AUTHORS NOTE: lets see if Kasai can preform a miracle here.
Everything was quiet between the two friends. Kasai could feel that Ventus felt this whole problem was his fault. She didn't know what to say to help her friend out. But she knew he needed something. She saw the world and a smile spread across her face. She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the new world.
They landed in the town square and their armor disappeared. They looked around and saw that every building had a bright yellow glow to it, with red accents. The lamp post, mail boxes and anything else on the streets looked goofy and crocked. There were tethers of flags handing from building to building, balloons tied to lamp post, and the smell of home cooked food filled the air. It was like a festival was going on or something. They took one step forward when someone jumped in front of them.
"Tada! Wearin' the mask of peace and hope...comes the fearless defender and hero of this town! It is me," the large figure did a heroic post and yelled out, "Captain Justice!" Getting over the initial shock of someone jumping in front of them and scaring them, the two were now able to get a good look at this mask defender. He was a rather fat and tall…cat? He had pointy ears and a long tail so Kasai figured he was a cat. "Young children! Do my hero-senses detect that you got troubles? Just say the word, and Captain Justice will make all your problems disappear!"
Kasai and Ventus looked at each other with confusion and shock plastered all over their faces. "Wh-who us?"
"I'm just trying to make some friends," Ventus said with a low and sorrow tone. But then he looked back up and shook his head with a fake smile, "Never mind, forget it."
"Don't be intimidated by my magnificence. Go on and spit it out. Then...remember to vote Captain J!" The cat raised one finger up in the air and pointed dramatically.
"Vote?" Ventus asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.
The cat then became flustered and stuttered trying to think of something to say, "Oh! Well, uh, forget that. How can I help? That's the only reason I'm here."
Kasai got a bad vibe from this guy, he seemed like a politician! Kissing babies looking for votes. But Ventus always saw the bright side of people so he took the cat up on his offer. "Tell me about your town. Everything's so festive. Is it always like this?"
The cat slouched down with an unpleased look on his face, "Really that's it? Nottin' else?" He shook his head then stood up to answer the question set before him. "Well, the festivities are on account of the Dream Festival-which is why I've made sure there's carnival stuff all over town." He made sure? Kasai raised an eyebrow looking at the "hero" cat.
Ventus' eyes seemed to start lighting up again, "Really? Like what?" He seemed eager to go and visit the celebration.
The cat raised up his pointer finger and shook it from side to side, "ho, you gotta see it for yourself. Wouldn't be much of a dream if I just told ya."
Ventus nodded his head, "Right. Thanks."
"And kid, don't you go forgettin'...Captain Justice is the one who solved all your problems. That would be Justice with a J," the large cat then ran off leaving Ventus with a 'what just happened' expression.
"Uh, sure. I got it, Captain Justice," he smiled his goofy grin and chuckled to himself.
Kasai smiled hearing him chuckle. Maybe it was a good idea to bring him to this world. It seemed like a fun filled world, full of smiles and well dreams. Kasai blushed but then grabbed his hand and held it tight with a smile. She looked at him and smiled like a little kid in a candy store. His eyes widen at the sudden move but then he held her hand back with a smile as well. She pulled him to the side walk as they walked around the town looking at the festivities. They saw a small booth and there stood 3 little ducks and a mouse in royal garments. It looked like Mickey from a distance but when you walked closer you could see it was a girl.
"Aw phooey! This stinks! Now we can't open the ice cream shop!" The little duck in the red shirt yelled out in frustration.
"Trouble!" Just then Captain Justice ran past the two and toward the scene. "Rescue is on the way!"
Kasai looked to Ventus, "Wanna go check it out?" He nodded his head and said nothing at all. The two walked down the street to the small booth.
Captain Justice took notice of the two and smiled, "Well, if it ain't the last two kids Captain Justice saved. 'Fraid you'll have to get in line. I'm working on another catastrophe here for these fellas-Huey," he pointed to the duck in red, "Dewey," the duck in blue, "and Louie," the duck in green, "my good friends."
The girl mouse then spoke to Captain Justice directly, "Now I'd hardly call it a catastrophe." She crossed her arms and gave the cat and approving look.
Then Huey spoke up, "Yeah, all we were tryin' to do was make our own special recipe ice cream."
"And we had a little trouble," Dewey said following Huey.
"Come on, it's not really that big a deal," Louie said waving his hand to the front.
