AN: Hey everyone! I'm back for another one, and there's a lot going on in the story this time around. In fact, there's so much going on in this chapter, that I almost came close to splitting it into two chapters! Yeah, that much is going on this time. Who's excited?!
Riku: I know I am, and not just because I have a bigger role in this story than I did in your last Kingdom Hearts story.
AN: You do remember what that bigger role has you doing in this story, right?
Riku: Doesn't matter. Point is that I'm in this thing a lot more this time around.
Sora: Still not as much as me~!
Kairi: Um, Sora, you kinda have to have a big role, since your the main character of the story, which takes place during the very first Kingdom Hearts game.
Ventus: Just let him have this, Kairi. You of all people should know how those two are.
AN: Alright, enough waiting around, let's get on with the action!...I said, let's get on with the action!...Um, let's make some magic!...[stage whispers] Why is the control for starting the story not starting the story, or making the disclaimer go?
Riku: Oh yeah...uh, I guess I forgot to tell you that there was a little accident while we were shooting the stunts this time around, and the tech guys said that you would have to use the manual controls this time.
AN: Oh, okay, it's no problem. We can deal with that. To the manual controls!
[everyone rushes over to a pair of levers which Riku ends up standing next to]
AN: Pull the lever, Riku.
Riku: [Pulls the lever and causes a trap door to open under AN's feet]
AN: WRONG LEVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!
Riku: Uh, whoops. My bad.
AN: [Walks in soaking wet with a Neoshadow Heartless holding onto him] Okay, why do we even have that lever? [kicks the Neoshadow off him and walks back over to the controls] Get out of my way! [Pushes Riku aside and pulls the other lever] Enjoy everyone!
I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
Chapter II
When morning came to Destiny Islands the next day, the sun was shining brightly as always, and the trio of best friends was quick to get back out to the Play Island so that they could continue making preparations for their voyage. With the raft itself fully completed, all the three needed to do now was gather all the food and supplies that they would need to survive out at sea on the trip, and while Kairi wanted to start gathering up said supplies right away, the two boys thought that there was something else that they had to do before they could truly say that the raft was finished. "Hey, Sora," Riku called out once they had entered the cove at the back of the island, causing Sora to stop for a minute while Kairi continued on ahead, not entirely aware that the two were not following her at that point. "Our raft still needs a name you know."
"Oh yeah, you're right," Sora nodded in agreement. It may have seemed silly to name a small raft that three kids had put together in just a few days, but everyone on Destiny Islands always had a tendency to name any seafaring vessel of any type before they set sail no matter what it was. "Do you have anything in mind?"
"Let's see…" Riku thought for a minute before a name finally came to him. "How about Highwind?"
"I don't know. That's kinda strange," Sora said.
"Well, what would you call it," Riku challenged.
"Me? Well…um," Sora hummed in response, having not really thought of anything himself. After thinking it over for a minute, Sora finally thought of something that he heard in the strange dream he had the previous day, and thinking that it was a better idea than what Riku came up with, immediately declared, "Guardian!"
"C'mon Sora. I thought even you were smarter than that," Riku scoffed. "I mean that's so generic."
"Hey, it's better than 'Highwind'," Sora retorted. The two were soon holding a small glare with each other for a few minutes, knowing that they would never be able to decide like this, until Sora finally asked the all important question. "The usual?"
"Let's do it," Riku smirked in reply. For these two, the usual meant that they would settle the argument with a race around the obstacle course in the cove, at least when they were actually in the cove, and unlike with their sparring matches, when it came to racing, the two were very evenly matched, having raced against each other practically since they were old enough to walk. In fact, the two had so many races up until now, that some people would occasionally say that it seemed like they had been racing even when they were only able to crawl.
"You guys at it again," Kairi suddenly called out, letting the two know that she had now realized that they had stopped following her to the raft and turned back to rejoin them. Before either of the two could say anything in their defense, Kairi sighed in tired acceptance of the two's constant need to outdo each other somehow and said, "All right, I'll be the judge."
"Great. That means there'll be little chance of Riku trying to cheat," Sora playfully remarked.
"You wish that I did that. It'd give you a good excuse for the times when you've actually lost," Riku quipped as he gave Sora a light shove. The silver haired boy then looked over to Kairi and said, "It'll just be a quick race around the obstacle course to decide who can name the raft, Kairi. After that, we'll finish getting ready to set sail."
"Fine, I'll hold you to that, Riku," Kairi accepted with a playful warning as she moved to stand at the entrance of the cove where they would start the race from. "The usual rules apply. Take any route you want, and first one to tag the tree with the large star at the top and make it back here wins."
"Got it," both boys nodded, and they then moved into a starting position. Before they began though, Riku gained a small smirk and whispered to Sora, "Hey, Sora, care to up the stakes a little?"
Sora was a bit puzzled by this sudden suggestion, but he figured there would be no harm in it, so he just shrugged and said, "Sure. If I win, I'm captain! And if you win…"
"I get to share the paopu with Kairi," Riku interrupted.
"Huh," Sora exclaimed in shock.
Riku only smirked, knowing that he had Sora hooked from the moment that he had agreed to add some additional stakes, and then said, "Deal? The winner gets to share a paopu with Kairi."
"Wha…wait a minute," Sora feebly tried to protest. It was one thing to tease a guy about sharing a paopu fruit with the girl they had feelings for, but in Sora's opinion, this was basically saying that they were going to make Kairi into some kind of trophy, something that he was definitely not okay with.
The poor boy was instantly brought back to the matter at hand, when Kairi called out, "Okay, on my count: 3…2…1…GO!"
The minute Kairi shouted that, the two boys were off like lightning, with Riku taking an early lead due to Sora still being a bit caught off guard by the older boy's surprise stakes. That did not last long, as Sora was easily able to catch up and then pass Riku before they were even halfway over the old dock. As they reached the end of the dock where a lookout tower had been built, Sora easily jumped from the dock and onto the ladder so that he could climb up to the tower's zip line, forcing Riku to take the long way around. Upon reaching the top of the tower and riding down the zip line, Sora was able to clear the entirety of the cove's beach, placing well ahead of Riku, and giving him ample time to run up the hill and jump over to the tree with the large star placed at the top. After he had tagged the star, Sora dropped down from the ledge it sat on and began his run back to the starting point, passing the raft as he went. Now, he could have just jumped across the tops of the palm trees after tagging the star, like Riku was doing to try and catch up, but Sora was not going to try something like that when he knew that it would have been faster to jump up the way that Riku had gone down after reaching the lookout tower, and that was exactly what he did, so by the time Riku had made it back, Sora had already crossed the finish line in victory.
Sora had to smile even more at his victory when he heard Kairi cheering in excitement for him as she shouted out that he was the winner, but that smile faded a little when Riku finally caught up, apparently feeling a bit sore about coming in second this time, and said, "Man, lighten up. It's just a name."
"I can't believe you guys were even racing to decide that at all, to be honest," Kairi then stated with a sigh. "Boys. How about we gather the last of our supplies and make a final decision on the name afterwards?"
