A/N: As we are all aware, Birth by Sleep has been released in America (Does happy dance) however they did a little changing in terms of naming various moves and such. For example, Shoot Locks are called Shot Locks in America and Aqua's Command Style, Magic Wish is called Spell Weaver. For the sake of not confusing people, I'm not going to use the new names in this fic. Instead we shall continue using the original/Japanise names. That said, let's continue shall we?
Aqua and Sora appeared in a flash of light inside of an alleyway inside Disney Town. Sora looked around curiously as soon as they left the alley. The buildings were all sort of oddly shaped but they still were recognizable. (A/N: Think Toontown)
"Where are we?" Sora asked, having never been in the town section of the world before. Aqua however looked around and smiled.
"We're in Disney Town, Sora. The Professor must have magically teleported us here." Aqua said as she pointed towards the castle nearby.
"Oh, so we're outside the castle." Sora said as Aqua nodded.
"Yeah." Aqua replied.
"Hey! Maybe we should find Riku and Kairi." Sora said as Aqua rolled her shoulder.
"Lead the way." Aqua said with a yawn. Sora gave her a concerned look.
"You look tired, Aqua. Maybe you should go find somewhere to lie down for a while." Sora said as Aqua thought for a moment.
"Well…if there was a world to do it, it's this one. The Cornerstone of Light should keep any bad guys away so that'll give us plenty of time to relax. Tell Riku and Kairi that I said hello." Aqua said as she started off down the street. Sora watched her leave before turning to start his search. However it didn't take him long because almost as soon as Aqua had vanished, Sora spotted a flash of red hair along with a flash of white. Sora quickly hurried towards them and sure enough, there was Riku and Kairi walking down the street.
"RIKU! KAIRI!" Sora called with a wave, causing the two to stop in their tracks and turn towards him.
"SORA!" they exclaimed in unison as they each ran towards each other.
"Glad you could join the party, Sora. We were wondering whether or not you'd make it in time." Riku said with a smile and a friendly punch to Sora's arm.
"Riku wondered, but I knew you would make it." Kairi said. It was about this time that Sora noticed Kairi was wearing a black cap with fake Mickey Mouse ears on them, with her name engraved in gold stitching on it.
"Thanks guys. Kairi, where did you get the cap?" Sora asked curiously as Kairi smiled and Riku sighed with a roll of his eyes.
"They're selling them here in town. You want one?" Kairi asked as Sora shrugged.
"Sure." Almost instantly Kairi produced another cap from behind her back with Sora's name stitched into it.
"Great, you're a matching set now." Riku said semi-sarcastically as Sora donned his mouse ear cap.
"Don't you have one Riku?" Sora asked, earning a dark glare from Riku.
"Oh come on you lazy bum, put yours on." Kairi said as Riku groaned slightly and put a cap on his head. Almost instantly he took it off when he noticed Kairi pulling out her cell phone.
"AH! No cameras!" Riku said as Kairi frowned and Sora snickered.
"Oh come on party pooper, just one." Kairi begged with puppy dog eyes.
"No. You already got that picture of me getting mobbed by those Dalmatian puppies; you're not getting this one." Riku said as Sora clamped his hands over his mouth.
"Dalmatian puppies?" Sora snickered as Kairi showed him the picture on her cell phone. All you could see was Riku's head bursting free from a literal pile of ninety nine puppies. This made Sora burst out laughing. Riku crossed his arms over his chest and then realized someone was missing.
"Hey, where's your master, Sora?" Riku asked.
"Oh she's looking for somewhere to take a nap. She said she was kinda tired from having traveled for so long without a break." Sora explained as Riku nodded understandingly.
"Ah. I see." He said.
"But that means she's going to miss out on all the fun." Kairi said in disappointment.
"Hey, I'm here. Let's go have some fun of our own." Sora said as Kairi smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, come on guys. Let's go." Kairi said as they started walking off.
"I'm laying it down, here and now that I am NOT going on "It's a Small World" again!" Riku said as Kairi looked sad.
"Aww, please!" Kairi begged.
