Aqua's Story
Aqua had departed from Radiant Garden having just told Ventus to return home. Now she was gliding amongst the stars her head still full of everything that had just happened. The three friends had for one brief moment been reunited at Radiant Garden only for the reunion to be cut short as they suddenly began bickering with one another. She was still replaying the conversations over in her head.
"You mean you've been spying on me?!" accused Terra he said with a little bit of venom in his voice.
"You're awful Aqua," said Ventus, he wasn't angry just disappointed and sad.
Aqua couldn't deny it any longer ever since she had become a master, things had changed between the three of them. The change was now more evident than ever after her recent confrontation with Ventus and Terra. Terra was angry with her for keeping watch on him. He probably felt that the Master didn't trust him and that only made him feel angrier. Ventus was angry at her because she was keeping and eye on Terra. Her relationships had suddenly become more complicated than she would have ever imagined.
"And I only just became a master," she thought to herself, "is this just the beginning? Are things going to get even worse from here on out?"
All of her training in order to become a master had not prepared her at all with how to deal with these sorts of issues. Did Eraquas have any of these kind of problems when he first became a master? Maybe when this was all over she would sit down and talk about this so more with the Master. For now she still had a mission to complete, although part of that mission included bringing Ventus home she couldn't bring herself to force him to come home. Aqua only hoped that with both her and Terra telling him to return home he would listen, for now she had more important things on her mind. She still had to visit the rest of the worlds and access the damage the unversed had done in each one.
She opened up her map which showed the various worlds around her own. She scanned the map carefully and noticed a world that she hadn't seen before. The picture of the world showed a large castle surrounded by a large forest, the world was labeled as Dunwyn. It was strange that she hadn't noticed it before seeing as it reminded her of one of the kingdoms she had visited earlier. All of those worlds had some sort of castle in them.
"I guess I better get on with this," she thought, "here's hope that visiting this world will help clear my mind of all that's going on right now."
Aqua appeared outside a large castle with a drawbridge that lead inside. She deactivated her armor and entered the castle. The square inside the castle was bustling with activity, of particular interest was a large crowd that had gathered around a performer. The performer was singing a song and playing his lute. He was dressed in bright green colored doublet and sky blue hose. On his head he wore a bright red hat with a silver feather in it. Aqua moved closer to hear what he was singing.
"A legend is sung of when England was young
and knights were brave and bold!
The good king had died and no one could decide
who was rightful heir to the throne.
It seemed that the land would be torn by war
or saved by a miracle alone!
And that miracle appeared in London town
the sword in the stone."
His voice sounded heavenly and he held the notes in just the right places while giving an air of majesty and glory to his song. She stood at the edge of the crowd trying to get a better look at this minstrel. The people all around cheered and threw coins at him they were eager to hear the rest of the story.
"That is how the story of King Arthur begins," exclaimed the minstrel, "there is much more to the story, and I'm sure you wish to hear more."
"Yes we do," said someone in the crowd, "tell us more,"
"Then you'll have to come back tomorrow," he called, "I will be in the square tomorrow singing more tales, for your listening pleasure."
With that the crowd dispersed and the minstrel caught sight of Aqua. She noticed his attention and tried to turn away but he was already rushing towards her with his lute in hand.
"I thought my eyes were deceiving me but it is not so," he began, "I see the most beautiful maiden ever has come to listen to me compose a ballad describing her most radiant beauty."
Aqua looked the young man over, he was a tall lanky kid with somewhat long hair. One of the stands of his dirty blonde hair was hanging over his head in front of his face. His green eyes were staring right into Aqua's sapphire iris's. While he certainly looked nice Aqua wasn't in the mood for any of his games right now, she had work to do.
"That's very flattering," said Aqua, "but I'm not here for a song I have business to attend to. Also I'm not a maiden I'm a knight."
"Then this will truly be a great epic piece," he began, "the story of the beautiful maiden warrior." He began strumming on his lute attempting to come up with an appropriate tune, when suddenly monsters appeared all around the square.
"Unversed!" declared Aqua as she pulled out her key-blade and got ready for battle
[Information: Defeat all the unversed]
Aqua raised her key-blade and rushed straight at the group of the unversed. She scored several hits on them and finally made them disappear in a cloud of black smoke. A new type of unversed that looked like a knight on horseback came charging straight at Aqua, she blocked the attack and launched her own assault against it. She noticed several more horse knights charging at her so she sent out some mines to protect herself. The knights charged straight over the mines and were exploded upon. Aqua launched a Firaga burst attack to keep attacking the unversed and before long she had defeated them all, except one. Aqua hadn't noticed that one of the knights was charging straight at her and was about to stab her with its lance. Right before it hit her it was suddenly blasted out of the way by a stream of water, Aqua turned to see what happened and noticed that the minstrel was there playing his lute.
"How did you do that?" asked Aqua.
"I know some magic, specifically magic that is tied to water," responded the minstrel, "I have a small amount of control over water. Most people don't realize but magic is tied to music in ways that not everyone understands. But those who are master musicians know that behind every great piece of music there is magic involved. I see you are an accomplished spell-caster. I consider myself somewhat of an amateur, but I still do the best I can. This lute I have helps me to focus and better use my magical abilities. By the way we haven't been formally introduced, I am Medy the wandering minstrel."
