Chapter 4: Transformation
Sora took the controls of the gummi ship as they prepared to land in the gummi port that had been newly built, Kairi and the others came out of the gummi as Sora shut the system down. She could see that engineers came rushing towards the gummi as well as some soldiers to help guild the citizens of Disney Castle. Sora finally came out of the gumii and saw the damage that had been done to the gummi ship, it had been shot at the control system by the sectary guns, which meant that it wouldn't be able to take off again. Sora sighed at this as they would have to find another way to travel round the worlds. He turned to face Riku and Goofy to help him unload the supplies from the broken gummi while Kairi helped Donald and Daisy keep the citizens of Disney Castle calm with the Radiant Garden soldiers. Donald was himself again but still couldn't remember any magic. Everyone came out of the gummi port and entered the marketplace. The citizens of Disney Castle just went to the shops with Daisy. Sora and the others were just standing there looking amazed as they saw Radiant Garden. Lots of work had been done since the last time Sora, Donald, and Goofy had visited. Kairi turned to her right to see the castle. "Guys! Look at the castle!" shouted Kairi and everyone turned to see the castle. The castle was completely rebuilt. It was similar to Disney Castle only bigger it didn't have as many towers. The bottom of the castle was covered with lots of flowers. Donald had to be picked up by Goofy because he couldn't see over the wall.
"Wow…" said Sora, "All of this was done in a month?"
"It's hard to think that this used to be Hollow Bastion after seeing all of the committee's hard work." Goofy mentioned.
Kairi looked at Goofy with confusion, "Hollow Bastion? Isn't this-"
"Yeah Kairi." Sora looked at her warmly, "Welcome home." Kairi smiled brightly as she took the new discovery and surroundings at heart.
"And thus, our original plans are complete." Riku said to himself, referring to one of their missions when their were building the raft to get to other worlds.
"SORA!" Sora heard his name being called; he turned around only to be knocked down by a little blue creature. Sora picked the creature up only to be licked by him five thousand times. He stopped licking Sora and started to laugh at Donald because Donald had oil on his tail feathers from sitting on the wall. Sora, Riku and Kairi looked and then started to laugh.
"Hey! What so funny?" moaned Donald. Sora pointed to his oily tail while laughing. Donald then grabbed a handkerchief for his pocket and wiped the oil off. Sora got up as Kairi picked up the little blue creature.
"What is he?" asked Kairi
"Um…. Leon said that he was an alien experiment from a world that got destroyed years ago." Sora replied slowly while putting his hands around his head, the little creature's ears went down. Kairi looked at him seeing that he was sad.
"What's his name?" asked Kairi
"Stitch"
Kairi looked at Stitch while he picked his nose with his tongue. "He kinda cute…. I'm Kairi" She smiled.
"K-Kairi?" Stitch asked, struggling to speak. Kairi nodded in reply, "Kairi" Stitch then hugged Kairi, making her smile and hug back.
"I'm guessing he likes her" said Riku casually. Stitch then jumped out of Kairi's arms and on to Riku's head; Stitch started to smell Riku's hair before gagging and went back on to Sora. This made Riku confused and checked to see if his hair smelled.
"How have things been Stitch?" asked Sora, Stitch started to reply in his alien language which made every one give questioning looks. "English please, Stitch."
"Oh. Well…um….Stitch h-has message for Sora." struggled Stitch as he jumped off of Sora's spiky head and on to the ground. "L-Leon is waiting for you in…..um….M-Merlin's house"
"Let's get to Merlin's house then" said Sora. Everyone followed Stitch to Merlin's house.
Sora went into Merlin's house and saw that nothing had changed since he had last visited. He turned his head to the computer to see Cid doing research with Yuffie. Stitch just went on top of the computer where Cid was working. Leon was talking to three teens.
The first teen was a sixteen-year-old boy who was wearing camo shoes and pants and had blonde hair. He wore a light brown vest over a black muscle shirt that has a poorly drawn white skull and crossbones on the shirt. He also wore a small necklace that has a golden X on it.
The second teen looked the same age as the other teen and had black hair that was held up with a black and white stripes sweatband. He wore a purple banana, a red 'Dogstreet' sleeveless basketball shirt with a cream long sleeve shirt underneath, blue baggy trousers and trainers with the colour scheme of white and blue. He looked slightly larger than the other teens.
The last teen was a girl and was the same age as the other two. She had brown hair, green eyes, and soft peach skin. Her clothing is something of maybe a summery, Hawaiian kind of theme; an orange shirt with the design of a flower on the side, yellow carpis, orange socks with a white trim at the top, and yellow, black, brown, and white sneakers.
They looked like…Hayner, Pence and Olette?
