Hi everyone, it's been awhile! I've been away doing other things. Haven't written too much lately for KH. But I'm back now with a new chapter for this story. I began this story as a way for me to imagine and free write. Since Daybreak Town is a place where we are left with so many questions, it makes it fun to create many "What was it like?" or "What if?" stories. Everyone has their ideas of how life was like in that town, so I wanted to try creating my version through this Canon Divergence.

So today's story is a bit of a skip in the timeline. I did warn that this story won't necessarily be in order. It's just about any scenario in the time Sora stays in Daybreak Town I feel like creating.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

*NOTE/SPOILER WARNING: It takes place AFTER KHIII*

NOTE 2: Lots of retelling of the experience of "Player" in KHUX, but in Sora's View

DATE: October 4, 2021

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Chapter 5: The Start Of The Festival

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The night of the festival was upon the watery town of Daybreak. The sea of purple roofs were decorated with various signs, banners, and various stringed decorations. Colorful flower garlands adorned the lampposts as they lit up the walkways and streets. The usual food stalls were put away and replaced with several booths filled with merchandise and activities.

The working wielders were all hustling and bustling about. Those who were running the concession stands were hard at work frying the food and artistically crafting the desserts. Those running the game booths were tending to their fellow customers as they enjoyed the games or were repeatedly paying munny for another round due to losing in some way. The ones working the souvenir and goods stands were trying to keep up with the demand of excited children who wanted water balloons on a string or accessories to go with their attire for the night. Children, teens, and young adults of all ages enjoyed the festivities with their friends and fellow group members as they explored the transformed streets.

Sora was in awe of the festival night. It reminded him of Flynn's, or rather, Eugene's and Rapunzel's kingdom that was just as alive with entertainment. He wondered what they would be up to now. He also wondered how Donald and Goofy were. It was with them he enjoyed the festival before, but now he was by himself. He had none of his close friends by his side to have fun with. No, now wasn't the time to get sad, this was a chance to meet new friends. Thinking about them and finding a way back home would have to wait for another day.

A few people with large cones were announcing for the new wielders to meet up in the Starlight Park by the wharf for a welcome orientation as well as a couple of activities. So he made his way to said destination.

By his ear, he heard a poof sound. It was Chirithy resting on his shoulder.

"So, are you ready?"

"Ready for what?"

"Ready to have fun of course, Sora!" Chirithy sounded excited.

"Yep! So, do you know what happens at these festivals?"

"No, it'll be my first time too. But from what the other Chirithy told me, it's always a fun time for you wielders and for us newly assigned Chirithy. We all get to make connections and have a little fun. Every year they have a different event planned for the new wielders, just to keep it fresh. They said last year, they held several competitive games and the winner got a prize of all you can eat at the booths. This year, they have a different prize planned."

"I wonder what they have for us all, Chirithy?"

"I wonder as well."

They were nearly at the stairs leading down to the park when Sora stopped and marveled at the scene. The garden was aglow with fairy lights stringed from the trees lining the pathway. The topiaries were also stringed beautifully with the fairy lights and made it look like the stars were alive with brightness. Along the path leading to the wharf, the yellowish cobblestone was covered in glitter that reflected the light. It was like little stars were illuminating the walkway. On the grass, in-between the topiaries, lots of wooden mats were scattered around the garden. Also, just beyond his sight where the park ends, he could see many more lights brightening up the area. The trees blocked his view, so he couldn't tell what was up ahead.

Around him, the other new wielders were commenting on how pretty or how amazing it was to see the place all decorated. He followed them and finally came to the end of the park where he saw a giant circular stage elevated above the flower display. It looked like it used the same type of wood as the ones around the garden. On the stage were several other children, probably the ones responsible for the event this year and a couple of instruments. Two girls and two boys each watched enthusiastically as the crowd poured into the park. Once it looked like everyone was settled in, one of the girls raised a giant cone and spoke into it.

"Hello everyone! Welcome to the New Wielder's Celebration!" Everyone clapped and cheered. "Look's like we got quite a crowd today! It actually looks like it beats last year's numbers too!"

The boy next to her took a cone and spoke too, "This season there are more than 70 new wielders! Last season was a little more than 50, so it's pretty exciting!"

The next boy came and took the cone from the other, "As you all know, this here is a gathering to welcome you all and talk a little more about what it's like here! For those of you who came in earlier, you're already aware of this, but we still have to remind you since we got lots more fresh faces about the place."

Finally, the last girl came up, taking the cone, "So, since there are so many this year, we're doing things a bit more interesting."

The new wielders looked at everyone around and then back to the stage, what was it going to be?

"But before the fun and games, first the icebreaker! We'll be having a speed group meet! Each of you get in groups of five to seven and you all go around introducing yourselves to one another. Name, interests, and most fun experience you ever had in life. Whether it's before or after you came, it doesn't really matter. Just let everyone here know a little bit about yourself! If you want to add more, it's all up to you!"

The children, teens, and young adults all got into groups of five to seven, pulling whoever was nearby and waited for those on the stage to call the start.

The four on the stage readied their instruments and the girl with the violin loudly yelled, "When the song changes, you change your groups. Ready? Begin!"

