorching sands. Gobi’s Valley wasn’t a very large location, thankfully. The sandy area was surrounded by valley walls, closing the group in. At most it’d take about an hour to explore the entire place, but even that seemed like an absolute eternity to be walking around the desert heat.

Of course, Heartless kept appearing to break up the monotony. Mostly Bandits with the occasional Fat Bandit coming out of thing air to attack the group. While they were generally easy to take out, the quintet accumulated a few injuries over time as well. Nothing serious, especially since Cure spells could only be used sparingly, but enough to make the walking a further pain. Before too long, the group reached the far valley wall, not seeing anything on the way there that could lead them to a Jiggy. Then, a voice called…

“Hello…?! Down there! Please, could you assist me?!” The voice, a male voice, shouted from above. Looking about, the five saw a staircase embedded in the valley wall leading upwards to a small crevice. Within this hole in the wall was a camel with a single hump chained to a rock on the floor by his leg. Or rather, it seemed the chain was embedded to the rock in some way. “Yes! You five! Please, that horrid witch trapped me here and I can’t escape!”

“We can’t just let the poor camel stay like that.” Sora quickly spoke up as he made his way up the steps. “Come on, let’s see if we can help!”

“Ask him if he has a Jiggy first!” Kazooie declared before being hushed by Banjo as everyone followed Sora to the camel’s prison.

Sora found himself a bit at a loss when he saw there was no padlock or anything on the chain. If there was one, he could just use his Keyblade to unlock it. As he approached, he realized none of his spells would help, and he was worried doing something like a Strike Raid might hurt the camel. “Uh…you guys have any suggestions? I don’t know how I can break this rock without hurting…what was your name?” He asked the camel.

“Gobi. And please, one of you has to help me! I’m so thirsty…! If you help me, I have a shiny object I can give you!” Gobi promised, tugging his leg in a futile attempt to free himself. The shackle around his limb wasn’t an option either, it also had no lock on it. It seemed Gruntilda was dedicated to keeping poor Gobi there trapped forever.

“I dunno if my shield could do it either. Donald, ya got any spells that might help us out?” Goofy asked, also worried if he did a big flashy move, he might end up hurting the trapped animal.

The mage shook his head. “Fire, Blizzard, Thunder…nothing I have would just break a rock like this…” He mused, trying to think of something else to try.

Banjo glanced back at Kazooie. “A shiny object sounds like a Jiggy to me! Let’s help him, Kazooie!”

The Breegull nodded. “It better be! That rock will do a number on my beak, I just know it!” Without further hesitation, Banjo leapt over the rock, and the two once more did the move that had Kazooie slam downwards beak-first. With this one attack, the rock shattered into pieces! Gobi was freed in an instant!

Bewildered, the camel looked at the pile of rubble that used to imprison him and let out an animalistic cry of joy. “Oh! Thank you! It feels so good to be able to move my leg again! But…do you think you can get the chain too? It’s painful…” He asked, gesturing his head to the shackle.

“I can try, I didn’t want to do it before in case I missed or something.” Sora offered, brandishing his Keyblade. “If you’re really sure…”

Gulping, Gobi lifted his leg and gave a nod. “I’m sure. Go ahead…!” He didn’t sound very sure, though. Still, Sora did as asked and carefully and swiftly struck the shackle. There was a loud clang as the piece of metal fell apart, fully freeing the camel. “That’s it! I’m really free now! Thank you! I didn’t forget your shiny thing either!” He reached to his side facing from the group and somehow produced another Jiggy, grabbing it with his mouth. Banjo took it, and the camel sped off down the stairs. “I’m so thirsty! Got to go to that oasis!” The camel hollered.

“Wait, where did he get that from…?” Goofy murmured, scratching the side of his head.

Not seeming as confused, Banjo placed the Jiggy in his backpack. “One more oughta do it. Kazooie, I think you’ll just have to deal with a wet backpack. We know Trunker’s got a Jiggy to give us and I wanna get out of this heat!”

Kazooie sighed. “Yeah, alright…I’m sick of the desert too, I’ll just deal with it I guess.”

With a clear destination, the trip back towards to the oasis wasn’t quite as bad. Very hot, yes, and there were more Bandit Heartless that tried to stop them, but were quickly dispatched. When the group got back to the oasis, they indeed saw Gobi was there. The camel seemed happy and satisfied, lying down in front of Trunker, who was still parched looking.

“Come on, get me some water…!” The dried tree begged. “But not from your mouth, that’s so unsanitary!”

“I don’t even have hands, what could I use anyway?” Gobi argued back. “It’s not my fault I can get a drink and you can’t.”

“Poor Trunker, having to watch someone else get a drink…” Sora pointed out. “Maybe we should’ve used your backpack earlier, Banjo.” As they got closer, the teen noticed a sort of doorway just beyond the oasis. Yet it wasn’t attached to anything, just a doorway standing all on its own leading into a black void. Was that the way back? He hadn’t even thought of it…

Kazooie scoffed. “We’re only using it because we just want to leave.”

Banjo shook his head. “And we want to help because it’s the right thing to do. Right, Kazooie?” He asked, mildly forcibly, to his companion.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Banjo.” Kazooie replied noncommittally. “But hey, I have an idea. Let me take over!”

“Uh, what? What is it?” The bear asked, but allowed Kazooie to walk for them again, just like with the Wily Bandit. Without replying, she trotted right towards Gobi and Trunker at full speed! Then, with no warning, she leapt up and did another beak bash straight downward, this time on Gobi’s filled hump!

The poor camel let out a cry of pain as he lurched forward, and all the water he drank came rushing from his hump and out of his mouth! It came out in a steady stream…and right into Trunker’s open mouth. The tree had no choice but to drink it all down, letting out surprised noise as he did. He sputtered and spat, but it was all down the hatch. Almost like magic, he changed in an instant, growing a foot or two taller as his trunk looked refreshed and his leaves became healthy and fully green.

“What was that?! I didn’t want water from a camel’s mouth!” Trunker exclaimed, sputtering some more. “But…it did help me a lot…my roots have even grown down to the oasis…”

“Ow…! That was mean!” Gobi exclaimed, shakily standing up. “I need to get away from you two, you’re dangerous!” Without waiting for a response, the camel ran off, seeming to know some way out of the valley that the quintet had missed.

Sora winced, both at the pain Gobi had been in and the whole water situation. He didn’t need to see that. “That was pretty mean, Kazooie. You two could’ve just used the backpack.”

“He’s right! It’s too late now, though…but don’t do that kind of thing again, alright?” Banjo admonished as he and Kazooie got back into their usual formation.

“Yeah, yeah. It was the faster way, and we got bark breath all hydrated. Now cough up the Jiggy, we had a deal!” Kazooie said to the tree, crossing her wings and giving him a dirty look.

Trunker sighed and paused in thought. “Well, I suppose you did hold up your end of the bargain, as nasty as it was. Okay, fine. It’s not like I have much use for it anyway.” With that, out of nowhere, a Jiggy materialized. Where he was keeping it and how he took it out was anyone’s guess.

Banjo, like with Gobi, didn’t seem to care and snatched up the piece, putting it in his backpack. “We’ve got enough to move on now, guys! Let’s head back to the castle!”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy still felt a bit bad for Gobi, but there wasn’t anything to be done about it. “Alright, but I think ya both should be nicer to whoever we meet.” Goofy lightly admonished.

“Who asked you?” Kazooie shot back with a huff. It was starting to become increasingly obvious why Bottles seemed to have such a low opinion of her.

Donald was about to say something in response, but Goofy put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. It just wasn’t worth it. At least Banjo was nicer in comparison. Not like Donald himself was always a pleasure to be around.

With things decided, the five went through the doorway and found themselves back in Gruntilda’s Lair, right outside the portal they used to get to Gobi’s Valley. After this, Banjo and Kazooie left the outsider trio through more of the castle, reaching a door that had large puzzle pieces missing from it. Putting the Jiggies in, the door vanished entirely, letting the group move on.

They moved through more of the castle, lesser Heartless and more of the monstrous minions of Gruntilda trying to stop them but failing miserably. Before long, they entered a large room that somehow seemed outside. It was a cemetery, with a visible sky above them darkened by clouds with a hint of moonlight just barely visible. There was a fence surrounding the area, a dark forest beyond it that seemed to stretch for miles.

Right in the middle of the cemetery was a rotting wooden building with an open entryway. Above this entrance was a sign saying ‘Mad Monster Mansion’ on it. There was a sense of dread that seemed to emanate from the building, like looking upon a haunted house. Sora especially couldn’t help but think of a time when he and Riku were little. They just discovered the Secret Place, and they assumed it was haunted from the strange sounds coming from it, like a creature growling. Of course, it only turned out to be the wind going through an opening in the cave ceiling. Granted, Sora had been more nervous than Riku, but either way, looking on the house gave him that sort of feeling.

And it made his heart hurt, suddenly remembering that Destiny Islands was…

Sora was snapped out of his thoughts as a number of Heartless appeared. Search Ghosts! About a dozen of them slowly creeping towards the group. Thankfully, they were even easier to deal with than Bandits, barely even getting any attacks in before the group wiped them out. As they finished, they approached the entrance.

“This place feels pretty spooky…” Goofy remarked with a gulp. “Ya sure we should go in there fellers?”

“It’ll be fine!” Banjo insisted, more chipper than Goofy. “We just need to grab a few Jiggies and we can go on our way. Not like we have much of a choice but to move forward…” No one seemed too interested in entering the portal first, however. After an awkward moment, Sora drummed up the courage and stepped inside, the rest following him quickly.

Coming out to the other side of the portal, the quintet found themselves in a rather similar environment to what they were just in. It was somewhere outside, a dark and cold night hanging overhead. The moon was just barely visible past the thick clouds, it being a full one that seemed uncannily large from what could be seen. Fog crawled about the ground, and the group instantly felt like something nefarious was watching them! Like before, a doorway that stood by itself was present where the five appeared in the area, seeming to lead into empty blackness.

Ahead of them was a large mansion, whether mad monsters lived in there was up in the air. It looked like it had been abandoned for centuries, the wood paneling peeling away, dust covering the cracked windows, yet there was light coming through the glass panes, suggesting there was someone inside. There were other eerie sights too like a hedge maze with thorns on the hedges, another building a way’s away with a clock tower, and large bats fluttering about the area.

“I guess we should’ve expected a place like this.” Donald mused, his staff primed and ready to zap anything that jumped out at them. “Pretty creepy, though…you guys think anyone lives in that house? The lights are on, but it looks abandoned…”

“I don’t think I want to try that place first.” Sora admitted, pointing at the hedge maze. “Maybe we can go in there first. Just have to mind the thorns…” He couldn’t shake the feeling he was being watched and it was very unnerving to him! For a moment, he swore he saw a pair of eyes peeping from a missing board from one of the mansion’s walls. Yet when he looked closer, they were gone, if they were even there to begin with…

Banjo didn’t seem too brave at that moment either, nodding along with Sora. “I agree, let’s head into the maze first. Something about that mansion gives me the willies!”

Kazooie rolled her eyes. “Man, you guys are wimps. But okay, let’s just try to get a Jiggy fast, then.” That being said, she seemed a bit nervous as well, though she tried to hide it…

Going away from the mansion, the five entered the hedge maze. It was hard to tell how large it was from the entrance, but they found themselves wandering in it for a good few minutes with no visible progress made. At the very least, Kazooie mentioned she could fly up above and get them out if they got lost. Along the way, some more Search Ghosts appeared to attack, but they weren’t much of a threat, thankfully.

Before too long, the group came along a clearing, and a strange building laid before them, seeming out of place for the area. It was a stone structure in the shape of a skull, complete with windows where the eyes would be. There were large red feathers on top and an opening where the teeth were. Despite how unusual it looked in its surroundings, Banjo and Kazooie didn’t seem shocked.

“Oh, Mumbo’s here, huh? Seems like he’d fit in around here, actually.” Banjo remarked as he approached the skull.

“Wait, who’s Mumbo?” Sora asked, staying in place with Donald and Goofy. Thinking of it, the skull did sort of match the aesthetic. It was better kept, though, almost inviting, even. 

“Mumbo Jumbo. He’s got skulls in a bunch of these areas. Always seem to be home, no matter what…” Banjo mused, waiting for the outsiders to follow him. “His magic has helped us out!”

Kazooie scoffed with another roll of her eyes. “By turning us into stupid things. Bonehead’s just lucky they happened to be useful.”

“Well, if Banjo vouches for him, I guess he’s gotta be a nice guy.” Goofy said with a shrug, following the bear and bird. Sora and Donald glanced at each other before following as well.

The interior of the skull was remarkably comfortable. The main room was a sort of throne room, torches lit along the walls and a wooden chair housing an unusual man holding a staff with a small skull on it. He seemed to be a shaman of some sort, with pink skin, a fur skirt, and red feathers coming from his head. Or, rather, coming from his skull. Rather than a normal head, he had a brown skull, which oddly enough had a set of normal looking blue eyes in the socket. Sora had to wonder if the skull was actually his head or a mask of some sort.

The shaman perked up at the visitors, his gaze honing in on the three newcomers. “Ah, new friends of bear and bird? Mumbo welcomes new guests. Long as they not loud mouthed like bird.” Mumbo declared, ignoring the dirty look Kazooie gave him.

Sora figured the odd man was nice enough, giving him a wave. “Uh, hey. I’m Sora, and this is Donald and Goofy. Banjo said you could help us out?”

“Mmm…Yes. Mumbo can help, boy. Can only transform one person. You, duck, dog, or bear and bird?” Mumbo asked, brandishing his staff. “Me cook up new spell! It good!”

“You can just let Banjo and Kazooie handle it.” Donald quickly offered. “We wouldn’t want to break the trend!” He had no intention of trusting this stranger with transformation magic! Who knew what could happen?

Banjo scratched the back of his head and shrugged. “Sure, that’s fine with me, I guess. Let’s do it, Mumbo!”

Standing up, Mumbo cleared his throat and began to wave his staff. As he did this, he muttered an incantation in a language no one else could understand. Still, it was clearly working, as Banjo and Kazooie started to flat a bit off the ground, an eerie light surrounding them! There was a magical hum in the air, with Mumbo spouting out a loud command at the end, a thunderclap ringing out as Banjo and Kazooie transformed!

…They changed into a pumpkin.

Yes, the bear and bird seemed to merge into one entity, a pumpkin with blue eyes that wore Banjo’s backpack and, somehow, his shorts. The pumpkin sort of bounced in place, looking down at itself as it jostled about. It didn’t seem to be able to move around much, and it wasn’t even clear if Kazooie was really gone or just in the backpack as a smaller pumpkin or something.

“This is the spell you wanted…?” Donald asked, stunned. “What the heck is the point of it? They’re a pumpkin now!”

“I don’t really see the use of this.” Sora agreed, staring at the round orange squash as it bounced in placing, glaring silently at Mumbo. “I don’t think they like it either, they seem pretty mad.”

The shaman huffed, seeming rather disappointing. “It fit with the area! Fine. If bear and bird hate it so much, me turn them back.” Once more, he waved his staff and the pumpkin started to float as a magical energy surrounded it. After another chant and a loud clap, Banjo and Kazooie were returned to normal.

“Geez, that’s what you had in mind?!” Kazooie instantly whined. “We couldn’t even move, Skull Head!”

“Bear and bird could have rolled.” Mumbo pointed out with a shrug. “That only spell Mumbo have right now. Come back other time and me try again.”

Banjo cleared his throat and sort of shook his arms and legs like he was getting used to having them again. “Uh, sure thing, Mumbo. Next time for sure!”

“Do you at least know where some Jiggies are? We hoped you’d turn us into something that could get us one.” Kazooie pressed, giving the shaman a dirty look.

Rubbing his chin, Mumbo murmured to himself and then perked up. “Yes! Mumbo see golden glint coming from spooky mansion. Me no go in there, but you can if you want, bird.”

That was an answer everyone was dreading, but it was the only real lead they had. “Thanks, Mumbo. Nice of ya to let us know…” Goofy said, but felt nervous about the mansion. He didn’t know what it was, the old building just spooked him in a way nothing on their adventure had thus far…

The atmosphere a tad awkward, the quintet left the skull building and went back into the maze, carefully retracing their steps. “So…has Mumbo’s magic actually helped you before?” Sora couldn’t help but ask. If the shaman thought a pumpkin was a good spell, that didn’t make him seem too competent.

“Oh, it has! We’ve gotten a good number of Jiggies thanks to him!” Banjo insisted sincerely. “I guess he just has his off days.”

Donald snickered. “I dunno, I don’t think Kazooie ever looked as good!” He said with a nasty smirk aimed at the Breegull.

“Looked better than you, that’s for sure!” Kazooie sneered as she leaned in towards Donald. “Never seen an uglier bird!”

The mage made a show of recoiling, like he smelled something fowl. “Your breath still smells like pumpkins! Get out of my face!”

To the annoyance of the others, the two bickered all the way back to the mansion. It was only when the eerie building was in view did they start to quiet down, gazing at the abandoned structure.

“Ya know, I bet it’s just our imaginations!” Goofy suddenly said. “I bet there’s nothin’ too bad in there, it’s just us spookin’ ourselves!” It made sense to him, it wasn’t like there was any immediate danger. Also, the entire group faced all sorts of things without getting as scared!

“You’re right, there’s just this heavy darkness coming from it…” Sora replied, staring at the old mansion. “I think it’s the darkness scaring us, not an actual threat…” He had nothing to back that up, though, just intuition. It was as if there was a tangible fear keeping the group from wanting to go inside, rather than a chance that something dangerous could actually stop them.

To prove he meant what he said, it was Sora who approached the mansion first. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and stepped inside, the other four following behind him. Strangely, the mansion seemed far larger on the inside, and even further than that, everything in it seemed to be made for giants! There was a table in the entry room, and it was a dozen feet tall at least, with chairs matching its size.

It seemed Sora was correct, however, that the mansion just made itself seem scary somehow. The darkness within making the quintet scared. There was nothing actually around that was dangerous. No ghouls or goblins or even Heartless…well, almost. Upon the table was a large green translucent ghost. It was an ugly thing, seeming to be the spirit of a monster rather than a human. However, the specter was asleep, snoring loudly.

“See? This isn’t so bad.” Goofy said as the group stayed by the entrance. “Just that there ghost, but all five of us could probably take him down if we need to…” He spoke at an even and quiet tone, not wanting to wake up the ghost needlessly.

“Hey, I think I see something in its stomach.” Banjo said as he pointed at the spirit. Indeed, there was a golden glimmer coming from the translucent body of the spirit. “It has to be a Jiggy.”

“All we have to do is quietly get to it, then.” Sora declared, taking a step off the carpet by the doorway. As soon as his foot hit the wooden floorboards, there was a loud, obnoxious creak that rang out.

Instantly, this jolted the ghost awake, whose form became tangible as he turned to look at the group. “Hah! Should’ve been quieter! You’re not going to get this Jiggy now!” He mocked, blowing a raspberry at Sora.

Sora was waiting for an attack of some sort, but the ghost sat in place, laughing and making faces at the teen. Apparently he thought that because he was a ghost, he had to be invincible! The brunette wasn’t intimidated, Dimple was a much more terrifying spirit than this lump! And if Dimple could be harmed by the Keyblade…!

With a grunt of effort, Sora beamed the weapon at the ghost, who cockily watched it spin at him in a Strike Raid. When the weapon struck the ghost on its side, he howled in pain as a chunk of his spiritual form was torn away! Like Dimple, he didn’t bleed, but it was clear the weapon harmed him.

“Hey! What kind of weapon is that key thing anyway?!” Kazooie exclaimed as the Keyblade spun back into Sora’s hand.

Shouting out in pain and fear, the ghost became intangible again. “H-How did you do that?!” He asked, but didn’t wait for an answer before going on. “This isn’t worth it, you can have the stupid Jiggy!”

“Hey! Are there other Jiggies nearby?! Tell us that and we’ll let you go!” Donald quickly shouted out, figuring they might as well get all they can from the spooked spirit.

“Uh…I think the clock tower has one! Now let me be!” The ghost cried, clearly all bark and no bite. Before anyone could say anything more, he flew away, disappearing through a wall and to some other part of the mansion. The Jiggy he was concealing was left behind for the taking!

Sora felt a tiny bit bad, but the ghost was in their way. He leapt up onto one of the nearby chairs, realizing just how easy the leap was. Maybe all this fighting and some of the training on ship trips was helping him even with how high he could jump. From the chair, he leapt onto the table and swiped the Jiggy, jumping back down and tossing it to Banjo.

“That’s a pretty handy weapon you got!” Banjo praised, as if only noticing how unusual the Keyblade was. “And we know where we should go next! That clock tower didn’t seem so bad…”

“At this rate we’ll get out of here in no time!” Kazooie said with some excitement as the group left the mansion. The clock tower was only a few minutes away, though even then some Heartless attacked on the way, but nothing the group couldn’t handle.

As Banjo predicted, the sensation of fear wasn’t present as the group approached the clock tower, which seemed to display a time of midnight exactly, and saw it was attached to a church, its entrance wide open. That being said, as they got near, they heard some noises from inside. It sounded like a voice yelling something, but it was hard to make out, but it still creeped them out a bit.

Still, the quintet slowly went inside the church and looked around. The interior was, like the mansion, far larger on the inside than the outside. Along with this, the furniture was also massive here as well. Pews made for giants lined either side of the massive red carpet going from the entrance to the other side of the room. This carpet ended at a pipe organ that, like the pews, was far larger than it should be. If the quintet wanted to play the instrument, they’d have to leap on the keys.

The final thing of note was the large piano stool in front of the organ. Or rather, what was on the stool. Perched on the stool was a small padlocked cage with a green and humanoid birdlike creature stuck inside, it being as large as Banjo was and seemed out of place in the church for giants. “Help!” The creature cried, waving its arms fruitlessly. “Help!” It called again, seeming to suddenly spot the quintet. “H-Hey! You there! Please, let me out of here!”

“A Jinjo! Been a bit since we’ve seen one!” Banjo exclaimed as he walked down the carpet and towards the cage. “They’ve been captured by Gruntilda and locked away all over, this is the fifth one we’ve found!”

“Never saw one in such a sturdy cage like that. How the heck are we gonna get it out?” Kazooie pondered.

Sora followed the pair, Donald and Goofy behind him, as he brandished his Keyblade. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this one!” He declared as the five got near the cage. As he pointed the weapon at the lock, a beam of light shot from the Keyblade and into the keyhole, unlocking the cage with a loud click!

“Oh! Thank goodness!” The Jinjo cried out as he opened up the cage door. “Thank you so much, the other Jinjos and I will aid you in some way! Just you wait!” Without awaiting a response, the Jinjo took to the air, seeming to almost swim on the wind, not even flapping his arm. He flew by the group, out the entrance, and into the night somewhere…

“Hold on…how did you do that?” Banjo asked, looking over the Keyblade. “You just unlocked the cage so easily!”

Spinning the Keyblade to show off a bit, Sora rested it on his shoulder. “Yeah, the Keyblade can unlock anything! Anything with a lock, at least.” He assumed so, of course.

“Wait, if you can unlock anything, what are we getting Jiggies for?!” Kazooie exclaimed. “Let’s just use that key to move up the tower! I’m all for adventures, but getting these puzzle pieces are annoying!”

“Gawrsh, ya think we should try? No telling if it’ll work or not.” Goofy pointed out.

Donald shrugged. “If it doesn’t, it just means we come back here and look for more Jiggies, right? Maybe if you two turn into a pumpkin again, we can find more!” He suggested with a snicker.

“Oh har har! You’re not gonna let that go, are you?!” Kazooie hissed back. “But come on, Key Boy, use that thing to help us get to Tooty!”

Aside from some potential disappointment, Sora saw no reason not to at least try things out. The doors needed puzzle pieces, but maybe the Keyblade could surpass that! “Okay, we should at least see what happens.” The teen agreed as the five made their way out of the church.

The second they left, though, something terrifying transpired. Out of the mansion, a pillar of darkness sprang forth! A familiar sense of fear came about as well as a feeling of danger and dread. It seemed it wasn’t just some regular darkness, but an actual entity causing it! After a moment, the pillar vanished, and something flew towards the quintet!

It was only as it got closer that they saw it was what could only be described as a Phantom! The being was little more than a cloth in the vague shape of a person, colored white with black arms. As it spun around in midair, a Heartless emblem was visible on the back, showing what it truly was. The Phantom stayed in the air as it reached the group, its hands glowed as it waved them about in a silent spell.

All five braced themselves for some sort of attack, and after a moment, the Phantom let loose a dozen dark blue flames! Yet…these flames didn’t go towards the group. Instead, they went to the clockface on the nearby tower, each flame resting at one of the numbers. As soon as this happened, the minute hand started to move, acting like a second hand as it moved bit by bit around the clockface in real time. As a final flourish, the Phantom spun around once more, a white crystalline heart appearing near the bottom of the robes.

“I don’t know what that thing is doing, but we gotta stop it!” Donald exclaimed, unleashing a Fire attack at the creature. He wasn’t sure where to aim, so he went for the heart. The Phantom did nothing, the fireball hitting the heart…except it didn’t. The spell went right through and sputtered out, no sign that it did the Phantom any harm! “What the…?!”

Sora decided to try a Thunder spell, calling down the electric bolts on the Phantom and the heart! The spell hit the Phantom’s main body, but it didn’t seem to actually harm the Heartless in any way. And, like with Donald’s spell, Sora’s phased right through the heart without doing any damage.

Kazooie was next, unleashing a small barrage of eggs at the Phantom, which glided out of the way, almost casually. The Heartless had yet to strike back, as if it was toying with the group. At the same time, the seconds ticked away loudly overhead. As the Phantom dodged the eggs, Goofy’s shield flew at it like a discus, striking the heart! Unlike the spells, this blow actually landed! The shield bounced off the heart, but the Phantom flinched at the same time, clearly taking some sort of damage from the attack!

“Fellers, I think spells just don’t hurt this thing!” Goofy exclaimed. “It just let the magic go through it, but dodged the eggs!”

That left Donald out, but the others were able to still fight. As his shield returned, Goofy threw it again as Kazooie fired more eggs at the Phantom. The Heartless caught onto the plan and weaved around the attacks, starting to fling more dark fire at the group. While menacing, the dark spells weren’t too tough to dodge, thankfully. As for the Phantom, it was a good dodger, but as Sora beamed the Keyblade at it in a Strike Raid, it proved not fast enough. The weapon struck the crystalized heart, shattering it!

However, this didn’t seem to be enough to actually defeat the Phantom. It seemed damaged, but not out of the fight. As this happened, the clock kept ticking away, though no one was paying it much mind, even as the minute hand approached twelve…! The Phantom swirled around again and a new heart appeared, but this one was yellow in color.

Before the group could react, the clock struck midnight, a loud chime ringing out! Despite apparently being midnight, the hour hand not moving at all, the bell in the tower only rang once. As this happened, Kazooie let out a startled cry and then suddenly went limp! No damage was done to her, as far as anyone could see, she simply seemed to faint!

“Kazooie!?” Banjo cried, taking the bird out of his backpack and holding her gently. “Hey, Kazooie! What happened?!”

Donald had no idea what happened, but even though he didn’t like Kazooie, he had to help! With a wave of his staff, he cast a strong Cure spell on her…but nothing happened. She didn’t stir from her unconscious state! “I don’t get it, that should’ve healed her right up!” The mage cried out.

“It has to be because of that clocktower!” Sora exclaimed, pointing at the structure. “That Heartless did something weird to it, and when it rang, Kazooie just passed out!”

Goofy didn’t hesitate, throwing his shield at the Phantom’s heart once more. Surely if they defeated it, Kazooie would wake up! It was the only idea he had. The Heartless didn’t dodge…yet the shield passed through the heart. “Hey, now my shield’s not workin’!” As he yelled this out, the clock began to tick again…

“The color’s different, so maybe we have to try something else!” Sora shouted, casting a Blizzara spell at the Phantom. It rushed the teen, his spell passing harmlessly through the heart. As the Heartless got close, it swiped at Sora with one of its claws, getting him on the cheek! Even with his protective barrier, it was a nasty series of cuts that stung across his entire face, making him back away hurriedly.

Banjo charged the Heartless after putting Kazooie on the ground. Enraged, he slashed and even bit at the heart…but he just fell through harmlessly. “I don’t get it! It doesn’t work!” The bear exclaimed, angry and puzzled.

“It couldn’t be…is it color coded…?” Donald murmured. “Stand back!” He ordered, prompting Sora and Banjo to get even further from the Phantom. As they did, he released a Thunder spell, a bolt striking the heart and hitting it! The Phantom reeled back from the damage, turning its hood as if to glare at Donald. It charged him, striking him in the chest and knocking the mage off his feet! While it was distracted, Sora cast a Thunder spell of his own, hitting the heart a second time, prompting the Heartless to ascend up above the group.

At just that moment, the clock struck midnight a second time, a single chime echoing through the area. Donald was getting up at that moment, then without warning he let out a pain squawk and collapsed unconscious, just like Kazooie!

“Donald!” Goofy exclaimed, rushing over to his friend. He tried shaking the duck awake, but nothing happened, Donald wouldn’t stir…

Sora sneered up at the Phantom, knowing that Cure wouldn’t help Donald. Crying out, the brunette raised his Keyblade high and unleashed a powerful Thunder spell that crashed down on the crystalized heart! Just one bolt was enough to shatter it as the clock began to tick once more. The teen had to stop this thing before it was too late and all five of them were, he hoped, knocked out. He was tempted to bring out Woomy or Gash, but he didn’t want to risk their safety with such an unusual technique present…

The Phantom recovered quickly and spun around once more, revealing a blue heart. It swooped down, aiming for Banjo this time. Apparently, it realized that Sora was the biggest threat to it, so went after someone else. Coating one of its claws in a dark fire, it swatted at Banjo, hitting him in the chest and sending him flying backwards and into a nearby grave, the ancient stone crumbling to pieces.

Knowing what to do, Sora rushed the Phantom and unleashed a Blizzara spell right at the heart, the icy magic hitting it effectively and making the Heartless flinch back from the damage. It swiped at Sora, but he blocked the attack before rolling backwards and unleashing another Blizzara at the heart, shattering it!

Once more, the Phantom spun around and a fourth heart appeared, one colored red. Without the ability to use magic, Goofy and Banjo were helpless, only letting Sora fight the Heartless. He chased the Heartless even as it tried to float away from him to gain an advantage. The teen was relentless, shooting fireballs at a rapid pace, trying to hit the heart as best he could. Before too long, enough of the spells hit to shatter it, another white one taking its place.

Banjo took this opportunity to help, but as he charged at the Phantom, the clock struck midnight once again, and the bear collapsed as a single chime rang out. Just down to Sora and Goofy, the two were getting increasingly worried, they had no idea what to do! Sora tried to slash at the Phantom’s actual body, but it didn’t seem to harm it, it was like punching a hanging blanket. Sure, it’s easy to hit one, but actually damaging it like that wasn’t exactly easy.

Even Sora’s spells didn’t seem to harm the main body, he could hit it with Fire or Thunder, but it didn’t seem to actually damage it in any way, it was only the heart that was vulnerable! Teaming up, the two maneuvered past claw swipes from the Heartless, Sora slashing at the heart as Goofy bashed it with the shield, destroying it handily…yet the Phantom wasn’t done, and spawned a yellow heart and took off into the air.

Sora turned to look at the clock, seeing there was only half a minute left. “No, no…! I have to stop it!” He cried out, running to the tower. There was no telling which one of them would’ve been knocked out. If it was Goofy, Sora had no way of knowing if they’d even wake up with the Phantom’s defeat. If he was knocked out, Goofy had no magic to use to damage the heart!

“Sora! Wait! We gotta focus on the Heartless!” The knight cried, but his words fell on deaf ears as Sora stared up at the moving clock hands.

The teen didn’t know what to do! Desperation filled every fiber of his being, just wanting to protect his friends! Maybe if he destroyed the clock…? No, he didn’t have the power to do that, not in time until the next stroke of midnight, at least! No telling how close the Phantom was to defeat either!

“Stop…just stop…!” Sora said to himself, not really thinking. He felt so useless, how could he keep failing to protect people he cared about?! Without realizing he was doing it, he pointed the Keyblade at the clock. “Stop! Stop it! Just…Stop!” A surge of magic went through Sora’s body, and at the center of the clock hands, a ring of magical energy appeared, roman numerals going up to twelve surrounding it.

Suddenly, the clock hand indeed stopped! With fifteen seconds to go, the clock halted! Sora hadn’t actually expected something like that to happen, but he had no time to ponder what he just did. As he turned towards the Phantom, he saw it was diving towards him, its yellow heart shimmering in the moonlight.

Acting quickly, Sora yelled out in a passionate rage as he cast Thunder at the heart, shattering it in a single blow! He had used so much magic, but his need to protect those he cared about drove him to keep going! What followed was a sort of chase, the Phantom seeming to grow cowardly as the clock hand stopped moving. It tried to flee from Sora, but he kept sprinting after it, using whatever spell was needed to shatter its heart over and over, and the Keyblade itself when needed. Goofy, meanwhile, felt he’d be in the way if he tried to help, especially with his lack of magic, so he only watched and hoped the clock hand would stay frozen…

With a white heart, the Phantom rose up in the air, but Sora wasn’t about to let him get away! Letting out another cry, he used Strike Raid once more, the Keyblade spinning rapidly at the Heartless. The weapon struck the heart, shattering it instantly! This time, the Phantom didn’t spawn a new one. It doubled over, as if in pain, twitching erratically. After a moment, it fell from the sky, fading away before it even hit the ground. At this moment, the flames on the clock vanished as Sora’s spell also disappeared.

“Sora, that was amazin’!” Goofy praised, rushing over to the exhausted Sora. The teen was panting, dismissing the Keyblade rather than even bothering to catch it. “Ya feelin’ okay?” He asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

The teen nodded and spoke between breaths. “I’m fine…! Are the others okay…?” He and Goofy turned to see Donald, Banjo, and Kazooie all starting to stir, sitting up and groaning out as they regained consciousness. Relief spread through the brunette and the knight, the former not even thinking about the scratch on his face. If all went well with the Keyblade and the locked doors, they’d be facing Gruntilda soon, and he couldn’t waste his Cure!

“What happened…?! My head’s pounding!” Donald complained as he slowly got up. After a moment, he jolted a bit and looked around. “Hey! Where’s that pesky Heartless?!”

“It’s fine, Donald, it’s taken care of.” Sora replied, just feeling glad everyone was okay. He had no idea what exactly the Phantom did to them, and for a bit, he was worried they had died. Or, at the very least, defeating the Heartless wouldn’t guarantee they’d wake up.

Banjo got up next, staggering over to Kazooie as he woke up more and more. “That was crazy…never dealt with a monster like that!” He bemoaned as he reached his feathered friend. “You okay, Kazooie?”

Shaking her head to orient herself, Kazooie gave a slow nod. “Not really! Let me take a nap in your backpack for a bit, huh?”

Sora almost laughed; the scene nearly funny if it weren’t for what caused it. Donald, Banjo, and Kazooie stumbling about and talking like they just got rudely woken up from a nap or something. “When you guys are ready, let’s get out of here. We have to try those doors, remember?”

“Hey, wait, how did you even beat that thing?” Donald asked as he shook himself to get more awake.

“Oh, I don’t really know. I pointed the Keyblade at the clock and just…somehow, the hands stopped.” Sora explained. “No idea how I did it.”

Donald’s brows raised a bit. A Stop spell? At his level of experience? That was impressive! Stopping inanimate objects was the starting point of that spell, and they stayed stopped for pretty long periods of time, he doubted Sora could use it on a mobile target just yet. “Oh, yeah, a Stop spell! Pretty good job, Sora!”

That kind of took the teen by surprise, not used to Donald praising him so genuinely. Must have been his dizziness from being knocked out.

“Thanks for that, Sora!” Banjo said as he and put Kazooie in his backpack. “If we all got knocked out…no telling what that thing would’ve done.”

“Yeah, not bad, Key Boy.” Kazooie muttered, almost like paying a real compliment was hard for her. “You pulled through…I guess.”

Sora wasn’t looking for the praise, but he appreciated it. He still felt guilty for things going that far, but he was glad everyone was okay. Without any further need to stick around the haunted area, the quintet made their way to the magical doorway, no Heartless standing in their way.

They all had their fingers crossed that the Keyblade could take them right to Gruntilda, that witch sure to be in for a surprise if it worked...

Chapter Text

“Can’t believe you never mentioned this before!” Kazooie chided as the quintet left Mad Monster Mansion and started their way further into Gruntilda’s Lair. “A magical key that can unlock anything and we wasted our time!”

“I still don’t know if it will work if the doors have no keyholes.” Sora pointed out, the Keyblade resting on his shoulder as they went. “It might not even work!”

Goofy, ever the optimist, piped up. “It’ll be alright if it doesn’t, we can just get more of them Jiggies!” It was almost kind of fun looking for them, in a way.

“How many floors does this place even have?” Donald asked grumpily. “It all looks so much bigger on the inside!” The castle tower was intimidating, yes, but it didn’t seem like it could fit even half the areas they went through. Some of the rooms seemed wider than the entire castle!

“Who knows?” Banjo asked as they rushed upward. “I just want to get Tooty back!” He sounded determined, but worried. “If Gruntilda can do all this with her lair, I wonder how strong she is in person…”

With that thought, the quintet went further up the castle until they reached a door that needed Jiggies to open. Sora looked over at the others, who were looking at him expectantly, as he raised the Keyblade up. “Okay, here goes nothing…” He murmured as he focused on the locked door in front of him. The tip of the Keyblade glowed, a small beam of light connecting it to the door…and after a moment there was an unlocking sound and before the group’s eyes, the door vanished!

Donald let out a small cheer, patting Sora on the back. “You did it! It’ll be a cakewalk to get to the top now!”

“Shame you didn’t speak up about that key before.” Kazooie remarked. “…I guess you still did good, though.”

Sora decided to accept that barely-compliment. “It’ll be a straight shot to the top, then, let’s get going!” He rushed through the doorway first, everyone else following behind. As it turned out, there wasn’t too much of the castle left to go at that point. The group only had to go through one more door that Sora had to unlock before they reached the top of the tower, or at least until there was nowhere left to go.

The group reached a room with a platform on it, a magical aura on it and a picture of a Tooty’s face on it, as if to mock Banjo and Kazooie. “That’s Tooty!” The bear exclaimed, pointing at the picture. “That witch, she’s making fun of us!”

“I think if we step on the picture, we’ll be taken further up…” Goofy considered. “It feels all magical and stuff. Think we should go for it?”

“Nowhere else for us to go.” Sora pointed out. “Maybe she thinks we can’t take her.” Given all the parts of the castle that looked like the witch, Gruntilda clearly thought a lot about herself…

Without much of an option, the five stepped onto the platform and were whisked away in the blink of an eye! They found themselves on another, similar platform in a very different room. It was massive, like many other rooms it was too large to fit in the castle, and there was lava below them! They were on a stone platform, and off to the far side of the room was another stone platform shrouded in darkness. What was really noteworthy, though, was what connected the two stone platforms. It was a series of connected tiles of different colors with different pictures on them. Some had musical notes, some had an eyeball, and some had Gruntilda’s face, amongst other designs.

Before anyone could comment on the unusual room, lights turned on at the opposite platform, revealing a strange sight. A large sign saying ‘Grunty's Furnace Fun’ was on the far wall, a picture of Banjo and Kazooie plastered on it. Standing before it, behind a podium, was Gruntilda herself! Or Grunty, as she seemed to call herself. To the surprise of the group, she was massive, that much was clear even from a distance! She had to be at least three times as tall as Sora was.

The old witch didn’t seem angry or fearful of the group. If anything, she seemed almost happy, holding up a set of cue cards as she snickered at the five. “Even with shortcuts you five were slow, I hardly had time to get my game ready to go!”

This wasn’t at all what Sora was expecting as he blinked a few times, as if he was seeing things. Yet the strange sight before him remained the same. “What kind of game are you talking about?! We’re not here for that!” He was tempted to launch some spells at her, but at such a distance, she’d be able to dodge easily.

Grunty groaned, gesturing to the poster behind her. “You can read or are you too dumb? You’ve gotten so far but you’re still under my thumb! That brat with the spiked hair annoys me, and it’s all because of that stupid key!”

“Why the heck would we play any game that you cooked up?!” Kazooie hollered, glaring daggers at the witch. “Give us Tooty and we might go easy on you!”

“Yeah, where is she?! What have you done with her?!” Banjo hollered, sounding angrier than anyone else in the group had ever heard him.

Alas, the hag wasn’t intimidated. In fact, she let out a cackle as she waved a hand in a flashy fashion. The floor by her opened up, and a platform for first, second, and third place rose out. In proper order, there was Tooty, a washing machine, and an ugly doll of Grunty with a missing eye on the platforms! There was a shimmering dome around Tooty, a clear forcefield to stop any sort of escape.

“Banjo!” The girl bear cried out. “Help me big brother, I can’t move from this spot!” She was shivering horribly, shooting terrified looks at the witch.

“To reach your sister you’ll have to play a game, but you’ll lose, and you’ll do so with shame!” Grunty exclaimed as she waved about the cards in her hands. “Step on a spot and your knowledge I’ll test, so hurry up and we’ll see who’s the best!”

This was ridiculous! Sora wasn’t willing to go through with this! Without any further hesitation, he readied his Keyblade and charged at the witch! Of course, he had to move along the obnoxious pathway to reach her, hopping over small gaps when possible.

“Go, Sora! Get her!” Goofy exclaimed as the group started to follow suit, not all of them as agile as Sora and having to take a longer route.

Grunty let out a surprised screech, apparently not expecting her would-be contestants to just refuse to play her twisted game. “That’s cheating, you can’t do that! Get away from me you little brat!” She took a few steps back, but it was too late, Sora had already reached her!

The teenager leapt up in the air, slamming the Keyblade down directly on Grunty’s warty green face, her nose practically flattening for a moment from the impact. She staggered back, gritting her teeth as Sora landed in front of her. With an angry yell, the witch raised her hands, and Sora was knocked away by an invisible force, landing just at the edge of the platform!

“Hang in there, Sora!” Donald yelled, casting a Thundara spell at Grunty, the bolt going straight for her. To his surprise, she backhanded the spell, and it deflected away!

“Spells won’t work so well on me you stupid duck! If that’s all you can do you’re really out of luck!” Grunty declared as the group grew near, Kazooie firing some eggs as Goofy threw his shield like a discus at the witch. She ducked under the shield, but the eggs hit her on the stomach which made her reel back a bit. “Five against one just isn’t fair, let’s see how you handle me in the open air!”

With that, Grunty ran towards a nearby staircase leading even further up the tower! The rest of the group caught up with Sora, Banjo rushing over to Tooty who was still entrapped in a barrier. “Tooty, you just hang tight! I’m sure when we clobber that witch, you’ll be freed!”

The girl bear finally stopped shaking, looking relieved. “I know you can do it, Banjo! Go kick her fat green butt for me!”

Donald and Goofy went over to Sora, the latter having retrieved his shield. “That was a good move there, Sora!” The knight complimented as he helped the teen up.

“Not enough to actually stop her, she pushed me away so easily!” Sora pointed out, feeling frustrated with himself. How long was it going to be before he could handle things properly?

“My spell didn’t do much either, I didn’t think she was that strong!” Donald huffed as he waggled his staff about. Something just screamed that the witch was more bark than bite, and he couldn’t really put his finger on why.

“You guys ready? We need to get going after Grunty!” Banjo called, waving the group over as he made his way to the stairs. The three followed suit, but just as they approached the staircase, a figure emerged from the floor! For a second, they thought it was an enemy, but then they realized it was a certain, familiar mole…

“Beetle breath? What are you doing here?” Kazooie asked with a light scoff. “I don’t think Banjo and I need any new moves, that witch is right up the stairs!”

Bottles shot the bird a nasty look. “I’m not here for you, bird brain. I promised Sora here I’d help with a new move, but I didn’t think you’d get up here so quickly!”

In all honesty, Sora had forgotten about that promise. He had to wonder how Bottles was even going to teach him anything, he didn’t exactly seem like a fighter. They met him when he was fleeing from some Heartless, after all. “I still appreciate it, Bottles, what do you have for me?”

“I noticed you using some magic as you fought, so I thought that’d be the best way to go about it.” Bottles explained. “Try to gather it inside of you and just let it burst outward!”

Sora didn’t have a full grasp on his magic, at least not in its purest form, but he was willing to give it a try. Stepping away from the others, he focused his magic towards his center, and he felt a sort of rush that he couldn’t fully explain. After a few moments of letting it build, he took a step forward and let it unleash at once, an electric dome of magic shooting out from inside him! Stun Impact, that was a good name for it!

“Huh, I never thought of using my magic like that, thanks Bottles!” Sora said, wondering what else he could do with more elemental-free magic. Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Aero, Gravity…all good of course, but what if he focused on trying things without adding elements to it…?

“Yeah, that’s kind of cool, I guess, but can we go now?” Kazooie asked, pointing at the stairway with her wing. “That witch is probably wondering where the heck we are at this point!”

Bottles huffed with a cross of his arms. “Hey, I was just helping out, don’t give me attitude for that, you loud beaked harpy.”

“We appreciate it, Bottles, but we have to go!” Banjo said hurriedly, rushing up the stairs. Sora, Donald, and Goofy rushed after the bear and bird, Sora offering Bottles one last thanks as they went past him. The mole sighed lightly and muttered something nasty about Kazooie under his breath before burrowing away.

Going up the stairs, they passed several doors but ignored them. Grunty said something about open air, so they figured she went all the way to the top of the castle. However, they found an obstacle rather quickly. They entered a room with a lot of machinery, two small chambers of sorts, the device the witch was going to use to steal Tooty’s beauty away from her! Standing in the way of another staircase leading upwards was Klungo, who was glaring daggers at the quintet.

“Who the heck is this guy?” Kazooie asked, giving Klungo a nasty look right back. “Out of the way mean, green and ugly!”

Klungo snarled, slamming down on the floor with his large fists. “Klungo will protect Missstresss Grunty! Turn you all into passste!”

Banjo wasted no time and rushed Klungo, kneeling down as Kazooie readied her beak. The two slid forward, slamming into the green creature’s stomach, making him falter. He retaliated by swinging a large green arm at the duo, knocking Banjo away as Goofy closed in. The knight leapt up, spinning as he held his shield above him, making it slam into Klungo’s jaw. Once more, while the large green foe was jostled by the blow, he quickly recovered and delivered a nasty punch to Goofy’s gut, knocking him away.

The lab coat wearing lacky went for Donald next, taking a potion from his pocket and throwing it at the mage. Donald rushed away from the beaker as it exploded into a pool of acid on the floor and cast Blizzard on Klungo’s feet. In an instant, the green creature’s feet were frozen in place, stopping him in his tracks. Sora took it over from there and ran at Klungo, Keyblade at the ready as he gathered his magic. The monster growled and readied both hands to try and crush the brunette, but he unleashed his magic in a Stun Impact as the fists went down, knocking them back and doing some decent damage on Klungo. As he wasn’t able to be knocked back due to his feet situation, Klungo was only able to stay in place as Sora slashed him across the chest with the Keyblade, causing him to bellow out in pain.

At that moment, Banjo had recovered and rushed back into the fight. Leaping overhead, he and Kazooie used their slam attack once more, the Breegull’s beak hammering down on Klungo’s head. The green brute let out a pained groan, and slumped forward, having been knocked out from the blow. Of course, his feet were still frozen to the floor, so he wasn’t able to fall over entirely.

“No idea who that guy was…” Banjo remarked as everyone gathered around Klungo. “I guess he was Grunty’s servant or something.”

“Shame he was such a wimp, though, but he still wasted our time, we need to get going!” Kazooie exclaimed, gesturing to the staircase upwards. As the group went up, they encountered yet another unusual sight. Not a way up to the roof of the castle, no, but a simple, round room with no way to go up further. In the middle of it was a cauldron with a face on it, a bubbling green goop bubbling inside of it despite no fire heating it up. The unknown substance smelled like dirty socks and rotten eggs…

The cauldron actually spoke, having seemed a bit startled at the group’s arrival. “Oh? Visitors for Dingpot? Who are you five?”

“More like who are you? Where’s Grunty? She had to have come by here!” Donald exclaimed, waiving his staff at Dingpot to threaten him, though it didn’t seem like the living cauldron was an actual threat.

The unusual entity leaned back a bit, apparently easily intimidated. “Hey, I’m not here to fight! If you’re looking for Grunty, she went up to the roof!” He gestured upwards with the handles on his sides. The group looked up and saw that far above there was a hole leading to the outside! “Are you here to beat her up?”

“Yeah, she keeps running from us though. If you’re not going to stop us, can you tell us a way to get to the roof?” Sora asked, getting a bit annoyed at these obstacles after Grunty had been so close!

Dingpot moved his body forward a few times, which the group quickly realized was his version of a nod. “Hop into me, and I’ll shoot you up to the roof!”

“Hop in there? You’ve got to be kidding me, it reeks, Dingbox!” Kazooie complained, grimacing from the smell.

“And what if it’s a trap? Why would you help us, don’t you work for that witch?” Donald added on, still having his staff ready in case the living cauldron tried anything funny. What it could even do against them, the mage didn’t know, but he wouldn’t risk it.

The cauldron went back and forth, his version of shaking his head. “No, Grunty is horrible! She calls me mean names and once got sick inside of me, I want nothing to do with her anymore! I’ll help you if you promise to get rid of her for good.”

Goofy let out a hum of thought as he scratched the side of his head. “I don’t know, that seems kind of fishy…Think we can trust him, fellers?”

Out of nowhere, GLaDOS chimed in. “My sensors indicate nothing dangerous in the concoction within this Dingpot creature. It may smell terrible, but it shouldn’t harm you, or most importantly me.”

Sora saw no reason GLaDOS would lie, if it was something dangerous, she’d be in trouble too. “Thanks, GLaDOS. I think we should try it, guys. It’s not like we have any way of climbing all the way up there anyway.”

“Okay, just gotta hold our breath and go for it.” Banjo said, plugging his nose as he hopped into the cauldron, shuddering in disgust as he landed in the unusual green gloop.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy followed suit, trying not to inhale as Dingpot let out a chuckle. “Okay, hold on tight!” The cauldron bellowed, starting to shake in place and build his energy. After a moment, the quintet was rocketed upwards, at least a dozen feet past the hole leading up to the roof and to the outside. The group yelled out as they fell back down, landing harshly on the stone roof, save for Banjo and Kazooie, the Breegull using her wings to slow her and Banjo’s descent to a soft landing.

