Consciousness slowly returned to Sora. He could hear the familiar sounds of the ocean waves and the seagulls' calls. He felt the sand underneath him as he slowly opened his eyes to the blue sky. Sora groaned as he sat up and looked out to the ocean, instantly recognizing the beach on the small island where he and his friends would often go to play ever since he was little.

'Ohhh man,' Sora thought as he yawned. 'That… was intense.' Still feeling tired, Sora decided to relax a little longer and try to regain his bearings from that fight. Hopefully, that voice wouldn't interrupt him. As he plopped back into a lying position, someone suddenly came into view right above, startling him.

"Whoa!" Sora yelled as he jolted back up. He turned around to see a familiar redhead break out into a giggle. "Give me a break, Kairi."

"Sora, you lazy bum," Kairi playfully chastised as she stood up with her hands behind her back. "I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here."

"No!" Sora protested. "This huge, black THING swallowed me up! I couldn't breathe, I couldn't—ow!" Kairi lightly bonked him on the head before he could finish.

"Are you still dreaming?" Kairi asked as she put her hands on her knees and got closer to Sora's level of view. Her expression made it clear that she wasn't about to let him get away with taking a nap when they were supposed to be working on their preparations.

"It wasn't a dream!" Sora briefly insisted before looking down as everything started coming back to him. "Or was it? I don't know." Now he could remember. He was supposed to help gather materials for their raft on the other side of this island. He had only stopped for a moment to take a break when a wave of tiredness suddenly hit him. The next thing he knew, he was sinking underwater. Now that he thought about it, that could've just been him falling asleep. But at the same time, he'd never had dreams that felt THAT real before.

"What was that place?" he wondered aloud. "So bizarre…"

"Yeah, sure," Kairi replied sarcastically, clearly not believing him as she walked past and gazed out at the ocean. As she passed, Sora caught a glimpse of the necklace around her neck, shining in the sun. He could still vividly remember how she'd arrived nine years ago. Nobody on the island had known her, which meant she was an outsider in their tiny world. It reminded him of how she was living proof that there were actually other worlds out there.

"Say, Kairi," Sora asked, "what was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up." He didn't even need her to turn around to know that she was rolling her eyes and smirking.

"I told you before," she answered, "I don't remember."

"Nothing at all?"

"Nothing." Sora could sense just a hint of sadness in her voice just then. He sympathized, knowing how bad he'd feel if he'd wound up in another world and couldn't remember where he'd come from or who he'd left.

"You ever want to go back?" Sora asked.

"Hm…" Kairi briefly paused in thought before putting on a cheerful tone. "Well, I'm happy here."

"Really…" Sora pushed on, hoping for an honest answer.

"But you know…" Kairi admitted as her smile returned, "I wouldn't mind going to see it."

"I'd like to see it too," Sora shifted around, putting his hand on his knee. "Along with any other worlds out there! I want to see 'em all!"

"So what are we waiting for?" Kairi asked as she turned around, her smile having fully returned.

"Hey," called out another familiar voice from behind Sora. "Aren't you guys forgetting about me?" He turned around as both he and Kairi saw their other best friend, Riku, approaching with a log under his arm. "So, I guess I'm the only one working on the raft."

Riku nonchalantly tossed his log at Sora, who scrambled to catch it, only to be knocked down on the ground again by its weight. The silver-haired boy continued on his way and looked Kairi right in the eye with an amused smirk. "And you're just as lazy as he is," the 15-year-old accused Kairi.

"So you noticed," Kairi giggled in response. "Okay, we'll finish it together. I'll race you!"

"Huh?" Sora groaned as he managed to get the log off of himself.

"What? Are you kidding?" Riku groaned as he sat next to Sora. Kairi giggled again, knowing exactly what buttons to push.

"Ready?" she called out. Sora and Riku glanced at each other, feeling their usual competitiveness firing up. "Go!"