The music had an upbeat melody that reminded him of the sea shanties of the old fishing boats back on Destiny Islands. The violin, drum, upright piano, and acoustic guitar's music filled the place and the groups were chatting up a storm. Everyone was into the moment, sharing things about who they were and their various experiences. Even Sora was having a great time, meeting new friends really brightened up his day.

The music changed and everyone switched groups. It wasn't exactly the most organized icebreaker, since some people got stuck with at least one or two people from the last group. Still, everyone didn't mind, they enjoyed the fun of meet and greet. Then it was about that time where almost everyone had met at least once, the final song was announced and the groups were once again reformed. In his last group, he saw the girl who he accidentally bumped into the other day.

Everyone took their turns, then it was her turn. It seemed Sora was going last. She spoke, "Hi, I'm [Insert Name Here], I like to cook and sometimes bake and play games when we have free time. The most fun experience I've ever had is when I first got the Keyblade. I was a bit scared at first, but it's been fun helping gather lux ever since I came. Every day has been exciting and I hope we can be friends!"

The group clapped, and it was finally Sora's turn. "Hi there! I'm Sora! I like exploring and having fun with my friends. The most fun experiences I've had have to be every time I'm making new friends. Sometimes they're big, other times small, even hairy or feathered, but making friends will always be my most fun experiences. Hope we all can be great friends too!"

As everyone clapped, the song came to an end. The groups dispersed and congregate back at the stage. Then one of the girls grab the cone, "How was it everyone? Did you get to know your fellow keyblade wielding mates?" Everyone clapped and some cheered.

"Great! Now onto the games! This year's games will be a special one! We have three big ones. The first will be a talent contest. You can come up and share anything you want. Whether it be your smarts, some athletic abilities, or show off some of your magical talents. Then the judges will be all of you! You'll vote based on how much cheer action we can hear from you all!" The group cheers excitedly as the boy comes up and grabs a cone.

"Yeah, just like that! Now the second will be a contest of wits and intelligence! A quiz game!" The group was a little less enthusiastic with their claps now.

The girl with the other cone seemed to mouth to the boy, "I told you so."

The other boy grabbed the cone from the now slightly disappointed boy, "The final game will be a Treasure Hunt slash Scavenger Hunt! A game where you'll be tasked with finding items that can be obtained around the festival grounds!"

The last girl got up and took the cone and announced, "The three winners of each game will receive a fabulous prize! But I warn you now, whoever wins more than one game, you won't be able get more than one prize. It will go to the runner up!" Everyone seemed to nod and agree with that.

"What is this fabulous prize you ask? Why, it's a whole month's worth of vouchers to apply for any of the restaurants, cafes, or the food markets around Daybreak Town. Saves your munny now for other things besides food!" The audience was now a buzz with excitement. Each one was determined to win the games!

"All right everyone, before we begin, any questions?" A little boy and girl, both about the same age raised their hands. The girl holding the cone motioned for them to come closer to the stage to ask their question.

"Umm, miss, we didn't understand how many people are winning. Is it one person wins a game or three people win a game?" The two asked in unison.

"That's a good question, thanks for asking. As you heard these two, there will be 3 winners per game, so a total of nine winners in all! Each game will have a first place, second place, and third place winner! As a bonus, there will be mini prizes given to the set of winners for the game. What are the mini prizes? You'll have to try to win and then see!" This got the group even more excited than they originally were. Nine winners plus extra prizes, that's a great reward. All around, the new weilders excitedly spoke their declarations of aiming to win or passing encouraging words of doing their best. Sora was particularly happy about the development, the newcomer's party was shaping up to be a good start so far.

For the first event of the party, the talent contest, Sora decided to sit this one out and watch his new friends go up on the stage. Some people sang a song, a few showed off their new sleights of hand moves with the Keyblade and the deck combos, while one girl showed off some unusual talents such as being able to contort her body in unusual ways and preforming some amazing parkour stunts. He even got inspired by some of the stunts and thought to implement them into his own parkour routines. He was impressed by everyone's fun talents and feats. There was also a person who did a magic trick act like the magicians on a preforming stage would do. He still couldn't figure out how the playing card went into that person's pocket in the audience while never leaving the stage. It was always fun to guess how a trick was done, but in the end he would eventually figure out the trick. When he thought about it, the act reminded him of Luxord's tricks a little too, especially back in the battle at the World That Never Was and in the Keyblade Graveyard. But looking at the person on stage, he looked nothing like the nobody and was a lot younger. By the end of the show, the audience's cheers decided the winners were a girl who could do several complex origami figures in a minute, a girl who did some cheerleading along with the body contortions and parkour stunts, and finally, the boy who did the magic trick.

"There you go, we have our winners!" Everyone cheered loudly and applauded the ones who won.

One of the boys on stage, who looked like the one who got disappointed earlier, took the cone and announced, "Get ready, time for the second event! The Quiz game!" He received some unenthusiastic "yays" and quieter claps from the group.

"Everyone, please move away from the center and check out the floor underneath your feet." Everyone who wasn't on stage did as they were told and noticed that the ground had two large shapes. On the left was a large black x while on the right was a large black o. It seems no one really noticed it or simply ignored it.

