The Grand Sorcerer 5 - (Sofia the First, Cedric!SI)

I hate specials. Especially when I am part of those.

Truth be told, if I didn't know that it was not going to be a lovely holiday I spent with the royal family in the medieval equivalent of a yacht (which was a small castle within a ship), I would have thought this was some deities giving me a chance to rest, but I knew better than just lower my guard as something may come up to make this episode need me.

So, I was in my 'mini-laboratory' as the King had wanted all his RSs to have a small space to follow him around whenever it was needed, and I thus had a small place to isolate myself. The day literally started with me hissing at the sun and turning my focus at yesterday's project.

Nothing too excessive since I was limited in time and resources, but enough to keep me distracted. In a sense, you can say I was working on nothing and yet doing something- procrastinating and lying that it was important was indeed a thing. Just not something people would be keen to call a 'something'.

As the ship moved, I had the displeasure to remember that Enchantia had not opened diplomatic efforts with the Merfolk Colony in this specific region. It was a small detail that really mattered here. The fact that it was common belief that the mermaids were mythological creatures (something hilarious considering magic is a known and common element in life) further made any idea of suggesting this as possible.

Oh well, today was going to be a 'big day' for all.

Despite my urge to be vigilant, as if something serious could come up anytime soon, I continued to be lazy as of today. Maybe I wanted a break, and since the 'big bad' was not going to make a move since I was not the big bad of this show, I knew the worst to handle would be a bunch of isolationist mermaids that would make a fuss over trying to open up.

I noticed the little 'princess mermaid' being spotted and found Sofia, and I had a mirror spell follow the girls as they ventured into the depths. One can never be too cautious nowadays, but all I saw was pretty much what I imagined: Queen tries to be reasonably concerned, big guy being the 'big dumb hyper-masculine' figure in some Disney series that is plenty dumb and war-happy, and Sofia failing to make progress.

A common enemy would have streamlined the process in terms of diplomatic efforts, but I actually thought Sofia failing this once would have done her more favors than not. One thing that many of those shows tended to not stop and allow was for their MC to commit the most humane thing possible: fail. And not just 'fail for a moment so that you can immediately win', but rather 'fail to learn that life is not always perfect'.

Ever since she was made a princess, Sofia had her life easier for her. I wouldn't say it was too shocking considering all nobles were meant to have it easy, but for someone that is meant to be a moral beacon, the lack of losses in this early point was just a lead-up to eventual trouble.

So, I nodded as I saw that nothing came to be just after the last conversation the young princess had with her mermaid counterpart. I saw her turn to swim up to the ship and...

...

Oh, the mirror spell just broke.

...

How?

To put it bluntly, unless some magic user was in the area (and I knew there was none as I gave it a quick look early on), there would have been no chance for a random occurrence to disrupt the spell.

So, I tensed up, eyes narrowed on a spot of the table as I was just busy thinking and sending a non-invasive magic pulse to try and spot where Sofia was. What I got was that my magic was suddenly rebuffed. And while this was concerning, I could actually tell now what was causing this disturbance.

After all, I had faced it ages ago.

What worried me was the suddenness of this appearance, and how this should have not happened to begin with. Still, I didn't waste time in moving as I knew that, if both my scanning spell and my mirror spell had been disrupted, then the Amulet's magic had been messed up with too.

Which meant that Sofia's transformation was released.

Some rapid chanting ensued as I rushed to the closest edge of the ship, jumping as a frame-fitting bubble manifested around my body right before I hit the water, a Wind spell pushing me below the ship and then towards where Sofia was currently holding her breath.

The girl was kicking around, wide eyes showing fear as the monstrous form that was slowly approaching her gave her another reason to find a way out of this. A bulbous body, skinny dark wings, irregular glowing blue tendrils and... this was a big one. I have never seen a Water Core as big as this one. And one that was also a Disruptor.

The monster was surprisingly bloated, but maybe it was due to it absorbing water rather than influencing it to go out of control. The effects of its magic-corrosive aura was also draining me a bit more than the spell should, but it was far from causing me true issues in the short-run.

Still, my priority was towards a certain princess, so the first move I used against the unexpected Heartless Boss was a quick Wind blast that did nothing but push it further away from the girl. As soon as I got within range, I produced a small bubble around Sofia's head, draining the water and adding a water-breathing spell to it to turn the exceeding liquid into breathable air.

The girl's frantic movements slowed down a bit as she realized this and then noticed I was there.

"M-Mr. Cedric!? What- What is that and- my amulet?"

The Amulet of Avalor was blinking between red and violet, clearly malfunctioning while in this anti-magic area.

"I will explain later, young lady. Just keep here as I take care of this scary threat."

