Kingdom Hearts - Blades of Three Realms

[[XIII] Roxas]

"You know what, it's Shiro, if anything I'd say the best thing is to just stay out of his way when he gets like that," Yuffie wasn't taking any bullets for the team on that front. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

"If Crystal's not too worried, then I guess we should probably leave it at that," Cloud agreed with a slight nod.

"Well, if you really want me to go wake up Leon..." Yuffie trailed off. "Sure thing boss lady! I'll be sure to let him know you're the one who sent me." And before Tifa had a chance to protest the impish ninja was already halfway up the stairs and headed for Leon's room cackling all the way. Yuffie's cackling was actually loud enough that it managed to wake up Sora.

Sora had been halfway dangling over the side of the bottom bunk in Zidane's room so when Yuffie's laughter finally woke him he immediately toppled onto the floor with a slight thud. "Huh?" Sora glanced around groggily. "What's going on?" Then he started to remember that they had spent the night at 7th Heaven on Radiant Garden and that this was Zidane's room. A moment later he managed to pick himself up off the floor and got himself dressed so he could find out what was going on outside the relative safety of Zidane's room.


Down in the tavern area Crystal, Roxas, and Xion were all seated at a table together simply chatting over breakfast. They had already made their plan to assist the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee if the need arose so Tifa's attempt to distract them using Kailah's musical talents was hugely mistimed. This isn't to say that they didn't appreciate the musical diversion. They were quite well entertained by it in fact. But, truth be told, Shiro's absence was a more effective diversion at the moment than the morning entertainment.

"Wow Kailah, you're amazing!" Xion was certainly very impressed by the music.

"Yeah," Roxas agreed. He was watching Crystal though. He could tell she must be worried about Shiro not being there given his departure had been mentioned by Tifa, Yuffie, and Cloud while their little group had been sitting down for breakfast.

"Did Shiro say anything about where he was going?" Crystal wanted an answer to that much at least even if Tifa was making a pointed effort to keep them out of the loop about this Shinra business that was going on here on Radiant Garden.

"While he was on the phone he did mention something about Olympus possibly needing a new God of Death once he gets there," Cloud answered which thankfully put Crystal's mind at ease pretty much on the spot.

"Oh, well, if it's only Hades, then it's no problem," Crystal would let it drop and return to her breakfast.

Sora was still attempting to fasten a few buckles as he stumbled down the stairs to see what was happening. He noticed Roxas with Crystal and Xion at one of the tables away from the bar, thinking nothing of it, and noticed a spot already laid out for him so he headed over to take it.

"This looks awesome!" Sora was already shoveling away at his food without a second thought. This behavior wasn't exactly new for everyone. Sora did the same thing when they were all eating together at the mansion in Twilight Town.

Roxas had relaxed once Crystal seemed satisfied with the answer she got from Cloud about Shiro. At least that was one less thing to worry about.

Leon would appear at the top of the stairs leading down to the tavern area looking even more disgruntled than usual. This was in no small part because Yuffie had woken him up by jumping on his bed. In fact, she was still in his room jumping on it when he'd left her there with a grumble. He descended the stairs and headed straight for the bar. "Coffee," was all they were getting out of him until he had properly woken up.

Yuffie would follow several minutes later to take up another seat at the bar, sticking close to Zidane and away from Leon who seemed to be particularly agitated at the moment. Once Leon finally had coffee and food in front of him and had managed to take a few quick gulps to get his brain working he would look to Tifa appearing slightly less ornery.

"Okay, so what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Leon would ask before he started wolfing down his food like he was starving. This was definitely going to take some getting used to.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Axel of course would probably be the last one down, yawning a bit and running a hand through his spiky red mane of hair as he listened to the music, both impressed and a bit glad for the entertainment from Kailah, she really knew how to play the Violin that was for sure. hmmm... he'd have to point Demyx in her direction for sure eventually. for now though he would wander over to where the others were with a yawn and sitting down a bit with a glance around, frowning, obviously noticing the lack of Shiro, given he -did- see Shiro's room door open and no one inside when he walked past... but seeing Crystal and Roxas relaxed means it was probably nothing to worry about as he at least chuckled a bit at the somewhat disgruntled look Leon had and just at least made his own cup of coffee when need be, and sat down to join in on the food "so, what's the plans for today whenever Shiro decides to show up?" he decided to ask, given he hadn't heard the conversation about Shinra or anything due to being still in bed and all.

