Hey, everyone!

I'm still calling for suggestions on what stories to tell in future worlds. I have already decided on the worlds I plan to include in the story. I'm sure that you can guess a number of the worlds based on who we have already met (hint-hint-wink-wink), but I want to keep the rest a surprise for when I get to them. But you can still place suggestions of what worlds you want to see later on, and what I should have the cast do in those worlds. I will accept suggestions for Disney movies, MARVEL movies, some TV shows owned by Disney, Final Fantasy games, and some other games developed by Square Enix. If you can, I would recommend posting ideas for worlds/properties that previous reviewers had not already suggested. I want a wide variety. To everyone who already posted suggestions, I thank you for your input.

In the meantime: please, read and review. Tell me what you think. But be polite about it. As Edna Mode would put it, NO FLAMES!

Now, on with the story.

Chapter 74

So Very Much to Learn

When they stepped out of an alleyway near the clinic, they saw Aerith running past them, carrying a six-foot metal rod. Kairi was about to wave and greet her, but then the party saw Soldiers, Armored Knights, and Air Soldiers, Emblem Heartless resembling Soldiers except with pilot hats and goggles and makeshift wings, pursuing her. Without a word, they all conjured their weapons and charged into action.

Kairi prioritized using Gravity spells to bring the Air Soldiers down to her level, while Donald sought to do the same thing with the use of Thunder magic. Sora and Riku clashed blades with the Armored Knights while switching back-and-forth to fighting Soldiers. Mickey fought mostly Soldiers but also dueled with an Armored Knight.

Goofy ran to Aerith's aid as the remaining Soldiers surrounded her. However, just as one of them leapt in to strike, Aerith swung her quarterstaff, so that the lower end hit the Heartless in the chest and sent it flying. A Soldier leapt at her from behind, but Aerith spun around and swatted it away. Another Soldier hopped back and delivered a Cyclone kick, but Aerith hooked her staff under its swinging foot and lifted up, sending it spinning out of control. Without waiting for the last one to try anything, Aerith spun around again and hit it in the chin, sending it flying toward Goofy. The knight slammed his shield into the oncoming Soldier, blasting it to bits on contact.

When all of the Heartless were defeated, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy gathered in front of Aerith. "Those were some nice moves," Sora complimented.

Aerith smiled and, holding the quarterstaff behind her back, leaned in coyly. "Thanks. Can't let the others fight my battles for me, can I?" she replied. "I assume that you're here to check in with the committee, not just to see little ol' me?"

Mickey nodded. "We actually landed over here to see how reconstruction has been going," he explained, recalling the major destruction that resulted from the Raid Armor attack, "and also because we were curious if the Heartless have started reappearing since the battle. It looks like that's a yes."

Aerith nodded. "Yes. The Heartless started reappearing a few days ago. At first, it was just Shadows and Soldiers, but it wasn't long before bigger types showed up."

Sora crossed his arms. "Hopefully, Maleficent won't be inspired to summon any more skyscrapers," he said.

Aerith sighed, and her expression turned sad. "We're still in the process of rebuilding the destroyed homes, and everyone who had lived there is still living in the group homes. At least those areas are heavily-fortified, with Lea and Isa on patrol to keep everyone safe."

"Gawrsh, is there anything we can do?" Goofy asked sympathetically.

Aerith smiled and shook her head. "Thank you, but this isn't something we can't handle," she replied.

The party nodded, seeing her point. Even now, Radiant Garden was still trying to pick up the pieces from the apocalypse that Maleficent, Ansem and the Heartless had unleashed upon the world and which had forced the survivors to become refugees for nine years. With Heartless still roaming the streets, some collateral damage was par for the course. Besides, Sora, Riku and Kairi did not know too much about construction work.

"Well, let's get going," Aerith said, waving her arm to beckon them onward. "Everyone's at Merlin's house."

