Chapter 8 Disney Town Part 2: Dreams of Reunions and Apologies.
I was running and running gasping for air wisps of darkness floating by as I ran down the never ending path I kept running and running chasing after my friend, "Wait, Everyone!" I called out as I tried to run faster to catch up to Aqua, Terra, Ventus and Eraqus but they just got further and further away even though they were just walking, "Wait!" I called out again trying to run faster, "Wait Everyone!" I cry out out as the darkness swarms shrouding my friends from view….
"VITREUS WAKE UP!"
I felt the wind knocked out of me as Gosalyn landed on my in a cannon ball.
"Did you have to wake me up so roughly?" I ask rubbing my sore stomach.
"Who cares about that, it's the day of the Dream Festival." Gosalyn says bouncing up and down like a child, which she was to be fair.
"Oh that's right." I say in realization, a week had passed since I first arrived here, I still hadn't gotten back my Keyblade and I hadn't heard from any of my friends, Gosalyns's Dad Drake was kind enough to let me stay with them, he seemed VERY familiar to me, I got up out of the bed and gave a stretch, "Alright I'll be down in 10." I tell her.
Gosalyn nods as she runs out of the room.
I went into the washroom and splashed some water on my face to help myself wake up. I put my hair under the water to soak it a bit and shook my head some water spraying off. I left the room and grabbed my new coat off door as I went downstairs I had changed my outfit into a new one during the week, I now wore a zipped up Black fleece Jacket with a White trim around the hood, wrists and bottom of the jacket with the right sleeve pushed up to my elbow, a pair of Black/white fingerless gloves on both hands, on my left hand hidden under the sleeve was my armor band for activating my Keyblade Armor, I had on a pair of slightly baggy brown shorts that went down to just above my knees with a belt that held two pouches positioned of the left rear of my hip but not all the way in the back that were slightly covered by the bottom of the jacket, lastly I had on a pair of Black boots that went up to my ankle with green laces and sole, I didn't wear any socks, I softly touched the crystal on my neck that was one detail I didn't change between outfits. My hair had been changed so now my left eye was covered by the hair while on my right side it was held back with a pin just behind my right ear.
I walk into the kitchen, getting a Morning from Drake with I nod to in response.
"Morning." I reply grabbing a fruit off the table, "You ready, Gosalyn." I ask her as I took a bite of it.
Gosalyn nods, "let's go." She says energetically.
"Just be sure to be back before it's too late." Drake says.
"Don't worry we will." I say as we left the house.
"Morning Gosalyn, Morning Vitreus." Honker says coming out of his house.
"Hey Honk." Gosalyn says as he comes up to us.
"Yo." I say giving him a two finger salute as Honker comes up to up and we begin out trek to Disney Town where the Dream Festival was taking place.
-KH-
The three of us walked into the town to see the Festival in full swing.
"Pretty lively festival." I comment observing various citizens wondering around as I stuck my hands in my pockets.
"Come on let's go!" Gosalyn says as she drags us further into the town.
"Slow Down Gosalyn, we have all day." Honker whines.
I smiled as the kids ran off to do their own thing, "Tali. Would have loved this." I think to myself with a ping of sorrow in my chest, "This is a nice place, maybe I should just retire here." I muse as I absentmindedly walk through the town.
I gave a small wave to Clarabelle when I passed by her walking by, she returned the wave before we lost sight of each other.
I didn't really have any specific destination in the Festival in mind I was just aimlessly walking, on occasion I'd tell some people where to go, after a bit of walking I found myself at the entrance to the race track. "Hmm, why not would be fun to do a race." I mutter to myself as I lightly tapped my foot on the ground in thought as I walked through the archway and through some small allies to find myself at the edge of the track.
I watched as Huey, Dewey, and Louie raced by in their mini airplane carts, I gave a soft smile as I watched the kids having fun, I had meet them during the week they were a bit mischievous but fun spirits.
"Look out!" I heard a voice yell, I flinched slightly I recognized it as the voice of the Queen, Minnie, I met her once sure she was a kind spirit but I still felt unease and disgust near royalty so I had avoided her like the plague when I could, I turned to see her standing a few yards away and the person she yelled to was….
"Terra." I whispered sadly to myself, I reached up and pulled my hood over my face before walking over to them, I felt ashamed and didn't want to face Terra directly.
"Thanks for piping up back there, I mean it" Terra says as I walked over to them, "The name's Terra." He introduces to Minnie.
"It's nice to meet you, Terra." Minnie Reciprocates.
"I'm not sure if you're brave or stupid running onto the course." I commented.
Terra and Minnie look over at me.
"And you are?" Terra Inquires
"Oh this is a young man who came to us a week ago, his name is…" Minnie begins.
"Yuri." I interrupt coldly.
Minnie gives me a confused look, I subtly shake my head.
"Nice to meet you Yuri." Terra says holding out his hand for a shake, I don't move to take it, he lets out a sigh before putting it down.
"I'm sure you had your reasons for running out onto the course, but I can't say that I approve either." Minnie tells Terra.
"Well, rules don't apply when you're up against the Unversed." Terra replies.
I raised an eyebrow under my hood.
"Rules don't apply you sound just like Pete!" Chip scolds Terra
"Look, it's Captain Dark!" Dale says jumping up and down.
