Back to the Bastion

The Trip to Hollow Bastion was a long one. Max spent most of his time on the Gummi Ship napping or listening to Webby drown on and on about one of her conspiracy theories regarding how Glomgold was secretly responsible for some sort of cloning technology. Apparently she had overheard Scrooge mentioning that somewhere. Peej just rested as well, the two of them wondering what Hollow Bastion was like. Though he was more interested in seeing the place his own dad had gone too all this time.

When he was awake Max would think of ways he could prove to Scrooge that he was a worthwhile guard worthy of a bigger mission. He wasn't sure what that would be at the moment but he would figure it out. Perhaps he would find some interesting information, or maybe get a lead that woul help lead him and the others to his dad...Or Sora, but mostly he was hoping to find his dad.

Either way, he was going to stand out above the crowd.

When they landed they saw the large massive castle in the middle of a blue rocked bailey. It was quite massive. They landed on a makeshift platform and there he could see a tall looking individual with long brown hair with black jacket on it. Next to him was a young woman with short black hair with a yellow scarf and green shirt.

Leon and Yuffie.

Max had only heard about them and their Anti-Heartless resistance from the stories Huey, Duey and Louie told to everyone they could get an ear out of. Leon was apparently quite the warrior of his time. He along with Ninja Yuffie, mechanic Cid and another friend of theirs named Aerith tried keeping the people of Traverse Town safe while he hand a few others were trying their best to fight the Heartless. Now it seemed their primary goal was to restore their world of Hollow Bastion to something more livable after years of being under the control of the evil sorcerers Maleficent and her horde of villainous followers.

"Laddies!" Scrooge waved as they exited the ship walking up to Leon and Yuffie with excitement "Long time no see"

"Good to see you ," Leon said taking Scrooge han.

"Yeah, feels like old time" Yuffie smiled.

Scrooge nodded, looking pleased to see all of them again "Indeed, glad to see you in good form, glad to know we can still see each other at all given what happened to us last time we were here"

"Yeah…" Leon sighed, Max could tell he was thinking of Sora, "Any…"

"No!" Max blurted, to the surprise of everyone, he covered his mouth in embarrassment, "Sorry"

"This is Max," Scrooge replied, pointing his cane to him, "Goofy's son, and his friend Peej...Pete's son, you know Webby of course"

"How you doing," Yuffie winked

"Hi," Max waved nervously, "So um...You guys haven't heard anything about Sora either"

Yuffie frowned, "Nope, sorry...We are pretty much stumped, the fact nothing really bad has happened since means that Sora probably won the day"

"Oh yeah, well what about that thing" Peej pointed forward.

Across the bailey stood a large rusted looking fortress, mostly made of a few jagged towards and ruins. It was surrounded by some sort of shield. A dark aura covering over it. Something about that castle just made Max stutter as he looked upon it.

Leon groaned, "That castle a eyesoar, but at least it keeps Maleficent and her goons in".

"Wait goons?" Peej asked, "Is that, is that where my dad is?"

"Dad?" Yuffie asked.

"Pete" Scrooge explained, "One of Maleficent goons"

"Ah"

Leon just nodded, "When Sora apparently wished the villains defeated using a genie lamp, it sent the villains there, that castle popped up and was shielded so that no one could get in or out. Now it just sits there. A reminder that Maleficent and her evil while contained is never truly thwarted. Or the Heartless for that matter I guess"

"To bad we can't just get rid of it" Yuffie muttered, "Or that Sora for that matter just didn't take out the witch once and for all"

"It's fine for now Yuffie, I'm honestly glad the kid didn't have too...He's too young to know what that has to feel like he's to pure" Leon argued, closing his eyes a bit "We have bigger things to worry about then Maleficent thankfully"

"Yes, like rebuilding your home" Scrooge replied, "And that's why I'm here, Scrooge McDuck enterprises wants to help, for a small fee of course, nothing to grand mind you, I do really want to help. The profit is just a nice extra bonus on my part".

"Good to see you're altruism sir" Max grumbled.

Leon rolled his eyes but smiled, "We are honored , we did get a communique earlier from one of your competitors, a Mr ...Um, Glomgold"

"Glomgold!" Scrooge seemed shock, "Oh believe me Leon, he's a two bit swindler, probably wants to help because he knows this Castle is filled with things he ought to not know about"

"Well good thing is we trust you first" Leon assured, "But if Hollow Bastion is to rebuild we might want to consider being open to other worlders, it's not like Traverse Town can do it on it's own"

"You want to make Hollow Bastion a refugee world?" Scrooge asked.

