Chapter 3: New Friends, New Enemies
Yen Sid's tower was tall, majestic and crooked and coloured golden brown. The roofs were blue and cone-shaped decorated with several moons and stars. The tower itself rested on a floating island with a few pine trees, while the island was surrounded by sparkling blue clouds. This was where Master Yen Sid was waiting for them. This would be where the Mark of Mastery exam would take place. The gummi ship landed in front of the pathway to the tower. The door to the ship opened and Sora, Riku and Kairi stepped out. Riku and Kairi looked at the tower in awe, this being their first time there. They were shortly followed by King Mickey, Donald and Goofy.
"Wow!" Kairi exclaimed as she turned to Mickey, "So, Yen Sid actually lives here, your majesty?"
"Yep, I lived here too while I was studying to be his apprentice twelve years ago. This is also where I took my Mark of Mastery test," Mickey replied.
"Really?" Riku asked, "How'd it go?" but, before Mickey could reply, Donald interrupted.
"Let's just say; It's not something any of us want to remember," Donald quacked, rubbing his tail as if remembering a painful accident. Goofy wasn't paying attention to the conversation; he was looking anxiously around the space with a worried look in his eyes. Sora stepped beside him.
"Goofy? What's wrong?" he asked.
"We were supposed to meet my boy, Maxie here, but I don't see him," Goofy replied in a worried tone. Goofy had told Sora about his son, Max in many of his letters. From what Sora heard, he was an energetic teenage boy who loved to skateboard, hang out with his friends in town and was training to become a knight. He hadn't gotten a shield yet, so he was using his skateboard as a weapon.
"Max isn't here yet?" Mickey asked, the worry now slipping into his squeaky voice, "we told him to meet us here hours ago."
"Do you think something happened to him?" Kairi asked, she too now worried.
"Maybe he went in the tower?" Riku suggested.
"No, we told him specifically, to meet us outside," Mickey replied.
"Aww phoey!" Donald groaned, "You're all worryin' too much! I bet he was too busy talkin' with his girlfriend and he just forgot!"
"Maybe we should call the castle and see if he's there," Sora suggested, placing a comforting hand on Goofy's shoulder.
"We should check with Master Yen Sid first," Mickey said as he stepped forward, "If Max isn't in the tower, then he can find him quickly. Alright, Goofy?" Goofy nodded, comforted by Mickey's words. The group of six then started walking towards the tower again.
Mysterious Tower
The goup then kept until they reached the front. They stopped when they saw a large figure in colourful clothing leaning closely by the front door, trying to listen closely to something.
"Whachha doin'?" Donald asked, not even thinking that whoever this was could want to hurt them.
"Shh! I'm tryin' to listen!" The figure snapped in a gruff voice as he waved a large hand behind him. The group of six looked at each other curiously.
"To what?" Goofy asked.
"Well, see me an' my associate came to this here world lookin' fer some treasure ta kill the time. But we found somethin' better. We found this skinny little runt we knew from our home world. Put up a fight, but with two of us, we took 'im down. Soon we found out that that pipsqueak of a King, his two boneheads and three Keyblade Wielders was comin' to this here tower to take some kind of test to become Masters. So, here I am listenin' carefully for the test ta start. Cuz soon as them three Keybeares 'come Masters, our boss, Maleficent, is gonna have big plans fer them!"
"Maleficent?" Riku and Mickey exclaimed in unison. They, along with the rest of the group had completely forgotten about her as she didn't seem like too much of a threat anymore.
"Yep. Don't know why that test hasn't started yet. Been standin' here fer an hour an' heard nothin'."
"Maybe because we just got here!" Sora yelled, clearly seeing this figure as an enemy.
"Wha-" the figure turned around completely to reveal a fat anthropomorphized cat in dark blue overalls, a red shirt, dark blue armour plates on his shoulders and large fingerless gloves and shoes. Everyone immediately recognized him.
"Pete?" the group asked in unison.
"Well, ain't this a surprise," Pete smirked, "Here I was waitin' fer ye ta start yer test so I could interrupt it and take you three," He pointed to Sora, Riku and Kairi, "Te Maleficent,"
"Yeah, good luck with that," Sora smirked, "You're just as big of an idiot as last time, Pete. We'll kick your butt in no time." But, instead of getting pouty like a big baby like he usually did, his smirk grew.