Kasai was rather shocked, they all sounded the exact same, they must have been brothers or something. "I'm 100% positive you're the victims of sabotage!" Captain Justice said as he tried to act sinister when he said sabotage. Kasai frowned and thought maybe he caused the damage just so he could look good.
But when Dewey spoke up that blew her cause out of the water, "Not even close! Quit makin' stuff up."
"It's just the ice cream machine," Louie spoke up again.
"Unca Scrooge left it for us...but we can't figure out how it works 'cause it's so complicated," Huey frowned as he rubbed the back of his neck.
Dewey then turned to the girl mouse and sighed, "Aw, we're sorry, Queen Minnie. We wanted you to be the first to try our special recipe ice cream."
Queen? So she ruled over this kingdom. Wait, who was the king and where was he? "Oh boys, it was very sweet of you to think of me." She seemed like the queen who cared more about her subjects than herself.
"Say no more. Leave it to me-one bowl of ice cream comin' right up!" At that moment Captain Justice pushed the three ducklings out of the way and grabbed the handles of the machine.
"You're just gonna make a mess. Leave it alone, Pete!" Huey yelled to the large cat. Wait he called him Pete, but wasn't his name captain justice?
"That's Captain Justice!" the cat yelled as he turned on the machine. Lights lit up on it and it began to shake. Suddenly ice cream splattered everywhere, all over the stag in front of him. He quickly turned the machine off and then began to fluster at what to do next. "This machine is busted. It just needs a good poundin'..." He began to hit and smack the machine repeatedly.
"It does not!" It was clear the queen was starting to get angered at the tone of her voice.
"Hey, do you think I could give it a shot?" Kasai looked over at her friend who just now spoke up.
"No, if Captain Justice can't fix it, there ain't nothin' you can do, kid." The large cat continued to beat the red machine as he spoke.
Ventus shrugged his shoulders and smiled slightly, "Maybe not, but there's no harm in trying."
"Yeah! And better you than him," Huey jumped down from the stage and walked over to Ventus. He held out a small slip of paper in his hand and handed it to Ventus. "Here ya go. These are the directions for the machine."
Ventus took the paper and read over the directions. "Looks complicated." Kasai said as she read the directions as well.
"Well they said it would be," Ventus folded up the directions and put them in his pocket.
He walked over to the machine and turned it on, the lights lit up and it began to shake. But no ice cream splattered everywhere. The machine stopped shaking and he sat in the chair between the key large keyboards. Huey, Dewey, and Louie went on stage and held ice cream cones in their hands. Music began to play and the three ducks were clap at different times in rhythm. What Ventus had to do was match the rhythm and shoot ice cream scoops at the ducks so they could catch them on the cones. The music that was playing was a super cheerful tone that she would know from anywhere. She narrowed her eyes and covered her ears to try and deflect the tune. "Anything but that," she grumbled to herself as it's a small world played. At times the ducks would just stomp their feet and that was when Ventus had to spray ice cream in a frenzy to rack up score. The song ended and the ice cream towered at a remarkable 5 meters and 31 centimeters. Ventus sat in the chair with a big smile on his face, and that made Kasai light up inside seeing his cheerful glow.
The three ducklings then got a small bowl for the queen and handed her the ice cream. "Mmm, how yummy. What a wonderful treat! I don't think I've ever had such delicious ice cream. Thank you-uh, oh, oh dear..." She realized at that moment she didn't know Ventus' name.
"Oh, Ventus. Just Ven is fine though," he said. He actually introduced himself like he normally does. Kasai knew it was a good idea to bring him to this world.
"Well, thank you, Ventus."
"Way to go Ven!" Huey and Kasai said at the same time. Kasai patted his back as he smiled goofy again.
Louie walked up to machine and smacked himself in the forehead, "I see… we had to push this thingamagig the other way."
Dewey then jumped up, "Hey, I just got an idea! We could let our customers make up their own favorite flavors of ice cream!"
But Captain Justice wouldn't hear of it, "Not with that machine! Well... The kid mighta got it to work this one time. But junk like that needs to get junked!" He began to walk over to the machine to pick it up but was stopped by Minnie.
"Don't you dare, Pete!" She yelled as the three ducklings, Ventus and Kasai stood beside her ready to stop him if he touched the machine.