"I am Aqua keyblade master," she responded.
"Well Aqua, it's a pleasure to meet you, I think if you give me enough time you may yet change your mind about having me compose a ballad in your honor, already my mind is filling with ideas with which to express to you," said Medy.
"Listen Medy," began Aqua, "you seem like a great guy and all, but right now I have things I need to do and I have no interest in pursuing a romantic relationship, do you understand?"
Medy looked at her slightly crestfallen but only for a moment and then responded, "I understand that you have a tough visage and sense of duty befitting of a knight, but I will keep trying to break through your icy exterior, and you will not be able to resist."
Aqua sighed and turned to leave when she noticed two people running into the square. One of them was a knight in grey armor with a bushy moustache and goatee. The other must have been a monarch of some kind as he was wearing a crown. He also had a on a grand purple robe. Both men were walking towards Aqua, the king giving her an intense look. After a moment Aqua noticed that he was staring not at her, but at the keyblade in her hand.
"My word could it be that another keyblade knight has graced us with her presence?" he asked the other man as they approached.
"I hope not sir," said the knight, "or heaven knows when I'll receive gratitude again."
"Hello there young maiden, I see you wield a keyblade. Are you by chance a friend of Sir Terra?" asked the king.
"Terra?!" exclaimed Aqua, "Yes he's a friend of mine, has he been here before?"
The king seemed please, "Yes he was, not too long ago he helped us to rid the castle of those horrid creatures, he also saved my daughter from being kidnapped by one of them."
"Yes and I also assisted in retrieving her," said the knight looking somewhat nettled.
"I thought we had seen the last of those creatures," said the king.
"But it seems perhaps that Sir Terra couldn't finish the job," finished the knight with a sneer towards Aqua, "I think it would be a mistake to allow this one to even try, furthermore she's a woman."
"Hey just because she's a girl doesn't mean she can't fight," said a high pitched girls voice. Aqua looked an saw a young girl who couldn't have been more than 6 or 7 years old running to join the others.
"Settle down Calla," said the king to the girl. Finally he turned to Aqua and said, "I'm so sorry for being late with introductions especially if you're a friend of Terra's. I am Gregor king of Dunwyn, this young girl is my daughter Princess Calla, and this fellow is Sigmund Igthorn my most trusted knight."
"My name is Aqua, and yes I'm a friend of Terra's," she said, "I would also be willing to help you in riding this land of the unversed.
"That is good to hear," said Gregor, "Any friend of Terra's is welcome here."
Igthorn sighed as he heard these words. Gregor looked from Aqua to Medy and noticed him for the first time.
"Oh you must be that traveling bard I've heard so much about," he said indicating Medy, "yes my subjects have told me that you have spun wonderful tales and fantastic lyrics for their enjoyment. I am truly pleased to have you in my kingdom."
Medy bowed to the king as he acknowledged these words, "thank-you your majesty."
Igthron suddenly interrupted, "I hate to be a pest, but before we talk about the new bards and keybalde knights we have, how about taking care of those creatures. What were they called? Ah yes the unversed!"
"Right you are Sir Igthorn, it is fortunate that we have Aqua here to help us. I think you and her should work together on this and go exploring the castle—"
Igthorn again interrupted the king, "If I may your majesty, I think our efforts would be better focused if we split up this time. As much of a treat as it was to work with Terra last time, if we want to make sure we're completely safe I say we should each investigate separate areas. I'll see to the defense of the castle."
"Where then do you propose Aqua should go?" asked the king.
"If I may, your majesty," pipped in Medy, "on my way to this castle I heard reports from some of the citizens that these unversed creatures are appearing on the highway as well. Several of those who travelled here have reported attacks from those things."
"Would you be alright then patrolling the area outside my castle on your own dame Aqua?" asked the king.
Aqua was about to answer when Medy jumped in. "You cannot think of sending her out alone to face these abominations. If I may be so bold I would like to request to go with her on patrol,"
"I thought you were only a bard, can you fight?" asked Gregor.
"I assure you I have some knowledge of bardic magic I will protect fair Aqua with my life," he pledged.
"Well if Lady Aqua is alright with this arraignment I shall permit it," replied the king.
Aqua sighed to herself as she looked over at the stupid wide grin on Medy's face. He did look kind of cute in his own kind of way. He was overly confident and silly, not sullen and serious like Terra. As much as she didn't want to lead him on, she decided that since he did save her in that last battle he was at least worth a shot.
"I wonder what Terra would think of him?" she thought, "Or I wonder if he would be jealous of him…."
Finally she responded to the request, "Medy can come with me, but before we go I wanted to ask a few questions about Terra. When was he here?"
"Not too long ago," responded the king.
"The last time he was here he and I took care of those creatures that were infesting the castle. We also rescued princess Calla after one of the monsters absconded with her. Terra took all the glory and the credit I might add," sneered the knight.