of course, after about maybe 10 to 15 minutes into the morning rituals of eating, waking up, and well, not making Leon any grumpier, Shiro would return through another Corridor of light, this time having Gilgamesh follow him in his usual casual clothes as well looking amused, while Shiro moved to sit down with the others "ugh.. i swear, remind me next time Hades tries to use me to kill Herc to just either ignore him or punt him back to the Underworld..." he said, while Gilgamesh chuckled "he deserved every bit of that tongue lashing and beatdown you gave him. though i was surprised you didn't follow through on using Ea on him for his Insolence." Shiro looked over to the Golden king, and let off a snort "not worth the headaches Zeus will give me for killing Hades." he said with a grumble while he tilted his neck forward, and out popped Chibi Apocalypse, who also got himself a cup of coffee "was funny to see him scream like a little girl though when you shredded his robes, blew out his hair flames, and then punted him around in public for -everyone- to see in the Coliseum... hope he has fun recovering his dignity from that." he said with his cheeky attitude.

Roveth, meanwhile had glared at the tower of Heartless with a bit of a 'tch' on his teeth, before summoning both his keyblades, and drawing a circle in the air "Zone of Desolation!" he called out, blasting the heartless with raw Shadow energy to rip through what he could, before tossing Bloody Ultima in the air and flicked out a magic card "Activate, Swords of Revealing Light!" he called out , letting the swords appear around the three of them as he used it both as a filter for all the darkness, and to stop the attacks from getting to them for a little bit so he could focus "let's see... darkness over yonder, darkness over there... ah! picking up something and it's definitely not a heartless. east south east, i think towards that beach area." he said, pointing in that direction, just as the swords of revealing light broke, and Roveth caught Bloody Ultima just in time to unleash into a multi-slashing combo attack to fling the heartless away from him "Back off you asinine creatures of darkness, you don't know who you're messing with!" he roared out, bringing out two more cards, silently summoning his black and white dragons to start using them to clear a path towards the direction where he picked up on the signature.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"And it looks like he's back," Roxas looked up when Shiro returned along with Gilgamesh and overhearing as Apocalypse was bragging about what Shiro had supposedly done to Hades and all.

"Huh, why did he bring that golden haired guy that was hanging around you both at the Coliseum?" Sora had apparently already forgotten Gilgamesh's name or was merely finding it too difficult to remember at the moment.

"It could mean that Gilgamesh intends to travel with us now or with Shiro at the very least," Xion suggested.

"Anyway, Axel, I think I've come up with a plan for Sora's training to ensure that we'll be on roughly the same sleep schedule, but well, the world we'd be going to and the particular location on that world, well let's just say that Anna Kyoyama is one very harsh task master so if you aren't interested in getting in more training you might like to sit this one out," Crystal would explain as she continued to think it over. "Anyone who comes with us is liable to be put to work at her inn, Funbari Onsen, so there won't really be too much down time while we're working on our training there."

"Why does it sound like this isn't going to be fun?" Sora was already starting to complain about it.

"Because it won't be," Crystal assured him. "But at least there's the hot springs to soak in once we get done with all our chores."

Roxas glanced to Xion. "It sounds like this next world could be a bit rough. You sure you don't want to just wait for us in Twilight Town?"

"If I'm going to help you all to fight, then I need to get stronger too," Xion reminded him. "Besides, training and chores doesn't sound that bad."

"And if you have a good attitude about it, it won't be," Crystal nodded. She then looked back to Axel. "Anyway, while we're doing that now might be a good time for you to go find Wolfwood, wherever he's gotten to. You were planning to do that anyway, weren't you?"  

[Kailah S Majessta]

Kailah bowed and smiled, but looked at Tifa apologetically when there was really no distracting them. She was learning from all of the conversations that these kids weren't exactly the kind to BE distracted easily. She put her instrument away and put a large glass of water in front of Leon next to his coffee.

"Drink that." After making sure everyone was eating and/or setting everything in its proper place, she sat next to Leon at the bar.

Tifa sighed, "Alright. I don't want any of YOU guys," she gestured to Crystal and her group, "worrying about Radiant Garden for now. Get the training done that needs to be done. We'll call you if it becomes an issue we can't handle on our own. And for that matter," she turned to Leon, "We might have a potential issue on our hands." She looked at Cloud to explain about the Shinra corporation using Maleficent's tower.

