Author's note: Hey, everybody! Your favorite owl is back with a new chapter! But before we get there, here's a little update on my life: I'm finally done with school until next September. This leaves me with a lot of time to practice my 3D animation and drawing skills, which is exactly what I've done for the past month. Soon, I'll be skilled enough to start publishing art on DeviantArt, and I do intend on making art based on the Magical World Saga!
I also made sure to read every chapter of AvalorianJaquin's story, 'Magical World: Jaquin Style' on AO3 before writing this. It was really good, buddy! And, to answer your question on how TheDragonSaver and I manage to write such long story arcs, I guess you just learn how to do it after almost ten years of experience writing on this site.
Now, on with the chapter!
Logan sat back and watched with a smile as his five students were training together. Ben was locked in a duel with Grayson, the owl fighting with his Instant Crash abilities granted to him by his Fantasia: Tempo, while the wolf in sheep's clothing pulled aside his Shepherd's Wool power in favor of using his shepherd's crook to fight. Jameson, meanwhile, was facing off against Roman in a close combat, swinging his metal baseball bat against the wolf's survival knives. Ferroth just sat next to Logan and watched.
"Good, just like that! Jameson, try to target your attacks lower to make them hard to parry!" the coach instructed.
"Logan? Why am I not taking part in this exercise?" Ferroth questioned.
"Because there are five of you, so there was bound to be one having to stay on the sidelines. Since you have the least experience in terms of combat, I want you to sit for now and watch. I'll let you know when it's your turn," Logan explained.
Gold and silver energy emanated from Gray as he expertly ducked and dodged Ben's shepherd's crook. The anthropomorphic owl taped into Instant Crash to make one of his fists turn silver and touch the wolf, making him slow down to a snail's speed. He took advantage of this state to make him trip before giving him back his normal speed, making the impact of crashing face-first harder.
"Ouch! My nose," Ben groaned as he rubbed his poor muzzle. "Now that I stopped relying on my powers, I realize how much I lack in actual fighting experience."
"Don't worry, buddy, you'll get there eventually," Gray assured with a smile as he helped his classmate back up.
Jameson groaned as he kept swinging his baseball bat over and over again, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break through Roman's defense. Eventually, the security agent swiftly knocked his weapon out of his wings and neutralized him with a submission hold, careful not to hurt him. "No fair! You're bigger than me; it's normal that I can't keep up without my magic!" the little owl complained.
"It's not a matter of size, Jameson," Logan pointed out after Roman released Jameson. "Mickey Mouse and Judy Hopps are also small, but that never stopped them from reaching their goals. You just need to learn how to adapt to any situation and develop new skills if your current ones are of no help. I, myself, recently unlocked a new ability, and I'm still struggling to master it."
"What is it?" Roman questioned.
A little grin formed in the corner of Logan's mouth. "Believe it or not... But it's actually Fantasia."
"... WHAT?!" all five students exclaimed all at once.
"Y-You mean you can use Fantasia now?!" Gray asked, more shocked than his fellow students.
To prove his point, the Champion of the Magical World turned a music on with his cellphone and sang with it. His Harmony Pin depicting Destiny and Dory started glowing and released a burst of magic that flew around Logan for a few seconds before returning into the object.
"That's Fantasia alright, no doubt about it," Gray confirmed. He crossed his wings together and tilted his head. "When'd you get the ability to use it? I never saw you showcasing any talent for Fantasia before."
"You guys remember Toren?"
"Sure; he's your Jaquin friend!" Jameson exclaimed. "He's also one of the original Dream Defenders. He and I became playmates after the Hero's Rumble." He then looked down with a sad expression. "But he recently relinquished his position as Dream Keeper of the Animal Kingdom as he got adopted by King Verago and moved to Vallestrella to live with the royal family."
"Exactly," the Champion of the Magical World confirmed, also briefly staring at the floor with a sad face, missing his friend. "Before leaving, he made me understand that I was worthy of being a Dream Keeper and helped to release the Fantasia within me." He frowned a bit and placed a hand on his Harmony Pin. "The problem is that it taxes a lot of energy out of me - even more than my Drawing Magic or Anubis powers. Not only that, but I cannot for the sake of my head find its form, like Gabriel's Fantasia: Harmony or your Fantasia: Tempo, Gray."