Wincing, Sora stood up as he rubbed the side of his head. Donald and Goofy got up with him, wincing and grumbling with pain. “Wish there was just a staircase going up here…” The brunette whined as he looked around. “So…where’s Grunty…?” The roof of the castle didn’t have a lot to look at, just being a circular stone platform with parapets encircling the edge with the sky covered in dark and ugly clouds. Nothing else was present, not even a certain overweight witch.

Before anyone could answer, a loud cackle rang out from overhead. From behind one of the clouds, Grunty emerged, riding upon a broomstick that strangely enough had eyes and a mouth! The green woman let out another laugh, a victorious one as though she had already won the fight. “Looks like the bear and bird got some aid, but it won’t help much I’m afraid! Five against one in this fight, you’ll all cower before my might!”

The group got ready as Grunty flew overhead, cackling once more as she rained Thunder down from the clouds and at the quintet. It was an absolute barrage, dozens of strikes hitting the rooftop without mercy. They had to scramble to avoid the attack, but Sora, Banjo, and Kazooie got hit despite themselves. Grunty was clearly mocking the group, the bolts hurt but didn’t do any severe damage, she was just toying with them!

Donald scowled, pointing his staff at the witch and casting a Gravity spell on her. It hit her dead on, but while the broom stopped, she kept in the air, gritting her teeth and glaring at the mage. “You think someone that heavy would go down easily!” He shouted, keeping the staff aimed at her as he put forth more effort. “She’s really strong against magic…!” The duck felt foolish for thinking she was more bark than bite, it turned out Grunty really earned the right to brag!

“Little tricks like this won’t work on me! I’m the master of magic here, just wait and see!” Grunty bragged, breaking free of the Gravity spell and swooped down at Donald. He tried to flee, but she was too fast on her broom, and she gave him a solid punch on the side of the head. “It’s not just my magic that’s so great, even my punches are truly first rate!” She let out another bout of nasty laughter, soaring back up and out of the range of most of the group.

Kazooie sneered up at the witch as she propped herself up. “Getting really sick of those rhymes, you fat hag!” Trying to aim carefully at her moving target, Kazooie unleashed a volley of eggs at Grunty, being one of the few attacks that could still reach the witch. Most of the projectiles missed entirely, but a few managed to hit Grunty in the face, causing her to snarl at the Breegull and cast a Gravity spell of her own. It hit Banjo and Kazooie, pinning them in place as she dive bombed them.

As Grunty was about to reach the bear and bird, Goofy’s shield spun in from the side and struck her on the side of the head! She was dazed for a moment, but stopped in place as Sora, Donald, and Goofy approached her from the side. “Five on one isn’t exactly fair, how about I even the odds with some flair?!”

The witch raised her arms as darkness poured off of her frame. Coming from the floor came a small legion of Heartless. It was comprised of only Shadows and Knights, but there were at least thirty of them charging at the group! Yet again, Grunty cackled as she abandoned her plan to attack Banjo and Kazooie, taking off to the air as her Gravity spell wore off.

Naturally, the quintet turned their attention to the group of dark creatures, but Grunty wasn’t satisfied with just that. She flew around the area, laughing as she threw numerous spells at the group. Fire, Blizzard, Thunder…it seemed she truly was an expert at the craft! Fighting off the waves of Heartless and dodging the magic proved harder than expected, all members of the quintet being hit by at least one of the spells as they fought on. Donald even found himself frozen to the floor for a few moments until Goofy used his shield to bust him out.

“Does she ever run out of energy?!” Sora exclaimed as he dodged a barrage of fireballs. It seemed like Grunty had no limit to how many spells she could use, and she looked no worse for wear. He didn’t even try to use his new Stop spell. It worked on an object, those clock hands, but a magic-resistant witch was something else entirely. Sora felt it’d just be a waste of energy to try.

“All your fighting is for nothing and that’s almost a pity! When you’re gone I’ll steal Tooty’s beauty and become pretty!” Grunty boasted, summoning another dozen Shadow Heartless to fight against the group. “I’ve got this fight in the bag, I’ll be hot ant Tooty a hag!”

Banjo snarled up at Grunty as he swiped away two Shadows that lunged at him, that being the last of the Heartless. “Is that all you care about, just stealing my sister’s youth and beauty?!”

Grunty scoffed, like Banjo asked the most idiotic question imaginable. “What else do I need except for that, it’s not easy being uglier than a bat!” As the witch gloated, she flew low enough for Sora to throw his Keyblade in a Strike Raid against her, hitting her square in the face! She let out a pained screech and very nearly fell off her broom. “I’m getting so sick of that key, you won’t be able to dodge this just wait and see!”

The witch waved her hands above her head, gathering energy in a new kind of spell. A swirling vortex of green and white energy that grew to the size of her swollen and warty head. With a cry of anger, she unleashed the spell, aiming it right at Sora! Though he rolled out of the way, it followed him! He only noticed this as he stood back up and had no time to dodge as it struck him! A painful heat crashed over his body as he was enveloped by the spell, being knocked a good dozen feet back from the impact.

“Sora! You okay?!” Goofy yelled out as he rushed to Sora’s side. Donald and Kazooie retaliated, giving the knight time to help their fallen comrade, firing eggs and fireballs at the cackling witch.

As Goofy helped him to his feet, Sora let out a groan. “Don’t worry, I’m just glad I saved this…” The teen said as he used his only Cure on himself, which got rid of the throbbing pain all over his body and even the cut from the Phantom fight. Of course this meant he had to be careful, if he got hit like that again, it’d be far more troublesome.

“I think ya should bring someone to help us. Grunty’s a lot stronger than we thought!” Goofy suggested, glancing down at the Keyblade. “I dunno if Woomy could reach high enough to help much, though.”

Sora agreed, gripping his Keyblade tight. “Then there’s only one option, isn’t there? Stand back, Goofy…” As the knight did as told, Sora gathered his magic and focused it in his Keyblade as he pointed it straight up above his head, electricity crackling intensely! After the energy built, a large bolt shot from the Keyblade and struck the ground, summoning Gash with it! In his hands was the red book, which he tossed to Sora without even looking at him.

Already, the blonde child was glaring up at Gruntilda. After all, summons after being awakened had an uncanny ability to know what was going on around them, Gash was caught up with the situation. “Ready when you are, Sora, let’s bring her down!”

Right away, Banjo, Kazooie, and Grunty noticed the new addition to the fight. “Hey, who’s that kid?!” The Breegull asked. “Get him out of here, he’ll just get in the way!”

“Don’t worry, he’s with us!” Sora called, opening up the book. It was so strange, the letters inside were unlike anything he had ever seen, yet he somehow knew their meaning. He had to just assume the Keyblade was much more than a weapon and something that could lock and unlock things. Looking through the spells, he decided to skip to the third one, with only six seeming to be available. “Jikerudo!”

Like with his Zakeru spell, Gash’s mouth opened up and out shot an orb of some sort that crackled with electricity. It was heading right for Grunty, yet…it was moving severely slowly. Everyone stared at it, dumfounded by the unusual attack, if it could even be called that. It was Grunty that broke the silence with a harsh cackle. “Such a pitiful spell, it moves so slow! I can backhand it away, just watch me go!”

The witch sped towards the spell, ready to just bat it away like she did with the Thunder spell earlier. During this time, the orb did nothing to suggest it was going to do anything more like explode or suddenly speed up. Indeed, it just moseyed along even as Grunty reached it and slapped at it! Unlike the Thunder spell though, things didn’t work out for the witch. The spell actually went inside of her, and her body began to glow!

Goofy suddenly lurched forward, his shield practically flying out of his hand. “H-Hey, what’s goin’ on?!” The knight exclaimed, his feet sliding across the floor even as he dug his heels in. “Somethin’ is happenin’ to my shield!”

Gash grinned and turned back to Goofy. “Just let it go, trust me!” He declared, looking around to everyone else. “If you’ve got anything metal, be ready!”

Deciding to trust in his new friend, Goofy let go of the shield. In an instant, it sped right towards Grunty, about as fast as the knight could throw it normally!

The witch snarled and dodged out of the way with a bit of difficulty from how fast the projectile was. “You little brat, what did you do?! This sort of spell is entirely new!” Yet even as she spoke, the shield was curving in midair and heading right back towards her. Of course, she didn’t see it coming, getting nailed on the back of the head by it, causing her to scream out!

“The spell makes people attract metal to them, it’s kind of neat, huh?” Gash bragged as Grunty tried to pry the shield off of her to no avail. “Hey, why isn’t your big metal key going flying, Sora?”

Sora hadn’t even noticed that. His Keyblade wasn’t trying to jerk out of his grip or anything. Was it because he was casting the spell, or because the Keyblade wasn’t able to be magnetized? “I don’t know, I think the Keyblade might just be special somehow.”

As he said this, there was a scream from below. Out of the hole leading downward, Dingpot came flying, his handles flailing about as he tried to steady himself to no avail. “What’s happening?! I don’t like this!” The cauldron cried out.

Grunty was too busy trying to get Goofy’s shield unstuck and was still unable to make it budge. Because of this, she was too distracted to notice Dingpot flying at her until it was too late. By the time she noticed, all she could do was yell out as the cauldron slammed into her stomach, the unusual green contents spilling all over the witch. “Cursed Dingpot, you betrayed me and now this? Why is it that none of this metal will miss?!”

“Just so you guys know, this won’t last forever.” Gash said to Sora and Goofy, Grunty yelling too loudly to hear the Demon. “Use another spell while she’s distracted, come on!”

Sora was too busy thinking about why his Keyblade was immune and also being amused by Grunty’s predicament to focus on the spells. Gash snapped him out of it, and he looked at the book again. Gash didn’t tell him what spell to even use, which one should he pick? He noticed he felt a bit weaker after using the Jikerudo spell, yet not in the same way he was tired when using magic. Did this happen to Gash and his old partner too? If that was the case, Sora decided he shouldn’t just use the last spell, at least not unless necessary. The fifth one would do! “Okay, ready Gash?! Zakeruga!”

At that moment, the magnetism ran out, Goofy’s shield and Dingpot falling to the ground. The cauldron rolled helplessly around the roof before falling back in the hole, yelping as he hit the walls on the way down. After crashing back on the floor, a pitiful “Ow…” echoed from below.

While this was happening, Gash looked right at Grunty, the spell activating! It was far more bombastic than the last spell, an ear-splitting crack of thunder rang out as a concentrated electric bolt shot out of Gash’s mouth! It was fast, terribly so, especially compared to Jikerudo. Like with the elemental spells Sora and Donald used, it was a blatant upgrade to Zakeru.

Grunty was just recovering from being magnetized, and once more was caught off guard as the streak of lightning came at her! She had no time to do anything as the bolt shot right through her torso! Not creating a hole, no, but the electricity went through her form, smoke billowing from her mouth as a choked scream escaped her throat. As the spell finished piercing her, Grunty was stunned, eyes rolled back and blank white as smoke streamed from her open maw.

Everyone was stunned from the display, simply staring at the near-unconscious witch, save for Goofy who was retrieving his shield. It was Kazooie that broke the silence, looking over at Gash. “Geez, gotta admit when I’m wrong, why didn’t this kid come help us earlier?”

“Well, he can’t stay forever.” Sora replied as he avoided exact details. “He’ll run out of energy eventually, so I was waiting for an emergency!” The Phantom was too risky to bring any of his companions out, of course.

Donald yelled out, pointing at the stunned Grunty. “Hey, we can talk about that later, let her have it!” He ordered as he shot a trio of fireballs at the witch. It was startling just how durable Grunty was! As Donald cast his spells, Kazooie fired more eggs as Goofy threw his shield in a spin at the green hag!

Given she was stunned, all the attacks hit Grunty. The fireballs pelted her torso, the eggs hit her face, and the shiel beamed off the side of her head once more. That last strike managed to knock her out of her stupor, her eyes returning to normal as she scowled at the sextet below her. “That’s it, no more Mrs. Nice Witch! I’ll cast a spell that’ll really hurt like a-”

“Zakeru!” Sora cried as he saw Grunty gathering her magic. He had to stop the spell from forming if it was anything like the homing one! The weakest spell just blurted from his lips, wanting to use something fast, if weak, just to throw her off balance for even a moment!

Unfortunately, things didn’t work out so well this time. While Grunty’s spell was interrupted, she backhanded the bolt of thunder with relative ease, the spell going far off into the sky somewhere. “You think that weak magic will work on me?! I’ll just gather strength where you can’t see!” With a cackle, she ascended up behind the smoggy clouds, becoming totally invisible as she started to gather her magic.

“What’ll we do, none of us can see her!” Banjo yelled out, squinting as though it’d help, but it of course didn’t. “It’d be a waste of energy to just fire off randomly…”

“Gash, do ya have a spell that’ll help us out here?!” Goofy asked as he went over to the Demon. Thinking of it, they should’ve asked what all of his abilities were back in the Gummi Ship…

Gash shook his head, staring determinedly at the sky. “There’s one that might hit her, but if it misses, I won’t be able to do anything else.” He explained, already seeming a bit tired. “I don’t think you can cast as many spells as Kiyomaro can.”

Sora was feeling the drain just as much as Gash. It made sense, whatever magic was at work here, Kiyomaro was more used to it. “There’s gotta be one spell here that’ll help us!” The brunette insisted as Donald, Banjo, and Kazooie gathered round.

“The only thing I can think of is the second spell…Kiyomaro would know what to do, he’s really smart!” The blonde Demon bemoaned. “I really hope he’s doing okay…”

“I’m sure he’s fine, but we gotta focus!” Donald exclaimed, feeling bad for Gash, but knowing they had to keep their head in the fight. “I can feel her magic gathering, it’s the biggest spell yet!”

Indeed, not long after Donald said this, Grunty descended from the clouds, hands over her head. Between her claws was a huge mass of green magic, sparkling and near-formless! Everyone was able to feel the energy pulsing off of it, a smug look on the witch’s face. “Just one last spell and then I’ve won! This will follow you too, so don’t bother to run!”

“You sure about this, kid? If this doesn’t work, we’re finished!” Kazooie said to Gash, who was glaring daggers at Grunty.

“It’ll work, I won’t let that hurt any of us! You ready, Sora?!” Gash responded, turning to look at Sora with a confident grin.

The teen returned the look before looking back up at Grunty. “Yeah, I’m ready, and I believe in you, Gash!” Grunty let out yet another cackle as she unleashed the spell, which moved shockingly fast despite its size. Everyone braced themselves, and as the attack approached, Sora read the second spell. “Rashirudo!”

Surprisingly, nothing came out of Gash’s mouth like usual. Instead, a massive wall appeared in front of the group, the front of it crackling and popping with electricity, it even having symbols reminiscent of lightning bolts adorning it. It appeared just in time to intercept Grunty’s attack, it apparently not enough of a homing spell to pass around a wall on such short notice.

As the green miasma struck the wall, the barrier shook a bit, but it stayed standing strong. Though the group couldn’t see it, the spell halted in place as electricity started to coat it, and it bounced right off the wall and back at Grunty! “What sort of spell is this, this cannot be! How dare you bounce my spell back at me!” The witch hollered, starting to fly away. However, it seemed Rashirudo kept the spell’s homing capabilities, except it was targeting its own caster instead! As the witch tried to run, the green, crackling magic sped up.

Grunty flew in circles around the castle, panicking and apparently unable to deflect the spell like she had done with others. It must have been beyond even her! As it got faster, her panic grew more and more until it overtook her, the spell bursting with green lights and thunder bolts as the Rashirudo wall vanished. The old hag let out a harsh scream of pain, her broomstick reduced to ashes as she fell from the sky! Unfortunately, she landed on the roof instead of plummeting to the ground below and assuring her defeat. Her frame twitched as she sat, stunned from the incredible spell that hit her.

Gash seemed even more tired, yet despite this he sprinted at the witch. “Won’t let you get away, you mean old lady!” He screamed, arms pumping as a wild expression was plastered on his face.

Despite everything, even with her heavy injuries, Grunty stood up, but only had time to block Gash’s flying tackle with an arm. She let out a screech as the demon sank his teeth right into her limb, through her sleeve! “You little monster, what a cheap way to fight! Deflecting my spell and then my arm you bite?!”

The rest of the group could hardly believe it. After all that, Grunty still had some fight in her! “She’s still standing?! What the heck are we supposed to do now?!” Kazooie exclaimed.

Yet just as she spoke, a slew of colorful shapes flew from below. It was a quintet of Jinjos! Green, purple, orange, yellow, and blue, all flying through the sky and towards the group. “You freed all of us, so we’ll repay the favor!” The orang one said. As he spoke, five statues of Jinjos emerged from the ground from various parts of the castle roof, each one with a slot on the pedestal.

“Feed these statues eggs to help us summon the Mighty Jinjonator, and it’ll help defeat that nasty witch!” The green Jinjo added. “It’ll finish the job, don’t you worry!” At this, the Jinjos flew off, getting out of the way from the fight.

“Eggs, huh? You’ve still got some you can fire, right Kazooie?” Banjo asked with a grin.

Kazooie sighed, but gave a nod. “I think so, yeah. You know, it’s kind of tiring to fire a lot of those, you know!” Despite her whining, the Breegull seemed raring to go.

“We’ll keep Grunty busy while you two work on that!” Sora declared, watching as Grunty waved her arm around in an attempt to get Gash to let go…to no avail.

However, the witch noticed what the Jinjos said and the plan that was hatched. “You won’t get a chance to spring your plan, I’ll turn you to ash as quick as I can!” She then let out a yell as Gash dug his teeth deeper into her arm. “First I’ll get of this little brat! I’ll punch you until your lip is fat!” With her opposite hand, she started to punch Gash repeatedly in the head, but the Demon kept his grip on her, even punching back and knocking her fist away at times. He was small, but far stronger than he seemed!

After a few more moments of punching, Grunty raised her hand and used a magical blast to knock Gash away, who was caught by Goofy. “Ya okay there, Gash?” The knight asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine, but I’m feeling drained after all those spells!” The blonde replied. “I think I’ll have to go away soon…”

“You go ahead and rest, we’ll take care of Grunty, but we couldn’t have gotten this far without you.” Sora insisted, thankful he had extra friends to help them out. He really couldn’t have gotten this far without them, not even taking the Gummi Ship into account. Without those by his side, he was as good as useless.

Gash smiled and gave a nod. “Alright, I know you guys can do it. Just give that mean witch a whack for me, okay?” As he said this, he closed his eyes and faded away, going back into his gem to regain his strength.

While this happened, Grunty had put up a barrier around herself, sneering at the group. Banjo and Kazooie were running around to the statues, the Breegull firing eggs into the slots. Without a word, the witch shot a fireball at the bear and bird, Goofy rushing to block it with his shield, which he succeeded in. “You’re all of a bunch of pests and I keep getting angrier! At the very least you can’t get through my barrier!” The shimmering orb around the witch seemed sturdy, though somehow she was able to cast spells through it.

“Oh yeah! Give this a shot!” Donald exclaimed, unleashing a combo of Fire, Thunder, and Blizzard at the witch! Grunty stood there and let the spells hit her barrier…but nothing happened. The magic wasn’t able to even put a crack in it! “You’ve gotta be kidding!” The mage knew he had gotten rusty since he hadn’t been in a proper fight for ages before this whole quest started. Yet he didn’t think he’d meet someone that outclassed him in magic so thoroughly! If he was at his full power, he’d wipe that grin right off Grunty’s face…!

“We don’t gotta beat her, we just have to protect Banjo and Kazooie!” Goofy pointed out. “I’ll follow ‘em and not let a single spell get through!”

And that’s just what happened. Sora and Donald conserved their energy, knowing it was useless to attack the barrier. Still, Grunty unleashed fireballs and chunks of Blizzard magic and Banjo and Kazooie, but Goofy blocked every single one as the duo went around to the statues. Much to Grunty’s increasing fury, of course.

Once the final statue was activated, a sixth one appeared at the roof’s center! It was much larger than the others, but still had a slot for some eggs. “Even if you summon your friend, I’m afraid that this is the end!” Grunty screamed as she let out a green homing spell at Banjo and Kazooie. Goofy managed to intercept it, but the small explosion that occurred knocked him to the far side of the roof.

Thankfully, it didn’t matter, as Kazooie unleashed half a dozen eggs into the statue’s slot, causing the entire thing to shake. Pieces of the statue fell off, revealing the Mighty Jinjonator underneath. It was simply a large Jinjo, seeming to be made out of a blue metal with ruby red eyes. The five Jinjos reappeared, flying into the machine and somehow being absorbed into it as it came to life. “JINJOOO!” the Mighty Jinjonator cried, staring directly at Grunty, who was far more nervous than she was just a moment ago.

The Mighty Jinjonator took to the air, starting to fly in a circle to build up its speed and power. Grunty tried in vein to stop it, hitting it with a fireball. The spell hit, yes, but did absolutely nothing to the large machine. After prepping itself, it launched itself at the witch, its beak piercing through the barrier, though it didn’t break, and hitting Grunty! She shrieked in pain, but kept her footing. It went back in the air and struck her again and again and again, each time she was struck, but she stayed in place. That being said, the roof around her feet began to crack and crumble with every attack.

After a few hits, she raised her hands, the barrier changing. It became thicker, but more concentrated in a circle, just the size of the Mighty Jinjonator’s beak. As it came for her again, it hit this new barrier, but was stuck in place, unable to pierce it. “Looks like your plan truly had no chance, here I’ll stay and keep this stance!”

Sora wouldn’t allow it, though. This was his best opportunity to end this. While Grunty was distracted, he charged at her! She saw him coming, but her hands were full with the massive robotic Jinjo. “Just keep holding her!” The brunette yelled at the robot, though whether it even understood him wasn’t clear. He quickly reached Grunty and leapt up, slashing down her torso with his Keyblade, giving it all he had!

Grunty let out another shriek of pain, the barrier she was holding up fading as the Mighty Jinjonator hit her one last time. She stepped back, teetered…and she fell, a chunk of the castle going down with her! She screamed all the way down the tower, no broom or magic able to help her swift descent. After a moment, she hit the ground below, a hole in the shape of her body appearing in the ground, the chunk of castle landing on her! The hunk of rock shifted and stirred…but didn’t budge. “Grunty’s fate this should not be! Klungo, hurry and rescue me…!” She gasped out, not being heard by anyone…

Up on the castle roof, the group looked over the castle edge, seeing Grunty’s fate, the Mighty Jinjonator flying off into the distance. They waited a moment, almost expecting her to burst free from the rubble…but it never happened. “I think she’s finally beat…” Kazooie said, slouching over the rim of Banjo’s backpack. “I don’t think I could’ve kept fighting!”

“If she’s beaten, then that means…!” Banjo started, looking back at the hole downward. There was a scream that came from it, and after a moment, Tooty was flung up into the air, landing nearby the group. “Tooty!”

The girl bear stood up, rubbing her head. “Ooh, rough landing…” She mumbled, then ran over to Banjo and hugged him. “I knew you’d rescue me, Banjo! You and Kazooie are the best!”

“I’m just glad you’re safe, Tooty, but we did have some help. Sora, Donald, and Goofy really stepped up for us!” Banjo replied, pointing out the three in turn.

Sora grinned with a shrug. “Hey, it was no big deal. We promised we’d help.”

“Wait a moment!” GLaDOS suddenly exclaimed, startling everyone. “The Keyhole is right here on the roof! That witch’s magic didn’t allow me to sense it!”

“Keyhole? What are you talking about?” Kazooie asked, looking around. “I don’t see anything.”

Tooty piped up as she stepped away from Banjo. “Actually, Grunty mentioned something about a Keyhole! She was talking with someone named Dio about it…”

Dio! So, the group missed him again. Sora was disappointed in that, but hopefully he’d get a chance to take the vampire down soon! “Thanks, GLaDOS. I think I can feel it too…” The brunette stepped near the center of the roof and held his Keyblade high. Its tip glowed, and on the floor, a large Keyhole appeared, about as large as Sora himself. He pointed the weapon at the Keyhole and twisted it in a locking motion. The sound of such a locking rang out, and the Keyhole then faded away…

“What the heck was that? What did that do?!” Kazooie asked, looking around as if she’d find what she was missing out on.

“It’s a lot to explain.” Sora started as he dismissed the Keyblade. “Basically, the Heartless were looking for this, but now that it’s closed, there probably won’t be as many of them around.”

Banjo scratched the side of his head as he pondered that and then shrugged. “Well, I believe you, Sora. Whatever you did, we appreciate it.”

As they were talking, Donald went over to where Grunty fell from and picked something off the ground. “Hey, Sora, look at this! I think it’s a summoning gem!” The mage declared.

Sora looked at the object as Donald handed it over and looked at it closely. Right away, he felt a presence from within it. The object itself was a small black oval and it had an odd texture, almost like hair. Yet it was almost like it was just one big hair, as little sense as that made. “I think you’re right, I guess that witch found it and was holding onto it or something. Good thing whoever this is didn’t fall with her…” Almost meant they needed to make a pitstop to Traverse Town.

At that moment, Bottles emerged from the ground, it seemed his burrowing prowess knew no bounds! “I saw that nasty witch fall down below, you guys really did it!”

“They sure did! What will we do to celebrate?!” Tooty asked, bouncing excitedly. “I know I could eat a feast all by myself, that witch didn’t feed me at all!”

“You guys will stay for it, right? It’ll be a blast!” Bottles declared, turning to Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

As tempting as it was…the group still had work to do. This world was safe, and they had to move on! “I wish we could, but we have to find our friends.” Sora said with a small, sad smile. “Maybe we’ll meet up again sometime.” Another goodbye, he really hated it…

“Aw, that’s too bad.” Banjo said with a small huff. “But we get it, we hope you’re able to find them!”

“We’ll find ‘em, I’m sure of it!” Goofy declared with a chuckle. “We’re just glad everything’s all settled here now!”

Kazooie scoffed. “Yeah, I guess you three weren’t so bad. You did pretty good. And GLaDOS, keep giving that shrimp grief for me, okay?”

“You don’t need to tell me twice.” The A.I. promised. “You’re the only person I’ve met so far isn’t obnoxious.”

Donald rolled his eyes as he took out the device to get them back on the Gummi Ship. “Yeah, yeah. Good luck with everything, even to you Kazooie.” As everyone said their final farewells, the mage pressed the button and the outsiders were gone in a flash, mildly surprising the quartet left behind.

---

“She put up more than a fight than I imagined.” The man with the hooked hand said. It was almost a pitiful sight in the dark room at that point. Just him, Dio, and the man in the purple suit. “The witch was actually kind of strong.”

Dio’s lips were pursed a bit, the only sign of his annoyance. “Her heart was clouded with desire; she was more focused on her looks than anything. Gruntilda isn’t even worth freeing from beneath that rock.”

The man in the suit shrugged. “At least there’s more to gain for the rest of us. If we can find the Seven Princesses of Heart in time.”

“That’s right. Have you had any luck in your search?” Dio asked the hook handed man.

“It’s not as easy as you’d think. My world has dozens and dozens of princesses. She might not even be a member of royalty, like that Pendleton girl.” The man responded.

Ah, Erinda Pendleton. The first of the princesses Dio managed to find! Of course, she was right under his nose. “You’d best hurry, then. It’s just her and one more before we have them all. With all the princesses in your world, one of them has to be one of the seven.”

“I’ll keep looking. I feel like I know who she might be, but I have no idea where she actually is.” The hook handed man explained. “Don’t get pushy, you’ll get your princess, alright?”

“I hope so. The seventh will be delivered to us sooner or later, we’re so very close…” Dio mused with a nasty grin upon his face…

---

In a far off other world, one that had an unusual and unique existence, there was a room almost the opposite of the one Dio and his subordinates resided in. It was brightly lit and massive, the walls a mix of white and grey, made of cold and unfeeling metal. Ascending a staircase in the room was a young man that was once known as Ienzo, his name changed over time, a black coat adorning him. He was lost in his thoughts until…

“Zexion! Zexion!” A voice called as another man descended the stairs, wearing the same black coat. His name was once Even, his name too changed over time. “There you are!” The blonde man cried.

“I’m right here, Vexen, I can hear you just fine.” Zexion responded, a hint of annoyance in his voice. “What’s so urgent?”

As Vexen reached Zexion, he stopped as he caught his breath. “Where is Lord Xemnas?! I’ve looked everywhere for him, but I can’t find him!”

“In his usual spot, where else?” Zexion responded with exasperation. “You can see for yourself; you know where the Chamber of Repose is.”

Vexen’s face contorted into a momentary unease, and then annoyance. “That isn’t funny! Time is running out!” He let out a grunt of annoyance as he walked by Zexion, murmuring to himself. “It’s like he knows when I’m looking for him…”

Zexion was going to continue on his way when a voice called from above. “You know, I don’t like that place either!” The young man turned to see someone sitting on one of the pipes up above, wearing the same garment. He used to be Braig, his hair long and in a ponytail with streaks of grey, ears pointed with a single golden eye, the other covered in an eyepatch.

“Eavesdropping, Xigbar?” Zexion asked, though not seeming to particularly care, more curious. “You and Xaldin were meant to be looking for new members, you know.”

Xigbar shrugged. “As if! I was here first. Not my fault you two had a conversation right under me. “And I’ll have you know, I found us someone just the other day. Mar…something. That puts us at eleven! Since I’ve been wearing myself out, I had Lexaeus take over for the day. I want to rest up so I can feel nice and refreshed tomorrow.” His tone made it clear he wasn’t taking any of this seriously, casually hopping down to the area Zexion was standing.

It was equally clear Zexion didn’t expect, or really want, such a lengthy answer. “I see. Well, if that’s it, enjoy your rest, I suppose. As for me, I have work to catch up on. Good day.” He gave a dismissive wave as he turned to leave.

Xigbar quickly caught up, putting an arm around Zexion’s shoulder. “Hey come on, don’t be like that! Come on, stay and chat with me!” His tone continued to be eased and noncaring…until he continued on, his tone far more serious. “Isn’t it time you told me Xemnas’ secret?” Zexion didn’t respond, Xigbar walking away from him, going on as he faced the far wall. “How long ago was it anyway? When a bunch of warriors with key shaped swords appeared and unleased a spectacular battle. And when it was all done, the smoke cleared…there was just one man behind, one without his memories. Xemnas…ah, Xehanort…was found by Ansem at that time, wasn’t he?”

Zexion sighed through his nose as he stared at Xigbar. “Your point being?”

“The Chamber of Repose” The eyepatched man declared simply. “That’s where we spent our times studying the darkness in the hearts of people. Now it’s just a graveyard, sealed by Ansem the Wise himself. And then the first thing Xemnas did when he got rid of him was to get rid of the seal and build a room at the back. Ever since, he sometimes holes himself up in there…talking to someone.” At this point, Xigbar turned back to face Zexion. “But who? Who would be in there with him? I don’t know anyone else that’s entered that room.”

“So, you were eavesdropping then too? It really is a nasty habit with you, isn’t it?” Zexion asked, not seeming phased by Xigbar’s small speech and his questioning.

“Ah! Not eavesdropping! It doesn’t count if I can’t understand what they’re saying!” Xigbar pointed out with an impish grin. “But I’m just dying to find out what kind of conversation they’re having. You wouldn’t know anything about it, would you?”

Continuing to dodge giving actual answers, Zexion huffed. “What I know is I’d like to focus on my own duties. I suggest you do the same. We need to prepare the new facility immediately, but there’s only eleven of us. We’ll need a few more hands on deck.”

Xigbar didn’t seem bothered that Zexion brushed off everything he said. “New facility…? Ah, you mean Castle Oblivion! What does Xemnas plan on doing with that creepy place anyway?”

“He already shared his intentions with us.” Zexion reminded his cohort, walking by him and continuing up the stairs.

“But do you know what he didn’t share with us?” Xigbar urged. This finally got Zexion to pay more attention to what he was saying, the younger man stopping in his tracks. “The Chamber of Repose is one half of a pair. The Chamber of Waking is the other. You could even call it another graveyard if you wanted to. Get this, it wasn’t Xemnas that constructed it, it was already there before we even knew of Castle Oblivion. And that’s where he’ll find it…his other friend…”

---

I am studying material from the meteors that rained down that fateful night. What a find! The material is foreign to our world. It is elastic to the touch, and when two pieces are combined, they bond easily. None of the records even mention such a substance.

Was it introduced to this world when I opened the door? I wonder how many other such materials drift through the atmosphere of this tiny world...I wish I could soar off and find out! Could there be uncharted worlds up there? My curiosity never ceases to grow.

But I should stop speaking of such unrealistic dreams. For now, there is no way to venture outside this world. My people and I are all but prisoners of this tiny place.

Chapter Text

Sora let out a tired sigh as he plopped down in the front seat of the Gummi Ship’s cockpit. He, Donald, and Goofy had just gone back to Traverse Town to get the new summon gem unsealed by Dr. Orpheus. It was hard to ignore how much larger the haven had gotten, with entire new districts having been added to it. On top of that, the sky was starting to slowly get noticeably less bright. It was hard to keep track of the countless stars, but the three could tell that it was a bit less crowded.

The trio decided to just not comment on it.

They even went to Nick Valentine and Columbo to ask about Kairi and Mickey, but there wasn’t any news. Sora even asked about if they saw Riku again, but no dice. The teen wanted to be sure that his friend and rival was okay, but he still couldn’t help but worry. Was the blonde man that Riku had run into been Dio, or was Sora just being paranoid?

As the ship took off, Donald looked over at Sora. “Hey, why don’t we see who’s in that new summoning gem. If he’s as strong as Gash, he’ll be a huge help!”

“Yeah, we probably should.” Sora agreed, though he still felt a bit drained. Since the group could just warp back to Traverse Town, there hadn’t been a lot of downtime where he could just relax. Hopefully his magic was restored enough where a summon was possible!

The three made their way to the main hangar of the ship, no telling how large the new member of the team would even be. Sora pulled out the new gem, trying to ignore how it felt like a solid piece of hair. How unusual! Concentrating his power, he felt he had enough to go through with the summon. Keyblade in hand, he waved it around and pointed it straight up, ready for the summon!

Except…nothing happened.

“What’s the holdup? You too tired or something?” Donald asked as he tapped his foot impatiently. “This guy’s not so small we can’t see him or something, is he…?” He looked around on the floor, almost expecting to see some tiny man or something.

“I feel like I have enough magic, that’s weird!” Sora said with a confused tilt of the head. “Maybe he doesn’t want to come out?”

Goofy hummed in thought and looked around too, but then something caught his eye, and he pointed at the teen. “Say, Sora, what’s that on your face? On your nose?”

“My nose?” Sora lifted his hand to poke at his nose, not feeling anything at first. Then the tip of his finger went near his left nostril, and he felt something! Hair…? Not like nose hair, no, but a tuft of hair poking right out of his nose! “What?! What is that?!”

While Sora couldn’t see it, a round tuft of yellow hair was sticking out of his nostril, cropping up out of nowhere! “Where the heck did that thing even come from? Just yank it out, Sora!” Donald exclaimed, having been too busy looking for tiny men that he missed the reveal.

Sora felt nervous about just yanking it out, but he reached up at it again anyway, but before he could do anything, the yellow blob of hair shot out on its own! That was, it emerged, and attached to it was a man, whose size grew as his body left Sora’s nose! “Hey! What is this?!” The teen blurted out, even dropping his Keyblade because of how freaked out he was!

Soon enough, the man emerged and landed gracefully on the floor. He was rather unusual, and tall as well, even a head above Goofy! The yellow blob from before was the man’s hair, a yellow afro that was in pristine condition. He had a serious face, with blue triangular shades covering his eyes. The stranger wore a blue shirt, seeming to almost have round shoulders, and his outfit was complete with black pants and brown shoes.

“Who the heck are you?! Why did you appear that way?!” Donald demanded, summoning his staff and pointing it at the man as if he were a threat. For all the mage knew, that was exactly the case!

The man pointed at himself. “What are you talking about? You’re the ones that called me here! Don’t tell me it was some crazy accident!” He seemed more perplexed than anything.

“No…I did summon you…I think.” Sora replied, managing to calm down a bit. Strangely, the entire ordeal didn’t even hurt despite what one might think. “Why were you in my nose, though?” A sentence he never thought he’d say…

“I was called, that’s why!” The stranger announced like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Since you asked, my name is Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo! But you can just call me Bobobo, I suppose.”

“No one asked.” Donald pointed out, though he was less antsy about the stranger. “I’m Donald Duck! That’s Goofy, and there’s Sora.” The mage said, gesturing to his companions in kind.

Bobobo looked everyone over, his face entirely stoic and impossible to read. He started with Donald, then to Goofy, and finally locked eyes with Sora. “Wait a minute, that weapon!” The afroed man exclaimed, pointing at the Keyblade. “I thought I was the only one!”

“You mean a Keyblade? You have a Keyblade?!” Sora was stupefied, he assumed there was only a single one! “But how?!”

“Gawrsh, is that really true?” Goofy asked, looking Bobobo over curiously. He knew about a few other Keyblade users, but he figured he’d have heard of a new one…

Bobobo smirked. “Darn right I do! In fact, I’ll let you see it!” To the bewilderment of everyone else, the man’s afro opened! The top half simply lifted like a hinged door, even making a light creaking sound. He reached inside, his arm going far deeper in than should be possible and pulled something out. “Behold, my Keyblade!”

With a cry, the man pulled out an object that…somewhat resembled a Keyblade. The blade portion was made poorly, the edges wobbly like a child’s crayon drawing made into a solid object. The ‘teeth’ of the object were blunt, and didn’t look like it could even harm a Shadow. On top of that, the handle guard was missing, and the chain at the bottom ended with a small toy version of Bobobo giving the peace sign.

There was a heavy silence as the trio stared as the so-called Keyblade. Sora noted that at the tip of the ‘Keyblade’ was a sticker that said ‘¥500’ on it. While the teen didn’t recognize the money symbol, he knew what he was looking at. “There’s a price tag on the end.” He pointed out.

“No there isn’t.” Bobobo automatically replied, but didn’t seem too sure of himself. “Your eyes are just playing tricks on you, kid.”

Donald approached and squeezed the ‘blade’ of the object. There was a distinct crunching sound. “It’s made of plastic.”

Another pregnant pause. Bobobo sighed. “Okay, you caught me. I just wanted to be cool.” He sounded almost heartbroken. Flipping the Keyblade upside down, he removed the plastic toy at the end from its chain. “One of you can have this though, speak up if you want it!” No one said a word, resulting in Bobobo falling to his hands and knees while sobbing.

Sora had no idea what to make of all this! What was this guy’s deal, and why did he have a fake Keyblade? “Look, are you okay? Just who are you, Bobobo? Why don’t we start with that?”

Still sobbing, Bobobo looked over at Sora. “You…You really want to know?” As the teen nodded, the afroed man was on his feet in a split second, entirely composed. “Well, since you asked, I can tell you! In my world, the evil Chrome Dome Empire reigns supreme, and I am the protector of hair everywhere from the Hair Hunters! With my trust Fist of the Nose Hair, it’s a cinch!”

Donald scoffed. “Would you be serious?! How are we supposed to buy that!” It all sounded like Bobobo was making it up. He also seemed like he was insane…

The afroed man gave Donald a stern look…and then something came out of his nose! They were long, black nose hairs several feet long! The hairs waved about, as if they had a mind of their own. “I bet you feel pretty silly now, huh?” Bobobo asked with a slight smugness.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy let out startled noises at the revelation. Sora especially was disturbed. The summoning gem…that wasn’t nose hair was it?! He decided not to ask that, not sure he’d be able to handle the answer. “H-Hey, Bobobo, we believe you! But look, you realize what happened to your world, right?”

At that, the nose hairs shot back up into Bobobo’s nose. His tone suddenly grew serious. “I do. Those shadowy monsters kept popping up all over the place! I fought them off pretty well, but soon after, the world just vanished, and I was separated from my friends! I especially hope Beauty’s okay…”

It seemed Bobobo was taking it somewhat well. That was good! “Those shadowy monsters are called Heartless, they steal hearts.” Sora explained, glad things were calming down. “We’re trying to stop them and hopefully restore the worlds that were lost, will you help us?”

Bobobo hummed in thought before placing a hand on Sora’s shoulder and giving him a thumbs up. “You betcha! Better than being cooped up in that hairball all the time.”

Oh. So it was hair. Sora made a mental note to wash the gem thoroughly sometime later. “Thanks, Bobobo. These summons don’t last forever, you’ll have to go back to your gem sooner or later. But we’ll call you out when we need help!”

Bobobo pointed at Donald. “Can’t he just go in instead? He’s a big bully, Sora, please put him in there instead of me, it’s so small in there! There’s not even room for all my comic books!” By the end of his ramble, the man was openly sobbing.

Donald huffed. “That’s not how it works! Get a grip on yourself!” So, the nose hair thing was true, but was he even a good fighter? The mage was almost tempted to fire a spell at Bobobo to test him…and because he was obnoxious.

“Let’s just calm down and have somethin’ to eat!” Goofy suggested. “We got a pantry that gives ya anythin’ ya want!”

In an instant, Bobobo calmed down. “Sounds like my kind of plan! Lead the way, fellas!”

What followed was a strange conversation over a meal. Bobobo took an odd selection of food from the pantry including a loaf of bread, a baked potato, and a basket of fries. After that, it was just plate after plate of spaghetti for him. The group swapped stories; Sora, Donald, and Goofy talking more about the Heartless and the Keyholes they’re looking for while Bobobo spoke of fighting the Chrome Dome Empire. According to the man, the people he traveled with were about as odd as him. Gasser, who fought with his ‘backwind’ as his technique was called. Don Patch, and unusual orange ball that tried to steal the spotlight constantly. Even someone named Jelly Jiggler, who was actually made of expired tokoroten.

There were times Bobobo freaked out or let out his nose hairs, but overall he didn’t do anything too crazy. Donald was especially keeping an eye on him. After a while, the afroed man started to wilt. Literally, his skin became paler and wrinkled like the moisture was getting sucked out of him! “Gawrsh, are ya okay, Bobobo?” Goofy asked, helping the man stand.

“I’m okay, grandma, thank you.” He said deliriously and with an exhausted tone. “I think it’s time for me to go back in that gem thingy.”

Sora wasn’t sure what to make of it, none of the others that got summoned reacted so strongly…but if Bobobo said he’d be okay, he’d choose to believe him. “Okay, then go ahead and rest. We’ll call you when we need you.” An awkward pause. “…Just don’t come out of my nose next time, okay?”

“Whatever you say, grandpa, I promise.” Bobobo replied weakly. Like the others that got summoned, he vanished in a flash of light.

With him gone, the trio sighed, almost in relief. “He was…a lot.” Goofy remarked, remembering those in the gems had a vague understanding of what happened once awakened. “I’m not sure what to make of him!”

“He’s a loon!” Donald blurted out, not caring one bit about Bobobo’s feelings. “Are you sure you’ll ever try and summon him, Sora?”

The teen was hesitant. Not just because of the nose thing, but apparently Bobobo fought with hair? It didn’t seem like that’d work at all. “I don’t know, I want to give him a fair chance. Deep down, I can tell he’s a good guy.” Sora had nothing to back that up with, but he just had a feeling in his chest he could trust Bobobo.

Trying to shrug off the situation, the three prepared for the journey ahead. While they could warp to worlds they had been to, it was the trip after that they dreaded. With more stars going out, the length of the trips would keep extending. Indeed, while Donald and Goofy went up to the cockpit, Sora passed out and awoke seven hours later to find they were still traveling.

“I don’t know how long it will take.” Donald replied after Sora asked about how long the trip would take. “The Gummi Ship doesn’t tell me where the nearest world is. We’ve just gotta keep flying!” Thankfully the ship had an autopilot mode, so everyone was able to sleep as it went onward with sensors that’d alarm them if it got too close to something.

Since he had a lot of spare time, Sora decided he wanted to train his magic. He propped up GLaDOS against the pillow of his bed, not that he expected her to chat with him, but it made him feel less alone, even if she was silent. Moreso than if she was in his pocket.

Sora decided to try and train up his Stop spell, throwing the smaller weights around before stopping them in midair. He wasn’t always able to use the spell right, and the time that the weights would be frozen was inconsistent, and not even by how heavy the objects were. Sometimes he threw the same weight, froze it, and the time was several seconds different. He knew if he could use it on actual opponents, it’d be really helpful.

“Tell me you aren’t going to practice other magic in here. If you are, put me back in your pocket, Clown Shoes.” GLaDOS remarked after about an hour of Sora practicing his Stop spell. The teen had to stop and rest a few times during his training.

The bedroom was a bit on the small side, smaller than Sora’s back home…but he tried not to ponder on that. “No, I don’t want to damage anything. But maybe Donald can set something up…” He was worried about burning or crushing something with his other spells, even Aero could cause a mess if he got too close to something.

“It’d be more interesting to watch than you with those weights.” GLaDOS mused. “You think this will help you fight in the other worlds?”

“Well, yeah, why wouldn’t it? You saw how little our spells did against Grunty, I have to work on them, not just my strength.” Sora pointed out, only then stopping to think about how much stronger he had become. It was nothing like how he used to be, fighting against all the Heartless and other foes really sharpened his experience. Heck, if he was like this back on the islands, he’d beat Riku in a match easily!

GLaDOS hummed, as if amused by the response, but it was hard to tell. “She did give you all a lot of trouble. Why do you have me watching, though?”

Sora shrugged, and felt embarrassed by the answer, but he said it anyway. “It’s nice to have some company, but it’s not the same if you’re in my pocket. Even if you don’t talk, it’s nice.”

“Why would you want me as company?” GLaDOS was pretty openly surprised, almost seeming somehow insulted by the insinuation. “You don’t even like me.”

The teen tilted his head in confusion. “What? Who said I don’t like you?” Sora asked with a frown. It was true, GLaDOS took some…getting used to…but he didn’t hate her. “And I don’t think you hate us as much as you like to pretend you do.”

There was an electronic noise from the device, which seemed like a scoff. “You’d think wrong, Clown Shoes. Just go back to your magic stuff. I’ll watch if I have to, not like I can move around.”

Sora couldn’t help but smile a bit and did as GLaDOS said. Eventually, he went to Donald and asked for help with practicing his other, more dangerous spells. The mage took him to a large, empty room where test dummies appeared at the press of a switch. Apparently they were endless, some more magic of Donald’s, Sora assumed. He could use all the damaging spells he wanted without worry!

As it turned out, the trip was longer than Sora expected, and he heard Donald and Goofy being surprised at it too. They flew through space for about an entire week! During this time, Sora socialized with Donald and Goofy plenty of course, having most of their meals together as well. There were days, though, when Sora just wanted to be alone. A heavy weight on his heart and a harsh numbness spread through his body. Whenever this happened, he just smiled and told Donald and Goofy he wanted some alone time, which they respected. It was like Donald had said, no frowning. He wouldn’t do that in front of those two…

Every day, Sora trained to improve himself, switching around what he focused on each day. One day he practiced all his magic on the training dummies that Donald set up, then the next he honed his physical body with push-ups, cardio, and weights. He switched between these each day, wanting to cover as much ground as he could! There was also a more disturbing portion of the trip. The stars in the sky slowly vanished as the week went on, and Sora swore he looked out the window once and saw a world simply blink out.

It was something none of them spoke of.

After the week was up, though, Donald’s voice rang from the speaker as Sora was resting in his room. “Sora! Get up here, we’re approaching a new world! Bring that hunk of junk with you!” The last part of course meant GLaDOS.

“If I’m a hunk of junk, this ship is a rusted can.” GLaDOS huffed, even though Donald couldn’t even hear her.

Sora just pocketed the A.I. and went into the cockpit, seeing the approaching world. It was fairly normal looking, the only notable feature was how much ocean there was compared to land. There were islands, yes, but few and far between, and none that were too terribly large. The sight made Sora wonder if his own world looked like that from afar. Just how much of a speck was Destiny Islands compared to just his world?

After being handed GLaDOS, Donald hooked her up to the Gummi Ship. “Okay, can you detect the Keyhole?” The mage asked. “You’ve done a pretty bad job of it so far!”

Despite having none, GLaDOS practically seemed to roll her eyes. “Those were beyond my control. It’s not as precise as you’d imagine anyway. I can detect it, yes. It’s on or near a certain island down in the world. That’s where you want to go?”

“Of course!” Donald exclaimed. “Let’s just hope King Mickey is there too…”

“Or Kairi. Maybe she ended up on an island like ours.” Sora brought up, feeling a twinge in his heart. Of course, Kairi wasn’t from Destiny Islands, but it was still her home…

“Fine. Just don’t whine if you aren’t two feet away from the Keyhole when we get there.” GLaDOS warned as the quartet was taken away from the ship.

In an instant, they were in the new world, on a small island somewhere in the vast sea as Sora pocketed GLaDOS once more. Two things were made apparent right away. One was that the town they were in looked fairly normal. Paved roads, quaint and cozy homes, local businesses, and so on. The other thing, however, was less pleasant. Sirens rang out from somewhere the group couldn’t see, and people were running from that direction.

Thankfully, none of the people seemed to notice the outsiders popping into existence in the middle of the street. One man in clothes suitable for construction work stopped as he got close. “Hey! You three!” He called, coming to a stop a few feet away. “Don’t you hear the police sirens?! You’ve got to get away!”

Was it Heartless?! Sora looked in the direction of the sirens but saw nothing. “Why? What is it? Why’s everyone running?” The teen asked. No signs of any Heartless, but maybe they just hadn’t spread this far.

The man looked at Sora like he had two heads. “You didn’t know?! Pirates are attacking the bank! Just run!” Without waiting for a response, the stranger sprinted away.

Pirates? Sora’s eyes widened at the word. Ever since he was just a kid, he wanted to be a pirate. Sailing on the ocean, wind in his hair, the salty smell of the ocean washing over him…! It was part of the reason he wanted to go out and explore the worlds out there, he wanted the freedom and adventure! But robbing banks? Attacking innocent people? That’s not what he thought being a pirate was truly about, and knowing someone calling themselves a pirate was doing this made him mad!

“We should help out, we can’t just ignore trouble like that!” Goofy exclaimed as Sora stewed in his anger. “We can worry about the Keyhole later!”

“Right! Let’s teach that pirate a lesson!” Sora all but hissed, summoning his Keyblade and running towards the sounds of the sirens.

Donald and Goofy summoned their own weapons, following suit. Along the way, they passed by fleeing citizens. Some looked at the trio in confusion, but none stopped to see what they were up to. The sounds of the sirens grew louder, and before long, the outsiders saw injured police officers and destroyed cars. Sora wanted to stop and help, but even if he cast Cure, he could only do it once, and none of the officers looked gravely wounded. One of the officers yelled at the group to stop, but he was ignored. After crossing a bridge, the trio came across another part of town where there was more destruction, and the sirens were almost deafening. And there they laid eyes on an unusual sight.

In front of a large building marked as a bank was a large humanoid robot, easily taller than any normal human that was pink and red in color with its left arm being a cannon of sorts. It had glowing green eyes, and a skull insignia on its chest, an even larger one adorning its back. Surrounding the robot were six smaller robots, even shorter than Donald. They had yellow heads and blue bodies, their hands ending in pincers. This group of robots were staring down two police cars and officers that were shooting at them, but the bullets just pinged off the robot’s hull.