"I see," said Aqua, "was he okay? Did it seem like he was bothered by anything?"
"I wouldn't say so," said the knight, "he seemed all there."
"Okay, thanks," said Aqua, "I think that's all I need to know, Medy lets go into the forest and take care of the unversed."
"Don't worry about the castle I'll make sure and keep it safe while you're away," called Igthorn.
"Good luck and be safe," called King Gregor
"You show them," called Calla.
[Formed a D-Link with Medy]
Medy and Aqua had arrived outside the castle and began walking towards the forest, it was at this point that Medy attempted to make conversation with Aqua.
"Hey Aqua, tell me have you ever heard of the Gummi Bears?" he asked.
"Gummi Bears?!" said Aqua, "no I can't say I have."
"I was thinking about them since we're entering the forest. I've heard stories that at one time they had a great city hidden somewhere in this forest," explained Medy. "In fact I've been working on a song to describe their legends, would you like to hear it?"
"I'd love to but…." said Aqua.
Medy didn't wait for Aqua to finish her sentence and instead pulled out his lute and began strumming away. In a few moments he began singing the song.
"Dashing and Daring
Courageous and Caring
Faithful and friendly with stories to share
All through the forest they sing out in chorus
Marching along as their song fills the air!
Gummi Bears! Bouncing here and there and everywhere!
High adventure that's beyond compare
They are the Gummi Bears!"
"It's not quite finished yet," he said, "I think it could use a few more versus."
"So what exactly are Gummi Bears?" asked Aqua.
"Well I've heard about them throughout my travels, but it was only in coming to Dunwyn that I've heard the most rumors," said Medy. He then began to explain what he knew to Aqua, "From what I've heard about 400 or so years ago there were a race of bears who formed great cities, and had weapons and technology far better than our own. Not only that, but they were scholars of arcane lore and had a mastery of music and magic; what I wouldn't give to have studied music under them. For awhile they lived in peace with the humans of this area, mind you this was before the kingdom of Dunwyn was officially formed. Then for one reason or another war broke out between the two species. Humans claim that they won the war and forced the Gummi's to flee, but no one knows for sure what happened. All we do know is that Gummi Bears haven't been seen in these parts for a very long time, most of their art and technology has been lost to history. Now they only live on in songs such as mine."
"So they knew magic?" asked Aqua, "I think I wouldn't mind learning some of their spells. What was with that lyric in your song about their bouncing everywhere?"
Medy turned to Aqua to explain, "According to the old legends the Gummi Bears were able to bounce or jump incredible distances, they could use this technique to travel long distances or escape from sticky situations, no one knows how they did it. I hear it was some sort of magic potion they had."
"But it's been so long, according to you 400 years, since these bears existed so I don't think the chances are high that we'd ever see any," replied Aqua.
"Keep your eyes peeled fair Aqua, if luck does favor us we may yet find the ruins of their ancient city, and perhaps inside we may discover secrets of their magic" quibbled Medy.
It was at that moment that a group of unversed appeared around the duo encircling them. The new type of unversed, knights on horseback, were among the ranks.
"Let us join our forces in battle to defeat these monsters," chimed Medy.
Aqua summoned up a blizzaga spell and fired it directly at a group of the unversed, freezing most of them in her path. She then continued with a Thundaga spell that attacked the group of unversed around her. With her magic spent she charged in with her keyblade and began slicing into unversed. Medy began playing his lute trying to summon up some magic to stop them but before he could do anything a knight unversed charged into him knocking him down, Aqua noticed this and countered the attack defeating the knight and rescuing Medy.
"Are you okay?" she asked
"I'm fine, just a little bruised," replied Medy.
The two got back together and walked toward another section of the forest, again they were attacked by unversed. Medy once again tried to use his magic to help he managed to blast an unversed into the air with a powerful water spell, only for the unversed to fall on top of him as it came crashing back to the ground. Aqua came to his aid and used her blizzaga magic to blast the unversed away freeing Medy.
"Are you hurt?" she asked Medy
"Just my pride," he replied.
The two walked deeper into the forest keeping an eye out for unversed, as they continued walking suddenly Medy was caught in some kind of trap. His leg was yanked up by a rope into a branch on a tree.
"Hey what's going on!?" yelled Medy dangling from the tree.
"Medy are you alright?" asked Aqua, looking up into the tree.
"Help me get down," he called.
Aqua was about to help him when suddenly unversed appeared all around her and Medy surrounding them.
"That's going to have to wait a bit," said Aqua as she drew her keyblade and faced the monsters.
[Information: Protect Medy, defeat the unversed!]
Aqua immediately set up some defensive mines around herself the unversed charged straight into them and were thrown back by the explosions. Aqua continued hitting the monsters with her keyblade as she scored consecutive hits on them. She kept her cool and used her fighting prowess to keep up her assault on the unversed. Some of the unversed began climbing the tree where Medy was trapped, trying to attack the helpless minstrel. Aqua noticed this and summoned a thunder spell to stop them. Medy was still struggling in his bonds and tried to get free. The unversed were growing in number as Aqua continued fighting them. After a few more minutes of desperate fighting she slew the last one and the battle was over.