Kailah generally made sure Leon seemed okay before watching as Shiro arrived back with... another guest she would assume. She shook her head. She's definitely not one to be judging others. Besides, Radiant Garden was her home now. She was concerned about the situation at hand too.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Axel had raised an eyebrow at Gilgamesh, who in turn nodded before shrugging and sipping on his coffee a bit lightly "yeah, probably a good idea, since i doubt those Heartless Generals are just sleeping on the job, despite how many you and Shiro killed during your fights with em." he said, not mentioning anything about his alternate reason of not going when Crystal mentioned the name Anna. in fact, he had cringed a slight bit in particular.

Shiro had hummed in thought while eating as he glanced to Gil, before speaking up "basically yeah, he wanted to come with me to help me get used to the Gate of Babylon and its contents, as well as get away from Olympus, because herc aside, he wanted away from Hades." he said, with Chibi-Apocalypse nodding a bit "this is true on both accounts, not to mention it would be fun to... well, do some exploring of the worlds again, now that i'm free to come and go where i please again." he said calmly enough, eating a bit with a hum, as if thinking a bit "compliments to the Chef, this is delicious food fit for a King." he said in his own way, while Shiro eyerolled a bit and looked over with one eye open at Gilgamesh "... Gil, when you're with me and my friends, can you tone down the 'King of Heroes' arrogance and attitude and act normal?" Gilgamesh raised an eyebrow, before shrugging half-heartedly with amusement "maybe, King of Swords." he said leaving Shiro to headslam onto the table and right into his food, before coming up looking like some weird food golem with eggs for eyes and a carrot for a mouth. cue cracking up of Axel and Apocalypse on that one.

Roveth meanwhile had narrowed his eyes at the Darksides and the Neo Shadows, Riku was right, they -were- too organized... in fact... this actually got the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end as he heard a faint whistling sound, and sure enough Roveth whirled around and barely bashed aside a sword made of black energy that looked intricately designed, unfortunately however, it nearly tore through the helmet, so much that the helmet disengaged, leaving Roveth's inverted blood red eyes glaring at the direction the sword was thrown, seeing a large burly man with red hair braided, and a smug looking grin on his face.. and armor that Riku would recognize to being similar to what he wore as 'Dark Riku'. "... ********. this just got a hundred times harder... you were right about the Heartless being too organized... because the only way they get this organized and tough.. is when a Heartless General commands them." he said with a low growl, clenching Lockdown and the Sword of darkness.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"You're not going to keep pestering me like this all day, are you?" Leon spoke to Kailah while peering disdainfully at the glass of water before taking a sip. Then he turned back to Cloud and Tifa. He was largely ignoring Yuffie. "Okay, so what's the issue?"

"Maleficent's tower in the ravine seems to have been taken over by some group calling themselves Shinra," Cloud explained rather vaguely. "Beyond that, we don't actually know who is responsible or why they decided now all of the sudden was a good time to stage their takeover."

"It's actually pretty smart if you think about it though," Zidane pointed out. "I mean it might not look like much, but the location is incredibly secure. It's in the middle of the ravine so there's not a whole lot of cover which means it would be difficult for anyone to sneak up on whoever is doing this. It's also far enough from the town that we can't really see what goes on way out there either. Basically, even me and Yuffie would have a tough time sneaking into the place unless it's after dark and that's more than a little bit risky if we don't know whose out there."

"Shinra?" Leon frowned. "You don't think it could be that brat, Rufus, and his business interests trying to interfere with Scrooge again?"

"Oh man, I totally forgot about him!" Yuffie exclaimed in surprise. "You don't think he's really back here in Radiant Garden do you?"

"Well, that sign on the tower does have his family name plastered on it," Cloud also frowned.

"Well, if it is Rufus, then I doubt he's alone in this new enterprise," Leon pointed out. "He must have his own people working for him. People who aren't exactly interested in rebuilding for the sake of everyone. These guys might want to seize control of the whole town if we let them."

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen," Yuffie shook her fist in the direction of the ravine. "This is our town!"

Axel wasn't the only one who started laughing when Shiro slammed his face against his plate and came up looking like a food golem in response to Gilgamesh's nickname for him. Crystal, Roxas, Xion, and Sora were all laughing too.

"I think we might need some more napkins over here," Crystal called over to the bar area as she slowly recovered from her fit of laughter in response to the transformation that had taken place with Shiro's face. She was trying very hard not to pay too much attention to what the others were discussing, although she was still concerned about what this latest development could mean for everyone here on Radiant Garden. Crystal knew that Leon, being head of security, would do his best not to let anything too bad happen as long as he could help it.