I turned to see Pete in a black outfit with a magenta cape, "Disguised in shadows, the rogue racer reigns!" He spun around dramatically before jumping down from the second level on the building he was standing, "I am…Captain Dark!" he finishes doing a dramatic pose, I could almost see a dramatic lighting behind him, "And you must be the chump who made me miss a new track record." He says walking over to us, "Hold on, how's comes I don't know you?" he comments looking Terra over, "Somebody bringin' in a ringer?" he questions.
"I'm not even a racer." Terra comments.
"Must be downright temptatious to try 'n' stop a primo racer like me from getting' the record, but we all gotta play by the rules, rookie." Pete…. I mean "Captain Dark" says ignoring what Terra just said wrapping his arm around Terra's shoulder.
I let out a barely audible snort as Captain Dark leaves.
"Now just a second, you're the no good cheater who's always breakin' the rules!" Chip yells after Captain Darks retreating form.
"I can't say racing interests me, but I need to defeat the Unversed, Tell me what I've gotta do." Terra says to Chip and Dale.
"Are you talking about all those karts that look like scary, ugly monsters?" Chip asks Terra.
Terra nods.
Chip and Dale cross their arms, "Hmm…" The both say together.
"Those Karts started showing up about six days ago." Chip commented.
I froze at that comment, 'it's impossible' I think to my self absentmindedly taking two steps back.
"You Okay, Yuri?" Terra asks me.
"It's my fault." I mutter to myself.
"What do you mean?" Terra says confused.
I turned my head to face Terra, "Six days ago I was still pretty shaken up from an event that happened to me and I was feeling a lot a negativity I think that acted as a beacon and called the unversed here, if that's the case I have to get rid of them.
"But how?" Terra questions
"Well, we've only ever see the monsters on the track." Minnie comments.
"That's it, Terra you and V.." Chip begins but I let off a small Aura of death making him stuffer, "Y-Yuri just need to enter the races!" he tells us, "and while your at it, take that Captain Dark down a notch or two he's always breakin the rules and causin trouble." He asks us.
"I have to become a racer?" Terra asks in disbelief.
"Now, I'm sure I don't have to tell you two…" Minnie begins
"I know, I'll play by the rules." Terra tells Minnie.
"You as well." Minnie says looking at me.
"Yes, Moooom." I say sarcastically, "Come on Rock Head." I say grabbing Terra's Arm and pulling him through the gate
-KH-
It was defiantly an adrenaline pumping race, Terra and I managed to defeat all the Unversed, we were pretty neck and neck at the end of the race, he had only beaten my by the tooth of his Keyblade Glider.
"Whew." I say getting of my Racer Bike, "Good Race." I say lightly punching Terra in the shoulder.
"You too." Terra says returning the smile as we walked out of the gate to see Captain Dark's racer crashed into a wall.
"My Kart musta sprung a spring!" Captain Dark says in denial of his loss, "You yahoos just wait, next time I'll clobber all of you!" he says before jumping into his kart and jerkily driving off.
"Yippee, I hope he's gone for good." Chip says jumping up and down.
"Don't bet on it." I tell Chip.
"Nobody's gonna vote for a weasel like you, Pete!" Chip continues to yell after the long gone Pete.
"Pete, Vote, What are you talking about?" Terra says completely lost.
I let out a small chuckle, I always loved the face Terra made when Terra was absolutely confused and lost.
"Chip means the Million Dreams Award, it's a very popular part of our Dream Festival, everyone in town votes for who we think is the most exemplary citizen." Minnie tells Terra.
"And since everybody knows how must of a troublemaker Pete is, he probably figured wearin a disguise was the only way he'd get any votes." Chip comments.
"No votes, no prize!" Dale says.
"Yeah, the prize is all he really wants anyway, he doesn't care about bein a good citizen" Chip says.
"Well that's a little harsh." I comment.
"What it's true." Chip retorts.
I shrugged, "Maybe, but at least even if it's for his own reasons, he's trying to help…no matter how badly it may be.
"Oh, I think that's very sad." Minnie says turning to face us, "The award is supposed to help us appreciate how much we all look out for each other every day." She says sadly.
"Well, one thing I know for sure, I'm voting for Terra, your racing really saved the day against those monster karts!" Chip says jumping up and down.
"And I'm voting for Yuri." Dale says, "Hip hip hurray for Terra and Yuri." He says jumping up and down.
"Looks like we got some stiff competition for the award, don't expect me to make it easy." I tell him.
Terra starts to chuckle, "Well I got something out of it, too, I learned that you don't always have to bend the rules to reach your goals." He says.
I put my hand to my chest giving off a mock gasp, "Don't hurt your head." I tell him.
"OI!" Terra snaps before we all burst into a laughter, I smiled slightly I had missed my friends.
"All this time, I've been staring into the darkness, but that doesn't mean I have to jump in." he says silently to himself, I looked at Terra in concern and clenched my fist in slight anger at the thought of what Xehanort wanted to do to Terra, I knew I could reveal myself to Terra and tell him but I promised myself I wouldn't get them involved until I became stronger then all of my friends and could protect them.
I pulled out a small pocket watch I had in my pocket, "Sorry to run, but I promised I'd meet some friends for lunch.
"Alright, take care Yuri hope to meet you again one day." Terra tells me.
"Stay safe." Minnie tells me.
I give a thumbs up as I left the racing track, after a bit of trekking I made it back to the Area with the fair rides, I say Gosalyn and Honker, Honker looked green in the face.