To retaliate, the robot rushed over to one of the cars and lifted it above its head, throwing it into the other and destroying them both. At the same time, the smaller robots swarmed the officers and swiftly punched and kicked at them, overwhelming them with numbers until they fled. To the surprise of Sora, Donald, and Goofy, a voice rang out from the robot, which was distinctly female. “Alright, that’s the last of them! Now let’s crack open this bank!”

“Hey! You can’t do that!” Sora yelled out, rushing so he was in view of the seven robots. “What are you doing?! You can’t just go on a rampage like this!” He felt his blood boiling, these weren’t the types of pirates he was expecting, and not just because of their heinous actions. As he yelled out, Donald and Goofy joined him by his side.

“What the…? Who the heck are you three? You’re not the police!” The robot’s pilot yelled out, pointing a large metal finger at the trio. “Trying to play hero? Just run along and you won’t get hurt!”

“Miss Tron, do you want us to handle them while you get the gold?” One of the robots asked in a squeaky, childlike voice.

Sora glared daggers at the larger robot. “We’re not going to run, so you might as well!” With all the practice and training he had done over the last week, he felt more than ready to take these guys on! Heartless were one thing, but people attacking people was something else.

The large robot shook its fist at Sora and then pointed at him. “Fine! You asked for it, kid! You guys take care of these jokers, alright?”

“Yes, Miss Tron!” The smaller robots all said in unison, charging at Sora, Donald, and Goofy. They split into three teams of two, going after a member of the trio each and let out shouts of battle that didn’t exactly sound intimidating coming from them.

Goofy felt a bit bad going after such childlike fighters, but they seemed to be just robots, so he pushed his thoughts back and went into the fray. One of the robots leapt at him, and he simply batted it away with his shield, the other one pulling out a small black orb with a skull on it. When tossed at Goofy, he wasn’t able to block in time, a small explosion knocking him back. As he laid on his back, the attacking robot leapt at him, but it too was simply knocked away.

Donald didn’t feel quite as bad, and he had been practicing his magic too! He cast an Aero spell on himself, and as the two robots leapt at him. The wind was strong enough to blow them away from the mage, and he unleashed a nasty Thundara spell! Both bots were struck by a bolt and sent careening away. The one that got back up to attack Donald again was meat with a Fira to the face, sending it flying back again.

Sora wasn’t feeling any guilt either, still angry about these guys giving pirates a bad name! He decided to test what his new magical prowess could do! The teen cast Stop on one of the incoming robots, freezing it in place! The other let out a startled cry and checked on its companion. Sora took this opportunity to rush the robots and slashed them harshly. The distracted one went flying, but the frozen one didn’t. At least, not until the spell wore off, where the hit finally registered and sent it careening.

Despite the abuse they got, none of the robots actually seemed damaged. That being said, they all still retreated back to the piloted mech. “Miss Tron! These guys are scary!” One of the robots called.

“They have weird powers! We need your help!” Another cried, actually seeming close to tears.

Even though she said she’d go for the bank, the pilot of the robot had stayed to watch how the fight went on. “What the heck is with you three?! You feel good about picking on my kids?!” She yelled out. “Okay, now you’ll have to deal with me!”

“Did she say her kids?” Goofy asked a mere second before the mech shot at him. He raised his shield to block, failing to have noticed the projectile was going to his feet! An explosion launched Goofy into the air as he let out a “YAA-HOO-HOO-HOO-WEE!” and landed in the nearby ocean.

“See?! They’re not so tough!” The woman exclaimed, firing at Sora and Donald, who ran out of the way.

The two had no time to go look for Goofy, but they were sure he was okay. Donald sent a wave of Thundara bolts at the seven robots, the smaller ones scattering or getting struck by the spell. Yet it seemed no matter what abuse the yellow robots took, they just got right back up like nothing happened.

As the fired shots missed, the mech stuffed its hand into the ground and lifted up a piece of asphalt the size of Donald, and then threw it at the mage. He wasn’t able to dodge in time, crying out as he was knocked away and stunned from the impact.

Sora grit his teeth and pointed the Keyblade right at the mech. “Gravira!” He shouted out as a large purple and black orb dropped down on the robot. It and the six yellow ones were all caught in the spell’s range. The ground around the seven cracked as their bodies became heavy, the six yellow bots yelling out, startled from the spell.

“Wh-What is this…?!” The pilot yelled as her robot was unable to move. “Is this some sort of EMP or something?!” Despite her words, the cannon arm of the mech lifted. “Almost…there…!”

The brunette had no idea what an EMP was, and focused as he tried to keep the spell going strong as Donald recovered. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Goofy crawling back onto land. He was soaked from the water and looked exhausted, but still in one piece. Donald was getting to his feet, groggy and rubbing his head.

Alas, it seemed the mech’s technology was too much even for the upgraded Gravity spell. It fired right at Sora, and he had to let go of the spell to dodge out of the way. As soon as it was freed, the mech came storming at him, throwing a punch right at the teen! He blocked it with his Keyblade, but slid back from the impact. Wasting no time, he leapt onto the mech’s shoulder, getting a startled cry from the woman within.

Sora leapt in the air again and remembered how much mileage Banjo and Kazooie got out of a certain move. He’d try it here! Sora stopped in midair and pointed the Keyblade straight down and imbued a bit of Gravity magic into the tip. It was a trick he tried out and managed to get down during the weeklong trip! With the magic pulling him down, Sora’s Keyblade slammed down onto the head of the mech, a huge dent appearing on it as sparks flew out! At this point, Donald had recovered and was watching Sora in the midst of his attack.

“Miss Tron”! One of the smaller robots yelled as Sora kicked off the robot. “Is the Gustaff okay?!” Clearly it was referring to the mech itself.

“It’s fine! It’s fine!” The woman insisted, the mech pointing at the Keyblade. “What the heck is that thing anyway? It’s hard enough to damage my Gustaff!”

Sora huffed. “If you want a closer look, then here!” With those words, he activated a Strike Raid, throwing the spinning Keyblade at the Gustaff. Clearly the female pilot wasn’t expecting this, only able to raise an arm in defense as the Keyblade struck the robot, passing by it and coming back to Sora’s hand. He threw it twice more, the Gustaff unable to dodge the second blow as it was struck on the cannon arm and damaging it.

At the third throw, the six yellow robots leapt in the way. “Hey! Leave Miss Tron alone!” One of them yelled out.

“Quit picking on her! Miss Tron is very busy!” Another of the robots screamed. Alas, even all six of them couldn’t stop the Keyblade and were knocked away as the weapon returned to Sora.

“Hold on! Everyone just stop for a second!” Goofy yelled as he returned to the scene. “I wanna clear somethin’ up first!”

Despite being in the midst of battle, Goofy’s unusual forcefulness stopped everyone in their tracks. “What do you mean stop?!” The female pilot yelled out as the smaller robots recovered. “You’re the ones attacking me and my kids!”

“That’s exactly it!” Goofy insisted, not even having his shield out to show he meant no harm. “You call those little robots there your kids…should we really even be fightin’ em?” He said the latter part to Sora and Donald. “Makes me feel kinda guilty, you know?”

Sora stopped to think about that, his anger ebbing away as he realized how protective the female pirate was of these ‘kids’ of hers. “Thinking of it, she gets real mad over them…” He murmured to himself before talking directly to the pilot. “Aren’t you a pirate attacking and killing people? Why do you care about some robots?”

“Huh?! What are you going on about? Are you really stopping our fight to have a chat?!” The pilot demanded, yet did nothing to continue said battle. “Why wouldn’t I care? They may be a bit dumb, but they’re my kids!”

Even with the backhanded nature of the compliment, the six robots grinned wide and even cheered a bit. “Thanks, Miss Tron! That means a lot!” One of them exclaimed.

“And who said anything about killing? I’m not a murderer, you know.” The pilot went on, sounding outright offended. It seemed to be the truth. While injured, none of the officers from before were actually dead. “Why do you even care?!”

“I reckon you’re not as bad as you seem, it makes me kinda hesitant to fight.” Goofy admitted. Something just didn’t feel right about the situation that he couldn’t shake off.

Donald squinted at his taller friend. “You really think so? This isn’t a trick to have her put her guard down, is it?” He whispered, prompting a shake of the head from Goofy.

As Goofy made his point, Sora felt his anger ebb away a little. Thinking of it, the pilot was actually protective of those ‘kids’ of hers. She also got outright angry at the accusation she’d kill people. It made Sora wonder why someone like that would be attacking a city and robbing a bank…like Goofy said, she may not have been as bad as she appeared…but she was still causing a lot of trouble.

“Why are you robbing this bank anyway? You seem pretty desperate for the money.” Sora was getting curious. She was a pirate, the bad kind, but something was nagging at him now that his heart was cleared from anger. Something was biting at him, telling him there was something more going on here.

“And why do you even care?!” The pilot yelled out, yet despite her anger she did nothing to further the fight. “That’s my business, isn’t it?! Maybe I just want some money!” She let out a noise of frustration. “If more cops show up because of you, you’ll be sorry!”

“We’re on a very important mission!” One of the yellow robots piped up. “Master Tiesel and Master Bon are waiting for us!”

The mech raised its fist in anger, like it was going to strike the robot. “Hey! Don’t bring them up to the enemy! Do you want to get punished when we get back?!” As the woman yelled this out, a number of Heartless spawned out of nowhere! It was only a small horde of Soldiers, though. “Oh, great! More of these things! Go on, get them!” The pilot ordered the robots, who obeyed instantly.

Given the Heartless were of a relatively weak variety, the ensuing battle didn’t last long. The smaller robots were able to swarm the Soldiers and take them out without much issue. Sora, Donald, and Goofy swept up the Heartless in large numbers, and the pilot blew up waves of the creatures as more showed up. There was one crucial moment near the end, however. One of the smaller robots defeated a Soldier, unaware that another one was about to attack it from behind! Before it could strike, even before the pilot could warn her ‘kid’ about the Heartless, Sora struck it down!

The robot turned around, seeing Sora saving it with a surprised gasp. “Oh! Uh, thank you for that! I didn’t see that one coming…”

Sora shrugged, though he wondered why a Heartless would go after a robot. They went after people with hearts! And of course the Heartless just had to be in this world too. The teen had accepted that there was no world free of them! “It was nothing. Don’t worry about it.” It was sort of awkward talking so casually with someone he was just fighting minutes before.

“You even saved one of my kids…” The pilot murmured, though the use of the speaker in the mech made her words quite audible. “Just who are you, anyway? First you attack me, then you want to talk to me, then you save someone you just beat up!”

It really was a bit of a complicated situation. Sora himself was almost getting whiplash from it all. All he knew was that he was starting to feel more and more that these pirates weren’t evil. Bad, yes. But evil? No way. “I’m Sora, and this is Donald and Goofy.” The teen gestured to his friends in kind. “We were just passing through and wanted to help the people here. Who are you guys anyway?” The robots called the pilot ‘Miss Tron’ but was Tron her first or last name?

“What? You never heard of us?!” The pilot said, once more sounding offended. “My name is Tron Bonne! You’ve never heard of the Bonne Pirates? You must be from pretty far away, runt!”

“And we’re the Servbots!” One of the yellow robots piped in. “I’m #12! This is #3, #6, #20, #32, and #26!” He gestured to the other Servbots, as if Sora, Donald, or Goofy would be able to recognize which was which. To the trio, they all looked exactly the same.

“Uh, nice to meet you.” Sora said to #12, wondering if even Tron could tell the Servbots apart. “But Tron, why are you doing this? You don’t really seem like a bad person!”

A scoff came from the Gustaff. “Don’t act like you know me! If you must know, I need this money for my brothers! Now will you just fight me or leave? You’re starting to annoy me!”

#6 piped up, or at least the trio thought it was #6, they had already started to lose track of which Servbot was which. “Yeah, they were captured, so we need a lot of zenny to get them back!”

“Don’t just tell them that! What’s with your big mouth?!” Tron scolded with an exasperated groan. “Fine! Whatever, yeah! I need the zenny to save my brothers, alright?! You satisfied?!”

“Uh, can we have just a sec?” Goofy asked Tron before he gestured for Sora and Donald to go over to him. “What do ya think, fellers? Do ya think they’re tellin’ the truth?” He whispered as they huddled up.

“Does it matter? We can’t just let her rob a bank!” Donald whisper-yelled. “And we can’t waste so much time with this! We’ve gotta find the Keyhole and King Mickey!”

Surprisingly, GLaDOS chimed in. “Why don’t you three just go with her? She probably travels around a lot, so you can do your searching that way.”

Sora perked up at GLaDOS’ inclusion. It wasn’t something he considered, but it seemed like a decent idea. “I guess the idea is okay…but why do you even care, GLaDOS?” The teen asked. “You never give suggestions like that.”

“Anything to move us forward. That, and I want to see more of what she can build. It’s impressive, I have to admit.” The A.I. clarified.

“…I guess we can try…” Donald murmured. “She’ll probably never let us on, though. And we can’t just go around robbing banks, King Mickey would be so disappointed if he found out!”

“Yeah, Kairi and Riku wouldn’t like hearing about that either.” Sora added on, feeling he’d have to tell his friends out of guilt.

There was a loud clearing of the throat from the mech. “Are you three done?! If you don’t leave on the count of three, I’m going to just blow up the bank and steal the safe!”

That got the group to break up their huddle. “Wait! Hold on!” Goofy shouted. “What if we help ya with your brothers?!”

“You’re kidding, right?” Tron asked, waving the Gustaff’s hand in a dismissive fashion. “After all, you just tried to stop me from robbing the bank, and now you want to help me? You’re not making sense!”

Sora didn’t blame her; this was a rather unusual situation. “We were going to stop you, but we thought you were just stealing for the sake of it! And…well, we were hoping you might do us a favor if we help get your brothers back.”

“Miss Tron, they’re pretty tough, let’s take them aboard!” #20 exclaimed, not seeming to mind that a few minutes ago, the trio was attacking them.

“The more the merrier, we want Master Tiesel and Master Bon back!” #32 agreed. “We’ll keep a close eye on them, ma’am!”

The unseen woman hummed in thought for a moment. “…What exactly do you want from me, and why should I give it to you?”

“Because we’ll get your brothers back, Sora just said that!” Donald exclaimed, just wanting to get out of here. “There’s not much more we can give you!”

“We just want help findin’ our friends.” Goofy butted in, in a more peaceful manner. “And uh, we wanna know if ya heard of somethin’ called a Keyhole before.”

There was another pause as Tron thought things over. “I guess that’s not too much to ask. Never heard of any Keyhole, but I send my Servbots out to scout all the time, so they might be able to help.” Another pause. “…Ugh, alright. Fine. I’ll give you one chance to be useful. If you mess up or make me angry, you’re out!”

“It’s a deal!” Sora immediately agreed. He wasn’t expecting the Servbots to be able to just go scout things out like that. It made things way easier! “…But we can’t rob the bank, we have to find another way to make money. There’s gotta be a more…legal way, right?”

“That wasn’t part of the deal! Ugh…Okay, whatever. There are other ways, but if they don’t work out, I’m coming right back here!” Tron retorted, almost seeming to be desperate to get the negotiations over with.

Yet even with that promise, things got more complicated quickly. A woman’s voice called out from behind Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “Stop right there! I’ll get you this time, lawbreaker!” The voice shouted. Everyone turned to see a strange sight. It was a policewoman, but she was in a mech of her own! Not as impressive as the Gustaff, though. For one, she was fully visible in it, only covered by metal straps to keep her in place. It had no cannon, just a large metal rod, like a baton, as its only weapon. It also had a large metal box on its back, as if it were made for moving things, not combat.

“Oh, great. It’s you again!” Tron groaned. “Look, we’re leaving, so how about you go back to your station!”

“Not going to happen! I’ve got you right where I want you!” The officer replied, and then she looked over at Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “Don’t worry citizens, Officer Denise is here to help!”

Well, this was awkward. Sora didn’t want to attack a woman that was just doing her job. “Sorry, but we’re with her now. If you just let us go, we’ll leave without doing any damage!” The way he said it almost made it seem like he, Donald, and Goofy were partially responsible for the town’s damage.

“You’re kidding!” Denise exclaimed, glaring daggers at the Gustaff. “I see, you probably threatened them, didn’t you?! I won’t stand for this, pirate!”

Haughty laughter came from the more impressive mech. “Please, I just have that magnetic pull! And you’re so late, I took care of those other officers ages ago. Did you sleep in again or something?”

This riled up the officer, who practically pouted at Tron. “No! Not this time- I…I-I mean…look, this suit took some time to prepare, okay?!”

“Is it really okay for us to fight her?” Sora asked quietly, so only Donald and Goofy could hear. “I don’t want to attack an officer like that.”

“Maybe if we just break her robot suit, she’ll give up.” Goofy pointed out, who felt the same way. “Once this is all settled, we can get the rest of that zenny stuff the right way!”

“Okay, Tron, we’ll help you deal with her!” Sora called as he pointed the Keyblade at Denise. “Gravira!” Like with the Gustaff, Denise’s mech was trapped in place due to the spell, the ground cracking around her.

The officer let out a startled cry, fiddling with the controls of her mech. Unlike with the Gustaff, it seemed hers wasn’t capable of dealing with the magic. “Wh-What’s going on?! Hey! What’s that weapon you’re using! This isn’t fair!” Denise cried.

“Good work!” Tron praised him with a nasty laugh. “Okay, Servbots, you can take her down. Strip her mech for parts!”

“Roger!” The Servbots all said in unison. Without hesitation, they rushed Denise and her mech, crawling on it and starting to expertly tear it off. Sora was able to make it so his spell only targeted his target, so the robots essentially had free reign to do as they pleased. All the while, Denise was ordering, then pleading, for them to stop. The Servbots made trips taking the Gustaff, where they put the machine parts in a slot on the mech for storage.

Before long, the mech was mostly gone, not able to even stand anymore. A few dozen, unconnected pieces were all that was left. “I-I can’t believe this! Don’t think you’ll get away with this!” The officer yelled, but even as Sora let the spell go, she did nothing to retaliate, not that there was much she could do.

“And don’t think you can do anything about it!” Tron argued back with another laugh. “Okay, we’re done here. Okay, get a Drache to our location! We’re picking up some new recruits!” It was clear that part was her communicating with someone over some sort of frequency.

“Oh boy, new friends!” #6 cheered as Sora, Donald, and Goofy came over to the pirates. Denise just pouted, watching the scene in front of her.

Sora couldn’t help but grin a bit. The Servbots were pretty charming, he had to admit. “Looks like it. I think it’s gonna take time for us to tell which one of you is which, though…”

As Sora said this, a new machine made itself present. A flying one this time! It was a strange craft, a purple box with wings, essentially. Though it also had a turret on the bottom, and a hatch on the front as well as a skull insignia. “Miss Tron! We’re ready to go!” A Servbot called from the Drache.

“Alright! Let these three inside, alright? We’re going right back to the Gesellschaft!” Tron ordered as the Drache lowered down. Its door opened like a drawbridge, letting Sora, Donald, and Goofy enter it.

The teen still felt a bit conflicted with working for a pirate, even if Tron wasn’t really as bad as he initially thought. Inside the Drache, there was a small sitting area, but no sign of a pilot, who must have been somewhere else in the vehicle. Sora wondered once more if he was doing the right thing as the door shut, a light illuminating the somewhat-cramped space.

Outside, the Drache started to float, handles holding out for the Gustaff to hold onto. The six Servbots latched onto the mech’s back. “Miss Tron, are you sure about this?” #20 asked, despite his earlier enthusiasm.

“Look, don’t say this to their face…” Tron began, her voice low. “We had no chance of beating them, I don’t think. We had no choice but to listen to them. Besides, if we can use their strength and get my brothers back, everyone wins. If they double cross us, though…we’ll throw everything we have at them, got it?”

“Roger!” All the Servbots yelled out, causing Tron to sigh. With that, the Drache started to float upwards, flying off of the island, Denise watching the craft get away with a heavy sigh.

---

The room was merely an office, but it looked like it belonged in a mansion. Expensive purple carpeting, tiled ceiling, a chandelier up above…! This room was illuminated entirely by electricity despite the sunny day outside, a special light-blocking set of shades closed over the large window behind the desk.

In this office were two men. One was young and tall with brown hair, wearing a set of cybernetic armor. Sitting in the chair was the man in the purple suit, the one that was working with Dio Brando! His hands were cybernetic implants, as well as his metal spikey nose. The young man looked a bit nervous, glancing over at his boss. “Mr. Loath, sir, are you sure this partnership will work for us? That Dio fellow is the most unusual character. The creatures we’re using now make me a tad uneasy as well.” Those things that the blonde man called Heartless, they made Glyde’s skin crawl when he was near them!

Lex Loath sat back in his chair, a smug smile on his face. “You don’t have to worry about a thing, Glyde. With those Bonne brothers, I’ll find the Keyhole before that brat with the key can. It didn’t seem like those other fools even bothered to search hard!”

As if on cue, a dark portal appeared, and out stepped Dio Brando. “I see you’re nice and comfortable, Loath.” He said, voice oozing with sarcasm. “I take it you’re actively searching for the Keyhole, correct?”

Right away, Loath’s demeanor changed, sweat forming on his brow. “Oh, yes! Even better, I have people looking into it for me along with the Heartless! Even some of Glyde’s Birdbots are looking for it, isn’t that right, Glyde?”

The younger man cleared his throat and nodded. When Dio came around, the air was cold, yet he still felt sweat form as well. It was like staring at a monster! “Yes, that’s right. We assure you, the Keyhole will be found.”

Dio’s face remained stoic, it not being clear if he believed in the two or not. “I see. Well, I’ll trust in you. You’re one of the few remaining members of our little group, Loath, so don’t let me down. Trust me, I won’t tolerate it this time.”

Loath gulped audibly and nodded. “We’ll find it, Dio! I know just where to look…I-I think. Once it’s discovered, we’ll contact you. Don’t worry!” The vampiric man didn’t respond to Loath’s words, just silently vanishing into the darkness once more. Once Dio was gone, the portly man let out a relieved breath. “Oh, thank goodness…” He murmured.

“Mr. Loath, you didn’t mention The Colossus. Was that wise?” Gylde asked, breathing more steadily again.

The purple suited man wiped his brow with a handkerchief, looking almost exhausted. “Why would we? With that, we’ll be able to take over this world and any other. We won’t need the Keyhole or Dio’s help!” His smugness came back, only because Dio couldn’t hear him anymore.

Glyde nodded, looking a bit more confident, yet there was hesitation in his heart. “Yes, Mr. Loath. Let’s just hope we find it before Dio runs out of patience…” He noticed how his employer had no smart remark to that…

Chapter Text

The ride in the Drache was a bit of an awkward one. Not just because there wasn’t all too much room, but because Sora, Donald, and Goofy were still a bit conflicted with teaming up with a pirate. Yes, it was to help some kidnap victims, and yes, it seemed there was a bit of light in Tron’s heart…but they were still helping a criminal. While she didn’t get to rob the bank, she still caused a lot of damage in her attempt to do so! At the very least, Tron agreed to try some more legal ways to get money, and the trio hoped she’d stick to her word.

“Hey, how long is this trip gonna take?” Donald asked the Servbot pilot. A few minutes after takeoff, a slot opened up to show the small yellow robot within the tiny cockpit. There was a monitoring screen in front of the robot, but all it showed was open sky and the ocean below it. “We’ve been flying for twenty minutes now!”

“Oh, it’ll just be a few more minutes, Mr. Duck!” The Servbot chirped, humming to himself as he lightly steered the craft. “Wait until you see the Gesellschaft! It’s real neat!”

Goofy wondered about the Gesellschaft and spoke up next. “So, uh, is it like a big boat? Ya guys are pirates and all.” Very hi-tech pirates, yes, but pirates all the same.

The Servbot shook his head. “No, it’s a big airship! Oh, look, there it is now!” He pointed one of his fingerless hands at the monitor, and the trio took a look at it. The monitor showed what seemed to be a green dot far, far away. As the seconds passed, the speck on the screen got bigger and more defined.

Before long, the vague shape was revealed to be what could be described as a metallic, blimp-like airship hovering far above the sea. It had large red windows on the sides that almost looked like eyes, and a metallic part on the front that resembled a mouth. Above the mouth-like structure was the same skull insignia that the Gustaff had. The entire vessel almost looked too big and heavy to fly, yet there it was hovering in air, looking big enough to house dozens or even hundreds of people!

“That’s the Gesellschaft?! That thing’s gigantic!” Sora declared, finding it almost a bit odd how backwards the pirates of this world were. Using aircrafts instead of boats? Having a central base that was a blimp? Using robotics? Certainly not what the teen had in mind when he thought of piracy…but different worlds just had different rules and logic, he supposed.

With an almost prideful grin, the Servbot nodded. “Uh-huh! The base of the Bonnes…or just Miss Tron at this point, and us Servbots.” He let out a sigh. “I miss Master Tiesel and Master Bon!”

Thinking of it, that was the first time anyone actually mentioned Trons’ brothers’ names. The outsider trio forgot to even ask! “Just how long have they been kidnapped for anyway?” Sora asked, wanting to get a bit more information on the subject.

“Hmmm…Oh, a week or two, I think!” The Servbot replied after a moment of thought. “Miss Tron has been so worried, but I think she doesn’t like to let it show!”

At that moment, Tron’s voice rang through some sort of intercom, clear as day. “I can hear you, you know! Keep talking about me like that, and you’ll be punished!” Her tone was like that of a scolding mother, which she essentially was in this case.

Letting out a startled yelp, the Servbot saluted for a moment, then realized Tron couldn’t see him as he grabbed the controls again. “Yes, Miss Tron! It won’t happen again!” He turned back to the group. “Er…Sorry! You’ll have to talk to her about that!”

Seemed Tron could be pretty strict with her kids, but it was also clear how much she cared for them. “It’s fine, I guess it’s not really out business.” Sora admitted, though he supposed if they were going to help, they should have the full story.

A few more minutes passed in silence as the Drache approached the Gesellschaft. It first flew to a sky deck on the top of the vessel. “Okay, my Servbots and I are going to disembark here! #17, you take those three into the ship and meet up with me in HQ!”

“Yes, Miss Tron!” #17 chirped as the Drache lurched a bit as Tron’s large mech let go. “Wait until you see the inside of the Gesellschaft!” He said to the trio. “It’s real neat!”

The Drache was flown around to the bottom of the massive craft to a hangar area. Other Drache were stored there, and there were some Servbots milling about and seeming busy with something-or-other. After landing the Drache, the door opened and everyone inside got out.

Stretching his legs a bit, Goofy looked about, wind whipping at him a bit. “Isn’t it pretty dangerous to be out here?!” He asked, having to yell a bit to be heard over the wind, even having to hold onto his hat so it wouldn’t blow away.

“Don’t worry, our feet are mildly magnetic to the floor, so we can walk around!” #17 explained, showing that it took a bit more effort than normal to lift his foot. “We’d blow away otherwise because we’re so tiny! But come on, let’s go!”

#17 took the trio inside through a metal hangar door, the lack of wind being a relief as they entered a hallway. Surprisingly, the inside of the Gesellschaft was a bit cozy with carpeted floors and it almost felt like they were in a hotel or something. “Say, how many of you guys are there anyway?” Donald asked as he smoothed his wind-disrupted feathers a bit. “You guys are all over!” Even as he said this, a Servbot passed them by, word apparently having spread about the new arrivals, as he didn’t even seem surprised.

“Oh, there are forty of us! At least that’s what Miss Tron says.” #17 answered somewhat cryptically. “Some of us swear we’ve seen a #41, but Miss Tron told us he isn’t real.” His voice got low, almost whispering, like he was telling a ghost story around a campfire.

Ignoring the prospect of a potential extra Servbot, Sora let out a “Huh!” of surprise. “Just forty? This place is huge! How do you manage it all?” And the Servbots were small to boot and didn’t seem…well…entirely capable at times. They were basically like robotic children, after all.

“A lot of the ship doesn’t really need us to maintain it.” #17 explained as he took the trio through the hallways. “Miss Tron made sure that a lot of the ship can run on its own!”

That was pretty impressive! Surely she didn’t build it all herself, though. It was way too huge! Granted, he never actually saw Tron, just heard her voice. She didn’t really sound like an adult, would she even have the time to build something like this at her age…?

Before long, #17 took the trio into a large room near the front of the ship. The three could tell this as there was a large window showing the ocean and sky in all their gorgeous blue glory! There were half a dozen Servbots in the room with them, sitting at monitors and other sensitive looking equipment, a command center at the center of the room, another skull insignia at the top chair of the area. “So, Tron is gonna meet us in here?” Donald asked, looking around the room. “Where is she…?”

As if responding to Donald’s question, some footsteps were heard past a nearby doorway. They were heavier than those of the Servbots, making it clear who it was! As the door opened, in stepped a sight that surprised the trio. It was a girl, no older than Sora! She was a brunette like him, but had piercing green eyes, wearing quite a bit of pink. Pink shoes, pink gloves, even a pink shirt, one that had the familiar skull insignia on it, she even wore earrings in the shape of these skulls.

#17 went right to attention at the sight of the teenager. “Miss Tron! I brought our new friends here like you asked!” He announced, giving the girl a little salute.

“Wait, you’re Tron?!” Sora blurted out, pointing a finger at the teen. She was his age at the very oldest! “I thought you’d be an adult!” The filter her mech gave her voice really made her sound older than she was, at least to him…

Tron scoffed and crossed her arms. “What, is that a surprise?” She then put on a smug face. “I guess my genius can really surprise people, huh?”

Donald rolled his eyes, but bit his tongue for once. While not exactly ‘enemy’ territory, they were smack-dab in the middle of a pirate’s vessel with no way to leave without returning to the Gummi Ship. “So, you really built everything by yourself?”

“Not the Gesellschaft, that’s been around since my parents. Aside from that…pretty much!” Tron clarified, still seeming a bit smug. “But that’s not important! You three promised to help my brothers, so I’m holding you to it!” Her tone made it pretty clear she was used to getting her way and ordering others around. Given the loyalty of her Servbots, that was hardly surprising.

“We’re not gonna go back on it, don’t ya worry!” Goofy assured with a grin. “It’s nice to meet ya face to face, Tron!”

Tron seemed surprised at that, like any member of the trio being that polite to her was something she never thought would happen. “Well…thanks…” She murmured.

Before she could go on, GLaDOS spoke up from Sora’s pocket. “I hate to admit it, but a lot of the technology surpasses some things at Aperture Science.” She sounded almost begrudging, like making that admittance was nearly painful.

“Who the heck said that?! You got a communication device in your pocket or something?!” Tron demanded accusingly, pointing at Sora’s pocket.

“Oh, no! That’s just GLaDOS. She’s an A.I. we have with us!” Sora explained as he took the vocal program from his pocket. “See?”

Tron’s brows raised in surprise as she swiped GLaDOS from Sora’s hand. However, all she did was look over the device, wonderment in her eyes. “This is some really advanced tech! I can tell just from looking on the outside! Where’d you guys find something like this?”

“Good to know someone appreciates how well-made I am.” GLaDOS said with a smug tone.

“It’s kind of a long story.” Sora vaguely replied, but didn’t want Tron to pry too much and added a bit more. “We don’t know where she came from or if there’s more like her out there, though.”

The female teen hummed in thought, like she was deciding something. “Her, huh? I kind of want to take her apart and see what makes her tick…but maybe we can agree on something like that later.”

“Excuse me?!” GLaDOS exclaimed, but before she could go on a tirade against Tron, Sora took her back.

“I don’t know about that, we kind of need her!” He declared, wondering how thoroughly Tron wanted to do that. Before GLaDOS had a chance to snipe back into the conversation, Sora shoved her back into his pocket.

Donald cleared his throat, prompting eyes on him. “Hey, aren’t we supposed to work on helping your brothers? What even happened with them anyway? We should know what we’re getting into!”

Tron huffed but complied with a bit of a frustrated tone. “Not much to say. My older brother Tiesel got himself deep in dept with this scumbag named Mr. Loath, so he took Tiesel and my baby brother Bon, and won’t give them back without paying them back!”

#17, who was still nearby, piped up. “Last time we went, Mr. Loath talked about interest, so now we need even more money!”

“Can’t you just go kick his butt? You’ve got this big flying fortress for crying out loud!” Donald exclaimed, gesturing to the Gesellschaft around them broadly. “Let’s just go to him and get your brothers back the quick way!”

With a scoff, Tron shook her head. “Don’t you think I would’ve just done that if it was an option?! Mr. Loath is very rich and powerful! It’d be crazy to just attack him head-on! If I failed…he’d probably kill my brothers…” Her tone shifted at the end, sounding dejected and even a bit scared.

Sora quickly piped up, feeling bad for Tron, more so now that he could actually see her and hear her real voice. “Hey, it’ll be fine! We’ll keep helping until your brothers are okay! So…how much money do we need, exactly?”

This got Tron to quickly toughen back up, her expression more serious as she put on a scowl. “That Mr. Loath…! We actually got all our money, but then he hit us with interest! Two million zenny worth! It took us forever to get what we had before, and now we have to do it again!”

“But we already got another million of that zenny, so it’s not all too bad!” #17 chimed in with a cheerful tone. “We’ll be behind you all the way, Miss Tron!”

Zenny? Must be the currency of this world! “Okay, so…is there a way we can get the rest without robbing banks or doing other stuff like that?” Sora asked, really hoping they didn’t take all of that money from innocent people…

“You’ve really never been digging before?” Tron asked, looking at Sora like he grew another head. “Like in the ruins? They’ve got to have those where you come from, right?”

Sora quickly came up with a way to answer without giving away the trio’s secret. “No, none where I come from…honestly I only left home recently…”

“Huh…Well, whatever. In most parts of the world, there are these old ruins, and no one really knows where they came from! There’s all sorts of treasures in them, though, so that’s how we’ve been getting zenny!” Tron explained. “There are some good ruins nearby we’ve been hitting, so I guess we can just go back there…”

Goofy hummed and scratched the side of his head. “If it’s so easy…why didn’t ya just clean the place out?”

“It’s not so easy! There are Reaverbots patrolling the ruins! Then those weird black things started showing up and making things worse!” Tron let out an aggravates noise. “We just want to nab that treasure, darn it!”

“Oh, the Heartless! That’s what those things are called. They’re attracted to the darkness in people’s hearts!” Sora explained and then paused. “So, wait, what’s a Reaverbot?”

Tron once more looked at Sora like he was crazy. “Darkness in hearts…? That makes no sense! Well, whatever. Reaverbots guard the ruins, and no one knows who built them!”

“It’s all so mysterious!” #17 chirped, as if the Reaverbots and their ways were fun instead of dangerous. “They can be kind of scary, though…”

“So, we just need to go into one of these ruins and get some treasure, that’s it?” Donald asked hurridley, wanting to move things along. “We should get going then!”

Tron glared down at Donald. “Don’t boss me around! I know what we need to do! In fact I was off holding my end of the bargain, you know! I was sending some of the Servbots to ask about that Keyhole thing you mentioned. They should be back by the time this next dig is finished…can’t say they’ll have any information, but they’ll try!”

“Well gawrsh, we appreciate that!” Goofy assured with a grin, though thinking of it, they should’ve asked Tron to have the Servbots look for their missing friends too. “I hope we can all help each other out! But uh…what do we have to do with diggin’? Like shovels and such?”

“You’re welcome!” Tron replied with a snooty and self-assured tone. “And no, it’s not that literal. We do have a drill, though, but for the most part you guys will just walk around and fight off Reaverbots.”

“Wait, us guys? Aren’t you coming with us in that robot?” Sora asked, already feeling like he wasn’t going to like the answer.

Tron shook her head. “The Gustaff is way too big and clunky for the digsite you guys are going to. It wouldn’t even be able to stand up in most places! I’ll be with you through the Finkel, telling you what to do and where to go!”

#17 piped up yet again. “It’s not so bad! Miss Tron is really good at guiding us!” He declared, beaming up at the young teen with a grin. “And there are some nice Diggers in there to give us tips!"

"Exactly!” Tron agreed with a grin of her own. “So don’t worry, you’re in capable hands! More than capable, really!”

“Well, we agreed to help ya, so I guess it’s alright.” Goofy said, though he wasn’t so sure how fine that really was. “Anythin’ else we should know?”

“Yeah, keep an eye out for writing on the walls. There’s this really old Digger named Uncle Digg that writes out hints there. Apparently in Shala-Kun Ruins, there’s the Elixir of Youth which we could sell! There are three special crystals that are supposed to be the key to it, and we’ve found two. We’ve also found some special treasures called the Aurora Stones that are worth a lot, but that’s about it.” Tron explained before crossing her arms. “Now, any other questions?” Her tone made it seem like she was growing tired of talking rather than acting.

Sora picked up on her tone and shook his head. “No, I think that covers it. We’ll go back in that small ship again, right?”

“The Drache.” Tron corrected, but gave a nod. “That’s right, and #17 will be flying us there, won’t you #17?” Yet from her tone, it was clear she knew what the answer would be. “I already ordered the other three Servbots down to the hangar, so we’re just about set!”

The Servbot gave her a sault. “Yes, Miss Tron! I’ll get everyone to the ruins right away!” He then turned to the trio. “Come on, we’ve got to hurry!”

“Good luck, boys! Though with my help, you won’t need it!” Tron called as the trio followed #17 out of the room. She seemed a little bit amused that she’d be staying behind from her tone…

“Don’t worry, Mis Tron will take good care of us!” #17 assured once again as he took the three out into the hallway. “It’s not so bad once you’re used to all the dirt and how cramped it is!”

With how small the Servbots were, what they considered cramped hardly sounded pleasant. “Alright, alright, we get it. So, we just fight some Reaverbots and Heartless, right?” Donald prodded.

“Yes! Oh, and we have to deal with the traps too!” The Servbot explained, not seeming at all bothered by the idea. It did seem the robots were pretty hard to actually damage. None of the ones the trio went up against seemed to have any permanent damage…

“Well, we’ll just follow your lead!” Goofy exclaimed in a hopeful tone. “The three of us have been in pretty dangerous situations before, we can handle it!”

With that, the four of them went back out into the hangar, the wind whipping at them violently once more. When they entered one of the Drache ships, they saw it was already a bit packed. In the back area were three Servbots, with one of them riding on a small tank-like vehicle with a drill on the front. It was hard for the outsider trio to sit down, but they managed to.

“Hi! You remember us, don’t you?” The Servbot on the tank called out. “It’s me, #3! #6 and #20 are coming with us too!” He gestured to the other two Servbots in kind, who waved at the trio.

No matter how hard the three squinted or studied the trio of Servbots…they looked exactly the same. Every last feature seemed indistinguishable from the other two! “Right…Sorry, you all just look…pretty alike…” Sora replied awkwardly as #17 got into the pilot’s seat.

“Aw, it’s okay, lots of people can’t tell us apart! Only the Bonnes seem to get it right!” #6 exclaimed, as cheerful as ever, not minding the confusion. “Are you ready for a dig?!” His voice was excited, like they were going to an amusement park rather than a cave system with deadly traps, robots, and Heartless.

“I’m overjoyed.” Donald replied flatly as he crossed his arms. The back door to the Drache closed, and the vehicle took off. Since it was so cramped in the back, it was a bit uncomfortable for everyone, but they managed without too much issue. Though it was hard to really tell, the small ship was heading back to the same island that they left behind, though one of the Servbots let them know this a few minutes into the trip.

“What’s the island called anyway?” Sora asked, not able to help himself from being curious. There had been so many islands they saw from the Gummi Ship, he had no idea what the one they landed on looked like from afar. Glancing at the screen in the cockpit, he only saw the ocean and horizon at the moment.

“That’s easy, it’s called Ryship Island!” #20 replied. “It has towns and docks and a bunch of ruins for us to get money from. I even saw #8 go to a casino and gamble! Don’t tell Miss Tron…”

“I can hear you, you know!” Tron’s voice rang from the communications equipment. “Just wait until I get my hands on #8…!”

#20 gulped. “U-Uh oh…Sorry #8…” He murmured to himself. “I forgot Miss Tron always listens in on us.”

“That’s right! Now just focus on the mission. We’ve got two Aurora Stones and two crystals for this supposed Elixir of Youth. If we can just get our hands on one mor of each, we’ll be rolling in zenny!” Tron declared; a wide grin practically audible as she spoke. “The refractors themselves can be pawned off too!”

“That doesn’t sound so bad. We’ll get that there Aurora Stone and that Elixir in a jiff!” Goofy promised, already feeling good about the mission. The Servbots could do it on their own without much issue, so with even more hands on deck, it was a shoo-in!  

“That’s what I want to hear!” Tron praised. “Now, get ready, the Drache should be approaching Ryship Island soon!”

Indeed, soon after Tron said this, and the island came into view. It was rather large, much larger than Destiny Islands, that was for sure. It was varied, too, with cities and small towns, a lot of farmland, and even a desert. There was also a mountain on the northern side of the island that the Drache was heading towards. As the minutes passed and the airship got even closer to the mountain, a large cave opening became apparent. “So, we’re heading to that cave, right?” Sora asked as he pointed it out.

“Right! It’s not so scary once you get used to it.” #3 admitted…though there was fear clearly evident in his voice. “Just stick with us and it’ll be okay!”

“For us or for you?” Donald murmured under his breath, too quiet to be heard. After another few minutes of flying, the Drache landed by the cave.

“Good luck everybody! I’ll be waiting here to pick you guys up!” #17 promised as the hatch to the outside opened and everyone piled out.

Goofy only noticed something once everyone stepped out into the grass, stretching his limbs a bit. “Say, uh…wasn’t Tron gonna help us with some sorta robot…?”

#3 piped up as he opened a hatch on the drill machine. “It’s right here! Look, it’s like a piggy!” Indeed, he pulled out a small robot that resembled a pig with green eyes and a propeller on top of it. The skull insignia that the trio had seen so many times was on its rear. After #3 pressed a button, the green eyes lit up and the propeller began spinning as the robot took to the air.

“The Finkel is on and ready to go!” Tron’s voice chirped from the robotic pig. “Alright, let’s get going! #3, you go in front. #6 and #20, you stay by his side. Sora, Donald, and Goofy, you remain at the rear and get ready for a fight! There’ll be Reaverbots for sure, and probably more of those…what did you call them again?”

“Heartless.” Sora reminded, recalling how she didn’t even believe them about what the Heartless truly were.

“Right, those Heartless things. Also, be careful not to cause a cave in or something, alright?” Tron said, the Finkel turning to Sora, Donald, and Goofy specifically.

Donald huffed. “Yeah, yeah, we know! We won’t do something dumb like that!” The mage snapped as he summoned his staff. “Let’s just get going! This sort of stuff is in my blood!”

“What do you mean by that?” Sora asked as the Servbots and the Finkel started to move into the cave.

As the outsider trio followed behind and Sora and Goofy summoned their own weapons, Donald smirked a bit. “My Uncle Scrooge did stuff like this! He went after a whole bunch of treasure when he was young! That’s part of how he got so rich!”

“Yeah…but you didn’t do stuff like that, right?” Goofy remarked, scratching the side of his head.

“Well…no. But still!” Donald exclaimed, not really make of an argument back. “He told me some stories, though!”

It didn’t seem like Tron or the Servbots were really listening, the scientist just telling the trio to hurry up as they all got into the cave. As expected it was…well…just a cave system. Glowing rocks and some lightbulbs strung to the ceiling lit the way, and there were signs of pickaxes and shovels used on the walls and ground, some tunnels even being blatantly manmade. Aside from that, though, there wasn’t much to see.

“Things are safer near the entrance!” #20 exclaimed, as if reading the trio’s mind. “It’s more dangerous the farther in we go, though…”

As if to prove the Servbot’s point, there was a heavyset lady not far from the entrance, swinging at a nearby wall with a pickaxe. As she noticed the group, she grinned a bit. “Well, well, it’s you guys again! And ya brought some friends along, I see!”

Sora gave a small wave. “Yeah, we’re just here to lend a helping hand, that’s all.” He had to wonder how competitive things might get. Talks of treasure might stir greed and darkness in the hearts of those desperate for riches…

The woman chuckled and gave a confident smirk. “Well, even with help, I won’t let ya get ahead of me again!” Her tone was good natured though, and she began to swing even harder at the nearby wall.

“Okay! Good luck!” #20 called back as the group went on. “What a nice lady she is!” He chirped, seeming to miss the competitive tone the lady had.

“Are there a lot of other Diggers down here?” Sora asked once they were out of earshot from the woman. “They wouldn’t attack us over the treasure, would they?”

The Finkel turned to Sora as it overed along. “Nah, most Diggers aren’t like that. There’s like, a code, you know? If they don’t get arrested, they’d basically be beaten down by other Diggers if any of them ever laid eyes on the attackers.” Tron explained.

“Gawrsh, that’s pretty harsh…but I guess if they’re goin’ around attackin’ people that’s not exactly a bad thing…” Goofy murmured.

“And a lot of them have to work together, even before those Heartless things showed up, Reaverbots can be very dangerous!” Tron went on, turning the Finkel back forward. “Nothing my Servbots and I can’t handle, though!”

“Hey, we can handle them too! We’re pretty strong, remember?” Donald said smugly, recalling how well they handle the Gustaff and six Servbots at once.

There was a scoffing noise from the Finkel, but Tron didn’t properly respond. Then, after a moment, she piped up. “Hey, can’t GLaDOS help us out? She’s some sort of advanced A.I. isn’t she?”

From Sora’s pocket, GLaDOS chimed in. “The rockface here is very thick. I don’t even know what my sensors should be looking for. I can at least tell where a dead end might be.”

“That’s better than nothing, I guess…” Tron said, her disappointment evident. “Hey, wait…who’s that up ahead…?”

Everyone turned to see an elderly, yet tall and well-built man standing near a cave wall. He had what seemed to be cybernetic hands, and his right eye was robotic too, being red and circular. The man possessed a bushy beard, wore a hat and hiking clothes and had a massive backpack that didn’t seem to hinder him at all.

“What? Someone you know?” Sora asked, getting a strange feeling from the stranger. It wasn’t a bad feeling, no, but something about him just felt…off.

“I think that’s Uncle Digg! I’ve seen his picture before!” Tron exclaimed. “I had no idea he was around here!”

#3 bounced in his seat a bit. “Let’s go talk to him! Maybe he can help us get the last Aurora Stone and that crystal!” As the group approached, the Servbot spoke to the elderly man. “Excuse me, are you Uncle Digg?”

The man offered a smile that was even visible with his massive beard. “Why, yes, I am. You’re experienced Diggers, aren’t you? I can tell! Are you here to get the crystals?”

“Yes, we are! We’ve already gotten two of them!” #3 announced. “Do you know where the last one is, Uncle Digg?”

Uncle Digg hummed, rubbing his chin. “No…I don’t know the exact location. Though I did see two Diggers head down that tunnel. Maybe they’ve sniffed out one of the crystals.” As he said this, he pointed out a tunnel to his left.

“Well thank ya, Uncle Digg!” Goofy remarked. “Say, how come ya haven’t gotten any of them there crystals yerself?”

“Oh, I’m just here to give tips these days.” The elderly man replied as he leaned against the nearby cave wall. “My time of actually getting treasures is long gone. Gotta leave it to the next generation of Diggers.”

“Well, we appreciate it. Come on, let’s not let those other Diggers get the treasurer first!” Tron exclaimed, leading the charge down the tunnel Uncle Digg pointed out. The Servbots and the outsiders gave the old man a quick thanks as they went by.

The group moved only about five minutes down the pathway when they heard screams from up ahead! They sounded like they came from a man and a woman, and they didn’t seem too far off…though the acoustics made it hard to tell. Before anyone could question what might be happening, the answer quite literally appeared in front of them. About half a dozen Soldier Heartless and a bunch of Driller Moles appeared in front of the group!

“Aw great, more Heartless!” Donald exclaimed, getting his staff ready. The cave was a bit cramped, so he was afraid of going all out and hurting someone…

“Alright, go and get them! I’ll hang back!” Tron’s voice called as the Finkel hovered to the rear of the group. “Just don’t damage the cave’s walls all willy-nilly!”

The Servbots leapt right into action. Or rather, two of them did and #3 rode into action, revving up the drill and using it to bulldoze into some of the Soldier Heartless. The other two leapt on the backs of the Driller Moles, whacking at them and steering them into each other. For Sora, Donald, and Goofy, this was simple small fry. Sora and Goofy charged in, smacking the Heartless away and stopping any of them from getting the Servbots from behind. It was strange to Sora especially, as he recalled back in town, the Heartless went after the presumably heart-lacking robots. Donald hung back, only using Fire and Blizzard spells, wanting to avoid damaging anything or anyone aside from the Heartless.

With six fighters going in at once, the creatures of darkness were wiped out rather quickly. “There’s probably more attacking the Diggers ahead! Let’s hurry!” Sora called, charging ahead of everyone else with his Keyblade at the ready. He’d think about the Servbots and how the Heartless went after them later, for the moment, he had to worry about saving the Diggers!

Everyone followed Sora, and it wasn’t much farther in that they found what they were looking for. More Soldiers and Driller Moles were surrounding a man and a woman, both wearing clothing fit for cave crawling and digging. “Miss Tron, look! It’s Dantz and Perl!” #3 yelled out, pointing a fingerless claw at the pair. “We should help them!”

For a second, Tron hesitated…then perhaps she just remembered that Sora and his friends wouldn’t approve of just leaving innocent people behind…or maybe she just had a bigger heart then she let on as she belted out a “Alright, fine!” The Finkel once more backed away, allowing everyone else to do the fighting instead. “I guess it’d be better if we just saved them! Now go and do it!”

Donald grumbled something harsh under his breath, but went in first, casting more of his lower level magic to avoid hiding the two trapped Diggers. The rest joined in soon after, and like before, it was a pretty clean sweep. Really, the Heartless stood no chance against six fighters at once!

As the last of the Heartless was taken out, the two Diggers calmed down, sighing in relief as they caught their breath. “Hey, it’s great we ran into you guys again, huh?” The man, Dantz, said. “If those things hadn’t snuck up on me, I could’ve handled them, though! Right, Perl?” He asked the woman with him.

“Huh? Oh…yeah, I’m sure you could’ve…” Perl responded, but then she murmured something under her breath that no one quite caught, and it sounded rather bitter.

“Hey, did you find one of the crystals or the Aurora Stones?” #6 bluntly asked. “Uncle Digg pointed us in this direction!”

“Not because we know they’re down this way! Don’t say stuff like that!” Tron scolded, the Finkel angrily buzzing around #6’s head.