Immediately, both boys leaped from the ground, breaking into a sprint. Riku was in the lead at first, but Sora pushed himself and managed to get neck and neck with his oldest friend/rival. Kairi happily chased after them the whole way as they headed for the door on the other side of the beach in their home world: Destiny Islands. Sora was just starting to pass Riku as they neared the ramp, but Riku managed to leap past Sora and tap the door before him.

"Heh," Riku chuckled. "Looks like I win this round, Sora."

"Aw man!" Sora groaned as he hunched over in defeat. "I'll get you next time."

"We'll see," Riku confidently said, folding his arms and smirking. "Since I won the race, that means you have to get the rest of the building materials for our raft. All by yourself."

"What!?" Sora exclaimed. "We never said anything about the loser having to do that!"

"No," Kairi agreed as she approached her two guy friends. "But I think Riku's got the right idea."

"Huh?" Sora protested. Kairi smirked as she put her hands behind her back and leaned in.

"That's what you get for dozing off when you're supposed to be working."

"But I…" Sora looked between his two best friends. Riku gave a single confident chuckle as he leaned against the doorframe. After a moment, Sora shook his head in defeat. "Okay. I'll take care of it."

"Good," Riku acknowledged as he patted Sora on the back and walked off. "We'll finish the raft after you get everything we need."

"Yeah, yeah." Sora waved him off. Kairi approached his front and tilted her head as she smiled.

"Aw, cheer up, Sora," she said. "You've beaten Riku before, and I know you'll win again soon."

"Thanks, Kairi," he said, looking up at her and weakly smiling. Admittedly, if they were to add up their scores from all the times they'd competed over the years, Sora was pretty sure that Riku would still have him beat by a landslide. Still, Sora was happy to keep trying. No use moping around, after all.

"Alright then," Kairi clapped her hands. "Time to get down to business. We're going to need..."

"How did you manage to forget your scroll before leaving the dorm anyway?" Blake chastised her team leader as they left Beacon's dorms. "We could've been late and missed Yang and Weiss's match. The ebon-haired cat faunus was wearing her usual black and white ensemble with a black bow, hiding her cat ears from the world. Her amber eyes glared at Ruby as they ran together.

"I know, I'm sorry!" Ruby whined pitifully. "I just got so excited to watch the doubles round that I forgot to grab it this morning!" Her red, hooded cape flapped in the wind as she briskly walked through Beacon's grounds in her black outfit with a combat skirt. Her silver eyes gazed down at her scroll's screen as she checked its clock. "We still have time. Hopefully we can catch an air bus before it starts."

Blake nodded as they continued on their way through the campus grounds for the top huntsman academy in their kingdom: Vale. They would've run, but there were a lot of people around, and they couldn't risk crashing into anyone along the way. It was the third day of the Vytal Festival Tournament, and they were currently in the doubles round. Both Weiss and Yang had left earlier in the day to get ready in case they came up in the match randomization. This incident reminded the two girls of the time when Ruby had accidentally left their tabletop game in the library near the beginning of the second semester.

Soon the fountain in Beacon's courtyard came into view. It depicted a male and female warrior as they stood atop a rock with a Beowolf Grimm underneath them. As they approached, the two girls couldn't help but notice the unnerved look on some people's faces.

"What's going on?" asked Ruby, noticing the tension around them. A faunus student with deer antlers turned to the silver-eyed girl with a shrug.

"There's some hooded weirdo standing by the fountain over there," he answered, pointing at said fountain. "He hasn't done anything suspicious yet, but there's just something off about him."

Ruby and Blake looked at each other in confusion before they proceeded on their way. Soon enough, the fountain came into view. At the center of it was a statue that depicted both a male and female warrior standing atop a rock spire while an injured Beowolf Grimm snarled beneath them. The two girls spotted the figure that the faunus had mentioned, staring intently at the Beowolf statue. They had to agree with his statement.

He stood hunched over in a brown robe that seemed too big for him. Both hands were hidden by the large, long sleeves. His head was covered by the hood as two strange belts wrapped around each shoulder before crossing his chest. Ruby wondered if this guy was old from that posture of his. He was staring intently at the Beowolf statue as they approached.

