Radiant Garden
It wasn't too long that from the Gummi Ship came a familiar sight to Sora and the others. From the ship came a white duck with a mage's staff wearing a blue shirt and hat and a dog-man with a green hat along with some old casual clothes and the royal knight's shield with the king's emblem on it as well. It was none other than Donald and Goofy. Above them on the flight deck of the ship were two little chipmunks jumping and waving at the same time. Chip and Dale were there as well to greet the King and the others with open arms. At first everyone was reluctant to either head to the ship or leave it to go and embrace each other. Sora then ran towards Donald and Goofy as well as King Mickey and Donald and Goofy ran to King Mickey and Sora as well to honour and respect the friendships they had made during their travels.
"Oh Donald, Oh Goofy, I can't believe you guys came all the way here to see us!!", Sora exclaimed as he hugged them both with a tight bear hug. "Y-Yeah w-were happy t-t-t-too S-S-Sora!! Can you l-l-let go of u-u-us now?" Both Donald and Goofy said in unison. Sora quickly let go of them and apologized for squeezing them too hard. Mickey soon stepped forward to gander at his friends of old. "I guess it's been a while since we did hang out like this. I wish the circumstances were much better than they are now. Regardless all of us must leave for Radiant Garden. Come on fellas we must make haste!!" everyone nodded and got on board as fast as they could.
It wasn't too long that everyone finally made it to Radiant Garden. The world Sora first knew as Hollow Bastion when first taking a glimpse was anything but a reality now. The world was covered in greenery, shops markets and plants as it once was before Ansem the Wise appointed his latest experiments thus creating the heartless. Radiant Garden was indeed the paradise that it was with smiles on every person's face and kindness/respect on every corner of the planet. Sora then ran as fast he could the second he spotted Leon near Merlin's house. "Man oh man, I never would've expected to see that baby-faced kid this time around!!" Sora turned a little red at his cheeks and got a little mad. "Hey who're you calling kid?" Leon couldn't help but laugh as well as everyone else when they saw what Sora was doing. Sora turned so red he looked like a cross between ripe strawberry and a cherry.
Merlin soon appeared out of house in hopes of greeting everyone there. "Okay okay settle down now please! As much as we all love a good chuckle now isn't the time to do so. Follow me inside and you'll find out why." So everyone did as they were told and went inside. Meanwhile, Victor was preparing his latest plan to test Sora's might against his superior swordsmanship and ingenuity. "Such a pity it truly is for you Maleficent. Even you in all your great power couldn't even finish off one kid, or rather hero who uses a keyblade to fight all his battles." Maleficent as well as Pete were tied up and in a prison cell expertly crafted by Victor and his powers of light. It was dark, damp and above all it smelt like cabbage oddly enough. Pete had duct tape covering his mouth, but Maleficent's mouth was free from such torment. This was probably because Victor wanted to gloat and hear her cries for mercy.
Maleficent then began to speak to the young teen. "You shouldn't underestimate your opponents you fool. I've seen you fight as well when you were no bigger than a puppy dog. You were as naïve and weak as that boy is now. Look at your power now. He could easily come to that power and will defeat you at all costs should you go through with your plans." Victor brought his sword close to Maleficent's neck as a means of a warning.
"Oh no, you are the one who is foolish. You see unlike him, my brothers and I weren't so fortunate enough to have guardians to teach us right from wrong, so thus we became more powerful than anyone else in the entire universe. Not even Superman, nor King Mickey can stand up to our power." Maleficent looked confused. "Super-who?" Victor shook his head. "Never mind that. The point I'm making is we worked day and night, sustenance or no sustenance to get to where we are today. I had the rougher part of it killing a hero. People always booed me just because I was different or much more unique. Sora my sinister woman, is not strong at all if he has to rely on a weapon of pure foolish craftsmanship and it will be his undoing to harness its power for good. My old classmate Xehanort made the same mistake when he thought that being powerful meant you were invincible or unstoppable. Soon my dear Sora and his friends will feel the full sting of the MVC and the power my brothers and I have." As he said this he looked into a holographic window portraying Sora, Riku and the others inside Merlin's house talking to him and observing his wisdom.
Sora and the others sat down and listened as closely as they could to all parts of the journal as they could. There were only thirteen sections of writing which made it similar to Ansem's Reports of yester-year. The only difference is it only focused on one main idea instead of a bunch ideas packed into one book.
"Section One: The Beginning
Oh how it must've hurt the poor boy when he had exterminated his opponent. The due fact it rained that day, made it quite ironic. People that day saw it as a bad omen for their lovely little city and foolishly cried out to the authorities to catch and punish Victor and his siblings for their supposed wrong doings.
How could such a travesty happen? Do humans not have the ability to choose between good and evil? Are they not more unique than other creatures from other worlds in choosing both sides instead of one? All of this I wish I knew. Still, I should keep an eye on Victor. Afterall, when he was created I agreed to watch over him and keep him protected. Even if it means I spend an eternity in the great abyss I am willing to take it.
