Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back, but first:

Azure Legacy: Thanks. The two now have respect for each other after the fight, so yeah.

Spartastic 4: I was wondering what felt a bit off, so I'll be sure to try that. Either way, thanks.

Guest: Thank you, point still stands.

Now, let's continue!

Chapter 2: More Questions to Answer

Aerith walks in the backstreets with a interesting duo of a talking dog and duck. The duck wore mainly blue traveling clothes as the dog also wore traveling clothes, colored green, black and brown respectively. The duck held a special magic staff and the dog held a special shield as the three looked around.

"Where did all those heartless come from?" The duck asked.

"I'm not sure. All I know is that there is a stronger one that's drawing them here." Aerith answered.

"Do you know where the boss is?" The dog asked.

"I'm not sure. Right now, we just need to find the others."

Suddenly, a puff of smoke appeared in front of them and her friends appeared.

"Hey." Leon greeted nonchalantly.

The duck and dog were surprised at this, but Aerith simply spoke in response.

"We were just talking about you guys. Where were you?" She asked.

"We found the key, or rather keys, and gave them the rundown." Yuffie answered.

"Wah!? THREE keys!?" The duck yelled out in disbelief.

"I thought there were only one key." The dog mentioned.

"Well, that's just it. It seemed the extra two was just a coincidence." Merlin added, "You two were sent by the king, correct?"

"Yes, they were. This is Donald and Goofy." Aerith answered, gesturing to who's who.

"Nice to meet you." Goofy greeted, which Donald simply waved.

"So, where are the others?" Aerith asked.

"We told them to find the boss while we find you. Now that we did, I guess we head back to them." Leon answered.

Merlin lets out a sigh, "You're draining me, you know."

"I figured." Leon then pulled out an Ether, "Here."

Leon then tossed it at Merlin, it dispersing over him to replenish magic.

"Much appreciated." One teleport spell later, they were gone.

Sora and the others enters the Third District, which was unnaturally quiet except for their footsteps.

"Be careful, this might be an ambush." Ragna warned.

They walked down the stairs as above them, Leon's group appeared on a balcony.

"They're around here... down below, most likely." Merlin said.

Donald and Goofy looks over and sees who they were talking about. Three of them they don't know, the fourth...

"Wait, isn't that the one who brought King Mickey back to the tower?" Goofy mentioned, pointing at Aqua.

"Yeah! But that was years ago." Donald said.

"You mean when we met... what was his name? Van? Von? V-" Goofy was suddenly cut off as Donald yelled, spotting a moving barrel with spider legs charging at them.

Leon and the others noticed the yell, but were caught off guard with an explosion, sending Donald and Goofy off the balcony into the sky.

The four down below heard screaming from above getting louder, looking up to see a duck and dog falling. Ragna, Aqua and Terra moved out of the way, but Sora was a bit slower as the two fell down upon him.

Terra was confused, Ragna scratched his head, but Aqua recognized who landed on Sora.

"You must be looking for us, correct?" She asked as the three helped the others up to their feet.

Donald dusted himself off as he simply answered, "Yes."

"But it's nice to finally meet you. I'm Goofy and this is Donald." Goofy greeted.

Ragna finished helping Sora to his feet as he responded, "Ragna. This is Sora."

"Hiya..." Sora said, still feeling the pain before Aqua used a Cure spell on him and turns to the duo. "I'm Aqua."

"And I'm Terra." Terra finished.

"Terra... Terra..." Goofy was repeating his name as it sounded familiar, but was interrupted when a loud rumble shook the area, pillars rising up to block any exits from their position.

"Get ready." Ragna said, the others summoning their weapons as a sudden howl was heard.

They looked around to then find the beast from before was standing above over the statue of two dogs, growling a bit before letting out a roar. The roar was echoed throughout the district for a bit before something fell from the sky, landing on the ground a few feet away from them.

