Hey everyone. Sorry for the long hiatus, but I figured I kept you waiting long enough. I've been working on the chapters for this story, as well as other stories, and books I'm actually trying to get published. That's why I was gone for a long time. I've also gotten Grammarly, and have been using it to improve the grammar of chapters for Journey of Discovery. I'm just in debate on whether or not I should post the updated chapters here or not.

I don't own Kingdom Hearts and/or Disney.

Scrooge McDuck, Jiminy Cricket, Shang, and Mulan belong to Disney.

Tifa Lockhart belongs to Square Enix.

Jason, George, and Bruce are mine. Aurora is based on a character a friend submitted long ago, but I lost contact with them.

Special thanks to Flautist4ever for looking over this chapter, and pointing out the weak parts.

Chapter 3

JASON'S POV

The Land of Dragons…

Yope 14, 92 KA…

Three whole months and I have felt a change in what I could do. Shang's training allowed me to grab a fish out of the water, put an arrow into red balls as they were thrown into the air, and I could even break a slab of concrete with my face.

That was a pain to learn.

In addition to that, the two of us learned to fight in ways I didn't dream of before in the martial arts of this world. When I was not training under Shang's supervision I was with Tifa learning her style of fighting. It did involve a lot of punching and kicking against rocks as well as learning to parry Tifa's blows. I did notice I was losing feeling in my hands and feet from this training, but if it meant I could be useful again I was willing to pay that price.

It was still painful to watch Aurora train with Sora in using her Keyblade. I know she needed to learn how to use it, but it was a reminder to me of what I had lost. She stumbled and struggled at first, but she seemed to be picking it up. And those times when she was off training with Tifa… it was like she was also getting involved in something I enjoyed.

But I couldn't train with what she had.

Right now I was sitting on a rock doing this thing called meditation. I was told it was a way to handle negativity and recenter myself. I learned it from another companion Sora, Donald, and Goofy had in this world, a young woman named Mulan. She and Shang seemed to enjoy each other's company a lot to the point where I suspected their friendship went beyond coworkers.

I still remember when we were taught about their concepts of light and darkness.

"You two seem out of balance." Mulan had instructed us on that one day. "If you want to be warriors then you must learn to be gentle, yet tough."

"That makes no sense." Aurora deadpanned to our teacher that day. "How can one be tough and gentle at the same time? It's counterintuitive."

She only gave a knowing smile in response. "Consider finding the answer as part of the training. Once you learn it then you will find the strength to persevere."

I will admit it didn't make sense to me either, but then neither did a swordlike key that could open or close virtually any lock. Probably just something that evolved from how the people ended up seeing their world. I did relay those thoughts to Tifa one time when I was sparring with her as part of my training.

"That is food for thought." She said after she took a sweep at my legs. "Though I have to say it's not entirely correct. I learned similar concepts when I was a little girl, so it could be that this world developed some philosophies that mine did. Still, it is interesting to think about how each world developed separate from each other, and yet can agree on some basic principles."

I took a swing at my mentor but she managed to catch it before sending me flying back. "So how can someone be strong, and yet weak at the same time?"

"What makes you think you have to be weak?" She smiled. "Virtues like generosity and compassion do not make a person weak. Rather, they can be sources of strength."

"How?" My question cost me as I suddenly found myself on my back while my mentor stood over me smirking.

As she helped me up she told me, "I think that's enough for today. It's time we had dinner."

As much as I hated to lose I had grown to love Tifa's cooking. She made some of the best things I had ever tasted from the ingredients that were available in this world. I can't believe how many dishes could be made from rice. Sadly Sora was not with us as he had to leave to meet up with his friends to discuss something important.

Aurora matched my sentiments for once as we gathered together for dinner. Our master always had us doing exercises while we waited for the rice to finish cooking and I was happy to see tonight's dish was going to be curry. I had acquired a taste for the dish despite the few times that I nearly burned my tongue.

"Thank you." We thanked our cook once all of us had gotten our shares. I still found using these chopstick things to be a hassle, but at least I could use them now.

Unfortunately, my rival wasn't going to let it go. "Sure you can manage that, Jason? Or do you think you'll lose them again?"

"Oh, shut up," I growled at her. "At least I didn't act like my mouth was on fire."

"Hey. This stuff is spicy."

"That's what makes it good."

"Figures you'd like something that can-"

"That's enough." Scrooge scolded us. "You need to learn to work together if you're going to get through this."

