Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square Enix and Disney. We don't own anything except the plot and the new characters.
Thanks for reading! Please look at my profile to view the link to my deviant art account to see a general idea of what the original characters we created look like.
Chapter VII
"Gawrsh it sure seems awfully quiet in the castle today," said a tall black dog clad in silver armor to his companion, a duck in blue wizard's robes.
It was a typical day in Disney Castle. The marble walls of the castle were as white as ever as the knight and the mage sat down to relax for lunch in the castle's hedge garden, the courtyard. Each hedge was trimmed after some of the symphony members that played for the king and queen during parties and their arrival when they entered Disney Town for events. In the center of the hedge garden was an exact replica of Disney Castle, hedge form, with decorative hedge bushes near it.
"Of course it's quiet, Goofy… The castle has very few visitors unless there's a party going on. And if there's a party going on we'd know. We ARE loyal subjects to your majesty after all," said the duck. Birds were chirping as the duck went to lean against the cow that looked like it was playing cymbals over its head.
"Let's go check up on him, Donald …" suggested Goofy.
"Why?" frowned Donald. "Nothing ever happens here, it's always so peaceful."
"Ah-hyuck … I dunno, it's just I'm worried about the King." said Goofy, looking worried.
A slight breeze blew a leaf off a nearby bush. Goofy watched the leaf fly a short distance as it hit the ground to the castle's soft grass.
"Aw phooey! You're ALWAYS worried about the King," quipped Donald, as his eyes were half closed. His head was already on the cow's leg as he went to try take a nap.
"C'mon Donald," insisted Goofy. "This time I got a bad feeling that somethin' is goin' on."
Donald opened one eye as he grabbed his hat that he had laid down beside him in preparation for sleep. "Okay, fine Goofy. But if nothing has happened to the castle or king or anyone else I'm coming back here to nap for the rest of today and you can keep watch of everything." It was normally Goofy sleeping in the Courtyard, but Donald was feeling especially tired today.
Goofy smiled at Donald with his two buck teeth as he watched his duck friend put on his hat. Unlike normal dogs, Goofy could walk on his two feet. He had long black floppy ears and was quite tall. Donald looked pretty much like a regular duck except he had a stern demeanor and wore clothes.
They headed across the hedge garden to the hall, walking by broomsticks with arms, carrying buckets.
They reached the doors to King Mickey's domain. The doors were huge, but a small rectangular field yielded the entrance. The grand hall, otherwise known as the Audience Chamber that had King Mickey's throne consisted of a single red carpet. It was a big space that was generally used to hold parties, and other royal organization meetings.
A single red tapestry of velvet hung down from the ceiling before the throne, in the silhouette of King Mickey's head. Brilliant marble columns adorned the walls of the King's Chamber.
The throne was empty.
"Your majesty is probably in the library," shrugged Donald. Goofy furrowed his brow in concern as they headed to the library.
Goofy entered the library to only discover it was empty besides for a yellow dog named Pluto at his regular corner in his basket, fast asleep. Unlike Donald and Goofy, he did not wear clothes but instead a green collar. He, too had black floppy ears and a big black nose, similar to Goofy.
On the table was a pot with a sole flower in it, paperweights, a lamp and a few papers.
"Look, there's an envelope in Pluto's mouth," said Donald suddenly, surveying the area. It was enclosed with the King's seal. Goofy reached to pick it up, but it was tightly wrenched between the dog's mouth. Donald quickly did a lightning spell near Pluto to quickly wake him up a second. Pluto opened his eyes abruptly dropping the envelope from his mouth onto the floor and then turned in his basket, quickly going back to sleep. Goofy opened the envelope. Having initially holding the letter upside down, Goofy flipped it right side up reading:
Donald
Sorry to rush off without sayin' goodbye, but there's big trouble brewin'. Not sure why, but the stars have been blinkin' out, one by one. And that means disaster can't be far behind. I had to leave you all but I've gotta go check into it. There's someone with a "key" - the key to our survival. So I need you and Goofy to find him, and stick with him. Got it?
We need that key or we're doomed! So go to Traverse Town and find Leon. He'll point you in the right direction.
"WHAAAT?" exclaimed Donald, exasperated. Goofy continued reading.
P.S.
Would ya apologize to Minnie for me? Thanks, pal. - Mickey Mouse.
Minnie and Daisy, Donald's love, walked in as Goofy read the last part of the letter. "Tell me what?" asked Queen Minnie. Daisy had her hands on her hips.