"You and Sora go right on ahead. With him here, I don't have to feel bad about you riding alone anymore." Riku said, crossing his arms.
"Oh come on Riku." Sora pleaded as Riku rolled his eyes.
"Ugh, you're not going to make this easy are you?" Riku asked.
"Not a bit." Sora said with a smirk and his arms crossed.
"Fine, I'll follow along. But I'm still not doing Small World again." Riku replied as Sora and Kairi laughed.
"Suit yourself." Sora said as they continued on. They were unaware that they were being watched by a familiar figure.
"Well-well-well, looks like the little spiky head is here too. I may just have to use these after all." Pete said as he looked down in his hand. He was holding two small pendants with the Nobody sigil on them and of two different numbers. Pete then ran off into the streets.
Meanwhile…
Aqua was still searching for a place to lie down, as she passed building after building.
"There's got to be somewhere to catch some Zs around here." Aqua said as she ran a hand over her face. She continued walking until she heard something.
"Aqua…"
A voice said. It sounded like the metallic tones of a Sentiment. She looked around and didn't see anything.
"Great, now I'm hallucinating." Aqua said as she continued on.
"Aqua…"
The voice said again. This time Aqua stopped in her tracks before turning around. She looked carefully and saw nothing. The street around her was empty and the shops were mostly closed for the celebration.
"Okay, there's definitely something going on around here." Aqua said. As she looked down the street, a sudden cloud of brown dust came surging down the street towards her. She shielded herself from the dust cloud as it blew past her. When it finally cleared, she opened her eyes and saw nothing. She turned around and again saw nothing but the dust cloud, drifting down the street.
"Maybe I need to follow it." Aqua said before giving chase to the dust cloud. She continued following it until she reached a large garden surrounded by a tall hedge wall. It was a large garden, cut in the shape of a giant Keyhole. As Aqua entered the garden she saw, much to her amazement, that there were statues situated around the curvature of the keyhole. They weren't just ordinary statues, they were statues of Ven, Terra, herself, King Mickey, and even Sora, Riku, and Kairi. In the center of the garden was a small, round stone bench. But one thing that stood out more than anything was a suit of familiar armor and Keyblade, kneeling before the statue of its former wearer. It was Terra's Lingering Sentiment again.
"Terra?" Aqua asked as she approached the armor. No response.
"Terra, is that you?" Aqua asked as she stopped behind the armor. Still no response. Aqua sighed and walked over to the bench and sat down. She sat on the bench in silence; the stone surprisingly, and comfortingly, warm to the touch. She felt herself getting sleepier with every passing second until she finally yawned.
"I shouldn't sleep right now, but I just can't keep my eyes open." Aqua said with a yawn as she slowly slumped over onto the warm stone bench, resting her head on her arm. She was asleep in seconds so she didn't notice Terra's Lingering Sentiment approach. It looked down at her in silence before suddenly jolting its head up as if it sensed something. A whirlwind of dust then appeared around it before it vanished.
Back in town…
Sora, Kairi, and a semi-reluctant Riku were still wandering through the town. Kairi stopped off to get in line at a nearby stall to purchase an ice cream bar while Sora and Riku sat off on a nearby bench, waiting for her to return.
"So how goes your training Sora?" Riku asked as Sora shrugged.
"It's going pretty good. I've learned all but one of my Command Styles, and I've only learned one of my Shoot Locks, but Aqua says that it shouldn't be too difficult to learn the others." Sora said as Riku gave him a blank stare.
"Command Styles? Shoot Locks? Geez Sora you're way ahead of me. I don't even know what those are." Riku said as Sora shrugged.
"Don't worry about it. Once Aqua finishes training me, then maybe she'll take you on as her apprentice next." Sora said as Riku smirked.
"Technically you would be a master too by that point, so you could take on your own apprentice. Somehow I get the feeling it won't be me." Riku chuckled as he glanced over his shoulder towards Kairi. He then turned back to Sora.
"Does Kairi know about your feelings towards her yet?" Riku asked, catching Sora off guard.
"What?" Sora asked, blushing red.
