"Are you sure we're not in a Palace?"
Ryuji echoed everyone's inner thoughts as they looked at the immense white building with gold trim in front of them. After a few moments, they looked around, observing two towering green peaks behind them, and a cascade of others ahead. The castle, for there seemed no other term accurate to describe it, hovered above the flat mountain they were standing on. Yes, hovered, for as they looked still further they realized that gold chains reached from the castle and anchored themselves to the peaks, as though the castle was a large balloon that could fly away at any moment. Outside the Metaverse, none of them had seen a structure so defiant of the laws of gravity.
"Don't be silly, Ryuji," said Ann, though she sounded uncertain. "We don't even know whose Palace it is."
It was true; neither Igor nor Lavenza had conveyed to them the identity of the mysterious, powerful Palace ruler.
"We're wearing our normal clothes," Yusuke observed, "but Morgana has a bipedal posture. This does not fit our usual experience of the Metaverse."
Indeed Morgana hadn't changed at all from the Velvet Room. Standing almost two feet tall on his hind legs, he looked more like a cartoon than a regular cat. A "monster cat", Ann had dubbed him, much to his annoyance at the time.
He was wearing his black mask, though it didn't look much different from a typical tuxedo cat.
The others noticed, too, that the air felt fresh and clean, like a mountain top; nothing like the air of Tokyo. With the sun straight above their heads, they started to sweat under its glare, though it wasn't as hot as the desert in Futaba's palace. They could feel fresh breezes flowing by, and a faint scent of flowers. They heard the chirps of distant songbirds. No one could remember if palaces typically had such things.
"What should we do?" said Haru.
Everyone looked at each other, then turned to Akira. He didn't have to be their leader anymore, but old habits die hard.
"We should find out who's here," he said, after much thought.
The others agreed, though still nervous. If this was a Palace, there was no telling what shadows could be waiting inside.
Still, their normal clothes suggested the Palace ruler didn't yet regard them as a threat.
Cautiously, Akira crossed the stone courtyard, staying in the shadows as much as possible, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. The others followed. As nothing changed, they ascended the steps to the front door.
As they got nearer, it looked less like a castle and more like a large church, one of the grand cathedrals shown in their world history books. Akira thought he could see stained glass windows and tall decorative spires.
The door, much taller than any door they'd seen outside a palace, had the same white gold trim design as the rest of the building. After the others had hidden behind the frame, out of sight should the door open, Akira faced the door and knocked three times.
Inside, he could hear them echoing, sounding surprisingly loud. He tried to use his Third Eye ability, but it didn't work. They waited with held breath for a few moments. Just as he was ready to look for a hidden entrance on the side (though he wasn't sure how to find one yet with a building hovering in the air), the door opened.
Akira visibly relaxed. He'd never seen a Palace ruler answer the door, and the man who answered it looked refreshingly normal compared to palace rulers, who usually had glowing yellow eyes and an exaggerated look to their clothing. This man wore a white haori jacket and tan hakama pants, both traditional Japanese garments. He also wore what looked to be a black armored chestplate. He looked tough, but not at this moment dangerous.
In fact, he looked rather surprised to see a strange boy at the door. "Good afternoon," he said, smiling. "Welcome to the Land of Departure. My name is Master Eraqus. And you are...?"
Akira quickly introduced himself and beckoned to his friends, who nearly tumbled in a heap as they scrambled to join him. Master Eraqus nodded and greeted each one, though not without surprise at seeing so many. Morgana waited until last before moving to the front and introducing himself. "And my name is Morgana," he said. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Eraqus showed no surprise at all upon seeing a talking cat, which in turn surprised the Phantom Thieves. Eraqus appeared to be a real person, not a shadow or a palace ruler, but they still couldn't rule out the possibility. Akira concluded it was better to assume he was real until they could gain more information.
"What brings you here?" asked Eraqus. "Do you wish to become Keyblade Masters?"
"Yes," said Akira quickly, not yet registering how strange that sounded.
"Excellent," said Eraqus. "Do you have a master? How long have you been training?"
Akira looked around at the others for help. They had eight people; someone should be able to think fast.