As Goofy handed the letter to Daisy to be read out loud again, Donald sighed. He did not want to worry the others and was planning on just leaving with just Goofy.
"Oh dear! What could this mean?" blinked Daisy, showing her purple eye shadow. She was in her usual purple dress adorning her tiara.
Minnie in her queen red dress with also a tiara replied. "It means we'll just have to trust the king." She had her hands clasped over her dress. She was a black mouse with big bright round eyes. She did not look the least bit surprised at Mickey's disappearance.
"Gawrsh, I sure hope he's alright," said Goofy.
Donald crossed his arms. "Your highness! Don't worry. We'll find the king and this "key."
Minnie looked a bit relieved. "Thank you, both of you."
"Daisy, can you take care of-" started Donald. Daisy cut him off. "Of course. You be careful, now, both of you." She, too, was a duck.
Minnie gestured to the desk. "Oh, and to chronicle your travels, he will accompany you."
Donald looked at where Minnie gestured. A jumping insect was on the table. They had not noticed him before.
"Over here! Cricket's the name. Jiminy Cricket, at your service," said the bug. He wore a top hat and a black fancy leather coat. He removed his hat and bowed to Donald and Goofy. The appearance of Jiminy Cricket's arrival that day was why Minnie did not look too shocked at the King's leave. He had showed up saying that his world was swallowed up and was willing to help out in any way possible. She sensed a foreboding and knew, because King Mickey was always quite virtuous, that he would have his head up in it if he was not involved already.
"We hope for your safe return. Please help the king," said Minnie. Donald put his hand across his chest in salute to the queen as a determined look entered his face. Goofy, standing right next to the two maidens also put a hand to his brow in salute with a look to match Donald's.
"You're coming, too!" said Donald bossily, pulling Goofy with him to the hall.
They walked down the winding steps to the hangar below the castle.
"Gawrsh, Jiminy, your world disappeared, too?"
Jiminy rode on Goofy's knight helmet. "It was terrible. We were scattered." Clink Clink. Goofy's armor could be heard as they walked down the spiral steps.
"And as far as I can see, I'm the only one who made it to this castle," continued Jiminy.
"Goofy.." interrupted Donald.
"Oh right," said Goofy. "I gotcha. While we're in other worlds, we can't let on where we're from."
They were almost at the bottom. "We gotta protect the world border."
"Order," corrected Donald.
"Right. World order." said Goofy chuckling. Donald sighed.
They reached the dark hall to the hangar. Dim, magenta glowing lights in the silhouette of the King lit the hallway. "I guess we'll need new duds when we get there, huh?" said Goofy.
They walked down the tiny steps to reach the same floor as the ship they were going to ride in. The ship at the center of the room was mostly red in color, with two yellow missiles on the side and white wings for flight. The top of the ship had a blue clear semi-sphere. The cockpit of the ship.
Like the castle, the hangar was another brilliant piece of work in itself. A giant cog was in the room as well as a giant hand moving about. There were several little cogs all about. The noise in the room made it sound like they were in a clock.
A saxophone looking instrument was glued to the ground near the ship, with the blowhole being bigger than normal and the hole where the music would normally come out was emitted with a bright light. The saxophone had a third mouth piece to it that extended to the hangar's platform. Donald spoke into the saxophone.
"Hello up there? Donald Duck to launch crew! Anytime you're ready." One of the saxophone's many pipes extended to a box on the hangar's side.
Two chipmunks wearing cargo aprons with the King's insignia and work gloves were in the control room. Chip and Dale was their name. Chip had a black nose and Dale had a red one. Chip saluted as Dale pulled a lever. Smoke piped up from hangar's sides as other cogs in the hangar began to move faster. The giant hand grabbed first Goofy (looking chipper and eager) and then Donald (upside down, with his arms folded), placing them into the cockpit of the ship.
The doors to the hangar burst open as Pluto followed Goofy and Donald, making it just in time before the cockpit to the ship closed. Minnie and Daisy stood at the platform preceding the ship. Donald gave Daisy a thumbs up and winked.
The doors to the ship's platform opened as the lights on the ground to the takeoff platform went off.
"BLAST OFF!" yelled Donald, pointing his finger toward the exit. An arrow appeared pointing forward. Minnie and Daisy gave the knight and wizard one last look, as the ship exited from the hangar from below.
"AIYEEEEEEEE," exclaimed Goofy and Donald in surprise, not expecting the launch off point to be underneath the ship, as they set off into space toward Traverse Town.