"You heard me." Riku replied.
"Well…Snow and Serah told me that I need to find a way to let her know. I'm not sure how I should do that." Sora said as Riku noticed something. It was a wagon full of plastic red roses that lit up when you flipped a switch attached to the stem. Riku smirked at the sight of them.
"Come with me Sora, I've got an idea." Riku said as he and Sora approached the cart.
"How much for one of those roses?" Riku asked the vendor.
"One hundred munny. Is it for someone special?" the vendor asked, eyeing Sora and making Riku's eye twitch and the vein on his forehead start to bulge.
"Ugh." Riku groaned, snatching a rose from the cart and forking over one hundred munny to the vendor before stomping back to the bench.
"Okay Sora, when Kairi comes back, I'll beat a hasty retreat and you give Kairi the rose once you tell her how you feel." Riku said, handing Sora the rose.
"You think it'll work?" Sora asked as Riku smiled and pat his friend on the back.
"Sure it will. Just don't mess it up. Here she comes, get ready." Riku said in a whisper as Kairi approached. Sora quickly hid the rose behind his back, not noticing a nearby horse drawn trolley car approach from up the street behind him, the horse eyeing the flower hungrily.
"Man that line was long, but it was well worth it." Kairi said as she returned with a chocolate covered ice cream bar shaped like Mickey's head. Riku cleared his throat as Sora grinned.
"Hey, I just remembered I left something back at the castle, I'm gonna go grab it real quick and be back in a while. See ya kids later!" Riku said as he turned around and started running towards the castle.
"Hmm, I wonder what he forgot." Kairi said, not noticing Riku had actually just ducked into a nearby alleyway. She then turned to Sora with a smile.
"Um-uh-well." Sora stuttered as Kairi cocked her head to one side curiously.
"Are you feeling okay Sora?" She asked, taking a bite of her ice cream bar.
"Um yeah uh. Kairi I want you to have this as a-…huh?" Sora asked as he pulled the rose out from behind his back to reveal that most of it had vanished. Kairi looked at the green stick of plastic curiously. The horse behind him was munching on something crunchy.
"It looks like you found some sort of green debris of some kind. I think you should throw it out Sora." Kairi said as Sora let his head drop forward before going off to toss out the remnants of the rose. Riku could be seen face palming in the alleyway.
"Geez, Sora. You have no luck with the girls whatsoever." Riku mumbled before he started approaching them again.
"Oh, Riku, did you find what you forgot?" Kairi asked as Riku shrugged.
"It wasn't important." Riku said as he stomped past her and up to Sora, taking him aside. Kairi shrugged and continued eating her ice cream bar.
"What was that?" He asked in a terse whisper.
"Don't look at me, that horse ate the rose!" Sora replied.
"Biggest waste of one hundred munny I've ever seen." Riku sighed, taking a deep breath, "Okay, we can still fix this. What we need is something romantic, something that screams "I love you" to her. Something like…"
"A Paopu fruit!" Sora exclaimed as Riku shrugged and nodded.
"Yeah, that would work if you asked her to share one with you, but where are we going to find-." Riku said but was interrupted.
"No-no, look! Over there! Imported Paopu fruit!" Sora exclaimed, pointing to a nearby vendor with a cart full of Paopu fruit.
"Good eye." Riku said as Sora raced up to the vendor and quickly purchased a Paopu fruit.
"Okay then, now that I have this. All I need to do is ask Kairi to share it with me. That'll tell her how I feel about her right?" Sora asked as Riku crossed his arms with a smirk.
"She would have to be a real idiot to not realize it." Riku said as Sora grinned and turned around to look for Kairi. Oddly enough though, she wasn't there.
"Um, where is she?" Sora asked as Riku started looking around too.
"That's odd. She was here a moment ago." Riku said before Sora noticed something on the ground. It was a half eaten ice cream bar.
"Riku! Look!" Sora exclaimed, pointing to the bar.
"Help!" Kairi's voice called from nearby. The two boys suddenly spot her being carried off on the shoulder of a very familiar villain.