“Wait, Uncle Digg is around here? We didn’t see him!” Dantz replied, rubbing his chin in thought. “But no…we haven’t had much luck. By the way, don’t think I’ve seen you three before!” He kindly pointed out, gesturing to the three outsiders.

Sora pointed at himself, then to his friends in kind. “I’m Sora, and this is Donald and Goofy. We’re just helping these guys out for a bit.”

“Wish we could have some extra help. The tunnels have become so much more dangerous lately!” Perl complained. “I wanna get out of here, those freaky monsters are just too much!”

“Oh, come on, Perl, where’s your sense of adventure? Though…I admit, they are kind of creepy. Feels really cold whenever they’re around…” Dantz said, seeming to lose his bravado rather fast. “Maybe we should take a bit of a break…”

Donald leapt on this line of thinking at once. “You should! I hear there are even bigger ones further in! I’m not sure even we could handle them all…” Gotta get rid of the competition! It was something Uncle Scrooge told him he did once, lying about danger to get people to stop investigating a supposed treasure trove…

Perl threw up her hands and walked by the main group and towards the exit. “That tears it! Reaverbots were bad enough, but weird little monsters are where I draw the line!”

Dantz hesitated, but then he followed behind his partner. “W-Wait up! Hey, we can just come back some other time!” As he passed by the group, he turned to them. “Uh, good luck with everything. I’ve gotta go catch up to Perl!” Without even waiting for a response, he rushed after the woman.

“What was his deal? A friend of yours?” Donald asked once Dantz was out of earshot. “He doesn’t seem very reliable…”

“He’s not.” Tron answered curtly. “He’s nice enough, though, and he’s helped us before, so…I guess it was right of us to help him.” She really sounded like she was trying hard not to be too nice when talking about the Digger.

“So, should we keep going this way?” Sora wondered, staring down the tunnel, no end or forks in the path visible from were they were. Uncle Digg pointed us this way, but he didn’t really know if anything was down this path…”

It was GLaDOS that chirped up. “I’m constructing a map of this place. Just keep going, and I’ll tell you if we’re going in circles or not.”

“Well gawrsh, that’s nice of ya! Thanks, GLaDOS!” Goofy said with a light laugh. “We should hurry though, don’t want anyone else beatin’ us to the treasure, right?”

“Exactly!” Tron chirped as she used the Finkel to sort of ‘point’ down the pathway. “Let’s keep going, and everyone keep their eyes peeled for anything usual. Strange markings, cracks in the rockface, stuff like that!”

And so, the group did just that. For a good twenty minutes or so, not much really happened as they traveled down the pathway. There were a few holes in the walls that the Servbots dug through and found some treasure inside, crystals that Tron referred to as refractors when praising her robots for finding some. The outsider trio just assumed these are what got sold off for zenny. Aside from that, the only real event was a few more waves of Heartless appearing, which the group handled with relative ease. A few traps were also encountered by the group such as a series of swinging, spiked pendulums that one of the Servbots deactivated by sprinting past them and hitting a far-off switch.

Notably, there were no Reaverbots yet, and Sora especially was pretty curious about them. “Hey, where are those Reaverbot things you mentioned?” The teen asked, looking over at the Finkel. It was kind of awkward having a conversation with a pig robot drone, but he had to make do. “There hasn’t been a single one yet!”

“Reaverbots are usually farther in, behind locked doors.” Tron clarified. “I guess all the ones that were out in the open passageways were destroyed long ago. No one really knows if more are being made or not, they’re really a big mystery…!”

“So, they just pop up out of nowhere?” Donald asked, trying to wrap his head around hoards of robots that apparently had no origin. “Just like that?”

“Just like that.” Tron confirmed. “Really surprised you three have really never heard of them! Where did you say you were from again?”

Before the trio could come up with an answer, #3 piped up. “Miss Tron, look! It’s those Birdbots again!” He called worriedly, pointing his hand up ahead.

Indeed, there was a large metal door up ahead, and in front of it was a trio of robots that resembled birds! “Well, well! Look at what we have here!” One of the Birdbots squawked out. “Getting in our way again, huh?”

“Geez, these guys just never learn, do they?!” Tron exclaimed before turning the Finkel to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “We’ve run into these guys a few times, they’re with Mr. Loath!”

“Wait, doesn’t that mean they’re getting in the way of you getting zenny for the debt?” Goofy asked before looking at the Birdbots. “Why don’t ya just skedaddle, fellers? If we get them treasures, we can pay off the debt!”

One of the Birdbots glared at Goofy. “Who are you, anyway?! I see the Bonnes need help scrounging some zenny together!” He and the other Birdbots laughed, somehow managing to smirk despite their rigid, metallic beaks.

“That’s it! Go get those punks!” Tron ordered. “Beat them into the dust!”

“Yes, Miss Tron!” The three Servbots said in unison and charged the Birdbots. It seemed the robotic adversaries were a bit stronger than the Servbots, pushing them around and punching them to the ground. Even #3 had issues, one of the Birdbots leaping onto the tank and slapping him around on the head.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy quickly jumped in to help out, and the fight was quickly resolved. Sora leapt at the Birdbot attacking #3 and slammed the Keyblade on the side of his head, knocking him off. A second slash with the weapon was enough to send the Birdbot into the wall and rendered incapacitated. Donald used a Gravity spell on another Birdbot, allowing the Servbot he was fighting to throw one of those small bombs at him and knock him out. Goofy went for the last Birdbot, slamming his shield into his head and knocking him out instantly.

“Come on you guys, you all had to get saved!” Tron bemoaned, yet still sounded a bit relieved. “I guess without six of you against the Birdbots, they’re just too much…”

“We’ll try harder next time, Miss Tron!” #20 promised, rubbing the side of his head. “We’re not used to fighting them one on one!”

“So, wait, this Mr. Loath guy wants you to pay your debt, but he sends these Birdbots to stop you from paying your debt?” Donald asked, arms crossed. “That doesn’t make sense!”

Tron scoffed. “He probably just wants to get more interest! Well, he’s not going to stop us, we’ll get all we have to pay off!”

With the declaration, the group went into the next area through the door, finding it was another series of hallways splitting into different paths, with one picked at random. As the group went down it, they encountered more Heartless and traps to get through, but dispatched them with relative ease. After going through a crack in the wall that #3 used the drill to get through, they all came across an unusual sight!

On the wall was some scribblings, a hole next to it, and on the cave wall nearby, a skeleton was slumped. #6 let out a cry of fear, recoiling at the sight of the bones. “A-A-A skeleton!” He stammered out, hiding behind Sora as he shook in place.

“Hey, the clothes…they look familiar…” Tron murmured. Indeed, the ragged clothes the skeleton wore seemed familiar to the whole group, but…no, it had to be a coincidence, surely. “Anyway, what’s the writing on the wall say…?” She asked aloud as she read the text for all to hear.

The crystal in this room is one of those needed to get the Elixir of Youth. I have collected all the crystals...with these, I should be able to make the Elixir. But I don't know how!

“And it’s signed by Uncle Digg, too!” Goofy remarked, pointing at some more of the writing. “But…uh…the skeleton there…those clothes kinda look like what he was wearin’, don’t they?” He said the quiet part out loud that no one wanted to admit, sounding a bit shaken.

“That can’t be right, we just saw him!” Sora pointed out. It was pretty clear the skeleton had been there for some time. “It’s got to be a coincidence. Whoever this was just had similar clothes!”

As Sora pointed this out, #3 reached into the hole in the wall and pulled out an object. “Miss Tron! Look, it’s another crystal!” The object indeed looked like a crystal, pink in color, but it oddly seemed to have a computer chip of sorts as part of its shape.

“Great, so that’s the last one, right? Now we just have to find that Elixir stuff!” Donald exclaimed as #3 put the crystal in a compartment in the drill. “How do we even find it?”

“I don’t know…but it’s gotta be in these caves somewhere. We just have to find it!” Tron declared, turning the Finkel in a circle almost like a celebratory dance.

Trying to ignore the poor person’s skeleton, the group set out once more. This next leg of the trip was considerably longer than before, taking them down numerous tunnels and twisting pathways. GLaDOS insisted she could take them back to the entrance when needed, having things mapped out as they went. Again, there were more Heartless and traps, yet no Reaverbots to be found. At the very least, the group found no more skeletons.

It was when #3 drilled through another suspicious looking part of the wall that they found something unusual once more! The chamber was small, and the only thing of note was a hole in the ground at the far end, a green-blue liquid in it. As they got closer, the three crystals started to make a humming sound, even vibrating lightly.

“Miss Tron! The crystals are making funny sounds! Should we put them in this water? It must be the Elixir!” #3 crowed excitedly, holding the three crystals up to the Finkel. The two previous crystals looked like the pink one except one was blue and one was green.

“Yeah, do it! This has to be the Elixir!” Tron declared, the sound of her rubbing her gloved hands together coming from her drone. “Think of how much money we could make from the Elixir of Youth! People would give entire fortunes away to get younger again!”

“Yes, Miss Tron!” #3 shouted, taking the three crystals and putting them in the water. The liquid rippled a bit before turning white in color. “I’ll go ahead and test it!”

The Finkel swerved as Tron yelled out. “Hey, you can’t just drink that! We don’t know what it is!”

Alas, #3 went ahead anyway, already sipping up the liquid as Tron tried to stop him. “Ooh…it tastes sweet! It makes my insides feel all tingly!” As he said this, his face went a bit red, and he let out a hiccup.

“It makes sense it’d do that.” GLaDOS piped up. “After all, that liquid has turned into a rich sake.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Donald murmured, though he was tempted to have a taste of his own.

“Afraid not. It’s just sake, nothing else is coming on my sensors that makes it unusual.” GLaDOS insisted. “Looks like the Elixir of Youth was just a hoax.”

Tron sighed, then a pause as she was surely trying to calm herself down. “Well…I guess we can sell the sake or something. The crystals might be worth something too.”

“I’ll buy some, Miss Tron!” #3 proposed, taking another sip of the drink before #20 pulled him away and took the crystals from the water and put them in the drill machine.

“#20, you take over the Servbot Borer until #3 sobers up.” Tron ordered. “Great…! At least we have the last Aurora Stone…”

Sora couldn’t help but find the whole thing sort of amusing, but he’d keep that to himself. “Don’t worry, Tron, we’ll just keep helping until you have all your debt cleared. Even if the Elixir was sort of a bust…”

“It is still good that you uncovered the mystery.” A woman’s voice said from behind. The group was startled, and turned to see a woman with white hair and an unusual blue-green dress.

“Miss Roxette! You sure startled us!” #3 declared but let out a laugh and hiccupped again. Sora, Donald, and Goofy had to wonder how a robot could even get tipsy…

“A friend of yours?” Goofy asked, glancing between the strange woman and the Finkel.

“Of a sort.” Tron replied simply. “Why do you care about the mystery, though?” She asked Roxette.

Roxette gave the smallest of smiles. “It means that Uncle Digg can finally move on.”

There was an awkward pause. “M…Move on…?” Sora sputtered out. “Wait…so the Uncle Digg we talked to…” He knew that the man seemed a bit odd!

“That’s right!” A familiar voice cheerfully boomed from beside them. The group turned to see Uncle Digg standing there, but he didn’t seem entirely present. His body was slightly faded, the wall behind him partially visible through him. “This was the last thing keeping me here. I just had to know the secret of the crystals! To think it was sake the whole time…! Now my heart feels light, and I can go to that big Digout in the sky…” Without even waiting for a response, his form faded, and an orb of light shot through the ceiling, phasing right through it.

“A…A ghost?! Then that skeleton…?!” Tron stuttered, letting out a shivering noise through the speaker. “I don’t want to think about it!”

The strange woman, Roxette, chuckled for a moment. “I cared a great deal about Uncle Digg in life. It’s good to see he can move on. That means my own business here is done.”

“Does that mean you’re a gh-ghost too?!” #6 asked, hiding behind Goofy.

“No, nothing like that. It just means I’ll be leaving these caves.” Roxette answered simply. “I wish you luck, all of you.” Like Uncle Digg, she didn’t wait for a response, turning and walking away without another word.

“Man…I really didn’t see that coming…” Sora murmured, trying to accept everything that just happened. “I guess we at least got to help a spirit, right?”

Another scoff came from the Finkel. “That’s not what we’re here for, though! Oh, whatever! Let’s just keep going! We just need that last Aurora Stone and we can leave!”

The group tried to ignore the eeriness of Uncle Digg’s ghost as they went. #3 stumbled a bit as he walked, so Goofy let him ride on his shoulder as they went along. At the very least, the tipsy Servbot recovered remarkably fast, the outsiders assuming it was because he was a robot. Of course that still left the question of how alcohol could do that to a robot in the first place. Sora couldn’t help but think of his parents at that moment, just because he sometimes saw them have a few drinks, but never to the point they got to like how #3 was. He was so focused on Riku and Kairi, he hadn’t spared his own parents much thought…and he had to wonder if they were somewhere out there too…

Before too long, the hallway became lined with metal and was clearly manmade, and a minute after that, the group came across another door, one that seemed to be locked up tight. By this point, #3 was fully back to his usual self, but he stayed on Goofy’s shoulder anyway. “Miss Tron, we never found a key to this door!” #20 pointed out. “We’ll have to go back and find it!”

Sora perked up, and he wondered if his idea would work. “Let me try something.” He said before Tron could reply to her Servbot. Raising his Keyblade, he pointed it right at the door. It had no keyhole, but it was locked up…so he had to at least try! The tip of the Keyblade glowed, and there was a beep that came from the door, seeming to signal it was unlocked.

“Hold on, what?! How did you do that?!” Tron exclaimed, the Finkel hovering around the Keyblade. “What sort of device is this anyway?”

“Mmm…I’ll try and explain later. Shouldn’t we see what’s on the other side of that door first?” Sora hoped Tron would forget to ask later…but he felt it wouldn’t be so convenient.

Tron paused, as if contemplating whether to push Sora or not. “…Fine, alright. It’ll probably be a big Reaverbot behind this door. This is the type of door the other Aurora Stones were behind. Everyone ready?!”

“Yes, Miss Tron!” The three Servbots called, #3 hopping off of Goofy’s shoulder as they all saluted. Sora, Donald, and Goofy nodded and brandished their weapons, ready for a fight.

With that, the group went through the door and into a large, metallic room. It was mostly empty…save for the massive robot in the middle. The robot resembled a flower, almost, with large red ‘petals’ on its body, and with large holes beneath that. It was the Gravurwa, and it dwarfed the group easily!

“That’s it! That Reaverbot is the last guardian of the Aurora Stones!” Tron declared, pulling the Finkel back. “Charge! Once it’s dealt with, the treasure is ours!”

“Easy for you to say!” Donald grumbled but readied himself anyway. With how spacious the room was, he could use more powerful spells without worry!

The large Reaverbot hummed and began to spit projectiles out of the holes lining around its body, which exploded on impact with the ground! This caused the group to scatter, none of them ready to move in close to the Gravurwa as it kept firing more and more. Sora and Donald shot Fire spells and used Thundara bolts on the Reaverbot. The brunette figured that by washing Gash at work so much, he had awakened an understanding of the Thunder element, able to use the next tier of its spells!

These bolts struck the Gravurwa, and the fireballs hit its exterior as well. Due to being a faceless, emotionless robot, it was hard to tell just how much damage these spells even did, unfortunately. Meanwhile, Goofy was more focused on blocking the projectiles and even bumping some of the projectiles back, which blew up on contact with the large Reaverbot. #3 and #6 threw bombs back, but had a hard time getting close enough to actually hit the Gravurwa, and got hit by explosives in turn, though it didn’t seem to effect the Servbots very much. #20, still in the Servbot Borer, had no luck in getting closer.

For a few minutes, it seemed the group wasn’t doing any major damage to the Gravurwa, only bits of metal being scuffed or torn away from the attacks it was facing. However, after Goofy managed to knock back three of the explosives at once, this seemed to be drastic enough for the Reaverbot to change strategies! Its ‘petals’ lowered until they were fully horizontal, and it began to spin around like a top! Rather than firing projectiles, the holes began to bellow flames! The group ran from these flames, Sora and Donald using Blizzara spells at the holes, but the flames melted most of the ice before they could reach their target!

Round and round the Gravurwa spun, with no sign that it’d stop at any moment as it continued to belch out flames. Goofy and the Servbots couldn’t do anything, the explosives the robots threw just hitting the fire and blowing up before actually reaching the Reaverbot. Sora and Donald tried to use Gravity spells, and while it slowed down the spinning for a few moments, the Gravurwa still spat out too much fire to be of much help.

“I think I have an idea!” Sora exclaimed as the tip of his Keyblade glowed. As he swung it to the floor, a puddle of orange ink spread out, and a moment later, out popped Woomy! The Inkling was raring to go, staring down the Gravurwa without fear. “Woomy, you think your ink can put out the flames?”

The Inkling grinned and gave a thumbs up, gargling out something in her language as she got to work. Tron, meanwhile, hovered over to Sora. “Where the heck did she come from?! Are those tentacles for hair…?!”

“This isn’t really the place to explain this, is it?” Sora asked, just trying to put off the discussion. Things sure were simpler on Gielinor. No one really questioned his abilities there.

Meanwhile, Woomy was charging the Reaverbot, firing off ink at the fire-spewing holes. Unlike the Blizzard spells, these attacks managed to reach the large robot! As the holes were covered and filled with ink, the flames started to sputter and then eventually go out entirely. With things safer, Woomy began chucking the pyramid-shaped ink bombs at the Gravurwa as the rest of the group went in to help.

Sora decided to use his Keyblade more, slicing at the Reaverbot and trying to get through its hull and as deep into its more sensitive innards as possible. His slashes were able to cut apart the metal, but not as deeply as he wanted, and he had to still make way as the Reaverbot was still spinning around and moving about the room. Donald kept casting strong spells on the Gravurwa, and especially using Gravity to slow it down even a bit so everyone could attack it effectively. #3 and #6 teamed up with Goofy a bit, the Servbots tossing the knight bombs which he bounced off his shield and at the Reaverbot, the small explosions adding up quite a bit. #20 finally was able to enter the fray properly, charging at the Gravurwa when Donald slowed it down, drilling at its hull and really burrowing on its insides.

While the Gravurwa was durable, it wasn’t able to do as much as before. The ink kept it from using its flames, and as it shot out its bombs, most of them got deflected right back at it. Some of these bombs did get through, though. The Servbots were able to shake off the damage, but Woomy was sent flying back from an explosion and ducked into the ink to hide. Sora, Donald, and Goofy still had Dr. Orpheus’ protection of course, so while they got bruises and felt a good deal of pain from the bombs, they were largely okay.

It was after Goofy deflected a rather large volley of explosives back at the Reaverbot that it seemed to just be too much. At this point, the Gravurwa was billowing smoke, most of its hull damaged as its innards were getting bombarded and filled with machine-ruining ink. It tries spinning around again, but something inside of it just wouldn’t let it happen, the Reaverbot falling over and going still.

“Is it…really over?” Donald said, wincing a bit from an explosive that knocked him around. He approached the Reaverbot and poke it with his staff, and naturally nothing happened. At this point, Woomy emerged from her ink, still a bit sore from the bomb that hit her.

“I think so!” Goofy said as he wiped his brow. “That sure was tough! Thanks for the assist with that ink, Woomy!”

The Inkling gave a thumbs up, grinning despite being winded. She waved off everyone, even the Servbots and Tron, before vanishing in a flash of light. The Finkel let out a startled noise at this. “And now she’s gone…? What, was she a ghost too?!”

“Not exactly. But hey, weren’t we supposed to get an Aurora Stone out of this?” Sora asked, hoping the treasure would distract Tron.

“That’s right! There should be a chest in here…! Come on, let’s find that first!” Tron declared, not seeming willing to totally give up on questioning Sora. As it happened, the chest wasn’t hard to find. It was on the far side of the room from the door, but the fight had been so distracting that no one noticed it.

“Let’s open it up!” #3 yelled out as the Servbots rushed to the chest. Upon opening it, they revealed a massive red gem! It was larger than the Servbots were, and sparkled brilliantly, even in the dim light of the room. “It’s a huge refractor, Miss Tron! It’s the last Aurora Stone!”

The Finkel moved around almost like a small dance in midair. “That’s great! It’s got to be worth at least 500,000 zenny! We’re so close to paying off the debt now! Just one more outing should do it!”

Sora beamed, happy to see things coming together. They found the Elixir of Youth and helped a spirit move on, and now they’ve got the last Aurora Stone. All this without stealing from innocents! “I hope we can rest a bit first. All this walking has me beat…”

“Yeah, we’ll rest up first. Those three Servbots I sent out should be back any minute. Alright gang, let’s get out of here!”

“I have a path mapped out for us.” GLaDOS chirped. “Just follow what I say and we’ll be out of here in no time.”

#3 and #6 carried the Aurora Stone as the group left the room, all of them ready for a rest. “Oh, and when you get back, you can explain how they key works, Sora!” Tron reminded the teen.

“Oh…Yeah, alright.” Sora said, trying to figure out what he was going to say to her. He was certainly not looking forward to that…

Chapter Text

Sora was dreading the ride back to the Gesellschaft. All the while, he was trying to think of a way to explain the Keyblade to Tron without actually telling her the full truth! On top of that, he couldn’t ask Donald and Goofy to help since Tron could hear them within the Drache. So, he had to think of it himself. All he could come up with is that the Keyblade is some sort of super hi-tech weapon of some sort. He just didn’t imagine Tron would buy it. Or, worse, she’d want to try and take it apart to see what made it work!

The Servbots chatted amongst themselves, complimenting each other along with Sora, Donald, and Goofy on a job well done. They didn’t seem as interested in the Keyblade as Tron was, which was good, Sora didn’t want them trying to pick his brains over it. Despite how robots were usually depicted in movies and books that Sora read, the Servbots didn’t seem particularly smart…

Before long, the Gesellschaft was in view on the monitor, first as a green pixel, but eventually its full size came into view as the Drache approached. As this happened, Tron’s voice came over the communications. “Sora, Donald, Goofy! You three meet me at HQ, got it? I’ve got some questions that you’re going to answer about that strange key!” There was a pause. “Oh, and the scouts came back, and they couldn’t find anything out.”

Sora silently winced and nodded. It was bad enough Tron wasn’t going to let this go, but no information about the Keyhole just made it worse. “Got it, Tron, we’ll be there.” He replied, holding back a sigh. Sora didn’t know why this was stressing him out so much! For some reason, anxiety just kept building in his gut and wouldn’t settle down. Maybe this journey is just frying his nerves, and he hadn’t fully noticed until this point…

The brunette tried to calm himself with some deep breaths, Donald and Goofy not seeming to notice his discomfort as the Drache flew through the air. Thankfully, he was able to settle his nerves a bit by the time the small ship reached the Gesellschaft. After arriving at the hangar, the Servbots departed the Drache and went to their various posts as #20 took the trio back to the HQ area of the ship. It was bustling like before, with Tron waiting for them.

“We got a pretty good haul there!” Tron announced, seeming very proud for someone that didn’t exactly participate. “Now you’re gonna answer some questions about that key thing you’ve got.”

Sora sighed through his nose a bit as he summoned the weapon. Something told him just refusing would get Tron angry and uncooperative, so he felt he had to go with it. “So, what do you want to know?”

“Uh, Sora, ya sure about this…?” Goofy asked, not wanting Sora to say anything about other worlds or what the Keyhole really is to Tron. Finding out that worlds have hearts would raise a lot of questions with most people, for one thing.

“I just want to know what the heck this thing is!” Tron demanded, leaning in to look the Keyblade over. “I’ve never seen technology like this before! It has to be some sort of tech, that weird squid girl just showed up out of nowhere! Now, where did you get it?”

Sora was at a loss for how to answer, glancing at Donald and Goofy for help, but they seemed satisfied in letting him handle it. “I don’t really understand it myself…it’s not like I made it or anything. It was given to me.” That was sort of true, at least. “I don’t know who the guy was, though.”

Tron’s eyes darted up to meet Sora’s, glaring lightly. “And that’s it? You do all these weird things and that’s the explanation I’m supposed to buy?!” She stood up straight, her glare getting more severe. “How am I supposed to trust you if you won’t be honest?!”

“Hey, we’re helping you out, aren’t we?!” Donald demanded, getting between Tron and Sora. “We’re trying to get your brothers back, how could you not trust us?! You just want to use the Keyblade to build weapons or something, don’t you?!”

“Well, of course I do! It’s technology like I’ve never seen!” Tron snapped back, but then her glare softened as she crossed her arms. “…But you are helping me…that’s true. We’re pretty close to paying off the interest…I think just one more trip should do it.”

Goofy stepped in, his tone far softer than Donald’s. “I get ya want to take the Keyblade apart and all, but we just can’t let ya. Ya just gotta trust us and leave it be while we focus on your brothers!”

Tron huffed, clearly not used to being talked back to when she wanted her way. “…Fine. This won’t be the end of it.”

“Uh, hey…I know this is a bad time, but can you send your scouts out again?” Sora asked as he dismissed the Keyblade. “We’re also looking for our friends. Kairi and Mickey…they might also be around here.” He decided not to mention Mickey was a king, he felt like that’d be an issue given Tron being a pirate. For all he knew, she’d want to hold him for ransom or something.

She huffed again, really seeming like she was going to say no…but then she sighed. “Alright, alright. I guess since you guys did pretty well, I can do that for you.”

Sora flashed Tron a grin. “Oh, thanks! We really appreciate it! You’re the best, Tron!” He wasn’t even positive she’d find anything, but the fact that she was willing to try was all that mattered.

Tron seemed surprised at his gratitude, clearing her throat and glancing away. “Y…Yeah. Whatever. Look, just tell me what they’re like, okay?”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy did just that, describing their friends to Tron. Donald and Goofy followed Sora’s logic and left out the part that Mickey is a king, not sure how she’d respond to that. Tron told them she’d send some scouts out and for them to go to the cafeteria while she prepares for their next outing.

#20 once more took the outsiders around the Gesellschaft and they soon found themselves in a cafeteria. It was a pretty standard looking one, with numerous Servbots eating and a few more of them doing the cooking. The three found it odd that the robots even needed to eat. Was it just performative or did the food actually fuel them somehow?  Sora, Donald, and Goofy grabbed some meals. Sora got some spaghetti, Donald had an omelette, and Goofy got a burger with some fries. They somewhat awkwardly sat at an empty table, not sure where else they should go.

It wasn’t long before a Servbot joined them, having some curry rice on a plate. “Hello! You’re the three helping Miss Tron, right? I’m #40!” The Servbot greeted with a little wave.

“Hey there.” Sora greeted as he started to work on his food. “Yeah, we’re trying to get money for her. She’s really going through a lot of effort for her brothers, huh?” Not that she seemed the type to just leave family behind, but she was different from the pirates he read about growing up and imagined during his time playing with friends.

“Oh, of course, she really cares about them! And all of us, too!” #40 declared, generally gesturing to the other Servbots in the room. “She can be strict, but she loves us, and we love her back!”

Love, huh? Sora wondered about that. The Servbots were clearly more than just robots, their personalities made that clear. If they actually loved Tron, though…did that mean that even they could have hearts? You had to have one to love, that much had to be true. Maybe Tron made them with love, and that in turn gave them hearts! It’d explain why the Heartless went after them. It made Sora what else could have hearts if even robots could…

“Sounds real nice. It’s important ya all look out for each other!” Goofy proclaimed with a nod. “Like Sora and Donald and me! We’re all helpin’ out and keepin’ the other two safe!”

The meal went by fine after that, #40 asking for details on the trip to the caves, which the three answered. As they were finishing off their food, Tron’s voice came from a loudspeaker. “Sora! Donald! Goofy! Meet me back at HQ! We’re going out for another job!”

#40 volunteered to lead the three back to HQ, which they thanked him for. As they arrived, Tron was waiting for them, a grin on her face. “So, are we hunting for more treasure?” Donald asked as they went up to the teen scientist. The mage was secretly wondering about how he could maybe pocket some of that zenny this time. It had to be worth something off of this world…right?

“That’s right! We’re going to a place called the Nakkai Ruins and looking for a treasure called Diana's Tear. We’ve been there before, but haven’t found the treasure yet.” Tron explained with a wide grin. “If that treasure is real and is worth as much as everyone says…we’ll have enough to pay off the interest easily!”

Sora was glad they were going after a treasure like this instead of robbing a bank or something, and this seemed like the last job! Granted, he knew once he left this world, Tron and her brothers would probably steal from people again, and he wasn’t sure how to really feel about that or handle it! For now, he was just going to go along with it. “Are you going to come with us this time?”

Tron smirked. “What, the dig too tough for you?” She teased, almost in a good-natured way. “I’ll be coming in the Gustaff, don’t worry. The ruins are big enough for me to use the mech. There’ll probably be a huge Reaverbot guarding the treasure, so be ready!”

“Will there be other people there?” Goofy asked, remembering how unusually crowded the tunnels were from their last mission.

“There weren’t any last time, so I doubt it.” Tron informed with a satisfied look. “It’s in a desert, so we should get it all to ourselves! Most people around here won’t be equipped to fly there like we can!”

With that, things were settled. Tron had #40 lead the trio back to the hangar once more as she prepped the Gustaff. In the Drache, it was Sora, Donald, and Goofy with six Servbots and another one piloting the airship. #1, #4, #21, #29 #33, and #40 were on the mission with them. Not that the trio could tell any of the Servbots apart, of course.

As the ship took off, it went and picked Tron up in her Gustaff as the group went off to the ruins. “Were there any Heartless the last time you went there?” Sora asked as the Gesellschaft shrank away in the distance. “And did you clear out the Reaverbots already?”

“Yeah, those weird creatures were all over the place! And the thing with Reaverbots is if you don’t scrap them and take them with you, they just get fixed up!” Tron explained over the intercom. “People think there are little secret entrances where fixer Reaverbots come out and repair the damaged ones. Basically, we’ll have to deal with a lot of Reaverbots too, and probably a huge one that’s guarding Diana’s Tear!”

Sora had to wonder who left the treasure behind, only to have robots guard it. He wasn’t sure if plundering an old ruin was okay…but he figured those that left it behind were no longer around, so it wasn’t harming anyone. The rest of the ride went in relative silence, the Servbots chatting amongst themselves, but talking about things like swapping comic books or how delicious their lunch was. On the Drache’s monitor, Ryship Island got closer and closer, with the ship heading to a desert on the western side of the island, just like Tron said earlier.

The ruins themselves weren’t much to look at. Some fallen pillars in the sand, and in one of the cliffs of the rocky area was a manmade opening delving deep into the cliff. As the Drache approached, Tron dropped off from the bottom as Sora, Donald, Goofy, and the Servbots leapt out from the ship and onto the sand. The dry, hot air hit the outsider trio like a slap to the face and they were already desperate to enter the dangerous ruins.

“I’ll be waiting out here for you, everyone!” The pilot Servbot called out from an intercom system. “Good luck everybody! Get lots of treasure!”

The group entered the ruins, it feeling somewhat cool inside and away from the open desert. Like at the bank, the Servbots surrounded Tron’s mech, as if to both protect her and be close enough to easily be protected in case of danger. The ruin interiors were lit by electrical lights, the modern technology clashing with the ancient and crumbling stone. It was almost hard for Sora, Donald, and Goofy to imagine robots being in a place like this, it seemed far too old for such things.

They were quickly proven wrong, though. Starting out in a large, open room, Tron led them into another room where the floor gave way to sand. Out of the sand popped snake-like Reaverbots, Nakels, with the signature red eyes of Reaverbots placed in their gaping maws. Half a dozen of the mechanical monsters lunged at the group. Tron dashed in front of her kids, letting one of the Reaverbots bite the arm of the Gustaff, its metal jaws, though powerful, unable to pierce the mech.

With a mighty punch from the Gustaff’s free arm, the Nakel was obliterated, its body tearing away from its head. Tron then tore the head from the Gustaff’s limb and threw it at one of the other Reaverbots. The Servbots entered the fray too, throwing bombs and even flinging themselves at the Reaverbots. While they got bitten or swiped away by robotic tails, they still didn’t seem to incur and actual damage.

Sora and Donald focused on aiding from afar, Fire and Thunder spells helping to dispatch the Nakel and the reinforcements that emerged from the sand. Goofy, meanwhile, ran forward with his shield, knocking Reaverbots back before it could lunge at Sora and Donald with strong, swift parries. Before long, the sandy floor was covered in scrapped parts and leaking oil. Sora couldn’t help but wonder if it looked like blood and guts to the Servbots, though the tiny yellow men hardly seemed concerned with it.

Unlike the tunnels from the previous outing, there were no puzzles to clear or branching pathways to worry about. Tron mentioned she had been there before and cleared a lot of things out beforehand, and needed a more powerful gun to get through a suspicious looking wall she figures will lead to Diana’s Tear. Along the way, more Reaverbots appeared, as well as Heartless. It was mostly the small-fry Heartless like Shadows and Soldiers, no doubt only the weaker ones with so few hearts in this part of the island. They were dispatched quickly, as well as another type of Reaverbot that was essentially a cylinder on legs, Habarools.

Eventually, the group found a wall with a crack in it, Tron telling them to stand back as she readied her cannon arm and pointed it right at the center of the crack. She shot at the weakened wall, the structure crumbling and falling instantly in a small explosion, rubble and dust falling all over. On the other side of the wall was a rather startling sight!

A room was opened up that held little else but a large Reaverbot that resembled a hippopotamus mixed with a frog of some sort. It seemed to mostly be a head with limbs, the rest of the body either nonexistent or buried within the sand nearby. Unlike most of the Reaverbots the group saw, it didn’t have large, red eyes, its sockets seeming empty and mostly for decoration. The massive, sturdy looking entity, the Hippulbash, whirred and seemed to power on to life as it detected there were intruders nearby.

“That’s gotta be the Reaverbot guarding the treasure!” Tron exclaimed, getting her cannon arm ready again. “Let’s take it down!” Without hesitation, she opened fire on the sturdy-looking Reaverbot, pelting it with blasts that all hit dead center, but didn’t seem to actually do anything. The six Servbots joined in, tossing small bombs while Sora and Donald unleashed Fira and Thundara spells. The Hippulbash was so large and stuck in place that all the attacks hit it without issue.

That wasn’t the problem, though, hitting it was the easy part. As the smoke cleared, the group saw there wasn’t so much as a scratch or a dent in the machine’s outer shell! Sora and Donald were surprised that even their Thunder magic did so little. “Well this isn’t good…” Goofy remarked, not even sure if he should try attacking at this point. If all that didn’t leave a dent, what could his shield do?

Before anyone could formulate a new plan of attack, the Hippulbash opened its hands, and small orbs with red, Reaverbot eyes popped out and started to float toward the group. “Those don’t look friendly, keep away from them!” Tron ordered as she backpedaled away from the orbs. More spawned from the Hippulbash, spreading out and going for everyone.

Sora, thinking he was doing well with striking first, jumped and smacked at one of the orbs with his Keyblade. The second he made contact, though, it exploded, sending him flying back as he cried out in pain. If it wasn’t for the barrier he had, it would’ve been pretty severe!

Learning from Sora’s misfortune, the rest knew how to act. Goofy threw his shield at one of the other orbs as Donald shot out Fire spells at some of the others. Tron and the Servbots shot at more of the floating explosives with the Servbots throwing their bombs at the kamikaze Reaverbot spawn. It seemed that the giant Reaverbot itself couldn’t attack on its own or perhaps saw no need to as long as it could summon its minions.

As Sora got to his feet, he already felt like he needed to use a summon to help! Nothing they were throwing at the massive robot seemed to so much as scratch it, after all. He went over his options, relying on his team to keep the explosive orbs at bay. Woomy…she didn’t ever use any weapons that made him think she could harm something like the Hippulbash. Gash…his thunder abilities were powerful, but it seemed like the Reaverbot may be immune to such attacks!

Really, this just left Bobobo…who fought with his nose hairs. Sora wasn’t sure if he could do a thing to help them, but maybe he had some other ability he hadn’t mentioned! If it came to it, the group would just have to think of another strategy if Bobobo couldn’t properly help out. Hoping that this would work, Sora gathered his magic and focused it on the odd man’s summoning gem!

Thankfully, nothing came out of Sora’s nose this time…but at the same time, no one appeared at all. For a second, he wondered if he had done something wrong. At this time, the Hippulbash stopped summoning its orbs, perhaps needing to reload as the group talked over how to take the Reaverbot down, not noticing what Sora was up to. Without warning, though, there was a shaking from beneath them, worrying everyone.

“What is it, another Reaverbot?!” Donald demanded, looking to Tron for guidance. He readied his staff, just in case, but wasn’t sure where to aim his next spell. “Might be a Heartless…?” The mage mumbled to himself.

“I…I mean maybe!” Tron declared, not seeming so sure. “Or maybe it’s the tail or something from this one here! Just be ready!”

After a moment, the shaking stopped. No one moved, everyone ready to strike out at the assured danger that was going to appear. What popped out of the floor wasn’t a Reaverbot, an appendage, or even a Heartless. No, it was Bobobo, who came from the ground, bursting through the stone floor with a yell, startling everyone. “What’s the big idea?!” He screamed out, seeming upset. Looking closer, they saw he was wearing what seemed to be large gloves fashioned like the claws of a mole, with a mole-nose costume prop over his face. “Who called me up here?!”

“What the heck, who is that guy?!” Tron yelled out, pointing her arm cannon at Bobobo, as if on reflex. “Was there someone really underneath us?!”

“Hey! Hold on a minute, Tron, he’s with us!” Goofy exclaimed, stepping between the cannon and Bobobo. “It’s…kinda hard to explain, but he’s on our side!”

Tron hesitated for a moment, then lowered her cannon arm. “…You’ll explain all of this weird stuff to me when this is over. This I can promise you!”

Bobobo, his lower half still in the floor, tapped one of his gloved hands on the floor, glaring about the room. “Alright, which one of you disturbed me?”

Sora had no idea what was going on! Why did Bobobo seem so upset? Shouldn’t he know what was going on? “Uh…Well, I did. We need your help, Bobobo.”

The afro-bearing man turned to Sora. Despite his shades, it was somehow clear that his glare intensified. “Well, well. A confession.” He replied coldly. “I’m just a mole trying to live his life, you know? Don’t you know moles are very sensitive to sound? It’s how we get around, by using our ears!”

“I don’t think that’s true…” #4 murmured awkwardly, but Bobobo either ignored him or, ironically, didn’t even hear him.

Sora was pretty sure that was inaccurate too, but chose not to comment on it. “Well, hey, I’m sorry, alright? But we’re facing this giant Reaverbot, and we need your help!” He just hoped Bobobo was actually able to do so! Could he do anything to pierce its tough exterior?

Bobobo glanced past everyone and at the Hippulbash and hummed in thought. With a smirk, he pulled himself from the ground fully, pulling off the mole accessories and carelessly tossing them away. “You’ve got it! I’ll show that big metal pile of trash what I can do!”

“Can we really trust this guy? Is he that strong?” Tron asked Goofy, not even trying to keep her voice down. “He doesn’t seem reliable…”

Goofy wished he could give a clear answer. If his heart survived the end of his world, then he had to be strong…right? “…I think so.” Was all the knight could bring himself to say.

Bobobo walked over to Hippulbash, who began to summon its Reaverbot orbs again. The man practically gave a visible aura of confidence as he approached the numerous orbs, all of them homing in on him alone. “Alright, let’s see what-” The man began, but was interrupted as all the orbs hit him at once, a large explosion enveloping him. When the smoke cleared, he was flat on his back, singed with smoke rising off of his body.

“Wait, he went down that fast?!” Donald exclaimed, not even sure if he should waste a Cure on Bobobo or not. It didn’t seem like he was mortally injured, but…

#1 went over to Bobobo, running to his side. “Sir! Are you alright?!” The Servbot asked, seeming to be in an anxious panic at Bobobo’s state. “Please get up, before it sends more bombs at you!”

Bobobo weakly reached up, grasping onto #1’s hand. “You…You gotta promise me…” He murmured, barely seeming to be able to speak.

“P-Promise…? Promise you what?” The Servbot asked, sounding like he was about to burst out sobbing. “What do you need, sir?”

“Just promise me, Little Johnny, that you’ll keep practicing your baseball skills…” Bobobo gasped out, seeming to grow weaker at each moment. “Don’t stop until you make it to the Big Leagues!”

Tears started to stream down #1’s face as he gave a vigorous nod. “I promise! I’ll make you proud!” He yelled out, practically shaking because he was crying so hard as Bobobo’s hand dropped.

“#1, get away from that guy. You don’t even know him.” Tron ordered, her tone flat and not seeming to care about Bobobo at all.

Sora couldn’t believe this! He raised his Keyblade, ready to cure Bobobo when he felt a hand on his shoulder. The teen looked to see it was…Bobobo behind him?! “Don’t bother. He’s out of your help.” The second Bobobo ordered. “He wasn’t even real to begin with.”

Everyone turned to see that the first Bobobo was just a lifelike doll, some stuffing even coming out of its stomach. “Wait, how did that even happen?!” Donald exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at the real Bobobo.

The afro-bearing man didn’t respond, approaching the Hippulbash again, but this time long nose hairs sprouted from his nostrils. “Eugh! What the heck?! Is that…hair?!” Tron exclaimed, taking a step back in disgust despite being in a mech. “Where do you keep finding these weirdos?!”

As Bobobo got close, the Hippulbash attempted to open its hands to summon its bomb Reaverbots again, but the two nose hairs shot out and wrapped around the hands, forcing them shut as the Reaverbot struggled against Bobobo’s unique fighting style. “Nice try! Now face my nose hair power!” Three more nose hairs extended out of each of Bobobo’s nostrils, shooting out at the Hippulbash! They whipped and struck at the Reaverbot…but nothing seemed to happen. Bobobo’s attack wasn’t able to pierce its armor!

Sora was quickly beginning to regret bringing Bobobo out. This wasn’t working at all! “Bobobo, isn’t there anything else you can do…?” He asked, hoping the man had some sort of power he just hadn’t used yet.

At that moment, Bobobo let go of the Hippulbash’s hands, retracting his nose hairs. “It’s too tough, my nose hairs can’t get through! What are we gonna do?” He began to fidget, spinning in place. “What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do?” Bobobo kept repeating, spinning faster each time.

Everyone stared at the unusual display of Bobobo’s and then all yelled out in surprise as a miniature tornado, almost like an Aero spell, formed around the man. “Hey, what the heck?!” Donald called out as everyone started to back away from Bobobo. The man just kept spinning, the winds getting stronger, and then #21 and #33 got sucked in, both the Servbots calling out for Tron.

“Okay, that’s it! I don’t care if he’s your friend, he’s messing with my kids!” Tron screamed, aiming her cannon at Bobobo and firing before anyone could stop her. The projectile got caught up in the tornado and was flung to a far corner of the room.

Before anyone else could do anything, Bobobo suddenly stopped his spinning, the tornado vanishing. As this happened, the two Servbots were sent flying, right towards the Hippulbash! The poor robots each went into one of its nostrils. This caused the large Reaverbot to start shaking and twitching, a loud whirring sound filling the room. After a few seconds, the Hippulbash’s mouth opened up, revealing there wasn’t much to its insides, at least from the mouth. It ended very quickly, revealing its red Reaverbot eye staring back at them!

“It’s weakness! Attackin’ that oughta stop it!” Goofy exclaimed before turning to look at Bobobo. “How’d ya figure that out, Bobobo?”

The afro-bearing man smirked, adjusting his shades in a cool way. “I’m just so smart that I scare myself sometimes.” He bragged.

“You did it by accident, didn’t you?” Donald asked with a roll of the eyes. He had no idea what to make of Bobobo. The guy was crazy, and he had odd powers. Honestly, Donald wasn’t sure Sora should summon him again. Maybe he’d have a talk with him about it later.

“I guess I can overlook it, as long as my kids are okay…” Tron piped up begrudgingly. “Now stop talking and fire away!” Without waiting, she started to fire into the Reaverbot’s mouth, actually doing damage this time. The four Servbots by her followed suit, tossing bombs into the Hippulbash’s mouth and hitting its eyes. Sora and Donald backed them up with Fira and Thundara spells. Even Bobobo chipped in, having a rocket launcher that he pulled from his afro that really did a lot of damage to the Hippulbash.

The robot snapped its mouth closed, huffing out through its nose and sending #21 and #33 out, the Servbots hitting the floor in a daze. It was too late, though. Sparks started to fly from its body, as well as smoke, as the Hippulbash began to shake. “Run! That thing’s gonna blow!” Donald yelled out, causing everyone to flee to the next room as an explosion rang out from behind them that practically shook the foundation of the ruins.

Slowly, carefully, the group went back and looked into the room where the Reaverbot was, and saw it was entirely scrapped. It was blown apart, and a metal hatch on the floor was revealed. “That’s gotta be where the treasure is!” Tron exclaimed, rushing over as she began to pry the hatch away with the Gustaff, though it was taking a bit of time.

While she was busy with that, Sora looked over at Bobobo, who looked on with almost apathy. “Hey, thanks for helping us out, Bobobo.” The teen said, feeling a bit bad for his regret of summoning the man. “I don’t know if we would’ve figured that out without you.”

Bobobo grinned, giving Sora a thumbs up. “All a part of my plan!” He bragged, getting a skeptical look from Donald. “I’ve gotta get going now, remember to respect moles from now on, okay? That’s the real lesson here.”

Sora decided not to even argue and nodded. “I will, don’t worry.” He still couldn’t get a reading on Bobobo, and he wondered what his world was like. With those words, Bobobo simply faded away, returning to his summoning gem.

“What a weirdo…I don’t believe he planned that at all…” Donald murmured, and he was about to warn Sora not to summon Bobobo anymore when Tron yelled out.

“It’s here! I’ve got it, and it’s huge!” The woman cried out. Sora, Donald, and Goofy turned to see her holding up a massive green gem in the shape of a tear. “It’s Diana’s Tear! It was real! Oh, this is more than enough to pay off that Loath creep!”

The Servbots jumped up and down, cheering and clapping as Tron showed off the treasure, the large gem sparkling heavily. “Good job, Miss Tron!” #40 exclaimed. “Now we can get Master Bon and Master Teisel back!”

“We’re happy for ya too, Tron!” Goofy added as he, Sora, and Donald walked over to the pirates. “That tear thingy sure is pretty!”

Donald eyed Diana’s Tear, knowing Uncle Scrooge would go gaga over something like that. And they didn’t find any of those other crystals, the smaller ones! “Maybe next time…” The mage murmured, no one hearing him.

“I’m not even gonna ask about that afro guy.” Tron declared as the high of the victory started to wear off. “Let’s get out of here and back to the Gesellschaft. I’ll get everything together and go to Loath.”

“You sure you don’t want us coming with you?” Sora asked. “What if he tries something? We should be there just in case!” While he knew very little about Loath, it was clear he was a pretty terrible guy. Who knew what he’d try to pull?

Tron shook her, or rather the Gustaff’s, head. “I don’t know what he’ll think if I bring some backup along. He’ll probably think I’ll be trying something myself and probably wouldn’t even let me in his office! Trust me, I’ll go it alone.”

Sora had a bad feeling about that, but it was Tron’s decision, in the end. “Alright. Well, we’ll just hope it goes well, then.” With that, the group made their way out of the ruins and back to the Drache. The ride back to the Gesellschaft was noisy, the Servbots all celebrating and yelling out in joy at the successful mission.

Once everyone got back to the main ship, Tron met up with Sora, Donald, and Goofy at the HQ room again. “Okay, you three…look…” She started, sighing and crossing her arms. “I know we got off on the wrong foot, but…I appreciate what you three have done for me. So…thanks.”

Sora grinned, placing a friendly hand on Tron’s shoulder. “Hey, we’re happy to help! We just wanted to help you get your brothers back!” As he spoke, he had an odd, minor pain in his chest which he couldn’t explain.

Tron’s eyes widened at the touch, a faint red blush appearing on her face, so faint in fact that Sora didn’t even notice. She cleared her throat, glancing at her hand like she was checking her nails…despite wearing gloves. “Yeah…well…whatever.” She blurted out. “Uh, hey, the scouts came back, and they couldn’t find anything about those friends of yours.”

Taking his hand back, Sora frowned. He wasn’t too terribly surprised, it seemed like nothing they did helped them find Kairi or King Mickey. “Oh…well, thanks for trying. Anything we should do while you’re gone? We’ll wait for you, just in case something happens with that Loath guy.”

Tron scoffed. “You’re just so nosy, huh?” She dismissed, yet something in her tone was almost happy. “Fine, I guess you can stay. I’m sure Teisel will want to thank you anyway. Just go wait in the cafeteria, alright?”

“Ya got it, Tron!” Goofy replied as the pirate went off to somewhere else on the ship to prepare for departure. “Kind of a shame she couldn’t find our friends…” He murmured sadly.

“Ki- I mean Mickey, has to be out there somewhere!” Donald responded, eyeing the Servbots as he nearly let Mickey’s royal status slip. “Now let’s get something to eat, I’m starving!”

Asking one of the nearby Servbots to lead them to the cafeteria, the three sat down and ate again, even getting the same meals. The room was abuzz with conversation, the Servbots clearly all knowing they have the funds to save their leaders. Sora had no doubts that the little guys had hearts, they so clearly cared for Tron, Teisel, and Bon. He just wondered if Tron even knew they had hearts or not…

Without warning, an alarm went off over a loudspeaker, and a Servbot’s voice called out to, presumably, every room in the ship. “Attention, everyone! Horrible news! Miss Tron has been kidnapped by Mr. Loath! We’re executing Plan OO24, one of us will lead the charge to rescue her! Everyone report to HQ!”

“Kidnapped?! Oh, geez, we have to go and help her!” Sora declared, shooting to his feet. Donald and Goofy were right behind him as the three followed the horde of panicking Servbots to HQ. In there, all the Servbots were gathered, some of them crying, and all of them openly worried. There were 37 of them, notably, with it seeming that Tron took a few with her to see Loath..

A Servbot stood high above everyone at the top of the room. “Everyone! Please! We need some volunteers to help with the rescue!” He declared. “I’ll pilot the Gustaff, but I need some of us to go with me!”

It seemed, as worried as the Servbots were, a lot of them didn’t have the courage to step forward. The fear in their hearts was stopping them from volunteering. So, Sora decided to go first. “I know I’m not really a member of this crew, but Tron’s my friend, and I want to go!” The teen announced.

“Yeah, and Donald and I are gonna go with him!” Goofy announced, stepping forward and standing tall. “Can’t let someone mess with our friends!”

“That’s right!” Donald exclaimed, brandishing his staff. “We’ll get her back, and her brothers too!” He was still a bit iffy about Tron, but he couldn’t just sit around and do nothing!

This seemed to rouse something in the Servbots, their terror starting to turn around as they watched the three outsiders volunteer for the job. In fact, fifteen of them quickly stepped forward, and it became a bit of an argument as to who was most qualified to go. In the end, a decision managed to be made. The leader was #1, and six other Servbots would go with the group. #3, #12, #22, #29, #36, and #40 were selected.

