Author's Note: It's crazy! Not only I'm updating this story almost everyday lately(Which is extremely minor compared to what's happening outside Fanfiction), but now Florida is under serious threat by Hurricane Irma!
To those who live in Florida, I pray and hope that all of you and everyone in the capital will be safe and alright and hope that the Hurricane doesn't hit.
I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.
CH24: Another World Saved.
"Sora!" Kairi cried out as she and Aqua hopped out of their vehicle and the first thing the teenaged girl did was help him stand, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Sora replied, before he and Mickey were glomped on by Donald and Goofy while Riku rushed over as well as did the rest of their friends. "H-Hey! Guys! We're okay, really!"
"We're glad you're okay, fellas!" Goofy said as he hugged both Sora and Mickey.
Donald was blabbering so much that no one could understand what he was saying. Then again, sometimes he speaks so quickly, due to his voice, it was hard to understand what he was saying.
"You're the craziest little guy I've ever met, King Mick'." Myde commented to Mickey who blushed sheepishly.
"Well, huh, I guess I haven't changed at all." Mickey admitted, rubbing the back of his head. He did admit to himself that what he did in his fight against Rourke had been crazy as he hasn't done anything like that in a long time and knew that it was something Sora, Ven and Aqua would usually do.
That was when the ground started shaking all the more. Turning around to gaze upon the burning wreckage of the airship, everyone saw large, deep cracks appearing in the ground. Bursts of hot steam came shooting out. The entire cave was soon trembling.
"What's happening?" Kairi asked, worriedly.
"The volcano." Mole realized with alarm, as his eyes widened with fear. "She awakes!"
Donald screamed before leaping into Goofy's arms, wrapping his arms around his friend's neck, quivering in absolute fear.
Jack's eyes quickly filled with fear as well, and all he could mutter was, "Not good."
"Hey, I had nothing to do with it." Vinny said while automatically holding a dynamite which, to his alarm, was already set alight. He quickly put out the fuse with two fingers to stop it quickly before it exploded and make things worse.
"I think we should skedaddle!" Goofy urged fearfully.
"No, wait! We've got to get her back or the whole city will die!" Milo proclaimed loudly and strongly as he grabbed the remains of the chain that had connected the pod to the airship.
Sora nodded as he and Mickey hurried to help.
"And we don't get the heck outta were, we'll be toast!" Lea pointed out, but he and everyone else hurried to help none the less.
"We don't have a choice! Just do it!" Sora urged, as he and the others hooked the chains onto the pod before hooking the other end to Jack and Myde's fish vehicle, as Sora, Mickey and Milo hopped on.
Within minutes, the Atlantian vehicles were airborne. As they flew off, the pod started to drag behind, but a loud crack was heard, causing everyone to turn as they realised that the chain suddenly broke free of the container. Hastily, Milo slid down the chains, with Sora quickly following despite the protests from Kairi, Riku, Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Audrey. The duo reached the ground as the avern floor was now filled with violent tremors, enormous cracks, and oozing lava. They instantly seized the chain's hook and dragged it to the pod.
Sora assisted Milo in wrapping the chain around the container before the latter yelled, "GO!"
Sora and Milo both jumped onto the pod as the container was dragged through the air behind Jack and Myde's vehicle. The lava flow was directly behind them however, as Sora and Milo held onto the pod as they were carried down the passage. The flying, Atlantian vehicles soared out of the tunnel super quickly. They flew so fast, Kairi, Sora and Milo barely saw the lava flowing out of the tunnel and slamming into Mole's drilling machine. The enormous vehicle was shoved aside and sent falling over the edge of the cliff and sent into the river of lava below, lost forever, but no one payed attention to that.
The sky overhead was still dark and there was no sign of any strong Light around. Flying pieces of burning rock shot across the sky.
It did not take long for the Atlantian vehicles had set down on a plaza near the edge of the city and just outside the palace. The pod was dropped off and Sora and Milo hopped off. An Atlantian guard handed Milo a spear. Sora and Riku both insisted with doing the same after two other guards handed spears to the teenagers, breaking into the sides of the container despite it being tough, but the three of them were not giving up.
"The fissure! It is about to eject its pyroclastic fury!" Mole cried out, pointing at the rock wall in the distance where plumes of lava were starting to pour out in a hurry while he was starting to jump up and down in a frantic state.
"I think he's saying the wall's about to blow!" Lea tried to translate with a shout to Sora, Riku and Milo.
With a final desperate pull, Sora, Riku and Milo successful creaked open one of the sides of the pod before the spears would break, but it was still enough for the Crystallized Kida to break free as the pod came apart. The trio took several steps back as the pod's parts started to orbit the now-freed Crystal; the glowing matter still had had the shape of Princess Kida. After a few seconds, the pod's pieces drifted away and the design of the plaza's ground started to light up. Everyone watched as little by little the entire city was illuminated in a bluish glow.
