Chapter 21 Trouble at Disney Castle

The Gummi Ship landed inside the Gummi Hanger and the grouped stepped out.

"So, this is where you guys are from?" Sora asked.

Donald and Goofy didn't answer. Instead, they were scouting the area.

"Are you two all right?" Corrin asked.

"Something definitely don't feel quite right." Goofy said.

"Something is definitely fishy going on around here." Donald said.

'Impressive. Maybe they aren't just a bunch of goofs that happen to be good at fighting.' Kaze thought as he watched the two scout the area.

Just then a Shadow Heartless appeared before the group. But before the others could summon their weapons, Donald and Goofy immediately jumped the Heartless and destroyed it by slamming their weapons on it…repeatedly.

"WHY ARE THERE HEARTLESS HERE?!" Donald shouted.

"Uh hello? There are Heartless everywhere." Sora said flatly.

"But they can't be here!" Donald argued.

Before Sora and the other could question that Chip and Dale appeared from on top of the stairs.

"Thank goodness you made it!" Dale said.

"Queen Minnie is in the Library. You need to hurry to her immediately!" Chip said.

"Got it. Let's go!" Donald ordered as the group headed outside.

Exiting the Gummi garage, the group arrived in a garden with multiple hedges shaped like animal-people similar to Donald and Goofy.

"This is the Royal Garden. If we head through that door and follow the hallway past the audience chamber, we should reach the Library." Donald said pointing towards said door.

Just then, an army of Shadow Heartless appeared everywhere.

"Should we fight them?" Kaze asked.

"We can't do that! We'd damage the garden!" Donald cried out.

"Then what should we do?" Corrin asked.

"I think we should run!" Goofy cried.

"To the Library!" Donald declared as the group fled down the hallways with the Heartless in hot pursuit.

As they ran past the Audience Chamber's massive, which Donald and Goofy noticed was sealed off, Corrin had an idea.

Reaching into his pocket, Corrin grabbed his Dragon Stone and transformed into his fire form he got from Mushu.

'Why is Corrin red now?' Sakura and Kaze thought noticing how Corrin's dragon form was now red instead of blue.

Charging up his power Corrin unleashed a fire version of his Hydro Blast which incinerated the numerous Heartless that were pilled up in the hallway.

And leaving burn marks on the walls.

Corrin returned back to normal feeling a bit dizzy which Sora was quick to support him.

"Th-That was amazing Big brother." Sakura said.

"Are you okay?" Kaze asked concerned.

"Yeah, but that attack takes a lot out of me." Corrin panted. "Just need to catch my breath."

"Come on. You can catch it in the library." Sora said.

"The walls." Donald cried looking at the burn marks.

"Hey, its better than Heartless. Now lets hurry." Sora called out as he helped Corrin to the Library door.

Donald tried to open the door, but it was locked.

"Sora, use your Keyblade!" Donald ordered.

"What am I? A lock-smith?" Sora groaned as he summoned his Keyblade to open the door.

Behind the door, the group saw some tables placed in front of the bookshelf's in the back, stacked up as a blockade. A pair of mouse ears slowly looked up revealing a female mouse holding a broom.

"Donald? Goofy? You made it! Daisy, it's Donald!" Queen Mickey shouted in joy. A female duck popped her head up as well.

"Donald?" Daisy gasped.

"Daisy!" Donald cheered.

*Whack!*

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! YOU HAVEN'T CALLED ONCE SINCE YOU LEFT TO LOOK FOR THE KING, AND THEN YOU GO MISSING FOR A WHOLE YEAR?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I WAS?! NOT ONE CALL!" Daisy shouted as she constantly whacked Donald over the head with a broom as he yelled sorry to her.

"Guess we should have called." Goofy commented.

"So, I take it this Daisy person is someone close to Donald?" Corrin asked.

"She's the Duchess of the castle and Queen Minnie's best friend. She is also Donald's girlfriend." Goofy said.

"I see." Sora commented.

Once Daisy was done beating the tar out of Donald and Corrin caught his breath, the seven (yes seven as Jiminy was on Sora's shoulder) stood in front of Queen Minnie.

"I'm so glad that you are here." Minnie smiled.

"Your majesty, why are there so many Heartless in the castle?" Donald asked.

"It's those thorns. They're draining the Cornerstone of Light's power." Daisy huffed.

"Thorns? Cornerstone of Light? You all lost me." Sora said.