The group went to the Drache at the hanger as #1 went to get the Gustaff, and #17 was piloting once more. It was odd, Sora and the others sort of started to be able to tell the difference between the Servbots. Not perfectly, but there was just these small touches between them that let the trio get a general idea of who was who.

As the Drache lifted off, picking up the Gustaff on the way, Sora leaned in to talk to #17. “So, where are we going exactly? Where is this Loath guy?”

“We have the coordinates! There are some ruins he owns. I was there when #1 got the transmission.” The piloting Servbot explained. “Mr. Loath is trying to activate this really big Reaverbot called The Colossus! Apparently it’s in these ruins…”

“More Reaverbots?” Donald asked in an exasperated tone. “They’re such a pain with those metal bodies! I’d rather just fight the Heartless…”

The ride was tense, the Servbots a bit less courageous than before, but all of them willing to go and help their creator, their mother. #17 took the group to the sites of a ruin nestled into a mountain, a lavish mansion was nearby that probably belonged to Lex Loath.

As everyone got out of the Drache, #17 talked to them over the loudspeaker. “I’ll be waiting for you here, and I’ll call the Gesellschaft to this location, just in case! Good luck, everyone!”

“Thank you, #17!” #1 called, the Gustaff pumping its arms in anticipation. “Come on, everyone, let’s go get Miss Tron!” With that, the six other Servbots cheered as they, Sora, Donald, and Goofy rushed into the ruins.

The hallways were large and empty, a lot of the ways forward seemed to be dug haphazardly,, as if by recent Diggers who had no time to be careful and respectful. It didn’t take long before they ran into trouble, though. In one room, they encountered more of those Birdbots, driving miniature bulldozers. There were others in mechs, Pinguino, that were about the side of the Gustaff and resembled birds, complete with wings.

Thankfully, the Birdbots weren’t too tough to take out. The ones in the bulldozers had no covering, so Sora was able to just leap on top of the machines, swiping the robots away with his Keyblade. The Gustaff was able to tussle with the Pinguino mechs, Donald using his Thunder spells to stun them and Goofy able to make them teeter over with his shield bash. Of course, the other Servbots aided as well, belting Birdbots with their bombs.

Heartless appeared as well, Large Bodies and Driller Moles being the most abundant types. They appeared in waves, the Large Bodies’ large stomachs deflecting the bombs that the Servbots threw or slamming into Goofy and knocking him away. The Driller Moles rammed into Sora and Donald, only the barriers from Dr. Orpheus keeping them from maintaining fatal injuries as the drills hit their stomachs. They certainly left nasty bruises, though. In the end, though, the Heartless were dealt with as the group went on.

Before too long, #1 following a tracker in the Gustaff, the group found their way to a holding cell. “Miss Tron must be in here!” The lead Servbot declared. He used the mech to grab the door, and in one motion, ripped it from its hinges as he tossed it aside.

Inside was Tron, three Servbots, and two unusual figures. One was a man that stood tall, Tron herself only going to his chest. His clothing was odd, all of it metal, as though he were some sort of cyborg, though it was hard to tell. At the very least, his eyes were inorganic, being red and glassy, and he had wild, white hair in a cone shape sprouting from the back of his head. The other stranger was even more of a robot than the first! The ‘head’ was a perfectly round shape with a spiked, orange helmet on time. From the sides and bottom of the head were massive, metal limbs, making the stranger about as tall as the first.

“Miss Tron! Miss Tron!” The Servbots all cried, the six outside of the Gustaff flooding into the room. “Master Teisel, Master Bon!”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy entered as well, the Gustaff unable to fit through the door. “Glad you’re okay, Tron, and you three.” Sora said to her the three Servbots, then he turned to the two strangers. “So, you’re Teisel and Bon, right?”

The man in green grinned, pointing at himself with his thumb. “That’s right, kid! Teisel Bonne, and our baby brother Bon!” As he spoke of Bon, he patted the oversized younger sibling on the head, Bon letting out a ‘Babu!’ through the orange pacifier-type thing in his mouth. “You must be Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Tron’s told us all about you three, and we thank you for helping our sister!”

The outsider trio was a bit surprised at how cordial Teisel was, though he did practically scream everything he said. “It’s nothin’! We sorta strong-armed her into lettin’ us help.” Goofy pointed out. “But we couldn’t just let her go it alone once we found out what was goin’ on!”

“Babu!” Bon declared, it apparently being the only thing he could say. Apparently he really was just a baby, and the outsider trio couldn’t help but wonder how his body even worked.

“He thanks you too!” Teisel helpfully translated. “Now, we can chat and catch up later, we need to get the heck out of here! I’ve been forced to dig for that Loath creep, and I want to get back home!”

“Hold on!” Tron exclaimed. “No way we can just leave here empty handed! We’re going to take everything Loath’s found! All his treasure, and that massive robot!”

Sora quickly took issue with that. While the Bonnes didn’t seem entirely evil, the idea of them having some sort of gigantic weapon didn’t sit right with him. He knew they’d go back to robbing banks and such once he, Donald, and Goofy left, but them having that much power…?

“Right…Right!” Teisel quickly agreed, letting out wild laughter. “I like the way you think, Tron!”

“Hey, you guys won’t…do something horrible with it, will you?” Sora couldn’t help but ask. If he had to fight the Bonnes over this, he would, but the idea made his heart feel heavy. Thinking of it, there was still the matter of the Keyhole. One way or another, he couldn’t just leave the world just because the two brothers were free now…

Tron seemed surprised at Sora’s interruption, especially as Teisel gave him a harsh look. “Hey, we’re not monsters!” The young woman replied. “It’s not like we’ll hurt people with it, right Teisel?”

Teisel huffed with a nod. “That’s right! We’re pirates, not murderers! Why, were you planning on stopping us, kid…?” He said the last few words with clear intent to fight back.

“If we had to!” Donald insisted, glaring right back at Teisel. “A giant robot isn’t just some toy!”

“Um…I think we should leave first before deciding anything.” #1 chimed in from the Gustaff. “We need to get moving, don’t we?”

The eldest Bonne huffed again. “Fine, fine. We can finish this later. Loath is the main focus for now! Let’s get moving, I know where to find The Colossus!” With that, he, Tron, and the three Servbots that came with Tron earlier on went to the Gustaff. They all climbed in, which seemed it’d be a tight fit along with #1, but they all somehow managed. Bon was too big, naturally, and stayed by the mech’s side.

With that, the group set out again, Bon running at their side as the Gustaff led the way. Sora didn’t feel good about essentially threatening the Bonnes, but if it was clear they’d abuse the giant Reaverbot, he’d have no choice! In any case, the small army went through the ruins. Birdbots and Heartless tried to impede them, but they were no match. As it turned out, Bon was a capable fighter of his own. The robot body of his wasn’t for show, able to launch Birdbots and smaller Heartless while tearing apart the Pinguino mechs while outmuscling Large Bodies.

After a good while of moving around, the group entered a massive room. Right away, the centerpiece of it drew their attention. On one side of the room was a gigantic metal monstrosity! It took everyone a minute to realize it was a robot, one the size of a building! It was clearly a humanoid robot, its head almost comically small compared to the rest of it. That’s when Goofy piped up.

“Uh…gawrsh, I think that’s just the head. That’s The Colossus…ain’t it?” The knight asked, not even able to consider there existed a larger robot out there. If what they were seeing was just the top part, the entire thing must have been like a skyscraper!

“I hadn’t actually seen it myself!” Teisel admitted from within the Gustaff. “I had no idea it was that gigantic! Thinking of it, I’m not so sure we could handle using something like that…” Despite his bravado from earlier, he was very heavily second guessing himself, clearly. “Just getting it out of here would be impossible, maybe…”

“You say that like you even have a chance of it, Teisel.” A smug, male voice called out, his voice distorted from using an intercom system.

“Glyde?! Oh, no…” Teisel groaned out from the mech. “The last guy I wanted to see!”

Sora looked around, but saw no one around. “Who’s Glyde?” The teen asked, ready for a fight, but despite the emptiness of the room, he couldn’t spot anyone!

“Up there!” Tron called out, pointing up with the Gustaff. From the ceiling, another mech dropped. Like the Pinguino ones, it was bird-shaped, but was larger and sturdier looking. “He’s one of Loath’s dogs!”

“And he’s the one that kidnapped Bon and me!” Teisel yelled out, a rustling being heard from inside the Gustaff. “Move over, Tron! I’m going to kick his butt!”

“Ow! Teisel! There’s no room to change pilots now! You just kicked me in the ribs!” Tron’s voice bemoaned from inside the mech.

Glyde gave a bout of haughty laughter as half a dozen Birdbots entered the room, all of them looking ready for a fight. “Oh no, more Birdbots!” #4 cried out. “I really don’t like those guys!”

“Well, well…I don’t know how you escaped, but it hardly matters, even with those new henchmen of yours.” Glyde bragged, his voice dripping with confidence. “The Colossus is ours now, so you’re no longer needed! Isn’t that right?” He directed the last bit to the Birdbots.

“That’s right! You’ve got nowhere to run!” One of the avian robots declared, letting out a squawk. “You’re between a rock and a hard place, so prepare to get squished!”

With the rustling from within the Gustaff settling, Tron spoke up. “Now that my brothers are safe, we don’t need to hold back!”

“And we’re not their henchmen, we’re their friends!” Donald declared, though that was mildly dubious. He had just threatened them a few minutes ago.

Goofy held up his shield, glaring at Glyde’s mech. “That’s right! If ya want to mess with them, you’ll have to go through us first!”

Glyde scoffed. “No matter, my Rafale is more than enough for you! Birdbots, engage!” He commanded, the Birdbots rushing the six Servbots outside of the Gustaff, the dozen small robots engaging in various fistfights.

While they happened, everyone else focused on Glyde’s mech. Right away, Sora and Donald used a combined Gravity spell to slow his Rafale down. Apparently, it was stronger than the Gustaff, as he was still able to move, charging the other mech. Out of one of its arm-wings, a beam of energy came out, looking like a blade, which slashed across the Gustaff’s chest and knocked it to the ground!

Goofy tried ramming into the larger mech, but it was sturdier than the Pinguino mechs, and he wasn’t able to knock it over. However, he was able to stagger it enough for Sora and Donald to get some magical attacks in. Donald struck it with a powerful Thundara spell, electricity coursing over its metallic frame as Sora hit it with some Fira balls, scorching and partially melting the hull. All the while, the Servbots and Birdbots were still going at it!

During all the commotion, no one noticed Bon had somehow managed to sneak away…

The Rafale leapt into the air, its wing-arms slamming into the ground by Sora and Donald, a small shockwave knocking them away and onto the floor. This was just as the Gustaff and Goofy got to their feet. The Bonne’s mech pelted the Rafale’s back with cannon fire, making Glyde grunt out in annoyance and turn towards the Gustaff.

Sora leapt to his feet and gathered his strength as Glyde was distracted. Readying his Keyblade, he unleashed a Sonic Blade combo upon the Rafale! Sliding forward, the boy slashed the bird-mech with his weapon, managing to stagger it. He kept the combo attack going, sliding across the floor multiple times, hitting Glyde’s robot over and over and damaging it rather noticeably!

Letting out an annoyed shout, Glyde had the Rafale jump back. Its torso flipped, making it resemble a bird more than ever, as the beak-like structure fired several large, purple beams of energy. These hit the Gustaff, Sora, Donald, and Goofy, knocking them all away and sending them to the floor.

“Darn that Glyde!” Teisel yelled from within the Gustaff. “I didn’t know his mech could even do something like that!”

The Rafale returned to its normal form, Glyde letting out a laugh. “You may as well give up now. Despite the damage you’ve done, my mech is still ready for more combat! If you surrender, I may just toss you into the jail cell rather than tearing you all apart!”

At just that moment, something large, metal, and orange leapt from above. It was Bon! The clever baby had scaled the nearby wall and plummeted down at the Rafale, his large fists slamming into the mech. “Babu!” Bon shouted in triumph as the mech was knocked to the ground. What followed was an almost gruesome sight as the youngest Bonne tore off the Rafale’s arm-wings and stomped on its legs before kicking it towards the Birdbots, who had gathered together small bombs ready to throw at the Servbots.

“Hey! Glyde, stop your mech before it-” One of the Birdbots started, but Glyde hit him mid-sentence, the bombs causing a large explosion that kicked up a lot of dust and smoke. When it cleared, Glyde and the six Birdbots were covered in soot and highly damaged.

“Bon! That was great!” Tron praised as the Gustaff stood back up, walking over to Bon. “Good thinking, baby brother! You sure showed him!”

“I’m so proud of you, Bon!” Teisel crowed. “A true Bonne, through and through, fighting dirty like that!”

Sora couldn’t help but smile at the scene as he, Donald, and Goofy stood up. The pirates were no doubt bad people to an extent…but it was also clear just how much they loved each other. “That was a pretty good save!” The teen praised, grinning wide as Bon basked in the glory.

A cough diverted everyone’s attention, Glyde staggering to his feet as smoke poured off of him. “This isn’t the end! Not by a long shot! You haven’t seen the last of us!” With that, he turned around and ran off, the Birdbots waddling after him, the seven of them stumbling over themselves from their injuries.

“They just don’t know when to give up, do they…?” Teisel murmured. “Bon, you head back to the Gesellschaft, in case they try to attack it. I want one of us Bonnes there to be there. You four head out too!” As he said the last sentence, the hatch to the Gustaff opened, #1 and the other three Servbots hopped out, following Bon as he ran out of the room and towards the exit.

“Hold on, there’s somethin’ goin’ on up there!” Goofy exclaimed, pointing towards the head of the massive Reaverbot. The Colossus’ eyes started to glow red as a loud humming sound radiated from it. “They activated it! It’s powerin’ on!”

“But how?! Is someone in there?!” Donald asked, not having seen anyone actually enter The Colossus. Of course, he was distracted with the fight, so maybe that was the moment it happened…

An intercom system on The Colossus crackled to life and Mr. Loath’s voice rang out. “You’re too late! Glyde bought me enough time to get The Colossus activated! With this and the Keyhole, nothing can stop me! Now Sora, be a good little boy and hand over that Keyblade…”

“He did mention something about a Keyhole, but I was never able to find it…” Teisel murmured, then he let out a noise of surprise. “Hey, wait, how does he know your name, Sora?!”

“I don’t know!” The brunette replied. “I’ve never met this guy before! Are you working with Dio?!” Sora demanded, brandishing his Keyblade at the massive Reaverbot. He knew Dio was an issue, it was the only way he could imagine Loath knew who he was! And Loath found the Keyhole?! Where was it…?

“That I am! Not that it matters. The Keyhole has been found already, and The Colossus is ready to fully activate at the push of a button!” Loath gloated, belting out a nasty burst of laughter.

“I don’t think the Gustaff can put a scratch on that thing…and who the heck is Dio?” Tron asked, the Gustaff turning towards Sora. “I’ve never heard of Loath working with anyone!”

Sora grimaced. “It’s a long story, but just know that Dio’s no good.” Of course he wasn’t going to mention that he was a vampire…

At that moment, GLaDOS chimed in. “The Keyhole is in this room! I can sense it!”

“What?! It is, why didn’t you say so before, GLaDOS?!” Donald demanded, glaring at the pocket that Sora kept the A.I. in.

“Who the heck is GLaDOS…?” Teisel murmured. “I’m getting lost trying to keep up with all of this!”

Ignoring Teisel, GLaDOS replied to Donald. “The giant Reaverbot was crowding my sensors. Do you have any idea how much of a presence that gives off?! Searching for the Keyhole on its own, I was able to pick up its signal.”

Sora didn’t hesitate, closing his eyes and focusing on the Keyblade. He wasn’t sure if this would work, but if he just tried to feel out for the Keyhole, maybe it would present itself! The teen felt a warmth in his heart, and he opened his eyes to see a sparkling shape shine above on the wall above The Colossus’ head. It soon took the form of a Keyhole! That was it! Sora pointed the Keyblade right at it, a beam of light firing from the tip of his weapon and hit the Keyhole, locking it in an instant!

This caused Loath to howl in rage. “No! How did you…?! Gah! It doesn’t matter! As long as I have The Colossus, I can do whatever I want! Ignition!” At that moment, the massive Reaverbot began to hum louder as orange, crystal-like pylons emerged from within it. The entire ruins began to shake as The Colossus began to stir and rise from the hole it was placed in. “Nothing can stop me from ruling the world now!” Loath screamed in maddened delight, dozens of Shadow Heartless starting to spawn in the large room.

“Let’s get out of here!” Tron yelled as the Gustaff and the six Servbots beelined towards the exit. Sora, Donald, and Goofy followed suit as well. The ceiling began to collapse, large chunks of rock falling around the group. “Gesellschaft, come in!” She continued, talking over a communicator. “Home in on my coordinates and pick us up!”

Somehow, the group managed to get out of the ruins before they collapsed entirely. The Drache was still waiting for them, and everyone got on board as it went towards the Gesellschaft, which was flying towards them at a remarkable speed. Things were tense, no one saying a word until they had arrived, everyone meeting at HQ. Sora, Donald, Goofy, Tron, Teisel, Bon, and a handful of Servbots were there, looking at the main screen.

Out of the ocean stood The Colossus, seeming almost too big to be real. It had escaped from the ruins, now near the shore of Ryship Island. “Alright, I’ve got a lot of questions for you three.” Teisel said to the outsider trio. “But it’ll have to wait until we take care of Loath! Now, ready all guns! Prepare to fire!”

“Aim for The Colossus!” Tron yelled out, glaring daggers at the screen displaying the Reaverbot. “Launch missiles!”

One of the Servbots, at a keyboard with a microphone headset on, nodded. “Firing the missiles!” He rang out as he typed away at the keyboard. With that, missiles hurled themselves at The Colossus, massive explosions booming out and covering the machine’s upper half with dust and smoke.

As he watched, Sora was glad they had someone like the Bonnes on their side. No way could he, Donald, and Goofy stand up to something like that on their own! And Loath…he was working with Dio…just how many allies did the vampire have?! At the very least, he found and sealed the Keyhole. While Kairi wasn’t in this world, he could at least still leave while feeling accomplished to some extent…

When the smoke cleared, it was revealed the bombardment didn’t put a scratch on The Colossus! Loath’s laughter rang out through a communications system. “You’ll have to do better than that, I’m afraid. Now it’s my turn!” The Reaverbot raised its massive arms, cannons being at the ends in place of hands, as two large green orbs of energy shot out!

The projectiles hit the Gesellschaft, and the entire ship shook! Everyone was knocked off their feet, even the sturdy Bon, with Sora hitting his head really hard on the metal flooring. For a second, things went fuzzy, and it took him a moment to compose himself and get his bearings. Looking around, he saw Donald and Goofy in a similar state of grogginess, Bon toppled over still with Tiesel seeming out cold. Tron, meanwhile, was bruised up and couldn’t seem to stand!

Over an intercom, a Servbot yelled out. “Engine room to HQ! Engine #2 has been destroyed! We can barely stay in the air!”

Another Servbot called out as well. “The right wing has been damaged! Another hit like that, and we’ll go down!”

The Servbot with the headset sniffled and relayed information as well. “The Bonnes are in rough shape! Master Teisel is knocked out, and Miss Tron is badly hurt!”

Staggering to his feet, Sora looked over to Tron. “Hey…are you okay…?” He asked, wincing as a splitting headache formed.

“I’m…fine…have to…continue the fight…!” Tron said as she fought to stay awake.

Sora didn’t waste any time. Between her and Teisel, it was Tron that Sora trusted more to help out. He saw what she could do firsthand! Ignoring his own injuries, he raised the Keyblade and cast Cure on Tron, her wounds instantly healing! “There! Tron, you should be able to stand!” As he said this, Donald and Goofy got to their feet as well.

Tron blinked a few times in confusion, standing up with little issue. “H…Huh?! How did you…?” She shook her head. “No time for questions. We have to prepare a counterattack!”

“But how?!” One of the Servbots asked, seeming both relieved at Tron’s recovery and scared at the same time. “Our missiles didn’t hurt it!”

“We have to use the Gustaff!” Tron insisted. “If we can break into its head, maybe, or some other small crevice, we can destroy it with precision rather than force!”

“Well, if you’re gonna do that, we’ll come with ya!” Goofy declared, shaking himself more awake. “We can’t just leave ya to do this alone!”

Donald scowled at the screen, then glanced at Teisel. The eldest Bonne seemed okay, just clonked out. He wasn’t going to use his one Cure on him, who knew how things would go when they got in close. “I’ll set that Loath guy’s pants on fire, just watch me!”

Tron grinned, then looked over to Bon, who was just standing up. “Bon, stay here and look after Teisel. I’m trusting you, okay?!” She declared, getting a ‘Babu!’ from the baby. The squad that came with us to the ruins, prepare to the hangar along with Sora, Donald, and Goofy!”

“Roger!” The six appointed Servbots called at once, them and the outsider trio beelining towards the hangar, which thankfully wasn’t too damaged.

As they arrived, though, Sora felt a tug. One of his summoning gems, Gash’s to be specific, seemed to be calling to him. “Guys, wait! I need to do something first!” Not waiting for a response, the six Servbots watched in curiosity along with Donald and Goofy as Sora summoned Gash in a bolt of lightning. “Gash, what is it?!” Sora asked urgently.

The small demon quickly handed Sora his book. “I can help from here! Wait until I give the signal, then read the fourth spell!” Gash yelled, having the knowledge of what was going on from his gem.

Sora trusted his friend, and gave a nod as he opened the book. As Gash went over to the edge of the hangar, his cloak billowing heavily in the wind, he nodded to Sora before facing The Colossus again. Sora looked into the book, somehow able to read the unusual words. “Baou Zakeruga!” He screamed, feeling the power coursing through him.

Gash’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as something monumental occurred! An attack unleashed from the small demon’s mouth. It wasn’t lightning, or a beam of concentrated lightning, no. Instead, a monstrous and gigantic dragon came forth from his maw that was made of lightning! Its snake-like body curling and shifting, its mouth filled with monstrous teeth, two arms spouting out from its body, ending in claws. The eyes of the creature were red and angry, the thing letting out a roar as it launched towards The Colossus.

The arms of the massive Reaverbot rose, its cannons firing at the dragon, but the energy attacks just disappeared on contact. As Gash’s attack drew closer, the cannon hands converted into normal hands, grabbing the upper and lower jaws of the Baou Zakeruga spell, struggling to hold it back as it tried to continuously charge at The Colossus.

Donald’s beak dropped open, astounded that Gash could pull something like that off! Even he couldn’t use a Thunder spell that strong, even in his prime it’d be a struggle! “I wish we knew he could do that before…” The mage commented.

Sora and Goofy were equally in awe, Gash standing in place, keeping the attack going. The Servbots also yelled out in panic until Sora turned and shouted at them to be heard over the noise. “It’s okay! He’s with us!” The teen assured, handing the nearest Servbot Gash’s book. “Keep this safe, okay?! Guard it as best as you can!”

The Servbot was flummoxed, but took the spell book anyway with shaking arms. “O-O-Okay! If Miss Tron trusts you…we will too, Sora!”

Giving the Servbot a thanks, Sora went into the prepared Drache with Donald and Goofy, the Servbot team going with them waiting and in awe of Gash’s attack. Tron’s voice called over the communicator. “Sora, did you do something weird again?!”

“Trust me, the dragon is on our side!” Sora assured, sitting down with Donald and Goofy as the Drache door closed.

There was a frustrated groan from Tron. “I…I’ll trust you. If you make me regret this, I’ll blow you up along with Loath! #17, come and pick me up!”

#17, who was piloting yet again, nodded. “Roger! On my way, Miss Tron!” With that, the Drache went and picked up the Gustaff before flying towards The Colossus and Gash’s spell, which was trapping the Reaverbot in a stalemate and keeping it from shooting the Drache down.

Within minutes, the entire attacking group was dropped off on the main, layered body of The Colossus, standing on it really made them fully realize just how massive it was. “So, what do we do, Tron?” Goofy asked, looking over to see the lightning dragon was still fighting against The Colossus. In a way, he didn’t want it to win, because it’d just hurt them, right?

“On the way here, I scanned The Colossus with the Gustaff.” Tron replied, pointing at one of the orange pylons with her mech. “Those are the energy source for the Reaverbot. If we destroy them, it won’t be able to function!”

Sora was glad to hear that, hoping that meant it was a permanent shut-down of The Colossus. Something like this shouldn’t be in the hands of anyone! “Okay, so we’ll just bust them up, sounds easy!”

“Just be careful, there’s no telling what other defenses this thing might have!” Tron pointed out. “Let’s split up and cover more ground…and we’ll try to ignore that dragon…” She spoke of the thing as if she’d rather it didn’t exist in the first place.

With that, the group split up, attacking the pylons. Tron and her Servbots went on one side with Sora, Donald, and Goofy in the opposite direction. Using the Gustaff, Tron was able to rip the pylons straight out of The Colossus, even hitting other pylons with the ones she tore out. The Servbots aided her by throwing bombs at other pylons and loosening the ones Tron was going for to make her job easier.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy were able to take theirs out without issue either. Goofy was able to knock pylons over by charging them with his shield as Donald used Fire and Blizzard spells to destroy them. With a few swings of his Keyblade, Sora was able to destroy the power sources as well.

However, Tron was right, and The Colossus had tricks it hadn’t yet shown! These became evident as the lightning dragon faded, Sora feeling Gash return to his summoning gem safe and sound. At this moment, hatches opened up in the giant Reaverbot, smaller Reaverbots emerging. They were green, pointed machines, Sharukurusu, that charged at the two groups on sight. Along with this, swarms of Shadow Heartless emerged too and joined in the fight.

Tron utilized the pylons as weapons, whacking the Sharukurusu away as the Servbots fought off the Shadows, either ganging up on them or blowing them up with bombs. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were able to fend off the Reaverbots without much issue, though they took a few swipes from their long, pointed arms, which hurt quite a bit. The Shadows were, of course, small fry and easy to deal with.

Eventually, all the pylons were destroyed as the group went up by The Colossus’ head, its eyes no longer glowing. Over the loudspeaker, Loath let out a cry of frustration. “No! NO! You…miserable pests! How did you take out my Colossus so easily?! What was that dragon?!”

“Mr. Loath, it seems we’ve lost.” Glyde commented, apparently having entered The Colossus somehow since its activation. “There’s only enough power for the most basic of functions, and that will run out soon.”

“No…I refuse to let things turn out this way!” Loath’s voice screeched, as darkness started to whisp around the head of The Colossus. “Just a little bit of power…that’s all I need…!” The greed, hatred, and lust for power burst from the man’s heart, and The Colossus began to power up, its eyes glowing red again as it was encased in a miasma of darkness! “This time…I’ll destroy them all!” Loath shrieked, the head of The Colossus starting to levitate.

“How…?! How’s he doing that?!” Tron shouted out, quickly beginning to open fire upon the Reaverbot’s floating head. It was too big to dodge effectively, so all the cannon fire hit the head, but it didn’t seem to do much damage, not even when the Servbots started throwing explosives as well.

Loath let out a maddened laughter as a green glow formed on the head’s mouth, firing a green energy ball at the Gustaff and the Servbots, knocking them all around. Sora and Donald tried to use a combined Gravira spell on the head, but even with both of them using the higher-tiered spell, it wasn’t enough to stop the head from floating. Cannons appeared out of the sides of its head, shooting small explosives at the two magic users. The explosions sent the two to the ground, singed and burnt a bit. Goofy threw his shield like a discus, hitting the head’s right eye and cracking it. This didn’t do much damage, but it helped create a weakness in the structure.

The head kept moving around, spinning, and firing off cannon and energy blasts. Everyone had to scramble as The Colossus’ head bombarded its own body! Large Bodies began to spawn as well, but Loath was so incompetent and kept firing almost at random that he ended up destroying most of his own Heartless, with the group sweeping up the remnants. As they ran about, Tron was continuously firing off blasts at the head, aiming for its damaged eye. Sora and Donald focused on attacking from afar with their spells, Thundara and Fira techniques slowly chipping away at the head. Goofy’s shield wasn’t strong enough to do any serious damage, so he kept throwing it at the Reaverbot’s eyes, damaging them further and making another weak spot for the others to target.

As the head charged up another energy attack, Goofy leapt at it, shield in front of it. It fired as usual, but Goofy’s shield was mere inches from the mouth, causing the orb to explode right in The Colossus’ face! Goofy was sent flying back, slamming hard into the Reaverbot’s body, but he was okay. The head, though, was in rough shape as sparks and smoke started to come out of every orifice of it. “No…! Even with darkness, it still wasn’t enough?!” Loath yelled as the head stopped floating, the miasma around it vanishing as it slammed down into the body. “Glyde, let’s get out of here!”

A hatch opened up in the back, Loath and Glyde sprinting out and running away from the group. “Don’t let them escape!” Tron yelled, charging the Gustaff at the two men, her Servbots following obediently.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy were closer to the retreating men and faster than the bulky Gustaff and were able to catch up to the retreating men first. The duo stopped at the edge of the Reaverbot’s upper body, there seeming to be no way down for them. They turned around, scowling at the trio. “Don’t think you’ll-” Glyde started, but the Gustaff came from behind and blasted him, sending him flying over the side of The Colossus and into the ocean.

“Tron, wait, we need to question Loath first!” Sora said as Tron prepared another blast. He had no issue with sending Loath over the edge, he could probably survive the fall, but he needed to know some things first. Turning back to the purple-suited man, who now had a look of terror on his face, Sora brandished his Keyblade. “Tell us what Dio’s planning! What does he want?!” Thinking of it, this was the first time he even got to lay eyes on Lex Loath, and he saw just how pathetic he was…

The purple-suited man scowled at Sora, but still shook in fear. “I’m not going to tell you anything! It’s not like it’ll make a difference anyway!”

There had to be something that Dio was planning…something big…why else would he have comrades in different worlds who were seeking Keyholes? Sora felt like he wouldn’t be able to talk Tron down and spare him in return for information, so the teen finished the man off himself. Dashing forward, she slashed Loath across the chest, sending him flying back and off The Colossus to the ocean below.

“Kinda wish I had the honors, but it’s nice to see him get what’s coming to him!” Tron praised, letting out a sigh of relief. “Glad this is all over, though. #17, come pick us up!” Tron called over her communications.

The group was picked up by the Drache, leaving the damaged and useless Reaverbot behind to stand in the ocean. As they flew back to the Gesellschaft, they heard Teisel’s voice over communications! “Looks like I missed out on all the fun!” He declared in a mostly joking tone. “But I’m proud of you, Tron, you went in and launched a personal attack on something that large! I don’t know what our dear, departed mother would say…but you’ve really grown up!”

“I’ve always been this way, Teisel, you just haven’t noticed!” Tron teased, laughing a bit. “Sora, Donald, and Goofy helped too! We got rid of that Loath creep and Glyde, so I’m happy. We can strip The Colossus for parts and find the refractor that powered it!”

“Good idea, Tron, and as for Loath and Glyde…it’s not over for them yet.” Teisel replied, a smirk practically audible on his face. “I sent a group of Servbots to pick them up from the ocean. I’m sure we can think of a way to finish them off like they deserve!” He let out a cackle at this. “And bring those three outsiders to HQ, I want to talk to them!”

“Roger! There’s an officer there that I sort of owe a favor towards…so how about they get sent to jail Them rotting in jail is what they deserve anyway!” Tron insisted.

Teisel made a confused noise. “That’s more mercy than I expected…and you owe and officer a favor? I’ll have to hear the story about that later! But okay, Tron, some Servbots will drop them off to rot in a cell. I owe you that much as a favor!”

“Thanks, Teisel! We’ll be right back at HQ!” Tron said before ceasing communications with her brother and then only talking to the group in the Drache. “Looks like my big brother wants to thank you personally! You should be honored!”

“Honored? I don’t know about that…” Donald replied flatly, but he wasn’t about to argue. Of course, they had to get going soon. The Keyhole was sealed, Loath was defeated, and King Mickey wasn’t around…

Before long, the Drache returned to the Gesellschaft, everyone dropped off and converged to HQ. Tron, Teisel, Bon, and a number of Servbots were waiting for the outsider trio. The Servbots were hard at work, using headsets to communicate with teams of other Servbots to strip The Colossus as much as possible.

Teisel grinned wide at Sora, Donald, and Goofy, a gleam in those red eyes of his. “You came out of nowhere, helped my sister, got us rescued, and helped take down that Loath creep. I honestly can’t thank you enough, and I know Tron and Bon agree!”

“Babu!” The baby of the family chimed in, seeming much more cheerful than earlier.

“For that reason, I think you should become one of us! There’s always room for one more abord the Gesellschaft! Or in your case, three more. How about it?!” Teisel offered, grinning wide as if the trio had already accepted.

Sora was happy the Bonnes were reunited, and surprised they’d spare Loath and Glyde just to toss him in jail. “Sorry…but we can’t stay.” The teen said, feeling a bit awkward. “We’re looking for our friends, so we have to go on. And I don’t think we can stomach robbing banks and stuff like that.”

“Aw, you really feel like you have to be a goodie-goodie?” Tron admonished, though it was more in a joking way. “I thought you might’ve grown a bit of a spine!”

“Havin’ a spine doesn’t mean we gotta steal from others.” Goofy pointed out. “We appreciate the offer, but we just got stuff we gotta do elsewhere!”

“We’d just have to stop you if you tried to rob people.” Donald added in, smirking a bit at how frustrated that seemed to make Teisel.

“Hmph…Well…given all you’ve done, I’ll let your refusal slide, I suppose.” The eldest Bonne said with a sigh. “First, though, you’ll have to tell us all about the crazy things you did and what the Keyhole was about! When I came to, I swear I saw a huge dragon!”

Sora took a step back, not wanting to get into this situation again. “Afraid we can’t, we really need to go.” He turned to Tron, flashing her a grin. “You know, you’re a lot nicer than when we met, I think. You have a good heart, even with all the pirate stuff you do.”

That surprised the young woman, a blush appearing on her face. “Wh…What? What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Hey now, you can’t just leave, we haven’t celebrated yet!” Teisel admonished with a heavy frown. “We were going to have a party!”

“Sorry, but we gotta get goin’. If we see each other again, we’ll throw a huge party, alright?” Goofy said, waving the pirates off as he saw Donald take the return device from his pocket.

Donald chuckled, knowing this would just further confuse the Bonnes. “Goodbye, Bonnes!” He called, pressing the button, making him, Sora, and Goofy vanish to the Gummi Ship in a flash of light.

“What the heck was that?!” Teisel remarked, looking around the room with Bon and a number of the Servbots. “Did they just…teleport?” He glanced back over to Tron. “And why are you blushing, anyway?”

Tron flinched, glaring daggers at Teisel. “Shut up! I’m not blushing!” She then murmured to herself. “A good heart…what did he mean…?”

---

In a far-off world, in the darkened room of Dio and his associates, the table in the middle showed Sora, Donald, and Goofy leaving their most recent world. The image then changed to show Loath and Glyde being dropped off in front of a jail, tied up and gagged. Dio and the hooked-handed man were watching, the only two left of their group. The vampire waved a hand, and the image vanished.

“You’re not going to get them out of there, right?” The hook-handed man asked. “It’d be a waste of damn time to even bother. What a pitiful man he was…”

Dio chuckled and shook his head. “Not a chance. He let his greed cloud his heart, his obsession with that automaton of his assured his defeat. If he just kept his eye on the prize, he may have won…”

“Speaking of obsession, where’s that kid Riku?” The other man asked, looking around the room. “He’s always going off about that Kairi girl, but where is he?”

“He went to search for a way to aid his dear friend. I’m sure by now he’s found a world that may aid him with his obsession. Let’s wait and see what he comes up with…” Dio remarked, smirking a bit as the other man shrugged a bit.

---

There is no doubt that the Heartless are deeply connected to the people's hearts. Further study may unravel both their motivations and the mysteries shrouding the heart.

As a start, I have built a device that artificially creates Heartless. By recreating the conditions that spawn the Heartless naturally, I should be able to produce them artificially. This device is the culmination of all my research thus far. The machine's test run successfully created a Heartless.

This may be a step toward creating a heart from nothing. The artificially and naturally created Heartless showed nearly identical traits. But the two types remain distinct for the purpose of the experiment. So, I will mark the ones that are created artificially.

Chapter Text

Sora did his best not to look out the window of his room. He had stolen a glance as he went to sit on his bed to rest, and the sight made his heart sink. Out there were the stars as usual, but…there were so many gaps in them now. Much more than before…swaths of hundreds, maybe thousands, of worlds that the Heartless have dragged into darkness! It made him feel sick, like everything he was doing had no point to it. He had saved a handful of worlds, but what had that actually accomplished in the bigger picture? The group was no closer to finding out a way to restore the worlds than when they started. Kairi was still missing too…

As he thought of his dear friend, Sora’s chest ached, almost bad enough to make him wince. It also didn’t help that he kept having to leave new friends behind, most likely to never be seen again. Tron and her family were…well, they were different…their morality questionable, but he still liked them, and he appreciated the familial love they had for each other.

He just felt so useless.

Doubt crept into his heart, the heavy numbness he had grown used to crawling over his body. What was wrong with him? Why did he feel so horrible? He didn’t understand his own emotions, or sometimes a lack of them. Right now, he just felt empty. Not even sad, just hollow. His eyes grew heavy, and exhaustion spread through him. He rested his head on his pillow, knowing his tiredness was the kind sleeping couldn’t fix, it never seemed to. And yet…he closed his eyes and passed out.

When he awoke, it felt like hours had passed, but there was no way to tell. Out the window, it was the same starry expanse, chunks still missing. He figured it’d take even longer to get to their next world, more empty space between them now. Sora knew he couldn’t just sit around, as much as he wanted to. He also knew he couldn’t look so glum when he left the room. As Donald had said, no frowning and no sad faces…so he had to keep his frustrations to himself…

And Sora managed to do that over the next two weeks as they traveled. Donald and Goofy took turns in the cockpit, making sure they didn’t run into anything or miss a world. Sora socialized when he was feeling up to it. When he wasn’t, he was training even more, wanting to build his strength and hone his magic usage. It was all he could do to keep his mind off of things and have him lost in his thoughts as little as possible. During this time, he got a bit stir crazy, disliking only having the ship to stretch his legs in. While he was trying to see places outside of Destiny Islands, at least there was room there to roam a bit…here, he just felt trapped…

Once the two weeks were up, just like last time, Donald announced over the speaker that they were coming up on a new world. Sora went up to the cockpit where Donald and Goofy were waiting, the upcoming world dead ahead! It didn’t seem particularly unique in any way. Landmasses and oceans were present, a nice balance of both. Really, the only noteworthy thing was many landmasses had lights streaking across them, large cities full of lights that even they could see from the Gummi Ship.

“Think you can actually get us near the Keyhole this time?” Donald asked GLaDOS, who was plugged into the ship once more. “You’ve been pretty bad about it so far!”

“I’ve gotten you pretty close most of the time.” The A.I. pointed out in a curt tone. “Not my fault things interfere with my sensors. In fact, there are a lot of signals coming from this world…too many to count. It will make the destination another estimate.”

“Well, as long as we’re pretty close, it ain’t too big of a deal, is it?” Goofy asked, wanting to look on the bright side of things as usual.

Sora had to hold back a sigh, wishing things could just be a bit easier. His mood was going down again, but he had to pretend that all was well for Donald and Goofy’s sake. “As long as we can find our friends, that’s enough for me, even if we end up pretty far from the Keyhole.” Surely this would be their lucky break, right? He tried to tell himself that, but deep down he knew the chances were slim.

“See? You should be more positive, Loud Mouth.” GLaDOS says to Donald, taunting him. “It’ll help with that temper of yours.”

Donald scoffs with a roll of the eyes. “Just get us down to the world, alright? If the King is down there, he’ll probably be by the Keyhole.”

“Kairi too!” Sora reminded Donald, giving him a frustrated look behind his back. He always forgot about Kairi!

“Alright, let’s head down and see what the deal is. All those signals could be trouble.” GLaDOS informed. Before Donald could reply with something sarcastic, the four of them were zipped down to the world below!

The group found themselves in an alleyway, Sora holding GLaDOS, whom he quickly pockets. They are in a city, right away being reminded a bit of the world where they met Mob. It was night, the sky above starless due to the city lights and a blanket of clouds. From deep in the alley, they heard the hustle of city life, people walking around and so many voices speaking that it sounded like a buzz.

“So, we’re close to the Keyhole, right?” Sora asked GLaDOS, glancing down at his pocket.

“I’m not sure. So many signals at once…it’s grown stronger now.” The A.I. admitted. “They’re making it hard to pick out the one that Keyholes give off. We should be relatively close, though.”

Goofy scratched his head. “Uh…how close is ‘relatively’ though?” That could mean all sorts of things.

“Look, it’s not my job to lock these things up, that’s Clown Shoes’ job.” GLaDOS insisted. “Go out and look, maybe it will help your meager minds if you use them more often.”

Donald scowled, stomping on ahead as Goofy and Sora quickly caught up. When the three leave the alley, they see just how different the world is from Mob’s. While people were walking around, like in his world, one thing was very unique. Along with people, there were robots all over the place! Walking metal men, women, and even animals, going about the city!

These robots came in all sorts of shapes and sizes, too. Some were very distinctly inhuman, with square limbs, bodies, and heads, shining lights from their eyes as they walked. Others appeared human, except each had at least one detail that showed otherwise. Either their skin was a dull, metallic grey or their hands had been replaced by pincers, amongst other giveaways. Some robots were alone, some came in pairs, some were walking along with humans. There were even robotic animals, like a metallic dog that a man was walking, as though it were a normal dog.

“Robots…all over the place!” Sora gasped out. “Is this what you meant by all the signals, GLaDOS? The robots are giving them off?”

“Nothing gets by you, Clown Shoes.” GLaDOS replied dryly. “All these robots are giving off signals, almost all of them unique, making this very loud and noisy to me.”

The trio was at a loss, unfortunately. Where were they going to find the Keyhole? Given the pattern that seemed to be set from all the other worlds, just going around asking anyone they saw was going to be of little help. It really seemed that Keyholes were generally a secret amongst the inhabitants of each world.

Not sure what to do, the three observed the world a bit more, things would’ve probably been a bigger shock if they hadn’t just come from Tron’s world. At the very least, the robots here were more diverse, and it seemed that they coexisted with humans rather well. Sora recalled how the Servbots seemed to have hearts, the Heartless even going after them when they arguably shouldn’t even bother. Did the robots in this world have hearts too…?

Sora’s pondering was interrupted as, as if summoned by his thoughts, Heartless appeared! Shadows and Soldiers, which seemed to almost always be present in Heartless attacks, along with Yellow Operas and a new type of Heartless resembling cannons, Cannon Guns. The Yellow Operas shot Thunder spells about as they floated around, while Cannon Guns launched projectiles into the air, letting them rain down on people, robots, and cars.

Naturally, it was chaos, the people and robots scrambling to get away from the monstrous beings. Sora, Donald, and Goofy weren’t even surprised when they cropped up. They were, however, a little shocked the robots didn’t stay to fight. Some of them seemed pretty formidable, so they thought they’d help out. Maybe the Thunder spells deterred them, the attacks surely capable of damaging their computing.

So, the outsider trio leapt into the fray, starting to wipe up the Heartless with relative ease. Sora and Donald unleashed barrages of Fira and Blizzara spells, able to do so with increasing ease due to their training, with Donald also having done some during their two week trip. Goofy acted as support, throwing his shield at his opponents or crushing the smaller Heartless beneath it.

Thankfully, the people and robots around the trio managed to get away, letting the three fight the Heartless without worrying about collateral damage. The Heartless kept coming, and as they kept getting swatted away, a massive being of darkness emerged! A floating Heartless, made of stone and gears, a Gear Golem!

As it appeared, it smacked a car right at Sora and Donald, the vehicle hitting them and sending them sprawling and dazed. Goofy threw his shield at it, but the hit seemed ineffective as it bounced off the emblem over its chest. It spun its arms in a circle, throwing cars all over the place, trying to take down its smaller foes with overwhelming force! Sora, Donald, and Goofy had to duck into an alley to avoid damage, the sound of police sirens slowly closing in.

When the three peeked out of the alley to try and formulate a strategy, a new sound emerged from the chaos. Jet engines! From the sky, something small came flying towards the area, and right at the Gear Golem! As the object got closer, it really became clear how small it was, not even five feet tall. Nevertheless, the thing slammed into the Gear Golem’s head, rocking the Heartless’ entire body and nearly knocking it to the ground! The object then landed, revealing itself to be a human, a young boy!

The lights of the city didn’t illuminate the child enough to reveal his features well, but black hair was evident, as well as the fact he wore odd red boots that went up to his knees. Even stranger than that, he wore little else, just a black speedo! As the Gear Golem recovered from its blow, the boy pointed at the Heartless. “You look different from those other things, so I’ll try and negotiate! Leave our city alone, or I’ll have to stop you by any means!” He yelled out, almost seeming wary about fighting, yet confident in his own power.

Naturally, the Heartless didn’t respond nor let itself be deterred by words. It raised its left arm, the gear in place of its hand spinning rapidly, shooting its limb forward to punch and skewer the boy! “Hey! Look out!” Goofy screamed, shield at the ready as he, Sora, and Donald rushed forward.

Yet it turned out their worry was for nothing. As the punch came, the boy held out his hands and actually caught the blow! The gear kept spinning, sparks flying, but the child wasn’t deterred, and didn’t even seem like he was injured at all. In fact, the gear started to slow, and when it got slow enough, the boy grabbed it and in a move that made Sora, Donald, and Goofy freeze in place, swung the Gear Golem over his shoulder! In a mighty move, he slammed the Heartless into the road, the impact so strong that the creature of darkness vanished instantly! At this point, the police sirens were drawing in quite close!

“What the…? How’d he do that?!” Donald exclaimed as the boy dusted his hands, turning to properly face the trio.

Something about the child just seemed…off. Normally, someone would have a blemish, a freckle or something on their face, even the slightest imperfection. Yet the boy had none of that, his face essentially perfect, for a lack of a better term. And while Sora’s hair was spiky, the strange child took it to another level, the points of his hair looking sharp enough to cut metal!

The boy seemed surprised to see the three, gesturing to the area around them. “Hey, what were you still doing here? Those things are dangerous, you know!” He said it more out of concern than anything, almost like he had a personal stake in the trio’s safety despite just having met them. “You aren’t hurt, are you?”

“We should be asking you that!” Sora exclaimed in surprise, but as he looked closer, he saw no signs of injury or strain on the boy. Looking closer, there seemed to be something on his chest, but the lights around them weren’t bright enough to be sure of what it was. “And…why aren’t you dressed…?” Thinking of it, how did he fly down here? He heard the roars of engines, were those boots some sort of flying devices?

And…somehow…Sora almost felt like he had met the boy before…

Before the boy could answer, several police cars turned the corner, arriving at the street. They slowed to a stop, several officers, both human and robots, got out of their cars. One man in particular seemed to be leading the group, a grumpy looking individual in a brown coat and a hat. Though his most notable feature was his long, round nose, sporting a mustache that looked like a bristled brush.

“Don’t worry, Inspector Tawashi, I got it all cleared up without anyone getting injured!” The boy said to the long-nosed man. “These three were in the alley, but they don’t seem to be hurt.”

The inspector huffed, not seeming all too concerned about the three strangers. “Well, that’s fine.” He said, though his tone was far from caring. “I just want to know why you went ahead of us, Atom, your theatrics make us look bad, you know! We need one of these things captured alive, too!”

The boy, apparently named Atom, didn’t seem to mind being chewed out by the grumpy man. “There was only one creature, and it was too big to capture, so I had to take it out!”

“Reports said there were a bunch of them!” The inspector barked back, looking at Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “Is Atom telling the truth? Was there just the one? You saw it all, right?”

“Well…there were a lot of smaller ones…but we took them out.” Sora confessed, gesturing to himself, Donald, and Goofy. “We didn’t know anyone would want to capture a Heartless, so…”

Inspector Tawashi looked the trio over with a huff, glaring at them openly. “You three were interfering, huh? Why’d you do something like that? And where’d you get a name like Heartless from anyway?”

Donald glared right back. “You’re welcome for helping out! So we should’ve just let the Heartless rampage?!”

“And, uh, well, some of them got them there emblems with a heart crossed out.” Goofy chimed in. “So, we’ve been callin’ ‘em Heartless!” He felt like that was a good enough excuse.

“It’s pretty catchy.” Atom casually responded. “Inspector Tawashi, they’re right, they helped save people, we can’t be mad at them for that.”

The man huffed again. “Maybe you can’t, but I can! Remember, you’re not part of the police force, so you don’t speak for us!”

Again, Atom didn’t seem affected by a grown man talking down to him. “That’s not what I was getting at…I just think they did a good thing. That’s all.”

“Look, we’re sorry, we really just didn’t know you wanted to capture a Heartless.” Sora reiterated. “We’re not from around here, so we’re not used to how you handle things.”

Before the inspector could respond, one of the police robots stepped forward. “Inspector, I think we should be worrying about the damage rather than yelling at people that stopped those creatures.”

“…Fine. Whatever. Just go on and get out of my sight!” Inspector Tawashi scolded, waving the trio away dismissively. He then glanced at Atom. “You too, kid, get lost!” Before Atom could even respond, he turned around and started to look over the area with the rest of the police.

The unusual looking boy glanced over at the trio. “Are you three really okay? Apparently there were a whole bunch of those creatures…the Heartless.” It seemed like he was testing out the new name for the creatures a bit as he spoke.

“Yeah, we’re fine. We’re kind of used to handling them.” Sora admitted. “…But…I’m kind of curious. What’s your deal?” With Atom standing closer, he saw the thing on the boy’s chest was some sort of square line. Not a shirt or something, though, it’s like it was drawn on.

“My deal?” Atom asked, tilting his head in curiosity. “I’m not so sure…oh! You mean you can’t tell I’m a robot, can you?”

“Wait, what?!” Donald exclaimed, looking Atom over again. “You’re a robot…?”

It was odd…but…it also made a lot of sense. His flawless skin and freakishly pointy hair, of course. That strength of his was pretty unreal too, though that didn’t necessarily make him inhuman, given how different things could be in other worlds. What made Atom stand out is that, from a distance, he’d look just like any other kid. All the other robots the three had seen so far either were entirely made of blatant metal and could never be mistaken for a human or had some sort of metal piece of an uncanny bit that stood out a mile away. Atom’s uncanniness was just…far more subtle. Even up close the three never thought to actually pin him as a robot!

“That’s right! I’m a bit more realistic than most.” Atom explained, having a modest tone about his statement. “I don’t think I caught your names, though…”

Sora was still reeling a bit from the revelation, but he supposed it was hardly the strangest thing he had encountered during his journey. “Oh, right. I’m Sora. And this is Donald and Goofy.” The teen introduced, gesturing to his friends in kind.