Leon nodded, "In a way, but perhaps a better place to...Start over, a fresh start, in a way Traverse Town never was meant to be".

"Noble Leon, very noble, well let's get inside it's getting chilly and that Castle over there really is giving me the heeby jeebies"

-000-

Hollow Bastion castle was quite big and massive. When Webby had told Max about it earlier he expected it to be a lot more creepier and scarier. However, now it seemed quaint, a bit gothic and bombastic yet quaint. It did seem though that some progress was being made though. Leon explained how they have been trying to find and purge the castle of anything Maleficent might have left behind be it an evil curse, or spell , or some sort of monster.

"Been sprucing up the place, Isee " Scrooge commented as they walked down the hall.

Leon nodded, "Yeah, without Maleficent, we were able to make the place….

"Nicer" Yuffie smirked.

"Good to hear"

Leon sighed, "It hasn't been easy, you get so use to fighting you get a little board you realize that all you have to do now is clean up. But I guess it means that some progress is being made'

"We adjust our roles that we are given" Scrooge said, "Believe me, I put on the hat of businessmen, adventure and family man on a daily basis".

They arrived at a large library where two more figures were. Aerith and Cid from what Max was told. Gathered around the table together, he could smell the food that was already cooked being laid down. He could feel his stomach growling as he wanted to eat.

"Eat up everyone" Aerith smiled, "I made it myself, would have been finished sooner if someone hadn't taken it out to heat up their Apple Pie"

"One time!" Cid muttered, "I was hungry, okay, I gotta eat"

"And I have to make sure these noodles are cooked to the proper temperature so they don't go soggy" Aerith said, keeping her calm.

"Ugh, soggy noodles, the worst" Yuffie muttered, "Granted better than raw"

"You ate them raw?" Cid asked.

Yuffie nodded, "Back when I was a kid, the streets could be tough, sometimes you have to eat the noodles raw okay" She sighed looking at her noodles again, "Hollow Bastion was once my home but that doesn't mean it was a paradise, stuck up Ansem sitting in his big castle while some of us starved.

There was a moment of awkward silence among everyone for a moment. Max could tell that there was definitely some sort of tension from a past. He didn't know what it was like to starve thankfully, though he didn't know much about what was out there outside of spoonerville or Disney Castle. Even when they weren't living in a fancy castle, his dad made sure to keep them clothed and fed. He was just that great a guy.

"So, what brings you to Hollow Bastion," Cid asked breaking the awkwardness.

"Reconstruction deals' ' Scrooge replied, "But also, intel, I and the Queen believe it is time to continue our knowledge on what is going on in the outside worlds. Find out the aftermath of whatever happened when everything seemed to have fallen to darkness".

Max ears perked up, finally some real information at last.

"Mr. McDuck, we told you we don't know what happened with Sora after we last saw him," Yuffie reminded him.

Scrooge shook his head, "No, no...Not that, although I do wish we knew those facts. No, I want to share some things with yuh...Max, Peej, Webby pay attention, it's important you know too".

Everyone watched as Scrooge pulled out a piece of paper and unfolded it.

"What is that?" Leon asked.

"A letter, one I received a while back, I told the Queen just today as I tried to verify it, and while I don't know who sent it just yet, my gut instinct told me that it was time to take action on it". Scrooge opened it up and began to read.

Dear Scrooge

You do not know me, or maybe you do but I cannot reveal it yet. However, I must say, the threat is not completely gone. The Keyblade Master has succeeded, that much I can say. But darkness itself is still something that has not yet been beaten. New forces are on the move, new threats. I cannot say much for much is still to be known. Just know to keep on your guard. Hollow Bastion is still a vunrable place and much information could be used by those forces. So please...be weary, keep those people safe.

Sincerely

A friend

There was a moment of silence from everyone. Max was just trying to process what he heard. Everyone else had the same similar expression of trying to process what Scrooge had just read. For what he read was such a big reveal to everyone

"So Sora did win" Leon sighed a sense of relief as he sat down

"That's good to know," Aerith replied.

"Yeah, but is the kid alive, that's the real deal" Cid muttered.

Max gulped, "Y-yeah?" he took a deep breath.