Donald jumped onto Goofy's shoulders in alarm, while Goofy jumped onto Myde who stumbled due to the weight of the two, before all three of them to fall onto the ground in a small pile on top of each other. Lea stepped awkwardly to avoid the blue lights as though he was afraid to touch them. Mickey, Kairi, Ven, Aqua, Terra, Isa, Roxas, Xion, Skuld and Jack gazed at the lights on the ground and then all over the building before them and everyone else, instantly sensing the powerful light that was comfortable, soothing, and warm.
The Light flowing through the city vanished a moment later. A series of humungous stones suddenly crashed through the ground, forcing everyone to step as far away as possible. Sora, Kairi and Mickey instantly recongised them as the same ones from inside the Crystal's chamber.
"The Light on the stones came back!" Mickey exclaimed in awe.
The Crystallized Kida and the circle of stones rose high into the air. Sora, Riku, Milo, Kairi, and Mickey stared in awe. Donald, Goofy, Myde and Jack gazed up in confusion. Lea, Isa, Roxas, Xion, Ven, Terra, Aqua, Skuld, Mole, Vinny, Audrey, Sweet, Cookie, Packard, and the Atlantian warriors gazed up in curiosity. The stones started to spin around the Crystal. They spun so rapidly, the Light from the Crystal became a complete blur.
'This must be what Kida remembered.' Kairi thought, recalling how that bright light looked like a star when Kida had been a child. A beam of bluish-tinted Light suddenly shot out from the Crystal and zoomed across the sky. All eyes turned to where the beam was headed. It struck a pointed object submerged in the water. The object started to move before it rose. To everyone's amazement, it was a gigantic robotic man with bluish eyes that were glowing.
Sora, Riku and Kairi all realised that it looked more like a giant stone statue, making them realise this was the true part of the story they heard when they were little. The figure turned to its right and started to march to the edge of the plateau. Ms. Packard was standing a little bit behind with a camera and tripod set up, taking pictures of this amazing event.
Several more beams of bluish Light flew across the sky which struck more figures who were identical to the first one. The figures each walked to the edge of the plateau. Here, they stood as though they were soldiers stationed on guard duty. The city was surrounded by the figures who now formed an enormous circle. The lava started to burst out of the rocky wall, while everyone wondered what the stone giants were going to do.
Then one of the gigantic figures reached out and clapped its hands. One by one, all the other giants did the same. When they retracted their hands, a magical blue wall appeared before each of them. The walls grew rapidly. When a blazing piece of rock from the lava struck a wall, it disintegrated.
"They're creating a barrier to protect the city!" Terra realised in awe.
"So that's how Atlantis didn't completely drown in the first place!" Ven said, stunned with awe.
"...This is what the king meant of the Crystal offering protection to the city and it's people. With the heart of one of royality, the combined power of both is what's needed to save itself and everybody!" Mickey realised, remembering what the late-Atlantian King had said. Sora, Kairi, Skuld and Aqua all nodded in agreement.
The lava finally burst from the wall and flowed like a raging river straight for the plateau. By this time, the shield had formed a large dome over the city, sealing the Crystal away from harm, too. The lava washed overhead, seeking a way inside. To Sora's relief, the shield kept the molten rock out.
Before long, the entire shield was covered in lava. In a split second, the Crystal unleashed a powerful Light. Sora and the others turned away to shield their eyes. The lava hardened in an instant. Moments passed slowly...
"Okay...now what?" Myde asked, awkwardly.
As if to answer his question, the Crystal's Light pierced through the solid rock above. It continued down the length of the shield's dome until it reached the plateau as the shield began to disappear, causing everyone to quickly brace themselves, but to their relief, the rocks were not about to hit them. Instead, the rocks just continued to slide down to the outskirts of the city and into the outer rim of the plateau and forced the water trapped inside to flow out like waterfalls. None of the rocks struck the gigantic figures standing guard with their outstretched arms.
The sky's bluish color returned. Alongside it, a flurry of clouds had appeared and taken the form of a fog-bank, none of them able to see the Crystal. Mickey and Kairi hurried over to Sora, Riku and Milo, before all five of them looked upward as a bright Light shone down from above.
There came Kida, back into her original self, slowly descending from the clouds and still unconscious. Sora, Milo, Kairi, Mickey and Riku gradually stepped closer to where she was about to land, with Milo holding his arms out to gently catch her. The moment she gently landed on her feet, the Light faded quickly and she started breathing. She opened her eyes and looked around. Since Milo was the closest to her position, she blinked and muttered his name.
She then blinked in confusion when she felt something in her right hand and opened it to find what Sora, Kairi, Riku and Mickey realised was a small bracelet, made to fit a child's wrist. It was pink with three gems, two blue and the middle one red. Kida smiled, as she recongised it as the bracelet she lost when her mother was taken by the Crystal years ago.