"Wow! That was amazing Aqua!" called Medy still stuck in the tree, "but think you can get me down now?"
"Yeah no problem," said Aqua, with that she threw her keyblade like a boomerang at the rope that was holding him up. The keybalde connected with the rope and cut it in an instant. Medy spun in the air and fell down on his feet, the impact was pretty hard and he struggled to get up.
"Oh it seems I've been injured," he said as he struggled to get back on his feet. He hobbled for a bit and then fell down. One of his ankles was sprained from his impact.
Aqua was getting tired of dealing with Medy's less than stellar fighting skills, and decided it was time to let him know. "Listen Medy, you wanted to come on this mission with me in order to help me, but the fact of the matter is I've helped you three times now. I think you just wanted to come to be close to me, but I've already told you I have no interest in pursuing a romantic relationship."
"But I can fight," protested Medy, "I swear I have arcane skills connected to music,"
"Well whether you do or you don't I can't be babysitting you all the time," said Aqua with that she helped him up onto his feet. "Go back to Dunwyn castle and keep entertaining the crowds there, leave the fighting of unversed to me okay?"
Medy got to his feet and slowly walked back towards Dunwyn Castle. His pace was still slow because of his ankle, but soon he passed out of sight. His head was hung in shame and he seemed to have lost all his spirit. Aqua was slightly sorry for what she had said to him, but knew in the back of her mind it was the right thing to say. She continued walking deeper into the forest, though after a few steps she heard a voice call after her.
"Excuse me," said the voice, "I couldn't help but notice you have a keyblade, are you a keyblade knight like Ventus?"
Aqua turned to face the voice and was surprised to find herself face to face with a small bear dressed in purple robes and wearing a large ornate medallion around his neck.
Medy had made his way back to the castle and was resting his foot in the castle square. He was deep in thought about what Aqua had said and was feeling useless and frustrated when he noticed Sir Igthorn approach him.
"Greetings Sir Igthorn," said Medy, "how fare you?"
"I fare poorly, Medy, and do you know why?" asked Igthorn.
"Why good sir?" replied Medy.
"I don't feel as though I am appreciated enough, why I am the greatest knight in all of Dunwyn. Should I not be hailed as such?" said Igthorn.
"Oh perhaps I can assist in that regard, I could write a song in your honor that will spread far and wide. Your name and deeds will forever be immortalized throughout the ages, for a small fee of course," sang Medy.
"I have a few sovereigns stored away," said Igthron he took out a small bag of gold and tossed it to Medy, "but I feel that perhaps I could use your talents for a different purpose. Tell me more about your magical abilities."
Medy pulled out his lute and began strumming, "well as I said before most of my magic is connected to music. My songs can generally cause different effects on people whether positive or negative. For example there is a song I know that boosts the power of magic users, I know another one that will give fighters more vigor. I know a song that can give you control over someone who's weak minded, then there's a song I know that can put enemies to sleep.
"A song that can put people to sleep, and one that makes people obey you" said Igthorn slyly. "I know exactly what I need. I need to perform a deed of great valor to regain my standing with the king!"
Medy pondered a bit, he thought he knew what Igthorn was saying, but he wanted to be sure, "What exactly are you saying?"
"Have you ever heard of Ogres?" asked Igthorn. Medy shook his head "Of Course. But what has that got to do with anything?"
Igthorn began to explain, "at the edge of the kingdom of Dunwyn is Drekmore, it was once home to a band of ruthless ogres. At one time they were united under a strong king and tried to take over Dunwyn, but Gregor's father put a stop to them. He defeated the king and destroyed their castle. Without a strong leader to unite them the ogres are little more than lumbering cavemen. A few of them still live in Drekmore and occasionally they wander into the forest. With practically no brain I bet they could easily be controlled by your music."
"Yeah I guess so," said Medy, "but what do you want me to do with them?"
"I want you to have them attack Dunwyn castle," explained Igthorn. "Hear me out, we get a hold of a few ogres and have them attack Dunwyn castle using your magic. Then I come to aid of the castle and use my brilliant brain as well as my stunning brawn to defeat them. This selfless act of heroism restores Gregor's faith in me, and will forever brand me as a hero of Dunwyn. I'll finally have my honor back after that cretin Terra stole it from me."
Medy thought it over before he understood, "I get it, you want to stage and attack on Dunwyn so that you can be the hero and look good, but what do I get out of this?"
Igthorn looked carefully at Medy, "correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you have been trying to catch the attention of a certain young keyblade warrior. I think she would be impressed to see you help me defeat a group of ogres. I daresay you would impress her and surely earn her affections."
Medy looked hard into Igthorn's eyes. He could tell that he was entirely serious about everything he was saying. Medy ran the scenario through his head, he'd never been particularly rich, and while the money Igthorn was offering him wasn't that much, the promise of earning Aqua's attention was a tantalizing one. He thought about the idea of putting the kingdom in potential harm, but then he didn't really have any loyalty to Dunwyn or Gregor seeing as he wasn't a citizen of this kingdom. He thought about what would happen if the plan failed and he was caught, but then again with his magic and Igthorn's battle prowess he felt that the odds were stacked in their favor. Medy looked back at Igthorn who was still holding his hand out waiting for Medy to shake it. He looked from his eyes to his hand and made a decision.