"So you want to help rebuild and what, secure the world?" Leon asked sounding interesting, "I mean I know Ansem's lab and library probably has a lot of stuff in it, we haven't gone through most of it ourselves"

"Then you should probably do it soon" Scrooge replied, "Ansem probably has a lot that we don't know about, and if this letter is true people will be after it"

Yuffie grunted, "Great, who would have guessed that getting rid of Maleficent would have caused more problems then solve"

"Well, you take out one evil, another has to fill the void, it's an endless cycle, nothing we can do but fight back and keep the peace" Scrooge replied.

Aerith nodded, "We know he has some sort of supercomputer here somewhere but have yet to find it. There is a lot of this castle we have yet to renovate and return to its original form"

"Originally form?" Webby asked, "What's that?"

"Here let me show you" Aerith got up and headed over to an image of a very majestic looking castle, far different from the one they were in now, "This is what Ansem's castle used to look like before the Heartless came, quite different from the factory monstrosity we are in today"

"To be fair Aerith Ansem started changing the castle up before the Heartless came" Leon argued, "Maleficent probably just made some add ons"

"Anyway!" Aerith continued, but not before giving Leon an annoyed expression, "we hope to return this castle and the town to its proper glory…maybe even something better if we are being honest. Even in the past this place had, um, issues"

"Like a lousy leader," Yuffie argued.

"Again! Anyway" Leon interjected, seeming not wanting to have Yuffie go onto a tirade about Ansem the Wise, " , we actually are glad you are here for a reason...See...We need allies?"

"Well I get that?"

"No, no, no...More world allies...The Gummi Ship is the only way to travel between the worlds, we need to get some old friends here…Like Phineas and Ferb for example, they and their friends could help alot with rebuilding the town"

"Aren't they a little young for rebuilding civilization?" Scrooge asked.

Leon nodded, "Yes, yes they are, but they are the best. Plus there were others in Traverse Town we could use, we haven't heard from Star and Marco in a while, but I know Mewni interdimensional scissors could be useful again".

"I have contacts with the Mewmans" Scrooge replied thinking it over, "I could probably help there, as for using the Gummi Ship, hmm...I'll see, I don't see any trouble, but bringing various worlds together, it could be dangerous".

"Yeah but…" Aeirth spoke now, "The Anti-Heartless resistance was one of the few things that brought a whole bunch of people from different worlds and places together, Traverse Town was a refugee world...We want...we want Hollow Bastion to be...A better one, a greater one, a beacon almost. Once upon a time this place was known as the city of light, maybe it could be again".

Scrooge just smiled, "Honorable, I will do what I can to help. But you have to be ready for those who would take advantage of such openness too. Take in the good of different worlds with the bad"

"We will be" Leon nodded

"Yeah," Yuffie pumpd her first.

Max tried to pay attention but he couldn't stop thinking about that letter, something was going on here and he was starting to want to find out what. Any clue that could lead him to Sora, mean that it could lead him to his dad.

-000-

Once things settled Max and the others were given rooms inside the castle. Scrooge and the others had decided to go there separate ways probably talk about more important issues like the King, the letter and what was going on in the world.

Max was only able to get a fraction of what was going on but from the sounds of it, things seemed more unsure then anything else. Losing a lot of their friends met that information was scant at best, non-existent at worst. This just made him even more nervous. For how could they know if they had really won if they didn't know anything that happened.

Finally he had a chance to himself and was able to sit down and think. The room itself was small, but he wasn't going to stay for that long. From the door Peej and Webby arrived, probably knowing that he was still thinking about what was going on.

"So, what's the plan?" Webby asked.

Max blinked, "Plan, what plan?"

"Oh come on, you have to have a plan right? Don't you? I mean you have to have some sort of plan, better then going off without something. That's basic spying one o one, at least that what's granny said."

Max sighed tapping his chin as he thought. He really didn't have a plan at all. The weight of being just a kid on an arrand was starting to come over him now. Even in this vast castle filled with knowledge and information beyond anyone's wildest dreams, he had no idea where to begin.

"So what do we do?" Peej asked, "Like do we go to the library and start reading because quite frankly, that sounds really...really...really boring, and really dull"

"Hey it's not dull" Webby argued, "You can find out a lot of really cool stuff, I bet there are all sorts of knowledge here"

Max waved a hand, "Nah, even if we did read, we wouldn't know where to start, and I doubt Leon and the others haven't already tried that in the first place. No, no we need to do something bigger, something that Leon, Scrooge, and the others haven't thought of yet".

"But what?" Webby asked.

Peej then slowly raised his hand, "Um….well….."

"Yeah?" Max asked.

"We could um…..We could ask my dad what he might know"