They followed Aerith up to the Borough, fighting the occasional heartless along the way, and entered Merlin's house, where they found Leon, Yuffie, Cid, Shera, and Merlin. The crew turned around when they heard the door open. Aerith gave them a finger-wagging wave in greeting.

"Good to see you," Leon greeted the party. "Did you find anything?"

Sora nodded. "We actually figured out quite a bit about the things that Maleficent's gang is looking for," he told him.

The party told the committee what they had learned.

Leon crossed his arms in contemplation. Cid scratched his chin and fiddled with a toothpick between his teeth. Shera sipped some tea pensively. Yuffie took on a "deep thinker" pose, though she seemed to be exaggerating.

"Interesting," Leon finally said. "If we only knew how the artifacts fit together, we could be that much closer to figuring this all out."

"It's a shame we couldn't do much on our end," Cid lamented, "not with this nor the whole Xehanort debacle."

Mickey raised an eyebrow. "Really? You haven't found anything?" he asked.

Cid shook his head. "That freak didn't keep that much written down. He didn't have that many files on what he was doing even as Ansem and Xemnas."

"Not to mention, Braig still refuses to divulge any information," Leon added. "So that means we don't have much to go off of."

Mickey pulled the flash drive out of his pocket. "Maybe this will help," he said.

Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, and Merlin looked at the stick in confusion, but Cid and Shera raised their eyebrows in intrigue.

"Whatcha got there?" Cid asked.

"Files from Ansem's computer in Twilight Town," Mickey answered. "The real Ansem, I mean, not Xehanort's Heartless."

"Well, I'll be. Mind if I take a look at that?" Cid asked.

"Sure thing," Mickey replied. He walked over and handed the flash drive to Cid. Cid plugged the drive into his computer and opened it up in a file explorer.

"Just gimme a minute to look through everything," Cid said.

Leon turned his attention back to Sora and the others. "So, did you come across any more of Maleficent's new friends?" he asked.

Sora nodded. "Yeah. We'd already met Pete and Loki, and we already knew about Hades. Then we ran into a crazy court jester named Kefka, and some sort of witch doctor. We didn't catch that guy's name."

"An evil sorcerer named Mozenrath, with his pet eel," Riku added, "a psychotic old woman named Yzma, who seemed to be a mad scientist or alchemist of some sort…"

"And an androgynous mega-sorcerer who we could barely do anything to," Kairi finished. Sora, Riku and Mickey winced at the memory of that humiliating defeat.

"I see," Leon said, realizing that with foes like this, and five others that they still knew nothing of, it will not be easy to win this conflict.

"Well, then I suppose you could use some more training," Merlin suggested cheerfully. Donald noted that he did not seem too concerned with the threat level, and only cared about teaching Sora and company some more magic.

"That reminds me," Sora muttered. He approached Merlin. "You've been holding out on us," he whispered into the old wizard's ear.

"Uh, pardon?" Merlin asked, not sure what Sora meant.

"You never told us about water-based magic," Sora explained.

Merlin's eyes widened. "Ah, yes. I had a feeling that there was something I had forgotten to mention. Not to worry. That should not be a challenge for you."

Toward the conclusion of the lesson, Yuffie, Aerith and Shera set ceramic pots around the street in the Borough. There was one for each of the five magic users, and Yuffie had applied tape labeling which one was meant for whom.

"Now then, your final task will be to fill your pots with water," Merlin instructed. "Sora, how about you go first."

Sora aimed his Keyblade so that it was aimed toward his jar but at a thirty-five degree angle rather than directly at it. When he was sure about his measurements, he shouted "Agua!"

A jet of water shot out of his Keyblade, the liquid swirling around itself as it arced through the air, dropping very little spray. The arc led right into the opening of the pot. Sora timed the conclusion of his spell so that the last drops would fill the pot all the way, though he realized afterward that it was about an inch under the lip.

Donald cast Agua and a stream of water shot out of the head of his staff, filling the pot about as much as Sora, though the water struck hard enough that little bits sprayed off of the surface constantly, so that the ground around the pot was damp.