“You really couldn’t tell he was a robot? I could tell without even properly seeing him.” GLaDOS’ voice rang from Sora’s pocket.

“Hm? Who’s that? I thought I picked up an odd signal…” The robot boy murmured, watching as Sora took GLaDOS from his pocket.

“Right, it’s just GLaDOS here…she’s an A.I. that…well, she just sort of chronicles things.” Sora said, having been about to say that GLaDOS helps them, but that doesn’t happen too terribly often…

Donald huffed, wanting to yank the A.I. from Sora’s hand and toss it into the sewers. “Of course you’d know he was a robot. You probably just picked up on his signal or something.” The mage retorted, not even sure if that’s how it worked.

Atom seemed almost in awe at GLaDOS, looking over the small tablet she was contained in. “She’s really advanced! Where did you guys get someone like her? I’m not sure even Professor Ochanomizu could make someone like her…”

GLaDOS let out a noise that sounded a bit like a breathy smirk. “Seems like Atom here knows his stuff. You three keep running into some smart people.” Apparently she really was flattered, even calling Atom by his name instead of just giving him a mean nickname. “Looks like all these robots are messing with my signals. No wonder I couldn’t detect the Keyhole.”

That also got Atom’s attention, eyes shining with curiosity, looking remarkably human-like. “Keyhole? What Keyhole? Are you trying to get in somewhere?”

Goofy just went with the flow. “It’s sorta a special Keyhole. Probably real big…does it ring a bell at all?” He tried to explain it in a way without mentioning what it truly was, realizing it didn’t really help at all.

With that vague description, Atom shook his head. “I’ve never heard of a special Keyhole. Maybe Professor Ochanomizu can help! He’s really smart, so if anyone might know something about that, it’d be him!”

“We don’t know who that is.” Sora replied, putting GLaDOS back into his pocket. “Can you take us to him?”

Once more, Atom seemed surprised. “You don’t know Professor Ochanomizu? He’s the Minister of Science! You guys aren’t from around here, are you?”

“No, we just arrived today!” Donald quickly explained. “So, we have no idea where this guy is, so you’ll have to take us to him!”

“If ya don’t mind, he means.” Goofy chimed in, trying to outweigh Donald’s demanding nature. After all this time, he wished his friend could be a bit more gentle asking for things!

Atom didn’t seem to mind, though. Apparently a lot of things didn’t get under his skin, artificial or otherwise. “That’s not a problem. I’m on my way back to see him anyway, he’ll want to know about that new Heartless that showed up.”

The robotic boy started to lead the group, the streets starting to become more crowded again as they went, the panic from before winding down. “So, have the Heartless been a problem for a while? Seems like they pop up everywhere we go.” Sora asked, curious about something. “Seems like they just attack everyone.

“It’s been a few weeks…they just showed up one day, and no one’s been able to figure out where they came from.” Atom explained, seeming dejected. “They keep stealing the hearts of humans and robots, it’s becoming a big problem…no matter how many get taken out, more just show up!”

That’s what Sora was looking for! The Heartless went after robots…so they have hearts too! The Servbots really piqued his interest in that…it’s just a shame it got confirmed to be true in another world in such a grizzly way. “I didn’t know it was that bad! But the robots really have hearts?”

Atom turned to look at Sora, almost seeming insulted by his words. “Robots and humans are the same. Not everyone thinks so, but it’s the truth. Professor Ochanomizu sure thinks so, but not everyone seems to be able to agree…”

Goofy thought about that inspector, who seemed really harsh on Atom for no real reason. If anything, he should’ve been praising the robot for helping to thwart such a dangerous Heartless! “I think I see what ya mean. Don’t worry Atom, we know humans and robots are the same!” The Servbots didn’t just make an impression on Sora, but Goofy too. Those little yellow fellas really loved Tron, and she loved them back. If that wasn’t proof of them having a heart, Goofy didn’t know what would.

This brought a smile back to Atom’s face. “I appreciate that. Do you guys have a lot of robots where you come from?”

“Well…no, but we met some on the way.” Sora replied, essentially being honest. He still disliked the idea of lying to people from other worlds, despite it being the safest route.

“So, hey, is this Professor guy really going to be able to help?” Donald butted in, trying to focus on the mission. “We’re also looking for people, can he help with that?”

Atom seemed worried, as if the very idea of someone in trouble caused him distress. “Really? Are they lost? I don’t know if the Professor can help with missing people…and I don’t know enough about the Keyhole to really say. Tell me about your friends, I’ll see if I’ve seen them at all.” After Sora, Donald, and Goofy gave information about their friends, Atom shook his head. “No…they don’t ring a bell…but I’ve memorized their descriptions, so if I see them, I’ll remember them!”

As the group walked, Sora felt his curiosity grow again. “So…why are you so different from other robots? All the ones we saw just ran from the Heartless, but you fought one off. Did Professor Ochanomizu build you to protect the city?”

“No, he didn’t build me, he just looks out for me.” Atom replied, noticeably leaving out who actually built him. “He keeps me repaired whenever I take damage, things like that. I guess he keeps me maintained so I can keep an eye on the country.”

“The entire country? Ain’t there any other robots that can help out? Why, you’re just a little feller, Atom!” Goofy proclaimed, almost feeling a little silly given what the ‘little feller’ was capable of. Something told him that display back there was far from Atom’s maximum strength.

Atom nodded. “There’s others. Montblanc and Gesicht for instance, they try their best to keep their parts of the world safe. Most robots just aren’t made for combat, a lot of people wouldn’t like it if there were armies of robots that were nearly as strong as me.”

Sora had to remember that Atom wasn’t a human kid…did that mean he could handle these sorts of things more, even with a heart? Sora had a few nightmares during the weeks of travel, a lot of them recalling Kenshrio’s…messy way of handling his foes. The stress of the journey was starting to pile up…but Sora just had to smile through it. Was Atom the same way…?

Not long after, the group arrived at a large building, a dozen stories tall at least. With ‘Ministry of Science’ in large letters across the building, no one had to make a guess of where they were. Instead, Goofy asked another question. “So, what’s this Professor like? You said he’s nice, but what else? Will he actually help us out?”

“Oh, Professor Ochanomizu will help us out for sure! He really is nice, but he can be a bit stern if you aren’t careful.” The robot boy warned as he took the group inside the building. “I know his title seems scary, but he’s not pompous about it or anything!”

The interior of the building was about what the outsider trio expected. Scientists and important looking people going about, talking and looking over papers. Some raised a brow at the three strangers in the building, but it seemed Atom’s presence was enough to prevent them from raising a fuss. Before long, Atom took the three into an office, books lining the walls, a large desk near the far side of the room where a man was sitting.

This man was somewhat short, probably about Sora’s size, and wide too. He had little hair, what he managed to have was white, and mostly on the sides of his head in large tuffs. Most notably, though, was his nose. It was gigantic, practically the size of Sora’s head, in fact. The man was writing something down on some sort of form, his gaze rising as the group entered his office.

His eyes lit up upon seeing Atom, a small smile creasing his face. “Atom, my boy, how was the call? And I see you’ve brought guests…?”

“The call didn’t go so well.” The robot boy admitted. “I couldn’t capture any of the creatures. And these three are Sora, Donald, and Goofy. They helped fight off some of them…they call them Heartless. Seems like a good enough name to me, huh Professor?”

“I suppose…” The older man mused, but quickly changed subjects. “So, what brings you three here?” He stood up, walking around the desk to get a better look at his guests. “Not very often Atom brings visitors to my office.”

“Well, Atom told us you might be able to help us.” Sora started, trying his best not to stare at the man’s gigantic nose. He had to wonder how the professor kept his posture straight with it weighing him down. “My friends and I are looking for something called the Keyhole. Atom said you might be able to help us with that.”

Professor Ochanomizu gave a perplexed look to the teenager. “A Keyhole? Like in a door? I assure you there’s quite a great many in this city alone. Can you be more specific?”

GLaDOS let out a sigh from Sora’s pocket. “Hey, let me out, I want to talk to him.” She chirped, Sora obeying as he takes her out. “Can you analyze particular signals? I can share the information directly if you plug me into a device where I can share my data.”

That really got the older man’s attention, stepping forward and looking GLaDOS over closely. “My word, is that an A.I. you have there? She seems remarkably advanced! I think we should have a device able to handle her complexity.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere, professor.” GLaDOS chirped, yet despite her words she notably didn’t give Professor Ochanomizu a nasty nickname. Especially since he had a very obvious point to make fun of right in the middle of his face. “We can try that method, it’s a lot easier than trying to explain things.”

“I see! I’m hoping I can take a look at you when this is done, I’ve never seen something so advanced in such a small parcel before!” The professor gushed, but then composed himself. “It will still help if I had some more information about this.”

Donald stepped in, thinking he could explain just enough to get Atom and Professor Ochanomizu to just help them out already. “It’s a source of energy that we think is nearby. The Heartless are after it, and it’ll be real bad if they get to it before we do!” It was mostly accurate, so the robot and professor couldn’t accuse him of lying or anything.

Atom chimed in before the professor could reply. “We can trust them…I don’t sense any ill intent from them at all. Donald seems a bit grouchy, though, but he’s a good person.”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!” The grumpy duck snapped back, glaring at Atom.

Apparently, the robot’s word was all Professor Ochanomizu needed. He gave a slow nod, and gestured towards the door to his office. “Well, if it will help without Heartless problem, I can’t turn down the opportunity to help. I’m hoping you’ll explain more of this later, still. Those dark creatures just showed up one day, it was quite frightening…” As he said this, he began to lead everyone out into the hallway.

“Yeah! It’ll help! Sora here can get the Keyhole all sealed up so none of them Heartless can reach it!” Goofy explained as Professor Ochanomizu nodded some more, humming in thought.

“It all truly sounds fascinating.” The man admitted, still seeming a bit confused, though. “Well, once this is all cleared up, we need to talk this over in length! My expertise is in robotics, but this is all very fascinating!”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy just nodded along, knowing once they sealed the Keyhole, they’d have to leave. They weren’t sure they could even search for their friends here. In a huge city like this, what were the chances they’d find them? It’d take days, maybe weeks, to do a proper search, and they just didn’t have that kind of time!

The professor took the group into a room that had all sorts of machinery in it, a few scientists working at some stations. Frankly, nothing in the room made sense to Sora, Donald, or Goofy. Keyboards, screens, electrical graphs and charts…it was all over their heads. Professor Ochanomizu took them to a machine that had ports in it that plugs could go into.

“This is the device, is it?” GLaDOS remarked, almost seeming like she was amused for some reason. “I can work with this. Clown Shoes, hold me close.” She ordered Sora, who just did as told without argument. Atom seemed to find her nickname a bit funny, a small smile forming on his face.

Out of GLaDOS’ device, a wire came out, plugging into one of the slots of the machine. “I didn’t know you could do stuff like that…” Sora remarked as beeping sounds came from both GLaDOS and the machine she plugged into.

“You never asked.” She replied dryly. After another few seconds, the wire retracted. “I uploaded the data, the specific wavelength that Keyholes give off. You should be able to find it now, right?”

“Well, let’s see…” Professor Ochanomizu mumbled, working the nearby keyboard. All sorts of numbers and bars appeared on the screen before him, the outsider trio not even bothering to try and decipher what it was he was looking at. It all seemed to make sense to the older man, though, as he let out a surprised hum. “I’ve never seen a reading quite like this before…yet I can already say, if this sort of energy fell into the wrong hands, it could be a disaster! How has no one ever picked up on it before…?”

Donald cleared his throat with impatience. “So, can you find the Keyhole or not?” It’d be such a nice change of pace to have someone just point them right to the Keyhole for a chance.

The professor nodded, but didn’t seem too confident. “I believe I can, yes. However, it will take time. The reading is getting mixed up in the countless signals of the robots within the city. Frankly, I can’t tell you anything at the moment. However, leaving the machine running, it will be able to sift through all the signals and pinpoint the location of the Keyhole. I don’t know how long it will take, though, it could be all night…”

Sora saw Donald’s brow furrow and his bill open up to, surely, yell. Sora quickly clamped it shut. “Okay, yeah! I mean, we can wait, and we appreciate it!” He said, struggling as Donald tried to push him off.

“Uh…but we don’t have anywhere to stay.” Goofy pointed out. No money, whatever currency this world even used, to pay for anything. “We’re kinda…broke.”

Atom chimed in, raising his hand as if trying to be called on in class. “You can stay with me! We don’t need to sleep in beds, so you can just use ours!”

Sora was about to question Atom having a house at all, him finding it odd to think a robot even would. Then he realized that’d be a horrible thing to say. He couldn’t help but think of robots like how he saw them in movies or from books, generally mindless or evil. Or both. “You sure that’s okay? Who’s ‘we’ exactly?”

“My family, of course! My mom, dad, and Uran.” Atom explained, and giving a shake of his head. “It won’t be a problem at all, like I said, we don’t really need our beds when we rest. It’s just something we like to do most of the time.”

That sounded a tad bit unusual, but the trio hardly cared. It was that, or sleep in the streets somewhere. “Okay, we appreciate it.” Sora said, finally letting go of Donald, who slapped Sora on the arm in a huff.

“So, they’re all robots too? What about the guy that made ya? Does he live with ya?” Goofy asked. Atom didn’t say anything, and a shadow seemed to pass over Professor Ochanomizu’s face for a split second.

“You should get going.” The older man said, trying to sound casual, but there was a sort of urgency to his tone. “The machine should be able to point you in the right direction by morning, okay? Run along now!”

That was the second time asking about Atom’s creator made things awkward. The trio got the hint at that point. Whatever was going on with the guy that made Atom, it wasn’t good. That made them a lot more curious, though, but they had to resist pushing for an answer!

It was a bit of an awkward trip back down to the entrance of the building, but once they were outside, Atom spoke up again. “So, is the Keyhole the only reason you’re here? It seems pretty important. Your friends too, though, right?”

“Right…We think our friends may be near where the Keyhole is, but we’re just not sure.” Sora answered, feeling awkward he has to keep dancing around the true answers to these questions.

“Do you know where the Heartless came from?” Atom suddenly asked, his voice a bit more serious. “It seems like you guys know more than you’re telling me.”

Sora figured it was only a matter of time before more specific answers were demanded. “Well…not really…” That was sort of true. The Heartless were formed from the darkness in one’s heart, but did they actually emerge from that, or called from somewhere else? Was that the origin of all Heartless? He had no idea!

Atom stared at him, his too-perfect eyes giving him an uncanny appearance, somehow both artificial and very much human at the same time. “I see.” Was all he said, his tone hard to read. Things were a bit awkward after that, and quiet, as the group went along. It wasn’t long, though, before they came across a quaint, comfortable looking home. Atom’s mood quickly changed to a more cheerful tune, as he gestured at the house like a presenter of some kind. “This is my house! Everyone should be home by now, come on!”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy felt like trespassers, somehow. Probably because they had never stayed in such a normal home in the various worlds they’ve visited. It almost seemed…out of sorts, in a way. A welcome change, though, to be sure.

As Atom took them into the abode, they saw the inside was just as cozy as the outside, furnished and set up like any normal home would be. Sora couldn’t help but think of his own home, his chest aching as the memories pushed into his heart. When would he get to see his home, his island, his parents, Kairi, again? It was getting harder for him to keep his hopes up…

His thoughts were interrupted as a pretty woman appeared, Sora presuming her to be Atom’s mother. Like Atom, she was very human-like, though not quite as perfected as him. She had the appearance, almost, of a doll. Not in an uncanny way, though, she looked fine, wearing some casual clothes with brown hair and matching eyes. From a distance, she’d be mistaken for a human.

“Oh, Atom, you brought guests! I wish you would’ve told me ahead of time.” The woman gently chided, seeming more surprised than actually upset.

“Sorry, mom, it was kind of sudden.” Atom replied. “These three helped me out with those dark creatures earlier, so I want to help them out too!”

“My name’s Sora, and this is Donald and Goofy.” The teen greeted, wanting to keep up his manners. “It’s nice to meet you, ma’am.” She didn’t seem stern, but it just seemed wrong to act too casual around her, he couldn’t explain why.

The woman smiled, showing off perfectly white teeth. A bit unusual, but it made sense. “Just call me Rin, dear. Same goes for you too Donald and Goofy.” She chirped, turning to call deeper into the home. “Ethanol, darling, Atom’s brought some guests!”

As the three guests were taken into the living room, they saw a man robot reading a newspaper in an armchair. Like Rin, the man seemed human from across the room. It’s only when the outsider trio got closer that he seemed more doll-like. His black hair was coifed a bit, and it was revealed to be one solid piece, there even being a plug in its front, whatever it was for was anyone’s guess. Notably, in the corner, a terrier was asleep, not seeming bothered by the guests in the home.

The man, Ethanol, beamed at the guests. “Oh? Some unusual guests…not the kind Atom usually brings home.”

“They helped me fight off some of those dark creatures, so I want them to stay the night. That’s okay, isn’t it dad?” Atom asked.

Ethanol was a lot more casual than his wife, shrugging. “Fine with me. They can have the beds.”

“If you’re robots, why do you have beds at all?” Donald couldn’t help but ask, not seeming to think about how it could be rude to ask.

Thankfully, none of the robots seemed to mind, at least outwardly. “It just helps us feel more human, that’s all. We don’t feel discomfort if we sleep on the floor, but that’s not what people do, so neither do we.” Ethanol explained.

Atom looked around, seeming to realize something, or a lack of something, rather. “Hey, where’s Uran? I figured she’d come running in to greet us…”

Rin and Ethanol exchanged worried glances, looking back to Atom. “We were hoping you had seen her at some point. She should’ve been back a while ago.” The father said, a worried frown on his face.

“Maybe she found another animal in need…” Rin suggested. “We already have Jump… She glanced at the dog in the corner. “…so she knows she can’t bring them home. She’s probably tending to a stray cat or something…”

“If ya need help findin’ her, we can lend a hand!” Goofy offered, getting worried for the girl himself. He’d hate to know a kid was out there in need of help with Heartless running around.

“We’d appreciate that, thank you.” Rin said with a breath of relief. “Atom, you know where Uran’s hangouts are, you take them around and see if you can find her. With those creatures out and about, I really worry for her…”

Sora grinned, wanting to reassure the parents. “Don’t worry, we can’t just leave our friend’s sister out there where it might be dangerous! You can just count on us!”

Atom nodded, but also sighed. “Uran’s always getting into trouble. Not the first time I’ve had to save her. Let’s get moving!” He led the charge, the four rushing out of the house and back out into the city.

---

A young girl moved along near the alleys of the city. From a distance, she seemed just like any other girl, a pink dress and black hair done in an admittedly unusual fashion. The sides are curved up, almost looking like horns. Up close, people may notice her skin is smooth and flawless, and her hair horns are sharp, sharp enough to prick one’s finger on! The unusual looking girl hummed as she walked along, a strange sensation going through her brain.

In the air, she sensed unease and sadness coming from a source unfamiliar to her. A heart calling out for aid in the night, and she felt she had to investigate. It was most unusual, loneliness and despair that stretched deep and dark, catching her attention from miles away, calling her to the current location to look for its source.

As the sensation grew stronger, she peered into a nearby alley, pinpointing it as the source of the emotions. There she saw a boy, a teenager, with silver hair and blue eyes leaning against the wall, doubled over and seeming to be in pain. Was that the source of the unease? She had never sensed something like that from someone so young before. She wasn’t afraid, though, she was stronger than she looked!

Skipping into the alley, the girl called out. “Hey! What’s wrong? You seem so sad!” She declared, being as blunt as a punch to the face, as is her nature.

The young teen turned around, surprised a bit at what he saw. “What’s a kid like you doing around here all alone?” He asked, voice sharp. Not mean, but like he was trying to keep his distance.

“I could ask you the same thing!” The unusual child countered, seeming more amused with his answer than anything. “You look real tired, and you feel real sad. Is there something wrong? Trouble at home?”

He was perplexed by her bold words. She didn’t ask if he was sad, she declared he was with such confidence. The teen had seen the robots in this world, of all shapes and sizes. She didn’t seem like one, though, but…something about her seemed…off. “How’d you know I was here? You sensed me somehow? How does that work?” The teen was more curious than anything, not finding the girl odd enough to be on active guard.

The girl grinned, almost mischievously, like she knew a funny joke and refused to share. Yet, she then told it anyway. “I’m a robot! Couldn’t ya tell?” She revealed, spinning as if to show off her robotic-ness. Still, she seemed very much human, just a bit uncanny up close.

That took the boy by surprise, but it made sense, she didn’t seem entirely human, but he had never seen a robot that actually passed this close. It certainly explained how she ‘sensed’ him, but he never expected a robot’s circuits could even pick up on things like emotion and being tired. “Guess I couldn’t. What’s your name, anyway?” He asked, standing up straighter, his energy returning a bit. “My name’s Riku.”

“Nice to meet you, Riku! My name’s Uran!” She introduced, beaming at Riku. “So, why don’t you tell me what’s wrong? Maybe I can help!”

Riku shrugged. “Just tired, traveling can be tough these days.” He replied vaguely. Dio was able to use darkness to travel so easily, but for him, it was still a challenge. “Is helping people your function or something?”

Uran huffs, offended. “I don’t have a function, that’s rude!” She scolds, pointing a finger at Riku. “I came to help because it’s a nice thing to do!” As she was saying this, several Shadows emerged from the dark of the alley, glowing yellow eyes trained on her.

Riku hadn’t called these Heartless, they came on their own…and their attention was focused on the robot? The Heartless only wanted hearts…so did that mean…?

---

In a seedier part of the city, a grimy warehouse stood, the kind of place people would cross the street just so they didn’t walk by it. Inside, a group of men crowded in a room, all of them ruffians in suits. One in particular stuck out, a face that just screamed that he was a no-good criminal, his skin so pale it was practically a hue of grey. He was talking on the phone, grinning ear to ear as he spoke.

“…I said we’ll get it to ya soon. The guards won’t be a problem, not this time. Just ease up, got it?” With that, the man hung up the phone, a nasty laughter escaping his crooked grin.

“You sure it’ll be that easy, Skunk?” One of the men asked the pale figure. “Half of us got caught last time, they’re never getting out of jail!”

Skunk smirked, the expression almost reeking of a nasty smugness. “I’ve got it all handled. I swiped something that’ll help us out, alright? Found this band a while ago, messes with your heart. Never had a use for it until this real strong looking guy showed up out of the blue. With him on our side, we’ll snatch that part easily!”

A door to the room opened and an intimidating figure stepped in. He was tall and powerful looking, spiked blonde hair and blank blues eyes. The man had a tattered red cape and a metal claw, a massive sword with bandages slung over his shoulder. Around his head was a copper band, humming with a mysterious energy as he looked towards Skunk with glassy eyes. “Whatever you want from me, I’ll do it.” The man said, voice lacking all emotion…

Chapter Text

“So, where does Uran even go, usually?” Donald asked, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice. The quartet had been walking through the city for about twenty minutes at this point, and he was getting a bit annoyed. So far, nothing had happened. No Heartless attacks, or anything of the sort.

Noticeably, the citizens of the city did seem a bit on edge as they went around, even the robots seeming nervous. Even the robots without proper human faces had an air of unease from them, really showing just how emotive they could be. They could hardly be blamed, with the threat of Heartless coming at any moment, it must have been nerve-wracking just to be on the streets. If anything, it was a miracle people went out and about at all!

“Well, she goes to a bunch of different places.” Atom began to explain. “She can feel the emotions of humans and robots, hearing their hearts crying out. When she feels that someone is really sad, she’ll go and try to help them.”

“Aw, well ain’t that sweet!” Goofy exclaimed with a wide grin. “Sounds like the both of ya are some real swell kids!”

“But…doesn’t that mean that Uran could be basically anywhere?” Sora pointed out. It was nice that Uran was kind, but it made finding her that much harder.

Atom laughed a bit, though it seemed more like a nervous tick. “Yeah…it sort of does. But we can try the park, at least, she likes to go there and look for abandoned pets sometimes.”

It was almost odd to the outsider trio how Uran seemed like a handful, but also really sweet at the same time. Or her sweetness just got her out at all hours, making her into a handful to deal with. “Let’s just hope that’s all it is.” Sora responded.

With the plan in mind, Atom started to lead the group to the park, keeping an eye out for Uran and for any Heartless. They had to be ready at a moment’s notice to jump any that appeared, given the amount of people around. It was one thing when Sora, Donald, and Goofy were alone, but with so many bystanders…it could be a huge issue.

Thankfully, all was quiet until they reached the park, a large expanse of green in the middle of the city, with not many people in sight. There also wasn’t a lot of light, though. “Hey, how are we supposed to see?!” Donald demanded, squinting into the darkness. There were a couple streetlamps, but a lot of the park was still blanketed in black.

“Oh, don’t worry, I can handle that.” Atom said, then blinked and beams of light shot out of his eyes, like headlights on a car! “With my eyes, we can look around way easier!”

“Gawrsh, that’s pretty handy there, Atom? What other kinda stuff can you do?” He could fly, was really strong, and now had lights in his eyes! Made Goofy wonder what other doohickeys he had handy.

Atom grinned, seeming to enjoy the praise a bit, like a real kid would. Though, all things considered, he did seem to be a real kid, despite the metal parts. “Oh, I can do a few other things, most of it is combat stuff, though.”

As if challenged by Atom’s words, a group of Heartless appeared around the group! Shadows, Soldiers, Large Bodies, Blue Rhapsody and Yellow Opera Heartless appeared as well, unleashing Blizzard and Thunder spells at the quartet! Right away, the four leapt into battle with Sora, Donald, and Goofy used to fighting such opponents by this point.

Atom continued to show immense strength in his combat, just like with the Gear Golem! His punches were immensely powerful, either obliterating Heartless on impact or launching them dozens of feet through the air, often into trees or rocks that finished the job. He was targeted by the Blue Rhapsody and Yellow Opera Heartless, but their spells proved to be of little effect. Atom simply backhanded the Blizzard spells, reducing them to tiny bits of ice, and shrugged off the Thunder spells, seeming to be immune to such attacks. That, or the minor Thunder spells were simply too weak to do anything to him.

During the fight, Sora noticed a trio of Large Bodies appearing behind the robot boy. “Hey! Atom! Behind you!” The teen warned, ready to leap in if needed.

Atom turned his head and saw the Heartless…then he did something unusual. Rather than facing them or going to punch the creatures…Atom bent over. In a move that nearly made the outsider trio’s jaws drop, two gun barrels came out of the robot boy…his rear end, to be precise. In an instant, the butt guns fired, swiftly destroying the three Large Bodies! Once they were gone, the barrels tucked back into Atom and he stood up straight again.

“What the heck was that?!” Donald exclaimed, rubbing his eyes as if that’d somehow clarify what he just witnessed.

“Oh, those are just for defense. Enemies can come from behind and all!” Atom clarified, as if that explained why the barrels came out of his butt rather than, say, his shoulders. To him, at least, it was apparently just normal…so the trio chose not to question it further. In any case, it didn’t take much longer before the Heartless were taken out, Atom taking out the last Soldier as he threw it so hard into a lamppost that it disintegrated into a dark mist.

When the group gathered back up again, Sora noticed Atom staring at his Keyblade, his fixation intense. “Hey, Atom, you okay? Something bothering you?” The teen asked, even shifting the weapon around a bit to make sure it was what Atom was staring at. Sure enough, the robot boy’s gaze followed the Keyblade.

Atom blinked twice, the effect a bit startling given he was still using his headlight eyes. “Oh. Sorry, no. It’s just…something about your weapon…almost feels familiar somehow. But I’ve never seen it before, so maybe I’m just thinking of something else.”

At just that moment, a voice came from the darkness, that of a young girl. “Atom? Is that you?” The voice called out. Atom turned, his headlights revealing a girl in a red dress, her hair pointed and sharp looking like Atom’s.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy at first thought she was human. In the bad lighting of the park, she seemed real, but looking closer, with Atom’s bright lights, it was clear her skin was artificial, her hair more metal than anything. She had that uncanny look of perfection, just like Atom. “Uran! There you are…why are you here in the park so late? Mom and dad are worried!” Atom scolded, his frustration clearly born from fear and care.

Uran huffed and puts her hands on her hips. “Atom, I’m fine! I’ve been with a new friend, and I see you have new friends too!”

“Yeah, I’m Goofy, and this is Sora and Donald! We’ve been lookin’ for ya!” Goofy introduced. “Atom’s right though, your parents were worried, so we came out here tryin’ to find ya.”

“It’s not safe out here, so just come back with us!” Donald ordered, though he was also relieved to see she was okay, even if he wouldn’t say it out loud.

Sora was relieved too, dismissing his Keyblade. “Is your friend an animal? Atom said you come here to find strays sometimes.”

Uran shook her head, a grin on her face. “No, he’s a person! Come on, you should come meet him! Let’s go!” She didn’t even wait for a response, turning around and rushing off into the darkness. It seemed she somehow was able to see where she was going, not having headlight eyes like Atom did.

“Uran! Come on, we don’t have time for this!” Atom yelled, running after Uran, with the other three following behind. She was quick, usually right outside the light of Atom’s headlights, scampering deeper into the park as they followed.

Before long, she stopped, turning around and grinning at the quartet. “He’s right near here, come on! He looked all sick when we met, but he’s feeling better now!” Uran chirped, gesturing to someone just out of sight, someone in the darkness.

“I don’t think we really have time for these games, Uran.” Sora declared, not usually one to scold someone else’s sibling, but this was getting silly!

“Oh, but I thought you liked games, Sora!” A familiar voice rang from the darkness. Sora found himself flinching as Riku walked out from the shadows and into the light. He was smirking, like Sora was the butt of a joke that he wasn’t even aware of. “Or are you just too cool to play around now that you have the Keyblade?”

“Riku…? Why are you here?” Sora asked, not having expected to see him outside of Traverse Town. He had assumed Riku was still there, seeing if Kairi would show up in that world…how did he even get here? Did he get a ride with someone somehow?

The silver-haired teen gave a smirk, like Sora just asked a really stupid question. He gestured to the girl robot by his side. “Playing with Uran, that’s all.” His voice dripped with sarcasm.

“That’s not what I mean!” Sora exclaimed, wondering what was going on. Why was Riku acting so…off? “What about Kairi? Did you find her?” Riku must have been looking for her outside of Traverse Town…that had to be why he’d be in such a far-off world! He was still wondering how Riku even managed to get there…there was no one else with him to suggest a Gummi Ship…maybe Tali had managed to cobble together something, and Riku used that!

“Mmm…How about…we play a game? If you catch us, I’ll tell you what I know!” Riku declared, taking Uran’s hand. She didn’t seem to realize anything was amiss, laughing as he dragged off into the darkness, the two of them seeming to go far faster than Uran did earlier.

“Hey! Wait, where are you going?!” Atom called out, running after his sister and Riku, the other three at his side. “Sora, who was that?” The robot boy asked.

Sora was so confused, why was Riku doing something like this? Did he think it was funny?! “He’s a friend of mine, but I didn’t know he’d be here!” The brunette explained. “I don’t know why he’s acting so weird, though!” He vanished back in Traverse Town, then here he’s causing trouble!

“Well, he’s not really acting like it!” Donald huffed, noticing just how far ahead Riku had apparently gone. The mage couldn’t even hear his or Uran’s footfalls anymore!

Far off in the park, under a streetlamp, Riku walked alone, smirking to himself. Uran was no longer with him, he had told her to split up, to make the ‘game’ more fun. He saw the spotlight of Atom’s eyes, heading off right by him, none of the quartet even noticing the silver-haired teen.

“Seems you still care about that boy, though I can’t imagine why.” A familiar voice chimed. Riku turned to see Dio, lingering just outside of the lamp’s cone of light, his eyes seeming to glow in the dark. “He’s all but abandoned you for the Keyblade, and those new companions. Seems he’s even picked up a new one in this world.”

Riku scoffed dismissively, leaning against the streetlamp. “I don’t care about him. Just having a bit of fun, that’s all.”

“Of course you are.” Dio replied, his tone making it impossible for Riku to tell if he was being sincere or not. “You seem to enjoy wasting time with him, either way, when you already have your own goals. Just beware of the darkness in your heart, the Heartless prey upon it, and will not spare you.”

The teen scowled at the vampire, glaring back into his glowing eyes. “Just mind your own business. I’ve got things under control here, alright?!” What did Dio know anyway? Sora deserved the runaround…Kairi was in trouble, and here he was playing with his new friends, showing off the Keyblade like a hotshot!

Dio didn’t seem to mind the rebellious spark in Riku’s tone. “Alright, you have your fun, then. Just remember not to get too carried away.” Darkness enveloped the undead man, and he soon vanished from the world.

Just a few seconds later, Uran ran by Riku, giggling as Sora and the others gave chase. The robot girl ran right by Riku, back into the darkness, while the quartet stopped as Riku pushed off the streetlamp to face them fully.

“Riku, what are you even doing?! We don’t have time for this!” Sora exclaimed. “There are Heartless in this park too, so Uran could be hurt!”

For a second, Riku just stared at Sora. He recalled how the Heartless attacked the robotic girl. Riku had found that so unusual, why would the Heartless attack something without a heart? Why gang up on her? Of course, he realized the answer quite quickly. The older teen glared at Sora. “I could ask you the same thing, Sora. All you seem to be interested in doing is running around and showing off that Keyblade these days.” His glare turned into a full scowl. “Do you even want to save Kairi anymore? Do you even care?”

“Hey, now that isn’t fair, Riku!” Goofy spoke up, unable to help himself. “We’ve been lookin’ for Kairi in a bunch of different places! Sora’s been worried sick about her!”

“He even asked me about her too, that’s why he’s here!” Atom added on. “I don’t know what’s going on with you guys, but stop involving my sister in it!”

Riku looked over at Atom, shrugging lightly. “I’m not doing anything to her. You saw for yourself that she’s not hurt. Even if Heartless came after her, I’d just take them out.”

“But if there’s even a chance she’ll get hurt, I have to be there, I’m her older brother!” Atom declared, his stance making it seem like he was willing to fight, but he didn’t necessarily want to.

“A robot with a sibling…back where I’m from, that’d only exist in a book or a movie.” Riku mused. “But it seems around here, robots really do have hearts. Don’t you think that’s interesting, Sora?”

Sora finally spoke up, the question from before really hitting him hard, clogging his throat. “Look, I want to find Kairi too! Riku, if you know anything, you’ve got to tell me, and stop playing these games!”

Before Riku could respond, a scream rang out from the darkness. Uran’s. Instantly, everyone ran towards the source of the scream, the sound of heavy footfalls ringing out from the shadows. With Atom’s headlights, the quintet saw Uran cowering before a massive, metal Heartless!

It stood as tall as a house, seeming robotic in nature, and humanoid. Spikes and valves covered its limbs, its right hand a massive blade attached to a gear for maneuverability, its left being a drill. A broiling furnace seemed to be its belly, and the yellow eyes of blobby Heartless peeked from glass windows at its face, chest, and arms. The Iron Giant loomed over Uran, its drill arm raised and poised to strike.

Atom leapt into action instantly. Or, rather, he flew in. He rocketed towards the Heartless, his fist slamming into its faceplate, staggering the massive entity. Sora, Donald, and Goofy leapt into the fray as well. Sora and Donald went in to attack, while Goofy stayed in front of Uran, shield up. “Ya okay there, Uran?” The knight asked, getting a nod in response.

As Sora slashed at the things legs, his Keyblade not doing too much damage, Donald pelted the Iron Giant with Fira spells. The two magic users felt the Heartless was too big for something like Gravira or Stopra to work on, so the two magic users didn’t even bother trying.

Sora was sent flying back as the Iron Giant kicked at him, its massive metal foot hitting his stomach and sending him a dozen feet back! To his surprise, he saw Riku running into the fray, that unusual sword he had ready to strike. The older teen leapt at the Iron Giant’s sword as it readied to swing it at him, blocking the much larger blow with his sword, shockingly able to hold his ground, though his legs shook from the exertion.

Atom seemed surprised at Riku’s cooperation, but didn’t question it. As it readied its drill arm again, the device spinning rapidly thrusting its limb at Riku, Atom grabbed hold of it. There was the sound of screeching metal and whining mechanics as the drill tried to spin, but Atom’s grip was simply too strong. Riku parried the massive sword just enough to roll out of the way, leaping up and stabbing the Iron Giant in its sword arm. Meanwhile, Donald kept peppering the Heartless with his offensive magic, whittling away at its outer metal shell.

Not wanting to remain upstaged, Sora recovered from his earlier blow and charged back into battle. Goofy called to him, kneeling down and holding his shield above his head. Sora took the hint, leaping onto the shield, with Goofy jumping up and jutting out his arms, propelling Sora into the air. The brunette utilized a Strike Raid, hurling his spinning Keyblade at the Iron Giant. His weapon struck it in the face, making it stagger again, Atom using its stunned nature to tear the drill right from its arm!

As the Keyblade came back to Sora, he landed on the Iron Giant’s chest and leapt up, stopping above its head he mimicked Banjo and Kazooie’s move, using Gravira on himself, holding his Keyblade down as he descended onto the Iron Geant’s head, stabbing downwards into it. With the use of his magic, the blow was significant, damaging the Heartless greatly.

At the same time, Riku was hacking away at the foe’s torso, his sword doing remarkable damage, or perhaps his skills were simply still above Sora’s, even now. Atom flew away, only to turn around, building speed as he rammed harshly into the Iron Giant’s stomach, and he kept going! Sora and Riku had to hop off the robotic Heartless as Atom kept flying, lifting the Heartless up high into the air! Sora, Donald, Goofy, Uran, and Riku craned their necks, watching as Atom carried the Iron Giant dozens of feet into the air, finally breaking through its stomach and destroying it!

“Way to go, Atom! That was great!” Sora praised, his stomach sore from the kick. As Atom descended, he turned to say something to Riku, to thank him for helping out…but he was gone. “Riku?! Hey, Riku!” He yelled out, looking around more, but his friend was simply gone. Off in the darkness somewhere. Sora wanted to chase after him, but…he felt it wouldn’t matter. The teen wasn’t sure that Riku really had any idea where Kairi was, or else he surely would’ve said so. But…this behavior of his was so unlike him to begin with, so he wasn’t sure…

“Uran, what were you thinking?!” Atom exclaimed, marching over to his sister, anger born of worry in his tone.

Thankfully, the robot girl didn’t seem harmed in any way, more shaken than anything else. She pouted, looking at the ground as she kicked a small pebble away. Apparently she was used to being scolded, seeming almost more annoyed than anything. “I sensed someone real sad, and I found Riku! Some of those monsters appeared and attacked me, but he saved me, he’s not a bad person!” Uran insisted, her confidence unwavering. “He just seems sad and angry, that’s all. He just wanted to play a game…”

Sora felt the same way Uran did. Something seemed…off about Riku, he seemed almost angry or upset when mentioning the Keyblade. And, in the end, it’s not like he actually hurt anyone, even with his unusual behavior. He just wished his friend would talk to him instead of running away! “Atom, I get you were all worried, but Riku’s my friend. So you gotta listen to Uran and realize he’s not a bad person, okay?”

“He’s Sora’s friend, and that’s enough for me to vouch for him!” Goofy chimed in. “He helped us fight that big ol’ Heartless after all, didn’t he?”

Donald huffed, a bit more cynical than his companions. “If only he stuck around and explained himself, it’d make things a lot easier for us…”

Atom sighed with a nod. “You’re right. If he’s your friend, I’ll take your vouch for him. Let’s just get back home now, okay?”

“Yes, Atom…” Uran huffed. “I just hope mom and dad don’t scold me too…” She murmured as the quintet started to make their way out of the park. “So…who are you three exactly?” Uran asked Sora, Donald, and Goofy. She had their names, but no other context.

“Oh, we met when we saw Atom taking down a really big Heartless…that’s what we call those monsters that have been popping up.” Sora explained. “He’s helping us with some stuff, so we couldn’t just sit around while he went looking for you!”

“I appreciate it, even if you’re helping Atom be a stick in the mud!” Uran declared, mainly saying the last part to Atom with a mischievous tone as she started to skip ahead.

Atom huffed, chasing after Uran as she ran off towards their home. “Hey! I’m not a stick in the mud! You take that back, Uran!”

Sora couldn’t help but grin, watching the two robots act just like real siblings. Not that he’d really know personally, he was an only child. He, Donald, and Goofy moved a bit faster to keep up with the robotic pair.

“They really are just kids, huh?” Goofy remarked, watching Uran turn around at Atom and blow a raspberry at him. “Never woulda guessed they were robots if I just saw ‘em like this.”

“Well, robots can have hearts. That’s pretty clear now.” Sora pointed out. “I think the Servbots had them too…the Heartless went after them, and they really seemed to love Tron…”

Donald shrugged. “I don’t see why not. I don’t know a lot about hearts, but they seem to act like any regular person…” He assumed any of the non-humans they met had hearts…so why not robots? Robots with a high intelligence, at least? “Not GLaDOS though, no way she has a heart.” The mange sneered, just wanting to insult the A.I. a bit.

“I don’t need one.” GLaDOS chimed in from Sora’s pocket. “At the very least, I have intelligence, unlike a certain large beaked fool.”

Donald grumbled something harsh under his breath, but didn’t give a proper reply. As the group got near Atom’s home, the building in sight, a harsh sound filled the air. Police sirens! Looking, the quintet saw police cars speeding by with their sirens blaring.

“There’s trouble! I’ve got to see what’s going on!” Atom declared as he pointed at the house. “Uran, you go inside! I’m going to investigate what’s happening!”

Sora nodded along with Atom. “We’ll go with you!” He summoned his Keyblade as Atom started to fly after the cars, the brunette running after him.

Uran did as told, rushing towards the house as Sora, Donald, and Goofy followed the flying robot. “We really have to help out again…?” Donald grumbled, but still had his staff at the ready.

“Well, do ya just wanna sit around and wait?” Goofy asked, his shield out at this point.

Donald knew that it was for the best to help out, he was just hoping for a quiet evening! For once, someone was doing the work of finding the Keyhole for them, and he couldn’t even enjoy it!

The quartet went along, deeper into the city. Sora, Donald, and Goofy had trouble keeping up with Atom, but the flames coming from his shoes made him easy to follow. Eventually, they ended up where the cars were heading deeper into the city. To their surprise, it wasn’t Heartless that the police were called out for, but what seemed to be a normal robbery!

A building had been broken into, some sort of office building, with the door blown off its hinges. At the windows were men with guns, one of them whose skin was almost grey in color, holding up by the door with a satisfied smirk on his face despite the police presence.

Inspector Tawashi was one of the police at the scene, crouching behind one of the open police doors. “Alright, Skunk! You’re surrounded, so you might as well just give up! You’re not getting out of this!” The man yelled out, his own gun at the ready.

“Hey! Inspector Tawashi!” Atom called as he, Sora, Donald, and Goofy arrived at the scene. They all ducked behind the car that the inspector was using. “What’s going on? What are those guys after?”

 Rather than seem appreciative of the backup, the inspector sneered at Atom and the outsider trio. “I don’t remember asking for backup, especially from a robot!” He spat, turning his long nose up at Sora, Donald, and Goofy especially. “And what are you three doing here?! This is police business; civilians shouldn’t be interfering!”

“Hey, we’re here to help you!” Donald fired back, glaring daggers at the inspector. “We can handle a couple of robbers easily!”

“Inspector Tawashi, we’re just trying to lend a hand.” Atom added on, his tone far calmer than Donald’s. It really seemed he wanted to keep his patience even with the clear robot hatred pointed right at him. “Please tell us what’s going on!”

The hateful man sighed, glaring back at Skunk and his men before turning back to Atom. “Skunk and his gang are breaking into a research office. Stealing some sort of high-tech doodad or another. To be honest, I don’t know what it does or why he wants it, but it can’t be good!”

“Uh, who’s Skunk, exactly?” Sora asked, unable to imagine that’s the man’s actual name.

“He’s a crafty criminal, I’ve had to put him a way a bunch of times, but he manages to wriggle his way free!” Inspector Tawashi sneered, seeming more mad at Skunk than the question itself. “There’s just another problem, one of the researchers got out of the building and reported there was some guy with a huge sword helping Skunk out. Apparently he’s in charge of moving the machine part.”

A guy with a sword? No, couldn’t be Riku…! Sora had to remind himself his sword wasn’t exactly huge, per say. But…who else would be using a sword in a world like this, with such advanced technology?

“Someone’s coming out!” One of the officers yelled. “Sir, drop the weapon and the machine part, or we will fire!”

Sora peered out from behind the car, and his jaw dropped. Standing there, at the entrance of the building…was Cloud! He had his large, bandaged sword in one hand, and a large device hoisted on his opposite shoulder. It looked complicated, whatever it was. Sora noticed how glassy Cloud’s eyes looked, and that strange band around his forehead. “C…Cloud?!”

“Cloud?!” Donald echoed, as he and Goofy peered around the car alongside Sora. “What the heck is he doing here, helping those guys?!”

“Wait, you know this guy?!” Inspector Tawashi demanded. “You three better not be involved in this somehow!”

“We’re not involved! I mean…we didn’t know Cloud would even be here!” Sora countered, still so confused as to what was going on. Why was Cloud in this world? Why would he help someone like Skunk rob a research building…?

Atom intervened. “Look, let’s just focus on stopping the robbery, and we can ask questions later! I gotta say, Sora, I’m kind of wondering what’s going on too. First Riku and now Cloud…”

Sora could hardly blame Atom’s attitude, two of his friends popped in out of the blue and both of them have caused trouble. The teen stoop up, ignoring Inspector Tawashi’s protest, and stepped out from behind the car. “Cloud! What are you doing?! What’s gotten into you?!”

Cloud turned to look at Sora…but there was no familiarity within his gaze. In fact, there was nothing at all. No emotion. Robotic, almost, but even the robots Sora had met so far were more emotive! Not only did he not seem to recognize Sora, but aside from looking, he didn’t do anything else, not even respond.

Skunk scowled at the display. “Wait, does that kid know this guy? Well, it doesn’t matter…his heart is all closed off…” He murmured to himself. “Alright! Clear out the cops that and that kid!” Skunk shouted at Cloud as he and his other goons ducked deeper into the building.

Without hesitation, Cloud lifted his sword and swung it forward, a wave of darkness shooting off of it! Sora barely had time to raise his Keyblade to block the onslaught! The force still pushed him back a bit, and those behind him weren’t so lucky. The officers were knocked over, and some of their cars were even sent into the air! Atom shouted out in surprise, catching Inspector Tawashi as he was nearly sent along with the vehicle. Goofy and Donald hid behind the knight’s shield, able to stand their ground from the attack.

“Darkness…?! Cloud, what’s gotten into you?!” Sora demanded, readying his Keyblade. Hadn’t he already seen the error of his ways before? Why was he doing bad things again?!

But, again, Cloud didn’t reply. It didn’t even seem like he heard the teen at all! Skunk came back into view, smirking not that their path of escape was open. “Okay, boys, let’s get out of here! And you, Cloud, hold these punks off and give us the machine part!” 

Skunk and his goons ran out of the building, Cloud handing off the machinery to two of them as they ran by him. Skunk himself stayed behind, but hid around a nearby corner. As Atom tried to fly after the men, Cloud moved in an instant, grabbing the robot boy by the boot and slamming him into the street. The impact didn’t seem to actually hurt Atom, but it stunned him!

Sora didn’t care if he and Cloud were friends, he wasn’t about to let him get away with something like that! Without hesitation, Sora charged at the swordsman, who spun around and blocked the teen’s incoming strike, their blades clashing. Even at this point, there was no emotion on Cloud’s face or in his eyes, like he truly didn’t even comprehend what was going on. Donald and Goofy joined in too, Goofy helping Sora by slamming his shield into Cloud’s sword, parrying it. While Cloud was open, Donald nailed him in the chest with a Fire spell. He was sturdy enough that while the spell knocked him back a bit, it didn’t do any serious damage.

“Cloud, whatever’s going on, you better snap out of it!” Sora demanded, ready to swing again. The fact that Cloud was acting this way alone was puzzling to him…but why didn’t he respond at all? Cloud just kept staring at them with those glassy eyes!

At that moment, Inspector Tawashi and several of the officers recovered from the earlier slash. “Aim for that sword-wielding freak!” The long-nosed man yelled, all of them readying their guns. Before Sora, Donald, or Goofy could react to stop them, the officers fired. Their guns were futuristic in nature, firing small beams rather than bullets. One hit Cloud on the shoulder, causing him to flinch. With his sword and gauntlet, he blocked the others.

“Come on, you waste! Let’s go!” Skunk shouted at Cloud. In an instant, the blonde man complied, following the robber as he sped off around the corner. Atom got up and gave chase with Sora, Donald, and Goofy following suit, ignoring Inspector Tawashi’s cries for them to stop interfering.

As the quartet rounded the corner, they saw Skunk and Cloud not too far down the street. It was emptied out, people and robots having fled from the earlier robbery nearby no doubt and Skunk’s other men having gone further ahead. Cloud was standing in front of Skunk, sword ready and facing the group. Skunk cackled, holding onto the wrist of a young girl that he must have found on the street.

Like Atom and Uran, she looked almost perfect, in an unusual way, her skin flawless and smooth…yet it was far easier to tell this than with the robot siblings. She had brown hair, with red ribbons in them. “Let me go, you bad man!” She yelled at Skunk. “When the Doctor comesh back, he’ll clean your clock!”

Skunk ignored the girl, cackling as he took a gun from his suit, aiming it at her head. “If any of you four follow me, I’ll kill the girl! You can go ahead and call my bluff if you want, but you’ll have her death on your conscience!”

 “You’re a monster! How despicable can a guy get?!” Atom yelled out, seeming to want to fight, but unwilling to put the girl in danger.

“Doctor! Get thish bad man away fwom me!” The girl yelled out, struggling in vain against Skunk’s grip.

Out of a nearby building, a most peculiar man stepped out. He wore a long, black cloak, but that wasn’t the strange part. Half of his hair was pure black, but the other was stark white. On top of that, he had stitches on his face, particularly on the left half, where the skin there was a dark brown whereas the other half was fairer. With where he came out of, he was right near Skunk, behind the defense that was Cloud.

Skunk noticed the man, turning to face him, pressing the gun against the girl’s head. “Hey! Freak! Just stay right where you are, got it!?”

The man, a doctor apparently, glared coldly at Skunk, but raised his hands above his head slowly. “Don’t worry Pinoko, you’ll be fine.” He promised, his tone steady and assured.