The heartless was a set of disconnected armor colored a deep blue before it started floating up, forming a giant humanoid and was ready for battle.

Ragna looked back to see the beast was gone before focusing back on the fight.

"Aim for the limbs, we can take it down one by one." Aqua suggested, which the others agreed to.

"What can you guys do?" Ragna asked Donald and Goofy.

"I'm the King's Magician!" Donald answered with pride.

"I'm the Captain of the Royal Knights!" Goofy answered, also with pride.

"...I meant skills, but that'll work. Goofy, you join up with Sora. Donald, keep your distance and watch your aim." Ragna ordered.

The two agreed, the group now ready as the armor jumped at them. They dodged the attack before starting their formation, the melee fighters engaging while the mages kept their distance.

Ragna and Terra took on the feet as Sora and Goofy handled the hands. As they swung, they immediately noticed the armor was quite tough as their attacks only scratched it. Not having it, Ragna swung with both hands to leave a deep cut across the foot.

"Just swing harder!" Ragna called out, which the others heard and followed through.

As they do just that, Donald swings his staff to pepper the torso with Firaga fireballs as Aqua cast Thundaga bolts upon the head. The armor was getting damaged, but then separated itself.

The hands spun like a twister to knock away Sora and Goofy as the feet stomped down upon Ragna and Terra to force them back while the torso spun itself like a spinner towards Aqua and Donald, which she blocked with a barrier spell. The limbs and body jumped up into the air to reconnect, the armor falling fast to the ground to make a shockwave. The group was stunned for a moment at this sudden counter, which the armor took advantage of.

It then sent its hands to attack, its left launching at Ragna with a straight punch. He blocked it, but the force made him slide right into one of the pillars. Its right tried to slam Terra into the ground, but he blocked it as well, his feet pinned down as he pushed back against the force. The left changed targets and flew around to hit Sora, but Goofy was quick on his feet to shield it, only for the two to get knocked off their feet. Terra knocked the hand back and was now fighting both hands at once.

"Back off!" Aqua jumped up to perform Prism Rain in anger, but something in the attack changed. As she fired, it wasn't rainbow colored orbs, but a rain of dark energy that flew. She landed as the attack hits the armor, the sudden darkness shocking her deeply.

"H-How... did I..." Aqua looked at her hands as she tried to process this.

However, her attack did get the armor's attention as Terra charged his own.

"Eat this!" Terra leaped and slammed his keyblade into the ground, sending a group of small meteors down upon the armor. It did good damage, destroying its right hand in the process.

"That would have at least take both hands out." Terra muttered to himself.

The armor looks back at Terra as Donald and Goofy grouped up, performing a double attack as Donald conjured a large Firaga ball for Goofy to hit it with his shield like a bat, hitting the right foot with an explosive impact to destroy it. As it hit, Ragna quickly climbed to the top of a pole and performed an enhanced Belial Edge to destroy the left hand and slash the back of the torso.

Ragna landed on his feet as he looks to Aqua, "Aqua!"

His shout restored her focus to the fight, "Uh, right!"

With a swift motion, she fired a large Blizzaga spell to destroy the left foot, leaving only the torso left. As a last resort, it spun like crazy to attack all around the area to hit its opponents. Unfortunately for the heartless, it was stopped as Aqua summoned the golden chains to hold it down.

"Go!" She called out.

Ragna and Terra dashed at the torso, performing a cross slash attack as Sora leaped for a downward slash finisher, the three landing as the torso disappeared along with the chains, a glowing heart floating into the air before also disappearing.

"All right!" Sora cheered as the rest came over to him, the pillars going back down to the ground in the process.

They put away their weapons as Goofy spoke up, "Gawrsh, you guys are great!"

"Glad to know that, at least." Donald said offhandedly.

Ragna took notice of that comment as Goofy continued, "You know, you should come with us. We can travel to other worlds aboard our vessel."

"That's good to hear. What do you have?" Terra asked.

"It's called the Gummi Ship." Donald answered.