Now Kida realised that, in lingering memories while inside the Crystal, her mother had given it back to her as a loving farewell and giving her a second chance. She gazed up at Milo, with tears in her eyes. She threw herself into the young linguist's arms and started to cry. Milo felt startled for a brief second before he gave her a hug.
Sora, Kairi, Riku and Mickey all smiled, and while the three teenaged best friends glanced at each other, knowing that nothing would seperate them again, Mickey wiped away tears of his own that tried to leak free. He then felt a hand being gently layed on his right shoulder, and looked to see that it was Donald who smiled warmly at him, with Goofy bending down with a smile of his own. Mickey's smile grew more emotional. While Yen Sid may not be here, the king was relieved he still had his best friends, old and new, and friends who had been lost for a bit over a decade had also returned and given a second chance.
They will set things right. Mickey vowed to make it happen.
"Whoa...check it out!" Roxas's voice perked up.
"Amazing..." Isa's voice added.
"Remarkable." Skuld's voice breathed softly.
Sora, Kairi, Riku, Mickey, Donald and Goofy spund around, and their eyes lit up as they gave their own notes of astonishment, as did Lea, Xion, Terra, Aqua, Ven and Myde, while Jack was speechless as they and everyone else approached the edge of the plaza. In the distance, the ruins of a rather large city could be seen where the water had once been. It was clear they had been submerged for a long time, but the remains were still quite obvious, with all of them realising the falling rocks had caused the water to disperse and reveal the ruined buildings.
Milo and Kida approached the others with smiles of their own, secretly holding hands. Sora noticed and grinned but decided to not comment and to give them some room to themselves.
The worldly travellers stood with the expedition as Milo stood next to Kida who was placing a tiny crystal around all of them each.
"Atlantis will honor your names forever." Kida said as she finished by placing a crystal around Jack's neck. "I only wish there was more we could do for you."
Vinny shrugged, "Uh, you know, thanks anyway, but, eh...I think we're good." as he nodded at a large swordfish-shaped vehicle behind the crew members where Atlantian warriors were loading bowlfuls of golden items onto it via a ramp.
"I want some too!" Donald spoke up, his eyes glittering in greed. Lea responded by tugging him by the shirt.
"Nice try." The red-head smirked knowingly.
Mickey shook his head to Kida, "No, thank you, Kida. These crystals are more than enough."
The rest of the worldly travellers nodded in agreement, except for Donald who folded his arms in disppointment, grumbling, "Aw phooey."
"I'm surprised even you don't want some of that stuff." Riku commented to Jack who smiled knowingly.
"I'm not really in the mood for riches. Who needs gold when there are more important things in life. Eh?" The Pirate replied in return.
"They'll take you as far as the surface," Milo pointed out for Vinny, Sweet, and the others.
"We're really gonna miss you, Milo." Audrey said.
Vinny approached Milo and giving him a quick hug, saying, "You know, I'm going to reopen the flower shop and I'm going to think of you guys every single day. Monday through Friday, nine to five, Saturday till two." He paused in thought as he walked away. "Sunday... I'm gonna take Sunday off probably...maybe I'll go in for a couple of hours, I don't know. August—I'm gonna take August."
"I ain't so good at speech-ifyin'," Cookie approached Milo next, before handing out a cylinder container with familiar gooey stuff oozing out to the young linguist, "But wanted you to have this. It's the bacon grease from the whole trip."
Skuld cringed, Lea couldn't help but groan slightly, Donald was nearly passing out, and Myde turned green in the face. Jack sticked his tongue out slightly twice in distaste, while the rest of the worldly travellers shook their heads.
"Cookie...I-I..." Milo seemed a bit uneasy, unable to grin.
The chef wandered off, not wanting to say goodbye. Audrey then came up and gave Milo a kiss on the cheek, causing the linguist to flinch a little in surprise.
"Two for flinching," She said, dealing two friendly punches before walking away with a wave. "See you, Milo."
"Hey, Milo!" Mole called up as he prepared for a great big hug.
Milo however, cringed slightly at the alarming stench from the digger, saying uncomfortably, "Mole! Wow, hey...well...Goodbye, Mole." simply patting Mole on the head.
"Now, you sure you want to stay?" Sweet asked, "There's a hero's welcome waiting for the man who discovered Atlantis."
"Ah, I don't think the world needs another hero." Milo said, which surprised Sora and Roxas. "Besides, I heard there's an opening here for an expert in gibberish."
"You take good care of yourself, Milo Thatch," Sweet told him.
"Yeah. You, too, Sweet." Milo replied, as the two shared a handshake.
"Come here!" Sweet smiled as he pulled Milo into a hug, squeezing so tightly that it made Milo's neck creak which the younger man remembered how his neck got sore again in the first place due to the fall back in the volcano.
"Uh, Sweet...uh, before you go, could you..." Milo began, gesturing at his neck.
Sweet nodded and fixed it up in the same way he did at the campground, with Milo sighing in relief, "Thanks."
