(A/N: Welp I never thought I would be away from this story for this long... I'm sorry for the massive hiatus, for those of you who were following this story and its releases. I just kinda got caught up in reality in the cruel adult world. If the old fans are still following this story and see this, I am deeply sorry for not coming back to this story first and foremost. If you are a reader of this story, and somehow found this new chapter, you have my most sincere gratitude. It means a lot to me that you are still seeking out this story till this day. The story outline for this story is still now complete, and this story might still be a very long story that I do eventually plan to finish. Now that that's out of the way; please enjoy the new chapter! Reviews are always accepted and if you want to PM individually as you still have questions about this story, don't be hesitant. I'll try to answer you questions, without spoiling too much. I just ask you don't be too rude to me. (Although, I do deserve it.) Enjoy!)

Ventus

With a flashing light, both Roxas and Sam were teleported to Merlin's house. Ventus, Aqua, King Mickey, and Lea were standing in a row at the back of Master Yen Sid's office.

Lea was unsettled and, frankly, afraid for Roxas; he was left with an unknown ally that they just barely met today; he didn't completely trust him yet.

"Now, you four," Master Yen Sid called out to them.

The four of them took a few steps towards his desk as they stood in front of the Master's desk.

"I feel a great disturbance in the other worlds, as if the magic from each world is being touched and is slowly being corrupted by Darkness. I need to send you four into the other worlds to investigate them for potential threats. If you encounter any form of Darkness, I will allow you to take any counter measurements to repel the Darkness away," Master Yen Sid ordered the Masters, "However, if you should ever encounter any of the 13 seekers; do not engage if possible. We cannot risk losing any of you to the Organization XIII."

"Yes, Master," the four Keyblade Masters replied to the Master in unison.

"So, beginning with Lea," Master Yen Sid continued, "I want you to investigate these worlds, I don't mind in which order you pick; I just want them to be safe and freed from the grasp of Darkness."

Master Yen Sid told Lea the worlds that he wanted to visit, and with no hesitation Lea accepted the task that was given to him by the Master.

Lea scratched the back of his head as he let out an annoyed sigh, "Yeah, yeah. I got it old man. I'll make sure that the worlds are guarded by the Darkness," Lea responded nonchalantly as he turned around and headed for the exit as he waved goodbye.

"Ventus," Master Yen Sid called out to him.

"Y-Yes, Master?" He replied unprepared and a bit startled.

The Master told him which worlds he wanted Ventus to patrol.

And with his command, Ventus bowed back with a grin on his face as he replied, in return, while trying to conceal his excitement in his tone, "Yes, Master! I won't let you down!"

Master Yen Sid gave him a satisfied smile in return, "I am certain you will not."

He stands up straight after he bows and mechanically turns around walks towards the and leaves the room.

After all of that bottled-up excitement that he kept to himself, Ventus quickly ran down the stairs and out of Master Yen Sid's mysterious tower.

Ventus released as loud as he could, "YES!"

His excitement gave him a new-found courage and motivation to carry out his task that he had been assigned to. In the back of his mind, he knew that he wasn't a Keyblade Master yet and that his best friend, and platonic brother, Terra was still missing, but he knew that he shouldn't let that kind of stuff stop him.

(Because…. Terra wouldn't want me to give in and he would tell me not to let that kind of thought stop him from accomplishing the mission.), Ventus reassured himself.

He grinned as he summoned his Keyblade. He aimed the tip of his Keyblade straight above himself and summoned a Corridor of Light above him. He threw his Keyblade up into the air as it flew behind him and transformed into a hoverboard. Ventus hit his shoulder guard as his whole body was enveloped in his stylish cobalt blue armor. The hoverboard flew back a few feet as it went in a loop and began to run to its owner from behind. Ventus, predicting where the hoverboard is at, took a few steps back and did a little hop to board onto his hoverboard. The board took a few kilometers to speed up as it began to tilt upwards, and Ventus began to ride towards the Corridor of Light.

It took a few seconds before Ventus had entered the Corridor of Light. After he entered, the Corridor closed right behind him. He traveled through the Corridor of Light with amazing speed as he rushed through the corridor within a matter of seconds. The moment that he exited through the other side and a bright sunset had temporarily blinded him for about a second or two.

