Chapter Twenty-One: The Sword in the Stone

"Whoa! Where'd you get the new duds, Roy?" Jason asked me upon my immediate arrival.

"The fairies made 'em for me. It's kinda nice, too… not having to wear a musty, blood-stained coat," I replied. "Well, any idea where we should start looking for Merlin?" I asked.

"He's usually at Hollow Bastion… er… the Radiant Garden," Riku said. "But I didn't see him around after the battle."

"Maybe… he's gone to teach King Arthur," I mused. "Arthur accidentally pulled Excalibur out of the stone, and Merlin was there when he did it."

"So, we're going to look for King Artie? That's gonna be such a pain, to find one specific world…" Jason grumbled.

"Nah. All we gotta do is engage enemies in several terrific space battles until we find his world," I said. "Shouldn't be too hard." Indeed it wasn't. We only had to go through a few routes (which meant a few terrific space battles) before we found the English Countryside. After beaming down, we found ourselves near a river. An arrow sat in the dirt, while I could see Merlin overlooking the river. He must have been looking at his reflection.

"Ah! So you've arrived," Merlin said in an enthusiastic voice. "Yen Sid's told me of what you need. Wait just a moment, and I shall teach you along with a young boy."

"King Artie?" Jason asked.

"Artie?" Merlin asked.

"Ah, nothing. Just ignore that," I told Merlin just as I heard footsteps in the underbrush. Moments later, a young boy came running up to our small party. I could tell who it was: King Arthur, though he didn't know it.

"Excuse me, but have you gentlemen seen an arrow?" Arthur asked.

"It's right here," Riku said, handing the arrow to him. He took the arrow and began to walk back through the woods before Merlin interrupted him.

"Wait! Wait just a minute!" Merlin said loudly. "I sense great untapped potential in you. If you wish it, I would train you."

"Potential? In me? All right," Arthur replied, turning around.

"Well, before we get started, I at least need to know your name," Merlin told him.

"My family calls me Wart. But everybody else calls me Arthur," Arthur replied.

"Very well, Arthur. I shall show you, and Roy, what you need to know," Merlin told us. He then cleared his throat. "First, you must learn that wit is more important than strength."

"…wit? More important than strength?" I asked. Then I collapsed in laughter. I couldn't stop laughing for fifteen minutes. How could wit be more important than strength?

"What is so darn funny?" Merlin asked. I was finally able to get up, and stopped laughing.

"I'm sorry… it's just that in all my battles, all that really mattered was power… if you were stronger, you won. Period," I said. "To think that wit could be more important than strength… for me, it's absurd."

"Well, then, you shall learn this lesson well. Alakazam!" he shouted, pointing his wand at us. In a flash of light, I was turned into…

A weasel.

Yes, a weasel. Looking up, I saw Merlin. He was huge compared to me! I looked down at my tiny paws. Then Merlin shot a small magic blast at me, and I scurried off. After climbing a tree, I didn't know what to do. If I went over by Merlin again, he'd probably just shoot at me with another magic blast. What to do, what to do…

Unfortunately for me, a fox soon came up to the tree I was hiding in. It came snapping up at me, but I narrowly dodged said fox. I knew I didn't have enough strength to beat it in a fair fight. Dashing down the tree, I quickly dug a hole and hid in it. The fox quickly went over to my hole, though, and was snapping at that soon. I dug around and up, making an exit. Before I could get away, though, the fox was on me and I was forced to retreat into my small tunnel.

I gotta get out of here, I thought to myself, but how? I needed a plan, and I quickly came up with one. From the rough center of my tunnel, I dug another tunnel, making a 4-way intersection. I went over to one of the new entrances and popped my head out. The fox instantly came over by me, but I ducked back in quickly. I did this several times in a pattern before breaking the pattern and running off.

I found Merlin and was quickly turned back into a human. Jason and Riku were already (still?) there.

"My word, that took you a long time! Wart has already learned another lesson!" Merlin said as I was changed back.

"And what lesson is that?" I asked.