"It won't be the same without you around, Axel," Roxas mentioned as he also managed to reign in his own laughter at Shiro. "But I promise you won't have to worry about me and Xion."

"Right," Xion quickly agreed. "We'll take care of each other so you just worry about looking after yourself."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Axel nodded, having finishing both his laughing and his food while Shiro had worked to clean up his face with offered towels, looking amused a bit before listening to Roxas and xion wishing him well on things, nodding a bit as he stood up after finishing his food "i'll be fine you two, i wasn't given the title of Organization's Assassin for being a reckless idiot, as much as Isa would love to disagree with me." he said in an off-handed comment, while chuckling "but it shouldn't take me too long, so i might join you on the next world you guys decide to hop to, since i have Shiro's number i could call him to open me a Corridor of Light or something." he said, while starting to head out the door himself much like Shiro had before, only instead of a Corridor of light opening, a Corridor of Darkness opened, and off he went with a wave to everyone as he did so.

Shiro of course just frowned a bit, now realizing what the adults were talking about when Leon mentioned the name Rufus, of course, it meant that his 'WEAPON' side of his mind was reminding him through the life stream who this Rufus was, and if that was the case... no, he'd mentally slap himself and just used an offered napkin from whoever offered him one to clean up his face of food, and give a dirty look to the amused Gilgamesh "low blow there goldilocks, i told you not to call me by a tittle i don't feel is appropriate, i am -not- a king." Gilgamesh would scoff in return while smirking at Shiro "would you rather be a prince then, the Prince of Heroes?" he added cheekily, causing Shiro to sputter in indignation and Apocalypse to giggle in the background at the being thrown for a loop kind of thing. "for the last blasted time King of Heroes. I. Am. Not. Worthy. of. Being. Any. Kind. of. ROYALTY." Gilgamesh just sipped on a cup of coffee, looking way too amused at Shiro's indignation "ah, but being my protege, in essence, is qualifying you to become the King of Heroes, should i step down from holding that title." he said, while Shiro twitched an eyebrow "Never. you hear me Gil? NEVER." he hissed out in a whisper, clearly agitated now at the fact that -someone- was trying to make him more than just another person, or a sword as he is.

Roveth of course just narrowed his eyes as he sighed, taking a moment to reign in his own aura of darkness and re-confine it within his own body enough to where not a drop of darkness could be felt, even to the point where his eyes reverted from their inversion blood red stance back to their normal golden amber self, which were more gem like in quality than anything "Riku... how many times have i told you, time and again, that i'm not a being of darkness, i am a being of -Shadow-. there's a stark difference between the two." he said, turning to shake his finger in a 'tsk tsk' fashion at Riku, before returning his gaze towards the heartless General as he narrowed his eyes "anyway.. this might be even harder than a normal Heartless General, as i sense aside from our lovely Keyblade Master here and one other soul that's on the beach.. that this general has something that shouldn't be here. something divine in nature." he said as he dismissed Tenebrex and Lockdown, actually going without his keyblades and instead flicking out a card which spun and enlarged "Activate Equipment: Enchanted Sword Nothung!" he called out, before reaching into the card from behind, and yanking out from the card a beautifully crafted blade that had multiple dragon motifs on it, as it pulsed with an almost radiant 'slaying' light of sorts "this should do nicely..." he said while the man frowned in seeing the sword, before summoning back the sword he had thrown, and charged down with an army of Neo Shadows, a few dark-sides, and flying wyverns following in right behind as Roveth cringed "hate to say this you three, but leave the big guy to me, i've had experience fighting the Heartless Generals." he said, sure, it was through Shiro he had said experience but it was there nonetheless, plus he had his own damn tricks up his sleeve, as he palmed another card just in case he needed it.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Crystal started to laugh again. She couldn't help it. Listening to Shiro make such a fuss over being labeled as a King of Swords or the Prince of Heroes with prospects of one day becoming the new King of Heroes genuinely cracked her up. "Shiro, worthiness isn't something you get to decide for yourself. It's not like being a princess was my choice. If Gilgamesh thinks you've earned that title, then you really can't argue with the word of the King of Heroes. I mean, he has more authority vested in him than even certain gods."

"Is he really that powerful?" Sora was certainly impressed.

"He is from what I've seen," Roxas nodded.