The two huntresses-in-training instantly felt a chilling presence as they neared the robed man. Blake hesitated, her bow twitching as the cat ears instinctively turned every which way on alert. Ruby had seen that look before, whenever Blake felt threatened. She honestly wasn't sure what to do about it.

"Should we say something?" Ruby whispered to her teammate. Blake furrowed her brows but shook her head.

"It might not be any of our business," she whispered back. "But you're the leader, so it's your call."

"I can hear you," said the robed man in a scarily deep voice. His hood turned slightly in the girls' direction, startling them. "You wish to speak to me?"

"Oh! Um— Sorry!" Ruby spattered out. "We didn't mean to—Uh, how's it going today? You admiring the fountain?" The robed man paused, then slowly turned his attention back to the statue.

"I'm simply observing the beast that it depicts," he answered. "How fascinating to find a world with its own creatures of darkness."

"I'm sorry, did you say 'find a world?'" asked Blake as she raised an eyebrow at the man.

"They do not possess a soul nor a heart," the figure continued, ignoring Blake's question. "They are unnatural beings, said to have been created by a deity of chaos. Still, they are restricted to this world… for now."

"Okay…" Ruby drawled, starting to get the sense that they should leave this weirdo alone. "Well, we gotta go. Bye now!" With that said, Ruby and Blake walked away from the hooded man at a more brisk pace than before. Soon enough, the landing platforms were in sight, and they had gotten out of earshot from the robed man.

"Phew!" Ruby sighed with relief, looking back and confirming that the man was still at the fountain. "That guy is seriously CU-KOO!" She emphasized that last word with a higher-pitched voice as she twirled her finger around the side of her head and rolled her eyes in opposite directions (a skill that she'd worked hard to master when she was little).

"You think we should call someone about him?" Blake asked, folding her arms. "You know, just to keep an eye on him?"

"Eh," Ruby shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, he wasn't actually causing any trouble. Might as well leave him be for—AAAAH!" Ruby cartoonishly leaped into Blake's shocked arms, hugging the cat faunus's head for dear life as the hooded man somehow appeared right in front of her, facing the both of them.

"What the—!? How the—!?" Ruby stammered as she rapidly looked to the fountain and back to the man before her, confirming that this was the same guy. "HOW DID YOU GET OVER HERE SO FAST!?" Seriously! This guy had just outdone Penny when it came to appearing out of nowhere.

"Your silver eyes," muttered the robed man as he stared at Ruby.

"Y-yeah?" Ruby replied nervously. "What about them?"

"I can sense the power within," he continued. "But it does not matter. They will do you no good in the coming storm."

"Storm?" Ruby asked, getting out of Blake's arms and back on her own feet. She then stared the man down, even though she couldn't see his eyes. "What do you mean? What's coming?"

"Hmph," the man chuckled. "You speak as if there were still a way to stop it. Trying to explain the situation to you would be pointless." With that said, he turned around and slowly walked away from the two girls. "You understand nothing."

"Wha—!? Hey! You don't even know who I am!"

"Who are you" Blake finally demanded, "and how are you doing that?"

"Huh?" Ruby asked, turning her gaze to her teammate and finally noticing the confusion on her face. "Doing what?"

"I can't see..." Blake began, glancing at her team leader. But as soon as she turned her gaze back to where the man was, she gasped. "He's gone!"

"What?" Ruby asked in shock. She followed Blake's gaze, only to confirm that the mystery man was indeed gone. Ruby looked all around for any sign of him but found none. "Who was that guy? And what couldn't you see?"

"His face. Even though—" Blake paused, checking her surroundings to make sure nobody else could hear her. She leaned in and whispered, "Like many faunus, I can see better in the dark than humans. But I couldn't see past the shadows of that man's hood. It was just pitch black inside. That shouldn't be possible in the daytime."

"That's creepy," Ruby replied with a shudder. "Maybe it was his semblance?"

