Hey, fellow readers! Back with yet another, with:
Spartastic 4: We will. Yay, I'm improving! Compared to other entries, V is the worst, with probably the only good thing being Ezio from Assassin's Creed being the guest character. Now you know. Yes it does and I appreciate it.
Sonicdude8: Same here, I would welcome it as long as it makes the story flow well. When I watched the movie again for a refresher course and saw the ending, I immediately got how this world ends in mind and I'm glad it came out nicely. Noel would be a badass princess. And you shall receive... later.
Azure Legacy: OK, good. Glad it flows well and getting a nice moment intentionally right this time. I know, right? Yes they will. We shall see if you guessed right, but not now.
So, let's get going!
Chapter 6: Return Trip
When the six returned in the Gummi Ship, they find themselves greeted by the dalmatians from earlier. Aqua went to pet them as the others watched.
"And how many of these guys are out there?" Ragna asked.
"Leon said there was ninety-nine of them." Aqua answered, much to the surprise of others.
"Ninety-nine!?" Sora was the first to speak from the shock.
"Yeah. Surprised me too when he said that." Aqua admitted.
Ragna just sighed in response, remembering the Kaka kittens from his world, but placing the pups in their place.
"A literal dog pile..." Ragna shuddered a bit at the thought.
Once Aqua placed the pups back in the mini doghouse Chip and Dale made, and the rest recovered from their shock, the six set a return course to Traverse Town that wasn't as long as before since they had the coordinates.
The six walked into the accessory shop with the pups in tow. Ragna, Terra and Sora carried four of them each as Cid climbed down from a ladder to the second floor, placing his feet on the ground before turning to see the group, surprising him.
"Shit! Don't just pop in like that!" He exclaimed, his left hand over his chest. "Nearly gave me a heart attack..."
"Sorry about that." Goofy apologized.
"We came back when we got this." Donald said, walking over to Cid to then hold out the gummi piece they found earlier.
Cid takes it to examine it, "Ah, these are known as navigation gummis. They usually come in a pair to function fully."
"A pair, huh? Then the other is in a different world." Aqua guessed.
Cid then sees the pups in their possessions, "Hey, you found them!"
"Some of them..." Ragna corrected.
"Right, right, there are more. Still, seeing those guys will cheer their parents up." Cid pointed out.
The mention of their parents made the pups squirm in excitement, making the guys struggle a bit to keep their grip.
"We're almost there, guys! Just a little longer!" Terra said to calm them down, to little avail.
"And before you go, take this." Cid then reached over his counter and pulled out a book that Terra and Aqua recognized.
"Wait, isn't that Merlin's?" Terra questioned.
"Yeah. He found it recently and it was tearing apart when he brought it to me. He gave it to me to repair and I think I did a good job." Cid explained as he handed it to Goofy.
The six walked through the second district to the dalmatians' house, which upon entering were greeted by Leon as he was headed to the door himself. He was also surprised that they had some of the pups.
"You weren't kidding about finding them." He joked as the guys put them down to the ground.
The pups ran around Pongo and Perdita as Ragna spoke, "Well, Sora found them and Aqua mentioned them after."
Aqua smiled sheepishly at that, "I was more concerned about you guys at the time, sorta slipped my mind."
"Either way, we got more to go." Terra pointed out.
After a brief conversation, and petting the dogs, the group headed off to see Merlin.
Terra lead the group this time, entering into the caverns behind the fire door. After the six hopped across the stones in the water, Sora was the last one to reach the island where the house resided and gazed at the surroundings as it reminded him of-
"There's something about this musty place..."
That wasn't him... he looks around to see the others aren't nearby, but sees a familiar face near the side of the house. The girl walked out so casually, as if she expected him to see her.
"It reminds me of the secret place back home, where we used to scribble on the walls."
Sora sees her entirely now, her auburn hair and blue eyes he recognized on the spot.
"I remember when we drew those silly faces of ours. Don't you?"
She looked at him with such a kind smile that he couldn't help but call out, "Kairi?"
"Hey, Sora!"
Sora looked in the other direction to the male voice, which was Ragna's as he walked over. Sora looked back towards Kairi, only to see her gone.
"You all right? You looked like you saw something." Ragna wondered, which Sora looked back at him in surprise.
"Wait, no! I saw her! I saw Kairi there a moment ago!" Sora explained.
"Kairi... one of your friends? You sure?" Ragna wasn't really following here.
Sora thought about it. He saw Kairi, but Ragna didn't...
"Was I seeing things?" Sora thought.
