Ven arrived in the next world to find what looked to be a celebration in full swing. There was jaunty, light-hearted music playing from the colorful town square and balloons of all different shades filled the bright blue sky. "Wow..!"
The boy noticed a nearby trail where race cars speed around the pasture, causing him to run up and take a closer look. "Cool!"
Just then, a dark and corrupted car swerved past the boy, followed by many more just like it. The cars had beady-yellow eyes, they had to be the Unversed!
He vaulted over the fence, about to summon his armor when:
"Look out!"
Ven heard it just in time and rolled out of the way before he could get squashed by a race car.
"Ghaa! Are you okay, little fella?!"
Ven shook daze away and glanced up to see a horse hurriedly dusting him off. This must be the driver that had almost run him over.
"I'm alright, rea- Whoa!" Ven gasped when the surprisingly strong horse lifted him up and carried him away to a nearby tent.
"I'm so sorry!" The horse whimpered, checking him for injuries. "Are you sure you're not hurt anywhere?"
"Yeah, I'm okay. Nothing broken!" Ven smiled, making the horse sigh in relief.
"Good to hear!" A cheerful voice called and Ven recognized him as the one who'd yelled out to him.
A mouse wearing a crown a bit too big for him along with two little chipmunks walked up.
"Thanks for the heads up, I'm Ventus, you guys can call me Ven!"
"Nice to meet ya', Ven. My name's Mickey, the little guys are Chip and Dale, and you've already met Horace, ha ha. Let me be the first to welcome you to Disney Town!" The king smiled warmly, shaking his hand.
"Disney Town?" Ven repeated. He then smiled and took out his lifetime pass, reading the name again. He really wished his friends were there with him… "Thanks for having me."
"Well, we're glad to have you but you must be nuts, running out on the race track like that!" One chipmunk squeaked, that was Chip if Ven hadn't already gotten them confused.
His brother Dale piped up. "Yeah! Not only could you have gotten hurt, it's against the rules!"
"The rules don't matter when the Unversed are around!" Ven insisted, remembering how the Unversed broken the order when they'd showed up in the other worlds.
"Rules don't matter? Aw, you're starting to sound like Pete!" The king said in worry.
"That's Captain Dark, to you!" A voice boomed and they turned to see a fat cat dressed in black and purple jumped down from the bridge. "Disguised in Shadows, the rogue racer reigns! I am… Captain Dark!"
"You must be the small fry that got rid of my competition, heh heh! I win again, Horsecollar! The Million Dreams Award is practically mine!"
"Million Dreams Award?" Ven asked.
"Ah, b-b-but-!" Horrace tried to protest.
"The Million Dreams Award is more than just a trophy for being the best at something, Pete! It goes to the person we feel deserves recognition for their caring nature!" Mickey reminded him, going beside his friend.
A blush hit Horrace's face when the king came to his rescue.
"Yeah! The Million Dreams Award is practically Horrace's anyway!" Dale added on. "He got it three years running!"
"Heh, seeing that trophy always reminds me that I'm loved." Horrace nodded. "Gee, I don't know what I'd do without it!"
"Well, you better prepare, buddy-boy, cause it's not gonna be yours forever!" Pete laughed.
"Even if it isn't, it won't go to a bully like you!" Chip yelled after him.
They returned to Ven then who curiously tilted his head. "So, the Million Dreams Awards pretty important, huh?"
"Yeah, it's why I was so focused on practicing for the race, winning the race usually gets you more votes…" Horrace laughed nervously.
"Aw pal, you don't have to worry about that! Just because you don't get the Award doesn't mean you don't matter to the people of this town! We're gonna love ya' just as much as always after the award ceremony!"
Horrace nodded but he didn't look fully convinced.
Ven had gotten so wrapped up in the talk of the award, he'd nearly forgotten why he was there in the first place. "Oh! Um, have you guys seen any other… er, things like those spooky monster carts on the track? I'm here to take them down!"
Mickey shook his head. "Nope! They've only been on the track for some reason!"
"Hey, Ven! You need to enter the races to get those monster carts!" Dale suggested suddenly.
"Huh? But I'm not a racer…!" Ven frowned, scratching the back of his head in confusion.
"You don't know unless you give it a try!" Chip encouraged him. "You might even give Horrace a run for his money!"
"Wh-What?" Horrace looked alarmed at that, making Mickey laugh a bit.
"Don't worry about Ven, Horrace! The race is meant to be fun, not a competition!" Mickey reminded him like he did Pete.
"I know but-"
"Alright! I'll join the race!" Ven announced. He didn't need much persuading, racing did look pretty fun, after all.
As Ven prepared himself for the race, mainly reviewing and memorizing the rules for King Mickey's sake, Horace prepared his own cart, keeping a close eye on the boy.
"You really gonna let that wimp take everything from you?" A voice suddenly said.
Horace gave a gasp before turning to see a shadow of a silhouette of a man with firey hair. "W-Who-?!"
"A friend who happens to know everything about you.
I've been watching you and I gotta say, I sympathize. First that princess takes away your first love, then she goes on to take all your friends, even your stand-in girl who hasn't even checked on you today!"
"C-Clarabelle's not a stand-in for Mickey, I really do love her!" Horrace insisted.
"I mean, yeah, but not as much as him, right? Ain't the first love the truest?"
"I…"
"That's what I thought! So, from what I'm seeing, you're letting another person take everyone else's love away from you too. I'm just worried that if he or anybody else gets the Million Dreams Award…" The man whistled slightly before laughing. "Who knows if there'll be any love left for you?"
"W-What should I do?!" Horace asked desperately. "I don't want to be forgotten!"
