The wheels of Filo's wagon were the only sound in the streets that morning. Everyone else slept soundly in the wagon, save for Loretta, who was in the driver's seat.

Their destination was the cathedral that once housed the Three Heroes Church. Upon their arrival, Filo woke everyone up. "Guys, we're here!"

Everyone groggily opened their eyes and stretched, some yawning.

Sora nudged Aris and Raphtalia, who'd become cuddled up to each other in their sleep. "Hey, lovebirds, wake up."

At the word 'lovebirds' the duo immediately shot awake, vehemently denying any romance between them.

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"

"Honest!" Raphtalia replied. "Aris and I are just...r-really close friends! There's nothing going on here!"

"Alright," said Cloud. "But don't expect me to be surprised when I catch you two making out."

Everyone quickly loaded off of Filo's wagon as Filo herself shifted into her human form.

"Guys, check that out!" Ness pointed up at the crest of the church. "They changed it!"

Aris looked up. Sure enough, the emblem once had only the sword, spear and bow. Now, it bore a shield to go with them.

"I guess Queen Mirellia was truly serious when she wanted to rebrand the church to worship all four Heroes," he mused. "And now that we're no longer a collective social pariah, we can get our Class Upgrades."

The crew went inside through the still-lavish front door. Upon entrance, they were surprised to see a familiar face.

"Hello!" said Ake, the friendly knight. "It's been a while!"

"Ake!" Aris ran over and exchanged a firm pat on the back with the young knight. "What are you doing here?"

"Her Majesty entrusted care of the church to us while the priests of the old Three Heroes Church are undergoing therapy," explained the youthful mage beside Ake.

"Oh, she did mention the priests were being rehabilitated, didn't she?" Raphtalia remembered.

"That she did," said Ake. "So, what can I do for you all?"

"We're here to get Class Upgrades," replied Aris.

"I assumed you'd be here for that at some point," Ake mused. "In that case, everyone please follow me. The Hourglass is upstairs."

Aris recalled that day before the second Wave - or, rather, the first Wave he and Raphtalia had experienced - when he and Raphtalia had paid a visit to this same Dragon Hourglass. He remembered the brief verbal altercation he'd had with Motoyasu and Myne - or Bitch, as she was called now.

"Alright," said Ake. "All who desire Class Upgrades, please step forward and place your hand upon the Dragon Hourglass."

Everyone in Aris's party, including Aris himself, did so.

Aris checked a notification in his status display.

Allow Party Members to Select Their Upgrades Freely?

He chose "yes".

Filo had a glum look on her face as she and the others met with Queen Mirellia.

"So, there was a problem with your Class Upgrades?" said the queen.

"Yes and no," replied Aris. "We were able to get the upgrades, but...for some reason, it wouldn't let any of us pick what upgrade we specifically wanted. We all only received one option."

"Hmm..." The queen pondered for a moment. "I have been told that sometimes, certain items can affect the Class Upgrade process."

"Maybe it's the cowlick Fitoria gave to Filo." Sora flicked the little cowlick on Filo's head.

"Hey, watch it!" Filo pouted.

Queen Mirellia gasped. "Fitoria!? You mean...the Filolial Queen herself!?"

Aris nodded. "We met her. It...wasn't long after Melty was kidnapped."

"Tell me all about her!" the queen gushed. "I want to know everything!"

"Well, in her Filolial form, she was the size of a building!" Filo said excitedly. "She had these feathers that looked like a crown, and some of them were the color of the sky!"

"What else?" the queen demanded.

"She made me her successor!" said Filo. "So now, I'm a Filolial Princess!"

The queen's face lit up with a bright smile. "Ah, that sounds wonderful! To think that sometime, many years into the future...perhaps another Cardinal Hero will be able to meet you! Honestly, I'm jealous that all of you got to meet her before I did."

Ness smiled. "You're...just like your daughter, Your Majesty."

The queen cleared her throat, composing herself. "...Forgive me. I've...always loved Filolials. Just as Melty has."

"Anyway," said Aris, "why did you call us back here? I know we stayed behind to obtain Class Upgrades before setting off to find Melty, but...why did you have us come back? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no, nothing is wrong," said the queen. "In fact, quite the opposite. I'm throwing a party to celebrate the founding of the Four Heroes Church, and I would like all of you to attend. The other three Cardinal Heroes have been asked to attend as well. But, in truth...really, it's just an excuse to have all four of you in one place. There's something you all should know. Again, it's nothing bad. It's something all four of you could benefit from. Especially you. And I will explain why when the time comes."

