"Fire! So much fire! Why was there so much fire?! Water didn't help! Why didn't the water help?! Water is supposed to make bad fire go away, but it didn't! It only made things worse!"

Suddenly Bow's soot covered body was tossed up over a rocky ledge.

"How did the fire even start to begin with?! We weren't near anything flammable! It doesn't make any sense, none of it made any sense! I need someone to explain this to me!"

Glimmer's soot covered body followed and landed on top of Bow's.

"'Oh, look at me, I'm a Horde Soldier, and I'm gonna drive on in with my tank and ruin everyone's day!' I'm glad I got him in the nads!"

Donald and Goofy were thrown on top of the ledge, both coughing up smoke. She-Ra pulled herself up before reaching down and brought Sora up as well, the two of them covered in soot and scorch marks. They soon collapsed like everyone else.

Sora let out a long cough, trails of wispy smoke exiting his lungs accompanied. "Adora, we all caught on fire."

She-Ra sighed miserably, "I know, I was there." She, too, let out a smoky cough.

"This sucks."

"Super sucks."

"I think we need a vacation."

"What is that, some kind of food?"

"Ohh" Sora reached over and patted her cheek without having to look, "Sweet, sweet, poor and ignorant Adora. Don't worry, I'll take good care of you."

The events leading to this point began yesterday evening when Princess Entrapta further tweaked with the newly dubbed Gummi Scanner and detected more missing pieces southeast near Horde territory. This time, the venture was made the following morning with Sora, Donald, Goofy, Glimmer, Bow, and Adora, not wanting to create a repeat of their last retrieval mission. As it turned out, the Gummi pieces landed rather close to an abandoned marble quarry. Unfortunately, or fortunately from a certain point of few, an advance Horde team was sent to try and make the area into a forward operating base to try and open a new war front. And there were tanks, lots and lots of tanks. The battle ended in a hard earned victory, but sometime during the fight, the quarry, made mostly of stones, caught fire after a tank firing, and caused complete chaos for both sides.

Now, after driving the Horde forces back, Sora and She-Ra had to pull all of their friends out of the burning quarry. Everyone was battered and hurt, but they knew that they'd make it through and fight another day soon...but not until after a much needed and deserved break.

"I think I see Mystacor!" Sora pointed over the cliff.

Adora and Goofy squinted, "Where? I don't see it."

"Wait, I think I see it! Is it behind that there birdie?"

"No Goofy, Mystacor is disguised as the bird. At least that's what I'd do to hide an invisible city."

"Oooohhh" They both awwed.

Glimmer and Donald both shook their heads while Bow tried to contain his laughter. "Come on, serious? We'd be there by now if we'd stop playing around like this."

"Sorry" they all said.

"Now let's move it. We just need to get to the top of this ridge, and we'll practically be there!" Everyone started following the Princess.

"I'll follow in just a sec, gotta take care of something." Sora turned towards the cliff and stepped closer.

"What's up Sora?" Adora waited.

"Ahh, it's nothing. Just wanna take a quick pee is all."

An eyebrow was raised, "Huh?! Over the cliff?!"

"Yeah! It's gonna be so awesome, and I really need to take a whiz."

"I don't get what's so special about peeing off a cliff?" Adora seriously questioned.

"W-what?! It was right there in your words, 'peeing of a cliff' so cool!"

"If you think so."

"Not just me! Bow! BOW!"

"What?!" the archer called back.

"I'm peeing off the cliff!"

"You are?!"

"Yeah!"

Bow quickly rushed over, "Dude! Why didn't I think of that?!"

Adora gaped at him, "You too?!"

Glimmer came back with Donald and Goofy, "Guys, what did I just finish saying not a whole minute ago?!"

Adora pointed at the two guys now relieving themselves, "They are peeing off the cliff!"

"Ugh! Why are boys so gross and stupid?"

Goofy tapped at his chin, "Drat, I don't think I can go quite yet?"

Donald crossed his arms and shook his head at everyone, "So immature."

"Ahhh man, this is so amazing" Bow sighed in relief.

"Right?"

Adora turned to the Princess, "So is peeing off a cliff really that amazing?"

"No! It's just a dumb guy thing!"

She looked back and squinted at them, "I wanna try that."

"Adora no! You're a girl, first off you literally can't do that, second, you shouldn't! They shouldn't even be doing this either!"

Sora and Bow straighten themselves up before facing each other and high fived. "Best pee ever!"

"Yeah it was!"

Adora's eyes narrowed again in determination, "I am gonna do that before this vacation is over, I swear."

Glimmer held her face, "Oh Adora. Just...come on, please."

Climbing the mountain further, they finally made it to it's apex. "Finally, we're here!" Glimmer announced. They looked over more cliffs, but on this side were puffy clouds below them. "Beach and spa, here we come!" She and Bow linked arms and jumped.

Sore ran after them, "Whoa! Did they just seriously jump off a cliff?"

Adora looked nervously down, "Are we just supposed to follow them? I don't even know what to expect, are we landing on soft clouds, a hard surface, a portal?!"

Donald stood at the edge, "Umm, uhh, I don't know what to expect either. I'm not really sensing any magic, but there's easily magic just for that."

"Are we supposed to hold hands or link arms like they did?" Goofy asked. He then proceeded to pick up the wizard who struggled for a moment.

Sora walked away from the edge and retreated more inland.

"Glimmer, Bow! Can you hear us?!" Adora called down, there was no answer.

Donald shrugged, "I guess we just follow?"

"I say we-JUMP!" Sora shouted before grabbing Adora and Goofy and tackling them completely off the ground and into the spot Glimmer and Bow disappeared into. The four rolled in a painful huff.

Adora whipped her head up, "Did you guys see that?!"

Donald stood up straight before dusting himself off, "I sure did, if you mean me pummeling Sora! WHAHAHAHAHAA!" In an instant, he was on Sora smacking him repeatedly with his staff, and Sora rolled them around before degrading into an all out brawl. Goofy was quick to jump after them into the white dust ball.

"Hey Adora, are you okay?" Bow asked with a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, you actually look pretty rattled. Was it the fall?"

Adora was searching behind for the strange shadow she saw. "Yeah. Yeah, it's probably just a trick of the eye."

"We all have been under a lot of stress lately" Bow reasoned.

Glimmer started laughing it off, "And with what Sora just pulled, it could have been anything as everything blurred with him."

Bow looked back at the dust cloud, "Speaking of which…"

Adora's eyes widened like dinner plates, "Oh! Oh! I wanna break them up!" She pulled out her sword and called out "For the Honor of Grayskull!" In an explosion of colors, She-Ra was on top of them, holding up Sora in one arm, and a still furiously swiping Donald in the other.

"WHAHAHAHA! LET ME AT HIM, LET ME AT HIM!"

"Come on Donald, it was supposed to be fun!"

"LET ME AT THE BIG PALOOKA!"

Goofy picked himself off the ground before cracking his neck. He then took Donald out of her arm, "I got this one."

She-Ra smirked at Sora, "Just you, me-" she then started poking his already blackened eye, "and your shiner."

Sora smacked her hand away, "Yeah, yeah, just put me down already!"

"Just so you know, my Aunt Castaspella can be a lot to deal with. Again, she's the one in charge of all of Mystacor, but don't worry, I know how to handle her. Just engage her at the minimum."

"Glimmer?! Is that my Glimmer?!" A taller woman in a purple dress and cape came running up to them with wide open arms. She had dark black hair that was kept in a bun at the top, and two thick strands spilling over her shoulders. She also had a bright yellow ring that floated around her head with a star in front.

Glimmer giggled nervously, "Hi Aunt Casta." Immediately she was off her feet as her aunt picked her up and squeezed her with all her strength.

"It's been so long since you've come to visit me! Oh how I've missed you...and Bow!" She turned and gave him a strong side squeeze. "And who are these?! Sweet Glimmer, you've made more friends! Oh how proud I am of you!" She went back for another hug with Glimmer.

"Aunty!" She managed to squeak out before being set back down. Taking a needed breath, she introduced, "These are my friends Adora, Sora, Donald, and Goofy." She stood behind the former Horde Soldier and pushed forward. "A quick few things to know, she can sometimes turn into the legendary eight-foot tall warrior named She-Ra." She pushed Sora next, "He's the chosen hero of a legendary weapon called a Keyblade." Donald was next, "He's the Royal Court Wizard of the Kingdom he hails from." Last was Goofy, "And he's also their Captain of the Royal Guards. Yup, okay, we're all caught up!"

Castaspella put a hand to her cheek, "Ah, you four have no idea how happy I am to see my precious niece finally start making friends. We were all so pleased and relieved when she started bringing Bow around, I was actually sure at first he was another made up friend of hers. Oh Glimmer, remember Misses Meowsry? She was Glimmer's favorite go-to friend that she made up for everyone!" She started crackling up. "Oh get over here! Don't think you all get away without a hug!" She pulled Sora and Adora in for a squeeze before going over to Donald and Goofy. If she had anything to say about Adora being She-Ra or Sora's Keyblade, it went unsaid. Anything about Donald and Goofy's appearance also went unmentioned, though for some reason it felt was the matter of her really noticing. "Oh! Glimmer, you've done something to your hair, right?!" That now seemed like a real possibility.