"Love," he told me,"and now you must do the same," Merlin said, raising his wand.

"Wait!" Jason shouted. "We don't need to learn about love, 'cuz we know the difference between love and infatuation. We're eighteen."

"Except me. I'm seventeen," Riku piped in.

"Very well," Merlin said," I can see your point."

"Then what's next?" Riku asked.

"I shall change you into your animal incarnations," Merlin said.

"Animal incarnation?" I asked.

"Yes, you see, every human has an animal they are most like," Merlin explained. "If you know what animal that is, you may come to realize something about yourself."

"Okay, what do we do?" Jason asked.

"Simply clear your minds and close your eyes. I shall do the rest," Merlin said. We did so, and after another flash of light, I opened my eyes. Ironically, I didn't feel any different than last time… save a whole lot stronger.

I looked over on my left to see a grey wolf, and on my right was a red fox. I could tell the wolf was Riku, and the fox was Jason.

"Now, while you may realize what Riku and Jason are, none of you can figure out what Roy is, can you?" Merlin asked.

We all did our best to shake our heads.

"Roy is a wolverine. Fierce and strong," he said. "Now scurry along until I can find that blasted Wart."

I hopped on Riku, and we began wandering around the woods. We encountered a few groups of Heartless, but they were nothing to worry about. We eventually came across a small shack, where it seemed Merlin was arguing with a pink-haired woman.

We sat down on a log (except Riku, who sat beside the log) and watched the two throw magic spells at each other. It was really pretty amusing. If I could have laughed, I would have. In the end, it seemed like Merlin was overpowered, as the woman had turned herself into a pink dragon.

"I'll leave this to you for a moment!" Merlin shouted, running past us. I looked back at him in disbelief as he dashed into the woods. Soon the dragon was at our log, and kneeled down to stare me in the eyes. I didn't flinch.

After a few seconds of staring down a dragon, I attacked her full-on. Jason and Riku had also charged at her, as I could tell from their snarls. I attacked her face, narrowly dodging jaws and flame breath, I scratched at her eyes. That just pissed her off.

I slid down her back, then picked her up by the tail (yes, I was that strong). After swinging her around a couple times, and after Jason and Riku had jumped off, I threw her. The dragon went crashing into the hut, and a small bird flew out of it. Merlin promptly came running back in, dashed over to the wrecked shack.

A moment later he came out. He then zapped the bird with a spell, who quickly became Arthur again.

"So have I learned enough?" Arthur asked.

"Not enough. I have more lessons for you," Merlin said, ignoring us.

"But I want to go!" Arthur protested.

"Well, blast me to Bermuda…" Merlin began shouting, but subsequently disappeared.

"Wow! How lucky!" Arthur exclaimed, then went running off. I looked at Jason and Riku, and we followed him. Going across grassy fields, Arthur eventually stopped in a house, then came back out with a knight on a horse. We continued our pursuit. Eventually we came to London, where every house was empty. Merlin finally reappeared and turned us back into our human selves.

"Blast, I've wasted time! Forgive me for leaving you like that," he said.

"Fine, fine… I'm just glad I got my shoes back!" I said. "Well, have we learned enough?"

"Yes… but before you go, I have one last request of you. Watch the tournament to decide the King of England," Merlin instructed us.

"Yeah, yeah…" Jason muttered as we walked off. We went and found a few seats, despite stares from the locals (because of our weird clothes). It was a simple jousting tournament with swords. After a few rounds, a man named Kay was up next, but instead came out with Arthur, who was holding a slightly glowing white sword.

Moments before they said anything, Heartless came attacking.

"You guys know what we have to do!" I shouted, jumping down into the stadium. The entire arena was in disarray as we drew our weapons. There was nothing but basic Shadows, but their number was staggering, to say the least. In the end, a Darkside came after us. It was awfully strong, so I used my True Form to quickly finish it off by decapitation.

"Let's get out of here!" Riku yelled, and we all beamed up to the Gummi Ship, assured our newfound wisdom would be enough.