THE FOLLOWING THINGS ARE THE PROPERTIES OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS; I DO NOT OWN THEM AND MAKE NO MONEY OFF OF THIS STORY
Mahō Shōjo Lyrical Nanoha (Teana, various other characters) – 7Arcs
Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (Shion and friends/family) – 07th Expansion and Studio Deen
Shuffle! (Kaede Fuyō and associated characters) – Navel and Asread
Erika's New Perfume (Marie, Sarah, Erika, Timmy, Veronica) – DeviantArtist 'Lance the Young'
Mai-chan's Daily Life (Mai, Kizuna) – Waita Uziga
Star Wars (Ahsoka, Cody, Rex, Force Unleashed cast) – George Lucas, Lucasfilm
Halo (Forerunners, UNSC, Sangheili Alliance) – Bungie, 343 Industries
StarCraft (multiple characters, events, and devices) – Blizzard Entertainment
Naruto (characters, techniques, abilities) – Masashi Kishimoto
Mahō Sensei Negima (characters, spells, abilities) – Ken Akamatsu
Kingdom Hearts (characters, weapons, enemies, concepts) – Square-Enix
Neon Genesis Evangelion (characters, concepts, tech) – Studio Gainax
Elfen Lied (Kaede K., others) – Lynn Okamoto, Arms
Red vs. Blue (The Blood-Gulch Crew, the ex-Freelancers) – Rooster Teeth
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic – Hasbro, Lauren Faust
Transformers Film Series – Hasbro, Michael Bay
Transformers: Beast Wars – Hasbro, Mainframe Entertainment
Yu-Gi-Oh! – Kazuki Takahashi, Viz Media
Sonic the Hedgehog – SEGA
Gears of War – Epic Games
Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles – Columbia Tristar (I think)
Mass Effect – Bioware
Metroid – Nintendo
Puella Magi Madoka Magica – Gen Urobuchi, SHAFT
The Legend of Zelda – Nintendo
Tōhō – ZUN
RWBY – Rooster Teeth
Pretty Cure / PreCure – Toei Animation
Kill La Kill – Trigger
Cross Ange – Sunrise
Cardcaptor Sakura – Clamp
Sailor Moon – Naoko Takeuchi, Kodansha
Sailor Nothing – used with express permission of Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne; please visit his website for SN and his other original works
Fate/Stay Night, Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya – TYPE-MOON
Pokémon – Nintendo, GameFreak
PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES
-BOOK 37 START-
Realm LZ-T2
Temple of Time
Little Link, the 'Hero of Time', strode purposefully (and slightly nervously) up to the altar where a legendary blade was enshrined. Watching from afar were his counterpart / older 'brother', "Link the Hero of Twilight", and this timeline's young Princess Zelda. The elder Link already had his timeline's/realm's Master Sword, and now they were going to see if the younger Link could draw upon his world's as well. Although still a little boy, only 4 ½ feet tall, he still had an inch or two over when he first drew the Master Sword to wield against Ganondorf, only to end up sealed away for the better part of a decade because he'd been deemed too little to wield the weapon effectively. Hopefully, that little bit of growth would be enough so that wouldn't happen again…
Standing on the pedestal, Link wrapped his little hands around the hilt of the blade, closed his eyes, and, in a desperate hope, tried to 'think' his memories and thoughts of the current crises at the blade, hoping to convince it to let him wield it without sealing him away until post-puberty again. He pulled, and slowly the Master Sword pulled up and out of its resting place. Soon, the legendary blade was free. Link held it aloft, waiting…
Nothing happened. That is to say, no barrier of magic sprang around Link to seal him away. It seemed that, just barely, he was now tall enough to wield the Master Sword in his current state. Carrying the blade, he started towards his comrades, who both smiled. Then, however, the two Master Swords both briefly pulsed with light three times – way out of sync the first time, much closer the second, and finally simultaneous. It was as if they were synchronizing…
"Okay…" Navi said. "What was that all about?"
"The Bureau wanted to talk to you about something, right?" Twilight-Link said to his cute little counterpart. "Maybe they can figure it out…"
-Break-
Realm LN-34
RF6 Headquarters
"Hmm…" Shari pondered as the two Links told her of what they'd seen. "Curious. …Mind if I try scanning those swords?"