"Oh, you're getting a bill." Sweet joked with a chuckle.
Sora chuckled, even though what Milo said did worry him a little. Before they could say anything, however, the Shepherd's Journal then floated out from Milo's bag from close by and hovered in the air, glowing in light. The Crystal which continued to hover over the city glowed slightly as well, which Sora then felt his Keyblade summon itself. The worldly travellers then realised what this meant and the teenager nodded.
The young Keyblade Master held out the Keyblade as the crown shape appearing underneath him as the world's Keyhole appeared via a beam of light shooting out from the Shepherd's Journal. Sora then thrusted the Kingdom Key upward and via another beam of light, he locked up the world's keyhole, protecting it from the darkness before things returned to normal.
"Well," Riku began, "Guess we'd better get going too."
"Say uh, Kida. I was just wonderin'." Mickey spoke up as something else came to mind. "Back in the Crystal Cave, do ya remember what you said?"
The Princess blinked, having vague memories, before saying, "I do remember hearing through the Crystal's source that...a sorcerer I once met briefly with my father is still alive."
The young King jolted slightly in surprise and somewhat great relief. Mickey knew that Kida was talking about Yen Sid, remembering that the Atlantian King told him of the Sorcerer coming here many years ago. He glanced up at the Crystal which continued to shine brighter than ever. Was it the Crystal that sensed this and used Kida to commuicate with him? If so, then even the Crystal knew what was happening, and that his mentor is still alive...at least for now.
"Well...thanks." Mickey replied, smiling a little sadly, holding out a hand to shake Kida's, only to be surprised when the Princess scooped him up into a hug of her own, before hugging her back.
"Can we go home now?" Mrs. Packard asked impatiently.
"Come on ya'll," Sweet told everyone. "Let's get one last shot in front of the fish."
The crew members, Milo, Kida, and the worldly travellers all approached the swordfish-shaped vehicle. They stood around a large mound of golden trinkets.
An Atlantian guard took charge of the camera and tripod. He grinned at everyone, "Say Gochk."
"Gochk!" Everyone repeated in turn.
After the photo was taken, and Milo giving Sweet some kind of package, while the team members boarded the aircraft which then took them off to return to the surface, Sora and his companions waved a goodbye to Milo and Kida who waved goodbye in return and once the worldly travellers found another spot so that no one would know how they would leave, Mickey and Donald signaled the Gummiship to teleport them and the rest of the group back into the vessel, where their adventure would continue and leaving Atlantis behind.
However, unknown to everyone, the mysterious figure in the black coat had been in the waterfall area where Sora, Milo, Kida, Kairi and Mickey had been to earlier, gazing at the water where the ruined structure with the mural was still underneath, in thought of what he has witnessed for the entire time.
"Well..." He began to himself, actually sounding a bit sad. "At least the old coot learned his lesson, and is in a better place. It's too bad Atlantis won't truly be safe until everything is sorted out. I'm still gonna keep an eye on those kids."
With that in thought, he too left the world of Atlantis behind by entering a corridor of Light and Darkness he created.
{Atlantis}
Meanwhile, at Maleficent's castle in the Enchanted Domintion, Pete had returned just moments ago about his recent failure in not only being unable to locate the Book of Prophecies at Atlantis, but also of Rourke's apparent demise due to too much darkness the overtook his Heart. Dulor was also there, his arms folded as he leaned against the stone wall in the throne room, while Lord Beckett stood behind Maleficent who, let's just say, wasn't all that happy.
"...And I'm pretty certain that Keyblade brat, the linguist fellow and that Boat-Boy King most likely beated that there Commander by now." Pete concluded, a little fearfully as he knew the consenquences for his latest screw up.
"Those simple fools...must they always stand in my way!?" Maleficent hissed angrily, clutching her staff so tightly that one would think she'd end up breaking it in half due to her anger, and the jeweled orb began to glow dangerously green.
Pete cried out in alarm, knowing what was about to happen next and quickly leaped behind a rock to try and shield himself, crouching low and placing his hands on top his head, bracing himself.
"Hmmm...that boy is more trouble than he's worth." Beckett said, thoughtfully, surprisingly unimitated by Maleficent's growing urge to electricute anything and anyone in the room. "I suppose it would be time for me to return to Port Royal and prepare for Sora's arrival should he go there next. We don't want him or his friends to catch us off-guard and take advantage with Davy Jones, now do we?"
Fortunately, Maleficent calmed down when she heard this, and what else the fellow villian said did make her smile a little. "Of course...execellent idea, Lord Beckett. You were to return to begin your assignment to eliminate all pirates and conjour your world, were you not?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. Besides, someone has to keep Jones in his place, and I cannot do that while I am outside of my world, now can I? I also hear of certain special pirates the control parts of the world's sea. Pirate Lords, if I recall. It will take quite some effort." Beckett explained.
