After their training Sora, Donald and Goofy found themselves travelling to the last world only to find Celia, Pinkie, Diane and Laughter there. Celia grinned “I can already see that you have toughened up without us.”

Sora grinned, “Yeah, we have.”

Diane nodded “We found something that might require your assistance.” They made up the cliff face and found a keyhole. After Sora closed the keyhole, a gummi popped out.

Goofy looked down “It's not the kings.”

Laughter nodded “No but it may give you access to the world the king was sent to or at least get us closer to finding him.”

Pinkie smiled “Well let’s return to Traverse Town and install that gummi.” After they both groups return to Traverse Town they try to find Leon and after the team move from Sora, Donald and Goofy in the alley they find him and his friend Aerith in a secret waterway.

Leon nodded “So you found the keyhole.”

Sora smiled “Thanks to Pinkie, Diane, Celia and Laughter.”

Leon turns to Celia “You’re new.”

Celia curtsied “Yes, I am Alice’s shadow side. I want her to return to Wonderland.”

Leon nodded “Very well, I wish you luck.” He then turned to them “Every world among the stars has a Keyhole and each one leads to the heart of that world. There must be one in this town as well.”

Diane raised an eyebrow “Where did you get this information?”

Aerith added “In Ansem’s report, for those who don’t know he was a wise man who studied hearts.”

Leon frowned “The Heartless enter through the Keyhole and do something to the world’s core.”

Sora frowned “Such as infecting the world’s heart with darkness which leads the world to fall into darkness such as they did in my world. If I seal the keyhole they can’t do that anymore?”

Leon nodded “That is an astute observation, we just thought they disappeared but that makes more sense. Your keyblade is the only tool that can do that.”

Aerith asked “Please lock the keyholes?”

Sora grinned “Will do, let's go guys. We got Keyholes to seal and friends to find!”

Goofy shook his head “Gawrsh, Sora you forgot something?”

Sora turned around “Oh right, yeah. We found this, it's a gummi block but it’s different from the others. Do you know what it does?”

Leon paused for a moment, Aerith smiled “Ask Cid. He should know more.”

Leon hands them a stone. “This might help you in your journey, it has been a good luck charm of mine.”

Sora smiled “Thanks, but we got to go.” The group of seven then headed off.

Aerith turned to Leon “I think He wields the keyblade well.”

Leon nodded “He has certainly exceeded expectations.”

They made their way to Cid's shop in the First District. Cid asked as they approached “What’ve you got there?” Then as they got closer he acknowledged “Hey! Well if it ain't a gummi block.”

Goofy asked, “What’s this one for?”

Cid exclaimed “You’re kiddin’ me! You’re flyin’ a gummi ship and you don’t know nothin’ about navigational gummies?”

Pinkie paused “Does that mean they help the gummi ship go to new worlds?”

Cid nodded “That is correct.” Cid then smirked “I guess, I could lend y’all a hand, then.”

Sora smiled back “Thanks. I can install this onto your ship so you head to new worlds. But I got this I need to deliver first.”

Laughter asked “What is it you need to deliver?”

Cid responded “Just this book. It’s real old. When the guy brought it in, it was practically falling apart. Too beat up to restore it to the way it was. But overall, I did a decent job puttin’ it back together. Anyway, you mind delivering it for me.”\

Sora smiled “Of course, you upgrading our gummi ship is a big favour. We can do this, no problem. Besides, we do need to find this world's keyhole.”

Cid nodded “It’s the old house past the Third District. Look for a big fire sign.”

They then heard a loud bell ringing, Pinkie looked around “Is that a party bell.”

Cid shook his head “No The bell at the Gizmo shop is ringing. Go check it out if you want but deliver that book first. When you’re done, stop by the house in the Third District. I’ll be there.”

The group headed to the Third District, as they cleared through Heartless Pinkie smiled “Hope whoever we meet is fun.”

Laughter smiled back “I hope so too.”

Once they arrived Diane knocked on the door, then tried to push it open. Sora frowned “I have an idea but you want to be away from the door.” He shot a blast of fire magic which caused the door to open. Once they entered they saw a strange looking house in the middle of the lake.

Celia once they all crossed over a bunch of magical stepping stones and raised an eyebrow at the boarded up door “Where’s the entrance.”

The rest of the group heard Goofy call out “Over here.”

They entered through a hole in the wall covered by a green cloth. They entered what appeared to be an empty room only to see Sora stare off into space for a moment, Sora then said “Kairi.”