As he had entered a foreign world, about two seconds later, the corridor had closed behind him, his eyes had adjusted to a blinding sunset. He only had a second to take in the amazing view of the radiant sunset as it reflected from the ocean water and into the vibrant orange sky. He then realized that he was heading straight towards the ocean in a high velocity. He panicked for a second as he lost his footing as he fell off his hoverboard and fell straight towards the ocean.

Behind him, his hoverboard disappeared along with his armor as Ventus began to rotate and spun around in the air. He was continuously free-falling through the sky, but eventually stabilized his body. As he was facing the ocean, he lunged his body forward and dove into the ocean head-first. Before he hit the water, Ventus took a deep breath and formed his arms and hands into a tip straight above his head as he dove five feet deep into the ocean. It took Ventus about 15 seconds before he resurfaced from the sea as he was coughing and gasping for air.

"Ahh! S-s-s-so c-c-c-cold!" Ventus screamed out into the sky as he shakes and shivers from the cold ocean.

"I n-n-n-need t-to f-f-f-find l-l-l-land," he said to himself as he looked around him for the nearest source of land.

Ventus found a land not too far from him and began to swim towards it. The land is a medium-sized island that has been inhabited by people. On the shore of the island, there are a good number of people, still wearing swimwear, laying on the beach relaxing and enjoying the view of the glimmering oceanside. A few were inside of the water having fun and swimming around, and a couple of people who were on pieces of boards as they were gliding on the surface of water and its waves that the ocean creates.

Ventus was pushed into the ocean floor by the waves that crashed into the shore. Luckily, he washed up, safe and uninjured, and picked himself up. The shore still had a few people who were enjoying the beach and were staring at him skeptically as to them, a teenager with strange looking clothes had crashed onto the shore. Still in the water, Ventus looked around the new and unknown place.

A tanned man ran up to Ventus; he was wearing nothing, but a red pair of shorts and he had a tattoo on his left arm. He had a large nose and his eyes squinty and a bit slanted, and his body physic was slim, toned, and muscular. He had an ovular head type, and his eyes were deep brown, almost as if they were pure black. His hair was black; he only had hair hanging out from both sides of the front side of the head and a short buzz on the sides.

"Uh sir, are you ok?" The tanned man asked him, in a weird native accent, as he offered him his hand to get him out of the water.

Ventus looked back at him a bit sheepishly and replied, "Huh? Oh!"

He realized how weird he must've looked right now in front of people, "I'm fine, thanks."

"Are you sure, dude? Because not many people go swimming fully clothed. Did you get lost out at sea or something?" the man questioned him with concerning manner.

Ventus had to improvise, "No, I was just practicing ever in case there was an emergency. If there ever was a case that I had to swim with my clothes on."

Ventus finished that statement with an awkward chuckle as he scratched the back of his head; he tried his best to sell his improvised lie, and it worked.

The man looked at him skeptically, "Okay, then. As long as you're fine, then we have no problem here."

The man turned around an went back to his assigned duty as the lifeguard of the Lahui Beach until Ventus interrupted him.

"Wait!" Ventus called to him as he walked towards the man and reach out to him.

The man stopped and turned back to Ventus, "What's up? Need help with something else?"

Ventus had to improvise again, "Yeah. I left my map back in my hotel room. Can you show me the way back to the city?"

"Sorry, dude. I would like to help get back to Hanapepe but I kind of need to stay at my job here. But I can tell you how to get back to the city though," the man reassured Ventus.

The man gave him specific directions leading Ventus to the direction of the nearby city. With a grin on his face, he reached out to give the man a handshake.

"Thanks, Mister-," Ventus froze since he never asked for the man's name.

The man extended his arm to shake Ventus' hand, "The name's David, and you're welcome. Stay safe."

And Ventus began his generally short travel.

The environment in this city was half jungle and half rural. He hiked in the direction that David had pointed him to until they reached a town. They had a decent number of buildings that were well maintained, had roads (both paved in cement and were natural with dirt) that people would commute on, and were blessed with multiple trees and flowers around the perimeter of the town. The town looked lovely and had a fresh pace to the place.

There were people walking around the town's shops, but there were these strange, unique creatures roaming around the town. The creatures were all different and were nothing like that Ventus had seen before. The strange thing was that none of the civilians, except a few tourists, that walked by them weren't at all bothered by them. It was as if they were a normal and daily part of life to those who were natives of this island. The monsters were also going along their day and going about their business. From time to time, they would stop what they were doing to take photos of ongoing tourists and visitors and take breaks as if they were regular citizens.