When Pete realised nothing bad happened, he peaked from the rock before wiping his forehead and sighed in relief. But then what Beckett said also caused him to leap up and approach the two, cautionly.
"That reminds me. That Pirate fellow who killed Barbossa is with those pipsqueaks, and so are them three other Keyblade wielders; the pipsqueak with blue hair, the kid who kinda looks like that other kid that looks like that Key-brat, and that tall fellow who beat me in that race. I think that kid's name was Terra, if I remember." Pete piped up.
This surprised Maleficent slightly. "So not only Aqua has returned, but so have Ventus and Terra as well?" She inquired, before smiling evilly, "Perhaps Terra can work for our advantage."
"And this pirate who killed Captain Barbossa. What is his name?" Beckett inquired this time.
"I know who it is." Dulor spoke up, causing the other three villians to glance at him. "It looks like Captain Jack Sparrow is with them."
"Yeah, that's him!" Pete quickly said in agreement, before wondering, "Why would that pipsqueak be with them anyway?"
"Maybe Sora brought him with because he was supposed to either serve Davy Jones or face death by the Kracken." Dulor suggested. There was something about this that didn't add up. Indeed; why was Jack Sparrow with Sora and his friends?
Lord Beckett was far from pleased by this new information. Jack Sparrow was the man who foiled his plans in using slaves all those years ago, and no doubt, based on both Pete and Dulor's information, the pirate was after the Heart of Davy Jones to save himself from his dept. So this was why the Black Pearl had returned. For years, he wanted Sparrow dead more than anything.
"Perhaps, should Jack Sparrow return to Port Royal, I can use him for information. But first, I would need some planning for this." Beckett muttered. "It can also lead Sora and his friends into the trap as well."
"Think wisely, Lord Beckett. Remember that the Heartless crave for the darkness in all hearts." Maleficent warned.
The evil Lord smirked, "Your concerns are touching, Lady Maleficent...but hardly nesscessary."
In a darkest canyon within a darkest world in between the Realm of Light and the Realm of Darkness, was an unexplored and most monsterous throne room which the monsterous beast himself, Chaos, the being of Discord, created himself after his brief meeting with the foolish mortals in the Realm of Sleep. He has made a throne for himself which he now sat in.
As he waited for someone, on cue, a corridor of darkness opened before a man strolled in, revealling himself to be none other than Arydn Izunia who politely bowed to Chaos to show his respects.
"Arydn Izunia." Chaos acknowlaged, before inquiring, "What pleasure can I do for you?"
"Only to give you an update on those fools in the Realm of Light." Arydn began, grinning. "Unfortunately, they had saved the world of Atlantis and it's Crystal and are now on their way to another world. However, the foolish King of the kingdom is dead."
The Abomination growled softly, "Curse those Warriors of Light. If they continue to stand in my way, they will overpower me should they rally with all of the Gods!" He punched the side-arm of the throne that cracked slightly by the force of his fist.
Arydn shook his head. "Do not worry, Master Chaos. They have no idea that you are recruiting allies to stop them. Besides which, they have other problems to worry about; two other organizations with their own agendas plotting to either protect the Realm of Light, believing those warriors are not fit for it, or to rule the Realm itself with everlasting darkness. While they are busy, we can move on with the master goal. Don't you agree?"
Chaos thought deeply in what Arydn was saying. He did have a point. While Sora and his allies are busy dealing with other problems, that would leave them no time to handle in what Chaos is plotting.
"I admit, you are right. But, I sense there is another who has returned by the power of the Keyblade of the fallen man who failed to bring forth the second Keyblade War." Chaos replied, before adding, "None the less, we must make haste. Bring forth as many Warriors of Darkness as you can, Arydn Izunia and bring them to me. I shall crush all mortals and all of Light!"
"Your wish is my command, sire." Arydn bowed once more.
"One last thing. What of Caius Ballad, the protector of the Unseen Realm?"
"He has no idea what he's missing out on. All he thinks is that the children and their allies are harming the Realm of Light. I like to keep it that way to avoid suspicion between him and me." Arydn shrugged.
Chaos nodded, "Excellent."
Unaware to the two of them, around the corner of the room, was a young man in a red keffyle and white curl hair listening in before he ducked back and silently moved away as much as possible without getting caught.
'This is bad. I gotta warn Skuld and those guys before it's too late. Ugh, just when things couldn't get any worse.' He thought to himself.
Meanwhile, back in the gummiship, everyone was resting while sailing through the Lanes Between while looking out for any worlds that need help and to also stop by to investigate in their continuing quest. None of the worlds they visited so far had any trace of the Book of Propechies or knowlagement of Chaos.
"Hey, guys." Xion spoke up after a couple of hours of flight. "I think we should stop by at a world soon, because we're still low on supplies."
"Now that you mention it, we haven't recovered our potions and such back at Atlantis." Roxas realised in agreement.