“This is real low…but I don’t want to try anything.” Sora murmured to the rest of his group. He could use a Stop spell, but he was afraid that in the time it took for him to activate it, Skunk may do something…drastic. “As long as he has that girl hostage, I’m stuck…”

“I’m nervous too…” Donald agreed, also considering using Stop, but reached the same conclusion as Sora. It could work…but if he was a second to slow in activating it…well…he didn’t want to think about the consequences.

“Now, what’s going to happen is we’re going to get away.” Skunk declared, a nasty smirk on his face. “The girl comes with us, and if you stay put, I’ll let her go. If not…” He glanced down at the gun, the threat clear.

As the horrid man looked towards his gun, the doctor acted. In a move that was quick as a flash, he threw a scalpel at Skunk! It hit him on the wrist, causing him to yell out and drop the gun, his hand shaking and blood coming from the injury. The girl, Pinoko, acts quickly, digging her heel into Skunk’s foot before running to the doctor and hiding behind him.

“I’d take care of that quickly, if I were you.” The doctor said, his voice composed and even. “I hit the ulnar artery, and if you don’t get that treated fast, you could bleed out.” Indeed, the blood flow seemed rather severe. “I am a doctor, of course, so I can do that easily, if you’ll turn yourself in afterward. Since you took my daughter hostage, you won’t get anesthetic, however.”

Skunk glared daggers at the doctor, keeping the blade in his wound, seeming to understand pulling it out would make things worse. “Just you wait, I’ll hunt you down and get you for this…! Cloud, we’re going escape! Kill those four if they interfere, but don’t hurt the doctor, I’ll kill him personally later!”

With that, Skunk fled the scene, clutching his injured hand, Cloud running alongside him, constantly glancing back to see what the groups would do. “Black Jack, are you and Pinoko okay?” Atom asked, speaking to the doctor.

“We’re fine, Atom. What the heck is going on here anyway?” He asked, looking after the escaping Skunk and Cloud. “A guy with a sword…?!”

“We can’t really explain, we just have to go after them!” Atom said, taking to the air. “I’ll explain it all later!”

Leaving Black Jack and Pinoko behind, the quartet ran after Skunk and Cloud. Down the street a ways, though, Heartless began to appear, no doubt spawned from the vile heart of Skunk! Even Atom was stopped as he tried to fly past, but a group of Red Nocturne, Yellow Opera, and Blue Rhapsody Heartless spawned in front of them, firing a barrage of small spells at the robot.

A mass of Soldiers and Large Bodies appeared on the ground, as well as a new variant of the magical, color-coded Heartless, the Green Requiem. As Sora, Donald, and Goofy battled the Heartless, the Green Requiem cast Cure spells on its damaged brethren. It also flew high in the air, making it hard to target. Donald managed to snip it with a Gravity spell, sending it crashing to the street and destroying it.

By the time the Heartless were taken out, Skunk and Cloud were out of sight, but the quartet gave chase in the direction they were heading it. Blood was on the ground from Skunk’s wound, droplets leading the group along the criminal’s escape route. As they went, Sora was wracking his brain, trying to figure out what was going on with Cloud…it just made no sense to him…but if he had to knock the swordsman around to clear his head, so be it!

Before too long, the group ended up at some docks outside the city. They were just in time to see Skunk, Cloud, and Skunk’s henchmen in a speedboat. Skunk was getting his wound wrapped, seeming to be cursing loudly at the injury. Before the quartet could get anywhere near the boat, it sped off!

“They’re gonna get away!” Donald exclaimed, the boat far out of range of his magic by the time they reached the dock.

Atom flew up into the air, staring at the boat. He seemed to be thinking…and then he lowered himself back to the ground. “I know where they’re going.”

“What? How? It’s just open ocean out there.” Sora didn’t see any hint of an island on the horizon. And he was marveling a bit at the speedboat, such technology not available on his island, but he’s seen it in movies before…

“I’ve flown around the ocean here a lot.” Atom said as he walked towards another boat, the other three following him. “I’ve memorized where all the islands were and their coordinates. To put it simply, given where we are and the direction Skunk is going, there’s only one island they can be going to.”

Goofy nodded with a laugh. “Gawrsh, Atom, that’s pretty smart of ya!” He almost asked if it was because he was a robot, but he wasn’t sure if that’d be appropriate. It seemed to be, though…

Atom grinned, seeming a bit bashful as he entered a boat, leaning underneath and messing with some wires. “Thanks. My brain is like a supercomputer, so I can memorize these things. I’d fly after them, but I’m betting you want to deal with Cloud yourselves.” He finished tinkering, and the boat came to life. “Have to borrow this boat, but I’ll bring it back…”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy hopped into the boat as Atom sped off, following after Skunk. “So, how far away is the island?” Sora asked, glad to be able to at least sit for a bit and get some energy back.

“It should take two or three hours. I’ll handle the driving, so you guys just relax.” Atom said, staring straight ahead. “I won’t need to recharge for another twelve hours, so I’m fine.”

Oh, yeah, Atom wouldn’t really get tired, would he? Not in a real sense. Or…was it real? Sora wasn’t sure how to think of it. The teen knew that Atom and Uran had hearts, he just felt it in his own heart. Yet…it was hard to think of them as people like him, even though he tried…

“Hey Atom, who was that weird doctor back there?” Donald asked, leaning back in his chair with a light sigh of content. Not as good as a bed, but at least he had somewhere soft to sit for a while.

“That’s Black Jack, a doctor without a license. We’ve run into each other a few times before.” Atom explained. “He’s…technically a criminal, but he does so much good for people, so I don’t interfere. He’s a real genius.”

“And what about that girl with him? His daughter? She looked a bit like a robot too…” Sora said, noticing the unusually skin Pinoko had.

Atom laughed and shook his head. “I can see why you’d think that, but she’s not. She’s…well, her body is artificial, but she’s a human. It’s kind of odd to explain…” And the three others let it stay like that.

For the next few hours, nothing happened of note. Atom kept the boat going, while Sora, Donald, and Goofy rested. The three even managed to fall asleep, despite everything. They were awoken by Atom as the island grew near, by this time the tiniest peek of the sun was starting to emerge over the horizon. The island wasn’t very large, only about the size of a small city. It was mostly sand and light jungle but also had a tall volcano too. There was also a metal facility there, too, and the boat Skunk took, now empty, was near it.

“I can sense something ahead, a very unusual reading.” GLaDOS piped up. “Two signals…and I think one may be the Keyhole, but the other signal is interfering greatly.”

“Wait, the Keyhole might actually be here?!” Donald exclaimed, thinking about their luck. But…he also remembered how Dimple had mentioned drawing energy from the Keyhole, what if someone here was doing the same thing? That could be bad!

“I sensed something too, but I don’t know what they are.” Atom mentioned. “All I know is that whatever Skunk is up, it’s no good.”

As the group’s boat docked next to Skunk’s, a metal orb with a camera fixed on it flew near the group. A speaker on the orb crackled to life, and Skunk’s voice came out. “Well, if it isn’t Atom!”

“Skunk…! Come out here! What are you up to?!” The robot boy demanded with a glare. “Whatever it is, you’re not going to get away with it!”

A nasty laughter came from the round drone. “With that last piece we stole earlier, the device is going to be complete! Kin Sankaku here hired us to help out for this weapon he has.”

“What are you building in there? What does the weapon do?” Sora had no idea what the full capabilities of this world were, for all he knew it could be something that’d tear the world itself apart!

“It won’t matter if I tell you, you won’t live long enough to see it!” Skunk taunted. “There’s some strange power source here, and I’m going to take full advantage of it. As Sankaku puts on the finishing touches, Cloud will keep you company!”

The strange power source had to be the Keyhole! The small drone flew away, and at that same moment, something dashed out from the trees. It was Cloud, sword at the ready, that blank look still on his face!

“If we want to get to Skunk, we’ll have to take him down.” Atom noted as Cloud swiftly approached. “I don’t want to have to hurt your friend, but we have no choice!”

“It’s fine, we had to beat him down once already!” Donald exclaimed, getting his staff ready as Sora and Goofy got their weapons out too.

The quarter rushed Cloud, intercepting him on the beach. He swung his sword at Atom, the first to arrive. With a mighty punch, Atom struck the blade, his metallic body unharmed and even jolting the blade back, making an opening for the others.

Sora cast a Stop spell, freezing Cloud in place at his most open. He swung at his friend repeatedly as Goofy used his shield to bash at Cloud while Donald cast a few Blizzard spells at him. Despite their words, the three were nervous about using their full might on Cloud. He was their friend, and clearly something was wrong with him…

As the Stop spell ceased, all the attacks on Cloud hit him at once and he was sent flying back, but managed to land on his feet. Atom rushed in again, flying at Cloud. The man backhanded the robot boy away with his gauntlet arm. Raising the arm up, pools of darkness started to pop up around him. The pools disperses darkness upwards in an attack from below. This forced Sora, Donald, and Goofy to run about, dodging the darkness. Even so, they all got hit eventually, getting sent to the ground as the dark magic harmed them.

Cloud rushed to Sora, as he was closest, swinging harshly down at him with his blade. Sora barely managed to block with the Keyblade, pain surging through his arms from the harsh impact as he held the sword back. It was clear that Cloud wasn’t just trying to stop the group…he was aiming to kill. “Cloud…what are you doing?! You have to stop this…!” Sora grunted, not understanding why his words don’t reach the man.

As usual, Cloud didn’t respond. Before he could try another attack, Goofy’s shield came soaring in, hitting him on the side of the head, knocking him away and barely missing the band on Cloud’s head. He was then hit with a bolt of Thunder from Donald as Atom got up and slammed his fist into Cloud’s face, sending him tumbling.

Sora got to his feet at the same time as Cloud did, and the teen readied himself. As Cloud rushed him, Sora rolled out of the way and readied an attack! Building his strength, he performed a Sonic Blade, a move he took from Cloud himself! Sora dashed forward, slamming the Keyblade into Cloud’s gut as he kept sliding forward. Sora repeated the process, Cloud trying to block with his blade, but it got knocked to the side as Sora kept sliding.

Over and over, Sora slid forward, stabbing his Keyblade out at Cloud, hitting through any defenses he tried to block Sora’s blows. Eventually, Cloud went down on one knee as the damage built up. Sora let loose one last blow of the Sonic Blade attack, aiming for Cloud’s head! The man tried to dodge out of the way, the Keyblade scraping against the band on his head, the blow destroying it!

The band fell apart, landing on the sand as Cloud fell over in a heap. The four gathered around him, waiting for him to attack. Yet…instead, he sat up, rubbing his head. His eyes had clarity and thought in them, emotion and life that had been absent before. “What happened…?” Cloud groaned, wincing in pain.

“Cloud? Are you really back to normal? What happened?” Sora asked, feeling in his heart that this wasn’t a trick, that Cloud was really back to normal.

Atom frowned at the broken band and picked it up, analyzing it. “This is some really strong technology…I think it might be what was messing around with Cloud…”

The blonde man looked around at the four around him. “Sora? Donald? Goofy? Where am I, and what are you doing here?”

“We were hoping you’d tell us!” Donald replied with a huff. “You were trying to kill us, and working for a criminal!”

“Ya didn’t seem all there, Cloud. Are ya feelin’ okay?” Goofy asked, going down on one knee to look Cloud over more.

“I remember…I came here, looking for that man…” Cloud murmured, clearly referring to the same man that he had been looking for in Gielinor. “I found a guy that said he could help, but…then after that, my memory gets all fuzzy.”

The sphere drone from before flew over, Skunk’s voice shouting from it. “Cloud, you lost?! What a useless bodyguard! And if you must know, that band is what made you obey me like a slave. It shuts down one’s heart, and makes the wearer obedient to whoever put it on. Quite a nasty piece of technology, the black market sure is an interesting place…”

“Without Cloud to guard you, we’re going to stop your plans, Skunk!” Atom sneered, crushing the remnants of the band into a tiny metal ball, ensuring it’d never harm another person.

A new voice came over the drone, one just as nasty as Skunk’s. “That’s where you’re wrong, Atom! I am Kin Sankaku, the new ruler of this world, thanks to my weapon! Now, bear witness to it!”

From the facility, the sound of a piano playing rang out, even from such a distance. It seemed that it was an unusual triggering device, because as the music played, there was a rumbling on the island as something emerged from the volcano!

“There! That’s what I was sensing!” GLaDOS exclaimed as the thing from the volcano came into full view.

It was an unusual yellow orb, massive, the size of a house at least. All along its surface were tendrils that seemed almost organic, twisting and writing, but also seemed to be mechanical. Over the drone, Sankaku cackled. “That is my Artificial Sun! With its might, the leaders of the world will bow to my word! Here, let me demonstrate just a small part of its power!”

The Artificial Sun began to glow, living true to its name as it lit up the island in a way the real sun would at noon. Flames crackled off of it, and its tendrils twisted and one fired off a beam of what seemed to be pure heat! This beam struck the island, going along the sand and turning it into warped glass in an instant! The beam hit the ocean, mass amounts of water evaporating in a loud hiss.

Skunk’s laugh rang over the drone. “And as Sankaku mentioned, this is only a tiny part of its strength. The power source we found will let the Artificial Sun burn entire cities in an instant! No one will stand in our way!”

As the fake sun kept crackling, Sora and Donald tried to fight back against it. They both shot Blizzara spells at the machine, but the magic evaporated long before they could come into contact with it. Sora concentrated, his training paying off as he unleashed Stopra upon the Artificial Sun! It stopped the machine for about a second before it broke from the spell. Even Gravira from Donald only made it shift downward a bit.

Atom tried flying up towards it, but the Artificial Sun just grew hotter, causing him to yell out as he flew back to the ground. “If I got any closer, my circuits would’ve fried!” The robot boy exclaimed.

“You see?! It is hopeless!” Sankaku gloated. “Now, let’s dial things up and wipe you all out in one shot!”

The quintet could only watch as the Artificial Sun grew hotter still. Cloud was still recovering from his beating, and seemed drained in general, no doubt not getting food or rest while under Skunk’s control.

“I…I don’t know what we can do, except try and escape!” Atom exclaimed, looking towards the speedboats.

Skunk and Sankaku cackled over the drone, the water directly below the Artificial Sun boiling, its light so bright the quintet could barely look at it as its power built. Even looking at the sun peeking over the horizon was less painful!

In an instant, everything changed.

The sound of metal unsheathing rang out, a line of light going over the Artificial Sun…and its power ceased in an instant, returning to its normal state. “What?! What’s going on?!” Skunk demanded. The Artificial Sun began to slide, or rather, its two halves did, in different directions. The tendrils stopped writhing as the machine fell in half, the two sliced pieces falling, powerless, into the ocean below.

Floating in the sky behind where the sun had just been was a man. A tall, imposing figure in black clothing, with long, silver hair, a single black, feathery wing coming from his right shoulder blade. In his left hand, the man held a thin but mighty looking sword that seemed as tall as the man himself, if not longer. On his face, the mysterious man smirked dryly, almost like what just transpired was a game to him.

“Who is that…?” Sora asked, squinting at the man, trying to get a better look at him. Something in his heart told him something wasn’t right.

Cloud managed to get to his feet, staring in shock and awe at the ominous figure floating above. Out of his mouth came a single word.

“Sephiroth…!”

Chapter Text

Sora, Donald, Goofy, Cloud, Atom, and even the piloted drone all looked at the floating figure in the sky. The sword-wielding man hadn’t moved since the Artificial Sun’s pieces hit the ocean below. Looking towards Cloud, Sora had a sinking feeling in his gut about what was going on. “Sephiroth? Who’s Sephiroth? You know this guy?”

“Remember the man I said I was looking for? That’s him…” Cloud said through gritted teeth, trying to raise his sword and get into a battle position. The combination of fighting four opponents and the assured lack of feeding and proper care he had since falling under Skunk’s control made it difficult for him to do so.

“Uh, and somethin’ tells me he’s not actually here to help us…” Goofy remarked, given Cloud’s reaction. Defeating the Artificial Sun was probably just because it was in the stranger’s way.

“What does he want? Are we going to have to fight him?! Was he looking for you too?!” Donald demanded, needing some answers. He’d have cast Cure on Cloud, but it’d only heal his wounds, it wouldn’t give him his energy back, that’s not how the spell worked. Cloud wouldn’t be injured, but he’d still be too tired to fight! If this Sephiroth guy was strong enough to defeat that machine in one strike…Donald would really need to save his magic.

The drone buzzed around, then flew up towards Sephiroth. “How…How dare you?!” Sankaku’s voice cried from the metal ball. “I don’t know where you came from, but you’ll rue the day that you dared to mess with-” His rant was cut off as Sephiroth casually sliced the drone in half, its remnants joining the Artificial Sun in the ocean.

Sephiroth then began to descend, his eyes locked onto Cloud, a small half-smile upon his face. “It took some time to find you, Cloud. I got tired of waiting for you to find me, so I sought you out instead.”

This time it was Atom that took to the air, but he kept his distance from Sephiroth, just out of range from the man’s overly long blade. “I don’t know what it is you want, but if it’s a fight you’re looking for, just stop! There’s no need for any more violence here!”

“Get away from him, you can’t reason with him!” Cloud shouted up at Atom, his legs starting to shake a bit from the exhaustion. It was clear the man wanted to fight, only his weakened body preventing him from doing so.

“I don’t have time for you.” Sephiroth replied coldly to Atom. “If you fly away now, I won’t pursue you.”

Atom shook his head. “No way! I don’t know Cloud, but he’s a friend of my friends, so I’m not going to just stand by and let you do what you want!”

Before Atom could do or say anything else, Sephiroth lunged forward, taking the robot boy off-guard. In a single slash, his head was split from his body, both falling to the sand below.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy all saw red as they saw their friend struck down so mercilessly! They could hardly believe it, seeing Atom just get…cut up like that! The world seemed still and silent for a second that seemed to last for a minute. After the initial shock wore off, they leapt into action! Sora and Donald unleashed a brutal Thundara spell, as Goofy leapt high off the ground, swinging his shield at Sephiroth as Cloud tried to call them back, but they didn’t even hear what, exactly, he said.

The mysterious swordsman swiftly shifted out of the way of the Thundara magic, and as Goofy came at him, he slashed at the knight. While Goofy managed to block, the impact still sent him flying far back! Sora and Donald lunged at Sephiroth, but he caught them off guard with his speed. He slammed the hilt of his blade into Donald’s stomach and slashed at Sora’s chest, the barrier his clothing had being the only thing saving him, but it still hurt a great deal! Both were sent where Goofy landed, leaving Cloud alone.

“This is between you and me, Sephiroth. Leave them out of this!” Cloud hissed at the rival swordsman, lunging forward and bringing down his mighty blade upon Sephiroth, despite his wounded state.

Sephiroth blocked the attack, smirking at Cloud as he held off the blow with seemingly little effort. “It looks like you’re already half-defeated. If you think you can beat me in this state, you’re just fooling yourself.” He parried the blow and slashed Cloud across the chest, sending him reeling back and to the ground. The blonde swordsman was so drained from his control under Skunk, not having eaten or slept in days, he collapsed.

At this time, Sora, Donald, and Goofy managed to recover from their blows. “Who are you?!” Sora demanded, brandishing his Keyblade. “Why do you want Cloud?!”

“He never told you?” The mysterious man asked, a devious glint in his eyes. “Looks like he doesn’t trust you if he won’t even tell you that.”

That wasn’t the type of answer Sora had expected, but he felt no reason to trust Sephiroth. Besides, if Cloud wanted to keep something private, it was his own business. At that moment, the teen just felt a burning rage for what he did to Atom, just striking down the robot so mercilessly!

As Sephiroth started to walk towards Cloud, surely to strike again, something came from behind him. He turned just in time for a small, robotic fist to collide with his cheek. The impact sent Sephiroth sprawling, even bouncing once on the sand as he flew dozens of feet away from everyone else. To everyone else’s shock, the attacker was…Atom!

But…his head was still missing.

“Atom?! How are you still alive?!” Donald asked, both relieved but also horrified and confused.

The headless body of Atom started to walk towards its head, and the body spoke! “My central computer isn’t in my head.” It explained, its voice coming from the neck hole. “A lot of the stuff in my head is just for show, I don’t actually need it.” To demonstrate, the body picked up the head and placed it back on, screwing it on tightly…and Atom was good as new! “See? Don’t worry, I’m still okay!”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy let out sighs of relief. “Geez…you really scared us, Atom!” The brunette declared, feeling a massive weight lift off his chest.

“We’re just glad ya weren’t hurt!” Goofy agreed, though he wished Atom made that clear a moment or two sooner…

Sephiroth stood up, not seeming much worse for wear after the attack, though there was a subtle anger in his eyes, but his expression remained eerily calm. “A fancy trick. I have to admit, it’s not something I saw coming.”

Before the swordsman could do anything else, a group of men approached! Skunk and his men along with a heavyset man with a wispy mustache. “You…how dare you…!” The mustached man cried out, his voice giving him away as Sankaku. “Men! Riddle that freak with the wing full of holes! Blast him!”

Skunk and his men pulled out their futuristic looking guns and opened fire upon Sephiroth. Without even blinking, he started to walk towards them, using his sword to deflect the shots away from him. Notably, he didn’t even bother with the shots that missed him, making it clear he could tell in an instant the accuracy of every shot.

“What…What’s with this guy?!” Skunk sputtered out, taking a few steps back out of fear as the other men kept firing.

Once the distance had been closed enough, Sephiroth darted forward. His sword strikes were quick as a flash, and the goons along with Sankaku all fell to the ground, fatal sword wounds on their chests and necks taking care of them quickly, Sankaku himself dying in an instant as blood from him and his goons started to stain the sand. Despite making his distance, Skunk wasn’t able to avoid the blade entirely. While he got away with his life, his left hand, the gun hand, was lopped off at the wrist! Screaming, he collapsed, too stunned to even properly flee as blood oozed from the wound.

“So many nuisances getting in the way.” Sephiroth commented, almost sounding bored. “I think that’s the last of things. Now, Cloud, it’s your turn.”

At this, Sephiroth went for Cloud, gliding swiftly towards him! However, just as he was about to strike, he was stopped. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Atom blocked the attack! The outsider trio used their weapons to block the blow, Atom holding onto the blade with his bare hands. “We’re not going to let you get to Cloud that easily!” Sora grunted, glaring daggers at Sephiroth. “He’s our friend, so if you want him, you’ll have to get through all of us!” Like Donald, he was tempted to just heal Cloud, but it wouldn’t return his strength, it’d just heal his wounds.

“Pointless. If you want to be sliced down, I won’t argue against it.” Sephiroth replied, his tone cold and lacking any semblance of mercy. Atom and Sora being kids didn’t seem to matter to him in the slightest.

Atom struck out again, taking to the air and slamming an arm into Sephiroth’s neck in a lariat attack, sending him careening backwards. The swordsman landed on his feet, not seeming particularly injured from the blow. “You guys…just leave. This doesn’t concern you…” Cloud grunted, trying to collect his energy back. It had been days since he had proper rest or food, and it had caught up with him with the mind control circlet destroyed…

“We can’t do that!” Sora snapped, anger born of worry. “What kind of friends would we be if we just left you behind? We’re going to fight with you whether you like it or not!”

“That’s right, so ya better just get used to it!” Goofy added on, but despite his words, he had a large grin on his face, his tone jovial and caring.

“You just rest up, and we’ll handle Sephiroth!” Donald declared as Cloud passed out from his exhaustion, the mage rushing forward as Atom flew up above Sephiroth, making room for Donald to fling several Blizzara spells at the swordsman. If he could handle the heat of the Artificial Sun, maybe some cold magic would work!

Unfortunately, it did not work. Sephiroth recovered quickly from Atom’s second blow, and with a few swings of his sword, the magical ice careening towards him was shattered. He leapt up at Atom, seeming to home in on him as the only one that’s dealt damage to him thus far. This time, though, the robot was ready. As Sephiroth dealt a vertical slash, Atom caught the blade between his palms, grunting with effort as he managed to hold the sword in place.

Sora and Donald were quick to help, each casting a Gravira spell on Sephiroth, actually making him grunt in effort as he struggled to maintain his airborne status. Even the powerful swordsman struggled from both spells combined, and eventually dropped to the ground, struggling and failing to stand up properly. While he was paralyzed, Goofy rushed him, slamming his shield down on Sephiroth’s head, getting a grunt of pain from the mysterious opponent.

This seemingly got Sephiroth frustrated enough to break free from Sora and Donald’s magic, standing up straight. However, he didn’t swing his sword like everyone expected. Instead, he raised a hand up above his head and three pillars of flame appeared around him! With no way to see this coming, all four active fighters were hit and sent sprawling back. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were protected enough by Dr. Orpheus’ magic that they managed to avoid serious burns, though they were still painfully singed. Atom, on the other hand, seemed only mildly damaged, apparently able to withstand such heat.

Aside from floating, no one had been prepared for Sephiroth to have any sort of magic! He had just kept using his sword, after all! As the quartet recovered, they saw that Sephiroth was gone. In a rippling pulse, he appeared in front of Donald and slashed the mage, knocking him further back. Sora and Goofy lunged at the swordsman, but he vanished with the same ripple. The two were then struck from behind from Sephiroth’s blade, sending them sprawling.

“Your defenses are unusually high. Normally you’d all be bisected in one swing.” The white-haired swordsman noted, seeming almost amused more than anything else. “I suppose I’ll have to simply hit harder.”

Atom flew up higher and turned away from Sephiroth, firing off his rear guns at the swordsman. Like with Skunk’s men before, Sephiroth was able to soar through the gunfire, deflecting the bullets away with his blade. However, one actually managed to hit, grazing his cheek and even drawing a bit of blood.

When Sephiroth reached Atom, he lunged forward with a stab, the robot boy turning around as the blade approached. Sora pointed his Keyblade at the winged swordsman and cast Stopra on him! This stopped Sephiroth…but not even for a full second, his might overwhelming the spell. However, this was just enough time for Atom to dodge the full force of the attack, but his arm was grazed, metallic parts underneath being exposed from the wound.

As the swordsman went past him, Atom flew back down to the ground and away from him. Sephiroth then stopped, gazing down at the group from high above. “We’re really getting’ knocked around, and he barely seems hurt!” Goofy pointed out as the quartet gathered together. “I dunno how we’re gonna handle this…”

Sora didn’t want to bring anyone else into this, but he felt he had to summon someone! Woomy didn’t seem like she could handle this, and magic hadn’t been too effective on Sephiroth, so he wasn’t sure about Gash. So that just left one person! “Bobobo! Come help us!” Taking the gem from his pocket, Sora focused his magic!

Nothing happened.

“What happened? Why didn’t it work?!” Donald exclaimed, looking around for the afro-bearing man. He wasn’t overly fond of Bobobo, but any help would be nice.

“Why, I’m right here!” A familiar voice rang out, Bobobo’s voice. He seemed very close, but no one was able to spot him.

Atom was confused, looking around with everyone else. “Help? You were calling for help? How?” The robotic boy asked, not understanding the summoning magic.

Without warning, Donald’s hat unzipped, and a long leg came out, one with a familiar brown-shoe and black-pants combo! It was Bobobo’s leg. “Here I am!” His voice came from further inside the hat, and more of his body emerged from the zipper, somehow having fit inside the confined space! “Bobobo at your service!”

“What kind of technology was that?! Where did he come from?!” Atom exclaimed, pointing at Bobobo in an almost accusatory way.

“Don’t just come out of my hat!” Donald snapped, zipping it back shut. “Can’t you just appear normally for once?!”

Bobobo ignored Donald and pointed up at Sephiroth. “He the one giving you kids trouble?” He asked, his tone deathly serious.

“Kids?” Goofy murmured, but quickly shook it off. “Yeah, that’s Sephiroth, and he came out of nowhere and started attackin’ us!”

The afro-bearing man stepped forward, smirking up at Sephiroth. “He doesn’t look so tough! Come on down, you One-Winged Chicken! I’ll batter you, deep fry you, and serve you up with some tasty sauce!”

Sephiroth didn’t hesitate. With incredible speed, he swooped down at Bobobo, hitting him with a flurry of slashes, too fast for the afro-bearing man to dodge or even try to block! Arms and face got some deep cuts, his shirt and pants even had some tears, to top it off, his afro was bisected horizontally! As the swordsman leapt back, Bobobo shuddered and dropped to one knee.

“Bobobo! Are you okay?!” Sora exclaimed, baffled that someone as strong as Bobobo would get struck down so easily.

Yet, the half-afro-bearing man stood up, turned to Sora, and gave him a grin with a thumbs up. “Don’t worry, Sora, he missed every slice.” Even as he spoke, blood was leaking from his wounds.

“Pretty sure they all hit!” Donald shouted back, contemplating using a Cure spell to help Bobobo, even though he seemed okay despite his wounds.

The unusual fighter turned back towards Sephiroth, his wounds seeming to vanish in an instant. Even his clothes and afro returned to normal! “If I’m going to take care of this guy, I’m going to need a bit of help!”

Bobobo reached towards his afro and opened it like it was on a hinge, it even creaked a bit like it was made of wood. Out popped two unusual figures. The first was little more than an orange sphere with thin arms and legs and a face, with spikes coming out of the back. The second was a taller humanoid with a sort of blocky shape with no proper hands and feet and seemed to be made out of a strange looking blue jelly!

“And who the heck are those two?!” Atom asked, not seeming sure how to handle the two unusual beings that just appeared.

It was the orange one that spoke up first, an air of smugness around him as he pointed at himself with one thumb. “The name’s Don Patch. You don’t know it yet, but I’m the real hero of this story!”

The jelly-man seemed to be pointing at himself as well, but his lack of actual hands made it hard to tell. “Tokoro Tennosuke’s the name. Feel free to try a free sample, I promise I don’t bite back.” His voice was monotone, but he really seemed to be trying to pitch…himself as a meal.

“I don’t think anyone wants to do that…” Goofy remarked, wincing a bit at the mention of biting.

Tennosuke went over to Goofy, leaning against him casually with an arm on his shoulder. “Aw, don’t be like that! I’m still fresh, trust me!”

“Please don’t touch me like that.” Goofy commented, not amused at the unusual offer. He wasn’t usually so curt, but he was thrown pretty off-guard!

Tennosuke sighed and went to join his teammates, with Bobobo grinning widely. “You all can stand back, the three of us can handle this scary looking guy in a single shot! Just watch it!”

Sephiroth actually seemed mildly amused at the boast, the tiniest of smirks on his face. “Is that so? I’ll let you unleash it, then. Don’t disappoint me.”

The weird trio stood in a line, shoulder-to-shoulder, or they would have if they were the same height. Energy started to pulse around them, an aura of power building with each passing second! A light even began to form around the three, causing Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Atom to back up a bit more. Cloud was still unconscious, vulnerable, and dependent on the aid of his friends.

Bobobo, Don Patch, and Tennosuke thrust their arms forward, pointing their open hands at Sephiroth. “This is the combined might of our power!” Bobobo yelled.

“With all three of us, you don’t stand a chance, punk!” Don Patch added on.

“Get ready for the power of our friendship…our FRIENDSHIP BEAM!” Tennosuke finished, yelling with all his might. The energy around the three built even more, the island seeming to quake with its power! Sephiroth readied himself, clearly sensing this was beyond what he had encountered before!

“FRIENDSHIP BEAM!” The weird trio bellowed in unison as a blinding beam of energy shot out…going straight up, rather than at Sephiroth. The beam just kept going until it was out of sight.

“You aimed it in the wrong direction, why did you do that?!” Sora exclaimed, feeling that if the attack hit, it would’ve taken Sephiroth out!

The mysterious swordsman was not amused, dashing at the weird trio and unleashed a barrage of swift, brutal strikes. Bobobo and Don Patch were cut all over, while Tennosuke was literally sliced into pieces, dozens of cubes of jelly hitting the ground where he once stood.

“Tennosuke!” Bobobo yelled, his cuts seeping blood. “He sliced you up so neatly too, that bastard!”

“Speak to us, Tennosuke!” Don Patch screamed, his wounds also bleeding heavily. “I’ll eat you in your memory, I swear it!”

At that moment, the cubes of jelly began to jiggle, and they morphed! Each one of them changed into a tiny version of Tennosuke! “That was fun!” One of them yelled, his voice high-pitched and small. “Let’s go again, Sephiroth!” With that, the miniature Tennosukes ran at Sephiroth, who was so baffled by what was happening that he stood in place as the tiny jelly men started to leap all over him, many yelling out.

“Let’s go again!”

“Come on, Uncle Sephy, that was fun!”

“Where did ya get that sword anyway, it’s so cool!”

“Do you have any sauce I can dip myself into?”

Sephiroth started to shake the small Tennosukes off of him, but they simply latched back onto him again. They weren’t actually attacking him, just clinging onto various parts of his body. While the swordsman was distracted, Don Patch leapt at him, getting him with a clean right hook! Bobobo then grabbed Sephiroth’s head and brought it downward, lifting his knee at the same time and slamming it right into the swordsman’s nose!

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Atom were so baffled by everything that they only just realized they weren’t helping at all! “H-Hey, come on!” Atom sputtered out. “We have to back them up!”

The four rushed to the aid of the weird trio as Sephiroth quickly recovered from his onslaught. He swiftly turned to Sora as he reached the fight first and lunged at him with a stab! It was swift and hit Sora right between the eyes…but a miniature Tennosuke was stuck on the tip of the blade, cushioning the blow. It’d leave a nasty bruise, maybe, but thanks to the unusual guard, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could’ve been!

At this point, Sephiroth was surrounded on all sides. Small Tennosukes all over his body, Don Patch and Bobobo attacking from one side with fists and nose hairs. On the other side, Sora, Goofy, and Atom were attacking with melee blows as Donald held back, unable to cast offensive spells with so many of his allies so close together. Yet with all this, Sephiroth was managing to keep up, seeming to get faster and stronger the more things went on, or perhaps he was simply holding back before for his own amusement, and was finally starting to let loose…

The platinum-haired swordsman kept parrying and blocking blows, only the most minor of attacks managing to slip through. Otherwise, he dodged or parried the blows, but wasn’t able to strike back in a meaningful way, especially with the small Tennosukes latching onto his blade, cushioning the blows. It seemed, soon, that Sephiroth reached his peak of anger. Once more, he raised his hand in the air and three pillars of intense flames shot up around him! They were more intense than before, sending everyone careening back.

Bobobo and Don Patch landed on large plates with salads on the side and some dipping sauce as they seemed literally deep fried. Tennosuke merged back together, taking the form of a fried shrimp, yet his jelly-like body remained the same. Donald and Goofy were knocked back towards Cloud, who was awake at this point and glaring intensely at Sephiroth. Sora and Atom were still okay, able to stay in the fight.

“I think he’s really starting to get serious now…” Atom warned, Sephiroth’s stance seeming different, a silent fury in his body language. Sephiroth raised his hand again and shimmering portals began to appear above him up in the sky. Out of them came meteors! Relatively small, but imposing, the size of small cars that came blazing towards Sora and Atom!

Sora did his best to Dodge Roll out of the way of the meteors, which made small explosions upon impact with the ground. His body was starting to tire out, those pillars of flame really doing a number on him, even with his barrier. Atom, meanwhile, was faring better, able to punch the meteors to bits as they got close. He managed to weave around them and reach Sephiroth, nailing him in the stomach with a nasty punch that made him slide back. Sephiroth recovered quickly, the meteors stopping, as he reached out and shot a burst of dark magic at Atom, which hit the robot in the face.

Atom was sent careening back, dark magic enveloping his body for a moment before he landed harshly on the ground, out of the fight for the moment. It was just Sora with Sephiroth at this point. The teen stood defiant, legs shaking from his injuries as he glared daggers at his opponent. “I still don’t know what you want with Cloud, but I won’t let you reach him. Our hearts are connected, and that means I won’t stop fighting you to protect him!”

Sephiroth scoffed, slowly walking towards Sora, his blade at the ready. “You can talk about your pitiful hearts all you want, it won’t make a difference.”

Sora shook his head. “Our hearts aren’t pitiful, it’s our connections to our friends that keep our hearts strong!” And that wasn’t all, he learned from his friends too! He focused his energy and surged forward, unleashing a Sonic Blade attack on Sephiroth! The first blow was blocked, Sora sliding past, but he didn’t let up. Again and again, he unleashed his attacks, managing to slip through Sephiroth’s defenses and get in some blows! Sephiroth was caught in a loop of taking Sora’s hits and recovering in time just to be hit again.

However, this combo didn’t last forever, Sora’s injuries catching up to him as he slowed down, allowing Sephiroth to slash the teen across the chest, Dr. Orpheus’ magic keeping his clothes and flesh intact. Sora was sent flying back to Cloud, just like Donald, Goofy, and Atom. Sephiroth started walking towards them all, clearly injured but not nearly so much that he was close to defeat.

Cloud grit his teeth, getting to his feet. “Cure me. Do it now!” He demanded, clearly tired of watching. It was evident some of his energy returned, but he wasn’t at full strength. Despite this, Sora relented, casting a Cure spell on Cloud, his injuries healing.

Despite some of his exhaustion lingering, Cloud stepped forward, his own sword at the ready as he and Sephiroth stopped mere feet from each other. “Finally stepping up yourself. After we kept searching for each other for so long, it’s about time.”

Cloud got into a fighting position, his hands gripping his sword’s hilt tight. “As long as you exist...I'll never wake from this nightmare. You're my darkness.”

Sephiroth seemed amused at this. “I’m part of you, am I?” He opened his arms, almost like he was expecting an embrace. “Then join me in the eternal nightmare untarnished by light.”

The blonde swordsman didn’t bother to respond. He charged at Sephiroth, the two colliding with their blades! They went at each other, attacking and blocking furiously and rapidly, neither getting the upper hand. As they fought, a wing emerged from Cloud’s left shoulder, a bat-like wing that opposed Sephiroth’s feathered one.

As their blades kept clashing, they rose into the air, floating upward from an unknown force. They pushed each other away, staring down the other before they flew towards the other and then…a blinding flash of light.

When it cleared, the two swordsmen were gone.

“What just happened…where did they go?” Sora asked, looking around. Donald, Goofy, and Atom did the same…but Cloud and Sephiroth were nowhere in sight! “Cloud! Cloud?!” He yelled out, then winced, his wounds getting to him.

“I don’t understand where they went…are they still fighting?” Goofy asked, helping Sora stand up.

Donald cast Cure on Sora, who seemed to need healing the most, already seeing Bobobo and his two weird friends up and about, somehow fully healed. He knew he and Goofy would be okay with some rest, and that his healing magic would charge back up sooner or later. “I don’t think they’re here anymore…”

“I don’t sense their presence; they seemed to have just vanished.” GLaDOS piped up from Sora’s pocket. Thankfully, the barrier that Dr. Orpheus made allowed her to escape the pillars of flame without any injury.

Atom managed to stand up too, seeming that he’d be okay. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I think those two are settling whatever situation they have somewhere else. Somewhere more private. Maybe another world…”

“Another world? What do you mean?” Sora asked as he tried to play dumb. He was a bit surprised at Donald choosing to cast Cure on him, but didn’t feel it was important enough to talk about at the moment.

“You guys are from another world, aren’t you? You stand out way too much!” Atom went on, gesturing to Bobobo, Don Patch, and Jelly Jiggler, who were making sand angels. “Then you summoned those three guys from…somewhere. This isn’t my first time dealing with aliens, you know!”

“So, we didn’t have to pretend? This isn’t even the first time this has happened!” Donald grumbled.

“…Still, I just hope Cloud is okay. I wish we could still help.” Sora bemoaned, wondering what Cloud had meant when he called Sephiroth his darkness. Just what was the story between those two? As he pondered, Bobobo, Don Patch, and Jelly Jiggler vanished in a flash of light too, returning to the summoning gem. He certainly appreciated their help, but…it was still a close call…

“I’m sure Cloud will be okay. He’s pretty strong! We just gotta have faith in him!” Goofy said, patting Sora’s shoulder and trying to stay the optimist.

As the fight had gone on, Skunk had stumbled to one of the boats at the shore, the one he had taken to get to the island and left. It was only at this point that Atom noticed Skunk and the boat were both gone! “Skunk!” Atom exclaimed. “I completely forgot about him! He must have gotten a real head start on us…”

“Should we chase after him?” Sora asked, having seen how the criminal was severely injured. Didn’t seem like he’d be much of a threat anymore, though.

“He won’t make it far once he gets back to land. If he’s even going back to the mainland…there’s no telling which direction he went.” Atom pointed out. “I don’t think he’ll be able to cause much trouble now, but…I don’t want him bleeding out either.”

Sora wasn’t quite as ready to forgive Skunk’s actions, he had been helping a deranged scientist make a super weapon after all, but chose to keep quiet about it. Instead, he pointed his Keyblade at the volcano, where the Artificial Sun had emerged from and focused. He figured that since that’s where the weapon came from, they Keyhole was there. And it turned out he was correct! A large Keyhole appeared on the side of the volcano, Sora pointing the Keyblade right at it. After a beam of light connected the weapon to the Keyhole, a loud locking sound rang out, and the Keyhole vanished.

“There…the Keyhole is sealed, things should get better now.” Sora said with a sigh of relief. Granted, he had never gone back to most of the worlds whose Keyholes he sealed, only Traverse Town. Yet he had to imagine that without access to the heart of the worlds, the Heartless would move on to other places…

“So, tell me, what really is the Keyhole? I get you wanted to keep that you guys are from another world under wraps, but why did you really need to find the Keyhole?” Atom asked, seeming to take the situation rather calmly, it really seemed he had quite a bit of experience with otherworldly beings.

Sora figured there was no harm in telling him. “All worlds have hearts, and the Keyholes are what leads to them. If the Heartless find it, the entire world falls to darkness! Have you noticed the stars vanishing in the night sky lately…?”

The robot boy’s eyes widened as he gazed up above, though the rising sun hid all the stars away. “I have…it’s been a global mystery recently, no one has been able to work out what’s going on! So…the Heartless are behind it, then…thank you, then. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for keeping my world from vanishing like that!”

“Aw, it’s nothin’, Atom! We’ve been tryin’ to help out a whole bunch of worlds!” Goofy remarked.

“But we have to get leaving soon, we have to move on! King Mickey doesn’t seem to be here…” Donald added on.

“And Kairi. She doesn’t seem to be here either.” Sora wished Donald would stop forgetting to mention her!

Atom nodded in understanding. “How about you rest up at my place before you go. I can get us back from the boat, and Professor Ochanomizu can patch me up.” It didn’t seem like the robotic child was too injured, though the outsider trio had no real way of knowing how much abuse a robot could even handle. “And hey, how come you guys aren’t healing each other more?” Donald and Goofy were still injured, after all.

“Curing each other like that uses up a specific kind of energy.” Donald explained, thinking of the light magic he and Sora have, used for healing rather than the more destructive kind for Fire, Thunder, and other such spells. “It runs out fast, so we have to wait for it to recharge!”

“And…uh…I’m not sure if we can caste it on you.” Sora admitted, feeling bad for even bringing it up. “We’ve never tried to use it on a robot before…”

Shaking his head, Atom offered a reassuring smile at the two magic users. “It’s okay, I’ll be fine! This isn’t the worst shape I’ve been in. Like I said, Professor Ochanomizu can fix me. Now come on, let’s get back to the mainland…”

The quartet went back to the speedboat and piled in. Like before, Atom drove it as the other three rested in the back. Along the way, Sora and Donald were able to use another Cure spell each, so Goofy and Donald got their wounds healed. While the outsider trio could just leave, they wanted to make sure Atom got back okay and got repaired properly.

Sora couldn’t help but keep worrying about Cloud and what happened to him. Was he okay? Did he defeat Sephiroth? Just where did he go to begin with? He felt so helpless, and he hated it…he could only hope that his friend would be make it out of this alright. And, hopefully, he and Cloud could meet again someday…

It was a bit after noon when the group arrived back in the city. Skunk’s boat didn’t seem to be there, so he had apparently gone somewhere else. With no way to track his location, all the quartet could do was hope he wouldn’t cause anyone else any trouble. As they got back to Atom’s house, though, something immediately stood out.

The door was off its hinges, and some officers, along with Inspector Tawashi, were talking to Atom’s parents! “Mom?! Dad?!” Atom called, rushing to his home as Sora, Donald, and Goofy followed closely. “What happened?!”

Atom’s father looked at his son, his eyes widening in shock. “Atom…?! What happened? You’re so damaged! Where did you go?!” His voice was frantic and laced with worry. Sora couldn’t help but think in the back of his mind that he almost sounded human. Instantly, he felt awful for thinking that way. Robots were people just like anyone else…

“We went after Skunk, but that’s not important! What’s going on here?!” Atom frantically pushed and then looked around. “Wait, where’s Uran…?!”

“That’s just it…” Atom’s mother said, sounding on the verge of tears. “She was taken! Just ten minutes ago, a young man broke into our home and just…took her!”

Sora felt his insides churn. “…What did the young man look like…?”

Managing to compose herself just a bit, Atom’s mother replied. “He was a little older than you, with white hair and blue eyes…I’ve never seen him before! He didn’t tell us why he was doing this or what he wanted from us! The young man just broke the door in somehow and snatched her up!”

Inspector Tawashi seemed to pick up on Sora’s unease and glowered down at the teen. “What do you know? It seems like you know exactly who did this!”

Sora didn’t want to believe it was Riku…but deep in his heart, he knew it was true. “…I think it’s a friend of mine that did this. I don’t know what’s been wrong with him lately, but I promise we’ll get Uran back.”

“Wait, so who is this punk?! You need to tell us!” The inspector demanded. “What’s his name?! Where would he be going?!”

“Please, Inspector Tawashi, I think it’s best if we handle this.” Atom intervened, his tone more leveled than his parents’, but it was clear of this was still bothering him greatly.

This didn’t seem to impress the robot-hating man. “And why’s that? You went after Skunk and never brought him in and were gone all night!”

“Oh…Well, a lot happened. I’ll make a more formal report on it later on. For now, I need to get my sister back!” Atom didn’t wait for a response, he started to fly off towards the city. Without hesitation, Sora, Donald, and Goofy followed him. Inspector Tawashi shouted after them, but the quartet didn’t hear what he said.

“Why would Riku want to kidnap Uran? He didn’t hurt her before!” Donald exclaimed, looking to Sora for answers.

Sora wished he could understand. This was his best friend, and he was at a complete loss over his actions! “I don’t know! Nothing Riku has done lately makes any sense! Atom…I’m so sorry, I don’t know what’s come over him!” Despite how illogical it was, he somehow felt like he was at least partially responsible for this.

“This isn’t your fault, Sora.” Goofy gently scolded. “Whatever’s goin’ on with Riku, it’s somethin’ that you can’t help!”

“Goofy’s right, I don’t blame you for this! I just wish I knew what was going on as well…” Atom responded, his voice still rather tense.

As the quartet passed by a tall building, citizens moving out of the way for the group, a voice came from above. “There you are, Sora! Thought you’d never get here!”

The four stopped and looked up, Riku standing on top of the building. Tucked under one arm was Uran, who wasn’t moving, as though knocked out. “Uran!” Atom yelled out, glaring up at Riku. “What do you want with her?! I’ll give you one chance to give yourself up, alright?!”

Riku wasn’t fazed by Atom’s words at all. “Sorry, kid, but I have need for your sister here. This metal vessel is exactly what I need.”

“Vessel…?! Why are you calling her that?! She’s not some object, she’s my sister!” Atom yelled back.

“Riku, what are you doing?! This isn’t funny anymore! Just bring Uran back and stop this, okay?!” Sora yelled, even getting his Keyblade ready. He was afraid of casting any spell other than a Stop spell, though, not wanting to harm Uran by accident. Riku was so far, though, he could run away so easily…so he was hesitant to try using Stop without at least trying to talk some sense into his friend.

Again, Riku didn’t seem to care about what anyone said to him. His expression was cold, lacking the smug teasing from the park. “It’s strange that a robot would have a heart, but Uran here clearly does. Maybe she can help someone that’s lost hers.”

Someone with a lost heart…? “Riku, what are you talking about?!” Sora demanded, getting ready to act. “You…You don’t mean Kairi, do you…?!”

“Since when do you care about her? You’re too busy hanging out with your new friends, aren’t you?” Riku shot back, his tone biting with a calm anger.

“Of course I care about her! How could you say that?!” Sora demanded, gripping his Keyblade so tight that his hands began to hurt.

“Sora’s been lookin’ for her all over the place!” Goofy shouted, trying to appeal to the troubled teen. “We’ve been to all sorts of places, tryin’ to find her!” He nearly yelled out about worlds, forgetting the sidewalk had people on it. Numerous citizens had stopped to watch what was going on, but no one intervened.

Riku paused, then gave a curt nod. “Okay, prove it. Come on then, Sora. Join up with me, we’ll use this robot to save Kairi together. I’ll believe you if you ditch those new friends of yours and help us.”

The brunette couldn’t believe what he was hearing! This wasn’t Riku at all…how could he think this was okay?! “I can’t do that! Uran has a heart! All robots do! I can’t help you in hurting her, now give her back!”

“…I see.” Riku said, actually sounding disappointed. “Then you just don’t care about Kairi at all, do you? You’ve made your choice, Sora!” Without further hesitation, he turned and leapt off the building, into a nearby alleyway!

“Riku, stop it!” Sora screamed as he, Donald, Goofy, and Atom rushed to the entrance of the alley, seeing Riku landing on the ground, somehow unharmed by the long fall. Before they could pursue him further, a swarm of Shadow and Soldier Heartless emerged! Nearby citizens ran from the creatures, but the quartet was forced to stay and fight as Riku ran off deeper into the alley!

Riku was soon out of sight from his pursuers, his running slowing to a slow walk. “So that’s how he’s gonna be, huh? I figured.” The teen mumbled to himself. As he went on, he noticed a man was in front of him. The stranger was tall and a bit lanky, wearing a suit and tie. He had a large plumage of brown hair that was slightly going grey, with a large nose and glasses that a pair of sad eyes looked through.

The teen didn’t stop, making a brushing motion with his free hand as he kept walking. “Come on, old man, get out of the way!”

“I’m afraid I’m not going to let you do anything with that young girl there.” The man declared, standing his ground without a hint of fear. “That’s Tobio’s sister you have there. While I may no longer be in his life, I’m not going to let you bring harm to his sister.”

Scoffing, Riku stopped and smirked at the man. “I don’t know who Tobio even is. I need Uran here for my own purposes. This isn’t even any of your business! Gonna tell you one more time to get out of my way!”

The man reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a steel ring, large enough to fit around his knuckles. Almost like a pair of brass knuckles, but it was a smooth, perfect ring. “I gave that boy life, and I refuse to stand by and let someone harm him. Even if I have to do it from the shadows, I will repent.”

Riku’s smirk only grew. “Okay, you’re clearly not going to move.” He raised his free hand, focusing his energy into his palm. “So I’ll just-”

Before the teen could say more, the man threw the steel ring! It moved faster than it should’ve just by being tossed, and it honed onto his wrist! Riku was so startled that he wasn’t able to move out of the way as the ring approached. The ring opened up, and hit Riku’s wrist, but kept going and forced his wrist to the nearby alley wall, the open ends digging into it. Riku was forced back into the wall, dropping Uran in the process.