Morgana bounced in place. "I'm their master," he said smugly. "Taught them everything they know."
Makoto stepped forward, nudging Morgana in the process. "What he means is, we just started," said Makoto. "He's the oldest apprentice. But our master wanted us to meet other Keyblade users and study their skills."
Eraqus' smile brightened. "Then perhaps you would like to meet my apprentices," he said. "Please, come inside."
He opened the door to let all of them in.
They passed through a large hall, with bright light shining through stained-glass windows, making spots of color on the floor. None of them could yet grasp how massive even a single room could be. Palaces and buildings in the real world were massive, too, of course, but they were usually divided into smaller rooms and, therefore, didn't feel their size. This hall seemed defined by its empty space, so large it felt distinctly unreal.
As they walked down the hall, Akira became aware Futaba was giggling to herself toward the back of the group, but he didn't dare go over and ask why.
As they entered a hallway with doors, Eraqus opened one and called, "Aqua?"
A tall, slim girl with short blue hair and bright blue eyes appeared at the door and regarded the group curiously. Only a few years older, she stood as tall as Akira. Her outfit, black with blue and white sections, looked as graceful as a ballet dancer's.
She smiled at them all before turning to Eraqus.
"Aqua, these are new Keyblade apprentices. Could you introduce them to Terra and Ven?"
"Of course, Master Eraqus."
When the girl named Aqua politely asked their names, Futaba responded immediately, much to Akira's surprise, knowing her social anxiety around strangers. When they introduced themselves, Aqua said, "I think they're training at the practice field. Follow me."
"Lead the way, Spirit Lady!" Futaba replied cheerfully.
Aqua led them through a back door and down a steep mountain path. As they walked, Akira seized Futaba's arm and pulled her to the back of the line. "What was that all about?" he asked.
Futaba rolled her eyes. "Don't you remember Super Bash Bros?" she asked. "We played it just last week." When he just looked at her, she said, "Helloooo, she's a video game character! Like that Sora kid, with the flips and the kicks and the big key thing? He was the last one to get in, remember?"
Akira paused. "Wait," he said. "You're saying this place is a video game?"
"Duh," said Futaba. "And she's a spirit on Super Bash Bros. I'd recognize that blue hair anywhere." She dug through her pockets. "Darn, I didn't bring my GameBoy! Too bad; I could have shown you the game I was talking about."
Akira looked around, thankful no one was paying attention to their conversation. "Let's keep this to ourselves for now, all right? And stop calling her Spirit Lady!"
Futaba huffed. "Fiiine".
On the far side of the practice field stood two structures holding rings suspended on chains. The farthest one spun around like a swing ride at the fair, and a small boy in black and white clothes darted below it.
"Ven!" Aqua called to him, and he turned around and grinned. Akira noticed he had spiky blond hair, not unlike Ryuji's, and he moved fast. He sprinted towards them, leaping in the air for the sheer joy of it.
He stopped in front of Aqua. "Ven, these are our new friends," she said.
"Hi," he said, waving. "My name's Ventus, but my friends call me Ven." He spotted Morgana and beamed even wider. "Chirithy!" he cried and, with a quick movement, scooped Morgana into his arms.
"Mrroww! Hey! Hey, let go!" shrieked Morgana as Ven cuddled him like a large doll. "Put me down! I'm not a cat!" And then, as Ven scratched Morgana behind the ears, he started purring. "Well, maybe that isn't so bad."
"Well, I'll be," said Futaba. "Sora's a Morgana whisperer."
"Futaba," Akira whispered warningly.
"Ven, put Morgana down. They're our guests," said Aqua, and reluctantly Ven set Morgana back on the ground. "Have you seen Terra anywhere?"
"Hmm," Ven thought. "Not for a while. I think he's close by."
"Someone call for me?" came a voice from the ledge at the top of the waterfall. As he leapt down, Akira saw this newcomer was a tall, muscular young man. Dressed in hakama pants and bearing an armored plate on his shoulder, he looked as tough as Eraqus.
That is, until Futaba ran out to greet him. "Hello, Mister Spiky Hair!" she said. "The name's Futaba, got it memorized?"