"Oh yeah, I've cut it. Do you like it?"

She inspected her for a moment, "You did it yourself?"

"Yeah."

She grimaced heavily, "Eww, er OOOHHH! I just love it, love it, love it!" She rushed over to her again a planted several kisses on her face. "Wait! You're not wearing the sweater I knitted for you?! Didn't you like it?"

Glimmer quickly looked down at herself and flinched. "Sure, of course I liked it. It's great! Just, you know, a little warm to be running around with a sweater right now." Her aunt's hands were squeezing her cheeks.

"But you'd tell me if you didn't like it, right?!"

"Yes, yes of course I'd tell you. Or not since they're always great!"

"Oh thank goodness." She turned away from everyone and did a small fist pump. She had successfully got away from the discussion on the haircut.

"Just so you know, I'm wearing the socks you sent me!" Bow chimed in with a wave.

She pointed a thumb towards him, "Always been fond of this one. So what brings all of you to my humble abode? Is it finally that blue moon already?!" She started crackling up again.

"Aw man, I want an aunt! She's so cool and funny!" Sora laughed after her.

Glimmer shoved him aside, "Actually aunty, I've been doing some important work lately! I've been rebuilding the Princess Alliance with my friends and we've been all over the map on diplomatic missions and-"

"Oh! All that work?! You all must be starved and tired!" Sora, Goofy and Bow nodded at that. "I'll have a feast for everyone prepared right away then! I'm sure your mother hasn't been feeding you properly. Just you wait, I'll stuff you all up like turkeys!" The earlier mentioned cheered and high fived each other at that.

Glimmer let out an exhausted sigh, "Actually yeah, we've all been a bit beat lately and thought we could get some R&R for a bit."

"Yay! Any excuse to spend more time with my favorite niece I will take!"

"Aunt Casta, I'm your only niece."

"All the more reason!"

Then despite Glimmer's best attempts to avert it, her aunt managed to rope them in for a tour. They now stood inside the Ceremony Chambers filled with crystals everywhere. Adora, Sora, Donald and Goofy looked in awe of everything.

"And these are the Lunar Lenses. We use them in a monthly ceremony to revitalize Mystacor's magical defenses, keeping us shielded from the outside world" Castaspella spoke sagely.

"Keeping yourselves shielded from the outside world? Why would you want to keep Mystacor closed off from everyone?" Sora asked.

"It's isolationism like that that's caused countries and kingdoms to become xenophobic of each other" Donald commented wised.

"Ohh!" Castaspella clapped her hands together excitedly, "A pair of real thinkers! My niece sure knows how to pick 'em! I know we may seem like an isolated kingdom, but we do definitely encourage our up and coming to leave and explore Etheria, invite friends, and even try to strengthen relations with other kingdoms in ways of performing services or taking official positions." Her face then held a look of discomfort, "Unfortunately we've had problems in the past, to be more precise, problems within. I'd rather not go down talking about that dark path, ruin the wonderful pleasantries we have now that my sweet, sweet Glimmer's come to visit her favorite aunt!" She then seemed to literally jump with an idea, "Oh! You should all come to the Rejuvenation Ceremony tonight! Oh, it will be so much fun, and afterwards there will be music and dancing, and not to mention the wonderful pastries afterwards!"

Glimmer came and took her auntie's hand, "Aunt Casta, Bow and I have seen the ceremony dozens of times, and we're really beat from all the official work we've been doing. I was thinking maybe we'll skip it this time?"

Castaspella looked at her silently for a moment before blowing a raspberry, "What?! Nonsense, you're new friends haven't seen it! They all look so inquisitive, especially with Court Wizard Donald here, I'm sure he'd definitely appreciate such an event!" She had picked up said wizard without consent and held him. "Err, I'm sorry, I don't think I quite got your full name?"

He had yelped from being picked up so suddenly, and looked like he wanted to yell something, but managed to hold himself back. "Donald Duck."

She had turned him around to face him directly before she started cracking up, "Oh my, Donald Duck?! How fun and delightful is that?! I. Just. Love it! How about you, Royal Guard Captain?""

Sora noticed in the corner of his eyes Adora looking scared and jumping. She suddenly turned around and looked as though she was trying to chase something down. He was quick on her heels.

"My full name is actually Goofimilius Goof, but everyone just calls me Goofy, ah-hyuck! Ya see, I was actually named after my great-great-uh, hey Sora, where're you goin'?" He caught sight of Sora just as he disappeared into a hallway.

"Hey Adora!" Sora caught up to her quickly when she stopped to look around in a hall filled with statues, "What's wrong? You look spooked."

"I-I don't know? I thought I saw something."

"You okay?" he asked, but didn't get a response as she absently looked around. "Adora?!"

"Ah yes, this is the Hall of Sorcerers!" Castaspella walked in with the others. "You eager nillies just couldn't wait. Ahahaha, I love it!" She then led them all on her tour, not noticing Adora's distress. "These are all the Great Ones who led Mystacor throughout the ages. One day, a statue of myself will be placed in these halls, right next to this one." She stopped in front of a man with a staff, and placed a gentle hand on Glimmer's shoulder. "This is Micah, our previous leader, my brother...and Glimmer's father."

"Awwww" Donald looked down sadly.

"Shucks" Goofy crossed his arms.

Sora silently kicked at the ground while Adora looked very uncomfortable.

Bow placed a hand on Glimmer's other shoulder before she shook both hands off of her. She looked determinedly at her aunt. "I promise not just you, but everyone affected by it, that I'm going to avenge his death and make sure the Horde never hurts anyone else. Mom believes in us, and in those two." She pointed at Sora and Adora.

She then spoke with a childish attitude, "Well, if your mother believes in you, then why shouldn't I? I mean, she is a literal angelic being after all, and I'm just a common sorceress, leader of nobody spellcasters."

Glimmer covered her face, "Ugh, please, not this again!"

Castaspella started to walk away, making them all follow her again. "She never writes, you know! I mean, I am her sister-in-law, do everything I can to support her and my niece, and I write to her all the time. Does she ever write back, no! I mean, come on!"

Adora stopped and looked at a particular statue. It was that of a cloaked woman wearing a veil over her face. The thing that made it so noticeable was its state of neglect and all the scorch marks left all over it, as though plenty have used her for target practice. "Who's she?"

Sora stepped back and looked. "The pedestal says Lightspinner. She must have done something really bad to deserve all that."

"Indeed she did." Castaspella returned. "One of the...blemishes that I mentioned early about why we remain hidden. She sought power and complete control about all else, and she was cast out for it. She tried to go to terrible extremes to reach her goals, and even though she is long gone from our kingdom, they say her shadows still haunt our very corridors." She let out a sigh, "If she still lives, she no doubt, still plans her revenge and is still trying to seek what she has lost...Anyway, on with the tour! Who's hungry?!"

Everyone but Adora moved on. For some reason, she was transfixed on the statue of Lightspinner. There was something terribly familiar about her, and it caused a terrible pit to form in her stomach. Her eyes shrunk as the shadow the statue cast seemed to grow and looked like it was about to attack her. She let out a shriek before her friends came back for her.

"We finally lost Aunt Casta now that she's going to prepare a huge feast for us, so it now means it's beach time!" Glimmer came in yelling, everyone else right behind her.

Everyone paused to look at her and her fearful stance.

"Are you okay?" Bow asked her.

"It sure looks like you saw a ghost" Goofy added.

Adora kept glancing to where the shadow had extended to. Sora, Donald and Glimmer faced where she kept looking to, Sora and Donald scratching at their heads.

"You're in worse shape than I thought." Glimmer faced her friend. "We need to get you some warm sand and calming waves stat." She and Bow grabbed an arm before ushering Adora to the direction of the beach.

Sora, Donald, Goofy remained behind, the Keyblade Wielder turned to the others, "So wait, something doesn't seem right...right?"

Donald took another look around, "Something smells fishy around here."

Goofy put his hands on his hips, "And I'm pretty sure it isn't the beach."

"We need to keep an eye out for anything suspicious" Donald warned them.

"You think it has anything to do with Adora?" Sora asked.

Donald scratched his head, "She does seem awfully jumpy, maybe?"

Goofy let out a gasp, "What if it's that there Lightspinner, tryin' to get her revenge?!"

Sora jumped at that, "Should we tell Casta?"

Donald shook his head, "We haven't seen anything yet, so we shouldn't get everyone worried. Like I said, just keep an eye out for anything suspicious."

"And keep an eye on Adora too!" Sora added.

"Good idea" Goofy agreed, "Donald and I will keep an eye out."

Sora and Donald nodded, "Yeah...hey! What about me?!"

Donald made an 'x' with his arms, "No way! You're in the backseat for this one!"

"What?! Why?!"

"Look where we are?! You're gonna be asleep and useless while we're here!"

"What?! No way!"

"Yes way! Just you watch, we're gonna catch you out of it left and right, except you can't watch cause you'll be asleep!"

Sora crossed his arms and stuck his nose up in indignation, "Hmph, fine! How about this then, everytime you guys catch me asleep when I'm not supposed to, I'll...umm...I'll carry you guys for an hour when we're traveling. Half an hour each!" He held a hand out to shake on it.

