Mechanical whirs and spinning gears surrounded the Gummi Ship as it descended into the hangar of the luminous Disney Castle. But as the large metal doors slammed shut, the dark and dreary overcast became painfully apparent. Sliding down the massive stairs leading to the control tower were the two royal Gummi engineers, Chip and Dale.
"Donald! Goofy! You gotta hurry!"
"Maleficent has taken over the castle!"
"There's Heartless everywhere!"
"Queen Minnie and Daisy are in danger!"
"We know!" Donald sprang from the cockpit with Goofy and Jiminy following closely behind. Chip and Dale were out of breath by the time they reached the ship. "She's gonna lose more than her wings when I'm through!"
"Now Donald, there's no need for that kind of talk." Goofy gave the wizard a disapproving look.
Maleficent never had wings, Roxas thought. He turned to Sora and waited for clarification, but Sora just clutched the blond's hand as they cautiously emerged from the ship together. His unusual silence betrayed the quiet anger he felt towards the wicked fairy.
"Now, let's not be too hasty. She just wants to get a rise out of us."
Jiminy came to regret those words as a cluster of Heartless cascaded from high up and ambushed the party. Sora and Roxas let go of each other, and their keyblades appeared with a flash. Sora tightened his grip on the metal blade, trying to stay calm amidst the chaos.
"Hey Sora, look sharp." Roxas shot him a playful grin, alleviating the anxiety in his heart. Goofy scooped up the tiny mechanics and hid them along with Jiminy in his vest pockets.
"Take that!" Lightning erupted from Donald's staff. The blast annihilated the creatures and cleared the path ahead of them. The party seized the opportunity and made a break for the exit, sprinting past glowing pipes and whirling cogs as rabid Heartless dove at them.
Monsters clawed at their feet as they scaled the barely lit steps. Donald rushed forward, leading the charge, and the keyblade wielders stayed slightly behind Goofy, providing cover for the vigilant knight as he held onto the smaller members of the group. The teens fended off against the teeming shadows but soon became overwhelmed. Sora summoned a whirlwind for protection, lobbing the creatures across the room. However, one stubborn Heartless managed to swipe at Roxas with its talons as it flew past him. Roxas winced in pain but quickly retaliated with a slash from his keyblade.
After bobbing and weaving past the hordes of Heartless, the party finally arrived at the leafy green doors at the top of the stairs. Donald flung those doors wide open, allowing the light to pour in and eradicate the remaining Heartless. The group awkwardly stumbled through the entrance to the castle courtyard, thoroughly exhausted. They stopped for air, but as Roxas stepped forward, an intense wave of pain ripped through his leg.
"Roxas! You're hurt!" Donald shouted.
The blond looked down and saw his pant leg had been dyed a dark shade of red. Seeing that much of his own blood nearly gave him a heart attack, and he staggered while leaning against the castle-shaped shrubbery enclosing the entrance to the hangar.
Donald and Sora hurried over with a potion in hand. Roxas grabbed Sora's arm for support as he guzzled down the green concoction. Blood stopped pouring from the now healed gash in his leg, and he gave a sigh of relief once the pain subsided.
"Pee-yew!"
"Boy, you really worked up a sweat, huh?"
The two chipmunks leapt out of Goofy's pockets and rested on his shoulders.
"And that's why I always pick the front pockets." Jiminy teased, not bothering to look up from his journal.
"Is everyone okay?" The rest of the team gave Donald a tired but determined thumbs up.
"We should stay close. We don't know what Maleficent has planned." Sora turned to Roxas, his tone more serious than usual. Roxas reassured him with a gentle smile and a quick peck on the lips before anyone could see. The others split up and searched the courtyard for Heartless. After finding the place deserted, they huddled together with their weapons raised, marching onward to the castle entrance. The garden practically glowed, and the landscape was decorated with hedges of various shapes and sizes. The teens were entranced by the animal-themed foliage, taking time to enjoy the scenery while remaining on guard, and when they approached the castle, they found the colonnade strangely empty as well.
DiZ stood in front of the computer terminal in the lab, staring at an old photo of his apprentices. He took a sip of his scalding expresso, welcoming the pain as a distraction.
"I wouldn't recommend drinking that. You'll burn yourself." Tron made the users his top priority, and DiZ was no exception.
"No need to fake your concern."
"I'm not faking anything. You should know that more than anybody else."
DiZ wasn't sure why he didn't just uninstall the program. His bitter weary heart had no more patience for insincerity, especially not after what his former prodigy did, though something in his heart told him that Tron was being truthful. He placed his cup down next to the computer, taking care not to spill on the keyboard. His mind drifted back to the moment Roxas entered that faulty replica body, and the old grouch typed a couple commands into the terminal.
"Is this what you were searching for, Ansem?"
The screen displayed a series of text files, all sorted by date and author, although one person's name was most prominent: Roxas. But before DiZ could read the files, Naminé ran down the stairs overlooking the Heartless manufactory and stood in the doorway of the computer room. With her body close to fading, she had nothing left to fear as she stepped forward.
"You look like a ghost. Have you come to haunt me?"
"I'm not here for your pity party. Where are Sora and Roxas?"
"How should I know?"
"Can't you contact their ship or something? I left my notebook back at the mansion, and I think they have it now."
"Are they friends of yours, Ansem? I'd love to meet them."
"Why yes, Tron, but I have no way of locating them." Ansem let out an exasperated sigh.
"If I recall correctly, there are at least two powerful beings in this world with magic strong enough to find those lost in darkness."
"But they aren't lost in darkness... at least I hope not..." Naminé knew the two keyblade wielders were capable, but she couldn't help feeling apprehensive with this much uncertainty in the air. DiZ saw the frightened look on her face and hesitated for a moment. He pressed a key and ejected a disc from the terminal.
"Come, Naminé. We're going to find Merlin."