"Kairi!" Olette squealed as she ran over to Kairi and hugged her, "Sora saved you!" Kairi giggled and hugged her friend back
"It's good to see you again." Pence said brightly as scratched his black hair, "We didn't know what had happened to you after going into the other Twilight Town."
"We're all glad to see that you're alive." Leon announced as everyone greeted the group. Riku wasn't sure if he fitted in or not but it was greeted just like the others. Donald and Goofy smiled as they started to hug Yuffie and tried to hug Cid.
"What are you guys doing here?" Sora and Kairi said at the same time as their looked at Hayner, Pence and Olette.
"Twilight Town was taken over by these shadowy creatures," explained Pence. "They were nothing like Heartless or Nobodies."
"Were these creatures had red eyes and their body was dark blue?" Sora asked as he tried to do an impression of the creatures that he managed to fight through. Goofy and Donald chuckled at this.
The Twilight Town trio nodded, "Leon and everyone from the committee tried to stop them…" continued Olette.
"…but their weapons didn't even scratch them" Hayner finished, annoyed that he couldn't do anything to save his home.
"The only ones who were able to cause damage were the creatures. They've sealed Twilight Town off so we can't enter. Not even a super high-tech gummi can open a route to Twilight Town." explained Leon. Leon started to looked around the room before looking at Sora. "Where is the king? He asked.
"He was taken." Riku said slowly as he entered the room, Sora lowered his head in shame, "Sora tried his best to get to him but there was nothing he could do." Kairi walked over to Sora and tried to cheer him up, it looked like that the guilt was still eating him.
"What happened to Disney Castle?" asked Cid with a concerned look on his face,
"It was taken by the same creatures that took over Twilight Town" answered Sora as he raised his head. He looked at Kairi and gave her a thankful smile.
"But isn't the Cornerstone of Light supposed to keep darkness away?" Yuffie butted in.
"That's the thing I don't get." explained Kairi, looking away from Sora. "Not even the Keyblades can do any damage."
"Well, how are we gonna stop this enemy if they aren't effected by light or darkness?" asked a worried Donald.
Goofy started to think about that cloaked person that helped him and Sora. "Oh. Sora. That card the cloaked guy gave you!" remembered Goofy. Sora suddenly remembered about the card and started to search his pockets.
"What guy?" Kairi, Riku and Donald asked. Goofy didn't answer as Sora found the card and handed it to Leon.
"A guy that had a white cloak on, destroyed the creatures that blocked the way into Disney Castle." explained Sora, "They gave me that card saying "If you want to find more about these creatures, then you might want to visit this man-made world.""
Leon went into a thinking pose as he looked at the description of the card. "It looks like the password is some sort of riddle." Leon said as he looked at the card, "Cid and I will try and figure out the password."
"In the meantime, why don't you guys go into town and have a look around?" Yuffie suggested.
"Hmm, I don't know." Riku thought about it.
"Oh, c'mon Riku!" Sora tried to convince him, "It'll be fun and we can get supplies that we lost from that attack." Riku ended up shrugging in agreement, as well as sighing. Sora looked over to Hayner, Pence and Olette. "How about you guys?"
"Can't." Hayner said, "We were going to look around the castle since it's completely rebuilt now." Sora and Kairi nodded as the both of them began to run out of the door, laughing like goofy teens.
Riku chuckled and started to follow the twowhen he noticed that Donald and Goofy were not following them. "You guys coming?" asked Riku
"We're gonna sort out the citizens from Disney Castle." answered Goofy. "So don't let us ruin your fun." Riku didn't really want to leave Donald and Goofy on their own to deal with the citizens, he wanted to help.
"Go on." added Donald, "Have some fun while you still can." Riku understood what they meant; he seemed to have a feeling that this journey will be a whole lot different to their other adventures and not just because he and Kairi are travelling with them. Riku sighed in defeat before running out of Merlin's house to find his two friends.
BOWBOWBOW
The marketplace was packed with people; it was the same apart from having a big widescreen TVs on a wall showing ads. Kairi was checking the local clothes shop while Sora was at the accessories shop. Riku came running into the marketplace and saw Sora hand over some mummy for something. Riku knew that he probably bought it for Kairi, it wasn't like Sora was gonna start buying him, Donald or Goofy stuff. Riku came behind Sora and tried to find out what he had gotten for her. "What did you get her?" asked Riku
Sora jumped from Riku's sudden appearance and quickly hid the purchase goods behind his back. "Get who what?" replied Sora, pretending not to know what Riku talking about.
"Oh. Come on Sora! I wasn't born yesterday" Riku tried to grab the bag that Sora was hiding.
"What? Can't I buy accessories for the journey?" Sora questioned as he still held the bag away from his silver headed friend.
"You don't buy accessories until you find out what you're fighting!" Riku pointed out.
Oh, that's one Roxas went in the back of Sora's mind.