Donald rubbed his hands together and laughed, "Deal!" He reached out to shake, but Sora pulled back.

"But everytime I'm caught while keeping an eye out, you have to cast any three spells I ask for, anytime I want it! Also, how about one for one? If I'm caught asleep, it cancels one of my vigilance, and vice versa. How about it?" He stuck his hand out again.

Donald tapped his bill in thought before coming to a conclusion. "You're on!" He grabbed his hand and shook on it. "Goofy, you're witness to this!"

"Ah-hyuck! Nothing bad comes out of it for me, so why not?! To the beach!"

"To the beach!" Sora and Donald cheered before Sora's eyes shrunk. "Wait, b-b-b-beach? Uh-oh."

Donald rubbed his hands and laughed to himself.

"Wait, wait, hold on! We're supposed to be relaxing on the beach, and the deal was for when I'm caught asleep when I'm not supposed to. Meaning I can while we're on the sand!"

Donald just laughed to himself as he left to follow Glimmer, Bow and Adora, Goofy on his heels.

"Guys?! Guys!" he called and chased after them.

"Whoa! ~We're at the bee-ach~We're gonna have fu-un~We're gonna pla-ay~Then lay in the su-un~" Sora sang happily while stretching his arms and taking in the salty wind. He currently stood wearing only his crowned necklace and red swim trunks with his signature black crowns all over.

"Wow, you are really happy to be at the beach" Bow commented as he unfurled his beach towel and set down his bag. He was now sitting in a half yellow, half white swim trunks.

"This is, like, the happiest I've ever seen you, and that's really saying something" Glimmer added. She wore a lavender one piece swimsuit with a transparent, pink swim skirt. She also wore a lavender, wide brim hat that had a pink sash wrapped around.

"Oh yeah, I'm an islander! This is the kind of place I grew up my whole life. Me being at the beach is like a fish being in the water, it's the natural order of things!" He then let himself fall back into the sand and started making sand angels. "What should we do first?"

"We take a moment and relax." Donald stabbed a beach umbrella into the sand and set up his fold out chair before sitting down. Though normally without any sort of clothing for his bottom half (Let's not think about that too much), he now sported blue swim trunks with white trimmings. He let out a sigh as he leaned back.

Goofy threw his beach towel down and set down a large basket filled with snacks and drinks for everyone. "That's no fun! I say we build the biggest sand castle we can!" He wore green swim trunks with a large, black pocket on each side.

"This is Adora's first vacation, let's have her take the first pick!" Bow suggested.

"Well alrighty! Adora, what's first?" He looked around for her for a moment. "Adora?"

"Over here" she said quietly, poking her head from behind a large rock nearby. Everyone but Glimmer turned their heads to look at her oddly.

"You good, Adora?" Bow called out.

"And whatcha ya hiding for?" Goofy asked.

"I, um, well you see-"

"Adora, stop hiding already!" Glimmer ordered without looking. "You look great, so stop worrying!"

"Why am I wearing this?! I was uncomfortable looking at you wearing that, and I thought you were being daring or whatever, then you hand me this?!" she complained loudly, still not stepping forward.

"You're wearing that because you're rocking one of the best bodies I've ever seen. I already wish I could pull it off, so stop complaining!"

"I'm not complaining! I'm just questioning your decision making in an angry tone is all!"

Glimmer finally looked over at her, "Hey, guess what? They have a word for that, it's called complaining! Now get out here!"

"No! There is no way I'm taking another step forward in this!" Adora's head vanished behind the rock.

Glimmer rolled her eyes and sighed before she disappeared and reappeared with the shy girl in tow. Adora let out a loud yelp as she tried to cover as much of herself as possible with her arms and hands. As far as swimsuits go, what Adora wore was far from what most people would call scandalous or skimpy. It was bright red with an off center white stripe on her left side, and while it was a two piece outfit, it did well to not show off too much. Though it did show off the outlines of her muscles just poking through her skin.

Sora whistled, "Lookin good Adora! But I gotta say, why you're embarrassed of that is beyond me. Trust me when I say this, I've seen so much worse...or better? Either way, nice~" He laid back down on the sand.

Adora turned almost as red as her outfit before she tried to make it back to her rock, but Glimmer pulled her back. "Calm down, see, you look fine. So stop worrying already. Relax and enjoy yourself."

"Easy for you guys to say! I'm not used to any of this, I feel like I'm practically running around naked!"

Donald shook his head before picking up a book he was lent, "Yeah, sure, yell that louder for someone to hear without context."

Adora turned and snatched one of the beach towels before wrapping it around herself. "Seriously, this is just as revealing as my underwear!"

Glimmer flicked her on the shoulder, "Adora, first of all, don't compare this to underwear. Second, look around, hardly anyone is paying attention to you or the rest of us for that matter." She gestured to another group of beach goers not too far from them. Adora immediately focused on the two girls there, one especially.

"Holy! Look at how much of her b-bo-boo, geez! It's practically all spilling out! Are you seriously telling me that is not underwear?!"

"Yes, that is a less modest swimsuit she's wearing, but still perfectly acceptable and worn by plenty. Also what did I just say about calling them underwear?"

Adora squinted as she looked at her more, "Geez, look how much it's riding up her butt! She's fine walking around like that?!" A finger automatically went to adjust her own bottoms underneath her towel.

Glimmer's hand covered her mouth, "Hey, you wanna keep your voice down?! Keep that up and they're gonna notice you talking and staring at her." She took a deep breath, "Okay, so see? You're far from running around in your underwear, so please stop worrying about it. You look good in what you're wearing, so please try to enjoy yourself" she tried to convince her again.

Adora paused before taking a shaky breath, "Okay, okay. I'll try to calm down and relax." Slowly she unwrapped herself before laying the towel down, but still generally had her arms crossed over her exposed abdominal region.

"Great, now that's settled, you still got first pick. What do you wanna do first?" Glimmer kindly asked.

"Umm, okay. What about that sand castle Goofy mentioned? How does that work?"

Glimmer raised an eyebrow, "How about you take a guess?"

Adora's face flushed a bit, "I guess we use the sand to try and build a castle?"

She smiled before gently elbowing her on the side, "Hey, you got it on one." She turned to Goofy, "Hey, we're gonna build sand castles! You ready?!"

Goofy jumped, "Oh boy! I'm gonna build the best moat anyone of ya's have seen! Maxy would have loved this!"

Bow was on his feet, "Oh! Guys, let's totally make this into a team competition! There's six of us, we can do three teams of two!"

Donald surprisingly got excited, "Yeah, this will be fun! I'll be with Goofy. Hey, do you know what would be even more fun? If there were stakes involved!" Not surprising anymore.

Bow put his hands on his hips as he smiled excitedly, "Oh yeah? What did you have in mind?"

Donald thought about it for a second before he came up with an idea, "I know, how about the team who gets in last has to babysit Entrapta for the next week? No shift change, no trading."

Meanwhile

"PUT ME OUT, PUT ME OUT, PUT ME OUT!" Carla came running out of the Gummi Ship, her clothes and armor a lit in flames. The moment she was outside she jumped to the ground and started rolling as much as she could.

"I'M TRYING, HOLD STILL!" Her partner Ali had ran out after her, her cape was ripped off and bundled up before she smacked down to try and put the fire out.

Princess Entrapta came rushing out with a filled bucket, "Hold still, I've got my bucket stash right here!" Already her arms were in motion to fling the bucket's liquid content.

As though in slow motion, both Ali and Carla waved their arms and yelled "NOOOOOOOOOO!" But it was too late.

Everyone suddenly looked nervous, Glimmer taking her hat off before fanning herself, "Ooooh, that is a big pill to swallow." She swiftly took a step back and closer to Bow. "Just to clarify, it's the team who gets absolute last that loses, right? How does the voting work?"

"Each person votes on a castle that's not their own. Whoever gets the least vote loses" the wizard explained.

"Uh-huh" Glimmer took another discreet step closer to a worried looking Bow, "And first and second place winners are completely off the hook for Entrapta duty for the entire week?"

"Yup."

"I'm in!" She shouted before jumping the archer, "I'm with Bow!"

Bow looked panicked, "What?! No! Against Team Sora and Adora, are you crazy?!" She rolled her eyes before pulling him in to whisper in his ear. He smiled and then nodded, "Okay, I'm in!"

Adora ignored the act as her competitive side kicked, "Oh yeah! I'm so in and I'm gonna smoke every one of ya! Not sure if I ever mentioned it, but I always got perfect scores when simulating Horde outpost designs." She walked over to Sora and nudged him with her foot. "Sora!"

Sora snapped out of it as he almost dozed off, "What?! I'm awake!"

"Me and you are a team!"

"Whatever it is, sure." He yawned before leaning back and stretching.

Donald cheered before yelling "Majority rules! The bet is on!"

Goofy let out a gulp, "Are you sure about this Donald? Cause I don't think I can take a week of nonstop Entrapta?"

"Don't worry Goofy, with our parenting experience and my magic, we'll win this no problem!"

"But we're up against Sora with Adora as his partner, it's gonna be tough! Then there's also Bow, with his smarts, he can probably think of great ideas and how to build it."