"Gosalyn, Honker." I say walking up to them taking off my hood.
"Vitreus it was awesome you should have been there it was like roar." Gosalyn says doing a monster impression.
I looked over at Honker, "Did you guys go down the scare tunnel?" I asked.
Honker nodded holding his beak trying not to hurl.
"Here." I say pulling a potion out of my pouch and handing it to Honker.
Honker looks at it suspiciously.
"It's fine." I tell him.
Honker looks at it a bit more before relenting and taking a sip, his face goes back to a normal shade of color, I take the potion back and returned it to the pouch on my waist.
"Better?" I ask rubbing his back.
"Yeah thanks." Honker says.
I smiled at him, "No problem." I say before turning to Gosalyn, "Come on Gosalyn were gonna take a 30 Min lunch break.
"No way, I wanna keep on the rides, besides I'm not hungry." Gosalyn says in protest before her stomach lets off a loud growl making her blush in embarrassment.
I let out a chuckle and ruffles her hair, "Come on Crimson Quackette." I say with a teasing chuckle as the three of us went into a Hamburger Hippo joint nearby for some lunch.
I sat and slowly slurped my float while the kids ate their burgers, I dipped a fry in my smoothie and ate it, 'I wonder if the others are going to show up, or did I maybe miss my one and only opportunity to leave this world, and even if I did go with Terra what use would I be to them without my keyblade I won't be able to help my friends all…
"Oi Vitreus." Gosalyn says snapping out of my thoughts, I realized the ice cream in the float had melted and my hands were all sticky.
"Opps." I say to myself setting down the bowl and cleaning off my hands.
"You okay?" Honker asks.
I nod, "Yeah just got a lot on my mind." I say as I finished cleaning up my mess.
"What kind of stuff?" Gosalyn asks.
I shook my head, "Even I'm not 100% sure my thoughts are a bit jumbled lately." I tell them.
Gosalyn and Honker gaze at me skeptically before looking at each other.
I let out a small somewhat fake grin, "Enough about that you two go have fun, I'll meet you guys again when they announce the winner." I tell them.
"Alright, come on Honker." Gosalyn says as they went back to have fun.
I decided to go walk around town to try and clear my thoughts, after a bit of aimless wondering I reached the town square I saw Pete jump down from a roof in front of someone with a white costume on.
"Tada, Wearin the mask of peace and hope, comes the fearless defender and hero of this town, It is me.. Captain Justice!" Captain Justice says doing another dramatic introduction, I peeked past him to see.
"Ven!" I say in surprise reaching up and pulling my hood over my face.
"Huh, Umm.." Ven stammers confused.
"Young fellow, do my hero senses detect that you got troubles?" Captain Justice asks walking up to Ventus. "Just say the word, and Captain Justice will make all your problems disappear!" he tells Ventus.
I clenched my fist filling a surge of protective anger at Pete being near Ventus.
"Wh-who me?" Ventus asks confused.
Captain Justice nods.
"I'm just trying to make some friends." Ventus says sadly.
I felt my heart lurch at that comment, "Poor Ven." I say sadly.
"Never mind, forget it." Ventus says with a sigh,
"Don't be intimidated by my magnificence, go on and spit it out, then remember to vote Captain J." Captain Justice tells Ventus.
I snorted, "Figured that he's only in it for the award." I commented under my breath.
"Vote?" Ventus questions.
"Oh, well uh forget that." Captain Justice stammers trying to wave off what he said, "How can I help, that's the only reason I'm here." He says.
"Hmm.." Ventus says crossing his arms in thought, "I know, tell me about your town, everything's so festive, is it always like this?" he asks.
"Huh, that's it nothing else?" Captain says confused, "Well, the festivities are on account of the Dream Festival which is why I've made sure there's carnival stuff all over town."
I walked over to the two, "Really, you helped that's amazing." I say in a mock tone.
"I know I'm amazing." Captain Justice says
"Really, like what?" Ventus says in awe.
I put my hand on my hips, "Yeah like what Captain J." I say baiting him.
Captain Justice begins to sweat slightly, "Umm… well… you gotta see it for yourself, wouldn't be much of a dream if I just told ya." He says avoiding the question.
"Right, Thanks." Ventus says.
"And kids, don't you go forgetting Captain Justice is the one who solved all your problems, that would be Justice with a J." he tells us.
"Uh, sure. I got it Captain Justice." Ventus says awkwardly.
"Aww, phooey this stinks!" A voice interrupts, "Now we can't open the ice cream shop!" another voice says.
The three of us turn to see Huey, Dewey and Louie with Minnie standing around a weird looking chair with keyboards on the sides.
"Trouble, Rescue is on the way!" Captain Justice says running off.
"A festival huh, well maybe I can make some new friends" Ventus comments before turning to me, "I'm Ventus who are you?" he asks me.
I'm…..Yuri, don't you have any friends?" I asked him unable to make myself reveal myself to Ventus.
"Nice to meet you Yuri." Ventus says with a grin before he looks down somberly, "I thought I did but I guess I was wrong."
I put my hand on his shoulder, "I'll be your friend, Ventus." I said in a light somber tone before shaking my head, "Come on lets go see what's up." I tell him.
Ventus nods as we went over to Captain Justice the triplets and Minnie.