Ventus walked into the town's shopping district sightseeing and looking at the cars as they would go by the streets. He would look go and window shop the stores to see the stuff they were selling. He was perplexed at the type of environment that he had stumbled upon. And the creatures that were working weren't like any he had seen before. They amazed him as they bore different skin colors and sizes and had unique abilities that had stunned him. Although the creatures had perplexed him, he felt like they reminded him of someone. Someone he had forgotten about for some time.

"VEN!" A high-pitched squeal called out to him; it was followed along with a lot of words in a foreign language.

A furry, blue animal jumped onto his face and had begun to scutter all over his body like a cockroach would do. He was small and almost as comparable to a bulldog, but his body was lighter, thinner, and flexible. His head and facial features were too big and disproportionate to be a dog; it was more proportionate as a human.

After a while, he stopped scurrying around and got back onto the ground on two legs; standing upright as a human would do.

"Ven! Ven! Remember me?" Asked the small blue thing.

It took Ventus a bit of remembering until he remembered the huge alien ship, and the monster that was on board it.

"Ah! It's you!" Ventus exclaimed as he finally remembered him, "It's so good to see you again... uhh."

Ventus suddenly remembered that he never got his friend's name, nor anything about who he was really.

It was a bit awkward, but he had to ask him, "Umm, I don't think I really got your name last time we met."

It took the alien a moment to realize what he was saying, until he jumped a tiny bit in surprise, "AH! You right!"

He took a second to reclaim his posture, he cleared his throat, and he reached his arm out for a handshake, "Hi. My name Stitch."

Stitch let go of his hand as Ventus did the same.

Stitch thought of a good place to go and catch up with each other as he started to walk towards a direction and signaled Ventus to follow him.

"Come! I know of a good place to go and sit," Stitch told Ventus as he starts walking in a direction.

"AH!" Ventus replied with surprise as he followed Stitch.

Ventus followed Stitch as he went through a side street that eventually led to a natural road that wasn't made of pavement. Stitch led Ventus into a jungle type of environment as they both walked for what seemed to be miles until they reached a single bench that had an overview of the small-town district that they were in.

"Wow," Ventus expressed himself as he was looking at the overview of the district with the gorgeous view of the sunset over the horizon of water.

Ventus saw Stitch sit down and followed his actions.

As soon as Ventus sat down, they both had a good conversation about themselves.

They began to talk and reminiscent of the bond that they shared. Then they stopped talking about the past and started talking about the future. Ventus started first; he started talking about what had happened after they had both met each other. Ventus talked about his time finding Terra and being trapped inside of Sora. Stitch had listened and tried to understand Ventus as best as he could.

As soon as Ventus had finished explaining his story, Stitch had begun his side of his story. He began explaining how he had learned that he was an experiment from an evil scientist. And he explained how he had found his family and how he had learned the meaning of "Ohana" and that he would never leave his family behind. Instead, he began to grow his family, with the inclusion of his sibling experiments. He explained how he had found his true love and had begun to start a life as a happy person with a girlfriend of his own.

Ventus had listened to his story and could only respond with astonishment.

"Wow... You speak our language so much better now!" Ventus complemented Stich on his development on speaking their native language.

"Yeah," Stitch replied acknowledging his own growth in a bashful manner.

"This is awesome though!" Ventus had looked at Stitch with excitement in his eyes, "You've come so far, done so much, and changed so much about yourself for the better."

The sun sets as the sky slowly turns from a bright orange light to a navy-blue sky as the stars start to appear in the nighttime one by one. The streets lights flickered on one by one, and the streets were still bustling with people as they went about their day.

Ventus continued as he looked to the sky as wind blew his hair, "Last time I saw you, you were a lost person in space, and you seemed so alone. You wanted people to connect with. Now that you've finally found those people connect with, you seem so confident and filled with purpose."

Stitch saw Ventus stiffen up as Ventus placed his hands on his thighs as they clenched into fists.