Diane raised an eyebrow, Celia frowned and Laughter looked confused while Pinkie saw something before nodding. Goofy called out “Sora?”

A man in blue wizard robes and a blue hat with a long white beard entered “Well, well. You’ve arrived sooner than I expected?”

Sora blinked “You knew we were coming?”

The wizard nodded “Of course.”

Diane frowned “He is emitting a lot of magic from his heart, he is a wizard and a very powerful one at that.”

The Wizard smiled “Astute observation, I never expected to see a friendly Heartless in my home. I know it seems a bit bare but I spend much of my time travelling.” He turn to Donald and Goofy “Your king has requested my help.”

Goofy asked “King Mickey?”

The Wizard responded “Yes indeed. Donald, Goofy and who are your friends?”

Sora smiled, “I’m Sora.”

Pinkie popped out of his hat “I’m Pinkie.”

Celia curtsied “I’m Celia, and Diane and Laughter are behind me.”

Merlin smiled, “You have some interesting friends and the key as well.”

Donald asked “What did the king ask you to do?”

The wizard responded “Ah, forgive me. I am Merlin and I will explain in a moment.” Merlin put his bag down and after he waved his arms “Presto.” The bag opened as furniture and other household items flew out of the bag growing larger as the wizard weaved his magic.

Merlin explained “Your king asked me to train you in the art of magic. We can start anytime you like. Let me know why you’re ready to start the training. Oh, and one more thing.”

They watched as a woman materialised near a tiny pumpkin carriage “Hello. I’m the Fairy Godmother. Your king asked me to help, too. I will assist throughout your journey.”

Merlin then added “I do not know how much I can be of help, but do stop by anytime.”

Sora then held out the book “I believe this is yours.”

Merlin looked at it “Oh, so Cid asked you to bring this. Thank you. You wish to know what kind of book it is? I don’t even know, myself. In fact, it’s not mine. Somehow it found its way into my bag one day. It was such a curious book, I asked Cid to repair it for me. Well, I guess I’ll put it here somewhere, for now. This book holds a great secret. The missing pages will unlock it.”

Merlin gestured to an empty table “I will leave the book over there. Do look at it whenever you like. My best regards to Cid for repairing it for me. Oh, and about that stone of yours.. You should ask the Fairy Godmother about that.”

Pinkie dozed off the conversation being too wordy and long winded, Diane was listening alongside Celia while Laughter was following Pinkie into dreamland.

Pinkie was woken up by Diane “Sora is down with the book, only he can enter it so we thought to let you two rest. We have to go.”

Merlin frowned, “I feel my explanation of magic is important.”

Pinkie shrugged “Magic and the complexities are based on how one learns to focus, given most of my magic is passive and the rest of it is strange and often acts more on my whims, which means those lessons don’t help me much.”

Celia curtsied “Thank you for the lessons.”

As they left Donald pointed forward “Back to Cid.” As they left the area, a few Heartless turned up. Only for a taller boy than Sora with silver hair to cut the Heartless apart using a dark blade. The boy smirked “There you are. What’s going on?”

Sora walked over to him in astonishment, “Riku.” He then sticks his finger in his mouth pulling on his face.

Riku rebukes him “Hey, hey. Cut it out.”

Sora looked up and down at him “I’m not dreaming this time, right?”

Riku joked “I hope not. Took forever to find you.”

Sora's eyes lit up “Riku!” Sora then asked as the group followed Riku a bit “Where’s Kairi?”

Riku responded “Isn’t she with you?”

Sora looked down “No.”

Pinkie frowned “We haven’t seen any sign of her, we have been roaming different worlds to him but no sign.”

Riku added “Well, don’t worry. I’m sure she made it off the island, too. We’re finally free. Hey, she might be looking for us now. We’ll all be together again soon. Don't worry. Just leave everything to me. I know this ---”

Riku heard the sound of a Heartless dissolving and turned around to see Sora smiling as he held out his keyblade behind him “Leave it to who?”

Riku asked “Sora, what did you--”

Sora continued “I have been looking for you and Kairi, too, with their help” gesturing to Pinkie, Diane, Laughter and Celia then to Donald and Goofy.

Riku raised an eyebrow “Who are they?”

Sora smiled “That’s Pinkie, Diane, Laughter and new addition to their group Celia. While these are Donald and Goofy, they joined me shortly after Pinkie, Diane and Laughter did.”

Donald announced “I’m a royal mage for King Mickey’s court.”

Goofy added “And I’m a Royal Guard.”

