Between the obscure dream and the mysterious attack of the Heartless, that had been the most eventful day Sora had witnessed since his arrival at Disney Castle. And after that brief rush of excitement, he turned back to his old, mundane routine.
Over the next month, he spent much of his time dueling Riku. They each had crafted wooden practice swords, and Riku insisted that Sora practice fighting constantly, so he would know how to wield his keyblade when it finally returned to him. Sora knew that these sessions would eventually help him immensely, but he didn't enjoy them. Riku was by far his superior, and these duels left Sora exhausted with painful bruises all over his body.
In addition, Riku liked to tutor him in the midst of the fighting, and he was a stubborn, unforgiving mentor. One time, he even went so far as to tell Sora to change his stance completely and brandish the sword over his shoulder. Sora obediently did so, and was quickly pummeled to the ground by Riku as he tried to cope with the severely limited scope of his weapon. 'How does Riku manage to fight like that?' he thought wryly as he dusted himself off.
But far worse than those practices were the lectures that Riku liked to give Sora as they walked together along the balconies or through the courtyard. "You know, the reason that you've lost your keyblade is because you won't stop dwelling on things that happened in the past," he would say gently. "You've got to let go of the things you've lost."
Sora's face grew red with fury; Riku was prodding him where it hurt the most. "Are you saying I need to completely forget about Kairi?" he asked angrily.
Riku hurriedly took a step backward. "I didn't say that!" he said hastily. But Sora knew it was what he meant. However, he was racked with remorse about confronting Riku like that. He knew that Riku was his dearest and closest friend, and he only wanted the best for his younger companion. But Sora simply could not bring himself to stop thinking about Kairi. Memories were all he had left of her, and even though they were weakening his heart and keeping his keyblade away, he would hold on to them as long as he could.
However, Sora and Riku, together with Donald, Goofy, and Mickey, often talked about other topics while they ate or ambled about the castle. Sora immensely enjoyed these conversations. They chatted amiably about many things, not least of all books. Everybody who lived at the castle made good use of the giant library that Minnie owned, and Sora soon became well versed in fiction, poetry, science, and a wealth of other topics.
One morning, after a delicious breakfast of eggs and toast, Sora was walking alone in the hedge garden, pondering the mystery novel he was currently reading. It had been over a month since the Heartless had attacked, and Sora had neither encountered Heartless nor dreamt about Kairi for over month.
Suddenly, a metallic click rang through the air. Sora stiffened, staring around himself warily for any sign of danger or the source of the noise. He thought he could discern a whirring noise emanating from the hangar, as though a ship were taking off. 'Mickey must be leaving!' he realized with a cold chill. 'Why didn't he tell anybody else? This must be something really urgent!'
He broke into a run across the grass, leaping over small hedges, dashing toward the hangar. Sora knew he could do nothing to help Mickey, but he still burned with an innate, insatiable curiosity. If somebody was leaving, he was going to know about it.
He reached the door, wildly flung it open, and was knocked to the ground by an extremely loud crash from within that shook the very floor under his feet. A wave of burning heat rushed from the open doorway and threw Sora to the ground again as he was getting up. "What was that?" he shouted aloud as he climbed to his feet again and rushed to the door.
The Gummi Ship was parked in its normal spot, untouched. But further down the hangar lay another ship in pieces. It was surrounded by a pile of debris, and smoke rose in a looming cloud from the interior.
Sora could not help but wonder where this ship came from or why it was at the castle, but he began to run down the stairs to help the unfortunate pilot, whoever he might be. Suddenly, he stopped, overcome by a chilly shroud of foreboding. A piece of twisted pipe had been flung onto the stairs from the wreckage, and he picked it up quickly, brandishing it before him. "Who's there?" he yelled, trying to sound menacing, but filled with anxiety.
A lone figure crawled out of the ship, coughing forcefully. He stood up, dusted himself off, and squinted up at Sora. "Can you help me out here?" he called.
Sora felt a surge of relief, but he realized the man was in dire need of help. "I'll get my friends and some water!" he shouted.
"No, never mind that, just help me get my equipment out of here!" said the man irritably. He rushed to the back of the burning vessel and ripped a door off its hinges in his haste. Flames immediately burst from the opening and scorched him. "Oh no, it's too late!" he cried in misery.
