"You were looking for me?" Sora asked, as Donald and Goofy finished explaining their mission to Sora. They replied with a unanimous nod as Ruby listened in. At least Sora had more non-wicked people looking for him apart from her, Cid, and his friends.
"They, too, have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade." As if on cue, Leon announced his presence alongside a nodding Yuffie. No doubt, they heard all the noise in the third district. That aside, Sora did feel a bit overwhelmed. So much was focused on him just because he had the Keyblade. And it seemed Donald and Goofy were looking for their King just like he was trying to find Riku and Kairi. Everyone seemed to have lost someone or something precious to them because of these Heartless.
"Hey, why don't ya come with us? We can go to other worlds in our vessel." Goofy's invitation surprised Sora. Though it also opened up a desperately needed opportunity. He'd been up and down this part of town so much already but hadn't seen any sign of his friends. But if he went with Donald and Goofy... "I wonder if I could find Riku and Kairi." he wondered aloud. "Of course!" Donald proclaimed optimistically. Optimism that Sora needed desperately as he looked back at the unusual pair...who now seemed to be whispering among themselves.
"Are ya sure?" Goofy whispered uncertainly. He didn't want to disappoint Sora, but he wasn't sure whether or not Sora was up to the task, despite having the Keyblade.
"Who knows?" Donald whispered back, making his own misgivings clear. "But we need him to come with us to help us find the King." Despite the issue of World Order, Donald chose to be pragmatic for the sake of the finding the King and preventing the worlds from being destroyed. They just had to be careful.
Not noticing what they were whispering about, Ruby's attention was immediately grabbed by Goofy's offer for Sora to come with them. If his friends were in some other world apart from this one...then maybe Weiss, Blake, and Yang were too. Maybe even others from Remnant. If so..."Let me go with you!" she blurted out, drawing a curious gaze from Goofy and a condemning finger from Donald.
"You can't come!"The duck's response was far from what Ruby expected, let alone wanted to hear. "What?! Why?!" Donald's response was a simple cross of his arms and shake of his head. "You just can't." Of all the dumb reasons that even a child could've come up with, that one infuriated Ruby the most. "My friends could be out there on some other world, just as lost and confused as me! If I don't find them..." She didn't want to think about what the Heartless would do to them if they found them first.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you give me no choice but to intercede." The debating parties snapped up at the sound of a new voice to some, but a familiar one to Ruby. Her eyes shot open as she immediately recognized the voice of her headmaster. "Professor Ozpin!?" The white haired man gave a small smile to the young huntress, sipping from a mug of coffee in his right hand. "It does my heart good to know you're alive, Ruby." he said in an almost paternal manner.
Rushing to his side, Ruby asked with wide eyes of hope and excitement. "Sir! If you're here then there has to be others too, right? Any of my friends or other classmates here?!" Ozpin's smile faded as he lowered his head and shook it. He knew she wouldn't want to hear such a thing, but... ""I'm sorry Ruby. That, I cannot say. I'm not sure where anyone else is or how many people from our world survived. If I were to wager a guess, they may have ended up in some of the other worlds out there." Ruby's face fell realizing that Ozpin didn't know either.
Getting things back on track, Ozpin turned back to Donald and Goofy, saying as firmly as before, "And that is why, I insist you take Ms. Rose with you along with the Keyblade's chosen one." "But-" Ozpin immediately cut off Donald's protest as he spoke again, his voice calm as ever but with an added edge of firm decisiveness. "If you will not acquiesce to her wish to go with you by her own request, then consider it a personal favor from me instead. King Mickey will surely understand if he knows that."
Donald and Goofy both blinked with shock at this stranger somehow knowing their King. Even if the King did understand, Donald wasn't sure if it was worth trusting the word of someone who simply claimed to know King Mickey. Goofy however...Ya know, maybe we should let her come with us in that case." Goofy piped up, apparently liking the idea. "Goofy..." Donald groaned. Why did he have to be such a simple minded softie? Well it was something Goofy was proud of. "Like professor Ozzy Pan said, the King will definitely understand." His mispronunciation of Ozpin's name drew a chuckle from the white haired professor, and a small giggle from Ruby. Donald realized he wasn't going to win so with a hefty sigh, he turned to Ruby and said, "Fine, you can come..."
Now filled with renewed excitement, Ruby squealed in delight and grabbed Donald in a tight. Despite angrily quacking, "Hey! Put me down! Put me down!" Ruby just squeezed him tight and spoke over his protestations, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! You won't regret it, I promise! This is gonna be so much fun!"
Sora gave a halfhearted chuckle at the sight. Seeing his halfhearted state, Leon spoke up. "Sora, go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends." Sora wanted to be cheerful, to hold on to that hope he'd find Riku and Kairi, but his worries continued to plague his mind. "Yeah, I guess..."