"Maybe…" Blake cupped her chin, remembering how Torchwick's assistant had been able to create illusions. It wasn't that far-fetched to think that this mystery man had a similar ability with the manifestation of their soul, or aura, unlocked. "We should call someone about him."

"I have Professor Ozpin in my contacts," Ruby replied as she pulled out her scroll and proceeded towards the incoming air bus. She'd received the headmaster's contact information on the night that he'd accepted her into Beacon two years early. "Come on, I can fill him in while we head to the colosseum."

After receiving a list from Kairi, Sora set about gathering all the materials they still needed for the raft: a couple of logs, a rope, a large cloth that could be used as a sail, and a few other things. He'd run into Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie along the way, agreeing to a sparring match with each of them. Finally, he managed to bring everything to Kairi, who brought the materials to the back of the island so they could finish building before sunset. Now, he just had to get Riku.

He found the silver-haired boy gazing out at the sea from atop the paopu tree on the islet near the beach. Sora could see some of the star-shaped fruit hanging from said tree as he approached. Riku turned his attention to the younger teen when he heard Sora's large yellow shoes hitting the wooden boards on the bridge from the island's shack.

"Hey, Sora," Riku called. "You finally get everything we need for the raft?"

"Yep," said Sora. "You ready to finish building?"

"In a bit." Riku continued, a smirk forming on his face. "Saw you duking it out with the others earlier. Couldn't resist, huh?"

"I figured I could both work and play," Sora replied with a smirk as he put both hands behind his head.

"In that case, how about a quick round?" Riku grinned. "Grab your sword."

"Okay," Sora agreed as he turned to retrieve his wooden sword. "You're on!"

"Same rules as usual?" Riku called as he reached for his own toy sword nearby.

"First to get hit with a 'blade' or fall out of bounds loses," Sora called back as he ran.

After getting their weapons, the two boys squared off, using the islet as their arena. Riku held his sword near his face with one hand while the other was held out in an almost taunting fashion. Sora simply held his own sword with both hands as he maintained a wide stance.

The younger boy made the first move, charging in with an overhead slash. Riku smirked as he easily blocked the attack, Sora's sword bouncing off his own weapon. He followed up with a diagonal slash that Sora had to leap away from.

"You still don't got it," Riku taunted as he charged at Sora. The two friends continued to clash wooden blades over and over at an increasing pace, trying to gain the upper hand with each of their strikes.

"I've got plenty!" Sora retorted as he swung for Riku's shoulder, but the latter knocked his sword aside and thrust forward. The younger boy dodged to the right, barely avoiding Riku's fake blade in time.

Sora made a low, horizontal slash for Riku's feet, only for the silver-haired boy to leap into the air and land on top of the paopu tree. Sora leaped after him with an upper slash, but Riku leaped away from the attack, landing on the ground again. The younger boy landed on the tree and immediately jumped after Riku with a wide swing. Riku dove forward, dodging the attack and performing a one-handed flip as he regained his footing.

Sora grunted and tried for another wide attack while Riku's back was turned, but the older boy quickly whipped around and blocked him. While the block was successful, Sora put more force into that last attack than the previous ones. His eyes lit up in surprise when Riku actually staggered back. Sora followed up, thrusting forward, and Riku stumbled, barely dodging the wooden blade's tip as he fell onto his back. The action caught Sora by surprise, but he had to snap out of it and rush him as quickly as possible.

"Come on, Sora," Riku taunted as he looked up at his friend. "I thought you were stronger than that." Sora paused and raised his eyebrow in confusion.

"Huh? Get real. Look which one of us is winn—Gyaah!" Sora was interrupted when Riku suddenly pulled his legs in and kicked them out as he launched off the ground with both hands, knocking Sora down. As he landed back on his feet, Riku twisted around, swinging his sword in an overhead slash that was aimed at Sora. The younger boy rolled away from the attack and got back to his feet.

"That was a cheap shot," Sora yelled in protest.