"…Fine," the two conceded, and they immediately turned to head down to the raft and dole out who would be responsible for gathering what.
Once Kairi was out of earshot again though, Sora looked to Riku and harshly whispered, "You know full well it was not just about a name."
Riku smirked a bit in response, knowing full well what Sora was talking about, but still played off by saying, "Oh, you mean that whole thing about sharing a paopu with Kairi? I was just kidding about that."
"Yeah, sure," Sora snorted in disbelief.
"What're you complaining about? You do know that if it was serious, you have no choice but to share one with her now, right," Riku pointed out. The result was instantaneous, as Sora's face turned bright red, and he immediately quickened his pace while muttering to Riku to hurry up, making Riku laugh a little under his breath at his friend's shyness and embarrassment.
In the end, Sora and Riku were the ones who ended up gathering their supplies while Kairi made sure everything on the raft was still in perfect shape for their trip, and after a quick game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, it was decided that Riku would take care of getting the fish, coconuts, and seagull eggs, while Sora got the mushrooms and drinking water. Both boys had to cringe a little in mild disgust at the fact that Kairi actually wanted them to bring mushrooms along as part of their food supply, but neither of them had the heart or the courage to say no to her when she gave them her look that said that they should do it if they knew what was good for them. Kairi may not be the strongest person among their group when it came to fighting, but it was definitely not a great idea to get on her bad side. Riku and Sora had learned that the hard way a long time ago.
Finding some drinking water that did not come from the ocean was a piece of cake for Sora, and after a while, he had found all but one of the mushrooms that they would need for their trip. The problem was he had looked just about everywhere on the island for that one last mushroom without any success at finding it, and he was about to just give up, go back, and say that he could not find any more than what he currently had until he overheard Wakka talking to Selphie nearby. "Me and Tidus, we are gonna do a little explorin' today. You know, to the secret place at the base of that tree. There's gotta be something there, ya?"
"I don't know, Wakka. It's awfully dark in there, and I'm pretty sure I heard some really weird noises coming from inside a few times," Selphie nervously cautioned.
"Aw come on, Selphie. Sora, Riku, and Kairi go there just about all the time. That must mean whatever is in there must be worth seein' right?"
"That's all the more reason why it's probably better to just leave it alone. Kairi told me that the three of them have something in there that they consider to be really important to them, so maybe we should just leave it alone."
Sora had stopped listening to the two at that point and just started walking over to the previously mentioned secret place, which was really just a hidden cave hidden behind the island's waterfall and that he and his friends had affectionately called the Secret Place since they found out what was back there when he and Riku were still just kids. He did figure he could find at least one mushroom inside the cave of course, but his reasons for going in there right now went a little beyond that. Upon entering the cave, Sora looked around and started running his hands along the walls as he looked over the various chalk drawings that he and his two best friends had made in there ever since they found out what was really in here, not really paying much mind to the weird door that had been inside for as long as he could remember, until he came upon one pair of drawings in particular.
The two drawings in question were self portraits that he and Kairi had made of each other when they were little kids. He still remembered that day like it had just been yesterday; he had brought Kairi in the Secret Place a few days after meeting her to show off all the drawings that he and Riku had already made, and upon seeing a blank space near the weird door, Kairi instantly insisted that they try to draw each other. Sora had tried to refuse, saying that he was not really that great and believing that he would not be able to do a very good job at drawing her, but even back then, Kairi had been very persistent, and so the boy ended up agreeing. Even now, after all these years, he still thought that the drawing that Kairi made of him as a child was much better than the one he made of her, but Kairi would always say that he did a good job. Looking at the drawings now though, something inside of Sora made him feel like there was something missing.
He was not sure how long he sat there thinking this, but it must have been long enough to make him feel like it could not be left alone for very long, because a minute later, he had grabbed a nearby rock and started adding on to the drawing. Once he was finished, Sora sat back and smiled a little, revealing that he had drawn himself giving a paopu fruit to Kairi. He had in fact long since admitted to himself that Kairi was the prettiest girl he had ever met and that he wanted to share a paopu fruit with her, but that did not mean he was ready to admit such a thing out loud for the whole world to know, let alone to the girl herself; he was just too shy to do so. Still, the boy could not help but dream that he would be able to work up the courage to do so one day, like he was doing right now as he looked over his handiwork, until he realized that he was not alone.
"Wh-Who's there," Sora called out, thinking that Wakka and Tidus had come in here after all and seen what he had just done. What he was not expecting, was to hear a much deeper and older sounding voice answer him in the strangest of ways.
"I've come to see the door to this world," a stranger in a long brown cloak replied as he slowly stepped out of the shadows.
"Huh," Sora asked with his head titled a little in confusion.
"This world has been connected," the stranger explained.
"Wh-what're you talking about," Sora asked, not understanding what the man meant, but it did not seem like his question even registered with the stranger, as he just continued on with what he was saying.
"Tied to the darkness…soon to be completely eclipsed."
"Well, whoever you are, stop freaking me out like this," Sora warned in an attempt to sound brave and tough. That was when he realized something that he had not thought about before. "Wh-where did you come from?"
The reason for Sora's question went beyond the fact that he had not even heard the stranger enter the cave, because he had not ever seen anyone dressed like him anywhere on the islands, or even heard anyone with a voice like his before in his life. Like Riku had said just last night, Destiny Islands was a small world, and just about everyone knew each other no matter where they lived in reference to another person, so the fact that Sora did not recognize this person was more than enough reason for him to ask such a question. The stranger did not grant Sora a proper answer though, but instead said, "You do not yet know what lies beyond the door."
"So, you're from another world," Sora guessed in slight surprise.
The stranger did not give any direct confirmation to this, but Sora could have sworn that he saw the man's hood move just enough to indicate that he was nodding. "There is so very much to learn. You understand so little."
That made Sora bristle a little, and he immediately retorted, "Oh, yeah? Well, you'll see; I'm gonna get out and learn what's out there!"
"A meaningless effort," the stranger rebuked. "One who knows nothing can understand nothing."
When he saw the cloaked stranger seem to turn towards the mysterious door, Sora found his gaze moving in the same direction as well. At that point, something about what the stranger had said started bringing some old questions back up to the front of Sora's mind, and they all were in regard to this door. Just why was it here in this old cave? What did it lead to? And why did it not seem to have any kind of lock or handle? These were all things that Sora and his friends had wondered ever since the first time they had seen it, and part of Sora was tempted to ask if this strange person might know the answer. Of course, another part of him made Sora really nervous and wary of this strange person, but in the end, his curiosity won out and led the boy to turn and face the mystery man once again. When he did though, Sora's eyes widened in surprise when he saw that the man had vanished without any indication of ever being there.
Sora shook it off and just returned to what he had been doing before, and after finding the last mushroom that Kairi said they would need, he quickly crawled back out of the cave and made his way back over to where his friends were waiting for him.