Aqua was still staring into the black eyes of the purple bear standing before her. He was shorter than her by about 2 feet but had the air of someone who was wise and scholarly; he was wearing a gold chain and purple and red cape. He must be one of those Gummi Bears that Medy was talking about.
"Are you a Gummi Bear?" asked Aqua.
"Uh well yes I guess you could say so," said the bear, "are you a keyblade knight?"
"I'm a keybalde master," corrected Aqua, "I'm a friend of Ventus, you mentioned him, do you know Ventus?"
"Oh yes I know Ventus, he's a few nriend, uh new friend. He helped me to protect our berry bushes. I was out helping Gruffi set some more traps for those unversed creatures, they've been wreaking havoc in our forest," replied Zummi.
"So Ventus was here, that's good to know, I'm glad he was able to help you," said Aqua.
Suddenly another bear came running over to the clearing he was about the same size as Zummi but with brown colored fur and wearing yellow clothes.
"Zummi are you finished with those traps yet—" the bear trailed off and stopped talking as he entered the clearing and noticed Aqua. He did a double take as he stared at her for a second and saw that Zummi was in the same proximity as her. "I must be seeing things, because there's a human here with you Zummi, I know we recently became friends with Ventus, but don't you think were moving just a bit to fast?"
"Don't worry Gruffi, she's a friend of Ventus," said Zummi.
Gruffi stared at Aqua looking her over to see if she was trustworthy, before finally declaring. "One day we're living in fear of humans, the next day we suddenly become the first Gummi's in centuries to have contact with them. The times are changing faster than I like, how do you know she's a friend of Ventus?"
"She has a keyblade like him," said Zummi. Aqua materialized her keyblade so that Gruffi could see it. While it seemed to assuage his fears a little, he still looked at Aqua with suspicion.
"I suppose you really must be a friend of Ventus, still that doesn't mean you're a friend of ours just yet," said Gruffi.
"That's okay," replied Aqua, "I hope that maybe in time I could earn your trust and your friendship,"
"That certainly sounds sincere," said Zummi.
Suddenly another voice was heard heading towards them, "Hey guys I finished setting up those traps can we go back home now I don't want to be late for din—" Like Gruffi he trailed off and stopped talking as he entered the clearing and noticed a human standing with the two bears. He was a younger blue furred bear with a brown leather coat and red hat on his head. He rubbed his eyes and did a double take as he noticed Aqua.
"Wow we sure are meeting a lot of humans recently," he said slowly.
"Yeah it certainly seems that way," replied Gruffi.
"I guess it's lucky that you guys had already met Ventus before I came here," said Aqua.
"Maybe so, but it d
oesn't change the fact that we don't who exactly you are," said Gruffi.
Aqua lowered her head to speak to Gruffi, "Well as I said my name is Aqua, I am a keyblade master that has been charged with riding this land of the unversed, I serve under the same master that Ventus serves under."
Gruffi looked Aqua up and down trying to read her sincerity, he was about to respond to what Aqua had said when suddenly he heard a noise in a clearing a small ways away. The three bears and Aqua headed towards the sound of the noise. As they got closer Aqua realized it sounded familiar, when she finally reached the clearing she recognized the sound as Medy's lute. She and the bears crouched in some bushes, staying out of sight, and poked their heads out to see what was going on.
They saw three very large creatures standing in the clearing. They were colored green, orange, and purple and seemed to be standing in a trance-like state. Next to them stood Medy playing some sort of song on his lute, it sounded so peaceful and tranquil, and seemed to luring Aqua to sleep, she shook her head to regain her concentration. The Gummi Bears noticed the small distraction but also managed to shake off the effects of the song. Aqua looked back into the clearing and noticed that someone else was there to, she strained to look around the large creatures and noticed that it was Sir Igthorn.
"Looks like I've got them nice and mellow," said Medy, "I think they're open to your suggestions, go ahead and tell them what you want."
Igthorn stepped forward and addressed the Ogres, "Now listen up you ugly abominations I am Sir Igthorn your king,"
The Ogres eyes looked glazed and placid as they repeated his words, "You are Sir Igthorn our king,"
"I want you to bring two friends and attack Dunwyn Castle," he continued.
"You want us to find friends and attack Dunwyn Castle," they repeated lazily.
"That's right and I want you to do it now," finished Igthorn. He turned to Medy, "I think that should do it, now let's get back to the castle and get ready to fight these things, hopefully Aqua is still busy in the forest, with her out of the way we can defend the castle from these things and regain our honor."
"I hope that Aqua comes back after though," pined Medy, "I want her to hear about my courage in defeating these ogres so she'll think I'm brave."
"After this entertaining diversion you and I will be the dual heroes of Dunwyn for years to come my friend," said Igthorn putting his arm around Medy's shoulder and painting a picture of grand things to come with his other. "Let's get back the castle and get ready for our 'friends.'"