"Ya think so, hey?" Pete laughed, "well this time, I ain't alone, runt. Not only have I got me some heartless, but Maleficent partnered me up with an old buddy of mine," He turned to Goofy, "and we think we found somethin' that may belong to ya, Goof. Hey! Mortimer! Come show our little buddies here what we found!"
"Cool your jets, Pete, buddy, I'm right here." A sleek voice spoke from behind the tower as a figure stepped out. He was a tall, skinny rat with a long, thin nose and two bucked teeth, he had a look of determination in his eyes. He was dressed in an outfit that looked almost identical to Pete's except the colors were switched around. On his mouth there was an evil smirk, and his skinny arms were crossed over his chest. Mickey recognized him right away.
"Mortimer! You're working for Maleficent?" Mickey exclaimed.
"Right you are, 'your majesty'" Mortimer said as he did a mock bow, "See, when the offer came to me, I realized it was the perfect way to get you caught in a mouse trap, and for me to take that pretty queen of yours,"
"Mortimer!" Pete yelled, obviously not interested in what his partner was talking about, "show the pipsqueaks what we found when we got here!"
"Fine, fine, you get to have your fun, but won't leave any for me. Oh, well," Mortimer reached behind the tower and pulled out what looked to be a smaller, younger version of Goofy. The only differences were that this one had long, wild black hair, a baggy red t-shirt, blue pants with a vertical yellow stripe on each leg, his jacket had a hood and pull strings and he was tightly bound and gagged. Sora could only assume this was Max by the frightened look on Goofy's face.
"Maxie!" Goofy exclaimed as tears started to pour down his face. Pete and Mortimer only laughed cruelly.
"Okay, that does it!" Sora exclaimed as he summoned Kingdom Key, the rest of the party did the same. Riku's Keyblade closely resembled his former weapon, Soul Eater, only it was part angel wings as well as bat wings, the keychain was half of the heartless emblem. Riku had named it "Way to Dawn". Kairi's Keyblade reminded Sora greatly of their islands; the hilt was a heart that turned into a wave, the key part consisted of many flowers, while the keychain was a paupu fruit. Shortly after they had gotten home, she had named it "Destiny's Embrace". Mickey wasn't wielding Kingdom Key D, like Sora had previously seen him use, instead he was wielding Star Seeker; which was a light purple Keyblade decorated with many stars and crescent moons. Neither Donald nor Goofy had Keyblades, but instead brought up their own weapons. Donald was holding Mage's Staff, while Goofy was holding Knight's Shield.
"You really think you can fight both of us and the heartless?" Mortimer laughed, "fine," he reached behind his back and pulled out a small red and blue pistol and pointed it at the party, while Pete laughed and raised his fists. He then whistled and at least thirty shadow heartless appeared out of the ground. Riku and Sora charged at Pete, while Mickey and Goofy charged at Mortimer, leaving Kairi and Donald to deal with the heartless.
"Let Max go Mortimer," Mickey spoke in a calm yet angry voice, "then we can fight fairly." Mortimer's smirk only grew as he walked backwards, keeping Max close to him and never lowering his pistol.
"I don't think so, Mick," he said, "As you probably remember, I don't fight fair, ah cha cha!" Mortimer then threw the still bound Max onto the ground a few feet away from him. He then snapped his fingers and a few shadow heartless appeared around Max, staring hungrily at him. But, before a heatless could devour his heart, it was destroyed by Goofy's shield. Goofy nodded encouragingly at Mickey. Mickey returned the nod and charged at Mortimer.
Riku and Sora were having no problem knocking Pete around. Even though it had been a year since they last met, Pete had made no improvement in his combat skills. Once Pete was knocked down, Sora rushed over to help Goofy defend Max, while Riku helped Kairi and Donald deal with the remaining heartless. Mickey was constantly dodging dark bullets from Mortimer's pistol, still having yet to throw in a solid hid. Once Sora and Goofy destroyed the heartless surrounding Max, they quickly moved to untie him. Once Max was untied, Goofy embraced his son in a tight hug, but Max wasn't thinking about reunions now. He quickly wriggled out of his dad's hug and ran towards the tower. It was then Sora realized there was a skateboard lying there. It was yellow with a blue outline of the King's insignia, while the inside of the outline was black. Max grabbed the skateboard, hopped on and was moving right towards Mortimer. Mortimer looked to see Max riding towards him looking determined; he didn't even notice Mickey send a blow to his chest, causing him to fall to the ground. While he was on the ground, Max ran over him as a small crunching noise was heard.
"That was for kidnapping me," Max growled as he rode off of Mortimer and another crunching noise was heard. Once Mortimer saw that all the heartless had been defeated, he winced. Then, Pete slowly rose from the ground,
"Hunh... wha...?" Pete asked, looking confused. Mortimer quickly got up to his feet, ran towards Pete and grabbed his arm.
"C'mon Pete, let's get outta here," Mortimer said as both of them disappeared through a corridor of darkness. As soon as Max knew they were gone, he quickly embraced Goofy.
"Thanks, Dad," Max smiled as Goofy returned the hug. The party stayed for a moment to watch the father and son reunion until Mickey spoke up.
"Come on, Yen Sid is waiting for us,"
~*KHIII*~
Sometime later, the group of seven had reached the top of the tower. Yen Sid was standing in front one of the many windows, once he heard the door close he turned to the group that had just walked in, who all bowed in respect.
"Nice to see you again, Master Yen Sid," Mickey said.
"Yes, It is. I am pleased to see that you were all able to make it," Yen Sid replied as he sat down at his desk, "Now to buisiness; the Mark of Mastery exam,"
"Don't worry sir, me and Riku; we're ready!" Sora exclaimed enthusiastically while Riku gave a slightly nervous nod.
"I believe you are, Sora," Yen Sid chuckled, "However, I have a reason th believe that the two of you are not the only ones capable of performing this exam," Yen Sid then looked directly towards Kairi, whose face immediately filled with shock and confusion.
"Me?" Kairi asked as Yen Sid nodded, "Master, I don't think I can," she stammered, "I haven't been able to do anything, I'm still just a beginner, I-"
"Calm yourself," Yen Sid interrupted, "Kairi, I realize that this is a shock to you, but you have made astounding progress in this last year alone. Along with all the secret training you have done, I truly believe you are just as qualified as Sora and Riku." The others turned to look at Kairi with confusion plastered on their faces.
"Secret training?" Donald questioned.
"Let me guess; Minnie and Daisy knew about this?" Mickey sighed and crossed his arms. Kairi responded with an embaresed nod,
"I just felt so useless back at the World That Never Was, I wanted to be able to be more help if another quest ever came up. Minnie and Daisy sent me training exercises and training holograms to practice on, but I had no idea what I was doing would qualify me as a master," Kairi explained.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Riku asked as Kairi shrugged,
"I knew my dad would hate the idea, so I just didn't tell anyone," The princess of heart turned back towards Yen Sid, "But sir, I really don't think I'm ready for this,"
"Kairi," Sora suddenly stated causing everyone to stare at him, "Relax, you're over thinking this. If you really have been training by yourself then that determination already proves you have what it takes," at this point, Sora had made it over to Kairi's side and was holding her hands in an encouraging embrace, "You weren't useless on the World that Never Was. And we all believe in you now," Kairi nodded her understanding and turned to face the others who all had looks of encouragement.
"So how 'bout it, Kairi?" Goofy asked, "Ya ready ta take the exam?"
"I'm ready!" Kairi stated strongly causing the Disney residents To burst into cheers and applause.
"Excellent, then we shall get started," Yen Sid declared as Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Max stood off to the side with encouraging looks on their faces. Sora, Kairi and Riku now stood proudly in a line in front of Master Yen Sid. Yen Sid rose from his desk and spoke, "Today, you will be examined for the Mark of Mastery. Three of the Keyblade's chosen stand here as candidates. Each Master believes in a different approach when it comes to this examination. I for instance, believe our greatest weaknesses lie in our memories. In this exam, you stand alone. You will be tested on your abilities in combat, judgement and the strength of your heart. I will transport each of you individually to a simulation of a world created from your memories. In this world you will face an enemy different from the heartless; an enemy that devours dreams. You will encounter many foes and allies. Near the end of your examination, you will be confronted by a being of great darkness; a great enemy. Your journeys will be different for each of you. Your objective is simple; separate your allies from your enemies, choose when to fight and when to stand down and defeat your enemies, you must defeat your greatest in order to pass. Are you prepared?"
"Yes," Sora, Riku and Kairi said in unison.
"Then let the examination begin!" Yen Sid waved his hands and the three keybearers began to glow gold. Soon, they became small glowing balls of light and flew into Yen Sid's desk. The Disney Castle residents gathered around the desk and looked as the desk magically became a view screen.
"Do you think they'll be alright?" Mickey asked.
"I can only hope that they do not make the same mistake he made. As of this moment, the Mark of Mastery has begun."