AN/ My interpretations of how you operate a star shard are kind of just fanon, but, hey. It makes sense, doesn't it?

Chapter 12: A Star Shard and a Wooden Sword

"THAT IS SO COOL!"

Sora stopped what he was doing (which was practicing battle techniques with his wooden sword) and turned to look at Joseph, who was the one who had shouted.

"Is that a wooden sword?" Joseph asked, running over.

"Yeah," Sora replied simply. He handed it over to Joseph so he could see.

"That's awesome!" Joseph exclaimed. He paused after a second of examining the sword. "What's this?" he asked, looking up at Sora.

Sora winced. Joseph had seen the bloodstain. There was no point hiding it though, so he went ahead and explained. "That's… blood."

"Whose blood is it?"

Sora laughed at Joseph's excitement. "Riku's actually," he replied.

"Really!" Joseph asked, shocked. "That's so cool! You managed to hurt Riku, with a wooden sword!"

"Well I-" Sora began. "It's not something I'm proud of, really," he muttered. But Joseph was hardly paying attention. He was now swinging Sora's sword around, as if he were attacking monsters. Sora watched in amusement, and a smile slowly found its way onto his face.

"Here," Joseph said after a moment, handing the sword back to Sora. "Come on, you need to learn how to use a star shard!"

xxx

"Alright, Castle Oblivion has some very special rooms, which you can turn into worlds," Joseph was explaining very rapidly as they were walking. "I've sampled a couple of your memories and turned a few rooms into worlds so we can practice. Don't worry, it's not like we'll run into anyone from your memories. I edited all that data out."

He stopped suddenly, in an empty room. He pulled a star shard out of his pocket and handed it to Sora. "This star shard is rigged so it can't leave Castle Oblivion," he said. "However, it's perfect for practice. And for pulling pranks." A devilish grin grew on his face, and Sora instantly felt sorry for whomever Joseph had happened to pull a prank on.

"So how does it work?" Sora asked, examining the star shard.

"Simple," Joseph replied. "You just think about where you want to go, and you'll go there. But, because this shard's rigged, you'll just go to the room that represents that world. Which is why it's perfect for practice! We won't have to leave Castle Oblivion! Just be warned, until you learn to control it, the shard might go off randomly."

"That's not-" Sora began, when the star shard erupted with a flash of light.

Joseph frowned, and immediately caught Sora by the arm before he disappeared. They were spat out in Olympus Coliseum.

Sora's ears were ringing again. Joseph shook his head, to clear it, and then gestured that Sora do the same. After a second of doubt, he went ahead and gave it a shot, and was surprised to find that it worked.

"And, until you learn to control it properly, it'll do that," Joseph sighed. "Anyways, try and go somewhere on purpose this time."

"So what do I do? Just think where I want to go?" Sora asked. Joseph nodded.

Sora frowned, concentrating. His concentration was broken when Joseph grabbed his hand, and held on tightly.

"Sorry," Joseph muttered. "I don't want to lose you, even if we are just in Castle Oblivion." He turned to grin at Sora. "Besides, this way you'll learn how to transport two people at once right off the bat."

"Is it any different?" Sora asked, slightly worried.

Joseph shook his head. "Just a bit harder, that's all."

"Okay," Sora said, and then frowned in concentration again. After a second, the star shard gave off another flash of light, and they were spat out in Twilight Town. They both shook their heads to clear the buzzing.

"Is this where you wanted to go?" Joseph asked immediately after that. Sora nodded.

"First place I thought of," he muttered.

"That's fine!" Joseph said. "Let's keep going. You don't have the art perfected until the buzzing goes away."

"Good to know," Sora muttered, and then concentrated on a different world.

xxx

A couple of hours later, they were still practicing with the star shard. Except, now, Joseph would run to one of the world rooms, and then tell Sora to meet him there. It was working rather well. The star shard only activated randomly a couple of times, and Sora was getting better at controlling that. He wasn't sure how, exactly, that he was, but he was. That, and the annoying buzzing was starting to go away.

"You learned pretty quickly!" Joseph exclaimed, as they were standing in the middle of Hollow Bastion. Sora was hoping that they would go to a different world soon, as he didn't like staying in Hollow Bastion.

Sora shrugged, unsure of what to say. He didn't have time to think about it though, because Heartless suddenly started appearing. He drew his Keyblade immediately. It was the first time he had summoned his blade in a while, and he was slightly surprised (and relieved) that the thorns and most of the cracks were gone. There was still one crack running down the length of his blade though.

"I thought I edited these guys out, too!" Joseph whined, stepping back as Sora attacked the Heartless. He didn't have a weapon, so all he could do was stay out of the way.

Once Sora had gotten rid of all the Heartless, he turned to Joseph and smiled. "It's Hollow Bastion," he said. "Heartless are always lurking here. Don't feel bad."

"There's another one!" Joseph shouted, pointing. Sora quickly took care of it, and then turned to Joseph.

"Do you know how to fight?" he asked.

Joseph shook his head. "Not really… I wasn't programmed with a weapon, so I never learned."

"You don't have a weapon? Why not?"

Joseph shrugged. "Master Vexen must not have seen it fit to give me one," he said. "I guess I can't complain. But still…" He glanced down at his feet as he said this, and Sora couldn't help but feel that he was upset.

After a second of thinking, Sora knelt down so he was eye level with Joseph. "Here," he said, pulling out his wooden sword. "You can have this."

"I can!" Joseph asked, voice rising with excitement.

"Sure," Sora shrugged. "I don't really need it anymore. I've got my Keyblade."

"Thank you!" Joseph exclaimed, taking the wooden sword. He swung it around a bit, and then turned to Sora, still grinning. "You are like, my new best friend!"

Sora laughed, and then held out the star shard.

"Oh! I need to get you a different one, right," Joseph laughed. He grabbed Sora's hand again. "Take us back to Castle Oblivion's main room, kay?"

Sora nodded, and then proceeded to do so. They disappeared in a flash of light, and then landed rather nicely in the main room. Joseph grinned.

"No buzzing!" he laughed. "You've gotten really good at this!"

Sora smiled, unsure of what to say. Joseph took the star shard from him.

"I'll be right back!" he called, running off.

He returned maybe a minute later, and handed Sora a different star shard.

"That's yours to keep!" he said, happily.

"Thanks," Sora replied.

"You're welcome!" Joseph laughed, and then ran off, wooden sword in hand. Sora laughed as he watched Joseph swing it around a couple of times, and then get yelled at by one of the Vexen Replicas.

For the first time in a while, he actually felt happy.