"Take it as a compliment that I needed to take one," Riku retorted with a smirk. The two continued their fight, striking and parrying each other repeatedly, neither seeming to be able to land a hit with their blades.

Riku swung high, forcing Sora to duck and go for the former's feet. The silver-haired boy leaped into the air and swung down as he landed. Sora rolled away from the attack, stumbling as he went and stopping on his hand.

'I think I'm getting a little better at those dodge rolls,' Sora quickly thought to himself as he scrambled to his feet and blocked another overhead attack from Riku. The younger boy held his sword with one hand on the hilt and the other on the flat of his own 'blade.'

The two pressed their blades against each other. Sora struggled, trying to overpower Riku, but the latter placed his free hand on the hilt of his sword and pressed harder. Unable to overcome his friend's strength, Sora angled his weapon so that Riku's slid to one side. The brown-haired boy was quick to move his left fingers in time so that his older friend's blade didn't touch them.

As soon as his weapon was free, Sora swung at Riku's side, only for the latter to catch him by the wrist. Riku tried to swing his own sword at Sora's torso, but Sora kicked him back, forcing the silver-haired boy to release his grip. Sora leapt away from Riku and stopped to catch his breath as his oldest friend recovered.

"Hmph. Don't tell me you're giving up already," Riku called out as he held his weapon in a guarding position.

"You know me better than that," Sora panted, earning a smirk from Riku. The two ran at each other again, clashing blades a few more times. Sora tried to press the offensive, but Riku blocked and shoved Sora's blade back, knocking him off balance.

"My turn!" Riku growled, thrusting forward before Sora could react. Sora cried out as the tip of his older friend's sword managed to hit him right in the chest, knocking him onto his back.

"AWW, man!" Sora groaned as he lied there.

"Looks like I win again," Riku panted as he wiped some sweat from his brow. "So, what's the score now?"

"This month?" Sora thought for a moment, trying to count all the times that they'd competed recently. "I think it's 12 to 0."

"Sounds like you've got a long way to catch up," Riku chuckled.

"Yeah, but I think I came closer to beating you this time," Sora replied as he sat up, rubbing his chest where he'd been hit. "Next time, I'll definitely win."

"We'll see," Riku smirked at his friend/rival as he held his toy sword over his shoulder. He offered a hand to lift him up, which Sora accepted. "Now come on. We don't want to keep Kairi waiting too long."

"Right," Sora nodded as they headed off to finish their raft.

...

Sora, Riku, and Kairi had spent the rest of the day working on their raft from the back of the small island. Once they had finished, Kairi had to admit that she was impressed by how big they'd been able to make it. There was plenty of room for them to move about or lay out supplies as they sailed. Although it was getting way too late for them to even try testing it, the three childhood friends chose to end their day by sitting on the paopu tree and gazing off into the sunset. Well, Sora and Kairi sat on it, while Riku simply leaned against it with his arms folded.

"So, Kairi's home is out there somewhere, right?" Sora idly asked.

"Could be," Riku replied, never turning his gaze from the horizon. "We'll never know by staying here."

"But how far could a raft take us?" Sora leaned forward to get a better view of his oldest friend. Kairi had to agree with that concern. People often said that each star in the sky was another world. But that was just the thing: they were in the sky, not the water. Still, Kairi had originally arrived on the islands by washing ashore. That's how Riku was able to convince Sora and her that they should try traveling by sea.

"Who knows?" Riku replied with an idle hand wave. "If we have to, we'll think of something else."

"So, suppose you get to another world," Kairi chimed in with another giggle. "What would you do there?"

"Hmm…" Riku mused, Kairi's question seemingly catching him off guard. "Well, I- I haven't really thought about it. It's just… I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And suppose there are other worlds… Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?"

"I don't know," Sora replied as he shifted his position so that he could lie down on the paopu tree.

"Exactly," Riku responded as he unfolded his arms and stood up with a fire of determination in his eyes. He looked out to the horizon before continuing. "That's why we need to go out there and find out. Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's just the same old stuff. So let's go."