"Gummi Ship?" Ragna repeated.

"I'm not surprised the king uses it." The group turns towards the voice, which belongs to Merlin as his group shows up.

"He was the one to tell our king about it, revealing the possibilities of other worlds." Leon explained.

"Your world also had a king?" Goofy asked.

"Yes, though we believe he went missing after our world fell." Aerith answered.

There was a brief pause for some reason, which Ragna spoke up to get back on topic. "Anyways, we're gonna need a group discussion first."

Goofy and Donald nodded in agreement, allowing Ragna to take his group over a good distance away before talking.

"Any reason we're doing this?" Terra wondered.

"To make sure we're on the same page. But first..." He then turns to Aqua, who was quiet the whole time. "You all right?"

She looks at him and slowly responded, "I was able to use darkness... but, I don't remember succumbing to it."

"I saw that. Maybe it's a side effect from the Dark Realm?" Terra guessed.

"That's not a bad theory..." Aqua agreed as she placed her hand up to her chin.

"If that's the case, it may explain what happened with me. My attacks should have done more damage during the battle." Terra followed up with.

"I know what you mean..." Ragna commented, remembering the times his power got tampered with.

"Well, it can't be all that bad. In fact, maybe this is a way to actually get stronger than before. I just got this power, so I'll be growing stronger alongside you guys." Sora said, trying to raise morale between them.

"Good point. Did wonders for me." Ragna smirked.

"All right, I'll take on the challenge." Terra said with determination.

"Same here." Aqua agreed.

"All right, with that out of the way, what about them?" Ragna said to get back on topic.

"If we can find my friends while traveling, I'm all for it." Sora accepted.

"I don't see why not. I met them before and they care about their king." Aqua agreed.

"You did?" Terra questioned.

"Yeah, they were at Master Yen Sid's tower." Aqua answered.

"I didn't see them..." Terra thought about his visit to the tower as he said this.

"That may be true... but Donald doesn't leave a good first impression." Ragna warned.

"Goofy seems nice." Sora pointed out.

"He's all right... but I'll keep my eye on them." Ragna said.

"Guess we're on the same page then." Terra finished up with as the group walked back over.

"Sorry about that. We'll go with you, we got people to find too." Sora said.

"Great! But, I'm not sure if we have space for all of us." Goofy remembered.

"Hang on..." Donald then lifted his left arm with a bracelet that had a small screen and pressed a button, showing two chipmunks on it.

"Hey, Donald! Whatcha need?" The black-nosed one asked.

"We're gonna need some extra space, about three more seats is fine." Donald answered.

"Three? I thought we were getting one person." The red-nosed one questioned.

"Actually, two of them also wield the keyblade." Donald mentioned.

"Whoa, really!? That's good news!" The black-nosed one cheered.

"Yep! Hope it isn't a problem for you two." Goofy said.

"No worries, we just need some time to install them. We'll call back when we're ready." The red-nosed one said before the transmission ended.

The groups have returned to the First District, where Ragna and Sora are talking with Leon, Yuffie and Aerith.

"Your journey is gonna be tough, so you best be prepared." Leon said.

"This is from all of us." Aerith said, handing Ragna a small bag. He opens it to look inside, showing diamond-shaped orbs colored yellow and blue on two separate halves. It came in various sizes, from large to small.

"What's this?" Ragna asked.

"Munny, a universal currency we use. There is enough for you to get what you need." Aerith answered as he closed the bag.

"And this is from Squall." Yuffie said, handing them an Elixir as Leon corrected her, "Leon..."

"Thank you." Sora said as Ragna also took it.

"Be sure to look out for each other." Leon said.

Ragna nodded in response as Leon's group went off, Sora putting his hands behind his head as Ragna puts away the items.

Meanwhile, Aqua and Terra were talking with Merlin, Donald and Goofy.

"Your king sent me to help you on your magical capabilities." Merlin said.