Lea picked into his pockets and sighed, "Yeah, all we got is money that the Heartless dropped, but no shops to get what we need."
Just then, the three of them and everyone else heard a loud growl which startled them, before turning to the direction of where it came from, realising that it came from Myde who was rubbing his stomach and groaning.
"Can we stop by at a place that has real food and nothing that is sloppy or moving? I'm starving." Myde requested pleadingly.
"...I'm not really certain about food." Jack admitted, shuddering at the memory of seeing the disgusting beacon grease just before they left.
"As long as it's not beacon grease or what Atlantians and Mudka's serve...I'll be fine." Skuld nodded in agreement, feeling a little queasy.
"I'm sure we'll find a place to rest up pretty soon. It can't be far from where we are." Mickey said at the driver's seat this time.
Sora in the meantime, was left to his own thoughts. Now that Atlantis was safe, he can think about the things that happened lately. What Milo said concerned him; if the world didn't need another hero, would this mean Sora's destiny as a Keyblade Wielder would never end? Would there be more threats after Chaos is defeated? Or possibly after Bhunivelze is defeated? It didn't help when Vanitas could possibly try and take over his body and that scared him a little but he had to hold in that fear, or else his heart would be consumed by darkness.
"Sora? You okay?"
Blinking out of his thoughts, Sora gazed up to see that Riku was standing next to him, before the younger teen shrugged, "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just, thinking about everything that's happened so far, and...how we're gonna stop Chaos and I really hope we don't have to fight against Bhunivelze since we have no idea how strong he is."
Riku nodded, "I get what you mean. But hey, aren't you supposed to be the one who come up with any sort of determination?"
Sora chuckled and teased, "Oh, so now I'm the leader of this group, huh?"
"Well, you are the one using the Keyblade to take us to worlds through new doorways." Riku teased back, being half-serious.
"That doesn't make me leader, though. Besides, since when did I ever claim myself to be leader anyway?" Sora rolled his eyes.
"You and I did compete against each other who would win the honor of naming our raft two years ago." Riku smirked.
The spiky-brown-haired teen looked away while blushing a little at the memories of Riku's teasing comment at the little race the two of them had on who would share the Papou Fruit with Kairi which had made Sora embarrassed and confused. Sure, he liked Kairi more than just a friend, but why did everyone want the hint that it was much more than that? Besides, he didn't think she had feelings for him-
Wait, what was he thinking!?
Once again, the gummiship's alarm brought Sora and Riku from their conversation as they and everyone else gazed while Mickey, Donald and Goofy studied their current whereabouts of their destination. Most of the group's eyes widened as a familiar town and castle stood in view before them.
"Isn't that...!?" Lea exclaimed, shocked and feeling hope and relief and worry all at once.
"Should we take a look?" Roxas asked.
Jack glanced at Skuld, asking, "Another world you lot recongise?"
The young woman shook her head, "I don't recongise it, but it's clear that Sora and everyone else do."
"Let's find out for ourselves." Sora proclaimed. If that was indeed what he and everyone else thought it was, despite Aced having sealed off Destiny Islands and Disney Castle, one could only hope.
{Radiant Garden}
As soon as all sixteen worldly travellers disembarked, the group found themselves in a familiar town, just behind a building in a familiar but now almost flourished marketplace. The tall castle in the short distance towering over the city. Instantly, fourteen of them recongised it.
"I knew it! It is Radiant Garden." Lea said, glancing around.
"Gawrsh, I'm sure glad Aced hadn't sealed it off from us." Goofy said in relief.
Ven looked around, a bit saddened, "It looks so...different from what I remember. It's similiar but...I can tell that something happened to this place."
"Yeah, Maleficent and Xehanort happened to it." Sora nodded, explaining, "Leon and the others've been working hard in rebuilding it after we beated Xehanort's Heartless two years ago."
"So you do know this place." Skuld correctly guessed.
Kairi nodded and said, "I was born here, but when Maleficent invaded and Xehanort started out with his plans, I was sent to the Islands and lost my memories of everything except my name, up until two years ago."
"Me and Isa were born here too, and we grew up here 'till eleven years ago at the same time when that happened too." Lea added, shrugging, "It was also here that Xehanort killed us with his Keyblade and made our Heartless and Nobodies."
He then glanced at Ven and said, "This is also where we first met Ven a year before that."
"And the five of us and Namine live here now. So it's great to be back home again." Xion added, smiling at the home Lea made for himself, herself, Roxas and Namine a year ago.
"Sure brings back a lotta memories, because this is where I first met Aqua and Kairi that day too." Mickey added, and while Aqua nodded in agreement, Kairi looked puzzled and thoughtful, before the king sighed, "And where I first met Ansem the Wise too."
"Mickey..." Riku muttered, knowing that his friend was still mourning for the loss of the former ruler who sacrificed himself that year ago.
"If this was where you met this Ansem, where did he go?" Jack asked, shrugging.