"Make my eggs over easy, mommy," said Nova, talking to her mom. "You know, with the yolk inside." Sizzle Sizzle. Just as Nova's mom was about to reply, Nova opened her eyes again to only find herself in a sleeping bag on wooden surface.
'Oh yeah,' said Nova, reminding herself out loud as the salt breeze flew into her face. 'We're on Destiny Islands."
She sniffed the air around her. She could definitely hear the sizzling of eggs. The aroma of pancakes, bacon, sausages filled the atmosphere as she propped up from her sleeping spot. Everyone's blankets and knapsacks were all scattered and put on the side. The sun was just barely above the horizon as Nova went to join her companions.
"Did you save any for me?" asked Nova to Luna, as she saw Chase handing out the plates. A soft thud could be heard as Nova turned around. Mizu had jumped down from a tree nearby with two coconuts in each hand. She clapped Nova on the back. "WHERE WERE YOU? Everyone was either helping Luna with breakfast or helping Sora and his friends prepare for their trip."
Raven was giving out the utensils as Alya looked out toward the ocean, looking distant as she was eating the food on her plate. "She was busy sleeping, that's what," said Raven, giving her a look. Gizmo was placing even proportions on everyone's plate.
Mizu quickly grabbed Gizmo's pocket watch to check the time. It was only 8:00 AM, but Nova was normally used to waking up around noon in the summer.
"Come eat Dyne," said Luna, as Dyne was drawing happy faces into the sand nearby them. Dyne grabbed his plate from Chase. Eggs, a crepe, a few strips of bacon and links of sausage, plus a tiny stack of pancakes dripping with maple syrup and a small piece of butter covered the surface of the white china.
"Yweah it's gwood," said Nova, her mouth full with pancake already. Bits of pancake were coming out.
"Remember your manners," sighed Luna, as Gizmo handed Nova a napkin. "Sorry," came her muffled reply as she wiped her mouth and swallowed a chunk of sausage.
Sora, Riku, Kairi, and another friend, a girl by the name of Selphie, came by to greet them as they finished eating up.
"I made you guys plates too," said Luna, but Riku held up a hand. "Thanks Luna but we ate already."
Riku looked really impressed at the whole setup at how Luna had somehow managed to fit several plates, a big picnic blanket, utensils, and more into her bag. "What's this?" asked Sora, picking up a folded brown golden piece of bread.
"That's a crepe," answered Raven. "I'll try it," grinned Sora, handing one to Kairi. Riku really wanted to eat more of Luna's cooking, but unfortunately had a big breakfast that morning. He helped himself to some of the tiny sausages and a strip of bacon to be polite.
Sora bit into his crepe with strawberry jam on top. Kairi had raspberry jam on her's. "I ate already too but it smells good," Selphie complimented. The remainders of their plates went to Chase and Gizmo, who ate the most out of the eight.
After finishing cleaning up, Sora and Riku gave each other smiling looks. Kairi giggled as she knew what they were about to tell them. They had discussed this morning on the way to the island on what to do with their new friends.
"Hey guys," said Riku. "Since you made it really easy and got all our provisions for exploring, we were discussing on teaching you guys a bit of swordplay."
Selphie coughed. "This is gonna be so unfair to you newcomers though. Riku's so good… He beat me and Sora at the same time!"
"We wanted to try a tournament," continued Riku. Sora beamed. "This time I'll beat Riku for sure!"
Sora looked determined. Kairi giggled again.
Pulling out a paper and pencil from Luna's bag, Alya wrote down the names of all nine of them, excluding Selphie, who played with her jump rope instead; Kairi, a cheerer on the sidelines; and Luna who refused to take part in such an aggressive game. ("I don't wanna accidentally hurt someone!") She was to be the referee and start the matches.
Sora and Riku showed them the motions of swinging. "See, swing upward if someone tries to spring attack you." Luna listened to bits of instruction and watched as the two boys showed the motions of swordplay. They had gone to the shack to get everyone their weapons. An hour went by when everyone got the gist of how to wield the wooden swords.
"Hm only nine names," said Alya. "Write my name in twice," suggested Riku. "I'll go 2 matches since I'm the undefeated champ of the isle."
"We'll see about that," said Sora, ready to go. To win the match was either by "knocking out" their opponent (falling on the sand), or by disarming them of their wooden sword.
Gizmo took off his hat with the compass stuck to it as he shook it around with all the papers with names on them.