Igthorn and Medy walked out of the clearing and out of site leaving the three ogres alone still looking bewildered. Aqua and the bears turned to each other to talk.
"I can't believe what Medy and Igthorn are doing?" exclaimed Aqua, "they're putting the safety of the castle at stake so that they can stage a battle just to make them look good.
"Well it certainly looks bad," observed Zummi, "but I've heard that Igthorn is the kest bnight uh best knight in the land, I bet he won't break a sweat battling three ogres."
"He's still a fool for purposely instigating this attack," said Gruffi, "what if something goes wrong?"
"Shhh hang on a sec," said Tummi" the ogres are saying something."
The group turned their attention back to the clearing where the ogres were standing. Their eyes still looked glazed and unfocused, but they were speaking coherently,
"Duh Igthron says to bring friends to help destroy castle, but only friends we know is ogres," said the purple one.
"Why he say bring only two friends? We can't destroy castle with only two ogres," said the green one.
"Igthorn is our king, we can't just give him two friends we've got to give him more," chimed in the orange one.
"We should call more friends," said the purple one again, "to make sure that castle will fall for our king."
With that the ogres exited the clearing and left out of site. Aqua couldn't believe what she just heard happen.
"Castle Dunwyn is in trouble we've got to go help them," she exclaimed.
"Whoa what do you mean we?" asked Gruffi
"I mean all of us," said Aqua, "we've got to go the castle and help protect it from the ogres attack, and we have to expose Igthorn for what he's done."
"This is a human problem," explained Gruffi, "Gummi Bears haven't interacted with humans in over 500 years, we can't do it now just because of one incident."
"Wait hang on a second Gruffi," piped Zummi, "the ancient Gummis would have helped those in need. We're supposed to help the just fight the wicked, shouldn't we get involved?"
Gruffi glared at the elder bear, "have you forgotten what happened to our ancestors who tried to live peacefully with humans. It's not time to try and integrate ourselves yet."
Aqua was slightly angry, "I know you have reasons not to trust humans, but how do you expect to build a relationship with them again if all you do is avoid them?"
"No offense," said Gruffi, "but you being a human you can't really hope to understand all we've gone through. It's our decision as to when we want to get in contact with humans again, not yours."
"Well that's fine if you don't want to help, but I intend to do everything in my power to help if I can," said Aqua, with that she raced away from the clearing and back towards Dunwyn Castle.
"I'm sorry," said Gruffi turning to Zummi and Tummi, "but that's just the way things are right now, Ventus would understand."
The other two bears stared quietly at Gruffi but didn't say anything.
Back at the castle a red-headed knight was doing his best to try and bring order to his troops. The surprise attack by the ogres had caught the castle defenders off guard, but he had managed to raise up the drawbridge in order to prevent them from entering. Now the ogres were trapped on the outside hurling stones at the walls of the castle. There were many ogres there too, not just five all of them throwing stones and trying their best to tear down the walls around the castle.
"Courage men," said the red-headed knight, "let loose another volley and let those beasts have it." The archers on the walls fired another slew of arrows at the ogres trying to get them to quit their assault. A few of the arrows struck their mark but they were like small bee stings to a person.
"I say where the devil is Igthorn," called the knight, "why isn't he here planning a counterattack?"
Back outside the castle things weren't looking much better for Aqua, she saw the drawbridge raised and saw the battle unfolding before her eyes. With the drawbridge up and no way inside she couldn't get inside the castle to help, but she also couldn't see how she could possibly fight all the ogres on the outside to help make it easier for the knights inside the castle. She was just thinking of what to do when she heard a voice behind her.
"I thought you might need help fighting all these ogres," said a deep mellow voice. Aqua turned around and saw young blue bear in brown clothes standing near her.
"I could use some help," said Aqua, "what do you have in mind?"
"I'll lure the ogres away from the gate and maybe then the knights will have a chance to come out and get them. If I lure enough of them away you should be able to fight through the rest. We have to make the knights think it's safe for them to let the drawbridge down," explained Tummi. With that he gulped down a purple looking drink out of a glass bottle and began bouncing incredibly high. He threw a few stones at some of the ogres closest to the castle and managed to get their attention. Then he bounced away from the castle deeper into the forest with the majority of the ogres chasing him away. The drawbridge came down and Aqua rushed in, she ran into the central square and noticed that Igthorn, Medy, Calla, and Gregor were already standing there.
"It seems the ogres are retreating Sir," observed Igthron, "I will make preparations for us to chase after them."
"Good idea Igthorn," said King Gregor, "but make sure some knights stay in case they come back to the castle."
"I don't think you should listen to anymore of Igthorn's ideas your majesty," said Aqua running into the square to join the group. Everyone turned to look at her, especially Igthorn,
"Lady Aqua whatever are you talking about?" questioned Gregor, "Sir Igthorn is my most loyal and brave knight."
"No he's not," protested Aqua, "he's responsible for the entire ogre attack in the first place. He set it up in order to try and earn fame, but it got out of control from him."