When Sora finally got back to the cove, he found Kairi sitting in the sand next to the raft, fiddling with something in her hands that was clearly very important if the fact a lot of her focus seemed to be on it was any indication. Her attention was quickly diverted over to him though when she sensed his presence, and she instantly thanked him for all of his hard work as they set about storing everything that Sora had gathered together with the rest of the supplies that Riku had already brought back. Once they were finished, Riku told them that he had to get home early and bade them goodbye with the promise of seeing them first thing tomorrow morning so that they could set sail as soon as possible, and the two were soon left on their own to enjoy watching the sunset from the dock, at Kairi's insistence.
Sora was honestly happy to enjoy a bit of time alone with Kairi, but at this moment, in a setting that would be considered quite romantic by a great many of people, he was drawing a blank on what to say until he remembered what he had seen Kairi doing earlier. "Say, Kairi, what was that you were working on when I came back with my share of the supplies," Sora asked.
"Oh, I was making a little charm out of thalassa shells," Kairi explained. "In the old days, sailors would always wear thalassa shells because they were supposed to ensure a safe voyage, so I started making a charm of my own to make sure that we would have something that would help us find each other if we ever got separated. I want to make sure that the three of us will always be together."
"That's pretty cool," Sora nodded, honestly impressed and a bit touched that Kairi would be so willing to do something like that.
"Thanks," Kairi nodded. The two fell quiet again as they watched the sunset, until Kairi spoke up again and said, "You know, Riku has changed."
"What do you mean," Sora asked, having not expected that statement at all.
"Well…" Kairi started to say, but in all honesty, she could not find the words to really describe what she was thinking in regards to her statement. There was just something about their friend lately that made her nervous for some reason.
"You okay," Sora asked in concern. He had honestly been enjoying this little moment that they were sharing and did not want it to be hurt by any ill feelings that Kairi may or may not have had at the time.
Sensing her friend's concern for her, Kairi quickly attempted to change the subject. "Sora, let's take the raft and go. Just the two of us!"
"Huh," Sora gasped in surprise while hoping the blush that was forming on his face at the thought was hidden well enough by the sunset.
A minute later, Kairi giggled a bit and said, "Just kidding."
"What's gotten into you? You're the one that's changed, Kairi," Sora chuckled in good humor, though he was a little disappointed to hear that her declaration had been a little joke.
"Maybe," Kairi mused quietly. Honestly, some small part of her did want to go out on the raft with only Sora, but she was not sure if she was ready to admit that to him just yet. She was just glad that he did not seem to notice anything that said otherwise, including the slight tinge of pink that had reached her cheeks when she realized what she said. "You know, I was a little afraid at first, but now I'm ready," Kairi then admitted in regards to their upcoming adventure. "No matter where I go or what I see, I know I can always come back here. Right?"
"Yeah, of course," Sora immediately nodded in confirmation, completely sure that such a thing was indeed true as well.
"That's good," Kairi nodded with a small sigh of relief. After another second, she then added, "Sora, don't ever change."
"Huh," Sora asked in surprise.
"I just can't wait," Kairi then said, acting like she had not said anything a minute ago. "Once we set sail, it'll be great."
"Yeah," Sora nodded in agreement.
After a minute or so, Kairi thought of something else that she had been meaning to tell her friends, and she figured that now was as good of a time as any, so she looked over to Sora and asked, "Hey, Sora, you know how you said that you had a really weird dream yesterday during your little nap?"
"Yeah," Sora replied.
"Well, I think I had a pretty weird one too just last night," Kairi continued.
"What about?"
"I'm not really sure. I remember seeing a lot of people with weird swords, and they were all fighting against these monsters that were destroying everything around them. I didn't recognize most of the people fighting the monsters, but I could've sworn that I had seen at least one or two of them somewhere before, and three of them looked a lot like you, me, and Riku, only older, stronger, and with a kind of determination and courage in their eyes that I had never seen in any of us before," Kairi explained. "What do you think it means?"
"I don't know, maybe it's just a really weird dream you had after reading a really good book one too many times," Sora shrugged in a light joke, drawing a laugh from Kairi in response. He then became serious again and said, "Or it could be something from your past that you can't remember, at least in regards to the ones who felt familiar to you."
"Maybe, but I'm not really sure," Kairi disputed.
"Well, did you get a good look at them," Sora asked.
"Not really, at least not beyond what I already told you," Kairi admitted. After thinking for a minute though, she then added, "Although, there is one other thing I do remember about one of the other people aside from the ones who looked like us."
"Yeah? What's that?"
"I'm pretty sure that one of them was a woman…and that she had blue hair…I think," Kairi mused aloud. After a minute or so she just laughed it off and said, "But you're probably right. It was probably just a dream."
"Maybe," Sora agreed with a small smile. After that point, the two just continued to watch the sunset until they finally stood up and started their trip back home for the night, both excited for when they would finally set sail the next day.
That night, Sora found himself more restless than he had ever been in his entire life. Part of it was due to the excitement that he and his two best friends would be setting sail to pursue their dream of traveling to other worlds when the next day finally came, but a greater part of him had actually been thinking about a number of different things: Kairi's words to him on the dock, the things that the strange man in the cloak had said, and the dream that Kairi told him that she had. While the first two were certainly something that concerned him a bit, that last one was the one thing that had him doing the most thinking, because there was something about what Kairi had told him she had seen in that dream that just seemed to cause something inside of him to stir for some reason that he could not begin to understand. He may have acted like it was probably not something to be concerned about, but part of him could not help but think about what Kairi had told him about seeing a woman with blue hair in her dream. He did not know why, but that description sounded familiar to him for some reason, and the fact that she said she had dreamed about older versions of him, herself, and Riku fighting monsters also seemed to make him pause for a reason that he was not quite sure he really understood. It all felt like he was trying to see the picture that a puzzle made while a majority of the pieces were missing.
Sora was finally stirred from his thoughts when he heard a loud boom coming from outside along with a sudden flash of light, leading him to turn his gaze to his window and look outside. "A storm," Sora gasped in surprise, knowing full well that it was not supposed to so much as rain for a few weeks according to the news. When he saw another flash of lightning near the Play Island though, all thoughts about inaccuracies in a weather report left his mind and became replaced by something that he considered to be of much greater concern. "Oh no! The raft!"
In an instant, Sora had sprung off his bed and out the window in a mad rush to get to the island, which only continued after he had climbed into his boat and rowed to the Play Island. Sora was well aware of the fact that it was dangerous to be out on the water in a storm, but right now, he was more concerned with making sure that all the hard work he and his friends had put into their raft did not go to waste because of an odd, freak storm, and that determination was what allowed him to reach the Play Island in no time at all. Once he had reached the dock on said island and managed to tie his boat to said dock as quickly as possible, Sora jumped out of his boat and onto the dock so he could run over to the cove, only to stop and look up when another thunder bolt boomed overhead. When he did though, he found himself pausing in shock at what he saw.