The poor lad! He still knows not what true love is all about. Not even to his own parents because he was so young when they perished. Ironically, unlike Victor, I am starting to develop what his kind would call feelings for him. It's almost if it's… No! I mustn't! It would never work. He must never feel love for others. It's his greatest strength that he has. Although I can't help him from afar, maybe it's possible to help him in another way. Perhaps I need to be what he is and be born as a…"
Merlin then stopped. Everyone grew a little impatient after two minutes of waiting. They thought he was trying to catch his breath being a man of an old age. Sora stepped up on his feet. "Well? What's the last part of the sentence?" Merlin then said, "The last bit was ripped up so I don't really know." Riku then stepped up. "I think I know. That boy we saw on beach earlier yesterday was a human. So the writer must also be talking about becoming a human." The journal then glowed and the last part that was ripped became whole with a single word at the end of it. It was the word "human". Merlin examined the journal with extreme accuracy. "This is quite strange. Yes, quite strange it is indeed." Kairi then began to speak.
"What is?" Merlin put the journal down so he could face everyone. "This is no ordinary journal. It has enchantments that even I don't know about. After looking through the whole journal it seems that there are words missing in every last section of it. Obviously, it would seem that the writer wants us to figure this entire journal out as best as we can. The question to answer though is 'why'?" Leon then stood up and began to speak. "Regardless of the journal's secrets, we're going to have to solve it later. Right now we have bigger things to deal with." Sora and the others soon asked what was going on. Leon obviously had to speak to enlighten the curious teens to the predicament they were in.
"From all the research I did I can only come to one conclusion. Victor isn't like Organization XIII or the Heartless at all. He doesn't have a desire to possess Kingdom Hearts because he, along with the rest of his people, all possesses hearts. They are quite similar to Donald, Goofy, Maleficent, Pete, Mickey, and even Captain Hook or any other person in universe. There's a difference though. Unlike us, Victor and his kind as said in the journal can choose to be good or evil or light or dark."
Sora and the others had their mouths drop like anchors on a yacht during a morning voyage. Sora then started to talk. "So that means that His brothers as well Victor can be the good guys and the bad guys?" Leon nodded in agreement. "That doesn't make any sense though. They know that being bad and dark isn't a good thing for their world. Why would they choose to be bad as well?" Soon enough the group felt a cold chill in the air and the whole group as well as Merlin and Leon focused on the odd phenomena. "It is because his race knows not what they do in life affects others. His race is always tempted by creature comforts and treasures beyond their wildest dreams. They never realize it until it's too late."
Sora and the others got a cold chill down their spines and turned as pale as ghosts when they saw a human figure appear inside the building. It was a young teenage girl. She had blue eyes, hair as red as a beautiful sunset near a calm meadow, as well as lips that were as pink as a Valentine's Day cutout heart and so inviting it would make any guy melt just by looking them. The only thing she wore that would make her seem less innocent and more tough was the fact that she wore a black shirt and army pants and boots. Sora and Riku of course started drooling over the girl along with Tidus and Leon, despite the clothing she wore, while Kairi as well as Yuffie and Aerith, who just stopped by, started to get mad and turn red in anger and jealousy. The boys got knocked out for the count and had the classic bumps on their heads to show from their little gander at the girl. The girl then looked confused as to why the girls would do such a thing.
"I do hope those boys are alright." Kairi, Yuffie and Aerith gathered around the girl. "How did you do that? You made a cold chill in the air and we got scared and thought you were a ghost." The girl giggled and blushed. Soon enough, her cheeks became as red as poppy flowers in Flanders' Fields. "He thought the very same way when I first met him."
The girls then asked her what she meant and soon found out about her encounter with Victor in a dream. "It was a dark knight. Every tree around the boy was dead and the sky covered by dense clouds. The only thing that could pierce through the black sky was the moon. In the centre of this place was a garden that oddly enough wasn't affected by the lack of sunshine and bloomed ever so brightly in their glorious essence and beauty. Victor soon observed the place and it turned into a greenhouse paradise with him inside it. I then appeared and I expected him to run away, never to gaze upon my eyes or my face. He did the exact opposite. He looked so calm when he looked at me. I looked into his eyes and felt as if I could just melt. I then reached up to kiss him and he slightly stepped back trying to escape, but couldn't. I wouldn't let this opportunity of human comfort escape my grasp. So then it happened. With one kiss, I not only got a taste of his inner beauty, but I also felt true love from it. Even though it broke every law I was entrusted to obey I enjoyed every last moment of it."
The girls began to sigh and lie down. Kairi couldn't help but hug the girl, despite how Sora and Riku drooled over her. "That's so romantic. You are so lucky. So then what happened?" The girl started to cry unfortunately. "He turned into stone. 'sob' The second I kissed him he turned into a solid 'sniff-sniff' stone statue." The girls gasped a little, but let her continue after she pulled it together. "It was horrible. I disappeared, but I could still see what he was dreaming about. The greenhouse and the garden disappeared and his family appeared to see the youth turned to stone. They started to cry and mourn over their lost their little boy. He then woke up a different person."
The girl explained that from here on in, from the moment he had that dream he started to use his imagination, not for a long time, but for a short amount of time. Eventually that power would take him to new heights so that he, as well as his brothers gaining their new powers, would become the apex beings of the universe. Kairi had a tiny tear trickle down her left cheek. It was small for a tear in general, but to the girl it reminded her of that rainy day she saw the boy for the very first time.