“If you don’t struggle, that will be the end of it.” The man said, his voice monotone, like all emotion had been strangled out of him long ago. “If you try to break free, it will only get worse.”

Riku glared daggers at the man, trying to break free despite the warning. The man glared right back, and pressed a button in his other hand, an electrical shock running through Riku, causing him to yell out.

At this moment, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Atom defeated all the Heartless and rounded the corner to see what was going on. The man swiftly walked away and out of sight, but the quartet managed to catch a glimpse of him. Atom especially was stunned. “Was that…?” He murmured to himself.

“Riku, what happened?!” Sora asked, approaching Riku. The shock was over by this point, only lasting a few seconds. To the teen’s dismay, Riku didn’t answer. He looked between the four of them and then at Uran, who fell out of reach. The older boy glared at Sora and pressed his free hand against the wall. A portal appeared, black and purple, with Riku sinking inside. Before anyone could stop him, he was gone, the steel ring clattering to the ground as the portal vanished.

“He’s gone…!” Goofy exclaimed, looking around as if Riku may pop back up again…but he didn’t.

Atom got over whatever it was that he saw in the stranger and went over to his sister. “Uran! Uran, are you okay?!” He yelled out, shaking her a bit.

Thankfully, Uran’s eyes opened, and she sat up, seeming no worse for wear. “Atom…?” She murmured. “What happened? How did I get here?”

“Don’t you remember what happened?” Donald asked, still having his staff ready in case Riku came back.

Uran paused for a second, seeming to be accessing her memories. “…I remember Riku breaking down our door. He reached for me…then I’m here. I’m not sure what happened.”

“You don’t need to worry, Uran, you’re safe now.” Atom assured, giving his sister a hug. “I’m sorry I didn’t help you faster. I just didn’t feel right attacking one of Sora’s friends, even with what he was doing…”

That just twisted the knife for Sora. He couldn’t stop feeling partially responsible for Riku’s actions, despite that making no sense. “I’m sorry, Uran, but I don’t think he’ll be bothering you anymore.” At least, he hoped so. But what he said about helping Kairi…what happened to her? Did Riku know where she was?!

With things settling down, the five made their way back to Atom’s home. Atom’s parents were overjoyed, hugging Uran close as they were reunited. Inspector Tawashi didn’t seem particularly happy and focused in on Sora. “So, your friend did kidnap her, then? Where is he? You don’t have anything to do with this, do you?”

“Hey!” Donald snapped. “We didn’t have anything to do with it! Riku got away, but we weren’t involved!” The mage wasn’t going to stand by and let them get accused of something like this.

“I’ll fill you in later, Inspector Tawashi.” Atom promised. “Honestly, Sora, Donald, and Goofy don’t know much more than I do.”

The grumpy inspector huffed. “Fine. You better get back to me on this, robot.” He sneered at Atom before he and the other officers left the scene.

“Thanks for that, Donald.” Sora muttered, knowing it wasn’t just him he was sticking up for, but it made him feel a bit better. The mage just shrugged in response.

“We can’t thank you enough!” Atom’s mother declared, standing up straight as Uran stood between her and her husband.

“Our family really owes you three a debt of gratitude.” Atom’s father agreed, beaming at Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

With a bashful laugh, Goofy waved it off. “Aw, we were glad to help! Couldn’t let anythin’ happen to Uran, right?”

“And Atom, you really need to get to Professor Ochanomizu and get fixed up!” The robot boy’s mother worryingly noted.

“Don’t worry, we’ll walk him over and make sure he gets there okay.” Sora said, worried about Atom’s injuries. It didn’t seem to bother the robot, and he had to wonder if Atom even felt pain…or simulated pain…but he was too nervous to ask.

Uran grinned up at the three outsiders. “Thanks for helping me get back! Please come and visit sometime soon, okay?”

“We will, don’t worry!” Sora promised, hoping it was one he could keep. With that, he, Donald, and Goofy went off with Atom back to the Ministry of Science. “…I’m sorry, again, for what happened. Seems like my friends have caused a lot of trouble for you.” First Cloud, then Riku…of course Cloud was being controlled, but still!

“You really don’t have to worry about it, Sora. It’s fine!” Atom assured. “You helped with everything that happened anyway, so even if it was your fault, you still came through.”

Thankfully, nothing occurred on the trip over, it seeming Heartless really were starting to appear less often with the Keyhole sealed. Sora, Donald, and Goofy wondered about that man that seemed to have stopped Riku, but Atom didn’t comment on him, so they didn’t feel the need to ask.

When they got to the Ministry of Science, they went right to Professor Ochanomizu’s office, where the man was at his desk. “There you all are!” He stood up, then worry spread over his face when he saw Atom. “And what happened to you, lad?! You’re all banged up!”

“It was…a lot.” Atom replied vaguely. “I’ll explain it all later. My friends here wanted to make sure I got here okay.”

The professor seemed worried still, but less so. “I see. Well, that signal you were looking for, I managed to narrow it down, but it vanished! What happened, exactly?”

Sora figured if Atom could know they were from other worlds, Professor Ochanomizu could too. “You see, we’re not from his world. The Keyhole leads to the heart of this world, all worlds have a Keyhole that does that. We just needed to seal it up so the Heartless didn’t get to it. It’s what’s been causing the stars to go out…”

Ochanomizu’s eyes widened at the revelation. “Really now? I admit, something seemed a bit…off about you three. Please, tell me more!”

“To be honest, we don’t know that much more than what we said.” Goofy admitted. “All we know is that Sora can use the Keyblade to seal the Keyholes and protect the worlds! Sorry…”

“And we don’t have time to break it down anyway, we have to keep moving!” Donald pointed out.

“You don’t want to rest up at my place first?” Atom asked, seeming a bit disappointed.

Donald shook his head. “No way! Every time we try to go to your house and sleep, something bad happens!”

Atom laughed at that. “Yeah, I guess that’s kinda true! Okay…well, we should just let them leave, professor. Goofy already made it clear they don’t know much more than we do about what’s going on.” He then hesitated and went on. “And…maybe we can give them that invention you were working on.”

The professor sighed and nodded. “Okay, I see. It’s a shame, but I respect your decision to leave.” One of his brows raised. “Really? The beacon? If you’re sure…”

“Beacon? What beacon?” Sora asked as Professor Ochanomizu started to dig around in his desk. The man pulled out a small device, about the size of his thumb, black and oval with a red button on it.

“This beacon here sends a signal to Atom. Press this, and he’ll go to your location and help you.” The professor explained.

Atom nodded. “I trust you with it! Just know I can’t just come with you, I have to make sure this world is safe too.”

Sora took the beacon, grinning down at Atom. “Thanks…I appreciate that you’ll keep helping us.” He slipped the device into an empty pocket.

“Now, I’m curious, how do you get from world to world? A ship of some kind?” Professor Ochanomizu asked.

“That’s right! Our Gummi Ship! We got a way of transportin’ back to it.” Goofy remarked as Donald pulled the device out.

“Ah, a shame we won’t be able to look over it…” The professor bemoaned.

GLaDOS piped up from Sora’s pocket. “And I’d like to study more of the machinery here, so we both lose, in a way.” She stated. “Never thought I’d see technology like this outside of Aperture Science…”

“Thanks for everything, Atom. I mean, I hope we don’t need you…you know what I mean.” Sora said, feeling a bit awkward.

“I get it, don’t worry! Good luck with everything, guys!” Atom called with a wide grin.

“See ya, Atom! Hope all the repairs go okay!” Goofy replied with a returning smile.

Donald couldn’t help but smile too. “With our luck, it won’t be long before we meet again anyway…” With that, he pushed the button on his device, sending the outsiders back to the Gummi Ship, leaving an amazed Atom and Ochanomizu behind.

---

In a dark world, far from the world of robots, Riku stood in a small and windowless room. A bookshelf, a desk, a bed…it wasn’t exactly cozy. On the bed was Kairi, unmoving, but alive in a way. Riku had no need to sleep on the bed if Kairi needed it, the floor was good enough for him. Behind the teen, Dio Brando stood.

“So, Kairi really is just lifeless? She’ll just stay this way if I don’t help her?” Riku asked the vampire. “Her heart is really gone…?” He knew what Dio had told him before, he just found it hard to believe.

“Precisely!” The blonde man hissed, almost sounding glad. “It was assuredly taken by the Heartless when your world was lost. If you had kept hold of that robot girl, perhaps you could’ve helped her! Even when I gave you the ability to control the Heartless, you still failed.”

Riku sneered and turned around. “Well, what else can I do, then?!” Kairi was so close, yet so far away, far beyond his reach!

Dio didn’t seem to mind the outburst. “Remember how you spirited away with Princess Zelda? There was a good reason. She is a Princess of Heart, one of seven maidens, their hearts of pure light. Gathering them together will open a world to untold wisdom and power! There you will assuredly find a way to aid Kairi…”

“But you’re gonna have to help more. Snatching a girl or two isn’t enough.” A voice called. In entered the remaining member of Dio’s entourage, the man with the hooked hand. “You’re going to come to my world, I strongly believe one of the two remaining princesses is there. Pull your weight, or you don’t get what you want, you whelp…”

The teen glared daggers at the man, but still nodded. “Fine. Whatever it takes. And if Sora gets in my way…I’ll have no choice but to toss him aside.” Seven princesses, a special door…it was beyond what he had been told before, but with everything he had seen since leaving his home behind…he believed in Dio’s words.

---

Simply astonishing! Today I had a guest from another world. He is a king, and his vessel is built of the material that composed the meteors. He called the pieces "Gummi Blocks". It seemed that my opening the door has opened a path to interworld travel.

We talked for countless hours, but one story in particular caught my interest: that of a key called the "Keyblade". The Keyblade is said to hold phenomenal power.

One legend says its wielder saved the world, while another says that he wrought chaos and ruin upon it. I must know what this Keyblade is. A key opens doors. It must be connected to the door I have opened.

Chapter Text

Sora did his best not to look out the window as the Gummi Ship flew on through space. Every time he did, the view became less and less cluttered, stars starting to vanish in swaths. He swore he could look out the window every few minutes and notice at least one world that had fallen to the darkness. Maybe it was in his mind, though, even Donald and Goofy noticing how much his gaze lingered when he gazed out into the increasingly-empty expanse. The two told him not to keep tormenting himself by checking the view of the stars every few minutes…but he just couldn’t help himself.

It had been two weeks since the group left Atom’s world behind. Sora felt frustrated by how long it was taking to get between new worlds at this point. The gaps kept getting longer and longer and he was starting to wonder what would happen if it went on like this. How much time would it take to get to the world after this? A month? Two? And the world after that? Five months? There was no ending in sight, it seemed to Sora, the teen feeling no closer to his goal than when he began.

He had encountered Riku a few times, and saved a handful of worlds…but that was it. He hadn’t gotten to see Kairi, Dio was out there causing trouble, and of course the Heartless themselves were still taking worlds away! On top of that, he had no idea how to undo all the damage, if it was even possible! It got to the point that Sora was having increasing difficulty sleeping at night, his worries keeping him tossing and turning.

Even when he slept, he started to have bad dreams; seeing all the stars in the night sky go out at once, watching Kairi get swallowed by a wave of darkness, witnessing Riku stabbing at him with his sword. When he was awake, Sora felt a lot more stressed than before as well, his body seeming heavier as depression gnawed at his body and at his heart. Still, when around Donald and Goofy, he forced a smile on his face anyway.

One of the few upsides to the long trip was that it gave him time to train his body and magic, forcing himself to work himself and hone his skills to prepare himself. He had no idea what he was going to face going forward, so he had to be ready! Dio himself was a threat that he felt he wasn’t prepared for, despite not having seen much of the vampire. There was just a feeling in his gut that he still had to grow more in order to stand a chance…! The other nice part of the long trip was getting to let the summons out each day, letting them have a chance to stretch their legs and eat from the magical pantry. Gash and Woomy were always nice to see while Bobobo was…well, unpredictable. One time when summoned the afro-having man burst through the wall of the kitchen, repairing it himself and doing a shockingly good job at it.

Eventually, though, as Sora lounged on his bed after a set of pushups, there was an announcement over the speakers. “Sora! Get up to the cockpit! We’re approaching another world!” Donald’s voice rang throughout the entire ship.

The brunette was there in a heartbeat, glad they were finally going to make some progress…he hoped, at least. Gazing out the cockpit, Sora saw the world getting closer. It was a very blue world, covered in ocean, but with many islands of various sizes dotting it. More eye-catching, though, was a massive ring of red rock that seemed to encircle the entire planet! This supercontinent split the world in half, there being no visible way through it as far as the group could see from this angle.

Seeing such a massive amount of ocean, so much that it was engulfing the planet…it reminded Sora of home. He gazed out at the endless sea so many times, seeing all that blue gave him a deep homesickness that made his heart ache. Sora had been so ready to leave home, but now he’d give anything to go back…

“Tell me you can pick up the Keyhole’s signal this time!” Donald said to GLaDOS, the A.I. already having been plugged into the console. The mage was pretty annoyed at how many times she was unable to pinpoint exactly where their goal was.

GLaDOS let out a scoff, and despite not having any, seemed to roll her eyes. “If magic and other signals interfere, that cannot be helped. This time, I can scan the exact location of the Keyhole.” Her tone was smug, apparently forgetting she had never put the group right near any Keyholes a single time.

“I hope it’s not at the bottom of the ocean somewhere…” Goofy remarked, raising his hand above his eyes and squinting, as if that’d help him pinpoint where the Keyhole was.

“I can verify it isn’t.” GLaDOS assured. “Now do you want me to teleport you down there or not?”

“I just hope we can find Riku or Kairi down there…King Mickey too.” Sora murmured, mostly to himself. This while goose chase for Donald and Goofy’s king was starting to wear on his patience. Just where was this King Mickey, and what was he up to? He must have been capable in some way if Donald and Goofy were so desperate to find him.

“Let’s go!” Donald exclaimed. “Take us to the Keyhole!” He was still assuming that if King Mickey was at any given world, he’d be near the Keyhole. After all, he also wielded the Keyblade. If Sora could seal the Keyholes, then his old friend assuredly could too!

GLaDOS made a huffing sound. “Fine. I’m prepping things now.” As she did so, Goofy stepped forward, saying something about seeing something interesting…and he tripped over his own feet. He fell over, right onto the console, pressing a series of buttons as he reached out to break his fall. “You idiot! You’re going to-”

The group found themselves in midair…and the ocean around ten feet blow them, and nothing else.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy fell into the freezing waters, Donald having a firm grip on GLaDOS as he yelled out in shock and pain from the icy sea. Landing in it so suddenly was like a punch to the chest for the trio! “GLaDOS! What did you do?!” The mage screamed, working hard to keep his head above water, even as small waves crashed against him. He looked around for any sign of land, but it was misty around them, so he couldn’t even see the horizon.

“Don’t look at me! That moron slammed into the controls and threw off my calculations!” GLaDOS shot back. “You’re lucky we even landed in the world at all! You’re also very lucky I’m waterproof!”

“I didn’t mean to!” Goofy exclaimed, also managing to stay afloat, his head above the crashing waves. “What are we gonna do?!”

Sora tried to think, his parents had told him numerous times growing up what to do if he somehow got stranded at sea. He tried to remember what they said, but the panic going through him and the cold that was digging deep into his bones made it almost impossible to concentrate! He watched as Donald struggled to get the remote needed to get them back to the Gummi Ship, but he wasn’t able to do that and stay above water at the same time!

The three thrashed in the water, each panicking and not knowing what to do with themselves. It didn’t help that the sheer cold of the water around them was sapping their strength, it was like they were in arctic waters! Sora found his vision starting to fade, and as he did, he swore he saw a shape approaching from the mist around them. It…looked like a ship, a relatively small, wooden one.

“See? I told you I heard yelling!” A voice called from the ship, one sounding like it belonged to a boy not much older than Sora.

“We have to save them! We can’t just let them drown out there!” A second voice shouted, one belonging to a young woman.

“You can reach them, right? Go on and grab them!” A third voice shouted, another male, this one gruffer than the first.

As Sora’s eyes shut, he gazed at the ship, seeing a few figures running around the deck, but he couldn’t make out any details. What he was able to make out, though, was the large sail…and the jolly roger on it. Before it could even register with him, the teen passed out.

The next thing Sora knew, he was no longer wet or freezing, but he felt exhausted. His eyes were screwed shut, and he nearly felt like he didn’t have the strength to even open them. He noticed two other things. One was that he was wrapped up in a blanket. The second thing was that wherever he was, it was rocking back and forth.

Letting loose a slight groan, Sora opened his eyes. He saw a wooden ceiling above him, glancing down he saw he was on a wooden floor, a thick blanket over him. Glancing to his side, he saw Donald and Goofy were in the same situation, lying on the floor with blankets on. They, however, still had their eyes closed. He sat up, wincing a bit as he took a further look around the room. It was rather nondescript, but it was clear he was on a ship of some sort, the way the wooden room was structured gave it away for him.

There was a single door leading somewhere else, and there was a wooden table and chair off against the far wall. Ah, yes! That’s right! Before he passed out, he saw a ship heading towards them! He had heard voices, someone saying to grab and help them. Just before he had gone entirely unconscious, though, he saw a jolly roger on the ship’s sail.

Pirates…

He had to have been aboard a pirate vessel! For a split second, he panicked, but then realized how silly that was. If these were bad pirates, they wouldn’t have rescued them in the first place. On top of that, the three of them had been taken care of, blankets to fight back the cold they had suffered from after falling in the ocean. Someone probably dried them off entirely, as Sora felt around his body and didn’t feel any dampness. Who knew how long he had been out, though. Clearly, these were good people…

That thought going through his head, Sora felt a surge of excitement in his heart. Ever since he was a kid, he wanted to be a pirate! Not the kind that burned down port towns and stole from people, no. He wanted to be free, to sail the seas and go on adventures! With Riku’s influence, the idea of just the sea evolved into wanting to go and explore as many worlds as possible. In a way, he saw his planned trip with Riku and Kairi as a way for him to become a pirate. Sora never said this out loud, though, he knew Riku would just poke fun at him, so there was no point.

The teen sighed through his nose, thinking back to the initial plan. If they had left a day sooner, maybe they’d have at least ended up together when their world fell to darkness. It still would’ve been an awful situation, but at least the three wouldn’t have been separated! He also saw the dark irony in how he was going around to various worlds, seeing new sights, making friends…but there was a bitter edge to it all. He was always fighting Heartless or other evil-doers, risking his life many times and always having to leave before he was ready. He never got to really explore, to take in these new worlds he encountered, always having to rush to the next one to fulfill his goals. If this was all one big road trip through space, it’d be one thing, but it was getting harder to enjoy seeing new worlds when things ended up so violent and stressful…

Sora was jolted out of his thoughts when the sole door to the room opened and someone entered. It wasn’t what Sora was expecting, to be sure. He expected a rough looking man with a missing eye and a peg leg with a long dirty beard, or something to that effect. Instead, a young man entered, one that couldn’t have even been twenty years old. He wore a fine suit, like he was the waiter of a fancy restaurant rather than on a pirate ship. The young man had short, yellow hair that covered his left eye and had his right exposed. Unusually, above his right eye, he had a long, curly eyebrow.

In one hand, he held a tray with three bowls of soup on it, the smell was fantastic and Sora’s mouth practically began to water just from that first whiff of the food. The two teens locked eyes on each other and froze for a second. Sora wasn’t sure if he should speak first, but thankfully the other did it for him. “Well, at least one of you woke up.” The suited man said. “I don’t normally bring food to guys, but since you guys fell into that freezing water, I’ll make an exception.” He put the tray on the table and took the bowl with one hand and the chair with the other. Taking the chair next to Sora, he sat down and handed the soup to him.

Sora wasn’t sure why, but he had the feeling that the blonde guy wasn’t as cross as he acted, like he was just putting on a front of being annoyed that he was helping out three strangers. Taking the soup, Sora took a spoonful. “Thank you, we really appreciate you helping us.” Blowing on the soup, he brought it to his mouth…and it was about the most delicious thing he had tasted, an explosion on his tastebuds! Without meaning to, he found himself taking in spoonful after spoonful, just wanting more of that taste! “This is great! Who made this?!” It was not something he expected on a pirate ship!

That got a grin out of the suited man, who watched with glee as Sora downed the soup. “Glad you like it! As it happens, I made it, I’m the cook around here!” Right away, his attitude flipped, sincerely happy to see someone enjoying his food. “Just make sure you down every last bit of it, there’s no food wasting around here, alright?” His tone got more serious at that, it being clear he wasn’t kidding.

“Don’t worry, you’d have to take the bowl away to get me to stop eating.” Sora insisted, but did manage to stop eating long enough to keep talking. “So…you guys are pirates, right? I know I saw a jolly roger before I blacked out.”

“Oh, so you know? You’re pretty calm about that. But yeah, we’re pirates, our captain is on the deck, he actually kept checking to see if you were awake before I told him to quit bugging you. Surprised you slept through all that.” The chef explained. “And the name’s Sanji, by the way. Who are you three, and why were you in the middle of the ocean like that? Found some weird device on one of you…”

GLaDOS! Sora looked over to Donald, but spotted GLaDOS by his hand, which the brunette had missed earlier. She appeared fine, the yellow ‘eye’ was glowing, he figured she was just keeping quiet, not sure if this world could deal with technology like her. Realizing he had to come up with an excuse about being in the middle of the ocean, Sora came up with the explanation that made the most sense. “Well, our ship sank, that’s all. The three of us are explorers, but a big wave came and wiped the ship out! What’s your ship called anyway?” He felt he should at least know where the three of them were…

Sanji nodded, apparently buying the lie at face value. “Yeah, the weather on the Grand Line can be like that. The other day there was a huge cyclone that we barely got away from. Weather around here can change on a dime. As for the ship, it’s the Going Merry…but more importantly, there weren’t any other crew members, were there?”

The Grand Line…so, that was some stretch of ocean or something? Sora shook his head. “No, just the three of us. We should’ve had a bigger ship, but…” He trailed off, just adding onto the lie, trying to make it more credible.

“Well, yeah, you made it out alright, so that’s what matters.” Sanji mused. “Anyway, our captain’s gonna wanna see you three. I’ll just tell him you’re not awake yet so you can eat in peace.” He stood up, glancing at Donald and Goofy. “Hopefully they wake up soon. There’s no doctor aboard our ship, so we just did the best we could.”

No doctor? Didn’t a ship need one? What if they got hurt, was there healing magic of some kind? “We appreciate it, thanks, Sanji.” Sora watched as Sanji left the room, and he quickly finished off his soup.

It wasn’t long after this that Donald and Goofy stirred, waking up. “About time you two woke up.” GLaDOS snipped. “We’re on a pirate ship now, thanks to that clumsy knight!”

Donald and Goofy got their bearings, Donald sneering down at GLaDOS. “You’re just lucky I didn’t drop you in the ocean!”

“Did ya say…pirates?” Goofy asked, feeling a bit nervous, but then stopped and sniffed a few times. “Somethin’ smells pretty good, though!”

“Yeah, we’re on a pirate ship, the chef brought us food, so they’re pretty nice.” Sora said as Donald and Goofy went to get their food. As the two ate, both enamored with Sanji’s cooking, the teen explained what he knew, and told them the lie he came up with, so their stories would all be the same.

After the three talked things over and finished their soup, Sora warning Donald and Goofy not to waste any, Donald sighed. “What do we do now? We’re on some pirate ship going to some random island somewhere, probably.”

Before Sora or Goofy could answer, a commotion came from outside the sole door of the room. Two voices talking to each other, two men, that sounded like they were bickering. Before the trio could react, the door burst open and two teens entered. One was a scrawny man in brown overalls and a bandana on his voluminous hair. Most strikingly, though, was his long, long nose that stuck out far in front of his face.

The other teen, only a few years older than Sora, stood out a lot more, as if his presence filled a room. Yet he didn’t look like much, with a red button-up short, blue shorts, sandals, short black hair and a scar under his left eye. His most notable article of clothing, though was an old looking straw hat perched on his head, a red rim above its brim. This young man grinned wide as he looked to the trio. “See, Usopp! I told you they were awake!”

“It’s not that they might be asleep I was worried about!” The scrawnier teen, Usopp, remarked. He sounded nervous as he looked between Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “We don’t know who these three are! They could even be Marines…”

“They don’t look like any Marine I’ve seen.” The other boy said bluntly. “Hey, you three aren’t Marines, are you?”

Sora shook his head. “No, we’re just explorers, that’s all.” Made sense there’d be some group after pirates…

The young man in the straw hat turned to his friend with a look of confidence. “See?! They’re not Marines!” He crowed with enthusiasm.

“That doesn’t mean much, but whatever you say…” Usopp lightly bemoaned. “So, who are you three anyway?” He asked the three strangers to the boat.

“I’m Sora, and this is Donald and Goofy. We appreciate you helping us out…so you’re Usopp…” The brunette gestured to the long-nosed pirate, then glanced at Luffy. “…who are you?” He had to wonder where the captain was around here. Sanji introduced himself as the chef, and these two didn’t seem like captain material.

The grinning teen managed to smile even wider. “I’m Monkey D. Luffy, and I’m going to be King of the Pirates one day!” He said it with such bravado, like it was a fact and not simply something he wanted. Sora had no idea what it meant, but he almost instantly believed that Luffy’s words would come true.

It took Sora a second to realize what the declaration meant. “So…wait, are you the captain here?” He wouldn’t be King of the Pirates if he was just another member of the crew, right? Sora could at least gather that much!

Luffy nodded with enthusiasm. “That’s right! I’m the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates! Guess not a lot of people have heard of me yet, even with my bounty…”

“And I hope it stays that way! Last thing we need is Marines and bounty hunters tracking us down!” Usopp declared. “So, what do we do with these three, Luffy?”

“Well, we take them with us, duh! Can’t just drop them back off into the ocean, can we?” Luffy gestured for Sora, Donald, and Goofy to stand up. “Come on, get up! You should meet the rest of the crew!”

As the trio got onto their feet, all feeling much better with some rest and food, Goofy spoke up. “So…how many crew members do ya have?” He was pretty surprised to see Luffy was the captain. Goofy was no expert on pirates, but he seemed pretty young…

“If the captain is just some kid, there’s probably not a lot!” Donald exclaimed, pocketing GLaDOS as he spoke.

“Well yeah, you’re right! There’s only five of us right now, but we’ll pick up some more later.” Luffy declared, not seeming to find the concept of such a small crew to be an issue.

“Donald, these guys saved us, ya should try to be nicer.” Goofy whispered, leaning down to talk to his friend.

The mage let out an annoyed huff. “We wouldn’t have needed saving if you didn’t fall all over the controls…” He harshly whispered back. Donald was trying not to be too mad at Goofy, but they finally had a situation where they were about to be teleported right to the Keyhole, and he messed it up!

“We’d like to meet your crew, yeah! I’ve never gotten to be on a pirate ship before!” Sora was starting to feel the rush of excitement, it may not have been exactly what he expected, but he was still meeting pirates! His earlier depression faded, lying dormant in his heart, as he finally felt some joy after weeks of stressing out within the Gummi Ship.

Matching Sora’s excitement, Luffy ran off ahead, Usopp keeping an eye on the trio as they followed the energetic captain. They soon found themselves on the main deck of the ship and began to shiver, cold biting at them as the misty sea surrounded them. The ship itself wasn’t too big, a caravel, with a figurehead at the front modeled after a sheep’s head, complete with curly brown horns. Up on the main mast was a sail with the jolly roger displayed proudly; a skull and crossbones adorned in a straw hat. On the deck were two individuals and an animal.

The first individual was a young man that appeared to be the same age as Sanji, but was bulkier and sported short hair that was a mossy green. He was standing on a higher part of the deck, binoculars in hand and gazing out at the sea. Most notably was that he was armed on the right hip. There, he had not one, not two, but three blades in their sheaths! One had a black grip, while one was red, and the last was white. How anyone wielded more than two swords was lost on the trio. The man had a blanket draped over him, but he was still shivering a bit as he kept a lookout.

The second individual was a young woman that seemed only a year or two older than Sora. She had fair skin and was bundled in heavy, warm clothing, and had blue hair tied into a ponytail. With her was an unusual creature, a large duck-like bird with a saddle, a barrel of water around its neck, and a blue hat with goggles on it. The bird sat by the young woman’s side, shivering intensely as she looked out into the sea with a pair of binoculars.

When Sora looked at the young woman, he felt something…unusual. It wasn’t something he could explain, but he felt a warmth coming off of her, the same sensation he got when he saw Princess Zelda when she shed her disguise. He wasn’t sure what to make of it, but he felt that the blue-haired teen was someone kind and just.

“Hey, Zoro! Vivi!” Luffy shouted out to the man and woman respectfully. “Those castaways are awake! Come say hi!”

“How about you come keep watch and give me a break from this cold?!” Zoro replied in a grouchy tone. Though he did turn back to check out Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “Glad to see you three aren’t corpses.” Apparently that was his idea of a greeting…or a joke.

The young woman, Vivi, was more empathetic. “I’m just glad you three are up and about so soon. I don’t know if anyone told you, but we don’t have a doctor around here. That’s what we’re up to, actually…”

Such a small crew? No doctor? The fact they’re clearly trying to spot an island means no map or way of navigating either…Sora was really wondering just how serious this pirate crew was. They just seemed so grossly unprepared for any situation! It was disheartening, actually, he had hoped if he met a pirate crew, they’d be real swashbucklers! Experienced, powerful and sturdy men that braved the seas! So far, the oldest member of the crew he had met was out of his teens yet…was that normal in this world?

“What do ya need a doctor for? Someone hurt or somethin’?” Goofy asked, looking around to see if he could spot the crewmate in need.

“It’s our navigator, Nami, she’s real sick with…something.” Usopp remarked, worry in his tone. “None of us can tell what it is, and we need a doctor quick!”

Sora glanced down at Donald, and the mage seemed to read his mind and gave a small shake of the head. Cure magic could heal injuries just fine of course, but restoring energy and erasing an illness was beyond what the spell could do. Sora picked up on this, knowing that even Donald wouldn’t refuse to use Cure on someone seriously ill unless it just wouldn’t work.

“Real sorry to hear that…is that everyone, then? Just you six?” Sora asked, managing to keep the disappointment out of his voice. “I talked with Sanji, too, when he brought us soup.”

“I thought he said you weren’t awake yet! That liar!” Luffy exclaimed, almost like he was offended at the fib.

Vivi cleared her throat. “There’s seven of us, actually, we can’t forget Karoo here!” She gestured to the giant duck, which raised its wing in a sort of wave, squawking out what was most likely a greeting. “But yes, that’s all of us.”

Before Sora could comment further, Zoro piped up. “Hey, there’s something weird up ahead!” He then hesitated, as if he had to make sure he was seeing things right. “It’s someone standing on the water somehow!”

Everyone on deck went over to where Zoro was pointing and saw that, yes, he was entirely correct! There really was someone standing on the surface of the water! The person in question was a tall, oddly-clothed man who resembled a jester with green and light blue square patterns on his jester outfit. He wore a heavy coat, suitable for the water, and had a large bow on his back, complete with a quiver of arrows. The man was simply standing on the water, doing so very casually, and there was no explanation as to how he was doing it!

Everyone stared at the man, who stared right back, who was unphased by the pirate ship’s presence. He let out a slight shiver, looking around, snow having started to fall. “Boy, it sure is cold out here, huh?” The jester asked, casually.

“Yeah…it really is, huh?” Luffy remarked, as if he didn’t know any other way to respond.

“But…how…?” Sora piped up, but wasn’t sure how to really ask his question. Given the reaction of the crew, all staring at the man like he had two heads, this wasn’t normal.

Before anything else could be said, the sea tore open in front of the Going Merry as a massive object emerged from the sea! It was dome-shaped, and made of metal, a crow’s nest on the top which the jester had been standing on the entire time. Vivi nearly fell over as the pirate ship began to rock violently. “Nami! Sanji might need help keeping her safe! Come on, Karoo!” As the ship continued to quake, she and Karoo dashed into one of the doors.

“What is that thing?!” Donald exclaimed, summoning his wand and pointing it at the ship. Whatever it was, it didn’t seem friendly!

“This is the last thing we need!” Zoro exclaimed, gripping one of his swords as he glared at the dome intensely, as if he may try to cut it in half.

Sora summoned his Keyblade, taking a few steps back as the dome folded open, revealing it was actually a ship, the figurehead being a furry, hippo-like creature with an extravagant crown. Up on the mast was a black flag with a jolly roger, it too having a large crown on top of a metal mouth and a tongue licking its lips.

From the ship came a number of gangplanks connecting it to the Going Merry. Out of the massive vessel came a flood of men, all in heavy jackets and gloves, and all of them wielding flintlock rifles and pistols! They all appeared so suddenly that no one had time to move, and before everyone knew it, the deck was filled with the men with everyone having guns pointed in their faces. Sora wanted to fight back, but with guns pointed at his friends and the Straw Hats, he worried if he did anything, someone would get shot…

At just that moment, Sanji burst out onto the deck from the door Vivi went in. He stopped in his tracks as a number of men surrounded him and pointed their weapons right at his head. “So…a ship’s attacking us, huh?” His tone was unusually calm, even taking a cigarette from his pocket and between his lips, lighting it as he gazed around at the many armed men.

Before anyone on the Going Merry could answer, a towering figure came from the larger ship. He was very wide and sported purple hair, and was covered in metal plating, wearing the fur of an animal that resembled the figurehead of the gigantic ship. In one hand, he had a chunk of cooked meat empaled on a small sword. “Seven…huh? Can’t just be the seven of you, can there…?” The metal man murmured to himself as he bit of a large chunk of the meat. He then opened his mouth wide and ate the rest of the meat and a big piece of the sword it was attached to! With no apparent injury, he began to chew up the blade, a horrible crunching sound ringing out. “Hey, I’ve got a question…” The man went on.

“I can feel my gums bleeding just looking at that! How did that guy just eat a sword?!” Usopp exclaimed, wincing in pain as the large man swallowed the blade and metal.

“Who the heck is that guy?” Luffy asked, also wincing from the unusual eating habits of the metallic figure.

Sora felt his teeth hurt too, and he was keeping still for the moment. If he was going to spring an attack on the invading men, he wanted to wait for the perfect time. “You came out with a bunch of armed men to ask a question?”

The man ignored Sora as he tossed the remaining part of the sword into his mouth and began to chew that up as well. “We want to go to Drum Kingdom, you see…Do you have an Eternal Pose there? Or a Log Pose, perhaps?”

“Never heard of the place.” Sanji bluntly replied, still not worried at all that guns were pointed at him. In fact, none of the Straw Hats seemed to care, except for Usopp.

“You can just scram! And quit eating weird stuff like that!” Donald exclaimed, following the same logic as Sora. He could attack at any time, but with all the guns pointed at people, it’d be a potential disaster…

“You can’t just rush through life, you know…” The man responded as he swallowed the remnants of the sword. “Since you can’t help us, we’ll just take your treasure and your ship, too.”

Luffy glared at the unusual stranger. “No way! You can’t just barge in and take our stuff!”

Again, the man didn’t seem deterred by the responses he was getting. “Just a moment, I’m still hungry…” Without hesitation, he turned to the part of the Going Merry he was standing next to, a large swirl that was just there for decoration. His mouth grew huge, almost matching the size of his body as he wrapped his teeth around the swirl and just…bit it off! He chewed up the wooden ship piece, his mouth still gigantic as he did so. “Mmm…Not bad…”

“He’s eating our ship?! What the hell is he thinking?!” Luffy bellowed, pointing an accusing finger at the stranger as he somehow managed to chew down and swallow the hunk of ship he bit off. Like with the sword, this somehow did no damage to the glutton of a man at all.

One of the soldiers pointing a gun at Luffy sneered and shoved the barrel of his weapon closer to his face. “Hey! Don’t try to interrupt Captain Wapol while he’s eating! You don’t want to mess with the Bliking Pirates!”

The straw hat wearing youth turned and punched the man right in the face, knocking him out in a single blow. “Shut up! Quit messing with our ship!” Luffy yelled out, prompting the other soldiers to get into battle positions, guns now at the ready.

Everything erupted into chaos at that moment. Sora, Donald, and Goofy took that as the signal to start fighting back. And clearly Sanji and Zoro did the same, with Usopp doing his best to dodge around the hail of gunfire that resulted from Luffy’s punch. Sora mostly relied on his Keyblade, managing to duck around the bullets, finding it surprising how easily he was able to do so. Donald used small spells, not wanting to risk damaging the ship, utilizing Gravity often to send the attacking men to the floor. Goofy, naturally, used his shield, bashing the heads of the enemy pirates, and using it to black any gunfire that came his way.

As Sora fought, he got a glimpse of how the Straw Hats handled things like this. Luffy was a clear brawler, throwing haymakers and savage kicks every which way, generally knocking whoever he hits out in one attack each. Sanji, strangely, only seemed willing to kick his opponents. The most he used his hands was to do handstands so he could do large, sweeping kicks that knocked everyone around him off their feet. He even hooked his feet underneath the chins or necks of his foes and slammed them harshly onto the deck.

Zoro, not surprisingly, used his swords to fight. Sora was mildly disappointed to see he only used two, the red and black gripped ones, to fight. He was really hoping to see how the green-haired swordsman used that third sword of his. Zoro danced went around the bullets with ease, cutting up the men that got in his way, out speeding them without breaking a sweat. “They’re too damn slow…” Sora heard the swordsman murmur to himself at one point.

The glutton of a man, Wapol, sneered as his men failed to put down the outsider trio and the Straw Hats. “You’re all useless! I’ll have to just use my new minions, won’t I?!” He waved his hand, and over a dozen dark blotches appeared on the duck of the Going Merry, from which Shadow Heartless emerged!

“Oh, come on, those things again?!” Luffy exclaimed, stomping down on one of the Heartless, destroying it instantly.

“At least it’s just the small ones this time!” Sanji declared, kicking a Shadow right off the side of the ship and into the freezing waters below.

Unfortunately for Wapol, he seemed only able to summon Shadow Heartless. Sora was hoping that maybe, just maybe, this world wouldn’t have any Heartless. He felt foolish for even wishing for something like that at this point. Soon enough, the Heartless and most of the armed men were defeated, with Luffy charging right at Wapol from the front.

To the disturbance of everyone else, Wapol opened his mouth up wide as Luffy got in close. Clearly, the Straw Hat’s captain wasn’t expecting that either, as he was only able to let out a yelp as the larger man bit down on him! The poor teen’s body was captured inside of Wapol’s enlarged mouth, only his arms remaining on the outside! Everyone, even the invading men, stopped and stared at the interaction. Wapol began to chew, but…rather than the sound of agonized screams or breaking bone…there was a strange squelching sound instead. “Ngh…It’s…kinda chewy…” Wapol said through grit teeth, apparently unable to chew Luffy properly like he had the sword or the ship. For some reason, Luffy was different!

“Luffy?! Wait, hold on, I’ll help!” Sora exclaimed, running towards Wapol and Luffy…but he stopped in his tracks at what happened next.

Luffy threw his hands back far…and farther…and farther…! His arms were stretching back several feet, then over a dozen feet! The teen’s limbs stretched as if they were elastic in some way! From inside Wapol’s mouth, Luffy’s voice could be heard. “Gum Gum…”

“H…His arms! What’s goin’ on?!” Goofy shouted out, not sure if he should intervene, or just see what happens next…

At that moment, Vivi came out from the ship, alarmed and wide-eyed. “I heard gunfire, what’s going…” She trailed off, eyes falling on Wapol and a startled expression came across her face. “Wait…what?!” The blue-haired woman exclaimed. “It’s you…!” She said the last two words too quietly for anyone else to hear them.

Wapol’s eyes widened, but he seemed unwilling to let go of Luffy. “H…Hey! What is this?!” His arms waved around, panicking as the teen’s arms stretched even more. “Stop it! What are you doing…?!” He then noticed Vivi, prompting him to look shocked as well. “You…?!”

However, the smaller pirate captain didn’t answer. Instead, he just belted out one word. “…BAZOOKA!” With that cry, his arms shot forward towards Wapol, slamming into his stomach! The impact was immense, forcing Wapol’s mouth open as he yelled out in pain and freeing Luffy. That wasn’t all, though. Luffy’s blow sent Wapol off of the Going Merry, and indeed far beyond just going overboard. The attack sent the gluttonous man flying so far that he vanished from sight, screaming all the way as he was sent careening over the horizon!

For a moment, everyone was stunned…and then the invading men all got to their feet. “Captain Wapol!” Many of them shouted in unison as they rushed to get back onto their ship, some aiding the wounded nearby. Notably, none of the attackers had been killed by the Straw Hat Pirates, even the ones that Zoro attacked.

On the massive ship, the jester from before was near the helm. Next to him was a dark-skinned man with an afro and two fuzzy black orbs on his hands, almost like boxing gloves. “You damned pirates, don’t think this is over!” The afro-bearing man shouted.

The jester scowled at the Going Merry. “Once we get Captain Wapol back, we’ll make you pay!” He then turned to the members of his crew. “Come on, we need to hurry! Captain Wapol can’t swim, after all!” With that, the gangplanks were withdrawn and, with surprising speed, the much larger boat sailed off to where Wapol had been sent flying.

“What a hit…!” Sora exclaimed in awe, looking from the horizon to Luffy. He was toned, sure, but he didn’t look remotely strong enough to do something like that. That wasn’t what was on Sora’s mind, though. “How did your arms do that…they just stretched!”

Donald and Goofy joined Sora’s side as the other Straw Hats went by Luffy’s, though Vivi stayed in place, appearing deep in thought. The pirate captain grinned and hooked a finger in his mouth, pulling at one cheek which stretched a good foot from his face. “Oh, that! I’m a rubber man since I ate the Gum Gum Fruit!”

“The…Gum Gum Fruit?” Donald echoed, never having heard of any sort of gummy fruit before. But…with so many different worlds…just about anything was possible!

“So, ya can stretch whatever ya want?” Goofy asked, flinching in mild surprise as Luffy let go of his cheek, which shot back into place with an audible snap.

“Yeah! Pretty cool, huh?” Luffy grinned and pulled his nose, letting it stick that way after it grew long. “See? Usopp!”

The man in question backhanded Luffy on the chest. “Hey. Not funny.”

Luffy let his nose go back to normal, and Sanji took a small drag of his cigarette, which somehow didn’t go out during the brawl. “I’m surprised you don’t know about Devil Fruits. You never saw one before?”

“Well…the island we’re from is pretty isolated. We don’t know a lot about the outside world.” Sora quickly lied, figuring with how many islands he saw from the Gummi Ship, he’d just claim he was from one of them. No way the crew would know about every single island…

“Devil Fruits give you all sorts of powers when you eat them, but you can’t swim anymore, you just sink like a hammer instead.” Sanji explained. “But wait, I don’t have time for this!” He turned to Vivi, who was still watching where Wapol had last been. “Vivi, is Nami alright?!” His voice was filled with a near-frantic concern.

Vivi snapped out of her slight daze and nodded. “I think so. I’m worried she might have been hurt when the ship was tossed around…”

“Don’t worry Nami, I’m here for you!” Sanji yelled as he made a mad dash for the door, Luffy and Usopp following suit. Zoro stayed on the deck as Sora, Donald, and Goofy followed the others. Sora and Donald figured even if they couldn’t heal her sickness, if she was injured when that massive ship was surfacing, they could still use Cure on any such wounds.

The group, followed by Vivi, found themselves in a simple room with a bed in it. Karoo was sitting next to it, and under some large blankets was a young woman, not much older than Luffy. Not much could be seen of her, as most of her body was under the blankets. All the outsider trio could see was that she was pretty, and had short orange hair. Her eyes were closed, her face flushed and twisted in a slight grimace of pain. She really did look sick…

Vivi went to look her over as Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp watched in worry. “She doesn’t seem hurt…thank goodness…” Vivi remarked, getting sighs of relief from the three pirates.

As the pirates went over to Nami, talking amongst themselves, the outsider trio stayed behind. Donald spoke up, speaking quietly so the Straw Hats couldn’t overhear. “Let’s get back to the ship. Then GLaDOS can get us to the Keyhole properly…”

“Assuming I don’t have any more interference, that is entirely possible.” The A.I. stated, also keeping her voice down.

Sora shook his head. “I think we should stay.” He glanced over at Vivi. “…I think we should stick by her.”

“If you want to stick by pretty girls, do it on your own time.” GLaDOS admonished, and Sora wasn’t able to tell if she was just teasing him or thought that was the reason.

“No, it’s not that. It’s just…I have this strange feeling from her. It’s something I felt when with Princess Zelda.” Sora explained the best he could. “I’m not sure what it is, but Vivi seems…special…”

Goofy nodded in understanding. “Is that what your heart is tellin’ ya, Sora?” He recalled the words he had heard Master Yen Side say: May your heart be your guiding key. If Sora felt it was best to stick with Vivi because his heart told him so, Goofy wasn’t going to argue.

“That’s right. I think we need to stick by her. My heart is telling me it’s important…but I don’t know why.” Sora wished he could provide a better explanation, but that was all he had.

Donald let out a sigh and nodded. “Alright. If you both think it’s important…we’ll stay with the group as long as we can. Just remember, they’re pirates! How much can we trust them?”

“They seem nice so far. I don’t think they’re the kind of pirates that hurt people. I mean…they rescued us, right?” Sora responded.

The mage was being a bit paranoid, but he was just trying to look out for everyone. “…True…I guess we can trust them for now…”

At that moment, Luffy had approached the group, which they hadn’t noticed. “Hey, what are you guys whispering about?” He asked loudly, more curious than accusatory.

Again, Sora came up with a lie, finding it a bit concerning how easily and how casually he started to do it. “We were talking about another reason the three of us were traveling. We’re explorers, but we’re also looking for some friends of ours…maybe you’ve seen them? Their names are Riku and Kairi.” The brunette described how the two looked.

“And there’s King Mickey!” Donald exclaimed. “We don’t know if they would’ve been on any nearby islands, but…”

“A king? You guys know a king?” Sanji asked, going over as well, Usopp right behind him as Vivi stayed by Nami. “He the king of your island?”

“Yes!” Goofy remarked without thinking. “And we don’t know where he’s gone, but we know he’s been travelin’ around. Any of ya seen him?”

Usopp shook his head. “Never met any kings, no. No one named Riku or Kairi either.”

Sora was worried that was the case. He was worried Riku may be causing trouble. As for Kairi…Riku had mentioned there was something wrong with her, something about her heart being missing. Sora didn’t want to believe it was true! “Oh…Well, thanks. Since you guys are traveling, mind if we stick with you for a bit? Maybe we’ll run into our friends on the sea.”

Luffy nodded, a welcoming grin on his face. “Yeah! It’ll be fun having three more people! You can stick with us for a while!”

“Just promise you’ll help fight off more of those creatures if they show up, okay?” Usopp asked, glancing around as though expecting a Heartless to show up at any moment.

“We call them Heartless. You’ve seen the ones with the emblems of hearts with an X through them? That’s where we got the name.” Sora explained, not even meaning to belt out a lie like that, it just came naturally.

“Makes sense.” Sanji noted with a nod. “We haven’t been calling them anything. But alright, you’ll all help out if you’re traveling with us. Come on, let’s go see if there’s any land nearby.”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy followed Sanji onto the deck, into the bitter cold weather. They weren’t sure what lied ahead in this ocean-covered world, or if they’d find what they were looking for. Sora wondered why it was that he felt a pull towards Vivi, and it bothered him. Glancing at Zoro, his spirits lifted a bit, and he wondered if the green-haired man might teach him a sword move or something. He never had time to get any sort of a lesson from Link, Zamansis, or Cloud, but who knew how much downtime there’d be before an island came about…?

For the time being, Sora just rubbed his arms and fought off the cold as he kept a lookout…

---

In a room deep underground, surrounded by water, there was little light. Even as deep as the area was, sunlight could still stream in from the windows leading out to the water. Black curtains covered them, a number of candles being the only thing to light up the room. Behind a desk sat a tall, imposing man in a fur coat and a golden hook replacing his left hand. The last member of the group that followed Dio Brando.

Speaking of which, the vampire sat upon a couch nearby, swirling a glass of expensive wine in his hand. “How touching you took the time to cover the windows, just for me. You know how to please a guest, Crocodile. Or do you prefer Mr. 0 here?”

The man, ‘Sir’ Crocodile, sneered, lighting up a large cigar in his mouth. “That some kind of crack? Just tell me why you’re here, alright? I don’t have time for pleasantries. And I don’t care what you call me as long as it’s just the three of us.” He glanced in the darkness, at a third party that kept herself in the shadows.

Dio wasn’t phased by the rudeness. “I’m just worried. You’re so concerned with the affairs of this country here and its civil war. Do you really have time for this?”

“This is a plan a long time in the making. I won’t stop just for you, so don’t even suggest it.” Crocodile shot back. “Besides, I have reason to believe that the princess of this kingdom is one of those Princesses of Heart you want so badly. I have a subordinate on the way now, bringing her right to me.” Crocodile thought back to Little Garden. Mr. 3 had contacted him, saying he had wiped out the Straw Hats and kept Princess Vivi alive as ordered. He remained blissfully unaware that it hadn't been Mr. 3 who gave that report, but Sanji feeding him lies. “It will take some time to get all the way here, but he’s on his way. And I believe the Keyhole is in this country as well, so it's important I stay here.”

That was apparently good enough for Dio, who nodded with a grin. Out from the darkness stepped the third person in the room, gorgeous young woman in her late twenties, having black hair and striking blue eyes wearing a purple cowboy hat with a matching corset and skirt. “It’s a shame about the Straw Hats.” The woman said in a playful, soft tone. “That captain of theirs was intriguing to me…”

“You’ll get over it, Miss All Sunday.” Crocodile said to the woman. “And don’t you be mistaken. Even when Vivi arrives, our plans won’t change. Everything will still go as I desire, Keyhole or no Keyhole.”

The woman, Miss All Sunday, nodded. “Of course, Mr. 0. I won’t forget that for a moment.” Her voice was still playful, as though she wasn’t taking things entirely seriously. “I haven’t forgotten you’re working with Dio, not for him.”

“Just remember what happened to the others. Don’t let your desires cloud your heart.” Dio remarked, putting the wine glass down on a table in front of him. “And keep an eye on Riku, won’t you? I’d hate for anything to befall the boy.” He said the latter to Miss All Sunday.

“He’s around, safe as can be. Not that I like to be a babysitter, but if it’s part of the mission…” Miss All Sunday mused. She then watched as Dio vanished in a swirl of darkness, Crocodile huffing from his desk as he ordered her to remove the curtains blocking the light.