Ragna had his own ideas, which was maybe some sort of hallucination from the lingering madness of Wonderland... or her way of calling out to him?
"Well, we'll figure it out later. Don't wanna keep the others waiting." Ragna said, patting Sora on the shoulder for reassurance before the two went to the entrance.
When they entered, the others have already given the book to Merlin.
"Thank you very much. If you want to read it, I'll place it here." He said as he walked to the drawer by the bed.
He puts it on top where it had wood keeping it from falling before remembering something, "Oh yes! I recently met someone who knows you two." He said, referring to Terra and Aqua.
Before the two can respond on what he means, blue sparkles started to appear around the room for a moment before concentrating on a certain carriage near the group. The carriage started to glow until it burst, forming a female figure.
She was a rather short elderly woman that was a bit on the plump side, with fair skin, black eyes, and white hair under a faded blue hooded cloak that was over a simple blue dress. She had a large magenta bow that was tied on her front to hold the cloak together as the blue sparkles dispersed.
"Hello, my dears. It's been quite a while." The woman spoke with such kindness in her tone.
"I remember. Cinderella's Godmother, right?" Terra greeted with, which Aqua corrected him. "It's her Fairy Godmother."
"It's all right, I am both of those. Now, I was told you have new friends with you." Fairy Godmother mentioned.
"Yes, ma'am." Aqua then brought up Sora over to her side, "This is Sora, a young keyblade wielder like us."
"Uh, hi. Nice to meet you." Sora was a bit caught off guard at the sudden introduction.
"Ah yes, the "key" I believe the King mentioned." Fairy Godmother said.
At the King being mentioned, Donald and Goofy peeked out from behind Terra.
"You know the King?" Goofy asked.
"Oh yes, I was sent to assist you on your journey." Fairy Godmother answered.
"Let me guess, magic spells?" Donald questioned with a hint of sarcasm.
"Now now, that's Merlin's job. I'm here to help with summoning spells." The Fairy Godmother answered.
Ragna was surprised to hear some sass from her, making him chuckle a bit. The Fairy Godmother noticed him as he did, which made her curious.
"Now, I believe I have yet to meet you." She said.
"Oh, this is Ragna. We met him before we met Sora." Terra introduced.
"Nice to meet you." Ragna greeted with, but was more curious on her role. "So, you mentioned summoning? How's that work?"
"Oh well, I'll show you." Fairy Godmother pulled up her cloak on her arms like sleeves and raised her hand, only to look at it and see nothing.
She seemed to show a bit of frustration as she looked around, "Now, where did my wand go?"
The group was confused at this, only for a moment before Fairy Godmother had a realization. "Of course!" She said as she summoned her wand, making the group do a mental facepalm.
She spun her wand with a flick of her wrist and performed a small swirl until shooting out a ball of sparkling dust at Sora, him catching it with his hands before it dissipated to reveal a small clear gem.
"This is a summon gem. These hold a strong soul that narrowly escaped their world before it fell. Though they lack a physical form, you can call their spirit to assist you." She explained.
"Kinda similar to our Wayfinders..." Aqua remembered.
Terra knew what she meant. The Wayfinders allowed them to temporarily use their friends' abilities for a short time, which helped them in tough situations.
"Be warned though, only the person who holds the gem can perform the summon." Fairy Godmother and the group then see the gem glow in Sora's hands, "And it seems he has taken a liking to you."
"To me?" Sora repeated, now looking at the gem in wonder.
"That means you get first dibs." Terra said, ruffling Sora's hair as he does.
Sora couldn't help but show a toothy smile, which Aqua also smiled at. However, it was interrupted when Donald cleared his throat.
"Come on now, you haven't used any magic until now. Now, you're saying that summoning will be no problem?" He was skeptical at this, which is kinda understandable since Sora is just learning the basics in general.
"So, you're saying that you can do this?" Ragna questioned.
"Of course." Right after his response, he snatches the gem from Sora's hands and raises it high in the air. "I summon you!"
One...
Two...
Three...
Nothing happened. Donald was getting frustrated at this, "Come on! Work!"
Suddenly, a mighty roar was heard throughout the room as the gem glowed fiercely, making Donald jump and throw the gem in the air. Aqua was quick to catch it as Donald landed on his butt.
"It seems he doesn't like you." She commented, handing the gem back to Sora soon after.
"Ah, whatever." Donald shrugged off as he got to his feet.
"Anyways, we appreciate the help." Ragna thanked Fairy Godmother.
"Oh, it's no trouble. I'll see if I can find any more." She said before disappearing into blue sparkles, the carriage placed in her place.
Now that they have done what they needed to do and a little extra, the group warped back to the Gummi Ship.
When the six returned, the communicator came on to show Chip and Dale.
"Welcome back, guys!" Chip greeted.
"We called to tell ya the good news!" Dale said.
"Good news?" Goofy asked.
"Yup. That friend of yours, Cid was the name, helped install that gummi piece you gave him." Chip answered.
"Wasn't it just half of one?" Aqua asked.
"Even a little piece has a function. It seems that this piece can track nearby signatures we haven't reached yet." Dale explained.
"Makes traveling easier." Terra pointed out.
"Be sure to find more of these pieces so we can explore more worlds." Chip said.
Soon after saying that, the communicator turns off. The six got into their seats before the ship started up and flew once more.
As the ship flew the same course to Wonderland to head beyond, Ragna opened the storage chest and pulled out Ansem's journal to read. After turning the pages past the ones he read, he landed on the second entry. Immediately, the words felt different from previously.
It is my duty to expose what this darkness really is. In doing so, I shall conduct the following experiments:
Extract the darkness from a heart, place it into a pure one to then suppress and amplify the darkness within to see what happens.
The experiments caused the hearts I obtained from the test subjects to collapse, even those of the most stalwart. Despite how strong they can be, this proves how fragile hearts actually are.
My treatments produced no signs of recovery, leaving me no choice but to confine those who lost their hearts beneath the castle. Sometime later, I went below out of curiosity and was greeted by the strangest sight.
Creatures that seemed to be born from the shadows...
What are they? Are they sentient like us? Or perhaps... they are the remaining life of those that lost their hearts?
"Talk about a shift in personality..." Ragna muttered to himself.
The previous entry was written like a wise man who had doubts of his own knowledge and cared about his people, but this sounds more like the beginning of a scientist's fall to insanity. Was this the start of the man's downfall?
He hears a beeping noise and looked up, seeing Donald and Goofy investigating the radar.
With the pair, two blue dots were seen with their coordinates.
"These must be the new worlds." Goofy said.
"We should head to this one first." Sora suggested, pointing at the one that was closer.
"All right, setting course." Donald said as he presses a couple of buttons.
As they did that, Aqua and Terra spoke to each other.
"Are you sure about that?" Terra asked.
"There's a lot about him that reminds me of Ven." Aqua answered.
"I mean, I can see that. Maybe it's just a coincidence."
"I guess... it's just this feeling I have."
"I saw the kid with his friend Riku. He certainly acts like him, if that's what you mean."
Ragna overhears this, but kept reading more about the heartless. Turns out there are ones that use magic the same way as mages does, kinda like the beast he and Aqua faced in the Dark Realm.
"Might be a good time to start practicing." Ragna said to himself.
Next thing he knew, he hears the three up front talking. Looks like they arrived at the new world, so he puts the journal back in the chest as the trio spoke.
"You think King Mickey might be down there?" Goofy asked.
"In a backwater place like that? No way! Let's move on!" Donald answered before starting work on the controls.
Sora stopped him as he tried to convince him otherwise, "Hold on, Riku and Kairi might be down there. Can we just check it out first?"
Ragna heard this and got up from his seat as Donald spoke up, "Forget it! We're on an important mission!"
"We're seriously arguing about this? Just park it and let's get going." Ragna doesn't get why Donald is being stubborn all of a sudden over this, Aqua and Terra even got up to see what's happening.
"Aw, phooey!" Donald then started to turn the ship towards a different direction. But before anyone else spoke up, Sora suddenly jumped at the wheel and tried to turn it back.
"We're landing!" Sora wasn't taking any chances when it comes to his friends.
He and Donald was fighting over control as the ship rocked side to side, making the others try and keep their footing by holding on.
"Stop touching this! Get off!" Donald yelled.
The others tried to stop the fight, but a sudden jerk to the left sent Goofy onto the control panel with them, turning the wheel enough to make the entire ship perform barrel rolls all the way to the world.
And done! A little shorter chapter this time, but this was all just to put the dalmatians in a safe place.
I also wanted to have Donald show more of the arrogant side he had in the game, but kinda keep forgetting. So, why not have him try to show off his magic skills, but have it fall flat? Grows to antagonism over a certain argument and there we go.
Also took the time to mention other stuff such as a certain book and summons before heading to the next world.
So, thanks for reading, hope ya'll had an awesome Thanksgiving and see ya next chapter!