"Yeah it's gonna be tough! Cause we're gonna win!" Adora jumped and shouted, completely forgetting her previous shyness.

Donald rubbed his hands together, "Don't worry Goofy, this is perfect."

Sora scratched his head, "Wait, what's going on?"

Adora grabbed him by the shoulders before bringing him in. "Three way sand castle competition, team who gets last place has Entrapta duty for a whole week, no shift change or trades."

Sora smiled and pumped both his fists, "Yeah! I was one of the best on the beach back home! We're winning this thing!"

"YEAH WE ARE!" Adora pulled him in for a headbutt. "YEAH!"

Sora didn't mind it at all, "YEAH!"

Twenty minutes into the competition later.

"ADORA NO! THAT'S TOO MUCH WATER!"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING SORA, YOU'RE BUILDING ONE SIDE TOO HIGH!"

"ADORA, THE COLUMNS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE IONIC! IONIC!"

"STOP YELLING THAT AT ME! WHAT IS THAT EVEN SUPPOSED TO MEAN!"

"NO, NO, NO! ADORA, WATCH YOUR FOOT!"

"SORA, WHAT ARE YOU-GAHHHH!"

"AAAHHHHH!"

From the very get-go, Sora and Adora had no chance at winning. Between their over competitiveness clashing against each other and Adora's complete inexperience on the beach, the two were ultimately helpless. The final nail in the coffin came when Adora nearly kicked down their work and Sora tried to intercept it, only for the two to get tangled up and fall down together on their castle, reducing it into a sad mound.

The two crawled out and looked at what was left.

Sora walked over to the water before he fell to his knees and started pounding the sand, "You blew it all up! Darn you, gosh darn you all to heck!"

Adora rolled onto her back before she covered her eyes and started crying, "It's over. It's over! We're stuck on Entrapta Duty for a whole, uninterrupted week. Oh, the humanity!"

"ALL IS LOST!"

The other two teams had taken their time after the first couple of minute of Sora and Adora's disastrous teamwork was proven, casually working on their castles and having fun with no worries of losing.

"That totally sounds like a forfeit" Glimmer smugly looked at everyone else, "What do you guys think?"

"Yup!" Donald jumped.

"Boy howdy! Though I do feel a little bad for them." Goofy looked over at the crying duo.

Bow raised his hands up before pointing at them, "Hey, you saw them as we started. They knew what they were getting themselves into, but their overconfidence led to their downfall!"

"On the bright side" Glimmer started, "I think Adora is over her swimsuit issue."

After consoling the two losers and salvaging what fun they could mustered, everyone got to finish making a sand castle and marveled at their work. Even Adora got to build one for herself and was proud of her accomplishment, small and as childish it looked, though no one would say it.

Afterwards, everyone enjoyed a quick snack before Sora ran and came back with a volleyball and a net. After setting it up and explaining the rules to Adora, Sora spoke up, "Alrighty, the game is beach volleyball, and we're playing 3v3. Donald, Goofy and I, against Glimmer, Bow and Adora. Everyone ready to play?!"

"YEAH!" they all shouted.

"Let's play!" And so, for almost two hours everyone enjoyed the game, with Glimmer, Bow, and Adora doing the best as a team. Several times they switched the teams up to keep things fresh and balanced, with each person offering a different skill to the game.

Glimmer was fast to teleport around and catch the ball when it was out of the rest of her team's reach before passing the ball. Bow was quick to plan with his teammates so that whenever he passed the ball, he would strike hard and precise enough into a partner's ready hand to create a spike that would catch the opposing team off guard almost every time. Adora's natural athletics let her run around and work her side of the court with ease, though her aim tended to be the worse. Sora was able to leap across the court and always catch it, his problem was that he would catch it even if it would have been out-of-bounds. Donald was slow running across the sand, but whenever he hit the ball, he always managed to make it into a corner shot. Goofy...well, he was Goofy, but whenever he got his own shots in or served, they would go high enough that his opponents would lose track of themselves as they followed the ball.

"Aww!" Sora slumped forward.

"What's up?" Bow and Goofy walked up.

"I just realized that the waves are almost nonexistent!"

"Right, calm and soothing, that's what they're going for" Bow explained.

"Yeah, sure, but that also means no surfing!"

Goofy let out a gasp, "No surfing?! But I was gonna show off the moves Maxy showed me!" He slumped forward too, "They would have been tubular too."

"Wait, what's surfing?"

Sora sighed "What's the point? We'd only be showing you something you wouldn't be able to do." He then walked back to his towel before dropping face first.

Bow scratched the back of his head, "Hey, really sorry you couldn't play your game."

Goofy waved it off, "Nah, forget about it, and don't mind Sora either. He's just being overdramatic."

"You're being overdramatic!" Sora's muffled voice called out.

"See?"

Glimmer, meanwhile, poked her head over Donald's shoulders and peaked at the book he was reading. "So, what book do you have there?"

"It's an advanced tier spellbook." Donald kept simply.

"Huh-uh, what kind of spell?"

"Alteration, the kind that transfigures the world around us."

"Ohh, alteration spells. Neat. Heh, heh."

"Yeah. Neat." He resumed his reading, but moments later he still felt her eyes on him. "Did you have a question about something?"

"Oh no, not at all...okay maybe. I am actually a little interested in magic, and not just the magic I get for being a Princess with a Runestone. In case you weren't paying attention, my dad was a sorcerer, and the leader of Mystacor, and I've always wanted to learn some magic like my dad did." She looked down for a moment, "My mom doesn't exactly want me doing that though. She's afraid I'll get all sorts of ideas, not the good kind. It's just I was hoping I could learn so maybe...I don't know, maybe I could feel a little closer to my dad."

Donald let out a sigh and closed the book, "So since you can't stay here and learn magic, you were hoping I could teach you in Brightmoon without your mom knowing."

"Whaaaat?! I mean, that is an idea. Not a bad one either, right?" She put up an innocent face, accompanied by the dropping and quivering of her bottom lip.

He shook his head, "You want me to go behind your mother's back, just like that? You do remember that she is the Queen?"

Both of Glimmer's hands found their way behind her head, "I mean, maybe you could show me a spell or two before we go back home. They don't have to be huge or anything, and I'm sure it wouldn't be such a huge deal for a master wizard such as yourself. Sora's told us sooooo many great things about you and your magic."

Donald knew from his nephews when he was being buttered up, but decided to humor her. "Okay, what are you wanting to learn?"

Her face went pink, "Well, on the subject of alteration...I learned that you could transform people into merfolks, and that sounds so cool!"

Donald squinted at her, "That is an extremely advanced and draining spell. I use it when we have to go to the undersea world of Atlantica or in a dire water emergencies."

"Oh come on, pleeeeaaase, please, please, please, please?! I've never seen a merfolk before, and it would be amazing to see such amazing magic take place! I mean, they say the only ones that can transform using magic is the Salineas' royal bloodline, but you are a great enough sorcerer that you can do it regardless! How amazing is that?!"

Enough praise and flattery was said, and now Donald was convinced. He looked around at everyone, Bow and Goofy were talking, Adora was near the water drawing in the sand with a stick, and Sora was right next to them laying down. "Oh okay, fine! Just this once!" He sat up before bringing his hands together. In a moment, a ball of swirling green and blue lights formed before it shot out at Sora. He was engulfed in a bright light for a second before dying down. Now Sora laid in his spot with his legs replaced by a dolphin's tail and dorsal fin.

Everyone looked in his direction after the light show and stared in amazement. Sora on the other hand jumped and panicked as he was assaulted by the magical sensations.

"Hey, what the heck?!"

"Holy cow!" Glimmer's pink face turned red as she drooled at the sight.

Bow, Adora and Goofy came running up to him.

"Whoa, dude, what happened?!"

"You got, like, fish legs now!"

"Adora, I think you mean fish tail, since fish down actually have legs" Bow corrected her.

"I know that! Sorry if I was surprised because Sora's legs are now gone and he's half fish!"

Goofy walked over to Donald, "Hey Don, what's going on?"

Donald put his arms behind his head and leaned back, "I was just giving Glimmer here a demonstration of my amazing magic is all."

"Ahh! I've never been on land before as a merman! This is so weird!" Sora shouted in the background.

"Oh my gosh, Donald, you're amazing!" Glimmer praised, not taking an eye off of Sora once.

"Heh, I know I am!"

"Okay, now I need you to do it one more time on B-"

"Nope!" Donald interrupted her, "I don't have my staff, and the spell was already too draining. I have to save my magic so I can turn Sora back."

Glimmer's eye began twitching, "But-but-but, I was, so close to, awwww!"

Donald and Goofy looked at each other for a moment, "What's the problem? I showed you the spell, didn't I?"

"I know, it's just...agh! Please just forget it."

It suddenly clicked for the two. "Ah-hyuck, you just really want to see Bow as a merman."

"What?! Shut up, no!" Glimmer turned red.

Donald's head dropped, "What's up with everyone's romanticized obsession with mermaids and mermen?"

Sora yelled out to him, "Hey Donald, what the heck was that for?!"

"Demonstrating, and you were my guinea pig! Just go play in the water, I'll turn you back later when my magic recovers" he waved at him dismissively.