The duo drew their Master Swords and laid them side by side in the scanner of Shari's lab. After several seconds of scans and looking at the data, Shari's eyes visibly widened.
"The Master Swords… They were synchronizing, melding data and memory."
"Memory?" Child-Link asked. "How do the Master Swords have memory?"
She turned to them, and what she said next nearly bowled the Links over:
"Because these swords have an artificial intelligence in them."
-Break-
Shari spent the next hour pouring through the divine-forged 'code' imbued in the Master Swords; what had previously been two instances of whatever intelligence slept within them had merged, now being a single entity with the memories of both, existing in both blades at once. Now, she was doing whatever she could to bring this intelligence out of what appeared to have been centuries, if not millennia, of dormancy. The two Links were joined by Hayate and Reinforce, the latter using her arcane knowledge to assist.
Finally, both Master Swords' hilt-gems pulsed with pale-purple light and let out a whispery chime sound. With a flash, an orb of light shot up from them and quickly formed into a humanoid figure floating just above the ground. The intelligence was female in form, appearing like a girl the elder Link's age, but her body and 'hair' seemed to be made of a crystalline blue substance, with no obvious irises or pupils to her solid-blue eyes. She was clad in a form-fitting purple dress with a large gold-lined blue diamond on the chest, and her 'arms' were a pair of cape-like projections from the dress – left blue, right purple – along with blue-crossed black tights on her legs.
"Time stamp established" she announced, her voice bearing a slight synthetic reverb. "Checking logs… Confirmed total erasure of Demise's consciousness. Accessing records… Confirmed major enemy is high-level Keyblade wielder aligned with darkness and evil. Confirmed major enemy is reincarnation of Demise." She turned to look at the still-stunned Links. "…Bearers of the Triforce of Courage, separate souls from Master Link's but bearing his reincarnated essence and power." She then turned to Shari. "…You bear knowledge of magic-based artificial intelligences. You are the one who restored to me my awareness?"
Shakily, Shari nodded. "Y-Yes. It seems you already have at least some grasp of the situation."
"Indeed. …I detect you have modified my code, enabling the gradual development of a full emotional range beyond the little I already have. …Thank you."
"Who exactly are you, Spirit of the Master Sword?" Hayate asked.
"I am named Fi. When the Goddess, Hylia, first vanquished the Demon Lord Demise but failed to kill him, she knew he would return, so she created me and the Goddess Sword which I inhabited, to be found and wielded by the Spirit of the Hero, the champion of Hylia. That champion was the first youth to go by the name of 'Link'. In our travels to rescue Hylia's mortal reincarnation, the first Zelda, he used the Goddess Triad's sacred flames to empower me, evolving the Goddess Sword into the Master Sword. Together, he and I killed Demise, though I had to absorb what was left of Demise into the Master Sword, and enter a long slumber during the process to safely disassemble and dispose of it. That process is now complete.
"Unfortunately, it appears that Demise's dying curse towards the two who foiled him enabled his hatred and essence to reincarnate as the demon now known as Ganon, and his humanoid self Ganondorf."
"Ganondorf is literally a demon lord's grudge and hate given a mind and life of its own?" Young Link asked, stunned.
"Essentially, yes" Fi replied. "Whatever chance the Gerudo born as Ganondorf may have had to live a normal life free of evil's grasp was taken away before his birth, when he was fated to be the embodiment of that ancient curse of hatred."
"The Triad…" Twilight-Link spoke up. "Din, Farore, and Nayru… They must've foreseen that Demise's essence would reincarnate. That's why they somehow set things up so that whenever that did come to pass, there'd be a Link and a Zelda to stop him… right?"
Fi nodded. "And the Master Sword shall always be there to aid each Link in thwarting Demise's legacy. But this Xehanort has interfered with the cycle, perhaps even disrupted it. Time will tell. Whatever may come, I stand ready to assist the both of you in halting whatever destruction or conquest Ganondorf seeks to bring about, as well as in preventing Master Xehanort from forging the χ-Blade and using it to unmake all that is. Plus, there is the matter of the alliance of sorceresses, as well as the sadistic harlequin and the powerful artifact he has claimed…"
"Who would've thought the Master Sword was basically an Intelligent Device…" Shari muttered.