"What's that," Sora gasped, for there in the sky was not a storm cloud, but what looked to be a massive orb of swirling, dark energies, which was slowly growing in size with each thunder clap and streak of lightning that erupted from it. Sora did not need to be a genius to know that whatever that was, it was probably responsible for what was going on and he probably did not want to be near it, so he decided to quickly check on the raft and then row back to the main island as fast as possible. At least, that was his plan until something else in the water next to the dock caught his eyes. "Riku's boat. And Kairi's!"
The minute he noted the presence of the previously mentioned boats, Sora knew that his friends were definitely somewhere on the island right now, and he could not just leave them behind with something like this going on. He was about to take off running to look for his two friends when he ended up taking a step back in fright at what he saw blocking his path forward. There on the shore before him, was a slowly growing horde of the same, black creatures he had fought in the weird dream he had just the other day, and it did not take any of them long to start heading straight towards him. Sora's first instinct upon seeing them coming towards him was to whip out his wooden sword and take a hard swing at the closest one of them, but to his surprise, the toy just passed right through the monster like it was made of nothing but air. Sora made another attempt at attacking the strange creatures but his attempt only yielded the exact same results, along with each of the attempts that had followed after.
"What's going on here? I was able to get rid of these things easily in that dream I had the other day," Sora muttered to himself before he started running towards the seaside shack, hoping he could hide from them inside. When started getting close, he noticed someone standing up on the small island with the paopu fruit tree, and upon closer inspection, he could clearly see that the person in question was Riku.
Seeing one of his friends at last in this very bizarre chaos gave Sora all the more reason to start running harder, especially since there was a chance that Kairi was there with Riku since the older boy would not have left her to fend for herself in something like whatever this was if he could help it, and in no time at all, Sora was able to breathe a little easier as he started making his way across the wooden bridge from the shack to the smaller island. His relief quickly vanished though when he saw that Riku was just standing there all by himself, apparently gazing up at the sky for reasons beyond Sora, so the minute that the spiky haired boy had reached his older friend, he immediately called out, "Riku where's Kairi?! I thought she was with you!"
Riku did not say anything for a minute, but when he did speak, he said something that Sora was not expecting to hear at all. "The door has opened…"
"What," Sora asked.
"The door has opened, Sora," Riku repeated as he turned to face his friend. "Now we can go to the outside world!"
"What're you talking about? We've gotta find Kairi," Sora protested, while some small part of him started thinking that his friend had gone crazy.
"Kairi's coming with us," Riku immediately reassured him, making Sora freeze in surprise. The silver haired boy then looked up to the dark orb in the sky, and revealed, "Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. There's no turning back, but this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!"
At this point, that small part of Sora that was thinking Riku had gone crazy instantly became much bigger and much more pronounced, and that only grew when Riku extended a hand to him, beckoning him to come with him even as a pit of darkness suddenly sprang up beneath his feet and began to engulf him from the ground up. Before Sora could react to this sudden surprise, another pit had opened up beneath his feet and started dragging him in as well, and he instantly reached out towards Riku, hoping that holding on to him might guarantee that they would not get separated by whatever this was, but the pull was just too strong and Riku soon vanished completely from sight while Sora's vision was quickly clouded by the shadows pulling him in, and he began to feel as though he were suffocating. Just when it seemed like the shadows would end up taking him, a small light suddenly flashed before his eyes and then began to glow brighter and brighter until the darkness around Sora disappeared completely.
After taking a minute to catch his breath, Sora looked around for Riku, only to find that his friend had indeed vanished, much to his dismay, but then, he noticed that there was something in his hand that had not been there before, drawing his attention to the object in question. When he laid eyes on said object, Sora's eyes widen in awe, for there in his hands, was a large, key-shaped sword, much like the ones he had seen in his dream, only this one's design made it much more obvious that it was meant to look like a key, because it held an appearance that easily matched that of a skeleton key, with a bright gold guard, and a silver blade and teeth, the latter of which were shaped much like the crown pendant on his necklace. As he looked over this surprising sight, one word came to his mind that he eventually found himself repeating aloud just for the sake of hearing the word. "Keyblade…"
Before he could ponder how he knew what this strange blade was called, Sora found himself surrounded by the strange, shadow-like creatures once again, only this time, they seemed to be swarming towards him in even greater droves than before. When a small number suddenly jumped out at him, Sora just reacted on instinct and swung the Keyblade at them, despite knowing that it would likely do as much good as his toy sword had. When the blade struck the monsters though, Sora was pleasantly surprised to see that it not only connected to the creatures, but also destroyed them in an instant, while strange, glowing, heart-shaped orbs were released into the air afterwards before vanishing as well. The creatures seemed to hold off on trying to approach Sora for a moment after that, and that gave Sora all the more time to smirk a little and then charge through them, Keyblade swinging.
While this new weapon did destroy the monsters in Sora's path, it was quickly clear that it made little difference in their attempts to attack him for whatever reason, because it was not long after he started running back down the dock that the monsters started swarming him once again. This did not concern Sora though, since the only thing on his mind right at that moment was finding Kairi, and knowing his friend, Sora could only think of one place that Kairi would go to hide in the event of a storm, or whatever this thing that was happening to his home really was: the Secret Place. Thinking that it would take too long for him to get there if he just went back the way he had come, Sora immediately jumped down onto the beach below him and made a beeline for the cave behind the waterfall, slashing through the dark monsters as he went. When he reached the cave entrance, he was surprised to find a large door barring the way.
"That wasn't there before," Sora thought aloud, but when he turned to see the monsters coming towards him at a rather fast pace, he decided to put it aside for later and immediately started trying to open the door. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he pushed and pulled, the door would not budge, and just when he was about to give up, he glanced down at the strange weapon that had suddenly appeared in his hand and thought of something. It seemed a little crazy, but it was better than any other idea he currently had, and he did not have time to think of anything else. "It's worth a shot at least," Sora finally shrugged, and after slashing away a few monsters that had gotten too close for comfort, he stepped back and aimed the tip of his blade at the door. A minute later, a small orb of light started glowing around the tip of the blade, until a beam suddenly shot out and struck the center of the door. After another second, the sound of lock being undone could be heard, and the door slowly opened. "Wow. Okay, so this thing is shaped like a key for a reason beyond looking weird," Sora mused to himself, noting to think on it more at a later time as he quickly started crawling inside.
Once he was through the entrance to the cave, Sora quickly sprinted further in, until he had finally reached the innermost point of the cave where all the drawings he and his had made were, and there, standing just in front of the strange door, was the very person he had been looking for. "Kairi," Sora called out.
Shockingly, Kairi did not react in the way he had expected. He had honestly thought she would have spun around and run over to him in relief that one of her friends had found her and was alright, but instead, she just slowly turned around and faced him with a look that one normally saw a person who was not entirely awake. "Sora," Kairi softly called out in a drowsy sort of voice while slowly raising a hand towards him, confusing him even more.