"Pete!" Sora exclaimed, pocketing the Paopu fruit and summoning his Keyblade. Riku summoned Way to Dawn, and together they gave chase to the fleeing villain. They continued to chase Pete through the streets, away from the castle. They finally caught up with him by an old river side dock that had Pete's old steamboat on display as a museum piece.
"Put her down, Pete!" Sora ordered as the villain turned towards them.
"Oh I don't think so bucko. You see, I've got orders to take this here Princess with me to see a good friend of yours. He's rather anxious to get his hands on her heart." Pete said as Sora aimed his Keyblade at Pete.
"I said put her down!" Sora ordered as Pete chuckled.
"Oh? And what'cha gonna do about it spiky boy?" Pete laughed challengingly. Sora didn't say a word, instead his Keyblade started glowing with energy, causing Pete to pause in confusion before suddenly Sora reared back the Keyblade and then swung it forward, stopping it when it was aimed at Pete. When this happened a massive circle of red and orange energy appeared before sending out countless yellow streaks of light from the edges that zeroed in on Pete and hit him head on, causing him to drop Kairi in the process. Riku quickly leapt over between Pete and Kairi, his Keyblade raised. Sora had just used Ragnarok, but this Ragnarok was different as the streaks of light continued flying from the edges of the circle. It was one of his Shoot Locks; Ragnarok Ultima.
"How do you like that?" Sora asked angrily. No one messed with Kairi and got away with it on his watch. Pete quickly recovered, he knew he was outnumbered and outmatched.
"Well, then if you're gonna be so tough, allow me to bring in some old friends of yours!" Pete said with a grin as Riku scoffed.
"The Cornerstone of Light will kill off any Heartless that try to come here. You have nothing." Riku said as Pete nodded.
"Well-well-well, mister high and mighty gets one half-right for a change. True, I can't use the Heartless, but I can use something else!" Pete said with a grin as he snapped his fingers and instantly a series of small portals opened up, causing countless Dusks to drop through.
"Nobodies!" Sora exclaimed as Riku slapped his forehead.
"Augh! I should have known! Nobodies are technically neither light nor darkness, so they immune to the Cornerstone's power!" Riku said as Kairi climbed to her feet and summoned her Keyblade.
"Right again! You must be the smart one!" Pete laughed before reaching into his pockets and pulling out the two pendants he had earlier. The Nobodies simply stood in place around them, waiting for the order to attack.
"How did you learn to summon nobodies?" Sora asked.
"Well where do you think? From Xehanort of course!" Pete laughed.
"You won't get away with this, Pete!" Sora said as Pete laughed again.
"Oh I'm sure I will spiky, 'cause I have two insurance policies to make sure I do!" Pete said as he raised the pendants which started to glow before transforming into two large white and black spheres with nobody thorns swirling around them. One had a pair of strange yet familiar looking guns inside, while the other had a familiar looking tomahawk inside.
"Uh-oh, more Absent Silhouettes!" Sora exclaimed as the Silhouettes burst open, revealing two hooded figures. They pulled back their hoods to reveal Xigbar and Lexaeus, with their weapons primed.
"Hope you kids enjoy!" Pete laughed as he turned and ran away, with the Dusks still pouring through the portals.
"There's too many of them! We can't fight both the Dusks and the Silhouettes on our own!" Riku exclaimed. Just then a Thundaga blast took out a small patch of Dusks. Then an airborne shield flew in and cut through some more, until finally a small figure wielding a Keyblade leapt in and started cutting down Dusks. It was King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy.
"Sora! We're here to help!" Mickey said as he fought.
"Yeah! You can count on us pal!" Goofy added.
"Let's get 'em!" Donald exclaimed as they started unleashing on the Nobodies.
"You guys deal with those two, I'll help the King and the others!" Kairi said as she quickly joined in with Mickey, Donald and Goofy. Sora and Riku nodded to each other before leaping into the fray with Xigbar and Lexaeus. Sora went after Xigbar and Riku went after Lexaeus.
This battle was about to get very heated.
End Chapter 22.