"The first match is…" said Gizmo, withdrawing 2 tiny folded papers at once. "ALYA VS DYNE!"
Dyne keep jumping about as Alya dug her heels into the sand trying to spring blow by blow to Dyne. Unfortunately, she kept missing, no matter how much force she was willing to put into the blow to knockout her opponent. Forty minutes went by as Alya began huffing.
"Keep still Dyne!" cried Alya, getting frustrated. As another minute passed by, Alya threw her wooden sword at Dyne, who dodged. "Ahh I give up," said Alya, annoyed that Dyne was so agile and swift.
"The winner is DYNE!" said Luna, raising her arm in signal to conclude the match. Dyne smiled smugly as Gizmo pulled out the next two names.
"NOVA AND RIKU NEXT," said Gizmo.
Nova smiled. She liked challenges, and she always found swords really cool. So cool that - Smack. Wait - where was her sword?
While Nova was busy with her own thoughts, Riku had smoothly whacked the sword out of her hands. "You should be more alert next time," advised Riku, as Kairi and Selphie clapped. "Whaaat," said Nova, disappointed. "That match wasn't even a minute long."
"Oh well there's always next time," said Chase as Gizmo withdrew the next two names. Gizmo was happy as he withdrew his own name, but frowned as Mizu was his opponent.
"I don't feel right hitting a girl with this," said Gizmo. "Aww c'mon," said Mizu. "This is gonna be fun!" Gizmo did light swings as Mizu dodged each sword swing.
They were moving all around the beach and going all around the place. Mizu jumped really high and then did a slide against the grains of damp grains of sand against the ocean.
"Mizu's so fast," Luna commented.
Finally, with another recoil of Gizmo's which left him vulnerable to attack, Mizu shifted quickly around Gizmo before he could turn to block her blow, knocking Gizmo to his feet. His sword had also escaped from his hands, landing in the sand near him.
"Wow Mizu's so good," said Gizmo, putting his hands up in defeat but laughing. His knees were a little scraped from the fall but the sand was soft. Riku observed Mizu's technique, knowing he might very well end up facing her.
"MIZU WINS," Luna said, giggling too, even though she was against such a violent game. "So far no one has really gotten hurt so that's good."
"One thousand, four hundred twenty three…" Selphie counted. She was playing with her jump rope from a safe distance as they were all watching the matches. "Wow Selphie you really are into jump roping huh," said Chase, coming by her for a moment, away from the matches as he waited for his name to be called. He was amazed at how many times she could go at it. "I love jump roping," grinned Selphie as Gizmo called Riku and Raven's name next.
Being both aggressive combatants, Riku and Raven did not spend nearly as much time dodging but rather deflecting each others quick, strong blows.
Hmm she's pretty good too, thought Riku. But… "THIS IS IT!" said Riku jumping up at a height that even Mizu couldn't reach due to his tallness and skill. He dived down at Raven. Raven could not escape in time so she ran back a little space to gather momentum to parry Riku's devastating finisher move.
Raven closed her eyes. CRACKKKKKKK.
Both swords splintered and broke apart.
"Wow," Sora said, shocked at the results of the match. "I guess it's a tie."
Luna looked wide eyed at the both of them. "TIE!" she declared, looking at the two. Riku gave Raven a thumbs up. "Wow you're pretty good. I'll c'ya in round two I hope."
Raven beamed. "That match was awesome."
Riku did not notice that he had a little bit of wood cut into his arm. Luna gasped, and called his name, pointing at the tiny wounded area as she rushed to her bag to aid him. "It's nothing, really." said Riku.
Kairi raised her eyebrow at Riku as she turned to Sora and whispered something to him. Sora shrugged in response as Luna gave him a tiny band aid for his arm.
"It's only a tiny bruise," Riku insisted.
Raven had a few blisters on her hands but was overall alright. She was, however, sweating from such a heated battle.
Gizmo chuckled. "Hm speed matches and strength matches I wonder what's gonna happen next.." Nova handed her sword to Raven as Riku went to get another sword from storage.
Gizmo pulled out Chase and Sora's name next, the only two remaining names.
Unlike every other battle, Chase and Sora's was a mix of dodging and sword swinging. They blocked a few of each other's blows and took a few hits each. Looking at the audience at Kairi's face for a brief second, Sora slid on the wet sand as Chase delivered a blow.
Sora jumped up to dodge but did not land so neatly as he staggered, eventually getting his big yellow shoes stuck in the seaweed nearby, his head falling face first into the ocean. His sword had fallen out of hand.