"You should probably hold off on trying to challenge him until you've gotten your powers back," Xion added. "And, of course, until Crystal gives you the go ahead to be allowed to challenge Shiro again for that matter."

"Right, you were unconscious when I suggested you shouldn't be allowed to fight Shiro again until you can defeat me," Crystal recalled. The way Sora's face lit up wasn't entirely unexpected, but it did make Crystal wish she had chosen her words more carefully.

"So that means I'm going to get to fight you again? Only it will be for real this time?" Sora was getting way too excited already.

"More or less," Crystal sighed. "But that will be after I decide that you've completed your training, got it?"

"Okay, then let's get training!" Sora nodded emphatically.

Soon enough the group of traveling teenagers would be finished with their breakfast and getting ready to depart from Radiant Garden.

"Well Tifa, thanks for your hospitality as always," Crystal nodded to their generous hostess. "And if you need our help with anything at all, you know how to contact us," Crystal continued while looking to Leon, Cloud, Yuffie, and Zidane as well.

"Stay out of trouble you two lovebirds!" Yuffie had to get in one last tease directed at Crystal and Roxas.

"And don't worry too much about Radiant Garden," Zidane chimed in. "Now that I'm here I can help to pick up the slack for Cloud and Leon. I mean, I am at least as tough as they are and my skill set is arguably way more versatile."

"Morally ambiguous," Leon shot back.

"I'm a thief," Zidane countered. "It comes with the territory. But you still need my help regardless of your personal feelings on the subject."

"He's got you there, Leon," Yuffie grinned mischievously.  

[Kailah S Majessta]

Kailah waved to Axel as he left then began cleaning the tavern as they all started getting ready to leave. From the sounds of it, she'll be seeing a lot more of them in between their training and adventuring. There was a nostalgic smile, having been an adventurer in her own world at one point.

"Be safe everyone! I don't want to see any of my new friends hurt or missing!" Although the biggest smile was coming from Leon's reaction to Yuffie and Zidane.

Tifa was next to say her goodbyes, especially after seeing Shiro's reaction to the discussion they were having about Shinra, but chose not to say anything quite yet.

"Don't worry about us here. Like Zidane said, he's here to help now. Not only that, having Kailah here will allow me to do patrolling as well. We'll call you if we need you. Go." Tifa looked at Sora in particular, holding him by the shoulders, "And Sora, I know you'll come back stronger. You always do. I have faith in that." She smiled at him, and hugged him, before looking at everyone else. "And like Kailah said, be safe everyone. I want to see you ALL back in one piece. Do you hear me Shiro? ALL back in one piece." She smiled at them all before going back to the Radiant Garden group, a small whisper as she addressed Cloud and Yuffie.

"By the way Cloud, what did Merlin and Cid say about that potion for Kailah?"  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

of course, as Shiro was adjusting his belt with Einlanzer strapped to it, and the Ma-Ken resting along his back, he'd sweatdrop at Tifa's reminder of coming back in one piece as Gilgamesh chuckled a bit and shook his head "i don't think we have to worry too much on Shiro here, besides, if nothing else, i'll make sure he doesn't get himself into -too- much trouble." he said honestly, while Shiro shot Gilgamesh a dirty look "remind me again -who- is the one who helped an insane priest to nearly destroy my mentor's world?" he said with a bit of Acid in his voice, causing Gil to sweatdrop a bit "oh come on, are you and the faker still going to hold that over my head?" Shiro of course deadpanned with a twitch of his eyebrow though showing his apparent ire "that depends, -should- i hold you accountable for the man that dumped the mud of a zoroastrian god of darkness right on both my mentor's face and on my head when we were trying to stop him from destroying the world with 'All the World's Evils' of Angra Mainyu?" Gilgamesh flinched, and looked away scratching his cheek a bit lightly "... i wasn't exactly myself back then alright?" he said with a whine as he was heading out with the others, Shiro being the last one out, as he turned his head to the side "i'm gonna hold you to that calling us if you need help Tifa." he said calmly enough, before stepping out the door to join the others in heading off towards whatever method of travel they were going this time for their next destination.