Hayate cleared her throat. "Well! Glad to have you with us, Fi. Now then, little Link. We have a spell for you to use; we were going to try and outfit you with a Storage Device to help with it, but perhaps with Fi helping…"
"What sort of spell?" the boy asked.
"Adult Mode. It's a transformation spell that would allow you to temporarily assume an aged-up form – in your case, perhaps the form you took during your first big adventure. Vivio and Einhart already have Adult Mode forms, and so will Sasuke's student Fuuka when her Device is complete, which should be quite soon."
Fi took a look at the magical 'code' of the spell, and nodded. "I am fairly confident I can assist in casting this spell, Young Master. Although you are just large enough to wield my blade in your current state, an older body will allow you to do so with more ease."
Little Link nodded. "Alright. Should come in handy…"
"Something just came to me" Navi spoke up. "That boy, Shirou… Didn't he use his 'Tracing' to create an empowered copy of the Master Sword once or twice?"
Fi accessed the records gathered during her dormancy. "I indeed have records of being wielded by Shirou Emiya, a naturally-talented user of Projection magic. He was likely able to do so due to his pure Heart and because of his connection to Excalibur, another divinely-forged blade similar in make & function to the Goddess Sword. …And it seems that, even in my dormant state, my unconscious programming started attempting to… fix him whenever he wielded the blade."
"Fix him?" Shari asked.
"Due to metaphysical damage to his mind and soul, possibly due to exposure to the Holy Grail when it was corrupted, Emiya possesses a dangerously lacking sense of self-preservation. Being willing to sacrifice oneself in defense of others is an admirable quality, but one who places no value in himself is liable to get himself maimed or killed unnecessarily. It appears the Master Sword's power attempts to gradually 'repair' that metaphysical damage whenever he wields a Traced copy of it."
"Here's hoping it helps, then," Hayate replied, "and we should maybe alert his parents about the matter and schedule Emiya-kun with a therapist…"
-SCENE BREAK-
Realm STH-17
Sonic and Shadow were relaxing and catching their breath after a sparring match outside Tails' cliffside workshop, looking out at the sea.
"Can't help but feel like everything's about to kick off, y'know?" Sonic said.
"Right" Shadow nodded. "It's that same feeling of tenseness and foreboding I felt right before the Black Arms showed up – everything looks normal, but you can somehow 'feel' that something big is just about to happen."
"Well, whatever comes, we'll handle it, just like we always do! Besides, I'm sure we'll get some warning, even if it's just a little. It's not like everything will go from zero to chaos in the blink of an eye."
As if to answer that, a burst of greenish lightning suddenly sprang up from nowhere behind the two hedgehog heroes, who spun around, getting ready for a fight. The light and lightning swirled around, and in a flash a figure appeared. The light slowly faded, and the newcomer slowly floated down to the ground, glowing with a faint green aura. He appeared to be another hedgehog, with silver fur, his quills spiking out wildly, and when he opened his eyes, he looked at them with utmost seriousness.
"Are you Sonic the Hedgehog?" he asked.
"Who wants to know?" Sonic replied.
"My name is Silver. I've come from the future. I've come… to make sure you don't die."
The two present-day hedgehogs' eyes widened. "Say what?" Shadow asked.
"In my timeline, a terrible calamity appeared. Its first act was to kill the two of you, destroying the only hope the world had of stopping it. Without Sonic and Shadow the Hedgehogs, the world was engulfed by ruin and fire. I've come back to make sure that doesn't happen."
"Does this mystery threat have a name?" Sonic asked.
Silver nodded. "Several names, actually. A jackal calling himself 'Infinite' who got hold of a powerful reality-altering relic, as well as a demon named Mephiles. Even as they ravaged the world, they also fought each other. In the end, Mephiles won, and he took the power Infinite had been wielding and used it to cause even more destruction and death."