Akira couldn't suppress a snort of laughter, though he also shook his head. A few of the Phantom Thieves gasped, but the young man's features immediately softened into an expression of amusement as he looked at their group's smallest human. Futaba grinned in triumph. Terra, for it was him, also introduced himself to the others, and the Phantom Thieves relaxed. This couldn't be a palace, so surely there was nothing to worry about.
"Aqua said you're Keyblade wielders?" said Ventus. "Could you show us? Please?"
"Ven, they only just got here," said Terra. "Give them a chance to relax."
"But I want to see," Ven pouted. His expression fell. "Okay."
Akira swallowed. Outside the Metaverse, they had no powers to show off, so this lie was bound to fall apart quickly. Still, they had at least a little reprieve. "Perhaps you'd like to demonstrate for us?" he asked.
Ven brightened immediately. "Yeah! Come on, Terra! Let's go!"
The Phantom Thieves sat in a cluster near the water while Terra and Ven put on a sparring match for them. It was beautiful to watch, all quick movements and hard melee attacks, with bursts of magic thrown in. It was both like and unlike their usual fighting moves. Akira looked over at his companions and observed Makoto and Ryuji reaching for their non-existent masks, and a couple others' fingers were twitching. It was clear the others were longing to show off what they could do. He understood, as he felt the same himself.
Suddenly, Ryuji stood up. "Captain Kidd!" he yelled. As he flicked his hand from his face, however, light glowed around it, and a giant key appeared. Ryuji stared in astonishment. Just like his persona, the keyblade, for it could be nothing else, was black with flowing designs of red and gold. It resembled a ship's bow, and halfway up the blade's design echoed a pirate's hat, complete with a prominent skull and crossbones.
"Whoa," said Ryuji in awe. Then, a moment later, "Sweeeet!" and scampered over to the join the fray.
The others stood up and summoned their persona, though more subtly. Indeed, Arsene responded to his call, and the resulting keyblade did resemble the winged gentleman thief. He could feel powers thrumming inside the keyblade as well, tingling in his arm as his mask had always done in combat.
Unfortunately, however, their fun was short-lived. Ryuji aimed a lightning bolt at Terra, but all that came was a tiny spark. "Only Zio?" Ryuji complained. "Lame!"
None of the others did any better. All their persona skills, once so powerful in the Metaverse, had been reset to the basics. A moment later, a stray wind blast from Ven knocked Ryuji flat on his back and sent him sprawling. He was always weak to wind, but now he had no defenses. Even their melee attacks had gotten weaker.
Still, their new friends watched them with curiosity. "How long have you been training?" asked Aqua.
"A year," they admitted in unison.
"You're not bad for beginners," said Terra. "The three of us, we've been training our whole lives."
The Phantom Thieves nodded. It appeared that they truly were beginners, after all.
"We'll help you," said Ven.
And they did. The Phantom Thieves were surprised at the versatility of moves their new friends commanded. Effortlessly, they switched from fire magic to ice to lightning and back again. Only Akira could do the same, and only by physically switching to a different keyblade. He realized quickly that each of his personas became its own keyblade, while the rest of the Phantom Thieves were limited as always to a single one. The others, in turn, seemed puzzled that they struggled so much with certain moves while learning others just fine. Under Ven's tutelage, for example, Morgana's wind moves improved considerably. But no amount of teaching allowed him to learn even the simplest fire or blizzard spell. The same was true of Ryuji's lightning, Ann's fire, and Yusuke's ice. Makoto and Futaba had it even worse, as they couldn't learn any spells except cure, and Haru couldn't learn any at all. Terra switched to working on their physical attacks, which all of them could do except Futaba, and fortunately she didn't mind.
It wasn't until sunset that it occurred to them to head back inside, and the Phantom Thieves weren't sure if they were expected to leave. They had nowhere to go, and they didn't want to leave, anyway.
To their surprise, however, Master Eraqus had prepared two large rooms for them, one for the boys and one for the girls, with bunk beds resembling a dorm room. "You can stay here as long as you like," he said, and they profoundly thanked him. It appeared they were starting a new life here, at least for the time being.