It had been three days now…maybe four? Mal had lost count. This would have been easier if she didn't have to stop for classes and curfew, as tempting as breaking some rules would be right now. But all eyes had been on her since the coronation as the king's girlfriend and she didn't need to give the media any more dirt to dig up.
At least now she was playing while her friends were around so they could discuss about heartless keyblades, and the universe while she painstakingly grinded to get one more stat point.
Carlos found the scientific aspect of Auradon being split into many worlds fascinating. After hearing Kairi's grandmother's story, he pondered, "So when everyone was separate, no one knew about the others on different worlds? So could that mean that even now, there are worlds outside of Auradon that we don't know about?"
Jay messed up the shorter boy's hair with a hand as he said, "Man, that's crazy! Didn't you hear what Skyler said? ALL the worlds are brought together in one now."
Carlos swatted the hand as he stepped away, mumbling, "All that we know of anyway."
A bit later, when Mal was departing from Hollow Bastion, there was a knock on the door. Ben stuck his head in. "Hey Mal! Evie said I might find you here."
"Can you give me a sec? I'm trying to get through this path." Low health warning sounds started blaring from the screen. She rapidly hit the fire button in defense.
Ben stepped in and watched her flying on the screen. "You still have the default gummi ship? Why haven't you upgraded?"
Again her health depleted and she had to start the route all over. Exasperated, she sighed, "I tried but it doesn't let me fly anything I've put together in the shop."
"Oh, well if you…" and Ben went on with a bunch of gummi jargon that frankly bored Mal, but seemed to pique someone else's interest.
"Ooh? Can I try?" Carlos volunteered.
Mal handed him the controller. "Be my guest." Ben smiled and she asked him, "So what's up?"
"Ah, right," he focused back on her. "I wanted to let you know that the hearing for your mother's scepter is going to be next week Friday."
"About those 'masters' that want to use it?"
"Yes. Seeing as your mother has been rather silent, I was hoping you could show up to speak on her behalf."
"Well, seeing as I've recently gotten proficient in lizard…I suppose I can serve as translator," she drawled teasingly.
"Great!" Ben clapped a hand over his fist.
She went on, "I can hear what my mother will say now," She adjusted her voice a pitch and screeched, "How dare these raggamuffins steal what is rightfully mine. Have they not stolen victory from me enough as it is? Perhaps if they open Kingdom Hearts for me, we can negotiate."
Jay laughed with a bite of candy bar in his mouth, "That's pretty good!"
Ben bit his bottom lip, holding back an awkward chuckle. "Well, I hope you can translate to your mom as well so she understands where they are coming from too."
They chatted casually until Carlos finished his revisions and handed the controller back to Mal. "Test this puppy out!"
With renewed determination, she tried again. The flying was smoother, the maneuvers more swift, the weapons obliterated faster, and defenses kept the health bar up! Still, one section bombarded her enough to seem impassable. She growled as she had to start again.
"Hang on," Carlos yelped, "This was a rudimentary trial. I can design a more efficient one!"
"That's okay, I can work with this. Here, let me help," Ben offered and sat behind her, wrapping his arms over her, holding the controller while still keeping it in front of her.
She leaned back into him as he took advantage of the upgrades Carlos incorporated. Finally, they dodged the army of heartless ships and he relinquished control back into her hands to finish it up.
"You can fly my gummi ship any day!" Mal radiated.
"Congratulations! You've made it to the final world now!" Ben lauded.
Mal saved before a freak accident could cut the power or anything. Not that Auradon had random power outages, but Isle habits die hard.
"In that case, I'll save the rest of the game for tomorrow. Speaking of my mother's scepter, I wanted to go see it at the museum. Care to come with me, Ben?"
"I'd love to! …but I have a ton of proclamations to finish that I've been putting off for tourney. Maybe next time?"
"I'll hold you to that!" Mal smiled and turned to boop the end of Ben's nose with her finger.
Carlos offered, "Can I try to make a better gummi ship while you're gone? One with enough artillery you can plow through the way you like to!"
"Thanks!" Mal stood and returned the controller to the boy that would be wagging his tail if he had one.
Not that she would need to fly the ship anymore now that she reached the last world, but Carlos seemed eager to try. Besides, maybe she could go back and fly the last path on her own now that she saw Ben's tricks; not at all complaining for the opportunity to be close to him as he flew it for her. Her cheeks warmed thinking back on it as she walked to the museum.
What she saw at the museum, however, perplexed her. Or rather who she saw.
Giving it a second thought, she should have expected this: Master Riku gazing at the exhibit of the object he and Sora desired. Probably using his past experience of kidnapping princesses to case the joint. Granted that was attractively gutsy, but this was her mother's scepter in jeopardy.
"And just why are you skulking around here?" she pestered.
He gasped a bit, being pulled from his thoughts, but seeing her, gave a soft smile. He tenderly corrected, "I wasn't skulking."
"First my mom, now her scepter. You're certainly up to something."
"I was trying to talk to your mother because…well…she and I have...a history…"
"What, like you running errands for her?"
Riku shook his head. "All of us make choices. We can't choose where the path leads. But there are many crossroads that allow us to change. Allow us to find balance."
"I'm sure that allegory would be great for a fable. But I won't let you distract me with it. I've gotten far enough into Skyler's game to have seen your choices. I'm surprised they didn't lock you up on the Isle with the rest of the villains."
He smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You haven't seen my whole journey yet. And your journey still holds many potential outcomes." He motioned towards the scepter. "One of them includes this. This is the key to getting some of our friends back."
"Ironic your own keyblade can't solve your mystery problem for you," Mal jeered.
"And with training, you could be key in undoing past wrongs too. If you're willing, I'd be interested in testing you."
"I get enough tests at school, but thanks."
"Different kind of test. A test of heart. I saw the choice you made at King Ben's coronation. It was not an easy one to make."
She wasn't aware of any of these keyblade peoples at the coronation. She almost forgot that it was televised across the kingdom. Still knowing this was probably an offer that many of her peers would be envious of, and the chance to learn more of keyblade powers, she accepted as he summoned his keyblade and held it in front of her.
Sealed away with the worst bunch around. But he was tough. He could handle it.
After traversing the hodgepodge of abandoned buildings that had been mashed together, he came to a castle in the center that was gloomier than most. He stalked in, finding Maleficent lounging on an oversized chair like it was a throne. One hand played with some of the stuffing that poked through the cushioned back.
"Finally found where you've been hiding," stated Riku.
"Well of course. This is the tallest building in town. Who better to occupy it than myself. But just why are you here? Did they decide to lock you up for your past crimes too?"
"You know why I'm here."
Maleficent sat up, both hands holding her scepter as she leaned forward with a wicked smile. "So you did miss me, how sweet."
"You did something to Sora and Kairi."
She scoffed, "Those pathetic friends of yours defeated me before. Why would you think I could ever bring harm upon them?" She smirked like she was innocent. At least untouchable.
His eyes narrowed. "I'm going to stay here until I get some answers!"
"As you wish. But I assure you, you won't find them here."
With that, she sauntered up the stairway, retiring for the evening.