Igthorn looked surprised at how much Aqua seemed to know, but he quickly recovered and regained his composure. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Aqua, but it seems that since you were unable to help defend the castle you now have resorted to telling lies about me."
"I must say Lady Aqua that is a very serious accusation," said Gregor, "do you have any proof to back that up?" If not then I will not believe you and you must cease defaming Sir Igthorn's good name."
Aqua realized she had no proof and looked around grasping for something anything that could prove her story when she noticed Medy. "Medy you were there in the clearing I know you were only going along with the plan to impress me. You heard everything Igthron said, if you really want to impress me then come clean now and tell the truth."
All eyes turned to look at the bard who merely shuffled his feet and looked down at the ground. A lot of things were going through his mind, and he was silent for a long time before finally speaking
"It's true," he said, "Igthorn and I came up with a plot to try and stage an attack on the castle so that we could like heroes when we stopped it. I used my magic to try and convince a few of those ogres to attack the castle."
Suddenly all eyes were on Igthorn who was clearly sweating bullets with his scheme finally exposed. He looked around for a bit trying to decide what to do. It was at that moment that two ogres suddenly burst into the square and took in the scene before him.
"King Igthorn we is here to serve you," they said, "what do you want?"
"King Igthorn?!" said a surprised Gregor, "what is going on here?"
Igthorn looked around as all eyes were on him, he quickly realized his plan was out of control, and to top it all off he was being exposed for it. He figured it was all over so he pulled out his sword and pointed it at king Gregor.
"You just had to come clean didn't you Medy!" he screamed angrily, "well it seems that the plans have changes, all I wanted was a little bit of glory and now I don't even have that. So if I can't be respected as a knight I'll be feared as a ruler. King Gregor surrender your crown to me! Or I'll have these ogres destroy the castle!"
Igthorn continued to point his sword at Gregor who couldn't believe what was going on. In the next instant Aqua had summoned her keyblade and knocked away Igthorn's sword from the king. Igthorn turned his attention to Aqua and glared at her.
"Let's see how tough you keyblade masters really are," he said to Aqua challenging her, "you know Terra was the one who convinced me to try and take over the kingdom. It must sting knowing that he helped to betray you."
"You're lying," screamed Aqua
"Well I don't care what you believe!" yelled Igthorn, "Ogres help your king and destroy these fools!"
[Information: Defeat Igthorn and the two ogres]
Aqua charged at Igthorn and began attacking him. She quickly realized that he was a tough fighter as he managed to block all her blows. Igthorn was more than a match for her as he began moving forward for the attack, he managed to catch Aqua unawares and sent her flying back. She recovered and summoned some wind magic just in time to prevent the ogres from closing in on her, the wind magic blew the ogres away. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that Medy was leading Gregor and Calla away from the square and into the castle to try and keep them safe. Aqua began launching fire magic at the ogres catching them on fire as they stomped around trying to put it out. Aqua came at Igthorn again trying to land a hit but he was just too swift for her. He managed to hit her and sent her flying backwards.
"You're just no match for me, some keyblade master you are" taunted Igthorn, he stood over Aqua gloating when suddenly he was blasted out of the way by a stream of water.
Aqua looked in the direction of the blast and saw Medy running towards her.
"Sorry Aqua, I just wanted you to like me, I didn't expect it to go this far," pleaded Medy.
Igthorn got up from being knocked down and sneered at Medy, "you traitor, you've made the wrong decision Medy. If you had stuck by my side I would have made you my court minstrel when I am king. Now I will destroy you, Aqua, and anyone else who gets in my way!"
"I don't think so Igthorn," challenged Medy. He picked up his lute and began playing a beautiful flowing melody. Aqua noticed how it wonderful it sounded, it was almost as if the song was filling up her entire being. In the next instant she felt a strange sensation as if she was overflowing with power. Suddenly without her realizing she had transformed into Diamond Dust Form.
"Medy what just happened?!" asked Aqua in surprise.
"No time for that," replied Medy, "as long as I keep playing you'll be powered up."
Aqua felt renewed as the power from her diamond dust form radiated around her. She charged again at Igthorn and this time she managed to land a large number of blows on him. Igthorn tried to defend himself but Aqua continued her assault with her strength being powered up by ice. She attacked Igthorn again and sent him flying back with her blows. After another assault she launched large chunks of ice at him preventing him from continuing his attack. Igthorn stubbornly shrugged off the ice and tried once more to get the better of Aqua. He struck her a few times but her strong resolve held and she raised her defense against his attack. Igthorn staggered as his sword was blocked and Aqua again used an opening to attack him some more before finally knocking him out.
"The throne should be mine," growled Igthorn. He lay in a crumpled heap on the ground.