"I'm just buying accessories. Ok?" Sora tried to get away but Riku managed to see this coming and stepped in front of him, preventing his escape.
"Spill Sora! What did you get Kairi?" Riku cut to the chase.
"Well, how do you know it's for Kairi?" Sora questioned. Riku noticed that his nervousness reflected in his voice, making him laugh.
"Well. You're not going to start buying me gifts are you?" Riku pointed out again.
Oh, that's two.
"Like I said, I'm just buying accessories" Sora was trying to get away again when Riku managed to grabbed the bag with the accessory in it and looked in the bag.
He looked in the bag and his eyes when as wide as dinner plates before shaking his head and giving the bag back to Sora. "And you don't buy yourself an accessory that looks more expensive that halve of Destiny Island itself."
That's three, and we have our winner
Shut up, Roxas.
"I wanted to get her something good for her birthday" Sora sighed in defeat. Sora had already turned 16 a couple of days before the King's letter arrived.
"That's not it because her birthday was the day after yours" Riku said sternly. It was amazing how close their birthdays were to each. One time, Riku had put two rings in a box and gave it to them as a birthday present. The rings had a description on it saying 'Best friends 4ever' and of course, Riku had taken one of the rings and said that the two of them had to share the ring as a symbol of nearly having the same birthday. The next day, Sora and Kairi lost their ring down the drain and Riku broke his while sparring. That was his punishment for buying plastic ones but it's the thought that counts. Sora's accessory however DEFIANTLY wasn't plastic.
"Late birthday present then." Sora shot back
"That's not it either." Riku put his hand on Sora's shoulder, looking at him with a serious look. "You're in love with her"
"What?" Sora laughed nervously, "I'm not in love with….with…"
"See. Your heart won't let you lie out of this one." Riku said slowly while having his arms crossed, "Admit it Sora. You love Kairi" Silents fell between the two of them; Riku just smirk while waiting for an answer. Sora broke the silent by sighing.
"How did you know?" Sora said in defeat
"Oh please, everyone can tell from the way you look at her from a mile away." Riku laughed which ended up making Sora laugh along as well, though somewhat awkwardly. Was he that obvious?
Yes
You weren't supposed to answer.
"When are you going to tell her your true feelings?" asked Riku
"I don't know." Sora sighed, "I've been trying since we came back to the Islands!"
"Sora. If you don't tell Kairi your feelings soon then some other guy is just gonna flirt with her." Riku explained.
"What do you mean?" Sora asked confusedly
"I mean that other guys are going to find Kairi attractive and make you jealous." There was a moment of silence. "Do it before the clock runs down."
"You're right" said Sora, "I going to find Kairi" Sora gave Riku the accessory and ran to find Kairi. Riku looked at the accessory again before chuckling to himself, at least he has a back-up plan if he fails.
BOWBOWBOW
Kairi was in front of an old, broken, burnt, wooden house. Some books were the only thing that survived the fire. Kairi grabbed one of the books and opened it. It turned out to be a photo album. She looked at the pictures and started to cry. The pictures were of her family from when she was four. Kairi was the only one left from her family, and she already knew that her dad now, adopted her when she came to the islands.
"You alright Kai?" said a voice. Kairi turned around to see Sora coming towards the burnt building. Kairi nodded and wiped away her tears, "Kairi, what's wrong?" asked the concerned Sora.
"Ever since Naminé went back into me" Kairi explained, "I've been getting my memory back about this place." Kairi turned back to the house and walked inside it, Sora followed her. "This house was my grandma's house. She was looking after me before the world was swallowed by darkness." Sora remembered that he saw Kairi listening to her grandma's story in the past when he was on his first journey. "I looked in this photo album and found this picture." Kairi handed the picture to Sora.
Sora looked at the picture around the old house to see Kairi when she was four with her auburn hair to her chin, her violet eyes happily shone as she held a small bunch of picked flowers in her hands, her grandma sitting on a chair, smiling happily into the camera with her grey hair tied up into a bun, a boy with short blonde hair stood next to the chair that Kairi's grandmother was sitting on, the small seven year old held a bold smile in the picture. There was a man behind the chair, he looked into his 30s as he was shown laughing slightly in the picture, his dark auburn hair hair was short and scruffy, similar to his daughter. Sora smiled at the sight as he looked back at his auburn haired friend. "You look happy." He smiled at her.
The girl sighed somberly as some blurred memories placed herself in her sight, of when she was with her family. "I just wish their weren't all gone." She said quietly.
"Hey." Sora told by her side, pulling her close to him as he said. "You don't know that. They could be out there somewhere."
"But what if they're not-" Kairi looked at Sora and her eyes started to water. "I just wish-I was lucky-to arrive on Destiny Islands."