"Well," Shadow replied, "we've never heard of this 'Mephiles', but Infinite is already a known factor. He's working with another realm's villain, an evil entity named Joker, and they've gotten hold of a powerful and dangerous artifact called the Phantom Ruby. Even in their hands, the Phantom Ruby is a major threat; if something like a full-fledged demon were to get his hands on it…"
"…Then things are already starting down that path. I'll do whatever I can to help you. Mind filling me in on anything you don't know?"
"Sure thing" Sonic grinned. "Come on inside, and we'll fill you in. But whatever is coming, I'm confident we can manage it, especially now that we have a little forewarning."
"Are you so sure about that, little blue~?"
The three hedgehogs startled as a new voice cut in. Looking around, they soon spotted a harlequin with a wicked oppressive aura standing atop a tree.
"Joker…" Shadow growled.
"You wanna fight already?" Sonic asked.
"Oh no, I'm just stopping by to check on you~" Joker replied. "Oh, and to let you know that it seems the Seekers of Darkness are gearing up to make their big move any time now. Should be entertaining~."
"Whatever they throw at us," Shadow said, "we'll handle it. And even if our own strength isn't enough, we have a trump card…."
"A trump card, you say? Hmm… would that perhaps happen to be these?"
The two hedgehogs then looked in stunned shock as the harlequin produced seven familiar jewels – the Chaos Emeralds.
"A shame that even my power fails to damage or destroy them…" he said, psychokinetically juggling them. "Of course… I don't have to destroy them to remove them from the equation…"
Shadow lunged at him at super-speed, but he simply teleported out of the way. Silver telekinetically lifted several boulders and a fallen tree, launching them all at Joker, but he again warped to dodge them. Then, he held his hand high, the Chaos Emeralds hovering overhead, and called upon the Phantom Ruby's power. Crimson energy enveloped the seven gems of power, and then there was a loud crack – the sound barrier being broken in an instant as the Chaos Emeralds were sent rocketing up, up, past the stratosphere, out of Earth's gravitational grip, out into interstellar space…
Joker laughed as the hedgehogs stared in stunned disbelief. "So much for your trump card, little hedgehogs! You'll have to come up with some other way to try and stop us! And if you can't… well… of course you won't. Ta-ta~!"
With a final echoing laugh, he vanished in a sparkly purple flash of light.
"…Damn it" Shadow murmured. "This is bad. Real bad."
"We better let the others know" Sonic said, his tone all-business. "Man, Knuckles is gonna be pissed…"
-SCENE BREAK-
The Realm Between
Sora, Donald, & Goofy followed Aqua as she led them through this dark and dreary realm, toward where she claimed Ventus was waiting. Recently, an expedition into the depths of Ansem's old laboratory had uncovered a series of secret chambers, and in the one the DDF had been able to open, they'd found Aqua's old Keyblade Armor and her old Keyblade, Stormfall, allowing her to finally reclaim them. Here, however, she had Master Eraqus' weapon, the Master Keeper, out and at the ready; she said she'd "locked" the way to Ventus with it, and so needed it to unlock.
Soon, they reached an enormous, distorted structure. Sora, Donald, & Goofy had no first-hand memory of this place, but thanks to the DDF they had finally learned of the events from their deleted memories, and through that they recognized this bizarre place:
"Castle Oblivion…" Sora murmured. "Ven is in here somewhere?"
"Well, sorta" Aqua replied. "This isn't the place's true form. Stand back…"
Drawing the Master Keeper, she held it pointing forward, and an ethereal golden keyhole appeared floating in front of her. A thin golden beam fired from the Keyblade's tip and into the keyhole, and then the power of Light surged. Sora and his comrades watched in awe as Castle Oblivion's various sections shifted around, retracting, appearing, changing in color & shape…
When the transformation finished, the castle had taken a much more traditional shape, and the dark sky overhead had lightened considerably. After over a decade, the Land of Departure had regained its true form.
"I'm home…" Aqua muttered sadly. "…Come on; Ven's inside."