"I already know the best spells." Donald bragged.

"I mean, for practice. Magic always evolve with the user, no matter the skill." Merlin said, which caught the pair's attention as they walked over.

"I'm actually curious about how magic works here." Ragna mentioned.

"Ah, want to learn how to use magic as well?" Merlin asked.

"That would be awesome!" Sora instantly answered in excitement.

As for Ragna, he thinks on that. Magic in his world was super rare, only knowing a few who do. However, magic here is everywhere. It would expand his combat options and help him in areas he lacks...

"I'm with Sora, it would be awesome." Ragna agreed, but thought of a question. "How do you use it?"

"Simple. Magic is connected to the mind of the user. It must be learned, similar to everyday activities, and practice makes perfect as that will make the spell evolve into stronger ones. As for the actual usage, it uses your energy the same way you use physical actions. However, there is only one exception that anyone can use."

"What's that?" Sora asked.

"A passive ability we call Aura. Everyone has one to protect them, even a normal person. The strength of it is connected to their heart, of course." Merlin explained.

That explains a bit to Ragna, the fights he had with Leon and that armored heartless showed that while he still felt the pain, there wasn't a wound there. He didn't really think about it, due to his healing factor, but now he has an extra shell for protection.

"Now, while it takes quite some time to learn at least one spell, I've created a way to learn them faster with a transfer spell." Merlin said, pulling out his wand.

He then did a few fluid swipes before summoning three small spheres around Ragna and Sora, the spheres being red, blue and yellow respectively. After a moment more, they entered the duo harmlessly as Merlin stopped.

"There you are. Now you have the three basic elemental spells, use them well." Merlin said.

"Thanks." Ragna simply said as Sora is jumping up and down in excitement.

"But of course. Oh, I almost forgot! While magic evolves over time, it actually grows faster when around other mages." Merlin said before summoning a journal in his hand, "And this here will help you on your journey as well."

Ragna took it and opened it to read as Aqua asked, "Does that belong to you?"

"Oh no, it's just a copy of a journal written by Ansem the Wise, a sage widely respected in our world. After he went missing, we found it and wrote copies to help others." Merlin answered.

"No kidding. He wrote down stuff about those heartless we fought with." Ragna said, walking over to the others with the journal flipped towards them.

He was right, the heartless even had names. Shadow, Soldier, Large Body, and Guard Armor were the ones they faced so far. There were even more classes as everyone kept a mental note of it, Ragna closing the journal as he spoke.

"He also wrote how he discovered the heartless and other stuff." He mentioned offhandedly.

"Then did he cause the heartless to show up?" Terra asked.

"We won't know until we ask him ourselves." Ragna answered.

"I'll be at my home if you need me. Goodbye for now." And with that, Merlin left with a teleport.

That leaves Terra, Aqua, Donald, and Goofy as they sat at the cafe with Ragna and Sora heading to the shops. The first one he enters has three ducks that wore matching clothes of a long sleeved shirt and a cap. They only stand out from each other as the colors they wore were red, blue, and green respectively.

"Welcome! How can we help you?" The red one greeted.

"What do you have?" Ragna asked.

"Well sir, we sell potions, ethers, and even weapons if you have that much." The blue one answered.

"More potions will help out in the long run." Sora pointed out.

"Uh, what do they do?" Ragna questioned.

"Potions heal your wounds and ethers restore your magic. We also have stronger ones if you're interested." The green one explained.

In the end, they obtained two Potions, two Hi-Potions, one Mega-Potion, two Ethers, and one Mega-Ether before leaving. They then entered the accessory shop where Cid greeted them.

"Hey there, I guess you found who you were looking for." He said.

"That's right. This is one of them, Ragna." Sora said.

"Hey." Ragna simply responded.

Cid nodded at that before looking at Sora, "Whatcha need?"

"We're about to take off, so we need to be prepared." Sora answered.

"I see. Well, we have various accessories that has special effects, as well as gummi parts for your ship." Cid said.

"Gummi parts?" Ragna asked.

"Yep. Leon told me what happened, so I made sure to offer what I know to make your travels easier." Cid answered.

"That's good to hear." Ragna said before a new voice spoke up.

"Hello there, kupo!"

The three looked at the doors to see a... floating plushie? It was white with small purple bat-wings on its back and a red orb hanging like an antenna. While it's clearly an interesting creature, it looked like a stuffed animal.

"Uh, hi there." Sora waved at the creature.

"Oh yeah, this is a Moogle. They can give you various information about the other worlds. They also have a shop upstairs, but they're still renovating." Cid informed.

"He is correct, kupo! Come to me when you have questions, kupo!" The Moogle said as it floated to the lounge corner.

While accessories were interesting, as well as the parts, they decided to ask the group about it before purchasing anything. As they exited, they walked over to the group who is now at the gate.

"We are good to go! Got everything we need?" Goofy asked.

"Yeah. Time to get going." Ragna answered.

The group exited the gate to enter their transportation, a colorful ship. Donald and Goofy showed them a short tour of the resting quarters and the cockpit that has a storage chest for their items. After they placed their key items, they looked upon the extra seats and decided who sits where. Sora sits up front in the middle as Ragna sits behind him, Aqua behind Goofy and Terra behind Donald.

"All right! Buckle up!" The chipmunks from before showed up on the monitor up front.

"I'm Chip!" The black-nosed one introduced himself.

"And I'm Dale!" The red-nosed one followed up with.

"We'll be your engineers for this journey, taking care of the ship as you travel to new worlds!" Chip said.

"So be sure to not damage anything!" Dale warned.

"Anyways, keep your belts on as we warm up the engines!" Chip then pressed a button that made the ship vibrate.

"Three... two... one... blastoff!" Dale then pressed a button next to Chip to launch the ship off the ground.

Ragna couldn't believe he's in space as he looked at the stars, enjoying the view as they flew to the next world.

DONE! All right, a lot to say here:

1. Vs. Guard Armor - Destiny's Force (Great song for those big heartless)

2. The side quests are either along the way or already completed. Ansem's Reports is one I decided to have completed as a nice way for entering chapters and reading material for Ragna on the trip. As I mentioned two chapters before, the dalmatians is one we're doing along the way. The others are gonna be shown later.

3. For clarity on the new stuff:

A. Magic evolves over time with practice as it is connected to the mind, allowing the user to cast spells even when wounded or has a status aliment. The power of the spell depends on the strength of the heart through the aura surrounding the person. Bonus point, using it while surrounded by experienced mages speeds up the growth of the user's spells. Speed varies on the skill of the other mages.

B. Speaking of aura, it's a passive ability for anyone that protects them from attacks. It also depends on the heart's power, so a normal person isn't as strong as a keyblade wielder for example. Think of it as kinda a third layer of skin, so status ailments still affect them.

C. Items such as Potions and Ethers have the same properties, but the way they are used is actually by calling out someone's name or simply tossing it over their own head.

(Ex. Ragna: Aqua! *tosses a potion, it teleports over her head and heals her*)

D. While I made the heartless stronger, I also gave Terra and Aqua a side effect to weaken their full strength. Terra's reason is because he's just half of what he is for obvious reasons. Aqua's reason is due to how long she spent in the Realm of Darkness, pushing out some of her darkness to the surface.

3. The Moogles do what they do in the games, Item shop works the same, but I moved Cid's Gummi shop into the accessory shop because that makes sense.

4. In the original series, I'm guessing Ansem the Wise was kinda like a ruler in Radiant Garden, but I decided to give the world an actual king. Take a guess who it is.

I also gave a longer chapter to mainly end our first visit here as I wanted to get on with the other worlds. As for the order we go in, I know the usual way, but I altered it. You'll see what I mean, so until next time, see ya next chapter!