Jiminy hopped over to the edge of my bowl and picked a grain of rice. As he took a bite he jumped as the spice kicked in, and I allowed him to use my jacket's sleeve to wipe his face. "It won't do you any good training your bodies if your hearts don't get stronger."

"I know, the balance stuff. Yin and yang." Aurora groaned.

I was about to make a remark when a sound entered my ears and caused all to look away into the direction it came from. In the light of the setting sun, we could see a column of smoke that was rising in the distance. "Please tell me that sound was not what I thought it was."

Shang then got to his feet. "Everyone move out."

It was the next morning that we arrived at the site of the explosion, and it was terrifying to see what had happened. An entire village had been razed, with blackened frames collapsing where houses once stood and walls that had been reduced to pebbles that crunched under our feet. "What happened here?"

"That's what we're here to find out, lad," Scrooge told me as he walked forward only for a house to collapse nearby.

"Spread out. Check for survivors." Shang ordered us. With that, the six of us began to spread out through the remains of the village. Oh, Gri. I am not a religious guy by any means, but just in case it turns out you are real please let someone still be alive.

As I turned a corner- Oh, Gri! I had to stop because what I saw was something that would haunt me for the rest of my days. In front of me were the remains of the villagers, each of them blackened and scorched like they had been fireballed. But that wasn't the terrifying part.

Most of them had been impaled on ten-foot metal spikes.

I immediately tasted bile in my mouth, and my stomach twisted itself into knots, causing me to bend over. Oh, this was horrible to see. I was certain this barbaric act was going to make me sick. "Who would do something so horrible?"
"Someone with a black heart," Jiminy said from my shoulder. "Are you doing okay?"

"I don't know," I said. "If I had anything in my stomach I'd probably lose it now." As I straightened myself out, I noticed someone else had arrived, and she looked like she was in pain.

AURORA'S POV

NO! The villagers… all destroyed in such a way? This reminded me of what had transpired three months ago when Professor Yeller… no, Doctor Madsane. When he used the clones to start killing innocent people he sacrificed his right to be called human.

I felt weak and unable to focus. Images flashed through my mind, but I couldn't make them out. Wait a moment. They were flames, engulfing everything in sight- wait a moment. A white flash and all sound died.

"Aurora?"

Screaming! Blaster shots!

"Aurora!" Something grabbed me and I took a swing, connecting with something hard. "Ow! Aurora, snap out of it!"

Wait a moment. That voice. Shaking my head, I found myself back in the village where we found the remains of everyone, and Jason was rubbing his chin. Wait. I punched him, and I wasn't conscious to see it?

Oh, here he comes to… wait. He wasn't angry? How can that be? "Aurora, are you okay? What happened?"

"I slugged you again, wuss." I wanted to get him riled up- what in Ryukumo's Web? It wasn't working. "Well? Aren't you going to-"

"Are you okay?" Huh? Why wasn't he getting upset? "Aurora, you freaked out there. It was… I can't think of the right word."

Pushing him away I glared at him. "Am I okay? You're the one who's acting crazy. Why aren't you angry? What's wrong? You think you're too good to fight back now?"

He was silent for a moment, and I smiled. Making him miserable was always great, especially given what he said about Morugans all those years ago. Why shouldn't I make him feel like crap for what he said? People did nothing but give me crap because of my genetics, and now…

"I got a wake-up call. Too many times. I know what you're-"

"Save it. You don't know anything about me except that I'm Morugan, so that made it okay for you to pick on me. To mock me because I was 'rescued' from my country by the very people who attacked it unprovoked, and later obliterated it! I was just some token brought here so the soldiers you worshipped could look good, all so they could pat themselves on the back and say they were being virtuous. So if you think you can just waltz up, make some lame apology, and expect me to forgive you then forget it."

Good. I left him dumbfounded. I… why wasn't this satisfying? That grubock deserved to take everything I served him! I was not gonna feel bad for him now!

He just opened his mouth to speak when he noticed something. "Wait a minute." As he crouched down, I then realized there was a corpse beside my foot. As I jumped back from that he poked some of the stone that- wait. It was coming from the person's mouth! Taking a piece off, he rubbed it between his fingers. "Concrete." Looking at me, he said, "Someone poured concrete into this poor soul's mouth."

I just shrugged at that. "So?"