"Don't worry, buddy; that's the kind of thing that takes time. My bro and I also needed a lot of work to master our Fantasia. With practice, I'm sure you'll master it in no time!" He gave a confident smile and reached a fist forward. "If you want, I'll share everything I know with you."
Logan replied by smiling and touching his Owl Bro's fist with his own. As he did so, the trainer noticed his student was wearing the Spider Bracelet he and Jameson had offered him for Christmas on his wrist. Good to know he liked the gift. "Thanks, Gray. Since Toren stepped down, Gabriel chose me to fill in his role as the Dream Keeper of the Animal Kingdom for the time being due to me living here for a long time now. Between this and defending my title of Champion against whoever challenges, it's been a lot of work; I'm sure Fantasia would be of a great help. Good thing Tomada has been there to help me with my duties... Oh, and speaking of which."
The Disney's Wrestling Discipline Center's doors opened and in walked a familiar anthropomorphic falcon. "Hey, my best owl buddy!" Tomada beamed, going to take Logan in a big hug. "Not too tired from your new duties?"
"Eh, I manage," Logan shrugged. "Did you bring what I asked you to?"
Tomada nodded positively, moving aside to show that he hadn't come alone. Indeed, floating behind him was a little Moogle with a happy, excited expression. Not only that, but the others noticed that their falcon friend was carrying a big cauldron and a bag filled with an unknown content. "What's going on here?" Ben asked.
"I don't know if you guys have played much Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy before, but you're about to witness the process of item synthesis," Tomada explained, pulling the cauldron on the floor and then opening the bag to take out... a PlayStation 2?
"Huh, Logan, is that...?" Jameson wondered.
"Yes, it's my good old PS2," Logan confirmed. "You see, guys, I've been thinking about it and decided it's time for me to get a new Keyblade. So far, I've only been using two of them; Fenrir and Quackpot (also Bug's Justice, but that's only for my Limit Form). If I wanna be more efficient as a Keyblade Wielder, then I need to gain more Keyblades and discover their special features, just like Sora did."
"Okay, but what does your PS2 have to do with this?" Roman questioned.
"When Kingdom Hearts 3 came out, a new batch of peculiar Keyblades has been discovered. Among them was Midnight Blue, a pre-order bonus for those owning a PS4. There also was Phantom Green, a pre-order bonus for Xbox One, Advent Red, an exclusive Keyblade for the Nintendo Switch, and Elemental Encoder, an exclusivity for Epic Games Store," Logan explained. "More recently, Gabriel passed his Keyblade Exam and obtained a whole new Keyblade named Cosmic White, which is designed after the PlayStation 5."
"I did my own researches on the subject and learned that, in order to obtain these peculiar Keyblades in the Magical World, you need to offer the right console in a synthesis formula. Kinda like how you gain certain Keyblades like the Ultima Weapon."
The others quickly understood where this was going. "Logan, you're planning on giving your PS2 to get a new Keyblade?" Jameson asked.
"Yes. It's just a hypothesis, but I theorized that if there are Keyblades for consoles of the eight and ninth generations, then maybe it's possible to create ones from consoles of the previous generations, like the PS2. It would make sense, as the Kingdom Hearts franchise started on this console, back in 2002."
"I know we already talked about it, but are you absolutely sure you wanna do this, Logan?" Tomada asked, handing the retro console to his best friend. "This is your favorite console, and we played so much with it throughout our lives. It's kinda sad to sacrifice it for a Keyblade."
Logan stared down at his beloved console with a nostalgic look before letting out a sad sigh. "It's true that I hold a lot of happy memories with that console... But here's the thing: between my duties as a Dream Defender, a pro wrestling coach, the Champion of the Magical World, a Keyblade Wielder, a teacher to you guys and a substitute Dream Keeper, the time I can dedicate to gaming is very limited. During that time, I prefer discovering new games rather than playing old ones I'm already familiar with. As such, I almost never touch my PS2 now. And the idea of abandoning it on a shelf in my house to collect dust and slowly get broken with time is unsupportable. That's why I think it would be better to turn it into a Keyblade that can help me in my future endeavors. That way, in a sense, all the happy memories it brought me will still be at my side whenever I fight as a Keyblade Wielder."