Once inside the castle, Aqua led them down a couple of decorated corridors, and eventually into a very spacious chamber. At the far end of the chamber were three elaborate chairs, almost thrones. And seated in the center one was the white-clad, blond-haired boy Ventus, still unresponsive and 'empty', magical stasis and the loss of his Heart having kept his body from aging over the past 11-12 years. The quartet hurried over.
"I'm back, Ven" Aqua spoke softly, trying not to choke up. "I'm sorry I took so long. …Okay, Sora. Now that Ven's Heart has finished recovering inside you, I'll use the Power of Waking to rouse him and put him back in his body. It should be a quick and easy-"
"Well, well," a new voice suddenly intruded, "that was a neat trick. No wonder we couldn't find him…"
Startled, the heroes turned to see Vanitas casually waltzing in behind them. Donald immediately fired a Fira blast at him, but he vanished in a burst of speed, reappearing perched atop the throne Ventus was seated in.
"What are you doing here?" Aqua snapped, summoning her Keyblades.
"Sorry to interrupt your touching reunion," the Unversed Lord said, "but surely you won't begrudge me a moment with my brother?" He sighed. "So, Widdle Venty wants to keep sleeping. Man, what am I ever gonna do with you…?"
"You won't be doing a damn thing to him!" Sora shouted, calling forth the Kingdom Key, while Donald & Goofy readied their weapons as well.
"…Hmph. You folks are kinda in the way…"
(BOSS MUSIC: Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep OST – "Enter the Darkness")
Slowly standing to balance atop the throne, Vanitas suddenly leapt forward, summoning his Keyblade, and slammed down onto the ground to release a dark shockwave. The heroes were flung back, sent flying by the force, but Aqua threw her Keyblade in a Strike Raid at Vanitas, pulling off a Reverse Recall jump to warp herself to it and strike with a wide swing that he ducked backwards under. As he bent backward, Vanitas placed a gloved palm to the ground, and a shimmering purple barrier formed around the area, keeping Sora, Donald, & Goofy out. Straightening back up, he made his own strike, which Aqua blocked, the two of them pushing against each other.
"One at a time, huh?" he quipped. "Fine by me…"
Leaping back from each other, Aqua and Vanitas each fired a dozen bolts of Light and Darkness magic at each other, their bolts canceling each other out. Vanitas then fired a large orb of darkness-tainted flame from his Keyblade, traveling slowly forward… and then bursting into several smaller and much faster fireballs that spread out and then flew at Aqua in a converging formation. Aqua quickly formed a Reflega barrier around herself, and as soon as the attack had been repulsed she made her barrier explode outward, shoving Vanitas back to foil his dashing strike.
Aqua went on the offensive before Vanitas could recover, Stormfall in hand as she battered at his guard, pushing him back a little. Suddenly, after she landed a couple hits, he vanished, leaving an afterimage to throw her off for a split-second. However, Aqua remembered some of his tricks from when she fought him over a decade ago, and so she was ready when he popped up from underground right behind her, moving her Keyblade behind her black to block his swing aimed at her neck, and then spinning around and lashing out with a kick that sent him tumbling back.
Vanitas recovered faster than Aqua anticipated, lunging forward and pushing her back with a barrage of blows. He managed to get past her guard and land a few hits, and she flipped away and cast Cura on herself, then rolled to dodge a falling strike meant to split her in two. She flung a few Blizzard blasts at Vanitas, who countered with slicing waves of fire from his Keyblade. He then fired two more large fire blasts that burst into waves of little fireballs coming at Aqua from several directions, and when she formed a spherical barrier around herself to stop them, he lunged in with a spearing thrust that weakened her defense enough that some of his fire bolts got through.
As Vanitas tried to press his attack, Aqua conjured a swirling wall of water around herself to shove him back, and then made the conjured water strike forth in cutting lashes, smacking him away and tearing at his bodysuit. Letting out a soft growl, he held his Keyblade high and cast Thundara, dark lightning-bolts shooting down at Aqua from above, forcing her to dodge, leap, and flip, getting grazed once or twice. Vanitas then vanished again, but Aqua then tossed her Keyblade high. Right as Vanitas emerged from beneath the ground, Aqua teleported herself to her Keyblade, quickly charging power and then firing a Prism Rain barrage down at him. Vanitas cast a barrier and braced himself as best he could, trying to weather the storm, only succeeding in blocking a portion of the multicolored Light bolts.