"Come on! This sucks!" Sora tried to adjust himself into a comfortable position so he could crawl his way to the water, but his new dorsal fin was really getting in the way.

"Dude, you never told us you can turn yourselves into merfolk! That's totally cool!" Bow then turned to the water, "Imagine it, exploring some of the deepest and most mysterious depths that no one has explored. Lost and ancient secrets just waiting to be discovered! Aw man, that is so cool!"

Adora tilted her head as she watched Sora struggle with himself. She was far from understanding on how to take this, along with a strange fluttering in her stomach. "Yeah...really cool. So hey, you need help or something?"

Sora flipped himself over again by mistake, "Yes please, seriously, you guys have no idea how weird this is for me! Water, no problem, but on land, I seriously feel like a fish out of water! I never thought it'd be so literal!"

In a swift motion, she turned him over and scooped him up in her arms and held him. Sora responded by hugging her neck and shoulders, and then batted his eyes at her, "My hero~" Bow began laughing to himself as Adora turned pink. He then started poking at her flushed cheeks. "Look how you are." After the sixth poke, she dropped him to the ground. "Gahhh! My dorsal fin!" Adora then flipped him over with her foot before dragging him by the tail and tossed him in the water screaming.

Adora smiled before huffing "Ah, much better."

His head poked out of the water, "You're just jealous that I can hold my breath indefinitely now!" He then disappeared under the water. He emerged from the water elsewhere with a high jump, "Whoa! Almost forgot how fun this is!" Falling back in the water, he jumped elsewhere again, "Thanks Donald!"

A lightbulb went off for Bow, "Oh snap! Goofy, please tell me you have your shield?!"

"Sure do! Brought it just in case I need to serve snacks with it." He pulled it out of the basket.

"Sweet! Be right back! Keep doing what you're doing, Sora!" Bow down the beach and was soon out of sight.

Adora hummed to herself getting into the water. Sora popped up in front of her as she was waist deep. "Hey Adora! What's up?"

"Hey Sora, how fast can you swim like that?" she asked.

"Pretty fast, why?"

She started scratching her cheek, "Well, I wanted to try something. Think I can try holding onto you as you swim?"

"Hmm, maybe? Here, try grabbing my dorsal and give it a squeeze. See how that feels?" He turned away from here. Adora looked at his fin before doing as he asked. His skin there felt extremely smooth and rubbery, she wasn't sure if she wanted to hold onto it all day or take her hand away and rub the feeling off. "Okay, I don't think it's too bad, but I'm wondering how to do this without smacking you with my tail. Guess we can start slow at first."

"Okay, whatever you think is best." Adora reaffirmed her grip before letting herself float on her stomach.

"Ready?"

"Yeah" she struggled as she kept her mouth above the water.

"Here we go!" Sora forced himself forward and started swimming, keeping close to the surface for Adora. Unfortunately, his thought was confirmed as he hit the girl with his tail. He slowed himself down before letting himself sink just a tad. Giving a slow kick, he realized that he missed her. Craning his neck also confirmed that Adora's head was still above the water, he'd found the right depth to swim at. Picking the pace up again, he could hear Adora's whooping from underwater before he made a sharp turn. He felt her grip tighten, but it was still bearable. Liking his idea, he started curving and making all sorts of twists and turns. That was before he decided to break surface and jump. "Hold your breath!" he yelled in the air before they dove down. He spun himself like a drill before flipping backwards in the opposite direction, he then brought his friend back to the surface. "How was that Adora, you okay?"

She took a gasp of air before shaking her hair from her face. "Whoa! That was amazing! Never thought I'd ever move so fast underwater. Again! Let's do it again!"

"Hey! I want a turn!" They looked back at the beach where Glimmer was waving her arms at them. "Get over here, I want a try!"

"I'm already here, let me have one more turn, then you go!" Adora argued, not ready to give up the fun.

"Guys, I'm back!" Bow came running with a long and thick length of rope. "Goofy, I'm gonna need your shield!"

Goofy looked down at his weapon of choice, "Well boy howdy! Looks like you managed to figure out improv water skiing!

Sora covered his mouth before pointing excitedly at the duo, "Yes! Yes, this is gonna be so much fun! Adora, hang on!" She barely managed to hang on him before he took off.

Back on the beach, Bow threw him on end of the rope to start tying around himself with Adora's help, while the archer started tying a large knot at the other end for everyone to hold onto. "Aw man, you think this is gonna work?!" he was shaking with excitement.

"I'm sure it will!" Goofy confidently reassured him before passing his shield. "I think it's only fair that you get to go first since this was your idea."

There were stars in Bow's eye, "Really?! I can go first?! Sweet!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Glimmer intervened. "Don't you think I should go first? After all, the only reason why we're here is because of me, and I am a Princess." Bow groaned before holding out the shield for her, but as she excitedly reached for it, Goofy grabbed it and held it from her reach. "Hey!"

"Hey now missy, what did I just finish saying?!" Goofy started wagging his finger at her, "I said that it's only fair for Bow to go first! Even if you are a Princess, you should still treat everyone fairly, especially when it's your friends you're dealing with! Now, what do ya say?"

The entire time, Glimmer had flinched and increasingly shrank as the normally kind and gentle knight started lecturing her like her mother. "Sorry Bow, he's right, you should go first" she sighed.

Goofy smiled as he handed his shield back to the archer, "Here you go, Bow."

He smiled to himself as he held the shield before putting a hand on Glimmer's shoulder. "Thanks Glimmer, I promise you'll get the next go. Hey, this way I can tell you whatever I learn so you can have more fun right off the bat!"

"Thanks for always looking out for me" she blushed.

"Okay, so we're good?" Sora asked.

Bow gave him a thumbs up, "Yup, ready!" he threw down the shield and stood on it.

Adora helped him deeper into the water. "Oh yeah! Here we go!"

And so for almost an hour, everyone took turns shield surfing on the water. Fortunately, everyone was able to get the hang of riding pretty fast, but all good things had to come to an end. Sora was positively exhausted, only ever bringing himself to swim that fast for that long when he fought the deadly sea witch, Ursula. He could barely bring himself to float on the surface by the time they were done, Adora even had to grab his hands and drag him back to the sand.

"So. Tired." He got out, face down on his towel.

Adora leaned in and took a sniff of him before pulling away. "Phew, I actually think you're starting to smell like a fish!"

"Your face smells like a fish!"

She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, not that he could see it, "Yeah, real good one."

"Your face is a real good one!"

"Aw, thanks, I think so too." She looked towards the wizard, "Hey Donald, think you have it in you to turn Sora back to normal?"

He nodded, "Ah-huh. I also think we put him to real good use, don't ya think?" He started snickering to himself. Putting his hands together like before, he sent a ball of green and blue magic that transformed Sora back to his normal form.

"Ah-hyuck, that sure was fun. Now for the best part about being at the beach." Goofy then laid down and closed.

"That's right" Glimmer agreed with him, "Time to lay down and relax." Glimmer laid down right Adora before tipping her hat to block the sun from her eyes.

The former Horde Soldier looked to Glimmer and Sora on either side of her relaxing or beginning to snooze off. She then laid down and tried to do the same. A few minutes go by, and Adora fidgeted the entire time, not being able to relax or keep her eyes closed. She tried rolling on her stomach like Sora was doing, but that still didn't do it for her. Glimmer had noticed the entire ordeal.

"Having a bit of a hard time there?"

"Oh, um, yeah. Not really used to doing nothing to relax" she admitted.

Glimmer scrunched up her face in thought. "Hey, I think I have a good idea...but first, check to see if Sora's asleep."

Adora shrugged before leaning over Sora and waved her hand over his face, "Sora~ Sora?" she called him softly. She looked back at Glimmer who pumped her fist.

"Awesome. Hey Bow...Bow?" She looked to see Bow snoozing as well. She turned back to Adora, "Hey, would you describe Sora as a heavy sleeper?"

"Pfft, oh yeah. Don't think I've seen a heavier sleeper."

"Perfect!" she quickly crawled to her side. "Here, help me flip Sora on his back. I have just one more beach activity for us." Together the two slowly and gently moved the Keyblade wielder onto his back. "Okay, now we bury him in sand."

Adora looked back at her and blinked, "What?"

The Princess started snickering, "Okay, so get this. We bury him in sand, lightly of course, and then we sculpt the sand to make it whatever we want it to look. And obviously the only thing I can think of is making him into a mermaid. Trust me, this is gonna be really fun." She suddenly noticed Donald to her left, an evil look on his face.

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh. Perfect, just perfect. Not only is he losing the bet, but I get this too? I love vacations."

"...I have no idea what you are on about, but if you're in with us screwing with Sora, I ain't gonna say no." Together the three covered Sora in sand before they started bringing in some wet sand to start their work. With the three of them, they made quick work of it. "Adora, I need you to make his boobs bigger. I want him to open his eyes and not be able to see anything past them."

Adora felt a sweat drip down. "Make his b-b-boobs bigger? I thought they were already huge." She went to work slapping down more moist sand on them and keeping them round.

Donald was finishing up writing a speech bubble next to his head. "Heh, heh, heh, heh. Wish I had a camera with me to take a picture of this. This is just too good!"