"Well if it ain't the last kid Captain Justice saved, fraid you'll have to get in line, I'm working on another catastrophe here for these fellahs, Huey, Dewey and Louie my good friends." Captain Justice says as the two of us walked over to the group.
"I wouldn't exactly call this a catastrophe." I comment.
"Oh, Yuri." Minnie says with a smile looking over at me.
"Yeah, all were trying to do was make our own special recipe ice cream." Huey comments.
"And we had had a little trouble." Dewey adds on.
"Come on, it's not really that big a deal." Louie states.
"I'm 100% positive you're the victims of sabotage!" Captain Justice says.
"Really Sabotage?" I say in a tone of disbelief as I looked at the perfectly fine device.
"Not even close, quite makin stuff up." Dewey says to Captain Justice.
"It's just the ice cream machine," Louie says as we turned to face the machine.
"Unca Scrooge left it for us, but we can't figure out how it works cause it's so complicated." Huey says.
"Aw, we're sorry, Queen Minnie, we wanted you to be the first to try our special recipe ice cream." Dewey says to Minnie.
"Oh boys, it was very sweet of you to think of me." Minnie tells the triplets.
"We tried." Louie says in a sad tone.
"Don't get so down kids, just don't give up and I'm sure you'll make the best ice cream ever." I tell them.
"Say no more, leave it to me one bowl of ice cream comin' right up!" Captain Justice says gaining our attention.
"You're just gonna make a mess, Leave it alone, Pete!" Dewey states in annoyance.
"That's Captain Justice!" Pete says stomping his feet.
"I thought it was Captain Dark?" I questioned.
Pete stammers slightly, "W-What I'm Captain Justice, Captain Dark is a nefarious handsome rule breaking racer." He says trying to play it cool, he goes over and tries to work the machine but only succeeded in firing ice cream all over the place, I reached up and grabbed a shot of ice cream that landed on my head and ate it.
"This machine is busted, it just needs a good poundin." Captain Justice says in anger as he begins to wail on the machine.
"It does not!" Minnie says in anger as I grabbed Pete's Hand to stop him hitting the machine.
"Hey, do you think I could give it a shot?" Ventus asks.
"No, if Captain Justice can't fix it, there ain't nothing' you can do, kid." Captain Justice tells Ventus.
"Still wouldn't hurt to let the kid try at least." I say giving Pete a look.
"Fine, but it won't make any difference." Captain Justice says with a huff.
"Maybe not, but there's no harm in trying." Ventus says walking up to the machine and hopping into its seat.
"Yeah, and better you than him, here these are the directions for the machine." Huey tells Ventus handing him a sheet of paper.
Ventus read them over for a moment, "Right I think I got it." He says before handing the directions back to Huey and begins to play on the keys and play a song.
I let out a gasp of surprise then the music started playing a tear hidden by my hood that I wiped away with my sleeve, Ventus was playing the song I would sing for him when he was in his coma, I saw Minnie enjoying the tune with her eyes closed, after a few minutes Ventus was finished playing and the Ice Cream was done.
"Cheers." We all said as we each took a bite of a cone, the flavor exploded in my mouth.
"Mmm, how yummy, what a wonderful treat, I don't think I've ever had such a delicious ice cream!" Minnie tells Ventus.
I nodded, "Good Job." I tell Ven.
"Thank you…Uh, oh, oh dear." Minnie goes to thank Ven but realizes she doesn't know his name.
Oh, Ventus, just Ven is fine." Ventus says when he realizes what's wrong.
"Well, thank you, Ventus." Minnie tells Ven.
"Way to go, Ven." Huey tells him.
"I see, we had to push this thingama jig the other way." Louie states as he and Dewey look over the machine.
"Hey, I just got an idea, we could let our customers make up their own favorite flavors of ice cream" Dewey comments.
I walked over to the two and kneeled down putting my hands on their shoulders, "I say go for it you'll make many people happy." I tell them with a hidden smile.
"Not with that machine!" Captain Justice says coming back up to us, "Well the kid mighta got it to work this one time, but junk like that needs to get junked!" he says going to smash it.
I grabbed Pete's fist and threw him aside into a wall with ease.
"Oh a wise guy huh?" Pete says up, "Well then, guess I just has to smash the both of yas." He says
"Don't you dare, Pete!" Minnie snaps at him.
Ventus gets into his fighting pose but doesn't actually bring out his weapon.
"Fine, but Captain Justice will return!" Pete huffs in anger and annoyance before running off.
"About "Captain Justice", you said his name is Pete?" Ventus questions confused.
"Yeah, he's the biggest troublemaker in town!" Huey tells Ventus.
"I bet he's just callin himself Captain Justice cause he wants to win the Million Dreams Award." Dewey comments.
I let out a small laugh, "You're the second person I met today who said the same thing." I comment to Dewey.
"What's the Million Dreams Award?" Ventus questions.
"It's one of this Festivals big events apparently, everyone votes for who they think is the town's best citizen or something like that." I comment to Ven.
Minnie nods, "It's one of the Dream Festival events." She tells mostly Ven.
"I get it, so that's what he meant by "Vote"." Ventus comments to himself.
"And if ya win the award, ya get a really cool prize! Louie states
"Oh, it's just a small token, nothing elaborate." Minnie says flushing slightly.
"Sounds like a pretty sweet award." I comment.
"The event is supposed to help us appreciate how much we all look out for each other every day, that's the spirit of the award." Minnie comments.