Mickey's stream was more focused, though he added his own twist by directing the flow to swirl around in a few loops before entering the pot. The pot was filled completely, and a bubble of water formed, not flowing over the lip due to the surface tension.

Riku had to mentally adjust the path the water took as it went through the air, realizing that his initial calculation was sure to miss. After a few turns, he managed to get the water to go straight down into the opening. However, Merlin quickly noticed that his stream was a half of an inch wider than the opening itself, and the edge of the stream doused the lip.

Kairi's stream swirled around itself much like Sora's. When it filled her pot, it came closer to being full than Sora and Donald's, but not perfectly full like Mickey's.

Merlin, Goofy, and the girls clapped. "Well done! Donald, that was very close, but you need to be more focused and disciplined if you want to get it perfect. And Riku, your aim needs improvement, as well as your depth perception," he advised.

"That's probably what happens when you spend a year with a blindfold on," Sora joked.

"Yeah. I really need to forget about the Memory Skyscraper fight and get a grasp on physics," Riku agreed.

He, Sora and Kairi laughed. Yuffie and Aerith giggled as well.

"Look out!" Shera shouted suddenly, pointing into the air. Everyone looked up and saw a trio of dark red draconic creatures circling above them. The creatures had human-like torsos, but instead of arms they had tattered wings and their legs ended in feet with two front toes and one rear toe each, and each toe had a large black claw. At the back of their heads, spikes flared out on either side, and a large, slightly curved spike protruded from each shoulder. A tail extended from each beast's rear end, extending about as long as the legs. Each creature brandished a familiar insignia upon its breast.

Sora scowled at the Heartless. He remembered the Wyverns all too well. They had been particularly aggravating when he had to fight them at the castle gates during his first visit to Hollow Bastion, due to their tendency to attack and then fly away so that they hovered safely over the abyss and forced him to wait for them to come back for another attack, never mind the fact that when he first encountered them he had lost his Keyblade. He had not faced against them at all during the last several months, although he did spy a few flying around during Maleficent's attempted siege on the town.

He heard a whirring noise and glanced across the street. He saw a pair of green spiked balls spinning across the street like tops, shattering the pots as they drove through them. When they came to a stop, a pair of long, thin arms and two short legs with large metal feet popped out. The top spike lifted up slightly to expose a pair of glowing yellow eyes.

Yuffie, Aerith and Shera ran back into Merlin's House. A few seconds later, Yuffie came back out, with Leon following right behind her. It did not take the party long to come up with a strategy: Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Yuffie, and Merlin would fight the Wyverns while Sora, Riku, Goofy, and Leon would fight the Morning Stars.

Kairi cast Gravity and Aero spells to try to bring the Wyverns down to size while Mickey and Donald sought to do lasting damage with Thunder, whereas Merlin launched a wider array of fireworks-type spells and Yuffie threw her shurikens. The Wyverns descended to engage their enemies. One flew toward Donald, spinning about itself in a corkscrew fashion. Donald dove to the side but was strafed. As it slowed down, it was hit in the left wing by Yuffie's Fuuma Shuriken. Another Wyvern dodged Merlin's spells and came down upon Kairi, attacking with a flurry of kicks. Kairi backed away to avoid getting clawed and attempted to parry each strike. A successful swipe caused it to falter, and, along with Mickey, she cut through the Heartless with her Keyblade until it was no more. Donald and Merlin ganged up on the third Wyvern with magic spells, hitting it with a continuous barrage until Donald realized that no more magic was coming out of his staff. He brandished his staff, ready to bludgeon it if necessary until his mana replenished, but Merlin delivered a final burst of white fire that caused the Wyvern to explode. The last remaining Wyvern, flying unevenly due to its injured wing, went after Yuffie, but Kairi cast Stop just as it reached her, allowing the ninja to get away. Mickey jumped on top of the Heartless and started hitting it in the head with his staff. When the spell wore off, its head shook violently from all of the concussive blows piling up and it crashed to the ground thanks to the sudden weight. Yuffie threw a trio of small shurikens into the Heartless' body while Kairi slashed and stabbed at it until it faded away.