Before anyone could answer, they heard a scream that echoed from the town below the marketplace which had not only the worldly travellers gazing in the direction where it came from, but it also caused everyone who were out on their usual daily lives to pause and wonder what in the world was going on.
"Sounds like trouble!" Sora exclaimed, already heading to the town to investigate.
"Wait for us, Sora!" Donald called out, as he and everyone else quickly followed.
"Only a few minutes back home and already we have to fight whoever or whatever's already causing trouble." Isa sighed in exasperation.
By the time Sora and the others reached the Borough, someone was already coming straight towards them, running like a banshee. From what those who didn't recongise him, he was an elderly white duck wearing a lab coat, red shirt and small glasses.
And he was being chased a Knife-armed Heartless. Mickey, Riku, Donald, Goofy, Terra, Aqua, and Isa instantly recongised him as Professor Ludwig Von Drake.
"Leave me alone!" Von Drake screamed.
"Look out!" Ven shouted, summoning his Keyblade and expertly tossed it like a boomarang towards the Heartless which was instantly destroyed the moment the weapon made impact while Von Drake fell onto the ground after ducking low.
"Are you okay, Professor?" Mickey asked worriedly as he, Donald and Goofy hurried over to their old friend and scientest who, after hyperlating, pushed himself up. The older duck's eyes scanned at the the trio before scanning at the rest of the group, most he recongised, while others he didn't.
Despite being relieved to see him again, Von Drake couldn't help but mutter to Mickey in slight annoyance, "That's some kooky definition of 'okay' you got there, your majesty."
"What are you doing here, Professor?" Donald asked, puzzled on why the clumsy inventor was here in Radiant Garden.
"You guys know him?" Sora asked, confused as he, Kairi, Lea and Ven hadn't been here when the others save for Jack, Myde and Skuld were here before.
"Yup. He's Professor Ludwig Von Drake. He helped in buildin' the Gummiship and even makes all kinds of stuff." Goofy answered, before admitting as he shuddered, "He even made a Future-Viewer one time too, but that didn't go well."
"I don't think I wanna know." Lea wasn't certain if he wanted to know about this or not.
"Ya' heard of the Bullet Train?"
"Now I really don't wanna know."
Mickey then gestured Von Drake to the others, "Professor, I'm sure you remember Riku, Terra, Aqua and Isa. Welp, our other friends are Sora, Kairi, Ven, Lea, Roxas, Xion, Jack and our new friend Skuld."
"Nice to meet you, Professor." Kairi waved.
"Hey there." Sora greeted with a smile.
"Yo." Lea grinned.
"Hi there." Ven nodded.
"Hello." Both Roxas and Xion nodded.
"Pleased to make your aqquintince, Professor." Skuld said politely.
"Hello, mate." Jack greeted.
Von Drake smiled at the newcommers. He liked these young people already, even though the pirate man looked edgy, but even he seemed friendly enough. "Pleasure is all mine, young lads and lasses. The Professor—and that's me—know all about inventions beyond wild imaginations. There are some mishaps sometimes, though, but I'm more brillant than most people says."
"Sometimes?" Donald repeated skeptically.
"What happened?" Aqua inquired, ignoring Donald's comment.
"I was on my way back to Merlin's when that Heartless fella chased me all over the town, and just when Cid, that young scientest fella and I made an upgrade for the Defense Mechanism." Von Drake said while pouting in annoyance, before shaking an angry fist, "Oooh! If I found out the cause all of this, I would stop all the Heartless myself!"
"How is everyone?" Mickey inquired.
Von Drake blinked for a moment before realising what the young king was talking about and replied, "Oh, everyone's fine. Though they are quite worried, especially that Namine girl and that Tifa lady."
"Are they still are Merlin's?" Roxas asked, urgently the moment when Namine's name came into mind.
"Of course they are, and we're still working on that Chaos and whoever else is causing problems. Got an update on that too, actually." Von Drake answered.
"Then I guess we head over to Merlin's next." Sora announced, and the rest of the group nodded in agreement.
"Merlin...wait, you mean the wizard who lives here?" Ven asked, finally remembering who this Merlin is.
"You know that guy?" Lea asked, surprised.
"I met him once when I first came here...and he showed me this book." Ven answered, folding his arms to his chest.
"What book?" Jack asked, puzzled, though he became even more so when Riku was unable to hold back a groan of dismay.
"You're about to find out." Riku sighed.
By the time Sora's team and Von Drake arrived at Merlin's place, it was already packed with familiar faces. Cid was at the computer typing away, Aerith was examining the banadage on Tifa's arm which has finally healed completely, Leon was standing in the corner by Cid's side, Yuffie was having another tug-of-war with Rikku over a Sea-Salt-Ice Cream bar while Yuna and Paine sighed, shaking their heads, and Namine was sat in a chair by the tea-set table through her sketch book.