"Hm, that'll take a lot of effort. You may even have to do something… drastic."
"Drastic… like breaking the rules?"
The person gave a deep sigh, barely able to handle how dumb his innocence made him. "Think bigger: If you have competition for the award, all you have to do is take them out, then it's a win by default! What do you say?"
"…"
"Hey! Are you trying to sabotage my cart?! That's against the rules!" Ven reminded Pete with a sing-song tone, annoying the man.
The fat cat gave a grumble, realizing he'd been caught. "Didn't even get around to breakin' anything yet..!"
Ven hopped in the green car he'd been assigned to, glancing down at the controls. He was still getting used to them since he'd never driven a car before today but there was no time left to practice, the race was about to begin.
"Hey, Ven… You all ready for the race?" He turned to see Horrace in the car beside him and smiled.
"Yeah! How about you?"
The horse gave a nervous chuckle, glancing down. "I guess I'm ready as I'll ever be. Made all my preparations ahead of time."
Ven nodded eagerly before seeing the other contestants line up. There was Captain Dark, three little ducklings in red, green and blue, and the army of Unversed carts, of course.
"Alright racers, ready? Set? GO!" The chipmunks yelled in unison.
They all sped off, the race had begun!
As fun as it would be to win, Ven had a mission to complete first. He created a large loopty-loop ramp of ice for the Unversed to ride upon, only for them to crush the other monster carts beneath them.
"Alright!" Ven hollered. He looked back ahead and saw a sharp curve. He eased on the break but suddenly heard a terrifying snap. The pedal fell limp and Ven realized the horrifying truth, the brakes had snapped! "That's not good!"
He gritted his teeth and tried to make the curve but ended up racing towards the wooden fence. "Ghaa!"
"Ven!" He heard the King call and was soon helped up. "Gosh, are you okay?!"
"Just a bit bruised, I can still compete!" Ven insisted before turning to see his ride. "Oh…"
The sad little car was beyond hope and Ven quickly summoned his glider then, looking to the king. "Even if this gets me disqualified and unable to win, I still wanna finish this race and have fun. Please, can I?"
Mickey smiled at both the boy's eagerness to race and selfless nature of sacrificing the prize and nodded. "I suppose that's ok as long as you keep it near the sur-"
"Alright, thanks!" Ven yelled, speeding off.
Mickey gave a small laugh, waving goodbye.
The rest of the race was relatively mundane compared to the start. Participants were able to slow down their opponents without actually hurting them (unlike the person who tampered with his brakes). Ven glided around all of them, using no form of mischief himself since he wanted everyone to have a fair race.
Pete and Horrace were neck and neck, each trying to speed past the other. The horse threw out a small bomb that knocked Pete off course and took the lead. He saw the finish line with his friends waiting up ahead. "I did it, I won!"
"On your left!"
Horrace's heart dropped as Ven gilded right past him, ripping through the end ribbon seconds before he could. "No..!"
The crowd burst into cheers as Ven hopped off his glider, waving to the crowd.
"Alright, Ven! You won!" Dale cheered, him and the King running up to meet him along with two new faces, a humanoid dog and duck.
"Won? But my glider…!"
"I took the liberty of registering it as an official racing vehicle for ya'!" Mickey explained. "Not only can you win this race, you can compete in any other one whenever you visit!"
"Whoa, that's great!"
"You did a great job too, Horrace! I know it ain't what you're used to but you still got second place!" Goofy smiled, wrapping his arm around his friend who couldn't barely hear him when listening to plenty of people gossip about voting for the newcomer to win the Million Dreams Award.
"What I don't get is why my brakes snapped…" Ven muttered to his new friends as the other racers crossed the finish line. "The cart was working just fine before, it was almost like… they were cut…!"
"Cut?! Who would do that?!" Chip gasped.
Donald went up to his triplet nephews than, giving them stern looks. "Boys…"
"We're innocent! We were making ice cream from Uncle Scrooge's machine right up until we drove up to the starting line!" Hewey cried.
"And eating the ice cream!" Dewey added.
"Solid tight alibi! Ask anybody who has ice cream!" Louie grunted.
There were various mutters of agreement from those with ice cream and sticky fingers, confirming they were telling the truth.
"I wasn't thinking of them, actually." Ven piped up. He suddenly pointed to the most obvious choice. "Was it you, Captain?"
"Huh?! No!" Pete growled. He managed to squeeze himself out of the cart before stomping up to the boy. "Sure, I wanted to but I didn't get a chance to break anything before you showed up!"
"I-I don't know, I wouldn't put it past you to pull a fast one, Pete."
Seeing as he was far more loved and trusted, everyone agreed with Horrace on that.
Ven tilted his head in concern. Pete did actually look very confused and angry about the situation but it couldn't be the Unversed or the triplets meaning… He glanced at his runner-up. It couldn't be… could it? "… Heh, it's alright everybody, maybe the brakes did just snap, the carts have been around for a while, right?"
And just like that, the suspicion fell away.
"Are you sure you don't wanna stick around to see the Million Dreams Award?" Chip whined. "I'm voting for you, practically everybody at the race will, what if you win and you're not there to get it?"
"My runner up will accept it in my place then, but I really don't think anyone had much of a chance against Horace." Ven laughed, glancing over at the horse who wouldn't meet his eyes. He summoned his glider then and waved to them. "It's been fun but I gotta go! I have a mission to complete!"
"Alright." Mickey smiled knowingly. "Just be sure to come again real soon!"
"I will." Ven nodded.
His new friends waved goodbye before he shot out into the sky, determined to protect another world.