"Okay then, if that's your decision," Tomada sadly replied.
Not without hesitating, Logan handed his beloved console to the little Moogle, who picked it up in his little, stubby hands. "Thank you, kupo. If you can hand over the synthesis ingredients, I will now get to work and see if I can make a new Keyblade, kupo."
For the next hour or so, everybody just sat back and watched as the little Moogle pulled Logan's PS2 and all the synthesis material Tomada had brought alongside it in his bag. During that time, Logan and Gray discussed the nature of Fantasia, Roman carved himself an action figure with his survival knife and a piece of wood, Jameson and Ben chased each other around, and Tomada meditated a bit. At the end of the hour, the cauldron suddenly burst with lights of different colors; pink, green, red and blue at the end. The Moogle smiled and reached into the cauldron to proudly take out the result of his work. A Keyblade.
This Keyblade was pitch-black, just like the PlayStation 2, with the handle surrounded by a perfectly circular guard. Along this circular guard were the four touches of the classic PlayStation controller, all of them located in their traditional position: square on the left, triangle on the top, O on the right and X on the bottom. At the side of the shaft's tip, there was a round disc with the directional cross of the PS2 controller. At the end of the dangling keychain was a navy blue 2.
"Wow! Would you look at that!" Jameson beamed, admiring the new Keyblade that Logan took in his hands and rubbed everywhere. He smiled with a nod.
"It looks quite promising alright. I actually want to try it out right now." He turned to his students. "Hey, Ferroth, wanna have a little match? It would be the perfect opportunity for me to discover the abilities of my new Keyblade. And, speaking of discovering new abilities, here, take this."
Reaching into his pocket, the Champion of the Magical World pulled out a little book and handed it to his student. "Is that your Magical Sketchbook?" Ferroth asked.
"It is. Take it, it's yours now."
"W-What?! But I can't!" the anthropomorphic snake refused, rising his hands in defense. "It's yours; you've been using it since you arrived in the Magical World!"
"True. However, to be honest with you, I haven't been using my Drawing Magic that much for a while now. With my pro wrestling abilities, swordsmanship, Anubis-related powers, Keyblade Wielding and now, Fantasia, my Drawing Magic has kinda faded into the background for me. While there's a huge gap in experience between you and me, the one area where I can safely say you exceed me, Ferroth, is drawing. That's why I think my Magical Sketchbook would be better in your possession, rather than leaving it to never be used in mine. It's the same thing as drawing; just give them life with your magic energy."
Ferroth stared alternately at Logan and the little item for a moment before making his decision. "Okay then, if that's what you think, I trust your judgement." He grabbed the Magical Sketchbook, quickly running through the blank pages, before looking back at his teacher. "Let's do this!"
The student and teacher went on opposite sides of the training room, their new item at the ready. Before they could start, Ferroth's Magical Sketchbook started glowing and actually changed form, looking now more like a laptop with a tactical pencil. "What's that?" Ben asked.
"Interesting, it seems that Logan's Magical Sketchbook changed to adapt itself to Ferroth's style," Roman deduced. "In that case, I think we're gonna have to call it Magical Laptop from now on."
"I like that name," Logan nodded. "Alright, Ferroth, since it's your first time using it, I'll let you get a few drawings ready before we start."
The anthropomorphic snake started scribbling in his new laptop, getting adjusted to it and making a few creations. Unlike Logan's Magical Sketchbook, which only came with a pen and paper, this item had plenty of digital tools Ferroth could use to draw. A few moments later, he was done and taped his magic into his Magical Tabletop to summon what looked like a big raven made of black ink. "Alright, I'm ready!"
Under its creator's command, the raven began attacking Logan by flying at an elevated speed, forcing the human to block and parry with his Keyblade. "I don't recall Logan being able to create living beings with his Magical Sketchbook," Jameson remarked.