There was not much more time to be confused though, because an instant later, the door behind Kairi burst open, releasing a powerful gust of wind that pushed the girl directly towards Sora. There was no need for him to even think, as Sora just spread his arms wide, fully intending to catch her before she fell flat on her face. Just when Kairi finally reached him and before he could so much as brush his arms against her, Sora was shocked to see her pass right through him like a ghost and then disappear before he was suddenly blown right back out of the cave and onto the beach again. After propping himself up on his hands and knees, Sora found any strength he had to stand had left him at the sight that ended up greeting his vision.
Instead of the small island he and his friends had almost always visited to play on and the vast ocean around it, he was shocked to discover that both had been replaced with a much more horrifying sight. The ocean waters had disappeared completely and been replaced by a swirling cloud of dark purple mist, and the only piece of land that was left of either the island he had just been on or any island at all was the small, piece of land that he was currently standing on. To make matters worse, the black orb in the sky had gotten much bigger since he had last seen it, and not just because a lot of rocks and pieces of the world were getting sucked into it, but also because the small piece of land he was standing on was getting closer to it. Sora could only stare in horror at what had happened to his home in the brief time that he had been in the cave, until the sound of something really big reached his ears from behind him. Turning to face the source of the sound, Sora was instantly able to get on his feet again, because he found himself faced with the sight of the very same giant monster that he had fought against at the end of his dream the other day in all of its dark, massive glory. Seeing this thing now only caused Sora's eyes to narrow, because instead of being afraid of it like one would have expected him to, the boy just raised the Keyblade for battle and prepared to charge it out of an intention to take his anger and despair over what had happened on this massive beast.
"Ven! VEN! Come on you hopeless sleepyhead, wake up," a female voice cried out through the haze of Ven's tired sleep.
The blonde master just moaned a little in response before rolling over in his bed and saying, "Five more minutes, Aqua."
"Aqua? Who's that? You know what, never mind! You can tell me later, we've got a huge problem! A star's going out," the woman rapidly revealed.
That got Ventus to wake up, and the instant he did, he sprang from his bed and over to the window, which he immediately threw open so he could look up and see the starry sky above Traverse Town. A few minutes later, the person who had been trying to wake him, which turned out to be Yuffie, was right next to him and pointing out a specific point in the night sky to him, helping to shorten his search of the sky for the star she had mentioned, and allowing him to spot the fading star just a few seconds before it blinked out of existence. The thing that scared him most was that he knew exactly which world that star was. Turning to face the ninja, Ven immediately shifted into his more serious, master mode and said, "Find Cid and Aerith, and tell them to start looking around for anyone who appears lost and confused. There's a good chance that they're from the world of that star that just went out. Once you've done that, meet up with Leon and start patrolling the districts for any sudden new waves of Heartless. From what you guys told me, they seem to come in much stronger waves after a star goes out, so we have to make sure the streets are clear. Start over in Third District while I work my way around from here."
"Roger that," Yuffie mock saluted, and she was off in an instant to do as Ven asked.
As soon as Yuffie had disappeared, Ven looked up to the sky again in thought and commented, "There's no mistaking it. That star was Destiny Islands; I'm sure of it, but does that mean what I think it does?" Silence was the only answer that Ven received, not that he was really expecting one at all, so he just turned to face the streets below him as raised his arm up and stated, "Whatever the case, right now, I've got a job to do. If he is here though, then I'll find out for sure soon enough one way or the other."
An instant later, Ven's trusted Keyblade appeared in his hand, and Ven took a moment to look it over before leaping into action. In the ten years that had passed since the journey he had shared with his friends, Ven's Keyblade had finally reached its final evolution like the Keyblades of his two lost friends. The blade itself was now noticeably longer in length, and the guard was now a bit more rounded than it once was. In addition to this, the teeth of the Keyblade were now a bit more pointed than they once were and slightly longer as well, giving it more of an edge, and a narrow green gem was now embedded at the base of the shaft just before the guard and extended a quarter of the way up the shaft. It was still clearly meant for someone who fought using a reverse grip like Ven normally did, but now it seemed as though it had been remade so that the wielder could switch between the two styles at a moment's notice if necessary. If he had to really describe this new form of his old Keyblade in just a few words, Ven would honestly have to say that this was really a more refined version of Wayward Wind.
The sound of someone screaming instantly brought Ven out of his moment of pause, and after swinging himself over the window's ledge and onto the street below he instantly set to work destroying the Heartless that had begun to swarm the streets once again. The minute his feet hit the ground and he started charging, the Heartless immediately turned their attention onto him, just like he knew they would. You see, whenever something like this happened, the plan that Yuffie and the others had was to take the fight directly to the streets so that they could attract the Heartless to them, due to the fact that they each had strong hearts, and that plan was even more sound with Ven's help, since they were especially attracted to his heart due to his ability to wield a Keyblade. It may have been hard work for Ven, and if it were ten years ago, he probably would have complained a little, but he was now a Keyblade Master, so he could handle it.
Things were going as expected, and Ven was sure that he had attracted a great deal of the Heartless to him, but there was something about this that did not feel right. During his time training under Mickey, Ven had learned how to better sense the presence of beings with great darkness or light within them, something that he knew most Keyblade Masters could do, and as such, he was able to tell that not all of the Heartless were focusing on him. At the same time though, he also sensed that not all of them were swarming on Leon, Yuffie, or any of his other new friends either, but on a completely different person, and whoever this person was, it was clear that they had a very strong light within them that could only belong to someone who wielded a Keyblade. When he finally found a moment to catch his breath and focus a little more, Ven was soon able to discover that it was indeed someone who possessed a Keyblade, and not only that, but it was someone who's light felt very familiar.
"This light…could it be…" Ven asked. He had already had his suspicions that the person he thought this was could be here, but now that he was sensing something that would be considered as actual proof, he had to stop and wonder for a moment if it was really him.
He was quickly brought out of his thoughts when he heard a very familiar voice from a nearby alleyway say, "Gawrsh, there's nobody here. Sure is spooky."
"Aw, phooey. I'm not scared," another equally familiar voice declared in response, and as a result, Ven was not at all surprised when he heard said voice suddenly let out a quack of fear not a second later, but that did not mean he did not rush over to try and help.
When he reached the alleyway, it was just in time to see a woman dressed in a pink dress with a red ribbon in her brown hair asking someone he could not see right away, "Excuse me, did the king send you?"
Upon reaching the group in question, and seeing that the people the woman was addressing were Donald and Goofy, the former of which was holding onto the back of the latter after no doubt having jumped up on there after he had been startled, Ven immediately smirked and then replied for the two as he dismissed his Keyblade, saying, "I'd be a little worried if they weren't the ones that he sent, Aerith, because then someone would have some explaining to do."
Hearing his voice caused the three to immediately turn to face him, and while Aerith just smiled at the blonde, the two cartoon animals instantly began sporting wide grins and rushed over to tackle him in a group hug as they happily cried out, "VEN!"
Ven just laughed along with the two as he somehow managed to stay on his feet under their combined weight, but he was still relieved when they got off of him before he fell over, at which point Goofy said, "Glad to see you're okay, Ven. We were so worried when we found out you were gone."