"I'm...really sorry, everyone," said Aris.

"It's alright." Raphtalia put a tender hand on her hero's shoulder.

"No, it isn't." Aris adjusted his Cloak of Shadows. "You all should have been able to choose your own paths. I...got us involved with Fitoria before we were Class Upgraded, which means I sort of prevented you all from being able to choose your own upgrades."

"Fitoria involved herself with us," Loretta pointed out. "Not the other way around. Besides, we all got an incredible boost to our stats."

"I suppose that's fair," Aris conceded.

"Sir Aris?" said a maid who approached. "Her Majesty is expecting you. Please follow me."

Aris turned back to his party. "We can talk about this later."

He left with the maid.

The party was in full swing now. Musicians played their instruments, offering a sort of background music to the festivities.

Filo, however, was not in good spirits. "Ugh, what's taking Papa so long?"

"He had some business to attend to, remember?" said Cloud.

"Right, but it can't be taking this long!"

"Maybe we can just start eating without him," said Sora. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"Yeah, I'm starving," Ness agreed, chomping into his cake.

Filo joined in, starting to devour her own cake.

Someone suddenly slammed a bottle of wine onto the table beside Raphtalia. She looked up to see Mald, the burly knight from Itsuki's party, very much drunk.

"Hey, look, a filthy lil' Demi!" he chortled. "That's why my wine tastes like ass!"

He leaned down to her level. "You listen here, punk," he sneered. "I don't care if you're with the Swordsman Shield Hero. You Demis have gotta-UGH!"

Raphtalia suddenly elbowed him in the nose.

As a fight broke out, three masked figures looked through the window.

"Think we should help out, Joker?" asked a small, cat-like one.

Joker nodded.

"Well, I'd like to begin," remarked the queen, "but...none of you seem very happy to be here. Perhaps we should've had dinner before the conference."

Aris thought for a moment. He was definitely hungry, but that wasn't what was bothering him.

He turned to the queen. "Maybe we should just get started. After all, the sooner we're done here, the sooner we can go eat, right?"

"Agreed," said the queen. She cleared her throat. "It's no secret that Maleficent and her minions have been...causing trouble for everyone. Especially when Jafar hypnotized the Three Heroes Church. As the sovereign of this country, the responsibility to make it up to you all falls upon my shoulders. But, luckily for you, I have a way to do that. You see, the archipelago of Cal Mira has just recently activated."

Ren gasped. "You're serious?"

"That means it's generating a bonus field, right?" said Itsuki.

"What are either of you talking about?" asked Aris.

"Cal Mira activates once every decade," explained the queen. "When that happens, experience points gained are significantly increased while defeating monsters."

"You seriously didn't know that, Aris?" Motoyasu chided.

Someone knocked on the door. "Pardon me, Your Majesty?"

Queen Mirellia nodded. "Enter."

A maid entered the room and whispered something into the queen's ear.

The queen put a palm to her forehead. "Well, it's a good thing we didn't go to the party after all."

"Is something happening?" asked Aris.

"One of Itsuki's party members, Sir Mald of Melromarc's best knights," said the queen, "got very drunk and started an altercation with Raphtalia. But it seems three figures who call themselves Joker, Violet, and Morgana have stepped in to defend her."

Itsuki clenched a fist. "I like Sir Mald, but I'm gonna have to give him a good talking-to about having too much to drink."

"Well, it seems that Joker, Violet, and Morgana - whoever those three are - have things under control, so can we move on?" asked Aris.

"Very well," said the queen. "While Maleficent and her minions have certainly played a part, I believe the biggest reason you four haven't leveled up as fast as you should is the animosity between you. Therefore, I believe it would be...prudent for you to clear the air. If you can all share what you've learned with each other, your trip to Cal Mira will be so much more efficient."

Ren scoffed. "Doesn't seem necessary."

"I already know what I need to know," added Motoyasu.

Itsuki sighed, "We'd just be wasting time."

Unbelievable... Aris thought. Have they learned nothing?

The queen closed her hand fan. "Then allow me to be blunt. If nothing changes between the four of you, I imagine that Sir Aris will survive the next Wave, but the rest of you will not."

Everyone gasped.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Ren.

"I'd have thought you would know by now," said the queen. "The three of you were unable to scratch the giant robot during the last wave. I don't know whether it was a sign of its pilot's craftsmanship, or your own weakness, but either way, your foes will only be getting stronger. As such, it's highly unlikely that you'll survive the next one. The only way you will survive is if all four of you rally together. Think of this conference as a way to cultivate that solidarity."

"Then let's start with Aris," said Itsuki. "How'd you get that hands on that form of yours?"

"I'll say it again a thousand times!" Joker - a young man with a mask and a black coat - held Mald at gunpoint. "The Swordsman Shield Hero is weak! Nothing but dead weight!"

Violet - a young lady with a mask of her own and a crimson red ponytail - kept Raphtalia held back. "I understand how you're feeling, but please calm down!"

"I'm perfectly calm," said Raphtalia.

Violet let go. "Good."

"Now," said Raphtalia, drawing her sword, "I'm going to calmly take out the trash."

"Wait, no!"

"I'm telling you, the Fierce Deity form isn't any sort of...cheat!" Aris exclaimed. "I don't even know what it is!"

Everyone stayed silent.

Aris sighed. "Fine. I'll tell you everything I know. But you all have to tell me your secrets first."

"Guess we don't have much of a choice," said Motoyasu. "So, alright. I've found that when you pick up a weapon that's the same as your Cardinal Weapon - in your case, Aris, a shield - you can copy it using the aptly named Weapon Copy System."

"Yep!" said Itsuki. "It was a great help when we were starting out, since we got a bunch of strong weapons pretty much for free!"

"I still use one of my early weapon copies sometimes," Ren mused.

"Wait a second, I could have done that from the very start!?" Aris exclaimed. "And all you have to do is pick it up!?"

"That you do," said Motoyasu.

Itsuki chuckled. "Jeez, I feel kinda bad for you, Aris."

"Tell me more," Aris demanded.

"I'll go next," said Ren. "As long as you have the right materials, you can feed them to your weapon, and it'll craft something for you. I use it to make potions a lot."

"And to think I've been doing it by hand all this time!"

"There's a teleportation skill, too," Itsuki added. "If you use it, you can instantly warp to any major location you've already visited. It's helpful if you wanna get to and from a place you've already been."

"Well, that would certainly have made my life easier."

"And here's something I'm sure you didn't know," said Itsuki. "The strongest weapons are almost always the rarest ones."

"Oh, don't feed the man lies," Ren said flippantly. "It's weapon proficiency, not rarity."

"You're both wrong!" Motoyasu argued. "Weapon refinement is the key to strength!"

"Are you crazy!?" Itsuki shouted. "Rare weapons are clearly much more valuable!"

A three-way argument broke out between them.

Aris sighed. "And this is why I don't like having to work with them."

"I don't blame you," the queen whispered. "They argue like children."

Aris slammed his fist on the table. "If you all are going to keep arguing, I'll just leave and come back when you're done bickering like the children you are."

He got up and left the conference room, walking into the banquet hall - and into absolute chaos.

Tables were broken, food made a mess of everything, and people were fighting for seemingly no reason.

"What just happened here?"

"I just couldn't stand listening to that man badmouth you like that," Raphtalia apologized.

"It's alright," said Aris. "Besides, things didn't really go that much better for me, either."

"The Heroes were arguing again?" asked Loretta.

Aris nodded.

"Say, Raphtalia," he said, "those masked people who were helping you. Who were they? Do you know them?"

"No," replied Raphtalia, "but they called themselves Joker, Morgana, and Violet."

As if on cue, a knock sounded at the door.

"Who is it?" asked Raphtalia.

"It's us," replied a voice familiar to her.

"Violet?" said Raphtalia. "You can come in."

A young woman with a red ponytail entered the room, followed by a young man with black hair and a short, cat-like being. All of them wore masks.

"Hello," said Raphtalia. "Thanks again for helping me out."

"No worries," said Joker. "Anyway..."

"We were wondering if we could join you guys' party," Morgana finished.

"Right," Violet agreed. "We heard you all were quite strong, and that most of you were from...other worlds."

"Are you all from another world, too?" asked Ness.

Joker nodded. "And we're kind of looking for a way back home. So, we were wondering if we could come with you just in case we find one."

"Well, I'm not against it," said Aris, "but I want to make sure the others agree with my decision."

Everyone didn't hesitate to voice their agreement.

"Well, it's settled," said Aris. "Joker. Violet. Morgana. Welcome aboard."

"Where are the other Heroes?" asked Aris.

"They left earlier this morning," replied Queen Mirellia. "Anyway, the ship I've arranged for you is docked in a harbor quite far from here. It will take you some time to reach it."

"Then we should get going," said Loretta. "Everyone load up into Filo's wagon."

"Wait," said Filo. "With how many of us there are, I don't think there'll be enough people."

"Don't worry," Morgana assured her. "Watch this!"

In a poof, he transformed.

"A...bus?" said Cloud.

Sure enough, Morgana had transformed from a strange little cat creature to a small car in the shape of a bus.

"I can do a helicopter as well," said Morgana, "but that's a little harder. But in any case, there's a total of nine seats in here, so there's more than enough to have everyone inside, plus some spare space.

"But I wanna pull my wagon..." Filo complained.

"Don't worry," Aris assured her. "You can still pull your wagon. We'll just load it up with supplies instead of people."

"That works!"

"But before we set out," said Aris, "I'll need to make a quick stop at Heatwaker Armory."

"Hey, kiddo!" Erhard said happily. "How 'bout that trial, huh? Betcha feel great, now that you're not a criminal anymore."

"Oh, I do," said Aris. "Hey, watch this."

He picked up a strong-looking metal shield. His status display notified him that it was made of something called Shadowsteel.

The Weapon Copy System appeared in his display. He highlighted the Shadowsteel Shield and copied it.

"Ha! It worked!"

"Hang on, what worked!?" exclaimed Erhard, noticing the identical copy of the shield on Aris's arm. "You keep that up, and I'll be out of business!"

"Hey, Aris!" Sora and Cloud emerged from the back room, each with an armload of shields.

Erhard sighed. "Oh, jeez..."

Before long, all the shields in Erhard's shop had been copied.

"Don't worry," Aris assured the old blacksmith. "I can pay you back right now."

He reached for his money pouch.

"Don't worry about it for now," said Erhard. "I'll put it on your tab. Besides, I'm sure you'll make even more at Cal Mira."

Filo's wagon and the aptly named Morgana Bus pulled into the ruins of an old village. Raphtalia looked out the window wistfully. "Can...Can we stop here, Joker?" she asked.

"Huh? Why?"

"I'll...explain later."

Joker pressed down on the brake pedal, pulling Morgana to a stop. Once everyone was out, Morgana returned to his normal form.

Raphtalia walked through the village, reaching the edge of a cliff, where a small gravestone sat. "Mom...dad..." she said softly. "It's been a while..."

"This is Raphtalia's village..." Aris said to himself. "Or...what's left of it."

Van Reichnott arrived on the scene as if on cue. "Everyone in the village contributed to burying the dead. We found more survivors in Idol's dungeon after you lured away the dragon."

"Hey, Raphtalia," said two familiar voices.

Raphtalia looked over her shoulder to find Keel and Rifana. She gave them both a hug.

"We're going to do whatever we can to bring back our village," said Rifana.

Aris got up and walked through the ruins.

He remembered doing the same thing on a return trip he had taken to Hyrule. There was a village in the eastern reaches of the Necluda Province - a town called Hateno. He remembered enjoying visiting its people.

Now, he remembered, the village lay in shambles, just like the rest of Hyrule.

"I don't know if there's any way to restore Hyrule," he said. "But surely there must be some way to restore this village."

"Hey, you there!" said an unfamiliar voice.

A muscular man with fiery red hair and tattoos covering his arms approached him. "You live around here?"

Aris shook his head. "My party and I are just passing through."

"Oh," said the man.

A woman with a light blue braid stepped up next to him. "I...feel sad to see this place in such a state," she said. "It was likely once a bustling village, but now it's nothing but rubble."

"L'Arc, Therese," said a second woman, one with black hair, "we should be going."

"Ah, right, we have work to do," said the man, presumably L'Arc. "See ya, kiddo!"

The three left.

BGM: Villains of a Sort - Kingdom Hearts 1.5 ReMix

"You idiot! You utter disgrace!"

Malty cried out as Maleficent kicked her to the ground.

"B-But mistress!" she cried. "I-None of that was in my control!"

"All of it was!" Maleficent yelled, slamming her foot into Malty's face. "You are a failure! You are no better than that bumbling idiot, Pete!"

She raised her staff, conjuring a jet of green flames, burning Malty's body.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Malty screamed. "H-Have mercy...please...!"

"Mercy?" Maleficent cackled. "There is no mercy."

More flames erupted from her staff, and more screams erupted from Malty's mouth.

The flames stopped. "You are no longer my apprentice," said Maleficent. "You were no longer my apprentice several days ago. You have been replaced!"

Malty screamed as more of Maleficent's flames seared her body.

"Do not worry," Maleficent crooned. "I'm not going to kill you. I'm sure I'll be able to find...other uses for you. But for now..."

More screams of agony echoed through the chambers of her castle.