With Igthorn down that just left the two ogres to deal with. Aqua wasted no time in going after the first one. She was still powered up as she launched large chunks of ice at the ogre. She also threw ice at the ground and watched as the ogres slipped and slid on the icy ground. It seemed that everything was going great until she noticed she was no longer in Diamond Dust form. She looked towards Medy for an explanation and saw that he was no longer playing his lute he had been knocked down by the other ogre. He recovered and tried to defend himself from the onslaught. Instead of relying on music he opted for brute strength as he took his lute and smashed It onto the ogre's head. While the blow seemed to have done some damage to the foe it damaged the lute more than the ogre. Medy's lute was ruined but he used the distraction to get away from the rampaging ogre. Aqua finished the job by planting some mines around the ogre, he stepped too close and was knocked out by the mines. The two ogres and Igthorn had been defeated.
A short time later the group had gathered outside the castle on the drawbridge. Igthorn has been carried to the entrance by two knights and was unceremoniously heaved out of the castle and across the drawbridge.
Gregor stood to address him, "Sigmund Igthorn for your treacherous actions against the crown of Dunwyn I strip you of your rank of knighthood and hereby forever banish you from this kingdom. You wanted to use the ogres for your own ends? Then go to Drekmore and rule over them as much as you wish."
Igthorn stood up and dusted himself off, he turned to face the king, "You will rue the day you cast me out of this kingdom, I will be back someday Gregor. And when I come back I will take your crown from your head and place it on my own." With that Igthorn turned on his heels and disappeared into the forest, within a few minutes he was gone completely from sight.
Gregor then turned to face Medy, he had been brought out as well though a bit more gently, "I am sorry you got caught up in Igthron's scheme, but nonetheless you were a willing participant in an attempt to bring harm to the castle and its people. Still I admire the fact that in the end you chose to help us and not Igthorn. In consideration of that I will lighten your punishment Medy, you will be banished from this kingdom for only a year. It is my highest hope that you use this year to think about your actions. After a year I would welcome you and your music back into my castle."
Medy bowed to King Gregor, "Thank-you for your mercy your majesty, I won't waste this opportunity."
Gregor and his knights turned to go back inside leaving Aqua outside with Medy.
"I guess I sort of deserved this," said Medy dejectedly.
"You did the right thing in the end," said Aqua, "and I'm glad you did otherwise I would have no way to prove anything against Igthorn. By the way what was that song you were playing that helped to power me up?"
"Oh it's one of the songs I know that can amplify magic power. It's called the "Serenade of Water" when I play it, the song amplifies water magic. I figured since your name was Aqua you had to know some form of water magic, looks like the music powered you up good."
Aqua smiled and looked at Medy, "Yeah I guess it did, thanks Medy, so what are you going to do for the next year?"
"Well my lute is broken so I'll have to get another one," he said as he held up the broken pieces of his lute. "Or I could learn to play a new stringed instrument, I've wanted to learn a new instrument for awhile, maybe this is a sign that it's time to do that."
"Well be careful and be safe whatever you do," said Aqua, then she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, "that's for luck, in whatever you do."
Medy couldn't help blushing as she kissed him, "Hey Aqua I know you said you weren't interested in a romantic relationship now, but how about in a year?"
Aqua thought for a moment before responding, "maybe I will be, I'll come back this way in about a year and see if I see you how's that?"
Medy grinned as he turned to walk away, "yeah I think I'd like that." With that he walked away down a path leading into the forest, it wasn't long before he was completely out of sight.
Once he was gone Aqua heard a rustle in the bushes, suddenly the young blue cub jumped out of them.
"Thanks again for your help," said Aqua, "I'm glad you decided to come back."
"No problem," said Tummi, "I know that Gruffi is kind of old and set in his ways, but I agree with what you said. How are we ever going to trust humans again if we spend our whole lives avoiding them? I think Ventus would have wanted us to help you so I'm glad I was able to."
"I have to go now, there are still other places that need my help" said Aqua.
"Hey Aqua say hi to Ventus for me would you?" called Tummi, "and don't forget to tell him that he's welcomed at Gummi Glen anytime!" With that the young bear bounced into the forest out of sight. Aqua activated her armor and glider and headed straight for the sky.
"Medy turned out to be a pretty nice guy in the end," she thought to herself, "and I know that Terra is the same way. When the chips are down and it matters most I know Terra will make the right choice. He's struggled along the way to be sure, but maybe he needed to struggle in order to realize what's important to him. I will come back in a year to see if Medy is still around….if Terra hasn't asked me out by then."
Aqua had raced head first into the portal of darkness that was consuming her friend Terra, his attempt to free himself from Xehonart's control had resulted in him falling further into the abyss. Aqua was not about to let that happen, she gathered him together on her glider and was racing back towards the opening that would lead to salvation. The opening was getting farther away and it didn't look as though both of them could make it, in a split second Aqua made what very well may have been the last decision of her life. She gave her armor and keyblade to Terra and encased him in magical protection, then using her power she directed him out of the abyss and into the light. She watched helplessly as Terra's body cleared the portal and returned to the world, knowing that his safety had cost her own. Aqua fell deeper into darkness as she regretted only one thing.
"Ven I'm sorry, I might not make it back as soon as I thought," she began, "but I promise I'll be there one day to wake you up."She continued falling and realized that she was going to miss seeing someone else as well.
"Medy, I really enjoyed your songs," she said, "it doesn't look like I'll get to hear them again, but I hope you never stop playing."