"Yeah, why'd you leave like that," Donald asked.
"It's a long story, but what I can tell you right now is that part it is for the same reason that Mickey left," Ven revealed. "Didn't he mention that in his note?"
The two had the decency to look sheepish at this, since they did indeed remember that the king had mentioned such a thing in the note he left them along with the instructions on what he needed them to do. "So uh, do ya know where the king is right now," Goofy asked, hoping to pull the conversation away from their moment of forgetfulness.
Ven shook his head in response. "No, we didn't leave together, and he just told me that he was going to be taking a different path to solve the current crisis."
"What do ya mean," Donald asked.
"I'll explain later. Right now, we should get off the streets," Ven told the two, and he then looked over to the other person in the alley with them. "Aerith, let's get back to the hotel and give these guys the full story there. It should be clear for the moment."
"Okay," Aerith nodded in response, and the four were quickly off to the location that Ven had just specified.
When they got back to the hotel, Ven had fully intended on giving his two friends the whole story right away, but that was before he suddenly sensed the presence of a very powerful light coming from the room that was right next to his own. After stopping to get a better feel for this particular light, Ven was now more sure than ever that it was the light of another Keyblade Wielder's heart, one that felt far too familiar to him to be anyone other than the person he suspected it to be. Deciding that he just had to know for sure, he looked over to the others and said, "You guys go on ahead. Aerith, can you start without me? There's something that I've gotta check out real quick."
"Okay Ven," Aerith nodded, and she then waved Donald and Goofy into the room that Ven had been staying in.
Once the three had disappeared from his sight, Ven approached the door to the room he had sensed the Keyblade Wielder inside of and immediately knocked. When no one answered right away, Ven immediately called out to one of the other people he knew to be in the room as well. "Leon, open up! It's me," Ven called.
After a few seconds, the door did eventually open, allowing Ven to be greeted with the sight of a taller man with brown hair and a scar running across his face, dressed in a white shirt, black gloves, pants, and boots, and a short-sleeved black jacket. The man in question also wore three brown belts on his left forearm, while another two belts of the same color were worn loosely around his hips along with three black ones, and a final black belt around waist. "I had a feeling you'd show up here eventually," Leon commented in an even tone as he let the Keyblade Master enter the room.
"Do you mean at this hotel, or just anywhere that the newest Keyblade Wielder was," Ven joked in response, knowing full well what Leon meant. A minute later, his eyes found the familiar shape of the Kingdom Key Keyblade resting against the wall, making him pause in shock for a minute. "Is that…" Ven softly asked, letting the question trail off before he could finish it.
"Yep. That's the new wielder's Keyblade," the ever chipper voice of Yuffie confirmed, alerting Ven to her presence in the room, thinking that Ven was asking if that was the new wielder's Keyblade. "Turns out you were right about the Heartless being able to track a Keyblade Wielder through their Keyblade, so we had to get it away from him so they couldn't follow us here."
"It won't work forever though," Ven pointed out, earning nods of acknowledgement from the other two while he turned his attention to the wielder in question. When his eyes found the person in question, it took a great deal of restraint for him not to show any sign of shock or surprise at the sight of said person, because while he may have been a bit younger than he was when he last saw him, there was no mistaking that particular spiky brown hair and the crown necklace around the kid's neck. "So we finally meet again, old friend," Ven muttered quietly as he approached Sora. He then faced the other two and said, "I'll be right next door with Aerith and the two that the king sent to help me and this kid in our mission if you guys need anything, but I want you guys to try and ease him into it all first. Let me know when you've done so, and I'll take it from there, okay?"
"Alright. If that's what you think is the best option," Leon nodded, and he then allowed Ven to move over to the next room via the door that connected the two rooms.
"Sorry about that," Ven apologized as he came in.
"Don't worry, you haven't missed much. I had just finished explaining to them about the Heartless, and was about to tell them about Ansem," Aerith reassured him.
"Who is Ansem," Goofy asked.
"He's a friend of the king's who had been studying the Heartless," Ven explained. "I remember Mickey telling me a bit about what he discovered, at least as far as Mickey knew anyway, but the main purpose of his study was to find a way into the Realm of Darkness so that we could bring back…certain people that had been lost there. I was told he eventually stopped his research though when it became clear that it was too dangerous to continue, for the sake of his people and the people of all the worlds, but I never knew that he was doing research on the creatures who lived in that realm."
No one had missed the moment when Ven had paused in what he was saying when he mentioned "people who were lost in the Realm of Darkness", and Donald and Goofy both knew full well what the reason was, but no one called him on it out of respect to him. Thinking that Ven needed a moment to recompose himself, Aerith took over the conversation and revealed, "Ansem recorded all of his findings in a very detailed report, but its pages are scattered everywhere."
"Scattered," Donald squawked in disbelief.
"Yes, to many worlds," Aerith nodded.
"Oh, then maybe the king went to find them," Goofy exclaimed.
"There is a chance that's what he's doing, but I get the feeling that there was more to what Mickey was doing than that," Ven nodded.
"Well we've still gotta find him, and quick," Goofy protested.
"Wait, first we need that 'key'," Donald reminded Goofy.
"'Key'? What're you talking about," Ven asked, taking a turn at being the one who was confused.
"The king said in his note that there was a certain 'key' we would need to find in order to ensure our survival, and he wanted us to find the person who had the 'key' and stick with him," Donald explained.
Goofy then hummed in thought for a minute and asked, "Ya know, I think maybe he was talking about you, Ven. After all, you do have a Keyblade, and you're a Keyblade Master."
Now Ven understood what they meant, and simply smiled before shaking his head in response. "I appreciate the thought, Goofy, but I'm not the one he was talking about. Yes, I'm going to be joining you guys on this little adventure, per Mickey's orders that I'm sure he mentioned in his note, but I'm not the person with the 'key' you're supposed to find."
"Then do you know who it is," Donald asked.
"Yeah, and Goofy was actually half right, because the key you're looking for is a Keyblade, and the person wielding this particular Keyblade is actually right next door," Ven confirmed.
"Then what're we waiting for? Let's go meet him," Donald exclaimed excitedly.
"Hold on a minute, Donald," Ven cautioned the sorcerer duck. "The poor guy's resting right now, and if I'm right, he just lost his home to the darkness. We need to give him a little time to rest up properly and then get a brief explanation from Leon about the situation. After that, then you can meet him."
"We can't wait! We need to find the king right away," Donald argued impatiently, and he immediately started heading towards the door.
Ven was about to tell Donald not to go in again, the door to the other room burst open, slamming him into the wall, and admitting another person into the room. "Yuffie, what happened," Aerith gasped in shock while Goofy moved to check on his friend who was currently flat against the wall like a pancake.
"The Heartless found us," Yuffie shouted as she whipped out her shuriken for action just as one of the aforementioned monsters appeared behind her. Ven managed to react a bit faster than the ninja did, and instantly destroyed the recently arrived creature of darkness with his Keyblade, leaving Yuffie to explain the rest of the situation. "Leon told me to get over here to you guys while he and Sora tried to lead them away!"