Aqua came back down blade-first, but Vanitas rolled to the side and then charged back in. The two of them flew into a hectic, evenly-matched duel, clanging metal ringing out through the spacious chamber. She landed a couple of hits, but when he formed an afterimage he did not go underground; instead, he 'slid' to the side out of the illusory double, rolling right and then hitting Aqua in the side with enough force to send her airborne. But even as she tumbled, she threw Stormfall in a Strike Raid that nailed Vanitas square in the chest, knocking him back. Both combatants got to their feet, using magic to heal themselves a little.
"So," he said, "you've gotten even stronger and more skilled since last time, Aqua. …But… I know your weakness, one that hasn't changed." He began charging a very large amount of Fire- and Darkness-type magic at the tip of his Keyblade. "You're still…" and he abruptly spun and pointed the mass of power straight at a hole in the barrier that opened at his mental command, straight at the comatose Ventus. "…soft-hearted!"
Aqua's eyes widened in horror as Vanitas fired his attack. Acting on instinct, she rushed over and threw herself into the blast's path, shielding Ven with her own body. The impact knocked her out cold, leaving her to collapse limp to the floor. Vanitas chuckled as he walked over, raising his Void Gear for a killing blow…
…
'I have to wake up.'
'Yes! Please! Tell me how!'
'The Power of Waking…'
'I… I can't! I lost that power when Xehanort damaged my Heart!'
'No. You still have it. It's just been sleeping, waiting to be called. I know you can…'
In the ethereal plane dominated by a vibrant stained-glass platform bearing the likeness of Sora and of things & people precious to him, Sora glowed with a shining light from within his soul, a thought-lost power finally being reawakened. Floating upward, he formed his Keyblade, and light rolled across the circular platform, changing to a green-based image centered around Ventus' likeness. Focusing power into his weapon, Sora fired a beam of white light down into a keyhole at the center of the image. After a few seconds, a mass of light – a Heart – rose up.
'Thank you for keeping me safe all this time, Sora…'
The light shot upwards and out…
…
Just about to stab downward, Vanitas was startled as a blinding ethereal light erupted from the center throne. The light then shot forward, crashing into his dark barrier and quickly eroding through it, shattering it. With a roar, Ventus shot forward, swinging his Keyblade right at Vanitas' masked face. Vanitas quickly brought his own weapon up to block the blow, and the clashing power shattered the barrier.
Ventus leapt back, standing between Vanitas and the downed Aqua, Wayward Wind at the ready. Sora, Donald, & Goofy came in from behind, boxing Vanitas in, the Royal Mage also casting Curaga to rouse Aqua. Looking around, Vanitas growled softly.
"Three Guardians is more than I care to face right now. …But now that my brother is awake, I'm certain he'll come to visit us…"
With that, Vanitas vanished through a Corridor of Darkness, retreating. As Aqua got to her feet, she immediately pulled Ventus into a hug.
"Good morning, Ven…" she whispered, tears in her eyes.
"…Good morning, Aqua" he replied, returning the embrace.
After they broke apart, they noticed as 'the trio' came closer. Seeing Sora, Ventus was shocked by the similarity in appearance to Vanitas.
"You're… Sora?" he asked.
"Yep" Sora grinned. "'Sup, Ventus?"
"…I get it. You were my second chance."
"Huh?"
"Nothing" The revived Keyblade-wielder held out his hand for a shake. "You can call me Ven."
-SCENE BREAK-
Mysterious Tower
A sizable gathering was taking place in Master Yen-Sid's tower office – the old mage himself, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Riku, Kairi, Lea, Ven, and Aqua.
"At last," the old man said, "we are assembled. With Ventus restored, we have our 'native' Seven Guardians."
"We still haven't found Terra" Mickey replied. "He was serving as Master Xehanort's vessel, but now that Xehanort has been reincarnated in his own, older body, it should have restored Terra. But for whatever reason, that hasn't happened…"
"We'll find him" Ventus said. "And if Xehanort's still inside him, we'll kick the old bastard out! Somehow…" He turned to the gang. "I still can't believe that Lea's become a Keyblade wielder… or that he's gotten so tall – he's even taller than Terra!"