"Everyone was nuked. Most ended up impaled, and the rest had concrete shoved down their throats. Which means it wasn't a solo- look out!"

Before I could react he grabbed me and pulled me towards him. I was about to break his face for that when something went whistling overhead. Looking up I saw a new metal spike embedded in the wall. Where did that come from?

"So you two did survive," A familiar voice said. Looking up I saw the leering face of George Rex looking down on us. "After your friend's little stunt in shutting off the power, I wasn't sure what became of you. From what I gathered you missed one crobish of a show."

I frowned at him, hating his stupid hairdo which made him look like he had a crown growing out of his skull. The black cloak he wore was also just as dumb. "How are you here? Why didn't you-"

"Please. It's because of him." George pointed to Jason. "Your little blue cube has opened up worlds of possibilities, including our escape during the apocalypse."

I then let out a scream as something sharp pierced me and Jason through our shoulders. Wait. It's the same metal spikes we saw impaling the people. As we were each lifted on the metal spikes I saw someone else standing behind George. The so-called Hero of Netokan, the Bane of Moruga. "Bruce Arnold? Why am I not surprised?"

"When our great leader offered this old soldier a chance to spread our nation's glory beyond any previous border, I had to take it." The general's shaved head showed off his collection of scars that weren't as intense as the one Jason now carried on his face but still seemed menacing. He too was dressed in a similar cloak to George.

Jason just looked around. "You mean this massacre was YOUR doing?"

"Guilty as charged." The elite jock smirked.

"This world is just too similar to the ways of ancient Moruga. Its mere presence undermines everything Netokan has worked for, and so it has to suffer the same fate."

I then noticed Jason trying to pull himself off the spike. "No. I may not have a Keyblade anymore, but I won't let you hurt these people because they share similarities to Morugans. Besides, you have no business meddling in the affairs of these people." Wincing at the pain, he continued, "They do not deserve to be punished for our mistakes. They've built their world based on what was available, and they created something good. They have ideas and philosophies we don't, and it works for them. There's so much we can learn from them."

That caught me off guard. Where did this nobility come from? When did Jason care about others? Before I could say anything Arnold scoffed at him. "Wrong. Sentimentality like yours is wasted on these savages. Do you think it's good that they're different from us? Do you think that it's good that they have a viewpoint we don't? Guess a clone's genes can be defective if they come from a traitor's line."

"No. My father…"

"Was discharged for insubordination. When he refused to shoot a village on my orders. When Netokan makes a point, everyone must drive it in. And his ideas that the people shouldn't suffer for their nation were why I had to remove him."

I swear the color drained out of Jason's face. "Wait. You mean… all those years of abuse and pain… was because of you?!"

"Guess Norman can have a backbone when given the proper incentive. I just wish I could've seen him give his wife and clone the crobish he wouldn't give strangers."

As I watched, Jason looked as if… well, yeah Harthyn is gone, but he looked like someone brought it back just to blow it up again. But was it worth that reaction? I've been abused from one foster home to the next, and… it was a little heartbreaking that his father lost it because he took pity on my people.

Wait. Why was I feeling sorry for him? But what else could I feel? I could tell that this was… hold on. Why was a dark mist growing around Jason? Something about it was scaring me, and I knew it was worse than getting impaled on this spike.

"Whirlwind Uppercut!" Tifa came rushing out of the wreckage and delivered a punch to Arnold's chin as he turned to look at her. That sent the cloaked monster flying into the air while our teacher turned to George and threw a kick his way, sending him crashing through a wall. As Scrooge arrived with Shang and Mulan, they worked at getting us down- oh, Gri! The pain! Maybe it was better to leave us on. After we were excruciatingly extracted from the spikes, Tifa then pulled out some bottles with green liquid in them. "Drink these potions. They'll heal your wounds."

"Not all of them," Jason said as he gulped his down. The hole where he was impaled vanished, but I could tell in his eyes he wasn't fully healed. I don't think the bombshell that was dropped on him would ever heal. Mine still hasn't. "Those two are responsible for destroying the village."

Drawing his sword, Shang pointed it at the war general. "So you think you can come here and destroy the people of this land? When the Emperor hears about this-"

"He'll send his armies?" George laughed. "Please. I'd love to see them try to stand up to the might of the Neo-Thirteen." With that, he blasted the captain back with several bolts of lightning that flew from his hands. "Oh, and don't use metal around someone who has power over electricity. That is if you savages know what electricity is."