"Sora you big dummy," giggled Kairi, rushing to help him up as Sora shook his wet spiky hair, looking surprised at his sudden lost. "You got careless again."
"CHASE WINS!" said Luna.
"Wow," Alya commented. "That one was really close.. I'd say they were about even in swordsmanship… almost. I think Chase got a little lucky.."
"The sun's really high up now.. What time is it?" asked Nova suddenly.
Gizmo looked at his pocket watch. "It's 11 now."
"Oh!" said Luna. "I gotta make lunch~!" Kairi smiled. "I'll help!"
Selphie finished her two thousandth jump as she agreed to become referee while the two girls would cook on the other end of the island.
To speed things up a bit as lunch was only an hour away, the group agreed to end the tournament with a series of tag team matches. The winner of the tag team match would face Riku and his chosen partner, Sora. "I guess I'll try beat you another day," sighed Sora in disappointment.
Gizmo withdrew the names of the two teams. Mizu was partnered up with Dyne while Raven and Chase's names announced their side.
"Wow this really did become speed versus strength!" remarked Gizmo.
"LET IT BEGIN!" cheered Selphie as Chase tried to make a quick dive at Dyne. Dyne avoided pretty easily.
"Oh man this is gonna be a long one," said Alya, remembering her match.
"We'll see about that," said Raven, hearing Alya's remark as she tried to outmaneuver Mizu.
Raven and Chase went back to back as Dyne and Mizu seemed to be encircling them.
"SO FAST!" said Luna, looking up at the match every now and then. Kairi was also impressed as she helped Luna prepare.
"I'm gonna get dizzy from watching this," said Selphie.
Nova laughed as Mizu stopped to taunt Raven a bit. "You can't catch me!"
The others were all on the bridge watching the match from a safe distance in their tiny arena.
However, as the course of the match went into several minutes, Mizu's pattern changed and she was nowhere to be seen.
"WHERE IS MIZU?" said Dyne, looking around for a split second in concern for his partner.
Whack.
Dyne's weapon was smacked out of his in his brief moment of being worried about his partner, leaving him susceptible to Chase's quick blow. Dyne had been defeated.
Raven looked around too as she could not find her opponent.
Mizu dived at Raven from above. Raven could not block the blow in time. "Owwww!" said Raven, her eyes watering. She was still in the match however. Chase dealed a blow to Mizu just as she disappeared from the two's sight. Mizu was using the trees as they had chosen Riku's mini isle to be the spot for round two matches.
For every blow Mizu tried to deal toward one of the two, the other partner would be able to deal a single blow to Mizu as she had to recover from each hit. Eventually she lost due to being outnumbered, two to one.
Selphie clapped. "Well, that was exciting!" She gestured to Chase and Raven. "WINNERS!"
Kairi came back from the isle to hand out the watchers some mochi and daifuku. "Lunch is almost ready."
As Nova helped herself to a mango mochi, the juice inside squeezed out inside her mouth. She loved Luna's cooking and could hardly wait as she watched Sora and Riku brace their selves for the final match of the tournament.
Chase and Raven gave each other reassuring glances as the midnight blue haired boy murmured, "Let's do our best."
However, since Sora and Riku were already used to each other's moves and techniques, they already had a few moves of their own together.
Kairi noticed Riku acting strangely as he delivered another successful blow. She managed to get a glance from Sora, who gave a knowing smile.
Sora thought to himself as he remembered what Kairi said to him earlier. "Don't you think Riku's acting a bit… too tough? He's more headstrong than usual."
Kairi looked up from Riku to where he was glancing at.. Across the island to where Luna was finishing up cooking. She returned to Luna as Riku would make occasional glances in Luna's direction. Sora, in his naiveté had interpreted Riku's acting tough as just another way of teasing Sora at how he was once again gonna lose to Riku in the sword fight today.
He keeps glancing at the food, Sora thought to himself. He dealed another blow to Chase. Riku sure must be hungry. I better wrap this one up, Sora concluded, launching another swing from his sword.
After eating her fifth mochi (green apple!), Nova tapped Alya on the shoulder and suggested they help Luna out with lunch. The two set off across the bridge to where Luna and Kairi were cooking.
Riku did another swift hit on Raven as he heard from the distance of Alya scolding Nova to stop eating before the whole meal was prepared. He turned his head in that direction yet again while trying to dodge Raven's retaliation.