Also in the room was Ienzo and Even who were both going through research books and blueprints, the former occisionally inquiring to Cid and Leon on a few certain things while the latter grumbled, wishing for Yuffie and Rikku to keep quiet, muttering something about 'Teenagers, never quiet.'
When the door opened and revealled the group, everyone inside stopped what they were doing and mixtured expressions filled up on everyone's faces.
"Lea! Isa! Roxas! Xion! Sora! Kairi! Riku! Everyone!" Namine cried out in great relief, getting up from the chair and rushed over to her friends in desperate attempt to reach them. She first hugged Xion, then Roxas, then Lea, and then Isa and them some. "You're back! I'm so relieved."
"We're glad that you're okay too, Namine." Roxas replied with a smile, and Xion, Lea and Isa all nodded in agreement.
"Hey, you guys!" Yuffie greeted cheerfully upon seeing Sora and most of the others.
"We were so worried about you." Aerith said in relief.
"Well, look who's back. 'Bout time too." Cid said, in his usual sarcastic tone.
Leon sighed, both in relief and exasperation, "You guys sure took your time in getting back."
"Sorry, guys. Had a bit hit and major delay and ect., and things like that." Lea shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck.
"What happened? Where are Cloud, Zack, Angeal and Genesis?" Tifa asked, worriedly.
"Well...uh...the thing is..." Sora hesitated to answer. Before he could continue, a duo of soft gasps in surprise filled the air before Sora realised that, while not recongising Even even though he looked familiar and he knew he never met Ienzo before, both men staring at who he realised was Ven.
"...Is that you?" Ienzo asked, stunned.
Ven was equally shocked as he recongised the young man. "Ienzo? Wow, you grew up so quickly! And you're a bit different than the last time I saw you."
"You haven't changed at all." Ienzo replied.
"Indeed." Even said, snickering, "So I was right. We were destined to cross paths again. Twelve years late, but none the less."
"Uh...well...nice to see you to, sir." Ven shrugged, also recongising the guy who was one of Ienzo's guardians from twelve years ago, especially since he remembered Even mentiong that Ienzo's parents had apparently died.
"Wait, wait! Am I seein' double, or does that kid look just like Roxas and Sora?" Cid blinked, shocked upon seeing Ven for the first time.
Rikku suddenly appeared in front of Ven who stepped back a little in surprise, while she looked over him, before the young woman nodded, saying, "Yup! He definitely looks like Roxas and Sora alright!" before asking the young man, "So...you got a name or what?"
"I'm Ventus, but you can call me Ven." Ven replied, after a moment of an awkward pause.
"And those two guys and that girl are..." Paine spoke up, gazing at the three unfamiliar people behind Sora and the rest of the group.
While Sora and the others realised that she was referring to Skuld who nodded and stepped foward, everyone noticed that both Myde and Jack tried to hide behind Isa and Terra, but were both seen and the two men sheepishly stepped forward as well. Upon Myde's appearence, Ienzo shook his head while Even sighed, exasperated.
"Demyx...or perhaps an original name, I suppose." Ienzo sighed upon recongising his fellow former Nobody.
Myde hesitantly readies himself, not sure how to react, before waving sheepishly at the two other fellow Nobodies, "Hey, Zexion and Vexen. You guys are looking lively."
"It's Ienzo, actually." Ienzo responded, "And Even."
"Pititful whimp and slacker." Even scoffed at the mullet-haired young man, "What are you doing here with Sora and his friends?"
"Well, I, uh..." Myde began, hesitatedly.
He didn't get the chance to finish as the older man sighed, "Nevermind. I'll deal with you later. Especially since I still recall how you messed up with my experiments when we were in Organization XIII."
"Aw, c'mon! You're still mad about that?" Myde groaned, "I told you, it was an accident!"
"Messed up with his experiments? That's a new one." Roxas thought.
Lea sighed, playfully ruffling his friend's hair while saying knowingly, "It's a long story."
"I'm not sure if I want to know about that one either." Jack commented, a little worriedly.
"Anyway..." Sora quickly began, introducing most of his friends to each other before he and his group explained everything that's happened in both Olympus Coliseum and Port Royal, and everything that's happened along with revealing about Aced who had kidnapped Angeal, Genesis and Yen Sid, Cloud and Zack in Midgar with Vincent, Rufus and the Turks, and everything they learned so far on their new journey starting back at Olympus Coliseum to new worlds and Twilight Town they ventured to so far.
A/N: Finally left Atlantis behind and returned to Radiant Garden after "Second Life: Secret Episode". Not sure how the next chapter will turn out and I might take a bit of a break from either writting or just from this story to update another one of my still worked on stories. Sorry that this chapter was shorter than the others, but I was running out of ideas at this point.
Again, I do pray and hope that everyone of you in Florida will be safe and Hurricane Irma heads back out to sea and doesn't hit the mainland.
See you in the next chapter!