As Shang started to get up, he let out a cry and clutched his chest. There was no way that shock could've- Gri's beak! His chest plate was tightening around his ribs, and his sword also lifted into the air. "You should know I can do more than use the metals from this village to create spikes," Arnold spoke up. "You have no idea how satisfying it is to have the power to crush my enemies within their ar-" He was cut off as Scrooge whacked him with his cane, cutting off his concentration or whatever and allowing Shang to breathe.

"Get him out of that armor!" Our chaperone told Mulan who was already working on the straps to free her husband. Tifa and Scrooge then took a stance while George and Arnold got to their feet and prepared to fight us. As my Keyblade appeared in my hand I prepared to charge forward with it.

The former head jock of our school just scoffed. "Oh, it's cute that you think you can do anything with that weapon."

"All you can do is shoot sparkles out of your hands." I retorted, earning a giggle from Tifa.

"Oh, this? Grown from the darkness within us, at least according to the Doc. The way I see it this just means I'm meant for more. When all is said and done I'm going to be revered as a god."

"Are we going to stand around discussing the time or are we going to do this?" Scrooge asked as George fired a bolt of lightning at us, forcing us to disperse. As I rolled to dodge, I had to raise my weapon to block an attack from the general who had just coated his hand in metal and sharpened it to a point. Growling at him I aimed a kick in between his legs but he leaped over me while saying, "Needle Piercing."

I ended up crying out as I was struck by so many of the spikes, but this time they didn't linger. They vanished almost as soon as they did their damage, and then George attacked me. "Thunder Strike!" The bolt of lightning hit me, making my whole body feel like it was in an inferno, and like every nerve was getting impaled by knives. Okay, enough of this. Time to fight back.

"Fire!" As the ball of fire came from my Keyblade I managed to catch the sleeve of George's cloak. He had to pat the area down to extinguish the flames before it spread too far, but while he did that I leaped at him and delivered a kick to his gut. His expression was priceless to see.

"Steel Trap." Before I knew what was happening a pair of steel plates erupted from the ground and snapped shut around me. When I pounded the wall in frustration I yelped as something sharp entered my hand. A spike? Oh, no. I was going to be turned into a pin cushion in here. I had to get out and fast.

Then science class came back to me, and I knew what I had to do. "Celestial Punishment." Oh, no. Jumping up caused me to hit my head and fall back down, which resulted in me getting shocked by George's attack. OW! That was painful, but the metal was heating up. My body began sweating in buckets, and some of the drops sizzled when they hit the floor. If I didn't do something I was going to be fried. Now or never.

"Blizzard!" I tried to spread the spell around as much as I could to cool as much of the trap as I could. The spell brought sweet relief from the blistering heat, but then I realized a problem. My sweat was freezing solid to my body! Every inch of me began shivering uncontrollably, and my body instinctively curled up into a ball.

No, no, no. I couldn't afford to stay in this position. But it felt so- no! I would die if I didn't get out now. Forcing myself to stand, I drew my fist back and channeled all the strength I had into the punch that Tifa taught us. Yes, there it was. The metal was cracking from being quickly cooled after heating up, and my attack dealt the finishing blow. I prepared to break out when the trap suddenly fell apart and I collapsed on the ground.

"Are you okay?" Tifa asked me before adding, "Heal." As the spell took effect I felt my body temperature return to normal, which was blissful. As I looked up, I saw Jason and Scrooge fending off our opponents while Tifa helped me to my feet. "That was some good thinking cooling off the hot metal. Made it easier to break."

With a nod of gratitude, I got back up while the old duck was knocked back. Jason, however, managed to get the upper hand over the imperious clone by kneeing him in the gut before slamming his head in George's back like we trained with those stone blocks. That took out the jock as I smiled with satisfaction.

Unfortunately, that still left the warmonger to deal with. "Iron Fist." Arnold's fist was layered with metal that then connected with Jason's chest, sending him flying backward into a wall. Wait. Was that a crack I heard? It was, and it came from that jerk's ribs. He broke some of Jason's ribs. Only I can do that! Still, that caused Scrooge to break away to check on him.

"Hidden Strength," Tifa muttered to herself as she took a breath. Something changed in her as she prepared to face the general. Raising her fists, she then charged forward to attack the war hero. Her fist managed to make contact with his face, sending him flying in a spin. Cracking her knuckles, she then rushed forward to strike again.