"Skinnier, though" Aqua replied with a little smirk.
"And I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Ventus and Roxas are identical" the wild-haired man said. "Well, maybe Roxas' hair is a little bit brighter blond… Now… All we've gotta do is save Terra from Xehanort's clutches, and find a way to get Roxas out of Sora and into a body of his own. Granted, I doubt actually getting an empty body for Roxas will be easy, but when has that stopped us?"
Though smiling, Sora felt a bit melancholy inside. 'So it's just like Marie and Fate told me about – when Xion died, all memories of her existence vanished from the minds of those who knew her. Even Lea, one of her best friends…' He held a hand to his chest. 'Roxas… Xion… I promise I'll find a way to save both of you.'
"I've got a lot to catch up on, don't I?" Ventus remarked.
"Not to worry" Jiminy Cricket appeared. "Chip and Dale and I have put together a new invention – the Gummiphone! We've got one for each of you all, and they have data and records and summaries on everything that's happened. You can read up if you'd like, and if anyone has questions, you can call each other!"
"Now then," Yen Sid spoke up, "I have received information from the stars. It appears that in the realm of Olympus, Hades is about to set some great plan into motion. No doubt this will mean trouble for Hercules and his friends. Sora, Donald, Goofy, tomorrow I would like you the three of you to head to Olympus and assist."
"Count me in, too" Ventus said. "I promised Hercules I'd come back to see him again. It'll be a lot later than I thought it'd be, though…"
"I wish I could help, too," Aqua said, "but I need to lead Sigma Team on a different mission; it won't be difficult, but the affair on Olympus will probably be over with by the time we're done."
"Maleficent and her allies are still searching for something" Yen-Sid continued. "We've received sightings of them on different worlds."
"When she and her new allies announced themselves," Sora said, "she mentioned the 'Book of Prophecies'… What is that, Master?"
"According to my research, it is an artifact from the Age of Fairytales, back when Keyblade wielders numbered in the thousands. Supposedly, the original was penned by the Master of Masters, the first wielder to discover the method of awakening Keyblades besides the Kingdom Key you carry, Sora; he then made copies for his most skilled apprentices. It is said that he was able to see the future, somehow, and wrote down all that he'd seen in the book."
"And that kind of knowledge is not something we want Maleficent to get her hands on" Riku surmised.
"Wait, Maleficent?" Ventus spoke up. "She's involved in all this, too?"
"It's in the records on your Gummiphone" Jiminy replied. "Suffice to say, she's been causing trouble across the worlds for years now – she may have picked up knowledge of how to leave her home world from Xehanort, way back during you guys' first adventure."
"And now she's teamed up with two other powerful dark sorceresses" Kairi continued. "Dyspear, and Salem. They're all helping each other seek their respective goals and targets."
"There is also a third faction involved" Yen-Sid told Ven. "Only two people, Joker and Infinite, but they possess a powerful artifact that can bend space & time, and blur the lines between illusion and reality… and, they are motivated by nothing more than spreading chaos, destruction, and fear across the worlds. …I've recently received word that the empowering artifacts of Light from Infinite's world, the Chaos Emeralds, have been flung into deep space by Joker to keep them out of the hands of that world's heroes."
"Oh, no…" Mickey murmured.
"Whatever comes," Sora said, "we'll handle it. For now, let's start with helping Herc secure his home."
Yen-Sid nodded. "You are all dismissed. Ventus, I suggest reading up on as much as you can before you depart. …Good luck, to all of us…"
-CHAPTER END-
I've decided to start on this Book after all. However, because I'm juggling multiple tasks, I don't get as much time to write as I'd like, so expect some waits between chapters. I may try to deliberately delay the Keyblade Graveyard chapter until the Re:Mind DLC comes out, and any new material before that world, I'll have to edit into already-posted chapters…
Something to get you folks excited, though: Team Sora's travels in this Book will not be limited to the worlds visited in the game…