"You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" Kairi asked, looking at Riku with a small smile.

"Thanks to you," Riku replied, turning to her. "If you hadn't come here, I probably would've never thought of any of this." He paused before looking at the redhead with a genuine smile. "Kairi, thanks."

"Heh," she giggled in response. "You're welcome."

As they'd had this conversation, the redheaded girl had let her thoughts drift back to her earliest memories. She remembered how scared she was when she'd woken up on an unfamiliar island with no memory except for her name. She couldn't remember her family or any friends that she might've had, and nobody on the island could give her any answers.

Even to this day, Kairi would sometimes try to remember what it was that she'd lost until her head hurt. Other times, she'd fear learning it. What if the answers to her questions turned out to be better left forgotten? Even worse, what if she somehow forgot the islands too?

Still, so long as she had Sora and Riku, Kairi figured that she could make it through anything. That last thought reminded her of something from a sailing legend that her adoptive dad, the mayor, had told her. It gave the young redhead an idea of what she could do the next day.

...

After a few more minutes, the three friends finally decided to head home before their families got worried. If all went according to plan, the three of them would be setting sail for another world in two days. Kairi was the first to leave, with Sora and Riku not far behind her. As he walked, Sora was daydreaming of what kind of adventures he and his friends would go on once they reached another world.

"Sora," called Riku from behind the boy. Sora turned around only to have a familiar, star-shaped fruit tossed to him. He managed to catch it in both hands, but he still had no idea why Riku would give him something like this. "You wanted one, didn't you?"

"A paopu fruit…?" Sora asked in confusion. While he'd eaten the fruit before and liked it well enough, he didn't understand what gave Riku an idea like that. Did he seem that hungry earlier?

"If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined," Riku explained as he passed by Sora. "They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what."

Sora just looked at his friend and considered what he'd just heard. Intertwined destinies? What specific reason was there to do that? He already had a pretty solid bond with his friends. Was this one of the legends that he'd glossed over whenever visiting the main island's library? Or was it something that Riku had heard in school, being a year ahead of both him and Kairi?

"C'mon, I know you want to try it," Riku teased as he moved on with a wave of his hand.

"What are you talking—," Sora began to ask, only to stop as Riku laughed at his expense. As the older boy ran off, Sora took another look at the paopu fruit and shrugged, tossing it aside. He then ran after his friends, and they all headed for their respective boats.

It wasn't until later, as Sora had been rowing his own boat and letting the idea stew, that the answer came to him. Who's destiny would he want to 'intertwine' with his own? He supposed that it sounded kind of like the vows that you'd make when getting married—'OHHHH!' Sora finally thought as the answer hit him like a cannonball to the head. The shock of it caused him to blush and suddenly stop rowing. 'Was Riku talking about Kairi?'

It was true that Sora had been in love with her for a long time, but he'd never figured out how to come forward about it. Making friends was easy for him, but asking someone out might as well have been rocket science. Especially when he didn't know if she felt the same way.

'Dang it! That's why Riku laughed,' Sora thought to himself with a frown. 'He was teasing me.' The older boy must've known that he'd be too chicken to try something like that out of the blue. Well, fine, then. Sora would show him and try that paopu trick on Kairi tomorrow. Or at least someday soon. Hopefully.

Whatever the case, he'd find a way to win her heart.

The day had started like any other day for Donald Duck. He had gotten up, had breakfast, put on his best mage's garb, and headed out for his daily duties as the court magician of Disney Castle. His first order of business for the day was to meet with King Mickey and discuss the usual tasks for the day.

Donald waltzed down the hall to the throne room, clad in a wizard's cape and pointed hat with a curled tip and wide brim. He noticed a line of brooms walking about, doing their daily chores. Finally, he arrived at the gigantic door to the throne room. He could still remember how his Uncle Scrooge had donated the door after one of his treasure hunts up a beanstalk in some other world.

"Ahem," the duck mage confidently coughed before knocking on the door. When there was no response, he figured nobody had heard him, so he knocked again. When there was still no response, he shrugged it off and decided to just open the hidden, normal-sized door.