Sora, Riku, Goofy, and Leon used brute force attacks on the Morning Stars. When Sora drew near, one of the Morning Stars retracted its arms and stuck out two thick metal rods with large iron balls attached. It leaned its entire body to swing its right arm, hitting Sora in the chest and knocking him across the street. Leon took Sora's place, slashing through the Heartless with his Gunblade. When it swung its other arm, he hopped back as Goofy stepped in front of him to block the blow. Leon helped Sora to his feet and shot a fireball at the Heartless. Riku fought the other Morning Star, delivering a flurry of attacks. The Heartless replaced its arms with large maces. Riku jumped back as it began to spin these deadly arms at a very fast rate. When it had stopped and retracted the maces, Riku sent a volley of Dark Fire balls at the Heartless. It retaliated by retracting its limbs and spinning around him like a top. Riku tried to block, but he was hit from all sides.

Sora threw himself at the spinning Morning Star to help Riku and sent the Heartless careening down the road with a heavy strike. When it regained its bearings, it leapt high into the air and came down right above Sora. The Keyblade wielder, however, was familiar with this tactic and knew how to use it against the enemy. He blocked its descent by bumping it with his Keyblade. As it was tossed into the air by the hit, he jumped up and grabbed it by the legs. He then threw it hard into the ground, smashing it into the cobblestones and causing it to bounce back up. When it returned to his level, he caught it again and slammed it to the ground again. He did this two more times until the Heartless finally dissipated above a small crater. He turned around and saw the other Morning Star attempt a similar attack on Leon, but the swordsman dodged the first landing and met it with four quick slashes even as it prepared to jump again. When it did so, he simply raised his weapon to stab into it as it came down, then finished it off with three explosive gunshots. The last fireball proceeded to soar through the air as it caused the Heartless to disintegrate.

When the party was aware that the Heartless had been defeated, everyone reconvened. Sora noticed the injuries sustained and cast Curaga, healing everyone right up. Aerith, Cid and Shera stepped out of Merlin's house to confirm that the battle was over.

"Is everyone alright?" Aerith asked.

Sora set the business end of his Keyblade to the ground and leaned his arm on the handle guard in a relaxed position. "No sweat," he replied.

Mickey turned to face Cid. "Did you find anything?" he asked.

Cid nodded. "Well, there is some pretty funny stuff on here," he said, waving the flash drive around. "Though, I don't think I can fully understand what to make of it. I think you should take it to the guys who were apprenticed to him. They're up in the castle. Should be in the study."

"Thanks," Mickey said. "We'll get it to them right away." He approached Cid, who stooped down and handed the flash drive to him.

"Well, see you later," Sora said, waving good-bye. He and his friends turned and started walking away from the house. As he remembered something, he stopped and whirled around. "And thanks for the water magic lesson, Merlin," he shouted.

"Yeah, thanks!" Kairi agreed. Mickey, Donald and Riku waved back to Merlin in gratitude as well.

After they had disappeared around the corner, Yuffie stretched her arms above her head. "Well, now that that's done with, it looks like I've got some dirt to wash off," she announced. She walked into Merlin's House and started washing her hands in a water basin.

Suddenly, there was a splash and Leon, Aerith, Cid, Shera, and Merlin heard the ninja let out a surprised yelp. They ran inside to check on her. She seemed unharmed, save for some water covering her face. She held a corked bottle in one hand and pressed her other hand over her rapidly-beating chest.

"What happened?" Leon asked, concerned.

Yuffie held the bottle out for her friends to see. "This thing just popped right out of the bowl!" she answered, hyperventilating from the shock.

There you have it. Water magic, a longtime staple in the Final Fantasy series alongside Fire, Blizzard and Thunder, has finally been introduced to the Kingdom Hearts party. Apparently, it was in the code for 0.2 but cut from the game. I wonder if we'll be getting it in KH3...