"Same here." Corrin agreed as Sakura and Kaze nodded.

"You see, this castle is protected from the Heartless by the Cornerstone of Light. The castle's most prized possession and the ultimate line of defense." Minnie explained.

"But then suddenly, these Thorns showed up in the Cornerstone's Chamber and then Heartless started to swarm the place." Daisy added.

"And the King is?" Corrin asked resulting a whack on the head by Donald.

"Show some respect!" Donald scolded as Kaze glared at the duck.

"Peace Donald." Minnie ordered. "I get some letters from him from time to time, but recently I haven't heard much. I don't know where he is at the moment."

"We saw him once, but he took off rather quickly." Goofy said.

"He never sits still for long." Minnie sighed before turning to Sora. "I take it that you're Sora?"

Sora nodded.

"The King did mention you in his letters. A brave young man who took up the role as another Keyblade Wielder." Minnie added.

"Yep. This is my brother Corrin, and those two are his sister Sakura, and Kaze." Sora introduced.

"It is a pleasure to meet you all." Minnie greeted.

"So, about the thorns…" Donald began.

"Right. I'll show them to you. Let us hurry." Minnie said.

"Are you sure it is wise for you to go somewhere so dangerous Queen Minnie?" Kaze asked.

"I'll be fine. I am quite capable with White magic. I can protect myself." Minnie assured as Sakura perked up.

"You can use White Magic?" Sakura asked and Minnie nodded. "Is there some spells you can show me?"

"Of course. Once we deal with those thorns, I'd be happy to show you some." Minnie smiled and Sakura nodded. "We had best be off."

"The Audience Chamber is that massive door we past in the halls on the way here." Donald informed and Sora nodded.

Sora then opened the door as he, Corrin and Kaze took the lead on the way to the Audience Chamber.

The halls were still filled with many Shadow Heartless. Corrin turned into his Dragon form and Sora jumped on his back. He then reached out his hand for Sakura.

"You come on as well Sakura." Sora said.

"Uh...are you sure? I don't want to weigh Corrin down." Sakura said worried but Dragon Corrin nodded telling Sakura she wouldn't. Sora helped Sakura on Corrin's back.

"Hang on tight Sakura." Sora said as Dragon Corrin charged and Sakura gripped Sora tightly as Sora took out his Keyblade and shot magic at the enemies.

Kaze and Goofy provided support to the sides of Dragon Corrin as Donald stayed with Minnie and Daisy to keep them safe from possible back attacks.

Not too long, the group made it to the Audience Chamber as Sora helped Sakura off and Corrin went back to normal.

"Th-that was something...but I don't think I want to do that again." Sakura sighed as she caught her breath from that crazy ride.

"Aw come on. It wasn't that bad." Corrin laughed.

Minnie stood in front of the Audience Chamber as she faced the group.

"I made sure to seal this room away when the trouble started." Minnie said as she undid the seal and opened the door. Or rather a small part of the massive door opened much to the outsider's surprise.

"Well, that's a thing." Sora commented.

"Well, they are rather small and the door is massive. Kind of seems pointless to have to open the whole thing." Corrin commented.

"It's also heavy. Which is why we keep it locked and just use the small door." Daisy chimed in.

Inside was a large empty room with the throne sitting at the other end.

"The Cornerstone is hidden beneath the Throne." Minnie said.

"A Throne of secrets. Reminds me of back home." Sakura muttered.

"Why's that?" Corrin asked.

"The Hoshidan throne also holds secrets. They say those who sit on it are revealed their true selves." Sakura said.

"Interesting. Have you ever seen it?" Corrin asked and Sakura shook her head.

"I do recall hearing that mother wanted to use it on Kamui." Sakura said.

"Why?" Corrin asked.

"It was Lord Takumi's idea. He figured that the throne would help Lady Kamui recover her lost memories." Kaze said.

"It can do that? Maybe I should try it." Corrin muttered. With all these revelations of his past, he was really getting anxious to see what else he was missing from his memories.

Just then, Heartless appeared in the Throne room.

"Not here too!" Daisy cried.

"Pearl!" Minnie shouted as she fired a ball of light taking out a Heartless.

Sora, Corrin, and Kaze got to work slicing Heartless left and right. Goofy was tossing his shield from afar so that he could stay close and protect the queen. Donald did the same with Daisy, blasting Heartless with magic. Unfortunately, the Heartless kept coming regardless of how many the group destroyed.