Sora suddenly let out a yawn, "I hear Donald doing his evil laugh. Please tell me he isn't about to touch the forbidden treasure again." Sora wanted to rub his eyes, but realized his arms were kind of restricted. "Huh?" He opened his eyes, but could only see two large mounds of sand and Adora's face. "What's going on? Adora, do I have boobs? Aw man, you guys got me!"

Donald started bawling, "I think you've got more to say than that!"

Glimmer and Adora looked over at what was written. "'Hello sailors, the bar is open, so come on in and get it. All you can eat?' Really Donald? I think of something better than that!"

"It was a work in progress!"

Sora tried to free himself and get up, but Glimmer flicked him on the nose, "Hey, hold still, we worked hard on that, and Bow and Goofy still haven't seen it yet. Guys, wake up!"

Bow immediately snapped out of it, "I'm awake!"

Goofy kept snoozing though. Donald rushed up to him before grabbing and shaking his head, "Goofy, Goofy wake up! Look what we did to Sora!"

"Huh? Gawrsh, how long was I asleep for?"

"Goofy, look!"

Bow was instantly cracking up as he looked down at Sora, "Oh man, they got you good! Wait right there!" He dove at his bag.

Goofy looked over before he started chuckling too, "Hey Sora, you're lookin' awfully pretty today! Did you do something with your hair, maybe?"

"Yeah, yeah, ha ha! Can I get up now?!"

Bow returned with his First One's scanner before holding it up and aimed it at him. "Give me one second...and there!" He turned the device around to show everyone the screen. "Lo and behold, this moment is now forever stored inside my scanner! Entrapta helped me add a camera."

Sora gaped, "Hey, delete it!"

"No way! I gotta show this to everyone first!"

"That's why I'm telling you to delete it! I don't want everyone to have the question answered 'What does Sora look like with boobs?!'"

Glimmer was still laughing, "Come on Sora, it isn't that much of a big deal, is it?"

Sora looked a little grumpy, "No, I guess not...I'm getting up now!" He stood up and dusted himself off.

"Okay guys, let's pack it up! I think we're done with the beach, but I still have more planned, so keep your swimsuits on!" the Princess announced to everybody.

"Oh! Ah, ah ah!" Adora sighed as she lowered herself into the perfectly warm water of the mineral spa. "Aw man, I'd never thought sitting in hot water would feel so nice~" She could already feel herself wanting to drift away.

"They better feel good, these pools are filled with magic minerals that the sorcerers of Mystacor use to rejuvenate along with clean themselves. They're also made specifically in mind to ease them of worries and anxiety right before performing large rituals or spells. So if you're not relaxing in these, then the past one hundred generations of wizards here messed up somewhere." She relaxed into the water as well.

"Wow, no wonder I feel like I'm ready to start casting magic, these are great!" Donald looked over to Goofy, "Remind me to talk the King into getting some of these."

"Ah-hyuck, will do!"

Sora openly yawned, "Aw, I feel like I'm gonna pass out any moment now" Sora complained as he tried to keep his eyes open. "I fell asleep at the beach, I can't afford to fall asleep again."

Donald yawned as well, "Ah forget about it. This one will be a freebie" he yawned again. "Think I'm gonna fall asleep too."

Soon the contagious yawn was infecting everyone, and before anyone else knew it, they were all out.

Loud beach music was playing in the background as Sora rode on a huge wave with his surfboard.

"Alrighty folks! It now comes down to our last contestant and already champion of Destiny Islands! Depending on the judges score on this, Sora will walk away as the first Surfboard and Beach Champion of the Universe! He'll go down in history for this folk!" a disembodied voice announced.

Sora looked confident as he carved the waves, doing all sorts of tricks for the crowds.

"Look at that folks, he's taken to the air to do the classic Alley-Oop-AND HE TURNED IT INTO THE SUPERMAN! Amazing, I've never seen that before! Smooth landing there, as well. What's this! He's still holding on to this wave! He's Hanging Ten, now Five! LOOK AT THAT, NOW HE'S JUST HANGING!"

Sora easily hung off this board with no balancing issues, with one arm no less. He was even yawning and using his freehand to cover his mouth like all of this nothing. He flipped himself over and casually rode back to shore.

"Alrighty, time for the judges to reveal their score...LOOK AT THAT, ALL TENS! HE'S GOT A PERFECT SCORE! There we have it, to no surprise to anyone, Sora is now the first ever Surfboard and Beach Champion of the Universe! What does his adoring crowd have to say?!"

All of the sudden, all of Sora's friends and companions he's ever met ran up to him, ruffling his hair, patting him on the back, all accompanied by praises and compliments. But he was keeping an eye out for one special lady.

"Sora!" Kairi ran up and threw her arms around his neck, giving him a kiss on the cheek, "I knew you could do it!"

"Oh course he could do it!" Suddenly Adora's arms were around his neck and she was giving him a kiss on his other cheek. "He's the greatest ever!"

The red head rolled her eyes, "Duh, I mean, who doesn't know that already?!" She gave him a kiss again, this time on the lips.

"There's nothing Sora can't take on!" Adora's lips met his as well.

Sora let out a happy and content sigh, "Best. Day. Ever." Suddenly lightning struck and thunder clapped, and the sky began to darken. "Huh?" he looked around.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Kairi had let go and shoved a finger into Adora's chest, making her back off.

"What does it look like I'm doing?! I'm kissing my boyfriend! What are you doing kissing him for?!" Adora yelled back, not backing down.

"What are you on about?! Sora's my boyfriend, who the heck are you even?!"

"What's happening?!" Sora looked all over nervously as things began to escalate.

"What does it look like?!" Adora pounded her fists together, and in a flash of light, She-Ra took her place. "I'm a legendary warrior, just like him. What about you?! Think you can take me, ya worthless punk?!"

"Guys!" Sora tried to call out.

"Worthless?!" Outraged, Kairi threw her hand to the side and summoned her Keyblade, "I'm a Keyblade Wielder, just like him! What about you?! You just made yourself taller with wilder hair and now in a skirt, big deal!"

"Guys!" Sora begged.

"Oh, you wanna throw down?!"

"Yeah, I wanna throw down! Sora's mine!"

"No, he's mine!"

"GUYS! Please stop, I'm sure we can figure something out!" He jumped as thunder and lightning struck again. Suddenly the two girls were facing him, the new target of their ire.

She-Ra grabbed and lifted him by his hair, "And what do you think you're doing just standing there while we go at it?!"

Kairi grabbed and yanked at his crowned necklace, "Yeah Sora, I thought you were better than that! Making us fight over you instead of choosing?!" She pulled him closer to her face. "Who's it gonna be?!"

She-Ra lifted him up to her face, "Yeah! Who's it gonna be?!"

Sora's eyes shrunk as he looked back and forth between the two girls of his affection.

"Well, there you have it folks, not even the champ is free from relationship problems! Sora, you. Are. In. Troubles~because you are now realizing you have another crush besides the girl of your dreams! What are you gonna do now?!"

"Uh-oh."

Sora's eyes snapped open, "I'm in trouble." His eyes instantly widened before they slowly traveled down at his left shoulder. Adora's head was resting there as she slept away. "What's happening?!" Sora whispered to himself. Sure, Adora was fun. She's competitive. She's strong headed and rushes into things. She's always eager to do more to help. She's very caring about her friends. Of course she's also really pretty, both as herself and as She-Ra, but that doesn't mean that he has a crush on her!...Ah crap…He closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the edge and stayed. Maybe somehow, all of this would go away if he willed it hard enough.

It was also around this time that Adora was starting to come to, whatever she was leaning on was starting to move around. Her eyes cracked open before she saw Sora's face, she shrugged it off before snuggling in some more. Not five seconds past before her eyes snapped open and looked up at Sora again. "Oh no." Her face quickly became cherry red, and she was sure it had nothing to do with the hot water. 'Calm down, you're fine, you're fine. He's still asleep and hasn't noticed you yet...wait, the others.' Her eyes scanned the rest of the pool and saw that everyone was still out of it. 'Okay, there. See? No one awake to see this extremely compromising position.'

"Adora~" a voice whispered her name, "Adora~!"

Her eyes quickly focused on the same shadow as before in the Hall of Sorcerers, but this time, she recognized the shape and voice. "GAAAHH!" Adora screamed as she scrambled over Sora and kicked Glimmer in the head. She dove at where she set down her Sword of Protection and pointed it in the direction of the haunting shadow. "NO! Shadow Weaver! Get away!"

A flash of light dispelled the shadow as Sora's Keyblade clashed and knocked the point of her sword away from him. "Adora?! What are you doing pointing that thing at us?!"

"H-huh? What? No, no! Shadow Weaver! She's here! Where is she?!" Adora looked around, pointing her weapon in every direction.

"Aero!" Courtesy of Donald, a gust of wind blew away all of the steam into the room. "There's no one here!" he confirmed.

Adora looked far from calming down yet. "No, she was here, I saw here! She's after me!"

Glimmer held up her hands to try and calm her, "Adora, please, you're safe. No one is coming after you."

Bow still had something to add, "So wait, you brought your sword to the Steam Grotto?"

"Not now Bow!" Donald quickly reprimanded him,

"Sorry."

Goofy came and put his comforting hands on her shoulders before guiding her to sit down, "Okay, let's slow down for a bit Adora. Can ya tell us what happened?"