(Scrooge had given them the door for refurbishing and redesigning, but he was too cheap to pay for new giant hinges.)

"Good morning, Your Majesty," Donald formally greeted with closed eyes. He continued his walk down the long, enormous throne room. The king's throne lied at the end of a lengthy red carpet. To the left, there was a statue of Donald himself in a wizard's robe that he used to wear. To the right was a statue of his friend, Goofy, in a similarly outdated suit of armor. A large banner with the three-circled royal crest hung high in the center.

"It's nice to see you this morn—," Donald started as he finally looked at the throne, only to see that it was unoccupied. "WHAT!" He didn't understand what was happening. Where could the king be right now? Did something happen?

As if to answer these questions, Donald spotted a yellow dog's head pop out from behind the throne. It was Pluto, the king's loyal pet. He came out, fully revealing himself, and he was carrying a letter with the king's seal in his mouth.

"Pluto?" asked Donald. "What's going on, boy?" The dog gave a muffled bark as he walked up to the anthropomorphic duck and offered the letter. Donald accepted it, immediately opening the document. His eyes glided left-to-right over and over as he quickly read the contents. 'Uh-oh,' the duck thought to himself as he reached the letter's conclusion. When he was done, he could only think of one sane thing to do.

So Donald ran out of the throne room, quacking like a madman—er, duck!

Donald ran through the castle as fast as his webbed feet could carry him. Several brooms, servants, and guards had to move out of his way as he scrambled straight for the courtyard. The only person he felt was qualified to learn what he'd just found out would probably be there. As he finally reached the yard full of variously crafted hedges, Donald scrambled for the bush in the center that was shaped like the castle itself. Just as he expected, the captain of the royal guard, Goofy Goof, had dozed off and was currently snoring his snout off.

"Wake up, Goofy, wake up!" Donald cried out as he finally reached the black, anthropomorphic dog.

Goofy gave no response other than more snoring as he lied, sound asleep. The royal captain was glad in a leather suit with armor over his arms and feet. However, only his left hand had an armored glove over it, while the other hand had his regular white glove on. An obviously too small helmet was perched on top of his head, looking more like a metallic version of the hat he would usually wear when off duty.

Not having any patience for his friend's antics today, Donald let out a loud quack as he raised his index finger and cast Thunder. Immediately, a bolt of lightning rained down from the heavens and struck Goofy right in the stomach.

"WOOAWHOA!" Goofy yelled as he was shocked awake, jumping in the air before falling onto his back again. He then picked himself back up, rubbing the tiredness from his eyes before turning to the duck mage as if he'd never been attacked in the first place. "Hey there, Donald. G'morning."

"We've got a problem, Goofy!" Donald exclaimed, waving his arms frantically. He then paused to look left and right, making sure that the coast was clear. He then leaned in and held a hand by his bill. "But don't tell anyone…" Goofy blinked as he seemed to catch his friend's urgent tone.

"Oh? Queen Minnie?" He asked.

"Not even the queen," Donald responded, shaking his head and lifting his head defiantly.

"Daisy?"

"NOOOOO!" Donald shouted in his raspy voice, "It's top-secret!"

"Oh. G'morning, ladies," said Goofy as he leaned forward to look behind Donald.

"What?" Donald exclaimed, briefly stiffening up before he nervously turned around. Sure enough, standing right behind him was none other than the matriarch of the castle and Donald's girlfriend.

"Ahem," Daisy huffed as she placed her hands on her hips and gave Donald the same stink-eye that she would whenever he missed a date. Minnie, meanwhile, had a concerned look on her face.

The queen was clad in a poofy pink and red dress with her ruby-encrusted crown between her big, round ears. Daisy, meanwhile, was wearing an elaborate purple dress and a tiara-like headdress, marking her position as duchess of the castle.

Unable to think up a cover story, Donald simply laughed nervously as a single word came to mind that described his situation: 'Busted.'