"I need to get to the throne. Sora, can you open a path for me?" Minnie asked and Sora nodded.

Sora then charged energy into the tip of his blade that formed into a big ball of energy. "Ragnarok!" Sora shouted as he unleashed a barrage of small balls of energy that took out multiple Heartless and cleared a path to the throne room.

She quickly sprinted to the throne room and pushed a button underneath the arm. The throne moved releasing a massive wave of light from underneath that destroyed all the Heartless in the room.

"Wow." Sora gasped.

"Let's hurry." Minnie said as everyone descended the stairs that was revealed under the throne.

The Cornerstone of light sat on a pedestal in a dark room where Thorns covered the walls completely, except for the door.

"So, these are the Thorns?" Corrin asked.

Minnie nodded. "I still wonder how they got here in the first place?" Minnie asked.

"M-Maybe some bad guy is trying to take the castle while the King is away." Sakura offered timidly.

"But who? The only bad guy I can think of is Pete, but I banished him about 11 years ago." Minnie said as she remembered when she was forced to banish Pete after his actions and attitude at the Dream Festival all those years ago.

"Actually, he was busted out by Maleficent some time ago. He's been controlling the Heartless as well." Goofy said much to Minnie and Daisy's shock.

"But how did he escape? We had Brooms guarding his prison." Daisy asked.

'Brooms?' Sora, Corrin, Kaze and Sakura thought flatly.

"So, he must be behind this." Donald guessed.

"Please. Like that idiot could ever come up with a plan like this?" A familiar voice called out.

The grouped turned in shock to see Maleficent appear before them rather transparent.

"Maleficent? But how? We saw you die!" Corrin gasped.

"T-That's Maleficent?" Sakura gasped.

"I do admit that I was close to death, but I survived." Maleficent answered vaguely.

"Well I fix that, right now!" Donald declared as he charged at Maleficent, only to go right through her and slam into the Cornerstone's pillar.

"Patients. I will deal with you four in time." Maleficent said.

"What are you after Maleficent?" Minnie demanded.

"Queen Minnie. As radiant as always." Maleficent mocked with a bow. "I am here on a property venture. I want this castle for myself. But I find it a bit too bright as it is right now. So, I'm giving it a makeover of darkness to better suit me."

"You'd better stop this right now if you know what's good for you!" Minnie demanded.

"How frightening. But what can you do? The seeds that these Thorns spawn from were planted a long time ago and have taken root deep in the castle's foundation. You can't remove them now without destroying your castle in the first place. It's only a matter of time until the Thorns drain the Cornerstone of its power completely and this castle will be mine. Heck, the fact that I can use my magic to project myself so close to it reveals that its destruction is coming soon." Maleficent laughed. "But, that's the least of your problems right now."

"Why's that?" Corrin demanded.

"Because you have a little reunion to attend." Maleficent smirked as she vanished.

"Reunion? What does she mean?" Corrin asked as Kaze heard footsteps from behind.

"Lord Corrin, duck!" Kaze shouted as he grabbed Corrin and flew to the ground as a green arrow flew right past them where Corrin's head once was.

"Who shot that?" Sora demanded summoning his Keyblade as everyone turned to the direction the arrow was shot from.

Before them standing at the entrance of the room was a young man close to Sora in age wearing a blue and white archer's outfit with white fur as decoration. He had silver hair like Corrin's but tied in a ponytail. In his hands was a bow that seemed to have a string made out of green energy like the arrows themselves. There was also a dark aura around the guy as his eyes were glowing green.

Sakura and Kaze gasped in shock at who they saw.

"T-Takumi?" Sakura gasped.

And that's a wrap!

So yeah. Takumi is here? Why? Well, aside from him being possibly the biggest one that would need to be with Corrin for a while out of all the royal families, he's also my favorite character from Fates. I don't regret what I said! XD

On a side note, Sakura will indeed learn the Pearl Spell. (If you don't remember what that is, it's that spell that Mickey and Minnie use in Kingdom Hearts 2 that fires a ball of light at their enemies.) She'll learn it once they are done with the timeless river.

But next time, Sora and the gang try to save the brainwashed prince from the clutches of Maleficent and figure out how to deal with the thorns and how Takumi got there. (Aside from obviously Maleficent being involved.) See you guys then.