Adora was still shaken, "It's Shadow Weaver. I saw her, she's here, in Mystacor."

"Shadow Weaver?" Sora asked, "It's that your not mom you were telling me a bit about from before?"

She nodded, "Yeah, her. I saw her at the entrance when we first got here, then I saw her in the Hall of Sorcerers, and again just now."

"Yeah, we sort of noticed this time" Bow commented.

"Ya see" Goofy pointed, "Something did smell fishy after all."

Sora shrugged, "I mean, we all agreed on that already."

Glimmer stepped in front of Adora, "So tell us, who's Shadow Weaver? She's not your mom?"

She shook her head, "No, no mom. None of us in my class had mothers, we were all conscripted because we were all orphans, because who's gonna miss us. Shadow Weaver was the one who raised us though. She was always invested in me, she taught me how to read, how to tie my shoelaces, and of course how to fight and survive."

"So sure, that sounds like mom stuff" Glimmer argued.

"No, commanding officer stuff...no, mom stuff. She was the closest thing I had to a parent, all of us really, but she was always so interested in me out of all the cadets."

"But Adora, she can't be here now. Doesn't Mystacor have defenses specifically to stop intruders from entering?" Donald asked.

She shook her head again, "You guys have no idea what she's capable of. The magic I've seen her do sometimes is disturbing to say the least. There's a reason why everyone did their best to steer clear of her...everyone except for Hordak."

The wizard blinked before he was struck with an epiphany. "Whahahahaha! You two get dressed and ready ya big palookas! Vacation's over!" He then stormed out to get change.

Sora and Goofy looked to each other and nodded, they knew better to question Donald during a time like this. "Right, okay. Bow and Glimmer, stay here with Adora. Make sure she's fine." He and then knight took after the mage.

The three half pints quickly got dressed and ready. "I think I figured out what's happening" Donald started, "I think this Shadow Weaver might have attached a familiar to Adora while we were traveling so she could have access to Mystacor. A witch like her must have scrying spells everywhere and figured we were coming here. Now the Horde would be perfectly placed to strike the city right when it's time for the Rejuvenation Ceremony. If this ritual isn't completed, then Mystacor will be vulnerable to attack!"

"Gawrsh! A whole city so used to being defended and then suddenly losing?! Ya think this has anything to do with those Horde Soldiers we fought just the other day?"

"Maybe?"

Sora crossed his arms, "Then it's like Donald said, all of this is preparations to attack Mystacor, and they used Adora to do it."

"What do we do?"

Sora nodded to himself, "Let's split up, cover as much ground as possible. We got to find that shadow familiar and Castaspella and warn her. We'll meet in the chamber with those Lunar Lenses things, I'll check there first though."

"Good thinking!" Donald approved.

"Stay safe fellers!"

And so the three went their ways, looking high and low for either Castaspella or the shadow, but there were no signs of them. There wasn't much of anyone. When a few wondering sorcerers were caught and asked, they answered that most of everyone was either in class or getting ready to prepare the ritual. When they all finally reconvened at the Lunar Lenses Chamber, trouble was afoot.

"What happened here?" Sora, Donald, and Goofy walked in to see almost a third of all the crystals that held ancient writing shattered on the floor.

"Your fellow misfit friend, that's what happened!" Castaspella pointed an accusative finger at them. She was shaking in anger.

"Wha?!" Donald jumped.

"Auntie!" Glimmer raised her voice, "Don't worry about her, worry about Adora. For some reason she came in here and went ballistic and broke a bunch of those crystals. She's really losing it and we don't know what to do. We already sent her to bed to try to rest and recover."

Goofy started waving his hands, "What, no! You guys got it all wrong! Castaspella, we think we figured out what's really going on. Go on, tell her your idea, Don."

Donald ran up to overseer of the city, "We think the Horde's sorceress Shadow Weaver has been using scrying spells to spy on Adora, and when she figured out we were coming here right before the ceremony, she somehow attached a shadow familiar to her. She could be planning on trying to interrupt the ritual so the Horde can invade. That's why we ran into those Horde soldiers earlier, they were in the middle of the planning stages just for this."

"What, no way?! There's no way that can be happening...can it?!" Bow was very distrubed at the thought of all that being planned by a single person.

"Don't be ridiculous" Castaspella argued. "There's no way that anyone can just have scrying spells just anywhere...unless if they took account of...but there's no way without a focused catalyst...unless she somehow used Adora, but how and when would the Horde have had full access to her."

Glimmer tapped her fingers together, "I may have also mentioned that Adora is a former Horde Force Captain, but I promise you that she's on our side!"

Castaspella resumed her thought, "But how would this Shadow Weaver possibly know about the eclipse and the Lunar Lenses unless...she is a former sorceress of Mystacor! Then she would know all about-oh-no!" She turned and ran out of the room. "Guard the chamber, I must gather the other masters and start the ritual immediately! We don't have a moment to lose!"

"I have a bad feeling about this" Sora muttered to himself as he got into an alert stance and was looking around for any trouble.

"Oh man, I don't know whether to hope you're right about this and Adora isn't going crazy, or hope you're wrong and the Horde aren't ready to attack the city" Bow said nervously.

"Less talking, stay focus!" Donald whipped out his staff.

Soon, the leader and the masters of Mystacor arrived and circled around the central pedestal. "I've already informed the other masters of what may be happening, so no time for formalities. Everyone, begin!" Castaspella ordered. Right away they all began gathering and weaving magic between their hands before it flowed to the next person. Soon, Castaspella held the powerful orb in her hands. She looked up. "The eclipse is now about us. Revitalizing the barrier now!" She shot a beam of light that bounced from one hanging ornament to the next. It looked like it was about to form a star, but it was interrupted as the room suddenly darkened.

"What's going on?!" Glimmer shouted.

"The shadow is here!" Sora answered as his Keyblade flashed in his hand.

A laughter began to echo all around the room. "Well, well, well. If it isn't little Casta, don't tell me you're now in charge of Mystacor since Micah's passing. Doesn't anyone know you have the attention span of a gerbil? I guess the bar has been lowered since I've been banished!"

Castaspella looked around, trying to pinpoint the source of the voice. "Wait, your voice, I know you. You're Light Spinner!"

"I go by Shadow Weaver now" A shadowy figure with red eyes formed in the middle of the pedestal. "I did everything in my power to secure the safety of everyone, but because following the proper rules and practice was paramount to the well being of everyone, you took it all away from me! My status, my pupils, their admiration, everyone's respect! I was labeled as an outcast, a heretic. No one was ever able to look at me the same, they all shunned me! So if me straying just a bit labeled me as completely evil, then I might as well go all the way, and so here I am!"

The city leader pointed at the figure, "You know damn well that you didn't stray just a bit, you were twisting living beings into monstrosities, and that was just the start!"

The shadow held her arms out, "Come now, I'm not here to talk about the past, no, that point as long since left. I'm here for action and revenge, but most importantly take back what is mine!"

Everyone got their weapons and spells ready, "You have nothing left to take back from Mystacor! Leave now!"

"Such small minded fools! I don't care about what Mystacor has to offer except for its downfall!"

Sora understood what Shadow Weaver was getting at. "Well, you're not getting Adora either, so just forget about that! If she wants to stay with us, then she is!"

The shadow glared at him, "Oh no, she will be mine again! Her place is by my side, I will see to it no matter what!"

Suddenly the walls became completely black as wispy smoke emanated from them, then from the wisps, shadowy, four-legged beast with a single red eye jumped forth and attacked. Sora instantly bisected the first creature that went for Castaspella before jumping to the next. It quickly became an all out fight in the limited size chamber, and Mystacor's forces were already losing. These master mages might be difficult to magic in terms of magic spells and incantations, but they have almost no combat experience, especially against foes so close and numerical. It didn't help either that the spellcasters had to also dodge accidental friendly fire, or suddenly have to change their aim because of a teleporting Glimmer kept moving around. In not even a minute, the only ones standing were Sora, Donald, Goofy, Glimmer and Bow.

It seemingly didn't matter how many times they were bashed or hit with spells, the shadow beasts just kept coming. At least now that there were less spellcasters to throw spells around, the fight seemed to be more manageable and less chaotic, and they were keeping things at a standstill. The biggest problem was that time was against them. If they couldn't finish the fight and revive the sorcerers in time, they'll miss their timeframe to restore Mystacor's barrier.

As though sensing their impending failure, all of the shadow beast stopped attacking momentarily so they could all reconvene in the center of the chamber. That's when their forms morphed and merged together to make a massive shadowy tendril that reached more than halfway to the ceiling. Reaching back, it swung in a circular motion to hit everyone. Glimmer was the only one able to evade it, everyone else got knocked back and slammed into the wall. Sora, Donald and Goofy picked themselves up, but Bow was down for the count.

"Bow!" Glimmer angrily faced the shadowy stalk before she shot a blast of sparkling lights at it, making it writhed in pain before lashing out again. She tried to teleport out of the way, but it failed. She was out of charges! "Gah!" She, too, was knocked away before being downed.

"Man, this thing's tough!" Sora complained.

"Well yeah! Everytime it swings, it's pretty much guaranteed to land a hit!"