Sora could not fathom what was inside the ship that was more important than the ship itself. However, he still knew he could help out. He pointed the pipe at the flames, concentrated his mind, and shouted, "Blizzaga!" A scintillating sphere of ice shot from the makeshift weapon like a rocket and crashed into the roaring fire. Within seconds, the flames were completely quenched. Sora's magic hadn't disappeared with his keyblade.
The man stared at the smoldering remains of his ship for a long while, then turned back to Sora. "That was incredible!" he said, his face gleaming with awe. "What's your name?"
"I'm Sora." Now, Sora finally got a good look at the man he had just saved. He looked to be about thirty years old, with long grey hair, and a visage that reflected years of study and gathering knowledge. He wore a long white coat, tainted black with ash.
"I'm Ajedel. Nice to meet you, and thanks for saving me," he said gratefully. Then urgency abruptly spread over his face. "But my equipment! It must be completely destroyed!" He dove into the wreckage. Sora heard the sounds of a frantic search, accompanied by occasional cries of delight and exclamations of "well, what do you know!"
Ajedel eventually emerged from the broken doorway, carrying a bulging sack. "It's a miracle!" he cried happily. "Everything is undamaged. I thought I was going to have to start my work all over again!"
He now began to rummage through the sack, mumbling delightedly to himself. Sora simply stood on the stairway awkwardly. He wasn't sure whether he should try to talk to Ajedel, who seemed a bit erotic, or find somebody and tell them that a strange man had landed in the hangar. The question was answered for him, however, when Mickey, Riku, Donald, and Goofy ran through the door. "What happened?" said Mickey in alarm. "We heard a crash, and – oh my, what happened to that ship?"
"It's his," explained Sora, pointing to Ajedel. "I heard the crash and ran in here. His ship was on fire, and I put it out, but he hasn't said anything to me since."
Mickey looked at Ajedel and started. "Ajedel?" he cried, astounded. "Is that you?"
Ajedel finally looked up from his sack. "King Mickey!" he yelled in delight. "You have no idea how long I've been looking for you!"
"You two know each other?" said Riku, looking distastefully at Ajedel. He didn't seem to like him at all.
"Of course!" exclaimed Mickey. "He was a good friend of Ansem the Wise, and did a lot of research with him before Xehanort overthrew him. But Ajedel, what did you come here for?"
"I've been traveling around to all sorts of worlds, looking for those who knew Ansem," said Ajedel with a slight tinge of apprehension. "I remembered you, and set out to find your castle. But when I spotted it and prepared to land, I was attacked and forced to land in a rather unruly manner. Tell me, do you know what happened to Ansem? I fear the worst."
"Oh," said Mickey awkwardly. "Um…"
"He's dead," said Riku flatly. Donald glared at him angrily, tapping his foot.
Ajedel sighed. "It's just as I thought. I suppose I'm going to have to continue my research without him." He hoisted his heavy sack and walked up the stairs to where Mickey was standing. "My ship certainly isn't in flying order, and I don't have anywhere to go anyway. Do you mind if I stay here awhile while I fix the ship?"
"Definitely!" said Mickey. "You can stay here as long as you need to. I can find you place to sleep right now, if you like."
"Wonderful!" exclaimed Ajedel, shedding his solemn mood as though it were a garment. He bounded down the stairs, grabbed his mysterious black bag, and ran up again. "I'm ready!" He and Mickey left the room, followed by Donald and Goofy.
Sora watched them go, then turned to Riku. "Why were you so rude to him?" he asked angrily. "He never did anything to you."
"You saw him as well as I did," said Riku, without even facing Sora. "He's crazy. He's just a mad scientist."
"How do you know?" challenged Sora. "Sure, maybe he's a bit erotic, but he worked with Ansem the Wise. I'm sure he knows something important that could be helpful to us. You can't judge him like that right now!"
Riku sighed. "I'll talk to you later," he said. Then he turned on his heels and walked quickly out of the hangar.
"Maybe he'll be able to tell us why the Heartless have been coming here!" Sora called after him. "Or maybe why Kairi…" He abruptly stopped himself, realizing he was tugging on his own heartstrings. Deep down inside, that was the single thing he needed to know the most: why did Kairi die? But thinking about her death always brought an emotional maelstrom over him, and he couldn't figure it out himself.
But maybe Ajedel could.