Not minute after Yuffie had finished her explanation, the sound of glass breaking reached everyone's ears, and Ven immediately knew that the two she had mentioned had just gone out the window in their escape. "Oh that's just great," Ven muttered under his breath, but he managed to shake his irritation off and get his mind back into the game as he told the others, "Yuffie, you get Aerith, Donald, and Goofy out of here! I'm going after Leon and Sora!"
"Ven, wait," Aerith shouted, but Ven did not pay her any heed as he quickly ran into the room Yuffie just came out of and jumped through the already smashed window.
Ven knew that Leon was likely thinking that the Heartless would only back off if Sora defeated the leader of the swarm, and was now attempting to lead the new Keyblade Wielder in the direction of said leader, so he reached out with his senses to find the very same Heartless as well while he fought off the small fry that were currently around him. It did not take him very long to determine that the Heartless that he wanted to find was currently in the Third District, and the minute he had found it, he instantly transformed his Keyblade into his Keyblade Glider, and flew over to the area as fast as he could. He was extremely thankful that Mickey said he could still use the Keyblade Glider to get around on a world, because there was no way he would have gotten to the Third District as quickly as he did if he had to go there on foot, and from the looks of things, it seemed that he had managed to get there ahead of everyone else.
That belief was quickly dashed when he heard the sounds of someone fighting nearby, and he immediately turned to see that Sora was already there fighting a few Heartless that Ven quickly identified as the Soldier Heartless. That was when the blonde noticed that the wielder of the Kingdom Key had missed a couple of Heartless that were about to get the drop on him, and immediately charged in to take action, as he shouted, "WATCH OUT!"
Sora barely had time to glimpse Ven before the blonde dismissed the Keyblade Glider in favor of his Keyblade, and he quickly ducked down when he saw Ven suddenly toss said Keyblade towards him, sending the blade spinning through the air like a boomerang so that it would strike both the Heartless that were trying to get the drop on Sora before returning to its wielder's hand just as he landed on the ground. Ven then slashed through the remaining Heartless with a speed and skill that only a master could possess, until finally, the area was clear for the moment, allowing him to turn towards an awestruck Sora. "You okay," Ven asked.
"Uh…yeah," Sora nodded, still a bit awed at what he just saw, until he finally got a good look at the weapon that Ven was using. "Hey, that looks a lot like one of the Keyblades I saw in my dream from the other day. How do you have it?"
Ven quirked in eyebrow in confusion at first, but he quickly waved it off with a smile and replied, "Well it would be a little weird if I didn't have my own Keyblade, wouldn't it?"
"So then…you can use a Keyblade like me," Sora asked.
"Close, except for one not-so-small difference: while you've just become a Keyblade Wielder, I'm actually a Keyblade Master," Ven replied with an easy-going smile. He almost laughed at the way that Sora's expression seemed to vary between one of offense and greater amazement, but that soon turned to concern when he heard an explosion nearby that was followed by the sound of two familiar cries of fright and said, "Uh, I think we should probably move out of the way."
"Of what," Sora asked as he turned to see whatever Ven had spotted. When he did, it was a little too late for him to properly move aside like Ven already had, and Sora ended up at the bottom of a dog-pile beneath Donald and Goofy. All three had to groan in agony for a minute, but they were able to shake it off soon enough, Donald and Goofy much more quickly than Sora since they were used to dealing with such injuries just about every other day of the week, and the two cartoon characters' eyes instantly lit up when they had found the Keyblade that had managed to stay within Sora's grasp as they exclaimed, "The key!"
"I'd ask what happened to you two, but somehow I get the feeling that I don't want to know," Ven told the two recent arrivals.
Before anymore exclamations or jokes could be exchanged, the ground around them suddenly began to shake, until a number of pillars suddenly shot up and blocked all the ways in and out of the district, leaving the four trapped with a massive Heartless that seemed to be comprised of various pieces that were not entirely connected to one another. The torso of the monster had an hourglass shape to it that was mostly violet with a diamond pattern around its waist and a heart-shaped emblem on the center, while its head was a small sphere with silver spikes and a faceplate that was similar to that of a knight's helmet. The large arms of the beast were both violet in color as well, with wide wrists and three segmented claws, and to finish things off, the monster's violet legs, while short, ended in a pair of large, hammer-like feet.
"So, this is the Guard Armor," Ven commented to himself as he dropped into a battle stance in front of the other three, having recognized it from the description that Leon and the others had given him once. "Okay, you guys, if we want to get through this, we're going to have to take this thing down and to do that we'll need to work together. You with me?"
"Yeah," the other three nodded in reply as they readied their respective weapons.
"Okay. Donald and Goofy, you guys hit its legs to try and throw it off balance. Sora, go for the arms while helping me hit it in the center," Ven ordered, and the only thing that was exchanged between the group after that were a series of affirmative nods as they charged forward into battle.
The battle that followed was probably one of the shortest and easiest battles that Ven had fought in a long time, but that was something he attributed to the fact that he was not fighting alone this time, something that he was quite thankful for. It also helped quite a bit that he did not have to worry too much about destroying any of the other pieces of the Guard Armor, since the others were able to help with taking care of that, but they still had to keep a few steps ahead of the beast to avoid its attacks. This was most evident by the fact that Donald was nearly trampled under the Guard Armor's massive feet several times in just a few minutes, but the duck was able to pay the Heartless back for these assaults with some well-placed magic, and whenever he was not able to completely avoid the monster trying to crush him beneath its heels, Goofy was always quick to jump in with his shield in order to keep the duck safe long enough for him to get clear.
Of course, Goofy's quick need to defend others also extended to Ven and Sora, since he was always right there to stand in the way of any attacks that were directed at his friends at any time, but that did not mean that he spent the entire time on defense. Every time he gained an opening, Goofy would always use the edge of his shield to slash at the large Heartless, or even toss the shield at the monster like a Frisbee. Sometimes, Goofy would even rapidly spin around with his arms extended like a top, but this did usually leave him quite dizzy afterwards, so he tended to avoid doing that unless someone was around to make sure he would not end up getting hurt by the monster.
In all honesty though, it was Ven and Sora who ended up doing the most damage to the Guard Armor out of everyone in the group of four, no doubt because the Keyblades were such effective weapons against the Heartless, and from what Ven saw, despite being an amateur when it came to wielding a Keyblade, Sora was able to hold his own quite well. The boy was ducking away from and effectively guarding against any attacks that came at him, striking back when he had decent openings, and would sometimes even strike while in midair when he had to jump in order to avoid an attack. He never used any magic, but Ven just chalked that up to the fact that he probably had never learned any up until now, a fact that he knew he was going to have to address soon enough, but that did not cause his smile to fade in the least, because he knew that he had finally found his first student as a Keyblade Master.