Pinkie grinned, pulling in Diane and Laughter “We are three aspects of a single individual who have all become our own people.”

Celia curtsied “I’m Celia, the Shadow of Alice the Princess of Heart from Wonderland. It's a pleasure.”

Sora smiled “With their help, we’ve travelled looking for any sign of you.”

Riku questioned “Really? Well, what do you know? I never would have guessed.”

Goofy added “Oh, and guess what? Sora’s the keyblade master.”

Sora frowned “I’m not a master, a wielder at best. If anything, I am an apprentice of the keyblade. It is guiding me, helping me grow. Maybe one day I will earn it’s strength and be able to fight without it.”

Riku then comments “So this is called a keyblade.”

Sora's eyes widened in surprise “So you can wield it too!”

Riku nodded with a smirk as he returned it to Sora “Evidently.”
Sora smiled “Okay, so, you’re coming with us, right? We’ve got this awesome rocket. Wait ‘til you see it!”

Goofy smiled, “It would be good to have some extra help.” He then gave a look towards Donald.

Donald shouted “I’m not going cause a ruckus Goofy, you can stop giving me that look.”

Riku grinned “Well, it seems you have a fun crew.” He then looked at Sora “You look tougher.”

Sora crossed his arms “After spending some time as a larger group, I realised I was becoming too reliant on them” He gestured to Pinkie’s group “I devoted some time to be strong enough to handle myself. I am no use to you or Kairi, dead or Heartless.”

Once the group no with Riku in tow returned to Cid, Cid asked “Have you guys ever heard of Maleficent? I hear she’s in town.”

Riku commented “Yeah, I have. She was the first person I met, she didn’t seem bad.”

Leon turned to him “She’s the reason this town is full of Heartless, Heartless steal hearts and have been attacking Sora since he got here. Don’t take her lightly.”

Aerith added “She’s been using the Heartless for years, she is also good at manipulation. It would be unwise to trust her words.”
Leon crossed his arms “We lost our world, thanks to her.”

Riku frowned, slightly sceptical. Cid added “You don’t have to believe us, just keep an open eye and an open mind. You’re a smart kid, just keep your eyes open.”

Cid then turned to Sora “So, you delivered that book? That navigation gummi’s installed and ready to go. You find another one, you bring it to me. I threw in a warp gummi for the heck of it. Now you can jump to world’s you’ve been to before. Well, better get back to my real job. If you want to know more about my real job, meet me at the First District.”

Riku frowned “So are we going to get going?”

Sora shook his head “We are going to seal this world's keyhole first, might make less Heartless turn up here. I doubt Kairi would appreciate abandoning everyone here in the world we visit just to save her a bit faster.”

Riku sighed “You’re right, we’ll do this as quickly as we can.”

Aerith then mentioned a legend about the bell in the Second District, Pinkie shrugged “Maybe that’s the keyhole location.”

Riku nodded, “Well let’s do this quick.” The large group made their way to the bell by eliminating the Heartless both around and in Gizmo’s shop. After Sora, Donald and Goofy break a hole in a wall, they find the bell and ring it.after nothing happens and an image on water fountain changes, after a few more bell rings it reveals the keyhole.

As they approached the keyhole Pinkie frowned “Another Guard Armour?”

Sora raised an eyebrow as they attacked “Guard Armour?”

Pinkie shrugged, “It’s in Jiminy’s journal.”

Upon releasing the number of opponents, the Guard Armour instantly reversed becoming Opposite Armour. Despite it’s minor increase in power, it was quickly wiped out, Sora, Donald and Riku gained access to a new spell, Aero. After stealing it they acquired another N-Gummi piece. Sora grinned “These Gummi Pieces help access new worlds, we are more likely to find Kairi if we collect more of these so sealing all the keyholes will help.”

Riku crossed his arms “I see your point, let’s keep going.”

Celia smiled “Well I think it's time for us to split, Riku take care and keep an eye on these guys for me.”

Riku raised an eyebrow at her as she left alongside the Pinkie trio. Meanwhile Maleficent was watching, uncertain when a shadowy object slunk up and took a form similar to Pinkie’s “I believe I may assist you.”

Maleficent inquired “Why should I not just obliterate you on the spot?”

The mare cackled “Because I know a lot about those other three who are bothering you and I have a vested interest in bringing them down.”

Maleficent raised an eyebrow “Who are you?’

The mare gave an evil look “My name is Cupcakes.”

Author's Note

I hope you enjoy this chapter, I do have plans for Cupcakes too.