Chapter 3

---------------M-A-X-&-H-U-E-Y---------------

Max ran into the hall not far behind his father, "dad, wait up!" he yelled trying to catch up.

"Can't slow down yet Maxy, the queen is waiting in the throne room, and an event this big can't be re-arranged," Goofy yelled as he ran in his strange fashion knocking many things over in the process. The two were outside in the castle garden.

"So this is supposed to be th most exciting day of my life huh?" he asked taking pants within each word.

"Yup, Huey's even going through with it," he said as he ran up the stairs to the hallway.

"Okay Max, are you ready to become a man?" he asked standing straight in front of the door to the throne room. The doors were huge, and seemed at Goofy's height no matter how tall he was, still impossible to open.

"Yeah dad," the young boy said. I just want to see how he plans on opening this door. Goofy turned around, and reached his hand out towards the door. He pushed against it, and a smaller portion about one tenth the size of the actual door opened up. "What? I'm not even going to ask." The two walked into the throne room where the queen, king, and Donald were waiting.

Goofy bent over and said, "your majesty."

"King Mickey," Max said, "I am honored to meet you." King Mickey shook his head, and pointed forwards. Queen Minnie stood beside the throne with a piece of paper in her hands.

She recited, "we are gathered here today to pass on the royal duties of fathers, and uncles... where's Huey?"

"Huey?" Donald called looking around the room.

"Huey? Where are you man?" Max asked looking around the room. "Dad, I'll go looking for him."

"Well I don't think that's such a good idea," Goofy replied looking towards Max.

"Goofy, it's time to let go, we'll go through Max's portion of the ritual," Mickey said winking at Goofy.

Minnie held the paper up once again, and recited, "We are gathered here today to pass the royal duties on to our son, Max. Max Goof you are now the head Royal Knight of the castle. Goofy his equipment."

Goofy handed Max a chain mail armor, along with a sword, and a shield with King Mickey's symbol on the front of it.

"Don't worry Donald, I'll find Huey," he said walking towards the door.

He immediately started searching outside, but there was no sign of him anywhere. He looked in the Gummi Ship hanger, but only found Chip, and Dale.

"Hey there Max, head of Knights now huh?" Chip asked.

"Um, yeah," he said looking around awkwardly.

"Hey Max, did you lose something?" Dale asked.

"Well, not me. It's Donald, Huey is missing, and we can't find him anywhere, and his portion of the ceremony can't start without him," he said still looking around.

"Why can't you lose Dewey, or Louie?" Chip asked.

"Well, he's been studying magic the most... how could I have been so stupid?" he asked himself walking up the stairs of the hanger. "Hey, I've got a question for you guys, will I get to ride in a Gummi ship once Huey, and I are ready to set off?"

"Well, yes," the two said as Max turned around and left.

Max ran up to the library, and in the far corner was Huey just sitting there, reading. He quietly walked up towards him and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Huey, what's up?" Max asked quietly.

"Watta you want?" he asked turning to the next page.

"Why don't you come to the throne room?" he asked "your part of the ceremony is going to start."

Huey turned around giving Max a stare that a baby would when their about to cry. Max gasped.

"Hey calm down, it's okay," Max said.

"What if I'm not a good wizard, what if I hurt somebody I care about? I just can't deal with that," Huey said, his new wizard clothes scattered on the floor behind him.

"Look Huey, I was nervous, but when I really set my mind to it, I had faith, and look at me now, I'm head of knights," he said as he picked Huey up.

"I, I'm not sure, but I'll think about it," he said.

"Okay, I won't tell them where you are, but I'll tell them that your worried. But I'm sure if you keep studying you'll master the magic like this," he said with a snap of his fingers. He turned around, and walked away from Huey, but before he left the room he gave Huey a smile.

As he was walking to the throne room, Max felt as if he were being followed. He turned around and called, "Huey?" he turned back around, and continued to walk, but he heard a glass shatter. He whipped his head around and saw a broken vase on the ground which for some reason projected a strange shadow under it. Max walked up to it, and inspected it. "What's going on? He asked picked up one of the pieces of shattered glass. Huey?" he called again.

He turned around and walked towards the throne room, and right before he opened the door a strange creature appeared in front of him. It was black with yellow eyes, it had two antennas, and moved in strange fashion.

"What is this thing?" he asked backing away. He felt something brushing against his back, he turned around to see another one. He was surrounded by the strange creatures. "Are these... Heartless?"

The creatures attacked, and Max drew his sword, and started fighting. One after another he struck the creatures causing them to disappear, but after he struck them, more and more came. He couldn't do this alone, and he knew it. Suddenly his sword was knocked out of his hand by one of the Heartless, then he was knocked to the ground. He was backed into a corner. He took out his shield, and jumped to his feet. He placed the shield in front of him and charged through the Heartless. It wouldn't stop them from appearing. More and more continued to show up, until Max ran out of energy.

"If only I kept up my training," he said as he fell to the ground. He covered his face with his hands and waited for the end.

"THUNDER!" a voice screamed. A light from above burned so brightly that Max had to close his eyes. One by one the Heartless started to fade away until there was no more. Max opened his eyes to see Huey standing on the other side of the hall. Max ran towards him picking up his sword, and shield along the way.

"So have you made your decision? Max asked.

"Actually I have," Huey said. He turned around, ran back into the library, and closed the door behind him.

Max sighed, "well I tried." He walked back to the throne room, and opened the door as his father had just a few minutes before.

All the people, King, Queen, Donald, and Goofy stared at Max.

"So did you find him Max?" Mickey asked.

"Yes your majesty, but I think that..."

"He's gonna be a little late," said a voice behind him. Max turned around to see Huey standing in his wizards robe in the doorway.

"Let's get this started," Mickey said in a excited voice.

---------------S-O-R-A---------------

"Sora, you okay? You've been acting strange all morning," Riku said as he drank a bottle of cool water.

"I don't know, I've been thinking of this boy that I met in Hollow Bastion a few years ago, you know after I fought Xemnas for the first time," he replied.

"Why are you just starting to think about him now?" Kairi asked as she sat up from he leaning position.

"I don't know, it's just that I didn't really remember it until now," he said looking out upon the ocean.

"What's his name?" Riku asked throwing the bottle aside.

"I think his name was--- Ryan."