"Maybe it's because Ferroth prefers drawing creatures, animals and peoples whereas Logan always preferred drawing objects and Disney rides," Roman theorized.
After dodging and parrying for a while, Logan actually managed to strike the ink raven, blowing it into a liquid form. This liquid was brought back into Ferroth's Magical Laptop, just before getting summoned once again. "Too bad for you, Logan, but I can summon my drawings over and over again thanks to my 'save' feature. Sure, it costs magic energy, but at least, I don't have to re-do my drawings all the times."
"You can do that?! Cheese and crackers, that feature would've been great to use in the past...," Logan complained.
Stepping it up a notch, Ferroth also summoned a set of big spinners with sharp edges that started going after the Champion of the Magical World alongside the ink raven. Avoiding the combined attacks became difficult for Logan, so he had to see what his new Keyblade was capable of. Taping into its potential, he turned it into a high-tech rifle, with which he began shooting little yellow blasts. These blasts ricocheted from the walls and automatically aimed at Ferroth's creations, not even touching the others.
"I think I've seen that weapon in an old game before," Gray remarked.
With his creatures destroyed, Ferroth quickly summoned two others; a human-like primate and a giant reptilian creature with an axe. Their strength-speed combination was difficult for Logan to deal with, resulting in him receiving a few strikes. In response, he once again transformed his Keyblade, this time in a peculiar-looking wrench that he used to grab the ink primate by the wrist and throw it away. He then expertly tossed his weapon at the giant reptile's face, breaking it into ink and leaving Ferroth defenseless. The snake attempted to summon something else, but ran short on magic energy. "Okay, I concede," he sighed.
With the fight over, the others all approached their friends. "That was amazing, Ferroth!" Jameson praised his snake friend. "The way you used those ink creatures reminded me of how I summon my Dream Eater friends in combat!"
"Thanks, James," Ferroth gratefully said with a smile, ruffling the feathers on the owl's head. "But it's very draining; I think I'll need more practice before getting used to my Magical Laptop."
"And don't go thinking I didn't recognize the forms of your Keyblade, Logan," Tomada said, grinning and crossing his wings. "You sure Disney won't face any copyright infringement for this?"
Logan shrugged at this question. "I think it technically counts as a pop culture reference or Easter Eggs of sorts. Y'know, like how Star-Lord turned into Pac-Man during his fight against Ego." He then stared down at his Keyblade with a smile. "That little guy sure has a lot of potential. I can't wait to discover everything it can do."
"It's a new Keyblade, right? How are you gonna call it?" Roman asked his friend.
"Hmm, let me think...," Logan mumbled as he rubbed his chin. "The PS4 one is called 'Midnight Blue', Gabriel's PS5 one is called 'Cosmic White', so..." He smiled and snapped his fingers. "I got it! The name of this Keyblade will be... Radiant Black!"
Author's note: Logan obtained a new Keyblade; Radiant Black! Since the release of Kingdom Hearts 3 coming with console-exclusive Keyblades, I played with the idea of creating one for my favorite console of all time, the PS2. In fact, don't you guys like the idea that maybe there is a Keyblade for every console in existence? Let me know if you understood what the two forms Logan used in his fight were.
From this chapter on, Logan will no longer be using his Drawing Magic. I know it was one of his signature powers, but with all the skills and abilities he has obtained since the start of the saga, it just wasn't as useful in his hands as it was before. That's why I thought it'd be better for Ferroth to have it, since his magical powers are limited and, just like Logan, he likes drawing. Now, it's a Magical Laptop with unique features that Ferroth'll have to explore as well.
And, yes, you read that correctly, Logan can now use Fantasia. This happened in the third chapter of AvalorianJaquin's story on AO3, 'Comfort and Confrontation'. In that chapter, Toren officially made Logan the substitute Dream Keeper for Animal Kingdom and helped to unlock the Fantasia within him. Sure, since he just recently got it, he's far from controlling it as well as Gabriel. Hopefully our raven friend, his family and Aline can help him in that regard.