"Come on fellers, we got to think of something!"

It took another swing at them, but this time Goofy rushed and tried to parry the swing, but only managed to slow it down for Sora and Donald to get out of the way.

"It's like a plant now, what if we use fire magic?!" Sora called out.

"Worth a try! Together now, Fira!"

"Fire!"

The two balls of fire collided and made a small explosion on impact, but it only seemed barely more effective then Glimmer's attack.

Goofy pointed up at the sun roof, "We're running out of time!"

"Indeed you are!" Shadow Weaver's apparition sneered, "And soon Mystacor will fall!"

"Keep going!" Sora ordered as he jumped over another swing and smack his Keyblade at the base of the tendril. Goofy threw his shield at it and caught the rebound before joining Sora at striking its base. Donald added bolts of lightning at it as well. Everything was adding up, but they still aren't beating it fast enough.

"What?! NO!" Sora, Donald and Goofy glanced over and saw Adora run into the chamber.

"Ah, Adora, glad you could join us" the witch's disembodied voice spoke.

"Shadow Weaver, stop this now!" she demanded.

"Oh, nonsense" she spoke sweetly to her former charge. "The eclipse is nearly over now, and when it is, the shield will be gone, and the Horde will conquer this once great city. Once it's all over, we'll be more than happy to accept you home. We will be together again."

"We won't let you win!" Donald shouted at her.

"We'll see about that!" The giant shadowy tendril in the center of the chamber sunk down, taking its place were a dozen smaller one that circled the room. They bent back before they all shot out red bolts of energy at the three.

"Scatter!" Goofy yelled as he jumped to the side with his shield over his head.

Adora narrowed her eyes before pointing her blade to the air "For the honor of Grayskull!" In an explosion of colors, Adora had transformed into She-Ra. She then leapt over the circle of shadowy tendrils and joined the trio, but not before taking a swing at one of the shadowy creations. "We've got to figure out how to finish renewing the barrier!"

Sora deflected a red bolt of energy before shooting a fireball at the offender. "Donald, can you think of anything?!"

The court wizard looked up at the floating platform near where the mystical lenses floated in place. "Some of the Lunar Lenses are still retaining and reflecting the sorcerers spells, we need to finish the connection!"

Goofy smacked away an energy bolt, "Ya think I can reflect it with my shield?!"

"Worth a try, GO!"

"Goofy, over here!" Sora waved him over with his hands ready to give him a lift up, the knight happily obliged and was thrown above. He held his shield up and tried to reflect the spell, but it did nothing of the sort.

"It's not working!" Figuring he'd be more useful on ground level, Goofy jumped with his shield down and came crashing on one of the shadowy tendrils.

"There has to be another way!" She-Ra tried to look for another answer. She didn't have time though as all of the remaining tendrils sank down and formed the giant one in the middle again. It then took a wide sweep at everyone, catching all who were still standing and smashed them into the wall. Sora and Donald crashed and peeled off the wall, but She-Ra and Goofy bounced and landed back towards the center.

The giant tendril leaned back, prepared to smash its weight against them, but Goofy stood over She-Ra with his shield ready to try and hold it back, "Hang on Adora!"

She looked up at him, there was no way he'd be able to hold that thing off like that, "Goofy, no!" In her hand, She-Ra's Sword of Protection glew in a near-blinding light and was replaced with an ornate shield. In an instant without realizing, she was by Goofy's side and together they were actually able to repel the attack. She looked down at the shield, amazed that it could even transform like this, then she was mesmerized by the blue gem in the center as it glowed and gleamed. "I can finish the connection!" she yelled. "Goofy, I need a lift!"

"You got it!"

She-Ra ran up to Goofy with his shield ready and was forced up to the platform. Before she could take a step, Shadow Weaver's specter formed in front of her. "Adora, there's no need for anything of this. Why help them? They don't really know or understand you, not the way I do, my sweet Adora. I know what it feels like, just as how they close minded fools failed to understand me." She gestured to the unconscious sorcerers of Mystacor. "When I walked among them as Light Spinner, the only thing I cared about was keeping everyone safe and secured, no matter what. So what did they do? Labeled me evil and out of control, and they banished me!"

"What?" She-Ra didn't see that coming.

"That's right" Shadow Weaver nodded and looked downcasted, "I was watching and listening when you looked upon my statue. I loved Mystacor and everyone of my people, and they were in danger from the Horde. I took it upon myself to fulfil my role as their leader and protector, willing to sacrifice parts of my body, mind and soul to save them all. They didn't understand me, who I was, what I wanted, and they treated me as the greatest threat Mystacor has ever faced. They left me broken, and in more ways than one. What was I to do with this new gaping hole in my heart...it was filled with revenge." She looked back up at her and held out her hand. "Please Adora, before they do the same to you, come back home to me."

She-Ra looked shocked and scared at the revelation. "I-I-"

"Adora, what's happening?!" Sora shouted up, still trying to fight off the giant tendril with Donald and Goofy. She looked down at the fight before looking up at the skylight as the eclipse's nearly passed.

"Adora, do you truly believe without a doubt in your heart that they'll never betray you? The same way I was betrayed? I know you, you're strong, you're ambitious, you're committed to whatever you set your mind to. If you take a step too far, believing full-heartedly that you're doing the right thing for those you care about, that they'll cast you out and label you as evil?"

"Adora!" Donald called out.

She-Ra felt herself being shaken to her core. "I-I-I don't know." She fell to her knees and transformed back into Adora.

Shadow Weaver knelt by her side, gently caressing her face before her hair. "There, there. I know the reality of the world is awful, that's why I want to pull you away from them before you have to face the same heartache as I did. I only want what's best for you. Time to go back home."

"Adora!" Goofy shouted.

In Shadow Weaver's embrace, Adora began to feel herself begin to relax, and closed her eyes as her mind began to go blank. That was when memories began to rapidly assault her, they were of all the great times she's had since leaving the Fright zone. In just a short amount of time, she's had more fond and happy memories than her lifetime with the Horde, this today easily being the happiest day she's ever had.

"No!" Adora yelled as she ripped herself away from her grasp. "These are my friends! These people are my friends! They've shown and proven to me that they care about me, that they're kind to me! Something that you and the Horde has almost never shown me!"

The witch threw her arms out, "I wanted to prepare you for this cruel world! To prepare you for greatness!"

"But you've never shown me or Catra love, just your twisted mind games! What happened to you was awful and wrong, but what the Horde is doing to people all over is even worse! I refuse to let it go on!" She stomped down on her still transformed shield and flipped into her hand before she reflected the eclipse's light at the remaining Lunar Lenses.

"ADORA!" she let out before being completely dispersed by the explosion of light that filled the room.

"She did it!" Sora cheered from down below.

"Hurray!" Donald cheered.

"We did it! Mystacor is saved!" Goofy was bouncing up and down.

Adora carefully hopped down to the ground and walked up to the trio. Instantly Sora was concerned. "Adora, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. We just saved Mystacor."

Sora, Donald and Goofy looked at each other. "But you're crying" he pointed.

She brought a hand to her cheek and indeed her face was wet, she had started crying at some point. She quickly wiped her face with her sleeve and took a big sniff, she quickly realized that there was a terrible aching in her chest.

"Adora?" Donald waddled up to her and patted her thigh.

"I'm-I'm okay, really."

Goofy walked behind her and placed both his hands on her shoulder, "Don't worry Adora, take as much time as you need. We'll be here for ya whenever you need us."

Sora nodded his head, "Yup, whenever you're ready to talk. In the meantime, you just saved Mystacor!" He gave her a smile and a thumbs up.

Adora took another sniff before wiping her face again. "Sora, everyone, thank you."

"Alrighty, so let's pull everyone together and cast one big heal!" Donald suggested.

It was now dusk as the six friends sat on the beach and watched the sunset on the water.

"I really gotta say, this really is the best time of day to be at the beach" Sora decided as he stood with just his feet in the water.

Everyone agreed as they all watched the sun set on this crazy day.

A/N: My longest chapter yet, yay! I know a lot of people are fond of beach episodes and such, so I decided to go all out for this to make it a worthy beach special. Hope you all like this, I know I sure did as well.

Also before people start mentioning it, I know Mystacor is surrounded by clouds acting as waves instead of having a sandy beach and water. Just had to make this change so all of this can be just right.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE

June 9th, 1934 is the day Donald Duck first made his debut, but ever since The Three Caballeros in 1944, his canonical birthday has simply been Friday the 13th, attributing to his ever constant bad luck. It has since been further elaborated that his actual birthday is March 13th, so while not actually official...HAPPY BIRTHDAY DONALD DUCK!

Quack, quack, quack, Donald Duck

He's my little pal

Quack, quack, quack, Donald Duck

Daisy is his gal

Quack, quack, quack, Donald Duck

In his sailor suit

Quack, quack, quack, Donald Duck

Gee, I think he's cute

I like the way he waddles

And I like to hear him talk

And when somebody makes him mad

Quack, quack, quack, how he can squawk

Quack, quack, quack, Donald Duck

Cocky as can be

Quack, quack, quack, Donald Duck

Here's what he taught me

When someone knocks you down

Get right up again

Show some pluck like Donald Duck

Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack!