Akari couldn't see very well in the Lanes Between. She assumed Ven could see since he was the one steering but all Akari felt was a dark coldness, yet she was right in her assumptions that the necklace would protect her.
Soon enough, Ven lifted his Disney Town pass and gestured to Akari to do the same. They held them out together and the two cards glowed before opening up a passageway. Ven immediately flew into it and together, they wound up in front of a strange looking world with a tall white and blue castle.
"This it?" Akari asked. Ven nodded.
"Yup! Let's go!" He flew down to the ground and jumped off, pulling Akari down before allowing his vehicle to vanish. Touching his arm, Ven removed his armor, save for the small piece on his upper left arm and then brushed himself off.
"How was the ride?" He asked Akari. She shrugged.
"Uneventful." Ven laughed and they looked around at the place they had just landed in. It was a rather lively town, booths, and buildings everywhere.
They had appeared in the center square it seemed and were standing in front of an alley when all of a sudden a giant strange looking cat appeared before them. He was wearing a mask with a J on it and wore a white suit with red lightning bolts. He had a matching red cape and white gloves.
"Wearin' the mask of peace and hope...comes the fearless defender and hero of this town! It is me—Captain Justice!" Akari tilted her head and looked at him strangely.
"Who?" The cat blinked.
"Why, Captain Justice. Hero of Disney Town! Don't forget to vote me for the Million Dream Awards!" Akari, still confused, turned to Ven.
"The wha-?" This question annoyed the cat greatly. He yanked the girl away from her friend.
"It's the biggest award in Disney Town! The most popular person in town receives the award and… a special prize." He said this sneakily, shouting in the girl's face and she turned to Ven who grabbed her and pulled her away from the cat.
"Uh..okay" Captain Justice nodded.
"Don't forget to vote me, Captain Justice for the Million Dreams Awards!" He ran off with those words, his cape flying behind him. Akari turned to Ven who shrugged.
"Looks like we should check out the booths." Akari followed the blonde haired boy as they walked over to an ice cream shop. Three ducks were scurrying around a red machine and a female mouse in a pink dress and crown was watching them with worry. She actually reminded Akari a lot of Mickey…
The young girl walked over to her and tugged at her hand.
"Oh!" The mouse looked down to see the small child. "Why, what is it, child?"
"Do you know Mickey?" She asked curiously. The mouse looked surprised before beaming.
"Why! I do indeed! My name is Queen Minnie. Have you seen him recently?" Akari nodded and Minnie smiled.
"That's good to hear. I had hoped he'd be back for the Dream Festival but I haven't heard a word from him since he left. Although…" she looked at the machine which the chipmunks were trying to fix. "At this rate, there might not even be a prize for the Million Dreams Award." Minnie sighed and Ven, hearing this, walked over.
"What do you mean?" Just as Minnie was about to answer, the ducks scurried over.
"Queen Minnie!" The blue one said.
"We believe we can fix the machine!" The green one continued. Minnie clapped her hands.
"Oh that's sounds great!" She turned to Ven and Akari. "These three helpful workers are Huey, Dewey, and Louie!" The ducks nodded.
"We just need a little bit more time." Minnie nodded.
"Okay, we can prolong the festival just for a bit. Do your best!" She smiled and then turned to Akari and Ven.
"It's been a pleasure meeting you two! Please, if you see Mickey, tell him to be safe." Akari nodded.
"Okay!" As they walked away, Ven leaned towards Akari.
"Who's Mickey?" Akari giggled.
"A friend. He helped Aqua save me and my friend from the Unversed." Ven nodded.
"Cool. I hope I'll get to meet him someday." They walked down a road and explored. Ven and Akari played a bunch of games and by mid afternoon, they were grinning from all the fun.
"Hey, let's check out the ice cream machine again?" Akari said, tugging Ven. He laughed and nodded.
"Okay!" They walked back over to the town square and looked at the ice cream shop. The three ducks were still there but what surprised them more was the giant cat standing over them, banging on the machine. It was Captain Justice. The ducks looked awfully worried and kept trying to stop him. Akari and Ven ran over to the machine and the ducks began shouting.
"Help us! He keeps breaking it!" Captain Justice kept slapping the machine.
"I'm trying to help you! This machine will be all fixed by the time I'm done with it." He gave it another hit and it began whirring before crashing. The cat grunted.
"Ugh, that blasted machine is done. Nothing will fix it. I'm sorry, but Captain Justice can't help you."
"Maybe I can help?" Ven offered, surprising everyone. Captain Justice shook his head.
"Nope. If Captain Justice can't fix it, no one can." Ven walked forward.
"Well, it wouldn't hurt to try."
"Yeah! He'd be better than you! Pete!" Huey said, annoyed.
"Pete?" Akari asked Queen Minnie.
"Pete is Captain Justice's real name." She explained before turning back to Ven.
"It'd be awfully kind of you if you could help us." Ven nodded.
"Okay, I'll give it a shot." He walked over and sat down in the yellow chair, placing his hands along the keyboard and controls. Huey, Dewey, and Louie walked over to the stage and held out the cones.
"Just make sure to aim at us and we'll catch the cones!" Louie explained. Ven nodded and the three ducks began dancing and holding out the cones. As Ven aimed, they performed tricks, catching the ice cream with ease and Ven quickly made a very tall ice cream tower cone.
The game soon ended and Ven got down from the chair as Dewey handed Queen Minnie the ice cream. She tasted it and closed her eyes.
"My, this is truly amazing! One of the best ice creams I have had. Thank you...oh..um…"
"Oh, Ventus! Just Ven is fine." Minnie smiled. Akari was also handed an ice cream and she licked it before also closing her eyes.
"Mmm, it's delicious!" Minnie nodded.
"Well, thank you, Ventus." Huey turned to Ven.
"Way to go, Ven!" He quacked.
"I see! We had to push this thingamajig the other way!" Louie said, looking at the machine.
"Hey! I just got an idea! We could let our customers make up their own flavors of ice cream!" Dewey exclaimed.
"Not with that machine!" A voice shouted. Everyone turned to see Pete- Captain Justice- walking towards the machine.
"Well...that kid mighta got it to work one time. But junk like that needs to get junked!" He tensed up, ready to throw the machine, but Minnie stopped him.
"Don't you dare, Pete!" She exclaimed. Ven readied himself to summon his keyblade but Pete relented.
"Fine...but Captain Justice will return!" He ran off and everyone exhaled in relief.
"About "Captain Justice"- you said his name was Pete?" Akari let out a small laugh. Ven had missed when she had also asked Minnie that question. Still, the ducks were eager to explain.
"Yeah! He's the biggest troublemaker in town!" Huey exclaimed in anger.
"I bet he's just calling himself Captain Justice 'cause he wants to win the Million Dreams Award," Dewey added on.
"Right...he was talking about that when we first met him…" Akari muttered.
"What's the Million Dreams Award?" Ven asked.
"That's one of the Dream Festival's events. Everyone votes for who they think is the town's most exemplary citizen." Ven crossed his arms and Akari nodded.
"I got it... so that's what he meant by 'vote'." He murmured, remembering.
"And if you win the award, you get a really cool prize!" Louie exclaimed. Minnie turned around, being modest.
"Oh...it's just a small prize. Nothing elaborate. The event is supposed to help us appreciate how much we all look out for each other every day. That's the spirit of the award."
"Well, that sounds nice enough…" Akari nodded in agreement. Huey, Dewey, and Louie began to complain about Pete and everyone ended up laughing. Still, Akari looked up at Ven and watched him as he spoke to himself.
"Huh...wish somebody was lookin' out for me." Akari slipped her hand into his and smiled. He looked down in surprise and also laughed.
"You have a lot of friends!" She reminded him before looking up at the sky. Ven watched her, curious. How did this girl grow to be so optimistic? She kind of reminded him of...himself. Akari noticed him watching her.
"What?" She asked, confused. Ven shook his head.
"Nothing. I'm just wondering how you always look on the bright side of everything?" Akari looked at him strangely for a moment before letting loose a chuckle.
"I do? That's surprising." She spoke happily. "I used to always be by myself, and that was sad for me. But I met two boys who became my friends. One of them was always happy, even when he lost…" Her voice trailed off as she thought about Sora and Riku. Ven smiled at her faraway look.
"Do you wanna go back yet?" He asked. Akari smiled.
"Sure..." She looked at Minnie and curtsied.
"It was nice to see you, my dear." Minnie smiled, waving at the girl as Ven summoned his armor, opened up a portal, and then called his keyblade vehicle. Akari jumped on and waved at everyone before Ven shot off into the portal.
She couldn't wait to get back home.