Captain Justice saw he was outnumbered and grumbled, "Fine. But Captain Justice will return!" With that the large cat ran off down the street and out of sight.
Kasai turned to the queen, "About "Captain Justice", you said his name was Pete?" Kasai knew something was up with this joker but she wanted to know the whole story.
Before the queen could answer though Huey spoke up, "Yeah, he's the biggest troublemaker in town!"
"I bet he's just callin' himself Captain Justice 'cause he wants to win the Million Dreams Award," Dewey said.
Kasai smiled and nodded to herself, she knew there was some reason he was acting all goody-goody. "What's the million dreams award?" Ventus asked the queen.
"That's one of the Dream Festival events. Everyone votes for who they think is the town's most exemplary citizen," the mouse explained.
"That's why he said vote!" Kasai snapped her fingers, happy to know she was right.
"And if ya win the award, ya get a really cool prize!" Louie said with a big smile on his face.
"Oh, it's just a small token, 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," the queen then continued to explain.
"Well that in itself sounds nice enough," Ventus said with a small smile. It seemed to brighten his heart hearing how people looked out for each other.
"Pete just wants to get his grubby hands on the prize," Huey said with spite in his voice. Kasai could tell Pete was not the most beloved citizen in town but she wouldn't think everyone hated the poor guy.
"And he knows that nobody's gonna vote for him if he puts his own name on the ballot!" Dewey said as he stomped his feet.
"But nobody's fooled," Louie chimed in as he looked to Kasai.
Ventus smiled as he looked to the sky, "Wish somebody was looking out for me." He sighed as he closed his eyes. Kasai sighed to herself as she put her hands on her hips. She grumbled then grabbed his wrist and pulled him to the side. He gasped as she yanked his arm and dragged him into an alley. "What's the deal Kasai?"
She looked at him with a look that was like, if you don't get your crap together I'm going to kill you. "Look Ven, I know Aqua and Terra are fighting. But you gotta let it go!"
"I can't Kasai. I feel like it's my fault. For not being there for them. I feel like they need me."
"Ven, we do need you. And you have been there for them. Just caring for them is enough for them to know that you have been there for them." Ventus just sighed and looked down at the ground. She lifted his chin up and looked into his eyes, "Ven, I'm looking out for you. You're my best friend, and I won't ever leave your side." A smile slowly spread across his face as he looked into her eyes.
"And I'm looking out for you too Kasai." He said in a low loving voice. The two stood there and looked at each other for a moment, just looking into the others eyes. Kasai licked her lips and Ventus gulped. Both took a deep breath and began to lean in close. Ventus placed a hand on her hip as she put her hands on his shoulders. They went closer as their eyes began to close. Their lips began to pouch out both longing for the kiss. Kasai felt her heart race inside her chest; she had never kissed anyone before. Ventus felt the same as he held her tight. Inch by inch they closed in; finally here they were less than an inch away from the other.
Then a voice came on over the town speakers, "Would everyone please report to the stage for the presentation of the million dreams award." Kasai and Ventus jumped back from each other and blushed wildly. She cleared her throat and rubbed her arm.
"Uh, I think we should go. You might win the award," Kasai said to Ventus.
"Uh yeah, sure." He then walked out of the alley and back to the town square.
The two stood among the crowd which consisted of a horse, two chipmunks and the three ducklings. Pete or Captain Justice stood in the back of the area in the gazebo. Everyone was talking about who they thought would win the award. Kasai stood beside Ventus who looked at the stage and wouldn't even look at her. Kasai groaned in her head as she called herself stupid for not kissing him anyway. She shook her head, it was too late now.
Kasai looked up and saw Queen Minnie and a girl duck in a purple dress walk to the front of the stage. "Hello everyone and thank you for waiting. Now, it's time to begin the main event of our Dream Festival—the Million Dreams Award presentation." The crowd cheered except for Pete who mumbled something to himself. "Oh, how very exciting! This year we have multiple winners. The Million Dream Award goes to... Ventus, Aqua, and Terra. All three of you!"
Kasai smiled and punched her friend in the arm, "See I told you, you would win!"
Ventus was smiling from ear to ear, not that he won but that Terra and Aqua had been her earlier. "When were Aqua and Terra here?"