Roveth meanwhile had been given wide berth by the heartless aside from a few bold ones which would be cut down by a quick summoning of one of his keyblades or tossed into the maws of one of his dragons to chomp on while whistling at the damage Aqua was dishing out ~damn... and to think Shiro has the possibility of matching that capability now with his new abilities...~ he thought to himself, only to turn and see an incoming darkness charged flying fist right for his face, which he proceeded to do a split to duck under said punch, before popping back up with an uppercut of his own, causing the burly man to step back a bit, smirking "Hmph.. so this is the vaunted Dark half of our nemesis, Shiro... looks like a wimp to me." he mocked, while Roveth looked at the man before raising an eyebrow "you're one to talk big brute and ugly. so got a name?" the man just started chuckling a bit lightly "Ganondorf, King of Thieves of the Gerudo Desert in Hyrule." Roveth just rolled his eyes, and took a sword slash which the man parried easily enough "with how big you are, and the fact i can tell you have the ego roughly the size of a continent or two, being a king just doesn't suit you, especially a king of Thieves, ones who walk in the--" he said, disappearing, only to pop right out of his shadow from behind using a slash of Nothung to do some minor damage to his back "Shadows, and strike in the cover of the night." he finished his sentence, before the two started clashing, fist to fist, sword to sword.. it was a brawl fest at the moment.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

The discussion between the residents of Radiant Garden would continue as the group of travelers exited the tavern and then left through the path Crystal opened into the Forgotten Roadway of the Unseen Passage to begin making their way to the world of Funbari Onsen.

*~Funbari Onsen~*

Once they arrived Crystal briefly consulted with Anna before everyone was either put to work at the inn or made to begin their training, or both. Roxas was going to be training and getting acquainted with Yoh and Amidamaru to possibly learn some new techniques well suited to his samurai fighting style. Sora was made to scrub the inn from top to bottom to ensure that he would be completely exhausted come nightfall so that he would have no complaints about going to bed when he was told. Shiro and Xion were put to work in the kitchen with Ryu, Manta, and Tamao. Crystal, meanwhile, was put to work running errands and doing the shopping out of her own pocket so that Anna could get away with being stingier than usual as payment for their stay at the inn and Anna's agreement to assist with training Crystal's friends in the meantime.

This routine would probably go on for about a week before there was any noticeable improvement in Sora's ability to achieve lucidity while dreaming and at first he was only successful at doing so outside his own dreams. To train him without actually spelling it out for Sora that he was, in fact, dreaming was also quite a unique challenge and one that Crystal undertook with a surprising amount of skill as she would conceal herself somewhere and materialize secret doors to lure Sora out of his dreamscape into her own, sometimes by giving him a little extra motivation by bringing out one of her summons to chase him down as though it were trying to kill him like an actual monster. When Sora realized what was happening he complained very openly about how it seemed like Crystal had enjoyed scaring him a little too much while assisting with his training. While they were within Crystal's dreamscape she could control the landscape and the overall narrative of the dream to make it however she wanted and eventually Sora began to catch on that certain aspects of those dreams didn't seem to match up properly with his perception of reality, let alone the type of narrative he was accustomed to from his own particular dreams.

It became more challenging when Crystal had to start working with Sora more directly in his own dreamscape given that she had virtually no control of where his dreamscape might take them or the narrative of the dreams that Sora might be having. This meant, of course, that Crystal had to first observe what was going on in Sora's dreams without directly intervening even when he did have nightmares about Ansem Seeker of Darkness, Xemnas, and the youth Crystal came to know was actually the youngest incarnation of Master Xehanort. In fact, Sora's dreams were very informative to her as an outside observer who would likely retain more of what she was seeing than Sora himself, but for Sora these visions would remain largely forgotten upon him waking. Other aspects of Sora's dreams made it apparent to Crystal that he must have still been struggling with his feelings of guilt over what had happened to Roxas, Namine, and Xion during the time when he had been asleep after having his memory restored to its original state. He really felt responsible for what had happened to all three of them and it clearly weighed heavily on him, more-so than his apparently being totally traumatized by his experiences fighting Ansem Seeker of Darkness, Xemnas, and Young Master Xehanort. The problem, Crystal concluded, was that Sora didn't always remember that Roxas, Namine, and Xion had been restored while he was dreaming and so the memory of them not existing continued to torment him in his subconscious.