"B-but-"

Sofia's reluctance to let me do this vanished as she noticed I was holding something new in my non-wand hand. A sharp looking Keyblade that I had kept around in case I needed. Always with me but... hardly of use with magical chores.

Until now.

The Sleeping Lion was soon to roar as I bolted towards the Water Core, the monster was big, but it was sluggish. A genuine threat to only those that didn't have basic awareness of Keyblade, and that a combination of Wind and limited Electricity took care of. The beast groaned and roared, but my attacks were ruthless until it detonated into dark mist.

Defeated, but... this didn't answer my question. I looked around, expecting more of those as I remembered how Water Cores had a thing to play around in swarms, but I couldn't sense anything similar to this kind. A lone Water Core that suddenly appeared to attack the main protagonist of a Non-KH story.

...This was a bit worrying.

Sofia was awestruck. She didn't say anything as I dispelled the Keyblade and asked her to hold my freed arm so we could leave. A upward Wind push had us both rush back out of the water and allowed us to dry up with a quick spell before anyone could have noticed what happened.

"That was amazing!" The little brunette delightfully commented. "But what was that? And where did it come from?"

"The answers are: it is a random monster and, despite my might, I don't know where it came from."

"You don't?" Sofia squeaked in surprise. "But you said-"

"I am a powerful wizard, but no one is perfect. I am sure we had this talk, young miss," I interjected, walking her to my little laboratory. "Still, I will see for this case to be investigated."

I need to contact so many old friends. So many of which that... I don't want to really meet again so soon.

But this situation was not something I couldn't ignore. A small Heartless or two were 'acceptable' as Yen Sid had mentioned that some of those may appear once in a while as a rarity, but the context and the size of this specific monster were both concerning details that rejected the notion of coincidence.

There was some planning, and someone almost succeeded in what they were trying to do: killing Sofia.

Why? I couldn't tell. Who? I was quite sure it wasn't the classic figures.

No, I doubted Xenahort was behind this or the attack would have been more intense. Plus, I doubted that the old bastard and his organization could get to this very dimension.

"What about that... sword? It looked like a key," Sofia hummed as she sat by the chair beside mine. "Can I have one too?"

"Young lady, I quite pray you never get one. And I do the same for your siblings and those you love."

"Why not?" The girl asked, surprised by my dry rebuttal. "That was cool."

"And a tool of a lifelong duty." That can easily become a burden if one is fully sold to the cause. "Which is why you have to only hope to never get your hands on one of those."

She huffed, but the child's brain was going through the 'zoomies' as she gasped suddenly. "What about Oona? What if a monster is-"

"Your mermaid friend is fine, Princess. There was just a monster and she made a safe return to her family," I interrupted calmly, turning away from the girl.

"That's... good. But... wait, how do you know that Oona is a mermaid?" The girl inquired, then frowning as she seemed to realize how that happened. "You- You were spying on me?"

"As much as I spy on all royal children by your parents' request," I calmly replied. "And I would say that was a good move since it allowed me to monitor your close encounter to being either captured or worse by the merfolk."

"T-They wouldn't have-"

"With a lucid mind? No. But had they felt more threatened than they did, then you would have taken the brunt of that sort of fear," I argued flatly, causing the child to lower her gaze. "I will not say that making friends is wrong, but if you are in a place that may be against humans, revealing what you are renders you a target."

"I... I just wanted to make them see we are not bad."

"Yet we are," I argued calmly, causing Sofia to give me a surprised look.. "People hunts fishes and pirates loot about in those seas. The Royal Fleet has long tried to curb those issues, but it will take years to ultimately draw an end to that issue. Despite what good feelers are exchanged between our people and theirs, the Merfolk will still be subjected to a degree of woes tied to the untamed sea."

"...And can't you fix that?"

I shook my head, causing the child to bow her head in upset.

"I will still have a talk with the king about your little adventure. I will use it as reason to dismiss the notion that mermaids are not real, but you will probably be punished for straying away without telling anyone."

"Will that help Oona?" The girl asked and I offered a slow nod, to which the girl smiled at. "Then I will take the punishment."

...

I closed my eyes and sighed. "You are going to be a very good princess when you grow up, young lady."

The praise seemed to surprise the child, but she was soon leaving with a beaming smile despite the upcoming punishment for being caught in such an awkward spot. I decided to not mention the monster to the king as it would have only raised more questions.

The less people knew about the Heartless, the better. Plus, it made any chance of someone spying on us to see how their plan had developed quite slim. They will definitely knew it had failed since Sofia is fine and well, but they will not know how that came to be.

And despite my expectation for those friends of mine to help, I was soon going to be given a few surprises on that front.

AN

Next time, Sofia's POV as she makes a friend earlier than she is supposed to and... she may have 'competition'!