"Iron Curtain!" The tone of voice the general had when he called out his next move told me he was starting to worry about his opponent. While Tifa swung her fist at him a metal wall appeared between the two of them and caused my mentor to pound against it. Even though she shook her fist as if to relieve some pain I saw that she had left a noticeable dent in the defenses. Just how strong was this woman? "Spike Storm!"

The wall then changed into a lot of spikes hovering in the air which then flew at Tifa, knocking her back while cutting into her. As she fell back, she flipped over in the air and landed on her feet. Rushing forward, she threw more punches and kicks at Arnold who coated his arms and chest in metal to keep her from doing any damage to him.

Then something happened with Tifa. I don't know what, but she seemed to glow like she had charged up a move. Wait a moment. That's exactly what's happening. Oh, I couldn't wait to see what super move she's got up her sleeves. So to speak. "Somersault!" Moving as if she was going to do a backflip, Tifa's foot then connected with Arnold's chin sending him flying up and backward into someone's former home.

As the ruins collapsed onto him, she relaxed her stance. "It's over. You've been beaten."

"It's not over until we win," George said as he got to his feet and prepared to strike Tifa from behind. However, his arm was grabbed while he was flipped over onto his back. I couldn't believe that the one who took him down like that was Jason. Scrooge must've gotten him backed on his feet.

Placing a foot on the jock's chest, my rival said, "Yeah. It is over whether you want it or not."

"The Neo-Thirteen will not be stopped."

That made Jason frown. "Neo-Thirteen?" He ended up getting knocked back by an attack that came from the ruins. While George got to his feet his fists began to crackle with electricity.

"George, that's enough. We have to withdraw for now." Arnold said as he hurried over to his younger partner.

"What? We can't let them win."

"They've only won a skirmish. One battle does not win a war."

"Oh, no you don't!" Scrooge ran towards them to stop them, but a dark oval appeared behind the two cloaked figures. Before he could get to them, Arnold and George stepped into the dark mass of energy and vanished from sight. The darkness then disappeared as soon as the rich duck got there who said some things I had a feeling I shouldn't repeat.

"It's happening again, isn't it?" Mulan asked as she approached Shang.

I raised an eyebrow at that. "Huh?"

"Not long ago, our land was visited by strangers in black cloaks. They called themselves Organization XIII and caused problems by turning a dragon into a Heartless. If it wasn't for Sora, Donald, and Goofy I don't know what would've happened."

I remember those guys talking about some people who caused a lot of pain for the worlds, but I hadn't paid attention. Now I was wishing I had. What surprised me was Jason ended up looking at our trainers from this world and said, "I'm sorry we couldn't help these people."

"We know that there is an enemy, and they will be back. We can prepare and keep other villages from suffering this fate." Shang said as he looked at us. "What will you do now?"

"We have to warn Sora and the Guardians of Light what's going on," Tifa answered.

As we left the world, I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. The Netokans were at it again, killing people who were different just because they could, and now Doctor Madsane was giving his followers powers. How much longer until other worlds ended up like Moruga? What if they decided to drop another teroi bomb?

I then looked over at Jason, who was also focused on the view outside the window. Our clothes changed back when we got back on the Gummi, but something was different now. He wasn't trying to bully me, and to be honest, I didn't know whether to be afraid or disappointed. Was it true? Was he no longer the person I knew for years?

And why did I care? He was a… a… ugh. Why can't I think of something insulting to say about him? Insulting him always made me feel better. The way he stood and fought despite having no weapon, the way he flexed- what am I thinking? Stop it. Stop it! What is wrong with me? Why am I thinking of him in this way?

We then heard something ringing, and we watched as Scrooge pressed a button which caused a face to appear on the screen. "Ah, Riku. Just who we needed to see."

"What's wrong? Is everything okay?" The silver-haired teen looked at us. "You look like you were caught up in a battle."

"We found out Madsane's next move. He's rebuilding Organization XIII." Tifa told him. "We faced two members in the Land of Dragons after they destroyed a village."

"What?" It was clear that this bothered the Keyblade master greatly. "Scrooge, can you come back to Radiant Garden? Someone will meet you there."

"Aye. We'll be there faster than you can 'Frank and Ollie'."

I hope you enjoyed that. I'll try to not be so long with the next chapter. Right now I'm just trying to figure out some descriptions in one of the later chapters.