Eventually, Crystal got it into her head to bring the real Roxas and Xion into Sora's dreamscape to see if talking to them might help a little. Of course, he wouldn't know it was really them and not just the projections he would often see appearing and vanishing just out of his reach whenever he tried to apologize. Roxas and Xion would know what was going on because Crystal wouldn't bring them into someplace as unstable as Sora's dreamscape without first telling them where they were going and why she was bringing them there even knowing it might be dangerous. Ultimately, they all wanted to help Sora and that meant first getting him to try to actually forgive himself. Much like when Crystal herself had first reached out to Sora within the dreamscape the content of those conversations was less important than the fact that they were at least talking things out and the feelings that were transmitted in the process. Eventually Sora's dreamscape became less turbulent and unpredictable as he seemed to begin feeling better about himself. More often than not, now, his dreamscape began to default to the Destiny Islands. This actually made it even harder for Crystal to blend in with the scenery as she really wasn't a fixture of the islands and there weren't a whole lot of places for her to hide. Crystal didn't let that stop her though because she already had the perfect disguise. She began to manifest the true nature of her own spirit and thereby projected herself into the form of a dragon. Doing so made it a simple matter for Crystal to ambush and startle Sora, once again giving her some control of the dream narrative by tricking him into thinking he was being attacked by an outside malevolent force.

This went on for a good long while until Sora finally realized he was being led around in circles and seemed to remember when the two of them had fought in the training simulation back in Twilight Town because that was the moment when Sora realized there was no actual dragon and that he had been fighting against Crystal the entire time. And the fact that she had transformed into a dragon indicated to him that this was either some kind of elaborate illusion or a dream. Given the scope of the training he was supposedly undertaking it wasn't hard, even for Sora, to deduce that it must be the latter.

"You can stop now, Crystal, I know it's you and I know this is just another scheme you came up with for training me," Sora called out as he dismissed the Kingdom Key with his patented dorky grin.

Crystal's appearance reverted back to normal as she dismissed her own spirit projection. "I guess that means you pass because I seriously can't think of how else I'm going to be able to train you if you can see right through me like that."

"Then I guess that means it must be time to wake up," Sora would respond seeming amused that he'd actually manage to push Crystal to the limit of her abilities throughout all of this without even realizing it.

And then, of course, Sora woke up in his room at Funbari Onsen. "So wait, does this mean the training actually worked?" he wondered blearily to himself as he started getting himself dressed and ready for the day.


Crystal woke up about the same time in the room she was sharing with Roxas. Huh, I guess this means I'm a better teacher than I thought, she thought to herself. Roxas was still asleep and seeing him look so peaceful made Crystal smile. He was so worried about what might happen to Crystal while she was training Sora, but he was supportive the entire time.

"You've always believed in me so it's my turn to believe in you," Roxas had said to her.

Maybe tonight we should just stay out late stargazing up on Funbari Hill, Crystal thought to herself as she reached over to gently stroke Roxas's cheek. Just the two of us, if we can manage it. That could be nice.

After that Crystal got up so she could change out of her pajamas and get dressed for the day. Roxas stirred not long after Crystal was done getting changed, but before she had actually left the room.

"Good morning," he greeted Crystal sleepily. Truth be told, his worries aside, Roxas had gotten very into his own training and had been working extra hard with Yoh and Amidamaru to try to learn the ancient samurai's signature sword techniques. Incidentally, Roxas had been practicing with bokuto instead of constantly bringing out his Keyblades and was still surprised by how natural the wooden weapons felt in his hands.

"Good morning," Crystal greeted Roxas with a smile. "By the way, I think my work with Sora might be over. He seems like he's finally gotten the hang of what I've been trying to teach him so I don't think I'll have to pry into his dreams anymore."

"That's a relief," Roxas was glad to hear it. He got up and started getting changed out of his own pajamas so that he could get dressed for the day. "Should we go see what Shiro and Xion are up to in the kitchen?"

"Sounds like a plan," Crystal agreed as they left their room to head for the kitchen to see what might be going on there.


Frankly, Shiro could probably handle all the cooking himself, but between him and Ryu it had turned into a full blown daily cooking competition as the two chefs would strive to outdo each other at every meal with increasingly sophisticated recipes from the both of them. Xion, along with Manta and Tamao were primarily on dish duty and with the constant competing there was no shortage of clean-up to be done. The budget for all the ingredients that were being used naturally fell on Crystal and her wallet as she was the one doing all the shopping more or less. Crystal didn't honestly mind given that munny wasn't exactly difficult for her to come by and the meals were consistently delicious.

"So, what's this morning's theme ingredient going to be?" Roxas asked as he and Crystal wandered into the kitchen to greet the others.

Sora could be heard screaming elsewhere at Funbari Onsen as the ghost of the old man in the toilet startled him for the umpteenth time that week.