"Meanwhile, I'm still looking for Terra who is still missing. He is part of my family that I call my home and whom I cherish so much. To me, he's like a big brother I never had..." Ventus released his grievances to his friend while trying to find an answer for himself, "I want to be useful, and I want to help. I feel like I'm not fulfilling my role as a Guardian of Light. I... I..."

Ventus suddenly pauses as his voice becomes erratic and his throat starts to clamp up on itself. Without him knowing, tears started to fall from his face and onto his clenched fists.

"I feel like I'm not good enough to make a difference. I let everyone down as I let myself be manipulated by Xehanort! Aqua is doing her best, but I couldn't do anything for her! And what was I doing?! I was asleep for the whole time she was down in the realm of Darkness! I couldn't make a difference!"

More tears started to fall from his hands as he finally saw the number of tears that were on his fists. He quickly started to wipe his eyes from these tears, but they kept on falling one by one.

"I... I...," Words couldn't come out of mouth as his tears kept falling and he involuntarily gasps for air as he quietly wept as much as he possibly could.

Stitch saw this and he felt the rough emotions that his friend was going through.

As Ventus began to sniffle as nose started to run and Stitch placed his paw on Ventus' left shoulder. Ventus' shoulder twitched as Stitch's paw made contact. Stitch began to open Ventus' arms wide as Stitch began to hug him. When Stitch hugged him, Ventus' emotions came crashing through and he began to return Stitch's hug with his own. Ventus placed his chin on top of Stitch's head and turned his head to its side in an endearing manner.

"Why?" Ventus began stifled, "Why can't I be strong enough to help the people that I care about?"

Ventus began to hug Stitch harder as Stitch could only comfort his friend.

And then, Stitch replied to Ventus, "Not everyone gets strong the same way."

Ventus lifted his head and let go of Stitch to look at him.

Stitch looked back at Ventus and continued.

"Everyone gets strong in different ways. I have a strong body. When I landed here, I wanted nothing but to destroy everything in my path. I mean that is what I was made for: to destroy everything. And if I followed that path alone, then I truly would have been alone," Stitch began to sink his head before he raised it back up to Ventus and continued, "But then, Lilo found me. I was running away from the space police and Lilo gave me a cover to hide from them. She cared for me because we both felt the same feeling: alienated."

Stitch stepped away from Ventus and went back to his seat as Ventus paid attention to Stitch. Stitch continued his conversation with Ventus.

"Lilo tried to help and show me how to a better person. At first, I didn't want to and I tried to push her away from me. But then I realized a lot of things, and I wanted her to show me how to be a better person than what I could have been. And with time, we began to be what I was missing: a family; Ohana. And Ohana means Family. And Family means: no body gets left behind or forgotten. When everything that could go wrong went wrong, I used what I believed in as my purpose and my strength. And in time, all of my problems were fixed thanks to Lilo."

Stitch continued, "Strength can mean a lot of different things, but how we use and for who we use our strength for can make us stronger as well. Keep in mind that when we fight for something, that can also make us unknowingly stronger as well."

Stitch raised Ventus' head as he finally said his last piece of advice to him, "Don't stop fighting for your Ohana, Ven. They're precious Ven. Keep on fighting for them and never stop until you've finally won for them."

Ventus took Stitch's advice to heart as it meant a lot to him, and for the last time Ventus hugged Stitch tightly as Stitch returned the hug.

Ventus thanked Stitch for the advice that he gave to him, "Thanks for helping me in a desperate time of need."

"You're welcome, Ven," Stitch replied to Ventus.

All of a sudden, there was a familiar object that looked familiar to Ventus as it swooshed around in Ventus' peripheral view. The object was thick, thin, and dark as it was definitely trying to attract Ventus' attention.

It was an Unversed Flood as it seemed to be trying to get Ventus to follow him.

Ventus had left Stitch behind with increasable speed as Stitch called out to Ventus, "Ven, WAIT!"

Ventus was too curious and strong-headed to not follow it as Ventus chased the Unversed throughout Hawaii, ignoring Stitch. Eventually, the Flood went through a Corridor of Darkness. Ventus hesitated at first, but he knew if the Unversed were involved, then Vanitus would be involved. Ventus knew it was a trap, but he wanted to take on Vanitus all on his own.

So he went through the Corridor of Darkness by himself.

(A/N: You can always check out my updates to my upcoming chapter for my stories in my Bio. I'll try to update as consistently as a can.)