"For this game, the quiz is interactive, whether you know the question or not, it will all depend on how you choose. It's a fifty-fifty if you get it right! All can participate here!" Everyone looked curious, what was that suppose to mean. The girl beside the boy got the cone and then explained the rules which basically were, if you think the answer is right, run to the o side, if you think the answer is wrong, run to the x side. This got everyone's attention, this game was about knowledge but if you didn't know the answer, it was a game of chance. That sounded like fun.

So the game started and the first question was asked. It was something about one of the Masters, the name of an animal was given and the choice was if it was that Master's mask. Those who studied about the masters or were part of that union would know much better. The ones who were unsure, they could still pick a random side and hope to win. This first wave sent about a third of the wielders to the side, leaving the rest to play in the game. The next question was about Moogle's shop and how much he charged for a set of new wielding cards. This cut the group in a near fifty-fifty split with one extra member on the x side. Sora had been part of the group to know the price which was on the o side, and so about ten people were left. The third question was about power, speed, and magic typing, asking if power was stronger or weaker against speed. Again, the group was split fifty-fifty and five remained, including him.

The last question determined the final winner, but of all the types of questions to ask, why was it a question of math? Even the others on stage looked at the boy with skeptical and disapproving looks. Donald always joked that Sora couldn't count, but in reality it was sort of true, he had a hard time counting for some reason. But he was decent with math back on the island, he knew that 1 and 1 made 2. But if you asked him to count two, his head would get lost, like when Phil told him two words, but was that really two? Yeah, it's weird to know your math but not know how to count.

Anyway, this question involved a bit more complex math and he got it wrong, leaving two winners on the right side. But since they lost, it was decided to have a rock, paper, scissors contest between the three who lost, in the end, he lost that too. But it was still a lot more fun than he and all the other thought it would be. The three winners were then called up to the stage and everyone who was off to the side all gathered back together. The crowd clapped and cheered for the winners who were two boys and one girl this time. The girl is the one he lost the rock, paper, scissor's game to.

"Let's hear it for the winners of the second game!" Everyone clapped and cheered again, a few even made whistle noises in approval of the win. Sora guessed that they could have been close friends with someone on that stage.

"Now we'll take a little break, refreshments of punch and snacks are over there!" The girl with the cone pointed to a table that seemed to be prepared sometime while the quiz game was in progress. "Relax a bit as we prepare for the final game of the evening!"

Many of the children made their way to the tables first, while the teens and young adults waited behind them. Sora watched as the younger ones were handed their snacks of kettle-corn and pretzels with a cup of punch by some other senior keyblade wielders serving from behind the table. They smiled as they handed out the snacks and drinks one by one. As soon as it looked like everyone else got their snacks, he made his way over to the table too and saw the girl, [Insert Name Here] being one of the last to be served as well.

"Oh, hi again Sora."

"Hi! You're also going last?"

She smiled shyly, "Yeah, I like going last. Sure, might not be much left, but it's a little less crowded and I can still pick out something good."

The senior keyblade wielder spoke up, "Don't worry you two, these are snacks from the festival. We have plenty to go around! There's usually too many snacks leftovers even after the festival is over, so don't worry about limited quantity."

They both smiled as they were handed the kettle-corn, pretzels, and the punch. They thanked their senior and walked off together with snack in hand.

"So, how do you like the games so far?" Sora asked while tossing some corn in his mouth.

"The first was pretty cool! The girl who could make origami so fast was amazing! It's like she froze time and made 20 of those complicated ones. If I tried that, I bet it would take me an hour to make at least one." She laughed.

"Yeah! Oh how about the quiz game?"

"That was alright, I didn't know the questions too well, but I got at least two right, so that's something!" She looked down at the ground and smiled. "I saw you got further though, too bad about losing rock, paper, scissors though."

"It's alright, though I really thought he would go for rock, but he ended up going scissors."

"It's not always easy to tell, but you did your best, Sora."

"Thanks, [Insert Name Here]!" She smiled brightly at that.

The sound of a piano roared in dissonance which caught everyone's attention. On stage, the boy was yelling at the girl to be careful with the instrument as she argued back that this wasn't breaking it at all, to which the boy sighed.

"Looks like they're about ready to start the scavenger hunt, you ready for it?"

She thought hard before looking back at him, determination filling her eyes while giving a nod of confirmation. He gave his approval and the two walked toward the stage ready to find out about the final game of the night, the treasure hunt slash scavenger hunt.

TBC

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Now the town of Daybreak hosts festivals and celebrations during each season. They have a fun break and enjoy while getting to know their new wielder comrades without the notion of unions. Whether they become friends or rivals or enemies, that's all up to them and their view of being in separate unions from the others. Some care while others don't. I imagined the season the festival takes place is either the end of summer or the beginning of fall. Just what will await them on the treasure hunt next? Just gotta wait for whenever I update next.

Well, that's all for the updates for now! Hope you enjoyed Sora's Daybreak. If you have any ideas, suggestions, questions, or any comments, feel free to let me know. Thank you so much for reading! See you whenever I update the next chapter! :D