Ruby noticed the boy's despondent tone and thankfully put Donald down. She could tell that he was just as worried about his friends as she was for hers. After brushing himself off, Donald noticed it as well, along with Goofy. So in an unexpected turn of good natured encouragement, Donald instructed Sora, "But you can't come looking like that. No frowning. No sad face. Okay?" "Yeah," Goofy said in a chipper smile as he got in Donald's personal space. "You gotta look funny. Like us. A-hyu-" Donald quickly shoved Goofy's face away from his as he looked back at Sora with a much more cheerful expression. "This boat runs on happy faces." Donald finished with a grin on his beak.
"Happy?" Sora asked, his heart still full of doubt. Donald, Goofy, and Ruby all gathered in front of Sora, waiting to see him try and put on a happy face, despite how negative he seemed to be feeling.
After a moment of anticipation, Sora shifted himself forward, bending down to hide his face, almost as if there were some sort of invisible drumroll preparing for his display. And a moment later, Donald, Goofy, and Ruby were met with...
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeerghh...uh?"
The biggest and silliest grin imaginable plastered dorkily on Sora's face. His grin began to falter when he saw that there seemed to be no reaction from them, into...an equally silly expression of confusion. Was it not happy enough?
All of a sudden, Ruby, Donald, and Goofy all burst out laughing. Doubled over giggling, chuckling, and quacking up a storm of amusement, it was safe to say that Sora's attempt worked. "That's one funny face!" Goofy said, finally finding the strength to speak amidst his laughing.
Finally the laughing came to an end, with Ruby panting and rubbing her watering eyes slightly. "Ohoh boy, my stomach. Whew." That was a laugh she really needed. And going by the smile on her face, she'd more than convinced Donald and Goofy with her own happy face.
And just like that, Sora's spirits were completely revitalized. "Okay, why not? I'll go with you guys." he said, stepping closer to the other three, standing in a square like formation with them. A display that Ozpin couldn't help but smile fondly at as they all officially introduced themselves to one another.
"Donald Duck." Donald introduced, raising his hand up.
"Name's Goofy." Goofy introduced, mimicking Donald's gesture.
"Ruby Rose." Ruby introduced, following suit.
"I'm Sora." Sora introduced, completing the four-way introduction and putting his hand atop all of theirs. From now on, they would work together, find the King and their friends, and stop the Heartless.
"All for one and one for all!"
Little did they realize, their victory had been observed by...less beneficent forces. Elsewhere in a dark chamber, stood five shadow veiled figures witnessing the events of the new friends fighting together and defeating the Guard Armor.
"That little squirt took down that Heartless. Whod'd have thought it?" spoke one rather lezai faire male figure who seemed to have some degree of illumination upon his head.
"Such is the power of the Keyblade. The child's strength is not his own." spoke a more imperious male voice, belonging to a more skinny, scepter wielding figure wearing a large hat like a turban.
"Why don't we turn him into a Heartless? HAHAAHAHAHAHA! That'll settle things quick enough." The first female voice of the group belonged to a rather rotund woman who, instead of legs, bore eight, writhing tentacles.
"And the brat's friends are the king's lackeys. The girl however, seems like she could be anyone." A third male voice. This one spoke in an almost theatrical manner as he rolled his r's in a manner akin to a stereotypical buccaneer. Further emphasized by the silhouette of a hook instead of a left hand. "Swaggle me eyes, they're all bilge rats by the look of them." And of course his mannerisms in general.
"You're no prize yourself." Taunted a drawling, smug voice of a figure with a very wide body but tiny limbs and a large mouth which seemed to spew what looked to be bugs as he laughed at the previous speaker.
"Shut up!" As expected, said speaker didn't take kindly to the other's comment as he brandished his hook at his fellow conspirator.
"Enough!" It was then a more domineering voice spoke amongst what might have become a fight. Everyone else in the room turned to look at the source of the voice. A woman in a black robe dragging behind her with matching colored horned headwear, showing her face with its sickly palish green complexion. In her right hand was a long, thin staff with a topaz orb on top and on the respective shoulder was a crow.
Standing beside the tall, dark, domineeringly villainous witch, another figure emerged from the shadows. This one being none other than the leader of the attack that destroyed Beacon. Cinder Fall. Of all the ones who could have survived the destruction of Remnant, she would have been even lower than the last on Ruby's list.
As the black robed woman spoke, she and Cinder fixed their gazes firmly upon the projection of Sora and his friends. "The Keyblade has chosen him. And the Silver-Eyed huntress of whom we were told has crossed his path. Will it be he who conquers the darkness? Or will the darkness swallow him? Either way, he could be quite useful."
While Cinder would have been glad to not have to think about the huntress in question, let alone see her again, her presence at Sora's side intrigued her. And if this 'Keyblade' was everything she'd been led to believe it is... "You may very well be right about that." she said, as a smile reflecting the wickedness in her eyes spread across her lips. For now, she would watch and wait with her new...associates.