"Well, that sounds nice enough." Ventus says with a smile.
"Pete just wants to get his grubby hands on the prize." Huey says in annoyance to his brothers.
"Sadly there are many selfish people like that in the world." I say in a somber tone.
"And he knows that nobody's gonna vote for him if he puts his own name on the ballot!." Dewey adds on.
"But nobody's fooled!" Louie says.
"Yeah!" The Triplets says as one.
"Creepy." I comment lightheartedly.
"Wish somebody was lookin out for me." Ven says lookin out for me.
I hit Ven in the shoulder.
"Ow." Ven says rubbing his shoulder.
"Don't be so down, I'm sure you got lots of friends looking out for you even if you don't see eye to eye, I'm one for sure." I tell him.
"Thanks." Ven says with a smile that doesn't reach his eyes.
"Talk to them." I tell Ventus.
"Huh?" Ven says looking at me confused.
"Your friends, Talk to them you shouldn't let a minor incident drive a wedge into your bonds." I tell him.
"I dunno." Ven says looking down in uncertainty.
"Would you rather your friendship become broken forever?" I asked him.
"No, never." Ventus says shaking his head furiously.
I put my hand on his shoulder, "Then go find your friends and talk to them.
Ven nods, "Your right Yuri, Thanks." He says before running off.
I let out a chuckle, "Same old Ventus." I say as I watch him run off as Minnie went to observe some more events of the Festival while the triplets began to set up their shop.
I walked over and sat down on a bench, I stretched a bit and laid down and pulled my hood down a bit over my eyes and closed them.
-KH-
"Tada!" I heard Pete's Voice yell out waking me up, "I gonna kill that annoying cat." I grumble to myself pushing my hood back slightly to see what was going on, I froze… "Aqua." I say softly when I saw my friend who I had the biggest falling out with.
"Huh?" Aqua stammers out confused at Captain Justice's introduction before sighing and turning her back to Pete.
I let out a chuckle at Aqua's reaction being similar to Vens before standing up with a frown, was she still feeling upset about what I said to her in Radiant Garden, I knew I needed to talk to her and apologize when we had a moment alone.
"Wha, now listen, you pip squeak, I'm Captain Justice!" Pete yells after Aqua.
I felt the urge to beat Pete to a pulp for calling my Aqua a pipsqueak….My thoughts screeched to a halt, "My Aqua." I think to myself glad my hood was hiding my face.
"Who are you to walk away whenst a bona fide hero is offerin his help?" Captain Justice yells after Aqua.
"I'm sorry, but I really don't need any kind of hero, bona fide or.." Aqua tells him.
"Somebody, come quick!" The familiar Voice of Horace yells out and he stammers out from the entrance to the Fruitball arena.
I ran over and caught him before he fell down, "You okay Horace?" I asked him in concern.
Horace looks over at me, "Yeah thanks Vitreus." He says lowly enough for Aqua not to hear me.
"Call me Yuri." I tell him.
Horace looks at me confused.
"I'll tell you later, what happened?" I ask him.
"Captain Justice is here." Captain Justice says running up to us along with Aqua.
Horace looks up before sighing in disappointment, "You, well not that's a shame…" he trails off, "or is it, maybe this job's perfect for you, Mr. Hero" he says in a slightly mocking tone.
"What, name your catastrophe!" Captain Justice inquires.
"Those annoyin monsters have turned up again over in Fruitball Plaza." Horace says standing up.
I let him go when he was he was able to stand by himself but kept near him in case he fell.
"They're all yours now, Captain J." Horace tells Pete.
"Monsters, Don't tell me the Unversed are here.." Aqua says doing that cute thinking pose she does.
"Monsters?!" Captain Justice says in a panic, "Well…to bad, not on the list." He stammers out.
"I didn't know "Bona fide heroes" got to pick." Aqua says mockingly.
"But I wouldn't stand a chance of surviving…er, of fittin em into my schedule." Captain Justice complains.
"Gosh, I thought you said you were Captain Justice." Horace inquires, "You can't leave those menacing things runnin' loose, they're ruining Fruitball!" he tells Pete.
Captain Justice looks to the side, "Huh, hark do you hear that?" he questions as we all looked around for the non-existent source of noise.
"Somebody's callin' for Captain Justice's help, do not fear I am on my way, sounds like this catastrophe can't wait, but, uh I'll be back here in a jiff!" Captain Justice says as he runs off.
"Who knew the hero was a schizophrenic." I comment at Captain Justice's retreating form
"Oh, I'm sure you will, Captain Useless, but I don't think I'll stay here and hold my breath." Horace says in a huff.
"I'm anything but a hero, but maybe I could help, if you want." Aqua tells Horace.
"We'll both help." I tell Horace as I stand next to Aqua.
Aqua looks at me, "Are you sure, the Unversed are dangerous creatures."
I smiled at her concern, "I'll be fine, I fought creatures like this before." I tell her.
Aqua has a look of concern on her face before she seems to relent.
"Would you, oh that'd be just jim-dandy, someone needs to trounce those fiends at Fruitball and keep em away from the plaza." Horace tells the both of us.
"I'll try." Aqua tells Horace.
"Just give a holler once you're ready, and I'll explain how Fruitball works." Horace says as he goes back to the Fruitball Arena.
I put my hand on Aqua's shoulder, "I'm sure you'll do great."
Aqua lets out a gasp and reaches up and clasps my hand in hers, Tears simmering in her eyes.
"Hey you okay?" I asked her in concern
Aqua lets go of my hand and wipes her eyes, "Y-yeah sorry." She stutters.
"Whats wrong, wanna talk about it." I asked her as I absentmindedly ran my thumb over her face wiping off her tears.
Aqua grasped my hand again, "I got into a huge fight with my friends and I'm afraid that I got so caught up in my title that I'll never be able to make it up to them." She says sadly.
I wanted to tear off my hood right then and there and tell Aqua the truth but I couldn't bring myself to do it.
I gave her a hug, "Don't worry, I'm sure your friends aren't as lame as to break your bonds over a minor scuffle." I tell her
Aqua gives me a smile before chuckling, "I've been telling you all this stuff and I don't even know your name."
I laughed, "Ive been called Yuri lately, now come on lets go help Horace."
Aqua nods, "Right Yuri, I'm Aqua by the way."
"Well met." I said as we walked to the Fruitball Plaza and went over to Horace.
"You ready to trounce those fiends at Fruitball?" Horace asks the two of us.
"Yeah." Aqua and I say as one with a nod.
-KH-
I gave the fruit ball a Flowmotion energy enhanced punch sending it rocking into the last Unversed destroying it.
"Good Job Yuri." Aqua says with a grin relaxing a bit.
"You too, Aqua." I tell her.
"My, you sure taught those monsters a lesson, you two are the real heroes in town, if you ask me." Horace says as Minnie walks over to us, Horace bows when he sees Minnie.
"He's right, my dear, I couldn't agree more, thank you so much." Minnie tells Aqua.
"Who are you?" Aqua asks
"I'm Minne." Minnie introduces herself.
"And she's our queen." Horace says.
Aqua gasps kneeling, "OH, please excuse me, Your Majesty, Where are my manners?" she says scolding herself, "My name is Aqua." She introduces as I just nonchalantly stood there.
"Yuri!" Aqua hisses at me.
"There's no need to be so formal." Minnie says running up to Aqua and gesturing for her to stand up, "Just call me Minnie." She tells Aqua as Aqua stands back up.
"You see, I'm not sure I'm doing a very good job protecting my kingdom." Minnie says somberly.
"Oh, don't say that, Queen Minnie, we all know how hard it's been since the King set off the way he did, don't you trouble yourself." Horace tells Minnie
"Horace is right, you've been doing a great job in the time I've been here, the citizens couldn't have asked for a better ruler." I felt myself gag slightly at the word ruler.
"Why we wouldn't have even think of putting on our yearly Dream Festival if we thought there was the slightest chance anything might go wrong." Horace says.
"Oh, you're very kind, Horace and Yuri." Minnie tells us.
"How 'bout that Pete, though?" Horace mutters, "Captain Justice my hide, you can't on him for anything."
"Wait, you're saying his real name is Pete?" Aqua questions.
"Well, it sure as sugar isn't "Justice"." Horace says
"I've only been here a week but it defiantly seems that Pete never does anything for anybody except himself, I bet the Captains are just an act for a selfish reason." I tell Aqua with a sigh, "If only he wasn't so selfish he could win it without a mask.
"It?" Aqua asks.
"The Million Dreams Award." Horace tells Aqua.
"Million Dreams Award, what is that?" Aqua asks.
"it's part of our Dream Festival, We all vote for who we think the most admirable citizen is." Minnie explains as she lightly walks away, "But Pete seems to have the wrong idea, he thinks that dressing up as a hero and proclaiming that he is one will win him votes." She says.
"If only he knew what makes a hero isn't what they wear or what they say it's the things they do and how they treat everyone." I comment.
"I couldn't agree more." Aqua says with a smile.
"Well, in my book. Aqua here is number one, You've got my heartfelt vote." Horace says grasping Aqua's hands.
I grinded my teeth together in anger at someone touching Aqua that wasn't me, I shook my head clearing those thoughts away.
"Thanks, Horace I promise I'll try not to let you down." Aqua tells him.
"See that you don't, my vote's very important." Horace says.
"I'm not gonna make it easy for you Aqua." I say in a challenging tone.
"Oh dear, sounds very serious." Minnie says in a lighthearted tone.
"Being popular is tough~" Aqua says with a lighthearted giggle.
I pulled out the watch and opened it taking a look, "Seems like the awards will happen in 30 minutes, would you like to go for a walk while we wait?" I asked Aqua.
"Sure" Aqua says with a light flush on her cheeks.
We walked a bit back towards to fair area.
"So is your name really Yuri?" Aqua questions.
I shook my head, "No It was the name of my late Uncle who I admired.
"I'm sorry." Aqua says somberly.
I gently put my hand on her shoulder, it's okay it happened a lot time ago, I had some friends to get past the grief.
Aqua reached into her pocket and pulled out a wayfinder I recognized as mine that I had tossed aside.
"What's that?" I inquired keeping up the façade of not knowing her, I wasn't sure I kept doing it.
Aqua grips my Wayfinder and holds it to her chest, "It belongs to someone important to me." She tells me.
I felt myself blush slightly at that comment.
"W-what happened?" I asked her briefly stammering.
"I got into a huge fight with my friends, and…and…" Aqua stammers out shaking slightly.
I took Aqua's hand in mine and ran my finger over her hand, "Don't worry Aqua, I'm sure your friends will forgive you, no one breaks friendships over a minor scuffle." I tell him.
Aqua lets out a chuckle, "Thanks for that….Vitreus." Aqua says with a grin as she tore off my hood.
I froze, before sighing, "How did you know?" I asked her.
Aqua lets out a giggle, "You acted like yourself the whole time."
I put my hands in my pockets and fidgeted awkwardly.
"Hey Aqua, Hey Vitreus…" Aqua and I said at once, No you go first, Aqua, Vitreus I'm Sorry." We both say as one again.
"What do you mean?" Aqua questions with a confused look.
I looked down, "I'm sorry for the harsh things I said on Radiant Garden." I tell her.
Aqua shakes her head, "You weren't wrong I needed to hear those things, I let my obsession with my title go to my head and cast aside the things most important to me, thanks for helping me wake up."
I smiled at Aqua, "Your welcome." I say teasingly.
Aqua chuckles before taking my hands and placing a Wayfinder in it before closing my hand around it and encasing my hands around it, she holds my hands slightly longer than normal before letting go with a blush.
I opened my hand, "Aqua." I gasp in surprise.
Aqua gives a smile, "I'm entrusting our bond to you." She says with a smile.
I nodded and put the blue wayfinder in my pouch while Aqua put the crystal one back in her pocket.
"Shall we go to the award ceremony now?" I asked her holding out my arm.
"Indeed good sir." Aqua says as she interlinks her arm in mine as we head to the ceremony.
When we got there, there was a fair sized crowd there already.
"Who do you think's gonna win this year's Million Dreams Award?" I hear Horace's voice ask from nearby.
"Boy oh boy, I hope it's the guy I voted for!" Chip says.
"I hope the one I voted for wins as well. Dale comments.
"Now that we got so much business at the shop, maybe we'll be number one!" Huey comments to his brothers.
"Wow, Unca Scrooge sure would be proude of us if we actually won!" Dewey says.
"Yeah, an I bet Unca Donald would be pretty surprised, too." Louie says.
"Hello, everyone, and thank you for waiting." Minnie says walking up on the stage with a female duck beside her, "Now, it's time to begin the main event of our Dream Festival the Million Dreams Award presentation."
"Heh, just skip to the part where you say my name, this is a shoo-in" Pete says from behind us.
I see Aqua has a bit annoyed look on her face, I squeezed her hand lightly.
"Oh, how very exciting, this year we have multiple winners, the Million Dreams Award goes to, Ventus, Aqua, Yuri and Terra all four of you." Minnie says.
"You mean Ven and Terra were here?" Aqua questions looking at me.
I nodded, "Yeah I talked to the both of them, heh heh yet you were the only one to recognize me." I tell her.
"Heh Heh Boys." Aqua says in a lighthearted teasing tone.
I smiled at Aqua, "Isn't it nice the three of you won." I said slightly disappointed I wasn't called.
Aqua gives me a look, "Didn't you introduce yourself as Yuri earlier" she questions.
I blinked a bit, I won….I WON!" I say throwing up my arms.
Aqua giggles as do the others before she pulls me up on stage to accept the award.
"Whaddaya mean!?" Pete says rushing past knocking Aqua down.
Aqua gasps in pain from the hit.
"Hey!" I snap catching Aqua before she hits the ground picking her up bridal style.
Aqua's face heats up at the position I'm holding her in.
"There's gotta be a mistake, everybody voted for Captain Justice, I made sure!"" Pete says walking up to Minnie and Daisy, "Now, go on, tell her!" he tells the crowed.
I could hear some crickets chirping in the back ground.
Pete growls in anger before hitting his hand in his palm, "Better try the other one." He says before running off stage and returning a second later as Captain Dark.
"The rogue racer, Captain Dark!" Pete said as Captain Dark.
Everyone turned their back to the stage.
"Pete, we counted the votes very carefully. Ventus, Aqua Yuri and Terra won." Minnie tells Pete, "Oh Pete, I think you tried to do something good, but you were doing it for the wrong reasons, and you went about it the wrong way, still a couple of citizens must have thought you had goodness in you, because you actually got a few votes, they knew you were looking out for them." She tells him.
"Big Whoop, I don't care about their votes, I was trying to win but I guess we're gonna have to do things the hard way." Pete says snapping his fingers.
I tensed my muscles preparing for a battle.
"Hey Lemmie go ya big palooka!" I heard Gosalyn tell out, I almost dropped Aqua in shock.
I turned to see a large blue and a Large Red Unversed holding Gosalyn and Honker.
"Gosalyn, Honker!" I call out in worry.
"Vitreus, Help us." Honker calls out.
"I found these beauties the other day and found out I can make 'em do whatever I say, now cough up my prize." Pete says.
"Pete!" Minnie snaps in anger.
I gently set Aqua down and stood up.
"Let my friends GO, Pete!" I snap.
"Once I get my prize." Pete says.
I ran forward and surrounded my body with flow motion energy, I lept up to attack the Unversed holding Gosalyn, I let out a yell of pain when the other Unversed slammed its fist into my gut sending my flying into a stand knocking it down.
"Vitreus!" Aqua gasps in worry.
I stood up grunting, running at the Unversed trying to attack it again but getting knocked back again into another stand.
"Why don't you summon your keyblade!" Aqua yells it me.
I ignore her and tried charging again, getting knocked back again.
"Vitreus, Summon Your Keyblade!" Aqua yells at me in worry.
"I CAN'T!" I snap at her.
Aqua gasps, "What?" she says in horror.
I clenched my fist, "I lost my ability to wield it but, even if I lost it I want to protect them…I want to protect it, I want to protect my precious treasure, MY FRIENDS!" I yell out throwing out my hand a flash of light appears in my hand, Memento Mori appears for a moment before light envelopes the blade and its shape changes, it now bad a body of a bronze sword with a crystal edge around the blade with crystals poking out the top of the blade making up the teeth, two Crescent moon shaped guards around the handle, the key chain made up a long ribbon with a wayfinder at the end with a crystal in the center.
"This is..." I comment giving it an experimental swing, before smirking. I lunged at the Unvered and took them both down in one shot with my new Keyblade, I wasn't sure what to call my New Keyblade…hmm Memoria Cristallum sounded good, I put the newly christened Memoria Cristallum away.
"Are you two okay?" I asked kneeling down to Gosalyn and Honker.
"That was wicked, how did you do that?" Gosalyn asks mocking swinging an invisible blade around.
I let out a laugh, "Maybe next time." I say light heartedly.
"I've tried to forgive a lot of things you've done Pete, but this is going too far, you've finally crossed the line." Minnie says in an anger I didn't know Minnie could possess.
"Like that matters to me, besides, what are you gonna do about it?" Pete taunts Minnie.
"Ha, I'm gonna let you cool off for a while." Minnie tells Pete, "Guards!" she calls out as the broom stick guards walk up and carry Pete away.
"Hey, Let me go, Pet me Down, What, You can't, No, Hey, Easy!" Pete yells in protest as he's carried away.
"Damn those little guys are strong." I comment as we watch six of the little enchanted brooms carry Pete away with little struggling.
"Now, shall we continue the ceremony?" Minnie questions, "Would the four winners, Ventus, Aqua, Yuri, and Terra, please come up and join me on the stage?" she asks.
"Shall we?" I asks Aqua.
Aqua giggles as we both head up onto the stage.
"Oh dear, it looks like only two of our winners could make it here to be with us today." Minnie says
"I must have just missed Terra and Ventus." Aqua says sadly.
I lightly squeezed her hand with she squeezed back.
"Perhaps you would accept the award on their behalf." Minnie asks the two of us, "After all, you've been so kind to so many here at the Dream Festival." She says giving us a smile, "So now, I hereby present the Million Dreams Award as a token of how much you matter to us. Congratulations!"
The crowed gives us a hooray of cheers.
"Thank you, everyone." Aqua says
"It means a lot to us." I tell them.
"And as an extrea treat, we've created something special an ice cream flavor just for you, Royalberry ice cream.." Minnie says holding up an Ice Cream cone, "Unfortuanly we only made one." She says slightly upset.
I smiled and gently took the cone, "It's okay, We'll Share." I say as I took a bite out of the ice cream, the flavor exploded in my mouth. "Mmmmm." I moan holding out the ice cream to Aqua.
Aqua flushes beet red, before taking it and taking a quick bite.
"Come on Aqua take a bigger bite." I tell her.
Aqua gives me a look before taking a bigger bite, I saw her eyes widen before she takes another one.
I took it back from her and took a slightly bigger bite.
"Gahhh!" I yell out grasping my head.
Aqua giggles, "Don't eat it too fast you'll give yourself a brain freeze." She says.
I give her a mock glare.
"Oh my, I wish I had my own ice cream flavor!" Horace comments.
"What's it taste like?" Chip asks.
"Yeah, Tell us." Dale says.
"What do you think?" Minnie asks.
"It's Delicious!" Aqua says.
I nodded, "You couldn't have picked a better flavor." I say as I took a lick.
"We're all very glad you're enjoying it." Minnie says as we finish up the ice cream, I had enjoyed the indirect with Aqua from the shared ice cream, I blushed slightly at the thought of kissing Aqua.
"Thank you all for coming this year, we hope to see you again next year." Minnie says as everyone disperses to their own devices, I walked over to the kids.
"You two Okay?" I asks Gosalyn and Honker.
"Yeah." Honker says with a nod.
"Who's your friend?" Gosalyn asks.
"My name is Aqua." Aqua introduces.
"I'm Honker." Honker introduces.
"Gosalyn Mallard." Gosalyn introduces.
"Nice to meet you two." Aqua says with a smile.
I let out a light chuckle, "Well come on you two, I promised your father I'd have you home in 30 Minutes."
"Aww do we have too." Gosalyn whines.
"Sorry squirt, but there's always next year." I tell her.
Gosalyn huffs crossing her arms as we walk along leaving the town and walking back to the rural area where Goslayn lived, I said a quick thank you and good bye to Drake for taking care of me.
Aqua and I went to an empty Area.
"You ready to go?" Aqua asks as she put on her Keyblade armor and called out her glider.
I summoned on my armor and climbed on behind Aqua and grasped onto Aqua's shoulders.
"Let's go!" I say as we entered the gate leaving Disney Town.
As Aqua and I flew through the Lanes Between I knew that now that I had my Keyblade back I had to train to become stronger, strong enough to defeat Xehanort and to protect my friends, even… if the methods killed me.
-KH-
Next Time: Chapter 9: Olympus Colosseum: Clash between Zeros and Heroes.