Through the four's combined assault, the Guard Armor was quickly defeated, disappearing in a plume of smoke once it had released the heart within, and once the walls that had blocked the entrances and exits of the district had disappeared as well, they all breathed a sigh of relief while dismissing their weapons. "Well, I guess it doesn't need to be said that this kid's the guy you two were sent here to find, does it," Ven joked to his two cartoon friends once they had all caught their breath.
"Wait a minute," Sora interjected. "So, you guys were all looking for me?"
"Uh-huh," Donald and Goofy both nodded while Ven just smiled in confirmation.
"They, too, have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade," Leon revealed as he and Yuffie came over to the group.
"Uh, ahem. I think you mean the newest wielder of the Keyblade," Ven corrected before turning back to Sora. "More to the point, how would you like to learn how to really use your Keyblade?"
"What do you mean," Sora asked.
"I mean that I can teach you how to become a true Keyblade Master like me, if you want me to that is," Ven explained. "More to the point, I can even do it while we travel with these two."
"Yeah, we can go to other worlds on our vessel, so why don't ya come with us," Goofy nodded in encouragement.
"I don't know," Sora muttered, hesitantly. Yes, it was a tempting offer, but there was still something that he had to do first. Thinking of that very thing made Sora consider something about going with those three that he had not already thought of. "I wonder if I could find Riku and Kairi…"
"Of course," Donald instantly replied, causing Sora to perk up a bit eagerly and Ven to raise a suspicious eyebrow.
"Are ya sure," Goofy quietly asked his friend.
"Who knows," Donald admitted just as quietly. "But we need him and Ven to both come with us to help us find the king. OUCH!"
That exclamation of pain was due to the fact that Ventus had overheard what Donald said and promptly slapped the cartoon duck upside the head for it. "Donald, you should know better than to do something dishonest like that," Ven scolded the duck as though he were a child. Then he looked back at Sora and said, "What my rather rude and often insensitive friend meant is that if you want to find your friends, we'd more than happy to help. It's just that we've got some friends of our own to find, and in addition to that, there's something very dangerous and dark threatening all of the worlds and the best chances of stopping it may very well be you and I, because of the fact that we are both Keyblade Wielders. So what do you say? You think you can handle fighting alongside us while training to become a Keyblade Master, trying to save the worlds, and searching for our missing friends?"
Sora looked down in thought for a minute, not entirely sure what he should say to that and seeing his uncertainty, Leon thought he should add his own two cents. "Sora, go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends," the man simply stated.
"Yeah…I guess," Sora finally conceded after a minute.
"But you can't come with along looking like that. Understand," Donald suddenly stated, drawing a couple of looks from Goofy and Ven until he finished what he was saying. "No frowning, no sad face. Okay?"
"Yeah, ya gotta look funny, like us," Goofy chuckled.
"Right, because this boat runs on happy faces," Ven finished.
"Happy," Sora mused to himself before falling quiet and drawing everyone's full attention onto him to see what he would do next. After another minute of silence, Sora finally looked up at the three with the most ridiculous grin on his face, and when they saw that face, the three could only stare in surprise for a minute before they all burst out laughing at the sight of him.
"That's one funny face," Goofy said between his chuckles.
Seeing that he had managed to meet the duck's requirements and gotten his unexpected new friends to laugh as a result, Sora felt his confidence rising again, and thus he was able to finally make a decision on what he should do now. "Okay, why not? I'll go with you guys, and if you can really teach me how to be a Keyblade Wielder, then I'll gladly be your student."
"Alright, that's what I was hoping you would say," Ven smiled gladly. "Now all that's left to do is have a few introductions. I'm Master Ventus, but call me Ven."
"Donald Duck."
"Name's Goofy."
"I'm Sora," the Destiny Islander finished as the four all put their hands atop one another's to seal the deal.
"All for one, one for all," Goofy declared proudly, and with that, a new team was formed. As the four looked between themselves, they could each tell that they would be in for quite the interesting adventure, but despite what challenges they were about to face, they were confident that they would be able to handle them so long as they stuck together.
AN: Well, I for one am quite impressed with what I managed to pull off here. Got the last peaceful day on Destiny Islands in, the moment said world fell into darkness, added a few changes to some of the things that happened in there, and then switched over to Ven's point of view for most of what happened in Traverse Town, and threw in the battle against the Guard Armor.
I'll admit, the battle against the Guard Armor there at the end was a bit half-baked, but that was mostly because it was Round 1 against that particular enemy, and it was not supposed to be very impressive. Also, just to be clear, yeah, that was the original version of the Guard Armor they fought against, but the next time they face it, it will have changed into the Final Mix version, so just a small heads up on that. I'll go into more detail on that later.
Sora: Hey, how come we didn't see me fight the Darkside Heartless this time around?
AN: Dude, do you really think anyone wants to see what had happened after that point? I'm gonna be totally honest here and admit that I did originally try to work that fight in, but the more I wrote of it, the more it seemed like I was just rewriting a battle that we've all seen like a million times before already, so I figured why do that when we can just jump over to something a little more original.
Ven: Original? You basically did another version of the first time Sora met Yuffie when we switched to my point of view.
AN: Well I thought it was a pretty good idea, and this way, we got to hear a little more about the heroes of Birth By Sleep, and if you'll notice, got a small mention earlier on in the chapter as well. Yeah, I threw in that bit about Kairi having a weird dream as a way of showing that the story of Keyblades of Future Past has some influences on what happens in this story beyond just the fact that Ven is still around and is now going to be Sora's Keyblade Master. You could say that in some small way, a certain encounter that Kairi had in that story, may or may not actually be helping to jog her memory about past events that she had forgotten. Who's to say for sure? I'm not saying what that encounter was because I don't want to give away spoilers for those of you who haven't read Keyblades of Future Past already, in case you decide to go back and read it later.
Riku: What I want to know is why you didn't add in the meeting of the Villains Council at the end there. I mean, that seems pretty important.
AN: You say that like I had decided to take it out completely, which I'm not doing. I just figured that after all the bad stuff that had already happened in this chapter, I should try to end it on a high note. Plus, looking back, I can't help but feel like I tend to end a lot of chapters in a way that gives off an ominous sense of foreboding that would leave some people feeling rather nervous. Don't worry, we'll be seeing the big bad villains next chapter, and you'll all soon see just what has changed there as well when we do. And I just did the whole ominous thing anyway by saying that, didn't I?
Ven: Eh, a little bit, yeah.
AN: Great. Well, I guess I can only do what I can to end on a high note from here and just let you all move along and Onto the Preview!...
Dark forces gather as our heroes prepare to set out for their next destination, and Ventus takes the time to teach Sora a few things about some of the more recent history of the Keyblade Wielders, at least regarding the history that he played a part in. Just what could these gathered villains be plotting? What will the reaction be when those who recognize him see that Ventus is among the heroes' number? Can the four survive the journey to the next world? And just what challenges will Sora find on this strange new world and with the first stages of his training? Find out the answers next time, when we take a dive down the rabbit hole and into madness.
Please read and review, and see ya real soon!