"Kairi..." Sora slowly wrapped his arms around the girl. She quickly got the hint as she quicly warpped her arms around him, resting her head on his chest as seh tried to control her breathing. The sudden thoughts of one forgotten family can be a strain to one's self. The Keyblade Master stood their with his arms around the Princess of Heart, trying to comfort her as he rubbed his hands up and down his back in a soothing moment.
"Hey fellas!"
Sora and Kairi looked in the direction the voice came from. It was Goofy. "What is it Goofy?" Sora asked as he placed his arm around Kairi.
"Leon said that he needs to talk to us about the password" Goofy answered before he started walking to Merlin's house.
"Come on lets go back to Merlin's." Kairi looked back at the remains of her grandma's house one last time before Sora started to pull her in the direction of Merlin's house. Some memories are perhaps better forgotten.
BOWBOWBOW
The Dark Master remained in his chair, tapping his fingers on the armrest as he waited for his three remaining elite soldiers to come into the room. Three portals appeared, and three armoured soldiers came out each with different colour markings. "You're late." The Master growled angrily.
"Sorry, sir" shouted the three soldiers, one of them seemed to be weak in the apology.
"Sergeant!" the master called out.
The one with yellow marking stood at attention. "Yes, my lord." he called out
"I want you to go to each world we plan to construct on and see if it's ready for deploying Unbirths" the master commanded, the soldier left through the portal.
"Lieutenant!"
The soldier with red markings braced up and came to attention. "Yes sir!" he called out
"Go and find Maleficent. Bring her here so I can talk to her!"
"I won't let you down sir" The soldier then opened a portal and left.
"What about me?" asked the soldier with blue markings, his tone of voice sounding like he didn't care.
"I am waiting for the Colonel's report." THe Dark Master simply said. After saying that, the soldier with green marking came through a portal, he quickly put his helmet back on while holding the small, unconscious King Mickey, creating a cage to place the mouse king in as he sealed it shut.
"Disney Castle has been taken over my lord" explained The Colonel, "It is now ready for construction"
"Good. Good" The Dark Master said slowly, "Take this private with you; teach him all that you know while you begin on the building of Ultimate Castle."
"Sir." The Colonel said as he saluted to him. The colonel grabbed the private and pushed him through the portal.
The Dark Master waited for the portal to fully disappear before looking down at the unconscious king. "It's nice to see you again, your majesty." he said slowly before chuckling evilly.
BOWBOWBOW
"What do you mean you couldn't figure it out?" asked Sora. Everyone was back in Merlin's house; even Merlin was there. Leon had just told Sora and the gang that they couldn't figure out the password. "You guys are normally good at riddles."
"We tried every answer that we could come up with for a transportation spell but nothing is working." explained Leon. "Looks like this world want to make sure that no one gets there."
"It may be written rubbishy, but it's impossible to crack." moaned Cid.
Goofy was currently thinking about the situation before looking at Cid. "Hey Cid, can I look at the card?" asked Goofy
"Knock yourself out." replied Cid and gave Goofy the card. Goofy was staring at the card, thinking about what the password was. Everyone looked at him.
"What do you think it is Goofy?" asked Kairi
"That big palooka won't figure it out!" moaned Donald
"I don't know, Donald" said Sora, "Goofy has managed to figure stuff out that the two of us have missed all the time. Remember what happened when we first when to the Land of Dragon?"
"Good point" replied Donald as they both remembered that Goofy was the only one to notice Mulan was a girl, NOT A BOY. Goofy was scratching his head when the answer hit him.
"Um…Merlin…can you try Cornwall Crescent?" asked Goofy. Everyone jaws just dropped. Merlin nodded his head as he got the spell ready.
"It can't be right, it's too easy" complained Riku
"Bet you 200 munny that Goofy's right." Sora offered
"You're on!" agreed Riku and shook Sora's hands.
They watched Merlin as he prepared to do the spell. "Cornwall Crescent, Little Devon!" shouted Merlin and a portal appeared. Riku scowled as he gave Sora 200 munny, Smaking the Keyblade Master grin happily because the portal that would help them against the enemy was open and because he had actually won a bet against Riku.
"How did Goofy figure it out when Squall or Cid couldn't?" asked Yuffie
"It's Leon! Just Leon!" said Leon as he scowled at her. Yuffie rolled her eyes at this.
"Well. My son Max lives in Little Devon" explained Goofy
"Your son!" Sora, Riku and Kairi gasped, wide eyes at this discovery.
"Yeah, I thought I told ya. Ah-yuck!"Goofy laughed.
Sora wanted to ask why Goofy hadn't mentioned this during his journeys with him and Donald but knew that now wasn't the time to ask. "Come on guys, let's go" Sora shouted. Everyone nodded their heads. Sora and Riku went first, followed by Kairi, and then Donald and Goofy.
Kingdommad