Kasai shrugged her shoulders then "Captain Justice" pushed the two out of the way and toward the stage. Anyone could tell he was furious that he hadn't won. "Whaddaya mean!? There's gotta be a mistake. Everybody voted for Captain Justice. I made sure! Now, go on, tell her!" Nobody said anything; you couldn't even hear a cricket chirp. No one even coughed that's how bad it was. "Better try the other one..." then he ran off stage and in a second he ran back on in a black and dark purple outfit with a CD on his belt. "The rogue racer, Captain Dark!" Now everyone turned their back to the stag not wanting anything to do with him.
"Pete, we counted the votes very carefully. Ventus, Aqua, and Terra won. Oh, Pete, I think you tried to do something good, but you were doing it for the wrong reasons, and you went about it the wrong way. Still, a couple of citizens must have thought you had goodness in you, because you actually got a few votes. They knew you were looking out for them," the queen said with care in her voice. But you could see as Pete was shaking in anger. He really wanted that prize.
"Big whoop! I don't need their lousy votes. Just cough up my prize!" He reached toward the queen and now Kasai could see why everyone hated him. He really only cared for himself.
"Pete! They voted for you because they believe in you and care about you. How could you look down on that? I've tried to forgive a lot of things you've done, but this is too much. Now you've finally crossed the line."
"Like that matters to me. Besides, what are YOU gonna do about it," he acted as if she had no power at all.
"Ha! I'm going to let you cool off for a while. Guards!"
Just then from the east 6 walking broom sticks walked to the stage and surrounded Pete. "Hey what the?" Then the brooms picked him up as he struggled to get out of their grasp.
"Now, shall we continue the ceremony? Would the three winners, Ventus, Aqua, and Terra, please come up and join me on the stage?" Kasai then pushed her shy friend on the stage for he didn't feel like he deserved the award. "Oh dear, it looks like our other two winners couldn't make it here to be with us today." Kasai saw that he said something to himself and she could see the disappointment in his eyes. "Perhaps you would accept the award on their behalf. After all, you've been so kind to so many here at the Dream Festival. So now, I hereby present the Million Dreams Award...as a token of how much you matter to us. Congratulations!" Everyone began to cheer as he thanked the crowd for voting for him. Even though Terra and Aqua weren't here he was still happy to be recognized by the people. "And as an extra treat, we've created something special-an ice cream flavor just for you. Double Crunch ice cream!" She handed him a bowl of pink ice cream with two circles on top; which made it look like ears, it was surrounded by berries and fruits of different kinds, and there were two chocolate keyblades sticking out from the side.
"What's it taste like?" Kasai shouted from the crowd. And with that Ventus stuck his whole mouth in the ice cream; he didn't even borrow with a spoon. Kasai laughed at the childish nature of her friend.
"What do you think?" The queen asked him as he swallowed the ice cream.
You could see the sheer pleasure he had on his face as she swallowed the ice cream, "It's great!" He said as he took another bite of it.
"We're all very glad you enjoy it!" Queen Minnie said as Ventus walked down the stairs.
The two walked away from the stag and to where they entered the world. "Want a bite?" Ventus offered as he pushed the ice cream towards Kasai.
She rejected his offer with a smile, "No thanks, not a big fan of strawberry ice cream."
He then pulled the ears off and the two keyblades out, "Then here, have the chocolate then." She smiled and gladly took the chocolate pieces as she ate them. Ventus quickly finished up the ice cream and laid the pink bowl down.
"So what did the small token of appreciation look like?" Kasai said as she wiped the chocolate off her mouth.
"That was all she gave me."
Kasai looked at him in confusion, "Then I wonder why they call it the million dreams award."
"Maybe because you done good deeds, your dreams will come true."
"That seems like a good explanation," Kasai then looked at Ventus, "So what's the first dream you want granted? To become a keyblade master?" As she asked this her armor formed over her and her keyblade turned into the glider.
Ventus shook his head with a smile, "For you to return home happy." His armor formed as he jumped on his glider as well. Behind the mask Kasai was blushing and smiling and she was thankful he couldn't see her face. The two flew into the portal and to the lanes between. Kasai was really starting to have feelings for Ventus, which was dangerous. She wanted to return home but if she loved him she would do anything to save him. She promised herself and Aqua she would protect Ventus, and she knew that if it meant dying, she would protect him. She loved him.
AUTHORS NOTE: well he was back to being his fun loving self. This is the second time they have almost kissed and got denied. Man will these two ever get together?